WildwingsBirds and Outdoor Issues as I see them

You think bird watching is popular in this country? Ha. Try England. A story appearing in the Sun talks of a first-ever discovery over there, an Eastern Crowned Warbler (I’m not familiar with this Old World bird). But the copyrighted photo accompanying the story is pretty cool and worth seeing. It shows a large crowd of "twitchers" (what birders are called in the UK) looking for this bird. Click here for the story and photo.

The incredibly rare bird was spotted for the first time ever in the UK yesterday by bird enthusiast Dougie Holden.

Dad-of-two Dougie was stunned when he managed to grab a picture of the bird in Trow Quarry in South Shields, Newcastle.

The ecstatic 47-year-old — who had spent his 26th wedding anniversary looking out for rare flyers — said it was the bird watching "equivalent of winning the world cup".

And now twitchers from all over the continent are flooding to Newcastle to see the bird, normally found in China and Indonesia, before it flies away.

From a website called myozarkoutdoors.com, comes an article about hunting and eating crow. No seriously.

North Dakota has a season on these wily "songbirds," which just ended 12 days ago. I never really hear of anybody actually going out and hunting crows but I suppose it happens here. Much better to rely upon the folks from the South for information on eating critters.

Even though you’ll see crows all over the place and can hear their "caw-caw-caw" calls up to a mile away, be prepared for a challenging hunt, says author Clyde Ormond in his "Complete Book of Hunting," because the crow is a cunning and wise old bird with a built-in suspicion of man.

Further…

Because the average crow weighs in at around a pound, you won’t need "four and twenty" of them to bake a pie of this black bird. But, you will want to pack your freezer full of dressed, whole crows and breasts alike because of their food-fare versatility.

From casseroles to stews and other recipe favorites, including pie, the crow — reportedly considered a delicacy by John James Audubon — tastes like chicken with appetizing overtones of duck, according to Bradford Angier, author of Wilderness Cookery.

I’d be willing to try eating one but again have never run across anyone who actually ate them. Also, these are birds which are known to harbor West Nile Virus. I wonder if this plays into the handling or eating of the birds in recent times. I’ll have to check with my wildlife biologist contacts. Want to weigh in Doug?

The city of Baltimore and restaurant owner Denise Whiting have reached an agreement which will allow her to re-erect the huge pink flamingo above her establishment but at a reduced fee. The Baltimore Sun says…

In exchange for Whiting agreeing to pay the fee and dropping her public protest, which culminated Tuesday morning with a rally outside City Hall, Mayor Sheila Dixon said the city will put a sign on Interstate 83 alerting travelers to Hampden in order to help the small businesses along 36th Street. The sign will be similar to ones advertising the Maryland Zoo, the Inner Harbor and the city’s sports stadiums.

"I’m thrilled I had the opportunity to work through things with the mayor and to give a voice to the small businesses that are really the backbone to this economically challenging time that we’re having," she said.

Whiting said she is unsure when the bird will be put back up. She said it remains at a local business in Hampden.

A rather pyrrhic victory I should think. Still too much money for the fee but then she gets a sign on the Interstate, macht nichts?

Out of Portland, Ore., comes a story of intrigue regarding sea birds and a "foreign" algae. Seems the algae has a nasty habit of robbing the waterproofing of the birds’ feathers when the stuff decays. Weird.

Some takes from KGW:

LONG BEACH, Wash. – Wildlife rescuers were treating hundreds of seabirds on the Southwest Washington coast after they came in contact with a foreign sea foam algae that’s toxic to their feathers.

Dr. Virginia Huang of Oregon’s Wildlife Center of the North Coast said as the algae die and decay, they produce a slimy foam that strips the natural waterproofing from the birds’ feathers, leaving the birds starving, dehydrated and hypothermic.

The birds affected include the Common Murres, Loons, and Surf Scoters.

And this one:

Scientists hope this is a freak event. It happened once before in Monterey, California two years ago. Hundreds of birds died, but they say that was a small event compared to what’s happening right now along the Northwest coast.

One huge glaring question goes unanswered in the story. If the algae is "foreign," where did it originate? And by the way, how did it get here, shipping? If not, then the process is presumed to be natural and we shouldn’t be so alarmed. In any case, inquiring minds want to know.

For the whole story with accompanying photos, click here.

Grove, Oklahoma. Can’t say I’d ever been here (or even heard of it) but here I am tonight. It’s a short stay as I’ll be home tomorrow evening but I can honestly say I’m somewhat smitten with the area.

It’s tucked into the northeast corner of the state not far from Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. Nearest town of significance is Joplin, MO. Anyway they have a nice little airport and a quiet little town nestled into some rolling hills with lots of deciduous trees. But the big attraction is the Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees, a huge reservoir with more than 1,300 miles of shoreline. I can see why this area is so attractive to vacationers and ever retirees. Boats and homes everywhere on this giant lake. Kinda nice, especially with the swaths of fall color from the turning trees.

Those of us who dwell in the farm country of the upper midwest are treated to views of Franklin’s gulls those in other areas simply cannot imagine. Thousands of the birds can often be seen trailing behind plows as the tractors wend their way through agricultural fields. Just what the birds are feeding on is puzzling to me and I’ve wondered what they were eating.

I mentioned this just the other day because the birds are very active around the lifter when we are digging sugar beets. Are they eating beet bits? I didn’t know. Now I do.

Yesterday I was sitting in the truck waiting my turn to load beets when the birds flew in and landed all around me. Carefully I was able to observe them quickly feeding then moving on. Want to know what it was they were dining on? Earth worms.

Mystery solved. Or at least that’s what the birds were eating yesterday.

After not seeing these very cool migrant sparrows for a few days I had a pair show up in the back yard today to take advantage of cover, whatever food they could find, and the ever-present water feature. The shot:

These large, boldly-streaked sparrows come in four subspecies. This is the red, or Eastern form, the only one I’ve ever seen in North Dakota. All are somewhat secretive (what sparrow isn’t?) and can often be found loudly scratch-feeding. There is talk of coming day when this complex will divide into multiple species. We’ll have to wait and see. No, this doesn’t add to the yearly total.

The count rose by one this morning with the addition of another unlikely bird, the American woodcock. This upland shorebird is a fairly common bird just to our east and south. But eastern North Dakota is on the ragged edge of this highly secretive bird’s range. I had found it in the county before but only a couple times. I’m confident this is an annual bird in our area but it’s just so darned hard to pin one down. So the third time’s a charm I guess because it brings the 2009 county count to 243. Woodcock was not on the "should get" list.

In West Fargo’s little Elmwood Park this morning, this thing exploded out of the leaf litter, a habitat the bird is wedded to during migration and in winter, where it eats mainly worms.

Now for the funny part. I ran into a woman walking a couple of dogs who asked if I had seen anything. ’Yes,’ I replied (try doing this with a straight face), ‘a woodcock.’ She then proceeded to tell me she had seen it the day before in the same place. I highly regret not getting her name because she appeared to be a birdwatcher. It always helps to have more contacts. 

What we have here is an overbearing government. The current administration could take some notes.

Setting: Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, specifically the Cafe Hon restaurant

Players: Denise Whiting, restaurant owner and the city’s Department of General Services.

Subject in question: a giant pink flamingo which has hung above the restaurant for eight years.

Briefly here’s the skinny: Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting, working with the artist who constructed the bird from bedsheets and wire, removed the flamingo from her fire escape before dawn Tuesday, several weeks after the city Department of General Services assessed her $800 in annual charges.

After all these years the city seems to have discovered this cafe getting away with not paying for something called a "minor privilege" permit.

Whiting challenged the tax at first, saying the bird was artwork. But then she abruptly gave up the fight.

The flamingo’s picture has appeared in local advertising materials about the neighborhood, which has attracted many new boutiques, artist galleries, small cafes and retail business owners in the past 15 years.

It also became a background piece for the annual HonFest, an outdoor event that closes streets while thousands of visitors fill the neighborhood.

Carmen Brock, owner of the Red Tree home accessories shop, said she regretted the bird’s disappearance.

"It was a great promotional symbol," she said. "It was fun, easygoing, witty and clever."

The lesson here is all too obvious and not worth my mentioning. Just remember, you can’t get blood from a turnip.

The story is here from the Baltimore Sun. Which includes a photo of the giant flamingo.

I can’t remember who it was but it was a fairly well known person and it happened within the last year or two. Anyway, he died while going outside to feed the birds. And it seems to me it was in the Southeast somewhere, say Georgia? Anyone remember this?

This story got me thinking about that. But it’s from India not Georgia. And it comes to us from the Times of India:

A lover of birds and nature, S Srinivasa Rao, 39, famously known as `Kakula Srinu’ in Vizag, died on Saturday evening while feeding crows at the fishing harbour. Local fishermen launched a search but his body was fished out from the sea on Sunday afternoon.

Srinu was feeding the birds near the harbour wall when he slipped and fell in the sea waters. Kakula Srinu, a native of Jalaripet, was a fish-grading worker in the harbour and is survived by wife and two children. Srinu had been feeding the crows at the fishing harbour for the past one decade.

"He used to feed the crows every day and developed such a bond with them that they would rest on his head, shoulders, arms the minute he entered the harbour," a worker said. For his special affection for crows, Srinu gained popularity and people began to call him ‘Kakula Srinu’.

Who knew that feeding birds was so dangerous?

Sure wish I knew someone who spoke the language because Kakula Srinu obviously means something relevant.