You've Been Blessed With Wild Desire

Man. So I just wasted a lot of gas for a totally bogus trip to Hawk Mountain, one of the world's best places to see large numbers of migrating raptors. Its world famous. Ive known about it for years, and I figured I had to do it while I still had time. Of course, the weather has decided to shit on Pennsylvania for the last several days, and I managed to see one (1) raptor while I was there. This is what the kids would call an "epic fail". And now I'm typing this blog with some kind of awful gut-rot corroding my innards, the weather is worsening by the second, and I can't even go birding. Hell, I can't even drink coffee, for fear of causing some kind of irreversible damage. True, I will be visiting my personal physician in Milwaukee next weekend, but its a risk I'm not willing to take. At least I can listen to Off With Their Heads, which always makes wallowing in misery more enjoyable.

Autumn weather has really taken a solid hold in this part of the world. The air is crisp, with the smell of the death of summer hanging in the wind. The leaves on many trees are a mix of greens, yellows, golds, coppers, reds, orange(s), maroons, you name it. It's great, actually, when going outside is a bearable experience. A classic Hank Williams verse comes to mind.....

Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves begin to die?
That means he's lost the will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry.

Among all the bird lyrics out there, I think thats pretty poignant. If only what passes for country still these days still had that sound....now we have "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk". Jesus.

Here are some recent pictures from the nearby Powdermill Reserve, where Tarabuddy bands huge numbers of migrants every day.



Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, a species lusted after by many hapless California birders.




Philadelphia Vireo, which apparently significantly outnumber Warbling Vireos in the fall here.



An adult male Mourning Warbler. Aside from this duder, I haven't seen any this year.



Tara, of El Centro fame, shows a Black-throated Blue Warbler who's boss.

Well It Ain't No Thing And It Ain't No Sweat

So I dream about birds a lot. Yes, its very nerdy and embarrassing, I know, I know. It is all sorts of species, and always in color (how else would I identify them?). Last night a Connecticut Warbler came to me. I have taken it at a sign. Since I didn't see one while walking the turbines today (although I did see my first Orange-crowned Warbler in the state), I think I need to lurk down to my patch and give it a shot.

Don't think it will work? My colleague once dreamt about a hybrid Fork-tailed X Vermillion Flycatcher (he had never seen either before), which was probably one of the best dreams that have ever been dreamt by anybody. Anyhow, the very next day he was looking at both species at the same time. Bam.

I'll let you know how it turns out. In the mean time, check out these Broad-winged Hawk and Turkey Vulture pictures from the Allegheny Front hawkwatch site.

Those Anarcho Punks Are Mysterious

From today's G20 protests. Picture by Getty Images.

The G20 Congeal In Pittsburgh

"We're born, hired, disposed
Where that job lands, everybody knows
And you can tell by the smile on the CEO
That the environmental restraints are about to go.
You can bet that laws will be set to ensure the benefit
Of unrestricted labor laws
All kept in place by displaced government death squads.
They own us. They produce us. They consume us.
Can you fucking believe this? What a stupid world."

- From Propagandhi's "...And We Thought That Nation-States Were A Bad Idea"

Remember that song? That song was a big stepping stone into punk rock for a lot of people who grew up in the nineties. Like any classic its just as relevant today as it was back in 1996, particularly now.

Which is a good segue into the topic of today. The G20, the nations (as opposed to the corporations) possessing the world's biggest economies, are meeting in a couple days here in Pittsburgh to discuss how to get the world economy back on track. To those who don't focus on politics or activism much, there isn't a very clear understanding of what is actually going on here. Typically, major media markets are already focusing more on the protests that are about to spring into action rather than any details of the meetings themselves. They treat the protests as a spectacle of crazed hippies and communists who took a leap into the deep end of the left, and rarely acknowledge the reasons thousands of people rally at events such as this. Most people have no idea why these people are even here.

I found something that can give a quick but accurate synthesis on all this, which is posted for your convenience below. The actions that result of decisions made at closed-door meetings like this have the potential to affect everyone, and this is why people give a shit. And if you are wondering what this has to do with birds.....the economic activities of any government has direct impacts on the environment and consumption of natural resources. In hard economic times, environmental policies invariably turn lax....whether it be emissions, pollution, the size of a catch, deforestation....you name it. This typically is most prevalent in third world countries, of course. "Not in my backyard!".

"The economic disaster of the recent days needs no introduction: mass unemployment, skyrocketing inflation, and non-existent credit markets plague the developed world, while in the global south, the rising cost of food and fuel have led to hunger riots and increased poverty and destitution. According to the United Nations, the number of people currently living on the brink of starvation is nearly 1 billion, the large majority of the hungry being women and children. At the same time, wars for imperialism, immigration restrictions, environmental destruction, tuition hikes, and prison populations are exploding.

And how have global leaders responded to the demands of the people, to deadly riots for rice in the developing world and university and factory occupations in the global north? By spending billions of dollars buying up bad loans and bailing out transnational banks, corporations. Thus far, nearly $8 trillion of the people’s money has been spent supporting the global elite. Without transparency and without a voice, the global working class has been robbed to support the faulty investments of a privileged few.

Now, Obama has called another meeting of the twenty richest countries in the world in Pittsburgh, a working-class city that is intensely affected by the economic meltdown to discuss how best to continue failed policies such as neoliberalism, privatization, deregulation, and billion dollar bailouts. As their number one priority, this elite "Group of Twenty" leaders and finance ministers will be increasing the power and scope of the International Monetary Fund by trillions of dollars, an unaccountable institution that has imposed loan conditions, abject poverty, and environmental devastation on billions of people in the developing world to benefit corporate profits. It is time the G20 learned that capitalism isn’t in crisis, but capitalism IS the crisis. It is time that the G20 disband forever in shame."

- From Radical Students Against The G20

Go here if you want to get involved with the festivities.

It's Just Like Going To A Funeral

A few Philadelphia Vireos graced me with their presence while I was at Presque Isle. This one was in a big flock of warblers, but always kept close to its Ruby-crowned Kinglet buddy. While following the flock around, I knew that whenever I saw the kinglet the vireo would invariably appear a few moments later.



Black-capped Chickadees are one of the friendliest eastern birds. Maybe thats why you can always find a lot of other migrants with them.



Yeah....this was my only well-photographed bird the whole weekend.



There were a lot of Common Map Turtles, which I'd never seen before.



Here's a closer look.



"Traill's" Flycatcher. Either a Alder or a Willow....impossible to know without hearing a call note. Note the mild eye ring, which western Willow Flycatchers lack. Its species like this that make people scared to even look at certain birds....and yes, it is because they are ferocious man-eating predators, not because it is easier to summit Mount Everest than it is to accurately identify them.



If you ever get the chance, drop by Presque Isle for some great birding. Don't do it during a marathon though.

But What About The Bourbon?

I think I have been misleading you, the loyal fans and supporters of BB&B. There's been a lot of talk of birds, a couple scathing interviews with the bastards of my personal Honor Roll, but little talk of bourbon. So in an effort to diversify this blog, yet focus the scope (no pun intended), I'm going to talk a little bit about whiskey today.

Let me make a few things clear. Whiskey (and this includes scotch) is by far my favorite liquor. It's great to drink by yourself, when youre sitting around naked with a guitar pondering how awesome/brutally awful life is, or just passing a flask between you and a friend, at a crowded bar, or a raging party. It is one of your best friends on a camping trip. It cures diseases and acts as a local anesthetic. Lets be frank here.....its basically a miracle liquid.

Lets compare some other contemporary beverages.....drinking vodka by yourself is just sad, and unless you are willing to throw down some serious flow, its pretty gross if you drink it straight (I do love Belvedere though). Tequila? Special occasions, parties, Mexico, or if you do not mind becoming rapidly and extremely intoxicated. There is a reason that this is the most dreaded liquid among young Americans today (Felonious Jive, 2009)....although I am not one of them. Rum? Rum is primarily for amateurs, although it is appropriate in tropical environs.

That leaves us with stuff like gin, brandy, etc., which I dont think are in the same league with the other stuff. No explanation necessary.

So thats just a quick background. My first whiskey of choice was none other than Wild Turkey....not because of the bird connection, but more likely due to its availability, cheap price tag and implicit endorsement by Hunter S. Thompson (Thompson was also a fan of Chivas Regal, which is not bad at all). I partake in Irish and American whiskeys more often than Canadian or Scotch, but all can be quite good.

Now, as Jordan Sparks finishes the National Anthem, I'm going to sit back with my Jim Beam Rye and watch the Giants take on the Cowboys in their Death Staresque new stadium. More bird pictures coming soon.

I've Become What I Hate

Good God. Look at this abomination. Two giant, jet black mutant feet. A massive, Hutt-like torso, with some sort of gull head protruding off to one side, all in a guise of angelic whiteness.



Actually, its an unseasonal Tundra Swan hanging out with a gull flock at Presque Isle.



Warblers are not easy to photograph, particularly when you are not posted up at a water source and can have them come to you. That would be too easy. Usually, the pictures you get end up looking like this Magnolia Warbler and Black-capped Chickadee.



But sometimes they come out a little bit better.





Least Flycatcher. This species, and other members of its genus, have been causing aneurysms and epilepsy among birders for as long birders have existed, due to the extreme difficulty in telling them apart.

The Face Is Blank But The Gears Are Turning

A large number of people, all out to get me.

For years, long-distance runners have tried to ruin my life. I hung out with them. I lived with them. I befriended them. I partied with them. I've been caught in their tangled drama webs, which athletic people can't get out of, let alone me. The drummer and guitar player of my first band (the almighty xTALENTSHOWx) were runners....I even wrote the lyrics for a song called "Pain Thresh", which pertains to their vigorous training regimen, but it never got put to music. I dated a runner for 6 months....she admirably quit, but she dated one before me and talked about him (albeit extremely negatively) entirely too much.



Presque Isle's Thompson Bay, looking idyllic.

So I was not surprised at all at the sight I beheld at Presque Isle State Park when I arrived early Sunday morning. Presque is on the edge of Lake Erie, about three hours north of where I live, and is understood to be best be the best spot to observe large numbers of migratory birds in the state. I had been anticipating going up there for weeks, but as I entered the park I was immediately stuck in traffic. It turns out that there was a huge marathon with thousands of people running around the entire length of the park, at the peak of fall migration. It was devastating, yet very typical. I couldnt go anyplace without hearing onlookers yelling "WOOOOOOOO! YEAH! WOOOOOOOOOO! KEEEEEEP RUNNNNNNNNNINGGGGGGG WOOOOOOOO!". Needless to say, my heart was filled with hate, and there were disappointingly low numbers of birds around that day. On Monday there was a huge push of birds though, which more than made up for the bummer that was much of Sunday.



My sources tell me this is a Norther Leopard Frog.



I think it came from outer space.

I also learned something on Monday. I saw my first Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, and I have learned that they are awesome. I've been searching for these little duders for a solid month now, and finally got good looks at one. Right after I saw it, a flock of Blue-winged Teal burst through the forest beneath treetop level, in a celebration of my Triumph and Victory. It was like when F-16s fly over the stadium of an NFL game, except not really. Very appropo though.

I don't know if I've mentioned this, and it seems obvious, but you can click on any of the pictures on here to see the full-sized version, which are sure to generate some ooooohs and aaaahs.

Bird Of The Day: Pine Warbler.



As promised, I managed to take a few bird pictures. This is an adult male American Redstart, a common migrant out this way. I'll post some more bird pictures next time.

Worse Things Happen At Sea

Hey! I'm going up to Lake Erie for a few days to sleep in the dirt and hang out with the birds. In the meantime, check out this link about bat-eating-tits! After reading this article, I would think twice about passing out in a cave....you might wake up screaming to a flock of tits disembowling you. On that note, have a good weekend, and do what you think is best, as always.....

The Ballad Of Sean Ryan

9/11. Judgement Day. Well.....maybe not. But a pretty big day nonetheless, right? I remember exactly where I was when I first heard about it....I was a sophomore at Humboldt State University. I was done with class for the day, and was walking back to my dorm through the community forest. My dorm colleague from the previous year (Sunset Third!), who I will call Matt In The Hat, was walking down the trail towards me. Matt was a stoner metalhead from Bakersfield, probably one of the few decent people to come out of that god-forsaken city. Oddly, he was also a practicing Quaker, who was always wearing some sort of leather fedora thing. He told me that someone had flown airplanes into the World Trade Center. Aside from the fact that a lot of people had probably died, the true meaning of this event, the consequences that we would have to live with for years to come, didn't really sink in for me. I think I got home in time to watch the second tower collapse into a pile of rubble.

The next day I was in my world geography class, which was in a massive room in Founder's Hall. I normally slept through it. But the professor had spent some time in the Middle East before, and had the dubious honor of taking a bullet in Afghanistan. He stated, very matter of factly, that we would be going to war with Afghanistan, and went on to explain why. This was days before the media even brought this up.

Of course, he was right, and 9/11 was a tragedy of grand proportions to all the victims and their loved ones.....and it was exactly what the Bush administration needed in order to run the country like their own used car dealership for the better part of a decade. Within a few years The American Dream had eroded into a garish nightmare, what Hunter S. Thompson would have called a "grim monument" to everything that could have been right with this country. Of course, this did not register in the thick skulls of most Americans until sometime in 2008, but by then it was too late. I am still reeling from it all, to be honest. I don't have any strong opinion either way on the 9/11 conspiracies....although I still find it very suspicious that fighter jets were never scrambled (which is the standard policy, then and now) to intercept any of the 4 planes that were highjacked. But that's not what this is about.

By late 2001 I was beginning to become, thanks to punk rock, college, and a few books, dimly aware of the goings-on in the world beyond what the major media outlets claimed. I was sickened by the newfound blind patriotism many people seemed to profess, and the loud, ringing drumbeat of a war with Iraq, that became louder with every passing week. The mountains of misinformation the Bush Administration and many Republican leaders were espousing (and many Democrats seemed to believe as well) were enormous. They couldn't be discounted fast enough. Texas Tea was on their minds from the start, but this was lost on the media, whom stared at Bush dumbly, with slack jaws and glazed eyes whenever he spoke. The Patriot Act passed without anyone reading it.

At some point, I obtained a large American flag that I proudly displayed upside down in the our large window that faced the street. Anyone driving or walking up to the Creekview dorms would see it if they looked up. It is understood that displaying Ol' Glory upside down was a sign of distress, and it represented my feelings about the state of affairs at the time.

One day I was sitting around with the legendary Matt Burks, when there was a knock at the door. A concerned-looking skinny white dude about our age stood outside. He said his name was Sean Ryan, and he lived above me. Without any prompting, he walked in and angrily asked me why the flag was hung upside down. I told him why, and he swore at me mercilessly, demanding that I take it down. Apparently, he couldn't stand looking at it every day....it made his heart flutter. His All-American sensibilities had been slighted. I explained to him that I had no reason to take it down at all, and there was nothing he could do about it. He finally lost control of himself, screaming at me and poor Burks about the victims on the planes, gesticulating wildly. It disturbed me to the point where I told him I would remove it, just to get the raving bastard out of my apartment. Burks and I were shocked at this experience of (albeit mild) oppression of our beliefs, in little ol' hippie-laden Humboldt County, no less. As promised.....I took the flag down.....and hung it upside down in another window instead, so that anyone entering our building had to see it. Sean Ryan never had the balls to come back, or even look me in the eye after that. But angry megapatriots tend to be blind anyways.

This is the time of year when my love/hate relationship with this country is at a peak. And now, this year, we are in the midst of an epic battle over health insurance. Once again people are completely polarized. Is the plan perfect? Hell no. A lot of my friends and colleagues still can't afford to pay it, and being fined for having no insurance is just an easy way to fund the program. But I do have to say that I support it. If it manages to pass with a public option in place, it is far, far better than the current situation (for the record, this is coming from someone who has no health insurance to speak of), and can at least serve as a crucial stepping stone to something better in the future. Republican lawmakers have once again outdone themselves to carry out exactly what insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry pays them to do, and the Fox News (which is, in turn, the direct mouthpiece of the Far Right) watching American public has once again proven themselves gullible enough to gobble up the bullshit like Thanksgiving stuffing. These are the people who learn about the world through "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" and new items on the McDonald's menu. The Ballad of Sean Ryan is being sung by these people across the country, and it is a sad song indeed. It will be replayed over and over again for years to come, but if we turn a deaf ear, maybe future generations won't have to relive 9/11 all over again.

Mongo Bird Love

Wow. So, in case you're not clear on this.....migration in the east is way, way better than it is out west. I don't care that California has a huge bird list.....in terms of passerines, the sheer volume of birds that passes through the eastern states in the spring and fall is staggering in comparison. If you've never been out to the eastern half of the U.S. during migration, youre missing out. For example, I saw dozens of warblers, comprised of 14 species today. American Redstart, Bay-breasted, Blue-winged, Black-and-white, Blackburnian, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Cape May, Chestnut-sided, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded, Magnolia, Tennessee and Wilson's. And you know what? It was fucking awesome. Crippling, actually. At one point I decided to not look at anything above eye level because there were too many birds to sort through. Also saw Canada and Nashville yesterday, for 16 species in a couple days with not a whole lot of effort. My inner nerd is completely fulfilled right now, and brimming with mongoloid bird love.

Next weekend I'm going to make the pilgrimage to Lake Erie to sleep in the dirt and worship the migrants of Presque Isle. For several days I'm going to run amok, trying to find The Flycatcher of Agony (Yellow-bellied Flycatcher), Gleaming Sandpiper of Victory (White-rumped Sandpiper), Invisible Doom Warbler (Connecticut Warbler), and Espionage Wetland Lurker (Sedge Wren), among others. Why I'm making up bizarre names for these species, I don't really know. Some things are better left unexplained. And so much for that bundle of nerdosity.



Right. I also need to take a picture of a bird, I guess. I have photographed exactly two (2) species since I've been here, which is kinda poor I suppose. I already posted one, so here is the other....a Grasshopper Sparrow from the Volant Strips.

I hope you are all having a good week of toil, and that your 40 hour grave is comfortable!

High Fives For Low Lives

Life and death continues to roll on under the turbines. There's been a bit of a lull lately in bat fatalities (probably weather related), but still a few manage to hurl themselves into the blades. Migrant birds move through one of the ridges we work on, and I was stoked to get lifer Cape May Warblers this week. Not crippling looks, but I did feel mildly handicapped for a while afterwards. We still haven't found any dead birds since the end of July, which suits me just fine. If I was a bird, I wouldn't want to fling myself into a massive Blade Of Death that flies through the air at incredible speed either. I don't see why the bats are into it, but then again they have senses that we can't even begin to relate to. Can you imagine having echolocation? Walking around yelling at stuff in the dark and being able to not only see where you are going, but catching food for yourself? Try it sometime.....preferably with a lot of other people around. They might find it interesting.

Here's a few recent pictures from my office. Hope you had a positive weekend!



A Red Eft troglodytes its way across a road. This is the immature terrestrial life stage of Eastern Newt, they look pretty different otherwise.



An Eastern Red Bat that got sentenced to Death By Turbine.



I don't know what to make of this, except that it kicks ass.



A Silver-haired Bat sleeps peacefully. Just kidding, its dead!



A sunrise taken from the field site. Note the ridge in the photo has its own suite of turbines.

No Analog!

Somewhere beyond the Thunderdome
Someday we just might find a home
Autonomistic paradise
Worth all the world at half the price
And we can all be happy there
Eat Soylent Green, breathe Soylent Air
And never rest our weary heads
We can all sleep when we're dead......

- Quoted by a bay area White-crowned Sparrow from 2070...or....From Star Fucking Hipsters' Immigrants and Hypocrites

Hi nerds! I have to admit, its hard to write about bird stuff all the time, particularly when I don't have face-melting megavagrant pictures to throw at you. Believe it or not, I have other things going on in my life. I know, I know. How can I be a real birder if I'm interested in.....*gulp*......other things? There's a big contradiction there, this is true. But what can I say? I can throw some bird lists at you and brag about all the cool shit I'm seeing (except for that treacherous unidentified warbler I saw today for a brief moment....a hatch-year Pine Warbler maybe? Jesus.), but who wants to read much of that? After all, I'm busy digging the new Paint It Black, Cobra Skulls, and Dear Landlord albums, mastering my guitar wizardry, and struggling to keep from falling into a pit of catatonic depression whenever Fox News comes on.

But in the end, it's all about fresh content, right? The venerable Point Reyes Bird Observatory just published what amounts to a doomsday report, trying to predict changes in California's birdlife as a result of climate change/global warming (read it for yourself here). I haven't gotten through the whole thing yet, but it comes across as some kind of Mad Max/Thunderdome scenario for most of California's birds. 2070 is the magic year, and the study attempts to characterize the shifts California's avefauna will undergo up until that time. It stops short of claiming that cowbirds and starlings will dominate all habitats after violently extirpating the rest of the state's birdslife in a brutal power struggle...but it is troubling indeed.

"Projections of future no-analog communities based on two climate models and two species-distribution-model algorithms indicate that by 2070 over half of California could be occupied by novel assemblages of bird species, implying the potential for dramatic community reshuffling and altered patterns of species interactions."

What does this mean? It means that birds are going to be forced to go new places as old habitat dissappears and make some new bird friends. This is the equivalent of The Grub moving to Compton or myself setting up shop at The Mustang Ranch. Some truly bizarre scenarios interspecies socializing is bound to occur, for good or ill. Maybe hummingbirds will start riding on the backs of geese after all. At any rate, check the various tables and figures for species-specific information, they cover 60 or so.



This Yellow-headed Blackbird from California's Imperial Valley pauses to ponder it's species being completely screwed.

I am a Scientist, but certainly not a climatologist, and I have no solid grasp of the climate models this study was based on and how accurate they may or may not be. I mean, predicting the future is hard. This is uncharted territory. Hell, most predictions about anything are wrong, let alone something as massive and complicated as the global climate 60 years from now. I do hope that in 2070, if I'm even still alive (which is completely possible, with the right amount of whiskey), that California's birds are still something like how it was when I started birding Ventura and Santa Barbara back in 1994, but I think that time's are a-changin'. But hopefully....we won't already be Beyond Thunderdome by then.

If only Marty McFly and Doc Brown were here.

Legislate Your Sad Opinions

Hey everyone! Just some encouragement to get out there and enjoy fall migration while it lasts. It's a fleeting thing, and definitely my favorite time of year to geek out on obscure brown and gray things. Last weekend I did some half-assed birding and managed 11 species of warblers (including Blue-winged, Blackburnian, and hordes of Black-throated Blues), Orchard Oriole, Swamp Sparrows, Barred Owl, Ruffed Grouse and a bunch of other eastern goodies. So quit watching that stupid VH1 show (I bet it's Tool Academy, huh?), listening to that crappy, overrated band (Dave Matthews, I'm looking at you), and checking Facebook as constantly as I do. There's no time to waste!

Ok, I'm going to go drink some Rolling Rock (it's windy, give me a break).