I've loved animals and the natural world for as long as I can remember, since I was a little kid,

and maybe this is true for you too, but I haven't always been as obsessed with birds as I am now.

Don't get me wrong, I never disliked birds.

I definitely appreciated them, but I just didn't spend much time looking at them or really

truly listening to them. One breakthrough happened for me when I was working on my master's degree

in biology. This was a couple decades ago in Southern California. One day I was walking across

campus with Tony, my advisor.

I was his graduate student, and I spent countless hours in his lab.

We're walking along, and suddenly Tony stops.

He points up to the sky and says, do you hear that?

No, what are you talking about, I say.

Those are Cedar Wax Wings calling, he says with a wide grin.

I listen again and then, yes, I hear a soft, high-pitched sound.

Oh, you mean that? I ask. We never even saw the birds. But I was in awe of Tony's ability to, A, detect that faint bird call from among all the other sounds on a busy college campus, and B, instantly know

which species was making it. My little mind was blown. You see, Tony was and is a serious birder. Back then, he was the

president of the local chapter of the Audubon Society. But I wasn't a birder yet in those days.

I kind of wish I had been because I'm sure I could have learned a lot more about birds from Tony.

I like to think I've come a long way since then.

Now I know most of the songs and calls of my local bird species.

And I get a little tickle of satisfaction and happiness every time I hear cedar wax wings fly overhead.

Now I'm the one who points out wax' calls to other people. It seems that the

student has become the master. And in fact, I even have a master's degree to prove it. Just kidding.

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