VEEP

I served 2 years as the Secretary of the DVOC. As of Jan 11, I am now the Vice President of the club. My duties have changed from taking the meeting minutes to scheduling the programs for the meetings. The thought of finding speakers for 18 presentations per year is overwhelming. While I love birding and know alot of other birders, I really don't know that many ornithologists. I panicked and started contacting people back in June as possible speakers. What a relief. I have 2018 fully booked. 

The 2018 programs started with a tour of the Academy of Natural Sciences Ornithology Department and Specimen Tour presented by Dr. Jason Weckstein. Jason is a member of the club and full time associate professor at Drexel University (which now owns the museum) and associate curator of the bird collection. The meeting drew double the attendance as normal with over 40 people. Jason gave a short presentation and then he and his colleagues took us all up to the 4th floor to tour the specimen collection. We started with Harpie Eagle which is one of the largest and most sought after eagles in the world. This is Jason holding one up for the members to see. 

Here he is showing us Aplomado Falcon specimen. The 4th floor is full of cabinets like the one shown here. They are on tracks and can be moved to create aisles. 

The highlight for many members was seeing extinct species skins. These are Carolina Parakeets which were once very common along the mid-Atlantic region. They went extinct years ago as settlers cleared the land and removed their habitat. Incredible to think of our area having parakeets. 

Jason pointed out that one of the parakeets was tagged by John James Audubon. Here is a photo showing his handwriting. Incredible to think that these birds were collected in the early 1800's and are still in good condition in the museum's collection. 

 

JJ Audubon specimen tag

Imperial Woodpeckers are, rather were huge birds found in the tropics. They remind us of Pileated Woodpeckers on steroids. 

Imperial Woodpecker

Their close cousin is the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. This is a species that has made the news in recent years. It was written off as extinct after 1946 however there are always reports from the deep bayous of Arkansas and Florida from someone who says that they heard or saw one. These stories have ornithologists launching massive searches resulting in even more questions about whether the species is still in existence. After a recent search, ornithologists asked the Academy if they could examine a wing from a specimen to compare to a very blurry video. Here is Jason showing us the famous wing. Do Ivory-bills exist? Probably not but wouldn't it be great if they did. 

Ivory-billed Woodpecker

Anyway, the tour was a big hit. Here is hoping that the rest of the programs go off without a hitch. 

Closer to Home

Our search for Snowy Owls and other winter birds took Todd and I to Canada in December. I guess we could have saved some gas money by waiting for the Snowy Owls to come south. Marty and I went to the Philadelphia airport this morning to see this Snowy Owl which has been hanging around the UPS hangar for a few weeks. We found him/her sitting on a light pole.

Snow Owl

A different angle shows that this location is in fact an airport. That's the radar tower behind the owl.

Snow Owl with Radar

There is talk of capturing this owl, banding it and relocating it to the farmlands in Lancaster county. The last Snowy that tried to make the airport it's winter home was killed by a UPS plane on the runway. Runways are not safe for birds (or any living thing). The trouble is that the same bird that was killed was also captured, banded and relocated to Lancaster. It took him less than 2 days to return to the airport! So, why bother? I hope they leave the bird alone and let him/her take it's chances.

Marty and I headed up to Pennypack on the Delaware park in search of ducks. We found icebergs.

Marty surveys the river

Some of them were grounded at low tide. It's less of an ice berg, than a big ice ball. It is accumulated ice slabs mixed with dirt and debris that froze together. Kind of neat looking.

Stranded Iceberg

We did find a few ducks. Here are Bufflehead amongst the ice flows.

Bufflehead

Birding has been really slow lately. Hoping next weekend is better.

Florida Owl Experience

In between the Canadian cold and the winter storm, Connie and I drove to Florida for Christmas with my mother and her sister. The week was filled with cooking, eating, drinking and visiting. I brought my binoculars and camera but didn't expect to use them. Fortunately, Connie's sister lives in Cape Coral which has many vacant lots where houses hadn't been built for humans. Burrowing Owls love the lots. We found a corner lot with 7 burrows. Someone makes little wooden perches for them and puts stakes out to advise people that there are owls living there.

I went out late in the afternoon to try to photograph the owls. I drove to the corner lot and saw an owl sitting out next to the burrow. I quietly rolled the window down and turned off the engine. I snapped a few photos. The owl just sat there.

I pulled closer and snapped. The owl sat there. I opened the car door and hid behind it snapping photos. The owl sat there.

Then, the little kids on the block started riding their brand new bicycles with training wheels down the street. The owl just sat there. Another kid skateboarded right past the owl. The owl just sat there. Boy did I feel dumb. I got out of the car and walked to the curb. The owl just sat there.

The owl was so un-phased by human activity that he even took time to preen.

And then, something happened. I stepped on what I think was a storm drain on the curb and next thing I know, another owl jumps out of his burrow (he hadn't been out before this) and starts flying around the intersection hooting and then landed on one of the perches. I snapped this photo of him as he landed.

"My" owl hooted back a few times but still just sat there. And just like that, the mad owl vanished back into his burrow. I'm not quite sure what happened. Did I scare the owl? The only thing I can think of is that when I stepped on the storm drain, it echoed into the burrow and scared him. Or, something else made him take flight. I really don't know but I think it is weird that cars, joggers, skateboards and bicycles are ignored. Urban owls.

Circle of Life in the Snow Storm

Warning: this blog post shows animals acting like, well, animals. Since I have been working at home I have seen our neighborhood foxes often. Mostly in winter and spring and almost always when it snows. Today was no exception. We experienced another "snowicane" along the east coast today with snow and blowing wind. About 9:30, the fox wandered past the pond and around the back of the house. Connie was home today so I yelled for her to look out the kitchen window to see the fox. Poor Connie. She witnessed the fox grabbing a squirrel right by the neck.

The fox took the squirrel out back and had lunch. Watch if you want to. Don't watch if it upsets you. I thought it was interesting that the fox uses the snow as a napkin.

I don't usually post things like this but I have to tell you that after this, no squirrels were eating the birdseed. Only birds. It is soooo cold here that the birds really need to seed. (And the fox really needs the squirrel) Don't worry, the next post has pretty birds and fun stuff. Promise.

There's Cold and Then There's COLD

Before you say it, I know it was our choice to go to Canada in December so we get what we deserve. We we prepared for cold weather. The temperature was forecast to be between 5 and 25 degrees Fahrenheit. We had boots and hats and gloves and layers, layers, layers. We weren't prepared for this:

Dashboard Temperature Reading

That's a - before the 20. 20 below zero Fahrenheit. That's fucking cold. It was that cold even when the sun came up. We didn't venture far from the car. We couldn't. Even with the mittens and hats and boots and hand warmers and toe warmers, it was cold.

We spent a lot of time at the Visitor's Center too - for 2 reasons. First the cold, but also because one of our target species often hangs out under the bird feeders there. This critter is called American Marten or Pine Marten. It is a type of weasel that can climb trees.

Pine Marten

A-dor-a-ble. Right?

Pine Marten

He would eat the bird seed on the ground and then run up to the building and hang out next to the foundation. We figured out that there is a little pipe there that he must use to get a drink. Cute little critter but make no mistake, this is a predator. Look at those teeth and claws. He could rip you up.

Teeth and Claws

OK. One more photo just because. Look how cute he is with the snow on his nose!

Cutie Pa-tootie

It did warm up with temperatures above zero in the afternoon and the next day too. On our last day, we found an uncommon woodpecker on a hike. This aptly named woodpecker is Black-backed Woodpecker, a female.

Black-backed Woodpecker

Another fun thing to do in the park is photograph common and uncommon birds. Here is Todd bearing the cold to take a few photos of a Blue Jay. 

Todd

Even the Blue Jays look better up here.

Blue Jay

Up north, there is another type of Jay - Gray Jay. These are the same size as Blue Jays but somehow they look cuter. 

Gray Jay

They are really smart and figured out quickly that when people arrive, they get fed. Just put a little peanut butter on your finger and hold out your hand. Here is a photo of me feeding the jay that Todd took. You can see that the jay has bands on his legs. I think the park does this to keep track of them. 

Linda with Friend

The Gray Jays aren't the only birds that figured out that people equals food. Here I am feeding a Chickadee. 

Another friend

Birds and wildlife up here have adapted to the cold and snow. We found this flock of Pine Siskins on the road eating grit and salt after the snow plows came through. 

Pine Siskins in road

Sadly, some of them are not fast enough to get off of the road. We found 4 of them dead. 

Roadkill Siskins

Their little bodies were still warm when I picked them up. They are now on their way to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia for study. I didn't think about whether that was legal or not but they didn't ask me if I had any dead animals in the car when we crossed the border. 

In the Ditch at Algonquin

Todd and I headed northwest to Algonquin Park in Ontario in search of winter birds and mammals. Once we entered the park's East Gate, we saw a big sign for Moose crossing. Of course, Todd wanted to get a photo for his sign collection. An easy task except that the side of the road was icy and sloped. Yup. We went into the ditch. Barely but that is all it took to get us hopelessly stuck. Todd isn't happy.

In the ditch

The ironic part is that Todd just finished telling me about how he got stuck in a ditch on his last trip to Algonquin when they spotted a moose on the side of the road. (a real moose, not just a sign)

Lucky for us this happened in Canada where everyone is sickeningly nice. A lady stopped right away and offered to go to the gas station outside the park and ask for a tow. About a dozen other cars stopped too. By the time the lady got back, another good samaritan with a big pickup truck was already pulling our car out of the ditch.

Getting a tow

Success! I was really happy not to have to wait for a tow truck. (or pay for one)

Here I am with both of the nice people who helped. The lady turned out to be a wildlife photographer too. The man was on his way to his daughter's house to celebrate early Christmas. Thanks to all who helped.

Heroes of the Day

And off we went to explore Algonquin park. Only one road is open in winter which stretches east to west about 40 miles. We stopped in at the Visitor Center to ask about any wildlife sightings. We were rewarded with a few good birds like Purple Finch.

Purple Finch

And this Evening Grosbeak. Such rich colors.

Evening Grosbeak

There are 2 types of crossills in the park - Red and White-winged. We heard and saw many of both species. Here is a shot of White-winged Crossbill that shows how the bill actually crosses. These birds use their bills to unlock seeds from pine cones.  

White-winged Crossbill

Our hotel was on the west side of the park so we headed out after a long day. Oh, in case you were wondering, Todd did take a photo of the sign . . .

Owls on Amherst Island

In the last post, you saw how many Snowy Owls are hanging out on Amherst Island. The island is known for owls and even has a place called "Owl Woods" where birders go to see owls in winter. Well, we drove down a very snow covered dirt road and found the woods. When we arrived, it was sunny. As soon as we got out of the car it started snowing sideways. Guess what we didn't find? Owls. Zero owls in Owl Woods. Busted. g

We thawed out in the car for a few minutes and headed back to the main road. By now, it was getting late and we hoped to see Short-eared Owls cruising the marshes and fields. Boy were we happy when we saw 2 "Shorties" flying together along the road just about the same speed as the car. And then 2 more joined them. They were all kind of chasing each other. 2 landed in a tree. Then, 2 more flew in. Then Todd yelled "stop the car!" He noticed one sitting on a post in someone's yard really close to the road. It was getting late and not great conditions for photographs but when you have a bird just sitting there . . .

 

We set the ISO to 2500 and just started shooting and playing with the settings. Here he is looking down at something. Check out the snow blowing sideways!

I backed up and put the bird in front of the sky for a different effect. The wind was whipping the bird's feathers up.

The funny thing is that Todd and I were talking about how hard it is to get a photograph of Shorties. They are usually down in the marsh or flying past you at dusk. Honestly, we couldn't stop taking photos of this bird. He just sat there and we just kept telling each other how we couldn't believe our luck.

All in all we counted 7 Short-eared Owls and got to know one of them pretty well. It was a magnificent way to end a very long day.

Cold and Snowy in Canada

A quickly planned trip to Canada in winter? Sure. Why not. That was the gist of the phone call that I got from Todd while I was in Seattle last week. Now, we are freezing our asses off in Canada looking for winter birds and wildlife. This probably sound nuts to most people but it is a "normal" trip for birders. Our destinations are all in Ontario. We started on Amherst Island near Kingston.

Todd arrived at our house at 3 AM on Friday. We were well into upstate NY by the Canadian border by 8 AM but we had a problem - the windshield washer wasn't flowing. Big problem since we were driving through snow and salt and grime on Interstate 81. We found a service station near Ft. Drum NY. They figured out the issue and had us back on the road in about an hour. You should ask Connie to tell you what the issue was. Let's just say - I told her not to fill the washer tank with plain water and leave it at that. Even with the delay, we were on the ferry to the island before noon and had all afternoon to explore.

We found our first Snowy Owl about 1/4 mile from the ferry terminal and counted about a dozen over the next few hours. They were literally everywhere. The second owl that we found was sitting in a gnarly tree.

Then we found this one sitting on a fence post against a dark and stormy sky.

Just when we were thinking that all of the owls would be really far away, we spotted this one perched on a telephone pole a bit closer to the road.

We watched this bird fly down into a farmer's property and snatch something from between the hay bails. He sat there proudly clutching his prize.

When suddenly, another Snowy Owl flew in and attacked him knocking him off of the hay bail! The interloper screamed like a mad man.

Finally driving off the owl that had the prey. You can see that the first owl no longer has anything in his talons. He flew off beyond the farm.

The interloper took up position on the telephone wire right in front of us.

All of this happening with us in and out of the car and the farmer moving hay bails around the farm with John Deere tractors. Amazing!

Seattle Work Trip Nets 1 Life Bird and a Volcano

What a crazy work trip last week. So busy with meetings in Seattle that I didn't think I would have even an hour to be outdoors. Luckily, my boss and I had an hour to kill on Monday afternoon and went out to Marymoor Park in Redmond WA just to get outside. As luck would have it, we met a couple on the trail that told us about a Red-breasted Sapsucker pecking away at a tree further down the path. Check! Life bird!

I've missed this relatively easy bird on many west coast trips in the past, but not this time. The bird was in no hurry to leave. Bad news is that I only brought my binoculars and not my camera. You can see how close we were though since I managed to get this cell phone photo.

Red-breasted Sapsucker

I also had to head down to Portland OR to meet with some clients. The scenery was beautiful. Mountain ranges and big cedar trees all along the route. The weather was clear enough for me to see the major mountains (volcanos) that run along the Cascade mountain range. I saw Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood too. On my way back to Seattle on Thursday, I had a few hours of daylight so I decided to detour off the highway to see Mount St. Helens.

The Visitor Center has a gorgeous, but distant view of the volcano.

Mount St. Helens

Getting a closer look requires an hour drive. I made it pretty far up but the park road is closed in winter.

Imagine back to 1979 before the volcano erupted. This mountain had a pointed top. But then unexpectedly, BOOM! A cataclysmic eruption blew the entire top of the mountain right off leaving it looking like this. 

Mount St. Helens

A closer look at the back side of the volcano shows how the mountain top blew off and destroyed the side of the mountain. Pretty impressive to see first hand.

Mount St. Helens - eruption zone

If you have the opportunity to see it, you should make the trip.