Total ABA Species Recorded During 2010 - 731



Tuesday, January 26, 2010

I Stopped, He didn't!!

My beautiful new blue Prius survived the 5500 mile trip to Texas and back, but couldn't make it around Norfolk safely. I had stopped behind a Greyhound bus which had stopped at the railroad track on Granby Street. In my rearview mirror I could see the stepvan behind me wasn't going to stop. He wasn't even thinking about it. I was screaming inside my car, I was yelling, I was crying, but it all did no good. Wham! Kabam! I was a vehicular sandwich, crunched both front and back. I was civil to the stepvan driver, although it took all my reserves to pull that off. The bus driver was very nice and helpful. We exchanged all the requisite details and called the police. I didn't want to move the vehicles until the police came, but they informed the bus driver it would be better and safer to move the car and stepvan into the nearby parking lot. They would be there shortly. It was a little longer than that, but eventually they came and took all the same information again. They were very nice and the officer in charge was very sympathetic toward my tragedy. After the formalities, I slowly drove the car home. The rear tire rubbed the wheel well because of the damage. It's now sitting in the driveway where it will be until I can get someone to fix it. The insurance people took care of the arrangements over the phone and I'll be picking up a rental car to tide me over. Ah yes! Just another chapter in the great adventure.
Birds? David Hughes and I did the impoundment survey this morning at Back Bay NWR, but we couldn't get either a bittern or a rail to make themselves known to us. However, after the survey, we walked over to the beach where David spotted a Razorbill. It eventually flew, landing near a second Razorbill. Although there were few scoters flying, a group of five male Black Scoters were scoped out, adding two new species for the day. Species total is now 270.
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9 comments:

  1. I think you should be at 270 if the Raven the other day was 267. The Horned Grebe would be 268 and the two added today gives you 270.

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  2. Yikes! Glad to know everyone is ok.

    But the big question....do you have a backup car for Arizona!?!?

    You seem pretty calm so I'm assuming you do. :)

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  3. Sorry to hear about your accident--glad you're OK...I am really enjoying your blog and check in daily...I am also a birder (though not at your level of expertise or determination :-) and live in Norfolk...I have a great view of the Hague water (Smith Creek) and the Eliz. River so I pick up a few species from my balcony...anyway, look forward to your next post and keep em' coming!...

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  4. Watch out for those Razorbills. Evidently there was a big flight of them off Montauk last weekend. Maybe they'll end up down there.

    Sorry to hear about the car. Glad you aren't similarly crumpled.

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  5. I'm having flashbacks to when I was 5? 6? At least there were no broken noses this time. I'm glad you are ok, but I'm sorry about your pretty car.

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  6. As one Prius driver to another, I feel your pain. But, hopefully, there will be a complete recovery! Glad you are ok. A car, even a Prius, is replaceable...but you certainly are not.

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  7. At least you have a rental if you are so inclined to go after the Ivory Gull in GA.

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  8. So sorry to hear about the Prius, but very glad you're ok!

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  9. Robert,
    Having done both the Rio Grande Valley and the high islands of eastern Arizona, I already know that what comes next is the prize. Vicariously, yes, we are all there, but your documetental sharing is valued by one and all as a trip shared.
    My excursions out west were stolen from my family, work and time, but remain memories that sustain me.
    Car camping, backpacking into the hills, all of that is the adventure that lasts. So are those ocassional showers in a cheap motel. Taking advantage of the local cuisine is not nearly as predictable as the chain food enterprises, but remains a significant aspect of immersive and supportive connections made on our budget trips.
    Your set-back with the car reminds me of that old saw: expect the unexpected...which would be the house of mirrors or more profoundly, the evidence of perverse infinity. In other words, what happens happens. As all the rest have, I say the same...good it is that you were not hurt.
    Scott Jackson-Ricketts

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