I'm not really a bird person or an Audubon guy who studies them, but as I was around them, they interested me.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
What I am interested in with birds, just as I am with spiders or monkeys, is what they do and why they do it.
It would probably surprise people to know that I'm interested in wildlife. I read a lot of poetry, too.
My background is in biology. Before getting into the family business, I worked at the Predatory Bird Research Group at the University of California at Santa Cruz, fundraising for them.
I grew up with two different parakeets - one that lived for five years, and one that lived for 13 years - so I always had a bit of an attraction to birds and it's an oddly good fit to be in a movie about birdwatchers.
I can recognize the calls of practically every bird in North America. There are some in Africa I don't know, though.
I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.
I am a closet birdwatcher. I can identify Southern African species, but it irks me I can barely tell a jay from a blackbird in the U.K.
The son of a Fife mining town sledder of coal-bings, bottle-forager, and picture-house troglodyte, I was decidedly urban and knew little about native fauna, other than the handful of birds I saw on trips to the beach or Sunday walks.
I've read hundreds of cookbooks. For my money, they are the bird.
I spend a lot of time learning about bird watching.