Experiments With Eagles
I went to the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival in Homer, Alaska--which is a delightful festival, I highly recommend it. I met a ton of people who were originally from Minnesota and for one reason or another had moved to Alaska. I can see why, it's beautiful and great for people who enjoy the outdoors. Homer actually reminded me quite a bit of northern Minnesota--only with glaciers and mountains.
I got a kick out of this sign--it reads "gulls" and not "seagulls."
As I was birding along Homer Spit, I saw the above sign and suddenly remembered this was where you used find Jean Keene the Eagle Lady (another former Minnesotan). She lived along the spit and collected fish from various sources as well as roadkill moose to feed 200 - 300 bald eagles a day in the winter. That's a lot of bald eagles. Many enjoyed it--especially tourists and wildlife photographers (if you Google search "bald eagle flock" the first several photos are from the Eagle Lady feeding spot). Local hotel owners also appreciated a boom in business in winter. But some residents were not so thrilled to have eagles perched on their cars or homes and pooping all day. So the town of Homer has banned the feeding of predatory and scavenging birds, grandfathering her in so she could continue. But when she died, the eagle feeding stopped.
Me with Lynne Schoenborn, Sue Keator and Flat Michelle.
Two friends from Minnesota, Lynne and Sue came up to the fest and we got to spend some time together. Sue brought along a couple of photos of another friend named Michelle. I love Michelle, she takes photobombing to another level, knows lots about native plants and is always a good time at Birds and Beers...but there's one way we differ: she hates travel. She hates it so much she has said that her goal is to never have a passport.
So we brought along her avatar in the form of Flat Michelle and began posting photos of her on Facebook. Michelle says it's her favorite form of travel.
Flat Michelle kicking on back with an obliging sandhill crane in the background.
Here's Flat Michelle with an obligatory Alaska bald eagle photo.
One of the places Lynne, Sue and I birded was Anchor Point--which is great for sea ducks, shorebirds and sparrows. There were a gazillion eagles and unlike Homer, people are allowed leave piles of unwanted fish on the beach. You could get quite close to the them, they really are used to people. I suggested that we put Flat Michelle in one of the fish piles and step away. We could then digiscope her with some bald eagles right next to her face.
Flat Michelle posed with some halibut carcasses.
We had two different Flat Michelles. One kicking it with a beer bottle and one looking freaked out. We thought with a close proximity to eagles it would be funnier to start out with freaked out Michelle--you'd look freaked if an eagle was eating a dead fish next to your head, right? We placed it in front of a pile of fish that some eagles had been chowing on. We walked back, I set up my scope and we waited...
And waited...
And waited...
A bald eagle warily eyes Flat Michelle.
Eventually an eagle flew over, but it flared up when it saw Flat Michelle and circled a few more times. It landed nearby and just stared at her. A few more eagles flew in but like the first, just lingered along the periphery, occasionally squeaking in apparenty disapproval. The majestic eagles, all reluctant to land near the picture. Gulls and crows flew in but like the eagles, everyone kept their distance.
The first to let down their guard were the northwestern crows. As soon as one got some food, the others flew in and gobbled up all the fish they could before the eagles and gulls moved in.
A bald eagle walked behind Flat Michelle and the feasting crows.
Several more bald eagles flew over and around the fish pile, but none would get near it with Flat Michelle. I thought once the crows showed that it was safe the eagles would join, but they were having none of it.
A glaucous-winged gull yells at Flat Michelle while a northwestern crow gets a morsel.
After awhile I thought it would be fun to get a time lapse video of Flat Michelle. Here it is:
Soon, another fisherman dumped a pile of halibut on the beach. And not just fish carcasses that have been filleted already but a few completely intact specimens. The eagles immediately flew over and completely ignored our mostly picked over fish pile. I suggested to Sue that we try that tastier pile and maybe use the beer version of Michelle. I wondered if her wide-eyed expression and both hands up was a threatening site to an eagle? So we placed the relaxed, chill beer drinking picture with the pile and stepped way back.
The northwestern crows wasted no time in joining Flat Michelle.
The young glaucous-winged gulls were t he first to come sample the fish. After the adults watched to see that nothing bad happened to the young ones, they moved in.
Meanwhile, that was as close as a bald eagle dared to get to Flat Michelle.
Here's another time laps with the "beer Michelle."
We also made a movie trailer so Michelle could see the fun she had around Homer, Alaska.
Birdchick Podcast #210 Bird Brains and Philandering Godwits
The struggle of birders attracting new birders.
Bird brains blah, blah, blah.
So if you have an iPhone, some extra time on your hands and you're looking for a bird dating sim app...
Birdchick POdcast #209 Bird Cams, Digiscoping and Spring
Here's ill-informed Zeke from Indiana spouting nonsense.
Sometimes commenters on bird cam forums go too far.
Canadian police are digiscoping...watching out.
Birdchick Podcast #208: Birders are Creepy and Eagles Eating Cats
Bird news:
Why are the crows so violent in Canada?
Bald eagle cam shows bald eagles bringing a young cat back to the nest.
John James Audubon was kind of a punk ass troll.
Oh...this isn't going to piss any birders off...at all.
Apparently people think birders are as creepy as clowns.
Birders on Instagram.
Migrating birds boycott North Carolina.
Bird Jobs:
Fairy Wren volunteer field assistants.
PNG Fairy Wren volunteer field assistant.
Recommendations:
The Happy Wren Shirts
Birdchick Podcast #207 Fallout, Misidentified Birds, Twitter Wars
This podcast is brought you by WildSide Nature Tours. Come with me to an ancient land to watching thousands of migratory birds like common cranes, storks, spoonbills and red kites. We'll also look for Palestine sunbird, jungle cat and white-throated kingfisher on my Raptor Bonanza Tour in Israel in November--history, culture and birds all combine for the birding trip of a lifetime. Israel is one of the most unique countries you can visit for birds, it's a major flyway for European and Asian birds as they head south into Africa.
This podcast is also brought to you by Holbrook Travel. Would you like to get away to Central America and hone your smartphone digiscoping technique on toucans, parrots and dazzling hummingbirds? Join me in Belize next March.
The search is officially on in Cuba for ivory-billed woodpeckers.
Insane spring warbler fallout photos from 2011.
Some duck stamp artists are not happy about a proposed change to the stamp art.
Some weirdo is apparently eating bald eagles.
This is the most badass red-tailed hawk you will see this year.
I got in a Twitter war over what I felt was an unfair segment about the Great Texas Birding Classic...and the host replied.
One of my bird survey offices in Texas.
Greater Roaderunners
I've kind of transitioned in the last year or so to do less surveys and more writing and giving programs. I love bird survey work, but it's taxing physically both on your body and your time. Basing each week on airports and storms is less exciting as I get older. Spending times in airports over 30 weeks in a year makes it hard to connect with friends. Sure, there is social media, but that's not the same as being there for, "Hey, I had a bad day, can we grab a drink tonight or breakfast tomorrow?"
A common question I get from friends who knew about my shift in careers is, "Do you miss the travel?"
No, partially because I will never stop traveling. I'm just more selective about the types of travel I will do now. That's not to say that there won't be things I miss. I love point counts and I think that's why I'm drawn to big sits (if you're going to be around the Twin Cities, my park is hosting one on April 30) or simply working my patch over by my house. You have an idea of what will be there but it really takes just staying in one spot over and over to get the big picture.
Jackrabbit sizing me up on one of my surveys.
Also, just sitting in one spot gives birds and animals a chance to get used to you and in some cases, come over and check out you out. And some of my best birding moments have been on bird surveys.
A greater roadrunner doing exactly what its name suggests...running in a road.
I've always had a fondness for roadrunners since I was kid. It may have been because there was a cartoon roadrunner on tv or that my grandparents lived in New Mexico and it was their state bird. I even had a carved roadrunner that played "Kind of the Road" when you wound it up. As a kid I remember thinking that if there were Smurfs in the desert southwest, I bet they'd tame roadrunners and ride them.
When my family took a road trip out in New Mexico, my parents would periodically say from the front seat of the car, "Oh, there goes a roadrunner." Being the youngest sitting in the middle seat in back and being super short, I never got to see them. I thought this incredibly unfair since I would be the one most interested in seeing one. I never really got a great look at a roadrunner as a kid. We stopped someplace for a bathroom break and one ran away from us, but nothing like the quality time one can get with a cardinal.
Throughout the years when I've been in range of roadrunners, I've had flashes while driving or watched one scurry in backyards, but just not time to hang out with a roadrunner and really get some great shots. With some birds, I lament as they stay out of reach, but I also realize that at some point I'll get an opportunity, I just need to be patient and wait.
I finally had my roadrunner moment last summer.
One of the things I'll miss from my Texas surveys: Stripes Gas Station tacos. The chicken fajita is the most reasonable shot at getting vegetables in your day while doing field work.
One morning I started my first survey spot, unwrapped my gas station taco and pressed start on my stopwatch to start my point counts. Dickcissels were waking up all around me and then I heard a familiar cooing. It was the coo of a greater roadrunner...and it sounded like it was ten feet away. I froze and scanned to my left where there was a tangle of mesquite.
Greater roadrunner digiscoped with Swarovksi ATX 65mm scope, iPhone 5s and i5 adapter.
Sure enough, about fifteen feet away was a greater roadrunner singing away. It was not bothered by me at all. The bird was so close I could only get head shots. After a few minutes, I stepped back away to see if I could get a full body shot.
Check out the sexy postorbital apteria...that's the bare skin that's blue, white and red behind the eye. I've only ever seen them expose it while calling.
As I watched the roadrunner sing I thought back to when I was in third grade. My parents moved me to a Catholic school mid-year. It was the first day and our teacher was discussing the desert. She asked the class if we could name animals that didn't need a lot of water so they could live in dry climates. I raised my hand and answered roadrunner. She smiled and said, "No, those only exist in Cartoon Land."
She immediately moved on to another student but I couldn't believe she didn't know about roadrunners. The next morning before school I gathered up my National Geographic Field Guide with the roadrunner page bookmarked, my Wonder of Birds book that had a cool series of roadrunner pictures of the adults killing a lizard and feeding it to their chicks, my collection of state bird stamps that included the stamp for New Mexico that had a roadrunner on it, and a tourist brochure for New Mexico that had a picture of a roadrunner on it. I waited until lunchtime and went to the teacher's lounge--it was a different world then, the teacher's lounge door was open so you could see your teachers smoking and if you needed to, you could come in and ask a question. I went in with all of my birding paraphernalia and up to my new third grade teacher who was talking to the Sister Elizabeth the fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Stahl the social studies teacher and the principal Mr. Greer.
"Hi Mrs. Meyers," I said, "I just wanted to let you know that roadrunners do live in real life and they're the state bird of New Mexico." I opened my books and showed the pictures. "I can see why you might be confused, they're not blue like in Bugs Bunny, they're really brown and sometimes people call them the chaparral cock."
Mrs. Meyers nodded, said she had things to do and left the lounge. I was not her favorite student after that. But it turned out ok, the fourth grade teacher was a nun with a stern reputation. She was also a birder and Sister Elizabeth and I got along just fine when I hit fourth grade. She even gave me a Forebush/May book on the final day of fourth grade.
Anyway, here's a little video that I got of the roadrunner. You might need headphones to hear the call. iPhones don't have the best microphones and the soft call of a roadrunner is going to be overpowered by dickcissels singing away.
Birdchick Podcast #206 Albatross, Honduras and Jobs
Wisdom with John and Yoko.
Wisdom and mate displaying on the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Have historical photos from the last 62 years? Send them to me and we have a guy who might put Wisdom the Albatross in them!
Recommendations:
Sharon: Baby Birds.
Non Birding Bill: Still Buffering.
Birdchick Podcast #205 Necrophilia, Jobs and Jon Hamm
News:
Eurasian jay dodges a sparrow hawk Matrix style.
Bird Jobs:
If you were unemployed for a few months, which job would you take:
Tundra Nesting Bird Internship at Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
or
