I know a lot of you are going to be checking today to find out who won my spotting scope. There were A LOT of entries--over 500! The winner will be announced to day, but most likely not until the evening.
Nemesis Birds
UPDATE: The Duluth News Tribune joined us for part of the day and you can see our birding posse and learn more about Minnesota's boreal owl irruption here.
Nothing says winter in Minnesota like snow drifting into a port-a-potty.
I can't really do my Big Half Year fundraiser for the Friends of Sax Zim Bog without at least one trip to the bog. I knew I would get up there at some point this winter and I had made some plans with friends and then last week, things went a little nuts. A tiny owl called a boreal owl showed up in spades. One report from Chris Wood counted seven! Granted that this not on the scale with the great gray owl irruption of 2004/2005 but it's significant none the less...especially since this is somewhat of a nemesis bird for me (a bird I always seem to miss). I finally got to the point of not even chasing one since every effort to do so ended up with the classic phrase, "Oh it was just hear yesterday (or 15 minutes ago)..."
I figured one day I'd get one. Well, as plans solidified for my friends and I to head to Duluth and pay for the daily guiding services of Erik Bruhnke (a GREAT guide and worth every penny of his guiding fee, this is the second time we've used him). The reports of boreal owls were just too much and everyone in our group needed one for their list. The owls are mostly being seen between Duluth and Two Harbors, MN (and some right in Two Harbors). We asked Erik what our chances would be to go boreal. He said doable, but it would cut into our time for the bog. I thought to myself, "Do I want to get as many birds as possible for my Big Half Year or do I want to risk that number and get a lifer (and hopefully a photo of it) and have fewer birds for the day. We went for the boreal.
Erik told us that we would have to drive along Scenic Highway 61 which is usually a pretty, scenic highway right along Lake Superior...thanks to some snow and lack of plows, it was a bit slow going, which is great if you have eyes desperate for spotting an owl that's about 10 inches long tucked in the thick brush the same color it is. Also, note Erik in the above photo. It was 18 degrees and there he is, sweet as you please standing outside with out a coat and his sleeves rolled up. Northern Minnesota show off.
We creeped along slowly on the highway. As the minutes passed, our vehicle became more quiet--would we miss the owl? Were we wasting valuable bog time by going for a bird we wouldn't see? Was I jinxing everyone in the group by making an attempt for my nemesis bird? You know, the typical things that go through your mind when you decided to chase a bird.
Then blammo! We got one! The bird was actively hunting along the highway, not paying any attention to us at all while it flitted from perch to perch. And those of us with cameras were able to get photos.
I don't often get a chance to celebrate a life bird--especially in Minnesota, but when I do, I do it with 16 year old scotch!
What a treat to see this bird, we got to watch it fly, bob it's head trying to listen for something small an furry tunneling beneath the fluffy snow, posing in fabulous light, I felt 15 years of searching ease right off my shoulders. Whatever would happen the rest of the day was just gravy.
We did pursue a few more birds in and around the Duluth area before heading over to the bog. Of note was a snowy owl which was the weirdest snowy owl I've ever seen.
Is it me or does this snowy owl bear a resemblance to Hitler? This bird has been banded as well as marked with spray paint. As I understand it, banders have used spray paint to make sure they don't keep retrapping the same owl, because of the feathers on the toes and the bird's tendency to keep its feet hidden, it's hard to tell if a bird is banded. The spray paint can act as a sort of marker. But here is what I do not understand--note the number "8" on the wing? That's a patagial tag, a marker that allows you to know that the bird is already banded but you can actually id individual birds easily with a pair of binoculars. They are used on California condors, pelicans, old world vultures and turkey vultures. It seems to me that the patagial tag and the spray paint is a bit of overkill as far as trying to make sure you're not pestering the same owl.
The other thing that bothers me about this is that snowy owls use camouflage to hide form predators as well as prey. Does this muck it up? I normally side with banders on things, but fiddling around with a bird's camouflage makes me uneasy. Perhaps I would feel better if I could find some published information on this, but I can't seem to. I found one article from the 1960s about captive snowy owls that were spray painted to id some molt and then whole bunch of links about Martha Stewart spray painted owl stencils.
I'm currently at 56 birds for my Big Half Year, though that will change a bit in a few days. Thanks again to everyone who has pledged money to the effort to build a visitor center in the bog!
Still Time To Enter The Scope Contest
Just a quick reminder that you still have time to enter my spotting scope giveaway contest--just a couple of days left.
I sent off my scope to Swarovski to get it checked out and make sure it's in all top working condition for whoever wins. Perhaps I wasn't quite ready to let it go. Part of your warranty with optics from Swarovski is that you can send it in every few years to be checked out, maybe they've made an adjustment to the product or maybe your eye relief is a little loose, they will inspect it and clean it up for you. I went to their repair department a few years ago and got to check it out.
Birdchick Podcast: #132 Red Knots, Gift Bearing Jays, Listing Rules
This week's crazy bird jobs: Bavarian Blue Tit study.
Hawaii Bird Banding Technicians.
Birds and Beers is in the news!
Hurricane Sandy could continue to have a devastating impact on migratory birds, including the red knot. Also there is a petition to continue the moratorium on harvesting horseshoe crabs.
Listing Rules...at least from the American Birding Association rule book.
Um...it's National Bird Feeding Month.
Google Maps inspired bird house.
Whoa, whoa, whoa...I got a press release from the American Bird Conservancy and it was good news. What the heck is going on.
Birds and Beers is Spreading
If there's one thing I'm incredibly proud of, it's knowing that I helped start a movement that got birders of all abilities to periodically socialize over an adult beverage in a pub. I love doing Birds and Beers when I can, I love that in the Twin Cities, if I'm too busy to host one, people organize it without me.
I was recently interviewed for an article in the Chicago Tribune because a Birds and Beers recently started up in that city. I was surprised to realize that Birds and Beers is over five years old. When the reporter asked, I quickly did a search for the first blog entry and it happened way back in 2007...how time flies. Since then, I've had word that Birds and Beers has happened in Madison, WI, Phoenix, AZ, Duluth, MN, Denver, CO, Forest Grove, OR and now Chicago. I'm sure there are more, I just don't know about them. I try to do them when I attend bird festivals, but it's not quite the same as having a regular gang you meet on a monthly basis in your town.
So I have to know--what other Birds and Beers are out there? Who else is hosting? Have you been to one? Better yet, have you ever wanted one in your town? Consider hosting one, there are suggestions for how to do it on my Birds and Beers page.
Speaking of which, looks like the next Twin Cities Birds and Beers will be February 18, 2013 at the Black Forest Inn at 6pm.
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.
Dang Limpkin
Sometimes, I feel like birds are just toying with me. Birds are not the most cooperative photo objects. I am fully aware that when you are tracking down a bird with a spotting scope (or large camera lens) that a bird's instinct is to wonder if the thing staring at it is trying to eat it. But sometimes I find myself in a battle of wits to get a photo and bird is just being a dink.
I've mentioned before how much I love meandering around Viera Wetlands in Florida. The birds there are very chill and you can get some great shots. But even in places where birds are mellow...sometimes they mess with you.
Towards the end of my time in Florida, I was surprised that I didn't find a limpkin. I've had them in Viera reliably and though I do have photos of them, it's always fun to see birds you don't normally get to see.
On my last day near Viera, I was driving around eeking every photo I could of the early evening light. All of a sudden, a limpkin appeared on the side of the road as I creeped past in my rental car. I went well past it, leapt out of the car and snapped a few backlit photos. A documented limpkin, but not the best since the light was behind the bird and not behind me. Viera Wetlands was crowded with bird festival folk and locals who were taking advantage of the light and the birds as well. I wondered if I could walk past the limpkin and get a photo with it in better light. I got back in my car and reversed, thinking that I would scare the limpkin less if I was in the vehicle, rather than walking past. As soon as I got the car backed up and my scope and camera set up...the limpkin had disappeared back into the vegetation. How can such a large rail like thing hide so easily? Grrrr.
So, I waited. And Waited. The light was beginning to shift from perfect to a little too dim for photos. More cars were approaching so I thought I might as well leave the limpkin behind. After I loaded my scope in the car and slowly drove away...the dang on bird appeared again!! What a dorkwad. So, I went back to where the sun was behind it, got the limpkin in the scope and got about 79 photos of this:
The back of it's dang on head! Now is the point where I wondered if the bird was purposely messing with me. Cars drove past it, some stopped within 15 feet of it and it looked them and then continued about its snail eating business.
Finally, for one brief second, the bird gave me a glance and this is what I got. This bird wasn't going to make it easy. I do like this photo because you can see how the upper mandible on its bill curves slightly to the right at the tip. That's apparently an adaptation for wrenching snails out of the shells. But I can add it to my official digiscoping list for the year.
Speaking of which, as of Saturday, I have 53 different species in my Big Half Year photo album and I've already hit the 50% mark for my pledge goal! Thank you to everyone who is contributing to the effort to get a visitor center built in Sax Zim Bog!
You're Making That Up
Some of you may be aware that Non Birding Bill has been developing a radio game show of sorts with Mr. Neil and hosting preview performances. The previews are to iron out the script kinks and if all goes well, it will eventually be on air. Even though I am married to one of the co-creators of this cool project, I frequently do not know when the preview performances are until the very last minute and they sell out quickly. Above is from the first preview performance and had Bill Corbett, John Hodgman, John Moe, Neil Gaiman (yes, Mr. Neil) and Kevin Murphy. I can't help but look at that photo with quite a bit of pride and think, "Yeah, I know one of the guys who put that together and cowrote the script."
That's my boy surrounded by the cast--note the relieved look on his face immediately after the first performance that was met with a very warm audience reception!
Part of the reason for the last minute nature of the preview is that everyone has crazy schedules and well, if you are the producer in the Twin Cities, you know how challenging it can be to find a theater space ahead of time, much less on short notice. Which is one of the reasons I haven't brought it up on the blog.
Long story short, there's a preview performance next week, February 7, 2013 at 8pm at the Brave New Workshop. This one will have Neil Gaiman, John Moe, Joseph Scrimshaw (yeah, the dude who had me on his podcast Obsessed and argued about my lack of obsession with birds and his having me on again with an etymologist to talk about my supposed obsession with swearing), Mike Fotis...and me (sometimes having a last minute show means you might be suddenly short a guest and it's handy to have a wife who can bs well).
What is this show about? Have you ever watched QI? It's kind of like that. John Moe asks questions and we have to make up an answer. It's funny and weird. So, if you see this in time and you are in the Twin Cities area and you have $12, order tickets at the Brave New Workshop Student Union ASAP. And note that it's the Student Union, don't want to end up at the wrong venue on game night!
Don't Be Afraid Of Your Delete Key
First. I have to say: Wow! THANK YOU! It is amazeballs that what people have pledged so far! Holy crap! I had no idea what to expect donation wise for my Big Half Year, but I thought $1000 should be doable over 6 months, but I wasn't sure. Well, here it's the end of January and I'm almost halfway to my goal! Thank you guys, so, so much! This is fantastic for the Friends of Sax Zim Bog, they are at 20% of their overall goal and with so many participants, I know we are going to be able to make it and get a welcome center built!
I thought I would set a personal goal of having 31 bird photos posted to my Big Half Year photo album by January 31 and I do! There are still more coming from Florida, but it's pretty amazing that the photos are coming along so well.
Check it out, it's Non Birding Bill actually using a spotting scope! What is he looking at?
A crap ton of herons, ibises and a couple of roseate spoonbills at Merritt Island NWR. Even he had to concede that a roseate spoonbill was cool. He actually really enjoyed birding in Florida. Two things helped: one, I didn't force him to do my typical pace and two, the birds were big, obvious and easy to see. Had I started with that instead as a birding introduction instead of brown birds around the college dorm in Terre Haute, Indiana, it may have made a better impression.
As we moved around places like Viera Wetlands, he heard me say more than once, "It's like shooting fish in a barrel!" The birds are so easy in Florida, they are mellow like the above white ibis, used to people and pose in great light. After I would digiscope a few shots with my Nikon, I'd quick switch over to my iPhone to grab a few shots:
It's crazy to me that I live in a day and age that I can just hold my phone up to a spotting scope and take a photo like the one above and then immediately share with hundreds and in some cases thousands of people. We live in a day and age technological miracles and I think that gets lost sometime in the craziness of news and life. Just think about the type of photos you can get that even a decade ago would have been a triumph of the human spirit if you got a grainy image.
With my new Swarovski scope and digiscoping set up, I'm going to have to completely change my photo delete policy. I've always had a pretty liberal delete policy with photos. I know that I have to take hundreds of shots to get some usable ones. I know as a bird blogger, I don't have to have "perfect" shots to post. It's not like a print quality publication where the photos have to be tack sharp to even be considered. I've posted some blurry shots if the story behind them was interesting. But with this new set up, I'm getting too many photos in focus. Above is one of hundreds of northern pintail shots that I took to make sure I got a good shot for my Big Half Year album.
But also got some cute ones of pintail pairs dabbling together--a little pair bonding date.
And then there was the pintail male splashing like crazy on his bath. Most of these I would delete, saving a few for a blog post. I kept track of what I took in Florida. Between my iPhone and my Nikon V1, I digiscoped 6461 photos! So far I have only deleted 2487...that's too many keep.
Part of it is that I digscoped birds I would normally avoid because I'm trying to accumulate species for my fundraising list. But on the other hand, this set up makes getting great shots super easy--look at that boat-tailed grackle shot--it's pretty! But I'm going to fill up my drive too quickly if I am keeping over half the photos that I take on any given trip.
If you are a new digiscoper, that is something to consider. I've been trying to post how many shots I take at a time to help give new digiscopers an idea of how many photos you can take, just to try and get one or two photos. It's ok, you can delete them. Pop in a movie on Netflix and then delete away. Unless you're in Mongolia, most birds you will find again and try to digiscope again.
Birdchick Podcast #131: Cats, Space Coast Festival, Dinosaurs
Hey! Did you know that I'm having a contest to give away my Swarovski ATM spotting scope? Yes, you could win, just send me your worst bird photo (but please read all the contest rules first). This week in crazy bird jobs:
Volunteer Field Assistant for the Blue-throated Macaw
Couples encouraged to apply for land bird surveys!
Reader responds to the new bird job segment about cougars in California and you should check out biobabbler blog post on a cougar in her yard...and her creative defense.
A new comprehensive study about cats effect on wildlife has staggering results.
Another fossil is supposed to make us look at birds differently...don't all fossils, I mean, c'mon? Oh and here's a story about scientists figuring out that a fossil was a female bird that was ovulating...maybe that makes me look at scientists differently...
Swamp sparrows are way more aggressive than you may realize. Here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zo12PP3PZpo#!
It reminds me a lot of the book Birds Fighting.
Fish Crow...man, there is a lot we don't know about this bird
As I'm going through my Florida photos choosing what to add to my official album for my Big Half Year fundraiser, I posted one of my fish crow photos.
Some of you who read this blog and are not that into birds are probably wondering, "Hey, Shaz, how can you tell that's a fish crow as opposed the American crow we see all over the US." Honestly? I can't tell them apart by sight myself, but I can by call. So I took the extra step of getting some video of the above bird so you can hear the call which is a dead give away from the American crow:
http://youtu.be/YpcTqQOjIT4
The call is pretty different. I don't know all that much about fish crows apart from knowing I'll find them when I'm along the coast in the easter US. I checked over at Birds of North America Online and my favorite section to check on bird profiles is "Priorities for Future Research." Boy howdy, though this bird is very common along the eastern coastal areas...there's a lot we don't know! And corvids are down right interesting to study.
I was especially surprised about how little we know about the fish crow repertoire. American crows have a crazy vocal repertoire beyond just the "caw" that most of us know and try to tune out. But they have various types of "caws" and they make weird maraca rattles and can mimic other species (including humans). We don't know that much about the fish crow--exactly how different are they from the American crow?
Graduate students, here's a bird to study...and you could do it some place like Florida!