Slow Motion Barn Owl Video

The video I posted a year ago that featured a slow motion view of the flight of a Eurasian Eagle Owl continues to get lots of views so I thought people would enjoy watching another slow motion video I came across recently. This is a slow motion flight video of a Barn Owl.

Barn owls are incredible even compared to other owls. Like other owls, their facial disc functions as a giant sound collector. This allows them to hear very faint noises. Their actual ears (located just behind the eyes) are not at the same height as one another. Just as having one ear on each side of our head has allows humans to have a good sense for whether sound is coming from the left or right, the unequal placement of the ears on the Barn Owl allows it to also determine if sounds are coming from above or below with great accuracy. Experiments have shows that Barn Owls can catch mice in absolute darkness by using only their hearing. This is an incredible feat.

Just like the last video, people will probably wonder how on earth someone captured the images below. This is clearly a captive owl. As it flies over the camera, look closely at the legs and you can see the jesses or ankle bracelets used to tether the bird when it is not flying.

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Lunar Eclipse Tonight!

Tuesday, December 21st is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. Nature's providing us a special gift to get us though the night. This year, the solstice brings us a Lunar Eclipse visible early Tuesday morning.

What causes an eclipse?
Lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes into the shadow of the Earth. Interestingly, the moon does not completely disappear but rather dims and changes color. It remains illuminated by light that filters though the Earth's atmosphere. It often turns orange but this year some are predicting a blood red moon due to higher amounts of volcanic ash in the atmosphere. One interesting thing to look for is the edge of the shadow on the moon. The shadow has a rounded edge thus demonstrating that the Earth itself is round.

Where to view it.
The eclipse will be visible across North America and the Twin Cities will be no exception. There are a couple of challenges, 1) It will likely be cloudy, 2) It will be cold and 3) it will be late at night.

The current forecast does call for clouds but we'll have to see what actually happens. As far as the cold, a lunar eclipse can be viewed comfortably from inside as long as you can see the moon though a window. There's nothing to be done about the time though. The eclipse begins at 1:41 a.m. CDT on Monday Night/Tuesday morning. It is not a fast event, it takes a while for the shadow to cover the moon. Unlike a solar eclipse, which lasts only a short time, the moon will stay in the Earth's shadow for about an hour.

Backup Plan

Knowing that it will likely be cloudy, die hard lunatics can watch the eclipse streamed live over the web. One option is to open Google Earth. You can click on the planets icon in the toolbar and switch to "Sky Mode.


In the layers panel, open the "Sky Database folder", then open the "Current Sky Events" folder and make sure the "Sloop Space Camera" is checked.


Probably an easier option is to head over to NASA where they are doing a more traditional web stream of the eclipse.

Happy viewing!

~Kirk

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Bald Eagle on Deer Carcass Video

Here's the first footage from the motion activated camera being on video mode. No coyotes but a Bald Eagle and crow did show up for a snack. When we went to set up the camera there was also a downy woodpecker eating fat off the deer. This isn't the best video, kind of a butt shot. The camera only records for 10 seconds and then waits one minute before taking another video. There was no second video so the eagle must not have stayed long.



~Kirk

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A Lone Mangy Coyote

The pack of three coyotes visiting the dead deer in our prairie at work are beautiful. They seem healthy, their coats look to be in excellent shape, in short, they look great.

This weekend though, someone else showed up on the motion activated camera. On Saturday, the camera caught this lone coyote at the deer. It came at 10:40 in the morning. I'm being a little unfair to call it mangy. I don't think it really has mange but look at that tail. Not the pretty bottle shaped tail normally associated with a coyote.

I don't think this is one of the three we've been seeing. Very interesting. Also interesting that it was there at 10:44 am. Nice to get some daytime shots.

We now have two cameras up, one still, one video. I'll check soon to see if we captured anything and report back.

~Kirk

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Bald Eagle Feeding at Dead Deer

I hinted a week back that I had seen eagle tracks at our deer carcass. I was hoping to catch the eagle on the motion activated camera but so far had been unsuccessful. I partly wanted to confirm which kind of eagle it was. Golden Eagles from the Ontario area come down to Minnesota in the winter to feed on deer carcasses. No such luck, this is a Bald Eagle. Pretty cool though. All of these photos were taken last Friday at about 2:30 in the afternoon. I cropped them in close and it is pretty clear that the trail camera has some pretty bad chromatic aberration in the lens which leads to the red and blue halos around the eagle. I suppose with the white head that becomes patriotic. Oh, and the blood on the beak is red too.

As usual, click on any image for a larger view.







~Kirk

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Coyotes are Afraid of Flash

it looks like my theory on the flash scaring away the coyotes has been confirmed. I set the camera to take multiple shots in a row. Here are the coyotes feeding on the deer at 5:36 pm. The second photo is also at 5:36 pm, taken just moments after the first.






The coyotes completely cleared out. They did come back though later in the night. they showed up again at 11:02 pm. This time all three in the pack are visible. Click on the image to enlarge it to see more detail.

Once again, the second shot a few seconds after the first shows no sign of the coyotes. The fact that they came back twice in one night though may indicate they are getting used to the flash. It will be curious to see what happens over the next few weeks.


~Kirk

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Coyote Party Photos

What happens when coyotes find a dead deer in the prairie? Coyote Party of course.

Last night was a good night for our motion activated camera in the prairie. We have it focused on a dead deer. We've gotten a few shots of lone coyotes in the past weeks but last night was different. We captured a pack of coyotes (or at least part of the pack) at the deer. There are three in the photo below. At the site itself I discovered the coyotes have removed part of the back leg of the deer. I found it about six feet from the deer. It was pretty much where the coyote is on the right hand side though I don't think this coyote was caught in the act as the leg was removed the night before when we didn't have a camera up.


This brings up an interesting point. Is the camera flash scaring away the coyotes? We only tend to get one photo per night. The night the camera wasn't up the coyotes did some serious work on the deer. I'm guessing the flash scares them off for the night. I've reset the camera to take photos more rapidly so we'll see if that makes a difference. Now it should take three in a row and then wait one minute before taking more. If it still only gets one shot then we'll know the flash is scaring them away. I'm interested to know if they'll get used to the flash over time.

~Kirk

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Short Attention Span:Remember the Gulf?

It almost seems like years ago now that we all daily watched as million of gallons of crude oil spilled into the gulf of Mexico live on our televisions. Once the well was capped, well then, news story over. Time to move the cameras to the Next Big Disaster.

It isn't over though, especially not for those who live near or make their living off of the gulf.

BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster poured 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Some washed ashore, even more sank into the gulf. The full impact of all this oil has yet to be felt. The Clean Water Act clearly specifies that BP and other parties will be required to pay fines for the damage to the gulf. There will probably be a lot of wrangling over how much the fines are because there is basically a per barrel fine. This may be why BP was so keen to underestimate the amount coming out at the time. By some estimates, fines may be as much as $21 billion dollars.

Here's the astounding thing. The Clean Water Act does not specify that the money from fines be used to mitigate the damage caused by the disaster. If the government really wants to they can use the money to buy bombers, get haircuts, or even give subsidies and tax cuts to oil companies. This is crazy. Clearly the money need to go toward mitigating the damage from the spill.

The White House seems to agree as their long-term Gulf Coast recovery plan developed under the guidance of U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, recommends that Congress “dedicate a significant amount of any Clean Water Act penalties to the Gulf Coast’s recovery.” We can all trust Congress to do the right thing right? Right?

Here's the challenge. We need a lame-duck congress to pass legislation dedicating recovery funding to the gulf region. One be the best and easiest ways to get them to do that is to write your legislators.

Audubon has made this extremely easy. Do you have three minutes? Audubon has an online form you can use to send a letter to congress. They've done all the hard work, you just have to fill in some forms. I tend to think personal short messages mean more than the long-winded educational message pre-filled into the form means. A simple message saying, "Please pass legislation directing Clean Water Act fines against BP toward restoration efforts" is all it really takes. You can even send the generic message if you wish. The idea is to get the senate to hear that this is important. Numbers talk. We need lots of people to send messages. Money from oil spill fines must go to help restore the gulf!

Thanks for doing your part to restore one of the gems of America. A healthy gulf is a healthy America.

~Kirk

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Minnesota Ornithological Union Paper Session this Saturday!

It's that time again. Time for the annual MOU Paper Session. This is one of the most interesting bird-based events of the year and it only costs some pocket change to attend. For a measly $5 you can attend and hear all of these top notch folks discuss the latest research, trends and discoveries on birds.

There are also information booths from Audubon Center of the North Woods, Audubon MN, BirdNation!, Carver Park Reserve - Lowry Nature Center, Common Nighthawk Breeding Study, Earl Orf Photography, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, Kollath-Stensaas Publishing, M.O.U. - Education Committee, Midwest Peregrine Society, MN Backyard Birds, Midwinter Golden Eagle Survey; National Eagle Center, Red Headed Woodpecker Recovery, Urban Birding Festival of the Twin Cities

Check out the line-up this year:

8:00 Registration
9:00 Welcome
Dr. Susan Weller
Director, Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota

9:10 Wisconsin Loon Ecology Study
Dr. Charles Walcott
Retired Director, Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

9:50 USGS GPS Study of Botulism and Migration in Common Loons
Kevin Kenow
Research Wildlife Biologist, US Geological Survey

10:20 The Avian Tree Of Life, One More Time...New Branches...New Developments
Dr. Scott Lanyon
Head, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Bell Museum of Natural History

10:45 Announcements. break, visit exhibits, book sales

11:15 CBS Bird Study Revelations
Steve Stucker
MN DNR County Biological Survey.

11:40 Minnesota's Breeding Bird Atlas, New Sites and Sightings
Bonnie Sample
Audubon Minnesota

12:00 Lunch, visit exhibits

1:00 MOU annual business meeting and awards

1:55 Status of American White Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants in Minnesota
Linda Wires, Katie Haws, and Dr. Francesca Cuthbert

2:15 Unrestrained Outdoor Cats - How Do They Impact Birds?
Tom Will
Office of Migratory Birds, US Fish and Wildlife

2:35 Break and visit exhibits

2:55 Wintering Distribution and Habitat Use of Neotropical Migrant Birds in Costa Rica
Carroll Hendertson
MN DNR Nongame Wildlife Program

3:20 Peregrine Falcon Success Update
Jackie Fallon
Midwest Peregrine Society

3:40 Purple Martin Conservation Progress
Kelly Applegate
Purple Martin Working Group

4:05 Build Safe - Bringing Bird-Safety to Architects and Building Designers
Joanna Eckles
Audubon

4:30 Closing comments

The paper session is held at and hosted by the Bell Museum of Natural History, on the University of Minnesota campus, 10 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis, at the intersection of University and 17th. Underground, heated parking is available in Nolte Garage, next to the museum.

See you there!

~Kirk

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