Bored Birder in a Bank


I found myself in a long line in a bank the other day. There were more than 10 people ahead of me and the line was moving verrrry slowly. I wasn’t able to bring a book to read and bringing out my phone in the bank to play Sudoku was out of the question. I finished singing a Christmas carol quietly and still the line had barely moved. I stared blankly at the bank’s initials in large, blue letters on the wall behind the tellers and my brain suddenly started imagining birds perched on each letter.

But as I was starting to “choose” which birds should be perched, I decided that the birds on each letter should have names beginning with that specific letter. Nice! It started out quite easily and made waiting in line more tolerable, if not fun. But it got quite challenging with some letters though. The letters and words on the wall read: "BDO We find ways". Here’s what I came up with:

B – Blue Fantail. There are lots of birds starting with the letter B but it was a toss up between the Blue Fantail or the Blue-headed Fantail.

D – Dollarbird. This was the first bird that came to mind. It had it perched on D in all its metallic beauty.

O – Olive-backed Sunbird. I want to put the Philippine Oriole but I decided to be strict about it and have birds with first names that begin with that specific letter.

W – White Wagtail. Of course! It’s my newest lifer!

E – Elegant Tit. I think this was the first and only E bird I could think of.

F – Ferruginous Flycatcher. Got me thinking if I would ever get the chance to see this bird again in UP.

I – Indigo-banded Kingfisher. I haven't seen this bird in a while...

N – Narcissus Flycatcher. Female. Not that it should really matter, but in this case it does. I still haven't seen the male Narcissus, so I perched a female for now. (the bird in the link is the male Narcissus)

D  - Hmm. D. Dollarbird is already perched... Hmm. I couldn't think of any other D bird!

W – White-breasted Woodswallow. I perched a couple of them on W =)

A – Asian Golden Plover. One of my favorite waders especially in their breeding plumage.

Y – Yellow-vented Bulbul. Yes, it deserved a perch in the bank, being the urban bird that it is.

S – Scale-feathered Malkoha. One of my latest and more unique-looking lifers to cap off the bird "display" in my head.

Voila! Beautiful birds atop a bank's display and I was third in line already =) I think I'll be playing this "game" more often...

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