January 2009 Archives

All right-y then, last week's bird from Merritt Island was a Pied-billed Grebe, in winter missing the distinctive black band on the bill that give the species its name. For this week, well, I wasn't totally up front and didn't let on about all of the species of waterfowl I saw at the Rio Grande Nature Center. This hen might be a little tricky, too - so good luck and have a great week with lots of good birds!

My short visit to Albuquerque is over and I'll be headed back to Bryce in just a few minutes. Since I'm going to be "on the road", here's a look at the Greater Roadrunner that was wandering around the parking lot at the Rio Grande Nature Center. With 9+ hours of driving ahead of me, I guess I should "fly" . . .

I found some Wood Ducks this morning at the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park. The drake is such a great bird. A fair amount of other good stuff including Green-winged Teal, American Coots, Lesser Scaup, Canada Geese (lots), and a lone Ross's Goose, too. I didn't have a lot of time to bird the wooded areas but saw American Robins, Dark-eyed Juncos (Oregon race), White-crowned Sparrows, several Downy Woodpeckers, and a Greater Road Runner. Oh yeah, some Sandhill Cranes, too. Neat place and definitely worth a visit if you're in Albuquerque.

I'm in Albuquerque, New Mexico this morning following a long (560+ miles/900+ km) drive from Bryce yesterday which started out in snow. I'm giving a talk this afternoon about the park's summer astronomy programs at a convention/trade show for travel agents and tour operators. Then, weather permitting, I'll have one of the park's telescopes out for a bit this evening.

Identified about a dozen species of birds on the drive here; oddest thing I saw - not that the bird was unusual - was a Bald Eagle perched in a small Utah Juniper. Kind of hard to believe that those thin branches could support the weight. In Page, Arizona I saw a flock of Canada Geese hanging out in a field. Again nothing unusual except that it reminded me of the scenes in Winged Migration of Canada Geese flying over Lake Powell (Page is where the Glen Canyon Dam, which backs up the Colorado River to create the reservoir, is located).

I hope to sneak in a visit to the Rio Grande Nature Center, which is only a couple of miles away, later this morning in between final prep for my talk and the actual talk. With luck I should find some geese, ducks, Sandhill Cranes, and roadrunners.

In the past I have been known to rant and rave every once in a while about matters of the environment, science policy, and other stuff. I don't like "anti-science" attitudes. In fact, few things rile me up and tempt me to climb up on my soapbox more than that. The most recent administration was really good about getting me fired up, too. That's why, at least so far, it is refreshing to see where things at least appear to be heading with the Obama Administration.

In his inaugural speech we heard Obama say "we will restore science to its rightful place." And on the technology page at the official White House website, for example, you'll find the following:

Restore Scientific Integrity to the White House: Restore the basic principle that government decisions should be based on the best-available, scientifically-valid evidence and not on ideological predispositions.

and

Make Math and Science Education a National Priority: Recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field. Work to ensure that all children have access to a strong science curriculum at all grade levels.

According to one recent (2007) report, U.S. students rank 29th in the world in science, an absolutely abysmal number in my opinion. Interestingly, this number isn't that far off from the U.S. ranking among countries whose populations accept the Theory of Evolution (I'm leaving it at that, because I don't even want to get started on the ol' "6,000 year old Earth/literal interpretation of Genesis" debate).

There are other hopeful signs as well. For example, in a memo to EPA employees, EPA Administrator-designate Lisa P. Jackson states:

Science must be the backbone for EPA programs. The public health and environmental laws that Congress has enacted depend on rigorous adherence to the best available science. The President believes that when EPA addresses scientific issues, it should rely on the expert judgment of the Agency's career scientists and independent advisors. When scientific judgments are suppressed, misrepresented or distorted by political agendas, Americans can lose faith in their government to provide strong public health and environmental protection.

That word "science" just keeps popping up. It even came up in a telecast we saw at work the other day from incoming Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

It really is a breath of fresh air.

The only things I hear that trouble me a little are talk of "clean coal technology", because without much better evidence I don't think coal can ever be clean, and I am not too excited with talk of offshore drilling. But we shall see where that ultimately goes. The rumblings I hear in areas such as alternative energy, better and more fuel efficient modes of transport, improved science education, stem cell research, and countless others, make me feel a little more positive about the future.

Last week we had a Red-bellied Woodpecker clinging to the side of the tree. You rarely get them in a position where they actually show that little patch of feathers that gives them their name. Males and females of the species can be determined simply by looking at the red feathers on the head. Note that this bird, a female, only has red on the back of the head and neck while the male will be red from the top of the bill all the way over the top and down the neck.

For this week, a bird photographed at Merritt Island N.W.R. around the time of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival a few years ago. Good luck and great birding!

I'm somewhat disappointed that, for the first time since 2000, I'm not in Titusville, FL for the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival which began yesterday. I have already had one email about a gull watching trip come through from the bird list I still subscribe to; it sounds like they had a very productive outing with some rare gulls for Florida and even a Pomarine Jaeger. It is a great event; if you love birds and ever get a chance, you should go.

It doesn't mean I don't get to travel, though, because in a few days I will be going to Albuquerque to give a talk about astronomy programs here at Bryce. I hope to pay a visit while I'm there (depends on the weather, which isn't promising) to the Rio Grande Nature Center. I hear it is a great place to see Roadrunners, Wood Ducks (!), plus Sandhill Cranes and migratory waterfowl in winter. Could be fun.

In the meantime, since I can't be down south for the festival, Seabrooke at The Marvelous in Nature is hosting The Picnic Party for the latest edition of I and the Bird. Let's Go!

 

Today we have a new President and I for one am hopeful that things in the United States of America will begin to turn for the better. It won't be easy and things will not happen overnight; it will take months, if not years, to make things right again.

It is never a bad idea, in these troubled times, to look to the Sage of Monticello for some solid advice:

"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson

Write a post about eagles and, what do you know, I go out this morning and have a Golden Eagle pose for me (briefly). Sadly, it is not as "razor sharp" as I would like, but still a good looking bird (though not the largest eagle in the world, he says with a smile). I also saw seven or eight Bald Eagles - as well as more Golden's around, too - and finally, for the first time this year, happened upon a flock of Greater Sage-grouse. The grouse will be much more interesting come April when they will be gathering at the leks. The one thing still missing from the area I find the eagles and grouse are the Horned Larks, who were just everywhere out there (a few miles north of Bryce) last year during the winter. 

A friend called me the other day with a question he felt sure I could answer: What is the world's largest bird of prey? In all honesty, the best I could do was a guess, but said I'd try to dig up the answer. What I did not know was what a wild goose chase it would turn out to be. There are a few factors to consider before coming up with that final answer - we have to first define "largest" and, secondly (as I would soon learn), define "bird of prey".

So, to begin, what exactly do we mean when we say "largest"? Longest body length, greatest wingspan, or greatest mass (heaviest)?

And the answer to the question "What is a bird of prey?" is way up in the air. We'll answer this question first, a DNA study released last year being responsible for the current confusion in defining "bird of prey". Before that study the diurnal raptors (eagles, hawks, falcons, kites) were all lumped into the order Falconiformes, but that is all changing because the DNA seems to tell us otherwise. Falcons, it turns, are more closely related to parrots so, for the rest of the diurnal raptors, we are apparently getting a new order Accipitriformes.

The New World Vultures, in the meantime, were loosely placed with the storks in their own family, Cathartidae, though at one time they were in with the Falconiformes. Now the DNA indicates that they are more closely related to the Accipitriformes than the storks, so maybe they will go back there. But this is all in dispute, with some ornithologists thinking they should have an order of their own, Cathartiformes.

Still with me, because my head is certainly spinning after all of that . . .

Ultimately I had to give my friend multiple answers to his question, first because it was not possible to define "bird of prey" since the scientists aren't exactly in agreement, from what I can tell. And also because "largest" can mean different things to different people.

Our flying bird last week was a Cattle Egret. With white egrets (& herons) in flight, one quick thing to look for is the legs - the others (Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Reddish Egret, Great "White" Heron, juvenile Little Blue) all have legs which stick out much farther beyond the tail than the stubby legs of the Cattle Egret. Leg and bill color are other important field marks to look at to help narrow things down, too.

This week's bird might be kind of easy for those of you in the eastern part of the U.S., they were certainly common around my old neighborhood. Good luck and great birding!

Rob's Idaho Perspective has an outstanding, thought provoking post on Extinction.

Don't know what else to say, I'm at a loss for words.

With a few high clouds lingering a little before sunset on Monday, I made a snap decision to drive out to Red Canyon. About 15 miles west of the park on Utah Highway 12, Red Canyon is the same Claron Formation sediments as Bryce Canyon. It is actually better at sunset since it is on the western side of the plateau, while Bryce, facing east, provides better photo ops at sunrise. Hoodoo formation is quite as dramatic, but there are a few, and this one, right next to the highway, happened to be perfectly aligned with some of the clouds to frame up a photo.


Tough Tuesday Birding: The weather has been mild lately, with no significant snow now since the storm over the holidays. Unfortunately the wind was howling both of my days off this week and it certainly kept the birds lying low. I still ended up finding 14 species, two of which - Cassin's Finch and Mountain Bluebird - were "year birds". This Bald Eagle was one of several I saw (I didn't count individuals, but probably 7 or 8 total). It was pretty far away and I had to crop this image rather dramatically just to get this. The head and tail are both kind of dirty looking with brown feathers mixed in with the white so, if we were aging this bird, my guess is we're looking at an eagle just entering its fifth year. In another year those feathers will be white as new fallen snow.

It's the end of the work week, the days are still too short, and I have nothing earth shattering, interesting, or profound to say. But I do have a few thousand photos scattered around here and there, so here's something to look at, the always spectacular male Painted Bunting, taken in Central Florida a couple of years ago.

If you like reading science-y, technical reports, there is one available on the (amazing) migration of Bar-tailed Godwits from the researchers I've reported on in the past (here and here, among others). The report, Extreme endurance flights by landbirds crossing the Pacific Ocean: ecological corridor rather than barrier? is published by the Royal Society and, at least for now, is free. There are links on the page just below the title to view it either as a PDF document (which you can download, too) or in your browser. I've only had a chance to glance it over, so far, and it looks interesting, containing not only results but methodologies, too.

Lots of fun looking graphs and charts for the geeky among us . . . <smile>

Last week's bird, found throughout much of the desert southwest, was a Verdin. They belong to the family Remizidae, or penduline tits, but are the only member of the family (13 species total) found in the New World.

For this week, a species that can be confusing - and we had a tough time with one of its similar looking relatives once before. Good luck and great birding!

A new edition of the blog carnival I and the Bird is being hosted by T.R. at From the Faraway, Nearby. This is the 91st edition of IATB titled The Vagabirding Travel Magazine Awards. There are enough entries from around the world to keep you reading until the next IATB in two weeks, I think. Great stuff and an outstanding presentation by T.R. - fly on over and have a look!

I finally went birding for the first time in the 2009. It wasn't the best birding weather - the time and the temperature (°F) when I got started were the same: 10. Not to mention the sky looked like it just might snow anytime, though it did hold off until after I returned home. Last year, on New Year's Day, I tallied 20 species on a sunny day that was 20°F colder.

The first leg was north of the park along Utah Highway 22, but, with only 3 species, the pickings were slim: Common Raven, Bald Eagle, and Golden Eagle. So I headed down off the plateau, hoping my fortunes would change, and east to the town of Tropic. I know where some of the local residents have feeders (my boss, for one) and was certain to pick up a few that way. The first stop yielded 7 species in just minutes, and I picked up several more just cruising around town. The local Cooper's Hawk is definitely a creature of habit (the eating must be good) and she was in one of the two locations I reliably found her last winter.

When it was all said and done the day's total was 21 species, one more than last year's first birding day total: Common Raven, Bald Eagle (11 total), Golden Eagle, Black-billed Magpie, American Robin, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Eurasian Collared-dove, European Starling, Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco, White-crowned Sparrow, Northern Flicker, Pine Siskin, House Sparrow, Rock Pigeon, Cooper's Hawk, Western Scrub-jay, Western Meadowlark, Red-winged Blackbird, Townsend's Solitaire, Rough-legged Hawk.

It goes without saying that I find the internet to be a great source for expanding one's knowledge. Used properly, a person can learn a thing or two along the way. Yesterday morning, while enjoying my usual two cups of hot brewed beans - with a touch of hazelnut cream - I was perusing A Snail's Eye View and a post about cooperative breeding among Dusky Moorhens. Being quite familiar with Common Moorhens, which were, well, pretty common around just every pond or marsh back in Florida, it got me wondering if the moorhen I knew behaved in a similar manner. A visit to the Common Moorhen pages at Cornell's Birds of North America Online ($ subscription) revealed the information and it turns out that they, like the Dusky's, also engage in cooperative breeding. What I didn't expect to find is that, in addition, Common Moorhens can be both victims and perpetrators of brood parasitism! I always thought that was mainly a cowbird thing. Show's what little I know!

In Kevin's continuing education, I learned there are two types of brood parasitism: conspecific (or intraspecific), where a female lays eggs in the nest of another female of the same species, and interspecific, where eggs are laid in the nest of a different species. Rob's Idaho Perspective has a post on intraspecific brood parasitism that discusses moorhens; the behavior in this species is, as I would learn, not that uncommon. It got more interesting when I learned in the BNA article that, though reports are rare, Common Moorhens both practice and/or are victims of interspecific brood parasitism, too. (The terminology used by different ornithologists was initially a bit confusing, with "intra" and "inter" sounding almost the same, but meaning the opposite.)

Interspecific brood parasitism uncommonly reported. One record each of moorhen as a nest parasite of Purple Gallinule in Texas, of Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus) in England, of Boat-tailed Grackle in S. Carolina, and of Yellow Bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) in Japan (Cottam and Glazener 1959, Jones 1988, Post and Seals 1989, Ueda 1993). Moorhens have been victims of brood parasitism by Ruddy Ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis) in Iowa and Least Bitterns (Ixobrychus exilis) and Fulvous Whistling-Ducks (Dendrocygna bicolor) in Louisiana (Fredrickson 1971, Helm et al. 1987). In Texas, a moorhen nest with eggs was taken over by a pair of American Coots; another moorhen egg was subsequently laid in nest while coots produced their clutch (Cottam and Glazener 1959).

Bannor, Brett K. and Erik Kiviat. 2002. Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology;Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/685
                                                                      

One commonality is that each of these species generally prefer the same sort of breeding habitat: marshes or ponds with lots of emergent vegetation in which to hide the nests. Purple Gallinule or American Coot don't seem that far fetched; they are pretty close relatives in the grand scheme of things, after all. I can even come to grips with the bitterns and the ducks. But the gulls and, especially, the Boat-tailed Grackles - now that is just weird.

Oh well, if a female moorhen can get a grackle to do all the work and, in the end, she has more surviving offspring, why not? When it is all said and done, that is what it is all about.

If I had a lot of time on my hands, it would almost be fun to dig even deeper into the subject. For example, a quick search found a short article about brood parasitism in ducks:

The Redhead appears to be our most persistent parasitic duck. In one study on artificial islands in reservoirs in Alberta, Redheads parasitized 19 percent of 685 duck nests, laying an average of 2.68 eggs per parasitized nest. Mallard nests were most frequently parasitized, but the percentage of parasitic eggs per nest was highest when Lesser Scaups were the hosts.

And that article links to yet another (this could be an endless endeavor, no?) that indicates brood parasitism occurs "in about 1 percent of bird species." Meaning there are roughly 100 species world-wide that are one of the two types of brood parasites (or, at least in the case of Common Moorhens, both) - a far greater number than I would have imagined.

Ol' Mother Nature is certainly full of surprises . . . 

Clouds preceding the front that started coming in Friday evening made for a pretty spectacular sunset. Having a cool rock formation in the foreground would probably have been better, but I had just come home from work and didn't have time to do much but grab the camera, set up a tripod at the back of my trailer, and shoot through the Ponderosa Pines. 

Our final quiz bird for 2008 was, up until 2000, known as Oldsquaw, but now goes by the name Long-tailed Duck. The bird in the photo is a male in basic or winter plumage. We'll start out the new year with this rather festive looking little bird of the west. Good luck and here's to a 2009 full of life birds!

While pondering this week's bird, fly on over to A D.C. Birding Blog for this week's edition of Loose Feathers. Cool links to bird news and stories - one that caught my attention was to a story from Winnipeg about CBCer's watching a Northern Shrike take down a grosbeak. It reminded me of the very first bird count I ever did (a Spring migration count) where we found a family of Loggerhead Shrikes that had what was left of a mockingbird impaled on a strand of barbed wire.

Here we are, another New Year has arrived. Hopefully, at least here in the U.S. we'll see a return to sanity after 8 years of failed, I was going to say "leadership", but there wasn't any. I have some hope that we will at least start taking some steps toward a return to some semblance of peace and prosperity as well as some positive steps in helping our beleaguered environment. n the last count humanity needs to make drastic changes.

This time last year I had the day off and went birding, but will be working today and probably won't see 20 species to begin the year. Four or five will probably be all I get unless I head out of the park in the waning moments of the day.

Have a great New Year and get to see lots of great birds (or snails, wolves, wildflowers, or whatever it might be in this amazing world that grabs your attention)!

(edited to add: Common Raven will be my first species of the year - 6 flew by while I was out starting my truck to head to work.)