When I Knew To Stop Looking

In an instant this first-year Herring Gull has transformed from a disgusting garbage-eater to a mind-boggling contortionist. Note that the preen gland on it's upper tail is exposed. Lake Merced, San Francisco, CA.

Good Thursday to you nerds. The only loose theme running through all these pictures today are birds doing some interesting poses...I purposefully avoided posting anything too graceful (well, except for the terns) as it would just be too easy to slap a bunch of herons and egrets in here and call it a day. Oh yeah, no flight shots either, them's the rules.

The crystal ball that is seasonal bird work is beginning to clear...my destiny grows easier to see by the day...an official migration announcement should happen soon!

A Bobolink takes a break from being Lord Of The Prairie and stretches out. Do you see how sharp it's tail feathers are? They have rapidly evolved in the past few decades to stab bird banders...interestingly, their distress calls given while in the hand sound uncannily like "I'm giving you tons of bird lice right now" and "I'll see you in Hell". Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, North Dakota.

Since they are so big-bodied, Canvasbacks often appear somewhat stubby-winged. This female is trying to buck the trend...I think she pulls it off. Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA.

Of course, courtship and territorial displays frequently entail some bizarre posturing. These male Great-tailed Grackles are both telling each other "Why don't you come at me bro?". Chavarrillo, Veracruz, MEX.

While appearing superficially gull-like on land (and somewhat confused to be on land in the first place), albatross become entirely different beasts when it comes to dancing. These Black-footed Albatross were seducing each other with their sick moves at Midway Atoll.

White Terns look good, there is no denying it. But when it comes down to making babies, they make it look more like a miracle. I can't tell you how many tears I shed watching this...eventually I ran out of water and cried blood. That's when I knew to stop looking. Midway Atoll.

Going from no-necked to fully extended, a Thick-billed Murre takes a gander at something on the cliff below. In a moment it will return from its moment of quasi-elegance to being fat, squat and cute. Buldir Island, AK.

Other birds aren't blessed with such long necks. This is about as far as a Clay-colored Sparrow can stick it's head out. It still a good-looking bird though (obvi). Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge, ND.

A Double-crested Cormorant throws it's wings out for air brakes and balance as it makes a brilliant landing. Lake Merced, CA.

While many sandpipers are comfortable being cloaca-deep in putrid mud, this Semipalmated Sandpiper is apparently a bit too dainty to get it's feathers dirty. It's wings are out for balance, to keep from sinking in too deep. White Lake, ND.

I know what you are thinking..."Whoa. I am really drawn to this image...it's affecting the shit out of me. It is a thing of beauty. I've never seen anything like it." Yeah, you guessed it, this is absolutely ART. That's why you are feeling so many emotions right now. You may also be feeling some jealousy, since this is actually a Slaty-backed Gull. Buldir Island, AK.

Some birds just aren't cut out for being graceful. This soggy Black-crowned Night-Heron was photographed at Lake Merritt.

A Tower To All The Nicer Things You Could Have Been

Mr. Common Nighthawk. Sorry I'm close to your nest, but the Piping Plovers invited me over.

Lately a lot of people have been asking me about North Dakota lately. They give me weird looks when I tell them where I've spent the summer. It's completely understandable. The best company to keep was birds, and they helped keep my sanity. In fact, they were such good company, I went birding all the time...I can only stand being forced to watch Two And A Half Men for so long, you know what I'm saying? For your sake, I hope you don't.

Whiskey is a good coping mechanism, but you can only take that so far...

Chesnut-collared Longspur in the middle of its crippling flight display. Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge, MT.

Bobolink. He look real good.

Vesper Sparrow. Woo!

Black Tern, the feisty fashionista of the tern clan.

Hand Dragon.

A Swainson's Hawk receives hatred from a Red-winged Blackbird.

A spangly Solitary Sandpiper.

A heavily worn Franklin's Gull. It's hard for gulls to look good at the end of the summer.

Sunset over Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge. Goddamn.

I'm In Another State, Another State Of Mind

Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel. Hella liney. Lostwood NWR, ND.

Between all the coffee, finding my lifer Hudsonian Godwit this morning, and realizing that I will be out of here in one week, I'm feeling pretty damn giddy. I'm even listening to some ancient Social Distortion that I haven't heard in years (Mommy's Little Monster). It's still good.

Mmmmmm....life birds. If only you nonbirders could understand all the connotations of seeing a new bird species, you would stop asking annoying questions like "Why the fuck do you watch birds?". A life bird brings on high levels of Stoke, with many different layers...everything from appreciating the aesthetic beauty of a bird for the first time, having (nerd) pride in finding it yourself, feeling some serious geeky redemption because you've been looking for the damn thing for the better part of your lifetime (as with me and the godwit).

It's an awkward question to give a casual answer to, especially since I don't have a prepared answer. I should just stick to "Birds are fucking sick, that's why"...because this is true, after all. And if someone is confused by what I mean by "sick", then that's even better.

Bobolink flight display. Ah, the halcyon days of...of...a couple months ago. Lostwood NWR, ND.

Even if you really don't give a shit about our feathered friends, it's kind of awkward to ask someone why they chose to pretty much have their life revolve around one thing. It would be like asking a Christian "So, what's the big deal about Jesus? Dude died hella long ago. Get over it." Or asking a business executive, "So....your entire adult life has revolved around nothing but making money? How is being greedy and shallow going for you?". I mean, I get it, birding is super weird, but the benefits it brings to the birder are often hard to describe, aside from the super casual birdwatcher or the most single-minded lister.

Seldom Seen Sedge Wren. Lostwood NWR, ND.

Strange thoughts on this highly-caffeinated Saturday afternoon.

In other bird news, almost all birdsong seems to be coming to an end here. Sedge Wrens are still going for it, bless their little hearts....I think I heard a couple Song Sparrows, Yellow Warblers, an Eastern Wood-Pewee and some American Goldfinches today. Goldfinches, of course, are notoriously late breeders...those other birds will probably be shutting up any day now.

Lastly, I recommend going over to Birdspot and checking out this article, particularly if you are a male birder. After getting bummed and hopefully thinking over that, check out the other posts, there is some facemelting bird art going on over there. Thanks to my compatriots at 10,000 Birds for drawing attention to that blog, its good stuff!

Orchard Oriole. Mmmmmm.....rusty. Lostwood NWR, ND.

This is from June...an immature (not juvenile) Western Meadowlark? I don't know anything about birds. Medicine Lake NWR, MT.

Purple Coneflowers, a common prairie native. White Lake, ND.

Wry Half-Truths From A Privileged Youth

Bobolink. Who does not sing praises of the blonde-haired black bird with the R2D2 voice?

And here we are. Late July is right around the corner, which means I only have one month left in North Dakota. To say that I'm stoked would be an understatement. Come August 20 I will hunt the horizon once more...Yellowstone National Park (for birding and charismatic megafaunaing), then Las Vegas (decidedly not for birding), then to the California coast. It will be truly cathartic to be among friends and like-minded souls once again, not to mention all the shows I have lined up (DESCENDENTS!!!!!!!!!!). But the price I will pay will be the hole left in my heart from the birds here. Shorebirds are beginning to migrate south already, but prairie celebrities like Sprague's Pipits, Baird's and Grasshopper Sparrows, and Chestnut-collared Longspurs are all still singing with gusto.

I do expect birds to quit singing within a couple weeks, but I am a stranger here. Who knows how long the breeders will keep at it? North Dakota is a bizarre place indeed.

One of the Chipping Sparrows that raised a fam next to my trailer.

Bank Swallows have recently shown up, presumably finished with breeding already.

Rad.

Redheads are common breeders around these parts. For some reason, Redheads and Ruddies are the only ducks around now who still bother to look good...all the other ducks are laying low in their homely eclipse plumages.

Upland Sandpiper. They are real, dignified sentinel birds, unlike those bullshit killdeer who just sit and there and scream. Any time you are walking around a wetland and take the time to look around, you may find an Upland high in the sky spying on you.

Wilson's Phalarope: THE SCOURGE OF THE PRAIRIE. I have come across a number of poor souls who have fallen to the needle-sharp bill of the phalarope. Their bodies are riddled with tiny holes...my sympathies to the thousands who have suffered death by phalarope.

This coyote and I were having a face-off, as there was a Piping Plover nest halfway between us I wanted to get to. Not wanting to show the coyote exactly where the nest was (they are a frequent plover predator), and with the coyote wondering what I was doing right next to its den, we just sat and stared at eachother. It was a cocky bastard, pretending to fall asleep while we waited. 

You'll Get No Direction From Me

Eastern Kingbird. Look how eastern it is.

It's a big world out there, birders. Don't be afraid to pull your head out of binoculars and take a look around once in a while. To facilitate this, here's some news.

BB&B fully supports the shark fin ban that is going through the legislature in California, which looks like it will eventually be passed. You can read about that here. Does it interfere with certain cultural traditions? Yes. Do I care? No. When it comes to dealing with extinction issues, the tradition of a species continuing to exist trumps any kind of popular wedding soup. Sorry.

The Department of the Interior has promised to do a better job handling all aspects of the endangered species act, including dealing with the the long Candidate List that has 261 different plant and animal populations on it. Currently, this list is a kind of limbo that many declining and vulnerable species end up on when an effort is made to get them legal protection. This needs to end. Birds like Sprague's Pipit, Xantus' and Kittlitz's Murrelets, Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Greater and Gunnison Sage-Grouse, Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, and Red Knot are on there. From what I know, Red Knot are disappearing more rapidly than any of these other species...but what do I know? I need to ask The Great Ornithologist, Felonious Jive. Anyways, you can read about some of this here. Hopefully something actually comes of it...the press release is surely a response to this court decision. I'm still not sure about Salazar's performance as Secretary of the Interior so far (not listing Bluefin tuna and delisting Gray Wolves stand out as huge mistakes he has so far overseen), but I would still take him over his Bush predecessors, particularly that unbelievably corrupt bitch Gale Norton. Oh yeah....ahem, these are the views of one Seagull Steve and one Felonious Jive (The Great Ornithologist), and do not reflect the views, official or otherwise, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, whose efforts I generally laud.

Blackpoll Warbler. These things are rad.

Magnolia Warbler. One of my favorite yard birds here. Being strictly migrants to the plains, they are on their way to Canada at the moment...soon they'll all be to the north.

Californians will be bummed to learn that seventy (70) state parks will be closed this fall in an effort to balance the budget.

Unsurprising, but depressing nonetheless, is the fact that world CO2 emissions hit a record high in 2010. Shit.

The official public comment period for federal wind-energy guidelines designed to protect wildlife (in particular, bats and birds) has just ended. What FWS decides to do will have huge implications for wildlife for decades to come. You can read about that here.

Blue-winged Teals are everywhere here. They are also correctly named.

Bobolink doing its flight song. I should always live with Bobolinks.


We're finally getting out into the field today for the first time since Thursday. Finally!

As you can see we've got a pretty good mix of birds here, all of which can be seen or heard within walking distance of my fabulous trailer. Now if only the Upland Sandpipers would sit still for a picture.....mmm....Upland Sandpipers....

Yeah. See you soon!

Your friend and mine, the Red-winged Blackbird.