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Happy Thanksgiving: Top 10 Thankfulnesses

By Hugh Powell
wild turkey
Wild Turkey. Photo by ashockenberry/Birdshare.

Hope you and yours are celebrating the day with a large meal, plenty of companionship, and perhaps a few good birds at the feeder.

And if your family traditions are anything like mine, there’ll be that moment just before dinner when you go around the table and offer something to be thankful for. We’ll get you started with a few of our own. Thanks to:

1. Our 27,000 members, for helping to keep the Lab alive and inspired.

2. Anyone who reads Round Robin, browses All About Birds, or shares what they’ve seen through eBird or Citizen Science.

3. Owl hoots.

4. Cardinals in winter.

5. That one sparrow in the flock kind enough to perch within sight after flushing.

6. Whoever it was who invented those incredible purply lens coatings.

7. The voices of the Catharus thrushes.

8. Chickadees of all varieties.

9. Google Maps.

10. The spring warblers. Just for the promise of coming back.

Did I miss anything? Add your own below. And Happy Thanksgiving.

The Cornell Lab

All About Birds
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American Kestrel by Blair Dudeck / Macaulay Library