Family Fun Night at the Raptor Center

My segment on Showcase Minnesota is about Family Fun Nights going on at The Raptor Center.

Here's the info from TRC:

Family Fun Nights
Thursdays, July 13, July 20, July 27, and August 3, 2006
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
The Raptor Center
1920 Fitch Avenue
Saint Paul, Minnesota

Come join the fun! Ever wonder what turkey vultures eat? What happens to an injured raptor? What is falconry? Learn all this and more at Family Fun Nights at The Raptor Center. Arrive early to observe raptor feeding time, then take a guided tour of our facility and participate in hands-on learning activities related to eagles, owls, hawks, and falcons. Each night has a different exciting topic!
Free!
To register, call 612-624-9753.

July 13: Falcons and Falconry
Learn about the exciting and ancient sport of falconry and its impact on our world today. Meet live hawks and falcons and join specialists from The Raptor Center as they entertain you with falconry stories from years past and discuss current raptor training techniques and critical conservation issues that face today’s birds of prey.

Hey kids! Bring in an original piece of poetry about falcons and/or falconry to win a fantastic Raptor Center prize!

July 20: Wonder and Wizardry of Owls

TRC staff will dispel some of the mysteries about owls: Can they really see in the dark? Turn their heads all the way around? Do they make good mail carriers? Find out more about owls and the species native to Minnesota and meet TRC’s education owls!

Come dressed up as your favorite owl. The best costumes will win a prize from The Raptor Center.

July 27: Eagle Tales

Eagles hold a special place in American Indian culture as well as in the hearts of all Americans. Meet TRC’s resident eagles and listen to a storyteller for the Mdewakanton Indian Community of Mendota share legends and lore about eagles and the mysterious thunderbirds.

Hey kids! Bring in your best drawing/artwork of an eagle to win a super Raptor Center prize!

Cute Overload

Who knew? Disapproving Rabbits showed up on Cute Overload. I would say Cinnamon would be proud, but she disapproves of her disapproval being considered cute.

I'm getting a ton of email so far. My favorites include:

1. Shhhh…I don’t want Cinnamon to hear….

(whispering) How can you unleash such terrifying powers on the world? Have you no conscience? Have you no scru……OH NO!!! She heard me.

AAAGGGHHHHH!

(plop)

2. Uncanny looks. I like your captions. However, since I found you by link at
cuteoverload.com, I'm sort of skeptical of your sanity... Heehee.

3. OMG OMG OMG….I can’t take the bunny disapproval, another fatality……

And I thought I was a good disapprover. Your bunnies are way out of my league, practicing, preparing…..dedicated pros.

Thanks so much for these, and please send more.

Okay, this seriously is my last post, I have to catch my plane. FYI, I just showed the starlings vs a tree from the previous post to the bar at the Indy Airport and they all think it's totally cool. Of course, they aren't drinking water like I am.

One Last Post

This might be the last post for the next 24 - 48 hours. I'm at the Indianapolis Airport waiting for my flight home to Non Birding Bill. I haven't seen him since June 17 and I'm REALLY excited to see him. So, I leave you with a mesmerizing video called Starlings vs a Tree that he sent me. He's knows me so well. Some men send flowers, some men send jewels, my man sends me totally awesome video of starlings from Scott Fraser. He's the best, even if he doesn't bird.

A Different Type of Sprawl

Today was a strange day. When I was a kid my mom and aunts (that my mom--the shorter one and Aunt Lorelei above) would take me to either Brown County State Park or to Polly’s house in Martinsville. Polly and her family had fishing cabins that surrounded a lake near their home and land that stretched for acres. From time to time we would go and spend the weekends in one of those cabins and I had some of my best birding memories there:

I heard my first red-tailed hawk scream over a field behind their horse barn.

After Polly described a bird that wouldn’t stop singing, we went out and I identified my first yellow-breasted chat.

I heard and identified my first field sparrow.

I heard a bird that sounded just like one of the birds on my floppy National Geographic bird records: a broad-winged hawk.

The property was wonderful and full of sorts of things to explore and I loved that field with the chat and the hawks. Polly herself was super cool. She had this gigantic kitchen with huge windows that faced the lake and there were always treats on hand. Polly’s one rule for visiting was that you were always to arrive hungry--she always had homemade donuts, bars, popcorn and the occasional soup. She’s a wonderful cook and I am lucky enough to have a small notebook full of her recipes. Polly is incredibly warm, never meets a stranger and is incredibly beautiful. Her hair turned white by the time she was 18 and she’s incredibly striking with her brown eyes, light completion and soft musical voice. I knew I loved her when the first time I met her, she showed me her barn swallows nesting in her garage. Her husband loved barn swallows and it was a rule that the garage door always stayed open in the summer time so they could use the rafters to nest.

It had always been her family’s dream to build a bigger lake on the property and that lake would cover that field. They finally finished the project last year and the water has almost completely filled in on the lake. It was strange walking around where the field used to be and seeing water covering all the shrubs. Since the water just started to collect from last year, the birds are still in transition from it. Field sparrows sang all around the edges of the lake but I did see a blue grosbeak, which I had never seen on Polly’s property.

We walked around to where the fishing cabins are still standing. No one has stayed in them for years and they have fallen into musty disrepair. Looking at the cabin and down at the dock I suddenly had a flash of all my teenage dreams. I started remembering the odd way I had my life planned out. For some odd reason, I though theater was a logical choice over birds as far as careers went and had decided to be a theater major. I figured that I would reach stardom at an early age and would one day return to this fishing cabin to escape all the pressure and fame. While there I would of course write a prize-winning novel and to find my inner peace and myself.

It was about the times I was formulating that dream that I had begun to notice Polly’s youngest son, Craig. I had met him before when he was a young, skinny country boy but around the time I turned 15, I noticed that he had changed and was chock full of muscles (or was “burly” as my mother would say). To my young mind, he was handsome and exciting (can I tell you how much I loved it when he would take me out on his snow mobile—especially at night?). He loved the outdoors, he had cool parents and some of the best birding property I had laid eyes on at that point. So, of course it seemed natural that when I would retreat to the fishing cabin after attaining stardom that we would fall in love, get married and I would spend the rest of my days on that beautiful property.

Well, that obviously didn’t happen. Craig and I did date and we had absolutely nothing in common except the outdoors and his mom, but we stretched it out as long as we could. I think later my Aunt Lorelei asked each of us separately what happened and we both responded the same way. “Nice, but weird.” He is a sweet guy and I hope he’s found as much happiness as I have. It was just so strange to have all those memories and dreams come flooding back to me as we walked around Polly’s property. I had forgotten about them until today. Ah well, it’s best it didn’t work out; I would not have been on board with whole giant lake plan. The lake is beautiful and it wouldn’t surprise me if they end up getting an eagle or osprey nesting on it one day. They’ve designed an island to go out in the middle, perhaps one day that will house a rookery.

I did have to include a photo of this spot. My mom was seeing some bird in this area pictured above:

Mom: Sharon, there's something on the edge of those trees.

Birdchick: Where?

Mom: See those four trees over there?

Birdchick: What trees? There are 400 there.

Mom: It's on the edge of those brown trees.

Birdchick: What?

Mom: That pile, on the edge.

Birdchick: Which side?

Mom: The edge!

Birdchick: Right or left?

Mom: Left, right above about four trees back on top?

Birdchick: I don't see anything on top.

Mom: Not that high.

Birdchick: Wait, are you talking about those dead leaves that look orange.

Mom: Probably.

Toadish

Can you see the toads in this photo:

Look close there are in fact two toads. They are so tiny and the ground at a friend's house is overrun with them.

Here is an up close shot of a disapproving teeny toad. Just how teeny is this particular toad?

This teeny! That toad in the second photos is the same one above on my pinky finger!

Mom's House Report

For those who may be interested, the deformed robin that was at my mother’s feeders last month is still around. It’s enjoying a combination of mealworms and this stuff called Bark Butter that I picked up at Wild Birds Unlimited in Carmel. It smells like really good peanut butter and is designed for you to spread on the side of a tree for woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches.

On another note, I forgot how many storms hit Indianapolis. Just like the day before I started this trip, the day before I leave Indianapolis there is a hailstorm. This is actually the second round of hail we’ve had this afternoon.

Today I ran into one of the teachers from my high school. We walked into a great little tearoom in Morgantown and there he was at the front table. I recognized him right away, he hadn’t changed a bit, right down to the pencil mustache right above his lip. My high school was huge and I certainly didn’t expect him to remember me, but I did tell him how much his organization skills workshop he gave us as freshmen really made an impression—okay, all you people who have worked for me in the past, stop sniggering—imagine how much worse I would have been without this class.

He did have one tip that has always stayed with me about having a notebook by the bed because some of your best ideas can come at night or you could have had a really cool dream and to just jot it down as soon as you think of it, so you don’t lose it. I use that to this day, not just sleeping but anywhere I am. Anyway, go Mr. Swengel!

Final Thoughts on Vendormart

Apparently there was some partying going on at Vendormart, but since I was staying in at my mother’s I missed it. I found this on the table at Champions at the Mariott Hotel in down town Indianapolis. Next time I go, I’ll have to find that group that likes to go out and blow off a little steam.

Here is a photo of Jim Carpenter, the man that started Wild Birds Unlimited. I remember when the first one opened in Indianapolis. Most kids were taken to Showbiz Pizza Place as a treat when they were a kid, I was taken to this store. Hey, Jim, check out that Birds of Indiana Calendar right behind you. I think that would be a perfect product for you to carry in your store. Okay, that’s the last of the shameless self-promotion for the next week, I swear.

I did see lots of intriguing things and I can’t talk about them yet, because they aren’t quite available, but there is some cool stuff on the horizon this fall for bird feeding. Here are a few hints:

GIANT WIND CHIMES! That is Scott Gunther the owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Paramus, New Jersey being a size comparison next to a Contrabass Windchime. This particular hand tuned chime is 108” and weighs 100 pounds! That’s not even the biggest chime this company makes. Thanks, Scott, for giving us a sense of scale. You know, if I was still managing a store and ordered this in, I have no idea how I would have displayed this. I don’t think the ceilings were high enough.

Droll Yankees is offering a limited edition plastic tube feeder called Celebrate Life!. This goal is to support and nuture birds all while raising money for Breast Cancer Awareness. To my understanding the feeder will be available in October 2006. Droll Yankees have been a trusted brand for years as far as sturdy tube feeders go and it’s nice to see them leverage their power to not only help birds but raise breast cancer awareness as well.

Okay, this just cracked me up. Birders tend to be a “tree hugging” crowd. I know lots of birders who drive a Prius—Birder Blog is a first thought on that. But here, we have S&K Manufacturing with a big yellow Hummer! I’m sure they needed something for hauling, they had lots of martin houses as well as their fabulous colorful finch feeders.

I love the whole “in your face” theme that carries on the vehicle, right down to this sign on the doors. These are not meek little birders in this vehicle, oh no. I do have to knock them down a couple of points on creativity. Granted, bright yellow is eye grabbing for advertisement and the goldfinches on their feeders mix well, however it’s a Hummer. This vehicle should have been bright green with a red grill—for hummingbirds. Get it? Hummer/hummingbirds? It would have been brilliant.

Okay, this bird bath isn’t really new, but I just love it. I love that red glass color. The company that makes it is Erva and they have been doing some beautiful and economic mealworm/jelly feeders.

I love the orange for those who want to attract orioles. I think the blue is to attract bluebirds, but that’s a popular color for bird feeders right now so it’s perfect for those who want to try and color coordinate their feeders. Of course, there are clear dishes as well for the no frills crowd.

I’ve heard that next year’s Vendormart is in Orlando, Florida at the happiest place on Earth. I can’t wait! Hm, bird storeowners in Disneyland, nothing could possibly go wrong there.

I forgot to mention that I met the naturalist for WBU John Schaust. We must have been separated at birth, we were so simpatico on so many subjects when it comes to passions for birds and nature. We clicked when we started talking about getting people interested in birds. He’s done so much for parks and birds wherever he has gone and WBU is lucky to have him.

Mom and Aunt Lorelei and I tried out some new non-DEET mosquito repellent called Herbal Armor Pump Spray. We used it for about three hours and didn’t get bit by a single mosquito and we were in some mosquito prone areas. It smells of citronella but it doesn’t have that heavy, sticky feeling many repellents have and is made of six essential oils recognized by the EPA as insect repellents. I’ve been looking for something since Ugly Bugly went away, and though this stuff doesn’t seem to last as long as that product did, it is very effective for the time it does last.

Nature Additions

Ack! I've been so busy with Wild Birds Unlimited Vendormart, I found a few photos from Maine that I forgot to include:

Okay, black-backed gull, not that excited for some, but to a land locked Minnesotan, it was cool--cut me some slack you east coasters.

I think Wild Bird on the Fly talked about this a little bit already but I had a great birding moment in Maine at Acadia. We went looking for a king eider and I didn't pay attention and get proper directions and just didn't find the location where it was supposed to be. We ended up on a minimum maintenance road where we could not hear traffic and could hear a lone hermit thrushing singing--that was worth more than a king eider to me on any day. Oh, they sound so magical and not quite of this earth in the woods. I love them.

We also stepped out and must have been close to a junco nest, because a pair of them totally freaked out and started chipping at us. Without thinking I pished and that just made them worse.

Before I knew it, a red-breasted nuthatch got in on the scolding action. Amy had never seen or heard one before and she was really digging that excited nasally yank call. It it pretty darn cool. Although it is hard to take a bird making a sound like that seriously.

On a separate field trip I finally got to see a luna moth live and in person. I had only ever seen parts of wings on the forest floor or in nature centers before this. That was pretty darn nifty. It was sitting at a check in point at Reed's Beach. The bus was very excited and even though we were running late on that trip, we asked our guides if we could stop and take a few photos. They told us to be quick or we wouldn't get any piping plovers. We were and we got the moth and plovers. Sweet. Speaking of which, I just found a really cool luna moth necklace.

Mom Mixin' It Up

So my dear, "sweet" 67 year old mother came out with the gang from Eagle Optics and the folks at Looker Feeders for dinner after working the trade show last night. I thought she would be the model of decorum:

Non Birding Bill had often described Mom as "Sharon Squared". I think the photo above is deceiving, she rarely drinks. I think she just sniffed that from time to time to get a little buzzed. She's four eight and has the tolerance of a flea. She had a great time. She told me that she took a nap so she could stay out with us until the wee hour of 9pm. Two favorite moments of mixin' my mom with my work crowd:

1. Meeting My Publisher, Adventure Publications:

Birdchick: Mom, this is Gerri and Gordon who own Adenture Publications.

Mom: Oh wow, aren't you a handsome man!

Birdchick: Mom, Gerri is Gordon's wife.

Mom: So! I'm sure she knows how lucky she is to be married to such a handsome man!

Birdchick: Mom.

Mom: He's so burly!


2. Meeting My Boss:

Mom: Sharon, thanks for letting me take your Razor out today to watch the eagles, you know that's a really nice binocular. I like it better than the others in your suitcase.

Birdchick: Great, you should tell Dan that.

Mom: Who's Dan?

Birdchick: The guy at the end of the table.

Mom: Why should I tell him?

Birdchick: Because he designed them.

Mom: You mean...?

Birdchick: Yes, he's my boss.

Mom: He is?! I thought he was just an interloper like me, just hanging out to have a good time. I didn't know he was your boss. I thought a guy like that would look all Madison Avenue and have a pin stripe suit!

At this point, poor Dan was engaged in conversation at the other end of the table and my mother leaned across and started waving her hands.

Mom: Dan! Daaaaaan! Yoo Hoo! Dan! Hey, I really like those binoculars. I didn't know you were Sharon's actual boss!

Everyone was very entertained by Mom and at the end of the evening I overheard Dan tell her:
"Now I think I understand Sharon a little better."

I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Oh well, I heart my mom.

I saw these bunnies at the Wild Republic booth. I miss my disapproving rabbit!

This was a surprise, Marie Reed (the pronunciation of Marie rhymes with starry) was at Vendormart. I got her book that she did in conjunction with Lang Elliot, Common Birds and Their Songs for my mom since she was such a good sport to go out with us and let me blog about it. That book is a great gift for someone just getting interested in bird song.

WBU Vendor Mart Well Behaved

Well, no lampshades on the head yet at Wild Birds Unlimited Vendormart so instead, I offer strange photos of me from the ABA Convention that fellow bloggers are posting:

Me eating lobster or eating donuts or eatingwhile driving at Wild Bird on the Fly blog.

Me getting close to a lobster with Wild Bird on the Fly at Bill of the Birds blog.

What is it with me and food?

Wild Birds Unlimited Vendor Mart

Here is Cindy with our completed Eagle Optics booth! We just learned this morning that our new Ranger SRTs were voted a “Hot Product Pick”. Whoot!

Oh how handy! Adventure Publications (who are debuting an awesome new loon book--amazing photos and loon cd--just loon sounds and nature to relax to), the people who publish my calendars has a booth right across from the Eagle Optics booth at Wild Birds Unlimited Vendormart! So, being the shameless self-promoter I am, I have been sure to note name tags and store locations. Any store I see in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois or Indiana gets the pitch.

“Oh, I see your store is in Indiana. Did you see that calendar across the way? It’s got Indiana bird information and trivia and it’s written by one of our staff so it has to be good!”

Shameless, I know. I’m not just out for me. Houghton Mifflin is kitty corner so I of course have popped over and promoted Letters from Eden too. That is a great book, I had the pleasure of reading half of it at the Bangor Airport when Northwest Airlines’ computer system quit working for an hour. Right now, my mother is reading it while I’m working, I’ll probably have to finish it on my flight home on Thursday.

Speaking of things Thompson, the Bird Watcher’s Digest booth is just to our left. I stopped by to say hello to Elsa, Andy and Nat. No BT3 at this one, he’s home sensibly resting. I did however get to see a new side to Thompson family talent. I was aware of the writing, artistry and music, but I was not prepared for this feat. Here is young Nat rockin’ this odd ear trick of shoving his outer ear into his inner ear:

Before:

Yeeeah! It's incredibly disturbing, yet I can't look away. And with a quick blink of his eyes, here comes the after (you have to watch him do it, because he can do it so fast. If you blink you miss the ear popping out):

Hm. Who knew? There appears to be a hint of carny in this family. If anyone attending Vendormart is reading this blog, stop by the Bird Watcher's Digest booth and have some chocolate and ask to see this. It's...well it just has to be experienced.

Some my have heard me poking fun of Tilley hats. I think they had an ad campaign saying they were durable and stylish (I had issues with the stylish aspect). They have some new models, you be the judge:

Hm, I wonder if this hat will inspire Non Birding Bill to sing the Tom Jones version of "You Can Leave Your Hat On?"

This one reminds me of Duran Duran circa "Her Name is Rio and she Dances on the Sand."

More product photos coming in the next day or so...Woodlink is working to be more colorful and arty with their feeders. The ones they debuted in January at Birdwatch America were...odd (orange with yellow and green polka dots just reminded me of the morning after of a frat party). But here it looks like they've gone back to the drawing board and come up with some very creative feeders. Here's a hint:

This, I like. It's modern, stylish finch feeder. Go, Woodlink, for pushing those creative boundaries!

ABA Autographs

I'm apologizing for typos up front, I'm stealing wireless at a hotel near Mom's house and must be quick. I have the go ahead for the vendormart updates and those will start on Monday. I did find a company that makes these intriguing bird whistles, including a whistle for a great tit. They got nervous when I wanted to take a photo and didn't like the idea of me putting in the blog but I'll work on them some more tomorrow. I think I may have come off a little strong when critiquing the authenticity of some of their North American bird calls. Curse me and my overwhelming need to correct bird inaccuracy. It can prevent me from making friends.

I am having a great time meeting bird owners from around the country. I'm keeping tabs on names and states. There are a few owners that I've talked to that I can see just have the spark and knack for running great stores and want to check them out when my travels bring them my way.

That's our Vortex crew at the ABA Convention. We have from left Bruce Mercer, Don Stokes, Lillian Stokes, me and some excited customers trying out the Stokes line of binoculars.

I am often asked what are the best bird festivals to go to. The answer depends on many factors and I have a top five that I recommend, one being an ABA Convention. I admire the folks that run the ABA. A festival in the same town year after year is tough enough to pull off. But doing a festival in a different city and state every year is a monumental challenge. Do things go wrong on an ABA convention? Yes, sometimes they do, but the staff is very responsive and dedicated to giving participants all the bang for the buck that they can. If you are looking for great birds and top guides this is the place to go. You get some of the best local and international guides on these trips and they work and bend over backwards to get you the birds. It’s also the best place to network and meet well known authors and artists. If anyone is remotely planning on trying to get a job in the birding industry (birding not bird feeding, there is a difference) this is the place to make your presence known.

There were twenty-five bird authors at the ABA all set up at a big table for autographs! That's a lotta writers crammed into one room. Here we have Steve Howell who helped illustrate the Pyle book I was so excited about (and also gave me a shearwater head) and on the right is that big hunk of burnin' author of bird song, Don Kroodsma.

Here was another fun quote overheard at the convention: "Hey Lillian, you get him from the front and I'll get him from the back!" That was me shouting as I was grabbing a photo of the two of them. I have to say, I had a fun dinner with the Stokes during the convention. Of course, it's not hard to have a good time when lobster and a few beers are involved, but I discovered that we have something in common--we all like scotch--particularly 18 year old Glenfiddich! They already had cool points in my book, but that certainly advanced them several notches.

Here's Jan Pierson on the left laughing it up with Doug "he's really not a" Pratt. Jan went out with the karaoke posse, he didn't sing but lended lots of moral support. Poor Jan! The first time I met him, I think I came off a little crazed. It was during the part of the convention when I didn't have my chord for my Powerbook. That night he was supposed to give a Powerpoint presentation and I saw he had a Powerbook. I made a beeline for his dinner table and completely interrupted his conversation to beg to use his chord. He of course needed it for his presentation and I tried in vain to negotiate using it just during mealtime. I'm sure I came off as deranged as Elaine from Seinfeld when she was asking a lady in a fellow bathroom stahl if she could "spare a square".

Now, here's something interesting. All the authors were at one giant U shaped table setup, except for Pete Dunne (above). He had his own table. Does this mean Pete can't play nice? Or does it mean that he smells bad? No, this prolific guy has two new books out, one is his Essential Field Guide and the other is The Art of Pishing (a note to non birders, that book is not about wee, but about making a pish sound with your mouth to attract birds). Because Pete had two new books his table was extra busy and that was why he was separated, I've met him and I can say with authority he can be quite nice and smells pretty good.

Ode to Moms

That's a couple of female common eiders. If you look in back you can see a floating ball of puff--that an eider duckling!

I was just a zombie yesterday on my flight from Bangor to Indianapolis. All those late nights and 3:30am wake up calls at the ABA Convention had finally caught up to me. It also didn't help that I had one nasty canker sore on my tongue--in one of the worst spots too. It's right on the side in the back and no matter what I do, it rubs against my molars. It hurt to talk and especially eat. I used to get them constantly but thanks to my dentist I have eliminated the toothpaste and foods that trigger them, so I rarely have one. This one was the result of Jolly Rancher candies. I think some of them are flavored with pineapple which is a guaranteed canker sore for me and I remember absent mindedly eating a couple at the ABA.

By the time I arrived at my Mom's yesterday I was tired, hangry (hungry and angry) and just plain sore. Mom worked her magic: I got some good mouth numbing products on the sore, she made some of my favorite food (fried green tomatoes) and she did my laundry! Go Mom! Thanks! After finally getting a full eight hours sleep I am feeling human. From now on Mom goes on all my long trips.

This morning was such a treat. Instead of waking up to a double alarm of a hotel wake call and annoying clock radio, I woke up naturally to the sound of tufted titmice, Carolina wrens and cardinals.

I'll be getting more entries up soon. Mom doesn't have any internet whatsoever and I have to upload on the fly. I hope to have more up tonight.

I'm currently working a convention for Wild Birds Unlimited Stores. It's not open to the public so I don't know how much I can mention of what happens here, but I still have some fun stories from the ABA coming.

ABA in the News

Yesterday on our field trip we were followed by a film crew from WGME. That's one of our field trip leaders, Steve Howell using a field guide to show Amy Sinclair and the camera man some of the birds we were seeing on the trip. Amy was wearing some, shall we say "antique" binoculars. I couldn't stand it and loaned her my 8x42 DLSs. I even put my harness on her so she could see how comfortable binoculars can be. She was really impressed with how well she could see through them. Perhaps we have converted her to birding? You can watch the segment here, just look for and click on "watch streaming video".

She came with us on a great day, people were getting their 500th or 600th bird. I loved finally being able to see the adorable piping plover (above) and we saw two unusual terns, an elegant tern and a gull-billed tern. Thanks, Amy for putting birds and birders in the news!

I owe Steve a huge debt of thanks. We found a dead sooty shearwater on the beach (above). Steve was having trouble getting his macro function to work on his camera and since I love taking photos of dead stuff, I was happy to oblige. This is a tough enough bird to see out on a boat in the middle of the ocean. You just don't get a chance to appreciate a shearwater in the hand very often. You can really see that tube nose and fabulous hooked bill.

The wings of the shearwater are very long and thin, perfect for it to fly right above the waves on the ocean. I have to mention that while I was taking all these photos and posing the bird, a little boy was hovering nearby. His mother saw it and said, "Don't touch, you shouldn't touch dead things." Of course, here I am with Steve doing everything but kissing the bird. You could see the little boy was barely able to keep himself from touching it and asking his mom why we were touching it. The mom couldn't come up with a good answer and probably suspected Steve and I were nuts and shooed the boy back to their spot on the beach.

Being an expert on seabirds, Steve opened the shearwater's mouth and showed us the jagged edges on the tongue and on the upper part of its mouth that are used to push slippery fish down into its crop. I was lamenting that I wanted the head for my collection of bird parts. Since I was kind enough to take photos for Steve, he was kind enough to release the head from its body and now I have a shearwater drying out in my room. Should be interesting getting that past airport security this weekend.

Quick Notes

Today's pace was just nuts but I had to share this quote overheard at the convention:

"We're leaving today. We had to make a decision as to which meant more to us: a Bicknell's thrush or our grandson's high school graduation."

Also, I noticed that the National Geographic Handheld Guide to Birds now has an interactive website where you can test and play with the software. Another new feature is that it will now sync up with ebird.

I will have lot's of photos coming soon. Hopefully, I will get to upload and update them on Saturday.

I and the Bird

Patrick Belardo of The Hawk Owls' Nest served up a World Cup-themed I and the Bird #26.

For those new to this blog, I and the Bird is a collection of great blog entries of bird themed blogs. Are you new to blogging? Are you in the mood to find some fun and new bird themed blogs, here's your chance to sample some of the finest!

Here is a special note from Mike Bergin of 10,000 Birds who founded I and the Bird:

As I mentioned in my previous missive, the next edition of I and the Bird marks the first anniversary of our happy carnival, a year of collective bird blogging greatness. To mark this milestone, I'm hosting the first themed edition of IATB. To participate, send me a link to a post you've written addressing at least one of these three burning questions: Why do you blog? Why do you bird? Why do you blog about birds?

This special edition is intended as a celebration of the amazing aggregate talent encapsulated in our last 26 installments and is therefore only open to previous participants. Also, only posts on why you blog, bird, or blog about birds will be included in this edition. I and the Bird #27 will appear on these pages on July 6, so get those links to me by Tuesday, July 4.

Wednesday at the ABA

Since this is a bird blog, we need a bird photo. This is a chestnut-sided warbler digiscoped at Acadia. Sweet bird!

The really nice thing about American Birding Association Conventions is that you have field trips one day and workshops the next. It's nice, you don't have to worry if you're field trip bus is coming back late and you might miss a workshop. You can also run yourself totally ragged watching birds on the field trip day and then be laid back on the non field trip days. On workshop days I stay in the booth to help customers and today WildBird on the Fly at the Vortex booth joined me.

We got to meet the ABA Youth Birder of the Year, and for the life of me I can't remember his name, but he's a great young enthusiastic guy. That's Scott Cronenweth a Maine birding guide with him on the right.

I've been keeping tabs on interesting quotes we've have heard from people walking by the booth today. Here are the top five:

1. "I literally stepped into the shower with all the binoculars around my neck and then stood under the water. They were fine."

2. "Ugh. It's all coming back...this is why I said never again to a pelagic trip...(barf)"

3. "I was peeing when they found the boreal chickadee."

4. "Oh yeah, that's my future wife walkin' around over there."

5. "This is a birder's chance to mate. This convention is basically one big lek, now dance, prairie chicken, dance."

I have spent way too much money this week. I scored some great books, one being a field guide to birds of China that I have found in used bookstores. I've seen this book going for as much as $80 and I got this one for only $35. Score! The other book I was excited about was the Peter Pyle book, Identification Book of North American Birds. It's all about how to identify birds in the hand when you band them. It even teaches you how to age and sex chickadees, something you can only do in the hand. Here' s a quote from the book about eastern phoebes:

Skull--Pneumaticization completes in HY/SY from 15 Sept. Some SYs (and ASYs?) can retain windows at the rear of the skull through spring or summer.

Oh yeah, that's my kind of book! Seriously, that sentence is describing the development of air cells in bones at certain ages of the eastern phoebe. It mostly happens in the first and second year of the bird, usually by September 15.

Our booth is very popular, we have lens pens that we are selling through the ABA gift shop which can be a life saver when you are on the beach or pelagic trip and keep your glass nice and clear.

Round about three o'clock, I was needing a second wind. I was lamenting to WildBird on the Fly how much I could really use a cup of coffee. Then before I knew it, Rusty Harold (pictured above on the right) one of the convention participants walked by with a box of Dunkin' Donuts Coffee--it's really good coffee. He was kind enough to share it with me. Not only is this guy a software genius, but he's helpful to those in need of a caffeine fix. I was so grateful to him; it helped me get through the rest of the day. That coffee at 3pm is the second most important cup of the day!

At the end of the day, Amy and I went out with the Leica folks for some local lobsters. We had a great time sharing stories and spraying each other with hot lobster juice. I don't care how much finishing school you go through, there just isn't a graceful way to eat a lobster.

I got to spend some time with Bill Schmoker (pictured above). I was so glad to meet him, since I periodically link to some of his awesome photos in this blog. He looks much younger than I imagined him and I was surprised to learn that he is a middle school science teacher. I was so shocked, when I was in middle school the science teachers weren't cool at all, so Bill is a surprise.
While eating our lobster, Jeff Gordon (pictured above)--ever the naturalist and gourmand gave us a natural history lesson on how to sex our lobsters. I was pleased to discover with Jeff's coaching that I was eating both a male and a female lobster. Bill Schmoker was REALLY lucky, his female lobster was full of roe.

Tonight a group of us decided to catch up on some work at the lounge in our hotel. There were quite a few locals hangin' out. When we arrived the bartender excitedly asked us to show them the video clip of Richard Attenborough's Lyrebird from the Life of Birds series (if Birding is Not a Crime has already shown this, I apologize). Amy got this photo of me showing them the clip. The whole bar was silenced and entranced as they watched this incredible bird mimic not only other birds, but camera shutters, car alarms and chainsaws. If you have never seen the clip, watch the whole thing. It will blow your socks off. The bartender had seen all fo us birders watching it the night before and thought it was totally cool. She also looked at some digiscoped photos and was impressed by those. It wouldn't surprise me if we covert her to birding by the end of the week.

At the moment we are all awaiting the arrival of Bill of the Birds. He was supposed to be in around 9:30pm, but we've been tracking his flight delays. The last we checked, he was on a flight that was to leave at 9:44pm but according to the airline's website was still waiting on the tarmac. Poor guy. We're rooting for you Bill, hang in there.

Now, it's off to bed, tomorrow brings another field trip. It is a fun part of the job but its still work. I'm not just there to have a good time, I bring along some of our optics for people to use and test out. Even if you are not an official field trip leader you do end up helping id birds on these trips. I wasn't much help with the pelagic trip since I'm such a Midwesterner but tomorrow, the birds are more my speed.

Chum Chuminy Chum Chum Churry

Today was a triumph of the human spirit on many levels. First, I had to meet my field trip group at 3:30 am. That's not a typo folks, that is 3:30 in the am. I don't know how, but I managed to get my stuff together to meet the field trip.

When I met up with the group, I was reminded of a flock of blackbirds coming to roost. The hotel situation in Bangor, ME is a little wonky; we're spread out over three different hotels, and for some reason I'm at the hotel with all the field trip leaders and not participants/exhibitors, so I have to take a shuttle bus to meet the buses that take us on the field trips. When the shuttle bus arrived with all of us, there were about 250 birders waiting in that hotel parking lot. Our crowd joined them and we began milling about trying to figure how who was going on what bus.

Then, just like someone tossed out a peanut butter suet cake to a flock a starlings, someone opened up the breakfast boxes too early. The original plan was that we were to get our boxed breakfasts as we boarded our respective buses, but there appeared to be some sort of bus snafu going on. I'm not sure if someone in charge just left the breakfast boxes unattended and people started going for them or if someone in charge was worried the crowd was getting ugly and decided to throw food at us as a last means of defense.

Once we finally got on the road, things seemed to have calmed down. However, the adventure was just beginning. The sea was angry that day, my friends! I learned later on that our boat was the only one allowed on the water, the swells were six to eight feet and our tour group felt it. I would say that at least half the participants ended up barfing at some point from motion sickness. I don't know how I escaped it, I used a combination of Dramamine, ginger ale, oyster crackers, wristbands and focused on a fixed point on the horizon when I wasn't watching birds. I felt that I won the battle of the bilge. It wasn't easy, especially when they started chumming.

For those who don't know, chumming is tossing in smelly fish stuff to attract sea birds that have a terrific sense of smell. Our chum consisted of fish oil mixed with popcorn (the popcorn helps keep the oil at the surface of the water) and chunks of fish. Shearwaters and storm-petrels came right in.

The second floor of the boat was loaded with everyone who was feeling a tad queasy. I did find these two towards the end of the trip. They looked exhausted, happy about the birds they had seen and a tad in love...awwwwww.

I had a day I haven't had in ages! I got 13 life birds on one trip, I've never been on an eastern pelagic so it was easy to rack 'em up. So many birds were being seen in different directions, I didn't know which one to look at first. Behind me was a gannet, to the right of me was a shearwater and to the left was a razorbill. AAAAARGH! Sensory overload.

Needless to say that in high swells, getting photos of the birds is challenging to say the least. Okay, this isn't anything to write home about, but the above photos is a souvenier to remember puffins and razorbills.

Here are a couple of razorbills flying by. I really enjoyed those birds more than I thought I would. I was ready to go away from this trip with puffins being my favorite birds, but I couldn't take my binos off of the razors.

It was a great day of birding, well worth the early morning rising. One thing about ABA trips, you get your money's worth with birds. The trip leaders are generally top notch and often there are so many leaders on one trip, you can pick the personality you're most comfortable with and hang with them for the day. I chose Jim Danzenbaker, not only because he's a great birder, but because he had a whole Richard Dreyfuss look (from the Jaws movie era) going on. After returning from the trip at 3:30 pm (12 hours after we started) I headed to the vendor area that was opening up at 4pm to work the binocular booth until the banquet at 6pm. Am I bushed? You betcha. Was it a great day? Totally. Did it make up for the Legionnaire incident? So, so very much!

I Got The Power

Thanks to Non Birding Bill and his mad shipping skills, I have a power chord for my Mac. Insert huge sigh of relief. Of course, now that I have it, many birders with Macs are arriving to the ABA Convention. Ah, life.

Now a bunch of us birders are kickin' it in the hotel lounge swapping bird stories. There are at least three bloggers here: Me, Wild Bird on the Fly, and JeffGyr. Word on the street is that Bill of the Birds is arriving tomorrow so the convention should be well covered on the bird blogs.

It's Good To Be The Bird Chick

I'm getting some great swag from the ABA Convention. When I checked in at registration I got a new bag (I'm sure Cinnamon will fit in this one too), a note pad in a waterproof cover, a puffin pin, a new name badge with pockets and a local shorebird guide.

I also got an advance reading copy of Julie's upcoming book Letters from Eden courtesy of the Houghton Mifflin booth. I'm really having to force myself to work and not read it. That totally makes up for all that went wrong yesterday!

If you're wondering if the book as cool as you think it is...yes! It's good to be the birdchick (okay, I'm done referring to myself in the third person now).

Yikes! Just realized that I am on an 11 hour pelagic field trip tomorrow before working the binocular booth. Vomit city, here I come! I should really rack up some life birds on this. I'm severely lacking sea birds.

Early ABA Report

I have maintained that the Utah landscape just isn’t ugly. Maine is giving Utah a run for its money. Doesn't the above photo just make you want to break out into Barry Manilow's Weekend in New England?

Okay, the start to the ABA Convention his still a little wonky for me. Apparently, we had the hottest day in Maine in recent memory—it was 90 degrees yesterday and the Civic Center wasn’t prepared for that kind heat, so the air conditioning didn’t get kicked on in time. My boxes weren’t at the Civic Center for set up, because they were clearing out the Legionnaires' stuff (those guys are just causing problems all over the place). And one top of that, the power chord for my G4 broke and no one in nearby Maine carries Mac products and the soonest I can get one is on Tuesday. Blog entries may not be as frequent until I get the power adaptor.

I won’t be a complete whiny pants, my optimistic nature is kicking in. Even if the Legionnaire’s hadn’t caused a gum up with boxes being brought over, it would have been too hot to function in the Civic Center, so that was kind of good. And my power adaptor broke right where it connects to the Powerbook, at least it didn’t get stuck inside. I’ve also had some iPod issues the last week and the wonderful folks at birdPod are helping me out until I get my warranty repair squared away—they do have GREAT customer service. The birdPod program I'm using this week is different than the one I have--this one has photos. When I get more power for the computer, I'll describe it in more detail. It's pretty nifty.

Since set up couldn’t happen, I spent time at Acadia National Park. I did get two new birds yesterday! This funky looking duck: a common eider (that's the male on the left and if you look close in front of herring gull you should see three females laying ont the vegetation) and a black guillemot. Sweet! Acadia is a beautiful park, but I must say that places like North Dakota, Utah and northern Minnesota have completely spoiled me rotten. I'm so used to being the only person around. Acadia was jam packed with people on Sunday, and that irritated me. Didn’t they know that I wanted to listen to all those black-throated green warblers in peace? If I ever do that park again, it will be on a weekday. It reminded me so much of Duluth, only instead of having Lake Superior, it has the Atlantic Ocean.
Could this view get any better? It actually did, while I was taking it in, I heard the call of a wood thrush echoing up followed periodically by a winter wren. Nice.

This is a cliff with a peregrine falcon aerie. Some of the young birds were fledging that day. They are in the photo, just so high up, you can't see them. Really, trust me, they are there.

Not much to report gossip wise yet—although, during dinner at a fine establishment called Captain Nick’s I noticed two birders sit at a table diagonally behind us. One of them had a shirt that showed a trogon—that’s how I knew it was a birder. Mr. Trogon Shirt was trying to get his paper wrapping off his straw. He kept blowing and blowing but the paper wouldn’t budge. He finally blew with all his might and it sailed off the straw and narrowly missed hitting a boy in the back of the head at a neighboring table. He and his dinner companion giggled and he looked to see if anyone noticed. He caught my eye and I gave him a thumbs up.

Bangor off to a Bang!

It's been an odd 24 hours.

Things started off with a bang yesterday at Carpenter Nature Center. We got in a male yellow warbler. I never realized just how yellow they are, even their toes are yellow. Hm, one of the few birds that actually matches the name ornithologists gave it. I wonder if that was a mistake? It's a bird. It's a warbler. It's yellow. Hm, if only they could have applied that logic to red-bellied woodpeckers.

We later got in a male rose-breasted grosbeak. Doesn't he look kind of...evil? Look at those eyes, that bird looks remarkably pissed off considering it doesn't have the protruding supraorbital ridge hawks have. Granted, I don't blame the birds for being irritated when being banded. After all, they don't know what the heck is going on, that we're doing this to track them and help them.

You'll note in this photo, we aren't holding the grosbeak like we do the other birds post banding. It's too dangerous with a grosbeak. Look at the size of that bill. They are huge (hence the name grosbeak, gros is French for fat). That bill is meant to crack open hard shells on seeds, but can also act as a great slicer of flesh when the need calls. So this is the best look we can get of a grosbeak in the hand without drawing blood. Even when you let grosbeaks go, you have to give them a toss. If you just open your hand, they will sometimes turn around and bite before they take off.

After the banding, I tied up all my last projects at The Raptor Center and drove home to pack. I could see rain was coming but didn't realize how bad it was going to get.

This is 35w right in the heart of Minneapolis going into hwy 94. Traffic is at a standstill because of nickel-sized hail that was falling down--right at rush hour. I stayed there for about 10 minutes. Non Birding Bill called to see how I was and as I was talking to him he and his friend just encountered half a tree laying in the middle of the road where they were. Flash flooding was all over the place, but I eventually made it home in one piece, as did NBB.

"Wait, what do you mean I'm not coming?"

As I was packing last night, Cinnamon decided to help. She didn't understand that she wasn't coming on this trip. She greatly disapproved. It wasn't pretty and no amount of parsley could contain her.

I'm now in Maine and getting ready to go to sleep to prepare for the week. Some birders are here, but currently the hotel is overrun with Legionnaires. Tonight I was in the elevator going to meet a friend for dinner. We stopped on the third floor and about ten Legionnaires loaded on to the tiny elevator. I don't do well in cramped spaces but figured we only had tree floors to go so I pressed against the back wall. Two Legionnaires well past their 60s were right in front of me. Suddenly, I felt something. I looked down and one of the older gents was patting my thigh! I thought it was a mistake but the patting continued and proceeded to go higher. So I said as loudly as I could without yelling, "Hand check!" All eyes turned in our direction.

The older gent turned in surprise, apologized and said, "I'm sorry, I thought you were a wall." Now, I love the idea of having rock solid thighs, but in reality, they are quite soft. What kind of walls was this guy used to? Padded?

I smiled and said, "I've heard about you Legionnaires. Now, hands off the display case." He removed his hand (remarkably with all his fingers intact). I couldn't get off that elevator fast enough. I better get some really good life birds on this trip.

Bear With Me...again

I just found this slide show of a black bear trying to sleep on a hammock on the WCCO website.

Also, I have report from Marcie that she has an update to her mourning cloaks. Awesome photos!

Thursday night, Non Birding Bill and I headed out to Chit Chaturday. An event hosted by fm107 where you can meet the on air personalities and get free food. The event was held near the bird store I used to work at and is called the Bayside Grille, right on Lake Minnetonka. While there, I got a big hug from Ian of a Balanced Breakfast.

I also found a robin lurking suspiciously under some bushes--does it have a nest, I wondered. On closer inspection, I found a nest, but not a robin's nest. Just outside the nest were two chicks just ready to fledge and all the people around were feakin' them out. The smallest one flew the coop right away:

Can you tell what it is? I shooed it back to the bush with the nest, but did not put him in the nest. It landed safely on a higher branch. Once a chick flies out and discovers how mobile it can be, it won't stay in the nest any longer. Sometimes they leave a day or two early, but the parents will help guide it. If you can't guess the chick, it's a toughie--this species is known to be a "chipper" little fellow. Get it? CHIPper? It's a chipping sparrow.

Here's the second chick...looks like it got knocked around with the ugly stick a few times. Notice how the shape of this bird is different from the chick above? Look at the way the eyes are bulging. Is this a young chipping sparrow? No! It is a brown-headed cowbird.

For those who don't know, cowbirds are nest parasites, the adults lay their eggs in the nest of host birds and often the host birds loses some, if not all of their brood to caring for a chick twice their size. Cowbirds are a native North American species and are protected under the Migratory Bird Act. However, because cowbirds now follow sedentary humans and not roaming buffalo, their parasitism is speeding the decline of warblers, thrushes and sparrows.

I know how many people feel about cowbirds and I know many people will dispatch a young cowbird. I'll admit, I have removed cowbird eggs from nests, but I just can't dispatch a chick that far along in the growth process...especially at a large outdoor party with many people who don't know birds well but know me as the "bird lady" or "Birdchick". How would that look if someone came up to me while I was dispatching a baby bird?

Cowbirds are a huge debate and I don't know what's to be done or how it's to be solved.

Excel Raptor Bowl

This looks like so much fun!

Brit's Pub is hosting a lawn bowling tournament sponsored by Xcel Energy and presented by KARE 11 and WCCO Radio to benefit The Raptor Center July 12, 2006. Gather friends and join Doug Woog, Dave Lee, Stan "the Crusher" Kowalski, Brian Bonin, Ron Coomer (these must be sports people because I don't know who any of these guys are) and other local celebs for some lawn bowling fun! Corporate and individual teams are welcome.

I so want to be on a team, but I'm the only company employee in town, so alas I can't. If your company is interested in being a team sponsor it's $1500 and you get the chance to entertain clients as part of a four player team at Brit's Pub lawn bowling venue, team photo with a raptor, premium gift bags for each team member, prizes for the winning team and your logo on the site of The Raptor Center. This fundraiser has EVERYTHING: birds, beer, Brit's food (come on, you know you love those scotch eggs), fun AND you'd be helping injured birds of prey who come for medical attention and don't have health insurance.

If anyone out there needs an extra team member let me know.

Too Excited To Work

For fun, I'm just going to add some gratuitous owl photos in this post, because it's fun to look at owls (and I haven't had a chance to take other photos).

"Owls? I don't approve of owls."

I'm sorry about the lack of entries this week, I'm trying to get my loose ends tied up before I leave town. This weekend I fly out to Bangor, Maine for the ABA Convention and then I leave the following Saturday for Indianapolis, Indiana for vendormart...and a visit with my mom--why did I think that wouldn't be stressful? I'm excited, but I'm not thrilled to away from Non Birding Bill for ten days. But if we can survive my two week trip to Arkansas with hardly any contact, we can do this. This will be fun, there will be great birds (I finally get to see puffins in the wild!) and great friends. Wow, was it really only last July when I was at the ABA Convention in Tucson, Arizona and I said aloud over some drinks with friends, "I wish I could be an optics rep." Careful what you wish for out loud, it does come true.

So, here are some updates to past entries. First up, Gayle Deutsch did an informal survey around the office to see who could hear the "silent ring tone" (which is developed by the same company that made the sound to keep teenagers from loitering in front of shops). Here were the results:

Can't hear the tone:
48-year-old woman (my boss)
25-year-old man (whom I mentioned below)

Can hear the tone:
50+ woman 41-year old woman (me)
35-year old woman 24-year old woman (can hear very lightly)
24-year old woman (claps hands over ears)

This reminds me of when I volunteered at Richardson Nature Center in Bloomington and would help with bird/nature walks. To me, the high-pitched calls of Cedar Waxwings were quite clear - but a number of the 60+ age group could not hear them at all. Perhaps birder's should have their own brand of the mosquito phone ring, but have it be the Cedar Waxwing's call? ;)

I also have reports from others who cannot hear the tone, but they are well known birders, and I don't want to out their audio abilities.

Okay, I need to give a big shout out to Morgan Pittman of The Wren's Nest in Michigan in regards to the black-crowned night-heron foot stinking up the office:

And here I thought I was the only adult who took home animal parts they found... Anyway, the BEST way to dry them, I've found, is to place them into silica gel crystals.

These can be found at craft/floral stores (if you have JoAnn Fabrics or Michaels Crafts, these are good places to get it inexpensively -- in the floral-arranging aisle). The best kind to get is the 'color-changing' type. These silica beads are blue, then you put them in with your thing to dry (flowers, dead toads found in the driveway, heron's feet, etc...) into an air-tight container (I use quart or gallon size zip-lock bags a lot for these crazy projects!) when they turn pink, your item is dry! And, even better -- they're re-usable! You just put the pink crystals into the oven in a pie pan, warm 'em up, and they're blue again, ready for your next find! Happy drying!

That's the foot in the vase surrounded by gel in the above photo. Flanked by the container the gel came in and the air freshener. I bought some of the silica gel and followed the conventional directions for dried flowers. I'm supposed to cover the item and seal it up in an air-tight container and leave undisturbed for 3 - 7 days. I started this Wednesday and will just leave the foot in there until I return. I figured for a larger foot and not a delicate flower it might need a few extra days. One thing is for sure, it's smelling better around the desk! Thanks for the tip, Morgan. The noses around the office sure do appreciate it.

And finally, I got a response from Marcie O'Connor about the mourning cloak caterpillars:

I just saw your post about the Mourning Cloak caterpillars - I had exactly the same experience last week. I picked up 3 of them and they immediately started making chrysalises. Here's the link to my blog story. They should hatch in 10 days or so - I'll post photos when they do. I've noticed before that some years seem to be especially good for certain butterflies - this looks like it will be a good one for Mourning Cloaks!

She actually sent this last week, so keep an eye her blog for emerging mourning cloaks.

How Good Is Your Hearing?

Tonight I was sitting here innocently reading the current issue of Winging It when this horrible high pitched sound attacked my ears. I about jumped out of my skin. Non Birding Bill was playing a sound file of a silent ring tone that teenagers are using on their phones to secretly send text messages. The frequency is so high that adults aren't supposed to be able to hear it. NBB couldn't hear a thing, but I could. Try out the link, can you hear it?

More Ivory-bill Updates

This photo is courtesy of Sharon Stiteler/Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I still chuckle when I type that.

More of my ivory-bill search is up at Eagle Optics Website.

Today's Thoughts

You know a book is going to be great, when it gets an endorsement like this. I can't wait until fall, I want to read it now!! I shouldn't whine too much, after all I did get a sneak peak this past April.

I did my first segment on the new morning show called Showcase Minnesota. I was on with Rob Hudson and he officially has street cred with me. When we were introducing ourselves he said, "I love birds, I used to feed hummingbirds when I lived in San Diego, I loved Costa's hummingbirds."

"Wait, you know what a Costa's is?" I asked, surprised. "I've never worked with a host that knows birds before. You're officially cool in my book."

We clicked well together, although he didn't tell me a dirty joke right before we went on air like Pat used to, but he's a nice easy going guy.

When I was driving home I got a great compliment. I was listening to Kevyn and Colleen in the car and they were talking about a new book about great white sharks that just came out. Neither had a huge interest in sharks but commented that sometimes a book is so good, you get interested in that subject. Kevyn then said, "You know, it like that woman on Ian and Margery's show that's always talking about birds. I've never been interested in birds, but I hear her and I think, wow, that's interesting, I'd like to know more."

Thanks, guys, that made my day!

Now I have to face my apartment. This morning before going to KARE 11, I couldn't find my keys. I knew they had to be in the apartment, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get in the building last night. Poor Non Birding Bill had tidied up the place so I would have a clean home to welcome me. All that was destroyed this morning as I went on a frantic search for my keys. Somehow they fell into the couch and ended up deep in the center. It only took dumping every bag and laundry basket, and moving every piece of furniture to find them in time to leave for the station. NBB took the afternoon off to spend with me. I warned him not to come home, to just maybe go for a nice walk instead.

Moments in North Dakota

During quieter times during the trade show, I let Cinnamon run loose. She kept heading over to a wood carver's table. At first I thought she was just after wood chips that fell on the floor. But after observing her assume this position, I realized she was hoping they would carve a figurine of her. They just smiled and patted her head.

Can I just say how much I heart Eldon Greij? He gave a wonderful presentation at the banquet about birding moments. He shared slides he'd collected from photographers over the years and told about special moments with certain birds he had seen in his lifetime. He's so funny, every time the audience would go "Awwwww" at a cute photo that looked a tad anthropomorphic, he would say, "Stop that!" Yet, at the same time, some of his birding moments were so personal, he himself get a little emotional recounting the stories. He's a wonderful presenter at festivals, not too dry and boring, but not saccharine sweet either. Just the way I like 'em.

Cinnamon and I worked all day Saturday and had a great time at the binocular booth at the Potholes and Prairie Bird Festival. I love the friendliness of the town. Since I had decided to come to this festival at the last moment, I didn't really research what birds to expect in the area. I had heard people say they were seeing lark buntings, Baird's sparrows and Sprague's pipits--three I have never seen before. I mentioned in passing that I would like to see those species and all day Saturday between customers people came up to me to give me directions to find them. BT3 gave directions to a large pile of barbed wire that would guarantee lark buntings. Paulette of Arrowood NWR gave me a PLOTS map with marks on it. Stacey Adolph-Whipp told me of a spot where there would be so many Sprague's pipits singing, that it would be hard to hear the Baird's. A few other people gave directions.

I decided to go look for them before I drove home on Sunday. When I followed Paulette's directions and map, I discovered a huge pile of barbed wire--the pile BT3 must have been talking about--low and behold lark buntings. The area was so beautiful and isolated, I decided to chuck any further directions and just experience the prairie and meander here and there.

I found this dilapidated house right off of 14. I took a walk down the "minimum maintenance road" to take a few photos. Dickcissels, grasshopper sparrows and savannah sparrows surrounded me. As I had the house and landscape in my viewfinder, I noticed some movement.

A doe was walking right towards me. When she was within 20 feet of me, she could sense I was there. The wind blew my scent straight for her. She started raising and lowering her head. It reminds me of something Cinnamon does when she's uncertain. We call it her bunny pushups, as she crouches down and rises up, trying to size up the object. The deer knew I was there, but she couldn't see me because I wasn't moving. I wanted to stick it out and see how close she would get, but my nose had other plans. I sneezed and she took off. It was a beautiful moment until the snot interrupted.

I love taking time out in these isolated spots. We're fortunate to live in a country where you can find places and pretend to (or in some cases actually) be the only person for miles. I used to think birding in boreal areas was my favorite habitat, but more I spend time on prairies, the more it is my favorite. I was so overwhelmed by the songs.

As I meandered, I found a spot engulfed by the songs of Sprague's pipits--this must be the spot that Stacey told me about. You couldn't hear any other birds, not even the bobolink. Their song reminds me of a canyon wren song, the way it spirals downward. I was so overcome, you couldn't see them, but you could hear them all around you. I decided that I didn't care if I didn't see or hear a Baird's, this moment was more than enough for today. I got back in the car and reconfirmed some birdcalls. I decided to drive around and do some digiscoping with a car window mounted scope. As I drove, the arrangement came loose, and I had to pull over and tighten it up. I absently noticed I was hearing a Baird's sparrow singing. I though I left my laptop playing songs and I turned to shut it off. My laptop was closed. There was an actual Baird's singing near the car. As I stood outside I could hear three different birds singing. I found one teed up on some grass but he flew down before I could take his photo. Three new birds--sweet!

Swainson's hawks were all over the place. It totally seemed like a switch had been flipped when I crossed from Minnesota into North Dakota. As soon as I crossed the border, all the red-tails turned into Swainson's hawks.

Check it out, east meets west in North Dakota:

Here on these rocks we have an eastern kingbird on the left and a western kingbird on the right. I've never seen this before, I don't know if this was just a meeting of the minds or some potential hybridization or what. I wasn't pulled over in the safest spot, so I couldn't stick around to find out.

With the wind blowing, the western kingbirds were kiting quietly over the grass. I wish I could have photographed that, but they were too quick for my digiscope setup. I did enjoy watching them hang in the air silently.

Speaking of kiting, there was an actual kite festival going on in town during the bird festival. When I drove by, I could hear some of the house sparrows in the neighborhood giving warning calls. I wondered if it was over the kites? They're clever fellows, I'm sure they eventually figured out that the giant octopi weren't going to get them.

I did learn that several people at the ND fest will be at the ABA Convention next week. Eeep. I need to prep for that. I leave Saturday for Maine. Part of the time, I'll be working with the Stokes. Whoot! I'm so stoked about the Stokes.

The Lowdown on Chase Lake Pelicans

Remember all the hype about the white pelicans that abandon their eggs and young in 2004 and 2005 on Chase Lake in North Dakota? Well, I've been getting the lowdown from the experts here.

In 2004, pelicans decided to nest on a peninsula on Chase Lake. The birds started to abandon nests in tiers. It was speculated that it may have been predators and now the consensus appears to be that it was a coyote predating the eggs and chicks.

In 2005 the pelicans returned and began nesting in about the same numbers and hopes were high that the year before would not repeat. Coyotes had been removed and a predator barrier had been installed. But when researchers went out to check the nest colony, they found piles of dead young and no adults. This time, the birds had died from exposure. A cold weather system had moved in while the chicks were still young and they just couldn't survive.

The pelicans are back this year and so far so good. However, they are not out of the woods yet. West Nile Virus has taken its toll on the young as well. Many of the carcasses have tested positive for WNV but it's not yet known if the young died from the weather and just tested positive for WNV or if the virus is what did them in.

Cowbirders

The entertainment at the Potholes and Prairies Festival has been unique to say the least. Last night we ate lots of buffalo and watched a gunslinging re-enactment. The crew was kind enough to perform their scene even in the pouring rain. I don't think the cowboys were prepared for how rowdy our group was. We whooped and hollered and just had a general blast. I don't think the bad guy had ever been called a lily-livered-fringe-vested-yella-bellied sapsucker before.

The actors mingled with a crowd for a bit and here we have the town floosy, Ruby flirting with the founding editor of Birder's World, Eldon Greij.

She made the rounds and hit up Bird Watcher's Digest editor Bill Thompson III. Hmmm, she seems to be going for editors of major bird publications. I'm not saying she's a gold digger, but she ain't messin' with no broke birders...I wonder what Miss Ruby would have done if Amy Hooper, the editor of Wild Bird Magazine was here?

Adventures on Prairies and in Potholes

For me, field trips come in two categories. The first type is characterized by fantastic weather that makes me feel great to be alive accompanied by fantastic birds, especially life birds. I come home with stories of the chestnut-collared longspur I finally saw for the first time. The second category is the field trip that is just an adventure. The weather is uncooperative and you come home with harrowing stories of survival. Field trips are so weather dependent. You cannot blame a festival if the weather doesn't cooperate; you just make the best of it and muddle through.

I went out with the Chase Lake group today. Here is a view from the bus window early on. I'm not out of focus, that's just me trying to take a photo through a drenched bus window. Part of our gang had not seen sharp-tailed grouse and decided to brave the wind and rain to see it flush (thankfully, I already had seen that grouse). This has been some of the worst weather for birding I have ever experienced! Not only is the weather bad for birding in general, it's bad for the particular types of birds that are specialties like prairie birds. You try listenin' for a Baird's sparrow in high winds and driving rain--you'd have an easier time trying to find a deer tick on fishnet pantyhose.

As we kicked up dust and more rain fell, our windows became impossible to observe birds. One of the guides sitting at the front of the bus said, "There goes a snowy on the right side of the bus." We said that we would take her word for it.

The weather did not stop the intrepid guides. Here we have Stacey and Bill rubbing down the window and squgeeing them off. Way to go guys! Boy this festival really makes their bird guides work.

Look! Now we can see one of those cattle egrets through the window! Thanks Bill and Stacey!

Our bus driver was jus a boy who couldn't say no. He went wherever the leaders advised him to go. Some these roads were so less traveled that Robert Frost would have been oh so proud. Above you can see the minimum maintenance road we were on. That's our driver being reflected in the mirror. Doesn't he look like he's having the time of his life?

We did have a harrowing moment when the bus slid off the gravel road and down towards a ditch. The driver had all of us pile to one side while he worked to get us back on the road. He succeeded! I love the uncertainty behind some of the smiles in that above photo.

It was not a great day for digiscoping, which is too bad because we got some great birds like a Nelson’s sharp-tailed sparrow. Above is a nest that we found while out looking for Baird's sparrows. See the nest? It's right there in front of you. Here's a closer look:

Here it is. Notice anything weird? Take a look at those eggs. Note how the top two are a little larger, spottier and browner. Those are cowbird eggs. We think the other three are savannah sparrow eggs. There was one singing very nearby that circled around us. I won't know for sure until I get home and check my egg book. The cowbird eggs did not remain in the nest after this photo was taken.

Here is BT3's entry for the trip too.

Here is Cinnamon working the booth. She disapproves of the weather and of me being out in it. Saturday we will be at the booth all day long. We might check out Chase Lake again on Sunday morning or Long Lake. The weather is promising to be better than today and we'd like to get a lark bunting before we drive back to the Twin Cities on Sunday.

A big upside to the weather is a general lack of mosquitoes and relatively few ticks.

In North Dakota

I and the Bird is up!

First, thanks to Ian who kept playing Harry Nilsson's Without You this morning, it's stuck in my head. I downloaded if from iTunes. I'm so sick, I can't stop listening to it. Do you hear that Non Birding Bill?

"I can't Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive, if livin is without you..."

"Not only do I disapprove of your singing, but I disapprove of how you pack! Stop the insanity!"

It was a different world as soon as I crossed over into North Dakota from Minnesota. First the speed limit went up to 75mph and then instead of seeing red-tailed hawks every few miles, I saw Swainson's hawks. Instead of watching red-winged blackbirds dart across the road, they were yellow-headed black birds. And there are willets! What are willets doing here?

Hopefully, I'll get some photos tomorrow. In the meantime, you can check out Bill of the Birds for some ND photos. Boy is it chilly here! I was sweating up a storm packing up the car this morning, but it's oh so breezy now. I went out and bought some socks for tomorrow, I hadn't packed any.

Peregrines Peregrines Peregrines!

I love this shot. In the lower right hand corner is the female in the nest box at the Colonnade on hwy 394 & hwy 100. In the upper left hand corner, you can see the Minneapolis skyline. The tall building on the left is the Multifoods tower where another pair nests. You know the birds at the Colonnade can see that, and want that nest box.

It's practically been non stop peregrine for me for the last two or three days. I went to the Colonnade for the banding of the chicks and this time was a different for me, the banding happened indoors (it was too hot to have it outside--yes out of state readers, it does get too hot in Minnesota). They had the banding on the 15th floor, and we went in the room where the nest box is located. We got great views of the chicks. The best part being that I got some Sweet video of the banders being buzzed when they come down to get the chicks. You see them in the well with hard hats and then you see this big dark thing sweet behind them.

I was a tad bummed, no real interesting leftovers in the boxes to examine. While the chicks were indoors being banded, the male flew into the next box with a freshly killed killdeer. The chicks weren't there and the female was angry so he flew away with it--presumably to eat the killdeer since no chicks were around to eat it. Nests in the metro area are doing VERY well. Many nests having four eggs and all four eggs hatched. That means peregrines are finding lots of good birds to eat.

Last night I went to the Space Tower on the Fair Grounds and again the nest was a bust. Someone in that pair is shooting blanks. The first year there were just eggs (I don't know if they were fertile or not). The next year nothing. The third year, the birds put on quite a show of mating and hanging out and when the banders ascended, defended the nest valiantly--however, no eggs, not even a scrape. Last year, there were fertile eggs, but they weren't incubated. This year--three eggs. I don't know if they are fertile. Jackie Fallon, the woman in charge of the banding will go back in a month just to make sure the eggs aren't just a late clutch but my personal theory based on the last five years is that they will not hatch. But, Jackie wouldn't be doing her job if she didn't give the eggs the benefit of the doubt. I hope I'm wrong.


Meanwhile, there has been LOTS of news from the St. Cloud Times about a certain female peregrine at the Sartell Bridge. In the first story, it tells of a man attacked by the female on the nest box. On a funny note, if you look at that link, the bird pictured with the story is a young Cooper's hawk, not a peregrine. Birders were talking about the story--both about the buzzing female (who wants to go to Sartell and get buzzed by a peregrine?) and the misidentified bird hawk.

Then, a second story came out--this time with a peregrine photo from The Raptor Center--whew. This story said that the bird was going to be removed. It's no secret among the banders that this female will aggressively defend the nest and there have been about 4 known "encounters" by the public with this bird. For whatever reason, after the attack on Sunday, it sounded like what was safest for this female was to remove her, keep her in captivity so she wouldn’t return and potentially hit more people. Captivity may seem a bit much for some readers, but trust me, in a situation like this, that could be the only chance for the bird's survival. You never know if someone will decide to settle the matter with a gun. What was interesting was that I did get a few emails from people who went to the bridge and didn't get attacked by the female (and they sounded a little disappointed).

Well, now a third update has come out. The bird will not be removed. Now, I wonder if more people will go out for the chance to be buzzed? I would advise against this, the female doesn't need to waste extra energy for someone looking for a cheap thrill. Plus, it is near traffic and though peregrines are better at fast sharps and turns than Cooper's hawks, anything can happen. Here are some helpful tips for people who must cross the bridge with the peregrines:

* Do not provoke the falcon if you see it while crossing the bridge.

* If a falcon is heading toward you, try waving your arms to distract it. Yelling at it will not help.

* If it attacks, run toward the nearest end of the bridge.

Sources: Dr. Patrick Redig, director of the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center, and Sartell Police Chief Jim Hughes.

Of course, I always recommend ducking too. Alright, I have to finish packing and drive to North Dakota. Woot!

Updates To Previous Posts

A week ago today I posted that a squirrel had built a nest on our bathroom window ledge. A day after that post, the whole nest was knocked down. I figured Non Birding Bill did that to encourage our guest to room elsewhere. When I asked him about it, he said that he thought I took it down. We both figured the squirrel got tired of us and our showering and scrapped the idea.

Tonight while vegging on the couch and watching an old movie we heard chewing. NBB shouted, "Oy, bunny butthead, knock it off." I realized the sound didn't come from Cinnamon's direction. We looked in the bathroom and sure enough a squirrel is back. Is the same one as last week? Is it a new guy who watched the squirrel last week and is deciding to give the ledge a go? What are we going to do about it? The answer to all three questions is "Who knows?" Anyway, that's him pictured above rennovating tonight.

Also, in same post, I mentioned that I was going to use the female merlin at The Raptor Center for program and she had just taken a bath. Well, it happened again this week (note drenched merlin at left)! This time I got a photo while she was uber wet.

Kinda hard to take that seriously as nature's perfect killing machine, huh? This is what a dry merlin should look like. Maybe they should try hunting this way. I don't think prey would take them seriously.

Last week I also mentioned that I was drying out a black-crowned night-heron foot at my office for use as an educational tool. I was led to believe that this would be a fairly painless process...I was led astray. The foot has been getting stinkier by the day. I figured I should get some kind of odor absorber so as not to offend my office mates at TRC. I picked up some mango/orange gel thingie and stuck that into the same cabinet as I have the foot. Today, they guy who has a desk next to mine asked, "What is that smell in your office?"

"Here it comes," I thought, "he can smell that nasty foot."

"It smells great!" He exclaimed.

Apparently the mango/orange thingie is a hit. People keep walking by asking, "Oh! what smells so good?"

Little do they know the aromatic evil that lies beneath.

Speaking of evil, can you id the bird that is stalking me in this photo on the left?

I don't know if I would hire this great horned owl for undercover work.

I Don't Know Caterpillars

I know a lot of birders are really jumping on to the butterfly bandwagon. I'm trying, but am having just a tough time. For one things butterflies are most active when I don't want to be out, high noon, when it's really hot. I've been getting into it a little bit, I've kept a monarch ranch and there are a couple of other butterflies I really enjoy--one being the mourning cloak. I've always wanted to find mourning cloak caterpillars but had no idea what they looked like.

I think one reason I get frustrated with the whole butterfly thing is that I find caterpillars more often than I do butterflies and I always wonder what those caterpillars turn into and for years there was no complete caterpillar guide. Last fall, all that changed I got this super cool book Caterpillars of Eastern North America. Since I got it the fall, I didn't really have a chance to put it into practice.

I didn't really see this as a sign of me getting into butterflies, I saw this as practical. You see birds eating caterpillars all the time, it would be good to know what they are after.

Sunday, Non Birding Bill and I were walking around (one of the best birding spots in Minnesota) the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge and there were tons of one type caterpillars all over the place (pictured above). I had no idea what they were, but I did notice some webbing on a nearby shrub and assumed they must have been some type of webworm moth. I took a photo and thought I would put my new field guide to the test. And for the rest of the walk we watched birds swooping down and eating them.

We got home and I searched the webworm section--nothing. So then I just started flipping through the book, and I found it: they were mourning cloaks! Doh! I had one in my hand. We had them all over. We watched a couple of robins fight over one. They were all on the move and must have been looking for a place to make a chrysalis, and I missed them. Why, oh why didn't I take one home? From now on, the caterpillar guide is coming with me in the car like Sibley.

Public Peregrine Banding in Twin Cities

It's time to band young peregrine falcons in Minnesota. Some of them are open to the public if you would like to attend. The first one is June 6 at 10 am at the City Center for the Multifoods Tower. The next one is 12:30 pm the same day at the Colonnade in Golden Valley (I was at that one last year).

More banding is public on June 7 starting with the Wells Fargo Tower on 494 and France Avenue (although I think France is called Normandale Blvd at that point). That banding starts at 11:30 am. And then in the evening on that same day, they will band any chicks that might be on top of the Space Needle on the State Fair Grounds in St. Paul. The Space Needle birds always seem to be teases. Either they start nesting there and lay infertile eggs or they defend the territory like the dickens but there are not eggs there.

I'm going to try and make it to the Colonnade, Wells Fargo and the Space Needle. Hope some of you out there can make it. It's great way to guarantee a view at adult peregrines (who doesn't enjoy watching banders get bombed by fast flying falcons). My favorite part is what prey leftovers the banders find in the nest.

A Not So Glamorous Day On The Job

Every now and then someone will say that they would love to do what I do. As much fun as it is, there are some downsides. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love what I do and am grateful every day for the opportunities I've been blessed to have, but every now and then I think, "Wow, this was not as glamorous as I thought it would be." For starters, take a look at this photo from today:

This is stinging nettle dappled with copious amounts of heron poo. That kind of sums up where I was. I visited a heron rookery on Pig's Eye Lake in St. Paul, MN. It's an island that's a Scientific and Natural Area. You can canoe around it, but you can't go on the island where the rookery is without a permit or an escort with a permit. I was lucky enough to find an escort and believe you me, so many nettles surround the rookery, it is well protected. On top of that, there is so much poop raining down from the 1600 or so nests, that would be deterrent for any shenanigans someone might want to pull. And of course, living up to the Minnesota reputation, the mosquitoes are oh so voracious.

Right across from the island the island is a company that repairs barges. It was kind of surreal to be canoeing around them. It's one of my great joys is seeing a place like this and knowing that birds find a way to survive. At first glance would you think that there is a heron colony a few hundred feet away?

Now, my original intent for visiting this area was a lead on a turkey vulture nest. We didn't find a nest, but we did find dozens roosting on a sunken barge. We were smart and did stay away from barfing range of the vultures.

My Keens were really put to the test. Here I got stuck in about a foot of muck on the island. Notice all the heron prints around my sunken foot?

We did find some interesting dead stuff. Would you like to try a hand at one of the carcasses we found? My guide, Andy told me that a great horned owl has been picking off some of the birds. The look of the exploded bird supports that...as does the large owl pellet Andy found in the middle of an eaten carcass.

Here is the pile of feathers. Hmm, they look mostly gray, not white so that should rule out great egret.

Here are more feathers, bones, feet and a skull. The skull is towards the upper left hand corner. Note that the bill is thick and black on both the top and bottom mandibles. The feet are yellow. So, mostly gray feathers, thicker black bill and yellow feet? Have you guessed it yet? If you need more clues, it's for sure a heron and not a crane. Need any more clues?

This is the bird's head and neck would have looked like alive and with all it's feathers on its body and not on the ground. A black-crowned night-heron. Pretty cool!

Andy showed me that on the third toe, the talon on the third toe has a serrated edge, this is the toe they use for preening. Who knew? The kill was so fresh that we could easily manipulate the toes. I hated to see it go to waste, so what else is a girl supposed to do with a freshly ripped off heron leg?

Why take it back to her office and dry it out and save it as an educational prop. Speaking of offices, Eagle Optics gave a sponsorship to The Raptor Center and I have office space there! This has great advantages for all of us--especially Non Birding Bill. He was never all that thrilled with me bringing home bird parts to dry out. Other benefits include portions of binoculars sales that I do are donated to TRC. And, if you want to test out the close focus of a binocular, you can do it on one of the education birds--even a bald eagle! I'm just so happy that my company and a great organization dedicated to helping birds and educating the public can work together to help each other out. So, if you're ever visiting TRC, see if I'm around and say hi. I'll update a page about it on the site so that way people can have an idea of my schedule. I'll only be at TRC when I'm not traveling...or when I'm not mucking around nettle and heron poop.

Quick Announcement

Quick Note: due to a slight change in plan, next weekend I'll be at North Dakota Potholes and Prairie Birding Festival. I think Cinnamon will be coming along too. I've always wanted to visit this festival based on the great recommendations I've read about it. I've never been to a Dakota in my entire life. I'm looking forward to going...I hope I go to the right one.

What does Cinnamon have to say?

"But I don't think I approve of North Dakota. What the heck can I chew on out there?"

A Quick Cleanser

Okay, another slightly gross post coming up, so I thought I would highlight a couple of other fun entries in the blogosphere to cleanse the pallet.

Birding is NOT a Crime Blog would like the record to show that he posted the Moonwalking Manakin last October--my bad. I love BINAC, he's always tryin' pish the flock--if you know what I mean.

Meanwhile, Wild Bird on the Fly Blog is posted one of the more...oh, I'm too tired to think of a more creative adjective, so I'll say blurry photo submitted to her photo contest. I wonder if she will have a contest of who can correctly identify the bird in the photo. I hope she posts more.

For those in the Twin Cities looking for a William Shakespeare fix, King Lear is being performed by The Cromulent Shakespeare Company starting tonight through June 17. Why would I suddenly have a Shakespeare mention in the blog? Because Non Birding Bill is in it as Oswald. It's a small part, but he gets killed and that's always fun for an actor to play...and at times for a wife to watch. NBB will be quite busy this summer. As soon as this show is over, he starts rehearsal for his Fringe Festival show. Auditions are coming up soon if you know anyone who would like to try out.

Really Gross Eagle Post

WARNING! This is a really GROSS post. Quite frankly, I don't know how I'm going to muddle through it. It's interesting and does have a happy ending, but for those of you out there who don't like bugs, especially squishy maggots, I highly recommend avoiding going any further in this post. However, if you're like me and just can't help yourself, keep reading...although, you may not want to be eating anything at the moment.

"Ugh, I've got that not so fresh feeling."

A five week old bald eagle was down in clinic at The Raptor Center today and the vets were kind enough to let me follow with my camera. As vet Jane Goggin was looking over the young bird, it looked in good condition...and then she checked one of its ears.

Instead of finding a clear ear canal, it was chock full of maggots! Are we ready? On the count of three: 1...2...3...EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! This is not a common occurrence in young raptors, but it happens often enough that when they are brought in, the vets check the ears. Vet Juli Ponder said that generally in nature, the maggots go through their whole life cycle and leave, causing relatively little damage. She did add that they can find this in any raptor, especially great horned owls and bald eagles.

Here are the contents of the ear (one ear, mind you). The vets pluck out the maggots with forceps and then drop them in alcohol to kill them, afterwards swabbing out the ear. Can you imagine having maggots in your ear and not being able to get them out. Think about that, feeling (and hearing) all that squirming and squiggling and itchiness in your ear for days. When Juli said that great horned owls get them too, I thought about how owls are supposed to have better hearing, how does multiple maggot sucking blood in their ear canals rock their world?

Jane checked the young eagle's other ear and found more of the same. 1...2...3...EWWWWWWWW!! So, basically this bird's ears have been plugged up with squirming and sucking. Gross, gross, gross. Think about how big your head is compared to an eagle. Now, can you imagine what it must be like to have 9 maggots wriggling in one ear on such a small head. Ew. Ew. Ew.

"We love our job! It's fun to pick maggots out of bird ears. We rock!"

That's Jane on the left and Julie on the right, smiling after a job well done and seriously, they do rock--I really don't think I could do some of the icky treatments they have to do. I love all the vets in clinic, they all have what's best for the bird in the forefront of their minds. In the photo above they are now testing the bird's feet--which were quite soft because it is so young and hasn't done much perching. Who knew bald eagle feet were so baby soft?

The eagle is now ready to go back to the wild. I wondered if afterwards the young eagle was marveling at all the new sounds it was hearing. It's ears were plugged up for awhile and now they are wide open and cleaned out. In the wild the maggots can clean up on their own, but it never hurts to give the birds a little extra help if they visit the clinic. From now on when I look at raptors soaring and envy their flight capability, I will just remind myself that "Hey, I don't have to worry about maggots in my ears." I think that should calm my envy.

From the Mouth of Babes

Cinnamon Says:

"Seeing such grave disapproval from ones so young gives me hope for the future. Oh, and by the way, I GREATLY disapprove of this. You can just feel the disapproval emanating from that photo."