August 15, 2019 - John K. Cross is an avid member of the Yosemite Audubon Society who makes no bones about the fact that he can get pretty creative when talking about birds and their influence on our lives.
“All my misspellings of birds are quite purposeful,” he explained.
At the Oakhurst Branch Library on Saturday, August 24, 2019, Cross will present an informational, yet primarily “chipper” glimpse of birds in anthropocentric relationship to the “pot, the pate, the perch, the porch and as pastime” as he describes it. The presentation will be held from 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 noon in the library’s Community Room at 49044 Civic Circle Drive, Oakhurst.
It is no surprise that a retired teacher of alternative education with a doctorate in biology who “regrets” that he didn’t join the area’s Audubon Society sooner, would become a citizen scientist in his own backyard studying the feathered varieties of birds that rendezvous there.
In one of his creative soliloquy’s, Cross compares himself to “Old MacDonald who had a farm with an emu here, a ring-necked pheasant there, an ostrich-feather toupee, a squirrel in his bird-feeder, acorn woodpeckers in his eaves and an African gray parrot to advise him when his wife was out of town.”
“And, when his work is done, he can relax with his avocation (or his avocet*) and go to the meadow for a lark, participate in an Audubon bird count, or peruse his collection of the exotic birds of the world in his stamp album. He could also read mysteries by Donna Andrews such as The Hen of the Baskervilles or Some like it Hawk,” he continued.
*(An avocet is a long-legged wading bird with a slender upturned bill and a strikingly patterned plumage.)
If Cross’ presentation is anything like the descriptions he’s offered above, participants are bound to have a rousing good time.
Cross lives in Oakhurst where he taught in the Yosemite Unified School District for two decades. His doctorate in biology is from the University of Arizona. Today, he continues to teach math at Evergreen High School in Oakhurst and English/Citizenship through the Mountain Area Literacy Council.
The free presentation is sponsored by the Friends of the Oakhurst Branch Library. For more information, call (559) 683-4838 or visit www.oakhurstfobl.com.
Source: Oakhurst Branch Library
