But yes, once you get out and start looking around, it’s amazing the things that you see. We go out now, I am constantly amazed by the number of different things that I see. When I was a birder, I started noticing butterflies (same guy who got me into birding snuck that influence in as well). Once I was looking for them as well, I noticed all of the dragonflies and damselflies. From there, I started noticing all of the other microfauna that I just never paid attention to.

Try it sometime. Take your camera and go to a local streambed and find someplace you can just sit your stuff down and look around. Start with birds, then big insects and keep getting smaller - you’ll be amazed about what’s out there in just a small piece of nature.

It’s always cool to know how people get interested in their hobbies/passions. Birding and photography seem like a logical combination. One thing I like about photography is how it makes you see things you normally wouldn’t — and I’m sure the same is true with birding. It’s really cool to become more aware of your surroundings and realize how much you’ve been missing by not paying attention. Geocaching is another thing that can make you feel that way.

As for me, I am hoping to find ways to combine photography and cycling. You can go all kinds of places on a bike that you can’t on a car, and there are some places where you can drive but not park to take photos (narrow roads with no shoulder, etc), but where you’d be fine on a bike.

That’s a whole lot of bird species. I bet if I had any idea about birds and paid more attention, I’d see all kinds of birds, but I just don’t know much about that stuff. That’s one thing I like about photography in general, it makes you see things you normally wouldn’t.