This month marked there return of the Pigeon Guillemots from their wintering grounds to the nearshore waters of the Salish Sea as they prepare for their breeding season. And with this welcome event, copies of The Bird with the Flaming Red Feet were released in flocks to bookstores and online retailers. You can order copies from Mountaineers Books/Skipstone Press or your favorite indie bookstore.
The April 15 book launch party in Olympia suggests that there is a healthy appetite for stories about seabirds, “one-bird birding,” birding for birds, community science, deep connections to place, “Flaming Red Wine,” “Wing Patch White,” and very small plates loaded with appetizers, desserts, and prey items (Swedish fish). Thank you to the ~200 people who filed their taxes (or extensions) to find their way to Olympia Ballroom to celebrate the Pigeon Guillemot and its people.
And with the launch of the book came the launch of the uncommonly catchy song written by my brother, Jonathan Mudd, a musician based in South Carolina. Jonathan spent a morning with me on the beach where I collect data on the Pigeon Guillemots during their summer breeding season. And then he read a draft of my manuscript of my book. He totally got it. Listen on Spotify or Apple Music. The song reflects so perfectly my experience of watching the guillemots over the past thirteen summers, of following my curiosity, of deeply connecting to place, and of feeling the spin of the earth as is it moves through the seasons on '“guillemot time.”
In this song, my brother plays guitars and sings vocals. Andy Luthringer is on bass, Jon Spurney plays piano and organ, Mark Williams is on solo guitar. And Eli Smith did the mixing. I’m calling it “alcid rock.” I think you will love it.
And then my brother outdid himself and made a music video combing this song with photos and videos of Pigeon Guillemots in the Pacific Northwest. The photos and videos were provided through the generosity of my fellow guillemot surveyors in Puget Sound, Washington and along Oregon’s central coast. You can watch the YouTube video here to sense the wild exuberance of this uncommonly common seabird.
Now…go forth and find your guillemot.