Woodpecker Tongue

"Hey, red-bellied woodpecker, pull my finger!"

Here's a female red-bellied woodpecker that came into the nets at Carpenter Nature Center. And for those who doubt that these birds actually have red on their bellies, here's proof:

Back in the early days of exploration on this continent, explorers did not have access to binoculars and spotting scopes. The best way to identify birds was to shoot them and look at carcasses up close. So, if a red-bellied woodpecker is in your hand and about five inches from your face, you can see a hint of red on the belly, hence the name: red-bellied woodpecker.

One of the things I enjoy about banding is that it's a way to see birds up close and see the features that bird books talk about. Check out the tongue on the red-belly. The tip is hard like a spear with little barbs that are used to spear and grab onto larvae found inside dead and dying trees. As a matter of fact, when woodpeckers are in nets you have to be careful that the nets don't get caught on the barbs of the tongue and hurt the bird. Another fun detail that I learned is that red-bellies have deep brown eyes.

Another freaky feature of woodpeckers is that they have very long tongues that can stretch out quite a bit. Woodpecker tongue muscles start on the top of their heads (I read once that if a woodpecker has something on its mind, it generally its tongue). This feature helps them to really gain access to larvae deep into tree bark.

Don't forget that if you've never visited Carpenter, next week (May 6) is a great time because the Raptor Center will be releasing birds of prey that have recovered in their clinic. Education birds will be on display and there will be fun activities planned. I also will be selling binoculars there on behalf of TRC, so if you need some binoculars that would be a great time to pick some up and help out a great organization.

Bird Naughty Bits

Look how tiny a ruby-crowned kinglet is compared to my iPod! I always forget how teensy these guys are. Jen Vieth at Carpenter Nature Center got this guy out of the nets during their banding session this morning. Remember they do the banding every Friday morning and if you are at the park you can check out the action. May is an exciting time at a banding station with such a variety of birds moving through.

I remembered that I have a pelican band on my keychain so I took a picture of it next to a band used for a kinglet foot. The band on the left is the one for kinglet. It's so teeny tiny. The bird we banded was female so she did not have the little red crest that males pop up when they are excited. Speaking of excited male birds, Jen was kind enough to show me how they are able to tell the sex of quite few song birds this time of year. Below is a photo of a sparrow, can you tell if it's male or female?

Do you see it? It's a little nub just to the right of the bald patch, which for a male bird is quite large. This is called a cloacal protuberance (the bird equivalent of a hoo-ha). Apparently male birds get it this time of year and it lasts all through the mating season--woof. The males are basically flying around with a constant swollen cloaca for several days or weeks, ready for action at any time. I'm not making this up, Jen showed me a book that showed all the different types of cloacal humps...their humps, their humps, their lovely birdy bumps (I'm so sorry for the Black Eyed Peas reference):

The ones on the left are circumsized--no, no, no I'm just kidding. Females will not have the above protuberance, but they will have a bare patch on the breast called a brood patch, that is used to incubate their eggs.

Here's the male chipping sparrow that we took the photo of the cloaca shown above. Please don't think less of him for having a picture of his cloacal protuberance on the internet, he's a young bird who really needed the money.

Flying Squirrels and Disapproval

The flying squirrels outside my bedroom window are getting braver and braver. As it's warming up in Minnesota, we are opening our windows and we (or I should say I) can hear their chirping. Non Birding Bill never seems to hear it. I can't seem to get my camera to focus on them in the pitch black, I'll have to work on that. As soon as I spread a little seed for them on the window ledge they come right for it. I bet it would just be a matter of time before I could hand feed them. The dude to the right was sitting right above my window and posed for a few shots. He kept munching away at the nuts even with the flash on. Most of the photos turned out a little blurry, but with a little practice and a little positive reinforcement towards the squirrels, I bet I can do better. I love that I get flying squirrels while living in a busy metro area.

I took Cinnamon with me to Adventure Publications today. I needed to go over the proofs for the 2007 Birding Calendars (Illinois had the coolest cover) and talked about my City Bird Country Bird book (looks like it will be coming out this summer instead of this spring) and a few other ideas I have cooking. I thought Cinnamon just wanted to come along to spend some time with me since I have been doing so much traveling without her. Alas, she was just using me as a pawn in one of her many schemes. When I stepped into the bathroom, she took the opportunity to talk to my publisher about a Disapproving Rabbits book. Gordon (above) was a good sport and listened to her ideas and then tried to tell her as gently as possible that he just wasn't familiar with the rabbit market and wasn't prepared to invest in the idea a this time. I think she would have had a better chance had she not insisted on a $20,000 advance for the book. She took the rejection hard, I was concerned that her disapproval would wipe out half the staff at Adventure, but Gretchen, my editor saved the day with a handful of parsley. Poor dejected bunny. She's currently drowning her sorrows in a bag of Broccoli Wokly.

I and The Bird

Are you curious about what other bird related blogs are out there, maybe just around the bend? (Okay, I couldn't resist another Utah photo)

I and the Bird is up and running, this week it is being hosted by Home Bird Notes. Boy, it really has grown since it started, Home Bird really had her job cut out for her. This is a place where bloggers can submit posts about birds and the host gathers them into a theme. If you're someone who doesn't have time to keep up with all the blogs out there, then think of this as a newsletter highlighting the best posts from the various birding blogs to just give you a taste.

Rough Day For Varmits...and me

This morning I heard this high pitched squeaking sound. I opend my window and took a look around. No other birds were around and it was surprisingly quiet in my neighborhood. I figured a Cooper's hawk had just nailed something and was a tad bummed I missed it. I thought about going outside to make sure, but decided against it.

Twenty minutes later I heard the sound again. I poked my head out the window and saw one of my building's maintenance men working outside so I figured the sound must have come from something he was doing, maybe unscrewing a pipe or socket.

Late this afternoon while getting some work done I heard the squeak again. Looking out the window I couldn't see anyone outside. I decided to put some shoes on and investigate. I walked around the ally and saw a robin hopping around, could it have a fledging nearby? I've never heard a fledging robin make a sound like that...then I saw some movement near the dumpsters:

There he was, a young squirrel. He tried too look so tough and growl when I approached, but ended up tripping over himself. I felt really bad that I hadn't gone with my gut instinct and checked out the source of the squealing this morning.

As I snapped a few photos, he jumped and hissed and came closer and closer. Then he gave that squeal I had been hearing throughout the day. When you're a few feet away from it, the sound is downright ear-splitting. Not seeing any other squirrels nearby, I decided to get one of Cinnamon's carriers and see if I could grab the young squirrel and take him to rehab.

I set down the carrier and he came right over and climbed the door:

How can something so small and cute grow into something so destructive? He clung to the side of the door (that's when I saw for sure that he was male) and gave the squeal some more. I was beginning to wonder if any of my neighbors might hear this and then see me down there and think I was abusing it. After the last round of squealing he hopped right into the carrier and I closed the door. I came back into my apartment to grab my car keys. I had let Cinnamon run around outside of the rabbit room this afternoon and though I normally don't leave her unsupervised in the apartment, decided that I didn't have time to corral her and would risk it. I closed any open closet doors, hoped that she would stay out of the kitchen and headed to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

On the way there I played the Xanadu soundtrack. The squirrel shrieked--so loud in a car. I turned off the iPod and onto fm107. Apparently the young squirrel preferred "real life conversation" to Olivia Newton John and ELO.

I dropped off the squirrel and got some debate from the person at the front desk as to whether or not this was in fact a baby squirrel and should have been brought in at all. I mentioned that it had been screaming all day outside a dumpster and willingly hopped into the carrier when it was set on the ground. It was taken in. I was a tad irritated, but I completely understood where the person was coming from, many animals brought in, especially young rabbits and fledging birds are brought in by mistake. Most tiny cottontail rabbits are self sufficient but good natured people see them and bring them in. Same goes for most baby birds. When they are fully feathered an fluttering on the ground, they get mistaken for being too young to leave the nest and are brought in, when the best thing for them was to be left to learn to fly in peace.

And because I love what the WRC does and really appreciate that there is a place in the Twin Cities that is open seven days a week for me to drop off animals in trouble and because no animal in recorded history has ever had health insurance I dropped of a check along with the squirrel.

I left the WRC, went to pick up Non Birding Bill so he could have the car to go to play rehearsal, and finished up some emailing. Every now and then I heard the sound of Cinnamon, it's sound he makes on a door when she leans up on it and then sits back down on all fours--he claws lightly scraping against a wood door. Usually a gentle reminder that she would like to run about. I thought how odd she should be making that sound since she was already running about...I then realized that I had been snacking and she wasn't near the couch hoping for a scrap. I walked around shaking some Nutriberries (a favorite snack) and couldn't find her. I didn't even hear the door sound. She wasn't under the bed, not in the kitchen, not in either of her cottonttail cottages...where was she? I then remembered the closet door I closed right before I left by the front door. I opened it and sure enough, out she hopped from the clutter and darkness.

"Mom!! How could you lock me in a closet?! I'm so angry, I can barely disapprove! You care more about squirrels than you do about me!"

I felt TERRIBLE. I can't believe I accidentally locked my rabbit in closet for two hours. I finally got a link on the House Rabbit Society for having good bunny karma, I think I might have blown it.

"I don't care how many grapes (munch, munch) you give me, or how many (munch, munch) sugar snap peas, I'm still not forgiving you for this (munch, munch)."

Starlings Smarter Than The Birdchick Without Spell Check?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The simplest grammar, long thought to be one of the skills that separate man from beast, can be taught to a common songbird, new research suggests.

Starlings learned to differentiate between a regular birdsong "sentence" and one containing a clause or another sentence of warbling, according to a study in Thursday's journal Nature.

It took University of California at San Diego psychology researcher Tim Gentner a month and about 15,000 training attempts, with food as a reward, to get the birds to recognize the most basic of grammar in their own bird language.

Yet what they learned may shake up the field of linguistics.

You can read the rest of the story here.

Final Utah Entry...Probably

Granted, I haven't been with Eagle Optics that long, but this booth was the busiest one I have worked by myself thus far. What really made my smile about the Bear River Grand Opening was the number of kids that showed up and the number of parents getting optics for their kids. One family was planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park got their kids some monoculars and pocket binoculars. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with the monoculars. Those 7 power Insights are great. I use one when I walk around Lake of the Isles. I'm on my exercise walk but I want something handy in case a cool warbler pops up. The Insight fits right in my pocket and isn't too heavy at all.

The other binoculars that were really popular at the festival were the Talons. Hands down, I think these are the best binoculars that you can get for under $200. They produce a good, clear image, are purged so they won't fog up on the inside, can close focus within four to five feet, are waterproof and come with an unbelievable warranty (unconditional, short of theft). These are excellent starter binoculars or for someone into birds who can't afford to spend a lot of money at the moment.

While at the festival I found a new use for a tripod, apparently, they're not just for spotting scopes anymore:

If you're not strong enough to hold a ten to twelve pound bald eagle on your arm (they feel more like 50 to 60 pounds after ten minutes) then just rest your hand on a tripod for added stability. Who knew?

I have to say again that you must find a way to visit Bear River Wildlife Refuge in the spring, the western grebe mating is so fun to watch from your car:


Also, if you love harriers...



and western meadowlarks...


then this is the place for you. Utah is lousy with both, and what great birds to be lousy with! Oh, and all the midges flying around make this a great place to watch for swallows. This flock was mostly full of tree and rough-winged swallows (this photo shows about a quarter of the entire flock that was buzzing around my car):


One of the things that I appreciate about other birders is the generosity. When I arrived at Bear River to set up the binocular booth, I met one of the volunteers named Jean. They weren't quite ready so I said that I would just go to lunch, Jean invited me to go with her, which I was grateful for. I'm such a social creature, I hate to eat lunch alone. She took me to a great local restaurant called Ricardo's with authentic Mexican cuisine. Turns out Jean is an artist and was leading one of the workshops at the grand opening.


I admired this hat when a gentleman walked by my booth. I asked, "Is that a Cooper's hawk on your head? I love Cooper's hawks! What a cool hat!" Then he gave me his hat right then and there. I ended up having dinner with his family and that's when I learned he was not only a rocket scientist, but an award winning rocket scientist as well. He's head of a project to help astronauts repair the shuttle while in orbit. He and his wife told me that periodically in this area of Utah, rockets are tested and that one night while watching a rocket being tested, the roar woke up the birds and they saw all the bird silhuettes against the lights from the firing rocket. His wife is on the board of directors for the local art museum and their kids are either writers, artists or bird researchers (one bands flammulated owls in Idaho). They were just a neat family and if I didn't have a really wonderful family myself, I would want to be adopted by them. That is one of the coolest perks of my job is that I get to meet people with such interesting lives.

As part of what I do for Birding Business, I stopped into a local Wild Bird Center in Layton, Utah. This man really knows how to run a bird store. I overheard the owner, Bill, talking to a customer and informing them about bird walks scheduled by the store. The customer asked, "Is there a cost for the bird walks?" And Bill simply answered, "The only cost is your enthusiasm." What a great way to get people interested! If you find yourself in Utah, I highly recommend you visit his store. Bill is kind of cute. He reminded me of the actor that played the voice of Kit in Knightrider and was on St. Elsewhere only dressed like a birder--complete with vest and Tilly Hat.

I have always wanted to visit a western bird store. I knew they would have some different mixes than we do out east. Check this out:

Birders in the eastern region are looking at this mix aghast. Why would anyne want to feed this to birds. Eastern birds would not care for this mix, too much millet and milo (FYI, if you are in the eastern region of the United States and you are not getting many birds at your feeder, compare this photo to your seed mix. Cardinals, chickadees, nuthatches and finches do not care for this type of mix). However, this is Bill's Dove and Quail Mix. Out west this type of mix works well with the birds, chukars, quail and doves will eat this like there is no tomorrow.

As I was reviewing the store, I came across a paperback version of Raptors of the World. I was so excited to see this book I bought it on sight. I've wanted it for awhile but had purchased it. I was hoping Non Birding Bill would buy it for me for my birthday or our anniversary, but hardcover was $60 and I hadn't gotten yet. The paperback was only $30 so I picked it up. I like how this Wild Bird Center catered not only to the backyard birder but to the hardcore birder as well.

Okay, I think I almost have the Utah trip out of my system.

Grrr, blogger spell check isn't working again!!! What is a sloppy typer to do???? Sorry for the typos.

Antelope Island

If you've read my blog, you might know that I have never seen a barn owl in the wild. I've handled them at The Raptor Center, held injured ones, etc--I just haven't seen one doing what a barn owl does naturally in the wild. At the Bear River Refuge, one had apparently been roosting at night outside of the building, you could see streaks of its poop above the deck:

The way this structure was designed out on the deck allows sounds to be picked up off the refuge. You can hear people on the other side of the wetland having conversations as well as western meadowlarks, coots, grebes and frogs. I wonder if the barn owls hung out there at night to take advantage of the amplified sound...not that they really need it. Anyway, the poop just seemed to mock me all the more--"You haven't seen a wild barn owl--nah nah nah nah."

I heard from a reader of this blog (Hi Susy) that I had a pretty good chance of seeing a barn owl at Antelope Island so decided to check it out. When I drove onto the island, I was so overcome by the beauty of the landscape I didn't care if I saw a barn owl or not, it was just so gorgeous and worth every penny of the $9 entrance fee. I was there early on Sunday morning and apparently most people in Utah are in church, so I pretty much had the island to myself. I just sat and took some time on the rocks looking over Salt Lake and some of the other landscape enjoying the sounds of the wind, the waves on the lake, the California gulls and western meadowlarks. What a glorious way to spend a morning.

The weird thing about this place is that it was called Antelope Island, but I didn't take the title too seriously. I grew up in Indiana and used to go to Turkey Run State Park, but I never even saw turkeys there, let alone see one running a state park (although from what I hear from my mom, there are probably turkeys there now). I wasn't on the island very long when I saw an antelope:

Who knew? An actual antelope on Antelope Island. This guy had just crossed the road and was on his way to another heard in the distance. The antelope were actually kind of dangerous if they started chasing each other and not paying attention to the cars. Several times as I was driving I would catch a couple males running in my peripheral vision and within seconds they were in front of my vehicle.

When I walking around along the rocks and brush I did find some old antelope bones. Judging by the size of my the leg and hoof compared to my hand, I would guess that it was very young when it died and was dragged into some brush by the prdator for feeding. All that I could find were leg bones, no skull and no ribs. I wondered what predators the antelope had out here and very quickly got my answer. Here's what I digiscoped in the distance:

A coyote running around in broad daylight. Probably what got the young antelope. I did find part of a rabbit skull in the same area and then this sitting on top of some sage brush:

At first I wondered if it was left over prey shoved in by a shrike. Upon picking it up, I discovered that the dead little rodent was so dried out, it was practically mummified. It didn't have much of a smell and must have been there awhile. There was a black-billed magpie flitting around nearby as well as a pair of kestrels. Perhaps one of them had dropped this prey and forgot about it.

Antelope Island was chock full of chukars. They were all over: mating under rocks, clucking on top of rocks, scurrying in front of vehicles, just doing what comes naturally to a chukar. If you've never seen a chukar, this is the place to go, you can't spit without seeing one.

Another island specialty are the buffalo. They were everywhere. So for fun, I popped in an excerpt from the Dances with Wolves soundtrack from my iPod while driving around looking at them. As I was doing that I suddenly started having images of Kevin Costner and his "acting" so I put in the Vertigo soundtrack instead. While on the subject of buffalo, you want to see what a photo of an idiot looks like? Less than half a mile from the sign pictured in the above photo, I saw this:

Now, I call the person in the above photo an idiot because I have done enough idiotic things in my life that I feel like kind of an authority. Call me crazy, but when a sign asks you to stay in your car, getting within 20 feet of a 2000 pound animal may not be the best decision you could make. I stuck around and watched the scene with my cell phone at the ready. There were actually about six buffalo surrounding her. As she got closer, one of them stood up and started coming towards her. After snapping a few photos she walked back to her car and didn't get trampled. What a dork.

When I got to the island, I checked in at the visitor's center to find out if the barn owls were still being seen. I was told by the guy working at the front desk that the barn owls were in fact still in the area and if I drove down to the ranch and walked into the barn that I would see them. He was also kind enough to point out some burrowing owls hanging around outside the center--what a helpful guy! I drove to the ranch and checked with the man at the gate and asked to see the barn owls, he pointed the way and here is what I saw:

A barn owl in the sense that it is a great horned owl nesting inside the barn. It had laid its eggs inside an old raven's nest. A very cool owl but not the barn owl I was looking for. Ah well, another bird for another day.

Susy, thank you for pointing me to this wonderful park, I truly enjoyed my time there.

Is There An Ugly View In Utah?

So, I challenged myself to try to find an ugly view in Utah.

Hmmm, wasn't ugly outside my hotel.

It wasn't ugly at Antelope Island. The visit was so beautiful and worth every penny of the $9 entrance fee. I didn't just give up with one glance, I check other places on the island.

It wasn't ugly here either.

Looking out on Salt Lake was beautiful.

I tried taking a photo with dumpsters and semis in (perhaps that was cheating) but it was still pretty. Utah: 4, Birdchick: 0.

Even a road to nowhere was beautiful. How long can Utah keep this up?


Even with a storm coming in, the landscape was still breathtaking. This was outsde of Golden Spike National Historic Site. My eyes were getting exhausted at this point. I don't know why I went to the historic site. I think because my father used to really be interested in trains, and he specifically talked about the Jupitor and the Union Pacific. The Jupitor being his favorite, so I figured since I was so close I should see the site that symbolized connecting the west and east. Here is a view of the site right before the final railroad tie was put in place:


Here is a photo of the same area today:


Sometimes I think it's easy to get caught up in all the things going wrong with the environment and conservation. Driving around Utah reminded me that we do occasionally get things right.

Here is the spot where they drove in the final and historic golden spike that linked the transcontinental railroad.

Waiting for a Plane

I'm in Denver having lunch and waiting for my connecting flight to Minneapolis. It's cold, I could see my breath when I got off the plane. I'm excited to be heading to warmer temperatures. I'm eating at a pretty good restaurant for an airport, called Jimmy's. The tomato bisque soup is tasty.

Well, after the previous entry, I feel the need to cleanse. So I offer incredible sculpture. His name is Greg Woodard.

That's Greg with his peregrines chasing teal stature at the Bear River Visitor's Center. When I first came in and saw it, I thought to myself, "This guy HAS to be a falconer. No one else could know the bird's body like that, especially in a dive." Here's an upclose of one of his peregrine statues. They were having a showing of his work at the local art museum.

I love it, he really captures a peregrine in mid-hunt. Turns out he is a master falconer and currently flies (when it's in season) a gyrfalcon.

This life size golden eagle going in for a hare (or should I saw hair--har har) was unbelievable. If I were a woman of unlimited means I would have this in my apartment. Cinnamon might disapprove, but after the report I got this morning from Non Birding Bill, she could use a little reminder to behave:

"Your rabbit is a big ol' bunny butthead. Her new gig is digging in her litter box. Not a terribly big deal, except for this morning, when I found out she was kicking the litter out of the box when she was digging. What's she looking for? Truffles?"

Oh, dear. Obviously, she's missing me and is acting out. NBB has been known to do similar things when I'm away.

I leave you with one last amazing statue by Greg. The actual statue is a life sized golden eagle sitting on a railroad tie looking to the west and it's supposed to be symbolic or something (you can see the whole stature on the cover page of his site). I think I missed that, all I saw was an eagle who just saw something move that looks edible.

Man, this guy knows his raptors.

Utah Art

I was busy tying up some loose ends and visiting a really cool Wild Bird Center today. I have to pack and catch a plane, I promise more entries about the lovely state of Utah very soon. In the meantime, I give you some art that is available for sale at the Antelope Island Visitor's Center:


Title and Price:

Item Number 2:

Title and Price:

Cool Brown Birds

I dedicate this entry to Non Birding Bill who claims I'm not interested in a bird unless it's brown.
I'm so excited by all the cinnamon teal out here--they are everywhere. We just don't get that many in Minnesota and they are one of the prettiest ducks on the planet. When they take off, they have a gorgeous patch of sky blue on the wings.

Hey, check out this cloud of midges:

Actually, that was smoke from a distant controlled burn going on near the refuge. This was my view for most of the day today. It's was perfect for customers to test out binoculars and spotting scopes, the flames from the fire were particularly exciting.

Western meadowlarks can be heard throughout the day. I love the calls of both the eastern and the the western meadowlarks, but out here the western call just suits the area. The town is so quiet (you can hardly hear traffic) so in the afternoon all you hear is that call and it sounds so solitary, combine that with the mountains and it makes for a beautiful setting. I also really enjoy the calls of the red-winged blackbirds out west. It's not the konk-kor-reeeee that you hear in the east. In the west it's a konkor-reeeeeee-o. The first time I heard it was along the Snake River in Idaho, gives me chills just thinking of that sound echoing up the canyon walls. Western birds are some of the best singers.

This bird kind of threw me for a loop. We can see them in Minnesota, but it's usually a bird I hear more than see. It looks like a sparrow, but the bill looks like a thrush. Any idea what it is? It's an American pipit--cute and brown.

Man o man, the day is catching up to me and I am tired. This entry is starting to lose cohesion. I started work this morning at 7:30am at the booth and didn't close down until 5:30pm. I have the same schedule tomorrow. I need to not think about diopters for awhile.

I had dinner with the coolest people tonight. Turns out one of them was a rocket scientist (and award winning at that). I have never met a rocket scientist before, but he was pretty darn cool--and I thought I had an exciting job.

So, I leave you with a view of the Brigham City mountains at sunset.

Well, NBB, if the birds aren't colorful, the landscape sure is.

Extra Extra! Kenn Kaufman Wears A NON Blue Shirt

For as long as I've known him, Kenn Kaufman has always worn some form of blue shirt. Don't believe me? Grab the latest WildBird magazine and check out the Nikon ad with Kaufman in it. Take a look at his photo on the back of one of his field guides or Lives of North American Birds. You can also see the blue shirt evidence here, here, here, here and even here.

Betsy Beneke and I were pointing this out the first night he was here in Utah and what do you suppose happens today--he's wearing a greenish plaid shirt. I almost didn't recognize him in a color other than blue. It looked incredibly fresh, I can't help but wonder if he ran out last night and bought one. I'll be curious to see how long this non blue shirt trend continues.

In other news, Non Birding Bill sent me this link to a blog called An American Werewolf in Japan about gulls. It's a cute entry--although hard core birders be warned, he calls them seagulls and not gulls. He probably doesn't know any better so go easy on him.

Fun At Bear River NWR

I am totally over stimulated, the birding at Bear River is just spectacular. Yellow-headed blackbirds (not a bad digiscope with my binoculars) and marsh wrens are just throwing themselves at you begging to be noticed. I never get tired of yellow-heads! The marsh wrens are throwing me for a loop. I have the Eastern version of the birdPod and the wrens here have a western accent. What's weird is that as I was playing both calls with my windows down and calls playing, the marsh wrens responded to the sound of the eastern sedge wren. Visual observation confirmed that they were in fact marsh wrens and not sedge wrens.

I about peed my pants at all the avocets and stilts running around. I couldn't believe that they just would scurry right in front of my car. The water level is a bit high and I did have to drive through some minor flooding to continue the auto tour.

On Friday I am for sure going to be at the Refuge Headquarters but on Saturday the festivities are moving into the refuge itself. I'm torn: do I tear down the booth, repack and reload at the festivities on the refuge or stay at the headquarters on Saturday? I'm concerned about he flooding. I took the above photo in the morning. When we went over the same patch in the evening the water was a little higher. I don't think my compact rental car can take higher levels of water. I'll just have to decide Friday afternoon.


White-faced ibis are thick in the refuge and would flush just as your car goes by. Betsy Beneke (a legend among bird festival organizers) took all the volunteers at the refuge out for a tram ride on the refuge this evening and it looked as though more ibis had moved in throughout the day. Kenn Kaufman and his wife Kim are here. Kenn is a guest speaker and it was good to see him again. But I feel compelled to warn people that he and Kim are still in that "newlywed phase" and are quite mushy. A piece of advice: if you find them on a trip stealing a quick smooch, saying things like, "You guys aren't going to get gross and mushy are you?" makes them get more mushy with each other. The best defense is to turn away and pish the nearest bird. Those crazy kids!

Speaking of gross and mushy, midges are EVERYWHERE!

I hesitate to bring this up because I don't want it to prevent people from coming, but I feel it must be noted that the midges are quite thick at the refuge. I know some people would be just icked out, but with a few precautions you can enjoy the birds here, relatively midge free or at least midge lite. When I was driving around this morning they weren't bad at all. By around 10:30am, I noticed what looked like dark clouds low to the ground in the distance, it almost looked like smoke. On the first look with my binoculars, I worried they were clouds of mosquitoes but it's been a little to cold for those dudes. The upside is that the midges don't bite and are a fantastic source of food for the birds. The down side is that they are everywhere. Taking an auto tour with your windows up solves the problem and makes for a pleasant day of birding. Besides, the birds don't mind your car and you can get closer to them staying inside, than by walking to them.

I was very excited to see both western grebes and Clark's grebes. I couldn't believe it when a pair from each species swam close enough for me to digiscope a photo with my binoculars! Can you tell the difference? Which one is the Clark's grebe and which one is the western? The western is the grebe on the left that looks like he's sporting a Moe (of the 3 Stooges) haircut.

As if I didn't love pelicans enough already, today I got to appreciate them on a whole new level: thermalizing in front of a mountain range! Absolutely gorgeous. I was going out of my mind when I took the above photo, I couldn't figure out what cool thing to focus on. I had pelicans flying overhead, mule deer frolicking to my right and a Virginia rail clapping to the left--not to mention all the great waterfowl like cinnamon teal, shovelers, ruddy ducks and nightherons. This place is so awesome.

To round out the day, I even got to see a couple of long-billed curlews. This pair started out on the road in front of me, then flushed and I got a photo with my binoculars. Kenn says that you can't tell male and female based on plumage, but based on bill size. Females have longer bills. Okay, Non Birding Bill, I know these are brown birds, but aren't they cool with that massive bill? Even you would be excited to see one of those.

Holy cow, I can't believe how many photos I've posted and I still have a few more that I didn't include. I'll save those for tomorrow. I have to get to bed, tomorrow is a big day. Hope birding is as much fun where you are as it is here. It is spring after all, so it is hard to find a bad bird spot this time of year.

Quick Utah Entry

Okay, if you have never been to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah for birding you need to figure out how to get your butt out here next spring. This place is awesome!!! I'm hard pressed to find an ugly view anywher in the fair town of Brigham City.

And just to give you and idea, you know the birding is going to be fabulous when American avocets and black-necked stilts are blocking your car from going forward:

I was totally on sensory overload this morning. There will be more reports soon, now I have to go back to setting up the Eagle Optics booth.

Kingwood Center

One place I do enjoy visiting when I'm in Mansfield is the Kingwood Center. It's a former estate garden that is free and open to the public. There are fun plants and landscaping as well as black swans, peacocks and guinea fowl running about. There are little dispensers that you can get duck chow and feed that, but there are signs all over requesting that you must not feed the Canada geese.

One strange thing that happened with Non Birding Bill on our trip--he started pointing out birds. Some relatives told us about a nearby bald eagle nest. We drove around with NBB's mom trying to find it and he pointed it first--before me. While we were walking around and enjoying the daffodils at Kingwood, NBB found a hawk--very low and not far away. It was a young red-tailed hawk looking for something small and furry. NBB's mom was impressed. She said, "Bill, I know you say you're not a bird watcher, but you're pointing them out faster than her. I think you are a bird watcher now." I told her not to take it too seriously. NBB has learned from going out with me that the faster we find the bird or nest the faster we can go home. He's learned to spot stuff in self defence.

We enjoyed the red-tail and as we were walking away from it, I heard the familiar kek kek kek kek kek kek kek kek and in flew an adult Cooper's hawk! It bounced from branch to branch getting closer to the red-tail. Even though the Coop's was half the size, it still managed to drive off the red-tail, I think it's erratic dashing from perch to perch and maniacal red eyes just freaked out the larger buteo. It was so cool to see an accipiter and buteo momentarily perched close together. As soon as the young red-tail flew out of the territory the Coop's returned to its origional position on the other side of the woods. Guess I know where it is going to build its nest this year.

The raptors didn't end there. On our way out of the parking lot, we heard a red-shouldered hawk and watched it fly around on the other side of the parking lot. Adult red-shoulders are such beautiful and colorful hawks, it really blended well with the blooming flowers. Not bad--getting three raptors in a small park in Ohio.

I did enjoy all the exotics running around on the estate grounds. The black swan was pretty cool and I loved to watch the Canada geese give it a wide berth as it waddled along. Not long after I took the photo on the left, it made a bee line for me, but I got out if the way in time.

It was fun to witness the change in migration. While down in southern Ohio the first part of our trip, we saw and heard white-throated sparrows all over the yard. When we got to Mansfield, I didn't see or hear any at the in-law's house. But on Monday morning I woke up in the guest room to hear one singing outside our window. I wondered if this bird had been down in southern Ohio on Friday like we were?

Okay, now I totally have to finish packing for Utah. NBB tells me that it snowed but will get warmer. The hotel that I'm staying in has internet access so I should be able to talk about the wacky antics that happen at the Bear River NWR Grand Opening.

Frightening Folk Art Of Northern Ohio

WARNING!! This blog entry is not for those with clown phobias!!

Let me preface this entry by saying that I love my husband's family. I'm quite sure that for every one thing I find perplexing about them, they find at least 20 items perplexing about me. Some of the art work that I find in their homes baffles me. But then again, they may think my 8X10 framed glossy of a turkey vulture head on my wall or my pelican pelvic bone are a little bizaar. I should have seen it coming.

This is Plaster Man, a life size plaster cast of Non Birding Bill. He did this for a show he was in during his under grad years. When I first knew him he kept it on a chair in his apartment. It scared the pants off of me everytime I walked in not expecting someone to be sitting there. For the time being, Plaster Man resides with NBB's parents. If we ever get a house, he'll come live with us.

This was actually at a neighbor's house. They had more than one. I don't quite get the sleeping children theme. One is kind of cute. Several looks like you have a collection of children who died of carbon monoxide poisoning.


Now, this I don't get at all. Children sleeping on toys, that I could kind of see as being cute. But the dolls standing the corner? This is the Cleveland Indians version of the doll and I like how the doll is standing in a corner like a naughty kid, but still keeps the catchers mit handy just in case a fast ball should come his way. This was in the guest room and was about three feet high. It looked even scarier at night. I take that back, it looked scary all the time. When you walked by the room you would think, "Who is that kid in there? And why is it being so quiet and still?"


Here's another corner doll. This was at another relative's house and they had several stashed in various corners. Doesn't it remind you of the Blair Witch Project? Gives me the heebie jeebies.


I'm sure this looks a lot cuter when the flowers are in bloom. I could never grow cut offs up here in Minnesota, we just aren't zoned for it.


This was also in the guest room. Maybe I've watched too many Twilight Zone episodes, but I just can't sleep with that thing smiling at the end of the bed. You know it's just going to come to life at 2am and stuff that little baseball down your throat.

My mother inlaw is a clown collector. Must be the reason why she welcomed me with open arms into the Stiteler clan. The clowns are everywhere; tucked in cabinets and stacked on shelves. There's a glass case full of them at the top of the staircase that stare at you with that blank colorful look. Some are smiling, some look depressed as all get out.


I want my mommy...

Certification Continued

Mark Alt, the president of the MOU is dubbing this "Birdification". I wonder if this phrase will sweep the nation like the term "clister" did in reference to county listers.

I have learned that certification of bird watchers is in other states as well. Roy Harvey sent me a link to a birding certificate program in Florida. Check out the list of certification levels. This seems like a kinder gentler version. (Jeez, did I actually just type "kinder gentler"? I think I lost a little of my edge in Ohio.) Actually, it looks like your level is based on the size of your life list. At least this certification program doesn't threaten to release your information to your employers if you suck like they do in Wisconsin.

Are YOU A Certified Birder?

Now, I have seen almost everything. Kelly Larson found a group called the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative that is offering "birder certification" for birders in Wisconsin. Mike McDowell made fun of the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union because of the listing supplement they put out--"That's going too far, how many lists do we need? Is a life list of birds in your backyard bird bath really necessary?" I say, if you get you kicks from it, go for it. Mike thought it made us MOUers look dorky. Well, now we have Wisconsin trying to certify birders. I was thinking of taking the test for fun when I noticed this on the instruction page:

There is a penalty for failing a test. Although the total number of failed tests taken will not be recorded on this site, this information may be made available to employers, agencies, etc., upon request.

Man, that is one hard core certification. What worries me is that I have seen other "certification" programs, one even advertised in some well known bird related magazines. We looked into taking one of them at the bird store and after reading some of the questions, were dismayed to learn that they were clueless about backyard bird feeding. I will need to learn more about this group before I take their test.

Quick Geek Out About Julie Zickefoose

Sometimes I look around and I hear that Talking Heads song "Once in a Lifetime" going through my head and I ask myself, "How did I get here?"

Hanging out with Julie and Bill last week is a prime example. I remember reading Julie's articles and seeing her artwork for years in Bird Watcher's Digest and thinking, "I bet she'd be a cool chick to hang out with." And the fact that I do get to do that now--well, it takes everything I have not to "geek out". I think I did okay last week, until I got to go into her studio and saw a proof of her book that is coming out this fall. This book looks so cool, a collection of stories and essays combined with her artwork. It's as if you are going to come across a hard cover edition of her nature journal. I always thought it would be neat to do a book that way, fill it with great information, factual and not too schmaltzy and fill it with beautiful bird images and Julie has accomplished that. You might want to give a head's up to your local bird store to see if they are going to carry it this fall, it's sure to be a great gift item for the holidays. I can't remember the title, but it's being published by Houghton Mifflin. I was so honored to be in her studio and to get a sneak peak at her upcoming book, I loved the yellow breasted chat, the bullfrog, the golden eagle soaring on the title page and she even has a print of starlings duking it out--you know it takes talent if an artist can do starlings and get you to appreciate their beauty.

I think the geek out has officially passed. This is going to be a great book--I'm so excited. There are so many great books that are going to come out in the next twelve months. Carrol Henderson is doing a book on what started about an egg collection in Iowa and has now turned into a history of bird watching. That's going to be an amazing book as well. He's been showing me snippets of what he has been collecting for the book. Last week he showed me a pair of 100 year old binoculars (boy we've come a long way, baby). The history of these eggs are just unbelievable and this going to be a great read.

Towage and Mansfield Signage

We learned the reason why the trusty Saturn was towed. We left on Wednesday morning. On Thursday morning, the city cleaned the streets and we didn't see the signs since we were gone. I'm sure we could fight it, but it would cost more money to fight it than to pay the $218 to get it home. GRRRRRRR.

So, to lighten the mood, I'm inluding some of the interesting signage that can be found around the fair town of Mansfield, Ohio:


Holy cow, if this is a problem, what's going to happen if the city decides to put a smoking ban into effect? This was on the door to a family restaurant where we had breakfast. I think it's a reasonable request.

This was advertised on a sign outside of Porky's Drive In. Perhaps Mega Pot is the reason the folks in Mansfield are so friendly? Incidentally, there was no request for customers using oxygen tanks to not smoke.

Ratch A Fratch Er Frick A Frack

The title of this entry makes little sense unless you read it with a Yosemite Sam voice.

Cinnamon has chewed an almost escape-sized hole through the bunny gate (left). She has grunted at any efforts to give her a treat. She is very cross and is doing nothing to help my current mood. Meanwhile, Kabuki the cockatiel is angrily ringing the bell in his cage to alert me of his displeasure over our absence.

A half hour ago Non Birding Bill and I exited our airport cab and noticed that our trusty Saturn was nowhere to be seen. We live in a metro area and park on the street with little to no problems and should have seen it outside of our apartment building. I always tend to choose sensible cars like minivans and station wagons because no teenager wants to steal one of those and go joy riding.

Where was our car: either it was stolen or towed. I hoped for the latter as opposed to the former and to some relief that is exactly what has happened. I'm not sure why it was towed, there were no snow emergencies while we were gone. People often park for a week or more in the same spot so I don't think that was the reason, I wonder if our alarm went off and annoyed neighbors? Who can say. I'm a tad irritated but relieved that it wasn't stolen. Better to at least know where it is. NBB is picking it up right now. I'll be curious to learn what he found out about the towage.

Where The Heck Is The Birdchick?!?!

Sorry for the lack of updates for the last few days. I went from being out in the sticks with Bill and Julie and having internet access to the small town of Mansfield in northern Ohio with hardly any internet access--I thought Panera Breads were everywhere. Anyway, we have found some momentary access before boarding our plane home and I promise lots of updates within the next twenty four hours...then it's off to Utah on Wednesday. Sheesh.

NEST ID: I am so sorry to promise to id a nest and then not post for four days--such guilt over a blog. The nest and eggs in the previous entry belong to a song sparrow. Bill found the nest in his yard while we were filming a segment.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and a note to those who may have sent me an email in the last four days expecting a reply: if you don't get that expected reply by this Thursday, please resend it. My inbox is still downloading mail and it's at 134...135...136...you get the picture.

I am told by our pet sitter that we are in for some major disapproval. Cinnamon has chewed through her bunny gate that restricts her access to mischief in our apartment. She must have found out about visiting Chet.

So, what does a birdchick do in Mansfield, Ohio without hot birding spots and internet access--she takes up Sodoku--and starts referring to herself in the third person (somebody slap me). I am a major puzzle junkie anyway--I have to really restrict myself around cryptograms, but without any kind of mental stimulation, I was weak and picked up a couple of books on Soduoku and can't put them down. It's a sickness, I need help. Fortunately, it's spring migration so I think I can kick this cold turkey...so to speak.

I did get some sort of birding in. I got the following "lifer" this morning:

Quick and Dirty Entry

Some things you may not realize about the famous Chet Baker from just reading about him on the internet:

Chet is a lot smaller in person than he seems over the internet, and fits most comfortably in your lap. That is Non Birding Bill above sitting with Chet. If you have not checked Bill of the Birds and Julie's entries, they are confirming that NBB (above) is an NB. This is the only time NBB has ever visited or hung out with any of my birding pals. And it's all because of Chet. He would not be in this part of Ohio were it not for the chance to meet the internet's cutest Boston terrier.


Chet's fur is a lot browner in person. If he looks a tad remorseful in this photo, it's because he's just been scolded for rolling in something stinky and no longer smells like chocolate covered cherries.

Chet is not used to entertaining guests all day long. He usually spends his days napping unless Julie goes for a walk and then sleeps soon afterwards. However, during our stay he has been bending backwards to keep Non Birding Bill entertained while all the birders enjoy the outdoors. I think he will be happy to finally sleep once we leave. He looks so tired, poor puppy!


Chet NEVER disapproves, no matter how we try and bribe him with treats.

"I don't approve of that!"

I've been having a blast here (it's like my own personal Sharon camp), something new to explore around every corner from trillium, to newts, to birds, birds, birds and more birds! Today I set out the NovaBird Camera hoping to get a towhee but got something even better: a field sparrow, it totally made my month:


Some chipping sparrows also showed up:


Speaking of sparrows, any guesses on who made this nest and laid these eggs?

This will be identified in the next entry.

Non Birding Bill has found a companion in Bill and Julie's youngest, Liam. Here they are at the computers, my little Mac Boys:

Thompson and Zickefoose Like It Rough

Is this Non Birding Bill or Fredo from the Godfather? It's actually NBB performing at the Minnesota Fringe Benefit.

Non Birding Bill and I are in Ohio to film a segment on a big sit and poor NBB thought it would be fun to do an extra segment and accompany Julie and Bill on a walk in their woods. For an intense bird watcher, this is the time of your life--scrabling over hills, splashing into streams, sliding down in mud--let me tell you, those two like rough in the woods. But for folks who are mildly interested in the outdoors, it's pretty "hillish" as NBB would say. Holy cow, we are pooped--even Chet Baker is tired. Bill of the Birds is now making us some tasty grilled cheesy salami sandwiches.

It was fun to see things they had talked in their blogs like the tree from 1902, the ice cave and general Chet Baker wackiness, but it was work trudging up and down hills and NBB had the video camera and tripod. Julie is a wealth of knowledge in the woods pointing out not only birds but butterflies and wildflowers. NBB was a trooper and did survive, as did the camera. The sun filtered through the naked trees giving the woods a mystical glow. The weather here is absolutely gorgeous, sunny and in the 70s and new spring birds showing around every corner--gnatcatchers, wood thrushes, bluebirds, I'm getting the biggest kick being able to listen to towees and field sparrows from the deck. I told NBB that I probably was not going to come home with him, that we've given it our best shot being married eight years and all but I think I'm going to stay here in southern Ohio for the rest of my life.

The pond right outside the guest room is chock full of toads and we listened to them trill as we fell asleep last night, it's like having a live relaxation tape. That is until the very intense thunderstorm rolled through, the lightening was spectacular. The toads are pretty mellow and I was able to photograph them flirting with each other and few other unmentionable activities. There are now long strings of toad eggs floating near the pond surface.

Okay, not time for a shower and to film another segment.

Guess Where I Am?

I'll give you a hint:

If you think that's Chet Baker, you are right!

Three bloggers, two kids, one Non Birding Bill all under one roof. Who will come out victorious?

A Great Day To Be Alive

A quick request to readers of this blog. I discovered over the weekend that a mutual friend and I share a dream of starting an apiary. The discovery comes about a month too late. I can't find any honey bees for sale. If anyone in the Minnesota or Wisconsin area knows of any resources for helping me start an apiary--preferably with Italian bees, please send an email to sharon "at sign" birdchick "dot" com.

Thanks!

Today was just an awesome-oh-my-gosh-it-feels-so-good-to-be-alive day. It was our first 70 degree day in the Twin Cities and I had a morning meeting with some of my favorite people today. One was with Carrol Henderson from the DNR's Non Game Department. If you haven't done your taxes yet, don't forget the Chickadee Checkoff. And if you are saying, "How can I think about the checkoff when this week is tax week and I haven't filed yet?" I sympathize, we haven't filed yet either. I just found out the damage from our accountant tonight--it's part of my euphoric mood. I LOVE my accountant. Because Non Birding Bill and I both do freelance and are arty types who don't pay as close of attention to money as we should, when we have filed on our own taxes the last several years and have had to pay large sums to the government. This year we decided to get professional help, because let's face it, would you go to an accountant for birding help or theater advice? No. So why should a birdchick and a theater director/writer do their taxes--we're not money experts? Our accountant is getting us a federal refund--a refund for cryin' out loud! I actually had to sit down when he used that word. We will have a very minimal state tax payment, but it is so miniscule compared to the past few years. I'm so happy, I feel like an eagle that just found a roadkill deer! Dan the accountant is so wonderful! I love him as much as is humanly and legally possible for a married woman to love an accountant. Dan, you rock, you rock big! Cinnamon was so shocked when I told her the news, she couldn't even disapprove:

My other meeting was with Mark Martell of Minnesota Audubon. Mark and I are hatching a couple of plans, one is an event in July that will be a "Buy a Duck Stamp Day" at a National Wildlife Refuge. I'm thinking of this as more of a party with music, birding and booth displays. Since it was so gosh darn beautiful, we decided to take the meeting out to the Chain of Lakes and TS Robert's Bird Sanctuary. It's a fun bird sanctuary that is relatively close to my home. While there we found some horned grebes and shovelers out on Lake Harriet. We ran into a couple "lunch break" birders--with decent equipment and binoculars. (I used to go around and ID bird feeders "That's a Woodlink Hanging Copper Top Feeder on a Hookery Shepherd's Hook Pole and an Erva SB-1 Domed Squirrel Baffle and now I beginning to ID binoculars, "Hey, Mark, that dude has a Nikon Monarch 10 X 42.") Mark mentioned that years ago when he was trying to erect an osprey platform on Lake of the Isles, that if you were walking around with binoculars and scopes, people thought suspiciously of you--were you a pervert looking into people's homes? Now, in less than 25 minutes we encountered two people birding with Nikon and Swarovski optics.

Part of the fun of birding in my neighborhood are all the signs making sure you enjoy the outdoors so it doesn't bother others in the outdoors:

I did violate this sign a tiny bit. When Mark and I saw the grebes, we couldn't remember off hand how to distinguish red-necked from horned grebes. Both had been recently reported on Lake Harriet. Neither of us had a field guide, so I called NBB at work and had him google the info. The were horned grebes.

Here was another sign:


I don't think the sign means the area is under surveillance by birders looking for warblers. I think it's to warn that no shenanigans should be happening in the woods, just wildlife viewing and maybe a little jogging.

When we wrapped up our meeting and started heading back, we found a large raptor sitting in the sun on a low branch of a tree in a cemetery. The sun washed out the bird and it was fluffed a little. At first glance, it could have been dismissed as a light red-tail, but we don't have too many of those regularly in this area. Binocular and scope revealed it to be a fat and sassy female Cooper's hawk. Check out the bird's chest, you can hardly see any of the orange that should be there:

Okay, now enough of all this celebrating, I need to start packing. We head out of town on Wednesday. We're spending Easter weekend with NBB's parents and stopping to visit a couple of friends on the way.

Girl Bonding Over Woodcocks

Last night was the best night of woodcocking yet this year. Went out with my friend Amber, it was last minute. The moon was bright, and not only did we hear woodcocks, but we heard Wilson's snipe and coyotes (fairly close coyotes at that). The male woodcock we were watching really put on a show. Another male came in, and there was a slight tussle. Our guy was peenting away and as soons as the other male dropped in, his peent changed tone. It's hard to take woodcock machismo seriously since they wobble like Weebles when they walk, but they give it their all. At one point, our dude shoved his tail in the air like a wren, dropped his wings and wiggled them up and down. He then gave a sputtering call that sounded like Burt from Sesame Street if he were laughing after inhaling some helium. H chased out the rival male and gave his flight display. You go, boy!

It's Not Cinnamon, I Swear!

I appreciate everyone who has sent me links about the monster rabbit terrorizing garden patches in Northumberland village. For the record, it is NOT Cinnamon, she has been in Minneapolis for the last week, and she disapproves of all the accusations that it is her.

Wood Duck Boxery

Non Birding Bill and I managed to finish filming our wood duck installation segment yesterday. I'm not sure if I like it as much as the woodcock one, but I think it's short, informational and enough to get someone started on their first wood duck house.

We put them up in two places on Mr. Neil's property. We had a pretty good idea of where to put the first one, near a small pond near the driveway, but the second one I wanted down by the creek, I just didn't want it too close to trees so squirrels would take over. But I also didn't want to haul a seven foot 4X4 post and large cedar box down hills and through the woods. Mr. Neil had a good idea of where we could go and offered to take us in his new convertible mini--then he took it off road! I had no idea you could take those tiny cars off the road. I really like the covertible one, with the top down you can watch all the raptors thermalizing overhead. I complimented him on getting such a great car for birdwatching passengers.

As we were trying to find just the right spot, we came across some ripped up feathers. They were large and soft gray. Some bones were mixed and were very large. Hmmm, gray? Grouse? No, too big for grouse and too uniform. Wild Turkey? Hmmm, too gray...

Then it suddenly hit me--sandhill crane! By looking at the state of the feathers, they had been ripped with mammal teeth, taken out in clumps and some holes were consistant with a mammal bite. I know there are fox and coyote around. Sandhills do nest nearby, and they are migrating through right now. I wondered how this one came to be attacked and dragged into the woods. There's a road nearby, did it get hit by a car and was dragged in and eaten? Was it exhausted from migration and finished off by a coyote? Tough to say, but this was certainly an interesting scene for me to ponder for the rest of the day.

We found a perfect spot for the wood duck box. It's actually a spot that I always thought would be ideal for doing a big sit: on the edge of woods, looking over a pastures with a creek running through. I think this house will get duck right away, since some wood ducks are bound to be floating down the creek and will see the box and think, "Wow, look at that nice hole up there. I bet I could fit in there and lay some eggs." It's open enough around the box so the hen can fly in and out with no problem and the trees are far enough away so squirrels won't jump in and take over the box. We have great raccoon baffle on the post, so it's protected from most predators.

After we finished filming I stared exploring the woods. Mr. Neil's place is one of my favorite birding spots. I walked around and found three ruffed grouse territories. I love hearing grouse drum...or should I say feeling them drum? That drumming sound just seems to pass right through you. As I was walking I found a huge turkey feather. I picked it up and heard leaves rustling. I looked up, and there was a huge tom turkey running ahead trying to get away from me.

When I got out to the road, I found a turkey vulture sitting on a fence post eyeing a roadkill possum. The bird flew down and started eating away. A pickup truck went by and startled the vulture and fortunately it just flew away and didn't barf. As it took to the air, it dropped a feather. Wow, what luck: a wild turkey feather and a turkey vulture feather all in one day.

The turkey vulture feather is the one on the left and the wild turkey feather is the stripey one on the right. The vulutre one smelled just like a vulture should-a slight hint of vomit, just like the turkey vulture at The Raptor Center.

As I have been writing this entry, Kabuki has been lurking about and for some reason has decided to pull out one of my American Birding Association Brochures and chew it up. Apparently, he doesn't want me to go on that trip. Can't wait to see his reaction when he finds out that I'm going to the June convention. Look at that bird--no remorse.

Trip and Whooper

Okay, the trip info isn't up on the Preferred Adventures site, but will be up soon. I probably should have checked that first, but I am so excited I jumped the gun. Info will be ready next week and will of course be on this site.

Here's an email on the Minnesota Whooping Crane:

I went to go see the Whooping Crane in Todd County this morning. I drove around a bit, and luckily a Whooping Crane isn't hard to miss. I found the bird west of Swanville about 1/2 mile south of CR 104. First and foremost, they are magnificent birds, so seeing the bird was an amazing experience, especially watching it preen and extend its wings out to stretch. Unfortunately the bird was banded, most likely meaning it came from the Wisconsin flock, and thus not countable. Anyway, it had two bands on its left leg-red and white, and three bands on its right leg-orange, green, orange.

Ben Fritchman
Fargo, ND

For those who aren't familiar with "countable" and "not countable" these are terms birders use when trying to figure out how many birds someone has seen on their list. Some species aren't "officially" countable. For example, I live in Minnesota and if a parakeet showed up at my feeder, it wouldn't be countable because it would more than likely be an escaped pet. Here is a list of the ABA Guidelines. The whooping crane falls under this guideline:

(iv) An indigenous species which is reintroduced into an historic range of the species may be counted when the population meets the ABA Checklist's definition of being established or when it is not possible to reasonably separate the reintroduced individuals from naturally occurring individuals.

The whooping crane in Minnesota is banded and is probably one of the Wisconsin flock which is not considered an established flock yet. Some may be rolling their eyes at all these rules and regulations for birding, but hey this is what makes it fun for some people to make birdwatching a challenge. Most who go by these guidelines also follow the ABA Code of Birding Ethics so what's the harm in turning birding into a challenge?

Wild Whooping Crane In Minnesota!

Here is where all the listers will be Saturday morning. Below is an email commentary by Bob Russell on the report:

Carrol Henderson forwarded a contact to me this afternoon and I just managed to get online and view the fellow's photograph. Looks like a whooping crane and I don't see any color bands although the quality is not sharp. He has a better photograph and I'm trying to get hold of it now. For now, check out the website at BurtrumNews.com and information on the general location of the bird. I am suspicious that if this is the same bird that was near Zimmerman a couple of days ago, then it's trying to get back on a bearing for Alberta, perhaps after being blown east from the storms last week, and is farther north than most Wisconsin birds have ever wandered in MN so we better watch this bird, it could easily be a wild whooper. If anyone locates this bird on Saturday please post directions, do not disturb it (use your car as a blind) and see if you see any color bands. Most Aransas birds are not banded and the few that still are have metal bands only.

Bob Russell
Wildchough@aol.com

Banding and Woodcocking

What an action packed day!

It started by getting proofs for the 2007 Birding Calendars that Stan Tekiela and I work on. This time we ended up doing Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio! Boy, they sure look sweet with Stan’s photos, he’s such an artist.

This morning I took up Jim Fitzpatrick’s offer to observe the songbird banding that happens at Carpenter Nature Center on Friday mornings. I was so excited to see Tom Bell is a part of it. Tom is one of my favorite birders, if I had to describe him it would be to think if Lee Marvin and James Coburn had a child, it would have been Tom Bell. And, for the record, Tom Bell told me that he has been birding several times with Tom Nelson and that Mr. Nelson is a very good birder and a nice guy.

I have observed songbird banding a few times but have never gotten into it quite as much as I have with the raptors and the pelicans. I joked that I liked to band birds that didn’t require a magnifying glass in order to get the band on. That’s Tom Bell at right using a magnifier to place a band on a junco.

Nets weren’t used today because it was so windy. Not many birders were coming into the potter’s traps so we had time on our hands. I announced to the group that I had a pocket full of pellets to dissect, so we did that while we waited for more birds. Based on the size of pellets, the owl feathers found with them and the habitat where the pellets were found, we think we were dissecting long-eared owl pellets.

We found at least three skulls, some ribs, vertebrae and even a few tails. One of the pellets had larger bone fragments but they were very porous, so it must be from some type of bird. Since I found the pellets around a woodcock lek, I wonder if they were woodcock bones?

We did get a female cardinal in one of the traps. Your probably wondering if she was possessed based on the photo at left. She just happened to bring down her extra eyelid when I snapped the photo, it’s called a nictitating membrane. Birds use this when they fly or when eating to protect their eyes. There's a photo without the extra eyelid below. Surprisingly, cardinals are not the favorite of banders. That fat bill they use to get seeds out of the shell works quite nicely in slicing human skin as well.

When I got home, I got word that this fall Amber and I will be leading an Eagle Optics Raptor Migration Trip to—brace yourself—Veracruz, Mexico! If anyone is interested in hanging out with a couple of fun chicks and sipping margaritas while watching a million or so raptors, contact Preferred Adventures at 1-800-840-8687. We will also be looking for other species besides raptors, but this will be fun trip, as Amber and I like to put the wild in wild bird.

Tonight Non Birding Bill and I went out for more woodcock action at Carver Park and even more exciting than that, we have put together a little video on how to go out for woodcocks. It will be showing up soon on either eagleoptics.com or birdzilla.com. I can’t believe the footage NBB got—not bad for a non-birder. I must say, there's nothing sexier than a man who can get a woodcock in focus on a cold spring evening! Here’s a teaser photo:

Budapalooza

This afternoon I went to an appreciation party for Harrison "Bud" Tordoff (pictured, left in the center) at The Raptor Center. It was a bird nerd's dream, packed with a who's who of raptor bums, especially those on the peregrine end of things (Frank Gill, pictured below, was there--the one book I didn't think to bring to be autographed--yes, I did geek out). Though Bud is stepping down as far as taking the lead on peregrine activity in Minnesota, this was more a "Hey, Bud, we think you're awesome" type party as opposed to a "retirement" party.

Amber and I had the opportunity to go out with Bud a few times and check nests with him around the Twin Cities metro area. Listening to him describe all the life histories of each falcon is like listening to my grandmother recount all the husbands of various heroines in her afternoon stories. We were even able to put together a couple of falcon banding tours with Bud. He's had a great career and you could feel the love for the man flowing thick through the room. He received a plaque from The Raptor Center, a Silver Eagle Award from US Fish and Wildlife and a really cool photo from Carrol Henderson of a peregrine.

For a good time, check out Bud's Midwest Peregrine Falcon Restoration Site--great bird stories from a great man.

Conversations With A Fellow IBWO Searcher

Today, I went out to Carpenter Nature Center to meet with Jim Fitzpatrick and Jen Vieth. Jim runs Carpenter and his brother John is the director of Cornell Lab of Ornithology. For awhile it was said that Jim had seen an ivory-billed woodpecker and his brother who runs the lab had not. I wonder if that is still the case or if it changed this winter?

I had heard many great things about Jim and was eager to finally meet him and it's always a treat to visit Carpenter, which was once voted by City Pages as one of the best kept secrets for nature in the Twin Cities. I was excited, as soon as I got out of the car, I heard my first eastern phoebe of the year and there were a few buffleheads (pictured in blog) hanging out on a nearby pond.

When I arrived, I headed for the administrative offices and stuck my hands in my jacket...it was at that exact moment I remembered that was the place I had decided to store some owl pellets I found yesterday at the woodcock spot in Carver Park. They now had massed into a wad of damp fur and bone. Not wanting to shake Jim's hand with damp pellety hands, I had to seek the nearest restroom when I entered the building.

When Jim and I finally met and sat down to talk, I told him that we had something in common. "You and I have both seen A type cavities."

He eyed me curiously. Jen asked, "What's an A cavity." Jim replied, "A big cavity." I added, "A potential ivory-billed cavity."

Jen asked the inevitable question, "I suppose no one in your group had an encounter?" Jim and I looked at each other, what would the other say? Does he know something that I don't know about the search this winter? Do I know something that he might know? Does he think I know he knows something? Do I know, if he knows if he knows something? The questions in my head got too confusing and I told Jen our pat answer: "I am not at liberty to say if anyone in our group did or did not have an encounter with that particular species of woodpecker."

(Although, I did hear a rumor that recently one of the volunteer searchers in the White River area got bit by a Cottonmouth, but it was a dry bite and they are okay.)

Carpenter is a great place for school groups and for adults just looking for a remote spot to chill out. It's right along the St. Croix River between Minnesota and Wisconsin and will be just chock full of warblers in about four weeks. Today I saw lots of eagles, vultures and red-tailed hawks moving along and even four pelicans. I learned that on Friday mornings when it's not raining, they do songbird banding. I'm going to try and make a point to visit this spring. Next Friday I will be in Ohio and the Friday after that I will be in Utah so it may have to wait until May.

Well, off to dissect some pellets.

Cats and Bird Flu

Bird flu (or avian influenza) is not here at the moment. If it does show up in the United States, and you have a cat that spends time outdoors, you should read the article at the Star Tribune:

People living in areas where bird flu has been found in poultry or wild birds should keep their cats indoors, say scientists who believe the potential role of felines in spreading the virus is being overlooked.

Cats have been known to become infected with the H5N1 virus and lab experiments show they can give it to other cats, although nobody knows whether they can transmit it to people or poultry, the researchers say in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Scientists know so little about H5N1 in cats that it's difficult to assess the risk they pose when infected, wrote virologist Albert Osterhaus and colleagues at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, along with Peter Roeder of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Still, "we believe that the potential role of cats should be considered in official guidelines for controlling the spread of H5N1 virus infection," they wrote.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Fourth Wild California Condor Nest Found

This just in from the Ventana Wildlife Society! For the first time in over 100 years a California condor pair is nesting in a coastal redwood in Big Sur. It is the fourth pair of nesting condors in the wild this year. This is also the first time a condor has been found nesting in this particular species of redwood. You can watch a news video about the nesting condor at KTVU. Keep your eye (or should I say gelatinous globe) on Ventana's site for condor nesting updates.

Does Cinnamon Have a Drinking Problem?

Repeat Offender

This morning we had a nice family bring in a young great horned owl to The Raptor Center (left). The great horned owl was about a month old and was on his third trip in to the clinic. Young owls go through a "brancher" stage when their feet are large and incredibly strong, but they are still not ready to fly. Since adult owls don't construct a nest and often take over an old red-tailed hawk or squirrel nest, they aren't the most stable of homes to begin with. Throw in one or two rambunctious youngsters and a few windy winter storms and the nest usually falls apart. Young owls use their strong feet and talons to climb trees or "branch out". They are often found on the ground and their parents will still feed and take care of them, even if they are way below the original nest or if the nest is gone completely.

This is the time of year when we get an influx of young owls at TRC, when caring people find them on the ground and bring them in. Today's owl must live in one of the most caring neighborhoods out there, since this is the third neighbor to bring it in. No matter where it gets put in a tree, it keeps popping up on the ground, it's moving around quite a bit. The first thing TRC does with a young olw is to make sure there are no broken bones, then we will talk to whoever brought in the owl and try to put it back in the nest. We have professional tree climbers on our volunteer staff who will climb just about anything to get those dudes back with their parents. Sometimes, they will just put it on a high branch and let the parents do the rest. If it is not possible to get the young owl back to its original nest spot, we will deposit it into another owl nest (of the same species of course)--fortunately, adult owls can't count and will feed anyone begging in their nest.

Let's hope this is that little owl's last trip to TRC.

Last week I reported about the hormones and vocalizations of the education raptors in the courtyard and the red-tailed hawk who laid an egg. The egg was taken out when one of the cleaning crew members got chased around by the red-tail--one of the many reasons we don't wear open toed shoes around the birds. This week, our education one-eyed golden eagle laid an egg (right). She has that look that says, "I dare ya', I dare ya' to come in and take this one."

Had fun tonight, NBB and I went out to chase timber doodles. I love looking for woodcocks on a cold spring night. It's so fun listening for the first "peent"--it starts right at clockwork, 15 minutes after sunset, you hear the first one--then dozens get going. If you live in the metro area, Carver Park on the west side of town is pretty reliable for watching woodcocks.

Another Ivory-billed Woodpecker Theory

Years ago, a friend long-term loaned me a book called The Ivory Hunters by Greg Lewbart. I took it with me on the ivory-bill search last December and our crew had a fun time reading certain passages aloud. It’s a “what if” type book about the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker—which came out in 1996, so this guy wasn’t even trying to capitalize on the current situation.

Basically, the bird is found and a mercenary tries to sell the location to the highest bidder, which includes a couple who own a zoo that’s about to go bankrupt, a private bird collector and an educational institution. You figure out pretty quick who is the good guy and who is the bad guy, I read it with interest and then shook my head in disbelief when the ivory-billed woodpecker turned unexpectedly violent. Here is an excerpt--Warning, skip past the bolded paragraph if you ever intend to read this hard to find book and don’t want any spoilers:

“…the thick sharp bill of the male ivory-bill penetrated Cutter’s exposed right eye before he even had a chance to blink. The bird’s momentum drove its bill easily through the man’s right gelatinous globe before tunneling past the thick optic nerve on its way to the vulnerable gray matter of Cutter’s brain. With its face neatly buried in Cutter’s eye socket, the powerful bird planted both feet on the man’s face, gripped tightly, and used it legs as leverage in order to extract its blood tinged bill from Cutter’s cranium.”

Perhaps, it’s best that the ivory-billed woodpecker isn’t so easy to see. What a PR nightmare for Cornell to have if the woodpecker is offing searchers right and left! Maybe the reason why it’s so hard to find is that we are focusing on ivory-billed woodpeckers and not bloody red-billed woodpeckers?

Looking over the book tonight got my mind working. When news of the ivory-billed woodpecker rediscovery hit last spring, there was concern early on that the area would be flooded with birders and searched to death. All the people down there would do more harm than good for the birds.

Let’s say for the sake of argument that there are five ivory-billed woodpeckers left in Arkansas, not really enough for a starter set to replenish the population, but definitely some down there. Woodpeckers aren’t known to do really well in captivity anyway, so even if the birds are spotted and tracked, doing a captive breeding program would be out of the question. What do you do then?

So, the rarest woodpecker has been rediscovered and so far only grainy footage is available to the public, leading to speculation that the bird in question was misidentified. Now, all the leading bird experts are proclaiming that the bird isn’t really there based on physical evidence presented so far. They keep saying it’s all a hoax, there’s no ivorybill, causing the public to lose interest and ignore the area where it was seen. Perhaps everyone who is most vocal about the non-existence of ivory-billed woodpeckers are the strongest believers and are their most fervent protectors. It would make sense, Kaufman and Sibley are both guys who believe that a bird’s well being should come before anything else.

Let's take it a step further. Maybe Cornell and The Nature Conservancy have had excellent documentation and photos so far. Maybe they had intended to keep this secret for years, but somehow it leaked and they had to show their cards last spring. Knowing that everyone and their birding brother would want to search the area, they threw out red herrings and poor evidence to allow the inevitable media circus and scrutiny to pass so that the woodpeckers would eventually be left alone in peace. Maybe all the skeptics were recruited by Cornell to aid in the misdirection.

Or maybe my parents watched too many JFK/UFO/Elvis conspiracy theory videos when I was a kid and they rubbed off on me.

Blog With Potential--Edited

I was scanning Fat Birder's Top 500 (although, it's currently only the top 336) and came across Alan's BirdCam Blog. Lots of photos and it appears so far to be about what's going on in his yard. Some really fun photos and video of warblers, thrashers, towhees and grosbeaks at his feeder.

After I posted about Alan's blog, a reader pointed out to me that in the comments section of his last entry was this note:

"This was the last posting by Alan. He passed away within an hour of posting this wonderful image. "

I rarely read comment sections on blogs and had completely missed that. Thank you, Lea, for bringing that to my attention. I'm so sorry for his family's loss and even though he is no longer with us, we can enjoy and share in the love he had for the birds at his feeder. For some, he gave the gift of cyber birding.

Yesterday's Open House

The Raptor Center has an open house twice a year. It's part of a University of Minnesota event designed to let the public see what is going on. It's free and well attended by lots of families. One of the projects I'm working on is setting up The Raptor Center to sell binoculars in their gift shop.

For big events like the open house or the spring bird release, I try to be on hand and explain how to use binoculars and what to look for when choosing them. It's a great deal, because people can get GREAT binoculars at affordable prices and purchasing them through The Raptor Center benefits the injured eagles, hawks, owls and falcons.

I've been with The Raptor Center since 1998 and I remember when I first started in education, I wanted to do every event possible to handle birds and because I was so excited to talk about birds with anybody. It almost never fails to be cold and rainy on open house days so after the first two, I made a mental note to never volunteer for the outdoor raptor displays for the open house. Yesterday was no exception--rain and forty degrees. I felt bad for all the soggy volunteers and birds. When I would demonstrate digiscoping from inside the dry, warm building, I would aim the scope on the outdoor raptor displays and I think people got a huge kick out of the wet owls (above), as well as the dripping volunteers. Live and learn.

Speaking of educating the public, one of the things with doing booth programs is that from time to time you run into people who know way more about birds than you do--the information isn't always accurate or correct, but they certainly do know more than you. I was talking about that with Al Batt when I saw him at the Northwest Sports Show. He agreed and said that he sees that especially with young guys who have their sweetie on their arm and want to show off to impress her. He then added, "But, I'm on the guy's side and I want help him look good so I just go ahead and agree--sure, that's not common, but you sure did see a roadrunner in Minnesota. We guys gotta stick together."

I love Al Batt.

Where Did The Weekend Go

I found another roosting sparrow (left) at the convention center, this female wasn't as sound a sleeper as the other dude.

Somehow, a whirlwind kicked in on Thursday and I got swept up. It's unusual for me not to have time for the blog, but I got completely caught up at the Sports Show and at The Raptor Center Open House on Sunday. Whew. I'm kind of dreading the email inbox. I haven't checked it on a daily basis the last four days and I know it is practically overflowing at this point.

I'm feeling a strong need to go out and watch birds, last night I had a dream that I found the first state record of a phainopepla in Minnesota. If you are having dreams about watching birds, you better get out and do it. Actually, with all the talk of woodcocks at the Thompson and Zickefoose household, I think I might take a trip woodcocking tonight or tomorrow. I have a mountain of laundry to do and I save the woodcocks as my goal. I can't go see woodcocks until I've done three loads of darks and one load of whites.

We had a minor trauma for me in the kitchen. Thursday night I made a couple of mugs of hot chocolate to unwind. Friday morning a spider had moved in and webbed out in the spout of our electric kettle. So much for heating up water for the French press coffee pot. I like spiders in my house, they serve a useful purpose. I just really don't want to know about them in my home. Part of it is, that I can swell to Popeye proportions when bitten by certain species of spider. The other part is that they move in such a weird way, it freaks me out. I called Non Birding Bill at work and alerted him to the situation of the spider in the kettle.

NBB: Clean out the kettle.

Birdchick: That's not the purpose of this call. I'll be at the convention center when you get home from work, so in case you want to make yourself some tea, I thought you might want to know about the spider.

NBB: Why don't you just wipe out the spider and clean the kettle?

Birdchick: You know, I think I'm going to just have coffee at the convention center--it's Starbucks and cheaper than the water there.

NBB (laughing): It's just s spider. Wipe it out.

Birdchick: That's not the purpose of this call. Again, I just thought you might find this information useful for when you get home.

NBB: Well, I can clean the itsy bitsy spider out, but it's just going to crawl up the spout again (laughing uncontrollably).

I don't know what happened, but he kettle was cleaned out and ready for use on Saturday morning.

A conversation

Me: Darling?

Sharon: Yes?

Me: If you're going to make a joke about the Pope having bird flu, you should probably spell "flu" correctly.

Sharon: How did I spell it?

Me: As in "The bird flew out the window."

Sharon: A string of profanity.

-posted by Bill

News Alert! Pope Has Bird Flu

I just heard that the Pope has bird flu. Early reports say that he got it from a Cardinal.

April Fools!