Curiosity Saved the Catbird

Incline your ear to Wisdom,

      and take her truth into your heart. 

For if you yearn for insight

      and cry out for understanding,

      if you search for it as you would for silver,

      and dig for it as you would for buried treasure, 

you will understand what [awe] of YHWH is,

      and discover how to truly know God. (Proverbs 2:1-5)

When our team’s name was called to come forward to receive the trophy for winning the Super Bowl of Birding, the crowd began making noises that sounded like “pish, pish, pish.” The scene could only have played out among a group of New England birders. You see, our team’s name was the Wicked Pishahs. If you are familiar with a similar sounding expression that means “extremely good” and also know that birders often engaging in an act called pishing, then you are chuckling right now. If not, then you are likely a normal individual who is mildly amused by tales of fringe lunatics who chase birds in all sorts of bizarre ways.

If you are still reading, perhaps you are curious about pishing. It is a way that birders entice birds to come into view. The sound mimics alarms calls that birds make when a threat is near, typically a predator. One bird is usually unable to drive away the intruder alone, so they sound the call for reinforcements. Since most prey species use secrecy as a defense, they can be hard to see in the wild. Gray Catbirds are particularly inclined to skulking in the brush. Often their presence is obvious from the call which gives them their name. They regularly mew like cats in the midst of their singing. While the curiosity typical of cats may not contribute to the reason for their name, they are, in fact, one of the easiest birds to “pish up.”

Curiosity shouldn’t be reserved just for assessing danger. The insatiable curiosity of children is their super-power as they soak up knowledge like sponges. How much awe fails to inspire, not because it lacks inspiration, but because too many fail to pause and wonder? Of course, this is not without risk, but anything valuable will cost something. The price of filling up on awe is little more than a willingness to question, learn something, question again, and learn again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Prayer: Awesome Spirit, the chase is on, keep us curious. Amen.