Last Saturday Arthur and I attended Birding America VIII, sponsored by the Chicago Audubon Society. The event was a kind of symposium, beginning with a keynote address by Joe Lill, former president of CAS.

When we arrived I got the thrill of my life seeing one of ‘my’ bumper stickers on a car in the parking lot. I just had to take a picture!

Following the morning keynote, attendees could choose from several hour-long sessions. Generally these break-out sessions or workshops fell into three categories: Near Chicago Birding Areas; International Birding Trips; and Skill-Building Workshops. This was a nice mix and we attended sessions of all three types through the course of the day. Before the lunch break we learned about the local specialties of southern Arizona and “Birding the Frozen North” (Wisconsin). The Wisconsin presentation was by Steve Betchkal, author of All of This and Robins Too: A Guide to the 50 or so Best Places to Find Birds in Wisconsin.

Clair Postmus answers questions about the birds of Arizona. His wife Bev gave the presentation.

During the lunch break, birds of prey from three area centers were on display. One of the groups was Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, and the Saturday class of Raptor Interns was on hand to handle the birds. Yes, I was jealous! There were also birds from the Wildlife Discovery Center in Lake Forest and Stillman Nature Center in South Barrington.

A Great Horned Owl from Stillman Nature Center

Dawn with 0511, the Red-tailed Hawk. 0511 will make another appearance on this blog very soon!

In the afternoon we attended Dave Willard’s lecture on hazards of migration through Chicago, and a group presentation on bird conservation opportunities in the Chicago region. The final keynote address, by Kevin Karlson, was about the wonders of migration. It featured fabulous photographs by the Shorebird Guide co-author and noted birding trip leader.

Dave Willard answers questions about bird collisions in Chicago

It was a fun day and I learned a lot. Ironically the weather on Saturday was the most spectacular for several days before and since, yet 100+ birders were inside for their hobby! Anyway, I look forward to attending the next Birding America – hopefully on a rainy day!

A film adaptation of Mark Obmascik’s The Big Year looks to be another step closer to production. In January news broke that the film would star Owen Wilson, Jack Black, and Dustin Hoffman. Tonight reports are circulating that Steve Martin will take Dustin Hoffman’s place in the film. According to ABC News, filming is set to begin in May in Canada. David Frankel is still on to direct.

Although I do like Dustin Hoffman, I’m a big fan of Steve Martin, so I like this announcement. With this cast, there’s no doubt this will be a comedy. I just hope they don’t make birders look too goofy.

This week’s highlighted shirts are based on the popular “got milk?” campaign. We have already highlighted got birds?; now we’ve added got scope? and got bins?.

I’ll admit I’m pretty addicted to Lost. I’ve seen all of the episodes as they first aired (or as close to as I could while living abroad), I’m enjoying this last season and my husband and I even started re-watching the first five seasons a month ago. There are a couple of teeny tiny mild spoilers ahead (for episodes of Lost that have already aired), so be warned.

While looking through the fanatically comprehensive Lostpedia a few weeks ago, I came across the article on Birds. We had just re-watched the first season episode “Special“, where Walt is reading about Australian birds, so I already kind of had birds & Lost on my mind.

But birds appear in almost every episode of Lost; during the Island scenes there are usually bird sounds in the background, most often peafowl but also loons or doves. The Common Peafowl is an introduced species in Hawaii (where Lost is filmed).

If you watch the show you know that the Island gets around, so hearing such diverse species is not far-fetched. While improbable bird song is unfortunately common in popular culture, the makers of Lost could actually use sounds from any species of bird and they would work within the storyline of the show.

Wednesday night I had the pleasure to attend the annual meeting of Citizens for Conservation. CFC is a non-profit organization based around Barrington, Illinois. The group’s mission: “Saving Living Space for Living Things” through protection, restoration and stewardship of land, conservation of natural resources, and education. It was the group’s 39th Annual Meeting, and I was so impressed by the wide range of their activities and the diversity and dedication of their members.

Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation was the proud recipient of the group’s 2010 William H. Miller Conservation Award. Three of FCWR’s education birds were on display during the social hour before the meeting began. I held Meepy (Barred Owl), while a fellow intern had Pip (Barn Owl) and Dawn had Spirit (Long-eared Owl). After I got over my initial nervousness, I had a lot of fun talking with people about Meepy and the other birds and the work that FCWR does. It was my first “program” experience (albeit very informal) and I really enjoyed it!

Flint Creek Savanna An Ecological Restoration by Citizens For Conservation

To find out more about Citizens for Conservation, visit their website. They also have a new group on Facebook. As a non-profit organization, they rely on volunteers and donations.

The focus during this week’s Raptor Internship was training education birds. The brief lecture covered how to glove and flight train a bird, and training using positive vs negative reinforcement.

Two volunteers, along with Pip, then demonstrated flight training using a creance.

Pip on the glove, prior to a flight

Pip in flight

Pip about to land on the glove

The trainers face away from each other between the flights. During this time the receiver prepares the food reward on the glove and the bird finishes the food it has just received from the last flight. When the bird and the receiver are ready, both trainers turn around and the receiver blows her whistle to signal the bird to fly.

Here’s a closer look at the creance. It’s a piece of capped PVC pipe with some sand (?) inside to make it the appropriate weight for the bird in training.

Dawn explained that lures may also be used to flight train a bird, and she showed the following two examples. The pigeon might be used for training a bird like a Peregrine Falcon, while the black and white “skunk” might be used for a Great Horned Owl.

In the afternoon we had more handling experience. I took Pip first and since he had flight jesses on, I had to change his equipment, which went pretty smoothly. Next I walked with Meepy, and finally with Darwin. All of the students were walking around the grounds at the same time; it was like a parade of raptors.

After the raptor walkies, it was time to clean out a couple of the mews. I hadn’t cleaned while a bird was in its cage before, but I got to pick up waste and change the water in Zen’s place while he watched me warily from the corner. Next I worked in Junior’s mew. Junior’s a bit horny these days, which might mean he could be aggressive towards people. While I was picking up, volunteer Karen kept an eye on Junior and stood guard in case he got any bad ideas. For those keeping track, I found another two headless mice while cleaning out the mews this week. Next week: feeding and nutrition!

Birder’s World magazine recently published a list of 100 citizen science projects. Citizen science is a great way to make your birding or wildlife observation count. I’ve participated in a few projects in the last year or so, including Project Feederwatch, the Great Backyard Bird Count, CamClicker, and a project to monitor owls and nightjars called MOON.

Last year, Arthur and I were doing our MOON route late one night. While at one of our stops, a county park ranger pulled alongside our car and asked us what we were doing. I explained the monitoring project and apparently I said, with some exaggerated enthusiasm, “We’re citizen scientists!” I will never live this down; today the mere mention of “citizen scientist” makes Arthur laugh at my dorkiness that night. If I had one of these shirts on during our route, I guess I would have showed it to the ranger, too. Helping the scientific community by volunteering in citizen science projects is something to be proud of, in all seriousness. Here are two t-shirt designs made for the citizen scientists among us!

My favorite nest cams over at the Dutch site Beleef de Lente start streaming today. For the season it looks like they’ll have cameras on Common Kestrel (Torenvalk), Little Owl (Steenuil), Great Tit (Koolmees), White Stork (Ooievaar), Barn Swallow (Boerenzwaluw), Eurasian Nuthatch (Boomklever), Eurasian Eagle-owl (Oehoe) (!!), and Barn Owl (Kerkuil). Those last two are new for this year and I’m really looking forward to peeking in on the Eagle-owl in the coming weeks.

Eurasian Eagle-owl from Picture Taker 2’s photostream on Flickr

Usually at least a few of the nests have multiple live cameras going, and highlight videos are archived for later viewing (Iets gemist?). Nest milestones like the date of each egg and hatching are noted too (Hoogtepunten).

Even if you don’t read Dutch, the streaming cams are fun to watch and the archived clips are usually neat.

Are you looking forward to watching a nest cam this season? Do you have a favorite live streaming nest cam website? Please let me know in the comments!

Here’s a list of current (as of March 1st) blog & online contests by birders, for birders, and/or offering bird- or birder-themed prizes. Click on the links to learn more, check eligibility, and enter to win! If you are running a contest or know of something that should be added to this list, please let me know by leaving a comment or sending me an email. This is a monthly post appearing on the first Monday of every month. I will add any updates I find during the month as a comment on this post. If you’d like to stay updated, you can subscribe to the comment RSS feed for this post.

CONTESTS WITH DEADLINES near and far

Miss Chevious Musings is giving away three Song Bird Necklaces. The winner will be chosen on March 2nd. See contest page for details.

You can win a signed copy of Bird Watching For Dummies by providing the funniest caption over at Bill of the Birds’ Caption Contest #12. Submit your funny caption before March 3.

Enter to win a $250 Duncraft shopping spree. Submit your entry by 30 April 2010. Details at Duncraft’s Backyard Birding Blog.

Ornithologist and author Glen Chilton is offering a $10,000 reward for finding a previously unknown sample of a Labrador Duck. See Dr. Chilton’s website for all the details. Ends September 1st 2010. Send your claim to IFoundADuck@glenchilton.com.

ONGOING CONTESTS of interest to birders

10,000 Birds has recently introduced their Conservation Club, a great way to raise money for bird conservation causes. Members of the club are eligible to enter giveaways offering prizes from Conservation Club sponsors. Have a look at the current and past giveaways, and then sign up!

Each month WildBird on the Fly runs a First Friday fiction contest. If your 500-word story is chosen, you’ll win a recently-published bird book. Submissions are due before 5 p.m. PST on the first Thursday of the month. See WildBird on the Fly for all the details.

Duncraft hosts a caption contest on Facebook every week. Become a fan of Duncraft to see each contest posting. Enter to win a $10.00 Duncraft Gift Coupon. New caption contests start each Monday.

WildBird on the Fly periodically gives away books and other prizes with fun, short-notice contests. Follow her blog and her Twitter account @WBeditor to get in on the prize giveaways.

Each month the Birds & Blooms website runs the Where’s Webster? contest. Find Webster the duck on the website and enter to win. Prizes vary and the contest runs month to month.

The Eagle Optics Email Contest is ongoing for anyone subscribed to their newsletter. A new winner is chosen every month and prizes vary. Click here for details.

Birder’s Lounge runs a monthly ID Challenge. Contestants play for their favorite bird/nature/conservation charity. The prize is a $10 donation to the winning charity, in the winner’s name. (Thanks to Amber for the details!)

Yesterday I was looking for a new spot to go birding for my birthday. Although we’re close to the border with Wisconsin, I’d never really thought about looking into Kenosha Co. parks or preserves before. I did a little Googlin’ and found that the Pringle Nature Center in Bristol was just a half hour drive from our house. So this morning we set off to do a little leisurely Wisconsin birding.

Upon arrival at the Nature Center’s parking lot, we donned our cold weather gear and slung on binoculars and camera. We entered the large facility and the first words I heard were, “Are you here to see the Tufted Titmouse?”

Now, TUTIs range through northern Illinois and Wisconsin and beyond, but they are kind of rare in our county. Looking at eBird, there were a handful of reported Tufted Titmouse sightings in Lake County last year over four different months. There were even fewer sightings in Kenosha County in 2009. Bottom line, we don’t expect to see TUTIs when we go birding locally. So the question from the Nature Center staff member was a welcome one, indeed. Apparently a Tufted Titmouse has been visiting the feeders at Pringle all winter, and it had been seen earlier this morning. We didn’t have to wait long before we saw the little cutie ourselves.

After watching the feeders for a while we headed out on the trails for a slog through the wet, heavy snow. There are over four miles of trails through the Bristol Woods County Park adjacent to the Nature Center.

We saw few birds on our walk but we saw many exposed nests in the bare trees. I bet this is a great place to bird in the spring and I’m sure we’ll be back to check it out. We walked about 1.6 miles before returning to watch the feeders some more. For the visit we saw 12 species, most at the feeders.

What a great birthday treat to find a great new birding spot plus a totally unexpected bird!