My latest column for The Record and the Herald News is about my quest to see a rock pigeon from my yard -- yet another reason to go living.

I write: " Mourning doves, the pigeon's elegant but equally blasé cousin, I get by the dozens. Bald eagles, Wilson's snipes, red-breasted grosbeaks and more: I have seen all of these birds from my yard over the years, including more than 80 species in 2011 alone. But nary a rock pigeon.

"Many folks would chide me to be more careful with what I wish for. After all, we've all read about some schlep who has dozens of pigeons infesting his yard and treating his house and patio like an enormous statue. No one wants that.

"So let me be clear. I don't actually want a rock pigeon at my feeder. An admiring glimpse of one in flight sometime will do, just so I can add it to the list of yard birds."

The link is here.