On the Richard Record

Someone once told me “you only see what’s around you, and you think that’s it.” I think about that a lot. But the more I do, the more I realize how important it is to see what’s around you. It is all you ever will, and it is all you will ever be able to control. What’s around me is not all there is, but when you take the time to enjoy what’s around you, you are able to go places you never could before. And remember those moments for the rest of your life. With the tide rising and the sun setting on a record-breaking day, I stood on what became known as “the island” to the people I shared shorebird camp with. I was helping conduct a Red Knot (REKN) survey and one of the tasks was to resight individually flagged birds. The record-breaking part of that day was setting a project best of seven individual flags in one day. And “the island” provided numbers five and six on the day. The incoming tide washed up a slough and cut the mudflats from the mainland to form “the island.” As I stood...