I'd like to acknowledge Khanh Tranh's post from the Okanogan and thank him for his long-term commitment to birding and to the people of the community. Having gotten to know him over the past 10 years, he is kind and thoughtful (as well as having a unique sense of humor) and generous. He does have a fine set of skills for the finding the birds (which is reflected in his many successful posts) and he puts it together with a lot of patience and hard work (which isn't so apparent to the casual reader).

He was very helpful on our recent combined North Central Washington and Seattle Audubon field trip, pointing us towards birds and places that he had spent hours combing through. When he is careful about revealing detailed locations for particular birds, it is out of a sense of birding ethics and wishing to protect them from potential disturbance. Sarah and I had such mixed feelings when we were among the first people to see the now-defunct Northern Hawk Owl, and it brought home the importance of being judicious about publicizing locations of certain birds.

I find Khanh to be a cheerful inspiration to look harder and longer for special birds! Over the years, as my own skills have increased, I am finding that it is sometimes more satisfying to find a Northern Goshawk or a Great Gray Owl on my own (although I've never found four in an hour, like Khanh has!).

Anyway, thank you Khanh for your high-energy, hard-working, community-spirited birding!

Gary Kelsberg
Seattle

kelsberg at yew dot warshington dot ee-doo