A couple of years ago I started my quest for knowledge and wanted to become a birder.
I always loved nature, but growing up in a big grey city made it very hard to enjoy it. Then, while living in another country for a totally different reason, I discovered that I liked birds and wanted to learn more about them.
I had no money for books, guides, fancy equipment, etc. All I had were my new 'birding eyes' and a small camera (got stolen and after half a year I got the one you see here)
I decided to start this blog to learn. I had no idea of what it meant to be a birder, what I would need, the amount of information I would find, etc. My only source was Internet, and as there was no information in Spanish, I thought I would give it a shot in English.
I started to meet the most wonderful people! It was slow, but then I found so many great blogs, awesome naturalists and birders, and it was such a joy to continue with my learning.
A few months later, once back at home (Peru), I started to find pretty birds...
And as I have a partner that enjoys nature, birding and adventures as much as me, it was fun to take a walk to the park or make a trip somewhere... (too bad he's away for a few months)
Then, with my dear love, managed to get field guides, one by one...
But as you may have noticed by now, possibly the most important piece was missing: Binoculars!
I'm happy to say that I have a pair now! This week I got a precious gift from a very dear friend, a dear angel who has been a huge help in the past months in many ways. I'm so excited to be able to use what belonged to this dear angel! I've been out this weekend for a couple of hours and it was AWESOME. It is another world when you see it through these...
I'm almost set! All I need now is my sidekick to come back and off we go...
2009/02/08
Piece by piece
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23 comments:
Woo-Hoo!! Finally--your very own binoculars!!
Mel's officially a birder now!
Congratulations my dear friend.
Hola Ruthie,
I'm soooo excited!!!
I will use them with pride, as their belonged to a dear friend, and will enjoy them sooo much (in fact, I already do!!)
Besos,
Mel
With your energy it will not be long before you will be writing some field guides! LOL . . . BTW: that sony use to be the camera that I used! It is a good camera!
You're on your way, Mel. That's basically how I got started, too. Congratulations!
Hola Tom,
Lol, me??? field guides?? lol, that was a good one :D
Nice to know you used to have a camera like mine! I do have hope! hahaha...
Hi there, dear Kaufmans!
I'm so excited! Can't wait for the next weekends!!!
Dear Mel my congratulations to you! Looks like we started in almost the same way! My very very best wishes to you!
Way to go, Mel! The internet is such a handy resource to supplement those bird guides.
Congratulations and may a whole new world of birds open for you.
It's official! I wasn't official until Christmas 07.
Congratulations, Mel. You are an excellent birdy person.
Mary
Hola a todos :)
Alu,
thank you my friend!!
Snail,
yes, I was lucky to find you all ;)
James,
thanks! I'm sure it will be awesome!!
Mary,
I love being a birdy person :) :) :)
Wow! I didn't know! Congratulations - it will change your world. I loved this story. Thanks for sharing. BTW - that big, black Peru guide is legendary.
Dear Mel,
Oh my goodness!Congratulations! I am so happy for you and for us and all the birds.
These binoculars are a treasure. Will you start a life list?
Be sure and look at the butterflies and the bees too...dragonflies are fantastic.
Love your photographs.
Hugs,
Sherry
Gracias por su visita :)
T.R.,
That guide is AWESOME! A bit too heavy to carry around (at least for me), but delicious to enjoy page by page!
I'll contact Gunnar once he's back from Brasil and find out if he's planning a new excursion, would be perfect to try the new bins :)
Sherry,
It is so good to have you back! I can tell your trip was fun, looovely pics!!
Don't worry, I look for every living creature ;)
Besos a los dos,
Mel
How fantastic, Mel. Birding really is tough without bins. But now that you've got them, I wonder if you'll ever find time to come inside and blog!
Hey Mel! I didn't realize you didn't have binoculars. What a whole new world is now open to you and your birding. Enjoy! Be sure to share your new finds with us.
Looking back at the path you travelled in your quest for becoming a birder is interesting.
Sad for losing that camera & congratulations for your new binoculars :)
A very nice post. Keep it up & Best of Luck for your journey ahead.
Hola amigos :)
Mike,
Yes it is. But now it is so much nicer and I'm very grateful for the opportunity I have been given.
Sekhar,
Thank you, I plan to use them wisely ;)
Excellent Mel,
this will open up a whole new world for you!
congrats on the binos..the books and the guy!
Happy Birding
If you have no money for a fancy camera (just like me), you should try digibinsing....try to hold your camera in front of your binoculars and take your pictures. Try to use the most of your camera (burst mode for instance), and you will get some more than decent pictures...
Great blog!
Congratulations Mel, you now have the tools you need and a whole world of birds to explore!
While I cannot say that I am a birder I do find them to be beautiful available subjects for my passion, wildlife photography.
Hi, nice to see that your moving on with the birdwatching.
Hola amigos :)
Meggie,
I didn't have binoculars, but trained my eyes on finding birds in tall trees or messy bushes. I think it will come handy when I use the bins later on ;)
Dawn,
Thanks for the wishes! It does open a new world, it is so exciting!
Laurent,
I checked out your technique and I may start trying that pretty soon. For what I've seen of your pictures, it is really cool!
Salty,
I've seen your pics and they are awesome! Thank you for your visit :)
Tor,
It's slow but happening! I'm happy that it is coming all together piece by piece.
I'm planning a trip to Arequipa later in the year, I may contact you for info on places to go birding or to id birds if that's ok with you.
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