Contraria

Edward C. "Coe" Heller is a Los Angeles-based film producer who believes that if everyone knows something to be true it is probably false. A friend, tired of listening to rants has suggested a blog as a harmless outlet. Coe believes it is vanity, and a chasing after the wind, but is unsure it is harmless.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Birdathon

I have sent a check to the Audubon Society. A couple who are good friends are very much into bird watching, and this week was the annual fundraiser. This year the event is a “birdathon”.

If I’ve got this right, teams of bird watching enthusiasts are going to various bird sanctuaries around the state and trying to see as many species as they can in a day. As in a walkathon donors are requested to give by production, not in this case in dollars or cents per mile, but in dollars per species. The teams will compete for species seen and thereby for dollars raised.

My friends hope to see 180 species. In one day. Who knew that someone can first see and then recognize 180 species of birds in one day? If I thought about it I know there are a lot of birds out there, but that did surprise me.

I’m a little reluctant to take a chance on how many birds someone may see, so I decided to go for a prix fixe to support the worthy cause. I am, however, pleased to have been around long enough to see bird watching as a competitive event.