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.

This Shit Is Still Fun (Boobywatching)

I spent a good chunk of time on Eastern today.  It's always nice going over to Boobyland.  I get pretty jumpy over there every time we flush birds, because I'm always sure the next vagrant will present itself.  Nothing of the sort happened today.  But the surf was epic, extreme, and gnarly.  There were massive barrels breaking on the reef, which is probably a few miles away.  The bird counters finished counting today.  The results are in.  There are Hella birds.  Now, most of them are leaving tonight and returning to lives where they don't have to count an endless mass of Albatross forever.  

The splendor that is the Red-footed Booby at sunrise.

Massive barrels.  So epic.

Spent 

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.