Duh! Birders already Knew Chickadees are Smart

WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - Those cheery-sounding chirps coming from the tree in the back yard are carrying more than a joyful message -- they are conveying surprisingly complex information about lurking predators, biologists reported on Thursday. Tiny chickadees, known for their scolding calls, communicate details about nearby predators, biology PhD student Chris Templeton of the University of Washington found. For instance, the final, or "D" note in a call can be repeated for emphasis, Templeton said.

You can read the rest of the article at Reuters Alert Net.

Red-tail eating baby birds

This is from Non-Birding Bill. I hesitated to send it, because most of the time red-tailed hawks don't do this sort of thing, but like any bird, if they see an opportunity for food they are gonna go for it. I don't like to perpetuate the myth that hawks kill every bird in the neighborhood, but this is what I would find interesting to read about in a blog. I don't know the story behind this link, but I think the photos speak for themselves:

Red-tailed Hawk attacking an oriole nest.

So, here's the conversation that came along this morning when my husband found the link:

Non Birding Bill: Cool, Poppy Z Brite is a bird watcher.

Birdchick: Mmm, I think Mr. Neil told me that.

Non Birding Bill: Wow, roseate spoon-bills are cool looking. Did you know there's a loon cam?

Birdchick: No, I didn't.

Non Birding Bill: Oh! Here's a series of photos of a red-tail taking baby birds, I'll send you the link!

Birdchick: Wait. What are you doing looking at birding websites?? You're not interested in birds.

Non Birding Bill: I was just looking at them for you, I thought you would like them.

Whatever shall I do, if my husband turns into a birder? I've never even dated a birder, I can't imagine being married to one! What will I call him? He gets mad if I call him Ivory-bill Stiteler (Mr. Neil's doing not mine). This really messes up my Chi.

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Tourism

This just showed up on Conservation Through Birding listerv:

I visited this area with my family on June 9. I was very impressed at
the way the town has embraced the tourism opportunity. We bought
t-shirts at two places, one a BBQ spot offering Ivory-billed Hamburgers
and Ivory-billed Salads. Both places were out of Larges, so there must
be some demand. We also saw an Ivory-billed Inn and RV Park, an
Ivory-billed Art Center, and a hair salon that offered Ivory-billed
Haircuts. I'd spent enough on t-shirts, so decided to forgo the haircut
even though my daughters encouraged me to go for one. I wouldn't be
surprised if some locals resent the intrusion, but the local businesses
appear to be pretty interested in woodpeckers right now. A couple of
local homes had signs up offering guide services for canoe trips, too.

There's some very good signage out in the Dagmar Unit, and some really
beautiful campsites (free, too). We stayed in one, and really enjoyed
it. Birds seen/heard from the campsite included Miss. Kite, Pileated,
Prothontary, Yellowthroated and Parula Warblers, Barred Owl, White-eyed
Vireo, etc.

Let's come up with a way to encourage more birders to visit there and
leave a few dollars in local pockets, while seeing some phenomenal
habitat at the same time. Donations to TNC are great, but helping the
local businesses benefit from the bird will help a lot. They are
certainly trying to attract birders. Any ideas?

Jeff Sundberg
Lake Forest College
Lake Forest, IL

Birdchick Bath Salts

I got a lovely package in the mail from Lorraine and Malena: custom blended birdchick bath salts(along with some gem soap and some lovely smelling plants to burn)! About the only thing I love more than birds (and Non Birding Bill of course) is a good luxurious soak and I'm always on the lookout for fun bath stuff and here is a website where you can get some pretty funky home made bath salt. I think the best ones for birders is probably the Athena-Goddess of Wisdom Bath Salts, a bergamot lavender blend "formulated to help improve consciousness, mental clarity, enhance memory, and clear cellular memory" (and don't we all need a little of that in the field). Plus, it never hurts to smell nice when out with a birding posse.

Random Post about Lang Elliot

I found a great way to avoid getting any writing done! Take all the bird identification cds I have amassed over the years and put them on my iPod, then start organizing them so I have a play list of all the warblers and in the play list I put all the calls from all the different cds together so that I'll have something like four different American redstart tracks. Actually, since I've started putting all my id stuff on the iPod, when I set it on random I'll get like a David Bowie song, a Depeche Mode song, Lang Elliot introducing a black-legged kittiwake, song from the Xanadu movie, etc.

For those that don't know, Lang Elliot is usually the male voice on quite a few of the bird identification cds out there. He also runs Nature Sounds Studios and is an expert in bird calls and has a ton of great cds that he produces himself. One of my favorite books is Music of the Birds (I always try to keep a copy in the store because it makes a good gift for someone who needs a gift for a birder but have no clue where to begin). It talks about some of the best bird songs out there and on one of the tracks he slows down the calls of a hermit thrush, Swainson's thrush, wood thrush and veery and you can hear just how complex and how many more notes are in the song than we hear. He sounds a little stiff and I would love meet him one day and see if he'll tell a dirty joke just to see what it would sound like. It's got to be hard to be in a sound booth and recite bird names for bird cds for hours on end. What's interesting is that on one cd he pronounces pileated woodpecker as PILL E a ted and on another cd he pronounces it PIE lee a ted--man that woodpecker's name needs to be changed!

A Good Egg Writes About Old Eggs

Here's a link to a Wall Street Journal article about early 1900s egg collecting, featuring my good friend Carrol Henderson. Rumor has it that he got a book deal out of this article. He presented it as a PowerPoint presentation at the 2004 MOU Paper Session and it was incredibly interesting. Can't wait for the book to come out!

Lead Sinker Alternatives

Here's an exerpt from a story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

DULUTH, Minn. — The state that brought Rapalas and Lindy Rigs to the fishing industry is on the forefront of another trend. This time, some Minnesota fishing tackle companies are encouraging a switch from lead jigs and sinkers to new tackle that may be safer for birds, fish and other wildlife.

Kevin McDonald, head fishing tackle education coordinator for the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance, said the use of new tackle could create jobs in Minnesota.

"We're really glad to see Minnesota companies diving into this now. Minnesota is the center of the fishing industry universe,'' McDonald said. "And we didn't want to see our companies turn into dinosaurs.''

Lead still accounts for the majority of the sinkers and jigs sold. According to a 2001 U.S. Census Bureau report, about $342 million is spent annually on jigs, hooks and sinkers, while $19 billion is spent on all fishing tackle.

Minnesotans spend about $17 million annually on hooks, sinkers and jigs. The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance estimates about $8.5 million is spent on lead tackle in Minnesota each year.

White Bear Lake-based Water Gremlin, the nation's biggest maker of lead sinkers, has added a new line of bismuth sinkers. Bemidji-based Northland Fishing Tackle, a premier maker of lead live-bait jigs, has added the Nature Jig line of nontoxic bismuth sinkers to its product line.

Two years ago, some Minnesota lawmakers and environmental groups proposed banning small lead tackle because studies show it can kill loons and other birds. But leaders of Minnesota's fishing industry said there wasn't enough information on loon mortality to support the ban.
The legislation failed in 2003 and hasn't advanced since. Still, the tackle industry is changing.

Without legislative action, Minnesota has instead used education to convince anglers to switch away from lead, including offering free samples of nontoxic tackle.

The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance is once again sponsoring fish tackle exchanges. Anglers can bring their small lead tackle to designated sites and they will receive samples of unleaded tackle.

You can learn more about it at Get The Lead Out.