Don’t you hate it when you’re forced to recognize you’re not quite as slick or savvy as you thought? I just had that realization thanks to my friend Duncan of Ben Cruachan Blog. You see, back in Dec 2006 I was pretty proud of myself for finally persuading Duncan to host I and the Bird. This was important to me since Duncan has been a mainstay of our beloved birding blog carnival since its inception, representing the avian life of Australia with insight and aplomb. The effort to get Duncan at the helm of an edition took a solid 18 months, but in the end, I reeled that big fish in with a most memorable IATB #38 as a trophy!

But the Ben Cruachan Blogger is an elusive artist indeed. Thinking I had him hooked on hosting, I diverted my attention for just a moment. Lo and behold, 3 years have passed!!! I don’t know how Duncan got away with evading the august responsibility of hosting IATB for so long (considering how outstanding his last edition was) but he’s making up for lost time today with a brilliant bushman edition of I and the Bird #118!

Speaking of multi-year campaigns to get great nature bloggers as hosts, Laura Hardy of Somewhere in NJ will be taking her long-awaited place as curator of the next IATB. Please send your links and summaries to me or Laura (lc-hardy AT comcast.net) by February 16 for the 2/18 edition.

Written by Mike
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.