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 big lister, so keeping track of what I see here and there apart from the check marks in my field guide, just didn't appeal.

Maybe it's the amount of traveling I'm doing and I'm ready to list or I'm just plain avoiding dealing with my taxes, I'm sucked in. It really does make it easy to enter in your birds and there are cool tracking features that will tell you how many birds you have seen this year, how many birds total, where birds are being seen (that will need more input from birders before that is really useful).

If you have not signed into eBird, give it a shot. Even if it is keeping track of your birds in your yard, it's still pretty nifty and over the years could be part of a good network of research. I kind of use the blog archives for that, it's a nice online record that doesn't clutter up your home or your computer's desktop.

Oil Platform Questions

Here is an interesting article about about oil platforms being a haven for overfished marine life. By law, when the oil supply is gone, the gigantic pumps have to be removed. Could that be in a few years or a few decades? The cost, I'm sure will be astromonical. Now, a marine biologist is saying that these platforms help overfished species and should stay. Is this true or just a front so the companies that own the oil platforms won't have to spend the money to take them down? Does the platform's ability to help marine life out weight whatever damage it may do otherwise if it stays?

I now question this on another level. What about how the platforms impact migratory birds? There was an entry awhile ago in Crows Really Are Wise about researchers studying migration patterns and the birds that pop up on platforms that are too exhausted to go on. Birds die from so many things during migration, one of them being that some are too weak to keep going. Since humans are adding new ways for birds to die like cell phone towers and loss of habitat, what if we try to make up for it by turning the platforms into feeding and resting stations during migration? Yes, some would argue that's helping a weak bird who shouldn't survive keep going and passing on the weak genes, but what good does it do if a stronger bird makes it across the gulf, only to be taken out by a cell phone tower or skyscraper window--no genes whatsoever get passed on?

There's also a tourism aspect of it. How many of us have read the articles about researchers being on the oil platform on a magic night when thousands upon thousands of birds pass by. How many of us have thought about what it would be like to stroll on the deck of an oil platform to find cuckoos, warblers, tanagers and orioles just hanging out?

I wonder how long it will be before the owners of the oil platforms start to use birds, as well as fish as an excuse to keep them up when the oil runs dry?

Going To See Short-eared Owls

I saw five of the reported seven short-eared owls tonight. There's one in the photo at left. Can't see it? It's just down the road a bit. Well, I was a little far away, there's a much better shot of the owl at Ron Green's site.

Oh, there’s nothing like a good stake out bird! Okay, for the readers of this blog that are new to birding, a stake out bird is an unusual or rare bird that has been reported on a hotline or listserv that everyone tries to see. It’s what I call an “X marks the spot bird”. Someone will give detailed directions, you show up and bam, there it is. It can be at a feeder, in a particular tree out in the middle of nowhere, in a neighborhood, anywhere. Tonight, there were at least nine or ten of us out looking for the owls. I would guess more people will show up Saturday evening.

Some feel that stake out birds shouldn’t be countable because you usually don’t have to do much work, just show up. I think this is one of the instances where bird listers got a bad name. They would show up, look at the bird and then leave, often times irritating those who like to stand and watch the bird for as long as possible. It's just personal preference. Personally, I love a good stake out bird. It’s an opportunity to meet people from listservs who are normally just a user name or chance to catch up with a birder you haven’t seen for awhile. I look at it as an informal gathering after work.

That’s not to say that stake out birds don’t come with their share of problems. Because so many people know about the bird, when you first show up there can be a crowd of people, each with their own agenda on seeing the bird. This can be good thing, the more eyes, the easier it is to find the bird. But you have to be aware of where everyone else is and what they are trying to do (are they trying to record it?).

Believe it or not, there is a sort of etiquette for stake out birds and when that etiquette isn't followed, tempers can rise. For example, how close do you get to a bird? If there’s a crowd I keep my distance. You never know who is going to join the group and though you have stood and watched the bird for a half hour, someone may come and want to see it with in the next two minutes. It's generally not a good time to experiment to see how close you can get to the bird for a great photo. You really don't want to be the one who flushes the bird unnecessarily. You could spoil it for whoever arrives later or someone who just got the bird lined up in their spotting scope or camera lens.

Now, there’s new etiquette to deal with. It used to be that you would get a few photographers that would show up. As a birder, you have to be careful to not ruin their shot. Tonight there was a videographer and someone with a microphone trying to record the calls (pictured, right). This gets trickier. A lot of your fancier mics can pick up car sounds and conversation, much to the irritation of the person trying to record the birds. Many people watching birds will sit in their cars, using it as a blind or to stay warm, keeping the engine running so they can follow the birds. Plus, there's a lot of chitchat at stake out birds, all of this can interfere with sound recordings. Another area to try and figure out in this great thing we do called birding.

You can tell Minnesotans are desperate for spring. We were excitedly pointing out grackles to each other while watching the short-ears and when I came home and checked the listserv, someone else was happy to announce that they saw a grackle in their yard. We're happy about grackles for cryin' out loud. I did hear my first killdeer of the season but was still reminded of winter when a rough-legged hawk flew out above the field where the short-eared owls were hunting.

Non Game Checkoff

Many in Minnesota are familiar with the Nongame Wildlife Program, popularly called the Chickadee Checkoff on our tax forms (even though it shows a loon on the form, it's still called the Chickadee Checkoff). Many states now have the program based on how well it has worked in Minnesota. It designed to benefit species that aren't hunted like downy woodpeckers (pictured left), loons, cardinals, birds of prey, herons, you name it, as long as it can't be hunted, it benefits from the program.

Recently, there have been articles in both the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press and grumblings about the removal of Carrol Henderson from the program. This surprised the heck out of me. First of all, Carrol is much beloved by the birding community in the state and why would a major change happen early in the year, when the donation time is underway? The other thing that I thought was fishy was that Carrol is not talking about it, not even saying he can't talk about, he is just not talking about it. I get a lot of great tips and photos of what's going on in the state to talk about in my blog from Carrol, so I was surprised he was so mum with me on this issue.

I sat down with Lee Pfannmuller who is head of Ecological Services at the DNR and now the Nongame Program is in her department. She said that Carrol was removed from Nongame so he could focus on education, which she feels is his forte. I won't deny that Carrol gives great programs and is popular on the lecture series in Minnesota and surrounding states. She has some exciting plans for how the money will be used to benefit birds in the state. There wasn't a clear answer besides, "Carrol is better at education" for his removal from the program so I get the sense that a lot of this is departmental stuff that many of us aren't privy to. Something that looks good on paper but illogical in action.

So, here are my answers to questions that people have been asking me on this issue:

How do I feel about Carrol's removal from the Nongame Program? Disappointed to say the least. I would hope that the DNR would have the good sense to use him as a resource for how the program will be run in the future in Ecological Services, since he has won awards based on his work and other states have modeled their Nongame Programs after what Carrol has done here.

Is moving Nongame to Ecological Services a good idea? I don't know. Only time will tell. Since this is something that all of us donate to, it is imperative that we contact (the public and the media) and ask "Where did the money go this year?" It's our money, that we donate at tax time, we need to stay on top of it and make sure our money is being spent for Nongame and not other projects that are part of Ecological Services. I will say this about Lee, her mentor is Eldon Greij, founder of Birder's World Magazine. That could bode well.

Should I just not donate to Nongame this year? It is imperative that you donate to the program. The money is still meant for wildlife, we just need to be more observant of how that money is being used by someone we are not used to.

Loose Ends

Yesterday, Val Cunningham posted that she and friend Kim Gordon went south to the Minnesota /Iowa border and found seven short-eared owls. I have never seen a short-eared owl, I have handled them at The Raptor Center and have done just about anything you can do legally to them, but I have never just watched one doing its thing out in the wild. I'm trying to tie up my loose ends right now so I can take the two and a half hour drive south to catch them doing their thing late in the afternoon.

Oh, and last week when I linked to this photo of our Ivory-bill Search Team, I got this from Steve Moore:

Sharon,
I visited the Cornell site to see your search picture. After viewing all the photos I believe I have solved the mystery; you are scaring away all the IBWs dressed like that. No more motley a crew have I seen.

So, now everybody can blame me for the lack of decent photos.

Pat Redig on KARE 11

Dr. Pat Redig, one of the founders of The Raptor Center (and who has been following the "bird flu"well before most of us were in the United States) was interviewed by KARE 11 yesterday about avian influenza:

As the federal government warns that the so-called bird flu could wing its deadly way into the United States through migratory birds in a few months, Minnesota is gearing up to be on the look-out.

Though the virus has done much of its deadly work in Asia, where poultry populations have been wiped out and people killed, the migratory link between that region, Alaska, and the Midwest, could bring the virus here.

At the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center, they've begun monitoring raptors such as eagles because they'll often eat small birds.

"They're eating some of them, particularly the sick or dead ones. And it's possible one or two eagles might be the equivalent of sampling several hundred ducks," said Dr. Patrick Redig of the Raptor Center.

Dr. Redig has proposed to the federal government that more raptors be monitored, and that perhaps 10,000 water fowl be checked in the upper Midwest as they fly through the equivalent of a bird highway

"The interesting thing about it is that all of these flyways have some point of convergence up here," said Dr. Redig.

Redig notes that many migratory highways from both Asia and North America intersect in Alaska. That seasonal mixing begins in three weeks. And by next fall said Dr. Redig, "We will have birds coming across the continent of the United States that have spent summer in Alaska and theoretically and potentially have mixed it up with birds from Asia."

Brooklyn Bunny

I have discovered a Bunny Cam! As if I don't have enough to watch on the internet. The current bunny is so cute, he's a dwarf hotot very similar to the first bunny Non Birding Bill and I had named Latte. He's the white rabbit with eyeliner on the Disapproving Rabbits page.

Hey, Cinnamon, do you want us to set up a webcam for you?

"I would disapprove of such an invasion of privacy. I need my personal space."

KARE 11 Changes

I think I'm scooping CJ, (the gossip columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune).

Today we filmed the "Goodbye Show" for the KARE 11 Today Show. Last fall, it was reported that after 13 years, the mid-morning show was slightly changing formats. The show has always been an opportunity for local stores to come on and talk about their products and services. That will still happen, but you will now have to pay an advertising fee. The new show has the tentative name of Minnesota Showcase.

In the meantime, the show will continue for the next two weeks, with the Goodbye Show airing on March 24. After that, the new show will be on hiatus and should begin airing in June. I should be back on, I'm certainly going to try. Not all of the segments will be a commercial format, they will keep some strictly informational and I fall in that category. Pat and Roxanne, the hosts will be moving on and two new hosts have been picked. I was told the names, but alas, I am only good at remembering bird names and not people names. (Ask me the name of the American robin, I dare ya'! It's Turdus migratorius.) I just got an email from one of the producers, the new hosts are Rob Hudson and Corbin Seitz.

The show is normally live, but we had to film the final show ahead of time to fit with everyone's schedule. The producers gathered all of the regular guests today for a final group shot. I wish we had some kind of get together sooner. We all knew each other, but never really had a chance to connect on a social basis. I have always felt a connection to Louise, the organization lady. She knows organization as well as I know birds. If you ever need to get your life/home in order, she's the one to call. She teaches classes and she also can be hired to be your personal organizer. The best part is that Louise won't make you feel bad about getting your stuff together, she treats you with her gentle sense of humor.

Some of the regulars are on during days when I'm not on, so I've never had a chance to meet them. For example, today I got to meet Jill Spiegel, the flirtologist. Yes, you read that correctly, she is a flirtologist--she wrote the book(s) on flirting. Again, can I say how much fun I have with what I do? I get to work knee deep in bird watching and meet people with really interesting careers: a professional organizer and a flirtologist--are ya' kidding me? I have read about Jill in People Magazine, and she's been on the national Today Show, Oprah and she has her own program on Saturday nights on fm107. Her books are fairly well known and I don't know if you have ever heard her or have seen her on tv, but she's very excited and intense about what she does. She's like that in person. It was fun to caught up in the whirlwind that is a conversation with her. She's genuine and excited, so you can't help but be excited too.

Speaking of flirting, I saw a peregrine hanging out on the Colonnade Building on the way home. If you have been watching the falcon cams in Minnesota, you can watch the birds getting friendly.

Bluebird Conference Time

The Minnesota Bluebird Recovery Program will be having their annual conference April 22, 2006. If you haven't been to a conference, I highly recommend you go. You can learn great tips for not only putting up bluebird houses, but also for wood ducks, purple martins, swallows and a few other species. If you are not in Minnesota, check here for contacts for the nearest BBRP in your area. There is a national Bluebird Conference, this year in Texas.

Chicken Cat

Watch for this soon to be remade on the Lifetime Channel. The story of a chicken and a cat and their forbidden love.

Spring Is In The Air

Signs of spring are everywhere in my neck of the woods. Yesterday, I saw my first red-winged blackbird in the metro area over in Wayzata, today I saw my first flock of bluebirds (left) at Schaar's Bluff and red-tailed hawks are pairing up all over the place. My friend Amber and I had a spare couple of hours and took a quick drive south of the Twin Cities to bird. It was foggy and gray and birds were limited but we did see tons of red-tailed hawks and all of them were paired up. When a male red-tail lands next to a female on the same branch or light post, that's pretty much third base for him. One odd thing was a lone male wood duck hanging out next to a hen mallard. Any drake mallards that tried to come close, would be quickly chased away by the wood duck. Amber and I wanted to tell him that we thought that hen was too much woman for him, but when ducks are full of hormones, there's no reasoning with them.

Meanwhile, my cockatiel Kabuki is feeling the change of seasons as well and is singing like a crazy bird. Kabuki can do most of the Andy Griffith Theme Song and his interest in the tune was rekindled last weekend thanks to TV Land's tribute to the late Don Knotts last weekend. Kabuki is also a master of the wolf whistle and will do it over and over and over and over and over in several different incarnations. One of my favorites is when he hunches over, holds his right foot up, closed in a circle and drags the two notes out as long as possible. It looks like he is concentrating so hard on the fusion of the two notes, trying to find the true meaning and essence of the wolf whistle. No one has ever delivered that sound with such heart and feeling.

Some days Kabuki will work on a new sound all together, trying out new tones and whistles, one that sounds almost like a soft pish. He will sit on the top perch and ever so quietly go "pish, pish, pish". When he really gets going, he will try to whistle inside his empty toy dish. Kabuki has a purple cup that we keep beads, balls of foil, little plastic doo dads, etc that he will pick up and drop the floor of his cage--he gets no end of entertainment from this project. Sometimes for fun, when I do laundry I will bring the basket out in front of Kabuki's cage and drop in each article of clothing one by one into it. Those are really fun days for the cockatiel. Each drop appears to be a deep thought to be pondered. When the cup is empty and he is feeling musical, he will stick his head in the whole cup and sing his song (there he is testing his sound in the photo above). He mostly does the wolf whistle but sometimes the Andy Griffith tune will be attempted as well. He appears so proud to have figured out a new way to amplify his sound.

Yesterday, I met up with friends Lori and Melissa and helped clean out some bluebird and wood duck boxes. When Lori and I were cleaning out a wood duck box we found a whole bunch of ants at the bottom underneath all of the cedar bedding. They didn't affect the nest last year, all but one of the eggs hatched, and that one wasn't as developed as the others. I think they came in after the hatching attracted by the egg shells or maybe came in during the cold and just died. It was kind of gross.

Idaho Might Be On To Something

It's important to know what is in your bird seed. One of the benefits of shopping a wild bird specialty store is that those companies work to have quality, local seed stocked in their stores and staff can usually tell you by looking at a mix what seeds are in it.

Stores that don't specialize in bird feeding cannot be so accurate. Below is an interesting news release from Idaho about noxious weed seeds being found in bird and animal feed. Another reason to make sure you are getting a good bird seed and not purchasing based on price at a big box store.

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ISDA FINDS BIRD, ANIMAL FEED CONTAINING NOXIOUS WEED SEED;
AGENCY ISSUES STOP SALE ORDERS

(BOISE) The Idaho State Department of Agriculture has ordered two dozen companies to stop the sale of bird and other animal feeds that contain viable noxious weed seeds.

A routine sampling of animal feed products revealed that several manufacturers have been distributing the feed to stores throughout Idaho contaminated with noxious weed seed. Most of the products containing the noxious weed seed were domestic or wild bird feed mixes, but some were also feeds for hamsters, gerbils and squirrels. The sale of feeds containing noxious weeds poses a major threat to the state’s ability to control the spread of noxious weeds. The state already spends millions of dollars a year combating noxious weeds.

Over the last several months the department has sampled 92 feeds from 34 manufacturers. Idaho State Seed Lab tests concluded that 54 of the 92 seed-type feed samples contained viable noxious weed seeds, including Buffalobur, Jointed Goatgrass, Field Bindweed, Johnsongrass, Canada Thistle and Hoary Cress.

The seeds that tested positive came from 24 bird seed manufacturers. “Noxious weeds are costly to our recreation and agriculture industries. It is important that everyone involved do their part to control and prevent the spread of noxious weeds,” said Pat Takasugi, director of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.

All of the companies have been notified and several companies have already begun work on additional cleaning techniques that can be used to detect and eliminate noxious weed seeds from each animal feed batch. Retail establishments have also assisted the department in the detection and elimination of potentially undesirable products from the Idaho market. The department will be reviewing each company’s case over the coming months to determine what level of regulatory action may be warranted. State law allows ISDA to issue a warning letter or assess a civil penalty.

There are 36 weeds on the state’s noxious weeds list. The weeds are considered noxious because they destroy wildlife habitat, crowd out beneficial native plants, create fire hazards, poison humans and livestock and spoil recreation sites, including bike paths, lakes and rivers.

Birdchick's Eagle Route

Ian was reading some directions I sent to he and Margery to see eagles towards Red Wing after my segment. Here are the directions he was reading:

This is a route that I use for going to Red Wing to enjoy the eagles.

A Great Route For Eagles

Take Hwy 55 south to where it meets with Hwy 52, keep following it and when it splits, keep following Hwy 55. As you are driving along on this point, you should have seen some red-tailed hawks. When you get near the Shaar's Bluff turnoff for Hwy 42 watch the top of the poles, we have an unusual falcon hanging out here called a gyrfalcon. It's huge and gray and white. If it's there, you won't miss it.

Take Hwy 55 to Hwy 61. Turn left on 61 and then you will take a right at the next light--I believe it's called E 10th Street. Watch for red-tailed hawks and since it's March, you might see some turkey vultures. You can tell them from eagles by their wings. They will hold their wings in a prominent "V" shape and rock back and forth like a kid on a bike for the first time. After a few miles, you should pass a patch of iced up water that is staring to melt. If it's open, you should find Canada geese, wood ducks, mallards, common mergansers, hooded mergansers, goldeneye, and ring-necked ducks, killdeer and great blue herons.

You will notice some marshy areas and cottonwoods as you continue on, watch for large dark lumps in the trees--you should see some eagles. The road will eventually end, turn left (I think the road you turn onto is 200th Street or County 18) and you will turn left and go over a bridge. You can pull off onto the parking and boat launch areas. Often times, you will find eagles hanging out fairly close to the parking area. Also, there are quite a few wood duck boxes, so in the water you should see some wood ducks and hooded mergansers.

Get back onto the road and keep going, follow the signs to Treasure Island. You will come to a three way stop with an abandon gas station on the left (it's the road to the casino). Pull into the parking lot and admire the bald eagle nest across the way. That's certainly one of the largest I have seen and could be one of the largest in the state. I'm not sure how much longer that tree can hold the nest. In the water around the nest, you may find common mergansers, Canada geese, mallards and maybe four trumpeter swans.

After watching the nest, get back onto County 18 Blvd and continue heading south, as you go, you should get another view of the nest on the driver's side of the car. Watch open water and trees on both sides of the road, if the pair of eagles that uses the nest isn't on it, they are probably on the surrounding trees.

The road will go up into the hills and then end up at Hwy 61. Turn left onto 61 and take it all the way into Red Wing. I usually like to stop into the mall in town and grab some hot chocolate or coffee while there to take to Colville Park. Take 61 past the curve, you should see the power plant on your left and should see large dark birds circling on the bluffs on either side of the road--those are ealges.

Watch and follow signs that say City Park, and turn right. You will turn right again, it will almost be a u-turn that will back track and then take to down to the marina. Park in the marina and watch for eagles in the trees, all around the parking lot.

If you want, after you are finished, you can keep heading south to Wabasha to visit the National Eagle Center. Any areas of open water will have eagles, often right on the hwy. Try to do this before the end of March for the best numbers.

Bird Feedery

Yesterday, I was walking through this gorgeous scene (at left) in Wisconsin. Today, I'm in the Twin Cities and the miniscule amount of snow that fell here has melted. Everything looks very dirty.

Birds are on the move in the metro area. Today while at the KARE 11 Studios you could hear Canada geese honking all over the golf course across the street. I'm getting excited for Nebraska and for the Rivers and Wildlife Festival--I can't believe I'm leaving again next week! If you are a person like me who is fascinated by mass movements of birds, Nebraska really is a good time. I know that no one has ever really put the last six words in previous sentence together in that order before, but you've got to believe me that Nebraska truly is a good time. For someone who has to wait for spring for another month or so, the idea of being able to hear western meadowlarks and prairie chickens while watching cranes dance in the distance is really all I have for the nest month or two.

The best part is that the Eagle Optics booth will be at Rowe Sanctuary so I will be able to enjoy the birds while I work. They have a great feeder set up and you have a view of the river with all the large windows.

I have adjusted my feeder set up yet again (here is the last configuration) because of the pigeons. Blasted birds. In the photo below we have a Droll Yankee X-1 Seed Saver holding a Mr. Bird Pecan Seed Log (ask your local bird store if they carry Mr. Bird products. This sunflower, pecans and a tiny bit of millet held together with some type of gelatin). I liked the idea of the log because I don't think piegeons will be able to peck at the food as well as a downy woodpecker, chickadee or cardinal. Also, Non Birding Bill won't have to replenish this as much as he would with loose seed, since he's in charge of the feeders when I travel (I'll make sure not to have any gourmet mole in the home). I was inspired to put the Droll Yankee feeder together based on a similar set up I saw with an Aspects feeder at a Wild Birds Unlimited in Hudson, WI.

The other, smaller feeder is a Clinger's Only Feeder. I can't believe I actually bought the little plastic, green Clinger's Only Feeders. When I ran the All Seasons store in Wayzata, one of my employees had a Clinger's Only and kept telling me I need to carry it. I'm usually a snob about plastic feeders since they can be so easily chewed and we carried so many other feeders, I never took her suggestion as seriously as I should have. A clinging type feeder is meant for only clinging-type birds like chickadees, nuthatches, finches and sparrows. Of course, now that I'm not at that store, I can see Lori got through to the new manager and she's carrying it. Which is lucky for me, because I bought it. Having a massive pigeon problem, this feeder should not accomodate pigeons and allow one spot for the smaller birds to feed. It's far enough out on the bracket that I'm hopeful the squirrels won't jump to it. We'll see how it goes.

The changing of feeders is enough to freak all the birds out so no pigeons have been on them the last few days. A male cardinal arrived first thing yesterday morning. He perched in his normal spot, looked at the two new feeders, chipped a few times and then flew away. Cardinals really don't deal well with change. He made another attempt this morning and went for the X-1 Seed Saver. I haven't put up the Squirrel Twirl with the feeders yet. I want to see what tactics the squirrels and pigeons take before I put that one out again. It needed a rest anyway, the pigeons were wearing out the battery.

As I was repositioning feeders, I left one of my containers of bird seed on the floor and Cinnamon the oh-so-clever rabbit has discovered how to open the container and eat the food on the inside (That's her starting the process at left, by first opening the spigot and will eventually work her way to the larger opening). I don't know whether to exclaim how clever she is or resort to calling her a bunny butthead. I think she's acting out again. Excited as she is to go to with me to Nebraska next week, she just learned that Non Birding Bill and I are heading to Ohio soon and will more than likely have an opportunity to meet Chet Baker. Since this is a plane trip, she will have to stay home and guard the apartment. There is some major disapproval as she sees Chet as a sort of rival. I keep telling her that it's all in her head, Chet is by no means copying her success of Disapproving Rabbits and she should embrace him as a chum, or better yet, a peer. However, she disagrees with his opinions on digging and chasing small furry creatures. Ah well, perhaps some us do better with an imagined rival to help us strive to be better and more creative...then again, I may just be reading too much into my rabbit.

I need to get to bed, I have my 5:45am bird update with the Punnetts tomorrow.

Suet vs Mole

Today is one of my favorite type of winter days: perfect snow falling and sticking to the trees. The temperature was hovering around freezing so it was warm enough to be outside, as a matter of fact it was quite comfortable. The snow is enough to bring all the birds to the feeders so, I was torn. I wanted to go walking around outside, but I was also attracted to the idea of sitting with a warm cup of tea watching the feeder activity.

The birds at Mr. Neil's feeders were on a steady diet of black oilers and I brought over some of the good stuff: Sweet Tweets, a mix of sunflowers in and out of the shell, mixed nuts, pumpkin seeds and dried fruit as well as some Thistle and Chips (or Nyjer and Chips for purists) and goldfinches and juncoes went a little nuts. Speaking on Mr. Neil's feeders, some may recall back in January that Non Birding Bill had some suet feeder issues. None of us were sure how he could confuse suet with mole (make that very expensive mole from island of St. Lucia). Here is a photo, can you tell which is the suet and which is the mole?


The shorter darker substance on the left is the mole, the longer lighter tube is the suet plug. Now, when I picked up the mole I could tell right away by texture that it was not suet. I also noticed the chocolatey smell. NBB said that he doesn't sniff suet the way I do-- like a fine wine I'm about to gulp--hmp. I also noticed, the very hard consistency and asked, "How the heck did you get that into the log?" I always pop the suet plugs into the microwave for 10 to 20 seconds to soften them up a bit. All NBB would say was, "It wasn't easy." He wished he had microwaved it since then he would have smelled that it was chocolate. In fairness, they were both in the same drawer in the fridge and when you look in at them, they do sort of resemble each other.

So, for the record, here is mole:

And here is the suet:


And then here is the beautiful snow scene that I ended up tromping through:

The Joys of Being Married to Non Birding Bill

I changed my feeder set up again, because the pigeons were constantly activating my motorized baffle, waking me up in the morning. They figured out it takes a couple of seconds to configure weight before it spins and are able to get a few beak fulls of seed before being thrown off. So I tried a few new feeders that I will blog about later, but Non Birding Bill just called from the bedroom, "Hey, when did you install the new hook?" Thinking he meant the feeders, I said, "I put the feeders up yesterday afternoon."

He said, "But when did you get that hook?" I told him that I installed that a few weeks ago, and even did a blog entry about it. Not only that, while I have been travelling the last three weeks he has been filling the feeders and should have noticed. He looked at me like I was nuts.

In other wacky news, I learned that a photo of my search team for the ivory-bill is up at Cornell Lab of Ornithology's site. NBB said I looked like Sigmund the Sea Monster.

When Bad Decisions Happen to Good Books

Non Birding Bill and I have always enjoyed exploring book stores, whether they be new or old. I'm forever looking to increase my bird power with whatever bird book I can find. I love new books with breakthrough information and I love old books to see how our philosophy of birds has changed over the years. Ninety years ago, one author thought the best way to deal with a Cooper's hawk was lead and told the world to be grateful peregrines were rare because they ate so many ducks. I don't hold ill will towards the authors, they were working with limited information and research abilities.

The other day in a Border's I came across The World Atlas of Birds. The book's publication date read January 2006. However, a quick thumb through and a look at the illustrations and photos screamed 1960s. I was so stunned by the book, I tried to take a few stealthy photos for examples. Check out the photo at right. On the left is a very awkwardly posed great horned owl. I would imagine that the artist used a poorly put together taxidermy owl. Now, at first glance the bird on the right of the owl appears to look almost like a crow with a tiny beak. It's actually a purple martin. This got me to thinking, "If the photos and illustrations look out of date, what could the information be like?"

I paged through and read how rare and hard to find peregrine falcons are because of DDT, no mention of reintroduction and the success of the falcon being taken off the endangered species list. I checked California condor information and it implied where you can see them and no mention of the captive breeding program or tags that condors wear in the wild.

I have a suspicion that the publisher that owns this manuscript noticed how popular birding is today and that they could republish a book that came out forty years ago without making any changes. It kind of ticks me off, I feel insulted as a reader and feel bad for the authors involved with this book not having a chance to update their information.

So, unless you would like to have a book full of oddly illustrated birds, I would avoid purchasing the 2006 edition of this book. And really, if you do want a book full of oddly illustrated birds, you could probably find the original edition or many books similar at your local used book store.

Here are a few more examples:

A mourning dove? Don't we often see them teed up on a perch looking like a bird that is too lazy to hold its wing in properly. Publishers, I ask you, in this day and age is it really too expensive to get some photos. Look at all the pro birder photographers and digiscopers out there, you could have really jazzed this tome up.

Granted, snowy owls look a little different than other owls, but they don't look like they just downed a bottle of gin.

For Those Who Don't Have Time To Bird

One of my addictions this time of year are bird nest cams, here is a list of internet birding opportunities that I usually follow (even Non Birding Bill gets into these little dramas):

Xcel Energy Bald Eagle Cam (incubation is under way).
Xcel Energy Great Horned Owl Cam (incubation is under way).
Xcel Energy Peregrine Falcon Cam (flirting is under way, all four of these are in my home state of Minnesota).
The Barn Owl Cam (incubation is under way).

For those who might wonder what Nebraska is like in March, check out National Geographic's Sandhill Crane Live Cam. Pay attention to the best viewing hours and synch that up to your time zone. The best viewing times are right at dawn and right at dusk as the cranes use that area for a roost. I love listening to it, it gets me primed for my annual trip to the Platte River. I've gone every year for the last four or five years. I was hooked that very first morning in the crane blind.

You can find more nesting cams here for different species or species mentioned above but in your town. For example, you may enjoy watching peregrines, but might find it more fun to watch them in Indiana if that is where you lived as opposed to Minnesota where I live.

And if you are one of those people who say they would love to go birding like I do, but don't have the time, now there is no excuse, you can bird from your computer. Hm, if I were a lister I would probably start a birds viewed live from the internet list. I don't see how it is much different than viewing a bird through binoculars or a spotting scope--well, apart from the images being much clearer and sharper through a good pair of binoculars than through an internet camera.

Dead Animals In This Post

Couple of quick announcements:

1. The Stokes now have their own blog. I doubt that they will use it to document karaoke escapades on the road, but we will be treated to Lillian's photos. Having checked the archives, I find the photos don't disappoint and are exciting eye candy.

2. We have updated my appearances page through May, so if you are interested in looking at binoculars in person with me, meeting Cinnamon or even Non Birding Bill, that is the place to check. I just glanced at it and realized that a few events are missing for May like the Urban Bird Fest and the spring bird release for The Raptor Center, so more will be added in the next few days.

3. For those who have emailed informing me that I am in a video on WildBird On the Fly Blog, all I can say is that the video is inconclusive and not concrete proof. It's quite obvious that the excess white is an aberrant pileated woodpecker and not the birdchick.

Okay, "Dead Animals In This Post" is not my first choice for a title, but after reviewing the photos in this one, I could come up with nothing else. I have been playing catch up since I got back from Arkansas and decided that since I have been working non stop since February 16, I took today as a much needed day off for some serious birdwatching. Insert big soothing sigh of relief here.

After the Connecticut Eagle Festival I had a serious jones for bald eagles so I headed to Red Wing, MN to the Colville Park Marina to check them out. In the last week there have been anywhere from fifty to 200 bald eagles hanging around at the park. One birder has discovered that a pair of eagles is building a nest across the river from the marina--which reminds me how desperately bald eagles need to be taken off of the endangered species list. The numbers are up and the longer they are kept on the list, the easier it is for people to use it as an example of how the Endangered Species Act doesn't work, when it fact it works very well.

Hey, here's a question: Is someone trying to bait the eagles at Colville Park? I noticed one deer carcass on the ice and then a second one (with a crow feeding on it, pictured at right) that had been almost picked clean. I wonder what that is all about? Is someone at the Red Wing Chamber of Commerce trying to insure the winter tourism dollars by providing food for eagles? Or is it some well meaning local dropping off some road kill deer as a bonus for the birds (certainly is safer for the eagles to eat off of the carcass on the river instead of the side of a road)? Eagles hang out there anyway because of the nearby power plant that stuns or kills fish as they go through (note large, dead fish next to my foot for size comparison below). The plant keeps the water open for easy access to the stunned fish and also attracts waterfowl that chooses not to migrate--another food source.

Bating eagles has been done for years in Alaska, although now a ban is going into effect. I'm not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, I don't see putting out the occasional carcass would be much of a problem. On the other hand, if eagles come to rely on that as a sole source or too many eagles that an area can naturally support are attracted (becoming something similar to a feral cat), that could be a problem. I also think it depends on perspective. I love birds, so having two hundred eagles on my property would be cool. If I didn't care for eagles, having a bunch slicing (pooping) in my yard might make me a tad cranky--especially if it's because a little old lady next door is feeding them. For this city, the eagles are a huge tourist attraction, so I can see why they want to keep it going for a few more years.

Eagles weren't the only birds seen today (although certainly the most abundant species). I was very excited to find a flock of six male hooded mergansers swimming and displaying around a lone female. They were not in a good area to get a photo and I didn't want to get out of the car and disturb their ritual. This was about as exciting as seeing a new bird, it's something I have read about but have never witnessed first hand. The males swam excitedly around the female, keeping her in the middle. They raised their crests and flipped their heads back and shifted their wings--reminded me a lot of Bob Fosse choreography. For those of you in the upper Midwest, this is a reminder to get those wood duck boxes ready. The ducks are starting to hook up, time to have the housing available.

Another sign of spring were lots and lots and lots of horned larks. Just about everywhere I drove, they took off from the sides of the road. I kept trying to pull over and digiscope them, but they were just too fast and blended in too well. Unfortunately, I watched one unfortunate horned lark bounce off of a car in front of me. I pulled over to check it, and it was dead. Since you rarely see a horned lark so closely I took a photo. These are one of our earliest migrants and it was kind of a bummer to think that this bird made it all the way through winter, getting ready to start the next breeding season only to be offed by a car.

Looking at the photo of the bird in my hand above and comparing it to a photo of the landscape photo at left, you can see how this bird's plumage works to keep it hidden. Believe it or not, there are hundreds of horned larks in the field in that photo, they are just camouflaged so well we cannot see them. When I would get out of the car to try and spot them, you could hear their peeping. It was a tad unnerving being able to hear all those birds but not immediately seeing them in the open field right in front of you. If ever a species wanted to make a sneak attack on the human race or just decide to try and freak us out by following us and making noises, I think horned larks are well suited to the task.

One thing interesting to me is that when the larks fly off from the road, I notice the white stripes on either side of the tail quite vividly. Looking at the dead lark up close, the white didn't appear as big as it does when they fly. It's always so strange and fascinating to look at a species up close and in the hand. I regret that it wasn't under more pleasant circumstances like banding.