The Hobby Of Poppy Brite — Alive and Well on Long Island
Brite’s novel Liquor surprised some of her dyed-in-the-wool horror fans with their emphasis on the trials and tribulations of two New Orleans restaurateurs. The same goes for Liquor’s follow-up book, Prime. The growth in Brite’s storytelling is obvious, and while her genre writing was some of the best of its kind, she has been destined to move out of genre writing and into a category of her own design for quite some time. Brite continually informs, delights, and at times even mystifies her readers even more with her opinionated/fun-to-read/slice-of-life blog revelations at http://www.livejournal.com/users/docbrite. One of those revelations that took some by surprise? Brite’s claim (in so many words) that she isn’t really the larger-than-life character some readers want her to be. Instead, she is basically content to work on her latest writing projects, indulge in the finest food on offer in New Orleans, and devote a little time to one of her favorite hobbies—birding. Birding—yes, the art of observing birds in their natural habitats—is a passion Brite shares with a great number of people—a good many of whom live on Long Island and have an excellent network. Long Islanders who always loved birds, but never knew there was such a thing as birding have many resources to help them move deeper into this fascinating pastime. www.libriding.com is an excellent place to begin. The winter birding resources are split into two categories; North and South Fork. There is also great information about birding at Montauk Point. Some of the best reading on the site comes from the “Sightings” section where you’ll read about those Purple Sandpipers, "Western" Willets and Black-legged Kittiwake sightings. At http://www.battaly.com/fire/ you can get the latest information from the Fire Island Raptor Enumerators, who are passionate about Ospreys, Merlins, and Bald Eagles among others. The New York Audubon Society in Oyster Bay (http://ny.audubon.org/trsac.htm) is home to the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary, and is an excellent place for those new to birding. The website features links on ‘backyard birding” as well as features such as the Golden Winged Warbler Atlas Project. There are more resources on this website than a beginner birder will know what to do with! A great place for beginners and seasoned birders alike is the Marine Nature Study Area and Wildlife Sanctuary Site in Oceanside. At the “unofficial” website, http://www.michael.farina.com/OMNS.htm you will find a bird checklist, lists of various activities (bird and non-bird related) and even tide charts and topographic maps. There is also a link to the Long Island Bird Board, (http://69.114.110.218:8084/birdboard/) which is a message area for those passionate about LI birding. Author Poppy Z. Brite may be one of the more visible fans of birding (her weblog writing includes tales of her fulfilled desires to view the infamous Cassowary), but she has plenty of company. Birding is more than just a hobby for plenty of people the world over, and yes, Long Island included. With so many resources available to Long Islanders—and with many species to observe and enjoy, birding is one of those rare activities that requires little or no money invested—just a passion and time enough to seek out places to view the birds. Joe Wallace
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Novelist Poppy Z. Brite is the author of horror novels including Drawing Blood, Lost Souls, and Exquisite Corpse. More recently her work has gotten far more eclectic and less horrifying While this development seems to have alienated some readers, (who seem to want their literary hero to remain stuck in a particular phase in her career), Brite’s latter work has delighted far more. 