The Bloggers - Luke Tiller
Saturday, thanks to some cajoling from Dawn (blog here) I lead (in the loosest terms possible) a days tour of my own fair state for a group of birders who Blog Tweet and or Chirp (basically use some form of electronic communication to muse on birds and birding). It was a really fun day and a great chance to meet some people whose blogs I had read but never met in person. It really is amazing how birding, like most things in life, has been affected by the invention of the internet. Whether it be through listserves getting rare sightings out to 100’s of birders a the blink of an iPhone (ctbirding), giving birders the opportunity to contact people around the globe to discuss identifications, ask for advice on places to visit, to simply share our passion for birds (on blogs or listserves) or as happened on Saturday, to simply offer a chance to meet up with a group of random strangers who share a passion for all things feathered.
I say I was cajoled into leading the trip but actually it’s something I love to do, otherwise I’d be doing something else for a living. It’s certainly not something that you get into for the opportunity of making a vast fortune (if that had been my goal I might have let myself get headhunted by a now defunct merchant bank at 27). It’s always a joy to show people new places and especially new birds and although we didn’t exactly set the world alight with our sightings on Saturday, the end of day haul was pretty nice with a mix of birds that were either somewhat at their northern boundary in the US (Boat-tailed Grackle, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron), at the southern end (Common Raven – 2 by the shore in Stratford), coastal specialties (Saltmarsh and Seaside Sparrows) a global rarity (Piping Plover – perhaps only 6-7000 on the planet!), and one special out of place vagrant (King Eider).
The only down side of leading is that having to keep at least half an eye on the actual birds you get less time to just natter with people, but then I guess that’s what lunch and ice-cream breaks are for! Anyway I got to meet some really nice people from as far away as New Jersey and Vermont and hopefully made a few new birding buddies both in the real and the virtual world. Check out the other blogs for some reflections on the day out.
Present on the day were:
Dawn and Jeff from Dawns Bloggy Blog
Dan from Nature Observances
Dee from Oak and the Seed
Chris from Tails of Birding
Bev from Behind the Bins
Christopher from Picus blog
Larry from The Brownstone Birding Blog
Cindy from Living in Brooklyn, Longing for Maine
Laura from Interstitial Spaces
Mark from Strack16
Catherine from Birdspot blog
We also ran into CT birders Paul Desjadins and Scott Kruitbosch. It’s always fun to hear Paul reminisce on the history of CT Birding. You may have seen a few of Scotts videos online if you a regular on CTbirds – if not check them out here.
Under Clear Skies 
So true that the internet has changed things..
Thank you Thank you for letting me cajole you into being our fearless leader!
Even though it wasn’t the birdiest day..We saw around 65 species..not bad.
And Jeff and I got a life bird, The King Eider ..
We had great company..Yummy Lobster rolls and icecream twice in my case…cant get much better than that.
Thanks again…I hope that we can do this again in the future!
Feel free to use our new website for BwBTC to plan or announce any Bird walks, talks, etc.
http://www.bwbtc.org/index.php
Well thank you for getting everyone together for the day it was really such fun. Hopefully to be repeated in the not too distant future.
Thanks for everything Luke. I had a great time and it was good to see you again. You also put us on to some surprisingly good birds for this time of the year.
You’re welcome – good to see you again – as you say considering the timing of the walk (early July) I thought we did quite nicely!
I tend to be quiet in a group so appreciated your gentle leadership. (Did you enjoy the watermelon?)
Watermelon was great – thanks! Hope to see you soon.
Hey Luke,
It was nice meeting you on Saturday. Knowing that you do this for a living, it was very nice of you to volunteer your Saturday to show us around to some of your home patches, and get some very nice birds to boot (and especially so for July!) You did a great job and I know that everybody really appreciated it.
I hope to pull together another trip this fall -I’ll be sure to keep yo in the loop on it.
Cheers!
Hi Chris,
Really nice to meet you. I’m just disappointed to be missing your Hawaiian Shirt extravaganza! Hope to see you again soon.
Luke
It was great meeting you Luke and hopefully soon will be birding in your area again soon 🙂 You really brought us right to some great birds.
dan
Hey Dan,
Really good to meet you as well. Drop us a line if you’re heading down this way.
Luke
That sounds like so much fun! Having pulled my head of the sand (finally), I’m hoping to re-join the birding flock soon, and will look for your walks.
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