Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

So many bastards, so little time.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Second rate reporter says what?

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

This blog will pay for itself.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The words do not have to be perfect.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

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Costa Rica

On The Road – Albatrossity – Costa Rica Finale

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It looks to be a great week on On the Road.  Albatrossity Monday!
Parades!  Ducks!  italian food!  Gorgeous photos from Africa!

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica Finale 10

Albatrossity

This will be the last round of pics from my recent trip to Costa Rica, but I’ve saved some of the most striking and iconic species for last. After the events of the last couple of weeks, a spot of beauty, and a deep breath before facing the week, might be just what the doctor ordered!

As before, birds that were lifers for me are designated with an asterisk.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica Finale 9
QERCMay 16, 2024

The goal for many birders who visit Central America is the *Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno). Limited to evergreen montane cloud forest habitat, and preferring areas that have both large old-growth trees and an abundance of fruiting trees, these spectacular trogons generally require persistence and a bit of luck to see. We had the luck, as a pair of these birds was nesting near one of the resort hotels in San Gerardo de Dota, a short walk from where we were housed at the Quetzal Education and Research Center (QERC). All we needed to do was wake up early, walk down to the hotel to meet the guide, and half an hour later pick up our jaws from the ground when a female and male quetzal came to eat the small wild avocados in a tree less than 200 ft from the hotel lobby. This is a female, swallowing an avocado, after which she sat for 15 minutes or so to digest the fruit and spit out the seed before she gobbled down another one. Click here for larger image.

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On The Road – Albatrossity – Costa Rica — Week 5

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Very important question: How did it get to be July already???

We start the week in Costa Rica with Albatrossity and then spend the rest of the week in the Cascade Loop with Paul B.  It’s a lovely series, but I don’t want to spend them all at once, so if you have been thinking of submitting some pics, this would be the perfect time!

Albatrossity

This should be the penultimate batch of pics from Costa Rica; there will be one more set next week and then we will go back to less exotic birds from Flyover Country. As in previous installments, birds which were lifers for me are tagged with an asterisk. Enjoy!

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Quetzal Education and Research Center (QERC)May 16, 2024

One of the fun parts of birding outside your home patch is observing birds that might be quite different, plumage-wise and even taxonomically, from the birds you see every day, but who are behaving like those more familiar birds. This *Sooty-capped Chlorospingus (Chlorospingus pileatus) reminded me ever so much of the Tufted Titmouses I see every day in my back yard. Noisy, gregarious, curious, and extremely active, this member of the sparrow tribe has a very restricted range in the highlands of Costa Rica and neighboring Panama. Formerly known as bush-tanagers (and the account for this species at the Birds of the World website still uses that name), recent research has resulted in their reclassification in the Passerellidae, the family that includes the sparrows that are familiar to North American birders. So they are not closely related to the titmouse, even though their behavior is very similar. Click here for larger image.

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On The Road – Albatrossity – Costa Rica Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters

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Albatrossity

Dinosaurs!  Looks to be a great week ahead!

(click the image below for a bigger, non-blurry version)

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 10

Albatrossity

There are more birds (aka dinosaurs) in the images this week, but also some mammals and even some lizards. As before, birds that were lifers for me are designated with an asterisk.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 9
Quetzal Education and Research Center (QERC)May 16, 2024

*Flame-colored Tanagers (Piranga bidentata) are a hot draw when they sporadically vagrate to Arizona or Texas. I’ve been in AZ once when one had been spotted in Ramsey Canyon, and I did not go there that day because of the crowd that was expected. But they were abundant in the highlands of Costa Rica, and I got to see plenty of them. This is a male, and it is obvious why they got the name “Flame-colored”. Click here for larger image.

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On The Road – Albatrossity – Costa Rica — Week 3, Flowers and Butterflies

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It’s Albatrossity Monday!  No birbs, but we do get flowers!  Then we have the last of frosty’s 2022 national park trips from 2022 – pssst, frost, is it time to move into 2023?  Anyway, it’s the end of the frosty series for 2022, and the beginning of a series from PaulB.  Endings and beginnings this week.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 3, Flowers and Butterflies 10

Albatrossity

We’ll mostly take a break from birds this week; there are a couple of pretty birds (both * lifers) in this batch, but it’s mostly flowers and butterflies. It won’t replace the Sunday Morning Garden Chat, but it should provide a colorful start to your Monday!

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 3, Flowers and Butterflies 9
Osa Peninsula, Costa RicaMay 20, 2024

The Pacific coast of southwestern Costa Rica, home to the Corcovade National Park, is a hot and humid lowland forest. As expected for a tropical forest, it is very biodiverse, with lots of hummingbirds, tanagers, and quite a few endemic species found only there or in the neighboring similar habitats of Panama. Insect diversity was amazing, with leafcutter ants, large dragonflies, wasps, and butterflies in abundance. I found three species of longtailed skippers on one small shrub just by watching it for part of a day. Here’s one of those, the Zilpa Longtail (Chioides zilpa). This species does sporadically stray into the US, As for the plant that it is  getting nectar from, I think it is Stachytarpheta jamaicensis, aka Blue Porterweed. But if more experienced botanical minds tell me that ID is wrong, I would appreciate it! Click here for larger image.

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On The Road – Albatrossity – Costa Rica, week 2 — Flycatchers!

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Costa Rica, New York City, Quebec.  Looks to be a great week!

(click the schedule below for a bigger, non-blurry version)On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica, week 2 — Flycatchers! 10

Albatrossity

Lots of people know that Costa Rica hosts a lot of species of hummingbirds. But that is not the only species-rich family of birds there. Flycatcher species generally outnumber the hummingbird species in the Neotropics, and that is the case in Costa Rica for sure. As photographic subjects, the flycatchers have a lot to recommend them. They are active, vocal, often perch in the open, and tend to return to the same perch after sallying out to catch an insect that made the mistake of venturing into their territory. So here are ten flycatcher species that I encountered during my time in Costa Rica; as before, species which I had not seen previously are tagged with an asterisk.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica, week 2 — Flycatchers! 8
San Jose, Costa RicaMay 14, 2024

Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) is a bird that you can see in the United States; there are breeding populations in Arizona and Texas, and vagrants have been reported in more northerly states (although not Kansas, alas). But it is very common in much of Central and South America, extending south to Uruguay and Argentina. Those far southern birds migrate north to the Amazon for the austral winter, as one would expect. Click here for larger image.

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On The Road – Albatrossity – Costa Rica, week 1 — Hummingbirds!

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It’s Albatrossity Monday, and we get hummingbirds!  We must have been very good to deserve this.

Costa Rica to California, California to Illinois, then Illinois to Arizona.  I am not good with geography, but even I know that whoever planned the itinerary for this week did not plan the most efficient routes!

(click the image below for a bigger, non-blurry version of this week’s schedule)

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica, week 1 — Hummingbirds! 10

Albatrossity

As WaterGirl mentioned, I recently spent 12 days in Costa Rica, and she gave me last Monday off. But I’m back, and it was a great trip, so I’m ready to share pictures.

I should mention that even though lots of people go to Costa Rica specifically to see the birds and other wildlife, I went with a group of undergraduate students from KSU as part of a Study Abroad excursion. There were 15 students and three instructors, including Elizabeth. The students were enrolled in either one or two of the three courses covered during this trip (English, Geography, or Biology). So the focus was not on birds and padding a life list; we visited places that would allow education to be the main focus. Nevertheless, in such a diverse and scenic country, you will always see some birds, and many of them will be new! Birds which were new to my life-list are tagged with an asterisk (*) in the captions below.

The first installment will be some hummingbirds. Costa Rica hosts around 50 species of hummingbirds, including a few which are endemic to Costa Rica, or found only in that country and neighboring Panama. There will be more hummingbirds in subsequent posts, but here’s a starter.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica, week 1 — Hummingbirds! 8
Uvita, Costa RicaMay 19, 2024

One of the most common is the *Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl), found in much of the country and well-adapted to gardens and other human alterations of the landscape. Unlike many hummingbirds, the sexes have similar plumages. As you can see, it is very aptly named. Click here for larger image.

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On The Road – arrieve – Sights around San José

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arrieve

Although I enjoyed San José more than I expected to, our program did include several excursions out of the city. These are some of the highlights.

On The Road - arrieve - Sights around San José 7
Costa Rica

This is Póas volcano, a mere thirty miles from the capital, famous for the (highly acidic) blue lagoon in the crater.

It’s an active volcano, so visits are limited to twenty minutes and there are concrete shelters on the viewing platforms in case of an unexpected eruption. You also have to wear hard hats; each tour group got hats in a different color, so the trail from the visitors center to the volcano was a sea of reds and yellows and whites bobbing along through the trees. The last major eruption was in 2017, which closed the park for eighteen months, and some of the trails are still closed. You can see the effects of the acid rain from the gases that are still being emitted on the nearby landscape.

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