Long-eared Owl & Short-eared Owl Hybrid?

I read the coolest article today from the journal Ontario Birds by the Ontario Field Ornithologists by Kristen Keyes and Michel Gooselin and learned that sometimes you can find something really cool buried in a drawer of old museum specimens!  Keyes was doing some graduate research on short-eared owls when she came across a most unusual specimen.  Check out the bird in the middle in the photo below: picture-21

From left to right, we have a short-eared owl, Keyes discovery, and a long-eared owl. In her research, she found that the mystery owl specimen was received in 1991 from Avian Care and Research Foundation.  The bird had been found in 1990 with a broken wing.  They tried to rehabilitate it, but the bird had to be put down and then the carcass was donated to the Canadian Museum of Nature.

Everything about the bird puts it right in the middle of the two species from coloration to body part measurements.  For example, a short-eared owl's wing measurement should be between 283.5 - 307.5mm.  A long-eared owl's wing measurement should be between 269.5 - 295 mm.  The mystery owl's wing measurement is 294 mm--right in the middle. There are several other interesting features, take a look at the breast plumage compared to the other species--fascinating stuff.

How the heck did this happen?  Was a long-eared chasing a short-eared, suddenly realized they were each the opposite sex and much like a predictable sitcom, fighting turned to mating?

You can read more in the April issue of Ontario Birds, published by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (who graciously gave me permission to use a photo and reference the article in my blog).  It analyzes the hybrid's intermediate characters and uses color photos of all angles of the birds and of short-eared and long-eared for comparison.

Reference: Gosselin, M. and K. Keyes. 2009. A Long-eared Owl x Short-eared Owl (Asio otus x A. flammeus) specimen from Ontario. Ontario Birds 27(1):23-29.

Holding Pattern

I am in such a holding pattern at the moment!  One of the fun things about Facebook and Twitter is that I can see in status updates and tweets, but this spring, I realize how painfully slow migration seem when you live in the northern US.  At first, I was excited to see robins, notice the little chipping sparrows showing up, hear the peent of the woodcock...but now that I see status updates that include blue-winged warblers, scarlet tanagers, and painted buntings from friends--I can hardly contain myself. Couple that with waiting for my bees to arrive, I just can't stand it!

Spring.  Here.  Now.

Interesting Stuff At The Nest Cam Site

When will my bees arrive??  They could be here any moment this week and the anticipation is killing me. Cornell just sent a Twitter note about an interesting observation at the Carolina wren nest cam.  The video picked up one of the Carolina wren parents finding a dead nestling and trying to remove it from the nest. Here is the video and if dead baby birds bother you, I would recommend avoiding this video.  It's about five minutes long, but is worth watch until about 2 minutes 45 seconds into it:

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

What I find fascinating is that Carolina wrens are cavity nesters. It's dark in that nest, so how did the adult know there was a dead chick in there?  It appears to forage around for it from way at the bottom of the nest, under the live chicks.  What could be sensed? Most birds do not have a highly developed sense of smell, so that was probably not it.  Many also can't count since you can sometimes put in chicks from another nest.  Very curious.

The above video ends with the wren getting the chick out of the clutch, attempting to get it out of the box, but the chick gets caught on the edge. The adult wren then goes back to the brood to look around.  Is it looking for another dead chick or to find the chick it dropped?  Eventually the wren comes back, discovers the dead chick on the edge of the nest cup and gets it out of the box:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnJq6xYaWz0[/youtube]

And if that was a little too morbid for you and you need a cleanse, check out the uniform female rangers had to wear in the 1970s.  They really rocked the go-go boots.

From Owl Cam To Loon Cam

The Viera Owl Cam of the great horned owls nesting in a planter in Viera, FL has wound down to a close.  The young owlet is out and about exploring life outside the planter and the last video is of the owlet perched and dosing on a trash bin. Speaking of odd great horned owl nesting habits, have you heard the story of the great horneds nesting in a Home Depot in Arkansas?  Is our world starting to become more like Futurama?

If you are sad to see the owl cam go, one of the coolest cams I stumbled upon last year was the MN Loon Cam.  I even got to meet Larry Backlund, the man who has the loons on his property and blogs about them.  I just checked the website and it's live.  I saw  a loon swimming around the camera this morning, but no loon on the nest as of yet.

Coming Birding Events

There are a couple of fun birding events coming up both in Minnesota that you might be interested in.  I'm giving a program at one of the events, the other happens when I'm in Kazakhstan. May 2, 2009 - MOU Youth Birding Festival

This is a new event and I couldn't find a website for it, but did manage to locate the details.  It's geared for kids between the ages of 10 - 19 and includes Bird banding, forest bird hikes, grassland bird hikes, wetland bird hikes, a session on digital photography, and birding by bike.  I'll even give a presentation on techno birding.  All session take place at Lowry Nature Center.  Call 763-559-6700.

May 14 - 19, 2009 Urban Bird Festival

The annual Urban Bird Festival in Ramsey County, a fun, free, close-to-home celebration of springtime birds.  The festival features guided bird walks at many area parks and golf courses, a bird expo and a spaghetti dinner (one of the few events charging a fee). The festival is designed for beginners as well as experts, and families and others. The public is invited to attend just a single bird walk or every event.  Walks cover easy terrain and generally take about two hours. The dinner on May 16 features local humorist and bird columnist Clay Christensen, “The Birdman of Lauderdale.” His topic is “Attracting and identifying yard birds.”

The festival’s schedule on May 16 features a bird expo with a full day of displays, demos and hikes at Harriet Alexander Nature Center in Roseville. A birding adventure by canoe and a tour of the habitat-rich Arden Hills Army Training Site (formerly known as the Twin Cities Arsenal) are highlights on May 17.  Daily hikes and events are open to everyone and will be led by the area’s birding enthusiasts.

The Troubles Of Sketching In The Amazon

I saw the funniest video yesterday (that is totally safe for work) during a workshop presented by Debby Kaspari of Drawing the Motmot.  She's in the Amazon recording how she sketches and gets a surprising but not helpful visitor: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkyz_gEND0g&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

You can read the full account about it in her blog here.