A couple California notables:

• Checked out Lafayette Reservoir. Didn't feel the desire to bird too intensely with all the foot traffic. Got asked "Did you see the eagles?" like three times by passersby which must rank as the premier question to ask someone with a telephoto lens. I did see the eagle.
   
   
  Spotted Towhee
  
  
  
• Outside of a bar in North Beach we met a man who's wife's cousin is the mayor of Mindo, Ecuador. He made several gracious offers to set me up with some birding hospitality should I ever make it out there.
  
• Chatted for far too long with an Australian dude (he looked very Italian-American to me...) who was trapped in an insane series of thought loops about Boolean algebra, the infinitesimal chance that we should be meeting at that moment, and his perception of me and my friends as "weird, smart motherfuckers" (disquieting). Overall a nice lad.
• Fantastic weather, hiking, and food at Joshua Tree with my buds. Many new desert wrens and sparrows. Heard a Gambel's Quail. Just chuffed that our plan worked out. Got sick on the second day but who cares anymore.
  
  Phainopepla
  
  
  
  
  Loggerhead Shrike
  Back on the road solo again for a week. Staying in San Diego at a newly reopened regional park right on the border with Mexico. One of the rangers gave me a laundry list of birding spots and also delivered another "Right on, you're at the age to do this." I'm pretty certain they think I'm fresh out of high school or something.
  

  Black-throated Sparrow I love you I want to take care of you

   

  LIFE LIST: im at 250