Happy Birthday

Today, if he were still alive, John James Audubon would be 221 years old! He was born on this date in 1785 in what is now Haiti. He died in 1851 and is buried in Trinity cemetery near the Episcopal Church of the Intercession at 155th and Broadway here in New York City.

I'll take the opportunity of his birthday to shamelessly plagiarize the following list of pleasures of birdwatching from Marie Winn's wonderful website and Chris Cooper:

1. The beauty of the birds
2. The beauty of being in a natural setting
3. The joys of hunting, without the bloodshed
4. The joy of collecting (in that the practice of keeping lists -- life lists, day lists, etc.-- appeals to the same impulse as, say, stamp collecting)
5. The joy of puzzle-solving (in making those tough identifications)
6. The pleasure of scientific discovery (new observations about behavior, etc.)and saving the best for last,
7. The Unicorn Effect--After you've been birding for even a little while, there are birds you've heard of or seen in books that capture your imagination, but you've never seen for yourself...and then one day, there it is in front of you, as if some mythical creature has stepped out of a storybook and come to life. There's no thrill quite like it.

Happy Birthday and Good Birding!