FOLLOW-UP: A couple more comments today about that dearth of
decent fish fries in faraway places.

Kathy Paterniti writes from Pittsburgh: “There are a lot of
great restaurants here in The ‘Burg but not one of them has a
decent fish fry. You can’t even find haddock which is the fish of
choice for a good old-fashioned Bradford fish fry. I remember the
Downbeat very well. You could also get a great fish sandwich on
that wonderful Colella’s bread.”

Janice L. Tessena writes, “A good fish fry is unheard of in
Mississippi. The closest you can get is catfish pieces on a buffet.
I always make a trip to Myra’s in Smethport when I come home to
visit my family.”

And Skip Riekofsky adds a commentary to our recent suggestion
that there was a link between fish fries and communities with a
predominantly Catholic population: “Does anybody see a link here
between Friday fish fries and being able to safely walk the streets
at night (except for the occasional polecat or bear)?”

BIRD NOTES: Not surprisingly, the American robin topped the list
as the most numerous species counted in what’s called “the Great
Backyard Bird Count” held in February.

But get these numbers!

More than 2 million robins were reported from 60 states and
provinces, and one woman in St. Petersburg, Fla., spied a flock of
750,000 of the birds in a mangrove forest.

Lorraine Margeson said: “In the morning, the robins just pour
out of there. It’s spectacular with the sunrise on their red
bellies. When you see it, you think this is what makes life worth
living.”

The bird count, held for just four days in February, tallied
more than 11 million birds across the United States and Canada.

Together, they recorded 616 species and submitted more than
80,000 checklists – 33 percent more than the previous high of
61,000 checklists in 2000.

This year’s rare birds included five lesser prairie-chickens in
Oklahoma and two pink-footed geese in Rhode Island, firsts for the
Backyard Bird Count, a joint project of the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology and National Audubon Society.

Lab director John Fitzpatrick noted: “It used to take scientists
years to gather large-scale information about bird population and
distribution and the GBBC does it in just four days each year,
thanks to a continentwide community of birders reporting their
counts online.”