Woodpecker Tongue

"Hey, red-bellied woodpecker, pull my finger!"

Here's a female red-bellied woodpecker that came into the nets at Carpenter Nature Center. And for those who doubt that these birds actually have red on their bellies, here's proof:

Back in the early days of exploration on this continent, explorers did not have access to binoculars and spotting scopes. The best way to identify birds was to shoot them and look at carcasses up close. So, if a red-bellied woodpecker is in your hand and about five inches from your face, you can see a hint of red on the belly, hence the name: red-bellied woodpecker.

One of the things I enjoy about banding is that it's a way to see birds up close and see the features that bird books talk about. Check out the tongue on the red-belly. The tip is hard like a spear with little barbs that are used to spear and grab onto larvae found inside dead and dying trees. As a matter of fact, when woodpeckers are in nets you have to be careful that the nets don't get caught on the barbs of the tongue and hurt the bird. Another fun detail that I learned is that red-bellies have deep brown eyes.

Another freaky feature of woodpeckers is that they have very long tongues that can stretch out quite a bit. Woodpecker tongue muscles start on the top of their heads (I read once that if a woodpecker has something on its mind, it generally its tongue). This feature helps them to really gain access to larvae deep into tree bark.

Don't forget that if you've never visited Carpenter, next week (May 6) is a great time because the Raptor Center will be releasing birds of prey that have recovered in their clinic. Education birds will be on display and there will be fun activities planned. I also will be selling binoculars there on behalf of TRC, so if you need some binoculars that would be a great time to pick some up and help out a great organization.

Bird Naughty Bits

Look how tiny a ruby-crowned kinglet is compared to my iPod! I always forget how teensy these guys are. Jen Vieth at Carpenter Nature Center got this guy out of the nets during their banding session this morning. Remember they do the banding every Friday morning and if you are at the park you can check out the action. May is an exciting time at a banding station with such a variety of birds moving through.

I remembered that I have a pelican band on my keychain so I took a picture of it next to a band used for a kinglet foot. The band on the left is the one for kinglet. It's so teeny tiny. The bird we banded was female so she did not have the little red crest that males pop up when they are excited. Speaking of excited male birds, Jen was kind enough to show me how they are able to tell the sex of quite few song birds this time of year. Below is a photo of a sparrow, can you tell if it's male or female?

Do you see it? It's a little nub just to the right of the bald patch, which for a male bird is quite large. This is called a cloacal protuberance (the bird equivalent of a hoo-ha). Apparently male birds get it this time of year and it lasts all through the mating season--woof. The males are basically flying around with a constant swollen cloaca for several days or weeks, ready for action at any time. I'm not making this up, Jen showed me a book that showed all the different types of cloacal humps...their humps, their humps, their lovely birdy bumps (I'm so sorry for the Black Eyed Peas reference):

The ones on the left are circumsized--no, no, no I'm just kidding. Females will not have the above protuberance, but they will have a bare patch on the breast called a brood patch, that is used to incubate their eggs.

Here's the male chipping sparrow that we took the photo of the cloaca shown above. Please don't think less of him for having a picture of his cloacal protuberance on the internet, he's a young bird who really needed the money.

Flying Squirrels and Disapproval

The flying squirrels outside my bedroom window are getting braver and braver. As it's warming up in Minnesota, we are opening our windows and we (or I should say I) can hear their chirping. Non Birding Bill never seems to hear it. I can't seem to get my camera to focus on them in the pitch black, I'll have to work on that. As soon as I spread a little seed for them on the window ledge they come right for it. I bet it would just be a matter of time before I could hand feed them. The dude to the right was sitting right above my window and posed for a few shots. He kept munching away at the nuts even with the flash on. Most of the photos turned out a little blurry, but with a little practice and a little positive reinforcement towards the squirrels, I bet I can do better. I love that I get flying squirrels while living in a busy metro area.

I took Cinnamon with me to Adventure Publications today. I needed to go over the proofs for the 2007 Birding Calendars (Illinois had the coolest cover) and talked about my City Bird Country Bird book (looks like it will be coming out this summer instead of this spring) and a few other ideas I have cooking. I thought Cinnamon just wanted to come along to spend some time with me since I have been doing so much traveling without her. Alas, she was just using me as a pawn in one of her many schemes. When I stepped into the bathroom, she took the opportunity to talk to my publisher about a Disapproving Rabbits book. Gordon (above) was a good sport and listened to her ideas and then tried to tell her as gently as possible that he just wasn't familiar with the rabbit market and wasn't prepared to invest in the idea a this time. I think she would have had a better chance had she not insisted on a $20,000 advance for the book. She took the rejection hard, I was concerned that her disapproval would wipe out half the staff at Adventure, but Gretchen, my editor saved the day with a handful of parsley. Poor dejected bunny. She's currently drowning her sorrows in a bag of Broccoli Wokly.

I and The Bird

Are you curious about what other bird related blogs are out there, maybe just around the bend? (Okay, I couldn't resist another Utah photo)

I and the Bird is up and running, this week it is being hosted by Home Bird Notes. Boy, it really has grown since it started, Home Bird really had her job cut out for her. This is a place where bloggers can submit posts about birds and the host gathers them into a theme. If you're someone who doesn't have time to keep up with all the blogs out there, then think of this as a newsletter highlighting the best posts from the various birding blogs to just give you a taste.

Rough Day For Varmits...and me

This morning I heard this high pitched squeaking sound. I opend my window and took a look around. No other birds were around and it was surprisingly quiet in my neighborhood. I figured a Cooper's hawk had just nailed something and was a tad bummed I missed it. I thought about going outside to make sure, but decided against it.

Twenty minutes later I heard the sound again. I poked my head out the window and saw one of my building's maintenance men working outside so I figured the sound must have come from something he was doing, maybe unscrewing a pipe or socket.

Late this afternoon while getting some work done I heard the squeak again. Looking out the window I couldn't see anyone outside. I decided to put some shoes on and investigate. I walked around the ally and saw a robin hopping around, could it have a fledging nearby? I've never heard a fledging robin make a sound like that...then I saw some movement near the dumpsters:

There he was, a young squirrel. He tried too look so tough and growl when I approached, but ended up tripping over himself. I felt really bad that I hadn't gone with my gut instinct and checked out the source of the squealing this morning.

As I snapped a few photos, he jumped and hissed and came closer and closer. Then he gave that squeal I had been hearing throughout the day. When you're a few feet away from it, the sound is downright ear-splitting. Not seeing any other squirrels nearby, I decided to get one of Cinnamon's carriers and see if I could grab the young squirrel and take him to rehab.

I set down the carrier and he came right over and climbed the door:

How can something so small and cute grow into something so destructive? He clung to the side of the door (that's when I saw for sure that he was male) and gave the squeal some more. I was beginning to wonder if any of my neighbors might hear this and then see me down there and think I was abusing it. After the last round of squealing he hopped right into the carrier and I closed the door. I came back into my apartment to grab my car keys. I had let Cinnamon run around outside of the rabbit room this afternoon and though I normally don't leave her unsupervised in the apartment, decided that I didn't have time to corral her and would risk it. I closed any open closet doors, hoped that she would stay out of the kitchen and headed to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

On the way there I played the Xanadu soundtrack. The squirrel shrieked--so loud in a car. I turned off the iPod and onto fm107. Apparently the young squirrel preferred "real life conversation" to Olivia Newton John and ELO.

I dropped off the squirrel and got some debate from the person at the front desk as to whether or not this was in fact a baby squirrel and should have been brought in at all. I mentioned that it had been screaming all day outside a dumpster and willingly hopped into the carrier when it was set on the ground. It was taken in. I was a tad irritated, but I completely understood where the person was coming from, many animals brought in, especially young rabbits and fledging birds are brought in by mistake. Most tiny cottontail rabbits are self sufficient but good natured people see them and bring them in. Same goes for most baby birds. When they are fully feathered an fluttering on the ground, they get mistaken for being too young to leave the nest and are brought in, when the best thing for them was to be left to learn to fly in peace.

And because I love what the WRC does and really appreciate that there is a place in the Twin Cities that is open seven days a week for me to drop off animals in trouble and because no animal in recorded history has ever had health insurance I dropped of a check along with the squirrel.

I left the WRC, went to pick up Non Birding Bill so he could have the car to go to play rehearsal, and finished up some emailing. Every now and then I heard the sound of Cinnamon, it's sound he makes on a door when she leans up on it and then sits back down on all fours--he claws lightly scraping against a wood door. Usually a gentle reminder that she would like to run about. I thought how odd she should be making that sound since she was already running about...I then realized that I had been snacking and she wasn't near the couch hoping for a scrap. I walked around shaking some Nutriberries (a favorite snack) and couldn't find her. I didn't even hear the door sound. She wasn't under the bed, not in the kitchen, not in either of her cottonttail cottages...where was she? I then remembered the closet door I closed right before I left by the front door. I opened it and sure enough, out she hopped from the clutter and darkness.

"Mom!! How could you lock me in a closet?! I'm so angry, I can barely disapprove! You care more about squirrels than you do about me!"

I felt TERRIBLE. I can't believe I accidentally locked my rabbit in closet for two hours. I finally got a link on the House Rabbit Society for having good bunny karma, I think I might have blown it.

"I don't care how many grapes (munch, munch) you give me, or how many (munch, munch) sugar snap peas, I'm still not forgiving you for this (munch, munch)."

Starlings Smarter Than The Birdchick Without Spell Check?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The simplest grammar, long thought to be one of the skills that separate man from beast, can be taught to a common songbird, new research suggests.

Starlings learned to differentiate between a regular birdsong "sentence" and one containing a clause or another sentence of warbling, according to a study in Thursday's journal Nature.

It took University of California at San Diego psychology researcher Tim Gentner a month and about 15,000 training attempts, with food as a reward, to get the birds to recognize the most basic of grammar in their own bird language.

Yet what they learned may shake up the field of linguistics.

You can read the rest of the story here.

Final Utah Entry...Probably

Granted, I haven't been with Eagle Optics that long, but this booth was the busiest one I have worked by myself thus far. What really made my smile about the Bear River Grand Opening was the number of kids that showed up and the number of parents getting optics for their kids. One family was planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park got their kids some monoculars and pocket binoculars. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with the monoculars. Those 7 power Insights are great. I use one when I walk around Lake of the Isles. I'm on my exercise walk but I want something handy in case a cool warbler pops up. The Insight fits right in my pocket and isn't too heavy at all.

The other binoculars that were really popular at the festival were the Talons. Hands down, I think these are the best binoculars that you can get for under $200. They produce a good, clear image, are purged so they won't fog up on the inside, can close focus within four to five feet, are waterproof and come with an unbelievable warranty (unconditional, short of theft). These are excellent starter binoculars or for someone into birds who can't afford to spend a lot of money at the moment.

While at the festival I found a new use for a tripod, apparently, they're not just for spotting scopes anymore:

If you're not strong enough to hold a ten to twelve pound bald eagle on your arm (they feel more like 50 to 60 pounds after ten minutes) then just rest your hand on a tripod for added stability. Who knew?

I have to say again that you must find a way to visit Bear River Wildlife Refuge in the spring, the western grebe mating is so fun to watch from your car:

Also, if you love harriers...

and western meadowlarks...

then this is the place for you. Utah is lousy with both, and what great birds to be lousy with! Oh, and all the midges flying around make this a great place to watch for swallows. This flock was mostly full of tree and rough-winged swallows (this photo shows about a quarter of the entire flock that was buzzing around my car):

One of the things that I appreciate about other birders is the generosity. When I arrived at Bear River to set up the binocular booth, I met one of the volunteers named Jean. They weren't quite ready so I said that I would just go to lunch, Jean invited me to go with her, which I was grateful for. I'm such a social creature, I hate to eat lunch alone. She took me to a great local restaurant called Ricardo's with authentic Mexican cuisine. Turns out Jean is an artist and was leading one of the workshops at the grand opening.

I admired this hat when a gentleman walked by my booth. I asked, "Is that a Cooper's hawk on your head? I love Cooper's hawks! What a cool hat!" Then he gave me his hat right then and there. I ended up having dinner with his family and that's when I learned he was not only a rocket scientist, but an award winning rocket scientist as well. He's head of a project to help astronauts repair the shuttle while in orbit. He and his wife told me that periodically in this area of Utah, rockets are tested and that one night while watching a rocket being tested, the roar woke up the birds and they saw all the bird silhuettes against the lights from the firing rocket. His wife is on the board of directors for the local art museum and their kids are either writers, artists or bird researchers (one bands flammulated owls in Idaho). They were just a neat family and if I didn't have a really wonderful family myself, I would want to be adopted by them. That is one of the coolest perks of my job is that I get to meet people with such interesting lives.

As part of what I do for Birding Business, I stopped into a local Wild Bird Center in Layton, Utah. This man really knows how to run a bird store. I overheard the owner, Bill, talking to a customer and informing them about bird walks scheduled by the store. The customer asked, "Is there a cost for the bird walks?" And Bill simply answered, "The only cost is your enthusiasm." What a great way to get people interested! If you find yourself in Utah, I highly recommend you visit his store. Bill is kind of cute. He reminded me of the actor that played the voice of Kit in Knightrider and was on St. Elsewhere only dressed like a birder--complete with vest and Tilly Hat.

I have always wanted to visit a western bird store. I knew they would have some different mixes than we do out east. Check this out:

Birders in the eastern region are looking at this mix aghast. Why would anyne want to feed this to birds. Eastern birds would not care for this mix, too much millet and milo (FYI, if you are in the eastern region of the United States and you are not getting many birds at your feeder, compare this photo to your seed mix. Cardinals, chickadees, nuthatches and finches do not care for this type of mix). However, this is Bill's Dove and Quail Mix. Out west this type of mix works well with the birds, chukars, quail and doves will eat this like there is no tomorrow.

As I was reviewing the store, I came across a paperback version of Raptors of the World. I was so excited to see this book I bought it on sight. I've wanted it for awhile but had purchased it. I was hoping Non Birding Bill would buy it for me for my birthday or our anniversary, but hardcover was $60 and I hadn't gotten yet. The paperback was only $30 so I picked it up. I like how this Wild Bird Center catered not only to the backyard birder but to the hardcore birder as well.

Okay, I think I almost have the Utah trip out of my system.

Grrr, blogger spell check isn't working again!!! What is a sloppy typer to do???? Sorry for the typos.

Antelope Island

If you've read my blog, you might know that I have never seen a barn owl in the wild. I've handled them at The Raptor Center, held injured ones, etc--I just haven't seen one doing what a barn owl does naturally in the wild. At the Bear River Refuge, one had apparently been roosting at night outside of the building, you could see streaks of its poop above the deck:

The way this structure was designed out on the deck allows sounds to be picked up off the refuge. You can hear people on the other side of the wetland having conversations as well as western meadowlarks, coots, grebes and frogs. I wonder if the barn owls hung out there at night to take advantage of the amplified sound...not that they really need it. Anyway, the poop just seemed to mock me all the more--"You haven't seen a wild barn owl--nah nah nah nah."

I heard from a reader of this blog (Hi Susy) that I had a pretty good chance of seeing a barn owl at Antelope Island so decided to check it out. When I drove onto the island, I was so overcome by the beauty of the landscape I didn't care if I saw a barn owl or not, it was just so gorgeous and worth every penny of the $9 entrance fee. I was there early on Sunday morning and apparently most people in Utah are in church, so I pretty much had the island to myself. I just sat and took some time on the rocks looking over Salt Lake and some of the other landscape enjoying the sounds of the wind, the waves on the lake, the California gulls and western meadowlarks. What a glorious way to spend a morning.

The weird thing about this place is that it was called Antelope Island, but I didn't take the title too seriously. I grew up in Indiana and used to go to Turkey Run State Park, but I never even saw turkeys there, let alone see one running a state park (although from what I hear from my mom, there are probably turkeys there now). I wasn't on the island very long when I saw an antelope:

Who knew? An actual antelope on Antelope Island. This guy had just crossed the road and was on his way to another heard in the distance. The antelope were actually kind of dangerous if they started chasing each other and not paying attention to the cars. Several times as I was driving I would catch a couple males running in my peripheral vision and within seconds they were in front of my vehicle.

When I walking around along the rocks and brush I did find some old antelope bones. Judging by the size of my the leg and hoof compared to my hand, I would guess that it was very young when it died and was dragged into some brush by the prdator for feeding. All that I could find were leg bones, no skull and no ribs. I wondered what predators the antelope had out here and very quickly got my answer. Here's what I digiscoped in the distance:

A coyote running around in broad daylight. Probably what got the young antelope. I did find part of a rabbit skull in the same area and then this sitting on top of some sage brush:

At first I wondered if it was left over prey shoved in by a shrike. Upon picking it up, I discovered that the dead little rodent was so dried out, it was practically mummified. It didn't have much of a smell and must have been there awhile. There was a black-billed magpie flitting around nearby as well as a pair of kestrels. Perhaps one of them had dropped this prey and forgot about it.

Antelope Island was chock full of chukars. They were all over: mating under rocks, clucking on top of rocks, scurrying in front of vehicles, just doing what comes naturally to a chukar. If you've never seen a chukar, this is the place to go, you can't spit without seeing one.

Another island specialty are the buffalo. They were everywhere. So for fun, I popped in an excerpt from the Dances with Wolves soundtrack from my iPod while driving around looking at them. As I was doing that I suddenly started having images of Kevin Costner and his "acting" so I put in the Vertigo soundtrack instead. While on the subject of buffalo, you want to see what a photo of an idiot looks like? Less than half a mile from the sign pictured in the above photo, I saw this:

Now, I call the person in the above photo an idiot because I have done enough idiotic things in my life that I feel like kind of an authority. Call me crazy, but when a sign asks you to stay in your car, getting within 20 feet of a 2000 pound animal may not be the best decision you could make. I stuck around and watched the scene with my cell phone at the ready. There were actually about six buffalo surrounding her. As she got closer, one of them stood up and started coming towards her. After snapping a few photos she walked back to her car and didn't get trampled. What a dork.

When I got to the island, I checked in at the visitor's center to find out if the barn owls were still being seen. I was told by the guy working at the front desk that the barn owls were in fact still in the area and if I drove down to the ranch and walked into the barn that I would see them. He was also kind enough to point out some burrowing owls hanging around outside the center--what a helpful guy! I drove to the ranch and checked with the man at the gate and asked to see the barn owls, he pointed the way and here is what I saw:

A barn owl in the sense that it is a great horned owl nesting inside the barn. It had laid its eggs inside an old raven's nest. A very cool owl but not the barn owl I was looking for. Ah well, another bird for another day.

Susy, thank you for pointing me to this wonderful park, I truly enjoyed my time there.

Is There An Ugly View In Utah?

So, I challenged myself to try to find an ugly view in Utah.

Hmmm, wasn't ugly outside my hotel.

It wasn't ugly at Antelope Island. The visit was so beautiful and worth every penny of the $9 entrance fee. I didn't just give up with one glance, I check other places on the island.

It wasn't ugly here either.

Looking out on Salt Lake was beautiful.

I tried taking a photo with dumpsters and semis in (perhaps that was cheating) but it was still pretty. Utah: 4, Birdchick: 0.

Even a road to nowhere was beautiful. How long can Utah keep this up?

Even with a storm coming in, the landscape was still breathtaking. This was outsde of Golden Spike National Historic Site. My eyes were getting exhausted at this point. I don't know why I went to the historic site. I think because my father used to really be interested in trains, and he specifically talked about the Jupitor and the Union Pacific. The Jupitor being his favorite, so I figured since I was so close I should see the site that symbolized connecting the west and east. Here is a view of the site right before the final railroad tie was put in place:

Here is a photo of the same area today:

Sometimes I think it's easy to get caught up in all the things going wrong with the environment and conservation. Driving around Utah reminded me that we do occasionally get things right.

Here is the spot where they drove in the final and historic golden spike that linked the transcontinental railroad.

Waiting for a Plane

I'm in Denver having lunch and waiting for my connecting flight to Minneapolis. It's cold, I could see my breath when I got off the plane. I'm excited to be heading to warmer temperatures. I'm eating at a pretty good restaurant for an airport, called Jimmy's. The tomato bisque soup is tasty.

Well, after the previous entry, I feel the need to cleanse. So I offer incredible sculpture. His name is Greg Woodard.

That's Greg with his peregrines chasing teal stature at the Bear River Visitor's Center. When I first came in and saw it, I thought to myself, "This guy HAS to be a falconer. No one else could know the bird's body like that, especially in a dive." Here's an upclose of one of his peregrine statues. They were having a showing of his work at the local art museum.

I love it, he really captures a peregrine in mid-hunt. Turns out he is a master falconer and currently flies (when it's in season) a gyrfalcon.

This life size golden eagle going in for a hare (or should I saw hair--har har) was unbelievable. If I were a woman of unlimited means I would have this in my apartment. Cinnamon might disapprove, but after the report I got this morning from Non Birding Bill, she could use a little reminder to behave:

"Your rabbit is a big ol' bunny butthead. Her new gig is digging in her litter box. Not a terribly big deal, except for this morning, when I found out she was kicking the litter out of the box when she was digging. What's she looking for? Truffles?"

Oh, dear. Obviously, she's missing me and is acting out. NBB has been known to do similar things when I'm away.

I leave you with one last amazing statue by Greg. The actual statue is a life sized golden eagle sitting on a railroad tie looking to the west and it's supposed to be symbolic or something (you can see the whole stature on the cover page of his site). I think I missed that, all I saw was an eagle who just saw something move that looks edible.

Man, this guy knows his raptors.