Alcid Reflux

In June I was able to spend a week at Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast with my parents and siblings--great to be back on the Oregon Coast. This time I was able to bring my spotting scope and spend many hours just scanning the ocean from the cliff overlooking the beach. It was great to spend so much time with great looks at PNW alcids including Rinoceros Auklet, Cassin's Auklet, Marbled Murrelet, and the occasional Tufted Puffin. As a kid growing up in Oregon, I mostly saw these on the occasional birding pelagic trip, or brief flybys with binoculars from places like Boiler Bay, so this was the most time I've been able to spend with these birds in many years--in some cases such as the Cassin's Auklet it has been many decades since we last crossed paths. Great to have these come back up in my life!

Q'eqchi' Birds

 My most recent article with Kerry Hull based on our Maya Ethnoornithology research has been published in the journal Human Ecology. Here is a read only link to the article.

2026 Year of the Gwitawo'yo

Gwitawo'yo is the Northern/Eastern Shoshoni name for the Black-billed Magpie. 

Since I started the year in Northern Utah, this was the first bird I saw and heard to start 2026, and I want to honor it with a name from those who knew it before it was "discovered" or scientifically described by Joseph Sabine in 1823.

While I haven't found any Gwitawo'yo tales from the Northern or Eastern Shoshone yet, here is a fun one from their more southern Timbisha Shoshone cousins, where magpies win a race against Coyote.

Photo by Polinova (CC BY-SA 4.0)