Oh, how I wish Sue and I could be with you wonderful people....
I can remember the looks on your faces when we found the Hawk Owl. That's
one that will stay with me until my eyes close for the last time...which is
fast approaching.
Oh, I how love you good people... Thank you for putting up with me all
these wonderful years...
Jim...
Gotta share this with you...
Being on the brink of the latter part of living has left me at times with
massive regrets that I’ve done some of the dumb things I shouldn’t have
(“sins” in some people’s opinions), and passed up others I should have
acted on…
But one of the biggest surprises I’ve received as my life here on this, our
“home away from home” passes on, is how close I am to those (in Australian
terminology) who were once my mates.
When I worked with OMSI back in the ’60’s one of my most pleasurable
responsibilities was loading up the 26-passenger Ford bus, “Space Cruiser”
and taking a bunch of kids and parents (weekly) to the Portland RR station,
putting them on a train for Woodland, WA; then taking the bus to said
Woodland, meeting said train, loading up my passengers again and then
heading for Chief Lalooska’s Longhouse in Aerial, WA.
Once there, my dear old friend Lalooska (who was an honorary member of the
all the PNW Nations), would thrill everyone with clan ancestor stories of
the Northwest Native Peoples.
He would enter the Longhouse in complete darkness dressed in a NW Indian
Chief’s blanket holding a beautiful drum (he carved) upon which he begin to
beat and sing a beautiful Bellakoola welcome song.
The audience would sit spellbound listening to his rich baritone voice and
then his brother, Smitty, would enter the Longhouse dressed in a shamans’s
outfit and with his rattle, dance around the dead campfire, which would,
after the proper connotation, suddenly spring to life. What a beginning!
Then, for over an hour we would sit spellbound as Lalooska shared story and
after story about the Northwest People’s way of life and customs.
Well, my new family of wife, Harriet, and two little sons got to be very
close to Lalooska (who's real name was Smith, members of the
mid-west Native Amierican Peoples) and his family, consisting of his mom,
dad. brother and sister. We spent almost every holiday with them, dining
together, playing games and sharing tales of each other’s life and customs.
I tell you this to help explain an incident I had recently; as I was
sitting was with a wonderful, life-long pal telling tales of my
life-and-times with OMSI in the 60's, Chief Lalooska and his family, when
suddenly tears began to flow… as they are as I share this with you this
moment… Not tears of sorrow, but tears of joy because my dear old pal
Lalooska is right here with me. His Spirit is right next to me, I can feel
him.
So, dear ones, when you reach time for the nature of this life to be
overcome by the nature of death, be ready for the Spirits of friends and
kin who will be there to meet-and-greet you when you come over to “the
other side.”
On Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 5:16 PM Craig Miller <gismiller@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I expect the weekend crowd will sort out any inconsistencies in our
reports... :>)
On Fri, Sep 24, 2021, 1:47 PM <tc@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I was down at Page Springs as well and did get some photos that will be
posted later. All of them showed P9 longer than P10, which is a good sign
for Lesser Nighthawk. The consensus of observers not named Miller is that
there were two birds, not three. No one other than Craig declared that
one
of the birds was a male Common Nighthawk. My photos don't show either bird
to be a male. Opinions were either Lesser Nighthawk or uncertain, but
leaning Lesser. When the bird flew over the third time (the one Craig is
calling the third bird) I was one of the ones moving his car so I can't
comment on it. But the people I talked to said it was consistent with the
second bird we had seen a half hour earlier but that the light was
different on that one and it was moving very fast. After the Millers left
we were treated to quite a show between 7:30 and 7:30. Both birds were
flying back and forth between the two bridges on the refuge road before it
turns into the campground. Unfortunately we were halway between the road
and the campground. Both birds showed a wide base to the wing, blunt
tips,
with P10 shorter than P9 and the wing patches appeared to be closer to the
wing tips. Jeff Nordstrom and Rick Vetter will be looking tonight so
hopefully they can add more to the discussion.
Tom Crabtree
On Fri, 24 Sep 2021 09:51:05 -0700, Craig Miller <gismiller@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi all,didnt
Marilyn and I were present with several other birders hoping to see the
Lesser Nighthawk(s) reported and photographed by others over the past
week. The entire episode was a little frustrating, despite the
exhilaration of seeing the bird. At approximately 5:50 a nighthawk was
spotted. It was exciting to see and we believed we were observing a male
Lesser Nighthawk. It had obvious white wing patches, and we felt it had
rounded wing tips and patches near the end of the wing. Multiple photos
were obtained by other observers. My own camera was too slow and unable
to focus on the bird, so I was not able to take photos. However, we
have as much time to study the bird as we would have liked, though theand
bird was clearly not that of the Lesser Nighthawk photographed several
days earlier – the wing patches on that bird were narrow and buffy –
as might be expected for a female. So, we were left with some doubts,
clearly the need to study the photos more.more
A few minutes later, another nighthawk appeared. This bird remained in
view longer, and to my perception appeared to be a Common Nighthawk.
Although fairly late in the season for Common Nighthawk, it is not
unprecedented. The white wing patch didnt seem all that distal and the
wing tips appeared pointed. There was varying opinion about whether this
bird was a Common Nighthawk or Lesser Nighthawk, and it also created
doubt in my mind whether the first bird we observed was a Lesserat
Nighthawk or not.
Soon after this 2nd bird disappeared to the south, the Camp Host showed
up, requesting that everyone move their vehicles from the campsite where
most were parked. We had been under the impression that we were parked
a campsite of a fellow birder, but that was not correct. Almost everyonethe
left to move their cars, but my Marilyn had already moved our vehicle
thanks to an earlier encounter by the campers. While the other observers
were away, Marilyn and I spotted a nighthawk flying above. This bird was
distinctly different from the previous two nighthawks we had observed,
and we were immediately able to identify this as a female Lesser
Nighthawk. The wing patches were narrow and buffy, visible only at
relatively close range, and they were nearer the end of the wing than
2nd nighthawk we had observed (that we identified as Common Nighthawk).later,
It disappeared to the south, and by the time we left about an hour
no further nighthawks were seen. We were disappointed that everyone who
went to move their cars were not present to see and document this last
nighthawk. We don’t know if it was seen after we left around 7:00 PM.
Cheers,
Craig MillerBend
