Photo was taken in Johnson County Kansas. Canon EOS 60-D/75-300mm f/5.6 lens. Recording was taken in Borrego Springs State Park, California. Temperature: 102 degrees. :)
It was written by Jon Young if you really want to find out. [I won't get a dime.] :(
Or...I can tell you. : )
It’s this: birds know you’re there and if you're watching them. (I can vouch for that.) And if they think you’re up to no good? They use alarm calls (and they all know the language) to let other birds and animals know. Before you even see them. So good luck with your birding.
So how do you get by this early warning system of the forest? Easy.
Walk like a fox. Watch like an owl. Listen like a deer.
Silly? Maybe.
Of course that didn’t prevent me from trying it. After all it was passed down from Indians.
So here’s the Fox walk: pick up one of your front legs. : ) Let your foot dangle a second. Then put it straight down carefully. That’s it. Try it. Trouble is, where you put it down isn’t very far from where you had it. I don’t know how the Indians got anywhere. But it does kind of look like a fox. Birds may not notice you. But other people on the trail sure do.
I’m better at watching like an owl. It’s so you won’t go along looking like your hunting for birds. They might mistake it as hunting for birds. Instead pick a point and look at it. Don’t turn your head left or right but stay focused. Like an owl. (Makes sense. Owls can’t move their eyeballs.) That way birds think you are really interested in that acorn instead of them. Now you’re beginning to fit in.
Finally listen like a deer. I love this one. I can’t move my ears around like a deer. It would be cool. But I can focus my hearing first one direction or another. Then on soft or loud. It really helps hear things. And it’s fun. Especially when I'm waiting at the airport.
So out I go with my camera, binos, UV protection hat, small fanny pack, sound recorder, and three lenses hoping birds will take me for one of them.
I practiced a bit and then headed up the trail. Very slowly as I said--sparrows shooting across the trail in front of me. Obviously not buying it. But then out of the corner of my owl eye I saw a little gray bird sitting on the very top of the highest bush. A sentinel. Just as Young predicted. Hm.
Eyes straight ahead. Fox walking. Ears swiveling. I couldn’t really see what it was. Wrentit? Very common. I had plenty of photos. But it would be a good test.
Now Young didn’t address cameras. Birds don’t like them. Not a bit. You point it. Swoosh. They’re gone. So I kept moving, but even slower (not sure how I managed that). Then I raised my camera the other direction and slowly brought it around. Like a fox. He was close by but didn’t budge. Hm. Snap. Snap. Got it.
Here is one of the shots. Not a Wrentit at all. Rufous Crowned Sparrow. Life bird.
So. My assessment of the book in the end? One word.
