HI! I am a lifelong hunter, fisherman, gardener, hiker, bird watcher, and bird photographer. Three years ago I retired from 35 years of teaching elementary school. At that time I decided that the minute I set foot out the door of the school a free man, I would start my life bird list. Along the way of life, there had been many bird lists, but this was going to be the ultimate one. My first bird, believe it or not, was an evening grosbeak. I am now up to 279 the last of which was a solitary sandpiper. I have photographs of about 150 different birds and counting and loving every minute of it.