Long-time Dawn Chorus folks remember our good friend realalaskan, an avid birder, photographer and nature lover. He was an enthusiastic Dawn Chorus contributor, a talented photographer and a great human loved by many throughout the Daily Kos community.
Realalaskan, whose given name was William, is shown above in a photo taken at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County on March 17, 2013 when a group of Dawn Choristers got together for a birding adventure at the Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, CA. William and his wife Libby were passing through from their home in Sitka, Alaska and our Dawn Chorus founder lineatus organized a field trip. Navajo wrote a wonderful diary about that day which you can find here.
William was a favorite at Dawn Chorus and all of us were so saddened to hear of his tragic and untimely death in a landslide on August 18, 2015, in his home town of Sitka where he was the town’s building official. The landslide that carried mud and trees sweeping down a road occurred after 24 hours of heavy rain in the mountainous community in Alaska’s southeastern tip.
Now two years later, William’s wife Libby has published a book of his photographs that is available for sale. Libby contacted DKos friend navajo and asked if we could share the news on Dawn Chorus. Libby notes that proceeds from the book’s sales will be divided between the Sitka Conservation Society and the National Audubon Society.
If you would like to order the book, you can do so by placing a phone order at Old Harbor Books at (907)747-8808 or by email at oldharborbookssitka@gmail.com. I spoke to one of the representatives at the bookstore and she told me the book is $24.50 with $4.65 for regular shipping or $10.00 for priority shipping. The book is 51 pages in length and is a mix of B&W and color photos. “Nearly every page has an image and the book includes poetry and essays as well,” she said.
What a lovely way to remember and honor our friend William and how generous of Libby to edit and produce the book and let all of us at Dawn Chorus know. I’m ordering a book for myself and I hope you will, too. Some of our old Dawn Chorus denizens have drifted off from our Sunday morning gatherings here and if you know any of them, please share this diary with them.
William’s favorite bird was the Varied Thrush, I took this photo of one at a park near my house awhile back. Every time I see a Varied Thrush, I think of him. I know I’m not alone.
Varied Thrush
Here are a few more photos from our outing at Point Reyes National Seashore, Bolinas, and the Bolinas Lagoon that cool Spring day in 2013.
A pause for a picnic lunch near the Point Reyes visitor’s center
L-R tgypsy, side pocket, kimoconnor
Here are some of the birds and wildlife we saw that day. We also saw a bobcat but I wasn’t fast enough to capture it.
A Common Yellowthroat
A White-crowned Sparrow
A Song Sparrow
Some mule deer lying in a meadow just off our trail
A calling Black Phoebe
A Scrub Jay (now reclassified as the California Scrub Jay)
It was a wonderful day and we all had such a great time. I hope that if you have a memory of realalaskan or just thoughts about the spirit of nature and birding that he represented so well, you’ll offer your thoughts in this thread. We’ll be sharing today’s Dawn Chorus with Libby and I know she’ll be pleased to hear anything others want to share.
Here’s a photo of the Dawn Chorus gang at the end of the day.
L-R Mrs. realalaskan (Libby), side pocket, lineatus, realalaskan, navajo, kimoconnor, Kestrel, tgypsy
Now, good birding to you all, enjoy your weekend, and I’m off to order my copy of William Stortz Photographs!