Birdchick Blog
A snowy owl found its way into the Jefferson North Assembly Plant on the lower east side of Detroit. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources tries to lay some of the blame on geese for keeping lakes open and snow mobile riders falling into lakes...rather than say, "You know, there were warnings and common sense with this year's weather should have told you to stay off of lakes."
Shorebirds use their hairy tongues to slurp up tasty, tasty biofilm.
It's the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend. Please count some birds in your backyard. Please. We were guests on someone else's podcast, Ken Plume's Bit of Chat...listen at your own risk...I apparently call myself the Han Solo of Birding and I might even rap. Yeah, I'm apologizing now.
What? A guy shoots a bald eagle and gets jail time!
Kidnapped birders still missing in the Philippines.
Mallard helps another mallard trapped in six pack holder...was it an accident or was he making the move on her?
Note: sorry about the mix-up. The podcast is active now.
Warning, this podcast has a joke that's a little blue. If you listen with kids you may have to explain some metaphors/similes of human anatomy. I blogged earlier that there's an interesting trend this winter of birders taking photos and videos of people ignoring signgs and getting way too close to snowy owls this winter and posting them online. Is this the best way to police ourselves?
Speaking of getting too close too close to snowy owls, NA Birding has an AMAZEBALLS blog post about a peregrine falcon and snowy owl encounter. If you do nothing else today, go to that blog, read it and be wowed by the great photos. One of the photos is begging to be part of the meme Come At Me, Bro.
And since we're showing photos, here's one everyone sent me last week:
Oh and for those who wondered what happened to the Hey Girl I made for American Birding Association president, it was taken down for being to racy so I'll post it here.
And finally, The Birdest doesn't want any of these emails to show up on his birding listserve...because it's too hard to hit a delete key.
I've heard this story in rumor but here's an official report: The first Snowy Owl recorded in ever in Hawaii was shot at the Honolulu Airport by a USDA official. From the article: Dan Meisenzahl told Civil Beat, "USDA officials “really are the unsung heros. Nobody hears about those guys until something like this happens. It’s just a real shame. They do an outstanding job and unfortunately they were put in a position where there were no easy answers. I can’t tell you with what a heavy heart this happened.”
Apparently, using Google for info on how to deal with snowy owls was too much of an effort for the USDA to go through.
In other news, we've had a snowy owl hanging out at the Minnesota Twins stadium and remarkably...no one has shot it yet. It's a pretty cool video staff got from the various cams around the stadium.
If you are interested in owls that are not snowy owls...there are great horned owls in New York! OMG!
In non owl news the Whooping Cranes have had a rough migration and will finish it via truck rather than ultra light.
Whoa! Scott's Wild Bird Food was fined $4.5 MILLION for 2 incidents that go back to 2008. One is for selling bird seed contaminated with pesticides that their own staff ornithologist warned was toxic to birds and wildlife, the other was for selling lawn and garden products with falsified U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pesticide registration numbers. This got my attention because the nature blogosphere was taking the National Wildlife Federation to task for partnering up with Scott's as a sponsor. The NWF works to promote protecting the environment and protecting wildlife and you know, creating that whole Certified Backyard Habitat...partnering up with a major pesticide producer is a dangerous business. As a result of public outcry, NWF announced they were ending their partnership with Scott's.
In other news, are you ready for the Great Backyard Bird Count? Mark your February 17 - 20 on your calendars!
Woman get's kinglet caught in her hair.
Slow mo video of a goose flying upside down.
WildBird Magazine has a really great contest going. All you have to do is make them chuckle with your most amusing birding adventure...
The murmuration video we were talking about. Watch how the starlings use those crazy aerial moves to evade an aerial predator:
Goshawks are being studied for unmanned aerial vehicles. I love me some accipiters but they do have a tendency to fly into windows...
Audubon is the most expensive field guide ever? Speaking of field guides, David Sibley now has an official Facebook Page.
A really cool photo of snowy owls...is it doctored? Or is that a full on parliament of owls?
Oh BBC you give us David Attenborough, Bill Oddie and...this guy? Really BBC? A new age philosopher and jazz musician on why birds sing? The upside is the oh so awesome Don Kroodsma giving our artistic dude a scientific smack down. Man, our sensitive new age guy is sure adding a new argument to the whole playing taped calls around birds debate. If you can make it longer than 2 minutes in without throwing up a little bit in your mouth...you're a stronger person than me.
You were warned by the title. First up, James Currie the host of Birding Adventures got a show on National Geographic. Rather than playing it safe, he went with falconry for a topic. I admire his balls on this and as someone who enjoys falconry (and went just this past Tuesday) I applaud him. You should check it out, falconry is generally misunderstood in the birding community and it's a wonderful way to learn raptor id (if a falconer ever invites you out, say yes). You can get a taste of Mr. Currie below...is he the hottest birding tv host we've ever seen: discuss!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=s1EJ5cXlvoM#!
Aerial Assassins premieres Friday, January 20th at 10pm EST. It will re-air Saturday, January 21st at 1am EST and Friday, January 27th at 3pm EST
Now for the hilarity:
A piece of advice. If you have an iPhone...maybe don't use it to send your birding report to your local birding listserv as some poor woman learned with a roadrunner report to Colorado's list.
Crows start more stuff than Exlaxx.
Bird Watching Magazine (the UK version not the formerly named Birder's World) is offering a contest for a luxury birding trip to Scotland...can one have luxury and Scotland at the same time?
Busch Garden's has a new animal care facility. Watch a flamingo get laser surgery!
Canopy Tower is having a last minute special for February, it's well worth it if you are looking for a mid winter break. I've been there and if I didn't have other plans for New York, I'd be going.
There's a meme surrounding actor Ryan Gosling which sort of centers on him being the best boyfriend ever. It started as a general thing and then each hobby took the Hey Girl theme...and so it has come to birding. Here is the Tumblr blog and of course, you can like it on Facebook. Here's a sample:
In other news there's a crazy story and photos going around the internet surrounding a hawk stuck with a snake found in the water. The location and snake id are sketchy but the hawk is a young red-tailed (look at how thick those those are) and not a falcon as the website describes. Also snake people are saying it's Texas Rat Snake. Not being HerpChick (yikes, bummer of a name) I'll defer to them.
Also if you really dig weird looking cardinals, Jim McCormac has them in spades, it started with the yellow cardinal in Ohio and there all sorts of them being posted lacking pigment. Although, this is not a gynandromorph (half male, half female, it's just lacking pigment).
Also, if you think squirrels are bad, be grateful you're not Mary and have a heron raiding the pet fish in your pond.
I saw on Facebook today that the FAA has decided to allow the Operation Migration Whooping Cranes to continue their southward migration: "The FAA has granted an exemption to Operation Migration that will allow pilots to continue to aid the whooping crane migration. Normally, the FAA limits light sport aircraft and pilots to personal flights without compensation. Because the operation is in “mid-migration,” the FAA is granting a one-time exemption so the migration can be completed. The FAA will work with Operation Migration to develop a more comprehensive, long-term solution."
A Falcated Teal in California is making the news--even in the Huffington Post!
Puffin found wandering the streets of Montreal is sent back to the wild. That poor bird is way off course from the Grand Banks to Montreal!
What kind of jobs can I expect as an ornithologist?
Some of NBB's friends created this fan version of The Hobbit trailer:
The news EXPLODED this week! We talked about the minor birdmaggedon in the last podcast and how local police tried to put a ban on fireworks. Turns out someone may have been trying to intentionally kill them. Jerks.
Another whooping crane has been shot in Indiana. It is as though the state government is working really hard to say that they don't want birders to ever visit. At all.
Speaking of whooping cranes, something fishy is up with Operation Migration. They've been grounded for several days because a former pilot filed a complaint with the FAA. Is this a legit concern about birds or someone who has sour grapes with an organization he no longer works with? It seems unlikely that the whooping cranes will complete their migration this year.
I mentioned this before but now it's getting some serious attention in the bird world. US Fish and Wildlife is offering a "take permit" for eagles.
How do tiger sharks end up with songbirds in their stomachs? Because migrating birds get distracted by oil rig lights, fly around them, get exhausted and fall in the water.
Also, we started the podcast with different music. How awesome are our friends? They do things like translate the Flintstone's Theme into Yiddish and then sing it...and put it on YouTube:
