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Happy Birthday, Bill!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

I told Bill this morning I feel like a very lucky woman.

I get to share so much with him, and he makes it so much fun.

Photo by Mary Ferracci

There's not much Bill likes better than getting people on a life bird. He's good at it, too. He chases down the beginners, wrests from unwilling lips their mumbled confession that they didn't really get a look at it that time, then makes sure they get a killer look at it the next time. He makes it his mission. You should see the smiles he brings.



Fun (and Connie and Claire and Anne and Ric and Kelly and Sara and Nina) seems to follow him wherever he goes.

Forget Pied Piper.  He's way cooler than that.

He's the Mack Daddy of birdwatching.

And then there's the full-blown Crowmance going on, the huge adventure of making our own music from the ground up with like minded souls, The Rain Crows.

Mr. Fez makes it happen.


He puts everything he's got into music, making sure everybody's on the same train. And when everybody gets on that train, look out, because it's going to go somewhere. He looks like he's relaxing here. Nope. Just planning his next move.



photo by Timothy Ryan

I dream of spring, when we can walk slowly down our trails, listening and looking at everything


and Bill can teach Liam, again, how to throw properly


with a backdrop of filmy green and sibilant warbler song


leaving me to marvel that this vessel of wonderful DNA is going to grow up big and tall, maybe even knowing how to throw with pinpoint accuracy like his Daddy

maybe not

but we all will have had fun in the trying and the growing.

I'm not saying the sun exactly shines out of Bill's posterior all the time


but on the whole he's a pretty awesome mega-chunk of humanity and 

photo by Shila Wilson

we feel mighty lucky to have him in our lives. Blessed, yes, that fits. Happy birthday, BT3. You are the bomb.

22 comments:

Feliz cumple Guillermo!

Julie, thanks for the glimpses into your family life. You guys are a heck of a lot of fun to read about.

On a birding note, I see that Bill wears his binoculars on his harness very low on the panza...like an old lady having to wear a saggy bra...you know for support!

But seriously is there a reason he wears them so low? I have always worn mine high on the chest like hot babe straight out of plastic surgery.

I will have to defer to Guillermo to answer that question definitively, BIF. I too prefer a bino bra tending toward "pert," even "saucy," but Bill and I are so tough on the elastic, wearing them for part of most every day, that they inevitably begin to swing our sweet optical chariots low.

And her I was modelling my harness style on you two. Had I only known.

Happy birthday, Bill. Glad to have be led down the trail by you this past year.

I have yet to meet another as generous to so many with his talents. The time he spends with a beginning birder just blows me away. He's the bomb, to be sure--following wherever he may go...

Happy Birthday, Bill! And, I'd say Bill is mighty lucky...blessed, too!

Happy Birthday Bill!! I'm still jealous that my niece got to meet you before me!! This beginning birder would love to be led down a lifer path by you.

Someday....Someday....

Yes, your entire family is truly blessed.

This actually made me cry. I am the lucky one to have you all in my life. I love you guys.

Such sweet comments. But let's get back to the most riveting thread: the height/length of my birding "bro" straps. Springtime looseness is the result of the elastic harness straps being let out/stretched by many layers of winter coats. When we get back to birding in shirtsleeves, I do the tighten up. Leaving things loose and dangle-ly is dangerous when one sprints after a lifer. Or the ice-cream truck.

So how old is he in dog years!?
(...just asking on behalf of Chet B.)

Happy birthday dude.
I always enjoy your company.
Dad, husband, writer,birder, muscian and the list goes on.

You are looking a little droppy.

Your Canadian connection

I just want to stay up with birding fashionistas and if binocular-bro-hanging-low is in, I'll jump on the bandwagon. I'm just a concerned that a little lower and those binoculars could cause some very serious manhood damage. Glad to hear you wear them high and tight in the Spring.

I guess the benefit of them hanging so loose is that a guys moobs (man-boobs) are not as conspicuous.

THAT is a seriously cool birthday post! YAY Bill, and YAY, YOU!

Hooray for awesome birder/dad/husband/bird trip leader/musician/all-around-cool dude! Happy Birthday, BotB, from HotH! Julie, your tribute is wonderful!

Happy Birthday Bill of the Birds!

What a great birthday card this post is.

Happy birdday to BT3! He was so great in Cape May last fall, helping a not-so-into-it beginning birder -- my partner AB -- feel like she was part of the gang and didn't have to see each and every feather to have a good time. Then he bought her a beer later, and she was a devoted BT3 fan forever.

Makes ma heart swell. Love all around.

What an awesome tribute. I want to live close to you guys - you have so much fun!

Happy Birthday to one of the coolest bird-dudes I am blessed to know. And a beautiful tribute written by a pretty darn cool lady, too.

Beth

Love this post! I wished Bill a happy birthday on Facebook yesterday, but that was before I saw that photo of the sunshine and in relation to his posterior. What a lucky, warm guy!

Posted by Anonymous March 4, 2011 at 2:01 PM

Lucky Bill.
Lucky you.
Lucky family.

For some reason, I keep hearing the Fifth Dimension's song "Wedding Bell Blues" in my head. 'Cept you are married.

Anyway--happy b-day to Bill.

It's belated, but I hope you guys had a grand old time celebrating Bill's birthday! I feel very blessed to have gotten to bird with the Pied Piper (and Pied Pipette!) of birding last year. I can't imagine a better experience for a new birder (or an old one!)

Happy birthday again, Bill.

Gonna be fun to see how you top this next year, JZ.

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