http://www.ktva.com/topalaskanews/ci_14506914
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
For our local Anne Arundel county birders, and anyone nearby, or in town, please consider attending the Anne Arundel Bird Club’s annual lecture this Thursday at Quiet Waters Park at 8 p.m. sharp. These lectures are always fascinating. Local environmental guru Gerald Weingrad always manages to score top-rank speakers. And this year’s presentation is on one of our favorite subjects: Owls!
Our Bird Club president Pat Tate wrote about about the AA Bird Club in a recent issue of the Annapolis Capital.
Here’s the scoop on the owls:
THE SECRET, MYSTERIOUS, AND FASCINATING LIFE OF OWLS
Clay and Pat Sutton, a husband and wife team, will take viewers on an incredible journey exploring the world of owls. They are authors of many books on birds and nature, including How to Spot an Owl (1994) which is out of print and not available, and have intensively studied owls in the wild for 30 years. In their program they will relate their fascination with owls and convey the excitement of searching for, understanding, and enjoying these illusive and mysterious creatures. The behavior, mating, and hunting skills of owls will be examined as will how to spot these hard to find creatures. The presentation will cover many owl species: Resident owls (Great Horned, Screech, & Barred Owl), migrant owls (Saw-whet, Long-eared, Short-eared, Snowy, and Barn Owl), and owls that occur during “invasions” (Hawk Owl, Great Gray Owl, Boreal Owl). Owling basics, owling on your own, various clues to follow-up, special places and habitats, helpful equipment, and backyard owling will all be covered. Owling etiquette and how to spot owls without disturbing them is emphasized. Pat and Clay will remove some of the mystery of owls and owl finding, while simultaneously conveying the excitement of searching for and studying these difficult to see nocturnal predators. Bring your binoculars so you can find some hidden owls in the program.
Clay and Pat Sutton’s work and names are synonymous with their home town of Cape May, New Jersey, a place that has been aptly called the migration capitol of North America. This migratory crossroads is famous for its hawk, owl, songbird, shorebird, and Monarch butterfly migration. Pat Sutton was for 21 years the Program Director at the New Jersey Audubon Society’s Cape May Bird Observatory. Prior to that, she was the Park Naturalist at Cape May Point State Park. Pat is a founding board member of the North American Butterfly Association. Clay is a life-long resident of Cape May, where he has worked as an Environmental Program Administrator, Vice-President of an environmental consulting firm specializing in threatened and endangered species, and for the past decade as a self- employed environmental consultant, naturalist and field biologist.
Clay and Pat today are free-lance writers, naturalists, lecturers, tour leaders, and long-time instructors for the American Birding Association’s Institute for Field Ornithology. Clay is a co-author, with Pete Dunne and David Sibley, of the classic Hawks in Flight (1988), and Clay and Pat together have co-authored How to Spot Butterflies (1999), How to Spot Hawks & Eagles (1996), and their latest book, Birds and Birding at Cape May (2006). This landmark book is a complete guide to birds and birding for the Cape May region, covering what to see, when, where, and how to go, as well as the storied ornithological history of the Cape. Articles and photography by Pat & Clay have appeared in New Jersey Audubon, Peregrine Observer, New Jersey Outdoors, Sanctuary, American Butterflies, Wild Bird, Bird Watcher’s Digest, Birder’s World, Birding, Living Bird, Defenders, and others.
The Suttons will bring copies of some of their books to be purchased and autographed.
DONATION OF MINIMUM OF $5 REQUESTED AT DOOR
Submitted by Bird TLC Blog
Earlier this winter, we closed the flight center down for the first time in recent memory. We didn’t have any eagles or large raptors to put out there. Things have changed around some this year. So far we have taken in 17 eagles at the Bird TLC clinic in 2010.
These guys and gals are practicing their flying skills everyday. They are feed fresh salmon and red meat. Sometimes they get a treat of chicken or turkey, depending how much we have donated.
Submitted by BrdPics Blog
Throughout the winter months I’ll sometimes notice that my backyard gets very quiet, devoid of the busy activity usually found around my platform and hanging feeders. Then I’ll often notice the distinctive profile of an Accipter perched in a nearby tree or on the fence. I mainly get Sharp-shinned Hawks but also sometimes see a Cooper’s Hawk lurking or actively diving into my spruce trees to bust out birds seeking sanctuary in the dense boughs. Sometimes I’ll find a scatter of feathers beneath a perch where a hunt reached a successful conclusion. I’ve found a few such piles of Eurasian Collared-Dove feathers recently- certainly not from a Sharpie but perhaps a gnarly Cooper’s? The reason I wonder is that there have been a few reliable reports of a Goshawk in my end of town this winter, raising hopes that I might someday add that big bad ‘un to the yard list.

Anyway, as I went out to fill the feeders last weekend I was accompanied by my frequent helper, Garrett. I noticed an immature Sharp-shinned Hawk hanging out in an ash tree next to our biggest blue spruce, no doubt deciding on a strategy to get at the House Sparrows and Finches deep within (earlier in the week I heard and then saw the same Sharpie deep within the spruce, playing tag with the House Sparrows.) Garrett didn’t see the hawk and proceeded to walk almost right beneath it. Amazingly the Sharpie didn’t fly away despite the proximity of a pre-schooler cavorting below. I took this as a sign to go get my camera and ended up with some nice close-ups as the bird was remarkably tolerant of close approach.

Raptors are smart cookies and I think that the Sharpie was hoping we’d flush out a sparrow or finch. I went around the fence to the patch of open space behind our yard to get some pics of its belly side and heard birds nervously calling and shifting around in the brush pile I’ve made there, which really drew the Sharpie’s attention. The next thing I knew, the hawk flew seemingly right at my head but passed just overhead. It must have been a false start because it broke off any chase, swooped up and landed in the cottonwood. A few minutes later, though, a House Sparrow made a dash from the brush pile and the Sharpie pursued it out of sight around a corner, gaining fast. No wonder Bill Thompson III calls these birds Death Rockets!

Submitted by Bird TLC Blog
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
With spring (hopefully) on the way, we’re sprucing things up a bit around here - starting with those sharp new license plates for our 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid, which we affectionately call “Pipit.”
We’ve also added a logo and link for Alpen Optics at the top of our blog sidebar, in recognition of our growing relationship with this reputable maker of high-quality bins, scopes and other optics. As Lisa blogged last week, we are reviewing and testing some Alpen equipment right now.
Finally, please check out our new Experience & Services section of the blog, by clicking here or on the button at the top of the page.
Onward and Upward!
- W and L
Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
Our front yard was busy this afternoon with soft, wet snow falling and covering much of the ground for a while. A colorful Pine Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Carolina Wren, a pair of Downy Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, one or two Goldfinches, a Mockingbird and a big Red-bellied Woodpecker went back and forth from the feeders. Several Chipping Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, a pair of Northern Cardinals and one noisy Robin fed on the ground below the feeders and under the shrubs.
Two Brown-headed Nuthatches spent most of their time in the trees above the feeders, not doing their usual loud squeaky-dee calls, but calling back and forth to each other in soft one-syllable bleets.
My favorite bird of the afternoon was a Hermit Thrush that sat on a low branch of an oak, flicking its wings and quickly raising and lowering its tail each time it called a low, throaty tchurp – over and over. Because it perched one way and then another, I had a good view of the smooth olive-brown of its back, the cinnamon color of both the tail and the edges of the wings, and the big, dark, bold spots on its pale breast. Later it dropped to the ground to forage with the sparrows and juncos, though pretty much keeping its distance from the main group and staying watchful.
A couple of Mourning Doves sat in the trees nearby and in the back yard several American Crows cawed loudly for a long time – I finally saw a Red-tailed Hawk leave the top of a pine in the woods and glide away with the Crows in pursuit. Earlier in the afternoon, a Cooper’s Hawk sailed very fast across the road, through a powdery blur of falling snow, and over the treetops low and out of sight.
Submitted by BrdPics Blog
We’ve had a relatively cold, snowy winter around here (Colorado’s Northern Front Range) so far, which has made for some nice raptor photo opps. The combination of fresh snow on the ground and sunshine really lights up the underside of soaring birds, which can otherwise be tricky to photograph well in bright skies. So with the opportunity nearly unlimited free bounce-light I recently went out for a few hours on a favorite local loop in northern Boulder County to photograph raptors.
One pic I was very pleased with is this female American Kestrel. They aren’t especially rare ’round here but are so small and fast I find it hard to get anything but perched or distant flight shots. This time, though, I got a keeper flight snap along with a good portrait!

I also like our western Red-tailed Hawks, however common. Amazing how much the tail color changes when lit from below vs. on top:

The highlight was revisiting an adult light-morph Harlan’s Hawk that is back in the area for at least its 3rd consecutive winter. I’ve blogged on the bird each of the two previous winters- see here (the 1st time I found the bird) and here (last winter’s best shots.)


In the January issue of Colorado Birds, Jerry Liguori (if you don’t have his Hawks From Every Angle you need it!) and I published an article detailing his amazing photographic re-detection of this bird in Alaska a couple of months after I photographed it near Hygiene, Colorado last winter. Check out the composite cover shot below- the top image is Jerry’s from Gunsight Mt., AK, 13 April 2009 and the bottom is mine from Hygiene, CO, 21 Feb. 2009.
This seems to be the first such detection of a normally-migrating bird over such a long distance. Other birds have been photographically re-documented as they return to territories and vagrants or aberrant birds have been photographically tracked across considerable distances in a few cases. To track a migrating bird over thousands of kilometers, however, typically involves electronic telemetry or visually tagged birds.
Tracking this bird took an amazing combination of elements. First, Red-tails are ideal for potential photographic comparisons because each individual has a unique set of plumage characteristics (part of the reason the group is frustrating to beginners- few look just like the ones depicted in field guides and some look totally different!) Secondly, light Harlan’s Hawks are pretty rare and get the attention of birders and bird photographers more than the more commonly-occurring “flavors.” Third, I had the good fortune of sharing my earlier pics with Jerry who gave me feedback at the time. The most amazing part is that Jerry not only photographed the same bird but that he made the connection to the photos I had sent him months earlier. He told me that he saw hundreds of migrating Red-tails (both Western and Harlan’s) over several days on his trip to Alaska so he really picked the needle out of the haystack. Below is a bit higher res version of the composite for your perusal with the AK photo on the left and the CO pic on the right.
Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
Cold weather has returned, and yesterday morning was drizzly and gray when I stepped out on the deck. From a dark stand of pines just inside the woods, a White-breasted Nuthatch called ahnk! It’s not a very glamorous sound, but it’s one I don’t hear often around here, and the bird making it is a cool, graceful little bird with a black crown and half-collar, blue-gray back, snow-white throat and breast, and a long, sharp bill, and to see one is a little like seeing a celebrity for me.
Although sociable, pine-loving Brown-headed Nuthatches are regular visitors to our feeders and the woods around the neighborhood, the more aloof White-breasted Nuthatches are not, probably because they prefer mature deciduous woodland and mixed forest, while our woods are younger and rougher, with few large, dignified trees, either pines or hardwoods. Every once in a while though, like today, one or two come around.
I tried for several minutes to find the White-breasted Nuthatch, but the light was gray and blurry. It gave its one-syllable ahnk call several more times, but remained invisible somewhere among the misty pine branches and foliage, a little too far away to see.
Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
Later in the morning a large flock of blackbirds flew in and spread over the grass and trees in several yards in the neighborhood. There were maybe 500 birds – a very rough estimate. All I saw were Common Grackles and a few Red-winged Blackbirds. I could not find any Rusty Blackbirds among them, though there were many in the trees and further away that I couldn’t see well, and they were, as usual, restless and moving from place to place. There’s something disorienting about trying to distinguish one blackbird from another in a flock on the ground. It’s like an optical illusion in motion. I know what I’m supposed to see, but just can’t quite find it. But it was a good feeling just to stand among so many and to hear them – a loud congregation of creaky blackbird voices all around. When a truck drove past they all flew up with that sudden thumping rush of wings and moved in waves, even further away, too soon. It was nice to see a fairly large flock again, and I hope maybe to run into them again.
Submitted by Bird TLC Blog
This Great Horned Owl was hit by a car. He’s in good physical condition, but he did hit his head hard. He’s receiving some good TLC r&r, thanks to the young lady that brought it into PET ER.
This mature bald eagle came to us a few weeks ago interrupting a lunch date. It was very anemic and received a blood transfusion right away. Its coming along pretty good.
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
Pictures by Wingscapes SquirrelCam… I mean BirdCamSubmitted by BrdPics Blog

Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
The perfect birding weather to check out some new Alpen Optics gear for entry into the American Birding Association’s (ABA) 2010 Gear Guide issue.
We found it to be quite a good buy for a durable lightweight scope.

Our pal, Evelina, joined us as we moved worked out the bins on some passing Bonaparte’s Gulls.
The Rainier 8×32 is a rugged pair of bins that are super lightweight with comfy eye cups and perfect grip.

We were knocking these babies against a pair of high end Leicas and they put up quite a fight. A little hefter than the 8×32 Raniers, but still surprisely light weight (21 ounces!) for the engineering that went into them.
But our all time new Alpen favorite is the Wings ED 8×42.
Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
After what seemed like a very long spell of cold, windy days, the weather here has gradually begun to warm up. Yesterday was still chilly, in the 40s, but sunny and with lighter winds. All day several American Goldfinches were active around the two feeders on the back deck, with three or four Tufted Titmice, a couple of Carolina Chickadees and a Carolina Wren hunting for whatever they could find in old plant pots and corners. Red-bellied Woodpeckers called their spring-like quurrrrr from the woods, and a Pine Warbler sang, making its way through the pines, changing the quality and mood of its song from time to time.
It’s probably the same Pine Warbler that visits the feeders out front regularly, a colorful male with warm yellow breast and soft streaks. Today I happened to be watching when a little Brown-headed Nuthatch – also a regular visitor – flew at the warbler aggressively. At first the Pine Warbler held its ground, but in only a second or two gave up and flew away, at least temporarily. Minor disputes like this are pretty common around the feeders, and the small but feisty Nuthatches don’t hesitate to take on larger birds and seem to win a confrontation more often than not.
The species account for Brown-headed Nuthatch in Birds of North America* notes that they are particularly competitive with Pine Warblers for food and foraging habitat in winter flocks. Studies seem to show that sometimes one wins and sometimes the other. The Nuthatches also try to chase off Chickadees, Titmice and even a Downy Woodpecker sometimes – but most of the time they seem relatively content to share with these species.
*James H. Withgott and Kimberly G. Smith. 1998. Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilla), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, ed.) Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
Happy Valentine’s Day, from the Birdcouple.
It is, of course, one of our favorite days. And today was especially special, because Princess and I saw a life bird:

This Varied Thrush has been hanging out in a very bird-friendly backyard in Herndon, Virginia, far from its normal climes in the Pacific Northwest. This is only the third state record for Virginia for this bird. Mr. Thrush happened to pick the backyard of a serious birder to hang out in, and the serious birder and his spouse happened to be very inviting to all birders who wanted to see it. There was even coffee in the kitchen, while we waited an agonizing hour for the Thrush to come back. (Others had seen it moments before we arrived). People have come from as far away as North Carolina to get a gander at this gorgeous bird.
And gorgeous it is. Our little hand-held digital camera shooting through a window doesn’t do it justice. Check out Dan Haas’ photos here.
What a day it’s been so far. Time for some music, dinner, wine, romance. Honey? Honey???
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
Submitted by BrdPics Blog
One way I get a little extra birding mileage during the slow winter months is to build and put up bird boxes when I get the chance. Luckily, a birding buddy of mine has access to a great property that seemed in need of some boxes so at the onset of winter I began cobbling a selection together. The first one I made (with the help of my assistant Garrett) was a Barn Owl box.

The box has a thin open slot at the bottom that allows pellets to get pushed out (the pattern was designed for commercial pellet collectors who supply the educational market), but it also has the benefit of letting us sneak a peak to see if Barney is home without flushing the owl. My friend John Barr took this pic looking up at the box and you can see a thin slice of Barn Owl through the slot (that’s the bill in the middle and the bottom corners of the facial disc angling up from each side of the bill.)
Finally, I built a couple of Wood Duck boxes a few weeks ago and on Friday I took advantage of the remaining decent ice to put them up in some likely looking ponds (former gravel pits) near a wooded creek. The ice makes a great platform for pounding in the post and mounting the box- a lot easier than trying the job from a boat. I hope the Wood Ducks like them as much as the Barn Owl likes his box!! Thanks to John Barr for snapping the pics (and for letting me bird with him on this great spread!)


Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
Earlier yesterday morning when I checked out the front yard, all the usual suspects were around – Chickadees, Titmice, a pair of Downy Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpecker, two Brown-headed Nuthatches, and a Mockingbird back and forth from the feeders, a pair of Eastern Bluebirds – the male several times sitting possessively on top of the bluebird house – and several White-throated Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Mourning Doves and Robins foraging on the ground. Among the ground birds was one Hermit Thrush, which flew to the cover of some wax myrtles when startled and stood there, raising and lowering its tail. Then – to my surprise – it flew again, this time into a Savannah holly tree right outside the window where I was standing. It hopped from branch to branch only inches away.
It may be the closest I’ve ever come to a Hermit Thrush, though I’ve often watched one from not far away. It ate a holly berry, then hopped to another branch and stopped, with its back to me, looking over its shoulder with a white-ringed eye, its slender bill slightly tilted up. The spotted breast looked muted, and overall it was a fawn brown, rather dull color, except for the reddish tail – but the behavior and personality of a Hermit Thrush are intriguing. Even though it may come out into the open often and regularly, it looks the part of an eccentric hermit, wide-eyed and easily spooked. It stops and looks around frequently, flicks its wings and hops or runs with a characteristic gait. It’s only and completely in the eye of the beholder, but to me a Hermit Thrush always looks slightly guilty and impish – but proud of itself.
We rarely hear the hauntingly beautiful song of a Hermit Thrush here, since it’s only here for the winter, so we get a somewhat different view of its life.
Nervously, this one raised and lowered its cinnamon tail several times, then hopped to another branch and flew away, back toward the wax myrtles.
Submitted by Bird TLC Blog
Unfortunately because of his injury, he’ll never be released back to the wild. If he wasn’t brought to Bird TLC, he would have faced a certain death. So he must start thinking about being an education bird. He’ll be able to represent his proud species and hopefully educate people about the dangers they cause to wildlife when they recklessly leave trash in the wild.
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
Where raccoon could snow shoe above the 3 feet of snow, I plunged and trudged through it.
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
* Most birders probably know by now that this coming weekend, Friday through Monday, is the Great Backyard Bird Count. Please participate if you can. It’s great fun, and every checklist and bit of data helps. Birdcouple, marooned under mounds of snow here in Maryland, will probably be limited to bird feeder-watching. That’s okay, too.

Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
Birds food stocked…. check.
Squirrels eating birds seed…. check.
Decks cleared of last 20 or so inches of snow so that they don’t rip off the house after another possible 20 or so inches… check.
Emergency exit cleared in case of last minute neighborhood party…. check.
Crab cakes …. check.
Ok, maybe two bottles of wine… check.
Cute Husband… check.