Endangered Birds Pushing Their Luck

cassowary / eddie safarikVisitor ... Jan Shang keeps a close watch on a visiting cassowary as she attends to chores. Picture: Eddie Safarik

THEY have borne Cyclone Larry and weeks of torrential rain, but now the luckless residents of Innisfail face a new dilemma, a posse of hungry marauding cassowaries.

The critically endangered and famously testy flightless bird, known for its ability to disembowel humans with its razor-sharp claws, is running amok through the backyards and suburban streets of north Queensland in search of food.

The birds are believed to have left rainforest areas after much of the fruit-bearing plants they depend on were knocked down by Larry's 260km/h winds.

It is expected to be months before the birds' food sources begin to replenish.

Meanwhile, roaming cassowaries are reported to have chased several residents through town. One recently fell into a backyard swimming pool and had to be rescued.

The people of Innisfail and surrounds have now been warned not to feed the birds.

Queensland Parks and Wildlife rangers have set up food stations throughout the cyclone-affected region to entice cassowaries back into the forests and save them from being hit by cars or chased by dogs. At least six cassowaries have died in the Mission Beach region, south of Innisfail, since the cyclone, all struck by cars.

The birds are vital to the survival of the World Heritage-listed wet tropics rainforest because they are the only animals capable of distributing the seeds of more than 70 species of trees whose fruit is too large for any other forest-dwelling animal to eat and thus relocate.

There are less than 1200 cassowaries left in Australia.

Read the rest of the story here and be sure to check out the gallery of other deadly animals in the region.

Birds, Swallowtails and Squirrels, oh my

I had to share the above photo. I was giving a program at The Raptor Center yesterday and right before it started, the merlin I was going to use decided to take a bath. This photo is after it had dried a little bit, but at first she looked just awful, completely waterlogged. It's hard to convince people what badasses merlins are when they are soggy and scrawny looking.

I had my first encounter with an apiary. One of the staff at Carpenter Nature Center took me out to their beehives to begin my training on keeping an apiary. I knew this was going to be a real test. Oh sure, I've been reading about keeping bees, but would I panic and freak when actually confronted with a hive? I didn't freak--I even got see a queen. There's A LOT involved with keeping a hive for honey but this is something doable for me. For those interested, I did not get stung.

While there, I found several eastern tiger swallowtails all over their lilac bushes. They really do love to nectar on those plants. It was interesting to note that birds had sampled some of the swallowtails.

Take a look at the swallowtail at this swallowtail. See the chunk of wing missing. That hole left in the wing almost looks like it had been grabbed by the bill of a great-crested flycatcher, but who knows for sure which bird tried to eat it?

People who were reading this blog last summer may remember my problem with squirrels chewing their way into my bedroom window and I had to relocate all the ones that decided to come in whenever they wished. Once again, I'm having a squirrel issue. Last night while sitting on the couch reading, I heard a chewing sound come from the bathroom. Without thinking I automatically shouted, "Cinnamon, get out of the bathroom!" The chewing continued, I looked up and suddenly noticed that Cinnamon was sitting on the Love Sac right across from me. She stared at me with great disapproval that I would accuse her of chewing. Both of her ears were facing me. We heard in the gnawing sound again. Cinnamon's right ear turned towards the direction of the sound while she continued to stare at me accusingly. It was dark out. Cinnamon was in front of me...what was chewing in the bathroom. I'll give you three guesses: a squirrel.

For some reason a squirrel has decided to build a nest in our bathroom window. You can see in this photo I took of the ledge this morning, the little cup impression on the lower left corner where it cuddled up and slept. I don't know why the squirrel wants to live here. We live in an old brown stone with lots of little quirks, one being a window on the same wall as a bath tub/shower. We keep a shower curtain in front of it, but still you would think a squirrel would notice the hot steam rolling out when we shower. Is this some kind of pervert squirrel that has been peeping when we are showering? What is it with my apartment and squirrels??

Killdeer Feelin' The Love

The killdeer post from a few days ago inspired Karen Cramer:

While waiting for him in the Jeep, from along the western edge of the parking lot I heard this commotion consisting of continuous and raucous "Kill-Deer", "Kill-Deer" calls. After my Uncle returned with his steaming cup of caffeine, I had him drive toward the area of the lot where all the noise was originating. There, we observed a group of 5-6 killdeer, darting and calling, chasing each other, displaying, and, yes, a couple of killdeer were even doing the WILD THING. Of course, always having my camera on me as if it were a third eye, I just had to snap a photo. So attached to this message is my Future Killdeer Parents photo. Enjoy!

Thanks, Karen, I would say, we are enjoying this, but would that make me sound weird? I remember the first time I saw birds engaging in mating. I was kid and was watching two flickers--I was surprised and excited, I had read about mating and now here it was. It looked almost impossible to figure out that balance--the killdeer in the above photo are at least on the ground, the female flicker I watched was balancing on a branch and the male was balancing on her--that seems like a lot of work. Anyway, I remember my mom walked in and asked what I was watching so intently out the window. "Two flickers having sex!" I answered excitedly. She came over to watch, and I'll never forget the look on her face when she said, "I don't know if you should be watching that." I think in her mind she was thinking, "On the one hand, she's a kid, should she be watching this? On the other hand, this is nature and scientific..." The flickers decided the dilemma for her and both flew off.

Freaky Hot Weekend

When I moved to Minnesota, I did not sign up for super hot summers.

Okay, so summertime snow isn't what I want either. The above photo isn't really snow, it's just from the cottonwood trees. This weekend it's been in the upper 90s with high humidity so it feels like it's well over 100--ugh. One top of that, our air conditioner decided to go give up the ghost on Sunday.

"Oooo, I don't approve of no air conditioning! I'm sitting on the cockatiel's food until you rectify the situation."

I knew we were in a precarious situation, it was unusually hot on Saturday and no doubt all the places that carry air conditioners wouldn't have their supply high for this time of year, but we chanced it and got the last energy efficient window unit air conditioner in our price range. Ah, the secret to a happy marriage is air conditioning.

The heat was having an odd effect on everyone.

Here is a motley little crew filming a video in our ally. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure these are our next door neighbors. They kind of remind me of a Beastie Boys video from Paul's Boutique.

The guy in the green jumpsuit and eye patch wielding an accordion was intriguing. He didn't play too badly.

Here we have a drake mallard chillin' on top of a neighbor's roof--what's that all about?

And now Non Birding Bill is taking photos of birds, and on top of that a really cool brown bird, a dickcissel. What's happening to my world? Cool weather please come back and restore my sanity.

Banding At Carpenter

Friday's banding brought in some interesting birds. First, though can you identify this little bird? I will reveal the identity at the end of this post.

Something that you can't quite see in this photo is that the bird has a light yellow rump patch. This bird required all the guys to get out the field guides when she came in. It was interesting to note that there are several field guides around and the banders tend to reach for Peterson or National Geographic before they will reach for Sibley. I always thought Sibley was the end all be all and the first to be reached for. Who knew?

Well, now here is something you don't see every day:

It's a song sparrow and a red-eyed vireo side by side. They both came into the nets at the same time and I thought "What a fun comparison." The song sparrow tends to hang out low the ground singing its fool head off and the red-eyed vireo tends to hang out in the tops of tree singing its fool head off. I don't know why, but as a kid I always got the impression from looking at field guides that vireos were robin sized and not closer to sparrow or warbler sized. I was really surprised when I actually got to see them in the wild and how small they are. Harold Mayfield recorded one red-eyed vireo in Michigan who sang 22,197 times in a 10 hour period--at least it's a pleasant song.

We also got a gray catbird in the nets.

"Love me..."

"...love my vent."

It may seem odd to have a rusty red vent (aka bird equivalent of a butt) but males and females flash each other with it during mating season. When you think about what some of us do on dates, it really doesn't seem all that weird. If it does seem weird to you, you need to get out more.

Some people may be noticing catbirds at the feeder, they love to come in for grape jelly, mealworms and the occasional oyster cracker. I know, some people are out there thinking I'm off my gourd about the oyster crackers, but I have proof thanks to the NovaBird Camera:

See? Gray catbird eating oyster crackers that were meant for boat-tailed grackles in Virginia.

Are you still puzzling about the mystery warbler in the first photo of this entry? I've dropped a few hints already: it's a warbler and it's female. Here's another clue:

When the bird was let go, she dove straight down right for some bushes as opposed to flying up in the trees. Has that narrowed it for you? One more hint if you are still stumped: these guys are very pishable (if you say the word "pish" in a whisper, this species will often respond and check out what is making that sound). Now, have you figured out "whichity" warbler it is? (okay, that was a lame pun I know--but it's a holiday weekend, throw me a bone.)

It's a female common yellowthroat. If you got it, pat yourself on the back for a job well done. If you didn't, don't sweat it, female warblers are tough. If you laughed at the whichity clue, then go slap yourself.

One Bad Egg (Collector)

Mr. Neil alerted me to this interesting story:

The day Britain's most notorious egg collector climbed his last tree

Birder falls to his death from larch tree while checking out unusual nest

Martin Wainwright
Saturday May 27, 2006
The Guardian

Colin Watson's prey was precious, rare and hidden in dangerous places. And on a windy afternoon this week his risk-taking finally caught up with him.

While a friend watched in horror, Watson, 63, lost his grip on the slender trunk of a 12-metre (40ft) larch tree he had climbed to check out yet another unusual bird's nest. The former power station worker tumbled to the ground in woods in south Yorkshire, a region where collectors have often played hide-and-seek with police. Paramedics arrived soon afterwards but the father-of-three had suffered massive injuries and was declared dead at the scene.

Here's the rest of the article here. Do read it, it's an incredible story. This guy had been convicted, fined and even had his gigantic illegal collection taken away, yet he still continued! There are many great people in the birding field, and like all activities, there are a few who just don't make us look good. That's a shame.

Speaking of eggs, I am sitting on pins and needles waiting for Carrol Henderson's book to come out about a history of egg collecting in the United States and how it shaped bird watching. I think it's supposed to come out in the fall. Woot.

Punk'd by a Killdeer...sort of

Yesterday while walking past a power substation, I noticed a killdeer on the other side of the fence staring at me.
When a killdeer is very interested in you, that is a sign that she has something to hide. Most likely eggs or young. If she had just kept sitting and incubating, I probably would have never noticed her, but this blatant stalking was way to obvious. I wonder if she is a first time nester?

The killdeer started her wounded bird display. You could easily see the rusty feathers they flash to give the appearance of a bloody injury. I would guess this is learned behavior, as the chicks will see the female give it whenever danger is nearby. When you see a killdeer give this display, this is a time to stop walking and look all around before you next step. She is trying to lead you away from the nest or young and you could be quite close to these very camoflaged items. I saw her trying to take me towards the right, so I focused my attention to the left.

I don't know how well you can see this, but on the lower right hand corner are the eggs--right next to the fence and in the upper left corner is the killdeer still trying to lure me away. Here's a better view of the nest:

On the surface this looks like a good spot, this is a very well fenced area with a few tiny pockets that will be just big enough for the chicks to walk out of. On the other hand, the nest is close enough to the fence that an enterprising raccoon on the outside could conceivably reach in and grab the eggs. If she make it through incubation she should be okay, because the chicks will run around as soon as they are hatched. Another consideration I don't think the killdeer took in was that there is a pair of kestrels nesting insided the fenced substation as well. Many challenges for this nest, maybe she knows something I don't.

She kept up her display, and she was working so hard I felt I owed it to her to play along. Plus, I didn't want to linger to long at the nest. The scent of humans can get a raccoons attention and lead them to the nest. So I played along and followed this faux injured bird. When I made for a pounce she flew away. Whenever killdeer finally do the final fly away they always give a version of their call that that has a laughing quality to it. I wonder how that evovled. Perhaps to taunt the chaser to go after and punch the killdeer, thereby leading the predator further from the nest.

Need A Warbler Fix?

If you aren't seeing warblers like you would want, check out Mike's Digiscoping Blog for some amazing vacation warbler shots he digiscoped and check out the Stokes Birding Blog for some fantastic photos--you can even see Lillian rockin' her super camera setup--holy cow!

Birdchick: You know, they say that cat Lillian is one bad mother...

Non Birding Bill: Shut Your Mouth!

Birdchick: But I'm talkin' about the Stokes.

Non Birding Bill: I can dig it.

Both: Stokes!

Birdchick: Right on.

And now you'll never think of the theme from Shaft the same ever again--insert evil laugh here.

Some rehabbers...

...have too much time on their hands.

Image of alien face found in wounded bird's stomach

Bay City News Service
Image of bird X-ray
Radiograph & photo by Marie Travers/IBRRC
Image of bird X-ray

An X-ray of the stomach of a wounded duck that died at the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia contains the uncanny image of an alien's face.

Honest!

And like the grilled cheese sandwich with an image of the Madonna, the X-ray image will be auctioned on eBay. Bidding starts Sunday at 3 p.m.

Read the rest here.