Birdchick Blog
Diva Kitty alerted me to this cool blurb from SFGate.com:
One of our crew duties at the Raptor Center is that as soon we get in on Tuesday morning we go out to all of the education bird mews and make sure everyone is upright and healthy. We note where they are perched, and if there is any leftover food. We also have to pick it up. It's worse in summer when it's still juicy, but with our single digit temps, it's pretty easy to do right now. Often times, the birds will skin whatever prey we give them, especially rat and we collect that to keep their area clean.
Here we have Othello who has a rather large rat skin on his mailbox perch. When we go in to get food, we always wear leather gloves--not the black ones we use for handling birds for programs, but a big blue welder's glove and a tan glove. The welder's glove acts as a shield in case any of the birds are more ready for the food than you expect. The tan one is not as thick, allows some protection but is much easier to feel what you have in your hand. I stepped into Othello's mew and he gave his usual squeaky grunts. I approached the perch and squatted to get the skin and he came right at me! I put out my welder's glove hand and he grabbed it and bounced off. I stepped back and he ran...no flew, ran (it's kind of like watching a feathered weeble when the run--not very majestic) right at me and made a half-hearted attempt for my shoes.
I decided to leave in the rat skin. He'd be going out later on program and it would be just easier to do it then.
It's tough to say why some days an eagle will sit idly by while you collect their leftovers and other days they are incredibly territorial. It could have been that the sudden cold snap make the bird feel like every scrap of food counts. Something instinctual telling the bird to not let anyone take a scrap because times for survival in this cold and short daylight hours are hard and you need everything. It could have been that I was wearing ear muffs giving my head a different shape from what the birds are used to. There are a couple of great-horned owls that will not let me get them if I have ear muffs on. It's all part of what makes your days volunteering there a little more exciting.
The house sparrows were aggressively going for the rat leftovers again (in a different bald eagle cage, not Othello's). This particular eagle in this mew is on a tether and the house sparrows have taken to dragging the rat bits out of the reach of her tether. Smart, smart birds.
While going through my iPhoto archives searching for a cover shot for Disapproving Rabbits I came across a photo I took about three years ago:
It's Non Birding Bill napping with Kabuki in mid rouse (fluffing and rearranging feathers) on his shoulder. Awwww. My two content boys, I love them so.
I found a couple of photos on the camera I hadn't downloaded yet from the past weekend. We took the in-laws to Como Zoo in St. Paul and I got a couple of great shots of the polar bear swimming:
He kept doing the backstroke towards the glass, plunging under, flipping around and shooting off the glass wall. Was the polar bear merely having fun or hoping to finally wear down the strength of the glass and burst through eating me like the prey that I am?
Here I got the bear mid plunge! Speaking of polar bears, have you guys ever seen this the video of a Japanese girl wearing seal hat at a zoo and getting "chased" by a polar bear? Here it is:
Found the following by catching up on some email:
Thanks to Paul for bringing this video of a young barred owl being mobbed. I think it's being mobbed by blue-gray gnatcatchers. Any thoughts?
There's a review of the Birds of Michigan Calendar at the new Bell Tower Birding Blog.
Just an FYI, Non Birding Bill has put up another Disapproving Rabbits page--when will it end?
I did A Balanced Breakfast this morning. I debated about talking titmice, but I went for it. Margery kept us from going too far.
Hey, Twin Cities people, keep your eyes open for tufted titmice (above). Those birds are pushing north this winter. That is the one bird that is missing from where I currently live. When we moved to Minneapolis and I learned I wouldn't be seeing these cute birds with a fairly dirty name on a regular basis I was tempted to move back home. Fortunately I know people nearby who do get them, so I just go hang at their home to get my titmouse fix.
I learned that Bill Schmoker has a blog up and running now--whoot. Check out his latest very cool raptor photos--another Bill in my life, I think I'll just start calling him Schmoker--it's fun to say and differentiates him from Bill Thompson (friend), Bill Stiteler Sr (father in-law) Bill Stiteler Jr (husband), etc. Oh dear, I just noticed that Schmoker is a fan of one of Non Birding Bill's favorite sites the Comics Curmudgeon. It's a site that gives commentary on the comics in the newspaper. Many mornings it has NBB paralyzed with laughter on the couch.
I have tried to enforce my 24 hour rule. When I'm angry or emotional I don't blog about the issue or email the parties involved (or at least I really try hard not to). I need 24 hours to let the temper move through my system and to contemplate whether or not I really need precisely 59 four letter words (many repeated) to get my point across.
Inhale. Exhale. Ahhhhhhhh.
We had a lovely weekend with the in-laws visiting. It was a tough crowd to please this time. Not only did NBB's parents come, but they brought along three nephews--two of which are teenagers and can be a challenge to entertain without a gaming system.
In the last few months we have had the Body Worlds exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota. I have been wanting to go very badly, but with the travel schedule it just hasn't been possible. It was closing on Sunday, December 3, so I thought it would be a fun way to cap off the in-laws visit--what boy at any age wouldn't want to look at dead plasticized bodies? I ordered tickets online for 12:15 on Sunday, looked at all the warnings about how the tickets were non-refundable, and felt excited about such a unique experience for the family.
Sunday morning as we were finishing our breakfast and getting ready to head to the museum when NBB noticed that the tickets were for 12:15am not 12:15pm. According to the tickets, we were supposed to be at the exhibit just past midnight Sunday morning. Apparently, the museum was running a special over the weekend and keeping the exhibit open 24 hours. In my brain I got my am and pm confused. I called the museum and was told by a very snotty (or perhaps tired since she'd been up for 24 hours) box office attendant that there was nothing to be done, the exhibit was completely sold out and my $130 was completely non-refundable. As a parakeet I once had used to say:
Rant, rant, rant, rant, rant, rant, rant, rant.
Oh, I am so angry--at myself and at the museum. The rational part of me gets the non-refundable part. I've organized and led birding tours and there is a point where an event is non-refundable. The other part of me is angry with the museum because it was an easy mistake--they aren't usually open 24 hours so when you see 12:15 on a Sunday you might automatically think its for the noon time. I feel like I should be able to get part of the money back, but then again I should really pay more attention to the whole am and pm thing. I think I would be taking this a lot better had the box office attendant been even slightly sympathetic to my plight. A simple, "Gosh, I'm sorry we're sold out and here's an explanation of why we can't give the money back." as opposed to "Nope, we're sold out. You've lost your money. You should have been here last night."
Grrrrrrrrrrr. It will be awhile before my temper settles on this one and I can visit the museum again without tossing spitballs at the box office.
We did find other entertainment. Thank goodness for bald eagles. NBB was at a loss at to what to do with our five guests and I finally said, "Well, if you're leaving it to me, we're going bird watching." So we piled in the van and went to look for bald eagles. We found a dozen in less than ten minutes--they're almost too easy this time of year.
We did end up doing the Holidazzle Parade. In the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Minneapolis has a parade that has all the floats, marching bands, choirs, and pretty much anyone walking the parade covered in lights. It's generally a good time, although this past weekend it was 10 degrees--a little nippy. The in-laws took it like real troopers. The upside with the super cold weather is that it was very easy to get a good spot to watch the whole parade. On nights when it's in the thirties, it's wall to wall people out there.
Here's the Mother Goose float. That's Humpty Dumpty on the back, I'm not sure who the people in front are supposed to be.
Here is our nephew Sam desperately trying to keep his cool by trying to avoid his Aunt Sharon's camera. I think he kept his cool with the holiday lights dancing behind him, but what do I know compared to a 15 year old?
Here's a large snowman that spins its way down the street.
Heres the Wicked Witch of the West riding her bicycle around the Wizard of Oz float. Because when you think of the Holidays, you think of a scary looking witch. The Holidazzle is fun, all you Minnesota people who read the blog should make a trip into downtown to watch.
Sunflower seeds get costly
Use of oil in chips helps boost price
By My-Ly Nguyen
Frito-Lay's switch to sunflower oil to make its leading potato chip brands, Lay's and Ruffles, is helping drive up prices on the black oil sunflower seeds used most to feed birds, say some Binghamton-area retailers.
Still, avid birders are saying higher prices won't stop them from buying the seeds to fill their feeders.
Most commercial birdseed packages include at least some black oil sunflower seeds because, according to the National Bird-Feeding Society, they're the "hands-down favorite" of most seed-eating birds. The seeds are easily cracked open, even by birds with smaller beaks, and provide needed energy for the birds, the society said.
Companies such as Frito-Lay also have noted sunflower's value for its own products.
In September, Frito-Lay celebrated at its Kirkwood plant the change from using cottonseed oil to NuSun sunflower oil to make its Lay's and Ruffles chips, a move that reduced saturated fat in those brands by more than 50 percent.
"Frito-Lay started using sunflower oil in their chips. They're a huge buyer," Smith said. "It means that instead of all that excess to sell off as bird food, you've got Frito-Lay buying it up."
Frito-Lay spokeswoman Aurora Gonzalez said she's not in a position to discuss how the company's use of sunflower oil affects the market.
"It's a bigger commodity than just us," she said, before deferring inquiries to sunflower market expert Larry Kleingartner.
Kleingartner, executive director of the National Sunflower Association, said it's not just one company affecting prices for the commodity.
"Frito is just one of those market pulls," he said. "We had a short crop this year ... plus all the commodity prices have gone up quite dramatically because of the fuel issue -- corn, for instance, for ethanol. There's also pressure on vegetable oil because of the biodiesel side of the energy market. There's also the trans fat issue."
Sunflower seed supplies are expected to be "tight" through the marketing season, the National Sunflower Association said.
"Chances are some of the bird feeders may say, 'Hey, I don't want to do this anymore' or may want to do a little less," Kleingartner said. "It's very difficult to say what peak prices will be. We certainly think prices have upward potential."
You can read one of the article here.
My threshold for feeding birds is pretty high, but I wonder how this will affect wild bird retail stores? Some "big box" stores have been carrying better quality seed and have affected specialty bird stores sales. But will higher sunflower prices turn more people utterly devoted to their birds to "big box" stores?
