SEO - The Search Continues

I am becoming obsessed with the goal of a terrific portrait photo of a Short-eared Owl. They can be found wintering in many different places in Kentucky, but I somehow manage to miss all the great trips my friends take at the last minute. Eileen came back saying, "We saw 35 of them take off at one time!"  Three days later her friend called to say they were all gone.

 



In Western Kentucky, near Paradise (you remember, "down by the Green River, where Paradise lay," as John Denver sang) the coal companies stripped the minerals out, and have "reclaimed" the area in grasslands, and they often find good raptors there, including Short-eared Owls.

Shelby County is just next door, so when Pat and Jane from the Beckham Bird Club said they saw one right by the road, I asked for directions. We arrived a little early and took the scenic tour of Shelby County farmlands, including some wonderful Kestrel sightings. By 5 o'clock the main show was ready to begin. At least three SEO's soared and circled each other, or flew low to the ground ... on the other side of the field.  We could see them pretty well through binoculars though. I put some mouse offerings on the fence posts near the car, although they weren't interested enough to investigate.

But how often do you get to see owls in synchronized flight? Pretty cool.

By the time the sun set over the silos on the neighboring farm, our fingers were turning to icicles, and we decided to go for coffee and supper. I intend to keep looking for Short-eared Owls whenever I can, since I am determined to find one sitting on a fencepost long enough and near enough for a good photo! Wish me luck!

Sandhill Crane Festival

As we arrived at Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge, a heavy layer of frost coated everything. Only two or three birds could be seen through the fog, and even they disappeared as the fog thickened. I assumed there was water somewhere, but we sure couldn't see it. The strange rattling kar-r-r-o-o-o drifted up to the birders sipping coffee as they waited for the fog to lift. Sounding and looking like ghosts, one or two of these large birds appeared and faded into the fog calling... By 10:30 we had enough light to see the water, and hoped to see thousands of Sandhill Cranes.

Birders are used to this though. "Oh, yeah," someone says, "We have thousands of _____ (fill in the blank with the name of the birds you want to see)." But it rained all week in Tennessee and most of them must have moved elsewhere. The birds we saw, however, were beautiful as they grazed in the corn stubble along the water's edge. All cranes are omnivorous. Sandhill Cranes are generalists and feed on a wide variety of plant tubers, grains, small vertebrates (e.g. mice and snakes), and invertebrates such as insects or worms. Sandhills find these foods in uplands and in shallow wetlands. Like most cranes, flightless chicks forage primarily on a diet of insects and other protein filled foods during their early stages of rapid growth. The Sandhill's tendency to feed on plant tubers creates conflicts with farming. Sandhill Cranes are adept at probing in the ground and finding planted agricultural seeds such as corn. When large flocks of cranes feed on planted fields, the damage they cause to an unprotected crop can be severe enough to force the farmer to replant the entire field.

A speaker from the International Crane Foundation, in Baraboo, WI, expanded our knowledge of cranes. The different sub-species of Sandhill Crane vary greatly in size and weight. Lesser Sandhills, who breed at more northern latitudes such as the arctic, are the smallest, weighing on average about 6-7 pounds and standing 3-3.5 feet tall. At the other end of the extreme, temperate-nesting Greater Sandhills (the ones we saw) are the largest sub-species and average 4.5-5 feet tall and 10-14 pounds. Body plumage is characterized by varying shades of gray. In many areas, wild Sandhills preen iron-rich mud into their feathers creating a deep rusty brown hue which lasts during spring and summer. As fall advances, these rusty feathers molt and the birds return to their grayish appearance.

We all scanned the air for more birds. You could find a few flying together, but if you looked closely, more and more skeins (I think that's what they are called) could be seen in the distance. The sun was warm and bright, and I think many of the cranes took advantage of the good weather to continue their migration southward. I'm not really sure how much farther these birds might go, since it is the middle of January already. Different populations travel to different wintering grounds. Dick and some of the others saw a few Whooping Cranes, but I missed them.

Throughout the day, we had great luck finding raptors. Several different Bald Eagles, both adults and immatures came to the Refuge, along with a Golden Eagle. As we debated the identity of these brown eagles, one birder came up with a good rule of thumb. "Think chocolate," he advised. "The Golden Eagle is the color of milk chocolate and the Bald Eagle is more like dark chocolate." Sounds good to me! We also spied a Merlin, American Kestrels, lots of Red Tail Hawks, a pair of Northern Harriers and a Cooper's Hawk. In my book, this certainly made up for a rather slow day for the Cranes!

The Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival is run entirely by volunteers, and they don't charge anything to attend. Kudos to everyone who worked so hard all weekend - the volunteer birders, shuttle bus drivers, TWRA, and all the sponsors and vendors. It's hard to choose between wonderful presentations in a room vs. freezing your toes off in the field for the bird of a lifetime! Brian "Fox" Ellis, the storyteller, attended the dinner Saturday night as Charles Darwin. Since I studied Darwin after our trip to the Galapagos, I especially enjoyed his performance. I understand, however, that the little country school that serves as home base for the festival, will be closing next year, and hope they can make new arrangements. After all, you never know which year will be the one when there actually ARE thousands of cranes to be seen! Birders are always hopeful!

Tennessee Trip

This weekend is the Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival, and since we've never taken in any of the attractions of Chattanooga, we decided to come a day or two early. After driving through rain, wind, sleet, sunshine and lightning within ONE MILE, we made it to the hotel. Chattanooga has gone green, and we caught the free electric shuttle bus down to the famous Chattanooga Aquarium, a great way to spend a rainy windy afternoon. We were almost the only people there though. The aquarium is well designed, using their space effectively as visitors move around the building, with clear directions to find the next exhibit. The best part is that they do not limit themselves to just fish in the exhibits!  We began at the top of the building with a touch pool of stingrays, including this ultra-friendly guy who kept waving and coming above the water to peer at us!

The Aquarium has a building for salt water and another for fresh water. We stood there peering in all the hiding places for each group of frogs, beginning with these green tree frogs.

Who can resist penguins! I've never seen so many different species of penguins in one place, including these macaroni penguins. A map with Antarctica as the center showed all the places (including the Galapagos Islands) where penguins can be found and I was surprised at the many places they live, all south of the equator, of course. New Zealand and Australia are big on the list.

Aquariums are always a special challenge to the photographer. First there are the distortions between air and water. The thick glass/plastic of the tanks do funny things to the light, which is none too bright by the time it reaches wherever I am standing. If you use a flash, you must stand at an angle to avoid a huge white blob in the middle of your picture. With no flash, the animals move too fast to capture without blurring. Grrr!

Most of all, we enjoyed all the free-flying birds at the aquarium! Especially in the fresh water building appropriate birds for the environment were loose in the enclosure. This Wood Duck and a Snowy Egret were together in the delta exhibit, along with Blue Birds and some kind of warbler! A volunteer said they all had some sort of injury and were non-releasable. Who knew to bring binoculars to an aquarium!

This morning we headed for Lookout Mountain and the Incline Railroad. At first, it was fine, silently rising past the houses and trees. As you reach the bluffs near the top, the incline reaches 72 percent, which seemed to be going straight up! UGH - agoraphobia began to strike, but I made it to the top OK. How in the world, I thought, do they keep this thing from crashing to the bottom again before we get off it! And there was snow at the top. This is looking more dangerous all the time, and we still have to ride it back down.

Lookout Mountain was part of a Civil War battle that is still a big thing in Chattanooga. The National Parks Service has a historical site explaining how the Union forces managed to defeat the Confederates here and on nearby Missionary Ridge to solidify their position in this Confederate city. Did you know that Gen. Sherman began is march through Georgia to the sea from Chattanooga? I always thought he went all the way across the deep South from the Mississippi River. I can't imagine how they ever got all those cannon to the top. There must be another route that doesn't have to climb a vertical cliff face.

Safely at the bottom of Lookout Mountain is the Chattanooga Nature Center and Arboretum. Even in January, we found plenty to look at hiking around the property. Look, isn't that hellebore over there? Hellebore actually blooms in January, and, as always, once you find one example, you notice it everywhere.

What in the world is that big bird in the tree ahead? It isn't a vulture... Ah, in the yard below the tree was a flock of about 12 wild turkeys, and when we opened to car door to get the camera, they all flew up into the trees. How cool! I've never seen turkeys fly like that! Well, tomorrow we go to the Hiwassee Refuge to Sandhill Cranes. More to come...

Whoo's Cooking on the Anchorage Trail?

By January 11, my birding friend Kathie, who recently relocated to Tucson, AZ, has 102 birds on her list for the month. It's a good thing I'm not into listing big time. Since I've had a cold and sore throat for the last 10 days, I haven't been out of the house much. But the rain stopped, and the sun came out this afternoon. With temps at 64, I couldn't pass up the chance to do a little birding on the Anchorage Trail, which is very popular here in Louisville.

I watch for any kind of animal, not just birds. This little squirrel decided that a bird's nest box makes a dandy place to spend the winter. As soon as he saw me looking, he ducked in to hide. Wonder if he'll give it up when the birds are ready to nest?

I do most of my birding by ear, and heard all the familiar Kentucky birds this afternoon. Bluebirds gave their sad little whistle, Cardinals chipped boldly, and the Kingfisher cackled on the other side of the lake, while Gold Finches called for potato chips as they flitted among the branches. This Song Sparrow serenaded more melodically than the pair of Canada Geese on the lake.

True to their names, the Mute Swans were silent, but very beautiful.

 

Then I heard a loud keer, keer, keer, from two Red Shouldered Hawks, and took off down the trail in pursuit. I saw a flash of wings, and then lost them. But there was a dark blob in the branches. Quietly I crept forward, binoculars in hand. OMG! It's NOT a hawk in the tree but a BARRED OWL! 

On other birding trips here, we saw a Barred Owl peering out of its hole in a tree, but I wasn't the one to locate it. I've never had good luck trying to find owls in the wild on my own. Even the GHO in Arizona was pointed out by the leader of that trip, who knew where it liked to sleep during the day.

But I found this bird all on my own! Whooppee! Here is was, 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon, and this Barred Owl was bright eyed and, well, not exactly bushy-tailed, but certainly alert, keeping an eye on the neighborhood while counting on his marvelous camouflage for privacy. Even when he knew I was walking under his tree, he just ignored me. How cool!

Bird Out the Old Year

Horned Lark

It's the end of the year. We've had a little snow in Louisville, and I took photos of snow on the trees...very pretty. But didn't go out birding. Until I got an email from two of the best birders in Beckham Bird Club.

Horned Lark - horns up

Go to Chamberlin Lane, by the horse farm, and you might find some Horned Larks, Lapland Larkspurs, American Pippits, and if you are reaaallll lucky, maybe a Snow Bunting. This is the same field where they found the same birds, in the snow, a few years ago, so I jumped in the car and headed out. The field guide says the Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs both range in the "Arctic, circumpolar," meaning they breed all around the Arctic sea. I remember studying the Laps in Finland during the 4th grade. Obviously, these are not birds I would expect to find in Louisville, KY.
 

Lapland Larkspurs

 Although the farm is still rural, the area around it is rapidly turning to subdivisions. Cars drive down the rural road every few minutes now, so these flighty little birds would briefly land, then take off again to circle the field when the next car came by. With sunlight reflecting off the snow, it was hard to get a good look at them. But my friends confirmed that these 3 little birds, are in fact, the Lapland Longspurs.  Just think! They have come down from someplace near the North Pole!

Lapland Larkspurs on manure

The Horned Larks seemed to be eating the corn dropped in the field during harvest, while the Larkspurs were attracted to the piles of horse manure. Guess they were pulling out the re-cycled oats! I'm afraid these winter visitors will have to find a new feeding spot before long, and I'll have to drive much farther to find them.

Happy Birding to all in 2013!

Zebra Stripped Birds

I enjoy birding, but I don't get out on a regular basis, so my identification skills can be challenged by non-resident birds. Today I went to Smith Berry Winery in Henry County, KY, with my son-in-law, his visiting mother, and the baby. Smith Berry has a sweet red wine which was the only one Brian would drink for some time. His tastes are becoming broader now, but this is his favorite, so we went for tasting. In the summer, it's fun to go to their concerts with music, great food, and wine.

On this winter day, we were greeted by flocks of small sparrows with black and white stripes on their heads. As always, I took photos and checked with the field guide when I got home. I know these birds don't live here all year long.

They came in slightly different colors too, this one having brown stripes instead of black. The field guide says they are White-Crowned Sparrows. The browner ones are the 1st year birds, while the black and whites are adults.

Glad I checked the field guide, since these White-throated Sparrows have similar markings on their heads, but check for the yellow by their eyes, as well as the white throat patch, of course.

Both species breed far to the north of Kentucky, but will spend the winters here. Now that I've compared them, it should be easier to tell them apart next time.

December...

Well, we went on the last regular bird trip of the year with Beckham Bird Club last Thursday, and here it is Sunday night. If I don't sit down and do this post, it will be after Christmas and too late to mention it, so here goes. Bernheim Forest and Arboretum is always a beautiful place, but when the weather turns cold, it's easy to just stay home instead. We dressed in all our warm clothes and drove on out in the early morning.

Anything that hadn't moved during the night was covered in a heavy layer of frost. The grass and evergreens seemed to have a dusting of snow as we entered the front gate. Fog rose in lazy swirls from the surface of Lake Nevin.

We saw no spectacular or unusual birds, but the Robins and Blue Jays were spectacularly abundant that morning, chowing down on any berries hanging on a tree.

As the sun warmed the air a bit, more birds came out in search of breakfast.

We five birders and the birds at the feeders were the only visitors at the education center...

...but we had had a wonderful time. The Turkey Vultures didn't take to the air until almost 11:30. Guess there weren't any thermals until that late.

I love finding frost flowers in a shady spot. Sap in the stems of some plants will burst through the stem itself, and then freeze in amazing swirls.

The Cedar Waxwings came out just as we planned to return home at the end of the morning, whistling softly above us. This week is the Christmas Bird Count at Otter Creek, and I hope we see more for the count than we did on this day.

Sunday Lifer Birding

Red Crossbill - Female on top, male bottom right

You are probably aware of the large numbers of finches in places they normally aren't seen this fall/winter, right? I've heard it's because Canadian fir trees don't have enough cones this year. The KY Bird List reported Red Crossbills at the cemetery in Lexington yesterday, and this morning at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville. We planned to go an a Beckham Bird Club trip to Cave Hill anyway, so it was a bonus to have such a rare target bird.

Red Crossbill Male

I'll be honest. If I'd gone by myself to find this bird, it would have been a complete failure. I might have seen this bird perched at the very top of a hemlock tree, and wondered what it was through my binoculars, but I never would have known for sure. And they were far enough away that the photos don't give much detail. Thanks again to all our birder buddies with big Swarovski spotting scopes, I got some good long looks at these unusual birds. I even watched the brick colored male grab some hemlock cones, pry them apart with his crossed bill, and pull out the seeds to eat. We did not see a White Crossbill, just the Red. "Just, the Red..." I shook my head in wonder as the words left my mouth!

Cave Hill National Cemetery

I've gone to Cave Hill Cemetery off and on for years, but I did not realize before that it is also a National Cemetery, with soldiers from the Civil War through Vietnam buried there. The rows of small white headstones looks much like Arlington Cemetery. The stones with a rounded tops are Union soldiers, while the ones with pointed tops identify the graves of Confederate soldiers. During the Civil War, there were so many dead that the bodies were carried to the cemetery in trains of wagons every day. Beginning with 0.65 donated acres, today, the national cemetery encompasses 4.1 acres within the nearly 300-acre Cave Hill Cemetery.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

We also had some good views of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker coming to check out one of his favorite trees. These birds aren't really rare, I suppose, but I don't see them as often as the other woodpeckers, so this was exciting to me, especially since he was close enough for a good shot. A new person who is a professional photographer joined our group this morning . She carried her camera (with a 3 foot long lens) on a monopod. To take a photo of a bird up in a tree, such as the Crossbill, she had to kneel down on the pavement (which we fortunately had this morning). Sorry, I don't care how good the photos would be, I don't want to carry around that much equipment. I do covet another spotting scope with one of the bent viewers, though I can't really justify spending that much money.

Northern Harrier

The KY Bird List also reported another sighting of the Short Eared Owls I went to look for a few weeks ago, in the same place as before. Well, it's warmer since the sun came out, so why not? I chatted for a while with the owner of the land when he drove down the road. He likes the hawks that eat mice, but he's not fond of the ones that go for bunnies and birds. He didn't mind at all that birders were coming to look for these owls.

Short Eared Owl

As the sun sank behind the horizon, I finally saw some birds. No, that one has a long tail, it's a Harrier. Why are they coming out at dusk, when I didn't see them for the whole hour I waited? Oh, sure. That facial disc means they hunt with sound, just like the owls do. But the long tail is the giveaway. Look there! This bird has rounded wings, a rounded head and shorter tail. This must be the Short Eared Owl!  Hooray! Now I just have to find one sitting on a fencepost sometime so I can get a photo of its beautiful face!

The hunt continues, but I can put notches in my binoculars for two more life birds today! Just imagine the hunting success the owls will have tonight in the light of the full moon.