Space Coast Here I Come!!

I'm pretty much finished with traveling for the rest of the year, but I'm prepping for adventures next year and I am OH so excited. I'm going to do the Space Coast Bird Festival in January and what's really fun for me is that I'll get to help on the field trips and I'm going to a fantastic digiscoping spot, Viera Wetlands where I had the most amazing personal appearance with an American bittern. Here are one of the photos:

So, here's my schedule for where I'm helping at the festival (along with many other GREAT field trip leaders):

January 21 - Viera Wetlands
January 22 - South Brevard (oh dear, it leaves at 4:30am)
January 23 - Viera Wetlands
January 25 - Gull ID (gulls, why did it have to be gulls)
January 26 - Pelagic Trip

This is just going to be a digiscoping bonanza (apart from the pelagic). I'll also be doing two different workshops: Blogging: The New Nature Journal and City Birds/Country Birds, how to attract birds anywhere.

Plus, there will be the whole festival gang there as well. Something to look foward to as we have all these cold days ahead of us in Minnesota.

Mischief On Twitter

Some of you may have noticed on the blog page that I have a Twitter Update. If you are not familiar with Twitter, it's a form of micro blogging. I can send a one or two sentence update, it cannot be any longer than 140 characters. Sometimes I type an update in from my computer and sometimes I send one from a cell phone via text message.

If you wish, you can get a Twitter account and follow anyone you know or find on Twitter. For example, you can follow people like friends or bloggers you know like Born Again Bird Watcher or Picus, or you can follow celebrities like Stephen Fry or Jonathan Coulton, or characters like Darth Vader, companies like Dunkin Donuts, your favorite news organization like I follow MinnPost, or just the plain bizarre like Bacon Friday. I use mine to test out ideas for future blog posts (is this link appropriate) or if I'm busy at a bird festival then I will type in quick updates. Non Birding Bill used it for me when I had to work the RNC as a park ranger. He was able to follow the rioters twitter feeds and let me know where tear gas was being sprayed.

The other day I was at the Minnesota River Valley Visitor Center just doing some digiscoping. I find it relaxing when I'm stressed and now that I have my favorite digiscoping camera (the Fuji FinePix E900, thank you National Camera Exchange for digging one up for me) I just love playing with it.

I joke when I give digiscoping programs that you suddenly find yourself with a renewed interest in common species like house sparrows and starlings. Isn't that a pretty house sparrow? I know, I know, bluebird people are reading that last sentence and think that my choo choo has really gone round the bend. But there were other cool sparrows too:

We still have some fox sparrows hanging out in MN! There were about four working the grounds underneath the visitor centers feeders. I wrote a text on my phone to Twitter that I was seeing fox sparrows.

There were quite a few house finches around too. This was one of the healthy looking ones. There was one male who looked rather puffy and spent too long at the feeders when everyone else would fly away. It looked sick. It didn't have the eye disease you typically see with house finches, but it didn't look good.

Soon, many of the birds left and I noticed this one lone downy woodpecker doing her best to blend in with the column on this feeder. I figured that there must be a Cooper's hawk or sharp-shinned hawk perched nearby, but could not see it. Suddenly, there was a flash of gray, black and white. I first thought "mockingbird" but remembered I was in Minnesota so it must have been a northern shrike. That id was confirmed when Mr. Gray, Black & White took off in hot pursuit of the sick looking house finch. I wrote a text to Twitter:

"A northern shrike just tried to nail a house finch at MN River Valley Headquarters."

To which Born Again Bird Watcher responded:

"@birdchick Oooh, kinky!"

And then PicusBlog adds:

"@birdchick @babw The end result of the aforementioned act might look like this."

Apparently, my texting is just chock full of double entendres and now I know what a house shrike would look like.

National Eagle Center Job Opportunity

This job opening caught my eye. It's perfect for anyone interested in eagles and living in Wabasha, MN:

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: The National Eagle Center, today’s leading organization dedicated solely to eagles and their relationships with the natural world and human cultures, seeks an enthusiastic and highly ambitious senior-level candidate for the position of Executive Director.

Reporting to the board of directors, this newly created position will be responsible for all strategic and operational aspects of this fast-growing, highly visible organization. Leadership responsibilities include visionary strategic planning and direction toward the organization’s mission and goals; aggressive membership, endowment, grant, and gift store/web site revenue growth; effective management of a highly-dedicated staff of employees and volunteers; supervision of traveling and permanent exhibits including live resident eagles; and efficient operation of the National Eagle Center, a newly constructed, 14,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility. The Executive Director will serve as chief executive officer of this dynamic and progressive enterprise and will accept responsibility for its success on all levels.

The ideal candidate will have an advanced degree or equivalent experience in administration, business or the natural sciences, along with an increasingly responsible and successful record of managing seven-figure enterprises. In addition, he or she will possess exceptional interpersonal, leadership, and communication skills that combine to take full advantage of the opportunities available to the National Eagle Center and maximize the organization’s chance for continued growth and success.

The National Eagle Center, a 501c(3) not-for-profit corporation, was founded in 1989 by a group of highly dedicated volunteers and has operated continuously since that time. The organization’s goal is to explore the importance of eagles to human cultures throughout history and to ensure long-term sustainability of native eagle populations through a wide variety of educational and experiential programming. Situated on the banks of the Mississippi River in historic Wabasha, Minnesota, the National Eagle Center enjoys a breathtaking location in the heart of the picturesque Hiawatha Valley, and serves as enthusiastic host to the highest number of wintering bald eagles found anywhere in the lower forty-eight states.

If you are ready to assume an executive leadership position with a nationally-prominent organization, yet appreciate the healthy rewards of an outdoor lifestyle and small-town living, this is the ideal opportunity for you.

National Eagle Center
50 Pembroke Avenue
Wabasha, Minnesota 55981

(URL: Please submit your resume via email along with salary requirements to National Eagle Center Executive Director Search Committee, c/o RANDY EGGENBERGER, Board Member (EM: eggenbrd AT myclearwave.net)

Interesting Recaptured Chickadee

We had an interesting recaptured bird at Carpenter Nature Center last Friday!

We don't have our nets setup right now, it's too cold. Birds tangled in a net can't use their feathers as well to regulate their body temperatures so we don't up them up when it's below freezing. We do set up little cage traps around the feeding areas though. Birds get trapped inside, but they can move around and still use their feathers to stay warm. The above chickadee got into one of the traps and was already banded. These are the birds we really need--recaptures. We can look at the band number, figure out its original capture date, how many times it's been captured, age, sometimes sex, just all sorts of info!

The above black-capped chickadee was banded on July 12, 2002! On its original capture date, the bird was identified as a hatch year bird. So we know based on its plumage that it hatched the summer of 2002. However, we don't know the sex of this particular chickadee. We can only do that in the summer. Females will have brood patches, swollen bare skin for incubating eggs (often called a BP by banders). Males will have a cloacal protuberance for...mating (often called CP by banders).

This six year old chickadee has been retrapped 10 times. Alas, it has always been in the winter. So the first year we banded it, the chickadee was recently hatched and would not have a BP or a CP. And in the winter, males and females are not in the mating mode and they do not have a CP or BP and even though we've had it 10 more times, never at a time when it could sexed.

Still amazing to think that this bird has survived six Minnesota winters. I wonder where it has set up its nesting territory?

Birdwatch Radio

There's a new podcast up for Birdwatch Radio. It's part one of a two part series made during this year's Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. He talks to my buddy Jim Danzenbaker from Kowa (and Jim even schools you on how to properly pronounce the name Kowa).

Also interviewed is one of the guys from Rockjumper Tours...learn how much money you'll need to go to Africa and some of the cool things you'll do on their trips.

And my personal favorite part of the podcast is the interview with Kevin Karlson and he talks about his book he coming next year on birding by impression. Non Birding Bill was listening with me and when they started talking about "jizz" birding, coffee shot out my nose, and NBB was shaking his head with laughter. In the podcast, Steve asks is if it's spelled jizz and Kevin does say what the real spelling for jizz should be. And if you don't know what the slang meaning for jizz is...well...ask the nearest teenager. They'll probably turn three shades of red and be too busy giggling to answer but you might get the meaning.

Anyway, fun podcast to have on in the background.

How To Pick Up A Birder

"Hey, is that an ibis in your scope, or are you just happy to see me?"

Well, here's an interesting question that came through the BirdChick Email from a new birder who I met on my travels this fall. She asks:

"Being both single and new to the birding community with a renewed commitment to take advantage of the birding opportunities in my area, I was wondering if there is any "birder" behavior I should be on the lookout for. They say the best place to meet someone is doing the things you enjoy, though it hasn't worked for me so far, but you never know when the right guy might trip over me.

I know different groups of society have quirks in their verbal and body language when showing interest in a member of the opposite sex, i.e. when the IT guy was showing me all the cool features on my work computer and no one else in the office, he was doing the best his geeky little heart could to flirt with me; for really shy guys, just speaking to a girl is flirting; macho guys break stuff; military/law enforcement blow stuff up etc. as a way of showing off for the "female bird" and getting her attention. So, are there any identified exhibitions to look for in the male birder? Do they brag about their equipment (no, I don't mean it that way!), or their life bird list? Do they point out lots of birds to you, showing their ornithological prowess? Or do they just walk around with their eyes hooked to binoculars and noses in field guides?"

I don't feel qualified to answer this question. I have never dated a birder--ever. (I even dated a guy with a bird phobia, but never a birder). I know the signs from men in general to know when they're attracted but nothing specific to birders. This is a question that does come up in one form or another about 4 - 6 times a year in my inbox, so fellow birders, can we help this single birder out? I should mention that she's a younger birder, this isn't necessarily an older person but I'm sure all single birders out there could benefit from the answer.

How do you know when a birder is flirting with you?

Can't Stop Blogging About The Rio Grande Valley!

Can you believe I still have blogging to do about Texas?? It really is one of my favorite birding trips I do all year. I love the organizers, the birds, the food, the temperature--it's tops. Check out this altamira oriole that was just cleaning itself off after using a bird bath at Laguna Atascosa NWR.

I think I have finally caught up from all my traveling. I was trying to catch up all last week from being in Ohio, New Jersey, and Texas. I was home between those trips, but only for brief periods. In that time, the apartment had exploded into a chaos world of bunny fur, cockatiel dust, and hay. Books were staging some sort of coup and weren't returning to shelves, my suitcase refused to unpack itself and a glacier of laundry was moving out of the bedroom. Amid trying to work and catch up on the blog, Non Birding Bill said those magic words: "I'm taking Friday afternoon off, let's go see the new Bond movie!"

But late Sunday, well into Monday and Tuesday I went into a cleaning and organizing frenzy. Interrupted briefly by a one way conversation with my stomach Tuesday morning. Still not quite sure what that was about. Was my stomach getting into the spirit of my apartment purge? I didn't feel sick which is completely out of character when I throw up. I suspect it had more to do with a bad combo of coffee and omega 3 fish oil gel caps.

But back to talking about Laguna! I love the trails and I love the wildlife drive. I took almost a full day to creep along and look for birds to digiscope. I was hoping to get some great shots of a caracara.

But had to settle for the Dr. Seuss stylings of a long-billed curlew! I was showing this photo to a non birding friend of mine (even more so than Non Birding Bill) and he looked at the photo and asked, "What the hell does it use that for?!" The beak is a little striking. I checked out the always fabulous Birds of North America Online. It said that the long decurved bill is used when foraging earthworms or shrimp and crabs. BNA also suggested that the long bill is used mainly when feeding on their wintering grounds as opposed to their breeding grounds. Basically, observers see curlews probing more in winter on the migratory habitat and see more pecking on the breeding grounds. Interesting to have a bill like that and only need it for part of the year.

Osprey were all over the place. The above bird was trying to eat its fish in peace, but had an audience:

This young turkey vulture (it's young because the head is still dark) was biding its time on the side lines, trying to work out a way to sneak in and steal a few bites for the osprey. This bird must really like fish because there's an abundance of fresh roadkill in the Rio Grande Valley. Why didn't the vulture just for that instead?

Laguna had signs posted warning of you alligators. The first gator I ever saw in the wild was at Laguna. I did see a few on my drive:

This one was right off the road. I got out of the vehicle to digiscope it. I took a couple of images through the scope with my phone and sent them off.

Here's a digiscoped image. I have to say, there were a couple of points where I felt like I was in the Blink episode of Doctor Who. When I turned away, it almost seemed as if the alligator was closer. It wasn't long after I took this photo that I looked to my left...

...and found another alligator lounging not too far from me. I digiscoped it too:

Well if that just isn't the most contented looking alligator ever. Realizing that I'm rather short, there are warning signs, and having two alligators near me, I hightailed it back in the car. I love a little adventure in my birding. I love going to places where there are animals that could knock me off a rung or two on the food chain.

Skywatch Friday: Night Dragon

It's Skywatch Friday time again! It's a site you can visit and follow links to people's pages to look at different photos of sky.

Check out the dragon! I took this photo at last weekend's bonfire party during the fireworks portion of the evening. Non Birding Bill was helping set off fireworks and this image came from something called "Bad To The Bone." I wasn't expecting to get anything, but when I downloaded photos the next morning, this showed up as a big dragon. If you follow the link, you can watch a video of Bad to the Bone does. I don't know how I got a dragon out of it, but it was cool!

One Last Call To Help The Endangered Species Act

CALL YOUR HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE TODAY AND DEMAND THAT THEY LEAVE THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT THE WAY IT IS.

You know, I kind of thought that maybe with the current president's low approval rating that he might do something "nice" like establish a bunch of National Parks and Historic sites. It's the thing to do when you are leaving office to try and keep a positive legacy. I was wrong. No matter how many of us have protested, the Endangered Species Act is in grave danger.

From the Associated Press:

The Bush administration has until Friday to publish new rules in order for them to take effect before President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in. Otherwise, Obama can undo them with the stroke of a pen.

A rule eliminating the mandatory, independent advice of government scientists in decisions about whether dams, highways and other projects are likely to harm species looked likely to meet the deadline, leaving the only chance for a quick reversal to Congress.

A Nov. 12 version of the final endangered species rules obtained by The Associated Press has changed little from the original proposal, despite the more than 250,000 comments received since it was first proposed in August.

The rules eliminate the input of federal wildlife scientists in some endangered species cases, allowing the federal agency in charge of building, authorizing or funding a project to determine for itself whether the project is likely to harm endangered wildlife and plants.

Current regulations require independent wildlife biologists to sign off on these decisions before a project can go forward, at times modifying the design to better protect species.

The regulations also bar federal agencies from assessing emissions of the gases blamed for global warming on species and habitats, a tactic environmentalists have tried to use to block new coal-fired power plants. But the Bush administration feels that endangered species laws should not be used to regulate greenhouse gases.

Tina Kreisher, an Interior Department spokeswoman, could not confirm whether the rule would be published before the deadline, saying only that the White House was still reviewing it. She said it was possible more changes could be made.

"We started this; we want to finish this," Kreisher said.

If the rules go into effect before Obama takes office, they will be difficult to overturn since it would require the new administration to restart the rule-making process. Congress, however, could reverse the rules through the Congressional Review Act, a law that allows review of new federal regulations.

It's been used once in the past 12 years, but some Democratic lawmakers have said they may employ it to block the endangered species rules and other last-minute regulations by the Bush administration.

The Huffington Post reports:

The Interior Department rushed to complete the rules in three months over the objections of lawmakers and environmentalists who argued that they would weaken how a landmark conservation law is applied.

A Nov. 12 version of the final rules obtained by the Associated Press has changed little from the original proposal, despite the more than 250,000 comments received since it was first proposed in August.

Birds And Beers Turns Into Birds And Scotch

I've spent the last 48 finally catching up from all my travels: unpacking and cleaning my apartment. Regular blogging should resume soon, I still have a few more Texas entries coming.

It was a wild time at Birds and Beers tonight at Merlin's Rest. We had a good mix of people from regulars to at least one new face. I also brought a bunch of books I've been reading to share with the group.

Some of the excitement surrounded a white-breasted nuthatch foot that I brought along with me. On Saturday, I was filling Mr. Neil's feeders. I noticed the seed storage bin (old garbage can) had the smell of a dead mouse. When I took the seed out, I found a dead nuthatch in the bottom. I think the bird had flown into the garage, somehow made it over to the seed (the lid was off), got stuck against the inside wall of the bin which was too smooth for it to get any good traction and got stuck. I felt incredibly guilty and sad and wonder if we might look into some of the seed storage bins at Credit River?

The nuthatch was most likely banded by Mark and Roger (who periodically band birds at Mr. Neil's and also attend Birds and Beers), so I brought them the foot. I also turned the band number into the Bird Banding Lab website. Above, Roger is handing the foot to Merlin's Rest regular Bill Watkins.

I think we made have weirded him out.

The rest of the birders like Curt from National Camera (in Golden Valley, MN) were wowed by the incredibly tiny toes and insanely long claws of the nuthatch. We're not sure how long ago the nuthatch was banded, Mark and Roger weren't quite sure, but we'll find out soon enough.

The big excitement for the evening came when some of used the bathroom and noticed the sign on the door promoting a visit from Winston a rep for The Glenlivet. The sign mentioned that he would be in a kilt, so after my trip to the bathroom, I sought out a man in a kilt. I found him right away and told him that I periodically fill my Swarovski flask with their 18 year old single malt.

Winston came over to give our group a private tasting! It went from Birds and Beers to Birds and Scotch. We tried the 12, the 15, the Nadurra 16, and the 21. The 15 year old was my favorite, not too heavy and with good spicy taste.

Our group got our photo taken with with Winston of Glenlivet. Above from left to right is most of the Birds and Beers crowd: Gordon, Roger, Curt, me, Winston, Kirk, Adele, Michelle, Mark, Linda, and Diane.

Winston resumed his spot in the bar to continue his single malt scotch tasting, but I snuck back the bottle of 21 year old single malt for some photo shenanigans (no, I would not actually chug that). Nice: a Cape May Bird Observatory shirt and a bottle of scotch--see what birding can drive you to do?

This Birds and Beers lasted to almost 11pm! That's one of the longest. Kirk, Roger, Curt, and I stayed awhile discussing topics from movies, cool environmental education experiences, silly birding mistakes, kids, just the gamut. I've enjoyed all the Birds and Beers, but this one was really great!

Now, I just need to remember to sign up for a Christmas Bird Count.