Joyce, good catch. It just gets more exciting.

http://www.dogwork.com/goose8/

http://www.dogwork.com/babysloths/ Baby Sloths, I would love one.

As Donna is asking a question, I have one.

Some posts speak of Peregrine Falcons migrating... will "ours"? Or do they stay in ROC for the winter? Why do some go and some stay?

Thanks, Experts!

Last year Beauty stayed the winter and Archer migrated (the last watch report with him in it that I found on a quick look was 09/26).
Why some do & some don't is really a good puzzle.  I don't know that anyone has quite figured it out, but there has been some discussion on one of the Red tail blogs I follow-I'll have to do some research this weekend...

I know it has to do with availability of prey.  Some birds of prey will follow the migration of the prey birds or relocate to a warmer climate where prey is plentiful during the Winter months.  

Rochester has a lot of prey available all year round, so why Archer (and Kaver) migrates is a puzzle.  In fact, every Winter, we seem to be home to multiple wintering Peregrines that find the Winters in Rochester a nice place to be.  

Maybe our Tiercels migrate because their prey are the smaller birds, which there might be less of during the Winter.   While the females take the larger birds, like Pigeons that remain in the city all year.  Just thinking out loud.  

Is it possible that males leave to warmer climates to mate and have another family? Could happen in those few months, NO? Just thinkin. Females too. Prob not.

Today's bird:

Ok, here's todays: Could be an easy one, although they say it's a rare find in Ireland. Photo taken in Ballycotton, Co. Cork

Who me be?

Answer: Greater Short-toed Lark! See, you guys are close again. 

MANOR — Reema Anderson said she misses the two swans that once made their home at the Rosston Eddy Marina and Rosston public boat launch area on the Allegheny River. Her dog Molly keeps looking out across the water for them and her 4-year-old her son Mason wants to feed them, she said.

But the two tame swans, mates for life, that had been the local favorites of residents, boaters and visitors around the marina for as long as 15 years by some accounts, while nesting on an island in the middle of the river, are no longer there.

They were killed by two men who shot them from their motorboat Saturday morning.

"Everybody is saddened and shocked," said Anderson. "It was a day of mourning. There were many people down there crying and angry."

"I really do miss those swans," she said.

Anderson moved into a townhouse at the marina earlier this year.

"The swans were the first to greet us," she said. "They marched right up and said hello. Every morning we would wake up and see the swans. Molly and I would come down to see them."

"We're thinking of them right now sitting here by the river," she said.

The swans would come out of the water and hiss at Molly.

"She was definitely afraid of them," Anderson said. "They let her know it was their territory, but they were friendly with every person. People would feed them all the time. They were like pets. They were a familiar part of the marina for years. The kids are really going to miss them."

Local resident Jim Bowser said the two men who shot the birds were kept there by people around the marina until Manor police could be summoned there. Bowser said that police did not charge the men and allowed them to leave with the dead swans.

Manor police could not be reached for comment.

Bowser said he has been in touch with an official of the Pennsylvania Game Commission who is investigating the incident to see what laws may have been broken.

"They (Game Commission and Manor police) are pursuing anything they can charge them with, but there hasn't been any charges yet that I know about," Bowser said.

"Apparently it is legal to shoot the swans, (mute swans are not currently a protected species) but not from safety zones, like near homes or buildings or out of a (running) motorized boat, I was told," he said.

No one at the Pennsylvania Game Commission could be reached for comment.

"They were so tame," said Bowser. "They would come over to eat from everyone. They never left the marina. They were always in sight. Everyone took care of them."

"It's a damn shame," he said. "Everyone is so upset."

Bowser said the men who shot the swans are believed to be in their 20s and are not from this area.

No one was able to provide the identity of the men.

"We'd like something (charges) to happen to them," he said. "I pity those two guys if they have a hearing up here."

Maryanne and John Jackovitz of Monroeville have been boating out of the Rosston Marina for more than 40 years.

"For years and years those two swans would eat out of my husband's hands," said Maryanne Jackovitz. "They always swam up to our boat. I think they could tell my husband's voice and knew they would get a handout."

"They were so lovely," she said. "We will miss them."

Birders get ready to “twitch� in high style. Bald Eagle State Park has opened a premiere bird watching hotel in the Pennsylvania State Park system—The Nature Inn at Bald Eagle. The 18,500-square-foot, 16-room building will provide full-service accommodations overlooking the park’s lake. This modern inn makes maximum use of green building technologies, while serving as a premier interpretive facility for bird watching.

Each room is named after a bird indigenous to the region. You can spend your nights in the Cuckoo, the Woodpecker or the Rough Groused, among others.  But the Inn doesn’t just play lip service to preserving nature, the property is designed to achieve a Gold LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.  Some of the green amenities of the Nature Inn include:

    * Habitat restoration
    * Native, water efficient landscaping
    * 2,500-gallon rainwater harvesting system
    * Guest room energy monitoring; viewable in each room
    * On-site renewable energy; solar-thermal hot water system
    * Low VOC paints, stains, adhesives, and carpeting
    * Direct access to hiking and biking trails to enable and encourage healthy interaction with park resources

I can’t imagine a better way to unwind after a day of searching for a twitchable White Rumped Sandpiper or an Ash-Throated Flycatcher.

If this doesn't make you cry.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the first time is breaking down the species of oiled birds collected - alive and dead - in the Gulf of Mexico since the April 20 BP well blowout.

As of Tuesday, 4,676 birds had been collected; 3,634 of those were dead. Of the dead birds, 1,226 were visibly oiled.

Of the dead birds, the largest numbers are laughing gulls (1,591), followed by brown pelicans (376) and northern gannets (182).
Live birds are taken to rehabilitation centers in Hammond, Louisiana; Gulfport, Mississippi; Theodore, Alabama; and Pensacola, Florida.

Once the birds are stabilized, they undergo several washings, feedings, and the collection of vital health information. They stay at the rehabilitation centers until their natural body oils are replenished and they are sufficiently recovered for release, the Fish and Wildlife Service said.

Rehabilitated birds are banded and released into suitable habitats along the coast where they are not likely to get oiled again.

Same here BC...would love to know who they are....especially the (big) male.

On another note, as curious as I am lately, was wondering: if Mariah and Kaver met outside the Kodak area, would they recognize each other, say after 2 years?

With the exception of the bulky, Arctic-nesting Gyrfalcon, the Peregrine Falcon is the largest of the Eastern falcon clan. The peregrine is noted for its aerial speed and split-second maneuvers to capture avian prey on the wing. This bird's scientific name, Falco peregrinus, is descriptive of its life habits. Falco means "sickle-shaped" and refers to the bird's curved talons; peregrinus means to wander widely.

The meteoric decline of the peregrine due to environmental toxins is well documented; perhaps readers are less familiar with the species' gradual rebirth in recent decades as 35 nations have worked to restore this majestic falcon.

According to Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologist Charlie Todd, "Peregrine numbers plummeted during the 20th century, and the anatum subspecies native to this area was virtually extirpated in the Eastern US. Captive breeding programs used stock from around the world to supply reintroductions in coordinated recovery programs." Still flightless, young peregrines were placed in large enclosures known as hack boxes that were located at traditional cliff nesting sites. The rapidly growing falcons were provided with food daily and then, at fledging age, they were released with the hope of their subsequent return to nest sites.

Todd says that "in Maine, nesting peregrines were absent for 25 years following the 1962 disappearance of the last breeding pair in Acadia National Park. Releases of 153 young peregrines at seven locations across the state during 1984-1987 enabled a second chance for the species. Memorable 'firsts' in the early years of recovery include the first returning falcon to Baxter Sate Park in 1985 and the first successful breeding at C Bluff Mountain in 1988."

By 2009, there were 25 known nesting pairs in Maine. Peregrines now reside on 20 cliff/coastal headlands across Maine and on five bridges/ buildings in urban areas, such as the old Bucksport to Ver-ona Bridge. This represents the state's highest count of resident population in at least 60 years. The deepest concentration of nesting pairs is in mountainous parts of Oxford County (10 pairs) followed by Hancock County (6 pairs). Knox County's single nesting pair reportedly produced three fledglings this year.

As northern populations pour out of Canada and Greenland, the fall falcon migration is now well under way across Maine. From September through October these swift birds may be encountered in any setting where feathered prey is present. One recent early morning, a chasing peregrine barreled down Main Street Rockland in pursuit of a fleeing pigeon flock. The speeding flock did not even pause for the red stoplight.

Some more predictable places to see fall falcons is Monhegan Island and at some of the traditional hawk watch sites such as the tip of Basin Point in South Harpswell or Acadia's Cadillac Mountain. The summit of Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal has an organized seasonal hawk watch in spring and fall.

Less reliant on updrafts or warm-air thermals than the soaring raptor species, falcons use direct powered flight during migration. Their day-to-day locations depend mainly on where food is to be found.

Last Wednesday morning, I took some extremely closeup photos of a juvenile peregrine consuming a pigeon on the roof of the Pearl restaurant in Rockland. This juvenile peregrine has chased pigeons around Rockland for several days. The head of the prey is consumed first (the brain is the most nutrient-rich part of the body). Next the breast is eaten as more feathers are plucked and removed. Then the backsides. It took the falcon about 50 minutes to finish the entire meal.

[(There ya go MAK)]

Where's the best hawk watch in North Jersey?

For those who love to watch raptors glide past during the fall migration, the typical answer is one of the major lookouts — Montclair or State Line.

For Steve and Linda Quinn of Ridgefield Park, the answer is a lot closer to home: in their own yard.

On Saturday, for the 14th year in a row, the Quinns are inviting a few dozen friends to their place for a picnic and several hours of hawk-watching.

They have discovered something that goes right over the heads of most of us: You don't necessarily have to go to a mountain ridge or a rock outcropping to watch the fall raptor migration.

One year, the hawk-eyed Quinns and Co. counted more than a thousand raptors, including several hundred broad-winged hawks, five bald eagles and two types of falcon — peregrine and merlin — during their annual event. (On their slowest day, they tallied just four, but what a quartet they were: bald eagle, osprey, peregrine falcon and sharp-shinned hawk.)

It helps to time the picnic right.

"I have always tried to go hawk-watching as close to Sept. 17 as I can," says Steve Quinn, an artist who designs exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History. "To me, that seems to be the magic date when broad-winged hawks come through in the greatest numbers. You're likely to get birds like bald eagles and ospreys as well."

The Quinns have seen other "good birds" while looking for hawks — a pair of ruddy ducks, a ruby-throated hummingbird, a scarlet tanager, a rose-breasted grosbeak and a flight of 30 nighthawks one dusk.

The Quinns' location helps, too. "We have just a small window of sky directly overhead, but Ridgefield Park is uniquely situated on the peninsula between Overpeck Creek and the Hackensack River," says Steve. "We get birds flying south from the Palisades that head down the Overpeck on their way through the Meadowlands."

Although the Quinns' place is a great spot to watch raptors, Steve says that anyone looking up near that magical date of Sept. 17 — Friday — will have a very good chance of seeing birds go over as long as winds are out of the northwest. The birds may be flying high, but you should still be able to see them.

One of the Quinns' goals for their annual hawk watch, aside from socializing with friends and neighbors, is to raise people's awareness of the natural world.

"We are so cut off and separated from nature, yet it is all around us," says Steve. "We're no different from any other creature on Earth, but yet with our architecture, our culture, daily lives, it's hard for us to imagine. This is one way to reconnect us."

According to Steve, the keys to backyard hawking are patience, an eye for detail and experience.

"There's no substitute for experience when it comes to learning silhouettes and the nuances of different species," he says. (A helpful free hawk ID guide can be found at battaly.com/nehw/carrier_guide.htm.)

One other factor: Clouds are helpful because seeing hawks is easier when they are silhouetted against the white.

But raptor watching isn't all ice cream and eagles. "The worst part of being a hawk watcher is probably the same as being a warbler watcher. You can get a terrible neck ache by the end of the day," Steve says.

"If we find the birds are still coming over in numbers after our picnic dinner, we throw blankets out in the back yard, and everyone just lies flat with their binoculars and looks straight up." (There ya go MAK) 

[Partei unten]

Ja, the season is upon us!     Since this group loves webcams, heres one of Oktoberfest in Munich!  http://www.oktoberfest-tv.de/

I am doing Oktoberfest at home on Saturday - have some good Schneider Weisse, so all will be perfect!

         How do you say "party down" in german?       

PS

Partei unten 

[Nevermind:]

Ja, the season is upon us!    Since this group loves webcams, heres one of Oktoberfest in Munich!  http://www.oktoberfest-tv.de/

I am doing Oktoberfest at home on Saturday - have some good Schneider Weisse, so all will be perfect!

Funny my dad is having an Octoberfest at his house on the 9th of Oct. All German everything. He calls it the "WiedFest" Where can I get some of that Schneider Weiss? I used to drink a beer called Wiedemann beer...aka my last name Wiedman. Could be a relative...if we added and E and another N.   Maybe I'll write Uncle George Wiedemann and say "hey!".     
Nevermind:

Wiedemann Brewing Company
(George Wiedemann)
"Out Of Business"
601 Columbia Street
Newport, Kentucky    

Part 2

This is the Montezuma Muckrace bird list...from Suzanne to MAK to me. It's small so get out your magnify glasses. The ones marked with a check are the ones they saw! Thank you and have a nice day!