Passing The Time During The Alberta Clipper

It was kind of a slow morning at The Raptor Center--that's Odie, our education barred owl with a facial disc dusted with snow. He's not the brightest bulb on the tree thanks to some brain damage, he's kind of slow on the uptake, but he looks cute in the snow. It was snowing when I went in this morning about 8:15am and now about 12 hours later, it's winding down. I think we're only getting about 5 inches, but word is up in Laura's neck of Minnesota, they got 13 inches.

So, I played with Cafe Press during the snow storm. I frustratingly learned that with the type of account I have, I can only do one item at a time (so once I put Cinnamon's image on a mug, I can't do a bird mug unless I upgrade). I don't know if I'm prepared to purchase an upgraded account there yet, but I have some stuff up if you are interested.

Peregrine 568 Update

Well, it's time for an update on that feisty Peregrine Falcon 568. I went down into the clinic and learned that she is now out of a recovery cage and moved into a flight room with three other peregrines--two females and one male. Alas, I could not get a photo of the room because Peregrine 568 is very jumpy and even lifting just a corner of the cover over the window to the flight room causes her to jump about and thrash, inciting the other three peregrines to jump about and thrash. On the one had, feistiness is good, however there is some concern about her leg being at a slightly odd angle and her jumpiness causing some damage to her still sensitive feet.

They are going to evaluate her situation and check her legs and feet in the next few days. She may either get moved to her own room or put back in a recovery cage a bit longer. Let's all hope for the best.

In other raptor news, did y'all check over at Susan Gets Native where she demonstrates how to call in a screech owl? You may have to crank up the volume on your computer, but you can hear one calling back at her.

And also, Birder's World has wisely added girl sizes for the owl shirts. I wonder if I should get in on the Cafe Press stuff? Should we put Cinnamon on mugs? Indigo buntings on bumper stickers?

Indoor Bees

Sunday, when the snow had stopped, Non Birding Bill and I took a stroll (or trudge in snow boots would be a better description of what I do). It was in the teens and you could see the edges of the lake freezing up. This is a popular destination for gulls right before it freezes. Within twenty-four hours after this photo was taken, someone posted on the listservs that the lake had frozen and the gulls have moved on.

Okay, someone had questioned of the sanity of NBB and I taking a walk in the morning in the single digit temps, well this is what we walk in, the Minneapolis Skyway--we can walk for a few miles without taking a step outside, most of the buildings are connected in some way in downtown.

Just kind of think of it as one of those tunneling systems you can get for hamsters. In one two mile stretch, we pass six different Caribou Coffees--and that doesn't include the other coffee shops, I'm sure we pass between 12 - 15 coffee stops. Most of the snow from Saturday has been cleared around, and just in time, tomorrow we are supposed to get an Alberta Clipper and another 2-3 inches in my neighborhood. I hope it holds off, there's been a report of a great gray owl in Hastings, and I'd like to go look for it after my shift at The Raptor Center tomorrow.

I found some photos that I took last Friday that I took at Hyland--they have an indoor beehive. Mr. Neil and I have kicked around the idea of an indoor hive but have no clue as to how to maintain it without letting bees run amok in his house. I talked to the staff there about how they maintained the hive. They said that because it's such a small box, you have to feed the bees all winter--there's a top compartment, that's kind of an ante chamber so you can put the food there, there's a hole for the bees to access the food from inside, so very few if any get out. So, essentially, these indoor hives appear to be educational tools and conversation pieces, not a means to produce honey.

I opened the side to take a look at the bees on the inside, they were moving slow, but they were moving.

There's a little tube that goes from the hive to the outdoors. It was in the teens when I took this photo, so most of the bees were opting to stay in the hive.

A few would work their way down the tunnel and as soon as they got to the edge the hightailed it back to the hive.

They did have one hive by the bird feeders, and unlike our hives, this one wasn't insulted for the winter--another example of how every beekeeper does something different (and I asked, this is a hive the staff plans to overwinter). I suppose bees in the wilds don't have insulation, so I'm sure it's possible for them to survive without it.

Speaking of bees, I got the sweetest gift at the Paper Session on Saturday--blog reader Kathy gave me some of her own honey from Lake Isle of Innisfree Apiaries--Thanks, Kathy!

More Birder Gift Ideas And A Little Holy Crap

Okay, I have found a few more items that would be great gifts for those who are bird inclined. I've also added some bird organizations to the list as I was rightfully taken to task for excluding those great gift opportunities.

One is this REALLY awesome book called Owls of the North that just came out by Minnesota birder Dave Benson. The publisher had a table at the Paper Session on Saturday and I got a chance to check it out. At first glance, I thought this was a kids books, but it has great information and unbelievable photos. It covers the owl species you would find in Minnesota, but some of the species--like great horned owl can be found all over the US. It covers basic northern owl natural history, hunting habits, studies, albinos, and the irruption of 2004 - 2005. A great book for owl enthusiasts of all ages.

And then I got an email from Birder's World that they are offering a t-shirt for sale with an image of Samantha the arctic phase great horned owl at The Raptor Center that I took! Whoot. Above is the back of the shirt.

And here is the front of the shirt. If you like it, you can order it from Birder's World Cafe Press page. UPDATE: Birder's World just added a girl sized t-shirt too.

Speaking of The Raptor Center, they would make a great place to make a donation (especially if you have been enjoying following the saga of injured peregrine falcon 568). You can adopt one of our education birds (imagine adopting a turkey vulture for your mother-in-law) and you get a color photo of the bird, a free tour and opportunity to visit the bird you adopted, a certificate, and the raptor's bio.

Operation Migration has both a membership program and their Mile Maker (purchase a mile of crane migration). Supporting members will receive the INformation magazines, the EarlyBird email, and member pricing on selected Operation Migration merchandise. You might also take a peek at the gift store, they have some cute crane shirts and jewelery.

The Peregrine Fund has a neat gift shop with some great books and pins. Some of the raptor pins I have, but I just found a red-tailed hawk pin that totally rocks. Oh, and um, should Non Birding Bill or any friends or family members be reading this...um, I know a certain birdchick that would just totally love something along the lines of this nifty goshawk hat...especially since my harpy eagle hat has been commandeered by a an NBB. And if you are planning on doing a lot of shopping at P Fund, you might want to become a member, you get 10% off of the gift shop and it helps support raptor reintroductions like California condors, harpy eagles, and aplomado falcons.

Audubon is another organization that needs support and for those in the Minnesota area, there are three great guides about where to go birding in the state that just came out that were put together by several Minnesota birders (like me and Laura Erickson): Minnesota River Valley Birding Trail; North Shore Birding Trail: Duluth to Grand Portage; and the latest, Great River Birding Trail: Mississippi River from Headwaters to the Minnesota – Iowa Border.

Does anyone know of any other non profits that have some cool gift shops with some cool bird merchandise?

Does This Female Cardinal's Beak Look Goofy?

I got some photos of female cardinals at Hyland Park the other day and the beak looks strange. At first, I noticed the smudge on the beak. It looks like she's been eating berries. Here's a close up:

That looks like berry juice, don't you think?

Then she turned her head and it looks like the beak is bent awkwardly. Here it is up close:

So, I'm wondering if there is something wrong with the beak or is she maybe missing some black feathers that would normally be covering that patch up.

Here is another female cardinal head on, I took this photo the same day, her beak looks okay, but she appears to have more black feathers around it.

Here's a head on shot of a female cardinal that I took last winter and it doesn't appear to have that bump.

I wonder, is this just the way her beak has been growing or did she fly into something?

And once again, a bird leaves me with more questions than answers.

Saturday Happenin's and Shocking News From the Bell Museum

The hungry birds at Hyland Park yesterday did not lie--it be snowin' buckets here. I wonder if we will have a proper Minnesota winter this year? The first year Non Birding Bill and I lived here, it snowed in November and there was snow cover until April--no lie. I remember thinking at the time, "Can I really handle this?" However, we haven't really had it since.

This is what it looked like outside the Bell Museum (where we had the MOU Paper Session) right before I gave my presentation. It didn't look so bad, but I stuck my head outside and it sounded like some ice was falling.

This is what it looked like about an hour later and throughout the morning, the visibility got worse. The decision was made to kind of move the proceedings along quickly so instead of rounding out the day by 4pm, we ended up wrapping up around 1:30pm. NBB was doing some work near the museum and he and his buddies picked me up.

This was the view of I-94 on our way home--and yes that is the Dude on the dashboard (that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing). It's still snowing as I type this, so we have holed ourselves up and are watching movies (Radio Days and Troy thus far) and drinking martinis.

So, here was kind of some shocking news at the Paper Session. The Bell Museum of Natural History is planning to move to a new location and they are in the process of designing a new building. So, the museum director shows the MOU members plans for the new building and it's got a HUGE glass design so we can look out of the museum and see all the landscaping that will be done for birds...while birds slam into the windows and die. There were audible gasps heard in the audience when the design was shown to a bunch of birders. Now, I would just say that perhaps the Bell Museum just wasn't aware of the problem of birds flying into windows...however, they have been one of the partners with Bird Safe--as a matter of fact, Bob Zink, curator of birds at the Bell Museum of Natural History, is helping coordinate Project Bird Safe!

Bell Museum--what were you thinking? Well, perhaps when they have school groups over and they are doing a Bird Safe program they can just use the giant glass wall as a teaching tool, "See kids, you don't want a wall like we designed, because birds fly into it during migration and die." Or maybe this is way for them to study birds hitting windows up close?

Sigh.

Jim Stevenson Going Underground?

From the Galveston County Daily News:

GALVESTON — Ornithologist Jim Stevenson fled town Thursday after telling police someone took a shot at him.

Stevenson, who shot a cat but walked free after a jury deadlocked in his animal-cruelty trial, reported to police that someone fired a shot at his head Wednesday night while he was standing on his porch. He said he fell backward but wasn’t injured.

Stevenson has said he’s received death threats since the trial, which drew international attention, ended two weeks ago. He’s left the state for now but plans to return, he said.


Read the rest of the story here.

Before A Storm?

And now, Birdchick.com presents:

SQUIRRELS ON ICE! I really don't know where I'm going with that. But there were quite a few squirrels sliding across the ice at Hyland Lake Park Reserve today.

Will there be a storm on Saturday? Since Wednesday, Twin Cities weather people have been warning about our first winter snow storm. The warnings have become more dire in the last few days. Even today the reports have been fluctuating. This morning the report was probably 2", maybe a slight chance of 5" of snow. Tonight, the storm watch has gone to storm warning with predicted amounts of snow being 5" to 9". What will it be? Not sure, when they over predict, we have very little. However, I'd love a good solid layer of snow. The goldfinch in the above photo seems to be wondering as much as I how much snow we will get.

I headed to Hyland to see what the bird activity was like at the bird feeders--a good indicator of what changes will come with the weather. This suet feeder in the above photo was in high demand. Above, you will note a downy woodpecker.

The downy was first chased away by a larger hairy woodpecker. That woodpecker was chased away by the above blue jay. But soon, that bird fled as well:

A gray squirrel took over the suet and would not let any creature--hairy, feathered or otherwise to get between eat and large chunks of animal fat. That's a sure sign that a storm is a comin'.

I spent the rest of the time getting strange photos of cardinals. This shot isn't so bad, the bird looks fairy normal...then he decides to show off his good side: Here you go, random cardinal butt. However, not to be out done:

A chickadee flew in to show off the junk in its trunk.

The female cardinal looks as though she doesn't approve of that.