My Tiny Life List
2 March 2008 by mm
Though I like observing and looking for birds, I don’t have an extensive life list, and I haven’t even written mine down as serious bird watchers do. My all time favorite bird to watch is the sanderling, a shore bird often seen in flocks on the Oregon coast and other beaches. Sanderlings move rapidly along the surf like wind up toys. They are so charming I could watch them for hours. This youtube video gives an idea of their locomotion, but seeing a flock of them moving rapidly on the sand is a unique experience and always worth a trip to the coast.
E. J. Peiker has a good page of close up photos of sanderlings. He is an amazing nature photographer with, obviously, an extensive life list of birds. He’s put up many hundreds of his photos on his website and indexed them according to type of bird. It’s well worth browsing through his pictures. Some of the photos are so life like I almost feel justified in adding them to my life list. Not that I would. I’m just saying.
I love sanderlings, too, as you know. By the way, what’s a life list? I mean I think I figured it out from your post, but I’ve never heard it before.
It’s a list of all the birds you’ve ever seen in your life. It can be written down or kept in your head.
I’ve also heard the term applied to other areas of life. Things you’ve accomplished other than seeing birds.