My wireless signal in my hotel room is weak, so blog entries will be few during the weekend, but I will make up for it Sunday night...however that will depend on how many people will pay me not to post the incriminating photos I have from the symposium's river boat event and the karaoke party afterwards. Yes, Bill Thompson III of Bird Watcher's Digest, I'm talkin' to you.

Iowa birding is good; there are quite a few pelicans here and some good ducks. On yesterday's trip to Sloane Slough we found green-winged teal, pintails, blue-winged teal, a redhead, gadwall and wigeon. We found some interesting sparrows including vesper and a first year chipping sparrow going into winter plumage. I heard through the grapevine that some of the field trip descriptions for the symposium were a little vague. So vague in fact that one of the field trips was actually a boat excursion that wasn't included in the original description. When tour participants arrived, a trip leader stepped out and asked, "Are you ready for a boat trip?" The group was not, but it sounds like they saw good birds and it did warm up later in the morning so things turned out okay.

I'm off to see a harpy eagle and meet more people so I can name drop in future entries.