Years ago I emptied the garbage at campgrounds as a college summer job for
Olympic Natl. Park. Early hours made for good summer birding in places not
normally open to the public. Twice a day we'd go loaded to the old
fashioned dump west of Port Angeles (where stuff was just thrown over
seaward-facing bluff into a steep, sliding mess, always burning). There
were always lots of gulls. We'd sometimes throw things at each other or at
the other garbagemen, and once I hit a gull when my target ducked. It
froze, stunned, and slid over the edge backwards into the fire. I've never
forgotten that, feeling responsible even though it was the last thing I
intended. I don't know what happened to that bird, but I can imagine how
Johnson must feel.

Jack Kintner kintner at nas.com Blaine, WA

At 09:02 AM 3/27/01 -0800, you wrote:
>I saw it last night on Baseball Tonight on ESPN, and it was tough to
>watch, even for someone who's fairly jaded about such things. The
>bird came in fast from the right (the first time they showed it I
>didn't even see it), and there was no chance to ID it definitively
>without a *lot* of experience with southwestern doves (I have none).
>It was light-colored and small; too small for either a mourning or
>white-winged dove. I believe it was either an Inca dove or a common
>ground dove; I'd need another replay or two to focus on tail length.
>
>At impact feathers flew in every direction, and that "poof" you
>mentioned was a reasonable characterization -- think of the effect of a
>cherry bomb inserted into a mounted specimen, and you'll have a pretty
>good idea of the visual spectacle.
>
>Don't be too hard on Randy; there's no way he could have seen it
>coming, and he did seem a little upset by the whole thing. As I wrote
>above, tough to watch...
>
>Jim McCoy
>jfmccoy at earthlink.net
>Redmond, WA
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Michael Willison [mailto:sendtomichael at hotmail.com]
>Sent: Monday, March 26, 2001 2:57 PM
>To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>Subject: Fastballs and Doves
>
>
>Tweeters,
>
>I just heard on the radio that former Mariner, Randy Johnson, while pitching
>in pre-season game yesterday, threw a pitch that collided with a dove that
>flew through the projectory of the pitch. This instantly killed the dove,
>sending up a poof of feathers and inhibiting the pitch from even reaching
>home plate. Did anyone per chance catch this on the television? It must
>have been some sight. The odds of this even occuring are staggering. I was
>curious if anyone saw/heard what kind of dove this was.
>
>Michael Willison
>Auburn Wa
>sendtomichael at hotmail.com
>_________________________________________________________________
>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com