Exploring Nature: Happy New Year

Well, well, well — a new year is officially upon us. Hope you are not hungover from too much partying and that you are off to a superb 2023.

May your joy be as deep as the ocean and your misfortune as light as its foam.

And to help you achieve happiness in the days ahead, let me start off by offering a few tidbits of wisdom and a bit of advice.

If you plan to go birding, there are 10 locations generally recognized as the best bird-watching sites in North America. They are: 1. Attu, Aleutian islands, Alaska 2. Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska 3. Monterey Bay, California 4. Southeast Arizona 5. Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas 6. Coastal Bend of Texas 7. Florida Keys 8. Gulf Stream, off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina 9. Cape May, New Jersey 10. Newfoundland Personally, I would add Hawaii to the list. They have some great specialties, including scarlet honeycreeper and Hawaiian goose.

And now my tidbit of birding wisdom. The English language offers an amazing variety of terms for groups of specific birds. The top 10 words for bird congregations include a murder of crows, a piteousness of doves, a harm of finches, a siege of herons, an exaltation of larks, tidings of magpies, a parliament of owls, a muster of peacocks, an unkindness of ravens and a murmuration of starlings.

In less precise terms, I hope you see a bunch of birds. A whole lot.

Finally, I recall when a famous author tried to kill himself while suffering from severe depression. He walked into the ocean, aiming to drown himself in the deep water. However, a rogue jellyfish gave him a sharp sting and he was shocked and ran out of the water.

On sober reflection, he decided he did not want to die after all and went on to a long and satisfying life.

So, for 2023, let me wish you at least two things — continued contentment if you are presently happy. And a good jellyfish if you are down in the dumps.

Happy New Year!