Your comfort zone

The OK Threshold is the technical word for “comfort zone”. The title for this essay, which may be of two postings, could also be called, “You are stuck”. Usually when I use the “stuck”  word it is not meant as a demeaning word. The more you read, and what you have already read, the more you will come upon the word— stuck. Everyone becomes stuck. Examples— lawyers, dentists, police officers, fireman, military generals, military advisers, professional football coaches, and birders. Or is it just me— am I stuck on the word stuck?

A birder becomes stuck when using the old method, the passive method, the Peterson method, when it comes to raptor identification. If you wish to learn raptor identification you will take a course, from a biologist or a naturalist. This is called “ book learning”. Then you will go into the field for about 14 hours any try and find and zero in on some perched raptors, and pray the the hawk does not fly away. Or if it flys away it will fly near your zenith as it departs the area. This is not hawk watching. Well, it is hawk watching, but only 10 per cent of what hawk watching is all about.

If you wish to learn hawk watching you should get to an official hawk watch site, during the last two weeks in September and the first two weeks in October. Plan on spending at least 3 hours each week. After that experience you may be so interested that you can hardly wait for the next migration season.

The modern method of hawking is using the holistic approach. Which means it is a fast and accurate way to identify all of the raptors of the East and of Puget Sound by wing beats, wing holding, wing structure, and with accipiters, one other easy to apply “field mark”. Also the general color of a raptor can be of help to the novice hawk watcher.

This essay is also about why birders and advanced birders are not reporting goshawks. Which boils down to you are stuck. That is your comfort zone. To come out of your comfort zone will take time, effort, energy, and may take years. One reason for staying in your comfort zone is that you know the end result of the effort and time it will take to understand a new discipline. I say— most birders are not hawk watchers and never will become hawk watchers. It is too much of another discipline, too much of a leap of faith.

About you— you know the end result because of what you have read, or misread, or was not published in a completely accurate way. Also because of what you have heard— The Spiel. If you would dig a little deeper than what the field guide presents— you will read— accipiter identification is not difficult. Separating a Cooper’s Hawk from a Sharp- shinned Hawk is not difficult. And this I just read— it is easier to identify accipiters in flight than when they are perched. And I agree with that concept. And it is also a faster approach toward identification. This is part 1. NB.

The Thought:When you go to a Chinese Restaurant you should ask— Are the bats wild or are they farm-raised. Seriously.