Hello all, NBB here. Sharon's been furiously finishing the latest draft of her next book, and that, combined with the Christmas Bird Count and the holiday season, she's run out of time for blogging. So we're stuck together. I don't like it any more than you, but here we are. I was going to do a post about my year in birding, but that wouldn't fill a Twitter post. In fact, I think my life list shrank in 2009. I started writing a Year's Best Bird list, but only got as far as:
Pigeons Coming off the bird flu scare a few years ago, pigeons are back in a big, big way, lead in no small part by the Feral Pigeon Twitter feed, with such thrilling posts as Shifty look and Slow walk ... bob ... bob ... bob. Pigeons are on track to meet or beat the end of year records, but don't listen to the naysayers: you have to see a pigeon in 3-D to get the full effect.
But then I think I've made my affection for the Rock Dove well known.
So instead, here are my hopes for the new year, as relates to birding.
- Panama. Sharon's going on a trip to Panama that's she very excited about, something about the canopy tower where I gather she's going to cavort with Ewoks while watching birds with binoculars made out of coconuts. While I'm certain she'll have a good time and take great pictures, my hope is that the time passes quickly.
- Camping. Three years ago Sharon got me a tent which we've never so much as taken out of the carrying case. I really hope to get some use out of it in the coming year, especially since my own personal Ranger knows so much more about our local parks, and so I can also make use of my latest Christmas gift, a Titanium Spork.
- Conservation. You want to help birds? Do something for conservation of habitat. An easy way to do that is to buy a Federal Duck Stamp. They're $15 bucks (that's three cups of fancy coffee) and 98% of it goes directly to maintaining habitat.
And that's it. Have a safe and happy New Year's, everyone!