October 1, 2009
Having run birding trips for 15 years, the topic of "what if it
rains?" comes up annually. Here are my thoughts and our policy:
First, if it looks like rain WILL wash out a birding trip, I'll cancel
it. If you just don't show up, you owe for the trip. If we HAVE the
trip and rain considerably reduces the quality of it, the trip is free
and you owe me nothing.
Second, remember that rain, in the migration, may vastly improve birding.
In spring, some of our best fallouts have been rain-induced, with hundreds
of grounded birds all over the trees and bushes. In fall, this also
happens, although to a lesser extent. They are migrating, and rain stops
them.
Cloudy weather is cooler, and keeps the sun from being in our eyes when
looking at birds in certain directions. It also gives truer pictures
of birds' colors, as the sun can create all kinds of problems.
There is also a lot of ignorance of weather forecasts. A 40% chance
of rain means IT PROBABLY WILL NOT RAIN! And if it does rain, it may
only be for an hour or so out of the entire day. Actually, that's a
lot.
I only schedule trips at times and to places where I think there's a
reasonable chance of seeing a lot of good birds, and I've been doing
this awhile. If you have reservations (no pun intended), you might just
try trusting me. And we do NOT stand out in the rain and birdwatch!
October 1, 2008
It is that time again to order
the 2009 GOS bird calendar. They are much like last year, with hundreds
of bird pictures in color, but this year the squares are larger, and
there's a hole to hang it. The calendar is 11 X 17, with birds in each
month matching either those seen in the particular month, or corresponding
to destinations of GOS trips (dates for trips included).
This is one of our main sources of revenue and we especially need help
this year! The cost of calendars depends of how many of these (Christmas
gifts!) you buy. Here is the breakdown:
1-4 calendars are $20/per------ 5-9 are $15/per----- 10 or more are
$10/per.
September 22, 2008
A NOTE FROM JIM
Back during WW 2 a young man named Roger awoke on a chilly morning in
Connecticut and decided to take a hike on this, the first cool front
of the fall. Through the valley and over the hills he tramped, just
taking in nature, with all its sights and sounds. Little did he know
that his world was about to change forever.
As he crested one hill, about 90 minutes past dawn, he spied an interesting
form just ahead on a fence post. He dropped to his hands and knees,
was absolutely quiet, and crawled up to the image his eyes were so intently
fixed on. It was a bird, and it was asleep! He would have had no idea
of its identity at the time, but it was a woodpecker, the bird we now
call a Northern Flicker.
Roger carefully reached out to touch this soft brown, medium-sized bird,
weary from its sojourn. The young boy's right index fingertip barely
made slight contact with the wing coverts of the exhausted bird, and
it immediately exploded into the air with yellow flashes, black bars
and spots, and a ringing "kee-ough" as it sped away.
It was a common enough bird, in a common pasture, and Roger was a fairly
common boy. But this uncommon experience touched the very heart and
brain of this kid, and it was the beginning of the rest of Roger Tory
Peterson's career.
The neat thing about young Peterson was that he wasn't satisfied to
keep this passion for birds, sparked by one tired woodpecker, all to
himself. In time, he would create the first bird field guide, and now
Peterson guides cover about every animal group imaginable, and with
American innovation, many others have followed with their own versions
of field guides from Sibley to Kaufman.
I (and my ornithologist-father) had dinner with Peterson in the 60s,
and I understood him to say he'd seen over 5000 species of birds. Guess
what my life's goal became that night? And in my book, "Quest for
5000 Birds," I tried to express the same kind of wonder for what
I saw that young Roger must have felt when he reached out and touched
that flicker.
This week I am working in Cape May, New Jersey, the American Fertile
Crescent of ornithology, where Peterson often stood in awe of hoards
(C- note correct spelling) of warblers and falcons like so many speeding
missiles. I walk across the grounds of the Cape May Bird Observatory,
and feel like I haven't felt since doing the same at the Charles Darwin
Research Station on the Galapagos.
And amazingly, as I drove up last Friday, there on the phone wire sat
Mr. Flicker himself. Is that not an exquisite bird?
To many (too many?) in our country nature is an enemy, a jumbled bunch
of meaningless organisms sometimes inconveniently standing in the way
of the almighty dollar. But to some, nature's blessings reach within
us and help us find that which was greater than ourselves. A common,
everyday flicker sparked young Roger to rise, ride and write for public
environmental education, and its constant companion, conservation.
I have a great deal of GOS work to do while here, and I am working my
usual long hours. But I am also on a personal and professional pilgrimage
of sorts, here in the ground zero of ornithology.
For I have seen the flicker
.
GOS Executive Director Jim Stevenson | Email Jim | 409-737-4081 | Gulls n Herons | www.galvestonbirders.org |
