The Concept of a Favorite Bird

I don't get it. I see posts on Facebook and birding blogs where people are proclaiming their "favorite birds." Bald Eagle, Pileated Woodpecker, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Painted Bunting are some of the birds considered as the bird world's rock stars. Don't get me wrong, these are all wonderful birds and I get a thrill every time I see one. But how can you choose just one? And what about birds outside your personal birding areas? Tropical species such as the Marvelous Spatuletail or Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager can certainly rival the previously mentioned birds. I can't pick a favorite bird for a variety of reasons. As I continue to bird I am always  learning something new about a particular species or seeing a new behavior that keeps a bird at the top of my list. But for me it is not just the bird but the experience surrounding the sighting. If I was forced to pick a favorite bird, without hesitation I would shout - "Le Conte's Sparrow." Le Conte's Sparrow??? It's just a little brown bird? Bleh. Well, I would disagree. I think they exhibit a subtle beauty, but more importantly my first sighting of this bird was part of a wonderful birding experience.

Le Conte's Sparrow by Laura Erickson*

I had just connected with the local birding community when I was invited to a morning bird walk to search for Le Conte's Sparrow. This was a bird I seen in field guides over the course of my life, but had never seen and was on my list of mystery birds. The directions were simple, "Meet us below the dam by 7:00 AM. Wear waterproof boots, we will be walking in very wet areas." I arose before sunrise, put on a pair of $19 rubber boots and drove through dense fog to meet people I didn't really know in a place I had never been. There were six of us standing in the middle of the street waiting for it to get light enough to start walking through the marsh. I was pleased to have new friends, but I imagined my morning to be filled with the standard frustration of watching a sparrow get flushed from the ground and immediately fly back into the brush out of sight. When the light was right we headed into the marsh in search of our quarry. After about 20 minutes one was sighted. To my amazement the bird was sitting about 5 feet up in bush out in the open.! And it stayed there long enough for me to get a good look. And I was captivated. It was beautiful. And it just kept getting better. As we walked along more of them popped up, some as close as 15 ft away. It was like they wanted to be seen. Oh, and in the middle of it all, three Sedge Wrens appeared, another lifer for me. I couldn't believe it. I was outside in a beautiful space, with extremely knowledgeable birders and seeing new birds. It was magical. 

*"LESP-Erickson" by Laura Erickson - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LESP-Erickson.jpg#mediaviewer/File:LESP-Erickson.jpg