Endangered Birds Pushing Their Luck

Killer birds raid Cyclone Larry town

From:

By Ian Gerard

Visitor ... Jan Shang keeps a close watch on a visiting cassowary as she attends to chores. Picture: Eddie Safarik

THEY have borne Cyclone Larry and weeks of torrential rain, but now the luckless residents of Innisfail face a new dilemma, a posse of hungry marauding cassowaries.

The critically endangered and famously testy flightless bird, known for its ability to disembowel humans with its razor-sharp claws, is running amok through the backyards and suburban streets of north Queensland in search of food.

The birds are believed to have left rainforest areas after much of the fruit-bearing plants they depend on were knocked down by Larry's 260km/h winds.

It is expected to be months before the birds' food sources begin to replenish.

Meanwhile, roaming cassowaries are reported to have chased several residents through town. One recently fell into a backyard swimming pool and had to be rescued.

The people of Innisfail and surrounds have now been warned not to feed the birds.

Queensland Parks and Wildlife rangers have set up food stations throughout the cyclone-affected region to entice cassowaries back into the forests and save them from being hit by cars or chased by dogs. At least six cassowaries have died in the Mission Beach region, south of Innisfail, since the cyclone, all struck by cars.

The birds are vital to the survival of the World Heritage-listed wet tropics rainforest because they are the only animals capable of distributing the seeds of more than 70 species of trees whose fruit is too large for any other forest-dwelling animal to eat and thus relocate.

There are less than 1200 cassowaries left in Australia.

Read the rest of the story here and be sure to check out the gallery of other deadly animals in the region.

Moon Walking Manakin

Click on the link and then click on "video".

Birds, Swallowtails and Squirrels, oh my

I had to share the above photo. I was giving a program at The Raptor Center yesterday and right before it started, the merlin I was going to use decided to take a bath. This photo is after it had dried a little bit, but at first she looked just awful, completely waterlogged. It's hard to convince people what badasses merlins are when they are soggy and scrawny looking.

I had my first encounter with an apiary. One of the staff at Carpenter Nature Center took me out to their beehives to begin my training on keeping an apiary. I knew this was going to be a real test. Oh sure, I've been reading about keeping bees, but would I panic and freak when actually confronted with a hive? I didn't freak--I even got see a queen. There's A LOT involved with keeping a hive for honey but this is something doable for me. For those interested, I did not get stung.

While there, I found several eastern tiger swallowtails all over their lilac bushes. They really do love to nectar on those plants. It was interesting to note that birds had sampled some of the swallowtails.

Take a look at the swallowtail at this swallowtail. See the chunk of wing missing. That hole left in the wing almost looks like it had been grabbed by the bill of a great-crested flycatcher, but who knows for sure which bird tried to eat it?

People who were reading this blog last summer may remember my problem with squirrels chewing their way into my bedroom window and I had to relocate all the ones that decided to come in whenever they wished. Once again, I'm having a squirrel issue. Last night while sitting on the couch reading, I heard a chewing sound come from the bathroom. Without thinking I automatically shouted, "Cinnamon, get out of the bathroom!" The chewing continued, I looked up and suddenly noticed that Cinnamon was sitting on the Love Sac right across from me. She stared at me with great disapproval that I would accuse her of chewing. Both of her ears were facing me. We heard in the gnawing sound again. Cinnamon's right ear turned towards the direction of the sound while she continued to stare at me accusingly. It was dark out. Cinnamon was in front of me...what was chewing in the bathroom. I'll give you three guesses: a squirrel.

For some reason a squirrel has decided to build a nest in our bathroom window. You can see in this photo I took of the ledge this morning, the little cup impression on the lower left corner where it cuddled up and slept. I don't know why the squirrel wants to live here. We live in an old brown stone with lots of little quirks, one being a window on the same wall as a bath tub/shower. We keep a shower curtain in front of it, but still you would think a squirrel would notice the hot steam rolling out when we shower. Is this some kind of pervert squirrel that has been peeping when we are showering? What is it with my apartment and squirrels??

Killdeer Feelin' The Love

The killdeer post from a few days ago inspired Karen Cramer:

While waiting for him in the Jeep, from along the western edge of the parking lot I heard this commotion consisting of continuous and raucous "Kill-Deer", "Kill-Deer" calls. After my Uncle returned with his steaming cup of caffeine, I had him drive toward the area of the lot where all the noise was originating. There, we observed a group of 5-6 killdeer, darting and calling, chasing each other, displaying, and, yes, a couple of killdeer were even doing the WILD THING. Of course, always having my camera on me as if it were a third eye, I just had to snap a photo. So attached to this message is my Future Killdeer Parents photo. Enjoy!

Thanks, Karen, I would say, we are enjoying this, but would that make me sound weird? I remember the first time I saw birds engaging in mating. I was kid and was watching two flickers--I was surprised and excited, I had read about mating and now here it was. It looked almost impossible to figure out that balance--the killdeer in the above photo are at least on the ground, the female flicker I watched was balancing on a branch and the male was balancing on her--that seems like a lot of work. Anyway, I remember my mom walked in and asked what I was watching so intently out the window. "Two flickers having sex!" I answered excitedly. She came over to watch, and I'll never forget the look on her face when she said, "I don't know if you should be watching that." I think in her mind she was thinking, "On the one hand, she's a kid, should she be watching this? On the other hand, this is nature and scientific..." The flickers decided the dilemma for her and both flew off.

Freaky Hot Weekend

When I moved to Minnesota, I did not sign up for super hot summers.

Okay, so summertime snow isn't what I want either. The above photo isn't really snow, it's just from the cottonwood trees. This weekend it's been in the upper 90s with high humidity so it feels like it's well over 100--ugh. One top of that, our air conditioner decided to go give up the ghost on Sunday.

"Oooo, I don't approve of no air conditioning! I'm sitting on the cockatiel's food until you rectify the situation."

I knew we were in a precarious situation, it was unusually hot on Saturday and no doubt all the places that carry air conditioners wouldn't have their supply high for this time of year, but we chanced it and got the last energy efficient window unit air conditioner in our price range. Ah, the secret to a happy marriage is air conditioning.

The heat was having an odd effect on everyone.

Here is a motley little crew filming a video in our ally. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure these are our next door neighbors. They kind of remind me of a Beastie Boys video from Paul's Boutique.

The guy in the green jumpsuit and eye patch wielding an accordion was intriguing. He didn't play too badly.

Here we have a drake mallard chillin' on top of a neighbor's roof--what's that all about?

And now Non Birding Bill is taking photos of birds, and on top of that a really cool brown bird, a dickcissel. What's happening to my world? Cool weather please come back and restore my sanity.

Banding At Carpenter

Friday's banding brought in some interesting birds. First, though can you identify this little bird? I will reveal the identity at the end of this post.

Something that you can't quite see in this photo is that the bird has a light yellow rump patch. This bird required all the guys to get out the field guides when she came in. It was interesting to note that there are several field guides around and the banders tend to reach for Peterson or National Geographic before they will reach for Sibley. I always thought Sibley was the end all be all and the first to be reached for. Who knew?

Well, now here is something you don't see every day:

It's a song sparrow and a red-eyed vireo side by side. They both came into the nets at the same time and I thought "What a fun comparison." The song sparrow tends to hang out low the ground singing its fool head off and the red-eyed vireo tends to hang out in the tops of tree singing its fool head off. I don't know why, but as a kid I always got the impression from looking at field guides that vireos were robin sized and not closer to sparrow or warbler sized. I was really surprised when I actually got to see them in the wild and how small they are. Harold Mayfield recorded one red-eyed vireo in Michigan who sang 22,197 times in a 10 hour period--at least it's a pleasant song.

We also got a gray catbird in the nets.

"Love me..."

"...love my vent."

It may seem odd to have a rusty red vent (aka bird equivalent of a butt) but males and females flash each other with it during mating season. When you think about what some of us do on dates, it really doesn't seem all that weird. If it does seem weird to you, you need to get out more.

Some people may be noticing catbirds at the feeder, they love to come in for grape jelly, mealworms and the occasional oyster cracker. I know, some people are out there thinking I'm off my gourd about the oyster crackers, but I have proof thanks to the NovaBird Camera:

See? Gray catbird eating oyster crackers that were meant for boat-tailed grackles in Virginia.

Are you still puzzling about the mystery warbler in the first photo of this entry? I've dropped a few hints already: it's a warbler and it's female. Here's another clue:

When the bird was let go, she dove straight down right for some bushes as opposed to flying up in the trees. Has that narrowed it for you? One more hint if you are still stumped: these guys are very pishable (if you say the word "pish" in a whisper, this species will often respond and check out what is making that sound). Now, have you figured out "whichity" warbler it is? (okay, that was a lame pun I know--but it's a holiday weekend, throw me a bone.)

It's a female common yellowthroat. If you got it, pat yourself on the back for a job well done. If you didn't, don't sweat it, female warblers are tough. If you laughed at the whichity clue, then go slap yourself.

One Bad Egg (Collector)

Mr. Neil alerted me to this interesting story:

The day Britain's most notorious egg collector climbed his last tree

Birder falls to his death from larch tree while checking out unusual nest

Martin Wainwright
Saturday May 27, 2006
The Guardian

Colin Watson's prey was precious, rare and hidden in dangerous places. And on a windy afternoon this week his risk-taking finally caught up with him.

While a friend watched in horror, Watson, 63, lost his grip on the slender trunk of a 12-metre (40ft) larch tree he had climbed to check out yet another unusual bird's nest. The former power station worker tumbled to the ground in woods in south Yorkshire, a region where collectors have often played hide-and-seek with police. Paramedics arrived soon afterwards but the father-of-three had suffered massive injuries and was declared dead at the scene.

Here's the rest of the article here. Do read it, it's an incredible story. This guy had been convicted, fined and even had his gigantic illegal collection taken away, yet he still continued! There are many great people in the birding field, and like all activities, there are a few who just don't make us look good. That's a shame.

Speaking of eggs, I am sitting on pins and needles waiting for Carrol Henderson's book to come out about a history of egg collecting in the United States and how it shaped bird watching. I think it's supposed to come out in the fall. Woot.

Punk'd by a Killdeer...sort of

Yesterday while walking past a power substation, I noticed a killdeer on the other side of the fence staring at me.
When a killdeer is very interested in you, that is a sign that she has something to hide. Most likely eggs or young. If she had just kept sitting and incubating, I probably would have never noticed her, but this blatant stalking was way to obvious. I wonder if she is a first time nester?

The killdeer started her wounded bird display. You could easily see the rusty feathers they flash to give the appearance of a bloody injury. I would guess this is learned behavior, as the chicks will see the female give it whenever danger is nearby. When you see a killdeer give this display, this is a time to stop walking and look all around before you next step. She is trying to lead you away from the nest or young and you could be quite close to these very camoflaged items. I saw her trying to take me towards the right, so I focused my attention to the left.

I don't know how well you can see this, but on the lower right hand corner are the eggs--right next to the fence and in the upper left corner is the killdeer still trying to lure me away. Here's a better view of the nest:

On the surface this looks like a good spot, this is a very well fenced area with a few tiny pockets that will be just big enough for the chicks to walk out of. On the other hand, the nest is close enough to the fence that an enterprising raccoon on the outside could conceivably reach in and grab the eggs. If she make it through incubation she should be okay, because the chicks will run around as soon as they are hatched. Another consideration I don't think the killdeer took in was that there is a pair of kestrels nesting insided the fenced substation as well. Many challenges for this nest, maybe she knows something I don't.

She kept up her display, and she was working so hard I felt I owed it to her to play along. Plus, I didn't want to linger to long at the nest. The scent of humans can get a raccoons attention and lead them to the nest. So I played along and followed this faux injured bird. When I made for a pounce she flew away. Whenever killdeer finally do the final fly away they always give a version of their call that that has a laughing quality to it. I wonder how that evovled. Perhaps to taunt the chaser to go after and punch the killdeer, thereby leading the predator further from the nest.

Need A Warbler Fix?

If you aren't seeing warblers like you would want, check out Mike's Digiscoping Blog for some amazing vacation warbler shots he digiscoped and check out the Stokes Birding Blog for some fantastic photos--you can even see Lillian rockin' her super camera setup--holy cow!

Birdchick: You know, they say that cat Lillian is one bad mother...

Non Birding Bill: Shut Your Mouth!

Birdchick: But I'm talkin' about the Stokes.

Non Birding Bill: I can dig it.

Both: Stokes!

Birdchick: Right on.

And now you'll never think of the theme from Shaft the same ever again--insert evil laugh here.

Some rehabbers...

...have too much time on their hands.

Image of alien face found in wounded bird's stomach

Bay City News Service

Radiograph & photo by Marie Travers/IBRRC

Image of bird X-ray

An X-ray of the stomach of a wounded duck that died at the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia contains the uncanny image of an alien's face.

Honest!

And like the grilled cheese sandwich with an image of the Madonna, the X-ray image will be auctioned on eBay. Bidding starts Sunday at 3 p.m.

Read the rest here.

Mr Neil Got Wrenned

So, I stopped by to install a motion sensitive camera to try and get a photo of the bear that is terrorizing Mr Neil's feeders and decided to check out the bird houses I put up this spring, all of them have been claimed as wren boxes. Not only that, they all appear to be wren decoy nests as opposed to the actual wren nest. (For non birders--house wrens will build several nests--sometimes 5 to 6 and only actually lay eggs in one of them. The others serve as decoys against predators).

Okay, the wren house was a given, the bluebird house was understandable, but the wood duck house?? How much space does an eensy brown bird need?

I'm on the road once again, not going to a festival, just doing some work. There are some great birds right outside the hotel. I heard my first common nighthawk of the season, watched a kestrel nail something in the field and heard a couple of grasshopper sparrows.

Little Update On The Prairie

Boy, you can tell it's spring migration, blogging updates are few and far between. I had a great time at Detroit Lakes, but boy do I feel like I've been rode hard and hung up wet. I think I have a bird hangover.

I just plain exploded when I got to the Detroit Lakes Festival. The warblers hadn't shown up yet, and the weather and been cold and rainy. We were actually a little nervous on Thusday night that we would not be able to find to many warblers for the weekend trips when wouldn't you know it on Friday afternoon, the warbler floodgates opened and they were dripping off of the trees. They must have just flown in. It was funny because we started with a couple of redstarts and yellow-rumps and then someone found a Wilson's warbler. I said, if we had a Wilson's anything is possible, so one of the other trip leaders and I started calling out species we could use including blackburnian, blackpoll, magnolia, Cape May--wouldn't you know it, we got all of those--and two surprise parulas!

What I really like about Detroit Lakes, is that you can visit three different habitats: hardwood, boreal and prairie. I ended up co-leading the prairie trips, which is what I wanted. I have a soft spot for bobolinks and they were everywhere.

Here is one of the hundreds we saw. I really enjoy leading field trips but it's hard to digiscope. When you're a field trip leader the priority is to make sure everyone on the trip is seeing the birds around and to help find target species. The bobolinks really put on a show. At one point two males were fighting over territory and were flying within 7 - 8 eight feet of our heads. There were also several upland sandpipers around. You can' help but feel attractive with those birds around. Their call sounds like a wolf whistle.


Since there weren't a lot of tall perches for the birds of the prairie, they made do. Above is a Wilson's snipe balancing on a wire. We also saw a couple of upland sandpipers do this. Can I say how weird it is to see shorebirds perched on a wire?

We stopped at a great spot called Felton Prairie. I loved all the marbled godwits, they scolded us almost everywhere we went. The grass was almost as tall as the godwits. I got a chuckle out of them. As I would scan the grass you would see these little heads pop up with these enormous bills.

We were all standing in one spot watching for horned larks and godwits when we heard the rumbling and thumping. Some cows were running straight for us.

They stopped along the edges of the road and watched. If we moved ahead, they would follow. I think they thought we might feed them.

I offered to teach them how to use binoculars, but they didn't seem that interested.

Here is something unexpected at a Nyjer thistle feeder: clay-colored sparrows. I had no idea these guys would eat Nyjer. I love their buzzy little call.

When Cinnamon learned about all the ticks festival goers were gathering, she laid out a huge disapproval. She only made one brief appearance at the booth, she didn't want to risk the ticks. Can't say I blame her.

There was an odd incident with the manager of the hotel we were staying in. Pets were welcome, but he was greatly concerned about Cinnamon and warned me I would pay for "any soiling" she may do to the room. Cinnamon was most upset and disapproved of this. After all, it's a well known fact that I am somewhat of a slob. Ask anyone who has ever worked for me. Ask WildBird on the Fly, she's roomed with me, she would know. Take look of Cinnamon's space in the above photo.

Above is my bed in the room. I ask you, who is more likely to soil this room, my rabbit or myslef? After Cinnamon corrected the manager as to who was the mess maker, he gave her a pack of little mineral blocks--what a nice guy! Since I was messy, I didn't get anything.

After three days of getting up at 4am, working the binocular booth, giving workshops and performing, I was barely awake enough to drive, so Jeff the ever helpful Leica rep led me to some much needed coffee. We did get a kick out of the billboard in the above photo. Are there any male readers of this blog that would like to call that number?

I am so tired, I must sleep more. I apologize for typos, I'm too tired to go over this more carefully.

Over Birded and Ivory-bill Updates

I am soooooooooooo tired (18 species of warblers in one day--oy). I think I may have over birded at the Detroit Lakes Bird Festival. I have to say, it is one of my favorite bird festivals--the other one is the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, if you can only ever afford to do two birding festivals in your lifetime, those would be the two I recommend. I'll blog more about Detroit Lakes when I'm more coherent--incidentally, I would start making plans for next year asap--they announced that David Sibley himself will be there. I didn't know he still did festivals.

In other news, a chronicle of my adventures in Arkansas on the Cornell Ivory-bill search has started up on Eagle Optics website. There's a lot to cover in what happened in a two week period. More updates will be added soon.

Neil Gaiman Searches for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker

Woo Hoo! I can upload images to blogger in the usual way, I heart blogger again.

Read an early press release on the Ivory-bill search at WildBird on the Fly. It's good to have a friend on the inside of the media.

Okay, not many people know this, but when I when down to Arkansas, Neil Gaiman came along and aided with the search. After all. we are such good friends and I try to sneak him away birding whenever we can. He had a good time and since info is available, I can talk aobut this now. By the way, all the photos in this entry are from Sharon Stiteler Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Here was the trailer that Neil slept in. It wasn't bad until one night when it got down to 20 degrees, the propane tank ran out and because of low water supplies we were asked not to use the bathroom unless it was an "emergency".

Here is Gene Sparling with Neil. Gene was the kayaker who got the whole ball rolling with his sighting on the Cache River. Gene offered to take Neil kayaking sometime. I think they were fast friends.

Here is Neil sporting his camo. Silly writer, he forgot his ghillie suit so I loaned him peices of mine. He blended in very well with the cypress knees. He was so covered up, a winter wren even tried to roost in him...or maybe was looking for insect larvae tucked in his hair.


We were both very amazed by the vines and the twisting they did around each other. Above, Neil waits patiently for an ivory-billed woodpecker to fly by in the White River WMA. We had to move along from this area though. Barred owls were all over the place and for some reason one swooped here. Perhaps Neil just moved just enough under his camo to give the impression he was a colony of mice as opposed to an award-winning author.

Ooooo, this looks like intriguing horizontal scaling mixed with some pileated woodpecker cavities. Could this be the work of an ivory-bill or a prankster pileated? Neil removed his camo so we could use his body as a size comparison. Whatever woodpecker did this is enormous...I don't know if we want to find it. I'm kinda scared.

Oh no, someone help quick! Neil got caught in one of the bazillions of briar patches--a big downside to walking around in the White River WMA. Any camo worn by searchers, whether it was a ghillie suit or bug suit was ripped to shreds. I wonder how much camo was left in the woods after all the searchers left?

I don't know what kind of fungus this was, but it sure looked cool. Neil blended very well. Can you find him? We heard several double knocks in the White River WMA, but we soon learned that everything gives double knocks: pileated woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers, water bottles in your backpack, your stomach, trees blowing in the wind, duck wings...you name it. We learned not to trust double knocking as sign of ivory-bills.

This was as close as Neil got to seeing an actual ivory-bill. We thought this sign telling people to look for the ivory-bill was a little funny, since no one has really seen the head on the bird. We had an adventure, it was a blast.

Testing Again...this time on starlings

Behold, the starling.

I've managed to load two photos, this looks promising, although it's a complex way Non Birding Bill has helped me figure out. Okay, if you're freaking out over the excessive use of starlings in this entry, don't worry, it's just temporary. Believe it or not, there are people who love starlings. There used to be a North American Starling Fancier's Association, but I can't find them. So, I'll leave you with this general starling love fest site, European Starling Center.

Eeep, disapproving starling.

Starling doing an impression of Dr. Zoidberg.

Well, now this one is just showing off.

Okay, I can work with loading photos this way.

Test Post

Deer path in Mr. Neil's woods. Hello, ticks, here I come. Let's see how many photos I can get away with.

Hmm, after much consternation...only one photo. Man, this is irritating.

I Really Dislike Mr. Neil's Bear

I had intended more photos for this post but blogger is acting wonky and I'm getting tired and cranky.



This time last year I was enjoying Mr. Neil's feeders that were just chock full of rose-breasted grosbeaks, orioles, indigo buntings and a whole host of other great spring birds. I had set him up with what I thought was the sturdiest feeder pole out there. Alas, I was living a horrible lie. The very sturdy inch and a quarter pole with and incredibly strong anchor was bent...bent like a cheap twizzler.



Here is the pole now. Why, why, why? Oh, bear, why must you ruin my spring feeder watching?



Look at that, bent and chipping the finish. Mr. Neil has put all bird feeding on hold, we are both hoping the bear will move on. Not only because of the damage to the feeders, but because next spring we are going to start our apiary. I was kind of bummed we missed our chance to get bees this spring, but now that a bear is around, I'm glad we didn't have to worry about our hives getting ravaged.

More On Ivory-bill Press Release

Here's an excerpt from an email I got from Cornell today:

There will be a news phone conference this Thursday, May 18 with Cornell and members of the Fish and Wildlife Service. This information shouldn't appear in the newspapers until Friday. There will be an official press release and announcement about our 2005/2006 season linked with the Big Woods Birding Festival in Clarendon on Saturday, May 20. A formal technical report to USFWS and Arkansas Game and Fish will be issued at some point over the summer. We'll publish portions of this report in upcoming Birdscope newsletters and on our web site. We'll make it available in a pdf version on the web site so you all can download it when it's ready.

Travel to Veracruz with Me!

Okay, all the info is up at Preferred Adventures regarding the Eagle Optics River of Raptors Tour. When you open the link, click on "What's New" and then click on the link for "Mexico! Raptor Migration".

You know you want to go to Mexico with a couple of excited, enthusiastic raptor bums. We'll watch for other Mexican species other than raptors as well. Cinnamon will most certainly not be going on this trip, so no disapproval whatsoever.

In Transit

Non Birding Bill, Cinnamon and I are in transit from Indiana to Minnesota. I will upload more Hoosier stories on Tuesday--and then it is off to Detroit Lakes Minnesota, where NBB and I will be performing Play on Birds. We were rehearsing some new sketches yesterday and kept cracking each other up. I hope that's a good sign. In the meantime, I leave you with some sights seen on our trip:

Hopefully this is the only trailer with out a number.

This was on a sign at a Chick-Fil-A. I couldn't fit in the large headline "Innovative!" I just love how this little girl is in total awe of a waffle fry. Oh sure, they are tasty, but to be in awe of its innovaiton might be a little much.

The last, but certainly not least is a series of signs brought to us by (and this is their spelling not mine) Guns Save Life.com. Who thought of that title, Mongo from Blazing Saddles? Here was my personal favorite poem:

Tested In Peace
Proven In War
Guns In The Home
Even The Score

Not to be outdone by:

When Gun Control
Has Us Beat
Criminals Will
Own The Street

Rainy, Dreary and BRRRRRR

The weather is kind of crap here in Indianapolis. I found a fledging robin outside of Mom's condo. What bummer weather to learn to fly in!

We went to Eagle Creek Park yesterday and didn't do too much birding because it's cold, rainly and drizzly. I was going to do some, but Mom really wasn't prepared for the cold. We did get a great tour of the Nature Center when we first arrived. A volunteer named Kevin showed up some of the education birds they use. In conversation, Kevin and I learned we had a connection, the crew from Eagle Creek got their training in housing and using raptors for education at The University of Minnesota's Raptor Center where I do programs. They have some great programs birds at Eagle Creek including a turkey vulture, a saw-whet owl and a red-tailed hawk. All of their ed birds were in great feather condition, which is a sign that their handlers work well with them and keep them in good housing so the birds don't trash their feathers.

Kevin took a lot of time telling us where to look for birds and even though Mom and I were out that long we did see a northern parula, orchard oriole and Forster's tern. I love going out with my Mom, she's not that much of a birder, so pishing REALLY impresses her. If the weather is nice, we might go out for the bird walk that happens every Sunday at 9am. Hopefully I'll get some better bird photos. It's been too messy to even put out the NovaBird camera. Actually, I could put it out, the birds are so drenched, I just don't want to put pictures of them looking like that on the internet.

Today we are going to my sister Terri's graduation. She's such a type A personality, she even decorated her own party. Non Birding Bill and I were half tempted to go out and buy some decorations and redo it in our own special, tacky way, but we would like to head back to Minneapolis without broken bones.

Cinnamon's Rampage At Grandma's

I think for Cinnamon, my Mother's condo is the happiest place on earth. Everything except the kitchen is carpeted so she can run like the dickens all over the place. You will periodically see a streak of brown out of the corner of your eye accompanied by the pitter patter of her tiny feet. When she's too tired to run, she conducts experiments on Mom's cats.

The cats appear to be oblivious as she stalks them (above, she's stalking Copernicus in the distance on the right). I think the cats have chosen to just ignore her hoping this problem creature will go away.

Cinnamon is fascinated by their tails. She keeps creeping up behind them, sniffing and almost nibbling. Instead of sensibly giving her a bap on the nose with their front paw, the cats swish their tails back and forth further intriguing Cinnamon. Eventually, the just run and cower in a closet in fear.

Mom's other cat, Sappho tried sleeping on the couch as her defense, but even she was not safe from the siege of the lagomorph. At first we all thought (oh dear, I just used "we all", yes ladies and gentlemen, I'm back in Indiana) Cinnamon was just trying to check out Sappho, but Sappho grew tired of this invasion of privacy and evacuated the couch. I though for sure Cinnamon was going to chase after her like she does with Copernicus, but it became clear what Cinnamon's true intent was:

Here she is, Cinnamon Triumphant. She apparently wanted the couch for herself. The really weird thing is that we are having a tough time keeping Cinnamon away from the cat food. I could kind of understand Cinnamon's interest in dry cat food--it's so processed, it kind of resembles a pellet or some type of treat, but now she's going for the wet food. What's that all about?

Hey, Is This An Ivory-billed Woodpecker?

Hangin' At Mom's

The bird in the above entry is a distored blue jay that flew in front of my motion sensitive camera and not an ivory-bill.

One quick note: The current, I and the Bird is up at Bird DC Blog. Word is that if you can id all 27 birds pictured in the carnival, Nick will give you a Peterson Field Guide. I would argue that if you could id all those birds, you wouldn't need a Peterson Guide.

Today, I set my Aunt Lorelei up with a Raven Scope and Radian tripod. For anyone interested the Raven is on special with a free tripod. We did this earlier this year for a little while and now we're running it again. We'll do it until we run out of Ravens, which with this special will probably be soon. If you were thinking of getting one, I would decide soon.

I set up the NovaBird Camera at my Mom's house with some peanuts. Not only did I get a blue jay showing up right away, but I also got footage of a robin. When I first saw the robin hop up on Mom's deck I thought it was odd. It was fighting with the blue jay. Now, I didn't put out anything fancy, just some peanuts in the shell and a mix of peanuts out of the shell, sunflower hearts, raisins and cracked corn. Robins are not what you would call a traditional feeder bird. They have been known to show up for mealworms, grape jelly, dried fruit and in harsh weather conditions they will eat sunflowers out of the shell. Still, this is not something you see every day.

When this dude hopped up I was so excited as I watched it ravenously eating the peanuts out of the shell. When I downloaded the photos, I noticed in one that it was a decent photo, but the leg was out of whack. At first, I thought this was just an oddity picked up on the camera.

Sometimes, when the birds move too fast, they will get distorted and you get these great Salvador Dali looking birds, like this photo that I got of a female boat-tailed grackle in Virginia (pictured above). But every photo of the robin that I have from today had the same distortion on the foot, even if other parts were blurry. I grabbed my binoculars and sure enough, this guy has a deformed foot, it almost looks as though it has broken and healed oddly. The bird is thriving well on it's own, and this probably explains why this bird is eating around my Mom's feeders, it's an easy reliable food source. The robin is big enough that the house sparrows can't give it any grief and the starlings appear to give it plenty of space. Blue jays rarely take crap from anybody and they seem to keep the robin off. But otherwise it appears to be doing as best as can be expected.

My Mom's cats are not thrilled with Cinnamon. It doesn't help that they are wussies to begin with--when it comes to bravery, they are certainly not a credit to their species. They are twice Cinnamon's size and run like...well, like "fraidy cats" when she even looks in their direction.

Above is one of the cats named Copernicus, right after he ran and hid behind Mom's DVD player on Cinnamon's approach. I can't even say he's disapproving of Cinnamon, but more terrified than anything else. Cinnamon has decided to compound their indignity by eating their Meow Mix. Non Birding Bill and I are NOT amused, as we are not sure of what the effect of cat food will be on a rabbit. We've already called our vet who gave us a standard answer of just watch and make sure she eats and poops normally over the next twenty-four hours (basically, they don't know the effects of Meow Mix on the non-meow crowd). Bunny-butthead.

"I disapprove of being punished for eating tasty dry Meow Mix. It was just laying on the floor waiting for someone to eat it. Ce n'est pas ma faute!"

And, I have to show you this! This is some framed art my Mom has hanging in her bathroom.

For anyone who has ever wondered how I learned to be so classy, there's you're answer. I kind of invited my boss to dinner at my mom's when we all come to Indianapolis in June for a Wild Birds Unlimited Convention...maybe I should rethink that invitation.

"Cats are wussies. I can take 'em."

Tomorrow, I go to Eagle Creek park with Mom (Non Birding Bill and Cinnamon will be elsewhere). I haven't been there in ages. Way back when--when I was a single gal, I would get guys that wanted a date to take me there. Can't wait to revisit it.

Where's Birdchick?

I'm in Indianapolis visiting my mother. Indiana birding adventures coming soon.

"Wait, we have to come too? We disapprove of visiting your mother!"

Big News: As of May 20th, I can publicly talk about my experiences on the Ivory-bill Search Team with Cornell and if anyone on my team did or did not see an ivory-bill last December. Cornell will also be announcing their findings on that date. Should be a hoppin' time on bird listservs and blogs.

Loose Ends To Tie Up

First, my review of the bird flu movie is up at TV Picks. Check it out before you choose to view this film.

Next, remember that beautiful birds meme that was going on? I think over thirty different bird bloggers participated and you can read the complete list here.

Third, the Satellite Sisters are going to talk the New York Times writer who says he saw an ivory-billed woodpecker. He'll talk about his article and the controversy surrounding the ivory-bill. Satellite Sisters are broadcast in several cities across the country, if you don't get them in your town you can listen online at fm 107 (keep in mind that the time listed on the site is Minnesota time so adjust your listening time accordingly). I alas, will be on the road and probably won't get to hear it.

Knowing My Limitations

Today was one of those days.

Fortunately, I got to work with one of my favorite education birds, Ricke (pictured left) the great horned owl. So named because humans raised him illegally and fed a poor diet of hamburger, bread and vegetables and now has rickets as well as being imprinted.

I have bazillion things to do before we head out to visit my mother. To top things off we had a huge group coming to The Raptor Center for programs early, so I had to be there by 8am. When I arrived, I walked out of the parking ramp and there was an adult rabbit on the sidewalk. She hesitated and then slowly hopped to some nearby bushes, leaving something behind on the sidewalk. I walked over and discovered a palm sized young rabbit. It didn't move and looked barely alive. I picked it up and something felt wrong. I could see some scraping marks and heard a crow nearby. I figured a crow had started to attack it and maybe the female rabbit was trying to defend it. People who had also noticed the rabbit were gathering, trying to figure out what to do. The obvious would be to take it to the Wildlife Rehab Center, but I knew this rabbit was too far gone to help, it was either leave it for the crow to finish or put it under. I love crows, and I know their part in nature is to eat other creatures but it's not the prettiest way to go--not quick death like with a peregrine falcon or great horned owl. The worst part was that I could see the female rabbit spying on us from across the street behind some bushes. Since I was on my way to The Raptor Center I said I would take it with me and the staff would take care of it there (and I don't mean feed it to any of the birds there).

I searched out Jane, one of my favorite vets and asked, "Jane, I hate to bother you but I have a huge favor." I held out the young rabbit and she looked weary, ready to send me to the WRC, but then she picked up the rabbit and felt the hindquarters. Just like I knew she would, she understood the situation immediately and put the rabbit down. I knew the back end of the rabbit didn't feel quite right but don't have enough of a medical background to know what the exact problem was with its legs. Later Jane told me that both the back legs were broken, almost crushed. We wondered if someone had stepped on it and that was what caused the crow to step down. When I was leaving TRC I noticed the lawn around the parking garage was freshly mowed. Perhaps the young rabbit got its hindquarters crushed by the mower or by one of the cars leaving the garage.

Then, I headed into downtown Minneapolis to meet Non Birding Bill at work and he asked, "Wrens are small and brown with a long bill, right?"

I answered, "Usually. Why do you ask?"

"There's one in the bush by the door.” he answered.

I looked at him and he knew I would have to investigate. It was a marsh wren (pictured right) that looked pretty scruffy. We've had some pretty significant night migration here so my guess is that this exhausted guy may have hit a window or was just too tired to fly a few more blocks over to Loring Park. It was trying to eat small insects around the windows. It couldn't fly far, not because of any obvious injury, but it just looked really tired. NBB and I made a few attempts to see if we could catch it to drive it to the park, but it was strong enough to avoid us. Gauging the situation: it could fly well enough to just barely evade us, it had access to some insects and a full blown operation to retrieve it would have more than likely driven it into heavy downtown traffic killing it or just plain exhausting it to death as it tried to evade us. We decided it best to leave it be. Sometimes you just have to know that you can't help everything out there and you're not personally responsible for every creature. Or at least that is what I tell my brain when it gets too anthropomorphic.

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Baby Cloths

For the expecting birder.

Bird Blog List

If you are interested in other bird related blogs, John Trapp is keeping a list at Birds Etcetera Blog. If you have a bird blog or know someone who does and they are not on the list, let John know.

One for the Cinnamon Fans

Non Birding Bill and I spent a relaxing afternoon at a nearby park with Cinnamon. I would like to say it was splendid day of cuteness.
Cinnamon loves her dandelions. How could anyone think Chet Baker is cuter than she? Alas, that was a brief moment in the afternoon. Here are her true feelings about me trying to turn her into a flower child:

"Get this frickin' flower off of my head, you stupid hippie!"

Raptor Release Report

You couldn't have asked for better weather for the Spring Raptor Release yesterday. It was gorgeous, although the one downside was that I was down wind from an apple orchard and all the binocular demos kept getting dusted with pollen. It was encouraging to see parents getting monoculars and kid sized binoculars for their children.

TRC released four birds yesterday, 1 Cooper's hawk, 2 red-tails and one hefty eagle. I worked my way through the crowd to try and get different shots of the birds taking off.

Above is a little boy who was sitting on his father's shoulders watching one of the red-tails take off after recovering from a wing injury. It was fun to watch the difference in the birds. The Cooper's hawk took off like a shot in one direction. It didn't try to catch a thermal, it just shot out of there above the tree line. The two red-tails looked for thermals and tried to use those to circle up high in the sky.

After watching which was the birds took off, I decided to find a spot where I thought the eagle might fly low. It was down off to the side of the stage, facing the crowd. There were a few other TRC volunteers there too. As they were making all the speeches about the bird's recovery, Lori, one of TRC's vets came by and told everyone to sit down. This was a big bird and would more than likely need a few seconds to get serious lift.

The eagle was thrown into the air. For second it looked like it might land on one of the speakers. Although, the hoard of people around it, made the eagle change her mind. Then she turned and flew towards the area I was sitting in.

And then I got this shot! I can't believe it, I look like a professional photographer and all I used my little Nikon Coopix 7900. Really, the bird was quite low and I was quite lucky. Boy, I was grateful that Lori had warned all of us to sit on the ground--or that bird would have run into one of us for sure. From there the bird flew right over our heads and into the wild blue yonder. I rolled over backwards as she flew over us and revelled in seeing her talons zoom past a few feet above my head.

And on a weird note, I have a mention in the New York Times. Non Birding Bill noticed in the website stats that we were getting some traffic from there. The link wasn't open to non subscribers until today. The writer was at the Ivory-bill Celebration. I remember Bobby Harrison telling me that he was going out with someone from the New York Times, and the writer apparently came to my beginning birding workshop. It's a nice mention and will make my mother proud. I have to say, it's interesting to read Bobby's comments, which reminds me that I haven't heard from him in weeks. Hmm, has he seen and photographed something and has been taken into the woodpecker mafia custody?

I'm also kind of curious about my status with Cornell...the no talking ban was supposed to be lifted in either April or when Cornell gave me the official go ahead...I haven't heard. Can I start talking about scaling and cavities and if I did or did not see the bird? I don't know. Although, I suppose if given enough scotch, one could get me to sing like a...an ivory-bill?

Sparrow Palooza

It was a brown bird bonanza yesterday at Carpenter Nature Center. I was in brown bird heaven watching all the Harris Sparrows (that's one pictured above) and getting the chance to see them up close and personal during banding. I was hoping to get them on the NovaBird Camera, but alas, all I was a chipping sparrow:

The chipping sparrow didn't seem to be too thrilled with the black oilers on the ground. I should have put some white millet down, that's their type of fair.

I could not get enough of those Harris sparrows. For a little brown job, it's quite striking with that orange bill highlighting all the black around it. The photo below are both a male and a female Harris sparrow. Can you tell which is which?

Yeah, I can't either. The black surrounding the bill has more to do with age than sex. The banders used wing cord ( the length of the wing from the wrist to the tip of the longest primary) to tell them apart. The bird on the left is a female, the bird on the right is a male--according to the length of their wing cords. You can learn all this stuff if you come to Carpenter on Friday's for banding.

As I was working on this entry, I got a call from Kim Kaufman in northern Ohio. She was telling me about the big warbler push they were getting the last few days at their banding station. I told her that up here Minnesota we were getting a big sparrow push here and that's when she told me that she banded 92 white-throated sparrows (pictured below) on Tuesday at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge--sheesh! I'm pooped just thinking about it.

"Even I'm shocked by that exorbitant amount of white-throated sparrow banding!"

Kim was trying to make me drool with her reports of banding cerulean warblers and golden-winged warblers and I told her of our Harris sparrows and she was a little jealous of what we had going on up here.


We are getting quite a few white-throats and white-crowned sparrows up here. After the two birds above were banded I wanted to take a quick photo. As I was doing this, the dude on the right started to squeak a little setting off all of the sparrows around Carpenter. They were like our own personal pishing devices. As soon as the birds were let go, calm was restored to Carpenter's feeder area.

One white-throat in particular really intrigued me. Check out the guy in the above photo. He had some yellow on the feathers around the wrist. I had never noticed that before, but then again, I've never had a white-throat this close before.

These are just classy looking sparrows! I can't get enough of them. For the non birders that periodically check this blog, these are the ones that go "Oh Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody" or according the second edition Kaufman guide "Oh Sweet Kimberly, Kimberly, Kimberly". Kim Kaufman says that they are saying, "Oh band me, Kimberly, Kimberly, Kimberly."

And to be fair, since last week I showed male bird hoohas, I figure turn about is fair play. Here is a female robin brood patch. Female birds get these open patches on their breast to help incubate eggs. Surrounding feathers help keep her warm when she's not incubating.

If there are major typos, I apologize, blogger spell check is down and I'm too tired to look it over. Ah well, at least it's a sign an actual person types this blog and not some corporation.

Harris Sparrows in Minnesota

Yesterday at Carpenter Nature Center we trapped oodles of Harris sparrows. When I came home and checked the MN bird listservs, people were reporting Harris sparrows around the metro area.

I love these guys, the remind me of Pluto from the Popeye Cartoons. They're bigger than other sparrows and adults have plumage that looks like a big burly beard.

More on sparrows we trapped later. Right now, I'm off to set up for The Raptor Release at Carptenter. Word is that they are releasing four birds at 1pm. It's a beautiful day, so spend it outdoors along the river and stop by the binocular booth to say, "Hi!"

Sorry, Cinnamon Fans, she will not be around dozens of birds of prey today.

Woodcock Video Up

You can now download the video "Looking for Mr. Woodcock" at the Eagle Optics website. It can be downloaded onto an iPod or viewed right on your computer. It's only about 3-4 minutes long.

If you listen close, you can even hear Non Birding Bill chuckle when we finally see the woodcock.

(Edit from Bill: You'll need Quicktime installed on your computer to play the video, or iTunes (which comes with Quicktime). The video is formatted for the video iPod.)

Further edit from Bill: Sharon's reporting that some people are having trouble when they click on the link: instead of the movie downloading, they get a page full of gibberish.

Here's what you do: If you have a multi-button mouse, right-click on the link.
If you have a single-button mouse (Mac-type-people): Hold the Control Key and click on the link. It'll bring up a little sub-menu. Select "Save Link As" or "Download Link As" or what-have-you, and the file will be saved on your computer for your viewing pleasure.

Great Birding Shoes On Sale

Men and Women's Keen Newport Sandals are on sale at www.REI.com.

Oriole Fix?

This morning as I was getting dressed I heard the distinct oriole whistle. I tore through the apartment looking for my red jelly dish and grape jelly. I could find neither. So, I grabbed a red candle and some chokecherry jelly and set that out along with the NovaBird Camera. For those that don't know, orioles are attracted by bright reds and oranges, so having a little extra color helps get their attention when they are moving through. I didn't get an oriole but I did manage to capture an image of a very confused looking house finch.

I had to go out and get a proper oriole set up. It suddenly dawned on me that I'm not going to get my usual oriole fix this year. I get orioles at home, but just for a couple of weeks. I got them constantly when I worked at the bird store and Non Birding Bill and I make trips out to Mr. Neil's to watch his feeders in the spring. Sitting down with a warm mug of coffee or tea and watching orioles is in my top ten list of things to do. I no longer work at the bird store and just learned that Mr. Neil's feeders have been demolished by bears so I will not be able to sit with a nice warm mug of coffee or tea and watch orioles to my heart's content as easily this spring? Where will I go this year? I'm a tad bummed.

I did head over to the bird store and picked up one of those Erva Ant Moats. They're supposed to be a trap to keep ants out jelly and nectar feeders, but their the metal design keeps them from braking even if a raccoon or bear knocks them down and the bright red color really attracts orioles. I think they work way better as a feeder than ant moat. I hung mine just above my domed X-1 Seed Saver and loaded it with grape jelly and mealworms. Hopefully I'll have some takers in tomorrow morning.

Yesterday, I stopped at the "Lose Your Shoes Event" at Arc's Value Village. Margery Punnett and Paul Black were on hand and I got my picture taken with half the Balanced Breakfast crew. Margery always asks great questions, she tends to apologize if they aren't the right question, but I like how her questions remind me that not every one knows as much about birds as I do. I love doing the Balanced Breakfast. We are supposed to talk about birds, but the segment frequently meanders--which is fun. I used to try and prepare for those segments the night before, but ever since the morning Ian gave me a Cosmo Quiz I decided that it's best to free my mind and just go with the flow. I'll say one thing, that show certainly helps break down the nerdy, dowdy birder stereotype.

I Have The Bird Flu Movie!

Thanks to the tv chick at TV Picks I have an advanced screening copy of Fatal Contact! I'm watching it tonight and will write up a review for her site!

Incidentally, tv chick has one of the longest running blogs in history.

I've Been Tagged: Most Beautiful Birds

I have been tagged by WildBird on the Fly to participate in the most beautiful birds meme. This is a fluctuating list and is bound to be different if you ask me ten minutes from now. Here are the rules according to WildBird:

The rules: Post a list of the 10 birds you consider most beautiful on your blog; you may limit the list to the ABA area (continental United States and Canada) or use a geographic area of your choice. Mark birds you have seen with an asterisk. Tag 3 bloggers to keep it going.

I'm going to keep my list to beautiful birds I have photographed. If I try to go worldwide, my little budgie brain would just explode.

List (Subject to Change at Any Moment)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak* - I love the song of these birds in the spring (that would make a cool meme, the ten most beautiful bird songs). I like the black and white and the pink triangle. Is Nature trying to make a political statement or is just "is what it is". Regardless, I love these dudes, they are one of the many heralds of true spring in Minnesota.

Northern Goshawk* - Hands down the most handsome hawk found in the United States. I love the soft gray colors that blend well for camouflage accented by the maniacal looking, blood red eye. Those eyes seem to suit the hunting style of goshawks or accipiters in general. See it, and kill it no matter what aerial acrobatics must be done. Peregrines may get most of the glory but goshawks are the coolest in my book.

Yellow-headed blackbirds* - It's like someone shoved a goldfinch onto the head of a blackbird. Brilliant! Need I say more?

Red-tailed hawk* - I love how every single red-tailed hawk is different. Some are darker, some are lighter and they can be seen almost anywhere in the United States--a constant for me in my travels. Browns and creams and red melding together for a luscious killing machine.

Baltimore Orioles* - I love how tropical and out of place orioles look in the upper midwest. I love how bright and striking they look at the feeders, yet that orange and black hides so well once they are in the canopy of a cottonwood or willow. Pure perfection and another candidate for most beautiful song meme.

Common Grackle* - I know some out there are thinking, "Birdchick, what the fudge?? A grackle?!?" Sorry dudes, I am a closet grackle admirer. The blues, the purples, the blacks all accented by the yellow eyes topped by the over lapping supra orbital ridge. Imagine just having one that ate millet quietly in a corner--you might think they were pretty too. I was going to put in a starling in winter plumage, but I didn't want to start a boycott of my blog. But deep down, I think starlings in winter plumage are almost prettier than a grackle.

Sandhill Crane* - This was a toss up. Pelican or sandhill crane, I decided that since I went to the trouble of having a crane tattooed on me, that I feel the crane is prettier. They're long, they're graceful, they sound like a dinosaur, they dance, they are gray with a flashy red piece of flesh on their head and a flock 40,000 cranes is the only thing more beautiful than one crane.

Cooper's hawk* - What, another accipiter? I'm always happy and know it's going to be a great day if I see a Cooper's hawk. I love their stealth, the orange breast, the slate blue back, the bloodthirsty looking read eyes and that sassy swishing of tail they do so often. Frightening beauty, they name is Cooper's hawk.

Cinnamon Teal* - Brown, beautiful rusty brown. It reminds me of a rich ginger cookie batter, I want to bite into one whenever I see a Cinnamon tea. And to top it off, they have that wonderful sky blue patch on their wings. The most beautiful brown bird I have ever seen--and it floats, how can you not admire that?

Indigo Bunting* (Okay and I cheated by including a goldfinch). Indigo buntings are technically a black bird that appears deep purplish blue to our eyes. A tiny wonderful surprise at our feeders in spring, and if we are lucky, the lone songster on hot humid summer afternoons singing at the top of a tree or shrub. And as if they weren't cool enough in their own skin by being so blue, they eat millet. They say, "Hey cardinals, chickadees and nuthatches that insist on sunflowers, forget it. I'm going for the crap seed, I'm going for millet."

I end my list and a realize that I don't have pileated woodpecker, scarlet tanager, western meadowlark, green jays...crap, will sharp-shinned hawks feel left out because I included the other two accipiters in North American and left them out???

Ah well, my list is done and it's not about me any more. So, whom shall I tag?

Birder Blog because she has a new book out and we should promote and support it and I'm sure her choices will be thoughtful and somehow helpful to birds.

Ivory-bill Skeptic because I want to see if he's capable of blogging about anything other than his lack of belief over Cornell's announcement of the ivory-billed woodpecker--you do have to admire that it keeps going every day like an Energizer Bunny on just the same topic, every day, the same thing. How does he do it?

PunkBirder because I just discovered it and it looks very promising. I'm strongly in favor of anyone putting the words "punk" and "birder" together.

One For Bad Movie Night

One of the things I love about doing a Balanced Breakfast on fm107 is that the less I prepare the better I am. I never know where the conversation will go, today I was all set to talk about a list of birding activities in Minnesota this month and ended up talking about bad movies like Xanadu and Grease 2. This led to conversations about avian flu and apparently ABC has the perfect sweeps week movie: Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America--brought to you by the same writer as Atomic Twister. Here's the weird thing, as of the day I created this entry the movie isn't up on Internet Movie Database and it's supposed to be filmed and in the can. ABC is keeping it quiet. Hmmm, wonder why? Could it be bad? I don't even want to think about how inaccurate the bird references will be. Non Birding Bill hopes that the movie will have Canada geese walking down the street, stalking their victims and then nonchalantly walking over and making a sudden attack.

I think this quote about says it all:

"We feel we're providing a level of awareness and we've gone to great effort to make sure the film is accurate," co-producer Judith Verno said.

What Judith is really saying, "We found all the scariest stuff about flu on the internet and put it in this movie. Oh, and I have seen birds fly by my office window and we had a book with birds on the cover available on the set."

Blog Cleaning

I forgot to post a couple of photos from Friday's banding. A sparrow came into the nets and at first glance wasn't easily identifyable. Here is the sparrow in question:

You can't see the front but trust me, it wasn't that much of a help. So the bird was taken in for banding, but the best part is watching all the guys sittin' around trying to figure it out:

Sibley, Peterson and even Pyle (the really big gun) were brought in to try and figure out what the sparrow was. It turned out, after some debate to be a Lincoln's, but it was fun to watch the boys work through the identification. They love a good mystery.

This past weekend was all rain, all the time--a beautiful rain: the sound of the water falling down the gutters and splashing in our ally (I love that sound), combined that with the soft, bright green glow of leaves emerging from buds on the trees and then on sunday, the trilling of yellow-rumped warblers, but not much bloggable material there. Non Birding Bill and I spent the weekend "reestablishing our pair bond" and that's not really blogable either. About the only thing I can safely report is that I made a rhubarb pie and is was spectacular (no strawberries, no raspberries, just pure unadultorated rhubarb...well, there was some sugar adulorating it).

I have a file that I keep in my email folder of items people send me so if I don't have much to blog about personally, I can at least have an interesting update. Up first, Mike Hendrickson was kind enough to send me a photo of one of the weird rabbits of Duluth (right). For those that don't know, about 15 years ago someone released several domesticated rabbits along Park Point in Duluth and they bred like...well, like rabbits. Now they even hybridize with the Eastern Cottontails. I have always been perplexed by this because Duluth is such a hot spot for raptor migration. This is the place that once got over 100,000 broad-winged hawks flying over in one day. Granted, most of the birds are passing through, but quite a few do make it to Park Point to feed. How a bunch of white furry targets never got wiped out by hawks just baffles me. These rabbits are saavy. A few years ago a congressman hired some guys with nets to trap the rabbits. Mike tells me that they didn't net a single one, and all the residents were upset that their yards were trampled by the folks with the nets. The congressman lost his position over it. Ooopsie.

Speaking of rabbits, I know you're waiting for a big ole disapproval from Cinnamon, but NBB found a rabbit that may have out disapproved her in the form of the sulking bunny snowcone. She's gone back to her hutch to work on her look. She's watching Zoolander for inspiration.

NBB also sent a link to Shawn Kielty's blog who has some cool photos of a red-tailed hawk nest. NBB periodically checks links to my blog and found a link from Shawn's saying that my rabbits make him gag. Boy if rabbits make him gag, I don't even want to think about what would happen if he were faced with something truly gag worthy like vulture or pelican vomit.

Rick Hollis sent me a photo of a junco who regularly feeds on his hanging feeders (left). This was in reference to my surprise of a junco on my second story ledge during a snow storm. Most juncos are not fond of hanging feeders and tend to feel more comfortable on the ground. Every now and then a juncoes disregards what is written about its feeding habits and buck tradition by feeding on a feeder and not underneath. You go, junco, you go.

Don't forget that this Saturday is the Raptor Release for The Raptor Center at Carpenter Nature Center. It should be gorgeous weather and you can see eagles, hawks, owls, falcona and a vulture up close and personal, watch birds that have recovered in clinic be set free and come hang with me at the binocular booth, I'll be selling binoculars as a fundraiser for TRC. You can try them out or just shoot the breeze. It's bound to be a good time.

Why Can I Not Keep My Mouth Shut?

Now, I enjoy my neighborhood, we have an ecclectic crowd to say the least. The pizza restaurant across the street is well known for being one of the few employers who welcomes employees who have facial tattoos and piercings. I expect there to be colorful characters here and I like being one of them. However, there are days...

This morning before having any sort of caffination I dashed over to the neighborhood drugstore to pick up a prescription. I was wearing my "bird action" shirt and trying to mind my own business. In front of me was a gentleman pushing sixty and wearing a black leather jacket with a huge lion head stiched on the back. He was having trouble hearing the pharmasist and you could tell that though he was nice, he was a sandwich shy of a picnic basket. I just kind of zoned out while waiting my turn. He turned around and below is our conversation:

Lion Jacket: What's "Hot All-Bird Action" supposed to mean?

Birdchick: I'm a bird watcher.

Lion Jacket: (whistles four note tune over and over) What bird's that?

Birdchick: Not sure, doesn't sound like a Minnesota bird.

Lion Jacket: It sure is, that's a chickadee.

As Non Birding Bill will point out (often at my expense) I have a low threshold for bird inaccuracy, but realizing where I was and not wanting to engage I decided to let it go and smiled and nodded my head. He must have detected my skepticism and continued with his strange whistling.

Lion Jacket: You see that's what a chickadee sounds like, you gotta really listen for those notes, you're not listening for them correctly.

Birdchick: Here's what a chickadee sounds like (and I did the two note call).

Lion Jacket: No, no that's not a chickadee and he continued his odd four note call. You see, you need to learn your birds better and really listen to those notes.

Birdchick: Uh-huh (heavy on the skepticism)

Lion Jacket: That's what a chickadee really sounds like to someone who really knows their birds.

Birdchick: Uh-huh.

Lion Jacket: They follow me around when I whistle, they know what I'm saying.

Birdchick: Uh-huh.

Lion Jacket: You just gotta take more time and learn your bird calls, (whistles more). That's what a chickadee is.

Birdchick: Here's a black-capped chickadee (whisteled the two note call), here' a Carolina chickadee which has a four note call, which you might have heard down south, but not here in Minnesota (whistled four note call). Here's a white-troated sparrow (whistled its call), here's an eastern screech owl (whisted its call). Do you really want to debate bird calls with me? I can do more.

At this point, the gent in the lion jacket and the pharmasist were looking at me speechless, mouthes agape as were a few other customers in the drug store. What the heck was I doing and how did I end up in a drug store whistling bird calls and trying to debate bird calls with this guy? All that Lion Jacket could say was, "That's not a chickadee" and went away. I wanted to clarify to the pharmacist that I wasn't crazy, I just hadn't had any coffee yet, but I think my audio display spoke way more than any protest I would make.

Alas, why couldn't I just let it go?