birdsoup

Last evening I joined 15 other birders at the Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch platform to observe migrating Common Nighthawks. Perfect weather. Cool, with low humidity. Not a single cloud. Ideal. Our total tally after 1.5 hours constantly scanning the skies was: Blue Jay and Titmouse, 2 of each. Nothing else. Nary a Nighthawk. (Although the official hawk counter spotted birds about 5 miles away.) It would be natural to consider the time spent staring at empty skies as an unproductive waste of time. But it wasn’t. It was overwhelmingly refreshing. Nothing to do but breathe deeply, search the horizon, chat with other friendly birders. When darkness finally filled the sky and I made it down the hill to my car, I was completely relaxed. Best I’ve felt in some time. I’ve got to do this again soon. Maybe next time I will even see some birds.