• Snowing still up at Big Sky #
• New Radd Photography post: Good Karma Bighorns – 1/24/2010 http://raddphotography.com/?p=695 #
• Good Karma Bighorns – 1/24/2010 – http://shar.es/aSYu9 #
• I'm wiped after the work out #
• Great 80 minute aerobic workout #
• Everyone has bird whose arrival signals spring's arrival. What is you bird of spring? Mine is the Orange-crowned Warbler. #
• I nominate @SIDT for a Shorty Award in #podcasts because they are pittsburgh's bad boys of craft beer #
• Echolocating bats and whales share molecular mechanism: http://bit.ly/btU18J – For the bio-geeks out there…c'mon you know who you are. #
• Peru Friday – Long-whiskered Owlet: http://bit.ly/9zV6NC #
• @garyvee Here, here…Go Saints in reply to garyvee #
• What to do this weekend – go to Yellowstone and watch wolves, or go snowshoeing and find some birds? #
• @bitterrootbadge Dude that's awesome…for some reason I never thought of Son House on YouTube in reply to bitterrootbadge #
• No Yellowstone today, bummer…oh well…we're going next weekend #

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Imagine the surprise of John O’Neill and Gary Graves of Louisiana State University when they mist-netted a strange little owl in the cloud forest of northern Peru in 1976. A strange, small creature with wispy feathers flaring out from its facial disk and peculiar amber eyes. Its legs were bare, and it lacked ear tufts. Bristles covered the base of its bill. The bird was obviously new to science, and it was so unique that it was placed in its own monotypic genus, Xenoglaux (strange owl). It was not seen again until 1978. It call wasn’t even recorded until 2002.

So, a strange little owl had only been observed 3 times, and then only with the assistance of mist nets. Guess what happened on January 24th of this year? An Israeli researcher named Shachar Alterman and Edin Fonseca, a local guide,  actually managed to capture images and video of a Long-whiskered Owlet without the aid of capture. For the first time a wild Long-whiskered Owlet was observed in its habitat. The video done with an illuminated bird and a bit shaky, but it is incredible to view this species.

Just another aspect of the Peru’s amazing natural world that makes my upcoming in June with Kolibri Expeditions and Gunnar Engblom even more exciting and enticing. I will be visiting the Manu lowlands for 8 days, and hope to see a great number of the terrific species that live there. I’m having dreams of Harpy Eagles, the famous macaw lick, and Giant Otters. You can join me on this trip or book your own with Gunnar here.

Coming back from Big Sky on Sunday afternoon, I came across a small bachelor herd of Bighorn Sheep rams. Within the herd, there were two full-curl rams, one of which was very cooperative. It was a really treat to take image after image of this ram as he pawed through the snow to eat grasses that have long since given up most of their nutritional value, which is close of cardboard. Ultimate survivors are these creatures. When the deer and elk have traveled to lower elevations, the bighorns are pawing through the snow.

• Congrats NY Jets…can’t believe I’m rooting for a NY team #
• Rocking at the coding work this morning #
• Looking like a fool with my pants on the ground #
• MEGA: Oriental Turtle-Dove in British Columbia http://bit.ly/5C36O3 #
• @tferriss How is springbok? Wondering if it’s like pronghorn in NA in reply to tferriss #
• Democrats are way too angry and Repub way too happy…c’mon people #
• Wow…only 15 Spoon-billed Sandpipers in Bangledesh…http://bit.ly/6Iv1q9 #
• Watching the second episode of BBC Yellowstone…amazing camera work…absolutely stunning…makes me grateful that I love here. #
• Ruination IPA from Stone Brewing – http://shar.es/aTx56 #
• Ivory-billed Woodpecker or bust | RadleyIce http://rt.nu/_2il8j #
• RT @Radley521 Ivory-billed Woodpecker or bust | RadleyIce http://rt.nu/draq42 #
• RT @spokesmanreview: Cascade wolf sightings increase – Spokesman.com – Jan. 18, 2010 http://bit.ly/4EHV5C #
• Birds: They’ve got personality! – National Wildlife Federation: http://bit.ly/8DZlLm #
• Woodpecker experts haven’t seen supposed Ivory-bill photos – Birder’s World Magazine … http://bit.ly/89AyTn … Great job Matt #
• RT @TelegraphNews The explorers’ club http://bit.ly/8pM5iz #
• Win a new Nikon D300s (or 2000 photo scans) from @ScanCafe & Scott Bourne. Pls RT. Details here: http://bit.ly/8SJuMT #
• Greatest hoaxes in birding history | RadleyIce: http://bit.ly/5D3IWH #
• Off to Big Sky to visit with Mom. Might take some night shots of the hill. #

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With the ever increasing likelihood that the Rainsong Ivory-billed Woodpecker or, as I’ve dubbed it, IBWOgate is a complete hoax, I began to wonder about the great hoaxes in birding history. There seems to be a multitude of reasons for the birding hoax, but they seem to fall into four broad categories;

• Self-aggrandizement through finding rarities or becoming a “famous” birder
• A very bad joke on fellow birders
• Mistaken IDs by well-meaning and, many cases, competent birders
• And the worst, for profit

One of latest cases of self-aggrandizement comes in the form of a grainy image of an apparent Steller’s Eider off the of North Wales, UK. Apparently, this birder turned golfer (why in the hell would one do that?) spotted the sea duck while, you guessed it, golfing. He managed to take a blurry image has to prove his sighting. The problem – no one else was able to find the bird, and worse, the photo seems to come from a photographer from Scandinavia. I wonder if he was flogged with a golf club by the twitchers?

In the bad joke department, we have the Siberian Accentor from North East Derbyshire, UK. It seems this bloke put out a model of an Accentor as a joke on his mate. The problem – other birders heard about the Siberian Accentor and rushed to its location. Some even claimed to have seen it and the news made the British publication Birding World. The hoax was revealed when the jokester attempted a second ruse, only this time he was busted and had his birding privileges revoked. Heck, I am guilty of this to lesser extent. After a day of birding, I reported my sightings on the Montana Online Birders group. I mentioned that I saw a Montana Trogon, or more commonly known as the Black-billed Magpie. I had people asking me, “Trogon really?” and “Where’s the trogon?”. It’s a joke, people. Relax.

The hoax that isn’t a hoax. The mistaken identification of a common species as something rare. Here’s the scenario. Good birders make mistakes, and we all do it, so no pointing fingers here. The misidentified bird becomes a hot rarity, and folks rushed to see this once in a lifetime bird. Once the birding community accepts the mis-ID, then everyone “sees” the rarity. The best example of this phenomenon was the supposed Smith’s Longspur in California in the late 70s. The bird was observed by many folks who were good birders, and they eliminated the possibilities one by one. Horned Lark – are you kidding? Lesser Short-toed Lark – maybe, but nope. Eurasian Skylark – definitely not. Smith’s Longspur – bingo! The problem the bird turned out to be, drum roll please, an Eurasian Skylark, which was a rarity in its own right as California’s first documented visit from this species. But heck, it was California in the Seventies, wild times, wild times.

Now for the final and most insidious category, the hoax for profit. With some organizations offering rewards for documentation or information about endangered species, there is a temptation to defraud by certain individuals. With IBWOgate, I am beginning to wonder if this is not the case with Rainsong Ivory-billed Woodpecker. I am just suspicious, not making accusations or anything. But, with CLO offering a substantial cash prize for an Ivory-billed Woodpecker, there is fertile bed for the seeds of a hoax.

Once again, there is a claim of a recently captured image of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. This time it comes from the Sabine River Basin of Texas by a fellow named Daniel Rainsong via an obtuse press release. He has, rather strangely, not released the images citing some obscure “right of discovery”. Does he intend to patent the damn bird? On the other hand, he does list some prominent ornithologists in his press release as potential examiners of the images…supposedly. A Google search of Daniel Rainsong yields precious little information. It seems that he as not been active in the birding community to any sufficient degree. In fact, most of the top results are for a gambler (aren’t we all, though) with a system.  Is this a hoax or a self-aggrandizing move by some casino boat lounge lizard become birder?

I want to believe that a great woodpecker stills pounds away at massive trucks in some remote region of the South, but I have to be realistic. Unfortunately, I doubt that the Ivory-billed still exists given the scarcity (read absence)  of definitive proof and the degradation of and patchiness of any remaining habitat. So I beg, please, please Daniel Rainsong prove me wrong.

• Congrats NY Jets…can't believe I'm rooting for a NY team #

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I haven’t been blogging as much as I should be, so here are some images from this past weekend.

The day was a rather ordinary day of winter birding. A few Townsend’s Solitaires, a long Northern Shrike, and many Rough-legged Hawks. The star of the day was a Ferruginous Hawk. This is my first winter Ferruginous Hawk in the Gallatin Valley. You can get all the sighting details from the WilderTrack link below. I managed a few shots (not the best by a long shot).

		I hate power lines!