I came to birdwatching somewhat late in life, in my mid-30s. I always had a latent interest in birds from early childhood, however. By the time I was four or five, I knew the names of most of the common birds around where I lived, especially the ubiquitous Northern Mockingbird, the state bird of my native Texas.
Odd as it may sound, if any bird could be considered my Spark Bird, it would be the Scarlet Tanager—but not through a real life sighting. My grandparents had a set of the Encyclopedia Americana that must have been old already. I spent many happy hours poring through the volumes. Each contained color plates illustrating such subjects as flowers, gems, and my two favorites, flags and birds (harbingers of my eventual career at the National Geographic Society). The variety of species depicted in the bird plates was a revelation. I had no idea there were so many species, nor that many were very colorful. For some reason, the most compelling to me was the Scarlet Tanager. Perhaps it was the vivid red plumage, or maybe the unusual name. In any case, from the moment I first encountered it in the encyclopedia, I longed to see one. Many years passed before I finally did.
Meanwhile I grew up, developing many other interests. I still noticed birds, and sometimes I’d come across a particularly striking one, such as an egret or heron, and wonder what it was called. I knew that birdwatching was an activity many people pursued, but I had no idea how one went about it and didn’t know anyone who engaged in it.
The final spark was struck when I went to work at National Geographic as a proofreader. At the time we were producing the first NG field guide. My previous interest in birds was rekindled and soon was aflame. Serendipitously I also met the editor for this piece, who had been birding since childhood with her father (a master birder). She bought me my first set of binoculars, took me on birding expeditions (often with her father), and helped me learn the tricks of identification: field marks, songs, habitat, behavior, ranges, and migration patterns.
The passion these events sparked has never left me. I went from poring through encyclopedias, enjoying the birds I saw there, to helping produce a new reference guide for birders, to realizing the joy that comes from seeing live birds in the wild. This journey led me to the Scarlet Tanager at last: about a year after I began birding in earnest, at Shenandoah National Park I caught a glimpse of those glorious red and black feathers.
Gregory Luce is a poet and writer living in Arlington, VA.
Photo credit:
Scarlet Tanager with permission by Brandon Swayser, Director of Environmental Science and Living Collections at the Allentown Da Vinci Science Center and Board Member at Lehigh Valley Audubon