Posted by Jeff Weber on February 24, 2003 at 09:45:45:
Dick Cunningham, Brian Rapoza and I led a trip to ENP for beginning birders on Sat., 2/22. It's a good thing three of us were leading it, as some 20 enthusiastic fledgling birders turned out for the event. This enabled us to describe field marks and behaviors to smaller groups (and at lower volume) as we walked the Anhinga Trail and a pine rockland trail along Research Road. Birds sighted were all the usual ones, but we took extra time to describe feeding habits and appearance variations related to age, gender and season.
We wrapped up the walk at Lucky Hammock, but it was nearly noon by then and there wasn't much going on. The habitat there has been seriously messed up by the local agricultural interests, who completely removed the very productive brush pile on the south end of the hammock. The storage of insecticide tanks on-site isn't going to help matters, either.
Most of those present said they are looking forward to upcoming TAS walks, which we assured them are as suitable for beginners as they are for experienced birders. Many took TAS membership applications and said they plan to join.
It's always nice to turn people on to birding, especially if they already have an interest. My enthusiasm must have lingered until the next day because I actually got my wife to take a binocular look at a yellow-throated warbler poking around the coconut palm in my back yard. (She even said it was pretty, though that may have been the coffee talking.)