California Condor at The Raptor Center

Okay, today was supposed to be an entry of the doins that transpired at the Rio Grande Valley Bird Fest but is pre-empted for some exciting news at The Raptor Center--they are caring for an injured California Condor! This is the first time one has been at TRC and more than likely the first time a California Condor has been in the state of Minnesota.

The bird is a wild hatch 18 month old (still an immature) condor from Arizona. It has a wrist injury from ten days ago that is healing nicely and the chanced of the bird returning to the wild and its family group are very good at the moment. It is believed the injury is from a "forced landing". The bird was in the air and lost a thermal or another possibility is that it was forced from the sky by a golden eagle. It was brought to TRC because it is the premier facility for this type of bone injury in birds and Dr. Pat Redig (one of the founders of TRC) is involved with the Peregrine Fund which is helping to reintroduce California Condors to the wild.

Never in my life did I think I would get within six inches of a California Condor! I even got to smell it--the bird had that good vulture smell. You wouldn't believe the paparazzi there for this bird: KSTP, KARE 11, and the Pioneer Press--as well as dozens of TRC volunteers hoping to get a peek. I took over 130 photos myself. All the volunteers at TRC are on very strict rules regarding our 20 pound patient. Because condors are so impressionable at this age, extra precautions are being taken to keep it from habituating to people. We are not allowed down the corridor where the bird is resting and when it is brought out for check ups and meds, lights are down and the condor's head is covered until it is under anesthesia.

If you would like to see this bird, you can head to The Raptor Center and watch the Condor Cam set up in the lobby. A camera has been placed insides the room housing the bird so its progress can be monitored. NO ONE IS ALLOWED DOWN TO SEE THE CONDOR IN THE CLINIC--not even me. So please feel free to drop by and view the camera but don't expect the bird in clinic. We had fun watching the bird on camera this morning, playing with its toys and preening. It's so cool to know that you are in the same room as one of these dinosaur looking bird celebrities.

As always, this bird came in with no health insurance and its care is costing about $100 per day. Donations are always welcome and needed at The Raptor Center.

Getting to start my Tuesday morning up close and personal with a California Condor totally makes up for my luggage getting lost yesterday! Below are some gratuitous condor photos. If the bird looks weird it's because it was under anesthesia the whole time during the examination.

Young condors have black heads not the reddish pink you see on adult condors. It so looks like a dinosaur in the face.

Condor Paparazzi! We never allow this many people in clinic when we are working on a bird. However, since the condor was asleep the whole time and several vets were on hand, media and volunteers got a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the condor up close. One of the may reasons why I love volunteering with TRC, you never know what bird will be on hand to help.
This is Dr. Juli Ponder. I got to know her when I managed the Minnetonka All Seasons Wild Bird Store and she was a customer. She's now the associate director at TRC. In this photo she is helping to exercise the condor's wing. The bird will not be test flown while in Minnesota so its important to keep the muscles in use to prevent atrophy.

Look at those tootsies!! Even though condors are not a raptor and do not use their feet to kill their food, the talons are pretty impressive. Why does TRC care for condors if they are not raptors? We will work on all types of birds with bone injuries, it's what the center is best known for. Some of the non-raptors that TRC has cared for include parrots, trumpeter swans and flamingoes.

Another wing shot. This birds wing span is eleven feet, the length of the primary feathers are the same length as my arm!

A TRC vet holds the condor's head up as it gradually comes out of the anesthesia. The bird is held upright to keep the air passages open and to be prepared when it comes to and begins to struggle. As soon as the eyes opened, the condor's head was covered and it was swiftly returned to its recovery room.

Chiggers and MEAT

I love all the little Mexican cafes in Harlingen, unbelievably tasty food. I know, I know you're looking at that pile of meat in the photo and thinking, "Is she nuts?" Well, yes I am, but that is beside the point, the food in these places was abundant and cheap.

I'm sitting in Dallas waiting for my connecting flight home. When I left Harlingen it was 87 degrees and a quick check of Twin Cities weather says that a winter storm watch is underway. Whoo Hoo.

I'm am oh so itchy at the moment from chigger bites and mosquitoes. I don't know why I didn't think to bring insect repellent. I even had a couple of opportunities to purchase it during the festival and I kept getting distracted--too many lifers. Ah, well it's really not a good birding trip unless you leave with a souvenir like chiggers, rashes or a bot fly.

I've never kept a bird list before, but I think I'm going to start. I'm kind of afraid to do it, since I'll be traveling more with my Eagle Optics cohorts, I think I'll be okay. I was talking with Terry Moore from Leica, word on the street is that he's going for a 700 birds seen in North America goal. He only has ten birds left to get...no easy ones at that, we're talking about things like Mangrove cuckoos and he just doesn't want to hear the birds, he wants to see them. He told me that for years, he was like me, he didn't keep a list but had a vague idea. When people would ask, he would speculate 500. When he decided for 700 and sat down and started the count, he was only at 350. If he can start out like that, I can go ahead and count and not worry about how skimpy my list will be.

Doh, they are boarding my plane! Gotta go, but stay tuned, in the next day or two will be gossip, incriminating photos and Highlights of the Rio Grande Bird Festival.

Get Birds and Techno Glitches

Well, I took some great photos of birds yesterday but had some issues with my photocard and lost all but the people photos. I will post those later, perhaps in another expose at what happens at bird conventions. We are going for more birding so more photos soon.

One interesting thing about some of the restaurants is that asked if they serve beer a common answer is, "We do not sell alcohol but we serve free beer on Friday and Saturday." Apparently, to avoid getting a licquor liscence, they just serve free beer on select nights to keep the customers flowing. Oh so tasty spicy food and free beer, I'm happier than an olive-sided flycatcher in breeding season...okay, if you got that pun you are a hard core maxi geek birder.

Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley

This morning before work Katie and Maren Phillips took me to Bentsen- Rio Grande Valley State Park. It was pretty much sensory overload for me because life birds were literally dripping off of the trees. Birds that I had seen in field guides with outlandish names were all over. I finally got to see in person things like a plain chachalaca and a great kiskadee. Of course green jays (above) were everywhere, apparently they are "trash birds" down here - nickname for birds we see in our own yards all the time like grackles and cowbirds.

Okay, for all you people who think squirrels are a pain at the feeder, imagine having javelinas (right) show up? These wild pigs were all over the place. We watched a line of ten cautiously leave the woods and walk across the road in a very orderly fashion.

I just love being in another state, it was so weird to be in Minnesota yesterday with our 29 degree windchill and to be sweating it up in Texas the next day. There was a nice spicy desert smell in the air too. We ran into one of the festival tour groups down while birding. The trip was being led by Bill Thompson and Minnesota's own Kim Eckert. Thanks to both I got an unbelievably good look at an olive sparrow. This is typically a bird you hear more than see and here we were on this great look out tower watching the greenish brown bird sing on branches and scurry around in the grass looking for food. Yes, Non Birding Bill, I was watching a brown bird and loving every minute of it.

Tonight's festivities were low key. We found a karaoke bar, but they were completely filled up so we had to head down the street for some quiet evening chat at Chuck's Ice House--no singing. Even though we didn't sing, I still had a great time and a totally weird coincidence. I met a guy who is also going on the ivory-bill search, but is also going at the same time and is on the same team. He seems like a nice guy so I'm relieved to know that there will be at least one sane person down there. Part of me worries that with all those people staying in a small research station it might become like an Animal Planet version of the Real World tv show.

Texas Anting

I just thought this was the coolest photo! I went out birding this morning with Katie and an artist named Maren. We found a cutter ant mound and got a photo of one worker carring a piece back to the entrance. These ants weren't really interested in us so it was fun to watch them. Although for me the birding was intense so I didn't focus on them too long.

The Fun Has Begun

Well, barely off the plane and met up with booth buddies Katie and Ben and already have life birds. My new birds are Harris hawks (which I have seen several times but only in a falconry capacity, so this is a lifer) and white ibis.

There are great-tailed grackles everywhere singing into the night--they sound like dolphins in the trees. Katie and I were just settling into our room when Amy from Wild Bird Magazine called and asked, "Does it mean I'm a birder if I'm sitting in a parking lot of the HEB watching black-necked stilts?" The only answer Katie and I could give was to go directly to the HEB and join her. Sure enough a family group of four black-necked stilts were roaming the parking lot near a gas station for bits of food. I tried to take photos (above), but in the dim light they aren't the show quality. This was, hands down the best view of stilts I have ever gotten but incredibly odd at the same time since they were in such an unnatural environment.

I got to meet Bill Clark who co-authored Photographic Guide to North American Raptors with Brian Wheeler. Always nice to have a geek out moment at a bird festival. Bill Thompson did in fact make it in from Ohio and is busy organizing the parties for the rest of the week with Amy. Looks like karaoke Thursday night, general jam session Friday night and someone is kind enough to host a dancing party in their drive way on Saturday night.

Tomorrow Katie and I are up early to do some birding and then to work the booth. Can't wait to see the birds and to get to work talking to people about optics. Woo hoo!

Poor Bill of the Birds

I have landed in Dallas and am waiting for my connecting flight to McAllen. In the down time I just read Bill of the Birds blog and have discovered that he got caught in a massive traffic jam and missed his flight. (on a side note, read the previous post for more about our karaoke adventures). Hopefully he will get to Texas soon.

My fist Texas bird this trip is a rock pigeon--joy of joys.

I'm trying to scope out the rest of the crowd around me to see if any are birders. No vests and no khaki so that leads me to believe I am the only birder present. I'm dreadfully overdressed for Texas. We had one heck of a wind storm kick up last night and the 39 degree weather this morning felt like 29. Of course it's eighty here some I'm regretting pants. I do have a skirt tucked and sandals tucked away in my carry ons so as soon as we land at the final destination, I'm changing.

Oh! I think I just spotted a birder: older guy (not that there's anything wrong with that), khaki pants, a back that looks suspiciously like it could be holding a spotting scope. The only think throwing me is the very shiny penny loafers, birders tend to wear more weather worn shoes.

Another possibility just sat down: older lady, khaki pants and shirt, well worn tennis shoes and furtively looking out the window while she nibbles her sandwich. I don't think she's watching planes, I'm pretty sure she's scanning for potential birds. The only thing that is keeping me from feeling confident in my call that she is a birder is that she isn't wearing a vest. Anyone wearing a many pocketed vest (willingly in public) is usually the dead give away--it's almost as reliable as the flap-flap-glide of an accipiter.

Hot Dog! Just found an official birder: older woman, khaki pants, incredibly sensible shoes--somewhat worn, green shirt, VEST, and to top it all of one of those wide-brimmed naturalist hats with little bird pins adorning the top of the hat. Ladies and gentleman, we have a birder.

Raptor Center Bird Flu Talk

I went to a lecture given by Dr. Pat Redig from the U of M's Raptor Center tonight to learn more about avian influenza (H5N1). Some websites to keep bookmarked for daily updates on Avian Influenza that are just information not sensational stories are:

World Organization for Animal Health

Promed - You can sign up for email updates about avian influenza

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

What was interesting was that Dr. Redig's talk changed my outlook on the spread of the disease. For sometime I thought that it was inevitable for it to reach the United States. Not a pandemic killing people, but something that would hit like West Nile Virus did. A noticeable hit to some bird populations but a disease that birds would have to get accustomed to. Dr. Redig did not feel that the world wide spread was inevitable and that if the disease were spreading as fast as that, it would have already hit North Africa by now.

He said that what makes this particular incident of flu interesting is that with the global communication we have, we are able to watch the birth of the disease, how it mutates and spreads. In the Spanish Flu of 1918 pandemic, that took everyone by surprise because the communication capabilities were completely different.

Some things I learned at the meeting:

1. One thing that is important to note right now is that when people have gotten the virus it has been from contact with domestic bird fecal material, blood and raw poultry meat. In some cases people have ingested things like raw duck blood. If the people who contracted it had either washed their hands thoroughly after handling their birds or cooked the meat thoroughly they may not have contracted it.

2. None of the people who have been infected directly worked in the poultry industry. It's possible that the particular strain of influenza started with poultry with development and those people developed an immunity.

3. No one has been infected with H5N1 from wild birds, only poultry.

4. Beware of bogus "bird flu" vaccinations. Apparently there are some people out there trying to capitalize on the media information about the flu by offering vaccinations that would have no effect on the H5N1. There currently is no vaccination for people or birds.

5. Just because H5N1 shows up, it does not automatically mean a pandemic. It may never mutate into a strain that could transfer from person to person. One thing is for sure, if H5N1 shows up any domestic birds including turkeys, chickens or ducks could be at risk of culling. It is possible that if you have parrots they could be at risk. Keep in mind that this is speculation on if the virus lands on the North American continent.

6. Species that have been found with H5N1: peregrine falcon, heron, flamingo, gull, parrot. buzzard (European version of a buteo like a red-tailed hawk), magpie, cormorant, dove, swan, goose, sparrowhawk (not like our kestrels, a European version of a sharp-shinned hawk). So far only the whooper swan has been a carrier, other species died from H5N1. It's presumed that the raptor species got it from eating infected bird prey. It is presumed that the parrot got it from eating food made from infected poultry.

7. What can you do besides checking info and waiting? MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR BIRDS COME FROM. If you are getting a pet bird, make sure it is from a breeder and not smuggled in. Do research, do not assume that because someone says, "Yeah sure, it's captive bred, doesn't mean it is." This is also a good practice too when purchasing poultry to eat. Even though H5N1 hasn't shown up in the United States and may or may not, it's always a good idea to make sure that you are in fact cooking your food thoroughly and as always wash your hands after handling raw bird.

Subject Line

ARRRRGH! I have packing to do this afternoon before I go to a lecture on avian influenza at the Raptor Center tonight and I just learned there is a snowy owl down in Rochester (an hour and a half for me). I now have a choice...do I put off packing until after I get home from the lecture and stay up late in the night getting my crap together or pack sensibly this afternoon to get a good night's sleep. I will blog and think about this. I should stay and pack, not only do I have an early flight to catch to Texas, but I have an early interview about bird flu on A Balanced Breakfast with Ian and Margery on fm107 at 5:45am. One thing about those early morning phone interviews, the call wakes you up if your alarm fails! If you are awake you can tune in on the radio in the Twin Cities or online at fm107.fm.

Non Birding Bill pointed out yesterday that I had Books Books Books as the title for yesterday's post and there really wasn't much about books. I had intended to talk about some fun books I found in Madison used book stores and got completely off track talking about Mike and my optics training. Doh. On a side note, I got the biggest thrill seeing my Wisconsin Calendar in a window of a museum shop on State Street.

Anyway, one of the things that I enjoy doing is wandering around used book stores with NBB. We can be in any town anywhere under the worst of circumstances and just have a blast with each other exploring dusty shelves. I'm into hardcore academic bird books and awful, horrible incredibly inaccurate books from the late 1800s to early 1900s. I shouldn't say they are in accurate, just backwards. Birds were regarded in two different categories: good and evil. If a bird destroyed crops and live stock it was bad. If it minded it's own business and was pretty it was okay.

This trip I found one book that is so wrong on so many levels from the 1960s called Hand-taming Wild Birds at the Feeder by Alfred G. Martin. The training in the bird feeding industry today is that birds at the feeder are enjoyable, but they are wild and not dependent on us. This book openly refers to birds as "pets" and that if you set a feeder you are responsible for any deaths that happen. This is completely untrue! Studies done by Cornell prove that birds only use a feeder as about 20% of its entire diet even in the worst of circumstances. I did some checking on the internet and I noticed that this book was republished in the early 1990s so I wonder if such glorious quotes as this were reworded:

On hawks visiting feeders:
"Most predators are now protected by state and federal laws. They should be protected, but the laws should also make allowance for the protection of birds at the feeder. Birds of prey as a whole make little difference in the songbird population; it is the individual predator who will locate a well-populated feeder and hang around until the last songster is gone. He is the one that should be destroyed, law or no law...When I see a bird of prey near my feeder, I watch him carefully; if he takes one bird and does not return for more he is safe; if he returns, I shoot him."

Okay, what I want to know is that without banding the birds, how does he know it's the same hawk? This is wrong, wrong, wrong! Did I mention this is wrong? Hawks will not permanently deplete feeder birds! Sure, birds lay low when a hawk is around, but I have had Cooper's hawks nest within 100 feet of a bird feeder and I still had birds all summer.

But wait there's more. Here's his answer on hummingbird migration:

"One evening a friend called at my studio and laid a Canada goose on the table, then took a male ruby-throat hummingbird from his tobacco pouch and placed it on the head of the goose. "Al," he said, "I shot this goose down on the Cape this morning, and when I picked him up, this little fellow rolled out of his feathers. He was still alive but died in my hand." I am just as sure that ruby-throat hummingbirds will ride a goose as I am that aviators ride planes."

I always wondered where that rumor came from. I don't know if this is the exact start but it sure did help perpetuate that myth of hummingbirds riding on geese during migration. The book is full of all sorts of his personal theories stated as fact. One of the worst being that peanut butter causes egg-binding in birds. That was new, I have to give credit for that. I had heard the myth that peanut butter sticks to the roof of birds mouths causing them to suffocate (which as NEVER been proven true or false) but the fact that it causes egg binding in female birds is a new one to me.

I'm going to have to see if I can locate the 1990s edition to see if anything has changed. If you have this book do take some of the info with a grain of salt. His techniques for getting birds to hand feed aren't too far off--basically stand still and be patient...although Alfie does warn against swallowing while birds are on the hand, apparently it makes them edgy. Who knew?

Well, this post went on longer than expected. I guess that makes my decision about going down to look at a stake out snowy owl. Ah well, tomorrow I'll be birding in Texas. I can get a look at a snowy later this winter. Whoo hoo! Texas birds and karaoke, here I come!

Books Books Books Books

Bill and I made it back from our trip to Madison and we are exhausted. Between all the cramming on optics and meeting new people and enjoying friends we have not seen for a while, we feel like cold wet noodles.

Cinnamon got to go around and meet some of the crew at Eagle Optics. Mike was ready for her right away to see if she would disapprove of him. It took a moment, but the inevitable happened and she indeed did disapprove of him. I on the other hand am in awe of him. I'm going to be honest, I always knew a good binocular when I look through it, but I didn't know the scientific reason why an optic is better than others. Being the left brain that I am, I just kind of skimmed bird magazine articles about optics. Of course, working for an optics company, I need to be able to actually know what you are talking about and Mike who has given me my initial training is VERY good. I really appreciated that he walked me though the initial binocular lesson without making me feel like a dingbat. He was patient, humorous and best of all not boring. I'm very excited about this whole process though. Part of me now understands how new part-time people that I trained at the bird store felt when I was walking them through seed mixes and the ins and outs of Droll Yankee bird feeders. I'm sure the glazed eye, information overload look came across my face a few times. This whole learning process really gives me hope. If I can learn all of this, I should one day be able to properly learn how to identify first and second year gulls.