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 peo