How You Know a Birder's "Got It Bad"

I showed up at the hawkwatch last Saturday around 1:30 pm. We had all been expecting it to be a good flight day with SW winds between 10-15 mph, ideal conditions for raptor migration as I understand it. When I approached the top of the ramp with my scope and tripod over my shoulder and bins and camera around my neck, our* hawk counter looked at me and tapped his watch with a teasing look of disapproval. I protested with a hint of a whine, "I know, I know!" I squeezed in on the platform's long bench between the regulars, and they asked why I was so late.

-"Well, it's hard getting out of bed when there's a sweet boy and a nice cat to cuddle with..."
-"You should know better- birds first! Birds before boys!"

And that, folks, is how you know if a birder's got it bad--they opt for more time with that special someone instead of going birding.



*I use the word "our" loosely. BBRR hires someone each Spring to count the raptors that migrate over the Braddock Bay hawkwatch. I volunteer with BBRR a little, and I noticed myself using "us/we/our" recently without realizing it.