~ By Vicky ~
Prior to making our Birding Unfettered website about our birding adventures, S. and I had wanted to find a way to document trends in what we were seeing - the month of bird chicks, arrivals, departures, distinguishing seasonal behaviors, etc. We were running into the issue of misremembering and having to look back at photos to jog our memories. We really wanted to make some kind of calendar or visual-aid that we could put all our notes in one spot for easy reference. Time passed, we went on many birding outings, and then, we ended up making this website as a way to document our trips. As we have been working on the website, we realize it still doesn't quite satisfy the easy reference guide we initially were dreaming of (and need for our dreamer-brained mismemory problems). The newest section of our website, Field Notes Timeline, is our attempt at this reference guide. The idea is to be field notes and so not polished entries.
Any interest in which one attempts to learn about about a vast system (trees, flowers, bugs, birds, etc.) requires diligence and organization. Any interest in which one attempts to find relaxation and engagement requires immersion and letting go. Attempts of being both immersive and letting go, with being diligent and organized is a paradox unto itself. The former attempt of being is living in the present moment and capturing what can be captured with all five senses and aptitude, while holding in awe the thing of study without overthinking it out of its very existence. Making it about it and not you. The latter is self-discipline, past and future-mindedness, and capturing the thing of study in oblique human means with words, images, and concepts. Making it about you and not it.
Thus the problem of how two dreamers such as ourselves can go birding as our aptitude and attitudes drive us, and how we can go birding as two intellectual beings driven to assimilate knowledge into our studied minds. We are both book readers. Appreciators of art and beauty. S. is the scholar, and I the journey(wo)man. The Field Notes Timeline is our beginners attempt to be more systematic with our observations. To combine our need to organize time and facts into a utilitarian visual-aid. As more data is collected and trends arise we may yet be in need of another tool. Until such time we shall continue to plot and scheme, and record new adventures in our bird-brained ways.
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