Leica Staff Helps Bittern

There's been an American bittern hanging out in a bush outside of one of the many Victorian hotels in Cape May. An easy lifer for several people at the Autumn Weekend. It occurred to Jeff Bouton of Leica that this bird was not in good shape. He had photographed it earlier in the day. So, as WildBird on the Fly and I were walking back from a banquet we ran into the Leica staff and went for the bittern.

Here is Jeff approaching the bittern in the rain. Note the bittern trying to camo itself by sticking its head upwards--great for being in reeds, not so good in front of a hotel. You will notice that Jeff is getting ready to put on his sunglasses (in the dark) you have to be careful with heron type birds, that sharp bill will go right for your eyes. We checked the bird and found no broken bones. It was a little thin but certainly not so bad that a little food couldn't help it. Often times during migration, birds get off course and exhausted and land in the worst possible spot--where there is no food to replenish their energy. We figured that is what happened to the bittern. We decided to take it to the Meadows where there is plenty of cover, plenty of frogs and fish.

The bird was full of piss and vinegar and made a hissing sound that is not on any bird CD. It had a good grip on Jeff and was more interested in attacking him than in being released. Here's poor Jeff in the rain (and can I add that it is dark--no street lights, no moon) with an angry bittern.

One last attack towards Jeff and the bittern was free! Gotta love an optics company that goes the extra mile to help a bittern in need.

Keep in mind that these are just a couple of the entries I'm able to do here. I can't wait to share more when I finally have some real time to blog. Like, last night I finally met Sibley for the first time--I felt color go up in my cheeks, I haven't felt that since I was 12. Yeah, I didn't live up to my mission. I totally geeked out.

I'm also running into quite a few bird bloggers--pretty fun and sweet.

More coming soon!

Quick Morning Post

I've already had a chance to dash out before breakfast and experience the wonders of birding Cape May. I had received advice on where to go, there are a number of spots within easy distance of the hotel. I was driving past one when a merlin flew low over the road. I stopped the car, backed up and decided to bird there. Very well worth it. I saw things I have never seen before like a northern harrier flying over the ocean.

Butter butts (yellow-rumped warblers)are falling off the trees and almost running into you. This shot kind of sums up the walk this morning. A lone yellow-rump on a sandy path.

This might be hard to see but that blurry smoke in the distance is a flock of tree swallows going down to feed on some berry bushes--they flew just like a large flock of black birds! Not long after this photo, a sharp-shinned hawk did an incredible dive to get one of the birds. It missed, but still an incredible display!

There are quite a few mute swans. There wings are so loud, it sounds like some kind of engine pumping.

Here's the view outside the hotel, the Avondale By The Sea. The first bird I heard this morning? Fish crow! Sweet!

And now I must end this entry and I leave you with a beach butter butt. WildBird on the Fly is going to take me to someplace called Uncle Bill's Pancake House. Sounds yummy! Oh! Did find this sad little photo on the camera this morning. Poor Cinnamon. I don't thing she realizes how many raptors are here.

"I can't believe I helped you pack and you didn't take me to Cape May! Bunny Rights!"

How Can One Little Chick Get So, So Lost?

For those interested, the NBC affiliate in Philadelphia has a caption contest going for a lounging squirrel photo.

I was supposed to fly into Philadelphia today and then make an hour and a half drive to Cape May, NJ. While waiting for my flight at the Minneapolis Airport I realized I left my Mapquest directions from the airport to the hotel at home and called Non Birding Bill. He got me Google Map directions and for an extra precaution I got directions from the rental car place. I started at around 2pm and didn't make it to the hotel until after 6:30pm. Never have internet directions failed me so hard before. I called NBB at least five times tonight--at one point I found myself at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City! (Do I have a secret ambition to audition for the Apprentice that I've had buried in my subconscious?)

I finally found some peace when I made it to Cape May county. My directions to the hotel still sent me in the opposite direction of the hotel and I had to call WildBird on the Fly to give me step by step instructions. I finally got out of the car, walked the parking lot, saw WBotF open the door and there was Clay Taylor and his work partner Mark walking across the parking lot too--the gang is all coming together! They invited us to dinner to this lovely little restaurant called Freda's Cafe. Since the cafe doesn't have a liquor license Mark asked if they could pick up any wine for us. I said that that I only drink scotch, usually something with a "Glen" in the title.

When we got to the restaurant Clay and Mark had a beer bottle sized bottle of Glenlivet. Maybe my timing wasn't so bad after all? The food was amazing and the dinner was fun because I got to meet with some of the Cape May volunteers and staff--hopefully I'll remember their names tomorrow...I remember a Ray...a Bob...and was there really someone there named Flip or is that a scotch memory? Hm, guess I'll find out tomorrow. I met a Pete (not Dunne) who had an amazing story about seeing a million and a half robins fly over Cape May--people who had been up since 6:30am for field trips stayed out past 2am to watch a million and a half robins--sweeeeeeet. I heard today was a good raptor flight day with 5 golden eagles seen--a good number for this part of the country and last Sunday an area called Sandy Hook had sixteen speices of sparrows in one day! Can you stand all the brown birds--I heard that sniggering NBB!

Tomorrow is supposed to be very exciting with just as many bird authors as bird species: Kenn Kaufman, David Sibley, Kevin Karlson just to name a few. Should be interesting. I have to meet up with the booth I'm helping with at 9am, but Clay offered to take me out for a few hours of birding before hand. Ah, I'm with my flock! Speaking of flock, birds are everywhere, zipping in front of cars, zooming over the water. Should be a very birdy weekend.

I promise, bird photos coming soon.

Birder's World Revamp

I am having a tough time concentrating today--I'm going to Cape May tomorrow! Must focus, must pack, must finish up work loose ends...

I've always thought of Birder's World Magazine as kind of the Playboy version of all the bird publications. Yeah, we all say we read the articles, but we're really just looking at the photos. In the next issue, the December 2006 you will see a somewhat revamped magazine design wise. You can still count on the spectacular photos--and they are holding strong to that by showcasing some of the top photos of the last 20 years (including my favorite of a brooding killdeer that looks like it has multiple feet). All of these changes look to me to be gearing BW to be more inclusive for all birding levels.

The new cover design is supposed to make it easier to locate the magazine on the shelf at book stores. Non Birding Bill really likes it, but I didn't see that much of a difference. He felt the "birder's" was much more prominent than the previous design. I argued that the reason the magazine is hard to find at book stores is that when people go to by a magazine for travel or when they are sick, they gonna reach for the gossip and glamour type magazines and those are always up front. Maybe that's what birding magazines are missing: gossip columns and make up tips, ie:

A certain female finch was spotted canoodling with a particularly pink male that was not her selected mate--who happens to be on the orange side if you know what I mean. To make matters worse, I have it on good authority that one of the eggs in the nest is a cowbird. Will these star-crossed lovers muddle their way through the mating season?

Hot Birder Make Up Tip: Bare Minerals makeup is the best at holding up and keeping lady birders looking fresh on those pelagic trips. It will also help keep that pesky zit at the end of your nose from creeping up on rainy days while watching for prairie chickens.

Look Ten Pounds Lighter: Lady Birders--ditch the fanny packs! Male Birders--don't pull your pants up past your rib cage!

I digress, I do like the bullet points and more user friendly look of the id Tips section. I like how the key features are pointed out right on the photo. It makes you feel like you have a chance of telling those brown birds apart and it's not just photos with a mountain of text. That is a good change.

It's nice to see that some things never change, like the classic pose of a birder jauntily carrying his scope and Kenn Kaufman in a blue shirt. Keep your eye for the new issue and if you've never picked up a Birder's World before, the December issue is a good way to get acquainted.

Calling All Disapproving Rabbits!

So, you think your critter has what it takes to be a disapproving rabbit? Disapproving Rabbits has grown to beyond Cinnamon's capability of doing it all. The demand for disapproval is filling my email box on a daily basis, so I'm opening up the door to other bunnies. Cinnamon has always resisted this, but she has finally come to understand that this is bigger than her.

Submission guidelines are here. Not all photos will be published, as Cinnamon demands final approval for all disapproval...If your photo does not show up, it's not you, it's her. Photos will show up on either Cinnamon's blog or the Disapproving Rabbits pages.

If you feel you have other critters besides bunnies that disapprove, feel free to send those along too.

Frank Taylor's Banding Report

I'm kind of bummed, I just got Frank's banding report for his hawk banding station for last weekend and the end of the report reminded all of us on the list that this coming weekend is the last weekend he will be banding--and I can't go! That means I will only have been to his place once this year. How did Autumn get away from me? This happened a little bit last fall.

Mental Note for 2007: Leave more time for Frank's banding station in the fall!

I shouldn't complain too much, the reason I can't go to Frank's this weekend is that I'm going to that legendary North American birding hot spot: Cape May Autumn Weekend.

Take a look at the red-tailed hawk photo at the top of this entry. That's a photo I took a couple of years ago at the station, but look at the pupils. Those are normal red-tailed hawk pupils. Now, take a look at the photo Frank took of a red-tailed hawk they got last weekend at the banding station:

Frank wrote, "We caught a passage (first year) Red-tail with both pupils slightly deformed. Chuck gave it the Doctor’s eye inspection and said he thought that both eyes were functioning properly." Chuck is a doctor and one of Frank's sub-banders. Even if the eyes weren't functioning properly, I'm not sure what could have been done. If the pupils are deformed, you can't really do a transplant and the bird would have to be put down. I wonder if the bird sees in double or if images are a little blurry? Can this bird find ways to hunt with this odd vision? It would have hatched at least six months ago and has been surviving and compensating somehow. So much discovered, and yet so many questions are left.

Besides the usual raptors, Frank also got in several passerines--without a bird feeder guiding them in, must be a good spot for birds passing through:

Here's a hairy woodpecker photo that Frank took.

Here's a blue jay photo from Frank. Blue jays are always hanging around the blind looking for left over pigeon chow. One year there was a blue jay that could mimic a broad-winged hawk. It was almost a perfect, except that the blue jay did it a little faster than an actual broad-wing...and you could hear the call well into October when we no longer have broad-winged hawks in Minnesota.

Here's an adult eastern bluebird that found its way into the nets as well. Isn't that just beautiful? I swear I have seen that exact same color scheme in a spring sunrise. Look at how the rust coloration works its way from the breast into the upper wing coverts and scapulars (shoulder feathers).

Bunny Thief

"Sniff. Sniff. Mmm, I can smell something tasty up here."

"Oh, yummy Nutriberries. The cockatiel won't missed these spilled little balls of seed."

"Snarf, snarf, snarf. If only I were fed more often, I wouldn't have to scrounge for scraps in such a degrading manner."

Monday Chuckle

Okay, below are 2 quotes. One is from Redwings: A Smithsonian Nature Book by Robert Nero and the other is from Story of O by Pauline Reage. Can you tell which one is which?

1. "...she yielded abruptly and, it seemed, totally, as though for ten seconds, ...the rest of the time she was coquettish and coy, incredibly clever at parrying an attack..."

2. "...she evokes in turn the sexual nature of each neighboring male; and they, on their part, become excited..."

Cranes at Crex Meadows

I was talking to my friend Stan Tekiela this past Wednesday and he wanted to know if I was doing anything Saturday night. I was not, so he asked if I would help him out with his evening sandhill crane field trip to Crex Meadows. All the elements for a party were there for me: birds, Crex, Stan...and even a little wine--although, since I was working I did not imbibe on this trip.

Check it out, birders do drink! The great thing about going on a field trip with Stan is that he adds special touches to it to take it out of the ordinary bird trip. Also, Stan is a true naturalist and can tell you about not only birds but also mammals, wildflowers, trees, mushrooms--even astronomy. He brought along this really nifty new toy called a Sky Scout which you aim at a star or planet in the sky and it tells you all the particulars of what you are looking at. You can also use it to find out what's cool to look at that night. I might have to talk to my sisters about chipping in and getting mom one of those for Christmas.

Crex Meadows is one of the best places to bird around. This time of year cranes are staging before heading to Florida (those are sandhill cranes in the above photo). I think sometimes Minnesota birders forget about it, because it's just across the border in Wisconsin and none of the birds are countable for a Minnesota list.

The bird variety is fabulous which appeals to hardcore birders, but most of the birding can be done by vehicle, so it's ideal for beginners and those with mobility issues. It's managed for hunting--especially sharp-tailed grouse but many other species benefit. I can generally count on seeing trumpeter swans, cranes, all sorts of waterfowl and eagles, just to name a few. Mammal variety is good and it's not uncommon to see wolf and black bear from your vehicle on a visit to Crex.

I think I really earned my paycheck with the bird in the above photo. I spotted it as Stan was driving. Don't ask me how I spotted it, I can barely see it in this photo. Can you see it? See where the mud becomes a widow's peak? There a brownish leaf and that leaf is actually the bird. Well, maybe the photo I took through my binoculars might help:

A snipe! We actually ended up seeing quite a few snipe flying around, but this was the only one that we saw sitting. Everyone on the bus got good long looks at it. I have to admit, this was one of the best looks at snipe I ever got. Something else Crex is famous for: great looks at hard to see birds. Stan and I led a trip through here once where we ended up seeing 4 American bitterns in a stretch that was less than a mile. Everyone got to look down and see the bitterns hunt, walk and just be a bittern. I think it's because the roads are elevated and you're looking down. Plus, birds don't worry too much about cars, they only worry when the cards open and things come out.

Here was a muskrat that was hanging out on the side of the road. Stan pulled over so we could all watch it, and it trundled along the side of the bus, crossed out in front and then slipped into some water on the other side. A very accommodating rodent!

We pulled over to get a better look at a young trumpeter swan when someone found a whitish bird. Stan had everyone get out so we could get a better look. It was a lone snow bunting. Stan pointed out that if there is a flock of snow buntings, you can't get near it. But one snow bunting will let you get quite close. Stan's cameras are never too far away, so he took an opportunity to photograph the bunting. What was interesting was that the bunting went about its business as we marveled at it, and it only flew away when a low flock of cranes came over us. The snow bunting was a sign of other the winter birds we would see this afternoon--we ended up seeing a male merlin and a rough-legged hawk too--winter specialties here.

We pulled over to watch the cranes come in and we set up our food. For anyone who is thinking of becoming a field trip leader, I'll let you in on the secret of success: FOOD. You can have a lousy bird day, but if you keep those participants well fed you can keep them happy. We stood out in the thirty degree temps and watched for cranes.

The lighting and the sunset was gorgeous. In the above photo are three trumpeter swans flying in (towards the top of the photo).

We had seen cranes all day and some were coming in, but not like in year's past.

The cranes seemed to be roosting in a different spot this night. I have gone on this trip before and watched 4,000 cranes come in to roost, this night they were picking a different part of the refuge. People were still having a good time with the wine and with all the other birds we had seen that afternoon...but it wasn't over.

As we were taking in the sunset, Stan and I did a final scan. We were watching a pair of harriers far out in the field. Way behind the harriers, I saw two lighter forms. "Stan," I whispered, "aren't those short-eared owls?"

Stan took a look, at first he saw the harriers, but then further out, we could see three possibly four short-eared's--awesome birds, but they were so far out and moving so fast, you needed a really good pair of binos to get them in (or be fast with a good scope). We debated about whether or not to point them out. It was a good bet that no one or very few of our participants had seen one of these before. But at the same time, you have to make a judgment call: pointing out something that far away that most will not see can be really, really frustrating. Stan quietly started letting the group know, down playing everyone's chances of seeing the owls. Then, the owls came closer and started interacting with the harriers. Three short-ears ganged up on a first year harrier--and they were so close you could make out the light colored wings of the owls with the naked eye. Everyone got to see them and the thugs put on quite a show going after the harrier. Whew, doesn't always work out that well. I'm glad we ended up pointing them out!

I asked Stan if he would like to do some more trips together for next year and he is open to the idea. We're looking at a Nebraska crane trip, a woodcock trip in the Twin Cities and maybe even a spring North Dakota trip. I'll let you know details as I find them out.

Letters From Eden Winner

Okay, this contest was tough! There were several great captions but not all came with correct ID of the warbler behind. But after much deliberation over martinis with Non Birding Bill and Cinnamon (she had Nutriberries instead of a martini) I have decided on BirdFreak, partially because I LOVE that user name and they correctly IDed the black-throated green warbler and I loved this caption:

"You thought dog biscuits gave me gas..."

What can I say, I love fart jokes--it's a weakness. When I picked that as the winner, NBB rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, big surprise."

There were several captions that had me laughing and I wish I had Julie books for you all. More contests soon.

Birdfreak, email me your snail mail address (sharon at birdchick dot com) and your autographed copy of Letters from Eden will be shipped Monday. Congrats.

Back From Bama

Hey! Check out this freaky lookin' bird hanging out in Texas right now. I think it's some kind of partial albino blackbird (my guess would be red-wing but the jury is still out).

I am back from Alabama. Above is the view of the meeting room I spent most of Thursday in. It was a good thing the mountain view was mostly fogged over and I wasn't too distracted by watching thermalizing raptors. Still quite pretty.

Wednesday night when I got stuck in Memphis, the airport gave all of us stranded passengers hotel vouchers and a dinner and breakfast voucher. The hotel had a special menu for us--apparently, we were "distressed passengers". We were given $15 for dinner which covered a beverage and appetizer. The cheapest actual dinner was $14.95 and most were $16.95. The breakfast voucher was the biggest joke. It was for $5 and the cheapest thing on the breakfast menu was the small pot of coffee for $4.95. Ah well, all part of the joys of travel.

I really do enjoy traveling for work. It's fun and if something is a little boring, you always know that tomorrow I could be in a different place doing something different. But really, when you're a "birding specialist" things rarely get boring.

While in Birmingham, we stopped at a Wild Bird Center. They have a very cute puppy who greets you when you arrive. Bart, who was my contact in Birmingham, outted me at the WBC as the birdchick and writer for Birding Business and the owner said, "Oh no! You do those secret shopper articles, you're gonna look at my store." Well, not now, since I'm outted. I don't do those articles too much anymore and if I did, this store would have passed with flying colors anyway.

I did find this little birder bust at the store. Is it me, or does this look like an anime version of Lillian Stokes? She's only $26.95--a bargain!



And because we haven't had too many bird photos lately and I found this on the desktop, a random merlin photo.

I'm so excited, tomorrow I'm going to help Stan Tekiela with is Sandhill Crane and wine field trip. Alcohol and cool birds--an excellent combo!

Wireless in Alabama

Hello, all, NBB here again.

Sharon has arrived safely in Alabama, and is overwhelmed by the breathtaking beauty of the area. She is, however, without reliable internet access, and so, once again, here I am.

But what to do to entertain you all? Hmm, that's a puzzler. So difficult to figure out how to amuse people who come to a site for information about bird behavior and ill-mannered rabbits. What is one to do? Why, I'd have to find something like... like... oh...

Like a video of a rabbit picking a fight with a crow:

The Joys of Work Travel

I was supposed to fly into Birmingham, Alabama tonight but due to flight delays, I missed a connecting flight so I'm spending the night in Memphis, TN (ah, takes me back to the ivory-bill search) and will fly out tomorrow morning. The airport has put me up in the lovely Holiday Inn Select (which I hightly recommend if you are going to be staying Memphis--fantastic service). My favorite part of this is that since I'm in the south, I will get my favorite dish--fried green tomatoes for dinner--on the airport's dollar! A great silver lining on a bummer of a travel day.

I just ordered a martini:

Whoa, doggies, there's a lot going on there. Lemon zest, a twist of lime AND an olive. The south, they aim to please!

Boy, I landed a sweet gig today! In my never ending quest to find ways to get paid to go bird watching, I just signed on to help Minnesota Audubon compile maps and information into two separate books: one birding guide for the Mississippi River in Minnesota and one birding guide for the Minnesota River...in Minnesota. I'm not writing them from scratch, I'm taking information that's already out there and putting it into an easy to read format and adding some info here and there. The idea is that the guides will be sold and the money from the guide sales will pay for future reprintings for Audubon. The whole project is being funded by the LCMR.

Of course, I will have to go out and research and make sure all the directions are correct and see what birds are there to make sure the guides are accurate. I always said that Eagle Optics was the best job ever, but this one is going to give that job a run for the money for the number one slot of best jobs I have ever had (but really after having worked at a Showbiz Pizza Place--now known as Chuck E. Cheese, any job would be the best job ever).

Sometime, if I can find a tactful way, I should tell you guys about when I worked for Pfizer in the "E.D." Department (E.D. as in those odd little Bob Dole commercials a few years ago). It was right before Viagra came out, so Pfizer was trying to find ways of using the old technology for E.D. and apply it to urinary and fecal incontinence. It was the only time I found that my seven years of taking French classes ever came in handy.

Hm, I think that martini is kicking in and I should stop blogging.

Toes in Bird Forum

So I recently joined Bird Forum to see what that is all about and plus Non Birding Bill and I are planning a trip to Scotland next year and I'd like to connect with some people over there before I go.

I posted WildBird on the Fly's question about "where are the great women birders" and a lively discussion has picked up and the topic has gone in some different directions but I did find a link to a blog with an intersting post about a famous female birder called the Dutchess of Bedford from long ago and boy howdy did she know how to dress. Interesting post and worth a read.

Would You Put This On Your Binos?

There's a big push for birders to purchase duck stamps since many of the birds we enjoy benefit from the habitat preservtion. I am 100% for it. There's a group trying to find creative ways to get birders to purchase duck stamps. One idea being a tag that you can attach to your binoculars that will hold the stamp and show everyone that you purchased a stamp.

I'm not opposed to a tag to show off a duck stamp, but would anyone really attach this to their binoculars? I could see putting in on a jacket or my rearview mirror, but to have a tag clanking around while I walk and dangle while I have my binos up to my eyes would drive me insane. I already can't take the attached covers on the objective lenses on binos--I generally take those off first thing when I get a new pair.

What do you guys think--would you attach this to your binoculars?

Who are these crazy people who don't use harnesses and still use neck straps on their binoculars? The birds never seemed more beautiful than when I learned to enjoy them without neck pain.

Calendars

I'm not the only one with calendars this year. My friend Amber has made these really cool little calendars at a glance with her photos:





The calendars are $1.25 a piece and if you would like to order one, contact Amber at redtail100@yahoo.com. I like the immature red-tailed hawk one best, although the loon is a close second.

Duck!

So, I almost got clotheslined by a Cooper's hawk today! Above we have Jane Goggin, one of the many fabulous vets at The Raptor Center. We didn't have any programs scheduled for my shift today so our crew asked if we could watch Jane and Lori (one of the other fabulous vets) test fly one of the 13 Cooper's hawks still in clinic (that's down from 24--it's been a record year).

We followed Jane and Lori and stood behind them as they released the immature female Cooper's. The bird had recovered from its injury and has been test flown by the volunteer flight crew (after birds have recovered from their injury they go through this to build up their muscles). Lori and Jane go out and test fly the birds to determine if the flight therapy is working and to see if the bird's flight is strong enough for release. The bird is attached to a creance (a really long leash attached to the ankles so it can fly but not get away yet). The bird took off well in front of Lori and Jane.

Then she suddenly banked and headed straight for some spruce trees off to my right. At that point she figured out the creance was going to prevent that and she turned on a dime towards me coming up fast on my right. About two seconds after I took the above photo, I realized the creance line was heading straight towards me at about neck level. I hit the ground and heard Jane and Lori yell, "Duck! Quick!" towards the rest of our crew. I heard the line zip over and lifted my head to see the rest of the crew on the ground.

Fortunately, no one was injured and I think it's safe to say that this particular female Cooper's hawk is ready to go off in the wild with moves like that!

Someone emailed how I get the release shots that I posted last week. Above is a photo I took of Chuck releasing a merlin.

Here is the same scene taken by Rick Dupont of me getting the above shot of Chuck releasing the merlin.

Odds and Ends

Just soak in this photo for a moment. I sure need to. Of all the weekends to miss Frank's banding station! They got in a goshawk and a male pileated! I asked Frank if he got any injuries. You don't worry so much about the beaks of raptors, but you sure do when it comes to woodpeckers--especially crow sized woodpeckers. Frank said:

"Actually I only got one puncture that resulted in bloodshed of any kind. I managed to judiciously use the glove as a barrier for most of the handling. (We don't wear gloves while handling the birds so we don't break feathers or squeeze too hard. I always cringe when I see people using big welders gloves to handle birds. You can't feel if you are hurting them through that great thickness of leather. I'd rather get a peck or two, than damage a bird.)

When it hit the net, Chuck (one of Frank's subbanders) was on it right away with no gloves! I guess after grabbing a wild pine marten a few years ago, he doesn't feel very threatened by a mere bird. And with him being a Doctor, I guess he could just fix it anyway. He was holding its head most of the time so it couldn't really get a good shot in at me."

I love this bird, this the bird that got me interested in birds when I was seven. One of the summers I volunteered in the avian nursery, I young pileated woodpecker clung to my torso like I was a tree. I was a profound moment for me and definitely in my top ten birding moments.

So yesterday I got to experience life as a tv show host. Wow, is it fast paced and you have several things going on at once. Above is my script, which was also on a teleprompter too that I could read as I looked at the camera. Using a teleprompter is a lot like the screen when singing karaoke (glad all of the singing at bird festivals has come in handy for my career!). But you also have an ear piece where the producer is telling you how much time you have, if you need to give a phone number, suggested questions for the guests, where to look--all this while you are interviewing the guest. I was really lucky, all three of the guests were good talkers which makes it easy for me. The first guest was Louise the organization expert and she on Showcase Minnesota as often as I am. I told her she was my first and my biggest concern was making sure I wrapped up (finished the segment) when the producer told me to). She told me to just tap her on the leg and she would wind up her sentence. Also, when I got to her for the segment, she made a little sheet with all her main points hidden behind her props--typical, great Louise--helpful and organized to the Nth degree. Birderblog did a great job and when I get a DVD from KARE 11 of the show, NBB and I will put that part of the show up on the site.

Meanwhile, NBB has taken up origami.

Cinnamon has taken up disapproving of the origami. Actually, she's having a great time tossing his designs around. I think someone mentioned in an earlier comment that a bored bunny is a mischievous bunny. Hopefully the origami will occupy her for a few days.

Pure Evil Contest

And now a contest of diabolical proportions! Mwa ha ha ha ha. The prize:

An autographed copy of the fabulous Letters from Eden by Julie Zickefoose. This is a special prize so we figured this deserved a special contest with photos provided by Julie herself. Evil. Below are the rules, please follow them carefully:

1. You must correctly identify the bird in the photo below AND come up with a funny caption to go with the Chet Baker photo below--the reasons are two fold--A. sometimes anonymous commenters like to hot dog the id contest so that's why the added level of a humorous caption and B. for my personal amusement! Evil!

2. The contest will be judged by me with heavy influence from Cinnamon and Non Birding Bill. Please keep the humorous captions PG-13, and if I find any too raunchy, they'll be deleted.

3. All comments that wish to be eligible for the prize, MUST come with a name attached--you can still post under an anonymous identity but your name must be at the end of the comment.

4. If someone correctly identifies the bird and has a funny caption but with no name will NOT win the prize. If you just want to take a stab at the id and not go for the prize that's fine, I will not confirm who correctly identified the bird until I find the magical combo of correct id, funny caption and name to go along with it. This contest could last a few hours or a few days.

5. You can enter more than once.

6. Even if you feel shaky on your bird id, give it a shot, you have as good of chance as anyone else. This is a tough bird, just do your best.

Les photos:

Pure evil, I know. Think of the prize!

Chet Baker awaits your caption.

Sunday

Just finished watching the season 2 finale of Dr. Who...heart breaking! Non Birding Bill in on my case saying that there is no crying with Dr. Who. The second season has a couple hit and miss episodes but the last two are not to be missed.

If anyone has the morning off tomorrow in Minnesota, I'm guest hosting Showcase Minnesota. I'm interviewing three people: Organization expert Louise Kurzeka, Chad Lewis the co-author of the Minnesota Road Guide to Haunted Locations, and Laura Erickson of Birderblog fame talking about her book 101 Ways to Help Birds, we're even going to take phone questions on air--dueling bird ladies!

Saturday with the Stitelers

Non Birding Bill: Hey, Sharon, there's a squirrel with a sandwich.

Birdchick: Yeah? So?

Non Birding Bill: It's in your box.

Sure enough there was a squirrel digging a hole for its sandwich just like he would any other nut. Normally, I'd be a tad irritated that this critter is trashing my box, but the cold snap this week killed everything but the mums and asters so it can dig away.

After the squirrel left, you really couldn't see much of the sandwich. Sure, you could tell that some digging had been happening, but no real sing of the sandwich. Makes me wonder what other goodies they may have put in the box in the past...

I dug it up and it was a very stale toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich. NBB asked what I was going to do with it and I decided to put it back. Maybe the squirrel would come back?

After about four hours the squirrel did come back and dug up the sandwich and carried it to the nearest telephone pole and started snacking away. Speaking of squirrels, did you know that we are wrapping up National squirrel awareness week? We went to a party last night and Scott the official MN Fringe Festival Photographer was telling me about it--can't really find anything about it on the internet though. We were discussing the flying squirrels we could hear outside of the house and Scott told me he volunteers at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and has some fun photos of squirrels there and then just some fun wild squirrel photos.

A neighbor's house near the party had gone all out for Halloween...this is only half the yard, there are many more decorations that can't be seen in this shot. I loved the six foot pumpkin stack towards the back.

It was cute and clever stuff, I've never seen someone go all out yard ornament-wise for Halloween before.

I think this was my favorite tableau: vampire and witch plastic yard ornaments dunking a Holly Hobby-esque doll into a cauldron.

I was a tad unprepared for the sudden cold snap that we got this week. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE cold weather, I just prefer to ease into it and not go from 80 degrees to 30 in less than four days. I need time to adjust. But, NBB headed to Whole Foods yesterday on a hunch and found that their truffles are in! They only carry these in cold weather because they melt so easily. I've had a box melt in one afternoon of 75 degree temps. I don't really care for chocolate--seriously I only am interested in certain times of the month and can easily avoid it most of the time. But these things are wonderful--best chocolate I've ever had.

Look at that confection--these things are so rich, yet so light and they melt in your mouth with such intense flavor. I can't eat more than two at a time, and usually just one will hold me because my mouth is coated with a chocolate after taste for the next hour. According to the box three truffles are 170 calories, so eating one a day is only 56.6 calories--not bad. NBB brought home the cappuccino flavored but they do come in just chocolate too. I love the first ingredient listed on the box: organic cocoa mass. Mmmm.

I have to keep an eye on Cinnamon today, the bunny butthead snuck in my purse and took off with a packet of Trident chewing gum. She ate half a stick. I have no idea what this will do but I didn't find anything in my house rabbit books or online that said gum is toxic. First she snuck and ate chicken out of the trash and now gum, what's next?

Ruffed Grouse--Might Be Gross For Some

Warning: The photos in this post are of a dead ruffed grouse and might be a tad gross for some sensitive readers or those eating while surfing the net.

We're having a great grouse year in Minnesota. Is it better habitat or just part of the normal grouse cycle or a little of both? I'm not sure, but grouse hunters seemed to be pleased this year. Normally I only hear grouse drumming or when I do see them they are flying away or look like this:

A bird hidden in a thicket of branches. It's not often I get an up close view. To give you an idea of what grouse look like, here's a Bill Schmoker photo of a ruffed grouse.

The other day in Duluth, I found this pile of fluff right next to my car in the grass (I was on a gravel road). At first glance it looked like some odd plant matter blowing in the breeze. I picked it up and realized they were the soft feathers of a grouse. I few feet away I found the head, spine, legs, feet and crop--all still attached.

It was a fairly clean carcass with no visible shredding, so my guess is that the grouse taken by a hunter and was dressed in the field. I saw someone down the road bow hunting, it could have been him. So, I took the opportunity to study what was left in hand. Note the tiny red feathers just above the eye.

The tail had a broken band, so I think this was a female.

I was really fascinated by the feet. Look at that bristling on each toe. I was talking to Larry about this and he said that those are to help the grouse walk on top of the snow.

Here is the crop. This is kind of a holding area many birds have to store and soften food (a full crop is what gives some raptors a "Dolly Parton" appearance). It was see through and very full. Look at all those seeds, and what I thought was really interesting was what looked like plant materials.

I decided to open it and see what was in there. I had no idea ruffed grouse ate so much plant material. Larry calls this "salad". Anyone care to try an id the seeds or the leaf matter?

Who knew grouse parts could be so interesting?

Binoculars Fan is SPAM!

"I disapprove of Binoculars Fan!"

And that's not in the good way.

Yesterday I was checking Birding is Not a Crime!!!! and noticed that they got spammed by some troller called Binoculars Fan. Now, I'm certainly not opposed to people being paid to write a blog--it's fantastic and fun work if you can get it and there are people out there who are doing it very well. What I am opposed to is someone keeping a paid blog that is as boring as it gets and is nothing but blatant sales pitches and then have that identity start making comments on bird related blogs that are just sales calls and not actual comments. It's an insult to the readers. Not only has this company not taken the time to research the birding industry but they haven't even researched the blogs that are paid by optic websites and doing a much better job than Binoculars Fan.

Binocular's Fan posted to this blog today and was deleted with relish.

The Swanky Birder Accessory

Check out what's new at this link from Swarovski Optik. I would love to see all the hardcore birder faces when I whipped out one of these on a pelagic trip. I'm torn, I love the in your face snazziness of the Tosca, but there is something to be said for the understate elegance of the Nabucca.

Bunny Mischief and Juncos

And now a break from all the hawk photos.

The winds were so high at Carpenter Nature Center today that we couldn't put the nets up for songbird banding, they just would have blown down. But we did put out some potter traps for sparrows and juncos and boy did we get the juncos!

Here is a female dark-eyed junco which to me looks like a female Oregon form.

Here's an up close shot so we can see the texturing of the feathers. Gorgeous little birds! It was slow, so to keep amused we took out the new program bunny they have at Carpenter. Rumor has it that the rabbit's full name from the breeder was Razzle Cheese but everyone at Carpenter insists on calling him Razzle. What, Razzle Cheese isn't butch enough for a little male bunny? The rabbit is a rex like Cinnamon, but is a mini-rex and much smaller than the disapproving one. In fact, this bunny is so small...

...you can fit the whole bunny in a Jack O'lantern! You may recognize Leo, the young lad petting Mr. Razzle Cheese. He was featured in an earlier post about Hawk Ridge. We should keep an eye on young Leo. His is part of the future of birding.

On the way out of Carpenter, I passed a flock of six turkeys. Hey, Larry, I think you were in front of me, did you notice them too?

Interesting Bird Jobs

Couple of interesting bird jobs. Don't want to deal with the cold this winter, then why not be a bird guide in Costa Rica. Six hour a day work day and two meals a day provided as well as compensation. You have to pay your own rent, but it's only $65 - $75 per month!

BIRDING AND NATURAL HISTORY GUIDE: Our small Eco-lodge on the Peninsula de Osa in Costa Rica needs an extra guide for the 2007 high season. Late Dec006-the beginning of Apr 2007. Feb and Mar are the most important months and the other months are negotiable. Qualifications: Birding/ornithology background with experience in tropical biology and birding particularly in Costa Rica, ability to learn bird calls quickly, ability to study and absorb knowledge quickly, enthusiasm, pleasant personality, flexible, some Spanish language, good physical condition and interest in all natural history. A University Degree is not necessary. Birding is our main emphasis but we could consider a general tropical naturalist/biologist with some background in birding. We are located in the National Forest surrounding Corcovado National Park on the Peninsula de Osa. This area is said to be one of the most biodiverse places in the world with approx. 2.5% of the species found worldwide. There are many local endemic species and the birding is excellent. This is a great opportunity to get to know the area. We will need 1-3 weeks (depending on the applicants experience) for training. We are open to a field biologist combining research with the job. Generally, work hours will be 3-5 hours in the morning and 2-3 in the afternoon. Or an approximate total of 6 hrs a day. Schedule is flexible and dependent on our occupancy. During most of the period there will be a fair amount of free time. We provide personal guiding so groups larger than 2 or 4 will be rare. Some interaction with our guests during down time is required. During low periods we may ask for help with lodge related work such as correspondence, trips to town, trail maintenance or natural history related projects and record keeping but this is negotiable. Two meals a day are provided and there is a private house nearby for the guide to rent (very inexpensive, $60-$75 per month). Compensation for services is provided. For more info about the area and our lodge, please view our web page http://www.osaadventures.com and for more info on the job opportunity, write to (EM: info AT osaadventures.com).

And for those who would like to search for ivory-billed woodpeckers we have this job. Hey wait, this one pays! I got robbed!

FLORIDA IVORY BILL SEARCH – We are currently taking applications for full-time searchers for the 2006/2007 field season. The minimum time commitment is 2 Jan to 30 May 2007. Searchers willing to work through Christmas and New Year holidays are also especially needed. Stipend is $1200/mo with no benefits. Anyone willing to join the full-time search without receiving a stipend will get special consideration. Searchers will live in a remote camp in a tent or in a bunkhouse and must purchase their own food. Please send resume, contact info for two references, and a page summarizing why you want to be part of the search, your level of physical fitness, and your skills as a kayaker, photographer, canoeist, hiker, and birder to BRIAN ROLEK (EM: brianrolek ATgmailDOTcom). Applications received before 15 Oct 2006 will get first consideration. Auburn University, Auburn AL.

And this job in SE Ohio would just be fun to have as a conversation piece. Are you kidding, you're paid to look for cerulean warblers and scarlet tanagers?

AVIAN POSITIONS (8) – to work with canopy species in the forested rolling hills of SE Ohio near the town of Athens. The project will focus on searching for nests of Cerulean Warblers, Scarlet Tanagers, and Eastern Wood-Pewees, mist-netting and re-sighting color-banded birds, and transect surveys of mature forest species. Other work will include spot-mapping, point counts, foraging observations, and vegetation work. Experience with any of these a plus. FIELD TECHNICIANS (4–5) must be able to use parental behavior to locate nests often high in the forest canopy and re-sight colored leg bands on small birds moving through foliage. Preference will be given to applicants with prior nest searching experience and/or mist-netting experience. SURVEYOR (1) must be able to identify eastern forest birds by both sight and sound. FIELD ASSISTANTS (2–3) will be responsible for checking nests, spot-mapping and making foraging observations. Applicants must be willing to spend long days in the field hiking over sometimes steep terrain. Everyone will have an opportunity to learn all aspects of the project. Positions run from mid Apr to early Aug 2007 with some flexibility to start and end dates. Housing and work vehicle provided. Pay $300–$400 per week depending on experience. Email (preferably) a cover letter and resume plus the email addresses and phone numbers of three references to FELICITY NEWELL (EM: felicity.newell AT gmail.com) or send to AMANDA RODEWALD at Ohio State University, 375C Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, Ohio 43210. Applications will be accepted until positions are filled.

And this job is just rediculous. I'm half tempted to apply for it. Getting paid to live in the Caribbean during the worst winter months and banding birds. Sweet! The only downside is that you have to pay your own airfare.

BANDERS: Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) is looking for two banders from 1 Jan – 31 Mar 2007 for a long-term songbird monitoring project studying both over-wintering migrants as well as resident species on St. Martin, Lesser Antilles, Caribbean. Field work includes mist-netting/banding daily, switching between dry forest, thorn scrub, and mangroves habitats. Applicants must have prior experience both removing birds from mist-nets as well as handling and banding birds. Additionally, applicants must have a working knowledge of the Pyle Guide. Applicants must be in good physical condition, get along well with others, be willing to work hard, and be self-motivated. Banders will be paid $500/month and housing/transportation will be provided on the island during the research period. Banders must provide their own airfare to St. Martin. We prefer applicants that are willing to stay for the entire three-month period but will consider applicants that can stay for a minimum one-month. For more information on EPIC go to our webpage (URL: http://www.epicislands.org) TO APPLY: Please send a cover letter, resume, and three references to ADAM C. BROWN (EM: abrown AT epicislands.org) before 15 Nov 2006.

Inspiration From Frank Taylor

I was going to post this for Frank in the comments section (and I still might) in reply to Jack, but his message at the end of this is too important and I don't want it to get lost in the shuffle.

As for the guy named Jack who wrote in about our motives for banding, I AGREE WITH HIM. That's why I do this banding. To me ALL life is sacred whether it be a songbird, snake, vulture, hawk or human. We all need to live in peace on this planet. In fact the thesis for my banding permit is to develop a humane method of catching raptors. (Hopefully, someday we will be using good artificial lures to gather this much needed data.) To that end, I have had only two pigeons injured in the thirty-seven years that I have been doing this. And, not one raptor of the over 3,000 that I have caught so far has ever got as much as a bent feather out of the encounter. Hardly anyone who drives a car can say that they have hit or injured only two, birds, squirrels, frogs, etc. in thirty-seven years of driving. If you drive, you are a greater danger to wildlife than my banding activities.

As for the necessity of it, a wise person once said,
"Only if you love something, you will protect it . . .
You will love it, only if you know it . . .
You will know it, only if you are taught it . . .
You can only be taught it, by someone who loves it and wants to protect it!"

After I'm gone, if I am remembered for anything, I hope it will NOT be for, "what I knew," but rather, that, I shared what I knew.

I've always strived for the goal that when I die I wanted people to say, "Sharon was a good time." Frank has inspired me to a higher goal. Thank you, Frank.

Holy Crap!

This video is not for everyone, it's a pelican getting a pigeon. If you would like to keep the idea that birds are harmoniously living together in the wild, do not press play. If you are like me and can't help wonder how the mechanics of a pelican eating a pigeon works, then press play.


Pelican Eats Pigeon - video powered by Metacafe

Man, I always thought a sharp-shinned hawk was a bad way to go since they are slow to kill you, but I have seen the inside of a pelican's mouth and it ain't pretty.

Tale of Tails

Note: A contest of diabolical proportions is on its way. I planned on doing it today but A: loading photos in Blogger is wonky at the moment and B: Non Birding Bill informed me that he is transferring the whole birdchick website to a new server and it might be hard to find the site on Friday. So, I'm going to postpone the contest to Monday. I'd do it over the weekend, but I think some readers only have internet access at work. The prize is a much coveted autographed Letters From Eden. Now, on to red-tailed hawks!

Here we have a haggard (adult) red-tailed hawk--obvious by the rusty red tail. There is another way that you can judge adults from passage birds (first year hawks).

Here is an adult red-tailed hawk's eyes--note the dark brown eyes.

Here is a first year red-tail. Note the pale yellow eyes? Red-tailed hawks start off with pale eyes and they get darker as they get older.

Sometimes at the banding station we get birds in transition. This bird had a rust red tail but note the eyes. The top half is pale, the bottom half is dark, the bird is at least two years old, maybe three. I'm not sure if you can age red-tails exactly by the eye color. They used to say you could with sharp-shins and Cooper's hawks but someone blew that theory out of the water a few years ago.

Here's a red-tail that we got on Sunday that was a dilly of a pickle. It has a pale eye and a mostly brown tail. What is up with those four red tail feathers?

Frank speculated that when this bird was in the nest, one of the nest mates grabbed the tail and the feathers got pulled out. When a bird has a feather pulled out, a new feather starts to grow. The feathers in that spot are programmed the first time to grow in brown and stripey. Since that had already happened, the new feathers grew in red...and a little stripey because the bird is still in its first year.

Speaking of red-tailed hawks I had a fun coincidence at the banding station on Monday. Over the weekend a comment came in from Michael Paulbeck asking for luck because he was visiting a hawk blind. Little did he know he was going to be at the exact same blind I was at. Here he is holding a raptor for the first time. Congrats, Mike!

Knock Out!

Cinnamon is so overwhelmed by the amount of disapproval necessary for all the raptor photos that she fainted.

Cold Weather Effect on Birds

Yesterday when the temperatures really started to dip, the education birds at the Raptor Center were really feeling it. I was feeding one of the peregrines who is in general a very good eater, but yesterday she ate hard and fast. She even picked every tiny red mushy crumb that was left on my glove.

When I was putting her back out, I saw a house sparrow fly into the golden eagle mew. The eagle was sitting on her pedestal perch and there were a few pieces of rat just under the perch. The house sparrow flew over and started pecking off bits of rat to eat. The eagle didn't seem to mind a bit and sparrow looked to be savoring the raw rat. Mmmmm, protein.

I don't think I've put in a job update. I still have the coolest job on the planet! Thanks to the advice of friends and the support of NBB I am freelancing full time. I can't believe how well it's working. I can officially call myself a writer now--which is SO weird because I loathed it in high school and college and I need lots of editing. Boy, I can still remember being in Mrs. Strange's freshman writing class and thinking "How can someone make a living doing this without killing themselves?"

I'm not just writing, I'm doing some consulting which is sending me to Alabama next week and to Cape May Autumn Weekend at the end of the month--whoot. I've never been to Cape May and am so excited to go--plus I get see some of my peeps like WildBird on the Fly. Another fun project I just landed is that I will be guest hosting Showcase Minnesota on Monday. Normally, I am a guest but one of the hosts is taking the day off and I get to fill in for him. I'm so excited and a tad nervous, I've watched the teleprompter but I've never read it out loud on air before. Plus, I'll be wearing an ear piece that will have all the crew talking back in forth while I'm interviewing. Normally, I just hear people asking questions, I hope I don't get too distracted.

Oh well, at worst it should make for an interesting blog entry. I tell ya', I'm always so surprised at where life takes me.

Generally Awesome Birding In Duluth

Duluth was just unbelievably gorgeous this past weekend. I was surprised that there were still so many leaves on the trees. I bundled up right now. I'm thinking back to last Friday when the temps were pushing 80 degrees in the Twin Cities and less than a week later I see snow flurries out of my window as I type this blog entry.

I had so much fun with my family this weekend. Here is my mom and Terri looking at a female merlin while sitting in the blind.
My favorite place to stay in Duluth, when not sleeping in my car is the Inn on Gitche Gumee. Each room has a theme and gorgeous view of Lake Superior and the enormous garden. The garden attracts a whole host of birds and during migration, it fun to sit on the deck with some coffee, wine or scotch and watch eagles, peregrines, gulls and warblers pass over. Some nights you can even hear night migrants chipping overhead.

The Inn is owned by Butch and Julie and Butch made all the bed frames, I loved the birch frame that was in one of our rooms. My mom and sisters love it and insist on staying here when they visit.

There's a trail behind the Inn that connects with other trails and if you follow it, you find this odd little natural art landscape. Rocks are stacked on each other, dead trees are planted upside down, etc. Its kind of Blair Witch Project/fairy land all in one.

I took my sisters back there and when Monica snapped this photo of Terri an orb showed up in the photo...ghost or fairy?

I had one of those "magical bird guide" moments. As we continued on the trail I told my sisters that sometimes you see grouse along her (meaning at some point in time over the years that I have been here, I once flushed a grouse). Two minutes later I found a grouse sitting about eye level in a balsam--I have never found a grouse before I flushed it. Monica and Terri got a great look and even got to watch it fly away.

Gray jays are EVERYWHERE in Duluth right now. I have never seen so many. There have been several reports on the MN bird listservs and there was a flock hanging around the Inn and at the banding station. I pished this one in and Monica got a photo. They look like chickadees on steroids.

Here is a photo of Frank, Monica and Terri. I was really proud of Monica for going in the woods with me (literally and figuratively). She's not an outdoors type at all. Frank has been banding for over 37 years (longer than they have been banding at Hawk Ridge). He studies peregrines (he loves, loves, loves the peregrine falcon) and also studies what color of pigeons are more attractive to raptors--does color make a difference, and he also studies ways of using pigeons humanely so they do not get injured in the process of attracting hawks. He is a master bander and is in very good standing with US Fish and Wildlife. Frank has a huge raptor background. When I started at The Raptor Center he was the Curator of Birds and taught me how to handle raptors and give programs. His enthusiasm for raptors and their conservation is infectious. All of his research is turned in at the end of the season and can be accessed through US Fish and Wildlife.

Sunday was such perfect weather we got in 41 birds to the station! We were behind the blind when I took this photo and they had just taken those two sharp-shinned hawks out of the net. My sister Terri was there when one of the banders shouted "Freeze!" Another hawk was spotted and was heading for the nets. I got this photo of Terri and I love it, she looks so excited to be there while none of us were supposed to move.

Someone asked earlier in the comments if we are worried about the birds biting us. Small hawks like sharp-shinned hawks don't pack too much of a punch with their bill. If you go to Hawk Ridge, they will bring out sharpies and the naturalists will happily show you how much the bite doesn't hurt.

The talons really are the business end of the bird. We had so many birds all at once--I think at this point there were 7 or 8 that we got in a row, we gave one to Terri to hold and she got nailed by one of the talons (the claws on the end of the toes). Terri was very excited to be footed.

Here the photo of the bird that footed Terri, a passage sharp-shinned hawk. This is no poor little bird, this is a strong creature that can take a few minutes at a banding station and live to hunt and produce future generations.

Merlins on the other hand to pack a wallop in their bite. Falcons have sharper bills than other raptors and they can really slice up your hand. With merlins (or any falcon) you mind the talons as well as the bill.

Red-tailed hawk talons are not only sharp, but have one heck of a grip so you really, really watch yourself around one of these. I regret to say that years ago I got footed by an education red-tail and it was not fun and oh so painful--I'll save that story for another day. Red-tail bills aren't very sharp, but they are bigger and more blunt so I would recommend having the bill too close to your nose.

Before I headed home I stopped at Hawk Ridge to take a quick walk on one of the trails-- the Summit Overlook or "yellow dot trail" is my favorite. While there I heard a hairy woodpecker, it was working dead balsam about six feet in front of me. When it caught me watching it, the bird flew to another tree further away. I proceeded on the trail towards the tree and then I heard another woodpecker chip that was not a hairy coming from the same tree only higher. I whipped out my Handheld Birds from by back pocket, went to woodpeckers and clicked on the species I thought it was. I played the call and that confirmed:

I was hearing a black-backed woodpecker. I pished and the bird flew down from the tree to just above eye level for me. I was able to get the above photo without my binoculars, I was that close. What a great way to top off a great birding weekend. Hawk Ridge is a fairly reliable spot for black-backs but this is hands down the best look I have ever had of one.

When it finished, I went over and took pictures of the scaling the bird was engaged in. Funny, I was never interested in scaling before Arkansas.

Raptor Releases For Your Viewing Pleasure

This is a photo of my sisters Terri (left) and Monica (right) releasing two sharp-shinned hawks. I love Monica, she looks like she just made a touchdown.

More sharp-shins being released.

Multiple sharp-shinned hawks being released.

Another sharp-shin.

Oooooooooo, haggard red-tailed hawk being released. Sweeeeeet.

And yet, another sharp-shin heading to the wild blue yonder.

More shins...wait, one of these things is not like the others...any guessers?

A passage red-tail. There's actually a second shin being released behind it, you can see its wing poking down behind the red-tail.

Me releasing a merlin.

Hawk Banding Basics

Blogger is still acting strange, so the updates will come as blogger allows them--I've been working on this post from 1pm - 4:30pm trying to upload photos--grrrrrrrrrr. I think the first post should be a little note on banding and terminology before the onslaught of adventures.

I LOVE bird banding and especially hawk banding. For a few minutes, I get a glimpse into the life of different birds that make their way into the nets. This photo above is pretty much what I think my version of heaven will be when I die--beautiful fall colors, dark storm clouds behind them, a chill in the air and a bird so close I can smell it. Either I can handle the bird or the bird can handle me, I don't care so as long as those ingredients are there.

Banding migrating raptors is different than some of the other banding that you see here like songbirds or banding young birds in the nest. Like songbird banding where nets are set up around a feeding station, migrating raptors are attracted by bait--typically in the form of non native North American species like pigeons, starlings and house sparrows. What I really like about Frank's blind is that he uses only one pigeon that is heavily protected by a leather jacket. Also, the pigeon is on a tether and gets yanked out of the way of the oncoming raptors--much the same way rabbits and hares jump straight up to avoid hawks and eagles. Frank has been banding over 37--even before they started banding at Hawk Ridge. His blind is several miles away from the Hawk Ridge station and from time to time you can find some of the HR banders hanging at Frank's to relax or drop off injured birds for us to take to The Raptor Center.

Frank sometimes has nature clubs or small school groups up to his station. It's a fabulous way for kids to watch the different hunting techniques of different types of raptors. What's amazing is that some species like sharp-shinned hawks are SO focused on the pigeon that they will come right into the net with six people milling around outside the nets (that doesn't work for eagles or red-tailed hawks). The first time I ever touched a hawk was such an unbelievable rush and really solidified my interest in birds, I think it's an incredible teaching tool. Any person that visits Frank's blind never leaves without a huge appreciation and respect for raptors and many are just plain stunned saying: "I touched a hawk!"

You also get the chance to see similar sized species up close. Can you id these two different species--no prize, just for fun.

The raptors have their wings and tails measured, get fitted with a band and then are on their way. Birds are rarely with us longer than 15 minutes. When you think about what a bird will do on an average day--this is very small part of their life. These birds will fight to the death for nesting habitat, dive and kill prey the same size they are, migrate thousands of miles--15 minutes in a banding station is child's play compared to what they really do to survive. (Don't believe me, check this and this.) I think many of them leave thinking, "I put on a show of how fierce I was around those gigantic greasy primates and I got away without being eaten. Am I bad or what!"

A few things to know about raptors--first year birds (birds hatched this year) are called passage birds. Also the marks on the breast are vertical. The above bird would be called a passage sharp-shinned hawk.

Raptors that are over a year old are haggard birds. Also, the barring on the feathers tends to be horizontal. So besides having the color on the back change from brown to blue, the chest barring go from brown to rust and the eyes go from yellow to red this bird also has horizontal barring making it a haggard sharp-shinned hawk.

Females are LARGER than males. Barb Walker is holding the same species in the above photos. These are both haggard sharp-shinned hawks--can you tell which one is the female? In accipiters, the size difference is much more obvious than in buteos. I guess it's safe to say that male sharp-shins like a female with back.

Okay, hopefully blogger can fix the photo issue and more updates are coming.

Test

Whoot! Blogger is finally uploading photos. Now I just need to narrow down which of the over 400 photos (that's not an exaggeration) I want to put in a blog entry.

Hummingbird Hand Feeding

While catching up, I just saw THIS at Cute Overload.

Sweet!

Just In

I just got in. Here is a preview--this was one of the best birding times I've had in a while--great birds around every turn. I must eat, check the email which I haven't seen since Friday, read up on the Big Sit and see if NBB actually put in any blog updates over the weekend.

I just got this photo in email from Frank. From left to right we have my sisters Terri and Monica, my Mom, Frank Taylor holding a sharp-shinned hawk and me...wearing a fabulous Pish Off shirt. Hm, that shirt is so fetching, I wonder where I got it? Frank is so awesome, he makes sure everyone enjoys the birds, is constantly educating and I would not be the raptor presenter I am today if it weren't for his training. I think my mom hit the nail on the head when she said, "If God had a refrigerator, Frank Taylor's picture would be hanging on it."

More information about pelicans can be found on the internet.

In Sickness and in Health...

At 6 a.m. and at a reasonable hour.

Hello, everyone, NBB here. Sharon's with her family in Duluth and has limited internet access. She is also without The Weather Channel. Personally I prefer Weather Underground, but that's neither here nor there.

So! Sharon's can't do a blog post, so she asked me to "find something wacky." Okaaaaay.

Not sure if Sharon posted this before, but her first video, Looking for Mr. Woodcock, is also up on Google Video:

What else? Lots and lots of rabbits.

Speaking of which, I got an origami set yesterday, I was going to post a picture of the rabbit I made, but Sharon's got the camera and my cameraphone stinks. Anyway, here's the PDF I used (slightly modified) from this this handy site. Next I'm going to work on the crow.

All right, I'm off. Cinnamon hears me typing, which means she's started her morning routine:

"Uh, I'm here, and I'm awake, and if it's not too much trouble, could you feed me? No rush, I'll just keep making noise until you can find a minute."

A Sad Display

Cinnamon when left alone with an apple. Note the slobbery mess down the dewflap.

Ack--Must Get Going!

I just got a call from the traveling family unit and it sounds like they will be in Duluth well before 5:30 so most of the to do list is out the window. Before I go, I do have to share a couple of images from Carpenter Nature Center this morning:

I am overwhelmed with Minnesota in October! How could we not have a great day of banding working in a landscaple like this? The icing on the cake was having a peanut covered carmel apple for lunch while drinking in this view.

The fall sparrows like this white-throated sparrow complimented the landscape with their muted beauty.

FYI for next week--one intense contest. The prize: an autographed Letters From Eden!

G-Dawg Photo Art

Birder Avec Fantasy Writer

Must Pack

Mental Note:

Careful eating an apple around Cinnamon. She's sneaky and will stop at nothing to get her fair share.

"Good grief, that rabbit is a pig!"

Last night Non Birding Bill mentioned that Mr. Neil was doing a reading and signing and asked if we should go. I gave my standard answer: "Is it bird related?" We both knew the answer, but I went anyway. He was reading from his new collection of short stories called Fragile Things, which has a cute little story about teen dating gone weird.

Boy, that man can put some asses in seats, can't he? After the reading and during the signing and we found Maddy and hung out with her. NBB asked us what our thoughts were on her dad's reading:

And here's our response. We then located Lorraine, our friend Jody the librarian (and I found one heck of a Halloween costume for her) and a few other friends and grabbed some hot chocolate, wine and dessert across the street.

Today is an action packed day. Banding, packing, getting to Duluth, book travel to Cape May, sign a couple of contracts and put them in the mail, do at least one more blog entry and at some point I need to try and squeeze in a weights workout--all of this before 5:30pm. Hmmm, I wonder which thing on that list is going to fall to the wayside?

Whooping Crane Lecture at The Raptor Center--It's Free!

Reintroducing Whooping Cranes, Presented by Dr. George Archibald

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006 from 7:00-8:30 p.m.
The Raptor Center

The inaugural winner of the Indianapolis Prize, Dr. George Archibald, will present a lecture on Thursday, October 19, at 7:00pm at The Raptor Center on the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus. Archibald co-founded the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin, and has devoted 30 years of his life to saving endangered cranes throughout the world. The lecture is free and open to the general public!

The event is free but registration is required as seating is limited. Call 612-624-9753 for reservations

Birdchick Note: The above photo would make one heck of a Halloween costume!

What The Heck Is She Doing?

Rant: Bringing Birding Back!

There's an opinion piece being ciruclated about by Pepper Trail on why he thinks birding is viewed as uncool as opposed to fly fishing which is viewed as very cool. The writer feels that there a lack of literary examples of making birding cool like there is with fly fishing.

Okay, first let's not kid ourselves about the coolness of fly fishing. Why is fly fishing so cool and so up front in the minds of Americans? Because of a little movie called a River Runs Through It. You have a hot, wet Brad Pitt swirling around in a river going for the perfect fly fishing experience--that's what made fly fishing so cool. Just typing that last sentence makes me want to go get completely outfitted for some fly fishing. If you have a hot, wet Brad Pitt traipsing around in the woods, pishing and sportin' some optics America would take interest.

The person who sent the email with the article was asking that editors and writers help the birding community "establish a higer opinion (read more cool) of the actvivity". The sender even wrote, "I know that some writers have attempted to make birding really cool too..."

Wait, attmepted?? Attempted! The sender of the email obviously doens't read this blog! There is no attempting--birding is cool and is well established as such here.

Birding is cool and it's not about how many books are written about it. Cool is a state of mind. It's time to take birding back. No more of this, "Yeah I'm nerdy 'cause I like to look at birds." It shoud be, "Of course, I look at birds, and why aren't you doing the same?"

Glorious October

October is the pretties month in Minnesota, everything is incredibly colorful and the weather is perfect. Even the sky seems its brightest blue. This is one of the views from the Summit Overlook at Hawk Ridge. I'll be there Friday night. They’ve added a new public program this year—“Strangers of the Night” is an owl program held on Friday nights now through the end of October. It starts at 9:30pm at the main overlook, and they’ll be bringing up banded owls for adoption—very similar to the hawk adoptions during the daytime. The program is free and registration is not necessary; adoption amounts vary from $30 to $100.

This tree was practically glowing as I walked down my street. Maybe the colors are just more vibrant because I'm happy to be up and moving in a healthy way.

Yellow-rumped warblers are still in big numbers around my apartment building. I keep getting endless joy of pishing them from out my bathroom window. I'm amazed at how close they come. This morning they were in my window boxes and clinging to the screen.

The warblers appear to be after these tiny little flying bugs. There are literally millions of them. They are all over our screens and are so small they can squeeze right in. They don't appear to be interested in what's in our home, just hanging on the screen. Whatever they are, the warblers sure are savoring them.

Here's a third yellow-rump that fell for the bathroom pish, they just kept coming and I just kept pishing.

And then I took my pishing too far and pished in a squirrel. The warblers took off and I gave it up for the afternoon.

Cute Commercial

I may have to get a Jeep Wrangler if for no other reason than because they used a red-tailed hawk call with an actual red-tailed hawk!

Check Out BirderBlog

BirderBlog has posted about the ivory-billed woodpecker in Florida paper given at the AOU Conference. Check it out.

I'm not saying people should not search, I want them too. I need them to search. But I can't get excited anymore without photographic evidence of a bird. Do I think ivory-bills are out there--yes, but I'm tired of reading about maybes and articles full of photos of leafless trees in swamps and uknown scaling and strange cavities. It was a fun article the first few months but I really, really need to see the bird now in order to pay attention.

This doesn't mean that I'm not going to support searches, listen to a friend's search story, glance at blogs, blog about it myself, go on another search but I really need a photo.

Big Sit Video

Some are having trouble with the Big Sit video, Non Birding Bill put it up Google Video.

Big Sit Sunday

The Bird Watcher's Digest Big Sit is this Sunday. I had big plans earlier this year to make this a huge blog event and then my family decided to visit this weekend. I will be doing a big sit, but it will be in a blind out in the middle of nowhere (and it is out there, I don't even get cell reception). Next year, and I will have to make a note to have my mom not visit on the Big Sit Sunday.

Bill of the Birds and I made a video of how to do a big sit that's still on the Eagle Optics site. Remember that you need to download the movie to watch it. The first half is an interview, but the last half is the best where demonstrate how to do it. the video is roughly eight minutes long.

Disapproving Shirt Preview

I promise, tomorrow usual blogging activity should resume. This flu has really knocked me on my behind. When Lynne mentioned in the comments that she was on day 11 of the illness, I thought maybe that was an exaggeration but I have been living with this since the Sunday I came back from Duluth, and by tomorrow it will be day ten! It's been in my lower GI, it's been in my nose and just when I thought I was feeling human again, it's moving into my lungs. I'm hacking like crazy, but when not coughing I'm getting a sexy Kathleen Turner thing going so it's not all bad.

By the way, I've been testing out various internet hot toddy recipes, this one is my favorite:

2 oz boiling water
1 1/2 oz whiskey (I used 12 year old Glenfiddich)
one slice of lemon
1 teaspoon honey (I like Really Raw Honey)
pinch of ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1 cinnamon stick

Very soothing and highly recommended.

Okay, here is an early design of the Disapproving Rabbits Shirt:

The caption will probably read "I don't approve of this." and it will have www.disapprovingrabbits.com on there somewhere too.

What do you think, I still have time for changes.

Migrating Birds Use Mini Naps

Okay, so far this story is only showing up on FOX News, so it may be best to take it with a grain of salt, but if this is for real, this is totally cool and I wish I could do it too!

Migrating Birds Take Hundreds of Daily Power Naps
By Ker Than

To help make up for sleep lost during marathon night flights, migratory birds take hundreds of power naps during the day, each lasting only a few seconds, a new study suggests.

Every autumn, Swainson's thrushes fly up to 3,000 miles from their breeding grounds in northern Canada and Alaska to winter in Central and South America. Come spring, the birds make the long trek back.

The birds fly mostly at night and often for long hours at a time, leaving little time for sleep.

To find out how the birds get through these tiresome periods, scientists observed caged thrushes for an entire year, recording when and how long they slept.

They found that during autumn and spring, when the birds are normally migrating, they reverse their typical sleep patterns, staying awake at night and resting during the day.

But instead of sleeping for long stretches at a time, the birds took several naps a day, each one lasting only nine seconds on average.

The thrushes also mixed up their shut-eye sessions with two other forms of sleep.

In one, called unilateral eye closure, or UEC, the birds rested one eye, and one half of their brains, while their other eye and brain hemisphere remained open and active, keeping them semi-alert to danger.

The birds also occasionally slipped into another state, one that any college student who has ever been stuck in a boring lecture can relate to.

Called drowsiness, this state is characterized by a partial shutting of both eyes that still allows for some visual processing.

Drowsiness "is probably a state that, to some extent, grants the benefits of sleep while allowing for some of the benefits of wakefulness," said study team member Thomas Fuchs of Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

By alternating between naps, UEC and drowsiness, the thrushes and other migratory birds can reap some of the benefits of sleep while only marginally increasing their risks of being eaten, the scientists figure.

"In terms of quality, drowsiness and unihemispheric sleep may be less beneficial than [normal] sleep, but it may also be safer," Fuchs told LiveScience.

The rest of the story is here.

Farce of the Penguins

Bob Saget and Think Films are reuniting on "Farce of the Penguins," a comedic send-up of a similarly titled documentary that is in production with a planned release in Spring, 2006. Saget will write, direct, produce, and will perform several of the voices in this comedic adventure that will combine spectacular and heartwarming wildlife photography with an irreverent and decidedly R-rated theme and soundtrack. "The idea for this came organically," Saget says. "I was watching the "March of the Penguins" movie at my friend's house, and I couldn't stop doing the voice-overs of the penguins, reminiscent of when I did the voices of the animals on the video show." Well known by college students as the director of the cult comedy feature film "Dirty Work," and known the world over for his lengthy tours-of-duty on hit family television these past two decades, Saget received clamorous critical acclaim for his extended rendition of the off-color "The Aristocrats" joke in Paul Provenza's film of the same name. HBO has just ordered a script for an R-rated sitcom, built around Saget, that he will co-write, produce, and star in, portraying a Phoenix gynecologist raising a fourteen year-old boy.

STARRING: Bob Saget, Lewis Black, Mo'Nique, Tracy Morgan, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Alexander, James Belushi, Jason Biggs, Dane Cook, Harvey Fierstein, Whoopi Goldberg, Gilbert Gottfried, Norm MacDonald, Alyson Hannigan, Jamie Kennedy, Jon Lovitz, John Stamos, Carlos Mencia, Dave Coulier
DIRECTOR: Bob Saget
STUDIO: THINKFilm
RATING: R

Halloween Costumes for Birders - Revised

I started with the first photo, but found more!

I think I found my Halloween costume for this year...even if it is a tad inaccurate (this is obviously a male peacock's plumage).

But wait! I found more!

The penguin!

The Flamingo! NBB said that he "forbids" me to wear this, so I threatened to wear:

The Turkey!

Or the more classic Chicken!

Here's a new take on an old classic, Chicken With Its Head Cut Off!

The Mallard!

The American Black Duck (aka Daffy Duck)!

The Bald Eagle! This particular costume costs $895! (Must be those furries driving the price up). If you can't afford the $895 and still want to dress as the national symbol and endangered species, I found:

The Economical Bald Eagle at $450!

I think I'm still going to stick to my original choice of the sassy peacock.

Cinnamon aka Party Animal

"An juz wha makes you tink I got into some of yer Nyquil (hic)?"