tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32155737077366283792024-03-13T03:14:15.770-05:00Edward Plumera logbook of projects and observationsEdward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.comBlogger360125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-75089767440419672032017-10-21T22:48:00.001-05:002017-10-23T19:43:05.515-05:00Hepatic Tanager at Commons FordI have been following all week the <b>eBird </b>alerts for Travis County showing sightings of a female Hepatic Tanager at Commons Ford Ranch Park in south Austin. This is a very rare species in this part of Texas; it is normally a summer resident of the mountains along the New Mexico / Arizona border and reaching down into the Big Bend region of Texas. It is a year-round resident of southern Mexico and South America.<br />
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Today, we made the drive down from Georgetown and got there at about 13:00. We made a tour of the area around the barn where it had been seen but neither saw nor heard the Tanager. In fact, we saw very few birds at all. The exception was a half-dozen Eastern Phoebes noisily hunting and squabbling over choice perches. Oh, and my feet found a fire ant mound for me.<br />
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This Phoebe landed nearby after catching a bug right over our heads.<br />
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We met several groups of birders hoping to add the Tanager to their lists. One couple had driven down from Fort Worth just to find it. We were encouraged that the bird had been sighted earlier that morning. It finally reappeared at 14:15 and was spotted by other birders after hearing its call in a live-oak tree over the picnic bench behind the barn.<br />
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Along with everyone else, I spent the next three-quarters of an hour following its slow methodical hunt for insects from branch to branch, and taking as many pictures as I could. I ended up working without a flash and on a monopod requiring high ISO and making it difficult to recover fine detail.<br />
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Below was my best image which shows the major field marks distinguishing it from the other female tanagers: Yellow-orange throat, forehead, and underside; the all-important gray cheeks; plus dark bill and eye-line, and light eye-arcs.<br />
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Continuing with my "Birds with Bugs" series, here is a shot of the same bird having caught what appears to be a late instar of the green stink bug on the left and some sort of borer on the right.<br />
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Many thanks to those who found this bird originally and helped us see it this afternoon.Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-54443109021174071722017-09-11T21:44:00.000-05:002017-09-11T21:45:12.414-05:00Scarlet Tanager at Warbler WoodsThis weekend Danielle and I drove down to Warbler Woods, a private bird sanctuary in Cibolo, TX. We had a very relaxing day. Among the birds we saw was this female Scarlet Tanager, listed as a rarity in central Texas as it normally migrates along the Gulf Coast flyway. Perhaps Harvey contributed to blowing this one off course ... or maybe it was just having problems with turn-by-turn directions on its GPS, just like we did getting down there.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-75889808208968929542017-09-08T11:49:00.000-05:002017-09-10T06:32:45.920-05:00Hawks Make a VisitAfter not seeing any Red-shouldered Hawks for a month or so, a pair has been hanging around the yard this week. There are two of them calling in the mornings. The adult breast pattern would suggest that this is our original breeding pair, not the new juveniles.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-967600787344108762017-09-07T20:23:00.001-05:002017-09-08T20:02:03.207-05:00More Solar ActivityDuring the total eclipse last month, the sun sported two active regions AR2671 and AR2672. These gave added interest to the partial phase images and, conveniently, gave something detailed to focus the cameras on.<br />
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This week, the sun is putting on a great show, especially given the fact that we at a solar minimum right now. The active region AR2673 grew from a single spot to a large naked eye complex and emitted a X2.2 class solar flare at 09:10 UTC and X9.3 class solar flare at 12:02 UTC, Sept 6. A coronal mass ejection (CME) was emitted towards earth and should produce lower latitude auroras and has caused radio interference. <a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-blogs/explore-night-bob-king/giant-sunspots-flares-presage-arrival-of-solar-storm/"><b>Sky and Telescope has a nice article</b></a>.<br />
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I pulled the solar filters out this morning and took some white light images. Too bad, I have not yet put my H-alpha scope back into working order. I brought a pair of solar-filtered binoculars to the office to share the view of the big sunspots with my colleagues. In addition to AR2673, another region AR2674 is also very prominent visually if not violently.<br />
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A cropped view shows the two regions more clearly. Amazing to consider that the AR2673 region itself is about 8 earth diameters across.<br />
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Image taken with Canon 7D MkII (ISO-100, 1/400s), Canon 100-400mm f/5.6 and 1.4x Extender II (560mm f/8), Baader solar filter. White light images colorized in Photoshop to enhance contrast.<br />
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After 24 hours, the active regions have rotated nearly to the limb. The shapes have changed slightly but not dissipated.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-36157558434635370942017-08-29T19:32:00.000-05:002017-09-08T21:22:50.198-05:00Great American EclipseA year ago, Danielle and I started planning with her brother Ross and his wife Jill an "expedition" to see the Great American Eclipse. However, we never guessed the amount of hype that would be generated around this event.<br />
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After nearly a year of preparation and anticipation, Danielle and I headed towards Nebraska to meet up with Ross and Jill. Based on past weather data, and proximity to Texas and Colorado, we had agreed to all camp in western Nebraska and to strike out from there to a suitable viewing location. Ross made the reservations a year in advance in anticipation of some difficulty in finding the accommodations we wanted, and even that far out he had problems finding two sites with electricity next to each other. We wound up with reservations at Lake McConaughy near Ogallala, west of North Platte, which seemed ideal. Access to the interstate, state highways, and backroads meant that we had flexibility even if the site itself was on the far outer fringe of the path of totality.<br />
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In the months leading up to the the eclipse, I tested various equipment configurations similar to the one I brought to the <a href="http://eplumer.blogspot.com/2012/06/venus-transit-expedition-to-haleakala.html" target="_blank">transit of Venus in Hawaii</a>. However, due to the low solar activity, I decided to leave the H-alpha scope at home and set up a wide field camera. I even used my new mini 3-D printer to create custom solar filters, solar finders, and other nifty accessories.<br />
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We have had experience with various forms of astrophotography, including partial eclipses. However, this was to be our first total eclipse. In preparation, we read everything we could find on-line about eclipse camera work. We attended the Sky and Telescope webinars "Basic Eclipse Photography" and "Advanced Eclipse Photography" by Fred Espenak. We also read the e-book "How To Photograph the Solar Eclipse" by Alan Dyer. These gave us excellent information about techniques for both acquiring and processing images.<br />
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As we got ready to leave, we packed all of the imaging equipment we had gathered into the back of the Jeep, treating it like a trailer for the trip. We ended up bringing five tripods, a equatorial mount, four DSLR cameras, several lens, a small refractor telescope, as well as our birding binoculars and spotting scopes outfitted for solar viewing. We also packed enough supplies to rough it in the back country of the Crescent Lake NWR, our expected viewing location.<br />
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We decided to take the trip slowly and make several stops. We hoped to do some birding along the way, though August is not a great time for birding. Our first stop was Lake Thunderbird near Oklahoma City. This was a pretty location but I was disappointed by all of the trash and beer cans everywhere. We ended up parking next to an identical Vista/Sunstar 29VE. The evening was spent finding a few birds, watching a thunderstorm roll by and seeing a nice sunset. The population of Western Kingbirds and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers far out-numbered the campers.<br />
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This location proved to be one of the few that we did not reschedule. Our next stop was planned to be Glen Elder, KS. However, as we got closer, we decided that driving the RV for hundreds of miles along narrow two lane roads with no shoulder was not going to be pleasant. We changed our second camping location to the KOA in Grand Island. The KOA was right on center-line but they had been booked up for the 21st over 15 months ago so no keeping that site through Monday.<br />
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One more trip leg and we got to Lake McConaughy. We enjoyed a bit of birding there including watching two nests of Barn Swallows fledge during our stay. Ross and Jill joined us on our second day and we set up a nice family camp to share evening meals<br />
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On Friday morning at the Lake McConaughy site, Danielle and I practiced with some of our equipment to get a look at the sun. I was excited to see a new sunspot complex had developed (AR2671). This meant that we would have something sharp to focus the cameras on come observing day ... though the weather forecasts were starting to look grim for us.<br />
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In the afternoon, we explored the Sandhills of Nebraska, looking for possible observing sites. While on this excursion, we passed this guy hauling porta potties to one of the organized viewing sites.<br />
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Ross and Jill joined us late Friday night. As the threat of clouds in "our" part of Nebraska continued to grow, we decided to hedge our bets and book a paid viewing spot at the golf course in Stapleton, NE, on or near the centerline of the path of totality. This was, ironically, one of the first locations I had scouted on Google Maps before finding out that they were having a viewing extravaganza in that did not look friendly to groups with a large amount of equipment. However, once we got there, the golf-course site looked very promising and we were promised adequate room to set up our equipment. Moreover they were serving alcohol, the better for people to drown their sorrows if no break in the clouds materialized. Our scouting trip also netted us a nice Red-tailed Hawk along the way and a bunch of Horned Larks at the golf course.<br />
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On Saturday, we took a rest from obsessing over clouds to go birding around Lake Ogallala. On this trip we saw a few new species including "Woody" the Red-headed Woodpecker. I also got a nice shot of a Bell's Vireo near the fish cleaning station.<br />
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On Sunday morning, we had our final "council of war" regarding the cloud forecasts. We finally found a use for the big TV in the RV, projecting a screen shot of NOAA web-pages. The forecast now ruled out Crescent Lake NWR and put Stapleton into question. Our other option, heading west into Wyoming, was a non-starter because of the expected hordes of people driving to Casper from Denver. The best spot was looking like Grand Island ... how ironic that we were just there.<br />
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Danielle found a Boy Scout camp near Grand Island that was still offering cheap dry camping in their fields. We decided to book yet another spot for Sunday and Monday nights. We broke camp after lunch, abandoned our reservations and headed four hours back east ...<br />
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... and arrived at Camp Augustine near Doniphan, NE in the early evening.<br />
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There, we had a nice uncrowded spot to camp and view. The location was pretty prime, being almost directly on the center-line of totality, as was Stapleton.<br />
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Unfortunately, the freshly mowed dried grass aggravated my asthma and the lack of A/C made all of us miserable, especially Danielle with her heat sensitivity. After a sleepless night, we trundled all of our stuff over to the camp parade grounds, the official viewing location. The main viewing location in Grand Island was at the Stuhr Museum and was reported to be very crowded. Our location was unadvertised and I saw around 50 people on the parade grounds. The drone image below is from a frame of a video shot by Jim Ketchum during the event. I linked to the full video on YouTube at the end of this blog<br />
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Our collection of equipment drew several neighboring groups over to see what we were doing. This was great as we were able to share some views in the spotting scope and meet some very nice folks. This small but enthusiastic crowd made the viewing experience more enjoyable than our original plan of observing from the boonies.<br />
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After several nerve-wracking technical problems with the equipment, we got most of it set up in time for the event. As forecasted, there were many high wispy clouds, but we could still see the sun. Thankfully, there were no thick, low clouds. Here is my main setup consisting of a Canon 7D MkII and an Orion ED80CF telescope on the right and a Canon 60Da and 100-400mm lens on the left. Both are mounted on on the equatorial mount and connected to the laptop. The tall tripod beyond me was for a Canon 450D and Rokinon 10mm f/2.8 lens for wide-field shots.<br />
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The Canon 7D shots were automated though Eclipse Orchestrator, which despite many rounds of practice, gave me a few problems. Here is a screen shot showing the simulated progress of the eclipse and upcoming shots to be taken. I did not get the mount fully aligned in time and had to manually recenter the image every 5 to 10 minutes. Nonetheless, this automation was great for getting correctly timed partial-eclipse images and for high-rate imaging across the duration of totality.<br />
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Finally, the anticipated moment came. For me, totality was everything it was cracked up to be. There is just no comparison between a partial and total eclipse. In the minutes leading up to totality, we observed many of the classic effects. The temperature dropped slowly (I measured a drop of 6 deg F), the wind kicked up, and the nature of the ambient light became indescribably strange. I tried but did not observe shadow bands on the white sheet we had spread out for the occasion. As totality closed in, I watched the last burst of light shrink down to the diamond ring and then get swallowed rapidly into the lunar disk leaving a black hole in the sky surrounded by the puffy white corona. I looked into the spotting scope and was blown away by the bright red prominences that I could see naked eye ... no H-alpha telescope needed. The event was over far too quickly, with the diamond ring reappearing and brightness returning in mere seconds.<br />
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I knew that the eclipse would be a fantastic experience but frankly had no idea how awe-struck I would be. Though the pictures I got were great, they in no way capture the experience of totality. I can see why a primitive culture would grovel in fear and ascribe apocalyptic meaning to such an event.<br />
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After the totality, both Ross and I let our cameras complete the imaging of the final sequence of partials while all but a few other doughty observers packed up and left. Some of our neighbors graciously took our family picture with our paper glasses on. Actually, this is the only time I used mine. I did my visual observing through binoculars and the spotting telescope which gave fantastic views.<br />
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Ross had cleverly remembered to bring some Corona Beers which we emptied out to respect the Boy Scout alcohol-free policy. We could not pass up the pun to toast the solar eclipse with "corona" beer.<br />
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At the end of the day, we decided it would not be prudent to dry camp again as we were all heat exhausted. Danielle was able to get us reservations at the KOA in Grand Island again for Monday night and we packed up for the short 5 mile drive there. That's right, Monday night we were booked in three different campgrounds.<br />
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The rest of our trip home was uneventful, though we did not stop at any of our previously booked sites. Instead, we ended up at a KOA in Wellington KS and then a night at the Eisenhower SP on lake Texoma in Texas. All told, we put over 2000 miles on the motorhome.<br />
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Once home, we began to process our images. Despite the clouds and technical screw-ups, we were both pleased with our results. During totality, I had taken a panorama of part of the 360 degree sunset we experienced. This view is towards the north-west in the direction from which the moon's shadow arrived. Our setup is at the right of the image where you can make out the glow of our laptops.<br />
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This next shot shows the Diamond Ring effect at the C3 contact point (end of totality). The sun is just peeking back out creating a brilliant glow but the corona is still visible. This is the point at which the solar glasses have to go back on. This image best represents my memory of the naked eye view of the sun.<br />
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An image taken moments before and with faster shutter speed show the Baily's Beads, a series of bright spots where the sun's bright photosphere peeks out between mountain peaks along the limb of the moon. The red glowing line is the thin chromosphere of the sun. You can also see several red prominences arcing out from the surface. These phenomenon go by very quickly so computer control of the camera was essential.<br />
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During totality, using fast shutter speed, I got this image of several nice prominences. I was not expecting this many since the sun is a its minimum point in the solar activity cycle. This image best represents what I remember seeing in the spotting scope.<br />
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This next composite shows the Bailey's Beads at the beginning and end of totality as well as the prominences during totality.<br />
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The cloud cover made corona imaging more challenging. Despite this, I was pleased with the results. The image below is composed of nine different exposure levels from 1/200s down to 1.6s. I spent some time researching various imaging processing approaches and came up with a variation of the method described by F. Espenak which is based on high-pass filter created by subtracting from each image a spin-blurred copy of the same image. Each of exposures was separately processed this way and the difference images combined to show the overall "structure" of the corona. Faster exposures show the detail near the sun, slower exposures further from the sun. All of this processing was done in Photoshop using simple <i>Apply Image</i> commands and layer blending modes.<br />
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During the partial phases, I captured images though a solar filter made from Baader solar film. I combined these into one large composite, colorizing the partials. You can follow the time progression from left to right though with some artistic liberty as it does not show the moon's path crossing obliquely though the sun's path. Note the clouds passing over some of the image in the early part of the eclipse and two sets of sunspots!<br />
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The wide-field camera did not give me the images that I had originally planned. Rather than showing the planets and bright stars as I had hoped, it showed clouds. This turned out to be a great thing. The clouds dramatically captured the progression of the moons shadow passing over head as this sequence of images shows. Here, the second and fourth images correspond to C2 and C3 as the shadow crosses the sun. At totality, you can again see the sunset colors in the distance.<br />
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These frames are extracted from a series of shots taken every 1sec over a period of 7 minutes around totality. I used then used LRTimeLapse 4.7 to combine these into a video showing the progression of the shadow. I find this video to be fascinating.<br />
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Browsing on YouTube we found this drone video by Jim Ketchum that shows our campsite and our equipment setup on the parade grounds ...very cool! I hadn't even noticed the drone flying nearby.<br />
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We are now starting to plan for the 2024 eclipse that will pass through Texas. Though this one will give us over two minutes of totality at our house, we will make sure we have more contingency plans made ahead of time. There are several state parks that lie near the center line<br />
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You can read Ross's account on his <a href="http://racunniff.blogspot.com/2017/08/august-21-2017-total-solar-eclipse.html"><b>blog</b></a> which has a great 180 degree fish-eye view of the sky. Danielle posted her photos on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155805260177189.1073741860.507117188&type=1&l=436a796295" target="_blank"><b>Facebook</b></a>.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com1W Camp Augustine Rd, Doniphan, NE 68832, USA40.830821867814365 -98.36229712216840.818807867814364 -98.382467122168 40.842835867814365 -98.342127122168009tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-86359911738054504812017-07-26T17:57:00.002-05:002017-07-26T17:57:28.169-05:00Goodbye Vali<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We put our dear companion Vali to sleep today. He was diagnosed with primary lung cancer a couple of months ago. Words cannot describe the loss I feel.Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-38135203975056555892017-06-18T21:58:00.000-05:002017-06-24T11:14:58.996-05:00Red-shouldered Hawks Have FledgedThe chicks have now fledged and are flying ... sort of. They are not very graceful but they are making forays out of the nest tree towards the river. I saw one land on the roof of the house this morning. I am not sure where they roost in general.<br />
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This evening, I got some pictures of one of the fledglings feeding on a snake by itself, a couple of trees away from the nest. I am not sure if it caught the snake itself, though.<br />
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I also found this collection of feathers, part of a wing, and a claw below the nest. I think this might be an Eastern Screech Owl, but am really not sure. The patterning looks close to one I found in a <a href="https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/feather.php?Bird=EASO_primary_ad_female" target="_blank">feather atlas</a>. The talon has feathering on the toes, also consistent with some sort of owl. The prey is a bit out of the ordinary for the Red-shouldered Hawk, but not unheard of according to this <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-shouldered_hawk" target="_blank">Wikipedia article</a>.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-77334446391984708322017-06-08T22:17:00.004-05:002017-06-12T20:58:09.063-05:00Martin Changing of the GuardThis morning, two of the chicks in gourd #1 fledged, one about 9:30 and the other at about 13:00. This evening, the five resident adults and two fledglings made passes around the colony before dispersing. Tonight, the male martin is taking care of the two remaining chicks and the female is presumably off roosting with the two escapees.<br />
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Meanwhile, in gourd #3, the female has laid her first egg. This is the new mate of the male whose previous mate was killed by Starlings. As far as I can tell from videos, the male has yet to succeed in entering an unmodified gourd. I am a little worried about how this pair is going to feed its chicks.<br />
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<b>Update June 9</b> - Third martin from gourd #1 fledged today at 17:40. As I watched later from outside, the last chick was making thrusting attempts to get out of the hole. These were especially frenetic when the rest of the family was chirping and strafing the colony.<br />
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In gourd #3, a second egg was laid at 09:30. This female lays much later in the morning than the last two broods I have watched.<br />
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<b>Update June 12</b> - This pair in gourd #3 seems to have abandoned the nest with no further eggs.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-88427980222348043782017-06-04T22:36:00.000-05:002017-06-18T22:38:17.256-05:00Hawks are BranchingAll three juvenile Red-shouldered Hawks are now "branching." That is, they are hopping out of the nest and onto nearby branches. They are not really flying anywhere yet.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-87946889124157972082017-05-31T20:21:00.000-05:002017-06-08T22:18:49.629-05:00Hawk Chicks Waiting for MomSome nice views of two of the Red-shouldered Hawks in the nearby tree sitting and waiting for the "food lady" to show up. The larger one is getting breast and head feathers in. Possible fledging window in a couple of weeks.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-63736191270212288102017-05-29T19:56:00.002-05:002017-05-29T19:56:33.522-05:00Returning with LucyToday I experienced something new ... the Amazon Locker. I needed to return an order I made on Amazon and found one of the return options to be "drop off package at Amazon Locker". What the heck, I opted for this. I got to select from several locker locations down in Round Rock which were open 24 hours. I printed out the RMA form to put in the package and a shipping label for the outside. I also received a "locker combination." I drove down to the location named "Lucy".<br />
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At the kiosk screen, I typed in my combination into the kiosk. It opened up a locker door which was too small. I pressed "my package does not fit" on the screen and it opened up a bigger one. I put in the package, closed the door and was done. No worrying about UPS or FedEx hours with this technique. Well done Amazon!<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-32185255221915637012017-05-29T11:49:00.002-05:002017-05-29T21:13:26.575-05:00Hawk Chicks Starting Six WeeksNow approaching beginning of sixth week, the chicks are standing up much more often and have begun to exercise their wings.<br />
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On the menu today was a large snake which we think was a Yellow-bellied Racer based on the coloration of the bits we could see. The adult still rips off pieces to feed the chicks. However, they are also learning to rip pieces themselves and play tug-o-war with them.<br />
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After a big feeding, the chick appears to have a full crop<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-34220778653251264032017-05-28T20:01:00.004-05:002017-05-29T12:53:37.715-05:00First Martin Nest ChangeWe did our first nest change of the season today. The chicks in gourd #1 are between 16 and 18 days old; the late one remains developmentally behind but is getting his share of bugs. Today is at the tail end of the allowed window for nest changing.<br />
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My approach is to prepare an identical spare gourd ahead of time, then transfer the chicks into it quickly. I then put the new gourd up in place of the original one and can clean the old one at my leisure to use as the next replacment. In this image, I am stuffing new straw into the replacement gourd.<br />
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We found a few mites on the chicks; no blowflies thankfully. Challenge yourself by looking for the mites in the pictures below! The bigger problem the birds face is night-time mosquitoes which we can see swarming in the video feed ... not much we can do about that.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-34192129853230657332017-05-24T10:51:00.000-05:002017-05-30T22:28:12.588-05:00Hawk Chicks Get FeathersThis is the start of the fifth week for the Red-Shouldered Hawk chicks. The oldest one is showing a solid covering of feathers on the wings. Meanwhile, we are seeing the adults in the back yard more often, here perched on our songbird houses. The hawks are more likely spying for rodents, snakes, and lizards than birds. They also hang out in the tree above the bird feeders. Again, I think they are preying on lizards that come for the dropped seed.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-75733685427597575502017-05-15T07:56:00.000-05:002017-05-30T22:28:20.169-05:00Four Purple Martins HatchIn the first gourd, four of the five eggs hatched. Two of them early last Wednesday, the other two late on Thursday. The older two have the beginnings of darkening on the spine and rump from feather growth. They are now mobile enough to squirm a bit out of the nest cavity.<br />
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The fifth egg did not hatch and the female has not been trying to incubate it anymore. I removed it yesterday evening during the nest check. The pipping marks thought I saw in the video turned out to be dirt. There is no evidence of an attempt to hatch. It is shown below in comparison with a House Sparrow egg removed from gourd #7 (lower level to right of #1) along with the adults.<br />
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<b>May 13</b> - Chicks progressing, oldest chick is a little over 9 days old.<br />
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<b>May 23</b> - Oldest is now 13 days.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-47194636856390171972017-05-13T19:31:00.000-05:002017-05-13T20:26:15.145-05:00Red-Shouldered Feeding TimeThe Red-Shouldered chicks across the street are nearly 3 weeks old, about half way through their nesting. They are hobbling around the nest and try to peer out. Occasionally, we see their big yellow feet. They don't actually walk on them yet. Here they are sharing some small furry mammal. Adult shreds pieces off and offers them to different chicks in turn. The pieces are much bigger than last week.<br />
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In the heat of the afternoon, the chicks sat with their mouths open and tongues out to keep cool. At one point, an adult flew in and landed where it would offer them shade - a different spot from where they feed the chicks.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-76260314765780258972017-05-10T08:17:00.000-05:002017-05-13T22:17:04.488-05:00Chicks in First Gourd<b>May 10</b> - Sometime before 06:00, the first Purple Martin chick hatched in gourd #1. Feeding attempts began around 07:00 with many parent switch-outs happening this morning. Second chick hatched around 10:15.<br />
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This is during the evening nest check, parents do a good job of hiding the chicks under leaves. Still only two at this point.<br />
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<b>Update May 13</b> - Two more hatched late on May 11. The final egg looks pipped as if the chicked had made an attempt to get out but failed. I will give it another day or two before removing the failed egg.<br />
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Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-2175414623540523162017-05-07T13:35:00.001-05:002017-05-07T21:55:03.659-05:00Hawk Chicks VisibleThe Red-Shouldered Hawk nest near our house appears to have at least three chicks. They are just starting to be visible at feeding time. These must have hatch a few days apart as there is quite a size span among them.<br />
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After the parent flew off, the largest chick started to get feisty and crawl up out of the nest bowl.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-62736615480768785882017-05-06T20:00:00.000-05:002017-05-07T21:57:21.348-05:00Second Martin Female MurderedWell, learn from experience, the slight enlargement to the SREH gourd entrance to let the male Martin get in easier was a <i>very bad idea</i>. Last Sunday, just after we left on vacation a European Starling claimed the gourd in which the second Martin pair were nesting. I watch in horror on the remote video playback as, when the female Martin came back in for the night, the Starling followed it in and spent the next hour brutally pecking it to death. After the Starling left, the male Martin came back and tried to stir life back into its mate to no avail. I have had a hard time watching this video sequence.<br />
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When we got home on Saturday, I disposed of the entire gourd and set a trap in the second enlarged gourd in which the Starlings are now trying to build a nest. Sunday morning, one of the Starlings entered and was trapped by the spring door. The second Starling pushed its way through the door and was trapped as well. Both were disposed of.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-22357726419983049072017-05-06T18:17:00.000-05:002017-05-07T21:57:50.008-05:00Aplomado FalconThe Aplomado Falcon is a species that has been reintroduced to the Texas coast, including some releases on Mustang Island. We have been trying to see it for several years with no luck. This year, I got a tip from another birder about a location in the state park where one has been reliably sighted on the power lines.<br />
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We made a scan of that location and, sure enough, spotted it on the wire. We spent some time watching and photographing it from a distance and saw it sally out after prey several times. We saw several successful kills that it made.<br />
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In this view, the falcon is sizing up a target, bobbing its head up and down and side to side. I assume this is to get a better distance measure on the target. It then launched out across the marsh towards the seashore.<br />
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I expected a short flight but it dropped down almost a half mile away and came up with another shorebird chick and flew back to its perch to eat. That is some pretty impressive eyesight.<br />
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About this time, a wildlife biologist for one of the park services approached us making sure we were keeping our distance. He explained that this falcon was the male of a pair of unbanded (not one of the ones released on the island) birds nesting nearby. He pointed out the nest location out over the marsh in a low thicket bush. About that time, the female flew up from the nest to join its mate for a share of the most recent kill. Danielle read that as the chicks are being raised, the male will have to make 30 such kills a day to keep the family fed.<br />
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Later in the week, we stopped to watch again and found the male perched on the lower branches of the nest bush. He eventually flew back up to this perch.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-56305372177656981552017-05-05T22:43:00.000-05:002017-05-07T21:57:39.126-05:00Mustang Island BirdingBack from a week-long birding trip down to the coast. We stayed at Mustang Island State Park as usual and visited the local hotspots each day. Total of 105 species identified including two new ones for me: the <b>Aplomado Falcon</b>, which we have been looking for each time we go down there, and the <b>Mourning Warbler</b>. <br />
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The evening of our arrival, Sunday April 30 was not too bad as they were on the tail end of a hot week. The next few days were pretty slow. Favorable migration winds had pushed all of the birds on out. Wednesday night a strong front came through stopping the migration with a strong north wind. Though it did leave a better selection of warblers in the area, it also killed many birds, especially up near Houston.<br />
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Thursday and Friday were decent days with many Chestnut Sided, Black-throated Green, and Bay-Breasted Warblers. Nothing like last year but that was an exceptional two weeks.<br />
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Now, lots of pictures to process.Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-41455332919629277312017-04-25T20:43:00.001-05:002017-04-28T19:09:10.305-05:00Second Martin PairToday, we seem to finally have a second martin pair that have taken up residence in the second of the three gourds with cameras. The male arrived a week ago and has been trying repeatedly to get into a gourd. I think that the Starling Resistant Entry Holes were just a bit too small for him. Every day he tried and every night he slept out on one of the gourd porches.<br />
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The female, a likely sub-adult, arrived a bit after the male and went in and out with ease. Though the male had staked out #3, the female wanted #2. For several days, I have been debating whether this was a female or competing male. I could not find any purple feathers on the breast or throat but they fought with each other as I had expected of males. Last two nights, they have been flying and perching together as a bonded pair so ... female it is.<br />
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This morning, I got out the Dremel tool and enlarged the opening vertically on gourds #2 and #3 by 1 or 2 millimeters. That seems to have done the trick, though it took until tonight. Here they are on the right in #2. The original pair is to the left in #1 still tending eggs. I think that in total pair #1 produced a clutch of 5 eggs.<br />
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Update April 28 - First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes shrubbery in the baby carriage. Two weeks behind the first pair, the #2 gourd pair started bringing green leaves. Again, counter to what I have read, it was the female bring most of today's offerings. They are not at it full steam yet, just a token leaf every few hours.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-62380487642544357272017-04-16T21:33:00.001-05:002017-04-16T23:23:53.636-05:00Snakes and Bikes, Oh MySpecial Easter treat on my mountain biking ride today. I got to see a coral snake slithering near the trail.<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-55473456281573922732017-04-13T22:07:00.001-05:002017-04-28T19:23:35.226-05:00Purple Martin Season UnderwayI set up the martin houses this year with three gourds with cameras and wiring for a fourth. I dug a trench from the house to the martin pole and buried conduit through which to run the CCTV wiring to the cameras.<br />
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I opened up a few gourds at the beginning of March and a few lookers but only the House Sparrows made any effort to move in. This year we have even gotten Starlings. Fortunately, the SREH openings are keeping them out.</div>
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One April 3, we had the first male go in and stake out a gourd. The same one used last year. I guess it is facing in a desirable direction.</div>
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He is an ASY male. Last week, a female made a number of attempts to join him but was not able to squeeze in. Last sunday, video captured a female entering with no problem. Perhaps it is a different one. She has been flying with him since and they have both been sleeping in the gourd each night.</div>
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<b>April 13</b> - Today, they started bringing in green leaf clipping to line the nest. We should expect eggs soon. No other gourds have been claimed, or visited by martins. Our pair attracts guests to fly overhead in the morning and evening.</div>
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<b>April 15</b> - Today, a furious morning of leaf-gathering activity. This is mostly a female activity as is fluffing out the nest cavity. The male follows her around and occasionally brings in a twig or small leaf.<br />
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Nighty night, martins<br />
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<b>Update April 20</b> - Today, video showed the second egg being layed at 7:28AM. Yesterday at the same time was the first egg.<br />
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<b>Update April 27</b> - A total of five eggs were layed in this gourd #1, the last on April 23. A rare moment when all five are visible shown here.<br />
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Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3215573707736628379.post-79079468671989662442017-04-09T21:27:00.000-05:002017-04-16T11:54:31.641-05:00Quick Birding Trip at GoliadLast weekend, we took a quick long weekend down to the coast. We camped two nights at Goliad SP, about a third of the way down, since there was no spots available on Mustang Island SP. We were not able to get into the more secluded Karankawa loop. Instead, we ended up in the Jacales area which is basically a big asphalt parking lot.<br />
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The few days prior to our arrival had seen a flurry of species caught by a north wind. By the time we got there the winds had shifted and sent most of the birds on their way. We saw almost no birds at our usual spots but, we did net a couple of nice ones.<br />
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The first was a lone Townsend's Warbler, listed as rare here, and a new species for both of us:<br />
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The other was a Purple Galinule. We have only seen one other from a distance.<br />
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Back at Goliad SP, we found a colony of Cliff Swallows under one of the bridges in the park. We spent quite some time watching them come and go in waves. We estimated about 200-300 birds in this colony.<br />
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Danielle put together a movie of the swallows<br />
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<br />Edward Plumerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940756354940747809noreply@blogger.com0