When nesting is over, then what?

One thing that I have really enjoyed about taking part in Ohio's 2nd Breeding Bird Atlas is the fact that it's gotten me out exploring other habitats. I live in the woods - my house is in the woods, and our "neighborhood" is heavily wooded, with some bits of open field here and there. As a result, I have become very familiar over the last 6 or so years with woodland birds, and also those birds who prefer what is known as "edge" habitat (the edge between woods and open areas). I am not so familiar with birds of more open areas, nor of birds that like moderately wet places. Due to my work with the Breeding Bird Atlas, though, I have taken the first steps to learning more about the areas beyond my backyard. I have gained a better appreciation and understanding for what birds are likely to be found together in these surroundings that are new to me. I am far, far away from the flat lands of the upper 2/3rds of the state, though, so there are still many things I need to see and learn about all types of different habitats that just don't exist down here in the hilly, unglaciated portions of Ohio.

There is one place to learn about VERY different habitat from what I'm used to, and that's up along the northern border of the state, in a very special town called Lakeside. In just a couple of months, this quaint little town that juts out into Lake Erie, just south of Put-In-Bay and Kelleys Island and a few miles west of Marblehead, will became a haven for birders. We will be gathering for a very special weekend, where we will look, listen, learn, and laugh, and leave our cares behind for a few days on a mini birding vacation. I'm really looking forward to it. This little getaway takes place in the form of the Midwest Birding Symposium.

I went to my first Midwest Birding Symposium 2 years ago, and had a wonderful time. It was where I met a lot of my blogging friends for the first time, and I'm looking forward to meeting even more of you at this year's symposium! Don't get me wrong - you don't have to be a blogger to attend, but there will be a good number of us there. If you'd like more information about the symposium, you can get to the homepage right from my blog! See that little badge in the upper right-hand corner, the one that's got rotating images, just above my photo? Click on it and you'll find all the nitty-gritty details about this awesome event, including how to register!

Quoting from the homepage of the event, it's "the highlight of the birding year!" It will be the highlight of my fall, that's for sure. What with breeding season wrapping up pretty much by August, I'm sure I'll be going through a little birding withdrawal after having spent so much time intently looking for breeding evidence in this little corner of the state. The symposium will be the perfect cure for those blues.There will be many fabulous programs to attend, and wonderful things to see and do.


Gulls, terns and cormorants are commonplace up along Lake Erie, but for a "country girl" like me, all these waterbirds are still new and novel. They are waiting to welcome you to the symposium!

You can watch bird banding at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. The folks there would love to see you!

The town of Lakeside is small, peaceful and quaint. Don't you want to come see it for youself?

Here's the entrance to the pier. Can you smell the lakeside air yet?

You'll likely see some folks fishing out on the pier...

... and you can enjoy a wonderful Lake Erie sunset from there.

Here's the auditorium. We all gather together here at various times throughout the symposium.

One of those seats is waiting for you. Won't you come join us?

Phoebe update

It's been well over a month since I have posted about our nesting Eastern Phoebes. As you can imagine, a lot can happen in one month. The last time I posted about them they were just getting the nest built. Well, now they have 5 healthy-looking young ones that will be fledging within the next week.

A few weeks ago, friend, neighbor, and licensed bird bander Bob Scott Placier came out and did a very special thing - he banded one of our Phoebes. The hope and plan was to band both parents, but Mama Phoebe was on the nest while we were setting up the mist nets and had her eye on us the whole time, so she had a very good idea that we were up to something. Something that she didn't really want to take part in, thank you very much. Fair enough, Mama. The baby Phoebes were still very young at that point, so she needed to spend as much time on the nest as possible in order to keep them warm.

After patiently waiting an hour or so, Papa Phoebe finally flew by and into the nets. Bob worked quickly to record the relevant data and put the band on his leg so Papa could get back to the business of foraging for his young. I did have time, though, so snap a few quick shots of our proud Papa.



Now, when the Phoebes come back to nest next March, I will be looking for a band on one member of the pair to confirm whether or not the same birds are coming back here year after year.

Here's a video of the very active babies, taken on April 30th. Peeping, wing flapping, tail wagging - yes, I would say they are the picture of health.

The weekend birder

After a weekend of intense nature play, whether it be birding, botanizing, or simply investigating what's going on in my back yard, the reality of going back to work can often be a shock to my system. The world that I was so deeply immersed in for a day or two seems like a distant memory after plunging back into the world of customer service and problem solving that is my day job. This is not to say that I don't like my job, but there are times when making that transition can be difficult and almost painful. A little bit of my own Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I suppose.

Was it a dream that I saw more Rough-legged Hawks in one day than I'll probably ever see again in a year? Was it my imagination that I watched them soar and hover, glide and hang, showing off their magnificent hunting prowess? Raptors that were tiny blips in my binoculars, invisible to the naked eye, became clear within the focus of a borrowed spotting scope*. Will I be able to retain the memory of these beauties, so that if perchance I see one again I will be able to identify it? Yes, I and my birding friends watched these hawks steer with their wings and stall with their tails, their heads constantly in motion, scanning the ground below for prey. Yes, I pondered the fact that we needed high-powered magnification devices to be able to see them well from afar, to make out their field marks and their coloring, all the while knowing that the eyesight of these avian masterpieces was probably far better than any of our scopes.

Light-morph Rough-legged Hawk hunting over open field near the Wilds in Cumberland, Ohio. Black "wrist" patches are the diagnostic field mark of this raptor.
The wind and the cold of the day was real - yes, I remember that. And we all stood outside and endured it, dashing from one location to the next, hopping in and out of our cars, all for the chance to see something as wonderful as a Bald Eagle, for the faintest hope of seeing a Golden Eagle. Being that it was my second Bald Eagle sighting in a week, it made up for missing out on the Golden. Sweet little Bluebirds brightened the dreary landscape, of that I am sure. Later, a Northern Shrike echoed the slate gray sky. How gratifying that the last bird seen on this trip was an addition to my life list, a wonderful way to close out the day.

Birders braving the cold - hardy souls, every one of them. A total of 120 such hardy souls gathered together on this day.
Birding Saturday morphed into Birding Sunday when I awoke to fill the feeders and stood outside for thirty-plus minutes, listening to the birds wake up. The songs of Tufted Titmice and Eastern Towhees rang clear and strong, and White-breasted Nuthatches surrounded me on all sides. It had the faintest feel of a summer dawn chorus, and reminded me that I should get up early more often. A Carolina Wren approached me cautiously, curiously, wanting to sample the bird dough that I had just put out, but not quite trusting enough to come to it while I was standing so close at hand.

Out the door I went after lunch, down the road to help a friend with his work at banding his feeder birds*. We recorded data that will contribute to his ongoing research, and I got to learn about aging and sexing Goldfinches, the proper way to release a bird, and how cranky birds can get when they get caught in a mist net, among other things.

The crankiest of them all still seems like a figment of my imagination. Her high-pitched squeals of displeasure echo in my mind, a sound I'll not soon forget.

Getting toes untangled. Who's foot could this be?

One unhappy Pileated Woodpecker, cursing the net that caught her
One thing I already knew to be true, without anyone having to teach it to me - the experience of a bird in the hand is priceless, no matter how fleeting.

American Goldfinch and Dark-eyed Junco being held in "photographer's pose."

* My heartfelt thanks go out to Julie Z. for letting me use her extra scope whilst birding at the Wilds, and to Bob P. for letting me observe and participate in his weekly banding effort. And thanks to ALL of my birding friends who are helping nature become a bigger and better part of my life.

Close encounters at the Midwest Birding Symposium

I mentioned in my last post that the Midwest Birding Symposium is not only about the birds, but also about the people.

One of the highlights of the weekend for me was attending a presentation by Julie Zickefoose based around her book Letters from Eden.

Not only did she read passages from her book and tell personal anecdotes, but she, along with her husband Bill Thompson, III, sang us a few songs at the end of her presentation. She's got one soulful voice.





In addition to her presentation, I was honored to have a chance to meet Julie and have her sign my copy of Letters from Eden. She was even kind enough to pause for a photo...


Your blogger with Julie Zickefoose... artist, author, NPR commentator, mother, wife, Science Chimp extraordinaire, my personal blog hero and fellow southeast Ohio hills dweller. That's some of her artwork on display behind us. It was a real treat to see her paintings up close!

I also got to meet Julie's sweet kids, Phoebe and Liam, and hubby Bill (AKA Bill of the Birds), a super-star of the birding world in his own right.


Bill up on the big screen during his welcome speech.
Additionally, I got to meet up with some other bloggers, like Nina from Nature Remains (don't know why I didn't get a photo!), Mike Bergin of 10,000 Birds and the Nature Blog Network, and Sharon Stiteler (AKA Birdchick).


Here's Mike sitting at the Live Blogging "booth" at MBS. Looks like he just finished a post on 10,000 Birds about the symposium!
My blogging buddy Kelly (Red and the Peanut) was there, too. You may remember that Kelly visited us in Athens in July, and we went birding together up in the Hocking Hills one day. Well, we went birding together up on Lake Erie, too, making a dash for Magee Marsh one evening, trying to beat the sunset and only barely succeeding.


Here's Kelly at the entrance to the boardwalk at Magee Marsh. We were losing light fast!
When talking about the people at the symposium, I cannot neglect to mention my dear hubby Dave, who spent a lot of time "enjoying the scenery" while I snapped pictures or ran off in the opposite direction from where we had just been walking so I could talk to someone. I owe him many thanks for being so patient while I indulged my hobbies.


Dave enjoying a Lake Erie sunset at the Marblehead Lighthouse State Park
Another IBP (Important Birding Person) at the symposium was Kim Kaufman, executive director of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. While I didn't actually meet Kim, she was an active participant in the bird banding demo that we attended on Saturday morning at the BSBO.


Kim holding 2 thrushes of the Thrush Tripleplay (more about that in a future post).
This makes for a good segue into the close encounters I had with birds during the symposium. Yes, I did see some birds while I was there (although I did not manage to see the Kirtland's Warbler that showed up Friday morning at East Harbor State Park!). Here's a preview of the close-ups that I got during Saturday morning's bird banding demo...

Black-throated Green Warbler (get your confusing fall warblers here!)


Brown Thrasher


Ovenbird (the gentleman holding the bird had to tousle it's head feathers a bit to get the characteristic orange feathers to actually show)

Coming up... a detailed look at bird banding, and I look at some of the life birds I snagged during said demo! I told you this was one fun weekend!