- I was born on Labor Day in 1981
- I belong to the “Sevens Club”, something my sister, Snowy Owl and I dubbed for friends and family members born on a seventh of a month
- I have a B.A. degree in Marketing from Northern Illinois University
- I switched majors twice before choosing marketing – computer science and biology were the other major attempts
- My birding career began at around the age of 5 or 6 when my parents took me bird banding – I held a Blue-winged Warbler and was hooked
- I’ve traveled from coast to coast but have yet to get to the southeast, particularly Florida
- I’ve never flown in a plane
- I’ve been to Mexico and Canada, but no other foreign countries
- I love to travel and in 2002 I traveled for over 3 weeks with my dad and two dogs all over the west, totaling over 7100 miles and 17 states
- I keep a lifelist but I am not a hardcore lister – my list is around 350
- I’ve photographed nearly 1/2 of the lifebirds I’ve seen
- My favorite bird is a tie between the Northern Cardinal and White-breasted Nuthatch
- My rarest bird sighting is a Blue Mockingbird in southern Texas
- I am a full-blooded Illinoisan and have lived in Rockford all my life with one small exception
- I lived in Grand Teton National Park for a brief period
- I love to write and writing runs in our family – both of my grandfathers were professional writers and Snowy Owl (aka Susie) is one too
- Our family tree links to a fellow by the name of Shakespeare (yes, THAT Shakespeare)
- I am also part Czech and dream of birding in the Czech Republic someday
- I am a dog person despite also having a lovely cat
- I have always dreamed about adopting stray and neglected dogs on a large scale
- I love playing video games like Madden and Grand Theft Auto
- I used to collect baseball cards by the thousands but not anymore
- My favorite sports teams are: St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, and Chicago Bulls – I don’t really like hockey
- My favorite place to bird is Horicon Marsh NWR in Wisconsin
- I don’t hunt but appreciate what hunters have done (and still do) for conservation
- I love spending time at my grandparent’s farm in northern Wisconsin, a forested playground of hundreds of acres
There you have it: 26 facts about Birdfreak!
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Happy Birthday! My friend is part of that sevens club. He was born on 7/7/77.
Happy Birthday!!!!
Patrick – thanks… your friend must be the leader of the seven’s club
LUANN – thank you very much
Happy Birthday and I so remember being 26!! Great times for sure!
A belated Happy Birthday, Birdfreak! I am glad to get to know you better. My husband is also a native Illinoisan (born in Galesburg, grew up on a farm in Rio) and graduated from U of I – and his birthday is next Friday!
Monarch – Thanks!!
Mary – Thanks and that’s cool about your husband… Illinois isn’t too bad a place