There has been a Long-tailed Duck or Oldsquaw (more on that later) at the ponds near Warm Springs. It was first reported on Sunday, and I though it’ll take off before I can drive the 2 hours. Then it was seen again on Monday, and once again, I said to myself, “It’ll fly the coop.” …
Monthly Archive: October 2009
Oct
18
2009
Ennis Lake swing
On Saturday, Sam Koenen and I decided to take a swing down to Ennis Lake and then up to Harrison Reservoir for the chance to see a Sabine’s Gull or a scoter or two. We actually came up with a single female White-winged Scoter at Ennis Lake. It was a great trip, especially since the …
Oct
13
2009
Banggai Crow – Rediscovered!!!
Researchers in Indonesia have rediscovered the Banggai Crow (Corvus unicolor) on a small island in the archipelago. The species was first discovered in 1900 and not seen since. Full story is on LiveScience.
Oct
07
2009
How does an Albatross find food in an “featureless” ocean
An interesting article from Japan describes a research project that placed small cameras on Black-browed Albatrosses to passively gather data on their lives. One very intriguing behavior came to light. The Albatrosses were actively following Killer Whales to probably feed on the scraps from the orca’s kills. What a great strategy to find a meal …
Oct
06
2009
Breeding Gull Identification Key
As fall (or is it winter with 3 inches of snow on the ground) comes Montana, we are starting to see rare gulls with a Lesser Black-backed and Mew Gulls observed already. So, I went on a search for gull identification tools, and found a great key by Dennis Paulson from Puget Sound University. You …
Oct
04
2009
The near miss dip
I finally have a Mew Gull on my Montana list. The bird was discovered by Ed Harper, Robin Wolcott and Andrew Guttenberg at Harrison Lake on 3/1/2009. After my presentation on Saturday at the Bridger Raptor Festival, Byron Butler, Sam Koenen, and myself decided to run out to Harrison for this rarity. upon arriving at …
Oct
04
2009
Bridger Raptor Festival
I had the great opportunity to give of talks at the Bridger Raptor Festival. This festival is a great educational event with many great exhibits and live rehab birds, including the Turkey Vulture that once threw up on me. The talks went well with great attendance. It has been a long time since the last …
Oct
01
2009
WilderTrack 3.0 – Time for a new beginning
I have just released the latest version of WilderTrack . Add video and images to your sightings, trips, locations…just about anything. Integrate Twitter, Facebook and your blog to your WilderTrack account The launch of WilderTrack for Mobile Multiple Bird Taxonomic Systems – including WilderTax incorporating the latest research Improved user interface with the of jQuery …
Oct
01
2009
Another bit of hopeful news
An article from BirdLife International is announcing the great news that a recently undertaken survey of White-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davisoni has revealed a record count of 310 individuals. It is always good to hear a bit of good news when we seem to be deluged with gloom and doom.
Loading tweets...
