Tuesday Birds

Cinnamon is sooo tired. We had an outing today and she ate lots of junk food so I think I finally wore her out. She hasn't been into as much mischief tonight like her usual trying to get into the bathroom trash or sneaking into the kitchen.

I headed out to the bird store to pick up some bird food--my flying squirrels on my window have been deprived of their mixed nuts. I need to keep them happy so I can test out a night vision monocular. I also took a look at the birds out back at the feeders to practice some digiscoping. I'm getting better using the Denali with the digiscope adapter.

Of course, I missed the best birds of the day! As I pulled into the parking lot off of 394 and Carlson Parkway I saw two large birds. The largest was an adult bald eagle that was being harassed by a peregrine falcon. The falcon was swooping back and forth over the back of the eagle, and the eagle was pumping its wings as hard as it could trying to gain speed. They were out of sight before I parked the car.

I'm no nature photographer but I have heard Stan go on about what he knows about bird behavior based on his observations watching birds and animals while out photographing them. I did that with a white-throated sparrow today (pictured right). I've always known a white-throated sparrow when I see one because of the black and white striping on the head (some with a yellow spot) and the white patch under the bill, but I've never really noticed the shape before. While photographing I really noticed that the tail on these guys are about as long as their bodies. Who knew? Better birders than I, I suppose. There does seem to be a big trend in bird workshops focusing on bird shape as opposed to bird colors.

Speaking of which, I've heard Pete Dunne is coming out with his own field guide and I've heard that he's going out and watching birds and then going to describe the birds individually based on his personal experiences with the birds and their "jizz" (Note to all of us under 40--jizz in birding terms doesn't mean what we thought it meant in high school. In birding terms it means the over all feel of the bird, so quit your snickering when you hear a 73 year old birder say, "Well, the jizz of that bird makes me say loggerhead shrike.") Anyway, kind of goes back to that theory of looking at birds by shape and behavior as opposed to just color.

Carrol Henderson Award

My good friend Carrol Henderson got an award from the folks at Watchable Wildlife! Here's a press release:

Carrol Henderson of the DNR Nongame Wildlife Program was one of two recipients of the Vision Award from Watchable Wildlife Inc. at the national Watchable Wildlife Conference in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The award was presented for the program's long-term accomplishments in the conservation of nongame wildlife, restoration of species like the trumpeter swan, and production of educational materials like Woodworking for Wildlife, Landscaping for Wildlife, and Lakescaping for Wildlife, which are intended for private citizens.

Some Minnesota Birding Trips

Are you looking for some birding opportunities around Minnesota? I just noted that bird guide Mike Hendrickson has a calendar up and some trips available. Whether you live in Minnesota or you are from another state, you should get some great birds on this trip. When you get to Mike's site click on the 2006 Birding Calendar.

Yesterday was also Mike's birthday so be sure to wish him a belated birthday.

A day in Duluth

The lake was angry today my friends. It was chilly and breezy along Lake Superior today in Duluth, but it's late October and in the 30 degree range, what do I expect? There were surfers taking advantage of the waves--and Non Birding Bill thinks I'm nuts for sitting in a box a dark box watching hawks fly by.

Hawks were moving fast and high today. We only got two in the nets, but what we lacked in quantity, we made for in quality--a passage goshawk and a haggard red-tailed hawk. We got the red-tailed hawk in first, early in the morning. We were watching three high in a thermal and at one point each of us was watching a different bird. As one person was saying, "Okay, this one is turning, it's going to come in" another got caught in the net. It was a gorgeous adult with a beautiful rusty red tail, and according to foot size he was a male (pictured right). Interesting was that he had an odd growth on his gape on the lower mandible. The growth looked like a skin tab and grew straight up, like some weird yellow tooth. Who knows what caused it, but the bird has obviously been surviving quite well for years so we let it go after banding it.

The goshawk was a lot of work to get in the net. What is the world coming to when a northern goshawk doesn't come straight for the net with a slight yank of a pigeon. At this particular banding station, we face an open field and can see birds coming for miles. Typically, when a goshawk comes on the field, they make a bee line for the nets but this bird kept doodling along starting to thermalize then getting out of it. Finally it went off to the right up against the tree line. We started to watch for other hawks, but kept half an eye out to the right on the off chance the goshawk came down the tree line towards the net. I looked out the right and there it was like a bird dark rain drop. "It's coming!" I whispered excitedly and it zoomed over the top of the blind, just above the nets and down on the pigeon--we could hear the air passing through the wings. Rick masterfully yanked the pigeon at the last second so it avoided the goshawk's talons. The goshawk landed with a thunk and then leapt up to take off, only to bounce straight into the front net. The pigeon somehow landed in the back net. That's the young goshawk above, the little male kind of reminds me of Sam the Eagle from the Muppets.

Red-breasted nuthatches were crawling all over the trees and the woods sounded like they were chock full of little squeak toys. I meandered into the woods a little bit to see if any small owls were lurking in the trees. Sometimes when my mind is wandering as I walk through the woods, I go on autopilot and absentmindedly pish. As I did this today I felt an odd sensation--I was completely surrounded by red-breasted nuthatches, black-capped chickadees, brown creepers and white-breasted nuthatches. The red-breasteds were within two feet, was I being stalked...or mobbed.

Another sign of winter was all the snow buntings on the sides of the roads (pictured right). I do love those guys. I tried to digiscope them, but I didn't spend as much time on them as I liked, there were some strange people on the side of the road and my scope and camera set up seemed to irk them so I took my birding elsewhere.

Cornell Ivory-bill Search

Tonight I'm going up to Duluth for some birding and maybe some hawk banding on Sunday. In the meantime, I give you some fun reading regarding the Cornell Ivory-billed Woodpecker Search.

So, I've been going over the information from Cornell about going on the ivory-bill search. This is by no means a cushy vacation or a cheap way to go look for the bird. I'm lucky that Eagle Optics is going to support me going along. How many bosses would do that--especially for someone they just hired? "Sure, go ahead and take two weeks to look for a giant woodpecker in Arkansas."

I've been reading over the agreements that I will have to sign and I'm going to have talk with Cornell about what I'm able to blog about, if I'm allowed to blog about it at all. Any information I collect or help create will belong to Cornell and I won't be able to use it without their written permission, which doesn't bother me too much, because I will get credit in their archives and this is part of an important research project.

There are two different search crews and these are the highlights of the contract and volunteer information for the crew I will be working on:

TRAVEL
You are responsible for your own travel to and from Arkansas, including transportation from the airport if you are flying. We recommend flying into Memphis, TN or Little Rock, AR. These locations are both approximately 1.5-2.5 hours from our field stations. Travel to and from search areas and field sites will be provided by Cornell.

HOUSING
Group housing will be provided and is available from the Sunday night before your scheduled start date through the Saturday night before your scheduled departure on a Sunday. Please plan to arrive at your designated field station on Sunday, as your training will begin at 8:00am on Monday.

(Your) crew will stay at a USFWS-owned research station on the levee road, south of St. Charles. This is a rustic, remote location with a bunkhouse and small house trailer, both with a kitchen and bath. There are 5 bedrooms between the two. It’s definitely not the Hilton, but we hope you’ll be comfortable there. The phone line is poor and Internet access will likely not be available at this site. Cell phones should work on the levee wall, which is a short walk from the bunkhouse. People on this crew should plan to stay at the research station, as there are no hotels within commuting distance of the study site. Helena is the closest town with amenities, approximately an hour away.

FOOD
You are responsible for your own food during your stay in Arkansas. (Your) crew will need to purchase food for at least a week on their drive from the airport. If driving from Memphis, I’d recommend shopping at the Super Walmart in Forrest City. Helena is the closest town with some amenities. Stuttgart and De Witt both have grocery stores as well on the west side of the river.

We recommend bringing:
1) binoculars – hopefully waterproof
2) chest waders-Women: Hodgman women's wadelight breathable stockingfoot chest waders
Cabela's women's G-II boot-foot chest wader
3) field clothing – lots of warm layers
4) warm socks – again use layers
5) warm gloves/mittens
6) warm hat – preferably a dark color or camo
7) foot and hand chemical heat packs – slip in your boots and gloves
8) watch
9) compass
10) camouflage outer layer (required) – a camo mesh bug suit works well. You can wear it over shorts and t-shirt or over a bunch of warm layers. It’s also reasonable for keeping bugs at bay, so it’s pretty multi-purpose
11) thermos
12) water bottles
13) knee high rubber boots – are pretty handy and available at local Walmarts
14) head lamp or flashlight
15) bedding – most beds are twins
16) sleeping bag – instead of bedding is fine
17) pillow
18) towel
19) personal audio, video, and camera equipment
20) cell phone

What we’ll provide:
1) canoes
2) paddles
3) pfds
4) GPS unit
5) video camera
6) training manual
7) field notebooks and dataforms

Again, not a relaxing vacation. Did I include in the above that the field work consists of 10 to 12 hour days, mostly in blinds? However, this will be the chance of a lifetime.

Set up for digiscoping

Well, Mike McDowell got me all tricked out with some digiscoping gear. I'm using a Denali Scope with an adaptor for my Nikon 7900 Koolpix digital cameral. So I headed out to one of my favorite feeding stations (Mr. Neil's) to try out the system. I am no Mike by any means, but I think I'm off to a pretty good start. Digiscoping is really quite challenging. It does take awhile to figure out the rhythm of your camera and to also keep in mind that focusing is a little tougher. If you're focused on a feeder that's fifteen feet in front of you and you suddenly notice a junco that is ten feet from you, you have to focus and adjust, not just point and shoot. It's still a good time though. I started off easy at bird feeders where you can kind of predict where the birds are going to land, but I can't imagine how some of the other digiscopers out there are able to get those great warbler and sparrow shots. I'll have to look for the Yoda of digiscoping and get more training.

I took photos of this bird waterer that kind of looks like an office water cooler. It's a fun little bird bath that stores up water and provides little dishes for birds to drink out of and bathe in. Goldfinches totally love it, and both goldfinches and chickadees were on Mr. Neil's today.

So, as I was standing out in the brisk autumn air I noticed one particular annoyingly loud goldfinch. I zoomed in on it and noticed that it was a juvenile goldfinch begging from an adult. I know goldfinches are late nesters, but I've never noticed a young goldfinch this late before. The adult was trying to teach the young bird to go to the feeders but would still give in to the begging calls.

For those interested Maddy G-Dawg is the best person in the world and likes whirled peas. Also, would people stop stealing her clams from whyville.

How Quickly Life Changes

This time last year, almost all of us had no clue there were ivory-billed woodpeckers out there. Although, I always kept a pet conspiracy theory that the Ziess search down in Louisiana had been successful but all the participants involved kept quiet that they found the bird feeling that was the dignified thing to do and best thing for it.

It was announced last spring that the ivory-billed was found and of course all sorts of debates have started up and my personal favorite right now is the poll going on Mike Hendrickson's blog. A man who dares to blog (and quite frankly say to your face-you gotta admire that) things the rest of us would never dream of making public but may question in the back of our minds.

We all have a our personal theories of whether or not this duck sized woodpecker is out there. I think it is, but that could be my optimistic nature more than trusting scientific fact. Well, a couple of months ago when Cornell announced they were looking for volunteers, I tossed my hat in the ring thinking that of all the people who would apply for the volunteer gig would be WAY better at field work than myself. I even talked myself out of it after I hit send in my email account, I mean come on--humidity, poisonous snakes, mosquitoes, physically demanding work--I'm not that kind of birder! Well, last night I got an email saying that my application is selected and I'm slated to go look on a Cornell team for the ivory-billed woodpecker in early December. I'm still in shock, I hardly slept at all last night. It's one thing to toss your theories around with birding buddies at a bar but now to be invited to go is, well, just WOW. I have to talk with Eagle Optics to make sure this is okay but despite all the discomfort it truly sounds like one hell of an adventure to go into a giant swamp. Even if I don't see the famed woodpecker in question the area sounds amazing. There are literally hundreds of woodpeckers in the area of all different species. Wouldn't it be worth it just to go to see tons and tons of pileated woodpeckers, sapsuckers, red-headed woodpeckers...I'm still in shock. At the very least this should make for interesting blogging material. But rest assured this will not become a debate about who is right and who is wrong in this whole woodpecker broo ha ha, but I will be writing my experiences.

Here is a link to the entry about what I'm allowed to bring on the Ivory-billed Search.

Life is so weird. For sure, it is light years away from where I was this time last year. I feel like Peewee Herman--the luckiest boy in the world.

I am in Wisconsin

Okay, first things first. I should not do blog entries as soon as I get home from a weekend of fun with birding friends and a five hour drive. Good grief, typos riddled that last post and links were spotty, sorry about that. If you are looking for more Midwest Birding Sypmosium hijinks, be sure to check out Bill of the Birds blog and WildBird on the Fly blog.

Today I spent the day with Non Birding Bill in Middleton, WI visiting Eagle Optics. I was so touched, they had a sign on the door welcoming Bill and I as soon as we pulled up. I was like a kid in a candy store: binoculars and scopes everywhere. I’m so excited to be working with such a great group of people. I had always considered myself quite lucky to have landed a full time job at a wild bird store and now I am truly in birder heaven working for a company whose optics I have used in the past.

I got to see where Mike McDowell lurks when not he’s not blogging, see the storage area for binoculars and scopes and meet the guy who fixes optics. He was kind of doing an autopsy on a pair as soon as Dan showed me around.

We brought Cinnamon with us and she is having a blast on the carpeted floor of the hotel room. She's been doing laps nonstop around from the door to the desk. She can reach higher velocities on carpeting than she can on our hard wood floors at home.

What Really Happens at Birding Symposiums

Who says birders don't know how to get down and party? For those curious, that is Alicia Craig shaking her money maker in the front row.

Well, the Midwest Birding Symposium was a blast. For me that birding wasn't that exciting, most of the birds in and around the Quad Cities I can see easily here, but the workshops were interesting and the opportunity to ham it up with fellow birding nuts from around the country was just loads of fun. A really cool moment for me was getting a hug from Lillian Stokes congratulating me on getting a job with Eagle Optics. I also got to meet Mike and Katie who I will be working with at EO. Mike (of Mike's digiscoping blog) was kind enough to let me sit in on one of his optics talks. We did manage to drag them out for karaoke, but could not get them to sing...I'll have to work on that. Another highlight was getting to meet Julie Zickefoose. I have always been a huge fan of her writing and discovered that she's a mischievous woman who could probably out sing a wood thrush if she tried. When we went out for karaoke, she brought down the house.

Other Symposium Highlights:

Don Kroodsma author of The Singing Life of Birds proves that he's not just a fantastic author, but also isn't a stick in the mud. He was kind enough to let me sit on his lap and give him a kiss. This is a fascinating book on the how and why of bird song and includes a cd that accompanies the text in the appendix.

Bobby Harrison was certainly a popular attraction at the convention, women were lining up for miles. He was like Sting for birders. It was very cute, one woman walked up and said, "I just want to touch you, you've seen an ivory-billed woodpecker."

It was a nature writer's dream, editors of the major birding magazines on a river boat loaded with alcohol--what better time to pitch a story? From left Eldon Greij founding editor of Birder's World, Amy Hooper editor of WildBird Magazine, Bill Thompson III editor of Bird Watcher's Digest, and Chuck Hagner editor of Birder's World.

I discovered a kindred spirit in Eldon Greij. He knows his birds and is quick witted and likes an occasional naught joke. Plus, he likes reading Bent books and I love any guy who loves Bent.

Yes, that's Bill Thompson dressed like Bubbles of the Powerpuff Girls (or is it Penny from in Inspector Gadget?) And of course, that's his lovely wife Julie Zickefoose next to him. Looks like she's the one who wears the hats in the family.

Bill Thompson rocks the crowd at the Commodore Tap's karaoke night. He sang a really rockin' version of I'll Stop the World and Melt with you. This bar was up and ready for karaoke. They had a table of wigs, hats, scarves and percussive instruments for everyone to use. The bar regulars thought our group was a traveling choir. When we revealed we were birders ie people who travel around and watch birds, an older gent next to me nudged my arm and asked, "No sh!t?" When we closed the bar, we were applauded and hugged and told that we rocked the place.

Jeff Bouton of Leica Optics wowed the crowd with My Maria. He also does one heck of a Wicked Game by Chris Isaak. I discovered that not only do Jeff and I share a similar sense of humor, we also shared a job--we used to dress up as Chuck E. Cheese. We both have much better jobs now.

Here's a prey's eye view of the coolest bird to be seen at the symposium! Neil Rettig's education harpy eagle.

Amy Hooper looks to be involved in suspicious activity at an eagle nest. Is she raiding the nest?

More photos will probably come soon. I took 230 this weekend and haven't sifted through them all, but all this weekend has worn me out and I need to sleep. All in all it was a great time.