I wasn’t sure I’d heard it at first. The rustling might just have been a pine cone dropping into the leaf litter. But another rustling sound made me stop in […]
BIRDWATCHING
Allowing a Chipping Sparrow to Stop Time
The wonder of communion on watching a conspicuous and social bird
I am always startled by its appearance. Streaked and mottled brown like sandy soil or like the dried blades of last year’s grasses, it rises up: a leaf? A bird. […]
SOCIAL SPECIES
A Footprint Foretells the Recovery of Our Would-Be National Bird
In the wild, turkeys are more fascinating than that drawing on the bourbon bottle suggests
The frantic sprint of the large-but-lithe bird got my youngest daughter’s attention first: “Turkey! Turkey! I see a turkey!” My eldest scanned the road in front of us. “Where? I […]
WATCHING BIRDS
In Arizona, a Familiar Face
Hoping for verdins, a birdwatcher meets a robin and ponders the wonders of migration
I was lucky enough to be able to get away last month. My friend Bob, who lives in Tucson, always offers his warm hospitality during these cold months. But it […]
