Birds and Beers Ocotber 18, 2007

The next Birds and Beers is October 18, 2007 at Merlin's Rest at 6pm (not to be confused with the Cape May Birds and Beers on Friday night, October 26, 2007 at 8pm I at the Jackson Mountain Cafe.)

There are so many people who are doing interesting things bird wise--research projects, banding, writing, etc. and we don't often find out about it on the listservs. This is the chance! It's 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!

Hope to see you there!

Cape May Birds and Beers!

As if Cape May Autumn Weekend weren't reason enough to visit New Jersey, or the first ever Bird Blog Conference, there's now another incentive: Birds and Beers--Cape May edition!

That's right, Friday night, October 26, 2007 at 8pm I'm hosting a Birds and Beers at the Jackson Mountain Cafe. Anyone interested in birds is welcome to attend--from the hard core to the beginner to everyone in between. If you want to meet some people, talk some birds and have a beverage or two, this it the place for you.

Here are the bird bloggers that I know are coming to Cape May for the bird festival that you could meet:

10,000 Birds
Beginning To Bird
Birdchick
Blue Lizard Birding Blog
Born Again Bird Watcher
Hasty Brook
Hawk Owl's Nest
Jeff Gyr
Lake Life
Life, Birds, and Everything also does (Birders On The Border)
Leica Birding Blog
Somewhere in NJ
Susan Gets Native
WildBird on the Fly

Man, this bird festival is going to get a lot of coverage and publicity!

Whoot!

I just remembered that it was during this festival last year that our then host service lost their servers and I was freaking out because my blog disappeared. That was some panic. And if you weren't a reader then, here's a link to one of our adventures during the festival.

There's still time to sign up for this weekend long birding party.

Birds And Beers Tonight

Where have the last seven days gone??

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bone Crunching Good & Birds and Beers

Warning, this might be a tad gross for some.

CORRECTION TO BIRDS AND BEERS:

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

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

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

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

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

What the heck is that all about?

And for those who can't see video:

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

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

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

First Birds and Beers Recap

I have to admit, I went into Birds and Beers last night with a little nervousness. I put up a notice on the blog and on the Minnesota listervs and I got a lot of emails from people saying that they want to come, but were either out of town or lived too far away. I wondered if anyone would show up?

But show up they did, and we had about 12 people! Merlin's Rest had promoted it, so some of their regulars also stopped by to see what it was all about. I didn't have much a of a theme planned, my ultimate goal was for people to connect, maybe learn about new places to watch birds, get bird questions answered, or even find a new bird watching partner.

I was really excited that the banders from Lowry Nature Center in Carver Park showed up--they offer banding that is open to the public every third Saturday of the month--as a matter of fact, they will be banding this Saturday. They're fun and knowledgeable guys. Frequent commenter on this blog, HellZiggy came with her hubby. He is not a birder, so Non Birding Bill even had someone to talk to. There were so many other people who showed up, and I fear I will not remember the names: I remember Pat, Bob, Katherine...I'll have to start assigning bird names--that I can remember.

It was a fun and easy going night, John Dingley the general manager, offered a peregrine falcon poster as a prize, local author Bill Watkins read about a wren being the king of the birds from one his books and we gave that away, and I gave away copies of the new Great River Birding Trail and Minnesota River Valley Birding Trail.

I'm going to do this again, probably the next one will be at Merlin's Rest, and as I travel, I will try and organize them on the road. I think Rochester, MN would be good--and Duluth, perhaps even at bird festivals. I also think I might have a theme night. I'm kicking around having people bring their favorite bird related book to the next one.

I had something else going on yesterday too--it was my birthday. When I had scheduled Birds and Beers with Dingley, we pretty much scheduled it as, "Hey, let's do it two weeks from Tuesday." NBB later pointed out, "That's your birthday." We didn't really have anything planned, and what better way for me to spend my birthday than with birders? When I told the group last night, Mark said, "What a wonderful way of having a surprise birthday party, turning the tables and surprising all your guests!"

NBB and I had a little party right before we left for Birds and Beers, and I am now happy to report that I am completely Bent! He got me the one book I am missing from my Arthur Cleveland Bent series, and I finally have a complete set! Whoot. He also had a gift specially crafted for me...

A custom made Birdwatcher Crayon Set. There are four colors: sepia, chestnut, brown, and beaver. I'm not sure how I feel about having a crayon called beaver, I never realized that was its own color.

Birds and Beers

Don't forget, tonight at 6pm is Birds and Beers (a gathering of birders to have a drink and talk some birds) at Merlin's Rest. People of all abilities are encouraged to come, if you're interested in birds, you're invited. Non Birding Bill will also be there too, so if you want to bring a non birding spouse, bring 'em along.

Here's the announcement on Merlin's Rest website:

Tuesday: The Birds and the Beers! Join the Birdchick, our ornithologist publican (John Dingley), our ornithologist bartender Bob, and many others for an informal gathering of birdwatchers and enthusiasts. And did you know that Minnesota has its own ornithologists union? Check ‘em out. Smart folks and great photos in their gallery.

Birds and Beers

The bandwidth is going of the charts again this month. Non Birding Bill just looked into it and found I'm getting quite a bit of traffic from the International Atomic Energy Agency (the agency that promotes safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies). Interesting....

I'm organizing an informal get together of birders. There are so many people that are doing interesting things bird wise--research projects, banding, writing, etc. and we don't often find out about it on the listservs. I also notice that some of us only have a chance to meet at a stake out bird. I thought it would be fun to get some of us together, have a drink, and talk some birds.

So, if you aren't doing anything on Tuesday, July 17 at 6 pm and are in the Twin Cities metro area, come on out for Birds and the Beer at Merlin's Rest. This is not any kind of paid thing, or something the restaurant is sponsoring. It's just an informal gathering to talk with fellow birders--beginners, novices, hard-core--whatever you are, come on in. I chose Merlin's Rest because I know the owner (he's helped with peregrine falcon reintroduction in the Midwest) and it's got bird photos on the walls, so it can't be all bad. Even one of the bartenders is an ornithologist.

They do serve food there as well, so if you want to grab a bite feel free. If you can't make it to this one, I'm hoping this is an ongoing thing and I would like to try it when I travel to other areas.

If you're curious about the tufted titmouse photos, I was around yesterday when one hit a window and dazed itself for about five minutes. When I picked it up from the ground to keep it safe from predators, cats, and dogs I realized that I had never held a titmouse before and it's one of my favorite birds.

Upon closer inspection you could see that this bird was fairly fresh from the nest. Notice the yellow along the gape (the corner of its bill), that's the give away. Poor thing must be learning to fly and like a 15 year old with a learner's permit, lost control.

I loved getting a look at all the little whiskery feathers around the bill. The titmouse sat in my hand for a few minutes and then took off like a flash. That was when it found its way to my head. It stayed for another minute and rejoined its begging siblings in a conifer ten feet away.