Greetings from Sapsucker Woods

I just returned from a two-week vacation driving through much of Italy. Although I had never visited many of the areas before, some of the landscapes and habitats looked vaguely familiar.

The rugged coastal mountains of Calabria and Sicily reminded me of places in Central California that I had driven through many times en route from Santa Barbara to San Francisco. And the vast agricultural lands of Puglia were somewhat like the San Joaquin Valley.

But something was very different, and it didn't take long to realize what it was: the birdlife. For one thing, the crows were completely different from ours. They were Hooded Crows and sported a distinctive gray-and-black plumage. And the Eurasian Kestrels were giants; nearly twice the size of American Kestrels. Along remote country roadways, instead of the ubiquitous Red-tailed Hawks of America, I saw dozens of Common Buzzards as well as several Red Kites, riding the wind above me, looking stunning in their reddish-brown plumage and their deeply forked tails. Everywhere I looked, everything seemed so different and fresh.

As I drove along, I realized how much of a focal point birds have always been in my life. They orient me; they show me exactly where I am in the world. And I suspect the same is true of most bird watchers. As much as I love traveling to faraway places, though, I am very glad to be back at Sapsucker Woods, enjoying the cardinals, chickadees, and Blue Jays outside my office window.

Tim Gallagher
Editor-in-Chief

For permission to reprint all or part of this article, please contact Tim Gallagher, editor, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd., Ithaca, NY, 14850. Phone: (607) 254-2443. email: twg3@cornell.edu