Here is my spark bird story: I’ve long enjoyed hiking, and I took a casual interest in the woodpeckers and blue jays in my local forest where I grew up in New Jersey. However, I did not become a birder until I stepped off a plane in Central Australia in 2017 and saw my first Galah. These pink and gray cockatoos, with white crests that they extend on alert, comically waddle around on the ground chomping away at grasses and seeds.
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It was so shocking to me to see large flocks of such creatures in a semi-arid desert. Soon I noticed brilliant green birds as well, Australian Ringnecks, with their bright yellow collars and blue-black heads and wingtips. It was mind-boggling. Uneducated about birds, I’d always imagined that cockatoos and parrots were inhabitants of humid jungles, and here I was, in a hot, dry environment surrounded by them!
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It was a lightning flash moment in which I realized there was so much more to birds—and to bird diversity—than I had ever expected. The very next day, when I got my library card, the first book I checked out was Pizzey & Knight’s “Birds of Australia,” and I was off! I’m pleased to say that my fascination with birds has remained since moving back to the United States, where I have found the birds of the Sonoran Desert and Sky Islands to be just as fun and novel.
#birding #sparkbird
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jendefer