birdsoup

Being a glutton for punishment I participated in another Woodcock Walk last Saturday. This one was at the Audubon Center in Greenwich. The walk was something of an opening act that was followed by a presentation by David Sibley. He is the illustrator and author of Sibley’s Guide to Birds and other books. In total he has sold over 1 million bird books.

Series birders debate as to which guide is better – his or the National Geographic. At least he is either first or second. And he was doing his book tour to promote his second edition. He was near by. So I went for it.

The Woodcock Walk itself was lead by Ted Gilman who is the Sr. Naturalist at the center and was recently named The National Audubon Educator of the Year. Ted is a great teacher and physically always reminds me of Henry David Thoreau – tall, gaunt, with a long bushy beard, a calm, quiet manner and an incredible knowledge of the natural world.

Ted translated the appearance of a woodcock into understandable terms. A woodcock, he said, looks like a grapefruit with wings and a long bill. That’s it exactly. To illustrate the placement of a woodcock’s eyes, Ted asked the audience (about 75 people) to point to their eyes. Then move your fingers back along your head to a point just behind your ears. That’s where a woodcock’s eyes are positioned. This allows a woodcock to see almost directly behind it. No way any predator can sneak up on it. A prototype for the teacher with eyes in the back of her head who never misses anything.

We did see one Woodcock on an open grass field. It was too dark to see any definite field marks I did see a grapefruit sized bird with wings.

David Sibley’s talk followed the Woodcock walk. My summary: He is a better artist than speaker.

I did have him sign a few copies of his 2nd edition as gifts for friends.