Retrapping at Carpenter

On Friday at Carpenter Nature Center we didn't get in loads of birds and I think all of the ones we got were re traps--birds that have been banded before. But that's important because it gives you an idea of age and territory habits--these birds are year round residents or in the case of juncos the birds are returning to the same spot.

They were passing around a sheet with ages of birds documented through banding. It had both the records for the Bird Banding Lab (BBL) and for Carpenter. According to Carpenter's records, they oldest black-capped chickadee they have documented was 7 years and 4 months. The BBL's oldest black-capped chickadee record was 12 years and 7 months, the sheet didn't say what state the record came from. I went to the BBL website to see if I could find the state the 12 year old chickadee had been banded but it didn't give that info. Interestingly, the website reads that the oldest chickadee is 12 years and 5 months. But I have a feeling that the site hasn't been updated recently and the 12 years and 7 months is a recent record.

So, keep an eye on the chickadees in your backyard. Just think one of the little dudes you are watching right now could be between 7 - 12 years old. Think of that: the storms in your yard, the snows, the cold, the heat, the predators--that tiny bird is capable of surviving well past a decade.

If you are interested in the oldest species on record according to banding records from the BBL, check this link here. I think I need to start eating more fish.

Above is a photo of a cardinal that we banded on September 15 of this year. Because of the black patches on the bill and some of the brown feathers mixed in, we knew this male had been hatched in the spring of 2006. We re trapped him on Friday.

He was now completely red, with just a hint of black on the tip. I tried to take a photo outside and the first one was without a flash. You can see how red he is but he is out of focus. I decided to try the flash.

Ack! Total washout! I am so not a nature photographer. Although, it's interesting that the flash made some of the feathers yellow. I almost need to take a class to figure out all the bells and whistles with this new Fuji Camera.

Incidentally, the oldest cardinal that Carpenter has documented was 9 years and 9 months. BBL's was 15 years and and 9 months.

Frank Taylor Photo Contest

Let's face it, most of us are at home the day before Thanksgiving or if we are at a job we are barely functioning because so many people are out on vacation. Who can concentrate? For readers of the blog who are not living in the United States, Thursday is Thanksgiving where many of us gather with family and eat crazy amounts of food and prep for an insane amount of shopping the following day. Non Birding Bill and I take a low key approach and celebrate Naked Thanksgiving.

Anyway, Frank Taylor sent over is final banding report for the 2006 Season and he included some great raptor head shots. So, can you identify all the raptor head shots in order? The prize is a Zeiss Lens Cloths and a Leupold Tote Bag (with a cool meadowlark graphic).

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Feel free to try and age and sex the birds, but really to win, all you need is the species id in the order they are shown. First correct answer in the comments section with a name attached wins the prize.

Even if you can't identify all the birds in this contest, it's fun just to take in Frank's photos.

And Now: Gratuitous Green Jay Photos

In case you don't already feel the necessity to go to South Texas next year, I offer this. One of the highlights of visiting the Rio Grande Valley Bird Fest are all the green jays. They are so gorgeous and about as common as blue jays are for many of us.

Here, guide Richard Gibbons gives a young boy a recently banded green jay to be released. What a cool bird for a kid to get to see up close and even touch. That's a magic moment right there and that's where a kid will get "BIRDS ARE COOL!" burned into their brain.

Now that I look at this bird closer, it really matches the WingScapes logo. Just soak in that bird's color for a moment. I never get tired of watching them when I visit the area. What's fun is that there is a much more rare jay for the area called a brown jay (which I tried for and missed). Non Birding Bill thinks birders are nuts to try and go for the brown one and not just focus on the green one.

As cool looking as this bird is, keep in mind that it is a member for the jay family. And just like our boisterous blue jays, these colorful birds will eat eggs and nestlings of other bird species. I wonder if that's easier to tolerate when a bird is this strikingly gorgeous?

The banders were kind enough to offer to let me hold a green jay. I didn't quite do it right, I'm used to holding larger birds like pelicans and raptors, not tiny songbirds, but I still really appreciated holding something to unbelievably beautiful in my hands. I even got a life bite.

When I let the bird go, you could see all the bright yellow feathers under the wings and on the sides of the tail. Really, how colorful does a bird need to be? What a treat to see a living, breathing emerald with sapphire, onyx and gold accenting it?

South Texas Banding

So, I took a day off from racking up life birds (seeing birds I've never seen before) for some songbird banding. After two days of bus trips and one day of birding around all over on my own, I was ready for some low key activity. On this trip we sat on a patio of Los Ebanos Preserve. We were even served coffee while birds were brought to us! Above we have bander Mark Conway handing a dove to a young lad very excited about birds. Mark is awesome. He's a careful bander who is a high school teacher in his spare time, this gives him the rare ability to educate while doing in the midst of banding.

Mark does quite a bit of work with South Texas subspecies. He's currently working to prove that there are a separate population of common yellowthroats (above) and Carolina wrens (below).

It was a treat to watch banding in a different area and to see different birds come in. Mark and his assistance must do their banding early in the morning before it gets too hot and over stresses the birds.

Here we have a field trip leader by the name of Richard Gibbons. He's reading the bander's bible by Peter Pyle. It's one of the hardest to read bird books out there but is key in aging and sexing birds in the hand. Richard was reading Pyle out loud which is tough on birders and can work as an instant sleep aid. Pure evil.

It was fun to see so many great birds up close, like this female golden fronted woodpecker.

She was a noisy bird, squealing the whole time they had her for banding. She reminds me of a blond red-bellied woodpecker.

Here's something you don't see every day--the yellow eye of a mockingbird. These guys gave a very plaintive "mew" while being banded. Mockingbirds are such fierce defenders of their territory, it was surprising to hear such a sad little cry from them.

Here's a black-crested titmouse. Don't let that cute face fool you...

This bird had bite. The banders were very careful around the titmice. That sharp bill they use for cracking open seeds and nuts is a handy tool for wedging under fingernails.

Here's one of the many white-tipped doves we got in the nets--check out those crazy yellow eyes.

The doves also had beautiful purple iridescent feathers on the back of the neck. From this angle you can really see what a tiny head holds an even tinier brain that governs a very large body. How do doves manage it?

This was one of the cutest doves we got in, an Inca dove. What was so interesting about these tiny guys was how fast they flew and how quickly their wings flapped. I'm so used to the larger morning doves who lumber around, it was a shock to see these zippy little dudes.

It was a nice way to round out the festival.

Generally Awesome Birding In Duluth

Duluth was just unbelievably gorgeous this past weekend. I was surprised that there were still so many leaves on the trees. I bundled up right now. I'm thinking back to last Friday when the temps were pushing 80 degrees in the Twin Cities and less than a week later I see snow flurries out of my window as I type this blog entry.

I had so much fun with my family this weekend. Here is my mom and Terri looking at a female merlin while sitting in the blind.
My favorite place to stay in Duluth, when not sleeping in my car is the Inn on Gitche Gumee. Each room has a theme and gorgeous view of Lake Superior and the enormous garden. The garden attracts a whole host of birds and during migration, it fun to sit on the deck with some coffee, wine or scotch and watch eagles, peregrines, gulls and warblers pass over. Some nights you can even hear night migrants chipping overhead.

The Inn is owned by Butch and Julie and Butch made all the bed frames, I loved the birch frame that was in one of our rooms. My mom and sisters love it and insist on staying here when they visit.

There's a trail behind the Inn that connects with other trails and if you follow it, you find this odd little natural art landscape. Rocks are stacked on each other, dead trees are planted upside down, etc. Its kind of Blair Witch Project/fairy land all in one.

I took my sisters back there and when Monica snapped this photo of Terri an orb showed up in the photo...ghost or fairy?

I had one of those "magical bird guide" moments. As we continued on the trail I told my sisters that sometimes you see grouse along her (meaning at some point in time over the years that I have been here, I once flushed a grouse). Two minutes later I found a grouse sitting about eye level in a balsam--I have never found a grouse before I flushed it. Monica and Terri got a great look and even got to watch it fly away.

Gray jays are EVERYWHERE in Duluth right now. I have never seen so many. There have been several reports on the MN bird listservs and there was a flock hanging around the Inn and at the banding station. I pished this one in and Monica got a photo. They look like chickadees on steroids.

Here is a photo of Frank, Monica and Terri. I was really proud of Monica for going in the woods with me (literally and figuratively). She's not an outdoors type at all. Frank has been banding for over 37 years (longer than they have been banding at Hawk Ridge). He studies peregrines (he loves, loves, loves the peregrine falcon) and also studies what color of pigeons are more attractive to raptors--does color make a difference, and he also studies ways of using pigeons humanely so they do not get injured in the process of attracting hawks. He is a master bander and is in very good standing with US Fish and Wildlife. Frank has a huge raptor background. When I started at The Raptor Center he was the Curator of Birds and taught me how to handle raptors and give programs. His enthusiasm for raptors and their conservation is infectious. All of his research is turned in at the end of the season and can be accessed through US Fish and Wildlife.

Sunday was such perfect weather we got in 41 birds to the station! We were behind the blind when I took this photo and they had just taken those two sharp-shinned hawks out of the net. My sister Terri was there when one of the banders shouted "Freeze!" Another hawk was spotted and was heading for the nets. I got this photo of Terri and I love it, she looks so excited to be there while none of us were supposed to move.

Someone asked earlier in the comments if we are worried about the birds biting us. Small hawks like sharp-shinned hawks don't pack too much of a punch with their bill. If you go to Hawk Ridge, they will bring out sharpies and the naturalists will happily show you how much the bite doesn't hurt.

The talons really are the business end of the bird. We had so many birds all at once--I think at this point there were 7 or 8 that we got in a row, we gave one to Terri to hold and she got nailed by one of the talons (the claws on the end of the toes). Terri was very excited to be footed.

Here the photo of the bird that footed Terri, a passage sharp-shinned hawk. This is no poor little bird, this is a strong creature that can take a few minutes at a banding station and live to hunt and produce future generations.

Merlins on the other hand to pack a wallop in their bite. Falcons have sharper bills than other raptors and they can really slice up your hand. With merlins (or any falcon) you mind the talons as well as the bill.

Red-tailed hawk talons are not only sharp, but have one heck of a grip so you really, really watch yourself around one of these. I regret to say that years ago I got footed by an education red-tail and it was not fun and oh so painful--I'll save that story for another day. Red-tail bills aren't very sharp, but they are bigger and more blunt so I would recommend having the bill too close to your nose.

Before I headed home I stopped at Hawk Ridge to take a quick walk on one of the trails-- the Summit Overlook or "yellow dot trail" is my favorite. While there I heard a hairy woodpecker, it was working dead balsam about six feet in front of me. When it caught me watching it, the bird flew to another tree further away. I proceeded on the trail towards the tree and then I heard another woodpecker chip that was not a hairy coming from the same tree only higher. I whipped out my Handheld Birds from by back pocket, went to woodpeckers and clicked on the species I thought it was. I played the call and that confirmed:

I was hearing a black-backed woodpecker. I pished and the bird flew down from the tree to just above eye level for me. I was able to get the above photo without my binoculars, I was that close. What a great way to top off a great birding weekend. Hawk Ridge is a fairly reliable spot for black-backs but this is hands down the best look I have ever had of one.

When it finished, I went over and took pictures of the scaling the bird was engaged in. Funny, I was never interested in scaling before Arkansas.

Raptor Releases For Your Viewing Pleasure

This is a photo of my sisters Terri (left) and Monica (right) releasing two sharp-shinned hawks. I love Monica, she looks like she just made a touchdown.

More sharp-shins being released.

Multiple sharp-shinned hawks being released.

Another sharp-shin.

Oooooooooo, haggard red-tailed hawk being released. Sweeeeeet.

And yet, another sharp-shin heading to the wild blue yonder.

More shins...wait, one of these things is not like the others...any guessers?

A passage red-tail. There's actually a second shin being released behind it, you can see its wing poking down behind the red-tail.

Me releasing a merlin.

A Bird's Ability to Thrive No Matter What

All the photos in this entry are courtesy of Frank Taylor.

I just got in a weekly banding report from Frank Taylor. In it was a an interesting account of a first year sharp-shinned hawk that had impaled it's wing on a twig. Frank said that it had healed up with a bit of the twig still in the wing!

They didn't try to pull out the twig, just clipped the ends that were close to the wing. The bird seemed to be doing just fine and they didn't want to stress it out with a trip to The Raptor Center down in the Cities. Frank used to be curator of birds at TRC and has been a master falconer for longer than I've been alive. He knows a healthy flight in a bird when he sees it, and with a high strung bird like an accipiter, letting it go gave it a better shot at survival than time in a rehab facility.

The injury was healed, I wonder how long ago it happened? Perhaps when it was learning to fly.

Another fine example of how birds will survive no matter what. It would never occur to this bird that, "Hey, I've got a stick in my wing, I don't feel like hunting and heading south to find food. I'm just going to hunker down and sleep today." Birds just do what has to be done in order to survive. I love that.

Birding with Neil

Periodically I am asked if I am really friends with Neil Gaiman. Yes, I am really am. And to prove it, I took Neil up for a day of hawk watching around Duluth, MN to experience the thrill of thousands of migrating birds of prey. First we stopped at my friend Frank Taylor’s hawk blind to band migrating hawks and then we headed to Hawk Ridge. Many don't know this, but Neil is quite the birder and has a way with passerines (note Neil with the song sparrow on the left).

Neil sits in the hawk blind to help watch for hawks flying over the field. There were a couple of times when he confused blue jays with sharp-shinned hawks but he got the hang of it before the end of the day.

We banded a passage female merlin. She graciously posed for a photo with Neil before continuing on with her migration.

Neil meets some pigeons at the banding station—all of whom never get harmed by hawks during banding due to protective leather jackets and expert handling by hawk banders. He tried to chat with them about their adventures, but being pigeons they were hesitant to speak of their exploits.

After a morning full of banding we stopped at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve. Neil took a look at the daily totals. He was most excited about seeing a Northern Goshawk and agreed with me that, goshawks are hands down the coolest North American raptor.

The banders at Hawk Ridge got in a Red-eyed Vireo—which are surprisingly aggressive and try to bite anybody. It’s okay because they are insectivores and have soft bills and don’t hurt so much when the bite. This one took a break from nipping for a photo with Neil.

A rare appearance by a Golden-crowned Kinglet at the Hawk Ridge banding station made for a special day. Neil graciously accepted a kiss from this secretive bird.

A fellow birder, Reier decides to make Neil feel like a true bird watcher by making fun of him. This is a good sign that Neil is being embraced by the birding community.

Before the day was done we found a huge mushroom. It reminded me of a smurf house. I wanted to see what it tasted like, but Neil smartly recommended we shouldn’t eat mushrooms we aren’t sure of.

Well hopefully this answers the question of just how well I know Neil Gaiman.

Hawk Trapping

Fall is the most wonderful time of the year. I spent a good portion of the weekend banding hawks. I arrived Saturday night after work and checked into the Inn on the Gitch Gumee in Duluth. The light from the moon danced on Lake Superior and overhead you could hear peeps of migrating songbirds.

Sunday was terrific for banding, our little station netted 40 hawks including sharp-shinned, Cooper's and merlins. It was an action-packed day as sharp-shins were everywhere in the sky and sometimes we would focus on one hawk and not realize until too late that another hawk had spied the bait and landed in the net. One of the highlights was a first year peregrine falcon that sped into the field and made about eight passes in front of the blind trying to get the bait pigeon. The falcon was too smart for the nets and evetually left to find food elsewhere.

One of the things I love most about hawk trapping is getting to watch the hunting techniques of various raptors. You spot these hawks in the sky miles off in the distance and watch as they catch sight of the bait pigeon and eventually hone in and come for the kill. You see the moment when the hawk sets its wings and goes from being a speck to life size and in your hand.

Here is a photo of an adult male Cooper's hawk that we banded.