I had never done any birding until Judie Hansen gave a workshop I attended when we lived in Eugene. Then I was hooked. At Rose Villa I got us involved with Audubon’s annual Christmas bird count, and got our regular, more or less monthly, birding trips going.
I particularly enjoy watching waterfowl — sparrows and wrens not so much, but I am learning. I like birding with someone who knows more than I do. That’s when I learn.
Some highlights include tromping through a peat bog in the Scottish highlands to see a Slavonian Grebe, seeing and hearing a Kookaburra out my bedroom window in Sydney, Australia, and watching wild Ostriches in South Africa.
Most memorable experience: When a Roadrunner walked right up to me while eating my lunch in Big Bend National Park. I didn’t dare reach for my camera lest I scare him away.
