Painting Ivory-bills

As Sharon madly prepares for her trip to Arkansas, I'm working on a painting set at Bayou de View. The painting here is an earlier one, and though I've painted more ivory-bills than any other North American bird, I haven't done many good paintings of it. This is one that turned out about like I wanted it to. The one I'm working on now will be similar, but not as unequivocal. There's to be an ivory-bill in it, flying away, giving you the kind of look you get when you're not exactly sure what you've seen. I've been thinking and reading and writing a great deal about the bird lately, and this painting is coming out of all that. We're all hanging in limbo, waiting for that photograph, that video, that confirmation that means we don't just have to take someone's word for it that the ivory-bill is back. Until then, all I can paint is ambiguity, because that's really all we have. I've watched David Luneau's famous video clip 900 times, and I thoroughly believe that's an ivory-bill, but there are plenty of people who don't think so. The questions swirl and the undertow of disbelief is stronger with each passing month. We're hungry for more.

Still, it thrills me that friends of mine are there as we speak, slogging around in the bayous, waiting, listening silently behind veils of camouflage. And it delights me that Sharon will have a chance to do that. When the Zeiss search commenced in the Pearl River region in 1999, I stayed home and painted ivory-bills. With two sweet kids, a husband and home to hold down, it's pretty much all I can do. Carving two weeks out of their lives for a search just isn't in the cards. Do I sound wistful? Oh, yeah! But I'm determined to get some good paintings and writing out of that longing.

Warning Guts!

"Arrrrr, matey, let ye be warned that thar be a gross photo at the end of this here post. Arrrrrrr! If ye want to scroll down and get a quick peak, see if ye can identify what exactly is in the gross photo. Arrrrrrr!

Meet Bud, the pirate eagle!

Bud is not a pirate, he is one of the education bald eagles at The Raptor Center. He lost his eye to a bad case of sibling rivalry. Some banders went to an eagle nest in Wisconsin to band the chicks and discovered that the larger nestlings had pecked out the smallest one's eye. Gross? Yes! Uncommon? Not really. Older eaglets will pick on younger ones and if the adults don't bring in enough food the youngest chicks usually get eaten. And you thought you didn't get along with your siblings!

Spent another wonderful, funderful day catching up on training at TRC. The California Condor is still in clinic, however it should be heading back to Arizona towards the end of this week. The wing injury is healed and the bird needs to spend time in a flight pen to work its muscles and then back to the wild. We do not have an outdoor mew to accommodate this size of bird and it's too cold outside for the condor now anyway. I'm glad that the injury healed. It will be nice to be able to talk again down in the clinic area. Right now volunteers and staff are pantomiming everything like a bunch of tacky Marcel Marceaus because talking is prohibited anywhere near the condor to keep it from acclimating to humans. I gotta tell ya, it's not easy to mime "I need 110 grams of rat, tail and intestines removed." Speaking of which, 110 grams of rat is the contents of the cup, the top half of a rat--tail and intestines removed. This particular cup of food was meant for a red-tailed hawk. Mmmmmm, yummy.

Julie's Test Post

Here is a picture of my dog Chet Baker violating a Barbie doll. He is not as staid or disapproving as Cinnamon. I am delighted to be bringing dogness to Sharon's blog. It is currently full of birds and rabbits.

I hope she finds what she's looking for in Arkansas. Until then I will keep you warm.

Julie

God of Cookery

Milk River Blog is trying to compile a list of obscure movies and is inviting bloggers everywhere to participate. Since Non Birding Bill and I frequently host Bad Movie Nights we have a whole list of movies that people have never heard of (or should have heard of for that matter).

One obscure movie that is my absolute favorite movie of all time is God of Cookery (also known as Sik San). It's an early Stephen Chow movie that pokes fun at the whole Hong Kong fighting genre mixed with some Iron Chef. Everyone that we show this movie to ends up falling in love with it. Come to think of it, if you know of someone who enjoys Jackie Chan movies or Hong Kong movies in general, they will love this movie as a gift. NBB gave it to me for Christmas a couple of years ago.

Stephen starts out as the brilliant but corrupt God of Cookery and then gets publicly humiliated by an underling working with the local Triad. He must rediscover the heart of cooking by participating in violent street cooking and eventually going to Chinese Cooking Academy which turns out to be the kitchen of the ancient Shaolin Monastary. The movie builds up to a final cooking/fighting battle between Stephen and the underling who humiliated him as they via for the true title of God of Cookery--Sik San!

This movie is better than Kung Fu Hustle and ten times better then Shaolin Soccer. It makes a great date movie.

Birdchick Gift Guide...and confession

I had Non Birding Bill help me set up a Gift Guide if you are looking for some ideas for the birder in your life.

I just realized that I forgot to include a couple of items, one being a binocular harness--okay, I know, I know--friends of mine are reading this post and saying to themselves, "Did Sharon just recommend a binocular harness...after making fun of mine for years?!" YES! Yes, I am now wearing a binocular harness, it's sad but true. I can't help it, they make your binoculars so much more comfortable, I was a foolish, foolish girl for poking fun at my friends and saying that they were wearing a "bino bra". For those that don't know, a binocular harness takes the weight of your optics off of your neck and places it on your shoulders--it's really, really comfortable. Anyway, if you know someone who loves their binoculars and they are always complaining about how heavy they are, a harness is a great gift. It fits most binoculars and can be used for cameras as well. The straps are elastic and stretch to fit your needs and body shape.

Another thoughtful and easy small gift is a set of hand warmers. These things are so awesome for gold weather birding. They warm up when exposed to air and can be tucked in gloves and boots. I also have used them tucked along my pant line on my lower back when sitting in a blind to avoid a sore back. These things are a cheap (I've seen them anywhere from $1 - $2 a set) and thoughtful gift for any birder. I've seen them all over from Gander Mountain, Cabela's and even Walgreen's.

Do These Chest Waders Make Me Look Fat?

I leave for the ivory-billed woodpecker Arkansas search a week from tomorrow so Non Birding Bill and I headed to a new Cabela's that opened up in Rogers to load up on the supplies for the swamp. The photo on the left is me trying on some chest waders. I asked NBB how my butt looked in them and he said, "Brown and shapeless." I guess that's better than gigantic.

I had no idea there were so many styles of chest waders, some are for fly fishing and some are for duck hunting. The pair I went with are brown neoprene that you wear hiking boots over the little footies on the bottom. It was difficult finding a pair that fit because I am short and have small feet so the maker of the chest waders assumes that if you are a size 7 shoe your hips should match that. I'm what you would call gifted in the hip department so I ended up having to go with a bigger size for bigger feet. I think it will work out since I intend on wearing thick socks and stuffing the toes with hand warmers (one of the best inventions ever). I can see these having some very practical application for some cold weather birding and banding in Minnesota when I'm done in the swamp. I did like the supportive feel of the neoprene waders and if they keep me warm and dry I can live with a brown and shapeless butt. Of course, if I take to wearing this clothing when birding on a regular basis, I will no longer be able to make fun of birders who tuck their pants in their socks.

I also had to pick up some required "mesh camo bug cover". I showed my Cornell list to the staff at Cabela's and they looked at me blankly. I said, "I think they mean a gilly suit." Then they knew right away what I needed and NBB went to town trying to see how many accessories he could fit on me (pictured at right). I got very giddy and told NBB, "Look, I'm just like Brian Wheeler!" (who also dresses in a gilly suit when photographing hawks). NBB told me to calm down, that I was sounding a little too Single White Female. I think the pants are really cool and I kind of wish I could find a way to work them into my day to day wardrobe. They shimmy and shake as you walk, I would love to take them out clubbing and see what they do on the dance floor.
Here is a photo of Non Birding Bill getting into the spirit of things by trying on some of the camo! I think staff and some customers got a kick out of NBB and I clowning around in the camo--and people say married couples don't have any fun! I did make it a point to mention to Cabela's staff that I was using this stuff for birding--they should know that there is a whole crowd of customers besides hunters that can use their stuff. I also mentioned that they should thank Cornell University for recommending them as a resource for our supplies in the swamp.

I can see that birding and traipsing around in a swamp is going to be a challenge in this get up. Binos, spotting scopes and video cameras are heavy enough and now there are chest waders and layers of filmy camo added to the pile. If anything, I will surely work off all the eating I've been doing over the holiday weekend.

And you know what else? I don't even want to think about what's going to happen if there is a "potty emergency" in the swamp. As a woman I have always considered "going in the woods" in regular clothing was a triumph if I could do it without getting any on myself. Now there's awkward clothing involved that's not easy to whip on or off. Oh well, this will be a learning experience. I'm sure at the end of this I will come put a stronger and more resourceful outdoors-woman.

Downy Snow

I had intended to go look for one of the many snowy owls being reported around Minnesota today--someone reported one in Carver County just to the west of where we live on Thanksgiving Day. Alas, snow started at 5am this morning and was quite beautiful, however, that combined with people's mad dash to get to shopping malls for great holiday deals made me think about staying home and getting some writing done instead.

For giggles I set up the NovaBird Camera and got a shot of a downy woodpecker that decided to forgo the suet log and eat some peanuts and sunflower hearts from the seed feeder. Crazy woodpecker, did he bother to notice that I had put the fancy cashew suet in the log today? No!

Meanwhile, when not writing I'm brushing up on ivory-billed woodpecker stuff--I leave for Arkansas a week from Sunday! While reading up on ivory-bills in my bird library, Non Birding Bill created a super cool playlist on my iPod that includes calls and pecking of ivory-billed woodpeckers and even downloaded some tracks of similar sounding birds like blue jays and nuthatches. What a guy! Everybody should have a techno savvy Non Birding Bill.

I Disapprove of Indigestion

"Uuuuurrrrrp! Oh, mom, why did I eat so much?"

Happy Naked Thanksgiving

Today is my favorite holiday, apart from hawk trapping. Non Birding Bill and I celebrate Naked Thanksgiving. It started when we first moved to Minnesota. Coming from a family of five sisters and two brothers I was used to a large gathering of family craziness and not a quiet holiday for two. When we moved up here and I worked at a bird retail store, leaving for Indiana during the busiest shopping week was just not a good idea. So, NBB and I developed our own tradition of not dressing up (or dressing at all), having our pie for breakfast (because you are always too full to eat dessert after the turkey dinner), and have only the bare essentials (NBB only wants turkey and stuffing, I like a fancy salad with my turkey and the jell-o like canned cranberry sauce). We watch whatever tv the two of us want which usually includes James Bond movies (I'm sucker for Octopussy, that was my first career choice--to be a woman who runs an island of beautiful acrobatic women who put on a circus as a front for jewelry smuggling, instead I turned to birding for a career). Anyway, this quiet Thanksgiving without the craziness of holiday travel is just so nice. I highly recommend it, however if you stick to Naked Thanksgiving literally, at least wear an apron when basting the turkey.

I have so much to be grateful for this year apart from the usual (NBB, my hilarious mother, my supportive siblings, my disapproving rabbits, a cantankerous cockatiel, do educational programs for The Raptor Center) but I have the coolest job on the planet and the fact that I work for Eagle Optics (a company that I actually used and recommended to customers before I worked there) is so surprising. The great friends that I made this year (has it really been less than a year since I met my convention birding and karaoke posse of Amy, Jeff and BT3), the ivory-billed woodpecker was rediscovered (which is reason enough to be grateful) and I'm going to live a childhood dream of not only having the opportunity to look for it, but to do it through Cornell University (I haven't been this excited since I got realize another childhood dream of riding in a cherry picker when I went osprey banding), getting to see a California condor up close and personal, Katie showing me a crested caracara, the list could go on and on.

So, I leave you with my favorite piece of advice that I found years ago on the inside label of Libby's Solid Pack Pumpkin (now known as Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin):

"Libby's Solid Pack Pumpkin is thoroughly cooked during the canning
process so it is perfectly safe and acceptable to enjoy straight from the can."

Safe - I'm sure it is. Acceptable - I guess only you can be the judge of that.

I and The Bird

I and the Bird 11 is up and running. It's a great way to check out some other bird related blogs and gives the highlights of what's been going on the last couple of weeks.

Owls Coming Down

Jim Williams asked Dr. James R Duncan what can be expected owl wise this winter and here is what he had to say:

"Yes - our long-term winter data support what I call an "echo effect", in which the only significant time series correlation in winter numbers of great gray owls from year to year is that in the year immediately after an invasion/irruption year, there is typically half as many great gray owls as the invasion/irruption year."

There's not been a huge amount of great grays reported as of yet, but we are getting strong reports of snowy owls. In the last month in Minnesota there have been reports of snowys in Duluth, St. Peter, Rochester and Eagan. The Raptor Center even had an injured one brought in from Albertville. Looks like Wisconsin is getting quite a few snowy owls too. Take a look at Mike's post today.

A few years ago we had a November with several snowy owls reported and in a two week period, eleven snowys were brought into TRC starving. It was predicted to be a good winter for seeing them, but at the end of December there were hardly any more snowys reported. I wonder if this year will be the same.

Endangered Swallow on Family Guy

Oh dear, I'm watching an episode of Family Guy and a bird has just made a nest in Peter's beard. Turns out it's a white-rumped swallow...however it's animated to be just a brown bird and looks nothing like an actual white-rumped swallow. Not only that the swallow isn't eating insects, it's eating popcorn and when the chicks hatch Peter gives them milkshakes.

And now Cinnamon is hopping on the couch and trying to get on the Powerbook, I wonder what she has to say:

A YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY90 ;/'55555555555555555\lk766666666666666666bbb9l;7777777vccccccccccccccc
cxjj

Training at TRC

Warning!

This post will start out about an update on the California condor at The Raptor Center and then will go into a kind of gross mouse story. There are no photos, but if you have a problem with dead stuff don't go beyond the condor update.

On a side note: can you id the bird in the photo?

The condor is recovering nicely and will be at TRC for about another week. The camera is still up in the lobby, but is now running on battery power. Apparently the condor thought it was fun to chew on the power cord so it was replaced with a battery pack. I'm not sure how long the battery will be up and the condor will probably be gone next week, so if you want to check it out, I would do so relatively soon. I was watching the camera this morning and boy, the feet on that bird are amazing!

Today I went in for more bird handling refresher training at TRC. Even though I've handled birds since 1998, I took a few months off this year when my schedule got insane. Now that I have proper time to devote to TRC I want to be back to where I was handling-wise and I need to make sure that my handling is consistent with how everyone else handles the education birds. It's less stressful for the birds that way.

Kate the Bird Curator had me prep food for some of the birds today. When we feed the education raptors, we feed them all dead food like rats, mice, chicken, day old chicks and the like. We usually have to prep the food by removing the intestines (helps minimize the risk of salmonella poisoning to the ed birds). Today I had a first. I got a particularly fat mouse out of the fridge and began to cut open the abdomen, instead of immediately finding intestines, I found a litter inside it. It was a bit more tricky removing the intestines--the fetuses came out of everywhere inside the mouse. I know it sounds really gross, but I was amazed by not only how many were inside, but just that they seemed to be all over inside the body. At one point when I thought they were all all out, a squeezed the mouse a tiny bit and other popped out from the back. All part of the day's work if you are going to be a volunteer at TRC.

After I got the food ready got to feed a kestrel and peregrine falcon on the fist. It's a good day when you get to have one of those guys sitting on your hand. Incidentally, the bottom half of the bird in the top photo is a peregrine falcon. A big clue are the toes, peregrines have long, long toes for grabbing fat breasted bird like pigeons and teal.

Minneapolis Ross's Goose

While in Texas a Ross's Goose was reported last weekend on Hiawatha Lake in Minneapolis. I didn't pay much attention since I figured it would leave before I came home. A quick glance at the Minnesota birding listservs showed that it was still around.

Non Birding Bill and I were heading out of town today to hang with Lorraine and some ten year old girls around a big ole bonfire so we headed over to Hiawatha before we hit the highway. I knew this was a gamble because bringing NBB can often mean the bird will have just left ten minutes before we get there, but I risked it. We got to Hiawatha and I saw a flock of geese out on the water. We parked and as I was grabbing my scope from the back seat NBB said, "Is that white thing it?" I turned around and saw a large lump flapping away from the lake and out of view onto the neighboring golf course. It was chunky and flapping like a goose. I was sure that was in fact "it" and NBB was ready to go on our way, since we saw the bird. But to my rules of bird counting I couldn't accept that. At that distance I wouldn't have known whether it was a snow goose or a Ross's goose. The only reason I knew it was Ross's was because it had been reported there this morning and snow geese are few and far between in the Twin Cities.

So I headed over to a couple of people who looked like birders to get the scoop. Sure enough it was the Ross's goose that we saw flying away but we were informed that if we drove around the golf course we could probably find it grazing. We started driving around the golf course and sure enough there was a white blog mixed in with a bunch of Canada geese. The interesting thing was that NBB took over setting up the scope and getting the camera adapter on for digiscoping. I almost didn't have a chance to get to the scope to see the bird. Of course, this bird does fall into the catagory of intereseting birds for NBB to see: big, obvious, easy to see, and ten minutes from home. I eventually did get a chance at the scope and could see why this was a Ross's goose and not a snow goose by the shape of the face and the size of the bill in relation to the head. Now it was officially countable in my rules.

So, a life bird for me. I know I said that I was going to start keeping a list to find out how many are on it, but I can't bring myself to sit down and do it. Now off to a big bonfire and partying with Lorraine and a bunch of ten year old girls. Whoot.

Animal Reviews

The bunny disapproval is raging this morning. Non Birding Bill and I have sat down for breakfast and surfing the net (I just realized that instead of married couples using the newspaper to ignore each other at breakfast, we now use the internet--hm). Anyway, NBB came across Animal Reviews and I'm laughing so hard, I'm about to pee my pants. Cinnamon is most displeased over the rabbit review, but with her general depreciation of well, everything fun, I think we all saw it coming. All the reviews I've read so far have been hilarious, but my personal favorites include ducks and swans.

Who Hasn't Seen an Ivory-billed Woodpecker?

So a few days ago someone sent me a link to a guy in Florida who has seen an Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Since it's already making the round on blogs I wasn't going to mention it but it got me thinking: who else is posting that they have seen Ivory-billed Woodpeckers? Here's what I have googled thus far:

The Locust Fork
Bowfishing Society Article

What Really Happens at Rio Grande Bird Fest

Okay, finally the word on what happened people-wise at the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival.

First of all, there were more kids at this festival than any I had seen before. These two guys were so cute, they came to get outfitted for a field trip. They selected Energy Binoculars, which fit well in kids hands and on kid faces. They were so cute, as Ben (tall guy behind the boys) was taking the binos out of the box and putting the straps on, one of the boys exclaimed, "They come with a case, we get a case?" You know you're getting serious when you binoculars come with a case. Welcome to the fold boys!






On the left we have party animal and Bird Watcher's Digest editor Bill Thompson. On the right is Jeff Gordon who co-wrote Identify Yourself (I'll have to add Jeff to the author sightings list). They were part of a book signing at RGV. Interesting thing, Bill pointed out that Jeff was also selected to go on the Cornell Ivory-bill search. I asked when and he said "First Two Weeks of December." When I asked which team, it turns out we are on the exact same team! I'm so relieved. When you do these things, you never know what kind of mixed bag of people will be involved and if the personalities will be compatible. After meeting Jeff, I will know that there is at least one person on my team who is fairly normal and easy to get along with.

Don't forget, while I'm out searching for "the great cock of the woods", Bill Thompson's talented wife Julie Zickefoose will be guest blogging for me.

There were a number of Bills at the convention--which was nice since I was away from Non Birding Bill. This Bill pictured here is Bill Clark who co-wrote Photographic Guide to North American Raptors with Brian Wheeler. Now I have both autographs in my book. He was offering a trip to band white-tailed hawks during the festival which I had to miss. What would my friends say if they found out I gave up hawk trapping for some birding elsewhere.










This is Dennis Paulson who wrote Shorebirds of North America. Like a dork, I didn't bring my copy of the book to be autographed so I missed out on that. Dennis was supposed to be sitting between Bill Thompson and Bill Clark during the signing, but apparently his talk was running late (or he was mobbed by shorebird groupies, we all know how fanatical those people can get). So I took a break from the Eagle Optics booth between the Bills, and took the seat for Dennis. Wouldn't you know it, but a nice lady came up to have me autograph her book. I was so tempted to continue the charade that a short sassy redhead was the true identity of Dennis Paulson, but I confessed that I was not the desired author. The woman said that she thought it was possible that I could be a "Dennis" since there were other guys with female names at the convention like Kim Eckert. For a moment in someone's eyes I was an authority on shorebirds. Dare to dream.


Tim Gallagher gave a presentation and signing at the RGV Fest too. Watching his footage of the Lunnaeu video was a very different experience than having watched it on the internet or tv news where it's blown up to grainy proportions. Having watched it on a large screen at regular speed, it makes much more sense as to why this is an ivory-billed woodpecker and not an albinistic pileated. Whether or not you believe the bird in the footage is an ivory-bill, I will tell you this, it is for sure not a pileated. It doesn't have the flight pattern a pileated does--this isn't someone speaking from behind a computer, this is someone who has considered a pileated a favorite bird since age seven and has watched it for hours in the field. If anything you could argue that the footage is an albinistic wood duck from the way the wings flap and the speed that the bird in question leaves the tree--it doesn't have the flight pattern of a woodpecker at all. What keeps it from being a wood duck is that you can see the bird clinging to the side of a tree before it takes off.

Oh dear, I just realized that went off on an ivory-bill tangent...sorry, back to the convention happenings.

Anyway, Gallagher was merrily autographing books, I have to say it was a different experience than Bobby Harrison's talk. Ladies weren't lining up to touch Gallagher. Perhaps it was his professorish air (not that that is a bad thing) and Bobby is an incredibly friendly southern gentleman? After I got my book signed I went with Amy Hooper of Wild Bird to Jeff Bouton at Leica and asked what the plan was for the rest of the evening. Jeff wanted to wait for the signing to be over and take Gallagher out for a drink. I looked at our group, even though Amy had a connection with Gallagher through Wild Bird (he used to edit the magazine too), we needed more of a presence. Bill Thompson had gone to Africa with Gallagher so I told Jeff, we should rope him in when we ask Gallagher to add credibility to our offer. Bill informed us that Gallagher would probably be tired from all the speaking engagements, but noted that Gallagher was being shuttled around and would need a ride back to his hotel. The plan was set. We would offer to drive him back to his hotel and perhaps stop for a refreshing beer. We added a few more people to our posse, waited for the signing to be over and ambushed.

Tim Gallagher came out with us. Although, Jeff did have an idea of sneaking him across the Mexican border and demand the exact location of ivory-bill sightings in Florida before returning him. It was a great time and it turns out that Gallagher is even cooler than I thought--he's a falconer. As soon as Jeff and I discovered that, the conversation quickly left talk of ivory-bills and on to the exciting flights of peregrines and Cooper's hawks.

One interesting note: Gallagher has only seen the ivory-billed woodpecker the one time--the famous time. No matter how you slice it, this is not an easy bird to see. But in a way, isn't that the nature of woodpeckers. You don't find them, they find you.

We tried to find a place for karaoke while in Harlingen and if you can believe it, there wasn't a karaoke bar big enough to fit our large group. I think at future bird festivals we are just going to have to make it an official event and hold it at the convention center. We did have a "danceteria" as a festival staff member's home. That's Katie, my coworker at Eagle Optics doing the fish in the middle. She and I are two peas in a pod and are working on an official dance when someone buys binoculars at our booth. It was a good time, especially when Katie, Bill and I did an interpretive dance to Shaft. We're bad mother birders. Right on.

I can't wait to go back next year: November 8 - 12, 2006.

Condor Video Online

Photos in this entry are courtesy of The Raptor Center. Note, the patagial tag and radio transmitter on the wing. All wild condors have that so scientists can monitor them in the wild. Nero, the TRC education Turkey Vulture (who was hatched the same year I was, 1974) was used in a early study on patagial tags. I think the idea was that if smaller Turkey Vultures could get around without problems wearing a tag, California Condors could as well.

If you missed seeing the California Condor from The Raptor Center on tv last night, you can see a video of it at the KARE 11 website. This morning when I came in for my segment, the crew was teasing me that they "saw me somewhere". Were there party photos of Rio Grande Valley bird fest that I wasn't aware of that started circulating on the internet? No, they were referring to the condor segment. I missed it myself last night and watched it online today. Sure enough, I am all over the background taking photos. I look like some cheeseball trying to get on camera, but I was just trying to take as many photos as possible of the condor.

By the way, if you watched the segment and are curious about the bird id question that stumped me, I got a couple of emails from viewers with suggestions and it seems that the caller was seeing a flicker. I think that the bird being described as six inches totally threw me. Also, I tend to think of flickers as tan and spotty, not gray. Ah well, all part of the fun of trying to id birds in 30 seconds.

Okay, I promise that the next entry will be an ornithotabloid report on the Rio Grande Fest. It will include what the other blogs aren't telling you about the festival...mwa ha ha ha ha.

KARE 11 Segment

If you are interested in any of the heated bird baths that I talked about on KARE 11 today, I got them from the All Seasons Wild Bird Store in Wayzata. Call 952-473-4283 with questions or stop into any of their stores to see their selection.

Rumor has it that they are going to be having some fun holiday specials starting after Thanksgiving next week.

Rio Grande Valley Report on Birds

Yesterday 87 degrees, today sloppy drizzle that has just turned to snow. Wow. I'm not feeling sorry for myself, I love cold wet weather. Yeah snow!

At left is a photo of a Great Kiskadee that coworker Ben Lizdas digiscoped with my camera and Kate's Swarovski scope.

The Rio Grande Valley Bird Fest was a great time. If you have never birded south Texas this is a great way to get an idea of how to bird it. You may not see every target species while there, but that's okay you will want to return. These are places I birded:

Bentsen Rio Grande State Park where some of the highlights for me were Plain Chachalacas (pictured below), Green Jays, Great Kiskadees, Olive Sparrow, Least Grebe, Common Moorhen, Glossy Ibis, Altimira Oriole, White-tipped Dove, Javelina and Black-crested Titmouse. There was so much more, but that's all I can remember at the moment. The park has a really cool hawk tower where you can look down on the Olive Sparrows and ducks, grebes and herons on the water. As it gets later in the morning, raptors come up on the thermals. I so want to go back and watch for Gray Hawks.

Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge was my favorite I think. Lots of birding by car, especially for raptors. Katie, my cohort at Eagle Optics pulled over to some water to look for kingfishers and pointed out an alligator. I thought she was just messing with me, but for sure it was an alligator--sweet! Bird highlights for me included - 20,000 coots, White-tailed Hawk, Crested Caracara, Green Jays, Northern Harriers, Osprey, Loggerhead Shrikes, Merlin, Osprey, Roseate Spoonbills, Reddish Egrets, Sandwich Terns and Snow Geese. I missed seeing the Aplomado Falcons that are possible there, but that just means another bird for another day.

Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge was small but chock full of birds. Hook-billed Kites are possible, but I missed them--again, another bird for another day. Bird highlights here for me were Green Jays (sensing a pattern here-they were EVERYWHERE), Red-shouldered Hawk, Harris Hawk (pictured left), Couch's Kingbird, Ground Dove, Black-necked Stilt, American Bittern, Great Kiskadee, Common Moorhen, Mottled Duck, Olive Sparrow, Altimira Oriole and Golden-fronted Woodpecker.

Frontera Audubon Preserve was a quick little stop but is one of those magical urban oases where you can get a good fallout. Here the highlights were Black and White Warbler, Summer Tanager, Buff-bellied Hummingbirds, Inca Doves, Great Kiskadees, Plain Chachalacas and lots of mosquitoes--still scratching.

California Condor at The Raptor Center

Okay, today was supposed to be an entry of the doins that transpired at the Rio Grande Valley Bird Fest but is pre-empted for some exciting news at The Raptor Center--they are caring for an injured California Condor! This is the first time one has been at TRC and more than likely the first time a California Condor has been in the state of Minnesota.

The bird is a wild hatch 18 month old (still an immature) condor from Arizona. It has a wrist injury from ten days ago that is healing nicely and the chanced of the bird returning to the wild and its family group are very good at the moment. It is believed the injury is from a "forced landing". The bird was in the air and lost a thermal or another possibility is that it was forced from the sky by a golden eagle. It was brought to TRC because it is the premier facility for this type of bone injury in birds and Dr. Pat Redig (one of the founders of TRC) is involved with the Peregrine Fund which is helping to reintroduce California Condors to the wild.

Never in my life did I think I would get within six inches of a California Condor! I even got to smell it--the bird had that good vulture smell. You wouldn't believe the paparazzi there for this bird: KSTP, KARE 11, and the Pioneer Press--as well as dozens of TRC volunteers hoping to get a peek. I took over 130 photos myself. All the volunteers at TRC are on very strict rules regarding our 20 pound patient. Because condors are so impressionable at this age, extra precautions are being taken to keep it from habituating to people. We are not allowed down the corridor where the bird is resting and when it is brought out for check ups and meds, lights are down and the condor's head is covered until it is under anesthesia.

If you would like to see this bird, you can head to The Raptor Center and watch the Condor Cam set up in the lobby. A camera has been placed insides the room housing the bird so its progress can be monitored. NO ONE IS ALLOWED DOWN TO SEE THE CONDOR IN THE CLINIC--not even me. So please feel free to drop by and view the camera but don't expect the bird in clinic. We had fun watching the bird on camera this morning, playing with its toys and preening. It's so cool to know that you are in the same room as one of these dinosaur looking bird celebrities.

As always, this bird came in with no health insurance and its care is costing about $100 per day. Donations are always welcome and needed at The Raptor Center.

Getting to start my Tuesday morning up close and personal with a California Condor totally makes up for my luggage getting lost yesterday! Below are some gratuitous condor photos. If the bird looks weird it's because it was under anesthesia the whole time during the examination.

Young condors have black heads not the reddish pink you see on adult condors. It so looks like a dinosaur in the face.

Condor Paparazzi! We never allow this many people in clinic when we are working on a bird. However, since the condor was asleep the whole time and several vets were on hand, media and volunteers got a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the condor up close. One of the may reasons why I love volunteering with TRC, you never know what bird will be on hand to help.
This is Dr. Juli Ponder. I got to know her when I managed the Minnetonka All Seasons Wild Bird Store and she was a customer. She's now the associate director at TRC. In this photo she is helping to exercise the condor's wing. The bird will not be test flown while in Minnesota so its important to keep the muscles in use to prevent atrophy.

Look at those tootsies!! Even though condors are not a raptor and do not use their feet to kill their food, the talons are pretty impressive. Why does TRC care for condors if they are not raptors? We will work on all types of birds with bone injuries, it's what the center is best known for. Some of the non-raptors that TRC has cared for include parrots, trumpeter swans and flamingoes.

Another wing shot. This birds wing span is eleven feet, the length of the primary feathers are the same length as my arm!

A TRC vet holds the condor's head up as it gradually comes out of the anesthesia. The bird is held upright to keep the air passages open and to be prepared when it comes to and begins to struggle. As soon as the eyes opened, the condor's head was covered and it was swiftly returned to its recovery room.

Chiggers and MEAT

I love all the little Mexican cafes in Harlingen, unbelievably tasty food. I know, I know you're looking at that pile of meat in the photo and thinking, "Is she nuts?" Well, yes I am, but that is beside the point, the food in these places was abundant and cheap.

I'm sitting in Dallas waiting for my connecting flight home. When I left Harlingen it was 87 degrees and a quick check of Twin Cities weather says that a winter storm watch is underway. Whoo Hoo.

I'm am oh so itchy at the moment from chigger bites and mosquitoes. I don't know why I didn't think to bring insect repellent. I even had a couple of opportunities to purchase it during the festival and I kept getting distracted--too many lifers. Ah, well it's really not a good birding trip unless you leave with a souvenir like chiggers, rashes or a bot fly.

I've never kept a bird list before, but I think I'm going to start. I'm kind of afraid to do it, since I'll be traveling more with my Eagle Optics cohorts, I think I'll be okay. I was talking with Terry Moore from Leica, word on the street is that he's going for a 700 birds seen in North America goal. He only has ten birds left to get...no easy ones at that, we're talking about things like Mangrove cuckoos and he just doesn't want to hear the birds, he wants to see them. He told me that for years, he was like me, he didn't keep a list but had a vague idea. When people would ask, he would speculate 500. When he decided for 700 and sat down and started the count, he was only at 350. If he can start out like that, I can go ahead and count and not worry about how skimpy my list will be.

Doh, they are boarding my plane! Gotta go, but stay tuned, in the next day or two will be gossip, incriminating photos and Highlights of the Rio Grande Bird Festival.

Get Birds and Techno Glitches

Well, I took some great photos of birds yesterday but had some issues with my photocard and lost all but the people photos. I will post those later, perhaps in another expose at what happens at bird conventions. We are going for more birding so more photos soon.

One interesting thing about some of the restaurants is that asked if they serve beer a common answer is, "We do not sell alcohol but we serve free beer on Friday and Saturday." Apparently, to avoid getting a licquor liscence, they just serve free beer on select nights to keep the customers flowing. Oh so tasty spicy food and free beer, I'm happier than an olive-sided flycatcher in breeding season...okay, if you got that pun you are a hard core maxi geek birder.

Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley

This morning before work Katie and Maren Phillips took me to Bentsen- Rio Grande Valley State Park. It was pretty much sensory overload for me because life birds were literally dripping off of the trees. Birds that I had seen in field guides with outlandish names were all over. I finally got to see in person things like a plain chachalaca and a great kiskadee. Of course green jays (above) were everywhere, apparently they are "trash birds" down here - nickname for birds we see in our own yards all the time like grackles and cowbirds.

Okay, for all you people who think squirrels are a pain at the feeder, imagine having javelinas (right) show up? These wild pigs were all over the place. We watched a line of ten cautiously leave the woods and walk across the road in a very orderly fashion.

I just love being in another state, it was so weird to be in Minnesota yesterday with our 29 degree windchill and to be sweating it up in Texas the next day. There was a nice spicy desert smell in the air too. We ran into one of the festival tour groups down while birding. The trip was being led by Bill Thompson and Minnesota's own Kim Eckert. Thanks to both I got an unbelievably good look at an olive sparrow. This is typically a bird you hear more than see and here we were on this great look out tower watching the greenish brown bird sing on branches and scurry around in the grass looking for food. Yes, Non Birding Bill, I was watching a brown bird and loving every minute of it.

Tonight's festivities were low key. We found a karaoke bar, but they were completely filled up so we had to head down the street for some quiet evening chat at Chuck's Ice House--no singing. Even though we didn't sing, I still had a great time and a totally weird coincidence. I met a guy who is also going on the ivory-bill search, but is also going at the same time and is on the same team. He seems like a nice guy so I'm relieved to know that there will be at least one sane person down there. Part of me worries that with all those people staying in a small research station it might become like an Animal Planet version of the Real World tv show.

Texas Anting

I just thought this was the coolest photo! I went out birding this morning with Katie and an artist named Maren. We found a cutter ant mound and got a photo of one worker carring a piece back to the entrance. These ants weren't really interested in us so it was fun to watch them. Although for me the birding was intense so I didn't focus on them too long.

The Fun Has Begun

Well, barely off the plane and met up with booth buddies Katie and Ben and already have life birds. My new birds are Harris hawks (which I have seen several times but only in a falconry capacity, so this is a lifer) and white ibis.

There are great-tailed grackles everywhere singing into the night--they sound like dolphins in the trees. Katie and I were just settling into our room when Amy from Wild Bird Magazine called and asked, "Does it mean I'm a birder if I'm sitting in a parking lot of the HEB watching black-necked stilts?" The only answer Katie and I could give was to go directly to the HEB and join her. Sure enough a family group of four black-necked stilts were roaming the parking lot near a gas station for bits of food. I tried to take photos (above), but in the dim light they aren't the show quality. This was, hands down the best view of stilts I have ever gotten but incredibly odd at the same time since they were in such an unnatural environment.

I got to meet Bill Clark who co-authored Photographic Guide to North American Raptors with Brian Wheeler. Always nice to have a geek out moment at a bird festival. Bill Thompson did in fact make it in from Ohio and is busy organizing the parties for the rest of the week with Amy. Looks like karaoke Thursday night, general jam session Friday night and someone is kind enough to host a dancing party in their drive way on Saturday night.

Tomorrow Katie and I are up early to do some birding and then to work the booth. Can't wait to see the birds and to get to work talking to people about optics. Woo hoo!

Poor Bill of the Birds

I have landed in Dallas and am waiting for my connecting flight to McAllen. In the down time I just read Bill of the Birds blog and have discovered that he got caught in a massive traffic jam and missed his flight. (on a side note, read the previous post for more about our karaoke adventures). Hopefully he will get to Texas soon.

My fist Texas bird this trip is a rock pigeon--joy of joys.

I'm trying to scope out the rest of the crowd around me to see if any are birders. No vests and no khaki so that leads me to believe I am the only birder present. I'm dreadfully overdressed for Texas. We had one heck of a wind storm kick up last night and the 39 degree weather this morning felt like 29. Of course it's eighty here some I'm regretting pants. I do have a skirt tucked and sandals tucked away in my carry ons so as soon as we land at the final destination, I'm changing.

Oh! I think I just spotted a birder: older guy (not that there's anything wrong with that), khaki pants, a back that looks suspiciously like it could be holding a spotting scope. The only think throwing me is the very shiny penny loafers, birders tend to wear more weather worn shoes.

Another possibility just sat down: older lady, khaki pants and shirt, well worn tennis shoes and furtively looking out the window while she nibbles her sandwich. I don't think she's watching planes, I'm pretty sure she's scanning for potential birds. The only thing that is keeping me from feeling confident in my call that she is a birder is that she isn't wearing a vest. Anyone wearing a many pocketed vest (willingly in public) is usually the dead give away--it's almost as reliable as the flap-flap-glide of an accipiter.

Hot Dog! Just found an official birder: older woman, khaki pants, incredibly sensible shoes--somewhat worn, green shirt, VEST, and to top it all of one of those wide-brimmed naturalist hats with little bird pins adorning the top of the hat. Ladies and gentleman, we have a birder.

Raptor Center Bird Flu Talk

I went to a lecture given by Dr. Pat Redig from the U of M's Raptor Center tonight to learn more about avian influenza (H5N1). Some websites to keep bookmarked for daily updates on Avian Influenza that are just information not sensational stories are:

World Organization for Animal Health

Promed - You can sign up for email updates about avian influenza

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

What was interesting was that Dr. Redig's talk changed my outlook on the spread of the disease. For sometime I thought that it was inevitable for it to reach the United States. Not a pandemic killing people, but something that would hit like West Nile Virus did. A noticeable hit to some bird populations but a disease that birds would have to get accustomed to. Dr. Redig did not feel that the world wide spread was inevitable and that if the disease were spreading as fast as that, it would have already hit North Africa by now.

He said that what makes this particular incident of flu interesting is that with the global communication we have, we are able to watch the birth of the disease, how it mutates and spreads. In the Spanish Flu of 1918 pandemic, that took everyone by surprise because the communication capabilities were completely different.

Some things I learned at the meeting:

1. One thing that is important to note right now is that when people have gotten the virus it has been from contact with domestic bird fecal material, blood and raw poultry meat. In some cases people have ingested things like raw duck blood. If the people who contracted it had either washed their hands thoroughly after handling their birds or cooked the meat thoroughly they may not have contracted it.

2. None of the people who have been infected directly worked in the poultry industry. It's possible that the particular strain of influenza started with poultry with development and those people developed an immunity.

3. No one has been infected with H5N1 from wild birds, only poultry.

4. Beware of bogus "bird flu" vaccinations. Apparently there are some people out there trying to capitalize on the media information about the flu by offering vaccinations that would have no effect on the H5N1. There currently is no vaccination for people or birds.

5. Just because H5N1 shows up, it does not automatically mean a pandemic. It may never mutate into a strain that could transfer from person to person. One thing is for sure, if H5N1 shows up any domestic birds including turkeys, chickens or ducks could be at risk of culling. It is possible that if you have parrots they could be at risk. Keep in mind that this is speculation on if the virus lands on the North American continent.

6. Species that have been found with H5N1: peregrine falcon, heron, flamingo, gull, parrot. buzzard (European version of a buteo like a red-tailed hawk), magpie, cormorant, dove, swan, goose, sparrowhawk (not like our kestrels, a European version of a sharp-shinned hawk). So far only the whooper swan has been a carrier, other species died from H5N1. It's presumed that the raptor species got it from eating infected bird prey. It is presumed that the parrot got it from eating food made from infected poultry.

7. What can you do besides checking info and waiting? MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR BIRDS COME FROM. If you are getting a pet bird, make sure it is from a breeder and not smuggled in. Do research, do not assume that because someone says, "Yeah sure, it's captive bred, doesn't mean it is." This is also a good practice too when purchasing poultry to eat. Even though H5N1 hasn't shown up in the United States and may or may not, it's always a good idea to make sure that you are in fact cooking your food thoroughly and as always wash your hands after handling raw bird.

Subject Line

ARRRRGH! I have packing to do this afternoon before I go to a lecture on avian influenza at the Raptor Center tonight and I just learned there is a snowy owl down in Rochester (an hour and a half for me). I now have a choice...do I put off packing until after I get home from the lecture and stay up late in the night getting my crap together or pack sensibly this afternoon to get a good night's sleep. I will blog and think about this. I should stay and pack, not only do I have an early flight to catch to Texas, but I have an early interview about bird flu on A Balanced Breakfast with Ian and Margery on fm107 at 5:45am. One thing about those early morning phone interviews, the call wakes you up if your alarm fails! If you are awake you can tune in on the radio in the Twin Cities or online at fm107.fm.

Non Birding Bill pointed out yesterday that I had Books Books Books as the title for yesterday's post and there really wasn't much about books. I had intended to talk about some fun books I found in Madison used book stores and got completely off track talking about Mike and my optics training. Doh. On a side note, I got the biggest thrill seeing my Wisconsin Calendar in a window of a museum shop on State Street.

Anyway, one of the things that I enjoy doing is wandering around used book stores with NBB. We can be in any town anywhere under the worst of circumstances and just have a blast with each other exploring dusty shelves. I'm into hardcore academic bird books and awful, horrible incredibly inaccurate books from the late 1800s to early 1900s. I shouldn't say they are in accurate, just backwards. Birds were regarded in two different categories: good and evil. If a bird destroyed crops and live stock it was bad. If it minded it's own business and was pretty it was okay.

This trip I found one book that is so wrong on so many levels from the 1960s called Hand-taming Wild Birds at the Feeder by Alfred G. Martin. The training in the bird feeding industry today is that birds at the feeder are enjoyable, but they are wild and not dependent on us. This book openly refers to birds as "pets" and that if you set a feeder you are responsible for any deaths that happen. This is completely untrue! Studies done by Cornell prove that birds only use a feeder as about 20% of its entire diet even in the worst of circumstances. I did some checking on the internet and I noticed that this book was republished in the early 1990s so I wonder if such glorious quotes as this were reworded:

On hawks visiting feeders:
"Most predators are now protected by state and federal laws. They should be protected, but the laws should also make allowance for the protection of birds at the feeder. Birds of prey as a whole make little difference in the songbird population; it is the individual predator who will locate a well-populated feeder and hang around until the last songster is gone. He is the one that should be destroyed, law or no law...When I see a bird of prey near my feeder, I watch him carefully; if he takes one bird and does not return for more he is safe; if he returns, I shoot him."

Okay, what I want to know is that without banding the birds, how does he know it's the same hawk? This is wrong, wrong, wrong! Did I mention this is wrong? Hawks will not permanently deplete feeder birds! Sure, birds lay low when a hawk is around, but I have had Cooper's hawks nest within 100 feet of a bird feeder and I still had birds all summer.

But wait there's more. Here's his answer on hummingbird migration:

"One evening a friend called at my studio and laid a Canada goose on the table, then took a male ruby-throat hummingbird from his tobacco pouch and placed it on the head of the goose. "Al," he said, "I shot this goose down on the Cape this morning, and when I picked him up, this little fellow rolled out of his feathers. He was still alive but died in my hand." I am just as sure that ruby-throat hummingbirds will ride a goose as I am that aviators ride planes."

I always wondered where that rumor came from. I don't know if this is the exact start but it sure did help perpetuate that myth of hummingbirds riding on geese during migration. The book is full of all sorts of his personal theories stated as fact. One of the worst being that peanut butter causes egg-binding in birds. That was new, I have to give credit for that. I had heard the myth that peanut butter sticks to the roof of birds mouths causing them to suffocate (which as NEVER been proven true or false) but the fact that it causes egg binding in female birds is a new one to me.

I'm going to have to see if I can locate the 1990s edition to see if anything has changed. If you have this book do take some of the info with a grain of salt. His techniques for getting birds to hand feed aren't too far off--basically stand still and be patient...although Alfie does warn against swallowing while birds are on the hand, apparently it makes them edgy. Who knew?

Well, this post went on longer than expected. I guess that makes my decision about going down to look at a stake out snowy owl. Ah well, tomorrow I'll be birding in Texas. I can get a look at a snowy later this winter. Whoo hoo! Texas birds and karaoke, here I come!

Books Books Books Books

Bill and I made it back from our trip to Madison and we are exhausted. Between all the cramming on optics and meeting new people and enjoying friends we have not seen for a while, we feel like cold wet noodles.

Cinnamon got to go around and meet some of the crew at Eagle Optics. Mike was ready for her right away to see if she would disapprove of him. It took a moment, but the inevitable happened and she indeed did disapprove of him. I on the other hand am in awe of him. I'm going to be honest, I always knew a good binocular when I look through it, but I didn't know the scientific reason why an optic is better than others. Being the left brain that I am, I just kind of skimmed bird magazine articles about optics. Of course, working for an optics company, I need to be able to actually know what you are talking about and Mike who has given me my initial training is VERY good. I really appreciated that he walked me though the initial binocular lesson without making me feel like a dingbat. He was patient, humorous and best of all not boring. I'm very excited about this whole process though. Part of me now understands how new part-time people that I trained at the bird store felt when I was walking them through seed mixes and the ins and outs of Droll Yankee bird feeders. I'm sure the glazed eye, information overload look came across my face a few times. This whole learning process really gives me hope. If I can learn all of this, I should one day be able to properly learn how to identify first and second year gulls.

Birdchick always on the Job

Some bunnies just can't hold their scotch.

So Non Birding Bill and I are in Madison, WI killing two birds with one stone. I'm getting some last minute training for the Rio Grande Valley Fest at Eagle Optics and he's here for World Fantasy Con. We have access to the Governor's Club at the Concourse Hotel in the evening which has a very well known bartender named Brian who is a favorite among the ladies for his chocolate martinis. I like him because he's a birder. Non Birding Bill looks at me like I'm nuts but I can find a birder everywhere I go, even if that person doesn't know yet that they are a birder, I can still tell. Hm. I wonder if that would be called "bird-dar"?

Brian had been to the website and asked just how big Cinnamon was. I told him that she was in our room and I could bring her down and he could meet her in person. So, on went the leash and Cinnamon bellied up to the bar. I was worried that sneaking a rabbit into the hotel might get is in a little trouble, but when the concierge came by and asked for a photo I knew we were okay. Brian has been in Arizona several times and told me about the all the great birds he sees out there, it's always great to meet a kindred spirit.

Speaking of kindred spirits, I met Peter Straub and got him to prank call my mother. I think she's still not convinced it was really Peter or just Non Birding Bill pretending to be Peter. At any rate, we got her an autographed copy of Ghost Story so in the end she will be happy.

This morning at breakfast we ran into Adam Stemple of the Tim Malloys and he was with his mother Jane Yolen who is married to ornithologist David Stemple who sounds like my kind of guy--he has dedicated his life to the recording of Ring Ouzels! Now that's what I call niche birding. NBB again saw the magic of running into birders anywhere but also bonded with Jane over being a non birding spouse.

Apparently "It's on"

I just read Bill of the Birds blog and discovered that BT3 of Birdwatcher's Digest fame is going to be the emcee at the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival. In the birding community that means only one thing: karaoke at bird festivals. I contacted Amy Hooper editor of Wild Bird Magazine and asked, "Is it on?" and her reply was, "Oh yeah, karaoke is on. Did an online search, found various
possibilities." Heaven help the ears of Harlingen. Woo Hoo!

Ben at Eagle Optics is going to be training me on doing my first festival for the company. He was showing me that the schedule for next week is basically working the booth from noon until 6pm. That means we have the whole morning to go birding...life is good.

Eeeww

Is it a type of avian pox or a two-headed house finch? I'm not sure but you can decide when you look at the recently seen page on the MOU website.

Flight Club

The first rule about the Cornell Ivory-billed Woodpecker Search is you do not talk about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Search. The second rule about the Cornell Ivory-billed Woodpecker Search is you do not talk about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Search. The third rule about the Cornell Ivory-billed Woodpecker Search is you do not talk about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Search.

Well, I spent the last few weeks trying to determine what I can talk about while I'm down for two weeks in December about the ivory-billed search--nothing. What is going on is a systematic scientific search, releasing information too soon could compromise the gathering of data and worse could potentially be harmful to the overall benefit of any ivory-bills still down there.

However, there is a silver lining to the cloud! I will be able to talk and write (and a few other things) about the looking for the ivory-bill when the official search is complete, most likely in April. I'm so excited! I get to be part of an official scientific search with Cornell and create some exciting stuff that may show up on Cornell's website as well as Eagle Optics and of course birdchick.

I think blogging about my experience while I was down there was a tad unrealistic anyway since it sounds like where I will be has no internet access and my cell phone might work if I stand on top of a levee. So, I'm delighted to announce that I will have a guest blogger while I'm gone for two weeks in December. I couldn't ask for a better (or sassier) guest than Julie Zickefoose! For years she has been one of my favorite writers in Bird Watcher's Digest and many have seen her gorgeous paintings have been featured on the cover. She is who I want to be if and when I ever grow up...mostly because she hasn't quite grown up herself. She should have some fun and interesting things to say, although there is a slight difference between us (besides her massive amount of artistic talent). I am married to a Non Birding Bill and she is married to a Birding Bill. I'm curious how the other half lives.

On a side note Julie offered to design my next tattoo. She offered an ivory-billed woodpecker, but I had never seen one and at the time of the conversation had no plans to go look for one. I wanted a pileated since that was the bird that got me really interested in birding when I was a wee seven year old (who am I kidding, even at 31 I'm still wee). Besides, there are lots of bird tattoos: eagles, swallows, even Woody Woodpecker for cryin' out loud, but I have yet to see an accurate pileated on someone's body. Well, perhaps I will hold off to decide. If I see an ivory-bill, I'll get that for a tattoo. If I don't see it, I'll resort to the original pileated plan.

Birdchick Calendars at TRC

I completely forgot to mention this my last post!

If you are interested in purchasing my Birds of Minnesota Calendar for 2006, The Raptor Center has it in their gift shop. Purchases from the TRC gift shop supports the many birds of prey recovering in the clinic as well as the birds used for education. They do not have the Wisconsin or Michigan birding calendars but you can get those at All Seasons Wild Bird Store or online at Adventure Publications.

If anyone in Wisconsin or Michigan (or Minnesota for that matter) knows of nonprofit organizations carrying my calendars, please let me know and I will include a link in my blog.