The San Juans

In a few hours I will be leaving to the San Juan Archipelago to survey the entire island of San Juan.

Yeah, I know you're jealous

That's a lot of birds.

We separate the island into two halves - the American Camp and the British Camp.

I was curious as to why the island is separated this way, so I did a bit of research (i.e. Wiki search!)...

The Oregon Treaty of 1846 established the 49th parallel as the official boundary between the US and British North America, but made no mention of the San Juan Archipelago...

So of course, the British (Canada was officially a British federal dominion until 1982...) and the Americans both claimed ownership over the San Juans...

The conflict escalated in 1859 when an American shot and killed an Irishman's pig while it was eating his potatoes (which is NOT meant to be an insulting innuendo for Irish wives). This escalated to military action and two months later, 461 Americans with 14 cannons were opposed by five British warships mounting 70 guns and carrying 2,140 men...

No shots were fired. The pig was the only fatality...

For 12 years, the two nations maintained a strong military presence on San Juan with the British in a camp to the north and the Americans in a camp to the south.

Apparently it was a very drunken 12 years for the soldiers (together they celebrated every British and American holiday possible...).

The Union Jack is still raised by park rangers every day over the British Camp, making it one of very few places in the US where government employees regularly raise the flag of another country.

Oh yes, and there are birds.

Passerculus sandwichensis
No joke. That's its scientific name.
The Savannah Sparrow