Quite often we hear the old question, "How do I get started in Bird Watching?". The answer is always the same, go out and see what is around your part of the world. Learn to LOOK at the birds you see, and get a mental picture fixed in your mind. Then, when the time is right, you look the bird up in your Field Guide. Usually you can identify it from the pictures and descriptions. This gets you started, and then you can find a club, or just another person or 2 to share your new hobby. That makes the hobby more fun, and you can learn more about your area from any who have more experience. You don't have to go on long trips to exotic places to see interesting birds, or spend long hours out in the field beating the bushes, and the following story illustrates this.

The other day, a friend and I went out for an hour to check out a report of large numbers of Tundra Swans. We found a little lake with 175 of these beautiful big birds, and were thrilled by the sight. Then, as we drove around a corner and over a rise, we saw the main event! A nearby larger lake had over 1500 swans on it! They were accompanied by thousands of Snow Geese, and the sounds were wonderful! We were able to get within 100 metres of a mixed flock of swans and geese, and got a lot of pictures. The birds couldn't tell what we were, as we were partially screened by some bushes. But alas, as we maneuvered to get a clearer picture, they saw us! The sky exploded, as a flock of over 5000 Snow Geese took off. The sight and sounds of a peacefully resting flock of birds changed with a roar, into a sky full of frantically climbing birds. The sound reminded me of my air force days, and the sounds of the planes reversing thrust on landings.

This flock flew over to the other side of the lake and landed, and peace returned to the water. The swans that were left behind near us then began to patter across the water, their wings slapping the surface until they got up to flying speed. They too, landed after a few minutes of circling to check us out. After the sound level had dropped back to normal, we noticed a Golden Eagle approaching the lake, to check out all those white things on it. As it got closer, some of the geese erupted into the air again, this time in numbers nearing 15,000. The roar of their wings was deafening, even though they were over a kilometre away. The eagle, as it circled over the lake, put up several other flocks of ducks, geese, and swans. Our best estimate of the numbers of geese was 30,000, and the swans, nearly 2,000.

We noticed, as the birds moved farther out into the middle of the lake, that the surface of the water had a coating of white feathers floating on it. As we scanned the water, we could see that the shores on the down-wind side had great mats of feathers that had blown into shore. All of these birds were just finishing up with the molt, and the old feathers were being left behind as the new plumage reached perfection. This too, was new to us. We had seen smaller numbers of feathers before, but never a lake that was covered with them!

As we headed for home, we stopped briefly at another lake, where we saw another flock of 3000+ Snow Geese, and as we scanned the shore, we were rewarded with a fitting end to a fantastic hour. A Bald Eagle was sitting in a tree near the shore, and as we scanned the skies and water near this magnificent bird, we could see a flock of Snow Buntings tumbling across the sky. All in all, this was one of the most memorable hours of my long life of watching birds going about their daily business of survival. Even an hour of birding can bring results that will live in your memory for many years!