Day in, day out
Sometimes I counteract my night owl self with a full morning of birding. I wake up before sunrise and make the hour drive out to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge with only my camera and two large, full coffee tumblers. All I have to do, really, is step outside to hear a symphony of birds, calls and songs both, beautiful and impossible to replicate. But the drive is cathartic, too, with my favorite tunes blasting and anchoring me to the present as others wake to their alarms, dogs barking, traffic — sheer noise. Best of all, when I arrive the birds are all on the move and on high alert, keen on facing the world with a level of determination that I can only dream of. I leave feeling inspired, every time.