A Waxwing And Some Woodpeckers

Check out what we got in the nets on Friday at Carpenter Nature Center. No that's not a female cardinal tarted up with excessive eyeliner, that's a cedar waxwing. There are waxwings around Carpenter, and by their behavior, I'm sure they are nesting, but I am always too distracted to figure out where the nest is.

We were actually able to age this bird. Notice something missing? Check the wings--there's no "wax" on the wing. This is actually a second year bird (it hatched last summer). Waxwings do not get those red waxy tips until their second fall. The waxy tips are the result of a astaxanthin, a carotenoid pigment. We also had to measure the yellow tips on the tail--they are shorter in younger birds than they are in the adult birds.

Here's a female red-winged blackbird. These birds just look kind of like an overgrown sparrow when you see the flying around marshes, but they are quite pretty up close and in hand. Note that she also has reddish shoulder patches, similar to the male of the species.

The big excitement of the day was a male northern flicker in the net. You can tell he's male by his black mustache. I had actually just stepped outside with a male goldfinch that I had just banded and was thinking, "Oh, this would be a good picture for the blog, when I noticed something large in the net with a white rump. I immediately let the goldfinch go (we'll get more, so I can get a photo another day) and walked quickly to the nets.

The flicker started to fly and I noticed that it was actually on the other side of the net than I was on. Also, as it flew, I could see it was only caught by one foot. I heard more banders coming out of the building so I just reached through the net, and put my hand over the flick and secured it against my body. Our master bander, Jim Fitzpatrick got hold of the flicker on my side and I went to the other side of the net. In less than a minute, the flicker was out of the net, and Jim banded him.

The bird was a study in elegant design, beauty--not bad for an ant specialist. Check out the yellow feather shafts on the wing feathers that give this bird the old name "yellow-shafted flicker."

Check out that yellow when it flies.

Another interesting bird that came in was a recently fledged red-bellied woodpecker. It looks enough like a red-bellied woodpecker, but the red on the head is a little weird and doesn't match up with the coloration on males and females.

Another interesting bird that came in was a recently fledged red-bellied woodpecker. This bird just had a small red patch on the top of the head. So, we had to break out the Peter Pyle banding book to see if we could find a clear way to sex this bird. We could measure either the spikey part of the tongue, or the culmen--which is basically the upper mandible of the bird. Females have smaller culmens and tongue tips than males. We came up with female based on measurements.

I also pointed out the gape on the above bird. That's one way you can tell an immature bird in some species, that yellow corner on the bill. Keep your eye open for that with the birds that are showing up at your feeders.

Longevity

Took a little bit of a blogging break over the weekend. Non Birding Bill and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary. Always nice to reestablish the pair bond.

I had longevity on the brain on Friday, not only by anticipating the weekend, but because we got some old birds in the nets at Carpenter Nature Center. Normally, we'll get one or two retraps in a session and one of those birds might be a few years old, but this time we got in several older downy woodpeckers. There must have been something in the air:

A downy woodpecker originally banded 5-2-03 as an after second year bird was retrapped 5-30-08!

Another downy woodpecker originally banded on 11-14-03 as an after hatch year bird was retrapped on 12-19-03, 4-28-06 and 5-30-08.

A third downy woodepecker originally banded 11-5-04 and retrapped 5-30-08!

Though our oldest down on Friday was over seven years old and possibly a record for Carpenter, that's not the oldest down woodpecker. According to the Bird Banding Lab, the oldest downy woodpecker on record was eleven years old and eleven month.

My Life As A Part Time Park Ranger

So, in April, I got a part-time job as a park ranger for the Mississippi River and it is a great time! I work primarily at the Mississippi River Visitor's Center at the Science Museum of Minnesota but I do get a chance to get out in the field. Last week, a group of staff went canoeing along the Vermillion Bottoms. What a joy to canoe in spring and get to know some of the people who work for the parks like the Historian, Botany Bob, and Rock Girl (nicknames all based on their areas of expertise--although Non Birding Bill said that we sounded like some sad band of super heroes: "The Historian and Birdchick canoe the river using their magical interpretation skills to save the people!")

I had a great time, the birding was fantastic. I couldn't really take my digiscoping equipment in the canoe, but still could watch the birds. Above, you might notice a bright yellow spot in that pile of brush--that was one of about eight prothonotary warblers we saw. You can't really tell it from the photo, but we could see them very well with the naked eyes. We heard parulas (and other warblers), had a flock of caspian terns fly over, saw one sandhilll crane, lots of eagles and I was totally surprised to see a flock of common nighthawks hawking for insects above our heads. I figured these normally nocturnal birds were mid-migration and very hungry.

We stopped for bit and had lunch along the river. We were there at least thirty minutes and a few of us snuck off into the woods to...see a man about a horse. As I was working my way back, I heard a strange noise right about where the above photo was taken. I pished a few times and a few seconds later a HUGE turkey hen burst out of the grass...almost causing me to relieve myself on the spot. All of us should have noticed a turkey lurking in the grass during lunch...unless she was totally hunkered on a nest. I walked over to where she burst forth:

There were the eggs. Poor thing must have been terrified when we pulled up our canoes and started eating. We had finished our lunch so we packed up as quick as we could and left to give her a chance to come back to her nest of fourteen eggs.

You do see quite a bit of litter along the river, one of the most disturbing piece we found was this two liter bottle of 7-Up filled to the brim with used hypodermic needles. EW!

Canoeing isn't the only thing I've been up to. The week before the canoeing, I got to go out and follow along with some of the eagle banding happening along the Mississippi River.

Even though the bald eagle is off the endangered species list, it's a good idea to keep tabs on them. Because they are so high on the food chain on the river, the researchers are using the eagles as an indicator species--if something is affecting them, it's eventually going to affect the humans. The birds all have a bit of blood drawn that's DNA tested and also checked for pollutants. Because the research is still going on, I can't give all the details at the moment...but it does make me want to be a bit more choosy about what part of the river I would eat fish from.

Check out those eagle toes! I will say that it was fun to work with big birds in my banding comfort zone as opposed to those teeny warblers.

Professional tree climbers from out west were brought in to get the eagle chicks out of the nest. It was way cool to watch them work. They used a crossbow with an arrow and string attached. Once the arrow made it over an appropriate branch, a climbing rope was added and then the guys would climb the rope into the trees. It was impressive to say the least.

It was interesting to notice the animals living the trees with the eagle nest. One tree had an oriole nest a few feet away. Above, a guy from the DNR was measuring the circumference of the nest tree when he shouted, "Hey, there's something nesting in here...and it's furry." He didn't want to stick his hand in, so I gave him my camera to stick in the hole and snap a photo:

At first, we weren't sure what they were. I wondered if they were otter, but if you look at the back paws, that gives them away. Do you know? They're baby raccoons--prey, right in the base of a tree with an eagle nest!

There have been requests to see the park ranger uniform:

If you're thinking "Wow, a badge and a cool hat--that's gotta be fun!"

It is.

If you're at the Science Museum, stop in and say hello.

Carpenter Banding In May

We had a great sampling of birds come into the nets on Friday...and lots of people came to enjoy the beautiful day outdoors and watch what we do at Carpenter Nature Center. I have finished my banding class and am an official apprentice--with a certificate. I'm not sure what I will eventually do with this, my primary goal was just to be a better volunteer for Carpenter and I really do feel so much better taking birds out of nets and processing them now--even birds like Bitey McBitersons in the above photo (Bitey McBitersons is the lesser known folk name of the quick to nip northern cardinal). The little boy in the above photo is Aaron. He and his mother followed us around and Aaron was a big help to me--when we would have several birds in the nets, I would put them in bags and he helped carry the bags back to the processing station. Several bags of chickadees, sparrows, and warblers can be heavy. It's always nice to encounter a helpful gentleman in the field--thanks, Aaron!

Check out the awesomeness that is the clay-colored sparrow! Drink in its brown and gray goodness. We had two come into the nets just about a foot from each other. I suspect it was some territorial chasing on their part. Okay, now note the bill of the clay-colored sparrow above. Now, check out the second one below:

It had some kind of nasty gunk on the tip. I wondered if it had foraged and got some mud on the tip or if it had been eating some old berries that crusted up the tips or what was going on. The bird appeared otherwise to be very healthy.

A big highlight of the day was this female Canada warbler. Even though she's not as bright as the male, she is a very striking bird. Another highlight was a chickadee that was already banded. When we looked up its banding number, we discovered that the female chickadee was first trapped and banded in January 2003 and at that time she was in her second year. Think of that--a six year old female chickadee still going strong. Incredible!

Common yellow throats were probably the most common warble we got in the nets. I just love these guys up close. As we were getting birds out of the nets, I didn't have my binoculars or my digiscoping equipment with me, guaranteeing that something super cool would fly by--and it did. A red-tailed hawk with a snake! At first, I thought it was a falconry bird with jesses and a leash hanging down (Jim said some falconers had been by recently tracking a "lost" red-tail, but that bird did not have a leash, just two jesses, or leather anklets attached). Another Carpenter volunteer was smart and had his binoculars handy and could see that it was, in fact a snake. What was strange was that the red-tail disappeared in the trees with the snake and about ten minutes later reappeared and just kind of hung in the air with the snake hanging behind it. The hawk didn't appear to be in any rush to get it to a nest or land and eat it, just kind of slowly grabbed a thermal and glided along. I later asked my buddy Amber if she had any idea why the red-tail would appear to be carrying the snake around, almost as if flying with a type of trophy, showing it off. That's not a smart thing to do, if anything it kind of advertises to other predators to come and steal your food. She wondered if the adult red-tail had young in the nest and it was about time for them to leave and it was advertising the snake to get them to fly out and learn to hunt on their own? That seems very plausible, but once again, birds leave me with more questions than answers.

What I Missed At Carpenter Today

I may be at the World Series of Birding. I may even be feeling a little high on my horse because I got to see a wood sandpiper today. However, Larry Sirvio just emailed over his photo of what came into the banding nets at Carpenter Nature Center this morning:


Arrrgh. I am just pea green with envy! Great photo, Larry!

From White-throats To White-Crowneds

This has to be a quick and dirty post, I have an early flight in the morning.

This morning while at banding class at Carpenter Nature Center, I looked around and everyone had a white-crowned sparrow like the above bird in their hands, a little different from the white-throated sparrows a couple of weeks ago.

We did get in one male yellow-rumped warbler. It's still a tad chilly here and the insects are not out in full force so the insect eating birds are still having to improvise. One male yellow-rumped warbler was foraging on the ground at one of the feeding stations. As I watched, a downy woodpecker flew in and began pecking on the suet cage. As the downy pecked, tiny pieces of suet fell to the ground and the warbler would scurry to snarf up the suet scraps.

I was painfully pinched by a female cardinal today. The funny thing was that she was barely caught in the nets. When I walked over to retrieve her, she clamped down on a tiny piece of flesh on my inner hand (worst pinch I've ever had--owie) and pretty much rolled out. Had she not clamped down on my hand, she probably would have easily gotten herself out of the nets. Above, Erin is banding her. She had the genius idea of letting the cardinal bite the bag, while she placed a band on her foot. The cardinal is actually holding the hole bag in her mouth above the ground--that's some bite.

We got in a couple of interesting sparrows too. Above is a field sparrow--check out that pink beak!

And here's a Lincoln's sparrow, migration is really kicking in. Speaking of migration, have you seen the story that scientists may have cracked the bird navigation code?

And now I must go to sleep. Tomorrow I head for Cape May and The World Series of Birding. I don't know what's my favorite part: saying that I'm going to the World Series of Birding or that I'm on the Swarovski Digiscoping Team. And at some point I'm going to have to tell you guys about the rules for this thing...and the handy warbler study aid I've been using from birdJam. I kid you not, thanks to birdJam, I now have a playlist that consists of nothing but warbler chip notes.

Spring Bird Banding Around Mr. Neil's

It's been interesting to watch the bird movement at Mr. Neil's. With all the bee installation going on, Non Birding Bill and I spent a few days to make sure the bees were enjoying their new digs and to watch some bird. We put the bees in Thursday and on Sunday, Mark and Roger were coming back to do a bit more bird banding. Friday was rainy and cold, lots of birds were coming to the suet including a few pine warblers, the one above (this bird showed up about the same date last year). Even a black and white warbler showed up--Sunday's banding potential seemed immense.

Saturday, the weather was chilly, but the sun was out and I could hear new bird song. One thing I do love about spring is waking up, hearing a bird song and realizing that I had not heard that song the day before. These birds had just arrived overnight. Over a morning cup of coffee saw the first rose-breasted grosbeaks in Mr. Neil's yard.

Not long after that, a pair of orioles showed up and stayed around the feeders all day. Even though it was a male and female, they did not tolerate being on the oriole feeder at the same time--they fought over it quite a bit. I put out both an orange and grape jelly, they totally ignored the orange and went straight for the jelly. The brush pile was chock full of sparrows, they looked like mostly white-throated sparrows. Pine warbler, rose-breasted grosbeaks, white-throated sparrow, orioles--this banding session was going to be colorfully unbelievable!

Not so much, as evidenced with Ms. Brown-headed Cowbird. Actually, I shouldn't say that--it was awesome as always--it was banding and I always learn something, we just didn't get the birds that thought we would.

We did get in both red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches. I love in the above photo that the red-breasted puffed up a tad when confronted with a larger white-breasted. The red-breasted did have a brood-patch and I have been seeing a pair sticking around. Between that and some excited yanking calls, I have a suspicion that the red-breasted are nesting nearby.

Here is the titmouse from the earlier contest. That was a treat for Mark and Roger, they don't get too many of those where they normally band birds, so something new pecking at your knuckles is always fun.

A surprise in the nets were a pair of mourning doves. We had been using the back entrance of the house, and while I was in there indulging in a cinnamon roll, I noticed to doves on the ground. I wondered if I went out the front door if they would flush towards the nets. Yep. It was a pair too and we were able to sex them by plumage. Above is the female.

And here is the male. Note that he has some blue on the top and back of his head--the female doesn't have that.

Another fun surprise was a pair of blue jays. We did get in a steady stream of birds Sunday morning, so I was not able to get all the info about the birds, I was busy helping to get them out of the nets. But my friend Amber got some great shots of them flying away.

We did get one warbler. This yellow-rump filled the quota for the day. It was interesting to note that while the nets were up, no pine warblers or Baltimore orioles showed up. Grosbeaks serenaded us from the tops of the trees and when they did fly into the feeders, they had a knack of flying in a line just above the nets--clever birds.

Out of the 40 odd white-throated sparrows in the brush pile, we only got one in the net. This bird is fine. Sometimes, when you finish banding a bird and open up your hands to let it go, they don't quite realize that they're free and just rest for a moment. All it usually takes is for the bander to twitch his fingers or for an observer to cough, sneeze, or move suddenly and the bird takes off like a shot.

We did get in quite a few chickadees. One was a retrap that Mark and Roger banded last fall. What was interesting was that they were unable to determine the sex of the bird last fall, but this time the bird had a brood patch (a bare patch of skin used to incubate eggs, in some species just the female has it--like chickadees, and in other species both males and females have it--like nuthatches). So, since the chickadee had the brood patch, she was female. The chickadees have taken over a bluebird box in the front yard. I'll have to watch and see if one of them is banded.

At about noon and over thirty banded birds later, the guys took the nets down. And what species was one of the first to show up to the feeders? The pine warbler, of course. The orioles never did show up again all day. Roger suspects that they were just passing through and that the previous nights winds pushed them north. Ah well, more will be coming soon.

I spent the rest of the afternoon practicing my digiscoping for the World Series of Birding this coming weekend (boy, I was just going over the rules for that--that's a blog entry). Amidst all the white-throated sparrows and chipping sparrows in the brush pile, I was surprised to find a field sparrow! Wonder where this bird came from? I don't normally find these guys around the yard, I hope it stays, I love that call.

Migration Floodgates Opened At Carpenter Nature Center

We had so many birds fly into the nets today (like the Nashville warbler above) at Carpenter Nature Center that I did not have a chance to document them all. I really felt more like a helper today as opposed to someone under foot. It was awesome, I was getting birds out nets--even uber challenging ones, I was using my Pyle book and my Pyle dichotomous key and even understanding it to age and sex birds--it was just sweet. Hey, Peter Pyle, have I thanked you lately for making the words "truncate" and "abraded" part of my daily vocabulary? Perhaps next time I get my hair done I will tell my stylist Rachel, "I would like the bangs fresh and truncate and the back to be tapered and relatively abraded with pale to buffy edging."

You can see his little rusty feathers on his crown. Migration was in full swing, as I was taking birds out of the nets I could hear red-eyed vireos singing and Jim Fitzpatrick, our instructor could hear a towhee.

And eventually it was trapped and banded. Jim said that he thinks this eastern towhee may be a first time banded bird for CNC--he got to do the honors of banding this bird. It was an exciting bird to see up close. This particular male's eyes were not bright red, but more of a rust.

Check out how the eyes on this male perfectly matches the rufus on his flanks. Very cool bird. Just as we stepped out to let the towhee go, he made a few odd squealing sounds and from the nearby woods we heard an uncertain, "Towhee?" Jim and I looked at each other--there was another towhee was in the woods. We let him go and he flew in the direction of the towhee call. What a bonus bird.

A surprise today were two clay-colored sparrows. My fellow classmate Sue heard them out on the prairie but we didn't expect them in the nets. Two came in at the same time in the same net, I wonder if this was related to mating? Two males chasing each other or a male in pursuit of a female?

I thought this was going to be my big challenge bird today--a female ruby-crowned kinglet. She was so tiny, it was like trying to get a dust bunny out of the nets. I took a deep breath, grabbed a toothpick to help remove the net tangled around the wings and got it out. Woof. I got her in the bag and eventually got to band her. She was so light, I decided to take her outside to band her. I wasn't used to banding such a tiny bird and chances were could that she could slip from my fingers in process. I thought it would be better to just have her fly away totally than get loose in the building and hit a window. All went well, I got the tiny band on her, measured her wings, and away she went.

But, she was not the most challenging bird of the day for me. It was this male rose-breasted grosbeak (he still has some of his brown juvenile plumage from last year--that made aging him a little easier). At one point we had several birds waiting to be processed but we hadn't checked the nets. I asked Jim what would be helpful, helping to band or doing a round to check the nets. He told me to check the nets and if there were several in one net to give a shout and someone would come out to help. I checked one net and there were four birds--including the grosbeak. We had been warned that grosbeaks and cardinals would bite the crap out of our fingers. I thought about saving the grosbeak for Jim and concentrating on the chipping sparrows, but I realized that I would have to learn on one of these sooner or later, might was well be now.

At first, I tried to hold him so that he couldn't reach my fingers as I tried to get him out of the net, but that just wasn't getting him free, so I changed my grip and she started to bite my hand. When he would get the entire tip of my finger in the grasp of that fat beak--it wasn't too bad, almost like being bitten by a sharp-shinned hawk. However, when he would use his beak to pinch and grab a tiny piece of skin...ZOWIE, that hurt. He also completely scraped off the nail polish on my index finger. But, I didn't have it so bad.

Fellow classmate Kelly worked to get a downy woodpecker out of the nets and he went after her fingers like Homer Simpson in a donut factory. Boy, that woodpecker seemed to know where to strike, right on the cuticle and along a knuckle. Downy woodpecker blood lust, who knew?

Kelly took her banding wounds in stride.

I ended my morning by banding a male brown headed cowbird. When he was in the net, he was incredibly docile, but as soon as I had him in the bag he freaked and was fluttering like crazy. Since cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds contributing to the decline of many species of birds including thrushes and warblers, it was tempting to do some experimental neutering on this male, I could not. The CNC permits only allow us to place a band on the birds and measure them, so I had to let him go.

The male cowbird really is kind of a striking bird up close. They filled an important niche when the bison roamed the prairie by following the large herds and eating the insects kicked up by the large animals. The traveler lifestyle isn't conducive to raising chicks, so they evolved over time to lay eggs in nests of other species of birds and those parents would raise their young. There aren't any herds to follow anymore, so the cowbirds follow the sedentary humans. One female cowbird depositing 60 eggs while following a herd of bison for miles and miles is one thing. One female cowbird depositing 60 eggs in a neighborhood can cause problems.

I have to admit that after spending the winter banding mostly juncos, I wondered how I would handle doing several species in one day, but I think I'm going to be fine. Can't wait to see what the rest of May brings and who knows, maybe by the end of summer I'll be ready for those difficult flycatchers.

Turning A Corner With Banding

Wednesday was a glorious 70 degree day and just a fun morning of banding--I'm finally getting my footing with getting birds out of the net. We got in quite a few white-throated sparrows like the bird above.

KARE 11 came back to film a few more shots for the bird segment they are working on. Jim Fitzpatrick is getting interviewed above. And once again, as I was trying to get a bird out of the net I heard, "Hey, hold still, we're coming over to film that!" Happily, there was no panic attack like last week. I ended up doing it twice and I really feel like a turned a corner in my learning process. I have to admit that after last week, I was questioning whether or not I should keep going--but thanks to some extra practice last Sunday and the patience and teaching of some of the other banders at Carpenter I feel like I'm back on track with little birds. The only thing I worry about is that I don't dress for tv when I'm banding at Carpenter, I tend to dress for comfort--ah well.

The most interesting bird that we got on Wednesday was the last bird in the traps--a junco (quite possibly the last junco I will band this spring). When I was taking it out of the bag, I could see that it had a pink rump. Closer inspection revealed that they were not pink feathers:

The bird was missing a large patch of feathers on its rump. It must have happened a couple of weeks ago, pin feathers are already growing above the tail. You could also see that in the middle of the pink skin was a healed over puncture wound. Something had attacked this junco and it survived! And it was still strong enough to migrate! At this point, the juncos we are getting at Carpenter are ones that spent the winter further south like in Missouri or Texas. Somewhere along the way, something tried to eat it. We made a note about the wound and it will be interesting to see if the junco is retrapped and how long it survives.

Here's a photo pointing out the growing feathers and the scabbed over wound. You can also see the uropygial gland also called the preen gland. They squeeze this gland and oil comes out that is used when preening. I wonder if this wound is from a shrike? Shrikes kill with their beaks? It could also have been a sharp-shinned talon too. I don't think it's from a cat, small animals usually don't survive that. Cats have a bacteria called Pasteurella that will infect the bite or claw wound and kill the small animal within a few days.

So many things learned at banding.

Trapped Squirrel

Sometimes squirrels get trapped in the Potter Traps for songbirds at Carpenter. We have to get them out, so I usually use a stick to open the door to avoid being inadvertently clawed. Today's squirrel was a little slow on the uptake:

Hairy Day Of Banding At Mr. Neil's

We tried to band and track some of the birds in Mr. Neil's yard on Sunday. Professional banders Mark Newstrom and Roger Everhart came out and set up some nets--just like they did last fall. Above is the first bird we banded--an eastern phoebe.

On the left is Roger and on the right is Mark. We were expecting a 70 degree day, but the morning started with fog and 37 degrees. Fabulous Lorraine, who is Mr. Neil's assistant was taking good care of us by keeping a steady flow of coffee our way--to keep us alert and warm.

What surprised me were the number of hairy woodpeckers we got in the nets on Sunday. Mr. Neil has a huge population of woodpeckers on his property--partly because he doesn't cut down and haul away every dead and dying tree. Some have to be removed for safety, but even when trees come down, some are left as huge fun brush piles. But, we had so many hairy woodpeckers come in, I lost count--I think we got in five. Above is the head of a female hairy woodpecker.



One of the things that the guys check for are brood patches. Above, Roger is blowing on the feathers of the female hairy, exposing a large patch of bare skin--females (and males of some species) get these to keep eggs warm during incubation and keep chicks warm on cold days. Speaking of which, Roger and Mark noted on this female that the skin was wrinkly. That tells them that she already has chicks at the nest! When the brood patch first forms--the skin swells for incubation. After incubation, the swelling goes away and the skin has wrinkles.

Here is one of the male hairy woodpeckers that came into the net (note that the sun did eventually come out). Are you noting the length of that hairy bill--that is one of the ways you can tell them from a downy woodpecker--hairys have longer bills. Speaking of length...

in the spring, you look for things like cloacal protuberances (aka bird boner). I know length isn't supposed to matter, but for a bird, this is impressive. When the hormones kick in, the cp swells and remains that way for a few weeks. Imagine having to fly around with that swollen for a few weeks. It must be hard to concentrate.

Here is the stiff tail of a hairy, you can see that the tips are stained from being used to prop the woodpecker up against the sides of trees.

Owie! We did get in a couple of female red-bellied woodpeckers. I was glad because this is Lorraine's favorite species.

Red-bellies have really cool tongues. Note above the hardened tip that is covered in sharp bristles that are used to spear and grab on to larvae inside dead trees. These birds can be a challenge in the net because their tongue bristles can get caught on the nets. You always have to be careful when taking birds out of the nets, but it gets really tricky with this species. One of the many reasons you need have permits and be well trained to band birds.

Speaking of training, Mark and Roger were very gracious and let me help so I could learn. Early on, I would start to get a bird out and then give it to them. Both showed me their techniques of getting birds out of the nets and towards the end of the morning, I was getting birds out (without shaking). They even let me practice my banding on a robin. I've been doing so many juncos, I needed the practice with a larger bird. Oh! I should mention that this female was VERY vocal. As we were taking a photo before she left, she was squawking and out of nowhere two male robins flew in and one almost hit me in the face! We let her go--my goodness, the dangers of banding.

Roger was excited to get to band a new bird species. Tufted titmice are not found in the area where he and Mark usually band birds. I had hoped last fall that they would get one, but did not. We did on Sunday and it's the same bird in the video posted earlier. I swear, this species head is 80% eyeball.

I was noting on Thursday that I was still seeing tree sparrows and no chipping sparrows yet. Well, that changed on Sunday, we got in quite a few chipping sparrows. It will be interesting to watch and see if the chipping sparrows keep heading north or will be the birds that nest here in summer.

We got in some white-breasted nuthatches, but no red-breasted. We saw at least three red-breasted nuthatches in the net, but each one managed to work their way through--perhaps because they are so tiny, which is odd because we got some last fall. I wonder if they were a tad fatter then?

My friends Amber and Reier came along and during a lull, Reier found a raccoon sleeping in a very large hole of a dead tree. He had hoped to find an owl but found the raccoon instead.

I think we banded close to 30 birds on Sunday morning--check out poor Roger's knuckles in the above photo--that's what comes from banding woodpeckers all morning. One of them actually drew blood! Although, he's holding a phoebe in the above photo--it almost looks like that bird did it.

Look at that sweet phoebe face, they wouldn't hurt anybody...well, except flies (being a flycatcher and all).

Check out this shot that Amber got of the eastern phoebe being released--what a great shot! I love how the bird's head is turned, almost as if giving her the perfect pose on purpose. It was a great day of banding and the guys will be back in a couple of weeks to try and get some warblers. Should be fun!

Spring Birds At Carpenter Nature Center

It was another action packed day at Carpenter Nature Center. Despite the big seasonal movement and warm temperatures, we didn't get huge amounts of birds. Above, some of the guys in the glass are playing with a spectrograph--there's always something scientific going on. At first they were just looking through it, but then Paul (in the pink shirt) tried to take a photo with his digital camera. Can we party or what!

Local weatherman Sven Sundgaard stopped by to film a bird segment for KARE 11. Jim Fitzpatrick (the guy teaching my banding class) is demonstrating how we band birds. I had a minor panic attack today. While they were filming a segment, a chickadee flew into the nets. I need practice getting birds out of the net and chickadees are one of the hardest birds to take out. They grab on to the net with both feet and do not let go. While you are trying to take the small ball of feathers out from entanglement, they peck at your fingernails--usually right where the nail meets the cuticle or between the nail and skin (if you're thinking "ow" you're thinking right).

I thought that I had it easy, since most everyone was over watching the filming, I could practice getting the chickadee out of the nets without everyone staring and making me nervous. After a few moments, fellow classmates Paul and Sue came to help--and I needed it. The wind kept blowing in and out of my face and Sue get reminding me to take deep cleansing breaths to stay calm. I almost had the chickadee out (and cuticles intact) when I hear a shout behind me. "Hey, Sharon, hold on, we want to film you getting the chickadee out of the net."

"Nooooooooo!" was my panicked response. Even though the bird was already mostly out, I could see that the net was twisted and I needed calm to get it out. However, the crew and group was around me before I knew it. Sue continued like a faithful Lamaze instructor, "deep cleansing breaths" but it was to no avail--my hands were shaking and no amount of being told, "Just calm down was going to help." The camera was on my fingers and even though I do tv segments all the time, that's me talking and doing things I'm 110% confident in. I'm still learning about banding and was just not ready for that audience. Sure enough, the bird fluttered and ended up tangled in the net again and I had Jim take over. Too much pressure. I know I'll get the hang of it like I got the grip down, but it's just going to take lots of practice.

But on to some of the other birds. We got in our first robin of the year. Someone else actually banded this bird, but I wanted to hold it for just a second. I have been handling tiny juncos all winter and I wanted to see what a big beefy bird like a robin would be like in my tiny hands--just fine. Whew.

We still have some juncos around. These are not the ones we've had all winter, those guys have already gone north. This one probably wintered in Missouri, Texas, or perhaps Illinois. One of the juncos I had was was missing a talon...or is it claw on a songbird...whatever it's called, the bird was missing a toenail. It looked like an old wound that was well healed over and the bird had adapted to it very well.

We did get in one fox sparrow--wow, this has just been fox sparrow week for me. They're at Staring Lake, they're at Mr. Neil's, they're pretty much all over the Twin Cities. Talk about a beefy sparrow--these guys are robust! And if you're wondering what the big deal is about this brown bird, check this out:

Look at those gorgeous rufus colors on the wings, rump, and tail. That's not just any brown, that's a special brown. Really, it is. Just soak in that reddish brown for a few minutes.

Like Sue says, "Deep cleansing breaths" breathe in the fox sparrow, breath out. Breathe it in, deep cleansing fox sparrow.

Non brown birds will be coming to the blog soon. I swear.

Junco Processing

I just got a call from my buddy Clay asking if I would be interested in being on the Swarovski Digiscoping Team at The World Series of Birding. Insert giant coffee spray through my nose here. Whoot! I am so excited, I've wanted to be on a World Series of Birding team since I was a kid. This means I'll see some kickin' birds, eat at Al's Pancake House, hang with WildBird on the Fly, and fulfill a childhood dream. May is going to be SO much fun! And after the heartbreak of dealing with taxes this week, I really need this.

Today was another day of banding chock full 'o juncos and not white-throated sparrows. I tell ya' right now, I'm feeling some confidence with a handful of junco, but in a few short weeks, all that comfort of aging and sexing will change to overwhelming and panic. Instead of a mono species day, it will be warblers, finches, flycatchers, chickadees, nuthatches, catbirds, and sparrows--just to name a few. Pile on top of that a whole new confusing criteria for aging and sexing. Yikes. But, while we have juncos, I thought I'd point out some of the things we look for when they are in hand. Above, we have a garden variety junco perched on top of a snag. It looks well put together, clean feathers in place.

But check out the tail of a junco I banded today. This is what Pyle might call "relatively abraded" when asked about the feathers on the tail. Think about watching juncos feed--they're on the ground, kicking stuff about looking for food--the tail is bound to experience some wear and tear. Depending on whether or not a junco has some fresh outer tail feathers or unmolted ones, we can get an idea of age (combined with other plumage differences).

We also use eye color as a means of aging. Younger dark-eyed juncos have gray eyes that get browner and eventually more red. This dude was fairly brown.

Now, here's something you don't want to hear from the person next to you when you have a bird in your hand, "Hey, is that avian pox on that bird's toe?" This bird had white dots on a toe on each foot. We weren't sure if it was avian pox or just some discoloration to this individual bird (any readers out there have any idea). We're not a rehab facility and the bird looked otherwise healthy so we released it after it was banded. Even though I can't really get avian pox and we weren't sure if it was pox, I didn't want to risk infecting other birds or bringing it home to my cockatiel, so I scrubbed my hands after I let it go.

Juncos With White Wing Bars

It was another big junco day at Carpenter Nature Center on Friday morning--we banded 56! I think I'm finally getting to a certain comfort level handling small birds. Of course, I have all sorts of stuff memorized about dark-eyed juncos--wing measurements to tell sex, eye color to determine age...soon it will be a whole new ball game with several new species.

While we were banding birds, a couple of people from The Raptor Center stopped by with an adult bald eagle to release--with a news crew in tow! Above, Al Rasmussen (on the left) is about to be handed a bald eagle he found injured on his property. The eagle was suffering from lead poisoning and had made a full recovery at TRC.

Here's Al releasing the bird. You can see the Fox 9 news crew behind him--I felt bad for the camera man. He had positioned himself about where I was so the sun would be behind us for a well lit shot. However, the on air talent that was with him insisted that he move to the other side...aiming the camera towards the sun. If you go to the Fox 9 website, you can see the video...and that the on air talent apparently didn't know where he was. He wrote that the eagle was release at the Eagle Center in Hastings. The Eagle Center is in Wabasha, the eagle was released at Carpenter. Oh, Fox 9, will you ever learn?

After the release, we went back to banding. I took a junco out of the net and noticed something funky right away with the wings. Funky is a color description in the Pyle book (the bird bander's bible), but looking at the bird, you could see that this junco had white wing bars. I grabbed a National Geographic Field Guide and found that there is a subspecies called the white-winged junco which has two wing bars and is a tad larger than a dark-eyed junco. The white-winged should have a #4 retrice (tail feather) that is white or almost white. This bird had an almost all white #4. It was on the large side and I thought I nailed it and felt proud of myself for using the Pyle book without beating my head against the wall.

Alas, this bird is very dark (and true white-wings are very light) and records for white-wings in Minnesota are few and far between. This bird may actually be a dark-eyed junco with white wing bars, but not a white-winged junco. Confused yet? It gets worse. Juncos used to be divided into five separate species (one being the white-winged) and are now lumped into one species (the dark-eyed junco) so it doesn't really matter--white-winged junco or just a junco with white wing bars--this is still a dark-eyed junco. But why do we need a subspecies of dark-eyed junco that has white wing bars called white-winged junco and yet also have just dark-eyed juncos with white wing bars that are not white-winged juncos? Oh crap, did I just make the universe implode again? The bird is under review and I'm going to go have a drink now. Ah well, this is what training is all about, right?

We heard purple finches singing around Carpenter and even watched a female flitting in the trees. Another woman who is in the banding class with me is named Erin and she caused one of my best belly laughs on Friday. She walked over to one of the ground traps and shouted, "Oh, hey, it's a house finch!" She stuck her hand inside the trap and then we heard, "Oooooooooooooooooooch!" The rest of us looked at each other and said, "Purple finch!" Even though house finches and purple finches look similar, there's much more bite in the large bill of the purple finch. Look at that above photo, he's ready to bite someone there.

Look at that raspberry coloration on the head--just drink that in for a moment--I kind of need that myself after the headache inducing junco. Breathe in the purple finch, breathe out the purple finch. In. Out. In. Out.

After we closed down the traps and nets at Carpenter, I nipped over to the Prescott railroad bridge to see some peregrine falcons. And I got a great shot of a peregrine butt (or should I say vent). The male and female both made a few passes at pigeons, so that was fun. I do have a question for the pigeons--seriously, you guys think that roosting and nesting as the same bridge as a peregrine falcon is a good idea? Really?

I also stopped at Point Douglas to check out the waterfowl. Above is a male redhead displaying to a female. Ah, duck love, beautiful and humorous all at once. I met a fellow birder who I know mostly through email. He was out on his lunch break watching the scaup. In Minnesota, we tend to get lesser scaup, but greater scaup are possible. However, telling them apart can be a bear.

I tried to see if I could pick out some greater scaup and thought I had, but my better duck photos are all of lesser scaup. But ducks are a good sign, that means the water is opening up and spring is really coming. It's so fun living here: Monday we get eight inches of snow, Friday it's sunny and 60 degrees.

Bluebird Splosion At Carpenter

Oh, we are getting into dangerous territory. The last few days have been sincerely spring-like in Minnesota: forty degree temps, sun, melted snow and lots of returning birds like the killdeer in the above. What typically happens here is that we will have a few days of this and out of the blue will come either a fourteen degree day or eight inches of snow which leads to extreme crankiness among the citizens.

I headed out to Carpenter Nature Center on Friday for a little extra banding practice. I'm finally starting to feel a bit more comfortable handling small birds. I reported on Wednesday that we saw a song sparrow around the traps but didn't get one in, well on Friday we got two in the traps (that's one in the above photo). Check out that massive central breast spot. I've been so used to juncos and chickadees, that this bird felt quite beefy and robust in my hand. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when it's my turn to do a larger bird like a blue jay or hairy woodpecker. I have small hands and am now used to tiny birds. I've done large birds like sharp-shinned hawks before, but you can't hold a blue jay the same way you hold a raptor. Oh well, that's what training is all about.

Since it was so nice and sunny, many of use walked outside. We could hear distant sandhill cranes overhead, a couple of meadowlarks and lots of eastern bluebirds (above). I followed a pair around the small prairie trying to get photos. The male was excited to show the female any nest cavity he could find. He showed her a bluebird house and then guided her over to an old snag with a few woodpecker holes. He perched atop the snag, excitedly singing as she tried to fit through the hole...alas, she was too large to slip inside--talk a dating disaster: "Honey, I've found a great place to raise a couple of kids! Oh wait, you're too big to fit inside? Awkward!"

I'm sure any man who has purchased the wrong sized clothing for their lady friend can relate.

The bluebirds were singing like crazy trying to decide on territory boundaries. A fight between at least three pairs broke out at one point and then a fourth female flew in for a total of seven bluebirds. They have such a pretty and subtle song, that it's hard to take it seriously when they fight.

I've been anxious to try out my Remembird on some bird songs. I got it in January and have loved it for its audio note taking ability but it also has a microphone for picking out bird songs. Even though the bluebird was some distance away, I was able to pick up his song with the Remembird You can hear it below. It's not professional but wow, did it do the trick. It's not loud, but to be able to record an unknown bird song that I can take home and compare with my iPod--this is fantastic. I can tell, that I'm going to be lovin' my Remembird during warbler season, this is a really cool tool for note taking in the field.

Wednesday

I just had a weird, weird Wednesday. First I read a headline on CNN about a high school teacher in trouble for using a banned book in her classroom. Curious about what backwards school system that was, I clicked on the link and discovered it was my old high school: Perry Meridian High School. And that the teacher in trouble was my old Speech and Drama teacher. You can read about it here. I remember that when I was in school I wore a shirt that read, "Celebrate Freedom: Read A Banned Book" and listed a bunch of classics that had been banned. How did I not get suspended? Well, they did let one student wear a "Hitler World Tour" shirt so the clothing policy was lax.

It was another junco bonanza at banding class at Carpenter Nature Center. This time we could hear them singing all over. Most of the juncos were new birds, not too many retraps. I wonder if the birds that we got on Wednesday morning are from further south: Indiana? Texas? They're heading north towards their breeding grounds.

Here's a junco being let go--this new camera can get some really fun shots. We did see one song sparrow hopping around some of the ground traps and we were trying to use our mind control to get it to hop into the trap. It's funny, we'll get them in the summer, but it's been a few months so a different species is exciting. I'm sure by September we'll be dreaming of juncos again.

When I finished, I drove over to the Prescott Railroad Bridge to see if any peregrines were about and sure enough, one unbanded bird was in the sun. Right after I snapped this photo, it hopped off the rail and disappeared so I wasn't able to digiscope it. I looked around and noted a spotting scope attached to a car. I walked over and found that is was Bud Tordoff. He said the unbanded bird was a male and he was watching for the female who is banded to try and read her numbers. Always a great day to run into that Peregrine Guru.

Raptors were really on the move yesterday. On my way home, I passed several bald eagles chasing each other and even saw a talon grab. Red-tails were chasing each other, I saw two more peregrines doing a fly over and though they're not raptors I did see some turkey vultures catching a few thermals. Spring is definitely on the upswing.

Banding In March

Well, one of the things about March is that it's a transition month and when it comes to banding it's feast or famine. This red squirrel in a Potter's trap. Don't worry, we didn't band it. It was set free.

We did get in a few birds like this junco, but that's nothing compared to Minnesota BirdNerd (aka my buddy Roger who often shows up at Birds and Beers with has banding partner Mark) who was having a slow bird banding day until a pileated woodpecker flew into the nets. Check out his blog entry here for some photos of the event. Also, check out his face in this photo--he totally looks like he's a breath away from some choice four letter words--I'm sure a pileated pecking your hand is up there with getting footed by broad-winged hawk.

Pouring More Salt

As if missing the northern shrike banding weren't bad enough, my buddy Larry Sirvio has sent more photos of what I missed at Carpenter's banding this morning!

Hm. I don't think that turkey is going to fit into that Potter Trap...and the next photo I think deserves a caption contest:

Here is a first year sharp-shinned sitting on top of a Potter Trap with a freshly trapped junco. I bet a junco has never been so happy to be trapped in its life. Got any caption ideas? The one who makes me chuckle out loud wins their choice of a Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America or a Lang Elliot's Music of the Birds: A Celebration of Bird Song (with CD)--prizses courtesy of Houghton Mifflin.

Final Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival Post

Really, it is. I swear. At least for this year.

Banding was slow today at Carpenter Nature Center and I spent the morning talking to the Development Director while she repaired nets. Fortunately, I had a chance to observe some banding while at the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival. Once again, a Sunday morning trip was scheduled to watch bander Mark Conway (that's Mark in the above photo banding a kiskadee) and his assistants band birds at Los Ebanos Preserve.

Here's a closer shot of the kiskadee Mark was banding. Something interesting that I learned was that all kiskadees have a yellow gape.

I took a photo of one earlier in the festival and I had never noticed that before and thought it was a young bird, but all kiskadees of all ages have that yellow outline at the corners of their mouths.

The first bird of the morning wast a gray phase eastern screech owl. The banders weren't targeting owls, but they had the nets up at not long after dawn and this bird was just flying through and flew into the net.

Here is a long-billed thrasher which I hear way more than see in when birding in South Texas. That bill is not deformed, that's the way they are.