Birds out my window

This week I moved to a larger downstairs office at work, with a fireplace, some nice plush chairs and more space for my books. But the best amenity is the birdfeeder right out side the window where I watch a steady stream of White-breasted Nuthatches, Carolina Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows, and Downy Woodpeckers and a dozen other species jostle for seeds all day. Right now, early spring has brought roaming Brown-headed Cowbirds, and a pair is gobbling up seeds at the feeder and keeping the smaller birds from getting much more than the spilled seeds on the ground. Cowbirds have a bad reputation amongst descriminating nature lovers--since they leave their eggs in the nests of other birds, sometimes outcompeting and hastening the demise of native nestlings. But these birds are still striking--males with shiny black bodies and coffee-colored heads. The females have subtle brown feathers with delicate paler feather edges. This morning I'm enjoying seeing something I haven't seen a lot of--head-on views of the cowbirds. Their eyes seem remarkably close-together and forward-facing for a bird, giving it a stern or intent look. Who needs television with this kind of spectacle going on mere feet away. I may have to close the curtains if I want to get some work done!

Turkey Walk

This morning a friend saw 14 Wild Turkeys crossing the driveway when he pulled into work. When I arrived a half hour later, I decided to take a stroll down into the woods to see if the birds might still be around. Moving slowly, I was able to find at least 11 hens and 2 tom turkeys walking single-file through the trees. Then the males stopped to display, puffing up their feathers and fanning their tails. I didn't grow up with turkeys, so its always fun for me to see this. For a moment, the woods at work were a primordial forest, with a troop of ancient lifeforms moving through a parallel universe that I was priviledged to visit. I love that.

What happened to Birderblog?

So, you tried to go to Laura Erickson's Birderblog.com and it was gone? Thanks to Google caching, you can still read why its gone, even though Laura took down her original post about why she quit her dream job of blogging for Binoculars.com. Google caching is a great tool to help you find stuff that people have taken off the web, but it really can work against you if you are the person trying to retrieve something you've sent out into cyberspace! So, bloggers beware!

Merganser copulation display

Yesterday and today there was no sign of the Long-tailed Duck at Peace Valley, but I did get a chance to watch a pair of Common Mergansers in their copulation display. The female was prone on the water with her neck outstretched and her chin touching the water. She faced the male as he circled, dipping his bill in the water then raising it up pointed to the sky in a ceremonial drinking display, mixed with occasional brief preening of the back feathers. This went on for more than ten minutes as I watched yesterday before I had to leave. Never did see if they actually did the deed. I couldn't find any photos of this behavior online, though it is described briefly in the Birds of North America account online (subscription required). I sure need to get that camera!

Long-tailed Duck

This morning I stopped by Peace Valley Park on my way to work and was greeted by a stunning winter-plumaged male Long-tailed Duck floating in the middle of the lake with the large Common Merganser flock. This is mostly a coastal bird, so not one you see very often here inland. Also present were three Northern Pintail, and half dozen Ruddy Ducks and Ring-necked Ducks, also a lone male Bufflehead. Birds are on the move! (photo: Indiana Audubon Society)

More bad news for Ivory-billed Woodpecker searchers

A new study with more evidence that the famed video of a bird in Arkansas is probably not an Ivory-billed Woodpecker (read it here).

Here's the abstract:

Background: The apparent rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis in Arkansas, USA, previously feared extinct, was supported by video evidence of a single bird in flight (Fitzpatrick et al, Science 2005, 308:1460-1462). Plumage patterns and wingbeat frequency of the putative Ivory-billed Woodpecker were said to be incompatible with the only possible confusion species native to the area, the Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus.

Results: New video analysis of Pileated Woodpeckers in escape flights comparable to that of the putative Ivory-billed Woodpecker filmed in Arkansas shows that Pileated Woodpeckers can display a wingbeat frequency equivalent to that of the Arkansas bird during escape flight. The critical frames from the Arkansas video that were used to identify the bird as an Ivory-billed Woodpecker are shown to be equally, or more, compatible with the Pileated Woodpecker.

Conclusions: The identification of the bird filmed in Arkansas in April 2004 as an Ivory-billed Woodpecker is best regarded as unsafe. The similarities between the Arkansas bird and known Pileated Woodpeckers suggest that it was most likely a Pileated Woodpecker.

Timberdoodles with the kids

This evening I took my family to Sailor Point at Peace Valley Park at dusk to see the American Woodcocks (Timberdoodles) come out for their evening display flights. When we got there, we heard a half dozen woodcocks making their "pzeeeent" calls off in the woods and in the brushy field near the boat launch parking lot. Then, a couple bird zipped close by overhead. As it was getting harder to see, the birds started flying high overhead making their squeaky conveyor belt noises in the dark. The kids were tired, and it was a little chilly out there, but still lots of fun.

Getting inside the bird's head

This past weekend, while waiting for the Lazuli Bunting to show up, I was entertained by numerous observers offering conjectures about the hidden habits and activities of the wary bird. One man who had seen it briefly two days earlier, elaborated at length about how it always hung out with White-crowned Sparrows, hid behind a certain bush, and always came in between 9 and 10 am. Another speculated that the bird roosted nearby, but then disappeared to spend the rest of the day living in luxury eating seeds from a backyard feeder somewhere. In a total absence of real information, people were stringing together all kinds of speculative ideas based on the tiny bits of information gleaned from the past sightings of others.

I spent a lot of Friday morning engaging in this myself, wondering where I would go if I were a lone bunting, and wandering the neighborhood in search of the bird, and an explanation for its behavior. Saturday morning, as I recounted all of the available information to a newcomer, another birder quipped, "you're never going to get inside the f%*#in bird's head--it's either here, or it isn't."

In chasing birds, it is interesting to see how speculation goes wild when people are trying to find a bird but it isn't making itself available. The last few years of Ivory-billed Woodpecker searching are full of this kind of speculation. Lacking any real solid evidence, many wild and fantastic stories have been put forward about Ivory-billed Woodpecker ecology and behavior. But when you really get down to it, the bird is either there or it isn't. So far, there isn't convincing evidence that it's still there.

But that's just a side note--an interesting example--of this general practice of creating wild speculative stories about the comings and goings of rare birds. We try to find meaning, even when we don't have real information to do so. And when we finally see a bird we've been seeking, we like to think that somehow we've mind-melded with it, that we've somehow put ourselves into its world in order to connect with it on its own terms. Maybe we have, or maybe we haven't. How far do we really ever get into the bird's head?

Good things come to those who wait

I woke up before 5am and drove over to the Lazuli Bunting spot before dawn. The sun wasn't even up and I was still not the first birder there. Others started to roll in and we all stood on the side of the road waiting and hoping for the bird to reappear. While we waited, I walked over to the creek and was excited to see a pair of Mink loping across the ice along the far bank. Its been over 10 years since I've seen Mink, so that was pretty cool.

Finally, after almost two hours of standing in the cold, I glanced at my watch. 7:49 am. I turned to some of the guys I was with and said, "this is about when the bird showed up yesterday, so its about time." Just then, the bird appeared behind us and we all got good looks as it sat in a tree for a few moments, then flew across the road, scuffled with a few other birds, and after a few more moments flew off and disappeared down along the creek. Perfect.

Except for one guy who was just walking up as the bird disappeared and a couple more birders who arrived in the next fifteen minutes. Since the bird is only seen briefly in the morning as it makes its rounds, and disappears for the rest of the day, things didn't look good for those who arrived late.


However, luckily a couple of kids fishing down along the creek spooked up the bird and at 8:15 it flew up and perched for several minutes in the top of a bare tree. Almost everyone got decent looks, especially those with scopes. The bird is freshly molted, with buffy tips to the feathers that are gradually wearing off to reveal the striking red, white, and lazuli plumage. Since these birds are supposed to be in Western Mexico this time of year, it isn't a plumage that most of us get to see. After a few minutes in the top of the tree, the bird buzzed off with its rapid bunting flight and disappeared back into the cedars and bushes behind us. (photo: Howard Eskin)

The bird didn't show up again before I had to leave about 9:15, to the chagrin of those who arrived after it disappeared. If it holds true to form, it won't appear again until tomorrow morning. Those who show up late will have to be satisfied with some of the other birds in the area--Hooded Mergansers, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and a host of sparrows including White-crowned, Field, American Tree, White-throated, Song, Swamp, and at least one roaming Fox Sparrow.

Lazuli Dip

For most folks, dip is a tasty concoction you eat with chips. For birdchasers, a dip is when you chase a bird but don't find it. This morning, I dipped on Lazuli Bunting twenty minutes from my house.

Lazuli Buntings should be in Mexico right now. But apparently one is in the next county over (see photos here).

I got there at 8:30 after taking my kids to school. The bird had shown up for a mere 2 minutes at 7:45. Apprently, it is only seen in the morning, and disappears for the rest of the day. Nobody knows where it goes.

I wandered around the area hoping to discover its hidden daytime haunts, but no luck. However, it wasn't a completely wasted morning, as I was able to get some really close looks at two American Woodcocks--including a great look at one bird on the ground. These secretive nocturnal sandpipers are usually only seen in the dim light of evening when they fly around displaying over open brushy areas in the woods. Today it was great to get up close and personal with a couple of these amazing birds.

Since I've seen dozens of Lazuli Buntings before, but had very few good looks at woodcocks, I think I got the better end of the bargain. Of course, that won't stop me from making another trip to look for Pennsylvania's third-ever-reported Lazuli again this weekend!

Latest I and the Bird

I and the Bird #44 is up at The Greenbelt. Check it out for the latest best thoughts on birds from the blogosphere.

GBBC Wrapping Up

Public data entry for the Great Backyard Bird Count ended last week, but behind the scenes there is still a lot of work to do. We have over 90 regional reviewers sifting through the unusual records and trying to clean up the data. We are still missing reports of many species, especially in Hawaii--so we're contacting observers there who might have additional species to report. We're also starting to look at the results from this year--including some interesting trends. Northern Pintail numbers are down, which may be further evidence that this species is continuing its precipitous population decline. Hooded Merganser numbers are way up this year, so there might be something intersting going on there. American Crow numbers are down a bit on a per checklist basis, perhaps indicating continued problems with West Nile Virus mortality.

The GBBC is an imperfect instrument, but by creating a snapshot of bird populations during mid February each year, it gives us a first look at how birds are doing across the continent. Sometimes, as in the cases mentioned above, we see things that make us look more closely at how some species are doing to see if we can otherwise verify trends that show up on the count, and perhaps identify the causes of the trends.

The fun thing is, anyone can take a look at the maps and the data for all of the past GBBCs. By exploring the maps, or the yearly counts, maybe you can spot an interesting trend that nobody has noticed yet!

Ducks on the move

As the ice melts off the lake at Peace Valley Park, small flocks of ducks are dropping in as they make their way north. Yesterday I saw 12 Ring-necked Ducks, 10 Northern Pintail, a dozen Green-winged Teal, and 1 American Wigeon with the more regular Black Ducks, Mallards, and hundreds of Common Mergansers. Today, there was only one Northern Pintail, but six American Wigeon, two Bufflehead, and several hundred more Common Mergansers.

Yesterday I also saw my first Fox Sparrow of the spring, and others are reporting Tree Swallows arriving in the state. Spring is in the air!

Owl Love...or Lust

This morning at 3:30 a pair of Great Horned Owls apparently hooked up for a duet in my neighborhood. While I've previously seen and heard the one owl, there are definitely two now. Its prime breeding season for these guys here in Pennsylvania, so love is in the air. Or at least the hormonal and social activities that we associate with love in our human world. Bird love may be different in many ways, but to the extent that human couples and bird couples share hormonal sexual responses to each other, birds and humans may have a lot in common. So if it ain't love, maybe its at least lust.

We still have a lot to learn about bird feelings and emotions.

Birds before Work

This morning during my early morning walk, the friendly neighborhood Great Horned Owl was calling from the top of a pine tree at the end of my block. As I watched it, the bird flew across the street into a neighbor's backyard. A nice way to start the day.

On my walk along Perkiomen Creek, I was startled by a large bird fly away low along the creek, then climb steeply to clear the trees. It was beating its wings quickly and in the early morning light mostly showed dark wings with a white-trailing edge to the wing. Common Merganser.

Arriving at work this morning, a tom Wild Turkey was displaying out in the open near the edge of the woods. Three hen turkeys were shuffling around just inside the woods.

All in all not a bad way to start the day.

Ivory Gull Twitch

I woke up this morning to news that an Ivory Gull was being seen in New York, about two and a half hours from my home. Having daydreamed about seeing this rare Arctic gull for years, there was nothing to do but to jump in the car with my nine-year old (if they can open school late for snow, I can cancel it for a day to show my 4th grader an all-white gull that eats dead seal carcasses left by Polar Bears!). We arrived at the designated spot and followed a half dozen birders on foot for about half a mile. And there it was, a beautiful white bird, sitting on top of a telephone pole, with 40 birders standing around below it. After 20 minutes, it flew off, circled around, and came back a couple times--landing on a piling, picking up part of a dead fish, and flying off again. Amazing. I wasn't ready for the colors on the bill--red, orange, yellow, green, blue. If you live on the East Coast, this is a good bird to chase. Since these birds are declining, possibly due to melting of Polar ice caps due to global climate change, and possibly due to mercury poisoning, there's no telling how many opportunities we'll have to see these birds. They almost never get this far south. (Photo: Phil Jeffrey)

Also in the area, and at one point in the same binocular field, a wintering Snowy Owl. As one birder commented, its not very often that you see a bird that makes a Snowy Owl look off-white--but an adult Ivory Gull sure does that. Some birders have seen this Ivory Gull pick at scraps of a duck killed by this owl, so its quite a scene there on the banks of the Hudson River 20 miles north of NYC.

My 4th grader was happy to see the gull, as well as her second Snowy Owl, and to play in the snow for a little while. She read her autographed Kaufman guide half way home. Hopefully she'll remember this twitch, and feel a connection to the Arctic wildlife that need our protection.

More on this bird:
Phil Jeffrey
The City Birder
Jersey Birder
Edallbirds

False Advertising?

Originally this post was a criticism of the ad copy for Ivorybill Hunters, Geoff Hill's new Oxford Press book about looking for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. However, upon further reflection, I've decided its time for me to follow Rule #2, a Fergus Family rule my parents came up with after watching Walt Disney's Bambi--ie, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

In the spirit of that rule, I think I'm done commenting on the whole Ivory-billed Woodpecker saga--and I want to apologize to anyone who I have disagreed with about this issue. The lines seem to be drawn, I don't see too many people changing each other's minds about this, and resulting conversations seem to mostly generate ill feelings. To the degree that I've contributed to that, I apologize. While I believe in always searching for and standing up for the truth as it can be best determined, I do not believe in using truth as a weapon to attack others. To the degree that I have done that, or have made others feel attacked, I apologize. We may disagree, but I apologize for doing so disagreably. I aspire to be better than that.

New Species for the GBBC

So far we've added three new species to the Great Backyard Bird Count for the first time this year. I've wanted to get Lesser Prairie Chicken on the count for the past three years, and we finally got a sighting reported this year from Oklahoma. This year we were finally able to update state checklists, which allowed us to (finally!) record the Falcated Duck that has been returning to Oregon each of the last few winters. Also, this year we were able to add the two Pink-footed Geese that have been hanging out near Newport, Rhode Island.

Hopefully there will be more new additions as we continue to sift through the records and drum up reports of birds still not submitted yet to the count. We are accepting reports from last weekend through February 28, so there is still time to submit your bird sightings online (here).

Winter Wren

I've been practically living with my computer surgically attached to my body for the last week, while working on the GBBC. Besides the birds at Peace Valley Park on my way to work, and the birds at the feeders at work, I haven't been having enough bird encounters lately.

Today, on my morning walk, a pair of Winter Wrens caught my attention as they called back and forth to each other as them moved along the woods between the hike and bike path and Perkiomen creek near my house. These little brown puffballs are a joy to watch as they flit about. And they may have helped keep me from harm. By stopping to watch them, I narrowly avoided a very slippery patch of black ice on the path, that would have almost certainly caused me to tumble had I been marching along at full speed!
(photo:Melissa Whitmire)

GBBC Photo Gallery

Two years ago we started a Great Backyard Bird Count photo contest as a way for people to share pictures of their favorite birds seen during the count. If you got some nice bird photos this past weekend, consider sharing them here. Otherwise, just drop by to see what others are sharing at the GBBC photo gallery. (photo: Margaret Heslin).