Cool Adult Camps

I was just talking to a friend the other day about how there needs to e adult camps and low and behold, I get an email for two really cool camps coming up in Minnesota at the Wildlife Science Center specifically for adults. A camp for those bird inclined is Adult Raptor Camp where you can learn about the natural history of Minnesota birds of prey, identification, falconry and care and management.  The best part is that each participant gets to handle 2 different birds of prey.  If you've ever seen some of my photos of bird handling and you think it looks like a good time, this would be the camp for you.

They are also offering an overnight camp about wolves.  Both sound fun and you can learn more at the Wildlife Science Center site.

Drawing For Free Field Guides @PrincetonUPress

This week Princeton University Press has a bird book give-away:  Birds of Western North America:A Photographic Guide and Birds of Eastern North America:A Photographic Guide. If you follow Princeton University Press on Facebook or Twitter you are automatically entered.  If not, follow them for a chance to win one of these new photographic field guides.  The drawing for the books is on Friday.

Homosexual Pairings in Birds

According to a study coming out, a researcher is suggesting that in some cases homosexual pairings in birds can be beneficial.  Live Science reports: After all, in evolutionary terms same-sex mating seems to reduce the birds' chances of reproductive success. But that's not necessarily so, according to a new study. In a given species, the sex with lighter parental duties tends to mate more, period — whether with the same or the opposite sex.

In 2007, a team led by Geoff MacFarlane, a biologist at the University of Newcastle in Australia, reported that male homosexual behavior was more common in polygynous bird species, where males mate with numerous females, and that female homosexual behavior was more common in monogamous species.

Intrigued, MacFarlane looked for help explaining the pattern in a theory predicting that whichever gender spends less time caring for young tends to have sex with more partners.

To find out whether the theory might extend to homosexual behavior, MacFarlane and his team exhaustively combed the literature for accounts of same-sex courtship, mounting, or pair bonding. They focused on the 93 bird species whose homosexual interactions scientists had seen in the wild. For each species, the team calculated the frequency of homosexual behavior as well as both sexes' contributions to parenting.

Overall, homosexual behavior amounted to less than 5 percent of all sexual activity in the 93 species, though in some cases it was much higher. And sure enough, there was a strong correlation between a species' mating system and its homosexual behavior. Whichever sex did less parenting also typically did more same-sex canoodling – basically because they could. This tended to be true for the promiscuous males in polygynous species. The balance shifted to females in socially monogamous species, where the sexes split the work more equitably.

You can read the full article here.

Awesome Bird Nests

Is this the best osprey nest ever?  This is from Cornell's Celebrate Urban Birds, you can see more here.

Unexpected Chukars

I had a meeting with my friend Mark Martell at Minnesota Audubon yesterday.  When I pulled into the parking lot I saw a bunch of small, round birds running in the parking lot.  At first, I thought, "young pheasants?"

When I parked my car, I could see they were chukars...and rather friendly ones at that.  I've seen chukars in Utah but this was the largest flock I have ever seen in Minnesota.  Theses are most certainly released birds--they are native to Eurasia.  Either there is a game farm nearby and they are escaping or someone is raising and releasing them.

I'm not really a fan of raising and releasing chukars--they are non native and therefore competing for food with native wildlife, they don't do well in Minnesota winters and really, all these chukars ever become are coyote and fox food...and maybe food for Cooper's hawks too.

Anyone else have chukars showing up to their feeders?

Autumn Bobolinks

I woke up in the dark on Sunday morning and was irritated.  I realized that I was awake and since it was still dark out, I assumed it must have been in the middle of the night.  Was it the humidity?  Was it the moon?  Was it that early evening cup of coffee?  All three could be causes of insomnia for me.  Since sleep wasn't coming, I decided to get up and do some writing (Non Birding Bill calls this my acorn gathering time, I generally say yes to a TON of freelance projects in the late summer to tide over the leaner months in winter).  I walked into the living room and was surprised to see the clock read 5:30 am. Waking up at that time would make sense since I went to bed early the night before...CRAP, it's dark at 5:30am--that means the days are getting seriously shorter. I said, "Screw writing." Then grabbed my digiscoping equipment and hit the road.  Gotta enjoy the warm weather and birds while it lasts.

I took in a ton of fall migrants, but my favorite birds were the flocks of bobolinks nibbling on grasses along some gravel roads.  I pulled over and was serenaded by late summer katydids while took photos of the yellow birds as they popped out and then down in the tall grasses.  I'm not sure if this is a male or female, this is the bobolink's non breeding plumage and they both look the same.  If you click on this link you can see what a male bobolink looks like during the breeding season--quite a dramatic change!

I sometimes have trouble remembering that bobolinks are thought to be in the blackbird family--especially in the fall.  They look like large yellowish sparrows.

This is my favorite photo--the bobolinks lurking and hiding while feeding.  The plumage makes sense while migrating.  These birds will also have to contend with the millions of raptors moving south this fall too.  They yellow and brown stripes will help them hide while they feed.

These bobolinks were near some flooded farm fields with lots of shorebirds, I actually went shorebird watching a couple of times last week, but shorebird id stresses me out and I haven't put the photos up yet.  I'll have to bite the bullet and get them up.  Their migration is full on.

If you haven't been out to enjoy some birds, get out there now.  Migration is on!

Wanna Help Finance Alex & Me Movie?

I got the following request in my inbox: We are reaching out to you for your help on our special project.  It is our great pleasure to announce the launch of our brand new website aimed at including you and your fellow bloggers in the making of a real Hollywood motion picture!

Earthrise Pictures and FaR Out Productions have acquired the theatrical rights to Dr. Irene Pepperberg’s book “Alex & Me.” This New York Times best-seller is the heartwarming true story of the incredible bond between two special creatures--woman and bird--who over the course of 30 years opened an unprecedented window into the hidden world of avian intelligence.

In order to maintain a day-to-day commitment, we need the loving support and generosity from bird lovers everywhere. Writing a screenplay takes a tremendous amount of time and research to craft a story that is both accurate and entertaining.

Every donation made on the website will help us expand our lab space, offer video blogs & fun interactive games, and post updates with the latest news from Hollywood. It’s all through PayPal so the contribution is safe and secure.

Also, for a minimum donation of at least $20, the contributor will have their name in the credits of the film and full access to everything inside the Movie Lab.

This is a rare opportunity for the birding community.  Alex and Irene’s story is one of a kind, and we owe it to them for all their hard work and amazing accomplishments.  This is indeed a story for the big screen.

Beehives Attract Flycatchers

This is an interesting little bird.  It's an eastern wood-peewee that was singing out around Mr. Neil's property.  Periodically, the peewee would flip out from its perch and grab some insects.  I didn't get a photo of it, but as I was watching the peewee through the scope, I noticed it grabbed a bee!  That's when I realized this peewee was perched right over our yard hive and is hanging out in what we call the "bee highway" or the main flight path bees follow going to and from the hive.

This is not the first flycatcher I've seen around the hives.  Great-crested flycatchers show interest as well.  I'm not too worried about it, there are several thousand bees, so a dozen or so eaten by birds is manageable.  Plus, I suspect the birds prefer drones--they are bigger, fatter, juicier, slower and being males, they do not sting.

Birds and Beers

The next Birds and Beers on Tuesday, August 17 at 6pm at Merlin’s Rest. That's tomorrow! Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities–if you’re interested in birds, you’re invited. You can meet other birders–maybe find a carpool buddy, ask about where to find target birds, share cool research projects you might be working on, ask a bird feeding question, share life lists, share some digiscoping tips, promote your blog–the sky is the limit. It’s low key and it’s fun.

I Wanna Go Birding With This Guy

Some photos from the set of the Big Year movie (loosely based on the book) have been "leaked."

I want to watch birds with him for several reasons.  Number one, he's Owen Wilson (known by some as the Butterscotch Stallion) and my hormones demand it that I be somewhere in his vicinity.  Number two, I love most of his movies--Royal Tennenbaums, Zoolander, anything with Jackie Chan (if I could have an Owen Wilson/Jackie Chan sandwich, I'd die a happy woman...did I just share too much...)  Number three, I WISH more birders dressed like this.  Hot pink pants?  Purple jacket? Turquois shirt?  I have that exact hat only mine is in leopard print.