Jeff Gordon. A nicer guy you have never met, and a top-drawer birder. I had met him once before, at the New River festival in West Virginia in 2006, and I was pleasantly surprised to see he recognized me, too. Please note the sandals, despite the wind chill on the HawkWatch Tower. At least he had on long pants, although they are the kind that could convert to shorts with a moment's notice. Hi, Jeff! See you next spring.
Jay Davis, the technical guy behind birdJam, and quite the birder, I understand. Of course, I never actually saw Jay on a bird walk, only while eating and drinking, so I will have to take his word for it. Here he is giving directions to Delia, who was still lost. You know you are in trouble when you call your friends for directions and they hand you to the girl from Ohio, who has only navigated the route around Philly once in her life.
A major geek moment was meeting and birding with Michael O'Brien, author, artist, birder, and all-around naturalist. I'm sure he thought I was a stalker. He led the first bird walk I took at Cape May Point State Park at 7:30am Friday, then I attended his sparrow workshop Friday afternoon and the related field trip on Saturday morning. By coincidence, he was also a leader during my Sunday trip to Higbee Beach. In just two hours, he taught me much about bird calls, the other sounds birds make besides songs. It was because of his tutelage that I got my Life Winter Wren after the group broke up, while sitting by the side of the road, eating my lunch and waiting for a ride. Thanks, Michael. You will never know how sweet it was, finding that wren all by myself. (After you taught me what to listen for, that is.)
No bird festival is complete without a BirdChick sighting. Sharon is just as fun, and funny, in person as she is on her blog. She can have her serious moments, too, like when she was relating the story of a Cooper's Hawk killing an endangered Red Knot, right in front of Kevin Karlson's shorebirding group. How rude! Couldn't the hawk have taken a killdeer?Lest you think that Cape May is all about birds, let me share with you my favorite celebrity photo.
Yes, it's true! Joe the Plumber is alive and well and working in Cape May, New Jersey. I guess his fame in Ohio was too much to bear.
7 comments:
I am so enjoying your posts about Cape May. And I snorted my coffee with the Joe the Plumber shot. I think his fifteen minutes are long past.
Well, I'm sure you remember what I thought of Pete Dunne, so we won't go there.
Jeff is very nice to look at, ain't he?
So is Jay....and Birdchick too, come to think of it.
: )
I got Pete Dunne to sign a book of his that I bought at the CMBO but for the life of me- I can't read what he wrote! I chuckled to remember stopping and backing up in the parking lot so you could get the picture of Plumber Joe!!
Hey - why ain't I on that celebrity list?
;-)
At least Lynne got Pete Dunne's sig on a book he actually wrote!
(I so hope that you missed that story!)
I really wanted to help Delia with directions, but I haven't been near Philly since my days on a school bus.
You got some dandy shots of some great folks there, Kathi. I love Michael and Jeff...like a contest on who's nicer to be around. Nice Birdchick shot, too. Well done!
If I were Plumber Joe I'd paint my truck blue and write "NOT" in front of the word Plumber.
Joe the Plumber. Pffft. Not a plumber. Not in the income bracket he claimed to be. Not even trying to buy a business. Just trying to get in the limelight, and it worked. Pbbbbbbbbttt. I'll be standing in line waiting for his country album, you can be sure.
LOL!
I'm catching up on blogs from my return from Texas. I'm honored to be considered a celebirdie!
Ug, I even over punned myself on that one. Thanks again for letting me tag along for the dinner, it was a highlight of the weekend for me!
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