NE part 1

Just got back from my yearly visit to Kearney, NE to say hello to several hundred thousand friends who are just passing through town. The annaul crane migration is truly one of the most spectacular things you can hope to see in your life. More than one person has been brought to tears with the sheer number and sound of the birds all moving overhead - either to or from the Platte River. It is going to take a little bit to get through all the photos I took to clean out the undesirables. In the meantime, since I did not have a blog last year, I am going to post just a couple of high points from the past couple of years.

Two years ago, was with a tour group, and we spotted a Common Crane in with the Sandhills. Turns out the bird had been seen 8 years before we had seen it, but had not been seen for 2. The speculation is that this bird had joined the Sandhills somewhere in Siberian breeding grounds, where the two species overlap. You can clearly pick it out here in this group. Apparently, only a couple of dozen sightings of a Common Crane have been recorded in North America.

And then there was the Whooping Crane juvenile who we spotted last year. It had joined up with Sandhills. you can still see some orange plumage to show that it was not quite yet a year old.

Barn Swallows and Secrets of Youth

With all of the money humans spend on vitamins and other things to keep healthy, and the money spent on research to just take a pill and be healthy without working at it, who knew all we needed to do was take a page from the Barn Swallows' book? Turns out that Barn Swallows, despite all of the energy reserves spent on migration, are able to maintain a high level of antioxidants that aid in reproduction all on their own. Read about it here. When I took the Ornithology class at the U of M a few years ago, we talked about another aspect to breeding fitness that Barn Swallows were able to display. Turns out that if you are a male, and your tail was extra long, the chicks totally dug you. They somehow knew that this was an outward sign that your genes were able to help your chicks be more immune to nest mites. Read the paper where this was first published.

More TE birds

Here are a few more. in order: Saffron Finch, Turquoise Tanager, female Golden-headed Manakin and Blue Dacni. Quite a range of body size, shape, and especially bill size. When birds live in a climate where a particular food source is available year round, they can start to specialize and evolution favors the particular bill, for example, that is most suited for that food.

Tropical Encounters at Como Zoo

If these do not look like typical Minnesota birds, you would be correct. I volunteer at Como Zoo in St Paul, and really do not take advantage of the great birds and exhibit of Tropical Encounters. After my lens defogged from the humidity, I took a few shots of some of the great birds. The first three are shots of Paradise Tanagers. They are actually fairly common in the western and northern Amazon Basin in South America.

This next bird is so cool - a Golden-headed Manakin. It is pretty tiny, but packs quite a bit of personality! This one was preening just a few inches from me.

Out of Towners

Whoever thinks that sparrows are just "little brown birds" is doing a serious disservice not only to the birds, but to their own selves. To deprive oneself of the multi-faceted gorgeousness that is a sparrow - each one - is really a travesty. Just look at these (same species, different individuals) delectable American Tree Sparrows. They breed near the arctic, so wintering in Minnesota is actually a balmy vacation. Look at the details of several shades of warm russet along with the rich tans and browns. And we haven't even begun to talk about the bi-colored (meaning, two tone) bill, or the eye line that is so distinctive. In other words - how can you dismiss such a beauty as the sparrow?

Tracking eagles

Check out The Raptor Center blog that I maintain. Got to go out yesterday to try to find Golden Eagle 42 and Harley the Bald Eagle. Their transmitters located them only about three miles from each other, just outside of Cannon Falls, MN.

A good day for red tails

For Minnesota, today was great - sunny, no wind and almost thirty (above zero.) Hard to believe it will get 6-14 inches of snow over the next couple of days.


Went out hunting with friend Frank and Mim the Red-tail. This is her - what a beauty! Alas, no luck but a nice day to get out nonetheless.