While looking through the fanatically comprehensive Lostpedia a few weeks ago, I came across the article on Birds. We had just re-watched the first season episode “Special“, where Walt is reading about Australian birds, so I already kind of had birds & Lost on my mind.

But birds appear in almost every episode of Lost; during the Island scenes there are usually bird sounds in the background, most often peafowl but also loons or doves. The Common Peafowl is an introduced species in Hawaii (where Lost is filmed).

If you watch the show you know that the Island gets around, so hearing such diverse species is not far-fetched. While improbable bird song is unfortunately common in popular culture, the makers of Lost could actually use sounds from any species of bird and they would work within the storyline of the show.

Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation was the proud recipient of the group’s 2010 William H. Miller Conservation Award. Three of FCWR’s education birds were on display during the social hour before the meeting began. I held Meepy (Barred Owl), while a fellow intern had Pip (Barn Owl) and Dawn had Spirit (Long-eared Owl). After I got over my initial nervousness, I had a lot of fun talking with people about Meepy and the other birds and the work that FCWR does. It was my first “program” experience (albeit very informal) and I really enjoyed it!

Flint Creek Savanna An Ecological Restoration by Citizens For Conservation

To find out more about Citizens for Conservation, visit their website. They also have a new group on Facebook. As a non-profit organization, they rely on volunteers and donations.

Two volunteers, along with Pip, then demonstrated flight training using a creance.

Pip on the glove, prior to a flight

Pip in flight

Pip about to land on the glove

The trainers face away from each other between the flights. During this time the receiver prepares the food reward on the glove and the bird finishes the food it has just received from the last flight. When the bird and the receiver are ready, both trainers turn around and the receiver blows her whistle to signal the bird to fly.

Here’s a closer look at the creance. It’s a piece of capped PVC pipe with some sand (?) inside to make it the appropriate weight for the bird in training.

Dawn explained that lures may also be used to flight train a bird, and she showed the following two examples. The pigeon might be used for training a bird like a Peregrine Falcon, while the black and white “skunk” might be used for a Great Horned Owl.

In the afternoon we had more handling experience. I took Pip first and since he had flight jesses on, I had to change his equipment, which went pretty smoothly. Next I walked with Meepy, and finally with Darwin. All of the students were walking around the grounds at the same time; it was like a parade of raptors.

After the raptor walkies, it was time to clean out a couple of the mews. I hadn’t cleaned while a bird was in its cage before, but I got to pick up waste and change the water in Zen’s place while he watched me warily from the corner. Next I worked in Junior’s mew. Junior’s a bit horny these days, which might mean he could be aggressive towards people. While I was picking up, volunteer Karen kept an eye on Junior and stood guard in case he got any bad ideas. For those keeping track, I found another two headless mice while cleaning out the mews this week. Next week: feeding and nutrition!

Last year, Arthur and I were doing our MOON route late one night. While at one of our stops, a county park ranger pulled alongside our car and asked us what we were doing. I explained the monitoring project and apparently I said, with some exaggerated enthusiasm, “We’re citizen scientists!” I will never live this down; today the mere mention of “citizen scientist” makes Arthur laugh at my dorkiness that night. If I had one of these shirts on during our route, I guess I would have showed it to the ranger, too. Helping the scientific community by volunteering in citizen science projects is something to be proud of, in all seriousness. Here are two t-shirt designs made for the citizen scientists among us!

Eurasian Eagle-owl from Picture Taker 2’s photostream on Flickr

Usually at least a few of the nests have multiple live cameras going, and highlight videos are archived for later viewing (Iets gemist?). Nest milestones like the date of each egg and hatching are noted too (Hoogtepunten).

Even if you don’t read Dutch, the streaming cams are fun to watch and the archived clips are usually neat.

Are you looking forward to watching a nest cam this season? Do you have a favorite live streaming nest cam website? Please let me know in the comments!

CONTESTS WITH DEADLINES near and far

Miss Chevious Musings is giving away three Song Bird Necklaces. The winner will be chosen on March 2nd. See contest page for details.

You can win a signed copy of Bird Watching For Dummies by providing the funniest caption over at Bill of the Birds’ Caption Contest #12. Submit your funny caption before March 3.

Enter to win a $250 Duncraft shopping spree. Submit your entry by 30 April 2010. Details at Duncraft’s Backyard Birding Blog.

Ornithologist and author Glen Chilton is offering a $10,000 reward for finding a previously unknown sample of a Labrador Duck. See Dr. Chilton’s website for all the details. Ends September 1st 2010. Send your claim to IFoundADuck@glenchilton.com.

ONGOING CONTESTS of interest to birders

10,000 Birds has recently introduced their Conservation Club, a great way to raise money for bird conservation causes. Members of the club are eligible to enter giveaways offering prizes from Conservation Club sponsors. Have a look at the current and past giveaways, and then sign up!

Each month WildBird on the Fly runs a First Friday fiction contest. If your 500-word story is chosen, you’ll win a recently-published bird book. Submissions are due before 5 p.m. PST on the first Thursday of the month. See WildBird on the Fly for all the details.

Duncraft hosts a caption contest on Facebook every week. Become a fan of Duncraft to see each contest posting. Enter to win a $10.00 Duncraft Gift Coupon. New caption contests start each Monday.

WildBird on the Fly periodically gives away books and other prizes with fun, short-notice contests. Follow her blog and her Twitter account @WBeditor to get in on the prize giveaways.

Each month the Birds & Blooms website runs the Where’s Webster? contest. Find Webster the duck on the website and enter to win. Prizes vary and the contest runs month to month.

The Eagle Optics Email Contest is ongoing for anyone subscribed to their newsletter. A new winner is chosen every month and prizes vary. Click here for details.

Birder’s Lounge runs a monthly ID Challenge. Contestants play for their favorite bird/nature/conservation charity. The prize is a $10 donation to the winning charity, in the winner’s name. (Thanks to Amber for the details!)

Upon arrival at the Nature Center’s parking lot, we donned our cold weather gear and slung on binoculars and camera. We entered the large facility and the first words I heard were, “Are you here to see the Tufted Titmouse?”

Now, TUTIs range through northern Illinois and Wisconsin and beyond, but they are kind of rare in our county. Looking at eBird, there were a handful of reported Tufted Titmouse sightings in Lake County last year over four different months. There were even fewer sightings in Kenosha County in 2009. Bottom line, we don’t expect to see TUTIs when we go birding locally. So the question from the Nature Center staff member was a welcome one, indeed. Apparently a Tufted Titmouse has been visiting the feeders at Pringle all winter, and it had been seen earlier this morning. We didn’t have to wait long before we saw the little cutie ourselves.

After watching the feeders for a while we headed out on the trails for a slog through the wet, heavy snow. There are over four miles of trails through the Bristol Woods County Park adjacent to the Nature Center.

We saw few birds on our walk but we saw many exposed nests in the bare trees. I bet this is a great place to bird in the spring and I’m sure we’ll be back to check it out. We walked about 1.6 miles before returning to watch the feeders some more. For the visit we saw 12 species, most at the feeders.

What a great birthday treat to find a great new birding spot plus a totally unexpected bird!

I’d never heard the phrase in a bate before, but I do find the other connections fascinating. I especially would never have guessed fed up, under my thumb and wrapped around her little finger came from falconry, but really, they make perfect sense!

First we observed as Dawn and volunteer Karen changed the anklets on 0511 (“oh-five-eleven”), one of Flint Creek’s resident Red-tailed Hawks. Here’s 0511 before the procedure. She’s so beautiful!

Then we all took turns walking with Darwin. Darwin was the first bird we handled, back in week 3. Here he is on a classmate’s glove before going outside. Isn’t he gorgeous?

When we weren’t walking, we were scrubbing & cleaning. The highlight for me was finding a headless mouse in Darwin’s mew.

After everyone had a turn walking with Darwin, it was nearly time to leave for the day so we were dismissed. One classmate and I stayed a bit longer so we could walk with Darwin alone. Our first solo walk with a bird! Thank you Connie for taking a few photos of me with Darwin. Here’s my favorite.

During the walk I passed a man and his daughter who were interested in Darwin. I told them he was an American Kestrel and was going to say more but the man started to approach me and I suddenly got nervous. Raptor education FAIL. I politely asked the man and his daughter if they wouldn’t mind to continue their walk. Later I passed another man walking on the path; he offered to stop and let us pass. I had the idea he had been walking there before and passing someone with a bird on the glove wasn’t so remarkable to him.

After everyone had left, Dawn asked if I wanted to put Darwin back in his mew, and feed him. Oh, sure, I can do that. Dawn handed me a mouse and I walked into Darwin’s mew. I set the mouse on a stump and removed his equipment. It had been a while since I’d worked on removing a leash extender so I it took me a minute. Then I raised my hand to let Darwin fly to his perch. I didn’t open my fingers enough and he was a bit stuck for a moment before his jesses were free from my glove. I felt bad about it but Darwin wasn’t hurt and I certainly learned from my mistake – that won’t happen again.

Next week: training (and hopefully less mice than this week).