Ghost Bird Preview

Here are just some initial notes about the sneak preview of the documentary about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker phenom shown at the San Diego Bird Festival:

It's more about the human side of the story, how the rediscovery and promotion of the IBWO mirrors the fate of Brinkley, AR.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology is kind of missing from the movie--the official statement is because Cornell "their people" to not participate in being interviewed.

The movie doesn't focus on whether or not the IBWO sighting was a hoax, but focuses more on the lack of concrete proof and the media attention surrounding it.

I found some of the scenes where Brinkley, AR locals were interviewed for the movie came off like Christoper Guest characters and I felt a pang of guilt when they were laughed at.

Jerome Jackson showed up last minute to be part of the panel discussion.

I had fun picking out people I know shown in the background of the movie. People like Steve Moore and Pete Dunne.

More on this when I'm not suffering from field trip fatigue. Here's a link to the trailer.

Friday Morning

I got totally punk'd by my alarm on Friday morning. I was supposed to be at the San Diego Bird Festival headquarters by 5:30 to film a couple of morning live shots for KUSI with Karen Straus. My iPod alarm went off at 4:30 am, I gradually woke up, brushed my teeth and opened my laptop to check the weather. The laptop read 2:38am. I thought that was odd. I checked my hotel room clock and it read 2:36am. It was then that I realized that my iPod was still on Minneapolis time and not San Diego time.

Karen and I did a few segments with weatherman Joe Lizura--he and his camera man were a hoot. I think we may have startled them and they were afraid we would say "I'm here to see a pair of brown boobies!" on air, but we kept it mild. I even managed to video a couple of minutes of Joe interviewing us live (and demonstrate digiscoping). I stop just as he's about to ask me about the World Series of Birding:

Here's an actual digiscoped photo of the black-crowned night heron right outside the festival vendor area:

Welcomed By Coots In San Diego

We interrupt the entries about Gautemala to talk about the San Diego Bird Festival! I'm in sunny SoCal for the next few days to speak and go on some fabulous field trips. Guatemala needs to be put on hold because I need to have all my notes nearby to make sure I get my species correct.

I have a whole herd of coot (I figure if they are out of the water, they no long qualify as a raft) right outside my hotel room door.

Last night as I was digiscoping them, a woman came up to ask if I saw anything good. I told her that to me, coot feet are exciting--I so rarely get the chance to see the feet. Another case of a familiar bird in a different habitat acting incrediby mellow. Minnesota coots do not put up with foot fetishests like myself.

This musts be the laziest coot ever. It would rather stretch out to get that last little snippet of grass then walk around.

Also right outside my hotel room is a brown pelican, or Old Blue Eyes as I have dubbed him. He sticks close to shore and does mini-dives for fish. I love the colors in the sunlight.

Such a change from the American white pelicans I'm used to. The red, the brown, the buttery cream on the head--gorgeous!

But I need to wind up my hotel digiscoping. I'm putting the final touches on my programs. This afternoon I'm doing an "attracting birds program" and tonight I get to do some storytelling. I'm going to do my "The Woman Who Could Talk To Birds" story based on one very persistant caller we had when I worked at the wild bird store. Good times!

If any of you are at the gathering tonight, stop by and say hello!

David Sibley & Birdchick, It's On

Well, this was an interesting development that came about while I was out of the country. The 2009 San Diego Bird Festival has been selected to host a sneak preview screening of the documentary, Ghost Bird, about the search for the legendary ivory-billed woodpecker. The annual bird festival, hosted by the San Diego Audubon Society, is being held March 5 – 8, at Marina Village in Mission Bay Park. The sneak preview is set for Friday, March 6, beginning at 7 pm, also Marina Village.

According to the press release, the movie "wades into a murky swamp of belief and obsession in this cautionary tale about birders, ornithologists and the citizens of Brinkley, Arkansas, who are certain they keep seeing a giant woodpecker that’s been extinct for over half a century."

But here's the kicker, after the movie, there is an informal panel discussion with the filmmaker, Scott Crocker, me (because I was on one of the ivory-bill search teams), and David Sibley.

So, if you're coming to the San Diego Bird Festival, you can check this out on Friday night--should be interesting. I've had the trailer for Ghost Bird in the blog before, but if you missed it, here's a link to it. Wonder if I'll be able to Twitter during the discussion?

Packing for Connecticut

Monday morning I took a walk in this:

This morning it's below zero so I'm choosing not to take a walk in this:

We were supposed to have piles of snow this morning, and just south of the Twin Cities they are getting a few inches, however there is a freezing cold front that is pushing the snow to just south of the Cities. Yesterday's forecast said we could have five to seven inches in the Cities, now they are saying maybe one inch by 5pm but the below zero weather is here to stay through the weekend. The same snow is hitting my cohorts in Madison and all of us are flying out early tomorrow morning for the Connecticut Bald Eagle Festival, so it will be interesting to see if we all get out. I'll find out in Detroit.

For all of those who may be missing Cinnamon's disapproval, I did get my fair share in San Diego. This is the California ground squirrel and they are everywhere. I didn't notice them while I was working at the convention center, but when I took a walk before my flight, the ground was squirming with them. They kind of looked like scruffier versions of the gray squirrel that we have in Minnesota, and they weirded me out because they aren't bouncy like our squirrels, they just scurry around. They're not interested in trees but burrow little holes in the ground right along the water.

I'm trying to get packed for this weekend and get things prepared for what I will need to bring to the Arkansas Ivory-bill Celebration next week (my first time running a binocular booth solo) and Cinnamon is being no help whatsoever. I have supply of binoculars with me for use in bird walks and other programs and I will need to take some of them with me to Brinkley. I was just double checking my supply when Cinnamon decided she needed to get involved and give instructions. I kept trying to shoo her away, but back she came. She was very interested in the yellow Typhoon binocular, especially the strap. She kept trying to rearrange it to lay on it. I don't know what that is all about. I think she must be acting out, since I'm not home as much. I was thinking about taking her with me to the Rivers and Wildlife Celebration in Nebraska, but I'm still undecided if I want to do the drive by myself. I often do most of the driving on the trip, but I have others in the car for conversation. Non Birding Bill really wants me to fly, but it's such a fun drive and great way to watch for all the different color morphs of hawks--I'm torn. It would be fun to take Cinnamon to her first bird festival. I think she'd have a good time.

The Sibley Difference

I decided that when I went to the west coast I would take my National Geographic Field Guide to Birds. It's a little smaller than the Sibley Guide to Birds, and fit perfectly in a pocket of my carry on suitcase. I also chose it because I keep little check marks next to birds that I have seen so I could have an idea for target birds. Oh, lamentable choice, it steered me so wrong! I misidentified another bird in the blog--that's two birds in a week. Uff-dah.

The gull misidentification was not field guide related, that was Kate and I trying to remember a gull with no field guide handy over dirty martinis. Lesson learned: don't id birds in a blog at a bar without a field guide. The hummer id, I blame on the guide, I should have checked Sibley before I posted, yet I was impatient.

Here is the hummer photo that I posted (granted, not a great photo):
Now, having only the National Geographic I narrowed it down to either an Anna's Hummingbird (below)...

...or a black-chinned hummingbird (below).

Thinking the bill was a tad off, I chose to go with the black-chinned, based on how dark the throat looked, the white spot behind the eye and that the throat color didn't appear to go as far back in the photo as it appeared to do in the National Geographic illustration. I took a chance and posted...

...then I got an email from fellow Minnesota birder Terry Brashear:

Your Black-chinned Hummingbird appears to be a Male Anna's. A black-chinned this time of year would be unusual for San Diego since the majority of them are in Mexico. When they are found in San Diego in spring they are usually in the foothills in the east part of San Diego County. I birded there 25 years and saw one Black-chinned in the coastal area of San Diego. I took a look at the CBC data for San Diego and none were reported this year. Thought you'd like to know.

Doh! So, as soon as I got home (well, after a warm greeting from Non Birding Bill) I checked ye olde Sibley to see where I went wrong. Here is an Anna's hummingbird in the Sibley Guide...


...and here is a black-chinned hummingbird in the Sibley Guide:

Looking at the Sibley guide, I see the bill shape is incorrect for a black-chinned the light pattern on the head more closely matches the Anna's. So, from now on I will pack Sibley.