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Reservations about the Proposed Marine Reserve
2008-05-24 06:20:00
As reported by John Nielsen and David Malakoff on National Public Radio (May 23, 2008), the Bush administration is apparently contemplating the use of the Antiquities Act for the purpose of creating the largest U.S. marine reserve in history. Details of this plan were scant but what was reported was that thirty different potential locations (now reportedly distilled to five finalists) are under consideration for the creation of this potential reserve. Under the Antiquities Act, the president may act unilaterally in making the designation. Some may remember that back in 2006, the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, presently the single largest U.S. conservation area, covering 139,797 square miles of the Pacific Ocean (105,564 square nautical miles) was created in the same manner.As a naturalist, an ecologist, a conservationist, a bird watcher, and of course a denizen of the planet Earth, I applaud the designation of any natural area as important and worthy of protection. So...
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Surprised by a Sparrow
2008-05-23 05:55:00
Dashing about in the greater metropolis of Portland this morning attending to some necessary errands, I found myself pulling into the parking area of a large cluster mall (a strip mall that has been designed to hide the fact that it’s a strip mall through the irregular positioning of buildings and parking areas) in one of the outlying areas of sprawl that once had individual town names but that have now simply blended together into one amorphous paved-over blob.Like any good bird watcher, I have developed a passive sense of awareness of avian movement occurring within my field of perception. Most of the time this sense is just that – passive – noting the movement of birds in the area that don’t necessarily require detailed observation at that moment; a passing American Crow, the odd foraging House Sparrow, etc. However as I was just completing the parking of my Prius, this sense immediately switched from passive to active at the sight of an out-of-place bird.From out of the ...

Good of the Order
2008-05-22 05:08:00
As I have undergone the second round of allergy testing this afternoon, I feel like the dog's dinner and would like nothing better than to get a bit of rest. However before I do, I would like to mention something that has come to my attention and make a short announcement about Born Again Bird Watcher.More than one regular reader has sent me an e-mail message indicating that Born Again Bird Watcher does not load properly on their respective computers. I must admit that even my own has been fighting with it form time to time. This is certainly not good and is something I am working to correct.Somewhat related to this, I think that even though Blogger has been a good platform for the blog itself since I first began writing it back in February of 2007, the time has come for a little growth. For that reason, I am planning to migrate the blog to a new platform in the near future. With this, I am also planning to implement a full website that will offer greater utility to readers. The ne...
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Bird Watching Magazine Makes May Magic
2008-05-20 10:20:00
As ashamed of myself as I am when it happens, while I was reading Adrian Thomas’ article “Finders Keepers” in the May 2008 issue of Bird Watching magazine, I could not help recalling the famous line delivered by Jack Nicholson playing the role of The Joker in the 1989 motion picture Batman – slightly modified for bird watching purposes of course: “Where does he find those wonderful birds?” Of course, reading the article as I was, I was well on my way to discovering the answer to my own question. Moreover, I was learning Mr. Thomas’ strategy which I fully intent to extrapolate to my own U.S.-based bird watching.Then there is Dominic Couzens’ regular feature “Secret Lives of Common Birds,” this month presenting the lesser known life of one of the most spectacular of all the Podicipediformes. I remember the first time I saw this species on a small lake just outside of Uppingham; I was absolutely mesmerized. Regrettably, I was not able to witness the courtship ritual...
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BirdNote Begins the Week by Making a Short Story Long
2008-05-20 01:50:00
The first BirdNote essay of the week, “A Long Story in a Short Song” offered one of the best concise explanations of the complexity of communicated information to be found in birdsong that I have heard in quite some time. It is indeed fascinating to contemplate just how intricate a system of communication birds have that until only recently was thought by humans to be merely “pretty.”For the remainder of the week the subjects of the BirdNote essays will be:Tuesday - Two Wings and a Tail by Dennis PaulsonWednesday - World of Warblers by Bob SundstromThursday - Stand-still Birding by Ellen BlackstoneFriday - Swallows Swallow by Bob SundstromKPLU broadcasts BirdNote to all those within their broadcast signal radius at 8:58 AM on each of the above days. Downloads of the podcast, as always, can be located on the BirdNote RSS/Podcast link. Additional information on the topics discussed in the programs can be found on the BirdNote website, including a list of additional radio stati...
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Oh to Be Young (at Birding) Again!
2008-05-18 05:45:00
One of my dearest friends called me this afternoon to report that the birds had been exceedingly good to her over the past two weeks. She had managed to see five life birds, three of them warblers (not an easy accomplishment in the relatively warbler-deprived Pacific Northwest). I was extremely happy to hear her good news but I was perhaps even more gladdened to partake in her excitement over her good birding fortunes, for it is this very excitement that I hope never to, but sometimes fear that I am, losing.The last bird whose name I added to my life list was the Common Black-hawk, Buteogallus anthracinus, I saw while attending the Verde Valley Birding & Nature Festival in Cottonwood, Arizona this past April. The one before that was a Cackling Goose, Branta hutchinsii, I observed on Sauvie Island in Oregon back in March of 2007 following the AOU’s decision to split the subspecies of the Canada Goose, Branta Canadensis, into two distinct species. Such is the domestic birding li...
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The Great Smokier Mountains
2008-05-17 05:23:00
For all who are concerned about the air quality around the national parks in the U.S., recent news concerning a revision to a provision in the Clean Air Act will not come as breath of fresh air. Under this revision, Class 1 areas, being federal lands that currently have the highest level of protection under the law, will have their air quality levels judged by a yearly polution level average rather than by individual incidents of levels exceeding legally established limits.What will the effect of this change be? Well, it will likely worsen the overall air quality of many national parks. Aside from the assumable environmental damage this will likely cause, the visibilty of the natural wonders that so many travel to U.S. national parks to witness will be reduced. Then of course there is the question of whether pollution-emiting power plants and other industrial facilities might be allowed to be constructed closer to park boundaries. If the measurement of air quality standards is only ...
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Get Local with eNature ZipGuides
2008-05-17 00:23:00
Just as most Born Again Bird Watcher readers, I receive at least one e-mail each day form the two dozen or so conservation, scientific, and ecological groups I support. Most of these are either general news updates or calls for me to take action in favor of or in opposition to a piece of legislation currently under consideration by the U.S. Congress. However once every so often a message arrives that seeks only to bring attention to a new feature on an organizations website or blog. It was just such a message I received today from eNature, and the feature to which it brought my attention was so useful that I thought I’d share it here.eNature ZipGuides are user defined, online guides to the flora and fauna (or at least a respectable portion of it) that can be found in a an area capable of being described with a U.S. Zip Code. Of course, as most naturalists do, I have shelves of field guides that could provide this information to me following a search of some duration. However for a...
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The Mystery of the Missing Vultures
2008-05-16 05:31:00
As I have had daily business to transact in the city for the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to observe the process of decomposition of the carcass a road-killed deer that appeared alongside the rural road I use to get from our home in the country to the heart of Portland and its surrounding sprawl. Black-tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus, are plentiful in northwest Oregon and as might be expected, are not uncommonly seen in a post mortem state near roads. As the city of Portland occupies most of the county of Multnomah, the few outlying rural roads within that county are not particularly well tended by the road crew charged with cleaning up (or at least moving off into the brush) the remains of insufficiently nimble ungulates. Thus the particular deer I have been passing daily has been allowed to undergo a natural process of, shall we say, carbon exchange.What has been most perplexing to me, however, is why at this point much of anything remains at all of the carcass. On ...
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Feeling Like a Pincushion
2008-05-15 07:20:00
Our daughter desperately wants a dog. For most of my life I have suffered from a variety of allergies - hay fever, pet dander, etc. However as I had never been medically tested for specific allergens, I did not know if I was specifically allergic to dogs.Wanting to be a good father and make our little girl happy, I began allergy testing today. Thirty-odd pokes, jabs, and injections later, my upper arm looks like a well used, very swollen dart board. I don't even want to talk about the itching.So far, I have been shown to be highly allergic to cats and grass pollen. Next week, I get to go back and do it all again, except for the cats and grass pollen, but with hypodermic needles rather than the little allergy testing pokers and with stronger dosages of all the possible allergens. Needless to say, as lousy as I feel right now, I'll feel a whole lot worse this time next week.The things we do as parents...Peace and good bird watching.
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You'd Like What?
2008-05-14 05:29:00
Being a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America, I have been getting frequent updates on the upcoming annual conference - this year being held in Bismarck, North Dakota. As much as I'd like to attend, it overlaps with the American Birding Association's annual convention this year, which I will be attending, so when it occurs I'll be in Snowbird, Utah instead of Bismarck. Perhaps next year...All that aside, as I was perusing the most recent OWAA e-mail bulletin on the subject of the upcoming gatheirng in Bismarck, I noted a coincidental sequence of words that struck me as particularly ironic. (One of the side benefits / super powers of having been and English major is the ability to find significance in phrases that might otherwise pass without notice.) In a paragraph explaining the special price that is available to any attending OWAA member wishing to book a room at the conference hotel was found the sentence "Phone XXX-XXX-XXXX and request the Outdoor Writers block...

Squirrel Tactics Exposed
2008-05-12 04:34:00
A new discovery has been made in the ongoing man versus squirrel battle of wits. For those who might not have been keeping score, the present standings are Douglas Squirrel s – 8,342, Grey-bearded human – 3. However this new discovery could very well indicate a turning point in the contest; turning point of course meaning that it might allow me to score another point bringing my total up to 4.I have in my arsenal one truly squirrel impenetrable feeder for dispensing black-oil sunflower seeds. The rest either dispense things squirrels can’t or won’t eat (for instance, nyjer seeds), or have simply been acknowledged as “squirrel compromised.” The problem is that, as I have previously written, some of the larger birds visiting the property which have no interest in suet cakes, particularly Evening Grosbeaks, don’t care for the squirrel proof feeder nor any of the others save one – the gazebo feeder.The gazebo feeder is of course the favorite dining and sleeping spot of th...
More About: Tactics

BirdNote Kicks off the Coming Week with a Limerick
2008-05-12 03:42:00
There once was a birder from Cape May / Over whom watching birds always held sway… Monday being Limerick Day and all, perhaps BirdNote will have a conclusion to this bit of quickly composed doggerel. Knowing the high editorial standards of their production staff, you can be most assured that it won’t include anything rhyming with “Nantucket.”For the coming week of May 12, 2008, the subjects of the BirdNote essays will be:Monday - Limerick Day by Ellen BlackstoneTuesday - Birds Half Asleep, Half Awake by Bob SundstromWednesday - The Abundance of the Natural World by Todd PetersonThursday - Darwin Meets Penguins by Bob SundstromFriday - The Jackass Penguins of Africa by Bob SundstromKPLU broadcasts BirdNote to all those within their broadcast signal radius at 8:58 AM on each of the above days. For the rest of us, especially those of us busily engaged in writing graduate theses this week, downloads of the podcast can be located on the BirdNote RSS/Podcast link. Of course, for e...
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Something New Has Been Added
2008-05-10 08:09:00
When I first began writing Born Again Bird Watcher, I didn’t have any type of logo; simply a masthead of the name. Eventually, the time came that I wanted something more – a visual image that not only made the site look better but also incorporated something about me into it beyond what I wrote. Now that I am making my writing - my avocation - along with communications consulting for nature-oriented entities into my occupation through Born Again Bird Watcher LLC, I decided that the time had come for another semiotic revision.The new Born Again Bird Watcher logo was designed in partnership with Green Tangerine Media. The concept was to represent visually the idea of rebirth, new life, and the natural world in a simple and easily recognizable symbol. I have to say that I am very pleased with the result. Not that I didn’t like my “yellow” Purple Finch; it will always remain in my photo collection among my favorites. However as Born Again Bird Watcher continues to grow (and, I...

Disapproving Grosbeaks
2008-05-09 04:55:00
There are some bird species that simply have facial expressions almost demanding anthropomorphism. After a few days of capturing images with my Wingcapes BirdCam at my number one grosbeak-attracting birdfeeder, I have come to the conclusion that the typical male Evening Grosbeak, Coccothraustes vespertinus, is (with all due deference to the Birdchick) not at all pleased with the world around it.Peace and good bird watching.

Young Birders Be Jammin
2008-05-08 04:54:00
Having recently reviewed Bill Thompson III’s new Young Birder's Guide to Birds of Eastern North America in the Peterson Field Guides series and being highly impressed by it, I have been following developments surrounding it with great interest. So I was particularly pleased to learn that the good people at birdJam have teamed up with Bill to produce the Young Birder’s birdJam.Like the Costa Rica: Caribbean Slope birdJam and the SE Arizona and Sonora, Mexico birdJam modules, the Young Birder’s birdJam works on the Apple iPod in combination with one of the three basic birdJam Makers and Apple’s own iTunes to produce a powerful and highly useful bird vocalization learning and reference tool that fits nicely into a shirt pocket. Readers of the new Young Birder’s Guide can quickly and easily supplement the knowledge they gain from reading that work with this new birdJam module and as a result become exceptionally familiar with all the critical visual as well as audible field i...

Photo Caption Contest
2008-05-07 05:47:00
This photo simply begs for a caption. I have some ideas of my own but I thought I'd open the suggestion box to the readers of Born Again Bird Watcher.Simply leave a comment with your suggested caption. I will choose my favorite from all submitted on May 30, 2008 and award one genuine Born Again Bird Watcher ball cap bearing the brand new and not yet even released to the public logo to the winner. (I haven't even received them back from the manufacturer yet so it will certainly be one of the first available anywhere.) If the commentor's account is "Anonymous," it's going to be difficult to send the cap if that caption is selected, so please leave an e-mail address as well.Peace and good bird watching.
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Greater Auk in New Plumage
2008-05-06 02:26:00
The January 2008 issue of The Auk arrived in the post just the other day (yes, I know, it's May...) At first I didn't recognize it as it was quite a bit larger than the last edition I received as well as being a different color. Nevertheless, it was still the same august journal of ornithological knowledge and discovery that I have read (well, tried to read at least; some of the papers published in it can require a great amount of previous knowledge of some very specific subject to be intelligible) for years.So what is behind this new look? For starters, it is the 125th anniversary of the American Ornithologist's Union, hence a special new look inaugurated at this time is not unexpected. Then there was the transfer of publishers to the University of California Press. Such a move, in my experience, generally produce changes in format.Some may note that this present edition seems a bit on the thin side. The truth is that, indeed, there are fewer pages. However the larger format siz...

Crime Scene Photos
2008-05-05 04:23:00
There was a suspicious death on our property in Scappoose, Oregon today. Initial investigation of the scene puts the time of the incident at between approximately 11:00 AM and 12:30 PM (when my wife and I were away at the grocery store).Evidence of the crime was strewn all around our back terrace just below one of the feeders.The victim was an Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus), a recent arrival in the area.Initial suspects included some of the local raptors but as none have been seen in the area recently and the scene lacks the tell-tale signs of a raptor attack, these were quickly eliminated from the investigation.A known predator of birds was seen in the immediate area only hours before the remians of the grosbeak were found. Several local jays were witness to the presence of one Felis catus, a domestic cat within ten feet of the scene.Investigators would like to speak with anyone who might have knowledge of the identity of any domestic cats who may have been in the vi...
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Bird Feeder Pecking Order
2008-05-03 21:58:00
Basic logic would seem to imply that in terms of pecking order at bird feeders, smaller birds would be displaced by larger ones. To a large extent this is in fact true – except in the case of Pine Siskins, Carduelis pinus.Perhaps the siskins that have recent reappeared at our feeders are simply more belligerent than normal. Maybe they are simply juveniles – young thugs that stand around near feeders like disaffected teen-agers in a shopping mall, just looking for someone to bother. Whatever the case, the fact that these quarrelsome little birds have been recently observed giving the bum’s rush to other larger birds, particularly the local Purple Finches, Carpodacus purpureus, has me contemplating these interspecies interactions.When the siskins run the Purple Finches off the feeders, they aren’t simply satisfied that the finches take a place on a nearby branch and, assumably, await the departure of the aggressors. After only a moment of so, the siskins will leave the feeder ...
More About: Bird , Order , Feeder

Take Action: Petition to Save Sabal Palm
2008-05-02 02:58:00
I've previously written about the misguided plan to build a wall along the U.S. - Mexico border that would waive just about every significant environmental and species protection law of the past century, and place the Sabal Palm Audubon Center and Sanctuary in a "no-man's land" where its precious and rare flora will most certainly wither and die. So regular readers will be pleased to know that thanks to recent post on A DC Birding Blog, another method of action has been discovered to protest this crime against nature: the National Audubon Society has established an online petition for anyone interested to sign and let their voice be electronically heard.Peace and good bird watching.
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Gros(beak) Oversight
2008-05-02 02:24:00
The Evening Grosbeaks, Coccothraustes vespertinus, returned in force this afternoon. One or two have been showing up near the feeders for weeks but they have seemed somewhat detached and lost; looking around as one does when arriving first at a restaurant and the rest of the expected party has not yet arrived. Today, however, the party arrived. The problem was that they didn’t like the table that was prepared for them.All through the winter I have kept the tube and suet feeders well stocked. However in an effort to prevent the local squirrels from eating more than ten pounds of black oil sunflower seed each week I have intentionally not filled a gazebo-style feeder that includes a broad expanse of a feeding tray covered by a cedar-shingled roof. This particular feeder the squirrels have designated as not only their first choice for a buffet but as a sleeping porch as well for the fifteen minutes each day that they are actually satiated and not engaged in eating.The problem is that...

Have You Seen Vanessa?
2008-04-30 20:40:00
As rumor has it that at some unknown time in the future the rains, hail, and other various forms of atmospheric water will cease falling from the sky and spring will finally return (in the Pacific Northwest, the rains will not actually cease but diminish somewhat and those of us here will call that close enough), it is time to begin thinking of observing some of the life forms from the other Orders. The Order I am increasingly thinking of presently is the Lepidoptera, being of course butterflies and moths.As discussions on the Lepidoptera list servers to which I subscribe have increased in both frequency and depth, a number of new developments in this area of study have come to my attention. Most recently and perhaps of most general interest is the Vanessa Migration Project. This project, somewhat similar in nature to the studies of Monarch butterfly migration, is seeking to determine the migratory habits of the Genus Vanessa, being comprised of the ever popular and often widely dis...

And the Winner Is...
2008-04-30 02:56:00
Congratulations to Patrick of The Hawk Owl's Nest, Lynne of Hasty Brook, CJS at The Stay-at-Home Dad's Guide to The Galaxy, and one anonymous reader for correctly identifying the mystery bird in the previously posted photo as a Painted Redstart, Myioborus pictus.However, no person guessed the answer to the extra credit question that asked what it was doing and where it was doing it. Perhaps it was a bit of a trick question, and I certainly did not offer many clues. Perhaps this next picture will make the answer more apparent.That's right - it was building a nest! Right down at ground level in either a pile of fallen twigs and other forest floor matter, or directly into the side of the bank (I didn't want to get too close and disturb its work to make a definitive judgment; remember campers - never distrub a nesting bird). The second photo shows the bird directly in front of the circular entrance to the nest site.Needless to say I was awestruck. I stood fixed to the spot watching ...
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Name That Bird!
2008-04-28 06:29:00
Let's play a game, shall we? I was bird watching in the Secret Mountain area of Oak Creek Canyon this evening and I saw this bird. Given its somewhat blocked position, can you name it?Clues:Date of image capture - 27 April, 2008 Location - Secret Mountain, Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona, U.S.A.Method of image capture - Digibinned with Canon PowerShot SD600 and Swarovski EL 8x32mm, no extra magnification used from the camera.Extra points will be given for anyone who can tell me what it was doing and where it was doing it.Peace and good bird watching.
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Mail Call – Bird Watching
2007-12-19 22:03:00
What is it about Robins? That’s the question the cover story of the December 2007 issue of Bird Watching asks. For those in Europe or Asia who are familiar with Erithacus rubecula, the question has a completely different meaning than it does to those of us living where Turdus migratorius is (unfortunately) called “Robin.” I’d long heard that E. rubecula was a bit different in its behavior than its cheery appearance would lead one to believe, but after reading Dominic Couzens’ “Secret Lives of Common Birds” article on the species, I have a completely different, and far more informed and nuanced, understanding of it now.As interesting as Mr. Couzen’s article on Robin behavior is, however, the article I was particularly eager to read since it was announced in the previous issue, and the article to which I turned directly in this present one, is one by David Lindo. Mr. Lindo’s “A Black & White Issue” asks the question openly that few seem to wish to consider ev...
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Proving a Negative
2007-12-18 21:22:00
Following my quest for the Arctic Loon (Gavia arctica; IOC English name: Black-throated Loon) that was reported as being seen in Blind Slough near Brownsmead, Oregon (and by the latest news posted to Oregon Birders Online this morning, still is), I previously noted that I was plagued with a lingering doubt about whether the basic plumage Gaviidae I saw was in fact the bird I sought. My doubts have now been put to rest - I didn't see the Arctic Loon.How do I know? Well, unless there are two Arctic Loons presently swimming about on Blind Slough at the moment (theoretically possible but nevertheless unlikely), the bird was photographed and the image published by Mr. Noah Stryker (alternately known by his WildBird magazine nom de plume Bird Boy) on his website. The bird Noah photographed is decidedly not the bird I saw.Odd as it may be, I am actually quite relieved to discover that I didn't see the loon. As I mentioned previously, seeing it would have been great, not seeing it would h...
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Counting on Kindness
2007-12-18 06:01:00
As you may well know, or even if you don’t, today is Bloggers Unite – Acts of Kindness Day. On this day, all participants were charged to perform an act of kindness and then upload a post about it. As I do in most things, I decided to approach this challenge from a somewhat different angle and I managed to relate it to bird watching.As Acts of Kindness day falls on December 17th, right smack dab in the adrenaline-charged consumption fest that is the modern interpretation of Christmas in Western Christendom (the Islamic holy day of Waqf al Arafa also falls near this date, December 19th this year, but the Moslems of the world have managed to preserve this observance from being confounded by the less sacred aspects of existence) I decided that the kindest thing I could do would be to help an overly stressed-out Christmas celebrant to find peace and tranquility amidst all the hub-bub. Thus I found a lady I know passingly well who seemed about three feet beyond the end of her rope wi...
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Mail Call - WildBird
2007-12-17 01:52:00
With 2007 just about consigned to the history books, the first 2008 editions of the various publications I monitor for Born Again Bird Watcher, as well as personal enjoyment and edification, are beginning to be seen in the old post box. One of the first to arrive was the January / February edition of the always enjoyable WildBird.In the magazine biz, one of the techniques designed to get potential customers to pick a copy up off the news stand shelf and open it is the inclusion of one or more “hooks” on the cover. Should a would-be reader “take the bait” and grab onto the “hook” by opening the magazine to the article to which it points, the idea is that they will be so interested in the contents that they will purchase the copy, take it home, read it, subscribe, and live happily ever after. As a former professional in the optics field, I naturally and immediately grabbed onto the “hook” that instructed me to “Check out the Newest Binoculars.” Anyone in the market...
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Rain Moth
2007-12-16 04:19:00
Everything I know about lepidoptera tells me that I should not be seeing butterflies or moths flying in northwestern Oregon during a December rainstorm. Yet what to my wondering eyes should appear (with due all apologies to Clement Moore) than a small, brownish grey moth resting on the outside of the library window the other morning. Fortunately, when it comes to moths, I've learned to accept being frequently wrong.Photographing the little guy was not easy, especially given the fact that I lack a true macro lens for my camera (Dear Santa Claus...). Nevertheless, I did the best I could in order to record at least something with which to pester my professional lepidopterist friends. Realizing that a slighly out-of-focus digital photo of a moth in poor light and from the ventral side is not exactly the most desireable of images from which to make an identification, I waited for the sun to rise in order to try to get a more detailed image.Slightly better - but not by much. What's more...
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