Hello to all of you birders and naturalists. Welcome to a new part of the page, a column on nature in general, and birds in particular. I am a nature columnist for a few weekly papers in Alberta, and enjoy writing about the things that I see. Even after my 6+ decades of looking at things in nature, I am still thrilled by so many things that most people never even see. I run a Mountain Bluebird trail of 80 boxes spread over 70 kilometres, and let me tell you, the feeling is exquisite when I open a box to check it, and the female stays on the nest and allows me to move her aside with my finger to count the eggs. Even at my age, I am a "twitcher", and drop what I am doing to go and see what some reader has called me to report. However, I don't keep long lists of what I see and when I see it, so I guess that I am not the stereotypical birder.

This column will be changed on a regular basis, and I would love to have reports from you readers about what you are seeing, so I can include those items in the column. If you are reading this, you obviously can email me about things that thrill you, or bug you about what is happening in your area of the country. (Nature related items only, I am not a political columnist!) As an example, I can report what I call "The Invasion of the Grackles" in east central Alberta this fall. A huge flock of Common Grackles hung around town for several weeks, and numbered over a hundred. They would descend on a neighbourhood, and terrorize all the other birds living there. They were fun to watch, and I saw one that picked up a cigarette butt on the sidewalk, and then wandered around with it in his beak. I thought maybe he was looking for a light! The numbers were highly unusual for this area, as I have never seen so many around here before. Usually they are seen in very low numbers in this part of the world, in pairs or singles.

I saw an article in the Edmonton Journal this summer, about a beach in Vancouver called Wreck Beach. Apparently, it is a "clothing optional" beach, and the people who frequent it prefer not wearing any clothing while enjoying the beach. I was very surprised to note that the writer kept calling these people "Naturalists". The correct term for them is "Naturists". We naturalists spend a lot of time in brushy areas, filled with wild rose bushes, and for us, clothing is NOT optional! In all my wanderings, I have never seen a "Naturist" while birding, but if I ever do, I always have my binoculars with me! (For checking out the field marks, of course!)

Remember, the more information you feed me, the better this column will be. I can be reached at cgrosf@vegnet.com.