As many of you know from lineatus' diary on Friday, tragically our own realalaskan was presumed killed by a landslide in his home town of Sitka, Alaska on Tuesday. As of the most recent news stories I could find, his body has not yet been recovered.
realalaskan was a long-time kossack and participant in Dawn Chorus. He regularly posted his excellent photographs from his home in Alaska and also from his frequent visits to Arizona giving our community a window into two of North America's birding hotspots. He was a cheerful and enthusiastic commenter who was a good friend to many here at Dawn Chorus and an important part of the community. We will miss him greatly.
realalaskan's life in the far north and his frequent travels to the very different environs of the southwest seemed to give him a strong sense of place and of season. His comments and photos always seemed rooted in season and location. They were like mini-voyages to where he was when he was writing. Here's a comment of his that lineatus asked to include that captures his spirit well.
After not much of a winter, (9+ / 0-)
spring is springing here in southeast Alaska. Ruby-crowned kinglets are singing their glorious mating song of ascending triplets; juncos, robins, varied thrushes, song sparrows, and even red-breasted sapsuckers are busily advertising for mates. Yesterday morning a flock of brant flew past my dining room window while I was eating breakfast. Saw a shimmering cloud of unidentified sandpipers racing across the water's surface yesterday; probably Least or Western. Waiting for dowitchers, dunlins and whimbrels, all of which should be passing through soon, with many other species of shorebirds as they make their way to their breeding grounds on the tundra.
Like the annual cycle of the coming and going of daylight in the north, the spring and fall migration is a tangible sign of the passage of time. The birds and the sun return every year, but it always seems a miracle, as if the earth could just stop orbiting the sun.
Look out, here they come!
I'm not going to say much more myself for the simple reason that I didn't have the pleasure of as much interaction with realalaskan as many of you enjoyed, especially those of you who met up with him in California. I encourage you all to remember him in the comments. Below is a selection of his excellent bird photography and some images from his visit with the San Francisco kossacks, courtesy of navajo. realalaskan's images are from his winter solstice diary from late last year and various comments in Dawn Chorus diaries this year.
This is one of navajo's images that lineatus used in her diary. It seems too appropriate not to use again.
Bohemian Waxwing - Alaska
Vermiliion Flycatcher - Arizona
In the field, California
More Alaskan birds
Boreal Chickadee
Bald Eagle
Dipper
Bald Eagle (again)
Barrow's Goldeneye and Common Merganser
Pine Grosbeak
Flock of Shorebirds
Arizona birds
Cooper's Hawk
Common Ground Dove
American Avocet
realalaskan seemed to have a special fondness for hummingbirds. The top bird is a bluethroated hummingbird and I believe the middle one is a rufous. Not sure about the nesting bird at the bottom.