500 Posts of Poignant Nerdogance

Western Bluebird, aka The Bluebird of Hedonism. Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego.

Blogger tells me I have now published over 500 posts here at BB&B. I feel proud to have served the Birdosphere for these four (4) years, neither coddling the lowest common denominator of birdwatchers or making this completely uninteresting and mysterious to nonbirders. I promise you, nerds, I will continue to forge on, bringing avian light to the dark and shitty waters of the interwebs. For reasons I cannot begin to fathom, I still am lacking a giant corporate sponsor (Are you there, Leica? It's me, Seagull Steve)...of course, we are all better off without one of those....except when it comes to being able to afford the fuel that drives every successful bird blogger; cocaine.

What I'm trying to say is thank you, friends, readers, and frenemies, for indulging The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive's hubris and narcissism, and making BB&B the overwhelmingly moderate success it is today. Ya'll make me bashful.

A hunting Northern Harrier. Harriers, for me, are ridiculously hard to photograph for some reason. This one was plenty close but she wouldn't even bother to look up. Complete rubbish. Border Field State Park, CA.

You may also appreciate the fact that my love and adoration of bourbon whiskey remains strong, although here in San Diego people are not very good at drinking whiskey, which does not surprise me at all. That said, I can't say anything bad about that, because I finally found a market that sells mezcal near my house. Although I haven't bought a bottle yet, I can assure you upon finding it I was overjoyed. The benefits of living near the border far surpass mere birding opportuinities. Mezcal, for those of you who haven't spent much time in Mexico, is best described as a sort of smoky tequila. It is amazing.

This Little Blue Heron just fledged. I like its crazy-old-man hair, I feel like it should have the eyebrows to match. Sea World, San Diego, CA.

I have less than a month to go as a resident of the whale's vagina, and I plan on seeing hella birds and getting out to the Salton Sea one more time. After that, I migrate back to my wintering grounds of San Francisco, where I need procure some sort of tree cavity to make a home in. Anyone know of anything? I will use a nest box as well.

It is nice to be 500 posts deep into bird blogging and not be faced with the task of making an agonizing reappraisal of your entire life. Thanks again nerds. Oh, if you don't know what nerdogance is, you should...many birders suffer from this.

Sora! I was camped out in some mud to get Black-necked Stilt photos when this bird tentatively peered out of the reeds. I got some better shots, but I feel like this one really captures what it is to be a Sora. Lindo Lake, Lakeside, CA.