June was the time I set aside to get to some serious searching (online) for a place to live in Oregon, starting with my preferred Corvallis, but open to almost anywhere in the western part of the state, relatively close to an airport, if the perfect situation came up.
The month started while I was finishing up the cooking for the WINGS Gambell tour. The only snag in the logistics all week was that one of the two ovens stopped working on our next-to-last day. I eventually figured out that the pilot just wasn’t lighting the main gas emitters, and gas would build up inside the oven then ignite a small explosion that opened the oven door slightly and spewed soot all over the floor. Before we figured that out, I once opened the oven once to see a blue ball of flame, and the only sign that something might have been amiss was the vague smell of burnt hair. No one saw a thing, looking up at my 6’ 3” frame, but in the mirror I noticed the singe.
Towards the end of the week I had some time to join the group for an hour or so, and here’s Gavin with some of our participants near the point.
I then had six full days on my own to pack up all the WINGS kitchen supplies in an organized way, freeze all of our leftovers for the fall crew, and make inventory of our saved food. But I also hoped to find some cool rarities by walking through all of the boneyards and along the hillside. Unfortunately, a high pressure area stalled in the middle of the Bering Sea, creating the perfect migrant block, and nothing of note was found by me or the few other birders who lingered on, including my friend Dave Sonneborn, and here Aaron Lang of Alaska Wilderness.
At least the locally breeding Common Ringed-Plovers were readily found this year, and I enjoyed spending time photographing lichens, plants, and scenery.
Back in Tucson, I finished post-tour work, edited photos, and spent a lot of time online not finding my ideal living situation. Places for rent in Corvallis were either large houses, too expensive, no yard, and/or with unknown neighbors. I continued my search with increasing radius from Corvallis. I also had time to finish these cashmere gloves, though not in time for Alaska.
I also joined Andrew for an overnight in Bisbee to see their short but very festive gay pride parade.
At the very end of the month I made a quick weekend trip to Utah, thanks to a cheap Allegiant direct flight from Tucson to Provo to visit two of my siblings and finally meet three of their grandchildren who were born in the past year. The oldest, Riley, had her first birthday while I was there.
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