Freaky Hot Weekend

When I moved to Minnesota, I did not sign up for super hot summers.

Okay, so summertime snow isn't what I want either. The above photo isn't really snow, it's just from the cottonwood trees. This weekend it's been in the upper 90s with high humidity so it feels like it's well over 100--ugh. One top of that, our air conditioner decided to go give up the ghost on Sunday.

"Oooo, I don't approve of no air conditioning! I'm sitting on the cockatiel's food until you rectify the situation."

I knew we were in a precarious situation, it was unusually hot on Saturday and no doubt all the places that carry air conditioners wouldn't have their supply high for this time of year, but we chanced it and got the last energy efficient window unit air conditioner in our price range. Ah, the secret to a happy marriage is air conditioning.

The heat was having an odd effect on everyone.

Here is a motley little crew filming a video in our ally. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure these are our next door neighbors. They kind of remind me of a Beastie Boys video from Paul's Boutique.

The guy in the green jumpsuit and eye patch wielding an accordion was intriguing. He didn't play too badly.

Here we have a drake mallard chillin' on top of a neighbor's roof--what's that all about?

And now Non Birding Bill is taking photos of birds, and on top of that a really cool brown bird, a dickcissel. What's happening to my world? Cool weather please come back and restore my sanity.

Banding At Carpenter

Friday's banding brought in some interesting birds. First, though can you identify this little bird? I will reveal the identity at the end of this post.

Something that you can't quite see in this photo is that the bird has a light yellow rump patch. This bird required all the guys to get out the field guides when she came in. It was interesting to note that there are several field guides around and the banders tend to reach for Peterson or National Geographic before they will reach for Sibley. I always thought Sibley was the end all be all and the first to be reached for. Who knew?

Well, now here is something you don't see every day:

It's a song sparrow and a red-eyed vireo side by side. They both came into the nets at the same time and I thought "What a fun comparison." The song sparrow tends to hang out low the ground singing its fool head off and the red-eyed vireo tends to hang out in the tops of tree singing its fool head off. I don't know why, but as a kid I always got the impression from looking at field guides that vireos were robin sized and not closer to sparrow or warbler sized. I was really surprised when I actually got to see them in the wild and how small they are. Harold Mayfield recorded one red-eyed vireo in Michigan who sang 22,197 times in a 10 hour period--at least it's a pleasant song.

We also got a gray catbird in the nets.

"Love me..."

"...love my vent."

It may seem odd to have a rusty red vent (aka bird equivalent of a butt) but males and females flash each other with it during mating season. When you think about what some of us do on dates, it really doesn't seem all that weird. If it does seem weird to you, you need to get out more.

Some people may be noticing catbirds at the feeder, they love to come in for grape jelly, mealworms and the occasional oyster cracker. I know, some people are out there thinking I'm off my gourd about the oyster crackers, but I have proof thanks to the NovaBird Camera:

See? Gray catbird eating oyster crackers that were meant for boat-tailed grackles in Virginia.

Are you still puzzling about the mystery warbler in the first photo of this entry? I've dropped a few hints already: it's a warbler and it's female. Here's another clue:

When the bird was let go, she dove straight down right for some bushes as opposed to flying up in the trees. Has that narrowed it for you? One more hint if you are still stumped: these guys are very pishable (if you say the word "pish" in a whisper, this species will often respond and check out what is making that sound). Now, have you figured out "whichity" warbler it is? (okay, that was a lame pun I know--but it's a holiday weekend, throw me a bone.)

It's a female common yellowthroat. If you got it, pat yourself on the back for a job well done. If you didn't, don't sweat it, female warblers are tough. If you laughed at the whichity clue, then go slap yourself.

One Bad Egg (Collector)

Mr. Neil alerted me to this interesting story:

The day Britain's most notorious egg collector climbed his last tree

Birder falls to his death from larch tree while checking out unusual nest

Martin Wainwright
Saturday May 27, 2006
The Guardian

Colin Watson's prey was precious, rare and hidden in dangerous places. And on a windy afternoon this week his risk-taking finally caught up with him.

While a friend watched in horror, Watson, 63, lost his grip on the slender trunk of a 12-metre (40ft) larch tree he had climbed to check out yet another unusual bird's nest. The former power station worker tumbled to the ground in woods in south Yorkshire, a region where collectors have often played hide-and-seek with police. Paramedics arrived soon afterwards but the father-of-three had suffered massive injuries and was declared dead at the scene.

Here's the rest of the article here. Do read it, it's an incredible story. This guy had been convicted, fined and even had his gigantic illegal collection taken away, yet he still continued! There are many great people in the birding field, and like all activities, there are a few who just don't make us look good. That's a shame.

Speaking of eggs, I am sitting on pins and needles waiting for Carrol Henderson's book to come out about a history of egg collecting in the United States and how it shaped bird watching. I think it's supposed to come out in the fall. Woot.

Punk'd by a Killdeer...sort of

Yesterday while walking past a power substation, I noticed a killdeer on the other side of the fence staring at me.
When a killdeer is very interested in you, that is a sign that she has something to hide. Most likely eggs or young. If she had just kept sitting and incubating, I probably would have never noticed her, but this blatant stalking was way to obvious. I wonder if she is a first time nester?

The killdeer started her wounded bird display. You could easily see the rusty feathers they flash to give the appearance of a bloody injury. I would guess this is learned behavior, as the chicks will see the female give it whenever danger is nearby. When you see a killdeer give this display, this is a time to stop walking and look all around before you next step. She is trying to lead you away from the nest or young and you could be quite close to these very camoflaged items. I saw her trying to take me towards the right, so I focused my attention to the left.

I don't know how well you can see this, but on the lower right hand corner are the eggs--right next to the fence and in the upper left corner is the killdeer still trying to lure me away. Here's a better view of the nest:

On the surface this looks like a good spot, this is a very well fenced area with a few tiny pockets that will be just big enough for the chicks to walk out of. On the other hand, the nest is close enough to the fence that an enterprising raccoon on the outside could conceivably reach in and grab the eggs. If she make it through incubation she should be okay, because the chicks will run around as soon as they are hatched. Another consideration I don't think the killdeer took in was that there is a pair of kestrels nesting insided the fenced substation as well. Many challenges for this nest, maybe she knows something I don't.

She kept up her display, and she was working so hard I felt I owed it to her to play along. Plus, I didn't want to linger to long at the nest. The scent of humans can get a raccoons attention and lead them to the nest. So I played along and followed this faux injured bird. When I made for a pounce she flew away. Whenever killdeer finally do the final fly away they always give a version of their call that that has a laughing quality to it. I wonder how that evovled. Perhaps to taunt the chaser to go after and punch the killdeer, thereby leading the predator further from the nest.

Need A Warbler Fix?

If you aren't seeing warblers like you would want, check out Mike's Digiscoping Blog for some amazing vacation warbler shots he digiscoped and check out the Stokes Birding Blog for some fantastic photos--you can even see Lillian rockin' her super camera setup--holy cow!

Birdchick: You know, they say that cat Lillian is one bad mother...

Non Birding Bill: Shut Your Mouth!

Birdchick: But I'm talkin' about the Stokes.

Non Birding Bill: I can dig it.

Both: Stokes!

Birdchick: Right on.

And now you'll never think of the theme from Shaft the same ever again--insert evil laugh here.

Some rehabbers...

...have too much time on their hands.

Image of alien face found in wounded bird's stomach

Bay City News Service

Radiograph & photo by Marie Travers/IBRRC

Image of bird X-ray

An X-ray of the stomach of a wounded duck that died at the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia contains the uncanny image of an alien's face.

Honest!

And like the grilled cheese sandwich with an image of the Madonna, the X-ray image will be auctioned on eBay. Bidding starts Sunday at 3 p.m.

Read the rest here.

Little Update On The Prairie

Boy, you can tell it's spring migration, blogging updates are few and far between. I had a great time at Detroit Lakes, but boy do I feel like I've been rode hard and hung up wet. I think I have a bird hangover.

I just plain exploded when I got to the Detroit Lakes Festival. The warblers hadn't shown up yet, and the weather and been cold and rainy. We were actually a little nervous on Thusday night that we would not be able to find to many warblers for the weekend trips when wouldn't you know it on Friday afternoon, the warbler floodgates opened and they were dripping off of the trees. They must have just flown in. It was funny because we started with a couple of redstarts and yellow-rumps and then someone found a Wilson's warbler. I said, if we had a Wilson's anything is possible, so one of the other trip leaders and I started calling out species we could use including blackburnian, blackpoll, magnolia, Cape May--wouldn't you know it, we got all of those--and two surprise parulas!

What I really like about Detroit Lakes, is that you can visit three different habitats: hardwood, boreal and prairie. I ended up co-leading the prairie trips, which is what I wanted. I have a soft spot for bobolinks and they were everywhere.

Here is one of the hundreds we saw. I really enjoy leading field trips but it's hard to digiscope. When you're a field trip leader the priority is to make sure everyone on the trip is seeing the birds around and to help find target species. The bobolinks really put on a show. At one point two males were fighting over territory and were flying within 7 - 8 eight feet of our heads. There were also several upland sandpipers around. You can' help but feel attractive with those birds around. Their call sounds like a wolf whistle.

Since there weren't a lot of tall perches for the birds of the prairie, they made do. Above is a Wilson's snipe balancing on a wire. We also saw a couple of upland sandpipers do this. Can I say how weird it is to see shorebirds perched on a wire?

We stopped at a great spot called Felton Prairie. I loved all the marbled godwits, they scolded us almost everywhere we went. The grass was almost as tall as the godwits. I got a chuckle out of them. As I would scan the grass you would see these little heads pop up with these enormous bills.

We were all standing in one spot watching for horned larks and godwits when we heard the rumbling and thumping. Some cows were running straight for us.

They stopped along the edges of the road and watched. If we moved ahead, they would follow. I think they thought we might feed them.

I offered to teach them how to use binoculars, but they didn't seem that interested.

Here is something unexpected at a Nyjer thistle feeder: clay-colored sparrows. I had no idea these guys would eat Nyjer. I love their buzzy little call.

When Cinnamon learned about all the ticks festival goers were gathering, she laid out a huge disapproval. She only made one brief appearance at the booth, she didn't want to risk the ticks. Can't say I blame her.

There was an odd incident with the manager of the hotel we were staying in. Pets were welcome, but he was greatly concerned about Cinnamon and warned me I would pay for "any soiling" she may do to the room. Cinnamon was most upset and disapproved of this. After all, it's a well known fact that I am somewhat of a slob. Ask anyone who has ever worked for me. Ask WildBird on the Fly, she's roomed with me, she would know. Take look of Cinnamon's space in the above photo.

Above is my bed in the room. I ask you, who is more likely to soil this room, my rabbit or myslef? After Cinnamon corrected the manager as to who was the mess maker, he gave her a pack of little mineral blocks--what a nice guy! Since I was messy, I didn't get anything.

After three days of getting up at 4am, working the binocular booth, giving workshops and performing, I was barely awake enough to drive, so Jeff the ever helpful Leica rep led me to some much needed coffee. We did get a kick out of the billboard in the above photo. Are there any male readers of this blog that would like to call that number?

I am so tired, I must sleep more. I apologize for typos, I'm too tired to go over this more carefully.

Over Birded and Ivory-bill Updates

I am soooooooooooo tired (18 species of warblers in one day--oy). I think I may have over birded at the Detroit Lakes Bird Festival. I have to say, it is one of my favorite bird festivals--the other one is the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, if you can only ever afford to do two birding festivals in your lifetime, those would be the two I recommend. I'll blog more about Detroit Lakes when I'm more coherent--incidentally, I would start making plans for next year asap--they announced that David Sibley himself will be there. I didn't know he still did festivals.

In other news, a chronicle of my adventures in Arkansas on the Cornell Ivory-bill search has started up on Eagle Optics website. There's a lot to cover in what happened in a two week period. More updates will be added soon.

Neil Gaiman Searches for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker

Woo Hoo! I can upload images to blogger in the usual way, I heart blogger again.

Read an early press release on the Ivory-bill search at WildBird on the Fly. It's good to have a friend on the inside of the media.

Okay, not many people know this, but when I when down to Arkansas, Neil Gaiman came along and aided with the search. After all. we are such good friends and I try to sneak him away birding whenever we can. He had a good time and since info is available, I can talk aobut this now. By the way, all the photos in this entry are from Sharon Stiteler Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Here was the trailer that Neil slept in. It wasn't bad until one night when it got down to 20 degrees, the propane tank ran out and because of low water supplies we were asked not to use the bathroom unless it was an "emergency".

Here is Gene Sparling with Neil. Gene was the kayaker who got the whole ball rolling with his sighting on the Cache River. Gene offered to take Neil kayaking sometime. I think they were fast friends.

Here is Neil sporting his camo. Silly writer, he forgot his ghillie suit so I loaned him peices of mine. He blended in very well with the cypress knees. He was so covered up, a winter wren even tried to roost in him...or maybe was looking for insect larvae tucked in his hair.

We were both very amazed by the vines and the twisting they did around each other. Above, Neil waits patiently for an ivory-billed woodpecker to fly by in the White River WMA. We had to move along from this area though. Barred owls were all over the place and for some reason one swooped here. Perhaps Neil just moved just enough under his camo to give the impression he was a colony of mice as opposed to an award-winning author.

Ooooo, this looks like intriguing horizontal scaling mixed with some pileated woodpecker cavities. Could this be the work of an ivory-bill or a prankster pileated? Neil removed his camo so we could use his body as a size comparison. Whatever woodpecker did this is enormous...I don't know if we want to find it. I'm kinda scared.

Oh no, someone help quick! Neil got caught in one of the bazillions of briar patches--a big downside to walking around in the White River WMA. Any camo worn by searchers, whether it was a ghillie suit or bug suit was ripped to shreds. I wonder how much camo was left in the woods after all the searchers left?

I don't know what kind of fungus this was, but it sure looked cool. Neil blended very well. Can you find him? We heard several double knocks in the White River WMA, but we soon learned that everything gives double knocks: pileated woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers, water bottles in your backpack, your stomach, trees blowing in the wind, duck wings...you name it. We learned not to trust double knocking as sign of ivory-bills.

This was as close as Neil got to seeing an actual ivory-bill. We thought this sign telling people to look for the ivory-bill was a little funny, since no one has really seen the head on the bird. We had an adventure, it was a blast.

Testing Again...this time on starlings

Behold, the starling.

I've managed to load two photos, this looks promising, although it's a complex way Non Birding Bill has helped me figure out. Okay, if you're freaking out over the excessive use of starlings in this entry, don't worry, it's just temporary. Believe it or not, there are people who love starlings. There used to be a North American Starling Fancier's Association, but I can't find them. So, I'll leave you with this general starling love fest site, European Starling Center.

Eeep, disapproving starling.

Starling doing an impression of Dr. Zoidberg.

Well, now this one is just showing off.

Okay, I can work with loading photos this way.