Migration Floodgates Opened At Carpenter Nature Center

We had so many birds fly into the nets today (like the Nashville warbler above) at Carpenter Nature Center that I did not have a chance to document them all. I really felt more like a helper today as opposed to someone under foot. It was awesome, I was getting birds out nets--even uber challenging ones, I was using my Pyle book and my Pyle dichotomous key and even understanding it to age and sex birds--it was just sweet. Hey, Peter Pyle, have I thanked you lately for making the words "truncate" and "abraded" part of my daily vocabulary? Perhaps next time I get my hair done I will tell my stylist Rachel, "I would like the bangs fresh and truncate and the back to be tapered and relatively abraded with pale to buffy edging."

You can see his little rusty feathers on his crown. Migration was in full swing, as I was taking birds out of the nets I could hear red-eyed vireos singing and Jim Fitzpatrick, our instructor could hear a towhee.

And eventually it was trapped and banded. Jim said that he thinks this eastern towhee may be a first time banded bird for CNC--he got to do the honors of banding this bird. It was an exciting bird to see up close. This particular male's eyes were not bright red, but more of a rust.

Check out how the eyes on this male perfectly matches the rufus on his flanks. Very cool bird. Just as we stepped out to let the towhee go, he made a few odd squealing sounds and from the nearby woods we heard an uncertain, "Towhee?" Jim and I looked at each other--there was another towhee was in the woods. We let him go and he flew in the direction of the towhee call. What a bonus bird.

A surprise today were two clay-colored sparrows. My fellow classmate Sue heard them out on the prairie but we didn't expect them in the nets. Two came in at the same time in the same net, I wonder if this was related to mating? Two males chasing each other or a male in pursuit of a female?

I thought this was going to be my big challenge bird today--a female ruby-crowned kinglet. She was so tiny, it was like trying to get a dust bunny out of the nets. I took a deep breath, grabbed a toothpick to help remove the net tangled around the wings and got it out. Woof. I got her in the bag and eventually got to band her. She was so light, I decided to take her outside to band her. I wasn't used to banding such a tiny bird and chances were could that she could slip from my fingers in process. I thought it would be better to just have her fly away totally than get loose in the building and hit a window. All went well, I got the tiny band on her, measured her wings, and away she went.

But, she was not the most challenging bird of the day for me. It was this male rose-breasted grosbeak (he still has some of his brown juvenile plumage from last year--that made aging him a little easier). At one point we had several birds waiting to be processed but we hadn't checked the nets. I asked Jim what would be helpful, helping to band or doing a round to check the nets. He told me to check the nets and if there were several in one net to give a shout and someone would come out to help. I checked one net and there were four birds--including the grosbeak. We had been warned that grosbeaks and cardinals would bite the crap out of our fingers. I thought about saving the grosbeak for Jim and concentrating on the chipping sparrows, but I realized that I would have to learn on one of these sooner or later, might was well be now.

At first, I tried to hold him so that he couldn't reach my fingers as I tried to get him out of the net, but that just wasn't getting him free, so I changed my grip and she started to bite my hand. When he would get the entire tip of my finger in the grasp of that fat beak--it wasn't too bad, almost like being bitten by a sharp-shinned hawk. However, when he would use his beak to pinch and grab a tiny piece of skin...ZOWIE, that hurt. He also completely scraped off the nail polish on my index finger. But, I didn't have it so bad.

Fellow classmate Kelly worked to get a downy woodpecker out of the nets and he went after her fingers like Homer Simpson in a donut factory. Boy, that woodpecker seemed to know where to strike, right on the cuticle and along a knuckle. Downy woodpecker blood lust, who knew?

Kelly took her banding wounds in stride.

I ended my morning by banding a male brown headed cowbird. When he was in the net, he was incredibly docile, but as soon as I had him in the bag he freaked and was fluttering like crazy. Since cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds contributing to the decline of many species of birds including thrushes and warblers, it was tempting to do some experimental neutering on this male, I could not. The CNC permits only allow us to place a band on the birds and measure them, so I had to let him go.

The male cowbird really is kind of a striking bird up close. They filled an important niche when the bison roamed the prairie by following the large herds and eating the insects kicked up by the large animals. The traveler lifestyle isn't conducive to raising chicks, so they evolved over time to lay eggs in nests of other species of birds and those parents would raise their young. There aren't any herds to follow anymore, so the cowbirds follow the sedentary humans. One female cowbird depositing 60 eggs while following a herd of bison for miles and miles is one thing. One female cowbird depositing 60 eggs in a neighborhood can cause problems.

I have to admit that after spending the winter banding mostly juncos, I wondered how I would handle doing several species in one day, but I think I'm going to be fine. Can't wait to see what the rest of May brings and who knows, maybe by the end of summer I'll be ready for those difficult flycatchers.

Eagle Nest and Tons on the Horizon

For the readers who don't go to Disapproving Rabbits but would like to hear some of the sounds rabbits can make, check out this video of Cinnamon grunting.

So much to blog and so little time! I got the word from Lorraine that the bees have landed. I was hoping that they would arrive tomorrow or Friday and I would hive them on Friday but they came today. Right now I'm trying to rearrange my schedule to install them on Thursday. I'm hoping Non Birding Bill will come and use his mad video directin' skillz to make a short on how we install our bees. I can't help but giggle and think of two years ago when we first hatched the crazy bee plan. Mr. Neil and I with visions of hexagons and buzzing and Lorraine and NBB heavily protesting. Both saying we were not going into the bee business because Mr. Neil would be out of the country writing and I would be at some bird thing and Lorraine and NBB would be the ones to have to deal with the bees and they under no circumstances would not be helping with the bees...and here was Lorraine dealing with early bee arrival while Mr. Neil was away and I was doing a bird thing.

I stopped by the bald eagle nest at the 5-8 Club to get a last view of it before the trees leaf out. The chicks have hatched and the male and female are stopping by to feed them throughout the day.

Word on the street with the banders is that many eagles are about two weeks behind from last year because of the long winter. Some banding of eagle chicks was supposed to start next week and they are now scheduled to start on May 12. Eagles are usually good with starting early, they don't need water to be open, but osprey do. I know many lakes in northern Minnesota are still frozen, I wonder if they will be late this year too? Speaking of which, the are talking flurries again for the Twin Cities this weekend--for the first weekend in May. If that happens, that means that we will have had a six month winter. Our first snow was last November 5. That's the hardcore Minnesota winter we know and love!

The weather can't put a hold on the rest of migration. We had one intense day of banding at Carpenter Nature Center today, which I will get to tonight. The towhee above is just a hint. Boy, wasn't it just the other day that I blogged about wanting to get a photo of that crazy towhee eye? Sometimes, wishes do come true in the short term.

Here are a couple of other hints: What bird hates black sparkly nail polish more than titmice hate purple nail polish?

And, what bird caused this blood bath? That's not my finger...dodged a bullet with that bird!

Odds and Ends

Gary Reuter has combined two of my passions: a bird house painted to look like a beehive! He used the wren house nest box plans from Woodworking for Wildlife and then just painted it to look like a hive.

Speaking of nesting, if you have noticed any nesting in your yard, consider participating in NestWatch--a new, free citizen science project developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in collaboration with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and funded by the National Science Foundation. Participants visit nests during spring and summer to collect simple information about location, habitat, species, number of eggs, and number of young in the nest. Then they submit their observations online.

“NestWatch introduces birding and simple methods of scientific inquiry to families, children, retired adults people of all ages and skills,” says project leader Tina Phillips. “It’s easy and fun. It helps people reconnect with nature in their own yard, nearby park, or nature preserve.”

In other words, this is easy for anyone of just about any ability and would especially be a great idea for kids to get an interest in nature.

While you're checking out the NestWatch site, don't forget to visit all the NestCams Cornell has going on too.

Also Karen Sowizral emailed me this photo she took of a two headed gull (insert sinister music here). I think it's two herring gulls (thanks Nicki ;) side by side, but it does look like something Godzilla might fight.

New Mind Games To Play With Starlings

From The Telegraph:

Starlings can tell if you are watching them, according to a study that has shown for the first time that starlings respond to a human's gaze.

Starlings will keep away from their food dish if a human is looking at it. However, if the person is just as close, but their eyes are turned away, the birds resumed feeding earlier and consumed more food overall, according to experiments by Julia Carter and colleagues at the University of Bristol, reported today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences.

Could this be exploited to make a better scarecrow? "Starlings do seem to have a reasonably strong aversion to eyes, even to artificial eyes, but these birds are also very quick learners," she says.

"Previous studies have shown that starlings will learn within a matter of hours to ignore even relatively elaborate bird scarers - these devices never do what a real predator would, they don't actually chase the birds or present any other signs of danger, so the birds quickly learn to ignore them."

This fear of being observed directly may be hard wired into bird brains, since predators tend to look at their prey when they attack, so direct eye-gaze can predict imminent danger. Equally, it might be a sign that starlings are doing something smarter than that, by taking into account the view of another, not just another bird but another species.

Carter says:"It is not yet clear what this means for the intelligence of starlings, they are certainly far more observant and sensitive to human facial cues that we might have imagined - what we find is responses to really very subtle differences in a human's eye-gaze, even though there are far more conspicuous and salient cues that don't change in the experiment: the close proximity of the person, and their body and face orientation."

"The possibility that the starlings can "read the intention of another species" is certainly an intriguing one, and is indeed an interesting possibility, though there are likely alternatives to consider," she says.

"The simplest explanation might be that these birds are responding at an innate instinctive level: circular eye-like patterns are thought to be rather conspicuous to vertebrates like starlings, so a human who is staring directly at the starling is likely to attract the bird's attention (because the direct eye-gaze presents a completely visible circular pattern) more so than the averted eye-gaze (which presents an angled view, and therefore a less circular pattern)."

Another likely possibility is that the starlings have learned to fear a direct look. "If a starling is ever chased or captured in the wild or in captivity, the event is preceded by the captor looking directly at the bird.

"A starling is never chased if it is not looked at first, so a predictive relationship can be learned - looking leads to a risk of capture. The final possibility is that the starling can recognise that the human is looking at it, and infer the likelihood that they will consequently be chased."

But, she says, "It is notoriously difficult to get inside the black box of an animal's brain in order to establish, for example, whether they can appreciate another's visual perspective or even whether they have a 'theory of mind'.

The reason that they benefit from being sensitive to a human gaze is down to peer pressure. Wild starlings are highly social and will quickly join others at a productive foraging patch. This leads to tough competition for food so an individual starling that assesses a relatively low predation risk, and responds by returning more quickly to a foraging patch (as in this study), will gain valuable feeding time before others join the patch.

"By responding to these subtle eye-gaze cues, starlings would gain a competitive advantage over individuals that are not so observant. This work highlights the importance of considering even very subtle signals that might be used in an animal's decision-making process."

Responses to obvious indicators of risk - a predator looming overhead or the fleeing of other animals - are well documented, but Carter argued that a predator's head and eye-gaze direction are also useful indicators of risk, even though subtle, since many predators orient their head and eyes towards their prey as they attack.

Carter did the study with Nicholas Lyons, Hannah Cole, and Arthur Goldsmith.

Barn Owl Pellet Reveals New Mammal

From the Telegraph:

A species of shrew has been found in Ireland for the first time - after it was discovered it was featuring on an owl's menu.

Scientists were alerted by the size of a skull found in food remains passed by a Barn owl.

They eventually managed to trap several of the greater white-toothed shrew to prove that it has taken up residence.

It is only the third new mammal to be found in Ireland in almost 60 years.

The shrew is normally found in parts of Africa, France and Germany and the closest it has previously been spotted to Ireland is the Channel Islands.

It is not known how the shrew arrived but the scientists believed it was introduced only recently.

Dave Tosh, from the School of Biological Sciences at Queens University, found the shrew in Tipperary and Limerick in the south-west of Ireland.

He was studying the diet of the Barn owl in Ireland as part of his PhD last winter when he was sent pellets - regurgitated food remains - from owls to help with the study by John Lusby, Barn Owl Research Officer from Bird Watch Ireland.

"It was amongst a batch that I was about to dry in an oven, that I noticed a very large shrew skull," he said.

"Having looked at hundreds of pellets from Ireland already I knew that what I was looking at was very unusual as our native pygmy shrew is very small in comparison.

"I ended up looking through more and more pellets and discovered more and more of the strange shrew skulls."

In March seven greater white-toothed shrews were trapped at four locations in Tipperary and their existence has now been recorded in the scientific journal Mammal Review.

Professor Ian Montgomery, Head of the School of Biological Sciences at Queen's, who helped trap the shrew, said the discovery of a new mammal species in Ireland is extremely rare.

Blogging On A Snowy Spring Day

I think this post needs to be book ended by butter butts (aka yellow-rumped warblers). In many ways spring is a cruel and at times non existent season in the northern US. Some might even goes far as to call spring a treacherous snake woman. After the magical Wednesday of seventy some odd degrees Thursday and Friday were rain, rain, rain, snow. Yep, snow. Now, luckily in the Twin Cities we just got a few flurries and a dusting that melted away by Saturday afternoon. However, up north they got 6 - 10 inches. I'm curious to see if there will be snow when I go up to the Detroit Lakes Festival in a few weeks.

After it rained all day Thursday, I headed 150 miles south to Wisconsin on Friday morning to give some bird programs at an elementary school. I knew cold weather was coming because my right knee was acting up--very stiff and painful to walk on--I dislocated that knee in a skateboarding incident at age 16 and like some weird voodoo it can sense dramatic temperature shifts. After I gave the programs, I used the chance to hang out with my buddy Joan and she took me to Trempealeau NWR. We had a few breaks between rain showers to do a little walking. When we stepped out of the parking lot we overcome by the aromatic and eye watering smell of:

a fish kill! Not since Stink Island have I had an nasal experience like that, it looked like mostly carp. I tried looking up the cause of the fish kill on "the google" and found that Trempleau NWR has a history of fish kills. The carp cause a disappearance of aquatic plants by grubbing up the roots and that leads to a deletion of dissolved oxygen in winter causing the fish kill. Bleh! However, some birds try to make the most of it:

This red-winged black bird was announcing his territory. I thought it was a pain to be out on a cloudy and drizzly day--this guy was singing on a pile of floaters--that's optimism! Imagine being a female red-winged blackbird, just returning from migration and you find a male you kind of like and he takes you back to see his territory and he takes you to this! Actually, she probably wouldn't care too much, not having a highly developed sense of smell. When the male wasn't displaying to rival males, he hopped from dead fish to dead fish feeding. At times it looked like slivers of fish meat and a couple of times it looked like he had found some sort of aquatic insect larvae. Leave it to birds to make the best of a rotten situation.

There were tons of yellow-rumped warblers. As I would drive, I could see clouds of them rolling through fields, the edge of woodlands, along water edges looking for anything edible. On my way down and on my way back to the Twin Cities I saw many recent insect eating arrivals: chimney swifts, purple martins, palm warblers, and on the listservs people were reporting orioles, thrashers, and rose-breasted grosbeaks. As much of a bummer as cold snap in spring is to me, I can't help but wonder how birds exhausted from migration can survive it.

I drove along and heard a familiar song--an eastern towhee. That's not a bird I hear very often in the cities and just took a few moments to enjoy his "drink your tea" song. I was bummed that I didn't have fantastic light. I'd love to try and get a shot where you can see that crazy red eye on the towhee--ah well, another bird for another day. His song was a welcome tune to the chilly day.

Okay, this is not the greatest shot ever of a red-tailed hawk, but the bird cracked me up. It was between rain showers and the bird was trying to air dry it's wings. Poor guy.

It's been interesting to watch the birds around my neighborhood. Saturday when it was snowing there were some yellow-rumps in my neighborhood searching for food around the tree buds and in crevices of apartment buildings--it's so strange to see them in their breeding plumage while feeding in snow flurries. The week is going to be chilly but should be warm by this time next weekend. I wish I could control the weather to give the arriving migrants a warmer welcome.

Turning A Corner With Banding

Wednesday was a glorious 70 degree day and just a fun morning of banding--I'm finally getting my footing with getting birds out of the net. We got in quite a few white-throated sparrows like the bird above.

KARE 11 came back to film a few more shots for the bird segment they are working on. Jim Fitzpatrick is getting interviewed above. And once again, as I was trying to get a bird out of the net I heard, "Hey, hold still, we're coming over to film that!" Happily, there was no panic attack like last week. I ended up doing it twice and I really feel like a turned a corner in my learning process. I have to admit that after last week, I was questioning whether or not I should keep going--but thanks to some extra practice last Sunday and the patience and teaching of some of the other banders at Carpenter I feel like I'm back on track with little birds. The only thing I worry about is that I don't dress for tv when I'm banding at Carpenter, I tend to dress for comfort--ah well.

The most interesting bird that we got on Wednesday was the last bird in the traps--a junco (quite possibly the last junco I will band this spring). When I was taking it out of the bag, I could see that it had a pink rump. Closer inspection revealed that they were not pink feathers:

The bird was missing a large patch of feathers on its rump. It must have happened a couple of weeks ago, pin feathers are already growing above the tail. You could also see that in the middle of the pink skin was a healed over puncture wound. Something had attacked this junco and it survived! And it was still strong enough to migrate! At this point, the juncos we are getting at Carpenter are ones that spent the winter further south like in Missouri or Texas. Somewhere along the way, something tried to eat it. We made a note about the wound and it will be interesting to see if the junco is retrapped and how long it survives.

Here's a photo pointing out the growing feathers and the scabbed over wound. You can also see the uropygial gland also called the preen gland. They squeeze this gland and oil comes out that is used when preening. I wonder if this wound is from a shrike? Shrikes kill with their beaks? It could also have been a sharp-shinned talon too. I don't think it's from a cat, small animals usually don't survive that. Cats have a bacteria called Pasteurella that will infect the bite or claw wound and kill the small animal within a few days.

So many things learned at banding.

Would You Sette For A Cleansing Robin?

There has been a request for a cleansing bird after the last post (sorry I didn't give the gross out warning with that one). I must admit, that looking out the window and seeing snow this fine April 26 that I myself am in need of a cleansing bird. So, how about a cleansing robin:

Breathe in the robin. Breath out the robin. In. Out. In. Out.

Spring can be such a biotch.

File Under: That Had To Hurt Comin' Out

I was sent this story about a California wildlife rehabber who found an injured hawk:

A hawk was found dead along a California highway with the claw of a songbird protruding from its chest.

It's not clear, however, if the partially digested meal, one claw somehow managing to get back out from a terribly wrong location, had anything to do with the hawk's death.

On the evening of Sunday, March 30, Julia Di Sieno of the Animal Rescue Team in California noticed the dead sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus) while driving a sick night heron to the Solvang Veterinary Hospital. Sharp-shinned hawks are birds of prey and considered stellar hunters. They are the smallest hawks that reside in the United States and Canada.

"So I did a U-turn, put on my gloves and picked the bird up, and immediately rushed him to the vet where he died in my hands," Di Sieno told LiveScience. "Upon examination, we noticed that there was a small bird foot out of its chest."

A pouch in the hawk's chest area called the crop had ripped open and the songbird, which had been a meal for the hawk, was spilling out. You can see this in a larger version of the above photo here. There is also another angle of the hawk here.

"We removed a good portion of this bird [the songbird], which was partially digested," Di Sieno said by telephone yesterday. The hawk had apparently just finished downing what might have been a sparrow, she said. "He [the dead hawk] even still had down feathers and meat on his beak."

However, Di Sieno said she is not sure how the hawk died or what caused its crop to burst open.

I'm not sure what happened. It the larger versions of the photos, the head looks really flat and more like a Cooper's hawk than a sharp-shinned--but the photos are at odd and unnatural angles. Also, the leg looks like a blackbird leg. Either way, I don't think that the prey ripped it's way out. Sharp-shins and Cooper's typically do not swallow prey whole--they are smaller and they rip it apart. I doubt whatever bird it was would have had a chance to claw it's way out of the crop. My guess is that when the hawk was hit by a car, the impact or some part of the vehicle cause the very full crop to get ripped open. But we don't know for sure and it makes for some interesting conjecture.

Speaking of bird feet undigested...

I found some interesting excrement at Carpenter Nature Center yesterday! It looks like mammal poop and that the mammal had eaten a large bird. Do you see the long bird toes in the above photo?

This chunk had shafts from feathers in it. The bird wasn't white, but the shafts got bleached as they were worked through a digestive tract.

The toes were just fascinating. I'm guessing that they are pheasant toes, but turkey is a possibility--both can be found at Carpenter. While I was taking photos I could hear a pheasant giving its old rusty car horn call not too far away. Still there are many questions: What sort of mammal is this from? Red fox? Gray fox? Coyote? Was it a turkey or pheasant? And how much did it hurt to have those bird claws coming through the back door?

Trapped Squirrel

Sometimes squirrels get trapped in the Potter Traps for songbirds at Carpenter. We have to get them out, so I usually use a stick to open the door to avoid being inadvertently clawed. Today's squirrel was a little slow on the uptake:

Spring Is A Little Closer

It's almost completely yellow! So close to spring!

In other news, here is a link to a video of why you should not pick up wild birds...especially young chicks if you do not know what you are doing--be sure to watch the whole video (it's about a minute long and is safe for work). The slow motion really brings the point home.

Wood Frogs and Chorus Frogs

We were serenaded by frogs all weekend! There are wet spots all over Mr. Neil that's just perfect for frogs. The loudest were the chorus frogs and wood frogs. Above is a wood frog in mid...croak. Wood frogs have a special place in my heart. When I first moved to Minnesota, I went to TS Roberts Sanctuary for birding. There was a wet area with this weird barking sound. A woman standing there with binoculars was intently watching the wet area. "What is that?" I asked. She said it was grouse. Not being familiar with grouse and new to Minnesota, I found it completely plausible that grouse would be found in a city park in an urban area. I spent an hour scanning with my binoculars before I finally found the wood frogs--much to the consternation of Non Birding Bill--ah good times.

I continued to scan Mr. Neil's pond for chorus frogs and I found one out of the water puffing away. Such a tiny frog, makes such a loud sound! I took some video through the spotting scope. The first is focusing on a wood frog (the are the kind of barking sound). The second video is on the chorus frog, but again you will hear both wood and chorus frogs. Chorus frogs sound like you are running a finger over the tines on a comb. Now, if only I could find some spring peepers to listen to!

I'm So Proud Of The Olga Bees!

After we banded the birds on Sunday, Amber and Reier asked if I would mind showing them the bees. Would I mind? Pish-sha! (That's Reier holding a frame above) I love to show off the bees. Non Birding Bill, Mr. Niel, and Lorraine went with me to the Olga hive to give her some nectar and a pollen patty the day before--we need to help feed the hive until more trees and flowers bloom. I thought I would just show Amber and Reier the top of the hive.

NBB had walked past the hive while we were banding and warned she was active in the warm weather. When we got there we found a ton of foragers coming back loaded with pollen. Even though I had given them a pollen patty, they were still out there looking and successfully finding it on their own. Look at all those yellow pollen baskets on their legs!

I know they are getting pollen from blooming tree buds, but I think they are also taking advantage of crocuses that are starting to bloom. There are some around the house, some around neighboring homes and I planted several in the surrounding woods.

Amber got the above shot of Reier and I opening the hive and looking at the frames on the inside--we were covered in bees, but they were not stinging us. The hive sounded happy and thriving. Curiosity got the better of me, so I thought we would take the top off and look at a couple of frames and see if any new eggs had been laid since we switched the top box last weekend. We didn't find eggs, we found larvae:

There's larvae all over in the above frame, but to make it easier, I put some blue arrows next to a few cells with bee larvae in them. See the tiny little curled up things in the bottom of the cells? In a couple of weeks, those will be new worker bees! I'm so proud of our girls, they are finding pollen on their own, the queen is laying lots of eggs for fresh strong workers for the spring, and we even found several frames still heavy with honey that they built up last fall. I think Olga is going to provide us with lots of honey this summer.

I'm just swelling with pride for my girls. I think spring has officially begun for me.

Hairy Day Of Banding At Mr. Neil's

We tried to band and track some of the birds in Mr. Neil's yard on Sunday. Professional banders Mark Newstrom and Roger Everhart came out and set up some nets--just like they did last fall. Above is the first bird we banded--an eastern phoebe.

On the left is Roger and on the right is Mark. We were expecting a 70 degree day, but the morning started with fog and 37 degrees. Fabulous Lorraine, who is Mr. Neil's assistant was taking good care of us by keeping a steady flow of coffee our way--to keep us alert and warm.

What surprised me were the number of hairy woodpeckers we got in the nets on Sunday. Mr. Neil has a huge population of woodpeckers on his property--partly because he doesn't cut down and haul away every dead and dying tree. Some have to be removed for safety, but even when trees come down, some are left as huge fun brush piles. But, we had so many hairy woodpeckers come in, I lost count--I think we got in five. Above is the head of a female hairy woodpecker.



One of the things that the guys check for are brood patches. Above, Roger is blowing on the feathers of the female hairy, exposing a large patch of bare skin--females (and males of some species) get these to keep eggs warm during incubation and keep chicks warm on cold days. Speaking of which, Roger and Mark noted on this female that the skin was wrinkly. That tells them that she already has chicks at the nest! When the brood patch first forms--the skin swells for incubation. After incubation, the swelling goes away and the skin has wrinkles.

Here is one of the male hairy woodpeckers that came into the net (note that the sun did eventually come out). Are you noting the length of that hairy bill--that is one of the ways you can tell them from a downy woodpecker--hairys have longer bills. Speaking of length...

in the spring, you look for things like cloacal protuberances (aka bird boner). I know length isn't supposed to matter, but for a bird, this is impressive. When the hormones kick in, the cp swells and remains that way for a few weeks. Imagine having to fly around with that swollen for a few weeks. It must be hard to concentrate.

Here is the stiff tail of a hairy, you can see that the tips are stained from being used to prop the woodpecker up against the sides of trees.

Owie! We did get in a couple of female red-bellied woodpeckers. I was glad because this is Lorraine's favorite species.

Red-bellies have really cool tongues. Note above the hardened tip that is covered in sharp bristles that are used to spear and grab on to larvae inside dead trees. These birds can be a challenge in the net because their tongue bristles can get caught on the nets. You always have to be careful when taking birds out of the nets, but it gets really tricky with this species. One of the many reasons you need have permits and be well trained to band birds.

Speaking of training, Mark and Roger were very gracious and let me help so I could learn. Early on, I would start to get a bird out and then give it to them. Both showed me their techniques of getting birds out of the nets and towards the end of the morning, I was getting birds out (without shaking). They even let me practice my banding on a robin. I've been doing so many juncos, I needed the practice with a larger bird. Oh! I should mention that this female was VERY vocal. As we were taking a photo before she left, she was squawking and out of nowhere two male robins flew in and one almost hit me in the face! We let her go--my goodness, the dangers of banding.

Roger was excited to get to band a new bird species. Tufted titmice are not found in the area where he and Mark usually band birds. I had hoped last fall that they would get one, but did not. We did on Sunday and it's the same bird in the video posted earlier. I swear, this species head is 80% eyeball.

I was noting on Thursday that I was still seeing tree sparrows and no chipping sparrows yet. Well, that changed on Sunday, we got in quite a few chipping sparrows. It will be interesting to watch and see if the chipping sparrows keep heading north or will be the birds that nest here in summer.

We got in some white-breasted nuthatches, but no red-breasted. We saw at least three red-breasted nuthatches in the net, but each one managed to work their way through--perhaps because they are so tiny, which is odd because we got some last fall. I wonder if they were a tad fatter then?

My friends Amber and Reier came along and during a lull, Reier found a raccoon sleeping in a very large hole of a dead tree. He had hoped to find an owl but found the raccoon instead.

I think we banded close to 30 birds on Sunday morning--check out poor Roger's knuckles in the above photo--that's what comes from banding woodpeckers all morning. One of them actually drew blood! Although, he's holding a phoebe in the above photo--it almost looks like that bird did it.

Look at that sweet phoebe face, they wouldn't hurt anybody...well, except flies (being a flycatcher and all).

Check out this shot that Amber got of the eastern phoebe being released--what a great shot! I love how the bird's head is turned, almost as if giving her the perfect pose on purpose. It was a great day of banding and the guys will be back in a couple of weeks to try and get some warblers. Should be fun!

What I Learned Today

Pileated Woodpecker

NBB caught this footage of a Pileated Woodpecker outside on the feeders.

So Wrong

see more crazy cat pics

Because they aren't really storks...they're egrets!

Mergansers At Wood Lake

I love this time of year. Loons are migrating north and this is one of the few times you can find them on the lakes near our apartment. This was my Friday morning loon.

I had a spare hour this morning and headed over to Wood Lake Nature Center. Now that the ice is finally coming out of some of the Twin Cities lakes, people are reporting waterfowl all over. When I arrived at Wood Lake, I was surprised to see a tree sparrow still hanging around. How soon will we see chipping sparrows in their place?

When I got down to the lake, I noticed some waterfowl dotting the surface. Across from me, a coot started splashing around. It poked its bill a couple of times in the water and then took off. I wondered if a large fish was going after its feet...

I was surprised to see a pied-billed grebe pop up where the coot had been. Not long after I took this photo it gave its territory call. Perhaps the grebe plans to use this as its nesting territory and feels that no coots should be allowed.

There was a robin lurking in the reeds--check out that beakful of nesting material!

I continued to scan the lake and found this pair of hooded mergansers. They drifted over to the other side where there is another dock. I wondered if I could get over there to get a closer look. They can be kind of cagey, but the male would be interested in the female and maybe wouldn't notice me.

I walked over to the dock and moved slowly, using the reeds to hide my body. They noticed my movement, but didn't seem too alarmed.
Every time they dove under water for fish, I would take a step closer and try to anticipate where they would pop up and have my scope and camera ready.

This seemed to work well. When the birds would come up with a fish, they were so interested in trying to swallow it, they didn't care if I came right out in the open.

Some mallards came out towards the mergansers. The males were chasing a hen, oblivious to the smaller ducks around them. It's weird seeing the mergansers head on.

Eventually, the female swam over to a log and began to preen. The male soon followed and did a little display of raising his crest. And either because I'm incredibly tired or have been sipping too much scotch, I leave you with an anthropomorphic cartoon of hooded mergansers:

Male Merganser Gets His Mojo On

Here's a video I took though my spotting scope of some hooded mergansers. It starts off on a preening female and then goes to a male preening...and working his cresty mojo. I wish videos looked as good on You Tube as they do before compressed, but you get the idea.

Falcon ID Needed At Cute Overload--STAT!

Okay, I need the help from my readers overseas. There's an adorable falcon photo over at Cute Overload and no one knows the ID. I'm thinking Common Kestrel (or Falco tinnunculus) but this is not a falcon I see every day. Can anyone else id it? If not, just enjoy the cute photo!

Oh, and brace yourselves for some hot hooded merganser action coming in the next 12 hours. I got some killer shots this morning!

Week Of Field Trips

I started a part time job with the National Parks this week. I'll be doing a lot of what I normally do, but for the parks service. I'll mostly be at the Mississippi River Visitor's Center at the Science Museum, so if you find yourself in St. Paul, stop in and say hello. This week has been a week of field trips to learn about the Mississippi River and cool places to visit.

For example, at the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, you can see some early mines that were part of Minnesota's first brewery. The above mine belonged to a brewery once owned by Jacob Schmidt and he would keep lager in there (sometimes helping to maintain a cooler temperature by putting ice from the Mississippi in the mine). There is also a cave sacred to the Dakota called Wakan Tipi, but it is completely blocked from the public for safety reasons.

While we were walking around, there was a pair of red-tailed hawks soaring over us. The above bird hung in the air like a kite, made a steep dive, and landed on this branch attempting to rip it off. It was gathering sticks for the nest--it was very cool to watch.

This is one of the many mounds found at Indian Mounds Park in St. Paul. The mounds were created by the Hopewell Indians and used for burial. I love that there are Indian Burial Mounds right in St. Paul--surrounded by playgrounds and bluebird houses.

As a matter of fact, here is one of the bluebirds hanging around the park. There's a point where you can stand in front of a mound and see not only the nearby downtown St. Paul skyline, but also the Minneapolis skyline. An Indian burial ground right in a major metro area--how has there not been any sort of zombie attack or poltergeists going on?

We also stopped at Lilydale Regional Park which is known for its fossils. Our guide kept telling us that we'd just go a little farther. He really wanted us to go up this hill--there was a clay pit we really had to see...I'll admit that I was skeptical.

We got to the pit and he was correct, it was worth it. The water that trickles out forms huge ice falls which people can get permits to climb in winter. All the rocks in this area are covered with fossils:

This was one of several rocks that I picked up and you could easily see fossils--don't ask me what kind--it looks like some coral and a few shells. A few hundred million years ago this area was at the bottom of a sea. When you get into the park, you can see layers of sandstone and on top of that is a layer of shale that's chock full of the fossils--you are supposed to get a $10 fossil collecting permit from St. Paul before you take anything home. You will also find a ton of bricks at the park too, as it used to be a brickyard. I would have a tough time at this park in May. I'd want to look down for fossils, but since it's right along the river I would be watching for warblers too.

Really Cool Avocet Rescue Story!

Here's a link to some cool photos and story on the rescue of an injured avocet. Oh, to be able to hold that shorebird in my hands!

Spring Birds At Carpenter Nature Center

It was another action packed day at Carpenter Nature Center. Despite the big seasonal movement and warm temperatures, we didn't get huge amounts of birds. Above, some of the guys in the glass are playing with a spectrograph--there's always something scientific going on. At first they were just looking through it, but then Paul (in the pink shirt) tried to take a photo with his digital camera. Can we party or what!

Local weatherman Sven Sundgaard stopped by to film a bird segment for KARE 11. Jim Fitzpatrick (the guy teaching my banding class) is demonstrating how we band birds. I had a minor panic attack today. While they were filming a segment, a chickadee flew into the nets. I need practice getting birds out of the net and chickadees are one of the hardest birds to take out. They grab on to the net with both feet and do not let go. While you are trying to take the small ball of feathers out from entanglement, they peck at your fingernails--usually right where the nail meets the cuticle or between the nail and skin (if you're thinking "ow" you're thinking right).

I thought that I had it easy, since most everyone was over watching the filming, I could practice getting the chickadee out of the nets without everyone staring and making me nervous. After a few moments, fellow classmates Paul and Sue came to help--and I needed it. The wind kept blowing in and out of my face and Sue get reminding me to take deep cleansing breaths to stay calm. I almost had the chickadee out (and cuticles intact) when I hear a shout behind me. "Hey, Sharon, hold on, we want to film you getting the chickadee out of the net."

"Nooooooooo!" was my panicked response. Even though the bird was already mostly out, I could see that the net was twisted and I needed calm to get it out. However, the crew and group was around me before I knew it. Sue continued like a faithful Lamaze instructor, "deep cleansing breaths" but it was to no avail--my hands were shaking and no amount of being told, "Just calm down was going to help." The camera was on my fingers and even though I do tv segments all the time, that's me talking and doing things I'm 110% confident in. I'm still learning about banding and was just not ready for that audience. Sure enough, the bird fluttered and ended up tangled in the net again and I had Jim take over. Too much pressure. I know I'll get the hang of it like I got the grip down, but it's just going to take lots of practice.

But on to some of the other birds. We got in our first robin of the year. Someone else actually banded this bird, but I wanted to hold it for just a second. I have been handling tiny juncos all winter and I wanted to see what a big beefy bird like a robin would be like in my tiny hands--just fine. Whew.

We still have some juncos around. These are not the ones we've had all winter, those guys have already gone north. This one probably wintered in Missouri, Texas, or perhaps Illinois. One of the juncos I had was was missing a talon...or is it claw on a songbird...whatever it's called, the bird was missing a toenail. It looked like an old wound that was well healed over and the bird had adapted to it very well.

We did get in one fox sparrow--wow, this has just been fox sparrow week for me. They're at Staring Lake, they're at Mr. Neil's, they're pretty much all over the Twin Cities. Talk about a beefy sparrow--these guys are robust! And if you're wondering what the big deal is about this brown bird, check this out:

Look at those gorgeous rufus colors on the wings, rump, and tail. That's not just any brown, that's a special brown. Really, it is. Just soak in that reddish brown for a few minutes.

Like Sue says, "Deep cleansing breaths" breathe in the fox sparrow, breath out. Breathe it in, deep cleansing fox sparrow.

Non brown birds will be coming to the blog soon. I swear.

Random Sign

Seen while driving around the Twin Cities today:

Falcon Fever

I just got a copy of Falcon Fever by Tim Gallagher from Houghton Mifflin. Some of you may be familiar with Tim as an award winning nature photographer, or from when he was an editor for WildBird Magazine, or as the current editor of Living Bird Magazine, or as one of the guys who rediscovered the ivory-billed woodpecker.

I interviewed Tim a couple of years ago about the ivory-bill search. As he was giving me pretty much the same answers that everyone else was getting, I remembered that someone told me he was a falconer. I asked him what he like to fly as a falconer and the whole interview changed, his face lit up and he became animated as he described flying merlins and peregrines. This is a true passion for him.

If you do not know anything about falconry, this book is a good way to be introduced to it. The first half focuses on his brutal childhood with an alcoholic and abusive father. Falconry became a release for him and a way to connect with nature and wildlife. Anyone who has ever felt the pull to the wild will thrill along with Tim's adventures and his early trainings of hawks. You will also learn some surprising things about Tim--like he did a few drugs and even spent time in jail! I was on the edge of my seat as I read that and wondered how he made it from such a low point in his life to where he is now. The book doesn't really explain that and if I have one thing I would change, it would be to tell that story.

The second half of the book does not focus on that journey but starts at a point later in his life, after the ivory-bill rediscovery and he feels the need to reconnect with falconry and retrace one of his boyhood idols Frederick II, the thirteenth century Holy Roman Emperor who wrote one of the earliest falconry manuals. Tim spends a year going to falconry meets, hunting with some of the worlds best falconers, and taking roads much less traveled in Italy and trace the steps and history of Frederick II.

If you know someone who is a falconer, they will love this book as a gift and probably recognize many of the names mentioned. If you are curious as to what this falconry thing is all about--this explains the magic and thrill these obsessed hunters find in the fields with their birds. Falconry is not about a person and their pet bird, but a hunting partnership between human and bird--one where the bird can decide to leave the human if the human doesn't keep up. This is a well written book and easy to read, I recommend it.

The Benefits Of Relieving Yourself In The Woods

This is the post that I was debating about: is it too much information? But Non Birding Bill said that is was gold...hm, interesting choice of words in hindsight.

I was bebopping around in Mr. Neil's woods on Sunday. I was in hot pursuit of a ruffed grouse and the report that a black-backed woodpecker had been seen (I did not see it). After spending so much time trying to get photos of fox sparrows on Saturday, I was amused at how abundant and cooperative they were for my camera. Note the guy above. He just perched right above me in the woods and sat for several minutes. We're banding at Mr. Neil's on Sunday, I hope a few stick around.

It did seem to be a brown bird bonanza day. I was trying to get a photo of a brown creeper, but boy they just do not sit still. I got this shot and then aimed my scope up a few feet higher in anticipation of getting the perfect shot...

...however, just as it was perfectly centered in the frame, it took off! Curs