Dad taught me a lot of what I know about nature, but even as of almost 20 years ago when I was working on the hiking book, much of what he taught me was sadly out of date. I heard some Bob White quail out on the trail, even saw them, but only once. I like to think that they're still common in the part of the state Dad is from, which isn't exactly crawling (haha) with trails. I also think that he taught me the call of the whippoorwill, well, I know he did, but I think he did because we actually heard it on our street. It may be my imagination though; it certainly would be now. I can't remember ever hearing it in real life as an adult, only on CD or on the Internet.
What brings it up is that I am reading Last Chance To See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine, which is very sad and very funny. It is about some of the rarest animals on the planet as of the mid to late '80s. I don't want to know what has happened to them since the book was published in 1990. The Northern white rhino I know about because it was all over the news not many months ago. The rest I don't feel good about; I feel better about the Bob White and the whippoorwill. Them I'm sure are still around. Somewhere.
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