Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

Well, that went well! With the election season over in a big way, I can say with certainty that no one truly expected the orange man with wispy hair to win the highest office in the land. Those of us with blue hearts and political leanings sighed despondently at such news, so naturally, we all needed to escape after the election results of this past Tuesday. I did so by heading to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. I had a quest for myself and the goal was to find a rare visitor that had appeared on the main pond for several weeks this year. In fact, not only did I find one far flung traveler on this day, but two more graced my presence in and around Montezuma. The first target I sought was a duck. While that may not seem that exciting, the duck in question was a Eurasian wigeon ( Anas penelope ), a duck more at home in the marshes of Slimbridge than the backwoods of central New York. Despite living and visiting the UK frequently in my life, I had never gotten the opportunity to see...

I've made a goal for myself. A birding goal of course. I've made it my business for the last few months to reach 300 bird species on my life list. What I've learned so far is that: 1. Birding by how many you've seen and how many you've yet to see can be maddening, time-consuming, and yet extraordinarily good fun. 2. Rare birds are often more trouble than they're worth. And 3. While the pursuit of the goal is often the main driver, just the shear enjoyment of the task makes it all worthwhile. This isn't one of those projects started in the new year as a resolution and slowly forgotten over the ensuing months. This was a journey born from the books I brought on vacation to Florida this March. One was based on the musings of an English teacher from Chapel Hill, North Carolina entitled "The Verb "To Bird"" I'm not sure where I got this book, but I go back to it from time to time to read a certain section (the anecdote about the Turkey V...