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.

scope

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

interpretation

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.

peregrine

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]

I Learned Why It's Called A Rookery!

Hey, if you're looking for a good reference of collective bird names, check this out.  I don't know about you, but I'm feeling  about as giddy as a a conventicle of magpies. I've had more than one person ask me why heron colonies are called "rookeries" and I've never gotten around to looking up the answer.  Well, I had the chance to find out first hand why they are called that.

rookery

We found a few spots in Kazakhstan where several large nests were built in the trees--not unlike heron nests.

rook-nest

Only these were not built by herons, but were built by rooks.  They look like crows with a sort of reverse goatee thing going on.  The area around their bill is featherless and shows pale gray skin.  As we were looking at a rook in the field guide, my buddy Clay read, "Rooks nest in colonies called 'rookeries."

We both looked at each other and said, "Duh!"

I was excited at this realization--ah rooks--nesting together in a rookery--like a heron rookery.  I was surprised that I didn't figure this out sooner.  I have been vaguely aware of rooks, but since they are like crows and crows in my neck of the woods are not colony nesters, I never put two and two together.

rook1

Rooks are a common bird in Kazakhstan and in Europe.  One of our fellow participants by the name of Mike Weedon thought it odd that I came all the way to Kazakhstan to get a photo of what would be a common garden bird for him--but one person's common bird is another's lifer.

Here's a video that isn't all that exciting, except that you can hear other rooks calling the background.  I chuckled because I realized that when I was a kid and watched the movie, The Last Unicorn, rook calls were used in the background.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMx3D63ZMxQ[/youtube]

Prepping For The Bio Blitz 2009

Friday was a fun and active day--between the weather, the birds and friends it was just a day where you look around and think, "Isn't great to be alive?"  It's been wonderful to come home to spring birds and many of the Minnesota migrants have returned--even the common nighthawk, I heard one outside of the apartment my first night home. 1-downy

We did some banding at Carpenter Nature Center and though we didn't get huge amounts of birds, we got a good variety--especially woodpeckers.  Above is a downy woodpecker male, we got in two of those, plus a hairy and a red-bellied woodpecker.   I completely missed the red-bellied because...

1-scarlet-tanager

... fellow bander Larry showed me shots of a scarlet tanager that was singing along the oak savanna trail at Carpenter.  Since it was slow, I took off after it.  The tanager was singing on territory and moving around like crazy.  It was a challenge getting him in decent light (the best I could do was the above photo) and then I just gave up to watch him...that red is practically impossible to recreate and sometimes it just fun to watch a bird with your eyes, not with your camera's viewfinder.

After banding, I met up with a group who are helping to plan the Minnesota BioBlitz.  It's going to happen in the National Park that I work in: The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area--specifically in Crosby Park.

1-indigo-bunting

Here is one of the many indigo bunting males staking claim on some territory along one of the trails--they should still be around for the BioBlitz June 12 - 13, 2009.  We're going to catalog all the wildife we can find from bugs to plants to birds to mammals to reptiles to fungus and everything in between.  We'll have walks, rides on a river boat, bird banding, and a whole host of stuff.

1-pileated

While walking the trails, a fellow ranger said, "I haven't seen a pileated woodpecker in a long time. I'd like to see one again." Within 2 minutes of her saying that, a male showed up.  He stuck his head in a hole right off the trail...I'm about 90% certain he was feeding something inside the hole.  He then flew off to another tree and did some territorial drumming.  Here's a video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZlEnq2LZPM[/youtube]

It never ceases to amaze me how effortless woodpeckers look when they make that loud drumming sound. Incredible creatures.

Crosby is going to be a great spot for the BioBlitz--it's in the metro area, so it's easy to get to. Since it's right on the Mississippi River, there's going to be some great wildlife to see.  If you are in the area, you should check it out, it's free and open to the public.

The Steppe Family

So in some ways it was like being around one large blended family when birding the Kazakh Steppes:  What gull is that?  Steppe gull.  What eagle is that? Steppe eagle? Oh, cute! What mammal is that? Steppe marmot. steppe-eagle1

Above is a Steppe eagle being mobbed by a hooded crows, rooks, and carrion crows (apparently the crows did not get the memo that they should be Steppe crows).

Now, if you're wondering why is this area called The Steppes--is it one large stair case? No, it's basically short-grass prairie and I think the word steppe comes from a Russian word...which I don't have the keyboard to spell.  Although, I just went to Babel Fish and typed in "Steppe" and it gave me this: Степь.

alone

Quite a bit of the birding was like birding in North and South Dakota.  But unlike North Dakota where we're only seeing less than 1% of the prairie that was once there, in Kazakhstan...it goes on and on and on.  Our tour info read that there are less then 6 people per square mile in Kazakhstan.  When you got out of the cities, you could feel how that number was true.

kaz-prairie-0471

Above is a pair of Steppe marmots...kind of like groundhogs where I live.  Although, with their coloring, they kind of looked like over sized prairie dogs.

sneaky-photographers1

Most in our group where digiscoping our adventures--using point and shoot cameras or SLRs attached to our spotting scopes to get photos.  A few in our group would use their own cameras.  It was fun to watch them sneak up closer and closer to the marmots.  I actually have video of their movements...but I'm pretty sure I'd destroy some European relations if I posted it.  As the photographers crouched closer and closer...

kaz-prairie-0481

...the marmots crouched lower and lower in response.  One finally went down in the burrow.  The remaining marmot did not appear to buy our efforts at hiding:

steppe-marmot-1

It stood guard and barked at us.  Here is a video and you can hear the high pitched barking (and lots of wind).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUp0szhgJvg[/youtube]

We all got our shots and then left the barking marmots in peace.

step-marmot

I'm sure that marmot is feeling very macho and said to its partner,  "Did you see that?  That group of twenty humans stopped near our burrow, about a half dozen of them closed in and my mighty bark forced them to flee.  I am Macho Marmot, Terror of the Steppes!"

Just don't try that strategy with a Steppe eagle, dude.

Hey, if you enjoyed the waxwing post from earlier, check out Minnesota Birdnerd's photos of banding waxwings are Carver Park, it's very sweet. And speaking of banding, I surprised the Friday banding crew at Carpenter Nature Center by showing up for banding the day before I leave for Kazakhstan.  Yes, I should have been packing, but it's spring migration and when I missed this date last year (because of the World Series of Birding), I missed cool stuff like indigo buntings...and I wasn't disappointed today.

I also needed to go because if I think about where I'm going too much, I kind of freak out.  I've read about Kazakhstan and have always wanted to go, so when this opportunity came my way to go with Swarovski to see the work they are doing with BirdLife International for the sociable lapwing (a fancy killdeer), I could not say no.  But odd things hit me (and I'm sure part of it is the great bio I'm reading at the moment called Life List) like, this is the furthest distance I have ever been from Non Birding Bill since I met him in 1994.  I've been out of the country, but not this far out of the country.  It's odd to think that I'll be on the other side of the planet from him.  So, going through my routine keeps me from freaking out with excitement and nervousness.

indigo-bunting

And I wasn't disappointed with banding today.  We actually got in a male indigo bunting!  This male is still has some brown and has not quite molted into his breeding plumage, but boy is he still a cool looking bird. It's interesting that up here, when these birds first return in the spring, you can see them at bird feeders eating white millet, Nyjer, and sunflower hearts.  However, once the insects are out in full force, they don't visit feeding stations as often. It's always a treat to see one of these birds.

goldfinches1

We had so many goldfinches int he nets, that I lost count of how many we banded.  At one point, there was just a big group of them on the table to be processed.  It seems like the males have turned bright yellow overnight.  When I first approached the net to take out the above male goldfinch, I heard a familiar chipping noise.  I looked down to find...

common-yellowthroat

...a common yellowthroat.  I took the yellowthroat, while my more experienced friend Jen took the higher goldfinch.  It was fun to see warbler up close again.

harris-sparrow

I fun surprise in the net was this Harris sparrow.  Just a few weeks ago I was in Oklahoma watching flock of Harris sparrows (still molting into their breeding plumage), I wondered if this guy came up through Minnesota? After handling warblers and goldfinches, this bird felt really robust in my hand.  And I suddenly realized how big this bird is when Jim Fitzpatrick was at the table banding a rose-breasted grosbeak and it took the same band size as this Harris sparrow!

female-cardinal

And speaking of banding grostbeaks, what bander's day is complete without the skin splitting cardinal?  This female was originally banded last year and she's out for revenge.  She nailed me several times, even after I finished reading her band number.  I took her outside, opend my fingers to let her fly away and she gave me one last hard chomp before taking off.  One of the other banders got a great laugh out of it.  Always happy to provide comic relief.

As I was out and about, I noticed that catbirds were back at Carpenter in full force, many were practcing their territory songs.  They were mimicing, but not quite as well as they could have.  I wondered if these were males getting their songs ready to impress the females.  Here's one, and you will also hear the "meow" sound that the birds are famous for:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqtigoZ6NBg[/youtube]

The same catbird flew to another perch and you could clearly see it was banded.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cYOMpgawd4[/youtube]

The bird was singing in an area near the orchard where we have nets set up. They seem to be the most productive in the late summer and early fall--especially when young catbirds are learning to fly.  I wondered if this was a male that hatched last year and is practicing his song to attempt breeding?  Tough to say without actually reading the band.

Okay, I seriously need to get down to packing.

Singing Pine Siskin

So, I think Mr. Neil has pine siskins nesting around his yard, they've stuck around and have been singing their territory song all spring.  I love how like a house wren, they are a tiny bird with a loud crazy song.  I got video of one singing here (you'll also hear a buttload of goldfinches singing in the background): [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUzTlV1dCWA[/youtube]

Distracting Cedar Waxwings

Tonight is Birds and Beers at Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park--with maybe a little bird banding.  Should be awesome with all the migrants around. Starts at 6pm. Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities to mildly interested to hardcore.  It's a way to get together and talk some birds.  Normally, we meet in a pub, but migration is so awesome, we're meeting outside...and Coon Rapids does allow alcohol if you would like to BYOB.

cedar-waxwing

A huge flock of cedar waxwings have descended upon my neighborhood.  It started at dawn yesterday, I sat up in bed and Non Birding Bill asked, "What's wrong?"

"Waxwings," I groggily replied, "they're everywhere, hear them?"

"That sound is a bird?"

And they've been covering the trees and using puddles on the surrounding apartment buildings for birdbaths.  They were using the one that was further away, but I set my scope and camera over towards the pool that's closest to my window (it's the puddle that the Cooper's hawk used a couple of years ago).

cedar-waxwings

And sure enough, just as I was about to hop on my bike for a lunch meeting, all the waxwings finally came down to the puddle in good light.  I decided to be late and get a few shots--look at them, it's like a bunch of tarted up female cardinals.  I took a video and you can hear the waxwings, a robin, my cockatiel, and my fingers typing a text message to my friend telling him that I'm going to be late to our lunch because of the waxwing photo opportunity:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBBcqu1KHhk[/youtube]

I wondered why the waxwings kept avoiding this particular pond and if you noticed in the video, they all took off as if startled by something?  Well, here's the reason why:

robin

This male robin was not happy with anyone using this puddle.  He chased off house sparrows, the waxwings, and other robins.  His nest must be near it.  I'll be curious to see if he tries to chase off that Cooper's hawk if she decides to use it again.

New Bee Package Adventures

queen Our bee crew with substitutes headed out to our hives to welcome our four new packages of bees. We started with the Wendy hive, above is the Queen Wendy in her cage (with a worker on my thumb).  We we hive the packages, we spray the packages with sugar water, bonk the box so all the workers fall to the bottom, remove the feeder can, spray a bit more, take out the queen cage, make sure she is alive, put her in a pocket, dump the bees in the hive, remove the queen from your pocket, spray her, open her cage and release her into the hive, carefully put in all of the frames, put on the ceiling, put in the sugar water feeder and pollen patty, and close up the hive.

Here's a video of the newly installed Wendy hive checking out all of the new frames to build comb and raise the next generation of workers (I recommend clicking the HQ aka high quality button:

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

After successfully installing the Wendy hive, we moved on to the Juliet hive.

bee-dumping

All went well with this hive, but we did notice a wee bit of bonking from these girls as we were pouring them in. Bees are supposed to be fairly docile when you get new packages.  They are in swarm mode--they have been moved from their old home with no comb or brood and they are focused on finding a new home not defending a home.

bee-sting-blurry

Hans took a picture of a bee angrily buzzing on his hood and even though it's blurry, you can still see the stinger coming out.  I don't want to start off on the wrong foot with a hive, but I wonder if the pretty pink Juliet hive will not be so friendly as we do our first bee inspections?

bee-suit

Most of the bees that come our bee suits are pretty low key.  These are bees on Merry's suit.  They were more after old honey residue and sugar water on our suits than actually climbing around looking for a place to sting. Although, I think Hans would disagree.  Here's a video of me pouring in the Yvaine hive bees, most go in, but you can hear Hans say, "Stop bonking me." There's also a very angry bee coming up to attack the camera:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UON395ruFwk&feature=channel[/youtube]

bee-keens

When I was pouring the bees into the last hive, we got a tad rushed.  It started out sunny, but then it suddenly clouded over and it started to rain, I wanted to keep our girls dry.  As I rushed, I felt something on my foot--a small clump of bees fell on my shoe. I suddenly regretted my lax attitude about the bees' mood during hiving, bees crawled over my turkey vulture socks and I decided not to walk right away so I wouldn't irritate them into stinging.  They eventually flew off and it was all good.

bees-licking

The bees in all hives were ravenous!  Even though there's a feeder can, they were licking anything with sugar water on it.  Here are two bees frantically licking sugar water that had coated a very dead and very old bee--yuck.  There was even a moment when we were at the Hannah hive, about to release the queen and she pointed to my gloved hand. There was a tight cluster of five bees surrounding another--I gulped hard.  Was this a queen from another hive??  No, it turned out to be just a very sugar coated worker that was getting a good lick down from the other workers.

Whew.  But there was more queen drama to follow.

bee-queen-escape

After successfully installing the previous three queens, I didn't worry too much about the final Hannah queen. I opened her cage and instead of her crawling out onto the frame, she opted to try and fly away--Hans captured the moment.  Because she is heavy and full of eggs, she flew very slow.  I slowly followed with my hands to get her to follow me and then two other workers flew on her and she sank like a stone to the bottom of the hive.  I'm sure the workers were just attracted by her pheromones, but it looked like they were saying, "Oh no you don't  there Bessie, you're stayin'!"

We carefully put the frames back in and closed her up before too much rain got in the hive.

bees-flying

After the hiving, I waited for the rain to pass and then headed into the woods to do some birding.  As the day got later, I headed towards the hives to see what was going on.  I set up my digiscoping equipment so I could watch them from a safe distance.  Almost all of the hives had removed the leaves blocking the entrance (it's supposed to stay there the first day to encourage them to accept the hives.  Bees were coming and going from the entrance.  Watching them, it looked like quite a few workers were flying around and orienting themselves to the new home so they know where home is when they go out to forage.  Some were bees who got lost in the hiving and now have to see if they can get accepted into one of the hives, I'm sure they will work it out.

And so it begins, a fresh bee season.  Here's a video of the Yvaine hive workers milling about the entrance of their new homes:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yko6dEGvgU[/youtube]

Welcome girls.

Wednesday Wren

So, I'm gathering all of the photos and videos that we took while installing four of our new hives yesterday.  I'm having such a challenge. The bird migration floodgates have opened, I want to watch birds, I want to play with bees, I have to blog, oh and there's that thing about earing a livable wage too... Crap, even as I type this, there is a large flock of cedar waxwings playing in puddles on the apartment building across the ally...in perfect light...

Focus, Sharon, focus. Here is a house wren I captured singing near our beehives yesterday:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDALcwW9PM0[/youtube]

Bee blog soon.