(Worldwide)...I have always enjoyed birdwatching – indeed, watching wildlife of any kind, but especially birdwatching. Call the hobby/obsession “birding,” if you will, the latest parlance. I started when I was 11 years of age going to the marshes of North Kent in England, around Higham and Cliffe, with my friends Paul Obey and Alex Carlisle, who remains my closest friend to today. I was never a very good birder. 
I am hopeless with identifying birds from their calls, not much better, I feel, even on identifying those I can see. That said, my nonbirder or slightly interested birder friends seem to be amazed by my identifications and the ability I have to spot birds, when all they can see is greenery and twigs. This is no real skill. If one does anything long enough, telltale signs emerge that allow correct identification and eyes are trained to see.
After a while, one gets used to seeing what perhaps is different, rather than seeing what can be classed as the “everyday.” Birding also is a great way of seeing the world, or at least adding another layer of interest to where one goes and what one sees. It allows one to walk slower through the environment and pause. I have never travelled anywhere specifically to bird watch, but I always take my binoculars. I also love mornings.
On a recent press trip to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, I was fortunate enough to stay at a resort (I have written about the Bonita Pacífica Holistico Resort & Spa before) right at the edge of the development. Right behind the resort was a wide, occasionally smelly, area of desert, cactus and scrub, with a couple of small lakes and a track or two dividing it all up. One or two houses sat behind this land. It was beautiful and calming to get up at first light and walk around. That time of day also is the best time to view birds, which have first thing in the day energy, a need to eat and a desire to communicate. California gnatcatcher, Grey thrasher, Ladderback woodpecker, Gila woodpecker and Western scrub-jay were a few of the species I had never seen before.
I recently received an email from the public-relations company for the hotel, saying Great News…the resort’s upcoming golf course has received final permission. This, to me, is not good news, as I know where they are building the damned thing, right over that scrubland. I am sure to many this land looks abandoned or wasted.
As of today, I have seen about 900 species of birds, 325 or so in the United States, 220 or so in the United Kingdom and the rest scattered over the international destinations I have visited. Chances are I have seen more than 900, but I am positive that on many occasions I have not been able to name what I see, Naming things is no different than collecting things, a belief that often leaves me mulling. The main difference is that with birding, one is not filling one's apartment with items. The following is a list of nine of the rarer birds I have seen. Some are just rare, others are low in number due to a small geographical distribution, e.g. on islands.
My favourite I think is the Strange-tailed tyrant that I saw – actually, my girlfriend was the one who spotted it first…also, second and third – in northern Argentina. It is quite a spectacular bird, with the oddest tail feathers, hence its name. The bird in the photo is the not-rare Plush-crested jay, taken at Iguazú Falls in Argentina, close to the Brazilian border.

Black-and-white monjita (Xolmis dominicanus); family: Tyrannidae; 4,000-5,000, scattered, small populations in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay; classed as Vulnerable Black-throated piping-guan (Pipile jacutinga); family: Cracidae; c. 5,000; very rare in jungles of extreme northeastern Argentina; São Paulo state and, maybe, one or two areas of Paraguay; classed as Endangered Flame robin (Petroica phoenicea); family: Petroicidae; c. 1 million but decreasing rapidly; Tasmania and Southeast Australia; classed as Near Threatened Hawaiian coot (Fulica alai); family: Rallidae; 2,000-4,000, small numbers due to small range; endemic to the Hawaiian island, with the exception of Lana’i; classed as Vulnerable Hawaiian goose (“Nene”) (Branta sandvicensis); family: Anatidae; 960-1,000, endangered due to small population; endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Hawaii, Kaua’i and Mau’i; classed as Vulnerable James’ flamingo (“Puna flamingo”) (Phoenicoparrus jamesi); family: Phoenicopteridae; c. 100,000; high altiplano areas of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru; classed as Near Threatened Kittlitz’s murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris); family: Alcidae; 13,000-35,000, decreasing; Arctic waters along the north coast of Eastern Russia and in the Russian Chutkchi Sea, and in Alaska, southeast throughout the Aleutians and along the Pacific Coast southwards to the Queen Charlotte Islands in Canada; classed as Critically Endanagered Lessser rhea (Pterocnemia pennata); family: Rheidae; c. 5,000; scattered in flood plain areas around 1,500 metres above sea level of several South American countries, usually in separate subspecies, some of which are close to extinction; classed as Near Threatened Strange-tailed tyrant (Alectrurus risora); family: Tyrannidae; 10,000-19,999 remaining; northeast Argentina and southwest Paraguay; classed as Vulnerable