Birdchick Podcast #133: Naked Birding, Albatross, Crazy Owls

FYI: the subject of nudity as in "I used to be a nude art model in college" kind of way comes up in this podcast.  Just so you know in case you listen with your kids. Did you see the finalists for the worst bird photo contest?

Bird jobs this week.

Need a laugh? Just watch this.

62 year old albatross still laying eggs!

In other crazy nesting news, bald eagles laid eggs in the Twin Cities in January and there's a live cam. In other news, a great horned owl took over an eagle nest that's on a live cam.

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Screen Shot 2013-02-12 at 7.35.44 PM

Speaking of great horned owls, a great horned got caught in the grille of someone's SUV and a red-tailed hawk got caught in someone's Civic.

Somebody (not me) is claiming to do a nude big year of birding.

Did you know you can see submissions to eBird in real time?

Interesting theory of how starlings monitor each other when in a murmuration.

A good article on why you can't exactly trust using Google Images to id birds.

Birdchick Podcast: #132 Red Knots, Gift Bearing Jays, Listing Rules

This week's crazy bird jobs: Bavarian Blue Tit study.

Montana Bird Technicians.

Hawaii Bird Banding Technicians.

Birds and Beers is in the news!

Hurricane Sandy could continue to have a devastating impact on migratory birds, including the red knot. Also there is a petition to continue the moratorium on harvesting horseshoe crabs.

Listing Rules...at least from the American Birding Association rule book.

Um...it's National Bird Feeding Month.

Google Maps inspired bird house.

Brian Williams gets catty.

Whoa, whoa, whoa...I got a press release from the American Bird Conservancy and it was good news.  What the heck is going on.

There's still time to enter to win my spotting scope!

Birdchick Podcast #131: Cats, Space Coast Festival, Dinosaurs

Hey!  Did you know that I'm having a contest to give away my Swarovski ATM spotting scope? Yes, you could win, just send me your worst bird photo (but please read all the contest rules first). This week in crazy bird jobs:

Volunteer Field Assistant for the Blue-throated Macaw

Couples encouraged to apply for land bird surveys!

TOMKAT Ranch field assistant

Reader responds to the new bird job segment about cougars in California and you should check out biobabbler blog post on a cougar in her yard...and her creative defense.

A new comprehensive study about cats effect on wildlife has staggering results.

Another fossil is supposed to make us look at birds differently...don't all fossils, I mean, c'mon? Oh and here's a story about scientists figuring out that a fossil was a female bird that was ovulating...maybe that makes me look at scientists differently...

Swamp sparrows are way more aggressive than you may realize. Here's a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zo12PP3PZpo#!

It reminds me a lot of the book Birds Fighting.

Birdchick Podcast #130: Weird jobs Sharon wants to take

Birdchick Podcast #129: Birds, We Talk About Birds

Stuff that happened while Non Birding Bill and I were out of town: Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Black Swamp Bird Observatory launched a website to try and connect young birders called Young Birders Network.

Ornithologist forced to participate in reality tv show.

Some gruesome but awesome images of a lanner falcon and chanting goshawk...that does not end well for at least one of a flock of turtle doves.

The American Birding Association announced the 2013 Bird of the Year and Robert Mortensen of Birding is Fun fame made a hilarious video.  This man knows how to commit:

Visit the official ABA Bird of the Year website: http://aba.org/boy/

And this video led to this:

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Screen Shot 2013-01-14 at 8.55.37 PM

And then this:

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Screen Shot 2013-01-14 at 8.55.53 PM

Sometimes, there are just plain weird projects on Kickstarter and it may be best to quietly navigate away from the page.

The Hitler Hoary Redpoll video...(man, if you're not a birder, that probably sounds weird).

You can use a pigeon to deliver your mail...but not feel guilty about it!

And you think you have a crappy job...

Birdchick Podcast #128: ABA Nominations, Ravens Bathing/Playing, Birding

Hey! You have until December 31, 2012 to get your nominations in for the American Birding Association's annual awards: 1. ABA Roger Tory Peterson Award-Promoting the Cause of Birding

2. ABA Chandler Robbins Award-Contributions to Education/Conservation

3. ABA Claudia Wilds Award-Distinguished Service to ABA

4. ABA Robert Ridgway Award-Excellence in Publications in Field Ornithology

5. ABA Ludlow Griscom Award-Outstanding Contributions in Regional Ornithology

Get your nominations in now!

Nemesis Bird has a good article for people who may have gotten iPhones or iPads over the holidays and want to know what apps are useful.

This video claims to be ravens playing in snow...but it looks like bathing behavior to me (though weird that they are upside and rolling).

Really cool photo series of all sorts of animals but quite a few birds where you can really see how their camouflage works.

Some birders are dismayed at a habitat restoration project in CA.

Study that involves headphones on finches is a bit controversial for some.

This is noteworthy for the last paragraph.

Birdchick Podcast #127: Goosinator, Golden Eagles, Catfish Eating Pigeons

This podcast is not brought to you by Goosinator, but we're gonna talk about it anyway. Golden eagles flying off with children is not true...this is the proof...and this is why.

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Screen shot 2012-12-23 at 8.17.36 PM

Non Birding Bill offers a video of a golden eagle rescuing a kid.

However, catfish eating pigeons is totally true.

Researchers are studying bustard poop. I need to get that gig.

Crazy invasion of north Atlantic seabirds in Florida, what's up with the razorbills?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you want to rehab birds, get a permit so you want have to go through this.

Cool video of a whip-poor-will trying to defend its nest from a browsing deer:

Birdchick Podcast #126: Birders Argue (Whaaaaaaaa?)

Elders of the Internet, save us all.  The American Birding Association opened up a debate about using taped calls of birds to find them in the field. Also, we can see how people voted about what areas could be included in the ABA listing field.

Study muses that some species of birds use cigarette butts to deter parasites in the nest.

For the birder who has everything...

For some reason, Non Birding Bill will talk about this sketch from SNL.