Forest Tent Caterpillars Cocoons Cover Spring Lake Park

Last Sunday I was Spring Lake Park Reserve for some park service work.  It wasn't the best light for photos, but I noticed a pair of phoebes raising two cowbirds.

As I took photos of a phoebe feeding a cowbird chick, I noticed a whole mess of cocoon on the wooden rail the birds were perched on. Then I looked around to the surrounding trees:

The tree trunks were covered with webby white cocoons--it was an unbelievable amount bugs.  I looked up to the trees and noticed that the leaves were half the size they should be and man of the branches were bare.  This park has a major forest tent caterpillar infestation.  I noticed a pair of nuthatches working the trees and they appeared to be happy to take advantage of the food source.

I found cocoons nestled in grass, tucked on every branch of a cedar tree, in neat lines behind sign posts, tucked between slats on picnic tables and even a few caterpillars foolishly managed to form their cocoons along the bags lining the trash bins.

I wonder what it's going to be like when all the forest tent caterpillar moths come out at once?  A big fluttery orgy?  There's only one generation per season, so when the moths hatch, it will be one big mating fest, then lots of egg laying and a die off.  It will be interesting to see if there's another outbreak next year at Spring Lake.  Should make the birds very happy.

Unlike other tent caterpillars, forest tent caterpillars do not make a big collective tent--just a bunch of little ones when they form their cocoons.  The upside is that they trees that they have defoliated still have time to grow a new set of leaves.  According to the University of Minnesota's Extension Service, it's rare for forest tent caterpillars to kill a tree.  So if you see these in our yard, just think of it as a bonus bird feeder for the summer.

Walter Pigeon needs a home

Hello all, NBB here with a bit of an unusual request. You may recall that earlier this year Sharon came home to find an unexpected visitor in our home, a tame pigeon who quickly won her heart. And a perch on her head.

We, alas, could not keep the bird (who was very friendly—too friendly, we suspect, to have survived in the wild). We later found out that it had been raised by people who no longer wanted to take care of it.

On that matter, I shall refrain from comment. Insert your own Yosemite Sam impression here.

A friend of ours, Melissa, was able to take the bird in, named it "Walter," and was subsequently surprised when "he" started laying eggs. Now comes the bad news. Melissa has moved to an apartment that doesn't allow pets, so Walter really needs to find a new home. She has this to say:

She is a tame, healthy common pigeon. Pigeons and doves are generally easy to feed and care for, and Walter is quite friendly and easy to handle outside of her cage. I will happily supply all the equipment I have along with the bird, but she should have a larger cage as a permanent home. I can also travel to deliver her to a new home.

If you're in the Twin Cities area and can give this friendly bird a home, please leave a comment here or contact Melissa through her LiveJournal site.

Thank you.

NBB

Learn The Down & Dirty Details On Birds

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Cost: $295 ($255 for Cornell Lab members) plus an additional $30 dollar registration fee. To receive the Cornell Lab member discount, sign up toll-free at (866) 326-7635.

Course Contact: Megan Whitman, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, (607) 254-2121, mlw57@cornell.edu

Gulf Spill Gets Even More Messy

I received a press release late last night from the American Birding Association that read: "This is very short notice, but we wanted to make you aware that at 10pm ET, tonight on CNN 360°, ABA Gulf Coast Conservation Coordinator, Drew Wheelan, will be interviewed by Anderson Cooper.  Drew will be discussing the International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) pullout from Louisiana and the Least Tern colony that was run over by oil response workers.

More information about these events can be found on our website at www.aba.org/gulf."

Which I read as saying that the IBRRC was pulling out and put it out on Twitter.  IBRRC is NOT leaving the Gulf Spill, they moved their capture teams from Louisiana to other states which is good news.

The ABA has been doing some fine reporting on the spill and yesterday posted disturbing evidence that oil response workers are driving over nesting colonies of least terns that nest on the ground.  What a mess!  In an effort to help, oil response crews are harming more wildlife.  What else are they running over besides the least tern nests--many bird species nest on beaches like the threatened snowy plover.  What other wildlife is being affected by the response teams trying to help?  What about sea turtles?

This is a sign that a central organization needs to head up and coordinate efforts to contain the spill and help wildlife.  What can't someone be posted at these colonies to help guide the traffic going back and forth?  I'm sure any number of birders would be willing to sign up for the duty (even volunteer).  Perhaps some of the unemployed fishing boat crews could be paid to do this?

Blue Jay Mimics Cooper's Hawk

I was at Lilydale Park in St. Paul, Minnesota the other day when I heard a Cooper's hawk calling.  I played a Cooper's hawk call to see what would happen--in my experience it has been soundly rejected by Cooper's hawks.  This time, the bird called back, flew closer and called again.  I was stunned.  The bird came closer, continued to call and then flew right over my head.  It was a blue jay doing a spot on Cooper's hawk call.  I managed to get a bit of video: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nc1Glrhfrs[/youtube]

Here's a link to a video I took of a Cooper's hawk and you can hear it calling for comparison.  Here's a Cooper's hawk call on Xeno-canto.

I was impressed because I have heard blue jays imitate other birds like broad-winged hawks, red-shouldered hawks and even crows, but there's usually something a little off, either they do it too fast or too quiet.  But this bird had the sound and the pace down pat.  It was interesting to note all the other birds calling in warning in the background.  I did notice that the robins gave their warning call, but not the same one that they give for a real Cooper's hawk, the high down-slurred whistle.  The robins were wary, but they seemed to sense it wasn't a real Cooper's hawk.

Horned Lark Display

I've had some work taking me to southern Minnesota the last few weeks where I spend the day out in a field with red-winged blackbirds and a few other prairie species.

It's not a bad way to spend the day.  My biggest challenge has been the black flies--a pest I previously only associated with the north woods and not the open fields of southern Minnesota.  I'm not a big fan of insect repellent that is so strong that it should in no way come into contact with my skin and I shouldn't wear my clothes for a few hours after it has been sprayed on it.  Yet, I'm even less of a fan of biting insects that fly into my ear canal or up my nose, so I tried using permethrin.

And it appears to be doing the trick.  If it's windy, the black flies stay way--too small to fly in the wind I suppose.  However, when the wind stops, I appear to have an invisible barrier the flies are not willing to cross.  This is the view right above my head, the flies hover like a tiny buzzing entourage as I walk the fields.  Black flies are attracted to carbon dioxide, so with every exhalation the females know I am a blood source but the permethrin prevents them from venturing any closer and biting me.  It's a relief, but an uneasy one.  I'm buying instant gratification from bug bites and bugs being in places on my body they do not belong, but what long term effects will a heavy duty repellent like permethrin bring?

Horned larks are another constant companion in the fields.  Horned larks are a bird that many people have seen, but not realized it.  You drive down a farm field and a small brownish gray bird flushes--chances are that it's a horned lark.  They are easy to id from other farm field species by the black lines visible on either side of the tail as they fly away.  They are a cute little bird to see in the fields but not everyone has a chance to really enjoy them up close.  I've spent some agonizing moments leading field trips in the rain on the prairie trying to get someone their lifer look through a spotting scope of one of these birds and at those moments I wish I could teleport us to the middle of a farm field on a sunny day where if you wait patiently for about 10 minutes, one will scurry by.

I set a little goal for myself to try and get a photo of a horned lark in the middle of his territory display.  They fly high, practically hanging in the air while singing their little tinkling whistle.  Here's a sample of the song at Xeno-Canto.  However, trying to capture them in a photo while they are singing in the sky is no easy task as you can see from the above image.

Quite of few of the photos ended up blurry or with only parts of lark in it as opposed to the whole bird in focus.  Part of the challenge is to find them in my spotting scope in the sky.  If the skies are clear, it's an exercise in futility.  However, if there are clouds--I stand a chance because I can use the cloud shapes as a guide to find the hovering lark.

But after about 200 clicks on the camera, I did have one or two that were in focus--score!  What a delicately marked bird--I love the contrast of the dark marks on the face accented by the dark tail.  Periodically, other males would work into a male's territory.  At one point, 3 males were duking it out.

Look!  He's danling his feet like he's a little raptor!  Note how erect the little horn feathers are--channeling a bit of great horned owl there.  When the 3 males discovered each other in the air the singing became more urgent.  Although, it's hard to take the angry trickling whistles seriously as any sort of threat.  But two of the males swerved towards each other and frantically began to flutter and "claw" their little feet at each other.  They dropped like a stone and continued the fight on ground.  The two intruders took their fight elsewhere.

After the skirmish, the lone male resumed is aerial display.  Not a bad song to have as your office music for the day.

Cornell's Louisiana Report

Check out this blog entry from Round Robin, Cornell Lab of Ornithology's blog.  They have photos of the many birds found on the coast--some unspoiled by oil, and others painfully affected.  Please do read their report and do look at the photos--they have photos of healthy birds as birds affected by the oil.  If you are not familiar with some of the species and you haven't seen a skimmer before or sandwich terns, the photos capture the graceful beauty as well as the sad reality of oil that the birds must face.

Olivia Bouler aka Awesomesauce

So as news of BP's shadiness continues as more oiled birds and other wildlife are found and BP is wasting money on their web image instead of investing it in the Gulf spill oil cleanup, we get news of one tremendous girl:  Olivia Bouler--fighting the stereotype of kids only being interested in the indoors and video games with her mighty box of crayons and artistic talent: Olivia Bouler who is 11 years old has raised $60,000 by sending her sketches and paintings of birds to people who donate to organizations helping protect the Gulf Coast from the massive oil slick.

"It's very time consuming," said Bouler, "but everything's for the birds."

The fifth-grader will send an illustration to those who donate to The Audubon Society, The Sierra Club, The Weeks Bay Foundation, The Mobile Bay Estuary Program or The National Wildlife Fund.   Due to high demand, the limit is 500 sketches.

Word of Olivia's dedication and selfless act has taken the internet by storm and she's been on CNN, had a Facebook fan page and has partnered up with Yahoo.

Here's another awesome quote from Bouler, “I’m no James Audubon, but I can draw.”

Psst, Olivia, your drawings are more accurate than Audubon--trust me. Here's Audubon's great blue heron:

And now here is Bouler's great blue heron:

Bouler's heron is in a natural position!  Looks good to me!  So, support our young birding friend, fan her on Facebook, donate money in her name and please, no one buy her a birding vest--let's spare her that.

That is a kid grabbing life by horns and channeling her talents to help with tragedy.  Go, Olivia, I hope I get the honor of meeting you one day.

Random Western Meadowlark & A Little W00ting!

Just a random western meadowlark because I have a ton of photos of this colorful bird and nice cleanser from some of the BP news.

Non Birding Bill and I are off to rehearsal this morning for Play on Birds--come join us on one of these two Sunday performances for great laughs and a great cause!  We will rehearse hard today...and hopefully not kill each other (as we have no director to act as intermediary) and if we survive today we are looking forward to tonight's Nerdy Event of the Season aka W00tstock--I think going to the Guthrie Theatre tonight will be like going to Cheers--everyone there is going to know everyone's name.  So many friends have tickets to this gathering of great musicians and nerdy writers and one cool ass Mythbuster.  Hans, one of my helpers at the hive asked when the show was close to selling out, "I wonder who is going to buy the last ticket?"

A week later I received an email from bird banding buddy Minnesota Bird Nerd, "Ha! Guess who bought the very last ticket to W00tstock today?  Me!"

Looking forward to seeing friends and nerding out.