Well, what can I say, the CBC was just amazing. It is not often you find something that has never ever been recorded before on any CBC worldwide! Seriously, I'll get a full report online as soon as I can get rid of those buggers from CLO that have been hanging 'round my flat questioning me for the last two days. Oh, and it is not THAT woodpecker.
OK, maybe the delay in posting is due to all hell breaking loose at the office and me working all through the weekend, but I like the first version much better and it is true, too!
Why does blogging rock?
In the comments section I found a message from this site which I think is very good fun to read and look at. Hey, he's even got a picture of a Cardinal in a Bush with Snow, and birding can't get any better than this...
Monday, 18 December 2006
Friday, 15 December 2006
Getting prepared for my first ever CBC
Tomorrow is the 60th Ann Arbor Christmas Bird Count!
Coming from Germany, I have obviously never participated in this mostly North American tradition. I mean, I have counted millions of birds on various occasions, but the proximity of Christmas has never been the initial idea behind going out to count birds. Now, being the new guy here, I had no interest in conjuring a massive embarrassment, and so I decided to scan the Internet for information on Christmas Bird Counts, or in short: CBCs.
And of course the Net never fails to inform. For those interested, a few important links are here and here, or you might want to check out this and if you need more specific help, maybe this or even this will be of interest to you. However, while surfing the net I couldn't help but notice that a lot was written about the "count" part of the CBC, but there was a distinctive lack of information on Christmas Birds. This is very bad because what good is counting if you don't know how to recognize what you're supposed to be counting.
Unfortunately, I am of no big help here. Christmas Birds reside mostly in North America and are a rare sight in Europe or other parts of the world. I can therefore only provide a limited number of photographs of Christmas Birds as examples but hope nevertheless that these will help in the birding endeavours ahead of us until January 5th.
So here goes, to those birders who don't want to let a whole day's counting go to waste, a few images from Germany as an introduction to the principles of Christmas Bird identification.
The following image is of a Rudolph Wagtail. They are quite regular in southern Scandinavia in winter but only a handful reach the German coasts, mostly in irruption years. The dominant males of each flock can be recognized by their red nose and make it easy to locate their night time roost particularly after dusk.
Here you can see both a Santa Swan and an Elf Swan on the Baltic coast. They don't visit often, but when they do around Christmas, it is usually in mixed flocks. You can easily tell the two apart: Santa Swans are considerably bigger with a white rim to their hat while Elf swans have elongated feather ears.
And here is a really rare sight along the Baltic coast, a flock of migrating Rein Geese.
Observations of these flocks are barely annual, mostly occurring around the 24th or 25th of December. There is an ongoing debate about their geographic origin. Experts have analyzed the dates of the few observations and speculate that those seen on the 25th may be true Nearctic vagrants whereas those observed on the 24th could possibly be stray flocks of Palearctic migrants. Well, unless one lucky bander/ringer manages to shoot a cannon projected net over a roof with a roosting flock, we're not likely to ever know for sure.
After this short and somewhat basic repetition of the identification criteria, I am sure tomorrow will lead to a multitude of Christmas Bird observations and I am all excited, geared up and ready to go!
Coming from Germany, I have obviously never participated in this mostly North American tradition. I mean, I have counted millions of birds on various occasions, but the proximity of Christmas has never been the initial idea behind going out to count birds. Now, being the new guy here, I had no interest in conjuring a massive embarrassment, and so I decided to scan the Internet for information on Christmas Bird Counts, or in short: CBCs.
And of course the Net never fails to inform. For those interested, a few important links are here and here, or you might want to check out this and if you need more specific help, maybe this or even this will be of interest to you. However, while surfing the net I couldn't help but notice that a lot was written about the "count" part of the CBC, but there was a distinctive lack of information on Christmas Birds. This is very bad because what good is counting if you don't know how to recognize what you're supposed to be counting.
Unfortunately, I am of no big help here. Christmas Birds reside mostly in North America and are a rare sight in Europe or other parts of the world. I can therefore only provide a limited number of photographs of Christmas Birds as examples but hope nevertheless that these will help in the birding endeavours ahead of us until January 5th.
So here goes, to those birders who don't want to let a whole day's counting go to waste, a few images from Germany as an introduction to the principles of Christmas Bird identification.
The following image is of a Rudolph Wagtail. They are quite regular in southern Scandinavia in winter but only a handful reach the German coasts, mostly in irruption years. The dominant males of each flock can be recognized by their red nose and make it easy to locate their night time roost particularly after dusk.
Here you can see both a Santa Swan and an Elf Swan on the Baltic coast. They don't visit often, but when they do around Christmas, it is usually in mixed flocks. You can easily tell the two apart: Santa Swans are considerably bigger with a white rim to their hat while Elf swans have elongated feather ears.
And here is a really rare sight along the Baltic coast, a flock of migrating Rein Geese.
Observations of these flocks are barely annual, mostly occurring around the 24th or 25th of December. There is an ongoing debate about their geographic origin. Experts have analyzed the dates of the few observations and speculate that those seen on the 25th may be true Nearctic vagrants whereas those observed on the 24th could possibly be stray flocks of Palearctic migrants. Well, unless one lucky bander/ringer manages to shoot a cannon projected net over a roof with a roosting flock, we're not likely to ever know for sure.
After this short and somewhat basic repetition of the identification criteria, I am sure tomorrow will lead to a multitude of Christmas Bird observations and I am all excited, geared up and ready to go!
Thursday, 14 December 2006
A more personal note
Today is national Iron Maiden day in the UK. Tom McKinney gets to see them play in Manchester.
I don't.
Tom sometimes gets to see single Greater Scaup around Manchester.
I don't.
Where I come from, we usually see them in flocks like this:
(click on the image for a larger and more impressive version)
Ever wondered why there's no record of Lesser Scaup from this area along the Baltic coast? Neither have I.
I don't.
Tom sometimes gets to see single Greater Scaup around Manchester.
I don't.
Where I come from, we usually see them in flocks like this:
(click on the image for a larger and more impressive version)Ever wondered why there's no record of Lesser Scaup from this area along the Baltic coast? Neither have I.
Why it never worked out...
Ever wondered why our birding somehow never seemed to work out the way we had planned? Like the numerous days I went out to get Snow Goose on my life list and found these instead?
Here's the answer to why our hobby was oh so frustrating for all these years: we all just didn't know how to do it properly!
Have you decided to quit on crappy bird watching today? Are you daring enough to take a huge leap forward, break through that final door and become a real birding wizard?
Well, then check out this video and watch your life list soar!
Cheers, Bob!
Here's the answer to why our hobby was oh so frustrating for all these years: we all just didn't know how to do it properly!
Have you decided to quit on crappy bird watching today? Are you daring enough to take a huge leap forward, break through that final door and become a real birding wizard?
Well, then check out this video and watch your life list soar!
Cheers, Bob!
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
A day along the River
Oh, I know what you are thinking: what good can a day's birding be nowadays along a North American river if its name is not Bajou de View or Co... you know which one I mean, some Florida river anyway, but I disagree: I also had fun today along a river named Huron. As a matter of fact, this post is even interwoven with the previous one, by pure coincidence of course unless the birding gods are reading Bell Tower Birding which I still doubt.
With the weather suddenly turning nice and sunny this afternoon, I decided to forget about work and go birding instead. Now let me repeat this: I decided that I had been so incredibly creative and effective and had worked so tremendously much that I needed a few hours outside to get new inspiration and ideas on work projects and regain my focus on current issues. I therefore jumped onto Bus No. 3 which dropped me off close to the Huron River at Gallup Park. I then walked along the Huron, passed South Pond and finally crossed the Arb on my way back home. Here are some of the birding highlights:
Great Blue Heron
Mute Swan
Canada Goose
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Hooded Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Mallard
Gadwall
Shoveler
Belted Kingfisher
Doesn't that list ring a bell? Of course: yesterday's post on what species to see on the Baltic Sea coast. Man, this could have easily been a day back home or not?
I have to admit that a few species would stand out within an average Baltic day list, like a Hooded Merganser (although there really has been one male wintering on the island of Rugia for the last couple of years and I saw it there nicely, no kidding), a Pied-billed Grebe or a Belted Kingfisher. And if I am to blog in total honesty: the day I get to see 4 Great Blue Herons at some Baltic wetland is the day I'll tell no one about it and quit drinking beer instantly, which is why I hope this will not happen any time soon.
Here are some pictures to show just what a decent Heron on the Baltic coast is supposed to look like:
The Belted Kingfisher was quite a sight of course and a worthy distraction from the two male Eastern Bluebirds I was watching at close range. I normally don't go for showy unless it is a Cardinal in a bush with snow, but these Eastern Bluebirds are slowly starting to pick up speed on their climb up on my list of favourite North American birds.
It was already getting dark when I crossed the Arb and there were almost no birds around. I took this opportunity to carefully inspect some of those dog walkers. Most dogs are pretty big, I must say. I am now convinced I should focus my educational conversations about bird disturbance at the Arb on joggers.
With the weather suddenly turning nice and sunny this afternoon, I decided to forget about work and go birding instead. Now let me repeat this: I decided that I had been so incredibly creative and effective and had worked so tremendously much that I needed a few hours outside to get new inspiration and ideas on work projects and regain my focus on current issues. I therefore jumped onto Bus No. 3 which dropped me off close to the Huron River at Gallup Park. I then walked along the Huron, passed South Pond and finally crossed the Arb on my way back home. Here are some of the birding highlights:
Great Blue Heron
Mute Swan
Canada Goose
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Hooded Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Mallard
Gadwall
Shoveler
Belted Kingfisher
Doesn't that list ring a bell? Of course: yesterday's post on what species to see on the Baltic Sea coast. Man, this could have easily been a day back home or not?
I have to admit that a few species would stand out within an average Baltic day list, like a Hooded Merganser (although there really has been one male wintering on the island of Rugia for the last couple of years and I saw it there nicely, no kidding), a Pied-billed Grebe or a Belted Kingfisher. And if I am to blog in total honesty: the day I get to see 4 Great Blue Herons at some Baltic wetland is the day I'll tell no one about it and quit drinking beer instantly, which is why I hope this will not happen any time soon.
Here are some pictures to show just what a decent Heron on the Baltic coast is supposed to look like:
The Belted Kingfisher was quite a sight of course and a worthy distraction from the two male Eastern Bluebirds I was watching at close range. I normally don't go for showy unless it is a Cardinal in a bush with snow, but these Eastern Bluebirds are slowly starting to pick up speed on their climb up on my list of favourite North American birds.
It was already getting dark when I crossed the Arb and there were almost no birds around. I took this opportunity to carefully inspect some of those dog walkers. Most dogs are pretty big, I must say. I am now convinced I should focus my educational conversations about bird disturbance at the Arb on joggers.
Tuesday, 12 December 2006
No heat, no time, no post...
It's been quite a weekend: on Friday night, all of a sudden the heating system in our flat broke down. This is bad news in a season when a birder doesn't only feel every White-throated Sparrow could be a McKay's Bunting but actually fears turning into one himself the moment he gets out of his cosy bed. And with this thing happening on Friday night, there was no way it could be fixed immediately, oh no, not over the weekend, only on Monday. So on Saturday we went to get some small portable heating systems and the security guy down at the entrance of our high rise building mentioned that we may want to consider pasting some special plastic foil to our windows to avoid losing heat through these 1960ies windows with metal frames and only one single window pane.
To be honest, putting plastic up on the window was something I thought only existed in the slums of Sao Paulo but with ice forming over night on the inside of our window over the weekend, Monday saw us getting a special "extra large window insulation kit" and I spent half of today putting the plastic up. OK, the windows are turned into "double pane" windows now and the heating got fixed.
All is fine again, yepp, and the bloggin's back.
Needless to say, I didn't get to go birding at all recently and since Monday night it is relatively mild again (aaargh!) and raining cats and dogs. I'd opt for a rain shower of Snow Geese and Gray Jays instead, but unfortunately I am not the one who's being asked here.
Anyway, I still think I owe my one or two faithful readers a few nice bird pics and have therefore asked a friend of mine from Germany if he'd mind me putting up some of his. I think they're great and he's great too because he didn't mind.
So here's the story to accompany the following pictures:
The German Baltic Sea coast comprises a whole chain of so called "Bodden" which are very shallow and often huge bays. These harbour a tremendous variety and number of waterbirds mostly during the migration periods or in winter and at the right time of year it is more difficult to go birding along the coast and not see at least 100.000 waterbirds than to go out and see that many or even more. The largest concentrations are of geese in autumn (I'll get to that in a later post) and of diving ducks and mergansers from autumn all the way to spring. In severe winters these Bodden freeze over forcing many waterbirds to move on south. However, there are always a few spots of open water that remain and are a refuge for all the waterbirds that somehow failed to catch the last breeze south. It is not unusual then to see 10.000 Common Mergansers with a few thousand Smew and Red-breasted Mergansers in one tight flock, sometimes so concentrated that you can't see the water anymore. And when there's a tight flock of waterfowl, there will be White-tailed Eagles near by, no doubt. Very often, the eagles (up to 60) can be seen perched on the surrounding ice and as soon as one of them decides it is time to eat, the whole waterbird assembly just explodes into a huge cloud of whizzing bird bodies, an incredible experience!
The following pictures of a White-tailed Eagle hunt (on Mallards with a few Mute Swans watching) were taken by Rainer Bendt and the copyright remains with him. If you have any other plans with these pictures but to look at them on this site, ask or else get in trouble!
Here's a cropped version of the first image. The Eagle is an adult (white tail) bird and probably a female (more rounded wings, relatively large bill etc.). And have you noticed the Curlews on the first picture?
Incredible birds... No matter how many you have seen, each and every observation is a memory.
Thanks, Rainer!
To be honest, putting plastic up on the window was something I thought only existed in the slums of Sao Paulo but with ice forming over night on the inside of our window over the weekend, Monday saw us getting a special "extra large window insulation kit" and I spent half of today putting the plastic up. OK, the windows are turned into "double pane" windows now and the heating got fixed.
All is fine again, yepp, and the bloggin's back.
Needless to say, I didn't get to go birding at all recently and since Monday night it is relatively mild again (aaargh!) and raining cats and dogs. I'd opt for a rain shower of Snow Geese and Gray Jays instead, but unfortunately I am not the one who's being asked here.
Anyway, I still think I owe my one or two faithful readers a few nice bird pics and have therefore asked a friend of mine from Germany if he'd mind me putting up some of his. I think they're great and he's great too because he didn't mind.
So here's the story to accompany the following pictures:
The German Baltic Sea coast comprises a whole chain of so called "Bodden" which are very shallow and often huge bays. These harbour a tremendous variety and number of waterbirds mostly during the migration periods or in winter and at the right time of year it is more difficult to go birding along the coast and not see at least 100.000 waterbirds than to go out and see that many or even more. The largest concentrations are of geese in autumn (I'll get to that in a later post) and of diving ducks and mergansers from autumn all the way to spring. In severe winters these Bodden freeze over forcing many waterbirds to move on south. However, there are always a few spots of open water that remain and are a refuge for all the waterbirds that somehow failed to catch the last breeze south. It is not unusual then to see 10.000 Common Mergansers with a few thousand Smew and Red-breasted Mergansers in one tight flock, sometimes so concentrated that you can't see the water anymore. And when there's a tight flock of waterfowl, there will be White-tailed Eagles near by, no doubt. Very often, the eagles (up to 60) can be seen perched on the surrounding ice and as soon as one of them decides it is time to eat, the whole waterbird assembly just explodes into a huge cloud of whizzing bird bodies, an incredible experience!
The following pictures of a White-tailed Eagle hunt (on Mallards with a few Mute Swans watching) were taken by Rainer Bendt and the copyright remains with him. If you have any other plans with these pictures but to look at them on this site, ask or else get in trouble!
Here's a cropped version of the first image. The Eagle is an adult (white tail) bird and probably a female (more rounded wings, relatively large bill etc.). And have you noticed the Curlews on the first picture?
Incredible birds... No matter how many you have seen, each and every observation is a memory.
Thanks, Rainer!
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