WildwingsBirds and Outdoor Issues as I see them

Posted by kcorliss | Posted in environment, wind, ugh | Posted on 20-01-2012

Tags: birding, migratory bird treaty act, north dakota oil, Northland Outdoors, wind power

A recent decision by U.S. District Court judge Daniel Hovland might very well ring much more broadly than in just our little corner of the world. The issue was whether oil companies operating in North Dakota violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 by killing 28 birds which had apparently landed in collection pits currently allowed by North Dakota law. Hovland said no. I think this was a good decision.

Before anyone goes bonkers let me explain…

I’m not privy to the entire written decision of the judge, but a couple of his statements in a Bismarck Tribune story are spot on: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recognized “countless” ways in which legal acts could result in the deaths of migratory birds, Hovland wrote. Okay, then there’s this one: “It would not be feasible to prosecute all or even most of those persons or entities who technically violate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,” the judge wrote. Exactly and that has been the problem with selective interpretation and prosecution of the law.

Oil companies have been fined or prosecuted under this law many times over the years but never does a wind power company face the same scrutiny even though wind farms likely kill more birds overall. Why? Because it doesn’t fit the model of oil and gas companies representing the Big Bad Wolf while wind power is the innocent Little Red Riding Hood.

Here’s the other huge problem the judge addresses with his second statement. If one were to make a strict interpretation of the law, any person or entity who kills a bird, unwitttingly or not, is liable for a crime. That literally means if you hit a bird with your car or if one runs into your picture window at home and dies, you should be held accountable under the law. What about the oodles of birds killed annually by running into tall buildings. Should they all be fined under the MBT Act? No, the judge has rightly set the bar higher by ruling it should be a willful act.

Posted by kcorliss | Posted in birds | Posted on 19-01-2012

Tags: accipiter, birding, coopers hawk, Northland Outdoors, west fargo pioneer

Of all the avian visitors which tend to frequent the backyard feeders of us urban dwellers, perhaps the most unwelcome–at least in the hearts of most–are the small group of woodland hawks in the family Accipitridae. Within this small three-species group (in North America) easily the most common to appear near your bird feeders is the sharp-shinned hawk, at least in winter. (I’m speaking strictly for our immediate area of the southern Red River Valley).

Come summer sharpies disappear to be replaced by their larger cousins, Cooper’s hawks. The third family members–Northern goshawks–are very rare in our local urban area and not even worth mentioning at the moment.

So it was with a degree of surprise that I happened to look out the kitchen window yesterday to see a first-year female Cooper’s hawk throwing herself around in an effort to catch a house sparrow. Twenty minutes of effort produced nothing for her however. Looking at the photo at right, I would only offer one small critique for this bird: You might want to disguise your intent a little better…

Posted by kcorliss | Posted in miscellaneous | Posted on 04-01-2012

Tags: beer, birding, fargo brewing company, Northland Outdoors

First an admission, I like beer. Not so much the usual mass-produced American lagers which end up advertising during major sporting events. No, I much favor the small crafted beers which have been popping up all over the country for the past 20 years or so. It’s a good time to be a beer lover to be sure. I’ll even go so far as to shamelessly plug a local effort to enter this competitive market. A small group of fellows have started the Fargo Brewing Company and I was fortunate enough to be at the public rollout of their wonder Woodchipper Ale some months ago. Yum.

All that aside I received an interesting little brown ale for Christmas from a friend. It was wonderful. Making it the full experience for me was the label which featured a boreal owl of all things. How cool is that, two of the things I enjoy in life tied together in one neat little package?

Posted by kcorliss | Posted in birds, general bird topics | Posted on 03-01-2012

Tags: arizona, big year, birding, Northland Outdoors, nuttings flycatcher

For those among us who “chase” rare birds you will understand the following. The rest, well, consider it a harmless obsession and be done with it…

After seeing the report of a Nutting’s flycatcher in western Arizona starting on the 19th of December I began to wonder if this was a possible species for me to find. I had, after all, a scheduled trip to the Phoenix area later in the month and could, with some effort, make the drive to the location. Hmmm. Oh, I’ve been lured by the siren song of chasing rare birds before with some success and much failure but every opportunity is different…

As background this is a species which has only been positively confirmed in the U.S. four or five times, all in Arizona except one California sighting. In ABA vernacular, this is a code 5 bird; in other words it’s a mega-rarity. Making this somewhat more dramatic is the bird’s stubborn resemblance to an all-too-common resident species of the southwest, the ash-throated flycatcher (they share the genus Myiarchus). Some sources tell you it’s nearly impossible to tell them apart except for voice.

Turns out I did have the time and the bird was still there. Nearly three hours on the road put us in the location detailed nicely by Lauren Harter (one of the original finders of this bird) at the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge outside of Parker, Ariz.  An hour of fumbling to find the right trail didn’t help but eventually we were on it. Soon enough three of us were staring at a Myiarchus flycatcher and attempting to match field marks with those of Nutting’s flycatcher. As luck would have it the bird finally vocalized–a rising reeeep!–bingo. A Nutting’s flycatcher. For reasons which escape me I didn’t have my camera and so the image at right was taken with a cell phone. Trust me, it’s the Nutting’s flycatcher.

Aside from the cool part about finding this very exceptional rarity, it turns out a guy named John Vanderpoel was attempting a Big Year in 2011 and just missed setting the record by one bird! The last species he got was…Nutting’s flycatcher at the same location we were only 3 days later. Oh, did I mention I met Mr. Vanderpoel at Oahe Reservoir in South Dakota a few years ago when I was there looking at an ivory gull? Pretty neat. Here’s his blog of his Big Year.

habitat where Nutting's flycatcher was found, Bill Williams NWR

Posted by kcorliss | Posted in general bird topics | Posted on 20-12-2011

Tags: birding, christmas bird count, Northland Outdoors, snowy owl, west fargo pioneer

It was just a year ago when the Christmas Bird Count within the Fargo-Moorhead circle had never gotten more than 48 birds, in other words never topped the half-century mark. Turns out we blew it out of the water last year by tallying 59 species.

This year seemed different. No snow on the ground and extremely mild temperatures might seem ideal for the birds but it’s not around here. Leading up to yesterday’s count there was a noticeable paucity in the number of birds around. Local theory suggests that cold and snow concentrates birds more at feeders and cover areas. I would tend to agree.

Also different this year was the fact I took over as official compiler for the count circle. Which means the job of herding all these bobcats into a coherent direction fell upon me. That turned out to be okay.

The results are in and we ended up scoring 54 species for the day, another astounding number for our middle-of-the-continent location I think. My take is that the Moorhead lagoons carried us on their backs with 10 different waterfowl species recorded there due to the open water. Amazing.

There were some obvious misses (as there always are) such as red-breasted nuthatch, mourning dove, and both redpolls. I should almost include snowy owl in that list since there is such an irruption nationwide this winter but that’s a hit-or-miss proposition given only the 8-hour window of daylight.

Enjoy a couple of my recent photos…an American kestrel (smallest falcon in the country) from yesterday’s count and a snowy owl from a couple weeks ago.

Posted by kcorliss | Posted in miscellaneous | Posted on 07-12-2011

Tags: birding, Northland Outdoors

I had never heard of this group but that’s little wonder since I’m removed by hundreds of miles and decades of years. However, a friend emailed me a link to this story in the New York Times (don’t know how long the link will work) which briefly touched on the oldest birding organization in the country, the Nuttall Ornithology Club in Cambridge, Mass.

Unlike most groups, though, this one comes with an air of haughtiness likely unmatched anywhere in country. Not only are they physically positioned in one of the epicenters of science (think Harvard and MIT), but…”Membership is by application, and the requirements are stiff: a record of scholarly publication, experience in ornithological education, and leadership in conservation efforts or bird surveys.” Yeah, it’s pretty heady stuff. Roger Tory Peterson was a member if that gives you a clearer picture.

The requirements alone are barriers to 99% of the birders I know. I can appreciate standards, even high ones, but something about this group makes me pause. I’m confident great discussions take place and great deeds are accomplished. But in the end I wonder, well, how fun it would be to hang with this club. I’m only guessing but I’d say not very.

Posted by kcorliss | Posted in general bird topics, miscellaneous | Posted on 23-11-2011

Tags: birding, Northland Outdoors, plastic owls

The population of plastic owls within the city limits of Fargo is easily higher than the real feathered ones. Downtown is somewhat ridiculous with fake owls peering over several of the roof edges. Rather uniquely, there’s even one roof line with a fake peregrine falcon. No matter, the result is the same.

The effort to keep pesky verminous birds from steel and concrete structures is a noble battle. And one that has been fought since the first rock pigeon landed on the great pyramid I would guess.

Among the handful of techniques promulgated by retailers to thwart the pooping birds is the fake predator, a.k.a. plastic owl. The only downside is, it doesn’t work. It takes all of maybe one day for the birds to get wise to the ruse and begin ignoring the bogus bird. Or even worse: landing on it and pooping.

I had to laugh the other day as I was walking to a downtown parking lot and happened to stare up at quite an array of rock pigeons. Planted firmly in the middle of the nonchalant group was a menacing plastic owl doing absolutely nothing to dissuade the birds from being there.

The bottom line is unless you want to throw money away or just like having a plastic bird sitting around your property, don’t bother buying one.

Posted by kcorliss | Posted in general bird topics | Posted on 21-11-2011

Tags: birding, juncos, Northland Outdoors, sparrows, West Fargo

Or, why it pays to scan the flock.

Earlier this month I took a photo of a group of migrant dark-eyed juncos gathering in their usual spot in a West Fargo park. It’s always instructional to study juncos due to their extreme variability and the number of recognized subspecies.

Additionally, there’s another lesson here. That is, don’t overlook the opportunity to scan large flocks of birds for that odd one. I actually saw the hanger-on before I took the photo but you get the point. Does anyone know what the other sparrow is? Hint: it’s a migrant also.

Posted by kcorliss | Posted in environment, miscellaneous | Posted on 15-11-2011

Tags: birding, North Dakota, Northland Outdoors, prairie potholes, snow geese

I had the pleasure of flying across the entire state of North Dakota yesterday at a lower altitude than I normally fly. The scenery was wonderful and the light was amazing as it played upon the earthy browns and ochres of late autumn. In the process I encountered many gigantic flocks of snow geese flying, on the ground, and in water. The photo (cell phone shot) above shows one particular setting in north-central North Dakota. Does it not look like a bleached coral reef? I think it does. But it’s snow geese, lots of snow geese.

In addition, there was one somewhat artistic view of an area which shows some of the habitat North Dakota enjoys (yes, that’s a swath of snow in the distance). Is it any wonder they call the Prairie Potholes region the duck factory of the continent?

Posted by kcorliss | Posted in birds, general bird topics | Posted on 09-11-2011

Tags: birding, crows, migration, Northland Outdoors

Living in North Dakota, I’m lucky enough to be witness to some pretty amazing annual bird migrations. Snow geese in the hundreds of thousands if not millions, sandhill cranes by the thousands, tundra swans by the thousands, etc. But apparently my little corner of the country doesn’t lend itself to seeing large numbers of yet another species, American crows.

Last Saturday I found myself in Terre Haute, Ind., for the day. Some time in the late afternoon I began to notice large flocks of crows moving south. As the minutes and hours rolled by so did the crows, lots of crows. Never had I seen anything like it. I have no real good estimates but certainly a few thousand birds made their way past me that day.

When waterfowl or cranes move they seem to be all on the same page of music, like a military unit with a common idea. The crows’ flocks seemed to be loose collections of roughly the same idea with little coherence or order, just a general feeling of moving together. Oh, and personal space seems to matter much more to the crows too. Still, the migration was impressive and unidirectional. And one which we never see on the northern Great Plains.