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IN-BIRD for Monday, February 4, 2002
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Subject: Lakefront 2 Feb, ICGU's
From: Jeff McCoy <jeffmccoy(AT)MAIL.FWI.COM>
Date: 4 Feb 2002 3:44am
Just returned from Chicago and have a report from this weekend when Jeff Hoover
and I were able to spend a few hours along the lakefront.
Saturday 2 Feb. - Highlight of this partial day was a pair of ICELAND GULLS at
Michigan City Harbor. A nice day to be out; sunny, not too windy, and not as
bitterly cold as a normal early Feb. day should be.
Cowle's Bog - spent little time here; nothing interesting
Johnson Beach -
Common Goldeneye 25
Red-breasted Merganser 11
Beverly Shores - like everywhere else on the lake as-of-late, few ducks around;
thousands of gull off the east end where they stage upon returning from the
dump but were unusually far off shore and impossible to search through
Common Goldeneye 45
Bufflehead 1
Red-breasted Merganser 20
Common Merganser 1
Michigan City Harbor - more gulls than I've seen here all season
Bufflehead 4
Greater Scaup 5
Peregrine Falcon 2 (while out on the beach they stooped on the gull flock
whizzing by at eye-level only a few yards away)
Glaucous Gull 1 (1st yr)
Thayer's Gull 2 (ad's)
ICELAND GULL 2 (1st & 2nd yr)
Tremont - NORTHERN SAW WHET OWL still present and on yet another different
roost; I have not seen it in the same place twice and this time I had about
given up when Jeff H. finally spotted it
Good birding,
Jeff McCoy
Columbia City, IN
jeffmccoy(AT)fwi.com
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Lake Monroe
From: whitehea(AT)INDIANA.EDU
Date: 4 Feb 2002 1:17pm
I ventured to Paynetown and Cutright on Lake Monroe this morning (2/4)
to see what the cold front might have brought. Not much activity - did
have a group of about 60 gulls fly over me heading north as I was
heading down 446. Highlights this morning:
Horned Grebe - 1 (off of launch ramp at Cutright)
Bald Eagle - 7 (4 over Shawnee Bluffs, 2 over Middle Fork, 1
flying N up Moore's Creek inlet)(2 subadults, 4 Basic I or
II, 1 juvenal)
Cooper's Hawk- 1 (over Shawnee Bluffs)
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 (over 446)
Red-tailed Hawk - 2 (over Shawnee Bluffs)
Turkey Vulture - 6 (over 446)
At about 11:30 I had a group of 32 Sandhill Cranes over my house,
circling and drifting south. I guess they felt the front and decided
it was desirable to head south again
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: peregrine speed
From: Mark and Katie Booth <mbooth(AT)IN.NET>
Date: 4 Feb 2002 1:25pm
Hi!
In response to the comment Ron Weiss posted last week about the Animal =
Planet show with the skydiver and the peregrine, (filmed in England) =
here is some of the info that I have.=20
In "The Stoop of a Falcon: how fast, how steep, how high", by Vance A. =
Tucker, Dept of Zoology, Duke University 1999, he writes,=20
"recently, two more studies using methods of known accuracy (radar, and =
a computerized optical tracking device) have reported diving speeds of =
114 mph in a peregrine (Peter and Kestenholtz, 1998), 130 mph in a =
gyrfalcon trained for falconry, and in excess of 160 mph in peregrines =
(Tucker et al., 1998)." He also notes however that how fast they do fly =
and how fast they can fly are two different things. In elaborate =
studies involving a falconry gyrfalcon, they noted that the bird quickly =
attained a speed of around 130 mph from a height of 1640 feet above the =
ground, increased his drag (opened wings, etc.) to maintain that speed =
until he came closer to his target when he increased his drag again to =
slow down before impact. Remember, however, that this bird considered =
the prey offered as "easy" targets. Controlling his rate of descent and =
angle of attack was more important that high speed. They don't just =
"drop out of the sky" as fast as possible, they control their attacks =
quite carefully. In a related study, using a tiny accelerometer =
attached to the birds, G-forces in excess of 25 were recorded during the =
falcons aerial maneuverings. Apparently 5 Gs knocks fighter pilots out.
In "Vertical Flight" by Ken Franklin they took several films of trained =
peregrines flying with skydivers and recorded speeds in excess of 200 =
mph. He showed some very amazing photos of the falcons at different =
speeds and how they align their bodies and wings to reduce drag. =
Apparently, some of his footage has been picked up for viewing on =
National Geographic this coming spring.
On the other hand, as incredible as falcons are, I have personally seen =
many falcon stoops that ended in a miss. I've seen racing homer pigeons =
and pheasants outfly peregrines on a straight a way. So just like most =
predators, they usually only catch the old, sick, weak and injured. Or =
slower. =20
Good birding,
Mark L. Booth
Director, Take Flight! Wildlife Education
317-216-9572
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Subject: Weekend--B'ton area
From: Jim Hengeveld <jhengeve(AT)INDIANA.EDU>
Date: 4 Feb 2002 2:04pm
For our first stop yesterday (Sunday, 2/3), Susan and I visited
Friendship Rd. (Monroe Co.). At the south end, among the ~300
MALLARDS and 25 GADWALL, there was a GREEN-W. TEAL, an AM. WIGEON,
and 4 NO. PINTAIL. In several stops along the road, we saw a total
of 6 FOX SPARROWS.
After stopping at Stillwater Marsh, (see Don Whitehead's post), we
headed to Yellowwood Lake. Along SR 46, shortly before getting to
Yellowwood Rd., a NO. MOCKINGBIRD crossed the road in front of us.
We stopped at the 90-deg. curve on Yellowwood Rd. a little ways
before the bridge over No. Fk. Salt Ck. to look for meadowlarks and
to see if there were any Rough-legs around. There were plenty of E.
MEADOWLARKS singing but no Rough-legs. While scanning the ridge to
the north, I picked up a distant flock of geese and, after getting
the scope on them, ID'd them as GR. WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. This skein
of 22 birds represented the greatest number of GWFG that we've seen
in Brown (or Monroe) County.
Between the picnic grounds and the trail at the north end of
Yellowwood Lk., we saw 4 GOLDEN-CR. KINGLETS and a HERMIT THRUSH.
On Sat. and Sun. at our house, we tallied 51 species that included:
-1 Am. Black Duck
-1 hybrid ABDU/MALL; we also saw a similar looking bird at the end
of Friendship Rd.
-7 Gadwall (2/2)
-4 (m) Green-w. Teal (2/2)
-3 (m) Common Mergansers (2/3)
-3 Bald Eagles--2a, 1 2nd basic (2/3)
-1 Sharp-sh. Hawk (2/2)
-5 Red-shouldered Hawks (2 courting pairs and 1 imm.)-2/3 (4 on 2/2)
-12 Red-t. Hawks (2/2)
-1 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (2/3)--this was the 4th time we've seen a
Rough-leg from our deck in 6+ years; it was a light morph bird and
appeared to be an ad. female. At 4:50, it rose up over the north
shore at about Reed Pt., gradually drifted east and south, and
finally disappeared heading south at 5:05, well to the east of the
lake. This was our 66th species from the yard for the year and our
8th falconiform: No. Harrier, G. Eagle, B. Eagle, Sh.-sh. Hawk,
Coop. Hawk, Red-sh. Hawk, Red-t. Hawk, Rough-l. Hawk
-21 Sandhill Cranes (2/3)
-2-3 Am. Woodcock--heard displaying just east of us at Little Africa
-5 Bonaparte's Gulls (2/2)
-1 Herring Gull
-1 Brown Creeper
-1 (ad. m.) Purple Finch
-12 Pine Siskins
....Jim & Susan
--
____________________
James D. Hengeveld jhengeve(AT)indiana.edu
Department of Biology 812-855-5353
1001 East 3rd Street
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: bald eagle near Lafayette
From: Carol <questrist(AT)EARTHLINK.NET>
Date: 4 Feb 2002 6:15pm
Hiking at Ross Hills Park south of Lafayette today we saw a bald eagle =
flying along the Wabash River. Not a totally unexpected sighting but =
still pretty neat!
Carol=20
Tippecanoe - White Counties
questrist(AT)earthlink.net
=20
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Subject: Eagle Creek Park Sunday Feb 3, 2002
From: John Ulmer <remlu(AT)tds.net>
Date: 4 Feb 2002 7:27pm
Clear sky, temperature on either side of freezing. Aside
from the early Eastern Phoebe that was seen again, just the
usual suspects both birds and birders. At total of 41
species comprised the list ...
Pied-billed Grebe
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Ring-necked Duck
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Sharp-shinned Hawk
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Barred Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Bird walks begin each Sunday at the Nature Center at 9AM,
all are welcome.
John Ulmer
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Subject: ADMIN: IN-BIRD has moved
From: Phil Kelly <phil(AT)PJKELLY.NET>
Date: 4 Feb 2002 10:05pm
Greetings IN-BIRDers (or should I say IN-BIRD-L ers),
As you should have already noticed, IN-BIRD now has a new home, thanks to Susan
& Jim Hengeveld and the UITS IT staff at Indiana University!
There are a few changes that were necessary to make this move. First and
foremost, the name of the list has changed from IN-BIRD to IN-BIRD-L. The "*-L"
format is standard for lists at IU. Consequently to post email to the list,
send it to:
IN-BIRD-L(AT)LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
To subscribe, unsubscribe, and set options, send email to:
LISTSERV(AT)LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
along with the appropriate commands.
The good news about this move is that we STILL HAVE OUR ARCHIVES!
They are available at:
http://listserv.indiana.edu/archives/in-bird-l.html
We did loose a few of the postings to the list in the transition (from
02/01/2002 until now).
All of your listserv settings should have also been preserved (DIGEST, NOMAIL,
etc.). Also if you had multiple accounts on the old system, you still do on the
new one as well and their settings should have carried over.
This will be the last message that you receive from the OLD listserv
(list.audubon.org). All subscribers on the list have been set to NOPOST, on the
NAS system, so that we won't loose any more postings from the archives. You
should have already received a notification of this action.
I'm sure that there will be a few bumps in the transition, so feel free to
contact me at phil(AT)pjkelly.net with any list problems.
Good Birding!
--
Phil Kelly
phil(AT)pjkelly.net Kokomo, Indiana, USA
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