Thank you Horned Larks

This morning on the way in to work I spotted some birds on the side of the road. The road goes through a farm field and each year I find this same little stretch is reliable for American Kestrels in the summer and if I am lucky, Horned Larks in the winter. I love this little stretch of road. I saw a Northern Shrike there earlier this year and a Bobolink last summer.

I've been slowing down through this stretch each day patiently waiting for the Horned Larks. This morning, I saw some birds on the side fo the road. They were too large to be the tree sparrows and juncos I'd seen earlier in the season. I quickly pulled over and fumbled to get my binoculars out of my bag while I hoped no cars would come and scare off the birds. Predictably, the zipper on my bag jammed. I finally pulled out the binoculars and was delighted with a splendid view of Horned Larks. There were six of them in total.

It was a great feeling to see a new bird for the year. I'd been in a dry spell lately as I hadn't seen a new bird for the year since January 15th. That's more than a month without adding a bird to my list. Granted, I could have added some if I was trying harder or say, retired and not raising a toddler.

Here's the list thus far.

January 1
I started the year off on January 1st with my best first day of the year ever as we took a fmily trip down to La Crosse on the first of the year to visit family. A quick but unbelievably cold stop at Point Douglas helped. The Harlequin Duck was a lifer for me. Not bad way to start off the year.
1. House Sparrow (at my house)
2. Rock Pigeon (at my house)
3. Red-tailed Hawk (driving past the MSP airport)
4. Trumpeter Swan (point douglas)
5. Canada Goose (point douglas)
6. Mallard Duck (point douglas)
7. Harlequin Duck (point douglas)
8. American Coot (point douglas)
9. Ring-billed Gull (point douglas)
10. Ring-necked Duck (point douglas)
11. American Crow (point douglas)
12. Bald Eagle (near Wabasha)

January 2
On the Second day of the year I woke up to take in some of the birds at my in-laws house. To my toddler's disappointment, there was no chickadee at the feeders but the Tufted Titmouse did finally show up.
13. Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco (LaCrosse, WI)
14. White-breasted Nuthatch (LaCrosse, WI)
15. Red-bellied Woodpecker (LaCrosse, WI)
16. Tufted Titmouse (LaCrosse, WI)
17. European Starling (LaCrosse, WI)

January 4
Back at work, I quickly picked up the usual suspects at the feeders.
18. Blue Jay (Warner Nature Center)
19. Hairy Woodpecker (Warner Nature Center)
20. Downy Woodpecker (Warner Nature Center)
21. Black-capped Chickadee (Warner Nature Center)
22. American Goldfinch (Warner Nature Center)
23. Sharp-shinned hawk (Warner Nature Center)
24. Pileated Woodpecker(Warner Nature Center)

January 6
One more day, one more bird.
25. American Robin (near Warner Nature Center)

January 7
An unexpected surprise, while sitting in a meeting at the Science Museum, a Peregrine Falcon repeatedly flew past the windows of the conference room.
26. Peregrine Falcon (Science Museum of MN, St. Paul)

January 11
On a school outreach trip I picked up two more birds. Marine on St. Croix is a good place for birding in the winter with open water from the Mill Stream and numerous springs.
27. Northern Cardinal (Marine on St. Croix)
28. American Tree Sparrow (Marine on St. Croix)

January 12
On the morning drive in to work I saw two more birds and then the Turkeys were finally at the feeders. The Northern Shrike was a real winter treat.
29. Ring-necked Pheasant (near Warner Nature Center)
30. Northern Shrike (near Warner Nature Center)
31. Wild Turkey (Warner Nature Center)

January 15
The house finches finally appeared at my fly through feeder at home.
32. House Finch (at my house)

February 23
After over a month of new birds...
33. Horned Lark (near Warner Nature Center)

The list has some surprises thus far. It was nice to get the Horned Lark, Sharp-shinned Hawk and Harlequin Duck. There are some really obvious omissions though. I have yet to see a Cedar Waxwing, Brown Creeper, Mourning Dove, Pine Siskin, Common Redpoll, or a Barred Owl. I think I am the only staff person at work who has not spotted a Barred Owl in the woods this year. Maybe this is my week.

~Kirk

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Northern Hawk Owl at Crex Meadows

Northern Hawk Owl Hunting from Dale Bohlke on Vimeo.

This video of a Northern Hawk Owl was shot by Dale Bohlke at the Fish Lake Wildlife Area which is part of the Glacial Lake Grantsburg Wildlife Management Complex in Wisconsin. Fish Lake Wildlife Area is close to Crex Meadows for those familiar with the area. The land is 3 miles from Grantsburg, WI and just an hour and a half drive from the Twin Cities.

The video was shot on December 27th 2009. At last report (1/5/10) this bird is still at this site. It can be found two mile south of fish lake road in the Fish Lake Wildlife Area. The close proximity to the Twin Cities makes it a great target for birders who want a chance to glimpse this northern species.

Here is a link to the google map for the area.

~Kirk

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My Top 10 Birds of 2009

I saw a lot of good birds this year. In fact, I set a new year list record helped in no large part by a trip to Arizona. Sitting here at the end of the year I can see that I added 33 birds to my life list as well. There won't be many years where I can say that. It is hard to pick my top ten birds of the year. Some are because they were just so beautiful while others were just exciting to find or a long time coming. Eight of the ten were lifers.

10. Partially Leucistic Purple Finch

Starting off at spot number 10 is something a little weird. I saw a lot of partially leucistic birds this year. One of my favorites was this female purple finch that had a strange white collar around her neck. It was very distinctive. I wrote a post about it. I wonder if this same bird will show up this winter? That would be really fun.



9. Eastern Towhee
The Eastern Towhee is one of those birds I see most years but they don't stick around and if I miss them in the spring then I've missed out. This spring was one of those years where I didn't see any. Imagine my surprise when I learned one was still hanging out in Minnesota in December. I took part in a Christmas Bird Count this year and got a lead that a towhee was hanging out just a mile or so from where I work I headed out with my camera on the count day and sure enough here was a crazy Eastern Towhee in Minnesota in December.

8. Varied Thrush
I haven't done a whole lot of twitching in the past. That's running after rare birds for those not familiar with the term. I see reports of strange birds all over the state but I don;t have the time to go running after them. Last winter there was a report of a Varied Thrush just a mile from my house though so with the inlaws in town to help watch my toddler son I grabbed my bins and field guide and made the short drive to the site. I saw the bird from a distance and managed to catch the photo below. Paul and I also talked with Liz Harper who lives on the street where it was hanging out about what it was like to live at the center of birding madness. You can listen on the pilot episode of our podcast.

7. Sedge Wren
The Sedge Wren was a cool discovery close to home. No travel necessary other than going to work. I took a photography class out on a hike to take landscape shots and a little wren teed up on a tree and chatted at us. I knew it was a wren immediately but something seemed off. It didn't feel like a house wren. I looked closer and was delighted to discover it was a Sedge Wren. I didn't even know they were on the property so it was fun to see them.




6. Orchard Oriole
The orchard Oriole made the list because I've been trying to see one for a while and they have eluded me. We get them at work but for some reason I can never find them. I finally stumbled into one in the yard of my wife's grandmother in South Dakota. It was completely unexpected and delightful.



5. Canyon Wren
Another wren! The Canyon Wren made the list because it was such a fun discovery. I was in Arizona birding unfamiliar habitat looking for unfamiliar birds. I found the Canyon Wren in the Superstition Mountains. It was teed up perfectly on this rock slab and was very cooperative when it came to photos. What a cool bird.




4. Loggerhead Shrike  
Just before seeing the Canyon Wren I spotted a bird teed up in the canyon we were hiking though. It was fun because it was one of those moments where I could feel my birding skills evolving. A few years ago I would have had no idea what this bird was. Now though I instantly recognized it as a shrike. I studied it though the bins and then snapped some photos before studying it more. What struck me was that the bill seemed shorter than the bills of the shrikes I'd seen in the winter at home in Minnesota. I double checked the field guide I had with me and sure enough, Loggerhead Shrikes have a shorter bill than Northern Shrikes. It felt good to have not only seen a new species but have correctly made an ID like that in the field.



3. Harris Hawk
The same hike as the shrike and the wren yielded a handful of other lifers. The most exciting was a Harris Hawk but it technically came after the hike. We were heading back to town when I almost put the rental car in the ditch. I had spotted a large raptor flying in our direction. I rolled down the window and it landed in a saguaro cactus maybe fifty feet from our car. A second then flew in. We could see a nest in the cactus. The birds flew off one by one and I got some decent photos. Even my non-birding wife thought it was pretty cool.



2. Black-necked Stilt
I just loved these little guys. This Black-necked stilt was hanging out at the water treatment plant in Gilbert, AZ. These are just gorgeous birds and I could watch them for hours. They are fun to photograph too.



1. Mountain Bluebird
Sure, it isn't the rarest bird nor was the adventure to find it the most exciting. I just love this photo though. I took it while on a family reunion trip out to the Black Hills in South Dakota. We stayed at a campground and this little guy was hanging around the whole time we were there. I ended up making him the desktop image for my computer at work.  There's something incredible about that blue that just makes me happy every time I see it. This was the same trip where I saw the Orchard Oriole. The post I wrote about it won a contest for writing about birding and life listing. The prize was Olivia Gentile's book Life List. If you're interested in listing it is a must read.



Well, that's it for 2009. In just a manner of days I'll be back to 0 birds for the year and the adventure begins again.

~Kirk

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December 2009 Twin Cities Naturalist Podcast

We can't believe the year has already gone by. Here's our year-end edition of the Twin Cities Naturalist Podcast. We're debuting our new style of player this month so check it out and let us know if you have any problems. Don't forget to answer the trivia question!



Links for things referenced in this podcast episode:

The global climate change map.

The Octopus using a coconut tool.

Saw Whet Owl Print.

Saw-whet Owl Release.

Brown Pelican flies off Endangered Species list.

Photos of dead albatross chicks on Midway with bodies full of plastic.

~Kirk & Paul

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Book Review: Life List

Last month my blog post, South Dakota Road Trip won a contest co-hosted by the Nature Blog Network and 10,000 birds.

The prize was a copy of Life List: A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds. The book came straight from the publisher and I immediately dove into it. I love books as much as birds.

The story chronicles the incredible birding career of Phoebe Snetsinger, the first person to have a life list with over 8,000 birds. It is so much more than that however. Phoebe was not just a lister, she was a world-class birder with a fascinating life story. Author Olivia Gentile pulls together the narrative of her life in a compelling story in which every birder is likely to see some aspect of themselves. We grow with Phoebe as she discovers birding as an escape from the drudgery and tedium of being a housewife. We see her blossom into a respected birder and we watch too as her obsession with birds takes a toll on her health, family life and some would even say her ability to make rational choices.

Since Phoebe went through so many stages as a birder, we can examine different styles of birding or listing as she goes on her journey. I am certainly not anywhere near the same class of birder as Phoebe was. In the grand scheme of the roughly 10,000 birds out there, my life list is a mere pittance. Reading about her quest though makes me happy to not be so fanatically caught up in listing. I enjoy listing and I love the thrill of a new lifer. However, I don't plan of letting my birding destroy my marriage or put me in the middle of war zones. Phoebe's incredible life journey at the extreme edge of birding gives the rest of us perspective. If she could go though all she went through to become what some would call the greatest birder of all time then maybe the rest of us mere mortals can survive a few more mosquitoes, a little more mud and a little longer hike.

One aspect of the book I found interesting was the repeated references to the Golden Age of birding. I have to admit that I haven't been engaged in the birding world all that long. I really started birding back in the winter of 2006. As I read the book, I found myself thinking that the Golden Age of birding didn't sound all that great. People died on poorly organized trips, there were few to no field guides for much of the world, optics weren't as good or as light as they are now, the internet didn't exist making it harder to get information on locations of birds, guides, etc. It seems the one thing the "Golden Age" had going for it was less habitat degradation but that can't be the only criteria. I was pleased to see similar thoughts from fellow blogger, The Drinking Bird. I was also pleased that author Olivia Gentile covered some of the same observations in the epilogue. It is far too easy to gloss over the past as some hallowed ground.

It would be easy as well to look at only the positive side of Phoebe Snetsinger's story. She blossomed as an individual as a birder, was diagnosed with a fatal melanoma, fought it off multiple times and devoted herself to living her life to the fullest though birding. There is a darker side to this story however and Olivia Gentile examines the cost Phoebe's quest took on her family, friends and her own happiness. I found the book fascinating and even my non-birder wife has asked to read it after I shared some passages with her.
Phoebe Snetsinger's life is an example to us all of how to be a top notch birder, a thoughtful friend, an adventurous and fearless traveler, an optimist but also her life has lessons for us all when it comes to moderation.

There are also some interesting social class issues raised by her story. She was the daughter of a wealthy ad man and had she not come from such a financially privileged place her story would likely have been much different. It is one thing to say you are going to live life to the fullest and see as many birds as possible. It is another thing completely to set such a goal when you have essentially unlimited financial resources. Life List: A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds, is an incredible personal story of struggle and journey as well as a history lesson on women's changing role in modern society. There is something in this book for every reader and I hope everyone has a chance to pick up a copy. ~Kirk

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