Birding In Sunset Park, Las Vegas

Well, I don't know how I survived it, but yesterday, my buddy Clay Taylor and I (and my poor husband Non Birding Bill) went to Sunset Park in Las Vegas for a little afternoon birding...in 104 degree heat.  I was a tad moist at the end of it.  I wasn't wearing too many clothes, yet I felt about as soaked as I would working my hives in a full bee suit.

We went for Crissal thrasher who hang around in the mesquite by the administrative building, which we saw but did not digiscope, but we did see tons of Gambel's quail which made NBB hum the Benny Hill theme every time they ran--too cute and too funny.  The quail loved to lurk and watch us from the brush, can't blame them for seeking shade.  As I was getting photos of the above male, something walked into the shot:

Oh, hello there outdoor kitty.  Fortunately for the quail, the cat was more worried about me and the scope than the intended quarry in the brush.  I looked up from my scope and the cat skulked away.

Clay found another critter as I was trying to get this hidden quail.  Can you see signs of another animal in this photo.  Take a quick look above.  See it?  I didn't either and would have missed it had Clay not pointed it out.  I'll give you a hint if you can't see it, the animal part is on the bottom towards the center left...see it?  It's a rabbit ear.

Here I focused on the rabbit.  Look at how crazy long those ears are!  From this angle I thought that it must be some sort of hare, but it seemed to small in the body.

I adjusted my position for a better view and saw that it had more of a rabbit body than a hare body.  I quick look on the internet and I found out that it's a desert cottontail.  Rabbits use those ears for thermal regulation.  Where I live in Minnesota, the cottontails have tiny ears.  If you are in the Vegas desert, you need big ole honkin' hears to deal with the heat.  My non birding hubby was hidden under some shade marveling that Clay and I could bird and digiscope in the heat.  I walked over and told him about the rabbit and asked if he wanted to see it.  He declined but said some small yellow bird was coming down from the trees and feed a few feet away.  I waited and...

...down popped a Wilson's warbler.  How fun to have such a cooperative warbler!  We saw these all over in Guatemala and I see them from time to time during migration in Minnesota, but this guy was so cheerful and perky in the heat.  We also saw a butt load of mourning doves, black-tailed gnatcatchers and verdin.  Not bad for a quick afternoon spot in oppressive heat.

Interview About Twitter

Not sure how it happened, but I was interviewed on Harvard's Radio Berkman about Twitter and how it relates to birds.  You can listen to it here.

Midwest Birding Symposium Bird Blogger Discount

Hey, fellow bird bloggers! The 2009 Midwest Birding Symposium is looking to have bird bloggers come to this HUGE birding event happening in September! They've made special arrangements for WiFi access in the vendor hall and have a number of bird bloggers already coming to the MBS (including myself).

There will be talks about these emerging trends in birding.  Mike Bergin from 10000birds.com will be giving a talk on blogging about birds. Jeff Gordon will be giving a talk about how technology can enhance (not clutter) your birding experience, and there will even be a blogging station set up in South Auditorium for you to share your blog with others.

There's a special Blogger's Discount ($25 off the normal registration fee!) if you are still on the fence about attending 2009 MBS.  Contact editor at birdwatchersdigest dot com ASAP to get the special bird blogger registration form.  What have you got to lose?  Plenty of bird blogging fodder and plenty of celebrity birders will be there.  Also, we can share tips and tricks about the fun of nature blogging.  Check out the list--I'm so excited the oh so dreamy Scott Weidensaul is going to be there!

OpenSky

As a blogger with good regular traffic, you will be approached with all sorts propositions and marketing ideas. Usually, it's amounts to an affiliate link that will get you a 3% interest on products sold--not very enticing. Especially since most people will see a blogger affiliate link and may keep that product in mind, but at the end of the day when the product is purchased, they go to the site directly or google someplace cheaper. However, if you love to blog and like to do it as often as possible, you need to find some way of supplementing your blogging habit and it's not easy to get paid to blog (and have total creative control of your content and own it at the end of the day). It's kind of like trying to find producers and advertisers for tv shows. I was recently approached by a company called OpenSky that asked if I would make videos about birding and products that I personally own and use. They will use the videos to create an online shop and if someone buys the item based on my video, I get a good percentage and at the end of the day--I own my own content that I created.

I am under no obligation to blog about any product I don't like and I can make the videos as educational as I like. So, I'm going to give this a whirl, these will not be infomercial style videos (not like Vince from SlapChop).  Almost everything I post here already involves some birding product (especially all the digiscoping I do or birds that I get at feeders).  So, when I post about woodpeckers feeding on the suet sandwich and I mention that I like it because it's fairly raccoon proof, there might be a link to a video or other information that I made for my OpenSky shop. We're in the process of editing some videos now, they should be popping up soon.

I see this as kind of like the days I managed a wild bird store but I don't have to carry products I don't like. Back then, the motto I gave to all of my employees was, "We are a nature center that happens to sell bird seed.  Information first, sales second."

I promise this blog will not become all ads, but this is just a heads up that if you see OpenSky mentioned, that's my shop.  And if you like the blog and want to support it, you can purchase an item there.  All of the products are ones that I either use at my home, my friend's yards, give to family and friends as gifts for a particular bird issue and have a 100% satisfaction guarantee.  There are some up now and we're hoping to add more soon (especially in the form of shade-grown coffee).

On The Way To Vegas

Don't forget that there is a Birds and Beers this Saturday at 6pm (I'm going to miss it, I'm on my way to Vegas for a project). I'm a bit nervous about this Vegas project.  Non Birding Bill is coming along with his mad film-making skills and he's going to meet WildBird on the Fly and my buddy Clay Taylor.  I prepare for personal Armageddon, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria here as my birding and non birding worlds collide.

Meanwhile, my beloved Fuji FinePix E900 that I use for digiscoping died over the weekend while at the fair.  The final photos were of some disapproving rabbits in the 4H area, I blame them.  I met up with Curt Rawn and Kevin Smith at National Camera Exchange (the one in Golden Valley and the only one to visit in the Twin Cities) to see if they could help me out.  They set me up with a new camera, but it's a digital SLR and not a point and shoot.  I'm not sure I'm ready for this change over.  I love using point and shoots like my old Fuji for digiscoping--they are small (and fit in most pockets) and they can do video.  The Nikon D40 they set me up with is larger, does not do video...but takes really sweet photos.  I have 30 days to decide if I like it.

Speaking of National Camera, this weekend is their big tent sale, be sure to stop in for some great deals.

I tried out the set up this morning on one of my ranger walks (I love days like today--this morning I'm in Minnesota in full ranger uniform, tonight I'll be in Las Vegas...wearing considerably less...because of the heat).  I got a couple of shots on the fly of a green heron:

This was taken through some grasses so this image is kind of cloudy...my goodness is the camera responsive!  I like that, I have to look through an actual view finder and not the viewing screen, I like that too.  I think where I'm going to miss the point and shoot is going to be taking video.  I can take a video camera with me, but it's always nice to have it in the same camera body...and yes, I know I can get a DSLR with a video camera included...but I don't have that kind of money at the moment.

Check it out, the green heron went from crouch to stretch--almost doesn't look like the same species of bird!  Well, we'll give the camera a go this weekend and see if I like it.  The awesome thing about National Camera is that I have 30 days to decide whether or not I like it.  I think I'll know by the end of this weekend.

Indigo Bunting At The Finch Feeder

I was walking by the kitchen window when a glimpse of blue caught my eye on the finch feeder.  Among the oodles of goldfinches was a male indigo bunting.  I'm not sure why, but he is usually a cagey little fella.  When I see him at the feeders, any movement causes him to take off in a panic.  You would think the other birds chilled out at the feeder would help him keep his cool.  I pressed myself against the refrigerator to try and blend my shape to get some photos of him. I even tried video and you can see in the video for the first few minutes, he is very suspicious.  He takes a few pecks, but then keeps a hairy eyeball in my direction, eventually, he gets a better perch (at least for me and filming):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf2NcClecX0[/youtube]

He stayed for a few minutes this time, rather than me catching a streak of blue fleeing the feeder at meteorite speed as I walk by a window.

I love this time of year--a male indigo bunting next to a male American goldfinch.  There was also a male purple finch bebopping around, but couldn't work him into the shot.

Here's a bit more bunting for your viewing pleasure:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_ZGlDYrn4s[/youtube]

Bees In A Bell Jar

Lorraine and I headed out to the county fair to get photos of our award winning honey. On the right is our very light extracted honey and our comb honey. Some people came by and took a look our stuff, we puffed up bigger than prairie chickens on a lek--just overwhelmed with pride in our girls.

And to show you what a swanky affair the county fair can be, check out the entertainment: The Hypno Cowboy...it reads on his flyer that he is certified...where does one go to be certified as a hypno cowboy?

A week ago, Mr. Neil added a bell jar to one of our hives.  The idea is based on this website, to get the bees to make some cool looking comb inside the glass jar.  At first he just put in the jar, but then after looking at the photos, decided to add some strips of foundation to get the bees started.  We covered with an empty brood box to shade and keep it dark (bees like it in the dark). Lorraine and I checked it over the weekend and discovered that things are running a bit amok in the bell jar.  Part of it is that the wax foundation has melted off in a few places.

Some of the strips were on the ground and the bees appeared to be drawing out comb there...I'm not sure how this is going to work having comb all over the ceiling.

One of the very cool things about the bell jar is that it gives you a chance to see the underside of the bees--look at that little bee tummy in all its furry glory--I just want to tickle it!  It was challenging to get photos, the girls were running around very fast and the bell jar's imperfections made it hard to focus.

As they were running around, I noticed quite a few of the girls were carrying wax in their mandibles.  Note the bee in the lower right corner--she's blurry, but she definitely has wax in her mouth--a view of active comb construction that I've never seen before.  Since they were crawling on the glass, I thought, "Cool, they're drawing out comb on the sides anyway.  Then I noticed a bee running around with a "circle" of wax.

As a matter of fact, it was the perfect shape to match that hole in the foundation above.  I began to suspect that the bees may not have been drawing out comb on the foundation left on the sides of the bell jar, but were taking that wax away and reallocating it inside the hive.  Bees produce wax from glands on their body, down along the segments on the lower part of their body.  They secret and work it with the mandibles and add it for making comb.

As I watched the bees working the the wax with their mandibles, I was trying to determine if they were removing wax or adding it in...not an easy feat with hundreds of bees running around in various directions in a bell jar.  As I watched, I noticed that I could hear a sound coming from the bell jar...a crackly kind of sound...a sound like mandibles snapping on wax.  I tried to get a video of the sound.  If you use headphones listening to the video below, you can kind of hear the sound I'm talking about.  At about 29 seconds, there's a bee on the right side of the foundation, removing a piece of the wax foundation, she'll walk around to the other side and you will see her with the wax bit in her mouth.  At a 1:04, you'll see series of bees crawling on the glass in the right side with pieces of wax in their mandibles too.  Here it is:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXa7esVXRnk[/youtube]

So, I'm not sure what's going to happen with the bell jar bees.  I'm not too worried, we have hives producing honey for jars and comb honey, and hives working to fill their stores for winter and mostly happy bees.  We'll see what happens over the next month.

Whatever happens, it's been an incredible view of watching them work.

Next Birds And Beers

The next Birds and Beers will be August 15, 2009 at 6pm at Merlin’s Rest.  This will be a special Birds and Beers held in conjunction with a group called Birders Who Blog, Tweet, and Chirp (aka birders who write a blog, have a Twitter account, or ChirpTracker account) run by Dawn’s Bloggy Blog. As always, Birds and Beers is an open event to anyone remotely interested in birds, so if you do not have a blog, Twitter account or ChirpTracker account, you are of course welcome to Birds and Beers, the only requirement is that you have an interest in birds. The first part of the day will be spent at Carver Park banding birds with my buddies (and Birds and Beers regulars Mark Newstrom and Roger Everhart). You'll have your choice of watching the banding are checking out the fabulous trails at the park and meet some fun bird bloggers. Keep an eye open to Hasty Brook for details on the BWBTC end of things.

That night at 6pm will be a 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, share some digiscoping tips, promote your blog–the sky is the limit. It’s low key and it’s fun.

I alas will not be able to attend which I'm sad to miss a birder gathering.  I've had a most unexpected opportunity come up and it's a gamble, but it all pans out, it will be pretty cool.  It's still somewhat up in the air though, so I don't want to jinx it by talking about it.

Aberrant Plumaged Goldfinch

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzESPoTl_LU[/youtube] That odd little American goldfinch is still hanging around, he showed up this morning on my sunflower feeder while I was making breakfast and I tried to grab a quick video (apologize for the Wayne Newton in the background).  I don't think that cap is ever going to grow in, it's almost time for the male goldfinches to return to their winter plumage.  I wonder if he will stick out in his winter plumage?

Filling The Feeders

This is the one time of year that my oh so trendy neighborhood goes insane. I live in an area of Minneapolis where people go for funky restaurants or to get pierced and tattooed.  It's a fun place to live...apart from this weekend--we have there's a huge art fair and a local pizza joint closes down our street for a block party. Fun events...unless they are in your backyard. It's even worse this year because one of the main streets is under construction so parking is already next to impossible. So, rather than sitting at home fuming about how the hippies and their late night drum circles are giving me writer's block, I am keeping Cabal company this weekend and Saturday Lorraine and I will head out to the fair to admire our blue ribbons on our honey.

When I arrived, I filled some of the feeders--the hummingbird activity has really increased in the last week, August is the best time to feed hummingbirds up here. The young are fledging and the adults need to bulk up for the coming migration.  As I crouched on the ground filling the HummZinger with home made nectar, I could hear impatient buzzing above my head, they were circling me like coked up vultures, anxious for fresh nectar in the feeder.

As I was topping off the feeders, Cabal was having a stare down with the gutter. Something inside was taunting him and it was his duty to rid the metal tubing of the small furry creature inside. As he would focus and salivate, occasional chitters echoed from inside, causing him to twitch with excitement. He slapped the metal a few times but the creature would not budge.

It set my camera at the opening of the the gutter and got a shot of Cabal's tormentor--a chipmunk.  All it took was for Cabal to be momentarily distracted by some other aroma carried on the wind and the chipmunk beat a hasty escape, ready to baffle the pooch another day.