I can't believe I forgot to blog about the turkey!

I stopped at Richardson Nature Center the other day to see if the feeders had any activity worth some digiscoping--some wild turkeys were there, about three toms. The above dude made me chuckle. His body was in the sun and his head was in the shade.

Periodically, you would see him pant, meaning he was hot. Birds do not sweat they way we do. To expel excess heat, they pant. I wondered if it occurred to this turkey to put its whole body into the shade, rather than just the head? But then again, that is a small brain controlling a large body.

It's feathers gleaming rust in the sun were quite beautiful.

The neck was another story. Ew.

While watching the turkeys, I noticed quite a few bugs flying around. At first, I thought the bugs were either box elder bugs or some type of wasp creating a hive on the side of the nature center. Then I noticed the dull hum--honeybees!

Richardson has a couple of beehives near their bird feeders. It looked as though someone had extracted some honey from some frames and left them out for the bees to "clean up." The frames were right next to the window, so I had a chance to watch the bee activity without being hindered by a veil.

There were a few other species coming in to take advantage of the unprotected honey. While I was watching the intense activity, I noticed several "balls of bees" start to roll around. At first, I thought they were fighting, but noticed that no one was using a stinger and that the were all licking each other. I think what was happening as that the forager bees would go into get some honey and get covered in honey themselves. Other bees would sense the honey on them and come in to lick it off. The bee would try to fly away, but another bee would have her tongue stuck to her leg from trying to lick off all the honey. I got a video of a bunch of girls, covered in honey,...and...licking each other:

and here's another:

Nothing To Grouse About

I dedicate this post to my banding buddy Larry who is having a rough grouse season:

Oh dear, I just realized the inadvertent pun in the above sentence. That even hurt me a little.

After the big fat bummer of discovering an empty hive, I went for a walk in Mr. Neil's woods. Non Birding Bill came along with me, I think to try and cheer me up. We heard ruby-crowned kinglets, palm warblers, and yellow-rumps all around us...well, I did, not so sure about NBB. While walking up the trail near the MimiKo and Kelli hives, I spotted a moving lump up ahead in the middle of the trail:

It was a ruffed grouse! We appeared to notice each other at the same time. The sun and clouds kept changing by the minute, so I decided to just concentrate on trying to get a shot in focus. I couldn't believe that the bird stayed on the trail long enough for me to take 6 out of focus shots and one in focus! We've heard grouse drumming near here and Amber and I have found some grouse roosting spots but this is hands down the best look I've ever had at a ruffed grouse in Mr. Neil's woods. Finally, NBB and I were just a little much for the grouse to take, especially with a giant spotting scope lens aimed in its direction during grouse season and it hopped up into a tree:

It was such a cool bird and NBB was even enjoying it--he digs larger birds that are easier to see. He was helpful because I would look into the scope and try to focus and he could keep an eye on the mobile grouse letting me know where to aim. It was interesting, I would look outside the scope and find it, look through the scope and lose it, look out again and just be astonished at how the grouse could disappear in the branches right before my eyes.

Ruffed grouse like mixed-deciduous forest. That is certainly here, there are oaks and old pines for cover and aspens for good. I wonder if we could plant more? I also wonder if we could create an idea grouse drumming area. This way, I could set up one of my motion sensitive cameras to get shots and video of it. Larry has told me what to look for in a grouse drumming spot and I've seen it, but what are the characteristics that a grouse sees that I may need?

Anyway, the grouse was a good cleanse for me. And after some thinking, no matter what the outcome of the hive (still hoping that burning is not an option) I have had a silver lining. I've been laboring through the first draft of the bee book--people say it's a good idea, but I personally was not clear in what my message in writing the book was: a more in depth version of the bee blog posts? As I've been writing it, the tone has been getting weird and a bit schmaltzy. I was worried that my beekeeping book was becoming a Lifetime Movie event: My Beehive Of Hope. I figured I just needed the draft out and would rework it from there.

But last night, I was thinking about all the things that have gone wrong with the beekeeping. And one of the many things NBB said in an effort to cheer my mood, "You know, I admire your tenacity. When you want something and you try it or pitch it and then it doesn't work, you go back to it from a different angle until you can get what you want."

Mistakes. Tenacity. Mistakes. Tenacity. Mistakes.

And then it hit me around a little before midnight. Panic At The Beehive: My Many Beekeeping Mistakes. A new outline fell into place, mistakes, lessons learned and something that is truly in my voice and not a Lifetime Movie event.

Big sigh of relief.

My Hive Has Been Robbed!

The MimiKo hive has failed in a big way. I thought maybe last summer, I messed with the hives too much and that perhaps being a bit more hands off would be better this summer. Apparently, I was too hands off.

Lorraine took the Magnetic Fields out to our hives the day before and mentioned that the MimiKo hive was quiet...too quiet. We headed out today and she did seem quiet, but what caught my attention were odd looking drones. They were small, having trouble walking and totally out numbered the workers. The odd drones brought one thing to my mind--egg laying workers. Only queens are supposed to be able to lay eggs. Fertilized eggs become workers and on a occasion a queen, unfertilized eggs become drones. Workers are not supposed to lay eggs, but if a hive is queenless, workers will lay eggs and because they are all infertile, they will all be drones (who do not build comb or gather honey). A queenless colony with egg laying workers is a hive that is as good as dead.

There were dead workers on the roof and so we opened her up. It was quiet and the buzzing that we heard was that dissonant buzzing that you get from a queenless colony. More and more drones were moving all over the hive and I noticed a few non honeybees entering the front entrance. The drones moved as though drunk--another suspicion that they were the result of egg laying workers. Here's a video:

That is just so sad! Further inspection of the colony brought worse news:

Every cell had been ripped open. The colony had been robbed, most likely by the nearby Kelli Hive. All would take is one or two Kelli workers coming to the hive and noticing how weak it was. They fly back and let the other Kelli foragers know and the siege of the MimiKo would be underway.

With few workers, no queen, and lots of blundering drones, the colony didn't stand a chance. Flakes from shredded cappings that covered cells of honey were everywhere. There were even a few other species coming in to take what little honey was left. Notice the two non honeybees in the above photo.

Here's another look at ripped open cells. There were even flakes on the inside. I suddenly remembered that one of the signs of American Foulbrood is scales in empty cells. I'm panicking a little because American Foulbrood is a serious bee disease that would require some drastic measures. I tested a couple of what little remaining sealed brood was left (you poke it with a toothpick and if it's foulbrood, the contents comes out brown and ropey). Nothing I poked came out brown and ropey, the contents of the cells looked like an almost formed bee.

Here's another view of a ripped apart cell. To me, all this looks like bits of capping but if there are any experienced beekeepers seeing this and feel that this is American Foulbrood, feel free to let me know. I'm hoping it's not. American Foulbrood is a big fat downside to beekeeping. We'd have to burn the remains of the MimiKo hive and treat the Kelli hive with some serious drugs since she would have been exposed by robbing the MimiKo hive.

I found a dead worker that appeared to have died while trying to lay an egg in a cell. How long had this hive been queenless?? It has to have been a long time for things to be as bad and as empty as this hive is. How did it happen? Is this American Foulbrood? Did we crush the queen on one of the few inspections? When we took a frame of brood from the MimiKo hive to help the failing Olga hive this summer, did we accidentally brush the queen onto the ground and kill her? Was she just a bad queen?

Here was a sad little drone that died as it was trying to crawl out of its cell. Without any nurse bees around to help it along and the fact that it's a drone that grew in too small of a cell, it got wedged.

We took the hive completely apart and found lots of dead bees but not the huge amount that I expected. I looked over all the dead bees (and a few wasps) that were on the bottom, trying to work out what had happened. What caused things to go this wrong, why didn't I catch it sooner. I've come to a couple of conclusions--if the queen had failed and we caught it early enough, I would not have tried to requeen the colony--we've tried that more than once and it just doesn't seem to work for us. Both hives we've done that too have ultimately failed. We probably would have left this one alone to try and grow a new queen. I wonder why they didn't grow a new queen? Did they not realize they were queenless until it was too late to grow a new one?

So we left MimiKo in pieces so all the bees that were robbing it already could finish the job. I'm not sure what we're going to do next. I have a beekeeping meeting on Tuesday, I'll see what I can learn there. Non Birding Bill suggested I take a frame with me to show, but on the off chance it is American Foulbrood, I think bringing a frame full of it would make me the least welcome member of the club.

I love beekeeping, I love my girls, I love that I get to do it, but a discovery like this is a challenge. My goodness, we started this spring with four hives. We're now down to two and we have to move one of them into the bear proof fence. Will that hive make it?

After all of this, I had to do some digiscoping to try and clear my system. The fall colors made for a perfect backdrop. Usually, taking photos of birds is relaxing and satisfying but I was having trouble getting my focus down or predicting the perch the birds would use. I was getting frustrated, so my dear NBB offered to help...

Clever Bill. We did go for a walk in the woods and I got some cleansing that way...more on that tomorrow.

Sky Watch Friday Carver Banding

Doh, it's raining this morning, not sure I'm going banding at Carpenter. Well, I have some banding photos from last weekend and it's SkyWatch Friday, I'll work on that and see if the rain subsides:

Years ago, the summer before Non Birding Bill and I moved to Minnesota, we were on vacation with his family at Virginia Beach. We were flipping around tv channels one night and found a documentary about Minnesota--we thought this would be good prep work to watch. We had heard that we should be prepared for cold and snow year round, but beyond that, not much else. The documentary had an interview with Garrison Keillor and he said something about there are a few days in October which are perfect days (in every possible way) in Minnesota and people visit during those days and get that impression. For some reason, that was what stuck out in my mind and every October, I try to watch for that. If you are an optimist, October in Minnesota is the THE BEST. Sunny days that might require a fleece, glowing fall leaves, local farm bounties, and cool nights perfect for snuggling with your favorite person. As long as you don't think about the impending snow and cold which could easily last six months is right behind this perfect month.

Last weekend, I was going to go to Duluth to do go to Frank's hawk blind, but the wind prediction wasn't good and the sparrows were everywhere in the Twin Cities. My buddy Amber had heard that Mark was going to do some migrant banding on Saturday, so I snuck out to join them. Mark normally does banding programs every third Saturday at Lowry Nature Center. This was not a formal program, so Amber spread out a blanket near the nets, Mark set out his equipment and we banded birds in the beautiful October sun. Above is one of the many swamp sparrows moving through. It's such a pretty sparrow, it's too bad they don't visit feeders as much as house sparrows do--people would really dig 'em. I'm going to save that photo, that would be a good hair color at some point.

We got in quite a few orange-crowned warblers. This is the "drabbest of the drab" first year female orange-crowned. If you are one of the peeps going to the Rio Grande Valley Bird Fest next month, learn this bird's chip note--you'll be hearing it a lot. I know we have them in Minnesota, but I always associate them with South Texas. Speaking of which, there is still time to sign up for the bird blogger discount for the Rio Grande Fest. It's going to be awesome, some of the bird bloggers I know are coming include WildBird on the Fly, Born Again Bird Watcher, birdspot, and Mike from 10,000 Birds--oh, it's on! Looks like there's going to be a Birds and Beers too!

But I digress, back to the female orange-crowned warbler (and since it's SkyWatch Friday, pay attention to the blue sky in the back). She really doesn't have much orange to speak of, even in hand. She's a pallet of gray, drab olive, and kinda white.

Here's an adult male--a little more flashy--look at that yellow. And, you can distinctly see the orange in the crown, can't ya? Please tell me I'm not hallucinating, you can see the orange too? Okay, I admit, it is hard to see, so we used the toothpick method to get a look at the orange crown:

Now you can see the orange in that crown! It's never easy to see when the bird is not in hand. I just check Birds of North America Online to find out when one can see the orange crown on the bird in the wild and found this: "Male threat or alarm display can involve elevation of head feathers to display (barely) the orange crown (Bent 1953)."

"Don't make me barely show you my orange crown!!" Maybe these small warblers have a color orange phobia, so a little is all that's needed. Although, I'm not sure what a flock of orange-crowned warbler when confronted with a male oriole. Or perhaps, those orange feathers are so powerful that too much could be lethal? So much more study to be done.

It's always so cute when an insect eating bird tries to peck your fingers--those bills are just so soft--look at that orange-crowned warbler go for Mark's thumb. Earlier, his thumb went through much worse:

Before I arrived, he and Amber got a young male cardinal in the nets. After banding it, he opened his hand to let it go. The male decided to get in one good bite before flying off and then got so into it, refused to let go and hung from his thumb for a moment. It flew off and remarkably, Mark did not need a band aid.

Ah, looks like the rain is easing up, I should hit the road.

Odds and Ends

Cinnamon is driving me crazy. We have a new futon and she loves it. Unlike our old couch, she can hang out under the frame and surprise us by nudging our ankles for fun. Often, I look down between my legs and see her tocks kicked out beneath me (as seen above).

I have a small bottle of lotion that I use on my face--it's expensive, it's cruelty free, good SPF, hypo--allergenic, blah blah blah. I always get cruelty free no matter the expense--animals should not have to suffer through cosmetic testing for my vanity. Yesterday, I dropped the lotion and it rolled under the futon, Cinnamon made a jump for it. When she first reached it, her dew flap caused it to roll further and she chased it. When she caught up to it, she started chewing the dispenser. "Hey!" I yelled. "That's not your's." Knowing she was in trouble, she grabbed the lotion with her mouth, and ran away to escape into her Cottontail Cottage. I got it back, but the danger of buying expensive cruelty free products, is that your pets often want to eat them.

There are a lot of eastern bluebird flocks on the move in Minnesota right now. Many will head further south, perhaps not far (I remember seeing them in winter in Indiana) but some bluebirds will stay in southern Minnesota if they can find enough food.

Yesterday on my bike ride, I found this sphinx moth caterpillar running across the trail--I think it's a galium sphinx moth. I've reading about them on different bug forums and am going to get him to pupate and overwinter it. Anyone have any tips? It's a dynamite looking caterpillar.

Flying Penguins

From CNN.com

In Brazil, 373 young Magellanic penguins were rescued, rehabilitated and released last weekend after their search for food left them stranded, hundreds of miles from their usual feeding grounds.

Animal-welfare activists loaded the birds onto a Brazilian air force cargo plane and flew them 1,550 miles to the country's southern coast, where a crowd of onlookers celebrated as the penguins marched back into the sea.

"We are overjoyed to see these penguins waddle back to the ocean and have a second chance at life," said veterinarian Dr. Valeria Ruoppolo of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the group that oversaw the rescue.

Magellanic penguins are warm-weather birds that breed in large colonies in southern Argentina and Chile. The young animals then migrate north between March and September, following their favorite fish, the anchovy. The birds are named after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who first saw them in 1519. But changes in currents and water temperature apparently confused the juvenile birds, who strayed too far north to the warm beaches of Salvador, Brazil, 870 miles north of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Starting in mid-July, in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahía, "It was just about raining penguins," Ruoppolo said. "There was not much of a food supply. The birds were stranded and emaciated. They had lost all their muscles and body condition."

While occasionally a few birds show up so far north, the unusual sight of hundreds of wayward penguins posed a challenge for animal conservation groups.

Of more than 1,600 penguins that washed ashore in northern Brazil, about half are still alive. That is a fairly good outcome, given the fragile status of young birds on their first migration, said Ruoppolo.

Some penguins are still being cared for, both in the north and south of Brazil. The newly released birds have bands on their flippers so scientists can follow their progress and learn more about their migratory habits.

On Friday, the penguins ready for release were loaded into special crates and put onto the plane for the journey to Pelotas, in southern Brazil. After their first-ever flight, the birds went on a truck ride to the Center for Recovery of Marine Animals, where they rested for 24 hours.

The birds released at Cassino Beach the next day had to meet very specific health criteria, said Ruoppolo.

"Their feathers had to be waterproof, their overall body condition had to be good, their lungs healthy, and they had to be able to catch food," she said.

The youngsters had some adult supervision for their return to the wild. They were released with a small group of adult penguins that had been nursed back to health after surviving an oil spill. Scientists expect the older birds will help guide the little ones to nearby feeding grounds.

Birds and Beers Special Edition in Bellville, Ohio--Oct 17, 2008

Callin' Ohio Birders! There's going to a be a special edition of Birds and Beers in Belleville, OH when I come for the Audubon State Assembly on October 17, 2008!

Birds and Beers
 At K.C.'s Steak and Ribs
419-886-2159
6pm - 8pm (or when people go home)

Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities--if you're interested in birds, you're invited. You can meet other birders--maybe find a carpool buddy, ask about where to find target birds, share cool research projects you might be working on, ask a bird feeding question, share life lists--the sky is the limit. It's low key and it's fun.

There are so many people that are doing interesting things bird wise--research projects, banding, writing, etc. and we don't often find out about it on the listservs. I also notice that some of us only have a chance to meet at a stake out bird. This is a chance to get some of us together, have a drink, and talk some birds.

I must say, last night's Birds and Beers got a bit randy--I think it was the best laugh I've had all week. Someone mentioned that they wanted to start a Muskrats and Martinis, which led to discussions of taking Birds and Beers going on the road, watching the birds and sipping a little something. This time of year we could do Coors and Coots. I wondered what we could pair with owls and had trouble thinking of something and then some sweet little thing said she had an idea and wasn't going to say it out loud (and it wasn't a form of alcohol) which degenerated into double entendres of birding lingo. I'm never going to think of casting a pellet the same way again.

We also came up with a birding drinking game. Find an active feeder, fill a hat with the names of birds that are commonly seen there. Everyone draws a name out of a hat and every time their bird species comes to the feeder, they have to take a sip. You'd be in trouble if you drew chickadee, house sparrow, or starling. If a bird shows up that no one has, a player could challenge another player to identify it. If that player cannot, they have to drink from a cup that has a little of everyone's drink in it.

We wrapped it up early so we all had a chance to go home and watch the debate.

Birdchick Say Relax! Watch The Birds At The Feeder & Count 'Em!


You know you would rather watch birds than watch the news about the economy, so why not also do use that relaxing time to contribute to research! Just watch your bird feeders once a week for as little as 15 minutes (or longer if you so choose) and contribute to science.

The 2008-09 season of Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Project FeederWatch gets underway November 8 and runs through April 3. You can count the numbers and kinds of birds at their feeders each week and send the information to the Cornell Lab of the Big O. Last season, participants submitted more than 115,000 checklists, documenting unusual bird sightings, winter movements, and shifting ranges- a treasure-trove of information that scientists use to monitor the health of the birds and of the environment.

Scientists learn something new from the data each year, too, whether it’s about the movements of common backyard birds or unusual sightings of rarely-seen species.

Highlights of the most recent season include the largest southward movement of red-breasted nuthatches in the history of the project -part of an expected influx of northern birds that fly farther south when their food supplies run short.

Other northern species showing up in record numbers included common repolls and pine siskins (like the little dudes above that were at Mr. Neil's last winter). Long-term data show some species increasing in number, such as the lesser goldfinch in the Southwest. Other populations continue a downward trend, such as the Evening Grosbeak throughout their range. Once one of the most common species seen at feeders in the northern half of the continent, the grosbeaks are declining for unknown reasons.

Beyond the benefits to birds and science, however, is the benefit to participants. “Nature is not merely an amenity; it is critical to healthy human development and functioning,” says Nancy Wells, Cornell University assistant professor of design and environmental analysis. Her studies find that a view of nature through the window or access to the environment in any way improves a child’s cognitive functioning and reduces the negative effects of stress on the child’s psychological well-being. Wells also notes that when children spent time with nature early in life it carries over to their adult attitudes and behavior toward the environment.

Project FeederWatch welcomes participants of all ages and skill levels, from scout troops and retirees to classrooms and nature center visitors. You can do this--chances are if your read this blog, you watch birds at your feeder anyway, this is just a way of taking it to the next level. If you do not have feeders at your home (get a copy of City Birds/Country Birds and that'll help) or go to your local nature center or refuge, find out if they have feeders, if they plan on participating and offer to volunteer or them.

To learn more and to sign up, visit Project FeederWatch or call the Lab toll-free at (800) 843-2473.