After last summer I decided that I would try to spend more time finding things that I enjoy about being outside even when it’s hot. Or finding places where I could go that weren’t as hot. One of my favorite places to go when I want to be outside but it’s hot is my balcony. It stays in the shade for the first half of the day and then by late afternoon a tree provides some shade. When I sit out there I usually just listen to all the sounds I’m hearing. I started noticing that I hear American Goldfinches a lot this time of year and I never knew they were this active in my neighborhood until now.
This has made me think back to the first time I saw a goldfinch, in spring of 2018. I was in the backyard at my parents’ house (which was in Chicago, where I lived at the time). I would go over there during my lunch break sometimes and sit out in the backyard with their dog while they were at work. One day while I was out there, I saw a bright yellow bird in my mom’s rose arch and it was squeaking! It sounded like a dog’s squeaky toy. I had never seen such a bright yellow bird before and it sounded so cute that I had to find out what it was.
Not from my first goldfinch sighting, but the first time I took a picture of one. I really wanted to learn how to get nice close up pictures of birds!
If you’re a birder, you’ll know that the bird that gets someone into birding is called their spark bird. After I discovered what the goldfinch was, I was hooked. It was definitely my spark bird. I found out we had Baltimore Orioles in Chicago! I had never seen such a bright orange bird before (notice a pattern here?) and I wondered how I went 27 years without seeing one. I knew what a Baltimore Oriole was but I didn’t realize they migrated to that area. I started learning more about what birds migrate where and at which time of year.
I was amazed at what nature reveals to you when you pay attention. Next, I learned about Indigo Buntings and that we had THOSE in Chicago! When I finally saw one, I couldn’t believe I had never seen such a bright blue bird before. I had also decided around this time that I wanted to get back into photography. I’ve loved photography since I was a teenager, but for years the only time I would take my camera out would be on vacations to other places. I got interested in wildlife photography as a teenager too, and after a trip to Yellowstone where my parents rented me a telephoto lens, I realized that was the kind of photography I wanted to do. I had always loved animals since I was little and getting to see them up close through the lens was so cool! I thought that I could only find “cool” wildlife in cool places like Yellowstone though, so I still would only pursue wildlife photography on vacations.
Since I had just started learning a lot about birds, I decided I’d try to take pictures of birds since now I knew there were so many cool birds everywhere! I quickly learned that just because they’re everywhere doesn’t mean they’re easy to take pictures of. I had to learn their behaviors, which birds were more curious than others, and what time of year to look for them. I have learned so much from birds and it’s made me a better wildlife photographer. I also learned not to take them for granted. I live in Colorado now and while Northern Cardinals are rare here, they were everywhere in Chicago. They were actually one of the only birds that I DID notice before I became a birder. Even though I get to see Steller’s Jays, my favorite bird here in the west, I do still miss some of those midwestern birds that I only got to spend a brief time with before I moved to Colorado.
Through a lot of practice, I was able to get much better at taking pictures of birds. This is my favorite goldfinch picture, from an evening walk in Boulder County, CO.
This taught me an important lesson though, and that’s this: nature is everywhere. It’s in big cities like Chicago and it’s in mountains in the West. You don’t have to go to a national park to see wildlife. It’s all around us if we look close enough and pay attention. For me, paying attention all started with a little yellow bird that sounds like a squeaky toy.