Kelp Gull--nemesis bird
Jim Felley (IRMSS668@SIVM.SI.EDU)
Wed, 3 Mar 99 07:52:42 EST
The 'missing 46 hours' of the St. Mary's Kelp Gull is exactly what
one would expect of some person's 'nemesis bird'. Perhaps we can
do a service here. Does anyone know of any birder who travelled
a long way to arrive in St. Mary's during that 46 hour period,
then had to leave? We could let this person know that the Kelp
Gull is their official nemesis bird, and not to bother trying to
return to see it (since the bird will just disappear again).
In fact, this would be a service to other birders for whom
the Kelp Gull is not a nemesis bird. Should the unfortunate birder
try again, all the others who come to see the gull that day will also
be skunked! Better that one birder should stay away, for the sake of
the rest of us.
My favorite nemesis bird story: In southwestern Louisiana during
spring migration, the driver on a birding trip confessed that his
nemesis bird was the Mourning Warbler. We pulled into the parking
area of the Holleyman refuge (a tiny spot of live oak scrub by the
coast). I looked out of the passenger side window and cried
"Mourning Warbler, male, at the top of that tree!." By the time the
driver was out of the car and binoculars trained on the tree,
the bird was gone. Of course, the bird had been well seen by all
the other birders at the refuge that morning, but was not seen again
that day.
A demonstration of the amazing power that a birder has over their
nemesis bird!
Jim
Jim Felley
Smithsonian Institution
irmss668@sivm.si.edu