Turkey Terrorizes Neighborhood in Blaine, MN

Boy, some weeks it really is like living in the movie Fargo. Friday morning all of the stations were covering a story about the Minnesota Attorney General going after one of the major cell phone companies for trapping customers into extended contracts. An angry customer was interviewed at the press conference and gave us this lovely sound bite:

"I'd like to give their CEO a swift boot right in the patootie."

If you click on the above link, you can watch the video and hear the quote delivered in a fine Minnesota accent.

And we also have have a story of a turkey ruling the roost in a suburb of the Twin Cities:

A fearless fowl has been strutting along Cloverleaf Parkway in Blaine since spring, delighting senior citizens, annoying police and mail carriers, and frightening schoolchildren waiting for the bus.

"It went after elementary kids at a bus stop, and it doesn't scare away," said Police Chief Dave Johnson, whose department has fielded numerous turkey calls.

Johnson said an officer called one day to report that the Cloverleaf turkey had him trapped in his squad car.

Read the rest of the story here.

Carpenter Banding

It was another beautiful day at Carpenter Nature Center--and busy! There were so many birds to band that I didn't have time to get photos of the Lincoln's sparrow, orange-crowned warbler, and the first junco of the season (although, I think I will have ample opportunity of getting junco photos in the near future). It's so weird to see juncos and hummingbirds all in the same day. I did have time to get photos of a palm warlber in the above photo. Here's another:

Thanks to all the readers who sent kind notes about my incorrect id in the blog when I originally posted this as a yellow-rumped warbler, they are correct, it is a palm warlbers. Although as soon as I got out of my car I could hear yellow-rumps thick in the trees--kissing sounds everywhere. I'm now to the point where I get to band whatever bird someone hands me or that I get out of the net. I thought this was exciting until I had to start aging and sexing the fall warblers. And if it's any consolation--it's not any easier to do them in hand than it is when they are in the trees. I think we ended saying this one was an after hatch year female. I would tell you how...but then I would have to kill you.

Here was a Tennessee warbler that Larry was banding. I was trying to help him age and sex this bird by reading through Pyle. We were trying to determine between after hatch year male and female. Here are just one of the differences according to Pyle: male--underparts with a moderate yellow wash and female--underparts lightly washed yellow.

Hmmmmm. Can you tell the difference between those two? Ah, Pyle, I kid, because I love. In all seriousness, Pyle is a helpful book to banders, but sometimes you come across weird bits like that and they just make you want to hit your head and against the table and say, "Huh?"

A fun surprise what a Philadelphia vireo. When it was first tangled in the net, I thought it was a warbler. But when I got it out, I knew it was some kind of vireo. They really are quite small and just to give you an idea, check out this photo at Hilton Pond of a green-breasted mango next to a Philadelphia vireo (that photo was taken in Costa Rica). That's one big hummer next to one small vireo.

We also banded a ruby-crowned kinglet. This little stinker was flashing its red crown like crazy when it was in the bag waiting to be banded, but once it was in hand, the ruby crown became subdued. You can see a hint of it in the above photo. The kinglet, half bird, half mouse.

After banding, I went out to get photos of some photos of unfettered birds among the autumn foliage. The song sparrows were quick to perch up to a little pishing. There were quite a few other sparrows lurking about in the brush: white-throated, Lincoln's, clay-colored, and one or two field sparrows.

I did find this sad looking song sparrow. It looks like it's asking, "Have you seen my tail anywhere?"

Now, off to bed, I have to get up early for a field trip I'm leading to Hawk Ridge in the morning. Also, if you still have not been to Carpenter this fall, it's still absolutely gorgeous. What are you waiting for? Great color and lots of apples on sale. Get thee hence!

Autumn Hummingbirds

Okay, just to prove that the "take your hummingbird feeder in on Labor Day" is bunk, we still have hummingbirds:

Not only that, but someone who lives in Duluth, MN reported a hummingbird at his feeders yesterday. This is normal hummingbird movement this time of year and good reason to keep the feeders out--get that last reminder of summer before they head south across the Gulf of Mexico.

Speaking of hummingbird migration, Scott Weidensaul mentioned there is a study he and others are conducting on the increased number of western hummingbirds that are showing up in the eastern U.S. (we just had a green-breasted mango in Beloit, WI).

The researchers are banding hummers when they can and Scott is theorizing that we may be seeing a new migratory route being developed by some of these populations. A route that takes them from the western US across the continent to the east coast and then south. He noted that many of these birds are turning up later in the season. Another reason to keep those hummingbird feeders out.

Hen Of The Woods

I don't have any excuse or text to really go with this red-breasted nuthatch, I just thought it was cute, perched in the sun.

So, this morning I went to check on the shaggy mane mushrooms I found yesterday and they were well on their way to be coming an inky cap. Here's an up close shot of the inky:

Check it out, it kind of looks like blood, so that combined with the auto digestion just creeps me out and makes me not want to eat it. However, I took a walk with Non Birding Bill and not far from where we found the sulphur shelf tree, we found:

Hen of the Woods! Super Yummy! Mr. Neil found some last year and asked all of us to keep an eye open while he's been traveling so we could harvest and save it for him. Hen of the Woods is different than Chicken of the Woods (that's sulphur shelf) and as I understand it, gets its name from looking like a fluffed up chicken sitting on the ground. It's also known as maitake which you may find from time to time in grocery stores.

Check it out, mushrooms bigger than my head (now that is big). Usually when you find them, you find several pounds at a time. I called my buddy Stan to do a little bragging and find out what his favorite way is to preserve them. He highly recommended drying them. There was plenty to go around, so I decided to freeze some and to dry some so Mr. Neil could have some options when he gets home.

First thing I had to do was slice them up and make sure to get the bugs and dirt off them. The slices reminded me of coral.

Check out the cool patterns in the stem, kind of reminds me of a geode.

Even NBB couldn't wait to eat the mushrooms. I put some of the slices on a cookie sheet making sure they weren't touching and placed them in the deep freezer. Once they were rock solid, I put them in baggies and left them in the freezer.

Per Stan's instructions, I chopped some of the slices into one inch pieces and put them in the food dehydrator. Stan prefers this method because when you rehydrate them, you end up creating a very rich mushroom broth this is perfect for soups.

By the end of the day the pieces were dry and we placed them in mason jar for later use.

By the end of the day, the inky cap was very black and surprisingly dry. There are more popping up in the yard and in the woods.


Here's the inside of the inky cap, kinda freaky.

And now I realized that I am very tired and must get to sleep if I'm going to wake up in time for banding.

Death By Propolis?

Well, here's something unexpected. I went to put some feeder pails out for the Kitty and Olga hives today. When I opened the lid to Olga, I found a drone stuck by the head to the propolis trap.

I could see him hanging when I lifted the lid. When I set it on the ground, he remained rigid in this head stand position. He's been dead awhile, but he sort of looks like he's in some weird yoga pose. I wonder how he managed that? Perhaps the workers did it because they are tired of the drones eating the honey and doing nothing but going on their daily flights to look for a queen to mate with and return day after day, unsuccessful virgins. It's easy to tell if a drone is still a virgin--because it's still alive. Once they mate with a queen, they die in process.

The Olga hive has been in propolis overload. When I went to switch the feeder pail, they had glued it to the boards with propolis. I admire their efforts, but it makes feeding them a bit of a challenge.

In other news, I found a fifth edible fungus in Mr. Neil's yard today--a shaggy mane. I've read different explanations of how tasty it is, but I didn't try it because I didn't have time to prepare it and once you pick it, the fungus will quickly autodigest turning into a black liquid--bleh. It will do it a little slower if you don't pick it, which is what give this mushroom its folk name, the inky cap. Plus, Mr. Neil isn't in town and no one else around seems as interested in the wild edible shrooms.

Interesting Info From Banding Birds

I keep trying to write this blog entry, but my rabbit insists on using me as a jungle gym, making typing most difficult.

Here's a photo of last weekend's banding crew (the only bummer is that Frank Taylor, the guy who runs the blind isn't in it). But from left to right we have Reier Grudem, Joan Schnabel, me, Amber Burnette (holding a red-tailed hawk), Rick Dupont, and Katy Dupont.

Frank Taylor just included this photo in his weekly banding report. That's me in the pigeon yanking seat holding the pigeon line and a sharp-shinned hawk I lured into the banding station by pulling the pigeon. Whoot!

Above are two haggard (adult) sharp-shinned hawks. So, I gave you the info for how we have the banding station set up, now let's talk about some of the interesting things observed over last weekend. First off, birds were all over, both songbirds and raptors. Saturday morning, Amber, Reier and I arrived at the field and could see sharp-shinned hawks, harriers, merlins all moving and could hear blue jays all over. You would see flocks of blue jays miles away in your binoculars and there would always be at least one sharp-shinned hawk mixed in with the flock.

In the above photo is both a haggard (towards the back) and a passage (first year) sharp-shinned hawk. Note the difference in eye color and that the younger bird is brown and white and the older birds is dark blue with and orange breast. The passage sharp-shins were in hunting mode and were bound and determined to take out a blue jay. You would hear a flock of blue jays screaming and then all of a sudden you'd hear one give a strange honking call and that was usually a shin hot on its tail. We also saw flocks of smaller birds in the fields in front of the blind. At one point we had a white-crowned sparrow feeding in the grass in front of us. Just as we identified what type of sparrow it was, a passage sharp-shinned hawk flew down, landed on it, killed it and flew away with it's prize--in less than 40 seconds. It's was a much more effortless affair than the Cooper's hawk incident from yesterday.

Above is an up close shot of a haggard sharp-shinned. It was one of the busiest weekends I've ever experienced at this little hawk banding station. On Saturday we banded 32 birds (29 sharp-shins and 3 red-tails) and on Sunday we banded 34 birds on Sunday (33 sharp-shins, and 1 Merlin). We did have quite a few heart breaks, including birds bouncing out of the nets before we could get to them and one mouthy little female kestrel. When the kestrels come into the net, you are sure they are going to come in, but they always seem to find the net at the last second and dodge out of the way. This particular female, flew right to us with no intention of going for the pigeon and landed on one of the poles that holds the net. She looked directly to the blind and gave the loud kestrel cry--pretty much the equivalent of giving us the bird. It was as if she were screaming, "Hey, I know you guys are here and any predator withing the sound of my voice should stay away!!" We must have had her in the nets before.

Here's a haggard red-tailed hawk that came into the nets. This bird was a bit thin and its bill was a tad crusty looking. As Amber was banding it, she noticed that the left eye was clouded over. When you waved a finger in front of it, the hawk could see out of it at all.

Obviously the hawk had not been surviving well with this disability, but it had been surviving. Who knows exactly how long the birds had been living with sight in only one eye. The bird has been alive at least three years. When red-tailed hawks are young, they have yellow eyes (note the yellow eyes of a passage red-tailed hawk in the next photo). Their eyes get darker as they get older, this bird could very well be 15 years old. Glaucoma doesn't develop overnight, perhaps it has been such a gradual change the hawk has had a chance to adjust it's hunting style. Reier noted how it flew to take to view the bait pigeon and really, had the nets not been there, it would have been able to catch it. There really aren't any treatments for bird glaucoma so taking to the Raptor Center wasn't an option. After banding it, we let it go. Maybe it will survive another few years or maybe it's going to end its last days in a blaze of glory.

For a comparison, here's a very healthy passage red-tailed hawk, note the yellow eyes? This bird was having some tail issues:

Check it out, it's missing quite a few feather and has a mixture of both first year red-tail brown feathers and a red tail feather--what the heck is going on? Frank speculated that the tails feathers had been grabbed, maybe by another red-tail in a territorial fight, or by a nest mate, or even some other predator. The feathers are starting to grow back in, and the new feathers are growing in red because the body says "hey, after the second set, these should be red" but at the same time, the feathers are supposed to be brown striped, so you get some striping in there too. And since we have a photo of a red-tailed hawk with the wing extended, note how the wings look very long in relation to the body, and the tail is short in relation to the body--this is a characteristic of this type of hawk, known as a buteo. Compare that to a different hawk:

Here is a sharp-shinned hawk, they are accipiters and they have a shorter wing in relation to the body, and a very long tail--that's one way you can start to id hawks. When you see one, try to note if the tail is long or short compared to the body and if the wings look long or short. Incidentally, this is one of the birds that I lured into the nets.

The birds were coming into the nets so quickly, that at times we barely had time to get photos or to release banded birds. We were getting ready to release this merlin (in front) and this sharp-shin when Rick yelled that some birds were coming into the nets. We just ran behind the blind rather than taking the time to go in. Sometimes that's faster and if you're quiet, the birds will still come into the nets. I was going to take a photo of these two when all of a sudden both looked up. They were seeing hawks fly over too.

When we have a chance, I like to get photos of people releasing hawks. My favorite thing to do is lay on the ground and get a wing shot of the bird. When you release a sharp-shinned hawk, you can pretty much just open your hand and they take off towards the woods right away.

Reier got a photo of me releasing a red-tailed hawk. They are little heftier and you have to kind of fling them into the air so they don't just thunk on the ground. Unlike the sharp-shinned hawks that head straight for the safety of the woods as soon as they are released, red-tails stay in the open and try to find the nearest thermal to lift high into the sky.

At one point we had two sharp-shins to release and one merlin. We released them all on once (that's the merlin in the middle). Note the shin on the right aiming right for me? That was courtesy of Katy. I told her that she could just let it drop towards me, boy I think she kind of threw it at me. It's okay, I had it coming, I was making fun of her for texting her friends from the blind. And if you're worried, the bird didn't hit me and made it safely to the woods.

We got to do several multiple releases. Here's a video of a sharp-shinned hawk release. I'm holding a sharp-shin and aiming my camera at my hands. But since two people next to me are releasing birds, it looks like a magic trick: one bird turns into three:



And for those who can't see video, here's a couple of consolation photos:

Haggard sharp-shinned hawk.

Passage merlin.

Embassy Suites Ducks

Some may remember earlier in the summer that I had a night of revelry at the St. Paul Embassy Suites and was surprised to find that they had ducks in their lobby. Well, some inebriated jerk killed one of them over the weekend. You can read about him here. Boy, doesn't he just sound like the grand prize on the Dating Game?

Struggle For Life In Uptown

We interrupt the regularly scheduled report on last weekend's hawk banding to inform you of an urban Cooper's hawk observation that happened today.

WARNING! This post is not for the squeamish. In Nature, the fight for survival can be brutal and this post is going to describe an incident between a hawk and a pigeon. If you would rather think of all the animals and birds getting along like a Leo the Lion cartoon, you may want to skip reading the rest of this post.

I needed to take care of some grocery shopping this afternoon before we were hit with a line of thunder storms. When we came back from Duluth last night, you could feel the humidity, I had a tough time sleeping last and the air felt heavier throughout the day today. I left to go shopping and I as I walked past the side of my building, I noticed an odd lump next the bushes that border the apartment building's property. It suddenly dawned on me that the shape was a Cooper's hawk mantling over prey. There was white flash and I realized it had a pigeon and it wasn't quite dead. So, I dashed upstairs to my apartment for my digiscoping equipment.

I came back down and the hawk had changed position and was facing me with the pigeon. This was a Cooper's hawk hatched this year based on the brown and white plumage. It's also a female based on her size compared to the pigeon--she's a big ole girl. The hawk seemed antsy, and had a tough time balancing on top of the pigeon. When I took the second photo, I found out why:

The pigeon was still alive and struggling to free itself from the inexperienced hunter. I have always thought that Cooper's hawk was one of the worst ways to go--especially a young one that doesn't quite know how to use all of its equipment yet. Cooper's hawks squeeze repeatedly, and since their toes and talons are thinner than a red-tailed hawk, it's kind of like a death by sewing machine needles. When a Coops starts to feed, prey isn't always dead. Experienced birds can kill quicker, it makes it easier to feed and they don't waste as much energy. I started to debate with myself as to how long I can watch this, let alone take photos.

And then the pigeon rolled and was free (I took a photo but all that was left was a few feathers floating), it took off like a shot right over my head, the Cooper's followed in hot pursuit at eye level with me to the right side of my face. I felt a slight breeze in its wake. The pigeon crossed the busy street right over the cars, the Cooper's gained quickly. The pigeon raced over a parking lot towards some trees, the hawk caught up and nailed it in mid air, there was a puff of feathers and both fell to the ground.

I crossed the street at searched the parking lot. The young Cooper's hawk had made it to a small yard at the other end of the lot. If you look between the dark gray car and the yellow garage, you can see a small lump on the ground. That's the hawk. Don't worry, I got her in the scope:

The pigeon was still putting up a fight, although not much. You could still see it breathing the scope. The young and hungry hawk could no longer wait and had to feed.

You will note in some of the photos that her mouth is open. She was panting hard. I could feel sweat dripping down my back under my rain jacket from the humid conditions, I can't imagine what it feels like when you can't sweat, have to fly hard and try and kill something half your size to survive. I didn't approach any closer to the hawk, she was having a tough enough go at trying to eat for the day and I could get good enough photos from this distance.

As she was feeding, the pigeon finally stopped struggling and breathing. A few times the hawk would mantle--spread out her wings and tail to look big and intimidating and hide the prey. I wondered what would cause that.

I soon had my answer. A gray squirrel was investigating the situation, squealing out its protest of the hawk near its tree. I could hear cardinals chipping a warning to each other and robins giving their high pitched warning whistles as well. No one was happy about the Cooper's hawk.

The hawk continued to feed and then mantled one more time. This time and older gentleman and small dog were approaching, both appeared oblivious to the feeding hawk.

The man and dog were too much and the Cooper's flew away with its kill. I'm always amazed at what I spy in our neighborhood. I always wonder if my other neighbors ever notice this. Did the people driving down the street notice the pigeon with the hawk in pursuit mere feet in front of their windshield? I did feel bad for the pigeon (I feed them off my window ledge), but also realized that they hawk had been having a hard time of it herself just trying to survive. Will she able to continue to navigate the busy Uptown area already populated with quite a few adult Cooper's hawks? Will she last the fall and winter?

I will say, she looked so big compared to all the tiny sharp-shinned hawks we banded this past weekend. Speaking of which, we will now return to our regularly scheduled hawk banding updates.

Hawk Banding 101

I'm always amazed at how closely people pay attention to the blog. When I wrote earlier that I was on a tight budget and didn't know if I could go up hawk banding this fall, invitations came from all over for free housing. I am sometimes overwhelmed by friends and their generosity. Another example is what I say I'm going to blog about. While I was having a great time at the banding station, one of the sub banders named Rick said, "Aren't you going to take pictures of the setup?"

"Huh?" I asked.

"You said that you were going to explain how we band the hawks up here." he reminded me. And he was right, I do need to explain the set up so this post will explain that. One BIG point to stress about banding birds:

Because banding birds requires capturing the birds and handling them before the banding takes place, the banding of birds in the United States is controlled under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and requires a federal banding permit. Some states require a state permit as well. Only official federal bands may be legally placed on birds that are released to the wild within the United States.

You can read more about banding birds at the Bird Banding Lab. I'm fortunate enough to know several researchers who band different types of birds (pelicans, hawks, songbirds, herons) and allow me to tag along and carry equipment and now I'm to the point where I'm actually learning to do different aspects of it. This is just how this particular banding station works and records data, every station is different. This station in Duluth, MN is run by Frank Taylor, who has been banding hawks longer than even Hawk Ridge--38 years--and he doesn't look a day over 39.

Here are the nets. Can you see them? There are two different ones there, right in front of the trees--can't you see them? Heck, I took the photo and I can't even see them. Let's look at them from a different angle:

These are the front nets and this photo was taken from the banding blind where we hide while the hawks fly in. The nets form a sort of U-shape, with the open end of the U facing the blind. There are nets surrounding the bait bird (pigeon). Most hawks aim for the pigeon and fly into the front net, but some species are able to see the front net at the last second, dodge above it and as they go up and over, end up in the nets behind the pigeon. Sometimes, they hawks are so fast and maneuver so quick, they elude both front and back nets! It's incredible to watch the mad flight skills of all raptor species. Even a big chunky buteo like a red-tailed hawk has some fast peregrine moves inside it.

This is the pigeon harness. This is a vest of leather that covers the pigeon around the chest to protect it on the off chance a raptor grabs it when coming into the net. The harness is also attached to a pull chord.

Rick is putting the harness on one of the pigeons. The wings and feet fit through the holes comfortably and all the pigeons have to be the same size, if they are too small they can get tangled in the harness, so their weight and size is closely watched. You pull the cord, and the pigeon is aloft in the air, it flaps its wings and then flutters to the ground. The pigeon yanker has to pull, get the pigeon to flap the wings and then prevent the bird from thunking onto the ground and breaking some bones, so it does take technique to do it so the pigeon has a natural looking flight and doesn't get injured. We use several pigeons throughout the day. If it's a busy day and lots of hawks are flying over, a pigeon can be yanked a lot and tire easily, especially in warm weather, so you must keep an eye on the pigeon so you don't exhaust it. Rotating the pigeons gives them a chance to relax.

Rick's primary job at the hawk blind is pulling the pigeon, or as I affectionately call him, The Master Yanker (this is the part that I got to learn this weekend, so I guess that makes me a Novice Yanker). When a hawk is spotted, Rick has the job of controlling the pigeon. You yank the pigeons in different ways for different birds. For accipiters or for larger hawks that are far away, you yank hard and get the pigeon high in the air. For larger hawks that are close, you just kind of wiggle the cord and get the pigeon to flutter slightly, too much flapping can freak out a red-tailed hawk or bald eagle on close approach--seriously, it will. I have to say, this wears out your arms pretty quick. You pull hard and far from the blind, and sometimes you punch people sitting next to you, or knock your knuckles on the boards inside the blind, not to mention how the cord rubs the skin on your hand raw.

That's Rick in the blind in the above photo. See the hole in the lower left corner? That's where the pigeon chord comes into the blind. Another important job that the Master Yanker has is to pull the pigeon out of harm's way. Some raptors dodge the nets or are so big they can still reach the the pigeon though the nets, so you have to pull the pigeon out of the way at the last second, so it doesn't get killed. Frank has only lost 3 pigeons to raptors in the 38 years he has been doing this. As if all that isn't pressure enough, Rick has to burst through that little door at lightening quick speed when a raptor gets in the nets before it works itself out and flies away. It's a high pressure job, but man is it fun. I only did it for about 45 minutes and about 8 hawks flew in, two bounced out of the nets, but still I got six, man am I sore!

We watch for hawks coming in. It's so much fun to watch a speck in the distance, identify what it is and then watch that speck come in to the nets. The red-tailed hawks are one of the coolest. You can see them from miles away, circling in a thermal and if you can figure out when its looking in the banding station's direction, you pull the pigeon. When the red-tail sees it, the bird will flap to get out of the thermal and then set on target for the pigeon--it's incredible once it has set, the red-tail won't usually flap, but just hold the wings steady and come in for a dive. There's a red-tail in the above photo. It's hard to see, I'll try and zoom it:

It's interesting to watch some raptors come in low, using the vegetation behind them to hide their shape as they approach their prey. At the last second before the red-tail hits the nets, it will swing its feet forward, baring the talons--it's like watching an airplane drop its landing gear, and sometimes you can even hear the woosh of their wings--if you're thinking that sounds really awesome, it is.

My friend Reier took this photo from the blind. When Rick had to take a break, I asked Frank if it would be okay if I took a go at pulling the pigeon. He seemed hesitant but gave the go ahead. It took some practice to get the pigeon yanking down (and I'm still no Rick) but Frank then asked, "Sharon can you book it? You have to be fast when the hawks hit the net and grab them before they get loose." I said I could do it. I took off each time and on the last time, my shoe got caught in the nets and I fell over, but still grabbed the hawk before it flew off. That's me, as if I just slid into home base, holding my hand it the air, "I'm okay!" I shouted. I got the hawk, and provided comic relief--that's what I call a job well done. I have a beauty of a bruise today and have made the extra effort to wear cropped pants to show it off. "Ew, Sharon, how did you get that nasty bruise?" and I will proudly exclaim, "Hawk banding." I love my bruises and scars.

After the hawks are in the net, you have to untangle them quickly--and I have to say that it's much easier to get raptors out than songbirds (you just have to watch out for the feet). That's Reier above getting a hawk out of the net with Rick. From thew, the hawk is processed, it's measured, banded, aged, and in some cases we try to determine sex. My buddy Amber is learning the measuring and banding end of things (and I just realized that I have tons of bird photos, but none of Amber in action), but I have to say I am a pigeon yanking junky--it's sooooo fun--and GREAT exercise. I'm okay with how my body looks, oh sure I would like to be a but more buff or a few of my parts could be a little smaller (it would make clothes shopping for tv, ten times easier) but it's hard to find exercise that's not redundant and boring. Today, after doing the pigeon yanking yesterday--all the right parts of me are sore--my arms from yanking, my thighs from squatting and lunging to get hawks out of the net, my torso (I'm not sure why) but if a gym could come up with some sort of virtual hawk banding station where every ten minutes I do some sprinting to get hawks out, and pulling to get the pigeon going, I would SO sign up! You could have screens to show hawks flying in, ah, it would be so cool.

For some birds, we take photos before they are released. Seriously, little male sharp-shinned hawk, you thought trying to catch one of those pigeons who are bigger than you was a good idea?

"Yeah, and I still say I could take one!"

And then the hawk is released and we start the process over again.

I love this photo. It's Frank (in the green fleece) standing in front of the hawk blind with some friends getting photos of the hawks that were just banded. If you look at the blind behind them, Rick is scanning the skies for more incoming hawks. Rick, Master Yanker, ever ready to bring in a hawk.

More hawk banding photos and interesting bird things we learned coming in the next entry.

Birdchick Mention In The Wall Street Journal

Well, I was called perky and witty in the New York Times Last year, and now the Wall Street Journal confirms my status as falling short of geeky. So, if you come by my blog for the first time via WSJ, welcome! Here's the mention (and as luck would have it, I was getting a good whiff of red-tail this weekend and have a photo to go along with it) and I've linked to the entries the article mentions:

This blog by Sharon Stiteler, based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, aims to "show the world that you can be a birder without being a geek," according to its masthead. Her recent video of a Peregrine falcon tearing a piece of meat to shreds certainly falls short of geeky.

Ms. Stiteler talks about birding on a couple of radio shows in the Minnesota area, and her blog is packed with information about birds on the prairie and in more urban habitats. In one recent post, she explains how to tell the difference between a juvenile male cardinal and a female cardinal -- neither of which has the bright plumage associated with adult males -- by the color of their bills. A separate post describes a particular insight that comes from being close to wild birds: "I love the good, warm, feathery smell of a bird. Not all birds have this, eagles for example smell like an empty 35mm film canister. Great-horned owls frequently smell of skunk or at the very least three-day-old road kill. . . . Red-tailed hawks have a wild alive smell."

Congrats to Birds Etcetera, Bill of the Birds, 10,000 Birds, and I and the Bird for getting a mention too.

And to take advantage of the all the extra traffic and continue my usual shameless self promotion, I do have a book coming out October 16, 2007 titled Disapproving Rabbits, based on the website and my pet rabbit Cinnamon. We also talk about beekeeping and a favorite reader post appears to be my recent bee sting, so if you need a laugh, you might want to take a look at that.

Great Hawk Banding

Ehn.

I am so tired, worn out, bruised, and have a feeling of overall contentment. It was an awesome hawk banding weekend and some in depth posting will be coming, but for now, I'm going to soak, sleep and read about Jim Stevenson in People Magazine (interesting that it takes shooting a feral a cat about to attack an endangered bird before a birder gets a profile, but that People for ya').

In the meantime, here is a preview of hawk banding:

Autumn Banding At Carpenter

It was absolutely stunning at Carpenter Nature Center this morning. Really, if you have never been there and live in the Twin Cities area, you should go now. The last of the late summer flowers are blooming, the leaves are changing color, and birds are all over the place!

It was such a pleasure to walk in this environment to the nets to get the warblers out. I was running a tad late to Carpenter this morning (thanks to a Rocky Horror Picture Show discussion on fm107) and all along the way, I could see raptors lifting off the bluffs along the Mississippi River and the St. Croix River. Thursday night, we had some bad storms with funnel clouds right at sunset. I wonder if the migrants were forced down and I was watching them leave. I saw several sharp-shinned hawks (one ambitious fellow was trying to pop a blue jay) and even a young peregrine as well as LOTS of harriers. The songbird banding was great at Carpenter.

We had a puzzling Nashville Warbler (above). The bird showed many characteristics of being male, but had NO rufus cap. But was way too yellow on the bottom to be female. So, take heart new birders, even in hand, fall warblers are tough to id. But, do note the warblers toes--Nashville warblers have yellow toes--cute!

The most exciting birds for me were the two above. It was just about time to take the nets down, and I was doing one last round to check for birds in the nets when I found in one of the nets right outside the nature center, two birds within a foot of each other. Recognized one right away. For some reason, chestnut-sided warblers and bay-breasted warblers get cross wired in my head. I know they are two separate species, but in my mind, there's not much difference in color between bay and chestnut.

I got this one out of the net and confirmed it was a fall male chestnut-sided warbler.

Larry got the second one out of the net and it turned out to be a fall bay-breasted warbler--in the nets at the same time, withing a few feet of each other--so sweet.

It was such an honor to hold these birds for a few moments as they start their trek to South America. Who knows, in a few nights these birds could be lurking in a bush in Illinois and then a week later be in St. Louis. Hm, side by side, these two don't look so hard to tell apart.

We also got in an eastern phoebe today. We've been getting in so many least flycatchers and alder flycatchers, that this looked like one beefy bird. If fooled me at first because it was so yellow. But after we banded the bird and let it go, you could hear a weak "fee bee" call. It's still learning the notes.

I was surprised to see a monarch lurking about on the prairie. It's still possible to see these guys.

I think this is an Atlantis fritillary, although a tad beat up. The last few remnant butterflies before winter sets in.

And, I leave you with one last photo of the chestnut-sided warbler. I have to get to sleep. It's now 10pm and I have to wake up at 4am to go up north for hawk trapping. I don't know what my Internet access will be like this weekend, but when I come home there should be some hot hawk banding photos.

Giggity.

Banding Giggity Giggity

Banding rocked so hard today--and it's not done, I'm going hawk trapping this weekend. I try to formulate a post about banding at Carpenter before I leave--I still have to download photos from the other camera, but here is a hint of what we got:

Both of these birds came into the same net at the same time. Can you guess what they are?

Washington Post Review of 3:10 to Yuma

Found this review this morning of 3:10 to Yuma. Birders will appreciate it:

In James Mangold's new blockbuster Western "3:10 to Yuma," the first time we meet Ben Wade, played by tough-guy actor Russell Crowe, he is making a natural history sketch of a bird just minutes before carrying out yet another murderous stagecoach robbery. The scene establishes Wade not only as a complex character, but as a savvy birder who takes the time to document what is surely the first and only sighting in the United States of Africa's augur buzzard.

Suspend my disbelief, you say? Hollywood's ornithological ignorance probably didn't ruin your last trip to the movies, but don't call me a lone curmudgeon. Peruse the e-mail group BirdChat and a Web page called "How did that bird get there?" and you'll see the extent of the agony shared by me and America's 50 million other birders. How many times must we watch a bald eagle soar across the movie screen, paired with the cry of a red-tailed hawk in Dolby Digital surround sound?

Read the rest of the review here, it's worth it as he documents other avian mistakes in movies.

Request To British Readers

The guys over at Bird Guides are looking for footage of British jays:

This year we have managed to obtain frame-filling shots of Spotted Crake, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Ptarmigan...but so far similar footage of Jays has eluded us. Autumn can be a good time of year to rectify the situation, particularly if we can find a site where these birds are storing acorns for the winter. If you know a location (preferably in the vicinity of London or Sheffield) where Jays are now reliably present, we would be most grateful to hear from you. As usual please email our cameraman max@birdguides.com.

Some Screech Owls And Geeking Out

Tuesday was much busier than I anticipated at The Raptor Center. The rest of my crew was off, there were no programs scheduled and it was pouring rain so the possibilities of walk-in tours was pretty darned remote. But that didn't mean the staff couldn't find things for me to do. In less than four hours I worked with a merlin, a kestrel, a peregrine and two screech owls.

The screeches needed some re-training to the glove. The above gray phase screech owl has been going through a rough molt and was practically bald all summer and didn't do as many programs. When I put my hand in a crate to get him out, he jumped onto my finger and just tried to squeeze the life out of it, apparently my finger had to die. But he will go through retraining and relearn that the gloved hand is a good place where screech owls get food, and have a relaxing time.

The gray phase lives in the same mew as a red phase screech owl. What's interesting about these too, is that when they are perched in their mew, the red phase is usually sitting in front of red bricks and the gray is perched in front of some weathered wood, working their camo feather colors.

I don't know if you noticed, but this bird was facing my camera but was not quite seeing it. It has some eye problems and can't see well. My camera makes a slight sound when it's focusing and the screech owl could hear it, but not quite focus on it.

The gray phase could totally focus on it.

Well, I haven't had a good old fashioned geek out in awhile, but had it last night. Scott Weidensaul is in town for Minnesota Audubon and I was invited to attend. I have to say, Scott is one of my all time favorite bird authors (Living on the Wind is one of the best books ever) and he is a really nice guy who will sign a book in just about any way you'd like him to. A few years ago, I found his phone number on the Internet and called and asked if he would autograph a book in a very unique way for my buddy Amber (at the time we called ourselves "the baddest b!tches of birding" and he did). So, I got to introduce him to Amber last night.

I was nervous because the last and only time I met him face to face was VERY early on the blog, I met him at an ABA Convention in Southeast, AZ in 2005. He was supposed to be there and then his name was crossed off the list so I didn't think I'd get to meet him. It was my last night there and I was having some drinks with some optics reps and new friends and was very much "in my happy place". Then, he walked into the hotel lobby and I suddenly realized I had to pull it together, not sound like a stalker and if I could muster it, sound kinda intelligent. At the time, I thought it was the Algonquin Round Table, but the next morning had a fear that I sounded more like John Goodman in The Big Lebowski ("You wanna toe, I can get you a toe, I can get you a toe by two o'clock!"). Anyway, he remembered, gave me a hug, said I didn't act like a slobbering junk, and even took a look at the Disapproving Rabbits book (and liked it).

The program was a special event for donors and highly active Audubon Members. I've donated some photos to some Audubon publications, so that's how I got my invite. I was honored just to be part of the crowd, it was a who's who of the Minnesota birding community. Above is the oh so tall humorist Al Batt, Val Cunningham, Jim Williams, and Laura Erickson just to name a few.

I get to see bird speakers all the time and have a good handle on who is worth seeing once and who is worth seeing two or three times, who is worth seeing after a few shots of scotch, and who you should feign illness for, but Scott Weidensaul is worth seeing multiple times. I feel like I do quite a bit for birds, but he is one of the few who gets so passionate about birds when he talks about them, that I feel like, "Crap! I'm not doing enough, I need to leave right now and help Red Knots." Very effective speaker, and if you're reading my blog, live in Minnesota and thinking, "Bummer, wish I could have been there." Do not fear. Scott is the keynote speaker at the Detroit Lakes in 2008. Plan on going now, it will be well worth it. If you're in another state and are looking for a good speaker, book him, he's worth every penny.

Cat Suet

I just got my copy of Birding Business and as I was skimming, I noticed a new product coming down the line soon...Garfield Suet. And that's as in Garfield the lasagna loving cartoon cat. Are you kidding me? I'm all for creative marketing, and I applaud bird companies finding a contemporary character for licensing, but a cat? Seriously? When you think feeding suet to birds and need a character to help market it, the best you can come up with is a cat?

In the graphic on the pack, it reads "Garfield's Peanut Crunch" and he's holding a peanut and says, "They're even nuttier than I am". People are going to think this is for their pet cat.

And Garfield isn't really known for his altruism, when did he start making food for birds? Again, I ask, when you think bird feeding, do you really want to think "cat"? How does this figure into the whole Cats Indoors! campaign?

I would link to it, but the company doesn't have it up on their site, which I can only hope is a sign that they are rethinking this.

Well, I guess this gives me hope, maybe Cinnamon and Disapproving Rabbits will get a promotional deal? Maybe she'll start endorsing prostate exams? Because that makes as much sense as a cat promoting suet. Lexus maybe? Happy Meals?

Sigh.

Rolling Bees In Powdered Sugar

Or

How To Make Your Bees Really Angry, Yet Really Popular In The Hive!

Hey, I found a way to soothe a bee sting. Make an apple pie from apples the bees pollinated. That puts you in a forgiving mood.

So, periodically, I have to check the bees for varroa mites. They have actually been a problem for the last 15 years or so and could be part of the problem with Colony Collapse Disorder. They can seriously weaken your colony. And if you're wondering why I don't talk about CCD much in the blog, here's why: every few years, the media likes to find some disease and use it to scare the pants off of us, "this could wipe out the human race" ie SARS, West Nile, Bird Flu, and now CCD. I want to wait and see before I run around like Chicken Little. Anyway, in some recent photos, I thought I was seeing mites on a bee or two. Case in point, check out the bee just emerging from the cell in the above photo. See the brownish spot on top of the head coming out? I'm fairly certain that is a varroa mite.

So, I have two ways for testing for mites. One is getting 250 bees, soaking them in alcohol (killing them), and sifting the dead mites from the dead bees. The other is to fill a jar with 250 bees, put screen over the lid, drop in a tablespoon of powdered sugar, roll the bees around in it (not killing them), and letting them sit for a minute. Apparently, the powdered sugar causes the mites to fall off. After a few minutes, I shake the jar and sugar and mites fall through the screen and I return the sugar coated bees to the hive, mite free...although a tad angry. I decided to go with the powdered sugar method, I'd rather have angry bees than dead bees.

I took out some frames to gather the bees. You're probably wondering how you know when you have 250 bees in a jar? Apparently, one fluid ounce roughly equals 100 bees, so we poured in two and a half ounces of liquid in a jar, marked it with tape. Then we took a bee brush and used that to brush bees into the jar. Once we had them n the jar, we slammed on the lid with the screen, and bonked it to make the bees fall to a pile. Fortunately, we estimated well, and the pile reached the 250 mark. For the record: bees REALLY do not like this at all. I'm pretty sure if someone could translate the buzzing coming from the jar, they would have recorded much profanity and threats of bodily harm.

It's at this point where you pour in the powdered sugar and roll the pile of bees around to get completely coated. Boy, if I thought they were unhappy before, that's nothing compared to this.

You let them sit in there to give the varroa mites a chance to fall off. Isn't this just the coolest photo? It's like you're looking into a tunnel of ghost bees. It's like what you might find in the closet of the movie Poltergeist. It's even freakier when you see this image moving around each other.

After a few minutes we shook the sugar out onto a white plate and we found about three or four varroa mites in each hive. So, we have an infestation, not a bad one and I am choosing not to treat it this fall, but next spring we might take some action, I want read up to see what the latest is. In some areas, the mites are developing a resistance to antibiotics, but there are some other options to look into. So, after the mites are counted, we have to release the sugared bees back to the hive, here's a video, it reminds me of when the ghosts joined the battle in the Lord of the Rings series:



Isn't that freaky. The other workers swarmed around the sugared bees to lick of the sugar. Here's a photo:

The bees get cleaned off fairly quickly. Here's an up close shot:

Now, you may be wondering if powdered sugar causes the mites to slide off, why not dump a bunch all over the hive from time to time? Some bee experts say that powdered sugar gives the bees too much starch and can cause problems. Although, I hear there are some beekeepers who do it with good results. Again, I have all winter to research our options before I make a decision.

Something else interesting we noticed in the Kitty hive, a few of the bees had a yellow mark on them. We did not see this on any of the Olga bees, just Kitty. NBB and I found about four bees with the yellow mark. It almost looks like someone took a tiny paint brush and slapped it down the thorax a la Pepe Le Pew cartoons.

I watched one of the marked bees for sometime, and I'm guessing that it's just some sort of pollen dust pattern. Maybe from going inside a hibiscus? I don't know, any experienced beekeepers have any input?

And I'll end with one more bee video that NBB shot of some workers trying to clean off a bee. It's a really sweet video, the sugared bee almost falls over and the others rush in to lick off the sugar. Maybe they are trying to help or maybe they are taking advantage of the food, but either way, it's cool:

Birds And Beers Tonight

Where have the last seven days gone??

Anyhoo, Birds and Beers is tonight at Merlin's Rest at 6pm. If you're interested in birds, you are invited.

We can talk about all the red-breasted nuthatches showing up at bird feeders.

Here's a nice comparison to the larger white-breasted nuthatch.

I love this shot, I got on Sunday of a young purple finch and a winter plumaged goldfinch. A family group of purple finches just arrived to the yard. Speaking of migration, Mr. Neil had tons of birds flying over this weekend. I was planting some trillium bulbs and overhead I could hear flocks moving in and moving out: bluebirds, grackles with a few blackbirds mixed in, and then I heard the secretive "seep" around me in the bushes, as white-throated sparrows started working their way to the feeding station. Glad I bought a small bag of some millet and cracked corn for those guys. I always like to scatter that on the ground this time of year.

This young purple finch is just start to sport a hint of the raspberry red that will deck out his head and chest. I hope he stays the winter.

I'll also bring along the preview copy of Disapproving Rabbits. I was annoying just about anyone I came into contact with, showing it off yesterday. Mr. Neil gave me a quote for the book and I was so excited to see that it made it in!

Okay, I have to get to The Raptor Center and then at some point load up a REALLY cool bee entry--don't worry, no stings in this one.

A quick note

Hello, all, NBB here. Sharon's running off to her segment on Showcase Minnesota, but she wanted me to let you all know that as she was heading out the door, UPS delivered her advance copy of the Disapproving Rabbits Book!



I quote verbatim:

"It's soooooooo cool! I opened a page and, there's a picture of Latte (our first rabbit)!"

Sharon asked me to let you all know that. The book is being published in October, and the reason it's taken so long for us to get an advance copy is that as soon as they show up in the publisher's office, they disappear. Yay.

What's On A Downy Woodpecker's Mind

Technically, that answer is its tongue, but I just thought this was a cute photo. The goldfinch in the background looks like it's trying to freak out this downy woodpecker:

"I don't like the way that goldfinch is staring at me. Why is he staring at me?"

Kestrel Chow Time

I just got an email from my friend Doug (the Obi Wan of shorebirds). He and his wife are gallivanting around northern Minnesota. When they woke up this morning, there was a dusting of snow on their truck.

And now after the agony of the bee sting, how about a video of a female kestrel eating a mouse at The Raptor Center (with a guest voice over by a great horned owl):



And for those who can't watch video, here is a photo:

Her name is Cinnamon (yes, it does get confusing with the other Cinnamon). She has a wing injury and she's missing all her talons on one foot--that makes hunting kind of rough.

Hello Bee Sting, Goodbye Dignity

It was inevitable. Working with bees I had to be stung sooner or later. I've been kind of dreading it, but I thought it was more the anticipation of the sting as opposed to the sting itself. I learned many lessons today, one being that the anticipation of the sting is not worse that the sting itself. The sting HURTS.

One week, I'm hand feeding my bees. The next week, they're stinging me. Women!

So, we have this madcap plan to rid Mr. Neil's woods of invasive exotic plants like buckthorn and garlic mustard and replace it with (mostly) native or at least bird and bee friendly plants. This is a long term project, but the buckthorn must be taken away--more on this later. Today we began the plan by trying to get some bulbs in the ground that will pop up in early spring to aid the bees with pollen and nectar gathering. We got some daffodil, hyacinth, and crocus bulbs on sale and started putting them around the gardens. I had the brilliant idea of planting the bulbs near some of the hives. This wasn't too crazy of an idea, earlier this week I planted some bee friendly trees (red osier dogwood, lilac, and pussy willow). The cool weather has slowed them down a bit, and as along as I kept a good ten feet from the hives, they were okay with our digging.

I had been out the hives earlier today--that's where most of these photos came from. I was feeding Kitty and just checking on Olga. For some reason, the bees were really interested in crawling all over my suit. I thought I must have spilled some home made nectar on my bee suit, but in hindsight, I wondering if they had it in for me from the get go? Especially that one on the far left in the above photo. This little pack of Olga bees looks like they are plotting against. But that one on the end, she has it in for me, she wants to do the stingin'.

I went out with Cabal and began planting my bulbs. It was later in the afternoon and the foraging bees were heading back to the hive. I noticed that I was working under the bee super highway, the spot where bees from both hives descend in the area and then split to go to their respective hives. I figured that if I kept bent over and low to the ground, all should go well and it did.

Then my cell phone rang, it was my sister Terri. I told her that I was standing between the hives, she was honored. I told her that I was sans bee suit and she was really impressed. I continued planting bulbs while on the phone. We caught up and then I noticed Lorraine approaching the bee area. I hung up from my sister and Lorraine paused before coming closer. "Wow, there are a lot of bees." She noted.

I looked over to the Olga hive. In the time I was on the phone with my sister, hundreds of bees had descended on the entrance of the Olga hive. In the instant that I thought I should maybe leave, I felt a prick on my head, just behind my ear, but well into my hair. I realized that I was being stung. It didn't hurt that much in the first instant and I wondered if I really had been stung or if it was a mosquito. Then I heard angry buzzing. Then I felt tremendous pain.

"I've been stung!" I shouted. Lorraine and Cabal looked as though they were about to bolt. "Ow! It's still in my hair! Ow!"

It was still in my hair and I wondered if I was far enough from the hive to avoid attracting the other bees attention? Would they smell the attack pheromone from her sting and come join the party? I couldn't see where I was stung, but I tried to get the bee out, by flicking fingers near the epicenter of the pain. They dying bee buzzed harder and that sent me into a panic and flight mode and I ran towards Lorraine. I'm not sure if when I reached her I tripped and fell or if some twisted response of stop, drop and roll came into play, but I was on the ground thrashing, yelling all the while, "It's still in my hair! I can hear it!"

Lorraine who is at best on uncertain terms with bees to begin with, tried to look at my hair, but my trashing on the ground was making it difficult. I think I had a fear that the bee would get loose from her stinger and get in my ear. I plugged my ear with my finger and rolled over to the other side, giving Lorraine a view of the stung side of my head. Lorraine started stomping on my ponytail. "It's still there!"

It was at this point that Cabal sensed something was amiss and wanted to help. He sensed our panic as I was writhing and squealing on the ground and Lorraine was jumping up and down desperately trying to get a bee out of my hair without actually having to touch it. Cabal wanted to help too, but what could a mere dog do? He barked and whimpered and then began digging at my clothes.

It was at this point I realized the ridiculousness of the situation and just started laughing. Lorraine pulled out the binder holding my ponytail and frantically kept searching for the bee. I could hear more buzzing from my unplugged ear. Every time she would find it, the bee would slip deeper into my hair. It didn't help that the bee was the same color as my hair. Finally, she got it out and then said, "Ah, it's flying at me!"

"That's not the same bee," I warned, "They die after they sting you! That's a different bee!"

She ran. Cabal ran. I ran. We made it to the four runner, but the bees were still chasing us. We took off down the field. We made it a safe distance away, I looked down to my feet and realized I had kicked off my shoes and was barefoot.

"We have to get back to the four runner." Lorraine said nervously, noting how close it was parked to the hives.

"I have to go back to get my shoes and all the planting tools I left behind." I noted.

We got the stuff and headed back to the house. Lorraine asked how my head was. For a moment it would have a warm, almost pleasant sensation, then would come searing pain and then it would go back to a warm sensation again. When we got to the house, Lorraine had to go through my hair to find the sting. She asked where it hurt and the area was getting wider. It didn't help that I have really thick hair to sift through. After some searching, she located the stinger and pulled it out, the waves of throbbing pain ended and I could feel the side of my head and ear swelling slightly. We were both nauseous and had some mint tea to soothe ourselves.

I hope no one in a nearby farm house was watching us from afar.

Ah, dignity, it's sometimes overrated.

Brrrrrr.

Sometimes I get grief when I travel because I tend to bring a lot with me. I think that is the result of living in the northern part of the United States. Last week ninety degrees. Even this week, sunny and in the upper seventies. This morning: 39 degrees. Brrr. You just never know what the temps will bring. Yeperooni, autumn is making her presence known.

More fall fungi are popping up. I found another crop of sulphur shelf on a different tree in Mr. Neil's woods. This was way too high for me to reach and we still have plenty from the last harvest.

Cabal is proving to be quite adept at finding giant puffballs. Here he is, slowly stalking the strange white lump...

We ended up finding ten puffballs in the woods. About 80% were in various states of decay, but at least two were edible. I still stand by hen of the woods and sulphur shelf being far tastier.

The goldfinches are starting to show signs of fall. Ah, this coloration--so pretty and hopeful for warmth in spring, so dingy and hesitant for cold in autumn. I do love cold temps, I much prefer them to the ninety degree days, but I know I'll also be losing the cricket song, honeybees, and bird variety for several months. And I will miss them in the quiet.

What? Blogging In 2 Places At Once?

How is that possible?

I've got a blog entry up over at Bill of the Birds. He's so far out of town that he has no internet access. (Where is he, Gilligan's Island?) Anyway, he put the call out for bloggers to guest blog for a day and since I owe him so much and am such a fan girl of his wife and know as well as any blogger that some weeks it takes a village to keep a blog going, I was more than happy to do my part.

On a side note, can I say what a chuckle I get that my mom gets Bill of the Birds, Julie Zickefoose, and WildBird on the Fly mixed up and thinks Bill and Amy are married?

Bottoms Up

Another fun photo from my buddy Carrol Henderson (who has a great egg book coming in a few weeks):

Any guesses on the species?

Swallow Yawn

"Yawn, I'm so brown, I even bore myself."

Favorite Moment Of Beekeeping Thus Far

I have started giving extra food to the Kitty hive to help her build up her winter stores. She's just not drawing out comb very quickly and by putting a feeder right in the hive, maybe that will give them more time to work instead of flying away. I will say, they are doing one heck of a job of bringing back pollen. Dozens and dozens were flying in with loaded pollen baskets on their back legs--and in several different colors: red, orange, yellow, even white!

What was really cool for me was watching some of the other workers removing the pollen baskets. Here we have a bee with orange pollen. Behind her is a worker removing the pollen. Note the blurry bee in the front of the photo with the yellow baskets?

I like this photo. A forager hanging out and talking to another worker while the pollen baskets are removed.

I just couldn't believe how mellow the Kitty bees were behaving. I was watching everybody getting there baskets removed. I like this because you can see the bee with the baskets raising her wing while the other bee works on her load of pollen. It was at this point I noticed something very interesting. I had set my camera on the inner roof and as I was getting the macro shots, my fingers were splayed out for leverage. That's when I looked over to my pinkie finger and saw this:

That's my gloved pinkie in back. I had some homemade bee nectar that had spilled on my gloves and the bees were licking it off! Check it out:

More bees came over and started crawling up. So, apparently not only will smoking your bees make them mellow, but so will hand feeding them. I was so excited, I threw caution to the wind and removed a glove and dipped my pinkie finger in the nectar solution:

Look at that! She's reaching...almost there...she's reaching for the nectar with both front legs and her tiny tongue:

Contact! Alas, the actual photo of the bee licking the bare finger turned out blurry, but you get the idea. Hands down, I think this is my favorite moment of beekeeping this summer. Having a bee lick homemade nectar from my bare finger. That is something I never thought would ever happen. Ever. And no, I did not get stung.

Smokin' In The Bees Room

I know I've shown a similar video before, but for fun I did it again. Since we did the video of bees looking busy, here is what is supposed to happen when you puff smoke on your honeybees. In the other video, I puffed smoke on the inner ceiling and they couldn't get down into the hive as quickly. In this video, I puffed smoke on top of one the brood boxes and they can easily get down into the frames.



Pretty cool.

The Browniest Of Birds

A cool front has moved in and it's finally starting to feel like autumn. It was another busy morning banding birds at Carpenter Nature Center--when I arrived, they had taken 15 birds out of one net! Incidentally, CNC is selling apples from the orchard (Zestars) and have some you pick raspberries (as if the birding were reason enough to visit).

I'm finally to the point where I'm an actual helper, really banding the birds and taking them out of the nets. For a long time, I just documented the events, but I'm finally to the point where I can be of some real use. I felt like joined the big kid table somewhat because I got to band a small empid flycatcher. They can be agony to id in the fall--even in hand six inches from your face. But with some help it was determined that the above bird was a willow flycatcher. This flycatcher was so young, that as we were taking it out of the net, it started making whiny calls and fluttering its wings--food begging behavior (kind of an odd little avian Stockholm syndrome there).

A surprise for me was a cedar waxwing in the nets. Such a pretty bird, almost like a female cardinal with a lot of make up on...which I think I've probably stated more than once in the blog...an probably will again.

Someone's bringin' waxy back! Check out the waxy appendages on those secondary flight feathers. For those curious, BNA says that the red bits are colored by astaxanthin, a carotenoid pigment and increase in size and number with the waxwing's age. If they don't have any, they are likely immature waxwings.

Later in the morning, someone from the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center came by with about 23 young mallards that had been raised in the waterfowl nursery. They are going to be released in a few days so we put bands on them. Interesting to note: if you hold a duck in just the right way, it can act as a very stinky squirt gun when it poops--just so you know.

The cool sunny day was so gorgeous, that I couldn't leave when we finished banding so I went out to take some photos. The prairie is glowing with late summer flowers. Above is a young song sparrow with its back to the wind. Take a look at the tail--feathers are still growing in.

A field sparrow popped up on some sumac, not too far from the song sparrow. As I was watching this bird, a second field sparrow flew in:

This one was carrying food. Curious, it chipped nervously while I walked the path and took photos. Eventually, it ducked down into the grasses and I could hear faint begging calls. Seriously? You guys went for another brood in Minnesota? It's early September, what's going to happen next week when the young fledge? Will you say, "Great, now that you've mastered flying five feet, you need to know that in the next couple of weeks, we're gonna fly a few thousand miles south...at night." I wonder if any studies have been done on migratory birds and multiple broods? Do birds hatched earlier in the summer that have had more time to master flight and catching food fare better than birds hatched late?

Another interesting thing about the second bird--it's wearing a band, it's been in the CNC nets at some point. Oh, and we had a very interesting retrap today--a female goldfinch who was originally banded SEVEN years ago. Incredible!

That concludes our regularly scheduled update of brown birds.

Hey, Did You Hear Something?

A white-breasted nuthatch and downy woodpecker surprise each other on the bird feeder.

Look at the wide stance on that nuthatch...perhaps it should be renamed Craig's nuthatch?

Honey Harvest

At last we harvested some honey! We are only harvesting from our Olga hive as the Kitty hive is not producing any surplus. Olga has plenty for winter and a little extra for us to enjoy.

I want to thank all the readers who recommended Bee-Quick to me for getting the bees out of the honey supers--it worked GREAT! I have no basis for comparison for what some of the other alternatives smell like, but the aroma of this wasn't so bad. Although, I did learn that the oils will wipe off the little marks on your camera that let you know what setting you are shooting in--oops. What you're supposed to do is spray the Bee-Quick on a fume board.

When I opened the hive and looked on top of one of our supers, I saw many bees milling about amidst sticky propolis. Smoke isn't the most ideal option at this point. Yes, it will cause the bees to move from the top and be mellow, but it also causes them to open up capped honey and eat it--not the desired effect when you want to extract capped honey.

You put the fume board on top of the super that is full of honey that you want to take out. The super is the smaller unpainted box. The fume board looks like the hive roof on top of it. You let it sit there for about two to five minutes.

Here's what that same super looked like after three minutes with the fume board--a ghost town of honey and propolis. Pretty slick. The supers full of honey were very heavy and this time I drove out to the hives instead of walk to make bringing them back to the house easier.

"Why iz I stuck in back wit da beez?"

I don't know why, but I can only hear Cabal talk in an I Can Has Cheezburger voice. There were about three or four bees still milling about in the frames but they left by the time I took the supers back to the four runner, so Cabal was safe. I harvested two supers, a regular cut comb honey kit and our Ross Rounds super.

When I got the Ross Round super into the kitchen, I began to wonder how I was going to get the frames out. There was propolis in every visible nook and cranny. The frames are kind of wedged together as it is so as not to violate bee space, but they literally sealed the deal with the propolis. Perhaps they knew this super was for Mr. Neil and myself and they thought, "Okay, if they're gonna steal the honey, we're gonna make it as difficult as possible."

Never under estimate the power of a hive tool--an essential piece of bee keeping equipment that looks remarkably like your garden variety paint scraper. Anyway, it lives up to the reputation by prying open anything, including propolis packed frames.

I got the frames apart and inside you could see the rounds and excess foundation comb.

I took out the rounds and trimmed away the extra foundation. I place a cap on each end of the round and voila:

comb honey ready to go. It was at this point that I realized that the fantabulous logo that Olga has designed for our honey (we've even named it--Mr. Neil and Beechick's Dangerous Honey) is rectangular and most of our honey is in round form...we're gonna have to rethink the labeling a little bit.

Not all of the honey was capped. This means that it's "not quite ripe." You can still eat it, but it has a little too much moisture in it and it will ferment in storage. Some of this I will put out in a feeder to the Kitty hive to help her build up her winter stores since she is a tad behind Olga but some I will keep for myself. I really like it, it's like some strange chewy candy. The entire cell isn't quite full, so when you bite into the comb, it's a soft textures that pops little bursts of sweetness into your mouth. I think eating fresh comb straight from the frame is now in my top ten foods. And to think, about three years ago, I didn't like the taste of honey. I made fun of friends for eating their "bee vomit" (well it kind of is) but now, with my own bees I've raised with great friends, I can't get enough of it.

Here's the pile of our harvest. Keep in mind that this is just from one hive during our first summer when we weren't expect to get any honey. What will next summer be like when we have two hives in full honey production? Yikes!

And now, I leave you with some bee art that the Olga girls made. This is actually propolis that was surrounding one of the Ross Round frames wedged against the wall of the honey super. That Olga, she is so artistic. And true to form, she was our early on problem child, but the best honey producer in the end.

Holy Crap! Everybody Look Busy!

I can't stop watching and laughing at this video I took of the bees today. I just set my little camera on top of the hive and puffed them with the smoker. The smoker is supposed to mellow them out and make them go down into the hive body and eat honey. But in the video they look like bees on a coffee break and then when the smokers puffs, it's pandemonium as if they suddenly realize, "Holy crap! The human is watching, everybody look busy!"



I apologize to those who can't watch video, I don't have a photo to go with this one. A full bee update will bee up soon.

Har har.

First Bee Keepers

This is from Science Daily:

Amihai Mazar, Eleazar L. Sukenik Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, revealed that the first apiary (beehive colony) dating from the Biblical period has been found in excavations he directed this summer at Tel Rehov in Israel's Beth Shean Valley. This is the earliest apiary to be revealed to date in an archaeological excavation anywhere in the ancient Near East, said Prof. Mazar. It dates from the 10th to early 9th centuries B.C.E.

It is estimated, however, based on excavations to date, that in all the total area would have contained some 100 beehives. Experienced beekeepers and scholars who visited the site estimated that as much as half a ton of honey could be culled each year from these hives.

Prof. Mazar emphasizes the uniqueness of this latest find by pointing out that actual beehives have never been discovered at any site in the ancient Near East. While fired ceramic vessels that served as beehives are known in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, none were found in situ, and beekeeping on an industrial level such as the apiary at Tel Rehov is hitherto unknown in the archaeological record. Pictorial depictions of apiaries are known from Pharaonic Egypt, showing extraction of honey from stacked cylinders which are very similar to those found at Tel Rehov.

A particularly fascinating find at the site is an inscription on a ceramic storage jar found near the beehives that reads "To nmsh". This name was also found inscribed on another storage jar from a slightly later occupation level at Tel Rehov, dated to the time of the Omride Dynasty in the 9th century BCE. Moreover, this same name was found on a contemporary jar from nearby Tel Amal, situated in the Gan HaShelosha National Park (Sachne).

The name "Nimshi" is known in the Bible as the name of the father and in several verses the grandfather of Israelite King Jehu, the founder of the dynasty that usurped power from the Omrides (II Kings: 9-12). It is possible that the discovery of three inscriptions bearing this name in the same region and dating to the same period indicates that Jehu's family originated from the Beth Shean Valley and possibly even from the large city located at Tel Rehov. The large apiary discovered at the site might have belonged to this illustrious local clan.

Read the full article here.

Bone Crunching Good & Birds and Beers

Warning, this might be a tad gross for some.

CORRECTION TO BIRDS AND BEERS:

Hey, we've scheduled another Birds and Beers at Merlin's Rest on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 6pm. Last time we had bird banders, new birders, experienced birders and even a few non birders. If you like a nice Irish pub and some talk about birds, meet up with us at Merlin's Rest.

Today, it was time to feed Juneau the peregrine falcon. She's the one I had on with me on KARE 11 last week:

"Food? Who has the food?! Where's the food?!"

Here's a video of Juneau in all her flesh rending glory (she's eating raw chicken, so press play with caution, you may not want to be eating yourself).



My favorite part of feeding a falcon is that its crop starts to fill up, they make a weird grunting/squirting type sound. Here's a five second video where you can really hear it:



What the heck is that all about?


And for those who can't see video:

Here's a photo of her tearing into that big hunk of meat.

As she finishes up, she doesn't care for the larger bones, so she rips what meat she can and then lets the bone fall to the floor.

And Julie was worried that her owl post was a little too gross...

Hawk Trapping Has Begun

My friend Frank Taylor opened his hawk banding station this weekend. I couldn't go because of the state fair and I'm so bummed that I missed it. I just got his report and found this in the notes--for this bit to make sense, you need to know that there's a bait pigeon on a harness and there is a net in front of the pigeon and a net in back of the pigeon. There's about 10 feet of space between the nets.

Monday was the most exciting of all! We got started at 6:30 am. There was no wind at all. It was supposed to start up and shift around to the southeast by noon with a chance of showers. I figured we would not see much and be out of there by noon. Around 7:20 while we were watching some shins, kestrels and merlins chase each other around the field, a thing that looked like a small airplane came floating in from the farm. It was an immature male bald eagle! It kept coming and coming and we figured it would just pitch up and sit in the tree above us like all the rest have done. This one pitched up but then came right down in the middle of the nets! Rick was in shock but ran out and scared it into the back of the front net. That is only the third eagle we have ever caught up at the blind in 38 years!

Here's a photo Frank took of Rick holding the eagle after they banded it. Frank's blind isn't aimed at attracting eagles but they are opportunists and will for anything. For those worried, the eagle didn't get the pigeon (I think Frank has only lost two pigeons to hawks in all his years banding--that's pretty good).

I'm not sure how much I can go banding, I need to save money for Cape May. Guess I'll be sleeping in the car when I go up.

Cockatiel Wolf Whistling

Below is our cockatiel (Kabuki) doing a warm up song. For some reason talk radio really sets him off. Yesterday he heard Paul Black reading some traffic and weather and he started wolf whistling. My favorite part of when Kabuki wolf whistles is that he holds his tiny foot up.

Wood Lake Digiscoping

So I headed out to do some digiscoping this morning. I didn't care what I would see, I just wanted to be out in some quiet.

I started at Wood Lake Nature Center and found some ducks still in their eclipse plumage. There wasn't too much action at first, I kept scanning the reeds hoping for even a great blue heron in good light. I stood and waited and thought to myself, just wait something interesting will pop up. As soon as I thought it, an adult red-shouldered hawk flew past--very cool, but not digiscopable. Then, a pied-billed grebe popped up out of the water--the closest I've ever been to one. I'm not sure who was more surprised, me or the grebe. The grebe paused and eyed me warily, I'm sure hoping that I hadn't noticed it mistake in resurfacing so close to a human. I wondered if I could get my camera off the scope and get a photo--it was entirely too close to digiscope. As soon as I moved, it dove back under water.


But, a female goldfinch was preening nearby and I was able to photograph her. I thought it was so cute that she was grasping a leaf for leverage to lean and get access to her wings--cute. I just love those little tiny toes grasping that leaf.

Speaking of goldfinches, Wood Lake has redone some of their gardens and the goldfinches were all over this plan. I'm not sure what it is, I'm going to guess prairie dock, but the finches were all over it. There at least three feeding on the plant in the above photo.

A male cardinal was perched near the finches. Take heart all you people with bald cardinals, here's proof that he feathers do grow back. If you notice, he's missing his crest but it looks like his feather shafts are growing back in. I got a question earlier this summer about a bald cardinal that looked like it had white skin instead of black. I wonder if that person was seeing the pin feathers growing in and not the skin? At a distance, several pin feathers look white. Here's a closer look at this male's head:

Plugs or Rogaine? No, it natural for the feathers to be growing back. Man, that's has to be a little uncomfortable to have a bunch of hard feather shafts emerging from your skin and fluffing out into feathers.

On my way out of the park, I spotted this Droll Yankee Big Top feeder. The bottom dish was supposed to be filled with black oil sunflower, but looked like it was full of grass. I took off the bottom dish and found:

A house finch nest! This is not the first time I've found a house finch nest in this feeder at Wood Lake. A few years ago, there were two nests side by side. One nest was empty and the other had smashed eggs inside. I'm not sure what that was about, was it two males competing for territory? Did the same pair build both nests? Who can say, but let this be a lesson to people who don't fill their feeders--the birds just may nest in them.

Cardinals Outside The Window

Can you tell which one is the female cardinal and which one is the juvenile cardinal in the photo below?

The cardinals in my neighborhood had two broods this summer. As soon as the first young were out of the nest and feeding, they started courting right away and laid a second set of eggs. The young from the second nesting are just now leaving the nest and the adults are bringing them around to our feeder. I was just telling Non Birding Bill this morning over breakfast that after all the work this week, I could really use some time to go out digiscoping and as soon as I looked out the window, these two perched on one of the wires in the alley.

This is the juvenile cardinal alone on the wire--it looks so dejected now that the female flew away and isn't feeding it. An easy way to tell them apart is that the female as the bright orange bill and the juveniles have the black bill. Soon the juveniles will molt into their adult plumage--they they'll really go through that awkward phase.

Cinnamon's Big Night

Well, it was a very exciting night last night for Cinnamon. We went to watch Non Birding Bill do his children's theater show at a park near where we live. She was doing well and I was keeping an eye on all the people who were letting their dogs off leash when I noticed a distant Cooper's hawk. The hawk was bombing some smaller birds on the other side of the park. Cinnamon didn't seem to notice (she usually doesn't--when I've taken her to The Raptor Center, she seems oblivious to all the predatory leering). As the crowds of families assembled Cinnamon tested the limits of the leash to check them out and to see if they had any treats for her.

I love this photo. that little boy wants to pet her, but even he senses the disapproval. She did eventually relent and many kids got to pet her. However, once the show got underway, I heard a few warbler alarm calls and right over the crowd, right over my head, barely to the tops of the trees flew a Cooper's hawk!

Cinnamon did what I call her Dirty Dozen walk, where she slinks as low to the ground as she can and made her way to me and then hunkered. I'd like to think it was because she sees me as safe, but perhaps she was trying to camouflage herself with my pink and brown skirt? It's interesting that she sensed the danger this time. Was it because the hawk was so low, is she finally noticing outdoor bird warning calls? Does she notice the difference between the tethered birds at The Raptor Center from a free flying one?

The Cooper's landed in the tree in the above photo at about 11 o'clock towards the back. As soon as it landed we heard a red squirrel give it's angry trill. I never saw it leave and Cinnamon sat glued to that spot next to my leg for most of the performance. Towards the end she relaxed and meandered about again. I don't think the hawk was making a series pass for Cinnamon. There were far too many people about for it to make a serious dive at her. I do think it was taking a look, because all raptors are opportunists. Another reason I'm glad I keep her on her leash.

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