Birding: Being Whole

My magazine subscriptions accummulate in an ever-hopeful pile on the living room table, drawing my eye for a furtive glance between a quick lunch and the daily mail check -- I imagine you can relate. Today, between bites of an apple, I scanned the covers of, among others, backlogged issues of The Nature Conservancy, Birding, The New Yorker, and Audubon. And there it was, a simple challenge at the top of the March-April issue of Audubon: "Why We Bird." Turning to page 136 for a quick look, I ended up reading the five pages of what turned out to be an excerpt from Jonathan Rosen's The Life of the Skies, published in February by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Rosen writes of his birding epiphany 14 years ago, not knowing at all what warblers were but overhearing an excited conversation in late March about their imminent arrival in Central Park, and knowing he would find out. He reports realizing soon thereafter in an introductory birdwatching class how poor an observer he was...though as a writer he considered himself a careful one. And he discovers that "it is simply the pleasure of looking that hooked me." That simple looking, he conveys, makes him whole, more fully alive, more fully complete. We all need more of this.

Last summer, on a walk in the boreal forest, I heard a Gray Jay call. I whistled back, and the jay appeared atop a distant spruce. I kept whistling, and the jay came a little closer. Two other hikers came by and paused, curious. We were far from any campground, and I couldn't be sure, but I pulled a peanut out of my trail mix and held it up on the palm of my hand. In an instant the jay launched off the treetop and glided about 100 feet to land directly on my hand and grab the peanut, to my delight and the silent astonishment of the hikers. The jay hopped up onto a nearby branch. I passed a peanut to one of the hikers and told her to put her hand out. The jay obliged, swooping again for the prize and spreading a look of sheer joy across the hiker's face as she felt the light touch of feet and the brush of wings on her hand -- her own epiphany, perhaps?

The warblers are coming through Maine where I live now -- a yellow-crowned Chestnut-sided, an elegant Black-throated Blue, a fiery Blackburnian. The simple pleasure of looking is heavenly, as it is anywhere. Birding awaits, and completeness with it. Spread the word.
-- Jan Pierson

(Note: You can read Jonathan Rosen's entire "Why We Bird" piece in the Audubon archives here.)

Austral Spring: Turn the seasons upside down As birders, we get to do something quite unusual -- enjoy spring, then beautiful summer, and follow it with...spring again! It's hard to think about birding in October and November during a beautiful spring day in May, but think of how nice it'll be to repeat spring -- austral spring, that is -- come fall. We'll be heading south of the Tropic of Capricorn then for several South American tours, including our Brazil: Itatiaia, Iguazu Falls & the Pantanal itinerary and two exciting Argentina trips covering this amazing country from end to end. The brilliant male Frilled Coquette at right is just one tiny gem from our Brazil tour, among a size continuum of fantastic things to be seen, from the coquette up to Gilt-edged Tanager, Blond-crested Woodpecker, Hyacinth Macaw, and Giant Anteater to the biggie of them all, amazing Iguazu Falls. And Argentina? Well, the Cream-backed Woodpecker is but one prize of our Northwestern Argentina itinerary (the big Black-bodied might be another one, with a little luck in the field!), while our Southern Argentina tour, which may be taken back-to-back with the North, moves against a birding backdrop of the often breathtaking landscapes of the southern Andes. Guide Dave Stejskal and participant Marge Barrett provided these images. Dates and guides for these tours are: Brazil: Itatiaia, Iguazu Falls & the Pantanal: October 9-24 with Jan Pierson & George Armistead Northwestern Argentina: October 28-November 16 with Dave Stejskal & Jesse Fagan Southern Argentina: November 15-December 2 with George Armistead & Jesse Fagan

Our summer Australia itinerary to Kakadu, Kununurra & Cape York combines great birding possibilities from the nomadic Gouldian Finch to the immense Southern Cassowary (at right in photo from participant Paul Thomas), bookending ancient rock pictographs and some eye-catching landscapes. Longtime Australia tour veteran John Coons will guide you and just a small group on this great itinerary. There are just 3 spaces open, so call our office to join the adventure this summer, July 6-22.

We also still have space on these upcoming fall itineraries:

China: Beidahe & the Tibetan Plateau: September 12-29 with Jay VanderGaast & Jesper Hornskov

South Africa: October 10-November 1 with Jay VanderGaast & Rod Cassidy

Madagascar: September 18-October 9 with Dave Stejskal

Madagascar, Mauritius & Reunion: November 8-December 5 with Dan Lane & Megan Crewe

Holiday Birding Travel: Book your flights early
If holiday birding with us is in your plans for later this year, to allow yourself the best options and fares it's good to get flights booked early for this busy travel time. Call our office and our travel agents can help you sort out the possibilities. Our holiday destinations include:

Thanksgiving Venezuela: Tepuis Endemics: November 22-December 1 with Jay VanderGaast

New Year in Mexico: Oaxaca & the Pacific Coast: December 27-January 7 with Chris Benesh

Trinidad & Tobago: December 27-January 5 with Megan Crewe

Wild Darien: Cana & Cerro Pirre: December 27-January 5 with Dave Stejskal

Holiday at San Isidro, Ecuador: Thanksgiving and New Year departures with Mitch Lysinger or Jay VanderGaast

New Year's Costa Rica: Rancho Naturalista: December 27-January 4 with Jesse Fagan

Good birding!

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