If you have ever visited TR’s Blog “From the Faraway, Nearby”, you would know it is a celebration of travel, nature and the poetry of place…many places in fact! TR Ryan is a forty-something traveler by trade and born-again bird watcher who once again calls the rolling prairies of Oklahoma home. In 1986 he walked away from a fledgling journalism career to take a year and “see a little something of the world”. Twenty-two years, six continents and eighty-five countries later, “From the Faraway, Nearby” is the photographic journal that celebrates the spirit of place and the people TR meets along the way. His stories are beautifully entertaining and delightful. This man is no armchair traveler, but the real thing and we are better for reading him.

For the 91st edition of I and the Bird, TR hands out “The Vagabirding Travel Magazine Awards for 2008” and celebrates what he considers to be the most popular Birding Regions of last year, as determined by….us! Of course, Oklahoma rates right up there at #1, but also included is Australia, Cross Timbers, Amazonia, The Desert Southwest/Southern Rockies/Colorado Plateau (where I am in exceptional company!), Central America, The Great Lakes, India & Sir Lanka, Malaysia and the Mid-Atlantic Region. TR also mentions our favorite Best Amateur Photographer in the world…with 17,232,429 votes!!! But I’m not going to ruin the suspense; go read TR’s wonderful magazine awards, and discover the birds and blogging from around the world.