If You Stay Single, You Walk To Your Grave

One of the billions of avian supporters of BB&B, a Royal Tern glides by Florida's Ft. Clinch State Park.

The great ornithologist, Felonious Jive, once told me "If you build it, they will come". Sage advice, from one of the sagest sages to ever walk through the sagebrush in search of Sage Grouse, all the while being serenaded by Sage Thrashers. And so, with my own blood, sweat and tears, I built this blog up to be the towering monument to whatever birders the world over have birded and died for over all these years. Most of us who have been in the game a while know at least one person who has perished in the line of duty...for these people, I continue to do it for The Cause.

Of course, most people don't yet know the magnitude of BB&B. Like most suffering artists/writers/musicians/creators of good good things, my work probably won't be recognized for the greatness that it is until after I'm dead.....so I guess I better get to work, eh? It's a well-known fact that some of the most revered rockstars to walk/rock the planet died at the ripe old age of 27, which is the age I find myself presently mired in. But if this calculated, clearly well-thought-out plan doesn't work out, I'm destined to compete with the more popular birding blogs out there. And I'm just talking about the American market here...I can't even begin to think about going up with the mega-blogs that the British twitchers must have. But as a certain posicore band put it....today the scene, tomorrow the world!

The competition is stiff. There are a lot of blogs that have the backing of the birding establishment, of which I generally hover around but rarely dip into these days. These blogs get hundreds or thousands of hits a day, are littered with amazing pictures, and are sponsored by various organizations, including the wealthy and powerful optics mafia. The people who run them even know what the hell they are doing with a website.

What does BB&B offer? Well...aside from my sharp tongue and biting wit...its hard to say. I have no idea what I'm doing with a website (posting a link is the extent of webbilities), I try to write so both birders and nonbirders could both potentially derive some enjoyment (minus many, many points from birdwatchers), my camera equipment is antiquated, my knowledge of cameras is on par with my knowledge of Pterodroma identification (I know one when I see one), I swear (shit), and lately, I don't even go birding very often. So that firmly cements me in an atavistic underdog role among the birding blogs. Fortunately, my close relationship with one Felonious Jive may be my salvation....widely regarded as the most powerful birder this side of the Mississippi, his powers should never be underestimated.



Laughing Gulls are hard to come by in a lot of the country, so soak it in people. From Florida's Ft. Clinch State Park.

"Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed," he has told me. It's good advice. I must bird onward and upward.....but with much modesty. After all, BB&B won't be able to conquer the blogosphere alone.....we need YOU.

The last thing working against me(!) is the fact that most birdwatchers lack the sensibility to know that this is all tongue-in-cheek and almost everything I write is heavily laden with sarcasm. We're all on the same team here...most of the time.