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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.

blind

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.

cannon 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.

Posted by mon@rch | 18 January 2007 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Bird Banding, Birds, Nature, Ornithology, Science | Tags: discovery | 12 Comments

problems with my furnace

Some reason I needed to turn up my furnace because of colder temperatures this evening….

…..or could it be because Phoebe is blocking the floor vent??

Posted by mon@rch | 16 January 2007 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Winter Beaver Activity

Typically this time of the year the water is covered over with a thick layer of ice and snow. Little work is done by the beavers while the females are preparing to give birth. I noticed with the above average temperatures this year that the beavers have been putting in some overtime doing what they do best. I noticed since my last visit last fall that they have been enlarging their dams, adding to their food storage and improving their lodge.

It is so hard to believe that these dams are built entirely by the beavers. The picture on the left shows their main dams that’s just over 6 feet in height. Since the fall these guys have added an additional 2 feet to this dam and it is unbelievable how much water they are currently backing up. The second picture shows one of their reservoirs just down stream that they built to give the beavers more access to their food. They need to back up the water with these dams to providing protection from predators, ability to float logs back to their lodge and soften up the mud which helps them build everything up better.

During the fall months the beavers are very busy adding sticks to their food storage stacks to feed on during the winter months. I was shocked to find this food storage larger than I normally find this time of the year. If you look at this picture above you will see their typical way the beaver store the family’s food storage piles. This gives the beaver access to their food when the water is frozen over and limited to just their pond. Then they can swim under the ice to their food storage and bring the sticks back to the lodge to eat.

As the water level rises by increasing the height of the dam these beaver will continue to work on the lodge. They will add more mud and sticks to the outside of the lodge but then inside the lodge remove sticks from the top to add it to the lodge’s floor. It is a perfect way of building the lodge up to the needed size for the family living in it.

These beaver dazzle me every time that I visit them with their ability to do amazing work with sticks and mud.

Posted by mon@rch | 15 January 2007 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Flickr, Mammals, Nature, Weather | Tags: discovery | 7 Comments

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.

Swamp Road

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.

Posted by mon@rch | 14 January 2007 | Categories: Birds, Nature, Ornithology, Science | Tags: discovery | 4 Comments

A few of my bird feeders

I got this squirrel proof feeder three years ago after my old barn feeder was chewed open by a Gray Squirrel. It didn’t take long before the squirrels tried every trick in book to steal those seeds from me. It was hilarious watching them with their continued failed attempts and I think the squirrels have finally given up trying. But, it didn’t take long before I learned that the feeder was not Raccoon or even Black Bear proof. Now I take the feeder down each night and place it back up in the morning. This is a wonderful bird feeder which I would recommend to anyone that has problems with Squirrels!

Lean-to Shelter

This is a lean-to feeder which allows birds to hide under it when eating their seeds. It was made by some friends who made it for me after I complemented how much I liked theirs. I have found that the sparrows, chickadees and dove species are the most commonly found birds using it.

This shelter allows the birds a safer location to feed from predators like the Sharp-shinned or Coopers Hawk.

Posted by mon@rch | 13 January 2007 | Categories: Birds, Nature | Tags: Birdfeeder, Birdfeeding, discovery | 17 Comments

Fancher Swimming Pool

Allegany State Park – History Flashback

Fancher Pool

The historic Fancher swimming pool was first opened to the public during the summer of 1926, which measured 40 x 100 feet.

Fancher Pool

During the spring of 1934 the Fancher pool was replaced by a larger concrete pool (50’ x 100’) built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The funding for the new pool came from the late Senator Albert T. Fancher who passed away on the 30th of July 1930. Senator Fancher was one of the main people who helped develop the park in the early 1920’s.

Fancher Pool

This pool is always remember by its freezing cold temperatures, its size and socializing destination point for many of the campers, locals and employees. The picture below is just one of the numerous post cards which focused on people swimming in the Fancher pool.

Fancher Pool Post Card

I have been told that some of the reasons the beach was closed was due to a newer beach being developed over on Quaker Lake, failure to be able to repair cracks and that the park couldn’t keep water in it fast enough. It was last used Labor Day weekend in September 1981. It was finally demolished and filled up with gravel during September 1985. This pool is the currently location of the Fancher Bath House over on the Quaker Side of Allegany State Park, NY.

Fancher Pool

If you remember swimming in this pool, please feel free to add comments about some of your memories. I will be adding posts from time to time on Allegany State Park’s historic flashbacks. These are historic pictures from Allegany State Park’s archives (I do not know the dates of these pictures).

Posted by mon@rch | 12 January 2007 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Kids, Nature | Tags: discovery, Historical, Histroy | 18 Comments

Downy Woodpecker

Been busy the past two evenings to post anything on the blog! So, I am just going to post this picture of a Downy Woodpecker which I photographed today during my lunch break!

Posted by mon@rch | 11 January 2007 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Birds, Nature | 11 Comments

Can birds learn?

Now you can officially accuse me of bring my nature studies into the office!! It started two summers ago when I placed a hummingbird feeder just outside my office window. Quickly these little green birdies started dazzling everyone by there charm and beauty. You never knew when someone was just outside my window taking pictures or video taping the 10 or so hummingbirds fighting for that perfect perch. Ultimately good things always come to an end and this happened when the hummingbirds decided to make their migration south for the winter.

I found myself with a desire to bring nature back to the office again. Sunflower seeds were an excellent tool for inviting these birds back to my office and keeping me entertained. Birds like the Black-capped Chickadee, American Goldfinch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse and Dark Eyed Junco are now regular visitors of mine. But, who would have expected birds like the Pine Siskin, Downy Woodpecker or even the Purple Finch to make numerous occurrences in my office window! Last year I even had friends from Buffalo make the hour trip south for the “possibility” of seeing an Evening Grosbeaks in my office window!!

You wonder how these unusual visitors are able to learn where I have placed a small pile of sunflower seeds in an unusual location like a window frame on the 2nd floor? Well, those nosy chickadees arrived within the first day and probably were investigating the disappearance of the hummingbird feeders (they must have known that this was a bird friendly window). Other species started visiting the window after learning that somewhere these chickadees were getting sunflower seeds. The learning process didn’t stop here; believe me when I tell you it continues.

Towards the end of the season last year I started to hear some knocking sounds. I turned around and found this White-breasted Nuthatch doing something that I have never seen before.

The nuthatch would grab a seed and bring it over to the edge of the window. Then it would place it between the metal frame and wooded base of the window and …..

put its full body into cracking open the seed!!

After a few hits the nuthatch would pull the seed out and continue the process all over again (or until the bird got sick of having my face 2 feet from the window watching)! If the seed fell out, the nuthatch would drop instantly down (see its position) to catch the seed in mid air!!

Now, I would call this very clever of this nuthatch to have figured out how to crack open these seeds. Quickly those nosy chickadees learned that this nuthatch would leave leftovers in the frame which were already shelled from the seed. Soon those curious chickadee were also giving the window thing a try.

This year for the first time the Downy Woodpeckers started visiting the window!! Not one but I have identified three different individuals coming to my window (how do I know three?? One female was banded by me, another female is bandless and there is a bandless male coming around)!!

As you probably expected, these Downy Woodpeckers have also learned how to crack open their seeds from their “birding” piers!! I can’t help but visualizing that these birds had to sit in a class room (taught by the ovenbird) on “how to crack open a seed in Tom’s window”!! So, learning is something done by not only humans but by birds also! I would love to hear how others have noticed birds learning!!

Posted by mon@rch | 9 January 2007 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Birds, Flickr, Nature, Science | Tags: Birdfeeder, Birdfeeding, discovery | 14 Comments

Goofy Weather Goofy Animals

This year the El Niño weather in New York State has made this the most unusual winter than I can ever remember. It almost feels like a roller coaster with temperatures last week above average, this week average and then soon to be above average again next week. I have never experienced anything like this before and have started to wonder what effects this could have on our local animals?

You wouldn’t think that warm temperatures in January could affect our local butterfly communities this summer. Take a caterpillar that hatches from an egg in the early spring and takes advantage of the spring wildflowers, tree buds or even early leaf development. After constant warm temperatures in January the caterpillars could emerge extra early and now starve from not finding enough food. Numbers for that population could drop drastically overnight and take it numerous years before the population returns back to normal. Looking one step further, this could affect the migrant birds searching for food on their journey north, etc….

The Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus) will winter in underground caves, sometimes hundreds of miles away from their nursery colonies. These nursery colonies are typically in buildings, hollow trees or even in bat boxes (which we have placed here in Allegany). While hibernating they will wake up every few weeks and fly around when warm near their wintering cave. So, how is this weather affecting Little Brown Bats?? Last Thursday I was asked to move this Little Brown who found itself in an unwanted location. We rarely find them in this area of the park until March at the earliest and I never expected to find this species here in January. They should be further south in Pennsylvania, but with warmer temperatures this year; they are able to survive closer to their nursery locations than they could in previous years. This could benefit the bats if temperatures stay good but if we get a cold spell it might make it harder for them to survive?? At this point it is hard to tell!

Photo by flickr friend annkelliott so please be sure to visit her photostream! Thanks for permission to use this picture!

In the northern latitudes the Long-tailed Weasel will go through a color change from its basic brown with (whitish – yellow) on its belly to its alternate color phase of all white except a little black tip on its tail. Annkelliott told me this interesting fact when I emailed her for permission to use her picture. She said “I found it interesting to read that the reason the Long-tailed Weasel has a black tip on its tail is so that for example, a hawk, would see the dark tip and grab that instead of the body, allowing the Weasel to escape”. With that in mind, you have these bright white weasels running around with no snow on the ground!! Predators like hawks, owls or even the fox can now easily see this prey from a good distance and reduce its chances for survival.

Good or bad the El Niño year is part of the life cycle and animals have survived years like this before! While some species are benefiting from the warmer temperatures; some could have their cycle disrupted and lose their life. Currently we are under a snow advisory with 6 inches of snow expected tonight. I can’t believe that just last week the average low temperature was 33°F and the average high was 49.6°F.

Posted by mon@rch | 8 January 2007 | Categories: Birds, Butterflies, Flickr, Mammals, Nature, Science, Weather | Tags: discovery | 8 Comments

Sunday Birding

Today I forced myself to get outside and do a little birding for a few hours. I only wished that the sun was around longer!! But, I did enjoy myself and had some great birds show up.

I started off tottering around Wolf Run trying to explore the work done by the beavers this winter. With a lack of birds I figured it was time to head over to the Allegheny River and try to locate some Bald Eagles. Quickly 5 Bald Eagles were located gathering around something dead on the waters edge. Trying to focus the spotting scope better, I felt the hair on the back of my neck start to raise …. then turned around with a juvenal Bald Eagle flying over me. Lighting made it difficult but I was able to get in a few shots in before the bird disappeared into the trees. While getting back into my truck I was dazzled by 4 American Robins taking turns feeding on some sumac. I have been wondering were all my orange bellied friends have been hiding this winter. It is amazing how you have no birds all day and then surprise!

Once I made it back to Allegany, I spend some time searching Quaker Lake for some waterfowl. I only located a small raft of Hooded Mergansers and unsuccessfully searched the 100+ starlings for other blackbird species. Birds continued to be very quite in the France Brook area and then I finally hit a jackpot. There was a stunning pair of Common Mergansers and a Great Blue Heron hanging out at one of the Beaver ponds. Might not have been the best birding day but I just enjoyed getting out hiking around (and away from the computer for a little while).