USA trip, day 16 - 9th February

I skipped the plenary session today. It was a public debate between two persons who sit on the opposite side of the fence on whether Brown Pelicans should be declassified as an endangered species. This was experimental as something to do at a PSG conference. Nobody seemed to be talking about it afterwards, so I wonder if it worked out OK.

I did some emailing etc and went through my talk again. Going back to the meeting rooms, I hit a bit of a purple patch with the local birds. This included Bushtits (just like Long-tailed Tits back home), a Downy Woodpecker, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, a Pine Siskin, a couple of Western Scrub Jays and a target species for me, Townsends Warbler! There was also a Say's Phoebe in the grounds, though it didn't look much like the book illustrations.

My talk went well, although if I'd had 20 minutes, I'd have missed out fewer important facts. Linda's talk went well, and attracted quite a bit of interest. She was nervous, although I only knew because she told me so.

At the end of the final session on "seabirds at sea" methods, there was a spontanious discussion about survey methods from ships. There are a lot of different methods being used in the Pacific, and while people want to standardise, they are reluctant to let go of their old methods. We're so lucky to have standardised our methods in Europe before too many projects started.

It's strange at these conferences. Once you've given a talk to a group you don't know well, all the doors suddenly open. I guess its a bit like an "ice-breaker".

George spent the day in Monterey, including a morning at the aquarium. It sounds a truly amazing place.