I offer thanks to those who made my journey possible. My mother got me started in the nature business. My brother, Bill, became my first fellow naturalist—we saw some great birds and collected some awesome butterflies in our day. We have never forgotten seeing our first flock of Evening Grosbeaks in 1962. Martha Schaeffer and various other ladies of the Maryland Ornithological Society, with its little museum on the third floor of the Mansion at Cylburn Park, offered weekend nature study and kept interest growing in many youngsters, myself included.
Many advised and aided me in planning and executing the 2015 road trip. A number of beautiful green places that I visited had to be excluded from this narrative to keep the book compact. I apologize to those who kindly aided me in those wonderful places that, sadly, are no longer featured in the story. I wish I could have included every place I visited.
Here are those who assisted on the field trip and who aided preparation of the manuscript: Vanessa Adams, John Anderton, Isaac Betancourt, James Brown, Mia Brown, Ray Brown, Emily Cohen, Nathan Cooper, Marie Correll, Evan Dalton, Jeff Denman, Aditi Desai, Don DesJardin, Peter Dieser, Scott Ellery, John Faaborg, Adele Faubert, George Fenwick, Rita Fenwick, Tracy Fidler, Gabriel Foley, Susan Fulginiti, Steven Goertz, Mark Guetersloh, Tim Guida, Christian Hagenlocher, Larry Heggemann, Bridget Hinchee, Marshall Howe and Janet McMillen, Rich Kazmaier, Erin Lebbin, Bobby Maddrey, Pete Marra, Todd Merendino, Frank Moore, Merrie Morrison, Musselwhite Mine, Gary Neace, Clare Nielsen, Mike Parr, Kelly Purkey, Kacy Ray, Nathan Renick, Mark Robbins, Paul Schmidt, Cliff Shackelford, Don Sisson, Lela Stanley, Keegan Tranquillo, Kinney Wallace, and Sister Mary Winifred. The American Bird Conservancy sponsored this adventure. And nine close friends—you know who you are—generously underwrote the costs of the field trip reported on here. They, along with a grant from the Georgia-Pacific Corporation to the American Bird Conservancy, made my pilgrimage possible. Roger Pasquier, Jared Keyes, Laura Harger, Grace Beehler, Carolyn Gleason, and Dominic Nucifora provided useful editorial direction to my revisions of the original draft. Bill Nelson prepared the endpaper maps. Carol Beehler designed the book and advised me on various issues. To these and others, I offer my gratitude.