White-winged Crossbills!

They're Heeeeerrrrreeee!!!! (Think "Poltergeist"and that creepy little girl...)

Oh, yeah, baby! I have been waiting for these guys for quite a while. Ron Pittaway puts a finch report out every fall that predicts which birds will migrate based on cone crops and observations. There were reports of White-wing Crossbill sightings up north in Indiana. Then, reports of them in Columbus, Ohio, which is directly east of Indianapolis. I knew they would have to show up in Indy soon. I saw a flock in the Hocking Hills region of Ohio the weekend after New Years. Next, Kirk Roth found a lone male on January 3rd at Eagle Creek Park. Most likely a scout, checking out the food situation. Don Gorney had 425 around the Ft. Wayne area the 18th. Finally, on Wednesday, January 21, Mary Lou Stark found a flock of 12 White-winged Crossbills near the Ornithology Center at Eagle Creek Park. Chad Williams found 40 the following day. They have been putting on nice shows ever since. (All the crossbill photos are from Kevin Carlsen who is working dilligently on the new up and coming Eagle Creek Ornithology Center. More on that later in the post.)

So why are they here? No, it has nothing to do with ancient burial grounds. The spruce cone crop up north in Cananda is not up to snuff. With not enough food for all the birds to survive, flocks will wander farther south to partake of the bounty in our neck of the woods.

Above is a female crossbill. Females have greenish-yellow plumage with white wingbars. What fascinates me most about crossbills is their crazy beak. With a beak twisted and slightly askew, crossbills look like a science project gone a little awry. I have taken the photo above and cropped it so you can see a closeup of the beak below.

As you can see on this female White-winged Crossbill, the upper and lower mandibles criss-cross. This makes the perfect tool for prying open seed cones. Interestingly, some birds are lefties and some are righties. There is a blog post about it here. http://nuthatch.typepad.com/ba/2005/12/crossbills_whic.html

Here is a nice capture of the male. Nice red color with black wings and the bold white wingbars that cinch the ID.

So what are these White-winged Crossbilss feeding upon? Eastern Hemlock cones. Their beaks are perfectly adapted for getting into the cones and extracting the seeds. I have heard that they are not too tasty for humans, but crossbills love 'em! Look at this happy guy carrying his prize.

And here are the tasty nuggets found inside each cone. Tiny little seeds that the crossbills crave. They have been witnessed feeding on spruce and pine cones, as well, and I have read they also enjoy sweet gum fruit. The seed photo above was stolen from Jim McCormac's blog. He also has a few good posts on crossbills, here and here.

Special thanks to Kevin Carlsen for letting me use some of his photos. If you are in the area of Eagle Creek and like building objects or painting and creating displays, he can use volunteers at the Ornithology Center, due to open sometime this year. The number is 327-BIRD(2473).

Foxy!

My niece from Delaware sent me this great picture of her resident Red Fox she calls "Foxy". Brenda and her husband Mike Heindl live on a virtual naturalist's paradise at Oversee Farm, a Nature Conservancy property. (I hope they don't mind auntie dropping in for a visit).

Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes, is the most ubiquitous wild canine. This species can be found in the U.S., Canada, Europe, North Africa, most of Asia, Japan and it was even introduced to Australia. Weighing anywhere between 6.5 to 25 pounds, they are eating machines. They are omnivores with a diet consisting of fruit, worms, crayfish, rodents, rabbits, birds, eggs, amphibians, small reptiles, fish, carrion and even human garbage. In the U.S., fox weighing in on the hefty side usual reside in the areas to the north, while the daintier ones reside in the warmer areas to the south. Red Fox have small stomachs and therefore can only eat around 10% of their body weight. When they have an abundance of food, they will store it in shallow holes that they dig and position throughout their territory. This act insures if another animal discovers their bounty, all their supply will not be lost.

Red Fox have territories that can be as large as 20 square miles. Though they can be viewed during the day, fox are normally active at dawn and dusk and can even be nocturnal in areas where they encounter frequent human interference.

Red Fox can endure cold weather by growing a thick winter coat. The coat coloration can vary greatly from deep chestnut, rusty red to sandy blonde. There is also a rare color phase of the Red Fox that is black, seen above, which makes up a mere 10% of the population. Photo from Wikipedia. Such an ominous looking beast!

Red Fox can be fascinating to watch, as my niece can attest. These carefree clowns love to romp and rough-house. They are especially amusing to observe as they hunt, leaping high into the air and landing on a juicy vole or mouse. They have acute hearing, and can detect the slightest movement of a rodent under the thick grasses. A master at camouflage, they can lie in wait concealed in the tall grass. A rabbit has little chance at escape when it is surprised by a furry bullet that can reach a speed of 45 miles an hour.

Red Fox can be viewed at Eagle Creek Park and Holliday Park. The ones at Eagle Creek Park have raised young there, and if you are lucky enough, you can catch a glimpse of the kits in the spring frolicking in the park.

Baby, It's Coooollllldddd Outside! -Alberta Clipper

Path of most Alberta Clippers. Photo from Wikipedia.

Okay, waking up to temperatures of 11 below zero is not a treat in my book. I am not a big fan of cold weather. Looovve snow. But I can do without bone-chilling cold.

Anyway, some of you might be interested in why we are having this bit of cold weather. It is the cause of an Alberta Clipper. No, Alberta is not the name of some mean school marm that likes to torture kids. Alberta is the name of a province in Canada. This is where the storm arises. The "clipper" part comes from the fast moving ships of the 19th century, since this type of weather moves very quickly dropping temperatures 30 degrees in less than 12 hours sometimes.

This phenomenom occurs when warm moist air from the Pacific Ocean encounters the mountains in British Columbia and Alberta. This warm air travels down the mountain and brings unseasonably warm air to Alberta, sometimes as warm as 70 degrees F. Okay, I could go for that right now!

Next, the clipper visits the prairies of Canada and mixes with the cold air mass that is here in the winter. It then moves south, where is gets caught in the jet stream, rapidly bringing this cold air mass to our doorstep. It also brings strong winds 35-45 mph. This can cause the wind chill to be as low as 20 -50 below zero. Brrrrrr!!!!

But luckily, this is a clipper that is fast moving. So by the weekend, we will be a balmy 30 degrees. Get out your bikini!

2008-What a Wonderful Year!

Yellow Lady Slipper

Wow! I can't believe tomorrow is January 1st. And, yours truly will be another year older- and wiser, I hope. 2008 was a tremendous year for me and I believe 2009 will be just as exciting!

Little Floating Bladderwort

Monarch Ovipositing in April

Hognose Snake. Photo by John Howard.

I thought I would end the year with a big thank you to all my co-workers, friends and family. I think you all truly helped make this a great year. I witnessed so many cool things. Life birds, plants, insects, butterflies, dragonflies and with such great company. I think every outing I went on was a blast. I honestly cannot remember a trip that stunk. Even the ones I struck out on what I was looking for. The company always made up for it. Simple hikes on the property, to out and out quests for rarities, all have been great!

Green Salamander

Hummingbird Moth on Common Milkweed

At first I thought I would list everyone, but I am so terrible at remembering, I would surely forget someone, and I wouldn't want to do that. But you all know who I have been out exploring with. So, here it is:

Thank You!! Thank You!!!Thank You!!! Thanks a million!!!

Spider and Wasp interaction. Photo By Jim McCormac.

Wheel Bug on False Sunflower

Black Widow

Harvester Butterfly on Horse Dung

Fishing Spider

Crested Coral Root Orchid

Two special honorable mentions- One to my sister, Joyce. She has put up with muddy boots, help me wash mud encrusted pants and Keen's, and encouraged my exploring. The other, to my brother, Charles for getting me the awesome camera to help me capture many of these images. Thank you so much!

Happy New Year, Everyone!!!!

Yellow-fringed Orchid

Pink Lady Slipper Orchid

Devil's Urn Fungus with Tiny Spiders Inside

Doe near Side of Road at Eagle Creek

A Christmas Present from Nature

My sister, Joyce, and I were headed across State Route 741 near Lebanon, OH around 4:30 pm today and witnessed the most amazing sight. We noticed the clouds near the sun were lit up with color, blending from rich orange to yellow to a pale green and a hint of purple. It looked like a short rainbow, but it was not raining. We found out later that this strange atmospheric anomaly is called a parhelion or, the word I prefer, sundog.



Sundogs are formed by reflection or refraction of sunlight by ice crystals found within cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. These are the thin wispy clouds you sometimes see in the sky that seem to go for miles. Sundogs normally occur, but not always, when the sun is low in the sky, like at sunrise and sunset. The ice crystals within the clouds act as prisms breaking up the light into the different wavelengths producing the spectrum of colors. When the light hits the prism-shaped ice crystals, the white light is slowed down causing it to separate into the different colors. This process is called dispersion. If you want to learn more, here is a great site that goes into all the physics behind sundogs. The link at the bottom of this sites page explains how they are formed.

I didn't have my camera with me, but I pulled a few images from Wikipedia. I have seen only one sundog before. This was my sister's first.


I was so glad to share this unexpected and beautiful event with my sister on Christmas Day!

Sky Watch-December 24th, 2008

It's Christmas Eve and I am in pain because I ate tooooo much! I am sure I am not the only one suffering from the evils of well-meaning relatives who enjoy stuffing others full of food. Since many of you may not be able to handle a hike, but can surely waddle outside and look up, here is what the night sky should look like. You can see Mercury, Venus and Jupiter if you look toward the Southwest around 40 minutes after sunset. Get outside for a bit and enjoy!

Long-tailed Ducks

Today I participated in the Northeast Indy Christmas Bird Count here in Indianapolis. The weather was quite brisk, but that did not deter the birds.

We had a great time finding all kinds of interesting birds. Surprisingly, we had over a thousand robins in our count circle today!

We found Greater White-fronted Geese, Northern Harriers, Red-shouldered Hawks and, my favorite, five Short-eared Owls at the Mt. Comfort Airport. You can read the prior post to find out a bit about "shorties".

And the find of the day? Two Long-tailed Ducks, Clangula hyemalis! Long-tailed Ducks are not a common visitor to Indianapolis. These are sea ducks, usually found in much deeper waters. We found these creatures at Geist Reservoir.

This is a photo my friend Cheryl Harner took a few days ago at the Huron City Pier in Ohio of a female Long-tailed Duck. Just take this pic and double it, and you have the view we had today. Two females in winter plumage. These ducks truly enjoy diving, so we had to keep watching for them to surface. Up they would pop, then like miniature Houdinis, they would vanish below the surface.

A cool fact is they are able to dive as deep as 200 feet in order to forage under the water. Wow!

Male Long-tailed Duck in winter plumage. Photo by Arthur Grosset from the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.

The common name of the duck comes from the extremely long feathers that make up the tail of the male drake. Above is a picture of the male in winter plumage. Such a striking animal. A better look at the male bird swimming can be found at Internet Bird Collections.

The Long-tailed Duck graces the Federal Duck Stamp for the 2009-2010 season. A little known fact is that 98 cents of every dollar from duck stamp sales go to purchase or lease wetlands. This is critical for many duck species' survival. If you love ducks, I strongly urge you to support this wonderful program by buying your own duck stamp, today.