BIRD SCHMIDT

Birdwatching in Flin Flon Creighton and Beyond

Meet the Schmidts

Dangers

Birding for Pets

Birding Hotspots

Our Life List

Birding Trip Reports

Pet Peeves

Brenda

Drivers who slow down to see what you are looking at. They scare off the birds!

Harvey

Lens covers on binoculars just don't fit properly.

Harvey took the photograph above of the chickadee. The day was so cold that you could see its breath. Unfortunately for me, I was at work and I missed the experience. Thank goodness for cameras, but as most birder's know, a photograph cannot take place of the experience itself. I will remain forever jealous of Harvey's good luck.

Meet the Schmidts

Harvey and Brenda Schmidt are Bird Schmidt. We are avid birders who have been birding together for 17 years. We seek new birding experiences at every opportunity. All holidays are planned around the spring and fall migrations.

As all serious birders know, friends and family do not always understand why you must run off at daybreak, and people who do not know you seldom take the time to find out what makes you tick. However, most birders have high self-esteem that allows us to accept the judgment of others and get on with the task at hand. A feeding vireo simply won't wait around for us to weigh the actions and reactions of non-birders. Just smile, say 'excuse me', and look for those wing bars!

Keeping a Life List

We agreed to keep a common life list which means that we both must agree on the identification of the bird before it makes our list. A shared life list has some problems. First, we do not always see the same bird. Second, we do not always agree on its identification. Third, such a practice means that we both must have equally good binoculars, and one spotting scope just isn't enough.

Reconnecting with Nature

Before we established ground rules, we tried to figure out why birding had become so important. We agreed that birding had become not only a sport, but an essential element in our lives, keeping us in touch with nature and, therefore, in tune with ourselves. We had reestablished a connection with nature that had been seriously neglected when we left our rural childhood homes to work in urban environments. The love of birds and the love of the natural world that we developed as kids had never left either one of us.

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Last updated September 21, 2004