Wood Duck Boxery

Non Birding Bill and I managed to finish filming our wood duck installation segment yesterday. I'm not sure if I like it as much as the woodcock one, but I think it's short, informational and enough to get someone started on their first wood duck house.

We put them up in two places on Mr. Neil's property. We had a pretty good idea of where to put the first one, near a small pond near the driveway, but the second one I wanted down by the creek, I just didn't want it too close to trees so squirrels would take over. But I also didn't want to haul a seven foot 4X4 post and large cedar box down hills and through the woods. Mr. Neil had a good idea of where we could go and offered to take us in his new convertible mini--then he took it off road! I had no idea you could take those tiny cars off the road. I really like the covertible one, with the top down you can watch all the raptors thermalizing overhead. I complimented him on getting such a great car for birdwatching passengers.

As we were trying to find just the right spot, we came across some ripped up feathers. They were large and soft gray. Some bones were mixed and were very large. Hmmm, gray? Grouse? No, too big for grouse and too uniform. Wild Turkey? Hmmm, too gray...

Then it suddenly hit me--sandhill crane! By looking at the state of the feathers, they had been ripped with mammal teeth, taken out in clumps and some holes were consistant with a mammal bite. I know there are fox and coyote around. Sandhills do nest nearby, and they are migrating through right now. I wondered how this one came to be attacked and dragged into the woods. There's a road nearby, did it get hit by a car and was dragged in and eaten? Was it exhausted from migration and finished off by a coyote? Tough to say, but this was certainly an interesting scene for me to ponder for the rest of the day.

We found a perfect spot for the wood duck box. It's actually a spot that I always thought would be ideal for doing a big sit: on the edge of woods, looking over a pastures with a creek running through. I think this house will get duck right away, since some wood ducks are bound to be floating down the creek and will see the box and think, "Wow, look at that nice hole up there. I bet I could fit in there and lay some eggs." It's open enough around the box so the hen can fly in and out with no problem and the trees are far enough away so squirrels won't jump in and take over the box. We have great raccoon baffle on the post, so it's protected from most predators.

After we finished filming I stared exploring the woods. Mr. Neil's place is one of my favorite birding spots. I walked around and found three ruffed grouse territories. I love hearing grouse drum...or should I say feeling them drum? That drumming sound just seems to pass right through you. As I was walking I found a huge turkey feather. I picked it up and heard leaves rustling. I looked up, and there was a huge tom turkey running ahead trying to get away from me.

When I got out to the road, I found a turkey vulture sitting on a fence post eyeing a roadkill possum. The bird flew down and started eating away. A pickup truck went by and startled the vulture and fortunately it just flew away and didn't barf. As it took to the air, it dropped a feather. Wow, what luck: a wild turkey feather and a turkey vulture feather all in one day.

The turkey vulture feather is the one on the left and the wild turkey feather is the stripey one on the right. The vulutre one smelled just like a vulture should-a slight hint of vomit, just like the turkey vulture at The Raptor Center.

As I have been writing this entry, Kabuki has been lurking about and for some reason has decided to pull out one of my American Birding Association Brochures and chew it up. Apparently, he doesn't want me to go on that trip. Can't wait to see his reaction when he finds out that I'm going to the June convention. Look at that bird--no remorse.

Trip and Whooper

Okay, the trip info isn't up on the Preferred Adventures site, but will be up soon. I probably should have checked that first, but I am so excited I jumped the gun. Info will be ready next week and will of course be on this site.

Here's an email on the Minnesota Whooping Crane:

I went to go see the Whooping Crane in Todd County this morning. I drove around a bit, and luckily a Whooping Crane isn't hard to miss. I found the bird west of Swanville about 1/2 mile south of CR 104. First and foremost, they are magnificent birds, so seeing the bird was an amazing experience, especially watching it preen and extend its wings out to stretch. Unfortunately the bird was banded, most likely meaning it came from the Wisconsin flock, and thus not countable. Anyway, it had two bands on its left leg-red and white, and three bands on its right leg-orange, green, orange.

Ben Fritchman
Fargo, ND

For those who aren't familiar with "countable" and "not countable" these are terms birders use when trying to figure out how many birds someone has seen on their list. Some species aren't "officially" countable. For example, I live in Minnesota and if a parakeet showed up at my feeder, it wouldn't be countable because it would more than likely be an escaped pet. Here is a list of the ABA Guidelines. The whooping crane falls under this guideline:

(iv) An indigenous species which is reintroduced into an historic range of the species may be counted when the population meets the ABA Checklist's definition of being established or when it is not possible to reasonably separate the reintroduced individuals from naturally occurring individuals.

The whooping crane in Minnesota is banded and is probably one of the Wisconsin flock which is not considered an established flock yet. Some may be rolling their eyes at all these rules and regulations for birding, but hey this is what makes it fun for some people to make birdwatching a challenge. Most who go by these guidelines also follow the ABA Code of Birding Ethics so what's the harm in turning birding into a challenge?

Wild Whooping Crane In Minnesota!

Here is where all the listers will be Saturday morning. Below is an email commentary by Bob Russell on the report:

Carrol Henderson forwarded a contact to me this afternoon and I just managed to get online and view the fellow's photograph. Looks like a whooping crane and I don't see any color bands although the quality is not sharp. He has a better photograph and I'm trying to get hold of it now. For now, check out the website at BurtrumNews.com and information on the general location of the bird. I am suspicious that if this is the same bird that was near Zimmerman a couple of days ago, then it's trying to get back on a bearing for Alberta, perhaps after being blown east from the storms last week, and is farther north than most Wisconsin birds have ever wandered in MN so we better watch this bird, it could easily be a wild whooper. If anyone locates this bird on Saturday please post directions, do not disturb it (use your car as a blind) and see if you see any color bands. Most Aransas birds are not banded and the few that still are have metal bands only.

Bob Russell
Wildchough@aol.com

Banding and Woodcocking

What an action packed day!

It started by getting proofs for the 2007 Birding Calendars that Stan Tekiela and I work on. This time we ended up doing Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio! Boy, they sure look sweet with Stan’s photos, he’s such an artist.

This morning I took up Jim Fitzpatrick’s offer to observe the songbird banding that happens at Carpenter Nature Center on Friday mornings. I was so excited to see Tom Bell is a part of it. Tom is one of my favorite birders, if I had to describe him it would be to think if Lee Marvin and James Coburn had a child, it would have been Tom Bell. And, for the record, Tom Bell told me that he has been birding several times with Tom Nelson and that Mr. Nelson is a very good birder and a nice guy.

I have observed songbird banding a few times but have never gotten into it quite as much as I have with the raptors and the pelicans. I joked that I liked to band birds that didn’t require a magnifying glass in order to get the band on. That’s Tom Bell at right using a magnifier to place a band on a junco.

Nets weren’t used today because it was so windy. Not many birders were coming into the potter’s traps so we had time on our hands. I announced to the group that I had a pocket full of pellets to dissect, so we did that while we waited for more birds. Based on the size of pellets, the owl feathers found with them and the habitat where the pellets were found, we think we were dissecting long-eared owl pellets.

We found at least three skulls, some ribs, vertebrae and even a few tails. One of the pellets had larger bone fragments but they were very porous, so it must be from some type of bird. Since I found the pellets around a woodcock lek, I wonder if they were woodcock bones?

We did get a female cardinal in one of the traps. Your probably wondering if she was possessed based on the photo at left. She just happened to bring down her extra eyelid when I snapped the photo, it’s called a nictitating membrane. Birds use this when they fly or when eating to protect their eyes. There's a photo without the extra eyelid below. Surprisingly, cardinals are not the favorite of banders. That fat bill they use to get seeds out of the shell works quite nicely in slicing human skin as well.

When I got home, I got word that this fall Amber and I will be leading an Eagle Optics Raptor Migration Trip to—brace yourself—Veracruz, Mexico! If anyone is interested in hanging out with a couple of fun chicks and sipping margaritas while watching a million or so raptors, contact Preferred Adventures at 1-800-840-8687. We will also be looking for other species besides raptors, but this will be fun trip, as Amber and I like to put the wild in wild bird.

Tonight Non Birding Bill and I went out for more woodcock action at Carver Park and even more exciting than that, we have put together a little video on how to go out for woodcocks. It will be showing up soon on either eagleoptics.com or birdzilla.com. I can’t believe the footage NBB got—not bad for a non-birder. I must say, there's nothing sexier than a man who can get a woodcock in focus on a cold spring evening! Here’s a teaser photo:

Budapalooza

This afternoon I went to an appreciation party for Harrison "Bud" Tordoff (pictured, left in the center) at The Raptor Center. It was a bird nerd's dream, packed with a who's who of raptor bums, especially those on the peregrine end of things (Frank Gill, pictured below, was there--the one book I didn't think to bring to be autographed--yes, I did geek out). Though Bud is stepping down as far as taking the lead on peregrine activity in Minnesota, this was more a "Hey, Bud, we think you're awesome" type party as opposed to a "retirement" party.

Amber and I had the opportunity to go out with Bud a few times and check nests with him around the Twin Cities metro area. Listening to him describe all the life histories of each falcon is like listening to my grandmother recount all the husbands of various heroines in her afternoon stories. We were even able to put together a couple of falcon banding tours with Bud. He's had a great career and you could feel the love for the man flowing thick through the room. He received a plaque from The Raptor Center, a Silver Eagle Award from US Fish and Wildlife and a really cool photo from Carrol Henderson of a peregrine.

For a good time, check out Bud's Midwest Peregrine Falcon Restoration Site--great bird stories from a great man.

Conversations With A Fellow IBWO Searcher

Today, I went out to Carpenter Nature Center to meet with Jim Fitzpatrick and Jen Vieth. Jim runs Carpenter and his brother John is the director of Cornell Lab of Ornithology. For awhile it was said that Jim had seen an ivory-billed woodpecker and his brother who runs the lab had not. I wonder if that is still the case or if it changed this winter?

I had heard many great things about Jim and was eager to finally meet him and it's always a treat to visit Carpenter, which was once voted by City Pages as one of the best kept secrets for nature in the Twin Cities. I was excited, as soon as I got out of the car, I heard my first eastern phoebe of the year and there were a few buffleheads (pictured in blog) hanging out on a nearby pond.

When I arrived, I headed for the administrative offices and stuck my hands in my jacket...it was at that exact moment I remembered that was the place I had decided to store some owl pellets I found yesterday at the woodcock spot in Carver Park. They now had massed into a wad of damp fur and bone. Not wanting to shake Jim's hand with damp pellety hands, I had to seek the nearest restroom when I entered the building.

When Jim and I finally met and sat down to talk, I told him that we had something in common. "You and I have both seen A type cavities."

He eyed me curiously. Jen asked, "What's an A cavity." Jim replied, "A big cavity." I added, "A potential ivory-billed cavity."

Jen asked the inevitable question, "I suppose no one in your group had an encounter?" Jim and I looked at each other, what would the other say? Does he know something that I don't know about the search this winter? Do I know something that he might know? Does he think I know he knows something? Do I know, if he knows if he knows something? The questions in my head got too confusing and I told Jen our pat answer: "I am not at liberty to say if anyone in our group did or did not have an encounter with that particular species of woodpecker."

(Although, I did hear a rumor that recently one of the volunteer searchers in the White River area got bit by a Cottonmouth, but it was a dry bite and they are okay.)

Carpenter is a great place for school groups and for adults just looking for a remote spot to chill out. It's right along the St. Croix River between Minnesota and Wisconsin and will be just chock full of warblers in about four weeks. Today I saw lots of eagles, vultures and red-tailed hawks moving along and even four pelicans. I learned that on Friday mornings when it's not raining, they do songbird banding. I'm going to try and make a point to visit this spring. Next Friday I will be in Ohio and the Friday after that I will be in Utah so it may have to wait until May.

Well, off to dissect some pellets.

Cats and Bird Flu

Bird flu (or avian influenza) is not here at the moment. If it does show up in the United States, and you have a cat that spends time outdoors, you should read the article at the Star Tribune:

People living in areas where bird flu has been found in poultry or wild birds should keep their cats indoors, say scientists who believe the potential role of felines in spreading the virus is being overlooked.

Cats have been known to become infected with the H5N1 virus and lab experiments show they can give it to other cats, although nobody knows whether they can transmit it to people or poultry, the researchers say in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Scientists know so little about H5N1 in cats that it's difficult to assess the risk they pose when infected, wrote virologist Albert Osterhaus and colleagues at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, along with Peter Roeder of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Still, "we believe that the potential role of cats should be considered in official guidelines for controlling the spread of H5N1 virus infection," they wrote.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Fourth Wild California Condor Nest Found

This just in from the Ventana Wildlife Society! For the first time in over 100 years a California condor pair is nesting in a coastal redwood in Big Sur. It is the fourth pair of nesting condors in the wild this year. This is also the first time a condor has been found nesting in this particular species of redwood. You can watch a news video about the nesting condor at KTVU. Keep your eye (or should I say gelatinous globe) on Ventana's site for condor nesting updates.

Does Cinnamon Have a Drinking Problem?

Repeat Offender

This morning we had a nice family bring in a young great horned owl to The Raptor Center (left). The great horned owl was about a month old and was on his third trip in to the clinic. Young owls go through a "brancher" stage when their feet are large and incredibly strong, but they are still not ready to fly. Since adult owls don't construct a nest and often take over an old red-tailed hawk or squirrel nest, they aren't the most stable of homes to begin with. Throw in one or two rambunctious youngsters and a few windy winter storms and the nest usually falls apart. Young owls use their strong feet and talons to climb trees or "branch out". They are often found on the ground and their parents will still feed and take care of them, even if they are way below the original nest or if the nest is gone completely.

This is the time of year when we get an influx of young owls at TRC, when caring people find them on the ground and bring them in. Today's owl must live in one of the most caring neighborhoods out there, since this is the third neighbor to bring it in. No matter where it gets put in a tree, it keeps popping up on the ground, it's moving around quite a bit. The first thing TRC does with a young olw is to make sure there are no broken bones, then we will talk to whoever brought in the owl and try to put it back in the nest. We have professional tree climbers on our volunteer staff who will climb just about anything to get those dudes back with their parents. Sometimes, they will just put it on a high branch and let the parents do the rest. If it is not possible to get the young owl back to its original nest spot, we will deposit it into another owl nest (of the same species of course)--fortunately, adult owls can't count and will feed anyone begging in their nest.

Let's hope this is that little owl's last trip to TRC.

Last week I reported about the hormones and vocalizations of the education raptors in the courtyard and the red-tailed hawk who laid an egg. The egg was taken out when one of the cleaning crew members got chased around by the red-tail--one of the many reasons we don't wear open toed shoes around the birds. This week, our education one-eyed golden eagle laid an egg (right). She has that look that says, "I dare ya', I dare ya' to come in and take this one."

Had fun tonight, NBB and I went out to chase timber doodles. I love looking for woodcocks on a cold spring night. It's so fun listening for the first "peent"--it starts right at clockwork, 15 minutes after sunset, you hear the first one--then dozens get going. If you live in the metro area, Carver Park on the west side of town is pretty reliable for watching woodcocks.