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.

August in the Aleutians

Birders drool at the thought of seeing a Horned Puffin. Birders in the Aleutians drool because they are so common and boring. Ok thats not true...the puffins never get old, even after seeing them every day for months. They finish nesting really late in the summer so right now they are probably very busy bringing fish back to their fat fluffy chicks.

This picture is totally not from August, sorry. By now almost all the Least Auklets will be out at sea, as they finish up nesting and fledging pretty early. It's sad when you are out clambering around on Buldir Island's Main Talus and have no auklets for company...you are accompanied by a hole in your heart instead. Note the Crested Auklet and Least Auklet doing weird things in the background.

Aleutian Cackling Geese spend weeks higher up on the island while they molt their flight feathers...by August they have mysteriously reappeared near the coast. I think the front birds are juveniles.

The view from the front door of the cabin. Or, more obnoxiously, "my office".

July and August are stressful because you are just fiending for rare shorebirds (like this Red-necked stint) to appear. Rare birds, especially of the Aleutian caliber, have an addictive quality.

Some Tufted Puffins mingle above a Thick-billed Murre colony. No big deal.

Red-legged Kittiwake battle. So intense. I think those are Black-legged Kittiwake wings sticking out in back.

Black-legged Kittiwakes. Some juveniles (foreground) should be fledging by now.

Aleutian Song Sparrow. I don't know what else to say about them, except that I'm glad they were there. It's weird to not be around Song Sparrows. These are big and dark.

Scumbag.

Our Civil Liberties Will Die By Morning's Light

Red-legged Kittiwake.


"LBB". "LBJ". These are specieist terms. Yup. That's even worse than racism you know...being against an entire species.

Let me explain, nonbirders.There's a lot of birds out there. A lot. Some of them are pretty distinct. Take my friend the Red-legged Kittiwake. It looks like your basic gull....but wait. What are those things dangling off of it? Oh, it seems to have red legs. It looks like its been wading in a pool of blood. That's pretty distinct.


No. An LBJ (Little Brown Job) or LBB (Little Brown Bird) is something else. The definition is simple: a small brown bird. For example, take the Common Rose-Finch, below.

Common Rosefinch. It's rare. When your first child is being born in the hospital, this is the bird you would go see instead.


As you can see, its brown. It's a bird. I don't know about a job. But there you have it. It's brown. It's...indistinct. To the undiscerning eye (that's you, nonbirder), it looks like literally hundreds of other bird species out there. Does that make it any less awesome? No, you ass.

People who know a little bit about birds, but not a lot, will use these hurtful terms. No, scratch that....HATEFUL terms.

Parakeet Auklet. I'm still bummed I didn't get any very impressive pictures of them. They are cooler birds than you know (and one of the worst to extract from mist-nets).

In my opinion, the original reason these terms came about was relatively innocent and humble. People just couldn't hang with these birds. The lacked the skills to differentiate, for example, female Common Rosefinches and female House Finches. They just couldn't do it. It's not that they disliked them or viewed them with distaste, they just had no idea what to do. From 1997 to 2007 I worked for LBJ Enterprises, whom were usually filled with people who would have a heart attack if they were lucky enough to see a female Common Rosefinch on American soil. Thats Little Brown Jobs, not Lindon Banes Johnson.

Flash forward to 2011.

This Lapland Longspur is just checking on some stuff.

"LBB" and "LBJ" are slurs known by all who associate themselves with wildlife, birds, biology or what have you. Budding birdwatchers still use them in the same context as they belong in. But now, its become a derogatory term for everybody else. Its like, "oh, these look the same, so they don't matter". What the fuck? I mean that's a cute attitude and everything, but all it means is that your bird skills are weak and you're too lazy to do anything about it. Why are people racist? Because they are afraid. Why are people speciesist? Same reason.

The path to camp.

People are afraid to try to identify these birds. It's sad.

But let me tell you kids. It's ok. Can't tell a Chipping Sparrow from a Vesper Sparrow? Who cares? Doesn't mean you shouldn't try. The only people who can are some of the world's biggest nerds anyways. You have nothing to lose.

There is not much worse in the world than the willfully ignorant. You people, who use these terrible words, fit this description to a tee.

Thick-billed Murres are not exactly agile, but are gifted enough fliers to deal with raising families on near-vertical cliffs. This is what murre air-brakes look like.

Now that we have that out of the way, I will say that I am happy that there is more out there than those....wonderful birds I've been speaking of. Variety is the spice of life right? So instead of posting nothing but sparrows, pipits and flycatchers, I went with a suite of birds from Buldir Island.

A year ago I was on Buldir, in the western Aleutians, working absurd hours and scaring the crap out of myself trying to avoid falling off cliffs. But the birds were just so good, and the possibilities were endless in terms of weird migrants that could show up.

Horned Puffin.


2011 only turned out to be a so-so year in terms of vagrants, but I do love seabirds. When you can watch tens of thousands of auklets swirling around from the deck of your cabin you forget about bitching about that Eyebrowed Thrush that never showed up.

Right. The weekend appears to be here. I'm not sure how much I'll be working, but if the weather is right (un-frakking-likely) I'll be sure to get out and bird if I can. Someone finally found some Baird's Sparrows, which is the epitome of LBBs and one of the reasons I've come to North Dakota at all. But the plovers come first!

Why does my blog have Halloween colors? Huh.

Tufted Puffin.

I pooped a lot in here last year. I always felt self-conscious because I could hear Song Sparrows and Grey-crowned Rosy-Finches on the roof.

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.

I'm Getting Used To Getting Old, But Where's My Ambition?

A broad-chested, short-winged Thick-billed Murre takes evasive maneuvers. 

Goodbye fall. You were a good one this year. Not one for birding necessarily (although spending August in the western Aleutians was fantastic), but for quality of life in general. So thanks to everyone who made that possible. It's been an explosive jubilee of reveling and raising glasses with old friends. And yes, much bourbon was had.

With the passing of Birder's Fall (August-November) and the onset of Birder's Winter (December-February), Californian birders are now beginning to switch gears to adjust their birding habits to better suit the winter months. So many crippling vagrants have arrived in the state in the last month (The Fab Four: Bean Goose, Ivory Gull, Brown Shrike, Black-tailed Gull) that people really have their hopes up. Many a birder has tasted the sweet taste of victory (most people who have looked for the Bean Goose) or bashed their heads into a wall of defeat (most people who looked for the Brown Shrike) after looking for said birds, and there will be more to follow. The rivers may yet run red with angry birder blood this winter. The possibilities of what may arrive here this winter are almost endless.

Here's a couple of new ones for you. They're not great shots, but for most Americans, they're great birds. Wood Sandpipers turned out to be one of the most abundant (well, relatively speaking) shorebirds on Buldir Island this year, much to my....um....delight.

This juvenile Red-necked Stint was the one and only to visit us.

Besides that, what winter means for me personally is I switch out of "WOOOHOOO NO MORE FIELD WORK!!!" phase into "Hrmm, I should probably start lining up my spring field work" phase, which isn't nearly as fun....but does add a light taste of drama to everything. Its quite strange, really. Few other people (outside my line of work) comfortably vacillate from slaving away for months to having absolutely nothing to do to lackadaisically looking for jobs knowing that somehow you'll get one if you apply to enough...I am nothing if not a consumate professional, after all. But its pretty weird. I recognize and appreciate how shitty it is for people to lose their jobs and their homes (the house I'm living in is being foreclosed on, thanks Bank of America), but since I consensually lose my job a couple of times a year....well, it just doesnt have much of an impact for me. Besides, I really enjoy my freedom...if you don't have that...what do you have?

Oh yeah, summers are usually a mix of "LIFE IS PAIN" and "I have the best job in the world!". Haven't found a way to combine those two concepts yet.

All pictures today are from July-August at Buldir Island, Alaska. As usual they have very little to do with what I'm talking about...maybe I'll work on that.

Another shot of one of the scarce Aleutian sunsets we got to see.

Big Time In The Jungle

Thick-billed Murre. Handsome.

I think I will post really big, vertical pictures today. Why not? All of them are from Buldir Island.

I somehow ended up winning a Nikon D90 SLR on Ebay yesterday, even though I only put down one bid. So that's pretty rad, considering I'm using a decrepit old D70 now...the D90 should, I think, make a noticeable difference in my photographic efforts, considering it has twice as many megapixels and a higher rate of fire (more frames per second), not to mention video.....so you, BB&B addict, have that to look forward to. 

Thick-billed Murres, Black and Red-legged Kittiwakes, not mingling.

It's all part of the master plan. BB&B will be taking the world by storm, and I will somehow be highly paid to do so. These are not mere delusions of grandeur people. This is as real as it gets. Already a steady and mysterious flow of cash is flooding my bank accounts....pretty soon it will be up to me, with my vast resources and cunning wit, to save the imperiled Spoonbill Sandpiper. After that, I will have to bring the Ivory-billed Woodpecker back. Hopefully that won't entail any Jurassic Park-style cloning, but its all within our grasp here at BB&B.

Red-legged Kittiwake with field-readable band.

But while I sit and wait for my financial reservoirs to fill and my power to accumulate, it is up to me and me alone to continue to make birdwatchers understandable to everyone, including themselves. Think of it as me holding up a really detailed picture for all you nonbirders, and for you birders I will be holding up a mirror. As far as I know, no one in the states has anything like the Human Birdwatcher Project that BB&B sponsors, and many of the masses are still floundering in their ignorance of these people. I think the situation is a little better in Britain, where people have a better sense of humor and twitchers are better understood....but I feel alone in the wilderness here. If birders themselves don't even discuss birding and half the luminaries in this field possess the social and communication skills of a dead skunk, then the situation can look very bleak indeed. But don't worry friends, the great ornithologist Felonious Jive and I will do our best to shed some light on these bizarre and awkward issues, and are determined to lead you to The Promised Land. Stay warm, and have a positive Tuesday.

Much like the Flightless Cormorant of the Galapagos, Flightless Puffins have tiny wings. It is thought that they have lost the ability to fly in order to become cuter than penguins. Anyways...yeah this is a Horned Puffin.

I'm The Worst Storyteller Around

Tufted Puffin, Common Murre (standing behind puffin's tail) and Thick-billed Murres lounge and loaf on a cliff at Buldir Island, AK.

Phew. There's been a lot of blogging lately. A lot of blogging. It ain't easy coming up with all of this gold for you people. We here at BB&B have a firm belief in the DIY ethic, which keeps us ad-free and unbeholden to any organizations or sponsors (i.e. optics companies), and god knows there insn't much in it for us. We're just doing it for The Cause. Unlike the recent rash of multi-author collaboration on many of the more popular bird blogs, BB&B and is run by myself, with only a small team of subservient lackies and interns at my disposal. Of course, The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive puts in a word or two now and then, which is indispensable.

Tufted Puffins spend considerable time sitting around and looking at stuff. I can appreciate that.

How do you think the blogkrieg is going? I've been trying my best to maximize my output for ya'll, which can be hard.  Unlike other birdaholics, I do think other things are important (i.e. girls, music, a social life), so I don't always have time to......whats that you say?  What is this thing called "a social life"? It may be too late for you my awkward friend. Your human relationships may be few, but at least your lists are high. 

There must have been a tea party.

Juvenile Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch.

On that bizarre note, I'm not entirely sure that 4 days in Vegas is good for someone suffering from an acute case of Post Ivory Gull Fail Traumatic Stress Syndrome, but it is what it is.  Have a positive weekend!

I'm not really confident about what is going on here, but it was not unusual to see Black-legged Kittiwakes and Thick-billed Murres having aerial skirmishes. The kittiwakes always won.