Shaun's comments about wearing binoculars into restaurants and gas stations, and also trying to boost the local economy in the Sax-Zim area are very important. And there's more than one reason to let locals know you're a birder. Not only can we give people a good impression of us, and let them know that it's in their own self-interest to maintain bird habitat, but also we can get good tips about where birds are. Once when I was in the grocery store in Meadowlands, and mentioned to the cashier that I was there birding, she told me about a Great Gray Owl that had been frequenting her property, and gave me precise directions. And several times when I've been in the gas/station-coffee shop, people sitting around have started asking questions and telling their own owl stories. It's a great way to build bridges that will help us all in the long run. And it's good for the birds as well.
Laura Erickson Duluth, MN NOTE address change: [email protected] Producer, "For the Birds" radio program <http://www.lauraerickson.com/> There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. --Rachel Carson
