Non Birding Bill is on YouTube. He wrote a play called THAC0 that he turned into a movie which was debuted and sold at CONvergence to rave reviews. He put the trailer on YouTube, but someone else completely different has put one of the scenes of the movie up on YouTube. What's even stranger is that he person who put it up is using NBB's photo as their profile photo. Anyway, here is the snippet. I must warn you that if you know nothing of role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, it will seem as though they are talking in tongues. Bill would also like everyone to know that YouTube makes the sound quality quite crappy and he has mad movie making skillz:
Between the excitement of Peregrine 568s recovery and getting ready for tomorrow's book signing, I almost forgot that today is Skywatch Friday. You create a blog with photos of sky and then you add your link to the Skywatch site. While there, you should check out everyone's photos of sky. Some of my favorites this week are at Desert Observer, Jim's Little Photo Place, and Shimmy Mom.
My entry for this week takes us back to Cape Cod for the Swarovski Blogging Event. While we were getting photos of shorebirds, we could see fog approaching us. See the low darker clouds on the horizon?
The fog never overtook the beach, but seemed a sinister dream land just off the shore. It was strange to see it just sit there out of reach of the surf.
It crept in and touched the beach, the sky coming in to touch the sand. Gulls were loafing just inside the mist.
I tried to digiscope them and the black-backed gulls sat in the fog and looked a tad expectant. What were they waiting for? Or perhaps they wondered about the group of humans on the edge of the mist observing them, wonder what it was all about.
Boy oh Boy. There's a lot goin' on for me the next week--but it's all FUN!
Tomorrow, Saturday, August 23 is my book signing/release part for my second book City Birds/Country Birds at Cardinal Corner (both locations) and Cinnamon the Disapproving Rabbit (and Non Birding Bill) will be there too: Book Signing Times: August 23, 2008: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Cardinal Corner in West St. Paul Store (651-455-6556) 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. - Cardinal Corner in Newport (651-459-3880)
I'll be back at the State Fair on Thursday, August 28 joining the Ian and Margery Field Trip. We start at the fm107 booth (I think you have to be signed up by 10:15am) and then we go on the Sky Ride. Maybe we'll see the resident Cooper's hawk or we can pretend we're soaring red-tails trying to grab the prey below with our feet!
Then, Thursday night, it's Birds and Beers at Merlin's Rest at 6pm! Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all ages, if you're a hardcore lister or a casual backyard birder or someone who just wants to know what this whole birding thing is about, then you're invited.
Somewhere in here I have to do the usual park ranger stuff, my usual shift at TRC, and tend to my bees...oh yes, and maybe spend some time with my husband.
Well, this blog entry is a fun one to put together. First, I just want to say how sweet it was to get photos of Peregrine 568 in the sun and not under the clinic lights.
For new readers, this bird has some history in the blog. At the end of September in 2007, I was co-leading a trip to Duluth for hawk migration with Stan Tekiela. We stopped at my buddy Frank's hawk banding blind and they were in the process of tending to this bird--she flew into the nets with a broken leg. Since our group was only up in Duluth for the day, we offered to take her back to The Raptor Center in the Twin Cities for treatment. I volunteer there and was able to follow her progress. The vets at TRC said that based on the color of her bruises, the injury was three to five days old--incredible that she was flying around trying to hunt with that injury for a few days! She's had many ups and downs with her treatment, from having to reset the improperly healed fracture to many bouts of bumblefoot. But now the fracture has healed, the bumblefoot has subsided and after being at TRC for about 11 months, she's about ready to go. For a bird that's been in treatment that long, she needs to be test flown to make sure she's physically strong enough to live in the wild. The vets down in clinic graciously allowed me to tag along with the Flight Crew to test her skills (did you know you can volunteer for Flight Crew at TRC?)
They grabbed Peregrine 568 from her recovey cage and took the bandages and padding off her toes. To keep her bumblefoot at bay, she has been given boots made of padding and duct tape to wear. Birds naturally slough off dead skin in the wild on rough perches. TRC tries to mimic that in clinic, but when a bird has a foot or leg injury, and tends to stand on one foot more often, bumblefoot becomes a problem. For flight, she needs those the boots off so the crew can evaluate not only how she flies, but how she lands, and if she stands naturally on her feet.
After the boots were removed, they put jesses and a leash called a creance on her. The flight crew needed to test her wings outdoors on the University of Minnesota Campus and the creance allows her to fly far away, but they still have hold of her so she doesn't get loose before she is ready. The creance is kind of like a fishing line and pole. They let her fly, but after she lands, they can reel in the line as they walk towards her. The jesses are made of lether and wrapped around right above the toes and is the best way to keep hold of her without injuring her.
True to Peregrine 568's feisty nature, she bit the flight crew while the jesses and creance were placed on her. She's wearing a hood which is supposed to keep her calm and prevent her from biting...she apparently didn't read that in the falconry manuals.
One of the vets, Lori Arent told me that she had "imped some new feathers" onto Peregrine 568's wings. This is an ancient falconry technique of replacing damaged/broken feathers with feathers from another bird of the same species that has died--a feather transplant, if you will. Rather than waiting for the bird to grow in new ones when it naturally molts (sheds old feathers and grows in new ones) this allows a bird to leave clinic sooner. The imped feathers will molt out naturally. What's interesting what that Lori did not have to imp any feathers on the tail, a sheath has prevented the falcon from damaging any of those when moving in her cage.
We walked out and Terry on the flight crew let the peregrine fly. If you saw the video earlier, you could see that she did VERY well. If not, here is another video and you can hear the feisty falcon vocalizing before they let her go.
Again, I highly recommend going to the YouTube page and clicking on the "watch in high quality" button for the full effect of her magnificent flight.
When she made it to the end of the line she landed. The flight crew follows along to make sure that she doesn't go into the streets and to close the gap on the creance line.
This is the tricky part. You have to sneak up on the falcon and grab her without hurting her. But once you get close...
...she flaps a lot and Terry has to grab her without damaging her feathers. Terry's been doing this longer than I've been in Minnesota, so she's a master at it.
The peregrine was test flown about five times and when flight crew volunteer Greg went to grab her, she was ready to go further.
And again, in keeping with that feisty nature, she bit his glove...several times.
Check out that blond head--a clue that she is a tundrius subspecies of peregrine falcon. After all that work, she was panting hard. Unlike humans, birds do not have sweat glands and must pant to regulate body temperature (like dogs). The crew had a squirt bottle handy to keep her cool. They sprayed her feet and even sprayed in her mouth to help keep her hydrated. Here's a video:
You can also go to the YouTube page and click on "watch in high quality" to see it in better detail.
As we were walking back, I noticed we were all wearing Keen shoes. Is this the official birder shoe?
After five flights, it was time to go back to the clinic for one final check. Lori was very pleased with 568's progress and is anxious to get her out before the bumblefoot comes back. Because the peregrine is a tundrius and migratory and because she was found 182 miles north of the Twin Cities, she has to go back towards Duluth to be released. Arrangements are being made at this moment.
Lori gave 568 one last foot check. You can see some scarring from the bumblefoot, but it's healed. She added a bit more ointment to keep her foot progress steady until the falcon can be let go.
The little padded duct tapes boots were added for good measure. Note the ice pack on the tail? That was to help cool down Peregrine 568 during her final exam after all that flying in the hot sun. Lori took one more X-Ray just to make sure the fracture was stable after the test flying. All looks good.
So, if all goes well, in a few days, I'll post photos of her flying away. For good. I have to admit, I've never really wanted to follow a clinic bird in the blog because it would be a bummer to follow her and have her die. I was even more reluctant with a foot injury, but this has turned out remarkably well. And though she's been in clinic a long time, she could still have another 10,12, maybe even 18 years ahead of her.
What the heck is going on with the squirrels on our bathroom window ledge?? We've had one squirrel trying to make a nest on the ledge and the wind and branches periodically knock it down. A month ago, I had two squirrels hanging out there. But on and off all summer, some squirrel has been hanging out there more often than not. Today, I stepped into the bathroom and could see one squirrel head and it looked like a second one was there too. I grabbed my camera and tried to sneak a photo--check it out, there are three.
One of the squirrels heard the camera and jumped away, only to reveal a FOURTH squirrel. The little dude on the right was busily grooming the squirrel on his left. I love the paw on the back of his buddy, looking at the squirrel hopping away on the branch as if to ask, "What's up bro'?"
When they all realized there was a camera, they hopped away, but gave me that disaffect youth look. As if I was the old person telling them to loiter elsewhere.
So, what is going on here? Which one of you readers out there knows about squirrel behavior--what would make four squirrels hang out on a ledge while sleeping and grooming each other? They all looked fully grown, I don't think they were young ones, but maybe they are? Anyone have any clues as to why they're hanging out together?
One of the things I wasn't able to talk about right away from the Swarovski Blogger Event (or Swarblogski as Non Birding Bill calls it) was that we got to see the new Swarovski ELs. They just debuted them at Bird Fair so now I'm allowed to talk. Honestly, I wasn't expecting that much of a change. Swarovskis are really great binoculars and I'm incredibly grateful for all the support they give my blog and I LOVE my 8x32s. Even when I worked for Eagle Optics and people would come up and ask me what the best bino is, I would say that if I were a woman of unlimited means, it would be the 8x32 EL. Optics are subjective and what works for me, may not work for everyone, but the clarity, ergonomics, and light weight of Swarovski really works for me.
The biggest difference that you can see besides the slightly different design is that the eye piece lenses are bigger--and the edge to edge clarity is superior to the current ELs (not that it's that bad anyway). Swarovski has also greatly improved the close focus ability of the binoculars. I was able to focus within about 5 and a half feet with the new ELs. They are coming out with new ELs in the 8.5x42 and 10x42 models, not the 8x32s or 10x32s. They will be available in the US early next year. They'll probalby be at Bird Watch America in January 2009. What does this mean for you? If you're probably going to see current models of ELs going on sale in the US (just in time for the holidays). So, if you've been saving for a great pair of bins, you have a choice: get the current model at a discount or keep saving and going for the new ones. I don't have exact pricing on what they're going to be at the moment.
I also got to hold the new 80mm scope--it's lighter than the current model. There's also a new eyepiece coming, a 25-50 zoom. I currently use a 20 - 60 zoom. I'm curious to play with that for digiscoping.
Also, Clay was telling me how surprised he was that not more people in the US entered Swarovski's Digiscoper of the Year Contest. Here are what the winners get:
The three entrants chosen as “Digiscoper of the Year” will receive the following products from Swarovski Optik as their prize:
1st
Swarovski Optik ATS or STS telescope and eyepiece of the winner’s choice
2nd
Swarovski Optik binocular EL 8.5x42
3rd
Swarovski Optik binocular SLC 8x30
The best 20 images (places 1 to 20) will be published with the photographer’s name in the Swarovski Optik Digiscoping Yearbook 2009. This will attract a publication fee of EUR 300 (that's like $600 in the US).
National Winners: National winners will also be chosen from the five countries with the largest number of entrants (the number of images does not count). The five national winners will receive an award of EUR 200 for publication in the Swarovski Optik Digiscoping Yearbook 2009 in addition to the publication fee referred to above.
You don't have to be a Swarovski customer either. Check out the rules:
Cameras: Any digital camera format - from a compact digital camera to a bridge or digital single lens reflex camera - may be used.
Field Spotting Scopes: Any commercially available spotting scopes and eyepieces may be used, with or without an adapter.
The contest closes on September 30, 2008. Read the full rules here. I've seen some of the winning entries from last year, and there are some awesome digiscopers in the US that could totally win the contest. If you digiscope, go for it.
Okay, I need lots of fingers crossed. We may have some exciting news tomorrow for a certain falcon we have all come to know in the blog. It's VERY tentative, but still let's all think the good though for the next 24 hours.
So, from my bud, Mark Martell from Minnesota Audubon about the proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act (giving federal agencies like the highway department the say so if an endangered animal can be removed for construction) and mailing thongs to Dirk in protest:
"I have been told that mailing to Gov. officials is ineffective since the anthrax incident. All mail to them is checked and irradiated which means it can take weeks or even months. Our policy folks tell me they do not do mail anymore, only phone or email."
Bummer. I really liked the idea of mailing thongs to Dick.
Incidentally, Audubon is filing a request for extension of the comment period on the changes (30 days is quite short) and will have much more to say on this as they get all their chapters coordinated. For more info on what you can do now to protest the changes, visit here.
It's interesting that in Minnesota--NONE of the birding listservs are talking about this. Instead there's been angry debate on people not including counties when they post bird sightings. I wonder if this is a sign of birder apathy that could lead to these changes going through?
And if you're looking for something fun, let me share with you Bird Vibes. I also write for the Birding Business News. It's for retailers in the birding industry so I get press releases about new product. Bird Vibes is a deck of 54 meditation cards based on bird species in North America. The birds are grouped by eight chakras according to the bird's color, habitat or other characteristics, with an additional card for each season. Each card shows a different bird through reproductions of paintings commissioned from Ottawa nature painter, Heather Bale. This was originally self-published in Ottawa in May 2007 and then published by Baico in December 2007. The second edition took into account comments from birders--they got feedback from birders to make it accurate as well as spiritual. I love it. Makes me smile, all the different ways people dig birds out there, just makes me smile.
Here is the Twin Cities Live link to my segment if you would like to watch. Note that I'm about three inches taller than usual--they made me stand on a stool. I'm not sure how long it's going to be up.
And, how about a Birds and Beers on Thursday, August 28 at 6pm. I was thinking we could do Merlin's Rest...or we could do the State Fair?
I'll be on Twin Cities Live, today--Monday, August 18. In the promo, one of the hosts actually says, "Birdchick is in da HOUSE!"
If you're around today between 3pm - 4pm check it out. MC Hammer is supposed to be on too. Wonder if that will be live or by satellite--did you know that he blogs too? Should be interesting. I'm told that the segment will be up on their website by the evening.
