Guidelines For Minimizing Killing Birds At Oil Field Waste Pits

This is a fascinating video put out by US Fish and Wildlife for oil and gas facility managers and staff. It's to advise ways to reduce bird and other wildlife mortality through "best management practices." There is no implication that if managers choose not to follow these guidelines that they will be prosecuted via the Migratory Bird Treaty.  That may be a conscious choice by the video makers to make this seem helpful rather than "the law will come down on you hard." http://youtu.be/Az0Uwrq6s2g

Not that birders can access any of these sites, wouldn't it be interesting to have someone monitoring them?

Deer Eats A Baby Bird

Yikes, this video may not be for the squeamish.  It's not bloody but there's no doubt what this deer does.  They're not just herbivores. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQOQdBLHrLk&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Thank you, Matt, for sending this...I think.

Birds and Beers Tonight!

Birds and Beers is tonight at Merlin's Rest at 6pm! We'll have a raffle for some prizes courtesy of Woodlink.

Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities--if you're interested in birds, you're invited. You can meet other birders--maybe find a carpool buddy, ask about where to find target birds, share cool research projects you might be working on, ask a bird feeding question, share life lists, share some digiscoping tips, promote your blog--the sky is the limit. It's low key and it's fun.

And if you need another laugh today, Non Birding Bill sent me this link to Kung Fu Squirrels. Enjoy!

Check It Out, Malasia Had A Bird-A-Thon!

From The Star Online:

Bird lovers flocked to the Borneo Highlands Resort near here recently to take part in an inaugural bird watching competition.

Dubbed the “Mini Bird Race”, the event was organised by the resort and the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) to promote bird watching and bird conservation in Sarawak.

Sixteen teams of two people each participated in the race, which took place on the jungle and mountain trails around the resort.

Located on the Penrissen Range some 1,000m above sea level on the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, the Borneo Highlands Resort is an important bird sanctuary where more than 150 species have been sighted so far.

These include endemic species such as the Bornean Barbet, Blue-banded Pitta, Chestnut-crested Yuhina, Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker, Black-sided Flowerpecker, Pygmy White-eye and Mountain Black-eye.

Other striking birds include the Wreathed Hornbill - regularly seen on the Kalimantan border - Waterfall Swift, Great Argus and Asian Paradise Flycatcher.

During the event, the participants spotted six more species which had previously not been sighted at the resort - the Black Hornbill, White-crested Hornbill, Long-tailed Parakeet, White-breasted Waterhen, Spotted Fantail and Blue Rock Thrush.

The race required teams to identify and record the bird species they managed to spot over a six-hour period.

The Liver Bird team comprising Jason Hon and Lihon Singga emerged the winner as they spotted 31 bird species on the day.

You can read the full story and see more photos of birds and Malasian birders here.

What a great idea to get publicity and to get birders aware of your resort! And I don't know why, but the team name "The Liver Bird" just makes me smile.

Trying To Make Birders Less Socially Awkward

According to Slate:

The bird-watching site, Birdpost, looked like the most promising new social networking site debuted at TechCrunch50, the Sundance of the Web start-up world. Birdpost's target audience is less narrow than you may think: There are 18 million birders in America, and they spend $32 billion each year on their pursuit, according to the company's founders. Birdpost allows users to share data on where they've made their finds. If I'm birding at Lake Dell Valle in California and spot a bald eagle, I'll add the bird to my Birdpost profile. (I can do it from my computer or my phone.) If you've been looking for a bald eagle, you'll get an alert telling you where I've just spotted one. Birdpost also has a way to make money—it's free for now, but it'll begin to charge a subscription fee once it attracts many users.

Now, my questions is, why do this over eBird? Has anyone tried both and have a comparison? I'm curious to see how this is going to further affect birding listservs. I've already noticed a difference on one of the Minnesota birding listservs. Hardly anyone posts to that particular list anymore (apart from rare bird alerts) because members of the list take it upon themselves to post back channel emails to new people who post sightings of palm warblers (that's not rare enough) or to photographers (quit posting links to your photos, you're only trying to make money off of them), or people who post backyard bird sightings (I pay good money to have the listserv emails sent vis text to my cell phone, you're wasting my money), or bloggers (quit spamming the list, we know you make money per click on your website). On that last one, I'd love to know how a blogger can make money per click--how did I miss that gravy train? Add that to the envitable infighting that happens every few months, I can see why BirdPost looks good.

In other news, Minnesota BirdNerd has filmed the rarely seen, Happy Bird Bander Dance.

Whoopsie! This Year's Duck Stamp Is Bound To Be A Collector's Item

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Millions of federal Duck Stamps, designed by a Minnesota artist, are affixed to an accompanying card that has a toll-free number that errantly directs callers to a phone sex service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) said this afternoon.

The correct number is 1-800-STAMP24 (1-800-782-6724). The wrong number, 1-800-872-6724, translates to 1-800-TRAMP24. Callers to "Intimate Connections" are warned that they must be 18 years or older.

Rachel Levin, a USFWS spokeswoman, called the misprint "an unfortunate typographical error" that her agency "really regrets," but the agency will keep selling the stamps with the naughty number because reprinting costs are too expensive.

The correct toll-free number is for people wishing to order additional Duck Stamps. All waterfowl hunters age 16 and older are required to buy and carry the current Migratory Bird Conservation and Hunting Stamp, commonly known as the Duck Stamp.

The USFWS will continue to sell the self-adhesive stamps -- 3.5 million were printed under an independent contract -- with the incorrect phone number, Levin said.

The stamps were produced by Ashton Potter Ltd., of Williamsville, N.Y. On its website, the company says, "Since 1991, Ashton Potter has successfully become a key private sector supplier to the United States Postal Service over four successive multi-year contracts." A message left with Ashton Potter's president has yet to be returned.

She said reprinting costs would run about $300,000, and "that's a lot of money we could be putting into" conservation.

"The stamp is perfectly usable," she said. "It will just be a lot more interesting for people now."

There is no similar error involving the stamps that require moistening. Both types have been on sale since June.

The 75th edition duck stamp features artist Joseph Hautman's depiction of a pair of Northern pintail ducks. The Plymouth man's artwork was chosen last October in a contest.

"Oh, no," said Hautman, who added that he was unaware of the error. It's just an accident, I hope."

Hautman said he understands why the USFWS would not want to pay for reissuing the stamps, but he said he's unsure whether that is the right decision.

The sale of the stamp raises about $25 million annually to fund wetland habitat acquisition for the national Wildlife Refuge System.

More than $700 million in Duck Stamp money has been used to acquire 5.2 million acres of habitat across the country, the Interior Department said. There are 548 National Wildlife Refuges across all 50 states and U.S. territories.

Conjoined Birds In (Where Else) Arkansas

Lorraine sent me this story:

Apparent conjoined barn swallows found in Arkansas:

An apparent set of conjoined twin birds - an incredibly rare find - has been discovered in Arkansas, authorities said.

The bodies of the barn swallows, which are attached at the hip by skin and possibly muscle tissue, are being sent to the Smithsonian Institution for examination and confirmation, Arkansas wildlife officials said Friday.

"I can't even say it's one in a million - it's probably more than that," said Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. "There's just very little to no records of such a thing."

The birds, found by a landowner in White County, fell out of a nest as a healthy sibling flew off to learn how to hunt with its parents, Rowe said. The birds first appeared to have only three legs, but further examination found a fourth leg tucked up underneath the skin connecting the pair.

Rowe said the landowner likely kept the birds for a day before calling wildlife officials. By the time officials arrived, the birds were not eating. One died early Friday and a veterinarian later euthanized the other.

Finding conjoined birds is rare because they likely die before being discovered, Rowe said.

X-rays of the pair found each bird was fully formed, Rowe said. She said the birds would have had to come from a double-yolk egg.

Barn swallows can live for several years, though the conjoined twins might not have lived that long even if they had been separated. Rowe said it would have been difficult to teach the birds to fly.

Odds and Ends

Gary Reuter has combined two of my passions: a bird house painted to look like a beehive! He used the wren house nest box plans from Woodworking for Wildlife and then just painted it to look like a hive.

Speaking of nesting, if you have noticed any nesting in your yard, consider participating in NestWatch--a new, free citizen science project developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in collaboration with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and funded by the National Science Foundation. Participants visit nests during spring and summer to collect simple information about location, habitat, species, number of eggs, and number of young in the nest. Then they submit their observations online.

“NestWatch introduces birding and simple methods of scientific inquiry to families, children, retired adults people of all ages and skills,” says project leader Tina Phillips. “It’s easy and fun. It helps people reconnect with nature in their own yard, nearby park, or nature preserve.”

In other words, this is easy for anyone of just about any ability and would especially be a great idea for kids to get an interest in nature.

While you're checking out the NestWatch site, don't forget to visit all the NestCams Cornell has going on too.

Also Karen Sowizral emailed me this photo she took of a two headed gull (insert sinister music here). I think it's two herring gulls (thanks Nicki ;) side by side, but it does look like something Godzilla might fight.