tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18480005652790975432024-03-14T04:13:12.073-05:00Natural AusterityBecause science and exploration should be fun, not expensive. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-59474756225457049722014-07-01T07:51:00.000-05:002014-07-01T07:51:32.868-05:00Research 101 - It's a Long Process<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5zv0KNT5JfquCo7cLT3jRQxq-KTdsfPXDC3OMQimmHl34UBS5jWqNq9grRYPYj0NapDsChCorOY5quC8AAkLi69hCWG0zg399g0s-jJPwO24jbivCSZLepscDpDQL4qkvN4Ct0q2AxMG/s1600/318947873_12028f1b66_m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5zv0KNT5JfquCo7cLT3jRQxq-KTdsfPXDC3OMQimmHl34UBS5jWqNq9grRYPYj0NapDsChCorOY5quC8AAkLi69hCWG0zg399g0s-jJPwO24jbivCSZLepscDpDQL4qkvN4Ct0q2AxMG/s1600/318947873_12028f1b66_m.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/oberazzi/">Oberazzi</a>)</td></tr>
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Research at its core is simple. Be it physics, engineering, anthropology or wildlife ecology you have a question or an idea about the world and you test to see if it holds any water. Regardless of what question you ask, there is always lots of stumbling around as you try to figure out the answer. As a graduate student, a big part of my job is doing research and based on many interactions I've had most people don't know what research actually means and I've found this ambiguity around 'research' creates confusion within the birding and conservation communities. Questions which often sound simple (why is X species declining?) aren't simple to answer. Complex answers take time and the lag between question and answer frustrates many because they want to have answers now, especially when those answers could help us make better decisions. I appreciate the frustration and hope by understanding how research work we can understand each other better.<br />
<br />
One thing which might strike you as strange about the coming paragraphs is I'm going to say 'we' a lot. "We are interested in X..." "We did X, Y and Z." I use the word 'we' because my project, like almost every research project, is a multiple-person affair. Research is complicated stuff and often takes the expertise and the manpower of many people. So I refer to 'we' because it's not just me who does 'my' research.<br />
<br />
Currently we're working on trying to figure out what kind of wetland management provides the best habitat for both rails and waterfowl. To answer what sounds like a simple applied question required a lot of leg work before I was even hired as a graduate student.<br />
<br />
Before I arrived in Arkansas in Fall 2012 my adviser applied for and received a grant to support my project. Having a grant receive funding was no small task. The grant writing process can be tedious and time consuming. He had to write a detailed proposal, and talk to people at a variety of state and federal offices to receives letters stating if the project was funded they would agree to work with us. He submitted the grant to a federal agency and it was funded, which is pretty remarkable in our current funding environment. Even with all the effort put into writing a grant application the funding rate is low (in some cases less then 10%! but often less then 50%). So I consider myself very lucky to be able to work on a project I like so much. Once the grant was funded he had to hire a graduate student (me) and then we actually started the research.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/10394480_10100254058536812_6829191844948237861_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/10394480_10100254058536812_6829191844948237861_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just collecting the data can take a long time. <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fmedia%2Fset%2F%3Fset%3Da.10150678909061595.382574.156825456594%26type%3D3&ei=B1yvU7K1AsOwyATh-oKgDA&usg=AFQjCNER0O-IrbGO_O2Mif8fqj59TDw_jw&sig2=gnzEaJQmkPn7XrsigEDcrg">(Leslie Brinkman</a>) </td></tr>
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Every fall I am in the field collecting data, that leaves the rest of my year to take classes, analyze my data, and plan for next year. Classes aren't a direct part of my research, but they are all tied into my education and helping me become a better scientist. Classes also aren't what is slowing down the answers to our questions. Part of the reason it is taking so long for us to understand what is going on is because natural process have variation between years.<br />
<br />
In 2012, Missouri, where I do my research, was under a heavy drought. In 2013 it wasn't. Yearly variation impacts the birds and as a result we need to collect data across several years to understand the variation. I'll have another field season in 2014 and 2015. By collecting data across those four years we hope to be able to understand the 'average' habitat use of these species. A longer-term study would give us better results, and there are some fantastic long term studies out there but for a PhD project it's not realistic.<br />
<br />
Once I have completed all my field work we have to analyze the data. Long gone are the days when we can just watch a birds behavior and write about it like a letter home to mom. Statistical analysis can take anywhere from weeks to years depending on the question and the size of the data set. My analysis should be on the shorter end of that spectrum.<br />
<br />
Once we have results we're responsible for writing them up and spreading the word about what we've learned. Science is always building off the work of those who have come before us. If we don't tell others what we've done someone else might do it again, which wastes time and precious money. As fun as it is surveying rails at night on ATVs it would be more useful to go out and answer the next question. We spread the word by writing up our results in peer-reviewed journals and presenting them at conferences. We also write up pieces for other outlets and do presentations for organizations.<br />
<br />
Peer-reviewed publications are the currency of science. Without them its hard to make it far in your research career. These publications are not easy things to make happen. They have to be carefully written and rewritten. Often they have several authors, which can make the writing process challenging. Once the paper is complete it goes through a long process of peer-review by other scientists. Depending on what those scientists (our peers) have to say about our paper the journal might decide not to publish it. They may also come back to us with changes that they want made to the paper. If we get rejected we get feedback on why they are rejecting it, and then we can work to fix those problems and submit it to a different journal.<br />
<br />
Between forming ideas, writing grants, collecting data, crunching numbers and writing the whole process often takes at least 2 years, if not more. Even the research of a masters student, who is in school for two years might take an additional two to get their research out into the journals. Remarkable isn't it?<br />
<br />
The process is long and odd at times but it is important. Better understanding the world around us lets us better manage our limited natural resources and develop better tools to monitor the world around us.<br />
<br />
Don't let the long time between question and answer discourage you from asking the questions, that is often the most exciting part!! So take a closer look at the world around you and see what questions it raises, then throw them my way. If I don't know an answer, I'll see if I can find someone that does or find someone who might want to try and find the answer.<br />
<br />
- AurielAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-25875875576235956492014-04-24T07:30:00.000-05:002014-04-24T07:30:03.932-05:00Travel Hacks : Bird Festivals<div style="text-align: right;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ohioyoungbirders.org/Portals/3/LiveRotator/875/Images/550-oop-06242006group.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.ohioyoungbirders.org/Portals/3/LiveRotator/875/Images/550-oop-06242006group.jpg" height="223" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In high school I spent a lot of time birding in groups<br />
like this one, I'm in the red hat, <a href="http://ohioyoungbirders.org/">OYBC</a> Field Trip 2006</td></tr>
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<br />
One of the wonderful things about traveling is that there are new birds to see. It can also be a little overwhelming. trying to figure out where to go and what you are likely to see. Bird festivals are one way to get around this problem, visiting a new place during a festival you can take advantage of all the great people there.<br />
<br />
Bird festivals are a strange beast, if your a solo birder, like Boone often is, they might sound a bit ridiculous. I grew up with the chaos of the Magee boardwalk in the spring, where claustrophobia and birding go hand in and and I love it. Birding to me at a young age was a group activity and spending time with the people was as much a part of it as the birds.<br />
<br />
If you want to meet people who are just as geeked out over things with feathers as you are bird festivals are fantastic. In addition to meeting many fellow bird loves they are great ways to check out new equipment (scopes and binoculars!) and meet birding celebrities. They can also help improve your birding skills but participating in workshops and field trips led by fantastic guides. Festivals can also be great ways to go birding in a new place. If you've never been to South Texas before knowing where to bird and identifying all the new species can be intimidating. By taking advantage of the bird festival you'll be around many knowledgeable people who can help you have a great time.<br />
<br />
What is important when deciding to attend a festival is to do your homework so you pick the festival that best fits what you want. One of the big things to find out before you plan a trip, especially for big festivals, is if there is anywhere near by to stay. For some festivals in remote areas the limited hotel space fills up fast, so plan ahead, or prepare to be flexible. Often by checking out a festivals website you can get a quick feel for the festival and if it will fit your needs. Some festivals are all inclusive, where you are 'expected' to do everything. Others are buffet style, you pick a workshop here, or a field trip there, and can do things at your own pace.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2216/5702635621_4531a7d33f_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2216/5702635621_4531a7d33f_b.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The boardwalk at Magee WILL be packed, much more<br />
then this (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_kingfisher/">Dakota Kingfisher</a>)</td></tr>
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<br />
Last fall Boone and I were down in South Texas for the <a href="http://www.rgvbf.org/">Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival</a>. Being cheap we didn't go on any of the field trips (though I hear they are fantastic!). We attended some of the speakers and hung out at the vendors fair. It was a great way for us to get to meet other birders and get to enjoy the atmosphere of the festival, while also having the freedom to go birding as it suited us. You can't take all in a piece meal fashion, though you can find a way to make any of them fit your needs, you just have to do your homework.<br />
<br />
My personal favorite festival is <a href="http://www.biggestweekinamericanbirding.com/">The Biggest Week in American Birding</a>, held every May in NW Ohio. I'm a native Ohioan, and I love the marshes of Lake Erie. The Biggest Week is the brainchild of the wonderful people at <a href="http://bsbobird.org/">Black Swamp Bird Observatory</a> (BSBO). It has become a great way of bringing birds and birders to the attention of local communities. BSBO is all about showing local businesses that birders are bringing their money to NW Ohio because of the birds, and using the tourism opportunities to help both our local economy and the birds! (it's pretty awesome)<br />
<br />
The Biggest Week is a festival you can definitely piece meal if solo birding is more your style. I should warn you though, true solo birding is going to be challenging because there are SO MANY PEOPLE around searching for birds, but you don't have to go on field trips if you don't want to. There are many workshops, talks and other activities going on though that I would encourage you to check out. They are great ways to expand your skill set and meet some like minded birders.<br />
<br />
There are dozens of birds festivals in the U.S. alone every year (and many more in other countries). The <a href="http://www.aba.org/festivals/">database</a> from the American Birding Association lists many of them and helps you get started planning your next big trip. What is great is you can search by both region OR month. So whether you're a student trying to find something over spring break or you want to find something in your home state, you've got the right resources.<br />
<br />
Hope to see you at the Biggest Week this year, I'll be there just for a day, but I cannot wait.<br />
<br />
- AurielAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-9081776856688918082014-04-17T07:00:00.000-05:002014-04-17T07:00:11.706-05:00I found a baby bird! What do I do?Its that time of year again! Across the northern hemisphere birds are raising their young and sometimes their young end up in unexpected places. This infographic from the <a href="http://birdandmoon.com/">birdandmoon.com</a> provides a nice flow chart, with a good dash of humor, since not every baby bird you see needs your help.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjQ6cXbCQAAcIS-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjQ6cXbCQAAcIS-.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">(Credit to <a href="http://birdandmoon.com/" style="font-size: 13px;">birdandmoon.com</a>)<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">There is a lot of misinformation out there about baby birds, likely told with the best of intentions. Most people read this infographic and immediately respond 'if I touch a baby bird the parents will abandon the baby, the mom will smell me.'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Birds aren't the best at smelling, (<a href="http://www.nwf.org/news-and-magazines/national-wildlife/birds/archives/2013/bird-smell.aspx">though they can</a>) but there is no evidence picking up a baby bird and putting it back in the nest will cause the parent to abandon it. When you find a bird who is very young (almost no feathers, or eyes closed) then they aren't ready to be on it's own yet and putting it back in its nest will probably help it survive.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">If you find a baby bird who can't seem to fly, but has open eyes and lots of feathers, they are a 'bird in training' and while moving them off the sidewalk is probably helpful its important for them to bring on the ground so they can figure out the whole flying thing. </span><span style="font-size: small;">Baby birds have a training period where they leave the nest and learn how to fly. This often means they spend a lot of time on the ground since they can't get back up in the tree. Their parents are still around feeding them, and if they seem to be making a lot of racket that's because they are hungry and they want mom and dad to be able to find them. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">It can pull on your heart strings to leave a baby bird sitting under a bush when it appears to be abandoned, but if you take a step back (well probably several steps back) and watch for awhile mom and dad will return. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">There are, of course, circumstances where a young bird does need help, if it has been injured, attacked by a cat, or if you have been watching it for more then a day and no one is feeding it then that bird needs help. If that happens you need to <a href="http://www.nwrawildlife.org/content/finding-rehabilitator">contact a wildlife rehaber</a>. Rehabbers are specially trained to take care of injured birds, and they know what to feed them and how to help them heal. It's very important for baby birds eat the right things. Feeding them whatever you have around the house isn't going to help them and could very well hurt them. Many wildlife rehabers take on volunteers, so if you want to learn more about how to properly care for them, contact your local rehaber.<br /><br />So do not fear if you find a little ball of feathers as you go about your day, just follow the handy diagram and act accordingly, nature is all around us and having the opportunity to see young animals up close is always special, but not always a reason to get involved. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">- Auriel</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-81679870892925403062014-04-10T07:00:00.000-05:002014-04-10T07:00:08.356-05:00Travel Hacks : How to Start Hiking<div style="text-align: right;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZZNfyLpRLSywlBHX9B-YgsJNcifZlUnTlXTzYEK41ZQa1MjTvN0-nkALvOMYmkh7s_2io28dMALjr1gXgDlsJll6NqxrjjR-Pwf8dFBE4PEy7WDMO_Fx9efkswrqREG69Yy9OGfqFD-B4/s1600/936491_10151505465840423_1835207617_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZZNfyLpRLSywlBHX9B-YgsJNcifZlUnTlXTzYEK41ZQa1MjTvN0-nkALvOMYmkh7s_2io28dMALjr1gXgDlsJll6NqxrjjR-Pwf8dFBE4PEy7WDMO_Fx9efkswrqREG69Yy9OGfqFD-B4/s1600/936491_10151505465840423_1835207617_n.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Devil's Den State Park, Arkansas</td></tr>
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Have you felt intimidated walking into a sporting goods store and seeing all the specialized equipment? All you want to do is go hiking this weekend and now there are a bajillion brightly colored things everywhere. You're not alone if you feel overwhelmed by all the stuff. Lucky for you, don't need any fancy equipment, all you need is some basic knowledge on how to plan your day and what to expect. With a little bit if basic knowledge you can hit the trail this weekend. <br />
<br />
Understanding how to plan a day, and most importantly what you are capable of tackling in a given amount of time is important. More than once I've come across a pair of hikers who are in way over their heads. They're four miles from the trail head, didn't bring water, have no idea where they are or what is going on. These kind of experiences can be scary and unpleasant, so it important to have a rough idea of what you can tackle in a day so that you can do what you're going to enjoy.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<b><span style="color: orange;">Before You Go</span></b><br />
<b></b><br />
<br />
The big thing that most people don't know is how long it takes to hike, and how far a mile really is. You might go quicker then this, but with stops to enjoy the scenery, taking breaks and such, <b>a half hour a mile is a good rule of thumb.</b> If you are hiking in a fairly flat area, most people can hike several miles no problem, but if there is a lot of elevation change it can become challenging quickly if you aren't used to it. Sometimes pushing yourself this way can be really enjoyable, but if you have small children with you, or aren't ready for it, it can be an unpleasant challenge. So assess your own abilities, hiking can be a great way to get in better shape, but that is a gradual process. <br />
<br />
Most trails will have maps online, or at the trail head that give you basic information about how long the trail is, and often a rating of difficulty. Checking out this information beforehand can help you pick a trail that matches your abilities. I prefer taking loop trails so that there is always something new to see and explore. I also like trails that have one or more 'high points' that is designated bits of scenery where you can stop. Often hikes to overlooks, tops of mountains, and waterfalls are set up this way.<br />
<br />
Once you are at the trail head and before you head out take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with your surroundings, look at the map, find your place on it and look at where you are going to be hiking. Find out what will mark the trail, often the trail will be clear since it is heavily used, but in some places it may be posts in the ground or marks on trees that show you the way. Its always a good idea to have a map with you, and if there aren't paper ones for you to take, snap a picture on your phone.<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">What to Bring</span></b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBUreQsfs5zOPQP8fLiYbrcLk0-HIlk12LaSuL_cEDOyTQ11ArdeD7BfWIJHceGePFTs3aS8k6ZnSdZslxihIWuhyuTSvfnnCZJFE3VLXerM_3f9B-_JEvzSWNyOlGmPA1AKfByGQmlfs6/s1600/HikingChecklist.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBUreQsfs5zOPQP8fLiYbrcLk0-HIlk12LaSuL_cEDOyTQ11ArdeD7BfWIJHceGePFTs3aS8k6ZnSdZslxihIWuhyuTSvfnnCZJFE3VLXerM_3f9B-_JEvzSWNyOlGmPA1AKfByGQmlfs6/s1600/HikingChecklist.png" height="320" width="302" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is about all you need to enjoy an afternoon hike. </td></tr>
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What you bring with you on the trail is pretty flexible, except for one thing, <span style="color: #45818e;">ALWAYS BRING WATER</span>. I don't care if its a half mile hike on a paved bike trail, just bring it. Worst case scenario you carry some extra weight and burn an extra calorie or two.<br />
<br />
Dressing for the weather is also important, so check the weather before your hike. <a href="http://naturalausterity.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-to-enjoy-cold-weather.html">Wearing layers</a> is often the best idea so you can add/remove them as necessary. Even if the sun is shining bringing a rain coat is always a good idea,
they can block the wind and the rain and keep you warm if the weather
changes quickly. During the summer make sure to wear sun block, when
you're hiking sun burn can creep up on you so be careful. You do NOT need fancy clothes to spend a day out hiking, what you have already is more then sufficient. Wear shoes that give you good footing, like tennis shoes or hiking boots. No flip-flops or loose sandals, they can result in a twisted ankle.Throw on some clothes you don't mind getting dirty, grab a jacket appropriate for the weather, toss your water bottle and a snack in a backpack and you are good to go! <br />
<br />
Taking photos of your hike is a great way to help you
look more closely at what you see and its a great way to share your
adventures with your friends and encourage them to come along next time.
So grab your camera or use your phone and document the cool thing you
find! <br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>On The Trail</b></span><br />
<br />
Many people like planning things to the minute, this is often unrealistic when you are outdoors. Let the day guide you. Hiking is not a competition, and its way more enjoyable to take things at your own pace, be respectful of other hikers and let them pass if they are hiking faster then you. If you find a sunny beach along the trail and want to spend the afternoon there, do it! If it starts to rain and you want to call it an early day, that is fine too.<br />
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Hiking is a great, cheap way to get out in the sunshine, stretch your legs and explore a new place. Once you get away from the trail head you never know what you might find,so get out there and explore and come back and tell us what you find!<br />
<br />
<br />
- Auriel<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-47576503863767791402014-04-03T08:00:00.000-05:002014-04-03T09:36:51.126-05:00Migratory Timing at Cape May, New Jersey. Now with more graphs!<br />
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While the Gulf Coast is getting it's first influx of spring migrants, I'm stuck in Delaware, 10 degrees too high in latitude, only one week away from the last snow storm. Instead of being sad, I decided to follow up on my last post and figure out how long it would take for birds to get to me in Delaware and the rest of the north east.<br />
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I chose two of the hottest birding spots in the country in spring, Cape May, New Jersey and north west Ohio. <br />
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What followed was a frenzy of graph making that borders on overwhelming, so I decided to split this up into two posts. This post we'll focus on <span style="color: orange;">Cape May</span>. <br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Methods</span></b><br />
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Because I already described the methods, I'll keep it short and mention what changes I made this time around. If you want the full methods, check out my <a href="http://www.naturalausterity.blogspot.com/2014/03/when-do-birds-really-migrate.html">previous post</a>.<br />
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Because of the delay in timings I chose to take only data from March onward, and then ran it through the same filter to filter out only birds who spent <66% of their time in the area and filter out relative rarities. I also decided to filter out certain species for different portions of the analysis, this hopefully makes things easier to digest.<br />
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All in all Cape May had 201 birds identified as migrants and 37 total warbler species. It also had high numbers of checklists each week, which resulted in smooth graphs and trends.<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">General Timings</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://i.imgur.com/laiKVtr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/laiKVtr.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
This graph was the easiest to digest and discern. The overall weighted average turned out to be <span style="color: lime;">May 17th</span>, which coincides with this years <a href="http://www.njaudubon.org/SectionCapeMayBirdObservatory/CMBOHome.aspx">Cape MAYgration Festival</a>. Unfortunately for me, early April looks pretty bleak, but quickly ramps up and by May migration really takes off.<br />
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What surprised me the most about this is the 3 week disparity between the gulf coast and New Jersey. It takes migrants three weeks to go the 1000 miles from Tallahassee to New Jersey. For many species this isn't even close to their end destination. But for many species, New Jersey represents an end point and migrant diversity stayed high for the remainder of the breeding season. I expect this mainly to be the waders, gulls, terns, and shorebirds that nest in the region, as well as many species of orioles, warblers, and tanagers.<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Warbler Timings</span></b><br />
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Many birders love spring because of the plethora of colorful warblers migrating through. In all North America hosts 56 species of Warblers and Wood Thrushes. Of those 56, Cape May hosts 66% of all of these species in the entire country. So when do these beauties show up and when is the best time to see them?<br />
Luckily I made very large graphs to help you out. <br />
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To save space I used the 4 lettered Alpha Codes for species. You can download a pdf of all the species codes <a href="http://www.birdpop.org/DownloadDocuments/Alpha_codes_english.pdf">here</a>. I used the first date that a bird was seen with a higher than 1% chance to filter out the extreme individuals and the accidentally overwintering birds. This should represent a conservative if not accurate average estimate of first arrival. We see Palm Warblers and Yellow-Throated Warblers are already expected to have shown up, this is largely to due a couple of years vagrants overwintered in the area. The first Louisiana Waterthrush just showed up in Delaware and New Jersey this week justifying the early timings in the data. After that, birds seem to ramp up over the second and third week in April with the first wave of typical early migrants (Ovenbirds, Prothonotarys, Hoodeds, and Black-Throated Green Warblers. Then curiously there's a large break before the final wave of migrants show up May 1st and the famously late warblers show up (Blackpolls, Black-throated Blue, and Cape May Warblers). While I've heard of 'waves' of migrants I didn't actually expect it to show up with such a large gap. <br />
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To get at when the bulk movements of these warblers were, and if these waves are seen in the bigger picture I graphed the average timings for each species. This came up with a much different graph.<br />
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The first thing to notice is that despite some really early timings, all warblers peak in the latter parts of May. While averages are expected to be smoother we can still see certain waves, but now it could be broken up into as many as 5 different groups. <br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Early</span>- Palm Warblers, Louisiana Waterthrush, Nashville Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, and Black-and-White Warbler<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">Mid-early</span>- Ceruluean Warbler, Black-throated Blue warbler, Northern Parula, Black-throated Green warbler, Cape May Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, and Blue-winged Warbler<br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;">Mid</span>- Blackburnian warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Ovenbird, Hooded Warbler, and Prairie Warbler<br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Mid-late</span>- Tennessee Warbler, Wilsons Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Kentucky Warbler<br />
<span style="color: purple;">Late</span>- Blackpoll Warbler, Canada Warbler, American Redstart, Prothonotary warbler, Mourning Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat<br />
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While many of these make sense, the resident warblers are obviously getting pulled farther back than expected. I suspect that's why we see Yellow Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Prothonotary Warbler, and Yellow-breasted Chat on the back end of these graphs instead of closer to the beginning. <br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Family Timings</span></b><br />
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At the beginning of this work I was curious in looking at all migrant timings across families to compare when birds migrate across large areas. My first try resulted in the infamous <a href="http://i.imgur.com/HsuHOrF.gif">gulf .gif</a> that plotted every family's timing across 4 locations spanning 1500 miles. While I still want to figure out a way to graph broad scale timings like this across multiple locations, I think it's easier to digest each location separately. So I made a graph depicting the timings of 9 families just for Cape May.<br />
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The most surprising part to these graphs is how quickly most of them spike. I expected all of the graphs to turn out like the Warblers and Shorebirds with smooth ramps to the peaks and gradual drop offs. This is most likely due to the large amount of species and numbers incorporated in the Shorebirds and Warblers, where as other groups like Orioles and Cuckoos may have only two species representing them. It mainly shows how concentrated the migration of any one species is, and how in sync each individual is to the timing of a species as a whole. I'll briefly go through each of these families.<br />
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The <span style="color: #c27ba0;">Shorebirds</span> and <span style="color: magenta;">Warblers</span> peak right around when Cape May's over all numbers peak and then drops off much more suddenly than in April. <br />
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The <span style="color: #990000;">Night Jars</span> and <span style="color: #d5a6bd;">Hummingbirds</span> curiously peak at similar times and have similar graphs. They both peak slightly later than normal around the last week in May<br />
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<span style="color: lime;">Cuckoos</span> true to their nature show up late and then stay at high rates of detection due to their wonderfully nostalgic and unique call.<br />
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Flycatchers</span> are another set of late bloomers that technically peak near June and stay to breed. These include the charismatic Eastern Kingbirds that are hard to miss.<br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">Vireos</span> usually follow the Warblers in timings and despite an abrupt start generally follow the same graph as the warblers. They peak just a day behind the warblers and their tail end graphs look almost identical.<br />
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<span style="color: #674ea7;">Tanagers, Grosbeaks, Buntings</span>, and <span style="color: orange;">Orioles</span> were groups I expected to have similar timings just from anecdotal evidence and I am continually surprised every time I find this trend still showing up in the data. Not only do their averages land on the same day (June 1st) they have almost identical graphs, and both represent strong residential populations after migration. <br />
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That's it for now. Spend the next week staring at these graphs and hopefully learning to make your own. I'll be back April 17th to present the North West Ohio data just in time for the Biggest Week in birding!<br />
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So go out, and start looking for migrants!<br />
-Boone<br />
<br />Boonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01335266813140351818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-38684951179833521922014-03-27T07:00:00.000-05:002014-03-27T07:00:12.881-05:00How to watch migration <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/31359_390937940422_4777768_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/31359_390937940422_4777768_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Golden-winged Warbler, Minnesota, 2010</td></tr>
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Spring 2010 I got hired to travel all over Minnesota and Wisconsin in search of <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/golden-winged_warbler/id">Golden-winged Warblers</a>. That job is how I originally got introduced to <a href="http://ebird.org/">eBird</a>. Every day, starting in April, I checked the Golden-wing map to see if they had arrived in Wisconsin yet. Finals were the last week in April and my crew was set to jump in the vans and head to Wisconsin as soon we finished our exams. We were just waiting for eBird to show us if the birds had arrived, and arrive they did!<br />
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Checking eBird every day and watching eagerly for those points to get farther and farther north got me addicted to checking eBird and diving into the immense amount of data eBird has about bird migration.<br />
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eBird is a treasure trove of information. Its a great way to learn about a new place and it provides us really neat ways to look at how migration varies from year to year. It also provides you near real-time data so you can see what is going on with migration RIGHT NOW! This makes it an addictive tool, especially in the spring when I am chomping at the bit for all the birds to come back.<span style="color: red;"> </span><br />
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How do you do this? It's quite easy, go over to <a href="http://ebird.org/">eBird.org</a> and click on 'explore data', then click on 'range and point maps'. In the upper left hand corner type in the species of your choice. Right now it's mid march, and the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CD8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allaboutbirds.org%2Fguide%2FPurple_Martin&ei=NPIgU5vgH6iW0QG9oICYAQ&usg=AFQjCNEKj6WjDxsfNqwEaCafHR8WM1SO2A&sig2=XI1ccwKVXV_5r6AnJg--zA&bvm=bv.62922401,d.dmQ">Purple Martins</a> are starting to make their way north, so lets take a look at these signs of spring.<br />
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So the first time you enter in Purple Martin it's going to show you everywhere a purple martin has every been recorded. Crazy, and a bit overwhelming.<br />
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Next to the species slot is one labeled 'Date'. Checking these maps is where migration becomes watchable. Click on the date drop down and select 'current year'. Choosing this option limits the map to just the areas where Purple Martins have been observed during the current calendar year.<br />
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So check it out. I'm currently in NW Arkansas and I've been hearing reports of martins on the list serve for awhile. It looks like Purple Martins are just starting to push north of Arkansas. Since the Midwest has been getting regularly hit with snow over the past few weeks this is probably a wise choice on the part of the birds, though it looks like spring might finally be arriving!<br />
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By checking out maps like these for a wide variety of species you can watch migration happen and if you check back every day or every few days you can see the line of purple slowly move north and can better expect what might be around your favorite patch.<br />
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What is also fun to look at is how the current 'range' of a species compares to other years.<br />
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So head back up to the date drop down and change two things. Instead of current year click on 'last 10 years' and change the month range to just march (so March to March, it's weird, i know).<br />
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You should see something like this: Which presents a different picture.<br />
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Part of the difference between these two images could be because March isn't over yet, and chances are Purple Martins will make it farther north before April 1st. It might also show the difference between this year and the last, so check back at the map at the end of the month. <br />
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The big message here is bird distributions vary year to year. By looking at the 10 year image you can see the farther north areas are lighter purple, indicating less sightings. So not every year are Purple Martins back in Minnesota or northern Ohio by the end of March, but some years they are. <a href="http://naturalausterity.blogspot.com/2014/02/why-migrantory-birds-ignore-puxsutawney.html">Boone's post</a> back at the end of February talked about how spring migration can be treacherous for birds, and how they delay their progress north until conditions improve. Birds are in a race against time, trying to make the most of the good summer weather and be the first ones back on the breeding ground. Some years this pans out and they make it farther north by the end of March. Other years, like 2014, winter is sticking around for awhile, and these birds will either hang out farther south and wait or deal with the chilly weather farther north.<br />
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Try out other species and see what is headed your way soon! You might be surprised what is hanging out just a few miles south of you waiting for the weather to break. And of course put your own sightings into eBird and help give everyone north of you some hope as well. But most of all get out there and see what is showing up, many species will keep moving north no matter what the weather and you might be surprised what is already around. Spring is coming and the birds right along with it!<br />
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- Auriel<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-4580338477428198432014-03-24T12:30:00.000-05:002014-03-24T12:30:00.965-05:00How long does a Indigo Bunting live?<div style="text-align: right;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Male and Female Indigo Bunting <br />
(<a href="https://www.facebook.com/SanduskyCountyParkDistrict/photos/pcb.640951455952281/640951039285656/?type=1">Sandusky County Park District</a>)</td></tr>
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Getting to hold a bird in your hand is a really special experience. You can feel the birds heat beating, feel how warm it is, look it right in the eye. It gives you a connection with an individual bird you can't experience any other way. Bird banding got me addicted to birds and to research. I got involved when I was young and I'm still addicted to this very hands on method of studying birds. That is why I got so excited when I found out that one of the people who got me into bird banding captured a bird that set a new record for longevity (life span).<br />
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Tom Kashmer, bander for the <a href="http://www.lovemyparks.com/">Sandusky County Park District</a> and<a href="http://bsbobird.org/"> Black Swamp Bird Observatory</a> captured a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/indigo_bunting/id">Indigo Bunting</a> last fall in NW Ohio that had been banded. He recorded the band number (each bird gets a unique number) and after submitting those records to the bird banding lab he learned this bird is <b>THIRTEEN YEARS OLD</b>. Totally blowing away the previous record for Indigo Buntings (8 years).<br />
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All data collected about birds banded in the U.S. is submitted to the <a href="http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/">Bird Banding Lab</a>, (BBL) which is run by the U.S. Geological Survey. Having a central database allows us to have one resource to go to when we want to ask scientific questions and also allows us to track birds when they are recaptured. Tom did not band the Indigo Bunting originally, Mark Shieldcastle (Research Director, <a href="http://bsbobird.org/">Black Swamp Bird Observatory</a>) did, 13 years earlier, in a different part of NW Ohio. Since those records has been submitted to the BBL when Tom submitted his record of the recapture they were able to pull up the band number and see its entire history.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/1255527_640951039285656_1080471869_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/1255527_640951039285656_1080471869_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Mark Shieldcastle (Original Bander) and Tom Kashmer<br />
(Recapture Bander). (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/SanduskyCountyParkDistrict/photos/pcb.640951455952281/640951039285656/?type=1">Sandusky County Park District</a>)</td></tr>
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Most passerines have an expected life span of 2-3 years [2] and for migratory species their lifespan can be even lower. Indigo Buntings migrate to Central America every year [3] so in this birds 13 years it has flown a long way and managed to dodge many of the hazards migratory birds face every year. While this bird is likely an anomaly it is important for us to understand both the 'average' behavior of an Indigo Bunting, but also the behavior of these more extreme birds, the outliers. Many times changes in a species is pushed by outliers. A male who lives for 13 years has probably produced many more offspring then one who only lived three years. This is just one example of the new information we can continue to learn by banding birds. </div>
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Not everyone is such a fan of bird banding[1]. While many of the concerns raised in <a href="http://www.westernbirdbanding.org/HaltBanding.pdf">this article</a> have been <a href="http://addressed./">addressed</a> there are still many of the concerns about the impact banding has on the individual bird, either because the bird will be injured through the process, or experience stress which will hurt it in some way.<br />
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Another concern is since we have been banding birds for so long we don't need to continue doing it, because we are not gaining any new information. Recapture rates for many species are very low (less then 1% for non-game species) [1]. The low rate doesn't prevent us from learning lots of important things about these birds. Banding allows us to understand population ecology, which might sound very abstract, but its extremely important to understand the demographics of a species population and by individually marking birds we are able to do that. It also allows us to look at migratory connectivity, since birds can be recaptured throughout the year. Even when a bird is only captured one time we can still learn valuable information and we can document that birds presence on the landscape in a way that isn't possible through passive observation. When recaptures happen we learn a HUGE amount of information. We can track that bird through time, learn about how it has changed, and also how long it lives.<br />
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The documentation of this long-lived Indigo Bunting is a big moment for both birds and scientists. These kind of discoveries can be made by anyone though! If you ever encounter a dead bird, check and see if it has a band on it's leg, and if it does, please report it! Having information about when and where a bird died is extremely useful! If you're in the U.S. you can report banded birds <a href="https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/bblretrv/">here</a> to USGS.<br />
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Citations<br />
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[1] http://www.westernbirdbanding.org/HaltBanding.pdf<br />
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[2] http://www.zin.ru/labs/ornithology/payevsky/pdf/06-Payevsky-2000.pdf<br />
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[3] http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/indigo_bunting/id</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-241351699104937772014-03-20T09:08:00.000-05:002014-04-02T22:13:20.833-05:00When do birds really migrate?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
So what exactly do I do with my little free time in graduate school? Recently it's been playing with Ebird data to do more research. To test the effectiveness of using Ebird data to answer scientific questions, I decided to answer one problem I've always wanted to know.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>When do birds really migrate?</b></span><br />
<br />
This large scale question seems appropriate for one of the largest bird sightings databases on the planet. The <a href="http://ebird.org/">eBird</a> database gains more sightings every year. You can see this rising submission trend in the yearly Top 100 lists. Every year the top 100 becomes harder and harder to break into as more people post their data on Ebird.<br />
<br />
This experiment actually turned out quite well and was a great learning experience. The resulting graph above is quite busy but we'll slowly go through it and interpret it for you.<br />
<br />
From here you can either read the methods section following, or skip straight to the results.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Methods</b></span><br />
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<br />
So how do you get this data and how can you use it? eBirds philosophy is open data access for everyone. You can either ask for ALL the data ever in a raw format, or let eBird do the hard work. I decided the later and downloaded histogram data. This gave me the percentage of lists in my chosen area that saw the specific bird. It's essentially presence data. I downloaded data for all the birding sites in my areas of choice for the last 10 years. Most of these sites were based on migrant birding spots I already knew about. They are as follows:<br />
<br />
-South Texas included South Padre Island(including the nature center), Laguna Atascosa NWR, Santa Ana NWR, Boca Chica, Sabal Palms, and some other migrant hot spots<br />
<br />
-Upper Texas included all the famous High Island Spots including Smith Oaks, Boy Scout Woods, Bolivar Flats, Sabine Wood, Anahuac, Mcfaddin, and Lafitte.<br />
<br />
-Alabama included every site on Dauphin Island and Fort Morgan/Bon Secour<br />
<br />
-South Florida included any hotspot that had more than 150 birds seen in it. This was because I've never birded South Florida in spring, and I incorporated a larger area to make up for my lack of knowledge. These included all sites in Everglades NP, Key Largo, and hot spots around and along the coast in Miami including Bill Baggs Cape State Park and Matheson hammock.<br />
<br />
These choices resulted in a large mix of wooded, grass lands, and large wetlands across the gulf. They resulted in a large difference in sample size between Alabama and the Upper Texas Coast. With Texas having the highest checklists and amounts of birds seen (400+) over the 5 month time period. <br />
<br />
Once I had the data, I manually grouped all the birds into broad categories that vaguely represent Families. While most of these are obvious some should be explained.<br />
<ul>
<li>Waterfowl did not include sea ducks as I thought this muddied my interpretation.</li>
<li>Hawks included Eagles and Kites (It really should be labeled raptors)</li>
<li>Nightjars are both nighthawks and nightjars</li>
<li>Cuckoos-the smallest grouping only included 2 species (Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoo), but I felt it needed to be separated because their famous late timings.</li>
<li>Tyrants-include all flycatchers and kingbirds</li>
<li>Swallows-also include swifts</li>
<li>Small Migrants-This category had to be made to keep my categories to a manageable extent. It includes Warblers, Thrushes, Waterthrushes (In later iterations I will separate these more appropriately)</li>
<li>Tan/Gros/Bunt-Just incase no one understands, thats Tanagers/Grosbeaks/Buntings</li>
</ul>
<br />
I then made the tough decision of deciding what was a migrant, and what wasn't. The problem is some species (especially in southern latitudes) are year round residents and so just splitting my categories wasn't enough. South Texas Orioles are a particular good example; there are 2 resident Orioles (Altamire and Audubons), but during spring 7 species of Orioles are seen in the area.<br />
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I decided to subset the data based on if a species was sighted during less than 60% of the time period. As I started in February, I thought this would represent only birds who spent a portion of their life in the area. This filtered out effectively all but the rarest of species, most of which I either manually took out.<br />
<br />
Now with my base data set, I summed up all presence percentages in a 1 week window and divided by the total percentage through all weeks in Migration (Feb-June). This created a standardized metric that basically shows at what window the group is most likely to be seen between. If a group is only seen during a two week period, it would have a huge spike during those weeks and then no data otherwise. If it's seen consistently through all weeks, the values would be even with no spikes.<br />
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I ran all of this in the stats <a href="http://www.r-project.org/">program R</a> (praise be to him).<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Results</b></span><br />
-----------------------------<br />
So what the hell is going on here?<br />
<br />
A whole hell of a lot. But before we start interpreting let me remind you the variability inherent in data of this kind. This is a conglomeration of thousands of peoples bird lists. They span a vast amount of birding skills, truthfulness, and exactness. Species may be incorrectly identified, effort hours may be off, and birding may not even be reported sometimes. It also has a high degree of variability with birds that are not easy to spot, like rails. If someone is on High Island for migrants, they may not even go looking for the rails, and thats not taking into the fact the incredibly secretive nature of rails. (except on the South Padre Island Nature Center boardwalk)<br />
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So with that, we'll move forward and interpret group by group.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Waterfowl (red)</span></b><br />
The waterfowl are the easiest pattern to discern. In February they're very common, peaking right at the beginning of our study period. What surprised me was how late waterfowl stayed. I inherently knew this, but it takes until April Week 4 for waterfowl to really be off the radar.<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Hawks (orange)</span></b><br />
The Hawks followed almost the identical trend of waterfowl, except in South Texas. A famous spot for hawk migration, South Texas hosted more hawks farther into the season. These peaks aren't evident even in the Upper Texas coast, possibly due to the spreading out of these hawk populations after reaching South Texas. It's also interesting to note the presence of so many hawks in winter is due to species like Harriers, Ferruginous Hawks, Osprey, and Sharp-shined Hawks that move their distributions south in Winter.<br />
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<b><span style="color: yellow;">Rails (yellow)</span></b><br />
Auriel and I's favorite group had the craziest of graphs. The interpretation is muddied by a lot of different factors. For one, Rails are difficult to detect, especially in winter, and two not many people look for rails if they're not calling. This means rail detection is a function of calling and to a lesser extent the threshold amount of rails it takes to start seeing them run out in the open. Rail's also winter on the gulf coast and species like Gallinules migrate across the Gulf of Mexico. The graphs seem to show an increase in detections starting April 1st, but then peaks in May. I personally think this is because Rails are infinitely easier to detect when they're calling during breeding season, not because they're migrating late. Clearly better data is needed<br />
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<b><span style="color: #93c47d;">Shorebirds (greenish yellow)</span></b><br />
Shorebirds show a constant migratory presences starting in mid march, and continue at a steady rate, till they peak again in late May before quickly disappearing. In many cases this could be due to a subset of late migrants. My opinion is this is a subset of arctic breeding migrants that show up much later while they wait for the arctic to warm up.<br />
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<b><span style="color: lime;">Gulls/Terns(actual green)</span></b><br />
Gulls and terns are constantly present on the southern latitudes. Most terns can be seen in South Texas and South Florida at all times of the year, and all of the coasts get a switching out of various gull species. In the northern sites, we see a sudden spike in presences of gulls starting in the last weeks of May. Whats going on here? Diving into the data a bit more, it seems many tern and gulls were filtered out from screening, leaving only a few species to drive this whole graph. The May spike is driven by the late migrating Franklin Gulls. And then as they move through, the left over breeding terns like Least Terns increase in either abundance or detectability in the upper gulf coast. This is particulary evident comparing Alabama and Florida. In April gulls/terns are common along the coast, but by June they've left the southern latitudes to breed.<br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="color: #274e13;">Nightjars(some other shade of green)</span></b><br />
Nightjars/Nighthawks are breeders in the south and show up much later than many of the migrants. We see the first presences of them around April Week 2, and then they steadily ramp up till they're at their peak in June. This is a function of the fact a lot of these nightjars will breed in the south and are really conspicuous due to their breeding calls and evening flights.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9;">Cuckoos (bluish green)</span></b><br />
Like expected, Cuckoo abundance spikes much later than the passerine migrants. The peak seems to be between the 1st week in May. Once cuckoos arrive they are commonly found. This is most likely due to their obvious call that can be heard from far away in riparian corridors. While this group only contains 2 species, I was surprised it created such a nice clean graph.<br />
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<b><span style="color: cyan;">Hummingbirds (teal)</span></b><br />
Hummingbirds winter in the southern latitudes, especially in South Texas and Florida. This creates a great dichotomy of hummingbird abundance starting in the beginning of April. At that point all the hummingbirds in southern latitudes disappear and abruptly appear on the northern Gulf Coastl. Then ny June all of the hummingbirds have migrated out of the area, and few migratory hummingbirds remain in the area. <br />
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Aside from Sparrows the remaining groups are common passerine migrants that show similar timings.<br />
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<b><span style="color: white;">Tyrants (white)</span></b><br />
Tyrants start moving through a little earlier than the small migrants and then stay at a higher proportion than the smaller migrants. I expected this from the high amount of tyrants that breed in the south especially Texas (Scissortailed Flycatcher, Eastern/Western Kingbirds, Acadian Flycatchers, Vermillion Flycathcers, Great Crested, Brown, and Ash-throated Flycatcher). Though in general, the tyrants maintain a presence at all southern latitudes throughout the year. <br />
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Vireos (light blue)</span></b><br />
Vireos moved in a very sterotypical pattern, they ramped up migration starting in Week 3 in March, they peak Week 2-3 in April, and leave by June 1st.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Swallows (Blue)</span></b><br />
The swallows appear to already be on the move once February hits, but they really start migration mid March. Once May hits, swallow numbers dive quickly and are gone by mid May.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Small Migrants (Blueish Purple)</span></b><br />
The small migrants represent the largest group by numbers of migrants. They category in itself is a bit disingenuous because many of these small migrants winter on the gulf coast. Certain warblers like Parulas and Yellow-throated Warblers winter in South Texas and Florida, and Hermit Thrushes are uncommonly seen at all our sites in the winter. The popularity of warblers, plus their mass numbers helped give this category the smoothest graph. In general, small migrants began migrating late march, peaked Week 3 in April and tapered off by June. <br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: purple;">Sparrows (purple)</span></b><br />
The sparrow are a common winter resident all around the country. They stick around till the 1st week in April, and as the gulf migrants start to peak, the sparrows decline and are gone by May 1st.<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Tanagers/Grosbeaks/Buntings (pink)</span></b><br />
This was another small group that showed up well in the graph. This group had a large spike starting the first week in April and then gently tapered off till the last week in May. We can really see how concentrated some of these movements are within Passerines. Neither Tanagers, grosbeaks, or buntings are particularly related to each other. Grosbeaks are a mixture of multiple families and buntings are in the family with sparrows. Regardless of their real lineage most Passerines are migrating in this small 6 week window<br />
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<b><span style="color: #741b47;">Orioles (fuschia)</span></b><br />
This was the second smallest group, and contained the largest spike in presence. All the Orioles migrate during a concentrated 5 week window between Week 1 in April and Week 1 in May. The interesting thing is the continuing presence of Orioles in the High Island area in June. This is due solely to the amount of Orchard Orioles that nest in the area. <br />
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<b><span style="color: lime;">Overall Timings</span></b><br />
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So we've successfully mapped all the migrants, and I've got you all excited for migration. You may even be thinking of planning a trip down to these spots. But when should you go???<br />
<br />
Well I've got you covered again.<br />
<br />
I took all the presence data across each one week window and summed them to quantify the general diversity at each time frame. I then took the weighted average across weeks to find the center of the data where the highest diversity and numbers of birds could be seen. The weighted average is just the value seen multiplied by the probability, so in this case the proportion of sightings in that week compared to all 5 months. I then plotted each graph to visualize timings. The way the numbers work the Y axis is largely meaningless. Just focus on heights relative to each other.<br />
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<b>South Texas</b> <br />
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South Texas had a beautiful graph with highest diversity the last week of April. It sharply spikes in April and is most productive during Week 2 in April and Week 3 in May, making up a 6 week window of great birding. The weighted average landed on <span style="color: lime;">April 19th</span>. This is only a couple days shy of Week 4 in April. The sharp spike in migrants is largely due to the fact that most birds are residents of South Texas, birding is always good from Winter to Summer, so what we're seeing in this graph is the filtering out of all these resident birds, and we're left with just migrants.</div>
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<b>Upper Texas Coast</b></div>
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High Island approaches what we call a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution">normal distribution</a>, with a positive bias due to the breeding migrants in the area. The largest spike occurs in Week 4 in April, and this shows in the weighted average falling on <span style="color: lime;">April 24th</span>. This is actually inline with a typical Big Day, and only 1 day off from Team Sapsuckers record breaking <a href="http://blog.allaboutbirds.org/2013/04/27/294-species-and-one-shattered-record-on-almost-perfect-big-day/">big day last year</a> on April 25th.<br />
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<b>Alabama</b><br />
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The problem with Alabama's data is definitely a sample size problem. Without enough samples the graph bows out without centering on a specific point. This could be due to the fact Alabama actually receives some of the lowest number of migrants due to prevailing winds blowing north west in spring. The mean track of birds tends to funnel between between Louisiana and Texas. For major fallout events in Alabama to occur winds have to unpredictably shift east. This might lead to the spreading out of peak abundances across April. On the graph, the highest peak occurs Week 1 in May but the weighted Average actually sits at <span style="color: lime;">April 19th</span>.<br />
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<b>South Florida</b><br />
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South Florida isn't necessarily known as a migrant hot spot in Spring. Many birds cross the gulf of Mexico instead of moving along the over land route in Florida. Radar studies show very little use in Florida, as many birds skip over southern Florida entirely, landing around Tallahassee instead. South Florida is also the first stop for migrants in the Caribbean, as opposed to birds traveling from Central America that land in South Texas after crossing the gulf. This means we'd expect to see an earlier peak of migrants. Finally, a lot of bird species winter in South Florida, but very few migrants end up breeding in South Florida, this skews the graph negatively towards the earlier weeks. All of this leads to the graph showing a peak in Week 3 of April but the weighted average being pulled all the way to the <span style="color: lime;">April 8th</span> due to the lack of migrants in May and June.<br />
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Many weeks and almost 3000 words later, I've still only touched half of what this data set tells us. I'll be using Ebird in part of my Masters Thesis now, so I plan on testing more methods on the blog as I can moving forward. Stay tuned! And get excited! Spring is here! ...sort of...<br />
<br />
-Boone <br />
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Boonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01335266813140351818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-65270438076132353492014-03-13T07:00:00.000-05:002014-03-13T07:00:04.454-05:00Insect Migration - It's a Family Affair<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3823/12883813294_e306ecf1f2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3823/12883813294_e306ecf1f2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monarch Butterflies in a fir tree (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pendensproditor/">pendens proditor</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm in the process of studying for my comprehensive exams. Without going into detail 'comps' is the biggest test of a PhD students life and I've been tasked with learning 'ALL THE THINGS' about migration, among other topics.<br />
<br />
I'm trying to read as broadly as possible about migration and not just focus on my favorite taxa, birds. Lately I've been reading many many pages about insects and noticed that there are some remarkable parts to insect migration we just don't see in other species.<br />
<br />
One BIG difference between bird migration and insect migration is often insect migration is multi-generation. Which means that it takes several generations to make the complete circle of migration.<br />
<br />
A prime example of multi-generation migration is the monarch butterfly. Monarchs winter, primarily in Mexico, in huge groups where they cover the fir trees. In the spring they start to move north. Each generation moves a bit farther, lays eggs and then dies, then their young hatch, grow to adulthood, migrate a bit farther and the process repeats until they reach the northern extent of their breeding range (see map). In late summer a special generation of butterflies is born, these will migrate hundreds of miles back to Mexico, all in one big movement. These individuals overwinter in Mexico and then start the process back north the next spring.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.learner.org/jnorth/images/graphics/monarch/Distribution_NorthAmericaEW.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.learner.org/jnorth/images/graphics/monarch/Distribution_NorthAmericaEW.gif" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">North American Monarch Butterfly Range. <a href="http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/fall2008/Update110408.html">(Journey North</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Migrating through several generations is remarkable for several reasons, the biggest one is that each individual insect doesn't get a chance to learn from the previous generation or have any room for trial and error. One of the big things we look at in bird migration is how the bird navigate, how do they know where to go year after year? Some species are well documented to teach their young where to go, others head out on their own seemingly programmed with the knowledge they need. Often young birds end up in odd places, but the idea is they learn and the next year they are better prepared for migration.<br />
<br />
Insects don't get to take advantage of trial and error during migration. Monarch Butterflies live for only a few weeks and they have never been where they are going. This is their only shot.<br />
<br />
Another remarkable thing about migratory insects is there are often differences between generations of a species if one generation is migratory and the next is not. Migratory individuals will have longer more developed wings. Both grasshoppers and locusts have different <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenotype">phenotypes</a> for migratory and non migratory individuals [1]. Change in body shape between generations is remarkable because there is something happening at the genetic level deciding whether or not an individual will be part of the migratory generation. These patterns are well suited to predictable weather environments. For example, if we had an early cold snap in the fall, a non-migratory individual would be ill prepared to south.<br />
<br />
Insect migration has been found to be highly influenced by weather patterns. Large scale wind systems, such as prevailing wind systems and fronts move large numbers of insects. Studies show insects are very selected for the wind direction, only leaving on nights when winds are very precisely in the right direction. Following weather patterns makes sense because insects can be easily pushed by the wind. We have a less clear understanding of how smalls scale weather patterns impact insect migration [2].<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5027/5630473769_5ec6c4c4e5_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5027/5630473769_5ec6c4c4e5_b.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tagging a Monarch Butterfly (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/anna-barnett/">Anna Barnett</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like birds there are groups of insects who migrate during the day, and others who migrate at night. Diurnal (daytime) migrants seem to use the sun, or if the sun is obscured, polarized light to navigate [3]. Nocturnal (night) migrants navigation is not well studied, but it could be magnetic [4].<br />
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There are many methods used to study the migration of insects, from specialized analysis of radar data [5] to applying tiny numbered stickers to butterflies wings on the breeding grounds (during the late summer) and recapturing them on the wintering grounds. By having monarchs tagged all across the country we are able to track Monarchs across North America and understand how populations from different parts of the U.S. move [6].<br />
<br />
The most impressive feat of insect migration I've found is the migration of dragonflies across the Indian Ocean. This round trip flight across the Indian Ocean spans over 14-18 thousand kilometers (8500-11000 miles) [7,8] <span style="color: black;">While assisted by wind, it is still quite impressive. </span>They, like the monarchs take several generations to make their huge journey.<br />
<br />
Monarch Butterflies, like many other organisms will start migrating soon. While birds will migrate fairly quickly, just taking a few weeks to make the journey north, butterflies will slowly make their multi-generational way north, moving a few hundred miles and laying the eggs of the next generation. They won't be arriving in the mid latitude states until mid May and the upper Midwest by mid June. If you see Monarchs around your neighborhood this spring, report them <a href="http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/Gallery.html">here</a> and help us better understand how these remarkable critters are moving across the continent. Spring will get here eventually, so keep your eyes peeled!<br />
<br />
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<br />
On a non-migration related note, today I read about hornets and how they defend their hives from other insect invaders by surrounding the invader and vibrating their thoraxes to create so much heat that the intruder DIES! Nature is so cool sometimes.<br />
<br />
- Auriel<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Citations</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[1] Denno, R.F. (1994) The evolution of dispersal polymorphism in insects: the influence of habitats, host plants and mates. Researches on Population Ecology 36, 127–135.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">[2] http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.en.33.010188.001151</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">[3] Hyatt, M. (1993) The use of sky polarization for migratory orientation by monarch butterflies. PhD thesis, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">[4] Baker, R.R. (1987) Integrated use of moon and magnetic compasses by the heart-and-dart moth, Agrotis exclamationis. Animal Behaviour 35, 94–101.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">[5] http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/content/53/5/503.short</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">[6] http://monarchwatch.org/tagmig/fallmap.htm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">[7] Anderson, RC (2009). "Do dragonflies migrate across the western Indian Ocean?".Journal of Tropical Ecology 25: 347–348.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">[8] http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8149000/8149714.stm</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-61303693014575907752014-02-27T07:00:00.001-06:002014-02-27T07:42:51.721-06:00Migration - in all its flavors<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7128/8156335336_8542c517b9_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7128/8156335336_8542c517b9_b.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sandhill Cranes Migrating (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sergemelki/">Serge Melki</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Migration is one of the wonders of the natural world. Millions of animals move thousands of miles every year in an attempt to produce as many offspring as possible. When most people think of migration they think of Canada geese flying south for the winter and their return in the spring. You might not realize, that while these birds demonstrate impressive feats of migration, there are others kinds of migration in the bird world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">What makes all these things migration is they involve going back and forth between two places. It doesn't matter if its 2000 miles south or 3 miles up a mountain. No matter the difference, birds are always migrating in some way during the year.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: orange; font-family: inherit;">'Loop' Migration</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Loop migration is what you'd normally call migration, </span>where birds arrive in the spring and leave in the fall<span style="font-family: inherit;">. Loop migration can be broken down further into a few categories, long distance, medium and short distance migration. All of these are annual movements for the same purpose. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Birds </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">migrate</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> to take advantage of seasonally abundant food. In northern latitudes </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">insect populations, fruit and seeds BOOM in a huge way in the summer. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Taking advantage of these resources allows birds to produce more young than they would have in the tropics. Northern latitudes also provide an advantage because the tropics have constant competition for resources and higher predation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Migration is not without it's risks of course but if you </span>reproduce<span style="font-family: inherit;"> enough it offsets the high risk of dying during migration. In this way, you and the rest of your species can continue into the future, so you win. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: inherit;"><b>Altitudinal Migration</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Unless you are lucky enough to live in the mountains, birds migrating up and down in elevation is the kind of migration you are probably least familiar with. Many mountain species take advantage of the perks of loop migration without traveling as far. Altitudinal migration presents unique challenges like extreme weather and changes in snow pack.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Altitudinal migration is quite common in tropical areas, where moving up and down in elevation can help mitigate the impacts of the rainy or dry season on food supplies. By moving around the landscape a bird can take advantage of the habitats with the most food and increase their chance of survival. Birds who live on small remote islands also demonstrate altitudinal migration. Instead of migrating several thousand miles to the next land mass they move up and down the mountain throughout the year. They are likely migrating up and down in response to the annual wet/dry cycle </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">on the island. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Altitudinal migration is unique since its not always done just for the purposes of breeding. Some species migrate up in elevation to take advantage of seasonal abundances of insects so they have plenty of energy to molt their new feathers quickly [1]. It is extremely expensive </span>energetically<span style="font-family: inherit;">, which means it takes lots of food and energy to accomplish. Birds feathers go through extensive wear in a years time; replacing them is important for keeping the bird the correct temperature and flying efficiently. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: inherit;"><b>Irruptive Migration</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Irruptive migration is an odd kind of migration because it doesn't fit the way most people think of bird movements. Irruptive migration doesn't happen every year, instead they are normally triggered by an abundance or shortage of food. When food is scarce in the north birds come south looking for other resources; this is often why crossbills irrupt. When food is abundant, such as a boom of lemmings, birds are able to produce large numbers of offspring. A boom in the lemming population is what we think is going with Snowy Owls this winter. </span><a href="http://naturalausterity.blogspot.com/2013/12/snowy-owl-irruptions.html" style="font-family: inherit;">Boone did a post </a><span style="font-family: inherit;">awhile back that covers their irruption in more detail. </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.staticflickr.com/161/378017378_56846bf17a_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="http://farm1.staticflickr.com/161/378017378_56846bf17a_b.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">American Redstart (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dobak/">Derek Bakken</a>)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: inherit;"><b>Differential Migration</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Differential migration can happen in every kind of migration. It means a subset of bird populations migrate differently. When males and females migrate separately and winter in different places, or when juvenile birds go south their first year and don't return north for several seasons, they are both demonstrating differential migration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">For example, female Cooper's hawks migrate significantly earlier then males. Arriving earlier may allow them to take advantage of extensive resources and put on weight in </span>preparation<span style="font-family: inherit;"> for egg laying or to find the best nesting locations [2]. American Redstarts males and females migrate to different areas for the winter [3]. This segregation is caused by behavioral dominance by the older males who set up territories and force other individuals (usually female) into less desirable habitats. The exact reason for most differential migration is still unknown, but understanding the different ways a population migrates help us to better conserve their </span>habitats<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><br />
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It bears mentioning birds are not the only group of animals who migrate. We'll try and round up a post on those as well here sometime soon. In the meantime, keep on the look out for signs of spring migration near you! SPRING IS COMING!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">- Auriel</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Citations</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">[1] Rohwer, V. G., S. Rohwer, and J. H. Barry. 2008. Molt scheduling of western Neotropical migrants and up-slope movement of Cassin’s Vireo. Condor 110: 365-370.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
[2] Hull, J.M. Pitzer, S., Fish, A.M., Ernest, H.B., and Hull A.C. 2012 Differential Migration in Five Species of Raptors in Central Coastal California. Journal of Raptor Research 46(1):50-56. <span style="font-family: inherit;">http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3356/JRR-10-116.1</span></span><br />
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[3] Marra, P<span style="font-family: inherit;">.P, Homles, R.T. 2001. Consequencces of Dominance-Mediated Habitat Segregation in American Redstarts During the Non-Breeding Season. The Auk. 118(1):92-104. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1642/0004-8038(2001)118%5B0092:CODMHS%5D2.0.CO%3B2</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-33116041722945117082014-02-20T07:00:00.000-06:002014-02-20T11:57:31.927-06:00Why Migratory Birds Ignore Puxsutawney Phil<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/qCGDG89.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/qCGDG89.jpg" height="243" width="640" /></a></div>
I for one am tired of the cold. Don't get me wrong, this winter in Delaware has been great. We've had an abundance of snow and few days of freezing rain, but this Texans had enough. I was raised on a steady diet of 6 months of hot, 2 months of cold, and 4 months that are only kind of hot. By mid February it's time to start buying swimsuits and stocking up on suntan lotion.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/8nk9Ebj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/8nk9Ebj.jpg" height="136" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div id="yui_3_11_0_3_1392871657144_800">
Punxsutawney Phil the Perpetrator<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7829129@N08/">(Alessandro M.)</a></div>
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Unfortunately, I don't live in Texas anymore. Punxsutawney Phil, the infallible weather muse, has predicted six more weeks of winter for the east coast. We'll forget for a second that our rodent friend is less than stellar at <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/special-reports/groundhog-day.php#phil">prediction</a> </span>and take his words at furry face value.<br />
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Just 2 weeks from now, the lucky residents in Texas will herald their first of the season main land migrants, and in 3 weeks every gulf state from Texas to Florida will see their very first migratory species. This may sound early to some of you, and indeed it is, but certain individuals in a population will try to get an early start to their breeding season. These include the southern breeding species like the <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?cmd=decisionPage&speciesCodes=gchwar&getLocations=states&states=US-TX&bYear=1900&eYear=2014&bMonth=3&eMonth=3&reportType=species&parentState=US-TX">Golden-cheeked Warbler</a></span>, southern U.S wintering warblers like the <a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?cmd=decisionPage&speciesCodes=norpar&getLocations=states&states=US-TX&bYear=1900&eYear=2014&bMonth=3&eMonth=3&reportType=species&parentState=US-TX">Northern Parula </a>, the early gulf migrant <a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?cmd=decisionPage&speciesCodes=louwat&getLocations=states&states=US-TX&bYear=1900&eYear=2014&bMonth=3&eMonth=3&reportType=species&parentState=US-TX">Louisiana Waterthrush</a>, and the seemingly always migrating <a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?cmd=decisionPage&speciesCodes=purmar&getLocations=states&states=US-TX&bYear=1900&eYear=2014&bMonth=3&eMonth=3&reportType=species&parentState=US-TX">Purple Martin</a>.<br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
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This winter has been brutally cold. We've seen record snowfalls in the south, and the great lakes ice coverage at it's highest extent since 1994 (90%). If this years weather and our furry friends ominous prediction is right, these early birds will be in a heap of trouble. So why would an individual migrate early when its still cold and how do birds cope with the wildly inconsistent weather in spring?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/fO5jEOx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/fO5jEOx.jpg" height="192" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The extent of the ice on the great lakes this year (noaa.gov)</td></tr>
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Lets start of first with an easy question:<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Why even show up early?</b></span><br />
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Birds benefit from arriving early in a variety of ways. They get the best pick of territories, avoid predators, and have more chances to succeeded. All of this equates to better breeding success (the chance of successfully raising chicks to adulthood).<br />
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Males arriving to a breeding site first get the best pick of territories. If these males choose the highest quality habitat, they'll have an easier time feeding their nestlings. This increases not only an individual chicks chance of surviving, but increases the numbers of chicks a pair can raise.<br />
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Common predators for nesting songbirds include snakes and raptors (birds of prey). The time of the highest nest predation coincides with the middle of the breeding season. Nesting hawks have to forage more as their own nestlings grow up. This increases predation as the seasons progresses. With the progression of seasons, temperatures heat up, leading to more snake species migrating out of their winter dens. This all culminates in peak nest predation in the middle of the breeding season. Earlier migrants can skip this dangerous phase by nesting earlier before these factors peak.<br />
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Most songbirds nest multiple times in a season until they finally succeed. Some crazier birds may even renest after they've succeeded in raising the first nest. In the case of Willow Flycatchers, some parents begin nesting before the first brood is even able to fly! So, with an early start to the breeding season, you get not only more chances to succeed, but more time to raise even more young!<br />
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It's clear, there's a real advantage to showing up as early as you can.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>What could possibly go wrong?</b></span><br />
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Well mainly weather.<br />
The top weather-related killer of birds is the cold. Untimely snow storms routinely kill birds who aren't prepared. Particularly wet snow can quickly saturate a birds feathers, forcing it to land freezing and wet. Situations like this kill even hardy snow birds. It's no surprise that species who aren't used to cold temperatures regularly die of exposure when an unseasonal cold front penetrates into the south [1].<br />
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Ice can also be particularly tricky for birds. Waterbirds, like ducks, require open water to feed. When all available water is frozen over, many starve before they can find water. Because of this, ducks often fly hundreds of miles south in search of open water in the winter. This permanent relocation leaves many of us in the Northern States (yah I just said that Auriel) with a lack of ducks for the rest of winter.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/IirAWuw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/IirAWuw.jpg" height="140" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Surf Scoters, Indian River inlet, DE</td></tr>
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Birds who usually experience extreme weather are well <a href="http://naturalausterity.blogspot.com/2014/01/bird-questions-how-do-birds-survive.html">adapted</a> to it. It's when temperate birds run into this weather that there becomes a problem. These birds spend the majority of their time in warmer locations and tremendous amounts of energy flying thousands of miles north to breed. These exhausted tropical vacationers are ill suited in maintaining their internal temperatures. In spring, spending a night below 10 degrees Celsius (50F) costs a songbird the same energy as flying for 3 hours. [2]. To a small song bird that's ~90 miles! [3].<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>So what keeps them from showing up early?</b></span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/PHOTO/LARGE/verm_chry_AllAm_map.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/PHOTO/LARGE/verm_chry_AllAm_map.gif" height="400" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The range map of Golden-Winged Warblers</td></tr>
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Migratory birds react strongly to temperature. The correlation between the average temperature at a migrants wintering grounds and summer grounds is both fascinating and complicated (We'll go indepth on this at a later date). Many studies have shown some species won't migrate north unless it's certain temperature.[2][4] Unseasonably cold temperatures in spring are usually brought about by a cold front from the north. This all but guarantees the northern latitudes are also cold. Migrants can dictate their future weather patterns by monitoring temperatures and delaying their departure till situations improve.<br />
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The pattern of migration is generally where southern migrants move through first and northern populations arrive later. This keeps migrating birds at a manageable latitude, but can lead to highly incongruous breeding seasons. A warbler breeding in the southern Appalachian Mountains in late April has entire month head start over it's twin breeding all the way in Canada in June.<br />
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Despite evolutionary traits, some birds still fly straight into bad weather.<br />
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Last year, a late arctic blast ran straight through the Midwest. Migrating rails, already on their journey, were faced with frozen wetlands with no where to go. Lucky for them, these hardy wetlands species have adaptations to survive in conditions similar to this. Rail species like the Virginia and Clapper rail are routinely found all the way into Delaware and New Jersey in winter. The northern most breeding rail, the Yellow Rail, breeds just shy of the arctic circle. Their bigger bodies, water resistant feathers, and terrestrial foraging allows them flexibility when it comes to surviving temporarily in variable temperatures.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/Rw43S6M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/Rw43S6M.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two Clapper Rails taking the ice in Delaware raily well</td></tr>
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If a birds particular tolerance or adaptations fail, we unfortunately find large scale mortalities. In March 1904, an estimated 1.5 million birds were found dead buried in the ice and snow after a blizzard in Minnesota. In 1964, 100,000 king eiders died when water ways refroze in the spring. This impact can sometimes be quite extreme on populations. A study populations of cliff swallows in the great plains, lost 54% of their population when unseasonable weather hit the region in 1996 [1].<br />
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This extreme consequence acts as a natural checks and balances system for birds. Nature maintains a hard line that punishes birds that arrive at the wrong time. Without it, birds would casually move their timing earlier and earlier. <br />
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Interestingly, we're actually seeing migratory timings shifting earlier in the spring. Over all global warming trends have lead to earlier plant blooming and migratory bird timing. We're seeing not only earlier migrants but northern range expansions of sub-tropical species into the north. Clearly the cold hasn't stopped them. [5][6].<br />
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Migratory timing is a large field in science, and this article has just touched the tip of the iceberg. We haven't for example mentioned birds being tied to high concentrations of bug activity, or the consequences of freak storms (hurricanes and tornadoes) on migrating birds (my masters research ;)). Clearly there's a lot for us to get to and always more to learn.<br />
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If you have any questions or would like to suggest a topic we cover, feel free to email us at <a href="mailto:naturalausterity@gmail.com">naturalausterity@gmail.com</a><br />
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-Boone<br />
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<div style="margin-left: 24pt; text-indent: -24pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]Newton, I. (2007). Weather-related mass-mortality events in migrants. <i>Ibis</i>, <i>149</i>(3), 453–467. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2007.00704.x</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 24pt; text-indent: -24pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[2]Wikelski, M., & Tarlow, E. M. (2003). Costs of migration in free-flying songbirds. <i>Nature</i>, <i>423</i>(June), 2003.</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 24pt; text-indent: -24pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[3]Alerstam, T., Chapman, J. W., Bäckman, J., Smith, A. D., Karlsson, H., Nilsson, C., … Hill, J. K. (2011). Convergent patterns of long-distance nocturnal migration in noctuid moths and passerine birds. <i>Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society</i>, <i>278</i>(1721), 3074–80. doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.0058</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 24pt; text-indent: -24pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[4]Gauthreaux, S. A. (1991). The Flight Behavior of Migrating Birds in Changing Wind Fields : Radar and Visual Analyses. <i>American Zoologist</i>, <i>31</i>(1), 187–204.</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 24pt; text-indent: -24pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[5]Gordo, O. (2007). Why are bird migration dates shifting? A review of weather and climate effects on avian migratory phenology. <i>Climate Research</i>, <i>35</i>, 37–58. doi:10.3354/cr00713</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">[6]Marra, P. P., Francis, C. M., Mulvihill, R. S., & Moore, F. R. (2005). The influence of climate on the timing and rate of spring bird migration. <i>Oecologia</i>, <i>142</i>(2), 307–15. doi:10.1007/s00442-004-1725-x</span></div>
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Boonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01335266813140351818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-82323498518014416862014-02-13T07:00:00.000-06:002014-02-13T07:00:02.415-06:00Common Bird Profile: Northern Mockingbird<h2 style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0.5em 0px; position: relative;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDsx9aTp05C3bkBaRAgzpvCf57KiFCLYcQU0sMxZIcgw7T9PIK2jR_WLBnXruX8kr7t7OsTUC-eCkyH4FhsAHlzj7vdhZWelePXW4b2uDyHcaEi9ASJQEVE2Uf6RhLUpKM_VI0wgkZiai4/s1600/NOMO_MikeBaird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDsx9aTp05C3bkBaRAgzpvCf57KiFCLYcQU0sMxZIcgw7T9PIK2jR_WLBnXruX8kr7t7OsTUC-eCkyH4FhsAHlzj7vdhZWelePXW4b2uDyHcaEi9ASJQEVE2Uf6RhLUpKM_VI0wgkZiai4/s320/NOMO_MikeBaird.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Northern Mockingbird (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebaird/">Mike Baird</a>)</td></tr>
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<b style="color: orange;">Northern Mockingbird </b><i><span style="color: white;"><b>(Mimus polyglottos)</b></span></i><br />
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I didn't really appreciate <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_mockingbird/id">Northern Mockingbirds</a> till I lived in Arkansas. I grew up with watching mockingbirds in Ohio but there are so many of them here in Arkansas. They live in all the bushes around my apartment complex and fight constantly. Their beautiful song fills the spring air and their complex mimicry fools even the best birders.<br />
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What mockingbirds are known most for is their ability to mimic a wide variety of sounds. Many birders who have been sent on wild goose chases after one species or another only to find out it's a mockingbird.<br />
<br />
One of the main reasons birds sing is to attract or maintain a connection to a mate. Some species have elaborate dances, flight displays or vibrant colored plumage to attract mates. Mockingbirds look plain, but they make up for it in their singing ability.<span style="color: red;"> </span>Female mockingbirds have been found to choose mates with larger repertoires [1]. Mockingbirds don't only imitate other birds songs, they have also been documented imitating a wide variety of other sounds from their environment. A friend of mine had a mockingbird learn to imitate her alarm clock, much to her annoyance since the mockingbird started singing far earlier then she wanted to wake up each morning.<br />
<br />
We still don't know exactly how they learn these songs, but researchers in North Carolina have found mockingbirds learn songs that are the easiest to mimic and the most similar to the songs they already know [2]. Over time this could lead to a wide range of vocalizations as they gradually expand their repertoire. Mockingbirds often mimic sounds in repeats of three, which can make picking them out as opposed to the actual birds song a bit easier. Why they repeat songs is not well understood. It may be connected to how they learn the songs or have something to do with maintaining the songs in their memory [3].<br />
<br />
What we do know is mockingbirds are singing machines which may sing for hours and hours, even all night during the breeding season. Mockingbirds ability to pick up any sound in their environment has caused some problems for scientists studying other species. Mockingbirds in northern California mimic Black Rails. This made it challenging for the scientists who were out surveying for the elusive rails because they had a hard time distinguishing between the mockingbirds and the actual rails [4].<br />
<br />
This video is a great example of the repertoire of these birds, see if you can pick out the different species this mockingbird is imitating, and the car alarm about 10 seconds into the video.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtB8mHXH05VZTfwxZdP3oYGxvZDPpzsx4QgAC9eCxv2SKZJ549r3Ip-lnehLhRsUKWTFQ-V5yCzuyQbk-hMAl9V2eyjAHlTBvFnx6FHnvUTdHB_jxVngDnI9fQaciI3YNFSfQ0S-i5mav0/s1600/NOMO_Manjith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtB8mHXH05VZTfwxZdP3oYGxvZDPpzsx4QgAC9eCxv2SKZJ549r3Ip-lnehLhRsUKWTFQ-V5yCzuyQbk-hMAl9V2eyjAHlTBvFnx6FHnvUTdHB_jxVngDnI9fQaciI3YNFSfQ0S-i5mav0/s320/NOMO_Manjith.jpg" height="400" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Northern Mockingbird (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/manjithkaini/">Manjith Mainickara</a>)</td></tr>
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While mockingbirds are plain in coloration they are a great example of coloration with a purpose. The color white is rare in nature, except in cases where it's used for camouflage (like in Snowy Owls) white is typically used as a form of communication.<br />
<br />
The white tail of the white-tailed deer is a sign of alarm to the deer around it and lets an approaching predator know it has been seen. By letting the predator know it's been spotted it can decide if it wants to pursue a prey item without the element of surprise [5].<br />
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Northern mockingbirds have been shown to use the white on their wing patches in a similar way. When they are faced with a predator they 'wing flash' to make themselves appear larger, intimidating the predator and to signal to other mockingbirds that there is a predator nearby [6].<br />
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Mockingbirds are a fantastic species to find in your neighborhood. Their fearless behaviors and diverse voices make them fun to watch. So spend a little time now and throughout the spring looking for some mockingbirds as you explore your local area and see if you can discover any unique noises your mockingbirds have learned!<br />
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- Auriel<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">____________________________________________________________________________</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[1] Howard, R.D. (1974) <span style="font-weight: normal;">The Influence of Sexual Selection and Interspecific Competition on Mockingbird Song (Mimus polyglottos) Evolution 28:3 (428-438) </span><a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2407164">http://www.jstor.org/stable/2407164</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[2] Gammon, D.E. (2013) How is model selection determined in a vocal mimic?: Tests of Five hypotheses. Behaviour. 150:12 (1375-1397) <br />
[3] Gammon, D.E., Altizer, C.E. (2011) Northern Mockingbirds produce syntactical patterns of vocal mimicry that reflect taxonomy of imitated species. Journal of Field Ornithology. 82:2 (158-164) <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1557-9263.2011.00318.x/full">http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1557-9263.2011.00318.x/full</a></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[4] Conway, C.J., Gibbs, J.P., 2001. Factors influencing detection probability and the benefits of call broadcast surveys for monitoring marsh birds. Laurel, MD. <a href="http://ag.arizona.edu/research/azfwru/NationalMarshBird/downloads/technical_reports/Conway_and_Gibbs_2001_Report.pdf">http://ag.arizona.edu/research/azfwru/NationalMarshBird/downloads/technical_reports/Conway_and_Gibbs_2001_Report.pdf</a></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[5] Bildstein, K.L., (1983) Why White-Tailed Deer Flag Their Tails. American Naturalist 121, 709–715. <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2460873">http://www.jstor.org/stable/2460873</a><br />
[6] Dhondt, A.A., Kemink, K.M. (2008) Wing-flashing in Northern mockingbirds: anti-predator defense? Journal of Ethology. 26:3 (361-365). <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10164-007-0070-z#page-1">http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10164-007-0070-z#page-1</a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-76771402990524410392014-02-08T07:00:00.000-06:002014-02-08T07:00:07.630-06:00Great Backyard Bird CountOne great thing about ecology and biology is we can use observations of the outdoor world from everyone, not just those with scientific training. These observations can help scientists better understand birds across the country and around the world.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJYhNvo-URdqiwEI8-oNYaXoLLQo5pnDQlo_97t-WJe5zV5ydkNG4oxaWN7rigBEXMmBtEP-jlhld3g3gcbvDbmRwANqfRYHhoFSS0x2ErMBfGSskTeqMpAldLEDVofZznNmAB-jxywYrn/s1600/Chickadee_Feeder_Ano_Lobb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJYhNvo-URdqiwEI8-oNYaXoLLQo5pnDQlo_97t-WJe5zV5ydkNG4oxaWN7rigBEXMmBtEP-jlhld3g3gcbvDbmRwANqfRYHhoFSS0x2ErMBfGSskTeqMpAldLEDVofZznNmAB-jxywYrn/s1600/Chickadee_Feeder_Ano_Lobb.jpg" height="194" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chickadees at the feeder (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27384147@N02/">Ano Lobb</a>)</td></tr>
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One of the ways everyone can contribute to our understanding of birds is by submitting your observations to <a href="http://ebird.org/">eBird</a>. Many don't feel their observations of birds in their backyard isn't important but that is not the case! Tracking the patterns of backyard birds can help us better understand the impacts of weather, pollution, urbanization and other forces on all bird species.<br />
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Since this backyard bird information is so important the <a href="http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc">Great Backyard Bird Count </a>(GBBC) was created as an annual four day event to encourage everyone to pay attention to what is in their backyard and submit data so we can compare across big areas and between different years.<br />
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The count is done in February before most species start migrating so it will help us understand the distribution of bird species which are residents, or of species like Juncos which may only be around during the winter months.<br />
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The 2014 GBBC is February 14-17th and I encourage all of you to spend a few minutes watching the birds out your window, or along your drive/ride to work and submit what you see. It's really interesting to see what people find. Some species, like Northern Cardinals have made big expansions recently, where as others ranges have reduced.<br />
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All the GBBC information will be submitted to eBird and participating in the GBBC is a great way to get familiar with the website and maybe start a habit of submitting your sightings more often!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-2909243213342635252014-02-07T08:00:00.000-06:002014-02-11T10:27:02.574-06:00How to Cook in Your Car<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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You're cheap.<br />
<br />
Like barely have enough gas money for this trip, cheap.<br />
<br />
Four hours into your weekend warrior adventure, and you're just now realizing you forgot all about eating.<br />
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It's ok, we've got you on this one. This is the definitive guide to eating (cheaply) in your car.<br />
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Starting off, fast food is definitely the wrong way to go.<br />
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If you ate out for 3 meals a day that would cost you at least <span style="color: red;">$15</span> (and that's being conservative). Multiple that by 7 days and you're already spending <span style="color: red;">$105</span> on food. That doesn't even include snacks and drinks along the way! We can't be efficient Travelers on a Budget if we keep spending so much money.<br />
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They are various ways to save money on food, some are more extreme than others.We'll break them down into 3 categories of extremeness: Amateur, Intermediate, and Advanced. That way you can choose how crazy you want to go.<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Amateur</span></b><br />
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This is the classic example where buying food early rather than for convenience will save you money. If you're the snacking type buy all your goods at the grocery store before your leave. Common cheap snack items include:<br />
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-Chexmix (don't be afraid of off brands)<br />
-Granola bars<br />
-Sunflower Seeds<br />
-Trail mix<br />
-Peanut-butter Crackers<br />
-Fruit (you can buy a whole bag of apples or oranges for cheap that lasts you for a week)<br />
-Dried fruit <br />
-Cereal (works double as breakfast and a snack)<br />
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One thing to watch out for is the amount you snack on the road. Driving can be boring, and idle snacking leads to not unnecessary eating and spending. Try to keep the snacks to every couple of hours.<br />
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If you really like to drink soda, buy a 12 pack beforehand. The<span style="color: lime;"> $3.00</span> for 12-12 ounce sodas is a much better deal than <span style="color: red;">$1.50</span> for every 20 ounce at the gas station.<br />
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A well seasoned road warrior and camper always brings water with them. It's a good idea to buy a couple gallon jugs of water before you leave, and then fill them up as you need too. That way you don't waste too much plastic and are more likely to have enough water with you. Its easy to forget to drink enough water while driving. That morning coffee and afternoon soda are only going to make it worse. To incentivize drinking water, I buy powdered Gatorade. For about $4 you can buy enough Gatorade to make gallons of Gatorade. Just use a fraction of what it suggests, and you'll find yourself drinking more water and wanting soda less.<br />
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If you're traveling a lot, don't forget to buy ice. Just having a cup of ice with whatever your drinking makes you feel more satisfied and happy. Cutting costs at the expense of comfort can start to put a toll on someone mentally and emotionally. Little creature comforts, like ice, can help cut that cost.<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Intermediate</span></b><br />
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The middle ground is where you strike the balance between saving money and not coming off as crazy. Good ideas are to bring your own food fixings for meals, and make them at rest stops.<br />
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We love rest stops. To the savvy traveler they are like mini hotels on the road. You should feel just fine bringing your peanut butter, jelly, and bread to the picnic tables to make lunch. What you may not know is most place are fine with you cooking on a small cooking stove. As long as they're up off the grass and on a surface you're fine. Which means your favorite cooking friend can now be your favorite travel companion!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/tgPjd7I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/tgPjd7I.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Some stoves like these coleman are fairly bulky but pack up well</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/jgw9Od8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/jgw9Od8.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Others like this MSR are great for backpacking</span></td></tr>
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These stoves come in various types including ones that are more compact than others. Once you start using camp stoves a whole world of food opens up. Good items you can mae with minimal effort include:<br />
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-Sandwiches<br />
-Soups<br />
-Chilis<br />
-Eggs<br />
-Pasta<br />
-Beans<br />
-Hot dogs<br />
-Mac and Cheese<br />
-Ramen (add a can of veggies for a cheap and easy soup)<br />
-Oatmeal (dress it up with peanut butter, chocolate chips, fruits, nuts, or honey)<br />
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As summer approaches we'll be highlighting good traveling recipes, and a section on camp stove. <br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Advanced</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/OP6N18b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/OP6N18b.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Make sure to bring a can opener</td></tr>
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This is the hobo level of eating cheap. Here you stop caring about what others think, and even what you feed yourself. Economy and efficiency are key.<br />
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Canned foods like tuna and chili don't need to be heated up and don't sacrifice too much in taste. The key I found to eating canned food cold is bringing spices and hot sauce. One quick dab of hot sauce can upgrade any food to a higher pallet. Adding other items like bread add variety and texture to an otherwise boring meal.<br />
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Many foods out there just require water, they dont necessarily even need hot water, just luke warm water and enthusiastic mixing. These items are great because they require very little cooking and preparation. These include powdered mashed potatoes, eggs, and basically anything dehydrated<br />
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Some items specifically require hot water, which can be hard to get a hold of. For this it's great to buy a cheap <a href="http://www.amazon.com/12V-Travel-Mug-Stainless-Steel/dp/B0016LE4HM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391124995&sr=8-2&keywords=car+mug+warmer">mugwarmer</a>. Many of these models will plug into a usb outlet or car port. They're great at maintaining a beverages temperature but vary in their effectiveness of heating up lukewarm water. Plug one in about 30 minutes before you need hot water. Once it's a little painful to stick your finger in it's ready to use. The lower temperature usually require at least twice as long of cook time.<br />
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It's good to remember they're not designed for boiling hot water. There's a battle between making something that heats up to a high temperature and being a fire hazard. Don't get too frustrated if it heats up slowly.<br />
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Gas stations usually have a special spout on their coffee machines that just dispense hot water. They'll charge you for the cup (<span style="color: lime;">~$0.25</span>) but you get steaming hot water for your tea and oatmeal in the morning.<br />
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Some items you can make with just a little warm water:<br />
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-Ramen (cup of soup)<br />
-Easy Mac<br />
-Oatmeal<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Caffeine </span></b><br />
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<br />
God put caffeine on this earth for the same reason he made saturday morning cartoons, to force man to wake up early.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/lyODx7X.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/lyODx7X.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making hot tea in the desert</td></tr>
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The problem is most cheap forms of caffeine require hot water. While it would be hard to call tea and coffee 'expensive' the trend in the last 10 years is to charge as much possible for someone else to make it for you. For the travel less worried about this, truck stops usually do a good job providing coffee, and many places will charge you less if you're bringing in your own mug. The larger truck stop are usually so stuffed full of coffee types and creamers you'll feel down right spoiled.<br />
<br />
If you're looking for a cheaper way you can make your own coffee and tea. Tea is an especially great traveling item. I would highly suggest switching over to tea while travel. It's cheap and always easy to make.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately many of us refuse to switch to tea, so we're stuck trying to make do.<br />
<br />
<b>Instant Coffee</b>-<br />
<br />
Natural Austerity does not condone the use of instant coffees, except one: <a href="http://www.starbucks.com/coffee/via">Starbucks Via</a>. You pay for the better taste (~12 for a $10), but they're pretty delicious. The way they make it is sort of a secret, but from the <a href="http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2009/10/02/starbucks-new-high-tech-coffee/">description</a> their process is legitimately different from instant coffee creating a unique taste almost like real coffee. The price per unit (<span style="color: lime;">~$.83</span>) is cheaper than a cup of a coffee at a gas station, but only marginally so. But they're indispensable for camping trips!<br />
<br />
<b>Make your own</b>- <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/French_press.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/French_press.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wikicommons: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Leland">Leland</a></td></tr>
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The best way to make your own coffee is with a french press. You mix coffee and water together, wait a couple minutes, and then 'press' it, separating the coffee grounds from the water. The great thing about french presses is you can always add strength by
letting it sit in the carafe longer. This is actually one of the better ways to make coffee, the problem is lugging a french press around can get a little annoying. They're usually made of glass and can break easily. REI sells a <a href="http://www.rei.com/product/792857/rei-double-shot-press-mug">traveling mug/press</a>. You have to pour it into another container after pressing it, otherwise the ground at the bottom with make the coffee more acidic the longer ti sits.<br />
<br />
If you want to make iced coffee, put less grounds in, and let it sit overnight. In the morning, add ice and you've got tasty iced coffee.<br />
<br />
**Protip: For easy tea without hot water, put 2 tea bags in a your water bottle and throw it up on the dashboard. It may take an hour, but eventually you'll have sun brewed tea! (Not so ironically this works well in the desert where there's an abundance of heat coming in your windows)**<br />
<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">The Numbers</span><br />
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So we sacrificed junk food for more miles, what did we really save here?<br />
Lets say in the morning you made instant oatmeal in the morning (<span style="color: orange;">$0.30</span>) and drank a cup of tea (<span style="color: orange;">$0.50</span>) plus (<span style="color: orange;">$0.25</span>) for the hot water to make it. For lunch you made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (we'll say that you can make 20 sandwiches for $10 of materials) that's <span style="color: orange;">$1</span> for 2 sandwiches. After lunch you snacked on an apple(<span style="color: orange;">$0.75</span>) and a granola bar (<span style="color: orange;">$0.50</span>). Then for diner you ate a hearty meal of chili (<span style="color: orange;">$1.50</span>) and mashed potatoes(<span style="color: orange;">$1</span>). All together you spent <span style="color: lime;">$5.80</span> the entire day.<br />
<br />
Compare that to the <span style="color: red;">$15</span> you were spending earlier, and you saved <span style="color: lime;">~$9</span>. That's almost 2 days extra worth of food or 100 extra miles!<br />
--------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
Thats it for now.<br />
So stock up on food, start driving, and don't forget the coffee!<br />
-BooneBoonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01335266813140351818noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-25557950649033662202014-02-02T07:00:00.000-06:002014-02-02T07:45:57.045-06:00Why YOU need wetlands<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1379539_10151659655430423_645099243_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1379539_10151659655430423_645099243_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The southern shores of Lake Erie are where I fell in love with wetlands. I started exploring them in middle school and was captivated by the endless complexity and their year round beauty. Wetlands are home to unique plants and animals, like American Bitterns who make a song<a href="http://www.xeno-canto.org/160043"> kind of like a milk jug being poured out</a> and wetland plants with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_root">aerial roots</a> which help them deal with the suffocating conditions of having their roots underwater 24/7. But beyond the interesting parts of wetlands there are some solid reasons everyone should care about them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm here to tell you there are more reasons then just scientific interests for why YOU should care about wetlands and should be celebrating </span><a href="http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-activities-/main/ramsar/1-63-78_4000_0__" style="font-family: inherit;">World Wetlands Day</a> today!<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">From vernal wetlands who only have water a few weeks a year, to coastal wetlands which gain and lose their water every day with the tides, wetlands come in many shapes and sizes. Each wetland is the result of a specific set of environmental conditions, rain, ground water, soil, topography. But </span>no matter<span style="font-family: inherit;"> what caused the wetland, they are all important to all of us.<span style="color: red;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This might seem like a broad generalization but it's true! Wetlands clean our water, protected us from floods, and provide habitat for wildlife including many different species which </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">are </span>commercially<span style="font-family: inherit;"> harvested and eaten round the world. They are also vital habitat for the wildlife we don't eat, including 1/3 of the threatened and endangered species in the U.S. [1]. </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/t1/s720x720/579854_10151005811880423_436120092_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/t1/s720x720/579854_10151005811880423_436120092_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">B.K. Leach Conservation Area, Missouri </td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: inherit;"><b>Wetlands are Economically Important </b></span><br />
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You might not think about wetlands as a resource for anyone other then wildlife but wetlands protect us and our food every day!<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Three-quarters of the northern Gulf of Mexico's fish and other aquatic life depend on Louisiana's wetlands for survival [2]. While many of these species spend their adult lives in the gulf, they rely on wetlands as habitat for breeding and protecting their young. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">New York City found it could avoid spending <span style="color: lime;">$3-8</span> billion on a new water water treatment plant by investing <span style="color: lime;">$1.5</span> billion in the purchase of land around </span></span><span style="line-height: 21px;">reservoirs in Upstate New York. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">These wetlands purify the water supply</span></span><b style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;"> FOR FREE</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> [3]. These wetlands also provide great wildlife habitat and recreational </span></span><span style="line-height: 21px;">opportunities</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">, so it's a great win-win situation for the city of New York and its wetlands. </span></span><br />
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A U. S study of the role of coastal wetlands in reducing the impacts from hurricanes found they provided storm protection services with an estimated value of $23.3 billion per year. [3] This is HUGE! While flooding is a part of the natural cycle the kinds of floods we often hear about aren't natural ones. Before we had lost so many of our wetlands they would have absorbed these large rain events and gradually released the water, helping to keep our rivers flowing year round.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: orange; line-height: 21px;"><b>Wetland Loss</b></span></span><br />
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We've lost over <span style="color: red;">53%</span> of our wetlands in the U.S in the past 300 years and approximately <span style="color: red;">26%</span> of our wetlands globally (most of those losses being in North American and Europe) [4, 5]. Much of this loss is due to draining for agriculture purposes and conversion into other kinds of human development. Wetland loss is a BIG problem, when wetlands are destroyed they can't serve their ecological roles. They can't absorb flood water or clean it, they can't be habitat for wildlife species, and often what replaces them almost works as an anti-wetland. Parking lots are designed to shed rain as quickly as possible, taking runoff and sediment along with them. Excessive runoff clogs up waterways with rain faster than they are built to handle, which can cause big problems for both the environment and people. These reasons and many more are why it is SO important to protect the wetlands that are still around and make sure that they are as healthy as possible. We don't have that many left so we need them to work overtime.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ways YOU can help wetlands</span></span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5FccAEAm-hr3qLdHPVcRgH97q6Bat-r3E2ma71QEKWuGHl3fHL3RZO4i6iJe6FKJaeG4bYzKWx2yc9WkRgmt2edgFEz9_dyjDgX7gD6UjAH2WPZCfWXhRyHcHzlvV31ELVjx2MUm9UkYE/s1600/frog_kid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5FccAEAm-hr3qLdHPVcRgH97q6Bat-r3E2ma71QEKWuGHl3fHL3RZO4i6iJe6FKJaeG4bYzKWx2yc9WkRgmt2edgFEz9_dyjDgX7gD6UjAH2WPZCfWXhRyHcHzlvV31ELVjx2MUm9UkYE/s1600/frog_kid.jpg" height="200" width="189" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wetlands are awesome! (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/">USFWS Pacific</a>)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">-Support local organizations who work to protect wetlands (Land trusts, state and federal agencies, county and city parks and other groups).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">-Support legislation to protect wetlands.</span><br />
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-Volunteer and help restore and protect wetlands in your community!<br />
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-Recycle and help pick up letter so it doesn't end up in wetlands.<br />
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-Most of all, Go out and enjoy wetlands!<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Wetlands are a treasure trove just waiting to be explored.</span></b><br />
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There is something to do every time of the year, whether you have 10 minutes or an entire afternoon new things can be found and explored in your local wetlands. Here's a few seasonal suggestions.<br />
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- Go out in the spring and look for the wildflowers and birds, stop by in the evening and listen for the frogs.<br />
- Adventure out in the summer, look for snakes sunning themselves, birds feeding their young.<br />
- Return in the autumn to see the beautiful colors and migrating birds.<br />
- Visit again in the winter to see the beautiful patterns in the ice and to check for any winter visitors.<br />
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Needs some help getting started exploring your local wetlands? Check out these great resources.<br />
<a href="http://www.outdoors.org/publications/outdoors/2012/kids/kids-exploring-wetlands.cfm">Murky and Quirky - Appalachian Mountain Club</a><br />
<a href="http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/teacher/wetland_old.htm">Wetland Scavenger Hunt - Wisconsin DNR</a><br />
<a href="http://www.learnnc.org/lp/media/misc/2008/walnutcreek.pdf">Walnut Creek - A guide to exploring urban wetlands.</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">[1] <a href="http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/fish.cfm">http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/fish.cfm</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">[2] <a href="http://shreveporttimes.gannettonline.com/gns/wetlands/">http://shreveporttimes.gannettonline.com/gns/wetlands/</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">[3] <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_freshwater/intro/value/">http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_freshwater/intro/value/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">[4] <a href="http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/wetlands/wetloss/findings.htm">http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/wetlands/wetloss/findings.htm</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">[5] <a href="http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-news-archives-2002--a-global-overview-of/main/ramsar/1-26-45-87%5E16905_4000_0">http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-news-archives-2002--a-global-overview-of/main/ramsar/1-26-45-87%5E16905_4000_0</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-38565853011958945382014-01-30T07:00:00.000-06:002014-01-30T07:00:00.694-06:00Bird Questions: How Do Birds Survive Cold Weather?<div>
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When the <a href="http://www.wunderground.com/news/polar-vortex-plunge-science-behind-arctic-cold-outbreaks-20140106">polar vortex</a> descended into the United States in early January I got questions from several friends concerned and curious about how the birds would deal with these conditions. To help answer that curiosity we bring you the first installment of Bird Questions.<br />
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Cold weather challenges birds ability to survive in several unique ways. While many species of birds migrate to avoid these challenges other species have developed physical and behavioral adaptations that allow them to not only survive but thrive through the winter months.<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Physical Adaptations</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Feathers</span></b><br />
Feathers make birds adaptable. Birds can live in some of the most extreme environments because <br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Daune_down_feather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Daune_down_feather.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></div>
feathers are so good at helping birds thermoregulate (keeping their bodies at a comfortable temperature). Feathers are remarkable because they help all birds stay comfortable, no matter what climate they are in. For birds spending the winter in cold places they have many more down feathers which work to keep them warm.<span style="color: red;"> </span><br />
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Down feathers are small and have loose barbs which trap warm air. The down works like a warm insulating layer and on top there are feathers designed to keep out the wind and the water. These overlapping feathers work like shingles, shedding water and deflecting wind. This combination works much like the layers that people wear in the winter to keep warm, they trap in warm and keep out the cold. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ocZL_CbcMqiU6K3k__Iv_9VDPTpETndwAH6v1VxDat3lMhbKidIBrrwm9yhJZSDeBp0RmZr80bfSdxpi8Vtnd3G6KywdO2vVp9A-hQh8hfqlF_n9nU_if0-YLBmotiPtKpsPVAeNfic8/s1600/CounterCurrentHeatExchange.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ocZL_CbcMqiU6K3k__Iv_9VDPTpETndwAH6v1VxDat3lMhbKidIBrrwm9yhJZSDeBp0RmZr80bfSdxpi8Vtnd3G6KywdO2vVp9A-hQh8hfqlF_n9nU_if0-YLBmotiPtKpsPVAeNfic8/s1600/CounterCurrentHeatExchange.jpg" height="255" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Diagram of counter current heat exchange </span></b><br />
http://freewebs.com/gta101/arterieskw99.jpg</td></tr>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Legs and Feet</span></b></div>
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Most birds don't have feathers on their legs and feet which leaves them exposed Heat sinks are parts of a system where heat is lost. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countercurrent_exchange">Counter-Current Heat Exchange</a> is used by birds to to minimizing their heat loss and preventing any damage to their feet from the cold.<br />
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Counter-current heat exchange works because birds arteries are wrapped around the veins in their legs. When these two vessels come in contact it allows the incoming warm blood from the heart to heat the cold blood coming from the feet. Exchanging heat prevents the bird's core from having to work as hard and keeps the feet from freezing. </div>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Behavioral Adaptations</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Constant Feeding</span></b></div>
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Birds can gain and lose weight more easily then people. Many birds, especially small ones will spend most of their time during cold weather feeding [1]. Crazed feeding allows them accumulate enough fat to make it through the next night. Many birds will spend all of their day light hours eating or looking for food when the weather is cold. Songbirds probably spend most of the day actively searching. Their need for food is the reason you see them pile onto birds feeders. Smaller birds have higher metabolisms then raptors so they need more fat for how big they are. These large fat reserves laid down every day will be burned off overnight due to their high energy requirement. Raptors will often revert to the least energetic method of searching for food. Raptors may soar or spend time just perched looking out for prey items.<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Posture</span></b></div>
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Just like how a Northern Cardinal can change the position of the feathers in its crest, birds can change their body posture and feather position to keep themselves warmer. By puffing up and making themselves as round as possible birds conserve the most warmth. As a bird forms a more round shape the ratio of surface area (outside of the bird) to the volume (the body of the bird) changes so the surface area is minimized for a particular size of bird. By minimizing surface area the amount of heat which can be lost is limited and puffing up their feathers helps limit heat loss even more.<br />
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Birds have a very aerodynamic shape and by orienting themselves to face into the wind the wind passes over them quickly. This is especially important in wet environments since down feathers lose their warmth when wet. By facing into the wind the birds feathers can work like shingles and shed the rain, protecting their warm downy undercoat.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtp2h73Z_N7gCaJGhLhwLkfvFe2-q_bOPnRHlIwBUa9KarKrGoOjHsOWwQk15NQQyID4_R2Wb5B7DDfgJM7YI-el53t_G8hY8f-c6AEbNuiQrlrJUzWGuWUxSWRtl5TXQrJreznadnx-AM/s1600/Bluebird_Michael_L_Smith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtp2h73Z_N7gCaJGhLhwLkfvFe2-q_bOPnRHlIwBUa9KarKrGoOjHsOWwQk15NQQyID4_R2Wb5B7DDfgJM7YI-el53t_G8hY8f-c6AEbNuiQrlrJUzWGuWUxSWRtl5TXQrJreznadnx-AM/s1600/Bluebird_Michael_L_Smith.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bluebirds huddling for warmth (Michael L. Smith)</td></tr>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Night Roosts</span></b><br />
Several species of birds have been documented to huddle together in the winter, often in cavities or nest boxes to keep warm [2, 3]. These flocks are typically the same species, but are not necessarily related family members. Both Eastern Bluebirds and House Wrens are known to do this. Providing shelter for roosting birds is one reason to leave birdhouses up over the winter. </div>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Torpor</span></b><br />
Most people are familiar with hibernation, but some bird species engage in another method of surviving daily torpor. Torpor is a bit different then hibernation, individuals come in and out of it on a daily basis, rather then a season one. Their body temperature is also not lowered as much as individuals who hibernate. It still serves the same purpose, lowering your body temperature means you have to use less energy to stay warm, If you were to encounter a bird who was in torpor it would probably appear to be sleeping but would not quickly awaken as you approached. This slow response to disturbance is one reasons individuals probably don't to into torpor every night, it leaves them more vulnerable to predators and other hazards, but when cold weather strikes it can be a valuable tool [4].<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">How You Can Help </span></b></div>
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While birds don't NEED your help to survive the winter, during extreme weather there are a few things you can do to assist birds in surviving cold weather.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>High Quality Food </b></span>- Suet might seem a little odd, since it's basically just <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/page.aspx?pid=1180">animal fat with seed mixed in</a>, but it's pure energy to many bird species and can be a very high quality food source. More important then the kind of food you put out is to decide whether or not you will be feeding all winter. If you not, its best to taper off the food in the fall instead of <strike>just</strike> stopping in the middle of a snow storm when birds may have difficulty scouting out alternative food sources. </div>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Shelter -</span></b> Plant evergreen shrubs (plants which keep their leaves or needles year round) around your yard so birds can find protection from the wind/rain/snow. To prevent your bushes from being used as cover for predators (such as cats) keep the bushes back from feeders and bird baths. </div>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Water -</span></b> Staying hydrated is just as important as food, and often more difficult to find. You can use a heater or dripping water to keep a bird bath open. During the winter it's often best to put sticks or other perches around the bird bath since birds wont want to actually bathe in cold temperatures. These perches allow them to get easy access to a drink. </div>
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One of the remarkable things about birds is their ability to survive extreme conditions. Take some time over the winter and watch your local birds at the feeder and see if you catch them exhibiting any of these adaptations. And if you have any other bird questions drop us a line - naturalausterity@gmail.com<br />
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- Auriel<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">[1] P1.101 Friday, Jan. 4 Do small wintering birds adjust their metabolic performance in response to perceived level of cold? <i>MILBERGUE, M.*; BLIER, P.; VEZINA, F.; Univ. of Quebec in Rimouski; </i>http://www.sicb.org/meetings/2013/schedule/abstractdetails.php?id=738</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">[2] Mayer, L., Lustick, S., Battersby, B. (1982) The Importance of Cavity Roosting and Hypothermia to the Energy Balance of the Winter Acclimatized Carolina Chickadee. International Journal of Biometeorology. Volume 26:3 p231-238 <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02184939">http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02184939</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">[3] Kendeigh, S. Charles. (1961) Energy of Birds Conserved By Roosting in Cavities. The Wilson Bulletin. Volume 73:2 p140-147 <a href="http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4158912?uid=36852&uid=3739536&uid=2&uid=3&uid=67&uid=36848&uid=62&uid=3739256&sid=21103359393693">http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4158912?uid=36852&uid=3739536&uid=2&uid=3&uid=67&uid=36848&uid=62&uid=3739256&sid=21103359393693</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">[4] Geiser, F. and Ruf, T. (1995) Hibernation versus Daily Torpor in Mammals and Birds: Physiological Variables and Classification of Torpor Patterns. Physiological Zoology. Vol 68:8 p 935-966 </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">http://www.jstor.org/stable/30163788</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-34510644071379138672014-01-23T07:00:00.000-06:002014-01-26T15:53:32.477-06:00Rare Bird Alerts and You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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You woke up this morning, looked at yourself in the mirror, and decided to be completely honest.<br />
You have a problem.<br />
You took the journey down the rabbit hole, and came out a twitcher.<br />
You're addicted to birding.<br />
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It happens. You could have chosen sex, drugs, alcohol, or birding. We at Natural Austerity would like to think you made the better choice. <br />
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This is your support group. We're going to support you in your new addiction.<br />
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But first, for some of you who don't know the dirty words that are said to you behind your back.<br />
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What is a twitcher?<br />
A <span style="color: lime;">twitcher</span> is a person who chases rare birds and goes to sometimes extraordinary lengths to do so. These are the people who take off lunch breaks to go chase a county first record Spotted Towhee or first of the year Eastern Peewee. It's sometimes quite arbitrary in the grand scheme of things how rare is the bird. It's just important if it will be a first somehow.<br />
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A <span style="color: lime;">lister</span> is someone who's main goal is to see as many birds in a predetermined amount of space and time. Listers run the gamet of extreme listing (big years) to more innocuous listing (life lists).<br />
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Twitchers and listers are many times synonymous. These two types of birders get a bad rap not only in the birding but conservation community as well. When you run around on a frantic quest to see as many birds as you can, you lose a certain amount of appreciation for the moment. It can be difficult to really sit down and appreciate a new life bird if you know your day light is fading. The most extreme stories of birding usually come out of these camps. Adding to their bad rap, a fair amount of trespassing and illegal behavior has been associated with finding new rare birds and being the first to do so.<br />
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<span style="color: red;">So A Warning</span><br />
Evolution took millions of years to evolve not just one of these airborne pioneers but over 10,000 different species of them. This is a family with members who once darkened the sky with their sheer numbers, and are capable of heroic migration sometimes spanning the entire globe. It's because of this we encourage you to take more than a second to appreciate every new bird you see. It is a wonder not only that they're here, but that you are born in a economic situation that allows you to enjoy them freely.<br />
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With that we'll move forward <br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Ebird</span><br />
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Ebird is your first level go to for rare bird alerts. This extremely powerful online data set tracks users entries and allows you to see whats being seen on the ground within hours of it actually being seen<br />
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As part of Ebird's data screening process for citizen science data, these filters flag submitted birds as 'rare' based on expected birds in the area, time of the season, and particularly high counts.Ebird's volunteer editors use this as a first defense for screening new data for anomalies. Common year round residents like chickadees will not be flagged, while birds not from the area or arriving at a strange time will show up as rare and require a review by the local Ebird editor. All of these 'rare' and unusual sightings can be pulled up together in a convenient list.<br />
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Head over to <a href="http://ebird.org/">Ebird</a>, log-in and clicking the 'Explore Data' tab. Scroll all the way to the bottom and click the 'Alerts' section.<br />
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In <a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/alerts">Alerts</a> we can play around with various regional alerts. The regions you can choose include states, counties, or countries. For example, if you type in 'Pennsylvania' into the 'Rare Bird Alerts' section, Ebird will show rare birds seen in that last seven days in Pennsylvania. If you type the same thing into the 'Needs Alerts' section, it will show you reports of birds you haven't seen in Pennsylvania<br />
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The way to get the most of this option is to sign up for daily rare bird alerts in your state and county. If you live in a large state or a highly birded area, these emails can get rather long. The county list ameliorates this by giving you a more focused list.<br />
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More advanced birders may want to choose to receive hourly lists for their county. The great thing about this is you learn much quicker about the rare birds, and can react faster. Most of the time, the hourly list will be manageable. If you live in a sparsely birded area you may not even receive alerts for days. However, in largely populated counties like San Diego county, these hourly lists quickly become overwhelming as rarities are reported almost every hour of the day.<br />
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One of the problems with Ebird and Ebird alerts is the sometimes very informal nature of the process. Birders are not required to tell you where in a patch they found them, and sometimes may just submit a list for a rather large area giving you almost no data to act upon. Not only that, not all birders use Ebird. Many older birders in particular refuse to use it, as it requires a rather large start up time importing your previous lifelist.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">BirdsEye</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.birdseyebirding.com/">BirdsEye</a> is a mobile app that integrates with Ebird to show you sightings for any area you choose. Available on iPhones, this is an incredibly valuable field tool that gives you up to date information in an easier to navigate interface. You can set anywhere as a center point and look at the species seen recently within a certain diameter circle. It will show you both common and 'notable' birds. Notables are birds that are rare or things you haven't seen (you can input your life list into the app).<br />
<br />
You can pick a species and find the hotspots where it has been reported and plan your day from there. This can be a great tool when you are going to be traveling to a new place. You can scout out birding spots in advance and use it once your'e there.<br />
<br />
Currently BirdsEye is only available on iPhone, but an android version is in production.<br />
It suffers from Ebird's faults but is a plus because of Ebird's terrible interface on mobile devices.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">ABA Rare bird alerts/news</span><br />
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The ABA maintains a rather exhaustive list of rare bird forums separated by <a href="http://birding.aba.org/">regions</a>. The regions lists are somewhat chaotic as each area is divided differently. California, for example, is split into 24 different forums, while Texas is just a single entry. <br />
<br />
A good feature of the ABA alerts is you can search for a particular states listserv by clicking <a href="http://www.aba.org/resources/mailinglists.html">here.</a> Once there, you can sign up for any particular states birding listserv and receive updates by email.<br />
<br />
The ABA RBA and News list is a great way to figure out the details of a particular bird seen. The posters are usually very detailed with locations, times, and update periodically if a bird was seen recently. In addition, many people will post trip lists. These can be a good way to prepare for an upcoming trip, and get your mind set on what you might see.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">State bird forums</span><br />
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The most intimate and interesting look into the bird world usually starts at the local birding forums. These forums are birders main way to interact with each other. In them, you'll find information not only about rare birds, but sometimes intimate details about someones backyard birds and life. If you're looking for birds that many wouldn't consider rare, this is a great tool to figure out what birds are in an area and where to find them.<br />
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To find a local bird forum you can simply go to the link previously mentioned in the ABA mailing lists or just search Google for an areas bird forum or listserv. You'll find these sites often tied to local ornithological or Audubon societies.<br />
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Love em or hate em, bird forums represent your fellow birders and their similar love and devotion for birds. As such, be nice on the forums. Birding is not something everyone does and it can be hard to find friends who share in your passion.<span style="color: red;"> </span>If an old woman wants to discuss her coffee choices more so than the birds she saw, so be it. If that same woman wants to tell you how excited she is of her Jan 1st First of the Season Northern Cardinal, let her have it.<br />
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On the flip side, bird forums like anything on the internet can bring out the worst in people. The anonymity of the internet, mixed with the binary nature of sometimes very difficult bird ID, and the inherent competitiveness of birding can breed really snarky and elitists folks. A good reminder is to not take anything someone says personally. Bird IDing is difficult and no one is perfect. Some people just need to feel special. Ignore them and don't feed their troll like nature.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Facebook</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://i.imgur.com/5ImsO6i.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/5ImsO6i.jpg" height="268" width="320" /></a>Why not marry the one site you never stop checking, with the obsession you never stop thinking about?<br />
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The ABA runs a great group called the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/ABArare/">ABA Rare Bird Alert</a> where users post notable rare birds around the country. While not all encompassing and sometimes on a different schedule than the normal ABA site, this format can be a welcome addition to your Facebook news feed, and a much broader scale rare bird alert for you to stomach.<br />
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There are many regional bird groups on Facebook, including many that are just for particular states. These function similar to bird listservs but are much easier to navigate and scroll through. Adding them to your facebook feed is an easy way to keep up to date with whats going on in the bird world and stay apart of sometimes good bird discussions.<br />
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They suffer from similar faults of listservs, as moderating some of the larger pages can sometimes be a daunting task. Remember to respond politely to other members. You'll usually get a nice response back.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">The North American Rare Bird Alert (NARBA) </span><br />
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<a href="http://narba.org/">The North American Rare Bird Alert</a> is a long running and iconic service which started in 1985 as a way for birders to share their rare bird reports. It's evolved from a telephone service run by a single person, to a large scale website able to notify customers instantly of new birds found around the nation.<br />
<br />
For a fee of $50/year you can get detailed reports of rare birds including past sightings, locations, and verifications. It's the premier bird alert service used by most big year chasers.<br />
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We don't strictly condemn the use of the NARBA, it is the best resource to find all of these reports in up to the minute detail. But as budget bloggers we tend to shy away from it for cheaper alternatives. You can find most of all the information in the NARBA on the internet. It just takes much more time and effort.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Misc outlets</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/1jmE6qL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/1jmE6qL.jpg" height="160" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Koppi2">Koppi2</a> (wikicommons)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In certain communities rare bird alerts have evolved to their final form. Mobile SMS push notifications. My labmate and fantastic birder, <a href="http://www.nemesisbird.com/author/timschrek/">Tim Schrekengost</a>, helped set up the Delaware rare bird alert onto a mobile app called #Groupme. Users download the app, sign up to the group, and post their sightings instantly. These posts get sent straight to everyones phone, allowing literal real time sightings. This decreases your reaction time down to seconds.<br />
<br />
This worked particularly well this last Black Friday. While my friend Emily and I were shopping around Rehoboth beach, I received a text message that a Snowy Owl had been reported just 10 minutes away. Needless to say, we stopped shopping immediately and rushed down to the beach. Without even our binoculars in hand (rookie move) we managed to catch the owl within an hour of it first being sighted. Truly the internet is a beautiful thing.<br />
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I expect many more options like these will crop up as technology increases and people find more unique ways to post their sightings. <br />
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That's it for now. Hopefully now you'll sign up for rare bird alerts and forums in your area. This way you'll become more involved with the bird community, learn new places to bird your local area, and be better prepared for planning your next long distance birding trip!<br />
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<a href="http://media.tumblr.com/28c768941b1e9ec3bd83a3b82a855886/tumblr_inline_mnnj8uufCR1qz4rgp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media.tumblr.com/28c768941b1e9ec3bd83a3b82a855886/tumblr_inline_mnnj8uufCR1qz4rgp.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
So go forth, sign up, and be overwhelmed by rarity reports!<br />
<br />
-Boone<br />
<br />Boonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01335266813140351818noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-39260749912675232702014-01-16T07:00:00.000-06:002014-01-16T16:13:52.719-06:00How to Enjoy Cold Weather<div style="text-align: right;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even sub-zero days offer great opportunities<br />
to explore. UP of Michigan December 2013 (Auriel Fournier)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's -47F with the windchill, my jeep barely starts, my lungs hurt, but eventually the jeep stops squealing and we're on our way for another day of birding. When we planned our long weekend of birding in northern Minnesota I promised Matt the cold 'wouldn't be that bad' (since it normally isn't). So he bought his plane ticket in balmy October on my promise of great birds.<br />
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January 2nd arrives and <a href="http://naturalausterity.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-importance-of-being-on-time.html">twelve hours of delays later</a> he arrived in Wisconsin with no luggage, just the coat on his back and a polar vortex headed our way bringing some of the coldest air in 20 years. Luckily we are all very flexible travelers and<span style="color: red;"> </span>between Nick and I, we had enough warm clothes to convince Matt he wouldn't die and we headed to Minnesota.<br />
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We worked with the weather, made lots of changes along the way and our trip was a success. We didn't spend as much time outside as we planned and ended up doing most of our birding from the car, but we had a great time and all of us experienced winter in a new way. That -47F degree morning though with the wind blowing and all of us wearing so many clothes its hard to move I thought we were a little bit crazy. Then the sun came up, the beauty of northern Minnesota showed itself again and we managed to stay pleasantly warm because we were prepared for the conditions.<br />
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Typical winter days offers even more possibilities. When you dress for the weather, a hike on a single digit day can be just as enjoyable as one on a fall afternoon. Being cold outside is easy. I've been there many times. I went to school in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and I made every rookie mistake before finally figuring out how to enjoy winter like a <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Yooper">yooper</a>. Today I'd like to show you some of those mistakes and how to fix them so you don't make them yourself. Not all of us need to do a 12 mile snowshoe with frozen pants and no feeling in their legs to learn these lessons.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With a little bit of knowledge anyone can dress to be comfortable in the cold.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Layering</span></b><br />
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Layering keeps you warm and is simple once you know the basics. You need to wear clothes to hold in the warm air and block the wind. Once you've got on good layers there are just a few additional things to remember. Know your body and dress accordingly. If you are like me and your hands/feet get cold easily put more layers on your arms and legs to compensate. Always ensure your layers overlap at your neck, waist, wrist and ankles. These overlapping layers seal in the heat and will prevent cold air from leaking in.<br />
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I always err on the side of wearing too much, since you can always shed a layer. You can also do a quick check when you first<span style="text-align: center;"> get outside, stand for a moment and see if you can feel the cold air seeping in.</span><span style="text-align: center;"> If you can then you probably need an additional layer or to adjust what you are wearing. </span><br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Equipment</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Outer Layer </b>- </span>The purpose of an outer layer is to keep out the cold and wind, usually through a heavy winter coat. If you don't have one, a rain coat along with several layers of sweatshirts and sweaters underneath can work. Layering doesn't just apply to your core, keeping your legs warm is important, and is probably the most neglected part of layering. You don't need to go buy fancy snow pants, you can cheat and wear a pair of rain pants with thermals/sweatpants layered underneath.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Base Layer </b>-</span> Wear loose clothes so they can trap air between the layers and a close fitting base layer to keep you feeling warm and wick away moisture. Most people will tell you to get a fancy synthetic shirt, and if you can afford Underarmor, wonderful. Cotton long underwear can also work just as well. Thermal base layers can be picked up for $5-10 at Wal-mart. Grab a top and bottom layer (remember not to forget your legs!).<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Hats -</span></b> Even if you are not a 'hat person' you need a hat. Otherwise your body will spend valuable energy replacing all the heat radiating away. Style isn't important, so find something cheap. A good hat will cover your entire head, the thicker the better. You can get hats for $5-10 at Wal-mart.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Gloves</b> -</span> You'll be warmest with a giant pair of well insulated gloves, but if you have to write things down, or really do anything, they might be cumbersome. There are many styles of gloves suited to different tasks. Some have flaps that flip back and <a href="http://www.fashionsystems.net/product.aspx?productid=638">become fingerless</a> so you can use your hands. Your best bet is something with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinsulate">thinsulate</a>. If you have to remove your gloves often get a thin pair of gloves to go underneath.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Scarf</b> - </span>Scarves keep all the warm air around your core while preventing heat loss from your neck, another large heat loss area. Scarves can be worn different ways to help keep the wind off your face, which is great when wind chill is a concern. Just make sure you find something soft enough so it won't irritate your face.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Vests </b>-</span> I personally am not a vest person, but if you often find yourself being too warm vests can be a key layer because they keep your core warm without over heating.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Boots - </b></span> If you're going to be out hiking, or building a snowman a good pair of hiking boots and some thick socks are probably all you need. Make sure your boots aren't too tight. Tightness restricts the socks/shoes ability to trap warm air around your feet and makes your feet cold fast. Wearing a double layer of socks works really well to both keep your feet warm and prevent blisters but wearing more then two pairs can cause additional issues with not allowing space for warm air to be trapped.<br />
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<b style="color: orange;">Socks - </b>Good socks are worth investing in. I love <a href="http://www.smartwool.com/">Smartwool</a>, but there are now lots of brands of comfy wool socks out there, so shop around. Wool is important because your feet sweat. In your daily life you probably don't notice, but when you wrap your feet up in socks and boots the sweat does not evaporate. Leaving you with cold feet. Wool keeps you warm even when its drenched, which is why wool makes great socks.<span style="color: red;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b>Extreme Weather </b></span><br />
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When the weather really cold it's important to take care of yourself. Check in with your group members and make sure everyone is staying warm. Take breaks, warm up inside, make sure you eat enough.<br />
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The first big issue with extreme cold is wind. Wind chill makes cold dangerous, FAST. Check out the <a href="http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/windchill/index.shtml">wind chill chart</a> from the National Weather Service. If the wind is strong at all you can come under danger of frostbite very quickly. The best way to combat the wind is to keep all of your skin covered, especially your extremities (hands, feet, ears, nose) and stay active so you keep pumping lots of warm blood to those regions.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIFiR7i5NqoMNGXi-GXhHbKLQ0DCZD9-j-HhaXQ96Uk-wa2SsTsdvsrMqECGAuHc9rxJ1qqNnnmezE2n8fCV5ad4DSqJkKSbYONzWls-ZFqviEtkLz9y7RrPMM8-6pzMQX0R7MdlthEzGN/s1600/1503945_10151794713395423_1969209862_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIFiR7i5NqoMNGXi-GXhHbKLQ0DCZD9-j-HhaXQ96Uk-wa2SsTsdvsrMqECGAuHc9rxJ1qqNnnmezE2n8fCV5ad4DSqJkKSbYONzWls-ZFqviEtkLz9y7RrPMM8-6pzMQX0R7MdlthEzGN/s320/1503945_10151794713395423_1969209862_n.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bond Falls, UP of Michigan<br />
(Auriel Fournier)</td></tr>
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The second big danger is water. Now chances are if its super cold out there isn't much open water for you to interact with, but most of us live in places where cold means something around freezing, which often leaves things wet and sort of slushy. Once you get wet its really really hard to stay warm unless you are wearing special clothes. Above when I say you can get away with cotton I mean you need to stay dry. No wading through streams, no falling through the ice, no standing in the freezing rain, no sliding down winter waterfalls. If you are going to be doing something where there is a good chance of you getting wet then you need more specialized equipment which is often not cheap but is well worth it. <span style="color: red;">Being cold and wet is dangerous, please be careful. </span><br />
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Please use this info to help yourself enjoy the outdoors, not push yourself to dangerous limits. When the weather is extreme always make sure it's smart to be out doing what your doing. Several days of our trip we planned to be out snowshoeing all day, which at -30 or -40 is not safe, so we changed our plans and did short hikes (<15 minutes) and explored in the car. <b>Sometimes an alternate plan for the day may be in order and that is OK.</b> Part of the wonder of the outdoor world is the extremes of its weather and experiencing them is fun, but don't throw caution to the wind. A five minute experience can be more then enough for the conditions. <br />
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Most of the time though the weather is more mild and dressing for the weather is fairly easy. It may take a bit of trial and error before you get layering perfect, but the rewards are fantastic. Winter is (in my opinion) the most beautiful time of year and winter offers opportunities for exploration and recreation you can't do in any other season. Being active all winter helps fight winter depression and opens your up to 12 months of fantastic adventures! So pull on some extra layers and get out there!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-82244872343580168162014-01-09T07:00:00.000-06:002014-01-16T18:56:33.465-06:00Traveling on a Budget: Why you should (occasionally) stay in a hotel<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/KTdW1VQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/KTdW1VQ.jpg" height="320" width="280" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tips for the hobo traveler</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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I just went on in this <a href="http://naturalausterity.blogspot.com/2013/12/traveling-on-budget-why-you-should.html">whole post</a> about why you should never book a
hotel early, infact I would argue strongly about why you should never
book a hotel at all. But there are a few reasons why strategically
booking a hotel may be to your benefit. I'll admit this next section is
mainly for the extreme saver travelers
who have listened to everything I've said, and forgotten what normal
people do while on vacation. We all need to be reigned in occasionally.<br />
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First off hotels
have amenities. Yes, thats kind of what they're selling you. Even you, the
savy vagabond travler, may benefit from them.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;">-Hot
Showers:</span> Yes, I know, truck stops have showers as well, but you still
have to pay for one, and showering in your own hotel room might just be a
little more comfortable. An adventure can always be better the more
comfortable you are, and a nice hot shower may just re-energize you for
that next long stretch of extreme traveling.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Starbucks_in_WashingtonDC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Starbucks_in_WashingtonDC.jpg" height="320" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/">Elvert Barnes</a>)</td></tr>
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-<span style="color: orange;">Internet: </span>
Of course, you could just sit in Starbucks drinking 3.95 lattes all day
while you finish blogging, telling your mother you're alive, and scouring
the rare bird alert pages.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;">-Breakfast</span>: Maybe you're
tired of heating up oatmeal in your car every day, or were going to
spend $5 buying Whataburger tacquitos and a large coffee anyway. Now you
can save that money and eat normal food, like cereal!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;">-Water: </span>It's
not always easy to find a good place to replenish your water supply and
the alternative is to buy another plastic recycling nightmare from one
of those silly companies that believes it has the right to sell
something that makes up 75% of you.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;">-Sleep:</span>
No matter how much you may love sleeping in your pimped out car or out
in the stars, sometimes it does a body good to get one good nights sleep.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;">-Weather: It
doesn't rain inside.</span> Perhaps that rain storm just rolled in and you
were planning on camping tonight. Or the low is down to 15 and you're
sleeping bag is only good for 30. Not being miserable can be reason
enough.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;">-Football:</span>
Or whatever sport you love. So, you were going to take the night off,
spend it at a buffalo wild wings stuffing your face so you could watch
the big game. Better yet, just watch it in the privacy of your own hotel
room, that way you don't even have to wear pants!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;">-Safety: </span>Maybe sleeping at the Park and Ride tonight isnt such a good idea... <br />
<br />
----------------------------------<br />
So lets do the numbers, how much is all this really worth? <br />
<br />
Let's say you catch a sweet hotel deal and only spend <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">$40</span></b> after all the crazy taxes.<br />
<br />
Shower- Truck stop showers are usually around <span style="color: orange;"><b>$10</b></span> for us non-truckers<br />
Internet- Let's say you were going to buy a <b><span style="color: orange;">$4</span></b> latte at Starbucks for a couple hours on the internet.<br />
Breakfast- Your breakfast can average anywhere from $1 to up to $8, lets average that and say <span style="color: orange;"><b>$4</b></span><br />
Water- Buying a couple liters of water could cost you around <b><span style="color: orange;">$2</span></b> a day<br />
<br />
These base line costs are already worth <span style="color: orange;">$20</span><br />
Lets dig deeper and say it kept you from eating out for the big game which you would have spent <span style="color: orange;"><b>$10</b></span> <br />
Altogether that's already worth<span style="color: #6aa84f;"> <b>$30</b></span> of our <b style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">$40</span></span></b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Graffito_Condemned_to_Agony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Graffito_Condemned_to_Agony.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
So
what are comfort, sanity, and sleep worth? It all depends. Maybe you
haven't found a good enough way to sleep in your car. Or
you just had too many wet days in the field. Maybe you forsee that
pitching a tent tonight in the rain is going to ruin your mood for the
rest of the trip. In that case the intangible for sanity is almost
priceless, and definitely worth the extra $10. I wouldn't use this post as a crutch for spending money, but as a check when you think you've gone too far. <br />
<br />
My
strategy is to spread out hotels sparingly every couple days or so just
to get a shower and internet. I couple that decision with one where I
was going to be in a difficult sleeping situation anyway (like in a
city) or when I need to be close to my destination tomorrow. This way I stay true to my goal but allow myself some comforts. Always evaluating the cost of items and being forced to justify their purchase helps you realize the real cost of things, which is the first step in spending smartly.<br />
<br />
So travel forth, and remember your sanity!<br />
<br />
-Boone Boonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01335266813140351818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-23071231516998756352014-01-02T19:46:00.002-06:002014-01-02T22:50:40.751-06:00The Importance of Being on TimeAs I sit in the terminal of Chicago's O'hare Airport with hours to kill, I almost look like a genius. This is a strange feeling because hours ago I felt like a tremendous idiot. Again, like many times before, luck pulled me out by the skin of my teeth. Just 12 hours ago I was quite the opposite, frantic, no sleep, driving much too far to catch a plane that I've known about for months.<br />
<br />
This is not my first time, it probably won't be my last. But lets look at what happened today, and see how we can learn from it.<br />
<br />
--------------------------------------<br />
<br />
I get cocky sometimes. Well actually its just laziness covered with the veil of cockiness. Three months ago I bought this plane ticket: A trip to northern Minnesota and Wisconsin for some fantastic winter birding. But two days ago, my indecisiveness got the better of me. I was slated to fly out from Fayetteville, AR Thursday 11am. Without doing any traveling calculations, I promised a friend I'd spend Wednesday night with him in Dallas. <br />
<br />
'I've got this, it'll be fine', I kept telling myself.<br />
<br />
I knew the the times were a little off, but I figured it'd be fine. Most of my plans are various forms of 'winging it', and they always turn out ok. They're sometimes not very pretty, but I make it work.<br />
<br />
5pm Wednesday night (18hrs before departure)- I land at my friends house later than I planned and commit myself to spend as much time as I can with him before I go back to Delaware. <br />
<br />
11:30pm (~12hrs before departure)- Already groggy, I start to google maps my drive to Fayetteville, and do my infamous tired time math.<br />
<br />
'Uh-oh, buddy I gotta go to sleep, like right now', I announce suddenly.<br />
<br />
With my fuzzy math I've just realized I've got to get up at 4:00am to drive 5.5 hours to navigate an airport I've never been to. <br />
<br />
'It's ok, I can just sleep on the plane' I lie to myself. I know I can't sleep on planes. <br />
<br />
4:00am(~7hrs before departure)- I get up groggly, much too early, get to the car, forget my keys in the house, come back. Fail to navigate to the correct airport on my gps. Manage to find the right airport. Punch it in the GPS. And then handily get myself lost in Dallas. With a GPS. I take the 3 different wheels in a multiple highway interchange, before managing to get going in the right direction. <br />
<br />
'I should have slept more', I grumble to myself. Three hours before the sun even comes up.<br />
<br />
That's when I realize all of that fuzzy math last night was using Dallas toll roads. I'm not taking Dallas toll roads. More fumbling, grumbling, and I'm out of Dallas and one hour later than I expected. <br />
<br />
5:00am(~6hrs before departure)-I'm 5 hours away. If literally nothing goes wrong I will make it with just enough time to park, walk from the economy lot to the terminal, check in, get through security, and board the plane. In an airport I've never been too. What a stupid thing to happen. Every gas station, coffee stop, bathroom break I watch 5 minutes tick down. <br />
<br />
'I knew better than to not factor in those stops' I chastise myself.<br />
<br />
9:30am(1.5hr before departure)- After a very uncomfortable drive watching the google maps ETA ticking up I receive a phone call.<br />
<br />
A snowstorm in the midwest has delayed my flight by 2 hours.<br />
<br />
And suddenly it's all Ok, I'm saved. I went from late to early. At the ticket counter I reschedule my flights for later times in the day, get on the plane, and land in Chicago only 2 hours later than anticipated.<br />
<br />
--------------------------------------<br />
<br />
6:30pm- Here I sit now, in the middle of a 6-hour layover in Chicago, feeling the opposite of how I felt 12 hours ago. I'm surrounded by many angry people. This storm coupled with some impressive lake effect snow, has thousands of people in the airport angry. Delayed flights, canceled flights, everyone seems angry. But not me.<br />
<br />
Auriel and I's propensity for open end planning lead this rather large climactic event to effect us very little. I called her after I rescheduled the first plane ticket, asking if a 7 hour delay was ok. She was fine with it. We talked about the possibility of being stranded overnight in O'hare (still a possibility), not a big deal.<br />
<br />
The Journey is the Adventure applies at every step of the process here. Being a very maleable traveler, spending the night in an airport won't effect me that much. I just keep my expectations muted. Even this is highly comical. Whatelse would I be doing right now? Probably sitting in bed doing the same thing I am now. Except I wouldn't be in Chicago, I'd be the same place I usually am, and probably bored.<br />
<br />
Auriel's planning for this trip is really open ended. Birding in winter can be very unpredictable, and as such expectations are more of an unknown than anything else. We can change hotels if we want, we can make it to any part of the trip whenever we need to. We'll just shift plans as the come. Where life dictates we go, we'll go, because that's pretty much the only thing you can do. You need to remember there's always a plan B. It may not be close to what Plan A was, but there is another way. <br />
<br />
Murphy's law moves our lives around in tumultuous ways. I think that's why the journey is the adventure works. It makes hurdles into turns, you just have to mute your expectations. Expectations are what every angry passenger in this airport has. No, I'm not saying they should all live like this. Many of them have kids, business to attend to, other peoples lives to deal with. Just something to think about when your planning your next trip.<br />
<br />
--------------------------------------<br />
<br />
The next lesson to learn is the flip side to this argument. The importance of knowledge and giving yourself plenty of time to deal with the problems that may arise. <br />
<br />
My fuzzy night time math has hurt me more than once. Making important decisions while your sleepy tends one towards shaving time too close. This creates the travel stress we're all looking to avoid. The reason many of my trips have worked out, despite the complete lack of planning, is how I didn't have a strong schedule to adhere too.<br />
<br />
If you couple that with proper planning, calling ahead, seeing when things open, where things are, and thinking properly about what the real life time costs are, then you'll be winning the travel game.<br />
<br />
It's something you probably know you should do, but expect thing to not go as they should. Add extra time to your calculations, and don't allow yourself to cut things too close. The stress is almost never worth it. There is a limit on trying to do too much versus your own happiness. Would you rather do 1,000 things crappily or 1 thing really well? While listing lends itself too doing 1,000 things half-assed, we should normally tend towards the latter.<br />
<br />
Trust me, that frantic feeling sucks, but for now it's all landed in the realm of 'manageable'.<br />
<br />
--------------------------------------<br />
<br />
Update-7:44pm, and I've been delayed again 3 hours. Hopefully I'll make it out of this frozen airport by tonight. I've got some birds to see. <br />
<br />
10:50pm-ive been delayed further till 1150 now. Perhaps I should start finding a nice corner?<br />
<br />
-BooneBoonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01335266813140351818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-49005452059024370602013-12-31T07:00:00.000-06:002014-01-28T18:45:32.119-06:00Common Bird Profile : Common Grackle<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; line-height: 1.15; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKgGgpC56sH8YHnDODnaEMPTNaiNXZHVv3MlJwSJqqKCjKcdrodLgeVZcU6pKhiGvbsbkYVGDsxCl9d4XJwr9un22deUcllTAX8wne_fLuIlyNy4fuHzrOgjAEqR3uDnAeELDZLCoVbclS/s1600/grackle_qmnoinic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKgGgpC56sH8YHnDODnaEMPTNaiNXZHVv3MlJwSJqqKCjKcdrodLgeVZcU6pKhiGvbsbkYVGDsxCl9d4XJwr9un22deUcllTAX8wne_fLuIlyNy4fuHzrOgjAEqR3uDnAeELDZLCoVbclS/s320/grackle_qmnoinic.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Common Grackle - (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/qmnonic/">Matt MacGillivray</a>)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There aren't tons of bird species in rural Ohio, so I spent a lot of time growing up watching what has become one of my favorite backyard birds the <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Grackle/id">Common Grackle</a> (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Quiscalus quiscula</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19.59375px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>). </i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19.59375px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.59375px;">Grackles can be very loud and often are found in large flocks. Their social nature gives us a great chance to watch them and learn about their fascinating</span><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"> social behavior. They can frequently be found calling, puffed up and marching around. Displaying is their way of communicating both to other grackles and to other species of birds. With a bit of careful observation you can start to pick out individuals and understand their social structure. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Male grackles are the ones doing most of the displaying but females can also be found strutting around with their beaks in the air, especially around limited resources, such as food.<span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span>Exhibiting dominant behavior doesn't stop at other grackles though, which is why many people don't like grackles. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are two reasons many people don't like grackles, they are often bullies at bird feeders and they are stereotyped as being heavy nest predators. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grackles can be bullies at the bird feeder, but aggressive behavior is natural, there is no way around this behavior, though if you want to discourage them from taking over your feeders there are a few things you can do. Grackles are large birds. If you can create a space they are simply too large for can help prevent them taking over a feeder. By putting some kind of mesh around the feeder with </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">openings</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"> too small for grackles you can exclude them while still allowing other birds to feed. There are some more details on how to build on your own </span></span><a href="http://www.trails.com/how_40117_build-grackle-resistant-bird-feeders.html" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">, or you can buy feeders designed to exclude grackles.</span></span><br />
<br />
Often your best bet is to leave one feeder available to the grackles. This way they can concentrate on one feeder while allowing other species opportunities to feed at the other. Grackles can be very aggressive and it's easy to anthropomorphize and feel bad for the smaller birds, but competition is a part of life for all species.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgyra-qjXHwiqnsoKKgvD7P1ivumHdPp1YTV6ntuRJaVXg07EBpfZJBNDrlqPLe1vAWCcV4ZM6yImsakgMv09bS4nHuIrWX8gueOC0iGRxqq31sOmYVlPHUgY0EzeFPhsfCP38Cka8ANDm/s1600/GrackleFlying_Lostinfog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgyra-qjXHwiqnsoKKgvD7P1ivumHdPp1YTV6ntuRJaVXg07EBpfZJBNDrlqPLe1vAWCcV4ZM6yImsakgMv09bS4nHuIrWX8gueOC0iGRxqq31sOmYVlPHUgY0EzeFPhsfCP38Cka8ANDm/s320/GrackleFlying_Lostinfog.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Grackle in flight - (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lostinfog/">Lostinfog</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The stereotype of grackles being heavy nest predators has lead many people to killing large numbers of grackles to protect their local birds. A neat paper just came out showing Common Grackles and some other commonly stereotyped nest predators aren't actually significant predators (1). Much of what is thought to be 'common knowledge' about many species of birds isn't totally based in fact, but based on isolated observations. Nature is a very variable system, so yes, some grackles predate nests. Nest predation is just part of nature, but grackles as a species aren't a significant predator.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grackles are often found in large multi species flocks. These flocks are often made up of many species of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icterid">Icterids</a> (Red-winged Blackbirds, European Starlings, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and others) which at first look the same. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">The members of the flock may appear the same at first it's a great </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">exercise</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in looking at shape instead of </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">just color. Check out the shape of their wings, the length and shape of their tails and their relative size. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_8Y7F8Rajg0H45EePAhX1JZ0xJzwLrSCE9i0lMxUlXV8hxxD36sDZJBW653GIu6egfKn4aV5VV0iEEs0rMfYQSA3ibJxtCTJ48yg2VR4WE9PA4HN_bb7gExyceAgo9scwL38Xt-xlNLM/s1600/grackle_starling_flying_jeffreyw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_8Y7F8Rajg0H45EePAhX1JZ0xJzwLrSCE9i0lMxUlXV8hxxD36sDZJBW653GIu6egfKn4aV5VV0iEEs0rMfYQSA3ibJxtCTJ48yg2VR4WE9PA4HN_bb7gExyceAgo9scwL38Xt-xlNLM/s320/grackle_starling_flying_jeffreyw.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grackles and Starlings in flight (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreyww/">jeffreyw</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Grackles will be the largest with long wings and tails which may appear to be slightly fanned out at the end and are rounded. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">European Starlings wings often appear slightly transparent and they have square tails. Red-winged Blackbirds wings are rounded and they have flat tails that are fanned out at the end. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brown-headed Cowbirds are the smallest bird you'll commonly see in these flocks and they have pointed wings and rounded tails.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are many other Icterids that may also be parts of these flocks, but if you can learn to ID these four species at a glance you can quickly pick out the strange ones as well and then focus your attention on those. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Watching these large flocks twist and turn through the air can be mesmerizing on it's own but once you start trying to pick out different species it becomes a fun challenge. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grackles are often under-appreciated birds in the backyard, but their complex social behavior can make them fun to watch . What you learn from them can help you better understand and identify many other species. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whenever I hear the loud </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">ruckus</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"> calls of a flock of grackles it always take me back to spring when I was growing up. I would watch hundreds of grackles display and call in the tall poplar trees in my backyard every morning. Hopefully I've convinced you to take a second look at them.<span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span>With a little time you might start to like them as well as I do. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">_________________________________________________________________________________</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(1) Friesen, L.E., Casbourn, G., Martin. V., Mackay, R.J. (2013) Nest Predation in an Anthropogenic Landscape. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 125:3 (562-569)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://0-www.bioone.org.library.uark.edu/doi/abs/10.1676/12-169.1</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-7c405643-aa0b-7757-35fb-abad68e42ae5"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-25401657917006160082013-12-26T07:00:00.000-06:002013-12-26T19:29:58.132-06:00Traveling on a Budget: Why you should never buy a hotel early.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/CapsuleHotel.jpg/511px-CapsuleHotel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span id="goog_1942419616"></span><span id="goog_1942419617"></span><img border="0" height="187" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/CapsuleHotel.jpg/511px-CapsuleHotel.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where you'd probably stay<br />
if the price was cheap enough</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You're an explorer of the natural world. You adhere to the Journey is
the Adventure mantra, and you always keep your <a href="http://www.naturalausterity.blogspot.com/2013/12/traveling-on-budget-four-keys.html">LEFT</a> expenses low. You
don't want to spend all your time in the hotel, you want to spend your
time on the adventure!<br />
<br />
So why would you want to spend more money on a hotel you're just going to be in for 8 hours?<br />
<br />
Buying a hotel early nails down where you're going to be at a particular moment, and that's not what you want. Breaking down a vacation into a time line is the fast track to reminding
you of why you hated your family vacations as a kid. Just passed by a local festival? Sorry, gotta get to the next state by tonight. Are you
tired of driving? Too bad, still have 6 hours to drive.<br />
<br />
If you book a hotel at the last minute (literally) you're free to stop when
you want. This frees your mind from the stress of travel and switches
to enjoying what's around you.<br />
<br />
This is one of the important backbones to the Traveling is the Journey lifestyle. You have to free yourself from any possible stressfull and constricting factors. That way, your travel is fluid, and more able to adapt to changing conditions and new information.<br />
<br />
--------------------------------------<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: orange;">Priceline </span></h3>
Let me sell you on why you should use <a href="http://www.priceline.com/">Priceline.com</a> instead. Sadly, I don't work for Priceline, it would be a dream if I
did (hint hint <a href="http://www.priceline.com/">Priceline</a>).<br />
<br />
Say we assume a 2.5 star or less hotel
prices change very little, we can therefore assume we're
guaranteed a certain price. That price is somewhere between <span style="color: #cc0000;">$40-$50</span> for a motel 6
or Super 8. These lower star hotels basically never sell out, and are usually in any respectable town along your way.<br />
<br />
Priceline lets you name
your own price for a region. If you know you're guaranteed a hotel for
$40-50, why not try and see if you can get something cheaper. As you're, <u>of course</u>, adhering to the Journey is the Adventure mantra, you have the power.<br />
<br />
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Start by selecting an area somewhere in the
next couple hours infront of you. Go to the Express Deals section of Priceline.You're checking out what regions have the cheapest hotels and what the lowest price hotel. Whatever the cheapest hotel price is we'll start our bidding at half of it.<br />
<br />
Head on over to the Name your own Price section, choose 2.5 or 3 stars, and bid a little less than half the price of the lowest hotel you found earlier. Choose the region that seemed to contain the cheapest hotels and press bid. Most likely your first bid will fail, especially if it's anywhere from <span style="color: orange;">$20-25</span>. But thats ok, we're starting at your baseline.<br />
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Every time you fail a bid Priceline requires that you either add a region or add a lesser rated hotel to your search. Normally you could resubmit the same bid as long as you changed one of the above things, but as we're guessing we're probably at the cheapest region we have to up the bid. Go ahead and add a different region that's still along your route and up your bid <span style="color: orange;">$3-5</span>. Continue like this till you strike gold.<br />
<br />
By feeling around like this you can usually hit a good price, if you get within <span style="color: orange;">$3-5</span> of the lowest hotel price you found earlier you can either: 1. Start over in an area near the current one. 2. Give up and just choose that cheap hotel you found earlier. Or 3. Just navigate to the nearest super 8's/motel 6's your find and hope they're cheaper (they're probably the same).<br />
<br />
If you start worrying, just remember, it doesn't matter if you never find a hotel on Priceline, there's always plan B and plan C<br />
<br />
**Pro-tip: Learn the expensive parts of town and use them as an extra bidding oppurtunity. It doesn't matter that they may be out of your way, you get another bidding chance, and they weren't going to accept you anyway. If they do, it's probably worth the couple extra bucks in gas to stay in a 4 star hotel for the night**<br />
<br />
For more data points, check out <a href="http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/">Biddingfortravel.com</a>.
This site is a forum for success stories, sorted by particular cities.
Just remember, just because last week someone found a particular price,
doesn't mean this week you can get the same one. <br />
<br />
I've found some really good deals including a <span style="color: lime;">$25</span> hotel room just a block from the beach in South Padre Island! Not booking a hotel till an hour before can really stress out a person that's not used to a lack of planning. Once you get going and win a couple of bids you'll realize it's a win win for you.<br />
Plus it's incredibly exciting when you do book a great deal. <br />
------------------------------<br />
<h3>
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: orange;"><b>Well maybe you should buy one early, occasionally...</b></span></span></b></h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/XWg2SfU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i.imgur.com/XWg2SfU.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conventions, because you know, maybe you're kind of into that.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Booking at the last minute can sometimes go terrible wrong. For one, sometimes really large events happen to be going on in the town you're hoping to stay in. If you're in San Diego during <a href="http://www.comic-con.org/">Comic Con</a>, good luck. New Orleans during <a href="http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/">Mardi Gras</a>, might want to just start walking across town it will be faster. These events are rare, but be cognizant of the possibility if hotel prices are much higher than you expected.<br />
<br />
Vegas is an entirely different beast that we'll cover later. So for now,
I'll just warn you to stay away from pricelining in vegas. <br />
<br />
These tips are mainly for travelers passing through or for a single day where location doesn't matter. If you're main destination is a city and you're spending more
than one night it might be beneficial to book early. It goes double if you're infact going to Comic Con, book that early and probably like yesterday.<br />
------------------------------<br />
One last thing. You need to remember most hotels are more expensive on the weekends. To counter this, I try to book a hotel only on the weekdays and
switch to cheaper accommodations like camping or sleeping in my car on
the weekend. Spacing hotels out like this is a great trick for keeping sanity and stay on budget. We'll discuss the topic in depth in the future.<br />
<br />
That's it for now, good luck, and happy bidding!<br />
<br />
-BooneBoonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01335266813140351818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-82098429883869051992013-12-24T07:00:00.001-06:002014-01-19T17:35:43.225-06:00Travel Hacks : Federal Land Pass<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="p1">
There are many things you need while traveling that can be bought for cheap with the thought you can just beat them up along the way. But every so often you need to pay more to gain more. This is true of all sorts of equipment, many of which we'll get to later, but definitely includes passes.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuzG8Z7cSr9sFihw_7M2RM6uGHTCknAubaoAprqoqm6XipsbZOJ0gaK4K9R63OyiMWvfUSa7pUa51OxHiokMm5u0zykVBQKzNqESab4RRAqoe10Q7LAjjnFRCFwSopPHTQ_kIBO3LiIwY/s1600/21046-Annual2012passUP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuzG8Z7cSr9sFihw_7M2RM6uGHTCknAubaoAprqoqm6XipsbZOJ0gaK4K9R63OyiMWvfUSa7pUa51OxHiokMm5u0zykVBQKzNqESab4RRAqoe10Q7LAjjnFRCFwSopPHTQ_kIBO3LiIwY/s1600/21046-Annual2012passUP.jpg" /></a>One of those passes is the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/findapark/passes.htm"><span class="s1">Federal Lands Pass</span></a><span class="s2">. </span>The $80 price tag might make you balk but it quickly saves you money, especially if your traveling out west. </div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p4">
What this pass does is it gives you free entrance into any federal property that charges a fee. This includes US Forest Service, National Wildlife Refuges, National Parks, Bureau of Land Management<span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span>and others. It also gives you a discount on camping at many sites. </div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p4">
At first that might not seem like a big deal, but if you look at the cost of just going to a few parks, it quickly pays for itself. Most national parks charge an entrance fee that covers you (or your vehicle depending on the park) going in and out for seven days. For many parks that fee is $20 if not more. If you plan to be there for a week then thats not a big deal, pretty low cost per day. But lets say you're planning a week in Utah and want to hit all the <a href="http://www.utah.com/nationalparks/"><span class="s3">national parks in that beautiful state</span></a>. </div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p4">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivH4FaC9QffIt3Sah94eA-V63303gR9Br81DBPqwIs9q-ZZF16ZsRT4APu-uMIg-wQFHEUz6mkYWC3tn6Ro3g7Fckfg_3qOrbzP-xc1OWaOeWT8CoCvt6yOfo4EJrF13AnnTx28LCvl9MS/s1600/DSCN0968.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivH4FaC9QffIt3Sah94eA-V63303gR9Br81DBPqwIs9q-ZZF16ZsRT4APu-uMIg-wQFHEUz6mkYWC3tn6Ro3g7Fckfg_3qOrbzP-xc1OWaOeWT8CoCvt6yOfo4EJrF13AnnTx28LCvl9MS/s320/DSCN0968.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not everyone wants to spend seven days in<br />
Death Valley, but it's well worth exploring<br />
for at least a few hours. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Just the entrance fees for all the national parks in Utah is $80, right there you could already break even just buying the pass. The pass also gets you cheaper camping at many federal campgrounds and it gives you the ability to go in and out of however many parks you like.<br />
<br />
This lets you decide to pull into Mount Rushmore for fifteen minutes as you're driving through South Dakota or spend a Saturday afternoon at a historic battlefield near home without having to worry about staying in your budget. </div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p4">
If most of your traveling during the year is going to be east of the Mississippi River getting a federal lands pass might have be the correct choice. There are less national parks in the east and some of them (Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Great Smoky Mountains National Park) don't charge entrance fees. There are many national historic sites though, so if you're a history buff or if you live near one of the parks that does charge entrance fees it can still be worth it. It's all about making it easier to decide to go explore somewhere.<br />
<br />
Since there are more national parks out west and lots more federally owned land (national forests, national wildlife refuges, etc) having the pass can make travel much simpler since you get to make the fun decisions (where) instead of the hard decisions (how much your willing to spend). You can buy a pass <a href="http://www.nps.gov/findapark/passes.htm">online</a> or at most National Wildlife Refuges and National Parks. </div>
<div class="p4">
<br /></div>
<div class="p4">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXJcPhHJ8V-jPPbwB5fyIaIjY2PKDRxbsew-NP2wgFZNIyN9oacJhhZ21rN52aL-Q1w-haV4hdiow3SvYmurSP5G9BrJzwwh-7gzh4cjXPgB5jasER6krK03ltJ297jofuVLLa3fEfRGM/s1600/StateParkEntranceFee.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXJcPhHJ8V-jPPbwB5fyIaIjY2PKDRxbsew-NP2wgFZNIyN9oacJhhZ21rN52aL-Q1w-haV4hdiow3SvYmurSP5G9BrJzwwh-7gzh4cjXPgB5jasER6krK03ltJ297jofuVLLa3fEfRGM/s320/StateParkEntranceFee.png" height="207" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">State Parks With/Without Entrance Fees<br />
Green = With<br />
Gray = Free<br />
Orange = Depends<br />
(Arkansas varies by park, <br />
Montana is free to residents)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Chances are that having a state parks pass has the same, if not more benefits then a federal lands pass. State parks are probably your best bet for local camping, hiking and learning about local history. While not all states charge entrance fees for their parks if they do picking up a pass makes taking advantage of these parks much easier to do on the spur of the moment. If you don't have to pay that entrance fee every time you're much more likely to come back to the same parks and get to know your local area better, which is fantastic! If you're a birder this can be a big deal as well, since you might not spend a lot of time in any one park, and will want to visit several in the same day or weekend. If you don't have a pass this can add up quickly. So support your local state parks and grab an annual pass if your state offers one (most of them do, more details on individual states <a href="http://usparks.about.com/od/usstateparks/tp/State-Park-Passes.04.htm">here</a>).<br />
<br />
All of this comes down to the fact that passes make travel an easy decision, which makes exploring easier. Easier exploring is the ultimate goal so you can spend as much time as possible out enjoying the outdoors. </div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-39115415744676853262013-12-19T07:00:00.000-06:002014-01-28T18:46:04.930-06:00Common Bird Profile: Tufted Titmouse<h2>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>Tufted Titmouse </b></span>(<i>Baeolophus bicolor)</i></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Tufted_Titmouse-27527-2.jpg/1024px-Tufted_Titmouse-27527-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Tufted_Titmouse-27527-2.jpg/1024px-Tufted_Titmouse-27527-2.jpg" height="191" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tufted Titmouse </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When I was a kid my father liked to teach me the names of all the animals around us. He was by no means a birder, but a man who knew a little about a lot. I marveled at his knowledge as he pointed out <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/id">Red-tailed Hawks</a> on the fence posts or <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing/id">Cedar Waxwings</a> zipping across the road. But out of all the birds he showed me, the one bird that I loved the most was the <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tufted_Titmouse/id">Tufted Titmouse</a>. Here was a bird in my own backyard I had never heard of before. It wasn't a boring Cardinal or Blue Jay but a strange bird with a giant mohawk. It was a rockstar.<br />
<br />
Anyone who's birded the eastern forests have come to intimately know this little bird. He's among the first birds you learn to identify as a beginning birder and easy to distinguish once you know what you're looking for. These charismatic and chatty birds are not just a staple but a fascinating bird of behavior.<br />
<br />
The Tufted Titmouse maintains small territories and continues to defend them well past breeding season. They're so concentrated in their territory that that few pairs may never leave their homerange. This means your backyard titmice may stay with your for their whole life!<br />
<br />
Like blue jays, they are a caching species that store food away for winter. In the fall, you can watch titmice raid bird feeders with what seems like a voracious appetite. Instead of eating the seeds, they'll crack them open on a branch and store them away for later. This can be a problem as they're also known to choose the biggest seeds possible even if that means throwing other bird seed on the ground to get to it. One way to avoid this is to have a bird feeder with just large sunflower seeds, so they can selectively feed there<span style="color: red;"> <span style="color: black;">instead.</span></span><br />
<br />
Charismatic and chatty, titmice are more curious than shy, and will readily come up close to you in response to your approach or sound. They give great looks to anyone around, and like chickadees are useful for birders. You can use their gregarious nature to find other birds any season. During the spring and fall, they are useful in finding mixed species flocks full of migrant warblers and vireos. In the winter, when birds are scarce, you can chase down the sound of a loud titmouse to find other winter birds foraging together. Once you learn their calls you'll realize 50% of the forest bird songs were really just titmice! This will hopefully make identifying other calls much less daunting.<br />
----------------------------------------<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: orange;">The Tufted Titmouse and Black-crested Titmouse</span></h3>
Up until 2002, the related <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-crested_Titmouse/id">Black-crested Titmouse</a> was considered a subspecies of Tufted Titmouse. This sub-tropical species lives mainly in the warmer and drier parts of Texas and north east Mexico.<br />
<br />
The two species maintain a hard range along the IH-35 corridor in Texas. This line corresponds not only with the raised elevation of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balcones_Fault">Balcone's faultline</a>, but the precipitation gradient across the state. The wetter areas of East Texas favor the Tufted, while the semi-arid zones in the Hill Country suite the Black-crested Titmouse. There's even a <a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/map/bcxtit1?neg=true&env.minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=1-12&bmo=1&emo=12&yr=all&byr=1900&eyr=2013" target="_blank">thin line</a> between the two ranges where both species breed together creating a hybrid that has a completely black-crest and forehead!<br />
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<a href="http://i.imgur.com/aklAMUV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/aklAMUV.jpg" height="409" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/SBErSnW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/SBErSnW.jpg" height="342" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The two ranges of the Tufted Titmouse (purple) and Black-crested Titmouse (green)<br />
lining up along the 35in/yr precipitation line (per ebird.org)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
---------------------------------- <br />
Admittedly, one reason I love the Tufted Titmouse is they remind me
of Black-crested Titmice back home in Texas. In the Juniper/Oak forests of central Texas, the juniper is usually less foraged compared to the bountiful oaks. Usually only the resident endemics like the Black-crested Titmouse and Golden-cheeked Warbler regularly forage on them. It's because of this that I always believed they loved Central Texas as much as I do.<br />
<br />
Sometimes you don't need a good reason to go birding, just a little reminder of home.<br />
<br />
-Boone <br />
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Boonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01335266813140351818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1848000565279097543.post-71928367679354119512013-12-17T07:00:00.001-06:002013-12-17T07:00:07.827-06:00Advantages of Backyard Bird Feeding Part 2 - Identification<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILLr41XLwrMYVJaRGcF01xKxpIC1e-5V6H56l4pJB9_xSXVaXgE-i2_UWnAMQZWzr7ApP5J_dWBIAFuLubxk8RLaWwTaTOQIkwMGiNb5f8ca6XtTzHGY408AGC_iVp0eFROuVbSA0zsCo/s1600/AmericanRobon_JohnBeetham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILLr41XLwrMYVJaRGcF01xKxpIC1e-5V6H56l4pJB9_xSXVaXgE-i2_UWnAMQZWzr7ApP5J_dWBIAFuLubxk8RLaWwTaTOQIkwMGiNb5f8ca6XtTzHGY408AGC_iVp0eFROuVbSA0zsCo/s320/AmericanRobon_JohnBeetham.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">American Robin - (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dendroica/">John Beetham</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Most people can identify a few species of birds, a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bald_Eagle/id">Bald Eagle</a>, a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mallard/id">Mallard</a> and perhaps an <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/id">American Robin</a>. Chances are you don't remember learning these species and you can probably identify them very quickly after you see one.<br />
<br />
You can identify these species so easily because you are very familiar with the white head of the Bald Eagle, the green iridescence of the Mallard or the rusty orange breast of the American Robin. Being so familiar with the birds around you all the time is one of the advantages of having bird feeders.<br />
<br />
The more comfortable you can get with common species, with the changes in appearance they experience throughout the year, what their babies look like, what they look like when their molting the better prepared you'll be to recognize strange things.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA84dH6cqEcNrt9LpIoqbgzvP71AFdqNo-4GFT2k6-fhliZr2ICyxlhNv68e_q-mElkQ5t5-q98cqEYNieeFlhqJW3tn7REIwywgoISdh9ZenEiXsT1Wgp9Z_-ur9ItM9TKeGNbWBXqNvK/s1600/JuvCardinal_NicoleMiller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA84dH6cqEcNrt9LpIoqbgzvP71AFdqNo-4GFT2k6-fhliZr2ICyxlhNv68e_q-mElkQ5t5-q98cqEYNieeFlhqJW3tn7REIwywgoISdh9ZenEiXsT1Wgp9Z_-ur9ItM9TKeGNbWBXqNvK/s200/JuvCardinal_NicoleMiller.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Molting Juvenile Cardinal <br />
(<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/n_miller/">Nicole Miller</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Until you watch the <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/id">Northern Cardinals</a> day in and day out you probably won't notice the young ones don't have orange bills and when the young males are growing into their adult colors they almost look like they are tie-dyed.<br />
<br />
You'll miss the goldfinches changing from their drab winter plumage into their bright summer feathers. Knowing what all these species look like throughout the year helps you identify things quickly and helps picking up on strange things even faster.<br />
<br />
If you're used to always seeing House Finches with their red and orange washes on their face covering your feeders and one day you notice one of them is more washed in purple you've probably discovered a new species for your feeder, the <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Purple_Finch/id">Purple Finch</a>. If you aren't paying attention they are easy to miss, but the beautiful raspberry purple color of the Purple Finch is worth the extra effort.<br />
<br />
By getting familiar with the sparrows coming to your feeder you'll be better prepared for identifying them and other species when you go out birding. Sparrows can be really tough, they tend to move a lot and don't always give you the best views. Watching them at a feeder is by far the best way to learn how to quickly ID them, its hard to get good looks at them any other way. The faster you can identify the ones you already know the better off you'll be. Whether you become familiar with just the common House Sparrow or if you also have <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Song_Sparrow/id">Song Sparrows</a> or <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Chipping_Sparrow/id">Chipping Sparrows</a> at your feeder each one is unique.<br />
<br />
Many species of birds are only around seasonally, and paying close attention to the birds at your feeder can help you mark the passing of the seasons. <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Dark-eyed_Junco/id">Dark-eyed Juncos</a> are called 'snowbirds' in many places because they show up just before winter and then leave at the first signs of spring. There are dozens of different species that might show up just for the summer, but juncos are snow birds, and their arrival has always been special to me, a bright spot after all the warblers have headed south.<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span>
If you like documenting the changing of the seasons try keeping a note book by the window where you see your feeders. Keeping track of when things arrive and depart each year is a great habit to get into and this kind of note taking is really valuable for when you see something strange and you want to be able to document it, either for yourself or to share that record with others.<br />
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Watching birds at your feeder can be extremely rewarding and help you better understand your local environment and be better prepared for any future birding adventures. So go fill up the feeders and keep a close eye on who shows ups!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16183927404706598922noreply@blogger.com0