Okay, Other Sharon, you are not allowed to answer this contest for 24 hours ;). Everyone else, here is the photo, can you identify the actor sitting next to me (I'm willing to bet that about 90% of blog readers have seen one of his films):
Put your answer in the comments section of the blog. You don't have to create a blogger identity to answer, but if you want to win the prize, you do need to leave your name. First correct answer with a name, wins the prize.
What is the prize you ask? An official ABA Convention Bag (made of black canvas with black rosy-finches on it) and a copy of Tim Gallagher's Falcon Fever.
I just got the following email and photos from my buddy Amber:
"My dad just took these photos today. It is a nest that was built in a tree that has since had a river overflow next to it. If there is a big wind, I am afraid these eaglets might drown. The proper authorities have been contacted and hopefully they will respond?"
Amber has put in a call to The Raptor Center, but I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done. The birds look to be close to fledging but they really do not have any room for error in that first flight.
Are there any South Dakota readers who have some ideas to help these birds?
I helped out at the Swarovski Optik booth at the American Birding Association Convention. I was out with a couple of the guys from the booth--Clay and Bruce. As we were going down a mountain road, Clay put on the brakes and said, "That looked like an interesting woodpecker!"
We found a place to pull over and walked in. I was hoping for a Williamson's sapsucker, but we weren't seeing anything but robins. Bruce picked up a stick and started pounding a nearby tree, doing his best sapsucker territorial drumming. We heard some soft drumming and eventually found:
...a three-toed woodpecker. Not a lifer, but always a cool woodpecker and fun to see it outside of Minnesota. Clay then said, "Hey, Bruce, check it out." and pointed to Bruce's feet.
From Clay's excitement, we thought there was a snake. We looked down and couldn't really see anything, Clay kept pointing and then Bruce finally saw it. It's in the above photo with Bruce. Can you see it? Don't worry if you can't, I was there and can barely see what Clay was point to. Here is a hint:
There in the center of that circle is a tiny young robin! We had been there for several minutes, watching the trees, talking, banging sticks against trees and yet this young robin stayed stock still, using it's fledgling coloration to camouflage with the surrounding vegetation. I wanted to digiscope it, but the young robin was too close to focus in my scope, so I had to back up a few feet:
"You can't see me!" Fresh from the nest and already this bird knows what to do, instinct told it to just sit and hide, and the big lumbering creatures would move past, hopefully without stepping on it. It was strange that we did not hear the adult robins give their warning and freak out call. We could hear that they were busy feeding another fledgling nearby. Since we'd seen the woodpecker, we decided to move along and let the young robin be and commence to learning how to care for itself under the tutelage of its parents.
On our way out of the woods, I found a second fledgling. Like its wise sibling, this young robin also stayed stone still as I walked past. Moments like these always make me wonder how many birds (especially owls) have I walked past when focused on something else. How many birds have been just a foot away and I just didn't see it?
I ended up having a day off today that I didn't realize I had--bonus day! I thought I would catch up on all my ABA blogging...then realized that after some sorting...I have it narrowed down to 92 photos. So, while I'm sorting, here is a video of cliff swallows swarming over mud to add to their nests:
Here is a post from the American Birding Convention for my dear husband, Non Birding Bill:
I stayed at the Cliff Lodge in Snowbird, Utah for the American Birding Association Convention. As you can see in the above photo, they keep a tidy lawn. What's the secret to this well kept lawn? Why the lawn services of Nosey Q. McFurryPants aka a family group of yellow-bellied marmots.
The marmots were a popular attraction outside the lodge. They pretty much looked like what we in the east call a woodchuck, but I think this is a higher elevation species. At any point during the day, you could see six to ten marmots feeding on the grass.
Even the babies were a part of the family business of keeping the lawn nice and trim.
After all that lawn service work, rest is good! Several mammals could be found around the lodge including various types of ground squirrels, moose, mule deer, and I heard that if you took the lodge tram up another two thousand feet, pikas!
WildBird on the Fly and I took the tram up to see what we could find. Note the snow? I must say that this Minnesota girl felt right at home in the still snow covered Utah mountains.
It was interesting to note the hardcore locals, like the above young woman. Note that she is about to ski down the side of the mountain in a mini skirt. Get down, girl, go 'head get down!
The view from the top was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! As of yet, Utah remains the most beautiful state I have visited. Alas, the bird life and the mammal life was a tad on the sparse side.
I searched and searched and did not see any pikas--bummer, but we did find a few golden-mantled ground squirrels who looked quite similar to the chipmunks we have in our yards in the east.
The view was so good, I told WBOTF that it would be perfect for one of those bird author poses. You know the ones I mean, where the bird author is toting a spotting scope and looking over their shoulder, ready for adventure. So, Amy took the photo and called me a Cheese Ball. Here is the Pete Dunne as an example. Above, I tried to do my best Pete.
Alas, no pikas, but he marmots were cute. Here's some video of the yellow-bellied marmots. Here is the adult marmot (FYI, the sound behind the wind is the raging river from the snow melt):
Put your answer in the comments section of the blog. You don't have to create a blogger identity to answer, but if you want to win the prize, you do need to leave your name. First correct answer with a name, wins the prize.
