I'M 



Bird-watchers scan the skies at Wings Over Water. 



KAYAKING 



across Milltail Creek in an open-topped 

 yellow kayak, dripping water all over my 

 jeans and trying to keep my camera dry. I 

 am not a bird-watcher. I can identify 

 cardinals and blue jays, sparrows and 

 crows, robins and mourning doves — the 

 avian residents of my suburban neighbor- 

 hood — and that's about it. Here at the 

 Wings Over Water bird-watching festival, 

 I'm definitely in a minority. 



Other brightly colored plastic vessels 

 dot the surface of the pond. I'm surrounded 

 by people in winter coats with binoculars 

 strapped around their necks. They're here 

 to see wood ducks, pileated woodpeckers 

 and great blue herons. I'm here to enjoy the 

 clear, cold autumn weather, to see a few 

 birds for myself, and perhaps to figure out 

 what has drawn my companions from 

 across the country. 



This morning at the opening break- 



fast, keynote speaker Ken Kaufman 

 described his lifelong love affair with birds, 

 a fascination that began when he was 6 years 

 old. After he graduated from college, he 

 hitchhiked for several years, looking for birds 

 all over North America. Birds seem so free, 

 he says, and people have always been 

 attracted to them for that reason. Yet they 

 aren't as free as they appear — even as they 

 cross borders and continents with ease, they 

 follow strict schedules and predictable routes. 



8 AUTUMN 1999 



