Some Random Thoughts

COL Bob Reed

 

 

            Pat and I arrived on Dauphin Island Monday for the April meeting, because last year we kept hearing, ”You should have been here earlier.”  So this year we got there earlier, to no avail.  We had a good time, and we even went up to Chickasaw to the Swamp Tour, where we saw several nesting pairs of Ospreys and one adult Bald Eagle.  But the birds on Dauphin Island were scarce.  All week there was a brisk southerly wind which carried all but the most spent birds inland.  Good for the birds, not good for the birders congregated to witness their arrival.

 

            That statement raises some important questions in my mind, and perhaps in yours too.  Many of you have no doubt dealt with this issue before, to your satisfaction.  How can something be good for birders and not good for the birds, or vice versa?  I direct this question at myself, not at anyone else.  Am I so selfish that I would be willing to sacrifice some birds to the wind so that the remainder would be obliged to set down at the first sight of land?  I hope that the correct answer is “Of course not!”  But given a particular situation, is it improper to act within the parameters of the situation to enjoy the most birds?  The answer, I believe, is the same.

 

            I believe the critical issue is whether we, individually and corporately, do all we can to assure that our children and grandchildren will have the same or better opportunities to enjoy the birds that we have.

 

            The Golden anniversary meeting was great.  Friday night we enjoyed a stimulating presentation by Bill Finch, nature writer from the Mobile Register.  He challenged us that gardens are for people, not birds, that birds are more often attracted to the insects in our yards than the flowers.  He also challenged our perceptions of trees, reminding us that much of Alabama was naturally growing in large pine savannas, and that often, it is hardwoods, not pines that are the “trash trees.”  He believes that what Alabama and the South needs are massive landscapes too large to be managed, too large to challenge nature.  He ended his very thought-provoking presentation by saying nature’s gardening tools include fire, water, drought, flood, space, climate, death and decay, and storms.  Sometimes we loose track of the big picture and want to eliminate the “bad” tools in this list, instead of remembering that each serves a purpose, one that may not be apparent in our lifetimes.

 

            Saturday, the field trips were great.  I took advantage of John Stowers’ hospitality and rode with him over to Sand Island, behind the country club.  We enjoyed five species of plovers, among many other birds, including Gull-billed Terns.  He even provided icy bottled water. 

 

            Saturday night we turned our binoculars inward, so to speak, and enjoyed a presentation by our own Dr. Dan Holliman, who edited a wonderful Golden Anniversary publication, A Fifty-Year History of the Alabama Ornithological Society, Remembrances and Recollections.  He shared with us his years of study and work with Clapper Rails and salt-water marshes.

 

            Dan’s History reminded us of the grand legacy of which we are the happy beneficiaries.  We have been fortunate to have had so many fine people who have brought our Society to where it is today.

 

             We are far richer for the contributions of the likes of –– but if I name anyone, I will omit someone.  You know who they are.