Hello all, NBB here. Sharon's still catching up from her trip to Atlanta (where TSA confiscated her deodorant for some reason) so you and I are stuck together. Deal with it. First off, a reminder that Birds and Beers is at the end of the month, and it takes place at a bar where you can watch thousands of crows come to roost in Loring Park. I've made my affection for crows public knowledge, and even if you're on the fence, the sheer number is a spectacle. If you go to Birds and Beers this month and are not impressed, you can punch me*.

* Restrictions:

1. You must present a receipt from Joe's Garage on the date and time in question.
2. You must specifically be attending Birds and Beers.
3. You cannot punch me in the face or neck.
4. You must allow me to brace myself.
5. If you kill me a lá Harry Houdini, I will haunt you and all your descendants.

Second... well, I didn't really think this out. I'm supposed to be writing a script for the next show for Theatre Arlo, Macbeth: the Video Game Remix, but we're too busy enjoying the Minnesota weather that's in the positive integers. And by "enjoying" I mean "drinking and watching Arrested Development."

I honestly don't have anything else to share with you. My wacky story of an eagle-spotting gone wrong was ruined by the fact that while taking a joke photo of a squirrel I accidentally took a photo of the actual squirrel who had been mortally wounded by a raptor was something of a bring down. I made the mistake of mentioning this to Neil who mentioned it to Sharon and turned the whole thing into a colosal bring down, which is my essential problem with birds, birdwatching, and nature in general. I prefer to live in a world where animals spend their time delivering your mail and helping you with wacky bank heists.

So.

Sharon says I should mention something actually related to birding here, so I'll just post this video, and we can all go about our business, okay?

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

West Bound and Down!

WARNING! SOMEWHAT GROSS PHOTO AT THE END OF THIS POST!

I'm wrapping up my time in Atlanta and I wait for my flight home to Minneapolis. I have to say that the trade show that I went to was smaller than usual and one had to really search to find something innovative and not just a bird feeder that's been around for over a decade (or in at least one case, close to 50 years) and call it new. But I did find a few gems that I'll post later.

In the meantime, I see that Non Birding Bill took my advice and blogged a birding even he and Mr. Neil witnessed yesterday at the feeders. I love it, I'm in the middle of a trade show, busy looking for article ideas and potential new products for the OpenSky Store and NBB calls, "Okay, don't get mad."

Knowing that he and Mr. Neil were free-wheeling boys while each one's special lady friend was out of town I was a tad concerned when the phone call starts with that. I immediately inhaled a calming breath bracing myself for something like:

"We decided to move the beehives to a sunnier spot...and ended up with a broken spleen."

or

"We thought of a new bird food recipe involving chocolate a millet and the birds are eating it like mad!"

or

"Neil and I decided to shave our initials into our hair and now we look totally rad!"

or

"We chipped in and bought a boat to sail the Mississippi when the ice is out this spring, it's shaped like a coffin!"

You know, the typical shenanigans men can get into when sensible feminine counterpoint is no longer available. But no, it was that they saw some sort of raptor try to take a squirrel and they didn't know what it was or get photos. Bill wrote an epic blog entry to the harrowing tale.

Between you and me, the story during the phone call from the two shifted a bit (I used clever questioning techniques learned from watching Adam-12 all last week). It started that they saw a bald eagle take a squirrel, well maybe not a bald eagle, but way bigger than a hawk, possibly and owl, and well the squirrel did get away and we're trying to find it and it could have been a golden eagle or just a really big ass red-tailed hawk.

Golden eagle would not be out of the realm of possibility. When Golden Eagle 42 was working his way south from the Arctic Circle this fall, he actually flew over Mr. Neil's. He actually roosted within a quarter mile of our beehives one night. I even got a terrible photo of him flying--holy cow, did I ever post that photo? I need to dig that up, that was a cool tale.

However, this morning as I wait for my flight back to the Twin Cities I see Mr. Neil has sent me further (somewhat gruesome evidence of their raptor adventure yesterday).

Here is the squirrel that suffered the apparent attack. Mr. Neil writes, "This was the only squirrel around after the eagle left and we came out with cameras. I wasn't sure if it was the one attacked or not, as I thought the atacked one was a short-tailed guy who had been hanging around that feeder all morning. But looking at the photo, I think it was this one after all..."

Mr. Neil also sent a closer image of the squirrel's head:

I'm not sure that this squirrel is long for this world and I wonder if the raptor in question will be back for it soon? Now I think I have answer to how some squirrels lose their eyes.

Well done, boys, well done.

Where Eagles Aren't

"Hey honey, you got a second?" "Sure."

"Okay. Don't get mad."

(sigh) "What happened?"

"Neil thinks he saw an eagle come down and try to get a squirrel in his yard."

"Why would I be mad about that?"

"Because you get mad when we think we see birds."

"Well, why don't you two boys go out and try and find it, then write it up in the blog while I'm busy in Atlanta."

"Okay."

Vicious Eagle-on-Squirrel Assault Leaves Local Man Scared, Shaken.

The terrified man, shown here protected by his faithful hound, was "simply glad to have survived the encounter."

Here he indicates where the savage attack took place... right outside his own window!

Your faithful reporter thought he meant here. Turns out that was your faithful reporter's own bootprint.

Turns out he meant here. Imagine the event, if you will. In fact, you sorta have to.

Here the witness looks at the tree into which the bird flew, following the attack.

Pictured: the tree into which the Eagle may have flown. Not pictured: the Eagle.

Your faithful reporter scans the skies for sight of the fell beast. What's that? Has the eagle returned, red in tooth and claw?

No. Just some bees. Strangely out and about in sub-zero weather, they quickly proved more than a match for this humble correspondent, who beat cheeks after rescuing one or two from a snowy grave.

THE END.

Sharon will return tomorrow. I know, I know. We're all glad.

Birder Arrest

The news buzzing around on the interwebs is that a birder in Massachusetts has been arrested while he was birding. The email recounting the birder's plight can be found on the New Jersey birding listserv.

The birder claims he was birding in Rumney Marsh and someone from one of the houses next to the marsh called police because they thought the guy with binoculars was looking at their house. The birder then claims that after he left the marsh, police arrested him despite his claims of birding because the police said that there are no birds around in winter. The birder's binoculars were confiscated as evidence and the birder also has charges of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer.

I wasn't there, I have no idea if this is an example or police brutality or a lippy birder but it does make me think of all the times birders risk being mistaken for some sort of peeping tom or potential thief. Non Birding Bill and I have had an interesting week of tv watching the old Adam-12 series (pictured above) followed by a few episodes of The Wire. Two radically different police shows. Are the police all Reed and Malloys or are they all Bunk and McNultys? Somewhere in the middle would guess.

I think this story is a good reminder that as a birder, we can't just bound onto property or aim our scopes and binoculars in someone's yard and hope that when you reveal yourself as a bird watcher everyone will roll their eyes, call out, "Nerd Alert," and let you be.

I think this story is a good reminder that if we want to keep enjoying our hobby and passion--especially in any area where there is a house, we have to be diplomats whether we like it or not. We have to understand that there are going to be police who have no clue about Christmas Bird Counts, robins who spend the winter with us, Project Feeder Watch, airport snowy owls and all the other activities that we love.

Some Winter Bird Feeding

I'll be heading to Atlanta for the birding trade show called Bird Watch America tomorrow looking for the latest and greatest in new birding products. I'll also dip my toe into the ginormous AmericasMart because I suspect quite a few birding vendors are hiding there. I'll probably do quite a bit of preview photos through Twitter if you would like to follow or check that out between blog posts.

My buddy Kirk who is behind the blog Twin Cities Naturalist and I were talking bird feeders last night. I was out getting photos of some of the feeders in my OpenSky store. We started talking about the Yankee Whipper, a feeder I've had great success with that he said had a design flaw. Surprised, I asked what he meant and he sent me this video he aptly titled: Squirrel Abs of Steel.

I think if that's how I had to eat, my abs would rival Shakira's. Yikes.

I had a meeting yesterday morning and while I was out and about, I stopped at Elm Creek Park for a few minutes just to soak up some birds. I won't have time to do much of any birding in Atlanta--it's all about the bird product. The tree sparrows were the largest numbers I've seen all winter.

And boy were they feisty with each other. The nature center does a good job of putting food out, but with our sub zero temperatures freezing the snow solid, easily available food is rare and birds will fight for the best access to the food source.

Speaking of winter survival, Cornell's Celebrate Urban Birds is hosting a contest. They are asking for people to send in photos, drawings, sculpture, video, story, poem--or anything creative to show how birds survive winter in urban environments.

What are you seeing in your neighborhoods?

This Hawk Is So Tiny!

How tiny is it?

How about this: it preys on hummingbirds! Below is a video from the FatBirder Channel on YouTube. It's a bird called a Tiny Hawk (Accipiter superciliosus) and it is about 8 inches long. To give you an idea, a robin that you would see in your backyard in North America averages about ten inches. Cardinal average about 8.75 inches. To give you an even bigger idea, the hawk in the video below is eating a hummingbird called a white-necked jacobin!

Don't worry, the video is not that gross and is very cool. Be sure to check out the other videos at FatBirders's YouTube Channel.

CUTE! Owl Goes For Shuttlecocks!

Here is a link to a story of an adorable owl called a brown hawk owl (which looks like a cross between a boreal owl and a sharp-shinned hawk) that was photographed going after the shuttlecock from a badminton game.

I especially love the photo of the owl trying to eat the shuttlecock--I'm sure after that non taste sensation, it won't be trying that again.

Gulls Want In On The Whaling Action

Well here is a strange bit of video from the BBC:

1. Strange because the newscaster refers to the birds as seagulls (oh BBC, I expected so much more from you).

2. It's a story about gulls tearing pieces of flesh of the backs of live whales that surface the water.

On the one hand, you have to admire a creature's ability to be adaptable and find an ample food source, especially such a comparatively small aerial animal feeding off of such a large marine mammal. But on the other had, it's a scary testament of how imbalances occur at the expense of other creatures by human habits.

Loring Park Crow Roost

A big thanks to Non Birding Bill for filling for a day. I had a moment of panic. Every year, my agent sends me a nice card with a note of a charity that received a donation in my name for Christmas. This year, I didn't get a card. I kind of panicked. I have an author friend who had a GREAT book agent. She wrote a very successful book that won awards and then began working on her next book. Working on that next book went one year, into two years, well on it's way into a third year. And then one day, her agent dropped her. I had no idea an agent could drop you. When I didn't get a card, I had a moment of, "Oh crap, I'm gonna get dropped!"

I buckled down and worked a fourth draft of the bee book I've been working on the last year and a half. In the middle of all of this on Christmas Eve, we received a lovely box from my book agent that included lots of lovely cookies. I suspect that I'm not getting dropped, but nothing like a healthy dose of fear to get a writer to finish something. I suspect I have more tweaking to do with this draft, but it's shaping up to be quite the story and incredibly different than anything I've written before.

I finished the draft right before New Year's and decided I needed to do some birding New Year's Day. For the past few years, we have camped out at Mr. Neil's for New Year's and I have a leisurely morning of watching winter birds from the kitchen window on January 1. This year, Mr had incredibly exciting plans for bringing in the New Year in Boston with his special lady friend (as opposed Doctor Whoing in the New Year with NBB and myself) so we chilled with friends in our neighborhood (and I mean chilled literally, I don't think it's been above zero since the New Year began--on the upside, lots of coffee and snuggling for me--whoot).

I thought I would start the New Year with an owl and headed to the screech-owl spot but that bird was tucked someplace warmer. I've tried several times for a snowy owl at the Minneapolis/St Paul Airport and have come up empty every time, it was no different January 1, perhaps no snowy there this year? I then went to Big Willow Park which has been good for northern saw-whet owls in the past and could find no sign of an owl. It was not the most pleasant temperature for hiking so perhaps I wasn't giving it the try I normally would. I finally decided to go for some birds that I know I would see--the crow roost in Loring Park. I texted Non Birding Bill and asked if he wanted to come with me (the crows meet his requirements: big, obvious, easy to see). I grabbed him and we followed the lines of crows heading towards the roost in late the afternoon.

In the winter, as afternoons start to fade, you might notice lines of crows flying towards a central location. The lines will come from all directions towards a central spot. Crows are flying from all over to a central night roost location. Studies suggest that crows will fly as far as 20 miles from their roost spot foraging for food during the day. Then in late afternoon, they fly back to the roosting spot. A roost could have literally thousands of birds gathering to it. I'm not sure of the exact numbers of the Minneapolis roost, but it would not surprise me if it went past 100,000 crows.

The crows are all over Loring Park and along the bike path near the new Twins Stadium. I think the crows chose the southern part of downtown Minneapolis for a roost because there would not be as many natural predators. Also, an irritated farmer couldn't shoot at any of the crows to drive them away. This roost still has at least one predator to worry about--great horned owls. They start their breeding season in Minnesota now. You can bet your bippy that a great horned will take a crow or two on the outside of the roost this time of year. It's one of the reasons they attack owls during the day.

As we watched the amazingly huge sheer number of crows, it struck me that this was incredibly similar to watching the sandhill cranes coming in to roost on the Platte River in Nebraska. I wonder why some birders (including myself) place such a mystical value on cranes but not crows. I'm not anti-crow, but I've noticed this roost before, have always that, "Yeah, I need to check this out," but never do. Yet, I've invested a lot of money in 9 or 10 trips to Nebraska--I've even taken others. I've frozen my tookus off at dawn in a blind and yet, here's this cool gathering of birds practically in my backyard that I can watch from the warmth of my vehicle or from one of the many eateries or bars in downtown Minneapolis. Perhaps I am like the locals in Kearney, NE who smile thinly and say, "Oh, yeah," when you tell them how excited you are about their 40,000 sandhill cranes.

I think I'll schedule the January Birds and Beers someplace in Loring Park so we can watch the roost. The parking might be a bit trickier, but we'll have one heck of a show with all the crows coming in. They should keep coming until their breeding season kicks in in March. I've never paid attention, but I wonder if the roost gradually disperses over a period of weeks or if the break up of the winter roost happen rather quickly as pairs set up territories?

NBB and I tried to get some video of the crows so you could hear them (and the traffic) and get an idea of the size of the roost. This isn't even half of the roost:

Here's another video near Dunwoody of crows staging. It's the sound of all the crows that you can't see that amazes me:

l

UPDATE: Commenter Ren has this video of the same crows flying in to the roost.  This video was taken from an apartment building looking down on the crows coming in to the Minneapolis Roost.  It's a very cool view!

NBB's New Year's Eve Post

Hello all, NBB here. Sharon's been furiously finishing the latest draft of her next book, and that, combined with the Christmas Bird Count and the holiday season, she's run out of time for blogging. So we're stuck together. I don't like it any more than you, but here we are. I was going to do a post about my year in birding, but that wouldn't fill a Twitter post. In fact, I think my life list shrank in 2009. I started writing a Year's Best Bird list, but only got as far as:

NBB's Best Birds of 2009

Pigeons Coming off the bird flu scare a few years ago, pigeons are back in a big, big way, lead in no small part by the Feral Pigeon Twitter feed, with such thrilling posts as Shifty look and Slow walk ... bob ... bob ... bob. Pigeons are on track to meet or beat the end of year records, but don't listen to the naysayers: you have to see a pigeon in 3-D to get the full effect.

But then I think I've made my affection for the Rock Dove well known.

So instead, here are my hopes for the new year, as relates to birding.

1. Panama. Sharon's going on a trip to Panama that's she very excited about, something about the canopy tower where I gather she's going to cavort with Ewoks while watching birds with binoculars made out of coconuts. While I'm certain she'll have a good time and take great pictures, my hope is that the time passes quickly.
2. Camping. Three years ago Sharon got me a tent which we've never so much as taken out of the carrying case. I really hope to get some use out of it in the coming year, especially since my own personal Ranger knows so much more about our local parks, and so I can also make use of my latest Christmas gift, a Titanium Spork.
3. Conservation. You want to help birds? Do something for conservation of habitat. An easy way to do that is to buy a Federal Duck Stamp. They're $15 bucks (that's three cups of fancy coffee) and 98% of it goes directly to maintaining habitat.

And that's it. Have a safe and happy New Year's, everyone!