Merritt Island NWR In Trouble

Okay birders, it's time to rally like cat advocates and work like a hunter. Merritt Island is in trouble (all the photos in this entry are from my trip to Merritt this past January). NASA is proposing that 200 acres of Florida's Merritt Island National Wildlife Sanctuary be taken for use as a private-sector space launch facility:

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Commercial rockets launched from the private pad could be used to transport cargo and astronauts to the international space station, or even take tourists on the ultimate thrill ride.

But the complex, which would cost more than half a billion dollars to build, also could take a toll on fragile wildlife and wetlands in the refuge and surrounding area. And it could close down some of the choice spots for bird-watching, kayaking, fishing and beachcombing.

"There are just a lot of unknowns," said Dorn Whitmore, supervising ranger at the refuge. "It could close most of the refuge to visitors. Half of Mosquito Lagoon could be closed all or part of the time, and parts of Playalinda Beach could be shut down."

About 500 families of endangered scrub-jays and other wildlife such as bald eagles, gopher tortoises and marsh rabbits also could be threatened and their habitat destroyed, Whitmore said.

"We're looking for issues, concerns and information that would help us," said Mario Busacca, the director of planning and special projects in the Environmental Program Office at Kennedy Space Center.

Last year, NASA commissioned a study to evaluate potential sites for hosting the Commercial Vertical Launch Complex on about 200 acres of KSC's 140,000 acres, including the area managed by the refuge. Abandoned launchpads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station weren't considered because the Air Force, not NASA, owns the property, officials said.

The idea would be to offer the land to private companies to build and operate the complex, which would house two launchpads, a control facility and storage and maintenance buildings. It has been more than 15 years since a launchpad was constructed at the cape, NASA spokesman George Diller said.

Using specific criteria, such as distance from residential areas and risk from hurricane storm surge, a Brevard County engineering firm narrowed 11 possible sites to two: one inside the restricted area of KSC along the Atlantic Coast south of Launch Pad 39A; the other inside the refuge east of State Road 3, north of State Road 406 and south of Scrub Ridge Trail Road.

Scrub-jay habitat exists in both areas, according to the 125-page study, which also says the wildlife is "extraordinarily diverse" and that more 20 of the species are identified as threatened or endangered.Using specific criteria, such as distance from residential areas and risk from hurricane storm surge, a Brevard County engineering firm narrowed 11 possible sites to two: one inside the restricted area of KSC along the Atlantic Coast south of Launch Pad 39A; the other inside the refuge east of State Road 3, north of State Road 406 and south of Scrub Ridge Trail Road.

You can read news about this here.

Lots of people are sending me the link to an online petition which I'm not going to link to that because I've yet to see an online petition actually work. This is beyond just signing your name to an online petition. This requires calling Mario Busacca, Environmental Program Office of the Kennedy Space Center at 321-867-8456 and telling him in no uncertain terms how much you love this area, how important and critical it is to bird habitat. You can email him KSC-CVLC@nasa.gov but an actual phone call will leave more of an impact than an online petition. If you have ever birded this area and enjoyed it, you need to call. If you live in Florida, stay on top of the news, show up. That's how hunters do it, that's how cat lovers do it in order to keep cats outdoors in Cape May. Birders need to stand up, be loud, be vocal, be present.

Caption Contest Winner

"I'm telling you, from this angle that cloud looks JUST like Bob Sagat."

Barbara, email me your snail mail address (sharon at birdchick dot com) and we'll send you a hummingbird feeder. Congrats.

Also, we know the photographer of theweird looking great gray owl is Cheryl Farmer. You can read more about it at Prairie Ice.

Coming Out Of The Fever Dreams

First, the caption contest will be decided by tomorrow morning--perhaps we'll pick the winner at Birds and Beers tonight?

Second--I love my readers. I love that you teach me something new all the time. How on earth would I have learned about a website dedicated to Feral Children? Why is that not a show on The Learning Channel?

Third, I totally thought I had a perfect blog entry the other day about a pair of cardinals that were doing a mating display in my apartment and checking out an empty onion bag on my couch as a potential nest site. I even got incredibly excited when Cinnamon hopped up next to the onion bag and the male cardinal tried to puff up and drive her off, but she tried to nibble his tail...then I woke up to blog it and then realized that wow, that was some powerful cold medicine.

Fourth and speaking of fever dreams, I DID NOT TAKE THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS, but they are making the rounds in the email inboxes, so if you haven't seen them check out this great gray owl (I think that was seen Montana, I have no idea if it is recent):

If you you know who took these photo, let me know--I'd love to give them their props. It's a partially albino great gray owl...although, I don't think we're supposed to call them partially albinos anymore, according to Birding I think we are supposed to call this partial amelanism (because you know, ornithologists like to make things simple for the general public).

Shnifty bird.

UPDATE: WE KNOW WHO TOOK THE PHOTOS! Thanks to knowledgeable blog readers we now know that the photos were taken by Cheryl Farmer in Montana and you can read more about this bird at the Prairie Ice Blog (which looks like a cool photography blog). Thanks, John!

Did You Hear The One About The Bird Boy?

From The Telegraph:

"Russian care workers have rescued a seven-year-old “bird-boy” who can communicate only by “chirping” after his mother raised him in a virtual aviary, it has been reported.

Authorities say the neglected child was found living in a tiny two-room apartment surrounded by cages containing dozens of birds, bird feed and droppings.

The so-called “bird-boy” does not understand any human language and communicates instead by chirping and flapping his arms, Russian newspaper Pravda has reported.

Social worker Galina Volskaya, who was involved is rescuing the child from his home in Kirovsky, Volgograd, said he was treated like another pet by his 31-year-old mother who never spoke to him.

Miss Volskaya said: “When you start talking to him, he chirps.”

Russian authorities say the child was not physically harmed but is suffering from “Mowgli syndrome”, named after the Jungle Book character raised by wild animals, and cannot engage in any normal human communication.

Pravda reported: “(his mother) had her own domestic birds and fed wild ones. (She) neither beat him nor left him without food. She just never talked to him. It was all the birds that communicated with the boy and taught him birds’ language."

Read the rest of the story here.

Caption Contest

A big thanks to the folks over at Woodlink who have sent a big box full of prizes for the blog--so, let's have a caption contest!

The Rules:

1. Post a caption in the comments section.

2. To win, there must be a name with the caption--you can post anonymously, but you must put a name with your caption. If there is no name, it will be assumed that you do not want the prize. You are more than welcome to post a caption even if you do not want to win the prize.

3. Keep the captions PG-13.

4. The caption that makes me (an maybe Non Birding Bill) laugh the loudest wins.

5. You can post as many captions as you want.

The prize is daiquiri or sundae hummingbird feeder. Here is the photo:

Birds & Beers

Birds and Beers is this Thursday at 6pm at Merlin's Rest.

I'm laying low at the moment, hoping to clear my body of this virus before tomorrow night. It has gone from my chest straight to my nose. Yesterday, I lost my voice and thought I would still volunteer at The Raptor Center feeding birds--being birds, they can't get my cold and we had three programs. However, we have a doctor who volunteers on our crew and he sent me home.

I Heart Amy Sedaris

Amy Sedaris (who happens to love Disapproving Rabbits) has managed to make a video that mimics my life, only substitute birding for baking.

A Much Needed Rough-legged Hawk

After being sequestered in the apartment for a few days, I really needed to get out. I'm mostly better and have that whole throaty voice thing going on (which I would use on Non Birding Bill if it wouldn't keep getting ruined by fits of a doctor would call a "productive cough"--ick.) But it was so nice out and I needed some fresh air. I got on the highway and thought about stopping at a local nature center and began having second thoughts--moving around, I realized I was still fighting the virus and probably shouldn't be standing outside just yet. But then I saw it...

I was passing the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport and noticed two raptors flying. One was a red-tail, the other was a little different--it was a rough-legged. I found an exit on the highway to turn around and make my way towards Cargo Rd (where the snowy owl is usually observed) and just as I passed beneath the birds, the rough-legged did hard dive onto the red-tail. Even though the red-tail was slightly larger, it booked out of there. By the time I was off the highway and on to Cargo Rd, the rough-legged had landed and was sitting on a hangar.

I pulled over on a side street leading to a hangar where the hawk was perched. I wasn't sure if this was an area where people are allowed to pull over--it was far away from fences, not planes were in direct site and there was plenty of space coming and going for approaching traffic to see me. I decided to try and digiscope it. These really are beautiful hawks and I'm so glad that I took a moment to watch it in the scope. Check out in the above photo how the hawk is looking directly at me. Now here is a photo of the hawk without the spotting scope:

That teeny tiny dark spot on the top of the hangar is the hawk--quite a testament to that amazing raptor eyesight! After five minutes, I decided not to push my luck with airport security and get moving. Turned around and headed over to Cargo Rd and the rough-legged hawk took flight.

Then it landed on a light post above my car and I took a quick photo through my windshield. I'm not sure how long it will stick around. There've been rough-legs all over the Twin Cities this winter but I never seem to see them in the same place twice, they're constantly on the move.

If you need a bird fix, check out Liz Stanley's photos from Sax Zim Bog. She may not have seen a wolf, but she did get some photos of a pine marten when she was watching one of the deer carcasses--sweet!

UPDATE: Chad Gustafson got some photos of the same rough-legged hawk south of the airport, check out his photos (Big Brother Hawk is watching you...).

Those Darned Red-tails

I swear, just going into Google Image Search and typing a bird species name reveals some fun stuff--usually on the part of red-tailed hawks. Those who are on the squeamish side (or have a strong fondness for kestrels) may want to avoid clicking on the links below:

We've seen a red-tail fly away with a live kestrel...and now we can see what that famous red-tail known as Pale Male does after he gets a kestrel.

Oops

Cinnamon's face right after I accidentally sneezed on her.

Sorry, bunny.

Cough Cough Cough Cough Cough Cough Cough

"You OK?"

Finally, a balmy mid thirties and instead of going out to digiscope, I stayed in and attempted to cough up my left lung. So, the above photo is about as close to wildlife as I got all weekend. Cinnamon is not so altruistic in the above photo, she is fact hoping to get a nibble or two of graham cracker.

But, speaking of digiscoping, I spent part of the weekend exploring new digiscoping cameras online. The Fuji camera I have been using has been awesome, but a digital camera lives the life of five digital cameras in one year with me. I think I'll be getting a Canon next.

You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up

While doing some online research, I came across The Bird Feeder Hat. Now this isn't a fashion trend that you'll be seeing in your local bird store or at bird festivals. This is an event organized by Friends of the Ten Mile--a chapter of Redwood Coast Watershed Alliance and this is not just about birds landing on your head, according to the website it's a way to "learn to create sustainable interspecies relationships with members of your watershed."

OK.

New Field Guide

This is for the days when the birding is slow...

Squirrel 'Splosion

I headed over to Richardson Nature Center to take a few minutes to enjoy their feeders and found the whole feeding station inundated with squirrels. It was mesmerizing to watch all the bouncing and romping and crawling and chasing. The above photo has at least 8 squirrels, but I did count 17 grays and 2 red squirrels out all at one time. Between the snow and wind, the baffles were lower and the squirrels had figured out how to jump past them. I chuckled at one point as a squirrel dropped like a stone from above onto a feeder.

This chickadee paused for a moment of grabbing some black-oil sunflower seeds to watch two squirrels fighting. All of the squirrels had some type of open sore on their bodies that many of them kept chewing at. I thought about posting a photo, but thought better of it after the TLC show link--lol. I think that whole herd could stand a few visits from a great horned owl or red-tailed hawk.

This male cardinal flew in to eat out of they fly thru tray feeder. He kept waiting for the squirrel to leave but the furry thing refused to relinquish his prime seat in the middle of the sunflowers.

It was while he was sitting on the roof of the feeder that I was able to get some head shots of him. It was fun to just drink in the patterns of his feathers, like the brown edging along the edges of his back...hm...I wonder if Pyle would call that light brown or dusky brown (banders will get that joke).

He eventually flew to a nearby bush to wait out the squirrel. He looks almost dejected in this photo. "Oh, will I ever get to eat sunflowers again. Sigh. I feel like a lonely asparagus."

Alas, he did not get oilers while I was at the nature center, but did get some hard core posing in. He could have gone to the tube feeders--not a cardinal's first choice, but I have seen them on the tube feeders here before, perhaps this one does not have the hang of it yet?

The Poop On Caterpillars Looking Like...Poop

Kinda sorta bird news here. Some readers may remember from the black swallowtail butterfly ranching that I did last summer that the caterpillars dramatically changed colors as they grew. When first hatched, the black swallowtail cats looked like little bits of finch poop--which I thought was incredibly interesting because unlike monarch caterpillar who stay on the underside of a milkweed leaf, swallowtails hang out on the top of a parsley plant--what a great disguise, who would want to eat something that looked like bird poop?

Well, according to National Geographic, new study by Japanese researchers shows that a single juvenile hormone is responsible for the changing of colors. The hormone levels drop when the caterpillar leaves the bird-droppings stage and begins its green color transformation.

Read the rest of the story here.

Cleansing Cardinal

Okay, here is a cleansing cardinal dedicated to all the readers who clicked on my TLC link and got a little more than they bargained for this morning. If it's any consolation, Non Birding Bill can't stand to be in the same room when I'm watching those shows and thinks I'm nuts.

Totally Digging The Lunar Eclipse

I hope you guys had a chance to step out and enjoy the lunar eclipse tonight. It's pretty cool. I went out to try and digiscope it and Non Birding Bill came with me. He didn't have to, but I think he wanted to keep an eye on me out in the cold and using a spotting scope on the sidewalk at night. He was a trooper and I remembered the last time I took him to see something celestial. Mars was the closest it would be to Earth in years and we went out in the dark to watch. He said, "Wow, I never thought you'd find something more boring than birding, but here we are, starting at the sky, looking at a pink dot."

The eclipse was a nice way to round out today. This morning when we woke up, it was -11 outside and the heat was out in the apartment building. We also had a house guest and I felt bad that she woke up to a general lack of heat. I turned on the oven and we huddled around for warmth--oh to be Cinnamon and naturally fur covered. She seemed unaffected.

When I was driving our guest to the airport today, I was pointing out red-tailed hawks along the way. One was flying along the highway towards us and I noted an adult red-winged blackbird chasing it...then I realized, hey! It's a bit early for red-winged blackbirds, what's that guy doing here? I know it's advantageous to return from migration early and get a head start on primed territory, but I bet even this male was questioning that wisdom in today's temperature.

And now I must return to my favorite tv channel: TLC. Tonight is My Shocking Story: Half Man Half Tree.

Towers and Birds

Hey, this is actually some encouraging news about a federal ruling on towers from the LA Times:

WASHINGTON -- When considering new communications towers, a federal court ruled Tuesday, officials need to consider whether they pose safety risks -- to birds.

The Federal Communications Commission must study the effect of rapidly sprouting communications towers on migratory birds and give the public a chance to request environmental reviews on new tower applications, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that millions of warblers, thrushes and other birds die each year because continuously burning lights atop those towers can disorient them in bad weather.

The 2-1 decision affects only towers along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida, a major route for migrating birds.

But environmentalists hope the ruling will spur the FCC to approve proposed rules that would mandate white strobe lights on new towers nationwide. Studies have shown that those lights aren't as disorienting to birds and could cut deaths by 70%.

Read the rest of the story here.

Connecticut Audubon Bald Eagle Fest Report

Photo by Clay Taylor

Yesterday, I woke up to 50 degrees and heavy rain. Today, I woke up to -4, but at least it was sunny.

Photo by Clay Taylor

This entry is going to have a combination of photo from both Clay Taylor and myself. Clay is playing with some mad new digiscopin' skillz. For example, he took the above photo using a Pentax K100 attached to a straight angled Swarovski scope and he hand held the whole system!

Photo by Clay Taylor

Clay even tried this technique while leading one of the river boat tours at the Connecticut Audubon Bald Eagle Fest and got the above photo of a rough-legged hawk.

Photo by Clay Taylor

I love this shot of the rough-legged hawk while it's in mid-hover, intently searching the ground for some unsuspecting small mammal. What a cool looking hawk. There were three hanging around on the Connecticut River--two light ones like the birds in these photos--and one dark morph.

Photo by Clay Taylor

Here are some great cormorants that Clay got on the boat--note how birds are still roosting despite the Nixalite placed on the rails? Birds always find away around that stuff.

So, I was haning out at the Swarovski booth for the festival, but the added bonus for me was being next to one of my favorite bird photographers--Jim Zipp (the dude with the beard on the left--that's Clay in the back in the green coat and hat). If you have any bird magazine subscriptions, you have more than likely seen some of Jim's work. As a matter of act, his blackpoll warbler is on the cover of the current issue of WildBird Magazine.

The temps Saturday and Sunday were in the twenties and thirties in Connecticut and if you combine that with being right on the river and standing in one spot all day--it gets chilly. But I get spoiled rotten with Swarovski. Clay and his wife Debbie have a heater that keeps the booth (and our feet toasty). This year there was even power in the booth, so we brought a hot pot and had hot tea and hot chocolate (I had some powdered miso soup and sipped on that). Combine that with the fresh waffles Clay make in the morning and the spaghetti dinner Debbie made at night, I was a well fed booth worker.

There are no shortage of characters at the eagle festival, here's a lady sporting a moose hat--I bet her head was nice and warm. She was tame compared to the woman who walked by wearing a fur coat dyed bright neon yellow toting a tiny dog with a light green fur trimmed dress. Another highight at the festival was getting to meet MsGeek--a blog reader and commenter--it's always fun to meet a blog reader face to face.

Taking photos of this ring-billed gull, I was reminded of my Dunkin Donut heartbreak of last year--none of the DDs in Connecticut make the creme filled donut that I used to get when I was a kid. We tried another DD and no, the vanilla creme donut was not available. Sigh.

I did see one interesting ring-billed gull feeding along the Connecticut River. It was a juvenile bird and had red patagial tags (I wasn't able to get a photo). The bird was far out and I thought I could read the number 41 on the tags. I can't find any info on tagged ring-bills apart from a study on gulls in Chicago--they may have to start sort of population control of the gulls. However, those birds don't have numbers on their tags. I emailed the Bird Banding Lab and am still waiting to hear if they know of anyone tagging gulls.

Photo by Clay Taylor

Speaking of tagged birds, when I was going through Clay's photos, I noticed one of the adult eagles had bands on both feet. Here's a closer photo:

Photo by Clay Taylor

See the tags?

We may not have see great numbers of eagles at this festival, but there were a couple of nests across from where the optics booths were set up. The nest in the upper right corner is the original nest--the male flew up at one point to feed. The nest in the lower left corner is the newer active nest. If you look close at the above photo, you can see a small speck of white--that's the female incubating some eggs.

Right next to the booths was the Connecticut River Museum. We ended up purchasing a day pass to the museum so we could use the restroom. There were port a potties in the parking lot, but when you're working out in the cold all day, that's really the last thing you want. The museum had volunteers stationed all over and were very strict about non paying members using the restroom. And at $4, it was worth it to have an all day pass for a warm restroom. I took a few moments to check out the actual museum and they had a cool HO train set on display on the top floor.

The best part of the display was the camera train. One of the cars had a remote live feed video camera that would transmit its signal to a tv, so you could see the minature town from the toy train's perspective--it was really, really cool. I could have spent hours watching this. Alas, I could see myself really getting into this hobby if I didn't have twenty million other things occupying my time at the moment. Life is just too full of fascinating projects and places to go.

Photo by Clay Taylor

And I wrap up this entry with one final photo of the really cool rough-legged hawk. Thanks, Clay, for the use of your images.

Upcoming Events and Trips

Bees are taking over my life more and more. I got an email about being booked as a speaker for the Northwest Sports Show in April. They originally wanted two bird relasted programs and I sent them my list of programs that I thought would be good for that audience. After the fun at the MN Hobby Beekeepers, I included that topic in the list too. They booked me for two bird programs and then asked if I would be willing to do a third on beekeeping! Whoot!

Hey, if anyone wants to see a butt load of trumpeter swans, we space left on our Trumpeter Swan Trip this Saturday. We'll drive to Monticello to see swans and then go look for other birds afterwards. Contact Staring Lake Outdoor Center to make reservations 952-949-8479.

And if you have never see the sandhill crane spectacle in Nebraska, join Stan Tekiela and me for a weekend trip in early march where we will see a few thousand sandhill cranes, a million snow geese, a few dozen prairie chickens, some prairie dogs, and maybe even get to hear the spring song of the western meadowlark. Contact Staring Lake Outdoor Center to make reservations 952-949-8479.

And the next Birds and Beers is 6pm on February 28 at Merlin's Rest. There's been some discussion on spotting scopes on the birding listservs and I might bring mine. Anyone else is welcome to do so for a side by side comparison. Birds and Beers is a fun get together of people interested in birds and we can have a drink and talk some birds. It doesn't matter what you're experience level is. If you are interested in birds, you are welcome.

Harbor Seal or Harp Seal?

Hmmm, well we may have a mammal misidentification in the blog. The seal that I blogged about on Saturday night and said was a harbor seal, may be a harp seal (lifer mammal for me). In the past when I have been at this festival, we have seen a harbor seal swimming in the Connecticut river--one year it was very close and had a fish that a bald eagle kept trying to swoop down and steal from it.

This year we watched a seal on a very distant log across the river. It was entertaining to watch it roll around and slide onto the log and slide off. We kept noticing when it rolled that we could see white and that it seemed to have a dainty nose.

Turns out that a harp seal was spotted about ten miles up river from the festival at the East Haddam Bridge. Could this be the same harp seal?

Any seal experts who can discern harp from harbor with our distant photos?

Oh, and an FYI to readers who want to do a google image search: harp seals are the ones who get clubbed, so if you are squeamish, search carefully.

Sometimes Being Hard and Bulbous Can Be In Your Favor

All the photos in this entry are courtesy of my buddy, the digiscoping pro Clay Taylor.

Well, I had timed my trip in Connecticut to have Monday free to do some birding, but a hard and windy downpour has put the damper on that plan (har har). Instead, I'm catching up on some work and playing with some of Clay's cameras, looking ahead for when my Fuji FinePix finally falls apart (a point and shoot lives the life of ten cameras in one year with me).

Clay does digiscoping with both a point and shoot (like I do) and with an SLR camera. I was playing with his Pentax K100 and downloading photos when I came across a series of ring-necked duck photos that he took at Santee Lakes during a digiscoping workshop at the San Diego Bird Festival:

Here, the mighty ring-necked duck pursues its quarry.

He gets hold of his prey--a large snail.

Now that he has the seemingly defenseless snail in his grasp, how long will it be before he can consume the slimy contents?

His hunger relentless, he finds himself surprised that he has captured a large and nourishing meal, but alas, unable to swallow the snail.

No matter how wide he spreads his beak apart, the snail will not budge any further down towards his crop.

He makes another adjustment to try and swallow...

He tries gently to flip the snail around in this bill, careful to not lose his intended meal...

And he tries to incorporate his tongue into the process...

One big gulp and he should have it...

And with a final pitooey, the ring-necked duck releases the snail who slowly oozes away victorious.

Techno Birding Geekery

Holy Crap! Some enterprising techno geeks out there have figured out how to get the National Geographic Handheld Birds on to other devices besides a Palm Pilot. This message from Jen Korn showed up on TexBirds:

I posted a few months ago to see if anyone had found a way to put the Palm program National Geographic Birds on a phone. Whatbird's website has an excellent tip on downloading the program Styletap which allows the Palm program work on non-Palm devices. They don't list specific phones, but do say it should work on any sort of smartphone, which is basically any type of Blackberry or Pocket PC.

Many of you responded with tips and I thank you. Also many asked to post back if I made it work. I'm a little late posting but I did make it work. I moved my Nextel account to Sprint and purchased the HTC mogul Pocket PC. It is Windows based so I had to purchase Styletap and install it and after a few quirks it works great! Like Whatbird's page says, it does have some cons. On a lot of the identification screen the text is a little garbled so it is hard to read what it says about the colors and such. The pictures themselves are great, every other screen the text is perfect and the sound is amazing. I've used this many a time in the field so far, expecially my thesis work, to confirm something I thought I saw or heard.

I've also heard or read somewhere that National Geographic is working to make a version that will work on non-Palm devices so if you don't have a Palm you can always wait, or upgrade to it if you decide to put it on your non-Palm now.

Tired Mallard

This mallard looks about how I feel right now: exhausted and stuffed full of lobster.

A Harbor Seal Climbs A Tree In Connecticut

You may have to click on the above photo to see a larger version and read the accompanying caption. Can you catch the mistake made in Saturday's Hartford Courant? If you can't read the caption, I'll give you a hint: I'm at a Bald Eagle Festival...
I did not get any photos of eagles today at the Connecticut Audubon Eagle Festival. Number one, I didn't properly store my batteries and the cold air drained them. Number two, my scope is being used as a display at the Swarovski booth so it's priority one that passersbys get a chance to see a bald eagle nest through a Swarovski scope. I did get a photo of a distant harbor seal that swam up the Connecticut River and hauled itself up on a fallen tree. Oh to be a lardy mammal and loaf on a log! Not quite as exciting as having the Colbert Report here last year, but still mighty fun.

And because I need another bird photo, here's a junco from the yard outside the house. I'm staying with Clay Taylor (the Swarovski rep at bird festivals) and his family. It's fun riding around town with Clay and his wife Debbie--they know the history, geology, birds, buildings--all sorts of stuff. The other day we drove by Morley Safer's house, Katherine Hepburn's old house, and the opera house that first premiered Man of La Mancha and Annie. One of those musicals I could see again, the other would just induce a fit of me banging my head against the wall for relief.

The day though fun has totally worn me out. After being in a booth along the river outdoors all day, we came home to a hot spagetti meal that Debbie made and then topped it off with a chocolate trifle that Clay made--YUM. Tomorrow, we are going to stop at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast before hitting the booth. After last year's heartbreak of being told by an employee that my favorite type of donut had been discontinued, I've been sent lots of emails by readers telling me to give it another go and that it is still available at other various other locations. I'm keeping my expectations low and my options open, but I do enjoy a Dunkin Donuts coffee--it is a vice too, it's not shade grown, but I love it anyway.

Bearded Lady Cardinal?

This female cardinal was hanging around in my buddy Clay Taylor's backyard. She looks like a female, but seems to have a red beard. I checked Cornell's Birds of North America and found this:

"Mix of male and female plumage reported, with red on one side and gray-olive on the other (Laskey 1969); also albinistic individuals (e.g., Hartman 1968, SUL) and a melanistic male with a black head (Brooks 1934). One rare instance of a female that obtained male plumage color in fifth year of 8 yr of recapture; she returned to female color in next year (Baumgartner 1986)."

What?? A female that had male plumage at 8 years old, but then grew back her normal coloration? What is that all about? Anyone else seeing some oddly plumaged cardinals?

Disapproving Sparrow

I have arrived into Connecticut safe and sound. I spent part of the afternoon digiscoping in my friend Clay's backyard. I was loving the forty degree temps and all the white-throated sparrows. For some reasons, they made me miss Cinnamon.

Owl Cam Time

Thanks to the readers who gave me a heads up on the owl cams. When you can't go birding and desperately need a bird fix, these online web cams are just the ticket:

Valmont Great Horned Owl Cam

Barn Owl Cam

Soon To Be Leavin' On A Jet Plane

I forgot about this photo. The last time we were at Mr. Neil's, the mammals were out in full force. The cottontail rabbit in the above photo was kind of a bad apple. It chased the poor gray squirrel every time it came near. A few times, it charged the squirrel, even when it was keeping a good distance from the rabbit. The red squirrel would watch with interest from the top of the squirrel and even it decided not to take on the bunny.

We got some more snow and tomorrow I fly to Connecticut for the Bald Eagle Festival where it might be in the 30s (heat wave) and be rainy. But, I'll be hanging with the Swarovski guys and their booth has a heater--whoot. I was going to schedule a Birds and Beers, but I don't have my own vehicle at this event and am being shuttled around. But stop by and say hello if you're in the area.

So, I'm not sure if Non Birding Bill can make fun of me for being so into birds. Here is a recent conversation:

NBB: Oh cool, my movie arrived from NetFlix!

BC: What's it about?

NBB: It's a documentary about Helvetica.

BC: Wait, you're excited about a documentary about a font?

NBB: It's getting really good reviews!

BC: It's a font.

NBB: Parasitic Birds and Their Hosts?

BC: That was a great book.

You CAN Help The Red Knot

Photo by DALE GERHARD

For the last few years, I've been tired of the impending extinction news regarding the Red Knot and I love it when people send me items for the blog, but I do try to stray away from posting announcements of everything going wrong. I do like to post announcements about proactive things that maybe I could do or tell my readers about that they can do.

Blatant over harvesting of horseshoe crabs in the spring is taking away a very important migratory feeding spot for red knots. They need this food in order to finish their migration to their breeding grounds. However, commercial fishing needs the crabs as bait. There was a plan for a ban of harvesting horseshoe crabs, but commercial fisheries fought it and the ban was rejected and instead, they are only going to harvest male crabs, not females...because that won't cause any problems at all.

So, what can we do? A bunch of people who don't live in the area calling and writing the powers that be doesn't seem to help. Boycott birding in the area is a lose/lose situation for birds and birding organizations in the area. Boycotting the fishing companies isn't going to help either.

Well, finally, I have met someone who is doing something proactive and all of us can help him help the red knot. Bill Stewart, chair of Delmarva Ornithological Society Conservation Committee teamed up with The Conservation Fund to try and help. The Conservation Fund said that if DOS could raise $15,000 they would be able to purchase five acres of prime Delaware coastline for the knots to feed on horseshoe crab eggs. Stewart and the DOS organized a Bird-A-Thon--that is a contest of individuals and teams who collect pledges and count the number of different species seen or heard in a set time period in a set area. People can make a chunk donation to a team or offer an amount like $1 per bird observed. Teams and organizations are eligible for prizes for most species observed or most funds raised.

Through sponsors and donations, the DOS raised a total of: $28,018.00! They were able to buy up five acres of habitat and used the extra money to establish a registered Hawk Migration Association of northern Delaware. And, they're going to try it again this year.

Every reader of this blog that feels an urge to help red knots avoid extinction can help this cause:

1. DONATE TO A TEAM. Your money will be used for habitat acquisition. Even if you can only do $1, all of us together can add up to one heck of a donation.

2. ORGANIZE YOUR OWN TEAM AND GATHER DONATIONS. If you want to be eligible for prizes, then you must do the bird a thon in the assigned area, but if you aren't in it for the prize but are just in it to raise money, have a team in your neighborhood and then mail in your gathered donations to the DOS. This would be a great way to do the Big Sit this fall.

3. Get the company you work for to help sponsor the event.

4. If you have a blog or website, write about this, let your readers know. Do you write articles for your bird club, local paper, magazines? Do you do radio or tv appearances as a bird person? Get the word out.

5. Donate prizes. Did you write a book? Do you make a cool bird feeder? Do you rep for an optics company?

6. Talk to your employer about being a sponsor or donating prizes to the effort.

Seriously, this species of bird used to be incredibly numerous and is well on its way to extinction if changes aren't made NOW. Some scientists go as so far to say that it may be too late, and this population of red knots will be extinct by 2010. We can keep this from being another passenger pigeon or Carolina parakeet, we just need to be loud and proactive and I congratulate Bill and members of the DOS for getting up and taking action. Habitat is key to any species survival.

Whoot

My goodness today was busy! We had a lot going on at The Raptor Center: programs, inspections, moving birds around indoors because it's too cold for them outside.

This imprinted male kestrel was very fascinated with th