Shocky Rorebirds

I went out and took breathtaking photographs of some of our wintering shorebirds today.  Currently on island are some incredibly famous and influential people.  Sylvia Earle, who is the planet's greatest female oceanographer, is here with me.  If you want to know who she is, click this: 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Earle 


There is also a mural artist here named Wyland who is apparently hella famous.  He did something for the Olympics I think.  Now he's supposed to paint one here, but I haven't seen any brushes come out yet.  Here's Wyland:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyland


Well, it's time for dinner.  Then I'll be attending a talk by an awesome photographer, whom I may showcase on tomorrow's TPAD.  After that, raging.  It's another Chugach Band performance tonight, and the whiskey will flow.

Wandering Tattler.  You can tell by the nasal grooves and apparently the scaling on the bird's tarsi (legs).  Breathtaking.

Ruddy Turnstone.  Look at it glisten.

Chillaxation

It's been pissing rain all day.  Pretty dreadful.  I spent most of the day wet and soggy and entering data, so I'm in the best mood ever!  When it rains a lot here, all the puddles fill up everywhere and the ducks and turnstones come out of the woodworks and hang out in the middle of the road.  It's pretty funny.  In any case, don't be expecting any stunning photos today.  Because Life Is Pain.  Horrible, agonizing, stinky, sweaty Pain.  Tonight the plan is to watch the critically acclaimed classic movie Cowboys and Aliens.  It will likely be my favorite movie of all time.  Can't wait.  Mahalo.

These are the feet of a Hawaiian Monk Seal.  They look an awful lot like a Northern Elephant Seal's feet.  They are not.  Take my word.

This is my friend Moo.  He is an Island Legend.  He tends bar and sells grits (as can be seen in the background).  He is awesome.  Moo means Pig in Thai, but he still thinks it's the best.

Isaac Asimov

Stuff flies around hella fast sometimes.  This makes stuff super hard to see.  This sometimes annoys the shit out of me.  Today, I flushed a Snipe from one of the seeps.  This is the second time I have flushed said Snipe from a seep.  Both times, the bird has blasted off, flying away from me very quickly and completely ruining my chances of identifying it safely.  Lima India Papa.  Long story short, I may have gotten a Life Bird today, but I will possibly never know for certain.  

The most epic photo of the snipe.  You can see white on the trailing edge of the wings, but is it a lot? I dunno.  I saw nothing of the underwings, causing me to sink further into utter despair.  I will keep trying.  Never give up.  Never surrender.

These Green Darners are doing it.  Ass to mouth for some reason.  This is probably the only reason I was able to get a shot of them.  Normally they fly around much faster than even a Common/Wilson's Snipe.

Goonies With Hats

I spent most of today helping Scott remove the data logger tags from goonies that have been wearing them for the last year.  Scott has been tracking seabirds for years and is the guy who discovered the Sooty Shearwater migration route.  Super interesting stuff.  The method for getting these tags off is a bit different from our normal routine, so I took some photos while we worked.


In about an hour, the New Year's Eve festivities will begin.  Dinner, Bingo, and the fabulous Chugach Band will be the agenda for tonight.  I plan on raging to the fullest extent of my abilities.  It's still 2011!  Kegstands!

This is the cute, outdoorsy look.  

We keep a few Short-tailed Albatross out in the garage.  One of them is quite the baseball fan.

Data Will Slowly Kill You

Had to do a few hours of data entry today.  For lack of anything better to do.  I started nodding off by the end.  This is a common data entry induced side effect for me.  After work, I went out by the runway where bird counters Diana and Kirstin found six Short-eared Owls on Christmas Day for the CBC.  All of them were there.  Sick.  They're hella hard to raph though, because they flush so easily.  Hopefully the photos will get a little better each time I go out.  By the time I leave I'll have something good.  There is an airplane tonight.  We will be losing some bird counters and gaining some complete strangers.  Should be fun...  Ima go to Brooks now and drank on something.

The cream of my Short-eared Owl crop.  It's sub-par at best.

ID all nine correctly and win a prize.  BTW, for a better look, right click the photo and open on a new tab.  You can zoom in hella.

Elf Is My Favorite Christmas Movie

Have you ever been snorkeling on Christmas Eve?  I have.  It's legit.  Do it some day.  My C.E. started off with a vague report of a new vagrant sighting on the Island.  The bird was described as being larger than a Peregrine Falcon with a white rump patch, but definitely not a Northern Harrier.  It was being mobbed by a flock of White Terns.  I have no idea what it was, and all my searching resulted in nothing more than the Peregrine.  Life Was Pain.  Tonight there will be some sort of massive rage fest to celebrate the eve of the birth of our savior.  I have been told that I will be dressed as an elf, and will hand out presents.  I will wear tights.  Be prepared for some raunchy, too hot for tv, barely legal TPAD tomorrow.

It's kind of embarrassing to put up such a poor quality PEFA photo, as I have a bunch which are much better.  This is the only one, however, of the Midway PEFA.  Top 10 Birders: what subspecies?

Bristle-thighed Curlew.  This will be the new travel ad poster for Midway tourism.

Vomiting Green Slime

Typical day.  Went to Eastern.  Banded birds.  Came home.  Picked up trash on the beach.  Although, on Eastern we encountered a vicious monster Black-footed Albatross.  It bit the shit out of Karen, barfed green slime, bit the shit out of Pete, then finally got banded.  Probably this was the most interesting thing that happened today.  I will now be heading over to the All Hands Club to drink and decorate for the Christmas party.  Mahalo.

Th crew at dinner: Intense one on the left is Karen.  Goofy in the middle is Ann.  The British on the right is Nik.

Another Gray Goony.  This one is incubating an egg, so apparently it convinced someone to mate.  No small feat for a half-blood.

I Am Creative

Hey y'all.  Today I didn't do much.  I checked on all of the albatross reproductive plots.  It's official, they're reproducing.  I also went and looked at a few ducks near the airport.  There were a few, but things have really toned down in the migrant department.  That being said, I saw a Snipe yesterday.  I don't know if it was a Common or a Wilson's.  I saw it poorly.  I have hella confidence that I'll see it again though.  So no worries.

This is the ornament I made last night.  Out of garbage.  It's an albatross, obviously.  The judging has not taken place yet, but I'm sure to be awarded first prize.

So what kind of Green-winged Teal is this?  Any of my Top 10 birder friends care to venture a guess?

Ducks And Moustaches

I shaved a moustache into my face.  Again.  I've had lots of staches over the years.  Mostly they were STMs (Short Term Moustaches).  They typically lasted a day or so.  Except for that one in Tahoe.  I held on to that little beauty for a few weeks.  I'm thinking about doing the same with this one.  We'll see what happens.

This is what my Wednesday mornings have become.  I frantically pedal my bike around the island trying to read as many of these Laysan Duck bands as possible.  Today I got 65.  A new record. 

It dawned on me that I haven't posted any Wigeon photos yet.  I dunno why.  Probably because they are the hardest of all ducks out here to get close to.  So this is about the best I've been able to do so far.  Pretty poor if you ask me.

Cowardly Tired

I PTFO after work today.  Almost missed dinner.  Not really sure why I'm so cowardly and tired.  In any case, I have in my possession Season 4.5 of Battlestar Galactica.  They have reached Earth, which is a barren wasteland.  What will happen next, who knows?  I intend to find out.  Tonight.  Here are some most excellent photographs of birds:

To study the differece in nasal grooves, compare this photo of a Wandering Tattler with the Gray-tailed photo I posted on November 26th:  http://toophotosaday.blogspot.com/search?q=gray-tailed+tattler

This is a female Laysan Duck.  I had to take a photo of her because her head is much whiter than the rest of the ducks.  So she looks cooler.

Raging And Snorkeling

Tonight is phase 2 of Rage-a-thon 2011.  Hopefully it will be great success.  Last night was pretty chill.  I finally drank whiskey with the legendary man known as Walker.  He is good at raging.  Despite the fact that today was saturday, I still had to do a little bit of work.  After work, I had a cocktail and went snorkeling.  It was pretty killer.  I saw a Giant Trevally that probably weighed as much as me.  There was one White-tipped Reef Shark, a bunch of Puffers, and other crazy exotic fishes that I still don't know the names of.  The Island is still really crowded, so it could be a fun party.  We shall see.  TTYL, BRB, LOL.

There is a small fruit orchard on the island and one of the trees makes these oranges, Which are more red than orange.  They eat purty good too.

Yesterday this bike rack went from having three or four bikes, to this mayhem.

Mind Bottling

We were invaded by 15 new volunteer bird counters in the night.  At breakfast, I waded through unfamiliar faces to find my bacon, eggs, and coffee.  After breakfast I searched the freshwater seeps on the island for signs of Botulism (dead ducks).  I found one, a Northern Pintail.  Life is Pain.  Most of the rest of the day was spent entering data and banding Laysan Albatross on Eastern Island.  It was fun.  We even walked by the adult male Golden Goony.  He is spectacular.  His head is made of solid gold.  Tonight, a bunch of VIPs are flying in.  I think it's the head of Fish &Wildlife or some such person.  Cray cray.  I guess there's gonna be a fat rager to welcome him on Island.  I better go get cleaned up for the meet and greet.

Frigatebird identification baffles me.  It's mindbottling.  You know, like when your mind feels like it's in a bottle?  I'm pretty sure this is just a Great Frigatebird (not the fabled Lesser that I search for in vain every day).  But I'm not really sure why...

The Short-tailed Albatross of Eastern Island hanging out with his fake friends.  Check out how much bigger and cooler he is than the surrounding Laysans.

Island Bird Day

Island Bird today.  I am within inches of FJ's record, which was previously thought to be unbeatable.  I can almost taste all the Fame and Eternal Glory.  I got a hot tip from one of the Albatross counters that they had seen two Short-eared owls out by the water tanks.  I blasted out there and ticked that shit off like it weren't no thang.  


I've been reading this book called She's Come Undone.  It's good.  It's about this girl who grows up with hecka crazy parents and then gets raped by a neighbor and then gets super fat and then goes crazy herself when her mom dies.  It's very depressing, but I'd still recommend it to anyone.  I think it is the fourth book I've read since being here.(also an Asimov, a cyber punk novel, and a crappy novel based on a move called Event Horizon)  You have plenty of time to read out here while trying to get into a normal sleeping pattern.  I often wake up before 5 AM on accident.


Lastly, I'd like to congratulate Matt Brady on seeing his 10,000th County Bird in California (a Rock Wren in Colusa).  This is an incredible milestone, and I am genuinely proud of my friend for all his hard work.  Rage.

Volunteer Nick gets a look at the Short-eared Owl.  To bad I wasn't standing where he was standing.  My photo would've been much better.

Boobies.  Still fun to look at.  This is a Masked Booby on Eastern Island.

Bonin Petrels At Sunset Are Truly Romantic

I didn't take a lot of photos today.  Mostly I stood around reading Goony bands and banding Goonies.  It was chill.  It was so chill, I'm ready to go back out and do it tomorrow!  In other news, yesterday was BJ's birthday.  So if you're one of those lucky people who know the name Bobby Joe Smalling, call him up and say happy birthday!

A Green Sea-turtle checking stuff out at the cargo pier.

This is what the goonies do when they get a hold of you.  The bloodlust.  I only got one bite today.  I was lucky.

I'm An Artist

Last night was bowling.  I rolled a 133.  Totally respectable.  We started doing our Survivorship Plots for Laysan Albatross today.  Lotsa work left to do.  I rented season 4 of BSG today.  Getting ready  for that whole ordeal.  The weather has been ridiculously nice lately.  I heard it was going to be cold out here during winter, but so far it's effing paradise every day.  Sorry, everyone else.  Hey speaking of winter, what should I get people for Christmas?  I'm at a loss.

Another Wedge-tailed Shearwater chick, running around scared.

Here's part of yesterday's dolphin show.  This is what happens when you try to take photos of things that are 10 feet away with a 400mm lens.  It doesn't fit in the frame, so you call it art.  Look everyone - Art.

NoddyNoddy

Spent half the day indoors before finally kicking myself in the ass and going down to the cargo pier.  Luckily, I ran into the first Black Noddy I've seen in over a week, and the first one I've gotten a decent shot of.  Then Pete came and found me to let me know that the boat was going out for an Island Tour.  It was pretty sweet.  Highlight was a large pod of Spinner Dolphins.  I practically could pet them.  So dinner is approaching soon, and I'm hecka hungry.  Here is a short lesson in Noddy identification.  Later.

Brown Noddy.  Notice the slightly stockier bill and the contrast between the brown tertials and black primaries. 

Black Noddy is the superior Noddy out here.  They are much smaller, darker, pointier-looking, and are much harder to come by than their brown cousins.

Chillaxing

The day was relaxed (chill).  I went birding a little bit, drank a couple of beers, and finished season 3 of Battlestar Galactica.  I now know the identities of four of the final five.  I only guessed one correctly before watching.  Also, I missed the boat to go out snorkeling at some exclusive and amazing reef (life was pain).  I guess it's now time to go watch Miracle on 34th Street.  Merry Christmas to the Fays and friends tonight.  May they rage and be filled with the Christmas Spirit.

Red-tailed Tropicbirds are hecka pretty.  This is what they look like in color after they're all grown up.

This is one of the Gray Goonies I have seen around the Island.  It is a hybrid between a Laysan and a Black-footed Albatross.  Nobody seems to want to hang out or mate with them, so you usually feel a bit sorry for them and like them more.

Buy Stuff, It's Christmas

I forgot to mention something that I discovered during the great Thai King Rage of 2011.  I am the second youngest person on Midway.  I was pretty sure I was in the top five or ten, but number 2?  Cray cray.  Just when I felt like I was getting old...  In other news, I went to Eastern Island today and saw hella boobies.  Also hecka Great Frigatebirds.  I bloodied my shins walking through the dry pokey sticks of Verbesina. (most hated plant on island)  Also, the Goonies seem to be getting meaner because they have started occasionally biting me on the legs when I walk by them.  Usually I call the offending bird a bad name and keep walking.  It helps me to feel better.  Hope you're all doing well in Christmasland, buying lotsa stuff for the people you love.  I know I am.

When I took this photo, I was sure I would look through the flock later and find some mega rare vagrant.  Nope, just Chuck Testa (google it) and 24 Ruddy Turnstones.

So sick.  In your face Great Frigatebird.

It Is So Effing Early

This post is dedicated to keeping score of the birds seen on Midway by Felonious Jive (Steve), and Handsome Dan (me).  The winner of this noble contest will receive Eternal Glory and Fame, and it will probably advance him in the GBRS (Global Birder Ranking System).  I will update as scores change.  FJ, if you find any problems or inaccuracies with the lists, notify the TPAD administrator immediately.  Here is the rundown:

Felonious Jive: 39 species

Green-winged Teal
Laysan Duck
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
Laysan Albatross
Black-footed Albatross
Short-tailed Albatross
Bonin Petrel
Bulwer's Petrel
Wedge-tailed Shearwater
Christmas Shearwater
Tristram's Storm-Petrel
Red-footed Booby
Brown Booby
Masked Booby
Lesser Frigatebird
Great Frigatebird
White-tailed Tropicbird
Red-tailed Tropicbird
Cattle Egret
Pacific Golden-Plover
Whimbrel (Siberian and American)
Bristle-thighed Curlew
Grey-tailed Tattler
Wandering Tattler
Ruddy Turnstone
Glaucous Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Little Tern
Least Tern
Sooty Tern
Grey-backed Tern
Brown Noddy
Fairy Tern
Black Noddy
Common Myna
Canary


Handsome Dan: 35 species

Brant
Mallard
Green-winged Teal
Laysan Duck
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Greater Scaup
Laysan Albatross
Black-footed Albatross
Short-tailed Albatross
Bonin Petrel
Wedge-tailed Shearwater
Red-footed Booby
Brown Booby
Great Frigatebird
White-tailed Tropicbird
Red-tailed Tropicbird
Cattle Egret
Pacific Golden-Plover
Bristle-thighed Curlew
Grey-tailed Tattler
Wandering Tattler
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
Peregrine Falcon
Brown Noddy
Fairy Tern
Black Noddy
Common Myna
Canary

This is Nuom and Pong.  They are bad ass cooks and keep me well fed.  They both left for 2 months on thursday.  Nuom (striped shirt) had his house badly damaged in the Bangkok flooding and has to go deal with that horrible mess.  If any of you are ridiculously well to do and would like to donate to his family, contact me and I'll tell you how.

Here is Patty at the airport scene on Thursday.  Patty is our doctor.  If anything bad happens to me, she will save my life.  There were a whole bunch of people out of the runway to wish John Hanna farewell after hella years of service on Midway.

Lately No Ideas Zoom Xtra Young

Looking for new Island Birds has become much more difficult.  I'm not sure what my next one will be.  Probably a Masked Booby, if I know what's best for me.  Yesterday I had Peregrine Falcon.  It was being chased around by a White Tern, fleeing for its life.  One closer to toppling FJ from his mighty throne.

Sanderlings at South Beach, being very sanderlingish.

When Bonin Petrels fly, their souls actually leave their bodies.  This is how they achieve such stunning aerobatic splendor.  This is a grainy photo of said phenomenon.