A Cheer and a Jeer:
Come to Whidbey Island and try our bus line. It serves all 3 entry points
and has stops near the best birding spots on the island such as Penn Cove,
Crockett's Lake, Deception Pass State Park. Best of all, it's absolutely
free!! You can ride all day and it never costs you a dime. The drivers are
used to folks with strollers, etc. so a scope shouldn't be a problem.
Now my jeer: I hope the high gas prices cause people to use carpools when
participating in field trips. I used to enjoy leading local trips and I
modestly say I think I was fairly decent at it. The lack of enthusiasm for
carpooling killed my enjoyment of trip leading. Once I had 12 people in 8
vehicles! At first I refused to go ahead with that trip but then was
pressured into it. How in the world is a leader supposed to find birding
spots that can absorb that many vehicles? It's at the point where I just
won't sign up to lead trips. Our local Audubon chapter wouldn't go any
further than "encouraging" carpools.
Steve Ellis
sellis at coup.wednet.edu
Coupeville, Wa