Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Friends in High Places

I am definitely not knowledgeable about wildlife, nor birds, but somewhere in my psyche I do know that Peregrine Falcons are extra cool. Not sure why, something about them being really rare?

I was visiting a downtown Binghamton office today, and its fourth floor (that's tall around here) had an amazing "bird's-eye view" (tee hee hee). One of the men I was meeting with, a writer for the Greater Binghamton Business Journal, pointed out the fact that there is a Peregrine Falcon nest on the top ridge of the most prominent building in Downtown Binghamton.

Are you joking me? How cool is that? This is the stuff that fills the crevices of major news services. Just last week, I'd seen something on the major New York City news channel about a homeowner's group that cleaned out a red-tailed hawk's nest, only to see a huge public outcry that demanded its restoration. And here it was, right here in my own back yard.

To add to the intrigue, I learned that there are extraordinarily few Peregrine Falcons in the world (fewer than 50 pairs in all of NY state, to be exact). Some cities in upstate NY have installed "Falcon Cams" that keep a close watch on the birdies. The things you learn, just from looking at life from (literally) a different perspective, and from taking the time to talk to people.

The best part is that, after only 2 months, I'm well on my way to knowing as much random crap about Binghamton as I did about Los Angeles. If only this were an employable skill . . .

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