When my non-birding brother graduated from Villanova in 2010, I brought my binoculars and James brought his camera, and for one purpose – but it wasn’t for birding. Instead, the commencement speaker was none other than star of Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters, Jamie Hyneman! He’s kind of a personal hero to the both of us, and sure enough showed up in all his beret-filled glory. Interestingly enough, and unbeknownst to me at the time, Hyneman is from the nearby King-of-Prussia, which is probably best known for having a mall bigger than the actual town is! (I exaggerate a little, but seriously, that mall is freaking huge.)
After graduation was over, we made our way back to the car, which due to the huge number of people present, was parked all the way back in the secondary parking lots. That turned out to be not such a bad thing – for one, we got to take a back road that was right there and completely ignore the post-graduation traffic jam. But for another, just as we got to the car, I heard an odd series of whistles coming from a nearby tree. When I went to investigate, I found a beautiful male Baltimore Oriole singing from the shadows.
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| Baltimore Oriole - Villanova University campus, PA; 05/16/2010 |
He never really got into the light, so this is the best shot James got, but hell, it’s a damn Baltimore Oriole! I’ve only ever seen a handful more in my birding career, and never managed to get another picture, so this one has kind of special to me. Thank God for serendipity!
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