Most birders my age have “life lists” of at least 600 birds. Lists of over a thousand are not uncommon. Linda’s and my list stands at 135. We do have a rule that both of us must see the bird, which does limit us. I can’t count the kingfisher I saw in Solano County because Linda wasn’t with me, so it really should be 136. By any birder standard, that is pathetic.
Anyway, to improve my skills, I’m reading a paperback entitled How To Know the Birds by Roger Tory Peterson. It’s an old book, c. 1949 and 1957. Even if we take the 2nd date, that makes the book 55 years old.
Here’s a quote from page 37 on geese. “Few men have souls so dead that they will not bother to look up when they hear the barking of wild Geese. For Geese symbolize the mystery of migration more than any other birds, and as harbingers of spring, they are second only to the Robin.”
Last night a huge flock of geese flew over. I did look up, and they were flying from west to east. They live here year round, because the lakes no longer freeze over. They are harbingers all right. They show that the effects of global warming are already here, and they warn us that things will be worse in the future.
Incidentally, some robins have also been living here year round.
Meanwhile, Tea Party types say that global climate change is a liberal hoax. Do these people ever get outside?
The other day while we stopped at Hahn's dairy for our milk we seen a large flock of white snow geese in the fields across from the dairy. I have never seen them in this area.
ReplyDeleteI've seen huge flocks in California, but never here in Pennsylvania. Things are getting very strange.
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