I have been interested in birds since my dad took me birding in Ohio as a kid. For my Senior Independent Study project at the College of Wooster (Ohio), I studied the flocking feeding behavior of winter birds. I earned a M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. I spent 1978-82 as a Peace Corps Volunteer in El Salvador and Honduras working in science and environmental education and was able to do some tropical birding while there and during repeated visits to the region over the past 40 years. I ran (and lost) for State House Representative in north east NC and later for Town Council in Chapel Hill. I retired from teaching high school science in NC. My wife and I have done the Christmas and Spring Bird counts at Jordan Lake for the past 32 years. We also enjoy backpacking and canoeing. I have finally rotated off various town and county boards but continue editing the Peace Corps Friends of Honduras newsletter and do part time substitute teaching.
What was your ‘spark species’ moment?
I still remember an early summer in the 60s when my dad took me to the woods near the Sandusky River in Tiffin, Ohio. He pointed out a Rose-breasted Grossbeak on a branch. I was able to focus on it with his old binoculars and was impressed by its red throat and white and black pattern. I still get a thrill when I see one now. I keep hoping they will come to my feeder in Chapel Hill.
What kind of birding makes for a great day?
I guess I would divide ‘great day birding’ as ‘exotic’ or ‘local’. I have been fortunate to live and travel to a number of different places. When I can get up early in the morning and walk along a trail with my tropical bird book and see colorful birds in the trees or shrubs like Blue-black Seedeater or Turquoise-browed Motmot and am able to figure out what they are, that is a great day. Locally, when I can walk far enough from traffic noise to hear birds singing especially a Wood Thrush or when I can see in the trees a rainbow of colors from Indigo Bunting to Summer Tanager that is also a great day – especially if I when arrive home I have escaped being bitten by ticks
Describe one of your favorite Atlasing moments?
Near the one stoplight of Jackson there is a parking lot by the Northampton County library and past the cotton gin a network of sewer easement paths cut into woods. On this trip, I had been trying to confirm more species and scanning everywhere. I looked up in the sky and saw a Mississippi Kite soaring. It landed in the top of a tree and started moving around. I hoped for nest building behavior but instead it appeared to be catching food (cicadas?) and eating them. A while later it flew and soared above me for 5 minutes and finally left. I was only able to rate it H but did manage to reach confirmed status for several other species that day and reach close to my 25% goal.
What is your favorite priority block and reason(s) why?
My favorite block is Jackson SE in Northampton County. I adopted it partially to create an excuse to return to an area where I used to live. I taught eight years in that county and when I return, I am apt to run into former students or teachers and am happy to tell them what I am doing. Even though this area is heavily farmed and logged, I enjoy discovering different species there. Along one stretch there is often a pair (P) of Loggerhead Shrikes. It is hard to access swamps but in a few places I can hear and see Prothonotary Warblers in the same spot (S7). I was surprised to find Horned Larks in spring cotton fields and hear goatsuckers in the evening by the fields.
Reason(s) why you choose to contribute data to the NCBA?
First, Atlasing has become a game for me. When I first started, I looked at other priority blocks near my adopted block and if I saw there was one no one else visiting it, I made a point of driving there and being the first to record data. I also enjoy going to places in winter and trying to add observations. As a science major, I think it is important to collect and share information. The NCBA is especially important to me because it attempts to look at areas where most people do not bird and gives us an understanding of all the places wildlife can be found. I hope an effort will be made after completing the Atlas to compile summary county data that can be shared with local schools and ag. extension offices.