A Day In Frank Taylor's Blind

A photo of a pair of hatch year sharp-shinned hawks (the female is the larger bird on the left, the male is smaller and on the right) means that it's that special time of year for me.  That special time when I try to cut back on where I travel to so I can have time to help out with some hawk banding.  To those who have ever participated in a well run and a good banding station, it's not only scientific research, but it's part hunting and part sports game.  You scan the skies looking for a hawk that might be in a good position to see your bait, if it comes down, it could at the last minute dart off, if it does hit the net, you have to make sure the bait bird doesn't get nailed, then you have to dash out of the blind before the hawk gets out of the net.  After all of that research, you take notes on the bird and let it go, hoping for it to be recovered again when even more valuable information can be garnered.

Sunday was the first day I was able to go up.  I hit the road dark and early.  Watching the forecast, I wasn't sure what to expect. Websites predicted a 40% chance of rain all day, but the winds would be west in the morning, northwest in the afternoon--promising.  And at the end of the day, a slow day in the blind, is better than any day away from it.  And even to have the chance to watch the hawks on part of their journey is a treat.  No worries, it was not a disappointed day in the least, note the above red-tailed hawk--oh, what a flight to watch come in to the net.

Above is my buddy Frank Taylor posing with a hatch year (passage) red-tailed hawk we got in the nets.  He's also posing with his wounded rabbit call, which I must admit, I was skeptical about it. But it totally worked!  This young red-tail flew up to catch a thermal.  Rick, our master pigeon yanker, pulled the pigeon to flap a few times, and the red-tail showed no interest.  Frank grabbed his wounded rabbit call, blew loud and blew hard and the bird flapped, came out of the thermal and set towards the pigeon--it was beautiful.  It came in from far, set its wings, slowly lowered the talons and flew right into the net!  The call of the wounded rabbit was just enough to get the red-tail's attention to see the bait bird.

After we band the birds and are about to let them go, I like to try and get photos of them taking off.  My favorite way is to lay on the ground.  Normally, the birds are looking to get away.  Not this red-tail, it watched me to the whole time.

It was not interested in anything else.  I even said to Frank, "I really don't like the way this one is looking at me." It was not looking away.

Yet, when the hawk was released, it lost complete interest in me.  Whew.  When I showed this photo to Non Birding Bill, he said the hawk looked like it was auditioning for Fame and trying to light up the sky like a flame.

One of the fun parts of the blind is getting to see the local wildlife come out, not knowing that we are there.  This was a doe who came out to browse.  Although, her interest was piqued when she heard all of the camera clicks.

We had a very ballsy chipmunk come out to gather some of the leftover pigeon food to its winter stores, seemingly oblivious to the potential predators we were trying to draw in.

Blue jays also came in for the spilled food and periodically competed with the chipmunk.  This bird was really loading up on food--look how full the crop is.  Early in the morning when fewer hawks were moving, we had time to watch the chipmunk and the hawk, but by 10am, the hawk faucet was turned on and we were too busy catching hawks and watching others fly over to pay attention to the others.

We got in quite a few haggard (after hatch year) sharp-shins.  Normally, we don't get too many of those until later the season.  It was such a great day of watching hawks of all sizes from far off spot the pigeon and then come in for it.

One particular adult had us wondering about his past.  As soon as my friend Amber took him out of the nets, she noted that he had a Cooper's hawk look about him with his head.  It did look a bit flat, but he was sharpie in size and dainty bill.  As she banded the sharp-shin, he did what many hawks typically do--open its mouth and stick its tongue out.  Only, when this hawk did it, the tongue veered sharply to the right (not unlike someone with a neurologic disorder).  While Amber banded this bird, more hawks came into the nets and Reier held the hawk.  The hawk turned it's head this way and that.  When it would strain too far to the left or right, it would shake.  Reier noted that it was like someone with nerve damage.  Between the flatness of the head and the abnormalities, I wondered if this bird had flown into a window or some other blunt trauma?  It was a chunky bird, so it felt as though it had been eating well, but something happened to it somewhere.

Little Ringed Plove Nest Cam

I highly recommend saving this link should you ever be having a hard day, just bookmark it now.  I give you a snippet of the Little Ringed Plover nest cam.  Feel like an egg about to be incubated. I'm now watching it for the twentieth time.

Making a Heron Out of a Sandhill

I had a fun ranger assignment today.  We periodically use heron decoys for some of our birding programs at the park.  We have two, but one went missing and a new one was purchased.

However, when the ranger went to purchase a new great blue heron, all that was in stock was a sandhill crane.  The ranger picked it up because we needed a second one.  If you look closely at the sandhill, you can see that it has a bit of a heron shape, right down to the crest feathers.  All that was done to alter the species of the decoy was that the bill was painted black, some white was added to the face, a red cap was put on and the whole body was gray.  I offered to try and paint it into a great blue heron.

I also had an ulterior motive.  If you look at the decoys side by side, you might notice that they have unusually large cloacal protuberances.  I'm willing to overlook this, however, your average sixth grader is not and sometimes the unneeded part leads to lots of giggling that can take away from program time.  I thought since I had the decoys in my possession, I might do some trimming.  Alas, my exacto knife was too small to cut it.  So I had to put in a maintenance request for a large blade.  I decided to be discreet and take it downstairs to maintenance.  As I explained what I wanted done and that it was "too hard" that led to uncontrollable giggling on maintenance's behalf.  Fortunately, they found a blade and both protuberances were swiftly and mercifully removed.

Considering all that I had to work with were three cans of spray paint (white, black and buttercup) plus a sharpie, the sandhill turned into a rather nice looking or at least somewhat identifiable great blue heron.  Even more impressive, I managed to avoid spray painting my park uniform.

Also, these should be good decoys now that the laugh factor has been removed.  I thought it was curious that the local store would only have sandhill crane decoys and not herons.  I think this particular store sells them more as lawn ornaments, however in some states, it is legal to hunt sandhills. Minnesota is not one of those states, so it is curious how they ended up here.

Shorebird Banding At The Midwest Birding Symposium

A birder scans the dawn for migrants.  What a beautiful morning at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in Ohio!  During the Midwest Birding Symposium, I got the opportunity to observe some shorebird banding last Friday (which was a fun change of pace from the usual songbird banding I do on Fridays).  The banding started at dawn and involved two men named Tom.

The nets were set in areas where the shorebirds were feeding. The banders had to be careful to too keep the bottoms of the nets high, so if too many birds were caught, the nets wouldn't droop down into the water. You had to wear some serious waders in order to put the nets up and to retrieve the birds.

Some birds were not buying it, like the above pectoral sandpiper (that's a yellowlegs blurred in the background). Some birds fed right under the nets, while others flew right above and below.  However, many flew into the nets and we got to see quite a large variety of shorebird species in the hand.

Some of the nets were not easy to get to. Shorebird feed on mudflats and that gets messy.  They had to cross a stream to be able to get at the nets in a fast and easy manner.

Look at this beauty--a pectoral sandpiper.  This is one I can remember, note how far the brown goes down on its body before it meets the white.  The brown goes down much further on this bird than it would on a semipalmated or least--plus it's bigger.  The birds were all smaller in hand than they look in the field, which is what I expected.  According to bird banding guru Peter Pyle, this bird takes a band size of 1A.  You can put a 1A band on a cardinal to give you an idea of size.

The banders took the usual measurement of wings and tail, but also checked weight. This was done swiftly, by quickly inserting the shorebird into a tube and setting it on a scale (the weight of the tube was already calculated on the scale.  I think the banders had all of their measurements taken, banding and then assessment of age and sex in less than 60 seconds. They were quick, with the shorebird's safety and health a primary concern.

Here's a cute little bird! It's the sample size version of the killdeer, a semipalmated plover.  Don't you just love that yellow eyering?  These also take a small 1A band like the pectoral (and cardinal).  After this bird was banded, it flew across the nearby creek and began to forage as though nothing had happened.

And if you are wondering what the name "semipalmated" is all about, it refers to the slight webbing between the toes.  See?  Again, a bird named back in the day when they were shot first and identified later.  It's something seen easily in hand and up close to the face, but rarely seen when the bird is running around on a mudflat.  And believe it or not, non birders, this is not the only semipalmated bird out there.

We also got a semipalmated sandpiper into the nets too.  Above you can see Tom splaying the toes revealing the partial webbing between the toes.  This bird had a slight deformity on its bill, there was a lump in the middle.  Had it flown into a window at some point? Was it just some sort of odd defect it was hatched with? Who can say?

If you remember the photo from the previous entry, I asked if these were the same birds or different.  Even in hand, up close it can be a challenge.  Normally, I would point out the bill differences, but the semipalmated has that notch in its beak.  Another way I tell the two apart in Minnesota is also covered up.  Semipalm's bill and feet appear to be the same color, least sandpipers feet look lighter in color than the bill (you'll have to take my word on that since the least's feet are covered up in that photo).  You can see some examples here.

The coolest bird of the day for me was a Wilson's snipe that came into the nets.  What a great bird and what a treat to see up close.  Above is bander Tom Bartlett, reminding me a bit of Hannibal of the A-Team, loving it when a shorebird plan comes together.  And for the record, all we had to do to get this snipe was put up banding nets in the morning, no one was out in the middle of the night with a pillowcase making strange noises.

Here are some snipe toes, remarkably clean for a bird that wanders in mud.

Here's a shot of the head and that incredibly long beak it uses to probe in mud.  The bill  of the snipe is so flexible that it can open just the tips without opening the whole bill! Sensory pits at the tip of the bill allow the snipe to feel its prey deep in the mud.  It's bill is also handy for yanking the occasional worm too.

Tom tried to gently reveal the serrations inside the bill.  There are a couple of different theories as to how the snipe gets food and perhaps it uses both.  Some think that they may suck up food when the bill is probed in soil and others think the serrations pointing back towards its mouth in conjunction with its tongue will help move prey found in mud.  Still something we can learn.

Tom does have to bee quick when getting birds out of the nets.  He showed us this photo from just last month when a young peregrine falcon saw shorebirds struggling in the nets and thought it might be easy prey.  Tom got a little messy, but was able to get the falcon before it got the shorebirds.

This was a fun and educational experience and hands down one of my favorite birding moments at the Midwest Birding Symposium.

Same Or Different Birds?

Are these the same species or different species? What species do you think they are?

Harris Hawk Goes For Cockatoo

Now here is a dramatic video! As a bird handler, you have a tremendous responsibility of keeping the bird safe while you are working with the public.  If all goes well, it's a great educational tool.  If all does not go well...it can be a disaster for the birds and for the audience. Here is a video from a live bird show at the Los Angeles Zoo which incorporates both birds of prey and, well prey. This is a nighmare situation where the bird handler's quick thinking saved the life of a cockatoo: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikDpYwDKQ_A[/youtube]

I watched that with both fascination and horror. On the one hand, to see how quickly the Harris hawk dives in is cool, but as a bird handler, that is an intense situation. I wish I could see a copy of the video without the dramatic special editing. But, here is what I see and here is why that handler is a pro and was able to save the cockatoo.

She works with that cockatoo enough, that she knows when the bird is nervous and that something else has its attention. Typically, when I work with birds of prey, when they look up, there's a raptor--sometimes just a pepper speck to my eyes. That trainer, noticed that the cockatoo looked up and exhibited fear, she was smart enough to look up and realize that their other program bird, a Harris hawk wasn't far overhead.

As soon as the hawk dove, she blocks the cockatoo by covering it with her body--I can't imagine the amount of pain and to have it done in front of a crowd. If you get a glimpse at her face, you can tell that it hurt. Besides, the grasping talons of the Harris hawk, I wonder of the cockatoo bit her to either get balance or out of fear? Owie, owie, owie! I'm not sure which would be worse, I can't imagine both at the same time.

I found the full video on Animal Planet's website and they interview Lauren, than handler in the video.  Interesting, despite the sensationalized editing.  Again, her quick thinking and knowledge of her birds' behavior kept that live show from becoming an unfortunate bloody lesson on animal behavior.

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Blackpoll warbler chips outside my bathroom window. I look through the screen.  It chips and flies away as if to say, "You just got served!" I did?  I got served.  Holy crap, is it on?  According to Mike McDowell's blog, it's on. Fall migration has totally hit and from looking online, some of the hottest action is at Hawk Ridge.  Check out this photo of a peregrine falcon eating a sharp-shinned hawk on the wing.  Yeah, migration is on!

Yesterday, I was supposed to lead a bird walk at Coon Rapids Dam.  No one showed, so I took it as an opportunity to "rove."  We rangers will sometimes just walk around in different parts of our park and be there to chat with people.  Walking around with my uniform, spotting scope and camera, I'm basically a walking sign, "Come and talk to me!" People do.

I didn't get very far because I found a spot right on the bank of the low Mississippi River that was just chock full of birds. This cedar waxwing was surrounded by palm warblers, one Cape May warbler, yellow-rumped warblers, hundreds of robins, one Philadelphia vireo and a red-eyed vireo.  Behind me were gulls, herons and egrets so it was a great spot to point out birds.

I got this shot of a great egret and when I downloaded it noticed that there was also a drake mallard in the shot too--the drake is coming out of his eclipse plumage. His head is almost all green with that patch of brown. Ducks must be so relieved to be finished with their molt in the fall. I can't imagine what it must feel like to have thousands of pin feathers coming in at once.

I met a new birder Paul who was also taking photos. He said that he was relatively new to birding, but it's been awhile since I've met someone excited about geese. He took photos of them every chance he got--which is great. I think many birders overlook the "common" birds and he was focused on getting the best flight shots of them possible. He inspired me to take a few shots, I like getting photos of them squabbling.

The big treat for me were the sparrows. Check out Mr. Mutton Chops above--I love song sparrows, when you catch them in just the right angle, they have such a great pattern on their heads. Song sparrows are fun this time of year, they are in fresh plumage, the tee up nicely for photos and I LOVE listening to young song sparrows in a bush practicing their songs for next spring. They don't quite have it down and the sing over and over sound like sort of song sparrows.

I saw a group of four song sparrows as I was leaving. After I got a few shots, I continued the walk back to my car. I noticed something scurry like a mouse across the trail. Only it wasn't mouse shaped, it was bird shaped. "Lincoln's sparrow," I thought to myself. I set my scope up to where it had scrambled into the grasses and waited, knowing it would pop out again.

And it did. I love me some brown birds and a Lincoln's sparrow is always a great during migration. It has streaks like a song sparrow, although not as thick. They can even have a central breast spot like a song sparrow, but they don't quite have the mutton chops that the song sparrows have. Ah, what a great sparrow to find.

As I went up the trail to the parking lot, I apparently startled a tree. In fairness, it was dozing on the job so kind of had it coming.

Mind Games With A Crow

This is not the best photo, but these crows were just outside my kitchen window trying to pick some plastic flap off of the telephone wires.  These must be young crows trying to figure out what is edible.  I wonder what gave them the idea that this orange tag might lead to food?

I crouched behind a chair with a jacket over the back and using that as sort of a blind.  As my D40 camera was clicking. One crow looked up and in my direction.  I hid behind the chair without taking photos and after about 20 seconds, leaned to the side.  The crow was craning its neck trying to figure out what was there.  I started to make young crow calls, then it flew right at my window.

Normally, the crows in my neighborhood are very cagey and never land anywhere near a window, so I wonder if this is a young of the year learning the ropes.  He eventually flew off, but it will be interesting to see if this curiosity is a boon or a bust for his winter survival.

Woodpeckers, Suet and Suet Sandwich Feeder

I mentioned earlier that I'm partnering with OpenSky.  It's an online store with birding products that I like. Part of my end of the deal is to make blog entries and videos of the product I like.  Non Birding Bill and I see this as an opportunity to create some short fun birding videos.  Below is one on woodpeckers and suet filmed in Mr. Neil's backyard. It's about four minutes long, safe for work and has a great photo of a woodpecker tongue. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJMZf472jmo[/youtube]

If you are interested in this feeder, you can purchase it here.  It really does work well to keep raccoons out and I've had great success chaining to to tree branches (with a lock) to keep raccoons from running off with the feeder and it's fatty booty in the middle of the night.

Alvaro Jaramillo Counting Snipe Retrices

Thanks for all the guesses in the blog and on Twitter.  DC Birding Blog guessed correctly when he wrote Wilson's snipe.  I love that tail, it looks like a mini red-tailed hawk tail. Tai brings up a good point, note how small the feathers are in relation to the fingers--they are small birds.

Here is a video of Alvaro Jaramillo counting the snipe's tail feathers (you'll hear me call it a common snipe, I'm still stuck on it's old name, it is a Wilson's snipe).  You may remember Alvaro from a video earlier this year on learning to love gull watching.  Funny guy and would keep you laughing on one of his tours with Field Guides:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z8m4VpvRTs[/youtube]

In the background you might notice Mike Bergin taking photos off to the left, and the dude with the budding fro is Hugo who was one of my guides in Guatemala.