The Problem With Exotic Species Gets Worse

I found this on the Bluebird Recovery Program of Minnesota site:

The U.S. Congress just passed two identical bills of importance to bluebirders. The bills reauthorize the soon -to- expire Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and added clarification to specifically state that invasive, exotic species are NOT federally protected. This overruled a recent court decision which interpreted the act as including exotic species. With this strong new federal interpretation of the act, states may now be able to add language to their own rules and statutes regarding state’s control of exotic species.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) is right now in the process of reviewing their rules, and has asked for comments. Of particular interests to us is statute 84D.12, subd,3 under Rule #6216, which states that it is illegal to introduce certain regulated or prohibited exotic species into the state. The Bluebird Recovery Program urges people to write and request two changes:

  1. Include the exotic house sparrow and European starling in the regulated invasive species category, and
  2. change the wording of statute 84D.12, subd 3 (which states that it is illegal to introduce regulated exotic invasive species), to include the words “or release”.

With these two changes, it would be illegal in Minnesota to rehabilitate house sparrows and release them again into the wild (or trap them and release). Hundreds of volunteer hours and donations are spent by rehabilitating centers in treating and releasing house sparrows. Over 700 house sparrows and starlings were released last year by just one rehab center.

Help stop this cycle of releasing rehabilitated house sparrows which in turn cause death or injury to our native song birds, some of which may survive to be treated by rehabilitation centers!

Some of the DNR rules were adopted by emergency power given to them to act quickly when invasive species appear, to prevent further spread. The DNR needs to make permanent these rules, and can do so without having to go through the legislature.

Comments should be submitted by April 1 in writing, by phone, or by email to:

Steve Hirsch
Division of Ecological Services, MN DNR
500 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55155-4025

Phone: 651-297-4928

Email steve.hirsch@dnr.state.mn.us

I am very disturbed by it. If it's passed, it will be illegal for any rehabber to treat and release an injured house sparrow, starling or pigeon. I know these species have been a part of the decline of native species--I have even found a nuthatch that was killed by a house sparrow, but if this law goes into effect it will not slow down the bird populations of these invasive species.

To top it off, most of the people who drop off baby birds at wildlife rehab centers don't know the difference between house sparrows and cardinals. Picture this: a child comes in carefully carrying a box that has a baby bird nestled inside. The child feels bad and wants to help. The rehab center then opens the box sees a house sparrow and says, "Sorry, kid, if we help this bird, we can't release it so we'll have to put it to sleep." That's just going to turn kids off to wildlife. It also encourages people to raise wildlife on their own, which is much worse.

The statistic that is used is way off. The only rehab center I know in Minnesota that could have possibly taken in the number of birds below is the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Minnesota and even if they did take in that number, they only have a 20% success rate in treatment so most were euthanized anyway. (I'm really getting worked up now) And, in the grand scheme of things the number taken in is not even a drop in the bucket of the total population of these birds. You can do far more for native bird species with proper bird house management than by telling a wildlife rehabilitation facility what they can and cannot treat.

Feel free to contact the DNR with your own thoughts, but I intend to tell him that this law if enacted would do WAY more harm than good.

Sax Zim Meeting

I headed up to the bog today with Amber Burnette and Mark Martell from Minnesota Audubon. The meetings are organized by Pam Perry and it's goal is to find a way to make the bog more accessible and safe for birders and how to keep birders from ticking off the locals. It's opened the doors to some great conversation and great possibilities for the area. The meetings are held at Wilbert's Cafe. At the counter where you pay, they have a notebook where folks can sing names and where they are from. Next to it is an assortment of owl articles and I was excited to discover an article written by my friend Val Cunningham who writes for Outdoor News:

We did some brief birding and I'm sorry to report that we found only one owl but then again we weren't really trying that hard. Male harriers were all over the place. We found one guy eating something on the side of hwy 7. Of course, as soon as we stop he took off for the other side of a field but I was able to digiscope him with my Stokes binoculars. Mark was comparing them to his Zeiss binos and even he was impressed. Here is the harrier with a mouth full of food:

We did see a ton of bald eagle moving through as well as gray jays, northern shrike, kestrels, rough-legged hawk (a dark morph!) and of course one lone northern hawk owl.

Signs of Spring

Today was a great day! I discovered that I have lost six pounds this morning and it was warm enough to wear a skirt without tights--whoo hoo. I was supposed to do some writing and tidying up but Non Birding Bill pointed out that I can do that when it's dark and that I should go out. I think he was more tired of me meandering about the house whining that migration was passing me by. Anyway, I went one county south to Dakota County and got my first official sign of spring, a turkey vulture:


This photo was digi scoped with my new Stokes binoculars. I love them so much however I still can't believe I have them. I don't feel nearly grown up enough to have a pair this nice. These are truly the best binoculars you are going to find under $1000.

Anyway, enough gushing about my binos. I did see other signs of spring including listening to eastern meadowlarks and eastern bluebirds. I really enjoy living in the Twin Cities. I have all the comforts of metropolitan living and less than an hour away I am in some if the best birding spots enjoying open meadow species. I pulled over at Schaar's Bluff, turned off my car and just sat and listened, beyond the bluebirds and meadowlarks you could hear tree sparrows and red-winged blackbirds. A robin hopped beside the car looking for insects and it almost made me think it was trying to say, "Yes, here I am, the thing you are looking for. I am the embodiment of spring, you may bask in my greatness." I didn't have the heart to say, "Sorry, dude, turkey vulture already took care of me."

Bluebirds seemed to be everywhere, on almost every telephone wire. One rather accommodating male put on quite a show. He completely ignored my car as I pulled up underneath him and digi scoped him stretching in the sun:


The bluebird butt of happiness.


"Hey, did you just take a picture of my butt?? I'm so embarrassed."

Expectant Bird House


A lonely bluebird house waiting for a tenant.

Yesterday I checked our bluebird trail behind the store. It is actually a tree swallow trail. Last summer was my first breeding season at the Wayzata Wild Bird Store and there's a great wetland behind our strip mall. I asked the property owner if he would mind any bird houses out there and he thought that was a great idea. I have two Peterson style bluebird boxes, a Gilbertson bluebird box and a Woodlink bluebird box. The Woodlink bluebird box was the only one ignored so I might switch it to a Gilbertson box this year.

The house finches are placing nesting material in the swallow cup out front. I tried to get a photo, but we were just too busy Saturday at the bird store. March is such a weird month. The first half starts deadly slow and you panic a little bit as to whether or not you will make your sales budget. Then at some point in March and it's usually related to warmer weather, there's a snap and customers come pouring in and you can sometimes even exceed your sales budget. Since I can do more of my own ordering at this store I have been having fun watching what's selling to see if I guessed correctly what my customers wanted. There was a fairly expensive feeder called a Gazebell. It's got a huge copper bell top and the body is made of white recycled plastic and looks like a gazebo. in the center hangs a mesh tube that you can put sunflower or peanuts in. Because of the recycled plastic it's a bit more expensive than some of my other feeders, but it will last forever. Because of the expense I wondered if I made a mistake ordering it. Sure enough though, it spoke to one of my customers and she bought it.

I also got in these heavy duty clay bluebird houses that look like giant acorns. Because of the weight, shipping is really on these guys and again so is their price. I thought they were a risk but we sold one of those too on Saturday. I can't imagine really enjoying a retail job, but I really and truly enjoy the challenge of finding things that appeal to my customers. The big challenge isn't finding cute stuff, there's cute bird stuff all over out there, the real challenge is finding something unique, cute and durable all in one. There's a lot of cute and unique that if you sneezed on it, it would blow apart.

Tree swallows have been found in southern Minnesota. I saw gulls for the first time outside the store yesterday. We also had one grackle and a killdeer. Spring is moving in.

My Poor Bill

So, Non Birding Bill and I were leaving a parking garage after a tasty breakfast at the Uptown Diner. As I backed out he said, "If you back up a few spaces we can skip the top level and exit quicker."

"Yeah, but," I replied, "if we go straight we can look at the nest some crows are building!"

"Oh geez, of course, what was I thinking?" he responded.

I know he wasn't really excited, but I pretened he was. I think that's the secret to staying married for six years.

Crouching Birdchick Hidden House Finch

So I'm at the store and I was adjusting some merchandise by the front window. I was down below the window, bunny-proofing some merchandise, when I felt like I was being watched. I looked up and on the vine outside the window and there's a female house finch with a bill full of nesting material staring down at me.

Certain things for some people are signs of spring--arrivals of certain birds, blooming of flowers but a non-raptor nest building says spring to me. I noticed yesterday two males were chasing each other around the nest cup I put for the finches but I didn't anticipate them starting this early. Last year we had two broods of house finches. The first time they nested in the cup we put up the second time the pair made a nest on the vine right next to the cup. I'll have to try and get photos tomorrow.

Flicker Needs a Snooze Button

I had a northern flicker in the neighborhood this morning that was loud enough to get me out of bed. My alarm clock has a snooze button so I was trying to catch a few extra minutes in the warm covers and then in flew the flicker that started calling away.

The last couple of weeks have been like Christmas, tons of new stuff coming in and my store is almost loaded to the gills. I suspect I am hugely over my inventory budget, but when it comes to shiny new things in birding catalogues, I'm just a girl who can't say "no". Well, that's not entirely true. I've had one incredibly pushy photographer on the east coast trying to get me to carry his cards. Part of my decision not to carry his cards has been how pushy and time consuming he is. The other reason is that most of the samples he sent me were birds not in Minnesota. I love brown pelicans but I don't think my Minnesota clientele wants use one of those guys to convey special thought in a card. When I suggested to the photographer birds that probably would sell in the bird store he got very defensive and said that he doesn't have time to get photos of every bird out there he just takes pictures of interesting looking bird moments. It was kind of odd, kind like a arty guy and a hard core birder all in one. Strange.

I have yet to see a grackle, I wonder where they are?

Lunch Date with a Peregrine


Juneau, a female peregrine dines on quail over fist.

Today I went in for some refresher training at The Raptor Center. Since my schedule has become so full I am not able to do regular programs at TRC so the bird curator has me come in once a month to keep up on my bird handling skills. I didn't realize until today how much I miss doing programs at TRC. It's really, really cool to have the privilege of handling birds of prey--I never EVER get tired of it. If you ever meet someone that says, "Yeah, I used to work with raptors it was no big deal"--they're lying it is a big deal. It's as much fun as you think it would be. I love everything about it, they way each bird feels different on your fist (red-tails feel like chunky blobs, peregrines feel like a solid and erect piece of steel), I love the way the birds smell, anticipating what they are going to do next and I miss sharing that with the public. I am going to have to find a way to clear my schedule to have time to do this again.

I handled Ricke (an unfortunate great-horned owl with rickets because he was raised as a vegetarian by some dorkwad veterinarian) and Juneau the peregrine in the photo above. Juneau was involved in a duck hunting incident. Some poor duck hunter was aiming at a duck not realizing that a peregrine was aiming for the same fowl racing in around 200 mph. The hunter turned her in to US Fish and Wildlife and since it was an accident was not charged but Juneau has permanent injuries to her flight muscles and is now an ed bird.

Peregrines are the reason I'm not a vegetarian anymore. I was for a few years and early on at TRC I was feeding one a rat while it sat on my fist. Peregrines really look like they enjoy what they eat. They pick the darkest, juiciest pieces of meat and eat those first. There are all kinds of strange squishy and crunch sounds as they eat and then after some bites they almost do a num num num gesture with their bill. As I watched the peregrine eat the rat I realized how badly I wanted some meat and have justified my meat eating that if a bird can eat meat, so can I.

Bird Cams Up in Action

I got a tip from Janet in New York that one of her favorite bird cams is up on the peregrine falcons that nest on the Kodak Building in Rochester, NY.

That got me in the mood to check out some of my bird cams that I always watch in the spring and summer. About a month ago Xcel had their falcom cams up and you could see some adult birds from time to time roosting or preesing in the nest box, but now they are not active. The falcons on the Colonnade Building on my way to work are already duking out the territory so I imagine Xcel's falcon cams will be running soon. However, they do have a great horned owl cam which is a hoot (yes, bad pun intended) to watch. Last year it wasn't up because the crazy raptor decided to use an old squirrel nest instead of the owl box, but this year it looks like a female is incubating at least two eggs so far.

I'm very excited that The Indianapolis Star is going to have their falcon cam up on their website. I had heard a rumor last fall that some of the powers that be were going to nix the cam but it is up and running on their site and the peregrines already have eggs. There's even a blog to go along with it--everybody getting a blog these days.

I got an email from The Raptor Center, they are getting a big response from my post about people donating for the great gray owls. I posted it on the Minnesota birding listservs and it got a little out of hand. At first the idea was taken and run with, which I thought was great, but then it turned into a battle of the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union should donate to this or their board is just a bunch of jerks. It was interesting that it was just the MOU that was singled out to donate and not any of the other birding organizations in the state. I think it's mostly one person who for whatever reason wants to take over the MOU and make it into what they feel a bird club should be, but I just think, "good grief don't get The Raptor Center involved in your politics" and "if you don't like the way one particular bird club is run, start your own." Gotta love that bird geek angst.

Speaking of donating, word on the bird trail is that Bill Lane, that crazy owl researcher who lives out in the middle of the boreal forest monitoring Minnesota's boreal owl population and providing them with much needed nesting boxes is underfunded and under manned for his boreal nest box project this spring. If you can donate money or physical labor, I'm sure he would welcome it. Bill's a hard working guy and much like any other bird researcher suffers from not being able to communicate with others in a way that would get him more money. He hasn't learned the slick PR that would get him lots of money and I think sometimes his passion for the boreal owl gets the better of his mouth and he loses money for it.