It's now been 60 years. I don't relish counting them. I have no idea what my actual life list numbers are, Brazil helped, so did Ireland and frankly could care less. Having been on six continents helped but having an office in LaJolla, California overlooking the ocean and watching the spring and fall migration were a high-light and the binoculars were always close at hand.
Maybe if I had to do it all over again I might be the worlds most renowned expert on robins. Or snow geese. Who knows at this point but migration would have been up there in what to study.
I don't go out looking for special names. I go out for the experience and what I will see. Creator blessed me with good eyes. I can find them if they are there.
Today the number and quality of birding books is beyond measure. Unbelievable for a young kid in the 60's who biked to the city library in Morris to read about birds.
I have some people to thank and some highlights in getting a good foundation started.
First, my parents, Doug and Betty. The binoculars they bought as a Christmas present way back when were the real start with funds they probably didn't have. The Roger Tory Peterson book and the long visits with Retired Judge, Sheridan Flaherty in Morris, MN were ideal training. My first MN Ornithological Society field trip, organized by Richard "Dick" Grant of UMM fame in the summer of 1964, the pictures deliverd by Earnest Strubbe of the Eurasian RUFF taken south of Alberta, Minnesota I still cherish.
I can honestly say, it only gets more interesting and more rewarding the longer I am at it. Birds are just a small part of the vibrant and interconnected natural cycle all around us.
Look and you will see, watch and you will discover, study and you will learn. Maybe the best advice for birding in your life!
No comments:
Post a Comment