Hey Tweets,
I can remember when I first got interested in birds I
was 9 years old and on a trip to the Olympic Peninsula with my parents. We
were relaxing at the beach near Klalock (please excuse the spelling), when I
noticed another kid throwing rocks at a small black bird in the water only a
few feet from shore. Being a born naturalist and not wanting the bird to
get hurt I threw a rock at the other kid and starting yelling at him...I
realize now this probably wasn't the right way to solve the problem, but
hey, I was 9 and it worked. Being older than him, he ran away and I went to
take a look at the bird.
This is where my memory fails me because I don't remeber enough to
figure out what the bird was. All I knew then was it was a black "duck"
with an orange bill and thats about all I can remember. Being on the coast
those feild marks don't narrow it down to anything but an alcid or a scoter.
Something in the recesses of my mind is screaming Rhinocerous Auklet..but I
can't say for sure what it was. Either way thats my claim to seabird saving
glory!
-Brendan McGarry

Brendan McGarry, 16
Seattle, Washington
Pica_pica417 at hotmail.com
Uglyduckling at hotmail.com