Point Pelee Part 2: The People
May 18th, 2010
Tree Swallow on a nest box at Thickson Woods. Itchy scratchy!
First, all about our two leaders: Roy and Ken.
Roy was sort of a drill sergeant for a good cause. He's the fellow who said, "the bus will leave at oh five four five point zero zero zero" and "rule number one: do not stand in the door of the bus. There are almost forty people on the bus and none of them can get off if you stand in the door. Rule number two: do not stand in the door of the bus. Rule number three: if you stand in the door of the bus, I will push you out."
Helpful, knowledgeable, and dedicated. An absolute ace at bird ID, even when all he got was a glimpse. As for his stickler rules, they were all for our sake--to insure that everyone had a great time, that no one person's carelessness sabotaged other people's enjoyment.
Ken was the type B to Roy's type A. The good cop to Roy's bad cop. The guy who exuded good humor and patience and generally had fun with it. The guy who said, after I and another woman arrived on the swamp boardwalk about fifteen minutes later than the rest of the group, all of us searching for the beautiful nesting Prothonotary Warbler, "you missed it." And then waited just a few moments for that to sink in before breaking into a grin and adding, "so did we."
Equally helpful, knowledgeable, and dedicated. Obviously an experienced naturalist, maybe a career naturalist. Always trying hard to maximize everyone's experience. After a bunch of us had been watching some interesting bird for a period of time, and we were about to move on, he'd ask a question like, "has anyone still not seen the [species name] who wants to?" And if someone said yes, he'd maneuver them into position, point, and give treasure-map-esque directions ("okay, see that fork in the big pine tree?") to the bird.
In case you can't tell, I really liked both of the leaders: they were an excellent team and the way their personalities played off each other was a source of amusement, at least to me.
I also overwhelmingly liked the group as a whole, and made all sorts of connections with all sorts of people. I constantly seemed to be ending up in mingle circles, chatting freely about various birdy things. Yes, really. Me, in mingle circles! The strong common interest, I guess, is what made it happen. It just came naturally.
There was a rather thrilling moment, socially, on the bus going home, when Ken stood up at the front and we all helped put together the communal trip list. He listed off all the species of birds in all the various categories (herons, warblers, sparrows, etc.) that he knew of that we had seen, and for each category, if someone had seen a bird in that category that wasn't listed, they spoke up. He sometimes mentioned likely omissions, e.g. "has anyone actually seen a Wood Thrush?" (Answer: no. We heard plenty, spotted none. Typical!)
It was thrilling because all that systematic, geeky, science-y stuff that I've always done privately--making trip lists, marking which birds I actually spotted and which I only heard, etc.--was now being done as a group. (Although, of course, I also maintained my private list which I will share with you in due time.) And they were as keen to get it down and get it right as I was. It was a thrilling sense of belonging, of having found a community.
I've been to a few other OFNC events, but none that worked nearly as well, socially, as this one. Now I want more. Now I want to spend more time with these people. Go on more events. Maybe even go to the monthly meetings.
May 18th, 2010
Tree Swallow on a nest box at Thickson Woods. Itchy scratchy!
First, all about our two leaders: Roy and Ken.
Roy was sort of a drill sergeant for a good cause. He's the fellow who said, "the bus will leave at oh five four five point zero zero zero" and "rule number one: do not stand in the door of the bus. There are almost forty people on the bus and none of them can get off if you stand in the door. Rule number two: do not stand in the door of the bus. Rule number three: if you stand in the door of the bus, I will push you out."
Helpful, knowledgeable, and dedicated. An absolute ace at bird ID, even when all he got was a glimpse. As for his stickler rules, they were all for our sake--to insure that everyone had a great time, that no one person's carelessness sabotaged other people's enjoyment.
Ken was the type B to Roy's type A. The good cop to Roy's bad cop. The guy who exuded good humor and patience and generally had fun with it. The guy who said, after I and another woman arrived on the swamp boardwalk about fifteen minutes later than the rest of the group, all of us searching for the beautiful nesting Prothonotary Warbler, "you missed it." And then waited just a few moments for that to sink in before breaking into a grin and adding, "so did we."
Equally helpful, knowledgeable, and dedicated. Obviously an experienced naturalist, maybe a career naturalist. Always trying hard to maximize everyone's experience. After a bunch of us had been watching some interesting bird for a period of time, and we were about to move on, he'd ask a question like, "has anyone still not seen the [species name] who wants to?" And if someone said yes, he'd maneuver them into position, point, and give treasure-map-esque directions ("okay, see that fork in the big pine tree?") to the bird.
In case you can't tell, I really liked both of the leaders: they were an excellent team and the way their personalities played off each other was a source of amusement, at least to me.
I also overwhelmingly liked the group as a whole, and made all sorts of connections with all sorts of people. I constantly seemed to be ending up in mingle circles, chatting freely about various birdy things. Yes, really. Me, in mingle circles! The strong common interest, I guess, is what made it happen. It just came naturally.
There was a rather thrilling moment, socially, on the bus going home, when Ken stood up at the front and we all helped put together the communal trip list. He listed off all the species of birds in all the various categories (herons, warblers, sparrows, etc.) that he knew of that we had seen, and for each category, if someone had seen a bird in that category that wasn't listed, they spoke up. He sometimes mentioned likely omissions, e.g. "has anyone actually seen a Wood Thrush?" (Answer: no. We heard plenty, spotted none. Typical!)
It was thrilling because all that systematic, geeky, science-y stuff that I've always done privately--making trip lists, marking which birds I actually spotted and which I only heard, etc.--was now being done as a group. (Although, of course, I also maintained my private list which I will share with you in due time.) And they were as keen to get it down and get it right as I was. It was a thrilling sense of belonging, of having found a community.
I've been to a few other OFNC events, but none that worked nearly as well, socially, as this one. Now I want more. Now I want to spend more time with these people. Go on more events. Maybe even go to the monthly meetings.
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