PHEBRUARY PHOEBES???

EASTERN PHOEBE

OK, things are officially getting weird around here! Today I had a little time to kill so I birded Eagle Slough and found 2 First Of Year birds. Both of them should not be here for this time of year and both were are February firsts. The photo is of an Eastern Phoebe which normally shows up around the 20th of March. The second bird were 3 Lesser Yellowlegs who normally show up around the end of March. As far as the official 2012 count goes these two are numbers 102 and 103 for the year. In addition they are numbers 92 and 93 for the month of Phebruary. (notice the little pun there?) With temps scheduled for the lower 70's today and a strong cold front coming in later this evening, maybe even more EARLY migrants will get dumped into the Tri-state area, just in time for our weekly bird hike at Howell Wetlands this Saturday. A Phoebe Phebruary! Who'd a thunk!

WHERE'S THE BIRDS???

ADULT SHARP-SHINNED HAWK

This morning as I was doing my Bible study I was struck by the fact that there were no birds at any of my feeders. After about 30 minutes on zero activity I figured our resident Cooper's Hawk must be on the prowl for breakfast. I walked out on the deck to look for him in his usual perch, which is high in a Sweet Gum tree in the front yard. But no Coop. Instead I found an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk sitting less than 10' from our deck. He paid little attention to me so I slowly walked back inside and grabbed the camera. His cooperation was greatly appreciated!

This is the first Sharp-shinned Hawk I have seen in the 8 years we have owned our home in Newburgh. These birds are in the Tri-state area only during the winter months and then head north for the nesting season. I hope he decides to head north early. The birds are getting hungry!

Environmental Ethics?

I am presenting a symposium tomorrow on Environmental Ethics at a local college. The symposium is being given to a group of freshman science majors and I am struggling to present something that is truly relavent.
There are so many different directions to take the presentation and so many ways to present it. My current position is to suggest to the audience that Environmental Ethics is as personal as any other ethical decisions they must make on a daily basis. Ethics is based on position, responsibility and so much more.
In a previous life I had to struggle on a daily basis with the ethics of turning an agricultural company into a potential ticking genetic time bomb or to continue to stress genetic diveresity in our hybrid corn lineup. I chose diversity and was given the opportunity to change professions, which I am most greatful for by the way. Still, most of our food sources today are at great risk because of the continued decisions to go away from genetic diversity and toward a mono-culture that could potentially cause a major disaster should some type of disease put our present crops at risk. Enough of that.
My topic tomorrow is important but must be presented with a balanced and logical approach that young minds can comprehend. Prayer is needed!

A SUCCESSFUL GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT!

OWL PROWL CROWD - 2/19/12

Another Great Backyard Bird Count has come to a close and once again our area has rivaled Indianapolis as one of the best reporting areas. The Tri-State area had over 135 checklists submitted through Wednesday.

We were very busy over the weekend with 4 hikes scheduled and I even worked in 4 other counts before the end of the 4 day event. Our "Owl Prowl" crowd was HUGE with 32 people in attendance. People from all ages were able to get good looks at 4 owl species, Great-horned (on nest), Barred, Short-eared and Long-eared. The Great-horned Owl nest on Wasson Rd is in use for the 5th straight year.

The crowd also got some VERY good looks and listens to a rare event, the courtship rituals of the American Woodcock. We have been able to find American Woodcocks the past 2 GBBCs but this year the main body of migration was smack dab during the GBBC. We counted over 20 different birds along our birding path. We were able to observe 3 displays VERY CLOSE. That got the crowd buzzing (or peenting in this case).
February is coming to a close and once again I have been able to set a record for most species found during a February. Birding usually slows down this time of year but strange, early warm weather has brought in some very interesting early migrants so instead of taking a breather for the next couple of weeks, we will continue to bird heavy.

Spring is just around the cornere and it appears we will be able to continue with our twice weekly birding trips. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

A GREAT - GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT

HERMIT THRUSH @ Wesselman Woods

This morning I walked Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve for the Great Backyard Bird Count. This is the 16th annual GBBC and it got off to a great start. Finding 2 Hermit Thrushes was a first for me in February. Wesselman Woods is always a good place for Hermits but not this early in the year. To find 2 in one day was really a treat. I think we will be finding a lot of early visitors this weekend. There are still 3 days remaining in the GBBC and I have bird hikes scheduled for all 3 days. Saturday will be at Howell Wetlands at 8:00am, Sunday will be at Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area (OWL PROWL) at 4:00pm and a rare Monday morning hike at Eagle Slough Natural Area, once again at 8:00am.
Other birds of interest this morning were 2 pairs of PILEATED WOODPECKERS. Both pair were busy in courtship behavior and chipping out nesting cavities. Now I can watch them raise their families this spring and summer.
Get out soon and see what nature has to offer! The best way to feed your passion for nature is to spend time in it.

OK, NOT SO SLOW BIRDING!

WHOOPING CRANE

Four of us headed to Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area, near Linton, IN, yesterday for my birthday party. (so to speak, some people like cake and ice cream, I like bird watching)

The morning started with a significant cover of fog, which didn't burn off until mid-morning. When it did we were thrilled to find 16 Whooping Cranes in, and around, the Goose Pond property. We also found 16 Tundra Swans along with 54 other species of birds. We were able to find 5 life birds for Philip Lax and 7 life birds for Steve Briscoe. It is always a great day of birding when we can find new birds for our friends.

Other great birds for the day were over 5,000 Sandhill Cranes, numerous Bald Eagles, Rough-legged Hawks, Northern Pintails, Wood Ducks, thousands of Snow Geese and many Green-winged Teal. Goose Pond continues to attract thousands of waterfowl each winter and is becoming one of the midwest's premier birding locations, no matter what time of year you go. We are going to continue to try to bird Goose Pond at least once per month during 2012. My goal is to find at least 165 species of birds at Goose Pond, Cane Ridge, Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area, Eagle Slough and Howell Wetlands. If I reach these goals, I should surpass my 225 species per year average. Total goal for the year is 300 species. I would like for 260 of those to be found in our immediate birding sphere.

We do have 2 trips scheduled outside of Indiana this year where we will be doing some serious birding (and relaxing). Our first trip of the year will be to Savannah, GA for our annual WBU convention and then later in September to our beloved Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area. Together they should help me come up with at least 30 species not found in our area.

All is well in the birding community of Southern Indiana and Northwestern Kentucky.

SLOW BIRDING IN SOUTHERN INDIANA

Most of us consider the last week of January and the first week of February to be the prime season for waterfowl in southern Indiana. Not so much this year! The best waterfowl looks this year were at the beginning of January. Since then we have had 3" of rain and the rivers are all at flood stage, with lots of water standing in the fields. This has scattered the ducks and geese far and wide. There is also no ice in Indiana. In fact there is not a major amount of ice on lakes and rivers until you get to central Michigan and Wisconsin. That has led to a wide dispersal of waterfowl throughout the midwest.
Last evening we held one of our winter Owl Prowls in northern Warrick County. Our target birds for the Owl Prowls are always the Short-eared Owls but they have been few and far between this year. Instead we parked our vehicles on a hill overlooking the major Long-eared Owl roost found earlier in the week by Steve Gifford, and waited for them to come off their roost. We were not disappointed. While waiting for the LEOW we were able to listen to a very vocal Great-horned Owl in the distance. Most were thrilled with that nature moment.
The LEOW started hooting about 10 minutes before they left their roosts and the main flight out of the pine trees came at 5:45pm. We spotted 9 individuals as they left their roosts.
The other excitement for the evening were 2 American Woodcocks peenting in the area. We also were able to see one at a separate location do their display flight. This is about 1 month early for these guys. Another sign of global warming?? Probably not but an interesting winter, or lack there of, none the less.
Tomorrow 4 of us will head up to Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area to try to find a Hooded Crane in with the 5,000 or so Sandhill Cranes. No one has found the bird yet but it stands to reason that the rare bird should be around Goose Pond somewhere. Maybe I will have something exciting to share tomorrow evening!

A LIFER FOR EVERYONE!

LONG-EARED OWL

Yesterday a friend called to say he had found 3 strange looking owls at Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area. His description of the birds led me to believe he had found a group of migrating Long-eared Owls. Today he returned to the same tree and found them again. He called us and Margi and I headed to Bluegrass to find these life birds. We met Steve at the site and sure enough they were beautiful Long-eared Owls! These beautiful birds are not typically found here in southern Indiana but they are probably migrating through the area now. Steve later called back to tell us he had found 22 more in the same areas we typically find the Short-eared Owls each winter.
Long-eared Owls are found in pine, spruce and cedar forests and unlike their Short-eared cousins, do most of their hunting during the evening hours. They prefer to roost during the day in dense evergreen trees. Steve found the majority of the birds roosting in Eastern Red Cedar trees on reclaimed surface mine land. They will roost in groups of 2 - 8 and tend to flush easily.
We were blessed to be able to finally see these wonderful birds so close to home. I'll bet several southern Indiana birders will get good life birds this weekend.