Taking Interpretation To The Streets

I work part time as a ranger for the National Park Service at the Mississippi River Visitor Center.  The visitor center is located in the lobby of the Science Museum in downtown St. Paul, but it's right on the Mississippi River.  Yesterday, I was working the closing shift and things were rather quiet.  I was working on some promotion for the upcoming Minnesota Bioblitz (which is going to be loads of fun, if you are in the Twin Cities, you should try to come for part of it--bird banding, river boat rides, electro fishing, reptile finding--something for everyone!). I noticed that it was getting cloudy, I turned to face the window to see what the weather was doing and as soon as I did, a peregrine flew low right along Kellogg over the library.  I watched it corner and waited or it to pop up over the building.  It never popped.  I knew it must have landed and would be perched fairly low.  Since I had been out birding before I came into work, I just happened to have my scope and camera with me and made the decision to interpret the falcon on the streets.

That dark spot in the middle of the red circle is the peregrine.  It was very visible to the naked eye.

A woman with a badge and big scope is quite the attention getter and many people came over to see what I was watching, which I happily shared with them through the scope.  A cab driver even made one heck of a U-turn to pull over to see what the bird was.  With the Mississippi River right behind us, it was easy to talk about why the bird was here.

Looking through they scope, you could see the bird was in immature plumage.  I think she was hatched last year and probably was perched low (for a peregrine) because the resident pair would be nesting and don't take kindly to other peregrines sharing their hunting territory.  She preened and relaxed or awhile and ended up staying after dark.  She was still there when I closed for the night.

When people weren't on the sidewalks, I would go back into the Science Museum and wait for families who looked like they were leaving and say, "Psst, hey kids, want to see a wild peregrine falcon?"  No one said no.  My favorite group of kids wouldn't leave.  Their mom kept saying, "C'mon kids, it's time to go eat." However, the kids would take turns and say, "Hey, mom, just one more look, one more look."

Unlike the programs at The Raptor Center where most kids already know so much about birds they could practically give the program for you, the people just randomly walking by knew very little about peregrines or birds in general and it was fun to just say, "Hey, check it out, that's the fastest bird on the planet right there." And they seemed genuinely surprised.  I even helped a few people take photos with their iPhones.

I took a quick video of the bird...it's also kind of a fun way to demonstrate digiscoping.  And, I know I call the bird a "guy" in the video, but based on size, this has to be a female:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX8pxHU_rJU&feature=channel_page[/youtube]

Mystery Nest

Boy, spring hormones are kicking in with the local peregrine falcons. I was walking from the Mississippi National River & Recreation Headquarters to the visitor center in downtown St Paul when I heard a familiar "Per-chup per-chup per-chup." Sure enough, the local breeding peregrines were circling and diving towards each other. It didn't look like territory battle, but more display and pair bond reaffirmation.

While I was at headquarters, a co-worker showed me a nest that had been collected on one of the islands in our national park near the Twin Cities metro area.  She found it last fall and when she first described it to me, I couldn't figure out what was going on.  It was a nest that was covered with cotton, but had a perfectly round hole on top.  What could that be?  I finally got to see it today.

At first glance, I realized that it was two nests, one stacked on top of the other.  This could have been done for a couple of different reasons, maybe a bird decided to build on a nest from the previous year? Or, I wondered, if the bottom nest started as maybe a warbler nest and then a cowbird laid an egg and the warbler decided to start over with a new nest on top?  I asked my co-worker if I could pull them apart and she seemed hesitant, but then said it was okay.

I pried them slightly apart and low and behold, there were two eggs hidden in the bottom nest.  Now, here was the question, are these cowbird eggs or are these the original nest builder eggs?  For the non birders who read this blog, brown-headed cowbirds do not raise their own young, they are a parasitic birds and lay eggs in other species' nests.  Sometimes you will see a small bird like a yellow warbler feeding a brown bird twice its size.  That is a young cowbird that has been raised by unknowing birds.

I set one of the eggs on a ruler to measure it.  It looked to be about 5cm long.  I'm going to have to go home and look up the length of cowbird eggs vs warbler and sparrow eggs.  Based on where the nest was found, the most likely candidates for who made it would be song sparrow, yellow warbler, or common yellowthroat.  I'm not that great at nest id and I don't have any of my nest books with me.  Are these the nest builder's eggs or are these cowbird eggs?

We looked into the nest on top where there was some cotton looking material and a hole. At first I wondered if a mouse had covered up the top cup and used the double nest as a home, but then realized that the cotton looking layer was  mostly likely the lining for that nest, put in by the birds that built it.  The hole was probably made by a mouse or rodent, perhaps it could smell the eggs underneath and went to investigate? Perhaps there were originally more than two eggs and the mouse ate some (then decided they were old and nasty and not worth eating more).

So many questions left unanswered with this mystery nest, but quite a few stories in there as well.

Big River Journey

Hey, if you are interested, The Winter Finch Forecast is out, if you want to try and figure your chance of seeing some irruptive species. Crossbills, goshawks, and boreal owls might be a possibility in northern states.

I have been part of the coolest thing through the National Park Service this week. It's called Big River Journey and it's basically a classroom on a river boat. Students go around to different stations on the boat as it goes between Harriet Island in St. Paul and Fort Snelling in Minneapolis and learn about macro invertebrates (leeches, dragonfly larvae, and other water beetles), geology, ecology, river stewardship, birds, and how to be a riverboat captain--it's awesome. I bet you can't guess which station I was assigned to? It was birds of course, but the best part for me what that for some of the kids who came on the boat--this was their first time one a boat, let alone on the Mississippi River. One boy looked over at me and said, "This is so cool, I knew I was going on a boat, but I didn't know I'd get to see a bald eagle today!"

By hardcore birder standards, we didn't see great birds, but for kids who don't watch birds, we kicked some major butt. Many thought ring-billed gulls on a river (and not on the ocean) was quite a treat. I think almost every group got a great look at bald eagles and herons. We also saw lots of turkey vultures--quite a few eating dead fish along the river, and some gratuitous peregrine falcon flights. We spent the first few minutes of the station going over adaptations some birds have for living along the river and then the rest of the time using binos to watch for birds and signs of birds--like cavities in trees or on cliffs, swallow nets, whatever.

For me, it was the first time in a long time where I really felt like I was making a difference when giving a bird program, it was the best. I believe Big River Journey is offered twice a year, in the fall and in the spring. Read more about it here and maybe talk to your school about signing up for this amazing event.

Junior Ranger Event and Young Birder's Guide

We had a small but intrepid group at our Junior Ranger bird walk tonight. One of the cool parts was a junior ranger who showed up Bill Thompson's book: The Young Birder's Guide. She was workin' it too. Checking the birds off as she found them, double checking the info. This is an awesome book: It uses great photos (and fabulous illustrations by Julie Zickefoose) to illustrate birds. Each page contains basic information and some wow fact about birds. There's a section that helps you figure out which birds you will see in which habitat too. I don't think this book needs to be limited to just young birders, this is a great guide for any birder ready to graduate from the starter guides. The only thing that keeps it from being a perfect guide is that it encourages kids to dress like stereotypical birder. Kids, you don't have to wear a vest and floppy hat to go birding--resist the propaganda.

We didn't have huge amounts of birds, but we had some oh so cooperative cedar waxwings and robins. The best part of the evening came as we were ending the walk. We were going down the trail and the kids were finding lots of turkey feathers. I don't think anything sinister happened to a turkey, just typical molt feathers. I paused to listen for birds at an opening in the woods and noticed an odd piece of bark hanging in a tree, then I realized that the bark had a bird tail shape--wait a minute! That was a turkey sitting on a branch in the tree. I froze and whispered for all the kids to get behind me. There just above us, right off the trail was a turkey. As I pointed her out, a small second turkey poked its head up from under her wing, then another, and another--about five or six half sized turkey poults emerged from her body (that seems like it was a late nest). They atttempted to fly off the branches, suddenly, about six more adult sized turkeys burst from hidden corners higher in the tree. It was a whole roosting flock. I felt bad that the turkeys were disturbed from their roost, but then again, they chose to roost right off of a well traveled biking and hikin path in an urban area. They'll get over it, I'm thinkin'.

Thanks to everyone who came.

How Much Fun Is Civic Fest?

You could meet Abe Lincoln! All part of the excitement of Civic Fest. Today, I get to rove around St. Paul and let people attending the RNC know how they can enjoy the Mississippi River while in town.

Disapproving Rabbits At The Science Museum

Last night I was working at the Mississippi River Visitor Center at the Science Museum listening to the cool song stylin's of the Brass Messengers (they were there for a wedding reception held at the museum) when I looked up from the counter and saw two people approaching me with Disapproving Rabbits shirts--the old school brown shirts. Two Cinnamon fans came up from Iowa to visit the Twin Cities and had me on the itinerary. Since they arrived about 45 minutes before I closed and Non Birding Bill was coming to pick me up, I called and asked if he would mind bringing Cinnamon with him. They were happy to hang around the VC and the museum to wait for NBB.

Because of the collections, animals aren't allowed in the Science Museum but Cinnamon frolicked on the front lawn and we got a photo. They even stuck around while we got a fast Sunday Cinnamon photo. She really seemed to enjoy the night air and she always enjoys attention--even at the ripe old age of nine (my Cinnabutt is nine, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around her mortality).

Thanks so much for visiting us Iowans!

My Crazy Week

Last week was a little nutty. I'm still not even sure how I did it. Below is a little highlight to give you an idea of what's coming in the blog this week.

It started on Sunday when I did a canoe paddle for the National Park Service. One of the cool things about being a park ranger is that you do fun things like take a canoe on the Mississippi River, a downside can be that when your schedule reads "Sunday Paddle" you may not find out until it's too late that it's a 22 mile canoe paddle on the river, part of the Mississippi River Challenge. I went as an interpretive ranger.

It was a great time and it was incredible to see the sites along the river, but I found out the hard way that 16 miles is my limit--the last six were a killer, not unlike hitting yourself with a hammer in anticipation of how good it will feel when you stop. I was in so much pain at the end of the paddle. I was also incredibly light headed and cranky which was due to severe dehydration. The next morning I woke up to a sore back, sore arms, and sore throat.

I'm so glad that I only had to do part of the paddle. The whole thing was actually two days and 44 miles--I met up halfway. Most of the participants did both days (like the guy above who also went the extra mile and paddled standing up)! It was a great time overall and man oh man, I need to canoe the lakes more often.

The next day I packed for some travel while fighting my sore throat. I was hoping against hope that it was just swollen from dehydration, but it was really some kind of bug. I'm sure my weakened immune system on Sunday let some river bug in. I didn't want to travel and meet up with friends with a cold, but was grateful that it was not much worse, like the flu.

I arrived in Rhode Island on Tuesday and when went to check out my rental car, I had the option of waiting in a long line for a person to check me in or checking myself out at a kiosk with no line. I opted for the kiosk, got through it super quick while everyone else was still in line and when I went out to pick up my car, I stopped and reread my printout three times to make sure it wasn't a mistake.

Somehow, the fates conspired and I got a red Mustang. Not only that, when I got inside I discovered that I was the first one to break this girl in. I was a tad nervous, red cars seem to be magnet for speeding tickets and I tried my best to watch my speed, but I felt that I was confusing people on the highways by going the speed limit.

I went to Rhode Island as part of a bird blogger meeting with Swarovski Optik (more on that later). How many bird bloggers can you id in the above photo?

Of course we got to do a little birding while we were there. We focused on shorebirds and it was good practice for me, since the next day I was heading to the Minnesota/South Dakota border to lead a trip to see some shorebirds with Stan Tekiela. I had some stressful moments. I'd gone out with Swarovski on a boat to Cape Cod. The trip finished later than anticipated leaving me only three hours to catch my flight at the Boston airport. I could have made it had rush hour traffic not kicked in. As I got into Boston I was hitting a quadruple whammy of stress: I was going to miss my flight, I had to pee really bad, I was stuck in traffic, and the rental car was below a quarter of a tank of gas. When I finally made it to the ticket counter after my flight took off, I wondered if I was still going to be able to get back to Minneapolis to meet with the shorebird trip the next day. Remarkably, I did. I got a flight that got me to the Twin Cities at 12:30 am, leaving me time to get five hours sleep and still meet my field trip at 6:45 am.

The best part of the evening came when I was self medicating in an airport bar and got a call from WildBird on the Fly. We were chatting and I told her that my birding gear column (that was due that day) was coming as soon as I found some wireless internet. She asked about the other article...whoopsie, what other article? She was very kind to give me an extension on that one.

It was fun seeing some of the same species I had just seen on the east coast in some mud in South Dakota. I had heard that shorebirds were going to be tough to find since a bad storm just moved through the area a couple of days before and all the great mud flats were now ponds.

We didn't find as many shorebirds, but we found enough and fortunately, the group was into other species as well. We joked that we should have called it the pelican or kingbird tour since we saw so many of those. Round about the time the tour ended, my cold finally disappated. It was an awesome week and I got to see some great friends, but boy am I beat.

Storm Troopers At The National Park

I had a wild weekend of park rangerin'. Saturday, I was bioblitzing (more on that coolness later) and Sunday...well, let's just say it was off with a bang when Non Birding Bill was dropping me off and said, "Hey, isn't that Darth Vader?"

Yes, yes it was. The Science Museum has the Star Wars exhibit going on and since the Mississippi River Visitor Center is there, we get to see some of the fun. Several people were walking around the museum in full costume.

The Star Tribune set up right outside the visitor center to take photos of all the characters and we got to see everyone from Storm Troopers to Boba Fett to Sand People.

There was even a remote controlled, life size R2D2! It was fun to watch the guy running the controls maneuver him. A couple of times you would see R2 following a kid and the kid would nervously walk faster and faster, not sure what to make of the beeping little bot trailing behind.

Vader tried to get out of hand, but never fear, Ranger Birdchick kept him in line with her mad Jedi skillz. I didn't even need a light saber.

I was talking to one of the Jedi's and she said that all the people who came in character are part of a volunteer organization. They make their own costumes and make appearances for events like the Science Museum exhibit and even parades. I asked if they were going to be at CONvergence in a few weeks--NBB and I will both be there. Sure enough, they are going too.

I should mention, that NBB's play and his movie will be at CONvergence too. On Friday, July 4th at 7pm, the play THACO will perform on the main stage. On Saturday, we're both busy. I'll be doing a Raptor Center program with my buddy Amber from 5pm - 6pm and then NBB debut's the movie version of THACO at 7pm. If I understand it correctly, you have to be signed up for CONvergence to see the play and The Raptor Center program, but you can see the movie for free and not be signed up for the convention.

So, if you don't have plans that weekend and would like to experience a sci fi convention, stop on out.

My Life As A Part Time Park Ranger

So, in April, I got a part-time job as a park ranger for the Mississippi River and it is a great time! I work primarily at the Mississippi River Visitor's Center at the Science Museum of Minnesota but I do get a chance to get out in the field. Last week, a group of staff went canoeing along the Vermillion Bottoms. What a joy to canoe in spring and get to know some of the people who work for the parks like the Historian, Botany Bob, and Rock Girl (nicknames all based on their areas of expertise--although Non Birding Bill said that we sounded like some sad band of super heroes: "The Historian and Birdchick canoe the river using their magical interpretation skills to save the people!")

I had a great time, the birding was fantastic. I couldn't really take my digiscoping equipment in the canoe, but still could watch the birds. Above, you might notice a bright yellow spot in that pile of brush--that was one of about eight prothonotary warblers we saw. You can't really tell it from the photo, but we could see them very well with the naked eyes. We heard parulas (and other warblers), had a flock of caspian terns fly over, saw one sandhilll crane, lots of eagles and I was totally surprised to see a flock of common nighthawks hawking for insects above our heads. I figured these normally nocturnal birds were mid-migration and very hungry.

We stopped for bit and had lunch along the river. We were there at least thirty minutes and a few of us snuck off into the woods to...see a man about a horse. As I was working my way back, I heard a strange noise right about where the above photo was taken. I pished a few times and a few seconds later a HUGE turkey hen burst out of the grass...almost causing me to relieve myself on the spot. All of us should have noticed a turkey lurking in the grass during lunch...unless she was totally hunkered on a nest. I walked over to where she burst forth:

There were the eggs. Poor thing must have been terrified when we pulled up our canoes and started eating. We had finished our lunch so we packed up as quick as we could and left to give her a chance to come back to her nest of fourteen eggs.

You do see quite a bit of litter along the river, one of the most disturbing piece we found was this two liter bottle of 7-Up filled to the brim with used hypodermic needles. EW!

Canoeing isn't the only thing I've been up to. The week before the canoeing, I got to go out and follow along with some of the eagle banding happening along the Mississippi River.

Even though the bald eagle is off the endangered species list, it's a good idea to keep tabs on them. Because they are so high on the food chain on the river, the researchers are using the eagles as an indicator species--if something is affecting them, it's eventually going to affect the humans. The birds all have a bit of blood drawn that's DNA tested and also checked for pollutants. Because the research is still going on, I can't give all the details at the moment...but it does make me want to be a bit more choosy about what part of the river I would eat fish from.

Check out those eagle toes! I will say that it was fun to work with big birds in my banding comfort zone as opposed to those teeny warblers.

Professional tree climbers from out west were brought in to get the eagle chicks out of the nest. It was way cool to watch them work. They used a crossbow with an arrow and string attached. Once the arrow made it over an appropriate branch, a climbing rope was added and then the guys would climb the rope into the trees. It was impressive to say the least.

It was interesting to notice the animals living the trees with the eagle nest. One tree had an oriole nest a few feet away. Above, a guy from the DNR was measuring the circumference of the nest tree when he shouted, "Hey, there's something nesting in here...and it's furry." He didn't want to stick his hand in, so I gave him my camera to stick in the hole and snap a photo:

At first, we weren't sure what they were. I wondered if they were otter, but if you look at the back paws, that gives them away. Do you know? They're baby raccoons--prey, right in the base of a tree with an eagle nest!

There have been requests to see the park ranger uniform:

If you're thinking "Wow, a badge and a cool hat--that's gotta be fun!"

It is.

If you're at the Science Museum, stop in and say hello.

Week Of Field Trips

I started a part time job with the National Parks this week. I'll be doing a lot of what I normally do, but for the parks service. I'll mostly be at the Mississippi River Visitor's Center at the Science Museum, so if you find yourself in St. Paul, stop in and say hello. This week has been a week of field trips to learn about the Mississippi River and cool places to visit.

For example, at the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, you can see some early mines that were part of Minnesota's first brewery. The above mine belonged to a brewery once owned by Jacob Schmidt and he would keep lager in there (sometimes helping to maintain a cooler temperature by putting ice from the Mississippi in the mine). There is also a cave sacred to the Dakota called Wakan Tipi, but it is completely blocked from the public for safety reasons.

While we were walking around, there was a pair of red-tailed hawks soaring over us. The above bird hung in the air like a kite, made a steep dive, and landed on this branch attempting to rip it off. It was gathering sticks for the nest--it was very cool to watch.

This is one of the many mounds found at Indian Mounds Park in St. Paul. The mounds were created by the Hopewell Indians and used for burial. I love that there are Indian Burial Mounds right in St. Paul--surrounded by playgrounds and bluebird houses.

As a matter of fact, here is one of the bluebirds hanging around the park. There's a point where you can stand in front of a mound and see not only the nearby downtown St. Paul skyline, but also the Minneapolis skyline. An Indian burial ground right in a major metro area--how has there not been any sort of zombie attack or poltergeists going on?

We also stopped at Lilydale Regional Park which is known for its fossils. Our guide kept telling us that we'd just go a little farther. He really wanted us to go up this hill--there was a clay pit we really had to see...I'll admit that I was skeptical.

We got to the pit and he was correct, it was worth it. The water that trickles out forms huge ice falls which people can get permits to climb in winter. All the rocks in this area are covered with fossils:

This was one of several rocks that I picked up and you could easily see fossils--don't ask me what kind--it looks like some coral and a few shells. A few hundred million years ago this area was at the bottom of a sea. When you get into the park, you can see layers of sandstone and on top of that is a layer of shale that's chock full of the fossils--you are supposed to get a $10 fossil collecting permit from St. Paul before you take anything home. You will also find a ton of bricks at the park too, as it used to be a brickyard. I would have a tough time at this park in May. I'd want to look down for fossils, but since it's right along the river I would be watching for warblers too.