Birding with Tucker

2011-12-10T19:25:00.001-06:00

Sioux City Ruined the Internet

2010-05-13T20:50:00.002-05:00

I live near Sioux City, IA, now known as the city that ruined the Internet, as said on Tosh.0 on Comedy Central. An indescribably lame video was put on YouTube to "sell Sioux City" to people.
You just have to see for yourself.
http://www.comedycentral.com/tosh.0/?s=sioux+city

The video was so bad that they have now made T-Shirts saying that "Sioux City Ruined the Internet" and this story was put on the front page of the newspaper 2 days in a row! This video has had over 100,000 views.

Northern Minnesota Adventure: Day 1

2010-02-26T15:29:00.008-06:00

Getting only three hours of sleep probably isn't the best way to start an adventure but I just couldn't get my mind off of the trip that was about to ensue. I was laying in bed, waiting for 4am to come around but it was still an hour away. I tossed and turned and couldn't get back to sleep. I knew I shouldn't have stayed up to watch the Olympics! Anyhow, I finally decided I would get up and start getting ready to leave since I wasn't going to be falling asleep anytime soon. After getting breakfast and packing up the things we almost forgot, my dad and I headed out to put our stuff in the truck. There wasn't much going on at four in the morning and the only thing up besides us seemed to be a pair of Great Horned Owls which made their presence known by their constant hooting from down by the creek.

My dad and I said our last goodbyes to mom and we were on the road, constantly getting closer to Great Gray Owls and Spruce Grouse. We were heading to northern Minnesota! As we crossed into Minnesota, the sky began to brighten a little, revealing the landscape to us and waking up the birds. It wasn't long before we saw flocks of Snow Buntings flying up off the roadsides and a number of hawks, including Red-tailed and Cooper's.

We passed through Mankato, and the Twin Cities and finally made it to Duluth at 1:00pm. We watched the countryside transition from the windswept prairie, to the deciduous forest which soon transitioned into a mixed forest with spruces and pines mixed in with birches and aspens. We were in the north woods and it didn't take long before we saw Common Ravens, a bird more typical of these woodlands than Iowa. Coming over Spirit Ridge on I-35 we saw Lake Superior and Duluth unravel before us, 700ft below. After stopping for a picnic lunch at a nice rest stop overlooking the city, we headed down to Canal Park. We saw no gulls or waterfowl there since the lake was frozen solid. We headed up the north shore a little ways and found that the lake was unfrozen once you get past Duluth. Here is a photo of Lake Superior's north shore near the French River.

Our destination for the afternoon was Two Harbors, a nice little community right on the lake. We were pleasantly suprised to find a number of gulls there with several Glaucous and even a Thayer's mixed in with the more common Herring Gulls. The only Thayer's Gull that we saw there was nice enough to fly over so I could get a photo of it.

We drove through town a little bit and were glad we did. Although there were no waxwings like we were hoping, a cooperative group of White-winged Crossbills was foraging in a spruce tree. There was excellent lighting which made for a nice opportunity to get some photos. It was fun to watch them expertly extract the seeds right out of the cones. Here is a female bird.We happened to run across another birder in town who gave us directions to a staked out Northern Hawk Owl just a couple miles away. We saw the bird but didn't get any nice shots.

After that we headed back to Duluth to go to church and to get a good nights rest so we could bird more the next day.

The next post I do will be on our journey up to the Sax-Zim Bog and around Duluth. I should be posting it in a couple days.

Off to the Northwoods

2010-02-16T10:11:00.005-06:00

My dad and I are going to leave for northern Minnesota this Wednesday morning and will be gone through Sunday night giving us three full days of birding along Lake Superior's north shore and in the boreal forest that harbors many unusual bird species. This area has long been a popular birding destination and has drawn birders from far and wide. The photo above was taken last year on our winter trip there. I am going to try to see lifers such as Iceland Gull, Great Gray Owl, Spruce Grouse, and American Three-toed Woodpeckers since I missed those in 2009. On the way home I will try to get my lifer Varied Thrush and American Black Duck in Iowa. Another birder from where I live is coming up too so we will be able to go birding together. Make sure to check in on Monday of Tuesday next week for the story of my Northern Minnesota adventure.

The Quiet Forest

2010-01-11T11:50:00.005-06:00

Here is a short poem I made today as part of a Literature test. I thought it was nice enough to put on this blog, which so many nature-lovers follow.

The Quiet Forest
A Poem By Tucker L

“I took a walk in a forest so calm and so still
There were no noises, perhaps it was ill

I listened intently but didn’t hear a thing
But then a thought inside me began to ring

Perhaps there were things here both big and both small
But I had not the ears to hear them at all
So I decided to look on the trees so tall for those things which were so small

On the bark I saw many bugs crawling along,
I listened and heard them singing their song,
So quietly scuffling their way up the trees.

Perhaps this forest was not ill at all.

It took not long to find a bee buzzing by,
And a pair of doves cooing in the trees so high.
A mouse scampered by and the fleas followed with

Perhaps this forest was not ill at all, but maybe it was me.

Maybe I was the one who was ill, the one that detached my own self from the things of the trees, and, immersed in music and movies, drowned out the faint call of the wild, which was whispering as quietly as a small child, telling me to take a look into these things which most of us nowadays have been unable to see.”

Last of 2009 and First of 2010

2010-01-01T18:25:00.003-06:00

Last night while driving to Sioux City I saw an owl fly over the road in the fading light. I watched it as it coursed over the farm fields out of sight and finally identified it as a Short-eared Owl. This bird was the last one I saw in 2009. I usually don't keep track of the last bird but I couldn't help but notice this one.

The first birds of 2010 were nowhere near as eventful as the last bird of 2009 was. The first three birds I saw were as follows-Rock Pigeon, House Sparrow, and European Starling! Talk about a bummer. Too bad a Varied Thrush wasn't around :-)

I took a short trip to the creek near my house this afternoon and saw some better birds than the ones mentioned in the paragraph above. A good number of hardy Mourning Doves were flying around a cattle farm along with the usual Eurasian-collared Doves. As I was watching the doves a Cooper's Hawk sure got things stirred up.

I am going on a Christmas Bird Count tomorrow and can't wait to see what shows up there. I am going to have to dress warmly since the low tonight is going to be -23 degrees farenheit and it is only going to "warm up" to -3 for the high!

Once in a Blue Moon...

2010-01-01T18:21:00.002-06:00

The moon last night was called a blue moon. This does not mean that it was blue but that it was the second full moon to occur in a one month period. They occur every 2.5 years but only every 19 years does one happen on New Year's eve. I got this picture of the blue moon from my yard last night.

Feeder Watching and Christmas Bird Counting

2009-12-29T15:38:00.007-06:00

With all of the snow recently, going out birding is a bit impractical since most good birding spots are along gravel roads which do not get plowed to often. Instead of risking my life on the hazardous roads I have just been doing some birding around my home and have found some nice birds recently. The best was the Tufted Titmouse which is a rare bird where I live. To read more about it go to this link which is to a past blog post about the bird: http://birdingwithtucker.blogspot.com/2009/11/surprise-visitor.html

A lot of birds have been drawn to the feeders because of the storm including Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, and Brown-headed Cowbird. I wouldn't be surprised if a Rusty Blackbird showed up but none have visited yet.

An American Tree Sparrow (the first at the feeders this winter) was feeding with the juncos this morning. One of the juncos was cooperative enough for me to get a nice picture of it.

Away from the feeders in the yard I saw some pheasant tracks. This was the first time I have proof that there was a pheasant in my yard. I have found feathers before but they may have blown in from somewhere else.

Before the storm I saw 32 Eurasian-collared Doves in the neighbor's tree. Not all birds are in the photo but it gives you a good idea of how many there were .Also before the storm I went on the Sioux City CBC. I wasn't out long since I had some other things to do that day but we did pick up 25 or so species including the Northern Shrike below.

This Eastern Cottontail was also seen on the CBC and posed nicely for a picture.
I really don't have time to keep blogging today (I have somewhere to go) so I will have to call that good for now!

A Very White Christmas!

2009-12-26T13:50:00.003-06:00

Twenty inches of snow and strong winds made Christmas 2009 one for the record books. The 8 inches that fell on Christmas day alone was the most that ever fell on Christmas day in Sioux City, IA. The three day snowfall total ended up putting this storm in the top 3 worst seen in Sioux City, IA ever. Combined with the other snowfall seen in December it was the snowiest on record with 30 inches of the white stuff.
The best present I received was the news that I am going to be an uncle next August!

The Cleaners of Walmart

2009-12-17T17:13:00.003-06:00

My dad and I saw these two tagged crows at a Walmart here in Iowa. One of the crows which was eating something nasty looking in the parking lot had the letters CW on it's tag which we said meant a Cleaner of Walmart! We later came to find out that they were part of a biology study being done at a local college.

What in the world is this?

2009-12-16T21:33:00.007-06:00

That is exactly what I asked myself when I saw this arachnid sitting on the ground at our campsite one night at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. Thanks to Internet I was able to in the matter of minutes find out that this was a spider in the genus Eremobates. These are ground dwelling spiders of the west that most often come out at night. I learned on Wikipedia that these spiders have the largest jaw size to body ratio of any creature! So next time you are out at night in the west keep your eyes on the ground to see if you can spot any of these fascinating creepy creatures for yourself.

Butterfly Laying an Egg!

2009-12-10T13:56:00.001-06:00

There is an ANGRY MOB in My Yard!!!

2009-12-10T13:25:00.004-06:00

Hopefully that title got your attention. Today while out in my yard I noticed a large group of birds (particularly the Blue Jays) looking at one particular hole in a tree and after doing so they would fly away calling as loudly as they could. I figured there was an Eastern Screech-Owl in the tree and when I went up there it was no surpise that one immediately flew out. I followed the angry mob of birds through my yard and caught up once again with the owl and got a photo of it hissing at the other birds! It is not every day that you get to see such interactions between birds.

Short-eared Owl in B&W

2009-12-10T11:32:00.004-06:00

This is just one of the 13 Short-eared Owls I a few nights ago! I also saw two Great Horned Owls which makes 15 total owls. We had the same number of owls as we had number of species. The photo was done in black and white to give it the feel of a cold December night. I love especially that you can see snow falling in the photo. I saw eight with one leaft to right move of the binoculars!

Snow and Birds!

2009-12-10T11:05:00.005-06:00

The past couple of days have been rough weather-wise in the Midwest. Where I live 10 inches of snow fell, winds got over 50 mph, and temps dropped to ten below last night. Thankfully things have improved a bit today. A couple birds have been drawn into the feeders such as Brown-headed Cowbirds and the Tufted Titmouse which both have been absent for a while. I went out to photograph the titmouse this morning (which is rare in NW Iowa) but didn't get a photo of it but I did get a photo of both a Blue Jay (my first nice one of this species) and a House Sparrow both of which turned out excellent! I have not been posting on my blog much lately because I can more quickly and easily put stuff on flickr than on blogger. To see some of my photos on flickr go to: www.flickr.com/photos/backpackingbirdwatcher

Creeper Camouflage

2009-11-18T17:40:00.009-06:00

This afternoon while sitting in a hunting blind near my bird feeders I spotted a small and very well camouflaged Brown Creeper working his way up a nearby tree looking for food. I got a photo (left; click on it for a closer look) which shows very well just how hard they can be to see when the are up next to tree bark. The creepers are hard to detect also because their calls are generally hard to hear due to how high pitched and quiet they are. The Brown Creeper spends most of it's life attached to the bark of trees, not only while feeding but while nesting as well-they put their nest behind a loose piece of bark on a tree. Although small this is one impressive bird and one of my favorite.

On the opposite end of the spectrum a large, easy to see, and not very well camouflaged Blue Jay came by as well. The picture below is the first really nice Blue Jay shot I have taken because they are so easily spooked. Unfortunately there was no sign of the titmouse which I saw the morning before:(

November Evening in Iowa

2009-11-18T07:26:00.003-06:00

Surprise Visitor

2009-11-17T11:00:00.004-06:00

Today after I got the newspaper for my mom I went outside to look at some sparrows that I saw hanging around our cars. The sparrows flew off as soon as I came out of the door so I decided to just head back inside. As I turned around I noticed a strange bird on the feeder. "Crested head, blue-gray body. That can't be a Tufted Titmouse!". Sure enough it was a Tufted Titmouse, a rare visitor to NW Iowa that has only been seen in my county once or twice before. For some reason it was visiting my yard and it is still out there as I write this.

A local birdwatcher Jerry came over to see the bird and we immediately saw it. It landed within 20-30ft of us as we were walking towards the feeders. To add to the excitement the titmouse buzzed us, flying just one foot above our heads! That was a very nice surprise visitor that makes feeding the birds worth it!

Smile for the Camera

2009-11-14T06:24:00.001-06:00

Last fall I came across dozens of LeConte's Sparrows just like the one pictured above. Unlike most other sparrows they would actually sit within a few feet of me as I took pictures, probably thinking that they were well camouflaged in the grass and that I couldn't see them. Maybe one day I will find a Savannah Sparrow that is just as cooperative. This brave little LeConte's certainly wasn't camera shy!

Remembering Warmer Days

2009-11-13T19:19:00.003-06:00

Since all of the plants are brown and drab in the Midwest this time of year I decided to post some of the prairie flower photos that I took this summer so I can be and everyone else in the northern part of the country can be reminded of warmer days when the grass was greener and the prairies were full of color. Enjoy!

Butterfly Milkweed (above)Hoary PuccoonPrairie Phlox Prairie Rose

White-winged Scoter

2009-11-12T20:19:00.007-06:00

Early this afternoon a birding friend of mine, Paul, called me to tell me that a White-winged Scoter was seen near Yankton, SD in Nebraska which is only about 1 and 1/2 hours from my home. There is a large lake there formed by a dam which draws in a number of water birds but for some reason the scoter decided to go to a sewage lagoon near there instead. This scoter, which would be a life bird, would also be the last scoter I needed on my life list. I have seen one Black and several Surf Scoters before but no White-wings.

We drove up to see it and when we got to the lagoon we immediately found the scoter swimming around with a gorgeous adult male Redhead. The scoter was life bird 341 for me and it was a new state bird for my friend. This is not the first time I have seen good birds on sewage lagoons. I have seen Barrow's Goldeneye (self found, accidental in Iowa), Snowy Plover, Piping Plover, Least Tern, Ruddy Turnstone and much more at a couple local lagoons by where I live in western Iowa. The lagoons may stink (luckily the one near Yankton didn't) but the birds that you find in them sure don't!

A couple other birds were seen while we were up there including three Western Grebe, some Cackling Geese, and a Bonaparte's Gull.

New Flikr Webpage

2009-11-12T19:54:00.004-06:00

I just recently created a new Flickr webpage. I put some of my favorite bird and nature photos on my photostream. To access it go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/backpackingbirdwatcher/

Great Sand Dunes

2009-11-11T18:22:00.022-06:00

On the way back from my high adventure trip at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in SC Colorado. The sand dunes for which the park was name really are great with some standing over 700 foot tall. They are the largest sand dunes in all of North America and are perhaps the most beautiful as well. I climbed up some of the dunes which cover approximately 30 sq miles of the San Luis Valley. The picture below (which has been altered to make the people stand out more) shows just how large the dunes are. Click on it to see the people on them.

The first glimpse I got of the Great Sand Dunes is in the photo below. Seen from 15 miles away they are barely visible and are dwarfed by the 14,000 ft peaks in the background. In this picture you can only see the dunes when it is blown up but for some reason you can't do that once you move a picture on blogger :(

I took the picture below at dusk from just outside the park at a restaurant. The dunes look very neat in this light; almost purple.

After dinner at the restaurant we parked the motor home at a campground just outside the park. I took the picture below the next morning. It is of the view from the our campsite!

As soon as the sun was up I was too. We drove down to the dunes where I spent some time hiking up them. The sand dunes are contained within the Great Sand Dunes Wilderness.

On the way in we saw a small herd of Elk feeding in the grasslands near the dunes.
It was very windy out and it was hard to walk in the sand even on the flats below the dunes not to mention hiking up a very steep hill of it. Somehow I managed to survive the climb up. My camera was having a hard time with the sand. The wind was blowing some grains around where the lens comes out making it almost impossible for it to open up for some time. I did manage to fix the camera which is working just fine today. The photo below is one of my favorite photos I took while I was up in the dunes. I love that you can see my footprints, that the clouds seem to be getting blown up over the dunes, and the fact that the lighting was great and the skies were dark blue. A lovely picture indeed!
The view from the top of the dunes was pretty neat. The photo below shows the visitor center, parking lot, etc. As you can tell it is a long ways down from the top.
The time came for me to leave the dunes. On my way down to the parking lot I found a Circus Beetle which is one of the eight endemic insect species that inhabit the dunes. Just several days after playing around at the dunes I got a grain of sand in my eye which I had to get removed for a whopping $250. That is a bit much for one piece of sand don't you think? Although we are not sure where the sand came from my mom and I like to think it was from the sand dunes.

The Great Sand Dunes are a very interesting place. to learn more about them go to:

http://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm

The Ups and Downs of October

2009-11-09T20:22:00.014-06:00

October 2009 for me was a month of ups and downs. The birding was nice but the roll over accident that I was in wasn't so great (no I was not looking at birds!). I haven't been able to get to the computer much to blog as I have been busy birding and recovering from the accident. I am alright now and am back out birding.

Perhaps the non-bird birding highlight of the month was spending an afternoon birding with Jon Dunn, who is the author of the Peterson Reference Guide to Gulls, the Peterson Guide to Warblers, and he edited the National Geographic Guide to the Birds of North America. My friend Paul and I picked up Jon at the airport in Des Moines on our way to the Iowa Ornithologist Union Meeting at which he was going to be the one speaking. Although no particularly great birds were seen on the way we had a lot of fun birding with a world-renowned birdwatcher like Jon. We saw a few nice birds including a Blue-headed Vireo and several Herring Gulls. That day we saw a few birds on the way to picking up Jon Dunn including my lifer Northern Goshawk (#340) and my first for Iowa Tufted Titmouse both of which were near Saylorville Reservoir. A White-breasted Nuthatch (above) was at the same feeders as the titmice. At the meeting itself I saw some Bonaparte's Gulls, Common Terns, and Nelson's Sparrows long with many other less notable birds.

The day before we also saw some birds back near Sioux City at out regular birding spots. A White-faced Ibis and American Avocet. The three pictures below are of the birds I saw while birding at the local marshes in the early part of October (avocet, ibis, dowitcher) The American Avocet and White-faced Ibis (one of seven seen) were both photographed on a morning when it snowed and the temperature was in the 20's! Those birds looked cold as well as the 10 Great Egrets and 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron that were with them!

The real birding highlight of the month came in late October when several good birds showed up just ten minutes from my house. On the 25th after finding 104 Smith's and some Lapland Longspurs in a wet field I headed south from that field through the town of Luton. I glanced out my window and noticed a very strange bird sitting on a wire in town. With a long tail and salmon colored sides the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher that was sitting there was unmistakable and very hard to miss! It didn't take long for lots of birders to show up with their large and expensive cameras! This bird was the second one for the county that I found it in. They are pretty rare in Iowa with only a few records each year (only one for 2009). The same day I found a Northern Shrike which was the first of the fall. The bird stuck around until the next morning when it finally flew off. Of course I don't want to forget to talk about those 104 Smith's Longspurs! They are pretty awesome as well. Here is a photo of one in flight which is unfortunately the only one that I got.

Now I better not forget about the adult Northern Goshawk seen the next day. While looking for the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher my friend Paul spotted an adult goshawk in the vicinity where the flycatcher was at. I got to see it in a scope very well and was very excited to see such a hard to find bird being so cooperative for everyone there. I got one good photo but even the photo I got wasn't too great. I guess I'll label it a record shot.

Well that is a short summary of how my October went. Hopefully I will be able to blog some more this month and maybe I will be able to finish posting about my New Mexico trip that I took in July!

New Mexico-July 22-Day 4

2009-09-29T12:05:00.012-05:00

We are already on day four of my New Mexico adventure I went on this past July. I have not gotten to Philmont Scout Ranch yet to go hiking and am still at the retreat house in Albuquerque. So far I have seen 9 new bird putting my life list at 322. Now lets see what July 22nd had in store for me.

Waking up early certainly does have it's benefits. Not only did I get to see a couple new birds that I didn't see on the rest of the trip, but I was also able to watch the sunrise and four hot air balloons fly over the city. The cool and crisp air was refreshing and was nice to wake up to after being in the searing heat the day before.

The birds were out and about and I quickly spotted a Ladder-backed Woodpecker (life bird 323, 10th of the trip) on a distant tree. The picture is terrible but does confirm the identification.

A Virginia's Warbler (life bird 324, 11th of the trip) was also nearby but didn't cooperate. Being in a new place like New Mexico is nice not only because you find new birds, it is that you are continually surrounded by birds you usually don't see back at home, like Say's Phoebes (first picture). While at the retreat house I was constantly seeing Lesser Goldfinches which were life birds just days before. I got a poor picture of one in the harsh sunlight of midday. The pictures I took starting yesterday were taken by my small Canon camera that is not quite as nice as my other camera.We went to numerous sessions during the day but I did manage to see a flock of White-winged Doves (life bird 325, 12th of the trip) fly by while I was walking from one building to another. Later in the afternoon we had free time. I saw an Ash-throated Flycatcher (life bird 326, 13th of the trip) flycatching in the same tree that the woodpecker was in the morning.A lizard was out running in the retreat house yard. Does anyone know what it is?

In tomorrow's post I am going to be at Philmont Scout Ranch for the first time and see lots of hummingbirds!

Snow-on-the-Mountain

2009-09-29T07:41:00.003-05:00

New Mexico-July 21-Day 3

2009-09-28T14:41:00.014-05:00

When the sun rose over the New Mexico plains, I got out of the motor home and immediately found a life bird. The Western Bluebirds (life bird 316, 3rd of trip) were numerous in a small pasture behind the camp area. Although I did not have great looks, I saw them just well enough to identify them. While on the interstate on the way to Albuquerque I also saw some new birds including Chihuahuan Ravens (life bird 317, 4th of trip) which were fairly numerous at times. A Curve-billed Thrasher (life bird 318, 5th of the trip) was perched upon a fence north of Las Vegas, NM. Due to the speed at which we were going I only had enough time to identify them but not get photos.

A stop at a rest area revealed some neat birds, although none of them were lifers. The Say's Phoebe was one of the birds I saw.

A Northern Mockingbird popped into view for a short time as well. I have seen both the phoebe and the mockingbird only once before in my life.

After the rest stop I saw my first Greater Roadrunner (life bird 319, 6th of the trip) sitting on a hillside south of Las Vegas, NM. Not long after we passed Santa Fe we made it into the city of Albuquerque. This was a foreign place to me. It was very "desertish" there and most of the houses were adobe style, nether of these things apply to where I live. We made it to a retreat house and were dropped off. Here we met with 60 other boys from across the country. We were all going on a "religious retreat" before we headed off to hike in the mountains. All of the boys were boy scouts and were chosen by their area "representatives" to go on this trip. The religious theme was carried throughout the trip. The retreat house had a great view of the Rio Grande River and of Sandia Crest, a mountainous area east of town. The room I stayed in on the second and highest floor had a great view of the area shown in the picture above. Just down the hall from my room is a sun porch which gives you an unobstructed view of the city. I got my picture taken there in the evening.There was a small yard there that had plenty of things to see including some roadrunners (first picture in post), Black-chinned Hummingbirds (life bird 320, 7th of the trip) Bushtits (life bird 321, 8th of the trip, pictured). A Rufous Hummingbird (life bird 322, 9th of the trip) buzzed by the retreat house.
Later that night my two friends and I were split up and put into different groups. There were seven groups overall. Mine had 10 boy scouts, a priest, and a seminarian. My group had people from California (2 people/one LA, one San Diego), Louisiana, New Jersey, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri. The priest (was in the Navy) was from Long Island, NY and the seminarian was from California (originally from Phoenix). My nickname came pretty quickly-it was no surprise that it was Birdman. Birds weren't the only things there to see, I also saw a Desert Cottontail (new for me) and some kind of beetle.

More coming tomorrow.

Canoeing on the Little Sioux

2009-09-27T18:22:00.011-05:00

This weekend my dad and I canoed 26 miles down the Little Sioux River in western Iowa along the Inkpaduta Canoe Trail. Starting out on our rental canoes near Quimby at the Silver Sioux County Park we would eventually make it to the Little Sioux County Park in Correctionville. Along the way we saw lots of wildlife, including the Osprey on the left, and worked our way around snag after snag while trying to avoid the hidden sandbars (this was due to the low water levels). The weather was perfect when we started and stayed that way throughout the trip. It didn't take long to find birds there. The Osprey (above) flew right over the river just a couple minutes out. Green Herons, Great Blue Herons, numerous sandpipers (we got really close to some), and lots of Eastern Phoebes and Belted Kingfishers accompanied us along our first day of travel. Great Horned Owls were also common sights as they flew from the trees along the river. A young Bald Eagle flew across the river as well adding to the already numerous bird sightings.

Just as it didn't take long to find birds, it didn't take long for a mishap to happen. About five minutes into the trip we tipped the canoe. A tree was crossing almost the whole river and a four foot gap in between the tree and the cut bank was the only way to go. Unfortunately we got going too fast and hit the bank. My dad began to fall in and he started to take the canoe with him. He went in and quite a bit of water got into our canoe but I managed to stay on. Luckily the water was only up to his waist. After bailing it out he got back in and we amazingly we made it through the rest of the trip with no serious problems. The snags (above) were in many spots along the river and they took a lot out of you (both physically and mentally) when you tried to navigate around them. In some spots you couldn't find a safe way to navigate around them meaning you would have to take the canoe out of the water and walk it along a sandbar to a place in the river without any.

After six hours and 13 miles we arrived at a place called Ranney Knob. We set up camp for the night there and did a little exploring and made a nice campfire. A cliff rose above the river giving us great views of the river below. It was made of sand and gravel and was very eroded so we didn't get to close to the edge for fear that it might give way. You can tell how eroded it was by looking at the picture below. The posts are dangling in mid-air and are connected by wire to posts that were still anchored into the ground near the cliff.

An Eastern Red Cedar (below), the only native conifer to the area, clings on to some soil near the top of the eroding cliff above the river.

The most interesting thing I saw there was a Northern River Otter which was floating in the river below me when I was on top of a small cliff. I had never seen one before and was very excited to see this very neat animal. Eastern Chipmunks were fairly common there and we even got to see a Woodchuck. When the sun went down we even heard a Northern Raccoon. The owls there were also of note, with Barred and Great Horned being very numerous. They called starting just before sunset and on through the night.

The next day we were not so thrilled to get up and go canoeing again because of the troubles we had encountered the day before. We got in the canoe and made it to Little Sioux Park a little before one in the afternoon. The paddle on the second day was fairly easy especially compared to the day before making it a very enjoyable time. The river was also wider and deeper making it easier to navigate than the skinnier and shallower upper portions. The trip came to an end and we were glad we went and ended up having a great weekend The river is a place of beauty and wilderness not far from civilization that is well worth exploring. Wildlife abounded there and was found at every bend making for a truly awesome trip.

New Mexico-July 20-Day 2

2009-09-21T17:46:00.016-05:00

Day 1's post can be found at http://birdingwithtucker.blogspot.com/2009/09/at-8-in-morning-on-july-19-my-they.html. This post is way overdue so here it goes-Early in the morning, only about 30 minutes from Denver, I struggled to see the large snow draped (in some places) mountains called the Rockies through the morning haze that had not yet lifted. Even though they themselves were hard to see, it wasn't hard to see that they were indeed as grand as many people say. I was a bit anxious to get out of the motor home and go do some exploring for birds but I was going to have to wait until later because we had a ways to travel this day, all the way to New Mexico.
The closer we got to Denver the easier the mountains were to see. Looking skyward I saw a flock of California Gulls fly over, the first life bird of the trip which put me at 314. All life birds I see on this trip will be in bold. Downtown Denver was pretty impressive at least compared to the downtown areas where I live. After Denver we made it to Colorado Springs where we had lunch. We were able to see Pikes Peak (below) from there and I was able to look for a few birds, but couldn't find many since we were right off the interstate at a restaurant. Black-billed Magpies and Common Ravens were numerous there but the harsh afternoon sunlight was not good for picture taking.We finally made a stop at a place called Royal Gorge (below) in Canon City. The gorge is 1,000+ ft deep. Since we were only going to be there for about a half hour we just looked at what we could see from outside the gates because it was $24.00 per person to get in. A flyover Lesser Goldfinch there was life bird 315 for me and the second one of the trip. Cholla Cactus were fairly numerous and in bloom there. The second picture down is of a Rock Squirrel which seemed more fond of the trees than of the rocks. I had never seen one of those before (that goes for the cactus as well).

After that it was off to Raton, NM for the night. New Mexico was a new state for me.Today's post was still kind of boring and I got no bird pictures. Tomorrow's post will be better, I promise (there will even be some bird photos). One last photo before I finish this post-I saw and photographed a rainbow from the interstate in Southern Colorado after an afternoon monsoon. Tomorrow it's off to Albuquerque (and more birds)!

Bird Photo Quiz 5 answer

2009-09-21T07:41:00.003-05:00

This photo quiz was a bit of a trick. There were two birds in the photo, not one as most were expecting. The Sandhill Crane easily stood out in the picture but the Ring-necked Pheasant was a little bit more hidden, only exposing it's head. Lynne at Hasty Brook (http://hastybrook.blogspot.com/) was the first one to identify the Sandhill Crane and Hap from New Hope, MN identified the Ring-necked Pheasant. Even though the birds in the quiz were easy to identify one of them did not quite stand out like the other. Here is a photo of the crane and pheasant side by side. This time you can see the pheasant better.

Bird Photo Quiz 5

2009-09-17T12:21:00.008-05:00

*The prominent bird in this picture, the Sandhill Crane, has already been identified but no one has even mentioned the second bird. Good luck with that one*

Click on the picture to get a closer look. Post a comment to answer. Good luck!

Orb Weaver Spider

2009-09-17T10:59:00.005-05:00

Thanks to http://www.spiderzrule.com/ I was able to identify this spider that was found on the deck at my home as an Orb Weaver species.

16th Birthday Birding

2009-09-16T21:24:00.021-05:00

Today on my 16th birthday (my golden birthday) I got my driver's license and visited some of my favorite birding spots. Among these were a few wetlands and a couple dairy farm ponds in the Missouri River Valley.

Among the many birds I saw the most interesting were the first migrant warblers that I have seen so far this fall at a place called Owego Wetlands. A short hike in a small wooded area produced Northern Waterthrush, American Redstart, and Black-and-white Warbler. Many first of the fall migration Ruby-crowned Kinglets were flitting about in the trees. Not only was it the birds here that caught my attention but also the other animals and plants. A Monarch was feeding on some sort of flower when I first got there.

I found and photographed a couple flowers in the wooded area. I am not sure what they are but maybe someone reading this will. If you know please post a comment and let me know.

A tiny tree frog was sitting on a dogwood leaf when I was there. Does anybody know what species it is? As I was headed out of Owego, I found and photographed a female Blue Grosbeak.

At one of the stops I made a cooperative Killdeer allowed me to get a nice picture of it. Usually they fly off before I can get close enough for one but this one was not so shy.

At one wetland I found this Painted Turtle laying on the side of the road. Ten Great Egrets as well as 6 Great Blue Herons were at that wetland as well. Despite a lot of searching I could not find a Snowy Egret, a bird I have been wanting to find this year. A Great Horned Owl flew from a rather treeless area along the road onto a pole out in the middle of the place in broad daylight. I got a picture of him as he sat there watching me.
The view of the wetland I just mentioned was very nice from atop a dike which had a road on it. This road overlooks the marsh and makes it easier to view the birds there. At a drier part of the wetland a field was covered in goldenrod and Big Bluestem grass which made for a nice picture. The Loess Hills are in the background.

After birding I headed back home and had steak, crab, and much more at Outback Steakhouse with my dad which was a nice end to a very exciting but rather busy day.

Going to Camp Chiricahua in 2010!

2009-09-15T21:18:00.005-05:00

In July of 2010 I am going to be attending Camp Chiricahua, a Victor Emanuel Nature Tour, focused on the birds and other fauna and flora of SE Arizona. 14 young birders ages 14-18 including myself will be traveling around the area in search of some of the many neat birds that call the area home. Many birds very exotic to me such as Elf Owls, Elegant Trogons and Flame-colored Tanagers should to be seen on this trip along with numerous other birds. To read more about this trip and to see what was seen on other past trips go to: http://www.ventbird.com/birding-tour/2010/07/13/camp-chiricahua

Swan Takeoff

2009-09-14T11:34:00.005-05:00

This photo of eight Trumpeter Swans and one Tundra Swan was taken this past February at Blue Lake, Monona County, Iowa.

Click on the picture for a closer look.

Mink, Monarchs, and Many Birds

2009-09-13T21:11:00.016-05:00

Late this afternoon I went down to a local wetland area to do some exploring in hopes of finding birds and any other creatures that inhabit the place.

As soon as I got there a Mink, a member of the weasel family, ran across the road a ways from our car.

While I was there I took a hike one mile each way down a mowed path along a dike there. This path gets you way out into the marsh where most of the birds are. The Monarchs were hard to ignore as they were all over in the goldenrod stands, fueling up in order to make their journey southward to the mountains of Mexico.

At first, the birds were scarce and almost non-existence but as I got further away from the road they began to become more numerous. Savannah Sparrows and Bobolinks were beginning to show themselves along with the Eastern Kingbirds (pictured in a flock below) and Red-winged Blackbirds (ditto). All of these birds were in flocks, most likely gathering before they journey south together for the winter season.The first real marsh bird that I saw outside of some Wood Ducks was a Sora that was right near a small pond. I saw it fly and then quickly run back into the weeds on the other side. I sneaked up on a small group of Blue-winged Teal and managed to get a photo of them before they flew. Besides a blade of grass in the way, the picture turned out nice.After that I managed to sneak up on a Great Egret which let me get fairly close before it flew off.

On the way back to the car I had a close encounter with a Northern Harrier that flew over me at about 10 ft! It was so close that I had a hard time getting a photo. Despite that I got a neat shot of it before it left.The real surprise of the trip was a flock of four ibis (most likely white-faced) that flew over! I am glad that I was able to get a photo. I really liked the lighting and how they are all silhouetted in flight in the photo. I wonder if there is a Glossy in there....

After that there wasn't much else that was of much interest. I managed to photograph a flyover Great Egret in good light before my hike at the marsh was over.

Wild Bird Food

2009-09-13T16:16:00.006-05:00

The other day while I was birding I spotted these elderberries growing on the side of the road. It looks like the birds living along this stretch of road will be eating good this fall.

Marsh Wren

2009-09-13T13:20:00.004-05:00

My mom and I went down to explore Table Marsh one evening when this Marsh Wren came up out of the weeds just feet from our car. I got a nice picture of him proclaiming his territory from the weeds.

Yesterday the local Audubon society went out on a trip to a place called Sandhill Lake where we saw several of these neat birds even closer up. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me! On the lake there were 41 Pied-billed Grebes and most unexpectedly a White-faced Ibis.

At some of the other stops we saw some shorebirds, flycatchers, vireos, and warblers. An Eastern Screech-Owl responded to my imitation of one of it's own kind which was supposed to be bringing in warblers. Right nearby a Green Heron sat on a log looking for food. The day, although dreary, was full of migrants and overall 70+ species were found.

Weekend by the Lake

2009-09-10T19:05:00.022-05:00

*please check out the poll I added on the right hand side of the page*

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A couple of weeks ago my mom, dad, sister, and I went up to Iowa's great lakes (Spirit Lake/Okoboji Lake area) to go fishing, enjoy the scenery, look for birds, and to top it all off go to a drive in movie.

While I was up there I was hoping to find a Black-headed Gull that had been coming to a certain location on Spirit Lake right on the IA-MN border during the fall for a number of years. Even though it was seen the week before I got there it managed to remain hidden despite constant searching.

Despite the fact I missed the gull I did see some other birds while I was there including a very cooperative juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper (above) that posed nicely for the camera. Many of the birds we saw, including the sandpiper, were seen from or near a fishing dock at Black-headed Gull location. Ring-billed Gulls as well as a few Franklin's Gulls were out and about on the lake all weekend long and were resting near the fishing dock. With a few chips and a little patience I managed to bring some in for photos.

American White Pelicans were in good supply as well. I enjoyed watching them soar overhead. One group had about 52 birds in it.

When I got tired of fishing I took a kite (no, not the bird), tied the string to my fishing line that was still on the fishing pole, and let the kite soar way up high. I had a lot more string than usual so it went much further than usual. I was flying it over a lake so when it fell into the water I just reeled it in. This was good practice for when a Muskie hits my line and I have to try to reel it in(yea, right). The kite appeared to draw in a few curious pelicans which would come and soar near it. One thing I can say that many people can't was that I was flying a kite in Iowa and was standing in Minnesota while doing it, plus the kite was attached to a fishing pole!

Night fishing really is the coolest fishing there is, at least in my opinion. My dad and I were out on the dock at Spirit Lake until 2am one night and heard so many interesting things including a lot of mammals. A group of Coyotes began howling not far from where we were. We howled back (hopefully no one heard us) and they responded. Some Northern Raccoons also began making some noise from some woodlands nearby. I even heard some birds while I was out there. Lots of migrating warblers, although not in view, made very faint calls as they flew overhead making their presence known. We watched the moon rise and fall and saw seven "falling stars" as well. We finally drove back to the campground and saw and almost hit a Northern Raccoon and a Striped Skunk on the way. Talk about a lot of wildlife! We caught a few bullheads that night but that was all. About 10 miles from the fishing dock is West Lake Okoboji. At Pike's Point State Park (which is right on the lake) my dad and I watched the beautiful sunset and got some neat photos with the one below being the best.

Sunrise on Spirit Lake was just as neat as the sunset on West Lake Okoboji, if not more so. There was steam coming off of the lake in the crisp 38 degree farenheit morning air which was amazing.

Gulls were already out and about on the lake. The steam and interesting lighting helped to make some cool photos.

On the way home a stop at Sunken Grove WMA revealed a Northern Waterthrush and a young Pied-billed Grebe (below).

And that concludes my weekend by the lake. Tomorrow I will post more about my New Mexico trip.

Only in the Midwest

2009-09-10T18:59:00.002-05:00

Crop Duster Video

2009-09-09T14:56:00.002-05:00

Gone for Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-03T14:28:00.004-05:00

I am going to be gone over Labor Day weekend so do not expect to see any more postings of my New Mexico trip until next Tuesday or Wednesday. I would have posted on it today but I don't have the time right now. I did however put a Blue Grosbeak (my favorite bird) picture of mine on this post that I took on a birding trip in August, not far from my home to make up for it.

Ashfall Fossil Beds

2009-09-02T20:56:00.015-05:00

Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historic Park near Royal, NE is an amazing place where you can view fossils of now extinct rhinos, camels, and horses and even elephants that once lived in North America. Many more species of animals have been found preserved here including the Saber-toothed Deer!

Perfectly preserved in ash from a volcanic eruption some 12 million years ago in present day Idaho. It dropped about 1 foot of ash which suffocated the animals when it got into their lungs. The area where they found the fossils was most likely a watering hole where all of these species came to drink. After many years the skeletons became perfectly preserved. The volcanic eruption that caused it all was much larger than the one at Mount Saint Helens (compare them on the map below).
Due to shifting of the earth's crust Yellowstone National Park is now sitting on top of the "hot spot" that formed the volcano which covered Nebraska in a foot of ash.

My mom, dad , and I went out there in mid August to see this place for ourselves. After stopping in at the visitor center we went down to the Hubbard Rhino Barn where most of the well preserved fossils are. Named for the numerous rhino fossils there were also deer and horse fossils as well. The paleontologists uncovered all of the fossils and left them right where they were found. In order to keep them safe they just put a building over it.

Here are some photos of the fossils. They had a number of complete rhino skeletons including the one below.

A rhino head (below)

A small horse skeleton

They also had a couple camels but I couldn't find a photo of a complete skeleton on my camera. Outside of the building they are still finding fossils, but not large skeletons, just bone fragments.

After finding so many fossils it seems that there would be no more, but the excavation continues. They are finding even more rhinos in the barn and they expect to come across many more in the future. Since this is a birding blog I figure I better mention some of the birds that they found there. Exotic birds such as Gray-crowned Cranes, Secretary Bird were found there although I didn't get to see the fossils. To learn more about this site and to see hours and get directions go to: http://ashfall.unl.edu/. Another fossil bed I personally recommend is the Mammoth Site in western South Dakota's Black Hills. It is an amazing place with numerous mammoth tusks and bones displayed in the same manor. It's website is http://www.mammothsite.com/.

New Mexico-July 19-Day 1

2009-09-02T13:17:00.016-05:00

My mom, dad, and I got up early in the morning on July 19 to go to my friends house. This wasn't just any old visit, this visit was going to take me 15 hours away from home for three weeks. I loaded all of my stuff into their motorhome and I said goodbye to my parents. They watched as the motor home pulled out of my friends driveway and they tried to hold in their excitement that I was going to be gone for so long!

What was I doing for three weeks at over 15 hours away from my home? I was going all the way down to Albuquerque, NM in a motor home with my two best friends and the parents of one of them. For ten days of the trip I was was going to have my strength tested in the Sangre de Christo Mountains of northeast New Mexico at the Philmont Scout Ranch with eight other boys and two adults from across the country that I had never met before. For 75 long miles through the mountains I endured the heat, the cold, and of course the wildlife all on foot and with a 50 pound pack on my back. Little did I know while traveling across Nebraska on I-80 just how amazing an adventure was awaiting me in the mountains of the southwest. So here my adventure begins.

Traveling across Nebraska on I-80 is very boring. Field after field of corn and soybeans passed by for hours on end until 5:00 that night. Eventually the corn and soybean fields began to be replaced by pastures and the scenery was a bit more interesting. While at a rest stop I photographed a windmill that was out on one of the scenic pastures that covered the hills that rose up out of the Platte River Valley. Not long after taking that picture we headed south on I-76 and made it to Colorado, which was a new state for me.

At the state welcome center I saw more Western Kingbirds than I have ever seen. They seemed to be everywhere, with one (or more!) every way you looked. They nest in my area but not in such large numbers. I looked around the rest area for birds but, as I expected, there was nothing of particular interest just a lot of common birds that I see in my own backyard. After pulling away from the rest area we kept on heading west to Fort Morgan where we stayed for the night. As you can tell the first day was pretty uneventful.

Of course there are many more exciting things ro come so check in to read about the rest on my trip in the upcoming weeks. In tomorrow's post I will see the Rocky Mountains for the first time, travel through Denver, will find a few life birds, see Pike's Peak, and be in New Mexico for the first time.

Crop Duster

2009-09-02T12:26:00.007-05:00

A few weeks back a crop duster came to my town to spray the crops with some sort of chemical.

My dad and I went and watched it buzz over the fields. It is amazing the amount of acrobatics it takes for them to do this. Sometimes they would come freakishly close to a house while spraying the chemicals, flying straight at it and at the last second turn skyward and do this over and over again until the field was covered. I got lots of pictures and a video of this one as the pilot was doing his job. The video is not working right now but hopefully I will be able to get it to work within the next couple days. This sure beats the heck out of air shows, plus it's free!

Early Fall Migrants

2009-08-10T21:45:00.006-05:00

Before I get started on blogging about my New Mexico trip I thought I would post on a few birds I have seen in Iowa lately.

My mom and I went looking for Buff-breasted Sandpipers around the county late this afternoon without any luck. There weren't even any at a sod farm that had over 20 of them last year. Other shorebirds are on the move as evidenced by the nine species I saw. Although the Buff-breasted Sandpipers did not show up we did find nice and unexpected birds including a Least Tern and a White-faced Ibis. Both of these birds although regular in our area are hard to come by sometimes so it was nice to see them. The ibis was located at a place called Table Marsh. While looking at 20 Great Blue Herons, 5 Great Egrets, 1 Green Heron, a few Black Terns, and a couple Snow Geese a dark bird about heron size flew out of the weeds. It then landed and I quickly identified it as an ibis. The marsh has been one of the best place to look for waterbirds recently. All of these birds were joined by a lone SANDHILL CRANE back in July. I was the first to find the crane which one other birder was able to see.

This bird was a thrill to see as this species is rare in migration through our area not to mention mid summer. Fall migration has already begun for some birds so get out and enjoy it!

Bird Photo Quiz 4 Answer

2009-08-10T21:44:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to Bill Bossman for correctly identifying the mystery bird. This Canyon Wren was hopping around the rocks at the bottom of a canyon at Philmont Scout Ranch. We had just descended 1,000 ft down the western side of the canyon and were resting in order to regain our strength to be able to climb up 400+ ft on the east side. Although not a very hard quiz bird I couldn't resist posting the photo as a quiz because it was just looked perfect for that.

Bird Photo Quiz 4

2009-08-09T22:21:00.004-05:00

During my trip to New Mexico I got a couple nice quiz worthy photos. Here is the first one.
Post a comment to answer. All birds are on the ABA checklist which can be accessed by going to: http://www.aba.org/checklist/abachecklist.pdf

I'm Back

2009-08-08T23:40:00.005-05:00

After finding 26 life birds, hiking 75 miles through mountains in 10 days, climbing a 11,020 ft mountain, climbing up a 600ft tall sand dune at Great Sand Dunes NP, 4 bear sightings, and after treating someone for hypothermia I finally made it back home safely from my boyscout backpacking trip at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. As you can tell I have a lot to tell you about so check in from time to time to read all about my three week adventure!

Going to New Mexico

2009-07-19T06:27:00.002-05:00

I was one of about 60 lucky boy scouts from across America to be chosen to participate in a leadership hike through the mountains of New Mexico. We will be hiking through the world's largest boyscout camp, called Philmont Scout Ranch, which is located near Cimarron in the state's NE quarter.

Along the way we will learn leadership skills and participate in a number of interesting activities. On average we will be hiking 7 miles a day with a 50 lb backpack on for about 10 days.

The scout ranch has lots of wilderness which means lots of birds. Being so far away from home means that there will be plenty of new birds for me. Even the common ones such as Steller's Jay and Mountain Chickadee will be life birds for me. I hope to have some photos of the birds there to show you all since I bought a small camera just for this trip. If I am luck we might stop at Rocky Mountain NP on the way back which has White-tailed Ptarmigan, Black Swift, and Brown-capped Rosy-Finch!

A couple days before and then after the actual hike itself we will be staying at a retreat house in Albuquerque that is right along the Rio Grande River which will hopefully have a couple more life birds.

Visit my blog around August 10th when I am back to hear how my trip went.

I better go since it's only about an hour before I leave for NM by motor home with my two best friends. Wish me luck!

Chuck-will's-widows

2009-07-14T14:27:00.008-05:00

The day after the Fourth of July my mom dad went up to Yankton, SD to spend a couple days by the lake there which was formed by a dam on the Missouri River. With their being so much habitat and a large lake I always look foreword to seeing birds while I am there. A few days before we left some Chuck-will's-widows were heard at a place called Gavin's Point (left). These birds would be new for me so I was even more excited to be going.

The first day was nice and warm and a few birds were around with the best being a lone Caspian Tern. We swam and fished and before long it was starting to get dark. My dad and I drove out to the point and listened for the birds at about 9:30pm. At first it was quiet except for the noise of boaters loading their gear. At about 9:40, after the boaters left, the birds began to call. One Chuck-wills-widow was calling along with a number of the more common Whip-poor-wills. The birds often called at the same time which made it hard to tell which voice was which. The Chuck-will's-widow was life bird 312 for me.

After a successful search we headed back to the campground. The next day we got up bright and early to go to Lake Andes NWR and Fort Randall Dam but we never did make it to the refuge because my dad had to go back because of a trouble call. On the way there we did see (and hear) an Upland Sandpiper and a Loggerhead Shrike before we had to turn around.

The weekend was not over then. The same day I went canoeing with my sister who came up too and did some more swimming. Unfortunately no other good birds were really around except for a Franklin's Gull.

Dark Skies Over the Prairie

2009-06-30T14:43:00.002-05:00

Barn Swallows Nesting on Cliffs!

2009-06-21T21:51:00.011-05:00

For Father's Day I decided to tell about a Father's Day adventure that took place one year ago up north near Sioux Falls, SD. The weather was great and my dad and I were having a wonderful time. We visited Palisades State Park and checked out the neat Sioux Quartzite formations that rose above Split Rock Creek. The formations were neat and what we found nesting on them was even neater-Barn Swallows!! I saw a small nest clinging onto the cliff face and it had Barn Swallows going to and from it. It is hard enough to find Cliff Swallows nesting on cliffs not to mention Barn Swallows who were named very well. You just never seem to see them nesting away from human structures, at least not until then.

Later on my dad and I went to a place called Devil's Gulch (this was once a hide out for Jesse James) in Garretson, SD which had similar formations but on a smaller scale. They too had nesting swallows with Barn and Cliff Swallows nesting together! The lighting was just right when I took this photo from about 10 ft away.

and this photo. The Cliff Swallows were nesting right nearby.

I wonder how common the Barn Swallows were back when there were no barns or homes and where they nested. I am pretty sure they used to nest here but where else and what else did they use? Has anyone seen them nesting away from barns and homes as well? This discovery still intrigues me to this day.

Comma and Skipper

2009-06-21T17:08:00.002-05:00

I got two butterfly lifers today-Tawny edged Skipper and Eastern Comma! I ordered a butterfly net, cage, and book (Kaufman) to get started with learning about and seeing more butterflies up close. Everything has arrived except for the net so I am stuck with trapping butterflies with the fine-mesh cage by putting it over them and scaring them up into it. As you may be able to guess this didn't work too well. Keep watching for more posts to do with butterflies especially once my net comes.

Bison and Rattlesnakes

2009-06-20T20:28:00.029-05:00

Bison and Prairie Rattlesnakes often invoke images of the western plains far out west in Nebraska and South Dakota. At Broken Kettle Grasslands Iowans can get a taste of the west and see both Bison and rattlesnake. The Loess Hills here which I talked about in a previous post have many western species of plants and animals, some of which you may have to travel a hundred miles or more west in order find them again once you leave these prairies. Broken Kettle Grasslands is well known for a number of species with Bison, Black-billed Magpies, and Prairie Rattlesnakes capture most people's attention. It is also known as the largest grassland area in the state. The Nature Conservancy had it's annual meeting at this property that it owns and I made the 45 minute drive up to the grasslands to join in the fun all day today. They had field trips that gave me the opportunity to see the Bison and Prairie Rattlesnake.The day started out at Rattlesnake Knob (above) where Iowa's only known Prairie Rattlesnakes thrive. There are about 300 individuals there and I was lucky enough to see a few of them before the day was over. Dan Fogell, a university professor in Nebraska took a large group out to look for these reptiles. It was a bit scary to be tromping around a hill that these venomous snakes are supposedly common on. Every stick that somewhat resembled a rattlesnake and any noise that somewhat resembled a rattle seemed to turn into a rattlesnake in my mind, giving me an adrenaline rush from time to time. Thankfully Dan got us through without getting bitten, which means he has a perfect record of not having anyone being bitten by a dangerous snake under his guidance. He was worried about ruining his record today since he had such a large group.

We got to see one out on the knob thanks to the sharp eyes of one lady there. The first rattlesnake of any sort that I have ever seen in the wild is pictured below.
The rattlesnake was brought out of the net for pictures and better looks and then it was time to do research on it. Some of the snakes are implanted with a micro chip and this one is one of those snakes. All rattlesnakes that we saw were females and the one in these two photos is pregnant.

Besides the rattlesnakes I noticed this Yucca on the knob.

I also noticed my lifer Variegated Fritillary up there......

as well as my lifer Little Wood Satyr.

After that we went and listened to talks for a couple hours and had lunch which was obviously not as exciting as chasing rattlesnakes. When the talks were over some of the herpetologists (reptile and amphibian researchers) came out of the hills with another rattlesnake which I got great pictures of when they let her out of the bag.

This one looks ready to strike! They sure do make a neat noise with those rattles.

The Bison were next and so we drove to the pasture where they are kept. They locked them into a small pasture for easy viewing. When we got out of the bus the herpetologists found a Plains Leopard Frog which was a lifer for me. The frog was playing hard to catch so everyone was running around in the grass trying to find it. I was waiting to hear a loud crunching or squishing noise from the grass but luckily I didn't hear it which means no one stepped on him. The hump on his back I heard is not an injury even though it looks like something is wrong with it. It is just how they look when you hold them that way.

We saw the Bison from a distance but none of the pictures I got were that great. When we were riding in there I saw White Sage plants growing, which was another lifer for me. I also was glad to hear a Blue Grosbeak. An hour or two later four people including me drove up watch the Bison go back into the large pasture with the grassland conservationist Scott (he lives at and manages the prairie there), who is husband to a naturalist I know real well. We got to see the Bison even closer this time and I got some better photos. The male below was huge!The heard was awesome and it was neat to watch the bison calves in with the adults. When we were at the pasture I saw my life Regal Fritillary! It was a beautiful butterfly indeed. Earlier when we looked for them we just went on a small path on a wagon hooked to a tractor but Scott took us cross country in his truck which gave us an advantage. The herd of Bison is pictured below.

The day came to an end at 6 pm and I was glad to have had such a great time and to see so many things. I got 1 reptile, 1 amphibian, 3 butterfly, and 1 plant lifers for a total of 6 new species to add to my lists. No magpies were around but I still had a great time. Broken Kettle Grasslands is an amazing place made possible by the Nature Conservancy. It is a place worth visiting and exploring at least once and the Nature Conservancy is a great place to donate!

Favorite Bird (post #100)

2009-06-19T21:54:00.007-05:00

For post number 100 I decided to tell about my favorite bird, the Blue Grosbeak. One reason that I like them is that they are beautiful birds with a neat blue body and chestnut wing bars. I especially like their thick beaks, which, when seen in the right light, seem glossy. To see a better photo of a Blue Grobeak click on the link below:
http://portal.delaware.gov/photos/photos/2480.jpg

I enjoy hearing them sing their unique song every spring and summer as I ride my bike down the gravel roads.

Another thing that I like so much about them is the fact that the only areas in Iowa where you regularly see them is in the west, where I live. We kind of have them all to ourselves. I love to tell all of the central and eastern Iowa birders at the ornithologist union meetings of the Blue Grosbeaks I have had in my yard.

So what's not to like about this bird?

House Wren Close-Up

2009-06-18T10:39:00.000-05:00

Severe Weather Season

2009-06-18T10:12:00.007-05:00

In the Midwest, the arrival of spring and summer means the arrival of severe thunderstorms and even tornadoes. Hail, wind, and lighting all are major threats and flash flooding is not unexpected. Although I have lived in the Midwest all my life, I have never seen a tornado. However, I have seen some funnel clouds that certainly seemed threatening. One time when I was on the computer at my house an unexpected tornado dropped just under a mile away. I didn't know it was there so I missed it when it was on the ground and I only got to see it going back into the clouds as a funnel. The severe weather has been in the area the past couple nights, and last night I took the following pictures from our deck.

This was taken at 10:40 last night. The lighting lit up the ominous clouds.

Taken at 10:49pm, this picture shows how much the lighting lights up the sky and everything else.

same with this one which was taken just minutes earlier.

and the next morning across the street, the wind damage was easy to see just across the street from my house.

Another Hike Through the Forest

2009-06-17T19:29:00.005-05:00

Today I went hiking at the same state park I mentioned in a previous post. The only thing that changed is that it was a friend from boy scouts not my sister that was hiking with me. We are preparing for a high adventure trip through the mountains in New Mexico at a place called Philmont Scout Ranch this year. This scout ranch is the largest in the world and has a couple mountains reaching over 14,000 ft and of course some neat birds.

While hiking around the park in the humid weather we saw a number of birds including one that is fairly rare to our part of the state.

When we got to a place called Turtle Lake I heard the song of a Prothonotary Warbler! This is a pretty rare bird for our area. This past week a birdwatcher found a pair nesting about 45 minutes north from there on the IA-SD border. It is amazing that the area has has a couple sightings of this species in late June. I never did see the bird but maybe I will some other day when I'm out there. I also heard a Northern Parula which was the first one I saw at the park this year.

The valley that the lake is in has a small stream that had a few birds along it like a singing Louisiana Waterthrush and a Summer Tanager. We were able to see the tanager out in the open, which doesn't happen often.

After that we started to hike back. On the way I checked for the Cerulean Warbler that I heard a couple weeks beforehand but we could only find a Louisiana Waterthrush.

Other common forest birds that we saw or heard on the way back included Ovenbird and Scarlet Tanager but not much more.

Young Woodpecker

2009-06-17T13:32:00.004-05:00

My sister and I found this young Red-bellied Woodpecker sitting on a sidewalk at a nature center yesterday. We also heard a Louisiana Waterthrush as well.

Black-necked Stilt & More

2009-06-16T22:31:00.003-05:00

This past Sunday my dad and I went on a trip up to the Iowa Great Lakes (north central) region to go fishing. It just so happened that just a short distance from where we were going to fish a Black-necked Stilt (a fairly rare but regular bird in Iowa) was seen just the night before at an area slough. When we pulled up to the area we easily found the bird wading out in the shallow water of the slough looking for food. It's legs were very long and really made him stand out. I was having trouble with getting photos of this, my 309th life bird because of the clouds and distance but then the skies opened up and I was finally able to get a decent but distant picture.
As we were watching him my attention turned to a white colored tern that was flying over with a group of Black Terns. It had completely plain gray upper wings and a hint of black on the underside of the primaries, he was smaller, and had an orange-red bill. This turned out to be the first Common Tern that I had seen in Iowa.

After the stop at the slough we went on and spent some time fishing. We caught bullhead and I even snagged a carp but the line got when we tried pulling it up. It was only a couple feet from us when the line gave out. That was the "fish that got away story" of the trip.

When the fishing was done with my dad and I went out and did some more birding before we had to head home. On Grover's Lake on the Iowa/Minnesota border I was pleased to find two breeding plumage Red-necked Grebes along with five Redheads. At Storm Lake, about an hour south of there we came across a group of thee Caspian Terns. I chased them around trying to get photos but they didn't cooperate.

The day ended up being nice and sunny which was nice since the weather has been bad lately. The fish were biting (for a while at least) and the birds were nice too.

A Hike Through the Forest

2009-06-16T22:19:00.004-05:00

My sister and I took a four mile hike through a local state park a couple weeks ago. During the trip we were able to search many wooded ravines around the park, many of which held some nice birds. The first good bird we came across was a singing Cerulean Warbler. These warblers are somewhat rare to our area but obviously this spring we had a few more than usual. Since he was up in the high treetops were were unable to see him. Not to far down the trail from the warbler we heard a Summer Tanager. Just like the warbler, he was hidden in the treetops. The trail was downhill and as we got to the bottom we began hearing Louisiana Waterthrush. We had four during the whole trip. I was able to actually see one as it walked around near a small stream. Another Summer Tanager was heard but not seen as well.

The non birding highlight of the trip was seeing a baby deer. Luckily my sister had a cell phone with a camera with her so we could get some pictures.

I love to hike in this park and am always finding something new and interesting there, especially when it comes to birds. I am going out there tomorrow and hope to find some more good birds so keep watching for a post on that.

Hooded Warbler on the Road

2009-06-16T22:15:00.002-05:00

Another shot of the Hooded Warbler from the last post. He decided to land on the side of the road when we were taking pictures.

Birding at Pilot Knob and Eagle Marsh

2009-06-15T08:15:00.014-05:00

*Make sure look at the previous posts I made, I have been putting out quite a few these past few days to catch up and don't want you to miss them.

Back on June 1 I took the 3 hour journey up to Pilot Know State Park in north central Iowa with Paul to look for a Hooded Warbler and other warblers that were being seen there. The park is named after the hill there which is the second highest point in Iowa. We got started a little bit late but we still saw some nice birds. The first bird on our list of things to find was the Connecticut Warbler. We looked and played a tape right where it was seen the day before but we were unsuccessful in finding it.

The Hooded Warbler was next and we found the bird fairly easily. It posed very nicely at sometimes but it would often move as you brought up your camera to take a picture. Despite that I got this nice picture of my 308th life bird. He decided to sing just as I took it.

Here is another picture of the same bird.

The Hooded Warbler is quite the rarity this far north in Iowa. They usually hang out in the southern and eastern areas of the state.

The other bird we were wanting to find was a Cerulean Warbler. We found one of these stunning blue birds and I got a great photo of it. The natural lighting was great, plus I added the flash to make the eye and the underside stand out. Obviously I had the settings just right when I took that photo. It turned out great, and the eye showed up which really added to the photo!

When we were done with looking for warblers we went off in search of other woodland birds around the park. We heard a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher while driving and walking around. Another thing that we found was a family of Eastern Phoebes. The young ones were all squished tightly into the nest which was under a picnic shelter's roof.

On the way home we stopped by Eagle Lake (marsh). There were lots of cattails and plenty of deep water for marsh birds to reside in. When we first got there I easily discovered a Red-necked Grebe and a Western Grebe. Since the discovery I made, the local birders have been monitoring these birds which are still there. Ruddy Duck, Sora, Northern Harrier, Marsh Wren, and Swamp Sparrow were also there on the marsh. We heard an Alder Flycatcher there and on the way out we picked up five Olive-sided Flycatchers.

We had a great day of birding and I got one life bird as well as four year birds. That concludes my birding adventure to the second highest point in Iowa.

Seminar Bird Photo

2009-06-15T07:55:00.006-05:00

The people of a small town in the Loess Hills put a Christmas Star decoration on top of one of the highest hills in the area. It is kind of neat to see it lit from miles away but the down side is that birds have trouble seeing it sometimes which means that they could potentially hit it and die from the impact. The star is kept in place by wires which are even harder for the birds to see.When I took a hike to the top with a group (from the prairie seminar) learning about the 6000 year old human skeletons found at the foot of the hill we came across an oriole that apparently hit the decoration. I stated that I didn't get one bird photo during the seminar but I forgot about this one. It is the poor Baltimore Oriole that hit the star. It makes me wonder what other kinds of birds have hit this while passing through.

Despite the find of a dead oriole it was a nice field trip and the view was amazing (at least for Iowans who don't have any mountains) and you could see for miles. The wires that keep the star in place that can be a hazard to birds can be seen easily in this picture.

Wet Papers :(

2009-06-14T22:13:00.004-05:00

A week ago a birding friend of mine took me along with him to do a Breeding Bird Survey Route. The point of the survey is to find out how many birds are around in a certain area during the breeding season. We got up before the sun and got started right as the birds woke up. The survey consists of stopping at 50 stops along a 25 mile route and looking and listening for birds for three minutes at each stop and then recording what birds there are and how many of each there are. The morning was going great and we saw some neat birds like Blue Grosbeak and Western Kingbird but then it took a turn for the worst at stop 19.

We were standing on a bridge surveying birds from there. My friend decided to put the paperwork which was attached to a clipboard on the railing. He decided to move it to a safer spot since it was a little windy and he didn't want them to go into the river. In the process of trying to move the papers somehow they ended up falling out of his hands and into the river! We acted quickly to save the papers but it was to no avail. I did manage to catch a few with a stick but the rest just floated down the river. When I got back we noticed that the papers I did snag had nothing recorded on them yet!

Although we were discouraged and in total disbelief we moved on and finished the route and rewrote all of the papers from memory.

Talk about dampened spirits!

Loess Hills Prairie Seminar

2009-06-14T21:30:00.020-05:00

The Loess Hills of western Iowa are an interesting land form that only occurs in Iowa and China. A light colored soil called Loess was blown into huge piles to the east of the Missouri River and that was how they were formed. In some areas the soil is over 200 ft deep. This 200 mile long stretch of hills is rugged compared to much of Iowa and is home to many interesting animals and plants. The Loess soil has a hard time retaining water and atop the dry ridge tops the prairie is dry and is home to species of both plants and animals that are found further west where it is drier.

The Loess Hills Prairie Seminar was created to help acquaint people with these hills (which I live in) and get them to understand their importance. Many people including me go to the seminar to learn about these hills and about all the plants and animals that inhabit them. I didn't just go to learn this time like I have in recent years but I also went to teach. I did a presentation called "An Introduction to Birdwatching". Twelve people came and a few seemed very interested in birdwatching and some even took notes! It was neat to have a chance to share birding with other people.

I saw a few birds including Black-billed Cuckoo, Blue-winged Warbler, and Northern Parula while I was at the seminar a few weeks back.

One thing I tried to do at the seminar is to learn about plants. I went on a hike to learn about prairie plants with a professor from Iowa State University and learned a lot from him as did the other participants. I took some of these pictures of the plants I saw the trip and during the rest of the weekend. Amazingly I managed to not get one single photo of a bird! Don't worry, the plants will never replace the birds.

Purple Locoweed Large-flowered Bearded Tongue
Prairie Phlox
Hoary Puccoon Soapweed (Yucca)

Prairie Turnip
Low Bindweed
Downy Painted Cup

Ground Plum

Blue-eyed Grass

Memorial Weekend Birding Part II

2009-05-27T13:46:00.007-05:00

On Saturday birding friend Paul came and picked me up and we went out birding around the county like I did on Thursday but we visited some different areas.

The first place we did some birding was on a small dirt road about 3 miles from my house up in the Loess Hills. The bushes along the road had several foy Bell's Vireos as well as Least and Willow Flycatcher. A couple Sedge Wrens and Grasshopper Sparrows were calling from the grasslands that surrounded the area. Bank Swallows were nesting in a cliff that was created when the cut through a hill to put in a road. Paul got a photo of a swallow with my camera for me since they were not on my side.
The sun was shining and the birds were singing all over the place. Bobolinks were found a mile or two down the road and were singing their strange jumbled song. As we moved on we found a few more grassland birds including an Eastern Meadowlark an more Bell's Vireo putting us at 12 for the day.

We headed down to the Missouri River Valley to a place called Table Marsh WMA. We were surprised to find so much water and so many birds there. We knew it was there but didn't think that it was as large as it was. Over fifty American White Pelicans were there resting on a small island. Surrounding them there were tons of shorebirds including American Avocet, Dunlin, and Stilt Sandpiper. Black Terns and a Forster's Tern were cruising the area looking for food. A number of Great Egrets were fairly close to the road. They were a bit shy and flew as soon as we got close enough to get a photo. I did however manage to photograph one.
Waterfowl were also there including a Green-winged Teal (strange to see them this time of year), two Hooded Mergansers, a Gadwall pair, and Blue-winged Teal, Mallard, and Canada Geese. We found a large mud flat with even more shorebirds on it. We found a few Semipalmated Plovers there as well as the other shorebirds previously mentioned and some more common ones. Before we left we checked the large cattail stands for birds and found a Sora, a few Yellow-headed Blackbirds, and a good supply of Marsh Wrens. After that it was time to head home after a nice five hours of birding. Table Marsh really surprised us and appears to have a lot of potential and we will be heading back to do some more birdwatching for sure! One thing I forgot to mention that there is a dike that runs along the west side of the marsh making it easy to observe the birds from above, revealing more birds than we could see from eye level.

That concludes my Memorial Weekend Birding.

Memorial Weekend Birding Part I

2009-05-27T12:42:00.015-05:00

Spring migration is coming to an end and I am seeing less and less migrants and more resident birds instead. This past Memorial Weekend I tried desperately to get as many birds as I could to add to my year list and even my life list. We were a bit short on passerines like warblers and vireos. This spring was absolutely HORRIBLE for migrating passerines. I have only seen 12 species of warblers so far this spring compared to the 23 species I saw during spring migration last year. That is a difference of eleven species! Despite the lack of warblers we still had a good weekend.

Although not considered part of Memorial Weekend I am going to include Thursday because it was the first day of summer break and sort of started the weekend for me. To celebrate the first day of summer break my mom and I headed out in search of birds around the county that we call home. We ended up with 98 species, with one of them being a life bird. The first good bird that we found was a Lapland Longspur at a place called the Luton WMA. This was the latest date that anyone had seen one in Iowa by one day. It was neat to see it in it's full breeding plumage. I tried to get a picture of it but my attempts were unsuccessful. In the same general area we had three Blue Grosbeaks (foy) and some Dunlin.

The next two places we stopped at were cattle farms. They produced 31 Snow Geese and two Upland Sandpipers.

Sandhill Lake had some good birds including a Black-bellied Plover which was my 308th life bird! It was on a small pond that had lots of other shorebirds on it. More Snow Geese were there but only four.At a place called Brown's Lake we found a number of birds but none was of much interest except for some Purple Martins that were on a nesting box. Not far from there was New Lake. We found 8 Hudsonian Godwits as well as some Great Egrets. An Osprey was tending it's nest that sits on top of a cell phone tower about a mile away from both New Lake and Brown's Lake.

After a successful time birding the Missouri River Valley we decided to bird some Woodland areas up in the hills. We visited Stone State Park and Bacon Creek Park and found Scarlet Tanagers, Ovenbirds, etc. At Bacon Creek I was lucky enough to see a Cerulean Warbler. The bird was reported to me by a local birder. The directions he gave me were very helpful and I found the bird right where it was said to be. It was singing up a storm and seemed very territorial. I managed to get a few crappy shots of the bird. The lighting was worse here than anywhere else we had previously visited.

We finished the day back in the valley at Owego Wetlands. I needed a few more birds for my day list so we headed down there so I could do some wading. I scared up three Soras and saw a Green Heron fly by. The last new bird of the day if I remember correctly was a Western Kingbird, but I could be wrong. It was a fun day to be out and I was able to add some birds to my lists. Stay tuned for part two of my Memorial Weekend Birding.

Sphinx Moth: hummingbird of the insect world

2009-05-20T22:02:00.010-05:00

A large number of White-lined Sphinx Moths are visiting a flowering lilac bush in my yard tonight. I tried to and then successfully photographed one of them feeding. These moths are as challenging to photograph as hummingbirds and they even look like them too. I remember a number of years back I saw one of these during the day visiting some flowers and I thought it was a hummingbird! It must be a common mistake that people make since it was mentioned it in the Kaufman Field Guide to Insects. These moths are good sized and have a long, bill-like tube to suck up nectar, just like a hummingbird, plus they hover. If you want to see one of these strange insects go out to a flowering bush or a flower bed at night with a flashlight and you might catch a glimpse of this hummingbird of the insect world.

Baby Robin

2009-05-20T21:54:00.007-05:00

I found this baby robin in my yard today while out enjoying the nice 90 degree weather.

"Mommy, I want a worm!"

Cerulean Warbler and friends

2009-05-20T12:18:00.005-05:00

The past week has been hectic as I have been finishing up school and taking tests and on top of that, the computer has been acting up. Finally I got hold of my dad's laptop to give a quick update.
This past weekend I was lucky enough to hear my lifer Cerulean Warbler (307)n Nebraska on a boyscout camping trip. I think there was more than one but it was hard to tell. They are scarce in our area but used to be more common in years gone by. The scout ranch has had these warblers nest there before but they have been hard to find recently. Last year they were not seen or heard. I hope that they stick around this year to nest.
Warblers have been moving through and I have had Black-throated Green-Warbler and Blackpoll Warblers show up in the yard recently. Besides that I have not gotten out much, so hopefully I will get out some in the next few days.

Indianapolis 500 Qualifying

2009-05-12T15:16:00.011-05:00

My dad and I drove 12 hours straight to Indianapolis, IN to watch race car drivers attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, the greatest race in the world this past week. This is a time when the drivers practice and then qualify to get the chance to race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We both enjoyed the weekend and I have found a new love for racing. The track is 2.5 miles around and it takes the cars 40 seconds to travel that distance meaning that they go over 220 mph! They measure their speed down to the thousandth and every number counts. Every mph counts here and even one or two mph too low could mean getting knocked out of the race line-up.

Danica Patrick!

My dad has for many year been a race addict since he first went there when he was young. He says that racing to him is like birds to me. He used to race at local tracks and always loved what he did. It had been a number of years since he was able to come to Indianapolis to watch the cars so he was VERY excited to be going there once again. This year was especially exciting for him for a couple reasons.

The first was that I was going and could enjoy it with him. The second was that he got to go into the Pagoda (pictured below) , a large ten story tower overlooking the race track, and meet a number of well known radio announcers for the race.

The view from the Pagoda was amazing and it was neat to go where few people are allowed.
It was a neat trip and I will never forget it. We were also able to see a car crash into the wall between the first and second turn there. Luckily the driver was okay.

I almost forgot the birds. I didn't see many since I really didn't have any time to go birdwatching but had some birds that I don't usually see back home-Northern Mockingbird and Tufted Titmouse. I can't wait to go again and can't wait to tell you all about the birds I see the next time I'm out there.

Busy as a Beaver

2009-05-11T20:38:00.016-05:00

I was busier than the beaver to the left on the weekend of May 1-3 because I was at the Iowa Ornithologist Union meeting in Carroll, IA. We had a great time and overall 181 species were tallied. The highlight on the weekend came on Friday night. On the way to the meeting my dad and I stopped at a place called Hobb's Pitts. There was a Black-bellied Whistling Duck there the night before which is casual in Iowa and would be a new bird for my life list. My dad and I searched all around the pitts for the duck with no luck. As we headed back to the car I looked to the east and saw the bird flying! I wasn't able to get a photo of it but there was no doubt about what it was. It was life bird 306 for me and a neat one too.

The rest of the weekend was great aand we turned up lots of other neat birds. A few highlights included a Surf Scoter, Western Grebe, White-faced Ibis, Piping Plover, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and Blue-headed Vireo. The biggest miss for me was the Western Sandpiper. I missed it by two minutes! I was litterally just hundreds of feet away from it and then it flew off. I can't complain though since I did see some other cool birds.

Here are some pictures I got during the weekend:

I got within 20 ft of this Western Grebe but I couldn't get a decent picture because the sun was behind it.

An American Bittern Playing hide and go seek.

A Double-crested Cormorant

An American White Pelican

A House Wren at my house before we left for the meeting.
I saved the best for last-the WORLD'S LARGEST POPCORN BALL

Do Phalaropes Get Dizzy?

2009-05-11T20:25:00.005-05:00

After seeing this it makes one wonder how they don't.

Hudsonian Godwit-No Longer a Nemisis

2009-04-30T08:30:00.002-05:00

Last night my friend called me to report that four Hudsonian Godwits were at a place called New Lake. It wasn't too far from my home so my dad and I headed out to find my no. 1 nemesis Iowa (and life) bird. When we got to the lake I had trouble finding them in the low light but with some effort I was able to find them feeding on the far shore. They all took off and I counted at least six in the group before they were all gone. The Hudsonian Godwit was life bird 306 and Iowa bird 263. Two nemesis Iowa birds down so far this year, one to go.

Birding in the Rain

2009-04-29T20:16:00.008-05:00

Today my mom and I went out birding for a couple hours after a dentist appointment. It was rainy but warm and there were a few birds out and about. Some of the first birds we saw were around 40 Franklin's Gulls that flew over the road.

More gulls were seen shortly after that a cattle farm but they were not Franklin's but Ring-billed instead. We had five of them as well as Snow Geese and Double-crested Cormorants. After that we decided to check for the Snowy Plover at another farm pond but we had no luck finding it or any other shorebird there.

The best birding of the short trip was at Owego Wetlands. I dusted off my waders that have been sitting unused for just under a year now at my house and took off into the wetlands to search for Soras, Virginia Rails, American Bitterns, etc. One of the first "highlight" birds was a foy Marsh Wren that popped out of the cattails to come check me out. After that I saw three more of them as I worked my way through the tangles of weeds. I began to doubt that I was going to see any of my target birds but I was wrong. About halfway through my journey I flushed a foy Sora. On the way back to the car I flushed up two more Soras (heard another) and a foy American Bittern.

On the way back home I stopped by the Luton WMA North and came across Paul. After we talked for a minute he started to head off and as he did a Black-crowned Night-Heron flew into the area and sat at the side of the pond we were overlooking. It was the best look I had ever had of a night-heron and it was another foy. Of course I called Paul and he turned around and saw it as well.

Also seen on the way back was a Canada Goose family with six young ones. The "runt" (the bird with the red circle around it) in the group kept falling behind the rest. His future doesn't seem very bright. I had a nice day of birding and got to go wading which I always enjoy doing. I had four year birds on the trip as well as a foy Swainson's Thrush in my yard the same morning which put my year list up to 159. Almost forgot to add that I saw a Red-headed Woodpecker, the first one I have seen in Iowa this year.

The thrashers are back....

2009-04-29T17:33:00.010-05:00

...and are making a lot of noise. The only species of thrasher that lives in my area is the Brown Thrasher. They are the easternmost of all of the thrashers in North America and are related to mockingbirds. They mimic other birds like mockingbirds do and are always fun to listen to. I got one on video singing in my backyard from the top of a tree.

Mr and Mrs Muscovy

2009-04-29T17:27:00.002-05:00

I found this pair of deomestic Muscovy Ducks taking up refuge in a drainage ditch the other day. They have been hanging outr there since the 23rd. I have seen some interesting (uncountable)waterfowl in the same area, such as a pair of domestic Graylag Goose.

More on the Snowy Plover

2009-04-25T17:14:00.001-05:00

The Snowy Plover found by my friend Paul was seen again today but not by me. Paul got a photo of the bird which he gave me permission to use on the blog. Thanks Paul!

Snowy Plover!

2009-04-24T19:49:00.004-05:00

At 5:30 this afternoon my birding friend called me with great news that a Snowy Plover, an casual bird in Iowa and a first for Woodbury County, was at the Dairy Ponds. I was ecstatic to hear that and I stopped what I was doing right away and my dad and I went down to see it. We were stuck behind a very slow truck going about 20mph for about 2 miles which made me very stressed. As soon as we got to the Dairy Ponds and I saw the plover however, the stress went away and I was back to normal, just more excited than usual. It was life bird 305 for me and a lifer for Paul! I will post pictures and more later on, time permitting.

Waterfowl Up Close

2009-04-23T15:34:00.011-05:00

Yesterday my family spent the day in Yankton, SD and Sioux Falls, SD. We stopped by a duck pond in Yankton that had a number of ducks, many of which appear to be wild. All of the pictures will get bigger if you click on them if you would like to see the finer details on the birds.
The first picture here is of a Snow Goose. It is not often that you see them up close because they are usually out in the fields during migration. The duck pond provided safe haven for injured geese who loved the food we brought them.
A couple Ross's Goose were there. They were so small and cute and had the brightest white feathers I have ever seen on a bird.

Wood Ducks were also there in numbers. I got great shots of both males and females. They are one of my favorite ducks to photograph since they are such pretty birds.A Mallard (possibly domestic) provided great photo opportunities as well. The lighting was perfect and made the green feathers on it's head shine.

Canada Geese were also there and came in with the other birds to check out what we brought for them to eat.

Nemesis No More!

2009-04-23T11:33:00.007-05:00

For the past couple of years when I thought of nemesis Iowa state birds Marbled and Hudsonian Godwits and the Black-billed Magpie came to mind. These three birds always seemed to somehow escape my view no matter how many times I tried to find them.
This past Tuesday I tried to find two of the three nemesis birds-the Hudsonian Godwit and the Black-billed Magpie.

The godwit I tried to find was reported from a place called New Lake. It had been seen a couple of times in the past few days. I went out there early in the morning and didn't see it even though it was there the night before :( Now it is an even bigger nemesis bird. The trip wasn't wasted however, we did see a foy Osprey on it's nest atop a large tower.

After that it was onto the magpies. I spent a leisurely day with my sister and her boyfriend from Seattle as well as my sister that lives in town. We hiked Stone State Park and saw a few birds including a foy Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. After the hike we decided to go up to see the Broken Kettle Grasslands, the largest remnants in Iowa and the American Bison that live there. We were not really birdwatching, in fact I forgot my binoculars, but I still tried to find some birds without them. As we were driving around I noticed my birding friend Jerry parked on the side of the road. He was birdwatching and to my surprise he said that there were four magpies sitting in the bushes about 350 ft away from the road. I didn't see the birds at first but I easily located the nest. A couple minutes later I saw two birds out in the open and snapped a few pictures before they dove back into the bushes.

The Black-billed Magpie was my 261st Iowa state bird. It can only be seen at the Broken Kettle Grasslands where it nests. I never expected to see them, it sort of came as a surprise. One nemesis down, two more to go!

I'm an Eagle

2009-04-22T22:12:00.004-05:00

Tonight I went in to do a board of review for my Eagle Scout rank in Boyscouts. All went well and so now I am officially an Eagle Scout. I started back in spring 2005 and am amazed at how quickly those four years went.

Late Season Siskin

2009-04-20T22:21:00.017-05:00

Mammal Invasion

2009-04-15T20:07:00.006-05:00

Mammals are taking over this post!

I had a few photos I got earlier this year and I wanted to share them since I somehow forgot to. I am not just into birds, I also am into amphibians, butterflies and other insects, mammals, and reptiles, although birds generally come first.

The animals in the photo below are American Bison. I got this photo at Broken Kettle Grasslands in Iowa back in January. A small herd was reintroduced to this large prairie area, the largest in the state. In this photo they are only in a small trap pasture to help them get settled into their surroundings. The preserve manager said that they usually sit on the side of the hill that the wind is hitting for some reason or another. They are expected to have babies before long here, in fact I think some have already been born.

This photo of a Red Squirrel was taken on Valentine's Day weekend at Gooseberry Falls SP near the feeders in northern Minnesota. They were around in good numbers there and around many of the feeders elsewhere in the north woods.
The last photo is of a White-tailed Deer. These common deer that have a wide distribution across North America are numerous in some parts of Iowa. This individual was underneath a feeder at a nature center looking for food. It is funny what you can find at feeders besides birds. When I get a photo of a Black Bear at a feeder I will make sure to post it!

That's all the mammal photos I have to share. Watch out for the next mammal invasion on Birding with Tucker.

Backyard Hermit

2009-04-15T13:30:00.007-05:00

No I do not have Hermit Crabs living in my backyard, what I am talking about is a Hermit Thrush that stopped by on it's way up north to it's breeding grounds in the boreal forest this afternoon. It was wet and dreary but I managed to get an identifiable photo of it before it flew off. This is the first one I've seen in my yard and the first one of the year for me. I don't see them often during migration so this was a treat (and so was that twix bar I just ate). It is just another sign that spring is here at last.

From Injured to Dead

2009-04-14T17:00:00.003-05:00

The injured grackle I posted about the other day appears to be dead. I came upon a grackle that appeared to be the same one. It looks like he made it up a hill before finally dying. The iridescent color of the feathers really stands out in this picture. Goodby grackle, rest in peace.

The First Leaves of Spring

2009-04-14T16:59:00.002-05:00

Up and Down the Big Sioux

2009-04-13T21:01:00.015-05:00

Today I went out with Paul, a birder friend on a day long trip up the Big Sioux River Valley on Iowa's northwestern border. We had a great time and found some nice birds and some good places to go birding.

The day started out at eight in the morning. The weather was dreary and some light rain started falling. Even though the weather was bad at first the sun did come out and so did the birds. One of the first stops we made was the Broken Kettle Grasslands. This area has the largest prairie remnants in Iowa making for some interesting birding. We headed up a windy road that went up to the tops of the hills. On the hillside some dams were constructed to make small farm ponds. We found a Great Egret in no time as well as an assortment of the usual birds. We had a singing Swamp Sparrow in the cattails near the ponds which was a year bird for me. The songs of Field Sparrows could also be heard there on the scenic prairie. In some trees near the road we were surprised to find a Brown Creeper making it's way up a tree. Another year bird came in the form of an Eastern Towhee. There were a few of these in the brush on the hillside singing away. One bird we hoped to see was a Black-billed Magpie but there were none there. These are my largest nemesis state bird. I can never seem to find them there even though other people can. Below is a picture of the Black-billed Magpie habitat that is so prevalent there.

On the way to a good magpie site we found a couple shorebirds on a pond including a Wilson's Snipe which was a year bird for both of us.On the way over to the magpie site we heard a Chipping Sparrow (yb). While looking for magpies we heard an Eastern Meadowlark, another year bird.

After we were done at the grasslands we headed to the Higman's Quarry in Westfield, IA and found some intersting birds there. On the way in we found a Loggerhead Shrikethat was hunting from the power lines near the road. He was a challenge to photograph as he kept flushing when we tried to get close enough for a nice picture.The best shot I could manage is below. A Savannah Sparrow was also seen on the way in.When we got into the quarry we didn't see much at first but did eventually find some ducks and four Eared Grebes (year bird) on the ponds there. We moved onward and found some more Eared Grebes which brought our total to 13 of them which is a good number for our area. More ducks were there but not much else so we moved on. We birded a little in some towns in the area but didn't see much. One pond we came across was productive however and had some shovelers and other waterfowl in it.We came across a good birding spot along the river. It was another sand and gravel quarry but the ponds there were bigger and deeper than those at the other one. We saw lots of bird when we got in there including Pied-billed Grebe (yb), Double-crested Cormorant (yb), Bald Eagle, and the more common birds. It appeared to have a lot of potential and we will be back there soon. We went back in a wooded area and flushed a Great Horned Owl there. Unbelievably we found more Eared Grebes putting us at 18 individuals for the day! An American White Pelican posed nicely for a picture at the quarry on the way out.
We headed further north but saw few birds but we kept going. We saw some year bird including Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Vesper Sparrow but there was not much else besides the common birds. Of the few bird species we found far up north this pair of Wood Ducks were one of them.
The count for the day was 71 species with a number of year birds and a lot of fun!

Up in Flames!

2009-04-12T19:12:00.009-05:00

On a nice spring day in Iowa many farmers are out burning their fields. Today, like the farmers, my dad, mom, and me did some burning on our property which is a couple acres in size. I got a neat photo (left) of the flames as they flared up. Fires are one of my favorite things to photograph because they make for interesting photos.

It comes as no surprise that spring is the time when more 911 calls come in about fires than any other season. Springtime in Iowa wouldn't be the same without prairie fires and lots of 911 calls.

The Yellow Easter-Peep

2009-04-12T14:07:00.011-05:00

Look, it's the Yellow Easter-Peep over there on the tree stump!

Have a great Easter and enjoy the peeps (if you can stand how they taste).

Injured Grackle

2009-04-11T15:34:00.004-05:00

I came across an injured grackle this morning while going down to get the newspaper. It appeared to have a broken wing, although in the picture it is hard to see. I got a few photos of him but decided to leave him alone since he apparently didn't like my company. Grackles more than any other birds around my place have hit windows. They usually don't die but are so stunned it takes them a minute to leave. The other day we had two grackles hit windows on our house at the same time!

Bird Photo Quiz 3 Answer

2009-04-11T11:57:00.007-05:00

John G from California identified every bird in the photo correctly. I would give an explanation on how to identify them, but that's time I could be outside birding in the nice spring weather instead of sitting on the computer.

From Right to Left: Black-legged Kittiwake (ad), Ring-billed Gull (1st winter), Franklin's Gull (ad), Ring-billed Gull (ad)

If you would like to learn how to identify gulls of North America I suggest buying the Gulls of the Americas by Howell and Dunn. It can be purchased at http://www.abasales.com/.

A Good Friday for Birding

2009-04-10T22:06:00.014-05:00

My dad and I got up early today (Good Friday) in order to go visit a Greater Prairie Chicken Lek out in the fine state of Nebraska. When we showed up to the site it didn't take long to find displaying birds. We could see and hear them from the road but as you can tell from the picture below we couldn't manage to get a great photo. It was neat to see them inflate their neck sacs with air and dance around. One female in particular had three crazy male birds booming around her.
I have been out to these Leks before to see the chickens but the other two times I have been out there the winds were very strong, the birds were fewer in number, and you couldn't hear them. It was nice to view them on a nice calm morning when I could take it all in. We easily saw close to twenty birds on two Lek sites within an hour.

After we observed the prairie chickens for a while we decided to head out to Yankton to see what birds were around the lake and dam. I had a couple year birds including Pied-billed Grebe and Great Egret. There was a lot there just not much variety. I had some fun photographing the birds there and I got a very nice shot of a Ring-billed Gull that came down to check out our cinnamon rolls. The Bonaparte's Gulls however were not interested in what we had to offer.
The most common bird there was the American Coot. They were all over the place in the thousands. Some birds were out of the water feeding on the grass. During the summer there is one particular location where they are all over the road and it is like the parting of the Red Sea as they run to get out of the way of your car.
I really liked this picture. It is not the prettiest or the sharpest but I loved that the coots were side by side, one with the wings up and one with the wings down as they took off.

After our birdwatching around the lake we had to head home. We did howeverdo a little birdwatching when we stopped at a small city pond. It had a few "wild waterfowl" there including Wood Duck and Ross's Goose (pictured).It was a good Friday for birding indeed with three new year birds and nice weather!

Creeping Creepers

2009-04-09T09:28:00.008-05:00

This morning while I was out in my yard I came across a Brown Creeper. This is the first one I've seen so far this year. This past winter creepers were very scarce and I only saw one and it was not in my yard. In most years I have a couple that come to my feeders almost everyday during the winter but none were there this year. These are one of my favorite birds so hopefully I have some more that show up next year.

Bird Photo Quiz 3

2009-04-09T07:23:00.007-05:00

As you can clearly see this photo quiz has gulls in it. But can you identify them all? Since the picture is small in the post, click on it to make it larger to help you see field marks. It was taken in Iowa in late October. Post a comment to answer. All birds are on the ABA checklist which can be accessed by going to: http://www.aba.org/checklist/abachecklist.pdf

More Robin Photos

2009-04-08T19:40:00.021-05:00

I went out and photographed the American Robins again today since they were being so cooperative. Common they may be, but I usually never have a chance to get so close to them and to get photos in good light. Here are the best photos I could get in the couple hours I was out there.This is the same photo as the one above but I cropped it to show some finer details.The lighting in this one was interesting.
These shots turned out nice as well. I was glad to be able to get the eye to show in so many of them.

So, have I bored you with all these robin shots yet?

New Look and Robins!

2009-04-07T16:59:00.010-05:00

As you can see Birding with Tucker looks different. I changed it to match the photo at the top of the page, the one of the American Robin just up the page from this post. I got lots of great photos of robins today as the feasted on crab apples in our front yard. Here are some of my favorite picture I got as well as a commentary on each one. Enjoy!

This one says hi.
This one is giving me the "evil eye".
I got this this one eating. And this one is just doing....nothing.

This one says goodbye.

The Blizzard That Wasn't

2009-04-06T20:16:00.014-05:00

This past week people all over the Iowa-Nebraska-South Dakota tri state region were preparing for a huge late season blizzard that was going to bring over a foot of snow, and drifts even deeper than that. Everyone got their errands done and stocked up an supplies a day beforehand so that they wouldn't have to go out in the snow and wind. When Saturday night (the night the blizzard was going to be) came people expected the worst-power outages, car wrecks, nuclear warfare, etc. We all watched the weather closely as the storm barreled towards us and waited for the first flakes to fly. When the light of day came the next morning we all emerged from our homes to find the indescribable scene of devastation that you see pictured below (be advised it is graphic). As you can tell there was no snow and no power outages, car wrecks, or nuclear warfare during the night. If fact everything was pretty normal outside, it was just a bit colder and windier than the past few days. Hooray for bad weather forecasts!