Long-eared Owl & Short-eared Owl Hybrid?

I read the coolest article today from the journal Ontario Birds by the Ontario Field Ornithologists by Kristen Keyes and Michel Gooselin and learned that sometimes you can find something really cool buried in a drawer of old museum specimens!  Keyes was doing some graduate research on short-eared owls when she came across a most unusual specimen.  Check out the bird in the middle in the photo below:

From left to right, we have a short-eared owl, Keyes discovery, and a long-eared owl. In her research, she found that the mystery owl specimen was received in 1991 from Avian Care and Research Foundation.  The bird had been found in 1990 with a broken wing.  They tried to rehabilitate it, but the bird had to be put down and then the carcass was donated to the Canadian Museum of Nature.

Everything about the bird puts it right in the middle of the two species from coloration to body part measurements.  For example, a short-eared owl's wing measurement should be between 283.5 - 307.5mm.  A long-eared owl's wing measurement should be between 269.5 - 295 mm.  The mystery owl's wing measurement is 294 mm--right in the middle. There are several other interesting features, take a look at the breast plumage compared to the other species--fascinating stuff.

How the heck did this happen?  Was a long-eared chasing a short-eared, suddenly realized they were each the opposite sex and much like a predictable sitcom, fighting turned to mating?

You can read more in the April issue of Ontario Birds, published by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (who graciously gave me permission to use a photo and reference the article in my blog).  It analyzes the hybrid's intermediate characters and uses color photos of all angles of the birds and of short-eared and long-eared for comparison.

Reference: Gosselin, M. and K. Keyes. 2009. A Long-eared Owl x Short-eared Owl (Asio otus x A. flammeus) specimen from Ontario. Ontario Birds 27(1):23-29.

Thursday Evening Meadowlark

Where are my bees? I take comfort in a singing western meadowlark, back lit by the setting sun.

Best Bird Festival Idea Ever

I have to say, that I enjoy attending bird festivals and events in general (I must, I go to more in a year, than most birders will in a lifetime).  But, I was really struck by the Lesser Prairie Chicken Festival in Woodward, OK.  Because the festival wasn't just about seeing the festival bird, but we actively helped the bird:

unmarked-fence

Oklahoma is a beautiful state with vast, sweeping landscapes, but it's also divided by several cattle fences.  They are everywhere, dividing property lines.  The fences have become a part of the many problems facing the lesser prairie-chicken's precarious future.  The bird's natural defensive behavior when fleeing a predator, is to fly low, right above the grasses.  If they are fleeing a fast predator like a peregrine falcon, the prairie-chickens may not pay attention in their panic and cannot dart the fences that are taller than the grasses.  The chickens fly into the fences and die.  Look at the above photo, you can see how the fence blends in to the grassy landscape.

lesser-prairie-chicken-female

Research about lesser prairie-chicken mortality conducted by The Sutton Center has found that 40% of the mortality in Oklahoma is due to collisions with these fences! If you follow the link to the lesser-prairie chicken ecology, you can read more about the results.  It was interesting to note that female prairie-chickens are especially susceptible to fence collisions and that is a huge concern--they lay the eggs.  Sure, they need the males for fertilization of the eggs, but beyond that, the , build the nest and raise the young--you need all the females you can get out there to replenish the population.  The Sutton Center, however, has come up with a unique plan!

marked-fence

They have come up with a unique fence marking plan to save the lesser prairie-chicken.  By using "undersill" strips (trim strips) of vinyl siding available at many big box home stores, fences can be made more visible to the chickens.  Eric Beck, the Oklahoma Audubon Council's Important Bird Area Coordinator was a field trip leader for the festival. However, when not leading trips, he was cutting up strips of trim to be placed on fences.

volunteers

After we watched the lesser prairie-chickens on the lek, we were given a filling ranch breakfast at Selman Ranch, shown how do the fence marking, and set loose with bags of tag to mark fences at a WMA that has prairie-chickens.   This was the most proactive bird field trip I have ever been on at a bird festival.  What a GREAT idea--show us this cool bird and let's not just lament that it's fate in the wild is uncertain, let's actually have festival participants do something that could actually help the birds.  Best idea I've seen at a bird festival in years.  I love this as much as I love the Delaware Bird-a-thon that raises money to buy up migratory habitat for the red knot.  We need more of this kind of active conservation and birding.

wind-farms-ok

And that's not to say that fences are the only challenge facing the lesser prairie-chicken.  Wind farms are popping up all over Oklahoma.  Lesser prairie-chickens nest out in the open on the ground, they don't nest next to all trees--red-tailed hawks and Swainson's hawks perch there, watching for some fat tasty prey.  Tall windmills look a little too much like tall trees and lesser prairie-chickens will not nest next to the farms, so that fragments their nesting habitat even more.

Still challenges ahead, but still hope too.

Holding Pattern

I am in such a holding pattern at the moment!  One of the fun things about Facebook and Twitter is that I can see in status updates and tweets, but this spring, I realize how painfully slow migration seem when you live in the northern US.  At first, I was excited to see robins, notice the little chipping sparrows showing up, hear the peent of the woodcock...but now that I see status updates that include blue-winged warblers, scarlet tanagers, and painted buntings from friends--I can hardly contain myself. Couple that with waiting for my bees to arrive, I just can't stand it!

Spring.  Here.  Now.

Random Oklahoma Sunset Cow

Birdorable Guest Blogging Contest

I'm going to be heading to Kazakhstan in a couple of weeks and similar to when I was in Guatemala, I'm not sure of what my Internet access situation will be.  Since the last guest blogging contest was such a success  (I got way more entries than I anticipated) I thought I would do it again. And like last time, one of my favorite vednors is sponsoring the contest. I bring you the Birdorable Guest Blogging Contest–you could be a writer for my blog! If you already have a blog and would like to get a larger readership, this is an opportunity to show off your content to my readers. If you’re not sure you can do a blog but have an adventure to share, I have a great audience willing to read it.

You can submit a blog entry for my blog. Non Birding Bill and I will read through them and select 10 entries that we feel fit the theme of my blog and well, just ones that we find interesting. We will post one blog entry a day while I’m gone (it will be ten days starting on May 8, 2009). If your blog entry is one of the ten published, you win (from one of my favorite bird designers, Birdorable):

One of my favorites: the Tough Titmice Magnet.  After the ten entries are up, readers can vote for their favorite finalist, and the blog entry with the most votes wins:

a Birdorable Spotting Scope shirt!  The shirt shows a red-cockaded woodpecker perched on the scope, but they said the winner can choose the bird species.  So, if you would prefer something like a Cooper's hawk, cardinal, or shag, they've got you covered.

Do check out Birdorable's line of product--they've got some cool stuff (excellent ideas for Mother's Day or birthdays).

Rules:

1. ANYONE CAN ENTER: If you already have a blog you can enter. If you have never blogged at all, you can still enter. If you do already have a blog and your entry gets selected, I will link back to your site with your entry.

2. BLOG ENTRY MUST FIT THEME OF THIS BLOG: I’m not going to say that you have to write about wild birds for the contest, but do keep in mind what the themes for my blog are - mostly wild bird related (watching, feeding, rehabbing, banding) with some pet rabbits, other wildlife, and honey bees. NBB and I will choose blog entries that are not only great, but fit in the overall theme of this blog. Our decision is final.

3. Content must be emailed to birdchick at gmail dot com by May 7th at 5 p.m. CST. It can include text, photos (web appropriate size) and links to videos. We may not proof read so if you your entry has typos, chances are good it’ll go up that way. Make it look good before we get it. You, obviously, agree to let us post your material in the blog by sending it to us.

4. The email entry with your blog submission MUST include your full name and mailing address. These will not be published in the blog entry, but we need them for the prizes. Also, be sure to include how you would like to be credited in the blog entry. Do you prefer that we put up your actual name or your user name and a link to your website.

5. Content must be original–your own content that you wrote. If you have a blog and you want to recycle and old blog entry from your own blog, that is your choice. If it is discovered that you use someone else’s content without credit or pass off someone else’s photos as your own, not only will you be disqualified, but it will be blogged. One entry per person.

6. If you submitted an entry for the last contest and it didn't get selected, you are welcome to submit the same entry.  If you entered the previous contest and you were a finalist, you ARE eligible to submit a new entry.  There are no guarantees.

7.  Shameless pandering for people to vote for your entry will be deleted if it gets selected, so just don't start.

Birds and Beers

If it's pouring down rain after 6pm--Birds and Beers will be canceled tonight.  If it's raining, I might go to the Fringe Speakeasy instead...if you'd like to still have the beer part and your interested in the Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Interesting Stuff At The Nest Cam Site

When will my bees arrive??  They could be here any moment this week and the anticipation is killing me. Cornell just sent a Twitter note about an interesting observation at the Carolina wren nest cam.  The video picked up one of the Carolina wren parents finding a dead nestling and trying to remove it from the nest. Here is the video and if dead baby birds bother you, I would recommend avoiding this video.  It's about five minutes long, but is worth watch until about 2 minutes 45 seconds into it:

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

What I find fascinating is that Carolina wrens are cavity nesters. It's dark in that nest, so how did the adult know there was a dead chick in there?  It appears to forage around for it from way at the bottom of the nest, under the live chicks.  What could be sensed? Most birds do not have a highly developed sense of smell, so that was probably not it.  Many also can't count since you can sometimes put in chicks from another nest.  Very curious.

The above video ends with the wren getting the chick out of the clutch, attempting to get it out of the box, but the chick gets caught on the edge. The adult wren then goes back to the brood to look around.  Is it looking for another dead chick or to find the chick it dropped?  Eventually the wren comes back, discovers the dead chick on the edge of the nest cup and gets it out of the box:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnJq6xYaWz0[/youtube]

And if that was a little too morbid for you and you need a cleanse, check out the uniform female rangers had to wear in the 1970s.  They really rocked the go-go boots.

Banding Brown Birds

It was a busy day of banding brown birds at Carpenter Nature Center last Friday.  Above is a female purple finch that flew into the nets. It was interesting to not the changing of the guard we had going on migration wise.

Although, the first bird I banded was not a migrant, but a house sparrow. I know this is a non native species and they can wreak havoc with bluebird and purple martin nest boxes, but the males in breeding plumage are a very striking bird.  Check out that jet black bill.  If you are not familiar with house sparrows in the US, they were brought over from Europe. House sparrows are cavity nesters and will aggressively compete with our native birds (like bluebirds, wrens, tree swallows, chickadees, nuthatches and purple martins) for nest holes. If a house sparrow wants an already taken nest cavity, they will use that thick and pointy bill to attack whoever is already in there.  They will peck a hole in the back of the heads of the adult or young birds and even build their own nest on top of the carcasses.  I once found a freshly dead white-breasted nuthatch on a birding trail. It had a hole in the back of its head. I looked straight up from where the nuthatch was on the ground and  saw a small cavity in the tree trunk with a house sparrow poking its head out.

But the most common sparrow we banded last Friday were white-throated sparrows. Yikes, the way that white-throated sparrow looks in the above photo, I think he roughed up poor Sam Peabody. It was funny, the Friday previous we had nothing but juncos, however a week later there were absolutely no juncos and tons of white-throats. These guys are on their way to Canada for nesting, but watch for them foraging for millet under your bird feeders.

Here was fun sparrow that we weren't expecting--a swamp sparrow.  The last time I saw one of these guys was at Cape May, NJ last October.  Incidentally, these sparrows have the longest legs of any other sparrow in the US, most likely to help with foraging in water in a swamp.

Here's another sparrow that is a spring favorite for me--a field sparrow. They have one of the best bird songs out there.  Check out how long this bird's tail is. Many of the birds we banded had longish tails.

It kind of threw me when we got in some pine siskins and they barely have a tail at all.  They were so stubby, just something I had not noticed until they were in hand.

Here's an up close view of the little stub tail.  Many of us had big numbers of pine siskins this winter and I've heard through the Minnesota birding grapevine that some are already building nests in Minnesota.

Above is our banding crew at Carpenter.  If you'd like to watch our banding, we open it to the public every fourth Friday of the month.  Although, we band every Friday so if you're at Carpenter on a Friday morning, you'll see us milling around, checking nets.

This Saturday, you can watch my buds Mark Newstrom and Roger Everhart at Lowry Nature Center as part of the Youth Birding Clinic.  It’s geared for kids between the ages of 10 - 19 and includes bird banding, forest bird hikes, grassland bird hikes, wetland bird hikes, a session on digital photography, and birding by bike.  I’ll even give a presentation on techno birding.  All sessions take place at Lowry Nature Center.  You need to register for the event, so call 763-559-6700.

Woodcock Birds and Beers Reloaded

Well, it was a mixed bag at last week's Birds and Beers, but we had a first!

Birds actually showed up to Birds and Beers!  For those new to this site, Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities.  Normally, we meet at a pub and talk some birds.  This time, we decided to take it on the trail to a park to gather for some socializing and then watch woodcocks.  As we had our little tailgate party going in the parking lot of the park, this pair of mallards waddled over in the parking lot to join in the fun.  I think they sensed chips and crackers (and a few bird suckers).  They were welcomed with open arms.

The original plan with this Birds and Beers was to tailgate a bit at Lebanon Hills Regional Park until the sunset, then we were going to look for woodcocks.  All went according to plan--it got dark and the woodcocks started to do their "peent"...for about two minutes then they abruptly stopped singing, never to be heard for the rest of the night!  We heard some other birds including wild turkey, great horned owl and barred owl, but the woodcocks...they totally teased and ditched us.  I felt bad, this was a life bird for some in the group.  However, with birding, that's the way it sometimes crumbles, cookie-wise.

But, Birds and Beers regular and all around good egg, Linda Whyte has suggested that we use this coming Wednesday's rain date for Birds and Beers to go to Cliff Fen in Burnsville and try for woodcocks there.  Which I think is a capital idea.  She emailed me directions and a map!

Cliff Fen Park is just east of the 35W bridge, on the south side of the river, and you access Cliff Road East from Highway 13 or Cliff Road W directly from the 35W exit and Frontage road just south of the river.

Once in the lot, you walk along a dirt drive/path at the edge of the adjacent ballpark, passing close by some small cinder block buildings, and find a brown wooden sign with information about the Scientific and Natural Area. This marks the entrance to the path that crosses the tracks, and there is no other trail through the  area. The trail will lead past a pair of power stanchions, just after which we should find a likely open patch to do a stake-out.

So, we're going to try again for the woodcocks on Wednesday, April 29 and this time we'll meet at about 8pm. If it's raining, it will be cancelled.

Now, there is one small snafu that could happen.  I might not be there.  I just got word that our bees are supposed to arrive any time this week.  If I get the call that our bees arrive on Wednesday, then I will have to go out and hive the packages--must get them installed in their new home right away.  But Linda and the rest of the gang will be there.  Who knows, maybe my absence will insure that the woodcocks will put on a great show?

If you can't make this Birds and Beers, we are planning another one before I go to Kazakhstan either May 7 or 8 at Coon Rapids.  As soon as I get the details worked out, I'll post them in the blog and on the Facebook Twin Cities Birding Group.

I have to say that I really enjoyed the tailgate end of the Birds and Beers this time.  It was fun to gather and laugh while doing some light birding.  It fit well with the theme that Birds and Beers is an informal get together for other birders to meet...and this time have birds join the party.