Today is my dad's sixtieth birthday... Happy birthday Dad!
Being one of the people who created me, and a big positive support, mentor, and hero of mine my whole life, I figure what better way to wish him a happy birthday than through my first blog post in a while? My blog is primarily for telling stories of my adventures with wildlife, and in the coming year I aim to focus on writing about my Big Year. Seeing as my closest family and friends have been super supportive particularly this year and have done so much to help me get to this point in my life, I might as well kick things off by write about them some too!
My dad was one of the first people to introduce me to the outdoors! When I was just a toddler we had a whole scheme down for sharing our outdoor work. I had a mini lawn mower and a set of garden tools for a person my size and Dad had his own set, and we worked well together! Okay, so the motor was maximum quiet and the whole thing was made of bright red plastic, but you know... The lawn got cut!
Look at how hard Dad and I worked on the yard together, when I was only two years old! |
A Red-tailed Hawk from 2015 that was visible from my dad's house. A bit closer view than we had years ago! |
My dad has since been back to Holiday Beach's Hawk Festival a few times, to see my presentations and the great work that my now friends at Holiday Beach do for fall migration! He may not consider himself a bird watcher (yet!) but I recently noticed the Audubon Field Guide I bought him a few years ago, now looking a bit worn and used, in a high traffic reading location in his house! Christmas just happened a couple of days ago, and I was very pleased to see that Dad was thrilled about a pair of binoculars left by Santa under his Christmas tree.
Like I said, Dad's Audubon field guide is in a high traffic reading area! |
Dad with his new binoculars. I can think of a local tour guide who just might be up for showing him around! |
Thanks for reading, good birding, and have a great winter!
Jere