A Northern Saw-whet Owl – November Surprise
Friday evening after 11 hours of banding, the Allegany State Park station had one of its best nights. What I don’t understand was that Thursdays evening also had equally nice winds (from the north) but we didn’t catch any owls. The different I did notice between the two nights was that birds normally moving south were observed in the NEXRAD radar moving in a westerly direction.
Within the first 4 hours of operations we had banded 7 newly captured birds and there was no doubt that I wouldn’t be going to bed until 5am in the morning. Winds were calm from the North East and then slowly shifted to the South East as the evening progressed. I had decided to close early due to a slow spell that appeared to be developing. But I have this simple rule that when you catch an owl, the nets must stay open for another net check. It wasn’t until 4:15am that I got my first opportunity to close and head to bed. I seriously considered doing an all nighter but the winds really started picking up and there was a big storm closely approaching. It was time to close everything up and head to bed.
Catching 11 individuals for the night is the stations new record!! Overall the station banded 9 new birds and 2 additional individuals originally banded 15 days ago during the Perfect Fluffball Night. The one recaptured bird was our friend from earlier in the week (Nov 6 ) which had lost 10.3grams!! Over the past 4 nights this bird has gained back 2.2grams. The other recaptured bird which I had originally banded 15 days ago had lost 5.2 grams (which is almost 6% of its body weight).
Questions that I begin to ask after looking at the data include: Are these two young birds local birds which have no intention on migrating south? Were they hatched late in the season and not ready to start moving yet? Could these birds have arrived at their current wintering grounds? Is it possible that due to weather these birds have located a stopover site and will continue migration in the near future? I hope that over time that we can answer these questions and get a better understanding of these birds Natural History. All I can hope is that my neighboring banding friends catch these fluff balls at their station!!
FYI: Many banders across the North East have been reporting this owl season being one of their worse season in 10 or more years. I have not had the consistent captures like last year but I have had 2 “BIG” nights which have taken me over my previous two year’s numbers (birds per net hours and individuals captured). The best part is that my season isn’t over yet! Check back to Mon@rch’s Nature Blog for learning how my season continues. (I think its time for a nap)!!
Its your right to vote!
I can’t believe its election day and I am doing a political blog. Don’t forget to get out and vote!
I located this Bald Eagle on the eastern side of Red House Lake here in Allegany State Park. I figured this was a very appropriate bird on a day like today.
poetry
I asked my friend poetdiva if she could use a photo for her poetry. Very quickly she put her mind to work and came out with this distance poem. I am honored to have been involved with this wonderful collaboration together.
I strongly suggest visiting her blog at http://peripherypoem.com to see more of her work.
A few new and one old friend
I caught three owls tonight. The first was around 7:30ish and boy what it cute. I then needed to do a quick trammel line fix after a flying squirrel did some chewing, grrr. While spending a little time mending, I heard a Northern Saw-whet Owl vocalizing just above me. I quickly finished tying the line and got out of there as quick as I could. Next check there was that fluff ball in net B7. This was a recaptured bird that I originally banded 11 days ago (during the Perfect Fluffball night). Over the past 11 days this bird lost 10.3grams which turned out being 9.8% of its body weight. The last capture was a new bird around closing. Radar showed a decent movement of birds this evening and many stations along the east coast are finding similar results.
Other bird news: While out banding ~ 9:30ish (EST) there was a large flock of Tundra Swans flying overhead. It appears their migration has started!
Full Moon and Apple Fritters
Tonight was a good night at the Allegany State Park Owl Banding Station! I had that feeling things were going to be good as soon as my neighbor dropped off some Apple Fritters just because they had a little extra! I was happy to thank them with a phone call around 7:30pm asking them if they would like to see a foreign recaptured owl that I had just caught. This Northern Saw-whet Owl was previously banded two years ago in Ontario Canada (thanks to quick database response from the Bird Banding Lab). It will probably be a few days before I learn more about this owl’s previous capture.
This is this stations second ever foreign recaptured bird and both have come from Ontario Canada. What is also ironic is that both birds have been caught in the fall during the official “full moon” night. Tonight’s bird was caught with dark clouds covering the moon where the other bird was caught during the darkest part of a lunar eclipse.
Radar shows very little movement of birds and this might be due to bad wind direction.
Night with almost a full moon
This evening I had a visitor from the Buffalo area with hopes of catching a Northern Saw-whet Owl. Of course we didn’t catch any fluff balls but we did recapture that Barred Owl from earlier last month (Unusual Visitor). What was interesting was that this bird lost just over 100 grams from its last capture (~7.5% of its body weight). We both agree that it was exciting to watch it flying up into the tree (backlit by the moon), turn around to look back at us and then fly away! I regret not having my camera with me!!
I would like to thank Jerry for putting up with my numerous bird quizzes and me being me!!! I would also thank you for the Sliced Cream Cake that you left here! Hmmmm! I hope next time we will be very busy banding Owls and I would love to break that 10 bird night record!
Radar did show a little movement of birds but the winds were from the south and there might have been some rain disturbance across WNY. As discussed in previous moon blog (full moon bird observations), the capture rate of owls isn’t good when the moon is out. I think having snow on the ground with no leaves made everything appear much brighter than last month’s full moon. I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t catch any owls for the next few nights.
Today was a very pretty morning with a light layer of snow on the ground and the sun out! For good bird news, I had my first of the fall Ring-neck Ducks and Pied-billed Grebes in Red House Lake. I also might have seen my first of the fall Tree Sparrows along Rt. 2 but didn’t have my binoculars to confirm the sighting. It shouldn’t be long before I start to see them everywhere.
I am off to bed and I hope my next blog reports capture of some fuzz balls.
Bird Suet for your Backyard Feeder
Beef suet can bring in 80 species of birds into your backyard including woodpeckers, catbirds, mockingbirds, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, wrens, orioles, shrikes, thrushes, warblers, grackles, and starlings (Ehrlich, et. al. 1988). There are many different kinds of suet mixes out in the market today like “berry”, “fruit”, and even “insect” cakes. Long before bird food became a billion dollar industry, birdwatchers would use raw beef fat from around the kidneys and loins. I prefer making my own suet using the standard peanut-butter mix.
Some things you need to remember about suet, is that if the temperature outside is around 70 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer, beef fat can turn rancid and melt. Sometimes this warm suet will mat feathers, which can result in reduced insulation and waterproofing to the bird. So be sure to use commercial suet cakes called “no melt” in warm temperatures.
Below are some recipes for making your own suet cakes:
Beef Suet:
- You can trim excess fat off beef cuts and store in the freezer until enough fat is achieved or you can purchase beef fat from the grocery store or your nearby butcher. Grind the beef fat with a meat grinder or finely chop the fat. Heat the fat over a low to medium flame until it’s liquefied. Strain by pouring melted suet through a fine cheesecloth. Let cool to harden. Repeat steps of heating and straining because if the fat is not rendered twice, the suet will not cake properly. Let cool to harden and store in a covered container in the freezer.
Standard Suet:
- You need: 1 pound lard, 1 cup crunchy peanut butter, 2 cups quick cooking oats, 2 cups cornmeal, 1 cup all purpose flour, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1 cup raisins. Melt lard and peanut butter together over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour into molds or containers suitable for your suet feeder. Be sure not to exceed 1 to 1 1/2 inches in thickness. Allow to cool completely. You can wrap the suet cakes in wax paper and store in the freezer until ready to use.
Ehrlich, P.R., David S. Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye, 1988 The Birder’s Handbook, A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds, Simon & Schuster Inc.
** I wrote this back in 2001 for another nature center that I worked for and wanted to make sure it was in the blog (this is the time of the year I start making suet and needed easy access to the receipt). I also learned recently on Squirrel Style that there is also a Red Hot Pepper Suet which keep out the Squirrels! The individual who made the comment gave me this link! – Peanut Pepper Suet ~ 12 cakes
New Animal Sounds Website
Mon@rch News
Cornell Lab of Ornithology has recently released a new free website on the world’s largest collection of animal sounds. Animal Behavior Archive
I have found this site to be very user friendly and extremely valuable to anyone who needs to better understand the natural history of any particular species. I did a simple search of my all time favorite Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor) with 13 results:
Here is the first Record # 85162 (link no longer works so I broke it) I found in the search! No longer working so here is my own photo and audio link.
I recommend everyone to visit this site and take the time to learn about those special sounds you have always been curious of (like maybe a Rhinocerous or Seal).
Other sites provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology include:
Birdflu updates – Location to learn about updates of the Avian Bird flu!
All About Birds – Location to Learn about Birds!
E-bird – Location to Store all your Bird Data!
Happy Halloween!
Halloween is the time for the hunted ghost, goblins and critters that move through the night! As a kid, I remember getting dressing up and begging for candy from my neighbors. Once older it was my job to assist my mother in giving away candy to the up and coming little trick or treaters. For the past few years I have moved away from the candy business and spend my time better undstanding the soft feathered owls moving through the sky (which are the halloween spooks).
Tonight I was not expecting any owls due to southern winds, clear skies and the bright moon. Radar showed very little bird movement and conditions were not good at all. This was a true Halloween treat during my second net check locating a fuzzball. There was no other activity the rest of the night except at the strike of midnight!! I ended up with a little brown bat in my net (happy Halloween to me, grrr). Thank heavens for thick gloves and rabies shots!
My Nephew going Boooo!!
*** I would like to thank my friends from Ontario Canada for visiting the banding station yesterday. I was able to call in an Eastern Screech Owl for them but I was not able to band owls due to very high winds and rain from the previous night. Lets hope that on their next visit that the nets will be full of little fuzz balls for them.
Late Monarch Movement
Originally uploaded by Mon@rch.
Today I observed a Monarch here in Allegany State Park during its migration to Mexico. Today’s weather was in the upper 50’s with calm wind and clear skies. Who would have expected to see any more Monarch’s this season after the numerous snowstorms, down pour rain, windstorms and hard frosts that have occurred. This will probably be my last Monarch of the season that I will encounter!
FYI: This photo wasn’t the monarch that I observed, it was taken in August.
Largest Bird in the World Discovered
Mon@rch News:
While listening to NPR radio yesterday, I learned that an Argentina teenager discovered a near complete skull and leg bone of the largest bird in the world. This skull places this newly found species in the phorusrhacid family which scientists are calling the “terror bird”.
It was published in the Journal “Nature” (volume 443, page 929) that this flightless bird was about 3 meters tall with its head about the size of horse. This species had the speed of a grayhound dog. The Terror Bird survived about 60 millions years after the death of the dinosaurs. It was one of the largest predators dominating the grasslands of South of America and survied up to about 2 millions years ago. For more info be sure to check out the following links:
Giant Terror Bird was light on its feet – New Scientist
MonarchBfly dot com
How awesome is this! Word Press has recently given everyone the option to purchase and connect a domain to your wordpress.com blog site. The Mon@rch Nature Blog will now be located with the http://MonarchBfly.com domain. Do note that all of my old links with https://bfly.wordpress.com will still work and Word Press will automatically direct you to the new address.
I hope everyone likes this domain and I tried to make it somewhat easy to remember! We have heavy rain tonight with strong wind!
The Perfect Fluff Ball Night
Ok, let me cut to the chase! First net check and there she was the most beautiful fluff ball that I have ever seen!! I must admit that I had a feeling that this night would be good but I never expected this to be the best night in this banding stations history!
I really need to go back in time and tell you what is going on. For numerous nights the weather here in Allegany State Park has not been the best for my owl studies. The discussions with other owl banders from across the eastern United States have all been disappointed by the low numbers being captured. Some of the theories are that food supply is very good up in Canada and the owls just don’t need to migrate south this year. I guess we will never know until the season is over. Small banding stations like Allegany rely on good weather conditions to have a good owl night. If you look in some of my previous post, you will notice that I have been watching radar for good movements of birds. Tonight’s weather is almost perfect with very calm winds, clear sky, cold temperature and a waxing crescent moon. I believe that many of these birds were bottled up due to weather and just waiting for a night like tonight. Please check out this radar image from this evening to see the millions of birds that are moving south.
On my first check this hatching year female was just waiting to be banded. She was the most perfect owl and I took some pictures of her talons for a future blog!! After processing her and then with her release, I realized that it was almost time to head back up the hill for another check. As I turned the corner of one of the nets, I could see something up on the 8th trammel. Could that be leaves?? Nope, owl number 2 for the night!! It wasn’t until my fourth net check that I recaptured both previously banded owls from earlier in the evening! Not wanting to catch them for a 3rd time, I decided to take them a little further away so onward over to the Park Police station for a quick visit (they always enjoy seeing the birds being released). I was joined by one of my neighbors for the next net check (getting excited with all the owls being caught). It must have been his luck because we caught two more Saw-whet Owls. I quickly gave a banding demo after returning to the station and we laughed because one of my cats (Lazy) stood there looking through the window trying to figure out what we were doing.
My neighbor and I continue back up to the hill to check the nets once again! He said “did we catch another one”?? My comment was, “did we catch one?? we have three owls in the net”! You talk about things starting to get hectic!!! I just knew that there was no way that I would be going to bed any time soon and of course I need to be at work at 8am in the morning!
My record for the station was 5 birds on two occasions and I never expected to have banded 10 new birds with 13 total captures for the night! I kept the nets open until 3:30am and I am now off to bed. Please don’t mind any grammar errors; it’s been a long night!
Just another day!
These days happen to all of us from time to time! Mine started with my nose running and throat all scratchy. I almost forgot about doing a needed net repair after my last banding session. A flying squirrel had chewing through one of my trammel lines which I needed to replace before sunset. I had fallen in the mud numerous times while checking for owls. On my 9:15pm check I heard that flying squirrel going “squeak, squeak” not far from my nets. I looked around saying, “please not tonight – please”! Over and over again I end up checking my nets with no fuzz balls. Even worse, I forgot that the TV series Lost was on tonight and missed the first 45 minutes of the show!
Then again, days like today are what keep me one of the happiest naturalist in the world! I observed my first two Horned Grebes this fall swimming in Red House Lake. Weather has allowed me to open my nets again after many frustrating nights of rain and lake effect. The fresh air has allowed me to breathe again and it feels wonderful to be able to walk around!! I saw my little wild mouse buddy hopping around the path, I had to say hello. I continued to find myself turning off my headlamp while walk back to the house. It is amazing the numerous little sounds you’ll hear. Some of the sounds included small mammals squeaking, passerines calling over head, geese honking and the trickling sounds of the water in the drainage ditch! I also happen to catch a few stars trying to peek through the clouds (All of which I have not seen or heard in a quite a few days).
I might not have caught any owls tonight but it was well worth the attempt. There is always tomorrow to try again!!
Grrrrr Lake Effect!
The Lake Effect Snow is moving right over my house, why couldn’t the snow band move north????!!! We are currently in a Snow Advisory!! Grrr
Yep!! Had to go outside and take this photo!
Weekend with little time for wildlife!
I had a fun and interesting weekend but the only wildlife I encountered was a Deer Mouse left by my cats in the middle of the living room floor. I will expect Lazy (the hunter cat) to continue her fun while these little fuzzy moving toys of hers try to make their home in this house (due to the weather getting colder). Phoebe (my overweight cat) might miss 90% of the visits of these mice due to sleeping upstairs in “her” chair. You can be sure that Lazy will try to change the mice’s minds that outside might be a better place to live! Meanwhile, I will try to continue to live trap them in the basement and take them a distance away to avoid my cats. I found this to be a better way to observe these mice up close.
I had expected last Friday to be an excellent owl night but we had unexpected mixed snow (which made it impossible for me to open nets). Last night I didn’t open the nets due to attended my cousins wedding (which was wonderful seeing family and some old friends). I can now focus my evenings on owls till mid November but that’s only if the weather could be equally cooperative! Of course tonight has scattered showers that has appeared to only been scattered only over the park with every cloud that passes. I guess that is what I get living in the snow belt. Going to bed early tonight with hope that a rainless nights might happen in the very near future!
Lake Erie Gulls
Herring Gulls riding the wind, originally uploaded by Mon@rch.
For lunch last Wednesday I decided to take a little walk to try and photograph some birds. Lake Erie State Park is known as a wonderful migration area for many ducks and songbirds. Could it be possible that I will get skunked and not see any songbirds? Luckily…. I did locate a small flock of Cedar Waxwings and several White Throated Sparrows among the shrubs. But this time I didn’t mind being teased by them keeping their distance with no opportunities for capturing that perfect shot.
I decided to work my way over to the beach in search of a loon or even a raft of ducks along the shores edge. Those Greater Black Backed Gulls on the bluffs are what I seemed to keep my eyes on. Since there were no songbirds around, I decided to wait for these black-backs to take flight. While waiting, I happen to notice this young Herring Gulls found some food and kept dropping it into the water (then picking it back up). It almost appeared as if it was washing its food and trying to get it to a point to quickly swallow. Without delay it flew away and I realized this adult Herring Gulls had approached as if to steal this younger birds lunch.
I continued to watch all these gulls moving up and down this small section of the shore. On occasion one of these birds would quickly drop into the water to picked something up and fly out to a deeper section of the water. This explains why these birds were ignoring me and focusing on their food. Soon my lunch was over and I need to return back to work to finish my day. I did enjoy my limited time watching these birds and of course it didn’t take long to fill up my memory cards.
the grapes
Tuesday and Wednesday I spend some time at Lake Erie State Park which is in the heart of the Wine Country. I wooed and awed over the many photographic opportunities of these vineyards reaching as far as the eye can see. The windy weather didn’t allow me to get any shots on Tuesday but on Wednesday I became obsessed with how these vineyards operated and so I took as many photos as my time would allowed. The grape smell in the air was just wonderful!!
I have never had an opportunity to do any birding in these vineyards. I would have to assume that this area would be an excellent place to locate unique nesting and migrant birds. These sturdy vines can provide wonderful shelter (with leaves and snow cover) and some of the fallen fruit would then be eaten by numerous birds. I would also be curious on what other critters would live in these vineyards.
While driving around, I happen to notice it was harvest time for these grapes and they had numerous (strange) machines parked near their barns. After long discussions, we concluded that these machines must shake the vines and the grapes fall into something (or on the ground, that part we were not sure about). The grapes would then get packaged into these huge wooden cartons and loaded onto flatbeds. From there they get shipped to wineries to be turned into award winning wine!
It wasn’t until we headed home that I noticed the sign for the Chautauqua and Lake Erie Wine Trail. After quickly googling the trail; I found this website www.chautauquawinetrail.org . It appears that this trail is almost 40 miles long and follows the Lake Erie shoreline. Many activities are scheduled throughout the season including a large festival. Check out the website if you’re interested in learning more about the area.
Down time lets me work on new blog!
Weather hasn’t been too good recently and the owl banding station hasn’t had its nets open in the past few days. I don’t anticipate seeing the station starting to band again until Friday evening which will be producing northern winds (perfect for these owls which are bottled up north). Expect me up into the wee hours of the night.
With all this down time, I started to explore new areas to host my blog which is compatible with flickr, ect… Word Press is exactly what I what I have been looking for. I have been moving months worth of files from the old site (soon to be gone) to this wonderful new site. It has been fun exploring my new features and trying to imply them to this blog site. Enjoy and please feel free to spread the word to others about this site!
Frost Expected – No Owls
There is a good chance for a frost here in Allegany State Park this evening! The skies were clear with W to SW winds and temps are starting to get cold. I opened owl banding nets from 7pm EDT to midnight without any owls around. I ended up going to bed with the temps around 30.9F. Spent the day relaxing after the Camp Flickr weekend (www.campflickr.com). Nexrad radar has been down since the 13th due to power problems up in Buffalo! I noticed that it got back online around 8pm EDT. Here you can see some movement of birds through western New York!
Camp Flickr Meeting
I have been quite busy this weekend from the camp flickr get-together which was scheduled here in Allegany State Park http://www.campflickr.com . What a wonderful time everyone had with photographers from Michigan and New York State. Of course the weather always made everything interesting with it being sunny once second, raining the next, sleet and then we would have huge snowflakes in the air. Be sure to check out all of the photos added to the camp flickr group at http://flickr.com/groups/campflickr . I would like to thank the Camp Flickr Team that put this event together and making this a wonderful time! There was no Owl Banding done today and only wish the weather was a little better.
Northern Saw-whet Owl Banding
During the Camp Flickr Meet – we caught a Northern Saw-whet Owl for everyone to photograph! Everyone was so excited with the that there were many people out there photographing this cute little owl. Check out just one local nature photographer Jeremy Martin who took both of these pictures! Make sure you stop by and say hello on his photostream.
Buffalo Mid October Snowstorm
Blustery photo was taken by http://www.flickr.com/photos/chauss513/ who is a WNY photographer. Please take some time to go visit his photostream. You can see the Nexrad Radar shows heavy lake effect is still dumping a ton of snow over Buffalo. I am going to assume that the National Weather Service lost power and resulted in the radar being down. This storm has been located in the same location for the past day and is very not typical for this time of the year.
There is a wonderful discussion on the snowstorm (Blizzard of ’06) on flickr on damage done on members property. It has been snowing over the city of Buffalo since late Thursday night and this is all the TV news channels have been able to talk about. This heavy snow has dropped around 30 inches of snow through out many locations in Buffalo and the melting will become an additional problem. The news has reported that this storms has very strong winds and mixed snow lightning which has crippled the city with about 200,000 households without power. Everyone is saying that it almost looks like “a bomb has hit the city”.
An Owls 3rd Eyelid
Today we caught two Northern Saw-whet Owls with wonderful WNW winds. While Photographing this owl, we happen to notice that with each picture it would use its 3rd eyelid (as if to protect itself). After looking in a few of my Ornithology Manuals – I finally learned that this eyelid is called the Nictitating membrane!! After a quick google search: answers.com I found this about the eyelid: nic·ti·tat·ing membrane (nĭk’tĭ-tā’tĭng) also nic·tat·ing membrane (nĭk’tā’tĭng) n. – A transparent inner eyelid in birds, reptiles, and some mammals that closes to protect and moisten the eye. Also called third eyelid.
FYI: Nexrad Radar shows a very strong movement of birds taking off just after sunset. Click link to see the Clip.
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 