Admit It. You Like To Watch.

Of all the charges leveled against birders (we're old / dorky / tree-hugging fruitcakes / boring / embarrassingly bad dressers) this has got to be the strangest: We're not only tedious conversationalists with bad hats, but we're also promoting....PORNOGRAPHY! This link to a mind-bogglingly weird video was distributed to everyone on the Alachua County rare bird alert e-mail list (I'm not sure if this is its official name, but it is an e-mail list that goes to local birders interested in notable recent sightings.)

Speaking of bird porn, CNN reports that the carrier card for this year's duck stamp (basically a federal permit for hunting migratory waterfowl) contains an embarrassing error: instead of the phone number for information on how to purchase duck stamps, the card gives a number for a phone sex service.

Duck stamps are not only mandatory for hunters, but also a worthy investment for non-hunting bird lovers, since all funds from the stamps go towards the purchase of habitat for waterfowl, as persuasively argued here (go to page 3 of this PDF file), So if you haven't purchased your duck stamp yet (yes I know I should get mine), now you have extra incentive to do so!

Who says birding isn't sexy?

Bad Shots of Good Birds

The best thing about photographing mushrooms? They can't fly.

I've been having endless amounts of fun looking for new Florida birds. The birders here are great, and have been really generous about teaching me the calls and field marks of all local specialties.

I've been having less fun, however, trying to get decent shots of these birds. Since it's the midst of fall migration, all the really interesting birds are tiny, active little things, and the foliage here is denser and darker than the coastal sage scrub and mountain oaks and sycamores back in California. And it's hard to focus on a shot of these little guys while simultaneously keeping one's eyes open for spiders/snakes/mosquitos/passing cars/cyclists/gators/Gator fans and other local hazards.

Still, even lame shots of new birds are a nice souvenir of a day in the field. One of my favorite new birds is the Prothonotory Warbler, and here's a bad shot of one. (He was SO close, but hopped away before I could get any other shots.)



One of my goals coming out here was to get some good shots of Northern Cardinals, which are abundant, pretty, and relatively slow moving. Mission (not quite) accomplished:



One bird that was surprisingly cooperative and allowed a not-sucky shot was this White-eyed Vireo, who I saw at Loblolly Woods Nature Park this morning:



And to give everyone's eyes a break, here's a shot of the appropriately named beautyberry, a local native popular with birds. This very cooperative plant was also at Loblolly: