my quest to see it all

In a quest to see it all – or, well, a quest to see more of it - I have set an ambitious goal for myself this year. I want to see 31 (more) life birds for the year. More - because I already have 7 life birds for the year.  With 31, I would have a life list of 200. Right now, I stand at 169.  

The seven new life birds this year aren’t just any ordinary birds, either. The Eastern Meadowlark, a bird I have been after for two years now. While trespassing through a farmer’s field we spotted the splash of yellow of the Meadowlark. I also saw my first Northern Pintail and Harlequin Duck – two of the loveliest ducks around. I took part in the Snowy Owl invasion this winter and saw my first snowy on a sea rock on a beautiful March day in Rhode Island. And lastly, I saw my first Pileated Woodpecker, my white whale, just two weeks ago. It would be a satisfying year if it stopped there – but it won’t. I’m on the quest for 200!

How do I plan on getting there? I hope to start in two weeks as I go up to Mt. Auburn, a birding hotspot in Cambridge, Mass., with the Bird Club. It will be the real start of the spring migration for the area, and a great time to see warblers and the like. The week after I will be taking part in a 24-hour bird-a-thon with MassAudubon. I not only hope to see many birds, but to meet other birders in the area. In the summer I will be taking a trip with the family to Michigan. Although we’ll miss the famous Kirtland’s Warbler, we should be around to see other warblers and other birds starting their fall migration back to warmer weather. Lastly, in the fall I hope to finish up the year with some great bird walks on the quest for 200.

For now I am at 169.

balanced birding

When it comes to birds I’m becoming more obsessed. It’s really become my passion and what I want to do with my time when I am not with my family or at work. I’m not sure how equally busy people do it. With 8 hours at work each day why would I want to spend time away from my family? This year – I’ll be looking at that balance as I fuel a passion for birding and a desire to spend more quality time with my family. No, this isn’t my New Year’s resolution. This is every birders’ nightmare: I’m stuck at work and can’t look at birds. Even beyond that for me is wanting to use the little time that I do have (that is, the time I am not sleeping or exhausted - I have a 4 ½ month old) birding or thinking about birding.

The great thing about birding is that you can see anything anytime anywhere. It can be that great. That is also what makes it so difficult – to find anything in the trees or the bushes or out at sea. It takes more than a keen eye to identify a bird sometimes. For me, I want to get better at identifying birds and in these cold winter months when migrants are enjoying South America or just the Miami sun I’m eagerly waiting their spring arrival.

crazy like your baby

As a new parent I’ve noticed that our culture has created a world where we take care of babies like crazy people. No? Don’t believe me? Here are my four reasons why. You can make a judgment after.

1.    Back in the day people put their babies in these crazy dangerous contraptions called cribs. People wrapped up their babies in blankets to keep their baby warm and put toys in the crib to help the baby entertain himself when need be. Today, the “crib” is a highly sophisticated place to keep your baby safe.  That includes having nothing in the crib with the baby. The toys: a danger. Even blankets are considered choking-hazards. Simply put, the only thing in the “crib” is the baby. The baby is kept in a safe “crib” or “room” alone with nothing to harm himself. Does that remind you of anything?

2.    Since parents are not allowed to keep anything in the crib with the baby including blankets, the popular alternatives today are cocoon blankets. You know, those blankets that you wrap around your baby to keep him warm. The blankets that have excessive amounts of Velcro to keep your baby from getting his arms out of the blanket. In adult terms, this “blanket” is simply called a straight jacket.

3.    In a recent NPR story many parents today are going to their pediatrician to demand drugs for their babies reflux “problems”. The story stated that parents wanted similar drugs that helped adult reflex for their babies. It concluded with the advice from a doctor to parents, suggesting that they not depend on drugs, but first change the baby’s diet. The doctor affirmed that this worked most of the time. The alarming part was in the middle of the story when NPR stated that research on the infant reflux drugs indicated that they didn’t work any better than placebos or sugar pills and in some cases aggravated the problem. In a world where we are increasingly giving people more drugs for their problems, this story substantiates the idea that in some cases we are helping people in the wrong way.

4.    Back in the day… Can I use ‘back in the day’ again? Anyway, back in the day people used to just throw their kids in an open seat in the car and just drive off. Not anymore. Babies have to be put in the back of the car, facing backwards, all locked up and secured. I find it eerily similar to this.

crazy compassion, or lack there of.

Have we all gone crazy? Has the world lost its compassion? Is ‘God dead’? In this brave new world these are the questions that people are asking of us. Has the world lost its compassion? In September of this year a crowd cheered for the death of another human being who theoretically couldn’t afford health insurance. Similar people are calling for the murder of illegal immigrants who cross into the United States. And on Fox News this past month Ann Coulter has brought us straight back to the age of slavery! (Please note my exclamation point. I don’t use these often.) She claims, “Our Blacks are better than their Blacks.” This, the exact propaganda rich slave owners’ declared for their right to enslave African Americans and promote racism in the United States.  

All these obscenities make it feel more like 1811, not 2011. Ann Coulter’s directly racist comment, uttered to make Herman Cain look better than Barack Obama, is an injustice to the decades of work African Americans have put forth to stop this direct racism. Furthermore, when people want to see illegal immigrants murdered because they cross over the United States border for a better life, it is a world that doesn’t reflect modern civilization, but a world in which we used to chase and murder thousands of Native Americans from what was their land. The New World invaders are now mad at the new invaders for coming into a land that they themselves took from someone else. (Invaders: a term used by many of the Right to describe illegal immigrants.)  

And let’s not leave the obscurities to politics. Just last week after the firing of coach Paterno at Penn State, many of the students rioted not for the abused children but for the firing of their legendary coach.

Where is the compassion? Herman Cain who is now dealing with sexual harassment accusations, although an unrelated topic, has taken a similar stance when addressing the situations. Cain didn’t fire back at Coulter to boast that all African American are equal and none are of lesser quality. He didn’t take any higher ground – something that not only demeans himself, but affirms Coulter’s comments.

In all of this can we claim that humans are more civilized or enlightened? People are valuing such insignificant and finite objects such as money, sports, and politics over the life of fellow humans. The basic needs of life- health, shelter and safety - have been abandoned. Maybe the world has gone crazy.