Don't Forget Birds And Beers Wednesday

The next Birds and Beers will be Wednesday, April 22 at Lebanon Hills Regional Park.  The woodcocks start their display about 15 - 20 minutes after sunset, which means they will start around 8:30pm. Since the display area is next to the visitor center at the park, we’ll meet there starting about 6:30pm and have an old fashioned tailgate party–you can come early to mingle or come closer to magic hour.  Bring your own food and beverages and we’ll laugh until it’s Woodcock Time.  The park closes at 10pm, so this gives us plenty of time to get some great birding done. I have an all day park service meeting, I might run a tad late.

Birds & Beers, Woodcock Edition Is 04-22-09

So, Friday night I headed out with a few friends to scout for woodcocks for the next Birds and Beers--we had success and found at least three woodcocks.  Above is a very blurry photo of one of them.  Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities to meet with others, have a beverage, and talk some birds. You can promote an upcoming bird event or website, share research, look for a birding buddy, or just learn what this birding thing is all about.  It's relaxed and fun!  Normally, we do this at a pub, but we're so excited to get out in some warm weather, that the next gathering is going to be combined with some fun birding: watching woodcocks!

The next Birds and Beers will be Wednesday, April 22 at Lebanon Hills Regional Park.  The woodcocks start their display about 15 - 20 minutes after sunset, which means they will start around 8:30pm. Since the display area is next to the visitor center at the park, we'll meet there starting about 6:30pm and have an old fashioned tailgate party--you can come early to mingle or come closer to magic hour.  Bring your own food and beverages and we'll laugh until it's Woodcock Time.  The park closes at 10pm, so this gives us plenty of time to get some great birding done.

Looking at the park rules, I can't find anything that says "no alcohol period" but I did find rules that say no alcoholic beverages at the beach or trails, so use good judgment, this is a family park and it's no fun running through brush in the dark looking for a small brown bird if you are toasted.

If it is pouring down rain on April 22, this event will be  postponed to the following Wednesday, April 29.

If you are unfamiliar with how to watch woodcocks, here is a video that Non Birding Bill and I made a few years ago for Eagle Optics. This is fun birding, I've taken a few non birders and they've all had a great time:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeBevezTpx0[/youtube]

The friends who went out with me on the scouting mission included a couple of kids.  One even made me the cutest thank you card:

I love the little woodcock head in the binocular view.  She has them saying "Mah" as opposed to "peent" which just cracks me up.  My absolute favorite part is the little portrait of me down in the right hand corner:

It's me demonstrating how to cup your hands behind your ears and opening your mouth--this increases your hearing by 40% (partially because you aren't talking while doing this).

Spread the word for the next Birds and Beers, should be a blast!

Fun Links Monday

A quick word about the next Birds and Beers: we're going to try and combine it with watching woodcocks in April.  We have a lekking spot south of the Cities in Dakota County and then one on the west side of the Twin Cities in Carver.  All I need to do now is find a nice pub...or I could just take my Swarovski flask.  My buddy Steve Ingraham got some video of a woodcock which you can check out here. If the Viera Owl Cam is not enough of bird live cams, you can check out a live bald eagle cam here.  I will warn you, on a windy day, the camera can make you a tad motion sick.

Don't forget that for the most complete list of live bird nest cams, you can check the list at Beakspeak for the latest news and the various species monintored on the interwebs.

I have to give some major props to Birdchaser--he's the host of this week's I and the Bird, a blog carnival that showcases the best in bird nature blogs.  Individual bird bloggers can submit their best post from the last two weeks to the host and then the host organizes it into one creative theme.  This is a great way to sample the many awesome bird blogs out there and if you are a new blogger, hosting this carnival is good way to get people to visit your site.  I always have the best intentions of submitting an entry into I and the Bird but always forget.  Birdchaser was kind enough to pick a post for me.  He gets major web cred though for his oystercatcher theme and design.  Bravo, Birdchaser, to a theme well done and thank you so much for thinking so kindly of my blog entry and including it.  Hands down, this is the best I and the Bird theme yet!

If you're in the mood for something a little gross and well, just don't have a strong attachment to coots, then check out the photo that Chris Benesh took of an alligator eating a coot.  It's a great shot of coot feet, but alas the situation did not end well for the coot.  You have been warned, here is a link to the photo.

Upcoming Birds & Beers

The next Birds and Beers is scheduled for March 19, 2009 at 6pm at Merlin's Rest.

Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities--if you're interested in birds, you're invited. You can meet other birders--maybe find a carpool buddy, ask about where to find target birds, share cool research projects you might be working on, ask a bird feeding question, share life lists, share some digiscoping tips, promote your blog--the sky is the limit. It's low key and it's fun.

There Will Be A February Birds and Beers!

Hey, great news for all you Birds and Beers fans. The regulars are going to host one in my absence!

The next Birds and Beers is Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 6:30 pm at Merlin's Rest!

Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities--if you're interested in birds, you're invited. You can meet other birders--maybe find a carpool buddy, ask about where to find target birds, share cool research projects you might be working on, ask a bird feeding question, share life lists, share some digiscoping tips, promote your blog--the sky is the limit. It's low key and it's fun.

Curt from National Camera Exchange in Golden Valley organized it (a great place to get cameras and optics). What a great staff who are happy to help me keep Birds and Beers going while I'm in Guatemala! Thanks, Curt, you rock!

Birds & Beers & Banding

The last Birds and Beers was a huge gathering. Some regulars and some new peeps came to join in the fun.

We had a drawing from some prizes courtesy of Woodlink. We gave away a few of their "Happy Hour Hummingbird Feeders." They're nectar feeders in the shape of a daiquiri, margarita, and martini--how appropriate! In the background of this photo is Liz Stanley who runs The Overlook Circle Feeder Cam. She warns on her site that images are uploaded every 30 seconds during daylight hours, Central Time. During the winters here, days are short so daylight is only 7:30am to 4:30pm. In the summer, it's much longer, lasting from 5:30am to 9:30pm. If the image is completely dark, please check back in the morning. Check it out! There's also Jim Ryan in the background who runs Jim Ryan Outdoors Blog.

The big excitement came when Mark Newstrom arrived with extra copies of the new Peter Pyle book, Identification Guide to North American Birds Part II. Some readers have seen Pyle referenced in this blog before, it's a sleep inducing tome essential to aging and sexing birds if you are a bander. Up to this point, we've only had Part I which had warblers, chickadees, sparrows, vireos, etc. This year part II was released which tells banders how to age and sex waterfowl, boobies and spoonbills. We took turns doing dramatic readings of Part II. There's a bit more talk of distended cloacas (great band name) and duck penises in this volume, but that's about as exciting as it gets. Here's a sentence from the zone-tailed hawk section:

"Shape and color pattern to the retrices by feather generation and sex in Zone-tailed Hawk. R5 is shown and is usualy the last feather replaced during molts and the most likely to be retained during the PB2 and DPB."

Or there's this on molt in Canada geese:

"PF partial-incomplete (Sep/Nov-Jan/Apr in HY/SYs), PB2 complete (Jun-Nov in non-breeding SYs), DPB complete (Jul-Dec in breeding AHYs); PA absent."

And if you can understand either of those sentences, then you'll want a copy of the Peter Pyle book. If you don't, take heart that you have a life and run before you get sucked in to the point of no return.

Speaking of banding, we had an interesting and busy morning at Carpenter Nature Center on Friday--lots of juncos! I think they sensed the impending blizzard that was about to hit. Above is a Potter's Trap and it has 2 doors and usually only gets 1 or 2 birds at a time. This trap had three juncos in it!

We also got in some chickadees and a blue jay (the blue jay got in the traps before I arrived, so no photo).

We did get another interesting retrap. I was processing this black-capped chickadee that already had a band. When I read the number to Mary who helps us track the data, she looked it up and found that we originally banded this chickadee on November 10, 2006. I checked the archives of the blog to see if I had a photo of when it was first banded, but discovered that I was in Harlingen, TX at that time and wouldn't have been there on its original processing date.

Birds and Beers Tonight!

Birds and Beers is tonight at Merlin's Rest at 6pm! We'll have a raffle for some prizes courtesy of Woodlink.

Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities--if you're interested in birds, you're invited. You can meet other birders--maybe find a carpool buddy, ask about where to find target birds, share cool research projects you might be working on, ask a bird feeding question, share life lists, share some digiscoping tips, promote your blog--the sky is the limit. It's low key and it's fun.

And if you need another laugh today, Non Birding Bill sent me this link to Kung Fu Squirrels. Enjoy!

December Birds & Beers

It's time for another Birds and Beers!

Thursday, December 11 at 6pm at Merlin's Rest!

I don't know if it will be the rip roarin' scotch tasting it was last time, but I can guarantee that it will be fun and we'll talk some birds. We can talk about the MOU Paper Session, the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas, owls, crossbills, upcoming bird festivals, bird feeding, Christmas Bird Counts, banding, the topics are limitless. And unlike all the other holiday parties out there--you don't need to bring a gift or baked good! We'll get it all from Merlin's Rest!

Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities--if you're interested in birds, you're invited. You can meet other birders--maybe find a carpool buddy, ask about where to find target birds, share cool research projects you might be working on, ask a bird feeding question, share life lists--the sky is the limit. It's low key and it's fun.

Birds And Beers Turns Into Birds And Scotch

I've spent the last 48 finally catching up from all my travels: unpacking and cleaning my apartment. Regular blogging should resume soon, I still have a few more Texas entries coming.

It was a wild time at Birds and Beers tonight at Merlin's Rest. We had a good mix of people from regulars to at least one new face. I also brought a bunch of books I've been reading to share with the group.

Some of the excitement surrounded a white-breasted nuthatch foot that I brought along with me. On Saturday, I was filling Mr. Neil's feeders. I noticed the seed storage bin (old garbage can) had the smell of a dead mouse. When I took the seed out, I found a dead nuthatch in the bottom. I think the bird had flown into the garage, somehow made it over to the seed (the lid was off), got stuck against the inside wall of the bin which was too smooth for it to get any good traction and got stuck. I felt incredibly guilty and sad and wonder if we might look into some of the seed storage bins at Credit River?

The nuthatch was most likely banded by Mark and Roger (who periodically band birds at Mr. Neil's and also attend Birds and Beers), so I brought them the foot. I also turned the band number into the Bird Banding Lab website. Above, Roger is handing the foot to Merlin's Rest regular Bill Watkins.

I think we made have weirded him out.

The rest of the birders like Curt from National Camera (in Golden Valley, MN) were wowed by the incredibly tiny toes and insanely long claws of the nuthatch. We're not sure how long ago the nuthatch was banded, Mark and Roger weren't quite sure, but we'll find out soon enough.

The big excitement for the evening came when some of used the bathroom and noticed the sign on the door promoting a visit from Winston a rep for The Glenlivet. The sign mentioned that he would be in a kilt, so after my trip to the bathroom, I sought out a man in a kilt. I found him right away and told him that I periodically fill my Swarovski flask with their 18 year old single malt.

Winston came over to give our group a private tasting! It went from Birds and Beers to Birds and Scotch. We tried the 12, the 15, the Nadurra 16, and the 21. The 15 year old was my favorite, not too heavy and with good spicy taste.

Our group got our photo taken with with Winston of Glenlivet. Above from left to right is most of the Birds and Beers crowd: Gordon, Roger, Curt, me, Winston, Kirk, Adele, Michelle, Mark, Linda, and Diane.

Winston resumed his spot in the bar to continue his single malt scotch tasting, but I snuck back the bottle of 21 year old single malt for some photo shenanigans (no, I would not actually chug that). Nice: a Cape May Bird Observatory shirt and a bottle of scotch--see what birding can drive you to do?

This Birds and Beers lasted to almost 11pm! That's one of the longest. Kirk, Roger, Curt, and I stayed awhile discussing topics from movies, cool environmental education experiences, silly birding mistakes, kids, just the gamut. I've enjoyed all the Birds and Beers, but this one was really great!

Now, I just need to remember to sign up for a Christmas Bird Count.

Birds and Beers

The next Birds and Beers is Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 6pm at Merlin's Rest.

Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities--if you're interested in birds, you're invited. You can meet other birders--maybe find a carpool buddy, ask about where to find target birds, share cool research projects you might be working on, ask a bird feeding question, share life lists, share some digiscoping tips, promote your blog--the sky is the limit. It's low key and it's fun.

Our Texas version of Birds and Beers turned into a blogging meeting. We had some of the guys from Round Robin, Born Again Bird Watcher, Flying Mullet, WildBird on the Fly (pictured above), birdspot, The Birder's Library, and Clay Taylor (also pictured above and who is working on a blog, but not quite ready to debut it).

In this photo we have a brother of a blogger on the left, The Birder's Library in the middle, and Amy on the right who is friends with Flying Mullet (who blogs some great birding down in her neck of the woods in Florida). Amy does not have a blog. We were trying to talk her into starting a birding gossip blog. The rest of us could feeder gossip and she could post it without it ever being traced to us. Due to the uninteresting birder gossip and her lack of interest, it was not started.

Above is Born Again Birder looking sinister next to a smiling bird spot. I told John to look a little more friendly (as I know him to be) and got this:

He looks a little less serial killerish, but birdspot's eyes are closed. Doh! Incidentally, Born Again Bird Watcher did a much better job of chronicling the Texas Birds and Beers, be sure to check out his photos. We had a great time laughing at the Lone Star and then we learned that birdspot is an award winning bird caller. Here is a video so you can hear her do a dead on rock pigeon:

Talented! I have to admit, birdspot and I must be connected on some weird level. We both have cool glasses and not the usual birder fashion sense. We are both on Twitter and she will often write a tweet that I was just thinking about. Before either of us knew each other I was doing Birds and Beers and was doing Birds and Beer (she writes Twitter updates about birds she sees when she's having a beer) Also, we both ordered the same beverage at Birds and Beers: single malt Scotch with water on the side. Freaky! Although, I am not the artistic talent she is.