Crouching Bunny Hidden Cooper's Hawk

Tonight as I was leaving the bird store a noticed a Cooper's hawk sitting in the feeding area. I waited for a few minutes so as not to disturb its hunting and then it dove down to the ground into some cat tails where song and house sparrows hide out.

I snuck out the building and tried to get closer. I got to within twenty feet and I could see the grass moving where the hawk was but couldn't see the hawk. From under my parked car came the resident wild rabbit hopping out to see if I was putting out any food. The rabbit took a leisurely hop in my direction then noticed the rustling sound in the cat tails. I hopped straight for the cat tails and more importantly straight to the Cooper's hawk. Now, the hawk looked to me to be a male and a full grown cottontail is a little much for a Cooper's to take on, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. As the rabbit continued on it's path, I said "You really don't want to go that way." but since when do rabbits listen to anything I say.

Finally, the rabbit and the hawk came face to face, both were incredibly surprised. The hawk darted straight up, the rabbit put on the breaks, the hawk hovered a moment about to dive on the rabbit. The rabbit flung itself sideways into the thickest part of the cat tails. The hawk flew to a nearby branch. It wasn't particularly graceful on either creature's part but a moment in nature you rarely see: the "oh crap" moment.

More Wood Duck Box Photos

Here are some great photos from Tammy Wolfe. She has some great behavior photos on her website of various bird species.

Below is a photo of a female hooder merganser removing an unwanted egg from her next box? I had no idea they were capable of doing that. For some reason I can't get my head wrapped around how they are able to grasp an egg with that thin bill. She must have pierced the egg.

In the spirit of checking the nest box, here is a photo of wood ducks that hatched from one of Tammy's boxes last year. Look close at all the young in the box.

Notice the little guy on the right with rosy orange cheeks? That's a hooded merganser chick. Somebody dumped and egg when the woody hen wasn't looking.

Great photos, Tammy, thanks for sharing!

Mergansers 11

I think incubation formally started Monday. I had thought that it started Friday or Saturday, but there wasn't a lot of down and nine eggs at the time. Non Birding Bill and I stopped at the store last night and I took a photo in the box, there's LOTS of down which is a sign of serious incubation and now there are 11 eggs!

Note the gray downy feathers to keep eggs nice and toasty. I wonder if it's uncomfortable for hens to incubate on hot, humid days while crammed in a box? The anthropomorphic side of me makes me wonder if hens complain to their offspring, "I sat in a dark box in 100 degree weather for four weeks for you!" Much the same way my mother likes to remind me I was three and a half weeks late during July weather when she was pregnant with me.

Merganser Nest Box

The female merganser left the box today and we now have nine eggs all the same shape. It looks as though this is officially a hooded merganser box.

When I walked over to the box, a pair of wood ducks flushed and I wonder if the female woody might dump eggs in the box. We shall have to wait and see.

Here is another photo of the female hooded merganser.

Great Gray Release

We released two great gray owls at Carlos Avery for The Raptor Center this morning. The larger one on the left that Judy was holding was found with an eye injury in Duluth, the one I'm holding on the left was recovered in Iowa and had eye damage and a concussion.

Doing releases is one of the tougher parts of the job. The birds are still wild and unpredictable. All the birds in clinic have bands on their legs so when they are taken out of a flight room you can tell them apart. Since great gray owls have such thick feathers down their feet and their belly feathers hang low, there' no possible way you can ever read the bands. So TRC vets put a dab of nail polish on their bills to tell them apart (blue, purple, green, etc). So before they are released we have to use nail polish remover to clean off their bills.

Now, birds do not like to travel in cars. All the traffic zooming by really freaks them out. Normally, we transport birds in flight cages that are covered so they can't see what's going on. For releases, it's too difficult to put the bird in a cage, without risking it injuring itself by thrashing around. Plus, at releases the birds are handed off to a donor who gets to do the honors of letting the bird go. It's much easier to just hand the bird over. So, I had to go to TRC, pick up the bird and get in our car while someone drove the bird and I to the release site.

This is me with the great gray. We put a sheet over it's head so it won't be able to see what's going on in the car. Interestingly enough the bird wiggled enough a few times to get the sheet off its head. Bill was driving and couldn't help so I had to try and grab the sheet with my teeth and pull it over the head. You could feel the difference when the sheet was on and off the head. When the head was covered the bird breathed at a normal pace and you couldn't feel a heartbeat. As soon as the sheet came off, I could feel an increase in the breathing and feel a heartbeat so it's important to keep them covered and relaxed.

We got turned around a little bit, but we found the crowd and the tv cameras ready for the release. Non Birding Bill snapped this photo as one of the birds took off. I love how he not only got the bird in flight, but the excitement of the people watching.

After the bird was released, something odd happened. Bill asked for my binoculars and began pointing out where the owls went to others in the crowd. I'm so proud!! Down below he looks like an actual birder...it's only taken me ten years.

He looks so dreamy!

Hey, that's not a wood duck

Today we were talking with some customers about the eggs in our wood duck box. Denny and I were describing how we are able to check on the eggs that are being laid. It was kind of slow at the time so I walked the ladies out to our box to show them our set up.

Before I open the wood duck box, I always pop my camera in the entrance hold and snap a photo to make sure the female isn't sitting in the box. I can immediately see the photo on the camera's view finder. If she's in the middle of laying eggs, the last thing I want to do is open the side door and freak her out. So far we hadn't seen the female in the box. We'd seen a female wood duck flush from the area near the nest box when taking out the trash and there has been a pair of wood ducks feeding under the feeders, so naturally we assumed a wood duck was laying eggs in the box.

Today when I snapped the photo I discovered there was a hen in the box, so we left it alone. Here's the photo:

I explained to the ladies that we wouldn't open the box but showed them the photo on the view finder. After they left, I studied the photo closer.

I thought to myself that the top of this hen didn't look like a female woody to me, but then again I have never really looked at a hen wood duck from this angle. I zoomed in the photo on the view finder and showed it to Denny. At first he thought wood duck, but then noticed that this bird doesn't appear to have a white eye ring.

Tonight after closing the store Denny, Ron and I went out to check the box one more time. I stood near the box and heard some hissing, the hen was still inside. Denny found a male hooded merganser swimming in the stream near the nest box. When I downloaded the photo and looked at it on a larger screen, there is no doubt that the hen in the box today is a female hooded merganser.

What does this mean? Is this really a hooded merganser nest--they normally nest ten feet or higher and our box is only six feet high. Are two different species putting eggs in the nest box? We will have to wait until the female is away from the nest to compare eggs. The eggs have been laid every other day since we found them in the box which is more characteristic of mergansers, however there should already be a cup of down around the eggs when the first two were laid and no down has been in the box so far. Since the female was in the box all afternoon is she finished laying eggs and now incubating? That would mean there are only six or seven eggs in the box. Oh, why didn't I pay closer attention to the shape of the eggs when we had the box open?

I don't know if I have the patience to find out all the answers.

It's a waterfowl soap opera, it is.

Come to a Great Gray Owl Release This Saturday!

This just in from Mark Alt the President of the Minnesota's Ornithologists' Union:

Our good friends at the Raptor Center have invited the MOU to take part
in the release of a Great Gray Owl in Carlos Avery this Saturday,
4/16/05, @ 9:00 AM, directions in the email below. I apologize if this
is inconvenient for many MOU members who do not live in proximity to
this area just north of the Twin Cities, but rest assured you will be
represented by those who show up. Please come if you can, and my thanks
to each of you for being a part of this year of the Owls; so many people
who have done so much. It makes me aware of the potential positive
results a group of people can produce when they work together. This
tribute is for each birder in the state, whether they be MOU members,
Hawk Ridge, Audubon Society, DNR, Raptor Society and many others. The
best part is one more Great Gray goes wild in the state, what better
tribute!

Take 35W to Lexington ave exit take Lexington ave all the way to county
road 18 (the same way to DNR offices or Wildlife Science Center at Carlos Avery).
Take county rd 18/ county road 2 East off Lexington (right turn) .
Take take county rd 18/ county road 2 East To Zodiac.
Take Zodiac north or left to the T intersection.
The ranger house/station will be directly in front of you at the T, go right it is a dirt road, a few hundred feet up is a good release spot (Sharon has directions).
If you go around the bend with all the mud to the open water pond area you have gone too far.

Mark Alt
MOU President

I'm very excited, I will be one of the owl handlers. What a great way to start the day, releasing a great gray owl and then off to work at the bird store and then to top it off with one of Non Birding Bill's Bad Movie Night Parties (we'll be watching Death Wish III a real stinker of a movie). Sounds like a perfect Saturday.

Come on out if you can and watch some great gray owls and then bird Carlos Avery the rest of the morning.

House Finch Five

I was concerned because I hadn't seen the house finches around the nest cup in front of the wild bird store. Last year when she nested in there you could always see when she was incubating. After the store closed, I set up the ladder to look at what was going on. As I poked my head over the cup, the female flew out. Apparently she nested deeper in the cup so she hunkers down when incubating. She now has five eggs!

Swallow Update

INCOMING!!!!

This is one very angry tree swallow.

I went out to check our tree swallow trail and discovered that some of the swallows have selected their boxes. Our Peterson bluebird box on top of the hill had a half complete nest inside and the above photo is the male diving at my head trying to get me to keep my nose out of his nest box.

Two of the the other boxes were empty and the last house I checked, our Gilbertson bluebird box had a feather inside indicating that a male had selected this house as his own and was waiting for a female's approval.

Here is the feather inside the Gilbertson box.

When males are setting up their territories they will leave an object inside to distinguish that this is one of their possible nest sites. Females make the final decision as to whether or not it gets used. In early spring you can tell what bird species are considering your next box by their "calling cards". Here's some hints as to who has chosen your nest box:

Tree Swallows - a feather
Eastern Bluebirds - a piece of fine grass
Chickadees - a piece of fur or moss
House Wren - a twig
House Sparrow - piece of plastic or cigarette butt

I checked our wood duck box, there are now six, six eggs in the wood duck box (insert Sesame Street Count laugh here).

Work for the Birdchick!

On the off chance anyone is looking for part-time work (mostly weekends) I'm thinking about hiring. The requirements:

Must be at least 18
Must be able to lift 50 pounds
Must be familiar with Windows 2000
Must enjoy talking to people about birds

This would be for the All Seasons Wild Bird Store in Wayzata. If you're interested, drop me an email.