I thought I was done with this
Tonight I got a sobering phone call which quickly turned emotional.
Since leaving the Air Force back in 1990 I have had very few friends killed in aircraft accidents. But the phone call delivered some very sad news from a good friend. A mutual and dear friend was killed in an accident out of the Redlands, Calif., airport. Ironically, I had just sent her an email today. Now I know why she didn't reply. She was already dead.
This young gal was amazing. A smarter more quicker witted soul barely exists on this planet. She made an immediate and lasting impression on anyone who was lucky enough to meet her. The world, and the California Air National Guard, will miss her dearly. I know I do. She has yet to be officially identified as of this writing so I won't give her name. Here's a photo I took of the two friends mentioned above during one of our outings in Nevada's Spring Mountains:
A quick Google search tonight produced a local news story regarding the mishap. Here it is.
I have much knowledge of how this happened and it makes me angry. I won't talk about it here. But suffice to say it's one thing to act irresponsibly in an airplane, it's quite another to take someone else down with you while doing it.
God rest her dear soul and pray for her mother, who lost her own mother in November.
Posted by: kcorliss on 2/08/2010 at 9:49 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: aircraft accident, california air national guard, redlands
winter mystery solved
During the Saturday snowshoe jaunt I happened upon an odd scene. Arrayed in front of me was a scattered pattern of box elder seeds beneath a tree. This may seem fairly normal but given the amount of snow which had been falling it looked out of place. No way should these seeds be visible on top of the snow. There was a single squirrel track though:
A careful scan of the canopy revealed the culprit. A fox squirrel clinging to the far side of the tree in a state of repose. In the five minutes I spent there the animal never moved. Maybe it was exhausted from the seed harvesting.
Posted by: kcorliss on 2/08/2010 at 4:32 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: box elder, fox squirrel, northland outdoors, snowshoeing
Saturday snowshoe
It's been snowing now for so many days I can't remember when it started. And I'm not sure how many inches we've officially received since it started but it was enough to get me back up on my roof today to shovel. Is anyone else tired of winter?
Saturday I made an attempt to not necessarily cure, but at least treat, a bad case of cabin fever by heading to a spot along the Red River to snowshoe. It was actually a pretty mild day with very light snow and much silence. Just as I like it.
Bird-wise there was very little; typical of this time of year, which I consider the nadir of the birding season. Chickadees, nuthatches and a couple woodpeckers made up just about all there was. In other words, just the year-round residents with nothing special. Still, the walk was pleasant.
This particular area is supposed to be motorized-vehicle-free as per the signage. But as the following photograph shows, some folks still violate this:
I stepped into the woods and checked the snow depth. I found about 13 inches on the level. As of today it must be several more.
Posted by: kcorliss on 2/08/2010 at 4:05 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, northland outdoors, snowshoeing
Townfolk: Consider yourself lucky
I moan and groan daily about the state of our local roads and streets. Ice packed and treacherous (at least in the residential zones) they slow us all down to a crawl. Not to mention the corners where the snow is piled up so high you can't see traffic in either direction. But little did I know how fortunate I was...until Sunday.
I took a short drive around Cass County and was stunned by the condition of the rural township roads. Virtually ever one of them is a sheet of ice, thanks to the inch of rain we received two weeks ago during our "warm" spell.
A person dares not drive much faster than 25 m.p.h. for fear of being thrust into the ditch in a hurry. Oh, and need I mention the many many miles of roads which will see no vehicles until spring? Here's a road I was going to go down. Uh, not for a couple months.
Is any one else ready for spring?
Posted by: kcorliss on 2/03/2010 at 12:59 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Tags: cass county, ice, rural roads
Wind "energy"
Two weeks ago the local area received a little over an inch of moisture. Of that only about two inches was snow, the rest rain. Then the wind came with gusts over 50 m.p.h. It's difficult to explain to folks in more southerly climes just what wind like that does to snow.
It's been estimated North Dakota still has 30% of its corn crop left standing in the field awaiting a hopeful spring with dry conditions so the farmers can get at it before planting next year's crop.
Here's a shot of an unharvested corn field showing the wind's effect on snow and how it gathers behind and among whatever barrier stands in its way.
This scene is repeated all over the area with the first 75 feet or so of windward rows being packed with drifted snow leaving the rest of the field fairly clean. Farmers tell me the covered rows will be unfortunately lost, with moisture doing a nasty job on the ears.
Wind acts as a motive force flowing similarly to the way water acts on particulate matter. In a previous life I used to do a little hobby gold panning. Stream or river gold is never found in front of large obstacles such as rocks, instead gathering behind. Just like snow.
Posted by: kcorliss on 2/03/2010 at 12:46 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: corn, gold panning, snow, wind
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer
So uttered Michael Corleone in Godfather II.
Out of the desert southwest comes a tale of environmental hand-wringing and biological intrigue, courtesy the Las Vegas Sun.
The article describes a conundrum facing federal land stewards with regard to combating the extremely invasive woody plant called the tamarisk (it's been found in North Dakota too but so far isn't a plague like other places farther West). The Asian invader is a menace of epic proportions sucking water from already scarce water sources and adding salinity to soils.
Enter the Asian tamarisk beetle, a voracious little beast which does a heck of a job controlling the tree. We've got the beetle and it's working.
Problem? Well-meaning folks are screaming loudly the loss of tamarisk endangers a bird called the Southwestern willow flycatcher.
In the wake of the St. George release, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Audubon Society in 2009 successfully sued to stop further releases of the insect, claiming the government should have known the beetle could survive further south, killing saltcedar and putting the flycatcher at risk.
“This is very serious because if they get below Lake Mead, we’ll lose the flycatcher in Arizona and New Mexico,” Center for Biological Diversity co-founder Robin Silver said. “Because of the blunders and corruption of (government) officials, we’re looking at an extinction.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's address a couple issues. First, there is not a species called a southwestern willow flycatcher, at least not yet. The bird down there is a subspecies of the very common nominate species, willow flycatcher. This appears to be another attempt at crying wolf.
(willow flycatcher in Cass County, North Dakota)
Second, no informed environmentalist should block the ridding of tamarisk, which has been a target of eradication for decades. It's the right thing to do for myriad reasons.
Third, if the bird in question depends upon an invasive species for its survival, perhaps it wasn't meant to be. Maybe it should be left to fend for itself with existing flora. That, it seems to me, would be nature's way.
This isn't the first time I've seen this group (Center for Biological Diversity) in the news. They are an organization which bends what they call "science" to fit their agenda. And I can't believe the last quote above. Here it is again, “Because of the blunders and corruption of (government) officials, we’re looking at an extinction.” This guy demagogues the issue, which should be getting rid of the tamarisk and letting the bird recover with native vegetation.
In the end this is a bird which was likely never very numerous in the desert southwest. But I'm confident it will survive, with or without this lawsuit.
Read the whole story at the link above, it's quite good and balanced actually.
Posted by: kcorliss on 2/01/2010 at 2:21 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, center for biological diversity, tamarisk, willow flycatcher
South Texas scores again
I got an email earlier this week from a birding friend in San Antonio. He was headed south to check out a report of an Amazon kingfisher supposedly found along the Rio Grande in Laredo. Now I see the first news report of the bird from the AP via the Laredo Morning Times. It looks like the report is true:
Laredo could be home to a female Amazon kingfisher, a species of bird never previously reported in the United States.
On Sunday afternoon, Alan Wormington of Leamington, Canada, and his friend Robert Epstein were down at Zacate Creek when they spotted and photographed the bird.
Once again the throngs are sprinting to the area to see the bird which has been hinted at before but never confirmed.
This is not the first time there have been possible sightings of an Amazon kingfisher in South Texas, but this is the first time the bird has been photographed for confirmation.
Geez, I really ought to consider a road trip.
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/29/2010 at 12:43 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: amazon kingfisher, birding
Rare, but not unprecedented
The local Fox News affiliate in Dallas-Ft. Worth has a report from the UK detailing the return of a pair of Bewick's swans (very close relative of our tundra and trumpeter swans) to their traditional nesting territory.
Bewick's swans, like many large waterfowl and other birds, are known to "mate for life" and traditionally stay together until the death of one or the other. Not so in this case though:
A male Bewick swan named Sarindi returned to the Slimbridge Wetlands Trust in Gloucestershire, England during the annual migration without Saruni, his partner of two years, Julia Newth wrote on the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust’s blog diary Friday.
When he flew in with his new lover Sarind, bird wardens feared the worst, as Bewick swans tend only to split when one partner has died.
However, much to the wardens’ shock, Saruni arrived several weeks later without a scratch … but with a new beau called Surune in tow.
"Divorce" among these birds is very rare but it does happen:
The wetlands center has studied Bewick swans for the past 40 years. In over 4,000 pairs studied Sarindi and Saruni are one of only two couples that separated after being together for some years.
This story fairly illustrates an irrefutable tenet I've come to respect ever more. There are few (if any) absolutes in nature.
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/29/2010 at 11:59 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: bewicks swan, birding, northland outdoors
Beware the hungry predator
My wife brought a little wildlife scene playing out in the backyard to my attention this morning. Peering out the kitchen window, I arrived in time to see a female sharp-shinned hawk collect a surprised house sparrow in her talons, carry it a few feet away, and eat it. Way cool.
It spent nearly 20 minutes plucking the feathers before she began downing the meaty portions of the bird. I was able to get a long-distance, fuzzy, angled shot through the window as the bird was engaged in the gory business of eating its prey:
The aftermath:
Once the small raptor had finished, she flew to a tree with the evidence still clinging to her beak:
How did I know it was a house sparrow? After all I didn't actually see the kill. Well, it's all in the evidence. Note the chestnut-colored edges to the wing feathers and the chestnut wing covert. Also there's a bold whitish wing bar.
It took all of about half an hour but it was enough to make my week. It's little vignettes like this which go a long way toward loosening the grips of winter.
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/27/2010 at 1:44 PM | Comments (3) | Permalink
Tags: birding, northland outdoors, raptor, sharp-shinned hawk
A bad few days
Late last week I was starting to feel sorry for myself. I was beset with a deep nasty cough, congestion, and a lack of sleep. It felt like I'd been run over by a truck. And I still have it.
Then Thursday dawned with a phone call telling me one of my best friends was in the hospital after suffering a "cardiac episode." Turns out it was a series of mini-heart attacks. By the time I visited his room a stint had been successfully implanted and he was on the road to recovery. And cigarette cessation.
That same day I'd left a message for another dear friend who lives in a double-wide in Arizona. I was curious how he was weathering the fierce winds and heavy rains I'd been hearing about. I got no answer. None the next morning either.
When he finally did call the tone of his voice betrayed a deep anxiety. During the next 10 minutes he relayed how he had gone to the library during the height of the winds. He returned 90 minutes later to find his home a pile of ashes. Dead were his two falcons (did I mention he was a master falconer?) and his dog, Gertie. Gone was the life he knew along with all the accouterments we surround ourselves with to make our homes comfortable. Now it's rebuilding time. Here's a shot his sister took:
My little cough doesn't seem so bad now does it? It's all about perspective.
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/26/2010 at 12:54 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: falconry, northland outdoors
Proceed with extreme caution
I'm not exactly sure what to make of a press release sent to me via a friend in Alabama. The news is stunning. But before we all start jumping up and down and toasting our good luck, keep one stark fact in mind: We've been down this road before.
I'll just whisper it: ivory-billed woodpecker.
Yes, it seems a person named Daniel Rainsong has not only found but photographed an ivory-billed woodpecker several times in one of the prime areas suspected of possibly harboring this will-o'-the-wisp, the Sabine River basin (It forms most of the border between Texas and Louisiana). Here's the relevant meat from freepressrelease.com:
On December 29, 2009, Daniel Rainsong found and photographically documented a living Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in the southern Sabine River basin . The bird was again spotted and photographed a second time, later...Daniel Rainsong spent 30 days (Dec 2009-Jan 2010) in specific predetermined locations in the Southern Sabine River basin in search of the Ivory-Billed woodpecker.
As I say, we've been here before. It seems very likely the bird videographed in Arkansas some years ago which caused mountains to move, was not an ivory-billed woodpecker. So a healthy dose of skepticism and a wait-and-see attitude is recommended. Still, it titillates our birding senses does it not?
This may very well be a hoax. Or the press release could be real, yet the evidence lacking. We shall see. The tease from the end of the piece:
Daniel Rainsong now has photographs to prove this new sighting. The photographs proving this new find are being sequestered to protect Mr. Rainsong's right of claim in this discovery. After Mr. Rainsong's rights in this discovery have been established and protected, the photographs will then be released to the public.
That "right of claim" statement has me curious. Just what does that mean? Is there a financial motive here? If so, the science behind this claim seems oddly tainted, at least on the surface.
I wonder if Las Vegas is listening. This appears to be a great subject to place odds upon. Bets anyone?
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/25/2010 at 9:32 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, ivory-billed woodpecker, northland outdoors, rare bird, sabine river
Heloise hints at hobby
First a confession, I don't read Hints by Heloise. The world renowned household advisor writes a syndicated column about ins and outs of daily life and is a contributing editor to Good Housekeeping magazine (I don't get that one either).
But in a recent column the domestic maven confessed to being...(drum roll)...a bird watcher.
Dear Readers: Do you enjoy bird-watching? This is an inexpensive and fascinating hobby; all you really need is some binoculars and a book to help you identify the birds. A journal also is helpful to log the birds you've seen. (I have my list of birds I've seen written on the front inside cover of one bird book.)
My favorite spot is the South Texas coast near Rockport, where there is a whooping crane refuge. I've been honored to see these large, magnificent birds several times. It's always a thrill! -- Heloise
Chalk another person up to the birding hobby.
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/25/2010 at 9:17 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, good housekeeping, heloise, hints by heloise
Experts and novices, here's your chance
What are you doing Feb. 12-15? If you are as bored as I am during this mid-to-late winter span you may want to consider taking part in an annual citizen science project known as the Great Backyard Bird Count. Here's the snapshot from the website:
The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent and in Hawaii. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event.
Why do it? Again from the website...
Your counts can help us answer many questions:
-How will this winter's snow and cold temperatures influence bird populations?
-Where are winter finches and other “irruptive” species that appear in large numbers during some years but not others?
-How will the timing of birds’ migrations compare with past years?
-How are bird diseases, such as West Nile virus, affecting birds in different regions?
-What kinds of differences in bird diversity are apparent in cities versus suburban, rural, and natural areas?
-Are any birds undergoing worrisome declines that point to the need for conservation attention?
(red-breasted nuthatch)
I've never done this but it may be worth my giving it a shot. I do find the title a little misleading though. When I see "backyard" I think, well, backyard. But that's not necesssarily true. Their own website says, "Count birds in as many places and on as many days as you like—one day, two days, or all four days." That tells me you can go anywhere you want.
There were over 94,000 checklists submitted last year so apparently this thing is quite popular. Depending on what is happening during that time span, I just may try it. The kicker is I don't think I'll be home. That is the weekend I planned on going ice fishing with my son so I would have to submit a checklist or two from afar. We shall see.
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/22/2010 at 11:56 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, great backyard bird count, northland outdoors
C'mon, even Alaska beat us.
The unmet goal of getting 50 species on the Fargo-Moorhead Christmas Bird Count remains a festering sore with me. Again this year we came close--48--but it's little consolation. Frustrating? You bet.
Then today I hear (via KUCB) of a modest Alaskan village (Unalaska) which got 51 species:
Results from the local 2009 Christmas Bird Count are in. Local bird watchers saw about 7,270 individual birds from 51 different species. Included in the count were 1,368 Emperor Geese, 125 Steller Eiders, 505 bald eagles, and 2 Eurasian Wigeons.
What's up with that? In the northern hemisphere birds are supposed to abandoned northerly latitudes in winter and filter south where some Christmas bird counts get huge (think Rockport, Texas).
There is a fairly simple explanation for this of course. Unalaska, home of Dutch Harbor (Deadliest Catch is filmed out of this port), sits in the Aleutian chain where the Japan current maintains a temperate flow of ocean water. Thus the birders there are able to count a lot of water birds. Not that I necessarily want to be there but over 1,000 emperor geese would be impressive to witness. Especially since I've never seen one. Stellar's eiders neither.
(emperor geese, by Russell Link)
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/21/2010 at 4:45 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, christmas bird count, dutch harbor, fargo, unalaska
Wanted (needed): Editor
That may be a little harsh. I'm as guilty as any of misspellings, tense confusion, poor usage, and other faux pas cast upon the Queen's English. However, I couldn't help but notice the name of a particular bird in this story from Wilcox, Ariz.
It's a local news account of the 17th annual Wings Over Wilcox birding festival, an event which would have been cool to attend. It sounds like it was a success with 20 of the 43 field trips sold out and a bird total which reached 139 species.
The better birds found? Ruddy ground-dove, mountain plover, hairy woodpecker (believe it or not this was new to the count), greater scaup, and something called a "crusted caracara."
I've seen it in Texas. But nothing about this weird raptor is crusted. Here's my shot of one being harangued by a pair of northern mockingbirds:
Here's what one looks like up close, courtesty of John Kormendy:
Oh by the way, it's a crested caracara. Subtle but significant.
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/20/2010 at 2:22 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, crested caracara, northland outdoors, wilcox
Oh to be in Australia
This morning I got an email from a fellow birder living in northwest North Dakota. It depicts a scene at a bird feeding station at Australia's Lamington National Park (assuming of course, this email is true). The photo was taken by a guy named Matthew Watt. I can't think of any similar setting the US may offer which would even come close to the amazing colors displayed by these glorious birds. Take a look:
Yeah, we have some tanagers, some buntings, maybe some warblers. But nothing like this. Amazing.
For those keeping score at home, the red ones are called crimson rosellas and the green ones are king parrots.
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/19/2010 at 12:55 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: australia, birding, matthew watt
Borneo continues to give 'em up
Borneo, at over a quarter million square miles is considered the 3rd largest island in the world. And it sits squarely on the equator making it a tropical cornucopia for all sorts of species. New ones continue to be "found" (back in March of 08 I wrote about these discoveries, click this to read it).
The BBC reports on a recent bird species new to the scientific world here. The discoverers are calling it a spectacled flowerpecker.
Leeds University biologist Richard Webster first glimpsed the bird from a canopy walkway 35m above ground.
The spectacled flowerpecker, a small, wren-sized, grey bird, was feeding on some flowering mistletoe in a tree. On one sighting it was heard singing.
Still I cannot imagine how cool it would be to actually find one. The story does a decent job of capturing the emotion involved with such an event:
Dr David Edwards, a tropical ecologist at the University of Leeds, identified the bird as a new species from photographs.
"It's like a dream come true," he said. "I've spent all these years, decades, watching birds and all you want to do really is discover a new species to science.
"All that tropical field work has paid off, all the mosquitoes, the leeches, the rainstorms and the mud have been worthwhile."
Apart from the chuckle this common name evokes, the bird bears a striking resemblance--in my opinion--to our plumbeous vireo. Click on the link above for a glimpse at the copyrighted photo of the flowerpecker then compare it with my shot of a plumbeous vireo taken in Nevada:
See what I mean?
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/18/2010 at 3:50 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, borneo, plumbeous vireo, spectacled flowerpecker
The trouble with lists
From Pennsylvania (specifically the newsobserver.com) comes a very interesting article, titled, Quirky conservation lists don't protect rare birds, scientists say. The story was gleaned from the online journal, PLos ONe.
Basically researchers are saying lists of endangered birds (or any species) on state or federal levels appear not to be totally effective:
The problem is that state lists, given their limited geographic scope, often do not reflect the broader reality, the researchers found.
In a study of 48 states, the researchers discovered numerous instances where species that are nationally abundant were listed because, in the state, they were rare.
Conversely, birds that may be in trouble nationally, such as the cerulean warbler, might not be listed because they are considered numerous in a particular state.
There is even a quote which included "North Dakota" in it, and offers a good example of what they are talking about:
"We're down to one site for black terns," he (Dan Brauning, wildlife diversity chief with the Pennsylvania Game Commission) says. "What are we going to do, ignore it because it's fairly common in North Dakota? No."
Apparently black tern is on Pennsylvania's endangered list or something. I'd only say one thing about this quote. "Fairly common" does not even begin to describe the abundance of this wetland nesting bird in North Dakota. They are here by the tens of thousands every summer.
I'm glad folks are shining a brighter light on this issue. Listing, by itself, does nothing. It's the regulatory strength listing brings to the table which bares teeth. Still, this system is flawed in my opinion. Listing endangered species narrows the focus too tightly. Instead of affecting an effort to "save" or "preserve" this or that critter, way more attention should be being paid to systemwide conservation. Habitat set-asides (such as CRP) and permanent greenways are just two tools which pave the way to more comprehensive conservation. Think forest, not individual trees. I've said it a hundred times but I'll say it again, habitat is everything. Saving an individual species is akin to putting it in a zoo if the critter isn't surrounded by appropriate habitat.
Here's a guy who gets close:
Eric Stiles, vice president for conservation and stewardship for New Jersey Audubon, says the new conservation ethic - one the state wildlife action plans help foster - is to look not merely at birds on the brink, but "suites of species" that occupy the same habitat.
Saving a marsh, for instance, can benefit not just the most endangered species in it, but all of them.
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/18/2010 at 3:17 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, black tern, conservation, endangered species, north dakota, pennsylvania
Scientific swing-and-a-miss
CBS News has the story, which is their synopsis on an article in Science.
It's headlined: Bird Breathing Helped Dinosaur Ancestors
(photo from marathonbooks.com)
They are saying alligators breathe in a similar manner as birds. That is, air entering their breathing apparatus goes on a one-way tour, not the in-and-out we mammals perform. This, the article claims, may have allowed alligators and their kin to better survive the drop-off of atmospheric oxygen which occurred some 250 million years ago, an event which devastated large mammals.
Most surprising of all is no one...let me say that again...no one noticed this before.
One burning question remains, though: How the heck did we miss this for so long? “People incorrectly believe that you must have avian-style air sacs in order to have unidirectional flow,” says C.G. Farmer of the University of Utah, a coauthor of the new study. “Alligators don’t have air sacs, so no one ever looked” [Science News]. But there it was, hiding in plain sight-presuming you have the stomach to study alligator lungs.
Sort of calls to mind the events surrounding the "science" of global climate change doesn't it?
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/18/2010 at 1:32 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: alligators, birds, cbs news, science
Wouldn't you know it
One of the birds which escaped my notice for the entire 2009 calendar year was the famously-wandering northern finch known as the white-winged crossbill. Well, yesterday I saw one southwest of Fargo in one of the shamefully few groves of spruce in the county--Embden.
Like loyal readers, I wondered the same thing: Was this bird here in December? Oh well, it would have only brought me to 248 anyway.
Posted by: kcorliss on 1/18/2010 at 12:43 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, cass county, northland outdoors, white winged crossbill
