ABC, JULY 17, 2018:  We held our annual book discussion on July 17th.

The meeting started off with a recap of the recent wildly successful field trip to Cassia County, Idaho, for those Cassia Crossbills, with subsequent stops for other good stuff. We met Marcus Roening for dinner in Twin Falls upon arrival, when he and Heather had gotten the bird and were headed elsewhere. He gave us some good and timely tips, mainly to go to Porcupine Springs, which we did with great success! After getting the bird, the two carloads (Car #1: Faye, Diane, Carol, and Art; Car #2: Ken, Ed, Teri, Laurel) split up. Car #1 headed home with stops at the Chat spot Marcus had told us about; at Shoshone Falls (wow!); a new wildlife refuge in Idaho; in Ontario, Oregon, for 2 Long-tailed Grackles; and Vernita Bridge with 11 Nighthawks! Car #2 headed into Nevada where they all got another lifer, Himalayan Snowcock in the Ruby Mountains; then into Oregon with lots and lots of Pinyon Jays! See Ed’s report: http://abcbirding.com/4-day-cassia-crossbill-trip-report/

7-17-18 – Joe Tieger in yellow shirt led book discussion

On to the main event! Joe Tieger led a lively discussion on Noah’s book, Birding Without Borders. Of course most of us had met Noah when ABC had him report right after his big year before the book was published, an event concocted by Kay Pullen, which turned out to be the biggest event ever for ABC, where we had to involve Tahoma Audubon and the Slater Museum at UPS, where it was held in the UPS rotunda. (See: http://abcbirding.com/april-12-2017-abcs-new-best-friend-noah-strycker/).

So we all felt a personal connection to Noah. Joe had a list of discussion points which really brought lots of talk, such as what we might have added to his sparse equipment list? In this particular case, Joe had a compelling sales pitch, telling us we should never go off into the wilds, especially if alone, without a Personal Locator Beacon, which he showed us. He explained how it worked, and we’re all ready to go buy one! If you want to know more about Joe’s particular choice, you can ask him at: jmhornbeam@comcast.net.

There was a lively discussion about listing, Big Years, and personal styles of birding. Most of us wouldn’t have wanted to expend the single-minded energy that Noah did, even if we had the money, although Noah’s expenses were amazingly low, considering what he was willing to put up with and his sponsorships.

The discussion turned weird when it came out that Noah said one thing he could have left home was his pair of leech socks.  No one agreed with this, and horrific stories were told!

Much conversation about Noah’s book

One educational topic that Joe touched upon was Birding Pals. Several had experience with Birding Pals, with satisfaction up and down the scale from high to low, kinda like computer dating.

Thanks, Joe, for a lively discussion!