My sighting today was an ad for a part-time forest ranger.
It caught my eye, because the job would involve working in a wildlife area that I spend time in anyway. And it would involve seeing birds.
Then I thought: not interested. Don’t need extra work. Besides, any job can involve seeing birds. Birds are where you find them, and they’re everywhere.
I remember past jobs, and birds I saw while at work…
In student years there was a blue-collar period during summer breaks involving factories, garages, cabs, even an amusement park. Then a period working in downtown hi-rises with suits, keyboards and conference rooms
When I operated a milling machine in a deafening factory, I’d take a lunch break on the loading dock with a brown bag. Birds would come around, mostly English Sparrows, but once I saw Dark-eyed Juncos mixed in. Now when I see a junco I think of that junk job.
Working the expressways.
As a cab driver, I spent a lot of time on Chicago’s expressways. I’d see Red-tailed Hawks on roadside posts. They made the trips a little more interesting. Now, when I see Red-tails in the wild I think of their city cousins, and my time in the cab.
When I worked in an amusement park, a pair of House Wrens built a nest in the rigging of our merry-go-round. I wondered if the spinning made them crazy. I still wonder that when I see House Wrens. I say to them: you’re lucky you don’t live in a merry-go-round.
Even when I worked in the skyscraper world, I saw birds. During spring migration, there was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker improbably clinging to the building outside my window. I was in a 23rd floor ad agency. There were a lot of suckers up there, but you wouldn’t expect to see a sapsucker.
I figured the bird was paying me a visit. He knew then what I know now: You don’t need to look like a forest ranger to find birds. You just need to look.
It is funny, but I take for granted the birds I see at the office, I get frustrated with the people in the apt complex across the alley who feed the House Sparrows, crows, gulls and pigeons because they make such a mess. But then my coworker likes the baby gulls on our roof at work and the people on disability across the alley also get pleasure from interacting with the crows, gulls and pigeons they feed. I am starting to appreciate the interaction they get, knowing that as they live in the city, these are the birds they have access to. It is starting to make me appreciate the grosbeaks, hairy woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and warblers that come to my yard under the trees all the more.
Regarding “Work birds.” I’ve been looking over your resume. Cab driver, carny worker, machine operator. No wonder you can’t keep a job – too much bird watching when you shoulda been taking care of business. Hasta luego!