Hi--

Although this is not Maryland (alas) ABC news with Peter Jennings did a
really great piece on Vernon Laux, the Martha's Vineyard birder who found
the Red-footed Falcon, as their "Person of the Week" on Friday. The piece
was quite long (longer than most of the PoW segments) and included great
video of falcon, maps and graphics of how it may have reached USA from
Eastern Europe, and some nice shots of birders, as well as telling how
Vernon became interested in birding ("saw a Cedar Waxwing as a child", nice
photo of waxwing shown). It was very positive on birding, for once, and
conveyed the intense excitement Vernon and others felt about this unique
find. Jennings ended the piece by recounting how he had asked a newsroom
colleague (a birder) if he had gone to see the falcon, and said his friend
answered, "Are you KIDDING? Before the ink was dry on the first story...!")

You can read the text of the story on:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/PersonofWeek/pow_Vernon_Laux_040827-1.htm
l

Gail Mackiernan
Colesville