Due to weather I have completely changed my schedule this week and will not be hawk watching Monday and Tuesday and instead will go up Wednesday and Thursday. This is my week to host I and the Bird and since I'm not sure what my internet access will be like on Wednesday and Thursday I will put up I and the Bird early Wednesday morning. If you wish to have your entry in this edition, please send it to me by Tuesday, September 13 no later than 8pm Minnesota Time.
A Boy and His Waxwing
We had a young man and his father come into the store this weekend with a freshly fledged cedar waxwing. The father was doing some work in his shop when he found the young bird sitting high on one of his tools. They wanted to help the bird but didn't know what kind it was and came to the bird store.
I showed them that the bird was a cedar waxwing and that he was fresh from the nest, learning to fly and needed to go back to their yard and wait for the parents to come take care of it. The little boy was so adorable and it was the cutest thing to see this earnest young man walking around with his trusy cedar waxwing but if the bird is going to survive, it needs to be with its parents.
When I see a young boy like this, ready to do what it takes to care for wildlife--especially doing the hardest part of all--letting it go back to the wild, really gives me hope for the future.
In other news at the bird store we have released 23 monarch caterpillars so far with at least another dozen to go! Friday morning when I came into work we had six monarchs that had come out during the night ready to go. I wonder what it must be like to have spent two weeks as lumbering blog eating nonstop and then hanging upside down as a green blob for another two weeks and suddenly a light breeze comes and your airborne? When ever we let one go I always hear a little butterfly monologue being read by Jerry Lewis in my head to the effect of, "Holy crap, what's going on? Hey nice lady, what the heck am I doing?"
Cinammon has been on a ristriction of treats (vet's orders) and so all the deer blocks around the store have been picked up except for one which is only minerals (the others had lots of corn and grains held together with molasses). She has comandeered the last remaining block and has become down right defiant about not giving it up. In the photo at right she looks as though she's saying, "Don't even think about moving this block or I'll (the rest omitted to the graphic rabbit profanity)." Is my rabbit a mineral junkie now? It's sometimes a hoot to watch her furiously licking the box to get her daily mineral fix. She does appear to be smaller so I do think the diet is working.
Birding Day Help
This just in from Bob Williams:
We still need birders to help with the 6th Annual Great MN River Birding Day both here in the metro area and outstate. If any of you would like to join us please let me know as soon as possible. You can bird as much or as little as you like anywhere in the MN River Valley Watershed. You can bird on your own or join one of the teams that we have set up around the area.
There are rallies in Shakopee, Mankato and Watson that you can attend in the afternoon whether you go birding or not. It is free and open to the public. You can find more information on our website at www.birdingtrail.org. Please help celebrate this wonderful resource and help demonstrate how important it is to the birds that use it.
Bob Williams 612-728-2232 or bxwilliams@cbburnet.com
Many of us will be out birding anyway so why not be part of a big fun party and maybe meet some new birding friends at the same time. I'll be down at the Shakopee Rally so if anyone shows up, please stop and say "Hi"!
Ivory-bill Suit
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- Environmentalists who fear a plan to divert water to eastern Arkansas farms will harm the habitat of the recently rediscovered ivory-billed woodpecker filed a federal lawsuit Thursday.
The project would pump 100 billion gallons of water per year from the White River. The Arkansas Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation said diverting so much water will harm the swampy woods that are the ivory-billed woodpecker's habitat.
The groups on Thursday sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to halt work on the irrigation project.
You can read the rest of the story at www.cnn.com
Great Minnesota River Birding Day
I will be an emcee at this event, should be a great bird watching day!
On September 17th, 2005 Audubon Minnesota, Friends of the Minnesota Valley and CURE (Clean Up the River Environment) will be sponsoring the 6th Annual Great Minnesota River Birding Day. Join us as we identify as many species of birds in the Minnesota River Valley Watershed as we can. This event helps to raise awareness of the beauty and significance of the Minnesota River Valley and of the importance of the river to our quality of life. It is also a great opportunity to enjoy the richness and diversity of bird life that can be found throughout the watershed.
Bird all or part of the day anywhere in the watershed (about 15,000 square miles in 37 counties). To sign up for a team or an area contact Bob Williams at 612-728-2232 or bxwilliams@cbburnet.com. Rallies will be held at three locations in the valley on the afternoon of the 17th where birders can go and share their lists with each other, enjoy refreshments and make new friends. You can participate in either the birding or the rallies or both and all of this is free and open to the public.
The rallies will be held in Shakopee at Memorial Park starting at 1PM, in Mankato at the Elks Nature Center in Rasmussen Woods starting at 2PM, and in Watson at the Historic Watson Town Hall starting at 4PM. Last year over 100 birders identified 186 species in the watershed. Join us for this great day and help us to find even more species this year and demonstrate how important the natural habitats in this area are for the birds residing in and migrating through the Minnesota River Valley.
Meet Brian Wheeler!
Brian Wheeler, a most elusive bird author (the best photo I have is above where he's camouflaged to the nth degree photographing migrating raptors) is coming to The Raptor Center this Sunday! I'm so proud, All Seasons Wild Bird Store, the company I work for is sponsoring him!
This will be your chance to get Photographic Guide to North American Raptors autographed and if you don't own it, then you should purchase a copy at TRC (the money benefits raptors) and it's one of the BEST raptor id books out there. Wheeler has written other books too and I'm sure those will be on hand at TRC.
So, mark your calendar for Sunday, September 11 from 2pm - 4pm. The event is free, parking is free and he's a really cool guy--be there or be square...alas I will have to be square because I have to work at ye olde bird store on Sunday but I plan on sneaking up to hawk watch Monday and Tuesday with Stan and Wheeler.
Excitement Behind the Bird Store
Migration is starting to kick in behind the bird store. I came back from an errand at Home Depot and as I drove past the field where our nest boxes are, I noticed three bright patches of blue flying towards some brush. I turned my trusty Saturn around an and aimed my binoculars--we had our first eastern bluebirds behind the store! I digi scoped a photo of a pair sitting on top of our Peterson Box. They will not nest in it this summer but I'm hopeful that a couple of the birds in this flock will remember our spot and nest here next year.
Last night I was bringing in our outdoor displays at the end of the day and pointed out a flock of gulls circling over the field. Denny took one look and said, "Those aren't gulls, those are nighthawks." Sure enough we had a small flock hunting insects over the field.
In other news, Melissa and I had the back door open to let in a little fresh air this afternoon and we noticed one of the several wild rabbits that inhabit the area hopping along in the middle of the parking lot. I've noticed rabbit pellets all over the parking lot and have thought this rather reckless behavior to be out in the open what with the red-tail family that lives nearby, but hey, it's their choice. As soon as the rabbit got out our view we heard it scream and squeal. Melissa and I dashed out but we couldn't see it and squeals grew more and more distant very quickly. From the way the sounds were moving, I don't think it was one of the resident red-tails. I have seen mink behind the store and last week we saw a coyote, it must have been one of those two.
Tonight as I was leaving, I opened the back door and noticed the goldfinch warning call. A female goldfinch sat on one of our tube feeders not moving an inch. I looked below the feeding area and up flew a young Cooper's hawk with a house sparrow in its talons.
All in all a very exciting day.
Donations for Pets lost amid Hurricane Katrina
The human suffering in Louisiana and Mississippi is unimaginable and now stories from people rescued about having to leave pets behind is too much even for me to bear. There are a lot of animal organizations going in to help, if you have any money left to give to help the efforts, here is a link to the organizations involved helping pets left behind after hurricane Katrina.
I have a permanent link to Poppy Z. Brite's blog and I can't imagine what she is going through as she took in cats and though she did evacuate before the hurricane landed in New Orleans, she left many of her cats behind. She hasn't been back to her home but from the sound of things, she has probably lost everything.
Contents of a Condor Chick Gut
This was part of a story from the SWAROVSKI BIRDING COMMUNITY E-BULLETIN about a California Condor chick that was not doing well in the wild. Researchers removed it from the nest and discoverd the chick was impacted:
After transporting the chick to the Los Angeles Zoo, and following a three-hour operation, an astounding amount of material was removed from the ventriculus and proventriculus of the condor chick. The following items were among the debris removed from the chick: 4 bottle caps and a screw top, 3 electrical fittings, 5 washers, 13 22-caliber shell-casings, 1 38-caliber shell-casing, a shotgun-shell, several pieces of plastic bags, about a quarter cup of broken glass and a similar amount of broken plastic, a few small pieces of fabric, 4 small stones, a metal bracket, a piece of wire, and a few small pieces of rubber.
Fortunately, it did not appear that any of this remarkable collection of detritus perforated the gut, and currently the chick appears to be doing well.
Does this mean that all adult condors are attracted to ubiquitous shiny objects and will bring them back to their nest for their chicks? Or does this simply mean that male #21 and/or female #192 have this tendency? If the first option is the case, then the species is clearly in deep trouble, since these sorts of objects are virtually everywhere in a condor's environment. If the second is the case - with this unfortunate chick simply having "idiot parents" - then we should remain hopeful.
The E-bulletin is distributed as a joint effort between Swarovski Optik of
North America (SONA) and the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA).
You can access an archive of past E-bulletins on the NWRA site.
Cell Phone Scoping
So, I must have left the digital camera at work because I can't find it and what other way can you guarantee that you will see something cool birdwise than to not have either a camera or optics on your person? The two immature Cooper's hawks were putting on quite a show. Even Non Birding Bill got swept up in the excitement of it all. We leaned out the living room window this morning and watched the two Coop's terrorize the local crows. The female was the first to give up the pursuit as I could see her wings drooping while she perched and she was panting. She flew out of sight for a moment and a young crow took the opportunity to rest and preen. I began to hear some high pitched chirps that I immediately recognized as the young Coops. I found myself muttering to the crow, "Hey, buddy, you better get outta there." but when do crows ever pay attention to what a human has to say? Sure enough the female Coops flew in from the back of the tree and made a bee line for the preening crow. The crow got the heck out of Dodge and the Coop's landed where th crow had been perched--roughly 40 feet from our window.
I was bemoaning the lack of camera while techno hound Non Birding Bill got busy with his new cell phone. He took my 8 X 42 Vortex Binoculars and his Motorola V710 cell phone and tried digi scoping a photo. The result is the above photo of the Cooper's hawk preening. He would like me to inform birders everywhere that this is not a preferred method of digi scoping as the phone is at an odd angle and it's not the best quality. But I suppose if you are out in the field and you need to document a rare bird, it's better than nothing.
There was no bird action at my bird feeder for awhile, but eventually an unaware house sparrow came for a visit which immediately got the Coop's attention. She went for it, but came up empty taloned. After that she flew out of site and we have not seen the two hawks for the rest of the day.