I love this video because it is such a specific sighting, not a collection of various photos from who knows where. We can see the effects of the wind on this bird as it sits on a branch. We can hear the wind. And at the end the videographer pulls back to show us the larger context.
I have seen this bird; it's on eight of my checklists, all from Paraguay. When I think of this bird, I recall standing on a particular bridge with my brother as he identified it for me. I can feel the heft of my binoculars around my neck and the heat of the Asunción evening. There are no generic birds and no generic sightings.
Megaceryle torquata
with your rattling sound
and your burrow home,
how glad I am to see you
on this one unrepeatable evening
in my life that is short
and yours that is even shorter.
©Ruth Bowen Hersey
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