I and the Bird

I and the Bird #100

May 14, 2009 by Mike No Comments

Today marks a major milestone in birding and nature blogging: the centennial edition of I and the Bird. Isn’t that amazing? My habit is to introduce a new edition of IATB by praising its host. However, my immense respect for Nate of The Drinking Bird is already very well-documented (you’re awesome, man!) On this occasion, it is more appropriate to praise you, the bird blog reading and writing public. Considering how many hundreds of bloggers have participated in I and the Bird since July 2005, I’d guess that the overlap between these two communities is ample indeed.

A successful blog carnival, like the tip of an iceberg, suggests a much greater mass beneath its surface. We, and by we I mean the myriad individuals around the world who write online about birding and wild birds with consistent passion, perception, and artistry, have that mass. The Nature Blog Network is the perfect venue to celebrate the 100th edition of our beloved blog carnival because here we see week to week how the rapidly the ranks of nature bloggers is growing.

People are free to posit reasons why I and the Bird has endured as the web’s longest running nature blog carnival. Sure, our success has something to do with birds and how cool they are but I see this more about the other half of that essential equation. It’s all about folks sharing an abiding interest in a world of birds coming together online. Basically, it’s all about you. Today, it’s about a heck of a lot of you since we’ve reached a new record for submissions for this edition. Whether you’re one of the 80 or so contributors to the current extravaganza, a past host or contributor, or a loyal reader, you deserve credit for supporting what has become an expression of an exciting international nature blogging community. Of course, Nate deserves a ton of credit too. After all, he’s slaved away at an outstanding, hilarious presentation of I and the Bird #100: The NBN Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence. Everybody’s a winner!

Can we keep this good thing going? The first of our next 100 editions will be hosted by one of our most prolific contributors, a true blog carnival maven Grrlscientist of Living the Scientific Life, (Scientist, Interrupted). Send your links and summaries to me or Grrlscientist (GrrlScientist AT scienceblogs DOT com) by 5/26 for the May 28 edition. Also be sure to let me know if you’re ready to host!

Written by Mike
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.