Birder Interrupted

Inspired by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher's book Wild America recent high school graduate M. Ralph Browning embarked on a tightly budgeted year-long trip in the US looking for birds. The year was 1962. His 1955 VW Beetle broke after nine months which forced a premature end to the journey. In 2005 after matters of military duty college a family and a career in birds at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History the author resumed the interrupted trip. This time he was with the girl he'd left behind in 1962 and they birded Texas the Southwest and California. The author chronicles the trip with observations on birds while touching on history geology and conservation. The cost of keeping alive includes periodic notes on the price of gasoline (about $0.33/gallon in 1962) and food. The author had earlier written to numerous birders for information about birding particular locations and many of those individuals across the country showed him birds and invited him into their homes for a gratefully appreciated warm bed and home cooking. The 2005 leg of the journey was assisted by bird finding guides and the help of the legendary Jon Dunn and numerous motels.