The Only True Messiah

Saw this in Everglades National Park....took me back to my mollusking days in Trinity County. All hail the mollusk.

Hello (m)asses. How are the th(r)ongs today? Positive, I hope. Because there is so much catatonically depressing, soul-crushing shit that goes down every day, that it can be hard to stay afloat sometimes. Most people cope, either knowingly or not, by keeping themselves in the dark as much as possible....all the way from their own problems to global events. And who can blame them? Well....I can....but only to a certain extent. When such ridiculous entities like Glen Beck and The Tea Party and Sara Palin and The Church of Scientology are presented as being legit.....a lot of us don't even have a chance. When the people are groomed to think and behave like sheep, there will be no one left to defend us from the wolves*.



Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the beach at Virginia's Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I saw more of these on that beach than I'd seen in my entire life.

Well that's a little heavy for so early on a Wednesday morning. I'm in Ventura, listening to the scrub-jays holler to eachother in the backyard. My fall tour isnt over yet, but I think its safe to say that Ive done most of the birding I'm going to do. I snagged 11 or 12 new birds, which brings my total of lifers up to 25 or so since July. Combined with all the new birds I saw on Midway Atoll earlier this year, I've seen more new birds this year since.....uh.....well, I don't even know. I'm pretty stoked about it though. The only last American "frontiers" that have a lot of new birds for me are in Alaska and the East Coast's offshore areas. But who cares? Bird-frenzies are best kept to one's self.



Anhingas are one of the characteristic birds of Florida. They don't have waterproof feathers so they are always hanging out and sunning themselves in between fishing trips underwater. Rad birds.

And then, it's probably best to go south. See what Mexico has to offer. Ride fast, live slow. Learn the way of the ground-cuckoo, which spends its life rolling around in the dirt and skulking around in the brush. It's a humble existence, punctuated with eating various lizards and insects. But that's what they are cut out for....they wouldnt want it any other way. What am I best adapted to?

Wow, this isn't really going anywhere today. I have a job interview in a few hours, which I'm not looking forward to. It's interfering with my unemployment.



Common Moorhen. There are scads of them in Florida. Not as sexy as Purple Gallinules, but they get pretty close sometimes.

* = Killing wolves in order to protect private property (livestock) is completely heinous and will be (and has been) a primary factor in the de-listing of any populations. Ranchers do love to shoot them, but I suppose they would prefer to do it legally......