Birdchick Podcast #95: More Snowy Owl News! And As Always, Birders Are Nuts

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.

PowerPoint Karaoke

If you've ever wondered what Non Birding Bill looks like, you can see him in this demo video for PowerPoint Karaoke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c7saFlTD6s

I'll be hosting the next one Tuesday, February 7 at the Bryan Lake Bowl. Frequent Birds and Beers attendee Duck Washington will be a contestant as will Bill Corbett.  Judges will be Ian Punnett and Kevin Murphy.  Come for some easy laughs and stay for a beer and the mock duck rolls!

Flat Stanley Misadventures

One of my nephews has sent me a Flat Stanley.  Having the mind of a 13 year old, I'm tempted mostly to take inappropriate photos of him:

I mean, come on, if you have a friend who has a zombie arm and tombstone in their backyard, of course you are going to put Flat Stanley in it and send a letter home that he was lost in a freak snow zombie attack.  But most of my photos have involved Flat Stanley and compromising photos with bottles of Jameson and I can't really send those back to his school so I've tried to take Flat Stanley birding:

I set him out at a bird feeder with some seed and immediately he had fun with juncos.  I think he'll be fine so long as a Cooper's hawk doesn't shows up.

 

Birdchick Podcast #91 Tubing Crow Not As Smart As You Think

The last several days have included links to a rather amusing video of a hooded crow that looks like it's tubing.  Info has included "smart crows" to "crow tubing" to my personal favorite headline: "Science Can Neither Explain Nor Deny The Awesomeness Of This Sledding Crow." Psst, Alexis Madrigal, yes science can. Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP9RnDp_tms

Explanation: Crow eating something round + peaked roof = sliding crow.  The fact that the bird can't seem to figure this out really doesn't do much for me in the whole, "crows are so smart" theory.  But if you want to pretend the crow is sledding, you'll get minimal judgement from me.

In other news...

West Virginia man hopes to break bird feeder record.

Birds fly faster due to Climate Change.


Sometimes eBird Is A Little Nuts

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Over the weekend I took a trip with some friends to Sax Zim Bog, Minnesota. This is a great spot to get boreal species and perk up your winter birding. Thanks to social media, I had a good idea of where specialty birds were being seen but thought I would use the BirdsEye app (the app that tells you what people are reporting to eBird).

Most of the time I find this to be a very useful app, especially when I'm visiting an unfamiliar city or looking for a new place to watch birds. The app has a "Birding Hotspots" tab that lets you see via Google Maps where the best birding spots are. These are highlighted by red dots that you can click on and shows you a name and a list of birds that have been reported there. Generally, it's different parks.

This is what I found when I looked at hot spots for Sax Zim Bog:

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What the frickity frack?? Okay, I know that the county roads can have redpolls, crossbills, hawk owls and what not at any point...but...um, really? Do we really need to mark every 25 feet as a birding hotspot?

I have a resolution this year to use eBird and contribute sightings on a regular basis, but that is a bit insane. I will not be adding in sitings from this weekend's trip. It's overwhelming and really, I thought there was the option to say that you went up to five miles on a trail? Unless eBird is going to let me enter in my sightings real time with my phone, I don't see people who are new to eBird being eager to look at this and figure it out.

I know we want birds to be easier to find but they don't always need to be an X marks the spot type of hunt. There is something to be said for the thrill of the chase.

Random American Tree Sparrow

This lovely little sparrow is an American tree sparrow, one of the few birds who come to the US in the winter.  Easy to miss in the sea of brown non native house sparrows, but these natives are noticeable with their central breast spot.  I was digiscoping this little quy when I noticed him glance up and right after I took this photo it shot off into the brush pile.  I looked above and a Cooper's hawk was soaring over. Sometimes it's fun to watch what the birds are watching.

Birdchick Podcast #89: FAA Frees Cranes!

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."

Bird Watching has more here.

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 Hobbit Trailer you know and love, sweded...because! It's not a traditional swede, but we decided to try something a little different as we pull people together for future sweding. Please enjoy! Watch the original trailer here: http://youtu.be/JTSoD4BBCJc Directed (and acted) by Jerry Belich & Melissa Kaercher, as well as the rest of the wonder cast Thad Dahlberg, Eryn Hildebrand, Rebecca Walpole, and Viktorija Kristupaitis.

Birdchick Podcast #86: Mathematical Pigeons & One OLD Chickadee

OMG, we can all finally relax, someone claims to have solved the mystery behind The Birds (the Hitchcock movie and the Daphne du Maurier story). A black-capped chickadee banded in Minnesota is the oldest on record...by four months.

Pigeons (aka flying rats) can do math and are smart like monkeys.

That wacky North Korean media claims that roosting magpies are really hanging out to mourn the death of Kim Jong-il.