Corpus Christi Caller Times Editorials - George Plimpton accompanies birders to Hazel Bazemore

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Tuesday, October 5, 1999

George Plimpton accompanies birders to Hazel Bazemore
Hawks obviously didn't know the celebrity and avid birder was there just to see them

An internationally famous celebrity, George Plimpton, was here last week to speak at the C.C. Literary Reading Series. The literary group generously shared him with the Hawk Society. Everyone profited except Plimpton who was badly shortchanged; on the only such day in memory, no hawks flew over the Hawk Watch at Hazel Bazemore Park.
   My hasty lunch for the next morning had already been prepared and refrigerated and I was comfortable in my nightgown on Friday when the phone rang. It was an old friend, John Dykema, whose birder parents had once spent a day, enjoyable for all of us, seeing the local birds with me. John explained that the Literary Reading Series patrons were hosting George Plimpton at a patron's party at his house, and that someone had just asked the honoree if there was anything he would like to see or do in Corpus Christi. The words that had turned him on were "bird watching.'' Could I, possibly? I, of course, was thrilled at the prospect of taking Plimpton to the Hawk Watch.
   At 7:30 the next morning, I picked him up and we were off. When we arrived at Hazel Bazemore County Park the hawk watching scene was in place, including many eager birders. I was all puffed up with the surprise I was bringing. "Listen everyone,'' I said, "I've brought a celebrity.'' He was gracious and charming and very funny. The other birders were as delighted as I.
   Joel Simon, official counter at the Watch, came over to meet Plimpton and asked if he would mind saying a few words to the group about his life and adventures as one of the world's best known birders. Plimpton generously agreed to do so. We all laughingly agreed that if a hawk kettle were spotted everyone would abandon the talk and man the binoculars.
   Bill and Patty Beasley are two of our mainstays. They arrived and began setting up their equipment. I went to ask them to come and meet my, by now, friend. "George Plimpton?'' Bill exclaimed, "Really?'' Almost in awe, Bill shook Plimpton's hand and told him that he had just re-read his book, "The Paper Lion.'' "I read it every fall,'' he continued, "to get in the spirit of football season.''
   Then Simon assembled everyone in the shade of the pavilion where birding books and maps, and hawk guides were being sold. He introduced Plimpton as "adventurer, author, actor and worldwide birder.''
   Plimpton told us that many of his birding adventures had taken place in the company of Victor Emanuel, a well-known Texas birder and bird guide. Many of us know Emanuel. He told of writing a piece for the National Audubon Magazine. A frequent ploy in his books is to cast himself in role of a participant in a sporting event, as in "Paper Lion,'' for which he did a stint as a quarterback of the Detroit Lions. He has played the role of photographer for Playboy Magazine, been a percussionist with the New York Philharmonic Society. He is founder and editor of the Paris Revue. (If you did not know his history, you might think him a pathological liar.).
   He told us that he is very fond of his sister, also that they are very competitive. On a trip together they were seeking a very rare bird, a Congo peacock I think. In front of his sister on the trail, George got a fleeting but solid glimpse of the bird. "I saw it!'' he exclaimed. "you did not!'' asserted his sister. The quarrel was ongoing until finally, on the occasion of her birthday, George rose to make a speech. He bestowed upon her a gift he knew she would appreciate. "Because it is your birthday,'' he announced, "my present to you is that I will admit . . . I did not see the bird.'' She received the gift with gratification. On his birthday, wishing to make a magnificent gift to her brother, she rose and announced, "George, you did see the bird.''
   While Plimpton spoke we forgot that we had seen no birds that morning.
   He and I sat again, and visited. I asked Mr. Plimpton if he had a family and he told me delightedly that he has two grown children, and, with his second wife of seven years, twin daughters, five years old. He has lived in a brown stone house on Central Park for the past 40 years.
   No hawks. A greater kiskadee called, but this could not have been very impressive to a person who has birded Africa and South America and everywhere. Throughout he was charming and patient and seemed to understand that you can't make appointments with birds, no matter who you would like to show them to.
   He broke his luncheon date, still hoping. My daughter brought us hamburgers for lunch, which he seemed to enjoy. No hawks. Finally it was two o'clock and he needed to rest and prepare for his talk at the South Texas Institute for the Arts that evening. Sadly, I drove him back to his hotel. We hope he will come another year to pursue the marvelous broad-winged hawks that are sometimes so numerous at our Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch.

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