Birding and a Movie

Not all my free time can be spent birding. A bike ride Wednesday night. Poor little Nishiki. A broken axle has the bike sitting in Liberty's temporary repair shop for a few days. Yes, it may be an anchor weight but it still has some life left in it before being relegated to winter riding.



Thursday evening, a movie. We went to see the film 'The Time Traveler's Wife', based on the novel of the same name by Audrey Niffenegger. I was concerned it would be a sappy romance and became doubly concerned when I observed I was one of only a handful of guys (with their wives) in the theatre. I have read the book and enjoyed it. I'm not going to pretend I'm a reviewer but the movie was well done and I was not disappointed.



A time travelling gene. Hmmm.



Spoiler Alert!!!



Interesting how this gene contributed to the demise of the character. Similar in a way to another supposed gene, one for vagrancy.




The birder in me would listen to the bird songs during the exterior scenes and I believe the majority were added by sound editors after the fact. In the final scene with Henry and Clare I'm sure I heard a House Wren.




The movie was over and walking in the mall parking lot we heard the nasal peent of a Common Nighthawk emitting from a nearby tree. It was 9:15 PM and the half moon partially covered by clouds was not providing sufficient light to determine which branch the bird was roosting on. We had observed our lifer Common Nighthawk (2) flying above the sewage lagoons of the Wetland Ridge Trail in May of last year. After seeing a lifer, any subsequent observation of the bird where it is only heard counts. A lifer on the other hand, must be seen before I can add it to the life list.



After hearing the Common Nighthawk, the year list now stands at 177. Beating last year's total of 187 definitely seems possible. 11 species? Easy peasy, right?



Evidently, time travelling without a TARDIS can be dangerous. Birding whenever the opportunity arises, even without the bins, can be downright beneficial.