Entries from March 2007 ↓

The Red-headed Woodpecker is one of the coolest birds to watch. Two years ago, The Birdfreak Team was lucky enough to have a rare appearance of these beauties at the Callaway Nature Preserve’s old, dying Willow Tree.

Unfortunately, this species is declining. Habitat loss is the main reason. Additional causes are car collisions, fire suppression, and the European Starling invasion. But, according to Audubon’s WatchList, the Red-headed Woodpecker’s nesting competition with the European Starling may not be as devestating as previously though because of the different times they nest.

The good news is that habitat restoration is helping bring these guys back. The reestablishment of oak savannas is a key factor. In areas such as the Pleasant Valley Conservancy’s Savanna Oak Foundation, Inc. in southwestern Wisconsin, restoration work has brought the return of the Red-headed Woodpecker back in significant numbers. Organizations such as these are always looking for volunteers and donations to help with restoration work.

Many people associate with nature - they might enjoy camping, scenic drives, or rugged hikes. The highest degree of nature lovers/naturalists are birders. But what is a birder?

Many people that call themselves birders (or bird-watchers) usually do one or all of the following:

• Go outside to find birds
• Identify found birds to the best of their abilities
• Seek out new locations in the hopes of finding new birds
• Keep a lifelist or in some way quantify bird sightings either verbally or written
• Acknowledge that some birds are in decline and the environment needs some help

Unfortunately, this is where many birders stop. They love seeing birds for a number of reasons, they know there are environmental problems but don't really know what to do about them. Many birders might fall into what we call the "Generate Awareness Syndrome" - they talk about environmental problems, often blaming a political party, some business, or the general population all together. They feel they are doing their part - they are informing others and generating a lot of awareness.

Generate Awareness Syndrome

1. Bringing awareness to a problem is enough to combat it - someone else can do the dirty work
2. Being hypocritical is OK as long as #1 is being followed
3. Action is for others - I deserve what I have and nobody can take it away from me

This brings us to another point - conservation vs. environmentalism. The two might seem closely related but there is one major variance among them. Environmentalism is about generating awareness while conservation is about action.

Can a birder really call themself a birder if they aren't a conservationist? Is awareness really enough to solve problems? How can environmentalism improve anything without concrete action?

Ever wanted to change the little RSS feed icon on your blog from something other than orange? Or make a bigger, more prominent icon?

I found this cool website called Feed Icons! This site lets you download a set of various sized feed icons (free!!) that you can edit to your liking. I created our icon in Birdfreak Green!

I am happy to announce the new Birdfreak Toolbar! This toolbar is perfect for birders because it has RSS feeds to birding blogs as well as easy, quick links to top birding sites. This was just created so there could be a few bugs (please let me know!) and I plan on adding TONS more birding blog feeds!

Enjoy! The download is free and the toolbar is easy to use! Download now!

I just got my hands on last fall's banding season data at Sand Bluff Bird Observatory (SBBO) at Colored Sands Forest Preserve in Winnebago County. While I won't go through each species banded, I will try to give some of the highlights.

First of all, there were two never before banded birds at SBBO: Bank Swallow and Cliff Swallow. Some of the rare birds caught and banded were Acadian Flycatcher, Harris's Sparrow, and LeConte's Sparrow. A large amount of Cape May Warblers were banded (17) and Dickcissels were captured for the first time in the fall (20). Dickcissels nest at Colored Sands. Another cool bird banded was a Whip-poor-will, a bird I've seen only once (at Colored Sands). We had thought the bird was being banded but we found it calling from the roof of the building.

While it is hard to come up with accurate trends (I will have to get my hands on more data), most of the "normal" species were well represented. There were 24 species of warblers, 9 species of flycatchers, 5 vireos, 15 sparrows, and a host of others. Total number of birds banded were 4,758 making up 105 species.

The spring banding has already begun and I hope to get some really excellent bird photos and hopefully some more detailed data. 

One of my favorite bird sounds. Sweet and to the point, the Eastern Meadowlark always brightens the day (even though this day was gloomy).

This video was taken at Devil’s Lake State Park last summer. We thought the ground foraging was pretty interesting.