It's Springtime!

And the weather has been glorious -- just perfectly lovely. Wish I was a cat to sit in the window listening to all the birds twittering to each other. I am darn motivated to see some darn warblers this spring. The only one I've ever spotted was the yellow warbler. I was out with my birding pal, Chris a few springs ago. Since he was teaching me the basics, we spotted this yellow fellow, and Chris asked me what I thought it was. I pointed to the cover of my birding book and said "this one?"

A few weeks ago, I went on an owl walk in Hampton. It's hard to believe now but it was cold and there was a lot of snow on the ground. About fifty(!) of us stood around in the night listening to the various owl calls on an iPod. We positioned ourselves around in a circle so people could spot the owls and point them out. I secretly hoped that it would not be me because it can be quite challenging to describe where the creature is: "it's in that tree, on a low branch." Yeah, right. Well, we saw nothing. Absolutely nothing. I was not surprised because I think it has something to do with my person that repels birds. Still, it's nice that what with the world of "information on demand" that nature can still refuse to show up and be counted.

Friday I did go out for a walk and spotted one bird I hadn't seen before -- the golden-crowned kinglet. I impressed myself with how easy I found it in my book and made an ID. I am improving!

For all my Creative Friends

You may already know about this because I always assume I am behind the curve, but I read on my Publisher's Weekly comics newsletter about a social networking site, kickstarter.com, for poeple who need funds for creative projects. It includes a variety of comics writers, filmmakers, and any artist you can think of -- including some cake decorators. Not everybody is automatically accepted to the site, making it a little more exclusive. Notable entries include editorial comics guy Ted Rall who is looking to raise funds to go back to Afghanistan.

I don't see any reason why my friends who are all very talented couldn't get certain projects off the ground with the help of this site. I think it's really cool.