REMINDER

The blogging here around the Bell Tower has slowed down recently for a number of reasons :

a) personal stuff

b) work - yes, again

c) weather

d) getting ready for I and the Bird!

So this post is a REMINDER for those few who still haven't sent in their best recent blogging piece on birds and birding to do so NOW!

The cold phase - and I mean really cold as in snow storm and wearing gloves in your apartment - seems to be largely over now and the sun is shining down from a bright blue sky.
One could actually think this might be birding weather now at the onset of heavy duty spring migration, but I suppose we are given a bit of a warm-up phase (how friendly) as it is very stormy now and not really worth trying to find passerines high up in the wuthering heights of the Arb's tree tops.

Maybe later this week, after the IatB-feast.

I did go to the Arb on Sunday for a short walk and there were a few birds around. Best species was the Pine Warbler still singing, or rather singing again, and a lone Hermit Thrush. Gosh, I know this joke is wearing thin but you just gotta combine the word "lone" with "Hermit", it's just so catchy.

Looking forward to IatB and hope to see you again then, but I still need more posts!!

And as I haven' put up a photo of a bird for a while, here's the close-up of the Chestnut-sided Warbler from the bottom of the page, taken at Ontario's Rondeau Provincial Park in May 2005...

I hate shopping and so should you

I just got back from downtown and upon approaching my apartment building, an American Woodcock was flushed 10 metres in front of me from the sidewalk by another pedestrian in the middle of town!!
"Great, my first close encounter, but what on earth is it doing here?!" I thought, and then "Oh no, don't go this way, don't... too late!"

It had flown barely 15 metres until it hit one of those huge shop windows and died.

I picked it up and carried it a few metres onto a front yard close by. I am not very sentimental but if I was a Woodcock and killed in such a hostile environment, I'd like my remains to be carried somewhere where it is a bit closer to "home" than remain there on the concrete.

As if shopping wasn't already bad and boring enough, now those [Tom McKinney at his best] shops even kill off our beloved birds!!

Food for Body and Mind

Mike over at 10,000 birds is apparently and thankfully an addict to blog carnivals. Not only is he the father of the famous "I and the Bird" which will be hosted right here in the near future, nope, he will also be hosting the Carnival of the Recipes soon - so soon indeed that I hope this blog entry is not too late.

Basically Mike has therefore recently nourished me in two ways:

I am receiving many emails each day now with great blog posts to be incorporated in the forthcoming edition of "I and the Bird" here at Bell Tower Birding.
This is so great!

Thanks to all who have sent in their links up to now, to those who haven't: only a handful of days to go so go for it, and to those who haven't considered it yet:

I NEED YOUR INPUT!

NOW !!

But then of course Mike has also provided me with a new recipe to try out, and while I am trying to return his - and all the other's - favour with my edition of "I and the Bird" soon, I'll also write down one of my vegetarian birder's recipes.

The Filled Pancake

First, the pancake.
This is quite a random process now during which I usually mix two to three eggs (according to hunger) with an equal amount of milk and a bit of salt in a bowl and mix this gradually with flour until it is still really liquid but starting to thicken, a bit less liquid than cream.
Then I put a bit of butter in a small pan, with the heat on medium-high (not high!) and fry the pancakes, no need to describe this. I usually have a bunch of paper towels ready and quickly wipe the pan after each pancake with it, I find this tends to keep the following pancake nicer, but that might just be one of my obsessions...


Then, the filling:
- Take an onion and chop it into little bits and pieces. Do the same with a fresh tomato (of course you may peel it if you are a perfectionist).
- Quickly fry both onions and - a bit later - the tomatoes in a frying pan.
- Add some spinach, preferably whole leaves that you have cut into little bits and pieces, but you may of course also add the cut spinach you can get in the deep freeze section of your supermarket.
- Add a tiny bit (a spoonful or two) of fresh cream.
- Add some feta cheese that you have cut into little cubes and immediately turn the heat off so the feta doesn't really melt but only gets slightly soft on the outside.
- Add salt and pepper only after you've added the feta to make sure it doesn't get too salty (feta by itself is quite salty already).

At last, bring them together:

- Place the spinach mixture onto a pancake and roll it so it looks like a hotdog.
- Repeat until you run out of pancakes or spinach mixture.
- Place all your filled pancakes on an oven-proof plate and cover in cheese, in the US this will probably be cheddar but any other cheese will do as long as you like it.
- Place in oven (full blast, we only need it to melt the cheese and keep the inside warm) until the cheese is melted and slightly brown and has a nice crust.

And then eat while it's hot!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: a Birder's Tale in three Parts

The following account of my birding adventures yesterday really started two days ago, on Tuesday, which will be part 1:

Part 1: The Good
After that long and nasty cold spell, Tuesday was a fine day with blue skies, a few scattered clouds here and there, it was rather mild again with some sunshine and a Tree Swallow. That was all pretty good from a birder's perspective, hence my presumably good idea of getting enough work done on Tuesday to have the next day's afternoon off for some serious spring birding again in this nice - and presumably improving - weather.
Well, this is where part 1, the part on the Good, ends and we move over to ...

Part 2: The Bad
Wednesday saw the return of the Bad, with a thick and heavy Snow Storm beating down upon us from grey and depressing skies. Oh, of course it was also cold again.
That's how easily a good idea can turn bad.
You see, when I was young and in my early birding years, I used to say that only three things could possibly prevent me from birding or rather cause me to interrupt a birding day:
feeling cold, feeling hungry or having to go to the Zoo urgently (or somewhere that sounds very similar).
Of course those were the young and reckless days. Today, with time and experiences, I'll have to redefine that. What can keep me today from birding is unconsciousness caused by severe injury.
So did that weather prevent me from birding, could a little snow storm keep me inside?
No way, and that's how the bad part ends and we get to...

Part 3: The Ugly
What started out as a walk through snow flakes rushing past in the strong wind turned into sleet halfway to the Arb and due to the wind speeding the ice crystals up considerably it felt like a myriad of pinpricks on your face. This changed again upon reaching the Arb, though for the better or worse I don't know: it started to rain rather heavily and continued to do so until my return to the apartment three hours later when my jacked had soaked in so much water it was about three times its usual weight.
That was pretty ugly I must say.
Well, if I was a meteorologist then this last sentence would mark the end of a rather depressing post on yesterday's weather. Luckily I am not, I am the birder and so here's the bonus part, the brilliancy of the bird life encountered!

And no more comments on the weather, I promise!


Bonus Part: The Birds
Any day that starts with a Peregrine perched on a Bell Tower is bound to be a good day, even if that Peregrine is crouching close to the wall to avoid the downpour of what was then still snow.
But when you reach the Arb a few minutes later and the first three birds you encounter (apart from hearing a Northern Cardinal sing) are two Fox Sparrows and a Hermit Thrush, you know you're in for a birding feast. Of course there was no sign of the Pine Warblers at their former haunts, sure enough they weren't stupid enough to remain here and be turned into Pain Warblers, but upon reaching the central meadow I could distinctly hear the chattering of a large flock of American Robins. Another good sign.
Scanning through the scattered Robins I found three Common Flickers and a bunch of Dark-eyed Juncos with a single Song Sparrow amongst them. I eventually climbed the small hill again that was so good for woodpeckers lately and yet again, there were 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers, a few Downy Woodpeckers and a Common Flicker as well as a Tufted Titmouse, Golden-crowned Kinglets, White-breasted Nuthatches and the first Brown Creeper of the day.
My usual walk along Rhododendron Glen produced the usual lack of Eastern Screech Owls but just before I came to the "Beach" area of the Arb, I was almost run over by a party of approximately 30 Golden-crowned Kinglets and at least 5 Brown Creepers.
Brown Creepers frustrate me. Judging by the Sibley guide and my limited impression on their vocal and plumage variation (some call like our European Tree Creepers while I wouldn't even attribute the calls of others to anything but Kinglets), they are bound to represent several species, but as long as nothing is published, there's nothing we can do about it, and whenever I see a Creeper, I have this annoying thought of Creeper spec. spec. spec. in the back of my mind that almost spoils my whole observation.
Anyway, with a few reports on the local email forum and the Kinglets being often at eye-level, I had decided that this was going to be the day of my first Ruby-crowned Kinglet for this year.
Apparently the Ruby-crowneds thought in a different direction as I couldn't find one amongst the Golden-crowneds, but a) those supercilia were difficult to see on all those dripping wet kinglet's heads, so I at least had an impression of what my first Ruby-crowned of the year will look like and I b) remember how much I struggled in May 2005 to find Golden-crowneds amongst the Ruby-crowneds, so I am relaxed.
Knowing it is about time I got back to reporting birds I actually saw and not felt like seeing (California Condor being another one of the latter category), I'll move on to the Dow Prairie section of the Arb where I was treated to yet another Hermit Thrush encounter, this time intriguingly associated with yet another Song Sparrow. Sadly there was no sign of the American Tree Sparrows that had been hanging around there all winter and I presume they left for good (or bad, judging by the weather and if they really moved on North).
My initial plan had been to return home by then but I somehow was drawn on to Gallup Park by all the recent reports of Common Loons on every puddle of Michigan. And so I just went on and on along the Huron, bypassing an Eastern Phoebe and 2 White-throated Sparrows on my way until I reached the open waters of Gallup Park.
Sometimes birding is an amazing experience. I specifically went to Gallup Park to try and see a Common Loon, knowing I was really pushing my luck quite close to the edge, and the first waterbird I see at Geddes Pond (which is the Eastern section of Gallup Park) was ... drum roll ...
a Common Loon in full breeding plumage! What a sight and, hey, what a foresight!

That's pretty hard to believe, don't you think?
And you're right:
Actually I just lied. The first waterbirds I saw upon reaching Gallup Park were Canada Geese, Mute Swans and Mallards, but they are always the first waterbirds you see when approaching any body of water in North America and even though ignoring them is not nice, it makes for more exciting blogging, so I hope I am being forgiven. Oh, and the Pied-billed Grebe next to it looked incredibly tiny, which really it isn't but it goes to show just how huge those Common Loons are.

I mentioned before in another post that next to Geddes Pond behind a rail way line lies South Pond which is a good place to be when you're a member of the waterfowl society. Yet again, this proved to be true and I was treated to sights of three Bufflehead, a gang of Common Mergansers, a few Gadwalls and - the stars - a pair of Northern Shovelers.

And this was it, I had reached the last spot of my bird excursion and headed back the way I came for home.

The return was more monotonous as I didn't stop to look at or for birds, but there was one encounter I still want to tell you about. I know I promised earlier to not write about the weather anymore, but this is all within birding context, so it should be OK:
The rain was still pouring down hard and the wind was howling and the last thing I expected - apart from a Kakapo crossing my path - was to see a Raptor in this kind of weather. But there I clearly misunderestimated them as I was suddenly taken aback by the appearance of no less than 9 Turkey Vultures.
That's part of the reason I am so fond of Turkey Vultures. They are really bad ass tough guys who won't give a toss about anything and just fly whenever and wherever they please. Gosh, I doubt they even need an atmosphere to fly and if life on earth was brought here by extraterrestrial influences, it wasn't comets that carried it, it was Turkey Vultures travelling through from outer space. They are the first to fly in the morning, the last you see flying around in the evening and I am sure they actually seek and maneuver Tornadoes to gain height quickly during their migration. And it doesn't matter what kind of weather you will see them flying through, even if there is no wind or thermal whatsoever, complete stillness of the air, they will still fly on and on without a single wing beat. This is the ultimate Raptor, the bird extraordinaire and ... what do you mean, they aren't classified as raptors?

What, Storks?

Oh...

Did I ever tell you just how fond I am of Storks in particular?
Well, OK, maybe that's another story.

Room with a View

It is still cold outside and I really don't feel like leaving the apartment to go birding. I might change my mind later today, but that would have to be a sooner later rather than a later later as it is already quite late in the afternoon.
Anyway, just for something meaningless to do and post on the blog today, I thought I'd present my flat-list to the public.

Flat-list?

Yes, that's a special birder expression with two different meanings:

a) List of birds seen from your flat

b) not very exciting list of birds seen


My list has the advantage of combining both meanings, so you can take your pick and especially reconsider the idea you just had about reading this post until its end.

A flat-list is the equivalent to a garden list when you live here ...


... and the view from your best window is this:



I only got here in late October 2006, so this list isn't very exhaustive yet and should grow in spring with the arrival of a few more migrants. If this year we will experience an arrival of spring in the first place.
Most of the species seen are of course fly-overs, which explains the dominance of the non-passeriformes and at 27 species, there's still plenty of room for a severe increase, preferably by a flock of Snow Geese or an Ivory Gull.

Anyway, here is the list for those interested:

Great Blue Heron
Tundra Swan
Canada Goose
Mallard
Common Merganser
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Bald Eagle
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
American Herring Gull
Rock Dove
American Crow
American Robin
European Starling
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
Red-winged Blackbird
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
House Finch

Man, where's spring? I need to get out of the apartment more!

Identification Crisis

I need help.

There are two identification problems I just can't seem to be able to solve and I sincerely hope that the blogging community will step in and help me out.

Please.

OK, here's problem No. 1:

The calendar says it is Easter and I was all happy and getting ready for painting eggs and searching for sweets and hidden candy nests outside.
But the weather forecast today said it wasn't Easter after all, it was Christmas!

See for yourself here:



So what now?

Of course we still went outside - despite the cold - and took a small walk and this was when I met my second identification problem in the form of a strange bird. Luckily I was able to get a decent picture and I am sure some of the birding experts reading this blog will help me out. It sure looks like an Easter Bird by its anatomy, but certain plumage details around the neck and on the head are quite reminiscent of a Christmas Bird.


So, if anyone has an idea as to the bird's identification, I'd be more than happy to receive comments.

I'd really like to know what to celebrate today.
Well, until then:

Merry Chreaster

The Mysteries of Owling

My problem with owls is actually not as much my problem as it is theirs: for some reason, they seem to avoid me at all costs. Sure, this is sometimes a well of frustration for me but the effort owls must put into avoiding me must surely work hard on their nerves as well.

This is plainly revealed by taking a look at how quickly owls had to adapt to my presence here. Normally they are quite reliably found by scanning the forest floor for white-wash, which is birder slang for an accumulation of big white splashes of owl poop underneath their favourite perch. Any bird's droppings are easy to spot due to their white colouration caused by uric acid (their way to rid themselves of nitric waste as opposed to our rather clear urea). Here however, owls were forced to switch from uric acid to urea excretion within days of my arrival, as can be seen below:


A forest floor underneath a tree full of ... invisible-wash!
Well, a skeptic might say now that I cannot be sure there are any owl droppings at all on this picture, after all an invisible-wash looks just like no wash at all.
Yes, that's true and I asked myself the very same question but was finally convinced by the structure of the tree above the invisible-wash site.


It's just far too good to not be used by owls as a perch during their night time hunt, so there you have it: evolution revolution!

They are really making it hard for me.

I have spent many months now working through all the dense bushes and trees throughout the Arb and have as yet - today, 3:39 pm - located no Eastern Screech Owl at all. As a matter of fact, I haven't found any owl myself yet, but as I only deliberately searched for Eastern Screech Owls this lapse is most apparent.

It was mentioned to me by local birders that there should be a pair of Eastern Screech Owls hanging around the Arb. The place to go and have a good look around was supposed to be Rhododendron Glen in the heart of the Arb. Well, apparently there used to be a pair, which is not a pair anymore, but possibly there is at least one left.
The picture below shows the southern end of Rhododendron Glen.


It's not that big really and there are not too many nice old trees with cavities around or shrubbery attached to trees that might be suitable to hide a Screech Owl.

To any other birder or at any other location, this hollow tree below would surely be used by an Eastern Screech Owl as a daytime roost.


I don't see an owl there. I never see an owl anywhere. Unless shown by others.

And to anyone but me, a family of Eastern Screech Owls would surely dance a little ballet along that nice horizontal branch whereas all I get to see is a nice horizontal branch.



And I am sure after posting this, a reader will comment that there always used to be an Eastern Screech Owl roosting in the tree seen below, right until they started the construction of the board walk, and that this was bad luck but the board walk would surely be nice in May for watching warblers.
Yes, surely, I agree. Very nice.


Quite as nice as the comment this following picture is going to generate about how beautiful it was to watch the Eastern Screech Owls nesting in this particularly nice tree cavity for many years until they suddenly and inexplicably stopped doing so, even using it as a day time perch, some time in late October 2006.



Oh, wait, I can see now that you doubt my birding abilities. No, no, it is not as if I wasn't spotting stuff, I am. I just can't seem to get my bearings on the right taxonomic group of the targeted species.

Close, but no Cigar

A few weeks back I had a short but intriguing sound detection from this little stand of evergreens, seen below. They are right next to Rhododendron Glen, just across the central grassland, and were thus predestined to be incorporated into my core search area.



A search of the forest floors beneath these trees revealed an exciting piece of evidence, a smallish Owl Pellet. The picture is admittedly pretty bad but I must be said that the pellet was pretty old anyway and if it wasn't for the freezing and conserving effect of winter, I doubt it would have been recognizable as anything more than organic matter by the time I found it.


Could this pellet have been produced by an Eastern Screech Owl?
It was sadly too old to have it DNA-tested, so I can't be sure it wasn't of a vagrant Western Screech Owl, a wintering Boreal Owl or maybe a Burrowing Owl. But at least I was intrigued.
Well, it is possibly most likely it was formed in the crop of an Eastern Screech Owl but even if I'd have had a means to find out, it might have been just the very same individual that - according to the feathers I found - ended up forming a vital part of a Great Horned Owl pellet. So yet again: tantalizing hints and detections but nothing definite, no indisputable evidence.

mind you, I have read about these things before, somewhere.

But of course, I did not spend a total of 2 years tracking mammals in Southern Africa for nothing: I looked up and considered inspecting the branches above the pellet:



Hmmmm, there could have well been interesting scratch marks and small injuries on the branches that might have been caused by the claws of an Eastern Screech Owl. Of course, one would not be able to be completely certain but it could potentially be intriguingly similar to known Screech Owl scratches but what would they prove? Not much, for sure because how do we differentiate between Eastern and Western Screech Owl scratches or rule out an aberrant Boreal Owl with claw deformations leading to Screech-owl-like scratches?
Thank goodness therefore I didn't bother looking for any scratches because even I thought that was a dumb idea.


I have now come to the conclusion that I probably won't find Eastern blinking invisible Screech Owls at the Arb myself. But with so many other birdwatchers, dog-walkers and joggers around, it would be foolish to not make an effort at trying to incorporate them into the search. So what I did is I installed two Call Boxes at the Arb, which are small telephone units powered by solar energy that directly connect any potential finder of an Eastern Screech Owl to my cell phone.

I think this is rather smart and I don't see why this shouldn't work as well along the White River or the Choctawhatchee. Maybe because no-one would use them there either?
Good point...

Frankly I suppose they have just decided it was too crowded at the Arb. It was probably quite bad already with all those joggers and dog-walkers around, but when even Bell Tower Birders started to walk the park, the Owls just had enough and decided it was time to move out, to ride across the river, deep and wide, ride across the river to the other side.

The tree cavities always look better on the other side of the fence, don't you think?

Or maybe, just maybe, my failure at finding Eastern Screech Owls might be explained by other things...

Now that I mention it, and come to think of it, there might be something about them worth another post some time later, don't you think?