Laissez les bonnes oiseaux rouler!

Bonsoir from Louisiana!

My Ghost Blogger has been absent/lazy for a few days, so I apologize for the absence of posts. She has been fired for dereliction of duty, and a new Ghost Blogger will be hired soon. In the meantime, you're stuck with me.

I'm sure you've been wondering what has transpired since the last post. "What amazing adventures have they embarked upon, only to keep secret from their devoted followers?" is a question I'm sure you've asked yourself nightly. "Did they quit early and not tell anybody?" would be reasonable. "Do they not love us any more?" is undoubtedly also at the top of your mind.

To address these burning questions: Very Little, Definitely Not, and We Absolutely Still Do.

So, what has happened?

Mostly, the past several days have been about work and life. On the birding front, our only recent expedition was over to Marin, in search of two rare vagrants: a White Wagtail, an Arctic bird that we missed in Nome but that somehow ended up in Northern California, and an even more rare Dusky Warbler, which is common in Asia but has only been reported a handful of times EVER in NorCal. We struck out on the warbler, but did manage to find the Wagtail, for bird #671 for the year.

Candidate for "Crappiest Picture Ever". Blame Ms. Wagtail for not flying to our side of the lake.

The wagtail happened also to be The Wife's 700th Life Bird, so congratulate her on joining the 700 Club when next you see her!

Now, though, things are about to get interesting. We are in Cajun Country for a few days of jambalaya, gumbo, and boudin, and also for an interesting sounding festival called, "Yellow Rails and Rice". This festival takes advantage of how rice harvesting disturbs birds that are hiding in the wet rice to show attendees all kinds of rails, including the enigmatic Yellow Rail.

After that, we're headed to southern Texas (AGAIN) for a boat trip (AGAIN) and the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. Subsequently, we may visit the Most Boring City in America (Lubbock, TX) for a late attempt at Lesser Prairie Chicken, and then Denver for one more shot at Boreal Owl. Or, we may reschedule everything depending on the weather and our whims. That would be just like us.

Stay tuned!
Me (Not the fired Ghost Blogger, for reals)