pensioner wrote among other things of Alaska

>Hmmm...The state bird is the mosquito.<

It should be. By shear weight of numbers if not for size. Actually the
biggest mosquitos I ever encountered in Alaska were in Southeast -
Specifically Wrangell, AK. I was attacked at my home when I first moved
there. Blasted things were big enough to span completely across a
quarter.  They got me at night  when I was sleeping in the sleeping loft
with the window open - no screen. I felt the bite, turned on the light,
and found several hanging over my head over the bed on a low ceiling.
Not many, sprayed for them, and closed the window. Never saw that type
again. But they were huge.

As for the real state bird ... Ptarmigan. About the size of a pigeon and
delicious eating. Legal game bird there.

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver