Little Woman Looking Up

As I fill my bird feeders this morning, I will think of someone named Starr Saphir.She died this week after an amazing life of bird watching. She helped make bird watching cool.A while back, I watched a program on TV about this woman and her adventures in Central Park...in New York City. I'm so glad that I saved the program on my DVR. I'll tell you a little about this amazing woman. She leads bird watchers through the park during the bird's migration times in spring and fall. Four days a week...even while battling cancer in the last 10 yrs. The group, keeping their bird lists, are her followers. They are always looking up...to find the next visitor to the park.Her followers include people who have been with her for a decade or two. Many are business people, who go out and bird watch before they have to be at their jobs.
Why Central Park you ask?  People don't know this, but Central Park is situated on the Atlantic Flyway and is one of the prime locations for birdwatching. Starr Saphir says, in the 2012 HBO documentary Birders: The Central Park Effect, that there wasn't much money in offering bird walks Central Park, as she had at that time for nearly 30 years, but she's doing something she loves. "I don't look forward to retiring," she explains. "I am enormously lucky in that I absolutely love what I do every day that I do it. It doesn't mean that it's not tedious for moments, or for hours, or the day when you have to come up with 38 birds and the birds are not cooperating, and you end up with 37. It's work. But I could keep this up for, I think, for hundreds of years. Nobody gets a chance to find that out." She later said that because she had cancer, she would drag herself home each day and just fall into bed.I think that shows the kind of love she had for this past time.
There are many stories on the web about her life...I'm sure many of you would love them.
They are offering another showing of the program on HBO...Sat. morning, Feb.9th at 6am Est.
I know that you who love birds will enjoy it.
Balisha

Little Woman Looking Up by Balisha

Little woman looking up to see a bird fly high..
Followers just behind her...looking at the sky.
Early morning travelers flying by on wings..
Soar above the tree tops...each and every spring.
Pigeons and some sparrows aren't the only ones..
To visit in the city and soar up near the sun.
Thrushes, hawks and wood ducks.. just to name a few..
Birds of many species in many different hues.
Little woman looking up to see what she can find...
Her list is getting longer... her pain not on her mind.
She's now at rest in Heaven a way above the trees..
Having not a pain only joy at what she sees
She'll dip and soar above her beloved Central Park..
With gossamer  wings upon her back.. she'll be happy as a lark.