About 40 people, from near and far, attended a nice memorial at Chris' home in Hardwick Center. Some of his poetic essays, both birding and music related, were read by his sisters and a close friend. Others recalled their fondest memories and notable "Ellison-isums" that were both touching and hallarious.
Certainly some of you are familiar with Chris' well written , entertaining and lengthy essays from his trips afield, but for those of you that are not...do yourself a favor, take few minutes to read some of his writings HERE.
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After the memorial I took a walk into gate 35 to bird and reflect along the north east shoreline of Quabbin. Chris always attended the Forbush Bird Club's early November field trip at this gate, usually showing up about 2 hours early and had "everything scoped out" ahead of time!
Birding activity was fairly slow, the heat and humidity were oppressive but the scenery was still worth the sweat.
Looking south toward Mt. L and Zion.None of the recent inland rarities (such as Common , Black and Caspian Tern or Whimbrel) found by Carrol and Lynch, over the past several weeks were seen, despite scanning the waters at length. A few distant juvenile Bald Eagles were soaring over Snell Island and a distant adult was perched on the Phragmities island. I was not able to get any decent eagle shots, but the Osprey below passed by before I noticed it, I gave a series of whistles...it answered...and circled back!
Chris we hope your flying high....
..and watching over The Quabbin. 
7 comments:
Beautiful post Tom. He will be very much missed on those Quabbin trips as he was so much fun to bird with during them. I too hope he's flying high over the Quabbin right along side those eagles.
Take care.
Tom,
I just heard about Chris last evening. I'm sad to hear about it. Chris was always there for the Hampshire Bird Club trips into Quabbin too. He truly shared my love for the Quabbin and was a great birder. He will be missed.
Larry
Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend.
very nice post and tribute.
I am inviting you to join other birders and bloggers for a bird outing..
Check out the link below and let me know if you would like to join us for a bird outing.
Birders who blog, tweet and chirp
August 28th, The Charlestown Breachway and Ninigret Tidal Flats, Rhode Island
http://dawnandjeffsblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/bwbtc-charlestown-breachway-and.html
Happy Birding
What a lovely post and appropriate tribute to Chris. The text and photographs were wonderful. Well done.
I also was shocked and saddened to hear about Chris. He was an excellent and dedicated birder and this tribute to him was outstanding. The text and photographs are wonderful and a fitting tribute to his love of the Quabbin area. Thanks for sharing it with others who knew Chris.
Merry
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