Last summer, even as he talked about facing jail time, Jim Stevenson couldn’t stop looking for birds. “There’s a couple yellow-crowned night herons,” he said, pointing out his living-room window. “They roost in that chinaberry tree.” He rested his eyes on the blue-gray birds. “Anyway, the cops pulled me over and searched my van and found the gun, and —”
Stevenson is a bearish, ruddy-faced 54-year-old former science teacher who is known as the ornithological guru of Galveston, Tex. Ten years ago, he moved to this Gulf Coast barrier island because of its abundant shorebirds. Enormous flocks of American avocets, willets, sanderlings, dowitchers and plovers feed in the shallow, fertile estuary of Galveston Bay. Stevenson built his house amid a clump of trees so he could always be watching birds; he lives in a bird blind. Birds are his obsession and his profession. He is the director of the Galveston Ornithological Society and publisher of the quarterly newspaper Gulls n Herons. For money, he leads bird-watching tours.
I can so relate. I like to look at
birds. This one was flying into
my kitchen window this morning.
AND, I sometimes think about
shooting cats.
And you know when to get out of town.
BTW, did you get any calls from that Chickadee? We need to be sure it’s a Carolina, and not a misplaced Black-capped…
It was making nary a peep. I thought it was a Carolina but I will now have to look up the Black-capped. As for Stevenson, if he wanted the respect of country people he should have gathered up all those cats and put them in a sack and drowned them in the river. If I had a nickel for every time a country person told me how they got rid of unwanted cats and kittens, I would have about thirty-five cents. But now he got them people all riled up and they are shooting at him. That is some crazy shit.
sink cat sez, "im redy 4 mai epsums"
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- bill 12-02-2007 5:38 pm
I can so relate. I like to look at
birds. This one was flying into
my kitchen window this morning.
AND, I sometimes think about
shooting cats.
- jimlouis 12-03-2007 6:08 pm [add a comment]
And you know when to get out of town.
BTW, did you get any calls from that Chickadee? We need to be sure it’s a Carolina, and not a misplaced Black-capped…
- alex 12-03-2007 6:46 pm [add a comment]
It was making nary a peep. I thought it was a Carolina but I will now have to look up the Black-capped. As for Stevenson, if he wanted the respect of country people he should have gathered up all those cats and put them in a sack and drowned them in the river. If I had a nickel for every time a country person told me how they got rid of unwanted cats and kittens, I would have about thirty-five cents. But now he got them people all riled up and they are shooting at him. That is some crazy shit.
- jimlouis 12-03-2007 7:38 pm [add a comment]
sink cat sez, "im redy 4 mai epsums"
- mark 12-03-2007 10:30 pm [add a comment]