Birding with Mr. Whitekeys
For some twenty years, Mr. Whitekeys ran the Fly By Night Club in Anchorage, and annually produced the amazing Whale Fat Follies, which was to musical revues approximately what heavy metal is to Chopin. The Fly By Night Club, alas, is closed, but Mr. Whitekeys still carries his brand of inspired blues madness to the masses, and this weekend brought it to Fairbanks.
But it may surprise WC’s readers to learn that Whitekeys is also a serious, accomplished birder, a member of the Alaska 200 Club and the President of the Anchorage Audubon Society. So WC went birding with Whitekeys this morning. It’s true that it was pouring rain the whole time, that the clouds of mosquitoes could have sucked all the blood out of an elephant in 15 minutes, and that the birding was mediocre, at best. But it was birding. Binoculars were waved about, bird calls were faintly heard over the whining of the mosquitoes and an excellent, if somewhat damp, time was had by all.
Whitekeys, WC and the group were rewarded with a pair of nesting Red-necked Grebes and the Yellow-billed Loon reported earlier. As well as an assortment of songbirds, Mew Gulls and a soggy Bald Eagle being mobbed by those Mew Gulls.
WC thinks only in Alaska could the former proprietor of the self-styled “Sleaziest Bar in Spenard” also be a skilled birder. So hats off – or at least rain hoods lowered – to Mr. Whitekeys. Thanks for letting WC tag along. WC hopes to bird with you again.
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