Bird Quest

Since the weather report said this would be a nice weekend, followed by cold and rain, we decided to join our friends from the Kentucky Society for Natural History on a trip to Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge. This NWR is only an hour or so north of Louisville, and an easy drive. Traditionally, we would go there in the fall and winter looking for water fowl of all sorts on the many lakes. However, they now have a new property manager, who has a different plan for the refuge, and most of the lakes we saw had more plant growth than water in them. We saw about a dozen Canada Geese, and only one male Wood Duck on one of the larger lakes, but none on any of the others.

Muscatatuck is the first place I ever saw a Red Headed Woodpecker, and I'm glad they are still around, along with the Yellow-rumped Warblers. But even the Bluebirds seem to have moved elsewhere.

I would have to say that the Refuge is now being managed for Turkey Vultures, since we saw more of them than anything other kind of bird. I'm sad to say that I am removing this NWR from my list of favorite birding spots in this area.

I subscribe to the Kentucky Birdlist, and read the postings, even though I'll probably never post anything myself, just to see what other birders are finding. This weekend, a couple reported seeing a Short-eared Owl and some Harriers in nearby Western Kentucky. It's only an hour and a half drive, I thought. I could make that and would sure love to get a photo of a Short-eared Owl!  They even provided an address (in the middle of farm country) for my GPS. I daydreamed about the wonderful closeup I'd get of that owl sitting on a fencepost all the way there.

I got there shortly before sunset, and found Harriers swooping over a field on the next ridge. Golly, they sure fly quickly from one end of the field to the other side! Then as I peered through my binoculars, I spotted FOUR of them in the air at once - an adult male, a female, and probably 2 juveniles -- the entire family! What about the owl? I did see a different bird, in a closer part of the field, but it flew so quickly away from me that I didn't get a close look. I'm going to say it was the owl.



Harriers are hawks, but they fly with their wings tipped in a dihedral, like Turkey Vultures. They have a facial disc like an owl, and use their hearing to help find prey. When they turn, you can see a large white rump. I never see them where other hawks are found, since they seem to require large open fields in which to hunt and won't come near the city. But they are definitely exciting birds to watch!

Wings Over Willcox

Let the birding begin! We took our first official trips with the Wings Over Willcox Birding and Nature Festival today, with Dick going in one direction and myself in another. Since I'm taking his trip tomorrow, we'll see if our lists come close.

Tom Whetten, a professional nature photographer, lead us on an all day photography adventure. We started waayyy before the crack of dawn for Whitewater Draw to catch the Sandhill Cranes leaving their roost for the day. They flew over by the raucous thousands, as I shivered in the cold. Having worn extra warm clothes needlessly at Muleshoe, I decided to tough it today, and regretted that decision until the sun actually warmed us around 9:30. After that I was glad the thermals were still at the motel! I suffered a setback when my memory card failed during the morning, losing what surely would have been award winning photos of a Great Horned Owl, some White Crowned Sparrows, two Shrikes in a bush, and the eagerly awaited Vermilion Flycatcher. Sigh... Replacement card inserted, I reshot those birds I could find again, except the Vermilion Flycatcher, but tomorrow is another day.

RTP means Red Tail on the Post, and we saw scads of them. I suspect that Red Tails were not as populous before people started putting up power and telephone poles in this treeless country. Two Red Tails treated us with an aerial display, ignoring the Harrier who harassed them throughout the morning. The Great Horned Owl sat on a tree branch snoozing in the warm morning sun. Although Barn Owls often roost in the same area, none were around today.

Although the Sandhill Cranes were off foraging, Pintail and Cinnamon Teal ducks joined the Snow Geese sharing the lake, along with a Sora - my surprise find! One of the other people on our trip promised to send its photo, since it ran into the cattails before I could get operational.

Just sit back and enjoy the Sandhill Cranes from the comfort of your computer chair.

Stargazing has changed a lot since I last tried it in high school. We joined a group on a dark hillside to watch the stars, serenaded by the Friday night Coyote Chorus just over the hill. The International Space Station sped overhead shining as brightly as Venus. Our leader used a telescope with a GPS finder and built in data on each item queried. As a motor aimed the scope at the correct part of the sky, the leader used a laser pointer to outline each constellation. The stars filled the sky and we examined several star clusters and the Andromeda Galaxy easily with our birding binoculars. We Star Wars and Star Trek fans tend to forget how far away those stars really are. Standing in the Arizona Desert in the cold makes it much more real.