Well, I confess now that I am also a tree trunk addict, and love to look at the differing bark configurations, let alone the rest of the trees. The other thing is that I tire of trying to find and keep birds in my view-they don't have high heartbeats for nothing! ; ) They seem at times as unpredictable as humans!
Figety is not my forte, but I love when I can study something at will, without knowing in a second or three, or less than a minute it will not be there again! Birds are very beautiful, and their feather patterns and colors have no equal. And that may be why some have gone over to the other side, and like to capture them with a camera, now digitally easy to do so. But really, I get a kick out of just observing grasses, flowers, shrubs and blossoms, whether on trees or flowers, or anything that offers great diversity due to lighting conditions that change over time, and when they are highlighted it is just beautiful to catch them at the right moment-such as a backlit Maple leaf, or the like! Even clouds, buildings, or lighting conditions that offer pleasing or even better, dramatic results for the here and now experience, besides the birds that fleetingly remain in view well lit or not!
I was first a photographer, so my want of a perfect view is hard to dismiss, for just seeing something that appears so briefly as birds often do, to dramatic lighting changes of the countryside that please constanly while they are happening and can be even be captured and recorded to show the changes if photographing, even if they also disappear too quickly as well, over time. Many times I just stare through my binoculars and am glad I was there to see the lighting so beautifully displayed. So for others to capture birds in a desirable photograph is even more difficult it seems to me. I just am not as patient anymore in my old age to wait out the quick captures that I might have once done. That's OK, as I still get a kick out of seeing other natural textures and patterns that just amaze me when I see them, especially in the right light that makes you just say wow!