Author: turndoozie

Friday:

Noise, heat, and chlorine fumes. Must be a water polo tournament. Or some inner circle of hell. Or the mall at Christmas.

This is how I spend my Friday nights now. I shouldn’t whine too much. I pity the poor saps that have kids playing lacrosse. At least we’re inside. So right now we’re at the Groves tournament, killing time between matches. Molly’s next game is at 8:30, after which we drive about an hour and a half back home. Then tomorrow morning we drive back down here to repeat the fun.

The weather has been pretty nasty so we haven’t gotten in any birding since last weekend. Call us wimps I guess. Snow is in the forecast for tonight. I want my spring back. 

I have started some of the seeds for my garden. God knows why. Every year I start out with high hopes, only to have them stomped on. Kind of like Chicago Cubs’ fans. The Ottoman Empire was still in power and two world wars have been  fought since the Cubs won a pennant. Alaska and Hawaii weren’t states the last time the Cubs won a pennant.  And still they dream of glory.  Like me and gardening. 

My garden usually ends up being a wildlife food plot. Last year was especially bad. It was so dry that animals were taking green tomatoes off the vines. Out of six plants I only got about four tomatoes, including cherry tomatoes. They were even eating peppers last year. Either they acquired a taste for Cajun or they were pretty desperate.  And still I dream about feeding my family. This year we aren’t going to have too many extended trips so I can keep the crops watered and defended against the varmints.

Driving back from the tourney in sleet.

The park two blocks from our house under water from too much rain.

Saturday:

Hell, day two. A yellow ball flying around, blurs of motion, numerous potential drownings, mayhem wearing pony tails. And they love it. At least we could drive past the lacrosse tournament and laugh at them. Chlorine fumes to kill a horse but at least we have roof over our heads. Rumor has it that there is no precipitation for tomorrow and the temperature may go above 50 F. Gotta take what you can.

Happy days! We got home from the tournament and an American Avocet was reported at Lake Lansing on the listserve. Only the third confirmed record in Ingham County. We immediately ran out to the lake and saw the bird.

The bird was quite cooperative and I got fairly close to it by hiding behind a park bench. I fired off a couple shots with my puny lens and the bird flew away squawking. I turned to walk back to Lise and she was standing with a woman holding a lens as big as my leg. This lady had just driven fifty miles to get pictures of the Avocet and it flew away as she walked up. Lucky for me it flew back to the same spot. Saved me from being beat to death with a really big lens.

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Busy, busy, busy and not for birding.

As part of the 2013 college visit tour we drove to Oxford Ohio to visit Miami University of Ohio. Drove down Thursday, evening then spent Friday doing tours and talking to Zoology faculty.

Kind of a neat school. Founded in 1809 as a school to convert the Miami Indians to what we think is civilization. Can’t understand why the Miami balked at that. It’s not a large school but the campus has a stately feel about it and the school is highly rated academically. The school does seem to have some identity issues with University of Miami. While waiting for the opening monologue they posted trivia questions. Like; which is older, Miami University of Ohio or University of Miami (Hint: Florida was owned by the Spanish in 1809)?

After that we headed over to West Lafayette. The Indiana DNR had an unveiling ceremony at Turkey Run State Park for a couple exhibits that Lise designed. One exhibit was for the landscape architects that worked for the CCC and helped design the parks and one was for the architect that designed several State Park inns. A number of descendants, some in their 80s, were present. The daughter of the inn architect came all the way from Connecticut. She seemed quite pleased with the exhibit honoring her father.

Lise’s exhibits. Gene DeTurk photos.

We have gotten a small amount of birding in. Thursday morning Lise and I made a quick run to Lake Lansing where we both got common loon, eared grebe and pied-billed grebe. Lise also got her Bonaparte’s gull there too. Later we got a brown-headed cowbird in our yard. On the way back from West Lafayette Sunday we stopped at the ever popular Kinderhook sewage treatment plant. I should say, ever popular for some of our family. I got my Northern shoveler for the year and we both got blue-winged teal.

Molly at Kinderhook.

Then a couple hours ago we got our first of the year chipping sparrow at our feeders. That puts me at 107 for the year (42.8%) and Lise at 105 (42.0%), 98 days (26.85%) into the year.

The standing so far.

Bird movement is starting to pick up. Waterfowl migration is in full swing and a number of passerine first of the year sightings are being reported on the listserves. Yesterday there was a report of a long-eared owl at Fenner Nature Center, about five minutes from here. While people were searching for the long-eared owl they found a saw-whet owl. Unfortunately we couldn’t get out looking for either one. Today was kind of ugly both work wise and weather wise and tomorrow is a water polo match, so I think we will miss those two. There have been no recent reports of either one so likely they have both headed north. Anyway, over the next two months we should be able to get 75 – 100 species fairly easily, even taking college visits and water polo into consideration. Then the real work starts.

My birthday. April Fools day. Or like the Marines I worked with preferred, Eddie Fools day or April Schools day.

Molly and I are coming off of a whirlwind trip to visit Oregon State University in Corvallis. This is not a recommended weekend trip. Two days in airports and airplanes for two days of visiting. Probably better than a Conestoga on the Oregon Trail but I would need to consider it a bit. Which would be worse; Indian attacks, starving, dying of thirst, fighting dysentery and cholera or going through airport security checks? Do the TSA people wear those blue rubber gloves so we don’t catch something from them or so they don’t get something from us? Some of those guys seemed to like their job a just little more than they should have.

The airports are pretty much a world onto themselves. I’m pretty sure we cross time zones walking through the Detroit airport. This is also the home of the Starbucks at the end of the universe. At least there’s fountain right by the Starbucks. Something you can mindlessly stare at, waiting for the caffeine to kick in after the 4:30 AM start. And there are house sparrows flying around in the terminal, living off crumbs from the Starbucks baked goods. Always fun to watch the expression when wasted travelers see birds hopping around in front of them. The first reaction is always to look around and see if someone else has seen them too. After all, when starting at 4:30 AM the birds could easily be a hallucination.

Starbucks at the end of the universe.

The fountain along side the Starbucks at the end of the universe.

Corvallis is an interesting place. I’m used to a lot of coffee shops associated with a college town. In Corvallis, brew pubs seemed to be preferred over coffee shops. Not that I’m opposed to this mind you.

Part of the charm may have been the weather. Balmy and pleasant. Almost like they ordered great weather to lure in prospective students. Trees budding out, flowers blooming, strolling without a coat, sitting outside drinking. Don’t get much better than that unless scrapple is involved.

Molly doing Corvallis.

Didn’t get any real birding in at Corvallis. Molly didn’t let me take my binoculars on the campus tour so all I could ID were violet-winged swallows and scrub jays. Heard a chick-a-dee call I didn’t recognize but couldn’t see it for an ID.

Saturday afternoon we went out to Newport on the coast. Newport is a combination working fishing town and tourist trap. Home of the Rouge Ales Public House. Great beers and good food. They even have a dog menu should you want to bring in your canine friends. No scrapple though.

Nets on the street at Newport.

We played on the beach for a bit too. I like any beach, but the beaches of the Pacific Northwest coast are a little different. Rock outcrops with tidal pools full of things we don’t normally get to see. Sea urchins, barnacles, anemones, little fish, starfish… I can easily spend a day just poking around tidal pools. Throw in marine mammals like sea lions, seals, and whales and you start wondering why you got a return ticket to Lansing. At least we don’t need to worry about tsunamis in Lansing.

I guess you run up the cliff in case of tsunami.

Tidal pool things.

Tidal pool fish.

Orange starfish.

Purple starfish.

Orange and purple starfish.

Molly.

Molly at the coast.

Molly trying to start a new religion at the coast.

I didn’t have a spotting scope so all I could ID with binoculars at the coast was white-crowned sparrow, red-tailed hawks, surf scoters, Western gull, and pelagic cormorants. None that count towards the Michigan list but always good to see anyway.

Western gull.

Pelagic cormorants.

Courtship on a cliff. As most courtships are I guess.

We finished our Oregon trip Saturday night having dinner with our nephew/cousin Nathan. Then it was up at 4:30 AM Sunday for another fun day flying back to Lansing.

Lise and I got out for a quick trip to Park Lake. There is a bit of open water and we got three new species, ring-neck duck, American widgeon, and great blue heron. I had seen a heron a week or so ago circling campus but forgot to record it in the spread sheet. I’m at 100 for the year and Lise is at 98. 40.0% and 39.2% respectively.

Thursday through Saturday morning I was at the Kettunen Center in Tustin, Michigan for the Michigan Bird Conservation Initiative Conference. In a new one for me, they gave us all a bird leg band commemorating the conference. When the check-in person said, “here’s your leg band,” I started backing out thinking they were going to clamp it on my ankle. That way they can track the other conferences I go to.

The Kettunen Center is out in the sticks a bit. Probably would have been a bit nicer if we had better weather. Gray and cold. A National Audubon representative from Louisiana came to the conference. She froze. Spent the conference with a blanket wrapped around her. So much for global warming I guess.

Icicles at the conference center, second day of Spring.

A little game of hoops maybe?

I was there for work, not birding. Listening to riveting presentations about loon genetic mapping, Great Lakes avian botulism, sandhill crane tourism in MI, and chickadee foraging decisions. Like whether to eat a deer or not. I did a presentation about our work using weather radar data to quantify and map nocturnal avian migration patterns. Other people have done similar work with weather radar; we just added a spatial statistics twist to it. We used an analysis technique that is also used in crime statistics. Some probably think our analysis is criminal so I guess we used the appropriate technique.

Number of times out of six years a point was a statistically significant nocturnal migration hotspot. Blue = one year, red = six years. Spring migration, 11:00 PM.

In another first, this is the first conference I’ve been at where they had a “Zombie Killer” up for bid at the silent auction. A double knife set in a single sheath. I know a 17-year-old zombie killer that really needed this so I managed to get it for her. Now I just need to make sure I never look like a zombie. Or say she can’t go to the prom.

The Zombie Killer.

A zombie killer with the Zombie Killer. Isn’t she adorable?

We did a little productive chasing this weekend. There was a greater white-fronted goose down Ann Arbor way. So Saturday we made a quick trip hoping to find it. We found the location and the goose pretty easily. Another birder was there, and told us about a Ross’s goose a couple miles away so we scurried over there for another score with a really good bird to get. We also picked up wood duck, common grackle, and a turkey vulture for me.

St. Paddies’ day we went down to the state capital to check out a flock of waxwings I’ve been seeing on my coffee run. We were hoping to find a Bohemian waxwing in the bunch for Lise. No luck on the Bohemian but we did see the pair of peregrine falcons that live downtown.  It was kind of cool watching them swoop along the streets, not far above the heads of oblivious pedestrians. Later in the day we had a Carolina wren in the yard, singing his guts out. The count now stands at 97 for me and 95 for Lise.

So water polo has started, and our lives are forever changed. Not necessarily for the good either. Tonight we had table training. Working the scoreboard, keeping game time, doing the shot clock, keeping the game log; all those things that crazed parental fans tear you apart for if you screw up. The best you can hope for is that they don’t violate your grave. It ain’t pretty. Tomorrow night we have food duty. We’re doing tacos for ~50 people, starting with 20 pounds of hamburger. Sitting in our garage right now we have about half a cow, ground up and packed into two 10 pound cylindrical tubes, just waiting to be turned into tacos. It ain’t pretty.

I don’t have any good birding pictures from this weekend’s adventures. Instead here are a couple pictures of Fido the Wonder Lizard, showing us what it takes to be a writer. Slaving away for hours at the keyboard, pouring your guts out. It ain’t pretty.  

Not too much going on. Last Saturday Lise and I went to Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge. The weather was pleasant and a number of new species were reported there, so off we went.  We got harrier (for me), red-winged blackbirds, rusty blackbirds, trumpeter swans (for me), snow geese, and sandhill crane. The road tour was closed so we had to walk a couple miles on snowy trails but it was great.

Then Monday evening we went to Legg Park to find another delightful early spring bird, the woodcock. Heard them immediately on getting out of the car and then we saw a few doing the courtship flight. Pretty cool and the first ones reported in the area this season. So right now we both have 90 species, putting us at 36% of the 250 goal with 20% of the year gone.

Some nasty winter weather to the contrary, Spring is springing out. Local lakes are starting to thaw. Lots of new species are being reported around the area. Individual red-winged blackbirds had been reported for about a week. Then the day we went to Shiawassee it was like, boom baby, hundreds of them suddenly appearing, all squawking away at once. Thousands of geese came into the refuge in just a couple days’ time. Leading to Lise’s favorite Aldo Leopold quote, “One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of a March thaw, is the spring.” Which was quite appropriate the lovely March day we were there.

Lise, with her home office, has time to check our bird feeders on a regular basis. She has been seeing a Carolina wren the past couple days. When I’m checking it out all I see is the reason why we’re going broke feeding birds.  

Happily munching away, eating Molly’s college tuition.

Not too much on the birding front. Last Saturday we went with Barb over to Lake Michigan by the Muskegon area. We did the same trip last year but five weeks earlier in the year. The timing made a big difference for birding.

First we hit the breakwaters at Pere Marquette Park. Fourteen degrees with a wicked north wind. It was bitter. Can’t understand why Molly never wants to go with us. We were hoping for some surf or black scoters and some grebes but no luck. Barb got an eared grebe but Lise and I missed it. Lise did get a lesser scaup too.

After getting beat up by the wind at the breakwater we hopped over to the ever popular Muskegon Waste Water Treatment Plant. Renowned around Michigan as one of the go to birding places in the state. I believe it’s listed as an official Important Bird Area by Audubon. Last year we had numerous raptors including snowy owl, rough-legged hawk, golden eagle and many bald eagles. We didn’t see any of them this trip. We did get belted kingfisher and killdeer for the year. Bunches of good looks at horned larks and we saw a couple snow buntings too. And lots of gulls sitting on the snow like it was sand.

Ring-billed gulls pretending they’re on the beach.

A herring gull realizing he isn’t on the beach.

Then we headed to Grand Haven for another attempt at scoters or grebes. Again no luck. Lots of people taking an afternoon stroll on a snow covered beach and an ice covered pier. Tough crowd.

A March afternoon at the Grand Haven beach.

The places Barb takes us birding.

Yes, we walked out there.

Lately I’ve heard a number of references about the 10,000 hours to greatness thing. It’s an idea put forth by psychologist Anders Ericsson and made fashionable by author Malcolm Gladwell. The idea is that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master something. So what am I looking at if I want to master photography, or pool, or birding?

If I were to practice pool for continuous 24 hour days, with no eating, sleeping, or potty breaks, getting 10,000 hours would take 1.416 years. That’s 9.912 in doggy years. If we assume a typical 8 hour work day, getting in 10,000 hours would take 3.425 years, assuming no weekends, eating, potty breaks, or sleeping on the job.

Now it’s time for the reality check. I get about 20 minutes a day to practice pool. At that rate it will take 82.19 years to get in my 10,000 hours. Looks like Willie Mosconi’s 526 consecutive balls record will stand for the foreseeable future. Things like tonight’s water polo parents meeting are going to stretch that 82.19 year number out a bit too. Unless I get started real soon, becoming both a great pool player and a great photographer is looking a bit unlikely.

I do think there are some holes in the 10,000 hour logic. 10,000 hours of running, over any time period, are not going to get me a four minute mile. A permanent injury would be a possibility, but not a four minute mile.

Slow birding week. No pasties, no scrapple, but we did get a great-horned owl. Last Sunday we went for an afternoon walk in the snow at Lake Lansing North. Just getting out a bit for some fresh air. Heard a bunch of crows, annoyed at something, so we tracked them down. They were making life miserable for a great-horned owl that we got pretty good looks at. I’m now at 80 and Lise at 79, after counting a couple of her species I forgot to put into the spreadsheet.

We’ve been chasing Bohemian waxwings to no avail. This is a banner year for them this far south but we just haven’t been seeing them. It’s not very classy birding; cruising through parking lots with berry filled landscaping bushes, but it’s a number. Each species is 0.4% of the total for the year.

Other than that, and hurting my back shoveling snow because I thought I was Clark Kent, not too much other excitement. Normally about now I would be posting pictures of Fido the wonder lizard. So instead of irritating harmless animals, I’ve decided to better myself and start learning PhotoShop. This is about as straightforward as string theory but here are some attempts at black and white.

Funland, Rehobeth DE.

Hotel, San Diego.

Palmetto, Florida

Sand River flowing into Lake Superior, Alger County, MI.

Shorebirds, Cape Henlopen, DE.

Sycamore, Madera Canyon, AZ.

Turkey Run State Park, Indiana.

Happy days. Went with our friend Ellen to a local restaurant last night and they served scrapple. Kind of the haute cuisine version of scrapple. They said it was made of pork sausage and polenta. Back home we would say pig parts and mush. Actually scrapple is made from what you don’t use for sausage. But I quibble. It was excellent. Life is good and all is well in the world.

We made it back from Marquette safe and sound on Monday and a blizzard blew into Marquette on Tuesday. Something like 36 inches in the western part of the county. They closed the road we would have used to escape.

Joanna in the blizzard with a mob of birds. Just keep an eye on those hungry chickadees. It could get ugly if you start looking like scrapple to them. Notice the snow shoes to go out in the back yard. (Picture by Jean).

We tried for the great gray owl on the way back but struck out. It was seen the day before we were there and the day after. One person wrote that they were within 40 feet of it and they watched it until his wife’s shutter finger hurt from taking pictures. Loud sigh from Ed.

I can’t complain too much. We got four new species; pine siskin, evening grosbeak, red crossbill, and gray jay. These are good birds to get, especially the red crossbill and gray jay. We got really good looks at other species we don’t get to see too often. Like white-winged crossbills and redpolls.

 

Happy redpoll.

Redpoll eating.

Still eating.

Black-capped chickadee. Looking for a carcass to chew on.

The Michigan count now stands at 79 for me and 74 for Lise. I’m at 30.4% of the 250 species goal, Lise at 29.6%, and 14.0% of the year is gone. (My goal for the year, however, is 10 species for the year, so I’ve already “exceeded expectations”. Everything else is icing on the cake. – Lise)

Graphs for the analytically oriented.

I figured we would need to average four to five species a week to make the 250 goal. Right now we are doing about 10. Looking ahead at schedules, the weather, and our list, I see our average dropping the next couple weeks. We can do some rarity chasing but the counts are going to drop until we start seeing some seasonal changes. So while birding is slow we’ll focus on Fido the wonder lizard.

Fido doing Pilates.

Stretching them muscles.

Sunday, February 17

Yesterday we did some U.P. winter birding. Which means single digit temperature birding and dressing like an arctic expedition. We went with Joanna up to the Peshekee Grade, hoping for gray jays and boreal chickadees. Despite our valiant efforts all we saw there was ruffed grouse and pine grosbeak.

Birding the Peshekee Grade.

Then we made the pilgrimage to the village of Diorite to visit Vicky’s almost famous bird feeding station. Diorite doesn’t rate a dot on the official Michigan highway map but on Friday people from Ohio and Indiana showed up for her hospitality. Her feeders host multiple dozens of evening grosbeaks, more pine siskins and redpolls than anyone thought imaginable, and bunches of gray jays. She sometimes has a goshawk buzz the feeders, and has had a great gray owl show up in her yard. We didn’t get to see those two but we did finally get the gray jays.

Evening grosbeaks on Vicky’s feeders.

We decided to do some cross-country skiing this morning. Checked the weather and the temperature was one degree but was supposed to “rapidly warm to 12 degrees”. We waited until after the heat wave hit and did a lap around the trails in the local cemetery. The cemetery is right in Marquette and has occasionally had moose show up in it. After skiing we headed out to Jean and Joanna’s cabin to get great looks at red and white-winged crossbills. Always nice to get out to Sand River and visit with Jean and Joanna. Getting the red crossbills was a nice bonus.

Sand River in the winter.

After my previous post about chickadees gnawing down on deer carcasses, Lise’s uncle Roger did a little research. Seems the chickadees are going for fat left on the carcass. As it turns out, up here you can buy deer rib cages to hang up for bird feeders. Jean and Joanna had one hanging in the back of the cabin and sure enough, there was a chickadee chowing down. I can’t wait to hang a deer carcass up in my Okemos yard.

Not your typical bird feeder.

Happy chickadee.

Bird wise we have done well this trip. Not a lot of new species but some tough ones to get. We finally got gray jays, which we missed last year, pine siskins, evening grosbeaks, and red crossbills. Tomorrow on the way home we’re trying for a great gray owl that has been seen south of Sault Ste. Marie. Snow permitting of course.

Redpoll.

Redpoll.

Pine siskin.

White-winged crossbill.