Gyrfalcon Antics In Cape May

Some may recall from last year that I blogged about John Wood and The Raptor Project his bird program that he does at Cape May. One of the highlights is that he flies his white gyrfalcon out on the beach. He flies to a lure (an object with some meat attached to a long line that he lassos overhead to get the bird to fly down.

This year, things went a little different. Saturday, as blogged earlier, it was wind and rain, but John flew the falcon anyway. Apparently the bird decided, "screw this" and instead flew after one of the many wild pigeons and to find a nice, warm place to eat. So, off the bird went, it nailed a pigeon and flew out of site. John, being a wise and experienced falconer, had a radio telemetry unit on the bird and was able to track it to town. After the bird flew from sight, it found a shoe store with doors open and landed in the store with a decapitated pigeon and began to rip it apart. Imagine that you know nothing of birds and you are absorbed in shoe shopping when a bird the size of a red-tail, but all white flies in with a headless pigeon--out of nowhere...needless to say, it caused a stir. The shop owner called 911 and Animal Control (I think Animal Control might have given John a hard time about his falcon killing a pigeon--apparently, they didn't know that pigeons are non native and not under any protection in the US). Anyway, John returned to the convention center with his bird safe in hand and with a headless pigeon.

He tried to take the gyrfalcon out Sunday and as soon as he and the white bird emerged from the convention center, the pigeons were off, instantly recognizing the bird from the day before.

John tried to get the falcon to focus on the lure, the bird was having none of it. It tasted pigeon the day before and it wanted more. You can see the bird in the above photo ignoring John and focusing on the fat, winged, tasty delights circling on the other side of the beach.

No matter what John tried, the falcon just really wanted pigeon and kept trying to take off after them. He opted not to fly the bird and risk losing it in town again. Smart move, but still pretty to see the bird in a beach setting.

Birds And Beers: Triumph Of The Blogging Spirit

How many bird bloggers can you identify in this photo?

Friday night was the most attended Birds and Beers yet. I think we had over 30 people show up at Jackson Mountain Cafe throughout the evening. They pretty much just gave us the upstairs bar area (and went as far as to have the tvs tuned into Animal Planet instead of ESPN. I was asked what the biggest surprise of the evening was for me and that was learning what a babe Susan Gets Native is! Holy Cow, she came in with long flowing hair, beautiful eyes and a personality that sweeps you up into a tsunami of fun.

We had more than just bloggers on hand. Hougton Mifflin showed up and I met some east coast birders--one who has a plan to help the red knot. He's been doing fundraisers to buy up private property where the knots can feed on the horseshoe crab eggs. I'll blog more about it later, but it was so refreshing to meet someone with a proactive idea, and who has already got the ball rolling. They already bought a little over four acres this year. Exciting stuff.

There were also bird magazine editors there too. One of whom got the last serving of single malt scotch available at the bar (my drink of choice). When this editor (who shall remain nameless) learned of how he...affected my little birder world...he hid himself and the scotch behind a menu. I proceeded to call him several things including evil, wicked, mean, bad and nasty...I think I just kind of ruined my chances of him accepting the article that I recently pitched...

So, I had martinis (Don't worry Non Birding Bill, I stopped at two). More Birds and Beers coverage can be found at Susan Gets Native and Born Again Bird Watcher. I swear, you would think the restaurant had never seen a bird watching laying on the bar before.

It did dawn on me that I was meeting several of these bloggers face to face for the first time, even though some are part of my daily routine. Beginning To Bird has been a huge supporter of Disapproving Rabbits, and her bun Niblet is in the book twice. Mike at 10,000 Birds was another big surprise. From some reason, from reading his stuff, I had the idea that he would be a quiet, guy--something along the lines of Mike McDowell but was nothing like I expected and a good time (Not that McDowell isn't a good time...he's more of a quiet good time). I guess its weird to have expectations of bloggers. In some ways, it's kind of a DJ effect. You listen to someone on the radio and get a mental picture of what they look like and then when you see them, they look nothing like that. It's the same with blogging, you get a mental picture of the writers look and talk and they take you by surprise.

Cape May Update

Let me tell ya', folks, the weather has not been optimal for birding. I've gotten to sleep in for 2 days in a row. It rained most of the day Friday and Saturday looked to be about the same. And it wasn't just rain, it was wind driven rain that aims to hit your in the face and soak into all clothing. I am such a fair weather birder. I'll bird in the desert. I'll bird in the snow. Heck, I'll bird in ice, but wind driven rain is about as exciting to me as having plaque scraped off my teeth. But, at some point this afternoon, the rain stopped and the sun poked out from behind the clouds. I've been helping out at the birdJam booth and when things started to clear, I headed over to visit Clay Taylor at the Swarovski booth. We looked at the light outside and he said, "As soon as it's five, we're heading to Hawk Watch, wanna come?"

YEAH!

So, I grabbed Jay at birdJam when it was time to close and we headed out. It was clear a few others had the same plan, Born Again Birdwatcher and Jim Danzenbaker from KOWA were also at the platform. We had been pent up in a hot birding destination and needed to watch birds and do a little digiscoping.

I was never so happy to see an American wigeon in my life! Birds! Whoot! The temps were in the sixties, there was a breeze, you could hear the ocean crashing in waves in the distance at watch birds from the platform.

And there, as if on cue was a northern mockingbird, sitting in perfect sun on a bush, about level with the Hawk Watch Platform--which I first called a shrike and Clay corrected, "You northerners aren't used to these! That's a mockingbird." I didn't care, it was a bird, it was there, I wasn't being pelted by rain or abused by wind--it was delightful.

There were quite a few sparrows lurking in the shrubs, the most abundant being the robust white-crowned sparrows (above) mixed in with song, swamp, and house sparrows.

Here is a younger white-crowned sparrow, note how the crown is a little different on the younger birds.

It was getting almost too dark to digiscope when Clay shouted, "Dickcissel!" Not a common bird for Cape May, but a welcome surprise. Oh, and if Mike from 10,000 Birds is wondering, I did get those lifer brants today, while scanning the ocean, three flew into view of the scope.

And as if word had been spreading to the lagomorph community, a got a feral bunny disapproval East Coast style while birding at the platform. Oh! The best review of Disapproving Rabbits can be found over at Julie's blog.

Sunday is supposed to be awesome birding conditions, so I'm hoping to have some exciting stuff for tomorrow.

Cape May Friday Morning

First bird of the morning', right outside the hotel room! House sparrow! Actually, I took this yesterday, the sparrows appear to be used to hotel patrons feeding them. The sea is crashing, the wind is howling and it's rain, rain so I'm staying in this morning. Last night I went to a dinner hosted by Swarovski with a few folks from Cape May Bird Observatory, WildBird on the Fly, and Jay from birdJam at this wonderful little restaurant called Freda's. When the mussels appetizer was served, it got a little ugly, there was some competition, but Clay Taylor, the Swarovksi rep said that we had to our best black oystercatcher call to get them. I found this unfair as there are American oystercaters on the east coast and black oystercatchers on the west coast. Plus, I also felt birdJam had the unfair advantage--they always seem to have a portable speaker hidden in a pocket. Had it been a behavior challenge and we had to act out an oystercather--I would have nailed it.

WildBird on the Fly and I showed off our nails. She took me for my first ever manicure--I had no idea that was that much dead skin just around my finger tips. I chose Kreme de la Kremlin for my nails, she had something I think called Sparkles in the Snow.

And I was just sorting through some emails last night and found Frank Taylor's banding report from last weekend and this oh so cool shot of red-tailed hawk flying low right into the nets. What a great shot! If I weren't in such a cool birding place at the moment, I'd have total banding envy!

Okay, time to tweak my PowerPoint for Saturday, take a shower, and prep for the bird show this afternoon. I wonder how the other bird bloggers are fairing this morning?

Arrived In Cape May

Well, it took more drama than it needed, but I made it to Cape May. This morning was just a series of little trip ups that suddenly turn what is normally routine travel plans into enormous amounts of stress. First, we went to the wrong terminal to catch my flight and I ended up getting to the right terminal so late, I had to be whisked past the long line of security--to everyone I went in front of--I apologize, I normally wait in line just like you. The folks at Sun Country Airlines really saved my bacon, not only getting me to my departure gate in time, but also getting my luggage on the plane. Then there were some issues with the rental car, which at this point I'm relieved are resolved.

But, I got on the Garden State Parkway, popped in the iPod and had a leisurely drive here. On the way, I saw lots of turkey vultures, an osprey, some (non vulture) turkeys, and deer. When I got to Cape May, it was windy and cold. It's supposed to keep up in the morning, so I may stay in tomorrow morning instead of birding.