July 2009: Retrospecticus

I don’t know about you, but I’m kinda happy to see the end of July. Not because it wasn’t a fun month at The Drinking Bird, but because it means we’re one month closer to the return of northern birds. In North Carolina, that means shorebirds. We typically miss the big movement of them on their way north, but fall puts the eastern seaboard right in the crosshairs. Already reports from eastern Carolina promise “wall-to-wall” shorebirds at Lake Mattamuskeet. If it’s anything like what I witnessed last year, I’m looking forward to finding a day to visit this year too.

But I get ahead of myself. First we look back.

To my gut-wrenching binocular incident and it’s eventual happy conclusion.

To my dad’s cool new environmental leadership camp.

To Obama’s seeming lack of interest in stopping a real environmental tragedy.

To the AOU’s new largely tanager-less list of North American birds.

To my blogger birthday and some hot tunes.

To learning how to digiscope better.

To birding with a baby and at my new job.

So not bad month after all, I guess. It’s just that August is going to be better.

Stay tuned, and thanks for visiting!