This is a mystery we’ve only been able to wonder about from afar, trying in vain to look through binoculars to see what those red tips really are. Then, the other day, an unbelievable treasure crossed our paths. There before us was a feather — a feather with a red, ‘wax’ tip.

Taking it inside, we examined it excitedly. The ‘wax’ wasn’t waxy at all — instead, it is smooth and shiny, like the feather’s shaft. The back is lighter colored and concave.

Even more perplexed, we searched the internet, only to find that no one really knows why these birds are graced with this special addition to their feathers. It seems to have something to do with age and mating, but it’s curious that the waxwing family alone has developed this trait, while most other birds (at least in our area) accomplish the same thing with bright colors, fabulous dances, and beautiful song.

Another of nature’s fabulous mysteries. Now that we’ve finally gotten close to an actual feather, it’s even more mysterious!

This time, she’s applied her insight and considerable writing talents to all manner of birds in her new book called Birdology. It looks like it will be available starting on the 6th of April, 2010. A true ambassador who serves to give voice to animals and ecosystems (from the endangered to the ‘everyday’), Sy has always amazed us in the past, and we can only imagine that we’re going to see birds in a whole new light after we read Birdology. Here’s Sy Montgomery in a video about the book –

Ask for Birdology at your local bookstore! Yay for birds!

We sent a photo to Marge Gibson of the Raptor Education Group, Inc. in Antigo, Wisconsin, and immediately we had an expert identification — we had a Trumpeter! That wasn’t the best thing that came out of our conversation with Marge, however. It was the discovery of an organization that is deeply passionate about helping animals in need.

The Raptor Education Group is usually thought of as a wildlife rehabilitation center for owls, hawks, and eagles, but we were soon to learn that it is much, much more. All avian species are welcome at the center for rehabilitation, and swans, robins, ducks, vultures, grouse, ravens, pelicans, loons, and many more have been given a second chance at life thanks to REGI. REGI doesn’t stop at healing injured and poisoned birds, either. They are actively engaged in bringing raptors to classrooms and gatherings for education, and serve as a research facility as well. They are also thoughtful enough to keep a blog, Taking Flight, which is filled with the stories of the birds who come to the center.

More impressive than any of this, however, were the emails we received from Marge. In her writing was displayed an obvious passion and compassion — she helped us educate ourselves on lead poisoning in swans, asked us to keep an eye on the swan through the winter, and again and again expressed her gratefulness for people who appreciate the wild creatures we share our world with. We discovered a person who is not only aware of her connection with the rest of the earth’s creatures, but who has devoted her life to helping them out. We were deeply inspired by her, and would urge everyone to take a look at their website and blog, and if you have a few extra dollars this month, to consider a donation to help them continue their mission. They accept monetary donations as well as donations of skills or items, as presented on their Wish List.

Keep up the awesome work, REGI!

Addendum: One of our friends sent us this photo of a bald eagle who was sent to REGI. How amazing to be so close to such a magnificent bird!

We came across two mysteries.  The one we solved, but the other is still eluding us.  You can experience the mysteries yourself right here –

The first was this tree.  Its rough bark was quite unlike any other tree’s bark we had ever seen.  Any guesses as to what it is?

Stepping back, you can see more of the tree.  But its nature still eluded us . . .

The mystery began to resolve itself when we looked up.

And a closer look confirmed it.  Not what we had expected.

A birch tree!  So old that its lower bark had split apart and become very un-birchlike in appearance and texture.

Then a deeper mystery confronted us.  Flapping through the trees, a large bird — clearly a raptor — alighted in a branch.  It was very difficult to get an angle for a photograph, so our pictures are very ‘Loch Ness Monster’, and we couldn’t get a shot that included the tail.  None of us had ever seen a bird quite like this, and our guesses started flowing.  It wasn’t until a dear friend of ours sent the pictures to a falconry expert that we received our startling answer to the mystery.  Here are the pictures — What do you think it is?

My guess was completely wrong.  Seeing those distinctive eye-stripes, I pounced on the only bird I remembered with those markings — the Peregrine Falcon — even though the habitat was all wrong. When we got home and consulted our Sibley Guide, the Prairie Falcon stood out as another possibility, although it wasn’t really in our range.  The falconry expert, however, took one look at the pictures and informed us that this wasn’t a falcon at all, but most definitely a hawk.  Without seeing the tail, the two possibilities were a Red-Tailed Hawk and a Red-Shouldered Hawk.

Puzzling over how the falconer could have been so sure it wasn’t a falcon, we carefully observed the photos, and decided that one could tell by the face — can you see how ‘long’ the bird’s face is in the above pictures? Then observe this photo from the Idaho Birding Trail website.  The Prairie Falcon has a much ’shorter’ face.  From what we can tell, this seems to be the case across the hawk/falcon world.

Visit our Adventure Journal to find out about this week’s adventure!

The parents come home with a delectable smorgasbord of delights.  We imagined that this pale caterpillar tasted a bit like marshmallow –

Any thoughts as to what this bright green one must taste like?

Then came a surprise.  One of the parents brought home not just one, but two yummy-looking snails –

It is fascinating to us how quickly these predators are successful in their hunts.  While large predators like wolves might spend days or even weeks trying to capture a single prey, these birds would come back with a kill in moments — often it would be less than 30 seconds between the arrival of each new prey animal.  Even if both parents were hunting, this is pretty impressive. We were happy to see that our yard could provide such abundant food!

Visit our Adventure Journal to find out about this week’s adventure!

Yesterday we saw a strange sight.  We were driving home in a northernly direction, when we saw a long formation of Canada Geese flying alongside us.

Soon they were flying directly overhead, quite close to the ground, and we clocked them at an even 45 mph.  After about a mile, the majority of the geese banked hard to the north-west, while three geese banked hard to the north-east.  We didn’t get the impression that they were planning on re-grouping.

The oddest thing was that this is well past the time when we tend to see geese flying northward.  They are very familiar in early spring, flying by in great noisy V-formations.  But what was this odd migration we were witnessing?

A bit of research suggests that we might have seen a ‘moult migration’.  This is performed by geese who won’t be breeding, and they travel far north of normal goose territory in order to find wide-open waters where they can relax for about five weeks while they replace their worn-out flight feathers.  Judging by the ragged-looking feathers some of them were sporting, this theory makes sense.  Please weigh in if you know whether our hunch is correct!

We are proud to have our article Flying Crows featured at I and the Bird #100.  This carnival was hosted at The Nature Blog Network, and features tons of great bird posts.  Be sure to pay a visit!

The usual explanation for this behavior is that the birds see their reflections, assume that the reflections are interloper birds, and spend a lot of time trying to chase the reflections away.  You can prevent the birds from stressing (or injuring) themselves by hanging something over the reflective surface.

This sounds like a pretty good explanation, but perhaps we should hesitate a bit before we decide what a bird is thinking.  After all, it wouldn’t be too tough to find some human behaviors that defy easy explanation.  Consider a behavior such as shouting at a television during football games.  Surely the human knows that no one inside the television is hearing their shouts, but still the shouting persists.  Is it too much of a stretch, then, to think that the birds may know it’s a reflection, but still persist in pecking?

It might be fun to come up with alternate explanations for why birds might peck at their reflections in mirrors and windows.  If you have any good ideas, let us know in the comments!

The nest seemed to be built in three layers.  The bottom layer was composed largely of mud, and served as a ‘cup’ for the rest of the nest.  The next layer was made of moss, synthetic stuffing from some sort of mattress or pillow, and a lot of a strange, coiled grass-like material.  The top layer was a portion of the nest the phoebes actually sat on, and was made of thin strips of supple bark, grasses, and more of the coiled stuff.  There was also one bit of plastic (as from a woven plastic feed-bag) in the mix.

These strange coils had us searching the woods to find their source.  The answer?  Echinocystis lobata, the Wild Cucumber.

It always amazes us that birds can build nests.  What’s so amazing about it?  Well, just spend an afternoon trying to build one yourself!  Nests are masterworks of weaving – if you do manage to build a nice one, now imagine trying to do it with just a beak and two feet.  Now consider that the phoebes not only built this nest, but they also carefully glued it to the wall with mud.  Makes one realize how impressive birds are, doesn’t it?