[Tweeters] Brown's Point kittiwake as an experience

[tomboulian at comcast.net]

I’ve been in a rough patch lately, and my partner agreed that chasing the BLKI might be just what I needed. it was.

I fully expected there would be be a group of birders already finding or not finding it.  

I hadn’t really slept, and just blindly followed the Google maps audio.

There was one guy with a scope, a beard, and a smile and I asked him if he’d seen it.  “Not yet”  He was there yesterday when there were lots of birds and birders, but he hadn’t seen it.  The wind this morning was howling and making us tear up..  “Are you a gull expert?”, I asked. “ No.”   Well neither am I.

“Are these all Glaucous-winged or hybrids?”, said he  I don’t think so, said I.   Californias would be the best bet, just on size.  “So we’re looking for a BOGU with a yellow bill”, said he.  There were very few gulls at all.  Then he saw it by the lighthouse.  “Yellow bill!”, said he.   I’m not on it, said I.  “Well at least I saw it for 15 seconds”, said he.  Well I guess I’ll be here a while or just go home, said I.

“Maybe we could get some cover up there by the shed, from the wind”, said he.  And we did, basically scope to scope.  For an hour and half plus we traded stories and helped each other ID whatever we could find.  Turns out we’ve been a number of the same spots, though I have 50 years more having at least tried to do it.  He seemed to know all the local birder names of recognition .  I told him I was trying to be away from a problem back home with a roofing contractor.  He told me he was trying to be distracted from his daughter’s breast cancer treatment, and was staying quite near me. Kind of put my concerns in perspective.

“Well I’m about ready to call it”, said he.  “Yellow bill Yellow bill!” ,said I.  And there it was,  for a much longer look and maybe 50 yards out.  We high-fived so hard it stung.  Lifer for both of us.

“There is always someone worse off than you.  Keep on birding”.  Said he.

True that.

Marty, if you see this, Would love to meet up


Mark Tomboulian,  Shoreline, WA

tomboulian at comcast.net




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