Weirdest New Year's Eve

I started this on New Year's Eve but waited until the next day to make sure it was still good for posting. Some of the tense is all over the place.

This is by far the most strange New Year's Eve Celebration I've ever had. We had made plans with friends for a quiet New Year's and perhaps even a bonfire but it rained all day Sunday and in late afternoon it turned to snow and the forecast calls for anything from 2 - 7 inches of snow. State Patrol is just recommending people stay in tonight.

I was thinking of doing a great end of year blog entry about what I've learned, how life is different, the great people I've gotten to know but I'm having a heck of a time deciding between all the photos--it's been a fabulous year. While going through them I came across a trend:

From Arkansas...

From Maine...

From New Jersey...

I have pretty much eaten my way across the country in the last year and not the healthiest food at that. I think all the Holiday indulgences have finally caught up and I have decided that I need to eat sensibly for the next few weeks so my pants aren't so tight. I started the day after Christmas and have been documenting everything I eat. It's weird, but I've done it in the past to drop a few pounds. It really makes you rethink those hash browns fried in bacon grease when you have to write them down.

That seems to be the general consensus of the party tonight so we have had a most healthy raw dinner and some fabulous home made veggie and fruit juice. It's quiet and low key, we're all marveling at the strangeness of it.

Cut to New Year's Morning: Non Birding Bill found ourselves to be the only people left awake at midnight. A couple of us feel like we've been fighting off colds so everyone played it safe. At first the 15 year old in me was lamenting that this was way too much of an adult way to spend New Year's Eve but NBB found ourselves quietly bringing in the New Year with a 15 year old bottle of scotch. We talked about our mutual surprise at still being married for so long and having such a great time with each other, what it was like when we first knew each other and our hopes for the future. That finally shut up my inner 15 year old.

We're passing around New Year's salutations now and I've been thinking about one in particular that I have received from a few people: "I hope 2007 is better." For the record, 2006 was a fantastic year for me. I love to travel and I got to spend time in 20 states, meet great people and embark on a whole new career.

I watched a late night bittern rescue in Maine...

I learned that when your vehicle is stuck in snow, white millet works to give you extra traction...

I learned that you can find enormous black swans in Ohio. Run, NBB, run!

We got to meet famous celebrities like Chet Baker...

Cinnamon got a book deal!

I found that Utah is one of the prettiest states I have ever visited. I like to think of the above photo as representing 2007. A road off to the beautiful unknown and adventure just around the corner. As always I am looking forward to a new year but I have give props to 2006 being a sweet year.

The biggest highlight and lesson that I have learned this year is that my friends are wonderful, generous people, and I'm blessed to have them in my life. I'm always so surprised how different my life is at the end of each year. It's rare that my life is where I think it will be and how quickly changes come and become normal in 12 months. Last year I was living the dream as a traveling optics rep and now I'm living a new dream of becoming an author. If all goes as planned I will have two books out this time next year.

And I'm grateful for all of the readers of the blog and commenters. I hope all of you have a great new year ahead of you that is full of great times, love and happiness.

Retrapping at Carpenter

On Friday at Carpenter Nature Center we didn't get in loads of birds and I think all of the ones we got were re traps--birds that have been banded before. But that's important because it gives you an idea of age and territory habits--these birds are year round residents or in the case of juncos the birds are returning to the same spot.

They were passing around a sheet with ages of birds documented through banding. It had both the records for the Bird Banding Lab (BBL) and for Carpenter. According to Carpenter's records, they oldest black-capped chickadee they have documented was 7 years and 4 months. The BBL's oldest black-capped chickadee record was 12 years and 7 months, the sheet didn't say what state the record came from. I went to the BBL website to see if I could find the state the 12 year old chickadee had been banded but it didn't give that info. Interestingly, the website reads that the oldest chickadee is 12 years and 5 months. But I have a feeling that the site hasn't been updated recently and the 12 years and 7 months is a recent record.

So, keep an eye on the chickadees in your backyard. Just think one of the little dudes you are watching right now could be between 7 - 12 years old. Think of that: the storms in your yard, the snows, the cold, the heat, the predators--that tiny bird is capable of surviving well past a decade.

If you are interested in the oldest species on record according to banding records from the BBL, check this link here. I think I need to start eating more fish.

Above is a photo of a cardinal that we banded on September 15 of this year. Because of the black patches on the bill and some of the brown feathers mixed in, we knew this male had been hatched in the spring of 2006. We re trapped him on Friday.

He was now completely red, with just a hint of black on the tip. I tried to take a photo outside and the first one was without a flash. You can see how red he is but he is out of focus. I decided to try the flash.


Ack! Total washout! I am so not a nature photographer. Although, it's interesting that the flash made some of the feathers yellow. I almost need to take a class to figure out all the bells and whistles with this new Fuji Camera.

Incidentally, the oldest cardinal that Carpenter has documented was 9 years and 9 months. BBL's was 15 years and and 9 months.

Gassy Bunny

Poor Cinnabunny is not feeling well tonight. Her stomach is growling very loudly. She has turned her nose up at baby carrots--that was a concern. But she did eat some parsley, broccoli, half a strawberry, a little hay and a nutriberry--that's a good sign. I remember long ago early in our marriage (when we just had a mattress on the floor, no bed frame--the bohemian days) and we used to let our pet rabbits roam around at night unsupervised. I woke up to a strange sound. I looked over and on the floor next to the mattress was Hazel--her stomach was growling. She was fine but I just remember how surprisingly loud it was.

I woke up another night to a strange noise and discovered Hazel eating my hair and that put an end to unsupervised bunny outings.

Though spending the night mostly loafing and urging me to pet her, she did find time to chew up my Northwoods Limited catalogue. I can't imagine why she doesn't like it.

No More Treasure Island Eagle Nest

Back when I used to lead eagle and swan trips for the bird store we would always make a stop to a really huge bald eagle nest near Treasure Island Casino. It was so big we would just tell people that we weren't going to point out the nest and just wait for them to notice it. Eyes would furtively move around and then you would hear "WOW! There it is!!"

Every year, my friend Amber and I would marvel that the dead tree was still able to support the additions the eagles made to it. This photo was taken three years ago. It was larger still last spring.

Today after banding at Carpenter Nature Center I drove over to Treasure Island to see how it lasted the summer and it was gone, the tree and all. You can't see it in this photo, but an eagle is sitting in a tree near where the old nest was.

I wonder when it fell? Hopefully either before eggs hatched or after young fledged. I'm bummed that such a large and easily accessible nest is gone, but I know the eagles will rebuild. They started this last nest after an old nearby nest fell, eagles are used to this routine. This happens in the wild, a storm knocks a nest down and the birds build a new one before the next season.

That's what kind of irked my about the whole Pale Male fiasco. Yes, it was a shame that people removed the red-tailed hawk nest and what a shame to lose a fun tourist attraction, but it was no different than if a storm had knocked the nest down. The birds are hard wired to deal with that type of thing and would have rebuilt another nest nearby.

It will be interesting to see where the eagles rebuild the Treasure Island nest.

Suet Marketing

One of my favorite flavors of suet to offer birds is Woodpecker Treat put out by C and S. It's getting harder to find, the bird stores don't always have it so sometimes I have to go to some place like Home Depot (every now and then those big box stores get it right). It's a nice mixture of mixed nut chuncks and suet and isn't overloaded with millet and corn like other flavors.

On the last suet cake I bought, I was struck by the advertising on the package (note above). Best Wild Bird Acceptance? That was the best marketing could come up with? Acceptance? I'm going to start telling that to Non Birding Bill. "Honey, you are so acceptable. You are best wife acceptance." Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I've seen that translation in a Stephen Chow movie subtitle.

Comparitavely, the birding industry is very young, but sometimes marketing like that just makes me shake my head. What were you guys thinking?

Other possibilities:

Feeder tested, woodpecker approved!
Hot pick for peckers!
Birds find this super tastey!

Or how about a cheesy retooling of Fergilicious:

Woodpecker Treat is Birdilicious:

It's birdalicious (so delicious)
My feeders stay vicious
I be up in the vats just working on my mixtures
He's my witness (fee bee)
I put yo' birds on rock rock
And they be lining down the block just to chirp at what I got (four, tres, two, uno)

Birdilicious

Come Fly With Me

I was going over all my scheduled appearances for early 2007 and boy howdy am I all over the place! If you want to come on some trips with me or even see Cinnamon, check the list below. This will be added to the appearances page soon:

January 12 - 14, 2007 Bird Watch America
This is only open to people who either work for a wild bird specialty store or who sell birding related merchandise. On Friday, January 12 is a Retail Workshop and I am the lunch speaker/entertainment. Saturday I will be working the WingScapes booth and scoping out new and exciting bird related products.

January 18, 2007 Just A Show
Disapproving Rabbits Interview
Well, it had finally happened: I'm going to my first tv interview for Disapproving Rabbits. This is a variety program on cable in Minnesota and is avialable to watch on the show's website and as a video podcast on iTunes. Cinnamon of course will be on and it will be interesting to see how she reacts to tv. Years ago when I first had her, I took her and Latte on KARE 11 for a "Don't Buy A Bunny For Easter Segment" and it was touch and go. We had just gotten her though, now she is quite used to me. I'm sure she will steal the show. As more details come available I will post them in the blog.

January 28, 2007 The Raptor Center Owl Prowl
1pm - 2:30pm
This is a one hour-ish presentation on Minnesota owls that will use both a PowerPoint and The Raptor Center's Education birds. Bring your camera and be prepared to learn a little natural history about owls, cool facts, how to find them and some of the most reliable place for finding owls in Minnesota. Contact The Raptor Center for details and pricing. Contact The Raptor Center for pricing and details (this event almost always sells out, I would strongly recommend making reservations).

February 10, 2007 Staring Lake Sax Zim Trip
7am - 5pm
I'm so excited, Stan Tekiela of Staring Lake Nature Center asked if I would help out on this day trip to look for great gray owls, magpies, gray jays, boreal chickadees, eagles, rough-legged hawks and other boreal specialties. I believe we are going up in two vans so the group will be small and you'll get lots of individual attention and a great time. Stan is knowledgeable about trees, wildflowers, mammals, photography, astronomy so chances are good that you will go home having learned something new and having seen some super cool birds. Contact Staring Lake for more details and to make reservations.

March 22 - 25, Cranes in Nebraska
4 Day Trip
Again, I'm heading out for Starling Lake Nature Center this time to one of my favorite bird destinations: Nebraska! This is a great trip to see thousands of sandhill cranes, prairie chickens, western meadowlarks, and some great ducks like pintails and teal, greater-white fronted geese, snow geese, eagles, harriers, red-tails and maybe even a ferruginous hawk (not a guarantee but I have seen them there in the past hanging around the prairie dog towns). It's a spiritual experience watching the cranes take off at dawn to feed or to come in to roost at dusk. I'm not sure if Stan is coming on this one, but everyone I've taken to Nebraska in the past has had a blast--even Cinnamon. Contact Staring Lake for pricing and details.

I have more coming in April. One is a trip to go watch woodcocks display and then Cleveland Metroparks just booked me for an event as well. More details on those as they are solidified.

1940 - Birds imprisoned by a snowstorm.

The first president of the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union died. I never met him or even knew him but some birders are sharing stories and memories of George Rysgaard. Tony Hertzel posted this article by Mr. Rysgaard and boy is this an interesting account:

An unusually severe and unseasonal snowstorm swept across the north-central States on November 11, 1940, to terminate a mild fall season. The storm commenced with a drizzling rain which changed in turn to sleet and snow with the falling temperature which reached a minimum of 10 degrees F. during the night. The 42-mile wind accompanying the snow produced a blinding blizzard. Wildlife in general suffered a heavy mortality in many sections of the State.

Near the town of St. Peter, Nicollet County, Minnesota, there are seven caves excavated in the sandstone bluffs along the Minnesota River. To escape the storm, many birds of different species resorted to one of these caves for shelter. During the course of the storm, the cave entrance was blocked by drifting snow, imprisoning the birds. Immediately following the storm, Mr. Charles Meyer, who operates the caves as a tourist attraction, removed the snow barrier; and, upon entering the cave was confronted by these many birds flying about excitedly in their confine. He stepped out and to one side of the cave and allowed the birds to escape, attempting to identify and count them as they left. He noted thirteen Ring-necked Pheasants, nearly two dozen Bob-white, three Cardinals, two Robins, a number of Chickadees, several Downy Woodpeckers, and what he called "small woodpeckers" which may well have been White-breasted Nuthatches which were common in the vicinity.

The aggregate of different species in one cave would lead one to believe that the birds were thoroughly familiar with the cave and its protective potentialities.

-- GEORGE N. RYSGAARD, Minnesota Museum of Natural History, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

From The Auk, October-December, 1941, Vol. 58, No. 4, pp 588.

Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover

I found this at Barnes and Noble:

This book was first published in 1967 and I have a feeling the publisher decided to put it out again in 2005. Alas, no one bothered to edit the cover.

Bunny Aftermath

Christmas Eve, Non Birding Bill and I headed out to Carlso Avery WMA to watch the short-eared owls. There were at least eight owls that we saw (and about a dozen birders--almost an informal Holiday party). The owls came very close to the car and two even flew right in front of us. I thought NBB had a great time, but I should have known better. I found this entry in his blog. We really did see the owls a lot better than that.

Thank you so much to everyone who sent notes and comments on the Disapproving Rabbits shirts and calendars. I'm so glad people enjoyed them as gifts. We have already had to do two new orders for the DR shirts since we started selling them and maybe a third. We're still on our first order of bird shirts. Note to self: rabbits outsell birds.

We survived posting a photo of Cinnamon in a Boingy Boingy Santa Hat, but it was not easy. She went on sort of a rampage after that: sneaking into the kitchen, chewing a hole in a pair of pants, ripping open presents, etc. It's a wonder she didn't get a lump of coal for Christmas.

She was a bit helpful before hand. Above I was wrapping a present for Non Birding Bill and she disapproved of my use of blue ribbon and didn't hesitate to let me know.

After all the gifts were wrapped, we left space open under the tree so Cinnamon could have a place to hang out. She seemed more interested in the packages though and a bunny fortress was made out off all the colorful boxes.

When the unwrapping of the gifts started on Christmas morning Cinnamon was right there to enjoy the party and the ripping of paper. I think she was a tad confused after having been told not to do it all week.

"Wait, if we rip open all the stuff under the tree, do I lose my fort? I don't approve, put them back!"

The gift the pets were excited about was a giant container of Nutri-berries loved by cockatiels and especially bunnies. Cinnamon was so excited, she never noticed the bow placed on her backside.

NBB also gave Cinnamon a carrot that was about as large as she is. It took her almost all day to eat the whole thing. When she finally had it whittled down into three chunks, she picked up each chunk, one at a time and placed them under the tree for safe keeping. Before the night was finished though, she had eaten her entire, carrot cache.

I did get some lovely bird books and NBB got me a plug in travel mug to keep my coffee warm when I'm on the road. He also got me a portable wet/dry vacuum for the car. Trying to tell me something, pet? Do I keep the trusty Saturn a little too unkempt?

Christmas night we were tired of having been in the house and a little sad being far from family so NBB took me for a drive. We went to Carver Park to look at the stars--yes, how romantic. We pulled over onto the darkest spot of a side road we could find and looked up. It was beautiful and we tried to remember which constellations were what. I suddenly began to hear faint, rhythmic booming noises. The were deep, heavy thuds--not unlike the T-Rex approaching sounds from Jurassic Park.

"Do you hear something?" I asked NBB.

"Um, kinda." he replied.

We turned around and in the distance down the road we could see bright red lights in an odd pattern. Was this the park police to nail us for being here after hours? What was that rhythmic thumping sound? An AT-AT Walker? We started to quickly hightail it back to the car. I turned around to see the status of the mysterious vehicle making its way towards us. The lights suddenly disappeared. Then reappeared. Then disappeared...

Wait a minute, this wasn't some dinosaur-esque creature coming to kill us, the sounds and lights were distant fireworks! We stopped and watched them, wondering who would have such a large firework display on Christmas night. These weren't the usual backyard fireworks, these were large mortars. So, there we stood with our arms around each other in the cold dark, numerous constellations overhead (we could even make out the Milky Way) and fireworks...Does it get any more romantic than that? Well, yes it does and that is where this blog entry ends.

More on Golden Eagle vs. Fox

Remember that photo we were debating about before Christmas of the golden eagle attacking a fox? I know goldens will go for foxes--no debate from me on that one. But this has the signs of an internet hoax since no one is claiming (with a first and last name) to have taken the photo. I found someone on BirdForum with a "raptor" username, but no photograper saying, "Yes, that is me. My name is ...."

Also, the photos are said to come from a variety of places like a hunter in Montana, a hunter in Colorado, a photographer in Canada--again, no name. I'm also bothered by the lack of back story. Was this actually filmed on a deer carcass? Was this staged with a falconry bird on a game farm? What is the story?

Well, now there is a series of photos on Tarisger.com and it's said that the photos were taken in Finland by Pekka Komi. Still no back story but at least we have a name to go along with the photos.

Merry Stiteler Christmas

Non Birding Bill and I are going through our Holiday traditions. Yesterday we went to the Mall of America to watch all the men scramble last minute for gifts for mothers and wives. There weren't as many men as in past years. I really do hate going to the MOA, but NBB loves it, and since I'm not going for the purpose of shopping it wasn't so bad. Plus it helped that NBB brought along a flask of whiskey that I used to add flavor shots to my coffee.

I have to say one thing that I REALLY miss about working the bird store is helping all those lost men. Helping them select their gifts. We hung out in a few book stores and every time I meandered to the nature section I would run into someone trying to work their way through books as a gift. Before I could stop myself, I immediately went into retailer mode and helped give them books, "No, you don't want the Reader's Digest bird guide for a beginner. They live near Yosemite? Go with this either this Sibley Western Guide or better yet, check the bird store on the third floor of the Mall, sometimes they have a Birds of California book in stock."

"You grandson likes that fantasy owl series? This Owls of the World book that came out last year has tons of great photos and easy to read info. He should totally dig it."

"Okay, your mom likes nature books but you don't know what she has? Two new ones that are really popular right now are Letters from Eden or All Things Reconsidered."

After all that helping, we decided to try out the new sushi restaurant at the Mall called Tiger Sushi. Did I mention that I travel travel about with my boingy boingy santa hat (above)? I love this hat, it bounces with every step and you can't help but be in a good mood when wearing it. The crowd reaction is great too. I think that helped put people at ease when I was helping them select books.

The sushi sure was festive looking but far too fruity for my taste. I really wasn't prepared for strawberry sauce with my unagi.

We stopped at a Barnes and Noble that had been carrying my calendars and I was excited to see that they had sold out of the Minnesota Calendars and had only one Wisconsin version left--whoot!

We are in the process of watching the Star Wars Holiday special--nothing says Christmas like a bunch a wookies and Bea Arthur. Since NBB took me to the Mall yesterday, I'm taking him this evening to see all the short-eared owls hanging out at Carlos Avery. He gets to be the tipsy one this time.

Meanwhile, we're having a bit of a problem under the tree:

"I didn't do it."

As much as she denies it, we know that she is the only one who could have ripped open some of the presents under the tree. We had to come up with an appropriate punishment. Nothing says, "You've been naughty!" like good old fashioned humiliation on the Internet:

Cinnamon disapproves of wearing my boingy boingy santa hat.

Big Ass Golden Eagle

Check out this story from the Jackson Hole Daily:

A female golden eagle captured as part of a research project in Buffalo Valley might weigh more than any other scientists have found in the United States.

The bird, captured Nov. 13 by Beringia South researchers, weighed 18.5 pounds. Female golden eagles in America typically weigh 8 to 13 pounds.

Bryan Bedrosian, one of the researchers who captured the bird, said the animal’s crop, a muscular pouch in a bird’s throat used to temporarily store food, was “about the size of a softball” and full of meat at the time of capture, which may have contributed an extra 1.5 pounds.

But even without the full crop, the animal still has a shot at the record books.

The rest of the story is here.

Anyone who has worked with birds of prey (yo, Susan) is reading this thinking Uff Dah! The golden we use for education at The Raptor Center is between 11 - 12 pounds. I can't imagine an 18 pound golden eagle.

Yikes!

More Birder Gifts

How in the heck did I miss this online store for birder gifts? Today at Carpenter, someone had received this bumper sticker as a gift:

Oh dear, some birders can't play nice. This is from a website called Servopuff which caters to birders, scuba divers and "more"! It has a whole birding section and appeals to all types of birders, why I even found something that I think would appeal to BirderBlog. If you are like me and are known for sending gifts late or if you get some money for Christmas, you could spend it here. My favorites include this raptor shirt, this iBird shirt, and the iLive tank.

Since Servopuff is using Cafe Press it links to other birding designs. I did some checking and there are over 29,000 "bird" related products. Some interesting designs include:

Great-gray owl design
Vulture design
Priceless Falconry design
Owl Porn design
Eat Like a Bird design
Self Esteem design
TVs Rock design
Real Men design

Disapproval Was Tucked Under The Tree With Care

Best Bill Ever

Christmas has come early to the Stiteler household. Non Birding Bill just presented me with the Doctor Who Soundtrack. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Best Bill Ever. Now, the next time I go for a stakeout bird I can blast this in my car pretending I'm whirring along in my own little Tardis and the bird I'm searching for is actually some alien bent on controlling the human race while on the look out for young companions. I always thought I would make a great Doctor, but NBB claims I'm a better companion with my penchant for mischief.

Ug, the Doomsday music is playing now. I bawled like a baby at the end of that episode, courtesy of Mr. Neil. For those across the pond who read the blog, they still have not officially shown that episode in the states on tv. The Sci Fi Channel is finally up to the David Tennant seasons, but BBC America is just now showing the Chris Eccleston season. Ah well, at least it's on tv.

Progressing To A White Christmas

This morning was not looking promising for a white Christmas. Weather forecasters had been clinging to signs of freezing rain for hopes of snow. But I was skeptical.

This is the view outside our bedroom window. It was raining. I decided to go out and run some errands this morning and as I was doing it, I noticed some ice on the roads.

Here is the view at 1pm. Ice had started sticking to the trees. I was worried, ice storms are nasty for everyone including wildlife.
Here I zoomed in and you can see the ice sticking to the branches.

Round about 1pm, the rain turned to giant fluffy fakes and as of two pm we have actual snow falling on the Twin Cities. If you are reading this and still at work, brace yourself for long commute home.

Year in Review Meme

I found this meme on HawkOwl's Nest and have decided to give it a whirl. You just go to your monthly archives and post the first sentence of the first post of each month of 2006.

January: When I was in Arkansas in December, the first thing I heard when I got out of the car at the research station was a pair of barred owls hooting a duet.

February: Birding is Not a Crime blog has been keeping close tabs on our Florida gent, so check out what he has to say regarding our latest self proclaimed ivory-bill expert.

March: Couple of quick announcements: 1. The Stokes now have their own blog.

April: I just heard that the Pope has bird flu.

May: Now, I enjoy my neighborhood, we have an ecclectic crowd to say the least.

June: Seeing such grave disapproval from ones so young gives me hope for the future.

July: Shuttle team shoos away vultures.

August: Here is one heck of a photo!

September: Hey, what's in this box?

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

November: The blog, the blog, the blog is back!

December: So, I got the coolest photo of starling today with the Wingscapes Camera. You can view it here.

Golden Eagle vs Fox--is this real?

Every now and then I'm sent an incredible photo and a warning bell will go off. The last one was the photo of the black bear going after some bird feeders. The person who had sent me the photos had gotten if after a long line of forwarding. No one knew who originally sent the photo, but was sure the photos were taken near Detroit Lakes, MN. After some digging on "the Google" I found that some websites had it, but no one was taking credit for the photos. Hmmm, were they photo shopped? I found one message board where people were arguing about the trees in the background. This site said the photos were from Canada, but a tree expert said the trees weren't native to North American and someone else anonymously said the photos were taken at a zoo in Russia.

I still have no idea where the photos came from or what the story is.

Here is the latest:

It's a golden eagle in the middle of an altercation with a fox. The photo comes with a note "Taken by a hunter in Montana." My assessment of the situation is that the fox and magpie (small bird flying away on the right) were checking out the carcass and the golden decided that it wanted the food and made an attack on the fox to scare it away.

What makes me suspicious is that no one seems to be taking credit for the photo and there is no back story to go with it. Is it photo shopped? Was the eagle landing on the carcass and then someone added in the fox later? Was the scene staged on a game farm? With the position of the bird and fox, jesses on the eagle's feet could easily be edited out.

I've been sent the photo from a few sources and no one seems to know who took the photo. I did some checking on Google and found that there is no entry on Snopes, but the Snopes message boards are talking about the photo. At this time there doesn't appear to be a clear consensus on the photo. I have no doubt that this is possible. Golden eagles will go after large prey--especially younger eagle learning what they can and cannot hunt. I have seen young goldens take pot shots at deer and turkey. A few years ago there was golden that several people witnessed attacking white tailed deer. Usually, the young birds learn that it takes a lot of energy and rarely a food reward so they give up and end up going after easy to kill prey.

I hear stories from all types of people of goldens taking all sorts of animals. If someone tells them they witnessed an eagle carrying away sheep, deer, antelope, etc I don't believe them. Eagles are only able to carry half their weight in flight and considering goldens average between 10 - 12 pounds, it's not possible for them to carry away anything too heavy. Can they kill something bigger than they are that is on the ground and eat it gradually--you betcha! However, the risk of going after healthy prey is a danger to them, they tend to go for weak, injured, or young who do not have parents smart enough to protect them.

I kept searching for more on the photo and found a discussion on a hunting blog about golden eagles going after mule deer and other odd prey (someone in the comments section also references the young golden we had in MN that went after the deer and turkeys).

Here's an example from You Tube. This looks to be a Spanish video on falconry techniques with a golden eagle. From my limited understanding, they were taking the golden out to hunt and weren't aware of the fox and the golden decides to go for it. The falconer freaks out and goes to intervene. The eagle has a firm grip on the fox but the fox is putting up one heck of a fight. If the golden's feet get injured by bites from the fox, the bird will be at a huge risk for infection and probably die. The video is about a minute and a half long, watch it at your own risk.


THERE IS NOW AN UPDATE TO THIS POST HERE. THE PHOTO IS REAL.

"Pac-Man is not a safety concern"

Those wacky Minnesotans are at it again!

They've started a project on some of the Minnesota Highways with white ovals painted on the road to slow tailgaters by showing drivers how far apart to stay. According to the Star Tribune, the 7-foot dots are 225 feet apart, the distance needed at the 55-mile-an-hour speed limit, to stop in three seconds without rear-ending the vehicle ahead. Accompanying signs tell drivers to keep two dots apart in the stretch, traveled by an average of 16,000 vehicles a day.Recently, someone took the time to draw in:

Pacman! My favorite quote in the article is by Tom Dumont, the area traffic engineer for the Department of Transportation. "Pac-Man is not a safety concern," he said, "except for the people who painted it and apparently have touched it up once or more."

"I'd hate to say positive things because I don't want to encourage people to try to paint something on a busy highway. But at least it's made the project a little more noteworthy," Dumont said.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Working My Way To That Holiday Feeling

Oh dear. Our weather forecasters are desperate for any sign of snow. Apparently we are setting a record for the latest point in December with a general lack of snow cover. All week the weather forecasts have been saying, "Folks, we still have a week to go, maybe a flurry on Friday."

Yesterday a rumor started that we might get freezing rain on Friday and this morning the weather forecasters were clinging to that hope for some semblance of a white Christmas. Then the announcement came: freezing rain--it's icy, it's kinda white, we'll take it! Throughout the day they have been adding to the forecast, "First freezing rain and then some snow flurries."

That will make it seem like a white Christmas! Now, it appears that we have a full blown snow storm heading our way. I just read the forecast tonight and we have a 100% chance of snow in the Twin Cities with 3-6 inches predicted.

The birds were fairly calm at my feeders today, but when I went to Woodbury to meet with Mark Martell at Minnesota Audubon to go over the Minnesota River Bird Guide draft, his birds were at a feeding frenzy. Above is a chickadee lurking in a pile of sunflowers I set in front of the WingScapes Camera.

A pack of three male pheasants came out to the feeding station but didn't walk in front of the camera. Above are two of them who were eyeing each other just as fiercely as they were eyeing for predators. They kept wandering into the parking lot. We wondered if they were searching for grit? The birds were quite active at Mark's so I wonder if this means we will get a snow storm? I'm planning on staying in and making cookies tomorrow to take to banding on Friday. I'll be curious to see what happens.

Speaking of cookies, I got my annual gift package from my mother, chock full of home made cookies including chocolate chip, cut outs, and pecan butterballs. Above are cutouts she makes especially for us: a bald eagle (iced with chocolate icing--mmmm) and this year she made disapproving rabbits (also with chocolate icing--mmmm). Thanks, mom! I love the detail she goes for on the eagle--note the texturing to show primary wing weathers--mom knows her bird nut daughter.

More Disapproval

In the post about finding some Holiday Spirit, someone mentioned in the comments section that Cinnamon looked like a vampire. Well, let me lay the photo that we took right after that one on you:

Deep, intense, massive disapproval.

Readers To The Rescue

I was having trouble coming up with something to blog about today and found emails with some fun photos to share.

OH! If you were a person who emailed me recently who was in Mark Martell's ornithology class a couple of years ago and sent me photos to identify, they are of a red-tailed hawk. I can't find the email anywhere in my in box.

Larry Sirvio sent me this photo from banding at Carpenter Nature Center last Friday. Hey, all you parents in the Twin Cities or near the Minnesota border in Wisconsin who have kids home for the Holiday vacation looking for something to do--consider taking a visit to Carpenter on Friday mornings for banding.

That is some major chickadee attitude! Check out the cowlick on the back of its head. I'm trying to get all my errands done during the week and my reward is going banding on Friday.

Meanwhile, Orv Lehman has sent some photos of a poor red-tailed hawk getting the what for from some angry birds. Little birds mobbing a big bird:

Here's the poor guy getting mobbed by a red-winged blackbird. I know how annoying deer flies can be, I can't imagine how irritating a blackbird would be buzzing around your head. Some wonder about the intelligence of a bird so small attacking a predatory bird so large. But the red-wing is much faster and rarely will get nailed by the slower moving red-tail. When defending a nest, a red-winged blackbird will attack almost anything.

Not to be left out, a blue jay gets involved. Many people get angry when blue jays appear at the feeder, but these guys will take one for the team by mobbing and attacking predators. They will do this for Cooper's hawks (more likely to eat the birds at your feeder) as well as red-tails. It's always good to cut a blue jay a little slack.

I think this shot deserves a caption contest. What is the red-tailed hawk thinking in this photo? The best funny answer with a name attached to it in the comments sections wins. Hmmm, what should the prize be? Oh! I just got some veggie suet pellets to try out (a whole case, as a matter of fact). Okay, so the funniest answer gets your choice of a veggie suet pellet flavor to try: fruit, berry or insect...does adding insects to veggie suet still make it vegetarian?

Call Auntie Mame, I Need A Little Christmas!

Last year we didn't have a Christmas Tree because I was gone for two weeks right before Christmas (although Non Birding Bill did improvise with a cool home made paper tree). This year we decided against it because our library of bird/theatre/science fiction/rabbit books is taking over our apartment and we just don't have the space (we are so going to have to find a new place to live in the next year and a half).

However, the lack of snow combined with play rehearsals and deadlines has just left us without the Holiday Spirit. NBB attempted to give himself a booster shot by purchasing some light sabers and Nerf guns for Toys for Tots (he admitted they were violent toys, but argued they were the best toys). That helped.

Sunday as we were out and about doing errands and re-establishing our pair bond, we brought up the tree issue in that classic passive marital couple conversation style.

BC: I bet Cinnamon misses a tree to hide under.

NBB: We don't have room.

BC: Plus, we'd have to drag out all the decorations, unwrap them, put them up and then take down the tree. We don't have time.

NBB: Yeah, we probably shouldn't get a tree. Boy, Cinnamon's room is kind of stinky.

BC: I bet a tree would help cover that up. I love the smell of a good balsam tree.

NBB: I wonder if we could get a small one--Sharon-sized.

BC: Well, you know how much Cinnamon likes to loaf under a tree.

NBB: Might put us in the Christmas mood.

BC: And according to the Rolling Stones keyboard guy, it's good for the environment. He's a Christmas Tree Farmer

NBB: You're telling me a member of the Rolling Stones is a tree farmer?

BC: Seriously, he was on the radio the other day. I do go birding at a tree farm, that's where I see those clay-colored sparrows and dickcissels--I owe it to those birds.

NBB: We could just drive by and see if the Forestry Club is having their sale again...

Doodly-doodly-doodly-doodly:

We have a tree. Look at that, a forced disapproval as NBB holds Cinnamon up to the tree so she can share in the excitement. We turned on my iPod for my Christmas mixes--boy I have some weird stuff on there such as the Knight Rider Christmas song.

We also have a LOT of bird ornaments too. Some are kind of accurate, some aren't and some are just different. Above is an assortment, the bluebird is part of a series that NBB's mom has been giving me the last few years. This year's bird is a chickadee on mistletoe, which has been strategically placed to guarantee some kissing. The chickadee ornament in the middle in the above photo is part of a Hallmark series that I was given when I was a kid and just getting into birds. The cardinals co-nesting were something I picked up from the bird store. You can tell in the photo, but they are touched with lavender glitter.

Here's a bluebird sticking his head out of a roosting box.

I call this my Liberace cardinal--complete with bells on his toes.

Here's a snowy owl, heavy on the eyeliner.

Speaking of eyeliner, here's a personal favorite. Santa Claus riding on a bald eagle to deliver holiday gifts. What would Rudolph say? This ornament is a little too heavy for the tree so sits on the window ledge.

Here's a reminder of last Christmas. I don't know why, but the idea of an ivory-bill flying on a glittery globe similar to a disco ball just tickles me.

Here's a nuthatch creeping down the tree trunk.

Out of season, but here is a rose-breasted grosbeak searching for safflower in the tree.

Some relatives have even managed to find disapproving rabbits for our tree.

I like this, the rabbit is disapproving and there's even a European robin sitting on the ornament too. I think this is Cinnamon's favorite ornament.

Anyone else out there have some fun bird ornaments?

Tired Chick

H-O-L-Y C-O-W! I completely slept through the Christmas Bird Count!

I was working on a deadline for Minnesota Audubon for Friday. I pretty much just sequestered myself into our apartment last week, avoiding friends and family outings. Even Non Birding Bill was out from underfoot as he was in final rehearsals for a play. I had planned on Saturday being a reward day of some bird counting and going to see his show. I totally slept past the alarm for the CBC was very tired for a good chunk of the day. I'm so embarrassed, I can't believe I did that. It was a strange fatigue too, a bone tired feeling I get when I get some nasty flu virus but I wasn't congested or coughing or achy.

"Cranberries, sewing kit, and travel bag on the couch? This place is a mess, I don't approve!"

I did get a chance to go see NBB in his show. He's playing an assassin in Urban Samurai's production of Protection Program. I snuck the above photo during the performance. There's my actor above in all black wielding a gun on a man about to propose. The play is written by a local playwright and it's okay. The writing is very much predictable sitcom writing and is a fun alternative to the various productions of Nutcrackers and Christmas Carols this time of year. The premise is that a overtly gay man in the witness protection program ends up renting the same apartment as a young woman embarking on a career change. Turns out his FBI agent and her boyfriend have the same name of Allen and both ended up renting the apartment. He's a Felix Unger type and she's more of an Oscar Madison type and "hilarity ensues". You do have to suspend your disbelief a little further than usual to go along with the farce. For example the apartment the two people rent is furnished and happens to come with a full bar--where on Earth do you rent a cheap starter apartment that comes with full bottles of gin, whiskey, cognac?

Okay, I need to go out and get a little Christmas. More later.

T-Shirt Update

Hello, everyone, NBB here.

An update on T-Shirt orders. We're glad the Disapproving Rabbit T-Shirts are a hit. Such a hit, in fact, that they greatly exceeded our initial estimates, and we ran out of several sizes in the first couple of days. As a result of this, some orders were delayed until we could get our second shipment in.

I'm happy to say that we that second batch in earlier this week, and as of 2:00 pm CST today, are completely caught up on our orders. Orders placed earlier than this week went out on Tuesday or Wednesday, other orders were sent out the day after they were received.

If you don't see your order in the next few days, or if you have any questions about your order, please feel free to contact me by emailing the Birdchick Store, and we'll get you taken care of.

Thanks,
Bill

Fish Emergency at WRC

This showed up on the Minnesota bird listservs from the Minnesota Wildlife Rehabilitation Center:

We'd like to extend a huge thank-you to Kent and Susan Brunell who have spent the past two days rescuing pelicans off Pelican Lake. So far, they've brought us seven live birds and two dead birds, which we've sent out for testing. There are an additional 7-12 birds left on the ice who may be joining their friends here at WRC in the next few days.

A couple birds have fractures in their wings, all are thin or emaciated. We'll be providing care for the birds for quite a while, and then we'll need to fly the surviving birds to the Texas or Florida coast to join up with other migratory pelicans. We're in desperate need of fish, live preferably, and are working with zoos across the nation to determine the best source since we'll be purchasing large amounts. One pelican eats 1-2 pounds of fish per day in captivity!

We're looking at a cost of care of hundreds of dollars each day for these birds. If you can assist us by contributing toward their care or if you have a bait shop contact that you'd be willing to share with us (who may be willing to donate or sell us fish at a reduced cost) we'd certainly appreciate hearing from you. We are a registered 501(c)3 and donations of fish or money are tax-deductible.

There are photos on the home page of our Web site, too, if you'd like to take a look.

Thanks again to Kent and Susan, and everyone else who cares so much for our Minnesota wildlife.

*Birdchick Note: These guys eat 1 - 3 pounds of fish a day per bird, so anything you can give the WRC --even just five dollars, really will help. It's tax deductible too.

Don't Ask A Bunny To Help Make Cookies

"No, I didn't rip open the bag of flour. Why do you ask?"

It was my own fault, I should have put the groceries away quicker.

"Here, you better let me test one more spoonful of pumpkin before it goes into the cookie dough."

The recipe only called for half a can of pumpkin so I spoon fed the leftover to Cinnamon. It's odd, she doesn't care for squash when I'm cutting it up before I cook it, but as soon as it's soft and mushy, she cannot get enough.

"I love pumpkin, I demand more!"

Her little bunny lips are orange from eating so much pumpkin! She was a little taken aback when I took this photo, I had just taken the can and spoon away.

"Oh, Mom, why did I eat so much? Urp."

And, there is a new page of disapproval up.

Colors on a Cloudy Day

"Hello. I am a male cardinal. You may admire me now."

In Minneapolis, we have a 72% chance of having a white Christmas (at least an inch of snow). This year is pretty darned gray and brown. When we had those few days of subzero temperatures last week I was a little bitter. It's hard to take serious cold without the clean look of snow and feeling it crunch beneath your toes. Yesterday it just drizzled a good portion of the day and was blah. That's when I'm grateful for the birds. Here are some more images that I captured with the WingScapes camera:

Here's a female cardinal that doesn't look as cantankerous as the one from yesterday. She does have some rich autumn tones.

Rock pigeons may not be most glamorous birds on the planet, but they put on an impressive display of purple on a gloomy day.

And the obvious showy male cardinal, always a crowd pleaser.

The Bitter Irony Of Disapproving Rabbits

So, my editor at Harper Collins wanted us to work on getting a photo of Cinnamon for the cover of the Disapproving Rabbits book. While he agrees that Cinnamon is generally awesome (smart man and quite possibly a masochist) the cover photo needs to have a light background and no clutter--it's a design issue.

We don't have much in the way of light walls in the apartment: our living room is red, the bedroom is purple, the kitchen is white-ish but full of appliances and Cinnamon isn't allowed in there anyway. So, we took the back of a comforter and set up a mini studio in the living room. Cinnamon wanted none of it. She kept hopping away and after the third time we picked her up and set her in front of it she grunted--a big sign of bunny annoyance. I thought, okay Cinnamon is really annoyed and we'll get some fantastic disapproval shots...

Okay, we were going for the most intense bunny disapproval but she almost looks like she's grinning.

We wanted anger and to be properly put in our place and she looks like she's serenely imagining her happy place on a beach.

Okay, here she just looks down right jovial! Apparently when a rabbit is really irritated, they tense up their little faces making it look like the are happy and content. When we finally gave up and let her hop away to her play area, we got this:

Relaxation leads to proper disapproval.

Fat Birder 500

The Fat Birder Top 500 Birding Websites has finally exceeded the 500! When I first signed up to Fat Birder I don't think there were even 250 sites listed. I remember mentioning to Non Birding Bill that I wanted to add Birdchick to the list and he was leery. I can get overly obsessive about rankings. I'm no longer privy to my stats page because I get too involved with it over silly things like "Yesterday I had 5 visits from Seychelles and today only 2! What's wrong, why aren't they reading today?"

Anyway, my expectations with my ranking have been far exceeded and I thank everyone who takes time from their day to read about birds or my disapproving rabbit.

While looking at the new additions today, I came across Kids for Birds. It's for New Zealand but still a great idea.

Hormonal Cardinal?

I took this photo this afternoon with the WingScapes camera:

Is it me or does she look like she has PMS?

More on Rhode Island

Boy, can I tell I'm deadline this week. I'm finding all kinds of distractions between You Tube and Bird Forum. Why is it that when I have plenty of time, I want to do anything but the work I need to do? It's not like the work isn't fun--I'm enjoying the heck out of working on this Audubon Minnesota River birding finding guide. I think I like the magic and sweat of last minute work. Mark, if you're reading this, don't freak out. I'll make that deadline.

The weekend in Rhode Island was filled with mostly meetings and wasn't intended to be a big birding trip. But Clay found a way Sunday morning to allow us to not only sleep in, but get an hour's worth of great birding ...

Holy crap, a Cooper's hawk just tried to pop a crow outside my window--sweeeeet.

...sorry for the bird interruption of this entry. Anyway, Clay took us to Beavertail Park for a quick look at some seabird specialties. It was very windy and the ocean was crashing on the rocky coast. But out beyond that we could see scoters, gannets, harlequin ducks, eiders, gulls and even a red-throated loon! When we arrived, Clay whipped out a case of Swarovaki binoculars and asked us to pick a pair to play with. I chose the 8x32 ELs. To quote Ferris Bueller, "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. "

I finally got to see gannets for the first time on the pelagic trip during the ABA Convention in Maine this past June. You could make them out in the distance as they flew by. At Beavertail, I got AMAZING looks. I took this with my new Fuji E900 as if flew by and that doesn't do my view justice. Also, since I wasn't on a boat going up and down, I was able to really savor the gannet with binoculars. We even got to watch the gannets do their spectacular dives in the water. Here's an extreme example from the movie Winged Mirgration (it's one minute and 34 seconds long):



We didn't see that many birds but the few saw dive were really cool.

I wanted to give digiscoping with my new camera a try. I had hoped to do it with the harlequin ducks, but they were really out there. The eiders were much closer and larger targets to practice on. I'm still trying to get the hang of all the bells and whistles on the Fuji, but I was excited at the early results.

Here we have a herring gull creeping up on a male common eider. The eiders dive down into the water after fish and the herring gulls lurk nearby to try and steal the eider's catch. Darn gulls, don't mess with the pretty sea ducks!

I big part of the fun this weekend was meeting some new birders and some hunters. I love hanging out with hunters. I met a woman named Gray Farnsworth and she was awesome. She hunts everything from deer, to wild boar to ducks. She enjoys the challenge of bow hunting the best. I asked her if this was something she learned from her father and she said, "No, I'd never been hunting a day in my life. When I turned 35, I felt I needed to kill something."

Some days, I can totally relate to that.

There's something about sharing stories with hunters that is very different than hanging with birders and I don't mean the obvious difference between that activity is to watch and the other is to kill. I remember once years ago being on a field trip in Detroit Lakes. The bus full of birders was heading back after a long day in the field of watching great birds. I was tired and zoning out while I listened to conversations around me. Kenn Kaufman was a few seats away talking about his first draft of Kingbird Highway (the story of how he left high school early and hitchhiked his way across the country to see as many birds as possible in a year). Kenn was talking about how macho the first draft of the book was since he wrote it from a young man's perspective and how we went back and retooled it a bit when he was older.

I started to think of all the male birders I had ever met and none of them qualified as macho. I had a Homer Simpson moment of saying the quiet part loud and the loud part quiet when I announced, "I don't think I've ever met a macho bird watcher."

All male eyes within earshot fell on me. I suddenly realized what I said out loud and the men weren't thrilled with what I said. I'm sure knew they weren't macho, they just didn't want it pointed out.

Hunters are very confident in what they do. Male hunters are macho and it's fun to hang around that manliness for awhile. Even Gray with her cute street clothes had a confidence that is evident in any hunter I have ever met. They know who they are, they know what they can do and there is a power in that. We had a great time sharing stories on a level we could relate to: the serenity of being out the woods or a quiet lake and finding strength in that, the excitment of sneaking up on quarry, a desire to maintain habitat so the creatures we love will be here now and for future generations, and an appreciation for the taste of pheasant.

Here's a photo of some of our group. Of these three men, can you tell the birders from hunters?

Why Starlings Don't Make The Best Pets

This video is only 1 minute and 34 seconds. It's worth it for the last twenty seconds. I don't want all the cute pet starling videos to inspire people to get one without knowing all the facts.

Starling Mind Games

And yet another video of a pet starling. This is getting way too addictive.

Media Finally Bored with Bird Flu?

Earlier this year, bird flu panic was in full swing: The French feared for their foie gras, the Swiss locked their chickens indoors, and Americans enlisted prison inmates in Alaska to help spot infected wild birds.

With the feared H5N1 virus -- previously confined to Southeast Asia -- striking birds in places as diverse as Germany, Egypt, and Nigeria, it seemed inevitable that a flu pandemic would erupt.

Then the virus went quiet. Except for a steady stream of human cases from Indonesia, the current bird flu epicenter, the past year's worries about a catastrophic global flu outbreak largely disappeared from the radar screen.

What happened?

Read the rest of the story from Sci-Tech Today.

Rhode Island Airport Customer Service

I was really put through the ringer with airport security. I was informed while in line that I was pre-selected for a more in depth search. Which was fine, that's why you get to the airport early. Interesting to note, the gel deodorant that was not in my one quart plastic bag but tucked in my carry on bag was not confiscated even though the guy checking it saw it and handled it. My new slippers apparently had something suspect on them because they caused the machine to beep but after even more in depth inspection, I was allowed to keep them. This didn't bother me so much but I did get some odd hassling from the teenage security guy. When he pulled out my iPod he asked, "Is this an iPod mini?"

"No," I said. "It's just a regular sized iPod."

"How long have you had it?" he asked.

"About a year and a half." I replied.

"Well, you're gonna need a new one because the battery on this is going to stop working." he informed me.

"Why, because of the inspection today?" I asked somewhat alarmed.

"No, that's just what happens to iPod minis, their batteries quit working." he told me.

"Well, it's a good thing that's not an iPod mini and that I have a warranty."

He then pulled out my sudoku book and showed it to one of his coworkers. "Man, this sudoku is really popular."

To which his friend replied, "It's ridiculous. People."

Hello?? I'm sitting right here as your rummaging and judging my stuff. After I was cleared as safe to allow on the plane I went to the Dunkin' Donuts which I miss so much in Minnesota. I ordered some coffee and a vanilla creme donut and the lady at the counter told me that the don't have the vanilla or chocolate creme filled only the Boston creme filled. "That's disappointing." I said.

"That's your problem not mine." she informed me. "We're a small store."

I decided not to press my luck any further at the Rhode Island Airport and just pay for my coffee and wait for my plane.

Inside Swarovski

I was in Rhode Island this weekend hanging out with my friend Clay Taylor and got to tour the Swarovski Optik United States Offices. Here's the modest outside. Here's an interesting bit of trivia for you:

Right across the street from Swarovski is a maximum security prison! Hm, I bet they get to test those optics on some interesting doin's a transpirin' when the inmates are outside. As if a hardcore correctional facility isn't weird enought, on the other side of Swarovski is:

A historic cemetary! Wonder if it's ever haunted in the warehouse? But don't let all this creep you out.

The inside is what you would expect, here we have a board room with a scope and feeders right outside and nothing says Swarovski like crystal--check out those light fixtures on the ceiling.

I was very excited to see that they had the fancy crystal pocket binoculars. I've seen these on the internet and just think these would be too cha cha for words. I love the idea of being on a pelagic and then whipping one of these babies out.

I was allowed to handle a pair and try them out. They are beautiful and for pockets these have exceptional clarity, but much like a sexy pair of shoes, they aren't very comfortable. These are meant to be opera glass and held by ladies wearing gloves.

The fun part for me was seeing the assembly and repair area. I got to handle the insides of Swarovski binoculars including the prisms--those were pretty an if put on the proper chain could be worn as jewelery. Above we have a columnizer (I hope I'm spelling that correctly). From my understanding, this contraption aligns your binoculars, I would imagine working here would be like working in mad scientist laboratory.

I didn't realize that if you need to get your binos tuned up, they can do it right here in the United States and have a fairly quick turnover time. Spotting scopes need to be sent to Austria, but the binos can be done right here. I was looking at the repair shelf and they had a pair of binos that had been run over by a truck. The incredible thing was that the case was still intact--the objective lenses were FUBARed and the prisms probably need to be replaced but the casing of the bino was still intact (yes it was repairable).

Okay, here's a quiz for you. What does this machine do to binoculars? It's very important to a quality pair of optics. The first correct answer in the comments section with a name attached to it gets their choice of the latest National Geographic Field Guide or Pete Dunne's Essential Field Guide Companion.

Talkin' Starlin'

Here's a crazy gift idea for you!

Believe it or not, there are people who keep starlings as pets in North America. Because they are non-native to the United States, it is totally legal. Goodness knows we've got enough of them. They are incredibly messy birds, but since they are related to mynah birds and are amazing mimics (think of all the times you thought you heard an unusual bird only to discover a starling on territory nearby) they can be trained to talk. Check this video of Weewoo the Starling. There are several videos of this talking starling on You Tube, I liked this one the best, it's the shortest at about a minute long. If you want to watch other Weewoo videos, keep in mind he asks for kisses A LOT. I think I dated Weewoo once.



I heard a rumor once that there was a pet shop in Roseville, Minnesota selling starlings for $75--seriously that's highway robbery!

Snow Birdings and On The Rhode

I am on the road again. This time I am traveling to Master Dragon Digiscoping Academy which is secretly known as the backyard of the Shaolin Monestary by the 18 Brass Men. Seriously, I am in Rhode Island and hopefully by the end of this weekend I will have a better grip on the art of digiscoping. Good grief, Rhode Island! How many states have I been to this year?

I had a layover in Philadelphia today. My, was it festive! I want to say for the record that I am in favor of this trend of putting rocking chairs in airports. It rocks--literally and figuratively. What really adds to this scene which you cannot see is a man with a karaoke machine singing South of the Border behind the column. Karaoke lounge singers in airports--who knew? I had heard that airports were hiring musicians and magicians to walk around and sooth the savage crowd during the Holiday Season, but was not expecting the karaoke, it's not as much fun if you can't jump in line to sing a song yourself. The Minneapolis airport has a piano player. Philadelphia has a professional karaoke singer. Compare. Contrast. In fairness, he did really work it when he sang Feliz Navidad.

On to Birds:

I’m pretty picky when it comes to the latest craze of bird seed ornaments. Some of them are very cute, but some are so full of filler seeds that I’m not quite sure even a squirrel would eat them. Of course, if you want a cute ornament made out of seed that won’t be devoured in ten seconds, perhaps using millet and milo for a $40 bird ornament is the way to go after all.

I did find this cool pine cone at Ed and Angie’s shop the other day. I grabbed it for Mr. Neil. I was impressed because it’s a giant pinecone and it’s covered with mostly fine sunflower chips. I believe the seed is held on with some sort of gelatin. As a matter of fact, after I too this photo, and walked back about five feet, a black-capped chickadee immediately landed on the cone and began to feed. If you have a hardcore bird feeding friend, this would be a good hostess gift. They will be impressed at you finding an ornament with fine sunflower chips.

It’s been kind of a bummer up here with all the harsh cold temperatures and no snow crunching uner your feed. We’re getting a few flurries, but it’s just not sticking. While at Mr. Neil’s one heck of a flurry blew in and just made everything light and beautiful. I love those big fluffy flakes.

I set the Wingscapes camera on the ground and got some photos of the juncos. Whoot.

Speaking of snow birds, I got an email from Joe who is fun guy I just run into all over the place--bird trips, fairs, festivals, etc. He also loves to visit The Raptor Center. He was at Lake Phalen the other day and captured a photo of some cute looking snow buntings. Joe is Japanese so it’s natural to me that he captured them looking especially cute. They just look like little jelly bowls.

I'm tired, I think that concludes my jet lagged, disjointed post.

Thanks Diva Kitty!

Diva Kitty alerted me to this cool blurb from SFGate.com:

Nick Krug got a photo of Kansas University students guarding an injured hawk from traffic. The raptor, probably hit by a car or truck was taken to the Operation Wildlife rehab clinic.

I Got Serverd!

One of our crew duties at the Raptor Center is that as soon we get in on Tuesday morning we go out to all of the education bird mews and make sure everyone is upright and healthy. We note where they are perched, and if there is any leftover food. We also have to pick it up. It's worse in summer when it's still juicy, but with our single digit temps, it's pretty easy to do right now. Often times, the birds will skin whatever prey we give them, especially rat and we collect that to keep their area clean.

Here we have Othello who has a rather large rat skin on his mailbox perch. When we go in to get food, we always wear leather gloves--not the black ones we use for handling birds for programs, but a big blue welder's glove and a tan glove. The welder's glove acts as a shield in case any of the birds are more ready for the food than you expect. The tan one is not as thick, allows some protection but is much easier to feel what you have in your hand. I stepped into Othello's mew and he gave his usual squeaky grunts. I approached the perch and squatted to get the skin and he came right at me! I put out my welder's glove hand and he grabbed it and bounced off. I stepped back and he ran...no flew, ran (it's kind of like watching a feathered weeble when the run--not very majestic) right at me and made a half-hearted attempt for my shoes.

I decided to leave in the rat skin. He'd be going out later on program and it would be just easier to do it then.

It's tough to say why some days an eagle will sit idly by while you collect their leftovers and other days they are incredibly territorial. It could have been that the sudden cold snap make the bird feel like every scrap of food counts. Something instinctual telling the bird to not let anyone take a scrap because times for survival in this cold and short daylight hours are hard and you need everything. It could have been that I was wearing ear muffs giving my head a different shape from what the birds are used to. There are a couple of great-horned owls that will not let me get them if I have ear muffs on. It's all part of what makes your days volunteering there a little more exciting.

The house sparrows were aggressively going for the rat leftovers again (in a different bald eagle cage, not Othello's). This particular eagle in this mew is on a tether and the house sparrows have taken to dragging the rat bits out of the reach of her tether. Smart, smart birds.

Old Photo

While going through my iPhoto archives searching for a cover shot for Disapproving Rabbits I came across a photo I took about three years ago:

It's Non Birding Bill napping with Kabuki in mid rouse (fluffing and rearranging feathers) on his shoulder. Awwww. My two content boys, I love them so.

Random Polar Bear Entry

I found a couple of photos on the camera I hadn't downloaded yet from the past weekend. We took the in-laws to Como Zoo in St. Paul and I got a couple of great shots of the polar bear swimming:

He kept doing the backstroke towards the glass, plunging under, flipping around and shooting off the glass wall. Was the polar bear merely having fun or hoping to finally wear down the strength of the glass and burst through eating me like the prey that I am?

Here I got the bear mid plunge! Speaking of polar bears, have you guys ever seen this the video of a Japanese girl wearing seal hat at a zoo and getting "chased" by a polar bear? Here it is:

Going Through Email

Found the following by catching up on some email:

Thanks to Paul for bringing this video of a young barred owl being mobbed. I think it's being mobbed by blue-gray gnatcatchers. Any thoughts?

There's a review of the Birds of Michigan Calendar at the new Bell Tower Birding Blog.

More Disapproving Rabbits

Just an FYI, Non Birding Bill has put up another Disapproving Rabbits page--when will it end?

"I'm not sure I approve of this flavor."

Titmice Movin' On Up

I did A Balanced Breakfast this morning. I debated about talking titmice, but I went for it. Margery kept us from going too far.

Hey, Twin Cities people, keep your eyes open for tufted titmice (above). Those birds are pushing north this winter. That is the one bird that is missing from where I currently live. When we moved to Minneapolis and I learned I wouldn't be seeing these cute birds with a fairly dirty name on a regular basis I was tempted to move back home. Fortunately I know people nearby who do get them, so I just go hang at their home to get my titmouse fix.

I learned that Bill Schmoker has a blog up and running now--whoot. Check out his latest very cool raptor photos--another Bill in my life, I think I'll just start calling him Schmoker--it's fun to say and differentiates him from Bill Thompson (friend), Bill Stiteler Sr (father in-law) Bill Stiteler Jr (husband), etc. Oh dear, I just noticed that Schmoker is a fan of one of Non Birding Bill's favorite sites the Comics Curmudgeon. It's a site that gives commentary on the comics in the newspaper. Many mornings it has NBB paralyzed with laughter on the couch.

I've Been Holding Off A Rant

I have tried to enforce my 24 hour rule. When I'm angry or emotional I don't blog about the issue or email the parties involved (or at least I really try hard not to). I need 24 hours to let the temper move through my system and to contemplate whether or not I really need precisely 59 four letter words (many repeated) to get my point across.

Inhale. Exhale. Ahhhhhhhh.

We had a lovely weekend with the in-laws visiting. It was a tough crowd to please this time. Not only did NBB's parents come, but they brought along three nephews--two of which are teenagers and can be a challenge to entertain without a gaming system.

In the last few months we have had the Body Worlds exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota. I have been wanting to go very badly, but with the travel schedule it just hasn't been possible. It was closing on Sunday, December 3, so I thought it would be a fun way to cap off the in-laws visit--what boy at any age wouldn't want to look at dead plasticized bodies? I ordered tickets online for 12:15 on Sunday, looked at all the warnings about how the tickets were non-refundable, and felt excited about such a unique experience for the family.

Sunday morning as we were finishing our breakfast and getting ready to head to the museum when NBB noticed that the tickets were for 12:15am not 12:15pm. According to the tickets, we were supposed to be at the exhibit just past midnight Sunday morning. Apparently, the museum was running a special over the weekend and keeping the exhibit open 24 hours. In my brain I got my am and pm confused. I called the museum and was told by a very snotty (or perhaps tired since she'd been up for 24 hours) box office attendant that there was nothing to be done, the exhibit was completely sold out and my $130 was completely non-refundable. As a parakeet I once had used to say:

Rant, rant, rant, rant, rant, rant, rant, rant.

Oh, I am so angry--at myself and at the museum. The rational part of me gets the non-refundable part. I've organized and led birding tours and there is a point where an event is non-refundable. The other part of me is angry with the museum because it was an easy mistake--they aren't usually open 24 hours so when you see 12:15 on a Sunday you might automatically think its for the noon time. I feel like I should be able to get part of the money back, but then again I should really pay more attention to the whole am and pm thing. I think I would be taking this a lot better had the box office attendant been even slightly sympathetic to my plight. A simple, "Gosh, I'm sorry we're sold out and here's an explanation of why we can't give the money back." as opposed to "Nope, we're sold out. You've lost your money. You should have been here last night."

Grrrrrrrrrrr. It will be awhile before my temper settles on this one and I can visit the museum again without tossing spitballs at the box office.

We did find other entertainment. Thank goodness for bald eagles. NBB was at a loss at to what to do with our five guests and I finally said, "Well, if you're leaving it to me, we're going bird watching." So we piled in the van and went to look for bald eagles. We found a dozen in less than ten minutes--they're almost too easy this time of year.

We did end up doing the Holidazzle Parade. In the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Minneapolis has a parade that has all the floats, marching bands, choirs, and pretty much anyone walking the parade covered in lights. It's generally a good time, although this past weekend it was 10 degrees--a little nippy. The in-laws took it like real troopers. The upside with the super cold weather is that it was very easy to get a good spot to watch the whole parade. On nights when it's in the thirties, it's wall to wall people out there.

Here's the Mother Goose float. That's Humpty Dumpty on the back, I'm not sure who the people in front are supposed to be.

Here is our nephew Sam desperately trying to keep his cool by trying to avoid his Aunt Sharon's camera. I think he kept his cool with the holiday lights dancing behind him, but what do I know compared to a 15 year old?

Here's a large snowman that spins its way down the street.

Heres the Wicked Witch of the West riding her bicycle around the Wizard of Oz float. Because when you think of the Holidays, you think of a scary looking witch. The Holidazzle is fun, all you Minnesota people who read the blog should make a trip into downtown to watch.

New Level of Disapproval?

High Cost of Bird Feeding

Sunflower seeds get costly
Use of oil in chips helps boost price
By My-Ly Nguyen

Frito-Lay's switch to sunflower oil to make its leading potato chip brands, Lay's and Ruffles, is helping drive up prices on the black oil sunflower seeds used most to feed birds, say some Binghamton-area retailers.

Still, avid birders are saying higher prices won't stop them from buying the seeds to fill their feeders.

Most commercial birdseed packages include at least some black oil sunflower seeds because, according to the National Bird-Feeding Society, they're the "hands-down favorite" of most seed-eating birds. The seeds are easily cracked open, even by birds with smaller beaks, and provide needed energy for the birds, the society said.

Companies such as Frito-Lay also have noted sunflower's value for its own products.

In September, Frito-Lay celebrated at its Kirkwood plant the change from using cottonseed oil to NuSun sunflower oil to make its Lay's and Ruffles chips, a move that reduced saturated fat in those brands by more than 50 percent.

"Frito-Lay started using sunflower oil in their chips. They're a huge buyer," Smith said. "It means that instead of all that excess to sell off as bird food, you've got Frito-Lay buying it up."

Frito-Lay spokeswoman Aurora Gonzalez said she's not in a position to discuss how the company's use of sunflower oil affects the market.

"It's a bigger commodity than just us," she said, before deferring inquiries to sunflower market expert Larry Kleingartner.

Kleingartner, executive director of the National Sunflower Association, said it's not just one company affecting prices for the commodity.

"Frito is just one of those market pulls," he said. "We had a short crop this year ... plus all the commodity prices have gone up quite dramatically because of the fuel issue -- corn, for instance, for ethanol. There's also pressure on vegetable oil because of the biodiesel side of the energy market. There's also the trans fat issue."

Sunflower seed supplies are expected to be "tight" through the marketing season, the National Sunflower Association said.

"Chances are some of the bird feeders may say, 'Hey, I don't want to do this anymore' or may want to do a little less," Kleingartner said. "It's very difficult to say what peak prices will be. We certainly think prices have upward potential."

You can read one of the article here.

My threshold for feeding birds is pretty high, but I wonder how this will affect wild bird retail stores? Some "big box" stores have been carrying better quality seed and have affected specialty bird stores sales. But will higher sunflower prices turn more people utterly devoted to their birds to "big box" stores?

Eeep!

Apparently Cinnamon doesn't approve of the movie Circle of Friends.

Getting Some Work Done At Carpenter

Stopped in to watch the Friday morning banding at Carpenter Nature Center this morning. I haven't been able to go for a few weeks and I was glad to hang with the guys again. I was able to get two birds with one stone (so to speak) since I took the Wingscapes Camera with me to test out. For the moment, those photos go on their blog.

It started out as a slow morning. It was about ten degrees but we didn't have any snow. With it being that cold, we didn't put up any nets, but set out potters traps.

A squirrel managed to find its way into one of the traps. Ooops! It was very perplexed and alarmed--as were the banders. Some birds can be a little nippy when they are in the hand, imagine what a squirrel can do. Larry got a stick and opened the trap and the squirrel scampered to freedom unbanded.

We did get in quite a few black-capped chickadees. One very exciting bird already had a band and turned out to have been banded in 2002! This tiny guy lasting close to five years in the wild--amazing. By the way, is it me or does this bird's bill look a little big for a chickadee? I can't tell if I'm getting overly paranoid about birds with overgrown bills or if it's normal.

Juncoes were busting out all over. I love dark-eyed juncos, they kind of remind me of little penguins. Something interesting at Carpenter is that they bait all of their traps with black oil sunflower seeds and the juncos still go in. Working at a bird store and with personal experience, I have always found these guys love white millet, sunflower hearts and Nyjer and not black oilers. I wonder if they are actually cracking open the sunflower or if they see seed and just check it out?

There was a minor junco tragedy. When the guys went out to check all the traps, a sharp-shinned hawk was flushed and left behind a freshly killed junco. The bird was banded, so this was one of the few times when a dead bird could be fully documented we have an idea of where its life ended and how old it was. I think this bird was in its second year. Don't worry raptor enthusiasts, the dead junco was put back outside and the sharpie did return for it.

Wingscapes

So, I got the coolest photo of starling today with the Wingscapes Camera. You can view it here.