Birding

Right now I'm reading the book "To see every bird on earth," and really loving it. It's a biography of the author's father, who is one of the big "listers," a birder who lists all the species he has seen in what becomes more than a competitive hobby, and who particularly has reached over 7000 species (there are about 400 in the US). I love reading this and thinking of all the memories of birdwatching with my dad, who loves birdwatching. I remember Christmas bird counts, and the hawk watch at the top of Afton mountain, other bird club meetings, and so many times driving in the car with dad pointing out birds from the window; my first bird field guides (to go along with reptile and insect and fish field guides). Basically if you take all the good aspects of this book, and the man's life, and remove all the bad parts (i.e. the obsessiveness of the listing, emotional distance between father and son) that is the memories I have with my dad and birds. One thing that I want to be sure we do, if he can come visit while I'm here in Cameroon, is go on a bird watching walk/hike through the mountain valleys together.

At the beginning of my service, my parents sent me one field guide to Birds of Central and Western Africa (*), and my coworkers from the Outer Banks Wildlife Education Center sent me Birds of Western Africa (Nik Borrow and Ron Demey--great illustrations) so I have been well equipped in identifying some of the species I see around my village and trips. Occasionally I write down the species I have seen, when I'm able to identify them. Sometimes, when I dream about building a house somewhere here in the country, having an agroforestry demonstration farm, I think about offering on the side birdwatching tours, training a few Cameroonians as guides, and boosting tourist/birding opportunities. It would be a good program--if Cameroon were more tourist friendly.

For the fellow birdwatchers (a term less intense than "birders", right? I can't say I'm a birder.) here is my Cameroonian list. It's of course very small, as there are so many birds I have seen but have been unable to identify, not having my field guide nearby, or forgetting about it afterwards. Still, some of these birds are pretty amazing, and definitely different from what I have at home in VA and NC.

Senegal Coucal--Centropus senegalensis

Abyssinian Roller--Coracias abyssinicas (my favorite)

Red-Cheeked Cordon-Bleu--Uraeginthus bengalus

Stone Partridge--Ptilopachus petrosus
Abyssinian Ground Hornbill--Bucorvus abyssinicus
?African pied hornbill? (another hornbill species)
Pied Crow--Corvus albus
?Spur winged Goose--Plectropterus gambensis
Red billed Hornbill--Tockus erythrorhynchus
Long-taled Glossy Starling--Lamprotornis caudatus
Red-collared widowbird--Euplectes ardens
PinTailed whydah--Vidua macroura
?(some type of malimbe)--Malimbus
Cliff chat--myrmecocichla cinnamomeiventris
Senegal Parrot--Poicephalus sengalus
African Paradise Flycatcher--Terpsiphone viridis
Common bullbull-Pycnonotus barbatus
Laughing Dove--Streptopelia capicola
Black headed Weaver--Ploceus melanocephalus
some type of bee-eater, although what i saw seemed dark teal, with nothing corresponding in my field guide

Many other birds I see regularly but haven't identified down to genus, such as warblers, brilliant kingfishers, herons and many raptors. It's the striking birds that I see when walking in the country and then can remember later when I look through the field guide.

As the book is inspiring, I'm traveling more with my field guide and binoculars, and hope to take some walks in the mountains with it, so hopefully the list will grow.No intention of listing birds obsessively, however, while I'm in Cameroon, I shouldn't miss this opportunity to see some I may never see again!

I just picked up another book "The Big Year" also about competitive birdwatching in the Ngoundere Peace Corps house, so I think I'll read that one after, and continue the birding inspiration!