I grew up in an Audubon Society family. These were in the days before the Audubons became overtly political, and that organization’s main focus was on, you know, birds. We did migrating bird counts in the spring and fall, and nesting bird counts on my folk’s Allamakee County land every spring and summer. With this upbringing, it would be surprising if I hadn’t developed an interest in birds, and it’s an interest I maintain to this day.
Around our Susitna Valley property right now, we have legions of chickadees, juncos, nuthatches, and pine siskins; there are warblers back in the brush and most mornings, a Swainson’s Thrush regales us from the treetops with its distinct and beautiful song. In the winter many of our birds move south, but the chickadees and nuthatches remain, and it’s a wonder how a bundle of fluff weighing less than an ounce can make it through our long, dark,…
