This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------1FB7352C9A5F319C29FC4779 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">Jane - great job on the poem! I didn't make the trek to see the Kelp Gull, but I got great vicarious enjoyment from reading all the reports and anecdotes. This ditty seems to really sum up the whole Kelp experience. Thanks!
Jane Kostenko wrote:
Norm and Tom--Would you consider this for inclusion in an up-coming issue of both the Osprey and the MD Yellowthroat? My brain was slowly freezing inside my skull one cold Sunday as I awaited birders, and I started writing this, tongue-in-cheek. Before long, I was really sitting down to get it just right (a goal I may not have achieved even yet!), and would like to offer it for the SMAS newsletter and the MOS newsletter. If you don't think it's appropriate, just let me know. If you can't read it, let me know that, too! Tyler gets really annoyed at newbies, but that's what I am and may not have sent this right. Jane
A Visit from Larus dominicanus
by Jane Kostenko
‘Twas the day of St. Valentine’s all through the land
When Rob and Ottavio set foot on our sand.
Their bins and their scopes studied gulls with great care
With hopes intermedius soon would be there.
Ring-bills and herrings nestled tight to the pier
But soon the men noticed, "Good grief! It’s right here!"
The guys, loaded down, with fat reference books
Had figured they’d need to take long, thorough looks.
(Some birders hear "sub-sp" and raise such a clatter;
List countable or not, it doesn’t much matter.)
But away to the pay phone they flew in a flash,
Calling well-known birders. Could they quickly dash?
The O’Briens then learned of those wind-blown piers
Hearing both the men’s story with incredulous ears:
"When what to our wondering eyes should appear
Kelp Gull, not Lesser! (We made that disappear.)"
A south-of-the-equator gull that’s so rare
They knew birders everywhere surely would care.
More rapid than eagles like coursers birders came.
They whistled. They shouted. Clifton called it by name:
"Here, Shrimpy! C’mon boy!"
From the deck of the Sea Breeze, to the pier by the wall,
"Look at it! Check it out! Study it all!"
As shearwaters at the wave tops do fly
So, too, does the Kelp Gull, just skimming by.
Here to St. Mary’s, the birders for miles,
All came for the Kelp Gull, Patty’s and Kyle’s.
About then the Kelp Gull made national news
After giving the Post some mighty fine views.
CNN and Fox News both sent some folk
Who treated the story as a really good joke.
But hundreds of birders, who before hadn’t known,
Arrived on the weekend (having driven and flown).
When then in a twinkling I heard the big scoop:
The Sea Breeze was out of cream of crab soup!
Donnie Ray and Nioma, and all Sea Breeze staff
Looked out at the full house and gave tired laughs.
With oysters and raw jumbo shrimp as its fare
We all thought, "This Kelp Gull ain’t goin’ nowhere!"
People who saw it were impressed by the bird
And very unlikely gull praises were heard.
"Its eye ring, how orange! Its gonys, how red!
And look at the shape of that smooth dove-like head.
Its legs are the yellowish-green of a piling.
And see how its gape makes it look like it’s smiling?
The black of its mantle is darker than jet
(Well, maybe not quite, but the darkest gull yet.)"
But the bird left for two days (it gave not a sound)
Leaving many sad birders still hanging around.
The Kelp Gull came back, though its schedule was dicey;
We looked for a pattern—Was its favorite pier icy?
It left yet again without giving us warning
It just wasn’t there at sunrise one morning.
I spring from bed daily to update the matter
While local gulls eat up the shrimp and get fatter.
Where is the Kelp Gull when it leaves our piers?
Has it flown on north or is it still here?
I had heard the gull, ere last it flew out of sight:
"Sheesh! I came for vacation. Can’t a bird have a little privacy ?!"
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