Jonathan Livingstone Seagull - Richard Bach (Part II)

The next stretch of the journey would take me from San Filip, (Baja California the peninsula south of San Diego) Mexico to as far north as Fairbanks in Alaska. Apart from the 2 States not yet visited (bringing up a ‘full house’) and the more important matter of another Gull species (the penultimate) this has to be one of the most exciting overland journeys in the whole world! Already conquered on 2 other occasions there were a few other matters that needed addressing with my ‘open’ 2 month Greyhound Coach ticket taking me as far as Whitehorse in the Yukon. Oh how we would like to include all of the images shot on this final trip but doubt my life would last that long, but we hope you find the highlights interesting.

We won’t dwell too long on 

Salt Lake City

capital of  

 the City and

 Mormon Cathedral

or Boise, 
capital city of

with the lingering being far shorter had it not been for the magnificent western fringes of the 

Rocky Mountains.

 Seatle

is a fine city of culture and Rock and Roll with the Museum of Conteproary Music

given over almost entirely to

Kurt Cobain 

but there was a far, far more important and talented Rocker to interest me! 

 BELTED KINGFISHER

came in handy before catching the subway to

Renton

a relatively small town some 30 miles south where at long, long last I would pay homage to my

ALL TIME HERO

 but we cannot go beyond this point without a mention of

Michael and Cherry

who not only befriended me but bought my rail ticket and then transported me to the

Greenwood Cemetary

a few miles beyond where I was able to pay tribute to the greatest guitar player who ever lived!

JAMES MARSHALL HENDRIX

JIMI HENDRIX

 Jimi's Headstone

 and marble seating inscribed with exact copies of his lyrics from his songbooks

along with

 DARK-EYED JUNCO's

 in the 

Japanese Cemetary

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW

also thrived.

In keeping with the afore mentioned this time it was a

 Japanese Warship

while in the probably World Renowned

 STANLEY PARK

 there were REAL

WOOD DUCK's

 RACCOON

and Real

CANADA GEESE

 RUFOUS-SIDED TOWHEE

 WRENTIT

 and just up the road

 a sactuary for the rarest and most endangered

 PORPOISE in the World the

VAQUITA

We are going to have to leave it there for now as my finger-tips have gone to sleep,
but hopefully there will be a Part 3 and who knows??

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull - Richard Bach (Part I)

Surely trying to name your favourite Bird Species in the World is an

impossibility as today it might be the Robin and next an Andalusian Hemipode

(where the hell did that come from??) 

Even then if you whittled it down to favourite Family Groups there is contention, even among scientists, most considering there are somewhere between 9 and 10,000 Species worldwide?

However, all that aside like many other people the Gulls certainly do something for me.

It was back as far as 17/03/1988 that, along with our dear friend Hugo Wood-Homer, we were stood on the banks of the River Plym estuary in Devon wallowing in the delights of a ‘winter plumage’ Ross’s Gull. It was no more than a casual remark from myself to Hugo, “that’s this was the 35^th species of Gull I had seen in the world” that he replied, “with your wander lust Bagsy it wouldn’t be impossible to see all 54 species”. It seemed like a gauntlet, enough of a spur to set me about trying to achieve just such a mammoth task! It was 24½years later, on the 22/09/2012 to be precise, that the now ambition was finally fulfilled. Among that host there were but 3 species which were not committed to ‘celluloid’, or more correctly the modern equivalent, and with the final 3 taking me on a couple of mega wild goose chases! Species 32 and 33 were both confined to the America's and both having come tantalisingly close before the deeds were done and combining the 2 taking me on what is still my longest Twitch ever. However, there was a little more to it than that as there were also 3 US States that had not been visited with 2 being side by side and the other said to be the most remote populated Island Group in the world. Of these we would request the reader to re-visit the post of 15/02/2020 (If I Counld Turn Back Time - Cher) for the first which was Honalulu Hawaii this in itself a return journey, Weymouth to Weymouth of some 11,500 miles.

Our first encounter with the third from last Gull may have come some years before when travelling in the region of California and research showing that it was common and plentiful at the Salton Sea not many miles away. However, further adivce pointed to the area being far from welcoming so on the strength of that alone the project was abandoned. 

This time the destination would be Baja Califoria, Mexico where, in the first instance, a full day and night was spent to the tune of a few

 WESTERN GULLS

(close)

and loads of

SNOWY EGRETS

(time to move on to the next village south)

where searching from noon until dark didn't even show a single

Gull 

let alone the object of desire.
Onward then to

and having suggested a possible 3 nights to the landlady there was a massive disappointment for her to come as stepping onto the beach at first light there it stood, bold as brass a pristine

 YELLOW-FOOTED GULL

 happy to go through its

full

repertoire.

Along with THOUSANDS of

NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW

there were also 2 very welcome additions to the 

World List

The all too long overdue considering we were about to add the 

final 2 States to the list

 ROADRUNNER

and

RED-CROWNED PARROT

For fear of going into Overload we might just leave it there for now and bring you

Part II hopefully manana but maybe punctuated!

Slim Pickens - Fine Cowboy

With the weather still keeping most things at bay all we have for you are a

few outstanding Bits and Pieces from yesterday.

The fanlight directly above the hammock is what is known to me as

The Star Tunnel

with a passage, across a clear starlite sky, at 05:30 of the 

International Space Station

Next thing, there was a squall and all the 'lights' went out! 

A giant of a specimen the huge 

WILLOW

in the back garden of the farm house finally sucumed to Dennis and his pals

 Otherwise it was left to a pair of rather obliging

WIGEON ♂

WIGEON ♀

Happy Together

 There's always One

but it's usually Me!

 and it was noted that the

CHAROLAIS

 were back out free-ranging

 and another sure sign of spring

 (just 4 days away now)

was our first

VOCAL

 STONECHAT