I Wish Starbuck Rolled With My Crew

Apparently Kara Thrace (call sign Starbuck) is leading Humankind to utter destruction, even though everyone thinks she's leading them to fame and glory on Earth.  This is of course only the story from an old man in a bathtub last night on BSG, so who knows... Today was obviously another chill day.  I wasn't even Albatrossbitten, so life is good.  There is a plane tomorrow bringing about 15 people out to count ALL of the albatross on Island.  It seems like a big job, I know.  Last year they counted nearly a million.  Can you believe that?  Anyway, there will probably be a little shindig at Captain Brooks tonight, so it's looking like light breezes out of the NW, partly cloudy, with a slight chance of Rage.  Here's some stuff that happened today:

This is my crew, from left to right: Nik Aspy, Ann Humphrey, Karen Guglielmone.  Watch your back or they will frack you up.

This may be the rarest bird on Midway currently.  Mallard is another one of those birds that really surprised me by being out here.

To-Do List Day

I gots a ton of stuff to do today.  So much Business to TCO.  Yesterday was cool.  I birded my persy fave Calaveras birding spot, Salt Springs Valley.  Didn't have a lot, but I did see Ferruginous Hawk, Loggerhead Shrike, Lewis's Woodpecker, and Mountain Bluebird (My first for Calaveras County).  Now I've got to go hit the DMV.  Should be epic.  

This Shrike was nice enough to give me a nice close-up.

Ferruginous Hawk.  Screaming at me.

Stackers

Pizza was a great success.  Many slices consumed.  Many guzzlings of Budweiser also occurred.  At Mike's Pizza, there is this game.  It's called Stackers.  Over the years, my sister has probably spent about 50 dollars in quarters trying to win the grand prize, which is something ridiculous like a generic MP3 player or a DVD that you'd never watch.  Still, she believes.  She will try to win that Grand Prize every Wednesday for the rest of her life.  We even asked someone who works there if it is even possible.  He said no.  He told us that he has never seen a single person win in over 2 years.  In any case, I didn't do much birding yesterday.  Too tired.  And hungry.  Still, here you are:

This is how I feel after ten slices of pizza and 2 games of Stackers. Muy Loco.

Yellow-billed Magpie.  The Central Valley version of Magpie.  I sometimes see these in Calaveras County, a little ways up out of the valley (1000 ft elevation).  It was sweet to look at the Black-billed Magpies on Wednesday, and then these guys yesterday.