I Found A Sleeping Bird

Last night at the end of the Sports Show shift, I was waiting outside of the convention center for Non Birding Bill to pick me up. It was around 10pm. I noticed a large pile of bird poop under a lamp that was lighting the area and instantly thought, "Someone is nesting there."

I then realized that it's late March, no small bird could have successfully nested in the last few weeks. I wondered, "Is someone sleeping up on the lamp?"

I always wonder about roosting birds and where they go. Some birds, we know where they go, but I do wonder about sparrows, cardinals, blue jays--where are those dudes sleeping. I tried to position myself to see who was up there. I whipped out my binoculars and silently chuckled as a couple of smokers next to me tried to nonchalantly edge a few feet away. What on earth did they think I was doing or going to do to them? They were just binoculars for cryin’ out loud. Granted, it was dark out, not a traditional time to watch birds, but not unreasonable either--you’re not going to get cooties from someone with a pair of binoculars.

The bird looked to be a male house sparrow: small, gray and brown and a little dark patch on the chest. I snapped a few photos and he continued to sleep. Based on the amount of poop on the ledge and on the ground, this guy must have been using this site all winter.

The birding just never stops.

I forgot to mention in the previous post that Kim and Cindy Risen have a table full of their new paper called Nature Scape News that they are handing out free. It's goal is celebrating the joy of birds, butterflies and wildflowers. They mentioned to me late last year they were going to start it, and boy howdy they have already sent out three issues. It's for the Midwest area and you can either sign up for a subscription on their website or many wild bird specialty stores have them for sale as well. It's a great publication full of photos and articles about backyard and general birding. Check it out if you get the chance.

Welcome to Fogey Town

Population: Birders

I'm struggling today. The Northwest Sports Show is a big fun outdoors experience and I thought it was a great opportunity when the organizers asked for help in creating a bird watching room. Several bird clubs came together to put together what we thought would be a fun and interesting booth set up, but we are not meeting the standards set by some of the other groups and vendors. We have a small spinning "wheel of fortune" type game where kids answer questions and get either a bird tattoo or little compass, information from various bird clubs and festivals, a table full of stuffed birds (that no one can touch--oils on human hands damages feathers), a display of bluebird houses and a video from the Bluebird Recovery Program, and my table full of binoculars and a scope people can test out.

What do they have next door to us? A touch a live shark tank! How do you compete with that? Not only that, they have all sorts of dead and dried out sea and like life that kids can touch. They also have a wheel of fortune game that has a wheel three times as large as ours. Across the way is a trout-fishing tank where kids can fish out of--with actual trout and the vendor booths have pheasants, foxes, antlers from deer, elk and all sorts of beast. It's a feast for the eyes and something tangible that you can touch. I suddenly came to the realization that it's incredibly difficult to capture the fun and excitement of birding and present it in a booth. With hunting and fishing, you have trophies of either the whole animal or some of the parts that you can touch and see up close. With birds, we really can't do that. Birders are all about seeing things in the wild--we're about enjoying birds without touching them or taking them--except for bird banders. So, it's difficult to have something tangible for kids to touch.

I talked to another lady in the booth about maybe finding some hawk wings and feet that we can bring for kids to touch and look at up close and maybe bring in some more sounds to play in the room that says, "birds"! Actually, I've been playing birdPod on my laptop and getting people interested in that.

Even our talks aren't that well attended, last night I had two guys show up for a "basics on birdhouses" discussion. They politely asked if I would talk for ten minutes on what hawks they should worry about eating their pheasants. So, I'm now wondering if I can throw together a PowerPoint that is something along the lines of "cool birds you see when hunting" or "top food animals of hawks and owls". These people aren't interesting in learning about getting started in bird watching, bird feeding and housing. They want to know about birds and how it relates to them. Mark Alt, the president of the MOU is sending out flyers of the top ten most wanted birds in the state. Birds that we should be seeing based on neighboring state records or from carcasses recently found (like a barn owl that flew into someone's window in the Twin Cities this winter). Chances are, these hunters and fishermen are seeing them too.

I'm not saying that we didn't work hard and put together some good booths, but what we have is not right for this audience. Just some food for thought that I'm going to mull over for future opportunities at hunting shows.

Calling All Young Birders in the Twin Cities

The proposed new Youth Birding Club will meet on April 15th at 9:00 at Wood Lake Nature Center in Richfield for a field trip. The group is for 12-16 year olds. If you know any such young birders who might benefit from such a group, please provide me with names and e-mail addresses. Parents are welcome to attend this first session.

Bob Holtz
BobHoltz1933@aol.com
If you are too busy to go birding, you are too busy.

Hormonal Hawks and other species

Quick correction from the last post from J. Marty Paige:

Hi Sharon, Birders as you have mentioned are often thought of as Geeks. ( Geeks do rule the world, Bill Gates for instance). I just wanted to make a comment on your “chainsaw” post on Birdchick. I believe it is a Circular Saw and not a Chainsaw, not that it really matters. (I am just a stickler for details). Still odd though that it has been up there so long. Anyway, have a great spring birding season.

He is absolutely right. What was I thinking--and I'm someone who loves power tools. Sometimes, I get words crossed in my head. I have been known to call out peewee when the bird is actually a phoebe, and I know it's a phoebe but some kind of wiring is off in my brain that causes me to say peewee. I agree with Marty's assessment, chainsaw or circular saw--it's still weird that it has been up there for so long.

It's noisy in the education bird courtyard at The Raptor Center. Holy Cow! Every diurnal (active during the day time) bird is calling (more like squaking and screeching). The red-tailed hawks start whining back and forth to each other, which gets the golden eagle going (pictured above), who inspires one peregrine to start "per chupping", once one peregrines starts, the two have to scream back in response and, not to be left out, the kestrels periodically trill in their little territory calls. It's nuts. I was taking a peregrine out for program yesterday and as I was crating her, she was calling. It's a great call to listen to out in the wild, watching them from far away when they are on top of a cliff or skyscraper. When they are a few inches from your ear, it's not so fun.

When I was taking a group around for a tour, the group was very intrigued why this hawk (pictured right) was hunkered down on top of her hutch. She had laid an egg. She's housed by herself, so it's an infertile egg, but it just goes to show the power of hormones. Sometimes the birds will lay an egg, male or no male because their body is telling them that this is the time of year to do it. It's not as much fun to go in and get her for program during this time.

In the raptor world, males are smaller than females. With some species like peregrine falcons and Cooper's hawks it's very obvious, the male can look a third to even a half size smaller than females. With bald eagles and red-tailed hawks, it isn't always so obvious. You can just look up the feathers and check red-tailed hawks to find out the sex, you have to do it surgically. Since it really isn't that much of an issue for us to know the sex, we don't bother with the surgery and make an educated guess based on weight. Now, when the red-tails lay an egg, it's incredibly helpful because we know the sex.

Roof Mallards

Signs of spring continue to be evident in my neighborhood. As water collects on the tops of all the apartment buildings on our block, mallards show up and take advantage of them. The first year we lived here it was very odd to see mallards floating by on the building across the ally. Every now and then a hen will try to lay eggs on a roof. Before she gets too far, crows and squirrels take over and eat the eggs almost as fast as she can lay them. I'm relieved by this, I didn't want to think about having to get the newly hatched mallards off of the roofs. A good example of where egg predation comes in handy--to warn those young hens that a roof is not the best idea that they could have come up with for nesting. Mallards aren't known for their forward thinking abilities.

About eight years ago, some guys were doing some tree trimming on the roof across the way and left a chainsaw up there. It looks like a really nice DeWalt brand chainsaw. I tried to contact the building owners to let them know, but there it stays. People still go up there, but no one ever takes the chainsaw down...I sometimes wonder if it was used to dismember a body--see what happens when I watch a couple of episodes of CSI?

I was out at the Minneapolis Convention Center getting ready for the World of Birds booth at the Northwest Sports Show. This thing looks fun, and I'm not just talking about the bird room--although, that's pretty cool too. There's all sorts of bird groups represented there, MOU, Minnesota Audubon, MN DNR, MN Bluebird Recovery Program just to name a few. I was marveling in awe watching other exhibitors set up fancy boats and docks indoors (they're huge), someone next to our room was setting up a "touch the live sharks pool" and a Wisconsin animal rescue guy will have his exhibit of animals, including a lynx and a baby porcupine. How could a day be bad when you get to see a four day old porcupine? Wow, I really hope that one wasn't a breech birth. Yeow.

Hey, do you like my new tube feeder? It looks just like a squirrel! I can't believe this female is casually hanging by her back legs, while dangling two stories up. She obviously didn't read the label that reads that feeder is for clingers only and not hangers.

Best Laid Plans

Non Birding Bill and I went out today to enjoy the sun and had the best intentions to install several bird houses for a friend and document it via video, but we just did not get that far. I fell into that clever trap that mother nature seems to set for us every March, by giving us a wonderfully warm day when you can smell the wet earth coming alive and snow turns to cold mud. And then you are reminded that winter still has a grip. I tried putting an auger into the ground to mount some 4x4 posts for wood duck boxes and we were only able to get them half way into the ground--grrrrr. We tried all sorts of things: hot water, both of us twisting at the same time, four letter words--it just wouldn't budge. The pond we are aiming for is iced up, so I think if we go back two weeks from today we can get them the rest of the way in, the pond will be open and we should get our friends some wood ducks. I did get the bluebird houses and chickadee houses (that's one pictured right) up and running. I felt like the bluebird was on my back as soon as we got there. I think Lang Elliot normally describes bluebirds as saying, "Cheer, cheerful, charmer" this one was saying, "Where's my freakin' box?"

Even though the ground was frozen solid, spring was definetly making it's presence known. We saw lots of snow fleas and a few Milbert's tortoiseshell--that butterfly was pretty cool, it looked like it had an orange, glowing cat eye on each wing. Juncoes were trilling all over the edge of the woods, almost sounding uncertain if they should head north or just make a go of it a little further south than usual. Woodpeckers were drumming and swooping. The female hairy woodpecker below was listening intently to some drumming of a male hairy.

As we were filming I started hearing sandhill cranes way off in the distance. When they sounded like they were overhead I started searching the endless blue sky. After some searching I finally found the flocks joining into a thermal, high in the air. NBB was getting more impatient and wanted to continue filming. He asked in an irritated tone, "Can you stop birdwatching?!?" To which I gave the automatic reply, "I don't know, can you stop breathing?" I think the snotty/smarty pants tone of voice I used helped bring the conversation up to the next level. Ah, married life.

Lorraine walked by, she was recovering from a weekend of heavy music making, having gigged with the Tim Malloys as soon as she came home from a visit to LA. I excitedly pointed out the sandhill cranes overhead and she groggily, yet cheerily replied, "I'll get right on that" and disappeared behind the garage.

Tundra Swans

Tundra Swans are on the move. Keep your ears open and eyes to the sky in Minnesota and Wisconsin for large flocks of these birds.

I Weigh In on the Ivory-bill Brew-ha-ha

If you can't get to an ivory-billed woodpecker, bring an ivory-bill to you. I give you, the Ivory-bill Cocktail developed by Non Birding Bill:

1 1/2 oz blended whiskey (I used Jameson)
1 oz. gin (Beefeater)
Splash of Grenadine

Mix over ice in a tumbler. Stir. Garnish with "ivory bills" (almond slivers)

I think we should all have one of these, chill out and wait and see what new evidence is presented at the end of the current search.

Eulogy for Hazel, a Disapproving Rabbit

Warning, this is a bummer of a post and not bird related. If you don't want to be bummed out, wait for the next post.

Today, we lost Hazel, our oldest disapproving rabbit. Apparently, El-ahrairah needed her to join his owsla. We got Hazel in 1996 when we first moved to Minnesota as a companion for our little male rabbit at the time, Latte. They were fast friends after some bullying on Hazel's part. Once both had established their boundaries, they were inseparable.

Hazel tended to be on the shy side, and never went anywhere without Latte leading the way. Once he had established that an area was safe she would follow. I remember early on when we had Hazel, we would let both rabbits run around the apartment twenty-four hours a day. Hazel looked somewhat like a ghost or negative space in the shape of a rabbit with her black velvety fur running around when all the lights were out. That all came to an end one night when I woke to a strange sound. Hazel was on the bed, sitting near my face. I didn't think much of it and closed my eyes. I heard the sound again and opened my eyes to discover Hazel eating my hair. Non Birding Bill said that it was the result of my using all those pricey, cruelty-free, all-natural fruity shampoos. I just thought that she disapproved of that particular hairstyle--perhaps a "Rachel" wasn't the best cut for me.

One day Hazel took her disapproval to NBB's writing, she opened his bag and started whipping out pages of his notebook and chewing them. NBB was horrified and amused all at the same time. There was also the time NBB almost got electrocuted by Hazel, which he re-enacted with her last week.

When I used to work at the Minnetonka Wild Bird Store, I would take both Latte and Hazel and they had a great time eating birdseed and parsley from the customers. I remember we discovered Hazel's favorite toy in the form of patina copper wall hooks. One had fallen on the floor, and Hazel grabbed it and flipped over and over. I bought a few and kept them on hand at home for her. Hazel suffered from chronic respiratory problems and we always knew when she was feeling bad because she wouldn't play with her hooks. We learned of her respiratory problems not long after we brought her home and she started making a wheezing/snuffling sound. We took her to the vet and got some antibiotics. She would wheeze worse when we picked her up so we avoided doing that. After that infection subsided, she would still make the wheezing sound anytime we picked her up. She had learned that we would leave her alone if she made that noise--clever bunny.

Though Hazel was shy, when she felt comfortable and in her own territory, she would fight like a tiger. As fast of friends that Latte and Hazel were, Cinnamon and Hazel were just as fast of enemies. I have never seen anything as violent as two female rabbits. They fight dirty! They rolled around the apartment, knocking into chair and table legs with little tufts of fur flying up in the air, as they would bite, kick, thump and grunt (yes, that's right, grunt). We tried everything, but those two just would not get along. We had to keep them separated and both would try everything they could to irritate each other. Hazel would skip the litter box and go to the bathroom right in front of Cinnamon's hutch. Cinnamon would sneak up on a snoozing Hazel as she was leaning on a partition and nibble her fur.

Hazel was quite the bruiser. In her hey day, she reminded us of that black bull in the Bugs Bunny cartoons that annihilated anything in its path and snorted. We used to let Latte and Hazel play in our building's hallway with our neighbor's cat Milo. Milo would playfully bat their ears or cuddle up to them. I guess Hazel had enough and once when Milo went to bat her ears, she lunged towards him in a single hop, pinned him and then chased him down the hall. The neighbors moved not long after that...I wonder if it was because of Hazel?

When Latte died in 2003, I wasn't sure how long Hazel would last. She didn't like Cinnamon, and she never went anywhere without him. I retired her from going to the bird store and she seemed content to stay at home. Her respiratory condition has been getting a little worse in the last year and recently our vet found an inexplicable mass in her abdomen. Tests couldn't determine for sure what it was, only surgery would do that. Since she was ten and in touchy health we decided against it, to just make her remaining time as comfortable as possible. This morning after a hearty breakfast of her favorite foods she had what appeared to a seizure. We took her to our vet and after discussing options made the choice that every pet owner dreads having to make.

I hate the whole process. Rabbits take longer to put down than dogs or cats. Our vet has explained the reason why and I can never remember why, but it bites. It takes forever. I hate the whole process: the decision, the vet seeing me bawl like a baby, waiting for the last breath, having to walk out in the waiting area when you are finished with an empty carrying case or leash while everyone else knowingly looks at you and feels grateful that they are not you that day, the nice and sincere card we will get from the vet with the "Rainbow Bridge" poem. The worst is still yet to come. Tomorrow when we wake up we will temporarily forget and then be reminded when the morning routine starts and discover that it is disrupted because our household is one member short.

There's also the bummed mood that will last for a two or three days and if someone asks, I have to gauge if they will understand if I say, "I just lost one of my rabbits." Sometimes I worry that I am someone who is too involved with her pets.

So, now I think I will lay low and avoid the listservs. There's some debate going on about duck stamps on the Minnesota bird listservs and I worry with my mood, I may forgo eloquence or what I hope is my easy going email demeanor and just start calling people buttheads.

Goodbye, Hazelrah, Disapproving Rabbit & Chief of Owsla at the Stiteler Warren. You will be deeply missed.

Cockatiel Muffin Addition

Okay, here is the whole recipe for the cockatiel muffins:

1 box Jiffy Cornbread
6 eggs, shells included
1/3 cup milk
1 cup bird pellets
1 jar of Gerber Baby Food in the form of carrots, sweet potatoes or squash
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables, cooked
1 cup sunflower hearts

And I follow the bake time instructions on the Jiffy Cornbread box.

Here are a couple websites that inspired my recipe:

Me and My Budgie Recipes (works for other birds besides budgerigars)

or

Cockatiels.org

Meanwhile, our cockatiel has been doing her general excitement sqwuak all morning (not the irritated sqwaud of Thursday, but still loud and tinnitus inducing), I couldn't figure out what her damage is, there is an ample supply of muffin. Then I saw it: crows working on a nest a block away but still a direct view from her perch. For Non Birding Bill and I, it's a perfect view from our couch. This nest is an old squirrel nest, so I wonder if they are just pilfering some of the nesting material or refurbishing it for our needs.

In House Birding

Well, we had a minor cockatiel meltdown yesterday. After a long night's sleep, I woke Thursday morning to get started on a massive to do list. Non Birding Bill mentioned in passing that our cockatiel was out of muffin. I thought he meant that Kabuki was eating the last piece, oh no, Kabuki had completely run out and I am the keeper of the recipe. And, when our darling little cockatiel is unhappy, he has a very particular screech to let us know. So, I had to make muffin right away to restore calm to our little home.

Our cockatiel is a home body, doesn't like to get too adventurous and really doesn't like anything new. The first time I ever heard of cockatiel muffins was from a bird store customer who brought in some she had made for me when she heard I had a bird. I thought the gesture was sweet, but that our cockatiel would avoid them. It was unlike any food we had given him before and usually when something new is introduced to his environment he stares at it for a good two days, intermittantly bobbing his head up and down as if to get a clearer focus on the potential danger. The first time I put muffin in Kabuki's treat dish, he looked, bobbed his head up and down and made a bee line for it and has been eating muffins ever since. I can't help but wonder if the breeder who sold him to the pet store we got him from fed him muffin. There are various incarnations of the recipe on the internet, and I have made up my own recipe based on Kabuki's likes and dislikes. Here's break down:

1 box Jiffy Cornbread
6 eggs, shells included
1/3 cup milk
1 cup bird pellets
1 jar of Gerber Baby Food in the form of carrots, sweet potatoes or squash
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables, cooked
1 cup sunflower hearts

Sometimes I'll mix it up a little and put in some canned pumpkin or peanuts or raisins. The best part of this muffin recipe is that it gets our cockatiel to eat his pellets. Before the muffin, Kabuki would only eat the pellets if he was really desperate. Now, muffin is the first thing he eats in the morning, so I know he's getting his nutrition.

I've tried crumbling up this muffin concoction and putting it in a tray feeder for the wild birds, but even the starlings and house sparrows won't touch it. That's okay, it's one thing to bake periodically for Kabuki, I couldn't imagine doing it for all the birds outside. Well, Kabuki is now singing the Andy Griffith song, so all must be right in his world.

A friend from The Raptor Center sent me this link. I've never before seen an interpretive juggler capture my frame of mind when working on several projects at once so completely and eloquently as Chris Bliss. It's about four minutes long and well worth it. Thank you, Jake, for sending this along...you know me so well.

Loss of a Dedicated Ornithologist

I just learned that Dave Stemple has died. Wish Non Birding Bill and I live a few blocks from his son Adam, and I'll never forget the first time we met at Mr. Neil's and Adam came up to me and told me that since I was into birds that I should meet his father who was an expert in the songs of ring ouzels--boy did he have me pegged or what?

There is a touching note at Jane Yolen's site, Dave's wife. They are such a warm, funny and talented family, Dave an ornithologist, Adam, a singer/songwriter and now author and many are familiar with Jane's writing. I remember last fall when we were all at World Fantasy Convention and Jane saying how excited Dave was to be able to do the Christmas Bird Count even with his illness, that it really kept him going.

I'm so sorry for their loss and sorry that I never got the chance to help Dave further in his work.

I'm Back At Chez Stiteler

If you are still having problems using the blogger photo upload button, I feel for ya'. Sometimes I can use it, and sometimes I have to use Cyber Duck. One thing I have noticed: if your issue is after you have selected your photo and hit the download button, it starts to load and then shows a blank box with a little "done" a the bottom. Try again, sometimes by doing it four or five times, it will finally show the right box. Also, if you keep numbers out of the name of your photo, that seems to make a difference too. That's how I got photos in this entry. It's a pain, but it's an option. Spell check is still not working. Whoa is me (har har).

I'm Home! No thanks to Cinna-bunny-butthead. Apparently, she disapproved of leaving the carpeted hotel room with a king sized bed to hop on and hide under. I got a late start anyway, and then on top of that it took me a half hour to corral Cinnamon and get her in the car. It was the first time the whole trip that she was really naughty. Rabbits are a lot like cats, they have their moods when they want to be cuddled and moods when they want to be left alone, moods when they want to explore and play and moods when they want to hide. This was Cinnamon's mood to not travel in the car. Once we were in the car, she wedged herself between her litter blox and the insulation on the floor of the passenger seat and pouted all the way home--the whole 600 miles. When I pulled up out in front of our home, I couldn't get her out of the car, she somehow managed to thump and splash hay all over me. She must have enjoyed the cranes more than I realized...or the ladies at Red Lobster who spoiled her rotton with veggies and parsley.

The drive home was GORGEOUS! The sky was a vivid blue, enhancing the snowy landscape. Roads were very clear so I could still notice all the raptors on the way home. During a mile stretch I saw an adult red-tail soaring, then a dark morph adult red-tail sitting on a fence post (it looked like a life sized chocolate hawk), then a perched red-tail so light, at first glance its head looked like a ferruginous hawk (unlikley for central Iowa) and a couple of kestrels.

During a four mile stretch in southern Minnesota we counted 9 red-tailed hawks, one harrier, one rough-legged hawk and five kestrels.

So, now I must tackle my massive to do list. Thanks for all the well wishes for a safe journey, they worked, we arrived home without incident.

Ultimate Rabbit Disapproval?

These guys might be giving my rabbits a run for their money.

Did I Stay Or Did I Go?

I'm staying another night! They finally opened east bound I 80 after 4pm and I took a quick drive to test the roads. However, they still were quite slick and as I was driving I started hearing a list of accidents being reported on the newly opened I 80. So, I'm in Kearney for another night. I have to say, the folks in Kearney are all being very kind and patient with their stranded travelers. The staff at the Fairfield Inn extended our checkout time so we could listen to road conditions and see if and when I 80 would open. After this trip, the Fairfield will be my number one choice when staying here. I used to stay in a different hotel, but they lost points when two years in a row either I didn't get a wake up call or participants in my tour group didn't get them and that's not good when you have to be at a prairie chicken blind at 4:30am.

All the restaurants I've been to have graciously given me extra vegetables for Cinnamon--she's like a celebrity. The girls at Red Lobster pictured above really spoiled her by sending me back to my hotel room with a healthy serving of parsley, carrots and spinach. They really wanted to meet her but I didn't want the restaurant to get in trouble for having an animal running about so I brought her over and met them in the door way. In the photo the girls look so cute and Cinnamon looks so focused on the parsley.

While I was out testing the roads I managed to see a couple of cranes. This flock pictured above had a few snow geese and greater white fronted geese mixed in. It just seems to stretch for miles. In the distance, the dark lines are more cranes.

It was fun to watch them move against the snow, especially when the danced. It made me wish that I hadn't already packed up all my digiscoping equipment and do the cranes and the landscape justice.

Horned larks and western meadowlarks were all over the sides of the road (pictured above). The snow really made the horned larks easy to pick out in the fields. All sorts of birds were hanging out right on the roads. At first I thought they may have been after the salt, but I saw more than one meadowlark flying away with some kind of worm hanging from their bills. Other highlights included seeing a kestrel fly off with a horned lark and a female bobwhite sitting on top of a snow bank.

So, cranes, trumpet away. Tomorrow morning, Cinnamon and I head bravely back to the Twin Cities. I just realized that I have been blogging about snow for the last week: first in Minnesota, then in Wisconsin and now in Nebraska. Hopefully, this will be the end of it.

Oh, one quick word of warning: avoid the Lobster Bites at Long John Silvers. I love the LJS, their chicken and fish makes me salivate. However, the Lobster Bites are the worst thing I've tasted since that one time in college I tried to make tuna helper (yeah, I know, but it's okay, I didn't inhale).

Start Placing Your Bets

Will I leave Nebraska today or will I have to stay another day?

"Mom, I'm so booooooooooored!"

I-80 is still closed. Rumor has it that might open within the next four hours. Many of us at the hotel are playing a waiting game to see if we get to check out today or have to stay another night. That's my window on the left in the above photo. I was half tempted to tell you that I'm on the second floor of the hotel, but I won't, I am on the first floor. Apparently we got 17 inches after the snow stopped.


The hotel staff has been joking with us that even though the interstate may open, we may not be able to get out of the parking lot. I'm lucky, my car isn't as wedged in as the one above, but will require some shoveling. I'm really kicking myself because I didn't bring my snow boots. Since I do more traveling, I've been trying to cut back on my packing--especially if I take a car and not a plane. I remember last week as I was loading the rental car and I looked at my Saturn and realized my snow boots were in the back. I started to grab them and then reminded myself that when I go to Nebraska, I bird almost entirely by car--I told myself that I didn't need them. So, I left them behind. DOH!

Non Birding Bill

In the previous post I showed how I was spending my time, but some are curious about Non Birding Bill. Here is what he's been dealing with. It's only about two minutes long, but highly worth it.

For those curious, that is Hazel of Disapproving Rabbits fame in the video. She is ten years old, half blind and incredibly set in her ways which is why she isn't featured in the blog too much. We put her in retirement a little while ago. She's a rough, tough cream puff. We used to have a neighbor in our apartment building that would let their cat Milo run around in the hall. Occasionally, the rabbits would play with him, until one fateful day when Hazel attacked him, knocked him over and chased him down the hall. The neighbors moved not too long after that incident.

An Entry To Pass The Time

I'm excited to learn that my blog is on the Blogs of Note list on the blogger start page--I'm so excited, I feel like I'm sitting at the big kid table. It's certainly a silver lining to my snowed in, stranded day in Nebraska.

The local weather man is saying that we are getting an average of an inch an hour. Check out one of the hotel snow drifts:

So, how am I passing my time?

By fighting over a bag of almond salad garnish with my bunny while watching reruns of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and Walker Texas Ranger. I just discovered that Little House on the Prairie will be on later this afternoon--my life is complete. Actually, I am getting quite a bit of work accomplished since the hotel has internet access and I can work on processing some of the booth receipts from the Rivers and Wildlife Show. Plus, I have a couple of articles due (okay, make that a tad overdue) and I will for sure finish those today.

I have to hand it to the Fairfield Inn in Kearney, they are taking good care of their stranded guests. The restaurant next door, Carlos O'Kelly's (potato tacos anyone?) decided to closed for the day, but worked with the hotel to provide lunch and dinner for us. I asked at the front desk if it would be possible to get some fresh veggies for Cinnamon and extra lettuce was provided.

I wonder how all the cranes are doing? I would imagine that they are sticking pretty close to Rowe Sanctuary. The crane cam is running, but I'm not getting any sounds from it. It'll be interesting to check at dusk to see what they are doing on the camera. Today is the first time since I've been here that I can't hear them when I am outside. The wind is just too strong and again, I don't think they are straying to far from Rowe. I know birds have nictitating membranes over their eyes to protect them, but it still must be a pain to fly in this weather.

Speaking of birds, I got a response from Bud Anderson about the long-billed red-wing blackbirds we say yesterday. Here's what he had to say:

"Incidentally, Pat Redig says there is another long-billed peregrine currently breeding in downtown Minneapolis.

As you can see, I have forwarded your message on to the people most involved in the long-bill work, Colleen in AK, Julie in MI and Chuck in OR. Colleen is collecting records of all LB birds in AK and now further afield, Julie has been working with LB passerines for over 10 years (and wrote the first comprehensive article on the problem) and Chuck is currently trying for funding from USGS to study it here on the west coast.

I am getting about a record a week now. Although I have not counted them up in 6 weeks or so, I think I am around 115-120 raptors, mostly here in WA where I live."

Incredibly interesting and disturbing all at the same time. Again, if you notice any long-billed birds at your feeders or anywhere, let Bud know at bud@frg.org or let me know and I will forward it along.

I forgot a couple of highlights of the Rivers and Wildlife Celebration. I met Gary Lingle, (pictured above) who helps surveys the cranes in the area. If you ever plan on birding this area on your own, I highly recommend his book, Birding Crane River: Nebraska Platte. I learned from him that a whooping crane has already been spotted in the area this year (which is very early) and another group found a common crane (also known as Eurasian crane)--highly unusual to get this Asian species here on the Platte River any time of year. Gary is tough on binoculars, he accidentally melted a pair (and I thought I was tough on binoculars). Apparently, he was working a controlled burn and accidentally burned his truck. He ended up buying two pair of binoculars, an Audubon HP 8 x 42 and a Vortex DLS 10 x 42. These at least have a good replacement warranty.


Of course, a festival, just isn't a festival unless I buy some souvenirs. Cinnamon helped me realize that I wanted one of Mark Urwiller's photos by nibbling the frame. I didn't know it, but I really wanted this snow goose image. I really do like it, it reminds me of the massive bird traffic you see during migration here. He also had a really cool western meadowlark photo too. There she is in the above photo, lurking under his table. Poor Mark, he thought she was being friendly, but she had sinister intentions. Perhaps she was getting even with him for picking her up the day--her disapproval knows no bounds. Anyway, I'm very happy with my snow goose photo. Thank you, my naughty bunny.

Yeah, I'm Not Going Anywhere Today

I don't think I'll be driving from Kearney, NE to Minneapolis today.

Word at the hotel front desk is that the roads will be officially closed within the next two hours. The radio station I'm listening to is reading the list of all that is closed (schools, malls, clinics, weightwatchers, etc). He's been going nonstop for the last twelve minutes, I think it would have been faster to read what is open. Many restaurants are closed or will be closing soon, but the hotel is making food arrangements for us.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love the hip exciting lifestyle of an optics rep.

To Pack Or Not To Pack

Hmmmmmm, I'm not sure I will be leaving tomorrow morning with the predicted record snowfall that's supposed to start in earnest around 9pm tonight. Traffic was more than a little slow at the booth today. I think many people left early to try and get home before the big storm hits tonight. This morning there was a layer of ice and about two to three inches of snow. The main highway was not plowed, so instead of going the posted 75 mph, I went 30! The gravel road to Rowe Sanctuary wasn't plowed at all and I was beginning to wish that I had rented that SUB instead of the lower riding Stratus, but I made it there and back in one piece. I'm half heartedly packing, think that there isn't much chance that I will be able to drive to Minnesota tomorrow. On the bright side, the cranes look beautiful in the snowy landscape (but there is no way I can photograph them in the ice that pelts you and stings like a sand storm when you are outside).

Today while demonstrating some digiscoping, I noticed two long billed male red-winged blackbirds feeding on the ground at Rowe Sanctuary. Early readers of this blog may remember the long billed peregrine we got in at the banding station in Duluth, MN. Not long after I posted that entry, I got in contact with Bud Anderson who has been tracking what he calls the long billed hawk syndrome. This is also prevalent in passerines as well and I found that Julie Craves at Rouge River Bird Observatory is compiling deformities as is Colleen Handel.

There is so much we're learning but so little we don't know. Part of me was excited when I saw the birds, realizing that this is part of a great mystery, but then I felt sad that this a problem that we don't know the answer to and these birds are going to have a rough go of it as their bills continue to grow. A friend had given me a copy of Bud's PowerPoint Presentation on the long-billed hawk syndrome so I showed some of the examples of birds to the staff at Rowe Sanctuary, there was even a photo of a male red-winged black bird looking just like the blackbirds in my photos.

If you see a long-billed bird, please report it to Bud at bud@frg.org.

More Bunny Indignity

Are these goldfinches feasting at the Rowe Sanctuary a sign of the storm to come?

Oh dear, Kearney is officially under a winter storm warning and currently rain is shifting to snow. Tonight at the banquet at the Rivers and Wildlife Festival it was announced that the prairie chicken blind trip tomorrow morning is cancelled, since the chickens will not be "workin' the lek" (mating) due to the impending snow. The crane blind trip is still a go since the cranes landed on the river tonight to roost and when they wake up in the morning, they can't really "sleep in" on the water so that experience should still be magical and worthwhile. Wussy prairie chickens. I wonder if Cinnamon and I will be able to make the 18 miles from my hotel to my booth at Rowe Sanctuary tomorrow?

Speaking of Cinnamon, when I take her outside, you can tell she is not sure what to make of all the crane sounds. When I am carrying her from the car to the booth, she gets very tense and is trying to figure out the source of the sound, but just doesn't know what to make of it.

Cinnamon is earning her pay by being the model for testing out close focusing of binoculars at the Eagle Optics booth. I made her wear a harness and leash while at the festival because I realize that just because I enjoy the company of the bunny, doesn't mean all the vendors around me do.

She's certainly a hit and everyone loves her. Her leash is about sixteen feet long and during lulls in foot traffic, she will take a few moments to check out the other booths.

Here, Cinnamon is taking a visit to sculptor Gary Ginther's booth on the left to check out his pewter eagles and cranes. Gary's work can be seen around Kearney and he recently did a ten foot buffalo sculpture for Ted Turner. Cinnamon was also very interested in the wooden frames surrounding the photos of Mark Urwiller. At one point Cinnamon got a little tangled in her long leash and Mark was kind enough to lend a hand. He picked her up, which normally Cinnamon hates, but she was fairly relaxed in his arms and allowed him to pet her--she didn't thrash at all, she must really like him, either that or he is some sort of bunny whisperer on top of photographer.


True to form Cinnamon gives Mark a disapproval. He's now part of a very illustrious club. I think Cinnamon is enjoying the attention overall. She's been getting tons of treats and lots of head scratches. The only big problem she has is wearing the harness:

"I disapprove of this dignity robbing harness. I am a force of nature who cannot be tamed by some mere human."

Working the Booth in Nebraska

Today was fun. The drive from the hotel to Rowe Sanctuary to set up the Eagle Optics booth was beautiful. It was in the 40s and bright and sunny. The cranes were taking advantage of the thermals and soaring high in the sky and created what looked like crane tornadoes. Swarms of blackbirds were moving around the trees too, it's a regular bird rush hour. When you aren't in your car, sounds of spring are everywhere: cranes (of course), killdeer, bluebirds, western meadowlarks, blackbirds and geese, I feel so invigorated, especially since I got snow in Minneapolis and Madison this week.

The big excitement came today when an adult bald eagle took out one of the sandhill cranes right on the river in front of the viewing area at the sanctuary. The crane was probably injured to begin with, because a healthy sandhill is too much even for the most macho of eagles to take on. After the eagle finished off the crane, it started plucking the feathers. Something got its attention and it flew off. It wasn't gone ten minutes when a red-tailed hawk flew in and took advantage of the dead. It was pretty sweet.

Speaking of sweet, check out the shirts we are selling at Eagle Optics. The shrike was drawn by Julie Zickefoose. Even Cinnamon approves.

Poetic Staff at Rowe Sanctuary

The staff certainly is creative at Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon, Nebraska. There are little poems all over in the ladies room informing you how to use the facilities. The photo on the left is a warning on the mirror telling you not to abuse the toilet paper except for your "tushies" and "nose". I bet toilet paper would argue that using it in those areas of the body could be considered abusive. What I'm really curious about is the last line reading that the air drier is really all you need for your hand and toes. I've never had a need to towel try my toes in a ladies room. And on the off chance that I'm abnormal and there are legions of women desperate to dry their toes, how the heck do you hold them up to the hand drier? Do you lay on the restroom floor and lift your legs? Eww.

The poetry (or should I call it "pooetry"?) didn't end at the mirror. Here is the epic that was on the stall door instructing you how to flush the toilet:

The Toilets From Weird

Though this toilet may look a little queer
There really is nothing to worry or fear.

Each button does serve a most wonderful purpose
And this is how it works for us.

When the task you do is number one, potty, or pee
Push the white and black button is our plea.

But when the duty is poop, poo or a number two
The black button is the one for you.

Now this may sound crazy and even insane
But it really is very easy to explain.

If liquid is all that needs to be removed
Using only half a tank of water is very shrewd.

But for a solid job it is a must
To wash it down with a full flush.

And in a small but significant way
You have saved some water for another day.

On The Road Again & Bobby Update

I and the Bird is up and running.

Well, blogger is now uploading photos but spell check isn't working--not that it helps me all that much anyway. Non Birding Bill says the typos in my blog proves that it's written by a real person and not just some corporate blog. I'd like to say that the real reason I do it is to get WildBird on the Fly's goat(since she's an editor and gets an odd sort of glee from correcting and editing--one of the many reasons I love her), but in reality, it's just not my forte.

I think the snow is following me. We had a few inches drop in on Monday in Minneapolis and this morning when I was leaving the hotel in Middleton, I saw this out the window:


As I was leaving all the local radio stations were predicting gloom and doom and a snow storm warning all day. I was out of the snow about 80 miles south and everything was mostly brown and dry in Iowa. Word on the street is that a snow storm is hitting Nebraska on Sunday. Sheesh. I'm driving back on Monday, hopefully it will be clear. I'm giving a program on falconry at The Raptor Center on Tuesday morning and I don't want to miss it.

Cinnamon and I saw LOTS of red-tailed hawks, at one point on the trip we passed a red-tailed hawk nest every 8 to 10 miles for 100 miles--it was pretty sweet. I saw my first spring turkey vultures in Iowa and lots of kestrels pairing up.

Part of the fun of travel is all the unique and unusaul things found on the road. I stopped into a bird store in Nebraska and met the biggest cat I've ever seen:


How they keep the cats from eating the other employees, I will never know.

When we were outside of Grand Island, I showed Cinnamon her first snow geese. Then, as we got closer to Kearney, I played the theme to Out of Africa in the iPod. I don't know why, but the wide expanses of the area and the large number of cranes and geese always remind me of that movie. As the John Barry soundtrack swelled, I started saying in a mock Meryl Streep voice, "I had a fahm in Nebwaska..." Cinnamon was not impressed:


I'd like to think that she is so overwhelmed by the thousands of cranes in the field, she had to run to her litter box, but I know that the real message is, "I disapprove of your Meryl Streep impersonation...and your driving."


I had dinner with Bobby Harrison tonight, he's doing well but is very tired from his time in the swamp as well as speaking schedule. We have some new audio of Bobby at Eagle Optics.com about some of the video he has taken. I watched it tonight, and quite frankly, it's more compelling to me as ivory-bill evidence than the Lunneau video. I wonder why Cornell isn't promoting or using it more as part of the ivory-bill research?

Test

This is a test of your emergency broadcast disapproving rabbit. Do not take emergency precautions, this is only a test.

Snow

Snow is falling here in Madison, but further south it turns to rain and then east it turns clear, so I should be able to make it all the way to Nebraska today. I just hope Cinnamon is not too much of a back seat driver.

Boy, you know you are in a Wisconsin hotel when the continental breakfast includes three types of cheese. Actually, this comfort suites has an awesome complimentary breakfast with eggs, sausage, waffles and all types of toast--including cinnamon raisin.

We lost interent access and cable at the hotel last night--wow was I bored. Hopefully, I'll have more access in Nebraska (har har) and I'll post more tonight.

Jim Williams on the Duck Stamp

Jim Williams of the Star Tribune, was at our Duck Stamp meeting last month. Here's an article he wrote on the program.

How can you help preserve habitat?
Hunters have long helped protect habitat. Birders need to lend a hand, too.

Three wrens found in Minnesota, all small, brown and feisty -- ready to scold should you encroach on their territory -- have a lot in common.

But they may not share the same future.

House wrens use a wide variety of semi-open habitats, none of which are in short supply. This is a common species of wren that can be found in orchards, brushy areas and back yards.

The other two wrens -- marsh and sedge wrens -- are dependent on very specific habitat, which is becoming increasingly scarce.

As their names suggest, sedge wrens need wet meadows, places where sedge often grows. Marsh wrens rely on cattail marshes. Unfortunately, many marshes and wet meadows are being drained, plowed and planted. And, if you take away a species' habitat, its numbers will undoubtedly shrink.

But marsh wrens and sedge wrens are being helped by an unlikely group of people: hunters. In fact, wrens should count duck hunters and pheasant hunters among their best friends, even though the relationship is not intentional.

You probably have heard of the duck stamp and of the hunting organizations Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever. Their aim is to protect and restore habitat for ducks and pheasants, but they also help wrens and blackbirds and herons and warblers.

Here's how: All waterfowl hunters are required to buy a duck stamp (officially called the Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp). Money from the sale of this stamp -- an amazing 98 percent of the stamp's price -- goes to support the work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The service operates 540 national wildlife refuges nationwide (12 in Minnesota) and purchases or leases what are called waterfowl production areas (WPA). Minnesota has 263,505 acres of WPA land.

Waterfowl production areas usually contain wet, marshy land surrounded by low, grassy meadows, all of which are duck-friendly. Where might one go to look for marsh or sedge wrens, red-winged blackbirds or common yellowthroats, one of our prettiest warblers? You would head for wet, marshy land surrounded by low grassy meadows.

Such land can be found around Pelican Lake in Wright County, on the edge of the metro area. Here draining, plowing and building have taken their toll on wetlands and grasslands.

Several months ago, 300 acres adjacent to the lake came on the market. Developers wanted it. The county got it, then resold the land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for use as a waterfowl production area.

Important players in this acquisition were Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, the National Turkey Hunters Association, the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association and several local sportsmen's groups. These hunters pledged money to cover the county's investment, should that be necessary.

Today, the Pelican Lake waterfowl production area includes an additional 300 acres that ducks -- and dozens of non-game bird species -- can use.

For years, hunters have carried the weight of land acquisition and restoration effort. As the saying goes, hunters show up (at meetings), speak up (in support of birds and their habitat) and pay up (they buy the duck stamp, for one thing).

Birdwatchers seem to lack whatever it is that galvanizes hunters. I'm certain that birders care, but we seem unable to express ourselves in such an organized fashion.

Birdwatchers don't have to buy either a license or a stamp, but we, too, should work to preserve and create habitat. So how should we do it?

Well, you don't have to be a hunter to buy a duck stamp. You just need $15 -- about the price you'd pay for 50 pounds of black oil sunflower seed. The 2006-2007 stamp goes on sale June 30 at your local post office. So go out and buy the stamp.

If birdwatchers wait for someone else to start Wrens Unlimited or Phoebes Forever, we'll be too late.

Jim Williams is a lifelong birder and co-author of "Questions and Answers About Backyard Birds" (Adventure Publications, $9.95). He can be reached by e-mail at two-jays@att.net

I love my self packing bunny!

Who needs a wake up call from the front desk at a hotel when you have a bunny who decides to do laps at 5:45am? Go, my little health conscious lagomorph, go.

Yesterday, I was more than a little irritated last night, for some reason the photo application on blogger is not working. I tried to find some help on blogger.com, but apparently lots of people are having this problem and aren't getting help for it. I'm five hours away from Non Birding Bill, my webmaster who knows some tricks up his sleeve to get photos onto the blog but here I am away for a week, going to places with great photo opportunities, how can I not load photos? Well, since Cinna-bunny-butthead was kind enough to wake me up so early, I decided to try and see if I could figure out what kind of voodoo NBB works to load photos, and I'm sure I'm not doing it correctly, but I opened Cyber Duck and seemed to have figured something out. I'm sure NBB is going to read this entry and think, "Oh crap, what's she fiddling with and what is happening to other parts of her site?" or he may be thinking, "Finally, she's figuring it out and I won't have to put up with her wicked task master ways anymore, she can do her own website, mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaa!"

Any hoo, I should be able to load photos now for the rest of the week. And to prove it, here is another photo of Cinnamon when I announced my triumph of finally uploading photos:

"I don't approve of you fiddling with the website. You might mess up my page."

Behold, the power of millet

Where does the phrase "Minnesota Nice" come from? I think it comes from snow days and it's an automatic reflex to help each other out of your parking spaces when you are plowed in.

When you're trying to get your car out and the wheels are spinning, people who you have never met or will ever see again will come up and give you a push. When you're walking around the neighborhood and see the same scene you are compelled, as if having an out of body experience to go over and give a push. Where we live, we have what's called a "Snow Emergency". When there is a lot of snow, the Snow Emergency is called and you are only allowed to park in certain areas while they plow the snow out of the way. If you don't move your car, the city will move it for you, as well as giving you a citation and charging you for the tow and storing it in the impound lot. It's not fun. NBB and I decided to try and get a good parking spot early and move the car out of the way before the Snow Emergency was declared.

We were particularly plowed in and required some shoveling to get the car out. Even after a nice guy from our building shoveled us out and tried pushing with Non Birding Bill, our little Saturn still would not budge. I remembered that I had some excess bird seed in the back, so we opened the millet, put it under the tires for a little traction and viola (along with more pushing), out came the Saturn. Woo Hoo. Who knew, millet is great for traction as well as sparrows and juncoes.

Speaking of juncoes, you know these guys are desperate when they are feeding off of a second floor window. Juncoes are almost always feed on the ground, but desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose. I even had a junco hanging off of my Clingers Only feeder, I've never seen a junco cling before. Another case of birds not reading books and being aware of how they are supposed to behave.

The cardinals were not putting up with the starlings. When I was downloading the NovaBird Camera photos, I would get shot after shot of starlings in various states of feeding, then all of them would be gone with one male cardinal sitting on the ledge. Is this the Chuck Norris of birds?

Meanwhile, the starlings tried to thug their way to whatever food they could. The downy and hairy woodpeckers were still able to get in a few nibbles of the suet on the log. I got the weirdest shot of a downy flying away after three starlings descended onto the suet log. It's looks huge and like some weird plane.

After all the snow, we ended with a beautiful sunset. There's kind of a nice clean look to the ally behind our apartment building. Alright, tomorrow, Raptor Center and then off to Eagle Optics.

Sharon's Chronicle of Snow

A snow day has been declared for where Non Birding Bill works, so I will now have him underfoot. I think today will just be me trying to pack and taking photos of birds at the feeder. Now all the birds are showing up. Yesterday you guys were singing your fool heads off thinking about territory, today you're at the feeder.

I've putting some food out for the squirrels as well. This poor guy just looks so bitter, like he woke up on the wrong side of the tree while running late and discovered he had no cream for his coffee.

NBB just informed me of a first, a crow has come up to the window suet feeder. NBB loves crows and this dude must be desperate, they never come up to our windows like this.

Birds As Weather Forecaster

So, I was a little snarky about this proposed snow storm. Yesterday morning, the view from my window looked like this:

I predicted by the lack of feeder activity, we wouldn't get much snow. So, what does it look like this morning?

Birds, you failed me as a weather forecaster! I shake my fist at you! My alarm clock this morning was a cardinal at the feeder chowing down. Often times, pigeons fighting over the window ledge are what wake me up, but they were no where to be seen. I opened the window to top off the feeders.

The snow is coming down and visibility is low. Metro area highways are being closed down, people are calling in to fm107 to report what they're seeing while not moving on the roads. Someone passed two snow plows in a ditch! Snow plows--that's nuts. Fortunately, when not traveling, I work from home, so I should be able to just do what I normally do. Today I need to pack anyway, I'm supposed to head to Madison tomorrow and then off to Kearney on Thursday. Hopefully, it will be plowed tomorrow.

So, what's the lesson for me in all of this? Never trust the birds.

Will We Get Snow?

So, I put the feeder back up this afternoon and what does it say about the weather?
The empty bird feeder in the afternoon says no snow. Non Birding Bill and I took a walk in the neighborhood and heard birds singing territory songs: cardinals, juncoes, hairy woodpeckers and crows. Robins were all over and geese were flying overhead. These did not sound like birds getting ready for a feeding frenzy before a storm.

So, I predict that there will be little to no snow out my window tomorrow morning and it will look very similar to what it looked like this morning:

Cinnamon Approval?

"Me love parsley!"

I don't know what's gotten into her, she's happy and mischievous, not disapproving and brooding. Surely it can't be that she's that excited to go Nebraska?

Snow and eBird

All the papers and news stations are predicting a heavy snow warning for the Twin Cities area. Non Birding Bill and I even cancelled a trip today because of it. However, watching the feeders, I think the warning might be a tad overblown. Usually when our tv stations predict inches and inches we don't get very much and when they don't tell us about any snow, we get slammed. So, I try to use the feeder as an indicator. I'm not getting an increase of activity at the feeder, so I think we might get just a dusting. I've got the usual suspects, but it certainly isn't the feeding frenzy that usually happens before a big snow. The bird above is a male house finch and that is a starling taking a few peanuts in the photo below (because how often do you see a starling in a blog?). Both of these photos were taken by the NovaBird Camera in the morning, I'm going to set it up later in the afternoon to see if there's a difference. If there's no big increase at that point, we're not getting much snow.

Migrants are popping up like crazy in the southern half of the state. Birders have been enjoying the high numbers of greater white-fronted geese on Lake Byllesby in Dakota County and more and more reports of red-winged blackbirds and killdeer being seen.

I'm using this weekend to get all of our tax stuff together--ugh, bleh and barf, I say. I have found a wonderful distraction in the meantime: eBird. I've been hearing about eBird for the last couple of years and have even logged on but just couldn't get excited. I wondered how you could guarantee sighting accuracy and how many people actually use it to make it worthwhile? I'm also not a