Great Horned Owl Update

Well, today was a pretty good day. When I looked out my window this morning just after getting up, there was a nice looking Turkey in the yard. On my drive home tonight, I saw my first Red-winged Blackbird of the year!
Over lunch though I drove over to my friends house to get some more shots of the Great-horned Owl nest. When I arrived the adult was on the nest with the owlets. The nest is so small for the 3 birds though all I could see was the adult. I snapped off a few shots and the adult eventually flew off into the woods. What was most interesting though is how fast the owlets are progressing. If you look at the last post I made on these owls, A Great Day!, you'll see the increase in feathers and a decrease in amount of white down. It's only been 5 days . . . they grow so fast these days! :)
I feel very fortunate to have started out my "spring" birding with these great owl encounters!

Great-horned Owl:


Great-horned Owlets:

Barred Owl Madness!

So I had a few minutes today and decided to take some "test" shots with my new camera from the deck at the birds around my feeder. So I took a few shots, and then there wasn't much activity so I was about to head back in when I caught a slight movement in the corner of my eye. I turned to find a Barred Owl about 40 feet away . . . he had been there the whole time I was on the deck! So I started to take few shots, moved a foot to my left to get a better angle and he started to fly. I thought, "Well I blew that!", except he flew directly at me and landed only about 20 feet away from me! He landed on the branch and stared down at me. To make a long story short, he spent about 1 1/2 hours sitting on the branch occasionally closing his eyes. It looked like he was quite content, and I sure wasn't bothering him. I think I was more of curiosity than a threat. As you can imagine I took a bunch of shots. I'll post a few of the ones I liked that found with a cursory look at the ones I took. It will take a bit longer to get through all of them (I might have been a bit shutter happy with such a great bird and the new camera). I'm sure I'll post more over the coming days!

You can see larger versions of these at my Flickr account if you click on them.

Barred Owl (These 2 shots are not cropped) :





Talons, Talons, and more Talons:

Learning about birds . . . Northern Shrike

So, as promised, here is a post on the Northern Shrike. This winter I saw more of these birds than I've ever seen. What's interesting is that many others reported seeing them more this yer than usual as well here in Minnesota. I wonder why . . .

Northern Shrike:
- The Northern Shrike, like other shrikes, kills more prey, if it can, than it can immediately eat or feed to nestlings. Such behavior was characterized by early observers as "wanton killing," but the Northern Shrike stores excess prey to eat later. Storing food is an adaptation for surviving periods of food scarcity.
- The Latin species name of the Northern Shrike, Lanius excubitor, means "Butcher watchman."
- The nest of the Northern Shrike is an open cup, but it is so deep that while incubating, the female is completely out of view except for the tip of her tail.




Here's a link to other posts I've made on Northern Shrike sightings.

Blogger Tag - Six Word Memoir Meme

I've been "tagged" by Hannibal's Animals & Minnesota Birdnerd to leave a six word meme to describe my inner birder. So here goes:

My six word meme: Birding is essential in my life.

As for an illustration, I'll let my blog as a whole speak for itself.

It appears that this Blogger Tag has made it's way around to a number of blogs because many of the blogs that I visit have already been tagged so I'm only going to tag a few.

Arkansas Birding

Birdfreak: The Bird Conservation Blog

If you want to play here are the rules:

1. Write a six word memoir and post it on your blog with an illustration if you'd like.

2. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.

3. Tag 5 more blogs with links.

4. Don't forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

A Great Day!

I finally got my new camera and lens delivered today! It took too many phone calls, and was quite frustrating, but I believe that it was worth the wait. So not only did I get my new equipment today, a friend of mine discovered a Great Horned Owl nest in his yard! How cool is that!!! So after work I drove over to his house and took a few photos. The lighting wasn't that great, and it's going to take a bit to get used the new equipment, but here are some of the first shots on my new camera. I bought this camera to take photos of birds and I couldn't think of a better first day with it. I'm really hoping to get back there a few more times over the next couple of weeks and take more photos, I'll keep you updated.

Great Horned Owl:


Great Horned Owlets:


You can click on the photos to see larger versions at my Flickr account.

Lochness Park

I took a walk through Lochness Park today (I drive by almost every day). I just wanted to get out and enjoy the warm weather and scout this park for future visits. It's a nice park with paved trails, although humanity is encroaching on it from all sides. I believe though that I'll likely stop here on a more regular basis this spring and summer mainly because of the convenience factor and I do believe that their is potential for some nice bird life here. Time will tell how that works out. As expected, I didn't see much of anything until I got back in my car, the camera was put away and I was driving out of the park. I had a Northern Shrike fly right in front of my truck and land long enough for me to get off a few shots. It's really a beautiful bird that I have seen many of this winter . . . more than I ever have. I think this is a good bird for the next installment of Learning about birds . . . stay tuned for that.

Northern Shrike:

Carlos Avery Today

I took a drive through Carlos Avery today and saw about what I expected to see, Chickadees, Woodpeckers (heard a Red-bellied), Red-tailed Hawks, and a saw a couple Turkeys on my drive home. So not a whole to report bird-wise but the roads were in decent shape and it was a nice sunny day. They did open a new section for firewood gathering on the corner of Pool 10/Headquarters road. I'd guess it was about 3+ acres. They have left large piles of brush which will hopefully be good habitat for birds this spring and it is right off the road so hopefully there will be some opportunities to see some birds using the brush piles. Only time will tell. Anyway I never even picked up my camera today so I'll leave you with a picture from August of 2005.

Still waiting . . .

Well I ordered a new camera and lens about a week and a half ago. It was delivered at the end of last week but the box that it arrived in looked like it had been tossed repeatedly off the back of truck so I had to refuse the package and send it back. Yes, I was quite unhappy about this since I was pretty much like a kid on Christmas morning waiting for this package to arrive. Anyway, it looks I'll be getting it next Wednesday, give or take a day. I really can't wait for this camera setup and the Spring migration to start!

Canon 40D (photo courtesy of Canon):

Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6L IS USM (photo courtesy of Canon):

Learning about birds . . . Red-shouldered Hawk

Well, the signs of spring are starting to show and I hope that this year, like the last 2 years, we'll have a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks nesting in our yard again. Last year that started their nest in our yard and due to a large storm that damaged it, they moved over a few yards. Hopefully they'll choose our yard again and we'll get to see the young mature in the nest.

- Although the American Crow often mobs the Red-shouldered Hawk, sometimes the relationship is not so one-sided. They may chase each other and try to steal food from each other. They may also both attack a Great Horned Owl and join forces to chase the owl out of the hawk's territory. - We saw this happen last year!
- By the time they are five days old, nestling Red-shouldered Hawks can shoot their feces over the edge of their nest. Bird poop on the ground is a sign of an active nest. - We definitely saw this the first year!
- The Great Horned Owl often takes nestling Red-shouldered Hawks, but the hawk occasionally turns the tables. While a Red-shouldered Hawk was observed chasing a Great Horned Owl, its mate took a young owl out of its nest and ate it. - We've had both of these in our yard but I had no idea how contentious their relationship could be . . .

Red-shouldered Hawks (From last years first nest attempt):


Here's all the posts I've made on Red-shouldered Hawks.

Learning about birds . . . Green Heron

Last spring/summer I saw a number of Green Herons at Carlos Avery WMA and was able to take a lot of photographs. Below is one of the better shots that I took.

- The Green Heron is one of the few tool-using birds. It commonly drops bait onto the surface of the water and grabs the small fish that are attracted. It uses a variety of baits and lures, including crusts of bread, insects, earthworms, twigs, or feathers.
- As is typical for many herons, the Green Heron tends to wander after the breeding season is over. Most wanderers probably seek more favorable foraging areas and do not travel far. But,occasionally some go farther, with individuals going as far as England and France.
- A group of herons has many collective nouns, including "a battery of herons", "a hedge of herons", "a pose of herons", "a rookery of herons", and a "scattering of herons."

Learning about birds . . . Ring-billed Gull

Pretty much every summer my family visits the North Shore of Lake Superior where we see all kinds of birds including many gulls. Ring-billed and Herring gulls are the most common gulls to see and I'm always amazed at their agility in the air.

- Young Ring-billed Gulls tested at only two days of age showed a preference for magnetic bearings that would take them in the appropriate direction for their fall migration.
- Many, if not most, Ring-billed Gulls return to breed at the colony where they hatched. Once they have bred, they are likely to return to the same breeding spot each year, often nesting within a few meters of the last year's nest site.
- Although it is considered a typical large white-headed gull, the Ring-billed Gull has been known to hybridize only with smaller, black-headed species, such as Franklin's, Black-headed, and Laughing gulls.

Ring-billed Gull (Developing done in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom)

Learning about birds . . . Rose-breasted Grosbeak

A saw my first Rose-breasted Grosbeaks this last summer. Below is a shot of one that I saw at Springbrook Nature Center.

- The nest of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak is so thinly constructed that eggs often can be seen from below through the nest.
- The Rose-breasted Grosbeak will mate with the Black-headed Grosbeak where the population densities of both species are low
- A group of grosbeaks are collectively known as "a gross of grosbeaks."

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

The Great Backyard Bird Count Starts Tomorrow!

Just a reminder, the Great Backyard Bird Count starts tomorrow!

Learning about birds . . . Ruby-throated Hummingbird

We have a number of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds visit our yard during the summer months. Our feeder sits just above our deck hanging on branch only a couple of feet above our heads. These little guys zoom in above us whether we are sitting near the feeder or not. I've spent a number of hours over the summer watching the "Hummers" come in for a snack. There were so many cool things about Hummingbirds I wasn't sure what to add here, but I will tell you that a quick search will reveal a tremendous amount of information on these birds. They appear to be quite popular with birders. So here are a few facts that I liked:

• These tiny birds have devised a fascinating way to conserve energy when they can't be eating—at night or when the weather is too cold or too rainy for feeding. They go into a sleep-like state known as torpor. During torpor, the tiny bird's body temperature can drop almost 50 degrees. The heart rate may slow from 500 beats per minute to fewer than 50, and breathing may briefly stop. A hummingbird consumes as much as 50 times more energy when awake than when torpid. If you were to find a hummingbird in torpor, it would appear lifeless. If a predator were to find one, it would be lifeless indeed! While torpor has benefits, there are risks too. It can take as long as an hour for the bird to come back into an active state, so a torpid hummer cannot respond to emergencies.
• The extremely short legs of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird prevent it from walking or hopping. The best it can do is shuffle along a perch. Nevertheless, it scratches its head and neck by raising its foot up and over its wing.

• HEARTBEATS: About 250 times per minute while at rest, about 1,220 per minute while flying
• HEART SIZE: About 2.5% of total body weight
• BREATHING: About 250 breaths per minute while at rest
• FLIGHT MUSCLES: Make up about 25% of bird's weight (compared to 5% pectoral muscle weight in human beings)

No posts for a bit

I'll be quite busy with work this week so I won't be posting for a bit . . . probably not until next weekend. For those of you that don't know, I work for Adobe Systems Inc. as a Senior Quality Engineer Lead on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. With an obivious bias forLightroom I do all my photo organization and developing in Lightroom.
With all of that said, it's going to be a busy week so I'll leave you with this Proverb and photo of Carlos Avery WMA.

"A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song."
Chinese Proverb

Learning about birds . . . Tree Swallow

So this weeks bird is the Tree Swallow. It's a very cool bird that I see regularly at Carlos Avery WMA every summer. I've never been sucessful getting a flight shot of a Tree Swallow, maybe I'll be luckier this summer.

Tree Swallow:

• Outside of the breeding season the Tree Swallow congregates into enormous flocks and night roosts, sometimes numbering in the hundreds of thousands. They gather about an hour before sunset at a roost site, forming a dense cloud. They swirl around like a living tornado and as darkness approaches they then wheel low over the cattail marsh or grove of small trees. Large numbers drop down into the roost with each pass of the flock until the flock disappears.

• The Tree Swallow uses many feathers from other birds in its nest. The feathers help keep the nestlings warm so they can grow faster. They help keep levels of ectoparasites, like mites, low too.

• The Tree Swallow winters farther north than any other American swallow, and it returns to its nesting grounds long before other swallows come back. Its ability to use plant foods helps it survive periods of bad weather.

New Nikon and Canon SLR's Announced

Since switching to digital I've pretty much been a Canon guy, but my first SLR was a Nikon. Nikon D60

Here's the latest Canon announcement as well: Canon XSi


NOTE: I changed the title of the post and added the Canon review.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

The Great Backyard Bird Count is happening February 15-18. This will be my first year participating and I'm looking forward to it. For those of you that might be interested in participating as well it only takes 15 minutes during one of the 4 days that it is scheduled. Here's a link to information about participating: How to Participate.

Telemetric Egg . . .

This is a great use of technology in my opinion:

"The telemetric egg, placed in the nest after the mother has laid her eggs, contains sensors that record temperatures on four quadrants of the egg’s surface as well as in the egg’s interior. Motion detectors record how frequently the mother turns the egg during incubation. The data are recorded 24 hours a day and downloaded to a computer every 48 hours. National Zoo staff use the information to mimic natural incubation in a controlled setting in the lab. "

Photo Credit: Jessie Cohen, Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Read more here: Smithsonian's National Zoo researchers use electronic eggs to help save threatened species.

Learning about birds . . . Pelicans

A friend of mine that reads my blog mentioned that pelicans might be an interesting bird to learn about, so here are a few facts about pelicans. All of these photos were taken at J. N. Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge in Florida.

American White Pelican:
- Unlike most birds, which warm their eggs with the skin of their breasts, pelicans incubate their eggs with their feet. They hold the eggs under the webs that stretch from the front toes to the hind toe, essentially standing on the eggs to warm them.
- The White Pelican does not dive for fish as the Brown Pelican does. Instead, it dips its head underwater to scoop up fish. Several pelicans may fish cooperatively, moving into a circle to concentrate fish, and then dipping their heads under simultaneously to catch fish.







Brown Pelican:
- The Brown Pelican frequently lowers its head onto its shoulders with the bill open, pulls its head back, and stretches the pouch over its throat and neck. The exposed neck looks like a large lump sticking up out of the pouch.
- The brown pelican is a plunge diver. It drops from the air with its wings partly folded and dives into the water to catch its prey. It is the only species of pelican that does this!The brown pelican is a plunge diver. It drops from the air with its wings partly folded and dives into the water to catch its prey. It is the only species of pelican that does this!

The last of the Hawaiian birds . . .

Just to finish off this thread, it's about -8 degrees (F) right now, so thoughts of warm weather are still in my mind. I'll be heading over to my fathers so we can watch the NFL playoffs, but I'll be honest, I'm not really looking forward to going outside. Anyway, enough whining from me about the cold. Here are two more shots showing those beautiful birds from Hawaii:

Black Swan:


Red-footed Booby:


By the way, I took the shots of the Frigatebird, Red-footed Booby, Nene, and Red-tailed Tropicsbird at the Kilauea Lighthouse on the island of Kauai. It's definitely worth a visit if you're there.

Still cold . . . what the frigate is up with that . . .

Yeah it's still cold, in fact, it's now -6 degrees (F) with a windchill of about -20 and it's supposed to drop even farther. So, as stated in my earlier post, I'm now sitting by the fire and staying warm. How about a few more Hawaiin birds!

Back in November I had posted about the Audobon Watch List. Here are 2 birds from that watchlist:

Magnificent Frigatebird:
"The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers this unique seabird a "species of conservation concern," while Partners in Flight label it a "species of high concern," due to its decreasing population and threats to its breeding habitat. "




Nene (Hawaiian Goose):
"After a close call with extinction, it remains as Hawaii's state bird. It is one of the most isolated, sedentary, and threatened of all water birds. Hunting, poaching and egg collecting took a heavy toll through the early 1900's. Despite tenacious re-introduction efforts beginning in the 1960's, the population still has not recuperated to a self sustaining condition. "

Thinking warm . . . Hawaiian birds . . .

Well it's about 1 degree (F) right now, and that is likely to be the warmest it will be for the next few days. They are predicting a low of -17 (F) tonight, which honestly is pretty cold. I enjoy the winter. I don't mind the cold . . . within reason. This kind of cold snap, gets old quickly so I'll likely be sitting by the fire this weekend.
As I was cruising through some old photos (work related stuff) I came across the set of bird photos I took while in Hawaii May of 2005. So these are bit old, but they do remind me of a warmer time. :)

Red-tailed Tropicbird:


White-rumped Sharma:

Learning about birds . . . White-breasted Nuthatch

The White-breasted Nuthatch is a frequent visitor to our yard. We regularly have 2 (likely a pair) at the feeder. These birds are commonly found in deciduous forests and wooded areas like my yard. Here are some of the fun facts that I have found:

White-breasted Nuthatch:
- Nuthatches gather nuts and seeds, jam them into tree bark, and hammer or "hatch" the food open with their bills.
- White-breasted Nuthatches are monogamous and remain with their partner the whole year from the time of courtship to the creation of a dwelling place or until the partner disappears or dies.
- Aside from being one of a few birds who can creep down a tree trunk head first to forage for food or hang upside down, swinging from tiny branches, the White-breasted Nuthatch is also known to exhibit a weird behavior known as "bill sweeping" in which it picks up a piece of fur, plant or insect with its bill and uses this to sweep around its nest''s cavity. Scientists believe it does this to remove its own scent around the nest and prevent detection by predators.


Here's lookin' at ya!

Learning about birds in 2008 . . . Great Horned Owl

This year I'm going to work on learning more about the birds in my area, things like their range, habitat, food, behavior, etc. I'm also going to try and find out neat facts (like the ones below) about a particular bird each week. I'll post those to the blog. This week it's going to be the Great Horned Owl . . . for obvious reasons. :)

Great Horned Owl:
- The Great Horned Owl is the only animal that regularly eats skunks.
- Great horned owls pair off to begin mating in early winter. By February, they are already nesting!
- Great horned owls don't make a nest, they take over nests left by other animals.
- Of all the owls, the great horned owl has the strongest talons. About 30 pounds (13,000 grams) of force is required to release the owl's grip on an object.

PS If anyone has a particular bird they would like to learn about , let me know and I'll post on that bird next week.

Great Horned Owls

Well, so far this year is going pretty well in terms of birding. Yesterday we had a Rough-legged Hawk flying over my yard for about 5 minutes or so, and tonight we had a pair of Great Horned Owls hooting away out in the cold. We could hear that the one owl was quite close to the house so I grabbed my binoculars and headed outside to see if I could find him. Well, about 10 seconds after walking out the door, still standing on my deck, he hooted away and I spotted him. I picked up the binocs and got a good look at him. The light was fading fast so I grabbed my camera and took 1 photo of him. Before I took the shot, my wife and father-in-law, got a good look at him as well. The shot isn't that great but you sure can tell he's a Great Horned Owl!

Welcome to a New Year

The New Year has arrived and I hope that this year will bring good things to all of us. I decided to start out the New Year with a change to the look of my blog and some photos of the recent snows we have had. The photos are all in my yard, a place that my wife and I find solitude throughout the year.

I wish all of you the best for the coming year and hope that you and your loved ones are in good spirits and health.

Sincerely,
Craig

Crex Meadows

My father and I drove up to Crex Meadows this past Friday on a bit of a whim. It's a pretty slow time of year for birds right now, but we wanted to get out. Well it ended up not amounting to much, I never even took a photo. We did see 3 Northern Shrikes, and 4 Rough-legged Hawks. The part that was so strange to me (and my father) was that there was a so little wildlife activity. We never saw a Chickadee, no deer, not even a squirrel. It was just weird. Anyway, it was nice to get out, even though we didn't get to see much. I hope you have all had good holidays.

Carlos Avery Continued . . .

There were a lot of Common Redpolls flitting about yesterday, but I never really got a good shot of an individual bird. So here is a flock shot that I thought was probably the best shot of these birds for the day. Next time, hopefully I'll be in a better position to take a nicer shot.

Common Redpolls:

This Morning at Carlos Avery WMA

Well, I finally got out to do a little birding this morning. My Father and I headed up to Carlos Avery for a couple of hours and had a pretty good day. We spotted a Great Horned Owl (no photos though), a Pileated Woodpecker, a number of Pheasant, a flock of about 35 Common Redpolls, and 2 Northern Shrike. Overall, I would say it was a pretty good day for only a couple of hours looking.

Here's the Northern Shrike:


... and a shot of his wing ...


I'll post a picture or two of the Redpolls in the next couple of days, once I get through all the photos. Hope you enjoy!

Filling the feeders . . .

The last few times that I have filled my bird feeders I have had the Chickadees fly in so close to me it has actually surprised me. In fact, last week while filling my largest feeder, a Chickadee came in and landed on the feeder (about 6 inches from my hand) as I was lifting it back up to hang it. So this week I brought out a point-and-shoot camera to snap a picture of the birds while I was filling the feeders. The 2 birds are about 2-3 feet from me when I took this shot. Not a terribly great shot, but still fun!

Black-capped Chickadees:

Winter Snow

We've had a bit of snow over the last week or so and the birds have been really active at the feeders. We are consistently getting about 12-14 Goldfinch, 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch, 2 White-breasted Nuthatch, and a number of woodpeckers. We've also had a number of Juncos move in as well. I've taken some photos, but with the conditions being what they are I haven't really had much success. Here you can see the blowing snow:

Goldfinches in Winter Plumage:

The 2007 Audobon Watchlist

The National Audobon Society has released the 2007 Watchlist. You can visit the site and get see the list here:

2007 Audobon Watchlist

"Audubon and the America Bird Conservancy have joined forces to rally conservationists around America's most imperiled birds. WatchList 2007, a new analysis from these leading bird conservation organizations, uses the latest available research from the bird conservation community along with citizen science data from the Christmas Bird Count and the annual Breeding Bird Survey to identify 178 species in the continental U.S. and 39 in Hawaii that are in need of immediate conservation help. It is a call to action to save species fighting for survival amid a convergence of environmental challenges, including habitat loss, invasive species and global warming."

Pileated Woodpecker

This morning the bird feeders were humming with activity. The Red-bellied woodpeckers were especially active. We also had the usual Chickadees, Blue-jays, and Juncos. A visitor we haven't had since the spring was a single Goldfinch in winter plumage. The feeders were getting low (the suet feeder was empty) and I was about to head out and fill them up when this Pileated Woodpecker flew in looking for a snack.

Pileated Woodpecker:


Pileated Woodpecker:


Both photos taken through the window.

Red-winged Blackbird (...from this summer)

I was going through a few photos from this summer and I found this one. This was taken at Springbrook Nature Center while I was watching a nesting Red-winged Blackbird. Anyway, I thought I'd put here since I don't have much else considering I haven't really gotten out.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

This little guy is a new visitor to ur yard this year. He seems to be quite content to hang around the feeders and chow down. He gets chased away by the White-breasted Nuthatches that we have in abundance, but he seems undeterred by them and just keeps coming back. I hear him practically every morning now.

Red-breasted Nuthatch:

Yard Birds

Well, since I haven't gotten out lately to photograph much of anything, I took a few minutes to shoot the birds in my yard and at the feeder. This male turkey is a regular in our yard. In fact has actually come up on our deck and attacked its own reflection in our sliding glass door.

Here he is in all his splendor



Now he's just showing off:


Both of these shots are taken from in the house through a window. The second shot has a bit of the deck showing on the right side which is a bit of bummer, but ya gotta take what ya get.

The Woods

The weather has not been terribly nice lately and I haven't been motivated to get out in the rain. This coupled with some changes going on at work have made for a month of little to no photography . . . let alone photographing birds. Last night it was raining and dense fog rolled into the woods.