Good Morning All,

I have decided not to write an April Fools story this year, however I do
want to share the following tale as told to me this last month by Prof.
Hanno Hitchcock from County Dungaree, Isl of Error, Scotland.

It seems there was a young Graduate Student from the University of
Edenboro that was working on a study of some lesser understood organism
found between the valves of some inter-tidal clam. After spending sixty
some days out on the beaches of this tiny island in the North Atlantic
in the driving rain, sleet and fog he had had enough. So one morning he
gathered up all of his study subjects and their clam hosts and threw
them in a boiling pot of hot water and ate them to the last bi-valve.
Licking his lips after downing the last of his study subjects he
realized he still a fort night to go before he would have a boat come
and fetch him, so he selected another animal to study for the next
several weeks. He chose the Brant as he figured if he grew tired of
studying this sea goose it too would be down right tasty as well-he
would save his remaining cube of butter for that eventuality. So the
next morning he wondered around the four hector island that he had been
on forever-or so it seemed to him. As he searched for a flock of Brant
to watch out over the eel grass beds just off shore he noticed a lone
Brant out on the short grass prairie just beyond the shoreline boulders.
All alone this goose was feeding on the new growth of some forb when he
noticed this goose had a perfect round white feather patch on the back
of its head. So he started taking notes on this birds behavior, forage
preferences and calls. Days passed and this goose kept returning to the
island and the Grad student was running out of paper on which to write.
Then one morning the boat arrived and transported him away from "old
white spot" as he had come to call the Brant. Three years later the now
Doctor moved to America, to Washington state, To Long Beach to continue
his study of Brant. Early one morning he was watching a flock of Brant
and low and behold there separated from the flock was a goose with a
bright white spot on the back of its head. He could not believe it. Was
it his old study subject from long ago and far away ? He watched as it
fed on grass. Suddenly it raised its head looked his direction and then
flew towards him-landing just a few meters from him. It then walked over
to him.


--
Mike & MerryLynn Denny
Birding the Beautiful Walla Walla Valley
"If you haven't gone birding, you haven't lived"