Cayce Rules Rock City

Posted by dkrashb on July 4, 2013

Cayce mid-air (Photo by Patrick Murray)

Cayce and I have come to an understanding. I understand that I am below her in her pecking order. She understands that I will wear tall boots to avoid having chunks of my legs removed. It’s not a particularly equitable understanding. But it’s an understanding none-the-less.

This is a new development in our relationship. When I just occasionally appeared in her life, she treated me like a guest. She frolicked and flew and ate chunks of beef out of my hand without so much as an aggressive blink.

Launching Cayce back to John (Photo by Patrick Murray)

Now that I’m appearing on a regular basis, she seems to have decided I need to be put in my place. And that place is below her place. It’s not like she’s every caught me eating her food (not into raw beef, thank you very much). But, familiarity bred contempt. Or at least attitude.

When I am backstage at the Rock City Raptors amphitheater, I have to be careful not to stand too close to her enclosure. She sits on a perch on the inside of the door and reaches through the mesh to peck at whatever part of me is in reach. During our part in the program, she runs at my legs and attempts to peck me. Given that her beak is designed to tear open flesh, there is the potential she will draw blood–in fact, she’s bloodied John’s legs on more than one occasion (he also has the joy of being lower than Cayce in the pecking order).

Cayce changing direction mid-flight out of pure orneriness (Photo by Patrick Murray)

This has led to my latest fashion statement: cowboy boots and shorts. She can bite my boots all she wants and I can’t feel a thing. However, Cayce is a sly one. About the second time she encountered my counter measures, she reached high and nipped at the exposed flesh above my boot.

Apparently having to reach above my boot was quite irritating to her. Her next antic was to turn and bit the inside of my arm between my sleeve and my glove in the middle of a program. And that wasn’t enough for her. She’s also taken to biting the hand that feeds her when she takes her food out of my hand. I used to just stuff a piece of beef into a loosely held fist and let her stick her beak in to retrieve it. Now I have to make sure I keep my hand circling her beak when she twists her head–otherwise she clamps down on my hand.

A small mark inside my bicep post-program (Photo by Dale Kernahan)

Oddly, I’m somewhat flattered by this attention. It’s as if she’s decided I’m part of her human flock and order must be established. I feel I have moved from the casual visitor to someone who belongs, even if it’s at the bottom of Cayce’s hierarchy.

What that little nip looked like 2 days later (photo by me in an awkward pose with my iPhone)

I just wish “pecking order” weren’t quite so literal. Although, I do get special pleasure out of answering anyone who asks about the bruise on my arm with a casual, “Oh, a Black Vulture bit me.”

Cautiously feeding Cayce (Photo by Patrick Murray)

See Rock City

Posted by dkrashb on July 3, 2013

Cody getting ready to fly

(All photos in today’s post by my husband, Patrick Murray.)

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that I have 3 parts to learn to take on the assistant’s role in the Rock City Raptors program. In reality, the assistant normally has 5 parts. However, to make it easier on a newbie like me, we will work around 2 of the parts when I’m subbing as the assistant.

One of the parts we’ll skip is with Cody, the Red-tailed Hawk. Cody is even less reliable than Theo when it comes to flying. Dale and John joke during the show that they have a radio transmitter on Cody in case he decides to go “See Rock City” when they fly him, but it’s not really a joke. He’s been known to take off in the middle of a program and fly off into the trees if something has upset him. Things that upset Cody can range from someone standing up unexpectedly in the audience to a wild hawk flying by to a sudden whim.

Cody makes the flight

The odds that he might fly off are increased if Dale isn’t his target. Dale seems to have a special bond with most of the birds. Cody is no exception.

When it’s time for Cody to fly to Dale during the program, Dale takes a stance that communicates “Fly right here!” with every fiber of her body. It seems to work most of the time–I have yet to witness Cody flying anywhere other than straight to Dale.

If determining where Cody will fly to is a problem, deciding whether he will fly at all is another. The morning conversation goes something like this:

“Are we flying Cody today?”

“Well . . . we’ll see if he starts vocalizing.”

Then, as the first program starts, “Are we flying Cody?”

Dale makes the call based on whether Cody is exhibiting high energy behavior, I guess. I haven’t asked her exactly what it means when Cody is making noises that makes it more likely that he will fly.

Cody looking like he’s overcome his fear of hunting

There is a backup plan for when Cody isn’t going to fly. On those days, Dale walks through the crowd with Cody on her glove while a video of flying Red-tailed hawks plays. It’s not quite as exciting as seeing Cody fly in person, but it’s less stressful than trying to convince Cody he wants to fly in the middle of a program.

I will not be walking through the audience with Cody on my glove. Cody baits even more than Theo. And, Cody is a Red-tailed hawk with giant talons that would do much more damage if I put my bare arm in the wrong place trying to help him back on the glove as I did with Theo.

I appreciate Dale and John’s concern for my safety. I also appreciate their willingness to let me practice during low-risk times like carrying Cody from his outdoor perch back to his enclosure before the audience shows up. I just need to learn to watch out for the stairs!

Tisen relaxing on the couch after spending the morning at doggie daycare while I was playing with the birds

Theo-logy

Posted by dkrashb on July 2, 2013

Theo sitting calmly while I walk and talk

(All photos in today’s post by my husband, Patrick Murray.)

I have 3 parts in the Rock City Raptors program. The first is with Screech Owls (see yesterday’s post). My second is with Theo, a Barn Owl. Theo doesn’t always want to sit on the glove. He baits. A lot. When he baits, he spreads his wings and flaps.

Now, a Barn Owl looks small and innocent when you see him sitting quietly–head to tail they are about the same length as a crow. But when he spreads his wings, which can be over 40” long, he suddenly becomes an enormous bird.

Part of my job is to keep him from hitting anyone when he baits. )Anyone, that is, other than me. I’ve taken quite a few wing beats in the face of late.)

Theo and I facing the same way

This can be rather tricky when you’re making sure you say all the right lines and stepping through a crowd with an owl on your glove. To ease me into the part, at first I just did the talking while Dale walked through the audience with Theo.

This past Saturday was my debut at talking and walking with Theo. He baited a few times, but I held him high enough that he couldn’t hit anyone.

The only real mishap was when I looked away for a second to find a place to step other than on the feet of an audience member. When I turned back to Theo, it was just in time to see a something that looked suspiciously like a giant wad of wet owl poop falling directly toward the man seated below me. I tried to do a check to make sure he didn’t get hit without missing any lines. I’m not sure if I checked thoroughly enough, but I didn’t see any splatter–with owl poop, there will be splatter.

Theo in flight

Since Theo is a finicky flier, we decided not to have me fly him this Saturday. I handed him off to Dale so she could fly him with John.

We had done an educational program for a group of students earlier in the week and Theo had baited and baited and baited like he couldn’t wait to fly. He smacked me in the face repeatedly as I tried to adjust my hand to get him in a position where he would settle down.

At once point, he got himself upside down and when I reached over with my bare hand to help him up, he accidentally grabbed my arm. I was proud of myself for not panicking–I managed to extract his claws from my flesh with only a few minor scratches and the audience didn’t seem to notice.

Then, once it was time to fly, he suddenly sat back and relaxed on the glove like he would be content to sit there all day and nap. So, it seemed like a good plan to hand Theo off to Dale to fly him. He did fly for her at Rock City. He flew like a champ.

Theo coming in for a landing on Dale’s glove

Baby, You’re Not Quite a Star

Posted by dkrashb on July 1, 2013

Me making my way carefully through the crowd with Buddy and Jerry

Today’s photos are by my husband, Patrick Murray, shooting with the Canon Rebel T4i.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been in training on Saturday mornings. I am learning how to be the assistant in the Rock City Raptor’s program so I can cover for a vacation.

The problem, of course, is that I cannot both perform in the program and take photos. I was quite happy that my husband made some time to come up and watch a program and take some pictures.

John with Gilbert, the American Kestrel

It’s amazing how quickly things get confusing back stage–a DVD player failed a couple weeks ago and was replaced by a smaller one. There are 2 DVD players and the one that failed was on the bottom. The new, smaller one is now on top. All of my notes refer to top and bottom. This means having to do a mental flip-flop when I try to remember which machine I need to do something with. It’s irritating how this small change can put my brain into what computer geeks call “thrashing.”

But, after many Saturdays, some things are starting to come together. I am now, for example, able to walk around with both Buddy and Jerry on my glove and get through the Screech Owl script without forgetting much of it. I’ve now managed to walk through the audience, stepping over people sitting on the steps, and stepping up on what can be slippery rocks without hurting myself.

John with Artie, the Barred Owl

Although, I did fall before the show because I was carrying Cody (the red-tailed hawk) next to a wall and was following instructions to keep my body between Cody and any objects that he might hit should he decide to bait (fly up from the glove), which he does frequently. In my determination to protect Cody, I forgot that I was about to go up stairs and fell up the stairs. Cody, ironically, stayed calmly on my glove through the whole thing.

I have a few days worth of Pat’s photos (I did quite a bit of post-processing), so here are just a few from the first few birds in the program. The last image is a post-show image. At the end of the program, I take Buddy (one of the screech owls) out and let people touch him.

This is probably my favorite part. Since I don’t have to walk through the crowd, make sure the microphone is picking up my voice, or worry about saying the right things at the right time (so I cue someone else to do their part), I can really enjoy the looks on people’s faces when they touch an owl for the first time.

I also get to hear their stories and answer their questions in a more one-on-one kind of basis. What’s really cool is hearing people comment about how much they enjoyed the program and, especially, the new things they learned.

Buddy wowing the crowd one last time

When Work is Play

Posted by dkrashb on June 3, 2013

Osceola (or “Ocie”) seems fascinated by my camera

I have the opportunity to fill in for a friend of mine from Wings to Soar (formerly Save Our American Raptors) for a weekend. I will be doing her part of the birds of prey show at Rock City–the Rock City Raptors.

In preparation for my debut as a raptor handler, Saturday morning I made my way (after a few wrong turns because I made the mistake of listening to my GPS instead of following the hundreds of signs that guide visitors from all over the world successfully) to Rock City for my first lesson on what to do back stage. When you sit in the audience and take pictures, it all seems so simple. Music plays. A video plays. Someone talks. Birds appear. Birds fly. Everyone laughs and applauds and looks amazed. Then we go home.

Buddy makes a great model when it comes to holding still–the only problem is getting her to look at the camera

Back stage, things look a lot more complicated. It never occurred to me that there was some pretty major choreography going on back stage to get that music and video happening and to keep the timing just right between the two presenters, Dale and John.

I took 5 pages of notes just on the transitions of media and movement of people and birds during the 45 minute show. I didn’t even try to write down the things that John and Dale say about the birds during the show. I’m counting on Dale to provide me a script for my parts for next weekend, when I get my second lesson.

These visitors take advantage of what may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have their photo taken with a Hang Gliding Bald Eagle

Backstage, videos have to be queued up and started at the right time. There are two machines to play videos and music and a mixer to manage the volumes. There is a rhythm (I suspect–I haven’t found it yet) to popping discs in and out, starting them, stopping them, fading them out, etc. In all, 16 discs are used during the 45 minute program.

I had trouble keeping up with all the disc changes, stops, and starts even when all I was doing was taking notes.

A family chats with John after the show, clearly fascinated by the birds

I, of course, didn’t have a chance to take pictures during the show. It did, however, occur to me that perhaps I should try wearing a helmet video camera next week just to see what I get. We’ll see if I can find the old Go Pro camera and get it charged and working again in time. We’ll also see if John and Dale laugh at me so much that we find I can’t wear the helmet cam while working!

I did manage to get some shots after the show. John and Dale always stay out with a Bald Eagle for people to get their photos next to and a Screech Owl that they can actually touch. I grabbed a couple of quick shots during this time, but then there was just enough time to go to the restroom, pick up some lunch, and get ready for the next show.

Osceola takes a close look at Dale

The 45 minutes of that first show were the fastest 45 minutes I’ve ever experienced.

John pretends to lounge for about 30 seconds between shows in the backstage shadows

Birdathon Awards

Posted by dkrashb on May 13, 2013

The winner with the most observed birds in the elementary age group celebrated with his family, but his sister wasn’t so excited

Our first annual Birdathon to raise money for the Chattanooga Audubon Society came to close this Saturday when we gathered together to award prizes. Due to the fickle weather that fluctuated between sunshine and pouring rain every half hour or so, the event was moved into the visitor’s center.

This little one wasn’t a birder, but she sure enjoyed modeling

The event kicked off with hot dog roasting over the fire. However, the use of the fireplace had to be timed carefully–the Chimney Swifts nesting in the chimney are only out so long in the evening and we wanted to make sure we didn’t asphyxiate them with smoke when they came back to roost for the night.

We didn’t have to worry about the heat–the fire didn’t get hot enough to roast the marshmallows at the end of the evening. This was probably for the best.

It was a lot of fun to meet the kids who participated and discover how much they and their families had learned about birds in the process of Birdathoning. They had a similar experience to what I think most birders have when they get started–the sudden realization that we’ve been missing an entire world of incredible creatures that surround us every day.

Kyle MC’d for the Evening

Birding can be addictive. It creates a sense that someone has been pulling one over on you and you become determined not to let them get away with it anymore. Like you’ve been part of a big cosmic joke because you haven’t noticed the Hooded Warbler singing over your head or the Scarlet Tanager feeding in the tree tops.

Most Bird Species Identified Award (prize of a bird feeder not shown)

It’s a great analogy for how many of us live our lives–so busy and so worried all the time–thinking, thinking, thinking–that we don’t notice where we are or what’s around us. For me, listening for birds, watching for birds, spending time looking at them carefully and listening to their songs to really see them, really know them is not just a process of identifying a bird; it’s an experience of seeing and hearing with intention and purpose. Of seeing with intensity more of the world that is and less of the world in my head. And being rewarded with wonder and awe in return for paying attention.

The top fund raiser award (who also got a bird feeder)

All in all, it was a satisfying first go. We raised a fair amount of money for a small band of 23 people. We got 19 children interested in birding and their moms got excited about it, too. We had a lot of fun in the process and some of us added many birds to their life-lists (myself included). I got to bird with several talented birders who taught me new things, and I even got a couple of decent shots of birds in the process.

Certificates were also given to “judge” participants who weren’t eligible for prizes–Linda identified 123 birds during the event

If that wasn’t satisfaction enough, I was given a really nice gift by my fellow organizers for importing the event from Columbus and helping to plan it. They even gave me flowers. I felt a little guilty, but it was nice to be appreciated.

A Walk in the Park

Posted by dkrashb on May 10, 2013

The native lens in the iPhone does not make for a great way to capture Great Blue Heron

Today when Tisen and I made our morning round of the park and I spotted a Great Blue Heron hanging out on the railing of the bridge, I promptly reached into my pocket and pulled out the only camera I had with me, my iPhone.

Now, I use my iPhone for work even though it’s my personal phone. This is an example of what corporations now call “work-life integration.” I remember when it used to be called, “work-life balance.” I have the advantage that I need only have one phone number and one device. The company has the advantage that they don’t have to pay for my service. I suppose it’s win-win.

I’m sneaking up on the heron. Can you seem him yet?

I mention this because one of the really horrific disadvantages to using my personal iPhone for work is my company requires special security before they’ll allow corporate email on a mobile device. That security prevents the camera from starting without unlocking the phone. It also forces me to use a long password with special characters that, on average, take me 3 attempts to type in correctly.

So, back to our Blue Heron, here I am, walking in the park. I spot a Great Blue Heron on the railing up ahead. I tell Tisen “Wait” as I pull my phone out of my back pocket. While holding the leash and trying to see the screen in bright sunlight and with sunglasses on, I use my thumbs to key in my password.

Can you see him now? (Hint: he flew to the left)

Cultural note: the phrase “All Thumbs,” as in, “She tried to enter her password, but she was all thumbs,” should have been a really strong indicator to the inventors of smart phones that a keyboard requiring you to type using only your thumbs might not be the best answer.

I get an error message. I look up. Heron hasn’t moved. I enter my password again. I get another error. I curse under my breath and check the bird again. Still there. I try a third time and just as I am about to hit the return key, Tisen moves, pulling the leash, which moves my left hand, which jerks the phone and causes me to hit an extra key as I hit the return key. 3rd strike. My phone is now counting down until the self-destruct sequence begins. I frantically enter my password one more time. The planets align! I get my phone unlocked, my camera app open, and the heron is still sitting there!

Now you can at least see a silhouette!

However, as you can see from the photos, perhaps there are times when it truly is better not to have a camera at all. The Camera! app was not set in rapid fire mode. It took far too long to shoot to capture the heron taking off from the railing. Of course, with no optical zoom (my mini-telephoto lenses back at home), I’m not sure it’s possible to actually tell where the heron is in most of the images in any case.

Tisen giving me the “Oh mom, you’re so crazy” look

Mind the Gap

Posted by dkrashb on May 2, 2013

A Red-winged Blackbird takes a stroll in the grass

I would now like to take a moment to interrupt your regularly scheduled program. I discovered a set of photos from my last solo bird walk of the Birdathon over a week ago. I suppose I was getting tired of posting bad pictures of birds and writing about bird walks, so maybe it was a Freudian slip?

A roosting coot

In any case, on the last day of the Birdathon, I decided to take a drive over to Standifer Gap Marsh for the second time. It was a long shot given it was going to be about 1PM in the afternoon when I arrived (the worst time for birding) and it was hot and sunny out. But, needing 10 more species to get to my goal of 100, and knowing that the marsh is well known for Least Bitterns and Virginia Rails, I thought is was worth taking the chance.

Turtles trying to escape over the fence

Tisen and I arrived to discover a completely empty parking lot. We got out of the car and spotted our first bird–a Red-winged Blackbird. This was not very exciting since we see Red-winged Blackbirds every time we walk the park outside our building, but I did take a few shots of it. I managed to get one of it walking, which was kind of fun.

I really thought this was another Yellow-rumped Warbler in the field, but in looking at the photo, I think this must be a Magnolia Warbler

We walked slowing along the road that goes between two parts of the marsh, looking on either side to see if we could spot anything really exciting. The bad part about going birding some where new and hoping to see something even newer is that the odds of me feeling confident that I’ve correctly identified whatever it was are pretty slim, meaning I pretty much needed to get a good enough photo to identify it later and get confirmation from someone else. That’s a lot of pressure when you’re birding in the middle of the afternoon and walking a dog at the same time. Of course, that would have been a good problem to have.

Yellow-rumped finding a snack to fuel up for a long flight

As it was, I spotted a coot hanging out in broad daylight taking a nap on top of a broken off snag in the marsh, endless numbers of turtles, and a gaggle of Canada geese in the nearby soccer field before deciding we’d had enough sunshine and heading back into the wooded part of the park.

One more shot of my hungry friend

The woods were quite nice. Tisen got to walk off lead, exploring ahead and behind me while I cranked back my neck and looked for Warblers. I heard several different warblers, but am a bit rusty on my warbler songs, so I didn’t feel certain I could correctly identify them by song. The one I saw and then saw again and then saw some more until I was rather tired of seeing it was the Yellow-rumped Warbler. It makes me laugh how quickly we go from being amazed to annoyed when someone becomes overly familiar.

More content turtles hanging out in the marsh

In the end, I found no new birds, but Tisen and I enjoyed our walk.

Gina and the Magnolia Warbler

Posted by dkrashb on April 30, 2013

This Magnolia Warbler remains perched all day

The next hardest part after getting someone to agree to pose for you is to find a setting to shoot them in. Lucky for me, the ravine at the end of Gina and Gill’s street provided a lovely backdrop.

After seeing the critters that had been collected in the ravine that day (see yesterday’s post), we paused to check out Gina’s bird under the overpass. A group of people had gotten together to raise money to have a mural painted under an overpass in the ravine.

Gina’s Magnolia is a bit bigger than life-sized

The idea was less about making it pretty and more about preventing people from touting whom they love in the not-so-public forum of graffiti on rarely seen walls. Interestingly, graffiti artists do not usually graffiti over top of someone else’s art. So, putting a mural on a space that gets graffitied a lot can be effective when it comes to combatting the problem.

I am particularly fond of the bird mural in Gina’s neighborhood ravine. Gina and Gill sponsored the painting of a Magnolia Warbler. They didn’t know they were sponsoring a Magnolia Warbler until after it was done and they were informed of what type of bird they had funded.

What’s that birdie on your shoulder?

The Magnolia Warbler is partially responsible for growing my interest in birds sufficiently that I started learning more about them. My mom had tried to get me interested in birds for many years. I did have some interest, but not enough to go out and learn much beyond feeder birds. Then, I met a woman at work who asked me to sponsor her in a fund raiser for the local chapter of the Audubon. This is when I first learned to open my ears and eyes and see birds I would have sworn I’d never seen before.

With a little more flash

One spring, I was working from home back when my office window looked out into several trees. As I sat at my desk diligently working, I looked up briefly–just long enough to notice a beautiful small bird sitting on a branch. I watched it as long as I dared. I was torn between running upstairs for the bird book to identify it and staring at it for as long as possible so I could sear the image of the bird into my brain and identify it later.

Creating a little drama with a Snoot

Realizing I didn’t really know (yet) what to look for and probably would have forgotten the bird by the time I got to the bird book, I decided to make a run for it and see if I could get the book and get back before the bird flew away. I didn’t, but I did manage to remember what it looked like. Of course, it took both looking it up in a bird book and talking to my friend the next day to confirm that it probably was a Magnolia Warbler I’d seen before I believed it.

It was such a surprise to learn such small, beautiful birds are really a common sight.

What a beautiful day in the park

Hawk Hunt

Posted by dkrashb on April 26, 2013

One of the best wren shots I’ve managed to capture–this little guy posed about 6 feet away from me

On a Saturday afternoon, with only 1 day left in a “Birdathon” (a competition to find as many bird species as possible in a 3-week period), what’s a girl to do after returning home from spending 3 ½ hours wandering around a wetland looking for birds?

You guessed it–go look for more birds. Never mind that it’s the afternoon and not exactly prime birding. Never mind that I’d just spend all morning walking around straining my neck. Never mind that I had a dog that needed to go for a walk.

There was still a good chance of picking up a species or two in the afternoon, I would drive to the trailhead to reduce the walking, and Tisen would just have to go birding with me to get his walk in.

The only question was where to go. Since I hadn’t been up to Stringer’s Ridge during yet and I knew there were Cooper’s Hawks nesting up there last year and I didn’t have Cooper’s hawks on my list yet, I thought Stringer’s Ridge was a good place to go. Besides, if anyone is likely to be up and active during the middle of the afternoon, it’s a Cooper’s hawk.

Tisen peering back at me through trailside brush

Tisen and I gathered up our respective equipment–binoculars, birding book, and camera in my case; Pink Elephant in his–and made our way to the car after a brief potty break for Tisen.

Stringer’s Ridge is close enough to walk to from our place, although it’s probably a good mile away and part of that mile is up a steep climb. I was happy I’d decided to drive as we made our way through the neighborhood and up to the parking lot, my back was already aching from the wetland walk.

We parked in the empty lot and I enjoyed being able to let Tisen walk off-lead for a change with no one else around. Tisen was pretty happy about getting to explore, too. One problem with birding with Tisen is that he doesn’t really do a great job flushing birds for me. He tends to scare them off in the opposite direction. I found myself contemplating whether I should try to train him like a hunting dog to circle around and flush the birds towards me. I decided it probably wasn’t worth the effort.

My sweet boy coming back to Mommy after wandering aways ahead

There weren’t many birds for him to scare away that day. The occasional drumming of a distant woodpecker reached our ears and the ubiquitous Carolina Wren seemed to be following us along the path, but no Cooper’s Hawks were to be found. Thankfully, as we made our way along a loop trail that gave us a nice walk through the woods that was probably less than 2 miles long, I heard a Wood Thrush singing its glorious, wistful song. If you’ve never heard a Wood Thrush, you owe it to yourself to give it a listen. You can play its flute-like song here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Thrush/id

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nomadicmainstream

Combining living on the road with a mainstream lifestyle

Category Archives: Birding