Raptor Release Report

You couldn't have asked for better weather for the Spring Raptor Release yesterday. It was gorgeous, although the one downside was that I was down wind from an apple orchard and all the binocular demos kept getting dusted with pollen. It was encouraging to see parents getting monoculars and kid sized binoculars for their children.

TRC released four birds yesterday, 1 Cooper's hawk, 2 red-tails and one hefty eagle. I worked my way through the crowd to try and get different shots of the birds taking off.

Above is a little boy who was sitting on his father's shoulders watching one of the red-tails take off after recovering from a wing injury. It was fun to watch the difference in the birds. The Cooper's hawk took off like a shot in one direction. It didn't try to catch a thermal, it just shot out of there above the tree line. The two red-tails looked for thermals and tried to use those to circle up high in the sky.

After watching which was the birds took off, I decided to find a spot where I thought the eagle might fly low. It was down off to the side of the stage, facing the crowd. There were a few other TRC volunteers there too. As they were making all the speeches about the bird's recovery, Lori, one of TRC's vets came by and told everyone to sit down. This was a big bird and would more than likely need a few seconds to get serious lift.

The eagle was thrown into the air. For second it looked like it might land on one of the speakers. Although, the hoard of people around it, made the eagle change her mind. Then she turned and flew towards the area I was sitting in.

And then I got this shot! I can't believe it, I look like a professional photographer and all I used my little Nikon Coopix 7900. Really, the bird was quite low and I was quite lucky. Boy, I was grateful that Lori had warned all of us to sit on the ground--or that bird would have run into one of us for sure. From there the bird flew right over our heads and into the wild blue yonder. I rolled over backwards as she flew over us and revelled in seeing her talons zoom past a few feet above my head.

And on a weird note, I have a mention in the New York Times. Non Birding Bill noticed in the website stats that we were getting some traffic from there. The link wasn't open to non subscribers until today. The writer was at the Ivory-bill Celebration. I remember Bobby Harrison telling me that he was going out with someone from the New York Times, and the writer apparently came to my beginning birding workshop. It's a nice mention and will make my mother proud. I have to say, it's interesting to read Bobby's comments, which reminds me that I haven't heard from him in weeks. Hmm, has he seen and photographed something and has been taken into the woodpecker mafia custody?

I'm also kind of curious about my status with Cornell...the no talking ban was supposed to be lifted in either April or when Cornell gave me the official go ahead...I haven't heard. Can I start talking about scaling and cavities and if I did or did not see the bird? I don't know. Although, I suppose if given enough scotch, one could get me to sing like a...an ivory-bill?

Sparrow Palooza

It was a brown bird bonanza yesterday at Carpenter Nature Center. I was in brown bird heaven watching all the Harris Sparrows (that's one pictured above) and getting the chance to see them up close and personal during banding. I was hoping to get them on the NovaBird Camera, but alas, all I was a chipping sparrow:

The chipping sparrow didn't seem to be too thrilled with the black oilers on the ground. I should have put some white millet down, that's their type of fair.

I could not get enough of those Harris sparrows. For a little brown job, it's quite striking with that orange bill highlighting all the black around it. The photo below are both a male and a female Harris sparrow. Can you tell which is which?

Yeah, I can't either. The black surrounding the bill has more to do with age than sex. The banders used wing cord ( the length of the wing from the wrist to the tip of the longest primary) to tell them apart. The bird on the left is a female, the bird on the right is a male--according to the length of their wing cords. You can learn all this stuff if you come to Carpenter on Friday's for banding.

As I was working on this entry, I got a call from Kim Kaufman in northern Ohio. She was telling me about the big warbler push they were getting the last few days at their banding station. I told her that up here Minnesota we were getting a big sparrow push here and that's when she told me that she banded 92 white-throated sparrows (pictured below) on Tuesday at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge--sheesh! I'm pooped just thinking about it.

"Even I'm shocked by that exorbitant amount of white-throated sparrow banding!"

Kim was trying to make me drool with her reports of banding cerulean warblers and golden-winged warblers and I told her of our Harris sparrows and she was a little jealous of what we had going on up here.


We are getting quite a few white-throats and white-crowned sparrows up here. After the two birds above were banded I wanted to take a quick photo. As I was doing this, the dude on the right started to squeak a little setting off all of the sparrows around Carpenter. They were like our own personal pishing devices. As soon as the birds were let go, calm was restored to Carpenter's feeder area.

One white-throat in particular really intrigued me. Check out the guy in the above photo. He had some yellow on the feathers around the wrist. I had never noticed that before, but then again, I've never had a white-throat this close before.

These are just classy looking sparrows! I can't get enough of them. For the non birders that periodically check this blog, these are the ones that go "Oh Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody" or according the second edition Kaufman guide "Oh Sweet Kimberly, Kimberly, Kimberly". Kim Kaufman says that they are saying, "Oh band me, Kimberly, Kimberly, Kimberly."

And to be fair, since last week I showed male bird hoohas, I figure turn about is fair play. Here is a female robin brood patch. Female birds get these open patches on their breast to help incubate eggs. Surrounding feathers help keep her warm when she's not incubating.

If there are major typos, I apologize, blogger spell check is down and I'm too tired to look it over. Ah well, at least it's a sign an actual person types this blog and not some corporation.

Harris Sparrows in Minnesota

Yesterday at Carpenter Nature Center we trapped oodles of Harris sparrows. When I came home and checked the MN bird listservs, people were reporting Harris sparrows around the metro area.

I love these guys, the remind me of Pluto from the Popeye Cartoons. They're bigger than other sparrows and adults have plumage that looks like a big burly beard.

More on sparrows we trapped later. Right now, I'm off to set up for The Raptor Release at Carptenter. Word is that they are releasing four birds at 1pm. It's a beautiful day, so spend it outdoors along the river and stop by the binocular booth to say, "Hi!"

Sorry, Cinnamon Fans, she will not be around dozens of birds of prey today.

Woodcock Video Up

You can now download the video "Looking for Mr. Woodcock" at the Eagle Optics website. It can be downloaded onto an iPod or viewed right on your computer. It's only about 3-4 minutes long.

If you listen close, you can even hear Non Birding Bill chuckle when we finally see the woodcock.

(Edit from Bill: You'll need Quicktime installed on your computer to play the video, or iTunes (which comes with Quicktime). The video is formatted for the video iPod.)

Further edit from Bill: Sharon's reporting that some people are having trouble when they click on the link: instead of the movie downloading, they get a page full of gibberish.

Here's what you do: If you have a multi-button mouse, right-click on the link.
If you have a single-button mouse (Mac-type-people): Hold the Control Key and click on the link. It'll bring up a little sub-menu. Select "Save Link As" or "Download Link As" or what-have-you, and the file will be saved on your computer for your viewing pleasure.

Oriole Fix?

This morning as I was getting dressed I heard the distinct oriole whistle. I tore through the apartment looking for my red jelly dish and grape jelly. I could find neither. So, I grabbed a red candle and some chokecherry jelly and set that out along with the NovaBird Camera. For those that don't know, orioles are attracted by bright reds and oranges, so having a little extra color helps get their attention when they are moving through. I didn't get an oriole but I did manage to capture an image of a very confused looking house finch.

I had to go out and get a proper oriole set up. It suddenly dawned on me that I'm not going to get my usual oriole fix this year. I get orioles at home, but just for a couple of weeks. I got them constantly when I worked at the bird store and Non Birding Bill and I make trips out to Mr. Neil's to watch his feeders in the spring. Sitting down with a warm mug of coffee or tea and watching orioles is in my top ten list of things to do. I no longer work at the bird store and just learned that Mr. Neil's feeders have been demolished by bears so I will not be able to sit with a nice warm mug of coffee or tea and watch orioles to my heart's content as easily this spring? Where will I go this year? I'm a tad bummed.

I did head over to the bird store and picked up one of those Erva Ant Moats. They're supposed to be a trap to keep ants out jelly and nectar feeders, but their the metal design keeps them from braking even if a raccoon or bear knocks them down and the bright red color really attracts orioles. I think they work way better as a feeder than ant moat. I hung mine just above my domed X-1 Seed Saver and loaded it with grape jelly and mealworms. Hopefully I'll have some takers in tomorrow morning.

Yesterday, I stopped at the "Lose Your Shoes Event" at Arc's Value Village. Margery Punnett and Paul Black were on hand and I got my picture taken with half the Balanced Breakfast crew. Margery always asks great questions, she tends to apologize if they aren't the right question, but I like how her questions remind me that not every one knows as much about birds as I do. I love doing the Balanced Breakfast. We are supposed to talk about birds, but the segment frequently meanders--which is fun. I used to try and prepare for those segments the night before, but ever since the morning Ian gave me a Cosmo Quiz I decided that it's best to free my mind and just go with the flow. I'll say one thing, that show certainly helps break down the nerdy, dowdy birder stereotype.

I Have The Bird Flu Movie!

Thanks to the tv chick at TV Picks I have an advanced screening copy of Fatal Contact! I'm watching it tonight and will write up a review for her site!

Incidentally, tv chick has one of the longest running blogs in history.

I've Been Tagged: Most Beautiful Birds

I have been tagged by WildBird on the Fly to participate in the most beautiful birds meme. This is a fluctuating list and is bound to be different if you ask me ten minutes from now. Here are the rules according to WildBird:

The rules: Post a list of the 10 birds you consider most beautiful on your blog; you may limit the list to the ABA area (continental United States and Canada) or use a geographic area of your choice. Mark birds you have seen with an asterisk. Tag 3 bloggers to keep it going.

I'm going to keep my list to beautiful birds I have photographed. If I try to go worldwide, my little budgie brain would just explode.

List (Subject to Change at Any Moment)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak* - I love the song of these birds in the spring (that would make a cool meme, the ten most beautiful bird songs). I like the black and white and the pink triangle. Is Nature trying to make a political statement or is just "is what it is". Regardless, I love these dudes, they are one of the many heralds of true spring in Minnesota.

Northern Goshawk* - Hands down the most handsome hawk found in the United States. I love the soft gray colors that blend well for camouflage accented by the maniacal looking, blood red eye. Those eyes seem to suit the hunting style of goshawks or accipiters in general. See it, and kill it no matter what aerial acrobatics must be done. Peregrines may get most of the glory but goshawks are the coolest in my book.

Yellow-headed blackbirds* - It's like someone shoved a goldfinch onto the head of a blackbird. Brilliant! Need I say more?

Red-tailed hawk* - I love how every single red-tailed hawk is different. Some are darker, some are lighter and they can be seen almost anywhere in the United States--a constant for me in my travels. Browns and creams and red melding together for a luscious killing machine.

Baltimore Orioles* - I love how tropical and out of place orioles look in the upper midwest. I love how bright and striking they look at the feeders, yet that orange and black hides so well once they are in the canopy of a cottonwood or willow. Pure perfection and another candidate for most beautiful song meme.

Common Grackle* - I know some out there are thinking, "Birdchick, what the fudge?? A grackle?!?" Sorry dudes, I am a closet grackle admirer. The blues, the purples, the blacks all accented by the yellow eyes topped by the over lapping supra orbital ridge. Imagine just having one that ate millet quietly in a corner--you might think they were pretty too. I was going to put in a starling in winter plumage, but I didn't want to start a boycott of my blog. But deep down, I think starlings in winter plumage are almost prettier than a grackle.

Sandhill Crane* - This was a toss up. Pelican or sandhill crane, I decided that since I went to the trouble of having a crane tattooed on me, that I feel the crane is prettier. They're long, they're graceful, they sound like a dinosaur, they dance, they are gray with a flashy red piece of flesh on their head and a flock 40,000 cranes is the only thing more beautiful than one crane.

Cooper's hawk* - What, another accipiter? I'm always happy and know it's going to be a great day if I see a Cooper's hawk. I love their stealth, the orange breast, the slate blue back, the bloodthirsty looking read eyes and that sassy swishing of tail they do so often. Frightening beauty, they name is Cooper's hawk.

Cinnamon Teal* - Brown, beautiful rusty brown. It reminds me of a rich ginger cookie batter, I want to bite into one whenever I see a Cinnamon tea. And to top it off, they have that wonderful sky blue patch on their wings. The most beautiful brown bird I have ever seen--and it floats, how can you not admire that?

Indigo Bunting* (Okay and I cheated by including a goldfinch). Indigo buntings are technically a black bird that appears deep purplish blue to our eyes. A tiny wonderful surprise at our feeders in spring, and if we are lucky, the lone songster on hot humid summer afternoons singing at the top of a tree or shrub. And as if they weren't cool enough in their own skin by being so blue, they eat millet. They say, "Hey cardinals, chickadees and nuthatches that insist on sunflowers, forget it. I'm going for the crap seed, I'm going for millet."

I end my list and a realize that I don't have pileated woodpecker, scarlet tanager, western meadowlark, green jays...crap, will sharp-shinned hawks feel left out because I included the other two accipiters in North American and left them out???

Ah well, my list is done and it's not about me any more. So, whom shall I tag?

Birder Blog because she has a new book out and we should promote and support it and I'm sure her choices will be thoughtful and somehow helpful to birds.

Ivory-bill Skeptic because I want to see if he's capable of blogging about anything other than his lack of belief over Cornell's announcement of the ivory-billed woodpecker--you do have to admire that it keeps going every day like an Energizer Bunny on just the same topic, every day, the same thing. How does he do it?

PunkBirder because I just discovered it and it looks very promising. I'm strongly in favor of anyone putting the words "punk" and "birder" together.

One For Bad Movie Night

One of the things I love about doing a Balanced Breakfast on fm107 is that the less I prepare the better I am. I never know where the conversation will go, today I was all set to talk about a list of birding activities in Minnesota this month and ended up talking about bad movies like Xanadu and Grease 2. This led to conversations about avian flu and apparently ABC has the perfect sweeps week movie: Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America--brought to you by the same writer as Atomic Twister. Here's the weird thing, as of the day I created this entry the movie isn't up on Internet Movie Database and it's supposed to be filmed and in the can. ABC is keeping it quiet. Hmmm, wonder why? Could it be bad? I don't even want to think about how inaccurate the bird references will be. Non Birding Bill hopes that the movie will have Canada geese walking down the street, stalking their victims and then nonchalantly walking over and making a sudden attack.

I think this quote about says it all:

"We feel we're providing a level of awareness and we've gone to great effort to make sure the film is accurate," co-producer Judith Verno said.

What Judith is really saying, "We found all the scariest stuff about flu on the internet and put it in this movie. Oh, and I have seen birds fly by my office window and we had a book with birds on the cover available on the set."

Blog Cleaning

I forgot to post a couple of photos from Friday's banding. A sparrow came into the nets and at first glance wasn't easily identifyable. Here is the sparrow in question:

You can't see the front but trust me, it wasn't that much of a help. So the bird was taken in for banding, but the best part is watching all the guys sittin' around trying to figure it out:

Sibley, Peterson and even Pyle (the really big gun) were brought in to try and figure out what the sparrow was. It turned out, after some debate to be a Lincoln's, but it was fun to watch the boys work through the identification. They love a good mystery.

This past weekend was all rain, all the time--a beautiful rain: the sound of the water falling down the gutters and splashing in our ally (I love that sound), combined that with the soft, bright green glow of leaves emerging from buds on the trees and then on sunday, the trilling of yellow-rumped warblers, but not much bloggable material there. Non Birding Bill and I spent the weekend "reestablishing our pair bond" and that's not really blogable either. About the only thing I can safely report is that I made a rhubarb pie and is was spectacular (no strawberries, no raspberries, just pure unadultorated rhubarb...well, there was some sugar adulorating it).

I have a file that I keep in my email folder of items people send me so if I don't have much to blog about personally, I can at least have an interesting update. Up first, Mike Hendrickson was kind enough to send me a photo of one of the weird rabbits of Duluth (right). For those that don't know, about 15 years ago someone released several domesticated rabbits along Park Point in Duluth and they bred like...well, like rabbits. Now they even hybridize with the Eastern Cottontails. I have always been perplexed by this because Duluth is such a hot spot for raptor migration. This is the place that once got over 100,000 broad-winged hawks flying over in one day. Granted, most of the birds are passing through, but quite a few do make it to Park Point to feed. How a bunch of white furry targets never got wiped out by hawks just baffles me. These rabbits are saavy. A few years ago a congressman hired some guys with nets to trap the rabbits. Mike tells me that they didn't net a single one, and all the residents were upset that their yards were trampled by the folks with the nets. The congressman lost his position over it. Ooopsie.

Speaking of rabbits, I know you're waiting for a big ole disapproval from Cinnamon, but NBB found a rabbit that may have out disapproved her in the form of the sulking bunny snowcone. She's gone back to her hutch to work on her look. She's watching Zoolander for inspiration.

NBB also sent a link to Shawn Kielty's blog who has some cool photos of a red-tailed hawk nest. NBB periodically checks links to my blog and found a link from Shawn's saying that my rabbits make him gag. Boy if rabbits make him gag, I don't even want to think about what would happen if he were faced with something truly gag worthy like vulture or pelican vomit.

Rick Hollis sent me a photo of a junco who regularly feeds on his hanging feeders (left). This was in reference to my surprise of a junco on my second story ledge during a snow storm. Most juncos are not fond of hanging feeders and tend to feel more comfortable on the ground. Every now and then a juncoes disregards what is written about its feeding habits and buck tradition by feeding on a feeder and not underneath. You go, junco, you go.

Don't forget that this Saturday is the Raptor Release for The Raptor Center at Carpenter Nature Center. It should be gorgeous weather and you can see eagles, hawks, owls, falcona and a vulture up close and personal, watch birds that have recovered in clinic be set free and come hang with me at the binocular booth, I'll be selling binoculars as a fundraiser for TRC. You can try them out or just shoot the breeze. It's bound to be a good time.