Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we'll soon be in trouble.

Birds have wings; they're free; they can fly where they want when they want. They have the kind of mobility many people envy.

Not all is doom and gloom. We are beginning to understand the natural world and are gaining a reverence for life - all life.

I consider myself to have been the bridge between the shotgun and the binoculars in bird watching. Before I came along, the primary way to observe birds was to shoot them and stuff them.

I can recognize the calls of practically every bird in North America. There are some in Africa I don't know, though.