Birds, Whales, And A Diamond

Yesterday we went out from Port Fairy, VIC on a pelagic trip. For non-birding friends, that means deep-sea birding. I will be honest and admit that pelagic birding is not my favorite. But I do it because there are some awesome birds that can only be found offshore, sometimes way offshore. Getting to the birding areas usually requires hours of just riding in the boat and that can be boring and uncomfortable. It’s not a seasickness thing, I use the patch and it works well for me. I grew up around boats and I love the sea, but as I got older, seasickness became an issue for me. Not anymore with the patch and I am grateful.

We had a wonderful time and saw some awesome birds and made some delightful new friends. There was an amazing pod of (50-some?) Long-finned Pilot Whales who stayed in the area of the boat with Oceanic Bottlenosed Dolphins intermixed with them for about a half an hour. It was a moving experience to be in the presence of these marvelous mammals. I am so grateful for that experience, and I thank my friend, James Mustafa for organizing this trip. Our best bird of the day was the Little Shearwater, which had not been seen in Victoria for about 10 years.
     

And so it begins...

Long-finned Pilot Whales with Oceanic Bottlenosed Dolphins

Fairy Prion

White-faced Storm-petrel 

My "recording" shot of the Little Shearwater. Trust me.     

Steven Castan's much better recording shot. It was a Little Shearwater.

                 Fairy Prion again                      

Wilson's Storm-petrel

The long ride back in...

On a different  and very grateful note…

Monday as we were driving to Port Fairy, I discovered that my earring was gone. Over 25 years ago Lynn took a diamond from a ring and had it made into an earring for me. I have worn it since. I never take it out. After a few years, I had a ‘locking back’ put on it to hopefully keep it secure. Well, it came loose and it was gone. I was not grateful.

I did not know where it had been lost and to make things worse, in a photo from last Friday, it did not appear to be in my ear. I figured it was gone. I had deep emotional attachments to it, but still it is just a thing. We have “let go” of more things than most. Some on purpose, some not so much. Well, this afternoon Lynn found my diamond! The back was on the bathroom floor and the diamond was on the floor of the laundry room. It is a wonderful gift that she was able to give me twice. My diamond is back and I am so very grateful.

The gift given twice

Birds. Peace. Love. Earth. Laughter. Music.