Not Much Going On

This is so weird, normally I am getting busy to go out birding or netting a few dragonflies but so far I had urgent need to do either. My life is filled with taking care of the yard, doing some projects around the house, running the kids to their sport events, making sure the Catholic Church I take care of is clean and ready to go each weekend. It's just plain wierd that I no longer make time to go birding!

Do not get me wrong, I love what I do and grateful that I can control my work hours plus take care of the kids and the house. It's just lately my thoughts are not on birds. I am though spending a lot of time working on the Sax Zim Winter Bird Festival but that is about how close to birding I been doing lately.

I think as soon as spetember nears my birding urge will swell up and I will get out to Park Pt. and do some lake scanning.

Last week my son's little league team I coach (Blue Jays) went to the championship game! We defeated the first place team that was loaded with talent and I beat them with only 8 players on my roster! I think we would of won the little league championship if this new rule that the little league created about pitch counts and number of days off after pitching and ect. We played our hearts out on Monday and I used my best pitchers for that game and my best pitchers according to the rules had to take a day off and we played the next day for the championship. Oh well.

I purchased a pulling harness last winter for our Siberian Husky - Bear to pull the kids around on the sled. Well this summer I been hooking up the harness and having Bear pull my bike around the block. So far he can pull me around for about a mile than he tires out. After the run I spray him down with cold water and give him lots of water to drink. Most times he wanders over to the yard sprinkler and stands over the sprinkler and lets the shooting sprays of water spray him.

Well its soccer time and soon Nighthawks will be migrating down the shore and its fun counting nighthawks as I sit on my lawn chair and watch the kids play. I like summer but I am huge fan of fall season. I like the comfy feel of family gathering at night, the smell of rotting leaves and sights of jaegers chasing gulls. My favorite get together is Halloween and greeting the kids at the door. I usually slip in the "Peanuts Halloween" DVD in and remember the days when I was a kid. Yep I love the fall season.

My paper route is FUN! I have no problem getting up at 2:30am and get the papers, turn the radio to 56.0am radio and listen to pretty good sports show. I see so much wildlife at night in the country. I seen on one night 8 Red Foxes and 10 skunks! I am still waiting to see a Bobcat or something else running across the road. Le Contes Sparrows are still singing at night on territory! This winter should be interesting or even this fall as owls move around at night.

Other than that no much is new up here in Duluth. Hopefully ( I said this last time) I will get some photos in here. I have a great photo of some begging young chipping sparrows in the nest.

Take care

Blogging Rambles

I been ignoring my blog for some time and it's because I am running around getting my daughter to her soccer tournament, getting my son to his all-star little league games and of course chores around the house.

The Sax Zim Birding Festival is set for February 15-17th 2008 and we are very busy getting to event up and going. So stay tune for more information in the near future.

The other news is that Minnesota has a new birder in town and his name is Dr. Richard Wood. I never met the guy but he has a long history of being booted off several state listservs like MDOsprey and is rumored to be booted off Texas, New York and was moderated on the Utah state listserv.

It seems Doc is hell bent on attacking state record committees, picking on local birding experts, and at times criticizing birders as being unkind. I googled his name and was led to several links where he had some major run ins with several birders from the above states. He is real close as I write this to being moderated on the MOU-Net listserv so he doesn't start threads to promote ugly debates. So Doc, welcome to Minnesota!

I am so glad we got this new air conditioning put in last month. Duluth is getting pounded by constant 90 degree temps and high dew points. Right now the temp in the house is 69 degrees!

As many of you people know I am a part-time janitor at our local Catholic Church and also a stay at home dad. I also guide a lot in the winter months to out state birders and also guide for OBServ Tours. Well I got a new job to bring in more money to our family -- are ya ready for this one? I have a paper route! Damn right I am a PAPER BOY! I get up at 2:45am and get home at 4:30am every day! My route is a car route in the Fond Du Lac area and Wrenshall (Carlton Co.) I see a ton of wildlife (deer, raccoons, skunks, red fox, black bear, rabbits and porcupine) and so far I seen one unidentified owl which might of been a Great Horned Owl. I do not even have ot get out of the car to deliver these papers, all I do is stick a paper in a mailbox out the window. I get paid a whopping $1000 a month for roughly a 1 1/2 hours per day. Not to bad plus I get to do everything else! The last time I had a paper route was when I was in the 5th grade!

I am in the middle of reading the last installment of Harry Potter series. I got addicted to these books when my daughter brought "Prisoner of Azkaban" home and I read it in one week. Since then I became a Harry Potter fan. We saw the movie last Saturday and we loved the movie.

Birds? Hell its late July and ol Mike doesn't pick up his binocs until late August. So there is no chat about birds but the next post will be about our gardens. Man they look damn good!

Well other than that things are rather slow and this blog is just rambles of stuff.

Later

SOLD!

Last Friday at 4:30pm Monica comes into the computer room and tells me that Dobson Communication has been sold to AT&T!! We sat there and looked at each other and wonder what the future will unfold for us. Monica is the Midwest Regional Marketing Director for Dobson. Will At&T keep her? We talked and talked about scenarios, what to do, what we need to now and ect.. very stressing.

Our yard next year will be part of the secret garden tour in western half of Duluth. We were asked by the organizer as news came to her about our gardens, pond, stream and ect.. we have through our yard. I guess after all the shoveling, hauling and planting, we get rewarded by this invitation. I am very happy.

I still have yet pick up my binoculars or my dragonfly net. I am down to one last small yard project and I am done for the summer!

Monica called me today and informs me there is small sliver of hope of her staying on with AT&T after the deal is finalized. This sale takes at least a 9 months to compete so at least she has a job till then. Monica also informs me that AT&T has marketing positions in Oregon. Oregon?! Ok I can see myself living in Oregon!

Hopefully next posting I will know about the our future here in Duluth or in Minnesota. For now I am getting the church hall ready for the huge funeral we will be having this Thursday. For those that in Duluth a man was shot in the Central Hillside neighborhood. (murders in Duluth is not a every day happening here) but the who was killed his parents go to our church. In fact last Sunday the parents were in church and it was only 5 hours before they came to church they learned thier son was murdered. I know I would be to devasted if my son was murdered at a house party to even think about going to church. As I was leaving church my priest pulled me aside to tell me to clean up the hall the next two days to prepare for a huge funeral. As I went outside the parents were talking with calmness about the events to thier close friends. Again how can they hold themselves with such composure? The sad thing about the whole murder is that this man just got home from serving a year and half in Iraq! Then again nothing good ever comes from being out till 3:40am and being at a house party in Central Hillside Duluth. So far no motives were published in the paper and I am sure the news on why he shot the man will be known to us Duluthians.

The church hall is covered in concrete/contruction dust from the new left being installed in our church along with new restrooms. I got the stripping machine working and after the final mop, I can still wipe white dust on my hands! UGH! By tomorrow things should be clean and ready for Thursday's reception.

I cannot believe its already July 4th this Wednesday. Baseball is coming to hault pretty soon (3 more games and then the playoffs begin), summer soccer is winding down and soon fall will be amongst us.

Later!

Crank Calls From Minnesota?

It has been a while since we chatted about Ivory-billed Woodpeckers here in my blog and for the record I could give a rat ass about them!! I heard both sides of the arguements, I read countless blogs saying this and that about the sightings, the search parties, Cornell and ect.. Its the same-o-same-o redundant chatter coming in from both sides of the fence. So I pretty much stop getting involved with these buggar eating nerds and thier view points on what they have to say about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas or in Florida.

BUT I came across this blog called "Rational Skeptic" on Blogger.com. The guy who owns the blog is Tim Jackson. Tim comes off as a reasonable guy who doesn't like Tom Nelson (owner of "Ivory-billed Skeptic" who resides at North Oaks, Minnesota) Tom has many MANY people from all over the planet who despises him but you gotta give credit to Tommy, that despite that he carries a large target on his back he keeps plowing on with his blog. Well Tim Jackson announced the other day he is folding up his blog because he is getting CRANK phone calls at his residence about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker & his blog.

Here is what Tim had to say:

" I don't like getting prank calls but I can deal with it. But my cousin Tim Jackson who lives in Georgia is also listed in the phonebook and he's getting prank calls from Minnesota too because the pranker doesn't know who is who. So there are probably other Tim Jackson's getting pranked in Georgia, all because of my blog. Maybe every single Tim Jackson listed in the state has had this happen. What's funny is I'm a skeptic, but they are probably fellow skeptics pranking me instead of people who think the Ivroy-billed lives on.I hate to give in to prank calls but I don't want innocent people like my cousin and other Tim Jacksons to have to deal with this"

WHOA from Minnesota? Here is some food for thought..... On Tim's blog he allowed comments criticizing Tom Nelson to pieces. Tom must of gotten pissed off and threaten Tim in some way because Tim posted on his blog a compromise that Tim will remove the comments if Tom apologized for criticism towards researchers, Ivory-billed Woodpecker searh teams and ect.. he allows on his blog. Then Tim posted again a few days alater that he will not allow anymore comments attacking Tom Nelson. Then the crank phone calls came soon after that even though the comments were left on Tim's blog about T. Nelson.

OK lets travel back some .. Tom Nelson and Laura Erickson were tossing punches at each other over the Ivory-billed Woodpecker sighting in Arkanas a few years ago. Laura got off the subject on her blog and began to criticize President George Bush Jr. on how he handle the hurricane relief in New Orleans. Tom got all pissed off at Laura on what she had to say about the relief/Pres. Bush and called her employers to complain that Laura had no right to say what she had to say about the President Bush because the blog is sponsored by Binoculars.com. So Tom called and complained TWICE! He wanted Laura's employers to remove her from her position or wanted her to get discipline for her remarks.

Now Tom has words with Tim Jackson and now Tim is getting prank phone calls from Minnesota -- can you see a pattern here? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm makes ya wonder doesn't it?

Other than birding is rather slow in NE Minnesota because I am not birding. I am birded out from the trip and need to step back for awhile and recharge my batteries. Since I been back my son's Little League baseball team is on the winning track. I missed three games because of the Manitoba trip and my co-coach lost those three games but when I got back in town we won the last three games but took a lost last night to a tough team. (3-6) Good news is that my son made the All-Star Team. 33 kids tried out and they only selected 15 of them. Proud of Ben of course! Becca scored a goal in soccer while I was gone and her team looks real good. They only lost once and I assume they will be a contender in her district.

I am pump as hell that we are finally getting air conditioning this weekend! We are also getting a new furnace and hot water heater. After Saturday the temps can soar to 90 degrees every day! Bring it on 60+ dew points!

I have to post some photos of the gardens in our yard, they look awesome and really healthy! We are going to have a crop of grapes this year! Birds are nesting in our yard and I found a few active nests by Robins, Tree Swallows, House Wrens, Chipping Sparrows, Song Sparrow, I hear Red-eye Vireos in our backyard every day, Veery is calling most nights and our Catbird is nesting in the dogwoods like they do every year.

Well that's about that --

Later

More Churchill

One of the most beautiful areas of Churchill is the bog habitat along Twin Lakes Road. The white stuff in the above photo is reindeer moss. I will post a closer up photo of reindeer moss below. This photo was taken along Cook Street which runs off Twin Lakes Road. Right near this area I found Bohemian Waxwings, White-winged Crossbills, Boreal Chickadees, Northern three-toed Woodpeckers and Gray Jays. We missed out on Spruce Grouse but made up for the miss by finding a Boreal Owl nest!.

Here is a closer look of reindeer moss and by the way there are no reindeer in Churchill. The only thing close to a reindeer is a caribu or possibly a moose. We did not see either mammal while we were up there. The moss is sensitive on being walked on and in the Churchill guide book the author asked birders to be careful and watch where you walk.

When I was in SE Arizona I was amazed by the mountains and birds but Churchill is my kind of place. It may not have a huge variety of birds like Arizona but man-o-man for some reason I fell in love with the place!

Well here is the photo of one of the young Boreal Owl owlets. This poor owl was being harassed by robins, white-crowned sparrows, gray-cheeked thrush and other birds. The other owlets were safe inside the nest hole but this pwl decided to roam out and see the world. I have no idea if Boreal Owls are doing ok in Canada but the area where I found the nest is a location that had nesting owls in the past. My group my very excited by this find and we had smiles all day long --- well maybe not all day long because the Ross's Gull was yet to be relocated by birders and my group really wanted to see one. The pressure of being a bird guide!

This structure is not located in Churchill but instead you can see this structure at Neepswa, Manitoba. It's the world's largest martin house! All this rectangles on the sides of the structure are martin houses and yes there are martins to be found nesting in those martin houses. In fact while reading the "Find Birds in Southern Manitoba" bird guide they make claim for lots of north american records or concentrations. For example Douglas Marsh says "largest concentration of Yellow Rails in North America" We heard two!. Then at the Delta Marsh the birders wrote in the guide book that the woodland areas along the beach hold the largest concentrations of yellow warblers and least Flycatchers in North America. I thought all these north american records were some what amusing to read!

Yep they had Hawk Owls in Churchill too! These birds are nesting some where along the Goose Creek Road. The residents gave the pair names and they are easily to be found in the morning and late evening. When we found them they were calling to each other. The male was actually singing in the woods. If you never heard a Northern Hawk Owl sing, its a great song!

The photo is blurry but then again I am not great at taking photos. I just try to do my best and that is all. Our owl list was quite good for the trip! We saw Long-eared Owl, Short-eared Owl, Great Gray, Hawk Owl and Boreal Owl. I was quite please with the list of owls found for the trip!

Again I hope there are enough people signed up for next year!

This photo was taken along the coast road which follows Hudson Bay as you head east of town. This is the area where Polar Bears are normally found in the fall thru winter months. Way out are some seals and yes I tried to get photos but they were so far out resting on the floating on the ice.

Of course when I saw the seals I began to walk to the beach and then as I got to the beach area, my little pea brain informed me that morning a Polar Bear was seen just east of town and I am east of town, Polar Bears eat seals and I am walking towards Polar Bear's entrees! So I decided to walk back to the SUV and take photos from the road. Stupid me!

Right in the heart of Churchill is this sculpture of a Polar Bear and a large rock cairn. (spelling on cairn) The Inuits have a spiritual belief in the rock cairns and you see them all over the place.

Most of the time up their the skies were cloudy except the last day when the skies opened up and day's temp rocketed to 55 degrees! As I left my mind and thoughts were looking further north to places like Baker's Lake or Baffin Island. You can fly to Baker's Lake on Calm Air, which happens to be the best damn airlines in the world! Yuo get free food and beverages on the flights!! No peanuts but food like sandwiches, deserts and candy! Hell I was offered all sorts of stuff but did I get the same treatment on Northwest Airlines? Hell NO! I love Calm Air!

Well anyway that is part of my photos and from time to time I will be posting a few more to share. YES I know my blog has tamed down since I got back and where are my rants and swearing? Well nothing has yet to piss me off and even though there are some subjects that I like to bitch about like why birders are lousy at giving exact directions on where they found thier birds or why some birders who are over 700 species still cannot ID the simplest birds in the field? Also some other subjects that interest me like why are there so many woman birding blogs and very few men birding blogs? and also why do these woman all comment on the same blogs and act like some sort of posse? Its a like a huge TV "The View" with the same people chatting about this and that about birds. Strange.

Another day and as always -- Later all!

Back From Churchill

I am back! I was out guiding for 10 days leading a Manitoba/Churchill trip for OBServ Tours. The people were great and even though I never birded Manitoba before I basically kicked ass and saw a lot of good birds and shown a few lifers to the participants who were along with me.

It took about 2 weeks of creating maps, searching locations, asking questions, emailing birders and memorizing places in guide books to pull this trip off.




Started the trip in SW Manitoba and saw a lot of grassland birds. We drove from Brandon and headed to the southwestern corner of the providence to search for Baird's Sparrows, Chestnut-collared Longspurs and Spraque's Pipit. We found all three species and as a bonus we found lots of Sharp-tailed Grouse and two Black-headed Grosbeaks!

This photo of a Marbled Godwit was my first attempt to photo through my binoculars. I was amazed how much clearer the photo is compared to using my Kowa scope.

Marbled Godwits and Willets were all over the place in the SW corner as were Upland Sanpipers. What is so beautiful about Manitoba's prairies are how each slough or pot hole were filled with birds! Lots of ducks and shorebirds were to be found as were raptors.



We found lots of Wilson's Phalaropes and again this photo is shooting out of binoculars. It seem that almost any road in this part of the country had pot holes filled with birds. Lots of Black Tern & Forester's Terns, nesting waterfowl of all kinds, Yellow-headed Blackbirds and shorebirds.

The people were very nice in the small prairie towns and were very friendly as they drove by. Most the people waved at you or even stopped to see what you were looking at. Also when you od stopped at these potholes shooting photos of the birds was a lot of fun. There were so many that you were bound to get a good photo.

Highlights of the birds we found in SW Manitoba prairie country:

-Sharp-tailed Grouse
-Yellow Rails, Sora and Virginis Rails at Douglas Marsh
-Marbled Godwit, Willets, Wilson Phalaropes and Upalnd Sandpipers
-Ferrugenous Hawks
-Swainson's Hawks
-LeConte's Sparrows
-Baird's Sparrows
-Grasshopper Sparrows
-Chestnut-collared Longspurs
-Spraques's Pipits
-Sedge Wrens & Marsh Wrens
-Black-headed Grosbeaks
* a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher at Pierson's cemetary

We then headed up to Riding Mt. National Park and spent three days there searching for birds.

Highlights:
-Great Gray Owl
-Long-eared Owl
-Conn. Warbler
-Philadelphia Vireo
-17 species of warblers
-Northern-three toed Woodpecker
-Boreal Chickadees
-Gray Jays
-(2) Black-billed Cuckoos!!


This Great Gray Owl was the tamest owl I ever encountered. I spotted the owl and one of the participant yelled "Great Gray Owl" the same time I did. Anyway the owl just perched on the wooden fence and allowed the birders to approach the bird as close as 30 feet and click photos of it.

As you can see the owl is very sleepy and lethargic and was not interested in us birders as we approached the owl. I brought along my Sony video camera and video the owl as it sat there in the morning sun.

The birders were very excited to see this owl and many commented that this was best looks of this owl they ever had. I was very pleased in seeing this owl and sharing it with participants.

The funny thing as we did not find this owl in the park but instead south of the park along a gravel road SE of the park.

Man if I was in my mid twenties I would of moved to Churchill and got my visa and spend a few years there! This is my kind of place! I made friends with so many residents. I was offered a job at a restaurant, I was offered a job to come up in the fall ( the last day before I left a guy name Don Lunde stopped me to offer me this opportunity) and help with the polar bear tours.

I met some really good people and really love the Inuits and their customs. I listen to them give live performances and heard thier songs one evening as I sat on the ice and looked over the Hudson Bay and beyond. In a way I found my second home!


I missed out on seeing a Polar Bear by a few hours on our first day. It was seen on the eastside of town and the police shot cannon like pops near the bear to scare it away from the limits of town.

The first two days were cloudy and windy with lots of fog in the early am hours. The last day and a half was sunny and nice. The temps during the day varied some where around 35 degree to 45 degrees. Our last day the temps climb to 55 degrees! I took so many photos and I haven't edited them all yet. I will be posting photos of my trip in the next blog postings.

Here are the highlights of our Churchill trip:
-Pacific and Red-throated Loons
-Common Eiders (LIFER)
-Three Scoter species in breeding plumages!
-Long-tailed Ducks in breeding plumage!
-Red Phalaropes
-Red-necked Phalaropes
-Hudsonian Godwits
-Red Knot
-Willow Ptarmigan (photo above) (LIFER)
-Mew Gull (LIFER)
-Iceland Gull
-Glaucous Gull
-Little Gulls
-Parasitic Jaegers
-Hawk Owls (2)
**I found a BOREAL OWL nest with 4 owlets!! I took photos and a video of one of the young. I kept the sighting to ourselves as there were to many groups up there. I shared the location to one of the Manitoba birders through a email for their records. a HUGE find!
-Smith Longspurs
-Lapland Longspurs
-Snow Buntings
-Northern Shrike
-Bohemian Waxwings
-Hoary Redpolls

I took a lof of video on the trip and a lot of photos. I even have a video of the Beluga whales heading back to the bay during the early approaches of the low tide in the Churchill River. I will have to find a way to get them on my website.

Mammals found on the trip:
-Mule Deer
-White-tail Deer
-Moose (photos and video)
-Richardson Ground Squirrels (Oak Hammock Marsh they approach you for food!)
-Thirteen line Ground Squirrels
-Eastern Cottontail Rabbits
-Snowshoe Rabbits
-Artic Hares
-Coyote
-Black Bear
-Short-tailed Weasel
-Harp Seal
-Harbor Seal
-Ringed Seal
-Skunk
-Red Fox

Anyway the trip was very VERY succesful and I am proud that I was able to pull this trip off for not ever birded in these locations before and no scouting. I got help by Kim Eckert prior to going and other than that a lot of studying and creating maps or in other words doing the homework really paid off!

I will share more very soon.

Later

Tape Recordings and Other Stuff.

Well it's not the best photo of a Red-headed Woodpecker but it's something new to share on this blog.

WOW lots of news to share and some thoughts and YES I am going to spill some thoughts out before I leave for Manitoba/Churchill this Thursday. I will be back on June 17th, just in time to resume my Little League coaching responsibilities at 7:00pm Sunday night.

Well the big news this week was the unbelievable "fall out" on Park Point last Thursday. Twenty four species of warblers were seen and I saw 18 species that day. Most if not all the activity was concentrated between the bath house/playground and the entry stone wall of Park Point. I missed seeing a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and a Orchard Oriole (county bird) but hey I made up for it by seeing a Common Moorhen at Indian Pt. campground! I had to go to work and missed most of the mid-day to afternoon sightings.

So that was Thursday and then Yellow-breasted Chats were reported at Black Dog Lake and all hell broke loose over birding ethics. There are some birders who are oppose of using tape recorders when it came to these YB Chats and then there are some who use the tape recorder/IPod/CD player to get the YB Chats out into view. I agree with Deanne Endrizzi ( old girlfriend and proud to say she is still a dear friend of mind) that 3 birders each using a tape recorder is pretty dumb to lure out a YB Chat. All you need is one birder playing a tape recorder and I am sure the YB Chat would of popped out for them.

Then some how some birders began to post that those who are using tape recorders are nothing but BIRD LISTERS! Yes those people who are worse than card carrying Al Queda members! You might of met those bird listers who walk around and boast how high their lists is and act so high and mighty! They brag about all the places they birded, all the birds they added to their lists, all the gas they spent to view all these birds and ect.. Than you have the other extreme group of birders who read "Birder's Digest" or "Birds and Bloom" You know these birders and their bird vests with patches all over them, the LL Beem clothing gear (khaki and green color combinations), Binocular harness wrapped around thier bodies, and those goofy birding hats! These folks are not into lists but are into the hobby because of the vibe they get in viewing birds. Its sort of a spiritual thing. These are the birding types that probably bought all the Stan Tiekala's books or saw all the Stokes TV shows. You know the type -- the weenies of the birding world!

Also someone said on the MOU listserv that "birders should not wear white shirts in the field because it will scare the birds off" Hmm I own probably 5-6 mock turtle neck long sleeve shirts and I found a ton of birds in the field while wearing them. So much for that theory -- myth busted!

The truth to the matter of using bird recordings is that there is NOT one DAMN piece of scientific evidence that using tape recorders/Ipod or anything to play bird songs in the field is doing any harm to the birds before or during the nesting period!! The only problem humans cause to birds before or during nesting period is approaching and disturbing the bird's nest over and over and scaring the adults off the nest but the main problem birds face is habitat loss -- NOT bird recordings! I ask anyone who comes to this blog and reads this -- To find one scientific article/paper published in some journal that proves using a tape recorder on birds is harmful to them!

Bird ethics are just requests from bird organizations or people who ask birders to follow these guidelines. One of the items on bird ethics is tape recording birds. Most ethics allow taping but they say not to tape sensitive species (rare, endangered or threaten). They probably say something to effect on not using them to much or not all at during the nesting period. During my search for evidence I read a article on Robert Ridgley who is a top birder in the tropics and while using a tape recorder he heard something new calling from the bush. He then recorded the calls and played them back and he found a new species of antbird!

Yes we need guidelines to keep birders of all types (listers and weenies) on the same page and yes I broken some of the guidelines. In fact I know a lot of birders who broke the guidelines to view a bird. Shit happens and were all human and prone in making bad decisions.

I am done with this topic and talking about weenies, what with these Stan Tiekala books? You can find these little books in some gas stations of all places! I do not understand why people bought them but they did. I know one thing if I ever give a talk to a group of children in school (youth mentorship talk) and they ask what kind of bird guide should I buy? Well the answer is easy "Peterson Bird Guide". A couple of weeks ago I was guiding some birders from Spain & Italy and one of the guys had the Stanley T. book "Birds of Minnesota" and I took the little book and I told him to get his money back and buy the Sibley or National Geo. He laughed and he agreed the book is lame and was sorry he bought it. So I took the book and tossed it in the back of my SUV. You see I cannot PR a book that is not good nor informative. I can't wait to see these Minnesota Audubon regional bird guide books. I am going to have a field day on them.

I am heading to Winnipeg and I am excited about the trip. I hope to get photos of Baird's Sparrow, Pacific Loons and breeding shorebirds. Hell I hope to get a lot of good photos and I am also bringing my Sony digitial video recorder. When I get back I'll try to put them in this blog. I been pouring over maps (Kim Eckert gave me a lot of information) and making maps. So I am ready to go.

Well that is it for now all you weenies!

The Listserv Blues

Well I did it again and I wasn't even trying! I rattled the hornet nest again and got some birders all shook up over a post I made in regards to Al Schurmacher's posting on his 4 day tour of Minnesota.

Some birders probably will say "sharing bird sightings is wonderful" or "we need more birders like Al to share their daily sightings" Blah Blah freaking blah!

Let's get to the heart of the matter should we? First of all sharing is great but also sharing can be a freaking waste of time if you share sloppy information! Sloppy information? YES (oops I am yelling/shouting) YESSSSS some bird information can be worthless if you do not put the right subject line on your email. For example; suppose you are a average birder and likes to see new birds but overall you are not a serious lister or a chaser by any means. You read an email about a 4 day trip some birder took in your state. You begin to read about all the common birds that birder saw and in the mix of all this clutter you see that this birder spotted several wonderful birds you would of liked to see and more importantly they were found minutes from your house! But there is a problem you noticed in this email, there are no dates, locations, directions and now you were left wondering when did he see these birds, where did he actually see these birds and ect.

You see sharing is great but again it can be frustrating stuff to read. For example: how many times you read these types of emails " I want to report this "X" (insert any accidental bird here) but I cannot give the location because the home owner doesn't want birders to come over to see it for privacy reasons" Very frustrating email to read!

OR

One of these type of posting on the listserv: " Hey I have a Boreal Owl nest in my nestbox! I put up several nest boxes up this past winter in Cook Co. and if you want to see it, well you can email me and I will charge you X amount of money to see this owl " Very frustrating email!

OR

This type email: "I took a bird hike today and saw a Robin, Chipping Sparrow, Goldfinch, House Sparrows, Cardinals, Starlings, Mallards, Canada Geese and blah blah blah and OH I forgot, I saw a Sissor-tailed Flycatcher in Big Stone Co. Cheers!" What in the fuck is that? You telling me all the other birds were worth mentioning first and the Sissor-tailed Flycatcher was a second thought? Where in Big Stone Co.? When? Is the bird still there? Was it associated with any other birds? What FREAKING day did you see it? You asked all these questions because the subject line to the email was "What a wonderful day for bird watchintg" NOT "ALERT: Sissor-tailed Flycatcher in Big Stone Co."

What are these people sharing? I mean I would love to bump into one of these meatballs in Minnesota and say "hey I was walking around in your neighborhood and saw several species of birds and when I came to your house I was admiring your gardens. You have a really nice yard. Oh before I go, I saw a Violet-crowned Hummngbird at your hummingbird feeder. Oh it was so beautiful and it hung around long enough for me to take some photos of it. I noticed you were home at the time but I didn't know if the hummingbird was rare here in Minnesota, so I decided not to bother you." Oh sweet justice would that be.

Come on people and stop using the "stupid me" card or the "ooops I did not know" card! If you live here in Minnesota for 4-5 years and are actively submitting your sightings on the MOU listserv, you cannot say "Gees I did not know they were rare in your area" That is weak shit! Hell I never lived in Wisconsin but IF I did, I have a damn good idea what is rare and what is not rare! I would know what is out of range and what is not for most, if not all the birds in the state. So the lesson is: If birding is your main hobby, its something that is part of you and if you move to a new state wouldn't you get books about the birds in your new state? Would you look at the range maps in the National Geographic or in Sibley's to see what birds to expect to see at each season in your new location? Is it really that difficult to do a little homework on the side. Hell get a extra Nat'l Geographic Field Guide and put it in the washroom in the magazine basket next to the toilet. So everytime you sit and do your thing, pull out the book, read it, soak it in and learn what birds exist in your state. It's not that hard.

I guess that in itself seperates the experience/elite types from the "Gees I did not know" types!
It's about dedication, a urge to know more, time put in the field and ect.. I know -- I know " I am no longer going to post my sightings on the MOU listserv because of jerks like you!" I can easily excuse the novice birders on the listserv because I scan through their postings but there is NO excuse to those birders that have been around long enough to know that EARED GREBES are not common birds to NE Minnesota! HELL they are not even common in FREAKING Wisconsin nor are WESTERN GREBES! Unbelievable! Also Ferruginous Hawks are casual birds in western Minnesota and if that birder would of looked in any field guide you would of noticed that range maps do not even shade into Minnesota borders!

Well I will have to wait and see how MOURC votes on these bird sightings. Here is my predictions on all these sightings "No" "No" and "No" because I doubt anyone kept notes or took notes on these sightings.

Oh before I go and end this rant, I have one question to ask all of you 170 birders that visit my blog each weak, Are female Brown-headed Cowbirds really that hard to identify in the field?

Take care and LATER!

Sax Zim Winter Birding Festival

On May 9th I headed up to Meadowlands to meet with the developement board and owners of local businesses (Wilbert's Cafe, Rocket Saloon, Country Market). Also in attendance were two woman who represented Floodwood and a area artist. I gave same presentation to the group and after the presentation we chatted about ideas to get this festival off the ground.

Finally towards the end of the meeting we set the date for the festival for February 16-18th 2008! I will help in creating field trips, getting leaders and finding speakers for Friday night and Saturday night. I will also aid them in other areas as well - if needed. I already contacted Bill George, president of the MOU and presented the same situation about how the MOU helps with the Salt Lake Weekend and see if the MOU will get on board to help the folks in Meadowlands.

You see the folks at Meadowlands have very little cash to get this going. The people on the board are not birders but a elderly group with a lot of pride and love for the area they grew up in. They recognize the fact that there is a drug problem in the area and they are using what little money they have to get police in the area to patrol the area to make their community safe. They want to add some lightpole banners with birds on them to show off their wildlife they have in the area. They want to help the young children in the area by creating fun activities to keep them busy. These people will greatly benefit from the profit they hope to make from this winter bird festival.

Here comes my rant !!

I met with this group twice now and I got to know them and they got to know me. One of the ladies even baked me chocolate cookies and put them in a nice tin bin to take home! I know them by first names now and got them interested in birds by fielding questions they have about birds. OK here it comes --- Pam Perry was head of a group called "Friends of Sax Zim Bog" she had other goverment people ( DNR, Forest Service) on board, she had a few local birders on board and some birders from the Twin Cities. They met with the Meadowland's Developement board and local business owners on how to make there area bird friendly, what to stock in your stores that will attract birders and ect.. Pam Perry had Sharon Stiteler (birdchick) give a presentation to the business owners that they should think about selling this, doing this and that blah blah blah -- After all these presentations they left town and NEVER went back to help these elderly ladies and give them direction! Remember they are not birders and this is all new to them!! This Sax Zim Group was suppose to launch a checklist for the area, they wanted to create wide out areas on certain roads to pull off on, they wanted portable restrooms in the bog and ect.. They NEVER tried to get grants for these projects except the checklist was done by Kim Eckert with help from me and other birders. The DNR had Mark Stensaas (who hired me to help) to create a brochure for the Sax Zim Bog area. All these projects are dead! The group folded for whatever reasons and left the people in the community hanging!

It still pisses me off that you get a group of elderly ladies all excited on how they can bring extra money to thier community and then leave them without any directions on how to achieve that goal! When I made my first presentation to them before I left for Colorado they asked me if I was going to stick to my guns and help them with these ideas and I said "YES" because one of the ladies said they were left with a bunch of ideas and NO HELP from the other group they met with!

So here is the update on what is going on in Sax Zim Bog:

-There will be now 4 bird feeding stations for visiting birders to visit. there will be drop boxes at these stations where birders can donate money to help these residents pay for the feed. I will be posting directions to these bird feeding stations this fall.

-a bird feeding station between Floodwood and Cromwell and also the woman in Floodwood prints the local newspaper and she is doing her part to bring bird watching as a way to get more business in that area. She was amazed on how many birders visited Hedbom Logging Rd last winter!

-There will be some deer ribs hung on McDavitt Rd, Owl Ave, Arkola Rd and Admiral Rd in the winter.

-Meadowlands sewage ponds has offered to build a viewing platform for birders and also the manager of the ponds will open the ponds during the birdathon if contacted. So birders do not have to walk along the barb wire.

-There are two places "Lady Slipper" and the Pruhommes who have rentals for visiting birders to lodge at.

- Winter Bird festival

* Also I have talked about the logging issue and they agree there is to much logging going on and hopefully more talks will follow on this subject. Remember these woman have sons, son-in-laws and family who are connected to logging.

So all in all I NEVER tossed a bunch of ideas at them and left it to them to figure it out. I came back to help them out and give them direction and by doing that more people get more interested in birds and more ideas are created during these talks. YES I am proud of myself and I am doing all this for FREE and giving back to a area that has done so much for me. Done for me? Hell yes! I made about $9,000 guiding birders in Sax Zim Bog during the owl irruption. I brought in a bunch of birders to the country market in meadowlands and heard about the problems they are facing. When I got an email this spring about how the business in meadowlands missed us birders, I had to meet with them and help them out. Meeting the community leaders was the best damn thing I ever did. I met some amazing woman and I ate some best damn chocolate cookies ever made!

Later

Western Strays and Doggie Stuff

Morgan Park mud flats are quite extensive this year with very low water levels along the St. Louis River. Last year the mud flats were only about 5 -10 yards our from shore and this spring the mud flats extend at least 50-60 yards out from shore.

Today I saw a Marbled Godwit and a Wilson Phalarope foraging for food near the water edge. These mud flats should continue to be worth checking each day during May for western strays and for Whimbrels. Its been several springs since Duluth had a decent report of Whimbrels in the area and also Red Knots.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds are pretty kool birds and I love thier calls. In fact before I seen the bird I was hearing it and for some stupid reason I thought it was a Caspian Tern calling until my brain kicked in and I looked up and right above me was the blackbird!

I hope to get better photos this June in Manitoba this year and this was the best I could do in the lousy light.

I am guiding some folk out tomorrow. They travelled all the way from Spain! They own a very nice hotel in the pyrenees (spelling?) mountains. I have some photos of it and it looks like a place where the rich and famous would go to. The hotel is almost built into the mountains and all the rooms have large views of the valleys below and of course the mountain views. I am picking them up at the Cotton Mansion Bed & Breakfast. I plan on wearing my old baggy jeans with holes in the knees and my raggy shirt so they can feel sorry for me and tip me big time! LOL kidding!!!!! I will wear the typical running pants, sweatshirt and of course my sandals! They are going to sit and ride in my environmental friendly GMC Yukon XL 4X4 which is the same size as a full size Chevy Suburban! I am also proud to admit that my Yukon is on the top ten list for the most expensive SUV to drive because of the price of gas it takes to fill the tank! It cost anywhere $45-55 to fill the tank full. Its my global warming machine

Talking about global warming, Monica and I met our neighbor's cousin who is going to install air conditioning in our house. So by June 1 we will have central air conditioning but since we piss people off with our huge gas sucking & C02 emitting SUV, we are also going to get a energy efficient furnace. Since we already use natural gas to heat our house and force air system in our house 1/2 the work is already done to install the air conditioning unit. Since the weather forecasters have predicted that this summer will be a hot one, the Hendrickson family will be cranking the air conditioning on this summer!

My neighbor is single woman who raised two daughters. The daughters are gone now and she works full time as a eye doctor assistant. She is gone 9-10 hours during the day and leaves her black lab in her kennel outside all day. The kennel is located in the back of house in constant shade and sits on a cement floor. Her last dog died of kidney disease and I knew it was because the dog basically lived in the kennel and held its piss and shit till her owner let out each night. Eventually the kidneys failed. So she got a Black Lab to replace her last dog.

I always come home each day fro mwork around 1-2pm, so I offer to take the dog out of his kennel and let her dog, "King" play with my dog "Bear". She was really happy that I was willing to do this and Bear is realy happy to play with King. These dogs get along really well and all they do is chase each other around, wrestle with each other and smell each other's asses. The photo above is Bear trying to push King out of his kiddy pool. The odd thing about young King is that last fall he got his testicals removed and for some reason he is horny and wants to get it on with Bear! Bear keeps telling King that his ass is off limits but King keeps trying. Bear nips King's ears and when that doesn't work Bear kicks him or falls to his side. King is only 1 1/2 years old and after several days of play King is getting the message that Bear is not interested in sex. All Bear wants to do is play chase and wrestle.

The other day King got so aroused that his penis was erected out so much that poor ole King couldn't walk with out whimpering. In fact he couldn't walk period! So I had to slowly walk him back ot his kennel and let him relax in the cool shade. Finally his doggy manhood shriveled up and he was all better.

Yep that's what my blog is all about -- Dog sex episodes and some spattering of bird sightings!

To Much Going On May 19th

Big Horn Sheep along Highway 50 just west of Royal Gorge near Canon City. I can basically say if you are heading to Colorado in April this stretch of highway you are guaranteed in seeing these sheep or along highway 70 near Idaho Springs.

Well I learned a lesson about scheduling trips, DO NOT schedule anything in May! Is it just me but Minnesota has to many freaking bird festivals! On May 19th you can sit on David Sibley's lap at the Detroit Birding Festival or you can shoot over to Ashland Wisconsin and sit on Julie Zickefoose's lap or you can go and sit on Laura Erickson's lap at the Ramsey MN. Birding Festival. Then there's the freaking St. Louis Co. Birdathon sponsored by Hawk Ridge! Hey IF you want to sit on my lap, I have a Lake Superior Boat Trip from 8-12:30pm going on and you can read more about these boat trips by going to my website but I am not a author! Sitting on well known author's laps is something I came up after several visits to Birdchick's blog. Basically after every birding festival Sharon Stiteler attends, Sharon has photos of herself sitting on some author's lap. Jealous Mike? You bet I am! LOL

So if I do not get 6 more people on the May 19th boat trip I will cancel the trip and do a big sit instead and break the record and be really REALLY famous and then everyone will want to sit on my lap! I have place all figured out and my big sit will have nothing to do with the freaking birdathon. Hell, since they have a new rule in place that you do not have to there on Sunday with your totals in hand, I might just call in some high number to win a prize! You know a coupon at Wild Bird Store or a fancy Hawk Ridge T shirt! Maybe a free cup of coffee and a sweet roll at the Coffee Cabin

Nice place to live! This is a old home or some building in the Pawnee Grasslands. Pawnee Grasslands is a wonderful place to bird but if you hate dry winds and dusty roads then this place will be like hell to you.

Well the best thing about May 1 is Little League Baseball! I am coaching my son's team and after 3 years of coaching the minors the organization finally gave me decent ball players. I am totally convince that parents toss their kids in sports without asking the child to see if he or she is interested in playing baseball, basketball or soccer. Manyy times I had kids that were bored to tears with the sport their parent enrolled them in. These kids rather stare at the sky, play in the sand in the infield, chase each other around or pick the dandelions in the outfield rather than learning how to play baseball!

This year I got kids who want to play, parents who want them to play and finally I have talent kids that are coachable!! Young parents listen up do not sign up your kids to play sports if they are not interested! Do not think of your son's or daughter's team as a day care center where you can drop them off and let the coaches baby sit your kids! Coaches have no tolerance for kids who think team sports is just one big recess session!

So bring on May and Little League Baseball!

OH last weekend I was in Inner Grove Heights at Smiley High School. My daughter had a basketball tournament. She plays on U13 league and is enrolled in a mid AAU division. First game she scored 8 pts and 6 rebounds and the second game she did not feel good. The third game on Sunday she scored 5 pts and pulled in several rebounds. I was a proud daddy! I just hope the Duluth School system doesn't try to make Duluth into one high school! That would easily prompt us to send our kids to Marshall High School (My old high school) and pay the $9500 per year tuition or send her to Wrenshall or Proctor. I can see two high schools ( one in east side and the other in west side) but not one high school!

Birds? Well if you been reading the MOU listserv there are no migrants around and everything is coming in small trickles! Last weekend there were only 2 species of warblers seen on the Salt Lake Weekend! I finally have Chipping Sparrows and a White-throated Sparrow in my yard!! I have Tree Swallow nesting in one of my boxes, a Am. Robin on eggs in our apple tree. I might have another pair of chickadees in my other boxes but not sure on that.

There are tons of places all along the St. Louis River for shorebirds and birders there is a huge mud flat near the WLSSD Miller Creek mouth that looks real good for shorebirds. Also the boat launch at Park Pt. and Herding Island have huge mud flats. We'll see if they produce any shorebirds this spring.

That's about it

later

More Stuff on the Colorado Trip

This is a photo of Cameo, Colorado and the main hiking trail that leads into wild horse country. YES on one of the boards posted you have a chance to view wild horses in this area. We were not looking for wild horses but we did have success in finding a wild Chukar.

The day we found the Chukar I could not stop without taking some photos of these red flowers that were scattered all along the sage brush habitat. I do not have a clue what the name is for these plants but they were some what impressive.

This is the first photo I took of my lifer Chukar. I did not spot this bird but instead one of my clients spotted the bird resting under one of the bushes on the rocky hillside. The second week we did not spot any Chukars but we did see a Black-throated Sparrow instead.

I really enjoyed guiding these field trips to Colorado. I know my route inside and out and I am some what worried about the future new owner of the OBServTours. Yep Bob is selling the company and I hope who takes over they keep me leading these trips. Bob told me not to worry because he is sure who ever the new owners will be they will keep me leading these trips. If not and the company is still in limbo then I will organize and lead a trip out here on my own. I know the route, lodging, restaurants, all the stops, people who own ranches and all the little things to run this trip. I will also do the same thing for the Manitoba/Churchill Trip. I would rather work for someone instead but maybe there is a future in leading trips to Colorado for myself. The only thing I would do different is add another day and break up some of the long driving between point A and B.

One of the most interesting conversations that came up is how most people on my trip agreed that there are some people who are really rank amateurs in the birding world but come off as "bird experts" thru their personal blogs they write numerous times per day. I know some here in my state that have blogs and thru their blogs they are on TV, radio, newspaper articles, write articles for WildBird magazine and even write books about places in Minnesota! All because they PR themselves so much the people in the media think they are "bird experts" and the idiots at Minn. Audubon even hired some of these so-called "bird experts" to be lead authors about bird finding in places like the Minnesota River Valley or along the North Shore of Minnesota! All because they have cute blogs and a bouncy go lucky personality! Of course these blog writers had records turn down by the state record committees, posted photos of birds and made huge identification errors on them (bird experts?), never found or posted anything on the listserv that is worth while to know about and also these bloggers hardly spend anytime in the field in Minnesota because they are to busy blogging about how wonderful they are as birders. To me this is really wrong and the one thing that really pisses me off about the hobby of birdwatching. I spent my entire life knowing and understanding the birds of northern Minnesota and also spent a great deal of my life in the field viewing birds and listening to birds. My reward for all that time in the field is getting hired by several out of state birders to help them find their target species. YES I admit Iam damn good at what I do and I am good at guiding because of the hard work I put into it and NOT because of some fucking blog. I did not had to sit on Ken Kaufman's lap to get noticed or hug every fucking famous author who wrote a book about birds and then photographed myself in the act of doing so!

I am tired of seeing people get labled as bird experts when they are not NOT! I am tired of seeing people get hired to write books they are not qualified to write about. All this reminds me of a very wealthy woman in SE Minnesota who some how rode along on birding trips with two other wll known birders in Minnesota. One of the guys was the MOURC chairman & hotline editor of the time and the other guy was his best friend and they accepted this woman on thier bird haunts in Minnesota. Eventually the rich woman bought one of the guys a new spotting scope! Well as time went on this woman travelled all over Minnesote with them and her list grew and then one day the birder who was the chairman of records committee in Minnesota, let this woman vote on birds submitted to MOURC even though she was not on the committee! This drew some out rage amongst some birders because she was not qualified in doing so and also these birders did not want this woman slapping her view points on thier record they submitted! Eventually she slipped back to her backyard in SE Minnesota because birders were tired of how she basically used her money to influence her position and place in the birding community!

Well I guess the answer is for me and others is to create a blog, PR the fuck out of it, kiss a lot ass at birding festivals, sit on laps of well known bird book authors and try to get gigs on local TV shows and radio and BS about birds. Also the most important thing I learn its not what you know -- its how much ass you kiss! Unfortunately I refuse to kiss ass to anyone and rather get my awards by finding my own birds and show people birds they cannot find on their own!

Yep I am in sort of pissy mood today!

Later.

More Colorado

Well I am back from Colorado and my family is very excited to have me back home. I was gone for two weeks guiding field trips in Colorado. During both trips I was able to show all the particapants all thier targets species and others! Each group had wonderful time and many lifers!

I also want to thank my two wonderful assistants, Jerry Jenkins of Va. Beach and Arron Decker originally from Hibbing, MN but lives in Va. Beach, Virginia. Terry helped during week one and Arron during week two. They were a HUGE help in loading luggage, driving the van during the long stretches between point A and B. These guys helped point out birds to particapants, help people in out of the van and did a whole lot of various chores and tasks which help me concentrate on the route and keeping people happy. Thanks guys!

I got a few lifers for myself! I was able to get a Black Rosy Finch and a Chukar during week one and during week two I was able to get Blue Grouse (female), Pinyon Jay, Gray Flycatcher and a Brewer's Sparrow. The group during week one saw 115 species and week two we found roughly 125 species.

Highlights during the two weeks in Colorado:

• White-tailed Ptarmigan at Loveland Summit


• Greater Sage Grouse at the Hayden Lek on Co. Rd 80 Rd.


• Sharp-tailed Grouse along Twenty Mile Rd near Hayden and also along Co. Rd 80.


• Chukar at Cameo


• Gunnsion Sage Grouse at Wauneta Springs Lek (Sisk-a Dee Org.)


• Lesser Prairie Chickens at the Campo Lek. * Only 3 males and one female. Also only one of the males goes to the public blind lek but SE of this lek is another lek with two males and female. The population must of took a huge hit during the winter storm. Elkhart Kansas had more birds (15) from what I heard from other groups.


• Blue Grouse was seen walking across the Twenty Mile Rd near Hayden.


• All three Rosy Finches at Crested Butte during week one and nothing during week two! You need snow to see these birds during April! Allan Park at Fawnbrook only had a group of 60-100 Brown-capped Rosy Finches during both weeks.


• Pinyon Jays at the Forest Informative Office along Hwy. 13 just before I-70 in Rifle. Just beyond the office is a area full of pinyon trees, trash, a shooting range and ATV trails!


• Gray Flycatcher, Juniper Titmouse, Bush Tits, Bewick's Wren and a Rock Wren were all seen at the above location.


• Say's Phoebe, Rufous-crowned Sparrow and a Black Phoebe were all seen last week at Tunnel Drive in Canon City.


• Sissor-tailed Flycatcher, Lark Buntings, Grasshopper Sparrows, Brewer's Sparrow, Loggerhead Shrike, Western Kingbird, and a Cassin's Sparrow were all seen along the county roads (G.J and 36) a few miles east of Campo.


• A brief look of a fly by Inca Dove was during week one south of the public blind in Campo. I made a error last week by typing Common Ground Dove when I meant Inca Dove.


• Western Bluebird, Lesser Goldfinch and several "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warblers were all seen at the Canon City Riverwalk.


• Ferrug. Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, Swainson's Hawk, "Harlan's" Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Prairie Falcons, and Golden Eagles were all seen in several places. The Harlan's was seen along Hwy 6 west of Holyoke.


• Great-horned Owl, Short-eared Owls (Campo lek area) and Burrowing Owls were seen in several places.


• Black-throated Sparrow was at Cameo.


• McCowen's Longspur, Chestnut-collared Longspur and Mountain Plovers were all seen at Pawnee Grasslands.


• Dippers were seen several places in the mountains.


• Thayer's Gull (2nd winter) and a Clark's Grebe, Horned Grebe, Bonaparte's Gulls, Franklin's Gull were all seen at Cherry Creek State Park.


• Townsend's Solitaire was at Barr's Lake State Park during week one.


• California Gull was at Bonnie State Park.


• Clark's Nutracker was at Monarch Pass.


• Red Crossbills and a Gray Jay was at the west summit at Rabbit Ears.


• White-throated Swifts along I-70 near Cameo.

Mammals:

Pronghorns, Elk, Coyotes, Mule & White-tail Deer, Black and Gunnison Prairie Dogs, Abert's Squirrel, Red Squirrel, Colorado Chipmunk, Wyoming Ground Squirrel, Rock Squirrel, Desert Cottontail, Black & White Tail Jack Rabbits, and Thirteen-striped Ground Squirrels amd Big Horn Sheep!

Scare:

I tried to do a U turn on the dirt road that leads south of the public blind in Campo and hung up the rear tires of the van and we had to walk out 5.5 miles out to get a cell phone signal. ( Thank God for Verizon!) We only wasted 2 hours but the the two hour walk was fantastic and the group saw several lifers! No one complained and once we got a signal I called the Campo Cafe and knew there would be farmers sipping on coffee and sure enough I was right! A nice guy name Jerry Fowler came and hooked up a chain and took one pull with his 4X4 truck and got me out in 2 minutes!

Interesting people:

During week one I met a woman who had nearly 800 birds on her North American list! I met another woman during the 2nd week who has been to Attu 22 times! YES 22 times! Also at the Gunnison Blind in the dark walked 4 people from Minnesota! (Ron Elperding, Herb Dingman, Rick and Jean Specht) We laughed when we saw each other and shared info. They were on a tour called Orni-Folks. They were packed in a 15 passenger van! Meaning 10 people were in the van with each bench seat there were 3 people sharing that seat. YIKES! My van had three benches with two birders per bench. More room for personal stuff and lots of comfort to sleep and stretch = happy birders!

Round One of Colorado

Well the first half of the Colorado trip is over as of today! I shown all the targets to the five birders that came along on this trip.

Highlights:

Gray-crowned Rosy Finch
Black Rosy Finch = LIFER
Brown-capped Rosy Finch
White-tailed Ptarmigan
Gr. Sage Grouse
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Gunnison Sage Grouse
Lesser Prairie Chicken
Gr. Prairie Chicken
CHUKAR = LIFER
McCowen's Longspur
Mt. Plover

Other Birds:

Scrub Jay
Stellar's Jay
Clark's Nutracker
Townsend;s Solitaire
Mt. Chickadee
Pygmy Nutatch
Sage Thrasher
Curve-billed Thrasher
Common Ground Dove
Rock Wren
Thayer's Gull
Lesser Goldfinch
Red Crossbill
Ferrug. Hawk
Golden Eagle
Prairie Falcon
Mt. Bluebird
Western Bluebird
Burrowing Owls!!
Clark's Grebe

Mammals:

Elk
Pronghorn Antelope
Mule Deer
White & Black tailed Jack Rabbits
Black Tailed Prairie Dog
Gunnison Prairie Dog
Abert's Squirrel (? name )

People:

I ran into Paul Lehman (WINGS Tour) who came over to chat with me while we were guided out to the Gunnison Sage Grouse blinds. Paul gave me some info. on some areas we were heading towards. Paul's co-leader Gary Rosenberg was hding in the van and was acting like Gary Rosenberg! (shy and not very talkable)

The weather was cold, rainy, snowy, sleeting, foggy and windy! Today its 70 degrees and sunny! I will meet the other group this Monday and be home this Sunday. I will show off some photos until then.

Later!

You gotta love April snow. Yesterday Robins were probing the lawns, raptors were migrating overhead, juncos and fox sparrows were feeding under the feeder and the Minnesota Twins were on TV! Today we got 8 inches of wet heavy snow! Thank God I am leaving this Friday and head to warmer climates.

Our Siberian Husky, Mr. Bear loves the snow! Bear loves to run and slide thru the snow, eats the snow, piss & shit on the snow, lies on top of the snow, fetch snowballs or just sit on the snow and let the snow fall on top of him. We bought a harness so he can pull the snow on sleds and he seems to like that but today the snow was to wet and sticky for that. Mainly Bear likes to keep a look out for rabbits. He has his eyes on two rabbits that are hanging around our shed.

Our pond was almost thawed out. This is my favorite area of our yard. This area butts up against some state land and the woods are connected to a larger piece of land that heads down to the St. Louis River. In this area I had Mourning Warblers nesting and Redstarts nesting in the past. Right next to the pond I built a fire pit where many of my good birding friends in the past have dranked a few beers here with me. This might of been the spot where Tom and I talked about the calendar idea.

When I took this photo a snow squall just swept over our neighborhood. Some of you or maybe just 1-2 two of you reading this blog may of noticed our house is no longer white but a shade of green. Well the green is called "sage shadow". Nothing is more boring than white houses! When we bought this house 10 years ago, I told Monica that one day we are going to paint this house so other color than white! Well last summer we hired some professional painters and they finished the job in 5 days! This summer's project is something Monica wants bad and that is a brick patio with a wood deck connected to it. The kids want me to build a platform for their monster size swimming pool we bought last summer but our yard is void of any spot that is level, so I have to build a deck paltform for this pool. Hell the pool comes with a circulation pump and is 3 feet deep and I have to treat the pool with chemicals. The kids are getting so damn big that the good ole days of watching play in the plastic mold pools are over with.

Later!

What the F**k is a Bird Expert?

What in the world is a bird expert? So many people these days are calling themselves bird experts and I have no idea what a bird expert is. I know I am not a bird expert! I work for OBServTours and lead trip in Colorado and Manitoba and for some reason I still do not think of myself as a bird expert.

Some birders I know create bird calendars, write books and travel to all kinds of birding festivals are these people bird experts? Or do you have to write a bird guide like David Sibley or Kenn Kaufman to be called a bird expert?

Some people I know love being called bird experts and flaunt it all the time in their blogs. Many of these people are actually just budding birders who have a wonderful gift of writing or speaking about birds but actually spend more time behind computers, microphones, TV cameras then spending time in the field and learning about the birds they write about or talk about. I talked to a few people in the birding community and they get bothered seeing someone who knows very little about bird identification but they continue to write bird books and articles about birds and they get labeled as bird experts. I rather look up to birders in our birding community who spends a great deal of their time in the field and write bird identification articles. These people are not searching for fame recognition, applause from the birding community and always looking for ways to be in the public eye.

What is a bird expert? All I can say is that there are so many popular blogs out there trying their best to sell themselves as birding experts. For example, Tom Nelson "Ivory-billed Skeptic" of Minnesota is probably looked upon by a good number of people in the birding community as a Ivory-billed Woodpecker expert. Is he? Is the other guy (Cyberthrush)"Ivory-billed Lives" looked upon as a Ivory-billed Woodpecker expert. The answer is NO these guys are just sharing reports or giving opinions on IBWO searches, articles and other media reports on Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. There are also people on Bird Forum who discuss 24/7 all they know about Ivory-billed Woodpeckers and some of them probably think they are Ivory-billed Woodpecker experts. Then today on Sharon Stiteler's "BirdChick Blog" there is short media clip of herself getting interviewed on a Mpls. TV station. On the bottom of the screen a few times you can see that she refers to herself as a bird expert but if you scoll down on her blog when she was in Nebraska Sharon was asking her readers to share other field ID marks on a Greater Yellowlegs that she is not aware of. Bird Expert? What is a bird expert?

Then there are people who sit on our Minnesota Records Committee who might think of themselves as bird experts. The truth is there are some people sitting on the committee that have no business being on the committee but isn't all state record committees like that? There are always one or two people you scratch your head and ask "how in the hell did they get on?" There are some people on the committee that are very strong and know their birds and then are some who are just plain weak! I heard that some of the weaker links on this committee usually if not always look to see how the stronger committee members voted before casting their vote. Bird experts?

So far all I learn in all my years of birding is that anyone can be a bird expert as long as that person publishes something to sell to the birding community. ( books & calendars ) As soon as their books or calendars make it to the shelves then they can refer to themselves as bird experts. If that is the case then I will never be a bird expert because I cannot write and I can hardly keep this blog going. Tom Auer and I had this great idea of creating a bird calendar that depicts beautiful birding woman posing next to spotting scopes or posing in different seasons and landscapes. We would market these calendars to single bachelor birder types who are attracted to beautiful woman birders. Nothing skanky or slutty but something that would be good enough where these guys can hang these calendars in their cubicles/offices at work or home. Then after that we could branch out to videos like "Birding Girls Gone Wild". Seriously I have no desire to be a bird expert because all I want to do with this hobby is find casual or accidental birds in my local area here in Duluth, guide people from all over and show them birds, and lead my Lake Superior Birding Trips. I have no desire to write a book or a create calendar even though I know my calendar idea would be HUGE with all them single male birders.

Well that's about it.

Later

Boreal Owl Blog and My Sis is running for City Council!

Another wet. windy and cold day in Duluth. In fact they are forcasting this pattern till Wednesday and then after Wednesday the temperatures will be steady around 35 degrees! I am leaving on Friday for Colorado and I know the temperatures will be in the 60-70's.

Those who are regulars to this blog may of noticed I been playing around with fonts and font colors on the blog and that is because I am trying to find a good font color that will nto burn the eyes out. I was noticing that white, yellow and light blue can burn the eyes out, So I went with something darker. Also I added a link section to websites I visit, blogs I read and few other places like "Loose Change Blog". Now those who already visited the blog may of found it interesting to read but I got hooked to these people after one night sitting up and could not fall asleep and was clicking the channels on the TV and I saw this documentary on PACT TV (Public Access Community Television) about how this group were making connections on how the 911 events were a inside job. Meaning the 911 tragic events were planned and executed by our own goverment. Of course, like many of you all I thought "no way" but after seeing this documentary it really bothered me and made me think and wonder that the 911 events could of been planned by our own goverment.

So I added it to my links so other visitors like yourself can visit their website and make your own conclusions on what they are saying. Also on another night I saw this other documentary about this place in Northern California called Bohemian Grove. This documentary is about a very private club called the Bohemian Grove that many high goverment officials and other high profile people belong to like George Bush Jr., Henry Kessinger and media people like David Gergen. What was facinating about this documentary was how a person snuck into this place and made lots of video about the place and also the mock sacrifices the club members performed! This documentary went into how the Bush family, Carl Rove's family, and Arnold Schwarznegger was tied into Hitler's Nazi movements. I do not know the name of the documentary but it was very interesting.

I haven't made any firm decision where I stand on all of this but I thought I link some of these sites up for you to visit because they are very entertaining.

Ok back to birds. Again like I said I was doing some surfing on the net and visiting some blogs I normally do not visit all the time. Today I was visiting Bill Lane's Blog http://www.mindspring.com/~owlman/

Bill Lane's has a strong love for Boreal Owls. He has been surveying the same owl routes each spring season for 20 years give or take a year or so. Many if not all of his owl routes has gone through some destructive changes due to logging but Bill will not leave these owl routes but continues to go out each spring season to see if he can muster up a Boreal Owl. I read today he was out checking his nest boxes to see if any Boreal Owls are using any of his owl boxes he put up the last two winters or so. Well today on his blog he described how he melted down and cried or sobbed because no Boreal Owls are currently using his nest boxes.

Now you maybe asking yourself this question, "does this mean there are no nesting populations of Boreal Owls in northern Minnesota?" The answer is "NO"!! Here's why I say this, in 2006 and 2007 I heard up to three Boreal Owls singing on the Stoney River Rd in eastern Lake County. Also there is plenty of habitat that Bill has not surveyed in Cook County or also eastern Lake County that butts up against Cook County. Another fact is that there is so much habitat in the Superior National Forest, BWCA and the Voyeaguer National Park that has not been surveyed for Boreal Owls. There are counties like Koochiching County, nothern Itasca County, Roseau County, Kittson County, Land of the Lakes County, and northern St. Louis County that has not been seriously surveyed for Boreal Owls. Yes I feel bad for Bill because the owls he spent a good time researching looks like they are no longer found on his owl routes and his owl routes are a small fraction of other places where the owl could exist. I am also glad that the DNR listed the owl as threaten but to me that listing means nothing because like I said the DNR only do these type of listing to make themnselves look good to the public. You know as much as I do that if the DNR has to make a decision about allowing a ATV trail thru prime Boreal Owl habitat or protecting the owl habitat -- well you know the DNR is going to chase the money trail! I guess the other good thing about the listing of the Boreal Owl to threaten species is that Bill can request more grant money to support his owl research.

Last night Monica invited me to help her out at the Harvest Food Bank "Taste of the Nation" event at Fitgers. The event was all sold out! The food was excellent! I ate several spring rolls with truffles sauce and found a chef making tuna tartat! I was in heaven walking around eating like a king and also all the wine in the world to taste! I also met some people I have not seen in many years like Susan M. who I worked with for two years at Tofte BlueFin Bay. She and her husband own the Gunflint Tavern. We talked for a very long time and told how her restaurant is so popular with birders. Then I met some high school graduates I have not seen in a very long time. Monica introduced me to her friends who manage WDSM TV, KQDS Radio and other people who are in the media. Then our friend Jeff Anderson is running for city council and Jeff was happy to hear that I will load my truck with signs and place them where needed and the BIG NEWS is that my very own sister -- Pam Smith is running for city council as well! Monica was asked by my sister to handle her finances and is planning several events to raise money for her campaign. So this fall season I will be very busy helping Jeff and Pam with the signs. By the way I came from a large family. Pam is the eldest, then me, Mary and my twin brothers Mark & Matt. We are all married except Matt who is living with Mark and his family in Myrtle Beach South Carolina.

Well hopefully I will update this blog one more time before I leave fo Co.

Later!

The Sax Zim Bog Meeting

Yesterday I met with Toivola-Meadowlands Dev. board along with the mayor of Meadowlands. I gave a an hour and half presentation to them about the history of Sax Zim Bog, the owl irruption and problems that occured during the owl irruption and finally talking about projects that would benefit the community.

The first project I discussed was the need for some feeding stations or yards birders can visit to view winter birds (Pine Grosbeaks, Evening Grosbeaks and Redpolls). Two yards will be available for the public viewing next winter! One of the feeders will be at the Abramson's and ther other at the Prudhomme's. I will give detail locations where to visit these feeders when the time comes. Right now I need to contact some local merchants to see if they would like to donate some feeders and feed to these good people. By the way the habitat these yards are located in are outstanding locations! They are near the Whiteface River and also there are plenty of coniferous trees and open areas to attract a wide assortment of birds!

The second project was hanging some deer rib cages that attract woodpeckers, chickadees (both species) and Gray Jays. The group said I should have no problem getting some rib cages this fall to hang up after the deer hunting season. I wil hang up some deer rib cages along Owl Avenue, McDavitt Rd and Admiral Rd. These rib cages should really attract the Boreal Chickadees and also give birders outstanding views of birds feeding on the suet.

The last project was getting the Winter Birding Festival off the ground and approved by the group. The group really would love to see this happen and are very eager about having a festival in their small community. We talked at length what my role will be and also ideas on lodging, catering and field trips. We will meet again after I get back from Colorado to set a date, and begin the process of putting all our ideas into action. I suspect the winter festival will be in February of 2008. the Sax Zim Winter Birding Festival has all the capabilities to be a very large/popular festival that would attract birders from all over the U.S.

One of the interesting tidbits I heard was this "Friends of Sax Zim Bog" left these people hanging and NEVER fullfilled thier ideas! I promised them I am not going to leave you guys hanging on empty hopes and wishes! This same group met the very same group as I did and told them this and that but never came back to show them how or gave them direction. I told them "what ya expect when some of the members lived in the Minneapolis area and others were goverment people just out to put thier name associated with this group as a public relation move". You see this group is not filled with young folks or middle age people. The mayor and the TMDG are basically senior citizens who were born and raised in this area. They lived on farms and worked the land and have no understanding about birding or even how to write up grants. What I saw were people who have a lot of pride and love for this area! The group has little or no money but they have enthusiam and energy to get the festival going. I hope this festival is huge success because all income from the event will go back to the community! I am volunteering all my time to see this event get off the ground. What pisses me off the most is that all these so-called "FRIENDS" of Sax Zim Bog did not do one damn thing to help these people! I accompolished more in a hour and a half then what this lame group try to do in 6+ months of meeting at the Wilbert's Cafe in Cotton. I never understoon why this group never met at the Senior Complex in Meadowlands since the heart of the Sax Zim Bog is in Meadowlands!

Also the supervisor of the Meadowlands sewage ponds is willing to contruct a viewing platform at the ponds for birders! I told the group we should hold off on this idea since the ponds are only birded during the month of May in association with the St. Louis County Birdathon.

I also talked about the logging issues in the bog. I had to walk a fine line as some of the woman were tied to loggers. I told them its not the loggers fault because they are doing what it takes to put food on the table of their families but its the state foresters and the DNR for allowing this to happen. I told them they are trying to manage a worm that is feeding on the spruce and tamaracks. I told them its a lame excuse for them to make money off this so-called management practice by putting state land up for bids. The logging is talking away habitat from boreal birds and these boreal birds are the reasons why birders come here in the first place. They understood and I told them if all the nearby accessible bogs are logged out, birders will no longer come here! The look on their faces was looks of sadness and hopefully the mayor and the group will talk amongst themselves to find ways to stop this logging but in my opinion the only way to stop it is in the voting booth. We need a governor who will select a DNR commissioner that is concern about bogs and other fragil habitats vs. logging away and be more focused on how much money the DNR can make off the natural resources like timber!

Over all the meeting was a success! The elderly woman and the two men were excited about the prospects of the festival and were very supportive of the other projects. I made some friends up there in Meadowlands and also listening to their stories was wonderful.

Later!