Imperial Bellow, Old World Bellow, Imitation Rail Mellow

Of course, it wasn't always all about yardbirding for Seagull Steve. Believe it or not, he used to venture forth to look at birds outside of the friendly confines of his yard all the time. On this occasion, he walked by a flock of Snowy Plovers, a local and beloved species. Pilarcitos Creek Mouth, Half Moon Bay, CA.

Some color band combinations are easier to read than others. Spending time with the soothing plover flock here is always a nice consolation when walking back to your car after dipping on rare gulls, at least for Seagull Steve.

When Seagull Steve is birding here, it is typically a lowly, disgusting, gull-oriented endeavor. Here is a Herring Gull with Pillar Point in the background, which makes this image slightly less lowly and disgusting. Steve excels at not seeing rare gulls here; usually Slaty-backed, though Kelp also comes to mind.

Seagull Steve has to keep posting Thayer's Gulls while he still can! This might become an Iceland Gull next month.

After mild success at Pilarcitos, Seagull Steve ventured north to once again see the Emperor Goose wintering on the golf course at Sharp Park in Pacifica. The Emperor was still crippling and still seemed to be doing typical goose things, but not for long. "Rise, my friend," he bellowed to his dark and powerful protege, a nearby Common Raven.

Answering The Emperor's bellow, a Common Raven flew in to attack a nearby Canada Goose, much to The Emperor's delight. "Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen," said The Emperor, cackling with glee. "Your work here is finished, my friend. Go out to the municipal pier and await my orders."

However, not everything was going according to The Emperor's plan...the solemn leader of the Canada Goose Alliance told the other geese, "The Emperor has made a critical error and the time for our attack has come." With the raven distracted, the geese turned on The Emperor, sending him reeling.

And much like when Vader betrayed The Emperor in Return of the Jedi, the imposing Common Raven then joined the fray, taking wing to put an end to The Emperor once and for all.

The Emperor was unwise to lower his defenses.

But this is not Return of The Jedi, and The Emperor escaped unscathed. "Young fool...only now, at the end, do you understand." Fuck you Common Raven, and fuck you Canada Goose.

While it is appropriate to nurse grudges against the giant resident CANGs, there is no place for such feelings when CACGs are involved. Seagull Steve crushed this enthusiastically loafing Cackling Goose at Miller-Knox Regional Shoreline, in Richmond, CA.

This is also a dependable location for Eurasian Wigeons in winter. Female Eurasian Wigeons (right, with the head that does not contrast with the upperparts) are one of those birds those birds that can hide right in plain sight, if there are enough American Wigeon around. And if you are scanning through wigeon in bad light, you can forget about finding one of these (though it is a great time to string one!). It's just something you have to accept. Seagull Steve has accepted it, and he is the Global Birder Ranking System's #7 birder in the country. You would be wise to do the same.

Seagull Steve would not want to be on the receiving end of this mighty Old World bellow!

Bald Eagles are pretty sick. Seagull Steve had a pair of adults fly over at Benicia State Recreation Area, in Benicia, CA. Why was he there? For Black Rails, obvi. He heard three of them, and there are few things more comforting than the sounds of Black Rails...but one even more comforting sound does come to mind: a Northern Mockingbird imitating a Black Rail! Incredible! Yes, he heard a mockingbird imitating a Black Rail that morning. Unbelievable.

And no, I don't write in the third person now, I'm just filling in for Seagull today. He may or may have not overdosed on something last, shhhhhhhhh. - Felonious Jive

Squid, Scum, Styrofoam, Scavengers

It's May. Not much birding lately...except from my exceptional yard. So far this month, I have the best yard list in the entire state, in eBird anyway. What else do you expect from #7? I'm not fucking around over here. Yardbirding has suddenly become very serious. But more on that to come...

Though I haven't been slaying lately, I did bird a great deal this winter and earlier this spring, so let's dip into that, starting with a Squid Crow. I've seen American Crows eat a great many different things, but this is the first one I've seen with a squid. The novelty is compelling; the ramifications are still being fully ascertained. San Leando Marina, San Leando, CA.

This first cycle Herring Gull was pleasantly typical. Novelty may be something worth seeing with Corvids, but not with large gulls. Revel in the simple gulls such as this that do not leave you wanting to reach for the bottle. San Leandro Marina, San Leandro, CA.

Soon, Thayer's (above) and Iceland Gulls may become much less of an identification headache. We are now in the calm before the shitstorm of butthurt that will come ashore when these birds are lumped. Get you shitjackets ready. San Leandro Marina, San Leandro, CA.

Anyone know who is putting field-readable bands on Western Gulls in the last few years? The banded birds from the Farallones typically just have an unnumbered color band as far as I know. San Leandro Marina, San Leandro, CA.

I'm sure something ended up scavenging this hapless scaup. Life is pain. Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA.

Is this what the future of birding looks like? Scum, styrofoam, and a mopey Mew Gull? Perhaps. Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA.

This Glaucous-winged Gull* has beady black eyes. Trippy. It looks possessed. Look away, nothing novel to see here. Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA.

*Not sure if Olympic Gull can be ruled out, but at the very least it presents as a GWGU.

Here is a more typical-looking Glaucous-wing. Not novel. That is fine. Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA.

We get a lot of birds that look like this in the bay in the winter. They aren't very big, and at first glance they look like a good candidate for a Herring or a pale-eyed Thayer's. In fact, with a second or third glance, they still like one of those two. Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA.

Take a look at the orbital ring...it's almost colorless. A grayish pink? It's not what you would expect on either a Herring or Thayer's. I reckon this is a Herring X Glaucous-winged that looks mostly like a Herring. Oh, and it did not show a Thayer's pattern on the underside of the primaries, if you are wondering.

Since we may be saying goodbye to Thayer's Gull, here is another one. So long, old friend. Pacifica Pier, Pacifica, CA.

Few species in the world have had poorer reproductive success than Heermann's Gulls in the last few years. HEEGs drew the short straw as far as fledging chicks goes...we in California can tell because juveniles have suddenly become rarities. Not mellow. Pacifica Pier, Pacifica, CA.

There are a few places around the bay area where Common Ravens are extremely tame. Though abundant and generally bad for nesting birds, they are pretty impressive up close. Look at that profile! Those cankles! Pacifica Pier, Pacifica, CA.

I Still Fiend For Vague Runts, But I Can Actually Look At A Common Bird (And Enjoy It)

Hey buddies. Felonious Jive (The Great Ornithologist) and I have just not been good bloggers lately. We've hardly been birding, to be honest. Between work and raging super fucking hard various social obligations, life has been pretty eventful, but not in any avian sense. In fact, I've been birding so rarely of late that I can now actually look at a common bird and enjoy it. Like today I looked at avocets and was able to appreciate them, instead of wishing they were a different shorebird species that were more apt to have rarities associating with them. Of course I still fiend for Vague Runts, but in time, my urges will be sated, once again. Thank Christ that goddamned pipit is gone so I don't have to think about it anymore; the Brambling doesn't hurt nearly as much.

That said, let's start this post with a Vague Runt Tropical Kingbird. Tropical Kingbirds are not unusual in late fall up and down California, generally a low-level rarity along the coast, but we don't get tired of looking at them...especially when they are vomiting. Lake Merced, San Francisco, CA.

Did you think I was being cute or something? That UFO on the left side of the photo came out of the kingbird's mouth. Look how far away the kingbird was able to fling it! Talk about hurling.

This female Black-throated Blue Warbler spent some time at Mendoza Ranch on Point Reyes last month. I know this isn't really a crush, but bear with me...it was really dark under the canopy and my ISO was set at something like 50,000, so it's amazing that anything is visible at all.

Also amazing is how confiding members of this species can be. It always astounds me...for whatever reason, they just don't seem to give a fuck. A bird on the Dry Tortugas brushed me with it's wing. This bird was feeding at eye level, less than 3 feet from my face. If you want to suck someone into birding, arrange for them to have a meeting with a Black-throated Blue Warbler. They will be hopeless bird junkies after that.

I said I would give you common, so I'm going to give you common...here is a Common Raven having an aerial tangle with a Red-shouldered Hawk. Photographed at Lake Merced.

The same two birds. I would imagine that if you are any sort of bird of prey larger than a Sharp-shinned Hawk, you would hate ravens. They are relentless in their harassment of raptors, and apparently impossible to kill. Anyone ever see a bird of prey get a good whack at a raven?

Not common, but Tricolored Blackbirds are to be expected on outer Point Reyes. This male is showing off that long bill that can often be of great use in distinguishing them from Red-winged Blackbirds.

Here are a pair of female Tricoloreds, wallowing in shit. Don't feel bad for them, they love it!

Golden-crowned Sparrows are horrendously abundant this time of year, but they are still fun to encounter by eye and ear. Even though the bird is sitting on an "artificial perch", I'm kind of into how intensely brown this photo is. #Shadesofbrown is the new #Shadesofgray. Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland, CA.

Although I've met a number of Common Loons that seemed pretty fearless, I don't meet Red-throateds very often that lack their species' usual disdain for humanity. Photographed at Arrowhead Marsh.

Brown Pelicans are truly charismatic birds, being capable of both inspirational majesty and baffling clumsiness. I honestly think this is a species that nonbirders (with the exception of some fishermen) appreciate more than birders do, since they are huge, abundant, highly visible, and prefer to fly awesome routes in tasteful formations. Photographed at Arrowhead Marsh.

Raptors aside, I can't think of another bird in the bay area that is more fun to watch while they are feeding. Photographed at Arrowhead Marsh.

Week One, Great Success!

Well, as you can probably surmise, the first Santa Cruz Island visit was a success. I am now on the beginning of my second stint, where I have to convince my intern that I know exactly what I'm doing...indeed, the Weird have turned Pro. Who knows what he will think when I drop the "Number 7" bomb on him...

By the time you are reading this I will be engulfed in seabird work, and may in fact be molting into a cormorant. Hopefully I will still have enough free time to be posting regularly....but for now here are a few pics, and check out The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive's latest contribution to The Birdosphere.

Lot's of Brandt's Cormorants are busy building their nests out here on Santa Cruz, unlike the one above. I reckon it's a pretty sweet picture if I do say so myself, even if it was taken with (gasp) an iPhone. That's sea rocket growing out from it's remnants.

Those of you nerds who have not been to the island are probably more concerned about this bird than anything else, so I'm just going to get it out of the way. This is an Island Scrub-Jay, endemic to Santa Cruz Island, and undoubtedly the U.S. bird with the smallest global range. The jays are easy to see on the right parts of the island and we have a family of them that hold court here at Christy Ranch.

An Island Fox. When people talk about them, it's usually in regards to theft, pissing and shitting. Many more pics of these courageous minifoxes to come.

A Common Raven lurks at Christy Ranch, where I'll be living much of the time I'm on the island. Due to drought the ranch's water supply is screwed, so we will see how that works out for us...hopefully this bird won't be picking at our remains later this year.

There are a lot of Scripps's Murrelets around the Channel Islands, where they breed at a feverish and disgusting pace. I was crushing them so hard my camera began to overheat and melt in to my hand...it hurt hella. Other stuff that were out during the crossings were Common Murres, Cassin's Auklets, Rhinoceros Auklets, Red-necked Phalaropes, Bonaparte's Gulls, Sooty Shearwaters and Northern Fulmars.

This Brown Pelican was decimating a huge school of fish that were feeding next to the pier at Prisoner's Harbor. Pelicans don't breed on Santa Cruz but there is, of course, no shortage of them.

We saw common dolphins almost every day, either from boat or land. As someone who is now paid to look at foraging seabird flocks, its always good to keep an eye on what the dolphins are doing. When not frolicking, they are massacring the gilled ones.

Gray Whale breaching. So, so sick.

HBP Presents: The Handicaps Of Birding

Birding, as a pastime, has been consistently a big (and apparently growing) hobby in the United States for some time now. A lot of people do it. If you have ever chased a truly rare bird, you know what I mean....there are a lot of us. WE ARE EVERYWHERE. There is even a major motion picture about us. Because we, as a group, spend so much money, birders are a force to be reckoned with. The amount of cash that gets dropped every year on optics/cameras/books/fuel/airplane tickets/camping/motels/guided trips/pelagic trips/food/park admissions and, most embarrassingly, birder clothes, must be staggering. Really, we should be forming our own political think-tank and sending our own lobbyists to Capitol Hill...birders, by and large, are not poor people. But I digress....

While there are a lot of us, when you compare the number of hardcore birders to the number of nonbirders out there, it suddenly doesn't seem like we have a such a strong foothold in society. Over the years, I have frequently heard birders asking why there are not more of us. Sure there are a lot of birders out there (it's estimated that 18 million Americans took trips specifically to watch birds in 2001), but if I were to walk down San Francisco's Mission Street this afternoon and pass by 500 people, the chances that I would walk by a single person who gave such a big shit about birds as me would be miniscule.

I have always thought the reasons why there aren't more birders have been glaringly obvious, but since this question gets asked so frequently, The Human Birdwatcher Project ("Birders Are People Too!") decided to get involved. This topic has probably been touched on elsewhere in the Birdosphere (maybe on the ABA blog?), but here are my 2 cents....don't forget, you are dealing with Number 7 here.

There are exceptions to every rule here of course, but here you go:

1 - Birding is inherently nerdy. It's just not that cool. If you think otherwise, you are wrong and suffer from acute terminal denial. When an activity is blatantly geeky and way off the mainstream, that will automatically limit who will be interested. A lot of people really, really want to be perceived as cool, and they have no urge to participate in something as bizarre as birdwatching.

2 - The racial composition of birders is predominantly white. I go years at a time without seeing black birders, and there aren't many more latinos either. This makes non-whites considerably less likely to ever be exposed to a birder, let alone try it themselves. It's all about your peers, know what I'm saying?

3 - Birding is NOT youth oriented (see number one). Most big cultural/subcultural trends are started and popularized by relatively young people. The 18-24 age range have the lowest birder turnout of any age bracket, according to one study. Without a bigger youth component, birding can go only so far.

4 - It seems like the birders/birdwatchers I come across are represented by an even sex ratio...but the majority of the so-called "birding elite" seem to consist of males. This probably does not make the birding scene/community as interesting to women, although I don't think it turns them off from the activity itself.

This Burrowing Owl, photographed at California's Salton Sea, probably seems more like a Boring Owl to the American public.

5 - Americans, as a whole, are woefully ignorant of and uninterested in the environment (which probably makes a lot of Republican lawmakers happy). This apathy about the life around us makes it less likely for people to take up birding.

6 - As I mentioned above, most birders are not poor. It can cost a lot of money to do the things birders do. People thinking about getting into the hobby may not have $100 lying around to spend on a book and some cheap binoculars, or to afford the gas it takes to get out of the city to a prime birding destination.

After we bagged a Marin Tufted Duck with spotting scopes, TPAD Dan bagged a coot with his bare hands. It's the best of both worlds. Ok it was already dead but I needed a witty caption.

7 - Aside from looking for plants, mushrooms and herps, I would say that one of the most similar "sports" to birding is hunting. Hunting involves being in nature, birds, looking for specific species, and (in this case, literally) bagging birds. Aside from the obvious fact that you are taking the life of whatever you are looking for, I would say the biggest difference between birding with binoculars and birding with shotguns is the machismo factor. While there certainly is a machismo factor to birding (which usually comes off as pathetic), that is certainly not something that draws people in. With hunting, there is a lot of machismo...driving trucks, shootin' at stuff, killing shit. This machismo factor can appeal to both genders, which is ostensibly confusing but undeniably true. Now don't get me wrong....I am really, really happy birding isn't a machismo-oriented thing, but I think the relative lack of it contributes to people unwilling to try it.

8 - People who dwell in big urban areas probably do not have nature and wildlife on the brain very much. A lot of people I know (nonbirders) seem to think about pigeons and gulls once in a while and not much else. Of course there is a lot more wildlife/birdlife that can be found in our big cities, but nonbirders typically aren't even aware of that. How can you be interested in birds when you don't believe you can go someplace nearby and see some?

9 - Not only is birdwatching inherently nerdy, birders themselves don't really help create a very good image for our pastime. I have a lot of weird fucking people in my life, and a scary proportion of them are birders.

Your run-of-the-mill Common Raven is probably more intelligent than your cat, dog, and toddler combined. But everything has a weakness...this bird's was dog food. Fort Funston, San Francisco, CA. 

10 - A widely perceived notion in the public (this includes some birders too) is that animals are dumb, not much more than stupid little machines that run on a high-octane blend of hormones and instinct. We live in a very anthropocentric culture, which major religions have played a big role in. People need to be able to relate to something in order to really be interested, and when people don't think of themselves as animals and assume we are the only species capable of intelligence and emotion, it is understandable that wildlife just doesn't seem important or interesting. Many of us who spend a lot of time with birds and wildlife believe otherwise (and there is a lot of science to support this), but without that experience it would be easier to believe the worst.

This Willet, to the untrained eye, looks like approximately 125 other bird species. Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge, MT.

11 - Birding is hard. It's really hard. For a beginner, it must seem daunting, especially when looking through a book and he or she is sorting through sandpipers, sparrows, flycatchers, gulls, etc. This can make people think the starting point is more difficult and less enjoyable than it actually is.

If you want to learn more about birders in the United States, you can read this dated but quality analysis done by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service right here. Hopefully FWS, or someone else (ahem, American Birding Association), will have the means and willpower to something like this again soon. There's a lot of interesting statistics in there, if you've got a minute.

Some of these obstacles to birder recruitment will never change, but there are some things we can do. The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive even wrote a piece on the subject, A Birder's Guide To Indoctrination. Take it to heart, and our cult pastime will continue to grow.

Of course, as long as there are good-looking birds around, there will be people who want to look at them. Luckily for us, the birds themselves are much better birding ambassadors than birders are. Black Tern, photographed somewhere in rural North Dakota.