Paul Gillen and I had a special relationship.

He was the one who made me an avid birder from 1986-2002; until I lost all
of the 380+ NY List due to the corruption of my Thayer's Birder's List and
gave up.
I met him first time at the Schinnecock Inlet scoping the inlet and ocean,
as I had droven there to check the ocean conditions to see if I could take
my boat out.
I used to post all the birds I had seen in my yard in a diary, but had no
clue people used to search birds outside their yards. My first question to
him was about the
female Red-bellied Woodpecker ,a woodpecker I had never seen in my yard in
East Quogue since I bought the house in 1976, until then. When it was
cleared that the Red-bellied Woodpecker was not a rear bird, just one which
extended it's range north gradually and people birded outside their yards
too, I got hooked.

Paul was the one who advised me to buy the Swarovski scope I still have and
he was the one who showed me my first Red-throated Loon, Boat Tailed
Grackle and Horned Lark.
I did also see the Blacked-tailed Godwit he discovered and IDENTIFIED.

He will be greatly missed,

Orhan Birol
Shelter Island.

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