Working The North Coast Nature Festival

Migration was just getting hot and heavy in Cleveland, OH this past weekend. White-throated sparrows (above) covered the ground and we could hear some warblers overhead. Part of my festival duties were to lead a "Birdchick Walk" for families at Rocky Ridge Nature Center on Saturday and Sunday. You have to kind of pick your battles on this type of walk. If you have thirty people with you, almost half of whom are under age 8, you really want to consider carefully if you want to point out that Cape May warbler flitting in the trees high overhead. In that type of situation, warblers can become an exercise in futility.

What I love about family groups is that people are excited about Canada geese (like the one snoozing above), red-winged blackbirds, and goldfinches. One of the ladies in our group pointed to some reeds and said "I saw something black and red over there." I guessed red-winged blackbird and a moment later, a male popped up. She confirmed that was the bird she saw. I said, "Good spot!" and her friends high fived her.

On the second day of the field trip, some of the young 'uns were a little rambunctious and more interested in racing down the trail and screaming. It was a warm sunny day, these boys had energy to burn and asking them to be quiet was just not going to cut it. So, I used one of my kid tricks. I told them that one of the best ways for us to find birds is to listen. If we can hear where a bird is ahead of us, that give us a better chance of finding it. Sometimes, it's hard to hear the birds in the distance, so we need to shape our face like an owl. If you cup your hands over your ears and open your mouth--you can increase your hearing ability by up to 40%! At first it looked like the boys weren't going to buy it (note skeptical look of the lad in the green shirt above).

But the kids bought it and continued down the trail a little more quietly. As I was getting the boys to do this, their parents were giggling wildly behind them. As silly as it looks, it really does help increase your hearing--and helps to quiet kids and to teach them to listen on a bird walk. After a few minutes, one of the boys came up to me because he heard a new sound. We listened and we were hearing the trilling of American toads. Very cool.

Amphibians were all over. We heard toads, spring peepers, and even found a bull frog (above). I was fortunate enough to have Jen Brumfield helping me out on my walk (mark my words, she's an amazing illustrator and will be huge in the coming years, Cleveland Metroparks are lucky to have her on staff--check out her books here--the dragonfly book is OUTSTANDING).

Jen was fearless on the walks. Here she is grabbing a frog out of the water for the kids to look at up close.

She also found a red-backed salamander (dark morph) on one of the walks. It was great and all the kids were really impressed. I've not had much experience with salamanders, when she first found this under a log, I thought it was an earthworm.

But looking closer, you could see the little nubby hands. It's kinda cute for a slimy thing you find under a log.

On Sunday, one of the best parts of our walk was finding an old woodpecker cavity chock full of raccoons. The female was sleeping and all you could see were one of her back paws sticking out. Did she party a little to hard Saturday night? We took a moment to digiscope a few photos.

After awhile, she shifted, yawned and started licking...something...

She jostled a bit more in her cavity and then a small ball of fur started moving in front of her--she had young! You can see the back of it's head on the left side of her face. Cute!

Eventually, she popped her head out as if to look down on all of us and say, "Alright, nothing to see here, move along. I don't care where you go, but you can't stay here."

We didn't see huge amounts of birds, but we observed some great wildlife that delighted the crowd. I was so happy to be part of sharing nature, birds and otherwise with the kids, and grateful to have Jen along with me. Oh, and there was one more highlight from the trip:

Notice anything familiar in the above photo? Look at the shirts. Someone is wearing a Disapproving Rabbits shirt! Whoot! Her name is Dawn and she was really sweet. When I told Non Birding Bill about it, he recognized her name and said that she was one of, if not the first person to order a shirt. Thanks, Dawn, for spreading the good work of my bunnies around Ohio. And thanks for coming along, it was so great to meet you!

Quick Bee Update

The Fabulous Lorraine has been keeping an eye on the hives while I was out of town and I am so grateful. We're supposed to leave them alone to do their own thing for the first 7 - 10 days after installing them, but I was worried since we were having problems with the Olga hive. So, Lorraine just checked the food and sure enough, the Olga bees quit eating the nectar again and hadn't touched the pollen patty. Lorraine and Mr. Neil made up some new food and today they appear to be eating normally.

Today, Lorraine sent over this photo of one of the bees right outside the house foraging on some dandelions. She's also seen some of the honey bees on the flowering plum tree and soon they should find the flowering cherry tree. I'll check the hives on Wednesday to see if they have drawn out comb and if I can find any eggs. Go, girls, go!

Leucistic Hawk

Hey, if you're hankerin' for another contest, WildBird on the Fly has a bird call one going on and the prize is the very cool new book Songs of Insects.

Now back to this wicked bad white hawk. This is one of the eduction birds for the Medina Raptor Center, they were giving programs at the North Coast Nature Festival. This bird is a leucistic red-tailed hawk. Doesn't he just glow in the sunlight?

Here it is in comparison to a "typically colored" red-tailed hawk. The leucistic bird is smaller because he is a male and the other bird is a female. In the raptor world, males are smaller than females.

This bird was flying free in Ohio, and many were aware and had observed him. However, he was run over by a train and lost half of his left wing. I would have thought he was an albino, but true albinos have a complete loss of pigment and red eyes and pink skin. This bird has washed out yellow legs and toes and blue eyes, so that makes it leucistic (having reduced pigmentation). It's interesting that this birds talons are pink instead of black. If you go to click here, you can see an up close shot of this bird's head and take a gander at those blue eyes.

I also got a kick out of this little male peregrine falcon. He was found in Non Birding Bill's home town of Mansfield, OH and spent some time recuperating up in Minnesota at The Raptor Center. The bird world is truly a small world.

Contest

We're currently in the lobby of our hotel waiting for our shuttle to the airport to get back to Minneapolis. We had a FABULOUS time in Cleveland, this was a well organized festival. It was so busy I didn't have time to blog. I caught up with friends and made some new ones.

While waiting and to give me time to formulate some blogs entries about this weekend, here is a contest:

What kind of raptor is this? Leave your answers in the comments section. I'm not sure what the prize will be, either a book or a mug--I need to check for prizes when I get home this morning. As usual, the first correct answer with a name attached wins.

eBird on CNN

Check out Brian Sullivan on CNN talking about eBird and Handheld Birds.

Herons in Ohio

I am exhausted.

The North Coast Nature Festival--wow, this is an action packed event and it's all free! It's a great event for people in the Cleveland area. There are bird walks, banding, workshops--and it's not just birds. There are wildflower walks, pond study, photography workshops, live animals, everything.

We did our tv segments early this morning and then Non Birding Bill and I rehearsed our show for tomorrow night and then we met up with NBB's friend Kirk.

A few years ago, Kirk sent us photos of a bunch of nests in a tree and asked if we knew what they were--we did. It's a great blue heron rookery. So, Kirk was kind enough to take us to Cuyahoga National Park today to view them. The birds nest right off of the road (not too bothered by humans) and there's a parking area so you can easily pull over and scope them. I had NBB and Kirk stand on the other side to get a sense scale. Note NBB pretending to be a bird watcher by pointing.

According to the signage, the birds should have eggs that are hatching or are about to hatching. Scanning the nests, it appeared that the birds were at various stages in nesting from nest building, to incubating, to feeding chicks. The birds in the above photo are actually two nests side by side. The bird on the right is regurgitating food to some young in the bottom of the nest--barfed up fish and frogs--yum!

I had Kirk check them out through the scope so he could see the yellows of their eyes. Kirk would also like everyone to notice his jacket, he's very proud of it.

Now, I'm off to do some writing and then some much needed sleep.

I did get word from Lorraine that the beehives are feeding well.

Wood Lake Owl--Sad News

I just got this bummer of a report from Hellziggy about the young owl at Wood Lake:

Sad news... Sometime Monday night the baby fell from the tree. They found him on the ground Tuesday morning and put him in a basket that they put up into the tree so predators wouldn't get him. He must have sustained internal injuries because he never bounced back from it and he was dead this morning. :(

Sad news indeed. This is unfortunate, but does happen. Sometimes when young owls are learning to fly they fall and get injured. Usually they can survive it.

A Spike In Sparrows

And now, a cool titmouse shot:

We are now in the lovely town of Cleveland, OH. We have to go to bed early tonight, someone from the North Coast Nature Festival is picking us up at 4:30 am for two tv segments on WKYC. We're doing two, one at 5:15 am and one at 6:15 am. Oy.

First up, there's been a comment and a couple of private emails that people still had trouble seeing the queen bee, so I added a photo and circled the queen to that entry. Hopefully you can see her in the middle of my wiggly squiggle.

One of the fun things about being out at Mr. Neil's while hiving our colony was watching all the migrants pour in. When I arrived on Tuesday, there were several of the usual suspects singing. The only sparrow I noticed was the song sparrow (above) eating sunflower chips below the feeders.

Wednesday morning, sparrows were everywhere!

Chipping sparrows were flitting around to all the feeders. For the record, I did not fill this feeder. When I'm not around, other people fill them and it makes me chuckle to see where the seeds end up. The blue jays were going crazy trying to figure out how to get access to all the peanuts. The chipping sparrow was more interested in the sunflower chips still available at the bottom feeder port.

This little chipping sparrow kept erecting his cap. His hormones must be in overdrive.

White-throated sparrows had arrived over night. I can never control myself around these guys. I always start whistling they're "oh sweet Canada, Canada Canada" or according to Kaufman "oh sweet, Kimberly, Kimberly, Kimberly" song. I started whistling and then many more in the surrounding bushes started singing. Love those guys.

I did find a lone Lincoln's sparrow mixed in. These are always such a pleasant surprise when they show up at the feeders. I put out some extra millet and sunflower chips for the migrating sparrows, they always put a little more fun in the sea of brown that seems to take over the feeding stations.

Back to the feeder with all the peanuts. As the chipping sparrows moved the sunflower chips out of the way, the titmice came in for the peanuts. This one worked for a good three minutes trying to get that nut out. It flew away and I wondered how long it would take it to chip it away into edible pieces.

Some mixed nuts had been put in some of the other feeders and the red-bellied woodpeckers were working those out. This one managed to pry out a hazelnut. If you closely at this photo, you can almost see the spear that is at the tip of his tongue.

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other

This morning I was sipping my coffee and watching the cars in the drive way. I was (and am) exhausted from the week. I was formulating my plan for the day when I noticed what looked like a female goldfinch flitting around my car. At first glance, it looked like she was fighting her reflection going from window to window, but I thought, "Why would a female be fighting her reflection? Isn't it early for goldfinches to be this territorial?" Something did not seem right. The finch moved on to Lorraine's car and she walked in and asked, "Why is that finch on my car?"

Then the coffee kicked in. The "finch " flew over to the finch feeder with the other goldfinches (above). "That's not a finch." I said. Look at the top photo, can you see the "finch imposter" feeding on Nyjer and sunflower chips?

I dashed to get the scope:

The feeder was almost too close for the spotting scope to focus on the bird. Here is the face. It was a pine warbler! I can't believe it, I digiscoped a warbler--barely. I think with the cool weather, this migrant was working extra hard to find insects. My guess is that the warbler was gleaning smashed insects off of our cars and when that wasn't enough decided to go for the sunflower chips--something warblers will eat if they have to.

I tried to get a better shot, but got a butt shot instead. The warbler flitted around from feeder to feeder, someone had mixed in some suet nuggets in some of the feeders and it went for those as well.

I looked over at the suet log and a second pine warbler had flown in. This one went right for the fat. When a downy woodpecker flew in, the warbler flew away and waited for another turn. Mr. Neil's suet log has an arm that sticks out that makes a great perch for waiting birds. This digiscoped shot turned out much better. I thought digiscoping warblers was going to be impossible this spring (I'm no artist like Mike McDowell) but this gives me hope.

The Trouble With Olga

We went out to check on the hives today to make sure that the bees were feeding, had accepted the hive and open the hive entrances. The Kitty hive was in working order. You can see in the above photo that a cluster of bees is on the pollen patty and many more were under the white pail feeding on the nectar. This hive is following the textbook and next week I hope we will find some comb under construction.

Olga was a different story. No bees feeding at all. We lifted up the nectar pail and no bees were underneath--not good. The pail felt hard and yesterday when we were making nectar, we used some raw sugar to make the nectar for this hive--it had turned into a dry rock. We decided to take the pail back and remake the nectar. The feeding tin that came with the package of bees still had nectar in it, so we placed that in with the bees while we made more. When we came back about forty five minutes later, there were still no bees to be seen--not a good sign. Were they still in the hive? Did they die off?

I had been stressing to Lorraine that after today we were to leave the hives alone. We could check the feeders, but to not open up the hives to view the frames until next week. Now, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to open it up and see what was going on but I didn't want to disturb them and I didn't want to set a bad example. We decided to open it up. I didn't know what I would find or if I would be able to do anything. We opened it and the first thing I noticed were quite a few dead bees on the bottom. I remembered that the Olga bees had quite a few dead ones on the bottom of the package, I figured that was normal. But the rest of the bees were all huddles along frames on the extreme right side of the box. I suddenly remembered this being covered in the class. Sometimes the bees get cold on the first night an huddle to one side, completely missing the food at the hole in the center of the roof. All I had to do was rearrange the frames so the bees were right underneath the nectar feeder.

We moved the frames and within moments one of the workers came up and began sipping the nectar and not long after other workers followed. I'm so glad I took that Beekeeping Short Course at the U of M so I knew what to do! Whew.

I will say one thing about the Olga hive, they had already opened the entrance of the hive without my help. They may not have found the food that I set in there for them, but at least they were smart enough to find their own way out to start searching further away.

I have a feeling that Kitty is going to go by the book and Olga is going to be a bit rebellious and require extra attention.

St Paul Bird Festival

Looking for a family friendly bird festival in an urban area? Check out the Ramsey County Bird Festival next week.

Hikes are scheduled to give a bird's eye view of areas where swans, eagles and loons nest and where migrating warblers feed. Other tours will look at resident birds like cardinals, blue jays and chickadees. A low-cost dinner will feature nationally known bird expert and author Laura Erickson, speaking on "Backyard Birds---Hooooo Gives a Hoot?" Archimedes, an Eastern Screech-Owl, will be along for the fun as Erickson discusses the birds that make our own backyards so interesting, and what we can do to more easily see and enjoy them.

Speaking of owls, Hellziggy got some cute shots of the young great horned owl at Wood Lake.

Practicing flight: flap-flap-flap-flap! The young owl builds up its muscles and walks away from the nest in the brancher stage.

The young owl looks down to its mother as if saying, "Look at me, I'm higher than you, I'm a grown-up." Mom's response? "Yes, dear."

Part 2: Enjoyment At The Beehive

So, when I last left you, Lorraine and I had installed one colony and totally wigged out during the first hiving. The bees didn't pour out of their travel crate as easily as I thought they would and I got to experience having bees fly all around. It was weird, when they would land on the face netting, they almost looked like they were inside of the bee suit with you. Yikes!

We suited up in our full bee armor and returned to the hives. We realized we forgot the instruction book and that Lorraine's camera batteries were running low, so we walked back to the house. Yes, we were stalling. Finally, we went back. There were still quite a few bees in the air from the first installation. Several had worked their way over to the unopened box of bees.

Feeling safer with the gloves on, I zoomed in for a photo. Lorraine sprayed the box and the bees on the outstide were licking up the sugar water. If you look closely in the above photo, you can see the tongue of the bee in the middle, lapping up the nectar.

Here is what the travel box looks like up close. From the top of the box, a can full of nectar is suspended and the queen cage is next to it. All the workers pile on top of the feeder and the queen. You could wiggle the box and watch the mass of bees wiggle back in forth together. Freaky. I gave the box one, good, hard BONK.

And all the bees fell to the bottom exposing the feeder tin. The queen is still covered in workers. I tried to pry the tin out, but it was lodged in with propolis. I tugged and tugged and couldn't get it out. Lorraine offered to give a whirl.

Okay, here it is. I know people who know her are going to be shocked, but yes indeed, that is Lorraine workin' a box o' bees! Who knew? It took several tries, and me holding the box for leverage, but we finally got the feeder tin out.

I pulled out the queen case. In the above photo, I am holding the cage and it is covered with worker bees. It was at this point when Lorraine snapped a photo of me that I realized we had gotten over our panic of the first hive installation and we were having a great time.

I held the queen cage over the hive, flicked my wrist and all the workers on the cage fell in. Lorraine offered to keep the queen in her pocket this round.

Even with all the prying issues with the feeder tin getting stuck, the worker bees in this box seemed way more relaxed than the first. Some were flying out, but not at the rate of the first box.

I poured them into the hive and this time they did go in like pizza sauce. I got most of the bees inside the hive in very little time. I don't know if this is just a more mellow colony or if the bees sensed that Lorraine and I were more relaxed so they were more willing to go along with the plan.

After the worker bees were installed, Lorraine took the queen bee out of her pocket, we opened the cage and the queen crawled right onto the frame with the workers. She is in the above photo. Can you see her? Let's zoom in:

Now do you notice her? She's in the middle, the one with the big eyes facing front. All the workers eyes are on the sides of their heads. Still can't see her? How about this:

She's in the middle of the red circle.

I was so relaxed this time that I was able to sweep excess bees onto my hand and put them in the hive.

We were covered in bees and this time instead of peeing our pants, we took photos of each other. Incidentally, you always have the most bees on you when the camera is off. Once it turns on, 90% off bees leave your body.

I placed the empty queen cage covered with worker bees next to the pollen paddy and nectar feeder and closed up the beehive.

We closed everything up and left our girls to begin the process of growth. Tomorrow we will check on them to make sure the feeder pails are working well and then let them build for the next week to 10 days. I'm glad I will be out of town, I want to check on them every day now. Based on reader advice, we have named the hives (Kitty--green and Olga--light orange).

Lorraine and I both feel like different people. This day feels like it's been a week. I really do feel different (don't worry, this won't turn into an all bee blog--it's still a bird blog). I think for me, I had a lot of fear about working with bees that I didn't want to acknowledge--I was forced to face it during the first installation. By the second hive, I was having a blast. I had survived the first installation, I had a friend with me who makes me feel comfortable and we could both laugh at our mistakes and discomfort.

It reminded me of when Non Birding Bill and I got married. We actually got married twice (another story for another entry). During the first ceremony, I was so overwhelmed and emotional, I really can't remember much apart from crying (with joy) a lot. The second ceremony I really got to pay attention and enjoy the moment and what was being said.

We almost started off with one colony, I'm so glad we did two. This way we can compare and on the off chance I really messed up installing the first hive, we have a back up.

Oh, and for the record--no stings today. I'm sure there are some in our future, but for now we are sting free.

Hiving Part 1: Panic At The Bee Hive

Today was the day when I finally got started on realizing my dream of keeping bees. You're really not prepared for that first moment, no matter how many books you have read, videos you have watched, or classes you have taken.

I stopped at B & B Honey Farms to pick up our two packages of bees. Each package had three pounds of bees inside as well as one queen in her own cage. The queen was put inside her cage and then placed in the box with a bunch of worker bees four days ago. That gives the queen a chance to release all her pheromones to get the workers bonded to her. Or as our beekeeping instructor said, "They work out all their differences."

I was prepared for the wooden box and having that in my car for two hours as I drove the bees out to Mr. Neil's, but I was not prepared for the "outsiders". There were, of course, escapees at B & B and so those bees just swarmed onto the boxes. They guys loading the bees wiped as many off as they could, but I still ended up driving the whole way back with about a half dozen unsecured bees. I made a deal with them that if they stayed on the box, they could travel in the car, if they wanted to fly around the car, they would go out the window. Only one bee ended up going out the window.

I'm proud to say that on the drive back, I only got seriously distracted by birds once. I'm sorry, but you just can't pass a pair of adult eagles sitting in a field so close to the road without trying to take one picture. It was weird, when the car was stopped, you could really hear the humming of the bees.

When I got to the house, Mr. Neil's assistant, Lorraine was there and was ready to document the hiving of the bees. Neil had to leave this morning and was sad to miss it. I was surprised Lorraine was so willing to go along, because she has been quite vocal and very clear that she was in no part going to be the beekeeper in this enterprise. If I'm out at a bird festival and Mr. Neil is out at a book signing and there's a bee emergency, she was not having any part of it. She doesn't like bees. Completely understandable. After all that fuss, I was surprised she wanted to come out with me.

The first thing we did was make sure all the hives were ready. They had been placed in the chosen spot, but I did move the two hives further apart (above). When it's time to start taking honey out of your hive, neighboring colonies will try to steal it, so a little space helps with that. And I think a little space makes for healthier neighbors.

Since having the bees in the car with me for a couple of hours without any mishaps and having watched many videos of smooth hiving of colonies by people not wearing bee suits, I decided that I was going to install our bees without gloves. I was going to wear that hat and net, but not the gloves.

However, when I got inside the house, I saw that our bee suits had arrived and they looked SO cool (seriously, they looked like astronaut suits...without the built in diaper). I decided that I would wear the bee suit, but not wear the gloves. Lorraine put on a suit too and we both took some gloves with us as we took our bees out to the hives--just in case.

Lorraine had the camera at the ready. I had my hive tool, this was going to be a piece of cake. All I had to do was spray the bees with sugar water, bonk the box so they all went to the bottom, remove the feeder can, remove the queen, scrape off any workers, put the queen in my pocket, spray all the workers with more sugar water, dump them in the hive, take the queen out of my pocket, spray her, open her screen and then have her crawl onto the frames with the workers, put on the feeder pail, the pollen patty, and close up the hive--simple right? I had Lorraine hold on to the instruction book to read each step to me as I went along.

So, far so good. I sprayed the bees and I bonked the box, they went to the bottom. I pulled out the feeder can--it came out so easy! I was fully expecting it to be stuck in there with some propolis. Out came the can, easy as pie...and then out exploded a few hundred bees.

With bees, flailing is a no no. They are more likely to sting if you flail. What happens when you remove the feeder can, which you can't really see in the videos (and now that I look at my photos, you really can't see in the photos either) is that many of the bees get confused and fly out.

Have you ever had that feeling on a roller coaster when you get to the crest of the first hill and you just feel this deep, guttural panic and are willing to trade ANYTHING to not be there at that moment to be ANYWHERE else but there. That's pretty much what I felt at the moment the feeder can was removed (that's Lorraine above doing a dramatic reenactment of the moment). I tried to collect myself--I had to get the queen out and get what bees I could into the hive. I sprayed everything with sugar water. Lorraine, sensing my panic kept reading instructions. I pulled out the queen, she was covered in workers, I tried to brush them off, but I could feel their little vibrating bodies on my bare hands and it freaked me out. I started chanting as calmly as I could, "Don't flail. Don't flail. Don't flail." It was pretty much a substitute for the river of obscenities flowing through my brain.

Lorraine just kept reading the instructions over and over in a steady pace, anything to keep our minds off of the massive amounts of bees flying around us and trying to land on us. I got the queen into my pockets and then went to dump the rest of the workers in the hive. "Stay calm." I thought to myself. "Lorraine doesn't like bees, if I panic, it won't help her." I later learned she was thinking the exact same thing, that she needed to keep calm because her freaking out wouldn't help me. I think we saved each other with that bit of logic.

I love the photo above, I can see that I'm trying to keep calm, but underneath I'm really just a freaked out mess--note my little pinky finger in the air as I'm trying to dump the bees in the hive? Yeah, trying to look dainty is really helping.

I bonked and I bonked the box, but I could not get the workers inside the hive, sure a few fell in, but many were flying out as they were being poured in and even more were just staying in the box. They were not pouring and spreading like pizza sauce (which is what is supposed to happen according to the video and the class I took). I kept shaking the box back and forth--they weren't coming out. Some were landing on my hand, startling me and causing me to flail.

Lorraine said in awe, "Oh man, you have SO many bees on you!"

"I don't want to know!" I warned. I finally put the box down and said as calmly as I could, "Okay, we are going to walk away and put gloves on."

Lorraine agreed with the plan.

We put the gloves on and then I tried to get as many bees as I could into the hive. I took the queen out of my pocket, opened her cage, and held it on one of the frames in the hive. She crawled on my hand and finally crawled onto some workers on one of the frames. I turned around to put frames back in the hive but I couldn't find her again. I lost track of her. I assume she is still in there...I hope she is. We'll find out in a week. Many of the workers were drawn to the empty queen cage so I laid that in hive, put in the feeder and the pollen paddy and closed her up. I had to close the entrance to get the bees to stay in the hive for the night and felt a pang of guilt for all the workers now trapped on the outside.

That hive was done, but we still had one more to do. Lorraine and I were both exhausted and decided to head back to the house for some tea and coffee to gird ourselves before the next hiving.

We walked to the house, shell shocked and shedding bees along the way. After removing the feeder, the whole experience was a blank. We pretty much quit taking photos, bees everywhere just freaked us out. I had helped at a beehive before, this was not my first time being around hives, but it was different when it's your own and when you have bare hands.

I was so glad Lorraine was there, we both kept the other from freaking out and running away like a big sissy. Neither one of us got stung with the first installation, but how on earth could we go back and calmly hive the next package? Only time and a cup of tea would tell.

Up next, Part 2: The Hiving of Kitty

Murrations of Starlings

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Aaron!

You might think your grackle/starling/squirrel problem isn't so bad after reading this article about Starlings in Rome. Bee sure the check out the multimedia show--the photos are intense! At one point, the starlings almost form what looks like an upside stork.

They should probably turn that into a tourist attraction...I'd pay to see a few hundred thousand starlings. Speaking of which, yesterday I gave a small presentation with Explore Minnesota at a conference for Minnesota Bed and Breakfast Association. We were talking about heron and egret rookeries and some of the newer ones popping up around that state. One of the ladies was complaining about how sad it was that egrets nested on a little island on a lake in a city park. She felt they destroyed the park--egret and heron droppings at rookeries can kill of trees. I told her that I would much rather visit her town to look at several large white elegant birds and a tree covered island. She seemed skeptical, but after we gave our presentation about the value of birding, how much birders spend on a trip, she might be changing her mind.

It's interesting to me how birds can be perceived. I can totally see how a bunch of birds killing off vegetation can be perceive as "not good" but I would think that with prettier birds like egrets, you might think--"huh, would people like to come see that? Could we hold bird photography/digiscoping workshops with this?"

Bee Day Is Coming

Tomorrow is it. The bees will be ready for pick up. I am both excited and nervous. When I took the U of M's Beekeeping Short Course, we went over hiving the package of bees several times and even watched a video. The instructors told us that we did not really need the gloves because the bees will be so docile, but if it will make us more comfortable we should wear the full suit. I was thinking I would probably do it glove free since they made it look so easy in class.

Then I foolishly went to YouTube tonight and watched some bee installations going wonky.

At first it freaked me out, one video in particular showed some very angry bees, but then I started to pay attention. First thing I noticed was that in all the videos where things went wrong, the people were wearing full bee suits. Second, they were doing things very differently than what I learned in class. I did find one video where the guy was "hiving a package" with no bee suit and it went fairly smooth. He put the queen in the hive a different way than I learned but everything else was about the same and all was calm.

I don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight. I haven't been anyway, partially because our neighbors stay out until 4 am having a party (college kids, who swear they are being quiet when you walk over and tell them they're being noisy). The other night someone was in the ally arguing with her boyfriend Josh, on her cell phone. I woke up to "Josh, Josh! I don't want to #$%^*&@ loose you!" I looked at the clock and it was 2:45 am. She cried out again to her Josh on her cell about trying to work out their differences, when I heard a robin stir. It gave it's "reep cheap cheap" and then started a full on territory song. After he got going, other males on neighboring territories started to sing and by 3:05 am all the neigborhood robins were in chorus. Good grief, that lady woke up the birds!

Once birds start singing, I just can't sleep. I'm too programed to pay attention to them.

Red-wing on Red-tail

Orv Lehman has been watching and photographing a red-tailed hawk nest in Virginia with his Nikon P1 Pro digiscope kit.

I love how at first glance it looks like the red-winged blackbird is perched on the red-tailed hawk's head, but he's perched behind the hawk. If you look close, you can see some white fluff under the hawk, behind some of the sticks that make up the nest--that is the young hawk.

It's got to be annoying to have red-wings dive bombing you at the nest. Thanks for the fun photos, Orv!

Go Birding Through Craig's List Founder

WildBird on the Fly is reporting that a new online birding game is available. A webcam has been set up in the backyard of Craig Newmark (founder of Craig's list) to try and snap shots of birds that are visiting. Players vie for spots on the top watchers' list by photographing and classifying the most birds. They snap stills of avian targets from the video stream, and the shots are dumped into a database for classification.

The game is supposed to be up at CONE Sutro Forest sometime today.

I Will Survive

"Oy."

Did you ever wake up one morning thinking everything is going to be relaxing and then come to the sudden realization--"Wait, I'm doing ALL of that? This week? Eeep!"

I'm not sure how I'm going to make it, but by this time one week from today I will be marveling at all I accomplished. Right now, I'm wondering how I'm going to do it. First up, I have a lunch meeting/presentation with the Office of Tourism tomorrow in New Ulm which is about two hours away. Sometime tomorrow, my supplier (B & B Honey Farm--who does not have a website) is getting our honey bees over in Houston, MN and I will pick those up on Tuesday, drive them to Mr. Neil's, make them some nectar and pollen patties, hive them, wait twenty-four hours to make sure they accept the hives on Wednesday. Thursday, we fly out to Cleveland, OH for the North Coast Nature Festival, Friday morning we do some tv appearances (at 5am), do some final rehearsing for Play on Birds, Saturday I lead walks, give presentations, and that night we do Play on Birds. Sunday is a little more of the same only minus the Play on Birds. Both Non Birding Bill's family and my family will be there. Also, during all of this, I need to work on a deadline looming for MN Audubon.

Please, please, Forces of Nature, do not let me get any disfiguring stings this week before we go on stage or tv!

Incidentally, any readers who are planning on coming to see Play on Birds in Ohio, you will need to get there early, the seating is first come/first serve. There's no ticket fee and space maybe limited. This will be a rare chance to see Non Birding Bill. It really is a funny show and is one of my favorite things to perform, I love, LOVE performing with NBB.

I have to give a big thank you to the Wild Birds Unlimited in Cleveland, they are loaning us some of their feeders to use during our Four Stages of Squirrel sketch--I'm so relieved we don't have to take those props with us on the plane.

So, off to do some rehearsing and for some relaxation, I present a video of Cinnamon's nose. We went to the park for the first time since last fall and boy was her nose wigglin' taking in all the scents! The video is about a minute long:

Wood Lake Great Horned Owl Nest

The other day at Wood Lake Nature Center, I wanted to get a photo of the young great horned owl in the nest. However, it was snoozin'. I went for a walk around the lake and when finished I came back to find the wee owly still a snoozin'. Just as I was putting the cap back on my scope, an old snag not too far away came crashing down. I watched in awe as it fell. I looked back to the nest and the young owl was standing straight up, having been started from the crash--even its fluffy excuses of ear tufts were trying to be erect.

After a couple of minutes, it hunkered down and stared...make that glared at me. I didn't cause it...really...it wasn't me. Okay, so I was thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice if some noise woke they owl baby up, but really, I didn't cause a whole snag to fall."

Geez, somebody get that bird some coffee, stat!

Speaking of the young owl, it is now in that brancher phase (young owl out of the nest) and will soon be flying. Here is a link to a photo taken by Derek Bakken today of the young owl walking in the tree and another of one of the parents chewing a feather it molted out. My cockatiel does that when he pulls out a tail feather or primary feather--just kind of chew it for a minute. I wonder if that's like kids who bite off a finger nail (or worse a toe nail) and chew it for a few minutes?

Stop The Presses - There's A New Frogmouth

According to the press release, "Your bird field guide may be out of date now that University of Florida scientists discovered a new genus of frogmouth bird on a South Pacific island." Because so many of us have a frogmouth section in our North American guides.

Frogmouths are named for the huge, wide, strong beak that resembles a frog's mouth--here is a link to a photo of some live frogmouths to give you an idea.; but their beak also sports a small, sharp hook more like an owl's. Steadman said their beaks are like no other bird's in the world. Frogmouths are predators and eat insects, rodents, small birds -- and yes, even frogs. These birds are also well known for their camouflage--three great examples here, here and here.

According to the press release, the perspective on the scale of evolutionary difference between genera, consider that modern humans and Neanderthals are different species within the same genus (Homo), while chimpanzees are our living relatives from a closely related genus (Pan), but that we share the same taxonomic family (Hominidae) with our chimp cousins.

The exciting news is that David Steadman and Andrew Kratter, ornithologists at the Florida Museum of Natural History, found the new genus of frogmouth while on a collecting expedition in the Solomon Islands. It is the first frogmouth from these islands to be caught by scientists in more than 100 years. They immediately recognized it was something different.

"This discovery underscores that birds on remote Pacific islands are still poorly known, scientifically speaking," Steadman said. "Without the help of local hunters, we probably would have overlooked the frogmouth."

Originally, the bird was misclassified (gasp) as a subspecies of the Australian Marbled Frogmouth, Podargus ocellatus. The blunder went undetected for decades (gasp again), until a collecting trip led by Kratter in 1998 turned up a specimen on Isabel, a 1,500-square-mile island in the Solomons. Today, the only museum specimen of this bird in the world, with an associated skin and skeleton, is housed at the Florida Museum (oooo, ahhhhhh).

Read the full press release here.

Cinnamon Eats More Parsley

Good Birders Don't Wear White

Then why does the American Birding Association sell white shirts with their logo on it?

Lisa White from Houghton Mifflin has brought together many of our favorite bird writers and compiled their essays in Good Birders Don't Wear White, a book on the subject of what makes a good birder. There's some fun with some practical and good advice mixed in for good measure. I as I was going through and checking off how many friends have essays in the book, it got me inspired to try and find a link for everyone in the book. Here is a list of all the birders who have essays. Starred names are bloggers:

John Acorn
Peter Alden
Paul J. Baicich
Jessie H. Barry
David M. Bird
Jeffery Bouton*
Robert A. Braunfield
Kevin J. Cook
Alicia Craig
Julie Craves
Richard Crossley
Jon L. Dunn
Pete Dunne
Lang Elliot
Victor Emanuel
Laura Erickson*
Ted Floyd
Tim Gallagher
Jeffery A. Gordon*
Chuck Hagner*
Amy K. Hooper*
Steve Howell
Dave Jasper
Kevin Karlson
Kenn Kaufman
Paul Kerlinger
John Kricher
Donald Kroodsma
Paul LehmanArthur Morris
Mike O'Connor
Wayne R. Peterson
Bill Schmoker*
Scott Shalaway
Stephen Shunk
David Sibley
John Sill
Peter Stangel
Don and Lillian Stokes*
Noah Stryker
Clay Sutton
Bill Thompson III*
Connie Toops
Judith A. Toups
Richard K. Walton
Scott Weidensaul
Mel White
Sheri Williamson*
Louise Zemaitis
Julie Zickefoose*

Well, I found all but four. If anyone can let me know of a link for those four please pass it along. Again, a great collection of birders and writers.

Whooping Crane Obit

From the Washington Post:

A whooping crane found dead in a farmer's field was a "senior citizen" with a colorful past that helped with studies of the rare birds, a Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman says.

The whooper, found Wednesday in a field west of the city, near Almont, appeared to have a broken neck, spokesman Ken Torkelson said. Biologists believe the bird had been dead for at least a day before it was found but they do not believe it was killed by humans, Torkelson said.

The carcass is being sent to the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. for analysis.

"What caused the broken neck, we're not sure, and we may never know," Torkelson said Thursday.

A power line was about a mile away, but authorities do not know if that played a role, Torkelson said.

"It would be a first, but it's not impossible for that bird to have had a heart attack in the air and suffered a broken neck on impact with the ground," he said. "It could also have been a predator but there are no signs of that. If we had to guess, it appears to have come in a collision with something."

An identification band showed the bird hatched in 1983. Biologists say most whooping cranes do not live much longer than 20 years.

"It was still a very productive male, having brought six chicks to Aransas out of the last 10 years," Tom Stehn, the whooping crane coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas, said in a statement.

The dead bird and its mate were equipped with radio collars in the early 1980s and were known as the "radio pair," Stehn said. Along with producing offspring, the pair provided valuable information for researchers, he said.

"He was not the granddaddy of the flock, but he was definitely one of the senior citizens," Torkelson said of the dead whooper. "He apparently he was still mated up this year and still could have produced offspring, so it's certainly a loss to the whooping crane flock."

Stehn also said the whooper found near Almont was involved in the "fastest whooper migration across the United States ever recorded."

The bird and its parents were in a flock of six whooping cranes that landed near Pierre, S.D., on Nov. 8, 1983, and were found on the Texas coast just three days later, he said.

"They were pushed by strong tailwinds and a low pressure system on their way south and must have flown pretty much nonstop," Stehn said.

Urban Eagles Still Going Strong

Ah, man, I was just sitting down to whip up this entry and I got a UPS delivery of some books. I already have a stack of cool books that I've come across in the last four weeks that I need to share on the blog and now another book arrived that looks oh so promising: The Songs of Insects--by Lang Elliot and Wil Hershberger. I'm not familiar with Hershberger, but I loves me some Lang Elliot, this looks like it's in the same format of Music of the Birds. Whoot!

I went to check on the eagle nest near my home after a meeting at Minnesota Audubon. As I was driving through the neighborhood, one of the birds was flying low in the air, trying to catch a thermal. Every person outside was looking up with a look of awe on their faces. The trees haven't leafed out yet, so you can still see the nest. When I set up the scope, a couple of the residents walked by and had a look. They are very proud and excited about the nest.

The eagle in the nest looked like she was eating and then she hunkered down inside. Boy, the buds are starting to burst, in another week or two, this nest will be well hidden. Incidentally, while watching the nest in the scope, a pair of house sparrows were lurking at about 4 o'clock in the nest. They kept going in and out. I wonder, are they nesting in the eagle nest or are they looking for food scraps?

Has anyone ever observed other bird species nesting in an active eagle nest (or any raptor nest)?

Spring Watch USA

We need to get Jeff Corwin in a harness...I mean a binocular harness.

Looks like there is an interesting show on Animal Planet this weekend called Spring Watch USA, a four-week, as it happens, multi-media event. Filmed just prior to broadcast, this miniseries is a celebration of the arrival and beauty of spring across the nation. Hosted by Jeff Corwin (above) and Vanessa Garnick, viewers learn about the amazing mammals, birds and insects that herald the arrival of spring.

From their headquarters on Kiawah Island, located off the coast of South Carolina near Charleston, Jeff and Vanessa give viewers a backstage pass to spring from the animals’ point of view. With cameras positioned in nests, caves and other habitats, Jeff and Vanessa track such inhabitants of Kiawah Island as bobcats, red-tailed hawks, alligators, bluebirds and screech owls.

Corwin and Garnick are joined by Animal Planet correspondents Philippe Cousteau and David Mizejewski who also take cameras along as they report on animal activities from the rest of the country. Cousteau covers sea otters, sea lions and gray whales in California, from Sausalito to Monterey to the Channel Islands. Meanwhile, Mizejewski checks in on the great horned owl and the beaver in Georgia, flying squirrels in Northern Virginia and black bears in Upstate New York.

You can go to the Animal Planet website and at the Spring Watch USA tracker to check out an interactive map, play with the online bird and butterfly field guide, and even post your own signs of spring.

This could be cool, especially since spring has been a tad out of reach the last few weeks. Plus I'm in favor of anything Jeff Corwin. I have to say, I did get a chuckle out of this photo of the hosts of the event:

Okay, these are all people who love to get down and dirty in the wild--would they really ever wear white? It almost looks like an album cover for the Carpenters.

I And The Bird

I keep forgetting to submit posts to I and the Bird and I have to send a big thank you to this week's host, Jochen. He sent me some good reminders. I and the Bird is up and running at Bell Tower Birding Blog, so check out. I and the Bird is a blog carnival. Bird bloggers from all over submit an entry of their choice to the host who compiles them all into a theme. This is a great way to get a sampling all the different bird bloggers out there.

To learn more about I and the Bird or to find out about being a host (it's a great way to generate some traffic to your blog) check out 10,000 Birds.

Large Helping of Canada Geese with a Side of Killdeer

The Canada geese are all over the metro area. Whoo wee. I watched some geese stop traffic twice in two different areas today. Some local parks do a good job of discouraging public feeding and redoing the lake landscape to put a vegetation barrier between people with large sacks of bread and the geese. The above goose was on one of the board walks at Wood Lake Nature Center. It was a minor stand off: would it move first or would I? I forged ahead:

It flew away.

I had a meeting yesterday at the Minnesota Zoo. Afterwards I walked around, not really interested in the tigers and wolves and caribou but more for the wild birds that may be about. The most abundant bird found:

The Canada goose. They were everywhere, nesting along the trails...

Hanging out on top of the zoo's roof...

Stealing food from the caribou pen. This goose quickly moved away when one of the caribou began to approach. As I was watching through the scope, I heard some killdeer vocalizations, but not the usual "kill a deer." It was the killdeer tone, but giving a kind of peep.

Here's the whole caribou field. I could hear the killdeer, but could I find it?

After some scanning I found her. And just as I was focusing, she hunkered down in one spot--she's incubating already! I wonder if the caribou are too much of an issue? What the chances are that the eggs could get stepped on? I'm always fascinated by birds nesting in the zoo. I remember a few years ago watching some flickers that were nesting in the tiger area and I thought, "No raccoon is gonna bother that nest! Will the young survive fledging?"

But back to the geese.

I found this bird trying to dose off. With nesting going on, geese are a little on the defensive and honking wildly at each other if someone looks at them the wrong way. Every time an altercation would start, this goose would open its eyes and then slowly get sleepier...

...and sleepier...

...and then finally go all the way to sleep.

Bill of the Birds Survey

Hey, Bill of the Birds has a survey up on how many field guides you own, if you would care to participate. I'm surprised by the number of participants so far who own too many field guides to count--I thought I was the only one.

A Challenging Warbler

I thought I had blogged about this last year, but I can't find it in my archives. In June of 2006, David and Sandy Dunkin were banding birds and got a warbler in the nets. They had never seen anything like this bird ever before. Theories were tossed about, but more importantly, two tail feathers were plucked and sent to Cornell for DNA testing. You can read the mystery and results at All About Birds.

Spring At Wood Lake

Nothing says spring like the Common Garter Snakes emerging! These guys were all over at Wood Lake Nature Center today. If I had more time, I would have gone to the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge and Bass Ponds where there's a post that has hundreds of snakes emerging in spring. I've come across it twice in the last eight years and it's just hypnotic to watch all of them slithering out in the grass.

Wood Lake is nice but it's right next to a highway and there's always some new construction going on. You can see some great birds, but if you're in the mood for bird song it's not so pleasant, the highway noise and construction drown them out. The phoebe was pretty darned loud though, singing right outside the Nature Center. I was able to digivideo him and to my surprise, you can actually hear the "fee bee" call. I'm not sure if I will upload it or not. I've been doing more and more digivideoing, but I'm not sure what I'll do with that stuff.

The other very vocal singer of the day was the song sparrow. Today I watched song sparrow sex--a first for me for this species. Early on in the day I could hear some low chipping and stopped to watch two song sparrows bouncing on the ground giving the soft chips. One fluffed up, and hopped towards the other, fluttering its wings and then they both retreated into some reads and the chipping got a little more intense and about five seconds later they were out in the open. After that there was a bit more mating out in the open. After the third time, the female started to hop away with the male in pursuit, they eventually started flying around in tight circles around me. Their chirping grew more intense and then four other song sparrows popped up in the trees around me to watch. The pair flew for a few minutes and then disappeared into some reeds. As I continued to walk around Wood Lake, I heard the soft chipping in several other spots. It apparently is a hot time to be a song sparrow.

As wonderful as it was to see and hear brown birds singing, I was really hoping for some color. Grass is barely green and we have no flowers. All other vegetation is dry and subdued, so I had to settle for blackbird colors. I love this contrast of black, red, and yellow with the dried cattails. It's interesting, the males will sing within two feet over, but get twenty feet away and aim a scope on them, they suddenly get very cagey.

Now see, didn't I tell ya' earlier--these grackles are pretty and kind of arty. Aren't they? C'mon, you know they're pretty. There were some grackles doing the "bill up" display out in the reeds. According to BNA this is "given by a male in response to approach of another male, and typically results in one bird’s departure. Bill-Up Display occasionally given to members of opposite sex, especially early in breeding season when individuals are unmated. Paired birds never perform Bill-Up Display to one another." It looks like some strange alien thing though when you have several in a bunch of reeds doing it.

I did have one very obliging bird sing its rusty song in front of me. I must admit, as much of a pain they can be at the feeder (nothing that a little safflower can't solve), they really are pretty birds. I love all those shiny black feathers mixed with bronze and blue, capped with freaky yellow eyes.

As if this bird couldn't get any freakier looking, it puffed up, gave it's song and brought down its nictitating membrane. Demon grackle! It's saying, "I want to steal your soul...or at least your black-oil sunflower mwh ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaa!"

Fox Sparrows and Juncos

I kind of kept my nose to the grindstone this weekend--working on deadlines, catching up on home stuff from being away for a week, and meeting up with our wonderful-always-saves-our-butts accountant, Dan Freeman to sign tax forms and write checks. Of course, spring has finally decided to come back and it was hard not to go out digiscoping--especially since the weather had been kind of blah in Indianapolis.

I finished part of my project last night and went out for a desperate taste of spring at Wood Lake this morning.

Since I was away in Indianapolis, I missed banding at Carpenter last Friday. I got a report that they were VERY busy they banded 60 slate-colored juncos, and that didn’t count the retraps--60 new banded birds--oy! The only other species were 2 Fox Sparrows, and 1 Song Sparrow. Sorry I missed that. I'm probably going to miss it again this week, my Showcase Minnesota segment was switched to this Friday. On the upside, word is that Sandra Bernhard is appearing live in-studio that day...that sounds like a party. Anyone have an suggestions for a segment topic? Let me know.

Wood Lake was full of fox sparrows this morning and there were some juncos, not nearly as many as there have been in the previous weeks.

I have to get back to work, but I'll be posting more photos from this morning soon. I got some cool photos of grackles. I know what you're thinking, but really they are kind of pretty...and about the most colorful thing on the landscape at the moment.

Train to the Twin Cities

This is a goodie box that was waiting for me in my sleeper car on the way back to the Twin Cities: lotion, Dove chocolate, Cremesavers, vanilla tea, and foot powder! Train Swag.

Well, as Non Birding Bill alluded to earlier, the train ride home was not as action packed as the train for Chicago to Indy. The trip to Chicago was quiet and many of us slept up there. I discovered in Chicago that my sleeper ticket to Minneapolis earned me a place in the Metropolitan Lounge where I could get some work done in peace...sort of. I did have a lady sit next to me and in less than five minutes time I learned that she had two residences (California and Tennessee), at least two daughters--one of whom recently broke her heart by scamming checks from her and stealing money from one of her Wells Fargo accounts--she recently tried reconnecting with her over Easter but her daughter did not apologize or even acknowledge what she had done wrong. The other daughter was moving back from Hawaii and wanted to live in the California house, but she was worried about that--someone had just trashed the California house and she was coming back from a legal battle over that--would her other daughter treat it nicely? Should she have a rental agreement with her daughter even though she is family? She was treated so horribly and disrespectfully by that last person that lived there. Her overall advice to me: Never be too nice to anybody.

OK. I really don't know what to say to people who spill all their beans like that to me. Perhaps my speechlessness allows them to keep talking and telling more than they really need to?

Dan the conductor took very good care of us. He passed by and offered me a complimentary mini bottle of champagne. Not my beverage of choice, but why not? So I set to working on some Mississippi River work for MN Audubon over some bubbly. Maybe I should make a train my full time office? Dan also dropped off some fresh warm oatmeal cookies too.

We had to pause for about five minutes for some freight traffic. I looked out my window and in the field I could see a large red-tailed hawk sitting on a pipe. I tried to digibino (digital camera held up to my binoculars):

The hawk seemed to know I was watching and stared right back--sweet! The train's windows made it impossible to get a clear shot, but you get the idea. At this moment, James from the dining car came to take my dinner reservation. He glanced at my maps and my camera and binos pressed to the window. "Birdwatcher?" he asked with eyebrow cocked. I was tempted to say, "No, just a garden variety pervert.", but thought better of it.

It took two minutes to make my reservation and when I turned back to the window, I discovered the red-tailed hawk had turned into a kestrel! That was quick. What had happened? There was no sign of the red-tail. Did the kestrel chase it off? Did the tail decide to fly over to the other side of the train and then the kestrel popped up on the good hunting perch? While contemplating the scenarios, the train chugged forward leaving me with no good explanation.

Part of the fun is watching life go by and the sites you see from your seat...like the Torture Museum. That in itself is intriguing, but even funnier is a wedding chapel on the right that didn't make it into the photo.

We passed several herds of deer, large flocks of turkeys, many sandhill cranes, more eagles than you can shake a stick at and even some pelicans. Maybe someday I'll organize a birding by train trip.

I made it back safe and sound and ready to get some work done this weekend. I end this entry with some sensible advice from Amtrak on safe train travel. I like how calmly the figure on the bottom is standing in front of the oncoming train. I would think the arms would be flailing at least.

Blogger's Choice

I went to check my stats on Blogger's Choice awards for Best Animal Blogger and someone has entered Cute Overload, and it's all over, they are rightfully in the number one slot. I'm relieved. I was going to be bummed if I lost out to cat blogs--not that I don't like cats, I'm just not prepared to be faced with the notion that cats might be more popular than birds and bunnies. I hope Cute Overload stays ahead, it's one of my favorite sites. Paws Up!

I saw that someone entered Mr. Neil in for Best Celebrity Blog--as of this post Wil Wheaton and Rosie O'Donnell are ahead of him, but he is beating Perez Hilton. Go, Mr. Neil!

The Colbert Report

Hello, all, NBB here. Sharon's on her way back from Indy right now, and so far it sounds like the train trip to Chicago was a lot less exciting that the trip down. Alas.

At any rate, last night The Colbert Report aired it's segment on eagle festival that Sharon attended, and the Birdchick herself appears in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, near the start:



You can watch the entire bit here:



Side note: this is pretty much how I react around birdwatchers, too.

Wrapping Up the Mom Visit

Well, apart from Tuesday the weather was a bit crappy in Indianapolis. Cold, rainy (and a tad snowy), and even a tornado warning to take me back to spring childhood--it's not spring in the Hoosier state without hearing a tornado siren. It didn't make things conducive for birding or digiscoping--the light was terrible--hence the bad photo of the sapsucker above.

Mom's fox squirrels did provide some amusement. I can't tell if the above guy is merely eating a peanut or laughing maniacally as he plans to take over the world (or at least the south side of Indianapolis).

Some plants were desperately trying to bloom and bud. I saw a few brave bleeding hearts, some floppy daffodils, and persistent red bud trees. I loved this mourning dove fluffing out amid some of the pink in a red bud tree. My sister Tracie was wondering why I would bother digiscoping a boring brown dove. In the dark light, it did look gray, but when you got it in the scope with the pink, it was a gorgeous bird.

I'll be taking the train all the way back home. I did start to book a rental car to take to Chicago to catch the Empire Builder to Minneapolis and avoid the train ride from Indy to Chicago. However, between $3 a gallon gas prices and toll roads (bleh) I decided to bite the bullet and just take the train all the way home. Oh well, it should be entertaining at the very least.

Ah, can't wait to be home and cuddle my disapproving bunny and Non Birding Bill (insert naughty, knowing French laugh here).

Food Blogging

In honor of 10,000 Birds Recipe Carnival for vegetarian dishes, I'm putting up a recipe for one of my favorite foods introduced to me by Kate Fitzmeir over at Eagle Optics. The first year I was at the Rio Grande Valley Bird Fest in Harlingen, TX she took me to Alicia's for a breakfast dish called migas. It's a simple recipe that I whip up for Non Birding Bill and myself.

The amounts are based on two people:

1 tbs butter
1 small onion (yellow or sweet--half a vidalia works well) diced up
2 corn tortillas cut into bite sized pieces
3 eggs
1 tbs milk
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Melt butter in a non stick skillet. Add in diced onion and sautee until onion is clear. Add in corn tortilla pieces. While onion and tortillas are cooking, scramble the three eggs with the milk and when finished, pour over onion and tortillas. Stir and cook until scrambled eggs are cooked through. Pour shredded cheese over eggs and cover skillet with a lid until cheese is melted. Serve with salsa and fresh avocado.

Yum!

Insect and Arachnid Jewellry

You looking for that weird gift for the oddball in your life? Mom and I found it while picking up some bird seed at Edgewood Feed and Seed:

Actual beetles, spiders, scorpions, ants, wasps, etc in key chains, bracelets, and necklaces! Yes, they are dead and encased in some type of transparent plastic looking thing. Some even have a glow in the dark background.

Above is a glow in the dark cicada key chain on the left (wrapped in protective plastic wrap, that's why there is a slight glare) and on the right is what looks to be a cicada killer (non glow in the dark). Most of them appeared to be in the $6.95 - $8.95 price range--a bargain!

I picked up a glow in the dark spider key chain for Mr. Neil (because he has a character named spider) and spider necklace for Fabulous Lorraine (she just likes to wear things with cobwebs and spiders, so it seemed right up her ally).

The Onion on Sibley

Thanks, Liz, for bringing this article about Sibley from the Onion to my attention:

The Sibley Guide To Birds Has Clearly Misidentified The Dark-Eyed Junco

I don't understand it. How could it have happened a third time? They've had two opportunities to correct it. But there it is, once again. The Sibley Guide To Birds, third printing, page 488: "The dark-eyed junco, a familiar visitor to wintertime bird feeders throughout much of North America, is a species of the junco genus of American finches."

Mr. Sibley, once again, the dark-eyed junco is not a finch. It's a sparrow. A sparrow.

And I was just beginning to put that second printing behind me. But now the scab's been ripped off, and the wound is as fresh as it was seven years ago, when The Sibley Guide first came out. Oh, you'll still see me and my spotting scope at Dunwiddie Marsh Saturday morning, but at this point I doubt even sighting a Kirtland's warbler would lift my spirits.

Apparently the 42 letters I sent Mr. Sibley, his publisher, and his literary agent either went unread or now line the nests of Carolina wrens. I'm not sure what the man's afraid of, especially since I larded these letters with all kinds of reassurances like "it's a common mistake" and "I get all those seed eaters mixed up, too" and other things I didn't really mean.

I've suffered many a sleepless night pondering how such a blatant error came to pass. And when I can sleep, I am tormented by fever dreams of dark-eyed juncos mating with house finches and spawning horrible sparrow-finch abominations. Are Mr. Sibley's nights filled with such drear phantasmagoria, too? Or, in some odd karmic stroke, have I somehow been called to shoulder his burden of conscience because he shrugged it off?

I was hoping The Sibley Guide would be different. I spent years enduring one Roger Tory Peterson hack job after another, tolerating it because I had no alternative. (Golden Field Guides? Please.) Perhaps this David Sibley would have a fresh, keen perspective on ornithology. But no, he's just another oriole- milking money-grubber.

People like Sibley, I'm convinced, thrive on ignorance. He knows most people couldn't care less about birds, and he's already been promised his big fat advance from the publisher, so what's the difference if some tiny stupid bird is misidentified? So a junco stays a finch.

I'm as flexible about taxonomic classifications as the next naturalist. If ornithologists now want to classify buntings as cardinals, sure, okay. It's not what I would necessarily do, but I can accept it. There is a small core of reason within me. But that's my curse, you see. I can't just roll with the punches like the other birders.

Which leads me to another worry. It's plain that Mr. Sibley is a supreme incompetent; but could it also be that the ornithology establishment and birding public don't share my concern either? If they did, the outcry would be enough to inspire a revision. But so far, and to the best of my knowledge, there's been complete silence on the matter. Is there some kind of mass collusion going on here? Or is this Sibley's scheme to make his work more accessible—to make it just as factually deprived as its readers? The world is insane.

The National Audubon Society is still gamely endorsing The Sibley Guide, which, to be honest, is no surprise. Those self-congratulatory amateurs are too busy direct-mailing birdie address stickers to anonymous citizens to conduct responsible birding. Those people would accept juncos as finches—hook, line, and sinker. What lightweights. They're almost as bad as the Wild Birds Unlimited people.

Read the rest of the article here.

As much of a joke as the Onion is, I wonder if Sibley actually gets these types of letters in real life? I wish I could write a field guide, I would give anything to be made fun of in the Onion!

How Cold Weather Is Affecting The Birds

Julie Zickefoose was on NPR yesterday talking about the cold snap gripping the Midwest. You can listen to it here. A couple of readers alerted me to it, as did one of my aunts when we went out to lunch.

Interesting swallow feeding technique.

Cockatiel Sing Out

I got a memo from my pets' union that I need to do more than just show embarassing videos of them on tv. I am told that I need to let everyone know that my cockatiel Kabuki can do more than give an alarm call. I took this video of him singing. I have the radio on in the background, something about the Satellite Sisters radio show makes him sing his mating song:



And yes, I know the bottom of his cage looks messy, but those are his toys. We put beads and paper balls in his purple dish and he loves to drop them. He'd done a good amount of dumping that morning.

Hoosier Owl Nest

I'm still kickin' it Hoosier style in Indianapolis.

So, there is an owl nest in a sycamore tree near my mom's condo, we went to visit it yesterday with my Aunt Lorelei. The tree is very light in color and on the top is a place where a large branch ripped off years ago. My mom said that for years when she would pass that tree on her way home from work that she thought it would be a good place for a raptor to nest. Last year, a family member noticed a great horned owl up there and my family has been watching it ever since.
Through the spotting scope you could see the female owl--man, she really blends in with all the dark wood. Even when she was preening and stretching her wings, you really couldn't make her out with the naked eye. You can also see how well her tufts work with the camouflage to look like broken pieces of wood.

Periodically, you could see one of the young owls pop up. I went over and talked to the home owner who had the tree on his property--a very nice man named Steve. He said that he had lived in this house for ten years and the owls always nested there. Neighbors told him the nest was there ten years before that. He was grateful that someone else had noticed the nest besides him.

We did have one guy who drove up, stopped and asked what we were looking at. When we said, "Owl nest." he replied that they make good burgers. Before he drove off, I shouted, "Eagles taste better!"

Dude, Blackbirds, Like...Art

I can't find a way to embed this, but for some fun blackbird flocking action, check out this video. The commentary is part of the fun. Dude. It's like, so cool.

Disapproving Rabbits Book Is Coming!

My niece Laura offered to be a model for my website--she's so cute, I wish that we had more shirts for her to model. Nice to know that she is spreading the Disapproving Rabbits culture around the Indiana University Campus!

Right before I left for Indiana, we got a proof of the Disapproving Rabbits book so we could check captions and photos--this book is barreling ahead at great speed. I think it really is going to come out this fall. We gave it to Cinnamon for her approval, but she's dismayed that she is not the only rabbit in the book--she has the most photos, but it's not all about her.

Wow, I'm officially a kept woman--kept by her pet bunny.

Strangers On A Train

This blog entry was supposed to be about the glories of traveling by train and how much fun it is to watch great birds from a lounge car. Here is where I started with my notes:

Oh, I have forgotten how much I enjoy birding by train! I documented over 40 species, the highlight being all the eagles and sandhill cranes. We’ve passed three eagle nests so far--whoot. That's one above and if you squint enough, you can make out an eagle landing in the nest. A pheasant flew over the car and landed as the train passed. Red-tailed hawks watch the train with little interest as we speed by.

Almost every little pond and lake is full of waterfowl and it’s fun to test id while going by at train speed.

Instead of being coach I have reserved a little sleeper for myself. I love the little sleepers—it appeals to my inner seven year being all old-tucked away in my little fort. I can spread my stuff around, prop up my feet and the sound is so much easier on my ears. I can actually listen to music from my laptop speaker. I love being tucked away, writing and glancing out to see great birds. When I need company, I venture to the cheery lounge car to meet fellow travelers.

Cut to several hours later.

First: the train from Minneapolis to Chicago is awesome! Love it, highly recommend it, will do it again. The train from Chicago to Indianapolis—not so much love. I switched trains and there have been issues. First, the ticket read that there would be food and beverage on this route and right before boarding I heard the conductor mention that there would be no food or beverages of any sort, so I may want to grab a snack and a bottle of water. Apparently, I was the only one who heard that and most everyone else was understandably none too pleased.

It was not as classy of a crowd here on this train. There was a young couple ahead of me relocating from Palm Springs, CA to Indianapolis, IN (can we say culture shock). They have a baby named (I kid you not) Princess. They had befriended a gentleman along the way who looked like a member of the E-street band after a hard weekend bender. He was quite upset about the lack of food, but brightened when he remembered he had a bottle of tequila he could drink. He offered some to the rest of us, but apart from Princess’s parents, everyone else declined.

I have never heard so much profanity before in my life as between these three people. I’m very curious to know what little Princess’s first word will be…I have a feeling it will start with an F or quite possibly S. I have to say, Princess is much better behaved than her parents but then again, she’s only a few month’s old. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the use of a good four letter word, but wow. These people have it down to a Quentin Tarantino level.

The train made a few unexpected delays and that combined with lack of food started making passengers even angrier. Princess's parents got into a huge fight. I got to hear every single word from the beginning because A. They were in the seats in front of me and B. They were loud enough that anyone within a five mile radius could hear what they were saying. I learned early on that Princess’s mother’s name is (are you ready for this) Star. Yes, you read that correctly, Star. Her father’s name was not yet clear, for awhile it appeared to be any number of four letter words, the most frequently used being Dick and Dawg. I do feel for him: he has a daughter named Princess with a woman named Star—he doesn’t stand a chance.

If I thought there was a lot of profanity earlier, I was so, so terribly wrong. If it weren’t for the poor use of grammar, I would say that this type of creative profanity use would require at least a master’s degree.

Our entire car could hear the fight. Apparently, there were some issues about who is more important in the relationship: Star or Princess. There was also an issue of the father scheming with an old girlfriend on the side--she was also one of his "baby mommas" implying that this guy has two other children out there.

Remember the guy with the tequila who was their buddy? He was not taking the fight well at all. He was kitty corner from me and I noticed that he was chasing his tequila with some prescription meds. When the fighting got very heated, he pulled out a very curly fifty dollar bill. He wrapped it up very tightly and placed it to his nose. Just as I was thinking, “Hey, is he doing what I think he’s doing?” He bent over and there were distinct snorting sounds as the bill switched from the right to the left nostril. Yes, he was doing what I thought he was doing.

It was about this time that an older woman decided to step in and play Dr Phil to Princess’s parents. “Now, you two shouldn’t be talking to each other this way, especially in front of everybody.”

Her voice was entirely too soft and the stream of obscenities from the arguing couple completely drowned her out. They were on a roll and were not going to be stopped. She continued, “Everyone knows your business now, you need to stop, this is not how to behave.”

A man’s voice from behind me shouted, “C’mon, enough!”

I looked over to tequila man, he now had his laptop out and was writing what looked to be a poem with the title “Sometimes Crying Doesn’t Help”. Who needs crying when you’ve got cocaine?

Princess’s mother had had enough and decided she was not going to Indiana and would call her own mother. Symbolic though this may have been, it was futile because the train was not going to stop. When the phone call started, Princess’s father started in with, “Baby, please don’t leave me.” And eventually marital bliss was restored. The screaming and shouting switched to smooching and giggling sounds.

After it had been quiet for half an hour, tequila man stood up—albeit a little unsteady and took photos of the couple and said, “See, you guys can’t break up on a train, nobody breaks up on a train. You’re just tired. Once you get to where you’re going, it’ll be great. Just don’t break up now, not when you’re on your way to Indiana.”

Sage advice from a man high on at least three different substances.

After that it was relatively quiet. Princess’s father got into a minor altercation with one of the conductors who took him to task for using profanity. He didn’t seem to understand what the conductor’s problem was and the conductor said, “Sir, you can’t talk like and use that kind of language here. We’ve got women and children on this train.”

I was grateful that someone pointed out his profanity, but amused that the excuse of women and children were being harmed by it. Profanity around children is not a good thing, but really, do I need to be protected from it?

The blog entry was supposed to end here. I typed this up after the argument was finished but Princess's parents got into one more fight (and I learned her father's name is Cornbread--Princess, Star and Cornbread--are these real names? For Indiana--sure.). This time the fight was so heated that two conductors came to remove the couple and relocate them to the back of the train since according to the conductors they did not know how to behave. Cornbread didn't go quietly but did eventually go, upset that no one was giving him any respect.

I would make a mental note that next time I should take the train to Chicago, grab a rental car and drive the rest of the way down, but where would I ever get stories like these? I love taking the train.

Sunday Bees

Sunday was another unconventional holiday for us. Since we do not live near family we create our own fun. We ended up hooking up with the Fabulous Lorraine for some Easter Brunch and painting the bee hives.

Yes, we are adding the finishing touches for our honey bee welcome wagon, the hives are painted—we asked the ladies whom the hives are named after what colors they wanted: Olga—orange, Kitty green. We went pastel and the colors are actually creamsicle and pesto.

I practiced using my smoker. The beekeeping instructors said that they would rather work their hives without a bee suit than without a smoker. It will be an important tool to keep the bees calm, and I need to know how to light it and make sure I have enough fuel inside to keep it going while I work the colony. The smell of wood smoke make the bees think there is a forest fire and they go deep into the hive and eat hone. Also, if a bee stings you, it releases a phermone that communicates to other bees, “Hey, guys, I found something nasty over here and I stung it. Call in the cavalry to sting more!” If you puff smoke over the sting, that masks the phermone and keeps your from getting stung further.

Just another few weeks and then I get to hive my bees—can’t wait! The instructors said that when we install the bees that we really won’t need the bee suits—they even showed the video and the instructor only had on jeans and a t-shirt—no gloves. They said it’s more important that we be comfortable so if we want to wear the full suit for the installation we can, I wonder what I’ll do. Right now I am thinking I can install the bees without the suit, but that may change when I’m holding a buzzing box full of three pounds of honey bees.

I checked all the nest boxes around Mr. Neil’s property while we were there and they are all unoccupied at the moment. I only found one bluebird pair, but others may be further south waiting out this cold spell.

While digiscoping the bluebird, I had the feeling that I was being watched. Do you see anything in the above photo? Let me bring it closer:

In the middle of all that was a wary woodchuck giving me the hairy eyeball. Good grief, give this guy some floppy ears and he could qualify for a disapproving rabbit.

When we arrived, one of the feeder poles was knocked down and all the feeders empty. I was worried that they bear had returned that destroyed all the feeders last year, but all the feeders were relatively intact, no punctures from large teeth. Some smears on the baffle confirmed my suspision. With all the rain we’ve been having the ground was wet and we had noticed a few weeks ago that it was leaning. It looks like some raccoons tried to climb it and knocked it down. Even so, I think we will get an electric fence for our hives. Once we got the feeder pole back up, the birds moved in right away like the above chickadee.

And I think nuthatches are now my new favorite bird to photograph, they just strike all these great poses that seem to say--photograph me now! Remember from the pileated woodpecker post that it had white on the underside of its bill? Nuthatches have the same thing.

Colbert Report

Hey, remember in February I was in Connecticut at the Bald Eagle Festival and the Colbert Report was there? I just got an email that barring any kind of crazy political news breaking that the segment will air this Thursday, April 12, 2007. I wasn't interviewed, but I did stand in back during some of the shots. Plus, I'm curious to see how they put the whole thing together.

Friday's Adventures Part 2

So in Part 1 of Friday's adventures I mentioned that it was windy--sheesh. This cardinal photo isn't the best, but you can see how the wind is blowing his crest up. I was kind of the wuss about the cold. When Hellziggy and I were watching the tree swallows being whipped over the water, I suggested lunch and then birding from a nature center. Sensible and warm.

We went to the Minnesota River Valley Headquarters and did get quite a show from the turkeys. A tom and two hens came by and you could see another young tom keeping his distance. One of the females stayed behind to eat when the older tom left with a female. The young tom made his move, gradually foraging closer and closer to the hen. She was flirting right back, working her way towards him though appearing oblivious.

It looked as though he had her attention as he started to walk toward the left and she followed...

But then the older tom reappeared--fluffed out in all his glory in hot pursuit of the younger insolent tom.

The hen returned to the older tom and the younger tom skulked away keeping the hen between he and the angry older tom.

We weren't the only ones who had the idea of birding from a nature center. An older gentleman from Sweden came in. He was in town visiting his month old grandson. Come to find out that years ago he banded osprey and golden eagles. When I shook his hand--he had a firm grip--much needed for banding goldens (there were also a few scars from fast talons). He was very excited with just the basic birds, especially this red-bellied woodpecker.

As someone mentioned in the comments earlier, there is a great horned owl nest at Wood Lake Nature Center. We ended our day there. We only saw the female precariously perched on a small squirrel nest. When I met up with Stan Saturday night for our woodcock trip, he showed me photos he had taken that day with a half grown chick sitting next to the female in the nest. I think with the cold wind, she was incubating it when we were there.

Now, before anyone gets their undies in a bunch about me posting this owl nest let me clarify that the nest is right over an intersection of three paths right next to the nature center. Wood Lake naturalists are taking groups out there daily to look at the nest--many walk under it and the owls don't care. These owls made the informed decision to take over a nest in a well traveled area--these owls are not worried by humans. We watched a group of 14 walk right under the nest while I took this photo and she did not freak out.

I was surprised by how small the nest is, but I was told that it was much larger until last week when the wind started taking it away blow by blow, leaf by leaf. Based on Stan's photo of the chick, it is old enough for the "brancher" stage. This is when young owls still are unable to fly but have very strong feet--strong enough to stay on a branch in a stiff wind or to climb a tree trunk if they get blown down. Young owls are more in danger of being imprinted when raised by well-intentioned but uninformed people worrying they are out of the nest too soon.

I ended the day by going to a book signing by Mike Farrel (yeah, that's BJ from MASH) at Magers and Quinn. Our friend Ari Hoptman (very, very funny man--listen to his stuff on his website) is a huge MASH fan. He and Non Birding Bill share MASH trivia all the time. Mike's book is about his life from actor to activist. I wasn't sure if Ari could make it, so I went over to grab a book and have it autographed--the book store was packed. I lurked in the bird book section and listened during Mike's talk--it was interesting, he did a Q and A and he said first thing that he was happy to answer MASH questions, but my socially conscious neighborhood was more interested in his activism. Mike more than once said, "Please, I'll take MASH questions, don't hesitate to ask." The serious questions continued and then I heard Mike say he'd take two more questions and one of them turned out to be a MASH question--I also recognized the voice as Ari's. When it was over the signing started, Ari hadn't had a chance to buy the book yet so I gave him the copy I picked up and was even able to snap his photo while Mike signed away (above). Ari tried to say to Mike how much he appreciated his work and I said, "Oh Ari, don't pretend, you know you're here for the MASH."

Mike smiled and Ari called me a scamp and didn't kill me. Ah, good times.

Robin 'Splosion

I woke up to the sound of hundreds of robins outside my window this morning. I rolled over and looked out the window while watching flocks of hundreds of birds flying from the north descending into my neighborhood. All the trees were covered with robins.

The boys who have staked out territory are happy, female robins are mixed in with this flock. This photo isn't the best, but you can see the female has a lighter colored breast in the above photo.

Two of the apartment buildings next to mine have roof issues. This roof has water that collects like crazy in spring (this is the one that used to have the circular saw sitting there for years). The robins are drinking the water, eating the snow and flipping the leaves looking for insects.

The other roof has water too, but it's almost dried out at this point. There's all kinds of leaf debris and berries that's creating a sort of mush. The robins drink the water but then barf up the berries that take in with the water.

A neighborhood full of robins is a wonder start to Easter Sunday.

Another Hare Brained Pigeon Removal Scheme

From the Pioneer Press:

A longtime loser in the war against pigeons, St. Paul City Hall is gearing up for another battle.

This time, city warriors hope a new tactic will turn the tide against the downtown menaces. Their plan: Lure the birds to new rooftop nesting grounds and then steal their eggs.

"We'll build them little condos. We'll keep taking the eggs, and they won't have little ones," said Bill Stephenson, the city's animal control supervisor. "Slowly they'll die off, I guess."

The pigeon problem is just one of many housecleaning chores the city is tackling in advance of the Republican National Convention, which will come to the Xcel Energy Center next year. Flocks of pigeons have laid down their glop on skyway ledges and sidewalks and have sullied downtown's image, officials and property owners say.

Stephenson said he's not entirely sure the "condo" scheme will work, but he's willing to try anything. In the past, the city has turned to sticky foam, blow-up hawk balloons and a notorious trapping program in the late 1980s.

Netting the birds was a bust - in practical and public relations terms. After capturing thousands of pigeons, the collectors handed the birds over to gun clubs for target practice. That didn't fly with animal-rights activists. Not to mention, it was ineffective.

"What we learned is that you can't control the number of pigeons by killing them. They're like rats - they just reproduce," said Bob Kessler, the city's director of licensing, inspections and environmental protection. "You have to learn how to co-exist with them."

Mayor Chris Coleman ordered Kessler to lead the charge against the feathered loiterers. Kessler has requested that the city pay $280,000 for pigeon reduction and other skyway improvements, including paint jobs and better signs.

You can read the rest of the story here. Yeah, this totally sounds like it will work. Sigh, do they think that pigeons live less than a year and won't come back next year? Do they think Minneapolis pigeons won't come over to fill in the gap of the missing St Paul pigeons? Do they really need to spend $280,000 on a plan that the average birder could tell them won't work? Do they think all these politicians have never seen pigeon poop before in their lives?

Another reason why I'm glad I'm on the Minneapolis side of the Twin Cities and not St. Paul. Oh, St Paul, will you ever learn? I'm not opposed to curbing a pigeon population, I would just like to see a sensible plan in place.

Friday's Aventures Part 1

Holy Cow! A big thanks to Leanne for nominating me for a Blogger's Choice Award! I'm up for best Animal Blog--I have two votes already--whoot! Although I wonder if I should say Cinnamon is up for best animal--she has a very loyal fan base. We're celebrating with some parsley. If you enjoy the blog, please consider voting. That would be pretty cool to get recognition for birding...and disapproving rabbits.

Friday was an action packed day, I'm to have to divide the entries up. We started at Carpenter, which at first seemed like it was going to be a morning of nothing but juncos but then some excitement came in with a sharp-shinned hawk (above). We were watching a fox sparrow hop and kick around one of the traps and I was trying to use my mind power to get it to go into one of the traps, when all of a sudden all the birds flew towards the window, missing it and ducked for cover. One of the staff announced: "Hawk!"

Hellziggy took the above photo. A junco had already come into a trap further away from us and an adult sharp-shinned hawk was trying to get it in the trap. I wonder if this is the same sharp-shin that nailed a junco in a trap from last December? The hawk spent quite a bit of time flying and clamping down on the trap--it did not seem to understand that it was not going to be able to get the junco out. Jim Fitzpatrick dug around for a balchatri trap (works well for raptors), bated it and set it outside. When he went out, the hawk flew up in the tree, but as soon as the bated trap was out, it went right back down for the balchatri.

After about fifteen minutes, but the hawk finally got caught on the trap and we brought it in for banding. Before it got its toes caught in the nooses on the trap was on the trap, I digiscoped a few photos.

The bird was an adult male. Isn't he beautiful. It's kind of strange, I'm sued to seeing these guys up close when we band them in the fall, not in the spring. He did not have a full crop, but he did have some meat on this chest, he'd been eating well this winter.

Hellziggy made it to banding and we ended up going to lunch and birding in a few other areas. I was glad she made it today, she got to be the one to release the sharp-shinned hawk. New people at banding always seem to bring good luck and cool birds into the traps!

Incidentally, the junco that had been in the trap that brought the sharp-shin in was let go--it had been through enough that morning, it didn't need the added stress of human handling and banding. Although, when he gets to his mating territory, he will pretty fierce thinking, "Yeah, I did a round or two with a sharp-shin, I can take on any male junco in a territory battle." Although, banding must not be too stressful, the above junco we trapped yesterday has been re caught NINE times since it's original trapping in December of 2004. Nine times and it still goes into the the potters traps and hangs out around Carpenter in the winter. It's not like the traps are the only places on the property with food and seed, there are plenty of feeders and spilled seed for juncos to get to without being trapped.

After banding I thought we would check open water for ducks. We stopped at the St Croix and the wind was brutal. It's been below freezing the last for days and today the wind was twenty - thirty miles an hour at least. The river was covered with hundreds of tree swallows (above) trying to glean what little food they can from just above the water. This is the weather that separates the strong from the weak. Usually tree swallows are already nesting, but this cold has put a stop to that. This report came in yesterday from Wisconsin by Patrick Ready:

Today while monitoring my state park trail boxes I opened a box I was concerned had a house sparrow nest in it. Instead of house sparrows about 12 Tree Swallows came bursting out of the nest box.

These birds are under severe stress with this frigid weather and are bunching up in nest boxes to stay warm to survive. The magnitude of this behavior is very unusual due to the fact that so many tree swallows returned very early this year.

Kent Hall in Stevens Point reported finding 17 in one of his boxes this afternoon and promptly quit monitoring. Anyone needing to check nest boxes during this cold spell should stop and look into the entrance hole to see if any tree swallows can be seen before proceeding. Even this is risky as some boxes may only have 3-4 birds and may not be visible until the box is open and the they'd take flight. Better to hold off monitoring until temperatures return to normal. When night time temps drop below freezing avoid checking boxes until later in the morning in case swallows have gathered inside to stay warm.

I don't know if anyone saw Julie's post last month about dead bluebirds in her box, but I think this is a good warning to readers who have bluebird trails. One of the risks that birds take when arriving back in early spring is dealing with low food supplies and harsh temperatures--this helps ensure the strongest survive, but it hard for us to watch. If you would like to help a little, now is an excellent time to stock up on mealworms at your local bird store and attach cups full of worms to your bird houses or just mix some in with your tray feeder. I also scatter suet into my tray feeders to for migrants.

More on Friday's birding adventures later.

Newest Guilty Pleasure

So, I'm hooked on a blog I found while digging around on the Fat Birder 500: Ornitho-Blog. It's all in French! I took French for seven years in school--from 7th grade through my first year in college. I haven't used it for quite some time apart from getting the odd joke in French films that get lost in the translation. So, it's fun for me to test it out by reading Guillaume's blog.

I don't know if I would have stuck with French for so long had it not been for my high school French Teacher Madame Theobald. She was great, some of my best high school memories are from her class. In the advanced classes she had us read Waiting for Godot and Marat Sade in French and would show us great movies like Jean de Florette, she got you to take another semester by showing the sequel Manon de Source, and who could forget French in Action? Heck, the day before Christmas vacation she even showed us the Simpsons episode where Bart gets put into slave labor as an exchange student in France. Oh, and then she introduced us to the mad song stylings of Yves Montand--I still get Rue St.Vincent stuck in my head. Good times.

I remember she had the best sense of humor and more than once she could have clobbered me for being a pain in the tookus. Oh man, one of the guys in our class was a real trouble maker named...well we'll use his French class name "Moliere"--incredibly intelligent, but squirrelly. We were taking our final and I finished early and went to take out my copy of Clan of the Cave Bear to read for the rest of the period. I found a wad of rubber bands in my purse and came up with a plan. I put my novel on the desk and surrounded my arms around it and put face down towards the book so as to look as though I was lost in the world of prehistoric man. I flicked away. I could see Madame Theobald look up in my peripheral vision searching for the offender and then go back to grading papers at her desk. I continued my attack. She kept looking up, towards where she thought the rubber projectiles were being launched. At one point, Moliere looked up from his test to just look around. Madame Theobald blamed him for the attack. He protested which just made him look guiltier. As Madame Theobald held up the rubber bands on her finger and the rest of the class figured out what was going on, they all giggled, allowing me to giggle with such evil glee that no one would suspect that I was laughing at how well my prank had turned out.

Moliere lost some class points that day, but not enough to affect his overall grade. Several weeks later during the following semester I admitted with pride that I had actually been the one who executed the rubber band assault. In her shock she deducted several class points from me, but still not enough to really affect my overall grade. After going from Madame Theobald and her enthusiasm for French language and culture I went into college to a French teacher who had a penchant for pastel suits. It's hard to take a guy seriously with a Liberace pompadour who wears a creamcicle colored three piece suit (no, I'm not exaggerating about his appearance).

Cleansing Robin Post

Okay, we need a little bird action after the cannibalism.

It's still quite cold in Minnesota but the sun was out today and the temporary truce with the male robins on my corner of the 'hood are back to fighting each other. This male spent most of the day on patrol in the trees.

He did pause for a moment to get a drink from the saggy roof of the apartment building across the way. I love his pose in this shot--he looks rather cocky and as if he is saying, "Look at that vent? Is that not a perfect vent or what? Yeah, I'm a stud."

Looks like it'll be cold all through the weekend. I'm hoping for some warmer weather next week. I just scored some cheap train tickets to Indiana. Non Birding Bill is rehearsing all week for Othello so I won't see him much and now that my mom has Internet access, I can work just as easily from her condo, although I'll be minus my bird library. Looks like the same cold front nailing us up in Minnesota is nailing Indiana. Hopefully it will be out of its system by next Monday.

I'm so excited about the train--it's my preferred method of travel. NBB doesn't care for it as much, but I love the roominess, the lounge car, the colorful people you meet--and you see some great birds next to the tracks.

It's Squirrel Eat Squirrel World

WARNING! This post is kind of gross and deals with squirrel cannibalism. There's going to be a blurry photo, but you'll know what's going on. If you would like to stick with the image that good old Walt Disney gave us about cute animals, I suggest skipping this post.

I took this photo of a gray squirrel outside my window today. He's been having a tough time this winter, from October through January he had absolutely no hair on his tail, but in the last month, some has grown in. I notice that he never makes it to my window ledge. A couple of times he was scaled the catalpa tree but is turned away by the more aggressive squirrels. He does get plenty of food from the dumpsters and from the berries on the trees. I don't know what these are, but these must be last resort berries. They've been on the tree all winter and no bird or squirrel has touched them until now. In the cold weather the robins have been eating them as have starlings and pigeons. Now squirrels.

However, sometimes when you really want some protein, over wintered berries just don't cut it. Today, I got this email from Gloria and Fred:

Last week we saw "our" squirrel (the one who raids our bird feeder and chews the wood trim off our garage) with a bird in its mouth. My husband was disbelieving of his eyes. Last night we saw the demon squirrel with ANOTHER SQUIRREL (looked like a baby) and watched it eating it (photo below). This grossed me out so much I skipped dinner. Should we be reporting this to someone? Are we harboring a dangerous development on par with Bird Flu? (OK, we are not that worried, but is this normal?)

I would hear this from time to time when working at the bird store and about two or three times a year I get an email about it. This is not common squirrel behavior, but meat eating is known to happen. They will eat bird nestlings and eggs in the spring and summer and I have heard customers tell stories of squirrels attacking and killing sparrows and finches--more than likely weaker birds with signs of illness or injury.

As for the eating of the young, I have read of this happening when food is scarce or when males would like females in their area to go back into breeding mode. Since the emailers live here in Minnesota, I would guess that our sudden cold snap had a little to do with this as well.

Anyone else out there have meat eating squirrel stories?

Calling All ID Experts

Hey, there's a dilly of a pickle over at DK and the Fluffies Blog. The bird was found in her bathroom and she lives in California. I think it's a California Towhee, but I'm not as up on my west coast birds so if someone has other ideas as to the identification of this bird--please solve the mystery.

On another note, if you type in the word "guts" on the google image search, one of my photos comes up first. Thanks to NBB and Florian for the heads up. I'm so proud.

Resigned to the Cold

These are the particularly cruel spring days in Minnesota. You've had some 50 - 60 degree weather--or even 80 degree days. Then a cold front sweeps in and knocks you down to below freezing. So painful.

Birds like this nuthatch appear to be asking themselves the question, "Why is that I don't migrate? Maybe orioles are on to something by arriving in early May and leaving in September."

We've had three male robins trying to establish territory around the building. For the last week I've been watching them fight over branches and tiny islands of greenish grass. This morning they were all sitting on the same branch, puffed out and thinking "make heat, not war". Territorial singing was kept to a minimum and with the cold wind bringing the air to feel like it was close to zero, I couldn't blame them.

I've been trying to get a photo of the robins, but we'll have to settle for this starling glaring up to the sky asking, "Why, why? Why did you take away all the small insects starting to come out with your cruel cold winds?"

I had the spotting scope aimed at the window on the branches where the robins had been hanging out. Non Birding Bill went over to close down the storm window.

"Hey, I'm trying to get a photo and that extra glass will mess up the focus."

NBB said not a word but gave me a look that said, "Don't push your luck. It's cold and if you want the $%*# photo so badly, go outside."

So, again, we'll settle for a photo of a contemplative starling.

Condor Egg in Mexico

From All Headline News:

Shaveta Bansal - All Headline News Staff Writer

Mexico City, Mexico (AHN) - Researchers have spotted an egg of a rare vulture species in Mexico, nearly 75 years after it was last seen in the country. According to environmentalists, the discovery is very important because it signals the renewal of endangered species in the region and shows that environment safeguards are working.

The California condor, the largest land bird found in North America and currently the world's rarest bird of prey, was last seen in Mexico in the 1930s.

The discovery was made by Mike Wallace, a scientist with the Zoological Society of San Diego's center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species, and leader of the California Condor Recovery Program, according to SignOnSanDiego.com reports.

According to Wallace, the egg comes from the pair of a 7-year-old female and a 6-year-old male who were introduced in mountainous areas in Sierra San Pedro de Martir National Park along with other bird under the 2002 joint conservation program between the U.S. and Mexico.

Wallace and team found the egg last Sunday in a nest built 75 feet up a cliff and took photographs and measurements of the egg.

As per his estimates, the egg was 45 to 50 days old and since condor eggs incubate for 57 days, the chick could hatch by this weekend, the Associated Press reports

Read the rest of the exciting story here. Go Condors!

Saturation of Birding Festivals and Events

I was going over little notices that I have for upcoming events to promote in the blog and have noticed a glut of bird festivals in or very near Minnesota. Piece of advice: if you are planning a bird festival or event, avoid doing it the weekend before Memorial Day--there's too much going on! On the upside birders have a plethora of options and a variety of well known bird people to meet:

Events for May 17 - 20, 2007

May 17 - 20
Detroit Lakes Festival of Birds in Minnesota featuring guest David Sibley. I'll also be at this one (as will Cinnamon) giving a talk on bird calls and run a Birdchick Booth. This is one of my all time favorite bird festivals in the country. One day, you're in the boreal forest watching black-backed woodpeckers and loons. The next, you're in the prairie watching chestnut-collared longspurs and godwits--whoot. Also, one of the best warbler festivals out there. Incidentally, my field trip saw the most warbler species in one spot last year.

May 18 - 20
Cheqaumegon Bird and Nature Festival in Wisconsin featuring guest Julie Zickefoose. If you're not going to come see me or Sibley that weekend, go see Julie! Extraordinary natural beauty and abundant public land make the south shore of Lake Superior the ideal location for birdwatching and wildlife viewing. If I weren't already booked for Detroit Lakes, I would seriously go to this one to see my pal, Julie. However, I'll have that chance again at Potholes and Prairie in North Dakota in June.

May 18 - 20
Oak and Savannah Birding Festival in Minnesota featuring Bobby Harrison. I have to admit that I got a kick out of the announcement that read "The Oak Savanna Birding Festival will feature a presentation by BOBBY HARRISON from Huntsville, Alabama. He is one who claims to have seen the Ivory-billed Woodpecker." It's gone from "rediscoverer" of the ivory-bill to "he who claims". No matter what side of the fence you are on, Bobby is a great story teller and more than worth the price of admission. Pre-registration is required. For more information or registration call: Terry Dorsey – 507 433-4483 email - twdorsey@charter.net or Dick Smaby – 507-433-1925 email rnsmaby@charter.net

May 19
MOU field trip to Sherburne NWR. This will be good for warblers, sparrows, shorebirds and wild cards like yellow-breasted chat, hooded warblers, or a summer tanager. Should be a fun day trip.

May 19
Hawk Ridge sponsored big day--how many species of birds can you see in St. Louis County in one day.

May 19
Lake Superior Pelagic Trip organized and led by the infamous Mike Hendrickson. It's a day trip on a boat starting in Duluth on Lake Superior to look for pelagic species like jaegers and scoters. You know, if you're not sure how you would fare on a pelagic trip on the ocean, this would be a good way to test yourself out.

So lots of birding and great people to choose from this particular weekend. I'm sure after I post this, I will get a notice that I missed something. In the past there has been the Bluff Country Bird Fest that same weekend, but I can't find any info for a 2007 event and they are a little late in the game if they haven't started advertising that by now.

Cockatiel Freak Out

Okay! Here is the video from a few weeks ago when I had our dear cockatiel Kabuki on Showcase Minnesota. I'm on with Rob Hudson who is an impressive host--the first time I worked with him he asked about Anna's Hummingbirds--not often a tv host knows different hummingbird species.

But someone coughed in the studio and Kabuki gave off her warning call which she usually does when she hears banjo music or blue jays. It may not sound so loud on the video, but poor Rob and I ear pieces and so the call is being channeled right into the old ear canal--ouch.

Kabuki does calm down at the end, you can see when he rouses--ruffles the feathers. Also, if you notice that I sometimes switch from referring to our tiel as "he" or "she". It's because the first couple of years we thought she was female but now know that Kabuki is male but we still sometimes think of our bird as male. Poor bird, it has gender issues.

The segment is about four and a half minutes long and Kabuki freaks at about half way through.

Whew, We Have Woodcocks

Not that I was really worried, but I do like to make sure the target birds are targetable before a field trip. After nonstop drizzle for days, the sun started to peek through the clouds this afternoon. I picked Non Birding Bill up from work so we could stop at Surdyk's to advantage of their sale--and to pick up a bottle of scotch for our accountant (to apologize for our taxes finding their way to his desk so late in the game).

While there and also picking up some fancy drink for NBB, I took advantage of his good spirits and asked if he would like to come with me to check for woodcocks--"pleeease, I really need to make sure they are there before we have the tour next Saturday. It's sold out, with a waiting list, pleeeeease."

The sucker said yes.

We tried our hand at night digiscoping: NBB held the flashlight while I aimed the scope and camera. Every time I would get the perfect focus, the woodcock would take off. Aaargh. NBB's ungloved hands were getting cold quickly and his morale was sinking even faster.

I tried playing woodcock peents on my birdJam and speaker to see if that would make the woodcock stay in spot a little long, but that just seemed to anger it. It would peent a couple of extra times and then flew straight at us--it buzzed us. Even NBB seemed somewhat impressed.

We got a couple of shots and then got out of there.

On the way home all NBB could say was, "I can't believe you think that is fun. We could have been at home, indoors where it is warm, watching tv, using the internet, doing stuff."

"We were doing stuff, only outdoors." I reminded him.

"How many times can you watch a brown bird peent in the dark?" he asked.

"Oh, I could have been out another 45 minutes for sure." I said.

"Ugh." NBB said.

Email delays

Hello, everyone, NBB here. This is just a note to let you know that we're experiencing difficulty with the birdchick.com email addresses, so if you've sent an email recently to Sharon, the Birdchic boutique, or submitted a disapproving rabbit photo, you may have gotten a message stating that it was delayed or undeliverable.

Sorry for the problem, we're trying to work it out.

UPDATE: As of April 4, 2007 the email is back up and running.

KARE 11 Bird House Segment

All the items I had on the show today came from the All Seasons Wild Bird Store in Wayzata. If you have questions about the product, call 952-473-4283.

If you have questions left over from the segment, feel free to ask them in the comments and they will get answered, either by me or my great resource of readers!

Rainy Days = Photos Of Cinnamon!

"What are you doing down there, human? I don't think you should be doing whatever it is you are doing."

Still on day five of drizzle. Am I ever going to get out to scout for woodcocks for next weeks trip?? I'm having some non birding friends over for drinks Monday night...maybe I'll get them hammered and take them out. They'll never know they went birding.

On the upside, we did wade our way through the mountain of receipts that is our taxes and it was a great movie weekend--Vertigo, Les Parapluie de Cherbourg (takes me back to high school french class--thank you Madame Theobald, where ever you are), The Quiet Man (that red head is no lie), The Great Escape (lotta hot men in that movie--mmmmmmm), Radio Days, Singin' in the Rain (I think I'm going to talk like Lina Lamont for th rest of the marriage), The Big Lebowski (movie responsible for my continued use of the word "dude"), Amelie, and ...Midnight Madness (that was more great for Non Birding Bill than it was for me). Hmmmmm, probably would have made it through the taxes a lot quicker without all that tv. Oh well, need something to ease the pain of trying to read dates on faded thermal paper.

FYI - A reader alerted me that there are some red-tailed hawks hanging out in Greenwich, CT. They're looking for some names and thought blog readers might have suggestions. Got any good names for a buteo, send 'em here.

And for the record, Cinnamon would like everyone to know that she in no way endorses or approves the above red-tailed hawks.

Rainy days are also good for gettin' in some good old fashioned bunny lovin'. Can't have a rabbit with velvety soft fur and not rub her ears for a good ten minutes.