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May 2008

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From:
Joe Faulkner <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Joe Faulkner <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 12 May 2008 22:04:25 -0400
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Fellow birders,

     Another IMBD has come and gone, so it must be time for another people
report from the boardwalk.  I thought the number of people on the boardwalk
was actually down a bit from last year, when gridlock was nearly constant.
This year it was just occasional.  At one of those moments I heard a birder
comment "Yea, this is not fun".  But things thinned out later  and became
tolerable. Unfortunately, the birds thinned out as well,  and it might have
been the worst day for warblers I've seen in fifteen years.   Even so, there
was a decent variety.

     From my limited perspective, the demographics went something like
this.  I saw 8 1/2 African Americans,  (not Barack), down slightly from last
year.  About ten to fifteen percent were Amish, also possibly down a bit.
The most distant licence  plate was actually ALASKA!!
California, Texas, Florida and all of New England were also represented. The
best bumper sticker said 'I disliked Bush before disliking Bush was
popular".   I encountered no foreign birders, but did meet a large
contingent from Pittsburgh, who spoke with a strange accent and watched the
hockey game Friday night.  How foreign is that?

     I would guess that about a third of the birders were overweight, and
we  were all a year older. Aside from the Amish, very few were packing
children, and quite a few were in scooters.

     Celebrity birders were Rare to Accidental.  I'm sure they were there,
but like the Rails, I didn't see many.  I did see Chris Miller getting his
picture taken with another birder, and the Stokes were passing out
literature about their latest book.  Tom Bartlett was sitting on his butt,
as usual.  Kim Kaufmann was cheerfully, as usual,  giving out info on bird
sightings, as was Mary Warren, whose posts are always appreciated.  Young
birder star Ethan Kistler took us and about a dozen other birders directly
to an Orange Crowned warbler.  He does that a lot, and we thank him. Jim
McCormac was apparently out cavorting with the rails. Bill Wahn was
disguised as a "giant garlic mustard weed".  At least that's what he told me
last year.  I hope no one tried to pull that one up.

     During seven days of birding at Magee and other areas around Ohio, I
spotted an impressive 167 species.  Not a bad week of birding, and Magee is
always the highlight, with or without a few thousand other birders.

     Joe in the woods
     Perry county

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