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Patbirder

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

I feel like letting other people write this. Ok, well, well, well, I like good coffee in the mid-morning, love all sorts of cheese and like to hum to myself whenever I pleeeeeaaaazzze. Aside from that. I am a graduate student at Illinois State University trying to finish a masters in biology. people often ask me how I ended up in Normal, Illinois. Well, first off I have to state for the elctronic record that Normal is a pretty good place to live- seems calm and economically upbeat. I ended up here to go to grad school and work with my major professor, Angelo Capparella. He has worked quite a bit with neotropical birds, neotropical birds are my main passion and so here I am. Birding has been a primary driving force in my life. I started at 7 and it has brought me to such countries as Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and most recently the Dominican Republic. Birding is also urging me to go to Thailand, Malaysia, Sulawesi and Halmahera. Why these places? because I can experience the sights and sounds of fantastic new birds like Gurneys Pitta- that Gurney and his Pitta, holy smokes I would like to see that Pitta- google it to find out why. As for Sulawesi and Halmahera, those islands are full of delicious looking endemics such as Wallaces Standardwing and Lilac-cheeked Kingfisher. That Wallace and his Standardwing- this bird is just unreal- I must see this. I dont know what else to say about me right now. Here is a birding survey I did:..START BZOINK.COM SURVEY CODE
BIRDER SURVEY
# of lifers:: 2,240
# of ABA birds:: 550?
what state do you live in?: Illinois, from born New York
# of state birds:: ?
what county do you live in?: Mclean
# of county birds:: ?
Do you "patch" bird?: not around here
name your patch:: Goat Island, Niagara Falls, NY and Quebrada Gonzalez, Costa Rica
# of birds on your year list:: probably 200+
favorite spot to bird in the US:: hmmmm..Cape May I think
favorite birding spot outside the US:: hard to choose- Quebrada Gonzalez, Costa Rica and Bombuscaro, Ecaudor, and southeast Peru
best bird ever:: more than one:Black Rail, Harpy Eagle, Amazonian Parrotlet (the parrot that used to not have a name), Sumichrasts Wren, Rufous-fronted Antthrush
nemesis bird:: USA: Elf Owl. Outside USA: Masked Duck
do you have an "F" list?: ?
how many birds on your "F" list::
how many birds on your shit list?:
most wanted trip:: Sulawesi and Halmahera!!!!
most wanted bird:: Wallaces Standardwing, Gurneys Pitta, screw Masked Duck!
what model and brand of bins do you use?: Swarovski ELs
what model and brand of scope do you use?: small Swarovski
what was the last lifer you added to your list?: Spot-bellied Bobwhite
where did you see your last lifer?: temple steps at Chiang Dao, Thailand
what's the last bird you saw today?: Chimney Swift!!
best bird song you've heard ever:: ooh tough one-Rufous-faced Solitaire tied with Nightingale Wren
favorite field guide for the US:: Sibley
favorite field guide for outside the US:: Collins guide to Europe
what do you do when you're not birding?: study bird vocalizations, encourage birding and nature appreciation amongst general populace, practice Chen tai chi and long fist kung fu, search for great bakeries, brownies
do you think the ivory-billed woodpecker is alive or extinct?: alive
whose your birder icon?: Ted Parker III
why do you bird?: cause I love it.
Take this survey | Find more surveys
You've been totally Bzoink*d ..END BZOINK.COM SURVEY CODE

My Interests

Birding, travelling, hanging out in old growth forests, learning languages, practicing Long Fist and Chen Tai Chi, reading and writing, good bread, good cheese, and good red wine. I also like dancing to musica sabrosa- salsa, merengue, cumbia, bachata.

I'd like to meet:

People I havent seen in a while like the other volunteers from the chantier in Lens en Vercors, 1991. People such as: Murielle, Claude, Grandfather Rene, Pedro, Alberto, Isabel, Rose, Yalcin, Marmalade Cem, Mica, Mederic la mouche and others, most of all Andrea S. from Potsdam. Theres too many other people I would like to see again so I cant mention them all here. Of those whom I have never met, maybe the band members of This Mortal Coil.

Music:

I wont have a big list of cool bands like other people because I havent kept up with new music for some time. Nevertheless I like this thing we call music. I especially enjoy salsa such as Frankie Ruiz, Grupo Niche-lo maximo, Celia Cruz, Gran Combo, Hector Lavoe, Joe Arroyo, etc. I also enjoy cumbia, some technocumbia like Agua Bella, the music from Everything is Illuminated, lots of Brazilian music, I like the sound of Chinese opera, various classical, piano like Chopin and Seti (dont know how thats spelled even though I speak French), 80s new wave such as Roxy Music, The The, Shriekback, and ABC, The Cocteau Twins, Dead can Dance and especially This Mortal Coil- timeless and often haunting- very elvish. I dont enjoy country, norteno, and I especially hate that song by Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock about putting your picture away. No offense to Sheryl and Kid Rock (sounds like a Flintstone) but I would be pleased to never hear that thing again for as long as I live.

Movies:

Mostly independent stuff that doesnt have a trailer with some goofy, blaise, pseudo-happy sounding voice saying things like, "hilarious", and "youve got to see this one" or "amazing". When you hear the word "amazing", achtung my friends, achtung; talk about overuse of a word; its like everything out there is amazing. I think we all need to think twice about saying "amazing" especially when travelling. Those movies almost invariably suck because they are just one cliche after another. Its like a sitcom turned into a movie- waste of everything. So, some of my latest favorites are Everything is Illuminated, Little Miss Sunshine, and Childen of men. Of course I love The Lord of the Rings movies especially Gollum- he's just hilarious and all Star Wars although young Vader was kind of a dork. Also like classics like Casablanca, some bad horror flicks, horror flicks from the 70s- those are the scariest!! Good sci fi like Blade Runner, movies by Jeunet, Kurosawa and Tarantino and I love Shaw bros kung fu movies like The Five Deadly Venoms, The Kid with the Golden Arm and Master Killer.

Television:

As for the American house temple, most things suck on there but it can be good to escape reality when needed. This is what I would love to see: Halfway through a sitcom (innane shows with canned laughter), just as a main character says something predictable, pointless and shallow that is supposed to be funny (like all things said on sitcoms), a subtle yet imminent sound is heard. It is a bit like a train whistle but not as loud and seems to be far away yet appears to be approaching rapidly. Just as the puzzled faces of the characters on screen register comprehension concerning the sound waves generated by aerodynamic brass cutting through air molecules at terminal velocity, they are cut off in mid sentance as the bomb goes off. Ahhhhh, relief! No more show! When the dust clears, a beatnik, clown with frowning face or centaur appears and starts up a silly dance contest. NOW THAT I WOULD WATCH!!!! Mind you, those not-funny sitcom people are actors so no one is hurt in any way and I am very much against violence and destruction. OK, here are a few shows I like because they are realistic and/or well written: THE SOPRANOS!- the best. At first, I thought, whats the big deal?-this reminds me a bit of many people I grew up with. However, as the show progressed, and characters became better developed and after many discussions about the show with my best friend Vince, I came to love this show. I also like Rome, Rescue Me, Thief, Twin Peaks-all time favorite, Battlestar Gallactica (the new one, the old one is pretty bad- who the heck names a kid, Boxy"? -even in outer space theres no excuse), some history channel shows, Supernatural and probably a few others.

Books:

Oh I love them books! All Tolkien, Steinbeck, Hemmingway, The FanMan by Kotzwinkle, Salinger, Vonnegut, Just started reading Tom Robbins- he inadvertently stole some of my writing style!! Lovecraft, good sci fi (theres lots of bad), Garcia Marquez, St, Exupery. Always looking for recommendations. And in their own category; birding books!! Like Kingbird Highway by Ken Kaufman- awesome and great field guides for Thailand, Ecuador, Mexico, Costa Rica- the new one is pretty darn good.

Heroes:

Martin Luther King is the best American hero. Tito Puentes, Hector Lavoe, Roger Tory Peterson, Ted Parker III, Ed Mockford- friend and landlord- this guy has been kind and generous to many- he deserves a lifetime award. The unknown Mexican family in the mountains of Michoacan who took me in as one of their own even though they had little. All environmentalists- everyone should be one- to be one,all you have to do is be concerned about your natural surroundings because you have a permanent relationship with them.