Nina at Nature Remains has honored me with a Thinking Blogger Award!  Actually, she awarded it to me awhile ago but I have been negligent in passing the award along to five bloggers that make me think, but here goes:

I guess the first blog I’ll pick is Democracy in Albany, a local blog that makes me think about the nature of local politics in Albany, my adopted city.  Whether it’s corruption in city government or gun violence in the streets DIA definitely makes me ponder the city I live in and the people who run it.

Number two is Born into This, my friend Andy’s brand new blog.  His blog hasn’t really made me think too much yet (it’s so new) but I still feel justified in awarding him with a Thinking Blogger Award as he has always made me think about all kinds of crazy stuff…trust me, if you knew him…and he will be making you think if you click over to his blog.

The third blogger getting a Thinking Blogger Award from me is Jochen of Bell Tower Birding, one of my favorite birding blogs because of Jochen’s absolutely unique take on birding and life in general.  I sometimes think that his brain is put together differently than most people as he sees connections and relationships that no one else I know would see but they make for entertaining reading!

The fourth Thinking Blogger Award from me goes to another Albanian (from Albany, NY, not the country Albania), Will, my frequent birding companion, who blogs on everything from ancient civilizations to birding to video games on his blog, The Nightjar.  I would never have thought to blog about a season of video game baseball or Horatio, who heroically defended a bridge and saved his city, but Will did.

And my final Thinking Blogger Award goes the blogger I consider my blogfather, Mike of 10000birds.  He encouraged me to start a blog from when I first contacted him by entering a contest on his blog and each time I met up with him to go birding after that.  He not only makes me think but he made me blog!

Here are the rules if those tagged choose to continue this fun meme:

1. Link to five blogs that make you think.
2. Link to this post so others will know from where this originated.
3. If you want to, display the Thinking Blogger Award badge somewhere on your blog with a link to your Thinking Blogger Award Post (obviously this one is optional).