25 April 2014. Cayuga ON. Y’know today was almost a test of the central thesis of this blog that there’s always a Bird of the Day, – that even a miserable, cold, dank day will produce something special, and it doesn’t have to be rare to be special.
I spent the better part of the morning doing the daily census at the bird observatory, in fact there were two of us: me with my Baby Boomer era hearing and my young companion Marie from Quebec, with perfect English, endless energy and acute hearing.
At the end of our trudge around, when asked, “How’d it go? or “Anything unusual on the census?” We looked at each other questioningly and sort of shrugged, “Not really. Oh, there were a couple of Rusty Blackbirds and a Barn Swallow, and some Eastern Bluebirds, but no not really.” 
What has the world come to? We tallied 39 species, the weather was fair and there are plenty of worse ways to spend a morning. Bunches of Bloodroot flowers, first of the year, were gamely looking up at us. In my working days I’d daydream of mornings like this.
Our census list included: Field Sparrows (4), a Barn Swallow, Eastern Bluebirds (5), Northern Rough-winged Swallows (2), and four Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. All nice birds to welcome back and wonder where they spent January.
But what was Bird of the Day? I think it was a splendid male Northern Flicker caught and banded early in the day. I was busy recording other data as Marie was dealing with the Flicker. I remember looking over and commenting on what beautiful bird it was and before I really knew it, it had been banded, aged, sexed and released. And that was it. Nothing really special but, as ever, there’s always one bird that makes me think Wow!
Here’s a quick shot of a White-breasted Nuthatch approaching its nest entrance.
I find it incredible that I can go on a nature outing, experience a plethora of wildlife, (a much larger variety than the ‘average’ city folk) and I still leave wanting MORE, MORE, MORE instead of being MORE grateful! I’m not saying that’s the case for you but your story reminded me of my astounding ability to never be fully satisfied. I do find pleasure in the simple things in life but have a ways to go with being truly content in all circumstances, etc… Human nature, I suppose 🙁