About myself

Imagine being able to bird in your sleep, not having to leave your bed to add to your list.  From the west-facing window, looking over the balcony, an exotic Japanese Elm tree blocks the view of the neighbouring apartment building in the summer, but not so much in the winter.  That same tree provides habitat and feeding areas for many birds and is regularly used by migrants in the spring and fall.   Imagine looking with binoculars at birds in that tree and how that looks to the people living in the apartment building . . . .   Clothes are important!   The window on the east side of the apartment looks over a street into a narrow band of forest that drops off about 20 metres, and the city below.  I can almost see the end of the universe from that window, or it the beginning?

Inspired by my friend Al, who suggested a friendly competition for the biggest “more or less” stationary year lists, I have chosen my apartment (where my wife Cris and I live in Gatineau Quebec) as my venu, and Al has chosen his diverse outdoor education centre property as his.   We live on the third floor of a 70 year old house that borders a narrow forested ridge on one side, and a urban neighbourhood on the other.   I only count birds I observe from our third floor apartment, that includes a balcony with some feeders.  When I am in birding mode, I sometimes sprint across the apartment to get a view of a bird I glimpsed from another window.  We are fortunate to be living in a glass house.

As for the birds, we don’t need to see them to count them – if we can identify a species by sound, that counts.  I enjoy identifying birds while in bed, which I can only see in my head.

As for me, well I love birds and birding!  I am lucky to work for Nature Canada (www.naturecanada.ca), and Al and I used to be colleages with the Waterloo Region Board of Education.