Posted: Aug 18, 07 2:40pm
The Birders are flocking to a roost in central England this weekend. Specifically they are flying in from all points of the globe, landing nearby and finding a way to Rutland Water.
It's the largest annual migration of birders on the plant. It's the annual British Birding Fair. I've been twice and it's exciting, challenging, educational, and frustrating. Why isn't there time to go to Uganda, Ecuador, Borneo and Madagascar? Which of the great tour companies has the best trips to Poland or Taiwan? How best to see the penguins of Tierra del Fuego and the Falklands?
It's swap meet, trade fair, air exhibit, gossip session and tech show all rolled into one. I took my fifteen year old Zeiss binocs and got them cleaned sand rejuvenated for free at the Zeiss optics booth, just across the way were travel companies and publishers with information how to find nearly all the 9,000-plus species of living birds. My wife saw there a life-size mural painted by a Ugandan artist. It showed many birds but its centerpiece was the dramatic wading bird known as a Shoebill. We must go see that bird in that place.
Here's a current British newspaper artcile:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/aug/18/conservation?gusrc=rss&feed=environment
Birding events are found across America, often celebrating some local species of interest from Sandhill Cranes to
KIrtland's Warblers. Here's the American Birding Association's list:
