----- Original Message -----
From: David Irons
To: Steve Mlodinow ; Romain Cooper ; post OBOL ; David and Jude Fix and Power
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 1:28 AM
Subject: [obol] FW: Oh NO! Oh Dept


Greetings All,

I thought I would pass this extremely sobering e-mail regarding the Del Norte, CA CBC that I received from David Fix earlier today (to avoid David to David e-mails we refer to one another as "Norte" and "Sur"). Given how small the birding world is, I thought that some of you might know Onik Arian. If not, it is important to realize that given weather like we are experiencing this weekend, this story could be about any one of us.

I just got home from a birding trip up the Columbia Gorge with Steve Mlodinow. We spent all day today driving along snowy and icy Hwy 14, which follows the Washington side of the Columbia. After returning to my car, which we had left at Bob Flores' home n. of Battle Ground, WA I spent much of the next seven hours inching my way home on I-5. This marathon included being essentially stopped for about 2.5 hours at the big hill at the south end of Salem. My speed from the Oregon border to Eugene never exceeded 45mph and was often less than 20mph and this does not include the 2.5 hours it took to travel about four miles just south of Salem.

Be assured that each and every one of you is cherished not only by your family and non-birding friends, but also by members of this community. There is no rare bird or blank spot in a CBC checklist that warrants taking risks that might lead to personal injury or worse. David Fix is among my oldest and dearest friends and I would have been saddened beyond comprehension had some misfortune befallen him on the Del Norte CBC. In 1986 many of us lost a another dear friend Mark Koninendyke, who died in a single car accident late at night on his way to Malheur. Reading the account below reminds me of how I felt then and still feel today any time I think of Mark, which is often.

Decisions to postpone or cancel CBC's this weekend may have averted similar bad fortune within our statewide birding community. Please be careful in all your holiday and birding travels.

Dave Irons
Eugene, OR


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Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:14:34 -0800
From: foglark at att.net
Subject: Oh NO! Oh Dept
To: llsdirons at msn.com


Norte,

I couldn't imagine writing you two more different notes in the same day.

I just got a call from Gary Lester that, at the countdown he did tonight (he does it for Alan B.), he kept noticing holes in the list for birds that ought to have been reported. Someone also remarked that recent transplant-from-Ventura birder Onik Arian was not present, and that was the reason for the seeming misses.

Afterward, Alan drove over to the Battery Point parking lot (outer CC harbor) and found Onik's car in the dark with no one in it. People at the countdown had been talking about the reported drowning of a person washed from the jetty, and Alan put two and two together. Gary got a call from him later, as he got a ride home with Keith Slauson and, Gary says, they were just then talking about people they had heard of washed from jetties when Alan called with the bad news.

Onik was unknown to me in person, although I had spoken with him on the phone at some length once and had e-mailed him a few times with birding tips. He'd moved up and right away found a Cape May as his first vagrant warbler. I believe he was an ER nurse. He was talented and well-liked.

Gary tried to soften the news. The phone rang awhile ago and he said "Hi Dave, looks like you made the best decision of the day to come home." He then said this morning he hit a patch of hail at 60 mph going over Patricks Point, fishtailed off the road, fishtailed back on, then did a 360 and ended up facing the wrong way. He then said, "But that's not the worst of it. Dave, we lost Onik." Right away I thought of the confusion and horror the man must have felt as he was swallowed up, likely knowing in the instant there was a pretty good chance his life was just about to end. Gary said they found him (authorities, witnesses, or whoever) with his head caved in, so maybe he didn't suffer.

If you relate the story to others, the man's name was pronounced Aw-nik Air-ian.

It can happen to you or me, too--a story to bear in mind.

Saddened In The Sur.



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