I Learned To Love The Virtues of Sweet Sally MacLennane

Harking back to Buldir Island....BB&B is proud to present its very first video of exclusive content. Today we have the legendary "Auklet Snake" of Main Talus. Main Talus has a huge colony of Crested, Least, Whiskered and Parakeet Auklets (mostly Crested and Least) that consists of.....well, only god knows how many birds there are, because its a lot. Every morning and evening a lot of these birds can be found flying around over the colony and just offshore, forming epic clouds of birds that can shift into such strange formations and change directions so quickly that it is difficult to imagine the coordination involved to do it. Sometimes one is lucky enough to be engulfed in The Snake (how often do you say that?), and its fair to say that you come out the other end a different person. Getting to see the Auklet Snake in person is easily one of the most moving and memorable spectacles in nature that I've ever seen....hopefully this video will at least give you some notion of what it's like. Sorry if it's a bit small, maybe I'll try Youtube next time....

The dapper Thick-billed Murre. 

Juvenile Song Sparrows typically look pretty dingy.

A Tufted Puffin with a bill load of squid. If you look at the enlarged image you can see the perpetual concerned expression on their face. Apparently being a puffin is very stressful.

Things are afoot. Summer plans are slowly coming into place, but right now its all about Mexico. I leave Wednesday night people. I am determined to go down there without getting robbed (or worse) this time, and plan on emerging as a full-fledged hawk counter with a bunch of good photos, another bumper crop of life birds, some non-robbery related stories and improved Spanish to boot. Hell, I might even learn to roll my r's, which currently is a skill that I find baffling. Comprende? 

Northern Fulmar.

Lapland Longspurs are really fun to have around. They don't behave anything like they do in winter, skulking around in the grass and the dirt and generally being very difficult to view. Longspurs were probably the most abundant songbird on Buldir, but don't hold me to that.

Boating is not as fun when your outboard doesn't work. Photo by Sara Kennedy.