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?