Are my bird counts way off??

I began to wonder about that when I received an email from my friend, Susan, in Minnesota the other day.  I include it here for your enjoyment:

JB-
For some reason, this story popped into my head this morning.  I've been
meaning to tell you this since October!  My neighbor asked if I had a
hummingbird feeder.  I told him yes, I put up two every year around May 1st
and take them down on Oct 1st.  Why then?  Well, I don't want the
hummingbirds hanging around too long and it could get too cold on their
migration to S. Am.  He looked at me like I was speaking Russian for a
moment and asked "What migration?"  I said, you know, when they fly to S.
America for the winter.  He said, "You don't think they fly all that way, do
you?"  Well, yes I do.  "Well, everybody knows they ride on the backs of
geese and they only fly at night."
I had nothing else to say which does not happen often....
Other questions came into my mind but I knew they would seem pointless to
him; like, is there only one hummingbird per goose or do they line up like
little Woodstocks on Snoopy's roof?  How do they meet up with the geese?  Do
the hummingbirds listen and wait and then hop on, or do they look for a
place where geese are feeding perhaps and then hop on like ticks?  What if
the geese do not migrate like the ones here in Rochester?  Do they hang on
all winter anyway?
Now you know the truth about hummingbirds and geese.  Please check your
geese when you do your counting as there may be hummingbirds attached to
them.
sjjj
Hmm…
Guess I’d better get a real powerful scope out each count day to check the backs of those geese!  :)  Let’s see, 50,000 snow geese could mean at least 50,000 hummers… 

Well, all those high winds yesterday have brought plummeting temperatures to my neck of the woods (or marsh, as the case may be).  Seems like the next three nights I’ll be leaving my faucets drip all night so things don’t freeze up.  As I think I’ve said before, I don’t want to put the stinky water here into my fresh water tank.

Do any of you have trouble figuring out who your new followers are?  I’ve had a couple the last week or so that I can’t seem to find.  Maybe they are folks that don’t have a picture?  I like to send a personal email to new followers, but can’t if I don’t know who they are.  So, if you haven’t received a welcome email from me, please leave a comment so I’ll know.  :)

The other day fellow blogger, MERIKAY, posted a recipe for pulled pork using root beer and BBQ sauce in a crock pot.  That reminded me that I had a small pork roast in the freezer, so today I cooked it up for pulled pork my way.  I don’t care for BBQ sauce, so instead I used chicken broth, lots of garlic, and some dark honey that I got while in La Palma, Canary Islands.  It was delicious!  :)  Thanks for the reminder, Merikay.

Did you know that the pot holes in Chicago don’t seem to be as numerous this year as last?  I’m just happy I’m located in an area where I don’t need to worry about those nasty things any more.  :)

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Two old ‘coots’ go a birding

Dorothy and Bob have been volunteering here on the refuge since I left on my cruise at the beginning of November, but Dorothy has spent her entire time working in the VIS.  She has heard me talk about what I see when I do my bird surveys on Wednesdays, and wished she could see some of the more remote areas of the refuge.  Since we both have Mondays off, I asked if she would like to take a ride with me back into the East Unit. 
I told her to bring her camera and have it ready for some great opportunities.  I think I’ve gotten some pretty good pictures while I’m doing the surveys.  Ha!  Pride goeth before a fall, they say.  We headed out this morning as soon as the frost melted off the windshield, and headed for stop number one that always has hundreds of waterfowl on the flooded moist soil unit.  Guess what?  There was not even one duck on the water.  Dang those birds for having wings!  :)
As I looked in the ditch beside the vehicle, I saw this male mallard.  That was the only duck we saw at this stop.  :(

We then headed to one of my favorite spots on the refuge.  I think it’s called rail marsh, but we certainly weren’t going to see any rails today as the wind was really blowing and the entire marsh was engulfed in smoke.  I later found out it was from a fire in Louisiana.  How disappointing.
About all we could make out were these American coots.  We felt right at home.  :)  On a side note, could anyone tell me how to ensure that when you click on one of these pictures that it actually enlarges?  Each time I try clicking on a picture in one of my posts, I get the same sized picture, just in a separate frame.  This would be a good pic to click on to get a larger version to fully appreciate  how these coots seem to run across the water.

I asked Dorothy if she was game to help me search out the other route I had been told about to reach those 3 survey spots that I haven’t been able to get to for the last two weeks.  She was all for it, so we went to try to find the road.  All I was told was to take the third gate west of the East Unit main entrance.  We scoped out both the third gate and the fourth gate, and neither of them were in a condition that I felt comfortable driving down.  We could both imagine getting stuck in them with no way to turn around.  So much for that idea!

Later in the afternoon, Emma and I drove to the VIS to see if I could get a picture of one of the two bobcats that seem to be in that area.
We took a quick trip around Shoveler Pond while waiting for the construction workers to leave the VIS area, but didn’t see much.  There was a pair of blue-winged teal floating by, and one rather sickly snow goose.  My guess is that this goose was probably injured during the hunt yesterday and is just hunkering down trying to recuperate.  Good luck to you, old goose.

Overcast skies rolled in, and there was just too much commotion around the VIS, so we headed back to the rig without seeing any bobcats.  Maybe tomorrow, I’ll go look for periwinkle snails.  At least they can’t fly away.  :)

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Can you count?

After attending the farewell luncheon for fellow volunteers Fonda and Denny, I decided to take a drive around the refuge to see if I could get one of the pictures needed for my photography assignment.  It’s mostly a matter of luck and being in the right place at the right time.  As it turned out, I was able to find one of the many huge flocks of snow geese that are presently on the refuge.  So, here’s the challenge for today: How many snow geese do you estimate are in this flock?  (I hope if you click on the picture, you’ll get a larger version) 

Some commenters have asked how I count the birds when I do the bird surveys.  Well, here’s a good example.  As I approached this area, many geese took flight.  I have a very small window of time to estimate their numbers, hence the challenge to you.  Assuming the picture enlarges for you, think of it as an instant view through a pair of binoculars.  I certainly don’t count each and every individual bird.  I estimate in bunches through my binoculars as I scan from left to right.  I’ll reveal my estimate at the end of this post.
Don’t forget that there are also plenty of birds left on the ground in the marsh that haven’t taken flight yet.  :)
The first picture at the top is probably only about 1/5 of the numbers of the birds that were in this area of the marsh.  Their numbers are truly astounding, and they’re constantly moving around.  You just never know where they’re going to decide to congregate, but you can sure hear them from miles away!  Snow geese are certainly not a quiet bunch.  :)  Their almost constant calls are not as haunting to me as those of Canada geese or sandhill cranes, but they certainly attract my attention.
I’ve chosen this picture (which is also my new header) to best depict the magnitude of the snow geese taking flight on the refuge.  Since that was one of the photographs on my ‘to do’ list for Stephanie, I hope she agrees.  (There are also about 75 white-faced ibis in this picture.)

For those of you that took the challenge, my estimate of birds in the first picture is: 1300 snow geese in the air, an additional 600 on the ground, and 1 great egret in the foreground!  There were probably over 10,000 snow geese in this small area of the marsh.  Talk about snow birds in Texas!!  :)  If you’re in the area, come on down and help me count!

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy 

This and that

First, I’d like to thank everyone for their comments on my decision to spend the summer in Indiana, and for suggestions of what to see in the area.  Lora was especially helpful with some websites of wildlife areas in close proximity.  I probably need to let some of you know that I was born and grew up in the city of Chicago, so I’m well aware of what the city has to offer.  I’d sure like to get a pizza from Frank’s Pizza on the northwest side, and am hoping that Ackerman’s Bakery is still in business.  :)

It was cold, overcast, and a little rainy when I got up this morning, so I decided to put off the bird survey until tomorrow.  That will give the back roads a little time to dry out a bit.  Instead, I headed into the VIS to pick up the contraption that puts sales tags on items like tee shirts.  I had three totes full of shirts waiting to be tagged with the new bar code thingy at the community building at the RV sites.  Colin had printed off the new bars codes for me before he left.
Since I had driven ten miles to get to the VIS, I decided to check the refuge roads to see what was happening in the blustery bird world.
With the weather, the shovelers and pied-billed grebes had moved into the more protected areas closer to the road.
As I rounded one of the corners, huge flocks of snow geese took flight in the distance.   It’s hard to describe in words the magnitude of the thousands of geese filling the sky.  I guess you just have to be here!  Tomorrow I’ll be counting multitudes like this.  What a sight it was.
I surprised this snowy egret along the way.  I guess it decided on flight rather than fight!  Notice the yellow dancing shoes…a diagnostic feature in identification of this species. 
Back at the ranch (RV pads), several Wilson’s snipes had landed in a flooded section of the lawn surrounding the RVs.
Usually, we just have about a dozen killdeer patrolling the area, but the 1/2” of rain overnight provided wetter areas that the snipes like.  Because the water table is not far below the surface in this marshy area, it doesn’t take much rain to provide wetland areas.  Emma doesn’t like getting her feet wet, and she is a real hoot to watch on a morning like today as she daintily prances around to find that perfect spot to do her business.  :)

Along about sunset, as I was on the computer editing my photos of the day, I began to hear sounds through the closed windows that made me think I was near an off-road vehicle race track.  As I scratched my head in surprise, Emma began barking with exuberance!  I need to tell you that there are only two things that cause Emma to bark… turkey vultures and cows.  Sure enough, another cattle drive was occurring down FM 1985.  It was too dark for any good pics, but I had to just chuckle at Emma’s antics at protecting us from this onslaught of bellowing bovines!  As she safely sat at the front window, her head arched backwards as the elongated woofs emanated from her core being.  She was successful in keeping us safe from this invasion, and all is well tonight.  :)  Of course, I’m sure in her mind, the cowboys had nothing to do with the cows staying away from us…
                                                                        THE END! 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Frost on the pumpkin!

There are not many pumpkins in a marsh, but if there were they would have been covered with frost this morning.  My outside thermometer (located between the rear two tires on the passenger’s side of the rig) read 32*F when I got up this morning.  Everything outside was coated in white, and my furnace was working away to keep things comfortable inside.  I’m thinking I’d better get my extend-a-stay extra propane tank set up pretty soon.

 

After breakfast, Emma and I headed out on a birding road trip.  We drove through High Island, and headed down the Bolivar Peninsula.  This is the route you take if you want to take the ferry to Galveston.  I turned off just before the ferry to a shore bird sanctuary.  After about a mile, the road ends at the Gulf of Mexico.

Not much was happening, bird wise, at the shore except this great blue heron.  So, I turned around and headed back out.

I did spot a few lesser yellowlegs and a dunlin along the side of the road on my way out.  I decided to head back to the refuge and take the road out to Frozen Point.  Frozen Point got it’s name before the refuge was in existence.  The story is there was a severe winter storm out of the north that descended down Texas.  As the freezing winds blew out of the north, the cattle on the ranches kept walking south trying to find refuge from the storm.  Eventually they reached Galveston Bay and could proceed no further.  As the storm continued, they froze to death… hence the name.

 

No one was freezing today, and quite a few folks spent the day either fishing from shore or wading out into the bay to fish.  I didn’t see anyone catch anything, but everyone seemed to be enjoying the holiday weekend.

As I drove along, this robin hopped up on one of the fence posts in the middle of the marsh.  That was a bit of a surprise.  :)  Not the usual place you would expect to see one of these guys. 

On the way back to the VIS, I caught a glimpse of this Virginia rail skulking it’s way amongst the marsh vegetation.

I pulled the car over to the side of the road, and waited patiently to get these further shots of this elusive bird.  You’ve heard that saying “thin as a rail?”  Well, when these birds turn sideways they almost disappear before your very eyes into the vegetation.

This interesting RV was parked in the lot next to the VIS as I arrived.  The owners are from Homer, Alaska, and they are trying to visit all of the National Wildlife Refuges in Texas on this part of their trip.  I sure would have liked to see the inside of it.

 

That little road trip today lasted over five hours.  When I got back to the rig, I checked on the pot of chicken soup I had brewing in the crock pot, and then spent the remainder of the afternoon outside with Emma. 

About an hour before sunset, the geese started their flights to their evening roosting sites.  The skies to the south and west of the RV pads were just full of streaming flocks.  I’d estimate that I saw 10,000 geese in the air this evening.  Most of them were snow geese, but there were also flocks of white-fronted geese.  Clear skies and no wind this evening means the temps will plummet once again.  It’s not supposed to be as cold as last night, however.  Those freezing temperatures last night had absolutely no effect on the mosquito population, and Emma and I scrambled inside quickly as the hoard descended!

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

"Craning" my neck!

If there is one thing that the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is famous for, it is the abundance of sandhill cranes that migrate here to spend the winter season. My mission this morning was to pick up John, and head out on the auto tour route to find what birds we could and photograph them. On my way to the volunteer village, I stopped at a viewing area just as the sun was coming over the mountains.

The sandhill cranes spend the night in the water to stay away from coyotes and other predators. As I pulled over, they were getting ready to head out for the morning to feed in local fields.
It wasn't long before they took flight....
The sun was just peeking over the eastern mountains as they headed out for the day.
It was a gorgeous morning to be out and about on the refuge.

Sandhill cranes aren't the only birds to be found on the refuge. Flocks of snow geese have also begun to arrive.

Their numbers will increase dramatically in the next month or so. Every time there is an approaching cold front, more cranes, geese, and ducks arrive.

Cranes are one of my favorite birds, and we saw many today. So, you'll have to put up with several pictures of them. I love listening to their calls as they fly, and as they prepare to move from one field to another. This sandhill was fluffing his feathers in the wind. Cranes mate for life, so this pair is bonded.
See the red top knot?
While the cranes and geese were feeding, many Northern harriers were coursing the fields looking for rodents.

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What a great morning it was touring this refuge! It was in the 30's when we started out and the wind was blowing up to 30 mph, but seeing all the wildlife was worth the frozen fingers. ;)

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I leave you with one last silhouette...

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy