Slow Down

I have been in CA, home for the holidays, for approximately 6 days now. I have my field guide in hand and binoculars within reach. At the very least, I figured upon capturing some shorebirds to add to my list and round out some more of the "common" species.

I'll be damned how out of sorts I feel trying to id without the comfort of a group. I've spent the last 72 hours trying to decipher what kind of tern I spotted in Santa Barbara (Caspian? Royal? Common?). I only felt a remote sense of confidence in identifying a Heermann's Gull. I feel a little like the boats that have been tossed around the Pacific as of late - small and unanchored and all turned about with no reference point.

It all happens a little too fast.