Birds Observed During a Visit to La Crosse, Wisconsin

In an earlier note, I promised to provide more details about the birds observed during a trip to La Crosse, Wisconsin, November 5-10, 2002. Other committments severely restricted the amount of time I was able to devote to birding. Basically, I birded four distinct areas:

1. Daily walks in Riverside Park (RP), an urban park bordering the Mississippi River in downtown La Crosse.
2. Near-daily walks along a short segment of an undeveloped hiking trail (HT) along an abandoned railway right-of-way just north of Riverside Park.
3. A half-day visit to that portion of the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge (UMR) located just above Lock & Dam 18 on November 8.
4. A short trip along a stream valley in Houston County (HC), Minnesota on afternoon of November 8.

An annotated list of 38 species follows:

Double-crested Cormorant - a single flock of 6-8 birds flying south (UMR)
Great Blue Heron - 1 (UMR)
Tundra Swan - official estimate of 18,000-20,000 birds (UMR)
Trumpeter Swan - 1 or 2 birds heard amongst the Tundras (UMR)
Canada Goose - a few thousand (UMR)
Mallard - the most common of the ducks (HT, RP, UMR)
American Black Duck - a handful among the Mallards (UMR)
Northern Pintail - a half-dozen birds (UMR)
Northern Shoveler - a few birds (UMR)
Hooded Merganser - a small flock (UMR)
American Coot - a massive raft far out on the river (UMR)
Killdeer - several birds on a sod farm (HC)
Greater Yellowlegs - 1 or 2 birds (UMR)
Wilson's Snipe - a couple of fair-sized flocks (HC, UMR)
Ring-billed Gull - fairly common (RP, UMR)
Bald Eagle - a pair of adults seen daily (RP)
Red-tailed Hawk - a couple of birds
American Kestrel - 1 or 2 seen (HC)
Ring-necked Pheasant - 2 birds (HC)
Rock Dove - flock near downtown bridge (RP)
Mourning Dove - uncommon (HC)
Downy Woodpecker - 1 bird (HT)
Hairy Woodpecker - 1 at each location (HC, HT)
Pileated Woodpecker - 1 bird seen by a colleague (RP)
Blue Jay - fairly common (HT, RP)
American Crow - fairly common (HC, HT, RP)
Tufted Titmouse - a few (HT)
Black-capped Chickadee - common (HT)
White-breasted Nuthatch - a few (HT, RP)
American Robin - common (HT, RP)
Northern Cardinal - common (HT)
Song Sparrow - uncommon (HT)
American Tree Sparrow - abundant in mixed flocks with juncos (HT)
Dark-eyed Junco - abundant in mixed flocks with tree sparrows (HT, RP)
White-throated Sparrow - fairly common (HT)
blackbird sp. - 1 noted (HT)
American Goldfinch - a few noted (HT, RP )
House Sparrow - a few noted (RP)

Celebrity Ducks

Okay, what I want to know is, who buys these crazy things at $11.99 a pop? They're just sculptured bars of soap! These "bath quackers for the connoisseur" are caricatures of famous celebrities (athletes, entertainers, historical figures) with duck bodies and duck bills. These are the silliest looking things I've ever seen! I spotted a display of sports ducks (i.e., a selection of stars from Major League Baseball) in the J. C. Penney's store at the Valley Mall in Hagerstown, Maryland, yesterday afternoon.

The "Tammy Faye Bakker" Bird

This humorous story of George Wall's remarkable birding adventure in the jungle of Peru is brought to you courtesy of Gambel's Tales, the newsletter of the Sonoran Audubon Society.

Thanksgiving Bird Count

Although not nearly as well-known as the Christmas Bird Count, the Thanksgiving Bird Count nevertheless has many adherents. Started in 1966 by Dr. Ernest Edwards and the Lynchburg (Virginia) Bird Club, more than 400 Thanksgiving Bird Counts are now conducted annually in the U.S., from coast to coast. What better way to relax after feasting on turkey, pumpkin pie, and everything-in-between than to lie back for an hour and count the birds coming to your backyard feeder to enjoy their Thanksgiving treats?

Turkey Facts

Ratio of the number of pardons George W. Bush has issued to turkeys to those that he has issued to human beings: 2:1 [Probably 3:1 after this week.--J.T.]

Ratio of the average life span of a commercially-bred turkey to that of a wild one: 1:7

Source: Funny Times (Volume 17, Issue 12, December 2002)

Anonymous Activism

Three national nonprofit organizations (the Government Accountability Project, the Project on Government Oversight, and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsiblity) have joined forces to publish the Art of Anonymous Activism: Serving the Public While Surviving Public Service. This sounds like a must read for all public employees! Unfortunately, this book may have come too late to be of any value for the 170,000 Federal employees slated to be transferred to the new Department of Homeland Security. They will lose whistleblower protections they previously enjoyed under the Whistleblower Protection Act. Does the name Coleen Rowley still ring a bell with anyone?

Wildlife of Altona Marsh

I visited Altona Marsh, Jefferson County, West Virginia, Sunday morning (11/25/2002) for the first time in more than a month. Great weather! Clear skies, temperatures in the 50s, and a very slight breeze. The only negative was the glare caused by the sun. I tallied 320 individual birds of 28 species. Many other individuals went unidentified as “little brown jobs” (LBJ’s), and thus uncounted. Highlights included 2 MARSH WRENS that were heard but not seen, large numbers of Mourning Doves and American Goldfinches, and 4 species of sparrows (including good numbers of Swamp Sparrows). I also saw 9 White-tailed Deer and 2 Red Foxes (I had an unobstructed and leisurely view of one hunting for rodents in the middle of a pasture, plus a fleeting glimpse of another as it bounded across the marsh).

Birds:
Great Blue Heron - 2
Turkey Vulture - 3
Black Vulture - 2
Mallard - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 2
Mourning Dove - 87
Rock Dove - 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 5
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 11
Blue Jay - 5
American Crow - 7
Tufted Titmouse - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 8
Brown Creeper - 3
Carolina Wren - 5
MARSH WREN - 2
Northern Mockingbird - 4
European Starling - 8
Cedar Waxwing - 13
Northern Cardinal - 15
American Tree Sparrow - 3
White-throated Sparrow - 9
Song Sparrow - 3
Swamp Sparrow - 13
Red-winged Blackbird - 25
Common Grackle - 42
American Goldfinch - 28

Mammals:
Gray Squirrel - 1
Red Fox - 2
White-tailed Deer - 9 (including 1 young buck)

West Virginia State Emblems

The Kids' Korner of the West Virginia State Treasurer's Office Web page contains information on 9 State Emblems, including Animal (Black Bear) Bird (Northern Cardinal), Fish (Brook Trout), Flower (Rhododendron), Fruit (Apple), and Insect (Monarch Butterfly).

West Virginia State Bird

This information about the West Virginia State Bird, the Northern Cardinal, is provided for kids courtesy of the West Virginia State Treasurer's Office.

Online Journals and Other References - Number 22

The All-Bird Bulletin: Bird Conservation News and Information. The All-Bird Bulletin is a new bimonthly electronic publication designed to foster news and information-sharing among participants of the various bird conservation programs and initiatives involved in the North American Bird Conservation Initiative. The first issue appeared in November 2002.

North American Bird Conservation Initiatives

The past 12 years have seen several major developments in the ability of State and Federal agencies and non-governmental partners to initiate and implement all-bird conservation. The 5 major international bird conservation initiatives are listed below in the approximate order in which they came to fruition:

North American Waterfowl Management Plan (Canada)

North American Waterfowl Management Plan (U.S.)

Partners in Flight

U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan

North American Waterbird Conservation Plan

North American Bird Conservation Initiative (International, Canada, Mexico, and U.S.)

West Virginia Bird Highlights: Spring Migration 2002

The following sightings are excerpted from Robert C. Leberman's compilation of highlights from the Appalachia Region, as published in North American Birds (Volume 56, Number 3, Pages 304-307):

American White Pelican - 4 birds that appeared on the Kanawha River at Winfield Locks and Dam, Putnam County, on April 14 was the only report for the Appalachia Region (photo, Wendell Argabrite).

Cattle Egret - a "northward stray" stopped near a campground in Mason County on April 28 (Wendell Argabrite).

Greater White-fronted Goose - a flock of 6 birds that spent most of February at the Byrd Locks and Dam in Mason County was last seen there on March 3 (Wendell Argabrite).

"Black" Brant - a bird at Reedsville, Preston County, May 4-5, was a first record for the State and "the waterfowl record of the season" (Gary Felton).

Tundra Swan - a wintering bird at Green Bottom Wildlife Management Area, Cabell County, remained through March 3 (Wendell Argabrite).

Long-tailed Duck - small flocks were "widely reported" across northern West Virginia on March 16.

Osprey - among the "early returns" was 1 at Sandy Creek, Wood County, on March 24 (Jeanette Esker).

Sandhill Crane - 1 was at Green Bottom Wildlife Management Area on March 23 (Wendell Argabrite).

Willet - this species was "more frequent" in the Appalachia Region this spring, with a count of 20 at Huntington on April 25 (Wendell Argabrite), being the highest number reported.

Eastern Kingbird - 1 at McDonough Wildlife Management Area, Wood County, on April 22 was "rather early" ((Jon Benedetti).

Loggerhead Shrike - 1 at Green Bottom Wildlife Management Area on March 24 (Wendell Argabrite) was considered "a good find" as it is "rare anywhere in the Region."

Blue-winged Warbler - a reported occurrence in Wood County on April 17 (Jon Benedetti) is considered "early."

Lawrence's Warbler - an individual of this Blue-winged x Golden-winged warbler hybrid at Beech Fork Dam, Wayne County, on April 24 (Wendell Argabrite) was the only report from the Appalachia Region.

Cerulean Warbler - it was present at McDonough Wildlife Management Area on the "early" date of April 18.

Worm-eating Warbler - reported in Wood County on the "early" date of April 16 (Jon Benedetti).

Kentucky Warbler - 1 was in Wood County on the "early" date of April 15 (Jon Benedetti).

Blue Grosbeak - 1 at McDonough Wildlife Management Area on April 28 (fide Jeanette Esker) was "a rare, early find."

Search Referrals to Birds Etcetera

Just for the heck of it, I thought it would be interesting to list the keyword searches that have directed people to this weblog in the last few days. Numbers in parentheses in the lines below represent (1) the place in which Birds Etcetera was listed and (2) the total number of "hits" returned. Birds Etcetera ranked among the top 10 "hits" returned in 43 of the 59 searches (indicated with #), and among the top 10 percent of "hits" returned in 33 of 47 searches with 10 or more "hits" (indicated with **).

Google: dwight & church bird cards (18th of 1,930) *
Google: seakayaking an florida panhandle (6th of 9) #
Google: canada geese and migration new england peer reviewed article (7th of 45) #
Yahoo: usvi state birds (6th of 717) # *
Google: wild birds + law + wisconsin (9th of 16,000) # *
Google kate alaska 5 district (2nd of 20) # *
Yahoo: song sparrow bird (1st of 62) # *
Yahoo: madasgascar postcards (2nd of 3) #
AOL : uss waxbill ams 39 (10th of 14) #
Yahoo: yarn store st. croix usvi (3rd of 4) #
Dogpile/Google: largest land bird of north america (7th of 10) #
Google: marbled murrelet pics (3rd of 32) # *
Yahoo: collegs + cryptozoology + 4 year (1st of 1) #
MSN: "blogspot" (5th of 48) # *
Google: 13 november senate military exception migratory birds (2nd of 26) # *
Google: distribution of sulidae on stamps (5th of 8) #
Google: gwynne mcdevitt (5th of 168) # *
Google: florida birding blog (1st of 83) # *
Yahoo: "betsy karasik" (3rd of 5) #
Yahoo: cryptozoology wv (17th of 116)
Google: cryptozoology artwork bernard heuvelman (1st of 2) #
MSN: "backbone mountain" and "maryland" and "windmill" (11th of 11)
AOL: expert meanings on the northern red cardinal bird (1st of 112) # *
AOL: native american bird meanings for female red cardinal (3rd of 289) # *
Google: prevention damn crows orchards (1st of 53) # *
Dogpile/Overture: research ethnoornithology (3rd of 3) #
Dogpile/Google: research ethnoornithology (3rd of 4) #
Dogpile/Fast: research ethnoornithology (1st of 4) #
Google: woodpecker red cheek Saskatchewan (3rd of 37) # *
Yahoo: military effect on raptors (9th of 2,540) # *
Yahoo: bombing bird habitats in the name of defense article (1st of 149) # *
Google: birders blog (9th of 81) #
Google: cedar waxwing + temperature (10th of 899) # *
Google: name of diving seabird, three letters a-k (10th of 322) # *
AOL: american ornithology: or the natural history of birds inhabiting the united states (1st of 2)#
Yahoo: raven shirt bird (19th of 10,200)*
Yahoo: bird names that start with a p (13th of 16,000)*
Google: origin of the phrase "for the birds" (19th of 353)*
Google: cedar waxwing life span (26th of 146)
Netscape: european chocolates sold in columbia maryland area (8th of 122) # *
Google: stuff about birds (10th of 671,000) # *
Google: "chickenhawk" + "birds" (2nd of 415) # *
Google: usgs buldir map (4th of 56) # *
Yahoo: for sale, the auk, journal (22nd of 544)*
Google: the defender birdfeeder (7th of 66) # *
Google: pacarras (28th of 213)
Google: canadian wild bird feeder companies (8th of 610) # *
Google: cryptozoology (18th of 171)
Google: cornish game bird pics (4th of 122) # *
AOL: duck pluckers (44th of 207)
Google: birders blogs (3rd of 36) # *
Yahoo: "alaska 200 club" (2nd of 2) #
Google: northern mocking pics (42nd of 284)
Google: windmills birds (25th of 30)
Google: postcards socotra (16th of 124)
Google: stuff birds (7th of 689,000) # *
Google: pileated woodpecker in colorado (140th of 903)
Google: lynn bogue hunt coca cola (4th of 54) # *
Google: windmills & migratory birds (4th of 903) # *

Nyctea scandiaca: Ghost Bird of the Far North

The December 2002 issue of National Geographic Magazine contains a wonderful article on Snowy Owls, with excellent text by Lynn Warren and incredible photographs by Daniel J. Cox. Click here to view excerpts of the article. I was especially impressed by the amazing journeys that these owls undertake. One bird fitted with a transmitter 800 miles in 11 days, another 1,800 miles in 40 days!

Politics, Economics, and Conservation

Writing shortly after George Bush was sworn into office as President of the United States–and no doubt inspired by that event–David W. Orr, a conservation biologist and professor at Oberlin College, noted in an article published in Conservation Biology (Orr 2001) that:

At the very time we need to be taking farsighted steps to curtail greenhouse has emissions, protect ecosystems, conserve biological diversity, and move the world toward a decent future, we have the prospect of at least four more years of denial once again led by oil men. Precious months, years, and decades are being wasted. For two decades critical thresholds have been going by like mile markers on a highway. With every marker passed, good possibilities [for developing a rational conservation ethic] disappear.

Orr then outlined what he saw as the 10 "prevailing political rules" of the times, with an eye to changing them:

(1) Appeal always to peoples' resentments and fears, not to their rationality, compassion, or farsightedness.

(2) Confuse, obfuscate, and muddy the waters, never clarify or instruct, particularly on issues of long-term importance. Do not ask the public to understand complex issues. And never ask the public to sacrifice even for the sake of their children's future. Remember, as George Bush put it in 1992, the "American way of life is not negotiable" even when it is wasteful, inefficient, unfair, and counterproductive.

(3) Demonize your opponents and promise to restore honor and "character," implying that the other side has neither.

(4) Investigate your adversaries without ceasing. The gullible will assume that anyone under investigation must be guilty of something.

(5) Applaud scientific evidence withn it supports corporate profits, oppose when it has to do with biotic impoverishment and climatic change.

(6) Politicize everything, particularly the courts.

(7) Have no enemies to the right, no matter how nutty or outrageous.

(8) Appease the religious right at all costs. And, if you can manage it, claim to be born again. Never give details.

(9) Protect and expand corporate power and the interests of short-term wealth while attacking government as the source of all problems.

(10) And of course, insist that the other side stop "partisan bickering."

Orr then speaks of the authoritarianism of corporate interests "whose goal is to keep the present system going as long as possible, whatever it takes. These are the oilmen, the coal men, purveyors of sprawl, advertisers, and interests tied to roads and automobiles." He then lists the false "logic of political economy" espoused by these same corporate interests:

An economy that does not grow will die, so growth must continue at all costs.

Without growth, redistribution of wealth would be necessary.

Redistribution, however, would encourage social decay and invite social chaos–to say nothing about its effects on the privileges of the wealthy.

Economic growth is therefore the only way to maintain social cohesion.

Conservation is unsuited to a growth economy; growth requires unlimited access to fossil energy, forest products, and minerals that are becoming more scare in the United States.

Unimpeded access to global markets will make up for the depletion of U.S. resources.

In a series of piercing questions, Orr then illuminates the clear linkages between politics, economics, and conservation:

What we count as prosperity now depends heavily on drawing down natural capital of soils, biological diversity, forests, and climatic stability. We are simply not as rich as we think we are. . . . What remains must be stretched over the needs, aspirations, and wants of 6.1 billion people, a number that will rise to something between 8 and 10 billion in this century. How will democracy survive in a world of, say, 8 billion people, a quarter of whom are severely impoverished and subject to ethnic hatreds, the growing stresses of rapid climatic change, soil loss, and the breakdown of entire ecosystems? How will it survive in a United States divided between gated communities and decaying inner cities? How will it survive the erosion of community and a public increasingly unhinged from reality by an all-pervasive entertainment culture?

Finally, Orr calls for the development of a new ten commandments of American politics, a doctrine that will emphasize the importance of conservation to a healthy American economy and political system:

Authentic leaders of the twenty-first century will help us understand that to continue our present course is sheer madness. They will help to chart the transition from the cowboy economy powered by fossil fuels to a world powered by sunlight. They will help to redefine prosperity from that dependent on robbing the defenseless to one that protects soils, forests, biological diversity, ecological resilience, and entire ecosystems for all children. Above all, real leaders will help us rewrite the commandments for the conduct of our public business:

(1) Appeal to voters' rationality, compassion, and vision.

(2) Instruct, clarify, elevate the political dialogue.

(3) Honor your adversaries–politics is not a war but a conversation.

(4) Find common ground.

(5) Never corrupt or politicize scientific evidence.

(6) Maintain the separation of executive, legislative, and judicial power.

(7) Hold your own side to rigorous standards of fairness and decency.

(8) Maintain the separation of church and state.

(9) Insist on the same kind of separation between money and politics.

(10) Be willing to risk losing elections for the right reasons.

In a postscript to Orr's commandments, David Ehrenfeld–a conservation biologist and professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources at Rutgers University–points out the following prescient observations by G. P. Marsh (1874), the founder of modern conservation:

The example of the American States shows that private corporations . . . may become the most dangerous enemies to rational liberty, to the moral interests of the commonwealth, to the purity of legislation and of judicial action, and to the sacredness of private rights.

Ehrenfeld (2001b) continues:

How perceptive Marsh was to link threats to ecosystems and species to the growth of unchecked corporate power; and how horrified he would be if he could see the extent to which corporate power has increased in the 137 years since he first published his book. I believe that unless corporations, especially the giant multinationals, are brought under the control of democratic legislatures–rather than the way around, which is the present condition–our conservation efforts are doomed no matter how good our science is.

He then adds another set of eight prescriptions to Orr's ten commandments (Ehrenfeld 2001a, 2001b):

(1) Return to the old idea of corporate charters that have a fixed time period–say 20 years–after which they expire unless renuewed (like broadcasting licenses) following a searching review of the corporation's activities.

(2) Eliminate, probably by constitutional amendment, the special privileges corporations have gradually gained in courts during the past 150 years.

(3) Close the legal loopholes that enable senior executives to dissociate themselves from the misdeeds of the companies they control.

(4) Make it much harder for corporations to evade punishment by jettisoning divisions, changing names, merging with other corporations, or otherwise altering their identities.

(5) Restrict the ability of multinational to use world trade regulations to nullify national environmental and human safety laws.

(6) Protect communities by limiting the rights of corporations to transfer factory operations and large blocks of capital from country to country or state to state without warning and without evaluation of local impact.

(7) Change the laws and regulations that allow the largest corportions to avoid paying their fair share of the taxes needed to support the people and environment of the country.

(8) Reflect on our own complicity in corporate violence, avoid purchasing products that we do not need and that are socially and environmentally damaging.

Citations:

Ehrenfeld, David. 2001a. The death penalty. Orion 20:9-11.

Ehrenfeld, David. 2001b. A postcript to Orr's commandments. Conservation Biology 15:825-826.

Marsh, G. P. 1874 (1864). Man and nature; or physical geography as modified by human action: a new edition of man and nature. Scribner, Armstrong. New York.

Orr, David, W. 2001. Rewriting the ten commandments of American politics. Conservation Biology 15:821-842.

What's a Hokie?

For anyone who might have been wondering, I thought I should point out that my previous post really does have a bird connection. Virginia Tech sports teams are known as Hokies, and the mascot is a HokieBird, which has evolved from a turkey. Virginia Tech teams were once called "gobblers," a common term for a male Wild Turkey. So now you know!

Sweet Victory!

West Virginia University 21, Virginia Tech 18. Way to go, Mountaineers!

A Slow Day On the River

Today was a day that only a waterbird could love (think cool and rainy), and even they seem to have largely abandoned the Shenandoah River in Jefferson County. As a result of yesterday’s steady rains, the river was high and the current swift in most places. I checked four distinct sections of the river, from Shannondale Springs Wildlife Management Area to Millville, and saw a paltry 37 individuals of 6 species:

Great Blue Heron 4
Canada Goose 9
Mallard 2
Ring-necked Duck 14 (including 4 males, very classy looking ducks!)
Bufflehead 4 (2 of each sex)
Belted Kingfisher 4

Other species seen or heard along the river: Red-bellied Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird, European Starling, and Song Sparrow.

Eagles and Peregrines in West Virginia

The Bald Eagle is still considered a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, but record numbers are being recorded in West Virginia. This year, a record 13 nests were observed in West Virginia and 11 of them were successful, fledging a total of 22 young.

Although recently removed from the list of threatened and endangered species, the Peregrine Falcon remains extremely rare in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia. Two nesting pairs were observed in Grant County this year, but only 1 pair was successful, fledging a single chick.

Source: WV Wildlife Diversity News (Volume 19, Number 3, Fall 2002)

Profiling the Brooks Bird Club

The Brooks Bird Club is a regional non-profit natural history organization founded in 1932 and headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia. The latest membership directory of the Brooks Bird Club, dated October 15, 2002, lists 421 General Memberships. By doubling Family memberships, I estimate that the active membership of the Brooks Bird Club currently consists of about 600 individuals (with about 325 of them being West Virginia residents).

DISTRIBUTION BY MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES:

The Brooks Bird Club offers eight categories of General Membership. Current distribution (in decreasing order): Individual 165, Family 162, Life 40, Sustaining 24, Student 12, Courtesy 11, Honorary 6, and Family Life 1.

DISTRIBUTION BY STATE:

The 421 memberships span 28 States and the District of Columbia, with the majority (227, or 52 percent, in West Virginia). Memberships by State (in decreasing order): West Virginia 227, Ohio 61, Pennsylvania 34, Maryland 23, Virginia 17, New York 7, North Carolina 8, District of Columbia 5, California 4, Florida 4, Georgia 3, New Jersey 3, Tennessee 3, Texas 3, Alabama 2, Colorado 2, Connecticut 2, Massachusetts 2, Mississippi 2, South Carolina 2, Arizona 1, Idaho 1, Kansas 1, Louisiana 1, Michigan 1, Missouri 1, New Hampshire 1, and Wisconsin 1.

DISTRIBUTION OF WEST VIRGINIA MEMBERS:

The 227 West Virginia members are located in 83 different communities. Nine communities are represented by five or more members (in decreasing order): Wheeling 28, Morgantown 22, Charleston 11, Elkins 10, Huntington 10, Parkersburg 10, Fairmont 9, Bruceton Mills 5, and Buckhannon 5.

LIBRARIES AND EXCHANGES:

The Brooks Bird Club also reports sending courtesy or exchange copies of The Redstart (journal) and The Mailbag (newsletter) to 54 libraries and other institutions.

Waterbirds in Berkeley County

Dawn arrived today with cool and damp weather and overcast skies (but no rain) in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, so I ventured out for a quick tour of ponds and other wetlands in the easternmost portions of Berkeley County. I found birds on 6 of 11 water bodies that I checked, with a final tally of 190 individuals of just 3 species:

Canada Goose 164
Mallard 7
Bufflehead 19 (1 adult male, the rest females or immature males)

Train Spotters Elicit Suspicion

As described in this article from the Washington Post, train spotters–people who "spend much of their time observing and photographing railroad operations out of a love for trains"–have drawn the suspicion of local, railroad, and Federal law authorities. Can increased scrutiny of bird watchers–with their high-powered scopes and binoculars, high-tech cameras and sound recording equipment, camouflage clothing, furtive (some might even say secretive) behavior, unintelligible jargon, assorted PDA devices, and cryptic note taking–be far behind in the new paradigm of homeland defense?

Why So Few Bird Blogs?

Ever since I started this blog back on 02/28/02, I've puzzled over why there are so few bird blogs. With the popularity of birding, you'd think more birders would have picked up on the blogging phenomenon. There are plenty of excellent Web pages on birds and birding, and a host of bird listservs. Why the dearth of bird blogs? I don't have a clue.

Here's a list of the few bird blogs that have come to my attention:

Avian and Environmental News, compiled by Sandy Hoover
http://www.northbirding.com/

Bird Blog, by Chris Mooney
http://www.chriscmooney.com/bird.html

Birding News Around Ohio: An Electronic Journal, by Victor W. Fazio III
http://www.aves.net/birdnews/

Birds Etcetera, by John Trapp
http://birdstuff.blogspot.com

Droppings, by Jack Siler
http://birdingonthe.net

Field Notes, by Lisa Thompson
http://www.field-notes.net/

Nature of New England: Nature Journal
http://www.nenature.com/NatureJournal.htm

Wild Skye: Birds, Mammals, and Flora on the Isle of Skye, by Grant Jeffrey
http://www.pacarras.net/gm1/wildskye.htm

Fall Waterbirds of West Virginia

Matt Orsie has started keeping a running tally of waterbirds reported by observers in four distinct regions of West Virginia. Although a crude index of species diversity and relative abundance, the data clearly show the overwhelming abundance of Canada Goose. The vast majority of Canada Geese found in West Virginia are resident birds that are derived from past successful introduction of Giant Canada Geese ( Branta canadensis maxima), a subspecies not native to the Mountain State. Of 5,397 individuals of 37 species reported as of November 10, fully 35 percent percent were Canada Geese.

Wisconsin Interlude

I spent November 5-10 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where I attended the 26th Annual Meeting of the Waterbird Society on behalf of my employer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Birding highlights of the trip included repeated observations of a pair of adult Bald Eagles across the river from my hotel, an estimated 18,000-20,000 Tundra Swans on the Mississippi River, and huge mixed flocks of American Tree Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos. I'll provide more details of my bird sightings in a follow-up post.

This was my first visit to La Crosse, a city of about 57,000 people located on the Mississippi River near the intersection of Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. I was very favorably impressed. The first thing I noticed was a lack of parking meters in the downtown Historic District, which created a very visitor-friendly atmosphere. Also, an incredible number of very fine restaurants!

Musicians and Musical Groups With Bird or Bird-Like Names

The following list was cobbled together at various times over the course of the summer by scanning the alphabetical list of Artists/Music in the Entertainment section of the Yahoo directory. As the compiler of the list, I Have taken certain liberties in determining what constitutes a “bird or bird-like name.” This is by no means a comprehensive list, merely a sampling of musicians and musical groups with bird or bird-like names; it represents individuals and groups who had active Web sites at the time I searched the Yahoo directory.

Batty Birds
BirdBrain
Birdie
Birdsaw
Birdtribe Experience, The
Black Bird Sky
Black Crowes
Black Eagles, The
Blackbirds, The
BlackHawk
Bluebird
Blues Hawks
Blueshawk
Bobolinks of Middlebury College
Byrds, The

Calliope Productions
Capercaillie
Cherry, Eagle Eye
Chick, Sue
Chicken Coupe DeVille
Chickenheads, The
Chickenpox
Chicks on Speed
Cock Robin
Cold Turkey
Chick Correa
Count Raven
Counting Crows
Cranes
Crow, Sheryl

Dead Rooster, The
Dixie Chicks
Doves
Drake, Victoria
Ducktape

Eagle Bravo
Eagles, The
Eighth Blackbird

Fabulous Pelicans, The
Fabulous Thunderbirds
Falco
Falcon
Flamingo 50
Flock of Seagulls

Galapagos Duck
Ginger Quail
Goose Creek Symphony
Government Chicken Boy
Guano Apes

Hawkins, Screamin’ Jay
Hawkwind
Headless Chickens
Housemartins
Hudson Falcons

J. D. Crowe
Jayhawks, The

Killingbird
Knee Deep Shag

Larksong
Lincoln Hawk
Loon
Loons, The

Martins, The
Mighty Sparrow, The
Mistle Thrush
MockingBirds, The
Mudhens, The
Murder of Crows
Mutton Birds, The

Naked Raven -
Nighthawk, Robert
Nighthawks, The
O’Jays, The
Old Crow Medicine Show, The
One Dove
Orioles, The
Otis Finch

Papa Byrd
Parker, Charlie “Bird”
Parrott, Derek
Peacock Studios
Peacock’s Feather
Peacock, Alice
Peacock, Charlie
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Pheasant Pluckers

Rainravens
Raven
Raven, Eddy
Red Raven Blue
Redhawkmountain
Revolting Cocks
Rhea’s Obsession
Robert Byrd Blues Band
Rubber Duckie
Rubber Ducky Platoon

Sanderling. Kurt
Shagg
Shaggs, The
Skylark
Songbirds
South Flying Ducks
Spermbirds
Starling, Chris
Starling, Nate
Stork
Swan Dive
Swanns, The
Swans

Turkey Neck
Tweet

Ugly Duckling
Vultures Are Lovebirds

Weavers, The
Weird Chicken
Wikepin Nightingales Chorale
Wrens, The

Yardbirds, The

The Redstart Table of Contents

The April 2002 issue (Volume 69, Number 2) of the Redstart, the quarterly journal of the Brooks Bird Club, arrived in the mail this week. The Redstart serves as a journal of natural history for West Virginia and the surrounding Appalachian Region. Here are the contents of this issue:

Dark-eyed Juncos - Ralph Bell - 41-44

Sabine’s Gull at New Cumberland, West Virginia - Jamie Fenske - 45-46

White-tailed Kite Sighted in Southern West Virginia - Petra Bohall Wood et al. - 47-48

Allegheny Front Migration Observatory: Fall Migration 2001 - George A. Hall - 49-53

Sixth Report of the West Virginia Bird Records Committee: March 2002 - George A. Hall et al. - 54-55

Field Notes: Fall Season (September-November 2001) - James D. Phillips (Ed.) - 56-59

Floyd Bartley Memorial Awards Announced - 60

Constitution of the Brooks Bird Club, Incorporated - 61-64

Bylaws of the Brooks Bird Club, Incorporated - 65-71

Erratum - 72

Index for Volume 68 [2001] - Sandra Erusiak Ricketts - 73-76