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Caucus with I and the Bird #64
2007-12-14 01:21:00
Risking the danger of presidential candidates bursting into his living room and promising him better health care, a war for peace, and the repeal of the law of gravity, Moe at Iowa Voice has published the "Iowa Caucus es Edition" of the 10,000 Bird s blog carnival I and the Bird. Stop by over at Moe's place, shake a hand, read a post, and cast a vote (heck, cast a few; they're relatively cheap).Mark your calendars for January 10, 2008 now - Born Again Bird Watcher will host the first I and the Bird (#66) of the new year. All direct links for submitted posts will need to arrive in my e-mail box no later than 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time on Tuesday, January 8, 2008. Let's make the first edition of the new year one by which all future editions will be judged - certainly not an easy task given the high level of quality already achieved by the many I and the Bird hosts and hostesses of editions past.Peace and good bird watching.

Gaviidae Limbo
2007-12-12 05:55:00
Back a decade or so ago, a musician named Michelle Shocked recorded a song titled “Graffiti Limb o.” Driving back from Brownsmead late this morning, I listened to that song pumped through the speakers of my little Prius by my iPod as I headed east along Highway 30. Like most people with a bit more creativity than is good for them, I began playing with the lyrics, changing them somewhat to fit my circumstances at that moment – I was, and still am, in Gaviidae Limbo.For those who read yesterday’s post about the indecision plaguing my mind about whether to go in search of an Arctic Loon (Gavia arctica; IOC English name: Black-throated Loon) that was reported as being seen in Blind Slough near Brownsmead, Oregon. Needless to say, I worked out the necessaries with my family and drove off into the pre-dawn darkness this morning in pursuit of that very bird. It was a smooth trip, the site was easily located, and I may have seen the bird I sought. That’s the problem.I “may have s...

Going Loony
2007-12-11 04:34:00
I have just read the news on Oregon Birders Online that there is an Arctic Loon (Gavia arctica; IOC English name: Black-throated Loon) presently being seen in Blind Slough near Brownsmead, Oregon. This being the only regularly occuring North American Gaviidae I have not yet seen and recorded as a life bird, one would think that I would be a twitching mass of nervous energy awaiting the hour before dawn in order to set out on the hour and a half drive from our home in Scappoose to find the bird, if indeed it is then there to be found.The odd thing is I am not. I am instead wondering if it is worth the trouble to make the drive in the darkness and arrive at the slough at the time of low tide when the sole bit of information I have about the time when the bird is appearing says that the sightings thus far have all been at or near the time of high tide. So why not simply go later in the morning and arrive just before high tide? There, my friends, is the doorway to birding's dark secret...
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Beeb Birds
2007-12-10 06:52:00
One of the questions I am often asked by my non-bird watching friends is "If there are so many bird watchers about, why isn't there more coverage of it on television?" This question can also be extended to the general print media as well. The inquiry is, of course, somewhat specific to the United States of course, where the celebrity-intoxicated general media could only be counted on to report regularly on matters of ornithological interest if Lindsey Lohan were to take up birding, practicing a variation of it that required it be done while skiiing topless at Lake Tahoe.Fortunately, this is not the case across the pond in the U.K. While I am admitedly an ardent anglophile (apparently with an assonance affliction), I am nevertheless regularly just a bit more than conventionally impressed with the level of coverage of my beloved past-time in the general media publishing and broadcasting from the Sceptred Isle. Take the BBC for example. On a recent browse of their website searching ou...
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The Wall Saga Continues
2007-12-08 04:20:00
Regular readers may recall an entry I made to Born Again Bird Watcher not long ago concerning the plans for the construction of a wall along the southern border of the United States. In the name of National Security (and really, what isn't these days?) the Department of Homeland Security is planning the erection of a large wall that will in some cases literally bisect established border communities, in most cases lead to degredation of habitat for local flora and fauna, and in all cases be a monumental eyesore.Given that the United States is a democracy, I was holding out hope that through the writings of those opposed, including myself, to the creation of this ill-conceived monument to paranoia would perhaps spark a discussion of the matter that might at least elicit a public consensus to be discovered. If in fact that consensus proved to be that the majority of the citizenry desired this wall... well, such is the way of democracy.So imagine my annoyance when I read the following ...
More About: Wall , Saga , The wall

Feeder Feng Shui
2007-12-07 21:56:00
Even though I think I understand the basics of proper feeder placement quite well, I am not above making some very basic mistakes. Take for example the location of one of the feeding stations outside our library window. As I spend quite a lot of time near this window, I prefer to have a few of the feeding stations located in a position where I can easily monitor the comings and goings of the various bird species using the feeders. Thus I have placed a hopper-and-tray style of feeder as well as a suet feeder in the branches of the locust tree positioned directly in the view frame of the library’s main window, as well as a shepherd’s crook with a tube feeder and a second suet feeder positioned to one side of but still within the view afforded by that same trio of windows. It is this latter that was in gross violation of all good bird feeder placement practices.The feeders positioned in the locust tree offer easy accessibility to the visiting birds while at the same time offering t...
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Returned Travelers
2007-12-07 05:38:00
My mum and my two aunts returned from New Zealand and Australia this afternoon. I'm going to take a bit of time out this evening to catch up with them and hear all about their adventures down under.Peace and good bird watching.

David Wilcove on Fresh Air
2007-12-06 01:28:00
An excellent interview with David Wilcove, professor of ecology, evolutionary biology, and public affairs at Princeton University, as well as author of the recently published No Way Home, was broadcast today on NPR's Fresh Air. I have not yet had a chance to read No Way Home but after listening to the interview and hearing Dr. Wilcove speak so eloquently on the complexities of and threats to migration, not only in regard to birds but respecting the host of other migratory species extending upward into the different taxanomic orders, I shall certainly do so in the near future.Peace and good bird watching.

Red Hot Chili Flickers
2007-12-05 05:39:00
I first started usuing hot pepper suet in place of the standard "flavor" at one of our main feeder posts in hope of persuading the local Douglas Squirrel population that their dining at this feeding station was not appreciated. Being mammals, the squirrels were expected to avoid the capsaicin-containing suet following the first bite and quickly realizing that there was not an ice cold beer to be found in the vicinity.Avoid it they did. After a week half of them wouldn't even climb the pole to investigate the other feeders there to be found. However most of the birds didn't seem to fancy the new "Cajun spice" suet either - until the flickers came back.I've not seen any other bird species that has ever appeared at our feeders express so much affection for any other foodstuff we have ever previously offered as our local Northern Flickers, Colaptes auratus, have toward this suet blend, and that includes the Black-capped Chickadees, Poecile atricapillus, I nearly have to shake off the...
More About: Chili , Hili

129 Miles Per Hour
2007-12-04 06:10:00
That was the highest recorded wind gust in Bay City, Oregon during the past two days - 129 miles per hour. At Cape Meares, Oregon at 8:02 PM last night, the winds were recorded as blowing at a steady 70 mph with gusts of 111 mph; half an hour later the reports from that location ceased - the equipment blew away. Some locations in the Coast Mountain Range saw over a foot of rain in the past thirty hours. The entire town of Vernonia, Oregon is reported to be under water. Many communities throughout the Pacific Northwest are without power. Many schools will be closed tomorrow. Both the governors of Oregon and Washington have declares states of emergency.The storms seem to have now passed further into the eastern portion of Oregon and Washington. Needless to say, they've left a path of destruction in their wake. Roofs torn off buildings, trees uprooted and toppled into houses. At one point today, all roads leading to the coast were impassable due to being either underwater or blocked b...
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Storm Birds in the Yard
2007-12-03 02:50:00
With two tropical, hurricane force storms approaching the Northwest Oregon area, each promising torrential and unceasing rain for the next two days, I assumed when I arose this morning that the first day of the present two day Project FeederWatch count period was going to yield few if any birds. I couldn't have been more incorrect.As the rain poured down and the wind lashed the trees, buffetting the house with broken branches and other flying objects, the birds appeared at the feeders. At times there were so many that I could not get accurate counts of some species present (especially as I was looking through the rain cascading like a waterfall down the windows). In the end, the list of the species recorded just immediately outside out windows numbered fifteen:Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) - first of the season and a new "yard bird"Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla)Ch...
More About: Storm , Birds , Yard

Game Theory Analysis
2007-12-02 06:35:00
My friend Melissa over at Teach Me About Birdwatching!!! (many thanks Mel!) sent me this clip of the game theory analysis method to thinking of the correct approach to addressing global climate change.Even though it's only ten minutes long I don't think I've ever heard a more convincing argument than this made for taking action now.Peace and good bird watching.
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Storm Warning
2007-12-02 04:53:00
Ironically, just after posting about continuing to make a post per day on Born Again Bird Watcher, the thought occurred to me that with the pair of approaching storms forecast to hit Oregon and Washington beginning within the next twelve hours, it might be a good idea to leave a note here just in case power or broadband is disrupted and I am rendered incommunicado until it returns to functionality.With the hurricane force wind warning flags flying just seventy-five miles away on the coast and combined seas building to thirty-six feet on the Pacific (for any land lubbers, that's basically a wave thirty-six feet higher than the surface of the ocean next to it), we could be in for a wild next few days just up the Columbia River here in Scappoose. Of course, the good news is that if there isn't too much storm damage to contend with, the bird watching could be exceptional later in the week, especially on the coast, as the winds may bring some otherwise seldom seen species closer to sho...
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NaBloPoMo 2007 Finish Line
2007-12-02 04:30:00
With the turning of the calendar to December, National Blog Posting Month, known better as NaBloPoMo 2007 to the more than 6,000 of us who participated, has come to an end. Thirty posts in thirty days is quite a task. Quite frankly, it was more challenging than I thought it would be.In the final tally, I actually managed to publish thirty-four posts in all for the month of November - a new record for me. I plan to keep my goal of a post per day in effect for December and onward into the coming year. In fact, there is even talk of a "blog marathon" planned for 2008 - 365 posts during the year - so I have to keep in shape.Peace and good bird watching.
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Sound Off About Bird Sounds
2007-12-01 04:24:00
Anyone who pays any attention at all to birds (you know who you are) has at least one bird whose song or call holds a special place in their heart. Perhaps it's the result of a childhood memory. Maybe it's a sound you find to be particularly pleasant. It could even be a bird you once heard singing during a painful or sorrow-filled moment. Whatever the case, if you have something to say about bird vocalizations, then researchers at the University of Aberdeen want to hear about it from you.For the next two years, a study titled "Listening to Bird s, an Anthropological Approach to Bird Sound s ," funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and based in the Department of Anthropology at Aberdeen will take place under the direction of principal investigator Tim Ingold and researcher Andrew Whitehouse. The focus of the study is primarily two-fold:"First, we are interested in the relationships between humans and birds and the role that sound plays in this. We wish to understand how b...

Consider the Bushtit
2007-11-30 06:32:00
The other day as I was sitting in the library working on an article, I heard a soft flutter from just beyond the open window. The chickadees, nuthatches, and kinglets had been active for most of the day at the feeders further out in the yard, so I first assumed that it was simply another of one or more of these returning for a mid-afternoon snack. Then I heard it again – soft, blurry, and not at all like any of the formerly noted species that arrive with either a call or a snapping of either wings or twigs far louder than their size should produce.I stopped working and sat quietly for a moment. Almost immediately, a small grey smudge of a bird lighted on the barberry shrub just outside the window; then another, and still another. Looking more closely, I saw that these three were joining a dozen or more that had already found the shrub and were busily gleaning from it any insects that were to be found there. There was little more to these birds than a round grey, nearly unmarked bo...
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Veni, Vidi, VATH
2007-11-29 05:52:00
Following yesterday's feline thrush flushing, I was very pleased to see a Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius, band code: VATH), once again back where the first one was observed. Wanting to capture it for posterity, or to use as evidence for the prosecution should the previously mentioned cat one day be successful in his scofflaw trespassing and hunting on our property, I reached for my bins, adapter, and digital camera.I am growing ever more fond of my little Swarovski Snapshot Adapter with each passing day. In order to keep peace in the family, I don't insist on keeping my full digiscoping rig fully deployed in the living room for quick response shots to be made out the back windows. Thus when an opportunity for a nice bird photo presents itself out behind the house, I have two options. Option one: deploy the tripod, scope, and all the rest as fast as I can while uttering repeated prayers to any diety who will listen to please let the bird remain where it is until I am ready to take ...

Varied Flush
2007-11-28 04:52:00
One of the most beautiful birds found around our home is the Varied Thrush, Ixoreus naevius. The bold black and orange plummage presents a stunning visual effect. When the feathers are fresh and viewed through an optic, the slightly iridescent scaling pattern visible on the orange flight feathers is a true treat of the "dark months."The arrival each year, usually in late November or early December, of these winter jewels is greated around our home with great excitement. Last year, our daughter was the first to spot the new arrival to the back feeders. As a bird watching father, I was very proud indeed - about half as proud as she was at being able to identify a new bird. This year the honor fell to me.As I was raising the blinds this morning, the dim light of the not-quite-risen Sun cast a grey light through the Douglas Fir and Western Hemlock trees behind our home. I immediately noticed a bird on the ground just at the edge of the ravine. Thrush-like without question, it was statio...
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BBC Shared Earth Podcast
2007-11-27 04:45:00
I am of the opinion that the best thing to emerge from the advent of the iPod is the Podcast . Because of this little miracle of modern technology, I am no longer a slave to the content, temporal, or geographic constraints of traditional radio. I can download my favorite programs, on topics of great interest to me (read that as "absolutely free of celebrity drivel, political horserace coverage, or sporting event results") and listen to them when I want to, not simply when they are broadcast in my area. Even more than that, I can download programs not even broadcast in the United States and play them back at my leisure. In fact, I'm doing it right now.The Podcast I'm listening to at the moment is a new one I discovered on iTunes titled Best of Natural History Radio. It is a production of BBC Radio 4, where it also bears the name and website title of Shared Earth . Somewhat general in its scope, it is constrained only by the idea of (paraphrasing from the website now) a "celebration o...

A Fowl Misunderstanding
2007-11-26 05:19:00
Thanksgiving week-end is now officially concluded. Between the main event itself and subsequent left-overs, I have repeatedly eaten roasted turkey until the tryptophan level in my system has rendered me lethargic to a point just this side of catatonia. As usual during any holiday or event at which the eating of some form of fowl is the cornerstone activity, a question that has never really made much sense was again asked of me: "Since you're such an avid bird watcher, what do you eat instead of turkey?"I suppose the question does have a basis in logic. I watch birds. I support programs that promote the welfare of birds. Turkeys are birds. Therefore, I don't do anything promoting the killing, butchering, oven-roasting until golden brown, serving with dressing and sweet potatoes, or eating of turkeys. I have had the same question asked of me in relation to chickens, where the "serving with" portion would be replaced with "wild rice or cream gravy, and duck, where it would be replace...

Well Done Indeed, Mr. Potts
2007-11-25 04:07:00
Driving out from Astoria to the south jetty of the Columbia River at 6:00 AM this morning in search of any Snow Buntings, Plectrophenax nivalis, that are yearly reported in that location, I spun the dial of the radio until I found the local NPR affiliate. As expected, Morning Edition was playing; I immediately recognized Scott Simon’s voice.As my mind was contemplating the perennial question while engaged in such an outing, “Where would I most likely be if I was a Snow Bunting?” the various stories presented by Mr. Simon and associates played softly in the background. Turning into the gate to Ft. Stevens State Park, the entrance to the three parking areas located out on the jetty itself, I my ear caught the sound of an opera aria. I turned up the volume and paid closer attention.The story was about a gentleman named Paul Potts. Mr. Potts was, and apparently still is, a mobile telephone salesman from Wales. Yet he has a deeper passion in his life – he sings opera. However to ...

Contemplating Western Gulls
2007-11-24 05:33:00
Taking the opportunity granted by the Thanksgiving holiday, my family and I escaped to the original hometown of both my wife and I – Astoria, Oregon. Once a thriving fishing and logging town on the mouth of the Columbia River, Astoria hit some hard times in the 1980s, when we both graduated high school and moved away to attend college, and stayed a depressed little Oregon town until it was reborn into the tourist destination it is now.Astoria’s location just inside the mouth of the Columbia River makes it an exceptional location for watching gulls, ducks, and other water-associated species of birds. Despite growing up the son of a commercial fisherman and spending great amounts of time outside, much of it on a boat in the middle of the river, I did not practice the craft of bird watching as a child. Thus all the time I spent in the realm of the web footed birds was lost for purposes of bird study. I knew they existed but that was about it.Thus now when my family and I return to ...
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Unusual Thanksgiving Morning
2007-11-23 02:38:00
It was a clear and cold frosty morning in Scappoose this Thanksgiving Day. It is on just such days that I most enjoy the bird watching down in the bottom land just outside of town. An old yarding road, now closed to vehicles, provides the perfect easy terrain for walking along the hedge rows I like to call "sparrow alley." Ordinarily a quiet location, every November the unmistakeable sounds of duck and goose hunters vigorously pursuing their chosen recreational activity punctuate the cold, still air with the booming reports of shotguns. This is not a bothersome sound to me; I have learned to use the effects of their activity on the local bird population to my advantage.By placing myself opposite and a safe distance from the most promising habitat area from the hunters, I am certain to get clear views of the birdlife startled into the air by the reports of the shotguns. It is a trick I learned some years ago from Pete Dunne and it has proven very useful. In rural Oregon, for the most...
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Mail Call - Bird Watching
2007-11-21 22:01:00
One of the challenges of publishing regular reviews and notices of magazines from the other side of the globe is the fact that it takes a few extra days for the latest copy to reach me in Oregon before the next issue hits the news stands back in the periodical's country of origin. The publishers have absolutely no control over this and are entirely blameless; they are entirely at the mercy of the postal service in their own country as well as the postal service in the country of delivery. If either of those countries' postal services is experiencing a job action, as has been the case in Britain recently with the Royal Mail , the challenge is somewhat magnified. No matter - the latest and still current edition of Bird Watching reached my post box yesterday and I wasted no time giving it a good thorough read last night and this morning in order to share with all some of the interesting items I found within its pages.Behind the superb cover photo of the Kingfisher, Alcedo atthis, bear...
More About: Call , Bird Watching

Birds After the Rain
2007-11-21 04:36:00
For the second week in a row, it rained on both days of my weekly Project FeederWatch count. Because of this, the numbers of visitors to the feeders were not up to the levels that I expect at this time of year. A chickadee here, a nuthatch there, but no species in higher quantities than pairs or trios.I don't blame them. It was cold and wet with a rain that was unceasing. One male House Finch, Carpodacus mexicanus, that did appear was so thoroughly soaked that his crest was matted and slightly raised, causing him to look as though he were doing his best impression of a Cassin's Finch, Carpodacus cassinii.So today, the day following my two day count period, the weather broke and all the usual suspects returned in their expected numbers, with even a few extra goodies thrown in for good measure. Both flavors of chickadee, Chestnut-backed, Poecile rufescens, and Black-capped, Poecile atricapilla, were busily emptying the hopper feeder of sunflower seeds. A flock of Bushtits, Psaltripa...
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Make the Choice for Conservation
2007-11-20 04:34:00
Not so very long ago I wrote about the importance of controlling the number catalogs received through the mail as a way to help conserve the world's forest resources and to help preserve habitat for birds and other wildlife. This idea received many positive comments but I did have a comment or two about just how much work it is to contact all the different companies that regularly send out catalogs. Well toil no longer for some very enterprising people with a green outlook have created a very handy website named Catalog Choice to do just this very thing.A sponsored project of the Ecology Center, endorsed by both the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and funded by the Overbrook Foundation, the Merck Family Fund, and the Kendeda Fund, Catalog Choice is a free service that allows you to excercise control over the number of unsolicited catalogs that are delivered to your mailbox."The mission of Catalog Choice is to reduce the number of repeat and u...
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Three Cheers for the Honorable Peter DeFazio!
2007-11-19 04:33:00
At a time in the U.S. when one is more likely to read news of malfeasance, misbehavior, or simple corruption committed by a member of Congress, it is a genuine pleasure to read of one doing something commendable. Actually, out here in Oregon we are quite fortunate. We have a very respectable group of representatives; none have been caught paying or accepting bribes, junketing with lobbyists, or misplacing their feet in airport men’s rooms.Time and again when I listen to the news on NPR, if it is reported that there was a vote taken in the House or the Senate that required significant moral fortitude to cast and then hold one’s head high knowing that the public will was done and that no charges of hypocrisy could be justly leveled, I know that those reported as having cast that vote will have been from Oregon. Which is why it is an additional layer of rich chocolaty icing on an already good cake to learn that the Honorable Peter DeFazio, representative of the fourth congressional...

National Geographic Albratross Article
2007-11-18 04:33:00
National Geographic , certainly a fine and respected periodical, is not a magazine I ordinarily mention on Born Again Bird Watcher unless it contains something pertinent to birds, lepidoptera, odonates, or a conservation topic related to one of these. The December 2007 issue that just arrived in my post box met one of these qualifications quite well.Included in the present issue is a very interesting feature article by Carl Safina titled "On the Wings of the Albatross." Many will no doubt recall one of Mr. Safina's books on this very subject - The Eye of the Albatross. Those who have read that book will likely find the present National Geographic article repetitive of what you've already learned. However those who have not should certainly take the time to investigate this article as it is a very good introduction to many of the more important aspects of albatross biology, behavior, and conservation.Peace and good bird watching
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Ten Birds to See
2007-11-17 01:58:00
Recently, the question was posed on the BirdChat list serve what ten species of bird we would most like to see, and by extension encourage others to see as well, before we have shuffled off this mortal coil. The question was an intriguing one – after all, the number of species presently posited in the world approaches 10,000 birds (hmmm… that’s a good name for a blog, isn’t it?). Of all these, what ten would I most like to see?I sat down and began to contemplate my possible list. I thought about birds of which I had read something particularly interesting – perhaps a habit, an aspect of their life cycle, or their rarity. Then there are the birds I would like to see purely for their appearance, be it beautiful, odd, or even grotesque. Of course, the traditional “trophy birds” – the birds that it seems most birders want to see – had to be considered. So many birds, so little time…After some considerable consideration, I have assembled the following unprioritized li...
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Mistrial in Stevenson Case
2007-11-16 20:18:00
The trial of Mr. Jim Stevens on on the charges resulting from his shooting a cat to protect endangered birds has reportedly ended in a mistrial due to the jury being "hopelessley deadlocked."
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