Category Archives: Travel

Speaking of Brainy Birds

February 22, 2009Bird Behavior, TravelKate St. John

Florida scrub-jay on Joan's hat (photo by Chuck Tague) — Florida scrub-jay standing next to a scrub-jay pin (photo by Chuck Tague)

February 22, 2009

Right now I’m in Florida, birding with Chuck and Joan Tague, and have learned that parrots aren’t the only birds with brains. Pictured here is a wise guy corvid, a Florida scrub-jay standing on Joan’s hat.

Corvids can remember, analyze, innovate and even use tools. This is exactly the kind of intelligence that comes from living in complex social groups, and for that sort of family life look to this jay.

Florida scrub-jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) are extreme habitat specialists who require arid oak and palmetto scrub to survive. East of the Mississippi this habitat is isolated to Florida and is further isolated – and disappearing – within Florida. With nowhere else to go, most Florida scrub-jays spend their entire lives within a half mile of their birthplace.

Scientists conjecture that scarce suitable habitat over a long period of time has led them to adopt an unusual lifestyle called cooperative breeding. In it, each pair has one to six nest helpers who feed and protect the young. The helpers may or may not be related to the breeding pair but they learn breeding skills and increase the breeding pair’s nesting success. Helpers also have the advantage of being on site to inherit the territory should one of the pair die.

The arrangement works for all of them and provides a perfect setting to develop smart birds. Because they must cooperate to survive, those who anticipate the actions of others are better at dealing with life’s situations. As Candace Savage says, “Nothing is more intellectually challenging than living in a social group, surrounded by a bunch of other animals that are sharpening their wits on you.”

So why does this smart bird land on a hat?

I hope to get the chance to ask him myself. 😉

(photo by Chuck Tague)

p.s. Florida scrub-jays are listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act and have been studied extensively.

One foot, Two foot, Red foot, Blue foot

November 5, 2008Travel, Water and ShoreKate St. John

Dr. Seuss was talking about fish but when I received these two photos from Deb Acklin this title immediately came to mind.

Here are two unusual characters you’re never going to see at home. Deb saw them at the Galapagos Islands last month.

Meet the red-footed booby and the blue-footed booby.

No lie! These birds are called boobies from the Spanish word for dunce because they’re very clumsy on land. Their fancy feet aren’t made for walking, they’re made for impressing the opposite sex. Same idea as stiletto heels.

The two species have different nesting habits (red-footed boobies nest in trees, blue-footed on the ground) but they have similar courtship displays in which their feet play a part.

During courtship the males of both species point their bills and tails at the sky, raise their wings and, most importantly, display their feet. The blue-footed booby even does a dance in which he lifts and stamps each foot to show it off.

All this is to impress the ladies who are flying by in hopes one of them will stop and get to know him. If she does, the pair will put their feet to another use – incubating the eggs. Boobies don’t have a brood patch so they use their feet, just like their relatives the northern gannets.

Interestingly, female blue-footed boobies have bluer feet than the males. Click on the picture to see how blue they can get!

The boobies’ courtship efforts are successful at the Galapagos but their nesting success depends on the food supply – fish – and the food supply is governed by ocean temperature. During an El Niño event, the ocean heats up and the fish go elsewhere. This spells trouble for the boobies. Their chicks starve, with as much as 70% nest failure for red-footed boobies who lay only one egg per year. Even if the chicks survive, during an El Niño they grow so slowly that it takes a year to mature.

Sadly, red-footed boobies face another threat. Unlike blue-footeds whose largest breeding population is on the Galapagos, red-footed boobies breed on many Pacific islands. In some places they are in decline because the islanders eat them.

Fortunately the Galapagos has protection programs to keep the birds safe. I hope to go there some day and see these fancy feet for myself.

(photos taken at the Galapagos Islands by Deborah Acklin)

On the way to paradise

August 29, 2008TravelKate St. John

Here we are – on our way to Acadia National Park.

Back in 1983 my husband and I didn’t imagine we’d love Maine so much that we’d come back to Acadia every year. Now on our 25th visit it’s like coming home. We’re “regulars” at the Harbourside Inn where we’re welcomed like family and catch up with the many friends we’ve made over the years.

We’ve seen every kind of weather from sunny and cool to a week of dense fog. The only awful time was The Year of Four Hurricanes when the remnants of Edouard, Fran, Gustav and Hortense brought one rain storm after the other. It’s a mighty good record that we had to spend our vacation indoors only once.

For a birder and hiker like me, Acadia is paradise. There are woodland, seaside and mountain trails, views of the ocean from every angle and groomed carriage paths for bicycling, horseback riding and easy walking. Canoeing and kayaking are popular on the lakes, sea kayaking on the ocean.

September is migration time for many birds. When the wind’s from the north I visit the Acadia Hawk Watch on Cadillac Mountain. When the weather’s rainy I sometimes encounter a warbler fallout – tiny birds feeding just an arm’s length away – because the weather forced them to land.

Last year I went on a Whale Watch and I saw a “life bird” from Antarctica: a south polar skua. And I always find a peregrine falcon somewhere on the island, either at the Hawk Watch or on one of the seaside cliffs. Several pairs of peregrines nest on the island, though nesting season is long over by the time we arrive.

Sometimes people ask me, “How can you vacation at the same place every year?” True, it reduces our ability to travel widely but our time at Acadia is so restful that we won’t give it up. The highest accolade we can give to a day is to say, “It’s just like Maine.”

(I took this photo of Otter Cliff many years ago.)

Birding with friends, making friends with birds

May 3, 2008Migration, Songbirds, TravelKate St. John

Bay-breasted Warbler (photo by Chuck Tague) For a peregrine fanatic this is a hard time to be away from Pittsburgh – what with baby peregrines in two nests and lots to watch – but migration is in full swing and the warblers beckon. There are lots of birds flying north, birds who barely stop to eat on their way to Canada, and I don’t want to miss them.

That explains why I’m at a Magee Marsh in Ottawa County, Ohio with Chuck and Joan Tague right now and we are looking at beautiful warblers. For many Pittsburgh birders a May pilgrimage to northwestern Ohio has become a tradition.

Last year when we made this trip we also took the ferry to Point Pelee, Canada, a sand spit that points south into Lake Erie. It was foggy the whole way and we were barely able to see the islands as we made the crossing. At the tip of the peninsula in Canada we found warblers galore. They too had made the foggy crossing and were desperate to eat before flying onward to their homes further north.

This bay-breasted warbler was so busy eating that he didn’t care that we watched him. He had completed most of his journey from Venezuela to Canada’s boreal forest and he was hungry. He walked the branches at eye level and cocked his head while Chuck Tague took his picture. Then he followed as we continued our walk. It was almost as if we’d made friends with him.

Not really. But the warblers do come this close during migration along Lake Erie’s shore. That’s why I’m here.

Peyton Place in Norfolk

April 16, 2008Birds of Prey, Nesting & Courtship, TravelKate St. John

If you think the Pittsburgh peregrines’ life is a soap opera, they’re not the only ones.

My mother keeps me informed about a pair of bald eagles with their own Peyton Place at Norfolk Botanical Garden in Virginia. Their nest has an Eagle Cam so people can watch the drama — and there’s been plenty of it.

This pair has nested at the Garden for seven years, but this year after the female had laid two eggs a 4-year-old female intruder arrived, chased away the resident female and made herself charming to the resident male. The eggs got too cold to be viable and had to be removed from the nest. After a brief fling, the intruder left and the original pair reunited.

It looked like life was back to normal when the original female laid two more eggs, but those eggs bit the dust too. Something scary made her jump around in the nest at night and she stepped on them. Oh no! They cracked! She ate them the next day.

She laid one more egg (her third try this year) and has been incubating it since March 22.

So you see, life can be complicated even if you’re an eagle.

Great birds in Henderson

April 12, 2008TravelKate St. John

American Avocet, Henderson NV Bird Preserve (photo by Laurie Patterson) This weekend I’m going to see this bird, an American avocet in breeding plumage, at the closest thing to birding heaven just outside Las Vegas.

Henderson Bird Preserve in Henderson, Nevada is a water treatment plant that’s beautifully laid out with natural vegetation, lots of water and good nesting habitat. The City of Henderson intentionally made it a bird preserve 10 years ago. It’s the third largest body of water in southern Nevada and the birds love it.

Lots of birders visit it too. That’s where I met Laurie Patterson who took this photo. As we sat next to one of the ponds this avocet walked by us. Yes, at the bird preserve they can come this close.

Almost all my Nevada life birds were found at Henderson. The preserve is open 6:00am to 3:00pm so it’s best to come early. After Henderson, I visit Red Rock Canyon or Corn Creek but the bird preserve is my first love.

There’s some mighty good birding in southern Nevada.

Junk Birds in Las Vegas?

April 10, 2008TravelKate St. John

Great-tailed grackle (photo by Chuck Tague)

UPDATE: June 7, 2018

This 10-year-old article has generated a lot of interest in Las Vegas, Nevada. Originally written in April 2008, the article used birding slag from a decade ago. The slang is no longer used, for good reason. Birds are not junk.

The text below was written on April 10, 2008 and revised on June 7, 2018. Comments made prior to June 7, 2018 are referring to the original text.

Every year in April I attend the PBS Technology Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. To me it it’s a bit odd that a public broadcasting meeting is held in a casino in Las Vegas but it’s planned to coincide with the National Association of Broadcasters convention which is always held in Las Vegas in April.

So here I am. For several days we sit in the dark watching Powerpoint. I must say that my favorite presentations are the HD TV segments from nature shows. Even so, when I’m in the meetings I just want to see birds. When the Powerpoint ends I step outside.

The birds in the parking lot are so common and prolific that my heart does not go pitta-pat when I see them. They are good to see, but they are ordinary. (A decade+ ago, birders jokingly called ordinary birds “junk birds.” No, they are not junk.)

The great-tailed grackles are the ones who stand out. They are incredibly common and incredibly loud. This is part of courtship. The males chase the females and each other. They swagger down the sidewalk. They perch up high and shout (click here on the Song and Calls link!) They expand their throat feathers and tails and point their bills at the sky. They have bill-pointing contests to see whose bill is tallest. They are so … Las Vegas.

They are also expanding their range. The photo above was taken by Chuck Tague in Belize. He’s also seen them in Arizona and I hear you can find them in Iowa now.

Maybe they’re following the casinos. 😉

p.s. My favorite place for birding near Las Vegas is Henderson Bird Preserve. Click here for a list of birding hotspots near Las Vegas.

(photo by Chuck Tague)

Middle Creek: Wow!

March 4, 2008Travel, Water and ShoreKate St. John

Tundra Swans at Middle Creek (PGC photo by Joe Kosack)

I love white birds! And I especially love big flocks of white birds, so I always try to visit Middle Creek in early March. It’s the biggest migration spectacle in Pennsylvania.

Every year in the first two weeks of March, snow geese and tundra swans stop at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area near Kleinfeltersville, PA on their way to the Arctic. If the weather’s just right, up to 180,000 snow geese and 8,000 tundra swans will be at Middle Creek when you arrive. It’s HUGE!

There is no way a picture can adequately capture the beauty of this spectacle. The first thing that strikes you is the sound – a lake filled with white birds and the sound of a crowd. When the snow geese take off all at once, the roar sounds like a cheering crowd in a packed stadium. Their sight and sound and vibrant life fill the sky.

Snow Geese at Middle Creek (PGC photo by Joe Kosack) Sometimes the snow geese settle on the lake again. Sometimes they fly away in loose Vs that become wavy lines in the distance. Either way it’s as if the sky is moving. The snow geese are a total sensory experience.

The tundra swans are calming. In the morning they stay on the lake much longer than the snow geese, preening and calling to each other with melodious “whoo-ing” sounds. As each flock gets ready to leave, they swim in V formations, hum to each other and bob their heads. At take off they call loudly and run on the water to become airborne, then immediately form lines and Vs as they gain altitude. To me, everything the swans do is beautiful.

The best times to visit Middle Creek are the two hours at dawn and dusk. I always arrive before dawn and walk to Willow Point because I don’t want to miss seeing the geese leave.

The geese and swans aren’t the only attractions. This past Sunday I lingered in the parking lot to put on my gloves when a short-eared owl flew past my car – back and forth – and then pounced in the weeds and came up with breakfast. Wow!

After a couple of hours standing in the cold you too might want some breakfast. I hear the Kleinfeltersville Hotel and Tavern has good food. I like to stop at Mel’s Diner on Cumberland Street in Lebanon (Rt 422 West, nine miles away via Rt 897) because they have homemade raisin bread.

For directions to Middle Creek click here. Don’t miss the Visitors Center (open Feb 1 until Thanksgiving, Tuesday to Saturday 8am-4pm and Sunday noon-5pm) where you can see displays of the birds, get maps and information. On busy weekends you can buy food at the Visitors Center, courtesy of local Boy Scouts or churches.

Both photos are by Joe Kosack, PA Game Commission. The top photo is tundra swans taking off. The lower photo is a flock of snow geese.

Merritt Island: Gone Tomorrow?

March 2, 2008Musings & News, Travel, Water and ShoreKate St. John

Roseate Spoonbills, Merritt Island, Florida (photo by Chuck Tague) No birding trip to Central Florida is complete without a visit to Merritt Island, home of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and thousands upon thousands of birds.

Chuck, Joan and I visited it a week ago to look for Florida scrub jays, painted buntings and roseate spoonbills (spoonbills photo by Chuck Tague).

Heavy rain moved in from the north so our trip was abbreviated but we managed to stop at Palm Hammock Trail, Haulover Canal, Black Point Drive and the Visitors’ Center before it poured. We couldn’t find any painted buntings – hungry mosquitoes chased us away! – but I loved seeing an adult peregrine falcon, American avocets and my favorite pink bird: roseate spoonbills.

Merritt Island is a magical place so we were dismayed to learn that all of this beauty may soon be gone, its fate decided in the next six months.

NASA is proposing two possible sites for a 200-acre commercial space launch area. Both sites will have an impact on wildlife but Site 2 would close all the places we visited including the Visitors Center. No more visits to Merritt Island!

Because of federal budget issues, NASA is worried their Florida operation will be eliminated so the commercial launch site is being touted as a typical jobs-versus-environment argument. What is lost in this discussion are the jobs generated by the 500,000 to 750,000 visitors per year who come from all over the world to see Merritt Island’s wildlife.

Last week there were public meetings in Titusville and New Smyrna Beach where NASA laid out their plans. NASA owns the land and can take it back at will. Their schedule for doing so is here.

For more information about the project and its impacts, see http://environmental.ksc.nasa.gov/projects/ksc-cvlc.htm.

You can influence NASA’s site decision by submitting your comments to the address below. You can also help by spreading the news to others who love Merritt Island.

Send comments to:

Mario Busacca, Environmental Program Office
Mail Code TA-C3
Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899
Telephone: 321-867-8456; FAX: 321-867-8040
E-mail: KSC-CVLC@nasa.gov

When is a falcon not like a falcon?

February 29, 2008Birds of Prey, TravelKate St. John

Immature Crested Caraca (photo by Chuck Tague)

29 February 2008

In Central Florida there’s a member of the falcon family who looks and acts unlike any other North American falcon – and it has a very cool name: the crested caracara.

I had almost given up seeing one this year but on the last day of my trip Chuck and Joan Tague took me to Viera Wetlands, a water treatment plant west of Melbourne.

In warm climates it’s become common to use man-made wetlands to treat sewage. The artificial wetlands attract all kinds of birds and that attracts birders. The birds are so easy to see, it knocks your eyes out.

That’s what happened at Viera. The three of us were gazing intently into some reeds, watching a least bittern, when Chuck turned around. Standing on the road behind us was an immature crested caracara looking at us if to say, “Whatcha doing?”

Crested carcaras are classed in the falcon family but are in a separate subfamily called Polyborinae. Unlike “true falcons” caracaras stand on the ground a lot, they don’t have pointy wings, they have extensive skin on their faces, and they are scavengers with eating habits more like vultures than peregrines. In fact they watch for vultures and follow them to feed on carrion.

Our caracara watched us at close range for a while – yet another way in which he wasn’t like the other falcons – then he flew away and I lost track of him. Best Bird of the trip!

I can’t say enough about the birding at sewage treatment wetlands. If you get the chance to visit Central Florida, don’t miss Viera. Two of my other favorite places are Wakodahatchee Wetlands (Delray Beach, Florida) and Henderson Bird Preserve (Henderson, Nevada).

Outside My Window

A Blog of Birds & Nature with Kate St. John