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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.

Posted by mon@rch | 4 November 2006 | Categories: Bird Banding, Birds, Ornithology, Owls, Science, Weather | Tags: Radar | 2 Comments

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

Posted by mon@rch | 3 November 2006 | Categories: Birds, Nature | Tags: Birdfeeder, Birdfeeding, suet | 4 Comments

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!

Posted by mon@rch | 2 November 2006 | Categories: Birds, Frog, Mammals, Nature, Ornithology, Science | Tags: News | Leave a comment

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!

Booooo!!
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.

Posted by mon@rch | 31 October 2006 | Categories: Bird Banding, Birds, Flickr, Mammals, Ornithology, Owls, Science | 3 Comments

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.

Posted by mon@rch | 30 October 2006 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Butterflies | Tags: discovery | 2 Comments

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

NPR : Huge ‘Terror Bird’ Fossil Discovered in Patagonia

monarchbfly.com

Posted by mon@rch | 28 October 2006 | Categories: Birds, Nature, Ornithology, Science | Tags: discovery, Fossils, News, NPR | 7 Comments

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!

Posted by mon@rch | 28 October 2006 | Categories: Butterflies, Flickr | 5 Comments

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 8^th 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 3^rd 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!

Posted by mon@rch | 27 October 2006 | Categories: Bird Banding, Birds, Ornithology, Owls, Weather | Tags: Radar | 4 Comments

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!!

Posted by mon@rch | 25 October 2006 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Bird Banding, Birds, Mammals, Owls | 5 Comments