I Look At My Close Friends, They Wear Expressions Of Concern

Black-chinned Hummingbirds frequently lurk at our feeders.

Alaska tickets have been purchased.   Damn!  Life is crazy sometimes.  I just had to take a nap in order to grapple with this concept.  Over 3 months on Buldir Island......wow....this experience will make Midway look like a thriving metropolis in comparison.  Luckily for me and the four (4) other inhabitants of the island, the great ornithologist Felonious Jive will also be there to aid in the identification of any facemelting Siberian vagrants that may drop by.

This Flame-colored Tanager lives a few miles away as the hummingbird flies in Madera Canyon...I've seen him 4 years in a row now.  Like the Rufous-capped Warbler up the canyon here (which I did not see today), this is generally the only individual known to be in the United States at any given time.  He manages to encompass every shade of orange possible, and is a true crippler.

On the home front, I don't have much epic to report.  I finally saw my first Hammond's of the Flycatcher of the year this morning, a Hepatic Tanager was around earlier, and for some reason an Osprey landed in a nearby snag for a hot minute at dusk yesterday.  In grandiose fashion, I decided to name the pair of Magnificent Hummingbirds that come to our feeders, seeing as we see them just as often as the people who live up here and they have been around for a few weeks.  You'll learn about them later.  The crew is taking a 3 day trip to Puerto Penasco, Mexico in a couple weeks in order to bask in the sun with frigatebirds and boobies, and to remember what its like to have food poisoning.  My last Mexico trip left me in a wretched, painful state for over 2 weeks, and I was taught the valuable lesson that life is pain.

Part of a large kettle of Turkey Vultures that were looking to settle in for the night along the Santa Cruz River near Tubac.

I just realized that BB&B is quickly coming up on 200 posts, which is a milestone of sorts.  I think we have now established BB&B as an indelible figurehead of the blogosphere, a narcissistic and visceral monument to everything birds and their watchers do not stand for, and its all thanks to you.  Expect another interview from the Human Birdwatcher Project, more candid Birders As Art portraits, and possibly even a slight improvement in the photography....the birder pornography many of you have requested is, for good or ill, still only on the drawing board.  I am excepting submissions however.

The sign says it all.

Next week we will be working for six days, and I will be doing the last officially burly point count routes that I have not gotten around to yet.  Carr Peak, featured in the previous post, may be in competition with the Santa Ritas' Mount Wrightson (see photo above) in terms of snowy brutality, but at least we know there are birds up there now, so all is not lost.....