Open Back Sore

I bit the dust hard today whilst lugging an ice chest down to Candyrock.  How embarrassing.  I scored myself a nice raspberry for my trouble.  Oh, and I also birded Brushwood in the morning.  Tomorrow, I will be leaving on a jet plane.  Sultry and I are going to Lake James, North Carolina for ten days.  This will be my last hoorah before leaving for the Farallones on the 18th (which is also the date of the World's Last TPAD).

Me and Lola, nursing wound. 

This is one of a few Cooper's Hawk fledges that is currently hanging out at Brushwood.  

Sooth My Itchy Burning Skin

My PoodleDogBush is almost cured.  Any day now, it will disappear entirely.  This is what it has been like living with the PDB.  All photos by ASearcy.

This is what it feels like most of the time with PDB.  Simply horrendous.  

The only thing that helps are hot girls and Calamine lotion.

To learn more about the horrible plant known as PDG, see: 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turricula_(plant)

4 PADs How Embarrassing

Once again, I'm only putting these up because I feel like I have to.  I am about to go to prom.  "Adult Prom".  Can you believe that?  I barely can.  Wish me luck.

House Wren eating Spider.

Indy Bunting.  Still in Rowland Heights.

Me.  Embarrassing moment on the 4th.

LEGO extravaganza at Jonfeen's sock.

Through Drooping Eyelids

I will never catch up on the sleep I lost in Nam.  Especially not tonight.

It's not easy being a biologist.

Yet another Allen's Hummingbird (presumably).

We Are Incredibly Good Looking

I was all up in hella boats today.  Super fun.  We all got on a snorkeling trip out to a neat reef outside Kona.  I saw a bunch of fishes that I remember from Midway snorkeling, and a few things that I had been trying to see out there but never did.  My personal fish of the day was a the Longnose Butterflyfish.  I really like butterfly fish.  I had already seen lots of "Forcepsfish", which were nice, but the Longnose has a hella hella long nose and is a bit cooler.  After the snorkeling, we saw a big Manta from the boat.  Also cool.  After that, it was time for boat #2 of the day.  We went for a sunset sailing cruise with Papa Konane for a few hours.  If you want to know what it was like, watch this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMkIuKXwmlU&feature=related


Papa K. is a friend from back home.  He's from here, but he went to the Brushwood Olympics last year up in Angels Camp, and he decided to show us around on his sailboat here in Kona.  During the sail, I saw only one bird.  A Glaucous-winged Gull.  This was the first gull I have seen in over three months, so I was pretty stoked.  Tomorrow, I will finally surf in Hawaii for the first time.  Ima shred the gnar.  

Papa Konane teaching me the art of sailing.

Samantha pinching the sun.  Or half of it anyway.

Over Raged?

I just got back from a little whiskeydrinkin with the one they call Miller.  He taught me that making moonshine is both fun and good for you.  Tonight there is a 70s party being thrown in my honor.  I have once again given myself a hella sexy moustache on my face.  God it looks good.  I'm going to have to fight off hordes of women demanding to ride on it.  Should be a wild night.  There is also a fridge full of jello shots in the kitchen.  When is the last time any of you had a jello shot?  I'm pretty sure I wasn't able to grow a moustache the last time I had one.  By the way, I was wondering.  Has TPAD been giving the impression that all I do is rage?  Is there too much Rage Content on TPAD?  Do you people want more birds, or science, or history or something like that?  Please let me know.  I'm a bit concerned.

This chick is ready to rage.  She's pretty much hammered drunk, screaming "I'm wearing a sports bra and I don't give a FUUUUCK!".

I'm pretty much the same as the chick above.  Same caption.

Abandoned

It seems as though there is a party being thrown for me (and the other 3 volunteers) every single night between now and when I leave Midway in a week.  You all know what that means...SEVEN NIGHTS OF RAGE!  God that sounds awesome.  Raging is such a fun activity.  If you are reading this, I assume you participate in raging events regularly.  If you do not, may I recommend that you go sit down, look deep inside yourself, and think about your life.  Unless you have a pre-existing health condition which prohibits raging, I'm pretty sure you should be doing it as often as possible.  If you don't believe me, just ask any person who has attended graduate school at Duke University.  They will tell you the same thing, and they are the upper echelon of the future of our great nation.  That being said, I'll never forgive any of those same Dukies for leaving me all alone on a desert island with nobody left to really rage with (see photo below).  Mahalo.

Yep, this is how I feel.

Here's a trick I learned in photography class last night.  use water in your photos.  Water droplets turn photographs into art.  It's just the same as black & white.

Remember Your Clipboard

A pretty good Wednesday.  I started out by doing a Laysan Duck survey on Eastern.  I even got my very own College Kid Interns from Duke.  Pahtree see uh and K Tlin joined me and learned how to do an official, up to protocol survey of one of the rarest birds in the world.  After that, I ate boo koo rice and stew for lunch and then went out to pick up trash off of South Beach.  We picked up hella.  I haven't weighed it yet, but I reckon it was literally tens of kilograms.  Well, I'm almost late for dinner, so Ima go eat more.

Albaporn.

I was Fairy Tern Whispering.

I Wear My Sunglasses At Night

Hella hella rage.  Midway New Year is awesome.  Did you know that we are the last people in the whole world to bring in the new year?  We rule.  So, the night started of with about four or five games of Bingo. I promptly lost all five.  Then the band rocked out for several hours after that.  I drank gin, tequila, beer, and champagne.  I danced and sang and played hecka guitar.  I played pool, ping-pong, pinball, shuffleboard, and foosball.  So many activities.  I also took a portrait of every person at the party while they wore my sunglasses.  It's a pretty good album.  Watch for it on FB.

Three loser Bingo cards.

Hella winner rage machines.  That's me in the middle with my arms up.

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.

Mahalo Means Thank You (I Think)

Well, I've been in airplanes and airports all day.  Not much sleep last night, so I'm purty zombied out.  I am currently in the lobby of a fancy shmancy private jet service.  I feel like the president or something.  The pilot just shook my hand.  I am important.  Before something else happens, here are yesterday's photos.  Sam and I met up with Felonious and Ben for a Dayger aroud the Mission.  We kept up with them for about 25 percent of their mission.  It was awesome.  There were many drinking rules and regulations.  High percentages were achieved by all.

I'm thinking of starting a Hot Guy Of The Week column.  This will be the first installment.  Breathtaking, no? 

Sam and I finished the night at some swanky restaurant o the bay.  There was a really good happy hour.  Everything cost five bucks.  Super chill.

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.

Kegstands! Right Now! It's Still 2011!

Well, now I'm 29.  I feel hecka mortal now.  I'll most likely keel over from old age within the next year.  Last night was a success.  Everything we set out to accomplish was completed.  Kayla wins the Most Violent Drunk Award.  MB wins Best Behaved Drunk.  I think Darren wins Stinkiest Kegstand.  Anyway, here are a few of the pictures from before we were too far gone to worry about f-stops or ISO.   Maybe some birds tomorrow.

This is Canyon.  He likes to have dance-offs.  He will serve anyone, anytime, anywhere.  Right here he is serving someone twice his size.  Kid has moves. 

These three jokers.

First 24 Hrs Great Success

Yesterday was a good day.  Started at Ferry Park and quickly bagged the Yellow-throated Warbler.  Started raging slowly, and kept accelerating throughout the day.  By the time it was dark, I had the Fernet anger erupting out of me.  We ended at El Rio, listening to a guy who's going to be mayor talk about how he will change the world.  Sadly, I can only use 2 of the many photos.  I guess I'll have to put more up on Eff Bee.

This is the second Yellow-throated Warbler that I've ever seen.  Totes awesome.

This is my FaraBeard.  It is big.  Stuff gets stuck in it a lot.  Like Sam's hand.

Don't Look At TPAD Today If You're Expecting Birds

Bleak.  Dreary.  Hopeless.  These words could all be used to describe yesterday on Southeast Farallon Island.  Therefore, instead of birding, ping pong was the chosen activity.  My camera didn't even venture out of doors.  Instead, I take you to the National Farallones Table Tennis Club of America.

MB (Animal) with a well placed shot.

Dan getting real with massive slam.

In other news, it's now September 30th.  Outside, I can see high overcast cloud-cover.  A gentle SE wind has been blowing all night, and there is not thick blanket of fog smothering the Island.  Things are looking Hecka Great.