Birder's Exchange

If you are not familiar with Birder's Exchange, you should be.  It's the American Birding Association's world-renowned conservation initiative, to help Neotropical migratory birds by promoting good science and public awareness in Neotropical regions. In these areas, many researchers, educators, and conservationists work without the most basic equipment. The ABA addresses this need for equipment and educational tools and contributes to bird conservation through its Birders' Exchange program. Birders' Exchange takes new and used birding equipment and educational materials and matches it with local scientists, conservationists, and educators, in Latin America and the Caribbean. Find out more about this exciting program and how you can get involved by exploring the Birders' Exchange website now! There are several ways that you can help--have an old pair of binoculars that still work well?  You can donate them.  Have some spare cash, even $5?  The Birder's Exchange will take that purchase equipment for researchers in the Neotropics.  Do you have an upcoming trip to a country in Latin America or the Caribbean? Would you be willing to take down donated equipment in your luggage on behalf of Birders' Exchange? There are several ways to help.

Here's a video that does a great job explaining the program and includes some great bird footage:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBQTC3wez2c[/youtube]

Panama Program Tonight

Provided there isn't major flooding tonight in the Twin Cities, I'll be at the Minnesota Valley NWR for MRVAC Meeting giving a slide show and telling stories about birding in Panama.  There are photos and video that haven't made it into the blog--I don't think I told the bat story in here.

Here's the event page for it on Facebook.  I hope you can make it.  If you are in another state and would like to see any of my slide shows, I am available for hire as a speaker for birding and nature festivals, drop me an email for rates (I can provide references).

Goldfinches Still Nesting In Late September in MN

Jeff Gordon had a great quote today, "The very first Snow Geese just flew in. Eleven black and white nails in summer's coffin." Which was how I felt when I saw the first juncos creeping in to the Twin Cities last week.  I typically adore fall and I'm pro winter (what's the point of choosing to move to Minnesota and living here for over a decade if you don't like winter).  For whatever reason, I'm not emotionally prepared for fall this year.  It might be because I'm overbooked and can't enjoy fall hawk migration as much as I would like, but every sign of autumn I see from my local grocer carrying my favorite Maple Walnut Coffee to the massive amounts of Hen of the Woods popping up to the availability of my favorite Hubbard squash, I keep thinking in my little budgie brain, "STOP!"

Yesterday, I saw a bird flat that out refuse to accept fall:

I found goldfinch chicks--still in the nest being fed by an adult on September 21 in Minnesota!  American goldfinches are probably our latest nesting bird. They don't start nesting until July when fibers they need for nesting material are finally available.  Also, goldfinches are major seed eaters.  Many people think of chickadees and cardinals as seed eaters, but they eat quite a few insects and need those for their young--they can start nesting earlier.  But a goldfinch needs lots of seed available--seeds are such a large part of their diet that a brown-headed cowbird chick cannot survive in their nest.  So it makes sense that they have young later in the summer when more plants will have seeds available to feed to a whole new generation of goldfinches.

However, even this seemed late to me.  I emailed a friend who keeps track of these records at the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union and he said, "That is getting late. From the list of records I've compiled, the latest date of an active nest still with eggs is 30 September (Hennepin County 1894)."

I wondered if this was a goldfinch going for a second brood in a season or if the first nest failed and this is a late second attempt?  If the weather stays warm, these young finches still have time to hook up with a larger flock of goldfinches and if there is a good forage route, they may survive the winter.  Birds play the odds with nesting--they raise as many as possible either with a large brood or attempt more than one brood in a season to insure that at least one survives into the next breeding season.

Incidentally, this nest was right next to a highway bridge (Highway 77 to be exact).  So, if you ever wonder about birds and urban noise, some birds learn to adapt and choose to nest near highways.

Good luck little goldfinches.

A Plea To Birders

I posted this on Facebook and Twitter, but I'm going to add it here as well.  There was a segment on the Katie Couric news show about the Great Texas Birding Classic and while I think it's awesome that birders were in the news and equally awesome that most of those birders were wearing Swarovski.  However, I did see something troubling. Just watch 10 seconds of the video.

Birders (or bird watchers if you prefer), for the love of Pete, when a news camera is on you: DO NOT IMITATE BIRD CALLS.  No one wins when that happens.  I'm sure your black rail call is awesome and brings all the rails to the yard, but really, it will not help bring more people to the fold. I can't think of one non birding person who would see that and think, "Yes, that rocks, I don't know what birding is, but I'm going to do it right now!"

I think young kids will watch that and think, "Holy crap, is that the sort of people who are outside in the woods?  I'm staying in with my video games where it's safe."

I get asked to bird calls by the media and I refrain, it's easy to do.  Really, you can say, "no."  You can tell they think they will get the funny sideshow factor in their segment by asking you to do it and I've seen more than one reporter aghast at my refusal but then you see something in their eyes, perhaps something new--respect.  I kindly offer to do bird calls with my iPod Touch, but I refuse to do it with my lips (okay, maybe I've whistled the two note black-capped chickadee call, but that's it--I'll give you a pass on a chickadee--but no soras, no blackbirds, please for the sake of humanity, don't do a puffin).

So, please.  If we want to keep birding (according to Katie) the second most popular hobby, stop doing bird calls on tv and the news!

Thank you.

9-11 Memorial Tribute of Light Causes Major Problems for Migratory Birds

Sometimes, people with the best intentions get tripped up with the big picture.  September 11, 2001 was a dark day, a horrible day and some people are still suffering from it.  On every September 11th since 2001, the Municipal Art Society has shone two bright lights skyward from Manhattan's Financial District called Tribute of Light:

This is a photo from wiki common--that's a pretty bright light.  I've seen lights like this shoot up from buildings in Las Vegas and other countries and I've always wondered how that affects birds during migration. Especially someplace like New York which is part of a major migratory corridor.  If weather conditions are right and thousands of birds are migrating over that right on September 11...what would happen?

This year, we found out what would happen when more than 10,000 birds flew into the beams and got trapped and appeared to be unable to fly away.  Since we are in the age of everyone photographing and taking of video of what they see--we have documentaion of it.  Here's a photo:

The photographer, John de Guzman posted some of his shots on Flickr from September 11, 2010 and wasn't sure what the specks were--but thought they were cool.  I'll admit, it does look cool...but I know that those are birds and I know what was happening.  These are migrating birds like thrushes, vireos, grosbeaks, warblers, tanager, flycatchers, sparrows--you name it trapped and confused in the beams of light.  If they get stuck in those beams and fly in one spot all night, they lose crucial energy and time that they need in their marathon to head south.  Birds have a higher metabolism than we do and they burn their fat reserves quickly.  Would they be able to find more food (and enough of it that hadn't already been eaten) and till get down to their migratory routes in time?

According to an interview on Animal Planet's website New York City Audubon has kept an eye on the light tribute, and when they saw the gathering of helpless birds, let the Municipal Art Society know so they could shut down the beams (Migratory birds are protected by federal law).

"We have a protocol in place in partnership with the Municipal Arts Society in case something happens like it did on Saturday night," explains John Rowden, Citizen Science Manager for NYC Audubon. "There were huge numbers of birds flying through and large numbers did have difficulty navigating out of the beams. Through the course of the night we shut the lights off five times for approximately 20 minutes each time, which allowed the birds to clear out (and then new birds moving through would accumulate). The Municipal Arts Society were very supportive of our goals of minimizing risk to migratory birds." A similar situation happened in 2004 but because of the ways birds navigate the skies, and the way local weather affects their migration routes, these large numbers of migratory birds do not always pass through NYC on September 11th.

It was a relief to read that the Municipal Arts Society was willing to compromise and turn the lights off for 20 minutes at a time to help the birds move on.  Sometimes artists think in different ways than scientists and egos can get in the way, I'm happy that didn't happen here.

You can read more about it at Wired Science and below is a video of the event.  It looks like it was a pretty spectacular site.  This also goes to show that sometimes before we build, we need to take in the Big Picture.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW10df0MNk8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Digiscoping Duel Photo Album #birding

I took almost 2000 photos on the day that Clay and I did the Digiscoping Duel.  I had a bunch of photos of waxwings  and other birds that showed up after the duel was over but wasn't sure what to do with the others.  I posted a photo album on Facebook and it occurs to me that not everyone is on Facebook (cough, cough, my mother) and so I put up a Flickr album of all the "good" photos (not all 2000) if you're interested in seeing more.  I like it because it shows that if you have good digiscoping equipment and use it often, you can get several good shots a day--even some bad ones, but at least identifiable ones. We do have more Digiscoping Duels planned.  We're trying to figure out dates and new challenges.  Clay and I will both be at Rio Grande Valley Bird Fest in November (anyone else going to be there?) but we'd like to do another before then.  If you have suggestions of digiscoping challenges or a suggestion for doing it someplace other than Twitter, let me know.  We'll see what we can do.

First Juncos Reach The Twin Cities #birding

Alright, winter is no longer one of those abstractions that will happen at some point--it's officially on:

Look what I found lurking in the grasses in Forest Lake, MN (it's considered a northern suburb in the Twin Cities).  Why, it's a slate-colored junco.  For non birders, this is also known as a "snowbird" or birds that nest so far north, spending winter in Minnesota doesn't seem so bad.  I posted a junco update on both Twitter and Facebook and I had reports of several juncos in northern Minnesota and a few reports on the outer suburbs of the Twin Cities--even Minnesota.  I better keep riding my bike and enjoying it while it lasts.

Speaking of Facebook, I got the coolest update today--a pair of whooping cranes showed up at Carelton College's Arboretum!  The rumor I have heard is that these are two males who spent the summer in North Dakota and are now on their northward migration but this is in now substantiated by the Crane Foundation.  I've heard that the cranes moved on, but it's cool to know that whooping cranes stopped in the Twin Cities on their southward migration.

Interesting Lecture Series At TRC

Hey Twin Cities peeps, The Raptor Center has an interesting lecture coming up on Friday, October 1, 2010, at 4 p.m at Ben Pomeroy Student Alumni Learning Center, Room 215 on the St Paul U of M Campus.  Event is free and open to the public but reservations required. Dr. David Mech and Mark Martell will talk about "Tracking Apex Predators," and specifically address their research involving wolves, ospreys, and bald and golden eagles. There will be a reception and an opportunity to meet some of The Raptor Center’s education birds afterward.

You may recognize Mark's name--he's let me tag along with him to band bald eagles, osprey, peregrines and even golden eagle tracking.  He's an awesome guy.  I've never seen Mech speak, but I love his books.

The Duke Lecture Series was established in 2006 by Dr. William H. and Mary E. Holleman, lifelong friends of Dr. Gary Duke, co-founder of The Raptor Center. The Hollemans' gift to establish a lectureship endowment fund pays tribute to Dr. Duke's work and legacy at the University of Minnesota and The Raptor Center. An annual lecture hosted by The Raptor Center features speakers on the topic of avian medicine, avian conservation, and other pertinent avian topics.