Gleaning Information and Images of Distant Birds in the Sky (Without Spending a Fortune) and The Trio of Terror Pets Plus One

 What to do about those speck in the sky moments.

 From Robin of Illinois who has been periodically seeing a young eagle at a great distance ...

My identification of the glorious eagle is a best guess based only on size, the mechanism of its wing flapping, and posture when gliding and obviously, the truly humongous wing span. I've never seen one "in the wild" and "in person" before!

He/she has been hanging around for about a month now, but I don't think it is fresh out of the nest this spring, based on its flying skills and skills in cruising for prey. It is much much too far away for me to see any facial details, but I did see it make a very nice landing in the nearly-tippy-top of a giant old oak tree in the back part of the "oak lawn"....Maybe a year 2-3 juvenile? Obviously no white head yet.

I don't have any camera lenses powerful enough to capture this amazing sight at these distances, (about 50-100 yards). But thrilled just to see it!

 That's totally GRAND!!! 

Are you viewing it with the naked eye?  Binoculars?  Scope?

While outside?  Inside?

You have some kind of point and shoot digital camera, yes? 

Here's the deal.  I'm constantly having to overshoot my equipment when I'm trying to get a good look at a flying bird.  If this is a two or three year old eagle it will have splotches of white feathers so even in a very very bad picture there will likely be that contrast so you can age it more nearly, unless it is tremendously back lit.  You can sometimes  age a young eagle by looking at an even awful picture.

The other thing to do is, as it is digital take as many pictures as you can possibly manage on any given sighting. Make sure you are in auto focus and just keep pushing that button while the bird is in your view. Luck is a marvelous thing and with every push you increase your chances that auto focus may just come through for you enough to learn something new.

If outside and you can manage it, lean your hand, yourself, whatever against a tree, house, something solid to reduce shake.  Inside you'll have more options, you can even sit the camera on something while you shoot. 

In the open, push your elbows close to your body and hold your breath for the button push. 

Do you have a photo program?  Doesn't have to be photoshop. In fact at this stage unless you know how to use Photoshop or Light Room trying to use them will just make you crazy.   Go online.   There are quite a number of free photo programs you can download which are simpler so you can jump right in..  You need something simple enough so you can use it right away.   You will need to be able to manipulate sharpness and exposure, and the ability to crop freestyle. 

A little speck of a bird, when cropped becomes a much bigger bird, if much less sharp, which is helpful in gleaning information about it.

If you have a scope, depending, you may be able to hold the camera to the eyepiece and do some rough digiscoping while watching the live digital view as well.

Let us see how you do.

Best, D

And here is the speck in the sky after the photo which heads the blog was cropped down to a much tinier photo which when enlarged gives us the shape of the bird and in this case because of the folded neck and my knowledge of the area, makes it the Great Blue Heron who traverses the sky every morning and afternoon at about the same time at this location. 

And an update on the Trio of Terror plus one, i.e., Quicksilver the African Parrot, Tig the Basenji, Squirrel the Cat... and Pyewacket who could do without every single one of them.

I was walking past the laundry room, glanced in, and saw Quicksilver the African Grey Parrot advancing on the trash can.  Not only might there be interesting things in the refuse receptacle but pulled over it makes...what?  A cavity!

As I'm putting him back on his perch and telling him NOT to mess with the trash can, I hear the door jangle on the cage I was about to clean in the other room.  Hmmm.

I go to investigate.  

Tig the Basenji has opened the door of the cage wider with his nose and is helping himself to Nutri-berry fragments on the bottom of the case.

A digression:

Nutri-berries are little balls of bird seed stuck together with pieces of papaya and bird vitamins.

Why is a dog eating bird seed and papaya?  Because the parrot eats them and Tig will eat anything the other pets eat no matter how far the food is from that typical of his own species out of sheer jealousy. 

While I am shooing the dog out of the bird cage I hear a clatter in the laundry room.

You guessed it.  It took the parrot no time at all to leap off his perch and dump the trash.  And who is watching all this just in case something of interest might be mined from the refuse?

Squirrel the Cat of course.

All this is only a mini moment of multi-misbehavior that I have managed to nip in the bud, but the day is yet young.  And the reason why...

...Pyewacket the Good Pet looks so disgruntled all the time.

(Pye's photograph appears particularly for Karen Anne of the Gonzo Deck who asked how Pye was faring these days.)

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

Quicksilver the African Parrot and the Shut Cabinet...Repeatedly, Grackles Walk on Pond Scum, and the Robin Nest Under the Dam

It all started when I heard the  "clack" of something falling and realized I'd no idea where Silver was.  The clack sounded like it came from the laundry room.  I looked... no parrot.  Could have sworn it was from in here.

Thunk!  Hmmm.  I opened the cupboard door...

                       Honey, how did you get in there?  

 I'm sorry Silver.  Did I shut you in the cupboard? I'm sorry, Sweetie!

I didn't remember shutting the cupboard.   Didn't remember it at all.  Besides wouldn't I have seen him if I did?

Because of his expression I did not offer my hand to help him out.  Not with that look on his face. 

As I was leaving the room I heard him fly out.  Good.

                          And when I visited again...

But later the cabinet is closed again. I did not shut the cabinet.

Tink...tink!

Silver?

Tinka tinka tink!

I open the cupboard...a parrot head pops out.

He is shutting himself in the cabinet.  

Why is he doing that?

How is he doing it?  

And being a parrot he isn't about to do it while I'm looking.

May have to resort to a trail cam....

Later I go out to look at the Mill Race as I've heard they are allowing it to refill as the work on the banks has been completed.  

I walk down to the dam.

While the water was so low and slow moving, it had gotten rather stagnant and is full of algae and other gunk.

 And all of it seems to have now floated up to the dam and stopped, with the water flowing over the dam but the gunk just laying there.  

What is that bird doing out there?

The Grackle must be hunting something?  Or foraging for something?  That stick doesn't appear to be floating.  It's stuck in the gunk. 

 And another Grackle.... What's he looking at?

He flies back to another twig and looks intently at something.

 He flies to yet another perch and stares intently.

Another perch.

Into he air...

Further...

Did it go over the dam?

Got it!  Suddenly there is something red in his beak.

Another Grackle is further out walking on floating twigs.  All goes well for awhile.

A new twig he's stepping on sinks and he starts to sink himself but his wings come up and he's into the air.

What's that under the walkway on the metal plate?  A nest?

 Yes, a nest!

 Indeed a nest of Robin chicks.

You never know what you will see when you take a walk and take the time to actually look.

Donegal Browne

Quicksilver the African Grey Parrot and the Laundry Room Cupboard Battle, Part 2, the Washington Heights Red-tails and a Trio of Water Loving Species

As those of you, who visited the blog yesterday will remember ,  Quicksilver being a mature African Grey male, is drenched in hormones and he is bound and determined to guard a "cavity",- in this case, a shelf in the laundry room. (If you haven't seen yesterday's blog, scroll down and read the first part then come back up for this one.

You will also remember I ended up nailing a blanket across the entrance to the laundry room, while holding an umbrella over my head to avoid parrot dive bombs.   The laundry room  doesn't have a door hence the blanket so Silver couldn't go back in, inhabit a shelf "cavity", and do fly outs at my head some more..

Well, Silver got up this morning, looked at the blanket over the door and decided revenge would be sweet.  So periodically he landed on my desk, my nightstand, where ever and attempted to chew paper, books, pens, bobby pins...anything he could get his beak on out of sheer pique. 

I covered the desk and it's contents with a sheet.

I also covered the keyboard of the computer with a towel.  He once popped every single letter, number, whatever, off the keyboard.  Sure they'd pop easily back on.  But who knew exactly where each one went.  I had to have a friend take a picture of her keyboard and give it to me so reconstruction could occur. 

Silver says, "Want carrot".  I get him a carrot and put the carrot and the parrot on his play area by the window so he can watch the outside birds at the feeder while he eats.

He appears unimpressed but decides to eat the carrot anyway.

Suddenly about an hour later I look at Silver's play area....no parrot.

The bottom of the blanket over the door is in a different position.  The little bugger has gone under.

I go to the laundry room and there he is sitting as above, with one foot on a box of Arm and Hammer and the other on a can of Resolve carpet cleaner in a bottom shelf, looking baleful.  

He does not fly at my head.

Fine.  I leave him there.

  I go back into the laundry room to check on him.

11:25:42 AM  Well, my my, he's gotten the cupboard door open, he's hanging by his feet...and staring at me.

 11:25:48 AM  Silver puts his head down, and appears to be attempting to slide his feet toward the unattached corner of the cupboard door.  He loves the top shelf of the top cupboard best.

11:25:58 AM  He looks at me again.  I guess he doesn't want me to see his technique.  Fine.  I head for the living room.

11:44:45  AM   I return.  Silver is hanging from his beak feet scrabbling for purchase.

Is he stuck?  Did he go up the side of the door but now that he's no longer in reach of the side while his beak is on the top of  the door...is he having a problem?  His expression is either very intent or...

11:45:03 AM   I come round the door for a different angle.  His feet continue to grope for purchase.  Is his beak stuck?  Maybe.  I better get him down.  I get the perch stick and put it under his feet.  They grip.  He turns around and flies at my head.

Stuck or not he didn't appreciate the help.  He is on the dryer now, feathers on end, glaring at me, crouched for another pounce.

I leave the laundry room.

2:13:07 PM  I return to the laundry room.  Silver is still, or back on the dryer, one foot up, dozing.

I say, UP.  He steps up onto my hand nicely.  I take him to his cage for a nap.

And while he is napping I decide I have to do something so he doesn't get stuck on the cupboard door again.

While Silver is sleeping I take the perch stick, actually a length of PVC pipe, and zip tie it to the handles of  the cupboards.

OK, I know it isn't foolproof.  Conceivably he can even stand on the pipe and clip the zip ties off with his beak. Zip Zap. Though he couldn't stand there and clip the second one...likely anyway.  It would take awhile...

With a parrot there isn't much that is parrot proof.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

In the meantime,

Photo courtesy of http://morningsidehawks.blogspot.com/

Rob Schmunk, of Morningside Hawks took a trip over to see the Washington Heights Red-tails and yes, there has been a hatch.  For more click on the link under his photo above.

But while I was looking at the photos I noticed that Dad has a very long cowl.  The length of it over the front of the shoulders of this hawk is somewhat rare.

                      Photo courtesy of http://morningsidehawks.blogspot.com/
See how the color of Dad's head continues down past his shoulders?  The only hawk in Manhattan that I know of with this characteristic is Isolde, one of the Morningside Park hawks at the Cathedral Nest of St. John the Divine.  And the Mom of the Washington Heights nest appears from the photos to have the physicality of Pale Male's line.

All conjecture of course but we do know now that Red-tailed  Hawks do tend to come back and nest in or near their original natal territory. 

 And Last But Not Least...Wisconsin Waterfowl...taken near dusk.
And I will be the first to admit my waterfowl identification skills are rusty...Blue Winged Teal...

  And the mystery birds of the day, two little shore birds...

This one?

And this one?  

Both taken near the end of the day on the Mill Race of the Sugar River, Brodhead, WI

Anyone want to take a crack at them?

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne 

Nurturing Biophilia Feedback and Do Some Deer Actually Eat the Remains Of Dead Deer That Have Been Left Behind by Human Hunters? And Quicksilver the African Grey Parrot, Squirrel the Cat, and Tig the Basenji Check Out A Trunk

                            The late Athena of the Triborough Bridge Nest in Queens

 FROM SALLY OF KENTUCKY, regarding the importance of naming wild creatures that urban people in particular watch in various neighborhoods foster biophilia...

Agreed! Although I think that numbers might be able to have the same affect in watchers. The discussions of the recent disappearance and apparent loss of the Franklin Institute male "T2" are no less sad than those who mourn the loss of Lola or Athena or Hawkeye or Tristan. the eagle nest watchers on the IWS.org website use tag numbers as "names" for the most part, and when A27 a female that had been nesting for years at one nest went missing last year they were as upset as if hse had had a "real" name. They talk about the birds using their ID wing tag numbers as endearingly as you could want. I prefer names,I think it is easier to quickly connect to "Ziggy" or "Sabre" or "Atlas" than it is to attach to A40 and A48. But the attachment does develop in those that watch nests, whatever the bird is "named". Might be an interesting graduate thesis for someone to pursue.

Yes it would Sally.  I  wonder how one would quantify the biophilia for an animal with a number name vs a descriptive name.  Well...I have my masters and have been thinking about pursuing my Ph.D. and naming is one of my "things"...

I think it might take a little longer for an uninitiated person in a neighborhood to bond with an W712 name than say a descriptive name like Pale Male, which also helps in identification, but I might be wrong.  And certainly over time any "handle" for an animal does become a "name".

And next up long time blog correspondent Betty Jo of California--

  I loved your piece on Biophilia, Donna.  I had never heard the word before. Now I want to read Wilson's book.
Yes, Pale Male does look sweet!  Oh my--this spring he'll turn 24-- how amazing considering the dangers of life in NYC.  I too love behavior!  I don't have to see rare birds--I just love watching my backyard birds.
I even love the Monarch caterpillar's behavior--which mostly consists of eating very fast.  However they do go on "walk abouts"--sometimes just down the side walk and they can travel faster than I expected.  I don't name them because they move around too much, but I know now that they leave the milkweed and go to nearby plants and sit very still when they are ready to shed their skin.  
A casual observer may think they also eat the plant on
which they are resting.  I think they move off to suppress the urge to eat that milkweed must encourage. ?  a guess!
Anyway--thanks so much for your always interesting blog,
Betty Jo McDonald

Thanks Betty Jo. Grand to hear from you again.  Watching a creature just going about their business completely makes my day. 

Fascinating hypothesis:  They move off the plant that would distract and tempt them to eat instead preparing for the next "step".  I like it!

What would happen if they were in a huge field of milkweed with absolutely no other plants I wonder?

Would they then take a very long walk to find something else or would they just keep eating and the whole cycle would be disrupted?

Thank goodness that even if there was miles of milkweed, which is unlikely of course,  though some people have suggested should be planted to help the Monarchs to thrive again, there would be some "weeds" as no herbicides would be used the Monarch caterpillars would be able to move away from their temptation to eat and  do what they need to do.

Though many have taken phenological notes about what some creatures eat and when they reproduce for instance here is an example of why behavior study is important. The Monarch caterpillar needs another species of plant to go to shed their skin.  It is amazing how many creatures who's other behavior beyond the bare basics has not been thoroughly notated yet. 

In fact Wilson's belief is that there are still hundreds of thousands of species, most teeny in size, who are as yet unnamed scientifically let alone studied for behavior.

By the way, do you have any idea about how long they "rest" before shedding their skin?

My daughter Samantha who works at Dr. Pepperberg's Parrot Lab at Harvard, while getting her undergraduate degree, a double major...Ecological Science with an emphasis in Behavior and a second major in Theatre, (and what's theatre besides the behavior of Homo sapiens) at Brandeis has opened my eyes to just how much the "expected behavior" of those involved in science has changed in at least some quarters these days. 

 I was utterly delighted when she told me her Animal Behavior prof,  Dan Perlmann, (a former student of E. O. Wilson)  paused a slide presentation on various creatures during class one day and said, "Aren't they cute?"

I cannot  tell you how vindicated I felt.

There is no question that "Science"  now allows joy and humanity in at least some of its halls.  And let me add whimsy and a sense of humor, Perlman has also invented a water soluble "glue" to make sand castles last longer.

 But back to biophilia and Ed Wilson,  readers can stream the NOVAepisode, "Lord of the Ants" (beginning with one of Wilson's Bioblitzs in Central Park) and the Bill Moyers Journal featuring Ed Wilson on your computer at the links below.  He is brilliant enthusiastic optimistic scientist  and writer (25 books and counting) who is also pretty much a hoot. Go for it.
 NOVA
 Lord of the Ants
 http://video.pbs.org/video/98004963

 Bill Moyers  The Journal: E.O. Wilson

http://video.pbs.org/video/1415023723/ 

 AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND ACTUALLY KIND OF  CREEPY...

 Deer browsing on the verge between a cornfield and a woods.

These deer are doing what one would expect deer to do.  When the snow melts, deer often browse in spots where field corn has collected.  Normal behavior for an herbivore.

Well, the other day I was talking to Samantha (the daughter studying animal behavior) on the telephone and she asked me if I'd heard about deer eating the remains of human killed deer that had been dressed in the field, and the innards, organs, etc. left in the woods?  

Hunters are supposed to deeply bury or carry out the parts they aren't keeping but sometimes the bad mannered and lazy don't.

I said, NO!  I hadn't heard of that.  

As it turns out there had been reports of this sort of deer behavior in recent years.  And as you might imagine these reports were originally discounted...too much Pabst Blue Ribbon. 

Come on Deer are herbivores.  Besides everything else they don't even have the teeth for the job.

Finally a study was done and yes, just in, some deer have begun to consume hunter's leavings.

As Sam said, "I always did wonder how omnivores evolved."

How could this happen? 

 Well, there are far fewer members of natures clean up crews than there used to be due to poisons, trapping, "varmit control", and lack of proper habitat.  Therefore many ecosystems are missing many of the creatures that once evolved to live in those systems and do various and sundry jobs.

It appears other creatures are now adapting to fill in the voids.

How creepy is this?

Nature is beginning to fill in.

P.S.  This is new stuff and  I've not found anything about the topic online.  If anyone does find more information on this behavior do please let me know.

And as you might have found the above disquieting...a preview of a whimsy....  Remember some time ago I went to see what "the junk man" had for possible cheap storage?   Well I'd gotten an old trunk for a couple of dollars and it had been in the garage ever since.  Today I dragged it into the laundry room to make an attempt at cleaning it. I went off to find the vacuum and now a preview of .... Quicksilver, Squirrel, and Tig Check Out A Trunk....

I hadn't been gone more than two minutes and Squirrel was already in the trunk and Quicksilver was thinking about joining in.

 Squirrel then checks out the nail sharpening capability of  vintage trunk wood....

Silver bombs down to the trunk from above and Squirrel almost leaps out but puts on the brakes.  If he had leapt out Silver would have laughed and that would be embarrassing and that's what Silver had in mind in the first place.

Silver scrutinizes and Squirrel sniffs.  Both pretending that they aren't paying any attention to the other.  Wrong...to be continued.

And last but not least in from Robin of Illinois, how prevalent were  lemmings this Snowy Owl breeding season?
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-snowy-owl-bonanza-thanks-to-a-little-stubby-legged-arctic-rodent-the-lemming/2014/02/16/57c08cfe-94c9-11e3-83b9-1f024193bb84_story.html