I’m writing this with the sound of the Pacific waves near Carlsbad, California in my ears. I could live in Flagstaff it’s the most agreeable American town I’ve met. It provided me with breakfast in the Grand Canyon Diner, whose waitress was a bit slow, and whose booths seemed full of English people – me and…
Tag: passenger pigeon
Hummers
Hummers are gas-guzzlers to most Americans – but they are hummingbirds to some. Hummingbirds seem exotic to the UK birder because we have nothing really like them – and because they really are exotic. My first hummingbird ever was about 30 years ago when I was sitting on a log in Ontario, looking at a…
Cute little critters
I doubt whether anyone gets on a plane to the USA because they want to see a small burrowing rodent. They might head for Yellowstone, as I am doing, hoping to see Grizzly Bears, Wolves and Moose – and, yes, I really hope I do see all of those. At the moment I really hope…
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,…
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…
Fitz
I’ve spent another day at Cornell talking to interesting people about birds, the environment and environmental issues. Everyone has been very open and welcoming. The day started with birding at 6am. We saw a few waders – a familiar Dunlin, some almost familiar Semi-palmated Plovers (much like a Ringed Plovers) and Spotted Sandpipers (much like Common…
Still raining
I thought of detouring to Niagara Falls but that would have been silly – it would have added too many miles and I have seen torrents of rain all day anyway. When it hasn’t been raining hard it has been raining very hard. So not a bird-rich day – even though the Allegheny Mountains, through which…
Homage to the Passenger Pigeon
I did a strange thing in a zoo today. My days are beginning to fall into a certain order. Wake at 5am after a good night’s sleep and without an alarm, check emails (‘cos Europe is already up), shower, move stuff into the car and then hit the road. And so I headed North from…