Relatively Speaking

As a prompt to get some people to visit, here is a video that demonstrates a poor view of what is considered a "small" kettle of raptors moving over - and it is still awe-inspiring to the perspective of a midwesterner such as myself.

These guys are Mississippi Kites, and they are only the first wave of migratory raptors that comes through Veracruz. They nest relatively far south in areas such as Texas and along the gulf coast so they are done with breeding and ready to go south long before most other raptors. Soon broadwings, and then later Swainson's Hawks will be joining in, and they will be coming in much greater numbers. Get your clickers ready.

Swallow Tailed Kite

Swallow-tailed Kites are an early season migrant that can be seen in small numbers, often migrating alongside the far more common Mississippi Kite. Usually one or two will be seen accompanying a flock of thousands of Mississippis. They will sometimes be seen flying lower near the coast, where I took this short bit of video.

I have a personal fascination with the Swallow-tailed kite, because it is the very first diorama you seen when you enter the Bell Museum of Natural History in Minneapolis. I went to that museum as a child and later on worked there for many years. I have spent many hours admiring that diorama thinking I would never see this birds in life. In the early days of the Bell Museum, swallow tails were often seen along the Mississippi river, but they have long since been extirpated from their historical nesting sights along the river valleys of Minnesota. I'm glad I can still see them somewhere, and maybe one day they will return to their historical range.

Sex Panther?

I spent some time last winter in the mangrove swamps of Chiapas. I was mostly there to help with bird monitoring, but I also did crocodile and mammal surveys. When setting out camera traps for jaguars, we sprayed each one with... something... to bait the trap. When I asked what the trap was baited with, I was told in a thick Mexican accent ¨Calvin Klien´s Obsession.¨ After having this repeated to me several times, I verified that, yes, Calvin Klien cologne was part of our field supplies. Apparently, and probably not by accident, Obsession closely mimics jaguar pheremone.

Let this be a warning to those of you who want to wear cologne in the jungle.

Kangaroo Rats

I will do one quick entry.

In the words of my FEHA data sheets "Capture Method: Ground Hand-grab"

While in Canada I did a few kangaroo rat surveys. The Ord's Kangaroo Rat lives in southern Alberta in approximately three dune systems. This means the Ord's is VERY rare. On these three dunes, however, they can be seen hopping around pretty readily.

Since they are so rare, a major goal of the surveys is population monitoring. The general procedure when you go out "k-ratting" is to catch them, check for a PIT tag and put in a PIT tag if the rat is lacking one, (then check for parasites, take some measurements, take some pictures and have fun.) The PIT tag is a little chip under the skin that can be scanned in order to identify the rat. It functions more or less like a bird band, but with slightly flashier technology. From the rate of recaptures and a bit of a Bio101 background knowledge (which I will try to remember to write about later) it is possible to get a pretty good estimation of the total population of rats.

When I asked how you catch a kangaroo rat, I had a vision of a live trap or something in my head. The response was no, you just grab them. I didn't believe the k-ratters, but it's true. They just bounce around the dunes looking stunned to see you when you approach. From this observation I started to formulate theories as to why this is not the most successful species in Canada, but it appears that they only stand around stupidly for humans. When an owl approaches, the evasive maneuvers come out, and the kangaroo rats out perform nearly every time.

My new favorite mammal.

The limited internet effect.

Hi family. Hi mom, mostly.

When my life is truly great and wonderful and exciting, I rarely have much time. I rarely have internet easily available, either. For this reason, my blog is missing most of the best parts of my adventures. So. Just to tell you, I am having a great, wonderful, exciting time. I'm more than content.

I'll try to get a few things up soon.

Clever Girl

My favorite juvenile hawk this season is a hawk I dubbed Ninja Bird. Ferruginous hawks are on average more ninja than other buteos (if you ignore their previously noted proclivity towards drooling.) They have a fearsome sidekick-talon combo that they can back up with some pretty intense face-biting.

Ninja Bird was the greatest of the bad-ass baby ferruginous hawks. Ninja bird attacked us before we even tried to pick her up, footing both of us in the legs. (The Destoryer has eight puncture wounds to prove this.) Ninja bird fought back through the whole transmitter attachment, and upon release, she chased after us with extreme ferocity.

Ninja Bird was not just fearsome, she was also as clever as a Jurassic Park velociraptor. On our day-after check, we heard Ninja Bird’s radio signal coming from near a large mound of dirt at the dugout not far from the nest. It was a hot day, but through the haze we spotted a young female hawk perched on the mound. The Destoryer ran to catch her, and he kept running. The bird flew away far better than Ninja should have been able to– and the signal didn’t move. That wasn’t our bird. It was a decoy.

As we get up to the dugout, the signal started making less and less sense. It would be nearly silent but for brief moments it would suddenly become super strong. I walked back and forth for over half an hour somehow going PAST the signal over and over without seeing a bird or a fallen transmitter.

It finally dawned on me. The bird was IN the drain culvert to the dugout. To quote Aliens “They're coming outta the walls. They're coming outta the goddamn walls.” She was hiding her signal, she was creating distractions, and she almost out smarted us.

Needless to say, getting Ninja out of the drain culvert was difficult.

Hawk Drool

It is well known to any GGROer that a drooling hawk is a bad sign. In most birds, it is a sign of severe stress, but in Ferruginous Hawks it appears to be their natural response to almost everything. Within seconds of hooding a FEHA, the hood will become soaked with hawk spit. The problem is so pronounced that my trapping jeans actually have a ferruginous hawk drool stain. Buteo regilus is just not very regal at times.

A young hawk oozing saliva