From Owl Cam To Loon Cam

The Viera Owl Cam of the great horned owls nesting in a planter in Viera, FL has wound down to a close.  The young owlet is out and about exploring life outside the planter and the last video is of the owlet perched and dosing on a trash bin. Speaking of odd great horned owl nesting habits, have you heard the story of the great horneds nesting in a Home Depot in Arkansas?  Is our world starting to become more like Futurama?

If you are sad to see the owl cam go, one of the coolest cams I stumbled upon last year was the MN Loon Cam.  I even got to meet Larry Backlund, the man who has the loons on his property and blogs about them.  I just checked the website and it's live.  I saw  a loon swimming around the camera this morning, but no loon on the nest as of yet.

Other Oklahoma Birds Besides Prairie Chickens

For the record, I did see other birds besides lesser prairie chickens in Oklahoma.  As a matter of fact, while I was focused on a pair of male chickens in the middle of a stare down, a yellow blur moved in front of them.  I adjusted the focus of my scope to reveal a meadowlark.  I'm not sure which one this is.  We heard both eastern and western meadowlark singing around the prairie chicken lek and I'm not bold enough to call it based on plumage.  The bird did not sing while I got its photo.  I love this shot of the meadowlark with the chickens blurred in the background.

If you are new to birds and have never heard a meadowlark call...or not sure if you have, check them out at Xeno Canto.  Here is the western and here is the eastern.  I grew up with eastern meadowlarks in Indiana (a beautiful evening song) but the westerns are quite striking.

stuck1

I have to say that there was quite a bit of adventure to our birding--one day about 4 different vehicles toting participants to birding spots got stuck in mud along the minimum maintenance roads.  There had been quite a bit of rain beforehand.  I heard through the grapevine that many vehicles got stuck on the way to the lesser prairie chicken leks.  A tractor was required to get the vehicle out.  Since that road was blocked, the field trip leaders cut a barb wire fence (with the fence owner's permission and the understanding it would be repaired) to get the vehicles to the blind--that's dedication to get birders to the birds! And what a great adventure to see the bird.

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I really dug the sparrow action at the festival--check out this feeding station.  Harris sparrows (dudes with the black beards) and a white-crowned sparrow.  Harris sparrows are just amazing little birds.  First, they look cool with the beard, but second, I was just reading on Cornell's newly revamped All About Birds site that they are the only sparrow that breeds in Canada and nowhere else.  Here I was in Oklahoma watching these little brown birds, they still had thousands of miles to go to the breeding grounds.

lark-sparrow

Another incredibly common bird in Oklahoma was the equally striking lark sparrow.  Just about anywhere there was a barb wire fence, you could find one of these guys perched nearby.  Lark sparrows have an interesting nesting history.  They are capable of building nests, usually in a shrub or tree, but they have been documented nesting in old woodpecker cavities. This species has also been known to reuse old nests of mockingbirds and some notes suggest that there is a bit of nest sharing going on--perhaps unintentional.  Field studies have found eggs and young of both mockingbird and lark sparrow in the same nest.  Oh, lark sparrow, please do not go the way of the cowbird.

Birdchick Podcast #2: Ivory Billed Woodpecker

In today's podcast, we tackle Sharon's experiences looking for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker and other viewer questions. Craig, thanks for your questions and do know that we kid because I love. [audio:http://www.birdchick.com/wp/podcast/podcast-2.mp3] Download the mp3.

Questions? Leave 'em in the comments.

Singing Western Meadowlark

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OjLpVD_djs[/youtube]

Coming Birding Events

There are a couple of fun birding events coming up both in Minnesota that you might be interested in.  I'm giving a program at one of the events, the other happens when I'm in Kazakhstan. May 2, 2009 - MOU Youth Birding Festival

This is a new event and I couldn't find a website for it, but did manage to locate the details.  It's geared for kids between the ages of 10 - 19 and includes Bird banding, forest bird hikes, grassland bird hikes, wetland bird hikes, a session on digital photography, and birding by bike.  I'll even give a presentation on techno birding.  All session take place at Lowry Nature Center.  Call 763-559-6700.

May 14 - 19, 2009 Urban Bird Festival

The annual Urban Bird Festival in Ramsey County, a fun, free, close-to-home celebration of springtime birds.  The festival features guided bird walks at many area parks and golf courses, a bird expo and a spaghetti dinner (one of the few events charging a fee). The festival is designed for beginners as well as experts, and families and others. The public is invited to attend just a single bird walk or every event.  Walks cover easy terrain and generally take about two hours. The dinner on May 16 features local humorist and bird columnist Clay Christensen, “The Birdman of Lauderdale.” His topic is “Attracting and identifying yard birds.”

The festival’s schedule on May 16 features a bird expo with a full day of displays, demos and hikes at Harriet Alexander Nature Center in Roseville. A birding adventure by canoe and a tour of the habitat-rich Arden Hills Army Training Site (formerly known as the Twin Cities Arsenal) are highlights on May 17.  Daily hikes and events are open to everyone and will be led by the area’s birding enthusiasts.

Don't Forget Birds And Beers Wednesday

The next Birds and Beers will be Wednesday, April 22 at Lebanon Hills Regional Park.  The woodcocks start their display about 15 - 20 minutes after sunset, which means they will start around 8:30pm. Since the display area is next to the visitor center at the park, we’ll meet there starting about 6:30pm and have an old fashioned tailgate party–you can come early to mingle or come closer to magic hour.  Bring your own food and beverages and we’ll laugh until it’s Woodcock Time.  The park closes at 10pm, so this gives us plenty of time to get some great birding done. I have an all day park service meeting, I might run a tad late.

Lesser Prairie Chicken aka Jets vs Sharks

I'm wrapping up my time in Oklahoma.  The Leks, Treks, and More lesser prairie chicken festival is still going on with a cool post tour to Black Mesa, but I have to return to the Twin Cities to do some park rangerin' tomorrow. The festival had birding trips surrounded the Woodward area, but the main thrust of the festival was the lesser prairie chicken.

scaling-fences

My first morning at the festival, I met the group at 5am to ride out to the Selman Ranch to get to the blinds.  There had been some concerns about the rain that had recently fallen, making many of the unpaved roads we were taking a bit treacherous, but our experienced drivers got to us the area with the blinds.  We had to scale two step ladders over a barbed wire fence...only this is a photo of when we were leaving, when we were on our way to the leks, we had to do this in darkness, the sun was not up yet.  The leks we visited were on private property, cattle ranches.

blinds

These were the portable blinds we sat in on the prairie.  Winds in Oklahoma are fierce and the blinds were staked deep into the ground.  We sat three to a blind and I actually ended up in a blind with two fellow bloggers: Drawing the Motmot and From The Faraway, Nearby.  I was a tad nervous, I discovered that morning that I forgot my deodorant and my toothbrush, I was going into the blind and hoped it would stay cool enough so I wouldn't stink up the joint.

lesser-pairie-chicken-lek

It did stay cool, it felt like it was in the 40s, which was a treat for me, some greater prairie chicken viewing has been in 10 degree weather, so above freezing was a pleasure.  The birds were so close, that we really did not need binoculars.  I took this photo from the window without my scope.  We arrived in the blinds in total darkness and sat waiting for the birds to start their display.  I huddled beneath my layers, listening to all the sounds around us.  Cattle waking and beginning their deep mooing.  Turkeys gobbled in the distance, then we heard the gobbling of the chickens.

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As the light in the morning grew brighter, I could get some photos of the male.  Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes this interaction as, "Males display by exposing and enlarging the superciliary eye-combs, elevating tail to highest extent, erecting pinnae and positioning them forward and parallel to the ground, drooping wings and spreading primaries, extending neck and head in forward position, stamping feet on ground and moving forward, and expanding esophageal air sacs and producing Booming vocalization"

If that was hard to read or understand, Non Birding Bill made this animated giff of a "Before and After" of a male lesser prairie chicken displaying:

animated-lpc

You can also watch a video I took of the behavior too (and more importantly, hear the sounds of these crazy dancing chickens).

lpc

The males went at it for a good hour.  The danced, fluttered, squabbled, and stamped their feet in their individual territories.  Periodically, a male would run over and challenge another male. They would bow and display to each other, almost like the start of some odd square dance.  Some times there would be a display and the birds would walk away or sometimes, things would escalate into full on fighting with a few feathers left hanging and falling in the aftermath.

tired-prairie-chicken

The males displayed themselves into utter exhaustion. I know how winded I can get on a dance floor and I'm just doing it for fun.  These birds are doing it...sort of like the guys in the musical West Side Story.  They are dance-fighting out their issues, nonstop without eating for several hours.  These two males were bowing to each other and the male on the left, appeared unable to keep his eyes open, as if we were saying, "Dude, I'm too tired, let it go."

lesser-prairie-chicken-pair

However, as soon as a female appeared on the scene, every male immediately woke up, it was as if all them were instantly injected with Red Bull.  Their displays became more frantic and they ran back and forth around the female displaying their virility.  We saw about three or four females approach the lek throughout the morning, it was interesting to watch their behavior.  When a male approached, the female would hide in grasses and preen.  If a male gave up, she would stop preening and watch the displays, I wondered what in the displays she was hoping to see--the size of the yellow pouches?  The droop of the wings? The sound of the gobble?

I only saw one female select a male and attempt mating. That was the video I posted earlier...where we had some "male chicken blocking" going on.  Considering how quick bird mating goes, that second attempt was probably successful in fertilizing on egg.

punctured-pouch

I did notice one male who apparently had some pouch issues.  Do you see it?  He has a hole.  This most likely occured during one of the many fights we witnessed.  Lesser prairie chickens have a sharp beak, so a good solid peck would damage the pouch, affected the gobble sounds and reduce this male's chances of mating with a female.

chicken-on-warpath

All in all it was a pretty cool experience and I loved hanging out in the blind and just watching one bird and absorbing its behavior.  It was a treat sitting next to an artist and watching her sketch the lesser prairie chickens. I admire the ability to do what looks like a few simple strokes and capture the essence of a creature.  Her sketchs also capture the movement and mood of the chicken.  Here is a link to Drawing the Motmot's lesser prairie chicken sketches that she made in the blind--so cool.

Crap, I just looked at the time, I need to pack for my flight back to the Twin Cities, more Oklahoma adventures coming later!

Lesser Prairie Chicken Attempts At Mating

This has been a very popular video at the Leks, Treks, and More Festival in Woodward, OK.  It's a video from the lesser prairie chicken lek.  I female has found a male she likes and attempts to mate with him.  The other males in the lek are not happy about this. 

Random Monday Sparrow

I have to say that I'm having a heck of a time here in Oklahoma.  Yesterday, at least three vehicles got stuck in muddy roads during field trips (no worries, vehicles were saved and participants still got to see some great birds).  But you know it's a great adventerous festival with gorgeous wild places with a tag line like that.

Besides the prairie chickens, we're gettins some great sparrows, like this white-crowned sparrow above.  I'll have more photos to post, but I've got one more field trip to do.

The Troubles Of Sketching In The Amazon

I saw the funniest video yesterday (that is totally safe for work) during a workshop presented by Debby Kaspari of Drawing the Motmot.  She's in the Amazon recording how she sketches and gets a surprising but not helpful visitor: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkyz_gEND0g&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

You can read the full account about it in her blog here.