Date: 8 April 2015. Barn Swallows (Kindle critique)

Living on the water in a small boat allows me the privilege of enjoying wildlife just outside my home. Laughing Gulls are known for their noisy chatter and some seem to have found the piling right by my forward hatch a perfect hang-out. Argh!
 

You do not know the definition of LOUD until those critters take up their cackling. It's enough to wake me up some mornings. Believe you me, I'm much nicer when I gradually come to life.

Laughing gulls mock my desire for sleep. I'm not a morning person. By nature, I'm a night owl. They however seem to love dawn. I wonder if they could be the roosters of the waterfront?!?

It's okay though. There's caffeine in my galley and I'm ready for the world after an infusion of brew.

Of late however, there's a new bird in town. For such a tiny bit of feathers, these little swallows can make a racket.
 

This fellow that took up residence on my bow rail after a bit of rain:

I'm a firm believer that the Kindle is one of the best inventions on the planet for me. Plus it's is like Star Trek... imagine having five hundred books with you at all times?!? Life does not get much better. But for identifying birds sitting on my bow rail, a Kindle leaves a lot to be desired.
 

There are times when a Kindle simply won't work, at least not for me.
I do not want Calder's Mechanical and Electrical Manual on my Kindle. Being able to write notes in the margins and flip through the pages is more comfortable for me with the hard-cover. and   Ditto my Birds of North America and Seashells of North America books. Flipping the pages makes finding the species simple. I cannot imagine doing page turns with a Kindle while hunting down a particular bird. Even though I'm a firm advocate of owning and using a Kindle, when it comes to identifying birds you need a real book. Now a friend who passed along the Birds of North America book to me said what I really needed was the National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Birds of North America. I've not personally ever seen that one, but respect her opinion. As a boater you may be like me and wish to learn about the wildlife seen out here. Having reference books aboard makes a big difference in my happiness quotient.
Side Note about the Kindle: Aboard Seaweed I recharge my Kindle via a male cigarette lighter with a USB port. I've got a few of the gizmos and use them regularly. They are faster than plugging into the unused one on my computer.
If yours has more than one USB port, one of those two will usually be a higher powered outlet. I've marked mine with red nail polish.

As for my little mouthy friend, I found her on the swallows page. She's a barn swallow. When the book says "Song, long and twittering" I can attest to the accuracy of that without a doubt. I'd add the word loud as well!
 

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