Birdchick Podcast - Dead Deer, Bent & FLAP

March 11, 2011

This has to be a Friday podcast because it got a bit weird! Non Birding Bill was not prepared for the talk of dead deer. Here are links to some of the subjects: Arthur Cleveland Bent

FLAP - Slide show at the Royal Ontario Museum and lawsuit.

Valmont Owl Cam check out the live shots. Here's a video of crows mobbing the owls.

Twin Cities Naturalist blog entry of a great horned owl visiting their deer carcass...and taking off with a leg.

Junior Duck Stamp contest.

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Uptown Great Horneds Still Around

March 10, 2011

The Crossley Birds and Beers was a blast. He was a fun interview and a blast after his talk--I think we closed the bar. If you would like to find out if Richard Crossley is coming to your town, check his site.

The great horneds near my home continue to incubate. It had been awhile since I took my scope and camera to the owls so I took them out yesterday. Even for a week day, several people passed beneath. The keep an eye on the passers by but otherwise stay still.

Once again, the male was right over the main walkway. In this photo he's looking down on a dad and his toddler son who had no idea they were walking right under a very large owl. This also leads me to wonder yet again--how many owls do I walk past on a regular basis. I'm willing to bet that the number is very high.

Birdchick Podcast 03-09-11

March 9, 2011

In today's podcast we speak to Richard Crossley of the new Crossley ID Guide to Eastern Birds (he also was part of one of the best shorebird books ever--The Shorebird Guide). We have our first winner for the join the ABA challenge! Norm Jensen wins honey from our beehives! Email proof you joined since we first put of the challenge (email confirmation from the ABA will do) and we'll send you some sort of prize. Here's a link to the blog article of what kind of bird are you?

And if you missed it yesterday, here is the link to the oldest living bird according to North American Banding records--a Laysan albatross that is over 60!

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[audio src="http://media.blubrry.com/birdchick/p/birdchick.com/wp/podcast/birdchick-podcast-9.mp3"]

Laysan Albatross Is The Oldest Living Wild Bird #birding #birds

March 8, 2011

And she's still raising chicks!

That's right. According to bird banding records, a Laysan albatross on the Midway Atoll is now officially the oldest living (and breeding birds) in the wild! She's at least 60, but most likely older than that, since she was already breeding when she was initially banded. According to the press release from USGS:

"A Laysan albatross named Wisdom, is at least 60 years old and was spotted in February 2011 raising a chick at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific Islands. The bird has sported and worn out 5 bird bands since she was first banded by U.S. Geological Survey scientist Chandler Robbins in 1956 as she incubated an egg. Robbins estimated Wisdom to be at least 5 years old then since this is the earliest age at which these birds breed, though they more typically breed at 8 or 9 after an involved courtship lasting several years. This means, of course, that Wisdom is more likely to be in her early sixties."

When you think about all the hazards that face albatross from ingesting plastic and lead to the sheer amount of energy and distance they travel when not breeding, this is amazing. Here's the current list of the top ten longevity records according to bird banding studies. Interesting to note the the oldest birds tend to be fish eaters.

Crazy Amounts of Snow Geese

March 8, 2011

Check out this US Fish and Wildlife video about water management for spring migration. Crazy amounts of snow geese in this! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT9mieYWymg[/youtube]

Apparently this link was broken yesterday, it's fixed now. If you can, go directly to YouTube and watch it in HD.

Eagles Fighting Over Carp

March 7, 2011

I spent the weekend at The National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN as a Swarovski Field Tek for a new company called Big River Optics who sells binoculars and spotting scopes through the Center. I'll be there next Saturday and the following weekend (when we have a Birds and Beers) answering questions about digiscoping, binoculars and scopes. Also, if you have Swarovski binoculars or a scope and would like a pro cleaning (similar to what they would do at the Swarovski headquarters) or if you need a minor eye cup adjustment, I'll be there to do that too. Stop in and say, "Hi!" It's not a bad way to spend the weekend--along the Upper Mississippi River watching bald eagles (like the above immature) float by.

We did get to watch some eagles squabble over a carp, right across the river from the Eagle Center. An immature bald eagle got a huge carp and an adult came in to take over. Other immatures came in to see if they could snatch a few morsels or the fish.

The adult was very intimidating to the younger birds. As it would chase off one immature eagle, another would try to sneak in to claim the fish.

The immature eagle on the right almost had the fish when the adult charged it.

I love the eagle on the gound on the left. It's as if the bird is say, "Oh crap, this just got real, I'm gettin' out of the way!"

The adult appears to have won the stand off with that particular immature.

Alas, the adult's charge was full on and it tried too late to put on the brakes. It slid right off the ice and into the water. Above, it's just about to go in.

It managed to turn around and get out quickly. I missed that shot and this picture of it getting out is blurry. Still, not a bad behavior capture for something on the other side of a river from where I was standing.

The adult was the overall winner of the carp. A few of the immature were able to sneak in and get a few tidbits, but the adult ate the most. It didn't have an easy time of it. Below is a video and in the first part, an immature slams it from above. You'll know when it's about to happen because the birds on the right look up and see it coming. And watch how the eagles run around on the ice...it's hard to take them as majestic when they run like that.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1FTyksKEJE[/youtube]

Birdchick Podcast 03-07-2011

March 7, 2011

Here are links to topics we covered:

Kabuki, the cockatiel you might hear in the background of the podcast.

New Species of storm petrel

Yorkshire home for bank nesting birds (like kingfishers)

Eagle with a "beak job"

Birds Eye Android App

Join the ABA!

National Eagle Center

Birds and Beers

You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes.

[audio src="http://media.blubrry.com/birdchick/p/birdchick.com/wp/podcast/birdchick-podcast-8.mp3"]

What's An Uptown Owl Eating?

March 4, 2011

I mentioned earlier that there's a great horned owl pair nesting near my apartment in the Uptown area of Minneapolis. I love that we have such a large bird that is able to hide really well in such an urban area. Also, the distance that this owl is from my home, makes for a nice walk and a good incentive to get out and keep exercising in freezing weather so my biking muscles don't completely atrophy. I digiscoped this photo from the first day I saw the pair nesting, I don't always take my scope and camera. One, walking through urban neighborhoods with that equipment makes home owners uneasy and can lead to police calls. Two, I don't want to aim my scope every day at the owls and the nest to draw further attention and make them uneasy.

As I neared the area for the nest, I scanned the trees for the male. Some crows found him, they were cawing like crazy, but I didn't see him. When the crows saw me, the they took off. I got to point where I found an area in the snow covered in owl poop and pellets (I took the above photo with my phone since I didn't have my camera). Owls (like many predatory birds) cannot digest everything they eat and will regurgitate a pellet of fur and bones of what they couldn't digest from their prey. Owl pellets are fun to dissect because the bones give clues to what they've been eating. You generally do not find bones in hawk pellets because they tend to rip meat off of bones rather than swallow it whole and they have stronger digestive acids and the bones can break down.

Like Indiana Jones at an artifact, I carefully dislodged the large pellets from the snow. It suddenly occurred to me that where you see owl pellets and poop, the owl is generally overhead--at least, that's what I often tell people and have only found that to be true a couple of times. I looked up and was so mad I didn't have my camera. There was the male, directly over my head, about 20 feet up. He stared down at me and was totally giving me the hairy eyeball...or would that be the feathery eyeball in a bird's case? I quickly gathered the pellets and went on my way. The owl never moved and is clearly accustomed to human activity.

Here are the pellets that I picked up. I set a lime beside them to give an idea of size. Two pellets were very dark and one was light gray. I suspected right away that the pellet with the light gray fur was from a gray squirrel, since most of the mammal tracks in the snow around the nest are squirrel...and the female owl appears to be using an old squirrel nest for her nest.

The bones in these pellets are considerably larger than what you find from a pellet that you purchase. Those are usually from zoos and wildlife rehab centers where the birds pretty much eat mice all day. This particular prey item was so large that the great horned owl couldn't swallow it hole and broke apart bones. I think that's a rib bone up there and compared to the lime, that's a good size animal.

There were several pieces of vertebrae in the darker pellets. I circled it in the above photo. I puzzled over how to tell a rabbit spine from a squirrel spine. I tried to crowd source that information on Twitter and got the following gems from the following Twitter users:

@ADruglis suggested: "Use a mass spectrometer to measure the ratio of calcium to disapproval in the bone."

Nice Disapproving Rabbits ref!

@ODN_Editor offered: "Any Easter egg shells mixed in? That's a dead giveaway."

Thanks.

@UppieSand said: "easy. Squirrels actually have them. Jk ;)"

Since Twitter was proving humorous rather than helpful, I went back to study the pellets. I determined already that the lighter gray pellet was gray squirrel, I took to examining the fur of the dark pellet.

The fur was multicolored, dark, then brownish, then dark. That was familiar...where have I seen that fur before? Then it hit me: eastern cottontail. I puzzled for a moment that it might be gray squirrel, the tail can have that color, but a raptor isn't really interested in eating squirrel tail. It's mostly fur and bone--very little meat, why bother?

What was most interesting to me about all three pellets was that there were no small mammal remains in there, no mice, no voles, it was all big stuff. I'll be curious to see if we can find other prey items in future pellets. In the meantime, Uptown rabbits and squirrels, beware.