Sometimes people will ask me, "What have you been doing lately?" I tell them, "Birding." They don't quite hear it the first time. I have to repeat myself. Finally I say, "Bird watching." "Oh, bird watching." Then they get it. To me, birding is different than bird watching. I explain it to people this way. Bird watching is going out looking at birds. Birding is driving down the road, seeing a bird, and turning the vehicle around so you can get another look at the bird.
The other day, Jeremy, the two littlest, and I went out searching for a rare bird, one not often seen in Utah- the Eastern bluebird. Other birders had told us where they were and Jeremy had gone a few days before to see them. We had to go down a bit of a hill to get to the trail to walk along to find them. When Jeremy went before, there was snow on the hill. When we went, the snow had melted so it was a hill of mud. Jeremy held Lucky's hand through the mud, but Jr. Jr. would not set foot in it. To make a long story short, I gave Jr. Jr. a piggy back ride all the way down the muddy hill to the paved trail.
The bluebirds were not in the spot Jeremy found them before, but we did find them a little bit farther down the trail. Hooray! There was a male and female and they were beautiful.
It was worth it, especially since we had to hike back up that hill in the mud again- Jeremy helping Lucky up, and I giving Jr. Jr. a piggy back ride.
When we got back to the van, Jeremy, Lucky, and I found a snow bank to kick to get some of the mud off our shoes and we had a towel in the van to wipe our feet because this is what our boots looked like when we got up that hill.
It's a good thing Jr. Jr. didn't get his boots muddy because by the time we got home, it was time for him to go to school. No time to clean his clothes.
As I was washing muddy pants and socks, and later, as I was scrubbing boots, I again thought it was worth it.
And that is why we are birders.
