Hope and Soft-plumaged Petrel Joy

A friend of mine recently wrote, “Everyone needs an escape route.” There is a lot of wisdom in that sentence. Without an escape route and without the awareness of the possibility of hope, there is not much point in living. “Hope” is the spark that runs the internal engine that makes me alive, extinguish it for too long and I will be done for. I will not sit and play cards. I would rather not be here. The birds map my routes and I have my Troopi. Just knowing she is sitting there waiting patiently comforts my soul. She is power, freedom and hope with dual diesel tanks and all-terrain tyres.

There is a tattoo on my arm of a compass and a quote from the Scottish novelist, John Buchan. He wrote it about fishing, but it applies perfectly to birding. It is… “the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.” Indeed.

So when I go off to wherever in search of a new bird or two, hope is the engine that drives me. My love of birds is built on that hope. They take me where I might not go otherwise. I may end up in the desert, or the Great Southern Ocean, or the Nullarbor, or rainforests, or a sewage treatment plant, wherever they lead me I will find beauty and wonder, and yes indeed hope.

My regular birding buddies, Robert and James and I had a phenomenal trip out of Eaglehawk Neck on 1 and 2 June (that blog entry is Here). There was also an excellent trip for others on 8 June. Robert arranged with Karen Dick to do a mid-week double header on Tuesday the 18th and Wednesday the 19th June. We were excited. Hopes for maybe a Grey-headed Albatross or any number of other possible targets fuelled my internal hope-engine. The weather however, had other ideas.

Tuesday the winds blew hard from the north and it was pretty rough. The Paulette is a stable boat and I always felt safe on her. The patches were also doing their job, as they do for me. I may feel like crap, but I do not get seasick even in the liveliest of seas. Well worth it for me. Sadly two of the participants ended up “lying on the deck sick.”

The high point of the morning for me was finally getting wonderful views of a Soft-plumaged Petrel! It is a bird I had missed seeing on the 2nd of June although a few others on the boat had gotten distant views. This time I saw it very well and James got a cracking good shot of it! Here it is…

Soft-plumaged Petrel Joy (excellent shot James)

And here is shot by my new friend Ashley Thomson. He is an excellent photographer and I love this photo. It captures well the mood of the seas on those days... very Winslow Homer-like.
       

We began our trip back to the jetty early at 11:30am since one of the seasick birders was really quite sick. For me it was actually a rather enjoyable rocking and rolling ride back into the lee of the coastline where the seas were a bit less. Here are a few (very few) photos of mine from the day. I swear there was supposed to be a Soft-plumaged Petrel in one of them, but it must have hidden behind a wave. I do love seeing a Wandering Albatross with a shoreline behind. I love Wandering Albatrosses.

       

     

Heading out earlier... "Red sky at morning..." and it was right.        

In the lee of the coast and heading for the harbour.

We were at the little cafe Havinabite Tucker Spot before 3pm. I love that place and wanted to add a stubby-holder from there to my little collection of birding stubby-holders. They don’t sell them anymore, but the lady remembered me asking about them and had found an old one and gave it to me. That was certainly very nice of her and it will join my other birding memory stubby holders.

The view from Havinabite. Yes, it is that beautiful.

Some of my birding stubby-holders

The weather forecast got worse. Wednesday morning began with gale force winds. We had some hope that the front might move through quickly and we gave it a go. We chugged out through 4 metre swells toward the Hippolytes. However with 6 to 8 metre swells beyond the rocks, the Paulette turned back for the harbour (only the third time for her in ten years of pelagics). We again met at Havinabite for a nibble and a visit, then the group went their separate ways. I mainly napped for the afternoon. Those patches knock the stuffings out of me, but as I said, they are worth it.

All in all, I enjoyed myself. I got a Lifer and it was great seeing some dear old friends and once again, making some new friends as well. Such is birding. And a huge thank you to Karen Dick for handling the arrangements! You are a gem.

And another note on hope: I try and avoid “don’t get your hopes up” thinking. Getting your hopes up is a wonderful thing (not to be confused with having expectations. That could be a whole other blog entry). And if those hopes do not come to fruition? I have still had the period of time where they were alive creating that joy in my chest. And that is a good thing. Get your hopes up. Live. 

Lastly, here are a few more photos from the trip. James took the photo of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot right outside our room at Lufra (there were several). And then there is another lovely rainbow over Eaglehawk Neck and a silly pic from our travels back to Melbourne. We do have us a good time!

So there we are... tired and of course a bit crazy, but happy. We will again be back to Tassie as well as other places. Following that hope as we do. I am just glad I have these friends to share it with me.

I write therefore I am. I share therefore it's real. I love y'all.