Allow myself to introduce...myself

I used to think that my greatest pleasure in the world was just being outside.  Immersed in nature.  As far away from civilization as possible.

That's the way most birders, naturalists, and other outdoorsy people tend to think.

But even when I'm in the field, rarely do I find myself far from "civilization."  There always seems to be an interesting cast of characters nearby.  I remember sitting in a blind in Elkhart, Kansas at 3 a.m., waiting for the Lesser Prairie-Chickens to wake up...resting peacefully in that freezing cold, cramped metal box, nothing to see or hear but silence unbroken, feeling the closeness of all those wild, precious creatures just outside, unglimpsed in the pre-dawn darkness.  Serene communion with an unseen world.  And that prolonged repose persisted...And I remember feeling such pervasive peace.  And I remember then being abruptly ripped from my trance by the thunderous, metal-rattling flatulence of the gentleman to my left.  The flimsy walls of the blind resonated with the pronouncement, and the silence was no more.

At the time, I was jaded.  I felt cheated of my solitary experience in the blind.  But I have since come to realize what color and shape all these charismatic characters and episodes add to a full life.  They become the most entertaining stories I tell my friends and family.  They become my funniest and clearest memories.  They become threads of the tapestry.

So although I still enjoy the solace I find in the field alone, I have learned to savor not only the special moments spent walking through a park with my parents, and the revelry of discovering a life bird with a good friend...but also the bizarre, wacky, often incomprehensible antics of those who would impose their ill will and interfere with all that is good.  The angry people, the complainers, the unsatifiable, those who can't open their eyes and appreciate what's in front of them...Oh, they then become the subjects of my most favorite stories!  They add that spice...what David Foster Wallace called the "greasy pleasure."  And now, when they start to make their presence known, I feel that little shiver of adrenaline...that frisson right before you crest the top of the roller coaster...I know this is going to be good...

I hope to share all the stories of my adventures, the touching and the ludicrous.  The more ludicrous, the better.  And there's no shortage of lunacy in birding.  If anything, there's a surplus.

When I was in Texas last year, I was standing behind a restroom building, peering around the corner with a few others, watching a Western Screech-Owl in a tree cavity nearby.   A woman in the group was complaining about her sandwich dripping because it had too much mayonnaise.  I kept watching the owl, and he did something that made me realize that he knew what I was thinking.  He was in on the joke.  And it always made me smile.

I hope that my stories will make you smile, too.