I’m in South Dakota – only just over the border from Minnesota, but in Sioux Falls. I started in Wisconsin, drove right across Minnesota and arrived here in South Dakota. This is the West – although Sioux Falls doesn’t seem very wild at the moment. And that mammal from yesterday – thank you to those…
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Happy Birthday Bob!
Robert Allen Zimmerman is 70 today. Happy Birthday Bob Dylan! And today I did something that I have never done before, but I am going to do it again fairly soon. That probably makes it sound much, much more interesting than it was. But I enjoyed it – one often does the first time. And…
Five states of mind, two films
Today was a driving day. I started off somewhere south of Pittsburgh and ended up somewhere east of Chicago. So that’s Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, a short detour into Michigan just to say I’ve ‘been’ there and now in Indiana. My journey today started where the opening and closing scenes of the film The Deerhunter…
Audubon, PA
I might have been keen to shake the dust of New York City from my shoes if there were any dust, but the sidewalks are hosed down each morning and it was a bit of a drizzly morning. But this was the start of my drive West and I was keen to see the miles ticking by,…
Liberty and the pursuit of happiness
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I was in Central Park by 630am – and it may have been too early. There weren’t that many birds around. I added Magnolia Warbler to my list for Central Park but saw few other warblers. I added cream cheese bagel and coffee to my waistline and got a cab south down Broadway. Walking the last few…
Birding with the Empire State Building as background
I had a nice day’s birding today. And I think I saw another warbler species. I went to Jamaica Bay – over the Queensboro bridge from 59th St Manhattan, then get lost a bit, and you are there! A walk through some scrub and then you are looking out over a wetland. Many of the usual birds…
The living and the dead
I walked north 8 blocks to Central Park and on the way saw countless house sparrows and starlings – I won’t keep going on about them but it is really striking how common they are here. Indeed, Greg Butcher, from National Audubon, made a good suggestion – that Audubon and the RSPB should do a joint…
I’m driving in my car
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Actually, I’m not, as I am still in New York, although gas is so cheap and parking so expensive, and the traffic moves so slowly, that driving around Manhattan might work out cheaper than parking! ‘My’ car is a tank! It’s a Dodge Grand Caravan – which would easily seat 6 people. It’s very comfortable, quite…
Breakfasts
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A few people have commented that my waistline must be expanding even further given the breakfasts I’m having – obviously in the interests of research with waitresses. And I’ve just had breakfast at the Morning Star Cafe (open 24 hours) on 2nd Avenue just around the corner from the Pod Hotel where I am staying….
Let’s swap?
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My Republican friend in Washington DC (whose name must be kept a closely guarded secret because if his colleagues knew he had been meeting with an effete, European, pinko-liberal like me he would be doomed) and I came up with a great deal. It’s going to change your life. It’s coming soon. And it goes…