Baby Geese!

'Tis the season for baby birds and it appears that at least one local nest of Canadian Goose eggs escaped depredation. I know they are invasive but they sure are cute, huh?

And the award for 'Greatest Place on Earth' goes to...

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah.

No, I haven't been there. But I have been on their website all afternoon and having read several Sanctuary Stories, I can say with certainty that every heart beating in their corner of Angel Canyon is made of pure gold.

Not a Seed-Eater

A young hawk in Arlington, Virginia. One birder in the neighborhood thinks it’s a Sharp-shinned Hawk but since all young hawks have nearly identical coloration and patterns, it could also be a Cooper's Hawk. Both are of the family Accipiter (bird hawk), named for their preferred food, and aren't uncommon in area backyards - especially those frequented by smaller, seed-eating birds.

In fact, a Cooper's Hawk recently found her way into the Library of Congress and spent a week flying around inside the domed ceiling in the Main Reading Room. Thankfully, the hawk (now known as Jefferson) has finally been contained and will return to her natural habitat soon. More on Jefferson here.
(Post by DW)

Feathered Friends

My favorite cardinal (pictured) stopped by this morning to remind me to fill up the feeders - and to remind his reflection that he is the top cardinal on the clover. Full feeders are also important this time of the year for birds associated with "irruptions." When natural winter food supplies are scarce in northern Canada, bird species like Juncos, Pine Siskins, Purple Finches, Common Redpolls and Grosbeaks "irrupt," which means they migrate south in search of food. Be sure and leave out some millet for the Juncos and lots of thistle for the winter finches.

'If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant.'

As you have all been reading/hearing, thousands of dead drum fish recently washed ashore of the Arkansas River between Ozark and Clarksville and then on New Year's Eve thousands of red-winged blackbirds fell from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas.

I have several theories:

1.) One of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 forgot to push the button and is moving the island therefore causing a magnetic pole shift.
2.) ManBearPig is real.
3.) We've got a mutated species of petroleum-eating Chytridiomycota fungus on our hands that is capable of making the whole world's oil supply disappear and someone needs to find Tom Clancy.
4.) Some human beings are doing/dumping something they shouldn't in/around the Arkansas River.

Apocalyptic thinking aside, the fact that the deaths were limited to certain species in a certain region leads me to believe this could be something like the amphibian-killing chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, but with the most recent news of near 500 dead blackbirds and starlings in Louisiana in this short period of time and talk of deadly blood clots in the recovered carcases, I think I am one of many now concerned that there is a stronger and faster-spreading problem affront.

Please feel free to share any theories or articles of interest in the comment section. Here are a few readers have sent in:

For Arkansas Blackbirds, The New Year Never Came
Mass La. Bird Deaths Puzzle Investigators
Nearly 3,000 Dead Birds Fall From Arkansas Sky
Dead Fish Cover 20-Miles of Arkansas River

File Under: Adorable

I see this every morning on when I drive into the University of Maryland, College Park entrance near the Greenhouse and the Comcast Center. I hope to witness dozens of feathery family crossings in the spring.

Guess who never takes a day off from his lobbying...

If you build it...

...will they come? Hopefully!!

Local Bluebird Teaches Squirrel Sharing and Patience

10th Annual Bald Eagle Festival at Blackwater Wildlife Refuge

Ten years ago, the folks over at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in association with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began celebrating the sanctuary’s birthday by hosting what has become their most popular event: The Annual Eagle Festival. This years’ festival will be taking place on Saturday, March 13th so bird-watchers, mark your calendars!

While the yearly celebration honoring the well known birds of prey is a fairly new occurrence, the refuge has been observing and protecting a variety of feathered friends, namely migratory water fowl and smaller birds, since 1933. In fact, Blackwater Wildlife Refuge was primarily established as a waterfowl sanctuary for birds migrating along the Atlantic Flyway and their initiatives to protect and enhance the eagles’ habitat is one of many focuses undertaken by the refuge as more and more native species become threatened or endangered.

“The Chesapeake Bay area has always been a big spot, a heavy concentration for eagles,” commented Tom Miller, a Ranger who works with Visitor Services at the sanctuary. “But they are slow reproducers. Only one of two babies a year. They need to put a lot of time and effort into their offspring. We haven’t had to do a whole lot of active management, [rather] just protecting areas and buying land and their numbers increased.”

Protecting their nests has certainly made a difference though. Staff, volunteers, supporters and visitors of the refuge have much to celebrate since the Department of the Interior officially removed the American Bald Eagle from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants in the summer of 2007. Of course in some parts of the country, the eagles are still not at the desired numbers, but on the grounds and wetlands of the refuge, the bald eagle is considered a recovering species alongside once endangered Delmarva fox squirrel and the delisted peregrine falcon.

The refuge is currently home to more than 250 bird species and encompasses more than 25,000 acres along Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Visitors are certain to see a variety of wildlife and likely to witness an eagle catching fish out of the water, stealing a fish from fellow dwellers the osprey, snatching smaller birds in flight, or even dining on a deer perishing on the side of the road. “Eagles,” as Tom Miller puts it, “Are opportunistic eaters.”

So what else can festival attendees expect to see at the 9th Annual Eagle Festival this March? Birds, birds and birds of prey!

Experts will give educational talks alongside a live eagle, falcon, or other feathered friends hourly. Visitors are encouraged to arrive in the morning for observational bird walks and stick around throughout the day to hear Native American musician Ron Warren playing traditional Native American flutes. Food, live bird exhibits, and wildlife exhibits will be available all day, from 8:00am – 4:00pm. Kids can plan on constructing their very own bird box and watching a puppet show. Details, directions, visitor information, and the full schedule for festival day can be found on the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge website.

And if you’re anxious to see one of the majestic birds in one of their authentic nests before the festival, check out the Live Eagle Cam or visit the refuge any day between dawn and dusk for a walk or bike ride along one of Blackwater’s four land trails, a drive along Wildlife Drive, or even a paddle on one of the three water trails.

Visitor Information:
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
2145 Key Wallace Drive
Cambridge, Maryland 21613
Telephone: (410)228-2677
http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/

Admission fees:
Private Vehicle: $3.00
Pedestrian/ Bicyclist: $1.00
Commercial Van/Bus up to 20 passengers: $15
Commercial Van/ Bus 21 passengers or more: $25

Bright Side

Because JustSaying dedicated a fair amount of posts to endangered and threatened species last year, I'm thinking it may be nice to highlight some uber-cool new and evolving species because, well, I'm remarkably optimistic about the staying power of the conservation efforts, awareness and activism surrounding all things environmental of late. And I'd like to think that the more wildlife we see and discuss, the more considerate we all become. So cheers to a few newly discovered critters!

New Strawberry Crab Species. Discovered off of Suther Taiwan by Marine biologist Professor Ho Ping-ho from the National Taiwan Ocean University. These little gals have clam-shaped shells about an inch wide and resemble a species called Neoliomera Pubescens, that lives in the areas around Hawaii, Polynesia and Mauritius. Read more here.

The Kuranda tree frog, discovered in tropical Queensland state in eastern Australia by WWF-Australia conservationists, has a distinctive tapping call that scientists call "fast talk." The fast-talkin' frog has unfortnately already placed on the critically endangered list. More here.

White Lizards in the White Sands of New Mexico. These little lizards aren't exactly a new species but they are a new color! Learn more from professor Erica Bree Rosenblum here and here.

Speaking of lizards, I should give a shout out to the Mwanza Flat Headed Agama (aka Spiderman) lizard too. Not because of newness, but because of newfound popularity thanks to photograher Roy Daines.

Little Limestone Leaf Warbler. Found in the rocky forests of Laos and Vietnam by a team of scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, Lao PDR Department of Forestry, Swedish University of Agricultural Science, Swedish Museum of Natural History, BirdLife International and other groups. More here.

The teen-tiny Barbados Threadsnake, leptotyphlops carlae. It is one of the world's smallest snakes (a total length of 104mm, or 4.1 inches). Discovered by  Professor of Biology from the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment, S. Blair Hedges. So frickin' cool. More here.

Last - certainly not least but last because it is purely fictional fun i.e. not real - the Swiss Funk Squirrel (pictured). Possibly because he resembles a little dog we know and love that often smells like the other animal the Swiss Funk resembles.

Merry Christmas, Finches!

Hope the 8701-A and 8701-B residents are as excited about the thistle stocking (hung in their holly tree with care) as I am. I know it's a few days early but I couldn't stand keeping it from them any longer. Enjoy, little ones! And have a lovely holiday, readers!

Love the thistle stocking? Purchase one for your own feathered friends at Plow and Hearth. (Thnx Neeks)

Crazy Cardinal is always at it...

I don't know what is harder to believe: That this guy woke me up early this morning by banging into the bedroom window -or- That I actually went out in this blizzard to fill up the feeder. As if he needs it! Look at that belly!

Love Birds

Look who I spotted dining together yesterday! Judee and the territorial cardinal. Cute!

Electronic Field Guides

The other night, I noticed that Apple found a way to tap into a market of, well, folks who I would consider to be less interested in technology and consumption: nature lovers and hikers. Here's the commercial showing the latest and greatest iPhone app:



Pretty cool, huh? You know what is even cooler? The hand-held electronic field guide that identifies tree species based on the shape of their leaves that a team of researchers financed by the National Science Foundation have been working on. The NY Times reports:

...The tree guide, and other electronic guides to nature being developed, may be used one day not only by backyard botanists, hikers and children on field trips, but also by scientists and volunteers to compile data for environmental inventories, or as part of species discovery... Computer applications that automatically identify, for example, a particular bird call or tree species or even an individual dolphin may prove popular with the public, said P. Bryan Heidorn, a program manager at the National Science Foundation who tried a prototype of the tree program at the Smithsonian... The computer tree guide is good at narrowing down and finding the right species near the top of the list of possibilities, he said. “Instead of flipping through a field guide with 1,000 images, you are given 5 or 10 choices,” he said. The right choice may be second instead of first sometimes, “but that doesn’t really matter,” he said. “You can always use the English language — a description of the bark, for instance — to do the final identification.”

Beautiful Bird Pics

DW and LM sent me these awesome pictures of their resident birds down in Arlington, VA. I understand that the cardinal showed up after he saw DW photographing the new bird family - wonder if he is related to my pal?