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A Field Guide to the Birders of Southern Ontario | Robert Catto

The Limestone Islands in Georgian Bay, near where I grew up in Canada, are an official nature reserve; you need a permit to visit them – unless you’re accompanied by someone who’s been appointed a steward of the reserve. These are my parents.  They’re birdwatchers. They’ve travelled the world doing this together, for over fifty years, and they’ve covered the globe from pole to pole – well, the Arctic to the Antarctic – and most stops in between.  Their hats, bags & jackets are dotted with souvenirs of their travels, and their bookshelves bursting with field guides to various countries. Their life list of species they’ve seen is long, but never full; and even at our cottage, where they spend every summer, there’s always the chance of a new species extending its usual range (in 2006, there was a pelican!); and a moral responsibility to document this year’s hatch, for long term trending of which species are moving in, or moving out of their familiar territory.  All as volunteers, of course. When I was a child, these expeditions seemed interminable; but now, living on the other side of the world, I miss them.  Picking our way through the reefs to find a spot to land the boat, tossing an anchor over the back, making sure it’s got a hook on a rock, then dashing to the front before we clip the shore…….

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