Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds.

"The Great Ones Never Blink"

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

The publicity wizards who are slaving away for The Big Year have given notice of the existence of this video, which has been released to garner interest for The Big Year's dvd/blu-ray release next week. It's pretty damn funny, and captures many birders' bizarre habits of mispronouncing commonly-used words.

If you haven't seen The Big Year, you owe it to yourself. I tell my nonbirding friends (which are, luckily, the majority of my friends) that despite the quality of the movie as a film, they will know me better after watching this movie. More than a couple have agreed with this assessment....and if you are a birder....well, come on. Just do it.

Showdown In Arroyo Grande

2012-01-25T08:30:00.000-06:00

The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive wrote about Ivory Gull related heartbreak and heartache yesterday on 10,000 Birds...read all about it here. Oh, and some (mostly) good news on the Endangered Species front over here.

Above are a bunch of birds that are not endangered nor Ivory Gulls, including Thayer's Gull (foreground) with a phalanx of Black Skimmers for contrast. Santa Barbara, CA.

Winter Tour Part II: Ocean Shores Cripplers and Even Snowy Owls Need To Vomit

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000-06:00

In one day I went from seeing 0 to 10 Snowy Owls. Thank the bird gods.

After getting less than 2 hours of sleep in Olympia, the one known as "Stilt" and I were whisked away for a deluxe birding trip in Ocean Shores, WA. The birding was incredible, we could not help but see everything we looked for. It wasn't even raining. I quickly came to the conclusion that birding in Washington is amazingly easy. King Eider (lifer!), Snowy Owl (lifer!), Emperor Goose, Rock Sandpipers, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Trumpeter Swans, Merlin and Palm Warbler were among the best birds of the day. Stoked.

Damon Point was a zoo of photographers, but they seemed relatively well-behaved. The owls high tolerance for people probably helped the situation...Tweeters, the Washington birding listserv, has been filled with various hilarious, dumb, and even intelligent messages about birders and photographers harassing this winter's massive crop of Snowy Owls. At least I can claim that our crew did not flush any birds...

Arctic royalty was the theme of the day, between the Emperor Goose and the King Eider (actually, a Queen Eider) being easy to find and readily viewable. I don't think things will ever be the same...thanks to Alex Wang, Charlie Wright and Annie Meyer for all their help.

One of the owls looked like it was attempting to puke up a pellet the entire time we were watching it. This owl was significantly more entertaining than all the other owls.

Snowy Owls make me think of cats, I don't know why.

Sometimes, it feels better if you puke.

Emperor Goose and Canada Goose. Royalty and Peasantry.

The Emperor enjoys putting greens as much as any non-royal goose.

This is the proper way to restrain your dog in seaside communities.

Rock Sandpipers with a Black Turnstone and Surfbird. If you want to see a Rock Sandpiper without trekking up to Alaska, Ocean Shores seems like the right place to do it.

Hordes of photographers were out. The lenses that my group was using seemed small and shriveled in comparison.

They were all looking at this Snowy Owl. It seemed more interested in sleeping than anything else. At one point I saw a dude sitting incredibly close to it...instead of taking pictures, he was eating a sandwich.

Winter Tour Part 1: And So It Begins...

2012-01-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

Black Oystercatchers hang out in tidepools and destroy molluscs all day...sounds nice. Crescent City, CA.

Winter Tour is OVER. I am now the master of Washington and Oregon birding. I rolled deep with three (3) lifers, swarms of rarities, and a lot of other birds I don't get to see a whole lot down here. Since I took hundreds of horrible bird photos over the past few weeks, I will have to spoon feed you them in small amounts...the BB&B staff is not interested in overdoses.

I am back in San Francisco now, where I will remain for an indeterminate amount of time. The West Coast is finally getting slammed by winter weather, so I foresee a lot of not birding the next few days...which is good for blogging, I suppose. On a weirder front, something called a "job" might be looming on the horizon...we'll see where that goes. Could this be the end of funemployment?

I have always been drawn to the feet of Black Oystercatchers, for reasons I can't entirely explain. Crescent City, CA.

Greater Yellowlegs. I'm glad the days of not being able to tell Greaters and Lessers apart are behind me....how embarrassing. Arcata, CA.

You know life is good when you don't even have to bother to wipe puke off your face. California Sea Lions must have it rough. Crescent City, CA.

American Kestrel. Someday, I will get a picture of one that is not on a power line. Arcata, CA.

Spotted Towhee. While this bird looks pretty much our California birds, some individuals I saw in Washington were very dark in comparison, lacking much of the white spotting on the back. Finley National Wildlife Refuge, OR.

Hairy Woodpecker. This dude was going to town at the base of a big, moss-covered oak...too bad the lighting was rubbish. Finley National Wildlife Refuge, OR.

Cackling Geese are everywhere up there. Finley National Wildlife Refuge, OR.

This is the proper way to enjoy delicious jug wine.

You Deserve This

2012-01-19T17:08:00.001-06:00

Good afternoon friends. I'm simply here today to tell you to look at this. Enjoy!

'via Blog this'

PLAINS PLOVERS

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Mountain Plovers, unlike certain other mountain birds, are a true birder's bird. The likelihood of actually noticing a Mountain Plover without searching for them for hours and hours (or, for most people, years and years) is astronomically high. Everything about them seems to be overlookable...their habitat, their coloration, and their habits.

Although Mountain Plovers were never a nemesis bird for me (they were, or possibly still are, semi regular at a spot in coastal Ventura County, CA, where I began birding), they don't exactly have a habit of presenting themselves to me. Until last month, the last one I had seen was one in 2008, with a flock of Black-bellieds cruising over Fig Lagoon, deep within the bowels of the Imperial Valley.

Late in December I made a trip to the Carrizo Plain and was slammed with flock after flock of Mountain Plovers. I couldn't believe it. I had been to the Plain many times and always went home ploverless. We found a total of 3 flocks, all of which I detected by naked eye. That's the sort of thing that gets you up to Number 7 in the Nation, people.

Mountain Plovers have a pretty limited range (that do not include any mountains), and in California are only truly reliable in a handful of spots. Their population has plummeted over the last 100 years. As with most rare birds, habitat loss is the number one cause of their decline throughout their range. During the Bush era (aka The Dark Ages), the federal government decided to not add the Mountain Plover to the Endangered Species list. Since then, it has been revealed that the person (that's Julie MacDonald, enemy of nature) who made this decision was a complete hack, and now the plover is getting another shot at getting the protection it needs.

This plover is running down a small invertebrate. It will meet its doom in the grip of the Mountain Plover's massive and powerful bill, which is widely known to be able to reduce a human skull to a fine dust. Note the distinctive white death-visor it wears.

Sick.

The Human Birdwatcher Project Presents: The Global Birding Ranking System

2012-01-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

Seeing Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches earns you a number of points in The Global Birding Ranking System. Seeing the Aleutian griseonucha subspecies earns you even more, due to the population's remoteness and limited range. Having even previously heard of this subspecies can earn you even more points. Photographed at Buldir Island, AK.

Today I wish to speak to you about The Global Birding Ranking System, or GBRS. I have lately been besieged with requests for information about my glowing status as Number 7 Birder In The Nation, and I would like to provide a little bit of clarity about how it all works.

For one, every single birder (not birdwatcher) does actually have a rank. If you are reading this, it is more than likely that we have your stats available. We see everything....I assure you, you are closely monitored.

If you did not suspect this was a Herring Gull, you are scraping the bottom of GBRS. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA.

The origins of GBRS are a closely-guarded secret. We can only disclose that it has its roots deep within a vain and mysterious man who calls himself "Handsome Dan", a legend in his own mind. Dan does seem to leak more information about GBRS than anyone else however, as he recently has here. GBRS has, in fact, been operating for a number of years now, and only now has anyone been authorized to confirm its existence.

The statistics used to actually determine birder ranking are incredibly complicated...the formulas were actually cooked up by a team of astrophysicists, football analysts and trainspotters. Factors we look at include the ratio of rare birds you find vs. chase, total life list, identification skills, predicting the arrival of rarities, scientific contributions (eBirding does not count for much), your abilities to identify birds in alien and unfamiliar places, and the number of birdwatchers you have made sweet, sweet love to. As everyone knows, if you copulate with a birder, you gain some of their powers.

There are also many things that can count against you....say, how douchey you are, how selfish you are about sharing knowledge of rare birds, the intensity of bird disturbance you cause (hello photographers), how many baseless theories you have to explain bird behavior, and of course the numbers of birds you have misidentified. Stringers beware...

Casually pointing out a Brewer's Duck (that's a Mallard X Gadwall hybrid, for those lower on the scale) is something that only the top 25% of birders can do. Radio Road, Redwood Shores, CA.

Some common questions we hear include...who exactly collects these statistics anyway? Who is out watching the birders? Who can tell if they've been bad or good? Who is the proverbial Santa Claus of birding?

We cannot answer these questions. If it were to be disclosed, the bribery these people would endure from greedy birders would be overwhelming. Being Number 1 in the nation brings immense wealth and fame (not to mention the drugs and sex), and elevates the birder to true celebrity status. Even if you are only at the top of the heap for a few months, things will never be the same. The honor of having the highest Big Year total pales in comparison to being Number 1 on GBRS. So, as you can see, these people must remain safely anonymous, as do their covert and highly classified methods for data collection.

Aging and sexing Great Frigatebirds is a worthy challenge for those wishing to raise their GBRS rating. Photographed at Midway Atoll.

Of course, everyone is frothing at the mouth, waiting to find out where they stand on the ranking scale. The fact of the matter is that only the Top Ten in the nation are aware of where they stand, and only the Final Five have access to the Global Birding Ranking System Mainframe....at least for now. With great power comes great responsibility....the birding world is ridden with enough hubris as it is.

I hope you found all of this helpful. May you all strive for the almighty Higher Ranking.

The Emperor Has Already Won

2012-01-14T09:00:00.000-06:00

One of the greatest pleasures in life is quoting Star Wars. Try it sometime. Here you can see an Emperor Goose holding court over it's Greater White-fronted and Canada brethren. Ocean Shores, WA.

In The Pines, In The Pines...

2012-01-12T12:33:00.004-06:00

Dusky Grouse. This individual was one of the star birds of last year, hopefully he is still out there defending his parking lot. Grand Teton National Park, WY.

Hey! Welcome back to 2011 people. I didn't have time to post these in the correct year, so you can look back at them now. These are all from last fall and early this winter.

I'm still holding down Washington's Olympic Peninsula, but will soon be bound for Portland. The word "doomy" gets tossed around a lot in these parts, for reasons that are not difficult to explain...but the seas team with birds like Marbled Murrelets, Black Scoters, and Long-tailed Ducks, so one may be distracted from the slow march towards The End.

Hmmm...weird words to start the morning with...I must have coffee. Please stare at these photographs for extended periods of time.

A Peregrine Falcon moves in on a Tricolored Blackbird flock. Abbott's Lagoon, Point Reyes National Seashore, CA.

Townsend's Warbler. It feels like a great weight has been lifted, once I finally got a decent shot of one of these sharply-dressed dudes. Pine Lake Park, San Francisco, CA.

Mountain Bluebird, a true crippler. Near Santa Ynez, CA.

Common Tern....my, what feet you have. Offshore from Half Moon Bay, CA.

Whimbrel. What is it doing? Santa Barbara, CA.

Golden Eagle. I took this from the parking lot of a gas station, which is clearly excellent eagle habitat. Fremont, CA.

I had to include a token rarity shot. Thus, this wonderful Dickcissel. Point Reyes, CA.

Black Turnstones are decidedly not a facemelting bird this time of year, but manage to maintain a strange sort of appeal. Point Reyes, CA.

Red Crossbills can also be yellow crossbills. Gallatin National Forest, MT.

Hooded Mergansers and a soon-to-be-stabbily-chewed stickleback. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA.

Homewrecker!!!

2012-01-09T14:49:00.000-06:00

Hey nerds! I am in the midst of my winter tour in Washington, thus the lack of crucial bloggage. Birding is great here because you see everything you look for. There are Snowy Owls everywhere...it's completely bizarre.

A Whole New World With You

2012-01-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

Greetings, from Corvallis, Oregon! Land of the Rough-legged Hawk, Lewis' Woodpecker, and uncooperative Snowy Owl.

Not much to say today except that ^ is awesome. Thanks to Zack Brewer and whoever made this.

The Truth Is Out There

2012-01-04T08:30:00.000-06:00

Swainson's Hawks ready to make sweet sweet love. They sexed for quite a prolonged period of time after this photo was taken, I was impressed. Near Camas National Wildlife Refuge, ID.

Everyone keeps asking me..."Seagull, where will you end up this year?". The truth is, I have absolutely no idea, but for the short term, I will go north. I seek the Snowy Owl, after all. Yesterday I began my migration that will culminate in dismal/dreary Port Angeles, WA, on the Olympic Peninsula....a place that some refer to as "where people go to die". I hope that's not true, or else I should seriously reconsider my motivations for going in the first place.

Being a Professional Crastinator, here are some more of my fav birds from last summer. Thank you, come again.

Gray Flycatcher, the baron of the sage. Mono Lake, CA.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds are obviously the best blackbirds. Camas National Wildlife Refuge, ID.

Franklin's Gull...an excellent gull. Redmond Lakes, ND.

Upland Sandpipers were a common sight for me over the summer. I guess that explains my face melting off several times a week. Redmond Lakes, ND.

Baird's Sparrow. If anyone gets a job at Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge this year, I can tell you where the magic Baird's spot is. Otherwise...just go to the Sharp-tailed Grouse blind, and don't misidentify the Grasshopper and Savannah Sparrows there. Redmond Lakes, ND.

Common Nighthawk. Peent! Peent! Peent! Redmond Lakes, ND.

Chestnut-collared Longspur. This was the friendliest longspur I met all year, on the entrance road to Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge, MT. Yet another prairie bird with an awesome song and tear-jerking flight display.

Black Tern. Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge, ND, is awash in Franklin's Gulls, Black Terns and other shorebirds in the late summer. The terns act more like swallows than seabirds there, and are easy to get good photos of.

Before last year, I have never been someplace where Vesper Sparrows plague the landscape. Now that I lived in North Dakota, that has changed. Redmond Lakes, ND.

The Best Way To Deal

2011-12-31T17:37:00.000-06:00

Least Bittern. By far the best looks I've ever had of one, and the only one I saw in 2011. Martinez, CA.

I am proud to announce that I have reached my goal of 550 bird species this year. While a paltry number to serious year listers, it involved only 5 states, 2 countries and one round-trip plane flight, and most importantly....not doing a big year. Pretty good for a casual big year/Ano Tranquilo, I reckon. I didn't think I would be able to make 550 happen, but a trip to California's Carrizo Plain got me a staggering 5 year birds, including embarrassing previous misses like Purple Finch and hard to find birds like Mountain Plovers...not to mention #550, a pair of LeConte's Thrashers frolicking around Soda Lake Road.

Red-shouldered Hawk. Not unusual by any means (to me), but I like the picture. Ventura, CA.

Besides my high number of species this year, what stood out was that about 110 species were life birds! That's almost a 1 to 5 ration, nerds. Of course, this is mostly because I got to seriously bird Mexico finally, but I got a number of new birds stateside as well...Baird's Sparrow, White-rumped Sandpiper, Hudsonian Godwit, Greater Sage Grouse, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Three-toed Woodpecker, Dusky Grouse and Falcated Duck were all lifers. Two of those were in California, my home state, which is pretty sweet.

Today I'll post some pictures that I have not gotten from this past spring, I'll get to the rest of the year hopefully sooner than later. My house, the beloved Sunset Space Station, is embroiled in a foreclosure fiasco with the soulless swine of the real estate industry...being homeless, of course, can complicate one's blog output. Thankfully, we are having a house party tonight, which is the best way to deal with such bullshit.

Happy New Year!

Allen's Hummingbird. Did someone say "facemelting"? Ventura, CA.

Aplomado Falcons are great. I got to see a number of them in Veracruz State, near the coast, where they are not uncommon, and don't wear the tainted jewelry that many of the Texas birds sport. This one was near Alvorado, Veracruz, Mexico.

Roadside Hawk. One of the many lifers I got this year. Chavarrillo, Veracruz, MEX.

Yellow-throated Euphonias can be quite common just a day's drive south of the border, but you probably won't ever see one in the states. Chavarrillo.

Long-billed Thrasher...or in this case, No-billed Thrasher. This is kind of a fuck-up picture, but I like it anyways. Chavarrillo.

Mississippi Kites! So many! Not to mention a Swallow-tailed Kite. Counting massive flocks of raptors was great fun. Chavarrillo.

A Band-backed Wren charges up a tree. Also a lifer. Chavarillo.

Short-tailed Hawks were one of the relatively few resident species we saw every day from the hawk-counting tower. It was a lot of fun watching them hover high over town, then stooping down into people's backyards to kill things. Chavarrillo.

Steepy Mountain Yields

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

Mountain Bluebirds are one of the most absurdly colored birds on the continent. Males fail to blend in to anything on the ground, and tend to stand out more than any other bird on their often brown and barren-looking wintering grounds. I went out to the Carrizo Plain last week, California's largest intact grassland ecosystem, where hundreds of Mountain Bluebirds were hanging out, blinding anyone who happened to pass by.

This bluebird instinctively knew to pick a weird perch, in order to devalue my photograph. This failed however, since it's still a crippling bird. Uninteresting fact: Ebird's furthest southern records of Mountain Bluebirds are just northwest of Mexico City.

This is the one place male Mountain Bluebirds are camouflaged. It makes sense, considering they spend inordinate amounts of time hovering high in the air.

Here's a female. As with most passerines, she is the modest sex. Fortunately, Economy Of Style is still in this year.

Photogenically speaking, this isn't a very majestic shot...I just think perching birds look really funny when they assume flying-cigar position.

There's cripplers, facemelters, and now...tear-jerkers.

More birds of the "mountain" variety to follow. See you soon!

Too Much For Me To Bear

2011-12-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

Anyone who has ever pointed a camera at a bird knows how adept Belted Kingfishers are at avoiding being photographed. This is probably my best shot of one so far; it cloaked about a second after this shot was taken. Point Mugu, CA.

With my brief foray into Southern California completed, I find myself faced with the awful reality of my upcoming Pacific Northwest Winter Tour. The thought of King Eider, Snowy Owls, Gyrfalcon, Bohemian Waxwings and A FUCKING ROSS' GULL is almost too much for me to bear. The Ross' Gull alone is enough to drive any birder crazy, thus the cursing. Will it still be there in two weeks??? It would be easier on my poor nerdy heart if it just left today...the possibility of driving all the way into the far reaches of the northern Okanagan Valley and missing the bird is almost too much to bear.

The only vaguely accessible places these birds are regularly found on the continent are at Point Barrow, Alaska, and Churchill, Manitoba. To get to these places you must be willing to shell out large amounts of money, or be lucky enough to be doing research there. Whenever a Ross' happens to show up in the Lower 48, pandemonium ensues...it makes me sick just thinking about it....

Right. It's good to be back in San Francisco though...life is good.

To compensate for my kingfisher shortcomings, I have become the master of Merlin photography. Oxnard Plain, CA.

Long-billed Dowitcher on the wing. Oxnard Plain.

California is cursed/blessed with a lot of Eucalyptus trees, which are a big draw for winter songbirds. You can tell who has been feeding in Eucalyptus trees because their face and bill will get smeared with thick, black, delicious goo, which you can see here on this Ruby-crowned Kinglet. This resin probably gets into their nostrils and complicates breathing though.

Loggerhead Shrikes are beloved by all. I pity the poor easterners who don't have shrikes around anymore. Point Mugu, CA.

A gray-headed orestera Orange-crowned Warbler. Ventura, CA.

Glaucous-winged Gull. Lake Merced, San Francisco, CA.

An Eared Grebe gives a shit...to Lake Merced.

Some birding spots also afford some hilarious peoplewatching. And dogwatching, if you're into that sort of thing. I highly recommend San Francisco's Golden Gate Park for this.

It's All I've Ever Really Learned

2011-12-27T13:36:00.001-06:00

I find the best way to closely approach Merlins is to admit to yourself that this is completely unrealistic and there is no way it can possibly happen. Somehow, it all works out. Arnold Road, near Port Hueneme, CA.

Birders. Sorry to leave you hanging for so long....indeed, this is not the BB&B you have come to know and love. I'll have some more time to devote to you soon. In the mean time, you can check out this month's post by Felonious Jive at 10,000 Birds: The Kids Are All Wrong. See you soon!

Shampoo Of Egret Poo

2011-12-22T08:00:00.000-06:00

Great Egret. It was right above a footpath, with several oblivious walkers going right under the bird. My hopes and dreams of watching somebody get a shampoo of egret poo never materialized though. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.

It's full on family week here at BB&B headquarters. What does that mean? Staggering amounts of stress and annoyance on everyone's part, not to mention limited internet access.

By the way, thanks to everyone who's been checking in on The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive and I, it's strange that more than a dozen people actually look at this.

Right. As always, if any ecolodge or bird tour company wants to get some exposure, feel free to kick me down a free trip. Sure, saying things like that may be a touch whoreish, but I'm not known for being able to hold onto anything like dignity when it comes to birds. So, you people in the birding business, I would love nothing more than to sample your local avefauna (and booze)...I am Funemployed, after all.

However, seeing as I will be confined to the West Coast for the rest of the winter, here are some more invigorating local birds for your enjoyment.

The hallowed Varied Thrush, aka The Robin Of The Shadows. Golden Gate Park.

Red-tailed Hawk. Ano Nuevo State Park.

Barrow's Goldeneye sandwiched by Common Goldeneyes. Mmmm....sandwich. Redwood Shores.

Canvasbacks. Radio Road, Redwood Shores.

A pensive Raccoon. In Golden Gate Park there is a spot that always seems to have a raccoon family lately, and last time I was there I found a photographer sitting right in the middle of them. I don't know what he was thinking, as he seemed to be more concerned about the Mallards and Pied-billed Grebes in front of him than these beasts milling around a few feet away. That's not how I would've done it.

The east coast has more colorful songbirds than we do, but at least we have Townsend's Warblers. Pine Lake Park, San Francisco.

American Avocets. Radio Road.

Trinidade Petrel All The Way Across The Sky

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

Common Murres do live up to their name around these parts, but I still think they should be named something else. Wikipedia claims they are sometimes referred to as Thin-billed Murre, but I've never heard that. Random fact of the day: people in Newfoundland love eating murres.

As promised, here are some more photos from my November pelagic trip out of Half Moon Bay. I think what I really need to do is get on an east coast pelagic, where there are so many potential life birds that I would likely be blinded by the end of a trip. I'm tearing up just thinking about it.

The way I envision my first east coast pelagic (likely a Brian Patteson boat, of course) would be something like what you see in the infamous Double Rainbow video (watch it if for some inexplicable reason you haven't seen it, and yes, he is on mushrooms). It would just be so...intense, you know? Great Shearwater would give me the shakes. Black-capped Petrels would bring me to tears. Band-rumped Storm-Petrels would make me scream for joy. A Trinidade Petrel would have me crapping my pants. I have no intention of eating mushrooms, however, I can totally see myself saying "Whoa. It's a Trinidade Petrel. Trinidade Petrel all the way. Whoa, that's so intense...whoa man.....WHOOOAAAAA! Oh my god oh my god! Woooooooo! Ohhhhhh, wowwwww!!! WOOOOOOO! Yeah! Oh my god, look at that! Trinidade Petrel all the way across the sky! Oh my god! Oh my god! What does this mean?"

Just something to think about. Have a cathartic week everybody.

Northern Fulmar. White morphs are pretty uncommon in California. They look so clean compared to their filthy gray cousins.

Surf Scoter. Not rare, but still rad.

Mew Gulls are celebrated amongst birders for their tenedency to not breed with other gull species, and being easy to identify. And they are, dare I say it, "cute".

A Pink-footed Shearwater has more moves than the average bird; they are perfectly at home flying like this (it's standing on its wing, not flying overhead).

Red-throated Loon. What to say about a basic-plumaged Red-throated Loon? They are....long. Yeah.

Rhinoceros Auklet with mini-horn. There's probably a market for their horns in China, which will eventually lead to their demise. WHY, CHINA?! WHY??????????

Brandt's Cormorant immature.

This was part of the big Ancient Murrelet flock we found. All my photos of said flock totally suck. Sigh.

Brown Pelican. Pretty good composition for a completely uncropped/unrotated photo, I reckon.

You Know It Looks A Lot Like Last Year

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

Jesus. It's the middle of December. There isn't a lot of color to look at around there this time of year, if you take away some ducks and the hordes of Townsend's Warblers in my neighborhood...but I can't complain too much, California has it good compared to forlorn places like North Dakota, Kansas and Maine.

Since I move around so much, its strange to look back and realize that right now I'm doing the exact same thing as this time last year...same house, same friends, same worries, same routine....but with a substantially higher year list. One of the big differences is my January roadtrip will take me to the Pacific Northwest, instead of Eastern Mexico....these areas essentially have nothing in common, but I am optimistic things will get just as weird, minus the food poisoning and armed robbery business.

Right. Here is a Broad-billed Hummingbird (from my previous home in Florida Canyon, AZ) to guide you into the glorious weekend. See you soon.

Burly Bird Gets The Worm

2011-12-15T08:30:00.000-06:00

If you're looking for some last minute stocking-stuffers for that poor, unsocialized birdwatcher in your life, head on over to Burlybird for some awesome stickers. There are a lot of silhouettes of North American birds that can make everything look better.

Are you not familiar with the practice of putting birds on things? Portlandia sums it up well...

My car now runs on high-octane loon juice.

Central Standard

2011-12-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

Snow Geese enjoy not being shot at at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. Of course, they do not enjoy being shot at at other parts of the refuge.

After being starstruck by the Falcated Duck last week, I birded the rest of the Colusa Refuge, as well as Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. Nothing too unusual besides The Sickled One....American Bittern, Redhead, Eurasian Wigeon, Bald Eagle, and almost getting the chance to get some fantastic River Otter shots. Not mellow.

My Año Tranquilo list is at 540 or so....I have to remind myself to abide by my personal rule of not going too out of my way for year birds. Good for the wallet, good for the earth, know what I'm saying? Good.

Common Gallinule. Formerly Common Moorhen. Note the lack of crazy foot lobes that American Coots sport. Colusa National Wildlife Refuge.

Gadwall pair keeping it modest. Sac NWR.

A Great Egret destroys some sort of rodent. Face-crushing. Sac NWR.

A Pied-billed Grebe holds it down. Nonchalantly. Colusa NWR.

Blue Snow Goose. They real pretty. Sac NWR.

Greater White-fronted Geese doing some neck-craning and other strange posturing. Sac NWR.

American Pipit...our only truly native pipit...other than the fantastic Sprague's Pipit, which Todd reminded me indeed still exists. Sac NWR.

Great Blue Herons always improve the scenery. Colusa NWR.

Savannah Sparrow. I should ask The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive what subspecies this is. Sac NWR.

I Am The World's Greatest Red-throated Pipit Photographer

2011-12-12T15:14:00.000-06:00

It is the truth that I speak. Clearly, no superior photographs exist of Red-throated Pipits.

Here is a Red-throated Pipit bellowing, a rarely observed and aggressive behavior.

It's so streaky. And richly colored. And RARE.

This is only the second one I've ever seen. Photographed in Sunnyvale, CA.

Falcated Falcated Falcated

2011-12-11T08:39:00.000-06:00

Greater White-fronted Geese at Colusa National Falcated Duck Refuge.

I am just now coming out of a sort of paralysis after seeing the male Falcated Duck at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. Truly a stunning bird, even if viewed from so far away that I didn't even bother digiscoping it. Spotting scopes people...they are crucial. As far as I know, it wasn't seen yesterday, so I'm glad I went when I did.

Upon checking the internets after awakening, I have come to find that various mentally stunted birders are still running their mouths and making us all look bad. One birder, upon finding out about the inacessbile Red-flanked Bluetail on San Clemente Island, publicly complained that birds that he was not able to look for should not be reported. Thankfully, he has been ridiculed and condemned by just about everyone, and has now been sent to Birding Jail, a fate even worse than just being a regular birder.

American Pipit strutting. Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.

Another argument that has always annoyed me is debating whether or not certain rare birds, like the duck, are of "natural origin". Granted, this is a valid question sometimes, but I think the issue is raised a bit too frequently. I have heard some absolutely stupid arguments by people claiming that certain vagrants have spent time in captivity*, and of course a couple people have already begun asking questions about the duck. Aside from being unbanded, having its hind toes (many captive ducks get theirs clipped off...ouch though), looking and acting very normal, and being someplace where hundreds of thousands of waterfowl concentrate, there is also the fact that there are zero recent records of free-flying Garganeys, Falcated Ducks, Baikal Teal, Smews, Tufted Ducks, Common Pochards, etc. in California that are thought to be from captive populations. None at all...well, that I know of. Anyways, that's something to think about before you start the atavistic argument of "natural origin".

Ross' Goose is a pretty popular rarity in the east. If you have not seen one, here are many. Rest assured there are no Snow Geese in this photo. Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.

How do you like that nerd rant? Have a good Sunday everyone.

* = The absolute best claim I've heard was about a Gray Silky-Flycatcher that was in the mountains of Orange County years ago, which I was lucky enough to see. One birder said that it did not appear to move around a lot because it was used to the confines of a small cage. Reason #738,392 that birders are not scientists.

Flogging For Cripplers

2011-12-08T14:53:00.001-06:00

We gripped off a couple people with this Dickcissel yesterday. Yes, I know exactly how funny that sounds. Point Reyes, California.

I just stumbled on this fantastic Wikipedia page on the vocabulary of twitchers. Twitchers, as some of you know, are what the Brits call hardcore birders. It's damn funny. Some of these words already enjoy use in the U.S., and some of them don't at all.

This page is also appropriate because moments ago I found out that no other than a Falcated Duck, a true sibe megacrippler (they look like this), has been located (and confirmed by another observer) at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. Hopefully it will not be shot by the time I get there tomorrow, although I may grind my teeth to dust in anticipation before then.

Wait. I Thought We Weren't Supposed To Go On Pelagic Trips.

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

Rhinoceros Auklet. Not a Whiskered Auklet, despite the whiskers. But that's ok, because I have seen hundreds of Whiskered Auklets. No big deal.

Last month I had the opportunity to go on another pelagic with Debi Shearwater, out of Half Moon Bay, California. A big storm was coming in out of the north so we did not get as far offshore as planned, but we still managed to find a lot of the pelagic birds that one could reasonably hope for this time of year.

I'll post some more shots later. Today I'm going out to Point Reyes again to stare at a Dickcissel, amongst other things. Picture me birding.

Bonaparte's Gulls are stylish.

Red Phalaropes were seen on and off throughout the trip. They are too well-camouflaged for the brain of my autofocus, and this is one of the very few usable shots I ended up with.

A Sooty Shearwater impersonates a Black-footed Albatross, in order to mock all the birders on the boat hoping to see a Black-footed Albatross that day (we saw none).

Not tack-sharp, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with this Short-tailed Shearwater shot. They're not easy birds to accurately identify, let alone photograph.

Another Sooty Shearwater for comparison.

We saw a few Marbled Murrelets, including this rather "confiding" bird.

Northern Fulmars were often just a few feet off the stern of the boat. All the better to study their grunginess. For any nonbirders reading this, that strange apparatus on its beak is part of the bird's salt filtration system...they can drink salt water all day, no problem.

Pacific Loon. Economy of style.

The rarely seen cruise-missile flight mode of the Pelagic Cormorant. The pelican exploded a second after this photograph was taken.

The Human Birdwatcher Project Presents: Birding By Yourself - A Lonely And Embarrassing Habit.

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

Ospreys are everywhere in Florida. They are confident birds, and make good eye contact (unlike many birdwatchers).

Back in the fall of 2009, I was working for Bat Conservation International in western Pennsylvania. When that project wrapped up, I thought "Well....I've heard a lot about Florida. It's where people go to die. And there are birds there that I must see. This is the closest I've been there, so....ROAD TRIP."

And so I birded my way down the eastern seaboard, being chased by Nor'easters the entire way down to Georgia. The birding was good when it was not raining (Brown-headed Nuthatches made for good company), but there were times in which I wish I had company...except for that one very embarrassing incident in Virginia City, which I will not divulge the details of.

Since a lot of bird bloggers are posting from Florida these days, and I want to get back there, that's what we will deal with today...but only by taking a serious look at people's social birding habits. That's right...the Human Birdwatcher Project has returned to action.

Florida Scrub-Jay was a lifer. It's all about the endemics. Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

In much of the country, a White Ibis is a fantastically rare bird. In Florida, they are parking lot birds.

I go birding by myself a lot. I'll admit it. There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to this. The advantages are this:

1) Complete freedom. You can go wherever you want, whenever you want, and stay as long as you want.

2) Birders, as a rule, generally suffer from various glaring personality flaws. You do not have to worry about getting annoyed with anyone but yourself.

3) It's a lot easier to photograph birds when you are rolling Han Solo.

4) There is a time and place for solitude. For me, that time and place needs to happen relatively often.

Royal Tern. Fort Clinch State Park.

You gotta love the native forest and "prairie". At this spot I found a massive flock of Eastern Bluebird, Pine Warbler, Bachman's Sparrow (!!!) and...

Red-cockaded Woodpecker. Sweet sweet victory. Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area.

Now, there are also some distinct disadvantages:

1) Birdwatching is, intrinsically, an extremely nerdy pastime. This is easier to deal with in large groups, although the effect is usually magnified.

2) Pishing around a bunch of nonbirders makes you very conscious of how ridiculous you must look. If I was a nonbirder watching somebody spitting and sputtering at a large shrub, I would think they were batshit crazy.

3) You often have a lot more motivation to Keep Going to find that good bird if you around other birders.

4) Extra eyes and ears are crucial to finding More Birds. And the more birds, the better. Obvi.

5) You can do a lot of learning and/or teaching about birds with other people with you. Both of these are good things.

6) Birders are huge gossips. You cannot gossip by yourself. Well, you can, but that's usually called "Schizophrenia".

7) Obviously, doing something fun with like-minded people is a big part of what makes human culture tick. We are social creatures. Simple.

This young Bald Eagle was being mobbed by an Osprey in Everglades National Park. An aside: as some of you know, google has now somewhat integrated Picasa, Blogger and Google+ with each other. As a result, for some reason I get a lot of people I don't know commenting on my bird photos. Most of them are from other countries, and they leave pretty hilarious compliments. The comment I received for this photo was "Huauuuuuuuuuu!". I love it.

Florida birding is weird. You have to get used to the fact that there are alligators everywhere. In most places I have lived, there are not giant, dangerous reptiles in every wetland you go to, and so the presence of these ancient beasts is....strange. I liked having them around, but I guess people can get pretty scared by them. I suppose I can understand...

And there you have it. Clearly, birding by yourself excessively could have massive and horrible consequences. A lot of people are into this mode of birding, but now they must ask....at what cost?

Personally, I know a lot of you who bird on the lonesome often. You may even prefer it. This does not mean you are doomed. But I can point to a lot of birders who are known to have almost exclusively birded alone for many years, and these are clearly not the people you want to become.

Caution is warranted.

White Ibis, Great Egret, Roseate Spoonbill and a Willet. Wading birds are one of the things that make Florida famous to birders. With the exception of White-faced Ibis, they have every wading bird you can find in the United States. I am fiending to go back and get some award-winning Roseate Spoonbill and Reddish Egret shots. Someday....even if its by myself.

Up To Your Old Tricks

2011-12-04T08:30:00.000-06:00

As I contemplate what the hell I should do for work in 2012, various bird memories of past projects often come wafting to the forefront of my thoughts. In its own right, my summer on Buldir Island, AK, in 2010 was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. Least Auklets were one of the main characters of the summer that moved the plot along.

I've Come To One Conclusion: I Need To See A Snowy Owl.

2011-12-01T13:43:00.000-06:00

Wood Duck. Look at her wings! Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA.

I am on the verge of experiencing a sort of crisis. You see, it has been established that we in the Lower 48 are experiencing a flight year of Snowy Owls. Everyone is seeing them. They are very popular birds, and for good reason.

If you are one of the doomed nonbirders who read this blog, a Snowy Owl is Harry Potter's owl. They are giant and white and actually exist, although they seem like they were pulled out the ass of JK Rowling. They are typically a far northern species, and are pretty hard to come by down in these snowless realms.

A Fox Sparrow ravages the leaf litter. Lake Merced, San Francisco, CA.

The problem with this flight year is that I am in California. California is well-known for its inability to attract Snowy Owls, as it is far to the south of their normal range, even when many of them are around. The one time one actually showed up on my home turf (at the time, Humboldt County), I was stuck at the Salton Sea on a Burrowing Owl project. I think there is some irony in there someplace....but the reality was a harsh one.

I have, in fact, found a Snowy Owl in the wild. It was in the center of Buldir Island, in the western Aleutians. However, there was a problem with it. It happened to be dead.

Hooded Merganser locked in an epic crayfish battle. The day I took this shot, all the mergansers present were fishing for crawdaddies...the next time I went back, they were all getting fish. I guess it was just Shellfish Saturday. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA.

Despite my poor location, it is shaping up to be such a good flight year that they may indeed make it to California. And if not....I will be spending much of January in Oregon and Washington, where there are now oodles and oodles of owls. Thus my prospects for seeing one of these behemothic snow prowlers are higher than they have ever been.

Of course, it would be just my luck that the flight year collapses in the next couple weeks and the Pacific Northwest is devoid of these birds come 2012. That is my greatest fear, and it has been haunting me daily. Sigh.

Right. Since I have no Snowy Owl photos, you have to look at these other birds instead. Sorry.

Brown Pelican. Looking hella old. I've never thought of them as being blonde and blue-eyed before.

White-tailed Kites. While striking out on a Slaty-backed Gull recently, I took dozens of pictures of this pair instead. It was not a great consolation, but kites are certainly better-looking and more interesting than a big fat lost gull.

The Elk River Mouth and Humboldt Bay. Some people like living in Eureka, California. I think they are masochists. Whenever I ask them what's so great about Eureka, they just mention The Shanty, which is a bar. I fail to see how one decent bar can turn the tide of public opinion about an entire shitty town. This is pretty much what it looks like 365 days a year. At least some birds are there.

A female American Kestrel on a high-voltage perch. Half Moon Bay, CA.

A female Ruddy Duck with Eared Grebe companions. Interesting flock. Pescadero Marsh, Pescadero, CA.

Sleepy juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron. Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA.

Nobody Likes A Cynic

2011-11-29T13:13:00.000-06:00

Marbled Godwits leave their high tide roost to go kill some invertebrates. Mudflat-dwellers beware. Arcata, CA.

Good day to you birder, and welcome to another fantastic, hubris-filled edition of Bourbon, Bastards and Birds. I know you must be frothing at the mouth to hear what I have to say....the proverbial Good Word, if you will.

Well...although I am, without doubt, a Leading Light in the birding community...I'm a bit too caffeinated (on shade-grown coffee, of course) to think straight. So here is a hodgepodge of pictures, with a few nonbirds for a change. Cool.

A Yellow-rumped and a Palm Warbler. Conveniently, the sign explains where this is...too bad those birds aren't always conveniently perched there.

While I was studying gulls, this man was slow-jogging backwards. What is weirder? I do not recommend this mode of transportation at any time, for any reason. Lake Merced, CA.

Common Raven. Not much to say. I dig this picture though. San Francisco, CA.

Pacific Chorus Frogberry. Arcata, CA.

Common Loon, crabcrusher. Unlike weakling sea otters, loons do not require rocks to smash their prey into oblivion.

A swarm of birders descend upon Lake Merced in search of a Louisiana Waterthrush. I particularly enjoyed the circle of loud, gossiping birders that drowned out all sound anywhere near them. That is the most efficient way to attract rare birds.

Female Northern Shoveler. She is a master of water-filtration. Fremont, CA.

Vagrants Become You

2011-11-27T13:39:00.000-06:00

Tropical Kingbird. Manila (Humboldt County). Naked eye identification while going 55 mph. The bird wasn't even on the same street. That's why they call me "Number 7".

Unlike last fall, I have not decided to boycott birdwatching this year. This strategy has failed in getting any life birds (the one-day-wonder San Francisco Northern Wheater would have been one), and has succeeded in burning lots of money and gasoline. But most importantly (for me), I've actually been seeing a lot of good birds. Tufted Duck, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Red-throated Pipit, Cape May Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Red-throated Pipit, Clay-colored, Swamp and White-throated Sparrows, and Lapland Longspur are a few not pictured today. Just remembering them gives me the warm fuzzies.

"Good birds", in birder parlance, just means rare birds. Due to their obvious rarity, it's bloody hard to get pictures of rare birds, and so I find the most fitting shots of rare birds are the worst possible pictures (see Lucy's Warbler below). It's a good thing I am not a photographer, or else I would bring much Shame and Dishonor to my family.

Right. Here are a few decent birds from northern California, a veritable Shangri-la of vagrants. Bird here.

Orchard Oriole. Point Reyes. We walked up and someone pointed to this "Hooded Oriole". But the pictures tell a different story. Unfortunately for you, there is nothing in this image that would allude to either species. I just like the picture.

Tundra Swan. Pomponio State Beach. A rare bird in many parts of the state. Adults, being swans, appear very graceful, but this juvenile seems to be smiling about it's giant, pink, runny shnoz.

Yellow-throated Warbler. San Francisco. The same one as pictured a couple weeks ago. Hella rare. It's still here.

American Tree Sparrow. Point Reyes. Dan and I found this rufous-capped northern beast on the side of the road.

The infamous Yellow-billed Loon. Sunnyvale. Many photographers got better pictures of it than me, but I never thought I would be lucky enough to get Yellow-billed Loon shots. This is the first one I've seen since the 90's...

Summer Tanager. San Francisco. The best birds to chase are the ones right down the street from your house.

Blackpoll Warbler. Arcata. Rob Fowler pished it in. Not super rare, but it was a Humboldt County bird for me.

Prairie Warbler. Point Reyes. I wonder if the disgruntled birder we ran into ever got to see it. If not, she probably went home and hurt herself. She really wanted to see it.

Ancient Murrelets. Half Moon Bay. While not insanely rare, its safe to say that this would be a life bird for many a birder out there. We were lucky enough to see over 30 birds last week, which is the most I've seen in California.

Lucy's Warbler. San Francisco. I think this is the quintessential rarity shot.

Greater White-fronted Goose. San Francisco. Not very rare, but I had to follow up the Lucy's Warbler with a better picture...

PELAGIC HELL

2011-11-23T14:54:00.001-06:00

An anonymous light-mantled gull (Thayer's? Herring?) attempts to block my shot of a Rhinoceros Auklet. Photo taken yesterday off Half Moon Bay, CA...thanks to Debi Shearwater for the outing.

This week Felonious Jive was due for his monthly 10,000 Birds post....so get over there and read Don't Go On Pelagic Trips. Ever. It is not written sarcastically. I swear.

An addendum to that post: editing and sorting photos after a pelagic trip is a brutally disheartening and generally horrifying experience. Nothing is sharp or framed correctly, and you have to trash the vast majority of your shots. Not encouraging. You don't even know what you're shooting half the time due to the motion of the boat, the swells and the birds themselves...yet another reminder that life is pain.

Right. Now I must summon the motivation to start in on prepping some Thanksgiving dishes....have a great holiday and remember, be grateful, don't let your family get to you, and fuck colonialism!

Secret Hooded Merganser Courtship Grounds

2011-11-21T16:56:00.000-06:00

Recently, I had the honor of witnessing the action on the Secret Hooded Merganser Courtship Grounds at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. I swear you could cut the duck pheromones in the air with a knife.

A drake gets ready to look really, really awesome.

The female sexpot awaits her courtship.

It begins. So sexy.

Impressive. Frog-throated merganser.

What a hunk.

So fit. This merganser man could make some beautiful ducklings.

"Why don't you come at me bro?"

The winner, with new girlfriend. Hoods down.

Complete Financial Ruin And Social Castration: The Cassowary Sings, Part II

2011-11-20T09:00:00.000-06:00

"Inconceivable".

In this second segment, we complete our conversation with birding raconteur Cass Grattan, a true creature of scumbaggery...

Your "companion" is a birder. I've seen her observe birds myself, you cannot deny it. How has this complicated your relationship?

Yes, she is guilty of correct bird identification, in the first degree...multiple counts, in fact. The main problem is that she has seen so many more mind-altering birds than I have, and is relatively content with her illustrious sightings and career achievements. The idea of a White Tern nesting on my front porch is not only inconceivable, but plunges me into a serious existential dilemma. I simply must move to a place where this might happen, even if it means complete financial ruin and social castration. Since my partner has had this experience, and provided photographic evidence and personal anecdotes concerning White Tern parenting philosophy, she has the power to induce dangerous levels of jealousy and feelings of inferiority within me. Can we move on to the next question please?

Clearly White Tern Complex is something to be avoided at all costs...do you have any additional mental problems? Demons to battle that would explain why you became a birder in the first place?

Sure I've got problems. It has always been unclear to me the relationship between personal strife and birding. Perhaps the answer is too horrible to bear. I try not to think about it often. At it's most benign, birding is a reason to go outdoors and get some air, exercise your brain, and take pleasure in the splendor and beauty of it all. But perhaps it is all you have, and the addiction has known this the whole time. Over the years it has slowly and gently herded you into isolation and obscurity until you have nothing else BUT birding. Hopefully The Truth lies somewhere between these poles, perhaps on the pole...which is where Truth belongs.

Cass tackles an art-laden tower at Slab City.

Why should people care about birds?

Because they are free. And I mean free in all senses of the word, except in that one way.

Favorite place to bird? Why?

Shit. These are really hard questions. Madera Canyon has been such a vortex of drama and joy in my life. That has to be on the list. Imperial Valley and all of its backwater joys and horrors. Patagonia and the Chiricahuas. That whole SE Arizona loop. In Washington there is Grays Harbor and Skagit/Samish Flats in the west. Locally, I go to The Hook (Ediz Hook, Port Angeles) with Coco often in the winter...a post-industrial wasteland with a wonderful sea/shorebird medley upon its toxic waters. I like those zones that are brutalized but beautiful. Salton Sea is a good example. Brutiful. A good place to drink Baileys and coffee and not be harassed for your habits or hobbies.

Perhaps that is one of the great defining traits of a favorite birding spot...that it allows one to be one's self. There is room for your flag to fly. In which case, the Beatty Ranch in the Huachucas is up there because it is well known that you can crossdress freely there, and still get a great seat from which to watch the hummingbird gluttony and be free of public ridicule. This is probably because the bird life is so much more gaudy than the large Asian-Welsh man in a sequin nightgown sitting next to you.

Nudibranch. Photo by Cass Grattan.

If you had to be predated upon by a particular species, what would it be?

Some sort of mixed flock of tubenoses would be ideal. Fulmars should be in there. I guess that's important to me for some reason. Or a skua. Okay...first by fulmars and Buller's Shearwaters, with a couple of storm-petrels in there. Then everybody is chased off my bloated carcass by a skua who eats my heart. Then my tatters sink down and I'm finished off by pelagic nudibranchs, who then live for hundreds of years. Yes...that is how I want to go.

It is well known that you have had intercourse with several birdwatchers. What was that like?

Fun!

Speaking of intercourse, you have a young potential uberbirder fresh out of the womb. Do you have a vigorous training regimen planned for the wee one?

Well, being that we named her after the most fearsome bird in North America and her first vocalizations sounded eerily like a Common Nighthawk/Burrowing Owl love child, I'd say she is off to a pretty stellar start. We birdwatch a lot as a family, and I don't see that changing until she hits that rebellious teenager phase. But that is when Mom and Pop are going to pull the rebellious parenting thing, and Daughter will have no choice but to retreat into her bird study sanctum in an effort to cope with her apathetic and increasingly distant parents. Thus The Circle goes Unbroken.

Improvised Olympics at Joshua Tree National Park.

Do you have a spirit bird?

I'm with Muir on this one. Water Ouzel.

Who is your favorite birder?

I like that Laura Bush chases rare birds, but I think it's a tie between George Grinnell and the illustrious Felonious Jive.

That does it for this installment of the Human Birdwatcher Project's highly-acclaimed interview series. Hopefully, you will come away with some answers about how birders work...or better yet, even more questions. Until next time....

People Are Going To Work While We're Getting Cock-Eyed

2011-11-16T12:11:00.001-06:00

Upland Sandpiper. Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Montana

In the spirit of Unemployment, I am beginning my morning with some Jim Beam Rye in my coffee. This seems like a proper way to celebrate Thursday.

Today, I offer you no cohesive theme whatsoever, but I do like all of these photos. The sandpiper was one of only 2 out of god-knows-how-many that I saw over the summer (love that prairie) that allowed for close approach. They are life-enhancing birds.

Yellow-winged Tanger. Chavarrillo, Mexico.

This is one of the many Yellow-winged Tanagers that dropped by our hawk counting tower and provided some extra entertainment. They seem well adapted to towns and are easy to come by...maybe one will pop into Texas some day.

Great Blue Heron. San Francisco, CA.

This bird was foraging at the Sutro Baths, ruins of an old bathhouse right on the beach.

TOAD. Chavarrillo, Mexico.

A toadular creature. I have no idea what sort (TELL ME). There were a few living in a little watering hole for livestock outside of town.

Sandhill Crane. Camas National Wildlife Refuge, ID.

I stopped at Camas last May on my way to North Dakota. I had never heard of the place before, but it was full of birds that wanted me to observe the crap out of them. A few cranes were hanging around, including one on a nest.

That's all for today....I've got to finish my 10,000 Birds post and get the rest of Cassowary's interview up...no rest for the wickedly nerdy.

San Francisco's Golden Gate Park

2011-11-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

Hooded Merganser. A legitimate duck.

Wow. I am tired. I'm not sure if this Two Buck Chuck is helping or hurting...it's only the first glass. I got in some solid birding today, complete with two year birds (Lucy's Warbler and Tundra Swan), as well as Yellow-throated, Palm and Black-throated Gray Warblers. How often do you see Lucy's and Yellow-throated in the same flock? So sick.

Right. Due to fatigue, this will be kept short. All of the pictures here today were taken in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park over the last couple weeks. It is probably San Francisco's only birding spots that is A) Large, B) Not Hideous, and C) Gets Rare Birds. It is over 3 miles long, over 1,000 acres in size, and is 20% larger than New York's Central Park. Aside from various museums and a small herd of Buffalo to keep the crust punks/hippies at bay, the park hosts a variety of bizarre habitats and has had its share of good birds over the years....almost all of which I have not seen.

But that is not the point. Remember that fall migration is still on, and you must keep your eyes Open. A dreary and birdless fate awaits those who do not.

Palm Warbler. Rare, but just barely. Always nice though.

Wood Duck. One of the birds that the average human imagination could never come up with.

Glaucous-winged Gull. Maybe this is one of the birds I saw murdering Crested Auklets in Alaska last year.

Greater White-fronted Goose vanity shot.

Raccoon. Hey buddy.

Summer Tanager. On the San Francisco rarity scale, I would give it a 3/5.

Pied-billed Grebe. Possibly on drugs.

Green wing of a Green-winged Teal.

Thayer's Gull. Sorry for the blown out picture...I will have to go back to get better ones.

Half Moon Bay Pelagics III: The Dirty Sea

2011-11-13T08:30:00.000-06:00

We saw both Common and Arctic Terns...this is a Common Tern, a certified Poorly Named Bird.

Pink-footed and Buller's Shearwaters. This was one of the few shearwater rafts we found on the water that day. Poor. I need more Buller's in my life.

South Polar Skua, aka. Slayer of Penguins. An honest-to-God beast of a bird.

Red Phalaropes. The English call them "Gray Phalaropes". Conclusions? The English are pessimists.

Northern Fulmars only eat popcorn.

Black-footed Albatross.

This Sabine's Gull scored a good chunk of fish guts. Ferosh.

A semi-tattered Pomarine Jaeger.

California Sea Lions milling.

And there you have it people. There are many more pictures, but I can only get so repetitive. I am due to go out, once again, in the near future...I can only hope for exotic albatross and strange petrels, the likes of which I have never even heard of. The ocean is a fickle place however, and I will count myself lucky to have calm seas and a handful of year birds...only time will tell.

Hardcore Birders Will Always Be Doomed: Song Of The Cassowary Part I

2011-11-10T08:30:00.000-06:00

Like a sleeping giant, the subcultural behemoth known as The Human Birdwatcher Project rears it's hideous and oversized head once again. In our continuing quest to understand birdwatchers ("Birders are people too!"), today we turn to one Cass Grattan, who some believe to be the sole voice of Truth in the darkness of the confused and crowded birding community. As of today, Cass is moonlighting on a bird project on California's Santa Cruz Island. He has successfully mated with someone who has previously confessed it all to HBP, and spends his time nursing his brood, birding Washignton's Olympic Peninsula with Coco, and staring at various undersea invertebrates. All invertebral photos by Cass.

What do you go by sir? And what is your occupation?

Cassidy "Family Man" Grattan...failed Bohemian.

We met, of all places, on a bird job, and we've had many before and since. What was your favorite field job?

Hmmm...so many wonderful and pointless projects I've helped degrade. The time I worked with the venerable Felonious Jive in the agricultural swamps of the Imperial Valley shines in my memory. Surveying for Black-backed Woodpeckers in the charred moonscapes of northwest Montana, amidst the eyeball high fireweed, wolf turds, and the occasional hawk owl...I'm getting goosebumps, so that must be the right answer.

How did your avian addiction set in?

Like so many other users, mine was a slow and relatively gradual problem that eventually consumed everything in my life, destroyed my relationships with my loved ones and left me with nothing in this world. I wasn't like the boy-prodigy birder who at age 7 was trained by my mystical grandmother who had claimed to have made out with Roger Tory Peterson back in the 30's. I started watching birds in seriousness in college, when I discovered you could make money doing it...a truly revolutionary concept. Previously, I had thought that if you wanted to work outside you had to be, you know, like a lifeguard or sharecropper.

Describe your average birder for us. What do they think about? What do they talk about? What do they look like?

Average birder...hmm...right now we are roosting in Northwestern Washington, near a sort of nightmarish retirement community. So a lot of the birders are ancient, decrepit things with really expensive gear who have trouble finding the sky, let alone a Hutton's Vireo flitting around in a small shrub. In contrast, we went birding just north of Olympia a little while ago at Nisqually NWR and there were all these young, "groovy" kids from Evergreen State College (home of the Geoducks, pronounced "gooey duck", a horrifyingly large bivalve), drinking herbal tea out of mason jars and walking around in tattered homemade clothes...also having difficulty locating the sky. So if you were to try and average these two varietals of birder, I think you would come up with an extremely bizarre, inaccurate, and painfully boring animal.

Drugs and birding. Do they mix?

Drugs and birding. A really tough one. Drugs seem to go well with everything, so why not birding? A friend of mine refers to the mixing as "chemical birding", which is fun to say. He claims that watching a Merlin take a bath whilst under the spell of mushrooms was an emotional, healing event in his life. Who can argue with such a powerful and sappy account?! A lot of birders seem to have a "sixth sense" when it comes to finding birds. No doubt booze, weed, and paint fumes might enhance one's extrasensory capabilities. I've seen you, Seagull, disappear into the dark, your veins coursing with Gentleman Jack, somehow finding an Elf Owl family in a distant oak draw. Of course, we all nearly burned ourselves alive later that evening...

Do you think it is possible to be a hardcore birder without being a nerd of the highest degree?

The two are forever linked...only until The One returns and restores order and justice to the realm, hardcore birders will always be doomed to the shameful and lowly status of Nerd. Let it be known throughout the kingdom...

What is your first experience interacting with other birdwatchers?

The first birder I hung out with was an older drunk whom I knew through my parents. He is dry now and interestingly, not as into birds anymore. Is there a connection? He taught me that juncos sound like telephones ringing and wear Darth Vader helmets. This was my first lesson in bird ID and I haven't forgotten it, though I've come to realize that more than juncos wear Darth Vader helmets and sound like telephones.

Are you friends with other birders? What do you think of them?

I have many birder friends, few of whom I actually enjoy being around. They are generally a cutthroat bunch, or really boring people, even when you are birding with them. Passive aggressiveness is rampant among them. They take grudges to the grave and possibly beyond. I find botanists to be a much more gentle and harmless demographic. Lichenologists are for some reason very witty, and often handsome. I don't know how to explain this.

On that ominous note, we will be posting Part II next week. In the meantime, you can look forward to more of the beautiful awfulness that you've come to expect at BB&B. See you soon. - The Editor.

Sometimes My Autofocus Is Smarter Than It Seems

2011-11-09T07:30:00.000-06:00

A Peregrine Falcon dives through a blackbird flock. Point Reyes, CA.

We'll Sink With California As It Falls Into The Sea

2011-11-08T10:55:00.001-06:00

This Yellow-throated Warbler has been in a tiny park in downtown San Francisco ever since September. As far as I know, it's the only one on the entire west coast right now. You can tell it's rare because of my bad picture.

I've been out looking at birds a lot lately. How embarrassing. I can feel my sex appeal plummeting as we speak. But the rewards have been many. I have compiled a vast collection of awful photos of rare birds that take up a vast amount of space on my hard drive. Going through them is a treacherous, grueling process that fills my heart with hate.

Well, that's being a little dramatic I suppose...and as I type this, I just felt a small earthquake. Ah, California...you are a cruel and wonderful place. Perhaps you will gift me another chance at Ivory Gull this fall?

This massive flock of blackbirds (many of which are Tricolored Blackbirds) was in the process of being attacked by a Peregrine Falcon. Photo from Abbott's Lagoon, Point Reyes.

I don't know if you've noticed, but out in the blogosphere, people are way into making lists...and it just so happens, birders love lists. Today I will, for the first time, publicly disclose a list of many of the California birds that I've never seen, not here or anywhere. The shame weighs heavy. Keep in mind I started birding in California back in 1994, and I am not allowed to have too many holes in my list.

Several of these species are not even rare. I've seen a number of species in California where only one individual has ever been seen (i.e. Belcher's Gull, Couch's Kingbird, Common Greenshank), so there is really no excuse for missing all of these.

White-tailed kite; more abundant than Common Greenshanks. Photo from Mountain View.

So here we go...

1. Pine Grosbeak - They live all over the Sierras, yet I have not seen one there or anywhere. They're not exactly a rare bird. What does it all mean? I'm not exactly a good birder.

2. Black Rail. - These birds can be agonizingly hard to see, but I reckon there are probably quite a few that live within an hour's drive of my house. Their presence haunts me.

3. Gray Vireo - A highly local bird in California, but dependable in a few spots. Some past searching in Arizona was fruitless. My home turf in Ventura County was visited by what is widely known as The Friendliest Gray Vireo In The World this fall, and there are pictures to prove it. Looking at those images make me want to break shit.

Unlike Gray Vireos, I've seen several lifetimes worth of Anna's Hummingbirds. Photo from Lake Merced, San Francisco.

Despite my mental filters, I unfortunately see things that are not birds once in a while. This facemelting California Red-sided Garter Snake was at Drake's Beach, Point Reyes.

4. Least Storm-Petrel - Uncommon to fairly common off central and southern California every fall. I suck.

5. Craveri's Murrelet - Another expected fall bird. I was once on a boat that saw 8 of these things on one trip, and I still haven't seen one. I have brought great dishonor to my family.

6. Northern Saw-Whet Owl - Widespread and not rare. I've heard a few, and seen none. Conclusions? I am a slothful and lazy birder.

7. Flammulated Owl - I have heard a lot of Flams, and seen none. This puts me beyond the realm of sloth and laziness, and into the realm of "utter bullshit".

Mute Swan...with American Coots, Eurasian Wigeon (1), American Wigeon, Gadwall (1), Ring-necked Duck (1), and scaup sp. (1) at Abbott's Lagoon, at Point Reyes. Find them all!

Cackling Geese. Uncommon but regular along much of the central coast. I like the weird brightly colored one on the left....truly, the Unicorn of Cackling Geese. Las Gallinas Wetlands, San Rafael.

8. Bohemian Waxwing - Bohemians are probably semi-regular in far northeastern California in midwinter, but since I've never been there in midwinter.....you get the point. I've enjoyed missing them in Alaska as well.

9. Yellow Rail - This bird has the reputation of being the most difficult species to see in North America. At this juncture, I concur. They have a few breeding sites in California, and probably winter in the bay area.

10. Great Grey Owl - Rare, but findable, in parts of the Sierra Nevada. This giant owl has been known to change the lives of birders...once you see one, things are never quite the same. I'm still waiting for the transformation.

There you are. The Truth about Seagull Steve. My birding mortality is not something I wear as a badge, but is something all of us must admit to, from time to time. That's life at #7. I even misidentified a bird the other day...but I must move on.

A Scott's Oriole is in San Francisco right now. I must go. Good day to you.

Yellow-billed Loon: Memento Mori

2011-11-06T12:09:00.000-06:00

Recently, many bay area birders were lucky enough to see an adult Yellow-billed Loon that visited south San Francisco Bay. It was in a strange place and was reported to be slightly oiled, but it foraged athletically and did not behave like a very sickly bird. Appearances can be deceiving however, and several days ago a birder reported finding the loon dead in the water. In honor of this royal vagrant, I offer this poorly-executed and incredibly cheesy haiku.

The Death Of A Loon

Yellow-billed Loon
You came to us late at night
A gift from far north

Crippling vagrant
You made many faces melt
Twitchers did twitch much

Sunnyvale is nice
But this is not Alaska
Where did you go wrong?

White-billed Diver
You made a "tick" bittersweet
Poor wayward vagrant

Our celebrity loon
You died sick and hungry
Oil in stomach

So now rest in peace
Gavia adamsii
Where no birders go.

Pelagic Part Deuce: We Look For Signs In Nothing

2011-11-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

Long-tailed Jaeger juvenile. Long-tailed Jaegers are widely regarded as the best jaegers...they make your eyeballs pop.

Black-footed Albatross, the B-52 of Californian seabirds.

Common Murres raft just offshore from Half Moon Bay.

Marbled Murrelets, an endangered species (an end species? an angered species?), are uncommon and local off central and northern California. Looking for them on the water is far less complicated than looking for them in the old growth redwoods where they nest, albeit more expensive.

A California Gull is outclassed by a juvenile Parasitic Jaeger.

This Northern Fur Seal is lounging in classic weird fur seal position.

Sabine's Gulls have won the hearts and minds of many a birder....they are true Winners.

Sooty Shearwater in water-shearing position.

This immature Western Gull doesn't know what to think about this little Mola Mola pile that it came across. Weird fish are weird fish.

American Tree Sparrow of Happiness

2011-11-02T23:25:00.000-05:00

"TPAD" Dan and I had a raging day of birding on Point Reyes...we got over 130 species and a glut of good birds. The glory was overwhelming. American Tree Sparrow was the rarest of the bunch, and is a find worth celebrating with whiskey tonight. While you may not enjoy these terrible photos (I had to manually focus, give me a break), know that my heart may explode at any minute. With joy.

Look at that giant head! Tree Sparrows are very, very rare in most of California.

Half Moon Bay Pelagic Part 1 (Life's Too Short To Have A Job)

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

Buller's Shearwater.

Last month I went on a Shearwater Journeys trip out of Half Moon Bay....although not particularly birdy, we did have calm seas and a great diversity of species. Since I am a poor seasonal biologist (financially, not spiritually), I don't go on many pelagics...so I was pretty happy to be out there. Unfortunately, I was unable to witness anyone vomiting. Maybe next time.

If you have the misfortune of never going on a pelagic trip off California, consider yourself a sorry son of a bitch. On the bright side, you have so much facemelting tube-nosed goodness to look forward to. Here is the first part of a suite of pictures from last month.

Lastly, thanks to everyone for checking out BB&B...last month we had more blog traffic than ever! The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive tries to take all the credit for this, and he may be right....I hate him.

Elegant Terns.

Norther Fulmar, the world's grossest seabird.

Short-tailed Shearwater. Yet another good bird with a bad name. Thanks a lot, forefathers of birding.

If you do not know this is a Brown Pelican, you are a bad person.

California Sea Lions. I wonder if there is a technical term for what they are doing here. I assure you they are not frolicking. Boiling maybe?

Common Murres. Any guesses on what that gull is?

Cassin's Auklets are terrible fliers, but strong runners.

I'll leave you with this terrible Flesh-footed Shearwater photograph. It's only the second one I've seen. Obviously, I need to be able to afford more pelagic trips.

Pale Male and the Infertile Girl

2011-10-31T12:45:00.000-05:00

Pale Male and the Infertile Girl
by Clark Casey
No Dead Trees Press
2011

So. Although I cannot understand why, I've received a number of inquiries regarding advertising and reviewing various products on this slipshod blog of mine. I typically turn them down, or they just haven't worked out for some reason. However, I decided to go ahead and review Pale Male and the Infertile Girl, based on its unusual premise, and the fact that I have occasionally been known to read a book that wasn't written by David Sibley.

A quick primer: Pale Male is a Red-tailed Hawk that has nested adjacent to New York City's Central Park ever since the early 90's. Birders and other Pale Male fans keep a close eye on him and his mate every spring, as they openly nest on a building on Fifth Avenue. He has been the subject of 2 documentary films and at least 3 childrens' books. He is, without a doubt, the world's most famous Red-tailed Hawk. Watch this if you want to get an idea of what I'm talking about, and to learn more about one of this story's main characters.

Pale Male and the Infertile Girl is fiction though, and the protagonist of this story is not hawk, but human. A quick read at 49 pages, this novella follows a couple's long relationship in New York, their highs and lows, told from the perspective of Scott, an average-looking, middle-class guy. The story essentially begins when Scott meets Kim, an incredibly attractive woman who comes from a lot of money. After a lot of kinky sex, they take the next step and shack up together in a giant, extremely expensive apartment in an exclusive building overlooking Central Park in Manhattan. Soon they find out Kim is incapable of having kids, an affair is had, and both Scott and Kim struggle with the idea of Kim's inability to bear children. It's kind of the All American Story, isn't it? Amirite?

The twist, of course, is that there are an A-list pair of Red-tailed Hawks nesting right out their window, and neither Scott nor Kim can ignore the avian and human spectacle outside.

I have to admit, it seems to me that Pale Male and his various mates are not a necessary part of the story of Scott and Kim. The trials and tribulations of Central Park's celebrity Red-tailed Hawks (which, admirably, appear to be described here more or less accurately) seem to have little direct bearing on the overall plot. Sure Pale Male's impressive and unrelenting drive to reproduce gets into the heads of Scott and Kim, but do they really need to be watching hawks to be reminded that they want a child? Does Pale Male's regular rotation of mates really reflect on human infidelity? However, if one views Pale Male's activities as a sort of parallel plot, this issue disappears. Perhaps it simply depends on who you are more interested in...the hawk or the human?

Those reservations aside, author Clark Casey does a commendable job of intertwining Pale Male's life and times into the story, and I can't say I've read anything similar enough to offer any really relevant comparison. In this respect, Casey succeeds in making something unique. For any birder who reads this, the descriptions of the hawks do offer a new and interesting dimension to the story...hopefully, nonbirders will feel the same as well. Casey's accounts of Pale Male's history seems to be largely based on actual events, such as the destruction of their nest and the huge public outcry that came immediately afterwards. This narrative is quite interesting in its own right, whether it bears directly on the plot or not.

A couple other minor quibbles: Although worthy of a few smirks, I could have done without the cliche rough/kinky sex that is frequently mentioned (i.e. the device known as "Mister Naughty"). Don't get me wrong, I am a big proponent of rough sex, even gnarly sex, but in novels it often comes off more as a trite ploy than something that contributes to the story. The character of Sarah, the (figurative) ghost that haunts Scott on and off throughout Pale Male, is discussed so briefly that her inclusion is usually more distracting than anything else.

Although not without its shortcomings, Pale Male and the Infertile Girl makes a quick, entertaining and informative read. And it's only $3 as e-book! Hella affordable.

Pale Male is available from Smashwords and Amazon, in e-book or paperback form.

It's Thought Parole, Population Control

2011-10-28T12:18:00.001-05:00

Least Bittern. So, so sick. Martinez, CA.

Well birders. It's almost Halloween...this month has really flown by, you hear me? The best of fall birding is most likely behind us, and birders to the north are already slipping into a state of catatonic depression...winter is nigh. Of course, its not so bad for us Californians...we get almost as many ubervagrants in winter as we do in September and October. All is not lost.

There are all pictures from last winter that never made it up on BB&B for some reason. Drink them in with your eyes. Then drink something else, because the weekend is here.

Hooded Merganser. Golden Gate Park is one of the easiest places to see "Hoodies" anywhere in the state. San Francisco, CA.

Blue-winged Teal. Hella common in the east, hella uncommon on the west coast. Redwood Shores, CA.

Red-shouldered Hawk. Ventura, CA.

Green-winged Teal pair...I like how the colors on the drake turned out. Redwood Shores, CA.

Western Scrub-Jay, with a hookier (shrikier?) bill than normal. Ventura, CA.

Red-tailed Hawk dispute. Voles are in high demand. Martinez, CA.

Black-necked Stilts. Heck of refined. Martinez, CA.

Natural Resources? I Prefer Natural Ice.

2011-10-27T13:42:00.002-05:00

I can't stand the phrase "natural resources". You can just smell the bullshit wafting off of it, you know what I'm saying?

Oil is a natural resource. Wildlife is not. This Avocet is an avocet. It does not think of itself as something that exists solely for human beings to exploit. "Natural resource" implies that something has little or no value beyond serving human needs. When a "natural resource" is "harvested", there is no terminology in there that gets to the heart of the thing (killing, suffering, habitat destruction, fouling air and water, etc.), which is why its so popular in the jargon of both governmental agencies and private businesses.

If this phrase has, for some reason, crept into your vocabulary, I highly suggest dropping it. Keep it real!

A Revisit To The Economy Of Style

2011-10-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

Black-footed Albatross. You can tell this haggard-looking adult has been spending a lot of time in Hawaii this year. San Francisco County, CA.

"I think that birders should not take themselves as seriously as they do." - Matt Brady

You hear that birders of the world? This statement has always played an important roll in BB&B's official policy, and we are glad that some people out there agree.

Some recent happenings:

- The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive posted his monthly blog entry over at 10,000 Birds. Please go check out Selling Birds Short: A Heretical View Of Avian Intelligence.

- BB&B's first book review will be up soon.

- The next interview in our world famous/highly questionable Human Birdwatcher Project Series has been completed and will be up in the near future.

Long-billed Dowitchers, Marbled Godwits and Greater Yellowlegs. Arcata Marsh, CA.

Today's photos are all a tribute to The Economy of Style that many of California's birds employ. This phrase, brought into the BB&B lexicon by one "Cassin", is a commentary on the color schemes of many ocean-going birds, and some of their land-based bretheren as well. Check out An Economy of Style for some vintage BB&B goodness....that was way back before I had an SLR!

Lastly, I saw The Big Year yesterday. My review is this: if you are a birder, you have to go see it. It (unintentionally) has some pretty funny parts, and they don't slaughter what birding is all about. The bird blogger and Angelica Huston are hilarious, particularly if you've been on one of Debi Shearwater's trips. If you are not a birder, and are one of my friends who has asked me at one point, "Why birds? I don't get it.", then hopefully it will shed some light on what exactly is going on here.

Not a great movie, but it could have been a lot worse....

Parasitic Jaeger. San Francisco County, CA.

Olympic Gull attempting to choke down a starfish. King Salmon, CA.

I don't think I've ever posted a House Finch on BB&B before...cant forget those ubercommon birds. Near Novato, CA.

Great Egret, filtered through some manmade weirdness. Petaluma, CA.

Common Murres. San Mateo County, CA.

Black Noddy = Cardiac Arrest

2011-10-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

Birders. I am hard at work assisting The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive finish a blog post for 10,000 Birds. He is an indolent, lackadaisical and downright slovenly man, and we must finish this on time. To tide you over before the next proper BB&B post, here is a Black Noddy for your eyes to feast upon. All but impossible to find in the "ABA Area" outside of the Florida Keys, they are another common Midway Atoll bird that will cause Handsome Dan to go into cardiac arrest. He has little chance of surviving, as you can see.

We Haven't Done Enough Of This Simple Kind Of Stuff

2011-10-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

White Terns are one of Midway's flagship species. Living without White Terns is a plodding and tiresome existence.

On a non-birder-gossip note, congrats to my colleague "Handsome Dan" on getting the green light to go out to Midway Atoll for the winter...may he get covered in much albatross vomit, otherwise known as the Worst Smell In The World. He will see many weird birds and probably drink too much. Dan is currently languishing on the Farallon Islands, off San Francisco. You can find his blog here.

Midway was, without a doubt, my favorite field job that I've ever had. If you dig through BB&B's archives, you can find a lot of Midway posts and pictures from February to June, 2009. Hopefully I'll get back some day!

Electric-faced Red-footed Booby. Dan will soon be seeing many.

That's Not How I Would Have Done It

2011-10-18T14:31:00.001-05:00

Birders are hilarious, especially when they find themselves on the internet. We communicate a lot using email lists, and it is quite frequent to find people overreacting and acting phenomenally douchey. Below is a message recently posted to a list, in response to a Marsh Sandpiper (a fucking staggering rarity) found just south of the border in Baja California.

"Yes, of course, go for a tick mark on your list, and end up another blood (drug) cartel statistic. Worse than burning fossil fuels for your tick mark on a piece of paper, play Russian roulette for your list total. Even have a close friend who is extremely high on the Mexico list who says "no way" he's trying for it due to the dangers of going down there. You know, I hope you don't have to worry about your conscience if someone goes for the tick bird and comes back in a pine box, that is if he/she's corpse is even found. Maybe best to also note to use caution in 'chasing' a bird for one's list don't you think to somewhere who has a higher death rate recently from what's going on down there than Vietnam or World War I?"

As someone who was actually recently robbed at gunpoint in Mexico by a large group of armed men, I still find this hilarious. Sure there may be some truth in what he says, but idly mentioning going birding and coming back in a pine box is a bit over the fucking top, don't you think? The part about mentioning fossil fuels is quite good too, as I know for a fact this man just went all the way to St. Paul Island, Alaska, for the specific purpose of finding rare birds.

Look buddy...if you can't take the heat...stay out of the kitchen! And if you don't learn something called "tact", no one will give a damn about what you say, truth or not. Now, off to birdwatching charm school with you.

A Tower To All The Nicer Things You Could Have Been

2011-10-16T08:45:00.000-05:00

Mr. Common Nighthawk. Sorry I'm close to your nest, but the Piping Plovers invited me over.

Lately a lot of people have been asking me about North Dakota lately. They give me weird looks when I tell them where I've spent the summer. It's completely understandable. The best company to keep was birds, and they helped keep my sanity. In fact, they were such good company, I went birding all the time...I can only stand being forced to watch Two And A Half Men for so long, you know what I'm saying? For your sake, I hope you don't.

Whiskey is a good coping mechanism, but you can only take that so far...

Chesnut-collared Longspur in the middle of its crippling flight display. Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge, MT.

Bobolink. He look real good.

Vesper Sparrow. Woo!

Black Tern, the feisty fashionista of the tern clan.

Hand Dragon.

A Swainson's Hawk receives hatred from a Red-winged Blackbird.

A spangly Solitary Sandpiper.

A heavily worn Franklin's Gull. It's hard for gulls to look good at the end of the summer.

Sunset over Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge. Goddamn.

The World Is An Oyster Locked In A Shell

2011-10-13T14:21:00.001-05:00

A Red-necked Phalarope takes off with a valuable piece of crud. Somewhere in San Mateo County waters, CA.

Ouch. Excruciating back pain and a ravaging illness....all completely unexplained...are both pummeling my body as we speak. The thought of producing any sort of output, creative or otherwise, makes me wince. But BB&B readers must be satiated, or I fear they will throw their laptops into their bath tubs with them and call it a day.

I understand this. We are doing new and fantastic things at BB&B headquarters that have never even been conceived of before, let alone actually tried. The Birdosphere is abuzz, the kudos and accolades are rolling in with the speed and power of an Indonesian tidal wave. Things may never be the same.

Red-shouldered Hawk. Looking for things to murder with its feet. V Street Loop, Arcata, CA.

Juvenile Long-billed Dowitchers sew the mud for deliciousness. Arcata Marsh, Arcata, CA.

I was kept, for the most part, remarkably busy while in Arcata, both with bird and nonbird beings alike. Please accept my apologies for leaving you hanging for so long. I assume you are aware of some of the other excellent bird blogs out there....and if not, there is a handy list located somewhere on the left side of your screen. Few offer the same taste of insightfulness, absurdity, and bullshit that BB&B deals out, but they are good (lets face it, better) for many other reasons.

American Goldfinch with cool tail molt. Lake Merced, San Francisco, CA.

Today's suite of bird porno shots have been taken from the last couple weeks of my travels, which are anywhere from 40 miles offshore from Half Moon Bay, California, north to Humboldt County. The year list continues to climb, and the occasional rare bird makes it all the sweeter. As I have stated before, now is the time to find one yourself...the Marsh Sandpiper just found in Baja California speaks for itself, and makes a mockery of all self-respecting birders on the continental west coast of the United States and Canada.

How did we miss it? Where were you when the Marsh Sandpiper flew overhead? These are disturbing questions, and the only answer is to find a bird so rare that it will make you forget these horrible doubts.

There you have it. Now go forth and bird.

Cassin's Auklets are poorly built for flying, but they clearly inspired Jesus to attempt a remarkable feat. With his feet. San Francisco County, CA.

The Natives Are Restless

2011-10-10T14:32:00.000-05:00

A male Long-billed Curlew prowls the mudflats. Worms and crustaceans cower in fear.

There's nothing like a rainy day to make you feel guilt-free for staying indoors. The guilt of staying indoors in early October is bad enough...it is still prime vagrant season, after all. Humboldt County birders are no doubt drooling and chomping at the bit to get outside tomorrow. One birder up here is in the midst of a Humboldt County Big Year, and currently has a staggering 321 birds already. Jesus.

Meanwhile, I have firmly settled into the life of long-term unemployment. As long as you are not broke, I highly recommend it. Getting plenty of sleep, complete freedom, and ample opportunities for birding and bourbon consumption heals the scarred 40-hour-flogged-soul like nothing else. It is good to be among friends (of both the birding and non-birding persuasions) once again, and to be truly Human. The key, of course, is keeping occupied, but I am blessed/cursed with various writing projects and a strong instinct to socialize.

Red Knots, Marbled Godwits, Black-bellied Plovers and Willets wait out Humboldt Bay's high tide at the Arcata Marsh.

This is a strange cycle of lifestyles to be caught in...not many can do it. Working hard for months at a time in far-flung places, then suddenly dropping it all and getting really entrenched in city life. A lot of biologists my age are currently in grad school or are fiending to get in one...when I ask why, they usually mumble about wanting to design their own study and quickly change the subject. I really should look into this bizarre phenomenon, which I believe has lemming-jumping-off-a-cliff type motivation somehow involved.

Weird ramblings on this dreary day. I think I'll get out for some Humboldt birding at least one more time, lashing flocks of shorebirds and chickadees for the rare bird that must be in there. And if that doesn't work...life will go on.

Brewers Blackbirds gain more appeal when seen outside parking lots.

Where You Want To Be

2011-10-07T14:38:00.002-05:00

Dudes. Dudettes. I am in Arcata, California, the place that gave birth to the Seagull Steve you know and love today. There are birds here. Here are some Marbled Godwits from Arcata Marsh. Bird onward.

My Face Is All Melty...More from Grand Teton National Park

2011-10-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

On my second morning in Grand Teton I arrived at Signal Mountain before dawn, hoping to find a non-run-over grouse on the road. Because I am the #7 ranked birder in the nation, my plan worked brilliantly. Out of the 3 grouse I located, I had the most serious hang-time with this Dusky Grouse. At one point it was within 3 feet from me...I'm glad it didn't come any closer, or I would have had a heart attack. These fearsome predators have been known to chase packs of wolves and grizzly bears off kills, and a charging grouse would stop the angriest bison in its tracks. Known for ruthlessly disemboweling their prey (while said prey is still alive), I was lucky to escape intact.

Beware of grouse in the grass.

Especially if you happen to be grass. Obviously grouse don't eat animals, but it would be cool if they did.

Sunrise at Signal Mountain, looking south towards Jackson. Lots of smoke in the air from wildfires.

Juvenile Black-billed Magpie.

Pronghorn doe and calf. Scenic.

Grand Tetons. Looming.

Mountain Chickadee. Hello Mountain Chickadee.

Pictures don't do the Tetons justice, but I think this one manages to get the point across. Look at this place! Fuck! You need to go there.

"Meh." - Obama and the Endangered Species Act

2011-10-02T09:09:00.000-05:00

Good Sunday to you, kind and benevolent people of the interwebs. As you read this, I am on a boat miles off the coast of California, racking up some pelagic delicacies and maybe even getting a life bird if I am lucky enough. Today's bloggage will be a break from the standard bird-hemorrhaging goodness I usually offer, as I feel, every once in a while, we must keep it real.

Let's talk about Obama. That's a pretty divisive name to be throwing around, inducing all kinds of emotions in all kinds of people. I would make the case that between his ethnicity and the likes of the well-oiled Fox News propaganda machine, he is probably the most poorly understood president that we have had in many years. Mention him to either very liberal or very conservative Americans and it is quite possible you may illicit the same reaction.

I did not vote for Obama. In my eyes, the Democratic Party has never done enough for health care, the massive disparity between the country's rich and poor, keeping the country out of needless wars (and completely ignoring events like Rwanda's genocide), and most importantly for me, the environment. They may not be as blatantly beholden to corporate interests and Big Oil as the Republican Party, but to think that those connections are not there is laughable...at best.

Still, I was pretty happy when he got elected. He was left-leaning, he was a hell of a lot better than than the McCain/Palin alternative, and he wasn't an old white man! Compared to the dark ages of the Bush Regime, the possibilities his leadership could offer seemed endless for everyone, from gay rights proponents to the environmental movement.

We tree-huggers followed Obama closely. Early on he repealed some last minute Bush regulations that were made to weaken the Endangered Species Act, and government scientists could finally get down to business and cease pretending that climate change was not happening. A whole suite of Hawaiian plants and animals were added to the Endangered Species List. But since this strong start, he has done very little to win the hearts and minds of environmentalists.

His administration's more recent scorecard is unimpressive. Despite the horrific Deepwater Horizon oil spill, he claims to be open to oil drilling and development. Gray Wolves were allowed to be removed from the Endangered Species List by an act of the Republican Congress, which sets a frightening and awful precedent. Earlier this month he delayed improving smog regulations, overruling the Environmental Protection Agency. Although he has passed important legislation regarding funding green technology and improving emissions standards, he has utterly failed at producing a binding agreement that specifically targets the looming spectre that is climate change, both domestically and with other nations.

One of the most important pieces of legislation to environmentalists and birders alike (the two are often not the same) is the Endangered Species Act (ESA). If not in place, dozens of species would currently be facing an inevitable slide toward extinction at the moment, rather than making the slow crawl back to a self-sustaining population. Have you seen a Bald Eagle? Yes? Thank the ESA.

Of course, saving a species requires a lot of time, money, and effort, and the ESA has always been under fire from Republicans since setting aside land for wildlife is not good for business. The major loophole that has been used to address this (i.e., to avoid adding new species that require strict protection) is the Endangered Species Candidate List. This is a list of plants and animals that the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS, who oversees management of listed species) acknowledges may warrant protection by the ESA, but for whatever reason (lack of resources, political pressure) has not really dealt with at all. Included are species like Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, Sprague's Pipit, Kittlitz's and Xantus' Murrelets, and Lesser Prairie-Chicken. This list has grown longer and longer over the years, now numbering 252 plant and animal species and populations. Essentially, these species simply sit in legal limbo, receiving little protection while populations continue to dwindle towards nothing.

After legal action by several environmental groups, the administration is finally moving forward and FWS is doing formal reviews on multiple species (this is what must happen for a species to be listed), for both species on the candidate list and off (i.e. Golden-winged Warbler). The San Francisco Chronicle has some good information on the subject, as does Fish and Wildlife, which you can read about here and here. If we are lucky, and Obama doesn't cow to Republicans (which he is annoyingly prone to doing, it seems....moderation my ass), a slough of species may be getting the protection they deserve by election time.

FWS has already begun the listing process for Red Knots (just in time...their Atlantic population crashed by a third last year) and recently listed Loggerhead Turtle as well. All positive signs for some of our most imperiled wildlife. Lets hope the administration grows a pair and gives some more species the protection they need!

Sorry for the relatively dry post people...it's not all rainbows and unicorns and cupcakes and candy canes in the world...in fact, it's a pretty shitty scene for a lot of critters. Please remember to vote in as many local and national elections as possible...this is the easiest and most direct way most of us have to affect change, and as far as the environment is concerned, inaction is not acceptable any longer.

Grand Teton National Park

2011-09-28T16:58:00.002-05:00

The oxbow of the Snake River, with Tetons looming.

Waking up early in the morning, I left the campground in Yellowstone's Grant Village (not great, but I've seen worse) and headed south for Grand Teton National Park, just a short drive south from Yellowstone's southern boundary. Still high on geyser fumes and megafauna sightings, I really had no idea what to expect in Grand Teton, aside from the amazing scenery the Tetons themselves provide. I was hoping for some more birding opportunities...everything in Yellowstone is so frakking distracting that its hard to get down to business and actually find some birds.

Like Yellowstone, you may traverse the park in a big loop of sorts, which is what I ended up doing my first day...but not before finding my lifer Three-toed Woodpecker at Signal Mountain, mixed in with a massive mixed flock. The experience caused me to vomited violently for a substantial amount of time, particularly when it landed about 12 feet away at the base of a tree. Observing your first Three-toed Woodpecker is a very intense experience, you see. Of course, I didn't have any kind of convenient photography machine with me at the time, so I was free to fantasize about having a camera in hand (and to continue vomiting in ecstasy). I did get a couple record shots eventually, but I only saw one other on my trip.

A juvenile Hairy Woodpecker woodpecking.

A female-type Northern Flicker pauses. Why are they called flickers anyway? I think kinglets should be called flickers. These should be called Anteaters...thats not taken, is it?

Composing myself, I continued up Signal Mountain, where the internets had informed me Dusky Grouse could be found. After aimlessly walking around a lookout/vistaish area with a few tourists, a woman walked up and proudly announced that there had been a grouse sitting only a few feet off the trail, but that her dog had stressed it out and said grouse had wandered off into the underbrush. A nearby know-it-all who had the definite air of a used car salesman proudly announced that it had been a Sage Grouse, but I knew otherwise...

Since I had already set up camp and dicked around Signal Mountain, by the time I got back to the main park road it was bloody hot, ruling out any kind of fun/productive hiking, so I decided to attempt to see as much of the park as I could. Mainly, I spent time taking Teton pictures and cursing the heat and the wind, and wondering if the giant, fuck-off wildfire (pictured below) was going to crest the mountain and burn us all alive. Much-touted Mormon Row was....well, a bit underwhelming, but pretty cool nonetheless, and I did run into some more bison, Pronghorn, and a Black Bear that day, among other things. The birding was solid in the morning, I just wish I had more time to bird! The main eyesore of the area is the hideous Jackson Hole Airport, which is pretty much inside the park for some reason...aside from that, humbling views and wildlife were easy to come by.

Enough rambling for now...life is Weird...be prepared.

Three-toed Woodpecker. What a crippler.

Turns out I did see a Dusky Grouse that day. A motor vehicle had murdered it.

Moose moose moose moose.

Fire. Glad I wasn't stuck on the other side of that hill.

POLLINATION.

Tetons. Grandiose.

This year has largely been dominated by Swainson's Hawks for me, so I'm not going to stop posting pictures of them. This one is blinking its nictating membrane.

Passions Just Like Mine

2011-09-27T14:11:00.000-05:00

The Glory Days Of Fall, written by one Felonious Jive, is up now at 10,000 Birds! Please go birding as much as you can this week, especially if you live in California...the consequences of staying in could be dire. I managed an American Redstart, Olive-sided Flycatcher and MacGillivray's Warbler in one of San Francisco's tiny, scummy parks this morning, so who knows what else is out there?

Your picture of the day is one of the noisy Red-shouldered Hawks that live at San Francisco's Lake Merced.

It's Not Hell On Earth, It's More Like A Dream

2011-09-25T16:01:00.000-05:00

This will be the last Yellowstone post for a while I think. Here is an elk making a face at the nearby horde of tourists.

I discovered yet another new species of chipmunk. This type completely lacks forelimbs and locomotes the forest like a small Tyrannosaur.

A Red Crossbill ravages some fir cones.

Is nice, no?

A studly Mule Deer. He's probably shed his velvet by now and spends his time getting in fights and being incredibly horny.

American Dipper revisited, in less atrocious lighting.

Looking towards the Yellowstone River from the Mud Volcano area. Steamy.

Norris Geyser Basin. Some of these pools will not only melt your face, but your entire body...literally.

White-crowned Sparrow juvie.

Bison are capable of many things...this one is caught in the rarest of buffalo acts, being cute.

Buffalo watchers going apeshit.

Deer penis. It's something to think about.

Sunset through a geyser filter...and that was my last day in Yellowstone. Up next...Grand Teton National Park.

Radio Towers Conspire To Dance Again

2011-09-21T15:33:00.000-05:00

Anna's Hummingbird.

Good Wednesday to you all. I finally finished my Winging It article that I've been working on since June (how embarrassing!), so hopefully that will mean a mild increase in BB&B posts. I certainly have no shortage of photos to sicken the world with. It will also hopefully be one less excuse for staying indoors and not birding. Living in a city with a million wonderful distractions can have that effect, from time to time. I'll head over to Heron Head Park this afternoon though.

My year list has grown to a corupulent 496, which I'm positive is the most species I've ever seen in one year...a small achievement in the the eyes of mice and men, but a good thing nonetheless.

Anna's Hummingbird. This one is a young male (he was singing).

It's really difficult to concentrate on writing at the the moment. I have made the grave mistake of rubbing an eyeball with a finger apparently covered in jalapeno juices, and even blinking is extremely painful. It brings me back to the time I got pepper sprayed during a Marbled Murrelet survey (to my credit, that was an accident). If you are the masochistic type go ahead and give yourself a good spray, it will bring a kind of pain that you could not have possibly imagined before....

Do birders have a tendency towards masochism? Perhaps a study by the Human Birdwatcher Project is in order.

Right. Before I got back to The City, I made a brief stop in Ventura, CA and did some half-assed birding and photography, which you see here today. Next time...one more round of Yellowstone!

Allen's Hummingbird. Female? Young male?

Same bird.

Heerman's Gulls.

Willet noms.

Willet socks.

I Am A Babbling Brook, You Are A Pile Of Bricks

2011-09-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

San Francisco has terrible shorebirding. In loving memory of places that do not have this problem, here are some Wilson's Phalaropes. Photographed at White Lake, North Dakota.

Hello adoring nerds, and welcome to another Monday. A lot of great things have been said about Monday...for much of the Western World, it is the doomiest day of the week. The reasons why need not be explained. Unless you have Mondays off, only a true pervert would take pleasure in going back to work, rather than (*gasp*) take pride and pleasure in their free time. Sure, some people love their jobs, but...that's not many of us. Of course, I am not aiming this at those of us who get paid to look at birds, or those that subscribe to the Perpetual Weekend way of life....we are The Chosen Ones, and we should not let people forget that.

As you read this, I am clearly not working. I am out birding San Francisco. "The City" has its fair share of birders and hotspots, and what it lacks in quality of spots (it doesn't offer any one place that sucks in vagrants like an Arcata Marsh or a Huntington Central Park), it makes up for in quantity and coverage by good observers. So here's to crossing fingers for a Cerulean Warbler or a Red-flanked Bluetail. Good luck navigating your Monday, you must stave off The Doom...or all will be lost. Only when you are living your final days in a nursing home, many years from now, will you realize that you took a very wrong turn on that fateful day...September 19, 2011...the day you chose a career over happiness. Wage slavery over life list. Death over life. The day the music died...

And so much for that. It's September, go birding!

Yellowstoned

2011-09-16T15:50:00.000-05:00

A Swainson's Hawk stoops on some fuzzy, unsuspecting prey.

I have discovered a new species of mammal: I give you the Flying Chipmunk. What they lack in altitude they make up for in speed.

Jesus. These things are built like tanks. Or tanks are built like bison.

Cool beans.

Common Mergansers get free access to Yellowstone's excellent fishing and facemelting geothermal features.

Otherworldly goodness.

Meet the friendliest American Dipper in the world. Being a wise bird, it knew how to stay in the shittiest light possible. Life is pain.

Big Cone. The biggest geyser cone in the park.

A family of Grizzly Bears working on a bison. So sick.

I'm Not A Loner Or Anything, But I Think I Like Being Alone: A Bird Blogger Tells All.

2011-09-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hello. And welcome to another fascinating installment of our birder interview series, presented by the Human Birdwatcher Project. It has always been a mission of BB&B to discover The Truth About Birdwatchers...why they do what they do, why they are largely socially crippled, and why they have such poor taste in fashion. Today we take a new direction and sit down with not only a birder, but a bird blogger. Speaking from experience, this truly takes the nerdiness to practically lethal levels, and so it is my pleasure to present someone who pulls it off with grace. Jen birds, photographs and blogs from Portland, Oregon, and is at the helm of the wildly popular I Used To Hate Birds. Please visit her site and gawk at some of her fantastic photos when you get the chance....and so without further delay, I give you the interview. All photos provided by the blogess herself.

So Jen. Just to be clear to everyone, we actually have never met, so I really don’t have any inkling about what you’re going to say. BB&B is taking a big risk here. Anyways. Who are you? What do you do for a living?

Who am I? Well... I’m a week shy of my 33rd birthday, a month shy of my 10-year Portland anniversary. My friends and I moved here on a whim from Boston, but I’m originally from Connecticut. I manage a doggie daycare here, where I work as few hours as possible to ensure plenty of time for doing stuff that’s way more fun. But at the same time, my job is rad. When I was 10 I wanted be a veterinarian or own a pet store. I think if I had known about dog daycares, I would have picked working at one over anything else. Dogs rule. “Dog” was actually my first word.

My first word was "Pyrrhuloxia". From the evidence I’ve been able to piece together, you are a birdwatcher. Can you admit to this? Your blog is titled "I Used To Hate Birds", which seems to be the best name for any bird blog out there, with the possible exception of "Bourbon, Bastards and Birds". I assume you actually used to hate birds to some degree, or exercised some strong indifference….why the turnabout? And how did you come to be a birder?

I’d admit to watching birds, sure. The blog title came from a couple things. When I was in middle school I had a parakeet I named Mr. Weatherbee (I was a big Archie comics fan. Yeah.) He was cool. Then I got him a lady friend, Betty. Then she killed him. It made me hate birds as pets.

As for wild birds, I was always indifferent despite my mom’s attempts to point out interesting ones on the feeders. I think a main turning point for me was buying a sweet little Canon Powershot camera when I briefly defected to Philly. I started taking pictures of everything. When I finally returned to Portland I started to really appreciate all the awesome parks I visited with my dog Jake. There’s only so many photos you can take of your dog (ok, that’s a lie) and one day I saw an Osprey up in a tree. I had no idea what it was but I took a million photos and looked it up when I got home. I watched them all summer long and eventually started taking pictures of other birds, mostly herons and egrets and bigger stuff. Then on a whim, I visited Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, where a nice older man lent me a pair of binoculars to view some Sandhill Cranes. They blew me away. It was pretty much all over after that.

Since you are a relatively recent convert, you actually have access to your pre-birder memories (most birders are super old and can’t remember if they took their medication or not). Back in the bird-hating days, how do you think you would describe the average birdwatcher? How would you describe the average birder now?

I don’t even think I knew there were birdwatchers before. I mean, I knew there were people like my mom...she had feeders and a bird bath and a Peterson’s field guide where she marked the pages of birds that would visit. I didn’t think there was much more to it.

Now? I don’t even know. There’s definitely a fair share of creepy older men, like the one that tried to get me to get into his car for a better view of an owl. But there’s also plenty of perfectly nice, semi-normal people who can understand basic social cues.

I get the impression that you don’t hang out with other birders very often. Why? Do you hate them? Or are you one of those socially inept, recluse types?

Ha. Maybe a bit socially inept, but mostly just shy I think. Plus I like birding by myself. I’m not a loner or anything, but I think I like being alone more than most people.

What do your friends think of your birding/blogging habits? Are you celebrated? Persecuted? Both?

Ya know, I didn’t share my blog with any of my friends for a pretty long time. Once in awhile I would throw a photo I liked on Facebook just to gauge their reactions and it was always pretty positive. Now most people know about my obsession and I’ve gotten all good responses.

The only reason we are in contact at all is because of the internets. Yup, those Craigslist personals really bring people togeth….oops I’m thinking of someone else. Ahem. What we both have in common is that we are both bloggers, who are birders, who take bird pictures, which combines 3 different types of nerds into one super nerd. Can you tell us about why and how I Used To Hate Birds came about? What we can expect in the future?

I started my blog for one main reason: to share the birds I was seeing with my mom. It seemed like the easiest way to show her stuff. Plus I thought it would act as a good journal so I could remember when and where I saw cool birds. That’s how I use it now. I’m a terrible bird note taker... I have a book where I try to write down sightings, bird descriptions, etc., but it’s just so much easier to write it in the blog. The downfall is that it might be a bit boring for other people at times. I get that. But the blog is for me, first and foremost. Sorry, mom.

Have you found that having a blog helps you network and connect with people? Or do you feel depressed and isolated because you are now officially a blogger?

I definitely feel connected to a lot of people because of having my blog. Even people who don’t comment or “follow” me will sometimes mention a post I wrote and I’ll be like, wait, what, you read that?? It’s weird putting something out there and never really knowing who is looking at it...

You have a lot of birds to see. Any birding trips in mind? Any grail birds?

I always have tons of trips in mind... Alaska is a frontrunner. I completely romanticize it though, and am afraid it won’t live up to my expectations. This fall I have a vague idea of a mini southwest U.S. roadtrip, but who knows. No grail birds...pretty much any bird I haven’t seen yet causes chronic drooling.

Have you discovered your spirit bird yet? Any candidates?

I want a spirit bird. I’m afraid the closest thing I have is the Bald Eagle which is just so fucking cliche and lame. But right before I REALLY got into birds I decided I needed a tattoo of an eagle catching a fish because I had only seen them a handful of times, and they always left me in awe. The day I went to get the tattoo finished it was like 20 degrees and my dog Jake begged me to go to the park. I was freezing and cranky but while he was running around on the beach, a pair of eagles came flying over and just started swooping around in front of us and over us. As usually happens now, I just wasn’t cold anymore. It was awesome.

What do you think makes a good soundtrack for birding? I usually don’t put on Chronic 2001 while birding by my lonesome.

Well, I’ll tell ya what. When I was in Hawaii a few weeks ago, I was getting ready to walk from my hotel in Waikiki to the top of Diamond Head, with stops in Kapiolani Park and the beach. It was about a four hour adventure. I made a really good playlist for the walk; I still think of Sonic Youth when I look at my photos of the Pacific Golden-Plover. Here’s the playlist:

1. Fuego!- Murder By Death

2. Hell or High Water- William Elliott Whitmore

3. Forever Young- Alphaville (cheezy, I know, but my favorite song ever since I was 14 years old)

4. Tomorrow, Wendy- Concrete Blonde

5. Someone Like You- Adele

6. Telephone- Lady Gaga (fuck yeah, get over it)*

7. Get By-Talib Kweli

8. In The Aeroplane Over the Sea- Neutral Milk Hotel

9. Unfulfilled- Quicksand

10. Tell ‘Em- Sleigh Bells

11. Death Valley ‘69- Sonic Youth

12. Wolf Like Me- TV on the Radio

13. Break My Stride- Matthew Wilder

Portland, Oregon. Most people my ageish associate it with a television show, hipsters, strip clubs, bars, rampant drug use and someone named Mary Coolidge…not birds. I’ve birded and barred there a little bit, but…what is it like being a birder in Portland? What are the crucial spots?

Being a birder in Portland is pretty awesome. Easy access to the Pacific Ocean, Mt Hood, the Willamette Valley, the weird high desert of central Oregon, Mt St Helens, just sooooo many different habitats. Of course, within Portland city limits are tons of amazing parks too. My favorite is Kelley Point Park, where the Willamette River meets the Columbia. It’s where I first saw that Osprey as well as those Bald Eagles. Plus my dogs love it.

Any other blogs you want to give props to?

BB&B, duh. Seriously, though, there are so many great local blogs: Nature Nut Notes, Pacific NW Backyard Birder, Slugyard, Bound To Bird, Fledgling Diaries, NW Bird Blog...there are more that I’m forgetting I’m sure.

And now for the final wisdom….if you had to predated on by a particular bird, what would it be?

This question has been keeping me up at night. I don’t want to be pecked to death by a grackle. I don’t want to be drowned and shaken by a bittern. I don’t want to wrestle a heron. I don’t want to be snatched by an eagle or an owl. Fuck, I don’t know. I always thought death by mountain lion would be best. Just snap my neck and get it over with.

*The undedited video for "Telephone" is one of my favorite music videos of all time. I say that without irony. - The Editor

Yellowstone National Park

2011-09-12T13:13:00.000-05:00

Bison are easy to see in many parts of the park. They are massive, bizarre animals that you would not want to get charged by. Their low, rumbling groans seem more at home in Jurassic Park than Yellowstone.

Yellowstone River.

Green-winged Teals in eclipse plumage.

Not exactly a Yellowstone specialty, but here is an American Robin with gratuitous earthworm.

Pollination Party.

An Elk family. Notice unabashed ear-nibbling.

This big bull elk was in a state...itchy antlers? The velvet was just beginning to shed. I can't imagine lacking fingers to scratch an itch.

Barrow's Goldeneye juvenile. Or eclipse male? I've never seen them in the summer before.

Besides its scenery and wildlife, Yellowstone is legendary for its geothermal features. They are incredibly striking. This spring is at West Thumb Geyser Basin. More pictures soon!

Get Out Of Bed, Please Go Away, Get Out Get Out Get Out.

2011-09-10T11:06:00.000-05:00

It's Saturday. Do as the Social Flycatcher and join members of your fellow species. Try to strengthen your weak ties to the few people that give you any hope in humanity. This should consist of more than bragging about what birds you have seen recently on facebook. As you are a birder, I will assume that is all you are capable of...but there is hope. Birders are capable of having full and interesting lives, if you only try...I have seen it myself, and it is with great humility, modesty and humbleness that I can claim to have been told that I am in the same boat. Having a fulfilling relationship with a fellow human can amount to more than a mountain of death. Now, go forth and mingle. Saturday night is an excellent time for consuming bourbon, after all.