ME, A MULTI-SPORT ATHLETE!

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

All my friends know I am a multi-sport athlete.

At least I am in my mind.

My favorite sport is golf – and, yes, it is a sport!

But I also:

• Play bocce ball.  True confessions — my wife, Nancy, is better than I am.

• Used to play basketball, but, then I got too old, though my jump shot was a lot like Steph Curry’s.

But my new sport?

It’s “birding.”  And, yes, that is a sport, too, according to my on-line sources, which say just that – it is a sport.

All this to report that I went on a bird walk yesterday morning with a group of folks, a few from Illahe Golf and Country Club where I play golf, and a few connected with Audubon International, which recently recognized Illahe as an excellent facility for its attention to habit for birds and other species.

We traveled around a few of the holes at Illahe while the course was closed to golf.

By the way, I learned yesterday that Audubon International is one of more than 500 Audubon Societies in the United States, but is not affiliated with the National Audubon Society.  Who knows why?

Otherwise, other highlights from my venture into “birding” yesterday:

• Those on the walk, especially those connected with International Audubon, also were very “connected” to birds of all kinds, both those they saw and those they heard.  In either way, they named every one.

• There were exclamations everywhere as walkers saw birds and wanted everyone in the group to do the same.

• When we saw what I was told was a sap sucker, one woman said, “sap sucker down!”  That meant, simply, that the bird had gone from one branch to a lower one and woman wanted everyone to follow the route.

• One walker in the group was assigned to note every bird sighting on his phone – and guess what he does with every entry on his phone?  He sends it along to Cornell University, which, of all things, maintains a site to list ALL bird sightings.  Must be interesting, not to mention time consuming, to read!

My friends at Google report this:  The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a world leader in the study, appreciation, and conservation of birds.  And that’s why it maintains the site for reports of bird sightings.  Yes, ALL bird sightings.

• Near the 14^th tee at Illahe, I was ready to see an eagle’s next because I had been told there was one there by leaders of our walk, Paul and Roxey Evans, both golfers and birders.  But, when we arrived at the spot, they were able to tell me where to look for the nest – otherwise I would not have found it — but it turned out to be a hawk’s next, not an eagle’s next.  Didn’t matter much to me.

• One thing we didn’t see:  An osprey who hung out last year on a snag over the Columbia River near the 11^th green at Illahe.  He was not there as has been the case all spring so far.  When he was there last year, it appeared he was looking for fish in the river because that’s all osprey’s eat (see how much I know about “birding”).  Unfortunately, I never was around to see him when he dove into the river for a meal.

So, based on the foregoing, you can call me “an apprentice birder.”  But, even as a learner, that qualifies birding as a new sport for me, a multi-sport athlete.