Finally, A NEW Camera!

Tweet Testing out my new camera. (Two week's paychecks )

Everywhere I put my fingers, I am pressing some kind of button. Got to get used to this!

My "resident" immature Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (been here since Dec.). Taken out the back window.

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Great Backyard Bird Count

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Participated in the GBBC sponsored by Audubon and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I did my backyard with a small walk around my neighborhood.

Friday totals:

(Not in order)

Pileated Woodpecker - 1
American Goldfinch - 50
Purple Finch - 2
Blue Jay - 6
Carolina Wren - 1
Mourning Dove - 15
Northern Cardinal - 10
Starling - 20
Song Sparrow - 2
DE Junco - 2 only
White-throated Sparrow - 5
American Tree Sparrow - 3
House Finch - 5
Tufted Titmouse - 5
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Carolina Chickadee - 5
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
YS Flicker - 1
American Robin - 5
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
House Sparrow - 2
Red-winged Blackbird - 1

Saturday added :

Common Grackle - 1

Sunday added:

Killdeer - 1
Canada Goose - 2

One of the 2 male and 6 female purple finches at the feeders.

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Bird Profiles

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Can you guess what bird this is by profile?

(A nice skill to have honed in!)

I see other birders complaining about their cameras and skills, but all I can say is at least one can ID the birds in the pictures! Again, If anyone would like to contribute to my new camera fund please email me. Pic taken at Washington Twp. Park on date above.

Answer: Merlin

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Ohio Bird Conservation Symposium

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Nov. 30th-Dec 2nd

The day didn’t start off on a good note. About one hour into our trip to Deer Creek State Park in Mt. Sterling, OH, for the 1st ever Ohio Bird Conservation Symposium (sponsored jointly by the Ohio Ornithological Society and The Nature Conservancy) the car I was riding in blew its engine. After about a five hour delay and a bit of money later, we were off again. We arrived at the lodge a little late and the evening festivities have already begun. Running on no sleep from a previous night’s work, I was exhausted. Luckily, others were still arriving after us.
Friday night, Jaime and I met with Scott Weidensaul and got our copy of Return to Wild America signed. That night, we took a trip to near Chillicothe, OH to see the Saw-whet Owl banding setup of Kelly Williams-Sieg.

Saturday consisted of speakers speaking on various topics relating to bird conservation. The speakers were all wonderfully knowledgeable and interesting. Many topics were covered and not just birds were discussed, as everyone knows that everything is connected in the web of life. It just goes to show what can be done when everyone works together to accomplish goals in bird conservation. It also shows what work still needs to be done in Ohio. I especially enjoyed the keynote speaker Scott Weidensaul who discussed his book Return to Wild America. It almost brought me to tears. I forgot my camera in the room that day, and didn’t want to miss any presentations to go back and get it. Also that night, Jaime put in money to a raffle to win me a carved wood decoy of a Blue-winged teal made by Tim and Laura Dornan, and by golly she won it. It really is very nice!



I had a very wonderful time; it was a very nice & needed break from the wheels. For a more detailed account, please see the President of the Ohio Ornithological Society - Jim McCormac’s blog and The Cerulean, the newsletter of the OOS. Tweet

Tougher penalties for Raptor Killers

Tweet I have not heard much about this elsewhere, but it is long overdue. This bill in the U.S. House could make it a felony (at the discretion of the Judge in the case) for killing them.

The Oregonian:

DeFazio pushes tougher penalties for raptor killers Tweet

What happened?

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President Bush Discusses Migratory Bird Conservation

What happened? Doesn't anybody remember that W is the "Killdee Killer"? I am glad to see that he has finally realized the economic benefit of birding.

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Odd hummer IDed!

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Thursday, Oct. 25th - Bird was last seen at feeder.

Thursday, Oct. 18th

LATE BREAKING - Bird has been caught and banded by Tim Tolford. The bird is a juvenal male Ruby-throated - late pre-basic molt. It has some odd molt going on that threw me off.

More photos can be found on the bander's - Tim Tolford's website : http://www.tolford.com/birdband/Hummer%20Photos.htm

I could not see the color of this spot with the poor light and my poor optics. (again, I will readily accept any grants for new optics/camera).

This is what threw me off. Look at that molt. They are supposed to molt on their wintering grounds I thought? The short tail appeared to point up in flight, but it may have been an illusion created by the shortness and stiffness of the feather sheaths.

It had a lot of energy and was very feisty and vocal.

This is how tiny a hummingbird band is.

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This bird has been coming to my feeders for about 2 weeks now. It has some very odd plumage and behavior.

The hummer's tail is very short. The bird flew up to me before this picture was taken and I could see a little tail that was in a 90° right angle pointed up in the air while hovering. See what you can do with editing - I will do what I can with my very limited software.

I currently have a digiscoping setup pointed out the back door on its favorite perch.

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Testing

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Painted Lady

Comma Tweet

Birders, Birds, and Dogs

Tweet I think we must use caution as birders on the situation. The park boards are going to side with what their taxpayers want. If asked what they (non-birders) would like to see in their parks, I will bet that many would say more area to walk my dog, play sports, etc. Very few people would mention other uses. The reasons for this is deep intrenced in our American lifestyle.

Offering citations may backfire in that park visitors may feel that they are being cheated in the parks that their tax money has bought or pays for. They may go to the park boards with their concern. Many people feel that it is their right to walk their dog anywhere in the park that they want, they feel - "I pay for the land, therefore I do as I please." This mindset is going to be impossible to change for many, as it would take a whole overhaul of our society to change.

A situation that I could envision is that someone would actually get bit, calls police, files suit against the owner of the dog and the park district for not providing adequate law enforement. This could cause a situation were, out of fear of lossing funding/money from a situation like this, they close the park where the incident occured. It is a sticky situtation.

One example of what to expect is to look at East Fork State Park. Things are changing there, and will continue at an alarming pace. Special interests groups (and money) are currently running the park. There is little if any oversight by ODNR, no law enforement, etc. People pretty much do as they please here with no consequences. Much of this is caused by a lack of funding (which was discussed here before), which all plays a part in this whole situation.

Dog walks 'prompting bird flight'

Dog-walking can adversely affect wildlife Tweet

Beware of the Red-tailed Hawk!

Tweet While searching the web, I found this video on CNN of a Red-tailed Hawk that apparently tried to take a boy's puppy.

The wildlife officer and reporter in the clip give the impression that Red-tails will readily attack humans. Again, I wonder why people like that wildlife officer are even in a position to try to educate the public about wildlife. We, as birders, have a lot of work to do in trying to change the public's perception of raptors.

The whole print story can be found here. Tweet

Loosing habitat/conservation funding

Tweet Recently, a discussion about conservation funding came up on the Ohio-birds email list. Although the topic seems to show up every so often in these types of forums, it is generally looked at as taboo to go in to much discussion about the subject. Many birders get very jittery when the subject even comes up. It often turns political and personal, which causes the subject to be put off.
But the fact is that politics, no matter how much we birders don’t want to admit it, is tied into the whole conservation issue. If we birders want to continue to be able to have *public* land that is attractive to birds that we can bird on, we must start becoming active on the subject. We are now seeing with increasing frequency, the disappearing of local birding hot spots. The fact is that this is going to continue. Many communities are losing funds to other more important issues (one example is here, click on “See the cost in your community” and then click on Ohio and then Cincinnati on the drop down menus.) Eventually, I feel that if we birders want suitable places to bird in the near future that is truly birdy, we are going to have to have our own *private* preserves. Organizations such as The Ohio Ornithological Society and others should look into the possibilities of raising funds for the acquisition of bird habitat. This will be the only true way, I feel, that we are going to be able to preserve suitable bird habitat in the very near future. But, even this approach has its problems. I know that many communities around this area see undeveloped land as an eyesore and loss of revenue. Even private land is not completely safe from development, but it may be all we can do (maybe conservation easements can be used in these situations?).
No matter how much we birders don’t want to admit it, all of this can be changed by making our positions heard in the way we vote. Enough said on that matter.
I will end with some more examples of how a local birding location is about to change (or has changed).

I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but a local mountain bike club has made several trails on the south side of the park. Although I would say that this is minor as far as disturbance goes (it could be much worse). At first, I had no problem with the trails. However, now it seems that every 3 ft. there is now a mountain bike trail in certain parts of the park. They have cleared some trees and areas, causing some minor erosion. For example, I have seen places were Kentucky Warbler nest sites and nice wildflower areas have disappeared under the mower. For more information, see here Tweet

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