Big Year Screening & Swarovski Optik

Okay folks, it's almost time for the Big Year and Birds and Beers!  Call the showplace icon and get tickets ahead of time to ensure a seat.  The number is 1-800-326-3264 and you want the Midnight VIP screening of The Big Year.

Showplace Icon is going to offer a special midnight screen Friday morning at MIDNIGHT (so you’ll need to plan to stay up late Thursday, October 13!).  There are even going to be prizes—Swarovski Optik is coming and everyone who comes to VIP event is entered into a drawing to win their prize.  Rumor has it that it's the new CL 10x30s.

I'll have some other prizes too and I’ll be there at about 10:30pm to have a drink and socialize–there’s a bar in the Icon below the theater and then carry on the fun above.

Don't tell me this is too late of an evening for you to do--really nice binoculars are on the line.  Also, I'm doing bird surveys all week (we're talking 10 - 11 hour days) and I have to go to a meeting on Friday.  This is why we have things like shade-grown coffee and Red Bull.

Golden Eagle vs Chukar

I can't believe I forgot about these photos.  While cleaning out my iPhoto cache today I came across a picture of a chukar at Antelope Island in Utah.

Okay, so it's a very mediocre photo of a chukar.  I was driving around, just taking photos of anything when I tried to get a shot of this chukar.  They are all over the island and I always end up seeing them on the sides of roads or in parking lots. They also have a knack for scurrying in to grass or brush as soon as a lens is aimed at them.  Less than a minute after I got this photo, the chukar dove into the grass. I told myself to look up and about 10 feet above my rental car windshield was a golden eagle.

I wasn't able to get a camera on the golden until it was well past, it moving moving fast!  Scott Mehus at The National Eagle center says that if you see turkeys running like a bat out of hell from a field near a goat prairie around Wabasha, MN, chances are good there's a gold eagle overhead.  The golden made a dive for the chukar and missed it, but boy, what a treat to have right in front of the car.

After that I got bonus time of watching the golden eagle circle on thermals coming off the bluffs on Antelope Island. It was great to be able to see the golden hackle feathers (the feathers on the back of the head).

Pelican Yawn

If you're a fish or crawfish, this is a terrifying site.  Especially because American white pelicans will cooperatively hunt fish in the water.

Birds & Beers Big Year Edition!! Midnight Showing

Breaking NEWS: We have a special Birds and Beers next week!!

The next Birds and Beers is a special screening of The Big Year Movie opening! Showplace Icon is going to offer a special midnight screen Friday morning at MIDNIGHT (so you'll need to plan to stay up late Thursday, October 13! 

Tickets will go on sale Monday, October 10 and we may even have a few surprises to give away at the screening.  I'll be there at about 10:30pm to have a drink and socialize--there's a bar in the Icon below the theater and then carry on the fun above.

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.

To get updates on when the next Birds and Beers will be, become a fan of Birds and Beers on Facebook and when a new event it planned, you’ll get a notification.  Or check back here.

The Answer To My Bovine Fears When Doing Bird Surveys

Thanks to Curt Rawn for finding this link.  I totally need this on some of my bird surveys. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA-ST8nXl4U[/youtube]

Bison & Lazuli Buntings

For some reason, buntings are a hard bird for me to get.  Both painted buntings and lazuli buntings were always fluttering out of sight just before I would arrive to see one.  A common phrase, "Oh a whole flock just flew past here like five minutes ago." I finally got painted a couple of years ago in Florida but the lazuli seemed intent on pouring salt on my wounds.  When we went to Las Vegas to make bird videos, Non Birding Bill saw one and when he pointed it out, the lazuli bunting flew away and all I saw was a small bird flashing blue.  Gr.

When I was at the Great Salt Lake Bird Festival this past spring, word on the street was that a flock of lazulis were hanging out at feeding station near the barn on Antelope Island State Park.  I consulted Bill Thompson about this and he gave good directions.  I had a tough time finding the exact location of the feeder, it was sort of hidden away in some trees.  There was the above bison pen nearby but the beast was fenced up so I could keep my ungulate phobia in check.  I was getting the old ungulate stare down though.  That's right, bison, I'm just going about my birding business, you stay there.

The feeders were absolutely dead.  There was a sprinkler nearby and some birds were using the water source.  I decided to stake myself out among some bushes, set up my scope and camera and hope for the best.  I figured that this would be another opportunity to NOT see a lazuli and concentrated on the few birds that did come in like the above white-crowned sparrow.  Suddenly, a large flock of pine siskins descended on the feeder and I aimed my digiscoping set up on them.  The feeder was in the shade and it wasn't easy to get photos, but digiscoping passed the time as I waited for a lazuli.

And then magically among the siskins was a lazuli bunting! As soon as I got this shot it took off.  As it flew, I heard chip notes and then the same chip notes from other buntings in the trees above me.  More were around and I'm sure this little migratory flock couldn't resist coming down to this food source.  So I waited.

And in about 10 minutes, a flock of lazuli buntings were on the ground.  It was a challenge getting any photos because the birds were in the shade and my camera didn't want to give me the shutter speed I needed.  So I played around and used the timer.

And I did manage to get some fun shots.  Note the tiny white millet seed on the tip of the beak of this male?  Most birding feeding guides say to not use millet or at least not very much, but colorful buntings are one of the few species of birds that really, really like it and it's worth having a bit in your seed mixes during the spring and fall migration.

As I was living la vie da lazuli, I suddenly heard a heavy "thump, thump, thump" and it sounded like an ungulate in full trot mode right behind me.  I turned around to the sound and discovered...

The bison that was in the first photo of this post was now very much out of the pen and trotting around behind me.  It started trotting right at me, then turned and went the opposite direction.  I tried to take a shot as it headed towards the left of the barn (you know, one of those last known photos they could find in my trampled camera next to my trampled body). The bison pretty much went in the direction I needed to go in order to get back to my car.  I stayed where I was, heart pounding and recalled the video of the woman who got charged by a bison because her idiot brother-in-law threw a stick at it to get his attention. I wouldn't do anything like that, but what if I inadvertently startled it?  I've said it before and I'll say it again--large ungulates make me nervous and I really don't think my Sand People technique of startling cows would work well with a bison. They are unpredictable and it's really just a matter of time until they realize how big they are and stampede the heck out of me.  I went back into the trees to stay out of the bison's line of vision and debated with myself on how to get out with a rogue bison on the loose.  I soon saw one of the Antelope Island rangers and went up to here, "Uh, your bison is on the loose!"

I was also going to ask for a ranger escort back to my car but she said, "Oh yeah, he's fine, it's feeding time."

I was not going to get a ranger escort back to my car. They have signs all over this island that read, "Stay away from bison" and so I found her mellow attitude about the loose animal unnerving but I also realized that I have a larger fear of bison than most and decided to man up and walk myself back to the car.  I didn't encounter that particular animal...but...

...my bison encounter was not over.  Bison roam this island and on the road back to the exit, a small herd was grazing along the side.  I slowed and the bison  decided to cross.  I had to get a shot of how close this one was to the road--see the mirror of my rental car on the right hand side?  I slowly drove past, the bison watched me and I assumed the sort of upright posture most drivers do when passing a police or sheriff's car that says, "No, sir, I'm not speeding, I'm a good citizen."

Small price to pay I guess for finally getting my lifer lazuli bunting.

Merlin vs Red-bellied Woodpecker

Non Birding Bill and I were over at Mr. Neil's to do some fall beehive prep (for those who follow, the bees seemed to take my Ned Stark speech well and all but one of the hives actually bumped up production).  After we finished checking the hives we were back in the house surfing the net, dealing with emails when I heard a heard a sound. "Distressed woodpecker sound," my brain noted as I read an email. Then my brain kicked me, "DISTRESSED WOODPECKER SOUND! RAPTOR! ALL HANDS ON DECK!"

Then it sunk in--"Holy cow, look out the window, stupid!"  I turned to look out the window and saw a small raptor gliding away with a red-bellied woodpecker.  I figured the raptor was most likely a male Cooper's hawk or a female sharp-shinned hawk--both a fairly regular bird in Mr. Neil's yard, especially during migration.  I dashed to the front room and was shocked to see...

...a small dark falcon killing a large woodpecker.  "Holy crap! It's a merlin," I shouted...well, I'm sure there was more profanity than that but you get the idea.  Falcons have a notch in their bill that they use to sever the spine from the head and kill prey fairly quickly.  The merlin went in for a bite, but she had to go in for a second to really put the woodpecker out.  While she did that, I scrambled off for my digiscoping equipment.

Look at that face!  She's so adorable--Nature's Perfect Killing Machine! You can even make out those little malar stripes under each eye that all falcons have! I digiscoped this photo of her after she killed the woodpecker. It's not as in focus as I would like, but I was shooting through an old farmhouse window and my scope picks up imperfections in window glass.  I didn't want to open the window because this small falcon had worked hard for her kill and I didn't want to risk flushing her off her food.  This is the first time I've seen a merlin in Mr. Neil's yard.  This bird is possible for the area, but mostly as a migrant.  If she was on a long journey to migrate south, she needed a good hearty meal and my need to get a perfectly in focus shot was not as important as her need to get nourishment.

She was fairly close to the driveway with her kill and I noticed a car coming down.  She mantled a bit over her kill but didn't fly away from it.  I heard voices and noted that Non Birding Bill, Mr. Neil and the newly arrived Steve Manfred hadn't followed me into the front room to watch the merlin.  I shouted, "Hey, you guys really need to come see this, this is a really cool bird!"  Again, the "really" in the previous sentence was most likely profanity.  They soon followed and had to concede a merlin with a red-belly was pretty badass.  Cameras started clicking and both Neil and I got photos.  I immediately called this bird a "she" and Neil asked why.  First, in raptors females are larger than males. Based on this bird taking out a red-bellied woodpecker I knew she was female.  Now, merlins are one of the few raptor species where you can tell male from female apart based on plumage.  Females are brown on back and males are blue:

These are a couple of males that we trapped up at Frank Taylor's banding station in Duluth.  See the blue on the wing feathers?  That's male.  This gets tricky in young birds.  Merlins hatched this year will be brown on back--both male and female.  That's where size comes in handy.

Here's a shot that Mr. Neil took of the merlin.  Note how all the feathers on the back are uniform?  They all look like they grew in at the same time--that's something you would only see in a bird hatched this year.  Adults would still have some molting going on and you'd see worn, older feathers mixed in that would be a slightly different color.  The tail has some light colored bands through it.  The look tawny or buff.  If this were a male, those bands would look gray.  Again, females are larger than males and this small falcon took out a red-bellied woodpecker--it's large, she's female.

This is another shot Mr. Neil got with his camera. I had to chuckle because the woodpecker looks almost "cartoon dead."  See the tongue hanging out of the beak?  The only thing missing is the little "X" over the eye.  Note the size of the red-bellied woodpecker next to the merlin--I've had both in hand and always thought of them to be similar in size.  I decided to do a little digging on the Internet on merlin size vs red-bellied woodpecker size.

According to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds red-bellied woodpeckers are about 9.4 inches long, have a wingspan of 13 - 16.5 inches and weigh about 3 oz.

Merlins are 9.4 - 11.8 inches in length, have a wingspan of 20.9–26.8 inches and weigh 5.6 - 8.5 oz.  Figure that the smaller numbers are males and the larger numbers are females.

So according to Cornell, a male merlin could be about as long as a red-bellied woodpecker.  This is another photo taken by Mr. Neil from the second level of his house.  Here you can see that the merlin is larger than the woodpecker, again identifying her as female.  What was interesting was that most of the birds left her alone.  There was some mobbing noise from a hairy woodpecker and goldfinches, but no blue jays came in to scold. A few crows did and the merlin did not like that at all.

She stopped eating and watched them.  The crows didn't caw like crazy at her like they would an owl or larger hawk. They cawed but not as frantic, as if not wanting to provoke her but let each other know, hey Nature's Perfect Killing Machine Down here.  I've seen merlins chase the heck out crows and even heard of accounts of merlins killing crows to take over a nest site.  They will go for something larger than they are and if any small raptor is capable of getting the job done, it's a merlin.  She watched them for several minutes and then to my surprise, took off with the woodpecker in her talons and dove at the crows.  I watched her bank to some trees and tried to go out to follow where she landed to eat but lost her completely. 

I had hoped if I found her that I could see the woodpecker carcass she finished eating to see if the woodpecker was banded.  Sometimes friends of mine come out to band birds here and have ringed a few red-bellies.  It would have been to fun to have that as a banding record.  If the woodpecker was banded we would had an idea of her age and a notation of the really interesting way to die.  I mean, getting killed by a merlin is one of the coolest ways to go.  As I was editing photos for this blog entry, something caught my eye:

In one very crappy photo that I took, I noticed that the merlin was banded.  Noooooooooooo!  Why didn't I get more photos of her foot to id the band number? BLARG!  Based on where Mr. Neil lives this is most likely a bird banded at Hawk Ridge this fall.  She was hatched this year so there are only so many raptor banding stations north of here.  There is a chance that my buddy Frank Taylor banded her, but I'm not sure if he's had a merlin in the nets yet this year.  Most likely a first year female banded on her migration south.  Without the number we will never know for sure but I'm curious of my buddy Frank Taylor or Hawk Ridge has banded any hatch year merlins because chances are good, she is one of their birds.

Man I love unexpected merlins but to have one make such an interesting kill and be banded just really made my Thursday.

Flicker Shenanigans With A Kestrel

I was out and about doing bird surveys yesterday and I got to watch an interesting interaction between a small falcon and a large woodpecker.

Here's an American kestrel, minding her own business, hovering and looking for mice with leaky bladders or whatever to eat.

There were lots of northern flickers moving through during my survey. Most tried to avoid predators.  Multiple visits to Hawk Ridge during the hawk migration has taught me that at the end of the day, flickers have a body built for food that many hawks like to eat.  I guess this flicker was feeling his Wheaties and went in to hassle the hovering kestrel, vengeance for fallen and eaten brethren?

After getting properly buzzed, the kestrel did an about face and went for the flicker.  Both are about the same size and I think if the kestrel had been a Cooper's hawk that the flicker wouldn't have engaged in any mobbing shenanigans.

Again, these aren't the best shots in the world, I digiscoped them at 400 meters.  But had fun watching the behavior.  The birds chased each other for at least five minutes (could have been longer, but I had to move on to my next survey point), sometimes the flicker was chasing the kestrel and at other times, she was chasing the woodpecker.  Periodically, both would perch on the same wire--sizing the other up?

Goldfinch Looking Rough

This can only mean Winter Is Coming:

Barred Owl On The Bike Trail

On Saturday Non Birding Bill and I were taking advantage of the beautiful weather and the Twin Cities bike trail system.  We passed into a neighborhood and hear blue jays, cardinals and nuthatches going bonkers.  I took a quick glance but figured since NBB was with me, I might as well ignore whatever was being mobbed by birds.  Then I heard NBB say, "Got it! Owl!" I stopped, pulled over and saw NBB behind me pointing to a tree.  "Great horned?"

"No," he said, "I think it's  barred owl."

It sure was.  We finished our circuit and on the way back found the owl in the same spot but it was no longer being mobbed.  When we heard the blue jays earlier, they some sounded young and I wondered if the adults were using the owl as a chance to teach mobbing behavior.  Did the young ones lose interest when the owl didn't do anything?

When we got home, I debated about biking back to get a scope.  I have a system for packing up my Swarovski scope and camera, but the owl was in a residential neighborhood and I don't like to take my scope in those areas if I don't have to.  Plus, my thighs were putting up a bit of a protest.  I decided to go for it and figured the worse case scenario would be that the owl was gone and I'd get a little more exercise on a gorgeous summer day.

As I suspected, the owl was still there.  This is a well used neighborhood for bike riders, joggers and walkers.  This owl was used to roosting over people and not a lot was going to make it flush.

I aimed my scope, taking special care to never aim it at any windows or house and getting shots of the owl.  What a cutie--I even got to hear it call a few times.

The head feathers of the owl looked like it hadn't quite filled out with the rest of the body and there seemed to be hints of down.  Is this a young barred owl?  I took a quick look under the tree and found a pellet.  Just as a grabbed it, the person who lived in the home came out.  I hoped that I wouldn't have too much explaining to do and she smiled and asked, "Is the owl here?"

Whew--I wasn't assumed a bicycle perv but assumed to be a birder--yay!  She was really nice and told me that they had seen the owls all summer and that the babies even hung out on the porch rails when learning to fly.  Her young daughter came out and said, "The sat on the porch on my birthday!"

What an awesome birthday treat!

We talked bird a little bit and then I headed home suddenly aware that I was in my bike clothes, sweaty and stinky.  I can only imagine what my mother would say about doing sweaty stinky bird chat with strangers.

Relaxed owl toes! What a bonus for biking--a random barred owl.  I love the variety of nesting predators we have in my general neighborhood.  Birding truly can be done anywhere, even in an urban area.