Turkey Banding
Today I helped the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) band Wild Turkeys here in Allegany State Park. What a perfect way to start the DEC and National Wild Turkey Federation’s second season by catching, banding and releasing 7 Turkeys. The DEC teams will continue to band birds across the New York State and collect information on our Wild Turkey populations.
I quickly headed down to the banding site after learning that I was given the ok to join the DEC team for the day. Once I arrived the crew had just finished setting everything up and it was now time to wait for the birds to show up. This was probably the coldest day of the year and I feel so sorry for that biologist who was stuck in that very cold blind waiting for their arrival. I decided to sit in my warm truck just down the road waiting for the his go-ahead that the birds have been caught and everything is clear.
I first found myself chatting with everyone ……. then trying to stay warm in the truck …… eating a little …… looking through the binoculars for any possible birds moving through…….. playing with the radio ……. turning on the heater again …….. playing with my cell phone …… and then a few hours later we got those 5 words that I can still remember!! “Radio silence we have birds!!” Did he just say that he can see birds out there? Everyone started to get excited and then we saw that very large pooof of smoke from the large rocket nets.
Supposedly this flock of Turkey arrived from the forest edge and then ran directly towards the cracked corn as if they were racing to see who would make it there first. It was only a matter of minutes until all the birds were on the target and the trigger was set off sending the rocket net directly over the birds. Quickly everyone at the waiting point took off in their trucks to assist in the banding of the captured Turkeys!!
For as many times that I have seen turkey up close, I found myself dumbfounded by how colorful they really are. Of course these colors can not be compared to the many songbirds that I band like the Yellow Warblers, Scarlet Tanagers or even the Indio Buntings!! But for an ugly bird like the Wild Turkey, they surely have such a spectacular blue, red coloring in their head and even those glossy green feathers on them just made me say “wow look at how beautiful they are”!!
Yes, let me tell you how hard it was to focus on preparing these birds for their removal from the net into their holding box. Each bird was banded one at a time with two metal bands placed around their legs. This allows each bird to be tracked individually like I do with my owls and songbirds.
To my excitement the team gave me an opportunity to band my very first Turkey with one of their bands!! As most know, I am currently a federal and state permitted licensed bird bander and I have handled hundreds of species of birds. My permits specifically say “all species except hummingbirds, gamebirds and endangered species. Wild Turkey are considered game birds and I know that I could have never dreamed of having an opportunity to band such a unique bird like the turkey. No doubt that I soaked up every second of the day and took a bazillion pictures.
We released these amazingly large birds as one group so that the flock would stay together (see me on the far left)!! There is no doubt that each one of these birds looked like flying bowling balls trying to make their quick getaway! This is just another winter day for a naturalist here in Allegany State Park.
Waterfowl Survey
Today I participated in the NYS DEC / NYSOA annual waterfowl survey. Each January a quarter of a million ducks are counted across New York State by bird clubs, state officials and your average birder. While out looking for ducks, we also participated in the National Winter Bald Eagle Survey that is conducted at the same time each year. The results of these two surveys will help determine the long-term monitoring of waterfowl and Eagle populations within New York State during the winter months.
Today was our target date for the waterfowl survey and the weather man wasn’t predicting the best of weather. There were predictions of freezing rain and lucky the whole morning the temps stayed above 36° F. But, we did have continued rain the whole day which made visibility extremely tough (and not great photos). I felt that the Eagles and Ducks were tucked in very tightly which resulted in our need to work harder in finding great birds.
|
2006 |
2007 |
|
| Bald Eagle |
8 |
1 |
| Canada Goose |
125 |
185 |
| Mallard |
89 |
96 |
| Black Duck |
7 |
3 |
| Common Merganser |
26 |
46 |
| Hooded Merganser |
2 |
3 |
| Bufflehead |
2 |
|
| Common Goldeneye |
|
1 |
| Long-tailed Duck |
|
1 |
| TOTAL DUCKS |
259 |
336 |
We had a total of 29 species observed (except Tim & Mike who heard a Titmouse which I missed because I was a little behind arriving). Highlights included the Northern Shrike (see photo below), Common Raven (displaying), American Coot, Long-tailed Duck and Common Goldeneye.
I am off to bed after this long day making me totally exhausted.
St Bonaventure Christmas Bird Count
This Black-capped Chickadee is counting its seeds at the feeder! Tomorrow I will be counting the birds during the 107th Christmas Bird Count in the Saint Bonaventure circle here in Cattaraugus County, NY. I have been doing this circle since 1994 and been doing section 3 for the past 8 maybe 9 years now. After the count we all have dinner together to discuss who had the best birds of the day.
If you would like to participate in a count near you, please visit this “Audubon CBC” site. Stay tuned to hear what birds we end up finding in this circle.
The End of a Good Season
This year the Allegany State Park (Northern Saw-whet Owl) Banding Station was open for 28 nights and we captured 40 individuals with 49 total NSWO captures. We do not catch the large numbers like what the big migration sites catch but the numbers this season was significantly better than the previous two years. We caught an additional Barred Owl and Eastern Screech Owl during the project with the unexpected captures of some Northern Flying Squirrel, a Northern Long-eared Bat and then a White-tailed Deer which run through one of the nets.
A NSWO just after being released.
The percentage of captured males / female / unknown sex were fairly consistent with the previous year’s numbers. We also found similar consistency with hatch year and after hatch year birds. There was a significant increase of birds per 100 net hours and our capture numbers were also increased due to two big migration nights. On 26th October we had a 10 bird night with 3 additional birds returning to the mist net that same evening. The next big night was on the 10th of November with 9 new captures, 2 recaptures from the 26 th of October and one same night recapture. The birds who returned 15 days later both lost weight during their stopover.
|
|
Captured Individuals |
% Male |
% Female |
% Unknown Sex |
% Hatch Year |
% After Hatch Year |
Birds per 100 nethours |
|
2004 |
13 |
8 |
77 |
15 |
31 |
69 |
4.03 |
|
2005 |
26 |
12 |
69 |
19 |
58 |
38 |
2.87 |
|
2006 |
40 |
10 |
70 |
20 |
60 |
40 |
5.25 |
Part of being involved with Project Owlnet is the ability to network and share everyone’s knowledge with other Northern Saw-whet Owl Banders across North America. We are able to look for unique differences or similarities throughout each of the stations by using similar protocols. The obvious observations this year across the East Coast were that the Northern Saw-whet Owls were a week or two behind in their movement south. I have a strong suspicion that many of those birds had a longer stopover here in the Western New York area (as reported by my two 15 day recaptures). This season our last capture date was on the 24th of November which was 12 days after our 2005 late date. I have to agree with my fellow banders that these birds were behind in their movement south.
This picture is of a NSWO caught in the mist net.
On occasion we capture foreign owls originally banded by another bander. After reporting these finds to the Bird Banding Lab the Project Owlnet will sometimes assist in quickly connecting your wonderful find with the original bander. This season we were able to capture 3 foreign recaptured birds. We learned that 2 of the birds were originally banded in Ontario Canada and the 3rd owl had not been reported to the Banding Lab yet. I have a strong suspicion that this bird also came from Ontario Canada (time will tell).
A foreign recaptured NSWO (after second year) with a unique wing molt pattern
I would like to thank my banding assistant Jordon and numerous other volunteers which assisted me with the banding operations. It is with their help which keeps this station in operation and keep me entertained after my many long hours of sleepless nights. The season is being scheduled to start again October 1st, 2007 for Fall Migration here in Allegany State Park. I have to work out the detail but I would love to give Lake Erie State Park a try for Spring Migration. Please return to the blog to see any updates on my visits to the numerous Saw-whet Owl boxes which were placed by some Eagles Scouts last summer and any summer breeding pairs located!
fun two owl species night!
We caught and banded two different species of owls last night. Since this project is about studying the migration of the Northern Saw-whet Owls, we obviously did catch one of these fuzz balls. If you would have told me a month ago that I would still be catching so many of these owls this late in the season, I would have just shook my head and smiled. Once again, there is still a great deal that needs to be learned about these owls! About 10-15 years ago we didn’t even know that Saw-whet Owls migrated, yet alone realize how common they really are.
Didn’t I mention that I caught two different species of owls?? Sometimes you “JUST” have a feeling that there are birds around. I had this “feeling” on my midnight check last night. I walked to the end of the nets – with no owls. Turned around and started walking back with a larger bird which I spooked and it flew right into the nets. With my mind started thinking quickly, “no way is that a saw-whet”, then “could it be a Long-eared Owl”??. Ok, I did hear one in 2004 vocalizing around the nets but someday my dream might come true that we’ll catch one! This time it was the turn of the Eastern Screech Owl (gray phase). Although they are commonly heard around the house, I have never heard one vocalizing way up the hill where the nets are located. This was an absolute surprise and a first for the project. I do hope in the future that these birds decided to use my nest boxes that I have placed back behind the house. It has been 3 years now and I probably should choose a better location which would be less interesting to the starlings.
Screech Owls do come in two color phases. The gray phase is the most common color phases but on occasion, we do encounter the red phase. About two weeks ago; one of the maintenance guys (for the museum) brought me a dead red phase which was located along the road here in Red House. They said they had a small brown owl and my first thought was “Saw-whet”! But this bird did turn out being my first red phased Eastern Screech Owl that I have encountered here in the park in a very long time. It was a sad find but also an interesting find.
Winds are picking up this evening and I plan on staying open as long as possible without having to close. I do anticipate this might be my last evening unless the weather man is wrong with his predictions for the rest of the week. Winds are picking up, bad weather is approaching quickly and the moon will be getting brighter and higher in the sky every night. It has been a wonderful season and it is very sad that this will be coming to the end soon. When I do finally call it quits, I will give an overall summery for everyone to read. Wish me luck tonight!
Thanksgiving Day
Today I had a wonderful day off going for a long hike and having Thanksgiving dinner over at my parent’s house. I did make it back from Thanksgiving dinner to open the mist nets on time. Three more Northern Saw-whet Owls were caught this evening with perfect light NE (becoming northern) winds coming from the nor’easter moving up the east coast.
This might sound strange but I was excited to see a Porcupine walking down the middle of the trail during my second net check. After living here for 3 years, this is the first Porcupine that I have encountered around the house! Although, they are extremely common throughout the park; I believe the absences of the Porcupines in this area is due to a Fisher that has become more numerous over the past few years. They live in trees and are specialized in flipping over Porcupines without getting injured from their quills. Tracks were first observed in this area around 2001 and this summer we were able to spotlight one while it was calling around midnight. This helped me confirm those unusual vocalizations which have been keeping me awake in the late hours of the night. I even chased one through the picnic grounds, through a wetland and up into a pine plantation about 5-5:30am trying to get a photo of this critter (without any luck). The presents of this Porcupine has to be a sign that the balance between the Fisher and Porcupines must be good and those unusual sounds will continue many more nights next summer.
This is a little off track but I needed to include this in tonight’s blog!! One of the neighbors had Thanksgiving dinner over at their house and their family wanted to see me band one of the owls that I caught! So, a few of them came over to the house and I started doing a mini banding demonstration. Moments later one of their cell phones started to go off with “get over here right now, your stove is smoking!!”. Good thing they did, they opened the oven with a fire extinguisher in hand and there were large flames coming out! Although the house filled up with smoke, no one was injured and the fire was put out before anything got worse. I have a feeling he spent the night cleaning up after the fire extinguisher and smoke!
I hope your evening wasn’t as eventful and you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Another frost night brings in the birds!
Can you believe it; I caught two more Northern Saw-whet Owls tonight. One was what we call a hatch year bird (born this summer and the other was a foreign recaptured bird (originally banded by someone else). The Bird Banding Lab didn’t have any data on the recaptured bird, so it will be a little while until I learn where it originated.
Weather looks good for the next few nights; I plan on continuing the project until the Owls stop moving or weather forces me to close! Working around the holiday will be hard but I will make it happen (somehow). Ugg!! Winds should be too perfect not to open!
Sun, Stars and the Night Sounds
I find myself turning off my headlamp after checking the nets for owls!! There is nothing like walking through the woods in the absolute darkness. It’s only you and the sparkling stars which are leading you back to the banding station. Yes, I slip in the mud, crunch in the frozen leaves and even trip over twigs, but there is no way I would have wanted to miss that green shooting star streaking across the sky. Looking up, I see my favorite star cluster which takes me back to the main part of the road. Hmmm ….. Oooo ….. wait…… what is that cluster called??? Ugg, I can never remember those star names!!
When you find yourself in total darkness, your other senses take control. What are those squeaking sounds?? Isn’t this where I always see that Peromyscus mouse looking for food in the mud?? What’s that smell?? Are those Geese down on the lake?? No wait, that’s a pack of coyotes vocalizing?? Quickly, headlamp comes on; flash light come out from the pocket; I start walking quicker.
This is the coldest it has been since early November when we were hit with the lake effect snow. Even with the sun out today, the temperatures never got above 37 degrees F. I seriously considered taking the day off of work to get out enjoying the sun. But, I continued the numerous projects that I was working on and dreamed about the possibilities of catching a fluff ball tonight.
The past two nights had perfect North West winds which resulted in no birds. Now tonight we had light South West winds and resulted in catching three Northern Saw-whet Owls. One of which was a foreign recaptured bird (originally banded by someone else) from Ontario Canada in 2005. Isn’t it amazing that I can report a band number to the Bird Banding Lab and within seconds have its life history? Then again, isn’t it amazing your all reading my blog and finding out what I have been up to??
BTW: I remember now, Cassiopeia is the star cluster which I love! Why can’t I remember this Queens name?? You think I would remember!!
Following the Pot of Gold
A rainbow appeared around 3pm today after a constant 20 hours of rain. I just needed to open my windows due to temperatures being above average (71.2°F) and I wanted my cats to get some outside smells. I had full intentions on going to Wal-Mart for some needed groceries but something told me to try to find that gold (or fluff ball) at the end of that rainbow!
Photo taken by Birdmom in mid October during the Camp Flicker Event.
I have found myself reenergized after the opportunity of meeting Scott Weidensaul yesterday. We had some wonderful discussions on owl banding and I feel it helped me remember how important it is to get out each evening to study these owls.
As the sun started to set, I started asking questions like “will I continue to capture birds later than the previous two seasons”, “Could birds still be hanging around” or “could I capture any new birds tonight”?? All questions which I anticipate answering after another wonderful warm evening.
On my first net check there was a recaptured Northern Saw-whet Owl from a few nights previous but with this rain there weren’t any surprise that it was still hanging around. I did not expect that newly captured bird caught only minutes before a mini rain storm that hit. This has been my 31st bird this season. During the 4th hour of operation the nets were closed due to a larger storm that started to approached from the south. Thank goodness for nexrad radar for giving me the heads up on this storm.
It’s so hard to believe that snow and more rain is predicted for the next few evenings. I saw numerous Redbacked Salamanders running along the the leaves and logs while closing my nets. It almost feels like April Showers without any of the May flowers. I don’t expect to open again until next Monday or Tuesday!
FYI: I would like to thank my friend Bill Adams who blogged one of my owl photos from this site. Please check it out at: http://billadams.net/billblog/?p=70
Scott Weidensaul Returns to Wild America
On Wednesday author/ornithologist Scott Weidensaul spent the day speaking to many guest and members of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, New York. I have had numerous communications with Scott via email due to my Saw-whet Owl studies here in Allegany State Park. I found it a pleasure in finally meeting him in person. I recommend that you take the time to read his book “Living on the Wind” which has won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize. I love this book so much that I have quoted the “studying bird migration by the full moon” info in my Mon@rch Nature Blog.
Scott currently has numerous bird banders and volunteers involved with his Northern Saw-whet Owl banding project. Currently he oversees 3 banding stations located across southern Pennsylvania and has had a very low number of captures this season. We were comparing our numbers of owls, mice heard and of course this wet weather. I hope Scott is correct with his prediction that next season will be an irruption year for these little fuzz balls. During the “meet the author” reception, Scott discussed what genetic studies his team has been looking at across North America, some radio telemetry work being done in Pennsylvania and discussion on how he is using this information to better understanding the nomadic behaviors of these owls.
Scott continued in his discussion on some of his other studies involving western hummingbirds that have showed up across the eastern North America. He described some of the theories on why this has started to occur and what it means for those rare species that are regularly visiting people’s hummingbird feeders.
Further discussions reveled that Scott is also very interested in herpetology since childhood. I feel very fortunate to learn about an experience he had with a Milk Snake and the proper ways of grasping these snakes.
The main lecture was focused on his new book “Return to Wild America”. In 1953, Roger Tory Peterson and British Ornithologist James Fisher adventured down the east coast starting in Newfoundland, across the Florida Keys into Mexico, then up into Alaska. Scott followed this North American tour exactly 50 years after these two renowned naturalists took the trip and Scott was successful in describing the changes (good and bad) which have occurred over those 50 years. He showed a beautiful slide program with descriptions on how the two adventures were similar and different. I will let you read the book to hear some of those stories but you had to be there to experience the sound effects he vocalized and his discription of visualizing some sausages he saw out on the beach. I enjoyed this slide program and suggest that you take the time to visit him when he speaks at a Nature Center near you.
Overall, Scott was a very kind hearted individual and I would have loved to spend some time out in the field with him. He autographed my book with “For Tom, a fellow Saw-whet Nut – keep sending them south!”. You can purchase his book at Amazon.com to read more about his adventure.
Next author being scheduled at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute is Bill Thompson III (still unsure the date and time). Bill is the current owner of Birdwatchers Digest and both Bill and his wife (Julie) are wonderful “entertaining” speakers. I recently learned about their blogs at Bill of the Birds and Julie Zickefoose blog and plan on visiting these blogs on a daily basis. I am lucky to say that I have had the opportunity to meet both of them on numerous occasions. The family has gone camping here in Allegany State Park during the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage and I have run into him at a few conferences that I have attended. I expect this to be equally entertaining program and I hope you are able to attend.
the night might be a little wet but all is good
Weather man stated that it was going to be raining but I still decided to give another banding session a try! What makes tonight unique is that if I catch a Northern Saw-whet Owl it will be the latest in the season which I have ever banded one.
Of course the weather man was right and I had to close my nets early due to light rain. Even with this rain, I still was able to band that cute fluff ball very early in the night!! I have hopes that the next two nights will produce some better weather.
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)!!
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.
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.
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
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!
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.
An unusual visitor at the banding station
The Barred Owl (Strix varia) is a year round resident who doesn’t migrate like the Northern Saw-whet Owls. They have a very large 42 inch wingspan and a very rounded head. I hear many more Barred Owls than those I get to see. Their very well known for their calls in the middle of the night which sounds like “hoo hoo ho-ho, hoo hoo ho-hoooooaw” or also known as “who cooks for you, who cooks for you all”. Bents life history series of books mentions that they are more diurnal than nocturnal but I guess that depends on the neighboring food supply.
I have had these owls in my nets before but they always seem to get out before my opportunity to band them. The banding team took no chances in giving this owl a chance to get out. This is an adult bird which I was unable to determine its sex! You can be sure that everyone at the station was extremely excited once we realized what we had just captured. As you can see they are very large in size compared to the tiny N Saw-whet Owls that we are use to handling. The moon was bright and we truly didn’t expect a saw-whet (which I should mention we also captured) yet alone a Barred!
As you can see, most of the movements of birds were mostly along the eastern side of New York and New Jersey! Althought there was some movement across all of the North East.
Full Moon Bird Observations
Tonight is the official “Full Moon” and there are no owls in sight. A fun project to do when the moon is full is to set up a telescope and sit back to continue to watch the moon for a straight hour. While watching, be sure to count the number of birds you see (yes you will see them moving) and then there is some math that will help you determine the number of birds moving over your location. It will truly amaze you once you start to add all the numbers together!! You can then look at the radar and you will be able to see about the number of birds flying in the sky all at the same time across the united states.
For the math, I took this info from the “Living on the wind across the hemisphere with migratory birds” page 30 by Scott Weidensaul; if you were to average four birds per ten minute block of time in PA of course, the moon’s disk is only a fraction park of the sky, but it represents that cornerstone of science, a random sample. If you were to draw a line from the horizon to horizon, the full moon covers about half degree of the night sky along it – 1/695 or a circle, or 1/347.45 of the visible sky, to be more precise. To estimate the number of birds passing, I simply multiplied my average of four birds by six for the hour, then multiplied those twenty-four songirds by 347.45. According to my observations, about 8,349 birds should have passed within few of my twenty power scope – a span about a mile and a half wide during that one hour.
Now, the location he is discussing wouldn’t be in a major migration location along the gulf coast or Cape May. Those numbers would increase drastically if you only saw one or more bird(s) per 10 minute block. Let me know if you give this project a try.
Radar shows a strong movement of birds again tonight with perfect calm NE winds and clear sky.
How to observe migration at night
Most people don’t realize that birds migrate at night starting at sunset. Numerous studies show that songbirds use their constellations to navigate their movement to their desired location. On cloudy nights they can use the small opening of the sky or correct themselves once the sky opens again. The amount of daylight is what triggers these birds to start moving and today there are many new methods that Ornithologist are using to study their migration. Currently, Powdermill Nature Reserve is conducting a bioacoustic study where they are collecting nocturnal flight calls made by these birds, which allow them to survey which species are moving through the area. For more info, check out the Powdermill page at: http://www.powdermill.org/research/bioacoustic.htm
I am an amateur weather observer and been “trying” to use NEXRAD radar to assist me in banding these little owls. As you’re aware, NEXRAD radar is an important tool for meteorologist in following rain and snow storms that are in the area. If you listen quietly while checking the nets for owls, you can hear the call of these birds moving overhead. Then you know to check the radar to see what is truly going on. Now because the NEXRAD radar is so sensitive, it can pick up the movement of insects, bats and even dust that is in the air. Typically meteorologist call those spots observed on the radar “ground clutter”. In the fall and spring we call those spots “bird migration”. I choose to use the Weather Underground website located at http://www.wunderground.com and I decided to pay the membership to receive the longer images. If you use the NEXRAD Storm Velocity feature, you will observed the “ground clutter” (after sunset) moving North in the spring and the movement South in the fall. For most nights that I blog, I will be uploading images on the bottom of the radar collected from Weather Underground and if you click on the image – it will show the image moving!
This first clip is from last night’s radar showing the movement of the birds from 8pm EDT to just after midnight EDT! Yes, you’re looking at thousands and thousands of birds moving through Western New York But, it is really hard to distinguish what direction its moving and if it could possibly be fog in the area. For that you use the map below looking at the Storm Velocity.
This is the same image but is showing the birds movement. Green means it’s moving towards the radar (which is located in the center of the screen) and red means it’s moving away from the radar. If you click on the link, you will notice that the movements of the birds are coming from the NW direction (moving towards the SE) and then as the evening progresses the birds start changing their direction heading due south. Now if you think that’s cool, check this next map!
Here you see the front map of the North Eastern United States starting just before sunset. Right at 7:30 the birds will start to appear at each of the NEXRAD radar stations and you can then get a larger perspective of how many billions of birds (aka: Ground Clutter) are moving at one time. You probably can see why everyone finds this so interesting to learn about. For more info on Radar Ornithology, please visit the Clemson University website (where I learned everything I know about this subject). Below is the image from tonights radar where there isn’t much movement (you can see a little) but you are able to see some of the rain storm entering the screen in the upper left!
Obviously, I didn’t catch any owls tonight with strong 10-15mph Southern winds and clear sky.
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 