"Alaska 200 Club", or "How to become the biggest bird geek possible"

Well, I just submitted my first application for future employment. This time it was for a lead interpretive park ranger position at Crater Lake National Park, in Oregon. It certainly is a beautiful part of the country, and Sonja and I are both interested in living in that area (as long as we could avoid going to Klamath Falls as much as possible). I'm also going to be pursuing jobs in Denali and Rocky Mountain National Parks, as well as any others that show up along the way. So we're still not completely set on any particular location.

Not much else to report, although there is a rumor that a female Hooded Merganser has been spotted in town lately. She would bring me that much closer to joining the "Alaska 200" club (somoene who has identified at least 200 species within the state of Alaska). Certainly a prestigious group that anyone would be honored to be a part of. I think at last count I was at 191 species. These last few are going to be pretty tough, though, since I've weeded out all the really common ones. All that's left are regional specialties and the random vagrants from the lower 48 and Siberia.

So if any of you are planning on visiting us this summer, try to sneak a few of these or a couple of these into your suitcase. It would be a tremendous help, and shouldn't be that difficult.