Furlough Family Visit

I took some of my own advice on being furloughed and headed out of Minnesota to visit with my family in Indiana. I joined my mom and some of my sisters for time at one of the family cabins in Brown County State Park. Above I am lip synching to the Trolololo song at one of the scenic overlooks...which none of them knew.

 It was actually a good plan, I could do some writing and put out freelance feelers out while they would do things I don't care for like going shopping in nearby Nashville. The deck of the family cabins have a beautiful view and lots of birds for inspiration.

The birds are so used to guests putting out food for them that all you have to do is scatter some seeds and birds like the above tufted titmouse had no problem flying in to join my office. At one point I had a both a titmouse and a white-breasted nuthatch taking nuts from my hands. It was a bit nostalgic for me to be here. When I developed an interest in birds as a kid, this is where my mom used to take me as a kid as it was only an hour away from where we lived Indianapolis. She and my aunts would book a few days in the off season. It was intended as a sisters' getaway for them but since I spent most of my time outside, it wasn't too much of an imposition to bring me.

It was so nostalgic that the few birds I digiscoped I did using Instagram like the above eastern towhee. I know I tend to rail against that social media platform for showing pictures as old and faded but since this was a sort of childhood revisit, it only seems appropriate.

The pileated woodpecker was the bird that got me interested in birding--I saw it in a Peterson Field Guide when I was 7 and thought how cool it is to know that there is such a thing as a crow sized woodpecker. Brown County State Park is where I first heard and saw one. It was a few years after I had been watching birds, but that was a bird really wanted to see and I'll never forget that pair that flew low in front of my aunt's van and landed low on a tree (just like the book suggested, they tended to forage low on the ground). But we had a family group hanging out regularly outside our cabin and they didn't mind us at all.

No matter where we went around the park I remembered first birds or birding lessons learned. I learned the call of the red-bellied woodpecker by following one "kerring" relentlessly outside of Abe Martin Lodge. When stopped by Strahl Lake in the above photo, I remembered the time I took laboring over the id of a Louisiana waterthrush working the edges of the creek that trickles from the dammed up lake. My mom even stopped me at one point and said, "Hey, Sharon, do you remember the time you were here and you found that Louisiana waterthrush?" I know my mom is aware of my interest in birds and she was there learning right along with me as a kid but I didn't think she remembered all of them and I was impressed that she remembered that particular bird. Perhaps because I stayed there so long staring down a brown bird and worked to try and separate it out from a northern waterthrush?

I know full well that hardcore birding is not something I'm going to do with my sisters. But usually they bring binoculars. Alas, mom left her's in the cabin when we went out and my sister Terri left her's at home. This was a spot that had a tree chock full of warblers and there was no easy way to get my scope on one so I passed around my Swarovskis (perhaps it was their intent all along--to use my binoculars). My sister Angela (in yellow) seemed to content to to simply wonder what the heck it is we are looking at.

I loves me some wild edibles and mom was excited to find some paw paws still left in the park. If you have never read Julie Zickefoose and her love and harvesting of paw paws, you should really check it out. My mom got a little too excited about finding paw paws (I should never have shown her twerkers gone wild in Walmart). But we all got a chance to taste the delicious Indiana Banana.  My sisters were not as enthused by the texture as I was. But the big excitement for me was noticing people gathering some fruit under trees near the camp store. I went to investigate and low and behold the trees were laden with persimmons and I chowed down!

I picked up as many as I could and ate them with every meal at the cabin.  They have the texture of plum with large seeds inside. The flesh is like a very mild orange flavored with cinnamon. There are different types of persimmons. Sometimes in stores you will find the larger, flatter Asian style for sale and when I was in Israel we had one of their varieties with every meal--it was not lost on me that in Israel they are called Sharon Fruit, but then again my name is Hebrew for a great and fertile plain.

But these persimmons are the North American species (Diospyros virginiana), the ones I remembered tasting as a kid.  They were fantastic.  I couldn't get enough of them. On our way out of the park we stopped again so I could load up a container and take them back to Minnesota. I wanted to try them out on Non Birding Bill.

He enjoyed the flavor as well and the next morning I chopped them up and combined them with pancake batter and a couple of dashes of cinnamon. I dare say they were the best pancakes I have ever made. Make sure when you try a persimmon or if someone is offering you one that it is a bit soft.  Hard unripe persimmons are a cruel joke in your mouth, they will suck the moisture out of it and they are very bitter. But ripe ones falling off the trees are fantastic.

I also found quite a bit of sulphur shelf aka chicken of the woods growing in the park. I suspect my freakout over all the wild edibles had my family concerned for my well being during the furlough. I ended up coming back to Minnesota with far more food than I took (I"m responsible for supplying honey and cheese on trips with my sister since I have easy access to things like Sartori Espresso Cheese, brun-uusto and a new morel jack that I found). But my sister Monica sent me home with two sacks of veggies from their garden (including green tomatoes--my all time favorite), Terri sent me home with 2 jars of jam made from her cherry and other berry trees in her yard and even my Aunt Lynne had cookies and fudge at the ready for me to eat on my way back to Minnesota.  I'll take it.

Speaking of the furlough, I was having a conversation with my sister Terri about house sparrows. There were a few birds mating in the rafters of Abe Martin Lodge in Brown County State Park and we chatted about bird breeding habits. A woman walking by overheard us and asked about them. I started describing them to her and noticed she gave the look of, "Wow, yeah, I was just asking a question and hoping for a one sentence answer and not an encyclopedia answer."

I know that look well and know when to stop talking, "I'm sorry," I said, "I'm a furloughed National Park Ranger and I'm having a bit of interpretation withdrawal." We laughed, everyone said how sorry they were about the situation and then went about our day.

That's really all you can do with this stupid situation, laugh at the ridiculousness of it.

That and make sure some of those laughs are from having time well spent with family.

How To Survive A Furlough

Wow. I wrote this for the last shutdown in 2013. At the time I was only a part-time federal employee. Now I am a full-time federal employee. One thing that has changed from over four years ago is that I'm way more prepared for a shutdown this time. I still have some freelance projects but I also have an emergency fund just for this inevitability. I'm more than a bit nervous that this furlough is going to last as long or longer than the last one. I'm even more worried that I will get no back pay for this--basically being put out of work by people who will still get paid during a shutdown. I'm lucky in comparison with fellow federal employees I know who have massive student loans, mortgages, expensive medial bills for themselves or their children, are in the middle of a major roof or furnace repair or just living paycheck to paycheck. 

So, if you are new to a furlough, here's what a wrote last time and I hope you find it useful as you spin your wheels trying to fill your day without spending money. Here's hoping that by me posting this today it will mean the shutdown is over before the day is done. 

Immature rose-breasted grosbeak.

Sometimes, I just need a cleansing look at a bird.  That is what gets me through the day. I love this immature male rose-breasted grosbeak.  Barely a few months old and he eats at the feeder on his way to a marathon flight into Central America.  Good luck, dude.

With the federal government shutdown, many employees are out of work with an uncertain financial future.  For those who do not know, I work part-time as a National Park Ranger. The rest of my work is made up of various freelance projects--articles, speaking engagements, the occasional book, consulting, bird surveys, etc. My part-time position in the park and my freelance means that I will not qualify for unemployment during this time and a chunk of money that I count on is not there.  If the government decides to give out back pay to employees for the shutdown, anyone who used unemployment will have to pay it back. However, there is no guarantee and it looks unlikely that any furloughed employees will get back pay when this is all said and done.

Being without work with no clear sign of when money comes in is scary. As a freelancer, I know. What I find funny for me is that as much as I love and enjoy the park service, I saw it as a cushion for when my freelance times were lean and now it's as uncertain as the rest of my career. Ah, life!

Freelance definitely is a feast or famine sort of lifestyle. I always describe it as, "Freelance is great because you can set your own schedule, unfortunately so can the people who send you your checks."

I've developed some strategies in my seven years as a freelancer and perhaps some of these might be helpful to you if you are furloughed at this time. These are also guidelines for anyone who ever emails me to ask, "How can I do what you do?"

Down Time = Idea Time

What is something you have always wanted to try? What is some crazy career scheme, idea that you always wanted to do but "real work" always got in the way? Maybe it's watercolors? Maybe it's self publishing dinosaur erotica? Maybe it's learning how to cook Thai food? Maybe it's writing a Barry Manilow biography? Maybe it's creating your own YouTube Channel and producing easy 2 minute how to accounting videos? Start working on it. Now. You have the time, you may never have this chunk of time to flesh out the idea and it could lead to something. Or not. But the point is, you are working on something. You are improving your skills.

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Beekeeping was started with a friend during some down-time in my career.

Speaking of improving skills, is there some program you don't know how to use well and you've been faking it or relying on spouses, friends, interns to do them for you? Is an Excel spreadsheet baffling to you? Find free online tutorials, they are out there. Give yourself a new marketable skill.

All of the above activities can be done without any additional expense. You can find classes for watercolors and cooking online. You can set up a self publishing account on Lulu.com or a YouTube channel for free. You can film a whole movie with your average smartphone. Where there's the Internet, there's a way. And if you don't have access to the Internet, there's always the Library and books.

Stay Active

This was a hard one for me to learn but made a huge difference. Especially in lean times, you think you need to always be working, always find the next project, do something useful for your household. It's easy to fall into a pattern of zero activity and that does not help your mood. Get out of your house. Walk, bike, run, skip, just get out and get physical. You don't have to join a gym, but you may need good shoes for the type of activity though. Also for some of the work that I do like bird surveys, it's important that I maintain a certain level of fitness. Even if you are a writer, programmer, designer you need a level of fitness too.

I don't like joining a gym, I feel guilty about the expense. And I like the sort of exercise that is outdoors.  I have a bike and I use that for going to meetings as well as exercise. I love my bike riding time because it clears my head and I use to flesh out articles or come up with strategies.  I'm essentially doing the things to get work that I would do on the futon at home with my laptop, but doing it while burning some calories.

I don't like to bike ride at night and living in Minnesota, the night last 16 hours in winter. So I took up running in winter. Let me be clear, I hated running. Hated it. But many of my friends and family have taken up running and they claim to enjoy it, so I started a couch to 5k (there are several out there, even my husband took it up after I did, but he used a zombie game to do it). On days when you have no work, running gives you a sense of accomplishment. You got up, you got out of your home, you challenged yourself.

Birdchick

Couch to 5ks are a great way for someone who has been mostly couch surfing to get up to running.  And you will never be as bad as your first day doing that program.  When I started it, I couldn't run for 60 seconds. The first time I ran for 3 minutes straight and the timer on my app told me I could walk but I felt like I could run a little longer had me squealing for joy and jumping in the street.

So find an affordable activity plan--yoga exercises online. Even if it's just walking at a brisk pace outside in the rain. This is still contributing to your family. Maintaining your health so you are around longer to be there for your family is the best gift you can give. The Oatmeal sums it up best.

Find Free Fun Stuff

Find out what your town offers for free. We have the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The general exhibits are free.  You can go and sit in front of a Picasso...for free. During the furlough, some places like Huge Theater are offering free shows. Google around, get out, breathe. Get inspiration.

Don't Avoid Your Friends

ALL OF US HAVE HAD LEAN TIMES. All of us have been unemployed, have been in tough financial straights. If your friends offer to go out, don't avoid them. Be honest about not having money. They will either say, "Hey, I can spring at least one beer," or "Well, come to my house for some Battlestar Galactica board game fun" (it's an awesome game even if you haven't seen the show). You have most likely been there for friends, paid tabs, bought dinners, been the designated river, etc-- let them return the favor. And someday, you will be able to pay tabs again. Let your friends help you if they offer. They feel bad for you too, they want to help, let them do what they can.

I have wonderful friends, Joan of Dark and Dill Hero even offered me work in their coffee shop Strange Brew while on furlough. That's amazing to even offer considering all I know about coffee is how to drink it.

Get Comfortable Having Some Debt

You may have to use your credit cards. This can be frightening because of the interest rates or maybe you got yourself in a terrible debt situation in college with credit cards. These are not replacement paychecks, these are there for you to have some cash flow when you really need it. It's important to keep your debt limit in mind (see below). This is not for a night out drinking with friends to celebrate hump day, this is for when you have about $6000 worth of checks that are supposed to come in any day and you need to put gas in your car or buy some macaroni and cheese for dinner.

Pay it off as soon as the checks come in. Don't just schedule massages, buy five pairs of shoes or that expensive fleece you've been eyeing. Pay it off ASAP.

And when you have debt, you are more than just your debt. It can be a stressor and a motivational tool but it does not define you as a person.

Specific to freelancers (not necessarily the furloughed):

Set A Debt Limit

If you want to freelance full time, the first thing is to set a debt limit. How much are you willing to bear if you are going through a lean time? How much are you comfortable putting on your family? If you have a family, make sure your spouse/partner is ok with that amount. Stick to that, once you reach that debt point and there's no sustainable job coming in for a month, it's time to find a new job. What is that amount? $1000? $5000? $10,000? I don't know, that is up to you, your resources and whoever else has a stake in your household income.

I hope some of this helps.  I hope all of us get back to work soon.  I hope someone out there forms a "Reasonable Party" where politicians share ideas and concerns rather than shout hyperbole and focus more on political posturing in front of the cameras than an actual solution.

Update for 2018

If  you are like me and you are absolutely terrible as setting aside money for rainy days, two apps that have really helped me prepare are Stash and Acorns. They're not advertisers for my site, but you get a sign up bonus and I get a referral bonus if you use the links I provided. If you'd rather just go to their page rather than using my links, that's cool too. If you have your savings account strategy set, you don't need these. But if you're like me and prone to buying rounds for friends, drunk Amazon ordering or seeing an extra $50 in your account as permission to buy more yarn or fancy scotch rather than setting it aside...these will work great for you, they did for me.

You can set Acorns to automatically deduct money from your accounts or set it up round up to the nearest dollar when you make any purchase and it will set that money aside. I forget about the account and then I open it every couple of months and see either a safety net or some fun money I can use for travel down the road. Stash is similar but you can create a portfolio where you can choose to invest your money for better interest rates. I'm a big fan of the Roll With Buffet option. If anyone out there has been using similar apps and like them better, I'm definitely willing to listen. 

My to do list for each day of the shutdown is:

Tidy
Rage Knit
Birding
Be Physically Active
Write
Art Project
Avoid News Commentary (they don't get your job, or you as a person) 

Amsterdam Birding

I know what some of you are thinking after reading that subject line, "Wait...there's something other than the Rembrandt House, Van Gogh Museum and Red Light District that people like to do in Amsterdam?  Really?" Yes! Really! After all of the non birding in Paris, I took the train up to Amsterdam to visit my nephew who lives there.

I'm actually closer in age to my nephew than his mother (there's a ten to eighteen year difference in age between me and my siblings). He's an amazingly cool individual who among many things designs iPhone apps (one app that worked with wallpaper ended up being an exhibit at the Louvre) and has such fun hobbies as playing the theremin.  As I settled in to his apartment, he casually shifted into a speech I'm sure he's given to any family for friends from the states about visiting his town, "Now, I know when everyone gets here that they want to go to the coffee shops and I just want to warn you..."

I cut him off right away. "That particular activity really doesn't do anything for me and that is not on my agenda."

"Good," he said, "because (family member name not revealed in the blog) went and threw up all over the place and (friend not revealed in the blog) had a bad trip."

"But the Red Light District is, I want to see the ladies in the windows," I said. He agreed to take me, though I suspect reluctantly.

And for the record--I don't judge people who toke up, I actually think it should be legalized in the US. But, it literally is wasted on me,   doesn't work on me at all (and yes I've tried more than once). Whiskey works well and smells better to me so that's what I stick with.  As a matter of fact, one of the really special parts of my trip was that my nephew too me to WhiskeyCafe L&B.

A small dark bar filled with nothing but scotch whiskey--that's one of the wall in the bar in the above photo...every wall was like that. As a thank you for for his hospitality, I ordered my nephew and I scotches for our respective ages. It was a lovely moment and I felt so happy sharing the success of my last year writing with his success of owning his own company in Amsterdam. We both grew up in Indianapolis and our lives have taken us to strange and far flung places neither of us could have ever imagined when we were kids.

I told my nephew not to worry about me during the day, as long as I had a key and knew where the public transportation was, I could keep myself entertained and we could meet up for dinner and hang out with this friend in the evening. Ever the tech guy, he made me a super useful map for my phone:

He's not really a birder, but his mom indulges in the habit and he's been around me, so he has a good idea of what we are looking for. And between the rail, bike rental and walkability I was out and about on my own without any problems whatsoever. And unlike Paris, I felt just fine walking around along with my 65mm spotting scope and camera. I even got turned around a bit and stopped into a Turkish coffee shop for directions and they good naturedly made fun of me for losing my way when I should be able to see everything with my scope. And they were happy to offer me suggestions of birds they knew of in the area.

I had a fabulous morning of birding just in the Oosterpark down the block from my nephew's apartment and managed to get quite a few birds for my digiscoping big year.Grey herons were all over the place.

As were rose-ringed parakeets, an Indian species that is a popular pet bird but has feral colonies established in Europe, especially Amsterdam. This cavity nesting species occurs naturally in the foothills of the Himalayas, so they can take a bit of winter.

Here's a great cormorant that was drying off. I think I ended up adding 14 species to my Digiscoping Big Year challenge while in Amsterdam.

Magpies were all over the place too. I had thought originally that getting a magpie in Europe would mean I wouldn't have to worry about getting black-billed magpie in northern Minnesota, but those scamps over at the American Ornithologists' Union decided that black-billed magpie is not a conspecific of the Eurasian magpie (at one time both had the Latin name pica pica). Eurasian magpie is still pica pica while the black-gilled magpie in the US is pica hudsonia because the AOU thinks its mitochondrial DNA sequence is closer to yellow-billed magpie rather than Eurasian magpie. Sheesh.  I really do not like listing. But at least I have a magpie on my Digiscoping Big Year.

I think one of my favorite European species is the blackbird, what a lovely singer. It looks like a melanistic robin and has the haunting tones of a hermit thrush. What a great bird to serenade you all over the city.

I never had to worry about an alarm clock while I was in Amsterdam...my nephew's dog Weezer worked great. Even if he didn't make any noise. I would just have this vague notion that was being watched and would open my eyes to this:

Weezer giving me the stare down.  I think Weezer normally gets the guest bedroom and so waits patiently until said guest wakes up and then...

Commandeers the bed and blankets for himself. I thought Weezer and actually had a great time together.  Amsterdam was the last leg of this particular European trip and at this point I had emails or articles to deal with. He'd snuggle up behind me in a chair while I would type away.  I felt like we had developed some sort of bond, but while taking a selfie to send to Non Birding Bill...

I discovered that Weezer did not trust me as much as I thought--perhaps the best dog photobomb I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

I had the Van Gogh Museum on my list while visiting Amsterdam. I decided to forgo being super cheesy by wearing my Exploding TARDIS t-shirt to the museum. But I did look for the Vase with Sunflowers and didn't find "For Amy" on it. The museum was more interesting than I thought.  I love Van Gogh, I wasn't sure if I was up for a museum that was nothing but, however this museum covered his history and who he worked with and included fun things like a portrait of Van Gogh by Toulouse-Lautrec or the same painting Van Gogh made, but done by other contemporaries like Gaugain at the same time. I didn't expect to see Starry Night because I came across it while it was on loan to Metropolitan Museum of Art just a few months earlier. I was there for the Edvard Munch exhibit and when I turned around to leave, there it was, nonchalantly hung in a hallway.

But I did get to see one of my favorites: Crows Over A Wheat Field--the color use is spectacular and it reminds me a bit of seeing crows in autumn right before a storm rolls in like I would see on my bird surveys. And I took this for no other reason than to capture the woman next to me taking a photo of it.  I am baffled by all the people who go through museums and only look at the art through their phones and their iPads as they collect photos of it rather than actually enjoy being in its presence. I wonder if people think the same thing about me when I'm bird watching? But I almost always get the bird in the scope before I hold up the phone and if it's a really great bird, I take the time to enjoy it rather than just get photos.

There's no way my phone can capture all the detail and texture of this piece, so I just capture it by purchasing mug in the museum gift shop. But it was a treat to get to see this particular bird painting on my travel.

In the evenings, I would join my nephew for dinner and had such traditional dishes like white asparagus with wild boar...a rather phallic looking dinner now that I take a good look at my photo. Eesh. This particular dinner was partly a birthday party for him and several of his colleagues arrived. Fortunately for me, everyone in Amsterdam speaks in English so it was easy to chat. Periodically my nephew would pop by, "Are you ok, are you having a good time?"

"No worries," I said, "these are all programmers, it's like being a sci fi convention, talking Game of Thrones is universal."

Amsterdam was  a lovely city and after you have your fill of the art, cultures and debauchery there are fun birds to be had in the park and along the many canals. We had dinner in one of the large houses that line the streets. For some reason, I had the impression that all those tall houses were lined up side by side with more houses behind them. If you ever have the chance to go in one and look out back, you will discover that all those buildings are fencing in block-wide parks that all the surrounding buildings share and they are chock full of birds.

You can see it a bit better if you look at the satellite images of Amsterdam on Google Maps--all those trees and green space and trees hidden behind tall buildings.

Great-spotted woodpecker digiscoped in Amsterdam taking advantage of the many trees.

Two side notes about visiting the Red Light District in Amsterdam and seeing the ladies in the windows:

1. The types of ladies in the windows are very different depending on the time of day. My nephew took me at night and they looked like, well what you might see on the cover of Maxim or on Cinemax or some such. My nephew said during they day...they were...well not quite the same. Of course I had to go back and see for myself and let's just say that there is lid for every pot and the ladies in the windows during the day did not look that different than what I might see working East Lake Street in Minneapolis--a little rough to say the least.

2. I found it incredibly amusing to watch how the ladies in the windows responded to my nephew as opposed to me. I even slowed my pace so he was about five steps ahead of me (he wanted to get through there quickly, I'm sure taking your aunt through the Red Light District is one of the weirder things you can do). When he walked past the windows, they were all smiles and wiggling various parts of their bodies. When I walked by, the smiles vanished, they turned around and started texting and there was no wiggling of any body parts. They clearly know their target market.

Midwest Birding Symposium Bound & Harrier

  Quick note, for those interested, the next Birds and Beers has been set for September 30 at the Black Forest.

As I catch up and sort photos from my latest European trip, I'm packing for my next trip to the Midwest Birding Symposium. I'm looking forward to catching up with friends and I'll also be presenting a workshop on digiscoping with a smartphone at 3:15pm on Friday. I'll be on hand with some adapters for people to try out if you want to give it a shot. You can also ask me about regular digiscoping as well.

Speaking of digiscoping, I'm sorting through photos from my recent trip to Sweden and I can't believe this photo worked out. It's a marsh harrier (the upper bird) and a common buzzard. They were kind of taking shots at each other in the same thermal. It got this with  my Nikon V1 and Swarovski scope.

When I'm away from the Americas, I see marsh harriers everywhere I go. Their wings are a bit fatter than the North American northern harriers ( or hen harriers as they call them over in Europe). The buzzards are a lot like the North American red-tailed hawk...only minus the red-tail.  But they can have color morphs like our red-tails can.

As those two birds were circling higher and higher, something got the harrier's attention and it dove towards the ground. Boy, that would make for kind of cool tattoo.

As the harrier lowered the landing gear, I thought I might get to see it catch prey, but at this point it was seriously putting on the breaks and slowly lowered itself closer to Earth before flying off in a different direction entirely, perhaps to look for another thermal to carry it up to the sky again. It was a cool moment to watch and makes for a great souvenir from my trip to Sweden.

Birds Impaled By Sticks

Below is actually a repost of a blog post made back on September 25, 2006 (holy cow, how is my blog that old). I wanted to link to it on the Facebook page but because it's on the old blogger platform and it's not letting me grab just that particular blog entry.

I'm reposting it because there's a news story of a young bald eagle that got caught in a tree because it was impaled by a branch as it was learning to fly. You can read about it here or watch a video here. Above is a screen grab of the video that shows you what a dire predicament the eaglet was in--way at the top of a dead cottonwood tree--almost too dangerous to climb.

We need to give a medal to this guy, Gordon Sasa, an arborist who risked his life to climb the tree and grab the bird.

Look at Gordon go, getting that eagle!

But birds getting impaled on branches does happen.  I think we don't see it all that often because they die or get scavenged. But this old post from 2006 shows a sharp-shinned that survived impalement.

All the photos below this entry are courtesy of Frank Taylor.

I just got in a weekly banding report from Frank Taylor. In it was a an interesting account of a first year sharp-shinned hawk that had impaled it's wing on a twig. Frank said that it had healed up with a bit of the twig still in the wing!

They didn't try to pull out the twig, just clipped the ends that were close to the wing. The bird seemed to be doing just fine and they didn't want to stress it out with a trip to The Raptor Center down in the Cities. Frank used to be curator of birds at TRC and has been a master falconer for longer than I've been alive. He knows a healthy flight in a bird when he sees it, and with a high strung bird like an accipiter, letting it go gave it a better shot at survival than time in a rehab facility.

The injury was healed, I wonder how long ago it happened? Perhaps when it was learning to fly.

Another fine example of how birds will survive no matter what. It would never occur to this bird that, "Hey, I've got a stick in my wing, I don't feel like hunting and heading south to find food. I'm just going to hunker down and sleep today." Birds just do what has to be done in order to survive. I love that.

I Love It When A Peregrine Comes Together

Yesterday I got an email from one of our local stations asking if I had time to talk about the changes the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources made to the state endangered species list. There were several animals and plants that had and adjustment but including birds. You can view the segment here. The reporter from KSTP wanted to know if we could meet someplace close by to see any of the species that had a change in status:

Northern Goshawk went from no status up to Special Concern Boreal Owl went from no status up to Special Concern Henslow's Sparrow went from Endangered down to Threatened Lark Sparrow went from none (not even records maintained by the DNR) up to Special Concern Trumpeter Swans went down from Threatened to Special Concern Peregrine Falcons went from down Threatened to Special Concern Bald Eagle went down form Special Concern to None Loggerhead Shrike went up from Threatened to Endangered Horned Grebe went up from Threatened to Endangered Purple Martin went up from none (not even records maintained by the DNR) to Special Concern Bell's Vireo went up from none (not even records maintained by the DNR) to Special Concern

I figured that evening news probably doesn't want to take the time to track down a Henslow's sparrow and that the birds I knew on the list in the Twin Cities easiest to find would either be a bald eagle, peregrine falcon or trumpeter swan. I told them that we should meet at Lock and Dam 1. Eagles fly over there regularly and there's a peregrine falcon nest box. The young falcons have fledged by now and are out hunting on their own, but sometimes they hang out there.  I knew actually seeing a peregrine was going to be a slim possibility but it was the best I could do on short notice.

We arrived and there were lots of turkey vultures but no peregrines. Just as we were setting up the camera, I heard a peregrine screeching. It got louder and the bird flew over us and perched on one of the walls along the river.

It was one of the young of the year and had a kill. It looked like it was eating an American robin--and it stayed for the whole segment. The camera man lamented not having his longer lens but I had my iPhone, Swarovski scope and PhoneSkope adapter. I took a few shots and video through my scope and they used it in the segment.

Birds are so unpredictable, but it's so fun when things come together just right and you get to show people something super cool like a young peregrine falcon with its own kill. Though, I do worry that some tv stations get the impression of--"oh yeah, she can get us any bird at any time."

I thought the DNR changes were interesting. I'm thrilled to see birds like trumpeter swans, peregrine falcons and bald eagles being downgraded in their status--that's good, the populations are recovering, the program works. I also found it interesting that some birds like purple martins were added and that their population had never been monitored before. Here's a quote from the assessment:

"Purple Martins are readily observed by participants in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Breeding Bird Survey, and BBS data show a population decline of 5.4% per year in Minnesota during the period 2000-2010. This is one of the largest declines of any bird for which the state’s BBS data are statistically significant. Due to the documented decline in Purple Martins over the past three decades, as well as the continuing threats to the state’s population, its designation as a Species of Special Concern is needed and reasonable. "

So it's good to keep an eye on them now, especially as they are seemingly abundant, rather than when it's too late and they are too far gone.

Common Tern Parenting

This is a video of some common terns that I digiscoped at South Beach in Massachusetts recently and there was some beach bird family drama. It was too funny because the terns had young that were just out of the nest and old enough to fly--teenagers. They were in that stage of teaching the young to fish for themselves, rather than constantly begging their parents. One young bird in particular was not getting it. The adult bird at first makes a big show of preening its feathers and ignoring the demanding youngster.

The young bird even tries picking up little sticks on the beach as if showing the adult, "Hey, you used to bring me fish this size to eat, I want that now, see?"

The adult just kind of tosses it away, "You don't want that kid."

Eventually the other adult in the pair lands and give the kid a good, swift kick in the rear to get it to fly--it's hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwZXl2cz3HM&feature=c4-overview&list=UUcVJYmY1E0Lzar9p6qalw

This video was recorded with a Swarovski ATX 85mm spotting scope, iPhone 4s and PhoneSkope adapter.

The Lonely Dodo

This is a very sweet little cartoon narrated by Narrated by Stephen Fry and voiced by Alistair McGowan called The Lonely Dodo and is just under four minutes.  It's quite funny and I dare you not to say, "dodo" for the rest of the day. http://youtu.be/tvD4fRHstuU

To learn more, visit Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust's Lonely Dodo page.  While they are well established in Jersey (UK), they want to spread the reach of the Durrell globally--and I like how this reaches out to remind us that extinction is still possible for birds.

The Non Birding In Paris

I've had this post in the hopper for awhile and I've debated about putting it up. I don't want it to sound like France is a terrible place to visit. It's amazing and I hope to go back some day.  But this particular visit was so different from anything I have ever experienced. When I went to Europe for work, I had some time to take the train to Paris. I'd never been to that city and I've always wanted to go. I knew I would not have a lot of time but I figured one day in Paris is better than no Paris at all. But timing worked out that I had a few days in Paris.

I intended to do some birding...but I did not. I'm a big fan of following instinct. When I look back on my life, my best decisions have been made while going with my gut. That's not to say that a well thought out plan doesn't have its merits, but at the end of the day, there's a lot to be said for gut instinct.

I arrived in Paris late in the evening and my train deposited me at Gare de l'Est and as soon as I stepped outside, I could see my hotel across the street. Perfect. I scored a terrific room at the Hotel Libertel with a tiny balcony that looked down on the street and train station. I had some time to kill and I saw the cafe across the street. I thought I might get a small dinner and drink before collapsing on my bed for the following day's adventures.

I walked in and the bartender was as flirty as any French male stereotype you could imagine. But I was in France and delighted and rolled with the punches, yes French guy, flirt away.

What would my first meal be:

Why escargot of course! It seemed a perfect way to start off the adventure. My bartender was very kind and helped me with my French all while giving pointers: "You do not need to tip, you Americans tip too much, I make a good wage here, no tipping."

He included a few remarks that if I got lonely my hotel, he'd help out with that. I laughed it off but didn't quite understand he was merely a precursor to what I was in for on the rest of my trip.

My first day in Paris, I slept in. In my brain, I wasn't just sleeping in, I was sleeping in in Paris! Paris, France.  Above is the morning view outside my hotel and you can see the train station. When I finally woke up, had some coffee and got dressed, I debated about whether or not I would take my scope or binoculars with me.  I knew pickpockets were an issue and I knew there a lot to see non birding wise. I figured that since I had seen a lot of common European birds on my other travels, I'd take my binoculars in my purse and leave the scope and digiscoping equipment behind. I took the binoculars because I wanted to see some of the details in the architecture.

I passed a park near my hotel and discovered that Paris is not a fan of people feeding birds. The signs warned you against feeding them so as to not attract too many in one spot and cause disease.

Not that those signs stopped people from feeding them anyway. And as much as I enjoy seeing rock pigeons in their native land, I don't really need binoculars for them.

That's not to say there weren't other types of birds--even different types of pigeons, like the above wood pigeon. But on a casual stroll, I felt leaving the scope behind was a good choice.

My next stop was the Louvre, I wasn't sure about going in--I love art museums but I don't relish standing in a hoard of people with iPads, phones and cameras taking pictures of the Mona Lisa rather than actually looking at the darned thing.

I had a great time wandering and getting my fill of famous landmarks and French corvids...and then the onslaught of attention started and I learned that female alone who speaks in English is the preferred target of EVERYBODY in France.  Some of it flattering...some of it downright gross. It started with teenagers approaching me pretending to be mute with petitions for me to sign protesting the treatment of the deaf in France. What you were really signing was a form that you were donating 20 Euros. They then use your embarrassment or lack of understanding of the language (or dealing with a cute mute blowing kisses at you) to go ahead and to get you to just give the Euros and get out of the situation. But I have no problem explaining that I'm not giving money.  The easiest way out of this situation is when you see a teenager approach you with a clip board is to walk away. Some may even ask, "You speak English" and it's easiest to say, "non" and they will walk away.

I came across a Chaplin street mime...and not the only one I encountered in Europe, Chaplin is a popular persona for street performers there.  My mistake was pausing to take a photo. Chaplin Mime broke the fourth wall and started talking with me...which is when I noticed that his French had a Russian accent and he slipped between speaking either French or English with me. Then he offered to take me back to his studio for a mime lesson (ew on several levels, my distrust of clowns chief among them). I said, "No, I'm on my way to get some lunch."

"How about this, how about I join you for lunch?"

As much as I am a person who says yes to life and taking the road less travelled and as much as it might be amusing to share a tale with friends over dinner that I met a Chaplin Street Mime and he joined me for wine and steak tartar at a Paris cafe, I just could not do it.

But boy did he persist and became increasingly touchy feely in the process. The more I resisted and tried to walk away, the more he tried to put his arm around me and sell me a class.  I had a firm grip on my purse at this point and opened it up and took out a 2 Euro coin to pay him to just stop talking to me.

After I escaped, I found the nearest cafe for lunch to get the smell of grease paint of my nose.  My waiter was a nice young man who recommended a fine lunch. After eating he brought my check and included this:

I laughed and said thank you and that I'm pretty sure I'm 15 years too old for you.  He insisted that was nonsense and no woman should spend a night in Paris alone. I pretended to put his number in my phone and said I would text him after dinner and that I was staying at Luxembourg--lying just seemed a faster way out.

I continued on my jaunt and revisited the Louvre. I enjoyed some of the outdoor art and as I was taking pictures of this, a young man approached me and asked if I would take his pictures with the Louvre and Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in the background. As I took his photo, I thought, "Wow, I can't believe some dude is trusting me to take a photo with his phone. How does he know I'm not going to walk off with it?"

We started chatting and he told me how he was a house painter in France and I detected a little bit of an Arabic accent. He was from Alexandra and having a wonderful time visiting Paris on his off time. He wrapped his arm around my arm and started telling me the history of the place. He then mentioned something about being just a student. I said, "I though you said you painted houses?"

Then he changed the subject and pointed to some statues. I was trying to formulate a polite way to say, "I appreciate what you're trying to do here, but I really just want to be alone and not be around people."

It was then that I noticed his arm had moved to around my shoulders and he was steering me away from the crowds, towards bushes and I thought, "Oh...this doesn't seem safe at all, he's actively steering me away from the crowd, towards those bushes."

I wriggled free of his grip and said, "Thank you for your time, but I'm leaving now."

That's when he grabbed me and kissed. No ladies, not one of those romantic kisses you might think happens in a Nora Ephron movie, the gross kind that tastes like whatever he had for lunch and overly aggressive tongue.  I pushed him away and he went in for more.

"Arrêtez maintenant," in my loudest voice. "I am not Stella, nor do I need to get any sort of groove back." That refernce perplexed the heck out of him long enough for me to slip away into the crowd and head towards the train station. Thinking back to how touchy feeley he had been, I checked all of my valuables and all the places I had Euros and a credit card tucked on me.  Everything was still in place as were my binoculars. Whew.

I don't think what I experienced that day had anything to do with me being particularly attractive, but had more to do with me looking very obviously like a female tourist alone. I decided that if I wanted to enjoy France I needed to leave my optics locked away in the hotel and to always have earphones in place to cut down on the number of people trying to talk to me.

My agenda for my next day ended up being crepes. I wanted to eat at this place, but they were closed. Bummer.  I was curious what kind of business thinks a cormorant is a good mascot for a creperie. Instead I went next door which turned out to be a place that my neighbor recommended called Le Petit Josselin.

This was their Nutella Crepe and the only way I can think to describe this is imagine crispy butter flavor surrounding warm gooey chocolate with a hint of hazlenut. This was insane and even though this is one of the richest things to ever come across my tongue...I almost ordered a second one, but with butter melted in the center. Anyway, should you find yourself in Paris, make Le Petit Josselin in Montparnasse a priority. They have savory crepes and dessert crepes. I had both, but the dessert crepes are the ones that are life changing. One of the things I absolutely loved was as I sat at my table outside and had a buttergasm in my mouth was that a European blackbird was singing overhead and it's thrush-like song echoed off the buildings in the neighborhood.  Here's a YouTube clip of what they sound like. What lovely music to serenade great food.

My final day I found myself at Sacre Coeur and that was a fascinating mix of religious tourists, street performers, con artists, illegal sales guys and portrait artists. The bracelet guys were fascinating. They approach you with string and what they try to do is braid it around your wrist and charge you 20 Euros. I saw them coming and said, "Non, merci," which followed by the guy yelling at me, "Hey! I love you Americans. And I love your big ass, you have good boom boom!"

Interesting sales approach and I ascended the stairs and enjoyed the view and the people. After wandering around, I descended the church stairs and saw a crowd of about 16 of the bracelet men blocking the way so no one could get past easily.  I decided I had to trudge through and as I went in, two approached. I said nothing and tried to walk and each grabbed either of my arms. I yanked them away and in my loudest, crowd attracting voice yelled, "Arrêtez maintenant!"

They backed away and lifted their hands in the air as people turned to look at us. Another of the bracelet men said, "Lady, be nice, everybody is cool here, take it easy."

And I continued on my way.

That night, I decided my last meal would be at the cafe across from my hotel. Some people may not want to read this, but the absolute best bird I got in Paris was this duck I at at that cafe. Holy crap, it was fantastic--so fatty and crispy and so, so savory. I related some of my experiences of the aggressive men to the same flirty bartender from my first night. We had developed a camaraderie at this point, as I knew he was married to a former Olympic skier and took care of his kids during the day. When I told him about my husband he said, "What kind of man lets you come to Paris alone?"

"A smart one," I smiled.

So the bottom line: Paris is fantastic, but is not a place that I felt comfortable taking high end optics around. I hope I get to go back, the food is incredible and there's no way to see every museum and statue. Incidentally, if you want to get more exercise so you can eat more food, they have a bike share program called Velib' that allows you to rent bikes all over the city. Paris is pretty bikeable...but it's hilly and many of the streets are cobbled.  Be prepared for inclines and a bumpy ride. I love biking but I ended up using the Metro more than the bikes.

And if you are a female alone, consider keeping headphones in your ears to avoid people stopping you to talk, don't be afraid to be loud and assertive if someone is bothering you, eat lots of crepes, visit Cafe de l'Est and enjoy the bartender there...and whatever you do, don't stop for too long in front of a Chaplin street mime.

Killdeers, Oh my!

I realized on Monday that since I came home from Europe, I hadn't done any birding apart from the usual mental notes of what is around me when I'm outside. We had a horrible storm that I'd been dealing with and some work that piled up. I was feeling out of sorts and I thought, "Screw it, I'm going birding." And I was so glad I did, summer goes so fast, it's easy to miss moments with common birds like this eastern kingbird. I've been playing quite a bit with the PhoneSkope adapter for my iPhone 4s and my Swarovski ATX scope and I'm overall pleased with it.  It's interesting that I notice the fit sometimes isn't as snug based on temperature fluctuations, but nothing major and easily fixed with a little tape. But I really like it's compact size on my phone and I find myself reaching for my phone first and my Nikon V1 second when I want to digiscope something. The above shot was taken with the iPhone 4s, PhoneSkope Adapter and Swarovski ATX 85mm scope. If you are interested in ordering one of the universal iPhone adapters, you can get a 10% discount if you used the coupon code birdchick13. They have adapters for iPhone 4, 4s, 5 and even Androids. The exact one I'm using is the C-4 Kit. If you're not sure which kit is for you, contact the folks at PhoneSkope, they're very helpful.

While I was driving around the country roads of Dakota County, MN I came upon a family of killdeer. They scattered as I slammed on my breaks, kids running in all directions and adults flanking the front and back of my car.

I paused to digiscope them quickly and also hoped that my vehicle stopped on the narrow road would encourage the other cars coming behind me to slow down and not hit the killdeer chicks. And really, how often do you get to see these little teeny, tiny puffballs on stilts? I posted one of the pictures of the baby killdeer to Twitter and @coneslayer called them "killfawns!" Which is what I will call young killdeer from now on!

Here's the adult that was in front of my car.  Look, the bird looks fine and normal so if I were a predator, I'd want to go for the tiny, slower, weaker killfawns, right?

Oh wait, no that adult bird looks like it's hurt, I of course want to go after that because it would be a higher food reward and an injured adult is easier to catch than a healthy chick, right? I just love that killdeer protect their kids by trying to fake you out, pretending to be injured. And even their rumps are kind of a rusty red, almost looks like an injury or blood--nature is ingenious.

Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNGMTKY60c4&feature=youtu.be

I left after a few minutes when the adults herded the young kids off the gravel road. The adults must have looked mighty daring to the young killfawns--their parents protected them from the giant scary thing on the road. Always happy to help parents look cool to their kids.