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| You might be a birder if... |
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someone yells "Duck!", and you look up & shout "Where?!" |
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vacations are planned to maximize the number of life birds. |
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you criticize television programs and commercials that depict a Bald Eagle but play a Red-tailed Hawk call. |
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your kids are named Wren and Pheobe. |
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people stop and stare when you pish at the shrubbery at the local mall. |
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lunch breaks find you driving to a favorite hot spot. |
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your spouse says, "It's either me or the birds," and you have to think about it. |
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on sunny days you hop in the car, crank up your tape of bird calls, and drive like crazy to the nearest mountain where the thermals are great for soaring hawks. |
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you pay a neighbor kid $20 to roll on a carcass and lay still while you search the sky for vultures. |
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you try to talk your kid into going to college in Belize so you have an excuse to go and bird there. |
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it's a northeaster, the rain is horizontal, a small craft advisory has been issued, but it's a birdathon and you need to up the day's list. |
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clouds take on the shape of birds, and you can distinguish male from female, and adult from immature plumage. |
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a machine squeaks at work and you describe it to maintenance as sounding like a Black-and-white Warbler. |
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the first time you meet your future in-laws, you demonstrate the courtship dance of the woodcock, repleat with sound effects. |
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you spend fifteen minutes preparing dinner for your family, and thirty minutes mixing and placing seed for your birds. |
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you wake up your spose at 5:30am and exclaim, "Is that a pheobe I'm hearing outside the window?" |
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preparing for trips to visit out-of-state relatives involves contacting local birders, securing local bird lists, and buying the appropriate Lane's Guide. |
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you identify calls of birds in the soundtracks of television shows and movies. |
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your're willing to fight with anyone who criticizes your optics. |
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you participate in hours-long discussions about the pros and cons of using a certain field guide. |
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you lose friends, and perhaps even your spouse, from fighting over the pronunciation of 'pileated'. |
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