The Transmogrification of Anser Albifrons

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That's a lot of work to turn your head from left to right. Greater White-fronted Goose at Lindo Lake, Lakeside, CA.

Blinded By Dacnis* And Deafened By Bellbirds

Black Phoebe, Guardian Flycatcher of Rory Jo.

Good news today birders...I have managed to cobble together a plan to compete with Bostick in our 2012 big year competition.. He is almost 40 species ahead of me at the moment, and having fallen behind so much I had only one choice to make...I bought a plane ticket to Costa Rica. Then, and only then, can I cram in enough species to attain ultimate glory. Our respective year lists are not bound by the arcane/prehistoric/arbitrary boundaries of the ABA Area, so anything is fair game. I won't be going until the day after Christmas, and the birding will be thick...considering I haven't birded south of Mexico's Veracruz State, this 3 week stint in Costa Rica will likely leave me without any semblance of a face, for it all will have melted off within 24 hours of touching down. The combinations of yellows, reds, greens and blues of the tropical birds I lay eyes will leave me featureless. Friends will no longer recognize me and, after learning the horrible truth, will compare me to that poor lady who had her face ripped off by a disgruntled chimpanzee. This is the price we pay for birding....or the one I will pay, at least.

I've had pretty poor luck with getting Cooper's Hawk pictures...this adult, for reasons we may never understand, couldn't care less that a couple birders were milling around under it.

Because I have been lucky enough to see a few tropical birds already, there is a slim chance that I will be able to withstand seeing the shimmering tanagers and glimmering hummingbirds (those are descriptions by the way, not actual bird species) without falling into cardiac arrest. However, I have great fear that if I get to see something like a Turquoise Cotinga, Snowcap, Agami Heron or (god forbid) a Resplendant Quetzal, my very existence will probably slip into another dimension entirely, much like what happened to Obi Wan Kenobi after his battle with Darth Vader.

Even if I do survive...I will return spiritually rich, but physically crippled. The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive may have choice but to put me out of my misery...blinded by dacnis* and deafened by bellbirds, there will be no point in carrying on.

Of course, there is the horrible possibility that Bostick will learn of my plans and simply go everywhere I go. Could he be that sinister? I can imagine laying eyes on a small, wrenthrushian bird for the first time, and I hear "Zeledonia!!!!" in my head....except its NOT in my head, it is Bostick, and he is standing right behind me. That devious bastard! How could he?

Near the bizarrely unconcerned Cooper's Hawk was this bizarrely unconcerned Western Bluebird.

Maybe living in a cemetery makes you considerably less fearful of death and doom.

Aside from Bostick, TPAD Dan and the one who goes by "Stilt" are also planning on meeting me in Costa Rica....I look forward to slaying many a lifer (with my eyes) in their good company.

It is, I think, important to travel...we often cannot put value on things we have not experienced firsthand. Sure your personal carbon footprint gets a lot bigger when you fly, but ecotourism can save habitat, and if enough of us do it that can have all sorts of positive effects on human and avian communities alike. No, you are not saving the world when you go birdwatching...but sometimes it can help.

Until then, I will most likely be spending my time in California, for good or ill. All of today's birds are from Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, an exceptional birding spot during migration, but just a creepy place to be loitering the rest of the year.

* = How do birders pluralize "Dacnis"? I really don't want to catch myself saying "3 Dacnii just flew into that strangler fig!".

Gravestones make excellent places to mark your territory.

Or to kind of weirdly float around.

Hermit Warbler. Yet another rad bird that I am stuck with mediocre photos of.

Calliope Hummingbird. When birders see one of these, their hearts beat fast enough to pace a hummingbird's. Consequently, most birders have severe heart problems afterward.

Western Wood-Pewee. Dapper.

Chipping Sparrow...this pose makes me think of Charley Harper for some reason. Sorry my captions today are lacking in wit and rambly screeds, but I got stung in the face by a bee and I'm too swollen to be creative. Sorry!

Pic Of The Week: Running From Shadows

American Robin high-stepping at Laguna Campground in San Diego County, CA.

Birders As Art VIII

Entering Ebird data in the field is really, really hard.

On Embarking On My Long, Slow, Crawl To The Grave

Nobody is really looking at ducks this time of year. That doesn't mean they aren't around somewhere though...watching you. This Wood Duck was at Santee Lakes in disgusting Santee, CA.

Ah, its great to be back in the warm embrace of the Birdosphere, where people are only marginally real and birds only exist in two dimensions.

I've been going through the painful and transformative process known as "turning 30" over the past several days. At this point I can safely say I've turned 30, and am not stuck in some sort of soulless limbo between 29 and 30. I am officially, arguably, not young. Sigh.

But seriously though...it was a GODSEND to celebrate such a dubious occasion with people I actually like for a change, rather than the people I've been stuck with during field jobs...with some exceptions, of course. Thanks to TPAD Dan, Sultry and Argu for helping strengthen my liver and spirits; you are beacons of light in a sea of shadowy nerds.

I also will take this opportunity to begin sleeping again. They say "You can sleep when you're dead", but the people who say that typically aren't very sleep-deprived. Amirite?

"Aw, shucks." - Whimbrel. Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, CA.

Long-billed Curlews move with confidence...they know they are well-endowed. ESPECIALLY the females. Tijuana Slough.

Little Blue Herons in tandem. Different, but the same. I've never seen a white one with such a glowing face. San Diego River, San Diego, CA.

Great Egret. With lores like that, life is easy. This (unrestrained) bird was at the San Diego Zoo...you can probably guess what that pink haze in the background is.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Crab Slayer. Imperial Beach Sports Park, Imperial Beach, CA.

The zoo crew is deep into the Least Tern nesting season now. Walking through any nesting site is terrifying, because their practically-invisible chicks could be lying around anywhere. The adults have really good aim now; they have managed to shit onto my lips twice in one day.

Gull-billed Tern, Destroyer of Lizards and Occasional Scourge of Least Terns and Snowy Plovers. Tijuana Slough.

Some bird flocks move like a rollercoaster more than anything else. Black Skimmers, Crown Point, San Diego, CA.

Hammerkop! Just as strangely put together as a skimmer, but probably not as well known to Americans. In Africa (where they are supposed to be), they build enormous nests which dwarf practically every other sort of bird nest in size. Hammerkop nests are then utilized by many other species as a home...its like they are avian beavers. This is a member of one of the aviaries in the San Diego Zoo.

Pic Of The Week: Saymerica

Say's Phoebe fledgling and parent. And Myron. Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, CA.

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish

A common dolphin gets the big air the kids love.

Happy June, and welcome to another astounding Friday edition of BB&B. Of course, this is the only place on the internet that heaps praise upon the American birdwatching community, yet dishes out the cold and merciless ridicule it rightfully deserves.

Here is the last installment from a pelagic off San Diego I went on a couple weeks ago. As you may have guessed, if I start out a blog post with frakking dolphins, it wasn't exactly a very good day for seabirds out there...the power-birders were bummed, and even the beginners got bored. Maybe I just need to go to Monterey Bay next time.

Several pods of dolphins attempted to cheer up the gloomy birders on the boat, with some success. Common dolphins lived up to their name; I think this is a Long-beaked.

Common dolphins can do it all...swim, fly (apparently), star in Douglas Adams novels, save people's lives or even kill them. Why there are not more dolphin-worshipping religions out there is strange to me. I think this one is a Short-beaked Common Dolphin, but I'm no expert.

Remember friends, whenever you buy tuna, you are supporting the only industry that still kills lots of dolphins. "Dolphin-safe" my ass. If you are a fish-eater, stick to Albacore...they do not suffer from greatly depleted stocks and are line-caught, which greatly reduces the potential for cetacean bycatch.

If you care, at all, how your diet may be affecting life at sea (most birders sadly don't), there are a lot of good educational resources out there...Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch is a great place to start.

Pink-footed Shearwaters are one of the 3 seasonally-common shearwaters in California waters, the others being Sooty and Black-vented (SoCal only). A lot of the shearwaters offshore now are in heavy molt and aren't exactly sharp-looking.

Pink-footed Shearwaters are aptly named.

Black Storm-Petrels are easy to find off San Diego. The word "languid" was invented when someone first observed a Black Storm-Petrel in flight. "Languid" is currently used more to describe the flight style of Black Storm-Petrels than anywhere else in the English language.

Least Terns were not something we expected to see 30 miles offshore, but there were more than just these two out there. I had no idea they foraged this far offshore, but am not completely surprised...their wintering grounds are still a mystery, and are thought to be somewhere far from sight of land.

This bird is interesting. This was one of a handful of Common Terns that flew by at one point...curiously, this bird seems to have an entirely gray upperwing, which is not the norm for the species...I attribute that to the season and the atrocious lighting. If anyone really knows their Common Tern wing patterns, feel free to drop some knowledge...I don't think the bird is a Forster's, and blowing up and lightening the photo shows it is clearly not an Arctic just by looking at the bill alone.

Xantus' Murrelet with its Xantus' Murreletlet.

Hella good parenting right here.

Red-necked Phalaropes are some of the smallest birds that make a living on the ocean; like storm-petrels, their (pelagic) diet is restricted to the crud that is at the very surface. Mmmmm, delicious surface crud...

A sad picture of the one Sabine's Gull of the day. Still working on getting a passable photo of one of these sharp birds...this is a species I definitely wish I could see more of.

Risso's Dolphins! I haven't seen one in many years. They are easily identified at a distance by all their scars. Stoked.