Twenty-Six

Today is my (Birdfreak’s) 26th birthday!! Here are 26 facts about me. Enjoy!
Birdfreak

  1. I was born on Labor Day in 1981
  2. 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
  3. I have a B.A. degree in Marketing from Northern Illinois University
  4. I switched majors twice before choosing marketing – computer science and biology were the other major attempts
  5. 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
  6. I’ve traveled from coast to coast but have yet to get to the southeast, particularly Florida
  7. I’ve never flown in a plane
  8. I’ve been to Mexico and Canada, but no other foreign countries
  9. 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
  10. I keep a lifelist but I am not a hardcore lister – my list is around 350
  11. I’ve photographed nearly 1/2 of the lifebirds I’ve seen
  12. My favorite bird is a tie between the Northern Cardinal and White-breasted Nuthatch
  13. My rarest bird sighting is a Blue Mockingbird in southern Texas
  14. I am a full-blooded Illinoisan and have lived in Rockford all my life with one small exception
  15. I lived in Grand Teton National Park for a brief period
  16. 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
  17. Our family tree links to a fellow by the name of Shakespeare (yes, THAT Shakespeare)
  18. I am also part Czech and dream of birding in the Czech Republic someday
  19. I am a dog person despite also having a lovely cat
  20. I have always dreamed about adopting stray and neglected dogs on a large scale
  21. I love playing video games like Madden and Grand Theft Auto
  22. I used to collect baseball cards by the thousands but not anymore
  23. My favorite sports teams are: St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, and Chicago Bulls – I don’t really like hockey
  24. My favorite place to bird is Horicon Marsh NWR in Wisconsin
  25. I don’t hunt but appreciate what hunters have done (and still do) for conservation
  26. 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!
Birdfreak

7 thoughts on “Twenty-Six

  1. Patrick – thanks… your friend must be the leader of the seven’s club

    LUANN – thank you very much 🙂

  2. 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!

  3. Monarch – Thanks!!

    Mary – Thanks and that’s cool about your husband… Illinois isn’t too bad a place 🙂

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