Apparently yesterday's "ghost" story confused some people as I got a couple of questions from people wanting more information about the story.
There was no prior Christmas Bird Count from the "early days" and no one disappeared to wander the aether as the ghost of CBCs past. The story was simply my way of introducing this unusual, accidental photo of me as a ghost.
When I took my self portrait with the timer I initially forgot to activate the flash. I pressed the release, posed, and when the camera clicked I moved away to check the image. Without the flash, the camera had an extra long exposure turning dark into day, and I was only in the image a short time. Hence the ghost.
This is what the picture was supposed to look like (slightly enhanced with photoshop to bring details out of the shadows. Apparently my camera's flash sucks).