Chasing Golden Eagle 42

WARNING: some of the photos in this post are of animal parts. If you are squeamish, this might freak you out. I don't think this is as gross as previous photos in this blog, but Non Birding Bill frequently points out that I have a very different of definition of gross than most.

Golden Eagle 42 has been on the move. Since I have last posted about the bird, he has already gone down to his presumed wintering grounds near Wabasha, MN, but then headed a bit north again. Now we have more questions. How wide is his winter territory and if it's really wide...are there way more golden eagles than the 80 or so that have been documented about Wabasha, MN?

Mark Martell and I were supposed to have a lunch meeting today, but he called early this morning while I was having a little breakfast and working on the previous blog post to ask if I would mind heading out to see if we could find Golden Eagle 42 who was about 60 miles away and had been hanging out in one spot for a week. How could I say no to tracking a golden eagle with a satellite transmitter by using the gps coordinates sent out that morning--it's like bird geocaching! I met Mark and we headed out.

It was a blast following the directions and then trying to match the roads on Google Earth to the terrain and figuring out the roosting location of this eagle. We figured out where the bird was and presumed that since it's deer season and this is a rural area, the eagle was most likely feeding on a deer carcass. We found a dirt road that matched what was on the Google Map and drove around to speak with landowners to get permission to walk out and check the bird's location. One man was just about to head out with his daughter for some deer hunting. Mark showed him the map and explained about the golden eagle. The man was excited and then pointed to the trees behind us to an eagle perched near it's nest--right at the end of his yard! We got an okay and headed out. The road ended we faced the above corn field--everything matched the map. You can't see it in the above photo, but there was a deer stand behind the tree line on the left. The deer stand was close to where the eagle had been hanging out and added credence to the idea that there would be a deer carcass nearby.

We carefully made our way down between the rows of corn. I always feel weird because I can't see over the corn and feel like something going to come out and grab me. We could hear crows going bonkers ahead of us...could they be excitedly dining on a deer carcass? Or better yet mobbing a golden eagle??

We got to a break in the corn. According to the data of the transmitter, Golden Eagle 42 was hanging out in the stand of trees ahead, about in the direction Mark if facing above. The woods were chock full of crows. Mark suggested that I stay out in the field as he approached. If he flushed birds, I would have a better view of them with my scope and he might miss it being closer. It was a plan.

Sure enough, as Mark carefully approached, a large eagle like bird took off! I did a Fred Sanford, clutched my chest, "It's the big one, Elizabeth!!" I trained my scope on it and just slammed my finger onto my Nikon D40 and took photo after photo, hoping against hope we had flushed our boy.

Alas, the eagle banked and quickly revealed this was an immature bald eagle. DANG! But still cool to see an eagle. Mark motioned for me to join him and we headed to the wooded edge.

We found a trail and figured this must be used by the hunters who use the deer stand. One the right it was flat and on the left was a ravine that went down to the creek, we could hear dozens of crows off to our left and a red-tail screaming above our heads.

At the base of the trail we found lots of poop. Mark and I wondered if this was crow poop, red-tailed poop, or possibly eagle poop. We both wondered aloud how close a carcass would be and then we looked ten feet to our left on the edge of the ravine...

There they were, a pile of deer parts and they looked pretty picked clean. The crows, foxes, coyotes, bald eagles and mostly likely Golden Eagle 42 had been taking advantage of this ample food source. I presume this pile was the result of hunting leftovers, but this could also be a pile from road kill. When I worked at the bird store, the county would drop of road kill deer in the marsh behind the store. I was kicking myself for not bringing my WingScapes Cam to see what comes to the carcasses...I may come back it in a few days. Who knows, maybe there will be fresh deer on the pile?

The carcass still had plenty of food to offer birds like the above downy woodpecker flying in. She landed on the rib cage and carefully peeled off scraps of meat and fat--as did several black-capped chickadees. They were all taking advantage of the original suet feeder.

We did not find Golden Eagle 42 but we had one heck of an adventure. Mark would like to trap a few more golden eagles and put transmitters on them to find out more about their breeding grounds. We're learning some interesting things about Golden Eagle 42, but one bird does not speak for a whole wintering population. Mark got that bird from The Raptor Center, he was found caught in a leg hold trap last winter (that eagle has a thing for scavenging). Mark has tried to trap goldens but with no success. He mentioned that last Spring they tracked Golden Eagle 42 to a carcass in this same county. The carcass was in the woods like this pile, not out in the open. Mark had tried baiting golden eagles out in the open and now wonders if he should try doing it in a wooded area like this carcass.

I love bird banding and all the cool stuff we learn from it. Can't wait to see what else happens with this projects.

Identifying Ducks On Aerial Waterfowl Surveys

I was planning on Monday being a busy day: wake up and meet the pilot and fellow counter at the small airport at 7am, count ducks for 2 hours, tweak an article due that day, take our new Kia in to our mechanic for the final approval, edit photos, have all my lines memorized because our rehearsal that night was our first night off book and if there was time a quick bike ride before winter sets in for real. A busy day, but nothing outlandish. The day started out well, as we left the tiny Lakeville airport, the skies were clear, all looked perfect for a morning of counting waterfowl on the Mississippi.

Then we got to the river and noticed a problem. Some very dense low lying fog. Check it out, it's below that water tower, I love the shadow cast by the rising sun.

The fog was just over the river, nowhere else. That makes finding ducks hard and flying low at 120 feet a bit too dangerous, we had to call the flight off for the time being. Our pilot flies all over using his plane to survey waterfowl all over the river, testing out aerial camera equipment, vegetation assessment, and documenting land use violations. He had two other flights to do that day, one to count waterfowl down by LaCrosse and another to take aerial photos of tundra swans. His plan was to fly down and do those surveys and meet up with us for our count later in the afternoon. My schedule wax flexible so that wasn't a problem but then I hatched a crazy plan and asked the pilot if I could fly down with him and observe the counts he was doing on the other side of the river. He wasn't sure since the plane was small and there would be two others on the flight, but fortunately for my short legs, he was able to squeeze me in. This complicated my plan, but it was one heck of an opportunity to watch and learn...and take photos!

And so we flew down to Winona, MN to pick up the other counters. I love, love flying in these small planes. Number 1, I can talk to and interact with the pilot so I know he's awake and sober. He also will mention hazards that he sees like cell phone towers. It's amazing what we can see from up above lie the above farm on top of one of the bluffs near the Mississippi River...or large piles of corn right in front of a deer stand (not pictured above). But flying in these small planes is really conquering my fear of flying and heights.

I'm really getting spoiled traveling through all these tiny airports. For one thing, they all have dogs (note this lovely fellow had his own recliner). How can you not be in a good mood when greeted by a friendly pooch with soft fur and wagging tail? Secondly, there's no airport security, no baggage check, no taking off of shoes, no standing in line, no wanding, and there's free coffee. I'm going to be a bit whiny the next time I'm on a commercial flight.

The flocks of ducks in this stretch of the Mississippi River was off the hook--insane numbers. I was grateful for the opportunity to be an observer, I would have been way too focused on fast id and quick counting to take pictures. The above is a mixture of canvasbacks, scaup, ring-necked ducks and a few coots. There's probably one or two gadwall in there as well.

Here's a closer look of part of that flock, you can make out the canvasback shape (and the bright canvas colored back).

It was so cool to fly over Winona, MN and some of the other areas like Weaver Bottoms, I've gone there so many time to look for tundra swans and I wondered what it would be like to fly over it. I can't believe I actually got to do it. It was so cool.

We flew right over the Brownsville, MN Swan Watch. Note all the white specks? Every single white speck is a tundra swan. We estimated that there were close to 7000 there. There were also thousands of smaller diving ducks mixed in too.

Here's a closer view of the swans, rather than a 2000 feet like the previous photo, here's a view at about 100 feet. There also some mallards and Canada geese mixed in.

If you look closely, you can make out three bald eagles flying away from our plane--there were dozens mixed in on the islands near the swans--there were like mini flocks of eagles. I tried very hard to see if any of them were golden eagles since they are in the general area of where golden eagle 42 is supposed to spend the winter but they were all bald eagles.

Speaking of golden eagle 42, he's hanging out near here and I just got a phone call from Mark Martell and we're going to go out and look for him this morning. I'll post more on the surveys when we get back.

Favorite Holiday Recipe

A friend and fellow blogger called Makeover Momma (wonder if I should have a bird makeover in the blog some day) asked for submissions for our favorite Holiday Recipes!  I think she was hoping for fudge and cookies and gingerbread, but of course, mine is a bird food recipe.  It's one many birders may be familiar with but the recipe always bears repeating.  It's the suet dough recipe that I learned from my favorite bird blogger, Julie Zickefoose.  I have adjusted the recipe a bit for the birds in my area and feel free to make adjustments as you see it.  The original recipe can be found at the Bird Watchers Digest site.

• 1 cup melted lard or beef suet
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 cups quick oats
• 2 cups yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• half cup sunflower hearts (unsalted)
• half cup crushed pecans (unsalted)
• half cup peanuts (unsalted)

Melt lard and peanut butter together on a low burner. Take off heat, and add remaining ingredients. Spread on a cookie sheet, and allow to cool in the refrigerator until the mixture is just hard enough to cut into pieces. Store in freezer bags and use as needed.

This is a great suet dough to spread into suet logs, spread on the sides of trees, use in the suet sandwich, a tray feeder or offer on a deck rail and dish like Julie does.

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Remember, if you purchase items at my Birdchick's OpenSky Store 20% of the profits are donated to the American Birding Association's birding programs for kids. So you're not only getting products that I personally recommend and own (or have given to family and friends), your support helps grow cool birding opportunities for young birders.

Birds and Beers This Thursday

On the off chance you haven't checked the Birds and Beers tab at the top of the page: The next Birds and Beers is November 19, 2009 at 6:00 pm at Merlin’s Rest.

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 birders–maybe find a carpool buddy, ask about where to find target birds, share cool research projects you might be working on, ask a bird feeding question, share life lists, share some digiscoping tips, promote your blog–the sky is the limit. It’s low key and it’s fun.

There's a Facebook Event Page for it here.

Hummer Helmets & Hummingbird Hats

Oh deary me...just when you thought birder clothing couldn't get any weirder! There's been a video going around of a "hummer helmet" that you can wear to attract hummingbirds. I'm all for birding innovation and trying to get closer to birds, but could we do it without looking like some crazed ax murder or nerd?

It's clever, but man does that mask look a little freakazoid to me. I'm suddenly inspired to write a birder horror flick and have someone sitting there benignly behind the mask, innocently attracting hummingbirds, then BAM start slashing nubile teenagers who insist on running into shadowy attics and dank basements when confronted with potential stabbing. If you would like to purchase this product you can order from the inventor www.hotstick.com...and yes, I promise that a hummer helmet from HotStick.com is safe for work and not something naughty.
This is not the first hummer head gear to come down the pike. Back in 2005, a Minnesota man developed his own hummingbird hat. He was featured on a Twin Cities news program and then made it on to Letterman and Animal Planet. When he was featured on local Twin Cities tv, he was shown in his backyard. Letterman's crew made him film at a Twin Cities nature center (with hardly any hummingbirds) and he was made to look like a crazy old bird watcher (not to say that he wasn't). But here's the original Twin Cities video of his hat (the hummingbird action starts at 0:58):

I don't think this one is for sale, but a result of his own invention. A red helmet with various small hummingbird feeders balanced on different sides...yeah, doesn't look silly at all. However, I was surprised to discover while searching for this video on YouTube that someone out there has taken this idea and tried to create a version of it and sells it on Etsy. You can get a double or a more economical single. Here's the video:

Who knew there were more than one hummingbird helmet hats out there--you have your choice! I suppose the face protection of the first mask would be desirable if you're worried about hummingbirds fighting and one inadvertantly impaling your eyeball. Or if you were worried about bees. If you prefer open air and want to live life on the edge you could try the helmet. Or you could forgo the headgear and just hold a feeder in your hands:

Found An Alexander Wilson In My Laundry Room

I can't remember if I've blogged this or not, but I have a bit of an update if I have. A few years ago, Non Birding Bill came up from the laundry room of our apartment and said, "I can't believe you didn't snatch up that birding painting in the basement."

Our apartment building is often a stopping ground for young adults preparing to purchase a home. Usually when someone moves, they leave behind the books, posters, and small furniture that only a broke college student could love on the off chance some other transitional will want it. I think many of items are the result of spouses saying, "No, honey, that will not be following us to our new home."

And with that you find CD shelves, well used IKEA lamps, Betty Boop posters, various sci fi and fantasy books that most would be afraid to admit were on their shelves no matter how dust covered.  Periodically, NBB will find a treasure in a rare Doctor Who book or old computer part that he swears will not end up in the larder of computer parts in our closet (to be fair, I have a larder of outdoor products in the other closet).

I mentioned to Bill that I glanced at it but it looked a little to inaccurate for my taste.  He replied, "Yeah, but it's a brown bird, you love the brown birds. Plus, it looks like a print from those old bird books you love to collect."

He had a point.  I love early 1900s bird books and I love brown birds. I decided to go down and take a look. In the flourescent glow of the laundry room lights, I noticed it had an Audubon quality to the illustration and I bent down to read the artist's name: Alexander Wilson.  Huh, I had never seen a Wilson print before, but was aware of who he was.

If you are into birds, you may have heard Wilson's name and not realized.  Many birds are named for him like the Wilson's warbler.  As a matter of fact, he has a whole genus named after him (Wilsonia).  There is also the Wilson Ornithological Society named after him.  He was the big cheese in ornithology before Audubon--he was actually an inspiration to John James Audubon and you can see similarities in their painting of North American birds.

Since I knew who Wilson was and it tickled my fancy to find a print...and the frame matched my other frames, I found a place for it on my wall among my turkey vulture paintings and autographed Wheeler sketch...I should do a blog entry on the artwork on the walls of our apartment. It's an odd mix of birding, theater posters, falconry, rabbits, sci-fi, fantasy and just obscure autographs.

I hung it up and never gave it much thought.  I figured that Wilson prints must fall in that category of public domain and everyone had one tucked away.  Once I knew it was a Wilson, it grew on me.  The bird was in a fairly natural position for the time and the detail on for a wild bird painted around the turn of the 19th Century was pretty good. I loved the obscurity of it and only a handful of friends appreciated who it was.

From the dust on the frame and weathered appearance, I imagined that this grouse print belonged to a sensible Minnesota boy who had a grouse hunter grandfather.  When the grandfather died, the painting was bequeathed to the grandson.  Said grandson grew up, moved to Uptown, found a trendy girlfriend with all the right tattoos and piercings (cause that's what girls in my neighborhood do) and they decided to get married and buy a house.  As she shed her piercings and hid her tattoos before the wedding and moving to a quite Woodbury neighborhood, she encouraged him to get rid of the ugly brown chicken painting so it could go to the land of lava lamps and wagon wheel coffee tables.

Then, I stared doing some Wilson research and found places selling Alexander Wilson prints like this one.  At the time, they had my exact grouse print selling for $600.  I continued to scan the Internet from time to time and found it going for anywhere from $300 to $1000.

I thought, "No way, mine has to be a public domain print."

I started searching for public domain prints and could not find any for Wilson.  Huh?  I sent photos to some of the places that sell Wilson prints and sure enough--it's the real deal, a hand painted Alexander Wilson print.  Holy cow!  Who knew that my nerd love for an early ornithologist who documented North American birds who turn into something with a bit of historical value.

Doubled My Birding, Doubled My Pleasure

So, I tell my dear sweet husband, I'm finished with my blog vacation, I have material, I have renewed enthusiasm...and then life hits. We have the best mechanic--we go to Amigo (I chose them because of they had bird houses and a bird calendar in their waiting area--you can trust mechanics who watch birds, plus they have good trusty worthy names like Todd and Pete). Anyway, the boys have been warning NBB and I that we need a new car and once it started making a very loud noise, Pete informed me that it's a repair and it would be better to put that money towards a new car rather than investing in this one. Ah, it was nice not having a car payment while it lasted. Now, I have to look for a new car (blah) and time for blogging goes toward car research and a car broker.

In the meantime, birding has been fabulous. Last time I was at Carpenter Nature Center, we had a great day. Cedar waxwings were still out in force--although the dogwoods that been bursting with berries that were ravenously devoured by bluebirds and lurking native sparrows are now bare and quiet.

The flocks were mix of hatch year and adult birds--the birds with vertical stripes on their belly where hatched this year. They hung out in the trees and periodically flew out for the few insects that were out or down to the pond for sip and a quick bathe. The insects are taking advantage of the rare November warm weather we have going on right now (what a change from the three inches of snow we had a month previous).

We had quite the nuthatch day! Earlier in the season when I was at Frank Taylor's blind in northern MN, the trees sounded like they were dripping with red-breasted nuthatches. It was great to see some arriving in big numbers in and around the Twin Cities. We had a fun comparison with a male white-breasted nuthatch and a female red-breasted nuthatch. The male has a dark cap, the female has a lighter cap.

Here's another comparison--this time of two red-breasted nuthatches. A make (again with the dark cap) and a female (again with the light cap).

We also had the joy of two male ruby-crowned kinglets hitting the nets at the same time. Love the double ruby crowns! They will be just about gone here soon. Sigh.

The other thing that has gotten in the way of my blogging this week is that I'm rehearsing a show with NBB's new theater project: Theatre Arlo (they do whatever the Guthrie is doing but on a $50 budget). After over a 5 year hiatus, I'm returning to the stage as an actor! When Bill and his partner Matthew Foster announced that they were going to produce A Christmas Carol in the style of a Golden Girls episode (yes, that Golden Girls), I said, "I'm not traveling much this fall, I'd like to audition."

Next thing I know, Matthew said, "You can be Sophia's sister!"

And there it is, I'm kind of like the "special guest star" or the Nancy Walker of the show (which make me incredibly happy). It's a hilarious show and the cast for the main four leads is hilarious. If you're in the Twin Cities and love the Golden Girls, come see us at the Bryant Lake Bowl. NBB has a part in it too, so you can see us both act. Yes, all my friends who have met NBB and noted how quiet he is...he can be chatty and funny on stage.

Project Feeder Watch

Here's an interesting video from the Cornell YouTube Channel about Project Feeder Watch--it's especially worthwhile to see some of the dramatic population changes reported over decades of red-bellied woodpeckers, Eurasian collared doves, and evening grosbeaks. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRvrrhyO5_s[/youtube]

Trying My Hand At Hand Feeding

Most of the time when I'm filling the feeders at Mr. Neil's, the birds zip around my head and many land directly on the feeder as I'm hanging it on the pole. I've read how to get birds to feed from your hand but have never really put it into practice before, but think I might this winter. I did some preliminary experiments this morning and considering that most books say to do it when it's cold and all the feeders are empty...I got off to a pretty good start. It was sixty degrees today and all the feeders were full and yet, I got some brave birds landing on the feeder while my hand was on it. I figured they were used to flying in and so would be used to my hand. That tufted titmouse in the above photo, however is suspicious.

I did get a black-capped chickadee to take one nut from my hand. I got the photos by setting up the WingScapes motion sensitive cam in front of the feeder so that way I wouldn't be freaking the birds out while holding a point and shoot. I'm encouraged to see what will happen.

And, I'd like to thank my husband Non Birding Bill for filling in for me for a few days. I'm lucky to be married to such a talented writer who sees when I get stressed over the blog and offers to step in. I love doing the blog, but the way I blog has changed and who knows how it will continue to change with the trends on the Internet.

Everybody needs a vacation from what they do and I'm so grateful to have a husband who can step (or the many readers who have guest blogged during our contests when I have been out of the country).

Early on, there were few bird related sites and blogs. Blogs were a means for birders to share bird news stories, talk about research, share personal birding stories, encourage others to share. Now, there are a TON of great birding blogs out there to choose from. There's no need to feel the pressure of sharing a bird related news story because one--several other bloggers are already on it and two--more blog readers are internet savvy and can set their news readers to find the bird stories for themselves.

And then there is the challenge of fresh material. I'm fortunate in that I get to travel and can share new birds, but when I'm not traveling and I'm reveling in watching basic bird feeding...how many times can I show a photo of a chickadee and have it be interesting? What else can I say about the 180th dark-eyed junco that we've banded (unless it has an interesting injury).

Now, there is Facebook and Twitter to contend with as well. I wasn't sure how I would use Twitter, but I find I use it as often as I blog. I started by using Twitter as a preview area for photos that I might post later in the blog, but I also use it for real time bird banding photos and to answer birding questions, or even share links that I formerly would just post in the blog.

I'm not sure where this blog is going...I don't think any of us do, that's a challenge the media is facing with the internet: how do we make it all work and still earn a living too. As long as I find blogging interesting, I'll keep doing it. And thank you to everyone who stops by (whether you leave a comment or not).

If there's something you'd like to see blogged about--please let me know. I try to take requests when I can.

Rock Dove! Down, down, down...

NBB's Guide to that Bird You Saw: Pigeon

The Finale of our adventures with all the birds you really need to know, is, of course, the humble pigeon, or "Rock Dove" (which was a lesser-known single off Fred Schneider's solo career. He doesn't talk about it much), which is another bird that people hate because they've adapted to human civilization so very well. "Filthy things! Look at them, eating garbage!" as if their food supply, you know, fell off great orchards of invisible Garbage Trees, or simply blew into town like tumbleweeds made of Big Mac wrappers.

You gonna eat the rest of that?

But enough with the social commentary, let us consider the pigeon in and of itself.

The pigeon has two things going for it: one is their coloration. Pigeons have a remarkable color ranges: you see it a lot in our neighborhood, where I think the wild population has been cross-breading with racing birds. But even the normal, garden variety pidge has that remarkable iridescent ring around their neck and the blue-gray coloring.

It's in flight that pigeons are really fantastic, that ungainly body swooping in large circles, great flocks of them covering the sky. Did you know that pigeons can out fly Peregrine Falcons? It's true. And the reason why they're so slow to get out of the way of cars is that they see things much faster than we do: it's like you're moving in slow motion—that's right, it doesn't occur to a pigeon that you might be a threat to it.

But I'll grant you that the Pidge may not have the most well-thought-out shape in the avian world. It lacks the sleek sharpness of a Blue Jay or the petite uber-cuteness of a Titmouse. It seems to be made up large of bumps, like a stack of bowling balls in a burlap sack, jostling over each other. Walking, a pigeon's body can't quite seem to agree which direction it's going: chest forward, tail back, head in a complete panic of falling over. And then there are the feet, with all the design elegance of a Soviet automobile.

So, you should give a bit of credit to the common Rock Dove. It's bird you should know. But just make sure you never, ever let anyone know you admire it. They'll give you dirty looks out of the side of their eyes, and walk quickly away, muttering... much like a pigeon.