So in Anchorage I saw these mallards diving for food. Alaskans, more than one, told me all the mallards in Alaska dive. Consultation with an ornithologist from the Bronx Zoo tells me that mallards, though they're not built for diving -- their legs are in the middle of their bodies, not in the back the way diving ducks' legs are -- will dive if they're having a hard time finding food on the surface and if they've seen other birds diving and coming up with yummies. So the mallards of Alaska seem not to be cross-breeds, just gregarious and hungry.

I, on the other hand, was gregarious but not hungry, either in Anchorage, where they have some fabulous restaurants (like this and this), where the convention offered box lunches included in the registration price (a Bouchercon first, I think), and where there were more people I wanted to sit and have a meal, tea, or coffee with than hours in the day; or in Unalaska.

Tomorrow, more about Anchorage and the convention; after that, about Unalaska and the Aleutian Islands. And as soon as we can, the photos will be up on the website.