or so it is said! Which rang true over the past 3 days when first of all we took delivery of the eagerly awaited Volume 1 of Being a Bird in North America (North of Mexico) by accomplished scientist and writer Robert Alvo.
12 years in the making
it was a pleasing moment when asked to make a contribution to this fine work.
Not only that, Robert decided to dedicate one of the numerous cartoons to me,
appropriate in as much as 48 years of my life was spent at sea!
During that time I was 'lucky' never to be visited by the dreaded
Mal De Mer and his slight slip of the pen can be forgiven as my
GB List is just a little higher than 200!
My tiny contribution was this image of a
RED-NECKED STINT
(2008)
(2008)
taken in Barrow, Alaska the most northerly town in the USA.
The Global Range of this tiny Wader never ceases to fascinate me,
and as an epilogue find, on the same Contributor's Credits page the name of
long time birding friend Vaughn Ashby the founder of
If there should be a further coincidence and you happen to read this Vaughn,
please accept my Best Wishes to both yourself and Svetlana.
I still cherish the Relict Gull images she sent to me (taken by her friend?)
when unable to take any of my own when encountering this Gull in South Korea.
© Svetlana's Friend?
We echo Robert's sentiment in apologising for the 'blasted 'adverts'
and advise that his interview starts at minute 22:40
and so to the Christening it's now official so now without the hyphen a
STRANGE ROVER
in its own right!
(click on image to increase size)
(click on image to increase size)
Finally, but by no means least a small matter that had vanished from the grey matter.
Flicking through photographs of my second trip to Ecuador, there was a reminder of a bird, which should have been seen by the Countries Avian Authorities, but thought never was. Back to the beginning, and before embarking on that trip, I met for the first time on Radipole Nature Reserve, Ecuadorian
(Link)
Attracted to his Resplendent Quetzal T-shirt, which by coincidence was my first crack at 'digi-scope' photography (taking a shot through a telescope), Costa Rica 2004,
and
(crumbs, talk about 'one thing leading to another')
(by saying "you don't see a lot of those around here") we struck up conversation and in so doing he agreed to give me a few pointer regarding the upcoming adventure. By the 8th January 2010 I had reached the small seaside town of Salinas, Ecuador where, in company with ex-pat Dutchman Benito Haas we found a large 'white-winged' Gull among a throng of Franklin;s and Laughing Gulls. Ben said he would submit it to the authorities, but not another word was ever heard about it. Having retraced the images, it was decided to try and retrace Byron who had also, unfortunately, fallen off the radar. A quick note to Nature Trek and their obvious kindness of passing on the message, had Byron telephoning me just a couple of evenings ago. No promises were made, but he did say he would look into the matter of what I have always believed is a
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL
Hybridisation was a key consideration in the identification process,
as the species is prone to that, but while having seen
many 'thousands'of them
it certainly doesn't make me an expert.
The opinions of anyone in this matter
would be gratefully received as should this be as stated it would not only be a
'First Record' for ECUADOR!
but in addition surely a contender for the first
Large White-winged Gull South of the Equator????
If nothing else, contact with Byron has been re-established which will
be followed up at the earliest possible convenience.
