More on One Legged Grackle

Well, when I downloaded images today from the camera, I was anxious to see if there was anything more on the one legged common grackle and sure enough the bird showed up in a few photos. What was interersting this time was in the first few photos you can see an immature grackle waiting behind it? A nestling of the one legged grackle?

A few photos later answered my question. In the background of the photo on the left, the one legged grackle is in front of a begging immature grackle, it does have chicks! Today I mixed in some mixed nuts and mealworms and for the grackles, the nuts are definetly preferred over the mealworms. The bird appears to have two chicks and it's kind of inspiring to watch it in the photos continue on with its duty of raising the off spring and carrying on its DNA. I suppose

that is one of the things that makes this species so successful. Of course many people this time of year are having lots of trouble with grackles taking over feeding stations so it does seem kind of silly to get so taken with one, but I just can't help but show interest in an underdog. Grackles really are a cool looking bird, I wonder if they didn't crowd out other birds sometimes when they feed if people would like them more?

On another note I did notice that we have a banded bird hanging out. I thought I saw a banded bird in one of the photos a few days ago, but figured is was a stray seed in a blurry photo, but today you can clearly see the red-winged blackbird male has a silver band on its right leg. Last year we had a couple of banders behind the store out who banded some birds, I wonder if this was one of them. Which reminds me that I need to book those guys again, they are great educators and it's always fun to hang out with banders.

One Legged Grackle

Here's an unusual sight that showed up behind the store today, a one-legged common grackle (making it a tad uncommon). The bird is very plucky and kept all the red-winged blackbirds away from the food pile. Even one of the crows seemed a bird unnerved by this bird. We noticed it today by its mode of hopping as opposed the cocky looking strut a grackle normally has. I've never seen this particular grackle before today so I wonder if this bird recently acquired this injury as opposed to having hatched missing a leg. The grackle appeared healthy otherwise the whole day, not sitting low to the ground all puffed up as sick bird would. I got several photos (most blurry) of mono leg, and the eyes appear fairly bright which is a good sign of health. This is the only photo that shows part of its nictitating membrane (extra eyelid birds have to protect from dust when flying and eating) is exposed, so I think that is more the result of when the motion sensitive camera captured the image instead of a sign of illness.

Of course we still have some nasty mealworms that we're trying to get rid of at the bird store and I put another pile out hoping to have a contest of which bird species could carry the most. A female house sparrow was found with six mealworms, a female red-winged blackbird had seven and low and behold, check out mono leg here: at least nine! Which leads me to believe that this bird has a nest somewhere and has chicks ready to be fed. This kind of makes me think that the injury is fairly new since the bird would be nesting nearby for the last few weeks and I would have noticed it sooner with the way we all watch the feeders behind the store (and monitor the area with a motion sensitive camera). Also, birds that have injuries like this have a tougher time finding a mate. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how long this bird lasts behind the store and if it ends up bringing chicks to the feeder in another week or two.

Really Cool Part of My Job

This bird will be identified towards the end of this post. Any guesses as to what it might be?

One of the really super fun things about my job is helping people with bird identification. Between me and my staff there isn't a photo of a North American bird we can't identify, we are truly a staff of experts. We love a good grainy photo to try and determine species, sex, age or whatever a customer wants to know. Once a customer brought in a box of bird parts that she found in her yard and wanted to know if we could id it--it was a green heron. Green heron bills look a lot smaller in the hand than in the bush.

Well, the other day Stiv Stevland stopped in and mentioned that he took a photo of a bird in Grand Marais over Memorial Day Weekend and so far no one has been able to id it. I told him to bring it in. Sure enough, two days later he brought in the photo. I looked at it and was familiar with the area he had taken the photo, near the coast guard station.

At first I thought pipit, but realized pretty quick that there wasn't any streaking on the places it should have streaking. As I flipped through the pages of a Sibley guide I noticed that another species resembled the bird. Hmmm, there were only one or two state records for a bird like that in Minnesota and I quickly dismissed that idea. I got out all of our field guides in the store and tried to turn it into anything but the species I was suspecting, but all the field guides were pointing to that. Finally, Stiv voiced what I was thinking, "I've tried awful hard to turn that into a wheatear but that really isn't found in Minnesota and the only record I could find was for a different county than I was in."

I decided that I needed to call in reinforcements but my big guns, Denny Martin and Bob Janssen were not working that day. Stiv left me a disc with photos and I emailed them to Tony Hertzel editor of The Loon (a very cool publication put out by the MOU) with a subject asking, "Is this a wheatear?" and I swear I have never received such a prompt reply from the man. He confirmed that it was a female northern wheatear and this would be a third state record of that species in Minnesota. How fun to tell Stiv that the bird he saw was in fact a wheatear and that many other listers were going to be pea green with envy over his find. He felt bad that he didn't know at the time anyone to contact so others could see the bird, but alas as many of us know that sometimes that's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise.

Cool Part-time Job with MN Audubon

I would apply for this job myself if I weren't already swamped. Mark's a pretty cool guy to work for and if he ever gave you any hassle as a boss you could just contact me for some dirt!

Important Bird Areas Assistant

Part-time/temporary – 20hrs/week July 1 – Dec. 31

The Important Bird Areas Assistant will have responsibility for researching and preparing nominations for Important Bird Areas (IBA) in Minnesota. Preparing nominations will include presenting data in a clear and concise fashion, documenting sources, preparing maps, and communicating with land owners/managers, and natural resource specialists. The Important Bird Areas Assistant will work collaboratively with colleagues in government agencies, academia, and other nongovernmental organizations. This will include but not be limited to; the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, The Minnesota Ornithologist’s Union, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This is not a field research position. Rather, most of the time of the assistant will be spent researching existing data, communicating with colleagues, and writing from an office setting.

The successful applicant will have the ability to organize data, write clearly, and collect information on natural area sites in Minnesota. Excellent organizational skills, capturing information accurately, and attention to detail are required skills. Must be able to effectively operate computers (PC), printers, and related software (including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Access and PowerPoint); and other standard office equipment. Two years post high school education and some knowledge of Minnesota birds are necessary. The successful candidate will understand and support Audubon's mission and desire to contribute to the effectiveness of its program and staff. S(he) will work with the Director of Bird Conservation to insure the timely completion and documentation Audubon Minnesota’s IBA identification.

Please send cover letter, resume, and references, to Mark Martell preferably via email at mmartell@audubon.org, or mail to:

Audubon Minnesota

2367 Ventura Dr. #106

St. Paul, MN 55125

July 2 Convergence

Well, I'm pretty excited about this Saturday, Amber and I are going to do a panel at a sci-fi convention called CONvergence with the Raptor Center birds. Here is what we are being billed as:

Eagles and Owls and Falcons, Oh MY! Birds in books: what's possible/what's not - this is based on things we've read in books or seen in movies. MISFITS is proud to be sponsoring University of Minnesota's Raptor Center both at CONvergence and in MISFITS' "In The Schools Program". Amber Burnette, Erin Lorenz, Sharon Stiteler

I'm really looking forward to this. It's one thing to do bird programs at bird festivals but at a sci-fi convention is so different. Some of these people may know absolutely nothing about birds and this could be their first exposure. Plus, I'm always up for trying to correct all the impossible bird stuff in books and tv. I was flipping through channels the other day and this posse of cowboys was supposed to be in Colorado Springs and at night you could hear loons--loons of all things, yeesh. I will say this, Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show did usually get it right. When Buffy would be hanging out in cemeteries waiting to stake vamps in Sunny Dale, CA there would be western screech owls calling. That was a big step in the right direction.

Strong Pigeon


Not the most exciting bird species on the planet but I'm always surprised when this bird shows up on my window ledge. Something happened to its right foot and it's missing all but one toe and has some kind of ball-like knob on the bottom of that foot. The incredible thing is that this particular bird has survived at least two Minnesota winters. It's the toughest bird, often pushing other pigeons off the ledge to have sole access to food. It survives quite well without my feeding too. I haven't put any seed out for two months because squirrels chewed a hole in my screen so I quit feeding for awhile. Today, I scattered some seed out to see who would come and this was my first visitor. I'm always so impressed by this bird, and it reminds me that birds are often a lot tougher than we give them credit for.

Female Red-winged Blackbird Variations


Interpretive dance or picking up food? Who can say and what must that song sparrow in back be thinking?

Well, as the mealworm bonanza continues behind the store, the red-winged blackbirds are having a gay old time taking advantage of this oh so stinky protien source. They do tend to pick out the livelier worms first but have also been taking the blackish dead ones as well. Yes, please get rid of my stinky inventory. Having birds behind the bird store is like having a trusty dog under the table when your parents serve you a nasty new recipe.

I have noticed that we have some different colored female red-winged blackbirds. Most females (like the one pictured left) are are a dull buff color with striping down the front and back. But we have a few that have some yellow highlights (like the bird pictured below). I'm not sure what causes this. I wonder if it has to do with diet. I know with house finches some males appear redder than others and it's based on diet.

Birds Love Mealworms

Sometimes, it's unbelievable to me the amount of mealworms we go through at the bird store. Birds absolutely love those guys and they really do make a difference in how many orioles you will have visiting your feeders during nesting season.

For me there are a couple of down sides, number one being that I have a severe allergy to mealworms or to their frass (fancy science term for mealworm poo). I sneeze uncontrollably, my eyes puff up and the back of my mouth gets swollen and itchy. To make matters worse I have been having a dickens of a time with one of my suppliers who keep sending lackluster worms (if you can imagine). This company used to have the biggest, fatest mealworms at a fairly reasonable price but recently our shipments have been full of stinky and dying worms and on top of that their prices just went up. None of this helps my allergies. We recently switched to a local supplier of mealworms but I'm still trying to get rid of the last stanky (yes, I mean STANKY) mealworms from the other company. Some of the bags are so bad that customers are refusing them even at clearance prices (birds will still eat them as the ones out behind our store proved the past few days, but the smell makes mealworms ickier than the already are). So to save my sinuses I have been putting them at the feeding station behind the birds store, much to the delight of the many birds that visit. There has been a steady parade of orioles (like the female pictured above) lining up for the squiggling pile on the ground. The first day a male oriole chattered impatiently as Denny piled them out. As soon as he was finished the oriole hopped from branch to brach chirping loudly sounding as if he couldn't believe his luck finding such a booty.

Of course other birds soon followed. The really weird thing was last night as I was leaving the store a young cottontail came out looking for food. It was old enough to be on its own but small enough to fool someone into thinking it needed help. Anyway, it went over to the pile of worms and munched on a couple of the really black dead ones! Who knew, carnivorous bunnies? Before I had a chance to observe further to see if the cottontail would happily eat more, the resident Cooper's hawk flew by and sent everyone for cover.

Today we had to add more mealworms to the pile so I set out the NovaBird Camera to see what kind of footage I could get. Some of the photos are blurry but I still enjoy them because there's a story there.

One of the resident catbirds has not only been eating mealworms but has also been making regular stops to our mixed nut feeder. Many customers also report catbirds eating grape jelly and suet (especially the No Melt Suet Plug--best suet EVER).

The photo before this one was a chipmunk, so I wonder if this male oriole was trying to bluff it to get it to go elsewhere. The chipmunk did not eat any of the mealworms in the numerous photos it appears in.

It looks like this female red-winged blackbird has at least five mealworms in her bill to take back to a nest full of chicks. Interesting we only caught females doing this on camera and not the males.

There's that chipmunk and in front is another red-winged blackbird female and this one looks like she has four mealworms and is still going for more.

Grackles appeared in several photos and don't apprear to be eating mealworms! I mixed in some Joe's Mix and a few mixed nuts with the mealworms and in every photo that a grackle appears in, its bill is full of nuts--no mealworms. I strongly suspect that they do eat mealworms, but these particular grackles were really in the mood for nuts.

My Calendars Are In!!


I just got my first shipment of my calendars! I can now sell them! Woo HOOOOOOOOOOO! So, if you're looking for a great gift idea for people who live in Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan I can recommend the following items for 2006:
Birds of Minnesota Calendar
Birds of Wisconsin Calendar
Birds of Michigan Calendar

Can I just say how happy I am to finally see the finished product? So much work has come to this, it's so cool. What a great way to start the weekend.

This goshawk photo is one of Stan Tekiela and is one of my favorites. There aren't just fantastic photos in here but lot's of great bird information for each state such as what birds to expect each month, tips for attracting birds and fun bird trivia for each state.