As many of you know, I'm an avid birdwatcher.  But few of you probably understand fully just how much of a bird-geek I am.  So by way of illustration, I offer this:  I keep a list of the birds I see each year, in addition of my life list and some other lists I keep, which I won't go into here, lest I jettison what small scraps of dignity I have left.  My year lists actually serve several purposes.  First, it's fun to see how many different species I can see in a given year (yeah, told you I was a geek).  Also, it can serve as a helpful record of when and where I saw certain things. 

But the main reason I do it is that it compels me to pay attention to the more common birds at least once a year.  Birders often focus on finding rarities, on adding new birds to their life lists.  It becomes easy -- far too easy -- to take the more common stuff for granted.  By keeping my year lists, I make myself go out and search for the common locals that are easily overlooked but well worth finding.  For at least one day each year, I actively look for nuthatches and chickadees, robins and doves.

That's what I did this afternoon.  It's cool and breezy here today, but crystal clear.  And I got out for an hour or so, and did some birding.  It's something I want to do more of this year.  What did I see?  Not a whole lot, but some cool things.  A Cooper's Hawk, a Brown Thrasher, a Hermit Thrush, several species of sparrow, including Fox, Swamp, Field, and White-throated.  I also saw a pair of bluebirds, some cardinals, and a bunch of other things that I'll probably see hundreds times between now and the end of the year.  But for today, every bird was exciting; each one was "new" all over again.