Oh, so much candy. Can't type. Must do audio version of phenology for those 15 people who actually listen...
(If you are reading this via email and you're thinking to yourself, "Huh, that's odd. I don't see any podcast in this email." then you need to click on over to the actual website to listen.)
~Kirk
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Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday Phenology: Halloween Edition 2011
Posted by Kirk in: Phenology 2 Comments
Our fair weather friend the sun rose at 7:49 AM. We're getting awfully close to the 8:00 hour but the end of daylight saving time will put a stop to that. Sunset will be at 6:03 PM today. Dinner in the dark anyone? Bring on the candy, Happy Halloween.
The Week in Review:
Monday I swung by the bird banding station at work to see what they had caught. They had a grand total of one bird, a fox sparrow. Late in the day a Coronal Mass Ejection from the sun slammed into the earth's atmosphere triggering one of the largest Northern Lights displays in a long time. It seems like half of the US was able to see it. People reported glimpses in the Twin Cities but of course, we had clouds.
Tuesday I had the distinct impression of a second fall color peak. On the drive to work there were incredible deep reds and warm browns of the oaks mixed in with bright yellows of birches and various members of the aspen family. It was gorgeous and especially noticeable around the edges of area lakes. I think it was even better than the maple peak back at the beginning of the month. On the way home from an afternoon outreach event, I had the good fortune to see a beautiful male harrier hunting gracefully over a recently harvested corn field. They have got to be one of my favorite raptors to watch fly. The banders caught the following: 1 American Goldfinch, 7 Black-capped Chickadees, 1 Slate-colored Junco, 1 Downy Woodpecker, 5 White-breasted nuthatches, 1 White-throated sparrow. Interestingly, that was the last white-throated sparrow caught all week. Have they finally moved on?
Wednesday I have only banding numbers to report: 3 golden-crowned kinglets, 19 American Goldfinches, 1 American Tree Sparrow, 13 Black-capped Chickadees, 4 slate-colored juncos, 3 white breasted nuthatches, 1 hairy woodpecker, and 1 Northern Cardinal.
Thursday morning it was cloudy still from a little early morning rain. My commute started in complete blackness. It was the darkest morning yet of the season and a sign of things to come.
Banding turned up some goodies though. 1 Golden-crowned kinglet, 13 American Goldfinches, 2 American Tree Sparrows, 9 Black-capped chickadees, 2 myrtle warblers, 6 slate colored juncos, 1 Hermit thrush, 1 white-breasted nuthatch, 1 blue jay and a sharp-shinned hawk.
Friday I left work a little early so I could take my son to a Halloween party. I was delighted to see a huge flock of blackbirds undulating all around a local corn field. It was one of the largest flocks of blackbirds I've seen in my life. I would have thought they had all headed south by now but they must be sticking around for the corn harvest. Here's what hit the nets while banding. 1 golden-crowned kinglet, 18 American goldfinches, 1 American Tree Sparrow, 18 Black-capped Chickadees, 8 slate-colored juncos, 1 downy woodpecker, 4 white-breasted nuthatches, 1 fox sparrow and 1 American Robin.
Saturday and Sunday I was consumed with Halloween preparation so phenology took a back-seat to painting and sewing. I did note that the neighborhood posse of house sparrows have taken to hanging in my yard now that I'm putting out bird seed again. The blue jay is back as well.
The Week Ahead:
Nest week things get freaky time wise as we end daylight saving time on Saturday/Sunday. Suddenly the sun will rise an hour earlier, or rather, we'll collectively agree that it is a good thing to sleep an hour longer. What we're actually doing is going back to real time. In the summer, we pretend it is an hour later than it really is so we can enjoy the evening daylight. The benefit is arguably silly as most of us are no longer farmers who need extra light to bring in the harvest but, hey, I guess we love tradition. The not so nice news is that shifting back to regular time will mean that suddenly the sun will set at 4:54. Not cool. Not cool at all.
Read More
The Week in Review:
Monday I swung by the bird banding station at work to see what they had caught. They had a grand total of one bird, a fox sparrow. Late in the day a Coronal Mass Ejection from the sun slammed into the earth's atmosphere triggering one of the largest Northern Lights displays in a long time. It seems like half of the US was able to see it. People reported glimpses in the Twin Cities but of course, we had clouds.
Tuesday I had the distinct impression of a second fall color peak. On the drive to work there were incredible deep reds and warm browns of the oaks mixed in with bright yellows of birches and various members of the aspen family. It was gorgeous and especially noticeable around the edges of area lakes. I think it was even better than the maple peak back at the beginning of the month. On the way home from an afternoon outreach event, I had the good fortune to see a beautiful male harrier hunting gracefully over a recently harvested corn field. They have got to be one of my favorite raptors to watch fly. The banders caught the following: 1 American Goldfinch, 7 Black-capped Chickadees, 1 Slate-colored Junco, 1 Downy Woodpecker, 5 White-breasted nuthatches, 1 White-throated sparrow. Interestingly, that was the last white-throated sparrow caught all week. Have they finally moved on?
Wednesday I have only banding numbers to report: 3 golden-crowned kinglets, 19 American Goldfinches, 1 American Tree Sparrow, 13 Black-capped Chickadees, 4 slate-colored juncos, 3 white breasted nuthatches, 1 hairy woodpecker, and 1 Northern Cardinal.
Thursday morning it was cloudy still from a little early morning rain. My commute started in complete blackness. It was the darkest morning yet of the season and a sign of things to come.
Banding turned up some goodies though. 1 Golden-crowned kinglet, 13 American Goldfinches, 2 American Tree Sparrows, 9 Black-capped chickadees, 2 myrtle warblers, 6 slate colored juncos, 1 Hermit thrush, 1 white-breasted nuthatch, 1 blue jay and a sharp-shinned hawk.
Friday I left work a little early so I could take my son to a Halloween party. I was delighted to see a huge flock of blackbirds undulating all around a local corn field. It was one of the largest flocks of blackbirds I've seen in my life. I would have thought they had all headed south by now but they must be sticking around for the corn harvest. Here's what hit the nets while banding. 1 golden-crowned kinglet, 18 American goldfinches, 1 American Tree Sparrow, 18 Black-capped Chickadees, 8 slate-colored juncos, 1 downy woodpecker, 4 white-breasted nuthatches, 1 fox sparrow and 1 American Robin.
Saturday and Sunday I was consumed with Halloween preparation so phenology took a back-seat to painting and sewing. I did note that the neighborhood posse of house sparrows have taken to hanging in my yard now that I'm putting out bird seed again. The blue jay is back as well.
The Week Ahead:
Nest week things get freaky time wise as we end daylight saving time on Saturday/Sunday. Suddenly the sun will rise an hour earlier, or rather, we'll collectively agree that it is a good thing to sleep an hour longer. What we're actually doing is going back to real time. In the summer, we pretend it is an hour later than it really is so we can enjoy the evening daylight. The benefit is arguably silly as most of us are no longer farmers who need extra light to bring in the harvest but, hey, I guess we love tradition. The not so nice news is that shifting back to regular time will mean that suddenly the sun will set at 4:54. Not cool. Not cool at all.
Magpies can recognize themselves in a mirror
Posted by Kirk in: Birds
I got to thinking about Magpies while waiting for Audubon to release the next bird in their Birding the Net game. While we have Magpies here in Minnesota they rarely come as far south as the Twin Cities. Check out how smart they are. I don't think my dog even recognizes himself in the mirror.
~Kirk
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Monday, October 24, 2011
Monday Phenology Podcast: October 24, 2011
Posted by Kirk in: Phenology
Once again for those of you too lazy to read or who just like the sound of my voice. Here's your Monday Phenology roundup in audio format.
~Kirk
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~Kirk
Monday Phenology: Monday, October 24
Posted by Kirk in: Phenology
I've taught my last water program of the season, bring on the snow! Just kidding. I'm not ready for that yet. We're still losing a lot of sun each week and with it, a lot of built up heat. We're into frosty window time and precipitation at just the right moment will bring us our first flakes of snow one of these days.
The sun rose at 7:40 AM and will set at 6:13 PM. It may seem like we just crossed over into less than 11 hours of daylight last week but guess what, we're already down to 10 hours and 33 minutes. Those nearly three minutes less per day add up.
It isn't just the length of day that's cooling things down though. In addition to when the sun rises we need to look at how high the sun rises. The sun will rise to a height of 33.2°above the horizon today. Last Monday the sun reached a height of 35.7°. Back on the summer solstice, (at least here in the Twin Cities) the sun was 68.4° high at the highest point. The higher the sun, the more direct and less spread out the solar energy is. Even if we had the same hours of sunlight, we would still be colder if the sun was only at 30° rather than 70° high in the sky. It makes sense if you think about your practical experience with the sun. Which feels warmer, the sun high overhead or a sunrise? The sun is putting out the same energy in both situations but a sunrise feels cooler as the energy is spread out over a much wider area.
I know what you're wondering. How high does the sun get on the winter solstice? Only 21.6°. In a lot of areas, the tree line obscures 20° of the horizon so that means we barely see the sun barely. If you're north of the arctic circle, the sun actually doesn't rise at all on the winter solstice. I guess we should be happy with what little sun we do get.
Here's what I saw happening this past week.
Tuesday was a dark morning drive into work. Maybe it was especially cloudy but it felt like a winter drive. Even though other people have seen them for a while and we've clearly been getting them while banding, I saw my first purple finch of the season at work. If you don't have your feeders up yet, now would be a good time.
Wednesday we again had bird banding and the numbers paint an interesting picture that contrasts with the previous weeks. There were 51 total bird comprising 9 species. Both Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned kinglets were around though in low numbers. They were joined by a measly 3 White-throated sparrows. They were the only migrants found that still need to head south. The "winter finches" that migrate to Minnesota were present in the form of 3 purple finches and 5 slate-colored juncos. There were also the resident chickadees, downy woodpeckers and white-breasted nuthatches.
Thursday I took the day of from work and decided to make a quick stop at Lake Como in St. Paul. It was hard to count but my best guess was over 400 Canada geese moving between the golf course and the lake itself. I looked but didn't see any cackling geese mixed in. There were two American coots as well. My car windows were covered in frost in the morning.
Friday morning I stepped out the back door and noticed a thin layer of ice on the surface of a large flower pot filed with water. On a human phenology note I've started to park my car in the garage for the night after I got tired of scraping frost off my car windows every morning. There was a beautiful sunrise but it looked like a winter sunrise. There were bands of pink and purple on what were likely old contrails. I saw bluebirds on way to work so they are still around. The freeze last night can't have helped their food situation. I also saw a migrating thrush of some kind but didn't get a good enough look to make an ID.
Saturday I worked and had the pleasure of being down at the lake with kids. It was a beautiful fall day. We were dip netting and the numbers of aquatic macroinvertebrates seemed to be lower than previous weeks. There were still plenty of dragonfly larva but fewer other insects such as water boatmen. We did manage to find a few water scorpions still. That was my last dip netting of the season. Hardy crickets were still jumping around on land by lunch time and an immature bald eagle did a nice fly over. Thirty or so crows, joined by jays and other birds were trying hard to mob something in the woods but we never did get a good look. White-throated sparrows were singing in the morning as well.
Sunday we got some much needed rain. I'm happy it wasn't snow. I'm not ready for snow.
The week ahead:
We're in the last week of October which means Halloween and Halloween always means freak snowstorms and costumes ruined by winter coats. Let's hope that isn't the case this year. Last Halloween was beautiful and I'm hoping for a repeat. The weather looks like it might hold out for us but then again, predicting weather more than a few hours in advance in October is kind of a joke. On October 28th, Jupiter will be at opposition which means it is exactly opposite the sun and also means it is out all night. Jupiter is also at perihelion which means it is closest it will be to Earth until the year 2023. All this week is a great time to observe the planet. Even with a pair of binoculars you can make out the four largest moons orbiting the gas giant. You can't miss it, Jupiter is the brightest object in the Eastern sky in the evening and Western sky in the morning.
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The sun rose at 7:40 AM and will set at 6:13 PM. It may seem like we just crossed over into less than 11 hours of daylight last week but guess what, we're already down to 10 hours and 33 minutes. Those nearly three minutes less per day add up.
It isn't just the length of day that's cooling things down though. In addition to when the sun rises we need to look at how high the sun rises. The sun will rise to a height of 33.2°above the horizon today. Last Monday the sun reached a height of 35.7°. Back on the summer solstice, (at least here in the Twin Cities) the sun was 68.4° high at the highest point. The higher the sun, the more direct and less spread out the solar energy is. Even if we had the same hours of sunlight, we would still be colder if the sun was only at 30° rather than 70° high in the sky. It makes sense if you think about your practical experience with the sun. Which feels warmer, the sun high overhead or a sunrise? The sun is putting out the same energy in both situations but a sunrise feels cooler as the energy is spread out over a much wider area.
I know what you're wondering. How high does the sun get on the winter solstice? Only 21.6°. In a lot of areas, the tree line obscures 20° of the horizon so that means we barely see the sun barely. If you're north of the arctic circle, the sun actually doesn't rise at all on the winter solstice. I guess we should be happy with what little sun we do get.
Here's what I saw happening this past week.
Monday
It is interesting to look at the banding numbers. We're seeing fewer and fewer species. Here's a break-down. Note the 18 Juncos. They are here in good numbers now.
Tennessee warbler 1
Tennessee warbler 1
Black-capped chickadee 1
Slate-colored junco 18
Purple finch 1
White-throated sparrow 1
Wednesday we again had bird banding and the numbers paint an interesting picture that contrasts with the previous weeks. There were 51 total bird comprising 9 species. Both Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned kinglets were around though in low numbers. They were joined by a measly 3 White-throated sparrows. They were the only migrants found that still need to head south. The "winter finches" that migrate to Minnesota were present in the form of 3 purple finches and 5 slate-colored juncos. There were also the resident chickadees, downy woodpeckers and white-breasted nuthatches.
Thursday I took the day of from work and decided to make a quick stop at Lake Como in St. Paul. It was hard to count but my best guess was over 400 Canada geese moving between the golf course and the lake itself. I looked but didn't see any cackling geese mixed in. There were two American coots as well. My car windows were covered in frost in the morning.
Friday morning I stepped out the back door and noticed a thin layer of ice on the surface of a large flower pot filed with water. On a human phenology note I've started to park my car in the garage for the night after I got tired of scraping frost off my car windows every morning. There was a beautiful sunrise but it looked like a winter sunrise. There were bands of pink and purple on what were likely old contrails. I saw bluebirds on way to work so they are still around. The freeze last night can't have helped their food situation. I also saw a migrating thrush of some kind but didn't get a good enough look to make an ID.
Saturday I worked and had the pleasure of being down at the lake with kids. It was a beautiful fall day. We were dip netting and the numbers of aquatic macroinvertebrates seemed to be lower than previous weeks. There were still plenty of dragonfly larva but fewer other insects such as water boatmen. We did manage to find a few water scorpions still. That was my last dip netting of the season. Hardy crickets were still jumping around on land by lunch time and an immature bald eagle did a nice fly over. Thirty or so crows, joined by jays and other birds were trying hard to mob something in the woods but we never did get a good look. White-throated sparrows were singing in the morning as well.
Sunday we got some much needed rain. I'm happy it wasn't snow. I'm not ready for snow.
The week ahead:
We're in the last week of October which means Halloween and Halloween always means freak snowstorms and costumes ruined by winter coats. Let's hope that isn't the case this year. Last Halloween was beautiful and I'm hoping for a repeat. The weather looks like it might hold out for us but then again, predicting weather more than a few hours in advance in October is kind of a joke. On October 28th, Jupiter will be at opposition which means it is exactly opposite the sun and also means it is out all night. Jupiter is also at perihelion which means it is closest it will be to Earth until the year 2023. All this week is a great time to observe the planet. Even with a pair of binoculars you can make out the four largest moons orbiting the gas giant. You can't miss it, Jupiter is the brightest object in the Eastern sky in the evening and Western sky in the morning.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Register now for the 2011 MOU Paper Session
Posted by Kirk in: Birds
Each year, the Minnesota Ornithological Union hold their annual Paper Session in the fall. It is a great opportunity to meet people in the birding community, find out about other organizations, get updates on current research and more. The event is held each year at the Bell Museum of Natural History. This year, 2011, it is on Saturday, December
3rd, from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
Registration fee is $4.00 if you register prior to November 25th or $5.00 at the door. Registration will be begin at 8:00 A.M. on December 3rd. Pre-registrations must be received by November 25th, 2011. Mail your check for $4.00 to Carl Greiner at 1616 Hill St. S.W., Chatfield, Minnesota 55923. Click here to download a PDF version (525k) of the registration form.
8:00 Registration 9:00 Welcome Dr. Susan Weller, Director, Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota
9:10 Forty Years of Counting and Banding at Hawk Ridge Dr. Gerald J. Niemi, Center for Water and the Environment, Natural Resources Research Institute, U of MN, Duluth
9:45 USGS Study of Migration in Common Loons — Research Project Update Kevin Kenow, Research Wildlife Biologist, US Geological Survey
10:15 Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas — Project Update Bonnie Sample, Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas Coordinator
10:40 Chile to Nome: Tales of Midwestern Shorebird Migrations and Research Efforts Robert P. Russell, Division of Migratory Birds, USFWS
11:30 Thirty Years of Peregrine Falcon Recovery in Minnesota Jackie Fallon, Director, Midwest Peregrine Society
12:00 Lunch, visit exhibits
1:00 MOU annual business meeting and awards
1:50 Birding Ethics: A Panel Discussion David Cahlander, Sharon Stiteler, and Roger Everhart
2:15 Golden-winged Warbler Research at Rice Lake NWR and Tamarac NWR Henry Streby and David Anderson
2:40 Break and visit exhibits
3:10 Red-headed Woodpecker Research at Cedar Creek Natural History Area Chet Meyers and Ari Waldstein
3:35 A Sandhill Crane Management for Minnesota Steve Merchant, Assistant Chief, Section of Wildlife, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
4:00 Purple Martin Conservation Progress Kelly Applegate, Purple Martin Working Group
4:30 Closing comments
In addition to these sessions, the following groups/people will have booths in the exhibit hall.
Adele Porter, Naturalist and author
Audubon Center of the Northwoods
Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis
Audubon Minnesota: Birding Trail Books
Birdchick.com, Sharon Stiteler
Birds and Windows, Joanna Eckles
Bluebird Recovery Program
Duck stamps
Explore Minnesota Tourism
Golden-winged Warbler Working Group
International Festival of Owls, Houston Nature Center
LightsOut/Birdsafe, Audubon Minnesota
Midwinter Golden Eagle Survey; National Eagle Center
Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas
Minnesota DNR Biological Survey Minnesota DNR Frog and Toad Survey
Minnesota DNR Odonata Survey
MOU Book sales
Nongame Wildlife Program, DNR
Preferred Adventures Ltd, St. Paul
Raptorworks.com, Dudley Edmondson
State Parks, DNR
University of Minnesota Press
Urban Birdfest
Read More
Registration fee is $4.00 if you register prior to November 25th or $5.00 at the door. Registration will be begin at 8:00 A.M. on December 3rd. Pre-registrations must be received by November 25th, 2011. Mail your check for $4.00 to Carl Greiner at 1616 Hill St. S.W., Chatfield, Minnesota 55923. Click here to download a PDF version (525k) of the registration form.
8:00 Registration 9:00 Welcome Dr. Susan Weller, Director, Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota
9:10 Forty Years of Counting and Banding at Hawk Ridge Dr. Gerald J. Niemi, Center for Water and the Environment, Natural Resources Research Institute, U of MN, Duluth
9:45 USGS Study of Migration in Common Loons — Research Project Update Kevin Kenow, Research Wildlife Biologist, US Geological Survey
10:15 Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas — Project Update Bonnie Sample, Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas Coordinator
10:40 Chile to Nome: Tales of Midwestern Shorebird Migrations and Research Efforts Robert P. Russell, Division of Migratory Birds, USFWS
11:30 Thirty Years of Peregrine Falcon Recovery in Minnesota Jackie Fallon, Director, Midwest Peregrine Society
12:00 Lunch, visit exhibits
1:00 MOU annual business meeting and awards
1:50 Birding Ethics: A Panel Discussion David Cahlander, Sharon Stiteler, and Roger Everhart
2:15 Golden-winged Warbler Research at Rice Lake NWR and Tamarac NWR Henry Streby and David Anderson
2:40 Break and visit exhibits
3:10 Red-headed Woodpecker Research at Cedar Creek Natural History Area Chet Meyers and Ari Waldstein
3:35 A Sandhill Crane Management for Minnesota Steve Merchant, Assistant Chief, Section of Wildlife, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
4:00 Purple Martin Conservation Progress Kelly Applegate, Purple Martin Working Group
4:30 Closing comments
In addition to these sessions, the following groups/people will have booths in the exhibit hall.
Adele Porter, Naturalist and author
Audubon Center of the Northwoods
Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis
Audubon Minnesota: Birding Trail Books
Birdchick.com, Sharon Stiteler
Birds and Windows, Joanna Eckles
Bluebird Recovery Program
Duck stamps
Explore Minnesota Tourism
Golden-winged Warbler Working Group
International Festival of Owls, Houston Nature Center
LightsOut/Birdsafe, Audubon Minnesota
Midwinter Golden Eagle Survey; National Eagle Center
Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas
Minnesota DNR Biological Survey Minnesota DNR Frog and Toad Survey
Minnesota DNR Odonata Survey
MOU Book sales
Nongame Wildlife Program, DNR
Preferred Adventures Ltd, St. Paul
Raptorworks.com, Dudley Edmondson
State Parks, DNR
University of Minnesota Press
Urban Birdfest
Friday, October 21, 2011
Wolf Eating a Deer Video
Posted by Kirk
I had the good fortune today to visit the Wildlife Science Center in Columbus, Minnesota. It is a pretty cool place and it was very interesting to watch the wolves they have there. They have Great Planes Gray Wolves, Mexican Gray Wolves and Red Wolves. There are also gray fox, black bears, mountain lions, porcupines, skunks and more.
I shot this video of a gray wolf chowing down on a fresh road killed deer.
If you are in the area and interested in wolves or bears, be sure to check them out. They are located within the boundaries of the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area just north of the Twin Cities.
~Kirk
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I shot this video of a gray wolf chowing down on a fresh road killed deer.
If you are in the area and interested in wolves or bears, be sure to check them out. They are located within the boundaries of the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area just north of the Twin Cities.
~Kirk
Monday, October 17, 2011
Monday Phenology, October 17, 2011
Posted by Kirk in: Phenology 2 Comments
I'm kind of getting used to the sun not being up when I awake in the morning. I don't like that I'm getting used to it but there it is. On the bright side, or rather, not so bright, is that the sun is no longer in my eyes on the way to work because it is still mostly below the horizon. Sunrise this morning was at 7:31 am and it set at 6:25 pm. That's only 10 hours, fifty-four minutes and one second long but hey, who's counting right?
The week in review:
Monday the sun was still behind the trees for most of my drive which seemed like a first. While we still had some fine color last week, many but not all of the trees were looking bare now. The taller ones and those on the edges of wooded areas got hit the worst by the winds and stripped them clean. Butter butts, aka yellow-rumped warblers, aka Myrtle Warblers, and juncos were at the feeders at work though the butter butts were drawn by our water feature and not the seeds.
Wednesday I started to see really dramatic numbers of Canada Geese in farm fields. We're talking flocks of many hundreds. I went for a short hike and saw a winter wren, waves of myrtles, lots of yellow crowned and ruby crowned kinglets, juncos, swamp sparrows, and the usual year-round residents. The bird banders caught lots of birds before the rain came in by mid-day. Purple Finch, Hermit Thrush, Field Sparrow, Nashville Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Cedar Waxwing, Song Sparrow, Northern Waterthrush, Lincoln Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warbler, Western Palm Warbler, and a Blue-headed Vireo. The big numbers were 33 White-throated Sparrows and 29 Myrtle Warblers.
Thursday I taught our aquatic ecology class and was blown away when the kids pulled 21 water scorpions out of the water. We usually only see one if any during a class. 21 was an incredible number.
Friday I was tired from having been up until 3:00 in the morning after the midnight screening of The Big Year movie. It was fun, you should go. If you like birds, you'll probably enjoy it. Here's what the bird banders caught on Friday while I tried to stay awake. American Goldfinch, Black-capped Chickadee, Slate-colored Junco, Swamp Sparrow, Purple Finch, Cedar Waxwing, Downy Woodpecker, Hermit Thrush, White-breasted nuthatch, White-throated Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue Jay, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker.
Saturday I hiked to the prairie with some kindergartners celebrating a birthday. The only flowers we could find were a few asters. It looks like the prairie is about ready for winter. We were able to find a few green tender hissop leaves and the kids delighted in their black licorice taste. My students again found large numbers of water scorpions in the lake. It must be a good time of year for them.
Sunday was important phenologically as it marked the day we slipped below eleven hours of sunlight per day. It was also the first day I saw Juncos in my backyard in St. Paul.
What to watch for:
It looks like the threats of our first snow have fizzled out and I'm pretty happy about that. We're behind the usual first 32° day though. That's usually around October 6th. Looks like we could dip below freezing on Tuesday night so time to harvest what is left in the garden early this week. I finally have peppers and tomatoes ready to harvest. The growing season officially ends at the first 32° day. Take a look at which trees still have leaves. Many of them are oaks. They hold onto their leaves late into the winter. Pretty much everything green in the understory this week will be buckthorn. One reason this invasive species is so successful is because it stays green longer than other trees and this helps it grow faster and longer than the competition.
Read More
The week in review:
Monday the sun was still behind the trees for most of my drive which seemed like a first. While we still had some fine color last week, many but not all of the trees were looking bare now. The taller ones and those on the edges of wooded areas got hit the worst by the winds and stripped them clean. Butter butts, aka yellow-rumped warblers, aka Myrtle Warblers, and juncos were at the feeders at work though the butter butts were drawn by our water feature and not the seeds.
Wednesday I started to see really dramatic numbers of Canada Geese in farm fields. We're talking flocks of many hundreds. I went for a short hike and saw a winter wren, waves of myrtles, lots of yellow crowned and ruby crowned kinglets, juncos, swamp sparrows, and the usual year-round residents. The bird banders caught lots of birds before the rain came in by mid-day. Purple Finch, Hermit Thrush, Field Sparrow, Nashville Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Cedar Waxwing, Song Sparrow, Northern Waterthrush, Lincoln Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warbler, Western Palm Warbler, and a Blue-headed Vireo. The big numbers were 33 White-throated Sparrows and 29 Myrtle Warblers.
Thursday I taught our aquatic ecology class and was blown away when the kids pulled 21 water scorpions out of the water. We usually only see one if any during a class. 21 was an incredible number.
Friday I was tired from having been up until 3:00 in the morning after the midnight screening of The Big Year movie. It was fun, you should go. If you like birds, you'll probably enjoy it. Here's what the bird banders caught on Friday while I tried to stay awake. American Goldfinch, Black-capped Chickadee, Slate-colored Junco, Swamp Sparrow, Purple Finch, Cedar Waxwing, Downy Woodpecker, Hermit Thrush, White-breasted nuthatch, White-throated Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue Jay, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker.
Saturday I hiked to the prairie with some kindergartners celebrating a birthday. The only flowers we could find were a few asters. It looks like the prairie is about ready for winter. We were able to find a few green tender hissop leaves and the kids delighted in their black licorice taste. My students again found large numbers of water scorpions in the lake. It must be a good time of year for them.
Sunday was important phenologically as it marked the day we slipped below eleven hours of sunlight per day. It was also the first day I saw Juncos in my backyard in St. Paul.
What to watch for:
It looks like the threats of our first snow have fizzled out and I'm pretty happy about that. We're behind the usual first 32° day though. That's usually around October 6th. Looks like we could dip below freezing on Tuesday night so time to harvest what is left in the garden early this week. I finally have peppers and tomatoes ready to harvest. The growing season officially ends at the first 32° day. Take a look at which trees still have leaves. Many of them are oaks. They hold onto their leaves late into the winter. Pretty much everything green in the understory this week will be buckthorn. One reason this invasive species is so successful is because it stays green longer than other trees and this helps it grow faster and longer than the competition.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Woodpecker Drains the Feeder
Posted by Kirk
As part of a new project at the nature center where I work we've set up a new feeder cam to capture birds coming to our bird feeders. I'll make the link public once it goes live.
With all of our feeders we tend to go though a lot of bird seed. Just a few days ago my co-worker Kelly went and picked up 200 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds and another 20 pounds of nyger. That should hold us for a while! The camera we have on our feeder sends an image down to the Science Museum of Minnesota once every minute. This image will then be displayed on the ScienceBuzz kiosk in the Mississippi River Gallery. The images will also be available online. During the testing phase of the project, I was monitoring the system and noticed a hairy woodpecker land on the feeder. It is hard to read the tiny time stamp on the image but this was at 4:20 pm.
Check out this second photo. It was taken just six minutes later at 4:26. The bird has drained that entire side of the feeder!
It was incredible to see how fast the bird was emptying the thing. I should note a couple of points though.
1) The central column restricts some of the available space for seed inside so it looks like it went through more seed than it did.
2) It is likely the bird did not eat all the seeds. Woodpeckers don't carefully pull one seed out of the feeder at a time, they hammer away and lots of seeds spill out in the process. We don't mind though. There are many birds that will only eat seeds off the ground and they won't perch on the feeder itself. They rely on the woodpeckers and other birds spilling seed so they can get to it.
Fox sparrows, dark-eyed juncos and redpolls are good examples of birds we see feeding on the ground under the feeders.
It was interesting to see this bird drain the seeds out so fast. I've always blamed the squirrels who in spite of this being a squirrel proof feeder still have learned how to chow down at the buffet. I guess the woodpeckers do their fair share as well.
I'll be excited to post more images captured by the camera in the future and I'll let people know when it goes online.
~Kirk
Read More
With all of our feeders we tend to go though a lot of bird seed. Just a few days ago my co-worker Kelly went and picked up 200 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds and another 20 pounds of nyger. That should hold us for a while! The camera we have on our feeder sends an image down to the Science Museum of Minnesota once every minute. This image will then be displayed on the ScienceBuzz kiosk in the Mississippi River Gallery. The images will also be available online. During the testing phase of the project, I was monitoring the system and noticed a hairy woodpecker land on the feeder. It is hard to read the tiny time stamp on the image but this was at 4:20 pm.
1) The central column restricts some of the available space for seed inside so it looks like it went through more seed than it did.
2) It is likely the bird did not eat all the seeds. Woodpeckers don't carefully pull one seed out of the feeder at a time, they hammer away and lots of seeds spill out in the process. We don't mind though. There are many birds that will only eat seeds off the ground and they won't perch on the feeder itself. They rely on the woodpeckers and other birds spilling seed so they can get to it.
Fox sparrows, dark-eyed juncos and redpolls are good examples of birds we see feeding on the ground under the feeders.
It was interesting to see this bird drain the seeds out so fast. I've always blamed the squirrels who in spite of this being a squirrel proof feeder still have learned how to chow down at the buffet. I guess the woodpeckers do their fair share as well.
I'll be excited to post more images captured by the camera in the future and I'll let people know when it goes online.
~Kirk
Monday, October 10, 2011
Monday Phenology: October 10, 2011
Posted by Kirk in: Phenology
Not phenology but on Thursday night of this week my computer died. It was an iMac and I can only assume it just couldn't cope with living in a world without Steve Jobs. Once it has a new hard drive it should be back in action but in the mean time I have no access to all of my files and a good deal of what feels like my brain.No podcast of the phenology this week. I'm going to have to make this as short and sweet as possible. We've lost another 30 minutes of daylight this past week. Here's what else I noticed.
The week in review:
Monday I taught at a local school and was blown away by how many wooly bears caterpillars there were. They were simply everywhere. I've never seen them in such numbers. There were even a few yellow bear caterpillars which turn into the Virginian Tiger Moth.The regular wooly bear caterpillars spend the entire winter as caterpillars and then in the spring turn into Isabella moths. I'm thinking we're going to have a banner spring for Isabella moths.
Tuesday I noticed the corn harvest has begun out in Northern Washington county where I work. You could see huge clouds of topsoil blowing away as the farmers harvested on this dry windy day. It seemed like migration was slowing down. The bird banders only caught small numbers of birds and there were no myrtle warblers even though they had been so numerous just a few days ago. On another not so welcome phenology note, a co-worker found a woodtick embedded in her back today. They are still around.
Wednesday, while fall colors are still spotty at least in the woods at work, I think today we tipped past the point where the number of leaves falling out number those yet to turn. The bird banders are getting more juncos. I still wouldn't say we're seeing large numbers but they are here for sure.
Thursday my co-worker Paul saw lots of myrtles. Is this another wave of warblers? Interesting to note that our other good day was just before a day of strong wind and what will happen Friday...
Friday: So windy! I saw more myrtle warblers again today. Male American goldfinches have lost almost all of their gold feathers. Still lots of white-throated sparrows around. I found myself sitting at my desk wondering if I was coming down with a fever and then I looked at the thermometer and realized it was 81° in my cube. This is NOT right for October.
Sunday I returned home from a mini trip away and was delighted to find a nearly red tomato in my back yard. I know for myself and other gardners it has bee a terrible tomato year. The fact that it took until October 9 th to get a ripe tomato is crazy. Sunday was the 8th day of 80 degree weather in a row which broke a new record in Minnesota.
The week ahead
Strong winds will continue to strip our colorful leaves away this week. Exposed trees will be bare by the end of the day Monday while more sheltered trees will hold out for a while yet. The strongest winds will be on Friday when a cold front pushes through. The front will also spell the end of our heat wave. I'm ready for it to be gone.
Read More
The week in review:
Monday I taught at a local school and was blown away by how many wooly bears caterpillars there were. They were simply everywhere. I've never seen them in such numbers. There were even a few yellow bear caterpillars which turn into the Virginian Tiger Moth.The regular wooly bear caterpillars spend the entire winter as caterpillars and then in the spring turn into Isabella moths. I'm thinking we're going to have a banner spring for Isabella moths.
Tuesday I noticed the corn harvest has begun out in Northern Washington county where I work. You could see huge clouds of topsoil blowing away as the farmers harvested on this dry windy day. It seemed like migration was slowing down. The bird banders only caught small numbers of birds and there were no myrtle warblers even though they had been so numerous just a few days ago. On another not so welcome phenology note, a co-worker found a woodtick embedded in her back today. They are still around.
Wednesday, while fall colors are still spotty at least in the woods at work, I think today we tipped past the point where the number of leaves falling out number those yet to turn. The bird banders are getting more juncos. I still wouldn't say we're seeing large numbers but they are here for sure.
Thursday my co-worker Paul saw lots of myrtles. Is this another wave of warblers? Interesting to note that our other good day was just before a day of strong wind and what will happen Friday...
Friday: So windy! I saw more myrtle warblers again today. Male American goldfinches have lost almost all of their gold feathers. Still lots of white-throated sparrows around. I found myself sitting at my desk wondering if I was coming down with a fever and then I looked at the thermometer and realized it was 81° in my cube. This is NOT right for October.
Sunday I returned home from a mini trip away and was delighted to find a nearly red tomato in my back yard. I know for myself and other gardners it has bee a terrible tomato year. The fact that it took until October 9 th to get a ripe tomato is crazy. Sunday was the 8th day of 80 degree weather in a row which broke a new record in Minnesota.
The week ahead
Strong winds will continue to strip our colorful leaves away this week. Exposed trees will be bare by the end of the day Monday while more sheltered trees will hold out for a while yet. The strongest winds will be on Friday when a cold front pushes through. The front will also spell the end of our heat wave. I'm ready for it to be gone.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Monday Phenology Podcast: October 3, 2011
Posted by Kirk in: Phenology
Re-recorded late at night after the first recording died a painful death by spinning beach ball, I present the podcast of Monday Phenology for October 3, 2011.
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Monday Phenology: October 3, 2011
Posted by Kirk in: Phenology
Happy October! Man does time fly, or rather, disappear, just last week I was saying that we had the mark wherein we have less than 12 hours of sunlight and then by today we are already at just eleven hours, and thirty six minutes. We're loosing light fast. Those three minutes less per day are adding up. The sun rose at 7:13 am and set at 6:50. For those keeping score, or those with intimate knowledge of my bedroom habits, that means the sun now rises almost exactly an hour after I wake up. The only good news here is for those of you who like astronomy we'll soon have more and more darkness. I'll do my best not to dampen your high spirits by pointing out that next month, November, is typically the cloudiest month of the year.
The Phenology Week in Review:
Last Monday it was still September and I watched the colors change before my eyes. There was a maple out the window at work that had hints of color in the morning and by the end of the day it was 50% changed. It was quite remarkable.
Wednesday I went canoeing and it was beautiful. There were trumpeter swans on the lakes at work and migrating turkey vultures overhead. Hard to ask for much more but we did get more. In the wake of the poor windy weather on Tuesday we got slammed with migrating birds. The mist nets were only open for a short time but we had 170 birds in them comprising 21 species. The banders actually had to close the nets as they were simply getting birds faster than they could process them. The flocks of birds were hitting the nets 30 at a time. Here's what was migrating through.
Thursday I taught deer ecology all day and ironically it meant I didn't get outside much. Early on in the day I was overseeing a rotation table on deer digestion when the kid's teacher pointed to the radar screen we have up on a kiosk and said, "Hey, are we going to get rain?" There did seem to be green blobs moving toward us. I clicked on the storm cells and saw that the biggest one only had 2 kg/m² of vertically integrated liquid. "Shouldn't be more than a sprinkle," I told him. As it turns out, 2 kg/m² is more than enough to soak kids who didn't bring any rain gear.
Friday I left work early but not before a short stroll though the woods. I could hear birds everywhere including what seemed to be an endless movement of white-throated sparrows. Some of them were tentatively practicing their spring calls and it was easy to entice them to sing with a little whistle. The only warbler I saw was a myrtle and it was fun to note through the binoculars that it was banded.
Saturday was a beautiful day. We've been really fortunate this year to have so much nice weather. Instead of getting outside to enjoy it I took my son to the model train museum. Hey, I've got more hobbies than birds and phenology.
Sunday was our annual Fall Color Blast at work.We had around 630 people come enjoy the outdoors with us. The great thing about the wide open outdoors is that 630 people feels like almost nothing. One of the readers of the blog, Sue, shared with me while I worked down at the lake that the bird banders had caught a fox sparrow. That was the first we'd seen them this fall. (Though Birdchick mentioned to me that she saw a dead one smashed on a bike trail in the Twin Cities earlier in the week.)
The week ahead:
Expect more migration. The banding totals are showing that many species are moving though but you have to really be out there looking for them. The Tennessee Warbler is a good example, even while mist netting birds and with 170 to choose from, we only had one Tennessee Warbler. This is a tough season to be out birding as even when you see a bird you then have to deal with fall plumage. I wish you all luck. Those of you into flowers there will still be time this week to enjoy the late season beauty of the asters. Some of the last monarchs are moving through as well this week. Speaking of insects, watch for prodigious numbers of wooly-bear caterpillars this week. It is a good year for them. These will overwinter and become Isabella tiger moths next spring.
Read More
The Phenology Week in Review:
Last Monday it was still September and I watched the colors change before my eyes. There was a maple out the window at work that had hints of color in the morning and by the end of the day it was 50% changed. It was quite remarkable.
Tuesday was drizzly and just all around not great. We only set two nets for bird banding and only had them open for a short while. The banders caught 11 birds.
American goldfinch 2
black-capped chickadee 4
Swainson's thrush 1
white-breasted nuthatch 5
Cool to see the Swainson's thrushes are migrating through. To be honest, we bird band mostly for the kids and you can show them all the warblers you want and they aren't all that impressed. You show them a black-capped chickadee and an American goldfinch and they practically explode out of their seats in excitement. We'd do well to remember that.
Wednesday I went canoeing and it was beautiful. There were trumpeter swans on the lakes at work and migrating turkey vultures overhead. Hard to ask for much more but we did get more. In the wake of the poor windy weather on Tuesday we got slammed with migrating birds. The mist nets were only open for a short time but we had 170 birds in them comprising 21 species. The banders actually had to close the nets as they were simply getting birds faster than they could process them. The flocks of birds were hitting the nets 30 at a time. Here's what was migrating through.
Nashville warbler 1
magnolia warbler 1
ruby-crowned kinglet 10
Tennessee warbler 1
American goldfinch 5
black-capped chickadee 4
chipping sparrow 2
eastern phoebe 1
Lincoln's sparrow 3
myrtle warbler 92
orange-crowned warbler 2
western palm warbler 12
ovenbird 1
downy woodpecker 1
eastern bluebird 2
swamp sparrow 6
song sparrow 5
white-breasted nuthatch 1
white-throated sparrow 17
gray catbird 2
northern cardinal 1
In case you didn't catch that, there were NINETY-ONE myrtle warblers. (Those would be yellow-rumped warblers to you lumpers.)
Thursday I taught deer ecology all day and ironically it meant I didn't get outside much. Early on in the day I was overseeing a rotation table on deer digestion when the kid's teacher pointed to the radar screen we have up on a kiosk and said, "Hey, are we going to get rain?" There did seem to be green blobs moving toward us. I clicked on the storm cells and saw that the biggest one only had 2 kg/m² of vertically integrated liquid. "Shouldn't be more than a sprinkle," I told him. As it turns out, 2 kg/m² is more than enough to soak kids who didn't bring any rain gear.
Friday I left work early but not before a short stroll though the woods. I could hear birds everywhere including what seemed to be an endless movement of white-throated sparrows. Some of them were tentatively practicing their spring calls and it was easy to entice them to sing with a little whistle. The only warbler I saw was a myrtle and it was fun to note through the binoculars that it was banded.
Saturday was a beautiful day. We've been really fortunate this year to have so much nice weather. Instead of getting outside to enjoy it I took my son to the model train museum. Hey, I've got more hobbies than birds and phenology.
Sunday was our annual Fall Color Blast at work.We had around 630 people come enjoy the outdoors with us. The great thing about the wide open outdoors is that 630 people feels like almost nothing. One of the readers of the blog, Sue, shared with me while I worked down at the lake that the bird banders had caught a fox sparrow. That was the first we'd seen them this fall. (Though Birdchick mentioned to me that she saw a dead one smashed on a bike trail in the Twin Cities earlier in the week.)
The week ahead:
Expect more migration. The banding totals are showing that many species are moving though but you have to really be out there looking for them. The Tennessee Warbler is a good example, even while mist netting birds and with 170 to choose from, we only had one Tennessee Warbler. This is a tough season to be out birding as even when you see a bird you then have to deal with fall plumage. I wish you all luck. Those of you into flowers there will still be time this week to enjoy the late season beauty of the asters. Some of the last monarchs are moving through as well this week. Speaking of insects, watch for prodigious numbers of wooly-bear caterpillars this week. It is a good year for them. These will overwinter and become Isabella tiger moths next spring.