Russell, thanks for the GREAT story.

>See, before I was just walking around,
>pointing out birds, worrying that no one gets lost, did I lock the van,
>if so are the keys in my pocket, and so on.

Gosh, this is exactly what I worry about when I lead field trips. Despite
worrying constantly, I did once lock the keys inside the vehicle while
leading a winter (brrr....) trip to the Klamath Basin - on the Sunday
before President's Day. Turns out I'd felt my motel key in my pocket,
not the car key.

>The only bird seen was a young Cowbird which I spent fifteen minutes
>trying to ID. How embarrassing!

And which woodpecker were you trying to turn it into?

Seriously, the story was fun.

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>