Bring On The Bird Chochkies

I'm having some (good natured) issues over a recent post by Birdchaser. He states that real birders hate the Audubon Singing Bird Clock--we never carried that one at the bird store I worked at, but we did carry this one, and I kind of liked it. The singing loon clock was even better--it would wail like a loon every hour on the hour. Whether "real birders" liked them or not, the clocks were insanely popular with people who feed birds and far out sold items targeted towards hardcore birders.

Birdchaser goes on to say "the same goes for bird mugs, dishrags, or pillowcases--real birders hate 'em. There's a wide divide between bird people and bird mug people."

Well, I'm here to say, "No it doesn't!" Now, I know there are many out there who don't consider themselves a birder, even though they have a field guide (or even more than one bird book), a pair of binoculars, a spotting scope, bird call CDs, a vest, travel at least once a year to a place specifically to watch birds and wildlife, etc (FYI, if two or more items on that list apply to you--you're a birder). I am comfortable in saying that I'm a real birder and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the bird chochkies. Let's take a look at my bird mugs:

These are probably about half of the bird mugs that I own and most of them were purchased by me--not given to me as gifts. That's my second mad bluebird travel mug--as soon as I cracked my first one, I went out and bought a second one. Also, note the glass on the left--that was part of a set that came with a pitcher.

How could I say no to some of these mugs? How often do you find juncos as a graphic on a mug--this was a must have!

And the rosy-finch mug--there's even a rosy-finch on the inside of the mug--that is such an obscure bird to put on a mainstream mug. Cardinals you would expect--but a rosy-finch? Again, how could I possibly resist it? I have so many mugs that Non Birding Bill has tried to put a moratorium on how many we have in the house at one time. However, I can't help it if people give them to me:

Which brings me to one of my newest and most favorite of mugs. During the North Coast Nature Festival, I was marveling at all the turkey vulture merchandise at the Cleveland Metroparks Gift Shops. They ended up giving us swag bag full of turkey vulture stuff: mugs, socks, pins, etc. The above mug looks like a big rainy cloud over the woods when cold.

But, fill it up with hot tea or coffee and the cloud disappears to reveal a flock of turkey vultures--SWEET! As I was setting up the shot, I found another turkey vulture mug and stuck that in.

One of my favorite mugs was given to me by a friend in college. She didn't know it was inaccurate, but that is what made me fall in love with it. It reads house sparrow but is clearly a chipping sparrow. I love it!

And while we're talking about bird chochkies, lets look at my socks. Again, these aren't even half of my socks, but a quick raid of my sock drawer reveals socks with gyrfalcons, sandhill cranes, tanagers, great gray owls...

...turkey vulture socks...

...pileated woodpecker socks--a favorite...

...an ivory-billed woodpecker. Again, these are only half, but there are flamingos, another set of woodpecker socks, more owl socks, more cardinal socks--I'm a sucker for socks. Alas, I only wear them half the year.

Here is a heron/egret frame that I absolutely love. I was given this for pet sitting for a friend. Thanks, Barb.

Ah more gifts--my nondescript bird candle holders (part of a set of four) and who can forget my wren house with bunny wall paper on the outside? Now that was a gift with some thought--I'm a birder and I have rabbits--how could I not love that bird house.

I even have a beanie baby--a purple and blue condor/vulture. Again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure if I dig a little deeper I could find more (oh, I forgot to post my yellow-rumped warbler throw cover--thank you thoughtful mother-in-law). But you get the idea. I'm Sharon. I'm a real birder. And I love the bird chochkies. Keep 'em coming manufacturers, keep 'em coming.

Perhaps this has more to do with male vs female shopping habits? I'm not sure I could picture Birdchaser wearing my pink flamingo socks. How about you? Anyone else out there got love for the bird paraphernalia?

That's One Dirty Bird

Tonight, I was putting away groceries and Non Birding Bill was talking on the phone He came into the kitchen flailing his arms at me while still carrying on his phone conversation. After a few seconds of wild flapping, I finally understood that he wanted me to look out the window. Much in the same way Timmy would talk to Lassie, "What's that, girl? You want me to look out the window? Timmy's stuck in a well again?"

Lo and behold, there was a young female Cooper's hawk sitting in the puddle on the roof of the apartment building across the way. We had our screens down and I tried to take a few photos through the spotting scope as well as a video. She appeared to be nervous and taking her time with bathing. We slowly lifted the screen to get better photos. The above photo was taken after we lifted the screen, she appears to be aware that we are watching her.

The only birds we could hear out and about were chimney swifts. When they would fly over she would follow them--always an eye on potential food! She was so big and so close, I had trouble fitting her whole body into the frame with my digiscoping equipment--I was backed up against the wall as far as I could go and still could barely fit her whole body into the shot.

It was funny to watch all the squirrels hopping on to the roof to drink from the puddle, realize there was a hawk in front of them and then sprint off back in the direction they came from. Whoopsie! The hawk eventually was completely soaked and she flew off--albeit a bit unsteady into the trees.

We did get some videos of the Cooper's hawk bathing. She was doing this very weird kind of butt slap against the water. I apologize for the narration...you may want to just keep your computer on mute while watching the one minute video--I was just kind of excited and caught up in the moment.



There are two other videos you can watch here and here (this was the first video we took with the screen still down). Each are about a minute long.

The Latest Craze

Raptor Skiing!

Check out the photos here, here (sweet doubles!), and here. They'll have fun, fun, fun until daddy takes the red-tail away.

Alan Stankevitz got photos of a red-tailed hawk while it was being harassed by red-winged blackbirds chasing it out of their nesting territory.

Be A Host For I And The Bird

I just got a notice from Mike at 10,000 Birds that they are in need of hosts for I and the Bird. If you are a new bird blogger or one who has been at it for awhile and would like to jump start some of your site traffic, this is a great and free way to do it.

Basically, you host it and people send you one of their best bird posts from the last two weeks. You put them together in one blog entry--linking to their sites and posts and put it together as a theme. My theme was a tabloid format--oh my gosh, I just had a memory that one of the people who submitted an entry to that one complained I didn't take him seriously. I pointed out to him that I didn't take anyone seriously in that post, even myself. He warned that I should treat him with more respect because well known people read his blog, like David Sibley among others. Ooooooooooo. I wonder if that blog is still going, it was kind of a one trick pony. I'll let you see if you can figure out who it was.

Boy, that was a tangent--didn't expect to go down that road! Anyway, I and the Bird needs hosts and if you haven't done it before, it's a fun way to learn about different blogs and get traffic to your site. Here are the dates for the next few months:

6/14
6/28
7/12
7/26
8/9
8/23
9/6
9/20

Contact Mike at 10,000 Birds to sign up.

Bird Protection or Cat Humiliation?

You be the judge!

Those free thinking Australians have come up with a device to attach to your cat that reduces their ability to catch and kill wild birds called the Cat Bib.

According to Reuters, "Research has found that of 56 cats examined over a six week period, the cats’ ability to catch animals was markedly reduced with the bibs. The bibs prevented 81 percent of the cats from catching birds, 45 percent from capturing mammals and 33 percent from taking amphibians and reptiles. Some 89 percent of cats in the study became quickly accustomed to the bib." You can read more research here.

I'm not sure how easy it will be to get cats to wear this--I mean, how many of us have had to put the lamp shade on our pets after a visit to the vet? That generally goes over like a fart in church with cats. Personally, I think the birds are still at risk for being so overcome with laughter when seeing a cat with a bib that the local Cooper's hawk will swoop in for the kill.

Random Bird Entry to Post Photos

I have a hunch that it's gonna be a good year for monarch butterflies. I have seen quite a few already and I am seeing eggs everywhere! Way more than I did this time last year. In the above photo you can see two eggs on the young milkweed plants in the front. If you're having trouble seeing them, here is a close up photo:

See the white speck--that's the monarch egg. Normally, I would start collecting these eggs for some monarch ranching (raising monarch caterpillars indoors and then releasing them when they emerge as butterflies) but I'm going to one more bird fest next week. I'll start when I get back from that one.

Hey, anyone want to take a last minute trip to North Dakota for the Potholes and Prairie Festival, let me know. I got a great deal on a cabin. Plus, if you say you're with the Birdchick Posse, I think you can still get the Early Bird Registration festival rate. I would have mentioned it sooner, but the offer was last minute. Don't forget, you get to meet the fabulous Julie Zickefoose and Bill of the Birds.

I found a pair of savanna sparrows singing where I saw the bobolink last week. I just really sat and listened to them for awhile, trying to really work out what they sound like in real life compared to the grasshopper sparrow I saw and heard on Friday. I think I'm going to make this the summer of sparrows for me and just really try to spend enjoying their songs. In depth brown bird enjoyment--it's a sickness, I know.

Most of the goldfinch males have finally made the transition into breeding plumage. Some birders have been lamenting that the warbler waves are done and the excitement for spring is gone, but I think color can still be found for quite some time.

Speaking of color, I think I've stumbled on a new and better name for the red-bellied woodpecker...red-eyed woodpecker! C'mon, it's easier to see the eyes than the red belly.

Disapproving Rabbits Band Aid

Okay, Disapproving Rabbit fans, I know the disapproval entries have been slow this spring--but hey, that's how the bird readers of the blog feel in winter when the birding is slow and I load up on Cinnamon entries. So, here's a little Cinnamon report:

I took Cinnamon with us this weekend--she did not go with us out to the bee hives but did get some quality time with Non Birding Bill and myself--whether she wanted it or not. We brought along her leash and did a good job of keeping her away from Cabal the Wonder Dog. I was sitting outside with her and had her on her extra long leash. We attached her leash to the legs of a trampoline and I sat with her, just in case she got tangled. Someone who had never met Cinnamon came down to experience the disapproval and when Cinnamon had had enough of people stroking her velvety soft fur, she hopped away.

As she hopped away, I noticed the leash was loosely wrapped around her back paw. Not wanting her to get tangled, I crawled over to move the leash. Cinnamon must have thought I was going to grab her and take her in, because she ran the other direction and sure enough, the loop acted as a noose on her back paw. When a rabbit is scared, they panic and try to get away in any way possible--this can help save them by making a last minute jump away from a golden eagle, or in the case of Cinnamon--tangle her up further.

Cinnamon then tried to jump in every direction and squirm out of her harness, which somehow wedged the whole front section of her body into the harness, binding her front paws...that's when I heard the sound no rabbit owner ever wants to hear--the rabbit scream. I tried to twist around and grab Cinnamon but she kept going around behind me and hopping up my back--she was slippery and I couldn't grab her. The screaming and the idea that Cinnamon could be breaking bones tangled in the leash boiled panic in my mind. I forced myself to try to keep calm and just take time to do it right. I finally grabbed hold of Cinnamon (still screaming) and asked for a knife to cut her out of the harness. But before anyone could move, I found the quick release and she was out and the screaming ceased. It felt like it took ten minutes to get her out, but Non Birding Bill assured me that it was barely a minute and was surprised at how fast I moved and got her out of the leash.

I sat with her for several minutes snuggled in close next to my chest--her breathing was raspy from all the screaming. NBB forced me into the house so we could look her over and see where she was hurt--I kind of didn't want to, imagining the worst possible damage. We set her on some carpet and she hopped normally, no limping, no favoring of any paws. She flopped onto the floor and I laid down next to her to pet and stroke her ears and apologize for not getting her out of the leash sooner. After a few minutes, she got up, shook her ears and nudged me hard as if to say, "Hey, I'm over it, now you get over it. It was far more embarrassing for me."

That night when I finally went to bed in the guest room, Cinnamon was sleeping on my side of the bed with NBB (that big pile of sheet behind Cinnamon is NBB). She seems to be saying in this photo, "Want to make it up to me? Then YOU sleep on the towel on the floor."

I don't think she hurt herself too badly. I think she just got bound up and couldn't get free and that freaked her out, causing her to panic and scream. It's so strange, I've heard the rabbit scream many times before in the wild--I've even mimicked it to call in hawks, owls, coyotes, and foxes. But, man o man, is it different when it's your very own disapproving rabbit.

But all is well and she's snoozing in her little Fortress of Solitude at home.

Bird in the Hand

I'm fairly certain I've said this before in the blog, but I'm going to say it again.

I get that hummingbirds are incredible birds, but I don't get it in photos. I will look at magazines with incredible photos and I'll glance at them and think, "Yes, that's a pretty bird." But I don't get the wow factor until I see one in front of me at a feeder or flower and then it hits me, "How is that a bird and not a bug?"

Unfortunately, today I got to experience one in the hand. We get hummingbirds from time to time in the nets at Carpenter, but the more experienced banders are the ones that get them out--which is fine with me. Today, I heard a loud thump on the windows at Mr. Neil's (a bird hit the glass)--a problem we've been trying to fix. It's hard to stop Cooper's hawks and sharp-shinned hawks from driving birds into the windows. When I first heard the thump, I thought is was finch. I poked my head out the window and found a female ruby-throated hummingbird splayed on the grass. I dashed out and picked her up.

She was breathing and there was no visible blood from her beak. The hummingbirds have been fighting over feeders and territory, so I wonder if she flew into the window after being chased away from the feeder. No other bird species were in a panic when she flew like when the hawks are around. Several finches continued at the finch feeder oblivious to what happened.

You could see around her bill that she had little traces of spider webs--she has been gathering nesting material. Ruby-throated hummingbirds use spider webs to bind the nesting material together.

I took a moment to photograph her feet. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are unable to walk with their feet. They are pretty much there just for perching. If she is sitting on a branch and wants to turn around, she will have to use her wings to fly up, turn around and then land back on the perch facing the other way. Dear me, I'm looking at my finger tip in this photo and realizing I need to exfoliate.

Right as I took this photo, her eyes started to ope nand you could see her tongue slipping out at the tip of her bill. I quit taking photos and tried to keep her perched on my hand, facing away from me, so she wouldn't see me behind her--I thought that might help keep her calm. I had some nectar with me and set a drop of nectar on her bill, she licked it up. I did that a couple more times and then she straightened up, buzzed her wings and before I knew it she was hovering above my hand and then headed for the cover of a nearby pine tree.

It was an honor to have a hummer in hand, but I really do wish it had been under much different circumstances. There was something kind of surreal holding something so seemingly fragile yet has the ability to survive and nest outdoors and migrate single handedly across the Gulf of Mexico.

After a few minutes in the tree of preening and rest, she flew back over to one of the hummingbird feeders and I was able to digiscope a photo. She's the one on the left--you can see a couple of feathers on the back of her head are still out of place. It was interesting that this time a second female came in to feed and not chase her off. We have three nectar feeders going, but at the moment this Hummzinger is the most popular with the hummingbirds.

This photo isn't the best. But I love it. I had turned off the camera accidentally while I was digiscoping the hummingbirds. I turned it back on and as I was zooming in, I took a photo--that's why you can see the vignetting around the image. Anyway, as I shot the photo, a goldfinch flew in front of the feeder. Just cracked me up.

Another Bee Movie

Another Bee Movie. This is Lorraine and Non Birding Bill making some minor adjustments to the hive after we put them back together.

Fun Stuff

If you've been following Brood XIII, check out Bird Freak's entry about watching birds eating cicadas.

And here's a great article about a blind Bangor man who leads bird walks--with other blind people.

And remember Becky Fields who got the incredible photo fo a gosling in an osprey nest? Well, she wows us again:

With a great blue heron getting the what for from a red-winged blackbird. Don't feel to sorry for the heron--it probably had it comin'. Herons will eat eggs and chicks from nests tucked in reeds.

Even as I'm typing this entry, Becky has sent another incredible photo of weird natural moments--I'll save it for later. She has a knack for being at the right place at the right time with her photography. Don't forget that she has a showing going on at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts through June 9, 2007.

Memorial Day Bee Update

The bees are plugging along!

Here's a photo from the back side of one of our frames. You can see some of the pollen stored on the other side. Such beautiful colors.

During our last visit to the hives, we had added another brood box because the bottom brood boxes were about 80 percent full. The Olga hive was a full 80% filled and Kitty was closer to 75% filled but we added another box to her as well. When we checked on Olga, she had barely begun to draw out any comb whatsoever in the new brood box. Kitty who was a little behind Olga and filled up one full frame already and was well on her way to filling the second. I wonder why the shift production?

Both hives were feeling less tolerant of us today. Above is Lorraine scraping off some irregular comb, while Non Birding Bill smokes the bees. (Mr. Neil was not around today, so we made sure to document the adventure). A smoker is one of the most important pieces of beekeeping equipment you'll need. My bee instructors said that they would rather visit a hive without a bee suit than without a smoker.

Here is a video demonstrating "smoking the bees". Watch what happens when NBB puffs some smoke on the workers:



Did you see the workers go down? The smoke makes the bees think that there is a forest fire and instinct tells them to go down and eat honey, don't bother to try and drive out the big thing taking apart your hive. Now is not the time to fool with that.

Above is a photo of the bees eating the honey. If you look closely, you can see their little tongues in the cells lapping it up. This was a part of some burr comb that didn't have any eggs or larvae in it, so we took it out.

What's interesting is that my bee instructors told us that if we got stung, to immediately smoke the area. When a bee stings you, it releases a pheromone to get other bees to come and attack. If you puff smoke on it, the smell of the smoke masks the pheromone. While working with the Olga hive, I saw a bee sting my glove--I didn't feel it, but I saw what happened--as soon as the stinger went in, five bees were on my glove in a split second. I had NBB puff my glove and all but the stinging bee left the glove. The stinging bee did get loose and I didn't see that she left her stinger--I wonder if she survived?

Brood has definitely hatched! We actually found some drones today. In the above photo you can see one of them, he's circled--you'll notice his wide, blunt rear end. Drones are the result of an unfertilized egg laid by the queen. They require larger cells than the female larvae in which to pupate. Drones pretty much eat honey and make flights out of the hive to find other queens to mate with. Once they mate with a queen they die. They don't help build comb or gather pollen or make honey. Some people get rid of drone cells--who needs 'em, but I'm hoping some of our hygenic drone genes make it out to other queens and maybe slow down the verroa mite in the US bee population.

On our last inspection we found Queen Olga but not Queen Kitty. This time we did find Queen Kitty, that's her circled above looking for cells for egg laying. It was so exciting to watch her in the Kitty hive as she was crawling over a clean frame of comb which two weeks ago was chock full of capped brood and now it was empty since our brood had hatched. Whoot!

And like a proud mom, I have a video of both Queen Olga and one of the drones:



The grow up and move so fast!

We still have a little bit of funky frame building, but this time it was very minimal in each hive. We've been using a frame spacing tool and that really does seem to be help the situation. It's not as easy to use as it looks, the propolis keeps things a bit sticky and I feel like I'm really wearing out my welcome with the girls--they start bumping our helmet and that's the final warning before they sting.

After we finished the Kitty Hive, the bees were all over in the air. I thought I would lay on the ground and get a video of the bees flying above us. It's just hypnotic:



Did you happen to notice NBB saying "Are we done yet?" That was a running theme today. The bees were anxious to have us away from the hives and NBB doesn't want to risk any of them getting killed by stinging us to get us to leave--gotta love that guy.

Anyway, I think this is my favorite video, you'll see why at the end of it...



Again, did you hear NBB, "Are you done?" My little broken record! We have one more video, but I'm having trouble getting it to upload properly. Hopefully we can get that up in the next day or so.

Friday Birds

A quiet day of banding at Carpenter Friday morning--I keep hoping for a big warbler wave in the nets but the timing has been off when we are banding. Some birders are mentioning that they aren't seeing warblers like they normally do this spring, but I think they are there. We had one heck of a leaf out in early May and most the warblers have been hidden. Much my warbler enjoyment this spring has been by ear.

We did get a ruby-throated hummingbird stuck in the nets. We don't have any equipment for banding hummers so when they are in the nets, someone takes them out and we let them go. This girl needed a few minutes for recovery and we got to get a good look at her feathers.

As Jim was getting her out of the net, we noticed that her throat was tinged a light golden yellow. I wondered if this was a plumage variation--the older the female she gets some coloration on her throat? We looked it up in the Pyle book and on BNA Online but could find not mention of gold throats on males or females. The only explanation we could think of was pollen dusted onto her throat from foraging on flowers. Has anyone else seen anything like this before?

The peony garden at Carpenter was loaded with pollen. The gardens are gorgeous right now in various reds, whites and pinks. If you are a fan of the Hoosier state flower and live near Carpenter Nature Center, I'd stop by this weekend.

I did get a chuckle when I found one of Carpenter's honeybees gathering pollen in the peonies. Who knew I'd be paying attention to bees in flowers? Am I losing my birding edge?

Since the banding was slow, I thought I would take some time to try and digiscope some kingbirds with Larry around the property. While walking, I noticed some monarch eggs. Above is a monarch egg on the bottom side of the milkweed--that's my big ole honkin' thumb next to the egg for size comparison. Ah, it's getting to be monarch ranching time. If you would like to learn more about raising native monarchs indoors for release, I'll be teaching a Monarch Ranchin' workshop at Staring Lake Outdoor Center July 7, 2007. Contact Staring Lake for details.

We did find some kingbirds on our walk. Not the best photo ever, but you get the idea. It was so cute, while I was away at Detroit Lakes last week, I could tell Non Birding Bill missed me--he was noticing birds. He sent me a text message on my phone that he had seen a kingbird in Loring Park on his way to work--I didn't even know he knew what a kingbird was.

On my way back to my car, I found myself being spied on by a thirteen-lined ground squirrel. Sometimes they snarf up the spilled seed under the bird feeders.

Larry had posted on the listservs this week that he'd seen dickcissels in Dakota County already. I usually don't see those guys until June. So I drove over to my favorite spots for dickcissel in Dakota County at the Empire Substation on 210th St. There's a small tree farm, power station and Buddhist temple surrounded by farm fields which is great for sparrows and meadowlarks. I didn't find the dickcissels but I did find chipping sparrows singing on territory (above) and lots of singing clay-colored sparrows.

As I was driving home, a sparrow popped up on a tree on the side of the road--a grasshopper sparrow. I pulled over and set my scope on my window mount tripod--which isn't easy to use for short people, but fortunately for me, the Swarovski eye piece rotates around so I can kind of use it with the window mount--it still takes some contorting on my part.

The grasshopper sparrow was incredibly accommodating. It stayed perched in the open even though it took me a few minutes to get the scope up and on it. Maybe this sparrow is ignored so much, it was happy that someone wanted to digiscope it?

Boy, you can tell this has been a good birding month, not many entries on the antics of Cinnamon. She disapproves of her lack of exposure in the blog. Okay, now Non Birding Bill and I are off to celebrate the Holiday Weekend, enjoy the outdoors, irritate a disapproving bunny, grill up some meat, bake some rhubarb pies, and I have to finish up a couple of deadlines. The rain is supposed to ease up tomorrow and I'll try to get out to the beehives and take some photos--our first batch of new workers should be hatched--whoot.

Hope you guys have a good time and enjoy birds where ever you are.

My Neighborhood

Random photo taken in my neighborhood...just another Friday night in Uptown.

Bird Guide Workshop

Explore Minnesota is offering a workshop for people who would like to be bird guides or have already started and might want to learn how to increase their business. This is not a workshop on identifying birds, this is a workshop on organizing trips, customer service, and networking and promoting yourself. The goal of the workshop is to give you tools to be successful in business. It's for people considering bird guiding or who have already started and would like to increase sales and make new contacts for guiding services.

The workshop is part of The B&B&B Pilot Project put together in partnership with Explore Minnesota Tourism in partnership with MOU, Audubon, Minnesota DNR non-game, Minnesota Bed & Breakfast Association.

Here is how it works:

A select group of Bed & Breakfasts ( B & Bs) in Minnesota will develop packages that will include guided birding trips for their guests. These packages will be advertised by the B & Bs and will be listed on Explore Minnesota Tourism’s web site. Guides that participate in this training will be matched with B & Bs in their area to provide birding trips for a fee to be retained by the guides. Two training sessions for the B & B owners and the guides will be offered in June of this year to help make this pilot project a success. Following the training sessions there will be a “practice” field trip for the B & B owners where the guides will practice their guiding skills. Once the training is completed the B & Bs will be designated as “ Birder Friendly”, and the guides will be partnered with the B & Bs.

Training for the guides will include:
Explore Minnesota’s data base and why it is important.
Customer Service training.
Basic First Aid.
License & Liability.
Landowner Concerns.
Logistics of organizing a field trip.
Family field trips w/children.
Plan B…for when the birds don’t cooperate.
Value….it’s OK to charge for your services.
Plus a Questions & Answer period.


Training sessions will be held June 20, 2007 at the Log House and Homestead Bed & Breakfast near Vergas, MN. and on June 27, 2007 at the Auf Deutsche Strasse Bed & Breakfast, 404 South German Street in New Ulm, MN. Bed & Breakfast owners from around the state will attend, this a great time to connect with the owners who can help get you more clients as a bird guide.

Cost of the training sessions, including lunch and the joint field trip will be $25.00 for guides and will be due along with your sign-up form by June 1, 2007. Questions? Contact project coordinator, Dave Vogel, Explore Minnesota Tourism at 1-888-975-6766 or via e-mail at dave.vogel@state.mn.us .

Brace Yourself For Bobolink Goodness

Well, since I've had such great luck getting shots of other birds when I try to photograph orioles, I thought I would go out for orioles yesterday at Mr. Neil's.

And instead of orioles, I got one of my all time favorite singers: a male bobolink--the coolest blackbird in North America! The field where our honeybees do most of their foraging is fallow this year making it a great nesting spot. A large flock of male bobolinks has been hanging out for the last week and a half. You may recall I attempted a photo when I first heard them May 13 (that was the start of my oriole luck).

This bird was skylarking around the field and bouncing from some telephone wires to the highest perch in the field which at this point was low vegetation. I took a broken branch out of the woods and set in the field and after a few minutes he landed. If you look at the above photo, you can see he is still molting. Look at the tail, two deck feathers in the center are just growing in. There's another one on the right creeping in as well.

Here he is mid song--you can see his little throat puffed out. I tried to find a sound file on the Internet so those who have never had the joy of listening to bobolink could hear it. I found a sound file at Whatbird. You'll have to scroll about halfway down the page to just above the range map. It's one of my all time favorite bird songs. I think I might go back this weekend and just sit out there for an hour taking in the bobolink song.

In this photo you can really see that it resembles a blackbird. Bobolinks are in the Icterid family that includes red-winged blackbirds, grackles, orioles, and cowbirds--the head shape and bill on the bobolink looks really similar to the brown-headed cowbird. Checking over at BNA Online, the bobolink was one of the first species in which multiple paternity (females laying a clutch of eggs sired by more than one male) was documented. I didn't see any female bobolinks, but considering how different they look from males, I may have just not paid attention.

And if you haven't noticed it in the earlier photos, check out the claws on the tips of those toes--they are really long. But I guess you need those if you are going to be clinging to long prairie grasses. If you've never had a chance to look at a bobolink, find out if they are in your state and go check them out. They really are a cool little bird.

Bee Movies...Har Har

We are getting a ton of strong thunderstorms in our neck of the woods. I'll check the weather map and as soon as we get suited up to check the hives, a storm begins to rumble from the west.

Today we made a mad dash to the hive but as soon as we opened the top of Olga, it began to pour down rain. We decided to let building bees draw out comb. I did take a couple of videos with the camera to give some audio and visual impressions of our hives.

Below is a 12 second video of bees entering the Kitty hive:



Below is a video of bees returning right before storm. It's about 30 seconds long. Right about second 13 you'll see one poor girl bounce off--not as smooth at landing as some of the others.



And finally is a video from a week and a half ago when Non Birding Bill was out with us. We had top open of the entrance reducers, so NBB is widening Olga's entrance. Right at the beginning you'll see a forager return with large baskets of pollen on her back legs.



Speaking of NBB, he has some photos up at his blog from when he was in high school in Ohio and from when I was in high school in Indiana. Would we have dated if we knew each other back then? Warning: there's some big hair in those photos.

Detroit Lakes Bird Festival--Felton Prairie

Last year, the Felton Prairie was a magical field trip: the sun made the prairie glow, you could hear a symphony bird songs: marbled godwits, chestnut-collared longspurs, bobolink, western meadowlarks, etc. It was chilly but not bad. This year, it was cloudy, cold, and windy. I was totally unprepared and forgot my gloves. The birding was still great. Above is a large flock of Franklin's gulls rolling across the prairie in front of the giant windmills.

We had much better views at prairie chickens here. There were quite few, at point several were flying on either side of the bus. With the wind they were laying low, but a few testosterone laden males were still trying to out dance each other.

We found two western meadowlark nests. Mostly because they were close to the road and we flushed them before almost stepping on the nest. I took the above blurry photo because we had just flushed the female and the whole group wanted to see the nest. The chicks were just hatching and it was WAY too cold for the female to be off the nest--the ethical thing to do was to leave so she would go back and incubate. With the photo all 54 participants could take a look. It was touch lumbering the large group away, great birds kept coming into the area like an orchard oriole and a lark sparrow. But we did get away and the female went back. Whew.

Here's the second western meadowlark nest. Can you see it? It's right in the middle. If you look close you can just make out the eggs.

Okay, here's a closer (and in focus) view of the nest. We flushed it as we were on way to board the bus, so I'm sure she made it back in plenty of time to keep them warm.

Here are some cliff swallows hunkered down on a power line. The swallows were definitely feeling the cold. Barn swallows circled the bus like crazy as we kicked up insects. Northern rough-winged swallows circled our group as we walked in the grass--I suppose we were kicking up bugs much in the way cattle would. Tree swallows were swarming low over any body of water.

Here's a loon with a swallow zipping into the shot.

Even the pelicans seemed to be feeling the cold. They just hunkered together with an expression that said something along the lines of, "Craaaaaap, it's sooooo cold." Look at their bills, many of them are sporting the knob on the upper bill that they get during the breeding season.

And no birding trip would be complete without a snipe. We could here these guys winnowing all over at Agassiz, but didn't see them. This Wilson's snipe was hanging out on a fence post.

Of course, a big part of the fun of birding at Felton Prairie is the herd of cattle that follows you around. Just like last year they were very curious about our group and came in for a closer look...sometimes scaring off prairie chickens and longspurs.

I did get a kick out of this brown-headed cowbird actually mixing in with the cows--actually doing what its name implies--go figure. Apparently, the cows had so much fun with us that they didn't want us to leave and tried to block the road. Our very intrepid bus driver proceeded carefully. I caught it on video:

Detroit Lakes Bird Festival--Rothsay Prairie

When I drove up for the Detroit Lakes Bird Festival, it was very hot and warm. Friday while birding at Agassiz, it was cooler, but by afternoon it was very hot. That night some incredible storms moved in. Jeff Bouton and Ben Lizdas and I headed to Hamden Slough for a scan of birds and could see some powerful lightening coming our way in the distance. That night the lightening flashed like crazy. One interesting note was that Jeff discovered a couple of tundra swans mixed in with trumpeter swans. Above is a photo of a trumpeter on the left and a tundra on the white. Note how the tundra swan has a slightly thinner neck and the dainty look of the bill. You can't see it in the photo, but through out scopes you could see yellow on the bill.

The next morning it was cold and windy at Rothsay Prairie. Not the best weather for listening for those quieter prairie sparrow species like Le Conte's sparrows but we did see some other species. Above is a swamp sparrow that was fairly accommodating.

Clay-colored sparrows were also lurking about in the grasses. I love that little buzzy call they give.

And of course, bobolinks were all over. We saw large flocks of males flying up from the roads--they are so pretty and hypnotic with the bold black and white coloration.

Of course, the fun of the prairie are the shorebirds. Here is a marbled godwit that we found working the road. The bird appears to have an injured foot but was able to fly and find food. I love how birds are still able to survive and function even what appears to be a tragic injury.

We saw some more phalaropes. Above is a male Wilson's phalarope--these guys are interesting because the females are more colorful than the males and after she lays eggs, leaves the male to incubate and raise the chicks.

We had so much fun at this particular pond. The bus pulled over and Doug Buri and Bob O'Connor stepped outside to scan it for interesting shorebirds. They thought they saw a Hudsonian godwit. I remained on the bus with the rest of the passengers. Being on the bus, we were higher up and could look down on the shorebirds. Suddenly people started asking me, "Hey, Sharon, what's that yellow shorebird?" I scanned the water and found it right away--it stuck out like a sore thumb. The color was kind of yellow, kind of orange, but the bus windows and cloudy day was probably distorting the color. I stuck my head out the window and shouted, "Hey, Doug, Bob, what's that yellowish bird--buff breasted sandpiper?" Well, they were on the ground and could only see the head being lower than we were. They both looked at the head and said, "We're not sure." I got back on the bus and announced, "It's gotta be good, the experts don't know what it is!" Everyone on the bus got a great look at it. I started running the little hamster in my brain--"What shorebird would be yellowish? Yellow...yellow...well, actually it's salmon color...I remember reading a book about researchers in the 1970s and 1980s coloring shorebirds to study migratory patters...what birds were those...shorebirds...they were red knots...WAIT! RED KNOT!!"

I stuck my head out the window and both Doug and Bob looked at me and we shouted at the same time, "Red Knot!" We had all worked it out in our heads simultaneously. The bird was going into breeding plumage to get that red color and that's why it looked salmon-ish (something we're not used to in Minnesota). As we were getting people off the bus the knot took off with some short-billed dowitchers, but at the point everyone had been watching for awhile. It was so windy, we tried to follow it, but the wind could have blown it into Canada. We made an immediate call to our inside man at the MOU to let him know what we saw and where. When our field trip returned, we gave out directions and maps but the knot was not seen for the rest of the festival. It was interesting, the shorebirds at that pond were changing all day, so with the wind I'm sure many birds were just passing through.

Rothsay is known for it's prairie chickens--we saw some, but they were hunkered and way out in the fields. Above is a shot of the giant prairie chicken in the town or Rothsay. Doug didn't want to stop and look at a big plastic bird but there was some mutiny on the bus and he lost. He didn't hesitate to tell us how ridiculous it was that we made a point to see it.

I love heart Buri.

Cats and Chickens Living Together

We're talkin' mass hysteria here! I heart Cute Overload!

Osprey Nest Surprise!

We interrupt the regularly scheduled updates about the Detroit Lakes Bird Festival for an unbelievable osprey nesting story:

Becky Field, who currently has some of her photography on exhibit at Minnetonka Center for the Arts took a most unusual photo! Look closely at that chick in the osprey nest--that's not a osprey chick, that's a Canada goose gosling. Now it looks like the adult is bringing the gosling to the nest in its talons. The osprey is actually bringing in a fish to the nest and the gosling is behind the feet.

The platform is on private property in Maplewoods on Lake Minnetonka and Becky's friends asked her to come photograph it. They have been watching the osprey on the platform through a scope in their house and were very excited to report the arrival of their first chick to local osprey expert and bander, Vanessa Greene. She told them that no osprey chicks would be hatched this early in Minnesota. When they described the "chick" as having a fuzzy yellow head the plot thickened.

Turns out, they had observed a Canada goose up on the platform for a short time. Either the goose had been chased out by the osprey or she was just dumping excess eggs in the nest. I'm not sure what the goose would have been thinking--she could have been her first breeding season and Canada geese have to kind of learn where to put their nest so it will be safe. Or it could have been a case that she either had no mate or too many eggs in her own nest and decided to give a few out to other nests. Either way, she wasn't thinking clearly: how would the chicks have gotten down from the high platform--Canada goose chicks aren't built like wood duck chicks--they weren't meant to jump 50 feet from a nest.

Somehow, the osprey ended up incubating a goose egg and it hatched. The property owners observed this little family for several days and were expecting the gosling to die within 2-3 days as an all fish diet would not meet its nutritional requirements. Both the male and female osprey tried to feed it fish, since osprey chicks are altricial (beg for food). That would be a tricky situation since Canada geese young are precocial (they feed themselves) and wouldn't be begging its parents for food. The property owners had even watched the gosling nuzzle up to the female osprey.

Becky took some photos on both May 19. She received a call on May 20 from the property owners that they had not seen the gosling all day and is presumed dead and is either in the nest or has been removed by the osprey.

Thanks, Becky, for sharing this incredible photo and documenting this odd little event. Sometimes nature goes a little off kilter.

Interesting Vulture Movement

This just in from Carrol Henderson:

"Last night I got a call from Bruce Ause, retired director of the Red Wing Environmental Learning Center. He was out hiking on Barnes Bluff south of Red Wing last Thursday, May 17, and observed a dozen turkey vultures resting on the ground. One of them had a pale blue patagial tag on the right wing with the black letters "45." He called me to find out if I knew of anyone who was doing vulture marking studies. I did some "trolling for vultures" on the internet after he called and discovered that 100 migrating turkey vultures had been wing tagged in NW Venezuela with pale blue and with red patagial tags. So the turkey vulture observed by Bruce had wintered somewhere in South America and was passing through Venezuela on its way back to Minnesota.

Radiotelemetry studies have identified South American wintering destinations for Swainson's hawks, ospreys, and broad-winged hawks, so I thought you would like to know that our local turkey vultures are international travelers as well. Have a good day. Carrol"


I always enjoy my Carrol Henderson news updates.

UPDATE from Karla Kinstler:

There are folks in Saskatchewan who are putting herculite fabric wing tags on the right wings of young turkey vultures found in nests in abandoned buildings in Saskatchewan. I think they've done a satellite transmitter or two also. C. Stuart Houston is involved in the project, and he'll be the keynote speaker at the 2008 Festival of Owls (but there he'll be talking about the 7,000+ Great Horned Owls he's banded.)



So there are multiple groups out there putting tags on vultures....

Detroit Lakes Bird Festival--Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge

Sandhill cranes flying off the road as our jam packed 57 passenger bus was creeping along Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge. That place is definitely worth the hype.

Well, I learned an interesting tid bit at the festival--the field trip to Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge sold out before the field trip to go birding with David Sibley! I'm pretty sure that it had more to do with the awesomeness of the location rather than the cool factor of guides. I don't care, I'm so glad that I was one of the guides for the Agassiz trip--we saw 25 species of shorebirds on the trip!! Whoot! Whoot! Whoot! And really cool shorebirds at that! Above are some of marbled godwits (the big birds). Check out the dunlin in the back--that's the little guy with the black belly.

We had some unusual birds, above on the lower left is a red-necked phalarope (the other bird is a semipalmated plover). We were expecting Wilson's but we ended up getting the red-necked too. I couldn't do a lot of digiscoping because the priority was making sure the 53 paying customers got to see the birds and the light wasn't that great for it either. It was fun though, because as soon as someone would point out one really cool shorebird like the red-necked phalarope and then get the group focused on it, then someone else would shout, "Stilt Sandpiper!" It was a good problem to have. We even had crazy numbers of more unusual birds--like 90 some odd hudsonian godwits.

I loved this scene--it's a black-bellied plover surrounded by a posse of semipalmated plovers. Wish we could have been closer, but at least we got to see the bird. That was a cool new bird for quite a few people on the trip.

The place was lousy with American bitterns--at one point three of them were flying around the bus. Bitterns are secretive birds who stand straight up and use their stripey plumage to hide amongst reeds. The above blurry guy was one that I saw running in short grass. When he noticed our bus coming he shot his head up to hide himself but then suddenly realized that he was surrounded by short grass. We stopped the bus and he ran to a very sparse patch of taller grass and assumed the position. The bus windows distorted the shot, but you get the idea.

It was a diverse group and people wanted different birds--some wanted to focus in on shorebirds, others wanted better looks at area specialties. While Doug Buri and Kim Risen would focus in on peeps (small shorebirds that give me a headache), I would call in a sora or get some yellow-headed blackbirds (above) or bobolinks in the scope. By the end of the day, our bird list topped out at 135 species, which may be a festival record. It was awesome. I get the sense that they will offer the trip again next year and hopefully we will have more time than just four hours to bird there. We had such limited time. The trip was two hours out there, four hours to bird, and another two hours back. Next year they could easily add another two hours for birding--we really could have added more warbler species and I would have loved the chance to photograph red-necked grebes.

Ah, Prairie Birding...

Ah, prairie birding: the thrill of longspurs; the agony of icy high winds, and ticks...

...and interfering cattle!

Speaking of ticks...ew! As I was driving home today, I had my iPod in my lap so I could easily skip or repeat songs. I had just finished eating a Nut Goody and went to press the wheel on my iPod. I put my finger on the click wheel and felt a crumb--oh if only it had been a crumb! I looked down on my iPod only to discover it was not a crumb from my candy bar:

It was a blood sucking tick--ARG! I pulled over to (take a photo) and remove it. Vile creature! Does this mean that I need to get my iPod tested for Lyme's disease? After having typed this entry, I suddenly feel like I have ticks all over me--ick.

I am so tired, I'm pretty sure that in the last 48 hours that I have had roughly 7 hours sleep--but I loved every minute I was awake. Birding festivals are like chocolate chip cookie dough for me. I make it, and I start eating--it tastes so wonderful that I know I should stop. But I don't stop, I keep on going--even when I start to get to the point that I can tell I should stop--it's so good, yet I keep at it...and then I finally get to the point where I'm moaning and asking, "Why did I eat so much?" However, I still have the great memory of how much fun it was to eat the bowl of dough. I am so tired and achy and about to loose my voice.

Lots of stories of the fabu Detroit Lakes Festival--the birding was great, albeit a tad of on the cold side yesterday and today. I sang so much karaoke--it was a great audience who pretty much danced to anything anyone sang. We learned from Krazy Karaoke Dave that I did several firsts:

1. Sang a Liz Phair song ("Polyester Bride")
2. Called someone (NBB) on my cell phone during the instrumental break of a song, picked up singing right on cue, and sang the rest of the song to that person over the phone (Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over"--how could I not do that?)
3. Sang the song "Xanadu" (which is opening as an off Broadway musical this month--I wish I could go!)

Other songs I sang included "Holding Out For a Hero", "Sledgehammer", and "Space Oddity". Others did participate in the karaoke but a new rule about not blogging such activity has been ratified or I don't get invited anymore. What happens at Detroit Lakes, stays in Detroit Lakes. I will say, the other participants rocked very hard.

I must sort photos of godwits, phalaropes, and bobolinks for updates--and shower--and sleep.

YAWN.

Hello, all, NBB here.

Sharon apologizes for the lack of posts, but between birding, working the booth, and of course, the all-important karaoke, she hasn't touched the internet for most of the weekend.

Some highlights she asked me to pass on:

• Her tour saw a record number of birds yesterday.
• At some point, they saw a red knot, which she assures me is something to be excited about.
• People are wondering why I'm not there. Non-Birding Bill, people; Non-Birding Bill.

She'll have lots of info for you as soon as she gets back, and thanks you for your patience.

And So It Begins

Well, I've seen some nice purple martin action so far. That's a male and female above. I can never see and hear enough of these large swallows. They have such a musical song--most swallows have a more click-ish type sound--like little dolphins. Purple martins sing it loud and sing it proud.

I did a demo of birdJam outside. We got into the who ethics of calling in birds. When to do it, if you are going to do it, do it responsibly, etc. As we got into some of the controversy, I referenced an infamous story about a pygmy nuthatch. Years ago before I moved to Minnesota, a pygmy nuthatch was reported along the Red River in North Dakota. Just a short trip across the Red River puts you in Minnesota. The nuthatch was at a feeding station on the North Dakota side and someone played a tape and it flew over to the Minnesota side--and was a first state record...or was it? The jaunt across the river was minimal and the bird probably would have flown over of its own accord (if it hadn't already). It caused a huge rift in the birding community and accusations and arguments exploded all over. What is "artificial means of attraction" when it come to birds anyway? Technically, a feeding station is artificial attraction. The distance the bird flew was only a few hundred feet--was it really that big of deal? It wasn't nesting, it wasn't on territory--what did it matter?

Anyway, this story has reverberated throughout the birding community. I had heard of it, but never knew the parties involved. Last year at the Rio Grande Valley Bird Fest, Jeff Gordon referenced it during his program "The Top Ten Birding Moments of the last 100 Years". Well, as we were discussing it, a man laughed, raised his hand, and said, "That was me!"

Ah, connections.

And now I leave you with a male tree swallow. I must go to bed, I have to get up at 4:30am for my field trip. I'm so excited, the Country Inn and Suites in Detroit Lakes (where I am staying) is going to have breakfast and coffee going by 4:30am--sustenance--Whoot!

On My Way

I just ran out to grab some sunblock before leaving for Detroit Lakes and I found SPF 70! Thank you, Neutrogena!

I got my list of assigned field trips and I am so excited! I got all the trips I wanted...although, it looks like Sibley won't be on any of them. Hmmm, did I freak him out last year at Cape May? But I do get to hang with some of my favorite peeps, including Kim Risen, Jeff Bouton, and Doug Buri (a dude who knows his shorebirds). This evening I do a bird call program with the birdJam and then I have to set up my booth. I'm going to have an actual Birdchick Booth and will be promoting the website and selling birdJam and Handheld Birds - two of my favorite birding gadgets.

Here are my field trip assignments:

FRIDAY
Agassiz – Departs at 5:30am- 2:00pm
Gary Tischer
Jeff Bouton
Kim Risen
Doug Buri
Sharon Stiteler

SATURDAY
Rothsay- 5:45am -11:30 am
John Voz
Doug Buri
Bob O'Connor
Sharon Stitler

Felton/Ulen/Helliksen Prairies- 5:45am-2:00pm
Scott Kahan
Bob O'Connor
Doug Buri
Sharon Stiteler
Jeff Bouton

And then I drive home. I'm supposed to have internet access at the hotel, so there should be updates while I'm on the road. If you're out at the fest, stop by the booth and say hi. If you're not at the fest, I hope you're out enjoying the birds where ever you are this weekend.

How Blue Do You Need To Be?

Who needs orioles when you have indigo buntings?

So, I had a little time this morning before I buckled down and started packing for the Detroit Lakes Festival, (I'm heading out tomorrow morning). I thought I might head down to Wood Lake Nature Center and maybe to the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge and attempt for some oriole photos since I didn't have much luck last Saturday.

Orioles were just not in the cards again today. When I got to Wood Lake--which literally had warblers dripping from the tree branches, there was just too much construction going on. It's already noisy there since it's bordered by a major interstate, but today there was lawn mowing and construction and all the sound was giving me a headache.

So I went to the Minnesota Valley Wildlife Refuge Headquarters, though also noisy since it's next to the airport and right on an interstate as well--but no lawn mowing and a male indigo bunting was singing like there was no tomorrow.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I ended up taking about 113 photos of him instead. I'm kinda hoping that my bad luck with orioles continues this spring--up until today I didn't have any terrific indigo bunting photos like these.

The male bunting was making the rounds on his territory, alternating his singing stations in some shrubs in front of me, a lone tall tree to my left and a whole line of trees behind me. The shrubs had a small rock fence in front of it.

The male indigo bunting flew over to the shrubs and sang and then flew down to the fence. The above photo is the male singing on the fence (the wind was blowing so his nictating membrane is over his eye to protect it from dust--that's why it looks weird). He sang so long, I got tired of taking photos and then I thought to myself, "Dude, what are you doing? This is the best look at an indigo bunting you've ever had in your life! Quit taking photos and just enjoy it, ya' door knob!"

And I did for another ten minutes.

Oh, and we figured out the photo contest mix up. Both Leanne and Philip were incredibly understating--and again, thanks to all the readers who VERY KINDLY pointed out my mistake--I love you guys--you make blogging so much fun. Leanne is still getting the Singing Life of Birds book and I told Philip that I'd get him an autographed Sibley this weekend. So, it's all good.

Fowl Call

I made an error in the contest. Both Philip Chaon and Leanne guessed northern rough-winged swallow for the eye contest. I have the blog set up so that I get an email alert as soon as someone comments. For whatever reason, his comment never showed up in email so to me it looked like Leanne got the id first. Thanks to some alert readers who noticed Philip's guess came in before Leanne's clued me in. Both Leanne and Philip will get a prize--just need to work out what it will be.

Serves me right for doing a contest during migration when my attention is divided.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Kudos to everyone who made a guess at the photo id contest--it was pure evil on my part. The northern rough-winged swallow is not a bird I normally talk about, it's brown and nondescript and just not a bird people pay a lot of attention to--even though they are there and easy to see if you look. A big pat on the back to Leanne for the correct answer.

Here's the original photo of the bird that was zoomed in for the contest. We had two swallows fly into the nets at the same time at Carpenter--near the bird feeders of all places! Since these aren't birds that will come to bird feeders, our best guess is that they were chasing each other over a territory battle and both landed in the nets at the same time.

At first, there was some talk that it might be a swift, but a check of the tail--and running fingers along the wing confirmed that this was a northern rough-winged swallow. The barbs on in the primary wing feathers on a male rough-wing are distinctly hooked and running your finger over them kind of feels like running your finger over a nail file. Females do not have as distinct barbs. I don't think scientists have figured out the reason for the barbs yet--if anyone knows or has an idea, please let me know in the comments. I would have gotten a photo of the barbs, but the birds were flappy and stressed and we wanted them back out on the wing ASAP.

Again, thanks to everyone who guessed. It's not easy to put your name to an id when you aren't sure.

Minnesota Bald Eagle Population Hits #1

The Fish and Wildlife Service today announced results showing the largest population of breeding bald eagles in the U.S. since World War II. Bald eagles in the lower 48 states have climbed from an all-time low of 417nesting pairs in 1963 to an estimated new high of 9,789 breeding pairs today.

This updated estimate is based on information gathered by the States in 2004 or later. Minnesota tops the list with 1,312 pairs of eagles, followed by Florida with 1,133 pairs and Wisconsin's 1,065 pairs. There are also eagles now breeding in the District of Columbia and the state of Vermont, which was the only state in the contiguous U.S. which lacked eagles until the first eaglets hatched successfully in 2006.

I was pretty impressed with my home state of Indiana coming in at 100 nesting pairs. If you click on the link to US Fish and Wildlife at the start of this entry, that will take you to a site where you can download a pdf of the map with each state's number of nesting pairs.

Belated Bee Report: Unregulated Comb Construction

QUICK NOTE: As of the posting of this entry, no one has correctly guessed the id of the bird in this entry...although the guesses are getting VERY close.

"I disapprove of being any part of your mad pollination schemes!"

I can't believe it! I got Non Birding Bill out to the hives! There he is standing next to the Olga hive, right before he opened up her entrance reducer. I have to say, he looks mighty cute in the bee suit. The suits were built for men and the guys look kinda sexy in them. Lorraine and I tend to look more like Oompa Loompas with the suits on. Sigh. But, I'd rather risk looking like a chocolate factory worker than getting stung.

Here's a big pile of Kitty bees. Saturday, was about checking comb construction and adding another brood box. The Olga bees had filled 80% of the frames with drawn out comb, which meant it was time to add another box for them to build even more comb. I would say that Olga is a full frame ahead of Kitty, but Kitty has some of her own weirdness going on that may in fact put her ahead of Olga.

Olga continues her odd comb construction. This particular frame appeared to have waves of comb built across it as opposed to a flat layer of comb across the frame. I didn't want to kill any more brood than I needed to, so left this odd construction. I'm sure this is going to bite me on the butt later this summer, but the girls are working on hatching the first brood and I think that's more important to let the odd comb go as opposed to killing off brood. Besides, this is a learning summer for me.

We found Queen Olga with very little effort this time. She was on one of the outer frames with fresh honey in it, looking for cells to lay her eggs.

Kitty has gone from being a textbook hive, to making some funky comb like Olga. As soon as we opened the top, we could see the workers placing comb on the tops of the frames. I hate to discourage creativity, but we scarped it off since there weren't any eggs or larvae inside it.

The Kitty bees weren't doing the waves of comb like Olga, but have made their comb in layers. Instead of drawing up the comb from the frame's wax base, they appear to have made a layer on top of the frame and are tunneling between the frame and newly made comb. We weren't able to find the queen, but I'm sure she was running around between the layers and we couldn't see her. We did see several eggs which implied that she was alive and healthy. Even though Olga has filled out more frames, I wonder if Kitty is actually ahead, since she appears to be doubling up each frame?

If anyone has experience with this or advice, I sure would love to hear it.

As we were checking the Kitty hive, the oddest thing happened--a plane crashed. Seriously! We heard a crashing in the trees right overhead, we all looked up and saw what at first looked like a large branch falling to the ground.

It turned out to be a radio controlled plane falling to the ground. We didn't hear it fly overhead, but heard it landing in the trees. At first we weren't sure if it had been in the tree for a few days and finally fell or if it flew over and crashed in the tops of the trees while we were working. After about 10 minutes, the plane's owners arrived. I chuckled at the idea of them coming to look for the plane if we had not been there, only to find it behind two beehives.

As if the plane crash weren't weird enough, check out the name on the plane: Yellow Bee. Ooooooo. We're getting an exorcist and this time I mean it (NBB at least will get that reference).

As we were adding another brood box to Kitty, we couldn't help but notice all the foragers coming back loaded up with pollen. It's interesting to see the distinct colors based on the type of flower they were gathering from. Some have orange colored pollen baskets, some bright yellow.

Here is a worker that I affectionately refer to as thunder thighs--she's an over achiever when it comes to gathering pollen. How did she fly back with that much weight? I don't know, but I sure am proud of this little Kitty bee.

So, now we leave our bees alone to create more worker bees, fill in the frames of the second brood box and to gather nectar and pollen. It will be at least another week until I check on them again. I hope they do well.

Clan Apis

If you are looking for a delightful book to teach you the basics of honeybee natural history, then Clan Apis by Jay Hosler is for you! This is a great book! Mr. Neil recommended it to me, actually insisted that I read it. I tried to tell him that I'm not one for the comic books but he assured me that this was very accurate and just a wonderful read. I was skeptical but thumbed through it in his presence to placate him. Before I knew it, I was hooked.

Hosler has a cheeky sense of humor about the bees but at the same time gives you all the facts about their life cycle and behaviors. This book is great for kids, but adults will love the humor. One of my favorite parts is when the hive decides to swarm (was that a spoiler?) and starts to carry off the queen. As the workers are toting her away, she exclaims, "Great Googaly Moogaly!"--points for use of that phrase! AND! Points for:

...inserting a pileated woodpecker drawn accurately and doing what woodpeckers do. Boy, I hope one of these boys doesn't decide to go after our hives.

Anyway--this is a great read and a great gift. Go forth, find it, buy it (or check it out of a library) and read it. Ah, if only birders could do comics like this...maybe I will.

Showcase Minnesota May 14, 2007

Today's Showcase Minnesota segment featured hummingbird and oriole feeders from All Seasons Wild Bird Store in Wayzata, 952-473-4283.

Everything BUT An Oriole

So, part of my goal on Saturday was to get some photos of orioles--I really don't have any recent ones. A pair had finally shown up at Mr. Neil's so I thought I would go out, play with his new dog, and put together our comb honey supers (yes, I'm being optimistic for later this summer). I set myself up near the feeding stations to try and get some photos of orioles on the jelly feeder.

The rose-breasted grosbeaks were incredibly accommodating. They were not in the least bit shy about all the hammering Non Birding Bill and I were doing. One pair even engaged in some..."marital relations" right on the tray of the copper Aspects feeder--daring!


The goldfinches were very easy shoot as well. This male kept cracking me up--he kept raising his little "crest". I'm not sure what was getting the finches so excited, it's a bit early for them to be nesting, but it was cute.

I have a hummingbird feeder set up right next to the jelly feeder for the orioles. I decided to just aim the scope on those feeders just in case the orioles finally decided to make an appearance. A male ruby-throated hummingbird came in and lurked at the feeder. He took sips of nectar in between curious glances my way.

It was a glorious day to be outside. Look how the sun hit that hummingbird's ruby throat above--nice! The chorus of birds was unbelievable. A male scarlet tanager flew in and sang above me in an oak tree. I played my birdJam and he flew down, gave me once over and then stayed in the tops of the trees. It was interesting to see how quickly he figured out the song was nothing to be alarmed about--a fake. I wonder if they pick up on recordings being the same timing and phrasing every time?

I played the oriole call, and they didn't respond at all.

In the afternoon I heard one of my all time favorite songs--bobolink! Poor Non Birding Bill was dozing in the grass when I first heard the song. I gasped loudly and yelled at Bill, "Do you hear that?!" He jerked awake and said, "Huh? What's wrong? Where?" He was not as excited as I hoped he'd be at the idea of seeing a bobolink. I snuck over to the field where the song was coming from (and near the beehives) where at least four male bobolinks were singing out a territory battle (almost as choreographed as West Side Story). I managed to get a few photos--nothing great--but proof of the bobolink. I thought to myself, "How is it that I can get a bobolink photo today, but no oriole?" But, I still had time.

When I walked back to my supers, a male pileated woodpecker was on the suet log. I managed to trip over a frame and not scare him off and get a photo. Okay, a pileated photo and no oriole? Mother Nature has GOT to be toying with me.

I set the scope back towards the nectar and jelly feeders and managed to get a few more fun ones of the hummingbird. I love the above shot. He's on his way to chase out another male who wanted a chance at the feeder. I thought that while I was hammering away that I should brush up on my warbler calls. I'm one of the field trip leaders at next week's Detroit Lakes Bird Festival and need to be on my game. I like how the birdJam has a warbler playlist with no narration so I can just let that go and test myself. I had my iPod on my portable speaker and was going through the calls: song--black-throated green, song--blackburnian, song--blackpoll, song--blue-winged...when the next warbler came on, I noticed I could still hear the blue-winged. I turned off the iPod...

...and ten feet above my head was a blue-winged warbler! Let me tell you, it took some pretty fancy maneuvering just to get this shot as I tried to angle the scope straight up. The blue-winged sat there for at least five minutes, completely aloof to my straining below (and I kept the birdJam off the whole time). He was pretty mellow and even tucked up one of his feet in a relaxed position. He eventually flew away and then continued singing his buzzy "bluuuuuu wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing" call below.

So, did I get the oriole photo?

No, just another grosbeak shot. But hey, if I have to miss an oriole, I appreciate the pallet of colors I got from all the other birds on Saturday.

Common Yellowthroat & Another Contest

Okay, I know I wrote in the comments of the previous entry that I would update after breakfast, but truth be told the gorgeous spring day took hold of me. Once outside, there was not going back indoors. I do have enough material for a whole week's worth of entries and I'm not sure when I'll have time to get them up.

First up, the correct answer for the photo id in the eyeball contest was common yellowthroat, a bird we banded at Carpenter Nature Center on Friday. These are those tiny birds in marshy areas that sing "whichity whichity whichity" from the reeds and are very pishable.

Here is the eyeball...

And here is the whole original photo. Aren't they just gorgeous little guys?

I love the macro feature on my Nikon Coolpix 4500, it really can capture the magic of seeing these birds in hand. The photos though make the common yellowthroat look much bigger than it really is.

The winner of the eyeball contest already has a copy of the book, so the prize is still available. So, here's another eyeball contest--however, this one is much more diabolical than the last! Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha:

What bird species belongs to the eyeball? First correct answer in the comments section with a name wins the prize--a paperback Singing Life of Birds with CD (you can use anonymous as a blogger id, but put your name in at the end of the comment if you want the book). The first correct answer with no name wins self satisfaction. Something for everybody!

Contest Contest Contest

What bird species belongs to the eyeball (it's partially covered by the nictating membrane)? First correct answer in the comments section with a name wins the prize--a paperback Singing Life of Birds with CD (you can use anonymous as a blogger id, but put your name in at the end of the comment if you want the book). The first correct answer with no name wins self satisfaction. Something for everybody!

You Gotta Know When To Hold 'Em

Doesn't it remind you of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors? That's no meat eating space plant, that is a young crow that has fallen from the nest. It was found on one of the trails at Carpenter Nature Center today. A few feet away was its sibling dead on the ground. No visible bits of nest were found on the ground, but it wasn't super windy last night, so I don't think they were blown out. We're not sure what happened, I suspect something like a raccoon or owl attacked the nest and the young were knocked down.

No that's not a sarlacc pit, that's just the young crow--it would beg for food from anything walking by. Now the question was: do we take it to the Wildlife Rehab Center or do we leave it on the ground? The bird was mostly covered in feathers. The flight feathers weren't fully developed yet, so it was a few days away from being able to fly. It could stand, but the use of its feet were still awkward, although the young crow was able to manage squirming its way around on the ground. My inclination was to see if we could find what was left of the nest and put it back in. It was young enough that it would stay.

We couldn't really find the nest, but I planted myself behind a tree several yards away and watched. An adult crow flew in and called to the young crow but didn't go down to the ground. Crows are as incredibly intelligent as they are cagey. I have a feeling that the adult crow knew I was there and wouldn't go down as long as I was in its sight line. We decided to leave the crow there and attach a basket to the tree and put the young bird in there so that way it would be off the trail, a little safer from predators, and could still be raised by crow parents.

It can be a tough call when trying to determine if a young bird needs help. I am always in favor of birds raising birds. Sure we humans can teach them the basics, but not quite everything an adult crow would know. And birds certainly still will take care of young birds out of the nest, even if they have been handled by humans. You can put up a new mock nest as long as it is in the same general area as the old nest. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

I'm glad I didn't take it to the WRC. It was so cute, it would have been a challenge to to not illegally keep it and imprint it.

Fox Snake At Carpenter

Today at Carpenter Nature Center, we found a fox snake right outside on the stairs. Apparently, there are quite a few slithering around.

At first we saw just one snake, but Larry said he saw two slither into a crack under the pavement on one of the building. Fox snakes are nonvenomous and constrict their prey (mostly mice, some small birds and eggs). They will coil up, vibrate their tail making a rattling sound and strike out when threatened. This defense probably developed to keep predators away since they could be mistaken for a rattlesnake. However, humans who don't know and mistake them for rattlers will kill them. Interesting that a behavior that evolved to protect them, now is more likely to get them killed.

Below is an 8 second video of the fox snake giving its fake rattle:

Buzzard/Vulture Story Gripping The News

Gotta love that BBC. There's a story about vultures interfering with a planned "body farm" in Texas. The farms are used by scientists who bury cadavers to study human decomposition to help police better determine the time and manner of death at crime scenes. Texas State University wanted to build the nation's largest "body farm" of cadavers, but the plan is on hold because it will attract vultures. The proposed body farm is near an airport and the vultures could collide with the planes.

All the papers in the United States have headlines like:

Buzzard's Buffet
Buzzard's Halt 'Body Farm' Plan
Buzzards, Planes, Body Farm Don't Mix

Buzzard is the folk name in the United States for vultures. However, in Europe there is an actual common buzzard, which is kind of similar to what we in the US know as the red-tailed hawk. So you have some people in the US who call hawks buzzards, which probably led to this story, Buzzards Prove Problematic At Texas Body Farm incorrectly using an image of a red-tailed hawk for the story instead a vulture. Yes, I know red-tails will sometimes eat roadkill, but really it's turkey vultures and black vultures that they're worried about.

However, leave it to the BBC to get the most accurate version--calling the birds vultures and using a correct graphic of a black vulture with their headline, Vultures Pick Off Human Body Farm.

What's weird is that they want to see what happens to bodies in shallow graves, completely being exposed, etc...but they want to keep vultures out. There was even a plan to put bodies in a vulture proof cage. Okay, first of all, turkey vultures look for food by smell--a cage is not going to keep them away--they'll still be attracted by that tasty dead body smell. Second of all, if a body is out in the elements, and vultures are also out in those same elements, wouldn't it make sense to let the birds "have at it"?

Bee Report - Olga on Track

The heavens opened up and shone down upon our industrious beehives and made the larvae to sparkle! And it was good. Note the twinkling bee larvae in the above photo? That's gotta be a good omen.

Well, we learned some interesting lessons at the bee hives today. Number 1 - you sweat in all kinds of places when wearing a bee suit in upper eighty degree temperatures while standing in bright sunlight. Hoo wee! Number 2 - Olga is coming along rather splendidly!

She had about 70% of her frames drawn out with comb! The above photo is one of the center frames that we checked last week that had eggs in it. Now the eggs are larvae and the workers are capping them so they can pupate in peace. You wouldn't believe how heavy a frame full of drawn out comb, brood, and honey feels! This is what a good frame of brood looks like according to the books and classes--what do you know, Olga is finally agreeing with the books--and exceeding Kitty's hive in comb construction. Kitty was a full two frames short of the Olga hive.

That's not to say that Olga still isn't showing her individuality. There is some unique comb construction going on, but I believe that is more my fault for not spacing the frames properly. Above is an example of some of the funky comb from Olga's hive. It's elevated and curled upon itself. They Kitty hive had a little of this as well, but not to the degree of the Olga hive.

For some of the comb, we were able to press down onto the frame, but some of it was out so far out, I had to take it off. I felt a pang of guilt because larvae was inside some of the cells--but it had to be done to insure proper frame spacing in the future. There was also some honey mixed in with the larvae from the removed comb that dripped onto my palm. Mr. Neil, Lorraine, and I took a taste. It had honey flavor, not full honey but the potential for flavorful greatness is there. I felt a surge of pride in our girls.

Here's another shot of some uncapped brood. This larvae will probably be capped off within the next day or two. Imagine, two weeks from now, those gelatinous, squirmy blobs will be just like their sisters above. We did not see either queen today, but we did see lots of eggs in both hives meaning both queens were there, but doing a good job of evading our watchful (albeit sweat covered) gazes.

Both hives are taking advantage of the nectar feeder and of the pollen patties. Kitty's hive has gone into propolis overdrive. The flat things in the above photo are the pollen patties and the little bits of tan granules around it are propolis. It's starting to get gooey ad sticky in the hot weather. I have a feeling it's gonna get messy later this summer in the Kitty Hive.

Here's a photo of the workers at the Kitty hive entrance. Notice the yellow around the hole--that's pollen that has fallen off and collected from returning worker bees. It's interesting to observe the more territorial behaviors today. With the Olga hive, we have a very limited time before we wear out our welcome. They start off quiet, but within five minutes, they start bumping our head masks, warning they are about to sting. The buzzing gets more agitated as well. Kitty gives us a bit more time before warning us off. They are an easy going kingdom--to a point. When they've had enough, they get down to the business of driving you out.

Once our frames in our brood boxes are 80% full, it's time to stack another brood box on there. With they way Olga was working today, I might do that this Saturday. For now, cap away girls, cap away.

The Official Bird Conservation Day

Governor Pawlenty has proclaimed the second Saturday in May as Bird Conservation Day in Minnesota

Bird Conservation Day will help to celebrate 427 species of birds that have been recorded in Minnesota as well as the significant amount of bird enthusiasts Minnesota has.

Recently, The Minnesota DNR Nongame Wildlife Program, Audubon Minnesota and other bird conservationists came together to launch a statewide, all-bird conservation initiative in the Minnesota. The collaborative effort, called Bird Conservation Minnesota (BCM), is a voluntary partnership of agencies and organizations with an interest in the conservation of all wild bird species and their habitats.

Along with the DNR, BCM brings together bird conservationists from more than 160 partners.

“The strong connections among this wide diversity of these bird conservation organizations and individuals in the state to help ensure the conservation of Minnesota’s rich and diverse avifauna” said Carrol Henderson, Supervisor of DNR’s Nongame Wildlife Program.

“Minnesota has a wonderful suite of organizations, agencies and companies that are concerned about bird conservation,” said Dr. Scott Lanyon, director of the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum and chair of the BCM Coordinating Council. “The goal of Bird Conservation Minnesota is to facilitate communication and cooperation between these various groups so that all can be more successful in the process. I anticipate that BCM will identify, and help to address, critical bird conservation issues that are not on any conservation group’s radar screen and are in danger of ‘falling through the cracks’.”

BCM plans to build public support through education, tourism and bird-friendly communities to ensure that a well-informed public understands the importance of conservation and birds.

How I Spent My Wednesday Night

Mr. Neil had a bat in his home and while trying to get it back outside, we shot this 20 second film:



Well, at least he has something to fall back on in case the writing thing doesn't pan out. Bonus points to anyone who can id the bat--I sure can't.

The bat did make it back outdoors safe and sound without any grabbing. I have to say it was fun to just stand there, try hard to resist the urge to duck and let the bat maneuver around you.

Another Bird Not Reading The Books

I mentioned the other day that a rose-breasted grosbeak on my suet log, but couldn't get a photo. Well, here's a female rose-breasted grosbeak on Mr. Neil's suet feeder. It's not that they never eat suet, but grosbeaks are more tray feeder or tube feeder type birds. And she's not just after the seed in the suet, she was taking out big old hunks of fat.

Not long after I took that photo, a hairy woodpecker flew in and chased her off. She has a look that seems to be saying, "No grosbeaks at my fat cake, thank you very much!"

I could hardly sleep last night - the barred owls continued their hooting and a pack of coyotes were howling. That combined with the excitement of early morning birding and bee monitoring made for restless sleep.

The Curious Case Of European Birds In The Midwest

I received an email and photos from Debbie Bocock who lives in St. James, MN (Watonwan County – S. Central MN) who had a finch she had never seen before in her yard. She also couldn't find it easily in her field guides. Can you tell what it is? You may have seen one in your local Petsmart.

The bird is a European Goldfinch which is not native to Minnesota or any place in North America--but is legally sold as a pet bird in the United States. Tony Hertzel of the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union Records Committee said, "I know of no accepted records of European Goldfinch in the interior of North America, but then again, I don't keep up on that too much -- I really only track birds for Minnesota and, to a lesser degree, the upper Mississippi states. I have received about 5 reports of this species in the last couple of weeks, suggesting that a second mass release has occurred somewhere nearby."

Tony and I have talked about this before. In May of 2005, a blue tit showed up in Mr. Neil's yard (that's the bird in the above photo). It wasn't banded, (a band would help narrow down if the bird was an "escaped" pet). I still submitted it to the record's committee but it was not accepted because the bird was believed to be released since they are not known to be long distance migrators. It was believed that the bird was an escapee/released bird from somewhere in the Chicago area. Turns out many small European species have been reported from near there and move into nearby states.

I did some digging on ye olde Internet and found a site dedicated to Midwest European Goldfinches (and other odd ball species)--it appears Julie Craves and Rouge River Bird Observatory is trying to track and monitor these birds sitings. So, all you Midwesterners, keep your eyes open for odd ball birds.

Barred Owls Calling

I recorded this pair of barred owls caterwauling tonight with my digital camera from the deck of Mr. Neil's writing gazebo. It's only about 25 seconds long. It's dark so you can't see the owls, but you sure can hear them!



It was my fault. I had suspected there was one barred owl hanging out behind the gazebo, so, I played the "Barred Owl Female Solicitation Call" from Cornell's Voices of North American Owls on my iPod...powerful stuff.

Wood Lake Birding

This pair of house finches appeared to be on a date while bathing together in a puddle on the roof across of an apartment building next to mine.

The romantic atmosphere was interrupted when some house sparrows joined the pair.

After I finished my shift at The Raptor Center (nothing exciting to report there, I spent most of the morning scrubbing out travel crates, turf, and stuffing envelopes) I went over to Wood Lake Nature Center to look for birds. All the young Canada geese are out and about. Ah, the cute age that lasts about a week when they are tiny and puffy.

Wood Lake was covered in orioles. They didn't really have any oriole feeders at their feeding station so I had to try and get a photo old school style with them feeding on insects in the trees. Not as easy or as fun. I'll get better oriole photos at Mr Neil's when I check the bees on Thursday.

There's a wood duck box on the dock right outside the nature center. I was standing on the dock, scanning a lake when a hen from inside the box decided to fly out and cool off in the water. That's not a female wood duck, that's a female hooded merganser. Sweet.

I hung out near the shoreline, lots of birds were on the edge trying to bathe and lots of sparrows were lurking in the brush, flipping dried leaves looking for bugs. One bird was wildly flipping the leaves and I almost thought it was a brown thrasher, but I finally saw that it was a female towhee. I tried to aim the spotting scope in anticipation of where I thought she would be to get a photo. I didn't get the towhee, but I did get an obscured common yellowthroat instead.

Common yellowthroats are so pishable, I thought I'd get a photo of it. Alas, the pishing worked too well. The common yellowthroat kept staying way too close to get a photo, I couldn't get the scope to focus on it.

But while I was focusing on the yellowthroat, a green heron flew in overhead. I backed up, got it in the scope and took a photo.

I was only at Wood Lake for about an hour, but I got see some great birds. I love this time of year. Birds that are common in the summer are here as new arrivals and exciting to see. Pretty much anywhere you go will reveal warblers and even if you only have an hour to kill, you can see something exciting. I can't wait for banding this Friday!

Disapproving Rabbits Sweeping The Nation

A BIG, HUGE thanks to a field contributor to the blog who noted this very cute juggling guy in a very familiar shirt on KCRG.

Double Whoot....and a yarp.

Right Outside The Bathroom Window, Baby!

This morning amidst all the other birds I was hearing I thought I heard a white-crowned sparrow. When I came home this afternoon and took the trash out, my suspicions were confirmed when I found a white-crowned lurking on the ground under my bird feeder.

When I made it back upstairs to the apartment, it had started singing again. I stood in my tub, opened the bathroom window and screen, and could hear the sparrow singing below. I grabbed my spotting scope and digital camera and my ipod and speaker. I cued up white-crowned sparrow on the old birdJam, set it to repeat, pressed play, and within seconds:

...the white-crowned sparrow popped up and sang right back and I digiscoped away while standing in the bathtub.

And then he looked straight at me. He wasn't very close, he was in the noisy neighbor's tree next door and just happened to pop up on a perch between all the leaves. I snapped a few photos and then turned off the iPod. The white-throat continued to sing for the rest of the afternoon. I love these guys. That head looks so out of place--it's all dull browns and gray with a sassy little beret of bold black and white on top.

Forgiveness

It took about a week and four bags of fresh parsley, one bag of dandelion greens, some Nutri-berries, and lots of groveling but I think Cinnamon has finally forgiven us for the vet appointment and then ditching her while we were in Ohio. Above is a photo mid-grovel. She loves having her ears stroked, but she still manages to have a look of superiority and deep disappointment in me.

Best Alarm Clock

First, Non Birding Bill and I went to see Hot Fuzz last night--HILARIOUS and we highly recommend it. We've been fans of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost from watching the British tv show Spaced (if you haven't seen it, put it on your Netflix cue), but we laughed out loud through almost the whole movie. It was also fun to see Timothy Dalton savoring his role--love that guy. It parodies all those cop buddy movies and this crew can really commit to a ridiculous premise.

Yarp.

Monday morning we had a white-throated sparrow singing very loudly outside our bedroom window. It made for a delightful alarm clock. This morning, I heard the warbling tones of a rose-breasted grosbeak right outside the window before our alarm went off.

I slowly rose upright in the bed and saw the male grosbeak lurking in the branches near the bird feeder. I had the camera handy and positioned it at the ready aimed at the feeder. Do you see the black and white blob on the left in the above photo? That's the back of the grosbeak. The screen was down and I figured it wasn't going to be the best shot, but at least blogable. To my surprise the grosbeak flew past the seed feeder and went right to the suet log (which is not visible from the bed). I figured this guy had just arrived during migration and I didn't to disturb his eating and didn't risk scaring him off getting a better shot of the suet feeder. As I was watching, I whispered, "Cool!" to myself. Non Birding Bill rolled over and tossed more blanket one me. "What's that for?" I asked. "You said you were cold." He mumbled in a half awake state.

I didn't bother to clarify what I actually said.

The grosbeak continued his song around the neighborhood and I risked being late getting ready for my shift at The Raptor Center trying to photograph him. There he is. He was in mid song in this photo, you can see his little throat puffing out. It's interesting that his song is so loud and clear even though his bill appears to be closed while he sings.

It's not the best photo, but for digiscoping right out of bed without coffee, it's not that bad.

I was so late getting ready this morning, I could hear new arrivals all over outside: least flycatchers, black-throated green warbler, northern parula, yellow-rumps, and a Harris sparrow. How is a birder supposed to get anything done with such siren songs outside the window?

Well, a white-throated sparrow on Monday, a rose-breasted grosbeak on Tuesday... I wonder what Wednesday's alarm will be? Hopefully and oriole.

Bluebird Walk With Me

Hey, if you're looking for something fun to do this weekend, come out with me this Saturday to Staring Lake Outdoor Center on a bluebird walk. We will go and check out some of the houses and see what's going on inside the nest box. It's a great photo opportunity for bluebirds, tree swallows, and chickadees. Reservations required, call Staring Lake at 952-949-8479.

Donate To A Wildlife Rehab Center

I periodically get requests to help with fund raising efforts for wildlife organizations and I like to help where I can but I also understand that there are only so many groups I can be of some use to at a time. I recently got this email:

Songbirds of Northern Indiana, Inc (non-profit corp) was just started late last summer. Been rehabbing song birds, backyard birds, urban and woodland birds for 15 years but have now given in to the demand for full time wild bird emergency care. We are in desperate need of about $30,000 to see us through the end of the year. Would you help drum up some funds for us?

I appreciate that they asked and truly wish I could help, but I think $30,000 is a lot for me to drum up! But this got me thinking, I was reading about the horrible tornado damage that happened in Kansas over the weekend and looking at photos of the area. I got to thinking about displaced pets and birds that were also injured in the process. Should I promote that?

The bottom line is that if a wildlife rehabber is going to survive--whether it's an organization like Songbirds of Northern Indiana, Eagle Valley Nature Center (taking in birds injured int he Kansas tornado) or Raptor Inc., or the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center or even a one person operation like a Julie Zickefoose, they need to have local support by the community that is going to be dropping off injured wild animals and birds, not a blogger. However, a blogger with a wide audience around the country (and now around the world) can make readers aware of all the organizations out there.

So, here's my idea: Sometime this month, find out who your local wildlife rehabber is and make a donation. If you don't know how to find out, look under the "Links" on my blog page and there is a link to "Find a rehabber near you" and click on that, it will take you a site that lists rehabbers in different states. Even if you can only give $10, that adds up over time and every little bit helps--especially as young birds are popping out of nests. $10 can purchase about a 1000 mealworms. If you don't have any cash, find out if they have a wish list. Sometimes it's as simple as towels. You might be able to get rid of something you don't need and be able to help them out.

Mother's Day is coming up and a nice donation in your mother's name to a wildlife rehab person or organization would make a great gift...if you have a mother-in-law that you don't care for, you can make a note that the donation is for starlings and grackles only ;)

Non Birding Bill Bird Report

I'm kind of in torture right now. I'm on a big deadline for Minnesota Audubon but I can hear warblers outside my window...must resist urge to digiscope...must be responsible...ehn...ehn...ehn. Crap, as I type this, I can hear a black and white warbler giving its squeaky wheel song. I think I'm either going to have to put on headphones and listen to music or go over to a coffee shop and pray that the din from customers keeps me focused. Now, I hear a Tennessee warbler...

To make matters worse, I just got an email from Non Birding Bill about his walk to work this morning:

Walking through the Loring Park today I watched two male orioles beating the s*** out of each other. At two points they were locked together on the ground. Tried to take a picture with my crummy phone, but basically they're two orange dots. At first when I saw them chasing each other, I thought they were going after a crow that a red-winged blackbird was chasing, but once they locked talons, the crow and blackbird didn't want to have anything to do with the orioles.

NBB is watching birds and not me? What is this world coming to? I personally have always had a tough time taking angry orioles seriously. That loud, clear beautiful whistling song they do, just doesn't come across as a violent warning. I can't imagine what it must have been like to see them going at it, at Loring Park.

Another Reason To Love Shatner

I want a falcon of truth! I love that he corrects the employee that it's a falcon and not a hawk. Bonus points for Shatner! Thanks, Hellziggy!

Cinnamon Is Not Amused

Warning: The following commercial is not in any way real...but it's chuckle worthy:

Soggy Hawk

"I am smiling."

I digiscoped this photo of a young red-tailed hawk while driving around today. The morning was overcast but then rained for the rest of the afternoon. This bird was sitting in a tree on the side of the road. It's gotta be tough to hunt on the wing in the rain.

There was not much activity at the Carpenter banding station today. I was hoping for a warbler, but had to settle for shots of a red-winged blackbird instead.

Lots of people running around preparing for Saturday's Raptor Release that's happening at Carpenter Nature Center. If you aren't busy, this is a fun event. Word at the Raptor Center is that they are going to release four birds that have recovered from their injuries--one every hour. All the ed birds will be out and it's a great photo opportunity to photograph some raptors.

Check out the toes on the red-winged blackbird--look how long the claws are! Guess it's easy to see how they are able to latch on to reeds and sing their guts out.

I was driving around confirming driving directions for the Mississippi River Birding Guide and drove by a marsh on 140th street in Dakota County. It was mostly mud and a quick scan of the area revealed lots of shorebirds--tons of semi-palmated sandpipers. I digiscoped and digivideoed like crazy. Shorebird id is one of my weaker skills, so tonight I'm going to sit down with a dry martini and The Shorebird Guide and see if I can figure out all the shorebirds I saw.

Fresh, Hot Disapproval!

As promised a new page of Disapproving Rabbits is up. This one also includes the video of Cinnamon eating parsley. We've had to increase our bandwidth a couple of times in the last few months because of traffic and we may have to do again this month. As of May 3rd we've already used 30% of our bandwidth for the month. And yesterday the site made it all the way to #2 on the Fat Birder Top 500!

Thanks to everyone for visiting the site.

Birds Not Reading The Books

So, when not tending the bees at Mr. Neil's house, I tend to his birds. He has great birds in his yard. You may recall that last week a pine warbler was bee bopping around our cars and feeding stations. I figured it was eating whatever it could before the insects burst out in full force. Tuesday evening as we were filling all the feeders, the pine warbler landed within five feet of us and started eating the sunflower chips right away. It ate quite a few all the while eyeing us warily. It eventually made its way over to one of the suet feeders.

I had some mealworms in my car and I dashed off on tossed those on some of the trays. The pine warbler ate one, but afterwards returned to the sunflower chips and suet. The warmer weather has brought more insects and it should be eating mealworms, but seems to have a definite preference for the suet and sunflower hearts. This bird is not reading the books about what it's supposed to be eating.

There are two well stocked suet feeders--the large cage that holds about four or five suet cakes (that the pine warbler is on in the above photos) and the ever popular suet log. Despite that, the above male downy woodpecker decided that he was going to for the finch feeder with the teeny tiny holes.

We have a mixture of Nyjer (thistle) and sunflower chips in the finch feeders. Woodpeckers do enjoy sunflower chips and sometimes when food options at a feeding station are limited, a downy woodpecker has been known to peck open finch feeders that have sunflower chips. But this bird's food options aren't limited. There are two suet feeders and they are fully loaded.

And a mere few feet away from where the downy was feeding is a tube feeder with very large feeding ports that don't need to be pecked open and is chock full of sunflower hearts and peanuts. Note the sensible white-breasted nuthatch above partaking of the tasty sunflower seed out of the shell.

There were some woodpeckers with the good sense to use the suet feeders. And because I love woodpecker tongues, I had to show this photo of a red-bellied using its barbed and spear like tongue to grab some chunks of suet. For newer readers of the blog, here is a close up photo of a red-bellied woodpecker tongue.

And this is just a gratuitous shot of the male red-bellied because he looked so purty in the sun.

"Hello, my name is Charlie, I'll be you white-throated sparrow this evening."

I love watching and listening to the changing of the birds on a day to day basis in spring. One day it's fairly quiet and then the next morning the woods are lousy with singing ruby-crowned kinglets. On Tuesday night, the white-throated sparrows were actively feeding well past dusk. They were calling to each other and throughout the night I could hear them calling--I wondered if some were heading further north. There were still some white-throated sparrows the next day, but I don't think they were the same birds that were there the night before.

Per Request--Disapproval

Some people are begging for disapproval--you people are sick. We're working on another page of disapproval and should be up within the next 48 hours.

There's been nonstop disapproval since returning from Ohio. It's my own fault, I scheduled a nail trim and a yearly exam for Cinnamon the morning we left town. Above is a photo of some massive disapproval while waiting in the vet's office. You can see that realization has just kicked in--that this time the leash didn't mean a fun romp in the park, but poking, prodding, and clipping. The good news: she's very healty for a six year old rabbit.

We're trying to bond to with Cinnamon again, but she is having nothing to do with us. Five days with a pet sitter after a vet visit is just too much. She has holed up in her little bunny fortress of solitude.

Whew, that's bordering on most intense disapproval territory...I backed away from the box slowly and let her stew in peace.

Deformed Chipping Sparrow & Unusual Cardinal Behavior

Check out this photo of a chipping sparrow that was at Mr. Neil's feeder today. At a distance, it looked like it was sporting a beard, but closer inspection through a spotting scope showed some type of growth or tumor.

The bird was able to feed, but did not hang around with the other chipping sparrows. In fact, this bird preferred to use the tube feeders as opposed to feeding on the ground.

I also wondered if this was some sort of weird crop (a storage pouch on birds) infection as well.

Has anyone seen anything like this? Anyone know what this could be?


In other news, Hasty Brook sent over this question:

I've got a question for you. I've been watching a wren working hard, stuffing sticks into a birdhouse attached to our shed. While I was watching a male cardinal swooped in and snatched the twig out of its beak! I though it was a fluke but a few minutes later it did it again. In fact for several minutes the two birds continued this. At one point the wren went into the house (sans stick), the cardinal landed on top of the house and when the wren tried to exit the cardinal attacked. Is this common bird behavior? Are cardinals that territorial?

I asked my buddy Stan and he said he thinks the cardinal is stealing nesting material--birds do that. I agree, although I have watched how aggressive cardinals are at the feeder and wonder if the cardinal is trying to discourage the house wren. Has anyone out there witnessed this type of behavior from a cardinal (or any other bird)? Any experts lurking out there who knows what is going on or can point us in the right direction for more information? I tried BNA, but have not been able to log on tonight.

New Bee Hives After One Week

Today, Lorraine, Mr. Neil and I all headed out to open our hives (Kitty and Olga) and see if the bees had drawn out comb and if the queens started laying eggs. Lorraine has been keeping a dutiful watch on the nectar situation and the Olga hive has not been eating much of the nectar or the pollen patty. In fact, that hive is very quiet and not nearly as active as the Kitty hive. Last night we discussed the possibility that Queen Olga may be failing (infertile) or had been inadvertently killed during installation. We braced ourselves for the possibility of re queening.

We decided to inspect the Kitty hive first. After all, she has been performing by the book and wouldn't it be best to inspect the hive that will give us confidence before dealing with the problem hive? Bees were busily flying in and out of the Kitty hive and a happy humming came from inside. Opening the roof revealed bees covering the nectar pail and the pollen patty. Mr. Neil puffed some smoke to calm our girls while I exposed the frames on the inside. As expected, they were congregated on the center frames. The moment of truth arrived, time to find drawn out comb, eggs, and hopefully Queen Kitty.

Lorraine held up a frame COVERED in worker bees. How in the world could we find a queen in that swirling mass of bees? They were tending the comb, building it, filing it with nectar. They had made some funky comb that stuck out--my fault for not spacing the frames a bit better, but all looked right with this frame. A few more frames in, we did find some eggs.

And then lo and behold, we found Queen Kitty! Are you able to see Queen Kitty? She is in the lower right hand corner, is all black and her abdomen sticks out well past the end of her wings--Kitty got back! The hive I helped out with last year had a queen who was pretty much the same color as the workers, but she was larger. It was hard to find her among the workers and drones. With her big, black, beautiful abdomen, Kitty sticks out and is easy to find.

As we closed the hive back up and replaced the food, we noticed all the foragers coming back laden with pollen. Here is one of the Kitty workers above with a very full pollen basket on her back leg.

We then headed over to check on the Olga hive. There was not much activity of foragers heading out, although we did notice one of the Kitty bees being denied entrance to the Olga hive. We can tell a difference between the two--Kitty bees are a pretty reddish-tan and the Olga bees are much darker. We opened the top and there was an absence of the loud humming like there was at the Kitty hive. This did not bode well. If the queen was infertile, we would find drone cells--drones (male bees) come from unfertilized eggs. They are in larger cells and really don't do much for the colony. They do not help build comb, all they do is eat honey and bide their time until they can fly out and find some other queen to fertilize. If the queen was dead, then we would find no eggs.

The workers are supposed to start building the comb on the center frames. There we no bees on the center frames, they all congregated to one side and there looked to be quite a few bees inside. We pulled out a frame and found it chock full of workers drawing out comb. That was a good sign, but could we find eggs?

I blew on the frame, some bees cleared and will you look at that, we found eggs! Look at the some of the empty cells in the above photo. You should see what looks like super tiny grains of rice--those are bee eggs (there are four visible)! Whoot! That was a good sign there was a queen alive. We still needed to look for Queen Olga, because if a queen is dead, sometimes workers will lay infertile eggs.

We took out another frame and there she was, a very active and healthy Queen Olga (right in the middle of the above photo--you can just see her black abdomen). What a relief--the Olga bees are doing just fine--albeit making comb in an unusual place--one one side of the hive and not in the center. They had also cleaned out all the dead workers on the floor from last week too--all good. Apparently, these bees are not going to go by the book (I guess they didn't read it). I wonder where they have been getting nectar? They still haven't been eating much that we have provided and they show absolutely no interest in the pollen patty. Mr. Neil got a copy of a book of bees by Sue Hubbell and she does not use the pollen patties and her bees are just fine. She's in a different part of the country than we are, but I think the Olga bees like her way of beekeeping and want to do this on their own, without too much of our help. We moved the frames with comb and eggs towards the center and closed Olga back up.

Before I left to go home, Lorraine pointed out a honeybee on a dandelion near the house. The bee was busy gathering lots of pollen and nectar. She was lighter in color which makes her a Kitty bee. Now we need to let our girls get down to work, tending the nursery and drawing out comb. The next few weeks will be tough, no new bees will come in until the eggs hatch--21 days after being laid. We'll have a decrease of workers until the larvae hatch and the current workers need to focus on construction.

We'll check on them next week.

UPDATE: Here's an entry from Mr. Neil about our bee adventure--and you can see him white. We call it the Negative Neil.

Play On Birds

We had a blast at North Coast Nature Fest for Cleveland Metroparks. They do a great job of promoting the festival to the city and over 5000 people attended! They had posters all over the place for the festival and it had a photos of the guest speakers--me and photographer Rick Sammon (who gave us an awesome five minute Photoshop tutorial over dinner on Friday night). One of the posters was hanging in the women's restroom at Rocky River Nature Center--I was so grateful that it wasn't on the door. It would have been really weird to be staring at myself while I was...you know.

One of the great parts of the festival for me was that some of my family and Non Birding Bill's family got to see us perform Play on Birds live on stage. Above from left to right is my Aunt Lorelei, my sister Monica, my Mom, my Aunt Lynne, NBB's Dad (apple didn't fall far from that tree), NBB's Mom, and NBB's nephew Mike. Yes, our families took up the whole front row. I was glad because my mom is only four foot eight inches.

Monica got this great photo of our skit "What Birders Think They Look Like". When we were finished the audience really seemed to have enjoyed it. One lady came up and said that she missed part of Prairie Home Companion and that we were worth it. Being from Minnesota, we knew this was high praise indeed.

Banding at North Coast Nature

One of my favorite things to do is banding and they had a great demo at the North Coast Nature Festival.

Here is one of my favorite photos of the weekend. That's master bander Tom Bartlett showing a goldfinch to some awestruck kids. Look at that little boy in sunglasses--that look about says it all!

Kids got the chance to release some of the birds after they were banded. This little girl just opened her hand the finch flung himself from the palm of her hand in a split second.

Here's a handsome little chipping sparrow that came into the nets. I have to say, Tom is one of the fastest banders I have ever seen. Birds were banded, measured, weighed and outta there in less than two minutes.

I also really appreciated how patient and enthusiastic he was around the kids. His missioned appeared to go beyond just banding the birds, but sharing their beauty with them. If kids wanted to, they had a chance to touch the birds. Several years ago, I was against this. I thought it was cruel to the bird and wondered why do kids have to touch everything. One day I realized that touch is how to make something real and understandable to a kid, and when done in a respectful manner, is not that stressful to the bird.

Sometimes, there can be issues. This female brown-headed cowbird gave one little boy a good hard nip on the finger with her bill. It stung, but he survived. He was lucky it wasn't a cardinal.

Tom got several woodpeckers in the net that day, including this male downy woodpecker. You can really see all those downy feathers around his bill...and his tiny spear like tongue.

And off he goes. If you'd like a chance to watch Tom in action, he will be banding at Kelleys Island later this month.

Hello Links, So Long Bandwidth

Holy Cow, we are getting linkages from all over the freakin' place to Disapproving Rabbits. Cinnamon must have gone into self promotion overdrive while Non Birding Bill and I were out of town last weekend. We got a mention on one of my all time favorite sites Cute Overload, we were on the daily links on Dooce (Non Birding Bill introduced me to the wonders of her dog, Chuck), and Susan Gets Native said that the Swami told her (what's the story, mornin' glory, what's the word hummingbird) we were number two on Metafilter on April 30, 2007. Whoot!

And in case you missed it, this is a link that Diva Kitty posted in the comments section of a photo from a window of an office I almost wish I had.

Finally, Non Birding Bill sent me this really unnerving story...I wonder how long it will be until this crossing over into birding?