Birdchick's Eagle Route

Ian was reading some directions I sent to he and Margery to see eagles towards Red Wing after my segment. Here are the directions he was reading:

This is a route that I use for going to Red Wing to enjoy the eagles.

A Great Route For Eagles

Take Hwy 55 south to where it meets with Hwy 52, keep following it and when it splits, keep following Hwy 55. As you are driving along on this point, you should have seen some red-tailed hawks. When you get near the Shaar's Bluff turnoff for Hwy 42 watch the top of the poles, we have an unusual falcon hanging out here called a gyrfalcon. It's huge and gray and white. If it's there, you won't miss it.

Take Hwy 55 to Hwy 61. Turn left on 61 and then you will take a right at the next light--I believe it's called E 10th Street. Watch for red-tailed hawks and since it's March, you might see some turkey vultures. You can tell them from eagles by their wings. They will hold their wings in a prominent "V" shape and rock back and forth like a kid on a bike for the first time. After a few miles, you should pass a patch of iced up water that is staring to melt. If it's open, you should find Canada geese, wood ducks, mallards, common mergansers, hooded mergansers, goldeneye, and ring-necked ducks, killdeer and great blue herons.

You will notice some marshy areas and cottonwoods as you continue on, watch for large dark lumps in the trees--you should see some eagles. The road will eventually end, turn left (I think the road you turn onto is 200th Street or County 18) and you will turn left and go over a bridge. You can pull off onto the parking and boat launch areas. Often times, you will find eagles hanging out fairly close to the parking area. Also, there are quite a few wood duck boxes, so in the water you should see some wood ducks and hooded mergansers.

Get back onto the road and keep going, follow the signs to Treasure Island. You will come to a three way stop with an abandon gas station on the left (it's the road to the casino). Pull into the parking lot and admire the bald eagle nest across the way. That's certainly one of the largest I have seen and could be one of the largest in the state. I'm not sure how much longer that tree can hold the nest. In the water around the nest, you may find common mergansers, Canada geese, mallards and maybe four trumpeter swans.

After watching the nest, get back onto County 18 Blvd and continue heading south, as you go, you should get another view of the nest on the driver's side of the car. Watch open water and trees on both sides of the road, if the pair of eagles that uses the nest isn't on it, they are probably on the surrounding trees.

The road will go up into the hills and then end up at Hwy 61. Turn left onto 61 and take it all the way into Red Wing. I usually like to stop into the mall in town and grab some hot chocolate or coffee while there to take to Colville Park. Take 61 past the curve, you should see the power plant on your left and should see large dark birds circling on the bluffs on either side of the road--those are ealges.

Watch and follow signs that say City Park, and turn right. You will turn right again, it will almost be a u-turn that will back track and then take to down to the marina. Park in the marina and watch for eagles in the trees, all around the parking lot.

If you want, after you are finished, you can keep heading south to Wabasha to visit the National Eagle Center. Any areas of open water will have eagles, often right on the hwy. Try to do this before the end of March for the best numbers.

Bird Feedery

Yesterday, I was walking through this gorgeous scene (at left) in Wisconsin. Today, I'm in the Twin Cities and the miniscule amount of snow that fell here has melted. Everything looks very dirty.

Birds are on the move in the metro area. Today while at the KARE 11 Studios you could hear Canada geese honking all over the golf course across the street. I'm getting excited for Nebraska and for the Rivers and Wildlife Festival--I can't believe I'm leaving again next week! If you are a person like me who is fascinated by mass movements of birds, Nebraska really is a good time. I know that no one has ever really put the last six words in previous sentence together in that order before, but you've got to believe me that Nebraska truly is a good time. For someone who has to wait for spring for another month or so, the idea of being able to hear western meadowlarks and prairie chickens while watching cranes dance in the distance is really all I have for the nest month or two.

The best part is that the Eagle Optics booth will be at Rowe Sanctuary so I will be able to enjoy the birds while I work. They have a great feeder set up and you have a view of the river with all the large windows.

I have adjusted my feeder set up yet again (here is the last configuration) because of the pigeons. Blasted birds. In the photo below we have a Droll Yankee X-1 Seed Saver holding a Mr. Bird Pecan Seed Log (ask your local bird store if they carry Mr. Bird products. This sunflower, pecans and a tiny bit of millet held together with some type of gelatin). I liked the idea of the log because I don't think piegeons will be able to peck at the food as well as a downy woodpecker, chickadee or cardinal. Also, Non Birding Bill won't have to replenish this as much as he would with loose seed, since he's in charge of the feeders when I travel (I'll make sure not to have any gourmet mole in the home). I was inspired to put the Droll Yankee feeder together based on a similar set up I saw with an Aspects feeder at a Wild Birds Unlimited in Hudson, WI.

The other, smaller feeder is a Clinger's Only Feeder. I can't believe I actually bought the little plastic, green Clinger's Only Feeders. When I ran the All Seasons store in Wayzata, one of my employees had a Clinger's Only and kept telling me I need to carry it. I'm usually a snob about plastic feeders since they can be so easily chewed and we carried so many other feeders, I never took her suggestion as seriously as I should have. A clinging type feeder is meant for only clinging-type birds like chickadees, nuthatches, finches and sparrows. Of course, now that I'm not at that store, I can see Lori got through to the new manager and she's carrying it. Which is lucky for me, because I bought it. Having a massive pigeon problem, this feeder should not accomodate pigeons and allow one spot for the smaller birds to feed. It's far enough out on the bracket that I'm hopeful the squirrels won't jump to it. We'll see how it goes.

The changing of feeders is enough to freak all the birds out so no pigeons have been on them the last few days. A male cardinal arrived first thing yesterday morning. He perched in his normal spot, looked at the two new feeders, chipped a few times and then flew away. Cardinals really don't deal well with change. He made another attempt this morning and went for the X-1 Seed Saver. I haven't put up the Squirrel Twirl with the feeders yet. I want to see what tactics the squirrels and pigeons take before I put that one out again. It needed a rest anyway, the pigeons were wearing out the battery.

As I was repositioning feeders, I left one of my containers of bird seed on the floor and Cinnamon the oh-so-clever rabbit has discovered how to open the container and eat the food on the inside (That's her starting the process at left, by first opening the spigot and will eventually work her way to the larger opening). I don't know whether to exclaim how clever she is or resort to calling her a bunny butthead. I think she's acting out again. Excited as she is to go to with me to Nebraska next week, she just learned that Non Birding Bill and I are heading to Ohio soon and will more than likely have an opportunity to meet Chet Baker. Since this is a plane trip, she will have to stay home and guard the apartment. There is some major disapproval as she sees Chet as a sort of rival. I keep telling her that it's all in her head, Chet is by no means copying her success of Disapproving Rabbits and she should embrace him as a chum, or better yet, a peer. However, she disagrees with his opinions on digging and chasing small furry creatures. Ah well, perhaps some us do better with an imagined rival to help us strive to be better and more creative...then again, I may just be reading too much into my rabbit.

I need to get to bed, I have my 5:45am bird update with the Punnetts tomorrow.

Suet vs Mole

Today is one of my favorite type of winter days: perfect snow falling and sticking to the trees. The temperature was hovering around freezing so it was warm enough to be outside, as a matter of fact it was quite comfortable. The snow is enough to bring all the birds to the feeders so, I was torn. I wanted to go walking around outside, but I was also attracted to the idea of sitting with a warm cup of tea watching the feeder activity.

The birds at Mr. Neil's feeders were on a steady diet of black oilers and I brought over some of the good stuff: Sweet Tweets, a mix of sunflowers in and out of the shell, mixed nuts, pumpkin seeds and dried fruit as well as some Thistle and Chips (or Nyjer and Chips for purists) and goldfinches and juncoes went a little nuts. Speaking on Mr. Neil's feeders, some may recall back in January that Non Birding Bill had some suet feeder issues. None of us were sure how he could confuse suet with mole (make that very expensive mole from island of St. Lucia). Here is a photo, can you tell which is the suet and which is the mole?

The shorter darker substance on the left is the mole, the longer lighter tube is the suet plug. Now, when I picked up the mole I could tell right away by texture that it was not suet. I also noticed the chocolatey smell. NBB said that he doesn't sniff suet the way I do-- like a fine wine I'm about to gulp--hmp. I also noticed, the very hard consistency and asked, "How the heck did you get that into the log?" I always pop the suet plugs into the microwave for 10 to 20 seconds to soften them up a bit. All NBB would say was, "It wasn't easy." He wished he had microwaved it since then he would have smelled that it was chocolate. In fairness, they were both in the same drawer in the fridge and when you look in at them, they do sort of resemble each other.

So, for the record, here is mole:

And here is the suet:

And then here is the beautiful snow scene that I ended up tromping through:

The Joys of Being Married to Non Birding Bill

I changed my feeder set up again, because the pigeons were constantly activating my motorized baffle, waking me up in the morning. They figured out it takes a couple of seconds to configure weight before it spins and are able to get a few beak fulls of seed before being thrown off. So I tried a few new feeders that I will blog about later, but Non Birding Bill just called from the bedroom, "Hey, when did you install the new hook?" Thinking he meant the feeders, I said, "I put the feeders up yesterday afternoon."

He said, "But when did you get that hook?" I told him that I installed that a few weeks ago, and even did a blog entry about it. Not only that, while I have been travelling the last three weeks he has been filling the feeders and should have noticed. He looked at me like I was nuts.

In other wacky news, I learned that a photo of my search team for the ivory-bill is up at Cornell Lab of Ornithology's site. NBB said I looked like Sigmund the Sea Monster.

When Bad Decisions Happen to Good Books

Non Birding Bill and I have always enjoyed exploring book stores, whether they be new or old. I'm forever looking to increase my bird power with whatever bird book I can find. I love new books with breakthrough information and I love old books to see how our philosophy of birds has changed over the years. Ninety years ago, one author thought the best way to deal with a Cooper's hawk was lead and told the world to be grateful peregrines were rare because they ate so many ducks. I don't hold ill will towards the authors, they were working with limited information and research abilities.

The other day in a Border's I came across The World Atlas of Birds. The book's publication date read January 2006. However, a quick thumb through and a look at the illustrations and photos screamed 1960s. I was so stunned by the book, I tried to take a few stealthy photos for examples. Check out the photo at right. On the left is a very awkwardly posed great horned owl. I would imagine that the artist used a poorly put together taxidermy owl. Now, at first glance the bird on the right of the owl appears to look almost like a crow with a tiny beak. It's actually a purple martin. This got me to thinking, "If the photos and illustrations look out of date, what could the information be like?"

I paged through and read how rare and hard to find peregrine falcons are because of DDT, no mention of reintroduction and the success of the falcon being taken off the endangered species list. I checked California condor information and it implied where you can see them and no mention of the captive breeding program or tags that condors wear in the wild.

I have a suspicion that the publisher that owns this manuscript noticed how popular birding is today and that they could republish a book that came out forty years ago without making any changes. It kind of ticks me off, I feel insulted as a reader and feel bad for the authors involved with this book not having a chance to update their information.

So, unless you would like to have a book full of oddly illustrated birds, I would avoid purchasing the 2006 edition of this book. And really, if you do want a book full of oddly illustrated birds, you could probably find the original edition or many books similar at your local used book store.

Here are a few more examples:

A mourning dove? Don't we often see them teed up on a perch looking like a bird that is too lazy to hold its wing in properly. Publishers, I ask you, in this day and age is it really too expensive to get some photos. Look at all the pro birder photographers and digiscopers out there, you could have really jazzed this tome up.

Granted, snowy owls look a little different than other owls, but they don't look like they just downed a bottle of gin.

For Those Who Don't Have Time To Bird

One of my addictions this time of year are bird nest cams, here is a list of internet birding opportunities that I usually follow (even Non Birding Bill gets into these little dramas):

Xcel Energy Bald Eagle Cam (incubation is under way).
Xcel Energy Great Horned Owl Cam (incubation is under way).
Xcel Energy Peregrine Falcon Cam (flirting is under way, all four of these are in my home state of Minnesota).
The Barn Owl Cam (incubation is under way).

For those who might wonder what Nebraska is like in March, check out National Geographic's Sandhill Crane Live Cam. Pay attention to the best viewing hours and synch that up to your time zone. The best viewing times are right at dawn and right at dusk as the cranes use that area for a roost. I love listening to it, it gets me primed for my annual trip to the Platte River. I've gone every year for the last four or five years. I was hooked that very first morning in the crane blind.

You can find more nesting cams here for different species or species mentioned above but in your town. For example, you may enjoy watching peregrines, but might find it more fun to watch them in Indiana if that is where you lived as opposed to Minnesota where I live.

And if you are one of those people who say they would love to go birding like I do, but don't have the time, now there is no excuse, you can bird from your computer. Hm, if I were a lister I would probably start a birds viewed live from the internet list. I don't see how it is much different than viewing a bird through binoculars or a spotting scope--well, apart from the images being much clearer and sharper through a good pair of binoculars than through an internet camera.

Dead Animals In This Post

Couple of quick announcements:

1. The Stokes now have their own blog. I doubt that they will use it to document karaoke escapades on the road, but we will be treated to Lillian's photos. Having checked the archives, I find the photos don't disappoint and are exciting eye candy.

2. We have updated my appearances page through May, so if you are interested in looking at binoculars in person with me, meeting Cinnamon or even Non Birding Bill, that is the place to check. I just glanced at it and realized that a few events are missing for May like the Urban Bird Fest and the spring bird release for The Raptor Center, so more will be added in the next few days.

3. For those who have emailed informing me that I am in a video on WildBird On the Fly Blog, all I can say is that the video is inconclusive and not concrete proof. It's quite obvious that the excess white is an aberrant pileated woodpecker and not the birdchick.

Okay, "Dead Animals In This Post" is not my first choice for a title, but after reviewing the photos in this one, I could come up with nothing else. I have been playing catch up since I got back from Arkansas and decided that since I have been working non stop since February 16, I took today as a much needed day off for some serious birdwatching. Insert big soothing sigh of relief here.

After the Connecticut Eagle Festival I had a serious jones for bald eagles so I headed to Red Wing, MN to the Colville Park Marina to check them out. In the last week there have been anywhere from fifty to 200 bald eagles hanging around at the park. One birder has discovered that a pair of eagles is building a nest across the river from the marina--which reminds me how desperately bald eagles need to be taken off of the endangered species list. The numbers are up and the longer they are kept on the list, the easier it is for people to use it as an example of how the Endangered Species Act doesn't work, when it fact it works very well.

Hey, here's a question: Is someone trying to bait the eagles at Colville Park? I noticed one deer carcass on the ice and then a second one (with a crow feeding on it, pictured at right) that had been almost picked clean. I wonder what that is all about? Is someone at the Red Wing Chamber of Commerce trying to insure the winter tourism dollars by providing food for eagles? Or is it some well meaning local dropping off some road kill deer as a bonus for the birds (certainly is safer for the eagles to eat off of the carcass on the river instead of the side of a road)? Eagles hang out there anyway because of the nearby power plant that stuns or kills fish as they go through (note large, dead fish next to my foot for size comparison below). The plant keeps the water open for easy access to the stunned fish and also attracts waterfowl that chooses not to migrate--another food source.

Bating eagles has been done for years in Alaska, although now a ban is going into effect. I'm not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, I don't see putting out the occasional carcass would be much of a problem. On the other hand, if eagles come to rely on that as a sole source or too many eagles that an area can naturally support are attracted (becoming something similar to a feral cat), that could be a problem. I also think it depends on perspective. I love birds, so having two hundred eagles on my property would be cool. If I didn't care for eagles, having a bunch slicing (pooping) in my yard might make me a tad cranky--especially if it's because a little old lady next door is feeding them. For this city, the eagles are a huge tourist attraction, so I can see why they want to keep it going for a few more years.

Eagles weren't the only birds seen today (although certainly the most abundant species). I was very excited to find a flock of six male hooded mergansers swimming and displaying around a lone female. They were not in a good area to get a photo and I didn't want to get out of the car and disturb their ritual. This was about as exciting as seeing a new bird, it's something I have read about but have never witnessed first hand. The males swam excitedly around the female, keeping her in the middle. They raised their crests and flipped their heads back and shifted their wings--reminded me a lot of Bob Fosse choreography. For those of you in the upper Midwest, this is a reminder to get those wood duck boxes ready. The ducks are starting to hook up, time to have the housing available.

Another sign of spring were lots and lots and lots of horned larks. Just about everywhere I drove, they took off from the sides of the road. I kept trying to pull over and digiscope them, but they were just too fast and blended in too well. Unfortunately, I watched one unfortunate horned lark bounce off of a car in front of me. I pulled over to check it, and it was dead. Since you rarely see a horned lark so closely I took a photo. These are one of our earliest migrants and it was kind of a bummer to think that this bird made it all the way through winter, getting ready to start the next breeding season only to be offed by a car.

Looking at the photo of the bird in my hand above and comparing it to a photo of the landscape photo at left, you can see how this bird's plumage works to keep it hidden. Believe it or not, there are hundreds of horned larks in the field in that photo, they are just camouflaged so well we cannot see them. When I would get out of the car to try and spot them, you could hear their peeping. It was a tad unnerving being able to hear all those birds but not immediately seeing them in the open field right in front of you. If ever a species wanted to make a sneak attack on the human race or just decide to try and freak us out by following us and making noises, I think horned larks are well suited to the task.

One thing interesting to me is that when the larks fly off from the road, I notice the white stripes on either side of the tail quite vividly. Looking at the dead lark up close, the white didn't appear as big as it does when they fly. It's always so strange and fascinating to look at a species up close and in the hand. I regret that it wasn't under more pleasant circumstances like banding.

Ivory-bill Celebration Observations

Here is a photo of ivory-bill rediscovers Bobby Harrison and Tim Gallagher visiting the Eagle Optics booth. It was fun to finally see both guys at the same time. I told Bobby that I was beginning to think they were the same person since you never see both of them at the same festival. I need to give a big Thank You to the Brinkley Chamber of Commerce and to Bobby Harrison for directing people to my website and to Eagle Optics website. While working the Eagle Optics booth I would get one of three comments:

1. "Are you that birder chick? The Chamber told me to check out your website, it's nice to meet you." 2. "I need to get some new binoculars and that Bobby Harrison fellow said that I needed to get them through you." 3. "Oh, Eagle Optics, I've purchased my binoculars through you, I love them."

For a first time festival, Brinkley did a pretty good job. Sure there were a few rough edges, but that was mostly minor details that you learn as you do a festival. I was so amazed by the number of people who just dropped in from neighboring towns because they heard about it on the news or because they saw the sign off of the highway.

I was asked to give a talk on Birding 101 at the festival. I kept it informal and light humored and the response was favorable afterwards, I had never done one trying to describe what birding is all about.

I started my talk with a monologue from Play on Birds about one person's journey to birding. In the talk I make a reference to pishing. At the end of my talk, I opened it up for questions and a lady asked me, "Can you tell me what 'pissing' is?"

I haven't had a line served to me on a silver platter like that since my last visit to my mother.

I answered, "I can tell you what that means, but I think what you really want to know is what 'pishing' is, spelled P-I-S-H. If it's not, I'm certainly happy to oblige on the other word."

She quickly covered her mouth when she realized what she asked and all of us, including the lady who asked the question, got a good giggle out of it.

Pete Dunne had given a talk the day before on the art of pishing. For the non birders that check this blog, pishing is a noise birders make to get birds attention. Say the word 'pish' in a whisper while keep your teeth clenched together, that's a basic pish. You will find each birders has their own technique and for the most part is can be a useful tool to get a birds attention and getting it closer to you. Usually, in a performance I will include a demo of pishing (especially when doing it in a regular theater setting, however since this was a bird festival and Pete had just talked about pishing and the audience laughed loudly at the reference, I continued on. Mental note, from now on, always define pishing, even at bird festivals. Friday and Saturday were an action packed days, helping people with binoculars. I was so excited, June Osborne purchased a pair of Zeiss binoculars at the booth, it was an honor to help her. She told me the story of how she and her husband of 53 years met--in jail! They were both part of a church youth group in high school that would go sing to guys in the drunk tank. Her husband Harold said he was smitten right away. I hope I'm lucky enough to reach half that number with Non Birding Bill. That's June wearing her signature purple between Amy Hooper and me.

Speaking of Amy, she got a little weird on this trip. Bless her heart, she's from California and just not used to chilly temperatures. Granted, the air did get a bit crisp and I even broke out some earmuffs at one point, but she was really affected. Saturday afternoon I had to pack up the booth, which is the hardest part of the job for me. If I sell anything, it's not going to fit in the boxes the same way as it arrived, so I have to carefully repack to make sure everything is cushioned and secure for the trip back to the Eagle Optics headquarters. It's kind of like a game of Tetris. Well, I was tired and a bit of mess when I finished and the banquet was going to start soon. I decided to head back to the hotel room and try and clean up for the dinner. Amy came along and on the way we stopped for some super sugary gas station cappucino to reawaken me. When we got to the room, I checked messages on my cell phone. I heard Amy mumbling in the back ground, but didn't pay too close attention. Something about "feet and hot water". I got off the phone and went to the sink to wash my hands and found her standing in the tub, fully clothed with her feet sitting in hot water while drinking her gas station cappuccino. I looked at her quizzically and she replied, "I told you, happiness is cold feet in hot water." I'm always happy to be of service to my warm weather friends in cold temperatures.

We freshened up and headed to the banquet. As we eat we listened to all those involved with the first search from Tim and Bobby, to David Luneau who shot the famous video, to Gene Sparling the kayaker who got ivory-bills searchers attention when he spotted an odd woodpecker while on the Cache River. All of the guys involved in that early initial top secret search are deeply affected by what happened to them, but I had never really heard Gene talk about it in person before. All the speeches were great and all but Gene's involved Powerpoint, but Gene got up, and spoke from his heart. He still hasn't quite deciphered what all this means in his personal grand scheme of things. And as much as I enjoy listening to Tim and Bobby recount that fateful day and as interesting as David Lunneau is, I was touched deeply by the refreshing, soulful honesty of this naturalist who truly loves the Cache, ivory-bill or not.

The city of Brinkley itself is overwhelmed by this situation but they opened up their arms to welcome birders and charmed us with their hospitality. I love all the places I've been so far with my job, but Brinkley is becoming a favorite with the friendliness of the people who are not only curious about why someone would travel hundreds of miles to their town for the slimmest of chances to see a bird, but are also grateful for the business.

The number of participants certainly exceeded my expectations and those of the organizers. I heard on Friday that there had been 157 people at the Fish Fry and that didn't include people who just popped in for the activities during the day or who were to show up just for Saturday's activities. Our hotel was certainly packed Saturday night. I had a tough time finding parking when I came back after the banquet. I hope the festival continues to grow in the future.

Ivory-bill Haircut

I originally posted this entry Saturday morning. As soon as I hit "publish post" there was a commotion in the vendor area and low and behold an Ivory-bill Haircut Demonstration was in progress. I recovered the post so I could add in this rarely captured event! Pictured left is hard working volunteer Bart sitting in for Penny to work her hair magic. Bart was the best, not only did he help keep the festival moving, but he was kind enough to find a box for me to stand on during my presentation so I could see over the podium. Standing next to Penny in the orange ivory-bill shirt is Lisa Boyd who runs the Ivory-bill Nest-- your one stop shop for everything ivory-bill. My friends ask if I will ever get an Ivory-bill Haircut on one of my trips to Brinkley. Cute as it is, I just don't think it's a good day to day style for me. But we had seen some men that have chosen this bold fashion statement at the celebration. They style appears to require lots of gel and colors (even more color than I put in my hair).

People surrounded Bart and snapped photos in awe of his bravery (pictured, right). Bart mentioned that he got a discount on the cut, because he already had white hair, so Penny could skip adding that color in. As soon as Bart's cut was finished, Lisa loudly asked, "Okay, who wants the next one?" I've never seen a crowd disperse so quickly in whole life! I did find more men with the avian hair style. So, what does an Ivory-bill Haircut look like? Well, here is Bart receiving his finishing touches:

And here's another satisfied customer:

And it wasn't just for the mature birder. The young guys were sportin' this do as well:

And it's not just for people with hair! Even if you are "closely cropped" so to speak, you can still get this high fashion style. Here is tv reporter Todd Wilson of KTHV sporting an Ivory-bill Haircut:

It is interesting to note that NO WOMEN, not a single one was spotted at the celebration with the cut. I was told is was a unisex style, but the ladies weren't diggin' it.

Ivory-bill Fest Report

When I pulled into the parking lot this morning, that good bird smell was heavy in the air. You could totally smell the blackbirds that had roosted around there the night before, it reminded me of the bird housing at the Raptor Center. I got the booth put together without too much trauma and sold a pair of Rangers right away, thanks to the help of Ron Austing who brought a friend over to look at our products. I was very excited to meet Ron, he is another guy who has photos just about everywhere. When I was going through his prints available for sale, I recognized so many from various bird books. Then, I found one of my all time favorite photos of a red-tailed hawk. Isn't it sweet? I didn't realize that he was the guy who took the photo. But geeked out when I realized how talented he was.

In the booth next to me was a lovely couple who carve birds. Their carved birds worked as great targets for people to test out the close focus on the various binoculars. They told me that they just sold a life sized ivory-bill carving for $12,000. They do tremendous work, that is one their ivory-bill heads pictured at right--even Tim Gallagher was impressed.

This evening we heard a wonderful band playing at the celebration called the Greasy Greens. Their big claim to fame was playing at President Clinton's inaugural ball. They rocked the crowd here...well, as much as you can rock a crowd of birders. They debuted a new song about the ivory-billed woodpecker that combined the Woody Woodpecker Theme and Rockin' Robin. Amy and I invented a couple of a new dances to it: the bino and the scope. I wonder how soon that will be all the rage at birding festivals?

Boy, I tell ya' I am racking up the author lifers here, I'll have to update the list as soon as I get home. I met June Osborne who is as sweet as she can be. She was sitting behind us at Gene's Barbecue and we ran into her around the festival. I also met Pete Dunne again, and he bought lunch for all of us hard working optic reps at the festival--what a guy! He even stopped by the booth to talk to customers about binoculars and offered some great pointers. He's currently packing seven power binoculars--I like a guy who is comfortable with his magnification. I'm going to use this photo for the author page, but can't wait to post it. Here is Pete stealing a fry as I steal a photo of him.

The blackbirds poured into the trees again tonight, just as hypnotic as last night. This time there wasn't anyone around to try and scare them with fireworks, which was a relief. I overheard someone say with a tone of disdain, while watching the millions come in, "You know, this is what people think birders do. Like birders want to sit around and be entertained by this?" I couldn't help it, I piped up, "I'm a birder and I love this, I could watch it for hours. It's hypnotic." I don't know what it is, but giant flocks of birds just fascinate me.

In the next entry: What does and ivory-bill haircut look like anyway?