West Volusia Audubon Society Newsletter

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Why You Should Go on Audubon Field Trips
-By Rex Rowan.

In the beginning, I liked birds. Those I was able to recognize I had taught myself, puzzling them out from the Peterson and Robbins field guides. I didn't belong to the Audubon Society, and I didn't know anyone else who was interested in birds.

Twelve years after I became a birdwatcher, I joined Audubon and went on my first field trip. I expected to meet fellow bird enthusiasts, and I did--but I also met wildflower enthusiasts, and tree enthusiasts, and butterfly enthusiasts. They put names to plants and insects I had always wondered about. So that tall plant like a green ostrich plume bore the curious designation of Dog Fennel! So that lovely, fragile, lavender flower was called Meadow Beauty! So these things had names too!

I discovered something very interesting: once I knew the names of these creatures, I started to see them. It was like getting to know a person. Once you're familiar with someone, you can pick him out of a crowd. In the same way, once Swamp Tupelo and Blazing Star and Gulf Fritillary had been pointed out to me, I started seeing them everywhere I went.

And the same people who pointed them out told me other things as well. There were orchids in Florida, for instance. They showed me some. They told me I could bring butterflies to my yard by planting certain wildflowers; they dug up their own gardens to fill my trunk with flower pots. They loaned me books that familiarized me with things I didn't know, and broadened my interests. More things became more interesting and more beautiful to me. I felt a glimmer of understanding about habitats and ecology. The world was more enjoyable.

I doubt that my experience is unique; something similar may be in store for you. If you haven't been on an Audubon trip before, come along as we explore some of Florida's wild places. Strike up conversations. Ask questions. And learn everything you can, keeping always in mind the words of Walt Whitman's The Song of the Open Road: "Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first/Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well-envelop'd/I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell."

Reprinted with permission of the author. The article first appeared in The Crane, newsletter of Alachua Audubon Society.

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