The Horseshoe Crab & Shorebird Connection

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Here's an interesting website I found from the University of Delaware Sea Grant College about Horseshoe Crabs, but Of particular interest is the section on the connection between the crabs and shorebirds:

"In the last few decades, ornithologists have discovered that the spring migration of many species of shorebirds coincides with the arrival of the horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay. Recent bird counts of migratory shorebirds have shown alarming decreases in numbers. Like the link between shorebird migration and horseshoe crab spawning times, many think there is a corresponding link between shorebird population declines and horseshoe crab over-harvesting."

Link: Full Article

Related Links about Shorebirds:

Shorebirds: Prairies to Patagonia

Manomet's Shorebird World

Canadian Conservation Shorebird Plan

Save the Red Knot!

The rufa subspecies of the Red Knot is in danger of extinction. In the July issue of Bird Calls (American Bird Conservancy) scientists say that Red Knots stopping at the Delaware Bay has dropped from approximately 100,000 in 1989 to fewer than 15,000 in 2004.

Stuart MacKay's Waders

Some of the best shorebird pictures on the net!

All about the Sanderling from Cornell Labs



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That's me preparing to digiscope while several Sanderlings scoot past on the beach at Wisconsin Point (Lake Superior) last fall.

Sanderling images © 2005 Michael Allen McDowell

Yoshiharu Ishimaru's Digiscoping

From the Digiscoping Desk...

Thumbing through the September/October issue of WildBird Magazine, I came across a Nikon ad featuring Yoshiharu Ishimaru's digiscoping website DIGISCO.COM. If you've not yet seen his work you owe it to yourself to see not only what is possible with digiscoping, but how far the bar has been raised. Also, check out this informative graph from his website demonstrating focal-length power of digiscoping.

In the same WildBird Magazine issue there is an article about digiscoping called "Digi-what?" featuring tips and advice from 8 digiscopers - Jeff Bouton, Steven Ingraham, Bill Schmoker, Clay Taylor, Andrew Farnsworth, Gary Rosenberg, Jason Starfire and me!

Listing, Chasing and Big Years

In 2004 I did a Wisconsin birding “Big Year,” the term used to describe a veritable race to see as many different bird species as possible within the state boundary in 365 days. The crowning numerical achievement in our state is crossing the 300 mark, but I came up a little short at 291. More than a consolation, though, I finished the year with over 20 life birds; many of those were species I probably wouldn’t have seen without a long drive. I carpooled as often as possible with other birders who were also doing big years, but I still logged about 3,000 miles on my car for birding trips. It was also nice to see many of Wisconsin’s State Parks and Natural Areas…places I had never seen before even as a life-long resident of the state.

I began this year by taking a bit of a birding break and barely birded at all through January and February. Once March arrived with returning ducks, and knowing what species show up in April, I felt compelled to get back out in the field, but at a much more relaxed pace. I resolved that this year would be different. I wouldn’t chase unless it meant a chance at a life bird, or if it was a supremely satisfying natural area like Horicon Marsh, Spring Green Reserve or Thomson Prairie…places I love to visit and explore at least once a year.

This year I’ve done the vast majority of my bird watching closer to home at places like Pheasant Branch Conservancy, Nine Springs, Odana Marsh, Governor Nelson State Park and Baxter’s Hollow. Some of these places are even right along my daily commute to work. Like many other people, birder or not, I’m certainly conscious of ever-rising gas prices, “peak oil” and the whole science and politics surrounding global climate change…it seems like common sense to minimize travel by automobile for now.

Here’s what surprised me and why I’m writing this. Last night I was looking at my counts for 2004 and 2005 when I noticed last year on this day I was at 266 species and this year I’m at 250. So…sixteen species? That’s the difference that all that driving around made? It’s true that last year there were fall field trips to Wisconsin Point and winter boreal excursions that tacked on quite a few species, but the difference in effort up to this point seems quite minimal when looking at it purely from a numbers perspective.

Doing a Wisconsin “Big Year” certainly was a lot of fun, filled with fond memories of rare and interesting birds and sharing those experiences with other birders, but I wouldn’t want to make it a yearly habit. And now that I see on paper that the difference is less than a few dozen species it hardly seems to justify the extra expenses, time and travel to play a numbers game. It is also a good reminder on how great the birding is close to home.

BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER!

Acting on a tip for AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER and STILT SANDPIPERS from Jesse, I headed out to the V-Pond after work yesterday evening. Within minutes I had a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER walk through my scope's field of view while I was looking at a small group of mixed shorebirds. Distance and lighting factors prevented me from obtaining a good picture of it, but I did manage to record a grainy video of the bird for documentation purposes.

As the winds picked up and ominous looking clouds rolled in, the shorebirds became a little restless and began calling. A few seconds later nearly all the shorebirds took wing, flew a lap around the pond and then headed south to avoid the impending storm. The 40 or so Sandhill Cranes would stick it out.

Given the degree of effort it took to obtain this digiscoped image of a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, I probably won't be able to put in the time to improve upon it. Back in September of 2003 it took me a week, over 300 exposures and incredible luck with lighting involving a foggy morning to finally get the right shot. Plus, I have no idea yet if this was a one-day wonder bird or if it will still be there today. I'm just thankful I got to see one this year!

Link: All about the Buff-breasted Sandpiper from Cornell Labs

Buff-breasted Sandpiper image © 2005 Michael Allen McDowell

Green Herons Galore

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My colleague Katie and I went to Nine Springs last evening to look for Buff-breasted Sandpipers, but alas…none were found. However, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to digiscope a GREEN HERON in excellent lighting. It really wasn't too tough as there were Green Herons just about everywhere we looked. The only new “southbound” shorebird we found was a single GREATER YELLOWLEGS.

DID YOU KNOW…

Sometimes Green Herons utilize a method of foraging called “bait-fishing” to catch food. However, this behavior is seldom observed and it isn’t known whether it’s innate or learned. The heron will drop a small object on the surface of the water, such as an insect, flower pedal, feather, seed, crust of bread or even popcorn. When an unsuspecting fish comes along hoping the bait might be food for itself, the heron strikes its prey.

Of the 36 heron feeding behaviors known, Green Herons have been documented using these 15; Standing, Baiting, Standing Flycatching, Head Swaying, Neck Swaying, Walking Slowly, Walking Quickly, Scanning, Feetfirst Diving, Foot Stirring, Foot Raking, Plunging, Diving, Jumping and Swimming Feeding.

Interesting little critters, aren’t they?

Link: All about the Green Heron from Cornell Labs

Green Heron image © 2005 Michael Allen McDowell

The Return of the loud Redheads

"Although the red-headed woodpecker uses other habitat types, oak savanna is one of the most important. Oak savanna once occupied approximately 5.5 million acres in Wisconsin. Only about 500 acres -- less than 1/10th of a percent of the original, pre-settlement quality savanna remain. This loss and altered habitat is directly linked with the red-headed woodpecker’s population decline. Mueller studied the loss of habitat using a GIS (Geographic Information System) and data from annual Breeding Bird Surveys. He found a relationship between loss of open oak woodland and savanna and red-headed woodpecker population losses along bird survey routes in eight regions of Wisconsin."

Link: Full article by Richard King and William Mueller

Link: All about the Red-headed Woodpecker from Cornell Labs

I was at Wyalusing State Park when I saw this Red-headed Woodpecker (above image) catch and consume a moth. Regrettably, this was in my early digiscoping days and a few seconds after this shot was taken my battery died and I had no backup with me! Oh, the humility. Years ago, Red-headed Woodpeckers were somewhat common in Pheasant Branch Conservancy in Middleton, but the last nesting pair I’ve seen there was three years ago. People who have lived in the area longer than I have said they saw them frequently on the Dane County property of the conservancy where the oak savanna restoration is presently taking place.

Red-headed Woodpecker image © 2005 Michael Allen McDowell

Madison Audubon Field Trip to Nine Springs

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The weather today was just perfect. Fellow Waunakeean Jesse Peterson led the Madison Audubon Society field trip to Nine Springs at 7:00AM this morning. Expectations were somewhat low for early fall migrant shorebirds, as we both separately checked Nine Springs earlier in the week and didn’t find much activity at the time. Thankfully the waders, rails and shorebirds that were there gave really nice views in good light and were fairly cooperative.

There were 8 shorebird species seen: KILLDEER, SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, LEAST SANDPIPER, PECTORAL SANDPIPER, SOLITARY SANDPIPER, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, LESSER YELLOWLEGS and SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER. The field trip participants even got to observe a few SORA and a VIRGINIA RAIL foraging along the cattail edges. There were also many GREEN HERONS, GREAT BLUE HERONS and a few GREAT EGRETS.

A field trip highlight came when a lesser yellowlegs, pectoral, least and solitary sandpipers appeared in the same scope field of view for diagnostic side-by-side comparison. I think many new birders, heck, even some experienced birders, find shorebird identification daunting, and it’s opportunities like this where the skill can be honed.

On the way home we checked out the County V pond just north of Waunakee, which held a number of LESSER YELLOWEGS and a few other shorebirds species. The habitat there is once again looking very promising for fall migration. Come on Buff-breasted Sandpiper!

Link: All about the Sora from Cornell Labs

Sora image © 2005 Michael Allen McDowell

My Digiscoping Focus Technique

Here is a step-by-step process of my two-handed approach to achieving sharp images when digiscoping birds that just won’t sit still! This technique also demonstrates why I prefer helical over knob-type focusers on spotting scopes. In the above image my right hand is on the camera and left on the spotting scope. My right index finger controls the shutter, which can perform two important things:

• Establish/release focus-lock.
• Take an exposure.

My left index finger can still control the scope's focuser, while the other fingers maintain a grip on part of the scope body and tripod head. With a Bogen micro-fluid head set to the appropriate tension, both hands can quickly maneuver the spotting scope to follow a moving bird. Some digital cameras have an auto focus mode called AREA MODE that can set to manual (Nikon Coolpix 990, 995 and 4500 have this). When enabled it activates a user-selectable five area display that looks something like this:



Ignoring the vignetting in this example image, it shows how I’ve selected the auto focus area to apply to the bird’s face (red bracket).

Here’s what do to next:

Use your left index finger to focus the scope (you can use your right thumb to change the area focus bracket to the bird's face). Establish focus-lock with your right index finger by pressing the shutter button halfway down. Check the focus on LCD monitor again and if it looks good then press the shutter button the rest of the way to take the exposure. If the focus on the LCD monitor still appears soft on the bird's face with the focus-lock on, release the lock and repeat this entire step.

This method has given me a lot of focusing control as well as tracking/digiscoping birds that are on the move.

Diagram images © 2005 Michael Allen McDowell

Wing-drying? Thermoregulating?

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At Nine Springs a few days ago, this Great Blue Heron was standing with its wings open for several minutes at a time. It would close them for a short while but then repeat this display. I don't recall seeing this behavior before and given the hot weather, I'm wondering if the bird was simply regulating its body temperature?

Here are explanations I received from various members of the Wisconsin Birding Network:

"I've also seen this behavior and was puzzled about it. It was so strange that I made a small sketch (which I do VERY rarely) in my field book. We saw the heron just after completing our canoe breeding bird survey at Red Cedar Lake near Cambridge one year, so it would have been mid-morning in June sometime. I don't recall that there was anything extraordinary about the weather, either really hot or really cold. The bird was standing on a branch facing the sun."

"I believe when birds do this it's called 'sunning'. Mostly I've seen song birds doing this. They usually spread all their wing feathers out and puff all their body feathers out and then stare up at the sun. Biologist don't really know the reason other than maybe it helps kill parasites that bother the birds. I have a photo of a chickadee in my back yard doing this in late June. It looks very bizarre, like the birds hypnotized."

"I saw a Great Blue Heron exhibit a very similar pose (his wings held more in a 'basket' like in the picture submitted by Jeff Bahls) in Florida two years ago during the Space Coast Birding Festival. I also thought that he may be thermoregulating, but wasn't sure. We were able to capture it on video - very interesting!"

"Of interest to me is that the only time I have observed this behavior in Great Blue Herons is when I have previously seen them wading deeper into the water than they typically do - which makes me lean toward thinking that it has to do with wing-drying."

"According to Sibley, Studies of Cormorants who do this frequently have revealed no correlation between the spread-wing posture and air temperature. The article goes on to suggest they spread their wings just to dry them and a study of flightless Cormorants showed no significant change in body temperature as a result of this posture."

Link: All about the Great Blue Heron from Cornell Labs

Great Blue Heron image © 2005 Michael Allen McDowell

Bird Emits Mosquito Repellent

FAIRBANKS, Alaska - A bird species found in some parts of Western Alaska is believed to emit a natural mosquito repellent with properties similar to DEET, the key ingredient in many commercial repellents.

Link: Full Story from Yahoo News

Crested Auklet image courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service

Jason Starfire

The digiscoping and birding community is saddened at the tragic and unexpected loss of Jason Starfire, digiscoper and birder extraordinaire. Jason was recently hired by Nikon as their North American avian equipment representative traveling around the country promoting Nikon products at birding festivals and trade shows. Jason was 24 years old.

Link: Article about Jason Starfire’s birding career.

Herons of Nine Springs

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By the look of reports so far, the best habitat for fall shorebird migration isn’t going to be in Dane County, but I don’t feel like driving very far to see them. No matter! There are still plenty of digiscoping opportunities closer to home with common birds. Nine Springs is teaming with GREEN HERONS and GREAT BLUE HERONS right now and they can make great photography subjects in evening light.


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On a related note, presently there is a very unusual heron sighting at Bong State Recreational Area. As many as 14 LITTLE BLUE HERONS are being seen there. It is very uncommon to have this species in Wisconsin, let alone so many of them at one location. I probably won’t make the trip to see them, plus they are too far from an observation area to get good pictures of them.

More sightings of BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS are being reported in northern Wisconsin. A few of my colleagues at Eagle Optics are determined to add this species to their life lists this year. There are a few good spots around Dane County that I’ll be checking periodically for them. We'll see!

Link: All about the Green Heron from Cornell Labs

Link: All about the Great Blue Heron from Cornell Labs

Heron images © 2005 Michael Allen McDowell