North Miss. Heron Rookery is gone.

Sharon's asked me to post a quick note while she's on the scene. After our recent tornado(es) in Minneapolis, the North Miss. Heron Rookery is gone. Also, they have no phone service in the area. More later.

Random Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's hawk and its eternal question: Can I eat that?

Deer Eats A Baby Bird

Yikes, this video may not be for the squeamish.  It's not bloody but there's no doubt what this deer does.  They're not just herbivores. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQOQdBLHrLk&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Thank you, Matt, for sending this...I think.

Random Solitary Sandpiper

Solitary sandpiper lurking around Mr. Neil's creek.

Sweet #Birding Camps For Kids

The American Birding Association still has space left for kids on their cool camps this summer...if they'd allow adults who act like kids, I'd LOVE to go on one of these.  Check 'em out and if you know a kids who would love to do this, try to help get them there: Project Puffin Hog Island Audubon Camp: Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens Jun 19-24, 2011 Audubon's venerable camp in coastal Maine, now co-sponsored with ABA, includes field identification, bird song recognition, conservation practices, and the opportunity to observe Audubon's seabird conservation field research.

ABA Young Birder Camp Colorado June 25-July 2, 2011 This repeat of last year's wildly successful camp will feature Jennie Duberstein, Bill Schmoker, and Liz Gordon as new counselors and incredible field trips from mountains to plains with Colorado experts like Birding editor Ted Floyd and Winging It editor Bill Maynard.

ABA Young Birder Camp Lower Rio Grande Valley July 9-16, 2011 This year's traveling camp takes us to the Texas tropics with field trips from Zapata to South Padre Island, all along the Rio Grande. Known to birders (and butterfliers) worldwide, "the Valley" offers incredible species diversity with camp programs and field trips hosted by some of the best known regional experts.

Victor Emanuel Nature Tours' Camp Tejano Jul 8-20, 2011 This ABA co-sponsored camp offers a unique summer program centered on the wildlife-rich ecosystems of the Texas Hill Country, Big Bend National Park and the Davis Mountains.

Seattle Audubon Society's Cascades Bird Banding Camp Aug 15-19, 2011 This co-sponsored camp will focus on the basics of net placement, extraction & handling, aging & sexing, with special emphasis on molt to age birds.

Visit the ABA site for camp contact details.

Oh Snap!

I think this is something Non Birding Bill and I will address on the next podcast but check out this photo that Paul Baicich sent out to a listserv intended for promoting the Duck Stamp to birders.  He wrote that it was seen in northwest Ohio during the "Biggest Week in American Birding" along State Route 2, west of Ottawa NWR and a few miles from Magee Marsh WA.

Baby Owls Branching Out

I'm in the midst of my busies month.  If I'm not at the National Park Service engaged in ranger work, I'm on the road at a bird festival, birding the crap out of whatever state I'm in.  It's a horrific schedule but it's loads of fun.  And at the end of the month of May, I get a weekend off to celebrate my wedding anniversary with Non Birding Bill (we'll be on year lucky 13--boy, why did I think it would be a good idea to get married in May?). A friend of mine who is new to birding asked if I'd like to go out next week.  My first answer was that I was too busy.  But then I saw on Tuesday that it was supposed to be 80 degrees and I just couldn't say no.  So we did some birding near my apartment.  It's warbler season and they are dripping off the trees.  The few days I was home, I had a golden-winged warbler outside my bedroom window ever morning!

I showed him the owl nest and boy the two young owls were panting like crazy.  Birds don't sweat like humans and pant like dogs when their hot.  The young owls still have some of their thick down that protects them in snow storms when they hatch earlier.  Doesn't it look like it's saying, "Oh man, I'm so hot, ugh."

I didn't see either adult and figured that since the young were so large, they were tucked in a nearby conifer for shade from the warm sun.  As I looked at the nest from this angle, I realized how trashed it is.  Check out these photos from an earlier entry when the female was still incubating.  Note how the nest material was all the way to to the stick.  In the above photo, it's well below that now.  I thought to myself that these owls have to be in the brancher phase.  That's when they are still downy but their feet are very strong and they begin to venture out of the nest.  The young birds can even be blown out of the tree, yet their feet are strong enough to enable them to climb back up.

It looks like they have some feather development on their wings and back.  I got confirmation on this a few days later from another nearby resident who has been watching the nest and he confirmed that babies had crawled out and were on branches 10 feet from the nest.  Our little guys grow up so fast.

Year of the Sora

Someone asked on Twitter if this was the year of the sora because the seem to be EVERYWHERE.

This is a sora that was very cooperative at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge.  I took this before I left for Horicon. I was walking by the Bass Ponds and I could hear several soras when I noticed this bird out and about in the open, not skulking among the vegetation like most soras do.

Here is where the sora was in relation to my scope.  Here's what the sora sounds like.  Here are some more calls on the Cornell All About Birds page.

Horicon Marsh was loaded with them too.  I didn't get any photos of the little water chicken, but I heard them every stop I made that had any sore of marsh.  Right now I'm in Utah for the Great Salt Lake Bird Festival.  When I arrived, I went straight from the airport for some birding at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and it was sora city there as well.  I don't remember hearing so many soras all the time--I'll take it.  Must mean they found some great breeding habitat and great places to over winter the last few years.

They eat vegetation and invertebrates.  This bird was too fast for me to capture it, but I watched it down a few small snails including shell.  I wondered if this was a female, snail shells provide calcium for egg laying.

Those these birds are timid, the curve of the beak always gives them a contented look.

Keep your eyes and ears open for these mysterious little water chickens.

Redhead Shenanigans

This is a pair of redheads (a type of duck) seen during last weekend's Horicon Marsh Bird Festival.  Horicon Marsh is over 33,000 acres in size and at first glance it may appear to be managed for Canada geese and muskrats, but redheads are one of the main targets for optimizing habitat.

If you are not familiar with any other duck but mallards, you should really get to know the redhead.  Rather than the usual green head of male mallards, they have a gorgeous rusty red head.  And they don't quack...they kind of sound like crows that have swallowed helium--what's not to love?

Check out the above photo, that is some serious redhead flirting going on--that kind of "my head is higher than your head" posture.  Don't worry if you are reading this at work, that's not the hardcore flirting.  For that they completely throw their heads back.

Here's an example of a couple of male redheads competing for the attention of a female.  I love this look of who can raise their head the highest in the above photo.  For some reason, it reminds me of Kanye West.

But then things can get heated between 2 males.  Note how the female is observing the fight.

The redhead with 2 backs! (How many times am I going to make that joke this week?).  Two males duking it out.

Oh no, redhead body slam!   Again, note how the female is watching with a discernible eye.

Oh no, redhead chase!

Uh oh, is that a redhead goose?  Is that allowed?

Oh man, that is a total redhead goosing.

All part of the mating shenanigans you can see at Horicon Marsh!

Why I Shouldn't Go Birding Without Coffee

Last week, before I headed to Horicon Marsh, I stopped at Mr. Neil's house to check our bees and some warbler watching.  The plan was to check the bees Thursday afternoon, spend the night, bird in the morning and then hit the road to Horicon.  Being British, there's not a lot of coffee around the house.  I thought this would be a good motivator--if bird watching is awesome, I will linger and be late.  If I don't have coffee, the withdrawal will force me on the road.  The birding was awesome and one of the things I did was check out a red-tailed hawk nest that's across a ravine from the house.  The leaves were quite out and if I positioned my scope in just the right way, I could look directly into the nest:

That's the nest visible through my spotting scope.  It looks like the female has a fairly light head.  The male has been very vocal chasing anyone who dares cruise through his patch of sky.  Thanks to his vocal and merry chases, I've discovered that a red-shouldered hawk sometimes glides through (new hawk for Neil's yard).  To give you an idea of how well hidden the nest is, here is where my scope is aimed:

Here is an arrow for guidance:

Neil's house is on top of a ravine, down below is a creek and the red-tailed hawk nest is in a tall pine on the other side. Since the nest is a challenge to actually get in the scope, I left it set up there while I gathered my things and repacked them in the car.  I showed groundskeeper and the housekeeper the nest and continued gathering my stuff.

When I was about about an hour of away from Horicon, I received a call from Neil, "I was just looking through your scope that you have set up on the nest, it's lovely.  But don't you need this for the festival."

I pulled over and realized my error and shouted a loud, "BLERG!"  Figuring that shipping it overnight it would be impossible, I decided to drive back.  Neil's assistant Lorraine gave the groundskeeper her car and he drove and met me halfway--which was quite nice as he had plans to go the opening of Thor that day.  But thanks to all, I got the scope and made it to the festival and learned that coffee is a good thing for me to have when birding in the morning.

Sometimes I think it takes a village to manage a Birdchick.