1 Coquette Humming, 2 Leaftossers Tossing, and a Quetzal in an Avocado Tree.

Nothing quite warms the heart like a Parasitic Jaeger bathed in the golden light of a setting sun. But soon I will be trading my treasured tern-chasing jaegers for birds more comfortable following army ant swarms; just something I will have to live with. Photographed at Half Moon Bay, CA.

Well birders. I'm off to the land of Spangle-cheeked Tanagers and Magenta-throated Woodstars with The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive. Things may be quiet here for a while, and I am worried that my readers will fall into a catatonic state of depression. I've come to realize that birders need BB&B...we have truly become a monument to a kind of savvy wisdom that is missing from much of this birding world, where the prevailing culture often carries a bland but bitter taste. But, for good or ill, the world will continue to turn and luckily there are still birds out there for you to find.

Felonious Jive, the Great Ornithologist, has some parting words for 2012 over at 10,000 Birds. While he will surely lose his year listing competition, Bostick and I are still neck and neck, with a difference of only 9 species (NIB)...I have pulled ahead in the last week with the celebrity Gray Hawk, a Grace's Warbler, Vesper Sparrows, Prairie Falcons and some unexpected Chestnut-collared Longspurs. My last new U.S. bird of the year was a Le Conte's Thrasher on the Carrizo Plain, possibly one of the very same individuals that were my last new 2011 year birds. That's some full circle shit right there.

Bostick tells me, "I will win and you will lose", but only on the night of December 31 will we find out who will be forced to hang up their binoculars...for good.

See you soon nerds.

The American Mothmasher, The Good Vireo, and The Dixie Warbler

It is December, and I still am not done stoking/bumming people out (depending on your attitudes towards jealousy) on my October Dry Tortugas trip. Hopefully I'm throwing enough other birds in the blog cocktail to keep things interesting...anyways, although American Redstart is one of the most abundant North American warblers, you don't hear anyone complaining. No one doubts the face-melting power of an adult male.

Moths are a popular item for destruction by migrant passerines on Garden Key. They are often a bit big for warblers and vireos to immediately gulp down, so it was not infrequent to see birds brutally bashing them to bits to make them a more manageable size for consumption.

Never have I witnessed such an act of ruthless moth-bashing, but I have to give credit to the redstart for being effective. Next time I am faced with a piece of living food that is too big to swallow whole, I will simply hit it against things over and over again until is smaller.

Booby Brittany photographed this Philadelphia Vireo with a point and shoot. We walked right up to it. Like a dumbass, I did not have my camera on me for some reason. In case you are wondering, yellow vireos are good vireos. In fact, this is one of those species that is often on birders lists for having a crappy name (this is not a particularly common bird in Philly)...why not "Good Vireo"? No one doubts the instrinsic goodness of this uncommon, exceptionally positive bird.

Magnolia Warblers are best observed when on the ground, 10 feet in front of you. This is a bird that warms the heart.

Fort Jefferson. From the outside, looking in.

From the inside, looking out.

Indigo Bunting, probably a hatch year bird. It will be a long stretch of buntingless months before they start reoccupying the country in April.

Why hello Ovenbird. No, I don't mind you hopping around my feet like a goddamn House Sparrow, make yourself at home.

Prairie Warbler is another one of those misnamed birds, although "prairie" does have a nice ring to it. I propose it be rechristened Dixie Warbler. Now that really has a ring to it. Only saw 1 or 2 on Garden Key, although they must move through in big numbers.

One of the most unexpected birds I found on Garden Key was this American Coot. It takes a lot for a coot to make it to the hallowed pages of BB&B, but since this one had found itself in the middle of nowhere, that's good enough for me.

Pic of The Week: Connecticut Warbler

Being masters of skulk, Connecticut Warbler is one of the birds in highest demand north of Mexico. This bird, photographed at Point Reyes, CA, is only the second one I've seen. The last time I saw uberbirder Rich Stallcup, he calmly pointed out this mega trotting around under some cypresses at Mendoza Ranch. Rich passed away a few days ago; Kenn Kaufman wrote a great piece about him right here.

I came. I saw. I birded. I photographed. I eBirded. I cried because I have no friends.

Dusky-capped Flycatcher was one of the first rarities I laid eyes on earlier this year, in San Francisco. This bird in Gary Bloomfield's yard last week in Arcata was sweet, Mexican icing on the proverbial bird cake. Zehndner Ave., Arcata, CA.

How is that for a title eh? Talk about the birding Zeitgeist. Luckily, I have a plethora of nonbirding friends whom keep me from falling into that dreaded social cesspool that contains birders who only know other birders. Are you a nonbirder? Do you know a birder who has no "normal" friends? Adopt a birder today, or they will be doomed to a life of weird sexual encounters (urgent message for bird nerds: ladies don't have cloacas, men don't have weird corkscrew duck penises) and correcting other people's spelling errors on Facebook. How embarrassing!

Right, just a thought. Last week I was up in Humboldt County, where I got two (2) county birds, Dusky-capped Flycatcher and Franklin's Gull, and my 2012 White-throated Sparrow, Ferruginous Hawk, the aforementioned gull, and a Lewis' Woodpecker in Mendocino County. Great successes, all.

Aside from that trip, birding has been pretty mellow lately. I have not chased any of the hot California birds (Falcated Duck, White Wagtail, Gray Hawk), and I become more and more agitated by the day that I don't have a goddamn Swamp Sparrow for the year. I spent over an hour looking for one the other day and failed...the embarrassment caused by that episode was only forgotten when I got my first San Francisco Ross' Goose at the end of the day. Did I mention I'm not a county lister? Ahem. Right...well at this point, I am really fiending for a few more year birds...Bostick is just a few birds behind me, and I can feel the Fear and Loathing growing in my spine.

I'm not sure if this bird is still being seen or not, although people were finding it on the regular for a couple of weeks or so. It gets bloody cold at night in Arcata, not the sort of place a Dusky-capped Flycatcher should be wintering.

This talented bird even did a Nutting's Flycatcher imitation. And yes, only high-ranking birders will understand this joke.

Aside from Swamp Sparrow, I have a number of other embarrassing misses for the year. No Solitary Vireo of any kind. No Hammond's Flycatcher. No Red Crossbill. No White-headed Woodpecker. No Townsend's Solitaire. This is what happens when you year list without doing a Big Year. But there have been so many other quality birds that I met in 2012 that I cant even think of complaining.

Of course the big news is that I will soon be birding with Corey Finger, one of the bird barons that runs birding uberblog 10,000 Birds. With our birdosphere powers combined, there is no telling what we can find. Hopefully I can convince him to do all of the day's eBirding...

A Great Egret shows off its Victorian almost-crest. Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA.

One of my rare flash shots that I actually like. The white is so intense...

Ah, the pink and green woodpecker, a sight for sore eyes. This is one of the best birds the American West has to offer. This distant Lewis' Woodpecker was at Potter Valley, CA.

Maybe the geese that winter in weird urban parks have it all figured out...there's no hunters! This is the Greater White-fronted Goose of Lake Merced, San Francisco, CA.

Common Goldeneye is one of the many diving ducks that shed their wariness when they winter at  Oakland's Lake Merritt. I wish their Barrow's brethren would do the same... 

This female Common Goldeneye has the typical gray and yellow bill pattern for her species and gender: Barrow's females usually have an all yellow or orangish bill. Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA.

While birding in the Ferndale bottoms, Rob Fowler spotted a Franklin's Gull foraging right next to the road. You gotta love the bottoms in winter, they are brimming with rarities. I only got a poor picture of it though, so here is a better picture of a similar one. Des Lacs National Wildlie Refuge, ND.

A Western Nashville Warbler. Have you started identifying these birds to subspecies yet? The bird powers at be tell me they might be split into different species down the road. Photographed along the Salt River in the Ferndale Bottoms, CA.

What kind of gore has this Great Blue Heron been getting in to? Pillar Point Harbor, CA.

The Yellow-billed Magpie: Our Endemic Virus-Battling Bereaver

California, due to the virtue of its size and location, is blessed with a number of birds that are difficult to find outside of the state. This helps make it the prime birding location that it is, but that's not all we have. We can also boast not one but TWO true endemics that are neither found in Mexico or any other states. How many other continental states can claim this? Florida, with its own scrub jay? I think that's it.

Yellow-billed Magpie is the endemic of the day, since I haven't seen Island Scrub-Jay in years. Magpies can be found pleasuring birders (strictly visually and audibly, of course) from Santa Barbara County north to Shasta County. Unlike their Black-billed relatives who dwell in the lands of snow and sage, Yellow-billeds are closely tied to low elevation oak woodlands and select agricultural areas.

Although still common in many areas, it is suspected that West Nile Virus has killed off a huge number of these birds, as much as half of their entire population at one point. We can only hope this endemic epidemic does not escalate.

Both Black-billed and Yellow-billed Magpies are known to participate in "funeral behaviors", where members will congregate at the body of a recently deceased bird, preen the deceased's feathers, make a lot of vocalizations and even deposit fresh vegetation next to the corpse. Chimps and elephants are also known for funeral behaviors (which they do differently, of course), but its pretty cool that our humble magpie is known for its expression sessions.

I have no doubt that, if it were able to, a Yellow-billed Magpie would pour out a 40 oz. for a fallen flock member.

It has been extirpated in some parts of its range, but magpies have had a stable population for decades until West Nile arrived in California. Hopefully the remaining birds are more resistant to the virus. The peak of their decline was in 2004-2006; things seem to have mellowed for them in the following years. Think of all the magpie funerals that went down back then...whole flocks must have gone to forage to that Great Oak Tree In The Sky.

All photos were taken on the western edge of Davis, CA.

Running Amok Around Garden Key

Running amok around Garden Key may or may not yield many birds...but there will always be Sandwich Terns. Well, in fall, at least.

I have crossed the Rubicon (or was it the Eel River?), and finally have returned to Humboldt County, where birds and birders and plentiful and everyone is high (especially the birders). I won't be here much longer, but its been good times. This place has been riddled with birders for years, and its been good to see a bunch of familiar faces again. My 2012 year list has grown to be even more corpulent in the last week, but with Bostick taking a trip to Hawaii, he is back in the lead again. Fuck. Maybe I will end up winning the year in the NIB category (that's Non-Introduced Birds, for you less nerdy people), but he may take the overall cake. Time will tell.

Here's some more scenes from the Dry Tortugas. Its easier to take pictures there than in Humboldt County.

Meet the first Swainson's Thrush to grace the pages of BB&B. This indelible Catharus of catharsis spent a day tamely hopping through our campsite, deftly avoiding the enormous hermit crabs that littered the ground.

Look at this White-eyed Vireo. It looks like it's teleporting into another dimension. That's where they really go in winter.

More teleporting. This one looks more like a Blue-eyed Vireo (***MEGA***).

The outer wall and moat at Fort Jefferson. Not a bad perch up there.

American Kestrels are another one of those birds that can be hard to talk about, because everyone knows what a kestrel is and how great they are. The roof of Fort Jefferson turned out to be a good place to get flight shots of them as they zoomed around having territorial battles.

Northern Parula sez: NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM
NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM

A barracuda making faces.

What a sweetheart.

This was the lone Northern Harrier that made it to Garden Key during my trip. I found her in a frigatebird flock.

Magnificent Frigatebird. The first one you see will trigger an agonizing reappraisal of all the birds you have previously seen that you hold so dear...they can really put the kibosh down on any motivation to watch non-charismatic avefauna.

WINTER IS COMING

I found this Black-and-white Warbler back in October at Lake Merced in San Francisco, CA. It stuck around for a while; the one time I saw this bird again after I reported it, people were completely losing their shit over it. That's cool and all, but the panicked mob that kept trying to stand as close to the bird as possible was more than I could handle.

Well birders. How is winter treating you so far? I wish I could have used this blog title sooner (which is a Game of Thrones cliche, obvi), but I am stuck in the glorious rut-glut of the Dry Tortugas. It's not like I haven't been birding locally though, don't worry about that.

Now that the awkwardness of Thanksgiving is behind us, we can just focus on birds for a few weeks. Multiple colleagues of mine were rumored to almost have been killed over the holiday...which is a typical Thanksgiving for most people I know. I did my part and threw bourbon in somebody's face (it was obvious he needed that), so at least I have stopped my streak of not mentioning bourbon on this blog. I get a lot of complaints about that. Anyways, Christmas will soon come crashing down on everyone, stopping birding plans in their tracks from coast to coast, so we have got to get our winter birds when we can.

Now is the time! So get out there. Find the White-winged Crossbill. Find the Northern Shrike. Find the Snowy Owl, the Iceland Gull, the Snow Bunting. You may fail in your quest to find these birds, for it has been said, "In this world, only winter is certain". But it is better to have toiled and struggled in the snows and icy wastes with scope and binoculars than to cower in a tepid fear of failure in your big, lonely apartment.

I have to admit, it was pretty confiding (I said it!), whether upside or right side up.

Black-and-white Warblers are legendary for being impervious to the forces of gravity.

This is now officially my best Yellow Warbler shot. Time to break out the champagne. It's sweet-sweet-sweet-oh-so-sweet. That's birder humor right there, in case you missed it. Photographed at Lake Merced.

This is one of two Tropical Kingbirds that spent at least a month at Lake Merced. Some people saw them at retina-bursting close range, but that usually happened early in the morning...which is something I don't see a lot of (you know, Perpetual Weekend and all...).

One of the now famous "Devil Birds" that will soon turn Lake Merced into a biological cesspool of evil and filth. If you are unfamiliar with this story, it's just a Great-tailed Grackle that needs to look at itself in a mirror.

People are naturally drawn to chubby birds with short tails, so I know you are getting your kicks in with this young White-crowned Sparrow regrowing its tail. It most likely lost its tail in a close call with a predator. Hayward Regional Shoreline, CA.

Golden-crowned Sparrow is a west coast specialty. The sight of an adult Golden-crown mellowly frolicking through the morning dew makes the heart soar (not "sore") and the eyes water. It's an emotional bird. Lake Merced, CA.

The gray. The black. The GOLD. What a bird.

Green-winged Teal. Look at this plump little bastard. Now that its December and winter has come, ducks are going to be looking real sharp compared to their crappy fall coats. Radio Road, Redwood Shores, CA.

Northern Pintail is widely recognized as America's best dabbling duck. I am not one to argue with this...evolution has made the pintail one of the best examples of what can be accomplished within subtle confines of The Economy of Style. Photographed at Radio Road.

Just when you thought a drake pintail only had about 4 colors to offer, it busts out a purple patch on its head. Damn, what a bird.

Even when you've seen a billion, and you have pictures of a million, American Avocets fail to get old...especially in winter when they aren't shrieking their shrill death-calls at you.  Photographed at Radio Road.