Sunday, April 28, 2013

Children Are the Future

Finding ways to encourage kids to pursue their talents and interests is an important and worthwhile task. Making sure that kids are socialized to their peer group is also important. So what should be done when these two important aspects of childhood flourishing conflict?


Are we helping this kid?

Pictured above is the 2013 ABA Young Birder of the Year. He looks like a bright, inquisitive, promising young naturalist. He also looks like he might have some social difficulties on the playground.

I don't mean to be judgmental, and obviously it is difficult to come to any conclusions based on a single photograph. I could be way off here. Perhaps he is well-adjusted amongst his classmates, has many friends and interests outside of birding and enjoys gym class. However my honest first impression when I looked upon this bespectacled, Tilley clad, pastel bird print t-shirt adorned kid, my reaction was that this young man is a pair of Crocs and a binocular harness away from irreparable social harm.

This young individual seems to have more than enough birding influences in his life right now. For his sake I just hope that someone is looking at the bigger picture.

Monday, April 22, 2013

A Shared Nemesis

Recent reports of two Worm-eating Warblers, one at Pelee and the other today in Peterborough, highlight a painful reality for me; I have only ever seen this species in the USA.


I should have seen one in Ontario by now... way overdue by my reckoning. It is indeed one of my nemesis birds. I am at least glad to see that Dwayne Java shares in my pain.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013