Howdy!
I'm glad you landed in my blog this year. This long-term goal of having a "Big Enough" year (150 species) in every county in the state has been fun to chase over the last 16 years, and equally fun to blog about. For over a decade, I've been providing:
- Meandering writing - probably 50% more words to say the same dang thing. Quite a value.
- Pictures of birds that look like they were taken from space - again, quite a value, when you consider what it might cost you to go to space to reproduce this.
- Images and stories from all over our lovely state.
- Ground-truthing of bird abundance and access to birding sites - even a semi-regular reader of my blog must have read at least one story of me not finding birds, or getting turned back by flooded trails, mud, or gates.
Whether you're here for a casual read, or for a better understanding of where to find birds in Washington, I hope it has been of value. I *think* it has, based on the occasional "thankya". I even had someone say that they were living "precariously" through my blog. I think she meant vicariously, but precariously is sometimes a good enough fit! But it's also based on the fact that the pages of these blogs have picked up 67,000 views over the years.
I'm hoping to complete this little project in another decade or so. I've written over 250 blog posts over the years, and there are likely another 250 posts to come. And I'd like to do it without having ads turned on. We get enough of them targeting us in life, and there's nothing like a simple uninterrupted read.
That... is the foundation of an ask. If the posts have been of value to you, and you feel like supporting this little project, a couple bucks could help put gas in the car!
But here's the more pressing part - I'm trying to see albatrosses!
We live in a state that is up against the Pacific Ocean. And I went and picked Pacific County. There are scads of birds offshore - albatrosses, storm-petrels, shearwaters, jaegers, and skuas, but it takes a boat to get to these birds!
Westport Seabirds offers trips out of Westport and usually stays in Grays Harbor County. Occasionally, when conditions are right, they will wander into Pacific County, but these wanderings are not planned. So, I've contacted a fishing charter from Ilwaco that would be willing to make the trip to the Willapa Canyon offshore. The boat can hold 6 people. It is potentially the least cost-effective pelagic trip one could hope to plan! But it may also be the best I can do. And in the spirit of this whole project... it's time for me to get offshore.
So, yeah, I'm prepared to put money towards this. None of this "split it up evenly" stuff with the folks that decide to join me on this boat. I'll keep the cost down around what other similar trips might charge. And I'll eat the rest of the cost.
This is the other part of the ask, then! Want to help get me on this boat?
If you have an interest in being on the trip - reach out to me through the "Contact Me" link in my profile. Filling the boat will be the most important piece. I am thinking of a fall trip.
If you would like to help fund the effort, Tim-Brennan-93 (1687) is my Venmo. Venmo asks for a comment, so feel free to add, "Albatross Fund" if that's how you landed there!
Thank you again, just for visiting the blog, and I hope it continues to have value for you!
-Tim Brennan
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