everybody birds sometimes

hey everyone--the Illinois birders' list sent me this link to a soldier stationed in Iraq who is blogging about his birding activities. it seems he's been birding since he was 12...
i for one have been birding vicariously through other people on the list this week. i keep finding excuses NOT to bird--no car, not enough time, etc--but it's a practice which sustains me and which evidently people find a way to do even while at war. So i really have no excuse this week.
i did go out once last week and saw a brown creeper, about 15 juncos, 30 white throated sparrows, and a couple of chickadees, all in Grant Park.
One reason i haven;t made myself go out more is that the birders on the listserve have been reporting massive numbers of dead migrants in the city. it becomes a sort of grim scavenger hunt, which dampens ones excitement, despite knowing that death is simply part of the cycle, a fact of nature which anyone who interacts with nature will confront.