GREEN MANGO "RESCUED"

The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinal reports today that the "misguided hummingbird from Mexico that alighted near Beloit in September has been spared the doom of a Wisconsin winter".

On Monday, Mike Ramsden, who is the birder who first identified the bird in the backyard of Joan and Karl Salzberg, lured the mango into a cage and rescued it. The hummingbird has been turned over to the Wisconsin Humane Society Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Milwaukee. They feel they have wonderful capability to care for a bird like this. So far the bird appears to be doing well in his new surroundings.

Whether or not the bird should be "rescued" was hotly debated among professional and amateur ornithologists. The point is now moot as the bird is in captivity.

My wife was among the first birders to travel to Beloit to view and photograph the mango. Over 700 people eventually showed up in the Salzberg's back yard!

GREEN BREASTED MANGO !!

My wife took a trip to Beloit yesterday, accompanied by Dan Belter, one of the Wausau area's most outstanding birders. They went to see the Green Breasted Mango which had been reported showing up at a feeder in the Beloit area. These are birds which seldom venture into the United States, let alone Wisconsin. There were six birders there during the day, some from as far away as Indiana and Illinois. Most had camera equipment which put my wife's gear to shame. The photos in this blog are copywrited shots by two of the guys there, which they quickly posted to the Internet. My wife's photos are good but not of the quality of these shots.

This bird is in the hummingbird family and is about half again as big as the Ruby-Throated variety that show up at Wisconsin feeders. It also has a long curved bill which makes the bird easily identifiable.

Mrs. Joan Salzberg whose feeder the bird has been coming to was very personable. She recorded the names of all the birders who have come to see the rare bird. Her patience may be tried this weekend as it is expected that hoards of birders will be descending on her back yard, including an expected busload who are attending a birding festival in Rockford, Illinois this weekend.

The Journal Sentinal ran a good article on the bird on 9/20. This can be viewed at http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=665321

My wife felt very fortunate to be able to add this bird to her life list, as it is unlikely she would ever have seen one, except for this little guy who some feel got blown up here by Hurricane Dean.

ROAD TRIP !!!

My wife and I just took a short mid-week trip (we can do that now that she has retired) to Wyalusing State Park, near Prairie du Chien. What a beautiful place! It is located on bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. She had heard about it from fellow birders, as a great place to see warblers who do not travel as far North as our home in Central Wisconsin.

My wife did see a couple of "lifer warblers" (birds she has not seen before in her life). But we also saw a tremendous number of beautiful brilliantly colored birds: Scarlet Tanagers, Red-Headed Woodpeckers, Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles, Indigo Buntings. The air was alive with color. There were other birds we had never seen before as well, such as the Blue-Grey Gnat Catcher (No I did not just make that name up!). We saw what we believe were Golden Eagles soaring over the Mississippi.

Wyalusing is a different forest from what we are used to in Central and Northern Wisconsin. It is primarily a Walnut forest. There are some other hardwood species as well, but very few pine species. The understory is quite different as well. Rather than bare areas covered with needles & dead leaves or areas populated by ferns, this forest floor is totally covered with broad leaf plants about 2 to 3 feet high. When exposed to direct sunlight the leaves wilt. We saw the usual variety of mammals, including does with fawns.

The park is extremely well maintained. There are many clean bathrooms for us older folks with bladder problems. The two main campgrounds are terrific with sites well isolated from one another. About 1/4 of the sites have electricity. One campground is on a bluff overlooking the rivers. The other is on a heavily wooded hill in the center of the park. There are also two "group camping" sites which accommodate 20 - 40 people per site. There are 22 miles of hiking trails in the park. A road leads down to a boat launch area. You can launch your power boat, or rent canoes & kayaks to enjoy the Mississippi river.

It was a great experience! I just wish it wasn't so far away from where I live. Despite that, we will be planning a camping trip there soon to fully enjoy this Wisconsin treasure.

RAPTOR EDUCATION GROUP

Yesterday, my wife and I and a couple other members of the Wausau Bird Club spent a couple hours at the Raptor Education Group facility in the Antigo area. I was extremely impressed by their complex, which was much larger than I had ever anticipated. Marge Gibson, the Director, had many birds in outdoors display with handlers. These ranged from tiny Saw-whet Owls to magificent Bald Eagles. In between were many species of hawks and owls, even a Peregrine Falcon. "On display" meant most of them were on tethers, sitting on a leather glove worn by the handlers. These birds were "education birds" who had physical deformaties which prevented them being released back into the wild. REGI uses them for the many programs they put on around the state.

These birds are amazingly beautiful when seen up close (even the Turkey Vultures). The subtle nuances in the coloring of the feathers is fantastic. Also fantastic is what this organization accomplishes in the recovery programs for injured or rejected birds. I found out that the "education birds" also double as foster parents and help raise the young ones.

It is definitely worth the trip to go and see this facility. You can make yourself a map on Mapquest or ASK.com You should also check out their website for further information about this wonderful organiztion.

http://www.raptoreducationgroup.org

Naturally one guy threw in a little bird humor. He asked me if I knew why pelicans raise one leg and stand on the other. I said I didn't. He replied, "Because, if they raise both legs they'll fall on their butts!"

SPRING BREAK VACATION

My wife and I are in the final detail planning stage of our Spring Break Vacation. We are heading back to Costa Rica (For the Fourth Time!). We absolutely love this country. Previous trips have netted us glimpses of virtually all the areas that the touristos go to, so this trip will be spent primarily in remote areas. Although she was always a birder, my wife was not as fanatical a birder as she has morphed into the last couple years. Therefore, on this trip we will primarily be birding, looking for shots of Resplendent Quetzals, Bell Birds, Toucans, etc. There are 30 species of hummingbirds in Costa Rica! Because of the time of year we will also be able to see many birds that end up in various spots in North America during the Spring and Summer, as they are on their migration trip North from South America. Because of where we are going and how we are getting there, we will be limited to 30 pounds of luggage each. After cameras, lenses, binoculars, birding manuals, underwear and a toothbrush, we won't be able to pack much more! (I'll sneak in a book or two somehow)

Three days of the trip will be spent in the Tortuguero National Park and the Tortuguero Protected Zone. (You should be able to see it on the map on the North-Eastern part of the country). Much of our time there will be traveling up and down rivers and canals in boats and canoes.

HOWEVER, our good old faithful travel agent is now negotiating on getting us a personalized tour of the National Library in San Jose on our day of arrival. How cool is that !! I intend to find out if they have Friends groups and if we can exchange communications and ideas.

She is also working on places for me to get Internet access on computers with USB ports so I can upload both posts and pictures to this blog as we go along. So, I hope to be able to give you both nature photos and library photos! I can't wait ..... I'm almost packed already.

WHOOPING CRANE TRAGEDY

My wife and I recently received the February issue of the International Crane Foundation's newsletter, THE ICF BUGLE. It obviously went to press before the tornados tore through Central Florida and killed all but one of the eighteen juvenile Whooping Cranes which the ICF has led down to Florida with Ultra-Lite aircraft. The headline on the front page is titled REASON TO CELEBRATE. The text on the front page reads as follows:

"The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) celebrated another success this year when the "First Family" arrived at their winter territory in Florida. Whooping Crane number W1-06 is the first wild-hatched chick in the eastern migratory population and the first to complete the fall migration by following her parents, numbers 11-02 and 17-02. The family began migration from the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin on November 19, and remained at their first migration stop in Vermillion County, Indiana, until they resumed migration on December 7. Two days later they arrived at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge pensite in Florida where they stayed to roost. On December 10, they left the refuge and flew to the winter territory of numbers 11-02 and 17-02.
This one event is what all of us involved in the reintroduction project have been working towards -- the countless hours, achievements, disappointments and frustrations, along with time away from family and friends have led to this milestone in endangered species recovery."

And then the tornados came barreling through the area.

I became a contributor to ICF as a result of last fall's WLA Convention in Wisconsin Dells. One of the side-benefits of the conference was the opportunity to tour the ICF's international headquarters in Baraboo. I was totally impressed with what this organization is doing. I enjoyed seeing many different crane species, including some whooping cranes. I can't imagine the emotional devastation that the staff felt when almost all of their migrating birds were destroyed in the storm.

I thank WLA for giving me the opportunity to see firsthand what the Crane Foundation is doing, enabling me to help fund their activities, in a miniscule way. This is a great Wisconsin-based operation. Go to their website www.savingcranes.org and see what they do. This is a group worthy of your support. When faced with an almost impossible situation, they didn't wring their hands but found a unique way to reverse the pending species extermination that man's activities had caused, and were leading the Whoopers back from the brink. Help them!