Help A Teen Advance In Birding

Here's another bright spot the future of birding from Fox 21 News in Colorado Springs:

Local Teen Going To Compete In National Bird Watching Competition:

Under the road and between the trees, away from the hustle and bustle of city streets nature lives and breathes, waiting to entertain those with a keen eye.

"It is kind of relaxing and entertaining to watch birds and it is interesting," Saraiya Ruano said.

Ruano has a passion for bird watching. Last year she was named the "Young Birder of the Year" by the American Birding Association. Now she is headed to Texas to compete in a national competition.

"It is a 24 hour birdathon, it is also called a 'big day' and you are competing against other national organizations to see the most species," Ruano said.

Ruano and her three teammates will begin at midnight and end 24 hours later. Every bird she hears or sees will be documented in her field notebook.

"All team members have to hear or see the bird for them to count," Ruano said.

Ruano encourages more students to get involved with bird watching. She says birds can teach people more about nature.

"Birds are environmental indicators so they tell you a lot about the environment," Ruano said.

With spring and summer right around the corner Ruano says the birds will begin to appear in greater numbers, something she is looking forward to.

Ruano is helping raise money and awareness for the American Birding Association. The money will go towards public outreach and education for young birder's conferences. If you would like to pledge log onto their website.

All pledges made in Ruano's name will help her win a free trip to the next birding conference.

Hey, gang, if any of you have a spare dollar or two, why don't you drop it to the ABA in her name?


Another Break

You know what's fun? That bee people really aren't that different than bird people. During the bee class there's been a guy behind me answering questions loud enough for all in the immediate area to hear. He hasn't raised any bees but has read so much, he is an expert (his words, not mine).

So, we're at another break in the bee class so I thought I would catch up on the doin's that transpired at Carpenter banding yesterday.

It was a veritable junco 'sploxion. we trapped and banded a ton yesterday. And they were a little chirpy. I wonder if the warmer weather was stimulating them? They will be heading north soon.

We didn't have the mist nets up, only the Potter's traps to get smaller birds. Somehow this female mourning dove lumbered her way in. Interesting: you can sex mourning doves in hand by checking their neck. If there is quite a bit of iridescent rosy pink the bird is male. If there is mostly tan coloration then it is female. She had mostly tan on her neck.

After banding, it was so warm out I couldn't just go home and decided to head down to Red Wing to take a quick look at eagles. I passed a bank sign that said the temperature was 47 degrees. I ditched my coat, gloves, earmuffs and scarf and wandered around the marina.

The warm weather was helping the eagles feel the love and there was some flirting going. Above are two eagles on the same branch. That's the raptor equivalent of second base. There is a nest at the marina and I did see an eagle sitting inside the nest.

Many were across the marina, but a few lurk in the trees right over the walking path at Colville Park, fairly oblivious to humans. That's what I love about this area, these eagles are not delicate flowers to be given distance. They see the humans, they get what we're about and they will hang out fairly close to us. Heck, they nest right off of highways and here at the marina with high boat traffic. These birds made an informed decision and will nest in an open area, easy for humans to watch and enjoy. Raptors nests aren't always as fragile as some would like you to think.

While at the park an eagle picked off a large fish, probably a carp. As soon as it landed in the tree all the other dozens of eagles in the trees were screaming and squeaking. I'm not sure if they are saying, "Way to go, dude, nice catch!" or they are saying, "Aw man, I'm so hungry. It's not fair, I was thinking of going for that fish."

While this guy was eating, another eagle came over to check out the situation (above).

This eagle was really, really interested on watching the other eagle eating its fish.

It kept looking down at its toes. Our eagles at the Raptor Center do that all the time. I wasn't sure if this bird was watching fish bits fall and debating with itself if it would be worthwhile to go get them or if it was hoping that at some point a fish would magically appear in its talons.

Breaks over.

Bee Class

Wireless! Whoot!

We're taking a break in the bee class. I just learned something fascinating! Nectar rich plants for hummingbirds won't do much for our hive. Bees do not recognize the color red and the plants that work to attract hummingbirds aren't as easily accessible to bees. Honey bees are very attracted to yellow, which is one of the reasons why yellow flower feeding ports are no longer recommended for hummingbird feeders.

I have to say, the class is huge! It looks like there are about a hundred people in here.

Not Bird or Bunny Related

God Bless Cute Overload (my favorite site on the Interweb) for bringing our attention to this most awesome video on You Tube! Make sure to have the sound up so you can hear it with the music--excellent use of the Dance Macabre.

Save this in your bookmarks for days when you are in desperate need of a chuckle:

Signs of Spring

So I headed out to Mr. Neil's today to check out our bees supplies. They have been shipped, sans bees (we won't get those until April) but I tried on some of the gear and looked over the hives. They need to be put together, which looks like it's going to be an all day project that I will put off until next week. The instructions say that I am to use nails to put the hive together, but I'm wondering if I can use screws instead? I like screws because A. I have a tendency to split wood and put nails in crooked when using a hammer and B. I tend to smash my finger tips. Plus, who doesn't love using a power screw driver?

Mr. Neil's yard had ample helpings of snow, but if I aimed my camera just right I could get photos that reminded me of summer. Check out this tufted titmouse, that background could pass for green summer foliage. The weather today was terrific, a perfect day to play in snow. It was in the forties and bright and sunny. These are the times when we think, "Wow, winter really isn't that bad!"

Because of Non Birding Bill's rehearsal schedule I haven't been out and tending to the bird feeders as often as I usually do. When we arrived, I swear the birds recognize our vehicle and started swarming the feeders. This bird in the tree (above) caught my eye, I haven't seen one since last winter. This is the female of the species, can you guess what she is? Here's the male:

Purple finches! Early on in my birding career I was just frustrated trying to tell purple finches and house finches apart, but now I just know them as soon as I see them. Female purple finches always look like mini female rose-breasted grosbeaks to me.

The finches were just a delight. They were all over the sunflower chips. Look at this guy above, you can see some of his yellow starting to come in--breeding plumage--whoot!

On this little dude you can see the black cap starting to come in on top. It's weird, these are one of our latest nesters. Goldfinches don't get busy with the eggs until July but they start getting patches of their breeding plumage in February. By July, some house finches will be contemplating a third brood for the summer.

I finally get to go back to banding tomorrow--it's been weeks between snow storms and my travel schedule. And then this weekend it will be off to a weekend course in beginning bee keeping.

Per advice from the comments section, we have named the hives after two other friends that were visiting at Mr. Neil's today: Kitty and Olga. I wonder which will be the better honey producer? I just hope I don't kill them.

And Yet Another Contest

Things are looking dire at the Valmont Owl Cam. If you haven't noticed, in the last few days the female has been shirking her incubation duties. Here's some discussion over at Schmoker's Blog about it.

Fortunately, the live owl video is still going strong. Non Birding Bill captured this shot yesterday:
I think this calls for a caption contest! I'm not at home at this moment, so I'm not sure what the prize will be, probable suet or an optics cleaner. The caption that makes me laugh out loud and has a name or identity attached to it in the comments section wins. You can still place a caption even if you don't want to win the prizes. You guys are a most creative group.

Woodpeckers and Concentration

As gonzo as I am over the whole digiscoping thing, I find that I am going to have work on my awareness abilities when focusing on a view finder. The following series of photos inspired the last contest.

I was focusing on this downy woodpecker at a suet feeder, concentrating hard between frames to keep the swinging feeder in focus.

After I took the above image and the camera processed it, I was suddenly surprised by this in the view finder: A hairy woodpecker and a red-bellied woodpecker. I had no idea a red-bellied was in the vicinity until it popped on the view finder. Hmm, what going to happen during warbler season if I'm intently trying to focus on a black and white warbler...what if I miss a blackburnian warbler. I'm going to need to learn how to use the Force a little better and be more aware of the birds around me.

Anyway, as I was snapping these photos that's when I got the red-bellied sliver.

Apiary vs Aviary

"Hmm, I don't think I should approve of this."

A play taking place in an office in an old farm house starring me, Non Birding Bill, Mr. Neil, and Mr. Neil's personal assistant Fabulous Lorraine:

Birdchick: Bees are just fascinating! I love reading about hive management.

Mr. Neil: I've always thought that my plum trees would actually have fruit if I had some bees to pollinate them.

Non Birding Bill: Hey, what bird is that outside?

Fab Lorraine: Neil, don't forget about that deadline, maybe you should go out to the gazebo and work.

Birdchick: That's a nuthatch, dear. You know, I've always wanted to try bee keeping when we move out of our apartment.

Non Birding Bill: No, hey, look out here at this really weird bird. Over here, honey.

Mr. Neil: Me too! I've always wanted to have a bee hive here.

Fab Lorraine & Non Birding Bill: You're both too busy!

Mr. Neil: What if we kept bees here and you came and took care of them, and I could help when I'm in town.

Fab Lorraine & Non Birding Bill: (imagine moving in slow motion) Nooooooooooooooooooo!

Birdchick: I bet between both our travel schedules we could do this.

Non Birding Bill: No! What will happen is you both will be out of town at the same time and there will be some kind of bee emergency and I'll have to take care of it, no. No no no no no no no!

Mr. Neil: I know the perfect spot to keep the hive over where we went owling a few winters ago.

Birdchick: That is a perfect spot!

Fab Lorraine: I am NOT helping with this at all!

Birdchick: There is a great weekend class we can take in March at the University of Minnesota that tells us how to keep bees!

Mr. Neil: Let me show you some useful websites.

End Scene

And so this summer I get to realize my dream of keeping an apiary! I'm taking a weekend course in bee keeping this weekend, whoot! We've got our bees ordered, they will arrive in mid-April which means no ABA Convention for me this year (which is okay I wasn't that excited about going to Louisiana).

I promise that this won't be the bee chick blog but there probably will be one or two posts relating to our bee hive enterprises. I think we'll survive this, I've blogged about Monarch Ranching before.

Cowbird Mafia

From the Chicago Tribune:

Gangsters in the nest: When birds go bad By Charles Leroux
 Tribune senior correspondent
 Published March 5, 2007

Jeffrey P. ("J. Edgar") Hoover and Scott K. ("Edward G.") Robinson are ornithologists. Those nicknames aren't really theirs, but it seemed fitting to invoke the legendary head of the FBI and an actor famed for gangster portrayals.

That's because the two scientists have discovered that some birds go bad in a most "Sopranos" way.

They explain this in a paper titled, "Retaliatory Mafia Behavior by a Parasitic Cowbird Favors Host Acceptance of Parasitic Eggs," (available at the National Academy of Sciences online edition). Their research concluded that cowbirds, members of the cuckoo family (whose isn't?), can become enforcers in their neighborhoods.

"We did the work in the Cache River watershed in southern Illinois," Hoover, who works at the Illinois Natural History Survey housed at the University of Illinois, said in a phone interview. "We put up half-gallon milk and fruit juice containers for the prothonotary warblers to nest in."

"Prothonotary" comes from scribes who wore yellow -- somewhat like these warblers -- robes and hoods. Think of the warblers as innocent neighborhood family folk. The cowbirds are the goons who collect protection payments.

"The brown-headed cowbird," Hoover said, "is a brood parasite. It lays its eggs in warbler nests so the warbler will raise its chicks. The question was why would a bird raise chicks so obviously not their own?"

The answer turns out to be old-fashioned intimidation -- wreck the place, kill the kids. The warblers who reject the cowbird eggs soon learn to ask themselves, "Do I feel lucky?"

The ornithologists found that 56 percent of the nests of warblers who refused the cowbird eggs were destroyed by the cowbirds. The warblers who meekly accepted the eggs that weren't their own suffered retaliation only 6 percent of the time.

The enforcers always were females -- goon-ettes if you will. Sometimes they would wreck a nest and steal the eggs before attempting to place eggs there. The tactic is called "farming" and forces warblers to rebuild, giving the cowbirds nice new nests to invade. Fully 85 percent of rebuilt warbler nests ended up hosting cowbird eggs.

One more thing. If you are with the cowbird anti-defamation league, don't blame the messenger.