Cedar Waxwings and Western Grebes

Last weekend, I visited Shoreline lake in Mountain View to photograph some Cedar Waxwings that were reported earlier.

Steve Zamek, another excellent bay area photographer gave some tips on where to find them exactly. He was right, the waxwings were in plenty numbers right behind the Intuit building where they were feeding continuously.

I find these birds very beautiful and mighty interesting to watch, especially when they are gulping the berries down their throat one after another. I wish I had captured their courting behavior when the pair sits together and pass flower petals back and forth, share food and rub their bills against each other.

These shots were taken around noon time. I parked my car in a parking lot next to a pepper tree with lots of berries. Using my car as a blind I took some photographs of these fine birds.

After that, I walked towards the terminal end of shoreline lake and found plenty of waterfowl including all five species of Grebes. I then noticed one Western Grebe on the water being very playful and making gestures that would make anyone smile!. I waited patiently to let the bird get closer to me and in the end was happy to come home with some unusual behavior shots of the Western Grebe.

Just about to when I was getting ready to leave, I saw an American coot diving in a clear shallow water right next to where I was standing. In the bright sunlight, it was clearly visible to see under water.

Birds Can "See" Earth's Magnetic Field

Garden Warbler Close-up
Originally uploaded by Steve_C

I've always wondered about how birds could migrate over long distances traveling thousands of miles every year back and forth between their nesting sites and breeding grounds so accurately.

Recent research has shown that earth's magnetism may have some important role to play in helping birds set their internal compass.

National Geographic's article reports,

Scientists already suspected birds' eyes contain molecules that are thought to sense Earth's magnetic field. In a new study, German researchers found that these molecules are linked to an area of the brain known to process visual information.
In that sense, "birds may see the magnetic field," said study lead author Dominik Heyers, a biologist at the University of Oldenburg.

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(Image by Steve_C)

Protecting Sage Grouse Habitat

Male Sage Grouse Mating Ritual Dance
Originally uploaded by DennyMont

The bird, native to southeast Alberta and southwest Saskatchewan, gather in breeding grounds called leks every spring. The males fan out their tail feathers and puff air in and out of air sacs on their necks, pushing out their chests. They perform for several hours a day to attract females, while all birds hoot and cackle.

The display delights nature watchers from around the world. But the leks are being squeezed out by human activity, including oil and gas drilling, highway expansion and cattle grazing, say the groups.

A lawsuit is being filed to protect the Prairie habitat needed by the endangered sage grouse.

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(Image by DennyMont)

Spoon-billed Sandpiper

Spoon-billed Sandpiper
Originally uploaded by DrunkBIO

A conservation group has found 84 spoon-billed sandpipers in a coastal stretch of Myanmar. The discovery in early February comes only months after Russian researchers reported that the numbers of these little birds is declining rapidly.

The World Conservation Union lists the bird as endangered with only 200 to 300 pairs left in the wild. The Spoon-billed Sandpiper (also Spoonbill Sandpiper), Eurynorhynchus pygmeus, is a small wader.

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(Image by DrunkBIO)

Birders and the next U.S President

'Birders United' has put together a website calling for which presedential candidate should birders vote for.

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Great Backyard Bird Count this Weekend!

This year's Great Backyard Bird Count is held between February 15-18th. Its an annual four-day event jointly organized by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent.

It raises awareness of birds, and provides an important record of where the birds are--a record that scientists can use well into the future to track how birds are faring as their environments change.

As the count progresses, anyone with Internet access can explore what is being reported from their own towns or anywhere in the United States and Canada. They can also see how this year's numbers compare with those from previous years. Participants may also send in photographs of the birds they see. A selection of images is posted in the online photo gallery.

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Gaming for the young birders!

When the weather doesn't co-operate with your interests, the fun for birders doesn't have to necessarily end there!. I was happy to find that that there is a fantastic online game made available just aimed at birdwatchers, bird photographers and birders that can be played from the comfort of your home, right from your computer.

'Snapshot Adventures: Secret of Bird Island' is the finalist for the 2008 Independent Games Festival Design Innovation Award.

The description of this game on their website reads,

"Snapshot Adventures: Secret of Bird Island is a bird photography game in which the player travels the country, unraveling the mystery of their grandfather's disappearance and collecting photos of both real and fantastical birds. Special camera attachments are collected along the way, and can be used to influence the birds in order to capture the best possible photos. In the bird creation mode of the game, players can design their own bird and release it into the wilds of the internet, where other players can download and photograph it within their game. Over 250,000 birds have been created by players since the game was released."

Wade Tinney, from Large Animal Games who developed this game has more to say about this.

"Players can design birds, upload them, and then get information back about how many times their bird has been been spotted by other players.

The second thing is the residual learning that comes from the game. There are over a hundred real-world bird species represented in the game, with accurate field markings and real field recordings of their song (we worked closely with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to achieve this level of accuracy). While we did not design Snapshot Adventures as an “educational game”, many players have told us that after playing the game, they now notice the birds around them more, and are able to identify many of them."

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UC Berkeley's Calphotos Project

If you're a nature photographer, you might be interested in submitting your photographs to the Calphotos project in UC Berkeley. The main goal of this project is to collect photographs taken in the california state, spanning several topics from birds, animals to plants, flowers & fungi and sharing them for classroom purposes with education instutitions and other environmental organization, museums, zoo's etc.

What is great about this project is, all photographs that are received are properly examined and reviewed by someone and categorized under the correct scientific names in a well defined structure. This makes their database a more reliable and easy resource to find pictures for anyone interested.

As a photographer you still continue to own the copyright for all the images you post. Their website mentions that the Calphotos database receives about 120,000 queries a day and serves a million images every day.

Ron Wolf, who presented at this month's Bay area bird photographer's meeting, highly recommended the birders who attended to post more photos to this project.

Feeding birds enhances their breeding!

A new study shows that feeding birds in winter helps them in spring breeding,

Feeding the birds that visit your garden in winter has unexpected benefits, according to British research. Not only does it help species such as blue tits survive the cruel cold months, it also enhances their breeding.

The study is the first to show such a long-term effect of providing bird food.

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Bird Photographer Meeting - Februrary

Tommorow’s BABP meeting for the month of februrary will feature Ron Wolf. He will present a program featuring woodpeckers at Yuba Pass and last fall’s raptors in Half Moon Bay

Location: Lucy Evans Baylands Interpretive Center on East Embarcadero Rd., Palo Alto. Time: 7:30-9PM

New sub-species of warbler found in Nepal

Nepal Rufous-Vented Prinia Bird
Originally uploaded by richiejewell

BBC reports that,

A previously unknown sub-species of bird has been discovered in the southern grasslands of Nepal, scientists say.

The bird is a warbler with a very long tail and slender beak and has been named the Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia.

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(Image by richiejewell)