I saw this bird and I thought of you

A friend sidled up to me the other day and said, “I saw this little bird and I thought of you, Trevor.”

Now – I’m not sure whether that ever happens to you or not, but it is becoming a rather frequent occurrence in my life. You see, I’m not slow at letting people know that I am a birder, someone whose passion is watching birds in the wild. That’s what this blog is all about after all.

Said friend went on to say that this little bird actually attacked him. I pressed him with several key questions, such as, size, colour, location and what was it actually doing. Within a minute I had established that it was probably a Red-capped Plover (see photo), a small wading bird common around the coast of Australia and in suitable wetlands inland. It was “attacking” my friend because it either had a nest with eggs or newly hatched chicks nearby.

Red-capped Plover

It is nice to be recognised for one’s expertise in this way. What annoys me, however, is the growing number of friends and acquaintances who say the same thing after they return from a holiday in some exotic location.

“Oh Trevor,” they chirp as happy as a Sparrow with a bowl full of seed, “we saw this beautiful parrot in Cairns (or Broome or Darwin or wherever) and we immediately thought of you.” After the initial polite smile and excited ooohs and aaahs I go away fuming. I’ve NEVER seen that species in my life. And they’ve seen it and they are not even birders. Grrrrrr.

So what do I do about this annoying situation?

Perhaps I need to go for more holidays to exotic places. Then I can blithely reply, “Yeah, but did you see the Scarlet-crested Rainbow-winged Blue and White Cockatoo*?. It sat on my shoulder and nibbled at my ear.”

Or some other suitable anecdotal put-down.

*There is NO such animal – I just imagined it, but it sure sounds exotic and fabulous.