Rudely awoken
Close up view of a Magpie Lark
This morning I took a few minutes out of various tasks to sit in the sunshine on our back veranda.
We haven’t seen much sunshine of late, but this is the last day of a cold, wet and miserable winter for us here in South Australia. Today the weather has suddenly turned on spring – a day early. Not complaining, mind you. I did a little reading and strangely, the eyelids became somewhat heavy – and I fell asleep. Good – I needed the rest.
A few minutes into my dream world and I was rudely awoken by a raucous Magpie Lark (“Murray Magpie” or “Peewee”) calling loudly about a metre away.
How inconsiderate.
Close up view of a Magpie Lark
Birding is a great hobby
Rainbow Lorikeet
Birding is a very cheap and relaxing hobby. You can pursue it almost anywhere . I once made a list of birds seen in church – through a nearby window – go figure. I’ve also made a list of birds heard while still in bed (while camping). I’ve even made lists of birds heard while sitting on the toilet.
You could say I’m a little obsessed.
As for being a cheap hobby, you don’t need any special equipment. Sure – you can buy expensive field guides and handbooks. The Handbook of Aussie birds (7 volumes) will set one back over $3000. Binoculars can cost from $125 to many thousands of dollars. Camera gear and travel can add considerably to costs – I spent over $6000 a few years ago to see and handful of species new to me on the slopes of Mt Everest (read about that on my travel blog).
But birding can be as cheap as looking out of the window to see a beautiful finch or wren hopping around the garden.
The hobby is whatever you want to make it.
If birding appeals to you can I suggest reading my series called How to be a Birder?