Oh, my! I spent this weekend at the
Central Valley Birding Symposium in Stockton, California. What a thrill to be invited to speak, and what a thrill to spend a weekend at such a wonderful event! There were some fabulous people there--the kind I hold in awe, like
Jon Dunn,
Steve Howell,
Dana Gardner,
Keith Hansen, and
Alvaro Jaramillo! The symposium has the best elements of state ornithological society meetings and birding festivals, all wrapped into a sublime event that exudes the best of professionalism with a huge amount of warmth and friendliness. There were great field trips, and Friday morning I spent at least an hour and a half in the company of one of the coolest birds on the planet!! Who could ask for more?
Now I'm at the Sacramento Airport waiting for my flight. This is one of the civilized places that provides free Internet. I won't have that at the Twin Cities airport, though I'll be there for a long, long layover (assuming the fog lifts here so we actually take off!)
