Crossley Raptor Guide Contest

Hey Gang! It's another contest! In case you have not heard, there's a new Crossley Guide:Raptors coming in April that combines the talents of Richard Crossley, Jerry Liguori and Brian Sullivan. If you have enjoyed his field guides, you will love the individual attention given to each bird of prey found in North America in the new one.

I'm a fan of the guides and use them for reference when I have a bird in a photo with that needs better ID or just use it for some boning up before I go out in the field. I asked Princeton University Press if I could do a contest for a book give away and in the spirit of the fun loving Robert Mortensen at Birding is fun...I think we have a good one.  OK, above is a page from the new guide with my favorite raptor: the northern goshawk adult plumage.

Here is the immature northern goshawk page.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it...photoshop yourself (or a friend or family member) in one of these pages and email to me: sharon at birdchick dot com before 12 NOON Pacific Time on Thursday, March 22, 2013. The best one wins an autographed Crossley ID: Raptors Guide. Best entries and winners will be shared in the blog no later than Monday, March 25 (I have some crazy travel next weekend and my internet might be uncertain).

I'm not saying you have to go hog wild like this image of Robert Mortensen as a common nighthawk, but have a goshawk carry you away, share a beer, gardening--who knows.  The entries that make me giggle the best chances of winning!

Also, there's a sort of online Birds and Beers going on with Crossley and Sullivan on Friday, March 22, 2013 (BYOB).  I'm signed up for it, it looks like fun.  But again, I may very well be on a plane and have to miss it.

Winter Won't Stop Coming

This time last year, I was kind of freaking out because it was crazy warm and I was tapped to help out with some eagle nest surveys. The leaves were fast approaching and there was concern that we wouldn't be able to see into the nests from the plane, much less if there were eggs or chicks.

This year, March is living up to it's reputation as Minnesota's snowiest month. One weather man said, "You know, we're only 11 inches away from our tenth snowiest March...and we have enough snow events coming that we could actually make that record before the end of the month."

So, as I see my friends in the south rejoicing about returning field sparrows and towhees...I try to keep enjoying the winter finches that are remaining in and around the Twin Cities and surrounding areas. Mr. Neil's feeders are still covered in common redpolls. I hear them sometimes fly over as I'm on my evening run around the Chain of Lakes and watch them devour seed at friends feeders. While I was digiscoping the above birds with my iPhone, I thought I would play around with the Vine app.  This app lets you take 15 second videos that look and viola, you have a gif to share all over social media. I'm not sure how much I'll use it for birding, after all how many people need a 15 second loop of redpolls?

This was digiscoped with the Nikon V1.  One of the advantages to the iPhone with the scope eyepiece is a wider field of view.  But man, the photo quality with the Nikon V1 is fantastic. It occurred to me as I was digiscoping the redpolls that I didn't have a pine siskin yet for my Big Half Year Challenge.

There was a pair of siskins hanging around, but they stayed away from the flock of redpolls, preferring to gather seeds on the ground. So I got bird #63 for my challenge. The siskins may stick around, sometimes they nest around Mr. Neil's house, so I may get a chance for a better shot later on, but wanted to make sure I got at least one before they headed back north.

I also got a cardinal photo too.  I'm so pleased with how this turned out, I may replace the cardinal photo that's already in the Big Half Year album...also, I like how I managed to frame the bird in such away that you can't tell there's three feet of snow on the ground.  With the buds on the tree, it almost looks like spring.

Next week brings a crazy travel jag that starts in LA.  I should get some crazy birds for the challenge a respite from the ice...which I just noticed has turned to snow that I'm getting this week.

Springing Forward

Just a reminder that there is a Birds and Beers next Monday, March 18, 2013 at The Black Forest Inn in Minneapolis. Anybody is welcome, if you are interested in birds--it's for you! Have a birding project, tour or book you want to promote? Bring it! I'll be bringing a box of birding stuff--review items, birding samples from various companies--you may go come with a prize! I'll also be bringing along my first copy of this:

I got my very fist copy of my book 1001 Secrets Every Birder Should Know (coming out May 7, 2013)! Spring is always a busy with birds and bird festivals, but I also have this to contend with (in a fun way).  It will come out right while I'm in the middle of The Biggest Week in Birding which is already an action packed week for me. Looks like I'll be doing a couple of Digiscoping with an iPhone workshops as well as a Birds and Beers and hopefully...a book signing for my new book!

This book is not going to change the world, but my goal is that someone who is aware of birds may pick up a few fun tidbits, maybe some interesting dinner party conversation or inspiration and take their birding to the next level. Hopefully, I won't get disbarred from the birding world for revealing all of the secrets!

The fun thing is to flip through the book and see photos I took and remember where I was and who I was with when that photo was taken.  It's kind of an odd little birding scrapbook of my life. I hope people enjoy it and that it doesn't irritate people too much.

Birdchick Podcast #137: Top Birding Questions Answered!

Recent bird jobs. Hey, remember how we talked about Georgia hanging up fake vultures to scare away vulutres...well New Jersey is hanging up real dead vultures.

Ambient traffic noise can kind of emasculate singing male birds. Also, some species change their songs over the years.

Remix your birdsong contest.

Huh, crystals can be formed from birds poop.

The New York Times just doesn't care about the sage grouse issue because they illustrated their article with this:

Screen Shot 2013-03-12 at 8.39.29 PM

The Gunnison sage grouse should be on the endangered species list. Please consider commenting on it to US Fish and Wildlife.

If you haven't seen this on Facebook, check out the yellow cardinal in Ohio.

One Tough Old Bald Eagle In Red Wing, MN

If anyone is in driving distance of The National Eagle Center wants to play with the new Swarovski ATX spotting scopes or try out some digiscoping, I will be hanging out at the Big River Optics booth this Saturday and Sunday (March 16 and 17) from 10am  - 4pm. We can practice with a smartphone or SLR. You can even try my Nikon V1. The center has a ton of fun things on tap this weekend, so you can really make a day of it. Also, I highly recommend including a stop right across the river from Wabasha to the Nelson Creamery for some cheesy goodness.

Speaking of The National Eagle Center, I had the privilege of doing a ranger program before Scott Mehus from the National Eagle Center went on.  This was a real treat for me, he is a master at giving programs to kids and all audience ages. When you see a pro at work, even if you already know the information they are going to present, it's a pleasure to watch them in action. If you ever see Scott advertised for your local bird club, even if you think eagles aren't your thing--go.  I bet he could even make accounting interesting!  You can also meet him at the National Eagle Center too.  A great guy...who not only knows his way around a bird of prey, but also makes some very tasty cookies (his wife is a lucky lady).

So of course after my program, I had to do some digiscoping. Colvill Park in Red Wing, Minnesota is a well know spot for watching eagles from November through March.  Though, with the nests in the area, you can see them any time, the eagle numbers are simply larger in winter.

There generally seems to be one adult bald eagle that perches regularly in the park itself, sometimes right over the well used trail along the river. I was digiscoping that bird (as were several photographers) and it seemed completely oblivious. It didn't pay us any mind. As I looked through my scope, I noticed a crack in its beak. I wondered if it flew into something at some point or if it had an altercation with another bald eagle over territory.  It certainly didn't perch near the other bald eagles along the river.

As I was taking photos, the bird would look around and I noticed that on the other side of its face, they eye didn't look good. Let's take a closer look:

That doesn't look like a functional eye.  Then I remembered an eagle that Non Birding Bill and I saw in Colvill Park a few winters earlier.  When I came home, I dug through my photo archive:

I took this photo on January 17, 2011.  I wonder if it is the same bird?  I don't have any shots of the other side of the beak to see the crack, but the eye looks similar and this was a bird you could get fairly close to in the park:

I'm willing to bet money that this is the same bird. There's plenty of easy food opportunities around Red Wing for an eagle that is not at the top of its game. If this is the same bird, it was an adult in this photo from 2011--so at least 5 years old.  I took a photo two winters later, making it at least 7, but when I took the original photo, it could have already been 10 years old.  It's tough to say.

I'm always amazed by a bird's resiliency.  Many wildlife rehab centers wouldn't release a bird with one eye.  The bird could become an education bird or in some cases, euthanized. But more and more, I see examples of birds that appear to do well and even thrive with one eye, here's at least one red-tail that I've talked about and you have you read about Julie Zickefoose's titmouse she calls Scarface that most likely survived an accipiter attack? Here's the initial photo...and here it is over a month later.

So, if you are in the Twin Cities, maybe make a day of it.  Drive down to Red Wing's Colvill Park and see if you can find this eagle, then head a bit further south to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha and say hi to me...and don't forget Nelson for some tasty, tasty cheese.

A Surprise Bird

I got a surprise bird for my Big Half Year fundraiser for the Friends of Sax Zim Bog...a Townsend's Solitaire a mere three miles from my house. This bird is a bit out of range. And normally, I'm not much of a chaser in Minnesota, I've seen this bird before in its usual range and years ago at bird festival in northern Minnesota but when I've tried to chase wayward solitaires in the Twin Cities, I have zero luck. As a matter of fact, Friday was my third trip to cemetery to look for the bird.

I'd seen the report right away on my BirdsEye app and headed out the first day.  No luck.  I tried again...no luck. I saw on Facebook that some local birders were getting it, so I gave it one more try on Friday. We had about nine inches of snow this week and when I arrived at the cemetery, I could see where birders had been looking for the solitaire. I meandered around for about an hour and didn't even see a bird let alone a solitaire. Usually this cemetery has the usual suspects (cardinals and chickadees) and currently a boat load of pine siskins.

Then I found the reason why...what I at first thought was a sharp-shinned hawk. It was large so I figured female. The head looked rounded and it was a smaller bird. This is a photo I took with my iPhone and scope.

The hawk was in no hurry to leave and preened its feathers for quite awhile. This photo was with my Nikon V1 and Swarovski ATX scope. As the bird was moving around, I realized that it may not be a sharp-shinned hawk, but was probably a male Cooper's hawk. Here's a great break down down between sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks.

Even though while preening the bird's head looks rounded, the back of the head is lighter than the cap and the white band on the tip of the tail is very thick, so it has to be a Cooper's hawk. While it was preening, the poor thing got one of its belly feathers caught in its eye. But I didn't have an accipiter yet for my big year, so this was bird number 61.

Eventually the Coops flew off and I waited for bird activity to resume. Despite all the snow, cardinals started singing cautiously, soon followed by house finches and pine siskins. I watched all the juniper trees with berries to no avail.  I staked out the spots the bird had been reported on eBird and scanned and canned the junipers with the most berries. After two hours of lurking in the cemetery, I decided to head home.  I needed to grab one more ingredient for dinner anyway. I sent Non Birding Bill a text to give him a head's up that I was going to be home soon...some of the following conversation may be edited:

Me: Screw this solitaire

NBB: And yet I know that's not an autocorrect problem

Me: -_-

I packed up my scope, binoculars and camera, put them in my trunk and started the I car. Then I began to leave the cemetery and a robin sized bird flew over the road and I knew, I just knew that was the frickin' solitaire. I stopped and texted NBB again:

Me: Holy crap, I just saw the solitaire!

I scurried to get get my scope and camera out, angle my equipment so the solitaire was in good light and...

As if making up for all the times I'd been out to look for it this week, the bird perched in perfect light. Someone driving by saw me take my scope out of the trunk and pulled over. "I saw you take your scope out, do you have it?"

And I was happy to give him a look.  His wife showed up a few minutes later and they were kind enough to stay with the solitaire while I did a loop around the cemetery to see if anyone else was around to see it. Apparently the three of us were the last in the Twin Cities to get the Townsend's solitaire, no one else was around.

And now I have bird number 62 for my Big Half Year. I was kind of taking a break this week to catch up on work because I have some insane travel coming the second half of March and early April that should really bump up my bird numbers, but a solitaire was too good to pass up.

If you don't know what my Big Half Year is, it is a fundraiser for the Friends of Sax Zim Bog to help build a visitor center for all the birders who go up there to see great gray owls, northern hawk owls, boreal chickadees and well just all the cool birds you can see there.  I don't care if you donate on my behalf or any of the other really cool birders fundraising for the cause, so long as you donate.  The minimum amount is $10.  So if you have ever visited the bog or plan to, consider donating what you can.  The visitor center will help guide people to a better birding experience and help them avoid some of the weirder parts of the bog (like the scary guy who chases you off the public Stickney Road).

My goal is to see how many different bird species I can digiscope from January 1 through June 30 (though I may keep it up for the rest of the year because I like the challenge). To see all of my digiscoped photos for the Big Half Year, check my Flickr Album.

I'm already half past my goal, so thank you everyone who has donated so far!

Birdchick Podcast #136: Too many bird jobs

  The latest in bird photography shaming on YouTube. A guy teases a great gray owl with live bait (he didn't even give the bird the food--what the heck, jerk wad?)

So...if you want to get rid of vultures...you hang out dead vultures?

Is someone going to try and "de-extinct" the passenger pigeon? (I apologize for the amount of times the blog author uses the word "hip." Oy.

What's up with the whooping crane that was shot in Texas by a hunter?

Hilarious take on Duck Duck Goose.

The grossest cowbird photo series you'll see this week!

So cool.  Prairie Birder has created her own digiscoping adapter! Swarovski, give her an internship!

NBB has another podcast: Drinking With Geeks!

The Unfeathered Bird aka Coolest Bird Book so far this year

I have been so excited about getting a review copy of this book for months! At fist I was bummed because I knew others were getting it but then realized it went to an old address. When I opened the box, I fell in love right away! This is the coolest bird book that I've seen come down the pike in the last year.  It's called The Unfeathered Bird by Katrina van Grouw, a former curator of the ornithological collections at London's Natural History Museum.

I think this is my favorite image in the book, it's a gentoo penguin jumping out of the water, its body reflected on the surface. The bird is missing feathers and skin and you can see the muscle structure as the bird is in motion. This book initially seems a macabre nature book, but the book teaches you so much about avian anatomy and structure.

This freaky little image is a budgerigar without feathers, skin or muscles drawn by the author. Look at how long the neck is! So that is what is under your cute little budgie if you share a home with one. And you learn some very fun tidbits of information that are written in an accessible way, like:

" The skull of parrots is unique in having the orbits of the eyes completely encircled by bone. This gives the skull greater strength to withstand the crushing action of the jaws."

Who knew?

This is an illustration of a buzzard (similar to red-tailed hawks in North America) and you can see the muscles and the wing and tail feathers--fascinating and surprising how it all works together to get the bird in a thermals. This book will make you rethink birding structure when you see them in the wild.

As if accipiters didn't look freaky enough, here's a Eurasian sparrowhawk without feathers killing a Eurasian collared dove.  I can see this book having appeal to people who aren't as interested in birds because it is just so strange. The freaky illustrations can appeal to the Edward Gorey crowd, the anatomy can appeal to the ornithologists and the easy to understand text appeal to the casual birder. If you are looking for a unique, artistic book...and perhaps a few ideas for an interesting tattoo--this book is it.  I highly recommend it, it's worth the hard cover price.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, Princeton University Press is coming out the coolest titles these days.

Birdchick Podcast #135: Geolocators, Jesus in Bird Poop

An internship for someone who is a furry and a bird watcher!

10 huge discoveries about migration discovered with geolocators.

Somebody in Ohio sees Jesus in bird poop...so of course he's going to auction it.

Weird looking redpoll in Alaska.

Grouse attack!!

Crow article.

In case we didn't know this...pesticide over use is REALLY bad for birds.

A general owl article that I saw Johh Cusack link to on Twitter.

Digiscoping Video

Non Birding Bill and I made some videos in Florida with the new Swarovski ATX spotting scope.  If you have not been to Florida, warning, this will make you want to hop a plane and go down there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNXoH22HLtw&list=UUcVJYmY1E0Lzar9p6qalw6g&index=1