1.
2.
coincidence john jorgenson.jpeg
Eel Coincidence.jpg
SEE THESE STORIES IN THE BOOK:
Recuerdo
de amnesia BILINGUAL July 13, 2022 small for web.pdf
3.
trike and grapefruit coincidence.jpeg
4.
THC 1951.jpg
5.
Birthday Coincidence.jpg
The next time I PLANNED the shirt.
6.
Birthday T-shirt 2022.jpeg
Birthday 2.jpg
7.
Queen Then and Again.jpg
Mini Taylor Coincidence.jpg
|
8.
Big Ben and London Bus Then and Again.jpg
9.
10.
Shamrock St. Patrick%27s Day Coincidence.jpg
11.
Anguila Coincidence.jpg
12.
SEE THESE STORIES IN THE BOOK:
Recuerdo
de amnesia BILINGUAL July 13, 2022 small for web.pdf
13.
Meseta Coincidence.jpg
14.
Mesa Coincidence.jpg
ARMSTRONG SPERRY Tarzan and the Lost empire.jpg
COINCIDENCE. ARMSTRONG SPERRY WHO WROTE MY FAVORITE BOOK
AS A KID CALL IT COURAGE
ALSO PAINTED THE COVER FOR THE BOOK:
Marion Edwards Shouse.html
Call it Courage Cover.jpeg
15.
ARMSTRONG SPERRY Tarzan and the Lost empire.jpg
HERE'S THE STORY
ABOUT THE BOOK AND ITS FAMOUS OWNER
We went to Sky-Y Camp and on the road to Prescott J.
Tdwsorth barfed on the bus. I was shocked. I told my mom
who may have driven to Prescott for some reason and she
said his mom said he just might hurl. No surprise.
Decades later we took the international students up to
Prescott and a Norwegian girl and a few Japanese girls
started hurling on the bus. They used clear plastic bags
to catch the barf.
WHAT A COINCIDENCE!
COINCIDENCES
As we
headed out of the harbor to a well known past
fishing haunt, Casper Heights, Al De Martini
bellowed out, "BLUE WHALE!" Turning the boat around,
we followed this giant leviathan for several
minutes. It seemed to be traveling and not feeding.
Trouble is, it was traveling in the wrong direction
for us. So, we resumed our track to the Caspers. The
Caspers are three high knolls or pinnacles which
attract fish. Leader Clay Kempf, dubbed them the
"Casper Heights." It was immediately apparent when
were within shouting distance of the "heights" as
the shearwater numbers increased dramatically. The
sea surface temperature was a very chilly 51.3F. I
held out little hope for murrelets in such cold
water. I was to be proved wrong, and it would not be
the last time I would be proved wrong on this day!
The holler came from the stern of the boat, " XANTUS
MURRELET ON THE WATER!" Sure enough, at
N39.07.25/W124.03.76 in 51.6F water, a sweet little
Xantus was on the water for all to see. Conditions
were so great, that I decided to take a hunch and
head to a "Life" canyon for me—Navarro Canyon off of
Point Arena. This area of ocean has practically
never been explored by any seabirders. On one past
trip from Fort Bragg, I headed south, but I do not
think that I reached this canyon. On the famous trip
from Bodega Bay to Fort Bragg, overnighting in Fort
Bragg, and returning to Bodega Bay (a once-only
trip), we found the first North American record of
an ADULT WHITE-CAPPED ALBATROSS! But, we did not
make it to Navarro Canyon on that trip because the
weather was so bad that we could not get more than 8
miles offshore. So, this would be the first birding
trip, ever to reach Navarro Canyon!!Looking at the
chart in the wheelhouse with our skipper, we
descended down a steep canyon wall some 22 miles
offshore. This pleasant day gave way to one seabird
after another, with jaegers flying in to check out
the masses of BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES following our
boat. When we reached the Point Arena weather buoy,
a large structure, a BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD flew off
the buoy and to our boat! I began to ponder where
the heck to lay out a menhaden oil slick, and I kept
thinking, "a little further, a little more down the
canyon slopes." On deck, leader Lisa Hug and I were
casually discussing this. I told Lisa of my plan to
head downhill to deeper water. She asked if that
would be good for anything-- any good seabirds, and
I replied, well, it might if we wanted to see a
pterodroma! Just about at that very moment, a
tubenose flew within 50 feet of us, and whoaaa! It
was the first HAWAIIAN PETREL OF THE DAY!! Running
up to the bow, we locked our bins onto the bird, and
followed it for 5 minutes before we could no longer
see it. Immediately, I stopped the boat, and dumped
out the oil. The petrel never returned. We were at:
N39.06.05/W123.08.71, with a sea surface temperature
of 54F. This petrel was in view from 11:06 until
11:11 am, by my watch. We estimate that we were 22
miles north off Point Arena lighthouse. Not only had
we hit some great underwater topography, but also a
good sea surface temperature break. In all the
pandemonium, it is a miracle that no one stepped on
the cowbird who was constantly underfoot, picking up
crumbs of popcorn and such!After all of that drama,
and a great many "high fives" and broad smiles all
around, we continued on our way. Ted and Chris
Koundakjian logged a life bird that they have been
searching for on many boat trips for the past
several years. Ted estimated that this was his 161st
pelagic trip with Shearwater Journeys! It didn't
matter what we saw after this mega-rarity!! Well,
ever the persistent one, I did tell stories of a few
rare pelagic trips where we recorded TWO
mega-rarities in one day. At 12:47 pm, the call went
out again—HAWAIIAN PETREL!! This one seemed to fly
thru the wake, and up the side of the boat. We were
at N39.11.69/W124.11.36, some 5 miles from the
previous sighting. Sea surface temperature was now a
whopping 55.9F. This individual also flew within 50
feet of the boat. I dumped oil immediately, but it
did not return. Whew! The third sighting of HAWAIIAN
PETREL came at 2:04 pm, some 12 miles from the
second sighting at N39.18.77/W124.04.53, about 12
miles off Mendocino. Sea surface temperature was
55.8F and the depth was 2066 feet. This time, the
petrel flew off rather quickly, making photography
impossible. However, some of the passengers on board
were able to obtain images of petrel #1 and petrel
#2. We hope that these images might help us to learn
whether we are dealing with one individual petrel,
or two, or three. It seems extremely unlikely that
we could be so lucky as to run into the same
individual petrel three times in one day, over the
course of our long travels. Coming home, we
encountered another XANTUS' MURRELET, on the water,
sitting next to a CASSIN'S AUKLET. This was a great
comparison. The Xantus was at N39.20.37/W123.58.95.
Sea surface temperature was down to 53.6F. We were
impressed with the numbers of Cassin's Auklets on
this trip. It is no coincidence that Cassin's
Auklets and a Blue Whale were both recorded on this
day, as both are krill feeders. Exploring Navarro
Canyon was a great idea. Heading south was a great
idea (although, bear in mind that all of the
previous records of Hawaiian Petrels from Fort Bragg
have been on trips that headed north). The Great
Southerly Push seems to have materialized, in that
we had 'fingers" or "streams" of warm water
currents. Whether these currents and the the fact
that we were over a steep, deep canyon attracted the
Hawaiian Petrels, remains to be determined.
Certainly, Fort Bragg pelagic trips offer one of the
best opportunities to find Hawaiian Petrels anywhere
on the California coast. I've also seen Hawaiian
Petrels as many times on Bodega Bay trips that visit
Bodega Canyon. Navarro Canyon needs much more
exploration, and I fully intend to do this! We
doodled along the kelp beds on our return to the
harbor, hoping for one of the small, rare alcids,
but found none. We had nice views of many HARBOR
PORPOISES and PIGEON GUILLEMOTS. Nevertheless, all
on board were thrilled with this wonderful day of
seabirding on a "mega-rarity search" trip, that
actually found a mega!! My friend, Sophie Webb, who
is working on the ORCAWALE (see previous blog report
at www.shearwaterjourneys.com) research cruise,
reported a HAWAIIAN PETREL on August 7 and another
sighting of HAWAIIAN PETREL on August 8, both off of
OREGON. We are unsure if records of Hawaiian Petrel
exist for Oregon. Sophie also reported seeing BLUE
and SEI WHALES. We thank all of the
seabirders who joined us on the August 8, 2008
pelagic trip from Fort Bragg. Shearwater Journey's
leaders for this day were: Lisa Hug, Clay Kempf, Al
De Martini, and Debra Shearwater. It is possible to
join us on the August 10 Fort Bragg pelagic trip, if
you live relatively close to town. We meet at 6:30
am in Noyo Harbor for a 7 am departure on the Trek
II. We also have spaces available on the August 12
Bodega Bay pelagic trip. We meet at 6:30 am in Port
O' Bodega for a 7 am departure on the New Sea
Angler. You might try emailing me, if you are
interested in either of these trips.The complete
species list for our fantastic trip is below:AUGUST
8, 2008 FORT BRAGG PELAGIC TRIP
MEGA-RARITIES:BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS- 94
Usery Mountain Park
05/01/2005 It's Ditsworth's
birthday. We got him some sausage, some schtunk, and
an electric fan. We walked seven miles. I drank two
liters of kool-aid. We were at Dits's at six sharp.
Good hike. Good hike. Good cracker. Later we drank
beer at Ditsworth's. Shirley came home and said
there were two dogs in the garage. They were
DELIGHTFUL dogs. We played with them and watered
them and locked them in the backyard and left a
phone message for their masters. On this trip there
was an amazing coincidence. I told the guys about
the Casita Travel Trailer that I had seen on the web
and then we discussed it and got its name right and
then in two minutes there was one in front of us. I
had never seen one and it was being hauled by a
Nissan Frontier Crew Cab Pick-up truck just like
mine -- just as I had envisioned. Darned weird.
Flagstaff House
6/24/2012 Stayed until July 2,
2012, when I went home. I went to Mt. Eldpm with the
atheists and to Red Mountain with them too. Then I
went to the Grand Canyon. I went to Flag to write
songs and I wrote "I've Got the Goods on You,"
"Dream the past away," "Pack a Snack," and the words
for Farewell to the wind. I went over to Erica's and
helped her plant an apple tree and drink her beer. I
walked her dogs with her. I dreamed that I had a car
called an Elkhorn and Jan kegelman was telling me
the word elkhorn and when I woke opening my eyes I
saw two elk out the window. Coincidence. Went home
and stopped at Montezuma Well.
|