Dick Hollins IBWO Diary: Day 3

Dear Diary:

I think most birders can't possibly comprehend how difficult it is to find Ivorybills here in the Oyster Swamp where I am doing most of my searching.

Today I broke my pelvis. You can't imagine how hard it is to paddle a 45-foot kayak with a broken pelvis. I fixed a rudimentary cast around my pelvis with those plastic rings from a six-pack and some Scotch tape. I had to swim the last few miles back to base camp, but I was able to convince a "friendly" 12-foot Croc to give me a ride back. I also now have a new pair of boots.

The incident where I broke my pelvis occurred right as I got a glimpse of an Ivorybill. I didn't see it very well, as I was drunk and had my eyes closed, but it had the right overall color and wing beat. It had to have been an Ivorybill. This is the 7th sighting I have had this year in my "Red Zone." The Ivorybill came closer and appeared to actually be a very large mosquito, which landed in my pelvis region. Fearing West Nile disease, I took my paddle and swatted the IBWO/mosquito, thereby breaking my pelvis in the process. I took a DNA swab to compare with the DNA samples I got from that janitor at the Smithsonian.

On the way back I also ran into a team of 12 Navy Seals who were napalming the swamp. I disarmed them with my binocular strap and told them that I had a degree from Yale, and that the Oyster Swamp was *my* swamp and they should leave it the hell alone. After they cried a bit, they agreed to deploy to Iraq instead of dealing with me again. There's a lesson in there for you, David Sibley, if you're smart enough to understand it.

My next entry will feature highlights of what Geoff Hill said directly to me about my "alleged" sightings. Only an idiot would call them "alleged." I am not an idiot, therefore my sightings cannot be "alleged."

Until next time, please keep thinking of how hard it is for Dick here in the swamps.

Dick Hollins IBWO Diary: Day Two

Dear Diary:

I continue to be amazed at how ignorant and childish the entire "birding community" can be. We can save a species here and all they're concerned about is posting snarky (that's a big Yale word, I graduated from Yale, you know) comments on stupid Internet blogs. A good example of this childishness is the ignorant and childish comment posted by Cyberthrash in response to Day 1 of my Diary. Well, the best way to deal with a pouting child is to ignore them, so that is what I am going to do.

Cyberthrash, how could you? Your sarcasm is not appreciated. Did you think I was not smart enough to catch that? Well, think again. A Yale-trained sociologist knows sarcasm when he sees it. I thought you were my friend. How many times did we share our dreams of the IBWO while having a latte at that little coffee shop? And you are willing to throw that all away, and for what? Did Popular Mechanics offer to promote your stupid little web site in exchange for you slandering me? Does Tom Nelson (that guy is such a jerk!) have some sort of photos of you in a compromising position? Why have you forsaken me?

Et tu, Judas?

In my next Diary entry, I will get back to the matter at hand: saving the Ivorybill -- and, by proxy, the entire world -- from ignorance and destruction.

Interesting IBWO interview

Can't emnbed it, but here is an interesting video with John Ruthven about the IBWO search: http://youtube.com/watch?v=WNW-VCfPFn4

Bags full of droppings, eh?

Ivory-Billed Searcher's Blog: Day One

*Note:* We here at BINAC are pleased to present a special guest blogger, Dick Hollins.

Dick is the world's second most-accomplished IBWO researcher. Every now and then Dick will let us into his world by providing us with *exclusive* entries from his IBWO Search Diary. Here is his first entry for the 2007-08 season:

***

Dear Diary:

Today was another tough day in the swamp. I know that everybody doubted that I could find an Ivorybill in a one-acre swamp next to the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Missouri, but that's because everyone is an idiot except for me. Remember, I have an undergraduate degree from Yale in sociology, and although I couldn't get into Yale for grad school, I did receive my doctorate in Russian from Cleveland State. You can't possibly understand how smart that makes me, largely because you are so stupid.

I have now seen Ivorybills in fourteen states and two Canadian provinces. Today I was speaking with Gary Graves, who is a janitor at the Smithsonian, and he agrees that it is unbelievable that I am the only person to have seen Ivorybills in fourteen states. He kept on saying that it was unbelievable. At least someone realizes how important my research is to the survival of the species--the human species, that is.

It continues to amaze me how stupid birders are. Except for me, of course, I consider myself to be more of a savant than a birder. I guess the more precise term would be a non-idiot savant, if there is such a thing.

In my next entry I hope to talk more about why Popular Mechanics will not publish my research. They are such idiots. It is a conspiracy of immense proportions. If you're lucky, I might also expose David Sibley for the fraud that he is. That guy is so stupid and knows next-to-nothing about bird identification.

I am also working on a digital camera that can be attached to a dragonfly. More on that in my next entry.

Good Searching,

Dick Hollins

Merlin Invasion!!!

The Hawk Watch at Illinois Beach State Park (IBSP) had over *700* Merlins in a single day this week. That seems like a number that could almost never be topped...does anyone know what the single-day record for Merlins is in the Midwest, or east of the Mississippi?

And we might have some new Ivory-billed news here in a day or two, straight from the mouth of one of the more vocal searchers.

Oooh, this is good stuff!!!

Geoff Hill just updated his web site and is basically retracting the stuff he said about Jeff Sanders' Ivory-billed Woodpecker "sighting" in the 1960's, and about all of Jeff's other sightings that were discredited back in that same time period.

There is a lot more to this story than that, but many of the persons involved -- except for Jeff -- are dead now, so his side of the story is the one that will be told. Wonder if he threatened to sue Hill or something? Somebody please ask Joel Greenberg what he thinks of all of this!!!

Coolest plane ever, as seen at IAH.

And not just "cool" because the plane had satellite television onboard.

Check out the tail:

Yeah, that's right: a big-ass Snowy Owl on the tail.

Too bad Frontier can't fly us to Okinawa.

Act quickly to help BINAC save the environment now!!!

We have recently been made aware of a serious threat to the environment that has been caused by birders. Yes, we said *caused* by birders. You see, these silly birders are actually driving in cars to see the Mango that has been hanging out in Beloit. They are thereby using scarce fossil fuels and killing the environment and helping Halliburton and possibly dooming the Eskimo Curlew *and* the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. There is only one way to stop this madness: We must kill the Mango!

It is the *right* thing to do. This Mango is causing thousands of thousands of dollars to be spent on unnecessary things like gasoline and Wisconsin cheese. The earth is warming as we speak, we're in a war on terror, Britney Spears is now fat, and the Mango is the symbol of all that is wrong with America.

Kill the Mango!

Kill the Mango!!

Kill the Mango!!!

OK, we're just killing. (Er, we meant kidding, but we typed killing, which is actually pretty funny. ) Seriously, don't kill the Mango. But there's blood on your hands if you go see it. Everyone who wants to go see the Mango should not go see it and should instead drive to WalMart. We had two urges to see it today, and two trips to the Wall solved that fix pretty quickly. Problem solved.

Kill the Mango or go to Wal-Mart. This enviro-political stuff is easy. We expect to be appointed to a post at the United Nations soon.

Seriously, don't really kill the Mango, you capitalist SUV-driving birding bastards.

"Montrose Musings" Death Notice

According to recent e-mail correspondence, long-time Chicago area birder Jim Landing passed away recently. We have a rule here at BINAC that we do no speak ill of the dead -- a rule that has come into play several times over the past few years.

So we'll just post the message that was sent in its entirety:

***

A Noted and Much Beloved Chicago Birder Has Died

I wish there was a way of broadcasting this news to only those birders who knew, and truly appreciated and cared about Jim Landing, who's now been happily reunited with his beloved dog, Bull. But unfortunately, in order to get the word out to those birders who loved Jim, I must also inform those who maligned him. He died at 9:45 pm on Monday September 3rd, and his remains have been cremated. As per his wishes, there will be no ceremony. Should anybody wish to share personal comments or stories, his son Alan can be contacted at A.Landing@comcast.net

I never would have become half the birder I became, nor seen a quarter of the birds I did, were it not for my association with Jim Landing. But that was only a small part of it. He was also a wonderful friend and companion during the many years we shared. I know he will be sorely missed by many.

I had just walked in the door of my apartment when I received the call from his son Alan at approximately 11 o'clock Monday night. I was in the process of turning on lights, etc., when I noticed that a carved wooden Buddha statue had been knocked over onto its side, which was really strange, I thought as I righted it, as that's never happened before and it's located in a spot where I can't imagine it being disturbed. Then as I turned to open a window it suddenly hit me--That Buddha had been given to me some five or six weeks ago as a gift from Jim!

For as long as I knew him (we met at the bird sanctuary in 1982), that statue had sat on the floor of his apartment to keep a door from swinging shut. I KNEW then that Jim had stopped by to say "hey". "Good for you, Jim," I said aloud, "You found your way home (I told you so!) then you found your way here--Give Bull a pat on the head for me!" Who knows, maybe it was Bull's wagging tail that knocked that statue over. All I'm certain of is that it was no mere accident or coincidence that these events occurred at the same time. Jim never really quite believed in an afterlife. For some time now I'd been telling him, "You'll see. One of these days you'll get there and say, By God, Kosh was right!" I believe that's exactly what happened. He discovered I WAS right, and just stopped by to let me know.

We had good times, Jim. The years I spent with you were some of the best of my life. May you live in Eternal Peace and Happiness, with Bull back at your side. I love you both always.

To Sue, or whoever runs this list--feel free to ban me from IBET. I have absolutely no intention of ever posting another word on it anyway.

Kosh

***

OK, we don't have a rule that shields people who are still alive---wasn't that sort-of a bizarre eulogy/obituary/whatever you wanna call it?

Fisherman murdered at Montrose

Read all about it here.

New IBWO poll.

We've been a bit surprised at the (relative) lack of discussion on the IBWO lately, especially in light of some of the bombshell news that has hit over the last few weeks. So we'll break our self-imposed "IBWO embargo" for a few days, and we'll kick things off with a new poll, on the right.

JABIRU!!!

August can be a slow time for rarities in certain parts of the country, but there are some great "mega" birds for the ABA area right now, including Fan-Tailed Warbler in Texas, and an apparent JABIRU in Mississippi!!!

Rick Wright's blog has a photo of the Jabiru and also mentions a Brown Hawk-Owl that was apparently seen in Alaska this week. Check Surfbirds N.A. Stop Press for a really --and we don't like to use this word much-- cute photo of the owl.

New blog on the block.

Well, it looks like there's a new bird blogger on the block...none than David Sibley.

Should be an interesting blog to follow.

Will the real Fishcrow please stand up?!?!?!

Wait, Fishcrow took down all of the anti-Cornell rants from his web page!

Who is this new Fishcrow, and what have they done to our beloved old Fishcrow?

Did Cornell take out Fishcrow? Maybe David Sibley? Or even Geoff Hill? Is Fishcrow now taking some sort of anti-ranting medication?

This is not a trivial matter. This battle is not just about the joy and sheer bliss we receive from reading Mr. Crow's thoughts before breakfast each and every day.

This is about the First Amendment. This is about academic freedom, and the scientific method. Important scientific work such as this must not be allowed to be intimidated. We're talking about saving a species here, for goodness sake. We cannot allow one of our top birders and bird conservationists to be silenced or censored. Or censured, either.

Was New Coke better than the old original Coke?

No!

Were the two new Duke cousins they brought in for a couple of shows better than the original Bo and Luke Duke?

No!

Was the new, smaller-breasted Pamela Anderson better than the old, larger-breasted version?

Again, no!

Is the new Fishcrow better than the old ranting Fishcrow?

Hell no!!!

So for the sake of science...

..for the sake of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker...

...and for the sake of humanity...

WE WANT THE OLD FISHCROW BACK!!!

WE WANT, OLD FISH-CROW!

WE WANT, OLD FISH-CROW!!

WE WANT, OLD FISH-CROW!!!

Or we can just check Google for the cached pages.

But really, we just want our old Fishcrow back!!!

UPDATE:

*Whew* this looks like a false alarm...most of Mr. Crow's musings are back, just in a slightly different format.

You had us worried there for a minute, Mr. Fishcrow!

BINAC 2008 World Tour!!!

Folks, we have a very exciting announcement to make. The biggest tour since David Lee Roth was still in Van Halen. (Hey, they should get back together!) It's the

BINAC 2008 World Tour!!!

And, by participating in the poll at the right, you can choose where we will go in 2008!

This will be similar to the Van Halen reunion, except we're birders, not musicians, and we won't be replacing anyone with a 16 year-old fat kid named after Beethoven or someone.

Now, you may think that the poll is something we won't pay attention to, but you'd be WRONG. We will respect whatever choice the people make.

You might notice that one of the choices is Okinawa. Why Okinawa? Well, someone we know is scared of snakes, and we want to see how he will react every time we jump from behind the car and yell "Look out--Habu!!!" (Remember how, on the A-Team, they had to immobilize B.A. every time they went anywhere because he was afraid of flying? It's just like that, except without the mohawk and gold chains, and change the fear of flying to a fear into a fear of snakes.) We also here that there are a few Japanese WWII soldiers still wandering around, and we'd like to chat with them, or have some sake with them, or something like that.

So vote away.

Can we forget about chasing those gulls away now?

OK, now that the Shitty of Chicago has spent tens of thousands of dollars chasing gulls off of our "pristine" beaches, it rained. And in Chicago, when it rains, shit happens. From the Tribune:

***

Rain forces water district to open locks, sending sewage into lake
By Michael Hawthorne Tribune staff reporter
7:49 PM CDT, August 23, 2007

The deluge of rain today forced the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to open locks on the North Shore Channel in Wilmette, allowing millions of gallons of raw and partially treated sewage to flow into Lake Michigan.

***

Yes, they City is spending our tax dollars on trained bird-chasing Border Collies when our friends at the MWRD are dumping millions - yes, that's right, millions -- of gallons of raw sewage into the lake. So much for discouraging people to use bottled water. M. Miller, wherever you are, you called this one.

Have fun at the beach this weekend!

BINAC out.

Midwest Frigatebird Alert!

Here is a very interesting post to IN-BIRD from one of Indiana's most knowledgeable birders, Ken Brock:

***

FRIGATEBIRD (SEABIRD) ALERT. Tom Skilling, Chicago's crack meteorologist, has drawn parallels between hurricane Gilbert (1988) and hurricane Dean (currently approaching Cancun). Gilbert went ashore on 17 September and, according to Skilling, remnants of the storm reached Lake Michigan on 20 September. During the interval 25 September to 4 October a number of Frigatebirds (perhaps a half-dozen) were seen across the Midwest (Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Indiana).

Good news!!!

The Wilson's Plover has stuck around for almost a week, just about everyone who has tried has seen it, and no one has been shot, robbed, or killed*! This will be a first state record, there have been a few other reports but we don't think that any of those were ever formally accepted by the IORC. It isn't too often that a chaseable first state record shows up and sticks around for so long, but hey, we're not complaining!!!

And passerine migration is starting up as well--we just saw our first window-kill of the "fall" this morning in front of our building, Common Nighthawks should be moving through right about now, and things will start to really get hopping soon.

*That we know of!!!

Wilson's Plover at Rainbow Beach--Birding *discovers* a Crime???!!!

Mega-news: A Wilson's Plover was seen today at Rainbow Beach. The first e-mail on the bird was sent out at about 9:10 am. Apparently the bird was first spotted on Wednesday but was not confirmed until today. Once the word got out, the bird was seen well for most of the day, and was last seen flying away from the beach over a breakwater shortly before 4:00 pm.

Mega-scary news from the Chicago Tribune:

***

Body found on SE Side beach
By Jeremy Gorner Tribune staff reporter
7:45 PM CDT, August 4, 2007

An 18-year-old man was found fatally shot this morning at a Southeast Side beach, Chicago police said. According to a preliminary report from police, the death was being investigated as a homicide. An autopsy is scheduled for Sunday. The body of the victim, whom authorities would not identity pending family notification, was found at about 9:20 a.m. at Rainbow Park and Beach, in the 2800 block of East 76th Street. He was shot in the head behind an ear.
"He was just lying there when police came, so it's just a true mystery," said Chicago Police Officer JoAnn Taylor. Calumet Area detectives were investigating.

***

OK, so we know that Rainbow Beach is, let's put it this way, a good place to go birding with a few friends. Large mean-looking armed friends. But it has gotten much better over the past few years, so that fact that a rare bird was reported at 9:10 and a dead body was reported at 9:20 is pretty disconcerting. Did a birder find the body? Was a birder the body? Did a birder kill someone who tried to flush the Wilson's Plover? C'mon, somebody must have seen some police cars or something, right? Anyone know exactly what happened out there today?

91 Willets and *poof* they're Gone!!!

Yesterday a long-time Chicago birder posted that there were 91 Willets -- yes, 91 Willets -- on Montrose Beach. As he was watching the flock of Willets, a dog owner and his mutt went into the protected area (which is off-limits to dogs) and flushed the entire flock.

Now, 91 Willets is probably a lot of Willets for just about anywhere in the U.S., but in Chicago, it's simply incredible. We've been birding for a long time and in our collective lifetimes we haven't seen a total of 91 Willets in Chicago, much less in one single flock. So this sighting is a big deal, and it was ruined -- again -- by a stupid, inconsiderate, and law-breaking dog owner.

We realize that for a lot of our readers it might seem unusual that we spend so much time on certain issues...dogs on the beach, addling of goose eggs, chasing gulls with Border Collies...but in an urban environment, that's what we have to work with. There is really no shorebird habitat (apart from the Calumet area) in Chicago except for these heavily trafficked beaches, and these beaches are absolutely critical stopover habitat for things like Willets.

So let's tie things together...the idiots at the City of Chicago are supposedly paying outside contractors upwards of $45,ooo to use dogs to chase gulls off of Chicago beaches including Montrose Beach. The City, in its infinite wisdom, instead of keeping its stupid decisions to itself, decides to heavily publicize this effort on the local media.

Let's imagine that a big flock of Willets lands on Montrose Beach. To the average non-birder they probably don't look any different from a flock of Ring-billed Gulls, especially at a distance and without binoculars.

So is anyone really surprised when a stupid dog owner sees nothing wrong with unleashing his mongrel on the flock of 91 Willets? Is the City of Chicago going to spend $45,000 to see that this doesn't happen again? And how can they enforce the dog-ban on that part of Montrose Beach when they're actually hiring companies to run dogs a few feet away on the rest of the beach? Doesn't the City realize the messages they are sending to the public at large -- that it's OK to have your pets chase away all of those dirty birds on the beach?

Just messing around practicing some embedding...

Foxxy:



Poison covering...oh never mind, just watch it:

Where have all the good birding blogs gone?

It dawned on us that we just recently passed the two-year anniversary of this blog. And while we still don't post as much new material as we should, the fact that we've survived for two years based on gossip, insults, rumor, innuendo, and partial nudity, with an interesting birding tale thrown in now and then, is pretty amazing. It also got us thinking about some of the great birding blogs that gave us the idea to start a blog, and how so many of those blogs have fallen by the wayside. But instead of writing obituaries for those blogs, we're moving forward, and we'll be updating our links to give some newer blogs a bit of exposure.

One good example is the Long Island Birder, also known as Brent B., who has been a long-time reader and contributor here. We may still owe Brent some free Starbucks cards or something from our Mr. Guppy contest. His blog is only like a day old, and it already looks better than ours! So he sucks, but you should still check it out.

Another new blog is the Drinking Bird. Or is it *The* Drinking Bird, in which case we would call it the The Drinking Bird Blog. (You might think we had been drinking when we wrote this post.)

Now, both of these blogs might totally suck, you never know, but we think they'll probably both be pretty cool, so at least give them a chance and check them out.

We also stumbled across The Birding Couple, which has been around for some time, but we didn't check them out until lately.

Finally, there's John Mariani's Swampblog from the Great State of Tejas, which has been around longer than we have. You might know John from some of the IBWO stuff he has commented on but his blog covers a lot more ground than that. Not sure why we've never linked to him before, probably just our innate laziness.

And new blog-guys, our advice to you is: 1) Don't be link whores--if you write good shit, people will find it pretty quickly; 2) If you have something to say, say it, and say it *now*-- we have tons of stuff we wanted to talk about but just got lazy and those ideas sort of drifted away; and 3) This is related to #2, but is important enough for its own number: the best way to build and keep readers is to make sure that you post regularly. Don't worry about feedback or links or whatever...just keep posting every day or at least every week and things will start to happen.

Are Ralph Lauren and L'Oreal killing Piping Plovers?

Probably not, but hey, any time we can accuse Ralph Lauren of killing something, we're entertained.

***

SCENT'S SUSPECT IN BIRD ABUSE

July 12, 2007 -- Is Ralph Lauren to blame for the disappearance of three piping plover families?
The federally protected birds - in danger of extinction because they insist on building their nests on busy beaches - went missing last month after cosmetics giant L'Oréal choppered 18 fashion editors to the Hamptons to launch its Ralph Lauren men's cologne and entertained them with rides along the surf in a fleet of Land Rovers.

While East Hampton canceled its July Fourth fireworks for the second year in a row so the plovers wouldn't be disturbed, L'Oréal put up a tent at the end of Napeague Lane in Amagansett. As the pampered fashionistas sipped champagne, devoured lobster and took joy rides in the four-wheelers, the gentle plovers were freaking out, according to Latisha Coy, a staffer with the town's Natural Resources Dept.

Coy told the East Hampton Star that, during the event, she witnessed one stressed-out plover hovering over Lauren's tent, which she claimed was improperly covering an area where the birds find nesting material. "There were eight Land Rovers east and west, shooting past . . . We were shocked and stepped in front of the vehicles to try to stop them." she said. "They were spitting up sand when they were turning around."

Coy, who claims the vehicles were speeding at more than 30 mph, said she spotted six pairs of plovers on the day of the event, but only three pairs the next day.
Francis Bock, clerk of the East Hampton Town Trustees, told the paper he's seeking subpoenas to quiz witnesses and wants the Fish & Wildlife Service to consider hitting L'Oréal with a fine of up to $200,000.

Serge Jureidini, president of L'Oréal USA's designer fragrance division, told us, "We abided by all regulations and permits. We absolutely did not harass the birds."

Fish & Wildlife rep Terri Edwards said her agency is "aware of the situation, but by policy we cannot confirm or deny the existence of a criminal investigation."

Not everybody loves the plovers. Advertising legend Jerry Della Femina said, "East Hampton is the only place in the country that can't celebrate the Fourth of July because of these dumb little birds. It would be just as easy to pick them up and move them to another part of the beach."

Night Parrot sighting suppressed???

Not sure how we missed this, but apparently there was a decapitated Night Parrot found in Australia last year but the find was not publicized for several months. Too late for any competent birders to do a thorough follow-up. Maybe Cornell was heading that search, too?

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/national/twitchers-cry-foul-in-case-of-the-deceased-parrot/2007/06/22/1182019367467.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Must have been a slow news day...

...check out this story from the Chicago Tribune. Apparently Mayor Daley is doing such a great jon getting rid of our breeding birds the a nesting Red-winged Blackbird is big news. I hope the folks at the Shedd know more about fish than theyknow about birds. Hey, maybe the City can pay Wild Goose Chase, Inc. $45,ooo to train dogs to chase blackbirds away!

***

Dive-bombing bird targets Shedd

Tribune staff report

Published July 6, 2007, 10:18 AM CDT

A redwing blackbird is conducting dive-bombing runs near the Shedd Aquarium, but officials there insist there is no danger to the public.Museum officials say the bird likely is doing just what nature intended: defending a nest with hatchlings, according to WGN-Ch. 9 and CLTV.

Fortunately for the public, "it is in a low-traffic area," said Shedd spokesman Roger Germann. "There's no threat to the general public—it's off to one side."But the territory the bird has claimed is directly over a door used by staffers for special events. But, "we don't usually use that door," Germann said.

Employees have noticed the bird over the last couple of weeks, as migratory birds make their way through Chicago."It should be gone pretty soon when the fledglings start flying and continue their migration," Germann said.There have been no injuries.

Brown-chested Martin in in Illinois

Oh yeah, we almost forget, but we even heard about it in Norway...there was a Brown-chested Martin seen in Illinois recently by a reliable observer, but it was not re-found.

With apologies to Corey Hart...

...we do wear our sunglasses at night. At least, when we're north of the Arctic Circle in summer we do. We're a bit wired after a fantastic but grueling 12-hour drive from the North Cape. It's one o'clock in the morning, but with the jets taking off at the nearby airport, the constant chatter of those *&*%$! magpies, and the fact that it's bright and sunny out, we will take this opportunity to blog instead of sleep.

Peace and Solitude at the North Cape

We have always wanted to visit the North Cape -- or Nordkappe, as the t-shirts say -- to see the northernmost point in mainland Europe. The brochures and guide books describe it as a remote and desolate place of great beauty. The beauty of the Cape and surrounding areas is undeniable:

And there is some great history here, too, as some of the most important naval battles of WWII took place in the waters off of the Cape. There is also a bar, a chapel, and the iconic sculpture that graces thousands of postcards and coffee mugs:

Of course, the brochures are a *bit* misleading. The Cape isn't really the northernmost point in mainland Europe. Hell, it's not even in mainland Europe, it's on an island. And even if it weren't on an island, the big cliff next door (pictured above) is really further north. And about that peace and solitude. We wanted to see the Midnight Sun at the North Cape to ring in the 4th of July BINAC-style. A few other people apparently had the same idea. We were worried when the lobby got a bit crowded:

And we were told there would be some campers, but we were thinking a couple of tents, not something like this:

And the tour buses nearly pushed us over the edge:

But the final straw? The final straw was when the QE2 arrived:

(OK, that's not the QE2, it's a different cruise ship, but the QE2 was actually there a bit earlier in the day. Really.)

Peace and solitude? Sure, with several thousand of your closest friends! We decided to split and enjoy the Midnight Sun our way--with a little birding.

We didn't see much, but at the stroke of midnight, we had our own view of the North Cape and the Midnight Sun from a distance, and we had it all to ourselves. (With the exception of one Finnish guy in a tent, but we'll just forget about him.)

BINAC in Bergen, Bags in Boston

The headline says it all. We feel like we've died and gone to the Big IKEA in the sky. Here are a few pictures from Bergen, Norway:

And here are two shots from the train ride from Oslo to Bergen:

Due to a technical fault, we are unable to serve this blog today.

We saw a rather amusing and slightly disturbing sign at the Manchester UK airport this morning: "Due to a technical fault, we are unable to serve beef today." The sign was at Burger King, meaning that this Burger King location is apparently no longer serving burgers. We suggested a new name of "Chicken King" to evade any false advertising claims, but the cashier didn't seem too interested.

Speaking of technical faults, our ClustrMap is all screwed up, but at least that makes it easier to see our hits from Mongolia.

European Readers Beware!!!!

BINAC may be coming to your town soon!!!

We spent most of the last few weeks in Florida and Louisiana, but now we're off on a grand (read: shitty but expensive) tour of places where they speak better English than most of our neighbors here in Chicago.

And Birdchick, we're headed your way soon as well.

America's Birdiest City Results!!!

Here they are:

***

Hello to all ABC/C contestants,

The results are in and have been counted for the 2007 America's Birdiest City/County competition, which had 19 entrants. I want to congratulate everyone who participated and helped keep this competition going. I would like to especially thank Phil Pryde for having the insight and inspiration to start this contest. He realized there was a niche to be filled in the birding world for a contest that can be competitive without being bogged down with formalities. It's also a great pr / marketing tool as everyone already knows.

I would also like to thank everyone for having patience with me in my first year as coordinator. Before I announce the winners I would like to mention that in the case of dividing the country between east and west I used a map of the migration flyways, with Atlantic and Mississippi flyways being east and Central and Pacific flyways being west. I hope this has not put anyone in a different category than you had previously been in. Now, let's get down to business....

Here are this year's winners:

Large Coastal City:Corpus Christi TX- 240

Small Coastal City:Dauphin Island AL- 203

Large Inland City:San Antonio TX- 179

Small Inland City:Duluth MN- 162

Inland County East:St. Louis County MN- 198

Inland County West:Kern County CA- 235

Coastal County Atlantic Coast:Washington County ME- 160

Coastal County Gulf Coast:Nueces County TX- 254

Coastal County Pacific Coast:Los Angeles County CA- 272

Congratulations again to everyone. I hope you all had fun and will participate again next year. We are planning to put the complete results on the Dauphin Island Bird Sanctuaries web site, so check with them soon.

Until then,Good Birding!

Mike

***

The sound you hear is the other shoe dropping...

Well, we've been holding our fire a bit on the City of Chicago's gull extermination plans, waiting to see what the City's real motives were, but our unilateral cease-fire ends today. Because today, the City -- sneaky liars that they are -- gave us poor citizens an insight into why they're so intent on destroying the existing gull colonies: They want to build new harbors and piers for cruise ships. Check out the Tribune story at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-harbor13jun13,1,4845074.story?coll=chi-news-hed (registration may be required). Make sure you check out the drawings of the new harbors.

Apparently the current "Dime Pier," located just south of Navy Pier, which hosts a decent-sized colony of Ring-billed Gulls, will be the site of a new harbor for "larger boats and transient boaters." The wheels were set into motion in May when the City swapped land with the Park District.

So let's see here, the Park District announces in late April that because the bad stinky gulls are polluting Chicago's pristine beaches, they are implementing an extensive plan to destroy those colonies to "improve water quality". Then a week or two later, they quietly acquire the land where the gull colony is located, and a few weeks after that, they announce that they will be building a fancy new harbor there. Clever bastards! You see how the City operates? Blah blah blah we want to protect the environment blah blah blah make our water cleaner blah blah blah how do you like our fancy new harbor for out-of-towners? And many of the suckers in the press and in the "birding community" fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

But we didn't.

And the winner is...

The polls for the BINAC Girl of the Week will close tonight at midnight Chicago time.

So, in that great Chicago tradition, stuff the ballot box until then.

UPDATE: OK, so last night as of midnight there was a tie, so the voting will be extended to 11:00 pm Chicago time tonight. (There can only be *one* BINAC Girl of the Week at the same time!!!)

SE US Nightjar Survey

A bit of old news, but still an important study:

***

The Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary would like to invite Florida birders and conservationists to participate in the Southeastern Nightjar Survey Network. The network is a group of conservation minded citizens working together to improve our understanding on the population trends of Whip-poor-wills and Chuck-will's Widows by conducting standardized population surveys.

The Whip-poor-will and Chuck-will's Widow are two of the most enigmatic birds in North America. Very little is known on basic aspects of their biology, habitat use, and population status due to their cryptically nocturnal lifestyle.

In recent years, conservationists and the general public have come to share a general sense that populations of these two Nightjars are declining dramatically. However, prior to this program, there was no widespread or long-term monitoring strategy to gather vital population information. Gaining an understanding on the precise magnitude and scale of population changes are critical if we are to plot a course for conservation.

The Southeastern Nightjar Survey is a new monitoring strategy designed to collect and analyze data annually on the population distribution and trends of Nightjars throughout the southeastern United States. Nightjar survey routes are distributed across ten states including; Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Nightjar Surveys are standardized counts conducted along census routes at night. Observers count all Nightjars seen or heard for a six-minute period at each of 10 stops along the route. The entire survey will not take much more than one hour to complete. We have designed a series of routes in each state based on the existing BBS but also have provided methods for interested participants to create their own route.

The success of this program relies entirely on volunteer participation. Please consider adopting a Nightjar Survey Route in your area. See the Southeastern Nightjar Survey Network webpages at http://ccb-wm.org for more details on how to participate.

If the 2007 survey window is approaching too quickly for you to commit this year, consider adopting a route for 2008 now.

Michael Wilson
Research Biologist
Center for Conservation Biology
Email: mdwils@wm.edu

ATTENTION WISCONSIN BIRDERS!!!

Dear Neighboring Cheeseheads;

We, the humble birders of of the superior State of Illinois, have completed our viewing of the REDDISH EGRET, and in the spirit of giving, we are now sending that REDDISH EGRET to you. It has now left the Botanic Gardens is now on its way north, having already made one stop along the northern Illinois lakefront.

In return, we simply ask that you reciprocate the favor, by sending us one of your Great Gray Owls this winter.

Please signal your acceptance of the terms of this proposal by sighting said REDDISH EGRET within the next 72 hours.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

The Benevolent People of the State of Illinois

P.S. Since we do not totally trust you Cheeseheads to keep up your end of the bargain, we are keeping our Botanic Gardens REDDISH EGRET, and instead are sending you our spare REDDISH EGRET that we only use in case of emergencies. Or maybe we'll send you the Botanic Gardens bird. We really haven't decided yet.

Rarities: Reddish Egret, plus ???

Quick post: Some great rarities have shown up over the past few days, including a Reddish Egret at the Botanic Gardens in the Chicago suburbs. Hopefully we will be able to see that bird later this week.

In the meantime, we are soliciting opinions on the flycatcher that was seen at Lincoln Park's South Pond earlier today. Photos are on Surfbirds N.A. Stop Press:

http://surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/gallery/display.cgi?gallery=gallery10

Migration-related Weather Report

Great day (12+ hours) of birding today. Up again early tomorrow. The weather/wind prediction for tonight is very interesting, as posted below (can't really be bothered with getting the formatting perfect right now). Continued W/SW winds changing to N/NW winds right about 3 am. Picture the Chicago lakefront as a line running roughly from north to south. Strong SW winds push migrants up against the lakefront. Those birds will be slowed or put down by the N/NW winds overnight. That's a pretty good recipe for a fallout tomorrow morning, probably depending on how strong the SW winds are, when the winds shift, and how hard the winds blow out of the N/NW. The tricky thing is the fallout could be right along the lakefront, or it could be pretty far inland, depending on when the winds change. Might be a nice night to go up on the rooftops or keep an eye on the NEXRAD radar.

Or, of course, it could be nothing.

That's why birders get up so early in the morning!!!

UPDATE:
11:57 pm--we just got back down from our roof deck (about 45 stories high, it has been closed for renovations the last couple of weeks) and it is pretty slow up there. Only a bird or two per minutes, the winds seem to have already shifted, and the clouds and rain are almost here already. The birds that took flight early tonight might have some problems, but it doesn't sound like a big flight. Again, who knows what will be here in the morning, that's why we're going to bed soon.


10pm
Partly Cloudy65°F
65°F
10%
47°F
52%
From SW 11 mph

11pm
Partly Cloudy63°F
63°F
10%
48°F
58%
From SW 11 mph

12am
Mostly Cloudy61°F
61°F
10%
48°F
62%
From WSW 10 mph

1am
Mostly Cloudy60°F
58°F
10%
47°F
62%
From WSW 10 mph

2am
Mostly Cloudy58°F
56°F
20%
47°F
67%
From W 9 mph

3am
Isolated T-Storms56°F
54°F
30%
47°F
72%
From WNW 8 mph

4am
Isolated T-Storms55°F
53°F
30%
47°F
74%
From NW 7 mph

5am
Isolated T-Storms54°F
52°F
30%
47°F
77%

Sunrise 5:26 am

6am
Isolated T-Storms54°F
51°F
30%
46°F
74%
From N 9 mph

7am
Isolated T-Storms55°F
52°F
30%
45°F
69%
From N 10 mph

8am
Isolated T-Storms56°F
53°F
30%
45°F
67%
From NNE 11 mph

BINAC Under Siege!!! !!! !!!

We will not be silenced!!!

Stay tuned for the fireworks. If we don't pass out during our back-to-back Big Days this weekend, of course.

Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell.

Well, the nice weather that had been hanging around Chicago was replaced by a fairly nasty cold front. We went from 90 degrees in some places to overnight lows in the 40s. We ended up with a very wet Ovenbird in our front yard, and the birding has been decent right in the neighborhood. We're up to 37 species for our yard list. We even added a new "garage bird" -- a Northern Waterthrush that was running around in our parking garage at about 5:00 on Sunday morning.



Things have stabilized a bit and there have still been a decent number of birds around this week, especially in light of the north winds. We tend to think that these have been lingering birds that were forced lower to the ground because of the weather, as opposed to new migrants that experienced a bit of a fallout, but there's really no way to be sure.



Anyway, this weekend could be gangbusters. Almost all of the warblers we have been seeing are still adult males. Flycatchers aren't really in yet, and we're not seeing to many of the later-arriving warblers yet, either. That means we probably have at least two really good weeks of migration left, and with a relatively early Memorial Day this year, that could be a really great three-day weekend. The weather is going to warm up and it looks like either Saturday or Monday will be the top day of the year.

Overall, most of the people we talk to seem to think that this has been a pretty nice spring migration so far, although it has been really variable depending on how far you are from the lakefront. The key point is that there are still a lot of birds left to be seen. There were still some nice numbers of migrants in Florida this week, so the best is yet to come.

Narcs, "Outlaw Birds," and "Lawyer Birding"

We know that birding competitions like the World Series of Birding and the Great Texas Birding Classic (or whatever they call it) need to have some rules to ensure a level playing field, but this is just ridiculous:

http://www.nycaudubon.org/Birdathon/PDF/ChallengeRules2007.pdf

Not only do they needlessly prohibit teams from calling bird in using tapes, take a look at Part 7. When you're in the field, you're supposed to invoke a waiver of Rule 7.a for "outlaw birds." Hey, that's lawyer-birding!

And look at Parts 12 and 13. A call of fowl? Written protests? Banning violators for one year? Oh man, it says "thank you" to NJ Audubon, so these must be the rules they use for the World Series of Birding or something.

Look, we're all for honesty and fair play, but this is birding, not the federal court system. If you see someone cheating, you're supposed to talk about them behind their backs, mock all of their undocumented sightings, and say "I bet *that* won't be refound" every time they report a rarity, not narc them out by filing a written protest.

A little birdie told us to not worry about those tagged gulls.

There is nothing birders like more than knowing where a bird they are looking at came from, and knowing where that bird will go after it leaves their area. That's why birders are so interested in banding, ringing, tagging, etc.

Right now a lot of banded and tagged gulls are turning up in the Chicago area, and of course, local birders are seeing these gulls and wondering who they should report them to.

Well, not everyone working on this anti-gull project is happy about the City's plan to reduce the gull population, and one of these unhappy folks -- we'll call him/her our "little birdie" -- knows the real scoop, and they're singing like a canary.

Let's just say that the City doesn't care who sees tagged gulls, or where those gulls are headed. You see, our little birdie sings, the City is tagging these gulls for two reasons, and neither of them have to do with where these gulls are dispersing to.

First, the City is using the tagged birds to determine the effect of their gull depradation efforts in the city. While they spend our hard-earned taxpayers dollars coating gull eggs with corn oil, they want to know if those gulls are laying a second clutch.

The second reason these gulls are being tagged is a bit more insidious: the tagging of the gulls in and of itself is an effort by the City to reduce the breeding population of gulls. Color-tagged gulls, according to some data, are less likely to breed than untagged gulls. So, in a way, the colored tags are not just being used to track the effects of the City's gull control efforts -- they *are* a part of the City's gull control efforts. Bet they didn't mention that at the fancy "migratory bird" press conference at Montrose on Saturday.

Sing, little birdie, sing, and warble us another song!!!

Birds being killed by wildfire smoke?

You may have read this story already, but it smells a bit funny to us. First, there are clearly some mistakes in the story, as there is no way smoke from fires up in the Panhandle or near Georgia is affecting birds in Miami-Dade. If those birds are being affected by smoke, it's likely smoke from nearer fires in Collier County or elsewhere in Central/South Florida.

Second, we'd like to see support for the claim that this smoke is toxic to birds. What is described in the article sounds a lot like your standard window-kill event; perhaps the smoke is affecting the birds' ability to migrate (by, for example, blocking out the stars at night), but to say that the smoke is affecting their lungs...that sound a bit more far-fetched. The video here appears to have a still of birds grounded near some mirrored glass, but there doesn't appear to be any video of birds actually hitting glass: http://www.local6.com/news/13312859/detail.html Anyway, here is the story, you can draw your own conclusions:

*UPDATE*: Here is a link to a video that makes a bit more sense, and doesn't mention "toxic smoke." Check out the chiropractor who has donated his services to the birds!!!

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=54735

And here is the original "birds inhaling toxic smoke" story:

***

Birds Dropping From Sky, Flying Into Buildings After Exposure To Smoke
Vets: Toxins In Smoke Are Poisonous To Birds
POSTED: 7:40 am EDT May 14, 2007
UPDATED: 7:51 am EDT May 14, 2007

Hundreds of birds from as far south as Miami are falling from the sky or flying head-first into buildings and dying after being exposed to smoke from wildfires blanketing parts of Florida, according to a report.

Veterinarians said the birds have very sensitive lungs and the toxins in the smoke are poison to them, Local 6 reported Monday.

Video showed birds slamming head-first into buildings and glass in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

"I hear them (hitting glass) all day long," a business owner said. "It is horrible."
Residents in the counties have called wildlife centers to report the dead birds, the report said.
"Something is draining the life out of (an injured bird)," a man said after finding a bird that fell from the sky. "And it seems to be a slow process, which is pretty brutal."

Officials said smoke from the wildfires in Florida disorients the birds and causes them to fly into windows, according to a WSVN report. The birds are dying from either the impact of the crash or suffering from head and neck injuries.

Wildfires started about a month ago in southeast Georgia and have spread into Florida. More than 300,000 acres have burned in both states. The wildfire that raced through the Okefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia and into Florida was started by lightning more than a week ago.

By Sunday night, it had burned 102,500 acres in Florida and was 30 percent contained. Georgia reported 41 wildfires in the state covering 267,136 acres.

Officials were also fighting a series of other, smaller fires throughout the state.
The fire burning in southeast Georgia and Florida started May 5 in the middle of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. It took just six days to grow larger than another wildfire that has burned nearly 121,000 acres of Georgia forest and swampland over more than three weeks. The smaller fire was started by a tree falling on a power line.

The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Georgia's Steven C. Foster State Park inside it remained closed. Haze from the fires has traveled as far south as the Miami area, about 340 miles away.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Do *Not* Read This Blog!!!

OK, sometimes when we disappear for a while, we come back with some lame excuse like we were working really hard, or travelling too much, or had to watch too much television. This time we don't have a lame excuse, we have a great one -- we've been out birding!!!

So here is some advice that you will probably never see on those other birding blogs: Stop reading this blog and get outside and go birding! If you live just about anywhere in North America, the only reason you should be reading or commenting on this blog during daylight hours right now is if you have a broken leg or you're at work. If you don't, you should be out birding! We don't care if it's slow right now, slow birding is better than no birding. (Hey, a new slogan!)

If you want to stop by at night, or before sunrise, that's fine, but we will be very disappointed if you're reading during the day!!! Unless, as we mentioned, you're a sap who is stuck working this week like we are. A lot of Chicago-area birders take a week or two off from work right about this time every year to bird locally...do people still do that in other places, too?

Please tell us that we are not the only ones who are annoyed (again!)...

Just got back from our little trip, perfectly timed to miss goodies back in the Chicago area such as Townsend's Warbler, Mississippi Kite, Swallow-tailed Kite, and who knows what else.

So we were catching up on our e-mail, checking the latest messages from our local listserve, when we found a couple more difficult identification problems posed by some newbie birders. Not this again. In the last week, different birders have posted photos of the following "mystery birds" that they could not identify: male Bobolink; male Common Yellowthroat; female House Sparrow; and, yes, wait for it, male Mallard. Seriously.

We love new birders, and we try to help them all we can, but c'mon, you are a complete and total moron if you can't identify a male Bobolink perched in the middle of a meadow. There's nothing *even close to that* that isn't a Bobolink in your bird book, not even in that cheapie field guide to North American birds we saw a few years that was produced in China. Just taking pictures of random birds and then asking other people to identify them while sitting in front of the computer is *not* birding. It's not even birdwatching. It's a waste of time, and it is extremely annoying. If you've got your Sibley's or Peterson's in front of you, or even an old Golden Guide, and you can't identify a male Mallard, there's no hope. Just give up and donate your equipment to Birder's Exchange.

The problem (besides the fact that you don't learn anything when other people identify your birds for you) is that these kind of pointless questions are driving a lot of experienced birders away from reading and posting to their local or state listserves. There are probably eight bird clubs in the Chicago area, and probably every single one of them has a field trip somewhere this weekend.

So if you're a new birder, turn off the computer, leave your camera at home, and GET OFF YOUR ASS and start identifying birds WHILE YOU ARE IN THE FIELD instead of while you're in front of the computer.

Sunday was slow...

...slower than, well, something that is really really slow.

The worst part of the day was the almost complete lack of access anywhere along the lakefront. More on that in our next rant.

In the meantime, we have decided to try another spot this weekend where migration might be a bit more advanced than it is in Chicago right now.

Stay tuned!

We learned a lesson today/tomorrow will be a BETTER day!!!

We have been waiting to write about what we have been seeing around town over the past few days, but the birding has been SLOW. We spent most of the day downtown or on the lakefront and while there were a few different birds around, both overall numbers and species counts were extremely low. The reports we've gotten from elsewhere in the city have been pretty similar. The most exciting thing we saw today was a small group of homeless people in the alley behind the YMCA yelling and cheering. We stopped to take a look and were nearly blinded by two more homeless people having sex in the alley.

Memo to BINAC: Next time, don't look!!!

We had a Northern Waterthrush on the lawn at our building on Tuesday, and had crippling looks at a first-year male Hooded Warbler later that day on the softball fields nearby. The bird was incredibly tame, following us around, even begging us for food. Does that happen in other places? Very cool.

Tomorrow is the day we're pinning all of our hopes on, The weather is supposed to warm up to 80 degrees or more,the warm air flowing into Chicago on very strong SSW winds overnight. If that weather pattern holds, the NEXRAD radar should be light up tonight all over the Midwest, and conditions should be ripe for a very nice migration tomorrow morning. Still a bit early here for huge numbers of tanagers, grosbeaks, etc., but we will probably get the first massive sparrow movement tomorrow morning, along with a good number of warblers and a generally strong overall movement of birds.

During spring migration, we like to spend one day of each weekend in the 'burbs, and one day along the lakefront, but we're going to break that rule tomorrow and stick close to the lake. When the weekend is as nice as this, you have to get to places on the north lakefront (Montrose, Lincoln Park Bird Sanctuary, etc.) early and then work your way south before the northern areas get flooded with people, cars, boats, airplanes, whatever.

The anticipation is almost killing us, it will be hard to sleep tonight, let's keep our fingers crossed that tomorrow will be a great birding day.

National Media Calls Chicago Bird-Policies "Avian Abortion"

We didn't make up the term "avian abortion," the UPI did:

***

Chicago hopes to kill gulls before birth

CHICAGO, Ill., April 24 (UPI) -- Chicago is trying a form of avian abortion in its war against ring-billed gulls -- coating eggs with corn oil to keep them from hatching.

A pilot project involves only a few nests and is aimed at determining whether adult gulls behave differently when they do not have young to feed, The Chicago Tribune reported.

The gulls, aggressive feeders, hang out on the city's famed lakefront and foul the waters of Lake Michigan with their droppings. Some experts believe the birds are responsible for high levels of E. coli bacteria that have caused swimming to be banned at beaches.

The city has already covered trash cans on the lakefront and changed the roofs of some buildings to make them less hospitable to birds. Border collies have been used in an effort to drive the gulls away.

The corn oil has been determined not to harm gulls, people or the environment, but it cuts off air circulation through egg shells, killing the embryos. Experts warn that it is not a quick fix.

"People should not expect that one year of limiting hatchling numbers will immediately reduce conflicts with gulls," said Scott Beckerman, director of Illinois Wildlife Services. "Gulls live a long time, generally returning to the area where they hatched once they are old enough to breed."

Field Museum Ornothologist Speaks: Chicago's Corn-Oiling Experiment WILL NOT WORK!

Well, Doug Stotz at the Field Museum has now weighed on on the subject. From WBBM 780 Radio:

***

Scientist Sees Many Chicago Beach Closings As Unnecessary

John Cody Reporting

CHICAGO (WBBM) - A Field Museum scientist says many of the Chicago lakefront summer swim bans are unnecessary but will continue until the EPA agrees to modify its ruling on what constitutes water contamination.

WBBM’s John Cody has the story.

Dr. Douglas Stotz says when counts of E. Coli bacteria carried by seagulls get high, swimming is stopped. But he says there's been no direct link shown between the E. Coli in seagull droppings and any human illness.

He tells Newsradio 780 "I do think beaches are being closed unnecessarily'.
Dr. Stotz is a conservation ecologist who specializes in birds. Dr Stotz consults with the City of Chicago Department of Environment which is conducting a program to trim the number of seagulls flying along Chicago's shoreline and living large off Dumpsters, dropped hot dogs and funnel cakes.

He agrees seagulls in large numbers can be a nuisance and is working with the city on a study to see if the seagull population can be reduced along the lake front.

Agriculture Department wildlife biologists have been spraying corn oil on sea gull eggs near Navy Pier instead of removing or scrambling them lest frustrated gull parents just move inland and start new families elsewhere.

The oil would prevent air from moving through the shells and destroy the embryos.
Some nests will be left untouched to determine the behavioral differences in gulls with and without young.

Doctor Stotz says since there are 70,000 breeding pairs from Wisconsin round to Indiana, the chances of reducing the numbers by removing most of the offspring near Navy Pier is very remote.

***

So Doug is just saying what us birders know already: spraying corn oil on the relatively small colony of gulls that live near Navy Pier is not going to even make a dent in the number of gulls that frequent the Lake Michigan lakefront.

How much is this bird-brained experiment costing us taxpayers???

Question: How many species (if any) are on the ABA-area list and have only been seen or heard by *one* birder?

So this Barred Antshrike record has gotten us thinking. Yes, dangerous, we know.

Assuming the record is accepted by the ABA, then Martin Hagne is the only birder (well, his wife heard it, too, but we'll assume she is not a birder) who will have this species on their list for the ABA area.

Are there any other species that have only occurred once in the ABA area, have been accepted by the relevant state records committee and eventually added to the list by the ABA, but have only been seen by one person, by the initial observer? Since "firsts" these days usually require hard documentation (ie photo, sound recording, or specimen), you'd have to see the bird, record it, and then no one else would ever see that individual bird (or any other bird of the same species) after the original sighting.

Any takers?

What about in the U.K.?

Here we go again: more anti-bird activites by the City of Chicago

We could not make this up. The City, apparently still steaming over their inability to addle any goose eggs, is now trying to coat gull eggs with corn oil. Gulls are now apparently, in the eyes of City Hall, "pests," just like rats and honest Water Department employees.

What the hell are these idiots thinking? And exactly who at the local Fish & Wildlife office is handing out permits to perform sociological experiments that involve coating federally protected gull eggs with corn oil? We hope those gulls crap all over the City's evil plan.

Here's the oily truth:

***

City tries oily move to limit seagulls
Officials target nests of the lakeside pests

By Tonya Maxwell
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 24, 2007

Perhaps only Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" rivals this epic battle, one that pits Chicago officials against the city's feathered foes.First, city officials covered trash cans at area beaches. Then they modified the roofs of some fieldhouses. They also deployed border collies. All in the name of keeping ring-billed seagulls, along with their yellow, webbed feet and bacteria-laced droppings, off the lakefront.

Beginning Tuesday, biologists plan a new prong of attack: coating the eggs in several nests with corn oil, which would prevent air from moving through the shells and destroy the embryos.The pilot project will determine what impact oiling the eggs has on gulls.Some nests will be left untouched to determine the behavioral differences in gulls with and without young.

The gulls and their droppings are suspected of boosting E. coli bacteria levels at city beaches, which in turn leads to summer swim bans. A University of Chicago study estimates swim bans cost the local economy about $2.4 million a year, according to the city's Department of Environment.

"People should not expect that one year of limiting hatchling numbers will immediately reduce conflicts with gulls," said Scott Beckerman, state director for Wildlife Services. "Gulls live a long time, generally returning to the area where they hatched once they are old enough to breed."This is why the research portion of the project is so important, as the gulls are watched to see if adults without young to feed spend less time trying to find food in public areas and if fewer juvenile gulls 'loaf' on beaches," he said.

The corn oil is not hazardous to gulls, wildlife or the environment, according to a statement released by Chicago's Department of Environment.City officials have received appropriate state and federal permits, said Larry Merritt, a spokesman for Chicago's Department of Environment.

***

The worst thing about this whole debacle is not what the City is doing, but that they're lying to the public about it. The corn oil "is not hazardous to gulls, wildlife, or the environment"? Then why are they putting the stuff onto gulls eggs? For kicks? This is not a grade school science project, this is the "bird-friendly" City of Chicago again acting with no respect whatsoever for birds, birders, or wildlife in general.

Galveston, you can breathe easily. You've now dropped to number two on the BINAC hit list.

How Did We Miss This--Barred Antshrike Now On Texas State List?

Apparently the Texas records committee has now added Barred Antshrike to the official state list, based on a bird that was recorded -- but not seen -- in a Harlingen backyard (Martin Hagne's backyard, actually) last September.

Does anyone know anything more about this record?

BINAC Enters the Multimedia Age!!!

We've been playing around with embedding YouTube videos, with some pretty cool results.

When you click on any of the little video boxes, that video plays on the top of the site.

WE TAKE NO RESPONSIBILIY FOR THE CONTENT OF THE EMBEDDED VIDEOS!!!

Unless they contain nudity, in which case we take full responsibility.

The City of Chicago Strikes Again--Birding Hotspot Olive Park Closed!!!

The powers that be here in Chicago are continuing in their efforts to flush away the good will that they have built up with local birders over the past few years.

We went for a nice spring birding stroll to local hotspot Olive Park today only to be quite surprised to see a "classy" homemade sign informing all that Olive Park would be closed until, get this, the END OF MAY. OP has sucked since it was "destored" a few years ago, but it was still a reliable spot for sparrows and thrushes. (Note to our less astute readers: "destored" is a word we have cleverly just created to describe the process by which a birding spot is destroyed by "restoration" efforts that take away food and cover migrants need to survive. Other places in the Chicago area that have been destored in the past few years include Wooded Isle, Cherry Hill, and Bergman Slough.)

We have no clue what they're doing at the OP, but we saw lots of trees or tree limbs that had been taken down, and some piping that looked like it was being installed. (Not sure why you would run pipe under trees in a park that has no facilities, but hey, you gotta feed those contractors, so just let them run some new pipe to the fountains, right?)

We are suggesting that our readers send the following letter of protest ("LOP") to the city--since the OP is not directly under the control of the Park District, the letter should be sent to the Water Department at the City of Chicago:

***

Dear Mr./Ms. Jackass:

If there are any employees left in your department who are not currently busy accepting bribes to perform illegal natural gas hookups or running a heroin ring from the Jardine Water Treatment Plant next to Olive Park, could you please try to find the time to tell us what the fuck you're doing at the OP?

Sincerely,

(insert your name here)

A local dog walker

***

Spring has Sprung/Sage Thrasher at Montrose???

Ah, it is a beautiful time to be alive.

All across North America, our feathered little friends are on the move.

Birds that wintered in the tropics are now in Florida, and birds that wintered in Florida are now here in Chicago.

There has been a very nice migration of warblers, tanagers, etc in the Dry Tortugas, the Florida Keys, and the various migrant traps in mainland Florida.

Up here in the Midwest, migration had been "stalled" a bit; on Friday we were still seeing primarily early-spring migrants like Brown Creeper and Northern Flicker. But that changed with a nice push over the weekend, with great warm weather to boot, and today even more birds arrived. Sparrow migration is now fully underway, and we are getting our first trickle of warblers as well. This will only get better for about the next month.

There have been a few rarities, too. A Barn Owl today at Montrose, and a Sage Thrasher was reported on Saturday from Montrose. We know that the Thrasher was looked for by a few people (fewer then you would think), who used every possible effort to coax the bird out of hiding, but it could not be re-found. There was no photo taken, so who knows if it will ever be accepted by the records committee, but it is what it is.

Hey, whatever happened to...?

...that guy who killed the cats in Galveston? You know, Jim Stevenson?

Well, apparently he's been indicted for killing thos darn cats, even though no one owned the cat he did or didn't kill, and it's not against the law in Texas to shoot a cat that isn't a pet.

We sorta dropped Jim's case after he posted his "I saw an Ivory-billed" story, but we think he's done his penance, he shouldn't have to go to jail to repent for the error of his ways.

So we're back on the case.

Look out, Tejas, time for us to get all Deguello on Galveston's ass.

(That sounded better in our head than when we actually typed it.)

Oh yeah, the birds are gonna get screwed.

We made our way over to Daley Plaza to check out the city's little 2016 celebration. There were at least 17 tv cameras there (does Chicago have 17 tv stations?), Pat Ryan, former State Senator Barack Obama, Governor Elvis, the Counsel General of El Salvador, balloons, confetti, and even the guy who claims his wife is being raped by FBI Agent Chris Saviano (no, look it up yourself) was there.

Da Mare really worked himself into a frenzy, it was entertaining to watch. Hey, we appreciate his love for Chicago, and Illinois, and America, and diversity, but he was really laying it on thick. So that's it, the fix is in, the birds are gonna screwed. If Da Mare wants something to happen, it will, so bye-bye Northerly Island.

Our advice to you: If you're a construction contractor in the Chicago area, go get your daughter married to someone named Daley, Hynes, or Madigan in the next couple of years, and you'll be set for life.

Chicago 2016: Stir the Soul (and screw the birds???)

Well, it's official: Chicago is now the U.S. entry for the 2016 Summer Olympics:

http://www.chicago2016.org/

We are generally in favor of bringing the Olympics to Chicago, as we are always generally in favor of events that will bring scantily-clad athletic young women who cannot speak English to our fair shores.

But what will the long-term plans for 2016 do to some of our best birding spots, especially along the South Lakefront?

Well, as you can see from the photo at the beginning of this post, the plan for Northerly Island includes some interesting "natural" areas:

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Olympic Sports Complex at Northerly Island — Beach Volleyball, BMX, Track Cycling
The Olympic Sports Complex at Northerly Island will play host to three exciting and popular sports: Beach Volleyball, BMX Cycling, and Track Cycling. Northerly Island will provide a dramatic setting for what promises to be some of the most thrilling competition of the Chicago 2016 Games.

***

In the end, it doesn't really matter if we complain, because, like most things that happen in Chicago, the decision has already been made. Oh, there will be public comment, and our complaints will be heard, but if Da Mare wants BMX Cycling at Northerly Island, that's where it's gonna go.

Unsurprisingly, Egg Addling Ends Unsuccessfully

The Chicago Park District, continuing its efforts to make the city's lakefront parks more bird-friendly, has hired an outside consultant to try to get rid of the local Canada Geese. Can't have goose crap cluttering up your Olympic venues, y'know?

They've paid this consultant a lot of money, and the consultant decided that the best way to rid Grant Park of these pesky geese is to addle their eggs. In this article, they call it "egg depradation:"

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/312283,CST-NWS-geese25.articleprint

Now, normally this is the type of thing we would use to illustrate the hypocrisy of the Chicago Park District, but we've pretty much left it alone because these geese really do mess up the pretty lawns in certain parts of Grant Park. But here's the funny part: The consultant trains 20-30 volunteers (probably costing us taxpayers a couple of grand) to find goose eggs, and then they...well, they come up with a "goose egg" because they can't find any goose eggs:

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=5191667

See, if they would have actually asked anyone who knows anyone about birds, they would have known that Canadas don't nest in Grant Park. Du-oh!

Wonder what brilliant plan they will come up with next?

Smackdown--Geoff Hill Trashes Long-time Chicago Birder!!!

We have been on the road so much lately that we have a large backlog of potential topics. This has also given us a lot of free reading time that we normally wouldn't have, and we used our flight this morning as an opportunity to finish reading Geoff Hill's recent IBWO book.

It is sort of an odd book. Mildly entertaining and refreshingly honest/straightforward, but we had two overall problems with the book. First, it is already outdated, and pretty much was so by the date it was printed. The publisher really screwed up on this point. I don't know why the book stops just before the big announcement by the Auburn team was made; the stuff that came afterwards, including the reaction to Auburn's announcement, would have been the most interesting part of the book. But from the publisher's standpoint, if you're going to cut off the narrative at that point, then you have to get the book to the freakin' presses as soon as the announcement is made. Putting the book out months later is anticlimatic (or is it anitclimactic? well birders have never been real well at grammar), at best.

The second problem is that the book...well, we're not sure it really has a point. Part of this is due to point number one, but part of it is due to the fact that nothing really unknown or exciting happens in the book...we already know how the story has ended. The Gallagher book has three distinct parts of the story: a beginning (IBWO history and stuff), a middle (interviewing crazy people and searching for the bird), and an end (we found the bird--hooray!). But Hill's book...it's all "middle." It's all about the search, which is, in and of itself, pretty boring. We heard some knocks, somebody saw a bird in flight, repeat and rinse. After that happens two or three times, it gets tedious.

Which gets us to the oddest part of the book, the epilogue, which is the reason for this post. You see, in the second to last paragraph of the entire book, Hill takes a major swipe at long-time Chicago area birder Jeff Sanders, who allegedly saw an IBWO in the 1960s near Eglin AFB in Florida. Hill basically says Sanders made it up. As soon as we read that, we thought, "Shit, we have to say something about that!" Then when we were drafting this post, we did our customary checking of Tom Nelson's site, only to find that this morning Tom had posted that precise passage from the book. (What are the odds of that? See http://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2007/04/about-that-alleged-1966-brownsanders.html) But still, this particular paragraph deserves a bit more scrutiny.

First, frankly, it is very odd to use, as the almost final paragraph of a book about sketchy IBWO sightings, a paragraph attacking someone else's sketchy IBWO report. Second, we are pretty shocked that the publisher let this paragraph stay in without any specific or detailed reference to the journal issue that allegedly includes the retraction of certain of Jeff's sightings. Citing Ken Able is not really going to cut it, legally at least. Jeff Sanders is still alive and is still an active birder, and we're sure that he would have had a few choice words for Geoff Hill if Hill had bothered to just contact him. But what comes around goes around, right?

Anyway, we would be extremely interested if anyone has any further information on this string of allegedly sketchy sightings by "Sanders and Brown", or if anyone has an actual copy of the journal that contains the alleged retraction.

Local birding lore claims that the long-running feud between the Chicago Urban CBC and the Chicago Lakefront CBC arose out of some questionable sightings that were submitted on behalf of the Chicago Urban CBC by Jeff Sanders. The way we heard the story, that count used to have national high counts of numerous species, for example, they would always report something like "1,000,000 Rock Doves," and when somebody at the national level actually asked them how they could count exactly 1,000,000 Rock Doves, it was learned that they were counting birds per block, then multiplying that number by the number of blocks in the circle to get an "estimate" of the number of that species for the entire circle. We don't know if that's true, and we don't know if that's even what Ken Able is referring to in Hill's book, but we sure would like to find out. Not quite the Hastings Rarities Affair, but it's all we've got.

Experienced Searcher of Rare Species Spots Flock of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers!!!

We feel that it is our duty to inform the general public of a spectacular recent sighting of a flock of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. Or possibly Blue Jays. Anyway, perhaps birders can flood the area to get a definitive photograph. Here is the link:

http://www.ibwo.net/forum/showthread.php?p=1577#post1577

The expert who made this sighting, Rip Lyttle, has also started a new organization, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Research Organization:

http://www.ibwsearches.com/

While we welcome any additional help in confirming the existence of the IBWO, we fear that this new organization may prevent its founder from continuing with other, more critical animal research:

http://www.marylandbigfootresearch.org/

http://www.bfro.net/news/roundup/west_virginia_2006_expedition_notes_adair.asp

http://www.oregonbigfoot.com/report_detail.php?id=00405

http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.php?showtopic=1895&mode=threaded&pid=41384

C'mon, we could *not* make this stuff up!

Let's Be Careful Out There!!!

Well, we have escaped from the Gulag, and hope to have a bit more on our European Adventure soon. We also have a bunch of IBWO posts lined up for the next few days.

In the meantime, we want to offer our best wishes to a long-time Chicago area birder who was recently injured pretty severely in a car crash while birding. He was on foot at a local birding spot and was swept up into a three-car accident. We had intended to honor this birder's privacy, but since some loudmouth gossip posted it to the Internet already, there's no harm in bringing this subject up.

Another well-known Illinois birder was killed several years ago under similar circumstances, so please keep safety in mind the next time you are doing any roadside birding.