Shorebird Workshop

Hey, Lorraine has grabbed some honey for the county fair!  Will we continue our blue ribbon beekeeping streak? My buddy Doug Buri in Milbank, SD has space available on his shorebird identification workshop this weekend.  This is one of the best birding workshops I have ever attended.  Doug literally gets you within five feet of least sandpipers and his easy going and fun techniques will have you sorting your way through the common peeps seen in the midwest.

Least Sandpiper photo from Doug's Workshop. They were sometimes too close for digiscoping!

It’s fairly inexpensive to stay in Milbank which is just over the Minnesota border and Doug will take you to some gorgeous remote mudflats.  This is a great place to get photos of shorebirds because Doug wants you to get the birds in the best light for id which also means they are in great light for photos.  I digiscoped the crap out of the area!  The workshop is in early August and details can be found here.

If you need help with shorebird id, this workshop will help you.  And truly, South Dakota is beautiful this time of year.

Illegal Bird Killing On YouTube

The Internet is a weird and wonderful place.  You Tube especially.  You Tube appears to be the place to find the extremes of the human condition.  You can find the best in people and laugh along with Double Rainbow Guy, Trololo Man, Baby Porcupine Eating Banana with Hiccups and where would be without Maru the box stalking cat? But YouTube has a dark side and sometimes the darker side of humanity can be found there too.  Many of us have stumbled upon it accidentally.  For me, it's innocently looking up rabbit videos and then the next thing you see in the suggested videos are people feeding live rabbits to their pet snake (who laugh about it).  But it even gets darker.

Several months back, Mike McDowell brought to my attention that there were several videos of people shooting birds--not duck hunting, but people (kids and adults alike) shooting swallows, woodpeckers, herons, brown thrashers, cardinals--you name it.  Then putting the videos on YouTube. Mike expressed his frustration that YouTube would not take the videos down, even though they were in blatant violation of federal law.

The idea of blogging this was kicked around and I suggested that we wait.  Perhaps US Fish and Wildlife was doing an investigation and if we blogged it, the people might take down their videos and interfere with the legal process.  Mike had even tried asking YouTube to remove the videos since they showed blatant illegal activity, but YouTube ignored his flagging.

I sent some emails to US Fish and Wildlife along with links (follow the links at your own risk) to videos including a video of a kid shooting what appears to be cliff swallows (documented by his dad), a video of a someone shooting a mockingbird, a video of someone shooting a yellow-rumped warbler.  This is just the tip of the iceberg.  If you have the stomach for it, you can easily find more.  Including birds that have been shot and the person asking what they are because they don't know that they've shot white-throated sparrows (and given the wrong id information about the birds in the comment section).

Here was the answer I received from US Fish and Wildlife:

"Two of the three, and possibly all three of these videos show only evidence of children shooting birds. The Federal government does not prosecute juveniles, except for the most heinous of crimes. Lot's of these types videos floating around the web and not enough agents. Took us several months and hundreds of investigative hours (including numerous interrogations and lab work) to catch the whooping crane shooter, only to discover DOJ would not prosecute the juvenile shooter (he was 17). Some of our agents do pursue these types of investigations when time allows. Thanks for passing along."

Wow, who knew they found the whooping crane shooter?  All I ever saw was the reward going up and up, never heard anyone was apprehended.  Guess because it was a juvenile, they wanted to keep it on the down low.  But shouldn't a juvenile get some some sort of consequences?

The response read to me that the enforcement employee was just as frustrated as I am.  They know there is a problem, there's not enough man power to deal with the Internet and even if they could, kids would be ignored.

So, what can we do?  I don't think leaving comments on the videos telling them they are illegal jerks (or whatever profanity you choose) for posting this will do anything but reinforce the behavior.

I do think if YouTube got more flagging and complaints about these videos, they might be more willing to remove them quickly.

I do not think blaming US Fish and Wildlife agents is the answer either.  They have a tremendous job as it is.  They would like to do more, but by the above response, their hands are tied, regardless of what the federal law states.

But I think a deeper problem exists here.  We hear lots of complaints about the kids not spending enough time in the outdoors and here we have several kids outdoors but not seeing the value wildlife other than being moving, noisy targets.

I think if anything, this is one of those opportunities where hunters and birders need to work together.  I know many birders don't want anything to do with hunting, but true hunters do not condone wanton shooting of any living creature.  These kids need a good and responsible hunting role model and someone who won't judge them for hunting yet can show them the value of going out in the woods and enjoying birds in a different way.

What else can we do to stop this problem and help US Fish and Wildlife?

Uncertain Chickadee

This young chickadee was not sure what to make of the grape jelly feeder.  Ah, I love young birds as they try to figure out what is and is not food at the feeding station.  The black-capped chickadee perched and stared for about 30 seconds, then flew to the sunflower feeder.

Careful What You Sign In The Name Of The Gulf

There's legislation being considered in both the House and Senate to address the BP Gulf Oil disaster that could fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund every year at $900 million annually for land conservation – including funding for national wildlife refuges. On Facebook and Twitter, petitions and letters to support this funding on behalf of taxpayers has been begging for our support.  I'll admit up front, that I tend to fall on the side of wanting more money for habitat.  I'd much rather my tax dollars go to managing our public refuge system than say a baseball stadium.  I'm not opposed to more money for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. But, do you know who else is really excited about this legislation?  BP!

Corey Finger had mentioned a few weeks ago that there was a suspicious looking environmental group called America's Wetland Foundation which has great ambiguous phrases on their website "Climate Energy and the Coast for a Sustainable Future."  It also has some interesting sponsors which includes Shell, Chevron and BP.  One of its partner organizations called Women of the Gulf has jumped on board to help support this legislation and created a petition and a YouTube video including such trustworthy celebrities as Sandra Bullock, Harry Shearer, Dave Matthews, Lenny Kravitz just to name of few to get you to sign.

Last night, Huffington Post released this story about America's Wetland Foundation and Women of the Gulf.  Here's an excerpt:

"The America's WETLAND Foundation (AWF) was launched in 2002. It's run by the PR shop Marmillion+Company, whose founder previously served as a PR manager at ARCO and staffer to various GOPers.

According to the Washington Post: "Shell Oil, worried about its offshore drilling platforms, put up several million dollars for a PR campaign to rebrand Louisiana's marshes as 'America's Wetland.'"

Now Women of the Gulf was founded in January 2006 in response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, Women of the Storm.  Here's what HP found out:

"Anne Milling, founder of Women of the Storm, said in a phone interview that the organization has never received a penny directly from BP or any other major oil company, although she did acknowledge Women of the Storm received advisory assistance from some of these entities when originally launching the project after Hurricane Katrina.

Mrs. Milling was unapologetic when asked about the prominent placement of the America's Wetland Foundation banner on the group's website and its various partnerships with the oil-backed group. She sees nothing wrong with AWF's cozy relationship with the same oil and gas giants that are partly responsible for the coastal wetlands degradation that is the focus of her group's concern.

Why? Perhaps because she is married to R. King Milling, the chairman of America's Wetland Foundation, Mrs. Milling sees nothing wrong with the oil connections."

In the wake of this news, I see that Sandra Bullock has asked to have her part of the video pulled as she tries to sort out who she's actually helping here: wetlands get future funding or BP trying to get out of paying some money to help Gulf clean up of the spill they created.

For myself, I'm torn.  I'm generally good with sending money to save public lands that I enjoy birding, digiscoping, hiking, canoeing and now fishing in.  However, I'm not a fan of helping BP avoid some of the massive payouts they must do.

Also, I don't blame Ms. Bullock for her involvement.  No woman makes good decisions after a bad breakup.

Let this be a reminder to all of us that we need to be careful about what we sign and who we send money to in the name of "saving the Gulf."

Google Alerts On This Site

I've received several emails regarding the Google warning for my site--thanks so much for the head's up!  It appears to have been a problem with the Fat Birder 500 button and when I try to go to Fat Birder, I get the same warning.  Non Birding Bill removed the code from both the blog and from the RSS feed. However, certain RSS feeds may still have the code until they update. But it's gone and hopefully that will solve the problem.

Are These Oil Damaged Gulls?

I think I got an email report of oil damaged birds that are not the typical sludge covered birds we've seen in the media.  I think every birder along the Gulf Coast needs to pay special attention to feathers on the tails and wings of wetland birds.  All of the photos in this entry are by my buddy, Carrol Henderson. Carrol took some photos in Mobile, Alabama, last week (July 21 and 22, 2010) while attending the nongame technical section meeting of the Mississippi Flyway Council.  Carrol is always taking photos and he got some interesting shots of laughing gulls.

Here is a photo of a laughing gull in typical, adult plumage:

Note the above bird's tail feathers and wing feathers--they look strong and healthy. Now, take a look at this photo of a laughing gull:

Carrol reported, "As I looked over the photos from the trip, I noticed that there were some gulls with very degraded tail feathers and secondaries. The veins of the feathers were missing along the tips."  Not the pointy shafts on this bird?  It has a little bit of white feathers around the bill--which is normal but those pointy feathers are not.  How did that happen?  And this wasn't the only gull with this feather pattern.

Carrol mentioned, "I have photographed many species of gulls in many countries in the past 20-plus years, but I have never observed this pattern of plumage degradation before. It does not appear related to the molt patterns of gulls, because they typically lose matching feathers from both wings in synchrony."

Carrol wonders if this could be the result of the veins breaking off of the feather shafts because of excessive preening after the feathers have been exposed to oil residue? Is it the oil itself?  Is this the result of some of oil dispersant chemicals being used that the birds came into contact with while swimming on the water?  Mobile is not far from the Gulf.  Are there more birds out there with this sort of damage?  This is not good news and this is subtle enough that these birds may get lost and unreported because you don't see oil on them directly.

Carrol said this bird sported a “suspicious” brown residue on the bill--oil residue?  Oil is bad enough, but this feather damage can be just as devastating to a bird that only molts once a year.  And if it's affecting local gulls, what will happen when birds from all over North America migrate south and land in the marshes?

A local laughing gull relying on scavenging trash and taking chicken finger handouts from humans might be able to survive this feather damage.  But what about a migrating sora?  Or a migrating common yellowthroat?  A migrating green heron?  How can a bird go the long distance with such dramatic feather damage to the tail and wings?

Have You Seen The Sibley Poster?

David Sibley has created a "backyard birds" poster.  While I don't think this will replace the millions of Klimpt and Dali posters hanging on college students dorm room walls, I do think it will be very popular in kitchens and nature centers.  The Sibley's Backyard Birds of Eastern North America poster features 98 common species in 144 illustrations--including both males and females of each species.  It's a handy tool for backyard bird feeding stations...although, the poster does not include in any raptors, so if a Cooper's hawk or sharp-shinned hawk shows up, the poster won't help you with that one.

The poster does organize the birds into their family groups and the illustrations of each species are in relative scale to show differences in size.  The posters run about $30 unframed (or $175 framed).  According to this page, if you use the coupon code of "SIBLEYNEWS" when ordering, you can receive 10% off.  This is sure to appeal to people who love this Sibley guide and who have backyard feeding stations.

Birds and Beers This Thursday!

It's last minute, but there is a Birds and Beers this Thursday, July 29 at Merlin's Rest at 6pm! We can discuss the orange-billed nightengale thrush in South Dakota or strategies for applying to be president for the American Birding Association Presidency! Also, I booked the next Birds and Beers on Tuesday, August 17 at 6pm at Merlin's Rest.

What is Birds and Beers?  It's an informal gathering of birders of ALL abilities to meet outside of the Internet and connect.  Are you a hardcore lister--you're invited. Are you a researcher working on a cool project and want to recruit volunteers or just talk about your study--you're invited. Are you someone who just enjoys the birds you see out of your kitchen window--you're invited. Are you a birding guide and want to promote your tours and business--you're invited. Are you someone who has heard of this whole bird watching thing and want to see what it's all about--you're invited!  Looking for birders to volunteer at a booth for the State Fair--you're invited!

It's low key and it's fun.  Maybe you'll find a new friend to enjoy birds in the field?  Maybe you'll learn that secret spot to finally see a Henslow's sparrow?  Maybe you'll learn some tips on thwarting grackles from your feeder?

Pigeons Give Poor Review of Kings of Leon Concert

Apparently, the Kings of Leon stopped their concert because pigeons were pooping on them during a concert at the Verizon Amphitheater in St Louis.  The opening acts still performed despite the birds overhead which leads me to wonder if the pigeons timed their excrement to weigh in as judgement for the band's music style.  You can read the full story here.  My favorite headline regarding this story is here.