Not only is a fellow Queens bird blogger interviewed, but the article, by Nathan Heller, ends with this:
Despite their reputation as quirky hobbyists, birders are on the front line of our problematic efforts to defy nature—to travel faster, reach farther, outsmart it—without encroaching on its habits. Their worries are the worries of a nuclear power writ small, and we could do much worse than let them lead us through the forest ahead as they watch the sky.
What do you think of that as a closing? Personally, I think that, yes, the world would be a better place if birders were in charge…
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
I concur.
I think it was a good essay on birding, and they found a good birder to interview.
At first I thought the article was comedy. It sure seemed that way with its references to the “ominous” increase in birding, birder rising at “vampiric” hours and then there was the dark turn to associating birding with being a cover for nefarious activities – like child murder.
After reading the comments on the Slate blog I found that many people were offended by the ham-handed article (it seems all over the map) and its attempts to pit various types of birders against each other. I concluded that it was comedy, but if it wasn’t it was a outburst by someone whose lover left them for a birder. Hey, birders of a feather.