Birdchick Podcast

**Hummingbirds in Late Summer** Aug 23, 2024

Hummingbird coming in for nectar as I put this post together.

It has been a crazy ruby-throated hummingbird summer for me. And I’m grateful. Even as I type this on a Thursday evening in August on my deck, a ruby-throated hummingbird is hovering close to my nectar feeder while trying to decide if I’m a threat.

Ruby-throated hummingbird nest digiscoped with my phone and spotting scope.

I was walking around Westwood Hills at the end of July and watched a hummingbird gleaning insects around a water feature. I watched her fly up to a thin branch right over the trail to what looked like a small notch on the tree. I got her in my binoculars, and sure enough she was on a nest. I uploaded a video on Instagram that gives a better perspective of where the nest was.
Two weeks later I came back and sure enough there were two chicks sticking their little heads out.

Baby hummingbirds! If you want to see some baby hummingbird tongue, check out the video on Instagram.

When I knew I was moving back to Minnesota, I checked an apartment complex that was on my old birding patch. I used to pass this place all the time while birding and thought the grounds right on a wetland with a water feature and Joe-Pye-weed looked ideal. When I mentioned it to my husband at the time, he didn’t like the zip code, “That’s St. Louis Park, I have to have a Minneapolis zip code.” We all have our quirks.
But when I was cruising the website while in Alaska looking for a new place to live, I noticed that they named all of their floor plans after birds. Welp. I guess this is fate? When I did the actual in-person inspection, the woman showing me around said, “I’m going to start by showing you the Starling.”
I said jokingly, “I’m not sure I can live in an invasive species.”
“Then I’ll show your the Loon,” she said.
How could I not fall in love with this place? I live in the Morning Dove floor plan—which cracks me up because it’s one of the larger units and the Osprey is a one bedroom. And if you’ve ever seen a mourning dove nest…it’s in no way shape or form a two bedroom.
But I also noticed on the tour that a lot of people had bird feeders—especially hummingbird feeders. Having worked in a bird store, I know how many people do not keep fresh nectar in their feeders and they kind of become a decroative thing that hummingbirds visit for a second and move one.
After I moved in, I put up a seed feeder and didn’t bother with nectar. In Minnesota, hummingbirds pass through the Twin Cities metro area in May and nest out of urban areas and show up like mad in August. May 2 I was on my deck. A female hummingbird flew to my deck, she hovered around the seed feeder, then hovered in front of my face, and then flew away.
“Oh hell,” I thought, “did my previous neighbor have a feeder and was she back from migration expecting the same from me?” The next day on my deck…the same thing happenedd. I’m not a fan of hummingbird feeders because you have to really keep them clean to get the hummers, I prefer flowers, but I also wasn’t in the right state of mind to maintain a proper hummingbird container garden.
But a bought a pair of hummingbird feeders so I could set up an easy rotation system of putting out a feeder and having a clean one at the ready to quickly refill and put out when the current one had the nectar go bad…about two and a half days based on sun angles.

Hummingbird perched on a branch just off of my deck.

She checked it out and sipped demurely.
Then one day with my home office window open I heard a familiar clicking sound. I went to my deck and instantly found the male ruby-throated hummingbird doing his "U” shaped dive back and forth in the tree in front of me. Wow, displaying and nesting right off my deck. I guess it pays birding-wise to have a zip code just outside of Minneapolis.
Now she and her offspring visit my feeder and periodically engage in some fun aerial jousting and I will keep my hummingbird feeder rotation going until the ruby-throats move on sometime in October.
In many ways I feel like I’ve had a “basic bitch” birding summer. I haven’t chased rarities, but just delighted in the common Minnesota birds I missed so much while I was in Alaska. And I’m grateful for the hot hummingbird action I’ve had at home and at Westwood.

**Fall Migration Is On** Aug 17, 2024
I really missed fall migration while living in Alaska. Yes Alaska has fall migration, but it was all too brief. In Minnesota migration lasts months with shorebirds popping up as early as late July. But really it starts in August and depending on when lakes and rivers freeze it can least into early December.
While birding at Westwood Hills this week with my friend Kara, we watched dozens of common nighthawks fly over at about 5 pm, feeding and beginning the journey south. Yesterday, while working, I noticed a warbler flitting in the tree and got my binoculars on it. It was a young, hatched this summer Tennessee Warbler.

The view from the Rock Creek Trail inside Denali National Park and Preserve. I could walk out my front door and hike this regularly.

I knew I was in trouble in Alaska my first fall. The park starts to shut down mid September and if you live there, you practically have it to yourself. I decided I was going to hike a trail out my front door called the Rock Trail daily until the weather stopped me. I have seen many autumns, but none as spectacular as in Central Alaska. And after a few days of this plan, I realized I was bored on the hike and I couldn’t figure out why. What was wrong with me that I thought that view above was boring? And then I realized what was happening, I wasn’t hearing anything. No birds, no crickets, no katydids, nothing. Dead silence , and then I realized all the birds had left. There were a few cranes and swans flying over still. But the waves of warblers, waterfowl, sparrows, that I’d come to expect over many months in Minnesota they had all left already. Of course, I knew from reading books and articles that breeding seasons were fast and furious in the Arctic. I was living in the Sub Arctic…less than 330 miles south of the Arctic Circle. I realized that it was going to be months of silence…It was late September, I wouldn’t really hear birds again until late April…over six months away.

Boreal Chickadee

That’s not to say there were no birds. Boreal chickadees, magpies, and Canada jays were around. The first winter didn’t have much of a tree crop so I didn’t really see any crossbills or redpolls. I wasn’t allowed to have a bird feeder where I lived because park rules and grizzly bears so I could easily go days without seeing a bird.

On Saturdays in winter, I’d drive the sixteen miles to Healy to visit the grocery/hardware store/gun store/convenience store/liquor store known as Three Bears to watch the parking lot ravens as a form of desperation birding. Often, I’d buy a bag of walnuts to toss out to them.
My first Christmas Bird Count only had three species. The second one had more thanks to it being an irruptive year for finches and grosbeaks. Side note: the upside to a CBC in Alaska is that there is so little daylight, you count starts around 10 am and only lasts about four hours.

Wood thrush coming in for a bathe.

So looking at the calendar and realizing fall migration is on, I’m going to take it all in and enjoy it for as long as possible. Warblers are already moving through in Minnesota, and it won’t be long until we see even more nighthawks overhead, and wood thrushes (like on above) will be passing through our yards. We still three more months ahead at least and I intend to savor it.

What? I'm Out of Alaska? Yes Apr 05, 2024

Did you catch me on Almanac tonight? Confused because you thought I was in Alaska? Life is weird and if someone told me on January 1, 2019, “Hey, you’re gonna get divorced, live through a pandemic, and then live in the remote Alaskan wilderness but be back in 2024,” I’d have thought they were nuts. But here we are. Denali was a great time but I now have a job with the Forest Service that puts me in Minnesota.

So what were the things I talked about tonight?

The heron rookery at Marshall Terrace Park. You can read some of the history of the rookery here.

Birds and Beers

My Bird Club

If you want to catch some Alaska stories, I’ll be part of the storytelling group at Cheap Theater at the Black Forest in on April 20 at 7 pm and I’ll be one of the speakers at the Indiana Dunes Bird Festival in May.
More will come here as I settle back into the land of strong internet and grocery stores in walking distance.

**Whimbrels of the Sub Arctic in Denali** Jul 16, 2023
What, this blog still works? I know, I blew up my life, moved to Alaska and now all of my writing and creativity goes to a national park.
There are so many birds that I’ve seen and enjoyed over the years, but in many ways I didn’t truly appreciate them. There was a conversation between two men where one said that the outdoors is so much more enjoyable when you what things are. The other man got very defensive and said that he enjoyed the outdoors just as much as anybody and he didn’t need to know the birds, flowers, or trees.
I firmly disagree and the whimbrel is an example of that just being aware of something vs knowing it, is life changing. I know what whimbrels are, I’ve seen them in many places in the Lower 48 of North America. In the grand scheme of shorebirds, they are one of the easier to identify and quite charismatic looking.

This is a whimbrel that I got a photo of while filming a pilot for a birding reality tv show in LA. No, that’s not a joke.

PROOF, took this photo while the whimbrel was about 50 feet away. FYI reality tv shows aren’t scripted, but please note the paper the guy in the middle holding…

I’ve been trying to find photos that I’ve taken of whimbrels and figure out where I was when I took them. I feel like my first whimbrel was exciting but in those heady early days of my birding when I was getting lifers left and right and not quite paying attention to the first sighting because I was getting so many firsts at once. A few photos that I’ve found were from a reality tv show pilot that I filmed, right about the time my book *1001 Secrets Every Birder Should Know* came out.
Whimbrels have a crazy beak, not as crazy as a curlew, but still pretty darned distinct. But where whimbrels really got my attention was as we started to study their migration patters and could put transmitters on them to really get an idea of their crazy flights to and from breeding grounds.

Whimbrels on wintering grounds eat quite a few fiddler crabs and it’s thought that the long decurved beak helps them get into their burrows.

In 2009, four whimbrels were tagged by researchers from the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary in Virginia on their southward migration. The following spring, one bird left Virginia and flew to Alaska, traveling 3,200 miles in about 6 days in what looked to be a non-stop flight. Before that, we didn’t know that whimbrels on the east coast of the United States would end up in Alaska. Here’s **a pretty amazing migration map** **based on some of those trackers.**
But in 2011 the study showed how these birds managed hurricanes but also the many threats that they face. One bird known as “Chinquapin” successfully flew into Hurricane Irene and survived. A bird known as “Machi” flew through Tropical Storm Maria and another knowns as “Goshen” flew through the east side of Hurricane Irene, both eventually landed on Caribbean island of Guadeloupe and were legally shot as part of a fall shorebird hunt. You can read more on the William and Mary website.
I’m told that whimbrels were seen regularly along the Park Road in Denali. I haven’t seen that, I have had a couple of flyovers on the Denali Highway, but haven’t really seen them around where I live now—especially not nesting. One of the things I love about working here is the rich knowledge of the biology staff. There’s lots of careful research and a push/pull of keeping wilderness wild and allowing visitor access. There’s a known decline of whimbrels nesting on the Park Road, but is that a matter of traffic…or loss in other areas like migratory and wintering habitat? Pressures of unregulated shooting? Storms that are impossible to navigate?

Braided river bed off of the Park Road, the only road that goes into Denali National Park and Preserve.

So when some friends told me they were out hiking in Denali about seven miles from my place and had what they thought was a whimbrel, I went out looking for it. Working and living in a park that is roughly the size of New Hampshire (roughly six million acres), its hard to get bored. There aren’t many trails in the park and you are allowed to hike off trail. Sometimes that’s a challenge for a five foot woman navigating willows about as tall as me where I could surprise a grizzly or moose but I always pack bear spray and talk to myself to prevent surprising anyone.
Denali National Park and Preserve is over six million acres in size, roughly the size of New Hampshire. There is only one road through the park and right now, it’s cut off at the halfway point because that part was built on a rock glacier, the ice melted and the road slid away. I took the dry, rocky bed about a mile and a half to Jenny Creek. It was mostly shallow but with my short legs, I was going to have deep areas of very cold water.

Jenny Creek where I could already hear a whimbrel yelling on the ridge on the other side of the creek.

I always calculate the risk and wonder if it’s worth it. I especially do that living in grizzly bear country. I saw the deeper part of the creek, observed the slow of the water and if I could safely navigate it, and noted the steep side of the ridge vs the gradual. Which had more willows to traverse. It looked like the shallow portion of the creek had fewer willows, but a much steeper climb. The deeper part of the creek had a gradual climb, but more willows. Not going to lie, I entertained just keeping with the easy trail fo the dry river bed and forget the whimbrel…then I heard it calling from the top of the ridge, a bird siren song I can’t resist and opted for the shallow end of the creek with the steep hill.
I opted to bring my hiking poles for this trek and so glad that I did since that made the steep grade of the ridge so much easier to climb. The hilarious part is that I later learned my phone took video from my pants pocket. I can hear myself heavily panting and verbalizing my inner monologue to prevent surprising a bear or moose: “Thank you, past Sharon, for bringing hiking poles, good call. *pant pant pant*. Yo moose, yo bear. pant pant pant. Just a short lady walking through the willows. *pant pant pant*. Not interested in hunting today. *pant pant pant.* No cubs for me today. *pant pant pant*. Come on, old girl, you got this. *pant pant pant*. Almost there. *pant pant pant*. Short lady in the willows. *pant pant pant*”

Whimbrel flying over breeding territory.

The whimbrel started calling more and I started mimicking its call back to the best of my ability which wasn’t great. But I could make it loud enough that I wasn’t going to startle moose and I was doing it poorly enough that whimbrel clearly knew I wasn’t a rival for territory.

My favorite shot of the whimbrel. It’s not Nat Geo material, but I love it because I get a sense of its breeding habitat.

I eventually made it to top without being mauled by a bear and it was a gorgeous view and a lone whimbrel watched me warily and occasionally called. I sat down and took a breather, ate my lunch, gave the whimbrel time to see that I wasn’t a threat and it went on to foraging. There didn’t appear to be a second bird or even chicks, but the bird clearly acted like it was on territory. They should have chicks at this point.

View from the top of the ridge. The dry river bed below is what I used to hike to the area.

I took some time to just soak up the weirdo life I have now. Birding in Interior Alaska is so different. It’s not like living in Minnesota where a short drive will net me 50 species and lots of opportunities for photos and videos. In the winter, it’s downright BLEAK and there are days when I will see or hear only one species of bird a day. If the roads are nice enough, I’ll drive the 16 miles to the Three Bears parking lot to look at ravens out of desperation for anything live bird related.
But even in summer, it’s still not the hoards of birds you think of May and June in the Lower 28. My walk up to the whimbrel spot got me 8 species of birds. Lovely birds like fox sparrow and Wilson’s warbler but it’s not the same as being on a coast. But I’ve learned to savor the time I have with birds in the summer and especially in the case of shorebirds, get to know them in a completely different way—some of them even perch in trees! The whimbrel has its wintering grounds version of itself and its breeding grounds self is different. On the wintering grounds, they eat lots of fiddler crabs, up here…they’ll eat berries. What? A shorebird eating berries? Madness.
And to a certain extent, living up here is doing the same to me. Alaska Sharon is different than Minnesota “Birdchick” Sharon, simply because life up here has so many challenges. In some ways it is exhausting: calculating daylight, chances of hitting moose in the dark, how passable roads are and do I really need a salad that badly in February…couldn’t I just keep eating the canned carrots and frozen broccoli? But in other ways it’s so crazy weird and beautiful like the time your neighbor asks if they can swap you five pounds of roadkill moose in exchange for your bottle of Prosecco (that was an excellent trade).

A snippet of whimbrel breeding habitat.
I opted for the walk back to take the less steep slope of the ridge and the deeper end of Jenny Creek. It was in the upper sixties and mostly sunny which in the land of non stop daylight, makes for warm hiking. The cold creek felt good on my feet and thighs. I made it back with glimpses of caribou but no moose and no bears—which is fine. My preferred encounters with those species is from a vehicle and the moose are so thick in my neighborhood in May and June, I’ve had enough.
If you’d like to read more about whimbrels, do check out All About Birds and if you really want to find out who much we don’t know, check Birds of the World (that requires a subscription but is so worth it.

**Should I Stop Feeding Birds Because of HPAI?** Apr 15, 2022
Short answer: Yeah, probably.
Long answer: Am I going to judge you if you keep your bird feeders filled because it is the one damn thing that got you through the last two years? Nope.
If you stop offering seed will the birds starve? Not a healthy bird. They know how to find food from a variety of sources.
Will closing down your bird feeders stop the spread of the virus? It will slow the spread, but not stop it.

Red-winged blackbird congregate around a bird feeder.

Pandemics just don’t seem to stop do they? And now we have HPAI or Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (it’s highly contagious to other birds). There have been lots of reports of waterfowl with a highly contagious form of avian influenza migrating north and spreading it to other species this spring. Birds are already affected in Minnesota. The main wildlife rehab center in Minnesota has stopped taking in certain species of birds including ducks, geese, herons, and gulls. As of this writing, they have not advised people to stop feeding birds. The University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center has stopped all public tours and sees a 90 - 100% fatality rate in infected birds of prey brought to them. They have advised people to stop feeding birds. There have been reports of blue jays, crows, and ravens all testing positive for it. Most recently, a well known great horned owl nest at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis failed with all the owlets and adults dying as a result of the virus.
This is just what we know about wild birds. As of this writing 7 flocks of poultry in Minnesota have tested positive for HPAI and all have been killed. Millions of poultry around the country have been culled due to HPAI infections.

Merlin eating a red-bellied woodpecker it just killed.

The virus is so contagious that an infected duck could fly over a yard, poop, and that poop landing in the yard could spread very easily to other birds. Ducks that are congregating on open for migration are spreading it to each other. Birds of prey like great horned owls that would see a sick duck will eat it and feed it to their young and all get the virus and die. Blue jays and crows could scavenge a duck carcass with HPAI and then they have it. Blue jays will also visit your bird feeder, potentially spreading it to other birds. We don’t know what effect HPAI will have songbirds—this is all happening very fast and we don’t have the resources to study it. And study takes time. We don’t know if HPAI will be as lethal to songbirds as it is to waterfowl, birds of prey, and domestic poultry.

Robin feeding on crabapples.

I’m getting ready to move to Alaska this week so my bird feeders were already scheduled to go empty. However, I have lots of native plants in the yard specifically to attract birds. There are certain areas the sparrows congregate to get seeds that fall from my native plant seed heads. Two days ago I was walking the neighborhood and two dozen robins and a few waxwings were all concentrated in a crabapple feeding around each other. Red-winged blackbirds and grackles are passing through in large flocks, making stops in wetlands around ducks and then visiting our yards with or without bird feeders. They may forage on the ground along side a pair of robins. This will all spread HPAI regardless of bird feeders. Even though my bird feeders are coming down this week, I still have set up situations where they will congregate. Heck, when it rains, any puddle is a huge bird magnet. I can’t control the puddles.
You should absolutely stop feeding birds if you or your neighbors have backyard chickens, ducks, or even pet birds inside. If I still had my cockatiel, I would even consider taking shoes off outside and keeping them outside and have a shoes that are for inside the house only.
You should absolutely stop feeding birds if you see a bird that is showing signs of illness in your yard or at your feeder. Signs include sitting puffed up and eyes half closed for long periods of time. A bird that allows you to approach too closely, or is having trouble walking or flying, or is shaking its head or has trouble maintaining any kind of balance is also showing signs of illness. When this happens you should cease feeding for at least week regardless if it's HPAI, house finch conjunctivitis, or salmonella. And your feeders should be cleaned with a mild solution of bleach and water.
In some ways this feels like the start of West Nile Virus. Back then I did pick up for The Raptor Center and so many birds of prey were affected, I wondered if we would have any red-tailed hawks left when it was over. I remember dead crows all over the place. Those species bounced back. Hopefully, if we stop feeding birds for a time that will slow down the spread to give birds with immunity a chance to catch up and put more chicks into bird populations.
On the upside HPAI currently isn’t contagious to humans.

**My Latest Book: North American Birdwatching for Beginners** Apr 07, 2022
Last fall I got an offer to write a book. The money solved a financial problem for me and I agreed to it. I wasn’t sure that the world needed another beginner bird book, but it needed to be written, the process intrigued me, and I’d had a serious case of writer’s block during the pandemic and was finally crawling out of that hole.
I like deadlines, they give me focus. But like any writer, there comes a point when you realize you had some ideas for part of the book and no ideas for the other. And first drafts are for vomiting it all out on paper, no matter how messy it is and a good editor will help you fix that in subsequent drafts. So I wrote the Canada goose profile for a book and thought, “I’m sure the editor will make me fix this later, I’m tired and want to turn this in.”
They did not.

And I put this on Twitter.

When you write a book and it comes out, publishers want you to promote it. I’m in the process of starting a new job and moving to Alaska…all with a book coming out. So I put up a flip tweet about a flip comment I made about geese and it went VIRAL AF. Yay me for efficient marketing at a time when I have too much going on.
So the short of it is, I wrote a beginning birding book. If the above made you giggle and you think a non birder in your life would like to learn more about birds you can order North American Birdwatch for Beginners.
Because this book is coming out as I’m moving, I don’t have autographed copies now. Since shipping books to Alaska and shipping them to you might make them more expensive than they need to be, I may look into getting stickers that I can personalize to send out. I won’t have a good answer for this until mid-May.

**Snowy Owls on Breeding Territory** Mar 03, 2022

Female snowy owl perched on a building at the MSP Airport. How I normally see them every winter.

Snowy owls are something I regularly see in Minnesota. The Minneapolis/St Paul Airport gets a few overwintering every year. I’ve always wondered what it was like to see them on their breeding territory up in the Arctic, especially as I’ve followed Project SNOWstorm and all they have learned about snowy owl seasonal movement. When I headed up to the Arctic portion of Alaska last summer with Zugunruhe Tours, I got my wish. Fun fact that I learned about the name of the town formerly known as Barrow?

Standing at the town sign! Wait…what does that sign say?

According to the sign, this town’s name means “the place where we hunt snowy owls.”

What some people in the US know as the town of Barrow, AK is now called “Utqiagvik” which is a recent spelling of the town’s ancient name “Ukpiagvik.” According to the town sign the name means, “the place where we hunt snowy owls.” I chuckled when I read that. This sign made me think of how in the winter when snowy owls arrive, the “Owl Police” get riled up about how close people get to snowy owls. What would they think of the traditional town name?
I had a conversation with my friend Mark Martell, a biologist about snowys. “These poor things, they come down south and there are all these trees, that has to be confusing. They must wonder how to find anything.”
“Or,” Mark said, “they think, ‘This is GREAT! We need some of these up in the Arctic! I can hear and so so much futher!”
Fair point, Mark.

Utqiagvik has short buildings and no trees.

Looking around the town, I could see how it kind of resembled an airport. Some of the building are hangar-like, lots of open space, and trees. It’s right on the Arctic Ocean so lots of opportunities to hunt right on the sea ice.
Even though I was technically in the United States, it still felt like a foreign country because life is so very different there. There is no road to the town. You cannot just drive up with your trailer. You can only get in by boat or plane…and based on weather, that’s not a guarantee you’ll get in or out on the day you planned. Anything people need that is not in the immediate area has to be flown or shipped in. Conversely, anything you don’t need anymore also has to be shipped out. Car has broken down? Do you pay to have it shipped away or let it stay where it is. Along with that, it’s not easy to get food in and out. Really want to those fresh delicate fruits and vegetables…not an easy option. Avocado Toast isn’t a thing. Because of that and the Alaska Native population, there is subsistence hunting that helps people get through and they hunt what they need to in order to survive. Hence the sign about what the name of the town means.

Palm trees made of baleen from whales.

Signs of subsistence are everywhere. Some yards took leftover baleen from whale hunts and turned them into “Arctic palm trees” or other decor. The town was preparing for a Solstice festival while we were there and chunks of whale could be found as people took it out to thaw. It was fascinating to be in that world and learn how survival is very different in this part of the United States.
The town sign with a snowy owl did not over-hype and despite its meaning, there were owls around town! As I headed out of our hotel to our truck for the day’s birding, one of the other participants pointed to the cemetery next door and noted the snowy owl perched on one of the grave markers. A man and his dog walked by flushing the owl, but it soon returned. Our guide took us on a road closer to the cemetery so we could get photos. It was a stunning adult male male snowy owl.

Snowy owl perched on a grave marker.

But not only were they in town, we saw them as we hiked the surrounding tundra. We saw many snowy owls, one day we saw about six at the same time. They were far away and spread out, but that is the nature of the tundra—you can see for miles. Even though some were far away, I could see in my scope that they were active and getting mobbed my shorebirds. What a treat!

Our guide was very careful to keep us away from nests while we were out on the tundra so we weren’t trampling young or disturbing birds on eggs. But one day as we were hiking the tundra and enjoying the Arctic sun, our binoculars found a light floofy thing through binoculars. We both said, “Uh oh” at the same time. I looked at the guide, “Is that…what I think it is?”
“I hope not,” he replied. We were worried that we had in fact wandered toward a snowy owl nest. I got my scope on it and was relieved to discover that it was not a snowy owl chick. I walked over to get a better photo of what we saw.

Just a random caribou head. Oddly not the weirdest thing we found on the tundra, that would have been the random hunk of whale meat.

Snowy owl pellets.

Exploring Alaska wilderness is very free form. In many places there really aren’t any trails to follow, you just journey out. The tundra is a spongy wonderland and sometimes you end up in a puddle. As much as this post is about snowy owls, the real fun we were after were all the eider species. As we would work our way towards ponds to get closer to the ducks, we would use small rises to hide our presence. One of my best memories is hunkering behind a rise while a spectacled eider got used to me. The light was tremendously golden at 1:30am in the morning and pectoral sandpipers and snow buntings are singing all around me. I’m high enough on the vegetation that I can sit without my butt getting wet from the spongy ground. I stretched out my feet to enjoy the moment and that’s when I noticed the snowy owl pellet next to my boot. There was also some old white looking streaks of poop. Sometime not too long ago a snowy owl had perched here waiting for prey, digesting its previous meal. I love finding owl pellets and to find them on the tundra similar to how I might find great horned owl pellets in the woods totally delighted me. This pellet was chock full of lemming.

Snowy owl in a Minnesota corn field.

I now have a perspective when I see snowy owls in the lower 48. If you ever have the opportunity or find a bird tour company that will take you up to the Arctic, I highly recommend it. The snowy owls are cool and they are just the tip of the iceberg (ha ha) for all the fun that can be had. But what a treat to see these birds hunting and living in their breeding habitat.

**Snow Bunting Nests** Jan 08, 2022

Snow buntings flying around a remote road in Aitkin County, Minnesota.

Snow buntings are a fairly regular appearance in Minnesota in winter. It’s one of the birds I will watch for on the way to the bog or birding in the southern part of the state. They are generally in large flocks, skittish, and far away. You’re basically driving down a country road and a bunch of white birds with patches of beige burst off the side of the road as you pass.

Male snow bunting singing on a telephone pole in Utqiaġvik formerly known as Barrow, AK.

In the Arctic Circle, snow buntings are everywhere, practically yard birds and not so skittish. Part of the appeal of working in Alaska for a summer was the chance to explore the state further (I’ve birded Anchorage and Homer), and especially in the Arctic Circle with the hopes of seeing birds like snow buntings, shorebirds, and snowy owls in their breeding range.
When I landed in Utqiaġvik formerly known as Barrow, the northern most point of the United States, the first bird I heard singing loudly was a snow bunting warbling away on top of the airport hangar. They became one of my favorite songs of the trip. Males in breeding plumage are such snazzy looking birds. I immediately fell in love.
Here’s a video I took with my phone, Swarovski scope, and PhoneSkope case so you can hear the song of the snow bunting…and get a sense of the tundra and Midnight Sun:

As we drove around the tree-less town, I noticed people had bird boxes in their yards. That was puzzling to me because the tundra is known for not having trees. What possible bird would use a birdhouse or nest box here? Starlings are in the southern part of Alaska but nowhere near up in the Arctic. House sparrows have managed to not get a foothold in the state of Alaska yet. So…in the land of no trees and no woodpeckers, what bird would evolve to nest in a cavity? What cavities would there be? I soon had my answer.

Female snow bunting in a nest box.

Snow buntings used the nest boxes. It never dawned on me that they would use a bird house. But how and why, I wondered. I hadn’t read their nesting section in Birds of the World before I left for the trip. I think I assumed birds in the Arctic were all some form a ground nester.

Lemming tunnels and trails on the edge of of town.

It turns out that there are cavities in the tundra, in the ground made by lemmings. Lemmings are EVERYWHERE and I mean EVERYWHERE. One of our tour participants gave a squeak becase a lemming startled her when it ran over her foot! I did eventually find some snow buntings using an actual lemming tunnel as a nest. I got some slow mo footage with my iPhone attached to my Swarovski spotting scope for some footage. Because it’s slow mo, I cut out all the time she was actually in the nest feeding or this video would be five mintues long.

I did my trip up to Utqiaġvik/Barrow with Zugunruhe Birding Tours which I highly recommend if you like a small group experience.

**Birding The Park Road in Denali National Park** Jan 02, 2022

Three-toed woodpeckers were regulars outside of my cabin.

I paused my bike ride for some grizzly poop on the Park Road.

Denali National Park and Preserve is about the size of New Hampshire and has one road known as the Park Road that’s about 92 miles long. Most of it is accessible only by transit or tour bus, foot, or bike. I biked some of it while I worked there last summer. One day while I was biking I found some grizzly bear poop. Whenever I posted a picture of bears or bear poop I would inevitably get texts or comments warning me to be careful of grizzly bears so I began including, “Yes, I have bear spray” in every dispatch to family and friends.
This particular patch of poop was right before Sable Pass. About a week after getting this photo while biking there, I was driving through that spot to a meeting. I was recalling my bike ride when I noticed to buses stopped in the road with a large lump lumbering in front of them:

Grizzly walking towards my vehicle.

A transit bus and a tour bus where coming from the opposite direction and had a grizzly bear in front of them. I pulled over and let the situation play out. I had never seen a grizzly bear until I came to Alaska and couldn’t believe I was having a quintessential national park experience of a bear walking past my vehicle. I kept my eyes on the bear but whipped out my phone for a souvenir video.

Not digiscoped. Just right outside my vehicle window.

I love how the bear does not make eye contact with me. Bears are like people, they like the established trails and roads, like us they appreciate the path of least resistance. Also the road is chock full of Arctic ground squirrels which are a tasty morsel for a grizzly. This bear was clearly communicating, I’m just passing through, not making eye contact, just goin’ about my bear business, please leave me alone and things won’t need to get very real.
Not unlike me when I’m in downtown St. Paul in uniform. Just trying to grab some tacos, not ready to answer questions about fishing permits or parking (not that I can answer those anyway, but people always assume I know when in uniform).
Currently, part of the road is being rebuilt because a section is on a rock glacier (it’s more rock than ice) and it’s melting because Climate Change. There’s some amazing time lapse footage of what’s been happening on the Denali website. I actually got to drive that section of road before the latest landslide and it was terrifying to me. I drove out on the side against the mountain. I wondered how I was going to drive back to my cabin and be on the cliff side that has no railing. I can’t believe busses would pass each other on that section of mountain pass, but they did on a daily basis.
When I arrived for my meeting, I told the first ranger I saw, “Polychrome Pass is terrifying. I don’t know how I’m going to drive through Pretty Rocks to get back.”
He laughed, “Oh yeah, I remember my first time.”
I said, “I’m serious. I don’t think I can drive back on my own. I live here now.”
”Ohhh,” he said. “I’ll take you out and give you some cliff driving tips.”

Transit and tour busses passing each other along Pretty Rocks. Photo from the Fairbanks Daily News Miner.

I have now been over Polychrome Pass many times. One day I was with a coworker and while she drove, I took a video of what it looks like to drive that section. Alas there was no gyrfalcon perched here that day, but you could see where one had perched based on the white wash.

Eurasian wigeon mixed in with American wigeon at Wonder Lake. It was fun to self find this bird that I have seen so many times in Europe.

Birding the park reminded me quite a bit of northern Minnesota: boreal chickadees, black-backed woodpeckers, three-toed woodpeckers, goshawks blasting through, Canada jays, redpolls, crossbills, spruce grouse and oodles of ravens. There are other exciting birds there like willow ptarmigan, Arctic warbler, and northern wheatear. It’s crazy to me that Alaska is situated to not only get migrants from Central and South America, but also southeast Asia.
If you are a birder hellbent on getting ALL the lifers in a weekend, that’s not going to happen. Birds are spread out and some are only accessible by trekking off trail into wilderness. I was there for three months and didn’t get all the lifers I could have. I had quality time with quality birds, but there is A LOT of hiking (not necessarily on trails) to get to some of these birds. But you get stunning views and very interesting mammals.

Dall sheep out my window as I was on my way to a meeting.

They say if you see Denali mountain at all that you are a “thirty percenter” because it’s usually covered in clouds. If you see it without any clouds covering the mountain at all then you are a “fifteen percenter.”

Denali is definitely worth a visit, just for the sheer grandeur. But birding itself is better on Denali Highway which isn’t in the park. But that’s another blog entry for another day.
Incidentally, I’ll be working permanently for Denali in the near future. So I suspect that more Alaska bird blogs entries will be forthcoming.
Below are some of the birds I saw while out and about in Denali.

**A Toast To Curt Rawn** Dec 27, 2021

Curt always ready with a camera and occasionally a beer.

My friends, let us toast Curt Rawn and his desire for human connection, his love of birds, and his love of getting other people to enjoy birds.
I started Birds and Beers in Minneapolis on July 17, 2007. The intent was to have it once a month, but my travel schedule didn’t always allow for that. The following spring I was working a bird festival in another state and I noticed pictures showing up on social media for a Birds and Beers…that I didn’t organize. “What the hell,” I thought, “is someone trying to steal my event?”
When I came home and asked around to friends who attended, they said a guy named Curt Rawn organized it. I vaguely remembered meeting him at the previous Birds and Beers. I contacted him to ask why he organized one.
“I asked you when you would have a Birds and Beers in May and you said you were too busy,” Curt said, “so I put one on. Those things are fun!”
I laughed at how my little idea to connect birders in bars had gotten beyond my control in less than a year. I suggested we work together, I could definitely use the help to keep them going with my travel schedule. He happily agreed and we experimented with Birds and Beers the Woodcock Tailgate Party and Birds and Beers at the Crow Roost Edition. We tried having it at various locations and when we finally got too big, we landed at the Black Forest Inn.
Curt was always happy to help someone start a new Birds and Beers and was on hand to help get the St. Paul version off the ground, constantly nudging me to come along. “Hey Shaz, St Paul BnB was a blast, you have got to get to one of these!”
Birds and Beers would not be what it is had it not been for Curt. I never wanted to have it on a specific day of the month because some people couldn’t make certain days. Curt did a great job of pinging me every couple of weeks, “Hey Shaz, it’s time for another BnB.” He also did a great job of helping to spread the word.

This was an outdoor gathering I had after friends were vaccinated this past spring. I joked no one knew how to take pictures anymore because we all got out of the socialization habit during the pandemic. I printed this picture and had it framed while I lived in Alaska over the summer. I met the lovely Kare Snow in this picture at Birds and Beers.

Some of my closest friends are because of Curt. Once, I had been cornered into a conversation at a BnB and when I could finally get away, I made a beeline for the bathroom. Curt grabbed me and I snapped, “Dammit, Curt, I have to f*cking pee!”
The woman next to him laughed as he said, “I wanted to introduce you to this person new to Birds and Beers that I met at the varied thrush last week. Her name is Gayle.”
Gayle laughed and told Curt to let me pee. Gayle and I are very close friends to this day.
One of my favorite things at a Birds and Beers is to stand back and watch the crowd, see people connecting and having a good time or interesting conversation. Curt would often catch me doing this and we’d make eye contact, knowingly smile and toast each other. It was one of my favorite parts of our friendship.

Running into Curt Rawn at Biggest Week with Sherrie Duris and Asher Gorbet.

Before long Curt started coming to some of the bird festivals in the US and I remember a friend in the Rio Grande Valley asking, “What’s the deal with Curt Rawn? He’s everywhere.” I said, “He loves birding and he really loves people.”
And he did. If you were alone at a party or didn’t know anyone, he’d seek you out, get to know you, and hook you up with other people to talk to. He was a super connector. He was at home in any group. When I’d invite him to parties with our theater/comic friends he blended in easily.
When I’d get to a bird festival and he was there, as soon as he saw me he’d come in for a greeting and say, “Hey Shaz…this is wonderful, I love it! I’ve met so many people!” I see him saying that at the boardwalk at Magee Marsh or the trail at Estero Llano Grande State Park in my head, vividly as I type this.

Hanging out with Curt outside pre vaccination during the pandemic.

The pandemic was hard. Curt was a social creature and derived so much pleasure from the company of others, it was challenging for him. I had him over in the yard when I could or we’d go birding when time would allow. When I told him my plan for working in the Rio Grande Valley for several weeks last winter he said, “That’s sounds like a great idea, I wonder if I could rent a place down there too?”
Sure enough he found a place a couple of miles away from my rental. He arrived earlier and stayed later than I did, but true to form when I arrived he said to me, “Hey Shaz, you know Katinka?”
“I met her briefly at the RGV Fest a few years ago,” I said.
“Well she’s here too and needs company, we should all go birding,” Curt said.
And I got to know Katinka much better as a result.

If I entered in a good eBird sighting Curt would be under my balcony in 15 minutes.

Little things like finding him under my apartment balcony after I eBirded parakeets that morning meant the world to me. In the above photo we chatted for a few minutes and then got a yellow-throated warbler and western tanager in that brief time. We had a really great month. While birding one morning he marveled at how he dropped five pounds out of nowhere. He thought it must have been all the walking and birding in Texas unlike staying cooped up indoors in frozen Minnesota in winter. Little did any of us know what was really going on.
He got vaccinated while he was in Texas and immediately started asking me how soon we’d have Birds and Beers. I was nowhere near getting vaccinated and not ready. He managaed to get a few in without me.
When I came back from working in Alaska this summer he had a cough but thought it was due to the heavy smoke haze in the Twin Cities from the wildfires in surrounding states and Canada. When it didn’t go away after the smoke subsided he got the cancer diagnosis. He was quiet about it at first. But as things progressed I had him over and said, “You have to let people help you. We want to help you. Think of all the times you drove someone to chemo, you brought them food, you made them smile, you simply visited. It’s time to let us return the favor.”
There are thousand stories I could tell you about the man. Like back when I was married and my husband at the time was in Hong Kong and I had a back spasm and was immobile. He was out birding with his friend Tony and the stopped and grabbed some food and made sure I had things to eat the next few days. I’ll never forget that kindness.

The horrifying results when we tried one of those face swapping apps.

He could drive me nuts if we travelled together. We’d be scheduled to meet at certain time for breakfast and birding and he’d call when we were supposed to hit the road and say, “Hey Shaz, I met five new people at a party last night and they want to bird with us too and I’ll need another 45 minutes to figure out carpooling.”
He was so freaking goofy! I’ll miss his goofiness like the time he called and asked me for dating app advice and we realized he’d accidentally given himself the username “Curt69.” Sometimes I still call him that in my head.

Take in some classic goofy Curt.

When I was married I joked that Non Birding Bill was my first husband and my buddy Clay who I travelled with for Swarovski was my second husband. Curt asked, “Hey Shaz, can I be a husband?” And so I knighted him my third husband. But he really was more like a brother who drove me bananas and made me laugh.
One of my all time favorite photos of Curt was taken by Craig Mullenbach. Curt and I were working the MOU booth at the State Fair. The booth has a giant sign that reads, “Ask Us About Birds!” Craig and other friends arrived at the booth and gifted Curt and I Big Fat Bacon on a stick. Craig was about to take a photo of us at the booth. As he was, a member of the public noted the sign and asked, “Hey is it true that when you see a cardinal in your yard that it’s one of your dead relatives stopping by to say hello?”

Our reactions when asked a ridiculous question.

Our faces in that photo are PRICELESS. Curt and I laughed about that moment for years. And will I see Curt in a cardinal in my backyard? No. I’m about to move to Alaska where there are no cardinals so I guess that means I’m SOL?
No.
I’ll see Curt when I am with a gathering of birders and people are engaged in good conversation, sharing an amazing lifer story, eating lifer pie, and welcoming in a new birder to the group.

A reflection of Curt in the objective lens on my spotting scope.

I’m grateful for the friendship we had. I’m grateful that two weeks ago I went for a visit with my best soup and he taught me to play cribbage. He was happy that day, tired but happy. He was optimistic about his treatment and plans for 2022.
We texted the next day when his nausea was bad. And then he got very confused and ended up back in the hospital where things changed very fast.
I have a hole in my heart now. It’s much bigger than I expected it would be. But that is the heartbreakingly beautiful thing about good relationships. They have a shelf life.
So long, Curt, and thank you for the years of friendship and the many friends you introduced me to along the way.

**Driving From Minnesota to Alaska** Dec 20, 2021

In February, I was down round the Texas/Mexico border. By May I was in Alaska.

This year was so weird and filled with so many delightful surprises. I never imagined I’d find myself driving from the lower 48 states up into Canada to get to Alaska, but that’s what happened. I know many birders do big years and drive all over the country, but that’s not my style. While I was working from Alamo, TX this winter, I found out I was going to work for Denali National Park for the summer. I calculated the long drive I was going to have in front me. I had a co-pilot for the Texas to Minnesota bit, but Minnesota to Alaska was going me and only me.
I had the option of flying into Alaska for work, but I wouldn’t have had a car if I did that. And working in a park that is the size of New Hampshire and being two hours away from a city required me to have a car. I loaded up my birding gear, biking gear, and clothes and headed north. Canada still had hefty restrictions for crossing the border. I was fully vaccinated by the time I left, but Canada didn’t accept that and sent me back to Montana for a rapid test. I saw a testing station at the Canada border and asked, “Can’t I just take a test there?”
The border patrol agent chuckled and said, “If we let you in, you’ll have to take that one before you drive on.”
He was nice enough to give me the name of a clinic that was open for one more hour and I was able to get an appointment for a rapid test. They told me I was lucky I was doing this on a week day. Many people tried crossing on Saturday and all the clinics were closed until Monday and they were stranded. Mondays the clinic was full of cranky travelers.
I went back tot he border with my rapid test negative and had to sit and wait two hours for processing. During Canada’s lockdown, they gave me a very limited window for driving through and if I didn’t leave within my five day window, I’d be risking fines and further entry into the Country. I had to prove that I had hotels already booked or they would make me make the reservations while they watched…no sneaking into campsites at National Parks. I did ask for an extra day in case I encountered any snow storms and they did grant me that.

The AlCan Highway, beautiful but lonely.

The drive up was beautiful but lonesome. I wasn’t allowed to walk anywhere, parks had police at the gate watching for US citizens to keep them out. I was only allowed to use drive throughs or pay at the pump. At hotels, I was only allowed to be in my room and not wander out until it was time to leave.
But OMFG the wildlife! I had a chance to really use my treasured Bovids of the World field guide!

Wood bison!

I shared my location with a few people so if I disappeared, someone would have an idea of where I was. This backfired slightly when one of my sisters texted, “WHY ARE YOU IN AN EMERGENCY CLINIC IN MONTANA????” (Rapid Covid Test).
However, one person said, “You are leaving Muncho Lake this morning, FYI watch out for wood bison in the road about two hours out of town.” Yep. There were wood bison in and next to the road. Which I had no idea existed. Turns out they are shaped differently than the bison I have seen in the United States aka plains bison and they are considered endangered in Canada.
But there were some lifer mammals on the trip. The first was when I passed a small deer-looking thing with a big nose. “Did I just pass a caribou,” I wondered to myself.

Caribou on the highway!

I soon encountered many caribou and confirming that I was in fact now among caribou aka reindeer really hit home for me how my life was going to be different the next few months. Moose, black bear, coyote—I get all of that in Minnesota. But caribou? Wow. I kind of chuckled to myself that I was becoming a Lifetime movie cliche. Woman gets divorced and lives through a pandemic,. then decides to work in a strange and foreign to her wilderness. Cue the swelling John Barry music!

Many signs warned of sheep. Signs on curvy mountain roads had flashing lights to warn you about sheep.

Stone sheep.

The signs were no lie. If you passed a sign warning of sheep, there would be sheep. I knew I was going to get Dall sheep when I got to Denali, so getting stone sheep on the way was a nice bonus. I think they’re considered a subspecies of Dall sheep, but regardless, they were my first thin horned sheep.
I also passed countless moose, black bears, elk, foxes, and coyotes all on top of the gorgeous mountain scenery.

Common Raven near Munch Lake.

The fascinating thing was how strict everything was on my drive up and how much citizen didn’t care on my drive home. When I drove back to Minnesota I got the same spiel from border patrol about only paying for gas at the pump, only eat at drive throughs, and only stay in my hotel room. Every gas station I stopped at on the drive back had the pay at pump feature turned off. They wanted you inside buying snacks and beverages. When I checked in to one of my hotels the front desk clerk told me about a fancy curry dinner they were going to serve that night and I should join them. “I’m from the US, I’m not allowed to eat in your dining room,” I said.
The clerk said, “We don’t care where you are from, we really want you to spend money in our dining room. Wear a mask if you’re not vaccinated.”
“Does this mean you’ll let me walk around outside,” I asked.
They allowed it and it was a treat to be outdoors and get a good long hike in and enjoy the sounds of remote Canada.

Getting back into the United States from Canada was a real treat. I had to go and park my car and then follow the signs to walk into Canada, turn in all my paperwork proving I left the country in the allotted time, then get shoved out the door, walk outside and around the building, step in front of the line of cars waiting to drive into the US and walk up to the dive through window to get back into the United States.

The oh so fancy and official government signs directing you how to go from Canada into the United States.

Not as dramatic as walking along the Equator but interesting nonetheless.

I handed all my paperwork and passport the US border patrol. He said, “You can take your mask off, we don’t wear those here.”
Considering where I was entering the US, I was not surprised by this statement.
But I made it back to Minnesota. It was a grand adventure and I felt a bit badass doing that drive alone. It’s not something I want do alone ever again, but it’s nice to know that I can if I have to.

**Getting My Nemesis Bird** Sep 18, 2021

My former nemesis.

If you’ve spent time with me in person then you know that spruce grouse is a big nemesis bird for me. Big. Huge. GINORMOUS.
For those new to birding, a “nemesis bird” is a bird that you try to see and never get. You’re always arriving as someone says, “It just flew off, like, five minutes ago…”
Spruce grouse is particularly galling since they breed in Minnesota and yet I still manage to miss them. Now, they are a good four to five hours from where I live so it’s not like I’m missing a bird one to two hours away. I had kind of given up ever searching for them since I wasn’t seeing them and figured like many birds, one would just happen in front of me.
It was such a running gag at Birds and Beers that almost didn’t want to see one since people seemed to enjoy the joke so much. People loved to announcing their grouse find at Birds and Beers and looking pointedly at me. Or tagging me in photos on social media. Heck, even my boss came back from a weekend in northern Minnesota and told me that his brother served him freshly hunted spruce grouse.
I half-heartedly joked that I’d offer sexual favors to the first person to get me a spruce grouse.
And then I started dating a birder, someone with a cabin in northern Minnesota that was about halfway between where I lived in the Twin Cities and where spruce grouse hang out. When the pandemic hit, we kind of made it a pandemic project. Spruce grouse would be a lifer for them. I think we thought that maybe some “pandemic magic” would happen and all the time up north would get us the bird. But there was no pandemic magic. We went to areas where bird guides would say, “I had a group there today” and we’d go the following day and not get spruce grouse. We would see cool things like goshawks or pine martens hanging out, but no grouse.
So when the Alaska gig presented itself, spruce grouse were firmly on the table. As I got to know staff at Denali National Park via Teams meetings before heading to live in Alaska for the summer, word spread of my desire to see one. People would tell when and where they saw them. I’d receive text messages from a staffer of spruce grouse right out their vehicle window on the Park Road. One day, someone tried to arrange their laptop camera to face out their windows so I could watch the spruce grouse in their yard. I have to say that the staff at Denali National Park and Preserver definitely know how to make a girl feel at home. Many staff truly took my nemesis bird more seriously than I did.

My bike, a Surly Straggler, loaded for birding.

My first morning waking up in Denali National Park, I loaded my bike and my birding equipment in my Prius and hit the Park Road. One of the first birds I got was the willow ptarmigans I already blogged about. But when I was there in early May, the buses hadn’t started running yet and a private vehicle could drive all the way to Teklanika Rest Area and then hike/bike more of the Park Road.
I unloaded my bike from my car at Tek, got my trunk bag on, strapped in my scope and my binoculars and headed out. Yes. I also packed bear spray. I marveling at the beauty of the river and mountains around me, taking in the redpolls and crossbills, thinking how badass it is to be able to say, “Oh yeah, I biked in Alaska.”
And then the road curved into some spruce and WHAM! I knew the shape as soon as my eyes laid on it. The dark strutting blob was unmistakable. There he was, a displaying male spruce grouse!

That dark lump up the road is my lifer spruce grouse. And yes, please note the bear spray next to my binoculars.

I pedaled as close as I dared and took the displaying male in. I was so grateful for my NL Pures, they truly are a spectacular piece of birding equipment and the clarity of this life bird was overwhelming. I pedaled a little closer, then got off and set up my spotting scope low to the ground to get video of the displaying male. Meanwhile a second male came in…and then a third appeared in the trees just to my right. It took off to chase the displaying male. It was quite a site. I took video and drank in the scene and until all three males chased each other off and headed into the woods.

Warning: swearing. Also, the strut on this bird rivals Prince.

Portrait of a woman who has defeated. a decades long bird curse.

I was riding so high. The willow ptarmigan were one thing, but to just get spruce grouse while doing one of my favorite things (biking) was just too much. I rode the high as I continued to pedal the road. And then I noticed that I was going super slow. I made it all the way to Igloo Campground and was exhausted. My riding was not pretty, slow and quite a few stops. I figured I’d be a little off after driving nonstop for seven days and not being used the elevation, but I wasn’t prepared to be THAT sucky at bike riding. When I turned around to head back, I didn’t pedal for three miles. I’d been on a such a gradual incline and on a spruce grouse high that I didn’t even notice the incline.
The next few days were settling into the job and establishing a routine. About a week into it, I was walking to my office in the Headquarters Building when BLAMMO there was a a female spruce grouse right outside my window. I got a couple of quick and dirty iPhone shots, but I also accepted a universal truth: after you have finally seen and experienced a life long nemesis bird, you will see then everywhere and all the time.
Only I didn’t.
I would’t see another spruce grouse again until almost two months later when the person I’ve been dating came to visit. Spruce grouse was still their nemesis but I wasn’t foolish enough to guarantee finding the bird. But one night we were out walking one of the sled dogs I was assigned to walk (her name is Party and she’s amazing). Party went on point and there was a spruce grouse next to the road! My friend went after it, got a terrible iPhone photo but got great looks. Party was very upset with how the whole situation was handled. She clearly wanted off leash and to follow my friend to get at the spruce grouse, but I think she thought our interest was in eating it, not just looking at it. I could tell from her tugs on the harness that she was thinking, “No, you’re doing it wrong, let me help you, I’ll totally kill it and we’ll all eat it!”

Afterwards as the two of us celebrated a much sought after lifer with whoops and maybe even a slap on the back, I got this photo of Party. She’s so proud that she found the grouse.

And then it was several weeks until I had my fourth and final spruce grouse encounter. I made a reputation for myself among staff that if you needed to leave town and you had indoor plumbing (especially a bath tub) I was happy to watch your place and feed your pets.

One of my regulars had a cabin in the woods with a jacuzzi. One day, I noticed birds about the size of a thrush running in the grassy driveway. I was ready to dismiss them at Swainson’s thrushes, but the run was wrong and the shape…wait…that’s kind of a young pheasant shape…no pheasants in Alaska…wrong habitat for ptarmigan…what else…holy crap…SPRUCE GROUSE BABIES!
And there we were. All of us frozen. The grouse realizing something was moving in the driveway that hadn’t been moving before. Me, frozen hoping not to disturb them. Eventually the attention span of youth won and the chicks continued to forage while mom kept a watchful eye on me. I tried to play it cool and grab my scope from inside the cabin to get pictures and video.

And there we have it, I had a perfect nemesis/life bird experience of the summer:
I found a displaying male bird on my own while doing something I love like bike riding.
I got a female outside my office.
I got to show someone else who needed spruce grouse (with the magic of a sled dog).
I got to see a female with chicks.
Who knows if I’ll ever see one in Minnesota. And goodness knows that I have received plenty of good natured ribbing that I can’t really count spruce grouse until I’ve seen them in Minnesota.
But the big takeaway that I have is that some birds just need to happen. You can chase them all you want, but at the end of the day, the only way to get them is to let go and just let them happen. And when the time is right, they eventually will happen for you.

**Sounds of Willow Ptarmigan** Sep 04, 2021

What does a willow ptarmigan sound like? Utterly bonkers!

When you work for the federal government, you occasionally have opportunities to apply for “details.” If you are permanently stationed at a park and another park has a temporary staffing need, you can apply for it and work there for a few months. This is meant to help out a park as it rehires a new position. It also gives the person who gets the temporary job some career development—you can use it as a chance to work for a different type of park or to try out a different type of job.
Given all of the change in my life in the last few years, I saw an opportunity to work in Denali National Park and Preserve for the summer and thought, “YES! I want that please!” Part of it is a desire for change but also two birds I’ve always wanted to see are practically guarantees if you go at the right time of year: willow ptarmigan and my long-time nemesis, the spruce grouse. So I applied and then bada bing, bada boom I found myself in central Alaska in early May, living in a cabin in the park.
The morning after I arrived in Denali, I hit the Park Road in search of ptarmigan and places to ride my bike. I only went a few miles to where I hit subarctic tundra and there in the road was a male in all his ridiculous glory.

Life bird with a view!!!

My first ever willow ptarmigan strutting like a boss in front of my Prius. And yes, I drove a Prius to Alaska from Minnesota.

I pulled over and the ptarmigan immediately began singing me the love songs of his people. I was thrilled, elated, swearing with all the lifer joy a birder can feel. There was another male further away perched in a tree—I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR PTARMIGANS IN TREES! I made myself comfortable to listen and bask in this bird’s “song.” I ended up encountering willow ptarmigan on a regular basis in May and June along the Denali Park Road. One day I biked up to Sable Pass and was surrounded by males chasing each other. I wasn’t prepared for their even sillier chase call. I made a compilation video of their sounds. It’s so strange to be in land that is crazy majestic only to be serenaded by the likes of Looney Tunes.

My first day in Denali and my true love gave to me, a ptarmigan in a spruce tree.

This is the face of a woman who has finally heard willow ptarmigan live and in person and it was as glorious as she always imagined it would be.

**My Lifer Texas Blue Bunting** Jul 24, 2021

There are life birds and then there are LIFE BIRDS.

Taking a trip to a new state or country can yield you dozens of new birds in a day. But then there are those birds that catch your eye in a field guide or bird magazine article and you think, “My gods, I want that so much, I need to see it so badly, shut up and take all my money. Show me that damn bird.”
Generally, I prefer to get birds where they are supposed to be. And I’m content seeing birds over and over. The day I’m bored with green jays is the day I hang up my Swarovskis. I’m not one to chase a new state record on the other side of my state, especially if I have seen that bird where it normally lives. I’ll make an exception if it is within ten miles and I know I’ll see friends, but I’m not into chasing that much.

The blue bunting in the National Geographic Field Guide.

When I was working from the Rio Grande Valley, Texas this past winter there were many rarities being reported and of particular interest to me was a blue bunting. I have been intrigued by blue buntings ever since I was a kid and given a National Geographic Field Guide. Whenever I got a new bird book as a kid, I would immediately go to the pages of my favorite birds: scarlet tanager, indigo bunting, pileated woodpecker to see the photo or illustration. When I got to the page for buntings in the National Geographic, I was struck by a bird I hadn’t heard of before called a blue bunting that was even darker blue than an indigo bunting, it looked like it had patches of lighter blue, did the bird shimmer? As a kid I thought that must be something to see.
As I started traveling, I figured it was a matter of time until I would cross paths with one, but alas, my life list was blue bunting free. Sure, there are birds that pop up across the Texas/Mexico border, but they were usually females. I know, I know, female birds are cool too and we shouldn’t just look at the pretty boys, but I really wanted to see how that blue works on that bird. I couldn’t understand from photos what that blue was all about. Was this bunting super shiny?
This winter, one was reported at Resaca de la Palma, about 45 minutes from where I was working. People were posting pictures on social media, eBird was giving me alerts, it was too tempting not to chase. And Resaca is a good park, lots to see there so it’s not like I was going just for the bunting. I headed out and brought my bike along. Masks were still required if you were grouped around the blinds to watch the feeder birds. We waited, and even ran into a few friends who were happy to tell me that they had already seen the bunting. But no bunting ever showed up. Many other great birds did like the usual green jays and Altimira orioles. I decided to hit the trails with my bike and maybe try again the next day—the bike ride was good birding, and yielded a ruddy ground dove on one of the trails.

The dulcet tones of plain chachalaca song serenaded me as I waited hours for a blue bunting to show up to Resaca de la Palma.

I’d arrived a bit late in the day for the blue bunting and word on the birding street was that the bird shows up in the morning. The next day I arrived mid-morning and was told the bunting had just been seen. But it wasn’t seen again while I was there. I had only a couple of hours because I had an online training to do and the reception wasn’t good enough at the park for me to participate from the bird feeders. At this point I was thinking, “I’ve tried twice, let’s not waste any more time and gas…” But I kept seeing pictures of this glorious male posted by people who made the drive down from Dallas or Austin. I was only 45 minutes away. This male was practically a guarantee if I was there at the right time and when would I see one again? Also, we were in a freaking pandemic…what else do I have to do but go birding or ride my bike? The last time I’d gotten a lifer was 2019? Maybe even 2018?
I decided I would give the bird a third try, this time taking some annual leave work. I had a meeting at 12pm so I gave myself from dawn until 11am to get it. When I arrived before the visitor center was open the ranger saw me and said, “It was just here but usually will come back in 45 minutes.”

I actually got this crimson-collared grosbeak at Estero Llano Grande but it’s better than the picture I got at Resaca de la Palma. This species was all over the Valley this winter.

I had a good four hours to play with so I waited and 45 minutes came and went. I saw so many great birds that other people were trying for like the crimson-collared grosbeak, tropical parula, and golden-crowned warbler. Heck, I even saw the orange crown of the orange-crowned warblers as they bathed in the water feature in front of me. It was a weekday and pretty quiet, I mostly had the place to myself, apart from the occasional person looking for a different bird.
“You here for the crimson-collared?”
“No, but it was just here ten minutes ago, I’m here for the blue bunting.”
“Ohhhh man, I had the bunting last week, it’s amazing! Darn, I wonder if the crimson-collared will come back. I need that bird.”
Anther couple arrived and like me, they were going for the bunting. They staked themselves out at a blind to my left and we waited. 10am arrived and I began to wonder if I was going to dip on this bird again. I wanted to see it so badly. I’d already invested about 11 hours of watching and driving trying to get the bird that everyone else seemed to get. And I was seeing GREAT birds too so it wasn’t a total loss but I really wanted this bird. Time was growing short, it was already past 10:30am. I had to be in my car and driving back at 11am to make my next meeting.
Then miraculously…it flew in for some water at 10:45am. I managed to get some video because I wanted to see how all that dark and light blue worked together. Of course the danger of when I get life birds and take video is that it comes with a lot of swearing. But here is the video.

Who doesn’t swear when they get a lifer?

And the blue was insane. The bird looked like it shimmered, even though the feathers weren’t really shiny, so much as the bird has lighter patches of sky blue on its head, cheeks, and wings. It was a combination of blue that no photo can do justice and to watch it move and fly was like watching a piece of electricity flit around trees and dirt.
I drove home, triumphant. I felt giddy. I felt like a huge weight was off my shoulders. I felt like…I’d say I felt like I got a massage, but no, I felt like I’d just had really great sex. It’s not a feeling I get with just any lifer, this was a bird I dreamed about seeing as a kid—it’s colorful bird, it’s not like getting a flycatcher or Old World warbler. This was a highly desired bird. Also, I had gone for it multiple times. And while I waited for this magical creature to show up, I got to enjoy all my Texas favorites. I enjoy winter, but the silence gets to me. Working in south Texas this past winter really hit home how much I need bird song in my life as much as possible.
I lived on the high of finally seeing that damn bunting the rest of the day and well into the next. I could feel the endorphin rush with every breath. I made it back to my computer in time for my meeting. Oddly enough, the meeting I had to attend after getting that bird led me to more lifers, including a nemesis bird.
All in all, it was a great day and writing about the blue bunting still gives me a bit of an endorphin rush.

**Cicadas** Jan 24, 2021
Parents (or heck, adults who want a fun project on their desk while working from home) this is something fun and safe you can do with your iPhone.

Dog day cicada freshly emerged from its exoskeleton. The wings and body will get darker as it dries out.

I got a bit obsessed with insects this past summer. Not traveling and moving to a home with a backyard gave me the opportunity to really study and observe things I’ve always wondered about, like cicadas. The older I get, the more I groove on cicadas, they are a sense memory of childhood as summer was marked by their sounds. Where I grew up in Indiana and where I lived we primarily had scissor-grinder cicadas, Linnea’s cicada and some of the periodic species like 13 year cicada. But in Minnesota we mostly we have the dog day cicada—although last summer for the first time ever I did hear a scissor-grinder cicada singing in my front yard. My new neighbors already think I’m a little eccentric but thought it over the top when I leapt up with my phone to record the sound of a new Minnesota cicada. They asked, “Wait what? You can ID bug calls too?”

Cicada nymph found on a neighborhood bike rid

This summer I found a number of dog day cicadas emerging around my new place. Some were found gardening, others in the grass. Goodspeed was working in our garden, digging out some rocks and brought one over, “Look at these crazy insects I keep finding!” I knew immediately they were cicada nymphs and told him to put them back, that they were after tree roots, not any of the perennials.” I later read that dog day cicadas have a preference for pine trees. The neighbor has a large white pine and I’m sure its shallow root system makes it way to the backyard and that’s what the nymphs were after.
True to their name, when the hottest part of summer hit, the cicadas began to sing and I found their shells on hostas, the front yard maple tree, in the grass or the driveway. I’ve had an aversion to the nymphs ever since I was a kid. I think it’s because as kids we loved stepping on empty cicada shells for the satisfying crunch sound. One day I watched a girl crunch one shell with her bare foot and then squish a freshly emerged cicada with her other bare foot. I still can hear her wails of disgust and rage ringing in my ears 40 years later. Also, they look gross and like they can bite you. But at this stage of their life, they are finished eating and don’t really bite. If you pick them up and let them crawl on you, you will feel the grip of their feet—which makes sense. They are looking for something to grip while they go through the vulnerable process of emerging from their shell.
I picked up a few and used the time lapse feature on my iPhone to get this video.

You can make one of these too!
1. Find a cicada freshly emerged from the ground, this can happen at any time of day. When you find one, you have 15 to 30 minutes before the process gets going.
2. Find a good rough stick for the nymph to crawl on and get comfortable. Place the stick in a vase or glass that will keep the stick steady.
3. Find a way to aim your smartphone at it for awhile. Thanks to the pandemic and working from home all the time, I have a selfie stick that also works as a tripod and has a ring light. This is perfect for holding the phone steady and giving enough light to really see the process well. Pro tip, if you tap and hold your finger on your iPhone screen it will not only lock the focus, but the exposure as well. And then I hit start on the time lapse button and an hour later I have a green cicada and a really cool video.
4. Now, if you are worried about the cicada flying all over your house when it comes out—no need. As long as it’s light green, it’s not going to fly. It can crawl. Once the cicada is out for about five minutes, I either set the stick with the cicada on it outside the front door, or let it crawl onto the trunk of the maple tree to let it finish and then be on its way.
I love how time lapse on smart phones gives the opportunity to observe nature and share it with the world. If you choose to share this on Instagram, people will think you’re the next Attenborough!

Here’s my selfie stick/ring light set up. I got this because it makes you look awake at video meetings and is perfect for making time lapse videos of insects. I think I got this on Amazon for about $18, it even has a grip that will hold most models of smartphones.

Cicada I found on my car tire in the summer of 2019. Their wings are quite beautiful when they first emerge.

Cicadas are incredible creatures: a tremendous source of food for other insects, birds and mammals (even humans), you can ID them by song and there’s a rich variety in their song. The adults lay eggs on tree branches and the young hatch and fall to the ground, burrowing in to feed on the sap of tree roots. Different species stay underground for different periods. I’ve read the dog day cicadas take three years to develop into a winged adult—and then live about a week in that form. Some species can be underground for over a decade, think the 13 year cicada or the 17 year cicada.
It also works for me as a metaphor. The above cicada on my car tire was found the morning after I’d made a giant life altering decision. I had things to do and was irritated this was on my back tire, but at the same time I was struck by the vibrant hue of the green wings, the beauty sucked me in. I sat watching it and contemplating the life of a cicada. Here was something that was burrowed under the soil for many years, in the dark, perfectly content to suck the sap of a root of a tree, living in their self construct burrow. Over time, they get coated in anal fluid. Then one day, that’s not the life they need and they have to come up through the soil, to open air, the unknown and then go through what looks like a very uncomfortable process and live what life they have left to live. And they do it in a completely new way. There’s can be a lot to learn from a cicada.

**What's The Best Bird Seed Mix To Buy?** Dec 23, 2020

Rose-breasted grosbeak eating sunflower from one of my custom made mixes.

The best bird seed mix out there for you depends on what you want to do.
Want to keep starlings away? Offer only hard-shelled seeds: black-oil sunflower, safflower, striped sunflower, millet. Avoid peanuts, sunflower chips, suet nuggets and cracked corn at all costs.
Want to avoid grackles…have one feeder that only has safflower in it and nothing else.
Want to avoid house sparrows? That’s tough, sunflower isn’t their favorite, but at the end of the day, they’ll eat anything. On the upside, their activity attracts other birds to your feeder.
Want to avoid squirrels? Move to Mars. In all seriousness, half the battle is feeder placement combined with either a squirrel baffle or weight sensitive feeder (that really is its own blog).

This is an example of a good all purpose mix. A handful of cracked corn or millet isn’t bad, but you want your main ingredient to be sunflower seeds.

I feed something a little fancier than the above.
The Falcon Heights squirrels are either too lazy or too chonky from my neighbor’s feeders to get airborne. Most squirrels can jump five feet vertically and ten feet horizontally. My squirrel baffles are about 4 feet off the ground and even on nights when I leave a patio chair near the feeder pole, they never make the jump. This means I can feed all the fancy foods at my feeders with no mammal repercussions. Don’t tell anyone…but I don’t even have starlings so I can even feed seeds out of the shell too.

Golfinches chowing down on my custom mix of seeds.

The birds in my yard have made it clear: they like sunflower seeds. They especially like them out of the shell with side of sunflower seeds out of the shell. If I could throw in some dried mealworms that would be awesome. Oh and for the love of Pete, could I cool it with the safflower, that would be great. And since I try to avoid too many empty seed shells, I try to offer some seeds out of the shell—that makes mixes more expensive but since I’m not going out to restaurants that much or paying for parking, I have some extra cash for birdseed right now.

White-throated sparrow and fox sparrow going for extra fine sunflower chips in a hollow log that I turned into a bird feeder/photography background.

If I have a good number of native sparrows hanging around, I’ll toss some white millet on the ground. I cannot resist that huge variation of tantalizing browns found in native sparrows. I’ll buy extra fine sunflower chips and toss them far and wide. Squirrels can smell it, but the scattered chips are little reward for digging through the grass and they sniff frantically around, whereas dainty sparrow beaks can snatch them up easily.
The seed I like to offer my birds is not cheap, yet I don’t want all of my discretionary income going to bird feed. So I started cruising for for prices online, my intent was to find someone to deliver seed to me, but much like my plain sunflower post, I got caught in the vortex of general bird seed pricing. There was a time when I wouldn’t have been caught dead purchasing Ace Hardware brand seed or Kaytee brand bird seed. I remember at one point some of the seeds in Kaytee mixes had dyed seeds—think of a general bird seed mix with hot pink safflower. However, clearly sometime in the last fifteen years they’ve made better mixes and use nicer seed.
For my home yard, I want a mix of sunflowers in and out of the shell as well as some peanuts out of the shell and dried mealworms. I can’t find anyone who makes this mix. The closest I can find goes by several names: Songbird Mix, Songbird Delight, Fruit and Nut…however all of these have safflower which most of my birds leave behind with the discarded sunflower shells (Please don’t email me about how much your birds love safflower, there’s geographic food tastes and I find in my neck of the woods, safflower on it’s own in a separate feeder works great to deter grackles. Rose-breasted grosbeaks and tufted titmice especially like it but I have neither this time of year where I live in Minnesota).
So here are the wackadoodle prices that I’ve found.

Coming in at .99¢ per pound this bird store had what I could call a reasonable price.

For once, Amazon was the most insane in their pricing coming in at $2.87 per pound. Also…note that you can purchase the seed from other sellers either new or used…ew.

Another bird feeding store and this one was a ZOWIE at $2.33 per pound if I bought 30 pounds. Not only must this seed be this year’s crop but also every kernel was hand polished.

Look at this insanity from Chewy.com! It comes out to $2.23 per pound if you purchase a 20 pound bag.

I found this at Fleet Farm online which was $1.34. When I went into pick it up, it was on sale for $17.99 which came to .89¢ per pound.

Since Fleet Farm had Kaytee on sale, I bought three bags. I also saw they had a bag of Nut and Berry on sale for $15.99 (the one Chewy has for more than double so I added one of those too. I mixed them all in my metal can and have this:

It’s sunflower in and out of the shell, it’s got a variety of nuts, it has fruit…and annoyingly it has fruit flavoring mixed in and smells like cough syrup. It’s not like birds are attracted to the smell but boy howdy does it get the squirrels and raccoons’ attention.

So, like sunflower seed by itself (which is often a cheaper way to feed birds and will still get you a great variety) seed mix prices can vary wildly. Take a look around and if you were like me and thought for the last 10 - 15 years that you’ll never purchase seed from a hardware store, take another look. Also keep in mind that the bigger the bag you purchase, generally the price per pound should go down.
As always, a wild bird specialty store will certainly answer all of your questions and give a lot of good, personal customer service, but if you’re strapped for cash and want to attract birds to your yard for your family, you can find good/affordable bird seed at a hardware store these days.

**What's the Best Wild Bird Food to Buy?** Dec 13, 2020

Black-oil sunflower. The percentage of chaff (the stems you see in this) can affect the price of sunflower seeds. This came from a hardware store near the cabin in northern Minnesota. It was .47¢ per pound. Probably not the current year’s crop.

**The short answer:** As much black oil sunflower as you can afford. It will get you the most variety of birds.
If you want to know about bird feed mixes…that is a separate post.
Longer/nuanced answer below.

Blue jay on a mesh sunflower feeder. At the cabin, I have a winter flock of 15 blue jays that can clear out five pounds of sunflower seeds within six hours. My urban jays practice more restraint.

Way back when I started this blog in 2004, I worked for a wild bird seed company in the Twin Cities. I managed more than one location in my eight years there. And sure, the owners could argue that my inventory budget was higher than they liked, yet I consistently met and exceeding my store’s sale’s goals. I know bird feeding, I know how to attract birds and do it well.
Recently, with the pandemic and people getting into bird feeding and bird watching, I’m getting questions like, “Do I have to buy from a specialty store, it’s so expensive.”
Fifteen years ago, these were valid reasons why I’d tell you to purchase from a wild bird specialty store:
The seed is always from the most recent crop at a wild bird store and therefore the freshest where as big box stores get old seed. Nut meats shrivel over the years and if you don’t believe me, here’s a blog post where a former USDA researcher tested to see if my claims were true. If you have seed that’s two years old in your feeder and your neighbor has fresher seed, the birds will head to your neighbor’s first.
You can’t see the seed inside the bags and there’s no regulation on mix labels. A bag of seed can list sunflower as the first ingredient, that does not mean it’s the main seed in the mix. There could also be excessive amounts of chaff or meal moth webbing.
Those big companies do not understand the bird feeding market. European birds on the bag for US bird seed (you’re never getting great tits at your feeder in the US), the bags were often chock full of sorghum which is great if you have quail in the yard, but lousy if you want cardinals

Red-breasted nuthatches will take black oil sunflower, but if I have peanuts out of the shell, they will ignore the sunflower.

When I moved to a home with a yard as the pandemic kicked in, I stopped at a wild bird specialty store to get back in the game. I didn’t want to be indoors long (it was before our first lock down), I knew the seeds I wanted and I wanted out of there. When I was told what my total was, I thought, “Ouch…” Bird seed prices had increased quite a bit since the last time I purchased it. I knew the seeds I wanted to feed were on the higher end, but I don’t want to be the person spending $80 a week to feed the birds. At first, I thought there had been a rough crop year…and then someone took me on a date at a Menard’s. Yes. That’s right, a Mendard’s. Man, have I mentioned how dating in your 40s is weird?
Here’s what happened:
Him: How does this Menard's compare to others you've been too?
Me: I think the better questions is, "What do you think of Menard's now that you've been in one?"
Him: YOU'VE NEVER BEEN IN A MENARD'S???
Me: I live in an apartment, why would I go to a Men...OMFG look at that green finch poster above their bird seed, that's not a Minnesota bird. That's not even a North American bird. Oh chaffinch, hawfinch, ch, come on, European goldfinch. See that nuthatch, you're not going to get that at your feeder, because that's a European nuthatch. And that, you think that's some weird titmouse, but it's a crested tit, I almost always see them in Austria when I go. And that blue tit, never going to be at your feeder...well, I take that back, sometimes those do show up here, but that's because some bird dealer in and around Chicago keeps releasing them.
Him: I'm beginning to get a clearer picture of why you don't get many invitations to Menard's.
However, I noticed the prices and I noticed that most of the bags were clear plastic. You could see the quality of the seed. Clearly hardware stores and bird feeding companies has noticed what people want in quality bird seed and have mended their ways over the years.
I even noticed that some of the sunflower seeds looked like they were lower in chaff content. Have you ever noticed how some bags of seed are super dusty and that some bags have more plant stems? Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret. When stores or seed companies are purchasing seeds like black oil sunflower, they can get different pricing for what they will tolerate. A bag of sunflower that has more chaff in will be cheaper. If you pay a little more, the seed can go through a centrifuge process to get rid of excess chaff. If a store pays even a little bit more, a tiny bit of oil (safe for birds) is added to minimize dust and make the seed look fresh and shiny…see how things add up?
That’s not to say that you should buy any old black oilers, older seed is not going to be as attractive, but fresh seed that has a little extra oil on it it going to cost more. And that’s for our benefit, not the birds.

This comes to about $2.59 a pound. That’s nuts but this is going to be the most recent crop and probably hand shined and delivered by limo as well.

As Covid numbers are spiking again and I’m trying to do all I can to avoid being indoors, I started looking at seed delivery. When I want to get a sense for pricing from a store, I look at how much black oil sunflower prices are. It informs me of what type of price margins they’re going to charge and how much more expensive the mixes are going to be and it also gives me an idea if they’re seed is from the most recent crop or the previous year’s crop (and more prone to dust weevil and Indian meal moth infestation).
These are prices that I checked are from around December 8 - 10, 2020.
I checked Duncraft and they only sell seed in five pound bags. I spit out my coffee when I saw how much just black oil sunflower seeds were. Holy hell, how much would their mixes be??
I saw that crazy price for five pounds of sunflower and realized OK, they’re not really in the game of selling seed. They sell feeders, these are bags of seed to go along to get you started, especially if the feeder is a gift.
So I started looking elsewhere…I tried Amazon:

Well this is a hot mess. Typically, the larger quantities of seed you purchase, the cheaper the price per pound. A 10# bag comes to $1.76 per pound, a 20# bag comes to $1.50 per pound, a 25# bag is .79¢ per pound and the 50# back comes out to $1.36 per pound. I don’t have high hopes about the age of this seed.

Chewy had their’s at $1.33 per pound.

Menard’s online had it at .38¢ per pound. I’m suspecting this seed is from the previous year’s crop.

Fleet Farm got interesting. I found this bag that came out at .45¢ per pound. But then I found….

This Kaytee 20# sunflower came out at .62¢ per pound. This could be this year’s crop and one I’d risk the moth issue. Birds don’t mind moth larvae (yeah, bonus protein) but they are a mess if they get into your home.

All Seasons is offering it at .99¢ per pound for a 30 pound bag (no one in this town offers a consistent bag).

Wild Birds Unlimited is going for a 20# bag and offering it $1.24!

And then I checked wild bird specialty stores. In Minnesota we have the Wild Birds Unlimited franchises and then we have a some that are local stores like All Seasons Wild Bird Store and Cardinal Corner (they don’t even list black oil on their site for online and go straight to offering mixes). But I know with all of them, I know I’m getting this year’s crop.
What do I make of this? You can get some good sunflower and you can get some fancy sunflower. You want a big economical bag to get you through the next few months? It may not be this year’s crop, but you’ll still get cardinals.
You have no idea how to get certain species in your yard, have a squirrel problem or just getting started feeding? A wild bird specialty store will walk you through the store, answer your questions accurately with the latest information, probably remember the name of your kids and pets and ask about them the next time they see you. They will also honor warranties, repair feeders and generally give back to the community.

**April 2020 Transforming A Yard For Birding** Dec 02, 2020
Let me tell you, moving during a pandemic…don’t really recommend it. But in April I moved right in between the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul to a town called Falcon Heights. Some would call it a suburb, I call it convenient. And before any wiseacre asks are there any falcons in Falcon Heights, it is robust with merlins. So much so that in April not only did I show merlins to friends who visited the yard, one night a male and female came screaming in, locked talons and crash landed on my next door neighbor’s roof. After that they copulated loudly with abandon.

So yeah, there are falcons in Falcon Heights.
There were bird feeders in the yard but they were tucked back in a corner, surrounded by bushy native plants and not as easily viewable as I’d like unless you were standing in one particular spot in the kitchen. That was something that always baffled me when I ran a bird store. Why bother with the expense of a bird feeder and seed if you don’t have it placed somewhere that you can easily view it? The birds really don’t need your seed. You’re essentially providing fast food for the birds, they can’t survive on it alone, it can help but they have their eyes on lots of food out there.
So poles were moved, feeders were added, squirrel baffles adjusted and appropriate seed purchased. Before long the birds took note. After adjust the feeders it took about a week for the birds to be on board. It took even longer for the woodpeckers to get the idea. But I knew from experience that chickadees will check out a new feeder first. Once they start, the others followed. And so it began.

Fly thru feeder is fifteen feet away from a tree trunk or branches. Coupled with a baffle, the squirrels stay out of it. Small suet cage was attractive to small woodpeckers.

Northern flicker tries braving the suet cage. After this comedy show, I decided it was time for a bigger suet feeder.

I love an old woodpile—so much bird potential (and native bees). Some of these were turned into feeders.

The yard came with a good base layer of native plants for Minnesota: chokecherry, pin cherry, wild American plum just to name a few. When spring really began to pop there was also brown-eyed Susan, rose hips, Joe Pye weed, butterfly weed and a host of others. I even tried my hand at planting a few natives and discover that I can actually grow cardinal flower without killing it and that it’s true, hummingbirds really like it.
But I really fell in love with the woodpile. So much bird feeding potential and it makes a great backdrop for taking pictures of birds. Quite a few species lurk around woodpiles looking for insects living in them. But native sparrows love them too. And since I wasn’t traveling or meeting friends for drinks after working in the home office all day, I began timing the end of my work day to coincide with golden hour—that great evening light and set up my digiscoping equipment and an adult beverage and just enjoyed my backyard birds. I even purchased a bag of extra fine sunflower chips and would scatter them far and wide for the native sparrows to pick out in the woodpile.

When I ran a bird store, I sold logs with holes for suet anywhere from $15.99 to $69.99. Not kidding, I sold a $70 holey log. This was a branch from the wood pile with holes drilled by an obliging young man…for free.

White-throated sparrow foraging around the woodpile.

This hollow log gets everything from catbirds to cardinals to shrews to rabbits.

I love a chonky fox sparrow. They are my favorite MInnesota sparrow.

Dark-eyed juncos love some fine chips.

It was gratifying to know that I still “have it” when it comes to bird feeding. There was a planter tray that had been used as a birdbath. I took some pieces of limestone from the crumbling limestone patio and added to that to bird bath, the birds were in like a shot. I don’t know why, but birds seem to find baths faster with rocks. They love shallow water and I’m not sure if wet rocks are easier for them to see, but it makes a difference.
It’s not all drinking and birds. I do wander the neighborhoods quite a bit. I can’t stay idle and generally try to hit my 10,000 steps a day. If I ever get to lead bird walks again, I want to be ready. One day taking one of my many pandemic walks in the neighborhood a van swerved next to me and the driver asked, “Do you want to see a baby owl?”
I didn’t have binoculars on and the woman didn’t look like anyone I’d met in the neighborhood yet. “How did you know I was a birder,” I asked.
She looked confused and said, “I didn’t. I just assumed everyone wants to see a baby owl.”
Well, she’s not wrong in my case.
Turns out her friend lived in the neighborhood and had been posting the owls on her Facebook page. She was so excited that she wanted to share it with the world.

A brancher great horned owl.

I saw the owls and marveled at how I’d missed the poop on the street. I cut myself some slack since I was relatively new to the hood. I went home to get my scope and came back for photos. I enjoyed watching the rest of their development over the months. This has turned out to be an owly neighborhood. They are hooting like crazy this November which I can only assume is early flirting and they are setting up territory nearby again.
There are worse places to land during a pandemic when a travel writer can’t fly. And it’s been a pleasure getting to know my yard birds again. I have always loved me some brown birds and the sparrow action in April did not disappoint. I did eventually get some colorful birds…but that’s a May story.

Lincoln’s sparrow pass through in April and October.

Song sparrow.

Naked Thanksgiving Nov 24, 2020

I am probably one of the most prepared people for Thanksgiving during Covid.

I moved to Minnesota in the mid 90s with a very quiet man named Bill (or Non Birding Bill as many long time readers remember). Our first few holidays were torture for me. I was used to Thanksgiving and Christmas being large, noisy affairs with family members working hard to stake a claim over hosting and loud squabbles over political candidates or personal grievances. Holidays were loud, generally involved laughter, and occasional fights over politics and food.

We weathered our first Thanksgiving after being taken in by a local actor and his roommate who served us copious amounts of scotch. By the time Christmas arrived it was just the two of us and too quiet. I was crying, the company of a taciturn man was not what the holidays were supposed to be for me. We were too poor and at the time both worked retail so traveling out of state to see our respective families was not an option.

Bill decided that we should look into creating our own traditions. We dubbed it, “Naked Thanksgiving.” Being in our twenties, being naked and under a blanket made sense. But as the years went by, nudity became optional—especially while basting and we mostly wore pajamas all day.

We would wake up to no alarm or if we felt really salty, we’d set the alarm for the sheer pleasure of turning off and going back to sleep. When we finally woke up, we ate pumpkin cream pie for breakfast and savored a glass of scotch. By the time pie comes around at a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, you are too stuffed to truly enjoy it. Pie for breakfast isn’t too different from eating a pastry for breakfast and pumpkin is a fruit, right?

From there I would get to work on making our meal for later in the day. In my family Thanksgiving involves many carbs around a turkey: stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, homemade cranberry relish, gravy, and a relish tray full of olives, pickles, carrots, and celery. Since it was the two of us, I only made our personal favorites. Turkey, stuffing, sliced cranberry jelly from a can, and gravy. And for the relish tray, I opted for a gin martini with extra olives. It goes perfectly with a turkey dinner.

We would rent or download our favorite movies for the day that varied from watching odd things remembered from childhood like The Goodies or marathons of Bond Movies. We’d usually engage in other adult activities while the meal was cooking because…no one wants to that after eating a massive turkey dinner. It was the perfect day and is to this day my favorite holidays. I spent the day relaxed and full of gratitude while I watched friends and family fret and stress over their holiday visits.

Over the years friends and coworkers would lament about a stressful trip to visit family and complained about having to dress up or deal with uncomfortable conversations. I would reply, “I’m having Naked Thanksgiving where we eat pie for breakfast, watch tv all day and only eat the food we want, clothing optional. We might be really hedonistic and eat the cranberry sauce directly from the can.”

“I’m coming over,” they’d say.

My standard answer was, “Your first time, you have to be naked.”

No one ever came over.

That relationship ended, but Naked Thanksgiving still sticks with me. I work for the National Park Service and one of our mottos is that we honor our history and traditions, but we are not bound by them. Holiday traditions are amazing family chains, but reinventing a holiday, even if it’s only temporary, still has value.

If you are feeling pressure from family to have a large gathering and your gut is telling you to stay home, consider a Naked Thanksgiving. In fact, tell relatives who are pressuring you to “not live in fear” that you agree and you’re only going to participate in the gathering if nudity on board. I guarantee that they will request you to stay home.

And then have your own personal Naked Thanksgiving. You don’t have to do it my way, maybe at your Naked Thanksgiving you’ll wear a tutu, or that extravagant feather robe you impulse purchased from a Facebook ad. Or maybe you’ll wear that ridiculous dress you bought and haven’t used all year because Covid. You don’t even have to have turkey, you could eat a mushroom lasagna if that is your favorite thing to eat. You could get take out pho. You can watch an Amen marathon or find a way to watch the only acceptable Anne of Green Gables with Megan Follows. You can also choose to drink bourbon and watch a bird feeder out the kitchen window, or drink tea and play mindless solitaire all day. You can spend it alone or with a friend from your pandemic pod. You can tell your kids to watch all the Disney while you spend four hours in a hot soaking tub. The point is, create your own scaled down Thanksgiving, be entrepreneurial. It’s what the American Spirit is all about.

Be grateful and if you need to, FaceTime over coffee or a beer with your family.

It’s been a rough 2020 and creating your new Holiday can and will be rewarding. It can also be a one time lark that will make for an insane and hilarious story when we finally get vaccinated and share a meal in person again.

We will be the insane grandparents/aunts and uncles reminiscing about our archaic past to future generations, “Remember that year during the pandemic when we all went a little mad over the holidays and ate Instant Pot turkey and cranberry jelly from a can while using ‘the social medias’ to communicate to family in our boxer shorts? Your generation doesn’t know hardship like mine does.”

**I Guess I Am A Diamond Painting Artist Now?** Nov 02, 2020
Seriously. It’s official. I’m an artist. I’m part of an exhibit with MIA (aka Minneapolis Institute of Arts). I entered a Diamond Painting of one of my turkey vulture photos into their Foot In The Door Exhibit and made it in. The Foot in the Door Exhibit is basically a once every ten years event where anyone can enter art in it and MIA will put it on their walls. Normally it would be on their actual museum walls, but because of a the pandemic…it’s online.

I took a few screenshots of the exhibition with my pieces and pieces made by friends.

Yet, It’s one of the few goals I actually got to keep this year and it was good for me to have something long term to work on. It makes it extra special to be in mixed media along with my friend Gayle Deutsch and artist Rob McBroom—the surrealist who always enters the Duck Stamp contest and never wins because…judges are too attached to art ducko: art that looks the same, almost like a photo (I’m not saying it isn’t a difficult or challenging technique, I’m just saying that it’s too wrapped up in only one style of art).
What is Diamond Painting? Well, if you follow me on the various social medias, you would have seen a few time lapses I made. It’s kind of a mix of cross stitch and paint by number with a little bit of a cryptogram thrown in. You get a canvas covered in sticky material. There are tiny little boxes with symbols in them. You have to match the corresponding color to its symbol by using a pen to set down little plastic diamonds. After many hours and tens of thousands of diamonds, you have your image. This image is a favorite of a turkey vulture photo that I took at Everglades National Park in Florida in 2016. It makes me chuckle that this pieces incorporates birds, digiscoping and a weird pop art. I am a little sad that people can’t see it in person, there’s so much texture to it and it’s shiny and sparkly as you move around it. However, I’ll take any win I can get this year and this is definitely a win for me.
Here’s a brief compilation of the time lapses I made this summer while working on the piece:

What the hell did I order? The title was “Jeff Goldblum Sunset.”

How does one get in to Diamond Painting…completely by folly and drunk ordering. When I got the package I had no idea what it was and I was so confused on what it could be. I put it on Facebook, “What the hell did I drunk order?”
My friend Gayle was quick to come out of the woodwork, “Um I linked to this two months ago. Did you click and buy it?
Clearly the answer was yes.
I tucked it away and thought maybe I’d find someone who wanted it since I had knitting and a supply of paint by numbers to work on. And then my mom got ill. Full disclosure: she is well today and just as sassy as ever. But at the time she was not and many things were very uncertain. And it’s very hard when your parents make decisions about their health that you do not agree with. My mom lives in Indiana and I live in Minnesota. I went down for visits, but most of my time was back up north. There was absolutely nothing I could do about the situation.

This is the chart that guides you on who to put down your various colored beads also called “drills.” The beads have a number on their bag. So the light green would be 3047 and it should be placed where you see an “X” on the sticky canvas.

In a fit of cleaning and organizing I came across the mysterious Amazon package and took out the contents. None of it made sense to me so I did what any practical thinking adult would do—watch YouTube how to videos. I thought it looked insane and would take forever. Who has the time to do this? To get a fully informed opinion, I decided to try it. This was slow and painstaking, but oh…it sent me into a mediative state.
When Non Birding Bill came home that night and saw what I was doing, he said, “I’m not sure this is a good sign. This looks really insane.”
I agreed, yet persisted. Over several weeks.

An up close look at the stick canvas with the codes for the colors.

Any free time I had, I worked on this over the next six weeks. I had ten minutes over coffee in the morning before going to work? I did it. NBB watching some weird move, I placed plastic beads on sticky canvas. Phone calls with relatives to catch up on Mom’s health? I put on more beads.
It soon became a challenge to keep the beads/drills corralled, spillage is inevitable. The bags weren’t really resealable. The beads are tiny and managed to find their way everywhere. One night, I took my bra off before bed and my chest was covered in them. I started using an old ice cube tray to keep colors separated. But even that had risks, like the day the tray accidentally flipped from the table on to the carpeting. I spent two hours painstakingly using a flashlight and tweezers to get as many as I could out of the carpet. When that spot was eventually vacuumed you could hear hundreds more get sucked up.

Fail.

Fortunately, these companies give you far more beads than you will ever need. And with many you can reorder them if you have an absolute disaster. I have also seen things online where there are much better bead organizers and even specialized vacuums to help you with just such a tragedy. I haven’t ordered the special vacuum but I have ordered the bead organizer. It comes with its own suitcase…that matches my luggage.
I’m fine, really.

Jeff Goldblum gradually comes to life.

It took six weeks and 19,040 little plastic diamonds to put together Jeff Goldblum Sunset—that doesn’t include the many beads that were lost on my person, the carpet or eaten by my pet rabbit Dougal. But I stuck with it and the sense of accomplishment was well worth it. If I’ve learned anything with this craft it’s that yes, control is an illusion and I certainly can’t control many aspects of my life, but damn it, I can control over 19,000 beads to create an image. I can make them go where they are supposed to and even rearrange a few if the colors don’t look quite right.

The completed Diamond Painting of Jeff Goldblum Sunset

I had no idea the amount of legend this first diamond painting had. When I moved this spring, I framed it and it was the first thing to go up in my home office along with a spotted owl painting that my mother did. Sometimes Jeff even shows up in the background of my live streams. When friends come over for a patio hangout they ask, “Can I see “Jeff?” It truly is a weird and wonderful thing and the texture and shininess always surprises people.
When MIA advertised their Foot in the Door exhibition I knew I wanted to do another one…because a pandemic will certainly fuck with your sense of control. But this time I wanted to do a custom piece of one of my own photos…enter in my favorite vulture photo. I love vultures, I also love the color of this piece and working these colors really help with my meditation. I sent my photo and desired dimensions to a company called Heartful Diamonds and their customer service was great. It takes a few weeks to get the actual kit but they do follow up in case your image doesn’t work in the dimensions you chose and they readily send out extra beads. If you want to attempt this, I’d highly recommend one of their pre made kits or attempting a custom one of your own.
Now…if you’re looking for weird, then check out the diamond painting kits on Etsy…be prepared, not all of them are safe for work and highly erotic.
And as I look down the barrel of a “Covid Winter” in Minnesota where patio hang outs aren’t going to be as readily of an option and the sun will be out for 7 hours a day, I have more on the way.

**Skunks and Skulls March 2020** Oct 31, 2020
“I’d really love some quality time with a skunk,” I said to a person I’d been dating casually. (And they didn’t flee in horror.)
“Let’s go to my cabin,” he said.
I’m not sure if it was because Julie Zickefoose had shared a skunk on social media about the same time or if it simply dawned on me I hadn’t really watched a skunk the same way I watch other mammals, but I was really in the mood to see and maybe photograph a skunk.
I had just cancelled a flight to see friends who are more like family in Chicago, which was an uncharacteristically rash decision for me. I was worried I was being alarmist, but after reading tweets from an Italian doctor detailing how overwhelmed the hospitals were in Italy and that they were making decisions on who seemed the most likely to survive as opposed to treating everyone, it seemed irresponsible to travel on a plane. It looked like lockdown was a possibility for Minnesota as other cities were suddenly getting Covid cases in the United States.
“Let’s go to my cabin,” he said. “It’s remote, we can avoid people. There should be good birds at the feeders.”
This is what we found when we arrived at the cabin:

Arriving at the cabin, the deer didn’t even leave as we unloaded luggage.

Hey, y’all got any more of that millet?

When you see this it is time to move your bird feeders. A recipe for CWD.

Yep. Those are some amazing “birds” at the feeder. But the cabin isn’t far from Sax Zim Bog and the surrounding county has lots of bog habitat to explore, something I’ve never really had time to visit because I was always traveling. The surrounding fields were chock full of rough-legged hawks and purple finches were well in abundance. I did take a road trip up to the far northern reaches to look for my nemesis bird: the spruce grouse. I was assured by more than one bird guide that this was the spot they took clients to for practically guaranteed grouse.
Alas, my nemesis curse still stands as a northern goshawk was perched at the grouse spot. Don’t get me wrong, I love goshawks, but I’ve seen them, banded them, had one perched on my arm, had a female try to kneecap me…I just want to look at a spruce grouse. Just once.
That was not to be. So I threw out to the universe that I’d like to see a skunk, in daylight and maybe get some photos or videos of one. When we arrived at the cabin, a deer that had been hit by a car was in a ditch on the property. Some canids had already gorged on the carcass. I’m not sure if it had been coyotes or wolves, both are in the area in abundance. As we headed out for some birding one morning, I looked to my left at the carcass and saw a small, black ball on it. “Skunk,” I said, a little surprised that I had sort of willed one out of this air. It trundled away to some melted snow and lapped up water and then headed back to the feast to be found among deer skin and bones.

The skunk has a bit of a rosy glow to the patches on the fur, no doubt from working on the deer carcass.

When I think of a picture that I’ve taken to represent 2020, this one immediately pops up in my mind.

I stayed with the skunk for a long time as the snow gently fell around us. Snow mobiles cruised in the distance, but it was just us. I made sure to give the skunk all the space it needed so it could chow down in peace. And I thought about what was happening. I was supposed to toasting friends in fancy restaurants and instead I was on the side of a county road watching a skunk devour roadkill. And I was enjoying the moment.
I wondered how a lockdown would impair my life going forward. I was actively looking for a new place to live and all the things I’d loved about apartments in the Twin Cities: gyms, saunas, pools, community outdoor space was all being closed off. I was still dealing with divorce forms. Birding events that booked me for my storytelling and workshops were cancelling and that’s a chunk of my income…which I’m now a sole income earner. I was reassessing what I really wanted for my future. When would I be able to travel again? And dating? How the hell do you do that in a pandemic? How do you tell someone nicely, “You’re really a lot of fun, but I can’t see you anymore. It’s not you, it’s the pandemic.”
As I watched the skunk deal with the unanticipated feast of roadkill, I thought about how a pandemic could be a way to do have a sort of “do over.” In some ways, a divorce is a do over, but if a pandemic is going to make life stop, what could I do with that? I love all the travel that I do, but there’s so much in Minnesota that I don’t get to see. Maybe stopping and taking the time to enjoy the skunk and roadkill was what I needed to reassess?
One person I had dated always made plans last minute. 99% of the texts asking, “Want to grab a drink tonight” were answered with, “I’d love to, but I have plans.” They said that I needed to work on my spontaneity. I countered with, “I make plans so I can be spontaneous.” Maybe not knowing what’s going to happen more than two weeks out was a change I need?
Anyway, if you love of a skunk chewing on roadkill being a metaphor for 2020, here’s a video to meditate on.

**Frontera Audubon Turkey Vulture Roost** Oct 12, 2020

Inca dove chilling at Frontera.

While I was visiting the Rio Grande Valley with a friend with an eye on potential retirement spots I made sure to hit my favorite places. And one of those is Frontera Audubon. This is a tiny little park and every time I go, I get a gem. You can, of course get the Valley specialties, but every time I go there, I get a good bird, whether it’s a bird I don’t see all the time like a pyrrholuxia or gray hawk or even a Mexican species flitting across the border like a golden-crowned warbler.
I love all the nooks and crannies of the park and especially the sabal palm forest. The thicket is so dense it gives me a sense of peace. However, what I truly love about this place is the winter turkey vulture roost. You can smell it before you hit it. The smell doesn’t bother me, I put it in the category of “good bird smell” but when you’ve been vomited on by thousands of pelicans and herons in your career…your definition of “good” changes.

You know that you are some place special when you see this much vulture poop.

Vultures cruising in to their roost.

I do find it hilarious that when I do a google search for either Frontera or for vulture roosts, I’ll get directed to Trip Advisor reviews and people who…maybe don’t get birding. Here’s a sample:

Bad reviews of Frontera Audubon make me cackle.

Come on, people, it’s an amazing place to get vulture photos. And there’s plenty there to see, even outside of the feeders. Sure…you may have to have some patience, but that’s true of all birding spots. There are dozens of hot birding spots in the Valley and some I visit more than others, but Frontera is on the shortlist and I make it a priority every time I go. It’s tiny and chock full of birds.

Plain Chachalaca at Frontera.

White-tipped dove.

But I’m really here for the vultures. All the vultures. All the time.

I told my friend that this many vultures soaring above his head means that it’s time for retirement.

**February 2020** Sep 26, 2020

This Altimira oriole’s face kind of sums up my thoughts on the year.

Divorce just blows. There’s no other way around it. It’s not fun and it’s certainly nothing like the booze filled Divorce Train to a ranch in Reno that was featured in the 1939 classic movie The Women. But if there is any upside to suddenly being on your own after twenty years of shared decisions…it’s that ALL THE THINGS are back on the table: jobs in remote areas, eating microwave popcorn for dinner three nights in a row, traveling without checking someone else’s calendar…and where to retire.

The sidewalk entrance into Estero Llano Grande State Park always gives me a sense of peace.

I’ve always harbored a fantasy of spending my retirement (if that ends up being a possibility for me) in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. It’s my favorite birding area in the United States. I’ve often said that the day I’m tired of seeing a green jay is the day that it’s time for me to hang up my binoculars. But the idea of a tiny home, with a water feature, native plantings and access to all the Tex Mex food I want and maybe volunteering at Estero Llano Grande just seems like a wonderful way to round out the last part of my life.
When I tried warming up my ex-husband to the idea he wasn’t having it. I remember I took him down there for work and as we were driving around Harlingen he said, “Man, what a depressing area.”
“What are you talking about, this place is beautiful,” I protested.
“I see why you like the birds and the parks, but this place isn’t beautiful,” he said.
We saw things with very different lenses. But now retiring in Texas is back on the table and I decided fly down to the Valley in February…it was my last trip on a plane for a looooooong time. But I’m glad that my last plane trip was to a favorite place and not someplace like Mexico, Missouri.

An Audubon’s Oriole at the National Butterfly Center.

This trip, I made a point to stop at the National Butterfly Center, ground zero of the border wall fight. The federal government contractors started clearing the land before the wall project had been announced, much less before any eminent domain procedures had been followed. I started to drive to the property and a sheriff’s car was parked at the entry and told me we that we couldn’t get in. I thought it was odd but check in at the visitor center. “Of course you can get in. Unless they’re doing an active pursuit of people trying to cross, the area is open.”
There’s plenty to see and do around the grounds. It’s meant for butterflies but birds abound there and it’s a great spot for all the Valley specialties and sometimes there are bonuses like the Audubon’s oriole that was hanging out while I was there. The staff and volunteers also showed visitors an eastern screech-owl roosting in a picnic shelter. Here’s a video:

Some graffiti along the fence for the National Butterfly Center.

After walking the grounds for an Audubon’s oriole, I went back and the sheriff was gone. I headed down for more birding and a chance to stick our feet in the Rio Grande itself.
So many struggles in such a beautiful and serene environment: the struggle for families in dire circumstances doing whatever they can to forge a better life for their kids, no matter how high the cost. The struggle for someone to prove they can do something no matter the cost, they just want a showy legacy that won’t even do what is promised. The struggle of private landowners to have what they own being taken away by a government. All of this as there are struggles with all the plants and wildlife struggling around human made chaos. It’s a heartbreaking beauty in some ways and I wonder how many more years I’ll have to witness this beauty before it’s blocked off by a useless, ugly wall.

Meep meep. Zip. BANG!

I still have no idea what my future will hold at this point. My life has taken such a strange turn even outside the divorce. But I do hope it includes the valley again.

**January 2020...Birding Unfettered** Aug 31, 2020

I this meme posted on social media and it took me a full two minutes to realize that people were making a joke that one shouldn’t 30-40 olives directly from a jar for dinner. I’ve done this more than once and have no regrets. It’s kind of the same way I feel about popcorn for dinner. Don’t get me wrong, I love to cook, but I hate doing dishes.

Possible dating profile picture…one should know what they’re getting into with me, deer rib cages and sub-zero temperatures and all.

I make jokes on social media using #DatingInYourForties is weird. Although, I’m sure I’ve probably inspired a few #DatingABirderIsWeird after someone found a frozen blue jay in my freezer when they went to get some ice. It is very hard for my brain to process that birding can now be a potential romantic activity. I have been a great compartmentalizer my whole. You are my birding friends. You are my sci fi friends. You are my friends through Bill. You are my travel birding friends. You are my comedy writing friends. And so on and so forth. After being with a non birder for a couple of decades, birding just never fell into the romantic category of activities. “Life pie” can have a whole new meaning.
Of course, birding in winter in Minnesota is a strange test because your clothes for single digit temperatures aren’t exactly what I would call “sexy time clothes.” But good birds can make even the most awkward date a good time.
I know I’m not the first person to find themselves unexpectedly in a completely new life circumstance where none of the old routines apply and you can make up completely new ones. I decided for one thing to say yes to all the invitations. It’s great to only check with myself before I do something. It’s a liberating feeling to just say yes to a birding trip without checking to see if something non birding had been planned or that I’ve not been spending enough time at home.
Want to go birding tomorrow morning? I’m not working, yes.
What to go to Texas next month? I have lots of frequent flyer miles, yes.
Want to go to a cabin this weekend and do some birding? Oh, hell yes.

View from a cabin.

In Minnesota, many people have cabins for the weekend. You have to get used to a different schedule when you have a friend with a cabin. They generally are unavailable for city plans on the weekend from spring until autumn and forget holidays. Sometimes you can get invitations to cabins, either staying in them or pitching a tent outside. Cabins run the gamut from very basic with no shower but all the fishing tackle you could ever want and can be grand lodgings with air conditioning and hot tubs. Some are closed down for the winter, but a few have good heating and insulation and can be fun winter getaway.
When I moved to Minnesota I got a real education on cabin culture when I ran a wild bird feeding store. The company even came up with a seed mix just for cabin people called, “Cabin Mix” that people could grab on their way out of town and into northern Minnesota. We also carried rustic looking houses and feeders to match cabin decor, but honestly, the people really need something strong enough to withstand being knocked down by bears.
Friends with cabins have been gracious hosts when I learned that they have a cabin near a public blind with a lek. I’d rather roll out of bed and drive twenty minutes in the dark to get to a sharp-tailed grouse blind than leave the Twin Cities at 2am.

Fresh pileated woodpecker work outside a cabin.

I had an invitation to visit a cabin with some friends in January for snowshoeing on frozen lakes, birding and maybe some fat tire biking. These are fun weekends that generally involve cooking together as well. There was some very visible pileated woodpecker activity around the cabin and the next morning a pair took turns wailing into a tree.

The bird was so close…so photographable…except for the storm windows.

The cabin was fun for me—warm winter foods and nonstop pileated woodpeckers. Even if we never made it outside, I could watch my spark bird all day long. Although, I did feel super taunted by the bird. It was a great digiscoping opportunity, however storm windows keep your place snug and warm, but they can blur the heck out of photos.
However, the next day the cabin owner had removed the storm window and even carefully opened it when the birds returned so I could take all the photos. That is one trusting cabin owner to let out precious heat for a bird photography opportunity.

A clearer view of the pileated. There’s still a bit of heat shimmer from the heat escaping the cabin through an open window, but I still dig this picture.

The next day we headed to Sax Zim Bog for some birding. It was such a great time, not only for the birds but because I ran into so many friends who were birding up there for the day. Some were guides and when I’d pul over to watch birds, I’d find text messages that said, “Hey, did I just pass you over by the goshawk?” Yes, yes they had.

Hoar frost in the bog.

If you’ve never birded the bog and you have lots of lifers to get, especially owls then hiring a guide is a must. But if you have mostly seen the birds or only need one or two lifers, you can get by on your own with a stop at the visitor center and eBird. I knew of a reliable northern hawk owl and that was our first stop. The crowd of birders on the side of the road alerted us that the bird was indeed there.

A lovely way to start the day with a northern hawk owl who gives very little care to the birders below.

A female black-backed woodpecker (was a lifer for one of us) found on the way to the Sax Zim Bog visitor Center.

We were getting all the bog birds fairly easily, except for boreal chickadee, but that’s ok. Canada jays, rough-legs and barred owls are a nice consolation prize. We continued to run into people throughout the day, including one of my fellow park rangers who had just retired last fall. We ran into him at Wilbert’s Cafe and ended up having lunch together.
From there we headed out to a spot to look for three-toed woodpeckers. And I ran into John Jonas, one of my favorite wildlife photographers. He saw me driving my Prius around the bog, pulled over and asked, “You brought a Prius to the bog???” I smiled and said, “That’s how badass I am.”
We had quite a bit of hairy woodpecker activity and Jonas found the three-toed, but it was camera shy for me. I paused to get a slefie of all of us in the bog and it was at that moment a three-toed flew over all of us.

Beardy men at the bog.

What we lacked in three-toeds was made up for with a cool mammal experience. We did find a snowshoe hare hiding near the trail. I’ve seen them here and there, usually hopping away. But this was one of the closest encounters I’ve had with one and what a treat to see its winter camouflage in action!
We tried to finish the day with a great gray owl, but no one was having any luck. At sunset we drove the usual hangouts and it seemed that every ten minutes we’d pass one of the Sax Zim guides in their vehicle with clients trying to find a bird. We’d already seen many great grays and headed back to the cabin at dusk for some celebratory beer and whiskey. I have never seen so many ruffed grouse in the trees and bushes. It was clearly a bumper crop year and it explained why goshawks were easy to find in the bog this winter.

Craptastic owl photo!

We did manage one more species of owl that day. We drove past a snowy owl as we headed back towards Aitkin County. Not a lifer, but a cool bird.

Sunrise at the cabin.

On one page, a cabin just seem like a second home that you have to take care of: extra cleaning, yard work and other maintenance. On the other page, cabin life is seductive when you watch the sunrise over coffee while bacon sizzles on the stove a fox darts through the yard. You feel like you could give up work and just live hand to mouth up there forever.
But work calls. And friends in the city call insisting on lunch plans.

**January 2020 My First Birding Event of the Year** Aug 29, 2020
That awkward feeling when you write about your relationship a lot on the Internet and incorporate them into storytelling shows and then that relationship ends and you really don’t want to talk about why, but feel you kind owe people an explanation and well, you get booked for storytelling shows…and one of the first for the year is where that relationship started.
I knew this year was going to be weird. I knew writing was going to be hard. I never anticipated having an ex husband and having to navigate that phrase. But here I am.
The one thing that I know how to do really well is to move forward. Just keep moving forward.
I generally get booked for speaking engagements a year to two in advance. When an opportunity to speak and lead trips at the Virginia Beach Winter Wildlife Festival came along in late 2018, I was all for it. They contacted me over a year out and at the time I thought I’d get Non Birding Bill to come with me because we used to go there with his family for summer vacations when we first together. And because Virginia Beach was where he proposed. We had lots of great memories there. I got many a life bird at Sandbridge Beach and Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
And then life happened. And I found myself heading to a very public event loaded with emotional land mines alone. But, you have to move forward.
I’ve traveled enough that I know my limits on a good weekend and how to pace my flights. I purposely booked myself in early to give myself some time alone in the spaces that would be hard. Places that I wouldn’t want to show people shorebirds and gulls while reliving parts of a marriage this is no longer viable. I mean, c’mon, shorebirds are hard enough to identify as it is with out hardcore break up emotions exploding all around you. No one wants to get a lifer while their field trip leader is a bawling mess.
I went to the mostly deserted beach as cold winter winds accompanied the waves rushing to shore. It was the perfect weather for me in that the moment. I didn’t come to the beach to take in warm rays, I came to scour out emotions. I relived all the wonderful memories. I dusted them off, shined them up and put them on their proper place on the shelves in my mind. I examined the painful recent ones and tucked them away in a box and placed them in a drawer where they don’t need to be seen every day. I cried and was grateful that winter made people avoid the beach and if people saw me, they’d assume my eyes were watering with the cold wind. No one walks the beach to look at other people, the walk to look at the ocean and the crashing waves, perhaps even a gorgeous sunset.

I found someone’s secret in a mason jar on the beach.

As I walked, I came across a mason jar in the sand with a note that had washed ashore. I opened it and read it. It was someone’s secret. I’m a huge fan of PostSecret and read it religiously every Sunday morning over coffee when I wake up, no matter where I am. The secret in the jar was hard and painful and the writer was letting it go on the beach. I took in their secret, I understood it. If PostSecret teaches you anything, it’s that secrets are universal and letting them go or sharing them with the right person is liberating. And in a long exhale I let go of what I was holding on to and hoped that I was helping them let go at the same time. I put the secret back in the mason jar and left it exactly as a found it. Maybe someone else would be walking the beach that night and need to read it?
I continued down the dark beach, met the organizers for dinner and had a lovely time meeting new people and learning about their jobs and what brought them to birding.
My hotel was right on the beach and I was lucky enough to get a room facing the beach. I took a time lapse of the sunrise as I got ready for my day.

A nice big, fat sassy greater black-backed gull in front and a snoozing lesser black-backed gull in the back, surrounded by ring-billed and laughing gulls.

A willet working the shore. I got my first ever willet here over twenty years ago.

I looked out onto the beach and could see gulls and shorebirds. I took some time to enjoy them in the morning sun. I enjoy spending time with birds that I don’t normally see where I live. It’s nice to get a chance to soak up the differences in various gulls when it isn’t -20 degrees Fahrenheit and I take the time to nice not only color differences, but shape and flight patter.

Tundra swans at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Apart from my fond memories from over 20 years ago at Virginia Beach, one thing I was particularly excited to revisit was Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. When I would go on those early vacations we would drive down the road or even bike there. I got so many new birds Back Bay as a young birder: blue grosbeak, sanderling and king rail just to name a few. No jokes about sanderlings, I was a land lubber from Indiana at the time. I also remember the insane amount of cottonmouths. Usually, when you go to a refuge and there’s a sign warning of a potential danger (or a particular bird) it means that someone in the last 10 years. The cottonmouth signs were no joke. They were everywhere in the evening. I remember my ex husband was no fan of them and that if he saw one he would immediately make us leave. There was more than one cottonmouth that I falsely identified as “just a water snake, but don’t touch it.”
When we visited in July all those years ago in a time share, I read the signs at Back Bay that explained that tundra swans spent the winter there. When I moved to Minnesota and saw them by the thousands stopping in Minnesota to carbo load before reaching Back Bay, I always wanted to go back in winter to see them. This trip would be my chance and they did not disappoint. It was nice to finally realize that dream of so long ago.

White ibises were found among the swans.

I never get tired of large flocks of snow geese.

The rest of the festival was wonderful. We birding along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel—both on it and along side in a boat. I remember years ago after 9-11 having to get a permit to bird along there so I could get an American oystercatcher. My father-in-law went along as something to do, but also I think he was baffled by a new daughter-in-law who said that if they went to a particular island, they would see a very particular bird. Birds fly, why would one be so reliable. We got to the oystercatcher spot, pulled into a parking lot and as soon as we stepped out I said, “There it is.” He was shocked that the bird was so “easy.” Ahhhh, if only they all were so easy.

Long-tailed ducks and a couple of red-breasted mergansers.

The winter offered many delights and I loved looking out at a huge flock of gorgeous long-tailed ducks. Their elegant plumage reminded me of the move The Last Unicorn when King Haggard described watching them on the crests of the waves outside his castle, which stayed on an extended loop in my head the rest of my time at the festival when I saw the long-tailed ducks.
On top of those elegant beauties were scoters, loons and gannets. It was a tremendous day with lots of birders to share it with.

Surf scoters.

Brown pelican and black-backed gulls from the boat.

Chumming.

One of MANY rainbows I’ve seen this year. Nice to get one in January right over the ocean.

The boat ride made an attempt at chumming and though we didn’t get rarities, I never get tired of seabirds chasing a boat going for raw fish scraps, I especially love watching the giant brown pelicans thrown into the mix. Who knew how much I would rely on these images for backgrounds in Zooms and Teams meetings?

I did give my keynote, something that I generally love to do, these are tried and tested stories. I’ve tested many out on the road and these are the ones that always bring the audience along and even play well with non birders. But I was nervous because phrasing had to be changed with some of them. Would I trip up?

It was a wonderful way to get my toes back in the water.

Bobby Dyer the Mayor of Virginia Beach was my opening act.

I love that the Virginia Beach Mayor gave the opening remarks and a proclamation, it’s important to see local political officials taking birding seriously as an economic force. I apparently did fine, the audience was full and wonderful and afterwards the theater tech running the show said, “Hey, we had a guy here a couple of weeks ago from America’s Got Talent and you got way more laughs than him! I had no idea birds could be funny.”
I think I had a primed audience, but it’s good to know my stories still work, even if I had to make some relationship adjustments.

Bob, the Bobwhite.

Speaking of relationships, I flirted heavily with an education bobwhite quail while at Virginia Beach. I try really hard not to be the “ahem, I’m the keynote, can I have this special favor” at birding events, everyone is busy keeping an event running smoothly. However, when the caretaker for an education bird ask, “Hey, you want to feed my boy some wax worms,” and it turns out to be a bobwhite…I’m gonna play that card. How can I resist a cute chonky boi who makes all sorts of squeaky sounds? I’d like to think he was flirting back at me, but his interest went only so far as the few wax worms I had to give him. Listen to those little squeaks, how could anyone deny him anything:

Why can’t someone as cute as that ever show up on Tinder?
A good start to a strange year. That just keeps getting stranger. But we move forward.

**Birding around Budapest** Mar 02, 2020
I love a trip that give me a good sentence.
I was editing some photos and enjoying a drink in the outdoor cafe of my hotel in Budapest when a fox wandered in, looked at us and then went about its night.
And that is one of my favorite memories of a trip to Hungary a few years ago, I love the random and unexpected. I loved that fox on that trip. Well, that fox and the very distance ural owl we saw at Bukk. Some of the best stuff was right around our hotel in Budapest in late May. I’d never planned on going to Hungary in my life, but when life hands you an opportunity, you take it. It was a wonderful trip.

Since spring was heading into summer, blooming poppies were still abundant.

I spent a few days in this cozy hotel near the airport called Sarokhaz Panzio.

Red and white are popular themes in Hungary. This is the sort of thing I love to see and live in on the road and when I try to bring it into my home it makes my place look like an interior designer’s nightmare.

The great thing about birding is that it can be done pretty much where ever you are. I share this hotel with my buddy Clay Taylor from Swarovski and Jessie Barry from Cornell. This was one of my first opportunities to bird with her and she was hell bent on recording sounds of birds to at to the Macaulay Library. She has the enviable ability to hear a bird song once and have it down. I need to hear a song several times and in habitat context to get it down. Case in point, one of the few birds I know well by song in Europe is the crested lark. I was relieved to be able to id that one on my own.
The three of us basically walked the neighborhood around our hotel and to a nearby abandoned (or so I thought field loaded with poppies and larks. As Jessie grabbed recordings and I tried to give her space so as to not mess it up, a man started yelling at us in Hungarian. None of us spoke the language well and he didn’t speak English.
“Parlez-vous français,” I asked.
He shook his head now and asked, “Deutsch?”
Not really, well enough to get me slapped and find a bathroom. But between his German and my French we figured out the issue. We were near a construction site and trucks would be hauling. They didn’t want people wandering around. We showed him pictures from my camera to show we seriously were “vögel beobachten” and he told us we had a little more time before we really had to leave.

European goldfinch that sang over us at the cafe in our hotel.

There were many green finches in our neighborhood.

Clay going for images of crested lark singing on one the trucks we were warned about.

The crested lark Clay was watching. I took the video with my iPhone 7, PhoneSkope case and Swarovski ATX 65 mm scope.

Northern wheatear on territory.

Lesser whitethroat. Jessie was working overtime to get songs for the Macaulay Library.

Delicious soup and some pepper spread for fresh bread at the cafe at our hotel. Delicious!

Jessie and I did take time to wander around downtown Budapest and see the bridge. We climbed the hill overlooking the city to see the statues. My one regret in Hungary is that we did not visit the Columbo statue in Budapest, but we saw several others. It’s a beautiful city in the spring with poppies and birds.

Liberty Statue that overlooks the city.

Liberty Bridge.

Because of course I would go to Budapest and buy these as souvenirs…

**The Swarovski Digital Guide** Jan 24, 2020
I got to play with a prototype of a Digital Guide that Swarovski Optik is working on with Merlin from Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The video above gives you an idea of how it works. We demoed the guide with some birds like a mourning dove—mostly because the bird was super chill and not moving and it made a great show. I also tested it on green jays and pauraques.
But I also took it out on some of my field trips in the Rio Grande Valley to really put it through its paces. Here are some screen shots:

Here’s a picture of a female vermilion flycatcher on an overcast day.

Here I zoom in on the image I got with the Digital Guide prototype in the Merlin app.

Merlin nailed the id.

You can take great photos with this, it’s basically an 8x30 monocular with a camera built in. And though it can take great pictures, I was more interested in what it could do if conditions weren’t great for photography, but you still wanted a bird ID. It works great. Scary great.
It’s a wifi hotspot so it can send the images to either Merlin or the Swarovski app. If you have good cell service, Merlin will ID it right away.
I can tell that it works well in warm weather, but I was curious about some cold weather and I mean some serious Minnesota cold. I took it to Sax Zim Bog on a -15 degree Fahrenheit day to see what would happen. The device worked well, but the lack of cell service from Verizon meant that Merlin didn’t work so great up there. On the upside, I was able to store photos and use Merlin when I had a reliable connection.

Here’s a black-backed woodpecker taken with the Swarovski Digital Guide.

The Digital Guide saved the date, time and location of where the image was taken. So even though I had lack of service in the field, all the information was saved for when I could use Merlin. And all of it was stored in a separate album in Photos.

The black-backed woodpecker was Merlin’s first ID.

Now, I know some people are going to gnash their teeth over this—”THIS IS GOING TO RUIN BIRDING! WHY CAN’T PEOPLE USE A BOOK!”
This is not going to ruin birding. This is a tool to help you get started. And there will always be people interested in artisanal bird identification. It’s fascinating to watch where technology can take us. And to have a device with Swarovski quality glass that works with Cornell’s Merlin app is amazing. There are plans that the device will also work to identify other things like mammals and butterflies as well.
The future is now.

**#BirdADay 7 An Ivory Gull with Wendy** Jan 07, 2020
I think I talked about the ivory gull that was in Duluth back in 2016 when the podcast was going, but I never wrote up what a great day it was. This was back when my friend Wendy Cass lived in the same state as me. She was a regular to Birds and Beers and when the ivory gull showed up and stayed more than a week, she revealed that she hadn’t birded Duluth, Minnesota in winter and I decided it was time to pop that particular cherry.
Duluth can be as much fun as Sax Zim Bog in winter. There can be sea ducks, rare fulls, owls and if you’re lucky, a gyrfalcon. Pretty much all of those were being reported so I picked up Wendy one Sunday morning and off we went. As much fun as it can be, it can also mean standing on SUPER cold Lake Superior. Years ago some friends and I hired a guide out of Duluth to take us birding in the bog. He kept adding gulls on Lake Superior to our itinerary. We were like, “Thanks, but no. We want owls this round.” He kept pushing, even trying to sell us on how beautiful ring-billed gulls can be in the early winter light. I finally joked, “I will pay you extra not to show us gulls.”

The icy terrain around Lake Superior on a frozen January day in 2016.

Wendy was far better prepared for our walk from the parking lot to Lake Superior with her ice spikes.

It was easy to figure out where the ivory gull was being seen. We saw the bird and some birding friends right away. Someone put a pile of fish down to bring the gull closer.

Ivory gull chowing down on fish birders left for it (good thing it wasn’t an owl). I got this with my iPhone 6 and Swarovski ATX 95mm scope.

It was so cool to see the gull right away and socialize. Even though this bird had been seen for several days, there’s always the chance that one the day you decide to go on the two and a half hour drive up that it could disappear.
Incidentally, this is the bird that caused a stir on birder social media in 2016 because one morning, someone found a carcass of an ivory gull that had been eaten by a peregrine on the Wisconsin side of the water. Birders all over were losing their shit because they were going to see it that day or the following day. Then a guide up in Duluth said, “Hey, we’re looking at the ivory gull now!” He was unaware of the carcass and everyone demanded pictures. He posted a selfie with the gull a few feet behind him. There had been two gulls—and one would have been countable in Wisconsin. Everyone rejoiced; memes were made and people had another two weeks to go see an ivory gull in Duluth. I compiled a bunch of memes and gifs that represented birder emotions that morning.
After Wendy and I got the gull, I took her to some prime winter gyrfalcon habitat.

Yep, a grain elevator can be prime winter gyrfalcon habitat.

Look at that sexy beast! We got the full show from this bird, including going after the many terrified pigeons at the grain elevator.

It was great to be getting two great birds right away on top of the other northern birds we can get: eagles, rough-legs, waxwings. But just seeing these harder see species without a long wait felt like such an honor. I try very hard to remind myself that this is one of the reasons birding is so fun. There’s all the days when the bird doesn’t or if it does, it’s really far away. This was a party.
And speaking of parties…I usually bring a flask for rare birds with some nice scotch. We don’t drink the whole thing, but just take a celebratory sip—it’s even better if you have the one sip while the bird is still there. Wendy brought her own flask.

Um…Wendy…what kind of birding party is this?

Wendy’s flask was unlike any flask I’ve ever seen…I was like, “Honey, are you sure that’s a flask??”
After celebrating her two lifers we decided to go for one of the many snowy owls that were reported that winter. One being at the local Menards!

We drove right under this snowy owl on a light post.

Save big money and get a snowy owl at Menards!
We pulled into a parking lot where we could safely get a scope view of the bird. It had already been banded and the person who bands birds up in Duluth likes to tag them with shoe polish. I’d always heard that the reason was to easily mark them so the bander wouldn’t keep chasing the snowy owl all winter. Snowy owls have feathers down to their toes and they way they sit, you rarely see their feet anyway, so it’s not always easy to see a banded foot. I’m not a fan of marking them with shoe polish and this particular bird had it on the head and wing—that seems excessive. I referenced that I wasn’t a fan of this on Facebook and some people came out of the woodwork to ask why I’m “anti-banding” which I found hilarious considering all the banding I’ve done in my past. But I question putting something like shoe polish on a bird that uses its feathers for camouflage, especially in the longterm. I wonder how it affects a bird’s chances of getting a good mate during breeding season. Maybe if I saw some of the research and reasoning behind the shoe polish, rather than news articles that basically say, “oh hey, here’s a guy who bands snowy owls” I might be a better fan of it.
Here’s a closer look at the owl.

Snowy owl with shoe polish on the head and the primaries. Some say that another reason for the markings is to keep photographers from harassing the owls.

Here’s a second snowy we saw. It was also sporting the shoe polish head look.

Shoe polish birds aside, it was a great day with Wendy. She has since moved to the west coast and I miss her, but will always treasure this fun day trip to Duluth getting her all the lifers.

Lifer celebration!!!!

**Crow Roost #BirdADay** Jan 03, 2020
Last night I went with some friends to see The Jerk at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis. As we cruised down Hwy 35W in the darkness near the Wells Fargo complex, my brain registered leaves on the trees in the darkness. Then I realized…it was the crow roost.
We didn’t stop for pictures. I thought about it on the drive back, but when we were heading north the crows were whirling in the sky, something startled them. I wondered if it was one of the many great horned owls in the metro area.

Crow roost on a night they slept on the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis.

Crow roost photo from when they were in downtown Minneapolis three winters ago. Taken with Swarovski ATX 95mm scope, PhoneSkope case and I think this was an 6s.

Even though I didn’t get pictures last night, I still have quite a few pictures of the Minneapolis Crow Roost that I’ve taken over the years. On overcast nights, they can look very cool, especially with the city lights behind him. Birds are few and far between in the northern states, so a spectacle of thousands of crows can make for some interesting birding.

Crow with the city lights behind it.

I’m not sure every day is going to warrant an actual blog post for my #BirdADay personal challenge but the birds will for sure end up daily on my Instagram. I have one post that I was ruminating on for this month that has three birds and all three qualify as a #BirdADay. I may post them and them corral them into a blog post because that was such a fun birding day.
Another challenge I have is trying to figure out what to do with some of the cool photos and videos I have that aren’t birds. I have some really interesting swallowtail footage. Ah well, I’ll figure it out. Maybe that will be a #NotABirdADay
Anyway, thank you for following along on my little Bird A Day personal challenge for the new year.

**Bird A Day: Pauraque or When the Bullseye is Gone** Jan 02, 2020
#BirdADay is my attempt to get back into my archives and finally write about birds that have been collecting dust in my archives. I’m resetting my life right now and birding always bring me there and I’m going to try and post a bird either here or on my social medias every day in 2020.
If you’ve ever met me, you know that the Rio Grande Valley is my favorite place to escape to go birding. I’m hard pressed to ever get a lifer there, but I figure the day I get tired of seeing a green jay is the day I’m done with birding.

Estero Llano Grande is my favorite park in Texas.

Whenever I go to Texas, my first stop is generally Estero Llano Grande State Park (if not a stop for gas station tacos at a Stripes gas station—trust me, they’re great). This park is a balm to me in so many ways—whistling-ducks, buff-bellied hummingbirds, green jays, kiskadees—and those are the low hanging fruit. Green kingfishers, rose-throated becards and clay-colored thrushes are possibilities.

Common Pauraques are in the goatsucker/nightjar family. They can hide in plain sight during the day and fly around at night catching insects.

One of the “bullseye” birds is the pauraque. It is known that if you go down the Alligator Lake Trail (here’s a post I did from 2010 about this exact spot) and look for sticks piled to the left that is where a few can be roosting. I strolled in the warm Texas sun on a November day to the pauraque site taking in the soundscape of Texas birds around me. I got to the spot and began the search for the pauraque Because of their cryptic plumage, it can take a few minutes to get your eye on one. t’s almost like a magic eye painting. I did not find a pauraque. But I found paurque pieces.

Common pauraque feathers where one would normally find a pauraque.

Others soon came along. Some were already aware that the reliable pauraque spot had had a fatality. To add to the blow, this was right before the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival—this would be target bird for anyone new to the Valley. The upside is that there is more than one pauraque in the Valley and others were found at the festival. But this one was special. It was almost as much of a guarantee as the winter of 2004/2005 when I could guarantee people great gray owls in Minnesota. I loved taking people new to the Valley to this spot and letting them find their first pauraque.
This spot usually had more than one pauraque. Once Clay and I were there and thought we had a super fat pauraque but it was a female roosting with two chicks. I wandered the area hoping to find one of the others and couldn’t find one. So I decided to study the feathers.

Common pauraque tail feathers.

The feathers looked to be plucked out and didn’t have shredded shafts. If the feathers shafts are shredded or the feathers are clumped with dried saliva, that’s a sign of a mammalian predator. Birds of prey tend to pluck. However, it does look like some teeth marks can be made out at the tops of the feathers.

It was a temptation to take these feathers home (yes, I have a permit). But I could find no way to make them part of my educational tools up in Minnesota.

There was something magical about being able to have such cool cryptic birds be an “x” marks the spot type of bird, but the lack of guarantee is part of what makes birding so rewarding and fun (at least when you get the birds). Perhaps pauraques will come back to this spot? Perhaps they’re already there. I hope to sneak down to the Valley again over the winter and maybe I’ll have a #BirdADay post that they are there.
Like I said earlier, other pauraques were found. Here’s one that was at Estero during the trip, very close to the parking lot and right next to a park sign.

**A New Year and #BirdADay 1** Jan 01, 2020
A couple of months ago I was at the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival. I hadn’t been for a few years. I hadn’t travelled as much the last two years to try and fix something that really couldn’t be fixed.
I felt like the prodigal birder. “Sharon! OMG! We haven’t seen you in ages!” That’s one of the things that I love about the birding community, you’re always welcome. As I greeted a dear friend and we caught up he asked, “What’s Non Birding Bill up to?”
I paused awkwardly. “Um…well…he’s traveling the country right now. So, he’s…uh…good, I guess. You know we’re not together anymore, right?”
He looked surprised. I continued, “We made an announcement on my private Facebook page. You liked it and I think even commented on it.”
With shock on his face he said, “I thought that was comedy bit you two were doing…”
And that was a fair read based on the way Bill and I would post on each other’s social media.
Repeat the scenario a few more times that day. Seven Hells, if people I know well couldn’t tell from our announcements that we split, how long will it take the rest of the world to hear the news and stop asking?
So yeah, there’s no easy way to make the announcement that you’ve separated from your partner of over 20 years. Non Birding Bill and I are no longer a couple. Things are amicable…well as amicable as they can be in a divorce. I’ve debated with myself about making any kind of announcement on public social media—that’s not what it’s supposed to be used for, right? And I want to be sensitive to Bill and our families. However, we’ve invited you to be part of our lives either through our writing, our banter on social media, and the podcast, you should know too.
It’s strange time. I feel like I’m in this odd limbo as I navigate what my future is going to be. It will, of course, include birds.
No. I will not be doing a “Divorce Big Year” no matter how much an editor thinks that’s an awesome idea.
But some things will shift—how I tell stories for one. If you’ve seen one of my storytelling shows or heard me at a bird festival, you may have heard my nude beach story. It’s one of my best. But it included Bill. Will that story be funny again some day? I sure as hell hope so. And I hope we continue to be friends and maybe even work on some creative projects in the future.

Eastern screech-owl at Estero Llano Grande State Park in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.

And since birds bring me so much joy, I’m going to clear out my archives. So many articles started and unfinished. So many photos and videos taken that never even made it to Instagram. My New Year’s goal is to post a #BirdADay either here or most often on Instagram or the Birdchick Facebook page or Twitter feed. Some will be from the past, but there will also be birds in real time. Feel free to share your #BirdADay as well.

Wrapping up the podcast... Sep 19, 2019

Hey everybody, NBB here. Sharon and I regret to inform you that we’ve wrapped up the podcast. We’d hoped to get back into the swing after the ridiculous summer schedule we have, but the pace simply isn’t letting up and we can’t devote the time to do it even to our (incredibly low) standards.

Thank you to everyone who listened, told friends about it, and larger-than-life thanks to all our Patreon sponsors!

You can find opportunities to see/hear Sharon on her Appearances Page.

You can hear Bill on his (infrequently-updated) other podcast, Aging Poorly.

Birdchick Podcast #254 Aug 23, 2019

Stare at gulls to get them to leave you alone.

Birds nap.

Rabbit or Bird

Larry Bird mural.

Birdchick Podcast #253 Sharon Forgot the Links Aug 11, 2019

Sharon forgot to corral the links. But the public podcast is up.

Birdchick Podcast #252 Birds have gone a little weird Jul 26, 2019

You can pre order a signed copy of Julie Zickefoose’s new book Saving Jemima. I HIGHLY recommend it.

The crazy lengths people will go to try and have the best list…

Four pound dog taken by a gull.

Loons raising a mallard.

Birdchick Podcast #251 No Dead Bird Stories and NY Times Gear Jul 12, 2019

We got to meet Dr. Chuck Tingle this weekend…yes, THAT Chuck Tingle. If you are unaware of who that is then follow this link when you are not at work and not around your kids.

The curious case of Curry Gull!

Drunk guy uses Uber to get a bird to wildlife rehab.

New York Times birding gear guide…that hat is a hard no from Sharon.

Birdchick Podcast #250 Ferda Jun 28, 2019

Non Birding Bill and I referenced Letterkenny. Here’s a scene for what the show is like. The guys are tailgating waiting to get in a fight and they argue about how to cook steaks. In season 4 there’s an episode all about “Canada Gooses.”

Speaking of tv shows there’s a great one from Jason Ward called The Birds of North America. And a really shit one from Rolling Stone basically copying Jason’s idea badly. So here is one of Jason’s shows.

Are black vultures really doing this much damage in Kentucky or are they being unfairly persecuted?

And piping plovers are breeding in record numbers in Maine and New York as well as putting a wrench in the plans of music events in Sandy Hook and Chicago.

.

Birdchick Podcast #249 Jun 21, 2019

Hey, Sharon forgot to create a post for last week’s podcast, so this it totally not Bill’s fault. Enjoy, and Bill is blameless as always!

Birdchick Podcast #248 Jun 01, 2019

Sandhill Cranes raising a Canada goose gosling. Sharks eating migrants.

Sharks eating migrants in the gulf.

I think everything else we talked about was the usual nonsense.

Birdchick Pocast #247 May 18, 2019

Wait…what did we talk about?

**Birdchick Podcast #246 Jeremy Messersmith!** May 03, 2019
The Patreon members said they wanted guests, so we brought on a guest. Our aim is not to have just anyone bird related on as a guest, but someone who can hang. And Jeremy certainly can. We played the game Wingspan before we podcasted.

This is not posed. This is totally Non Birding Bill trying to explain the rules of Wingspan to Jeremy Messersmith.

You should definitely check out Jeremy’s music in your preferred method. We hear him on the radio, especially the Current here in the Twin Cities. Some of our favorite songs include:
Hitman
Ghost
Tatooine Be sure to check out the linked video
Let’s Ditch Christmas
Everybody Gets a Kitten
Other topics covered in this podcast include Florida man killed by cassowary. And it was 20 years ago that Fabio slammed his face into a Canada goose.

Birdchick Podcast #245 Apr 19, 2019

The feminist birding revolution article.

Me on a podcast explaining the relevance of Twitter seven years ago.

Most poplar bird in the us.

OMG what did I post a picture of…

Check out Redpoling: a birder polling group.

The Bird Banter Podcast.

Birdchick Podcast #244 FREEDOM GLIDERS Apr 05, 2019

A dozen ways you can celebrate the life and legacy of Bill Thompson III.

Bald eagles are going crazy by nesting on the ground and dropping trash in people’s yards.

Record sandhill crane count in Nebraska.

Do you live in one of the top ten most dangerous cities for migrating birds? We do.

Bird Genie which can help you id bird sounds is available for iPhone or Android.

**A Legend of Birding is Gone** Mar 26, 2019
“My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today.” Richard Adams, *Watership Down*

This picture of all of us posing on a tank in Israel sits in my office. When work gets ridiculous, I like to look at it to be reminded of the good times and the many friends, including BT3 that I have on the road.

Bill Thompson III aka BT3 was always someone I was happy to see. Years ago before there was any “Birdchick” and I was trying to get published, I sent bird articles to anyone. The ones from his family’s publication Bird Watcher’s Digest were the nicest, “This is a great article, but isn’t right for our publication.” It was handwritten and everything.
I first met Bill in my days of working for a wild bird feeding store, working birding trade shows called Bird Watch America but really got to know him at Tucson ABA Convention. We had a late night and he introduced me to what is my favorite beer to this day: Fat Tire. I have to admit that as nice as he was, I was really hoping to meet Julie Zickefoose and hoped he’d get me an in.
Not long after that I ran into him in the Rio Grande Valley. I was there on my own for the first time and he was leading a field trip. He dashed over to hug me and say hi and then pointed out my very first great kiskadee and informed me that they don’t say, “kisk-a-dee, kisk-a-dee” what they are really saying in their call is “Fuck the world! Fuck the world!”
Fuck the the world indeed. He’s gone too soon.
I have so many special birding moments or stories that I tell friends that he was part of. He may not even be mentioned in those stories, but he was there experiencing them with me. He was always someone you were happy to see when he walked in a room. He was generous with his time, advice and ear. He was always trying to make birding as approachable and fun as possible. **The New Birder’s Guide** is still one of the best books out there for someone who wants to make the switch from backyard birding to full on birding.
Here are some of my favorite memories of Bill.

It was a my first time in North Dakota at the Potholes and Prairie Festival. The weather had been challenging and I’d missed the Baird’s Sparrow and Sprague’s pipit. Kim Risen and BT3 had made plans to go birding the day after the festival and were kind enough to let me join them. The weather was perfect, cool and sunny and very little wind. The light made the prairie glow. We got to the spot and a Baird’s sparrow sang within 10 feet of us. A Sprague’s pipit hovered over us and harmonized with the Baird’s. On top of that we had other prairie birds singing like western meadowlark. We sat in silence for well over an hour. BT3 even napped. It was peaceful and everything I loved about birding: sharing their wonder with good people. My sense memory to that perfect moment comes back every time I see this photo.

BT3 and I shared a skewer of turkey testicles in Israel.

BT3 and I were part of a fam trip to Israel. We saw so many lifers and that crane migration is something to put on your bucket list. We were also on the trip with Bill Oddie which was a treat for many reasons—one being we are the same height so when all the tall people were zipping up a mountain, I had a fellow shorty to keep me company behind the group. At one point BT3 came over to us and said while laughing, “I’m sorry, but I have to tell you that when I’m around you two, I feel like Gandalf walking through the Shire!”
At the end of our trip BT3, Pete Dunne and I had a long evening before we had to catch our flight. We walked the beach in Tel Aviv to Jaffa and had a beer. When we got back to our hotel, I stood on the balcony and watched the people below. A bunch of young men stripped down to their underwear and began playing volley ball. BT3 caught me using my binoculars to enjoy the show and shouted, “Sharon!!!!”

Jeff Gordon grabs a selfie of all of us eBirding the crap out of Liechtenstein with Clay Taylor, Jessie Barry, Chris Wood, Corey Finger and BT3. (and our guide who I only remember as Leander).

So many trips, so many drinks, so many laughs…that time we drunkenly sauntered down the Alps and peed behind a dumpster together. That time we watched a wallcreeper on a castle and then followed Chris Wood’s idea that we go into Liechtenstein so we could be the top eBirders for that principality.
Hundreds of more memories that I just can’t put into words this morning.
He was a great friend on the road and incredibly helpful to my birding career. The birding community is not going to be the same. Oh hell, I suddenly remember he and Julie let Non Birding Bill and I stay at Indigo Hill and we made a video on How To Do A Big Sit.

Tim Appleton, Mark Cocker, Wendy Clark, Bill Thompson.

This was one of the Midwest Birding Symposiums and I got to get to know Wendy Clark. This was a gorgeous night on Lake Erie. The sunset was stunning in its colors but we thought the moment should be captured in black and white.
Bill, Julie and Wendy have been brutally honest about what this pancreatic cancer journey has been like for the family. The comment that broke me was a photo on Facebook of BT3 with Michael O’Brien and Zemaitis. They had run into each other in customs in November while returning from different birding trips. It popped up last week and BT3 wrote, “Turns our that was my last birding trip. So glad we crossed paths!!”
I’m not ready to contemplate what is going to be my last birding trip. Do all the things you want to do. Go on that birding trip. Skip the laundry and go look for warblers this spring. Eat all the carbs. Tell those important to you how important they are.
Thank you, BT3, for being such a great companion on the road. Thank you for all that you did to help me get to where I am today. Thank you for all you did to get people to notice birds. Thank you for sharing your music.

Birdchick Podcast #243 Grasshopper Sparrow Hot Mess In Florida Mar 22, 2019

That Florida grasshopper sparrow hot mess.

Hey, gang, if you missed the great black hawk in Maine…you will still have a chance to see it.

Totally ok and understandable to suppress a rarity on private property. Not really ok to announce it in this fashion.

What kind of content do you get if you are one of our Patreon members? This kind of content!

Birdchick Podcast #242 Eagle Trios, Birding for Anxiety Mar 08, 2019

Using birding to help anxiety. This is an interesting perspective of how someone found their way to birdwatching.

Please read the latest from Bill Thompson III’s caring bridge site.

The man who invented the falcon copulation hat has died.

Yes, it’s true. There really is a live cam on a bald eagle trio (two males, one female) raising young together.

Birdchick Podcast #241 "H is for Hawk," Wisdom and Turkeys Feb 22, 2019

According to the will of the Patreon I read H is for Hawk.

Turkeys are terrorizing Moorhead, MN

Wisdom the albatross is mating again. Gizmodo has a more colorful headline.

Birdchick Podcast #240 Problematic Feb 08, 2019

Is it ok to call a bird a trollop in a formal presentation?

Move over yellow cardinal, you’ve been replaced by the gynandromorph cardinal.

White-throated sparrows and the complexity of gender.

A king eider shows up in Maine. Birders go crazy and post about it. A hunter uses social media to locate and legally hunt the rarity.

Join the Birdchick Patreon!

Birdchick Podcast #239 We're back! Great Black Hawk, H is for Hawk Jan 25, 2019

We started a Patreon!

The great black hawk that’s been in Maine is in wildlife rehab with frostbite. What will it’s future be?

The American Birding Association Bird of the Year is the red-billed tropicbird. The artwork is by Megan Massa. Follow her on Instagram @MeganDrawsBirds.

The raven and snowy owl video we referenced in the podcast.

**Sax Zim Bog and Digiscoping** Jan 17, 2019
Hello! If you are here because of the KARE 11 or MPR segment, welcome! If you’re wondering about what the smart phone photography technique I was talking about, it’s known as digiscoping or phone scoping. It’s a way to use your smartphone with a spotting scope to take pictures and videos of birds and wildlife. You can learn more about the technique and the kit I use here. The case for my phone that I’m writing about is from a company called PhoneSkope.
Here’s a video I took of a northern hawk owl at the bog on Monday. This was taken with my iPhone in a PhoneSkope case and my Swarovski ATX spotting scope:

If you’re curious about “the bog” I referenced, that is Sax Zim Bog—a birding hot spot in Minnesota, especially in winter. You can find tons of great information at the Friends of Sax Zim Bog page. If you’ve never been, it’s best to hire a guide or consider going to the festival. The bog is large and without a strategy you can spend a lot of time driving without seeing any birds and wondering where to pee.
The bog is great birding year round, but there some birds that are easier to see in winter or can only be found there in winter. Target species for birders include (but is certainly not limited to) great gray owl, northern hawk owl, Canada jay, pine grosbeak, evening grosbeak, common redpolls, hoary redpolls, snowy owls, black-billed magpie and boreal chickadee. Several areas host bird feeders, some on private land, some on public. Friends of SZ has a great map pointing out the feeding stations. Some of the birds are after seed and others are after meat and fat in the form of chunks of venison.

Canada Jay perched on meat mountain (a deer torso) at Sax Zim bog. Dozens of black-capped chickadees will also come in for this. Note video below.

Boreal chickadee on a suet feeder filled with deer chunks.

I told my friends Gayle and Anne who dragged me out of my apartment for this day trip to listen for a “chick-a--shnee” sound instead of a “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” sounds. Among all of the black-capped chickadees in the bog is the browner boreal chickadee. We heard the bird but only caught barely a glimpse. We waited as long as we could but got the point where we needed to take the boardwalk back to the bathrooms. We carefully made our way back, keeping our eyes down to watch for icy patches when we heard a loud “CHICK-A-SHNEE!” There, about three feet from us on a feeder was the boreal chickadee. It was almost as if it was trying to tell us not to miss it.
We got good long looks and I had to back up down the trail so I could get a photo with my scope.

Colorful pine grosbeaks are in big numbers this year and easy to get at the bog.

I didn’t manage to get a photo on Monday, but here are evening grosbeaks from last year. They kind of look like a goldfinch on steroids.

Again not a photo from Monday, it was too dark to get a picture of the great gray we saw. However, I took this picture a year ago in the same spot.

So if you’re looking for a unique way to spend the day, consider visiting Sax Zim Bog. Also, it’s worth it alone to see the face of your coworker when they ask what you did over the weekend and you answer, “I went up to a frozen bog to look for owls. “

**Birding Lake Mburo National Park** Jan 17, 2019
After we saw the shoebill, I felt a weight come off of me in Uganda. I really, really wanted to see that bird. Of course I wanted to see many things, but that was the number one hope and Bird Uganda Safaris delivered. Even though my first look was at a distance I truly felt that I could really enjoy anything and everything because I saw my most wanted and didn’t have to stress if I would go home without it. It’s weird to pin so much hope on one species.

Leaving Mabamba wetlands we saw several trucks with fish attached to the Grill. Herbert told us that people put it there to keep it cool and fresh on the drive home. We asked if it worked and he said, “When I tried it, all I had was fish covered in insects and I never did it again.”

After the shoebill swamp we headed to Lake Mburo National Park where would stay at a Mantana Tented Camp. I wasn’t sure what the meant, but it sounded like an adventure. Along the way we would spot many birds and a few mammals. It was overwhelming because early on a bird trip everything is new and most likely a lifer, you’re not sure which species are going to be the common ones you see everywhere and which ones will be harder and that’s your one chance. Our guides Herbert and Davis from Bird Uganda Safaris also had the challenge of keeping us to schedule, but delighting in all of the things we were enjoying. But when we would stop for bathroom breaks we would always get fun birds.

Lesser blue-eared starling coughing up an undigestible seed seen on a bathroom stop.

Darkness descended as we entered Lake Mburo National Park and though we couldn’t see the landscape well we saw some mammals in our headlights. This park was where we got our first iconic African mammals like cape buffalo and zebras. When we arrived at the lodge, travel weary and hungry they gave us our keys and the rules of the tented camp. The biggest rule was that you were not allowed to leave your tent and walk the grounds without an escort. Not because you might be eaten by leopard, but because cape buffalo wander the grounds and if you surprise them you would be trampled. You can schedule staff to pick you up and there’s even a whistle in your tent in case you need help immediately. You blow on that and staff come running.
My porter carried my 50 pound suitcase on his head and with flashlights in hand we took the gravel trail to my tent. He showed me how to use the shower—I would schedule a time with him to fill the bucket with warm water and I’d have about 5 minutes to get clean. He also offered to spray my room with insecticide while I was at dinner for extra mosquito protection. I arranged for him to pick me up in twenty minutes and began to unpack. I suddenly heard a chirping noise and assumed it was a house gecko. Then I heard some fluttering.

To my surprise and delight, I had a lifer scarlet-chested sunbird in my bathroom. I think the bird had been roosting and my activity in the tent woke it up. It soon found a gap and flew out into the night. There were no outlets in my tent, though there were lights. Anything that I needed to charge, I would only be able to charge in the main lodge. At night I would plug in external batteries at the lodge to use the next day. I’d use my laptop to charge my phone. During the day I’d leave my laptop in the main lodge to charge.

The lodge charging station…at a slow time.

During dinner we could order from the bar and we were served three course meals of soup, a main dish like chicken and rice and a dessert. Bats would zoom in and out of the darkness while we ate and discussed the next day’s itinerary. The hotel manager came by and asked if we would like to arrange a wake up call—if you’re phone was changing, you needed some type of alarm. We also had the option of getting our wake up call with fresh coffee or tea. I arranged for my wake up call with coffee and a fill up of warm water for the shower.

I love an alarm that comes with fresh coffee.

I was so overwhelmed by the beauty and fun of the day that I fell asleep on my very firm mattress as soon as my head hit the pillow while crickets sang around me. At about 4am some snorting outside my tent woke me up. It didn’t sound like angry snorting and I assumed they were some kind of wild boar and fell asleep. Two hours later my wake up call arrived with coffee and biscuits. What a treat! He ten filled my bucket with warm water. I opened the valve to get good and wet before shutting it off, lathered my hair with shampoo and my body with soap. I opened the valve again to rinse and shut it off. I added some conditioner to my hair and opened the valve until the water ran out and I was perfectly rinsed. It was an ideal shower.

Freshly showered and caffeinated I absorbed my view over dawn.

I finally got a look at the outside of my room as I left for breakfast.

I stood on my deck and watched the sun reveal the majestic landscape around me as I sipped rich coffee. All around me birdcalls filled the air. I love being in a country and listening to people speak in languages I’m not familiar with. I don’t enjoy that so much with birds. I want to know who the all are.
I got dressed and packed up my daily birding gear and made my way towards the main lodge. When I arrived a green-headed sunbird was fighting its reflection in one of the mirrors and adorable mousebirds were teed up. The expansive lush landscape was filled with new birds. We wanted to eat breakfast but so many birds were popping up and we had to see them all. It’s one of my favorite feelings, surrounded colorful landscapes and birds and being surrounded by fruit and coffee. Herbert kept us on task because we had a boat to catch, he made us finish our breakfasts and load up in the vehicles.

Speckled mousebirds tempting us away from our breakfasts.

Yellow-fronted tinkerbird outside our vehicles.

Zebras on our commute.

Rüppell's long-tailed starling adding material to a nesting cavity near the boat launch.

Warthog with a yellow wagtail.

When we arrived at the boat launch, the sun was shining and the air was warming up. We had some time and while I lathered on more sunscreen, we got our fist looks at warthogs. I had no idea they were so cuddly with each other and that hey had to kneel with their front legs to eat vegetation! I made sure to take some video for Non Birding Bill (above). Barbets, starlings and swallows surrounded and delighted us. And then it was time to board.
I give a lot of boat programs in the US and personal floatation devices are mandatory. I have comfortable ones that were made specifically for women (thank you PFDiva). Personal floatation devices weren’t offered at Mabamba wetlands in our canoe but they were given to us for Lake Mburo. The PFDs we were offered the worst kind too—uncomfortable, ill-fitting and bulky. I decided to test the waters to see how hard they would enforce them. If a PFD doesn’t fit you properly they can be more of a hindrance in water than a life saving system. The boat captain strongly urged, but didn’t push it so I kept mine next to me. I was wondering if I should have made room in my suitcase for my personal PFD since we had so many boat trips in Uganda.

The boats we would take to explore Lake Mburo.

We explored the lake where we were dazzled by African fish eagles, malachite and pied kingfishers and African marsh-harried. Then I spotted my first hippo and forgot about birds. First there was one hippo in the middle of the lake… then they took us to a herd or bloat of hippos (how’s that for a collective noun).

All those lumps are a crash of hippos (another collective noun) on Lake Mburo.

A hippo contemplates if it can kill me as I digiscope it with my Swarovski ATX 65mm scope and iPhone X with a PhoneSkope adapter.

If you watch Fiona videos you get the impression they are delightful creatures who want to splash around with us and get chin scratches. In the wild they are far more menacing and really want to kill anything that gets too close. We watched their faces and backs just break the surface and were surprised at how much they reminded us of whales with air blowing out of the water…from either end of the hippo. I watched people kayak this lake and as much as I love kayaking, I’d never kayak anyplace there were hippos.

Hippo poop!

Part rail, part cool with a little bit of duck thrown in. This secretive bird is a finfoot.

As we cruised along the shore we found more secretive birds like white-backed night-heron, finfoot and giant kingfisher--check the eBird list for Michael O’Brien’s photo of the kingfisher. Imagine seeing a kingfisher that is the size of a crow. I almost wet myself.
As we kept near the shore we did find a common sandpiper bobbing on top of a rock near another finfoot. As we approached the finfoot the rock burst out of the water to reveal they were in fact a couple of hippos who were not happy with us. The boat backed up immediately and we survived.

I was taking a picture just as the “rocks” started to move.

The hippos running amuk when we unknowingly got too close. Not digiscoped. Yikes.

Water thick-knees were all along the shore of the lake.

And in case anyone asks, yes I did see the fish eagle.

The view from my safari vehicle with another not far behind.

We returned to land and explored more of the park both on foot and in our safari vehicles. Below are more photos of birds and animals we saw during our stay there. You can see our full eBird list an even more photos of Lake Mburo here. Our eBird lists for Mantana Tented Camp are here and here. And the lists from driving around the park are here, here and here.

A herd of impala chilling in the shade on the side of the road.

Digiscoped image of the male impala’s head taken from our safari vehicle.

Broad-billed roller digiscoped from the vehicle.

Crested francolin.

Red-necked francolin

Spot-flanked barbet.

African pied wagtail looking for tasty morsels inside warthog noses. Ew.

Madagascar bee-eater.

Red-chested cuckoo.

Pygmy mongoose trying to assess if it could kill me and eat me.

**How To See A Shoebill** Dec 29, 2018
The answer: head to you Uganda.
I’m a big fan of bullet journaling—I’m by no means anything like what you see on Pinterest, I’m a bit more basic and I find that this form of tracking creates some sort of order to the chaos of my brain when it comes to writing. Since I am no Catherine Hamilton, I don’t do much of the artistic side of it but I will decorate mine with stickers…especially bird stickers. I generally try to keep it to birds I’ve seen and place in weeks when I’m most like to see them. However this time last December a friend alerted me to shoebill stork stickers on Mochi Things.

One of my shoebill stickers in my bullet journal. And yes, I am tracking exactly what you think because I noticed I was giving far too many of them away to things that didn’t need them.

I’d never seen a shoebill and had no plans in the foreseeable future for that to happen. But hey, how often do you see shoebill stickers? Thanks to their popularity on the Internet, they warrant their own stickers. Even my non birding friends were excited about them. So I ordered them and populated my bullet journal with them.
Then in May I got in touch with Herbert Byaruhanga from Bird Uganda Safaris and the opportunity to visit Uganda came. Giraffes, hippos, leopards, chimps and gorillas were possible…but so is the shoebill, which can be found in freshwater swamps in central Africa. I could barely think about this trip for months, even delaying vaccinations because I couldn’t believe it was real, something had to go wrong to make this not happen.
The very first full day of the trip was our chance at the shoebill. I worried that something would go wrong with my flights from Minneapolis to Chicago to Brussels to Kigali to Entebbe would go wrong and I’d be delayed and miss it. And then there was the general anxiety of will we get the bird or miss it…because there are over 450 birds to seen in Uganda, I’m not going to see them all. I’ll will have to dip on some.
But my flights were uneventful and after 24 hours of travel I found myself in Uganda crashing on a bed in a hotel room at 1am. The next morning I woke and met my travel companions for the next two weeks in the parking lot a motley crew of birders from the United States, the UK, Panama, Australia and Taiwan. Every movement was exciting and mostly likely a new bird. Herbert took us to breakfast and then we’d be off to the shoebill. Our poor servers couldn’t keep us in our seats to eat or drink because were glued to the window for things like vervet monkeys and shikras.

After breakfast we hit the roads to Mabamba Wetlands where would take large canoes with motorboats out into the wetlands to look for shoebills, malachite kingfishers, yellow-billed ducks, black crakes, African jacanas and anything else, it was all good.

This area is used by tourists to search for birds and by the locals to cross the water and visit other communities. One day we passed a wedding party with a canoe loaded with gifts for the bride. The poor boatman had is motor fall off the canoe. We hope he made it over.

The boats take people and bikes across the water.

I turned around and discovered that everyone else in my group was excited by a close up hammerkop!

Boat safety is different in Uganda. But our guide was watching for the shoebills. There were also scouts in the swamp looking for them ahead of us.

The weather was perfect and the wetlands were beautiful and chock full of birds, just not shoebills.

We spend two hours in the wetland…and completely dipped on the shoebill. It was a disappointment and all part of the game but Herbert assured us that we would have other shoebill opportunities. He wouldn’t let us leave town without seeing one. And we did see the malachite kingfishers, jacanas and crakes, it was a lovely time. You can see the birds and some more photos at our eBird checklist.
Herbert took us out for some more excellent birding through the day and toward the end we stopped by Nabajjuzi Swamp because he had a lead on a shoebill. We scanned the swamp and did see it and we loaded into our vehicles to get to our next lodge. As we were on the busy roadway, Herbert gasped. He saw a shoebill. It was one of those sightings where only someone who sees this bird constantly and knows them so well that only they could spot them because this bird was far and hidden and we were going about 50mph. But we pulled over and everyone tried to get their glimpse of a lifer shoebill. I had a tough time because the vegetation is high and I am oh so short.

See that light wash of gray? That’s my lifer shoebill view. Weeeeee!

I looked around, I needed to be higher, but how. Then I looked at our super sturdy safari vehicles.
“Hey, Herbert, can I get on top of the truck to see the shoebill?”
”Of course!!”

Top ten life moment here. Standing on a safari truck to get a picture of shoebill. Thank you Carlos Bethancourt for the picture! Warning on the video below, I use “a swear” at the end. I couldn’t help it.

Much better view from on top of the vehicle. It was too far away for a great shot, but good enough for my memories.

Carlos joined me on top of the vehicle. This is the first time I’ve truly been captured right at lifer bliss. This was an amazing bird and top notch spotting on Herbert’s part.

A crowd gathered to watch the crazy foreigners losing their minds watching this bird.
I felt so relieved. We got the shoebill. It wasn’t exactly the view I had dreamed about, but we saw the bird in its habitat, you could clearly tell what it was and I could see the gorgeous gray eyes. I felt my shoulders relax and I was ready to enjoy everything else—it was all gravy at this point.
And the rest of the trip was amazing and I’ll write more. But Herbert had one more shoebill trick up his sleeve. On our final day of birding. He took our vehicles across Lake Victoria back to Mabamba Wetlands with one of his female guides to get a better view. He said that our group was the first time in 30 trips that he had not seen a shoebill there. He wanted to do it again. We were in, we were all in.

It was much rainier this time!

We were warned about rain and we had our rain gear. The boatmen also had umbrellas for us as well. We had to go into some of the thicker parts of the vegetation to get to the birds and we had to do some waiting while our female scout searched. But we got our shoebill!

We could see it with the naked eye and that was a satisfying view, but in the scope the bird was outstanding. With this view I got a much better sense of how huge this beast is.

People tell me I’m crazy for taking my scope on a boat but it was so worth it. Thanks to my phone I can get some great shots.

Thanks to my PhoneSkope case and iPhoneX I got this great shot for my memories.

Good grief, they can fly!

The murder stork’s ambivalent eyes demand respect.

Our wonderful scout who gave me the gift of a wonderful shoebill view. The boatmen and guides worked hard as well, but she’s the one who got us all there.

I made a video of our shoebill search and you get better idea of what it’s like getting around the Mabamba Wetlands.

**Sibley App Second Edition UPDATED** Nov 19, 2018

I didn’t make this, but it sums up how I feel about the new Sibley app.

UPDATE 1 : I received a notification from David Sibley himself! “"I can say right now to assure you that we are committed to updating and improving the app going forward.” So because of that I’m saying that you should purchase this app now, especially if you are reading it while it is at the discounted price of $9.99. Sibley assures the issues will be fixed soon!
UPDATE 2: I received an update to my iPhone app on November 22 and many of the problems pointed out in this review have been addressed. It appears emailing errors you find in the app can be addressed relatively quickly.
Poor David Sibley. He is an amazing artist who has gifted us with a revolutionary field guide. His publishers keep getting in the way of his outstanding art.
So…should you buy the Second Edition Sibley app? I honestly don’t know. **UPDATED: YES!**
Currently the app is in the iTunes store for $9.99. Word on the street is the price will go up in a month to either $19.99 to $29.99. Presumably they will fix these problems so getting it at a discount now is a good deal…though if they don’t…well…it’s a waste of money.
For years birders have been waiting for either an update or new Sibley app when his second edition came out in 2014. When that second edition Sibley came out there was a printing problem. Many of the birds were darker than they should be and the font was not great for older readers. This led to a recall and a second printing. Birders love the Sibley Guide and so have been anxiously awaiting the second edition in app form only to be told that it would be coming “soon.”
Finally, we all got updates in our Sibley apps on Friday directing us to an “update” which was a link to buy the 2nd edition. So I paid the $9.99 and downloaded it. I have a ritual for field guides where I look at my favorite bird pages first (don’t we all). One of those is the scarlet tanager. I especially wanted to check that because it was such a problem with that second edition first printing. I gasped and thought, “Oh no, they wouldn’t have been that foolish.”

The moment I knew My Digital Earth made a mistake. On the left the original Sibley app. On the right…the new seconded edition…

On the left the original Sibley app. On the right the new second edition Sibley…that is by no means the color “orange.”

Then I went to the red-shouldered hawk page and realized…the app company digitized the wrong printing…the one that had plates that were too dark. The one where the publisher issued a recall. How did this happen? Did no one pay attention to file names? Also as someone who is kind of anal about planning…how did Sibley, the editors, agents or even early reviewers not double check this?????
My Digital Earthy, I totally would have checked this first had you sent me a copy of the app to review.
But this isn’t the only problem. The scrolling is slow and clunky and has crashed while I used it. And then there are other issues…

I got Key West Qauil-dove in Cuba. I don’t thing anyone has gotten it in California.

Some of the maps are off. Especially birds that don’t have actual maps in the book. On the one hand that’s a nitpick…but if you’re using Sibley it’s because it’s a bird you can’t id and you need to nitpick.

Oh hey…that’s a Scott’s oriole on the Audubon oriole page…I’m guessing an intern who is not a birder got confused.

The Cassia crossbill is the same illustration as the red crossbill—because they look exactly alike. The only way to tell them apart is by call…which the Cassia doesn’t have in the app.

The new Sibley app has PROBLEMS. Some of these seem nit picky but here’s the deal…if you are using Sibley it’s because you want to be nit picky, you’re trying to figure out hard to id birds.
One thing I do like is the ability to search for species by banding code. I like that you can scroll by name or by image. I like that you can choose what month and how common birds are when you select what state you are in. And many of the smart search terms are put in a way that are easier for a new birder to understand. There’s a lot to like about this app.

Some of the “smart search” terms in the app.

You can now look at the list of birds with little pictures.

I’d like to assume that the app company is going to make updates. I’d like to think that advising you to purchase the app right now at the cheaper price and waiting until they make the necessary updates is better than waiting until everything is fixed and paying the higher price is better. But I just don’t know.
FYI most nature app companies send me their apps to review or at the very least send me press releases about what’s happening. I only knew about the forthcoming release of a new Sibley app because some birders were talking about seeing it on social media. When I purchased the app and I noticed the art problem I emailed My Digital Earth in the app. I didn’t get a response. However at least two birders (interestingly, both male) who pointed out the same thing I did posted screenshots or notes saying that the app developer confirmed they had indeed received the wrong printing to digitize and the app would be fixed in the near future—so presumably some edits are coming.
I don’t blame Sibley at all for this app. Clearly this is a publishing problem.
Can’t wait to talk about this app in my Tech Birding and Tech Nature classes.

**Seventh Edition of the National Geographic Field Guide** Nov 17, 2018
On the one hand I’m sad this book is no longer a workable app. On the other hand it is a very fine book and the most recent edition has some great improvements.

I’ve joked before that new editions of field guides can be a bit of a scam since sometimes it’s mostly a taxonomy change or just a few rare bird illustration updates. But I grabbed an old second edition National Geographic from my office to do some comparisons. You can use this to see if you need to get an updated copy. I had a first edition and second edition when I was a kid. I will always have a fondness for these guides. One thing I really like is that the guide gives several options to try an locate a species quickly.

There’s a visual quick reference on both the inside and backside covers so if you know the shape of a bird but not the name you can try and find it faster.

You also have the option of just looking for birds by their names too.

Species-wise there are quite a few additions. I think the second edition has over 800 species. The seventh has 1023 and it’s organized by the American Ornithological Society’s taxonomy structure. About 3500 illustrations have been updated (new additions and diagnostic field marks are added. Maps have also been updated by Paul Lehman and even include some migratory routes. The back of the guide includes a list of extinct birds (Carolina parakeet) or wild card ABA Code 5 rarities that have shown up in the last five years (Amazon kingfisher). I find it interesting that Carolina Parakeet and Bachman’s warbler are in this list but the ivory-billed woodpecker still shares a page with the pileated woodpecker. Hope springs eternal.

Many of the exotics that now have established and sustainable populations in the US like munia and whydah and are considered countable by the ABA are included.

On the left we have the red-tailed hawk/Swainson’s hawk page of the second edition. On the right is the new and improved red-tailed hawk/rough-legged hawk page.

Every hummingbird illustration has been updated. On the top we have the second edition of Anna’s hummingbird and below the seventh edition of Anna’s hummingbird with up to the date field notes to help you separate them from other species of hummingbird.

It’s an excellent field guide to have in your collection. If you have fourth edition or older I would definitely consider upgrading to this copy. And with holidays around the corner, it’s a good gift idea.

**Wallcreeper on a Castle** Nov 13, 2018

You can’t trip without finding a castle in Europe.

One of the best mornings I ever spent was because of a cheaper flight. Sometimes when flying home from Europe, at least $1000 can be saved by extended the trip an extra day (usually to fly on a Monday rather than a Sunday).
Since we had an extra day we did some birding and for most of us the goal was wallcreeper. This is a mytical European bird that I’ve been interested since the first time I cracked a field guide for this area. Think of an elegant silvery nuthatch with bright pink wings that creeps rocky walls gleaning insects. I’ve dipped on them in Austria and Israel but my friend Dale had a lead on a one overwintering on a castle in Bregenz near Lake Constance. What’s not to love about that sentence? So away we went to locate the bird with our thermoses full of coffee.
Our group had the nervous anticipation of flinching at any leaf movement as we combed the castle wall for the small bird. Eventually the bird was seen high up and worked its way down. We had lots of time with the bird and we were even able to send it to Facebook Live to grip our friends who were at work or on a flight home.

Wallcreeper!

Check out those pink wings!

It’s a strange thing getting such a unique bird on a castle, especially one I’d missed several times. It’s all part of the magic of birding in Europe. The best part was that this was just the start of our birding adventure as Chris Wood from eBird came up with a mad plan to be the top eBirders in Lichtenstein.

Some celebrate with lifer pie, I celebrated with lifer beer—specifically Budvar in honor of my Czech roots. Unlike Budweiser in the US, this one actually has flavor.

**The Splendor of Birds** Nov 11, 2018

As part of Year of the Bird National Geographic released a book called The Splendor of Birds. It’s supposed to be a reflection of how we notice birds and how that has changed in the last 130 or so odd years. The book incorporates historic photos, illustrations and some amazing images from recent years. I had high hopes for this book, because coffee table books of birds sparked my imagination as a kid of what it would be possible to see one day.
But my overall feeling for it is…meh.

Albatross photo from 1922 vs 2007—what a difference from manhandling to a habitat shot.

It is interesting to see how far we have come in grabbing images of birds both in the form of illustration and photography. I realize that early on bird painting and photography was dominated by men because they had the time and equipment and quite frankly, were the ones allowed to do so, but that’s changed so much in the last two decades.
I had hoped the part of the book that focuses on the last 18 years would incorporate lots of female photographers but…sadly, no. Yes there are a few women that have photos in the book book, but the illustrators are mostly absent. The only female illustrator shown is the 1880s couple Jonathan and Elizabeth Gould co-credited on a bower bird illustration. Counting the 198 contributors in the back revealed that 18 were women (roughly 9%). Which is incredibly disappointing considering that the birding population in the US is over 50% female. But hey, they had some so I shouldn’t complain…

That’s not to say there aren’t stunning images in this book. There are some beauts and as a strictly “bird porn” type of book it’s nice.

A bird with broken tail tips and wing feather tips is a sign of stress in captivity. Also I have questions about the toucan. Bird banding typically takes place outside so you see the vegetation in the background. This bird has a white background. Was it put int he nets just for a photo op?

There are also many images of captive birds that are washed out in mid-flight. I’ve never been a fan of the method getting a bird frozen in mid flap. The motion is interesting, but the colors are completely faded out from the flash.
So the book is ok. If you’re a kid interested in birds, it might spark your interest to learn more about different species, but overall it’s underwhelming. I wouldn’t go out of my way to give this book as a gift to someone but if I found it at a use book store, I give it a consideration.

**Birding Ethics When Abroad** Aug 12, 2018
There is quite a bit to debate when it comes to "ethical birding." You can practically make a drinking game out of arguments of taped calls and bird disturbances on your state's birding group every winter.

While taking pictures of feeding American Flamingos in Cayo Coco in Cuba, our guides told us they would be happy to make noise so the birds would fly off and we could get flight shots of the birds. We declined.

I've thought of this numerous times when in Central America and a guide used a taped call on a bird that they presumably take people to on a daily basis--or multiple guides visit on a daily basis.
I think there are times and places where taped calls can be effectively used. I would rather play a taped call for ten people who have never seen a yellow rail to get it to come out, rather than have ten people trample through rail habitat to see if one flushes.
There's definitely technique to using recorded bird calls. I wouldn't necessarily play a territory song for a species during fall migration. What works with one species may not work with another. A study in the late 70s/early 80s on how taped calls didn't interfere with nesting trogons can't be applied to Kirtland's warblers.
David Sibley was a wonderful and nuanced post on how to properly used taped calls for birds. Basically, go in with a plan and don't over use it.
When we were in Cuba, we had one overall guide and in every National Park we visited, we were required by the government to also use one of the park guides to take us in the park. They are paid, but they rely heavily on tips. And they have been taught that if people get the bird or the exact photo they want, they get better tips.

A Cuban Nightjar hidden in its roost in the woods around Soplillar. This and bare-legged owl were two big targets here.

The birding we did around the Bay of Pigs was spectacular and we explored the woods and savannas around Soplillar. One of our targets was the Cuban nightjar and our guides had one staked out, tucked away in thick vegetation. I realized when I got back to the states that I had heard one at night...they just sound more like a frog than a nightjar. We were a respectful distance away, no effort was made to clear vegetation out of the way for photos. Sure my pictures isn't going to end up in National Geographic, but I like how the branches obscure the bird, it takes me back to the moment when I saw it.

Just beyond those palms was a bare-legged owl.

The other target was a bare-legged owl. The guides knew where one was in a nesting/roosting cavity. They set us up around the deal palm tree pockmarked with woodpecker holes. They told use to aim our binoculars and cameras at a certain hole and then they would get it out. I'm familiar with a survey technique at roost/nesting cavities where you lightly tap on the trunk of a tree like a woodpecker and an irritated owl will poke its head out. I assumed that was what would happen here. I was not prepared for what happened and quickly switched to video when I realized what they were doing.

Yep, the local guide just started violently shaking the palm tree. The tree was in such decay that I was worried it would get pushed over. Sure I could have gone on a tirade, but white lady yelling at people in their own country about what they do is a role I never wish to have. I tried to offer some diplomatic advice as one professional guide to another.
"Hey," I said casually, "there's a technique that you can try where you just tap the tree lightly like a woodpecker. That might be a bit easier on the owl than shaking the tree."
The guide agreed and said that that is what he used to do and the bird stopped responding. Then they started to shake the tree a little and after awhile that stopped working. Now they have to shake very hard to get it to appear. Sigh.
I was amazed that the birds hadn't abandoned the cavity all together. Perhaps they had gotten used to some disturbance? Maybe cavities are so rare that they put up with it? The owl shared the tree with a nesting West Indian woodpecker as well. Based on the woodpecker behavior it clearly had a nest in the tree. There would be lots of noise and pecking that comes with a woodpecker nest that perhaps the owl is resigned to a life of daily disturbance?

There were times when other taped calls were used and I had to get the local guide to stop. Later in our trip we were out looking for a Key West quail-dove. When we arrived we heard a mangrove cuckoo--as species you can only get around Everglades or Biscayne National Park in the Unite States. Our guide of the day immediately started playing the call over and over and over.
I calmly suggested that maybe he should turn it off for a minute--give the actual bird a chance to assess the situation. But he continued. And this went on for several minutes. Not only was I irritated that my request was ignored, but I could tell the rest of my group was uncomfortable with the relentless playing or just downright bored when there were other things to be seen. I finally went to our main guide and said, "Tell him to stop, that bird is not going to come out. They don't call over and over like that."
Sometimes when people play a call nonstop or play it too loudly, the target bird will clam up and hide. The bird may be confused or threatened by the sound, "What is with that crazy sound, I don't sound like that, is this dangerous?" Some birds will hear a call once and clam up. Then it's up to you to wait--sometimes as much as 15 minutes and the bird will come out when it sees the coast is clear.

Key West quail-dove.

I suggested that we give up on the mangrove cuckoo, look at some other birds and maybe the cuckoo would come out while we focused on other things. Soon enough we found the original target of the day, the Key West quail-dove. And about ten minutes into enjoying that bird guess who popped out...

Mangrove cuckoo.

It was one of the best looks at mangrove cuckoo I've ever had. It casually fed in the tree, it preened--something birds only do when they don't feel threatened and are comfortable in their surroundings. Everyone had ample time for photos and video. The bird just needed time to get past all the calls.
I don't blame the guides. Clearly what has happened is that people have come before us and pressured the guides with their tips to get them exactly what they wanted to see or photograph. The guides depend on those tips and will do what they need to do take care of their families.
I referenced earlier that a guide offered to flush some flamingos so we could get flight shots and my group unanimously declined. We were content to watch and photograph them feeding. The birds were fairly close and comfortable with us. And they got so relaxed I got one of my favorite shots.

Look at that shiny flamingo cloaca!

I don't mean to pick on Cuba. Birding tourism is relatively new for them. There hasn't been the decades of birding like there has been in the US or the UK. Some of the top guides in Panama, Costa Rica and Honduras have had the chance to come to the US and get to know more about birding ethics. But I do think it's up to us to help point this out politely. If there is something you're uncomfortable with on a tour, have a conversation about it. I don't mean yelling at a guide in the middle of a field trip, no one will listen to that, especially if their being taken to task in front of a group. But when you're sitting down with them at the end of the day and having a drink, engage in a conversation about bird behavior and share how birding happens where you live. If birders/photographers before us are setting a bad precedent, it doesn't hurt to share how birding is different in other areas.

**Noticing Birds** Aug 05, 2018
"I don't really notice birds."
This was a recent confession from a very good friend who I have known for decades. I was baffled, how can you NOT notice birds...especially after knowing me? Haven't I told them a ton of interesting factoids? OK, I may have traumatized them when they told me they thought ducks were cute and I told them about duck anatomy. But I really thought they could handle that information.
How can someone not notice birds?
When I first started this whole bird writing stuff n 2004 I was used to people saying, "You watch birds? Huh, my grandmother does that." It was always said in way that was almost an apology, "oh that thing you love is boring."
And I've taken it as my mission to say, "Screw that, birds are amazing and we're all over here having an amazing time."
Over the years as all sorts of passions have come about, it feels like we share our passions. Though I may not get why my adult friends are obsessed with going Disney World every chance they get, I appreciate that they like it. When I'm watching that friend's third trip to Disney in a year on Facebook I realize, "Oh, I bet they watch my multiple trips to go birding in Texas with the same bewilderment." How many times do I need to see a green jay? Apparently as many times as my friends need their picture taken with Donald Duck.

On a recent evening I was still chewing on the "not noticing birds" conversation as I was participating in an Insect Safari as part of my job. Though the focus was insects, there were several birds around and I was watching them. One was a very obliging indigo bunting. I set my scope on it in case anyone wanted to take a peak as they paused in their insect hunt. One man put his eye up to my scope and was shocked. He insisted his wife and kids take a look too. As they did he said to me, "I gotta tell you, I never got birding, it just seems so boring. But that bird, that I can see why you do this."
Not long after my phone buzzed with a text alert. It was my friend who was driving around and found a turkey in the road. They sent a photo.
"You noticed a bird."
"Yes," the replied.
I'll take my victories where I can.

Birdchick Podcast #238 Jul 27, 2018

Birding doesn't always fee inclusive to the LGBTQ community.

We are losing Bentsen State Park.

Swamp sparrows have possibly always sang the same song.

Timing is everything when birds leave the nest.

Crow necrophilia.

Don't be like this herpetologist.

**The "Famously" Inconspicuous Henslow's Sparrow** Jun 16, 2018
I've really been taking the "Year of the Bird" to heart. This year I decided to carve out some birding just for myself on top of the classes and events I host. It's been one of the best springs (of course, I say that every spring when there are great birds). This week has just been spectacular.
I got my whole birding by ear class on this amazing Henslow's sparrow.

I wasn't going to post this part, but I feel like I should for the sake of new bird guides everywhere...sometimes bird guides make mistakes. Accept it, take responsibility for it, do your best to make it right, learn from it, but most importantly: get over it. In the last two years I have been experimenting leading birding by ear classes and field trips. From a guiding perspective these are great: I'm not guaranteeing that we will see birds, but we will hear them--which is the case for a great many species! We usually see the birds on these outings, but I find this hits the sweet spot of under promise and over deliver.
I was loading my stuff into the car for my 8am birding by ear class. I was going to arrive at 7:30am so I was a half an hour early. As I loaded my car I got a text, "How close are you, everyone is checked in for the class."
"Wow," I thought, "that's great people are so early...oh wait..."
This was my brain:

Yep. I got the times for my class confused. I wasn't set to be early, I was set to be late. I think I need this to happen to me about once every eight years to keep me humble. I arrived and apologized for wasting people's time and promised amazing birds and a binocular cleaning if they needed it.
However the group was forgiving and the weather was wonderful. The birds were incredibly obliging as we heard scarlet tanagers and recently fledged chickadees all around us. Someone even got great looks at their lifer common yellowthroat. When I do these sorts of classes, my brain is constantly listening for what's the next sound to talk about. I try to stick birds singing nearby and ones that I think people remember or have a chance to hear in your neighborhood.

Prairie area around Richardson Nature Center.

Sometimes I can hear a "good bird" but if I know it's a long shot to get the group on it, I'll "pick my battles" and ignore it. If there is an easy to view redstart nest ten feet away and a black-throated green warbler singing very far away, I'll focus the group on the restart. I do sometimes ask the group what they want. I was doing a digiscoping workshop and as the group was practicing on a ring-billed gull, I heard a Le Conte's sparrow on territory. I announced, "Hey, gang, I should tell you, there's a really great sparrow singing behind me. They're really hard to see, super lurky in the grass and we will have to work for it, but if you'd rather do that than take pictures of a gull we can."
They looked at me like I offered them broccoli ice cream and so we ignored the Le Conte's. I, however, went back later and photographed the crap out of it.
As we walked along I suddenly heard a faint and familiar sparrow sound. It was a Henslow's sparrow, a state-threatened species in Minnesota. Their call is not easy to discern if you aren't familiar with it. In fact, I always notice it because it's so...so...blah. It's kind of like a half-assed house sparrow call. All About Birds notes that these birds are "famously inconspicuous."
I had the group listen and get familiar with the call. I offered to play a taped call once to see if we could get it to pop up, but I warned that they don't always respond to it. Sometimes Henslow's perch just below the grass and you can't see them. The group was curious and we tried it. The bird never popped up. But we got to hear it very well. We continued our way around the prairie and heard a second one singing. I'd never had a Henslow's at Richardson Nature Center, so to get two singing birds was amazing. This time we were able to spot the bird, I got in the scope and it did exactly what I said it would do, perch just below the tops of the grasses. Our binocular and scope views of the bird were obscured by vegetation but people got to see a really great sparrow for Minnesota.
We continued our way around the prairie, got some great looks at bluebirds and indigo buntings when we heard a third Henslow's sparrow. This one was really loud and sounded like it right in front of us. Sure enough someone in my group found it and it was 10 feet in front of us, teed up nicely on some vegetation above the grass.

Everyone got a look and I was able to take photos of the bird for people with their phones through my scope and of course get the video that you see at the top of this post.
I also cleaned a few binoculars as penance for being late.

Birdchick Podcast #237 Raccoons, Bill was right...what? Jun 14, 2018

MPR had a racoon.

Some Ohio officers do not know how to step aside under a bird nest.

Pad Redig from the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center is an amazing man and one of the reasons I moved to Minnesota.

There was a raccoon in Minnesota. There were issues.

Birdchick Podcast #236 The Tadoussac eBird List May 30, 2018

From now on birders will ask each other at festivals, "Where were you when you first found out about The Tadoussac eBird List?" Here's a video to give you an idea of the event.

Let's face it, bird taxonomy is currently a shit show.

Pileated vs Tesla.

Stick insect eggs can survive being pooped out of a bird.

Rabbit vs fox vs bald eagle.

Birdchick Podcast # 235 Owls Being Weird and Laurel/Yanny May 18, 2018

Neil Degrasse Tyson needs a hug.

Laurel or Yanny...also where it came from.

One male great horned owl living with two females.

Also some great horned owl raising a red-shouldered hawk chick. Until the tree fell down.

Birdchick Podcast #234 Eagles and Puffins Apr 11, 2018

Puffins beaks are amazing...and you can attract them with window feeders?

There's a red warbler in Arizona!

Gulls get a guy banned from a hotel for 17 years.

New book: Does It Fart? Also, help out Laura Erickson.

If guys flirted like birds...and vice versa.

Birds can see the Earth's magnetic field.

Why did the eagle attack the pitcher?

**Reporting Owls** Mar 31, 2018

Snowy owl pellets have been documented to contain parts of herring gulls, double-crested cormorants, great blue herons, peregrine falcons, barred owls, mink and house cat...they are badasses who can deal with some of the toughest predators out there. They also can nest on the ground where wolves and polar bears are present.

There was an interesting article about the p olitics of posting owl locations recently. Each winter I find myself more irritated when large numbers of owls show up and people go bonkers on the Internet arguing about whether or not the locations should be posted, if people are getting too close and whether or not they should be baited. When it comes to snowy owls, I figure this is a bird that nests on the ground and can live where there are polar bears, foxes and wolves. It's learned to live with bigger threats than a photographer. Also I shake my fist and wish all the snowy owls would just go back home.
And my attitude is a shame because...owls are cool. When you get started in birding, finding your first owl is a triumph of the human spirit! And with some practice you can find them more often than not.
One of the things that I love about where I live now is my birding patch. We have a wetland that is an easy 2 mile loop from my back door. I've eBirded the spot so much that it's now a hot spot. It's not the most exciting spot in winter, but I'm always hopeful that one winter I will get a northern saw-whet owl back there and I always watch for them. Last winter when we were having a balmy February, I biked past some cedars and saw the telltale small owl sign: copious amounts of owl poop and pellets.

Owl pellets and poop. Owl pellets are distinctive by having lots of bones in them unlike hawk pellets.

I pulled to a stop and carefully looked over the pellets under the pine tree. I could see some sporadic poop under the cedars but the most accumulation appeared to be under a nearby pine. I tried looking up high in the pine for more poop or even an owl but didn't see anything. Not seeing an owl I thought I would go in and collect the pellets. As I hunched over to avoid bumping into the lowest branches...BAM... perched in an old robin's nest on the lowest branch was an eastern screech-owl. The bird had stretched upward, looking quite skinny and branch-like. I know this is a defense and camouflage posture but the owl's faced almost looked accusatory, "How DARE you come in here!!"
Before I could help myself I said, "Oops, sorry," and hightailed out of there, feeling bad I disturbed it. The owl didn't fly away and I was grateful for that.
I biked by the next day and could make out it's shape in the thick tangles of the branches. This went along for a few more days and I decided to take Non Birding Bill with me and try and get a photo. There was no easy way to get a picture, the bird seemed to have found the perfect spot to communicate, "I don't care to be observed."

Don't worry, this was taken through the scope with my iPhone, I wasn't holding my phone up to the owl's face.

I found the one hole among the branches where you could make out the face of the owl about twenty feet away...where trucks typically park to unload packages for the local businesses. The bird stared at me the entire time I was there (about three minutes). Since the owl didn't seem to relax around me, I kept it brief with a documentation shot.
The next day I biked past and didn't see the screech shape on the usual low branch. I looked around some more and noticed that the bird moved to one of the cedars and was much higher up in the tree. Noted, screech, you don't like the paparazzi, I will leave you alone and keep your location on the down low.

Shrew skull found in one of the screech-owl pellets in my patch.

As winter transitioned to the breeding season, the owl disappeared. Late in summer I found a screech in a mulberry bush right over the trail. I was excited that my neighbor was still around and then realized that the tufts on the bird were downy--screech-owl offspring!
Later in the fall while biking I saw the telltale poop in the pine with the cedars and sure enough, there was the low-roosting screech. I took a moment to welcome it back and noted that once again it chose the roost that was surrounded by the most branches.
All of this bird's behavior has made me reluctant to tell anyone about the screech location. I was reluctant to even enter it in eBird. When screeches have been reported near me, they can attract a lot of photographers. Some don't seem to mind: roosting next to busy tennis courts or streets, but this bird keeps choosing impossible to photograph perches and on the days I bring a scope or a friend, it chooses a much higher roost the next day makes me think that it is not in the mood for disturbance.
But then there's my neighborhood barred owl. This bird is a bit more...chill. I first noticed it late last summer. NBB has taken to showing movies on our sun roof at night when the weather is warm enough. One night two barred owls flew right over the roof above our heads while we were watching Airplane. Later in the fall I was walking home from the patch and a barred owl was trying to take a grey squirrel off the trunk of a tree. And in early January, I was walking home from the grocery store on the bike trail behind our home and a barred owl flew out of the trees and cruised along the trail towards me. I was excited that it was going to pass by me until the split second I saw the talons start to lower and realized it was going for my grocery bag. I shouted and it veered off to my left. Nothing like an owl about to fly into you to get your adrenaline pumping.

Signs that an owl has been roosting.

I'd been trying to suss out where the barred owl has been roosting and I found some pine trees near some railroad tracks that gave me a clue. I found an accumulation of chalky-textured poop and old pellets. It wasn't in any of the places where I'd seen the screech-owl and it matched up to all the places where I've seen hunting, including the time it tried to kill my grocery bag. The interesting thing is that the roost was right over a social trail people had made in order to get access to the bike trail. I made a mental note of the spot and decided to include it on my walks. And sure enough on a single digit temperature day, I found it in the roost.

The owl took note of me and then went about roosting in the sun. There was a fat tire bike rider slowly moving along the bike trail behind me. They started coughing and that got the owl's attention. The situation reminded me of a quote I saw last year from Andrew Baksh about viewing and photographing owls: "I have had some lucky encounters and in each case the Owls were chill, I was chill."

This owl is very different from my neighborhood screech, it is quite chill. It hunts along a heavily used trail, it roosts over places people walk with their dogs and it doesn't seem to mind the occasional train.

Part of a gray squirrel skull found in a barred owl pellet.

So for me, when it comes to reporting owls I'll take it on a case by case basis. Some can handle people and some can't.

Birdchick Podcast #233 Migration! Laura Erickson, Bird Farts Mar 28, 2018

Birdcast has live migration maps this spring!

A hot mess of an article about birds, National Parks and climate change.

Urban barred owls give very few ducks.

The closing of the Lodge and Spa in Pico Bonito National Park is covered in a bit more detail over at This Birding Life.

Bird sperm fundraiser. Yep. That's what I typed.

Laura Erickson on Bird Farts.

EDIT: added the correct audio file. Whoops! -nbb

Birdchick Podcast #232 Mar 13, 2018

Oxpeckers sleeping around giraffe "armpits" and testicles.

Thanks to searching for poop on NASA images, we found some penguins.

Video of red kites at Gigrin Farm.

Here's the naturalist dream date.

eBird is keeping some locations of birds vague.

Costco Hawk is living it up indoors and yes it escaped.

The obscure 80s movie called Looker.

Birdchick Podcast #231: Sharon gets the number wrong Feb 27, 2018

Beast Box--make your own dj poppin' sounds with actual wildlife calls.

What? A saw-whet owl band in a barred owl pellet.

The O RLY owl is 17. The Internet is old.

Sparrow Swap for bluebird trail runners.

Godwit Days.

FYI There's a yellow cardinal.

**Birds In Cages** Feb 19, 2018

Home cooked meal in Honduras.

One of the risks of traveling for birding is that sometimes you are going to see birds in cages and it's going to gut you. One of the most brutal examples for me was in Honduras. We had spent the morning in arid and remote habitat looking for the Honduran emerald, a hummingbird only found in Honduras. We saw several other species, but the day was hot and we couldn't get enough water. Because we were far from out lodge and all the villages nearby were small, arrangements had been made to have lunch at a local rancher's house. His wife prepared us a hard meal of chicken, salad, rice, beans and freshly squeezed juice. Her home was lovely and we ate indoors, while her kitchen was outdoors.

Outdoor kitchen in Honduras.

Afterwards we were allowed to wander the yard, take pictures of her kitchen or nap in her many hammocks. I grabbed a few photos of her stove and then settled in a hammock. I had a vague awareness of her animals around the property, most notably chickens but then I noticed a bird cage leaning against a tree with three white-fronted amazons inside. I tried to will myself to not pay them further attention and to let myself fall into a nap. Then I overheard two women from my group discussing the birds. "Oh, look at that! Mom, dad and a baby!" My brain snapped awake.
"They're not babies," I called over and the women looked confused. I walked to the cage and noted the overturned water dish, the empty food dish and complete and utter lack of toys for the birds to chew. I noted the bark of the tree that the cage leaned against was covered in chew marks. And I noted two birds hunkered together while a third--the odd man out had chewed most of his body feathers away. "That's not a baby, that is a bird bored with it's captivity that is chewing it's feathers because it has nothing to do."

White-fronted amazons in a cage. One is plucking its feathers.

I could feel rage and frustration coming over me...followed by the inevitable welling of tears. We'd seen these parrots throughout our trip living in the wild. There's nothing like seeing the parrot brain and beak navigate in the wild. They're so smart at figuring out how to crack open hard nuts for finding food and establishing long term pair bonds. After seeing them in the wild that morning and now to see three bored in a cage was gut wrenching. I noted the chickens freely roaming the yard--soon to be food. The food chickens had a better life than the three birds living in bored torture that were kept out of love.
I walked around the yard trying to force the emotion back. This was a birding tour, not my time to be some white lady telling a woman trying to get by in Honduras on how to raise her pets. But I also thought of the bird I had at home and how miserable he'd be in cage with nothing to chew and no water on a miserably hot day.
I went back into the home and grabbed a napkin from my lunch to try and hide what I'd been thinking. I decided to force myself back to the cage and confront the situation. I wanted to look the plucked bird in the eye and just acknowledge that I see the life it's living and I know that it sucks. As I looked at the plucked bird, it walked over to where my hands were and its beak reached through the bars toward my hand holding my slightly damp napkin...it wanted to chew it.
My Spanish is terrible so I asked my local guid to ask the woman if she'd mind if I gave her bird a napkin to chew. She nodded it was ok. I brought it forward and the bird greedily snatched the napkin away and started tearing it apart. Its cage mates came down to explore as well.
I asked my guide to translate for me. "This bird needs a job. This bird sees how hard you and your family works and it wants to work too. Because it has nothing to work on, he gets bored and plucks his feathers. If you give him some rope or coconut husk to chew on, it might stop chewing its feathers and be beautiful again."
She seemed to consider the suggestion, but I have no idea of it worked and left embarrassed that I'd gotten emotional in front of the group. I especially don't enjoy being the person visiting and learning about another country and telling people how to live their lives. I've built a thick skin when it comes to nature. Life in the wild is brutal. Most animals don't die quiet deaths in their sleep, they're eaten alive, they can live for days starving after receiving a crippling injury, babies are plucked from their nests...it's horrifying. When I see animals in awful domestic situations I try to remind myself that life may not be much better for them in the wild. But a parrot that can live for decades sitting bored in a cage...that torture seems far too long.
And this doesn't only happen to parrots. It happens to birds we can see in our backyards..

An indigo bunting for sale outside of my hotel in Havana. One of many seen on my trip to Cuba last year.

Our first day walking around Old Havana, I heard an indigo bunting singing. It didn't seem to be the right habitat but maybe it was a bird caught in the city during migration. We looked for the source of the song and found a balcony covered in bird cages full of illegal birds: Cuban bullfinch, indigo buntings and painted buntings. We would end up seeing wild birds illegally kept in cages every day. The most common was the painted bunting. To learn more about the bunting trade in Cuba, read this fascinating article the bunting black market.
Part of our trip included a visit to a tobacco farm. As the farmer explained his process for trying leaves, a painted bunting new to captivity frantically flitting around the cage looking for an escape. We also passed a mocking bird which sat with its foot tucked, a relaxed posture. It had seemed to accept its place in a cage. The farm was huge and there were several other buntings in cages.

A caged mocking bird and caged painted bunting on a tobacco farm in Cuba.

I took our cultural guide aside and said, "Look, if you are going to bring birders here, you should maybe tell the farmer to at least hide his illegal birds."
She looked surprised and I explained that even in Cuba, buntings were not allowed as pets. I also explained that while our group was chill, some birding groups would raise a big fuss and get angry at seeing that. Our guide marched right up to the farmer and started yelling at him. He smiled, answered her and walked away.
"What did you tell him," I asked.
"I told him that birds do not belong in cages and he needs to let them go," she said angrily.
"What did he answer," I asked.
"He said how can he see them otherwise," she replied.

Painted bunting.

Indeed, how could he? The concept of watching birds in the wild as well owning binoculars and spotting scopes is not a thing in Cuba--yet. And when the painted bunting are there, they are secretive, hidden in grasses feeding. Not the flashy bird on a perch singing his beautiful song.
That night at the bar we were having drinks with our ornithologist guide Hiram. We were discussing all the illegal birds and in cages. I mentioned how it was clear from the bunting's frantic hopping in the cage that it was a recent capture, but the mockingbird had clearly accepted its captivity. It seemed very relaxed and even at one point tucked its foot--something birds do when completely relaxed.

The Cuban trogon cannot be caged.

Hiram said that it's custom to take mockingbirds from the nest when they are young and then teach them the Cuban anthem making them a beloved bird. The Cuban people love their birds. They want them nearby and singing all the time. Hiram also mentioned that people have tried caging the Cuban trogon and it dies in captivity...which is why it's so beloved and a national symbol. Like the Cuban people it cannot be contained. It prefers death to life in captivity.
These are not problems I can fix. People love birds. Sometimes that translates into living conditions that aren't the best for the birds. This is not a problem that can be fixed today, next week or even next year. Maybe over time with some education this might be minimized. But for the current time many of the bird species we know face odds and dangers we can't imagine.

Birdchick Podcast #230: Brain Damage and Messy Relationships Feb 14, 2018

What real field biologist resumes should include.

Ovenbird vs a garter snake. OMG those birds are surprisingly badass.

Morning Bird Walk Bingo!

Woodpeckers get brain damage.

Blind goose involved with swans dies.

Nigel the gannet dies next to his statuesque mate. (Read while listening to Making Plans for Nigel or Attainable Love)

Bird Walk Bingo!

Birdchick Podcast #229 We're Back! Feb 01, 2018

It's winter so of course we talking about owls. Here's an article that I did for Audubon with tips on how to search for Northern Saw-whet Owls. The politics of reporting owls...there are definitely more northern species of owls in the northern US this year, but the locations are being kept on the down low this winter. Even eBird has put owls on the sensitive species list so you can't use it for exact locations.

Vogue did an article about bird watching...and it isn't terrible...

Non Birding Bill's other podcast: Aging Poorly.

One of the reasons we stopped podcasting is in this post. It's hard to have a snarky birding podcast when the news is often terrible. But we're back for now. Thank you for your patience.

**Cuban Parakeets Go Full 69** Jan 17, 2018

Cuban parakeet in Playa Larga.

I've said it before and I'll say it again and again, there is nothing like seeing parrots and parakeets live and function in the wild--especially if you have ever been crazy enough to share your life with one in your home. Their bright colors, incredible brain and ability to mimic often overcomes our good sense to not have one in your home because of their destructive tendencies and incredibly loud, screechy calls. But seeing that all come together as a means to find food and shelter in their environment is such a beautiful thing, especially when we see recognizable human behaviors.

Allopreening parakeets.

So it was quite the treat when our guide got us on a flock of Cuban parakeets in the general neighborhood of our hotel. It was getting close to noon and the light wasn't great. Our group struggled to get the birds in the dappled canopy. I gave up on getting a "magic shot" and thought I'd just find a bird or two and get some bird behavior shots and video...and boy howdy did I. The above pair started by sitting side by side and preening their own feathers. Then as pairs frequently do, they started allopreening or grooming each other's feathers. This can be a way to woo a new partner and once your partnership is solidified, it's a way to reinforce the pair bond...then things got weird. The birds soon went from, "Here, let me nibble that hard to reach part of your face..." to "let's get busy."

Yep. That is indeed what it looks like. And it went on for several minutes.

Then one bird flipped around on the perch (I refer to that one as Bird A) and started preening the vent and cloaca area of Bird B. The other bird followed suit. This went on for several minutes. Having the brain of a 15 year old, I was delighted by this turn of events. They kept macking on those areas for so long, this was no longer about, "Let me just clean up the feathers in this area for you" but more like, "Wow, this feels great, don't stop, for the love of all things holy, YES!"
There's something about psittacines (parrot order) that really appears to have a thing for sexual pleasure, beyond just the cloacal kiss for mating you see in most wild birds. When our cockatiel was alive, masturbation was an important daily ritual...and he would take his own sweet time about rubbing his cloaca on his chosen item all while huffing and puffing and squeaking. I especially found it amusing when his favorite area was next to a mirror and he clearly watched himself at the same time. Was it another bird in his mind, or was he watching himself? Who knows, but he had a great time.
After several minutes of 69ing each other, Bird B had enough and tried to go back to preening other areas of Bird A. However, Bird A was having none of it and kept thrusting it's cloaca in Bird B's face.

"Pardon me, I'm not done."

"No seriously. You need to get in there and finish that."

And they went back to it for another five minutes and then Bird B clearly had enough and flew off to another perch to forage in the trees.
Birds, man. Always keeping things in the field interesting. Here's some video of the allopreening...and beyond.

**Birding In Troubled Times** Jan 12, 2018
I'm not racist.
I never imagined I would need to make a statement like that, but when the leader of your country says words and supports groups that blatantly are, I feel I need to make sure people know this. Especially the many friends I’ve made all over the world.

The chestnut-sided warbler migrates to the United States to raise their chicks, then heads to "shithole" countries like Haiti and El Salvador every year.

I hesitated to put this up because I was worried about starting a political argument in the blog, something I try to avoid. And then I thought…since when is stating clearly that you believe in equality for all people a political statement?
Countries, like people are complex AF. They can show unknown beauty, teach you things that cannot be learned in a book or classroom, they can bring you unimaginable joy and they can make you irrationally angry. They can also break your heart.

I’ve been in countries that I’m sure the current President of the United States would term “shitholes.” Though I have not been to the countries he specifically stated were "shitholes" many of the countries I've been to share some particular characteristics with his list: people of color and for some, extremely poor living conditions. I generally like to keep things neutral in the blog because I want to focus on birds and wildlife and I think no matter how much we disagree with each other politically, we can find commonality in nature. In the past when I see things I struggle with while out birding, I tend to leave that as a story I only tell friends over dinners and drinks. I think I need to stop that.

For example, Honduras was one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever been too. I loved the people I met, the terrain was breathtaking (literally and metaphorically) and the birds were outstanding. However, the poverty was overwhelming. Every animal I saw was emaciated. You could see the rib cages of dogs, horses, cows—even pigs. Imagine that, my fellow US citizens, pigs so thin you could see their ribs.

While I would stay in my cozy lodges where my daily choice was bird watching, a massage, reading in a hammock, writing, sketching, or snorkeling, some families around us were living in shacks with tarp roofs struggling to survive. Children were out there who couldn't go school because they were needed to go through the streets and search garbage bins to find scraps to sell or eat just so their family can survive. Yes it can be argued that the tourism dollars I bring with me helps, but will it help the individuals I saw? Highly unlikely.
And this is not the only country that has that kind of “shithole” existence going on. Perhaps you’re thinking I might next bring up Cuba or Guatemala living conditions I witnessed. Nope. I’ve seen similar shithole existences right here in the United States. I saw it right in our capital of Washington, DC last October—people living in tents around monuments or within site of the White House itself. I see it daily in Minnesota. Right now, someone is living in a tent on property adjacent to my apartment building’s complex. The current temperature outside as I write this is -13 degrees Fahrenheit. He is a white male living in that tent in the United States.
If you’re reading this and you voted for Trump, I don’t care what policy or tax break or health plan you thought he would fix for you. Can’t we agree that this overtly racist attitude is intolerable, unacceptable and a total embarrassment? And if you think it’s ok, I would encourage you to book a trip somewhere out of your comfort zone. Learn more about the countries you don’t understand. Most people aren't out to "get us." They want a little piece of stability to spend time with family and friends and pursue their happiness.
The thing that’s incredibly frustrating for me is that the news gets overwhelmed with these immature comments and we are missing actual changes that affect us all right now: Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge could be taken from us for a useless border wall that is for show and not action. The Eminent Domain process was ignored on private property when the federal government started work on the wall on private property owned by the National Butterfly Center in Texas. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act has been relaxed a bit so killing birds for construction is ok. The Bundy family who tried to take federal land away from the US people by high jacking Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is free because federal prosecutors botched their case. As of today the federal government is about week away from a shutdown…something that almost happened right before Christmas. The government was less than 48 hours from a shutdown but no one noticed because, “Oh hey, the president said something insane again.”
So, in case it wasn't obvious...I'm not a racist and I don't think any of what is going on right now is ok. And as I struggle with daily outrage fatigue, the thing that is getting me through this is watching birds. And Jameson.

**Che Guevera's Cave and Ant Hatches** Dec 30, 2017

Cueva de los Portales in La Guira National Park

One of the places I was most excited about visiting in Cuba was Cueva de los Portales in La Guira National Park. This was the headquarters of the Western Army and the hideout of Che Guevara during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. I was curious to see something that I'd read about so much in school. This is also the spot to get Cuban solitaire. I have fallen head over heals in love with the solitaire family, their songs are haunting. I can send you to Xeno Canto so you listen to them, but computer speakers are a poor comparison to the real thing. If you do go there, put in your headphones at least. The true solitaire song in the wild echoes off the sides of mountains and sounds other wordly. So far Brown-backed solitaire is my favorite bird song ever, but I was very curious to hear how the Cuban solitaire sounds different.
The Cuban solitaire did not disappoint. As we explored this beautiful cave and heard the patter of rain and the chittering of bats that haunting song bounced off of the cave walls. I could have sat and listened for the entire day.

Inside Che Guevara's cave which was also loaded with bats and swallows.

The cave is definitely worth exploring, but if you go in with cameras (or spotting scopes and binoculars) you will be charged a "camera fee." Make sure to have Cuban Convertible Pesos handy.

The Cuban solitaire was not easy to see, but I was more interested in listening to it.

American kestrels are very pale in Cuba.

La Guira National Park is a good spot to see yellow-headed warbler too.

If you travel into Central America enough, it is inevitable you will experience an ant hatch...in your hotel. Previously, I wrote about experiencing an ant hatch that happened in my room at Panacam Lodge in Honduras (this is not a knock against that lodge, this is just part of life in the tropics). Hotel Islazul Mirador (also called Hotel Islazul San Diego de los Banos) was our base for this stretch of our trip because it was near the cave. Most of the occupants at the hotel appeared to be residents enjoying some weekend fun. Two of the men on our trip took a stroll outside the hotel and within a few blocks met a local teacher who gave them a tour of the town. He had started a personal library for the town from books he collected from foreigners. Incidentally, if you wanted to take something to Cuba for the people, I highly recommend bringing along copies of your favorite books to read in Spanish and leaving them behind.
I shared a room with my friend Sue and the morning routine was that I would wake up first and as I moved around, Sue would gradually wake up. One morning I woke and went into our bathroom. As I was gradually gaining consciousness, I heard a clicking sound. I looked down and noticed a large insect crawling under the door into the bathroom. Then a second. When both were inside, they fluttered their wings and made the clicking sound..."Oh no," I suddenly realized: ant hatch.

Winged ants crawling around the bathroom.

I brain sprang into action, I didn't have ants on me so the hatch must have just started. I needed to close up our suitcases so we wouldn't have them in our clothes. I needed to wake Sue but not panic her. I stepped out of the bathroom and noted a few more ants on the floor.
"Sue," I said in steady but firm voice. "Sue, you need to get up and close your suitcases. I need to turn on the lights."
I flipped on the lights to see where the ants were coming out. I looked for any kind of gap along the ceiling and walls. I couldn't see ants. Sue was getting out of bed and thought our room was flooding in her half awake state. I was trying to carefully explain the hatch because I wasn't sure how she would feel about thousands of large, winged ants crawling all over us. There were some more winged ants on the floor and then I noticed the clicking sound was louder just outside our room door. I realized with some relief that it wasn't in the room, but outside. When I turned on the bathroom lights, that must have gotten their attention and the ants were crawling from under our room door and a gap from our shutters. What a relief that it wasn't inside!
I turned off the lights in our room and decided to take a peak outside.

The light just outside our room was out so we didn't have that many ants outside of our door. However, walking down the corridor you could see that our neighbors' rooms were all covered in dying ants that were attracted to their lights. It had been raining most of the day before. When the rains stopped, queens hatched to go on their mating flights with males. After the mating the wings on the queen fall off and she goes to start a new colony. But all of these ants got distracted by the lights and spent all their energy around it, exhausting themselves. As morning was approaching they were dying and their wings were falling off.
I wondered about people coming out of their room barefoot to have coffee, only to step in and slide through ant guts. I went back to my room to finish prepping for the day's adventures grateful to not be dealing with ants in our room.

When I headed down to breakfast the sun was bright and the dead ants looked quite beautiful in the light. While we were eating, the hotel staff went through and swept them away. I looked down at the pool and it was a different story. A layer of drowned ants covered the surface. The pool boy would have his work cut out for him this morning.

Jellied papaya...with cheese.

One of the specialties our cultural guide Claudia told us to try at the hotel was jellied papaya. If you think papaya is ok but could do with more sugar then this is right up your ally! It was far too sweet for me but it was an interesting flavor. Make sure to give it a try.

**Las Terrazas Birding** Dec 29, 2017
After some fun times and barely birding in Old Havana, we met up with our main guide in Cuba, Hiram Gonzalez (pronounced "ear rahm" not they way we say Hiram in the US). Hiram is quite possibly one of the last people to see an ivory-billed woodpecker alive in Cuba. He's an ornithologist who specializes in endangered species on the island. If Zapata wren is your goal--he's the one you want to know to see one.

He's also one of the most colorful guides I've ever gone with. How often do you go out with a guide who points to your endemic lifer with his half finished cigarette? He speaks very good English with a heavy accent. It took me a minute to figure out that "janky bird" was giant kingbird. At night, he'd join us at the bar and school us in birds and the better rums. But he was always so excited to show us his birds which I'm sure he'd seen more times than I've seen a cardinal. Ever time he would exclaim, while wildly flailing his cigarette, "Look AT dat!!!"

Male Cuban martin.

We headed towards Las Terrazas to a plantation to get some of those Cuban endemics we'd been reading about so much. On the way we stopped for gas and got a lifer: Cuban martin. We had martins zooming over the roof of our hotel. Even though it was April, I wasn't sure if there still might be some male purple martins on the island and it's impossible to tell male purple martins from male Cuban martins. But at the gas station there was no doubt.

Female Cuban martin in a nest cavity, check out the wasp nest above her head.

Unlike purple martins, Cuban martins nest in holes in buildings--not the houses and colonies people in the United States have trained martins to use. These martins were using any hole or gap in the gas station. Cuba is know for several species that are endemic--spend their entire lives on the island. But martins fly away in winter and only breed here so their considered a breeding endemic. Kind of the way golden-winged warblers would be considered a breeding endemic to the North America.
We continued our journey and at the first stop in Las Terrazas, it was the "holy-shit-new-birds-everywhere" sensory overload time. That lovely point where you are afraid to focus on just one bird because you might not see the other new bird right behind you ever again. Many of the endemics we saw on the first stop ended up being birds we would see almost every day like Cuban trogon, Cuban tody and Cuban green woodpecker...getting actual photographs of them was another story.

Our very first bird was the Cuban national bird, the Tocororo or Cuban trogon. As we were watching Cuban oriole and Cuban green woodpecker flew over--to a nest.

Cuban green woodpecker.

The farm to see grassquits!

Clouds and mist moved in as well giving things a mysterious air. After our initial stop we headed to a nearby plantation where they were setting up to feed their chickens. However, domestic fowl are not the only birds to see. This is the spot to get cracker jack looks at grassquits.

Cuban grassquit.

I could show you images of grassquits but it's far more fun to watch video of them happing around. There were far more yellow-faced grassquits than Cuban grassquits but we got ample looks at both. These are now considered to be part of the tanager family and are related to Darwin finches.

I tried to get a picture of Flat Michelle with the grassquits, but they were having none of it.

So a local farmer was happy to oblige instead.

**Horned Guan Death March** Dec 26, 2017
This post was updated December 19, 2017 when I noticed many of the photos were gone after transferring the blog from Wordpress to SquareSpace. I also updated some of the text. It was originally two posts and now I've condensed it to one.

This particular toy at the top of this post is a replica of a horned guan. You can get them from knock-off Kinder Eggs called Yowies—which for whatever reason are legal in the US. I was going to just buy the eggs until I got my guan, but the chocolate is nasty. Rather than going the traditional route of purchasing several inedible eggs, I found someone on eBay who already had the guan and for the price of one Yowie egg I had the guan sent directly to my home. To people who say this is cheating...I say, "Bite me."
A horned guan is one of the rarest birds in the Americas. Imagine a black and white bird the size of a turkey that has a bright red horn on its head that lives in the trees on the side of a volcano. Even if there weren’t only 600 or so of these birds left in the world, they're are still an amazing sight.
If I truly understood what was ahead of me to see a guan, I don't know that I would have gone for it. There were tales from some of my buddies on the bird festival circuit that it was a horrific climb. I had heard of well-known, great birders, who I considered to be physically fit, having to crawl that last part of the trail just to see. Here's Julie Zickefoose on NPR and on her blog or Bill of the Birds on his horned guan search. I think a part of me thought that was just a bit of exaggeration--birders have their fish stories too.
The hike up Volcan San Pedro was saved for one of our final days of birding in Guatemala. Our group had been mentioning it to each other, "Do you think you're going to be able to do it?" or "Sharon, do you really think you can take your scope up the volcano, I'd leave it here."
I heard that previous male birders had brought their scopes, so I thought that I should be able to do it too. I didn't get very scared until the day before. I had found some wifi at our lodge in Los Andes and put up a status update on Facebook: Sharon is nervous about tomorrow's climb up the Volcano to see the horned guan. I got a comment from Chris Benesh who works for Field Guides--travels all over the world to show people birds. He was also on the same Ivory-bill Search Team I was on. I considered to him to be very physically fit. He left a comment to the effect of the climb being the toughest he had ever done, it was brutal, but the got the guan.
Okay, if Chris called it brutal, maybe those stories of birders panting and crawling to the top weren't just exaggerated fish tales. I decided to be all Scarlett O'Hara about it and, "I'll not think about that right now, I'll go crazy if I do. I'll think about that tomorrow."
We had one more field trip planned at Los Andes to look for some mannikans, I opted to take the afternoon off, relax a bit so I could be fresh the next morning. The next day was a rough schedule. We had to be ready to go by 4:15 am, take a bus to Lake Atitlan where we would take a ferry to San Pedro for the climb. The hike up to the guan was going to take four hours, who knew how long the hike down would take.
Gulp.
Initially, all went well. We arrived at Lake Atitlan and watched in amazement at how the locals used the water. As we were loading our ferry, one man drove in his tuk tuk (tiny taxi car) into the water for a wash, another drove in his truck, a couple of people were bathing in the nude right on the water's edge.

Volcan San Pedro...were we really going to climb that?

We boarded boat, marveled at the beautiful volcanoes that surrounded the lake and laughed as the cool water sprayed us as we hit waves. Outside the boat we looked to pad our species list with lesser scaup, brown pelicans, and ruddy ducks. As we approached the other side of the lake, we watched in amazement as Volcan San Pedro loomed over us. Yes, we would be climbing this extinct volcano. Hugo, our guide tried to alleviate our fears since many of us were not accustomed to this altitude. In his quiet, spanish accent he said, "Yes, we will go slow. It will be slow, slow walking, then looking at birds, slow, slow walking, then looking at birds."
I felt some comfort in this. Perhaps the four hours was not all climbing but just such a slow pace of birding that it would seem steep, but not be that bad.
When we landed in San Pedro, I saw more tourists here than in any other town. Peddlers were ready for us, a Mayan woman greeted us with a basket full of baked goods. I looked at the steep streets in front of us and wondered if we were going to start right away, but our local guides and hosts Irene and Ana Christina said that a bus was coming to take us.

Our "bus" was a pick up truck and they ended up corralling ten birders like livestock in the back to take us up to the horned guan preserve.

I love this photo. We’re all so happy, so giddy, so blissfully unaware of the horrors and sweat that awaited us. That’s me with Mike Bergin of 10,000 Birds, Jen Sauter, Hugo our guide and even a part of Rick Wright. It was all just an exciting adventure then.

This poor guys was carrying what appeared to be recently washed blankets up a steep road.

We began our drive through the narrow cobblestone streets of San Pedro, up and up we went. We passed many locals taking the route on foot, many carrying piles of goods on their backs. What is it like to be acclimatized to this?

We arrived at the reserve for the horned guan. We readjusted our packs with our lunches and our bottles of water and began the trail. The day was sunny, the birds were numerous and we made some stops.
We found a spot loaded with western tanagers (more of those North American breeders). I was excited to get the rufous-capped warbler. I had actually seen one of these earlier in our journey, but was the only one who had. I was glad others got to see it and this time I even got to digiscope it. We also got great looks at this ginormous squirrel cuckoo—it was much bigger than the black-billed and yellow-billed cuckoos I see. And so beautiful too—reminiscent of a brown thrasher.

Rufous-capped warbler.

As we stopped for all of this birding, I started to think, “This isn’t so bad.” I have short legs and I was not used to the elevation but was doing ok. I did lag behind the group but always managed to catch up with enough time to rest along with them before pressing forward. I felt that I could do this.

The relentless trail to the guan...five hours of this nonsense.

But then we didn’t stop for birds anymore and the trails became much steeper. It was switchback after switchback. It was dry and the volcanic dust made for powdery walking conditions. I toiled up the trail and as my pace slowed, the sound of our group ahead became more and more faint, I realized I was losing ground. There was another person named Mel in our group who seemed to struggle with the climb along with me. I was grateful for the company and to not to be the pokiest of the little puppies.

This guy booked it past me like the switch backs were nothing.

Local farmers loaded with burdens of fire wood, corn or coffee moved swiftly passed us on the trail. Many looked to be twice my age which made me feel worse. I bike ride, I lead nature hikes, I haul bee equipment and this trail was turning my legs to jelly. It was relentless in its incline. I was desperate for a flat surface. The high elevation and lack of oxygen didn’t help either. Life in Minnesota rarely exceeds 850 feet. The trail starts at about 5000 feet and has a change of over 4000 feet.

The gorgeous views on the climb.

After much sweat and panting my slow friend and I caught up to the group at another resting spot. I hoped that we were half way up and was saddened to learn that we were only a third of the way, with another three hours to go. It was at this moment that Gustavo from Neblina Tours told me , “I’m having trouble staying balanced on this steep trail. Would it be alright with you if I took your scope and used it as a way to balance myself on the trail?”

One of our guides Hugo on the left. Gustavo on the right holding my scope...note how much equipment he was carrying besides my scope.

It was lie. He carried more on this trip than I did: he had two massive field guides besides his binoculars, lunch, water, recording equipment, etc. I knew it was a lie and I was too sweaty and tired to care. I gratefully accepted his offer and continued my slow lumbering walk up the trail.
We eventually made it to a halfway point. I sat on the floor of the observation deck and used the wooden railing to prop my head up and looked out at the beautiful view. I was seriously questioning my life choices. I was not forced to do this, I signed up--willingly. What’s worse is that I could have stopped at any time. I could have just stopped walking on the trail and said, “No more, I’ll wait here in the shade, watch some foliage-gleaners and pepper-shrikes and wait for you on your glory walk down the trail after seeing the guan.” One of our group already had given up the trail due to a bad knee. It was the honorable and safe thing to do. But I willingly continued. Quitting this steep upward battle was never an option to me.
I looked at our group and said panting, “This is like hitting yourself with a hammer because it feels so good when you finally stop.”
We laughed and Hugo warned that we should probably save our oxygen.
Jen soon joined Mel and I as those lagging behind now and two of us practically held on to each other to stay upright. Ana Christina from the tourism board sensed our waning resolve and anytime we paused she would call in her sweet Spanish accent, “Jen, Sharon, come on, the horned guan is right up here.”
We fell for it once and scrambled up, but realized she was really a cloud forest sprite beckoning us forward. It worked. At every switchback we would pause to try and get some order to our respiratory system, Ana Christina would be another switchback ahead of us calling, “C’mon Jen. C’mon Sharon, horned guan is waiting for you.”
We finally reached the horned guan appropriate elevation. I sat in the dust. Gustavo smiled and pointed out how dirty my face was. Fuck you, Gustavo. Part of our group rested, while the rest did an initial search.

The exact moment I realized I hated birds and that I may need psychological help.

I took a picture of myself at this point. I wanted to remember forever the exact moment I realized how much I hated birds and that I needed psychological help. What the fuck was wrong with me. I had heard how horrible it was and I kept going, for what? For the high of seeing one rare bird.
No guan. We needed to go higher. Fuck everything.
We paused once more. Optimism was fading in the group. A few still held out some sweaty hope, but the rest of worried that we’d been talking too much or paying more attention to our body and foot aches and completely missed the turkey sized tree chicken that was our quarry. One guy even said, “You know, we could go all this way and not see it.”
This was the first time in my life I ever felt the deep, gutteral desire to throat punch someone.
Then an anxious whisper came from above us, some crazy asshole in our group was still climbing and went two switch backs up…and found the guan. All of us suddenly forgot body fatigue and dashed up the switchback—where had this new-found energy come from?

Horned guan foot.

The light broke through the trees and…all I could see was a bird foot. Fuck you, bird. I was going to count it, but if this was all I’m going to get of you. Fuck you.

Finally, a little head poked out. I saw the horn, the little red horn where the guan gets its name! And the crazy yellow eye! At first we thought there was one guan, but there were two…and then a whole flock of about 7—they vocalized, they displayed, they flew! My little head exploded in awe as I realized I was watching what is arguably the most endangered bird in the Americas.

Horned guan in all its crazy glory. Alas, this was back when I was digiscoping with a point and shoot. Oh the photos I could get now with a smartphone.

And after all of that, we had to go back down! Certainly it would not take the five hours that it took to get up to the guan, but it would still take time. My legs are only used to flat surfaced and had been trudging uphill for four hours non stop. And now I had to go down, something I still wasn't used to. Every muscle in my legs vibrated at any moment I stopped. I kept going, but the decline and volcanic ash still caused me to slide and fall. Every time I did fall, a large cloud of dust preceded me, causing Hugo to cross his arms and shout, "Safe!" as if I were a baseball player sliding into home. Fuck you, Hugo.

Some way, some how we made it back down the trail to our meeting point, our water bottles depleted. Ana Christina took us to a local watering hole for some refreshments to wait for the ferry. In our dehydrated state, we should of have had water, but it wasn’t safe for the American to drink so our only option was beer. Giddiness soon set in with most of us, especially for me--I NEVER HAVE TO DO THAT CLIMB EVER AGAIN. It occurred to me that a horned guan is a bird that I will only see once in a lifetime and I had a pang of pity for guys like Hugo and Mel who would have to lead a tour here again and take people up that volcano. Those poor god damned bastards.

One of the many Mayan ladies who sensed our fatigue and tipsiness and used the opportunity to relieve us of many quetzals in exchange for their exquisite and colorful textiles.

We finally crossed the lake and checked into our next lodge. I took a very long shower with my scope and binoculars to clean off all of the volcanic dust. By the time we were settled and clean it was 8:30pm when we sat down for dinner of squash soup, homemade tortas, fruity drinks and rich dark Guatemalan run.

I've only ever seen this hot sauce in Guatemala. It was as tasty as it was hilarious.

We discussed the next day's birding. After getting our stuff together at 4:15am that morning and birding almost 12 hours, I was delighted to hear that we were meeting at 7am for breakfast before birding (we'd get to sleep in).
Mel said in a panicked voice, "Hey that means we won't get birding until 8 - 8:30 am, anyone for starting earlier?"
Goddamn lister was already on the quest for more birds.
Hugo our guide said, "Well, it's whatever you want..."
There was a pause, I could tell by some in the group that they needed the rest as much as I did but didn’t want to look like the weenie and say no. I myself have no problem saying no.
"I gotta say that I'm not in favor of that idea and would rather sleep in and rest after today."
Mel looked disappointed, but I felt a palpable wave of relief come across the table from everyone.
So I look down on my little plastic horned guan that ordered from eBay, I think you can understand why I don't think it's cheating to go through loads of technically edible chocolate to get my little souvenir of the day I realized my limits in birding.

**Changing Binoculars** Nov 27, 2017
This summer I had the heartbreak many of us experience with our binoculars...moisture inside the lenses. Who knows when I did it--park service canoe program or on a plane coming home from Hungary. Considering they had been used almost daily since 2005 and I'm rough on equipment that was a hell of a good run. Fortunately, being Swarovskis they have a great warranty and something like this can be repaired with only shipping from my house as the cost.

My first truly great pair of binoculars. I love you old ELs, dings, scratches, sunscreen and bugspray stains and all.

I contacted the repair office to get a tracking number and sent them in for treatment. Swarovskis have a lifetime warranty. I've sent my old ELs in for what I thought was a realignment about 9 years ago. That's when I learned I had a minor astigmatism and hello, glasses! Even though they didn't need to be repaired, the team completely refurbished and cleaned them. When they were returned to me it was like having a brand new EL. I could tell they were still mine though by the dings along the hinges. Oh the times those bins have been tossed in a backpack for last minute birding runs, dropped on the floor, dragged across mud when I wriggled under electric fences or fell along with me when I slid down mountainsides or volcanoes. The lifers they brought to me, both expected and unexpected...that time a dear, sweet Brit named Mike Watson ran into me early one morning on the boardwalk at Biggest Week and said, "Hey, Shaz, fancy a male Kirtland's? It's just right here."
"Get the F*CK out of here!"
His face and the lifer were priceless.
Swarovskis are a tough piece of equipment. I have put these binoculars to the test on many continents. There was even a point at a meeting at Swarovski Headquarters in Austria a couple of years ago after the new versions of the ELs were out and a staff person noticed the state of my old ELs--good, but well worn and well loved. He said, "I'd really love to see you with a fresher pair. We've upgraded them since that model."
I politely declined the offer for an upgrade. I know it's an inanimate object but those 8x32 ELs was been with me almost every day in any sort of weather condition, every sort of mood. They've known temperatures from 120 degrees Fahrenheit to -32 degrees Fahrenheit. They've known the thrill of a sociable lapwing in Kazakhstan and the agony of missing resplendent quetzal in Honduras and Guatemala. They gave me my first glimpse of a Zapata wren in Cuba and my lifer Syrian woodpecker on the border of Israel and Syria. They have helped me enjoy waxwings and purple finches chowing down on crabapples in my yard and give me a crisp view of woodcocks illuminated by flashlights. We've seen some serious shit together.
Because of my relationship with Swarovski, I knew when my old ones were sent in for repair they'd be noticed. They were...as was all of the equipment I've been loaned over the years. "LOOK HOW OLD YOUR STUFF IS, LET'S UPGRADE!" If you've ever seen the movie Moonstruck, it's kind of like when Cher's character stops into the salon to take out a few grays in her hair and the stylist goes nuts and they give her a complete makeover.

One of my favorite things on the Swarovski 8x32 ELs was how perfectly they fit my right hand. The first time I held one, they felt like they were modeled just for my hand. I loved being able to use them one handed.

I dug out all of my Swarovski boxes from storage and found my old EL box from years ago. I poured a glass of Talisker Storm, put in some Harry Nilsson and toasted them and all the adventures they gave me. They grew with me as I grew my blog which led to my writing and speaking career. I carefully packed them in to the box. I had hoped that maybe I hadn't trashed them too badly and maybe we could turn them into a contest like we did years ago and I gave away my old scope. Despite asking, I have not heard. I suspect that the scratches on lenses and worn hinges have deemed them recyclable.

Hello, gorgeous.

And then my new 8x32 ELs arrived. And let me tell you that was a painful two weeks. I have a back up pair of bins--which are not bad. They are a great mid price binoculars but once you've gotten used to using a pair like this on the regular, it's hard to go back. They arrived just in time for me to go to an event with the Lorain County Bird Club in Ohio.

One of the first birds that I tested my new Swarovski 8x32 ELs on was an immature red-shouldered hawk.

I got to take the on a trial run on a cloudy and misty day which is where you can really see the difference between mid-price binoculars and Swarovskis. Holy cow. My old ELs were fantastic...but the new edge to edge clarity and they way these worked with my glasses was stunning. This new pair fits in my hands perfectly. I need to dirty her up a little bit, give her that fantastic field-worn look, but I think we'll get along fine. In the meantime I'll enjoy that new binocular smell and christen her with some fantastic winter specialties. Maybe in January I'll take her on her first trip to Sax Zim Bog.
For those who are into the whole unboxing trend, Non Birding Bill made an unboxing video of the ELs.

**Birding In Havana** Nov 19, 2017

You get a special stamp on your boarding pass after you go through all the security hoops at the Miami Airport.

I'm always excited when I travel but I hadn't had quite the belly doing flip flops feeling for getting to a location since my first trip out of the country to Guatemala. Cuba is something I knew covered only in history classes and locations in movies like the Godfather Part 2. Here I was boarding the plane. I laughed when I saw I had one of those strange window seats that didn't have a window...Why, airlines, why? Well, at least it wasn't the middle seat and I could see enough from the window of the person in front of me. I flew over Cuba when I went to Honduras so it's not like I haven't seen it from the plane and the flight is short.
As we wrapped up a 45 minute flight, I could the island from the window ahead of me. And then the captain got on the speaker and told us that there was a grass fire at the Havana airport, no one was allowed to land and the air traffic control tower was being evacuated. So we headed back to Miami and landed. I frantically started making phone calls to Holbrook so they could let the Cuba contacts know we went back. They assured me that if the fire is small, chances are good they'd send us back before they day was done. The captain kept us on the plane and an hour later we were given the go ahead to head for Cuba again, the fires were out. We made the short hop and our flight mates cheered as we landed in Havana among charred grasses.
Baggage claim was pandemonium because of all the delayed flights landing at once. But we finally made it to our cultural guide who got us to our hotel and recommended some local restaurants that we could safely walk to from the hotel in Old Havana. Hunger outweighed fatigue and well, I was too excited to sleep. Our group headed out in the dark and music filled streets in search of food and a beer or two. We found a restaurant willing to let in some weary travlers on a late night.

Sampling of the breakfast buffet at my Havana hotel: papaya, cheesy rice, friend chicken, suateed cabbage, hot dog wrapped in pepperoni, deviled egg, baguette with melted cheese. There all kinds of breads and roll to choose from as well.

El Capitolio in Havana.

The next morning, our cultural guide Claudia took us on a walking tour of Old Havana as well as a city park where we were meant to look at the gardens and butterfly house...but it was the first day for new birds for us so were more drawn to the bird around us. The trees were full of white-eyed vireos which we could easily hear but not see. But it wasn't long until we got our first regional specialties.

Gray Kingbird

Cuban Emerald

Red-legged Thrush is probably the most common bird we saw on the island.

An American Redstart was gleaning insects near a turkey pen to load up for it's flight to Florida and nesting in the United States.

After we got some birding out of our system we were ready to pay more attention to the culture. Claudia took around the various squares and historical sites. After she gave us the tour and left us for a few hours to relax in our rooms, she encouraged us to explore on our own as Havana, particularly Old Havana is very safe. I took her up on that offer when I went out to get a postcard for Non Birding Bill. His only request for a souvenir from this trip wasn't cigars, it was to receive mail from Cuba. Which interestingly enough took about three months to arrive from home. I was in Cuba in April and then went to Hungary in June. NBB received the Hungary postcard well before he received the Cuba one.
As I walked Old Havana alone, far more vendors of cigars, "art" and internet access cards approached me than they did when we were with Claudia. The streets in Havana are very active with living statues, so much music, and dancing you can't help but feel like you have your own personal music soundtrack where ever you go. If you pause for music and take any photos or videos, handlers for the performers will make a bee line for you to drop in some cash. The energy of the city reminds me quite a bit of New Orleans, you can see why artists and writers are drawn to Havana, the creative vibe in the air is as thick as the aroma of cigars.

Plaza de la Catedral also know as Plaza de la Ciénaga which got it's name because every spring this became a marsh and then the water would be stagnant. But when it was dry, people really liked being here. They eventually were able to drain it. The Cathedral was built in 1727.

Statue of famous flamenco dancer Antonia Gades.

Mural by Andrés Carillo depicting important figures in Havana's history. It was made with sand and resin.

The many feral dots in Cuba. Some in Havana like this pooch have tags that identify them as being cared for by someone in the historical society. They make sure the dogs are fed and taken to the vet. The dogs mostly sleep during the day and become quite active at night. They are everywhere and think nothing snoozing in the middle of a busy sidewalk.

The many feral cats of Havana. These felines looked like they were about to drop the most epic indy album you've ever heard. The cats were active during the day but disappeared at night when the dogs were active.

Of course there are Eurasian collared-doves in Havana.

We saw evidence of Santería being practiced around Havana like this chicken sacrifice.

We stayed at Hotel Ambos Mundos in Old Havana which was Ernest Hemingway's home for seven years. That's Hemingway's room and the hotel offers tours. The hotel is a bit of a fixer upper and was undergoing some renovations while we were there. Sometimes the elevator worked and sometimes it didn't. Sometimes all the lights in your room worked, sometimes only one. Sometimes you had water, sometimes you didn't. But the lobby bar was nice and the rooftop restaurant was lovely with beautiful views of the Havana and lots of Cuban martins. The location is great for many of the historical sites in Old Havana.

Watching cruise ships from the roof of Hotel Ambos Mundos

Some of the old housing given to residents to live in. They are responsible for their own renovations and sometimes neighbors will pool together fundraisers to try and keep them livable.

Oh what could be done to the insides of these homes with some money...that ceiling is incredible.

It's not all classic cars in Havana. There's the horse and buggy crowd as well.

Above is a very brief video I took for Flat Michelle, my friend I take on some of my travels. The stilt dancers are very well know in Havana--we saw them featured on many postcards around this island. But tow things to note in the above video: 1. the big pink building in the background is our hotel and 2. note the lady in blue. She saw me filming the dancers and was coming by to collect some money.
I have more photos of Havana over on Flickr if you are interested.

**Cuba Birding Trip Planning** Oct 28, 2017

Classic cars lined up in Havana.

So you found a way to get to Cuba to do some birding! Awesome! Here are some things I learned that you might find helpful. In April I had the opportunity to visit Cuba and this article is about my general impressions. I'll get into more detail for specific areas in future posts. My trip was through Holbrook Travel and it was one of the best trips I ever took.
We're kind of in a golden age of birding travel as far as locations, amenities and type of birding tour you can take. I don't mind the occasional "death march" for a particular bird, but I do not like ten days of death marches. I like to return home from an adventure relaxed, refreshed with a drive full of photos and notebook full of story ideas. I no longer enjoy returning home feeling like I need a vacation from my vacation. When I told Holbrook that I wanted to see lovely Cuba birds, experience the culture and history and maybe spend some time on the beach for a nap--they were the first tour company to give me exactly what I asked for, it was amazing.
But here are some things to note about Cuba:
Money is...complex...

You'll be dealing with multiple currencies.

You will not be able to use a credit card or debit card with a bank based in the United States. So, US citizens need to go with all the cash they anticipate needing the entire trip--and you will be tipping a lot. Tourists will use the Cuban Convertible Peso aka CUC (the note on the top in the above photo) and locals will use the Cuban Peso ( the note on the bottom in the above photo). CUCs are worth a lot more than Cuban Pesos. Stores will often have two prices for an item to reflect this. When paying cash in a store and receiving change, keep in mind that some might try to give you the change in Cuban Pesos--therefore taking way more of your money than intended.
When I went to my bank to get cash to take to Cuba, they were full of useful information. When you exchange money in Cuba, you are charged 3% fee. However, if you exchange US currency you will be charged an additional 10% penalty. So if you go down with $1000 US dollars, you will lose $130 at least in the exchange. My bank was well versed and noted at the time that they advised clients to exchange US currency for Canadian money or Euros and then to exchange that in Cuba to avoid the 10% penalty.. When I went in April 2017 the exchange rate with Euros was almost even with the US dollar and I had some Euros leftover some trips to Europe this year. When I exchanged my Euros in Havana, I was charged the 3% fee. When I exchanged my Euros in smaller towns like Playa Larga, I was given an even exchange of Euros to Cuban Convertible Pesos. I've had some people tell me that they were still charged the 13% percent when they exchanged Euros because they had a US passport (which you have to show when you exchange money). I can only report my personal experience and that did not happen to me.
Internet Will Be difficult.

One of the Internet cards you can purchase that grant you 60 minutes of Internet usage in Cuba.

I think by now you can get cellular service in Cuba via Verizon and Sprint, but it's not great. Generally, I use wifi when travel and if I need to make a call use Skype or WhatsApp. When I was Cuba, the country had only had the Internet for five years. There is no such thing as private wifi. You cannot tuck yourself into your room at the end of the day to upload photos to social media and text with friends. The only way to use the Internet is to get a 60 minute access card that will let you log in at places like hotel lobbies and restaurants. You find the connection and use the id numbers to log in. You must be vigilant about logging in or logging out. I found that even just putting my phone in airplane mode didn't necessarily log me out and I'd lose unused minutes. Even with the cards the wifi is slow unless you're at one of the huge all inclusive resorts.
The cards can be purchased at hotels, convenience stores or from random guys on the street in Havana. They run anywhere from 1 - 3 CUCs. If you go to a store or hotel, they are only allowed to sell you 3 cards at a time so you can't go in and buy a bunch for your group or for yourself.
You'll Need More Than One Guide.

The three guides I took to Cuba. I also used my Sibley app on my phone.

There's no one perfect bird book for Cuba. My favorite of the three is *Endemic Birds of Cuba* by Nils Navarro--we even got to meet him as part of our trip. It's useful discussing habitat as well as having fantastic illustrations and good photos. He even has a checklist of the endemics on the cover and he encourages you to put you name on it because your trip helps contribute to the understanding and knowledge of the birds of Cuba. However, this book is mostly for the birds you can only see in Cuba. It doesn't cover all of the birds you can see in Cuba. The *Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba* covers all of them but is problematic both with its illustrations and also by not numbering the pages of the illustrated plates--grrrrr. I hear that it's being redone, but I don't know when that's happening. *Birds of the West Indies* has ok illustrations but you do need to pay attention to the maps to make sure your bird is one that is expected in Cuba.
Toilet Seats Are Not A Thing, But Tipping Is.

Typical Cuban restroom.

I'm always fascinated by the different restroom differences you find when you travel--like sometimes it's just a hole in the floor. Cuba has toilets, but frequently the public ones did not have toilet seats. Most public restrooms have someone on hand to give you some toilet paper before you enter. Essentially, if you need to go, you need to tip a few coins. If it's an emergency and you're out of cash they won't prevent you from going in.
You Can't Visit National Parks On Your Own

Those classic cars are everywhere. This one drove past as we were taking a group photo. Our overall guide Hiram Gonzales is second from the left.

In the US you can purchase your park pass and go birding on your own. In Cuba, you have to get a state guide to take you in to the parks. It was interesting watching our main guide Hiram navigating this. Our groups was in an outdoor bar and someone overheard we were birders going in to Zapata Swamp. They were also birders and going on their own and hoped our guide would give them tips. All Hiram would give them were the names and numbers of other guides available to take them in. The other birders got frustrated and Hiram told me later that the guides are a must.
Another thing to keep in mind when birding in Cuba is that the two semesters of high school Spanish that you took ten or twenty years ago is not going to cut it. Bone up on your Spanish skills before you go or hire a local cultural guide (which is what we did) to help with translations. Hiram spoke English but some of the park guides we were required to use did not speak it at all.
Also, since the guides are living for your tips, some of them haven't learned the most ethical birding behaviors. They've learned that if they get people the bird, they get a better tip. I'll write more about that in future posts.
The Food Is Not Spicy.

A dish of roast pork and vegetables in Havana

I was warned the food will be quite bland in Cuba. I found it to be quite flavorful. I think what people were trying to warn me about is that even though this is a Latin country, the food isn't super spicy like what you'd find in Guatemala or Mexico. Rice and beans come with everything and roast pork was the most common meat, but seafood was available and was quite fresh and delicious. If you have any kind of allergy or sensitivity to foods, you do need to be vigilant and repeat it again and again. I have a pineapple sensitivity (fortunately not life threatening) and there were a few times that even though I'd mentioned I couldn't eat it, it would find its way into a beverage or sauce.

Guess what is on my bread? Answer below.

Condiments are always fun for me to discover in different countries. I'm always fascinated by what is offered and especially what different communities like to spread on their bread. Of course no one can top my true love of Austria where putting "lard spread" on your bread is a thing, but many places still have fun and unique offerings. In Cuba, we were offered bread with a dish full of a very light colored spread. I thought it was some kind of butter. It was not. So imagine taking a bite of your bread and expecting butter only to get mayonnaise instead. It wasn't my thing. I need some meat or cheese to mingle with the mayo. Others in my group were delighted by it.
You Will See Illegally Caged Birds Everywhere.

Indigo bunting for sale outside of our hotel.

I'm going to write more about this later, but you will see a lot of illegal birds in cages. I started keeping a tally of all the indigo and painted buntings I saw in cages. I saw a bunting in a cage every single day I was in Cuba. There's a lot more going on here than people who simply want to profit from wildlife and it truly deserves it's own article. If this is something that angers you, be prepared for it.
The Most Common Bird I Saw...

Red-legged thrush.

I just realized that the only bird picture in this post was a bunting in a cage and I needed to add one of the many cool wild birds we saw. Red-legged thrushes are common and all over the friggen place.
What Can You Bring As Gifts?
When we asked about things we could bring to Cuba as gifts we were told anything sports related--especially jerseys or ball caps, nylons, thumb drives, coloring books and crayons.
The coloring books and crayons were met with a cool response. The thumb drives and sport caps were VERY welcome. The nylons...well, I wouldn't take garden variety panty hose. What Cuban women want are the sorts of things you'd purchase from Leg Avenue. I didn't want to be the creeper taking secret photos of women so I don't have photos to back this up, but what struck me was that the women in Cuba tend to flaunt what they have. The airport security were all gorgeous women in their twenties wearing fishnets and heels as well as form fitting shirts and skirts...kind of like something you'd find searching for "female security guard costume" on Amazon. At one of the banks where I exchanged money, the female manager came out who looked to be in her fifties and she also had the fishnets, short skirt, blouse as well as a corset over it. I was asked by Holbrook if our female cultural guide had been dressed appropriately because some tours had complained the women were dressed immodestly. I was a little irritated by this. Here's the thing--everyone dresses that way in Cuba and people from the US are coming to visit. I don't think the women of Cuba should dress for my comfort, they should dress for their own and we should deal with it.
When I was in Cayo Coco, I had hotel staff ask me outright for things I might be leaving behind. I was returning my beach towels and the towel girl asked me for any toiletries, dresses, skirts or shoes I might have, "Please, pretty lady, do not leave them in the room for the maids. If you, kind lady, could bring them to me here before 6pm, I will give them to my family." I felt like my Keens water shoes, convertible pants and spf 50 sunscreen would be a big disappointment to her.
When it was raining, no one had rain coats. Our cultural guide said that rain coats don't make it to Cuba...I may have left mine behind.
A couple of the guys in our group wandered a small town after a day of birding and met the local librarian who was happy to show the books he had collected from people around the world. And based on that, I would suggest finding Spanish translations of your favorite book and bring those down.
Another welcome item would be ibuprofen. Sure, there's socialized medicine in Cuba but we learned from many women that you need a prescription for it and pharmacies frequently run out. Ladies, many of us know how important that sort of thing is throughout the year. If you can spare your travel bottle at the end of the trip, it's appreciated.
If you can find a way to get to Cuba--do it. I would advise not cutting corners or trying to sneak in around the current US restrictions. It's a beautiful country and the people are very warm. I felt fairly safe walking the streets of Havana on my own. And if you're looking for a good company to travel with, I highly recommend Holbrook.

**Game of Thrones Birding** Oct 04, 2017

Trujillo Castle.

When I was birding in Extremadura this winter I was informed of some filming locations for Game of Thrones season 7. I avoided mentioning any of these because I didn't want to get into spoiler territory. I'm generally ambivalent about spoilers for things, but I have friends who take it very seriously. I'm a big fan of Game of Thrones, the audiobooks got me through many a mile while driving to bird survey locations. When I got home I did some googling to figure out what locale in the show I was birding in.
Early reports online were showing the characters Jaime Lannister and Bronn of the Blackwater wandering around as well as Lannister banners. The speculation was that the castle was going to be Casterly Rock.
However, this is what Casterly Rock looked like in the show:

Casterly Rock in the season 7 tv show. Keep in mind that the books said it was more like this.

That is not Trujillo Castle. The odd thing is that a lot of sites are still saying that it was used for Casterly Rock but the architecture of the two castes is very different. After a very particular episode I thought maybe Trujillo Castle was used for Highgarden exterior shots but no, that was Castillo de Almodovar in Spain's Cordoba province. It wasn't until the final episode when I figured it out:

There we go, Bronn and Jaime hanging out on Trujillo Castle.

Trujillo Castle was used as King's Landing...cool! I was going to talk to Holbrook Travel about some birding tours in the next year or two. I'm kind of tempted to do a series of Birding in Ice and Fire trips: go birding at Game of Thrones filming locations. Anyone who misidentifies a bird will be told they know nothing.
Anyhoo, the birding in Trujillo was fun. Here are some highlights:

It looks like a European starling but it has now spots. That makes it a spotless starling.

House sparrow nesting inside a stork nest.

View from Trujillo Castle.

**Betrayed By My Government Pants** Sep 28, 2017
It was the best of times, it was the moistest of times...2016 was a difficult year for me for a variety of reasons. Here's one of them. Warning, this post is quite possibly a little bit TMI.

We get a good mix of people at the Big Watch event.

One of the things that I love about my job is the opportunity to host a couple of big birding parties throughout the year. One is called the Big Watch which I do with the help of some birders in Washington County, Minnesota in the spring. We go to Grey Cloud Dunes Scientific and Natural Area and tally all the birds we see and hear from sunrise to sundown. In 2016 it was a chilly but fun filled day. This was my first time hosting an event like this outside of the Twin Cities metro and was happily surprised we ended up with more people showing up than birds on our list--it was a good list that ended with 87 species.

Brown thrasher seen at our Big Watch event.

Even though it was chilly, Grey Cloud can be full of ticks and I'd taken the time to treat my ranger uniform with permethrin. The day after the Big Watch I woke up with an itchy welt on my left butt cheek. I didn't think too much about it. I figured a mosquito must have gotten through my ranger pants. April and May is an insane time where I try to balance ranger work with bird festival travel all while enjoying spring migration. I'm on the road more than I'm at home. The bite continued to itch and swell a bit more and yet I continued to ignore it. I noticed that the swelling was getting a little harder, but still paid it no mind because I had paperwork to file and suitcases to pack.
I woke for my flight to Ohio four days after the Big Watch and noticed that my pajama bottoms were stuck to my butt cheek, specifically to the area of the bite that had been oozing. Just what everyone wants to wake up to, a crusty oozy butt cheek. The welt also felt three times the size it had been on Monday morning. I asked Non Birding Bill to do his spousal duty and take a look, worried that perhaps I'd finally gotten a tick bite with Lyme disease. Pulling down my pants I asked him, "Hey, do you see a bullseye-type welt on my ass?"
"No, but wow. That doesn't look good at all," he said, concern in his voice.
However, I had a flight to catch and no time for a doctor. I covered the area with copious amounts of Neosporin and a large bandage and then headed to the airport towards the Biggest Week in American Birding. I figured I would try to squeeze in a doctor's appointment when I got home, before I flew off to Alaska. In my brief flight from Minneapolis to Detroit, the bandage was soaked through and the oozing went through my tights onto my skirt. It also seemed to have gotten larger during the flight and the skin was hot and hard to the touch. I realized that I was in over my head and this ass situation was no good. I needed a doctor sooner rather than later.

Is this Cape May warbler wondering what's wrong with my butt?

I headed straight to Maumee Bay to check in to my hotel room and frantically scan the Internet to find a doctor in my health plan's network. I could hear delightful spring warblers and vireos in the trees, but I was on a mission. I wondered how I was going to check in quickly and make it to my room and not have anyone notice what was going on with my rear end. I love festivals because I run into so many far flung friends who want to hug and chat. There's nothing like an oozy ass to make you want to not be touched or even be friendly. I decided I would avoid eye contact as much as possible and be a merlin--look like I'm late for an appointment and dash through the vendor area to my room. The plan worked and when I got to my room I googled away. I found a Minute Clinic that was nearby and in network. I snuck out the back way of the Maumee Bay to avoid people and drove over to the clinic.
I knew after she examined me and went straight to typing on her smartphone that I was in trouble. She was using a symptoms app and when she found the answer she was looking for told me, "I'm going to call the local emergency room and urgent care and whichever has the shortest wait is where you're going. You need help now."
I protested and said, "Let's go to the one that's in network, I'm not made of money and want to avoid an out of state hospital bill."
Urgent care it was.
The doctor was very kind and said, "You have a staph infection which has led to cellulitis. Without doing a test I can't tell you for sure that it's MRSA but we're going to hit you hard with antibiotics. Oh, and stop scratching it. You may want to followup with your doctor at home."
My main concern was the nonstop oozing and I asked what she could give me.
"That's going to take a few days for the cellulitis to go away. In the meantime you can get the expensive surgical pads, but I recommend you use Maxi Pads since they're so much cheaper and as a woman you know how absorbent they are."

One of my first birds at Biggest Week, an American woodcock. It's not looking at my butt...is it?

I filled my prescription, loaded up on all the anti-itch cream I could find and...Maxi Pads. After returning to my room to get everything situated, I headed out to Magee Marsh. When I got to the parking lot I sat in my car awhile. I was stupidly worried and self conscious, would people see me walking around with a bulge on my butt cheek and wonder what was going on? Would the infection keep oozing and then go through my pants? Would I be able to enjoy the birds or just keep thinking of all the terrible things that are happening to my butt?
However, seeing my first American woodcock of the day and catching a glimpse of a northern parula took my mind of my behind. Birding has always been magic like that for me. Then I noticed something...

During spring migration, the only butts people watch are warbler butts.

It was spring migration. No one was look at me, let alone my ass. Birders watch the trees for warblers. Thank goodness!
I started to ease up and ran into many friends...including former nurse Patteye who I'm pretty sure I overshared, but boy did she help put my mind at ease. As I continued with my festival duties, my butt situation didn't appear to be getting smaller, but it also didn't appear to be growing size anymore so that was hopeful.

My view in Homer as I foolishly googled worst case scenarios for staph infections.

Monday I flew home, did some park service work and then Wednesday I flew to Alaska. I realized that I was creeping up on the one week mark from my diagnosis and that my backside was as weepy as ever. After I checked in to my cabin in Homer, Alaska I took in the view for a bit then settled down with some Jameson and the Internet to read more about staph infections and cellulitis while hermit thrushes and golden-crowned sparrows sang late into the night, because nothing alleviates medical fears like reading Web MD while jet lagged and drinking. After about thirty minutes I was convinced that I was going to have to have an emergency assectomy in Alaska and wondered how it would affect my ability to work and go bike riding. And were there any hospitals in network in Homer Alaska.

Seriously, I had white-winged scoters (including an albino) and sea otters outside my cabin and all I could do was lament over my backside my first night in Alaska.

However, as luck would have it my friend Lynne came along to this festival and I remembered she worked in a lab at a hospital and maybe she had some insight on staph infections. Mercifully I had enough decorum to not drop my trousers and ask her to look. She told me that whatever was going on back there was going to take several days to clear up, to avoid scratching it and take all my meds even if I thought I was better. She also reminded me that she was there and things would be ok.
It also helped that there were so many amazing birds in Alaska. It never ceases to amaze me how I can take a break from whatever problem I'm having by watching birds.

I enjoyed some quality time as my infection appeared to go away.

Parasitic jaegers bombing out to see are a great way to take your mind off your troubles.

The song of a Pacific wren echoing through the woods is another great balm for the soul.

Twenty-four hours after chatting with Lynne and enjoying some birding field trips, time with friends and teaching outdoor workshops while hermit thrushes fluted in the background I finally noticed that the antibiotics were making headway with my infection. I was going through fewer pads and the affected area was getting smaller.

It's not every day you get to see the orange crown on an orange-crowned warblers. This dude stayed put long enough for my digiscoping workshop that my participants got photos of it.

I enjoyed my time in Alaska, I made it home to Minnesota. I finished taking my meds and the oozing stopped. Things were a little pink back there, but it was definitely on the mend. I went back into my uniform into work.
Twenty-four hours later the oozing began again. I went to the doctor and explained everything that happened over the previous weeks and he assured me not to worry that we would treat it with even stronger antibiotics. I asked how I could be getting it and he said, "Staph can be anywhere. Even on your body. All it takes is an open area on your skin for it to get in. And stop scratching."

Spring migration continued while I wondered if my behind would ever be normal again.

The week long antibiotics did the drink. Everything was fine. Until I did another ranger program and the next morning a small, itchy oozy bump appeared. I hightailed it again to the doctor. He seemed more concerned this time compared to last time and we tried a different antibiotic. "I can't say without a test that this MRSA but if it keeps coming back we may have to look at some alternatives."
With this third visit, I noticed a common denominator. Every time I wore my ranger pants I got the infection back, no matter how many times I washed them. There was a part of me that wondered if I had developed an allergy to my ranger pants and I'd get a special dispensation to never have to wear those polyester wool monstrosities ever again. But before I could say it was an allergy for sure, I knew I had to burn my old pants and order a new pair.
The final round of antibiotics did the trick. After living life in my new ranger pants I haven't had any issues again. All in all I lived with this for three months. I was reminded of what a weird biological experiment our bodies are and if I had this infection 100 years ago would I have even survived?
Anyway, I'm grateful to friends who kept me calm and to all the birds that took my mind off of it.

Birdchick Podcast #228 Hurricanes and Eagle Optics Sep 11, 2017

It's the end of an era, folks. Eagle Optics is closing its doors at the end of the year.

There's some cool stuff over at Big Day Birding.

Great article about what different birds species do during a hurricane.

Could captive breeding help sage grouse?

**Birding Around Homer, Alaska** Sep 04, 2017
There is never enough Alaska to be had. I loved exploring Homer so much, I'm already eyeing a tour offered by Zugunruhe Birding to Barrow next year.

Semi-palmated plover seen along the Homer Spit.

Alaska is one of those states you can't say no to when it comes a callin'. It's so far from the lower 48 states I was the speaker in 2016 for the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival and it was a place I immediately felt at home. One thing that struck me about the area was how much it reminded me of northern Minnesota if it had mountains. I met quite a few people who were originally from Minnesota and Wisconsin, came to Homer for work with the intent to stay for three years and yet found themselves in Homer going on 16 or more years. I could see myself doing that...not so sure about my city loving husband, but me? I'd for sure give Alaska a go.
The state of Alaska is so huge, you need more than one visit or the opportunity to live there to really get to know all of the different areas. It's beauty is overwhelming and the day length is unnerving.

Everywhere you look in Alaska you see a Bob Ross painting. This is Chugach National Forest, Moose Pass between Anchorage and Homer.

My foot compared to a moose track.

I wondered how quickly I would see a moose on my drive from the Anchorage airport to Homer. I had to stop at a few scenic vistas on my way because I was not focusing on the road but the overwhelming beauty. Everywhere I stopped were signs of moose from tracks to poop. We have a small and dwindling population of moose up in Minnesota and I went on a moose safari in Sweden a few years ago so they aren't new for me but are always cool to see. I have a fairly distrust of moose on the side of the road ever since I saw the episode of Mythbusters that pretty much said you're boned if your vehicle collides with one.

Moose blocking traffic in Homer.

The closer I got to Homer, the more moose I saw: in the road, along the road, running along side my vehicle...which was quite nerve wracking. And signs like these didn't ease my mind. But I made it to Homer without incident and picked up a few lifers along the way.

Mew gull...so weird to see a gull perched in a tree and also weird that I was able to id a gull on my own...

Golden-crowned sparrows sang all around my cabin.

The light at 10pm in Homer in May...

I checked into my cabin at Shadow Star Vacation Rental which was right on the bay and gave me views of scoters, sea otters and of course lots of bald eagles. Golden-crowned sparrows, sooty fox sparrows and hermit thrushes serenaded me as long as it was light out. Which was a bit of a problem for me. I tend to wake up with the light and the cabin had excellent light blocking curtains so when it was still dusk like at 11pm I'd have a shot at sleep. However, the hermit thrushes and sparrows kept going and my brain refuses to turn off when bird song is going, especially gorgeous songs from thrushes or birds I haven't heard before. But fortunately, Shadow Star offered the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on in my life and that combined with noise cancelling headphones playing white noise allowed me sleep.

The Sourdough Joe breakfast at the Fresh Sourdough Express. There's fresh reindeer sausage in there so I had to order it.

After a good breakfast, I explored Homer and what it had to offer for birding, specifically along the spit. This area was infamous for years for the Homer Eagle Lady who fed chum to hundreds of bald eagles. Since she's passed away, Homer now has very strict rules about feeding birds along the spit. Apparently, there are some after effects of the feeding like black-legged kittiwakes now nesting under the piers so as to not have their nests predated by eagles.

One of the piers where kittiwakes seek shelter from eagles.

Black-legged Kittiwake up close.

That's not to say a kittiwake colony doesn't attract attention. Here's an immature peregrine falcon and northwester crow near the kittiwakes. Eagles still abound as well.

Obligatory bald eagle photo from Homer. They pretty much nest on anything that can find. You might be at risk if you stand in one spot for too long.

Black oystercatcher seen along the Homer Spit.

You may have noticed that I attended a festival with "shorebird" in the title and I've posted very few photos of shorebirds. I went in 2016 and the timing of the festival and shorebird migration didn't quite coincide. Such is the nature of migration and weather. Though I didn't get the big numbers of godwits, sandpipers and plovers, there are plenty of birds to keep you entertained and to fatten up your life list.

Common murres against the sun taken from a boat.

One of the field trips you will want to make sure you get a space on is the seabird trip. It's only three hours but you can head out to a common murre colony and find eiders, common and Kittlitz's murrelts. It's also a gorgeous way to experience the Homer Spit view. If you're not sure how you would ever do on a pelagic, this small trip and a good way to test out your sea legs. You get quite a few opportunities for seabirds and shorebirds.

Common murres and black-legged kittiwakes on Gull Island. Digiscoped from a boat. The iPhone is a very forgiving camera.

I like the above video because it captures the frenetic activity of the birds and the adventurous air on a boat birding trip. Just walking around Homer can feel like an adventure, but the sights, the wind, the roar of the common murres and kittiwakes yelling overhead combined with the aroma assaulting smell of copious amounts of bird guano just adds to it.
But that's just the birding around Homer. There are other places to explore in the next post. Also, be sure to check out the shenanigans my friends Sue and I got up to with our friend Flat Michelle.

Birdchick Podcast #227 My Husband is Surprisingly Supportive Aug 31, 2017

The plight of young conservationists seeking an actual job.

Hawk + Snake + power lines = frowney face.

Map of what people observing birds noticed during the solar eclipse.

You should totally listen to the American Birding Association Podcast.

Hurricane Harvey the Hawk updates.

Birdchick Podcast #226 Paddle Birding, Gulls, Spencer Pratt Aug 19, 2017

A study attempts to categorize birders. Do you fit one of the four categories?

Listen to Alec Baldwin learn about birding from Charles Munn on Here's the Thing.

Spencer Pratt is the hummingbird hero we need right now.

If you purchase this print by August 23, 50% of the purchase goes to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Paddle Birding!

Podcast #225 Senior Passes and the Border Wall Aug 03, 2017

So...we recorded this over a week ago and forgot to post it. Whoops.

The first half hour is a rant on the Senior Pass price increase for federal parks. If you really want one at the old rate, order it at YourPassNow.com before August 28.

The second is about the government looking into public and private land to build a wall that will keep no one out of the United States. Without going through due process for Eminent Domain, work has already begun on private property at the National Butterfly Center for a border wall. Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge will also be ripped apart for a useless border wall.

**Monfragüe National Park, A Vulture Lover's Paradise** Jul 04, 2017
Let me tell you about about vultures...and Iberian ham...

Birders looking badass as hell climbing up to Monfragüe Castle to do some birding in Monfragüe National Park in Extremadura.

I recently visited Extremadura which is in the southwest region of Spain and bordered by Portugal. It's an "autonomous community" meaning that even though it's inside Spain, it governs itself. Extremadura is fairly wild and remote and offers tremendous birding opportunity as well as Roman ruins. I've written a little bit about castle birding over at the PhoneSkope blog which includes this region. If you are looking for a unique birdwatching experience, Monfragüe National Park has it.

Griffon vultures roosting on one of the may rocky cliff faces in Monfragüe.

The big show while I was at the park was the large population of griffon vultures...which are a bit different than the turkey and black vultures we have in North America. This Old World species is ancient looking and gigantic, they make turkey vultures look practically anorexic. To give you an idea, a turkey vulture weighs about 3 - 4 pounds. A bald eagle can weigh anywhere from 8 - 12 pounds. A griffon vulture...now that beast can weigh as much as 25 pounds! Wrap your head around that for a minute--a soaring 25 pound bird! That's about the weight of a trumpeter swan!

Griffon vultures pair up for life and nest in breeding colonies along rocky cliffs. Spain hosts the largest breeding population for this species and Monfragüe National Park is a great place to view them.

One morning while we were out birding, there was a griffon vulture perched on a rock in the field. There was no way to stop to get a photo, but you could clearly see the bird was almost as tall as me, at least four feet tall. Our guide said the bird was probably feeding and when the afternoon faded to evening there were no thermals or warm currents of air for the bird to use to soar up to the cliff, it had to spend the night on the ground because it's too big to flap up to the cliffs in a powered flight like a common buzzard would be able to do. I asked if there was any danger of predators getting a vulture and our guide smiled and said, "No, not a bird that big."
When I used to do eagle surveys, I always knew they would be one of the last birds to hit the thermals and I wouldn't really see them lift off until after 9:30am since they are a bit heavier than hawks and other soaring birds. If vultures are your target in Spain, you can sleep in before you go watch them.

The castle in Monfragüe National Park offers dynamite views of griffon and black vultures as well as song birds on the trail up to it.

It's one thing to go birding in a beautiful park with a rugged landscape. Monfragüe ups the adventure by offering tours from a castle on top of hill and looking into the valley below. When you get there, you go out on the roof and survey the landscape. Vultures start to rise and it isn't long until they're on the thermals and soaring 15 feet away from you and your eye to eye with this massive, winged beast. To make it even more decadent, there's a vendor with a cart who will sell you some espresso or beer to enjoy while you take in the view.
Below are some more highlights:

Griffon vultures rely on soaring to keep their massive weight in the air, since their heavy bodies would burn too much energy for flapping in powered flight. They soar high looking for dead livestock.

Imagine returning from vacation and a coworker asks, "What did you do?" and you can answer, "I stood on top of a castle in Spain watching vultures soar past me while I sipped an espresso."

Other species of vulture can be possible too, depending on the time of year. These are black vultures with my lifer Egyptian vulture mixed in.

European serins serenaded us on the trails in the national park.

Eurasian wrens are one of my favorite singers.

One of the prized species in this region is the Spanish imperial eagle. My picture got photobombed by a griffon vulture.

Black stork.

The park a mixture of scrub habitat among rocky cliffs and and small oak forests. One tends to think of Europe as being mostly historic cities and villages but there's a warm wildness in Extremadura that is unique to Europe. You can find spots and feel like you're in a true wilderness.

If you are not a vegetarian, make Iberian Ham a priority when visiting Extremadura.

Speaking of the small oak forests, one of the best cured meats I've ever put in my mouth can be found in Extremadura. Pigs are left to wander the oaks during an acorn mast for six months before they're killed. The meat is then cured for three years, but may linger in shops for another two years before purchase. It's buttery soft and can be put on the traditional breads, but I enjoyed it on it's own. I thought Austria had a handle on making my favorite cured meats, but Iberian Ham blows it out of the water. It's the sort of food after tasting it where I thought, "I have to come back here, I can't imagine never eating this ever again. I know a lot of birders like to celebrate a life bird with "lifer pie," but if you're in Spain and you're a carnivore then make "lifer ham."

Birdchick Podcast #224: Johnnie's Cowbird Question, Update on Canuck the Crow Jun 30, 2017

House finches that use cigarette butts in the nest may get some insect protection.

Canuck the Crow is causing some mail delivery problems. Also, you can follow him on Facebook.

Eagle mistakes testicles for turtle eggs (fake news).

Report your dickcissels.

BSBO and ABC stops a wind turbine on the Great Lakes.

**Birdchick Podcast #223 Cowbirds, Audubon, Gay Griffon Vultures** Jun 19, 2017

Eastern phoebe feeding a brown-headed cowbird chick.

Cowbirds are kind of like the Manchurian Candidate.
Gay griffon vulture pair raise a chick in an Amsterdam Zoo.
A fascinating look at the amazing talent of Julie Zickefoose as she restores an Audubon Elephant Folio.
Jane Yolen is partnering with Cornell Lab of Ornithology to write some books about birds for kids.
You know the dude who broke the North American Big Year record? He donated over $36,000 to offset his carbon footprint.
What, there are other podcasts to listen to? Here are the ones we referenced:
Out There With The Birds specifically the migration episode.
The American Birding Association Podcast
Lang Elliot's Music of Nature
Non Birding Bill's podcast with Sam Landman called Aging Poorly

Birdchick Podcast 222: Cuba Birding and Migration May 09, 2017

Weird things happening on bird cams. There appears to be a Canada goose uprising and they're taking over osprey nest platforms. Not all ospreys are taking it lying down.

The field guide we've all been waiting for: The Field Guide To Dumb Birds of North America.

Birdchick Podcast #221: Nest Watch, White-throated Sparrows Apr 11, 2017

Help a graduate fund her research project.

How much would you pay to go glamping for a nigh parrot in Australia?

The city if Wichita is offering tips to prevent herons and egrets from nesting in your yard.

The California super bloom has been great for birds too. Be sure to check out the video.

It's project nest watch time and there is of course an app for that.

**eBird Is The Best Passport** Apr 03, 2017

Birders wandering the streets of Innsbruck on a rainy night.

Recently, I was in Austria with a bunch of other birders from around the world to check out Swarovski's amazing BTX. One of the things that I love about these trips is that it's a fun birder camp and I get to hang out with colleagues from publications, conservation organizations and tour companies. This trip was a real treat because I got to go birding with Jesse Barrie who is the Program Manager for the Macaulay Library and the Merlin Project Leader as well as Chris Wood Assistant Director at Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

One of my favorite reasons to visit Austria: Speckknödelsuppe (bacon dumpling soup). Amazing plans were hatched over this soup and some stone pine schnapps.

The group consisted of birders all over the world and because the way the prices for flights worked out, all of us who came from the United States for the event got to stay an extra day. For many of us that meant getting a chance to catch up on missed European lifers like black woodpecker and for me--wallcreeper. But Chris Wood planted a delightful idea on our first night in Austria when we were settling into some schnapps:
"You know, there are only a few checklists in eBird in Liechtenstein. If we went in there, we could be the top eBirders there..."
As we know, I'm not much of a lister. There really aren't any birds I could get in Liechtenstein that I haven't already seen in Austria. However, the idea of visiting the tiny principality was too irresistible for me. It's equal parts birding and adventure. And given my tax bracket, I don't see myself living or vacationing in Liechtenstein in the foreseeable future.
Our plan in the morning was to visit a castle in Austria where we had a good shot at wallcreeper and then driving into Liechtenstein after lunch. Yes, we got wallcreeper (another post for another day).

Our driver whisks us through Schaan, largest municipality of Liechtenstein.

Liechtenstein is a 62 square mile principality right between Austria and Switzerland. It's a popular winter sports destination. Our driver checked in at the border and we were sent through without having to show our passports.
Many in our tiny group needed alpine accentor, snowfinch and alpine chough.

As we headed up to a ski resort we passed Vaduz Castle, the official residence of the Prince of Liechtenstein.

A beautiful drive up overlooking almost all 62 square miles.

Blackbird or what we here in the US would think of as a melanistic robin.

The birders in the vehicle included not only staff from Cornell, but our guide Leander Khil and friends like Jeff Gordon who is the president of the American Birding Association, Clay Taylor from Swarovski, Corey Finger from 10,000 Birds and Bill Thompson from Bird Watcher's Digest. All of us were scanning out the windows to pick up common birds for our lists like European blackbird and great tit--we were going to pad those lists with anything we could find.

We arrived in the resort village of Malbun and had to be careful to dodge the skiers.

The ski town was really cool. It has a few hotels, restaurants and cabins for people to use when they are not on the slopes above. The skiers didn't seem to mind us but we did have to keep watch as we looked for birds and they would frequently be zooming down from the mountains. What was really cool was seeing how many children were playing in the snow, completely unsupervised by parents. Many were on sleds and a couple were building their own snow hill so they could sled down a window from their cabin. We had distant alpine choughs circling overhead but not too much in the way of birds. Then we heard the singing of an alpine accentor!

It took a few moments, but we finally found it. Can you spot it on this chalet? If not, the video below will help you.

Alpine accentor.

We didn't get a lot of diversity of species, but that is to be expected in winter in the Alps. As our guide Leander was trying to herd us back to the van so our driver could finish his shift on time, we encountered a fabulous marching band called Wildmandli Guggamusik. According their website they take contemporary songs and make them into marching band music. Here they are doing what I think is Masterpiece:

What a weird and wonderful way to wrap up our day! They also did Hot Fudge and as I was recording that, you can hear Leander in the background really trying to get us to wrap up our day. Poor Leander, herding birders is worse then herding cats.
Our driver really seemed intrigued by our excitement of adding bird sightings to different countries so as a treat, he took us through Switzerland on the way back into Austria! It was all birding by 55 mph but we managed a few new species for the trip like rook and jackdaw. As we crossed back into Austria, I managed to slip one of my Pokemon into a gym on the border and it stayed there for six weeks. Ah, for a month and a half I was international in Pokemon Go.

Who knows how long it will last, but I'm part of a number one team in eBird.

And so here we have it, proof that for a time I was one of the top eBirders in the Principality of Liechtenstein. And what's great is that even though I didn't get the stamps in my passport for the two other countries we visited, I do have new colors on my eBird map in my profile and that's just as fun as my passport. And this is what I love about life. Saying yes to a weird little adventure leaves me with great memories I'll never forget.

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Birdchick Podcast #220 Birding Extremadura, Birds Do Weird Stuff Mar 20, 2017

Have you seen Swarovski's new BTX scope? Also, the Cotton Carrier tactical birding harness is no joke and comfortable in the field.

Are you having a hard day? Check out this bubbler type bath with a buttload of Allen's hummingbirds.

Why do turkeys walk around in circles and why do bush stone curlews stare at themselves?

Canada's national bird battle.

Migration needs to hit soon because all North American birders are doing is arguing about owls and baiting.

Good Birders Still Don't Wear White is out and you should buy it!

**Swarovski's BTX: Half Scope, Half Binoculars, All Comfort** Mar 03, 2017

I remember years ago in my twenties working at a wild bird feeding store and reading Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman on a slow day and thinking, "Man, I'm wasting my life by playing it safe with a steady job. I need to be out traveling and bird watching, living hand to mouth." Then I'd read something Kenn wrote in Bird Watchers Digest and it would mention being someplace with editor Bill Thompson and I'd think, "How cool would it be to travel around with other birders? Get to see new birding products and what the latest."
Cut to 15 years later and doodly doodly doodly: here I am doing just that. Life has taken me to many strange and wonderful places. Recently, it sent me to Austria to take a look at some new products Swarovski has been working on for the last few years. They've taken their modular ATX spotting scope line which already allowed you to customize your objective lenses to another level. Now you can truly personalize a Swarovski scope to suit your particular needs.
Are you ready to see the weirdest, yet coolest spotting scope that's coming down the pike?

Say hello to the new BTX which combines binocular vision with the light gathering ability of a spotting scope.

The new BTX allows you to use both eyes with the spotting scope. Not only does this scope work naturally with the way our vision, it also gives you an almost 3D image of a bird. Like a pair of binoculars you can adjust it for your face with the eye cups and the barrels. There's even a diopter to balance out the lenses to your vision. An adjustable forehead rest allows you to comfortably watch birds through the scope for hours by resting your head against the scope. This is the perfect tool for sea watching, hawk counting or bird surveys. I wish I had this back when I was doing my eagle surveys and I had to stake out a bald eagle nest for four hours at a time. Doing that with one eye gets a bit exhausting on the muscles.
I already have the ATX scope and it is a fantastic piece of equipment. When I came along on this trip, I brought it too and was able to do side by side comparisons while watching waterfowl. What surprised me was that going from using both eyes on the BTX scope to only one eye on my ATX scope was difficult. The BTX was so comfortable visually that it felt like I was going from a high end scope to a low end scope--which is ridiculous because the ATX is a quality piece of equipment. But most of us were meant to use both our eyeballs to see well and that's what the BTX was designed for.

And in case you are wondering, you can digiscope with the BTX.

Of course I had to see if I could digiscope with the BTX. I didn't have an adapter for it so held my iPhone 7 up to one of the eyepieces and after some zooming on the phone to take out the vignetting I got the above shot of a whooper swan. However, digiscoping doesn't really capture the 3D view of birds and wildlife you will get with this scope.

This is the ME 1.7 magnification extender.

The BTX magnification is 30 power with a 65mm and 85mm objective lens and 35 power with the 95mm objective lens. But if you want more magnification, you have have another option. Swarovski has also created a magnification extender which can be used with the BTX and the ATX and STX as well. If you attach it to the 65 or 85mm BTX you'll go from 30 power magnification to 50. If you use with the 95mm objective lens you'll go from 35 power magnification to 60.

The new Swarovski PTH tripod head.

Because of the design for comfort, the BTX only comes as an angled scope. It is a bit on the heavier side of things for a Swarovski scope. For example, an ATX 85mm is roughly 4.2 pounds and the BTX 85mm is roughly 5.5 pounds. Since it is a bit heavier, it's best to use it with a balance rail. There's even a new tripod head to accommodate the new set up.

Yes, you can still wear a hat while using the forehead rest on the BTX.

If weight is a concern, Clay Taylor and I played around with the BTX and the 65mm objective lens which comes out to about 4.8 pounds. A smaller objective lens makes the scope lighter but won't have as much light gathering ability as an 85 or 95mm. Even so, it still works very well. But this set up is really the dream set up for hawk watching platforms and those who dig scanning for gulls and jaegers on sea watches.
If you see a BTX at a bird festival this spring, take it out side, really adjust for your eyes and marvel at the view. You wouldn't think there could be any more major advances in the world of quality scopes, but this is really quite something.

**Song Sleuth: The Bird Song ID App** Mar 02, 2017
One of the most common questions I get in my Tech Birding classes is, “Why is there no Shazam-type app that will allow me to use my phone to identify bird calls?"
Two reasons:
1. Birds have accents. Generally, when you hear Adele singing “Hello” over a speaker in a Target in Minnesota and then a few months later hear Adele sing "Hello" over a speaker in a Walmart in Florida, it's the same song. However, a cardinal in Minnesota is going to sound different than a cardinal in Florida.
2. Also when a song is playing, there’s usually only one song going on at a time. How many times is there just one species of bird singing at a time?
That said, there's a new app called Song Sleuth that wants to help you out!

The Song Sleuth app includes illustrations and bird information by David Sibley.

Developers at Wildlife Acoustics have released the Song Sleuth app available for iPhone (an Android version should be coming in a few months). Wildlife Acoustics actually came out with an app before there were smart phones. It was in the form of a blue box you would wear around your neck that would record calls and try to id them. It wasn’t all that user friendly and was a bit cost prohibitive. I can’t remember the exact cost, but it was over $100.
That technology didn’t go over well in the consumer market but it did go over well in the biological survey field. When I used to do bird surveys for wind farms, I’d have to work with bat audio equipment from time to time and it was always Wildlife Acoustics software. The microphones would be set on timers to record sounds at night and then software was used to ID all the spectrograms of the different bat calls. It’s really the only way to monitor bats and get a handle on the species that may be in an area.
This is not as user friendly as a Shazam app, but it is indeed a useful tool to help you learn your bird songs. And I hate to use all caps here but I feel this is really important:
THIS IS NOT AN APP YOU CAN BLUNDER YOUR WAY THROUGH. YOU MUST READ THE DIRECTIONS OR WATCH THE YOUTUBE TUTORIAL before you start to truly understand how it works and how to use it in the field.

What the Song Sleuth looks like in recording mode. The key to using this app is understanding the spectrogram of the bird songs.

This app is very cool for recording calls. When you have the app open in recording mode, the mic is always on and recording, but not saving everything. If you suddenly hear a bird start to sing that you want to identify and hit the record button, it will automatically default the start of the recording to the three seconds before you hit the record button. As you record, you’ll se the spectrogram of sounds from the song you are trying to id as well as your own noises from walking or coughing and ambient noise like planes.
After you have captured the recording, the app will generate three possible species that made the sound. It's best to try and trim the recording down to the actual song you want to id. If you use the whole recording and there are other birds singing, chances are good that you'll get a misidentification.

The Song Sleuth app brings up a list of three possible identifications to your recording. You'll note the app brings up humans as a possibility. It also includes some frog and squirrel species which is pretty cool considering how many people mistake mammals and frogs for birds sounds.

When Song Sleuth brings up the list of possibilities you can either agree or disagree with it. If you aren't sure, you can listen to the preloaded calls to compare to your recording. You can even compare spectrograms of the prerecorded calls to the ones you captured. If the app brings up the incorrect identification, you can go into the full list of birds in the app to try and find it.
I played around with this app with sounds from the All About Birds site and with bird calls in my local patch. Let me tell ya, trying to find singing birds in a Minnesota winter is not that easy. I had mixed results with the app. I would say about 60% of the time it nailed the id, especially if I trimmed down the recording and try to filter out wind. But 40% of the time the bird I was trying to id wasn't on the list. Part of it was disagreement with the app about what birds occur in Minnesota in winter. We have an influx of tufted titmice in the Twin Cities this year and the app didn't think they should be here so never considered the bird a possibility. I had to go in and manually include in the list of possible birds.
But I do love that this app gets you into a habit of visualizing bird sounds on a spectrogram. I think that visual clues are very handy for someone just starting out and you'll be surprised to see the distinct vocal patterns birds can have, even with an accent. I also love that this app lets you record calls and even if it doesn't get the correct id right away, you have something you can take home and compare with bird sounds online. I played with this on an iPhone 7 and was able to pick up bird and squirrel sounds from far away. Ideally, you want to be as close as possible to get the call, but considering the size of the microphone on an iPhone it does a decent job.
I also think that over time the app will improve as more people start to use it. To get an idea of how it works, check out the video on how to use the app. It's not a perfect app, but if you are struggling to learn your bird calls, I do think it's worthwhile to download.

**The Magic Of Finding Owls** Feb 21, 2017
We're having our third straight weird winter in Minnesota. A third winter of unpredictable weather patters. February used to be my guaranteed snow shoe hike month and for the past three winters I've had to just call them hikes or cancel them because thaw cycles of turned the trails to ice. This past week like the rest of the country we experienced insane highs in the 50s - 60.
I'm not going to panic about it, but I am going to take advantage of a weird spring like day to go bike riding, it's one of the things I enjoy almost as much as birding. And it's a perfect combo when I can combine them both. I often listen to movie soundtracks while biking to make my ride more fun.
The other day I was biking and listening to The Force Awakens, specifically the Jedi Steps part at the end of the movie. As I biked along, something suddenly got my attention. "Wow, that's a lot of poop."

Look at all those pellets!

Because it was a thick clump of cedars I immediately assumed it was a saw-whet owl roost. I noticed about four spots where the bird had spent lots of time and dropped lots of pellets. I gingerly walked around to try and look up in hopes of not flushing the bird (with that ruddy mysterious music playing through my headphones). The first two spots had no owl above, then I got to the spot in the above photo. I looked up and less than two feet from my head was an old robin's nest with a gray phase eastern screech-owl perched on it (just as the music swelled when it revealed Luke Skywalker in the movie). I immediately said, "Holy shit," crouched low to put as much space between us and backed away, hoping against hope that I wouldn't accidentally flush it. I was not expecting that bird to be that low...or in a robin's nest. It stayed in its spot and I wondered if felt a little bad ass, "Well, I showed that human!"
The next day I took Non Birding Bill with me to see the bird and try to digiscope it. The branch it chose is perfect for hiding. It's on the lowest and thickest branch and the branch curves, creating a tent over the owl. I flattened my tripod as low as it would go, crawling on the ground to get a view as far away from the owl as I could. I found one window through the needles to get a glimpse and snapped a few photos for my own documentation.

This owl maybe low, but it has figured out a great hiding spot.

I've never found a screech-owl roosting in cedars in winter. I've mostly seen them in natural cavities or nest boxes. And as always when I find an owl, I wonder how many I've passed because I assumed they wouldn't hide in a particular spot.

I like this photo because the owl turned away from me. It no longer saw me as threat enough to stare down. All in all we were there three minutes getting pictures and grabbing a few more pellets.

And for now this owl will be left alone. If it stays warm I'll bike past but I won't stop except to collect a pellet or two. I'm going to have try and hit that area in March at dusk to see if I can hear any screech-owl trilling.

Birdchick Podcast #219 Owl Drama and Birding Apps Feb 21, 2017

The owl drama is intense this month on social media. You can follow the hashtag #owlmasterbaiters on Facebook to following along.

Funny caracara story and terrible caracara movie.

Lawsuit in New York to protect threatened piping plovers from non native feral cats.

Oh hey, it's a great blue heron eating an alligator.

New apps out there including Merlin which will ID your bird photos and Song Sleuth which cam help ID some bird songs.

Birdchick Podcast #218 Feb 09, 2017

For some reason, somebody took this guy seriously about his ivory-bill sightings. Seriously, he's been at this since the original sightings.
Falcons on a plane.

Great news, updated Warbler Guide app and it's now available for Android!

Bird themed tarot deck.