lifer ovenbird In birding parlance, a “lifer” is a bird that you see and identify for the first time. I like this term. It places great significance on the very act of paying attention. It suggests that life is impacted when you see something for the first time and approach it with veneration. It is a term that recognizes the importance of firsts–first steps, first kiss, first greater white-fronted goose, which is the bird I saw for the very first time just moments ago, hiding among the Canada Geese with their obnoxious honking. The greater white-fronted goose breeds in the arctic tundra. I only caught a glimpse of one now because it is migrating north to its breeding grounds from its winter home in the southern states and Mexico. The range map for this bird shows that I live right along a main migratory pathway that these geese follow twice a year. I took a ton of pictures. And then I took a ton of pictures of a common sparrow because he was looking so dapper against the backdrop of a mossy log. I don’t discriminate. Rare or common I’ll drink in beauty where I find it. Today it was in the shipyards with geese and sparrows, nesting swallows, and a heron fishing. I like to imagine that these creatures look upon us too, and wonder a little at our strange lives, our odd habits, our curious minds. 250508 what's it to you? who go blather from