I was writing that last blog just before going out for a quick bite to eat and something to drink. I sat in Henderson’s On Deck Riverside Bar overlooking the Ohio River. I watched the sun set behind the trees on the other side of the river while sitting outside eating tacos and drinking coke….
Tag: passenger pigeon
History – Day 3
American history must be quite easy – they don’t have as much of it as we do. But then maybe they have more future than us? Who knows? Actually (oh!, and by the way, today’s waitress is Susan), the USA seems to have fitted in a revolution, a civil war, a couple of World Wars…
‘Standing up for nature’ goes to America
My main task between now and the end of September is to finish writing a book ‘on’ the passenger pigeon for Bloomsbury – and for me and for you! 1 September 2014 will mark the centenary of the extinction of this bird – probably the most numerous bird in the world a few decades before…
Waging war
Today is Remembrance Sunday and this year it falls on the 11th day of the 11th month. The Second World War was the deadliest conflict in human history but I was surprised to learn that the First World War was ‘only’ the sixth deadliest. Are you wearing a poppy? It’s interesting that we use a…
Saturday 7
I’ll tell you what day it is. On this day, 98 years ago, at 1pm local time, 6pm (I think) UK time, there was a dull thud in Cincinnati. The last passenger pigeon in the world, called Martha by her keepers in Cincinnati Zoo, had died and fallen off her perch. It was the end…
Man on the Earth
The death of Neil Armstrong has made us all think of those days when Mankind took that giant leap. Armstrong seems to have been a lovely, talented and modest man; and therefore a good choice to be the first of our species to step on the Moon. Few of us have had the privilege of…
Remembrance of things past?
If you get the chance to go to the Ghosts of gone birds exhibition then do! I had a look yesterday afternoon and I hope to get back for another look before it finishes on 23 November. Ceri Levy the curator and co-creator of the exhibition told me he was very pleased with how busy…
Are all Americans stupid?
I am, of course, only referring to American bird species. I ask the question because of a conversation I had back at the Bird Fair but first let me tell you about the Carolina parakeet. The Carolina parakeet was a native north American parrot that was widespread in the east of the USA when the…
No longer a passenger on our planet
Thursday was the 97th anniversary of the extinction of the passenger pigeon – once the commonest bird in the world and now a distant memory. The Independent newspaper published an article by me on the subject (click here) and regular readers will know I have a bit of a thing about passenger pigeons (click here,…
And finally?
So after 6 weeks (slightly more), 10,000 miles by car (slightly less), 270 bird species (slightly more) and 100 ‘lifers’ (more), what’s it all been for?? Well, this was a holiday so it was about relaxing and I relaxed, but it was a holiday only possible after I gave up the well-paid post of RSPB…