Yesterday morning I saw a red fox in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Two years ago I'd seen one in Strybing Arboretum. There are all sorts of plants and animals in the park. For example, I saw an orange fish that looked something like a goldfish and must have been over two feet long in Mallard Lake, which lies close to the south edge of the park at Twenty-Eighth Avenue. And in addition to the many Red-eared Sliders in Spreckels Lake, I saw another turtle that looked like a Spiny Softshell (http://tinyurl.com/psuxh). I sat by that lake for an hour, inspecting the seagulls floating on the water and referring frequently to "The Sibley Guide to Birds." Gulls are not easly identified and I've too often postponed the tedious work involved in learning to distinguish a Western Gull from a Herring Gull. Having stared and stared, I am now confident that more staring is needed. Eared Grebes paddled by, Barn Swallows and Tree Swallows skimmed the water. I sauntered through the woods west of the lake, circled Middle Lake, and walked home.
Once home, I learned the following: David Sibley, author of the guide I'd used to study the Western Gulls on Spreckels Lake, has the audacity to dispute the identification of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker by the Cornell team. The audacity! Worse still, Kenn Kaufman concurs. It's so damned easy to be a sceptic, isn't it. I choose to believe. Faith is a personal thing.
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