Feed: Birding Event of Decade - AggScore: 10.7

Bird Puzzle

Try this today for a few minutes of online birdwatching.

Look closely is this primarily a seed eating or an insect eating bird?

Is it a perching bird?

Penguins Are Flightless Birds

Honestly, I did not think about posting about Penguins during this site repair.

But a friend of mine mentioned he was tired of looking at the Hacking announcement and asked when I was planning to write about birds again.  After much ado about nonsense and excuses, I agreed to talk about the Penguins I saw at the Tennessee Aquarium recently.   It did not feel right because they were in captivity but I figured, when am I ever going to see them in their natural habitat?   Well, if I ever went to New Zealand it is probably possible. At first I thought I had to go all the way to the South Pole!   A visit to Antarctica is enticing but not very realistic for me at this time.

So, I do love penguins. Yes, they are flightless birds. Yes, they are great divers and swimmers and they live in the southern hemisphere.  Yes,  you can get really close to them at the Tennessee Aquarium with just the double thick panes of glass between you. It honestly feels like you are in the water with them. The museum staff even set up a small fountain in the visitor area so you could feel how cold the water is on the other side of the glass.  I was impressed with the exhibit. I spent about 2 hours in just that room. I studied every posting.  Learned about every species. Posed by the model penguins in their external habitat display.

So, here are a few facts about penguins and their lives.  Besides, everyone is all caught up with the movies these days depicting the degradation of their habitat… see Happy Feet and Happy Feet Two.  For a magnificent docudrama about the Emperor Penguin’s life you MUST see The March of the Penguins. The Emperor Penguin is the largest species. There are about 20 distinct families of penguins and they vary widely in size. Some are endemic to specific coastal areas. Wikipedia has a great narrative that encompasses life habits, breeding, popular culture images, historic discoveries and penguin fossils.

*note* my attempt to upload some neat penguin photos failed, so come back to see them.

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HACK REPAIR

This was my favorite site.
It was hacked.
Now it needs some major work.
So it may look a bit ORDINARY right now…
But Come Back after a while to see some
Really cool changes and updates.

Thanks for your continued attention and support.
The birding ecourse is still accepting newcomers though it is stalled
after a few lessons also as a result of time constraints.

Hacking for birds can be a very good thing.
Hacking for websites is catastrophic.

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Birding Event of Decade

Without a Doubt Yesterday was MY Birding Event of this Decade!

Sunny, yet cold for Northern Alabama. I headed out on a snow packed trail to the Observation Blind at Wheeler Wildlife National Refuge, along the Tennessee River.

We had more than 8 inches of snow earlier this week, another unusual event, and lots of ice. So I wanted to see how the migrating waterfowl were getting along on their icy ponds. Short on time, I only had my compact Bushnell binoculars with me.

Amazing beyond belief.

I heard them in flight and saw so many of them in the distance that they looked like a swarm of mayflies in the spring mating season!

You HAD to hear them. And as Aldo Leopold said, once you hear them, you hear no other birds in the same way. These are the lead birds in the orchestra.

SANDHILL CRANES  by the thousands!

Refuge manager said there were more than 8000 migrating through right now and they stopped here at Wheeler. There are 12 Whooping Cranes reported to be in the migrating flock.  So with THAT many birds, not to mention some 45000 ducks! And geese I did not get a count of, it was a raucous, hilarious, joyous search for “where’s Waldo?”

The excitement was contagious and the sun was low in the sky so the photographers were almost as numerous! Well, not that many!

More on Sand Hill Cranes to follow and I will explain why I am still excited about seeing and hearing and experiencing so many of them all at once.

Don’t Have a Clue? Wonder what they are? Watch for the next post with more details. Meanwhile, browse this collection of information. I love them. It was a glorious day.

Brown-Headed Nuthatch Today

First, it helps to know I am speaking from Alabama.  Northern Alabama, just about 20 miles south of the Tennessee River. The setting is a residential area with some old oaks and pine trees clustered around a few homes, including mine.

I have seen nuthatches here before. I have become fascinated by the smaller Brown-headed Nuthatch, Sitta pusilla.
Since most of my birding days have been in northern or western climates this is a relatively new bird for me.

This little nuthatch is more the size of a chickadee than the white-breasted nuthatch that I am more familiar with.  It favors pine forests in the Southeast US.  There are about 5 tall pine trees in my neighbor’s yard and one snag that once was a water oak. I believe it is nesting in one of the cavities in the snag. 

According to the information at All About Birds, the Cornell University site, 

The Brown-headed Nuthatch may sleep in a tree cavity or in the open on pine branches. The female or the breeding pair roosts in the nest cavity before the eggs are laid and throughout the nestling period.

They also may share their nest space with other brown-headed nuthatches, though no one knows yet if they are last year’s young or how they are connected.  

I found it fascinating to learn that they sometimes will use a small piece of bark to life another section of barck in search of food. I have observed other nuthatches stuffing sunflower seeds into cracks of tree bark as a food cache so this makes sense to me too.  I also like the fact that they are so close I do not even need to use binoculars for a terrific view.

Who Is The Skydancer?

Have you ever seen a skydance?   Who Is The Skydancer?

The American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) is the SkyDancer.

The American Woodcock delights birders every spring with his night-time aerial acrobatics. When you look at this bird, it is hard to imagine agility or acrobatic in the same sentence. But Let me tell you these skydances are incredible. I look forward to the first ones every season.  I try to introduce someone new to the adventure.

The short story about this annual skydance is about the American Woodcock each evening in the spring. About 22 minutes after sunset in a scrubby field, probably not far from you, there is a ritual dance performed by the male. It is a performance you are not likely to forget.  I first read about it in Aldo Leopold’s book A Sand County Almanac.  And it is a rare season when I have missed it since then.

The males pivot around in a circle making their “peenting” or buzzing sound in all directions. You see, they want all the females to know they are there! Or at least that is what WE are thinking anyhow. Who knows what a woodcock thinks besides the woodcocks?  Then the short stubby bird that looks like dead leaves on the forest floor, who has a bill that is almost as long as his body (with a flexible tip for probing in the soil for earthworms), launches skyward! And UP he goes swiftly with some twittering from his wings, he will go as high as 300 feet or more, so bring your night vision binoculars! A few seconds at the top of his climb and the fluffy bird DIVES back to the same spot on the ground to begin the process all over again.  It is astounding in so many ways. He will continue to do this through the evening and then pick up the routine again when the light is about the same level, just before dawn the next morning.  On a full moon night these energetic little game birds have been known to do the “skydance” all through the night.

I admire these little birds. I never see them at other times. But this annual event is worth the wait for me. I know they are around and I know they are game birds and hunters will indeed seek them out. But they seem awfully small to me, hardly worth the effort. Perhaps that is because I am not a hunter.

I invite you to get to know more about the American Woodcock whose range extends from Canada to Mexico in North America in woodland areas and fallow fields that are just a little moist. Hint – you might want to bring something to sit on rather than the damp ground.  Also if you only move when the birds are airborne, you will be surprised how close you can get to these birds without interrupting their display. If you are in northwestern Pennsylvania an extraordinary multiple skydance is waiting for you on a spring evening at Jennings State Park just south of Slippery Rock.

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John James Audubon Birthday

I doubt there are many birding enthusiasts who could escape a twinge of nostalgia recognizing or commemorating April 26th as the birthday of John James Audubon.

Audubon was an American naturalist, wilderness explorer and artist. His business skills never fully developed, much to the dismay of his father and his family. However he managed to eke out a living with sales of his drawings and paintings. During one part of his life he earned a substantial income doing oil portraits of influential people. His wife, Lucy Bakewell was trained as a teacher and she served as the primary reliable breadwinner for their small family as they moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky and Louisiana and while he went exploring and traveling.

John James Audubon was born in what we know today as Haiti. He became an American citizen after his childhood and youth in France. His father was a French merchant and his mother was Jeanne Rabin, the mistress of his father while he was in Haiti. His life story is packed with surprises and real life adventures. I invite you to dive into a bit of American history and put this artist’s life into perspective with the times in which he lived. Born in 1785 and died in 1851, he lived during exciting and precarious times.

You might enjoy reading this short and engaging biography available at Amazon.

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon (Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 (Awards))

Just click on the title or description  above and you can make a contribution to this site!

Another way to support this site is to visit the new Amazon store I put together:

In Honor of John James Audubon. Thank you.

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Bald Eagle at the Farm

Standing in the field at the organic farm where I work part-time in Northern Alabama, about 20 miles south of the Tennessee River along the I-65 corridor, I am always aware of the train schedule. The tracks are across the road from the field.

This season the chickens are running free range and covering a much wider territory closer to the fields where we grow produce. But not in them. On this day they were very active close to the barn and house.

I looked up. There was my reward. Soaring above was a solitary bald eagle just a little north of our field. As it soared on the thermal current spiraling upwards I observed its white head with each return until the Bald Eagle soared above the clouds and out of sight. I had no binoculars on me and my spotting scope was in the trunk of my car. So the entire magical moment was a naked eye sighting. My favorite kind. Perhaps my most common viewing of wildlife is without assistance. It is often just noticing something different and focusing my attention on it. This is what birding and birdwatching is about for me. Taking moments from each day and appreciating the aerial escapades of whatever birds I happen upon.

Of course when I have my binoculars (Bushnell compact) or my spotting scope (also Bushnell) I can spend a little more time exploring the details of the scene and the bird. Those are the times when I wish I had a Swarovski spotting scope and Leupold Katmai Compact binoculars with me. That day shall come my way but it must wait until some household essentials are purchased first. In the meantime I share the joy of birding with you today, another magnificent sunny (that is unusual) spring day in April.

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Winter Birding – Project FeederWatch – Video

My birdwatching friends know it is unusual for me to miss making posts for so long.

I even missed participating in the Christmas Count this year. But Winter continues and bird watching opportunities have not gone away completely! I hope they never do!

One way many birders appreciate this season is by participating in the annual and International Project FeederWatch. It is a great way for the everyday citizen to be directly involved with real science research.  Partnering with Cornell University Ornithology Labs and Bird Studies- Canada, you can be a part of this year’s data collection until early April. I enjoy watching the birds that frequent our backyard feeder too when I cannot get out into the field, forest or swamp.

Thanksgiving Birds

This is the time of Thanksgiving in America.

In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln established a national holiday for Americans to take time to express their gratitude for the many freedoms and gifts and blessings that we have.

That has become our Thanksgiving holiday. Pilgrims in 1620 celebrated a harvest feast even after a year of exceedingly difficult colonization and settling. Turkeys and other game birds were believed to be part of the feast, along with fish and venison and a wide variety of vegetables from the harvest- which actually was quite paltry due to a drought.

Nonetheless. This weekend we celebrate Thanksgiving. I with you and your families all the best and I am thankful for your friendship and support through this year of many challenges.

Birds seems to fly by challenges. Yet that is an illusion. They are predator and prey. And their hardships are more than most of us could imagine in our everyday lives.  So be thankful for what is.