Gleaning Information and Images of Distant Birds in the Sky (Without Spending a Fortune) and The Trio of Terror Pets Plus One

 What to do about those speck in the sky moments.

 From Robin of Illinois who has been periodically seeing a young eagle at a great distance ...

My identification of the glorious eagle is a best guess based only on size, the mechanism of its wing flapping, and posture when gliding and obviously, the truly humongous wing span. I've never seen one "in the wild" and "in person" before!

He/she has been hanging around for about a month now, but I don't think it is fresh out of the nest this spring, based on its flying skills and skills in cruising for prey. It is much much too far away for me to see any facial details, but I did see it make a very nice landing in the nearly-tippy-top of a giant old oak tree in the back part of the "oak lawn"....Maybe a year 2-3 juvenile? Obviously no white head yet.

I don't have any camera lenses powerful enough to capture this amazing sight at these distances, (about 50-100 yards). But thrilled just to see it!

 That's totally GRAND!!! 

Are you viewing it with the naked eye?  Binoculars?  Scope?

While outside?  Inside?

You have some kind of point and shoot digital camera, yes? 

Here's the deal.  I'm constantly having to overshoot my equipment when I'm trying to get a good look at a flying bird.  If this is a two or three year old eagle it will have splotches of white feathers so even in a very very bad picture there will likely be that contrast so you can age it more nearly, unless it is tremendously back lit.  You can sometimes  age a young eagle by looking at an even awful picture.

The other thing to do is, as it is digital take as many pictures as you can possibly manage on any given sighting. Make sure you are in auto focus and just keep pushing that button while the bird is in your view. Luck is a marvelous thing and with every push you increase your chances that auto focus may just come through for you enough to learn something new.

If outside and you can manage it, lean your hand, yourself, whatever against a tree, house, something solid to reduce shake.  Inside you'll have more options, you can even sit the camera on something while you shoot. 

In the open, push your elbows close to your body and hold your breath for the button push. 

Do you have a photo program?  Doesn't have to be photoshop. In fact at this stage unless you know how to use Photoshop or Light Room trying to use them will just make you crazy.   Go online.   There are quite a number of free photo programs you can download which are simpler so you can jump right in..  You need something simple enough so you can use it right away.   You will need to be able to manipulate sharpness and exposure, and the ability to crop freestyle. 

A little speck of a bird, when cropped becomes a much bigger bird, if much less sharp, which is helpful in gleaning information about it.

If you have a scope, depending, you may be able to hold the camera to the eyepiece and do some rough digiscoping while watching the live digital view as well.

Let us see how you do.

Best, D

And here is the speck in the sky after the photo which heads the blog was cropped down to a much tinier photo which when enlarged gives us the shape of the bird and in this case because of the folded neck and my knowledge of the area, makes it the Great Blue Heron who traverses the sky every morning and afternoon at about the same time at this location. 

And an update on the Trio of Terror plus one, i.e., Quicksilver the African Parrot, Tig the Basenji, Squirrel the Cat... and Pyewacket who could do without every single one of them.

I was walking past the laundry room, glanced in, and saw Quicksilver the African Grey Parrot advancing on the trash can.  Not only might there be interesting things in the refuse receptacle but pulled over it makes...what?  A cavity!

As I'm putting him back on his perch and telling him NOT to mess with the trash can, I hear the door jangle on the cage I was about to clean in the other room.  Hmmm.

I go to investigate.  

Tig the Basenji has opened the door of the cage wider with his nose and is helping himself to Nutri-berry fragments on the bottom of the case.

A digression:

Nutri-berries are little balls of bird seed stuck together with pieces of papaya and bird vitamins.

Why is a dog eating bird seed and papaya?  Because the parrot eats them and Tig will eat anything the other pets eat no matter how far the food is from that typical of his own species out of sheer jealousy. 

While I am shooing the dog out of the bird cage I hear a clatter in the laundry room.

You guessed it.  It took the parrot no time at all to leap off his perch and dump the trash.  And who is watching all this just in case something of interest might be mined from the refuse?

Squirrel the Cat of course.

All this is only a mini moment of multi-misbehavior that I have managed to nip in the bud, but the day is yet young.  And the reason why...

...Pyewacket the Good Pet looks so disgruntled all the time.

(Pye's photograph appears particularly for Karen Anne of the Gonzo Deck who asked how Pye was faring these days.)

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

Pale Male and Octavia's Pin Feathered Little Guy, and Quicksilver the African Grey Parrot Chews His Way Into a Drawer

Photo courtesy of palemale.com
One of Pale Male and Octavia's eyasses works on a pin feather.  Actually all the new feathers eyasses go through in babyhood rather drive them mad.  If you've not done it, watch a hawkcam a night when the eyasses fledgling feathers are coming in.  They sometimes spend the whole night trying to deal with the pin feathers. 

I'd been told that hawk parents did not preen their young and I admit I've not seen them do it in the daytime, but I have seen them doing it many times at night on cams.  In some cases if an eyasses sleep becomes too disturbed by them Mom will work on particularly bothersome ones.

I thought that things might be calming down, at least Silver hadn't bombed me lately, but no, when I came in to check on him he was hanging off the cupboard door in front of his currently chosen shelf...excuse me, cavity.

Then he flipped round and I got ready to duck. 

Instead he flew over to his old stand by the clean laundry.  (I was actually able to catch up a little on  the laundry while he was sleeping last night.  Woooo Hoooo!)

Considering Silver's expression I decided not to push my luck and retreated to a safer room.

 1:41 pm  He turns his head and gives me a look.  I tense.

And though Silver keeps one eye on me he turns back enough to keep the other eye on the bird feeder.

It is a gray chilly day, but there are some signs of Spring.  The Goldfinch are sporting their Spring colors...

...and a lactating squirrel is about to leap the baffle and raid the sunflower seed feeder.  (Hey, she needs the calories.)

And as all seems well, I head back to my chores.  

I'm typing away when I realize I've been hearing a sort of wood grinding noise for awhile.  What is that?  It stops.

Click, clakity, click...geeerrrrrind

That's it!  What IS that sound?

My first choice as to where to look for mysterious sounds...the laundry room of course.  I go in.  Look around.  No parrot.  No more grinding wood either.

"Silver.   Silver?"  

Where is he?

I look behind things.  I look under things.

No parrot.  Right.  

Wonder if he is back excavating under the chest of drawers?  I'm in the process of getting down to look under it when...

Is there an eye looking at me from that drawer?  I change angles.

Not only is there an eye, I'd say there is a parrot head  and likely the rest of him.  He looks a little squashed and he didn't get in from this side.  Did he really chew his way in from underneath?  I gently pull it a touch more open.

Looks like he could use it a touch more open.  Another gentle pull.

Lookin'  kinda grumpy  there, Silver.   Actually he looks rather like the F word might be forthcoming.  Parrots are experts at picking up swear words...anything with high expletive drama will be copied.  It is in their nature.

Ah he seems to be accompanied by some wood splinters.  What a surprise.  One in his feathers...two visible in the drawer...  Will have to check that out when his hormones have settled down.  I don't think moving furniture is in the cards right now.

Still lookin' grumpy?  No perhaps stunned is a better word for that expression.  Hon'  you did do it to yourself.  Not fun squashing yourself into a full drawer from the back or the bottom?

 Sorry.  I know.  Nobody likes to be mocked at a time like this.

Do you want to go in the other room?  

He steps up so I figure that's a yes.

 Squirrel is already in residence but they often sit here companionably together. It is the best seat in the house for the southern exposure bird feeder.  Though currently Squirrel is considering leaping on Pyewacket, the (other) cat. 

 Eventually Squirrel sleeps and Silver is content enough to stay put.

Thank goodness.

And tomorrow, more hawk news plus what do female African Grey Parrots act like at this time of year!

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

PART 2 of Bomber the Hummingbird, Quicksilver, Pyewacket and the Spaghetti, Plus a Saturday Miscellany Which Includes a Link to Filmmaker Adam Welz' Wild New York

We pick up today's episode of The Adventures of Bomber the Hummingbird, Quicksilver, Pyewacket, and the Spaghetti,  where we left off,  with Pye bearing down on Silver over the spaghetti  plate.

 Silver goes into aggression mode, no nose touching for him.  Eyes flashing, (His pupils go from large to small and back again repeatedly.) He stands his feathers on end while taking an aggressive posture which often is the prelude to his leaping precipitously at the object of his attentions, beak open and wings flapping.

Trust me. It's scary.

Pye must think so too because she pulls her head back.  Silver glares, legs braced.  It's a stand off over the spaghetti plate.

 Pye bends right and slowly comes around the other way toward Silver.  Silver has had enough and gives me the just- when-are-you-going-to-tell-the-CAT-to-get-off-the-table look.

Let me give you the larger view of the expression so you'll recognize it if it ever happens to you.

I don't want him leaping at me in disgust,  so I say "Pye" quietly and as she knows she isn't supposed to be on the table,  and actually cares that I disapprove, starts moving toward the edge.

Just to prove she is no pussy, Pye does a little playful feint of a scamper towards the parrot.  Not the least unnerved, both knew this wasn't the least bit serious...

Silver gets back to eating as Pyewacket heads off the table into a chair.

 Once in the chair, Pye stops short and appears to stare fixedly at "something" out of our view.  Silver considers walking over and looking over the edge but he's fallen for that one before and restrains himself, taking another bite.

Pyewacket settles down at the patio door for a session of birdwatching, Quicksilver keeps eating, and if you look carefully you'll see Bomber the Hummingbird facing out waiting for another session of Hummingbird aggression.

She rouses her feathers and gives her wings a few flicks.

 When I look again, Bomber has gone missing.  I go to the door to see if she has taken up her station in the Maple tree, and a little dry, cracked voice says, "Fresh water."

 Silver says it again in the same dried up old voice.  Where he learned to say fresh water, like some old heat crazed prospector who's gone without water for a month, in say, "Treasure of the Sierra Madres", I'll never know.

But it is hilarious.  No doubt the reason he keeps it.

Next up.... 
 

 In case you missed it in the comments section, anti-rodenticide progress watcher Sally of Kentucky sends a story of an enlightened town--

 http://elcerrito.patch.com/articles/council-endorses-anti-rodenticide-measure

 South African film maker Adam Welz did a piece for South African Television, Wild New York, about the NYC hawks and hawkwatchers.  Originally it was part of a series chronicling The Healing Power of Nature on South African television and later did well at film festivals.

When the film screened at a festival nearby, Adam and I teamed up again as part of a panel discussing pressing wildlife issues.

Director Welz has now made Wild New York available for viewing online in order, he hopes, to procure the wherewithal, as in artistic clout, name recognition, and angels in order to do his next film. Which let me add he feels very strongly should be made in order to get the word out about a tragic situation of humans vs wildlife which continues today and without any publicity to speak of.  

Adam's next film will chronicle the conflict caused by human farming infiltration into previously untrammeled wildlife territory which has caused the tragic killing of many, many lions.  

 To see Wild New York click the link below!

www.vimeo.com/adamwelz/wildnewyork


And Betty Jo McDonald invites us all to sign the petition to stop the killing of whales in the Faroe Islands

http://www.causes.com/causes/165072-stop-dolphin-and-whale-slaughtering/actions/1680442?causes_ref=email&recruiter_id=133353103&template=activity_invitation_mailer%2Factivity_invitation&utm_campaign=action_invitation_email&utm_medium=email&utm_source=causes

Donegal Browne

Contact the New Head of NYC Parks Department, Bomber the Hummingbird, Quicksilver, Pyewacket, and the Spaghetti

Why is there a photograph of a hummingbird feeder on a cold rainy day?  Look up.  There you will see Bomber.  Bomber is a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird who has territorialized my two Hummingbird feeders. 

Ordinarily she sits high in the Maple and comes blazing down on any other Hummer who attempts to access "her" feeders.  

Today is very rainy and cold so Bomber has chosen the better part of valor and decided that sitting under the eave above the little feeder waiting to go after her fellow Ruby-throats at the bigger feeder has charms the tree hasn't.

Like a roof for instance.

Why is she doing this?  It appears to be what hummingbirds do.  Breeding season is over and migration hasn't started.  She isn't interesting in watching TV so there we are.

Preservation of personal food supply?

 Bomber has taken off like a heat seeking missile, chasing another Hummer (too fast for me to catch with the camera even if I hadn't been dishing out some spaghetti for myself)  while Silver the African Grey looks on with great interest.

Okay I thought he was looking on with great interest and perhaps he was while I was looking at him, but upon sitting my plate on the table I see he's removed a 2 inch piece of carved wood from the front of the chair.  Chair is removed, the dishwasher dragged over to the door with a parrot perch on top and the parrot deposited on it.  

"Behave yourself." 

"Watch the Hummingbirds try to intimidate each other."

Silver laughs and attempts to look charming instead of conniving.

Ah, Bomber is back in position waiting for the next victim.  She's wetter than before but I assume she's just gotten an ego boost and doesn't much care.

Wait a minute.   Wet birds preen.  She isn't and I realize I've never seen a Hummingbird preen.  They must, mustn't they?  I mean they do have feathers that have to be cared for.  But with that beak...  I realize I need a fork and head for the silverware drawer. 

When I turn back around...

 Guess who is eating my spaghetti?

What?  This wasn't for me?  

(There is a reason the tablecloth is covered with plastic.)

In the meantime...

Pyewacket the Cat, using whatever kitty radar she has that allows her to appear in a twinkling when the parrot is eating people food and there may be stray snacks dropping to the floor, has arrived.

Bomber is now staring fixedly at the joint between the house and the eave.  Insects?  I forgot to get a fork.  I go back to the drawer.

Now and again Bomber appears to look down and watch Silver eating.

Silver has turned round my way for some reason.

What did I come over here to get?

Bomber has turned round toward the yard.  There must be more chasing fodder in sight.  I wait to try and catch the moment.

There is a soft thump behind me.

What is it with everybody today? 

By the way Pye isn't after the parrot, she too is after the spaghetti.

I give her a look.  She knows she isn't supposed to be on the table.

"No really, I just wanted to watch the hummingbirds too.  I'm on my way to the patio door to look out.  It's a shortcut.  Yeah, that's it."

"But wait, it wouldn't be polite for me to be on a surface with a fellow 'cat' and not touch noses.  Besides what about that spaghetti.  Done yet, bird?"

Silver discovered early on that if Pyewacket approached him, and if he yowled loudly like a cat in her face that she became confused and left.  Pye then must have decided that though he didn't look like a cat or smell like a cat, he sounded like a cat and an attempt at a nose touch was only polite in certain circumstances. 

(Did you ever notice that if one cat is on the bed and another jumps on, that the second will often touch noses with the first?  Some sort of olfactory greeting?"

PART 2 OF PYEWACKET, QUICKSILVER, HUMMINGBIRDS,  AND SPAGHETTI IN THE NEXT POST.

A heads up from Sally of Kentucky, who's been monitoring the rat poison situation in NYC,  about a poster calling for those concerned to take action about the many deaths of our urban Red-tails of late.  This particular poster was distributed with specific  concern for Washington Square Park where rat poison has not been laid for some time.  Washington Square Park is the home of Bobby and Rosie  Red-tail and the site of their nest which has the New York Times Hawk Cam focused on it.. 

 (No we cannot be sure that Bobby and Rosie will absolutely be poisoned but if second generation rat poisons are used in the park, and as these two hawks do eat rats nearly every day, the possibility is high.)
 The dead hawk in the illustration is Ginger Lima, a previous mate of Pale Male's who's necropsy revealed she been killed by secondary poisoning from eating a tainted rat.

Do not miss Emily Frost's super piece on the hawk poisonings at DNAinfo-- 

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120921/upper-west-side/pale-males-mate-zena-presumed-dead

Just in from Robin of Illinois about a lucky accident prone Red-tail and a lucky driver, well... we'd think he was anyway--  Red-tail bounces off windshield, lands in driver's  lap...

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/hawk-car-connecticut-205632975.html?_esi=1

Donegal Browne

Jeffrey Johnson's Observations Unpublished Before His Death-- Continued

   First.............................. 

                         IN MEMORIAM

May Jeffrey Johnson's spirit be lifted on the wings of  birds and carried softly with good grace into the Light.


LOOKING FOR ZENA, AUGUST  12, SUNDAY
Photos and commentary in italics by Jeffrey Johnson
Un-italicized commentary is mine.

Donegal,

Striking into the Park from 85th and 5th Avenue I went directly to CPW and checked the Beresford towers and the 241 Building looking for Red-tails with no joy. Metadata time 1801.

Going across The Great Lawn I cane upon Pale Male surrounded by admirers just to the west of  Cleopatra's Needle. Metadata time 1818.

Pale Male having dinner near Cleopatra's Needle. Metadata time 1819.

 Pale Male close. Metadata time 1820.

Pale Male pauses in a ray of late day sunlight. Metadata time 1823.

Keep in mind that Pale is currently awash with people on the ground looking at him.  But being the original human habituated urban Red-tailed Hawk he isn't the least bothered and in fact is going about his Red-tail business completely unfazed by the attention.  

In fact he often hunts quite successfully in full view of the crowd.  The prey in Central Park rather tends toward the human habituated themselves or they wouldn't make much of a living.

Pale Male tree scene from the NNW. Metadata time 1825.

 Pale Male lustily enjoying his catch. Metadata time 1829.

 Pale Male launching to the NW. Metadata time 1832.

 Pale Male briefly lands in a tree to the NW. Metadata time 1833.

 Pale Male flew to an adjacent tree and moments later dove off to the NE. Metadata time 1835.

Had to depart scene without seeing Zena again.

Jeff

Thus ends Jeff's observations for August  12th with a look of the end of Pale Male's tail feathers. 

More to come...

Donegal Browne