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. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
