Diversity

That's what this hobby has, it has diversity like no other. I never cease to be amazed at the nooks and crannies it takes me to both physically and metaphorically. This week alone it's taken me from the moors above Alnwick to Lake Eyrie in Australia and back via County Cork to the Arctic.
I have spent thirty minutes alone with a beautiful but deadly predator in a fantastic natural landscape thirty minutes from my home. I have written about the communications strategy of the biggest 'bird' organisation in the UK. I have watched as a story gradually unfolded and one of the most knowledgeable birdwatchers of his time was fooled by a louse. I have been both horrified and captivated at learning that one of the most beautiful Gull species (Ivory Gull)spends much of it's time eating Polar Bear faeces. I've marvelled at pictures of Lake Eyrie in Australia filling with water and beginning to burst into life with over eighty bird species expected to make a return for the first time in ten years. I've twittered and I've chirped and shared sightings with other birders halfway around the world. I've blogged about birds and I've read blogs about birds. I've attempted to take pictures of birds and had people arrive at my workplace to show me pictures of birds.
I've seen old friends and talked of birds and met new friends and talked about birds. I've raised my binoculars at such diverse locations as a chip shop roof and a stately home. I have watched birds alone, with other birders and with my children, there was even one on Jonathon Ross last night.
I have devised a way to integrate birds into my career (hopefully) in the future. I have used DVD's, Books and the Internet, reading material produced one minute earlier and cross referencing it with material produced in 1945 a few moments later.
All that before I get to the birds, this week has had big birds (Grey Heron), rare birds (Great Grey Shrike and Green-winged Teal), common birds (Robins), ones that climb up trees (Treecreeper) and one that climbs down trees (Nuthatch). Ive watched birds that eat other birds (Peregrine Falcon) and birds that occasionally get eaten (Stock Dove).
Just occasionally I have attempted to do something completely non-bird related but even sat on the toilet at work I could hear a Song Thrush singing through the air vent.
So if your looking for a hobby that has diversity, look no further.