Birds and Beers is back! It will be held at Merlin's Rest this Thursday, June 19 from 6pm - 8pm. Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities--if you're interested in birds, you're invited. You can meet other birds--maybe a carpool buddy, talk about why people get weird on bird listservs, ask about where to find target birds, share cool research projects you might be working on, ask a bird feeding question, share life lists--the sky is the limit. It's low key and it's fun.
Storm Troopers At The National Park
I had a wild weekend of park rangerin'. Saturday, I was bioblitzing (more on that coolness later) and Sunday...well, let's just say it was off with a bang when Non Birding Bill was dropping me off and said, "Hey, isn't that Darth Vader?"
Yes, yes it was. The Science Museum has the Star Wars exhibit going on and since the Mississippi River Visitor Center is there, we get to see some of the fun. Several people were walking around the museum in full costume.
The Star Tribune set up right outside the visitor center to take photos of all the characters and we got to see everyone from Storm Troopers to Boba Fett to Sand People.
There was even a remote controlled, life size R2D2! It was fun to watch the guy running the controls maneuver him. A couple of times you would see R2 following a kid and the kid would nervously walk faster and faster, not sure what to make of the beeping little bot trailing behind.
Vader tried to get out of hand, but never fear, Ranger Birdchick kept him in line with her mad Jedi skillz. I didn't even need a light saber.
I was talking to one of the Jedi's and she said that all the people who came in character are part of a volunteer organization. They make their own costumes and make appearances for events like the Science Museum exhibit and even parades. I asked if they were going to be at CONvergence in a few weeks--NBB and I will both be there. Sure enough, they are going too.
I should mention, that NBB's play and his movie will be at CONvergence too. On Friday, July 4th at 7pm, the play THACO will perform on the main stage. On Saturday, we're both busy. I'll be doing a Raptor Center program with my buddy Amber from 5pm - 6pm and then NBB debut's the movie version of THACO at 7pm. If I understand it correctly, you have to be signed up for CONvergence to see the play and The Raptor Center program, but you can see the movie for free and not be signed up for the convention.
So, if you don't have plans that weekend and would like to experience a sci fi convention, stop on out.
TRC From Someone Else's Perspective
So, I'm catching up on emails and I found this really cool blog entry sent to my by my buddy Amber. Gretchen Stiches keeps a blog and relates a story of having to intervene with some tree trimmers who were misinformed about the legality of hawk nest removal and what to do with the chicks after they are removed from a nest. It's a great insight as to what some of our great clinic vets at The Raptor Center like Lori do for her day to day job.
Random Indigo Bunting
Because we all need a little indigo bunting from time to time.
From the Birding Community E-Bulletin
Here's an interesting turn for birds that I was reading in my latest issue of the Birding Community E-Bulletin:
U.S. - CANADIAN PEACE BRIDGE PLAN SCRAPPED FOR THE BIRDS:
A modern bridge-span between the U.S. and Canada, conceived by world-renowned bridge designer Christian Menn, has been scrapped to favor the birds. A Peace Bridge project that would connect Buffalo, New York, and Fort Eire, Ontario, will have to be redesigned. The design jury had originally considered 33 design concepts before narrowing its choices to six finalists: five cable-stayed concepts and one with a three-arch design.
Common Terns which nest in Buffalo Harbor but feed downriver must pass through the area proposed for the Peace Bridge many times a day. Since the terns typically fly over - not under - bridges, flying over a 567-foot-high structure could reduce their chances for survival and their ability to successfully feed their young.
Reportedly, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not issue the permits needed to construct such a cable-stayed span. Similarly, the Federal Highway Administration - which is financing the environmental study and which must approve the plan before a new bridge can be built - will not approve the originally favored cable design.
Presently, plans for a new Peace Bridge have shifted to a three-arch span — taller than the current bridge on the site (originally opened in 1927), but less tall than the soaring two-tower proposal. Of the final options, only the three-arch bridge, at 226 feet high, can apparently gain approval from the environmental agencies.
The bridge project’s current timetable calls for an environmental impact statement to be finalized this year and construction to begin by the end of 2009.
AND IN FUN BLOG LINKS:
Sometimes you might see mallards nesting in trees. Check out this post by Birds 'n Such. I think one of the things that make mallards so successful adapting to urban environments is that they will try and nest anywhere once. I've seen them try an apartment roof, tree branch, planters, woodpiles, medians, bushes--although I have yet to see one actually use one of those rolled up nestings tubes you see dotted on lakes. Seriously, do they use those? I was about to ask if there was photographic proof, but then I found this doing a google image search.
Bird Poop Facial
From Reuters:
Forget avocado, evening primrose oil or other exotic ingredients, the latest facial to hit New York is a mask made with bird excrement.
The Geisha Facial, available at Shizuka New York for $180, about $100 more than the shop's other facials, contains nightingale excrement.
The Japanese powder, also known as uguisu no fun, is rich in the amino acid guanine, said to brighten and cleanse skin. In the 18th century geishas and kabuki actors used the powder to clean heavy white makeup off their faces.
The Japanese manufacturers of the powder treat it with ultraviolet light to kill bacteria. Bernstein mixes the substance at her spa with finely-ground rice bran to neutralize its slightly musky odor.
She claims the mask helps women achieve a porcelain white quality to their skin.
"I was a little tentative at first," said Andrea Nieto, who recently received the treatment. "But there was no smell. It was creamy and rich."
Thank You To Everyone Who Bought A Duck Stamp
The happiest press release in my inbox all week:
"As part of a suite of wetlands acquisition and conservation grant approvals, the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission today approved $4 million to purchase more than 18,000 acres of prime prairie wetland and associated grassland habitat for the Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern Minnesota – one of the largest purchases ever using dollars generated from Federal Duck Stamp sales and import duties on firearms and ammunition."
Read the full press release here, there are several other projects in other states including Maine, North Carolina, and Oregon. It mentions that it's going to be great for many types of waterfowl, but several bird species besides waterfowl will benefit from it as well. It's such a treat to get something in my inbox about bird habitat that is POSITIVE. So, if you purchased a duck stamp--I thank you and this is an example of what your dollars are doing.
Thanks.
Colbert Bird Report
Birdchick Email Is Wonky
I'm not sure what's going on, but my sharon at birdchick dot com email apparently isn't working. The last email I got from that account came in at 9am June 11. It's hosted through gmail and appears to be a problem on their end. For some odd reason birdchick at gmail dot com is working, so if you need to email me, please use that for the moment.
Brown Birds At Potholes & Prairie Bird Festival.
This past Sunday was just about as perfect as a day can get for me. It started at 4:15am when Kate and I woke up to load up our van for the ride home at the end of the festival. At 5am, we met up with good friends Kim Risen and Bill of the Birds to have some time to just sit and enjoy some Sprague's pipits and Baird's sparrows. It was rounded out with some fun driving time with my buddy Kate and then finished with a spicy Thai meal and some quality time with Non Birding Bill.
One of the first birds we saw in the wee hours of the dawn--a short-eared owl! And check it out, it's tiny, barely there tufties were erect. Not only did we see the owl...we got to see what it's named for. Take that, historic ornithologists who gave birds names for obscure parts barely seen in the field!
We stopped on some private ranch property (that allows birders to enjoy the sparrows) and headed out. You could hear the cows in the distance and one of our first birds was--
A chestnut-collared longspur just chillin' on the fence. There are brown birds, and then there are Brown Birds. Chestnut-collards take brown to a whole new beautiful level and they still have that bobolink thing going with their black chest. BNA describes them as prairie specialists: "Typical breeding habitat is arid, short to mixed grass prairie that has been recently grazed or mowed...this species avoids nesting in areas protected from grazing, instead preferring pastures and mowed areas such as airstrips, as well as grazed native prairie habitats."
The next bird we heard was a grasshopper sparrow (that's the hunch backed looking bird in the above photo). It's buzzy call was mixed with western meadowlark and about that time we heard Sprague's pipits overhead. I've linked to the songs, but if you have birdJam or any bird cds and are not familiar with these songs--look them up.
It wasn't long after that before we heard the sweet sound of the Baird's sparrow. And I had a video earlier, but here the lovely song of the Baird's sparrow yet again:
You can hear Canada geese and western meadowlarks singing in the background of that video.
There was also a pair of savannah sparrows nearby--above is one of them. The two would chase each other and periodically, the Baird's would get caught up in the chase as well. I don't think Baird's feel that threatened by savannah sparrows, but I have a feeling that their fighting was taking place a little too close to its nest.
The Baird's sparrow kept getting closer and close. Kim suggested that we all get as low to the ground as we could and see how close the Baird's would get to us. It came within ten feet. Here are the photos, it was almost too close to fit into the field of view of my scope.
There we were listening to one of the sweetest bird songs in North America, and even more sweet songs overhead and surrounding us--it seemed amost unreal to hear the Sprague's pipit's descending song right after the Baird's. The prairie was chilly, but gradually warming in the glow of sunrise, giving the wet ground a sweet and musky smell. You could barely hear traffic. Sharing the moment with people who truly appreciate the moment and prairie in the same way is what really made the morning, this is what birding is truly all about for me. As we were enjoying moment on the prairie with the Baird's we heard two vans pull up way back by the roadside where we parked. A quick scan in the scopes revealed the vans were full of people with floppy hats and khaki hats: birders. They unloaded.
Kim Risen and I recognized one of the people as fellow Minnesota birder and Victor Emanuel tour leader Kim Eckert. I always get a kick out of the random meetings that can happen in another state. He was leading two vans for VENT and like us was there for the Baird's and the Sprague's pipits. We went over to say hello.
And as much as I would have liked to have sunk into the ground and just enjoy the sounds and smells for the rest of the day (despite the ticks) we had to head home. So, once again, after a cold, crappy, rainy, windy reception to the state, all is once again forgiven with a North Dakota dawn.