The Little Black Book of Birds

He was mentally one with the winged creature riding the wind, anticipating its every move. The gravel road crunched under his boots while taking rapid fire pictures of the short eared owl flying low over the snowy hill. Martin was pretending that he belonged elbow to elbow with this group of professional wildlife photographers. Getting his first shorty owl flight shots had his heart pumping, but he was more excited to be standing next to Kathy-Margaret Murphy, aka Kam Murphy, the world famous host of the BioPlanet show, “Rendezvous With Raptors.” The owl turned and banked in the golden light, right before diving straight to the ground. He wasn’t quite sure what he was seeing through his viewfinder. There was a jumble of motion and then two owls faced off in mid air before him. Time slowed as his inner focus and camera focus synced. His shutter release clicked loudly, and he knew he’d just captured his best owl picture. Kam’s camera was going off like a gatling gun with a silencer. The owls separated and then flew to the opposite side of the marsh. The photographers groaned in unison at their disappearance.

He scanned through his images to see if the exposure and focus were as good as he hoped. Kam turned to him and asked, “So did you get it?”

Looking around to see who she was talking to, he nearly stumbled to find her bulgy green eyes and wrinkled forehead right in his face, looking at the back of his camera.

“Yes I did,” his teeth chattered.

She pulled out a pair of hand warmers and handed them to him.

“No, that’s ok, thanks.” He said.

“You’re chattering like a nest full of burrowing owls fighting over a snake and it’s making it hard to talk to you. Don’t be so prideful that you lose your fingers to frostbite, boy.” She spoke like a commanding officer: all steel and grit.

He accepted and then pressed the play button so she could see the shot. Taking his cheap camera in hand, she peered over her glasses. “Wow! What a great image! You were probably sitting here having lens envy over our 600mm and 800mm prime lenses, but because you had this 300mm zoom, you got the best shot of us all.”

He didn’t understand. She turned her camera around on the tripod so he could see her picture. It was a close up of one of the owls faces with its wings cut off.

“I am often the victim of too much lens,” she smirked, “and because you couldn’t zoom in, you were able to capture both owls with wings spread. It’s like a raptor aerial version of a Mohammad Ali fight. What’s your name and how old are you?”

“My name is Martin and I’m going to be eighteen next month.” He beamed.

“Do you know who I am?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve watched all your shows. I love the harpy eagle nest episode best.”

“Excellent! So you know I usually travel with 5-6 interns on trips like that.”

Martin nodded.

“How are your bird finding skills and recognition of raptors in flight? Can you tell the difference between a harrier and a rough legged hawk flying?"

“Yes, the roughy hovers more and has stronger, longer wing beats.”

“And what’s the rarest raptor you’ve found?”

“I’ve found two saw whet owls here, in Newburyport, three barn owls on Nantucket and a Pygmy owl in Yellowstone.”

Her eyebrows raised high above her glasses. “Now that’s impressive. I’ve never found any of those myself. Any good shots?”

“Yes, I can pull up my social media account if you want.”

She scrolled through his photo feed on his phone stopping regularly to inspect the shots.

“And you’ve shot all these with this set up,” pointing to his camera.

“My mom is a professional photographer so she helped me buy this. I know it’s not the top of the line, but I get some pretty good shots with it.”

“You’ve traveled quite a bit as well, Hawaii, Alaska, Minnesota, Wyoming, all the west coast, and pretty much all of New England.”

“Yeah, my parents divorced back when I was in second grade. Even though my mom wasn’t a wildlife photographer, she taught me how to shoot manually, and she and I have been on quite a few adventures together. She doesn't have a lot of money but we have the best time on a shoestring budget. I’ve also converted her into a birder too, which helps to convince her to go on a road trip, when I call her up and tell her we need to drive to New York because there’s a barn owl in Central Park.” he chuckled.

Kam handed back his phone. “Well, every year, I look for young people who have photographic potential paired with a good understanding of animal behavior, and give ten of them a chance at a raptor quest. If they succeed in their individual quest, they get a job as a paid intern on “Rendezvous with Raptors.” Do you think you’re up for the challenge?”

There was zero hesitation, “Yes Ma’am.”

Kam rolled her eyes. “Lesson number one for working with older women, don’t call them Ma’am. Call me Kam, Kathy-Margaret, Miss, Mademoiselle or Senorita but never Ma’am. Do we have an understanding?”

Martin’s head nodded.

“How many species do you have on your life list?”

He shook his head sheepishly, “I haven’t made a life list yet”.

“You can’t call yourself a birder and not keep a list.” She was patting down her many pockets looking for something. “I may only photograph raptors, but I keep a list of every bird and animal I see.” She found what she was looking for and pulled a little black book with a black elastic band out of her pocket and handed it to him. “I’d like to offer you an intern quest and this little black book for birds.”

“Thanks so much!” He stammered. He took off the elastic to find the pages filled with information and drawings.

“At the front, you’ll find a checkbox life list for birds and mammals which I expect you to use. Next, you’ll find my rules and expectations on wildlife photography ethics; no negotiation there. Then, you have your species information pages. I’ve filled out the saw whet one for you, so you know what kind of information you should collect for each species. The next section is the most critical. As you probably already know, us birders are a bit of a secretive society. We guard our information carefully and only share it with people we absolutely trust. Usually, when someone is kind enough to share information with you, it’s not info that you’re ever free to share with anyone else. When they tell you where a bird is, they’ll probably only tell you once, and you need to write it down immediately. It’s not easy to remember instructions like veer right at the dead stump, then a left at the end of the pond trail, go halfway around the hill and then a hundred yards straight into the field. Can you recite that back?”

He shook his head.

“That’s why you pull your notebook out the minute someone begins giving you information. Now, I’m going to give you your quest location. Are you ready? This location is a photographic gold mine the month of July, and it’s sort of a puzzle. You’ll have to watch for the clues.”

Martin began writing.

“For starters, this location is in a state park in New Hampshire. The path you want to go up is marked with a rock, covered in yellow graffiti, and the rock is located halfway up the mountain. Once you find it, you’re going to have to climb that path almost to the top. Across from a pond, there’s an abandoned cabin, and behind that, there’s a secluded glade of wild flowers in almost a perfect circle. On the east edge of the circle, there are two gnarly deciduous trees that look like they’re in love and holding hands. One has a keyhole shaped hole in the trunk, that’s about 10 inches tall 5 feet from the ground. Did you get all that?”

She took the book from him to inspect his dictation, then began drawing a keyhole shape on the saw whet information page.

“Is the keyhole a saw whet nest cavity?” He breathed.

“You’re smart,” she chuckled.

Above the hole she wrote. At the base of the other tree, underneath the lily of the valley plants, I’ll have buried a geocache. You’ll need to bring what’s inside the box to your internship interview to prove that you’ve succeeded. If you find this location, you can have what’s in the metal box. She handed back the notebook.

“Find this place and you’ve got yourself a job. A little word to the wise, take your black book with you everywhere and start keeping bird treasure maps.”

She looked over to where her friends were piling into a huge SUV. “It appears that my entourage is ready to go. I wish you luck, and hope you’ll be able to join me in Mongolia this Fall as I photograph golden eagle falconry of the Burkitshi people.”

Kam hoisted her heavy tripod with the camera still attached over her wiry shoulder.

“Can I carry that for you?” He asked.

“The day I can’t carry my own gear, kid, is the day I will dig my own grave.” She walked to the SUV and never looked back, leaving him to dream about the possibilities.

Over that spring and summer, Martin and his mom spent every spare minute climbing many of the New Hampshire mountains. One day, early July, they came across the yellow graffiti rock covered in sunshines and canaries. Martin had never given up hope and pulled out his little worn black book, but knew the directions by heart. They climbed to the pond and found the glade. As they approached, he was disappointed there wasn’t a saw whet sitting in the keyhole. He turned and looked for the plants, pulled out the garden trowel, he’d carried for just this purpose and began digging. The metal box wasn’t too far down. They held their breath, wondering what Kam had put inside. He always thought it was going to be a signed copy of her book or an odd geocache item like an owl figurine, but the box was too large for any such nonsense. Inside, there were two black backpacks wrapped in plastic, with a note.

Well kid you made it. Inside you’ll find two brand new top of the line camera kits with 600mm lenses. One pack is for you and the other is for your mom. I too was raised by a single mom who wanted to show me the world but couldn’t afford it. I’ve included $20,000 in cash, for you two to go on one big adventure together like Africa. Build your photography portfolio before you start working for me. Wherever you go, I want you to go with the intention that you’re going to find something amazing. To paraphrase my favorite author from my favorite book, when you want to find an animal with your entire being, the whole universe collaborates to make that encounter happen. My career has been built upon this premise. Your next quest is to find out which book this quote is derived from, read it, and then come talk to me about the book at your interview. To make an appointment call my admin at 509-234-2057. Please never thank me or bring this up, it just gets awkward. Sincerely, Miss Kathy-Margaret

He heard his mom whisper, “Ummm Martin…” Two little baby owls were peeking out of the hole, looking at them. Martin and his mom both began photographing the cutest owls on the planet as they played.