More on One Legged Grackle

Well, when I downloaded images today from the camera, I was anxious to see if there was anything more on the one legged common grackle and sure enough the bird showed up in a few photos. What was interersting this time was in the first few photos you can see an immature grackle waiting behind it? A nestling of the one legged grackle?

A few photos later answered my question. In the background of the photo on the left, the one legged grackle is in front of a begging immature grackle, it does have chicks! Today I mixed in some mixed nuts and mealworms and for the grackles, the nuts are definetly preferred over the mealworms. The bird appears to have two chicks and it's kind of inspiring to watch it in the photos continue on with its duty of raising the off spring and carrying on its DNA. I suppose

that is one of the things that makes this species so successful. Of course many people this time of year are having lots of trouble with grackles taking over feeding stations so it does seem kind of silly to get so taken with one, but I just can't help but show interest in an underdog. Grackles really are a cool looking bird, I wonder if they didn't crowd out other birds sometimes when they feed if people would like them more?

On another note I did notice that we have a banded bird hanging out. I thought I saw a banded bird in one of the photos a few days ago, but figured is was a stray seed in a blurry photo, but today you can clearly see the red-winged blackbird male has a silver band on its right leg. Last year we had a couple of banders behind the store out who banded some birds, I wonder if this was one of them. Which reminds me that I need to book those guys again, they are great educators and it's always fun to hang out with banders.

One Legged Grackle

Here's an unusual sight that showed up behind the store today, a one-legged common grackle (making it a tad uncommon). The bird is very plucky and kept all the red-winged blackbirds away from the food pile. Even one of the crows seemed a bird unnerved by this bird. We noticed it today by its mode of hopping as opposed the cocky looking strut a grackle normally has. I've never seen this particular grackle before today so I wonder if this bird recently acquired this injury as opposed to having hatched missing a leg. The grackle appeared healthy otherwise the whole day, not sitting low to the ground all puffed up as sick bird would. I got several photos (most blurry) of mono leg, and the eyes appear fairly bright which is a good sign of health. This is the only photo that shows part of its nictitating membrane (extra eyelid birds have to protect from dust when flying and eating) is exposed, so I think that is more the result of when the motion sensitive camera captured the image instead of a sign of illness.

Of course we still have some nasty mealworms that we're trying to get rid of at the bird store and I put another pile out hoping to have a contest of which bird species could carry the most. A female house sparrow was found with six mealworms, a female red-winged blackbird had seven and low and behold, check out mono leg here: at least nine! Which leads me to believe that this bird has a nest somewhere and has chicks ready to be fed. This kind of makes me think that the injury is fairly new since the bird would be nesting nearby for the last few weeks and I would have noticed it sooner with the way we all watch the feeders behind the store (and monitor the area with a motion sensitive camera). Also, birds that have injuries like this have a tougher time finding a mate. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how long this bird lasts behind the store and if it ends up bringing chicks to the feeder in another week or two.

Really Cool Part of My Job

This bird will be identified towards the end of this post. Any guesses as to what it might be?

One of the really super fun things about my job is helping people with bird identification. Between me and my staff there isn't a photo of a North American bird we can't identify, we are truly a staff of experts. We love a good grainy photo to try and determine species, sex, age or whatever a customer wants to know. Once a customer brought in a box of bird parts that she found in her yard and wanted to know if we could id it--it was a green heron. Green heron bills look a lot smaller in the hand than in the bush.

Well, the other day Stiv Stevland stopped in and mentioned that he took a photo of a bird in Grand Marais over Memorial Day Weekend and so far no one has been able to id it. I told him to bring it in. Sure enough, two days later he brought in the photo. I looked at it and was familiar with the area he had taken the photo, near the coast guard station.

At first I thought pipit, but realized pretty quick that there wasn't any streaking on the places it should have streaking. As I flipped through the pages of a Sibley guide I noticed that another species resembled the bird. Hmmm, there were only one or two state records for a bird like that in Minnesota and I quickly dismissed that idea. I got out all of our field guides in the store and tried to turn it into anything but the species I was suspecting, but all the field guides were pointing to that. Finally, Stiv voiced what I was thinking, "I've tried awful hard to turn that into a wheatear but that really isn't found in Minnesota and the only record I could find was for a different county than I was in."

I decided that I needed to call in reinforcements but my big guns, Denny Martin and Bob Janssen were not working that day. Stiv left me a disc with photos and I emailed them to Tony Hertzel editor of The Loon (a very cool publication put out by the MOU) with a subject asking, "Is this a wheatear?" and I swear I have never received such a prompt reply from the man. He confirmed that it was a female northern wheatear and this would be a third state record of that species in Minnesota. How fun to tell Stiv that the bird he saw was in fact a wheatear and that many other listers were going to be pea green with envy over his find. He felt bad that he didn't know at the time anyone to contact so others could see the bird, but alas as many of us know that sometimes that's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise.

Cool Part-time Job with MN Audubon

I would apply for this job myself if I weren't already swamped. Mark's a pretty cool guy to work for and if he ever gave you any hassle as a boss you could just contact me for some dirt!

Important Bird Areas Assistant

Part-time/temporary – 20hrs/week July 1 – Dec. 31

The Important Bird Areas Assistant will have responsibility for researching and preparing nominations for Important Bird Areas (IBA) in Minnesota. Preparing nominations will include presenting data in a clear and concise fashion, documenting sources, preparing maps, and communicating with land owners/managers, and natural resource specialists. The Important Bird Areas Assistant will work collaboratively with colleagues in government agencies, academia, and other nongovernmental organizations. This will include but not be limited to; the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, The Minnesota Ornithologist’s Union, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This is not a field research position. Rather, most of the time of the assistant will be spent researching existing data, communicating with colleagues, and writing from an office setting.

The successful applicant will have the ability to organize data, write clearly, and collect information on natural area sites in Minnesota. Excellent organizational skills, capturing information accurately, and attention to detail are required skills. Must be able to effectively operate computers (PC), printers, and related software (including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Access and PowerPoint); and other standard office equipment. Two years post high school education and some knowledge of Minnesota birds are necessary. The successful candidate will understand and support Audubon's mission and desire to contribute to the effectiveness of its program and staff. S(he) will work with the Director of Bird Conservation to insure the timely completion and documentation Audubon Minnesota’s IBA identification.

Please send cover letter, resume, and references, to Mark Martell preferably via email at mmartell@audubon.org, or mail to:

Audubon Minnesota

2367 Ventura Dr. #106

St. Paul, MN 55125

Birds Respond to Color

Some things we know like hummingbirds are attracted to the color red, orioles are attracted to red or orange and goldfinches are attracted by the color yellow. But apparently most birds have a type of attraction to the color white as this story about bird preference to poop on white cars seems to reveal.

July 2 Convergence

Well, I'm pretty excited about this Saturday, Amber and I are going to do a panel at a sci-fi convention called CONvergence with the Raptor Center birds. Here is what we are being billed as:

Eagles and Owls and Falcons, Oh MY! Birds in books: what's possible/what's not - this is based on things we've read in books or seen in movies. MISFITS is proud to be sponsoring University of Minnesota's Raptor Center both at CONvergence and in MISFITS' "In The Schools Program". Amber Burnette, Erin Lorenz, Sharon Stiteler

I'm really looking forward to this. It's one thing to do bird programs at bird festivals but at a sci-fi convention is so different. Some of these people may know absolutely nothing about birds and this could be their first exposure. Plus, I'm always up for trying to correct all the impossible bird stuff in books and tv. I was flipping through channels the other day and this posse of cowboys was supposed to be in Colorado Springs and at night you could hear loons--loons of all things, yeesh. I will say this, Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show did usually get it right. When Buffy would be hanging out in cemeteries waiting to stake vamps in Sunny Dale, CA there would be western screech owls calling. That was a big step in the right direction.

Strong Pigeon

Not the most exciting bird species on the planet but I'm always surprised when this bird shows up on my window ledge. Something happened to its right foot and it's missing all but one toe and has some kind of ball-like knob on the bottom of that foot. The incredible thing is that this particular bird has survived at least two Minnesota winters. It's the toughest bird, often pushing other pigeons off the ledge to have sole access to food. It survives quite well without my feeding too. I haven't put any seed out for two months because squirrels chewed a hole in my screen so I quit feeding for awhile. Today, I scattered some seed out to see who would come and this was my first visitor. I'm always so impressed by this bird, and it reminds me that birds are often a lot tougher than we give them credit for.

Female Red-winged Blackbird Variations

Interpretive dance or picking up food? Who can say and what must that song sparrow in back be thinking?

Well, as the mealworm bonanza continues behind the store, the red-winged blackbirds are having a gay old time taking advantage of this oh so stinky protien source. They do tend to pick out the livelier worms first but have also been taking the blackish dead ones as well. Yes, please get rid of my stinky inventory. Having birds behind the bird store is like having a trusty dog under the table when your parents serve you a nasty new recipe.

I have noticed that we have some different colored female red-winged blackbirds. Most females (like the one pictured left) are are a dull buff color with striping down the front and back. But we have a few that have some yellow highlights (like the bird pictured below). I'm not sure what causes this. I wonder if it has to do with diet. I know with house finches some males appear redder than others and it's based on diet.

Birds Love Mealworms

Sometimes, it's unbelievable to me the amount of mealworms we go through at the bird store. Birds absolutely love those guys and they really do make a difference in how many orioles you will have visiting your feeders during nesting season.

For me there are a couple of down sides, number one being that I have a severe allergy to mealworms or to their frass (fancy science term for mealworm poo). I sneeze uncontrollably, my eyes puff up and the back of my mouth gets swollen and itchy. To make matters worse I have been having a dickens of a time with one of my suppliers who keep sending lackluster worms (if you can imagine). This company used to have the biggest, fatest mealworms at a fairly reasonable price but recently our shipments have been full of stinky and dying worms and on top of that their prices just went up. None of this helps my allergies. We recently switched to a local supplier of mealworms but I'm still trying to get rid of the last stanky (yes, I mean STANKY) mealworms from the other company. Some of the bags are so bad that customers are refusing them even at clearance prices (birds will still eat them as the ones out behind our store proved the past few days, but the smell makes mealworms ickier than the already are). So to save my sinuses I have been putting them at the feeding station behind the birds store, much to the delight of the many birds that visit. There has been a steady parade of orioles (like the female pictured above) lining up for the squiggling pile on the ground. The first day a male oriole chattered impatiently as Denny piled them out. As soon as he was finished the oriole hopped from branch to brach chirping loudly sounding as if he couldn't believe his luck finding such a booty.

Of course other birds soon followed. The really weird thing was last night as I was leaving the store a young cottontail came out looking for food. It was old enough to be on its own but small enough to fool someone into thinking it needed help. Anyway, it went over to the pile of worms and munched on a couple of the really black dead ones! Who knew, carnivorous bunnies? Before I had a chance to observe further to see if the cottontail would happily eat more, the resident Cooper's hawk flew by and sent everyone for cover.

Today we had to add more mealworms to the pile so I set out the NovaBird Camera to see what kind of footage I could get. Some of the photos are blurry but I still enjoy them because there's a story there.

















One of the resident catbirds has not only been eating mealworms but has also been making regular stops to our mixed nut feeder. Many customers also report catbirds eating grape jelly and suet (especially the No Melt Suet Plug--best suet EVER).















The photo before this one was a chipmunk, so I wonder if this male oriole was trying to bluff it to get it to go elsewhere. The chipmunk did not eat any of the mealworms in the numerous photos it appears in.

















It looks like this female red-winged blackbird has at least five mealworms in her bill to take back to a nest full of chicks. Interesting we only caught females doing this on camera and not the males.

















There's that chipmunk and in front is another red-winged blackbird female and this one looks like she has four mealworms and is still going for more.



















Grackles appeared in several photos and don't apprear to be eating mealworms! I mixed in some Joe's Mix and a few mixed nuts with the mealworms and in every photo that a grackle appears in, its bill is full of nuts--no mealworms. I strongly suspect that they do eat mealworms, but these particular grackles were really in the mood for nuts.

My Calendars Are In!!

I just got my first shipment of my calendars! I can now sell them! Woo HOOOOOOOOOOO! So, if you're looking for a great gift idea for people who live in Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan I can recommend the following items for 2006:
Birds of Minnesota Calendar
Birds of Wisconsin Calendar
Birds of Michigan Calendar

Can I just say how happy I am to finally see the finished product? So much work has come to this, it's so cool. What a great way to start the weekend.

This goshawk photo is one of Stan Tekiela and is one of my favorites. There aren't just fantastic photos in here but lot's of great bird information for each state such as what birds to expect each month, tips for attracting birds and fun bird trivia for each state.

I Spend Too Much Time on the Internet

Ian and Margery dug this up...and I just can't look away.

Crying While Eating

Birdchick En Francais

I have no idea why, but Non Birding Bill has discovered that www.birdchick.com has been translated into French. Suddenly, the Disapproving Rabbits pages seems much more arty. It's odd, although looking at the address is appears to have something to do with fm107.

Duh! Birders already Knew Chickadees are Smart

WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - Those cheery-sounding chirps coming from the tree in the back yard are carrying more than a joyful message -- they are conveying surprisingly complex information about lurking predators, biologists reported on Thursday. Tiny chickadees, known for their scolding calls, communicate details about nearby predators, biology PhD student Chris Templeton of the University of Washington found. For instance, the final, or "D" note in a call can be repeated for emphasis, Templeton said.

You can read the rest of the article at Reuters Alert Net.

Red-tail eating baby birds

This is from Non-Birding Bill. I hesitated to send it, because most of the time red-tailed hawks don't do this sort of thing, but like any bird, if they see an opportunity for food they are gonna go for it. I don't like to perpetuate the myth that hawks kill every bird in the neighborhood, but this is what I would find interesting to read about in a blog. I don't know the story behind this link, but I think the photos speak for themselves:

Red-tailed Hawk attacking an oriole nest.

So, here's the conversation that came along this morning when my husband found the link:


Non Birding Bill: Cool, Poppy Z Brite is a bird watcher.

Birdchick: Mmm, I think Mr. Neil told me that.

Non Birding Bill: Wow, roseate spoon-bills are cool looking. Did you know there's a loon cam?

Birdchick: No, I didn't.

Non Birding Bill: Oh! Here's a series of photos of a red-tail taking baby birds, I'll send you the link!

Birdchick: Wait. What are you doing looking at birding websites?? You're not interested in birds.

Non Birding Bill: I was just looking at them for you, I thought you would like them.

Whatever shall I do, if my husband turns into a birder? I've never even dated a birder, I can't imagine being married to one! What will I call him? He gets mad if I call him Ivory-bill Stiteler (Mr. Neil's doing not mine). This really messes up my Chi.

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Tourism

This just showed up on Conservation Through Birding listerv:

I visited this area with my family on June 9. I was very impressed at
the way the town has embraced the tourism opportunity. We bought
t-shirts at two places, one a BBQ spot offering Ivory-billed Hamburgers
and Ivory-billed Salads. Both places were out of Larges, so there must
be some demand. We also saw an Ivory-billed Inn and RV Park, an
Ivory-billed Art Center, and a hair salon that offered Ivory-billed
Haircuts. I'd spent enough on t-shirts, so decided to forgo the haircut
even though my daughters encouraged me to go for one. I wouldn't be
surprised if some locals resent the intrusion, but the local businesses
appear to be pretty interested in woodpeckers right now. A couple of
local homes had signs up offering guide services for canoe trips, too.

There's some very good signage out in the Dagmar Unit, and some really
beautiful campsites (free, too). We stayed in one, and really enjoyed
it. Birds seen/heard from the campsite included Miss. Kite, Pileated,
Prothontary, Yellowthroated and Parula Warblers, Barred Owl, White-eyed
Vireo, etc.

Let's come up with a way to encourage more birders to visit there and
leave a few dollars in local pockets, while seeing some phenomenal
habitat at the same time. Donations to TNC are great, but helping the
local businesses benefit from the bird will help a lot. They are
certainly trying to attract birders. Any ideas?

Jeff Sundberg
Lake Forest College
Lake Forest, IL

Birdchick Bath Salts

I got a lovely package in the mail from Lorraine and Malena: custom blended birdchick bath salts(along with some gem soap and some lovely smelling plants to burn)! About the only thing I love more than birds (and Non Birding Bill of course) is a good luxurious soak and I'm always on the lookout for fun bath stuff and here is a website where you can get some pretty funky home made bath salt. I think the best ones for birders is probably the Athena-Goddess of Wisdom Bath Salts, a bergamot lavender blend "formulated to help improve consciousness, mental clarity, enhance memory, and clear cellular memory" (and don't we all need a little of that in the field). Plus, it never hurts to smell nice when out with a birding posse.

Random Post about Lang Elliot

I found a great way to avoid getting any writing done! Take all the bird identification cds I have amassed over the years and put them on my iPod, then start organizing them so I have a play list of all the warblers and in the play list I put all the calls from all the different cds together so that I'll have something like four different American redstart tracks. Actually, since I've started putting all my id stuff on the iPod, when I set it on random I'll get like a David Bowie song, a Depeche Mode song, Lang Elliot introducing a black-legged kittiwake, song from the Xanadu movie, etc.

For those that don't know, Lang Elliot is usually the male voice on quite a few of the bird identification cds out there. He also runs Nature Sounds Studios and is an expert in bird calls and has a ton of great cds that he produces himself. One of my favorite books is Music of the Birds (I always try to keep a copy in the store because it makes a good gift for someone who needs a gift for a birder but have no clue where to begin). It talks about some of the best bird songs out there and on one of the tracks he slows down the calls of a hermit thrush, Swainson's thrush, wood thrush and veery and you can hear just how complex and how many more notes are in the song than we hear. He sounds a little stiff and I would love meet him one day and see if he'll tell a dirty joke just to see what it would sound like. It's got to be hard to be in a sound booth and recite bird names for bird cds for hours on end. What's interesting is that on one cd he pronounces pileated woodpecker as PILL E a ted and on another cd he pronounces it PIE lee a ted--man that woodpecker's name needs to be changed!

A Good Egg Writes About Old Eggs

Here's a link to a Wall Street Journal article about early 1900s egg collecting, featuring my good friend Carrol Henderson. Rumor has it that he got a book deal out of this article. He presented it as a PowerPoint presentation at the 2004 MOU Paper Session and it was incredibly interesting. Can't wait for the book to come out!

March of the Penguins

Another bird movie on the horizon: March of the Penguins!

Lead Sinker Alternatives

Here's an exerpt from a story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

DULUTH, Minn. — The state that brought Rapalas and Lindy Rigs to the fishing industry is on the forefront of another trend. This time, some Minnesota fishing tackle companies are encouraging a switch from lead jigs and sinkers to new tackle that may be safer for birds, fish and other wildlife.

Kevin McDonald, head fishing tackle education coordinator for the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance, said the use of new tackle could create jobs in Minnesota.

"We're really glad to see Minnesota companies diving into this now. Minnesota is the center of the fishing industry universe,'' McDonald said. "And we didn't want to see our companies turn into dinosaurs.''

Lead still accounts for the majority of the sinkers and jigs sold. According to a 2001 U.S. Census Bureau report, about $342 million is spent annually on jigs, hooks and sinkers, while $19 billion is spent on all fishing tackle.

Minnesotans spend about $17 million annually on hooks, sinkers and jigs. The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance estimates about $8.5 million is spent on lead tackle in Minnesota each year.

White Bear Lake-based Water Gremlin, the nation's biggest maker of lead sinkers, has added a new line of bismuth sinkers. Bemidji-based Northland Fishing Tackle, a premier maker of lead live-bait jigs, has added the Nature Jig line of nontoxic bismuth sinkers to its product line.

Two years ago, some Minnesota lawmakers and environmental groups proposed banning small lead tackle because studies show it can kill loons and other birds. But leaders of Minnesota's fishing industry said there wasn't enough information on loon mortality to support the ban.
The legislation failed in 2003 and hasn't advanced since. Still, the tackle industry is changing.

Without legislative action, Minnesota has instead used education to convince anglers to switch away from lead, including offering free samples of nontoxic tackle.

The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance is once again sponsoring fish tackle exchanges. Anglers can bring their small lead tackle to designated sites and they will receive samples of unleaded tackle.

You can learn more about it at Get The Lead Out.

Pelican Banding 2005

My glamorous lifestyle:


Birdchick avec young double-crested cormorants while laying on bird poop and barf.

So, thanks to Non Birding Bill I have a new page of updated photos and captions for pelican/cormorant/ring-billed gull banding 2005. NBB feels quite strongly that I put a warning out that some of the photos are on the gross side. These are not just photos of cute baby birds, but a documentation of what a person would find visiting a nesting colony. The first page is fine, but at the bottom of the second page are photos of harsh colony life and what happens to some of the birds on the island. It's a wonder we have any pelicans, cormorants or gulls at all. I have always maintained that every bird has a dark side and boy howdy is proven here.

I was nervous because last year I had a tough time banding. It's one thing to band hawks when one person is holding it and someone else is measuring and placing the band on, here on the island one person is grabbing a struggling-fishy-smelling-mushy-turkey-like bird and getting barfed on in the process, it's not easy to do with just one hand. There were several times last year when I would crimp a band around a pelican's leg and it would close too tight and I would need assistance taking the band off and putting it on correctly. If you leave the band on too tight it will constrict the bird's leg and eventually kill it with the resulting infection, so it's incredibly important to make sure the bands are on properly. This year, I only did it twice and the second time I was able to correct the mistake on my own. This year, I really felt I had my groove on.

Despite all the stink, this banding trip is one of the coolest things I have ever gotten to do. I'm privileged to spend a day with all the researchers and ornithologists and absorb their information and to have a chance to observe bird behavior. It truly is like being on another planet when you visit these islands and at the end of the day when you get home to think back that, "Wow, I handled hundreds of pelicans today and aided in research that some ornithologist may use years down the way to prove a new theory." It just makes you feel like you aren't some aimless speck on the planet.

Pelicans Returned To Chase Lake

I learned about this yesterday during banding, but it's in the Minnepolis Star Tribune that the pelicans have returned to Chase Lake.

My own update will come soon. Last night I ate dinner, watched Vertigo and fell asleep. Now I have to do a bird song program at the MN Landscape Arboretum, but my stomach feels a tad churny--did I get a parasite? On top of that my thighs are so sore! OW! I forgot how much crouching is involved when banding--why do I always think I'll be okay to do programs the day after intense banding? Crazy birdchick! Let's hope I don't do any pelican impressions today.

I'll do a proper udate on the banding tonight, but in the meantime a previously undocumented behavior in pelicans:


STREAKING!!!!

Sneak Preview of Pelican Banding

Naked Pelican Chick

Just got in, have taken two showers and soaked my fingernails in acetone and I can still smell pelican on my fingers. I don't think I'll be eating sushi or chicken for the next few days--ugh. Anyway, must take shower number three and eat something heavily spiced (lots of garlic) to get weird taste out of my mouth (no I didn't eat any pelicans but the whole smell of the rookery seems to have permeated every available pore in my body--inside and out). More photos coming soon and I must say, I think I got some SWEET footage for a video Birdzilla segment. My only concern is that with the wind and my overzealous finger on the zoom button, it may resemble an episode of Laugh In.

WildBird Magazine

My article about the owl irruption for WildBird Magazine is online. Although, if you can, try to buy a copy of the magazine, the photos with my article are to die for especially the one of a great gray in flight by Sparky Stensaas. I also noticed that Pretty Boy Bouton has an article online as well and he's generally a good read.

Well, I'm off to Stink Island to band pelicans. Hopefully, I will not get my camera pooped/barfed on and will have fun photos up Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Tracking The Ivory-billed Woodpecker

Think you've seen an ivory-bill? Cornell has set up a new website to track sightings. Here's a link to an article in Newsday about new ivory-billed woodpecker tracking website.

Hummingbird Rescue

This just in from Samarra Semanczyk on MnBird Net:

I have never seen this before: a hummingbird had its
beak stuck in one of our screen windows. I took a
large envelope and gently brushed it against the
screen, and in a couple of moments the hummingbird was freed.

Urban Bean Birding and Quiz

So, I have been booted out of the apartment tonight because Non Birding Bill is having a play rehearsal for his Fringe Festival Show called THACO (which you would think is hilarious if you have ever played role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons).

So, I'm at the Urban Bean and already in the last ten minutes I have seen a Cooper's hawk flyby and as I'm typing this there goes a white-lined sphinx moth (that means it's that time of year when we get phone calls from people saying they have discovered a new species of hummingbird in their yard when their really seeing one of these guys).

Well, the Bean has a new mural in the former smoking area (go Minneapolis for that smoking ban) and they have some birds sitting on wires:


Anyone want to take a stab at what these are? I'm thinking a phoebe, purple martin, starling fluttering up, a kingbird, I have no idea what's on the lowest wire, a nuthatch and a robin.

I have been talked into going to Arizona to the ABA Convention for a few days in July--I am so excited! I won't be able to go the whole time, but long enough to see some cool birds, hook up with some friends and maybe even do a little karaoke. At first I wasn't going to go since I have a few projects I'm working on and I didn't have the money and then Pretty Boy Bouton emailed 9 reasons for me to go (basically 9 birds I have never seen before). I tried to resist with the money as an excuse and boy howdy if he didn't email over and airfare coupon. How could I possibly refuse? Anyway, it'll all be tax deductible.

Okay, that's enough avoiding work, back to my book draft

Avian Uprising?

"Brains...want...eat...brains...aaaaagh....

So Mr. Neil sent me a link to a story about birds attacking humans. At first I thought this was just another story of a whiny little British man who doesn't know how to duck until I came across several stories today about birds attacking humans.

There's a perfectly logical explanation for all fo this, it is not a sign of end times but more a time of birds protecting their young as they are learning to fly. However, if I get horrifically killed within the next month or so by some odd bird attack feel free to mock me for being the nay sayer.

For those of you out there that are feeling like humankind is devasting our bird populations, take heart in that birds are getting back at some of us.

Bird Sparks Grass Fire
More Birds Causing Fires
Christian Science Monitor Says Bird Attacks on the Rise
Urban Gulls on the Attack

My Lovely Cockatiel

Warning! Out of control parenthesis ahead!

So today I saw a red-tailed hawk screaming and I looked overhead to see the poor guy getting the crap mobbed out of him by three red-winged blackbirds and two starlings. To add insult to injury a small squadron of swallows were tailing the tail (har har) clicking angrily. I thought to myself, "Dude, I hear ya."

It's been one of those days, people needing spare parts that are hard to get hold of, my inventory is out of control, my new fridge for mealworms leaked and soaked a new shipment of worms (nothing like coming back from time off to fungusy stanky mealworms) and the mealworms that were most recently shipped are of iffy quality. I swear, I spend half my time correcting shipments.

So I am unwinding by sippin' some scotch that's half my age and listening to songs with my cockatiel Kabuki:


Yes, I'm exposing my dark secret. I am harboring a non-native species in my apartment--a lutino cockatiel. Bill and I keep threatening to graft a peacock feather on his tail so he will be a peacockatiel.

Anyway, digging around on the internet I discovered The Happy Cockatiel site where a guy has written songs inspired by his own birds' songs. Our personal favorite is Newton's Song which reminds me of one of my favorites songs My Lovely Horse from the Father Ted tv series.

I'm concerned birders are losing their sense of humor. I posted a story on one of the listservs I lurk on about an ivory-billed woodpecker viewing platform that was set on fire in Arkansas. I made the remark that it could have been vigilante birders not wanting unethical birders to view the bird (that's been a huge concern in the birding community that some birders are risking birds lives by over viewing them--my personal jury is still out on that one. Part of me thinks some birders have nothing better to do than tell people how they should properly watch birds (I find these are usually people who think listing is a terrible form of birding) and the other part of me has witnessed birders crossing a line). See I warned you--parenthesis amok.

Anyway, it was suggested to not even jest about the image of vigilante birders, which quite honestly makes me laugh harder. The idea that there is a gang of ninja like birders stalking about the woods in their unflattering, big pockets emphasizing large posteriors, swathed in khaki from head to toe with a jaunty wrap of mosquito netting about the face, pants tucked in socks wreaking havoc to keep people from seeing good birds practically makes me pee my pants. Birders have cool James Bondesqe equipment--scopes, binos, gps, packs full of nifty gadgets and snacks but we just never look suave. You would think that birders would be masters of a sexy stealthy walk to sneak up on birds, but alas we look awkward and dork and are surprisingly noisy.

Still So Tired

I took this with the NovaBird camera at my mother's house. Any guesses on what it is? It will be identified at the bottom of this post.


This is one of my favorite birds, and they love to eat nuts of any sort in or out of the shell as well as mealworms, sunflower seeds, suet and pumpkin seeds.

I'm so tired, I feel like I just had a "lost weekend" with a bottle of 15 year old scotch but alas, it was just the trip and not alcohol related at all. Well, "Ivory" Bill Stiteler and I returned home last night at around 11:30pm. We actually made really good time and would have been home about 6pm but we made a side trip to Neil's Wednesday when we left for Indy our power was out so we stopped by their house while they were sleeping, made ourselves some tea, "borrowed" two travel mugs, filled the feeders and left a note that we had visited. So we had to return the mugs.

Bill and Neil geeked out over computer stuff for a bit while I unwound by taking in a gorgeous summer evening which I really needed after spending nine hours in the Saturn. I discovered that the chickadees had fledged from the bluebird box and bluebirds had started a nest with one egg already laid. It's nice when I give friends a particular bird house that the actual bird it is for nests inside it. Also the trees were full of singing red-eyed and yellow-throated vireos. I found two separate indigo bunting territories, heard a rose-breasted grosbeak singing in the distance as well as the song of a savannah sparrow in a nearby field. It was so far out you couldn't hear traffic and the humidity I had endured in Indianapolis was far away as a cool summer breeze carried the fragrance of honeysuckle. Even a few crickets were chirping, it was just the perfect evening...til I heard distant but distinct voice calling. I couldn't make out what they were saying exactly, but I'm sure it had something to do with dinner being on the table and they weren't waiting for me to get back. I knew if I didn't respond Bill would assume I had broken my leg so I let out a barred owl call thinking they would realize they don't have those around there and that they would know it was me. That didn't work, they still kept calling my name as I hurried up the road. So I started calling, "Marco" to which they gave the requisite "Polo" and understood that I was on my way. It was a tasty dinner of left over beer butt chicken and a salad made from the garden (except for the pesky daddy long legs that someone neglected to take out of the lettuce).

After dinner Bill and Neil geeked some more and I took a bath--I love visiting there, the home is full of good people, and the yard gets great birds, but what I love most is the giant whirlpool bath. The boys I think were sensing my tiredness and irritability and Neil suggested I use his bath and as I sat soaking in the tub I kept thinking how wonderful and decadent my life is when I can listen to fabulous bird songs and then relax in a hot tub--hmmm, it's the best! After a good soak I finally had to put my foot down and get Bill and I home because I had KARE 11 this morning. I still didn't get enough sleep and was so unfocused on the show this morning, I didn't talk about all the stuff I brought. Ah well, at least I was able to get my clothes to match.

So, now I have to fish through about 300 email messages (I'm on too many birding list servs) and catch up on some much needed sleep. I'm so excited, Friday I leave to go pelican banding again! Woo Hoo! Barf city here I come!

Bird in photo: Tufted-titmouse

Tired Tired Bog Entry

I'm so tired, my mother is wearing me out. It's not so much that she talks a lot, it's that she forgets conversations so we have to repeat stuff...a lot. While she was chattering today, I held up the Song Sleuth and it identified her as a red-bellied woodpecker...funny, I always thought of her as a yellow-breasted chat.

I do love my mother, I really do.

I went out with Mom, some sisters, a cousin and an aunt to see a bald eagle nest that they have been watching near a construction site. Between my sisters, cousin and myself the workers had their pick of a blond, brunette and red-head. One very nice gentleman offered to drive us in closer for a better view and I was able to get this photo:




We also passed a cemetary with some cute young foxes playing with each other:


Got some photos of blue jays visiting Mom's deck, using the Nova Bird camera:




Look at his cute brown eyes:

Trapped in Indiana

Somebody emailed me a photo two days ago asking me to id the bird in the photo. Due to a power outage and a roadtrip I didn't have a chance to respond. The photo is of an immature bald eagle.

I am currently in Indiana for a moment for a wedding. My mother is sitting next to me as I type this. Any words mom?

"Fried Chicken"

I'm grateful that it's not as pornographic as it could have been. She's really enjoying the road to senility.

For those interested there is a FABULOUS article about the Minnesota owl irruption inthe July issue of Wild Bird Magazine. Whoever wrote it should be getting multiple book deals and possibly a Pulitzer...(okay, I'm the cheese ball that wrote the article, but it's still a good read). Also, a good friend Jeff Bouton has an article in there about how to tell sharp-shins from Cooper's hawks--and he actually has some good tips in there. Who knew?? He's more than just a pretty face.

Techno Birding

I have another fun new toy to play with. It's called a Song Sleuth and you can aim it at bird songs and it will come up with a list of candidates. And that's not the coolest part, you can also use it to record calls so if your not sure of the bird call or if you disagree with the Song Sleuth's deduction of the call you can record the call and take it home with you--it works even better if you use a shotgun mic with it to get a better aim at the songster and more accurate recording.

The device itself hangs around your neck like binoculars and you do aim it toward the singing bird in question just like binoculars by holding it up to your eyes. I actually got a little worried around the Empire Substation. Birders already look incriminating enough with their high powered optics around neighborhoods and now another device to make us look stranger and like we're up to no good. I can see this being a valuable tool for somone that has trouble remembering bird calls.

Invasive Species

So, some are on the tad blurry side, but I finally got some fun blackbird photos with the NovaBird Camera (which we have at the Wayzata store now-whoo hoo). We also just got in a new refridgerator to accomodate the amount of mealworms we are selling. It looks a little out of place in the front of the store, so I'm thinking I can cover it with some of the photos from the bird feeder cam. The following are birds that not many people care for, but I love these photos nonthe less.



"I am a lonely asparagus, someone please love me."


Canada geese do eat everything! This one apparently tried to eat the camera.


"It places the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again."

Peregrine Banding

Photo Warning: The third and fourth photos are dried, pieces of birds. Those with weak stomachs may wish to stop after the second photo (they're not as bad as the unhatched merganser though).

Today Bud Tordoff and Mark Martell banded peregrine falcons along with Lori Arndt and Jane Goggin from The Raptor Center. They were banding the chicks on the Colonnade building, not too far from the bird store, so I was able to sneak out of work for a little bit to get some photos:


Mark Martell masterfully holds a 21 day old male peregrine falcon chick.


"Mock me now, human, but one day I shall dominate and terrorize pigeons in your urban neighborhood!"

The nest had two male chicks in it. What was interesting was that the male of the pair that produced the chicks is the grandfather of the female that laid the eggs. Hmmm, could that sentence be any more confusing? Bud assured that though this is a taboo in human society, this is the norm for this type of species where there are few breeding pairs spread out in an area. I didn't see any cleft palates or third eyes so it must not be too bad.

My favorite part of when they band the chicks is what they take out of the nest. The banders grab the chicks and then quickly clean up all the bones and feathers around the nest box. It's a treasure trove of interesting finds. Bud is an ornithologist and has been president of a few ornithologists societies so his bird fu is so strong he can tell you species right away by looking at a feather or two. Here are some highlights:


Here is the head of a pied-billed grebe.


Any guesses? On the left is the bill of a black-billed cuckoo. On the right is the bill from a yellow-billed cuckoo. I haven't seen either species yet this year, I wonder if these are countable?

One year when Amber and I went out with Bud and Mark we found nighthawk parts in the peregrine boxes. Nighthawks have been on a steady decline in the last few decades and part of me wondered if peregrines being reintroduced into metro areas was a contributing factor? There have been several theories about nighthawk decline, usually people accuse crows but I think it's several factors with migratory habitat destruction number one on the list, not peregrines or crows.

The Hummer Helmet

You have to see this photo at the Million Dollar Idea website. Because birders don't look dorky enough as it is.

Here's a link about the device in the West St. Paul Sun Current. Part of the problem is that they tested it at Wood Lake Nature Center. Don't get me wrong, Wood Lake is a fantastic place to go bird watching but if you want to guarantee hummers I would think you would want to get further from the metro area. We just don't get that many around here. The further north you go, the more hummers increase. I think habitat is a key factor, not only do hummingbirds rely on nectar for food but they eat a large amount of teeny, tiny insects. Pesticide use is much higher in the metro area affect hummingbird insect food supply as well as probably affecting hummingbirds themselves. Plus, the hummingbird migration was on the late side this year, had they taped it later in the month he could have had a better chance.

The Toast Manifesto

This is completely non-bird related, but I'm incredibly stressed at the moment and when I am, I have a tendency to surf the net to escape other things I should be working on. Anyway, I came across The Toast Manifesto written by some guys I went to college with. I had no idea it made it this far, but it really is good laugh.

I hope I don't regret posting this when I wake up in the morning.

New Warbler Hybrid

I lurk on one of the geekiest birds lists out there. It's called something like Bird ID Frontiers and it's mostly the bigwigs of birding debating gulls and various and sundry shorebirds. Every time I begin to think that these guys grok birding on a level I will never come close to understanding and thinkg about unsubscribing, a really cool post comes through. Today it was about a newly discovered and well documented warbler hybrid by Allen Chartier. He has posted photos and sound files on his website. The bird was banded at Metro Beach Metropark in Michigan on May 14, 2005.

Suspicious Blackbirds

So, I keep setting the Nova Bird Camera on the ground trying to get crows and grackles (they really are attractive birds--really, the are...honest). However, they just won't come near the camera. I don't know if they can hear the picture being taken or what, but most of the time, they stay on the outer edge of the food pile and I get blurred photos of our black bird friends. Although, the gawky Canada geese are finding the camera right away. I'm pretty excited, I think we might actually start carrying these in the store Friday.


Here we have a disapproving cowbird. Apparently, this species frowns upon being filmed while eating some tasty millet.


This first year red-wing blackbird gives a hairy eyeball to the Nova Bird Camera.


Is it Night of the Lepus or a wild rabbit coming in for some peanuts in front of the camera? Wild rabbits tend to be way more approving than fat sassy rabbits that hang out in a bird store.