Birds in superstition and folklore

One is lucky, two is lucky, three is health, four is wealth, five sickness, and six death.
- The Children's Mother Goose

The ways in which we watch and learn about birds - HD cameras, high-powered spotting scopes and lenses, and DNA analyzers - are new, but our interest in them is very old. Folklore and legends about birds exist in almost every human culture. Birds and bird-like creatures have been regarded as gods (Egypt's Horus and many Native American tribes), symbols of authority (Zeus's eagle), supernaturally wise (Athena's owl and crows and ravens in general), and harbingers of death and the dead. They are found in many sacred texts, including the Bible, the Torah, the Qur'an, the Bhagavad-gita, and countless oral traditions. To watchers who didn't have the benefit of global knowledge or a scientific framework, the fascinating and sometimes eerie lives of birds could be explained only through supernatural events or powers. Our respect and love for birds has traditionally been tempered with apprehension, since the knowledge they possess could be turned against us.

We hope you enjoy this quick round-up of bird folklore. Happy Halloween!

Birds as associates and companions of deities
Rachel Warren Chad, a co-author of Birds: Myth, lore & legend, states that Deities from cultures around the world have birds associated with them. Doves (bird of Astarte, Aphrodite/Venus, Holy Spirit), ravens (Odin’s familiars in Norse mythology), cranes (sacred bird of Hermes/Mercury, Celtic bird of the moon) and eagles (familiars of Zeus/Jupiter) are among the many species assigned such roles in myth and legend.  They fly between heaven and earth, deliver messages to and from the gods, and signify divine might.

Birds are also found in Christian folklore. In Europe, birds with bright red or pink splotches (robins, crossbills, finches) were said to have been stained with Christ's blood as they attempted to pull thorns from his body or nails from his hands and feet. Another superstition states that the robin got its red breast after taking water to thirsty sinners in Hell. The sparrow gets a bad rap, since it attended the Crucifixion to encourage the guards to torture Jesus, but it's still a very bad idea to kill a sparrow or put one in a cage. Eagles are said to go into seclusion, pluck out all of their feathers, and shed their beak and talons to live longer. While not specifically Christian, this myth (it isn't true) is usually accompanied with Christian symbolism. Eagles are also considered to be one of the four dimensions of creation and a messenger of God.

Birds as harbingers of death
It is hard to believe that a bird could be considered a harbinger of death. But in a great deal of traditional lore, birds fly between earth and heaven or earth and the realms of the dead. As a consequence, some birds became associated with death and the dead, especially dark birds, nocturnal birds, and birds with an eerie or mournful cry. Depending on where you are from, your relatives may have known that:

• If a bird flies into your house, there will soon be a death in the family. One of the surer omens of death is a bird entering the bedroom of a sick person and landing on the bedpost. This belief is so widespread that Snopes has a refutation: https://www.snopes.com/oldwives/bird.asp.
• A white bird or a crow flying against a window at night foretells of a death in the house within a year. A pigeon flying against the window is a sign of death.
• Seeing six crows is a sign of coming death, as is a whippoorwill singing near the house.
• Seeing two turtle doves together in a tree means death is coming. If a sparrow attacks a swallow and throws it from its nest (on or near a home), a son will be born and a daughter will die.
• A woodpecker knocking on the house is a death omen.
• A peacock feather brought into the house is taunting death.
• If you walk under a tree in the evening and an owl hoots right above your head, it means a relative or friend of yours will die within a year.
• If an owl hoots while perched on your rooftop, death will pay a visit. Other parts of the world say that an owl simply hooting in the neighborhood is foreshadowing death nearby.
• To hear a rooster crow at your door is a sign of death.

Birds as omens and talismans

In addition to death, birds might indicate future events or serve as intermediaries between the natural and supernatural world. Crows and ravens in particular have a large body of lore associated with them. Some cultures see them as essentially beneficial, although full of mischief, while others mistrust and fear them.

• In Christian tradition ravens were believed to have special taste for criminals, and to enjoy plucking out the eyes of sinners, although they also fed sacred hermits and were used by Jesus as an example of God's provenance. In the Qur'an, a raven is mentioned as the creature who taught Cain how to bury his murdered brother. In the Talmud, the raven is described as having been only one of three beings on Noah's Ark that copulated during the flood and so was punished. North American and Canadian mythology depicts the raven as a Creator, a rascal, or a trickster. Raven created the world and saved all of the animals from a big flood, but he also created a great deal of trouble among humans for his own amusement...and we have Raven to thank for mosquitoes.
• In Southeast Asia, a crow flying low across one's path as one starts on an important errand or trip is considered an omen, interpreted as favorable or not depending on the direction it crosses.
• Ancient Greeks believed that if a single crow appeared at a wedding breakfast, there would be a divorce. 
• In Sweden, ravens were known as the ghosts of murdered people.
• A destroyed crow’s nest indicates a fire in the area within three days. 
• If a crow lands on a house and caws sorrowfully, a calamity is sure to befall it. If, on the other hand, his joyful “carrow” is heard, it is a sign of good luck. 

Ravens and crows are not the only birds associated with luck.

• It is unlucky to kill a robin or a swallow. Swallows have been considered sacred because they were thought to have flown around the cross of Calvary. In some places, the ill luck from an accidental killing of a robin or swallow can be canceled if burial is given to the creature. The poem 'The Funeral of Cock-Robin' refers to this tradition in a funny way. If you break a robin's egg, something precious to you will soon be broken.
• In England, the stonechat is believed to be continually chatting with the Devil. In parts of the British Isles the chicken is also thought of as a bird of ill omen, due to an old idea that he “crowed for joy” at the hour of crucifixion. Magpies carry a drop of the Devil's blood under their tongues and a lone magpie loitering near your house means that the Devil is afoot and stirring up trouble!
• In Norway, those in search of a drowned body would row around the body of water with a rooster aboard, believing that the bird would crow when the boat reached the spot where the corpse was. 
• In Ireland, sparrows, stares and plovers are thought to be on friendly terms with the fairies. The lark and swallow are both birds of good omen, as long as the swallow does not rest on the housetop. 
• In France, there was once a belief that quail could foretell the price of wheat with the number of their calls, prompting it to be called the “Bird of Prophecy”. The ancient Romans practiced ornithomancy, a form of divination that took omens from the flights and cries of birds. If a bird cries from the north, ill luck will ensue; if from the south, a good harvest; if from the west, good luck; and if from the east, love.
• An American superstition holds that to possess the feathers of a peacock in your home is unlucky. It is also unlucky to have peacock feathers on the stage or comprising any part of a costume, prop, or scenery!
• In Poland, it was believed that girls who died unmarried turned into doves, while those who died married turned into owls. It was also believed that owls did not come out during the day because they were so beautiful and would be mobbed by other birds out of jealousy.
• Did a bird poop on you today? Too bad if it didn't, since Russians know that bird poop brings good luck! But it is bad luck to see an owl during the day (videos of owls don't count as far as we know).
• If the first bird you see on Valentine’s Day is a goldfinch, it means your spouse will be rich.
• Many birds are believed to carry dead souls or messages from the dead, including sparrows, blackbirds, ravens, swifts, and even doves. In France, the souls of unbaptized children who die are said to become birds until they gain entry to heaven. 

Do you feed or water birds? If not, the dead might be hearing about your bad behavior! In parts of Turkey, small vessels of water are sometimes placed upon graves for the birds to drink. Some marble tombs have basins for water as well, as birds are thought to carry messages about the living to the dead. The water is left to curry favor with the birds, which prevents them from carrying unfavorable messages to dead loved ones.  So get out there and fill those feeders before it's too late!

---

Things that helped me learn and write about this subject:

• https://voices.nationalgeographic.org/2016/11/08/delving-into-cultural-myths-tales-and-beliefs-about-wild-birds/. This book looks fantastic!
• http://www.perspectivesmagazine.sk/news/ravens-and-crows-in-mythology-folklore-and-religion/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_ravens
• https://archive.org/stream/birdsinlegendfab00inge/birdsinlegendfab00inge_djvu.txt
• http://www.pararesearchers.org/index.php?/20080801457/Folklore-Mythology/Death-Omens.html
• http://superstitiondictionary.com/omens-of-death-folklore-and-superstition/
• http://superstitiondictionary.com/superstitions-about-birds/

Hunting Lead-Free

With firearm deer hunting season getting ready to start in many places in the midwest, it seemed like a good time to remind people to hunt lead-free. Our director John Howe does so, and so do many of my friends, most of whom are concerned about lead's impact on wildlife and on themselves. Ingesting lead ammunition kills Bald Eagles and other birds of prey: ingesting lead fishing tackle kills loons and other waterbirds. Lead poisoning has been documented in 63 species of birds since 1939, including eagles, ravens, pheasants and other game birds, owls, rails, gulls, buzzards, kites, vultures, condors, falcons, red-tailed hawks, white-throated sparrows, yellow-rumped warblers, and solitary vireos. If you hunt, do wildlife and your family a favor and switch to non-toxic ammo.


This video about the issue features Kay Neumann from SOAR

I've compiled some information about wildlife exposure to lead. If you are looking for places to purchase non-toxic ammo, follow this link to our website: https://www.raptorresource.org/learning-tools/hunt-and-fish-lead-free/ or check out SOAR's excellent resources: http://soarraptors.org/hunt-and-fish-lead-free/. If you aren't familiar with non-toxic shooting, check out this Tom Roster's 2016 non-toxic shot lethality table: https://gf.nd.gov/gnf/hunting/docs/tom-roster-nontoxic-shot-lethality-table.pdf.

Is lead really a problem? 

Absolutely. Lead is a toxic metal with no known safe exposure levels for humans or wildlife. In the United States, an estimated 3,000 tons of lead are shot into the environment by hunting every year, another 80,000 tons are released at shooting ranges, and 4,000 tons are lost in ponds and streams as fishing lures and sinkers. As many as 20 million birds and other animals die each year from subsequent lead poisoning (yes, this shocked me, but I verified it with the source (http://bit.ly/2d7h7KJ and http://bit.ly/2e0eYXs).

Lead is a big killer of Bald eagles. From 1975 to 2013, the National Wildlife Health Center conducted a mortality study on the carcasses of 2, 980 Bald Eagles and 1,427 Golden Eagles. Their summary looked like this:

Cause of death	Bald eagle	Golden eagle	Total
Drowned	11 (0.4%)	3 (0.2%)	14 (0.3%)
Electrocution	372 (12.5%)	381 (26.7%)	753 (17.1%)
Emaciation	176 (5.9%)	90 (6.3%)	266 (6.0%)
Disease	155 (5.2%)	39 (2.7%)	194 (4.4%)
Poisoned	762 (25.6%)	117 (8.2%)	879 (19.9%)
Shot	303 (10.2%)	196 (13.7%)	499 (11.3%)
Trapped	59 (2.0%)	39 (2.7%)	98 (2.2%)
Trauma	681 (22.9%)	84 (26.9%)	1,065 (24.2%)
Undetermined	298 (10.0%)	131 (9.2%)	429 (9.7%)
Total	2,980	1,427	4,407

The study found that 63% of the poisoned bald eagles and 58% of the poisoned golden eagles had been killed by lead, which was the second-biggest killer of bald eagles. Note that the study did not look at whether lead was a factor in trauma deaths (the biggest killer of eagles if poisoning is broken into lead poisoning and everything else). However, other studies have found that sub-lethal amounts of lead play a large role in eagle collisions. Lead is an even bigger killer of eagles than this study indicates.

How are birds and other animals exposed to lead?

They eat it. Fish-eating birds like bald eagles and loons eat fish that have ingested lead sinkers or other tackle, while scavenging birds like bald eagles, vultures, condors, and some hawks feed on gutpiles left by hunters that contain fragments of lead ammo. They also eat the carcasses of animals that weren't recovered and eventually died of their wounds. Waterbirds like trumpeter swans, mallard ducks, and loons ingest ammunition or lead sinkers while foraging in lakes, and upland birds like pheasants mistake shot for seeds or grit and eat it.

If I switch to non-toxic ammo, will it really make a difference? 
Absolutely! Switching to non-toxic ammo will prevent lead from entering the environment, which will keep it out of the bodies of birds, animals, and people that enjoy eating wild game. Here's an example: In 1991, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service outlawed the use of lead ammunition to hunt migratory waterfowl after it was estimated that 2 million ducks died annually from ingesting lead pellets. A follow-up survey of ducks on the Mississippi Flyway found that the ban on lead shot reduced lead poisoning deaths of Mississippi Flyway mallards by 64 percent, while overall ingestion of toxic pellets declined by 78 percent over previous levels. By significantly reducing lead shot ingestion in waterfowl, the ban prevented the lead poisoning deaths of approximately 1.4 million ducks in the 1997 fall flight of 90 million ducks. Plenty of ducks were still harvested, but far fewer died accidentally after ingesting lead.

Does non-toxic ammo and fishing tackle actually work? 

No one wants to switch to ammo or tackle that doesn't work, but non-toxics work very well! Let's start with wildfowl. The total number of migratory waterfowl harvested nationwide declined steeply beginning in about 1984, but started rising again after the ban on lead ammo was enacted, as shown by the chart. Requiring the use of non-toxic shot did not negatively impact waterfowl hunting, but did prevent ducks, geese, and many other animals from coming into contact with lead shot by ingesting it directly or feeding on lead-poisoned animals or carcasses containing shot. How about doves? A multi-year study by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department found no statistical difference between lead and steel ammunition in terms of doves hit, missed, crippled, and killed at all ranges. How about other game, including deer? A large study done in Germany found that lead-free rifle bullets were as effective at killing wildlife as conventional lead bullets. How about deer and only deer? This article in Whitetails, the magazine of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, discusses non-toxic ammo with eight hunters that made the switch.

Saving Our Avian Resources has done a lot of advocacy for non-toxic shot and they have wonderful information on their website. A few figures that struck me:

• A study of causes of mortality in eagles submitted to the National Wildlife Health Center between 1975 and 2013 found that trauma and poisonings (including lead poisoning) were the leading causes of death for bald eagles throughout the study period.
• 56% of all eagles admitted to Iowa rehabilitators between 2004 and 2008 had abnormal lead levels in their blood. This ranged from a low of 37.5% in 2004 (with 62.5% of eagles being tested) to a high of 70.0% in 2005 (with 90.0% being tested).
• The University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center in St. Paul received 117 lead-poisoned bald eagles during the winter of 2009. In 2012, Dr. Pat Redig co-authored this paper about spent ammunition and lead poisoning in bald eagles.
• In Canada and the USA, approximately 10–15% of recorded post-fledging mortality in Bald and Golden Eagles was attributed to the ingestion of lead shot from prey animals (Scheuhammer and Norris 1996). Elliott et al. (1992) found that 14% of 294 sick, injured. or dead Bald Eagles in British Columbia (1988 to 1991) were lead-poisoned and an additional 23% sub-clinically exposed.
• A 2012 study by a team at the University of California at Santa Cruz found that 30 percent of blood samples taken from condors each year showed levels of lead high enough to cause significant health problems and that 20 percent of the free-flying birds required treatment to remove lead. From 1992 to 2012, the cause of death was established for 123 condors in California, Arizona and Baja California, Mexico; lead was responsible for 42 of the mortalities (https://goo.gl/fmK8Ku). While lead poisoning can kill directly, lead toxicity is also a factor in collision deaths and injuries. According to the Raptor Center, about 85% of eagles that come in with collision injuries also have elevated lead levels. 

The best time to switch to lead is now! Good luck with your lead-free hunts this year!

References

• Causes of Mortality in Eagles Submitted to The National Wildlife Health Center 1975–2013: http://www.jstor.org/stable/wildsocibull2011.38.4.697
• Bald Eagle Lead Poisoning in Winter: http://www.peregrinefund.org/subsites/conference-lead/PDF/0119%20Neumann.pdf
• Lead from spent ammunition: a source of exposure and poisoning in bald eagles: http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1164&context=hwi
• A Global Update of Lead Poisoning in Terrestrial Birds from Ammunition Sources Harvest Trends: http://flyways.us/regulations-and-harvest/harvest-trends
• FWS Survey on waterfowl and lead: http://www.fws.gov/pacific/news/2000/2000-177.htm
• Minnesota Eagles Fall Prey to Lead: http://www.startribune.com/local/137358413.html
• SOAR: Hunt and fish lead-free
• SOAR: Lead in the environment
• Humane Society of America: Lead Ammunition

What's on the menu at Fort St. Vrain? An exploration of nest remains, part II

The last time we blogged about prey remains from Xcel Energy's Fort St. Vrain bald eagle nest, we talked about mammals. This time, we're going to explore fish and turtles! In all, we found 35 fish remains, seven prairie dog skulls and one foot, one desert cottontail skull, one common muskrat skull, three western painted turtle shells, and some unknown vertebrae. Even in a relatively dry environment, the eagles show a clear preference for fish. Our aquatic remains included:

• seventeen opercular bones (eleven left and six right, from at least twelve different fish)
• eight preopercular bones 
• one otolith 
• four skull tops 
• five skull fragments, and; 
• three turtle shells. 

So what are opercular bones and otoliths? The operculum, which includes the preopercular and opercular bones, is a series of bones found in bony fish that serves as a facial support structure and a protective covering for the gills; it is also used for respiration and feeding.

The opercular series. Nine/yellow is the opercular bone. Six/red is the pre-opercular bone

Otoliths are a calcium carbonate structure in the inner ear of vertebrates. They act as gravity, balance, movement, and directional indicators in all vertebrates, and have a secondary function in sound detection in higher aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates, including fish. Vertebrates have three pairs: the astericus (Ast), lapillus (Lap), and sagitta (Sag). Many fish can be identified to genus and species by their sagittal otoliths but alas, we found only one!

At least we had several opercular bones. While we couldn't use them to determine genus and species, they could determine the size of the fish the eagles were bringing in. Several papers document a close relationship between the size of the opercular bone and the total length (from nose to tail) of the fish. I chose Hostetter and Munroe's 1993 paper Age, growth, and reproduction of Tautoga omtis, which used the formula log10 TL = 1.2916+0.860 log10 OR for males. The paper meticulously documented Hostetter and Munroe's methodology and results, which were used in subsequent studies of several fish species. It was also well-cited and required nothing more than a dial calipers, intact opercular bones, and a good calculator - three things I had on hand!

I used the dial calipers to determine Opercular radius (OR). which Hostetter and Monroe define as the distance from the articular apex center to the midpoint of the posterior margin of the opercle. It looked something like this...

Opercular and preopercular bones of our largest fish. 

I ran my measurements through the formula log10 TL = 1.2916+0.860 log10 OR to obtain the lengths below (more on that at the end of the blog). While we collected 17 bones, only 14 were intact enough to use.

OR	Total length	Number/side
61mm	26.3" / 668.02 mm	1 / left
47mm	20.9" / 530.86 mm	1 / left
46mm	20.6" / 523.24 mm	1 / right
43mm	19.4" / 492.76 mm	2 / both left
42mm	19.0" / 482.60 mm	2 / both right
41mm	18.6" / 472.44 mm	2 / left, right
40mm	18.3" / 464.82 mm	3 / left, right, left
34mm	15.9" / 403.86 mm	2 / both left

While I was impressed by the largest fish, it was a real outlier. The average fish size was 19.0" - a nice size at just a little over 1-1/2 feet long. So what kind of fish would they be likely to be and how heavy might they have been? I checked out a fishing report for the St. Vrain state park and emailed the Laughing Grizzly fly shop to find out! Given the size of the fish and the stretch of the river, Mike suggested either sucker or bass, with the outlier possibly belonging to a carp. Their length/weight profiles look something like this:

• Common Carp: 16 to 26.5 inches at 2 pounds to 10 pounds
• Largemouth Bass: 16 to 25 inches at 2.4 pounds to 9.10 pounds
• White Sucker: 16 to 20 inches at roughly 4 to 6 pounds 
• Longnose Sucker: 15-25 inches at 1 to 2 pounds (although Montana's field guide states that the largest can be around 5 pounds and fish of up to 7.3 pounds have been reported)

In addition to sizing fish, opercular bones can also be used to age fish. Like trees, they produce annular rings that can be counted once the bones have been cleaned and held up to a strong light. However, I was confused by the age of my fish. Almost every opercular I counted yielded an age of four or older, with several between six and nine years of age and the oldest (the outlier) about fourteen. I hadn't expected my fish to be as old or as big as they were. Was I counting wrong? What was going on?

Operculars. Mr. Big is at left. It was the oldest and the largest opercular bone.

As eagle cam watchers might recall, sucker fish rise in the spring and early summer to spawn on gravel beds and sand bars. Every year, Dad Decorah and Mr. North haul in suckers by the dozens once the run starts, sometimes bringing in more than one at a time! However, Longnose Sucker don't become sexually mature until they are between five and nine years of age, while White Sucker don't reach sexual maturity until they are three to eight years old. This means that spawning suckers are a minimum of three years old at spawning, and could easily be older. Finally, my large old bones make sense! Do we know that these fish are suckers? No - but age and size as determined by the opercular bones fit the species, especially given the presence of suckers as identified by local fishing guides, their age at sexual maturity, the amount of sand and gravel bars in the area, and the seeming preference of eagles for suckers when given the choice between suckers and, say, trout. Bob would love this, since he theorized back in 2012 that sucker fish spawning could be the Midwest's equivalent of a salmon run when it comes to protein sources for eagles and other animals that eat them. We'll be watching closely during the spawning season in 2018 to see if we can identify the fish that Ma and Pa FSV bring in! (Amy's note: There were two very distinct shapes of opercular bone, which makes me think that at least two different species were brought into the nest. One was rounded [Mr. Big and several of the others], while the other was more angular).  

Of course, fish weren't the only aquatic animal the eagles brought into the nest. We also found three turtle shells. Alan Resetar, the McCarter Collections Manager for the Chicago Field Museum's Amphibian and Reptile Collection, identified them as spiny softshells (Apalone spinifera). This was very helpful, since I originally thought they might be western painted turtles or small snapping turtles. He also provided a link to this guide for identifying turtle shells and remains: http://fieldmuseumlibrary.worldcat.org/title/turtle-atlas-to-facilitate-archaeological-identifications/oclc/35793760. Take a look at the picture below, which clearly illustrates how the spine and ribs are fused to the shell, giving turtles their distinctive walk.

The underside of a turtle's shell 

So what did we learn? Collecting prey remains from the Fort St. Vrain nest gave us a couple of unexpected insights. As dry as the area is, aquatic animals (especially fish) are still an important part of Ma and Pa FSV's diet - something we didn't expect. The spiny softshells were a surprise, since they are at the extreme western end of their range. And like the Decorah and Decorah North eagles, the Fort St. Vrain eagles appear to take advantage of the spring sucker run, which comes at a very timely point in the lives of their young! While some specific prey details are different (prairie dogs!), the remains we found fit within the larger framework of bald eagle behavior - getting the most food for the least amount of effort and risk expanded. Benjamin Franklin famously called bald eagle behavior lazy, but it takes experience and intelligence to know where and how to find food, especially in a beautiful but unforgiving place like Colorado's Front Range.

Xcel Energy, thanks for all of your hard work and support. You are wonderful eagle and falcon friends, and I look forward to collecting prey remains from Fort St. Vrain next year! I was quite fascinated by this nest, which is much drier and 'stickier' than our Iowa nests. The lack of humidity means that materials don't tend to compost in the nest, although the eagles still prepare the area under the nest cup and strip bark from the sticks they bring in. We have three eagle nests to watch in Iowa and Colorado. What can we learn from their differences and similarities? We look forward to finding out!

Did you know?

I wish we found more otoliths, since researchers are using them to model climate impacts: https://blog.csiro.au/fish-ear-bones-point-to-climate-impacts/. I am hoping to send our fish and mammal collection to the Field Museum in Chicago!

Most of the fish we found were within the carrying capacity of Ma and Pa FSV. Under standard conditions, Bald Eagles can lift and carry around 60% of their body weight, and in some circumstances they can carry more! A link: https://raptorresource.blogspot.com/2015/11/how-much-can-bald-eagle-carry.html

---

Things that helped me learn and write about this topic:

• Alan Resetar, McCarter Collections Manager, Amphibian and Reptile Collection, Field Museum
• Age, growth, and reproduction of tautog Tautoga onitis: http://fishbull.noaa.gov/911/hostetter.pdf
• A Guide to aging Yellow Pike and Walleye (if you are a fishing family, this provides a guide for kids): http://www.rebeccaeberts.ca/wp-
• content/uploads/2015/01/EbertsAgingArticle_pg39_outdooredge22.pdf
• Vestibular system. Your ears might be stranger than you think! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibular_system
• Laughing Grizzly Fly Shop. Hit them up for fishing if you are in Longmont, Colorado - these guys know their business!
• Luke Ries. Thanks for the help on the math formula!
• Turtles of Colorado:
  http://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Education/StudentActivities/COHerpQuickKey.pdf

Birds on Radar, October 3rd, 2017

At whatever moment you read these words, day or night, there are birds aloft in the skies of the Western Hemisphere, migrating. If it is spring or fall, the great pivot points of the year, then the continents are swarming with billions of traveling birds...
- Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds

After three nights and days of rain, storms, and winds from the south, last night was finally clear and calm. The full moon was so bright that no light was required as I walked up and down my driveway and around our yard. While I couldn't see any birds, a few short flight calls overhead told me that a great river of birds was flowing in the sky above me.

Bald eagles and other bird of prey migrate during the day, when they can take advantage of thermal soaring to help lift and carry their large bodies long distances. But many songbirds migrate in large flocks or swarms at night. Avian predators are less active, skies are often less turbulent, the cooler night air is slightly denser and helps birds dump heat and like sailors, birds can use the stars for navigation across an otherwise relatively featureless landscape.

How many birds were migrating last night? Two words: Green Doughnuts.



The map above shows reflectivity, defined as the amount of transmitted power returned to the radar receiver after hitting precipitation, compared to a reference power density at a distance of 1 meter from the radar antenna. In short, when radar hits stuff, it gets bounced back. The more radar that gets bounced back relative to the reference, the more intense or denser the stuff it is hitting: precipitation, flocks of birds, migrating bats, insects rising into the sky, and so on.

If you look at the map above, you can see a line of storms moving to the east. Some of these storms are dropping quite a bit of precipitation, as shown by the yellow and red colors in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. But you can also see blue and green doughnuts or blooms blowing up around sunset (which occurred at 6:47pm CT in eastern Minnesota and Iowa last night). The unique pattern, lower reflectivity, behavior (an ebb and flow that begins at sunset and begins to peter out at about 1:30am), weather, and time of year all tell us that these are migratory birds.

So why was I excited about green doughnuts? Check out the reflectivity key below...

The colors represent the strength of returned energy to the radar expressed in values of decibels (dBZ). As we stated earlier, the amount of radar reflected back to the ground unit is proportional to the number and diameter of stuff - drops/flakes/birds/insects - per unit volume. The US Weather service defines rainfall rates and types here, while the Cornell Lab of Ornithology defines bird 'rates' (but not types) as follows:

• Minimal migration: < 5 dBZ — fewer than 59 birds per cubic kilometer
• Light migration: 5-10 dBZ — approximating 59-71 birds per cubic kilometer
• Moderate migration: 10-20 dBZ — approximating 71-227 birds per cubic kilometer
• Heavy migration: 20-30 dBZ — approximating 227-1788 birds per cubic kilometer
• Extreme: >30 dBZ — more than 1788 birds per cubic kilometer (actually  occurs at some times in very rare circumstances)

Blue doughnuts are pretty typical, at least during the summer months. But green doughnuts are something else! Last night's radar shows heavy migration that approached extreme migration in some places. As I walked and listened, I thought it was probably a pretty special night. I can't believe how special it really was! I'll be out looking and listening for birds again tonight.

Additional Resources
How do normally diurnal birds become temporarily nocturnal? Read more about that here (warning - this is a dense read): https://www.nature.com/articles/srep34207

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology publishes bird forecasts and migration reports on their website at http://birdcast.info/. Check it out and keep those feeders filled for hungry seed, nut, and suet eaters that are resting and refueling in your yard!

BirdNote did an excellent story about nocturnal migration. You can listen to that here: https://www.birdnote.org/show/nocturnal-migration-songbirds.

The Old Bird studies nocturnal flight call activity. While he isn't the only one, almost everyone involved in this activity cited him as the original. Check out his website at: http://oldbird.org/.

Thanks to the University of Wisconsin, we have a national radar map here: http://www.raptorresource.org/maps/UW_Composite_Radar/ and one showing migration for the great lakes/upper midwest here: http://www.raptorresource.org/maps/UW_Composite_Radar/. These maps archive data over several months. We encourage you to check them out and compare nights - summer versus winter, stormy nights versus calm nights, and good flight nights.

Good luck birds, and we'll see you next spring!

What's on the menu at Fort St. Vrain? An exploration of nest remains, part I

So what's on the menu at Fort St. Vrain? While we were up in the nest, I decided to collect prey remains. We don't have the necessary permits to take feathers (of which I found only two, both belonging to prey), but there were plenty of skulls and a few turtle shells. I got them home, laid them out on a table, and started ID'ing them. Some Moms bring home t-shirts and postcards. I bring home skulls and photos of prey.

The photo below shows all of the remains I recovered from the nest, along with the book that Elizabeth Ries and I used to identify them. In all, we found 35 fish remains (skulls, skull fragments, opercular bones, jawbones, and an otolith), seven prairie dog skulls and one foot, one desert cottontail skull, one common muskrat skull, three western painted turtle shells, and some unknown vertebrae. Even in a relatively dry environment, the eagles show a clear preference for fish. As you can see from the opercular bones and skulls, some of the fish were pretty large!

From bottom to top: six right opercular bones, six fish skulls and skull fragments, 11 left opercular bones and one otolith, seven fish jawbones, three spiny softshells, vertebrae, four unknown skulls, seven prairie dog skulls, one muskrat skull, one desert cottontail skull

This blog will deal with mammal remains! To make the job easier, I started by assuming that most of the mammalian skulls were probably prairie dogs given the close proximity of a prairie dog colony to the nest. We divided them into groups of skulls that looked alike (which of these things is not like the other?) and got the skull book out!

Top to bottom: desert cottontail, muskrat, black-footed prairie dog

Take a look at the skulls above. The top skull is quite a bit different than the other two, with a high, rounded top and a slightly different eye socket and muzzle (although much of the muzzle was gone). The bottom two skulls are flatter, 'boxier', and have different suture patterns. I decided to start with the bottom skull, since we had seven of them and just one each of the other two. Sure enough, Animal Skulls, A Guide to North American Species verified that we had a black footed prairie dog! Our skull had well developed post-orbital processes (the bone spurs jutting out almost perpendicular from the skull over the eye sockets), v-shaped temporal ridges (the 'V' on the skull), well-developed occipital crests (the ridge at the back of the skull), and (not real visible in this photo) broad nasals with squared posterior edges. It was a prairie dog! But what were the other two?

I started by thinking about the animals I had seen around the nest. How about a rabbit? Elizabeth and I began with looking at what kind of rabbits lived in the area. After a lot of comparison, we settled on a desert cottontail. The skull has a relatively round, large braincase, the eye sockets are similar, with a posterior extension that is "long, broad, and often fused to the braincase" (this helped us rule out brush rabbit), and a broad and high intraorbital region, or top of the skull.

Elizabeth suggested we take a look at the ventral, or underside, of the skull. Good idea!

Desert cottontail, ventral view

This turned out to be very helpful! She observed that the teeth lined up exactly with the desert cottontail's teeth, the heart-shaped structure at the top of its mouth formed by the palatal bridge begins near the anterior of the second cheek tooth and terminates just into the fourth tooth, the incisive foramina are large, and the skull has a medium forum magnum that resembles the one pictured in Skulls. Unfortunately, we didn't have a mandible to compare, but I feel pretty comfortable calling this a desert cottontail.

Since the ventral view was so helpful in identifying mystery skull #2, we decided to start with the underside in skull #3. Wow - look at those distinctive teeth! This should be easy!

Ventral view

The teeth were distinctive, but not as much as we hoped. We eventually ruled out northern pocket gophers. Like this skull, they have smooth incisors, but the skull shape was all wrong. We went on to rule out other types of pocket gophers and eventually just ended up looking for teeth that matched the skull as I racked my brain to think about what else could be out there. And then we found the muskrat skull. Voilà!

It was a muskrat, not a pocket gopher!

Muskrats are semi-aquatic rodents found all over the United States, including Colorado. The skull has orange, smooth mandibles, the anterior edge of the squamosal has a strong angular projection (look at the squared off ridges protruding over the eyesockets), giving the braincase a 'squared' appearance, and its temporal ridges are developed (look at the back of the skull). The teeth descend in size to the posterior, the first lower molar has five closed triangles or loops, and the incisive foramina (aka the long slits visible in the roof of its mouth in the ventral view) are long and thin, with the posterior edges aligned with the anterior edges of the toothrows.

Elizabeth and I found the skulls quite fascinating. We discussed the distinctive teeth of the muskrat, which is the only mammal of the three to eat underwater. Its short tooth 'plate' allows it to grind tough fibers behind closed lips, which keeps water from running down its throat. We noted the high, rounded skull and facial tilt of the rabbit skull, which may help it to leap and bound - something neither prairie dogs nor muskrats do - by keeping its nose down and out from its line of sight. And we talked about the high post-orbital processes of the prairie dog, which also occur in some squirrels and marmots. These bony barbs help anchor ligaments, pulleys, and other connective tissue, but why do prairie dogs have them when muskrats don't? Were they inherited from a distant ancestor, or do they reflect a more recent evolutionary development. Even though the animals were long gone, their skulls told us a lot about the way they had lived.

We'll look at fish and turtles in the next blog!

Why so many prairie dogs versus other mammals? There is an active colony very close to the nest, just below some large power poles with great cross braces. The eagles can perch right above the colony and wait for an unwary prairie dog to get a little too far from its hole. Prairie dogs are also relatively large and meaty - a nice size dinner for the amount of energy expended catching it!

Interested in ID'ing the skulls of North American animals? Check out Animal Skulls, a Guide to North American Species, by Mark Elbroch. We would not have been able to make ID's without it! 

Did you know that prairie dogs are believed to have a rudimentary language? Given Ma and Pa's presence, I assume they have a call for 'eagle': http://www.npr.org/2011/01/20/132650631/new-language-discovered-prairiedogese 

Live from the Fort St. Vrain Bald Eagle nest!

Back in late August, John and I traveled to Platteville, Colorado, to work with Xcel Energy employees Bill Heston, Tina Lopez, and Naresh Dahagama on an upgrade to the Fort St. Vrain Eagle cam. Over three days, we took down and re-positioned the existing cam, added a new PTZ cam, cleaned up the solar panel area, added two radios and a couple of networked video recorders so plant staff could watch their eagles from the lunchroom again, threw in a couple of network switches to tie everything together, and got an IP camera configured for the Fort St. Vrain owl nest. Those cameras can be watched here: https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/xcel-energy-cams/ or here: http://birdcam.xcelenergy.com/. We did the best we could to position all of the cameras out of poop range!

So what does the area look like? The Fort St. Vrain bald eagles are nesting in a large cottonwood near the junction of the St. Vrain and Platte rivers. A variety of animals drink at the waterhole just below their nest, western painted turtles sun themselves on logs, fish swim in both rivers, and prairie dogs squeal and dig at a large colony roughly 1,000 feet away. Their grove is populated by cottonwood trees with an abundance of perches, which provide great places to sun and shade while searching for potential prey. Like many grassland groves, it is located on the east or leeward side of a river, which serves as a natural firebreak against fires driven by western winds. While life is not always easy here, the eagles' grove is a small oasis in the dry landscape around them.

A look at the nest area. The plant is about 1/2 mile from the nest.

The nest itself measures eight feet, one inch by six feet, seven inches by nine feet, ten inches. The total area is a bit tough to calculate since it sits somewhere between a triangle and an oval, but if I calculate for both and average them, I come up with around 30 square feet. It is about 6.5 feet high, constructed almost entirely out of cottonwood sticks - far and away the dominant tree here - and contains at least three other bird nests. It has excellent flyways - perhaps due in part to stick-snapping and nest-building activities - and favorite perches as indicated by well-worn spots on branches right next to the nest.

A look at the nest! 

What does the nest weigh? Using the method outlined here for calculating a cone - the closest shape I could come up with - yielded a total volume of 103 cubic feet (note that I calculated the radius by averaging the three measurements I had). Cottonwood weighs about 28 pounds per cubic foot, which yields a weight of 2,884 pounds...if the nest were constructed of solid wood. But it isn't, since the eagles weave branches together in a rough spiral. Once the solid weight is multiplied by the fibonacci ratio of 61.8%, we get an estimated weight of around 1,700 pounds. 61.8%, which is also referred to as the golden ratio, or the golden mean, turns up quite a bit in natural series, especially ones that involve spirals. Don't believe it? Check this out: The Golden Ratio In Nature. The Fort St. Vrain nest is larger but, thanks to its cottonwood construction, probably lighter than N2B in Decorah.

Bill Heston. He worked with Bob and Joe on the original Fort St. Vrain camera system.

I knew that the Fort St. Vrain folks liked their eagles, but I really didn't understand how dedicated they were until we got out there. Bill Heston spoiled us with his expert lift operation - it was like riding an elevator to the nest! - and everyone was thrilled to be able to watch the eagles in the lunchroom once again. A thousand thanks to the Xcel Energy team for all of their great help and support! I'd like to come back and bioblitz your land...maybe next year? In addition to a juvenile bald eagle (we did not see either adult), we saw a great blue heron, a flock of wild turkeys, a belted kingfisher, red-tailed hawks, a woodpecker of some sort (it wasn't close enough to ID) prairie dogs, and a rabbit.

Tina Lopez getting ready for the lift!

While we were up in the nest, I decided to collect prey remains. We don't have the necessary permits to take feathers (of which I found only two, both belonging to prey), but there were plenty of skulls and a few turtle shells. I got them home, laid them out on a table, and started ID'ing them. You can read all about that in our next blog!

John Howe in the nest!

Persistence Pays Off – a post by Brett Mandernack about the fitting of D27’s transmitter.

Fitting D27's Transmitter

It is early August and I have one satellite transmitter (or PTT) yet to deploy on a young eagle. Dave and Ann Lynch spent two solid weeks in late June/early July perfecting their craft of artful presentation of fish to the Decorah fledglings, yet the “kids” instead chose to food-beg loud and often and insist Mom or Dad bring them food at the nest. There was no evidence of any of the fledglings ever picking up a fish during that time. In previous years we’ve had multiple fledglings coming to the same spot – the mulch pile – for some easy meals, and usually within just a few days of watching and waiting for our talented trout tossers to appear.

When visitor attendance diminished at the hatchery in late July, all three fledglings were still being spotted with regularity by several of our sharp-eyed eagle watchers. Hatchery biologist Brian Malaise and I kept in touch often and he and his crew again put fish out in the same spot. Lo and behold, the female, D27, began showing interest and eventually took advantage of these easy meals each morning. One of the males was believed to have also helped himself to the free offerings.

We chose Monday, August 7 to attempt to capture whichever youngster decided to come to bait. My wife Carole, Eagle Valley Technician Ryan Schmitz, and I arrived at Willard Holthaus’s shop by 5:15 AM and quickly set the padam noose trap baited with three nice hatchery trout. Weather was perfect: 58 degrees, mostly clear sky, light wind. All equipment and supplies were laid out in the shop in anticipation of a successful capture. Then we watched and waited. A few adult calls were heard from near the nest tree by 6:05. Then at 6:15 an immature eagle appeared from the west just above treetop height. I speculated it was large enough to be female D27. She landed in the maple tree briefly, then headed toward the mulch pile, looped over that area, perhaps checking out what food might be there, then circled back and landed on the mulch pile. We had placed a small trout atop the mulch pile, which she decided looked like a great appetizer. She rather daintily ate the fish and began eying the three trout just two feet away. She walked inside the padam, grabbed a fish or two in a foot, and tugged at them a few times as we all watched intently. When I was convinced she had a noose around a toe or foot, I gave the call to “GO, GO” and Ryan and Brian sprinted ahead to secure her. She was captured at 6:18, hooded, and taken to the shop where she was weighed (9.48 #) and had several measurements taken. The composite of those measurements revealed she is a small female. The entire process of getting measurements, banding, and fitting of the PTT was fluid and seamless.

Within an hour of capture we were ready to release D27 and begin what is likely the final chapter of the Decorah eagle tracking story that began with our beloved D1 back in 2011. After placing her back on the mulch pile, she quickly oriented herself and flew north alongside the N1 Cottonwood tree to settle along Trout Creek.

I cannot imagine a better crew than Carole and Ryan. John Howe, Brian, and friend Andrew Batt documented the entire process with photos and video. And a huge “Thank you!” to Willard for again making his shop available for all of this. What a great example of teamwork by all. I am so thankful for everyone’s input, time, and patience.

After tracking primarily adult eagles since winter 1998-99 to determine migration dynamics in the Upper Midwest, their fidelity to migration routes, as well as fidelity to and mobility on summer and winter ranges, The Eagle Valley Nature Preserve study has recently been focusing on immature eagle travels and observing if/how the migration behavior changes as the birds mature. The Decorah eagles have provided an outstanding opportunity to track eagles of known origin from this region and begin to answer the oft-asked question of “where do the Decorah eagles go when they leave Decorah?”

We encourage all of you to join us in our prayers and positive believing that D27 lives a long, healthy life and the PTT functions properly for several years so we can continue to reveal the intricacies of eagle migration behavior.

Stay tuned: thanks to Brett and crew, we will share D27's travels at http://www.raptorresource.org/eagle-map/.

What's On The Menu at Decorah North Nest? A guest blog by Sherri Elliott

Dad brings in the two-for-one suckerfish special!

It's been a bountiful season for The North's in the quantity of prey hauled home and caught on camera.  A total of 449 meals delivered this year vs 163 meals in all of the last season.

32 meals were enjoyed just by Mr and Mrs North during nestorations and before the first egg was laid,  409 meals delivered to the nest from first egg laid to fledge, and another 8 "picnics in the pasture" post fledge dropped to the fledglings.  That's quite a bounty!  Also noteworthy is the true partnership in procuring the provisions by the parents to provide for their peeps.  Last year it seemed that Mrs. North was more proficient than Mr. North in fishing, hunting, parceling out, or pilfering protein but this year the tally was almost 50/50 with Mrs. North bringing in 231 meals and Mr. North delivering 210 meals to the nest.  The North's seem to practice 'field dressing' prey by breaking down larger animals and bringing in pieces or sections of their protein, but each delivery was counted as a meal. It's almost impossible to determine via long distance food drops the division of duty for the picnic meals, so those 8 meals are tallied as unidentified protein brought by an unidentified parent.

The earlier egg lay this season (more in line with hatchery Decorah Eagles) allowed Mr. and Mrs. North to take advantage of the abundant fish runs of trout and suckers as well as filleted discards from the friendly landowners, more than doubling their haul to 246 fish this year vs 109 fish last year. Special applause to Mr. North on 4-12 for his 2 sucker fish delivery in a one-foot talon hold; and the new record on 5-13 of 9 fish in one day with 8 caught by Mr and 1 from Mrs. North.   Other notable deliveries were 4 fawn heads, and other assorted deliveries of deer legs and quarters;  Mrs. North's preference for 'cowghetti' (stringy cow placenta); and 2 turtles.

What we learned this year is what excellent providers the parents are in purveying provisions for the pantree, and while not a lot is stockpiled like we see at the hatchery nest to the south, the remains are picked clean and dutifully taken to the dump when done.  Both parents took an active role in feeding their offspring and there were several instances where Mr. North would have taken more of a share in feeding if not for Mrs. North's teakettle that she'd be in charge. This may have happened last year but the new microphone at the nest amplified the vocals that we have come to know as common by Mom Decorah, and it was interesting to add to our observations.

Here's the full list of menu items in whole or part.

• Feathered: Birds (6), Chicken and parts (4), Coot (2), Duck (1), Gosling (2), Grouse or Pheasant (3), Turkey or Goose (1).
• Fins: Trout (144), Sucker (44) Fish pieces (58)
• Fur: Deer - Heads (4) and Legs or sections (12), Groundhog or Muskrat (2), Opossum (2), Rabbit (8), Raccoon and pieces (11), Squirrel (6) 
• Reptiles: Turtles (2)
• Rodents:  Field Mice or Voles (4)
• Misc: Cow Placenta (37), Mystery Meat or Unidentified Food Objects (48), Animal legs/feet (4), Pink/Red Innards (24), Bony Meat (12)

More on Great Spirit Bluff

We are getting a lot of questions about the perch design at Great Spirit Bluff. Are falcons jumping because the perches are poorly designed? No - they are jumping because of an unusually early and intense (what we call explosive) - emergence of adult black flies.

Why are we so sure? The sites at which we have platforms (Xcel Energy's Allen S. King and Sherco plants, for example) don't have better production records than the sites at which we don't (every cliff site, sill-mounted sites at power plants, and stackhouse sites, to name a few).  Great Spirit Bluff didn't begin having problems until our first black fly hatch in 2013. As you can see below, the only exception was 2008, and I suspect we had a new female (probably Michelle's first year) because the nest chronology really went very late, shifted early the next year, and stayed early. We installed the nest box here in 2003, falcons adopted it in 2005, and we put it online in 2011. Here is what the record looks like. You can check it for yourself at http://www.raptorresource.org/about-us/annual-reports-and-papers/

• 2005 - 4 falcons produced
• 2006 - 3 falcons produced
• 2007 - 3 falcons produced
• 2008 - 1 falcon produced
• 2009 - 4 falcons produced
• 2010 - 4 falcons produced 
• 2011 - 4 falcons produced
• 2012 - 3 falcons produced
• In 2013, we banded four young. All of them stampeded from the nest following a blackfly swarm. We recovered one from the ground below the cliff and transplanted him to a nestbox with two young of the same age. He survived and fledged just fine. Two other falcons must have survived and been fed by the parents, because they showed up at the nestbox one day, all feathered out and looking great. One probably died - we never saw it again and it hasn't turned up anywhere else yet.
• In 2014, only one egg hatched. Watchers might remember that as a really brutal spring. We banded the lone male, but he stampeded from the nest box at about 30 days of age following a black fly swarm. We found him below the bluff with our cameras and monitored him as his parents cared for him. He fledged just fine. 
• 2015 - 4 falcons produced
• 2016 - 4 falcons produced
• In 2017, two young falcons died following a black fly swarm. We recovered both carcasses, did a field examination on one (referencing 'Managing Peregrine falcon at the Eyrie' by Cade), and took the other into the U of MN for an autopsy. We are still waiting for the results from U MN. The one we examined had multiple bites along the edges of both wings, its wingpits,  the skin around its eyes, and its cere, It had a couple of bites (but not many) in its thighpits. There were no bites or sign of insects in its mouth, its nares, or its nasal passages. I did a field examination on the two survivors when we banded Sunday, and neither one of them were nearly as badly.

A couple of comments on 2017 - the swarm was earlier than we have ever seen it and we have never at ANY of our cammed sites seen young falcons venturing outside at roughly 17 days of age. Not on platforms. Not on bars. Not ever, not anywhere.

We are researching ways to design a box that will minimize black fly swarming and offer a slightly larger platform, but if this is a problem with the falcons we watch, it is also a problem for countless birds we can't see. It is time to start thinking about ways that climate change is impacting the birds we watch and love and the birds we love but can't see. If we don't recognize the problem or confine the problem only to what we can see, we can't make a difference.

So why do we think the falcons died? We are still waiting for autopsy results, but black flies are a vector for blood parasites that kill young birds with undeveloped immune systems. A link: http://www.arcticraptors.ca/pdf_docs/Arctic69-3-281.pdf. Whether or not you understand that climate change is linked to anthropomorphic activity, use your favorite search tool to learn about climate change, black flies, and mosquitoes, just to name a few. 

Black flies and falcon deaths at GSB

As watchers of Great Spirit Bluff know, we lost two falcons to black flies/buffalo gnats. The young falcons died from blood loss and a blood pathogen carried by black flies. The immune systems of adults can handle the pathogen, but young birds often can't. Although none of us believe that the flies came from within the box, we'll take a sample of gravel for examination as well.

We've had black fly problems here in the past. In 2013 and 2014, young falcons were stampeded from the box in mid-June, when they were roughly 30 days of age. But that we know, we've never had a serious problem this early. Why are black flies swarming the box now? It is a more complicated answer than you might think.

Which black fly is this? There are 30 species of black flies in Minnesota, but not all of them are good candidates for this location. For example, it probably isn't Simulium johannseni (develops primarily in the Crow River) or Simulium meridionale (develops primarily in the Minnesota and Crow rivers), but ruling out those two still leaves 28 possibilities. Although black flies as a whole are grouped into one family (Simuliidae), black fly species have very different life styles.  It would be helpful to know which species we are dealing with.

What does its life cycle look like? From Purdue: "The length of time it takes an egg to hatch varies greatly from species to species. Eggs of most species hatch in 4-30 days, but those of certain species may not hatch for a period of several months or longer.  The number of larval stages ranges from 4-9, with 7 being the usual number.  The duration of larval development ranges from 1-6 months, depending in part on water temperature and food supply. The life cycle stage that passes though winter is the last stage larva attached underwater to rocks, driftwood, and concrete surfaces such as dams and sides of man-made channels."  In short, the eggs for the 2017 hatch were most likely laid in 2016. The larvae emerged somewhere between one month ago or six months ago. When I compared average April temperature and precipitation for the area for every year between 2013 and 2017, I found that April 2017 was the warmest, if not by much.

	Average Temp (F)	Average Precip (inches)
April 2017	53	4.87
April 2016	50	1.08
April 2015	51	4.16
April 2014	45	7.03
April 2013	43	6.11

The complicated structure of black fly life means that we also need to look at the conditions last fall and winter, which were unusually warm and dry. Did more eggs and larva stay local given the lower river current? Did more larva survive given the unusually mild conditions? Did the slightly warmer April weather lead to an earlier season? Did sun and warm temperatures following days of cold and rain lead to an explosive hatch? John noted that the swarm seemed to blow up and fade very quickly. This video shows 'those dreaded flies': https://youtu.be/Rua_nnLF6TE

Can we control them?
We are looking into it, but we don't have an easy answer yet. We need something that doesn't volatilize since we can't descend to the box every day to spray it. It has to be strong enough to kill flies but not strong enough to harm hatchling and nestling falcons. It can't destroy the integrity of the box or let too much precipitation or wind in through the side. We are contacting the University of Minnesota's insect extension team to pick their brains and have also emailed Dr. Laura Johnson about safe possibilities. John and Susan had an intriguing idea about soaking mesh scrubbies in some known organic repellents and securing them in a safe location inside the nest box, so we may try that as well.

I wish we had more answers for everyone now. We'll do what we can and post more information when we have it.

A Peregrine falcon at the Decorah North Nest!

Peregrine falcon, Decorah North Nest

A sharp-eyed camera operator spotted an unbanded adult peregrine falcon at the Decorah North Nest this morning: https://youtu.be/HyVFISzaqOQ. What a surprise, especially given that there are no cliffs or large rock faces in the immediate area! As we've seen, the North nest is on a flyway of sorts. While almost all of the falcons we watch are on eggs right now, this could be a 'floater' - an unpaired adult falcon with no home territory. If we start seeing or hearing it on a regular basis, we'll need to figure out what it is doing in the area.

Although it isn't common, tree nesting has been documented in peregrine falcons in the United States as recently as 2013. The authors of the short communication Tree-Nesting by Peregrine Falcons in North America: Historical and Additional Records reviewed literature and found 33 North American records of peregrine falcons nesting in trees or snags in Alaska, Kansas, Illinois, Tennessee, Louisiana, Virginia, and British Columbia. However, their field research indicates that tree nesting could be more common than the literature suggests.

Of the 33 tree nests recorded between 1867 and 2007, nine were in tree cavities, nine were in the nests of other raptors (most commonly bald eagles), four were in bole 'platforms' created by a large tree breaking or snapping, and ten were unspecified. Of the nine nests found by the researchers between 1998 and 2013 in California and Washington state, six were in bole platforms, one was in a very large snag, and two were in bald eagle nests.

Peregrine falcons tend to imprint on nest sites, so would they be likely to cross over to trees on their own? The re-establishment of tree nesting peregrines in Europe didn't occur until fledgling peregrine falcons were tree-hacked in a process very similar to Bob's cliff release program. But peregrine falcons have taken over osprey nests with no assistance or direction in New York and New Jersey, and the breeding sites reported by Buchanan, Hamm, Salzer, Diller, and Chinnici are the first documented tree nests used by Peregrine Falcons in Washington and California, the first use of redwoods, Douglas-firs, and grand firs ever recorded, and the first reported snag use by peregrines in North America in over 60 years. As the authors state, Additional records of tree-nesting might
be expected if Peregrine Falcon populations continue to increase beyond levels already thought to have exceeded historical abundance (Ratcliffe 1993, Hayes and Buchanan 2002). Given the platform and tree nests in New York, New Jersey, California, and Washington state, it seems that peregrines can change their nesting behavior, although we don't know how likely they are to do so.

One appearance near a bald eagle nest does not make a tree-nesting peregrine population make, but a peregrine in an unexpected place is always exciting to see and we'll keep everybody posted!

Links

• Tree-Nesting by Peregrine Falcons in North America: Historical and Additional Records: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3356/JRR-13-25.1
• World's fastest animal takes New York (comment on peregrine takeover of the Jamaican Bay osprey nest): http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-worlds-fastest-animal-takes-new-york-12317871/
• New Jersey peregrine falcon report (comment on Meadowlands nest): http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/pefa14_report.pdf

A quick end note: as many of you know, Bob identified the 'bird mounds' at Effigy Mounds (and other places) as peregrine falcons in part because they were shaped like peregrine falcons and in part because they were often located near historical peregrine eyries. His research on that can be read here: https://raptorresource.blogspot.com/2015/08/falcon-effigies-of-upper-mississippi.html. When Bob was asked about falcon mounds in places with no cliffs or falcons, such as the Five Hawks effigy mounds once located near Prior Lake, Minnesota, he replied that there had probably been tree-nesting peregrine falcons in the area when the mound builders were active. While we can't know for sure, it is wonderful to think that there may have been tree nesting peregrines in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin a very long time ago. 

Eaglet Growth and Development: Week Four

Top to bottom:
Decorah N2B, Decorah North,
Xcel Fort St. Vrain

Most of our eaglets are in their fourth week of life: 26, 25, and 22 days old at N2B in Decorah, 27 and 26 days old at the Decorah North nest, and 31 and 29 days old at the Xcel Energy Fort St. Vrain nest. Over the past 16 days, we've seen eaglet footpads and legs growing and turning yellow, talons darkening from taupe to black, grey thermal down replacing white natal down, and pinfeathers emerging from eaglet wingtips. The eaglets have started coughing up pellets, playing 'house' (moving grasses and other nesting material around), and taking their first steps towards self-feeding (https://youtu.be/IPkJ6kgYFHs). As their vision, coordination, and strength have improved, the eaglets have expanded nest explorations and started to track events outside their nests, although they also spend a lot time sleeping off big meals and cuddling or even hiding under piles of grass in the cooler, wetter weather at both Iowa nests.

Several watchers have asked if the eaglets are going to fledge soon given their size.  No - as hard as it is to believe, we still have roughly 50 days until fledge at both Decorah nests and 45'ish days until fledge at Fort St. Vrain! Eagles grow very rapidly in their first thirty-five to forty days of life, gaining weight and building bones, muscles, tissue, and features like tarsi, footpads, toes, and claws. But during an eagle's fifth week of life (28 to 35 days), feather growth starts to overtake structural growth. Pinfeathers grow from eaglet wings, tails, and backs; beak, leg, and footpad growth all slow; and wing growth speeds up. So what can we look forward to in the coming week? Remember, the eaglets we are watching range from 22 days (D28 is just starting its fourth week) through 31 days (FSV34 is about halfway through its fifth week).

• The eaglets should start standing on their feet. This will change nest exploration and poop-shoots. Look out below!
• Natal down mohawks will vanish and dark deck feather growth will accelerate. Look for the eaglets' feather 'cloaks' to start filling in.
• Still enclosed in their keratin sheaths, eaglet pinfeathers will grow longer. 
• We may be treated to the beginning of wingercizing sessions! Once the eaglets can stand, they can really begin exploring their wings. 

By the end of their fourth week, the eaglets could be standing. By the end of their fifth week, they will be standing and could be starting to walk. I have no doubt that many of us will be mouse-clicking, shoeing, and blowing to get inquisitive eaglets back into the center of the nest as they widen their explorations and begin broadening their horizons! We will also see changes in behavior. Although the eaglets continue to compete for food, baby bonking has mostly ceased. This always makes me wonder what functions it serves. We know bonking strengthens muscles, aids coordination, and helps improve eyesight. Does food competition lead to greater food intake, helping to fuel an eaglet's rapid growth? Does it lay the ground for future social interaction, which includes plenty of body language, vocalization, and dominant/submissive interaction? Does it give parents information about an eaglet's overall heath, or help prompt provisioning? Or is it simply replaced by a new suite of physical behaviors as the eaglets begin to explore the nest and enter the next phase of nestling life? Bonking may have ended, but the eaglets are starting to play with sticks, move towards a full stand, and expand their explorations of the nest.

While we've been making guesses at gender, the weight of the two sexes begins to separate as females gain weight faster than males.  Sex takes over from age as a size determinant around 50-60 days. But cameras can be tricky and clutches can have large males and small females or be all one sex, making ID impossible without measurements or a genetic test. We'll have a lot of fun seeing if size conforms to our observations based on what we have seen of beak size, commissure extension, and other traits, and I can hardly wait for food tearing and wingercizing!

---

The general stages of eagle development are:

Stage 1 - Structural growth. In their first thirty-five to forty days of life, eagles grow very rapidly, gaining weight and building bones, muscles, tissue, and features like tarsi, footpads, toes, and claws. This phase of development slows down about halfway through an eaglet's time in the nest, even though individual features might continue some level of growth.

Stage 2 - Feather and flight-related growth. Eagles grow four sets of feathers - natal down inside the egg, thermal down, juvenile feathers, and adult feathers. Thermal down starts growing at about ten days, juvenile deck feathers at about 20-23 days and juvenile flight feathers at about 27 days, but feather growth doesn't overtake structural growth until thirty-five to forty days after hatch. Flight muscles also begin growing as eaglets wingercize, flap, hover, and eventually branch and fledge.

Stage 3 - Neurological Coordination. Eagle watchers know how ungainly eaglets can seem! As they grow, they become more adept at controlling beaks, legs, wings, and feet. They learn to stand on their own feet, tear food, self-feed, and flap their wings, going from cute but clumsy clown clompers to graceful young eaglets poised at the edge of fledge.

So where is our cortical homunculus in weeks 3-4? I'd tend to think that legs, feet, and wings are accelerating in importance this week, leading important behaviors like standing, tearing, and flapping! I also wonder what impressions are being made now that they are beginning to pay attention to the outside world. The nest and eagles always have more to teach us!

Things that helped me write this blog, with a few considerations:

• Eaglet weight and growth is based on Gary Bortolotti's work with eaglets at Besnard Lake in Canada. It is possible that our eaglets are a little smaller than his, since Bald eagles get bigger the farther north one travels: a phenomena known as Bergmann's Rule. Bortolotti's paper makes for interesting reading and provides a great look at the work involved in field science. Citation: Physical Development of Nestling Bald Eagles with Emphasis on the Timing of Growth Events, The Wilson Bulletin, Vol. 96, No. 4 (Dec., 1984), pp. 524-54. https://www.usask.ca/biology/bortolotti/pubs/wb96-4-524-542.pdf
• Mouseunculus: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/24/mouseunculus-how-the-brain-draws-a-little-you/
• Homunculus: http://io9.com/5670064/how-your-brain-sees-your-body-meet-the-cortical-homunculus
• Input from Bob Anderson, who imparted much wisdom and information before he passed.
• RRP moderators and their calendars, lists, books, charts, and personal observations.