NPR Alert

Blue-winged warbler, foraging in the frost-burned black raspberries.

Remember when I was carping about having so much yard and housework to do? Well, the day I got up at 5 to start it, and had the whole day laid out to do nothing but gruntwork, I got a call at 11 AM from NPR, wanting me to report to the studio in Athens (1 1/2 hr. away) for a taped interview with Melissa Block. It was to be a followup on the one titled, "Waiting for Spring, Waiting for the Birds," that aired April 10. Well, OK. I can do that.

Before I left at noon, I threw together a photo gallery at Melissa's request, for an NPR Web Extra. They're all birds I've photographed in the last couple of weeks, right on our farm. There's also one by BOTB, the worm-eating warbler, which was too sublime not to include. Emailed those off, leapt into the car, arrived at the studio with 15 minutes to spare, disgorged what I thought to be true about this spring's migration, and jumped back in the car, arriving at the bus stop in Whipple with ten minutes to spare, at 4:00 PM.
It definitely beat doing housework.

Understand: I have never considered myself a bird photographer, but I am waaay more excited about the photo gallery on the NPR web site than about hearing myself blather on the air. You can see it, and listen to the new interview, here.

The piece aired at about 4:10 pm Eastern time (the third story in the first hour of All Things Considered) and in many places it will air again at about 6:10 p.m. Eastern. Give it a listen if you read this in time, or you can hit the link above to hear it online.

Part of what's working here is luck, and part of it is being willing and able to throw my plans out the window at a moment's notice. It sure beats scrubbing toilets. You were right. The toilets and floors can wait.

A white-eyed vireo, puffed up like a tennis ball in the frost-burned willow. Today, it's all leafed out again!