[TN-Bird] Ol Coot
- From: kings4birds@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:46:33 -0500 (EST)
I'm torn about clogging up the list, and others have and will be more eloquent
than I, but I'm going to be worthless until I express myself. Like Mark, I'll
ask forgiveness if this is long.
From the first day I met Jeff at the pits, August 17, 2003, I was captivated by
his enthusiasm, energy, and passion for birds. In the years since I learned so
much from him, "rules" I realize great birders follow as second nature; but his
delivery of them was unique, and blazed them on my brain. Get out there. "You
won't find anything sitting on the sofa." Be prepared. Know what to expect,
when and where, so you'll know what is unusual. Know habitat...this grass, that
seed... An encyclopedic source of knowledge I'll miss terribly. Don't wear
white. "Next time you show up in a white shirt I'm going to knock you down and
roll you in the dirt!" Bad weather=Good birds. I know this isn't originally
Jeff's rule, but didn't he perk up when conditions were terrible? Look at the
bird! Once when I reached for a field guide he batted it away and said, "You
can look at that when the bird is gone!" Look at every bird. And he had the
patience to do it. Don't forget to look up, followed closely by Don't forget to
look down. And, Sometimes, just sit still. He delighted in close encounters,
and had a lot of them! And, Bird to the horizon. His words ring in my ears when
I'm in the field, and have helped me find and appreciate birds. And since
birding in many ways is a metaphor for life, I learned a lot about that from
him, too. I never heard him refer to himself as a teacher, but he was a grand
one.
So I'll go out, and raise my glasses to Ol' Coot. Like he said,
Good Birding!
Gail King
5595 Ashley Sq. N.
Memphis, TN
and, to poach a tag line: "What is this feathered thing that lift my heart to
the heavens?"
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