The Drinking Bird

My Life's Birds: #139-161

2008-10-15T07:00:00.007-04:00

March 31, 1994 - Santa Ana NWR, Alamo, Tx - There are places on earth that are so undeniably birdy, that any time spent there, especially the first time spent there, is immediately burned into your memory. These are places in which that you know, no matter how long you've been at it, that you are without a doubt, a birder and this is what you were born to do. For me, one of those defining places is Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, truly a jewel in the North America's birding crown, and the first place my dad and I hit on our first morning in the Valley.

I remember pulling into the parking lot as the sun was starting to come up and stepping out of the car to be greeted by strange sounds of bizarre birds piercing the humid morning air. We quickly found a climbing vine and no sooner had we begun to take a close look at its tubular flowers then a Buff-bellied Hummingbird zoomed in, did that thing that hummingbirds do at flowers and booked out. It was on.

We hit the trail and things started happening quickly. Plain Chachalacas screaming in another day, a Least Grebe in the canal by the levee, White-winged Doves in the grass, their White-tipped cousins quiet in the trees. Green Jays, so gaudy it's hard to believe they're actually real, whipping back and forth from mesquite on one side of the path to the other in family groups, adding to the spectacle. That's just the way it is here. It's not just the wildly different stuff either. Nearly every single other niche is filled with a slightly familiar but completely different species. Long-billed Thrashers digging in the leaves instead of Browns. Black-crested Titmice scolding calls replace Tufted. The rolling Melanerpes churrr leads you to Golden-fronted Woodpecker instead of Red-bellied, a loopy whistle to an Altamira Oriole in the top of a tree instead of Baltimore. The wildly different, the differently familiar, it's all par or the course, and all evident in the first hour.

The trail eventually leads to three resacas, oxbow lakes formed by the twisting and turning of the Rio Grande in years past, where the forest opens up and birds more familiar, but for this young birder, still new, can be found. Typically one can find Whistling Ducks along with the regular dabblers here, and shorebirds in the shallows. We picked up both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and several Long-billed Dowitchers. Common Yellowthoats sang from the cattails and I finally got my first look at the ubiquitous marsh bandit, along with peeks at a White-eyed Vireo, a bird I'd heard often back home but had never yet coaxed out of the bushes. This extensive marsh is special to Santa Ana, and hard to find elsewhere in a region where standing water is quickly diverted to agriculture.

We continued walking a trail around the refuge, and it's funny to think about, but on all subsequent trips to Santa Ana, we've retraced that original route. Along the way we'd pick up more of the birds that make this place so special. Olive Sparrows in the underbursh, Brown-crested Flycatchers and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers in the dryer areas, and perhaps most memorably, a Great Kiskadee hunting minnows in a shallow pond. It acted more like a Kingfisher than a flycatcher, but the Kiskadee is a very strange bird and refuses to be pigeon-holed.

As we were leaving the temperature was rising, and birders had staked out on the levee near the entrance watching a parade of migrating raptors passing overhead. They were happy to show us the birds, mostly Broad-winged Hawks heading north in impressive numbers, but included in the flood were both White-tailed Hawks and White-tailed Kites. As we left, Couch's Kingbirds perched on power lines on the highway back to my grandparent's and a flock of migrating Long-billed Curlews flushed from a wet meadow, a surprising end to a great day.

The kind of day you're happy to be a birder.

Green Jay photo by Eleanor Briccetti via flickr
Great Kiskadee from wikipedia

Piney Bottom

2008-10-14T07:00:00.007-04:00

Autumn is probably the best season in North Carolina. Summer's too hot, spring's too short, and winter is wet and windy. But autumn drags out till after Thanksgiving, day after day of cool mornings and clear days where it's easy to convince yourself to get out in the field. So yesterday I headed south to Weymouth Woods in the Sandhills where a banding operation has been getting some good movement of migrating birds in the last week. When I arrived, the fog moving through the pines made for a kind of ghostly scene.

Weymouth Woods is best known for its Pine Barrens habitat, the Longleaf Pine savanna known for such local specialties as Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Bachman's Sparrows. In fact, most of the park contains this highly transitional and apecialized habitat, but I was more interested in the lowlands filled with gum and poplar swamp and conventional oak-pine forest. I thought this would be my best bet for finding any transient species.

I was mostly right. I quickly came across a flock of small birds that notably contained a pair of Black-throated Blue Warblers and newly arrived Ruby-crowned Kinglets. A short walk down the trail I heard a soft call note, like a leaky faucet dripping into t apool of water. Peering into the underbrush I found two Gray-cheeked Thrushes, the very bird I had on my list for this outing. North Carolina's third record of Bicknell's Thrush was mist-netted here a couple days before. Could these birds have been that cryptic species? Possibly, but nothing I was going to see would have lead me one way or the other.

The entire morning I was made especially aware of the changing seasons. Not only did I find fall migrants like the Warblers and Thrushes, but Kinglets were everywhere and the first Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers of the season had arrived. The opportunity for any migrants that I may have missed is running out, fortunately they're aren't more than a handfull left at this point.

I didn't search much for the other Pine Barrens species, I heard the Woodpeckers but they were some distance away and I decided not to chase them. Bachman's Sparrows are like feathered mice this time of year, and it's getting a bit too cold at night for the cool herps and insects, not that I've been lucky enough to find them anyway. But I did spook an individual of the local subspecies of Fox Squirrel on a pine tree. It's really funky, looking more like a skunk than a squirrel.

This one had a big white splotch on its back too in addition to the white nose and paws. It's kind of amazing how well these guys can camoflauge against the burned ground and trunks of these pine trees. Fire, remember, is the defining characteristic of this ecosystem, everything revolves around it. It's the only place in the world where you can find these weird squirrels, which in addition to being distinctly colored, are about three times the size of the Eastern Gray Squirrels that are also present.

So I can close the book on the North Carolina Thrushes (minus Bicknell's I guess), and start thinking about picking up the birds I missed at the beginning of the year.

The single-issue voter: A birder's look at John McCain (R)

2008-10-13T07:00:00.002-04:00

The question remains however, whether McCain will cave on his independence on this issue, as he has on torture, if captains of industry come up to him with buckets of money to revive his fading campaign. I'd like to think no, but politics is a fickle game.

Well folks, the results are in. And it's just as I feared. So many of McCain's moderate, even progressive, takes on the environment have been suppressed, or even completely reversed. He previously opposed drilling for oil offshore, he's now for it. I've written about how bad this would be for North Carolina, it's easy to extrapolate these concerns nationwide. And while technically McCain still claims to oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge, his running mate unequivocally supports it. I suspect that this disagreement is merely political, allowing McCain to continue to appeal to oil companies without having to ruin his reputation with environmentally-minded republicans. But I'm a cynic.

He used to oppose ethanol subsidies, a principled and unpopular stand, but now supports them. And, most damning, he has missed votes on extending tax credits for alternative energy no fewer than eight times in the last year. In fact, when asked about his absences last August, McCain simply lied, stating "I’ve always been for all of those and I have not missed any crucial vote." Most recently, on Dec. 13, 2007, the Senate was considering a bill to spend $13 billion on renewable power over five years. The vote to allow the amendment to be brought to the Senate floor required 60 votes; it received 59 for, 40 against, and one senator absent. The absent Senator was McCain. Fortunately, these tax credits were included as part of the recent $700 billion economic stimulus package, and were re-upped with McCain's, perhaps unwilling, help.

Conservation has been a similarly difficult issue for McCain. This summer, McCain famously mocked Barack Obama for talking about efficiency measures, like inflating one’s car tires, even though such measures would save more than 10 times as much oil as ending the moratorium on coastal drilling would. He is also on the record for opposing initiative to increase conservation of electric energy through household appliances.

Those issues of true importance to birders, those concerning habitat conservation and wildlife management, are largely absent on McCain's own website and from his campaign thus far. Energy reigns supreme, but one can infer his public positions on bird topics from the his own recent Senate record and, perhaps especially, the science policy of his running mate. Such projections are not positive for birders and naturalists.

Perhaps, the last word should be left to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman:

With his choice of Sarah Palin — the Alaska governor who has advocated drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and does not believe mankind is playing any role in climate change — for vice president, John McCain has completed his makeover from the greenest Republican to run for president to just another representative of big oil.

Nuff said.

Next week: Democratic contender Barack Obama.

Band Practice

2008-10-10T07:00:00.005-04:00

Sometimes my volunteer work at the NC Museum of Science takes me outside the Bird Lab. We have been running a banding operation out of the museum's field station, Prairie Ridge, for a few years now. I've been fortunate to help out on days I don't have to work. And this week, I had one of those days.

We were hoping to pick up a few migrants moving through, but by far, the most common bird in the nets that morning were American Goldfinches. There were huge flocks of them, consisting of mostly first year birds. One net we came upon had 70 birds caught at one time! Needless to say, it took a lot of work to get all of the tiny birds freed. And in the end we had so many Goldfinches we couldn't take all of them back to the station, some had to just be freed right there.

The pic below is an example of a sight we'd see frequently...

We managed to get a few interesting birds out of the nest that were not Goldfinches though. There were lots of migrating Palm Warblers, and one female Blue Grosbeak that was practically bulging with fat reserves, likely soon to be on her way south. This is in addition to the Prairie Ridge regulars like Mockingbirds, Bluebirds, and this cool male Pine Warbler.

My personal favorite of the day was not a particularly colorful bird, but this a female Black-throated Blue Warbler. She was a feisty bird, even though she was drained of fat reserves, I suspect she had rode the cold front in that had moved through the night before. In her morning foraging to replenish her tank she got caught in our net. We bagged and tagged her and sent her on her way.

This is probably the only time I'll get to band with the museum this fall, to my dismay. It's a blast to have the bird in your hands. To notice things you don't see often, like the yellow soles of Palm Warbler feet or the pin feathers on the head of a molting Catbird, even if having a bird in your hand means occasionally putting up with powerful jaws of a Northern Cardinal (and they hurt something fierce).

If you ever have the opportunity to help out a bander, take it. It's a great opportunity to get up close and personal to the birds we too often see from behind glass.

EXTRA! EXTRA! I and the Bird!

2008-10-09T07:00:00.004-04:00

Right here. Next week. Let's have your submissions folks, you can run but you can't hide!

Send submissions to me at naswick AT gmail DOT com.

My Life's Birds: #126-138

2008-10-08T07:00:00.009-04:00

March 30, 1994 - to Lower Rio Grande Valley, Tx - I admit up front to being a very fortunate young birder. Not only did I have a family that was extremely supportive of my burgeoning obsession, but I had, by coincidence really, access to to some pretty phenomenal birding locales. My family loved to vacation in Florida, and instead of DisneyWorld and Miami Beach, we went to Sannibel Island, home of "Ding" Darling NWR where the birds are. And perhaps best of all, I had grandparents, who through nothing more than sheer luck on my part, decided to spend their golden years in Mission, Texas, the heart of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, with arguably the best birding in the entire United States.

And so, in March of every year, we'd load up the van to spend spring break in the Lower Valley, an entire week surrounded by top flight birding and phenomenal tropical birds found nowhere else in the nation. So you can understand that I was excited. On the Friday that school got out, we'd immediately start driving, typically making it across Oklahoma and through Dallas before turning in. The next day we'd have to meander down to the valley at a leisurely pace, and with the Lane Guide to the Rio Grande Valley in my lap, and responses to a bird-finding query on Birdchat (yeah, we were all over it, even back in '94) we had a couple places to hit on our way.

It wasn't long before we began seeing the first life bird of the trip, flocks of Great-tailed Grackles, just south of Waco. They were new back then, but in years since they've made it all the way into Southwest Missouri. Once we got south of San Antonio, however, the birding really began to get interesting. As the hill country of central Texas turns into the dry chaparral of the south, Harris' Hawks begun showing up on power poles along the highway, soon joined by the undeniably tropical Crested Caracara. I distinctly remember that Caracara too, feeding on carrion on the side of the road and bounding off, stiff-legged and ungainly, as our car sped by. Add to that the Cliff Swallows flocking to adobe nests under every overpass, and you knew you were someplace really different.

But the key stop on this leg of the journey was an otherwise unremarkable roadside rest stop on the highway south of Sarita, Texas. The Sarita reststop was, at the time, very well known for one bird in particular, and it had the possibility of being the best bird of the entire trip.

It's not hard to get a family to pull over at a rest stop. The opportunity to stretch one's legs on the long lone-star drive, not to mention an opportunity to use the restrooms made a birding request that might be otherwise be shot down an easy sell. As we pulled in, the small park sandwiched between the four lanes of highway looked fairly normal, a few mesquite trees and a building holding the restrooms, but the birds, man, the birds came fast and furious and immediately.

Neotropical migrants had begun to move north and here we found Summer Tanagers, Blue-headed Vireos (then called Solitary), and a plain Bell's Vireo. Within those groups were resident Hooded Orioles sneaking through the thick mesquite branches, and there! The bird we'd come for, tiny but larger than life and brilliantly marked, a Tropical Parula! A pair even! At this time they had been nesting at this place for a couple years and were well-known to locals, which in turn made them well-known to visitors. Lots of birders got their life Tropical Parula at the Sarita reststop, it's a desirable bird to visitors to the Valley, and quite possible the rarest bird on my lifelist thus far.

Thanks to the suggestion of the birder's friend, Jim Lane, one more stop, this time Delta Lake, picked up a large flock of American White Pelicans and two unique waterfowl to the area, both Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling Ducks. It wasn't much longer before we finally arrived at my grandparent's house, but the birds didn't stop there. When I say that nearly everything is different in the Valley, I mean even the neighborhood birds have that special tropical flavor. As proof, walking down the street as we pulled in, was my last lifer of the day, a tiny Inca Dove.

So, yeah, this was gonna be a good trip.

photos from World Birding Center

Mountains Manned

2008-10-07T07:00:00.009-04:00

With fall migration in full swing across many parts of the country there are times it seems as though most of the birds have already punched their tickets for tropical climes. Add that to some really serious energy issues that have hit the southeast in the wake of Hurricane Ike limiting my excursions beyond the immediate area, and I was beginning to think that the fall was going to pass me by.

Well, the energy issues have begun to abate, and with a couple more weeks of fall migration in front of me I took the opportunity to head west to the Blue Ridge Parkway to see if I could pick up any of those holes that have thus far plagued my year list. Fortunately, the mountains aren't that far away, and by 9 AM I was pulling on to the Parkway with windows open listening for any sign of migrating birds.

It wasn't long before I found my first group of chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches, and in that group, my first warblers, some Black and Whites, my first Yellow-rumped of the season and a sharp Bay-breasted Warbler. It was the first of what would be nearly 50 Bays I'd see throughout the day, they must have recently made a seriously push through the area. Nearly every single group of birds I found had at least one, and several many more. It's strange, then, that I've never seen this bird in its spring finery, only in the fall. One of these days, right?

I followed a path to a waterfall and along the way ran into a couple more groups of migrating birds. Tennessee Warblers were nearly as thick as the Bays, and a few Orange-crowns made sure to keep the identifications a little tricksy. Among the groups were pairs of Swainson's Thrushes, small groups of Blue-headed Vireos, and several Black-throated Blue Warblers, one of my absolute favorites. It was actually a really good morning for birds, and even with a latish start it felt like I was really in the middle of it.

I had a theory for finding birds. It involved driving the Parkway with all my windows open slow enough so that I could hear birds, usually chickadees and nuthatches, calling. At that point I'd pull over, jump out, and look for birds. This turned out to be a pretty successful plan, and every time I pulled off I added another species of warbler to my day list. A Black-throated Green here, a couple Magnolias there, a Chestnut-sided and a Blackburnian at the next stop, and finally, a pair of Cape May Warblers, another warbler I've only ever seen in the fall and a new bird for the year.

My secret for this wealth of warblers was the old Screech Owl whistle, a trick taught to me by my dad. Every time I pulled it out it would bring in the Chickadees and Juncos like gangbusters, and usually, right after the initial rush, the warblers would slide in to investigate. Nearly every warbler I got was a direct result of the alternating Screech Owl/pishing strategy. Why it worked so well yesterday I don't know, but I suspect it had something to do with the fact that the majority of birds in the field were first years and therefore, not quite up to distinguishing a legitimate Screech Owl from a whistling dude.

It must have been a fairly good imitation though, because at one spot I didn't only bring in some warblers, but I also goaded an real live Eastern Screech-Owl into calling a bit in the middle of the day. So that, thankfully, reduces the need to cruise the forested backroads of Durham County later in the year.

I spent a couple more hours on the Parkway, finding more individuals of birds I'd already seen, but nothing new. I had hoped that a couple more warblers, Nashville and Golden-winged specifically, might be in the cards but twas not to be. I may still find them around here, fingers crossed and all, and 300 still looks like a reasonable expectation.

In the end it was just a nice fall day in the mountains, and you can't beat that.

Gone Birdin': Pt 2

2008-10-06T07:00:00.006-04:00

I'm making one last ditch effort to find migrating birds today. I have some fairly significant holes that need to be filled.

Come back tomorrow to see how I did.

Grandfathered Mountain

2008-10-03T07:00:00.005-04:00

How much does a mountain cost? Well, if you're the state of North Carolina you can probably pick one up for around $12 million, give or take.

In a move that's being hailed by conservationists all over the state, not to mention birders and hikers, the state of North Carolina has purchased Grandfather Mountain, the second tallest in the state and long the private property of the Morton family. The 2600 acre purchase includes an additional 600 acres easement, and will transfer the mountain to the public ownership of the state and prevents the development of the vast area along the Blue Ridge Parkway, just south of Boone.

Grandfather Mountain is the only United Nations recognized International Biosphere Reserve in the state, and until the sale, was the only privately owned area in the world designated as such. Famous for its environmental interpretive mission, the park included wild animal enclosures in addition to its miles of hiking trails, the park was kind of a combination of zoo and park. I have never been there, the admission price was, and will continue to be, steep, but the protection of nearly 3000 acres of high altitude spruce fir forest is a big deal for all of us for support conservation, and the money raised will now be going to a non-profit organization that goes towards further land purchases by the state, which can only be good news.

Said Mike Easley, the Governor of North Carolina:

“If you can get a Grandfather Mountain for $12 million, you'd better get as many as you can,” he said. “That is a deal for the people of the state of North Carolina.”

Certainly an attitude that can be shared by all conservation-minded citizens of the state.

The single-issue voter: A birder's look at Joe Biden (D)

2008-10-02T07:00:00.005-04:00

The seemingly never ending election season is finally drawing to a close. But for those still wondering about the policies of the national candidates as they apply to birds and birders, The Drinking Bird is here for you. Every other week until November, I'll be looking at the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates' bird platforms. Hold your horses, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Next in line, the Democratic Vice-presidential nominee, Joe Biden of Delaware.

I addressed last week the merits of breaking down the environmental policies of vice-Presidential candidates in addition to those of the Presidential candidates. Not only has the current administration seen a drastic increase in the power and influence of the Vice-president, but Clinton eight years prior was famous for passing the responsibility for environmental policy to Al Gore, perhaps the most environmentally aware Vice-president in history. In short, this is a well-traveled road, and definitely worth addressing.

Speaking of well-traveled roads, all future candidate snapshots in the series are roughly re-runs of reviews I published last year at approximately this time. Here's Biden, at the time a candidate for President. I still believe that the best barometer for his potential environmental bona fides as VP is his voting record as a Senator, and as Biden has been a Senator for a very long time, we have plenty to work with.

A quick synopsis of the last assessment; he's against drilling, for regulation of pollutants, for biofuel subsidies (boo!), he's protected habitat in Delaware, and fought for third world debt relief in exchange for rainforest conservation (yay!). He's also got a respectable 83% lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters. On the whole (with the exception of the biofuel thing) a positive platform and one birders can be comfortable with.

In an interview last year, when asked what the environmental acheivement he was proudest of, he cited the protection of a large swath of Delware beach, placing in trust the entire expanse from Cape Henlopen to Rehoboth Beach, banning development on beachfront nearly 20 miles from end to end. For a state as small as Delware, that's not insignificant. For those birders aware of the plight of shorebirds, specifically the Red Knot whose population has plummeted not least of which due to stopover habitat destruction, it's clear this may prove to be an important development, or rather, lack of development.

Biden's primary area of expertise is foreign policy, and as such the environmental issues he has taken on have primarily been those of "energy security". Conservation policies have taken a backseat to issues of diplomacy, but he certainly appears to have his heart in the right place when it comes to issues of most importance to birders and naturalists.

Certainly, compared to his Republican counterpart, he's practically John Muir.

Coming soon: John McCain, Republican candidate for President.

My Life's Birds: #125

2008-10-01T07:00:00.004-04:00

March 17, 1994 - Christian Co, Mo - There are few species of birds that are known to birders worldwide, and by worldwide I mean on six of the seven continents (Antarctica doesn't really count). There's something a little cool about looking at a bird that is as familiar to a birder in China or Sweden as it is to those of us in the eastern United States, even more so if you're in a far flung locale, only to find an old friend.

One of the best known of these widely distributed species is the Winter Wren, known alternately in the wren-poor eastern hemisphere as simply, "Wren". This denizen of thick scrubby undergrowth is a symbol of winter for many on the US, myself included. They seem to be especially active as the winter begins to turn towards spring. After school most days, I'd head to the forest behind the house, binoculars in hand, to see what I could find. I knew spring was an exciting time, and I was anxious to find new birds even if the real rush was a couple months off. This time, though, I found a tiny wren in a thick bush, #125.

Birds were definitely on my mind these days. Spring Break was coming up, and we were heading out to visit my Grandmother in the next couple weeks. It doesn't sound like much, but that's where I point out that my grandmother lives in South Texas. Next stop, the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

photo by diddy from flickr

September 2008: Retrospecticus

2008-09-30T07:00:00.004-04:00

Fall migration is in full swing as we come to the end of another month here at The Drinking Bird. let's step back and have a look at what happened.

We found out what happened to that golfer who killed a hawk.

I spent some time at the museum, showing the facility we use to prepare bird specimens, and then a two part series on how that actually happens.

Introduced you all to a Swainson's Warbler project I'm working on.

I railed against drilling offshore in North Carolina, sadly only a week before the Democrats allowed that ban to expire.

Mentioned a couple interesting new resources for birders to use on the internet. I realize now perhaps I was a tad unfair towards Birdpost, if anyone has any positive experiences with the program feel free to leave a comment to that effect*.

As politics becomes the big story nationwide, I began a look at those who would fill the executive ticket, starting with the staggeringly disappointing Sarah Palin, and introduced a side of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that birders might find interesting.

And, as always, I did some birding. From cool shorebirds to Hurricane waifs to local bird counts and songbirds, it's been a pretty productive month.

On an secondary Big Year note, I have recently become aware that I am not the only birder in North Carolina attempting the feat. Derb Carter, a Chapel Hill area lawyer and keen birder, is also putting together quite a list, and in a recent post to the state listserve he placed his total at a staggering 338, a full 60 birds ahead of me. Though perhaps I should have realized something, now that I think on it he was on both pelagics I took this year. So he's on the way to breaking the record in a year that is noteworthy not only for relatively few vagrants but also astounding energy issues. I imagine being a lawyer who drives a Prius certainly helps, but I can't help but feel a bit of schadenfreude in that I do have a couple birds he doesn't.

Alas, it looks as though my record is only a personal one, a realization I had been coming to myself anyway. Best of luck to Derb as he shoots for the magical 349!

The highlight next month will undoubtedly be my second hosting of I and the Bird, so keep me in mind for that. Fall birds will be coming hot and heavy the first part of the month, at least I hope so, and we'll finish up with looks at the rest of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

Thanks for stopping by!

*Edit: I gave in and tried Birdpost. See comments for reactions.

A Rose by any other breast, is still freakin' sweet

2008-09-29T07:00:00.006-04:00

This time of year I'd love to scoot out west to catch the migrating birds following the Appalachian mountain range. It's practically an interstate highway for southward bound birds, and birders in that part of the state, nearly every year, pick up some cool species that are unheard of this far east. Right around this time, the last week of September, the flood reaches it's highest level.

But that's not really an option just now, another indication that I may have picked the wrong year to do a Big Year in the southeast. We're still feeling the effects of Hurricane Ike around here. While the issue immediately following landfall was exorbitant prices, the problem now is one of supply. We're out of gas around here, and service stations across the state are ghost pumps with plastic bags covering nozzles and signs stripped of prices. Texas tea is decidedly hard to come by, and even harder to predict just which station is holding at any given time. Out west, the situation is even worse, and if I were to make a trip out there I run the distinct risk of not being able to make it home the same day. Perhaps the birding gods are conspiring against my record run, between the price spikes this summer and this Ike trouble, they've done a fine job scuttling it so far.

But if the birding is hot stuff out west, it's still fair around here. So in the interest of keeping it close to home, it was back again to Mason Farm where the fall is coming along rather nicely. We've had plenty of rain this year so the Tulip Poplars are sprouting their winter buds, the Persimmons are big and juicy, and nearly every vine supports red or blue berries. Needless to say, the birds are all over this fall bounty.

Nearly all the birds I saw on the day were feasting on berries or buds of some sort. The White-eyed Vireos and Gray Catbirds were the most abundant, but I ran into a few warblers; Black and White, Redstart, Parula, Yellow-throated, Chat and the year-round Yellowthroats.

The birds weren't the only ones partaking in the gluttony. I nearly stepped on a particularly colorful Eastern Box Turtle (note to self, look down once in a while) feeding on sticky, sappy fallen persimmons.

But the highlight of the morning had to be the acquisition of the most frustrating unrequited tick on my year list. Feeding on the winter poplar buds just as I hoped one would be, was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a bird I've had some trouble tracking down this year. Perhaps now that my biggest year bogey is behind me things will really start picking up. And I'm ready for my electric car any time now, you know, in case anyone about there can help me out.

Sympathy for the Devil

2008-09-26T07:00:00.008-04:00

Sorry to keep harping about politics, but it's hard to go anywhere these days without that being the biggest news story of the day. As something of a political wonk myself, I've been paying perhaps too much attention to the goings on lately. If ignorance is truly bliss, then I'm probably due for an ulcer any day now.

The big issue on everybody's mind is the stock market snafu, and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has gone from near obscurity to the most important man in the nation practically overnight. As a middle class American and unashamed class warrior it's hard to be entirely sympathetic to a man who's best plan for economic stimulus packet involved giving himself nearly unlimited power to distribute an enormous sum of money to his Wall Street cronies, but a throw-away line on a recent story on Paulson caused me some pause, and reminded me how small this world really is.

Paulson, you see, is a birder. And not a backyard feeder type either, but a hard-nosed, twitching, listing, green-eyed monster of a birder, who sometimes misses more important issues to chase that extra twitch. Not entirely unlike myself, as is evidenced by this story from his days as head of the investment bank Goldman-Sachs:

Hank Paulson, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, has admitted to lawyers suing the New York Stock Exchange's former chairman, Dick Grasso, over his $140m (pounds 80m) pay package, that he missed a crucial NYSE board meeting because he was birdwatching in Brazil.

How bout that huh?

Paulson has a reputation as an environmentalist, even called a "tree-hugger" by other Cabinet Republicans. Unfortunately this advocation doesn't overlap much with his political career, he's Treasury not Interior after all, but it's interesting to note that someone so high up is really just as geeky about birds as the rest of us.

On his way to work in New York, Paulson would often stop off at Central Park for a spot of birdwatching and invited falconers to show off birds of prey to office staff.

I may find his politics regarding the economic crisis somewhat troubling, though his willingness to compromise has been refreshing for an administration that has shown little impetus for it. But I suspect we could certainly agree on one thing, that we'd most likely prefer being out in the woods this time of year rather then worrying about the fate of the economy.

And in that, I can definitely sympathize.

Edit: This post in no way means to portray Sec. Paulson as "the devil", he seems like a fine guy. But it's a reference to the Rolling Stone song, you know?

The single-issue voter: A birder's look at Sarah Palin (R)

2008-09-25T07:00:00.009-04:00

The seemingly never ending election season is finally drawing to a close. But for those still wondering about the policies of the national candidates as they apply to birds and birders, The Drinking Bird is here for you. Every other week until November, I'll be looking at the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates' bird platforms. Hold your horses, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

First up, Republican Vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

I admit I'm a little behind the curve on this, other blogs have touched on it. But I think I need to add my voice to the melee, as this is no ordinary election and no ordinary time to have one. Much has been made of Palin's relative inexperience in matters of foreign policy and economics, but fortunate for us, her time as Governor of Alaska allows for a fairly in- depth insight into her environmental (read: bird-related) platform. It's certainly up for debate the impact that the Vice-President would have with regard to actual national policy, but one only has to look at the current VP to see the possibilities here. It's clear now that VP Cheney was influential in shaping national energy policy, that policy that likely has the greatest whole environmental impact, so it's crucial that the opinions and attitudes that the Vice President be taken into account.

With that in mind, Palin's energy policy is refreshingly simple enough to be contained in a single word.

Drill.

More oil, more quickly. In the Arctic Refuge and offshore and everywhere else. Whether or not you believe that this sentiment is an important part of national energy policy either as the centerpiece or as part and parcel with alternative energy initiatives, it goes without saying the the environmental and wildlife impact is substantial and negative. In fact, talked just last week about the possibility of drilling offshore in North Carolina. It's a short-sighted and reactionary policy, and given Palin's dealings with oil in Alaska, one she supports whole-heartedly.

Her policies on wildlife are no less troubling. As Governor she sued the Interior Department over its decision to list Polar Bears as endangered species. Government officials had tied the bears' decline to habitat loss due to global warming. The fossil fuel industries obviously stand to lose with such a decision, and Palin, somewhat predictably, advocated for them. As population declines due to climate change become more prevalent, as they are predicted to do, this single decision bodes poorly for future situations, especially those involving those bird species that nest in the far north.

She's famously an active hunter and fishermen which, in and of themselves, are not problematic, however, as head of state she advocates for a particularly cruel form of the sport called aerial hunting. The predators, typically wolves, are run until exhausted and shot from hunters riding in helicopters. Such actions are justified as part of a program to improve moose survival, a popular target for the big game tourist industry in the state.

On top of all this, Palin's archaic views on global climate change and evolution seem practically small potatoes, but are indicative, at least, of an individual who doesn't have an interest in or ability to comprehend scientific inquiry.

All of this adds up to a candidate who would likely be a disaster from an environmental and scientific perspective, no less so for birds and birders who watch them.

Next week: Her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden.

My Life's Birds: #123-124

2008-09-24T07:00:00.001-04:00

March 12, 1994 - Lake Springfield, Mo - In March, the first signs of Spring's return become apparent. For birders, it's an exciting time. For a new birder, it's practically torture waiting for the season that your more experienced friends speak about with such reverence and impatience. The time when those colorful birds, heretofore only gazed at in rapt interest, begin their long journey through the woods near my own house.

The true jewels of spring are still weeks away, but the vanguards of the rush begin to show up as waterfowl stopping by local lakes on their way to the prairie potholes of the northern Great Plains. Lakes like Lake Springfield, that shallow marshy reservoir that consistently provided fairly decent birds, the most common of which on this day were the Blue-winged Teals; small common ducks with that familiar half moon mask.

The thing about Blue-wings is that they're almost never alone. Their most common partners seem to be Northern Shovelers, those ducks that are probably the most easy of the family to distinguish even at a distance in bad light. The bill, that enormous bill is so prominent that even a beginning birder, whose prior experience with the species was exclusively in paintings and text, can recognize it immediately. And at Lake Springfield, on the far back end of the lake, the two new species, intermingling with previously seen Mallards, Wigeon, and Canada Geese, were appreciated as a sign that that first spring as a birder was around the corner, along with the promise of many many new birds.

photos from wikipedia

Cyber-birding

2008-09-23T07:00:00.005-04:00

The fact that you are reading this very blog on these very internets is an indication that you, dear reader, are a web-savvy individual. And as such, you are no doubt aware of the myriad options for the web-savvy birder to make use of. Cool sites like ebird and birdstack, that allow you to keep track of your (hopefully) growing list and even provide valuable information to influential conservation and research organizations like the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. That's not even to mention great list resources like Avibase or local birding archives like Birding on the Net, or the wide variety of excellent nature blogs at your time wasting fingertips.

In many ways, from an information standpoint, we're in a birding golden age. More information is available than ever before, and most of the people to visit this website are well aware of their options. But in this post I just wanted to hit on a couple newer things that may be of interest.

First, there's a new social networking site for birders recently developed called Birdpost, which bills itself as sort of a Facebook for birders. I admit I haven't signed up to Birdpost, and there's a reason for that. Largely because I'm already a member of both ebird and Birdstack and I'm not particularly interested in plugging my life list into another cyber monster. Both ebird and Birdstack have their distinct advantages, ebird because of the impact your individual list can have with regard to long term bird population studies (an appealing aspect for birders) and Birdstack because of it's worldwide scope.

I fail to see any advantages from a bird listing point of view that Birdpost provides above and beyond what is already offered. Plus there's the possibility that while free now, Birdpost retains the right to start charging for its service. Yet another reason to avoid it, really. I reserve the right to be proven wrong, however. Perhaps I'm missing something that may well make Birdpost worth checking out in the future.

And second, while Birdpost claims to fill the Facebook void for birders, there's always the real Facebook that can be re-jiggered to provide some advantages for nature bloggers. This has especially been brung to my attention with the recent inclusion into the Facebook borg (it will eventually claim all, there's no use trying to deny its power), two pretty prominent bird bloggers.

With that in mind I added a little widget on the side of my blog so those of you who are Facebookers, and you know who you are, can make youself a "fan" of my blog. Now, this is not a blatant troll for "friends" or "fans", though you can add me if you like, but a way to make you guys aware of different applications that are available within these fun little social networks when you're not searching for old elementary school classmates.

I know there are several nature bloggers already on Facebook, so I created a group, Facebook Nature Bloggers, as well. Feel free to join if you are a nature blogger or just a fan of nature blogs, it may not go anywhere but it's sometimes fun to know the person behind the blog, so to speak.

So the interweb provides you many outlets for taking your passion for birds and nature into the cyber realm. Seems like we're really only limited by ourselves at this point, who knows where it will take us.

Counting on Fall

2008-09-22T07:00:00.005-04:00

This past weekend I participated in the Chatham County Fall Bird Count. In an area like the triangle, where there's no shortage of birders and decent birding locales, Christmas Bird Counts aren't enough to get our fill of comprehensive bird surveys, we have to do them in fall and spring too.

The Chatham County Count entails nearly the entire expanse of Jordan Lake, a fairly extensively birded area anyway. Most of the count areas within the 15 mile radius are carved out of the state gamelands surrounding the lake. The area I assigned on the north part of the circle had a few interesting areas, and I do mean interesting...

Most of the places I was to hit I was pretty familiar with having birded in the area for some time now. But new to me was a waterfowl impoundment off the beaten path that promised to have some good birds. Waterfowl impoundments are a common sight around here. When the state dammed the New Hope River back in the 70s to make the lake the Fish and Wildlife Commission attempted to mitigate the loss of waterfowl habitat by creating these impoundments all over the place. Most of them consist of a low concrete levee that holds back a pond. Duck hunters use them fairly regularly in the more rural parts of the state, but in the triangle usually only used by fishermen, and tend to be excellent birding locales.

When I arrived early in the morning I walked out on the levee and just hung out for awhile. There wasn't really any point in walking into the woods. The sun was just beginning to shine on the trees on the far side of the little pond and it looked like this would be the place with the most activity. I startled a Belted Kingfisher and a Great Blue Heron from their early morning hunts as I crossed the concrete, and started to hear, and then see, a fairly decent variety of birds.

There were the regulars; Chickadees, Titmice, Carolina Wrens, and some birds one would expect in a marshy environment; Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and several fly over Wood Ducks. I wish I had more to report, but migrants were largely absent, with the exception of a single unidentifiable Empid, a couple Scarlet Tanagers and a handful of American Redstarts that included some begging youngsters, leading me to believe that this particular bunch were probably resident breeders.

My next stop was the previously linked trail, infamous because it was shut down by Chatham Co police because of complaints about lewd behavior. They must be night owls, because I was alone as I walked to the end of the path, where a birdwatching platform once stood until Tropical Storm Ernesto ripped it up a couple years back. The lake was fairly active, I found no fewer than five Bald Eagles lining the far shore and many of the regular Great Egrets and Cormorants. I may have even undercounted Great Blue Herons, as they tend not to show up on the far side of the lake as well as the blinding white Egrets. Good numbers of Chimney Swifts coursed over the surface, they must have been doing well if the bugs on my legs were any indication.

On the walk back I pished in an excitable flock of Chickamice that contained a fairly decent warbler haul, including Black and White, Hooded, Parula, Pine and a nice Orange-crowned, best bird of the day. And before I knew it, I'd hit all of the hotspots in my little area. I ended with just over 40 species, not too bad for what seemed more like a late summer day rather then fall.

I'll be keeping an eye out on the weather though. The next cold front that rumbles through will no doubt bring some more birds, fall certainly has some more surprises in store.

Turning Tide, Drilling Oil

2008-09-19T07:00:00.005-04:00

New I and the Bird at Audubon Birdscapes.

The topic of off-shore drilling has been a hot one for the last few months, so please indulge me this little digression into the topic. Seemingly every elected official now has a take on the subject, with many coming around to it as a sort of compromise on the issue. However, those of us who live in the very states where the drilling would likely take place have a somewhat different view on the subject than those whose states are without coast.

That's why it's most frustrating to see that both candidates running for Senate in North Carolina, incumbent Elizabeth Dole (R) and challenger Kay Hagen (D), now support drilling offshore. Offshore drilling off the North Carolina coast is a bad idea just as it is everywhere. My friend Becky, the bird collections manager at the NC museum, laid it out on her own blog, Upapa epops. With her permission, here's the skinny. I thought it was important and timely enough to get a wider audience.

- Off the coast of NC we have a unique situation. The warm Gulf Stream mixes with the cold Labrador Current and creates a temperate body of water. In addition, the continental crust extends quite a bit, and then drops suddenly. So you have this unique body of water, combined with a geologic feature that allows it to expand to different depths. In short off the coast of NC the ocean is just teeming with life. Probably one of the reasons the fishing is so renowned.

- All these fish attract a whole lotta pelagic birds. Most breed on remote islands around the world, and they have low productivity (one egg) and are slow to reach sexual maturity (in Northern Gannets, a common winter bird, it takes 8 years). This means that if they have a bad year, i.e. an oil spill, that seriously affects the total population numbers.

-Some pelagic birds that breed in the Caribbean come all the way to the NC gulf stream area to get food for chicks! That is a long round trip. But that's how important this area is

-Other birds use the gulf stream as a migration flyway. Studies have shown that Cory’s and Greater Shearwaters (among others) fly to the UK, down the European coast to Africa, and then back across to Latin America. These birds have migration patterns that segregate the males and female and sometimes adults and young. So, if we have an oil spill while the females are coming though? That's it. That's all she wrote. There are no more females to come through.

-Not just birds, but there are also pelagic fish (tuna, for example, and the billfish) and whales that migrate here. Lots of turtles, too.

-Once you get out to the Gulf Stream, you have the Sargassum Sea. Sargussum is floating seaweed mats, home to lots of critters: baby sea turtles, sargassum crabs, fish, all kinds of species depend on this ecosystem. Having been out there I can tell you it is already full of trash, but we don’t need it to get oiled.

-Drilling for oil off our coast is an uncertain gamble. It is not going to make the price at the pump go down, even if they do discover reserves out there, for about 20 years. The only immediate impact will be felt in the pocketbooks of oil executives.

So with Democrats all of a sudden willing to "compromise" on this issue, it's important that the facts get out there. There's a reason that drilling off the Southeast United States has been nonexistent for these many years, even before the official ban. If there was oil out there, it would have been found 20 years ago.

As it is now, it seems as though the powers that be are conspiring against those of us who would oppose drilling in every square inch of available land. But the importance of continuing to fight this particular brand of insanity cannot be understated.

I encourage you to write your Senator of Congressman about this. Though, I know from experience, that Senator Elizabeth Dole doesn't respond well. Just warning you...

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Off topic, anyone else having trouble with blogger lately? I spend no small amount of time editing my posts and when they publish the unedited version is displayed. It's very frustrating.

There's only one way to skin a bird, pt 2

2008-09-18T07:00:00.009-04:00

OK, when we left off on Tuesday I had one slightly holey Audubon's Shearwater. Now I'll show you how we make it look like a bird again. No need for warnings today, this is pretty straight forward and not very messy at all, but certainly requires a deft touch and some fancy fingers. Honestly, it's really more crafty than anything.

First I need to sew up the hole I made when I removed too much of the wing. I don't need to be super precise, feathers lay like shingles and they hide a lot. Using a regular needle and thread I'll cinch up the hole, leaving enough room for the string I tied to the opposite wing to get out.

Next I roll up some cotton balls to approximately the same size as the bird's eyes that I removed and place them in the eye sockets using a long set of tweezers. For the next step I use a dowel rod and wrap a wad of cotton around one tip until I have a q-tip looking deal with a ball of cotton about the same size as the bird's brain. The dowel rod is going recreate the bird's spine, the cotton ball will hold the eye balls in place.

One end of the dowel rod goes through the bird's vent, the other end goes up into the head. When I'm finished the whole thing resembles a bird puppet.

Next I'll take a different type of cotton and fill in the cavity, trying my best to approximate the shape of the bird. This Shearwater is sort of bullet shaped. Before this I did a Dovekie, which is sort of Nerf football shaped, and before that I did a Bluebird, which is more comma shaped. It's important not to overstuff as bird skins are pretty resiliant and can hold a lot of stuffing, but you run the risk of making a bird that's way too fat.

Once you get the right about of stuffing it's time to sew up. Once again, using regular thread I make a few stitches in a "Z" pattern. It doesn't take many, usually less than 4, because once again, the feathers hide a lot. You can see my first attempt below, I ended up undoing the stitches and redistributing the body stuffing, the bird is a little too pear-shaped for my liking (for anyone's liking really).

Next you cut off the dowel rod so it hides under the undertail coverts, no need for birdscicles here, and use the remaining dowel to tie to the string that is attached to to the remaining wing. This will hold the wing in place and prevent it from coming loose.

Now all we have to do is pin the finished bird to an old piece of ceiling tile, wrap a small bit of electrical tape around the bill to keep it closed, and prepare to move it to the drying rack where the skin will dry out and stiffen.

Notice the pins don't actually go in the bird, they're there to keep the feathers in place while the bird dries, so that when it's finished they'll stay the way you want them. The wing is cleaned and spread and dried as well. The study skin will then head to the cabinets downstairs for use by any scientist or artist who comes along. The wing will be placed in a mylar sleeve and put in a different cabinet with all of the other wings.

And there you have it. One completed study skin from a stinky dead bird. As soon as I finished this guy I started on a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that while very cool, kinda fell apart on my and will require extra seamstress skills. I will certainly be able to sew up the holes in my pants after all this. Who says museum work isn't applicable to the real world?

My Life's Birds: #122

2008-09-17T07:00:00.003-04:00

February 26, 1994 - Greene Co, Mo - Perhaps it's time to clear up a minor misconception regarding Southwest Missouri. When I refer to the "Ozarks" it's easy to get the idea that the whole place is mountains and hollows, springs and streams, with not a flat acre in the entire region. That's not entirely true. While there's certainly no shortage of bumpy terrain throughout the region, the area around Springfield is entirely different.

Springfield sits on a extensive plateau, albeit one that resembles swiss cheese, pockmarked as it is with sinkholes and karst features. Because of this unique geological situation, the plateau holds thousands of shallow ponds that show up in fields whenever it rains. And in the fall and winter, you can often find good numbers of waterfowl, including as we did on this particular day, a flock of Greater White-fronted Geese.

We began to see the return of waterfowl to the far north as early as February. Not only the White-fronts, but also Snow and Canada Geese. One of my favorite parts of living in the midwest was watching the enormous flocks crossing from horizon to horizon in the early spring and fall. Even during my "lost years", when birding was not a high priority, I watched flocks of geese leading me north as I drove on to college.

Photo from flickr

There's only one way to skin a bird, pt 1

2008-09-16T07:00:00.017-04:00

WARNING: The following post contains images some visitors may find disturbing. If you have a problem looking at photos of a sliced and diced bird, then you may wish to avoid scrolling down today. Just a warning, read at your own risk.

Alright, so last week I gave you a tour of the bird lab at the NC Science Museum. Today, as promised, I'm going to show you the first steps in turning a smelly dead bird into a scientifically useful study skin.

First step, arrange your supplies. Along the top from left to right. Borax, an anti-fungal and anti-insect powder that keeps bugs away and dries out what soft tissue remains when you skin the bird. A small container of water, to get feathers out of your way, and a tub of corn starch to sop up any fluids (blood, etc) you come across.

The hardware, again from left to right. A pair of thick shears to cut bones, a lighter pair for everything else, tweezers for tweezing, a probe for probing, and a scalpel for scalping. Additionally there's a toothbrush to arrange feathers towards the end, not something we're going to use today though.

And last, but certainly not least, the bird. In this case an Audubon's Shearwater that had washed up on the shore.

Step one, using the water I separate the feathers along the bird's keel up to the neck so I can access the skin. Pelagic species like this are kind of tough here because they have such thick feathers, both exterior and down. Once done, this gives me a place to begin cutting.

The skin of a bird is losely connected to the muscle beneath. Once an incision has been made along the feather gap I created, it's merely a matter of pulling off the skin like a tight pair of stockings (not that I'd know, seriously, I'm just saying... they keep my legs warm in the winter, shut up!). Occasionally I use the probe to loosen things up, but mostly it's just peeling with my (gloved) fingers.

When I get up to the neck I stop, place the probe through the tissue so that the neck is completely exposed, as seen below, and cut it with my bone scissors. The head is tougher, and I'll deal with it later.

Once the neck is severed, I peel the skin off till I get to the shoulders. At this point I do the same thing, expose the shoulder joint and cut the humerus. The powder you see all over is the corn starch, I use it liberally.

I'll fast-forward here. I repeat the previous step with the other shoulder and proceed to peel the skin down till I get to the legs, which I cut below the knee. The I peel all the way down to the tail, and cut just before the tail bone (so the tail has some support) and remove the body cavity from the skin.

Voila! as you can see below, at this point I have the skin (plus head) and the body separated.

Now to work on the head. This is probably the messiest part so I'll keep the photos to a minimum. At the point where I severed the neck I begin to peel the skin back so that the head comes out inside out. This part really is like a stocking. I peel it all the way until I'm about halfway past the eyes. Birds actually have a bone in their eye called an orbital ring, you can see it in the photo below.

Here is where I take my tweezers (for tweezing) and pull out the eyeballs. They take up a very large part of the skull and look a great deal like ripe farmer's market blueberries (too much?). Next I again take the tweezers (for tweezing), and unhinge the muscles of the tongue that extend to the neck, and pull out the tongue.

Now the really gross part, and a part I decided not to photograph. I take the scissors and stick them straight up through the jaw, then cut behind the mandible joint up behind the eyes and around. The important things to keep for structure are the eye sockets and, obviously, the beak. Once done, I should be able to, with one quick pull of the neck, yank out the back of the head and the brain. I'm not very good at this, and my attempts typically end with me picking the remains of the brain out of the skull cavity. I told you it was messy. By virtue of the large amount of soft tissue here, Borax is liberally applied.

Next we cut off the wing bone above the elbow and tie a string that we'll use to attach to a stick on the opposite side. We take spread wings on our birds, so I cut off the left wing. I kind of screwed up on this for this particular bird, more on that later.

No now I have the completed skin, but we're not done just yet. You may have noticed that the Shearwater I was given had a nasty yellow tinge, probably caused by the bird voiding its bowels at death (this is not a glamorous job). We can't have that in a study skin, so it needs to be washed.

You may be surprised to know that the secret ingredient in this stage is normal dish soap. Dawn to be precise. You lather up the bird and scrub away. When I first saw this done I was surprised at how rough you could be on the skin. Basically you can treat it like a dishtowel, the skin is pretty strong, especially in a bird that braves the wind and waves. This Shearwater is no shrinking violet.

To dry the bird we put it in a dryer, which looks like a rock tumbler filed with ground up corn cob. This dries the bird fairly quickly. Once dry we can move on to stuffing, which I'll cover next week.

But first, I mentioned I screwed up when I removed the wing. I took off too much skin, leaving a gaping hole where there should be a small one. As you can see below, this is a fairly good sized screw up. This will need to be sewn up, which I'll also cover next time. I just wanted to mention it because, you know, we're on this journey together or something. But doesn't the bird look clean and white?

So we have our skin, even if it's a tad holey. We'll move forward from this point next time. I promise you, it'll be far less graphic.