Well, Chough is definitely an amazing bird and one of the best birds to not miss in Europe. Much better than if your only bird of the trip was a Great Tit or a Hooded Crow.
Some similar regrets. I lived and worked in Belgium for awhile. Zero birds on my list. I saw a Quetzal on the Guatemala/Honduras border but have no true documentation. And I honeymooned in Panama prepared to bird so hard as my wife says, only to get caught in a national strike unable to get anywhere.
I feel all of those regrets, and I empathize with all my being. The Panama one really hurts because of how ready you were to bird the heck out of that place.
Maybe I should be grateful for not being well-traveled! I have some my own birding regrets too, mostly that I didn’t get into it sooner. I could’ve had Evening Grosbeaks at North Park! And I’ve definitely missed a lot of birds on trips to visit my grandparents in Massachusetts.
It’s funny how birding regrets work. You enjoyed the trips, but then it’s like, 'I could’ve experienced even more joy!!!' I do wonder how crazy we must seem to non-birders… probably best not to bring it up.
But 25 species on your own in Venezuela, navigating entirely different groups of birds, is still impressive. I hope your family gets the chance to return one day, hopefully sooner rather than later!
Sometimes I wonder...if I could erase my birding record and start over, would I? It was so exhilarating to discover all these new birds that were fairly common.
As to the German question...well, our teacher was American. So we learned a pretty standard version of the language. No Austrian accent or idioms. We had guest teachers that were Austrian, but I don't remember them being to hard to understand. Maybe they spoke...really...
When I was like 12 years old my family *won* a free trip to the Galápagos Islands (like, literally dropped a card with our mailing address into a box at the Liberty Science Center and were flown down there). I’m not a crazy list guy, but I gotta say, there are some pictures of me standing next to blue footed boobies and flightless cormorants, and I have a tinge of FOMO that I wasn’t dialed in to everything else at the time
so analogous to life in general. Missed opportunities and love. My sorta regret is the following: I was in Belize in Hopkins Village and decided to spend a week at Mama Noots jungle retreat. Solar power, "quaint", but so incredible outside. Birds and more birds. They had a cat and dog who followed me down the jungle path that ran along a river. I heard Toucans but before i could lift my binoculars i spotted a Jaguar across the river. The animals made no fuss; as if they knew something i didn't or were saying prayers before our impending deaths, and I stared asking permission to keep on going undisturbed. Moments passed and I finally took a few tiny steps forward and wasn't attacked; hardly actually. Jaguar went on its way and we went on ours to the 100 foot waterfall with a bathing pond at the bottom. I did finally see the Toucans on a return trip to Belize and Mama Noots.
One of my friends here just took a birding trip to Belize and it was incredible. Amazing biodiversity. Would absolutely love to go there someday.
Seeing a jaguar must have been a profound spiritual experience. Don't know how likely they are to attack a human, but I have to think a free roaming cat and dog were in some serious danger.
Belize is wonderous. Terrible roads but such lushness. Hummingbird Highway which requires a four wheel vehicle to travel is so spectacular it is worth the washboard roads thru most of the country. Truly time stood still in the little towns i stayed in.. Chickens outnumbered people.
well Pittsburgh is giving underdeveloped nations a run for the prize in the POTHOLE category.. I went out yesterday am sure my axel or whatever is under there is ruined. Geez Louise fix the streets..BUT i would rather curse potholes in Belize any day. Is there a plane leaving soon?
It was so fun to learn about your and Alex’s travels, Nate. Thank you for sharing! The birding regrets are tough, aren’t they? I regret not birding the Northwoods of Wisconsin every summer and winter I visited my family, who lived smack dab in the middle of the woods and adjacent to a lake. I actually became a birder while on a trip to Costa Rica with my husband. Thankfully I started keeping eBird lists right then, but still only managed to come away from a country with 927 birds with 17 birds on my list 🫠
Your post is timely, as just this past weekend I started going through old photos to try to bolster my birding life list (which stands at a paltry 211), and realized how many birding opportunities I missed during my travels. I was going to make a post about it in fact! (may still - I'm a terrible procrastinator). I only started really paying attention to birds a few years ago, and keeping track in 2023. I even did a birding tour with a friend in Grenada - as a favour to him - and the only bird I recall seeing is the Grenadian Dove, and that's only because my bird-fanatic friend was so excited about it! I've made a few exciting (to me) finds while going through my photos, and I'll continue to poke through old digital files to see what else I can find. I spent 3 weeks in Italy in 2004 and I don't recall a single bird I saw, even though I spent a lot of time on the coast and in other areas where SURELY there were some interesting species! I've been to over a dozen Caribbean islands where I could have added a number of species while barely trying. I therefore empathize greatly with your birding regrets.
Even now that I *am* paying attention, I always wonder how many new life birds I've missed by just not being knowledgeable enough - gulls and flycatchers are good examples of where I'm completely hopeless. "They're the same bird" indeed!
As an aside, my mother tongue is French and I took several years of Spanish in university. Sadly, lack of practice made me lose most of my Spanish vocabulary, although I can still thankfully ask where the bathroom is. I tried to learn Italian before my aforementioned trip in 2004, but my brain kept mixing up Spanish and Italian, and led to many very confused looks from the locals.
I'm eager to know what you find in those old photos! I also found a photo of some Carib Grackles, but that was one of the few I had already IDed in Venezuela. We have a ton of photo albums to go through, thanks to my wife being so organized. Hopefully I find another bird or two. The Green Jay was a total surprise :)
I wish I could still speak French, but it's been almost 20 years since I used it. Even longer for German. Spanish is the only one I can get by on, but I'm not going to pretend I'm in any way fluent.
Loved this essay, what a smorgasbord of travel and life! I love when birds weave into life narrative.
I regret not birding when in Northern California for my college years and a little bit after. I went to Yosemite without binoculars; it was more about beer around a campfire than birds in any way. I was still an emerging birder when i went to Alaska but saw an American Dipper and Common Mergs. I lived in NYC for a bit (didn’t know you had nyu days as well) and absolutely missed the boat with birding in Central Park, though Tompkins Square provided hawks at close range, with the bagels and coffee the place has a reputation for.
Central Park is a big one, but also one I'll rectify someday. Just need to get there during migration.
American Dipper is an absolute must before I die and probably the one I lament the most.
Beer around the campfire in Yosemite sounds like a wonderful memory, and really I have such great memories of all my travel, and that was the true joy of writing this post.
It was the true joy of reading it too, insight into the man behind the birding.
In a perfect world when you go back to Central Park for warblers a Mandarin Duck will be there! For American Dipper, one was unbothered when I hiked by at Zion's the Narrows. Perhaps a future travel destination for you? I haven't been in a few years but it's a 10/10 recommend (to steal your line). Not a different continent, but it could appeal to your wife's wanderlust while also tending to birding goals.
Totally get the hesitation to go too personal. I was there for a bit but people love the personal stuff, my top post is about redtails but a close second is about my life.
More than one subscriber has told me they prefer personal narrative to birds. It’s nice to have a blend: nerd out over warblers; give readers insight into the inner life of he who nerds out over warblers. You did it perfectly here. Didn’t know you were a cinephile.
Oh man, we used to watch a movie every night. Sometimes a double feature. We watched TONS of them before my wife started her PhD. More like once a week nowadays. You?
I’ve fallen out of the habit but double features used to be a regular thing in my younger days, or marathon lord of the rings or Rockies 1-4 (5 doesn’t count).
Your talent and experience are considerable and obvious. With your very lucky life encounters so far, regret is living in the past. Be here, now. I need your excellent Substack, and your outstanding writing skills and photography. My life experiences pale compared to yours, but I refuse to regret lessons learned and prefer to move forward.
Thank you so much Gary! The only real regret I have is that one trip to Venezuela. It nags at me that I didn't bird that remote part of the world. But even that little twinge of regret is overwhelmed by the full experience of going there. Easily the most beautiful, unspoiled place I've ever traveled.
You might not have birded early on in your life, but you seemed to have caught up quite a bit! I hope you and your wife get to go to Venezuela again someday. I’m sure it’s tough for her. Do you still speak German? I’m Dutch and German is basically the same thing 😂
Thank you! It is tough. Her parents and brother are still there and a few other family members and friends.
My wife has a cousin who is fluent in German. He tried to get me to speak it a few years ago and it was so weird. I remember the basic structure of the language (how to form sentences, etc), but the vocabulary just isn't there. Same when I hear the language. I can pick a few words out, but the vocab has just eroded too much, especially the verbs.
I was wondering where the name Vink came from! I suppose I could've just asked lol
Oh man that must be tough having the parents, brother, and some family still there. I can’t imagine what that must be like.
Vink is indeed Dutch, and fun fact: it means finch 😁 I guess my love for birding makes sense 😁
And yes, if you don’t continue speaking a language, you lose it. I struggle speaking in Dutch now. When I visit my friends and family in the Netherlands, it always takes me a few days to get back into it again and my English is now better than my Dutch even though Dutch is my mother tongue. It’s funny how that works.
Such a variety of places you have lived overseas Nathaniel! Those are experiences of a lifetime, birding or no birding.
I don't have regrets about not being an active birder while living in Korea (2003 - 2014.) Sometimes though I like to look at what birds are native to Korea and recall what I saw as best I can.
I've had truly wonderful experiences. It's funny to look back through a birder's lens and ask myself why the heck I didn't bird there. The answer is simply that I wasn't a birder at the time. Pointless to kick myself haha
I'd like to point out that in our little Boulder TV we were watching Sabrina for the hundredth time. I bet you even Audrey had regrets, and if Audrey had them, the rest of us are allowed to have them too. Also, I love the excuse to return to all those places to heal your regrets and feed my traveling desires!
She was an amazing woman! She was part of the Dutch resistance during WWII and delivered messages, unground newspapers, raised funds and sheltered allied pilots who were shot down at great danger to herself and even though her mother appeared to have Nazi sympathies. Her youth and beauty often shielded her from suspicion. She is one of my favorite actresses
Well, Chough is definitely an amazing bird and one of the best birds to not miss in Europe. Much better than if your only bird of the trip was a Great Tit or a Hooded Crow.
There must have been something about it because it's the ONLY bird I photographed during that 10 months.
Some similar regrets. I lived and worked in Belgium for awhile. Zero birds on my list. I saw a Quetzal on the Guatemala/Honduras border but have no true documentation. And I honeymooned in Panama prepared to bird so hard as my wife says, only to get caught in a national strike unable to get anywhere.
So yes, regrets...
Great piece, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading, Scot!!
I feel all of those regrets, and I empathize with all my being. The Panama one really hurts because of how ready you were to bird the heck out of that place.
Maybe I should be grateful for not being well-traveled! I have some my own birding regrets too, mostly that I didn’t get into it sooner. I could’ve had Evening Grosbeaks at North Park! And I’ve definitely missed a lot of birds on trips to visit my grandparents in Massachusetts.
It’s funny how birding regrets work. You enjoyed the trips, but then it’s like, 'I could’ve experienced even more joy!!!' I do wonder how crazy we must seem to non-birders… probably best not to bring it up.
But 25 species on your own in Venezuela, navigating entirely different groups of birds, is still impressive. I hope your family gets the chance to return one day, hopefully sooner rather than later!
I was around your age when I started birding. Then I stopped. This could have all been avoided 😭
Don’t stop birding, Sofia. Don’t let what happened to me happen to you.
I could never!! Not because I love it so much or anything, I've just formed a dependency lol. Need it for my sanity
Same. Mental health deteriorates rapidly when not birding
I can totally relate. I regret not having done any birding before I turned 30. So many years of missed opportunities!
I'm curious to know: how did you manage to learn German in Austria!? I'm German and I have an Austrian colleague. I can hardly understand him 😅
Sometimes I wonder...if I could erase my birding record and start over, would I? It was so exhilarating to discover all these new birds that were fairly common.
As to the German question...well, our teacher was American. So we learned a pretty standard version of the language. No Austrian accent or idioms. We had guest teachers that were Austrian, but I don't remember them being to hard to understand. Maybe they spoke...really...
really...
slowww...ly...
When I was like 12 years old my family *won* a free trip to the Galápagos Islands (like, literally dropped a card with our mailing address into a box at the Liberty Science Center and were flown down there). I’m not a crazy list guy, but I gotta say, there are some pictures of me standing next to blue footed boobies and flightless cormorants, and I have a tinge of FOMO that I wasn’t dialed in to everything else at the time
You are a well-adjusted human being. Your slight Galapagos FOMO would be my demise.
Seriously though, what an amazing experience. Happy you got to experience that part of the world.
Yeah i mean, I assume if I never get back there, it’ll sting more as I get older!
If you’re anything like me, it will 😂😂
so analogous to life in general. Missed opportunities and love. My sorta regret is the following: I was in Belize in Hopkins Village and decided to spend a week at Mama Noots jungle retreat. Solar power, "quaint", but so incredible outside. Birds and more birds. They had a cat and dog who followed me down the jungle path that ran along a river. I heard Toucans but before i could lift my binoculars i spotted a Jaguar across the river. The animals made no fuss; as if they knew something i didn't or were saying prayers before our impending deaths, and I stared asking permission to keep on going undisturbed. Moments passed and I finally took a few tiny steps forward and wasn't attacked; hardly actually. Jaguar went on its way and we went on ours to the 100 foot waterfall with a bathing pond at the bottom. I did finally see the Toucans on a return trip to Belize and Mama Noots.
One of my friends here just took a birding trip to Belize and it was incredible. Amazing biodiversity. Would absolutely love to go there someday.
Seeing a jaguar must have been a profound spiritual experience. Don't know how likely they are to attack a human, but I have to think a free roaming cat and dog were in some serious danger.
Cheers to your return and seeing the toucans!!
Belize is wonderous. Terrible roads but such lushness. Hummingbird Highway which requires a four wheel vehicle to travel is so spectacular it is worth the washboard roads thru most of the country. Truly time stood still in the little towns i stayed in.. Chickens outnumbered people.
Sounds like a dream.
Venezuelan roads are an adventure too. Potholes like swimming pools.
well Pittsburgh is giving underdeveloped nations a run for the prize in the POTHOLE category.. I went out yesterday am sure my axel or whatever is under there is ruined. Geez Louise fix the streets..BUT i would rather curse potholes in Belize any day. Is there a plane leaving soon?
Yeah they're pretty bad here. They were awful in Michigan. Awful in Ohio. Best roads I've experienced is Indiana. Would rather go to Belize.
It was so fun to learn about your and Alex’s travels, Nate. Thank you for sharing! The birding regrets are tough, aren’t they? I regret not birding the Northwoods of Wisconsin every summer and winter I visited my family, who lived smack dab in the middle of the woods and adjacent to a lake. I actually became a birder while on a trip to Costa Rica with my husband. Thankfully I started keeping eBird lists right then, but still only managed to come away from a country with 927 birds with 17 birds on my list 🫠
Wow, you and I are in the same boat. I'm no good with the maths, but your 17 out of 927 seems pretty similar to my 26 out of 1,416.
These places are pretty overwhelming, especially for a beginner. If I ever go back, I'll definitely hire a bird guide!
Wait...this is bananas. I did the math (well, Siri did the math), and the percentage is exactly the same--1.83%
What an engaging and fun read! That English and Lit background is coming through strong 💪.
Thank you Ruth!! I knew that English degree was going to pay off.
Hah!
Your post is timely, as just this past weekend I started going through old photos to try to bolster my birding life list (which stands at a paltry 211), and realized how many birding opportunities I missed during my travels. I was going to make a post about it in fact! (may still - I'm a terrible procrastinator). I only started really paying attention to birds a few years ago, and keeping track in 2023. I even did a birding tour with a friend in Grenada - as a favour to him - and the only bird I recall seeing is the Grenadian Dove, and that's only because my bird-fanatic friend was so excited about it! I've made a few exciting (to me) finds while going through my photos, and I'll continue to poke through old digital files to see what else I can find. I spent 3 weeks in Italy in 2004 and I don't recall a single bird I saw, even though I spent a lot of time on the coast and in other areas where SURELY there were some interesting species! I've been to over a dozen Caribbean islands where I could have added a number of species while barely trying. I therefore empathize greatly with your birding regrets.
Even now that I *am* paying attention, I always wonder how many new life birds I've missed by just not being knowledgeable enough - gulls and flycatchers are good examples of where I'm completely hopeless. "They're the same bird" indeed!
As an aside, my mother tongue is French and I took several years of Spanish in university. Sadly, lack of practice made me lose most of my Spanish vocabulary, although I can still thankfully ask where the bathroom is. I tried to learn Italian before my aforementioned trip in 2004, but my brain kept mixing up Spanish and Italian, and led to many very confused looks from the locals.
I'm eager to know what you find in those old photos! I also found a photo of some Carib Grackles, but that was one of the few I had already IDed in Venezuela. We have a ton of photo albums to go through, thanks to my wife being so organized. Hopefully I find another bird or two. The Green Jay was a total surprise :)
I wish I could still speak French, but it's been almost 20 years since I used it. Even longer for German. Spanish is the only one I can get by on, but I'm not going to pretend I'm in any way fluent.
Thanks for reading!
Loved this essay, what a smorgasbord of travel and life! I love when birds weave into life narrative.
I regret not birding when in Northern California for my college years and a little bit after. I went to Yosemite without binoculars; it was more about beer around a campfire than birds in any way. I was still an emerging birder when i went to Alaska but saw an American Dipper and Common Mergs. I lived in NYC for a bit (didn’t know you had nyu days as well) and absolutely missed the boat with birding in Central Park, though Tompkins Square provided hawks at close range, with the bagels and coffee the place has a reputation for.
Central Park is a big one, but also one I'll rectify someday. Just need to get there during migration.
American Dipper is an absolute must before I die and probably the one I lament the most.
Beer around the campfire in Yosemite sounds like a wonderful memory, and really I have such great memories of all my travel, and that was the true joy of writing this post.
It was the true joy of reading it too, insight into the man behind the birding.
In a perfect world when you go back to Central Park for warblers a Mandarin Duck will be there! For American Dipper, one was unbothered when I hiked by at Zion's the Narrows. Perhaps a future travel destination for you? I haven't been in a few years but it's a 10/10 recommend (to steal your line). Not a different continent, but it could appeal to your wife's wanderlust while also tending to birding goals.
Always down for a LOTR marathon 🤓
Thank you! Sometimes I worry I overshare the personal stuff. The last thing I want is to write a snoozer lol
Utah is definitely a goal for me. Not sure it's particularly on my wife's radar. That might be a solo trip someday :)
Totally get the hesitation to go too personal. I was there for a bit but people love the personal stuff, my top post is about redtails but a close second is about my life.
More than one subscriber has told me they prefer personal narrative to birds. It’s nice to have a blend: nerd out over warblers; give readers insight into the inner life of he who nerds out over warblers. You did it perfectly here. Didn’t know you were a cinephile.
Good and very welcome advice!
Oh man, we used to watch a movie every night. Sometimes a double feature. We watched TONS of them before my wife started her PhD. More like once a week nowadays. You?
I’ve fallen out of the habit but double features used to be a regular thing in my younger days, or marathon lord of the rings or Rockies 1-4 (5 doesn’t count).
Your talent and experience are considerable and obvious. With your very lucky life encounters so far, regret is living in the past. Be here, now. I need your excellent Substack, and your outstanding writing skills and photography. My life experiences pale compared to yours, but I refuse to regret lessons learned and prefer to move forward.
Thank you so much Gary! The only real regret I have is that one trip to Venezuela. It nags at me that I didn't bird that remote part of the world. But even that little twinge of regret is overwhelmed by the full experience of going there. Easily the most beautiful, unspoiled place I've ever traveled.
You might not have birded early on in your life, but you seemed to have caught up quite a bit! I hope you and your wife get to go to Venezuela again someday. I’m sure it’s tough for her. Do you still speak German? I’m Dutch and German is basically the same thing 😂
Thank you! It is tough. Her parents and brother are still there and a few other family members and friends.
My wife has a cousin who is fluent in German. He tried to get me to speak it a few years ago and it was so weird. I remember the basic structure of the language (how to form sentences, etc), but the vocabulary just isn't there. Same when I hear the language. I can pick a few words out, but the vocab has just eroded too much, especially the verbs.
I was wondering where the name Vink came from! I suppose I could've just asked lol
Oh man that must be tough having the parents, brother, and some family still there. I can’t imagine what that must be like.
Vink is indeed Dutch, and fun fact: it means finch 😁 I guess my love for birding makes sense 😁
And yes, if you don’t continue speaking a language, you lose it. I struggle speaking in Dutch now. When I visit my friends and family in the Netherlands, it always takes me a few days to get back into it again and my English is now better than my Dutch even though Dutch is my mother tongue. It’s funny how that works.
It sucks, but her mom just got a visa so she can finally travel here. She's visiting us next month!
That's the coolest last name possible. Finch. Much better than a type of hat.
That's how Alex is with Spanish. She left Venezuela for good at 16. Now her English is wayyy better.
I’m so happy she’s coming to visit! That is awesome. I hope you guys have the best time and get to do lots of things.
TY!!! :)
Such a variety of places you have lived overseas Nathaniel! Those are experiences of a lifetime, birding or no birding.
I don't have regrets about not being an active birder while living in Korea (2003 - 2014.) Sometimes though I like to look at what birds are native to Korea and recall what I saw as best I can.
Thanks for sharing and great read! Merci! 고마워요!
Thank YOU!
I've had truly wonderful experiences. It's funny to look back through a birder's lens and ask myself why the heck I didn't bird there. The answer is simply that I wasn't a birder at the time. Pointless to kick myself haha
I'd like to point out that in our little Boulder TV we were watching Sabrina for the hundredth time. I bet you even Audrey had regrets, and if Audrey had them, the rest of us are allowed to have them too. Also, I love the excuse to return to all those places to heal your regrets and feed my traveling desires!
She was an amazing woman! She was part of the Dutch resistance during WWII and delivered messages, unground newspapers, raised funds and sheltered allied pilots who were shot down at great danger to herself and even though her mother appeared to have Nazi sympathies. Her youth and beauty often shielded her from suspicion. She is one of my favorite actresses
She was a genuinely good person. Gone too soon.
Yes! Let's go back to all of them!
I love that little TV. So, so many movies played on that screen. I wonder where it is today. Did it break? Can't remember.