Monthly Archive
In the March-April 2008 issue of Audubon, Jane Braxton Little profiled Malkolm Boothroyd and his parents, Ken Madsen and Wendy Boothroyd, and their "Bird Year" project. The trio left their home in Whitehorse, Yukon, on the summer solstice (June 21, 2007), heading south on a year-long, fossil-fuel-free pursuit of birds. Since then they have biked south through California, east across Arizona and Texas to Florida, then back along the Gulf Coast to the upper Texas Coast by late April.
Several weeks ago I posted a review of the mid-sized Vortex Fury 6.5x32 and am now pleased to add my impressions of the bigger brother in this line -- the Fury 8x42. The short of it is that people at Vortex really got everything right with this new line of binoculars. I love the 8x42 and think they are a “best buy.” It is still hard for me to believe that it is possible to produce a binocular this good for $350.
Ommateum: A Morning Walk
This moring I heard my first Yellow Warbler of 2008. On Tuesday, the first fight for a nest cavity between a gang of Starlings and and pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers. On Sunday, we saw the season’s first Blue-headed Vireo. Last week, the first Pine and Palm Warblers. The first Phoebe’s. Two weeks past, the first Flickers. Six weeks past, the first singing Cardinals.
OK, so I am a bit OCD. OK, so I love my binoculars a bit more than I should. In my defense I hasten to point out that compulsive behavior can sometimes be a good thing. Allowing a fastidious impulse to rule a small part of my life ensures that my binoculars will continue to provide the same brilliant image that inspired me to plunk down my hard earned money to buy them and that the silky smooth focus will stay that way until I pass my cherished bins on to their next owner.
In popular movies like Antz and A Bug’s Life, insects have the gift of gab. New research shows that although bugs can’t talk when they’re off the big screen, they can send messages through plants.
I led a group of 20 people on a walk in Central Park this morning. New York is a tough place and we have tough birds to prove it.
In yesterday's green issue of the New York Times Magazine Michael Pollan makes a case in his piece titled "Why Bother?" for growing our own food as a way to rein in our global warming emissions.
Tomorrow is Earth Day, and everyone is talking about the real steps people can take to fight climate change. What are you going to do this year? Buy a hybrid? It's a popular choice: The hottest hybrid models continue to cruise off car lots faster than dealers can restock. But is that hybrid really better for the environment than the standard car several aisles over? Or even, for that matter, your old car?
On our way across Nevada's Great Basin two weeks ago on U.S. Highway 50, "America's Loneliest Road," my husband Richard and I passed through spring hawk migration. It seemed that golden eagles soared on impossibly long wings over each wide, flat-bottomed valley; red-tailed hawks rode the air over each up-tilted mountain range.
