Birding or Bird Watching?

I have yet to really embrace the verb "to bird." I grew up knowing it as bird watching because that's what Dad called it. Many bird enthusiasts have embraced the verb, as well as the noun "birder." I tolerated that for some time, but not now.

About twelve years ago I took the Master Birding course from my local chapter of Audubon. It was a great course, with the identification classes taught by Dennis Paulson, a nationally recognized authority on shorebirds. Upon finishing the course, I was officially a Master Birder. Cool.

About four years later I was meeting some neighbors of my in-laws. One of them found my being a Master Birder to be quite hilarious, due to the fact that the term sounds similar to an activity not usually discussed in polite company. I am no longer a Master Birder. Nor am I a Master Bird Watcher. I'm just a bird watcher.

Even though I completed a course which entitled me to the rating of master, I've never really felt like a master. Advanced intermediate maybe, but not master. Frankly, I don't know how some of my classmates have found the time in their lives to get the bird identification practice needed to become as proficient as some of them have. I'm more than just a little jealous!

Winter Hummingbirds

I continue to be amazed at the resiliance of the Anna's Hummingbird. One or more always seem to hang around my feeder throughout the winter. When the weather turns really cold (around here that means anything below freezing) I always expect they will disappear and not return. I don't understand why these birds don't freeze solid in such weather. Those tiny little bodies, they have so little mass to them. Wouldn't they lose heat so quickly as to become hypothermic during the long cold night?

Thinking of this reminds me once again of the complexity and fragility of our world, and the impact we have on it. Humans have made more negative impacts on the natural systems and cycles of Earth than any other living thing. In fact the only thing I can think of that possibly can eclipse human despoliation of the planet is an asteroid impact or our Sun reaching supernova status.

There is one thing which makes an impact greater than any. Our global population is now beyond six billion individual lives, yet their are so many among those masses who believe they must procreate beyond all practical guidelines. Often they believe so for religious reasons, sometimes they are driven by perceived economic benefits. In wealthy nations they can afford to say, "I want to have lots of kids!" just because it sounds fun or is thought to be rewarding in some non-economic way. And our government rewards such thinking through yearly tax credits.

Then there is the philosophy that we must have a continuously growing population to keep our economy healthy, which I have long believed sounds like the biggest pyramid scheme in the history of the world. Or maybe it's the purveyors of actual pyramid schemes who advance this plan as a way to ensure there continued economic security. But it's always the ones at the bottom of the pyramid who wind up suffering, and in the global pyramid those will be the impoverished and powerless.

Romney's Religion Speech

Mitt Romney today defended his Mormon faith in public. Among other things he argued that many citizens are trying to remove use of the word "God" from the public arena. He went on to say, "It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America -- the religion of secularism. They are wrong."

What Romney has forgotten is that there are religions which do not believe in "God." Buddhists do not have a capital G "God," although I understand some elevate Buddha to the status of a god. Shintoists also lack the capital G "God," as do the Taoists and Confucianists (alright, I admit their is some debate about whether the latter group is actually part of a religion). There are others who practice religions with no god, capital G or otherwise. Removing the word "God" from the public arena would be fair, not secular.