New Burly Birders

I have recently shared my birding interest with some unlikely candidates.

ACT 1:
A family getaway in Cape May was disrupted by an emergency visit to the local mechanic. When I dropped the vehicle off, the head mechanic offered to give me a lift. I refused by explaining, "Thanks but I'd rather walk. You see I'm a bird watcher and, with any luck, I may find some nice birds along the way."

The wrestler turned mechanic's jaw dropped open. "YOU'RE a BIRD WATCHER!"

Not sure if I was annoyed or simply taken off guard by his amazement, I shot back, "Yeah. Why are you so shocked?"

"When I think of bird watchers, I imagine little, frail ladies in their 70's dressed in goofy clothes and writing poetry. You look like a Yankees fan!"

This was an opening I could not resist. "Are you playing with me?! You live in Cape May, one of the world's most famous bird watching destinations, but you've never met a birder?!"

He chuckled, "Not that I know of."

I tried to appeal to his manliness by talking about the impending kick-off of hawk migration season. He was totally surprised to hear that so many "cool bnirds" were around his hometown.

As I walked back to meet the family, I vowed to wow him with more manly bird scenarios like Peregrines stooping on birds at full throttle when I picked up the car later in the day. Unfortunately, he was gone when pick-up time arrived.

Hopefully, his eyes were opened a bit more to the wonders of his own neighborhood.

ACT 2:
A trip to the pool club afforded me the opporutnity to fledge another birder.

As my children were splashing about the kiddie pool, a lone Common Nighthawk flew overhead. I excitedly pointed out the birds to my own little cherubs. Within moments, a deep voice uttered, "what kind of hawk did you say you saw?"

The spokesman appeared to be a old school linebacker/biker hybrid covered in tattoos.

The resulting 20 minutes conversation was full of questions relating fly-bys during his commute to work, his neighbor's feeders, and other bird information. Every so often, the discussion was punctuated by my poiting out of birds flying over (more nighthawks, Red-taikled Hawks, Great Egret, American Goldfinches).

The conversation closed with him saying that he was going to buy a bird book to learn more about the interesting birds in our area.