Diomedeidae are a girl's best friend

I am a 20 something year old Australian who has spent the last 18 months living and studying in Ithaca, NY. I have a love of birds and all things nature and ecology. I have an Associate Degree in Photography and have spent far too many years on a BSc. The purpose of this blog is partly so that my friends in the US can see how awesome Australia is when I eventually get home, partly so my mother can stalk me and partly so that when the dementia finally hits I will have a record of my younger years (assuming I can remember how to use a computer by then).

[allofthebirds]

Sorreeee

Sorry for the lack of love, peeps (all two of you). Uni has been crazy, but I'm done now. So hopefully I'll have time to adventure and write. Huzzah! I've actually had a post about frogs written for a couple of months now, but I never had the time to sort and edit the photos. That post should hopefully be up sometime next week. 

I'll leave you with a picture of the Cassowary that I saw on my visit to Cairns.

OMG CASSOWARY! Totally a dinosaur.

Seriously though, guys. I'll write something real very soon.

[allofthebirds]

Warrah field trip

Yeah I know, I'm haven't been around for a while. It's not you, it's me. I just haven't had much time for adventures since I got back to Uni. Though I did have a class field trip to one of the biological field stations a couple of weeks back (03 Sept - 04 Sept). The Crommelin Field Station is located north of Sydney at a place called Warrah, near Peal Beach. I had never been there before, though apparently a lot of the biology classes here at Sydney Uni go there for field trips. The main purpose of this trip was to collect feral honeybees for a DNA analysis, and also to have several debates.

After an incredibly lengthy and complicated journey (thanks, Cityrail) I managed to get to Pearl Beach and eventually the field station. While waiting at the bus stop I did see some Masked Lapwings fiercely guarding their nest site across the road in classic Charadriid fashion. They were too far away for a picture though, and I also didn't really want to run out into traffic for some plovers.

When I finally got the the field station the rest of the class had already left to collect bees. One of the demonstrators was waiting for me so we headed off to meet them, stopping at a lookout on the way. I only had my zoom lens on my camera (which was totally inappropriate for such a view) so this is from my phone. 

While walking through the bush to reach the rest of the class we came across a somewhat scary little surprise. A Common Death Adder, one of the most venomous snakes in the country, was lying about half a metre from the edge of the path. As the weather was still on the chilly side I had just been saying (literally about 30 mins earlier) that I doubted many snakes would be out. Well, this fella proved me wrong. The way it was curled up made it look less like a snake and more like a lizard, I am not sure if this is an intentional behaviour or not. Adders are very distinctive, with the body being rather short and thick, and the tail being thin and ending in a spur-like scale. The triangular head is also a dead giveaway.

Common Death Adder - Acanthopis antarcticus

We found the rest of the class and spent 10 minutes or so collecting bees before heading back to the field station for lunch. I made a couple of new friends, a Grey Butcherbird and a Magpie, who were very interested in my sandwich, even going to far as to sneak up to my plate to grab pieces of crust from the edge.

Grey Butcherbird - Cracticus torquatus

Australian Magpie - Cracticus tibicen

The rest of the afternoon and most of the next morning was dedicated to debates, but I had half an hour or so before we headed back to Sydney to look for some more birds. The debates went smoothly aside from an interruption where we piled outside to see a Lace Monitor ambling up the path and into the bush.

Lace Monitor - Varanus varius

As someone from class had mentioned that lyrebirds were often spotted nearby I went to investigate, and while I was unable to locate any I did see quite a few other species, several of which I had never seen before. The trees were full of Red Wattlebirds and a group of 5 Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos flew overhead, making a racket as only cockatoos can. I found a Kookaburra sitting on a low brach, staring intently at something tasty on the ground. 

Laughing Kookaburra - Dacelo novaeguineae

Walking through the bush I came across a megapode nest mound, not surprising as there are Brush-turkeys in the area. These mounds are tended by the males who regulate the temperature inside by adding or removing nest material. Once the eggs laid inside the mound hatch the young run off on their well developed feet to fend fo themselves.

Megapode nest mound

In the trees closer to the station buildings there was a small flock of King Parrots, as well as Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and Eastern Spinebills feeding from some flowers.

King Parrot - Alisterus scapularis (female)

Yellow-faced Honeyeater - Lichenostomus chrysops

Back at the buildings I managed to get some photos of the resident Brush-turkey, who is fed by the caretaker and is subsequently a bit of a nuisance. It kicks the doors in the morning and walks around on the table kicking things off and pecking at stuff.

Australian Brush-Turkey - Alectura lathami

This trip was the furthest north I've been (aside from a trip to Townsville when I was a kid) so it was good to be able to see some birds that we don't get down south. I was rather excited for the megapode and I'm pretty sure everyone in my class now thinks I'm a crazy person. OH WELL.

[allofthebirds]

The Watertower

Just up the road from my house is the watertower, a place where my brothers and I often used to play. I remember climbing the trees and looking for treasures in the grass. Once we had an easter egg hunt up there but we had to find the eggs fast before they melted in the warmth. The gate never used to be locked, but now you have to climb over it in order to reach the tower. Now there is also a fence around the water tower itself, to tall to easily climb and topped with barbed wire. Times have changed.

To the watertower

One afternoon last week I decided to wander up to the watertower to see if I could find any birds. The walk up the pine tree lined hill failed to produce any birds, neither did a walk around the tower. Standing on the top of the hill behind the watertower all I could see were Magpies, and a small mob of Eastern Grey Kangaroos, which bounced away soon after I spotted them. I had never seen kangaroos so close to town before, though my mother tells me that they have come down as far as the road before.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)

After wandering around the hill for a while without any luck I decided that it was time to head home and get in out of the cold. As I was walking back down the hill I saw a pale raptor of some sort, hovering and then flying low over the hill. I only saw it in my binoculars for a few seconds before it passed over the brow of the hill out of my sight. As I am not yet familiar with the raptors of the area I have no guess as to what it was.

On the way back down the road I noticed a large flock of small birds feeding in and around the pine trees. Upon closer inspection and a look at my field guide I saw that it was in fact a mixed flock of thornbills and a Scarlet Robin. The birds were highly active and did not stay in one place for more than a second or two, which made getting good photographs rather difficult. These are the best. Hopefully I'll get more chances to get photos at a later date.

Scarlet Robin (Petroica multicolor)

Yellow-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa)

Yellow Thornbill (Acanthiza nana)

Striated Thornbill (Acanthiza lineata)

[allofthebirds]

Home again, home again, clickety-click

After spending upwards of 40hrs travelling non-stop it was a relief to get home. My plane got in to Sydney in the wee hours of the morning where my parents picked me up and we drove another 3hrs to my home town of Bungendore. On the ride home when I wasn't napping I was looking out the windows, hoping to spot some birds. I don't think I saw anything particularly exciting though there was an entertaining moment that I feel should be recounted. I was looking out the window when I saw a huge white bird sitting in a tree. It was a ways away so I didn't see many details as we whizzed past. The first thought through my sleep-deprived, jetlag-addled brain was something along the lines of: OMG GIANT WHITE BIRD! That has to be some kind of awesome raptor. I said something to that extent to which my dad responded "It's a cocky."

It just goes to show that living in a different country for a year and a half can change the way your brain works.

After we got home I managed to stay awake until about 8pm which meant that I was up early the next morning. Fortunately this trend has continued which has allowed me to go for some early morning wanders in search of birds (which I will write about later).

I will leave you with some birds that I found in my backyard. A small flock of Silvereyes moving between the trees in the yard, some of the resident Magpie family that usually nests in the pine trees out the back and a Pied Currawong, part of the family that resides in the trees out the front.

Silvereye - Zosterops lateralis

(Australian) Magpie - Cracticus tibicen

Pied Currawong - Strepera graculina

[allofthebirds]

Florida Roadtrip Day 1 - In which there are zombies and a storm

15 June 2011

After packing the car rather haphazardly as we constantly remembered things just as we were about to leave, Abby and I finally got on the road from Churchton, MD at about 11am on Wednesday the 15th. We had to be in Hernando, FL asap to meet my dad so the plan was to drive to somewhere in South Carolina, camp, then drive the rest of the way on Thursday. 

The drive through MD and VA was rather uneventful, we didn't see anywhere interesting enough to stop as we were driving along Rt. 95, and the only birds we saw from the car were the usuals.

Once we hit NC we were hit with the heat and humidity of the south and grumpy truck drivers who seemed to want us to speed insanely. We began to be bombarded with billboards attempting to entice us to buy fireworks (most of which are illegal in MD) and some very strange and rather un-PC billboards advertising a mysterious place called "South of the Border".

What does that even mean???

Looking at the map I could see that South of the Border appeared to be a small town just past the NC/SC border. Our curiosity piqued by the plethora of billboards we decided that it warranted at least a drive through, however when we saw the garish welcome sign and the giant sombrero we almost reconsidered. 

As we crossed the NC/SC border and headed towards South of the Border we saw out the other side of the car what appeared to be a rundown petrol station, an abandoned motel and a rusty playground. Demanding that we stop to take photos I convinced Abby that we should go down for a closer look. I think it was worth it and I could have spent hours there taking photos. I got out my film SLR and took a couple of rolls of b&w film as well as taking some digital photographs.

All the motel rooms were still full of furniture, though it was old, mouldy and generally unusable. Most of the doors and windows were broken and there was graffiti everywhere. It was rather creepy and it looked a lot like the zombie apocalypse had passed through at some point. The playground was rusted and overgrown with long grass. Reminiscent of old-school alien movies it almost looked as if the children had been abducted before the zombies came through.

Although we couldn't see or hear anyone in the vicinity besides the pair of killdeer nesting on the roof it was probable that there were at least some people making use of the motel. We noted at least two rooms with closed doors.

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

After the eerie experience of wandering around the abandoned motel and playground we headed to South of the Border, less than 1km away. We only drove through the place but we vowed to return on the way back to get photos of all the ridiculous things there. Mainly the tens of highly inaccurate, larily coloured animals.

After South of the Border we continued into SC and ended up at Santee SP where we camped for the night. When we got in the camp host advised us that there might be a thunderstorm later so not to get too much stuff out of the car. Heeding his advice we set up the tent with a double fly and only unpacked what we needed from the car. 

Here you can see Abby hammering the tent into the ground, blissfully unaware of what we were about to experience.

A word on the tent: As I mentioned in an earlier post we set up the tent to air it out and make sure all the bits were there before leaving. We noticed that the waterproofing seemed to be a little flaky but we thought it would be ok. Anyway, it was our only option aside from a giant 8-man tent.

Just as we got into the tent to go to sleep the thunderstorm started. The whole tent was lit up with the flashes of lightning and the thunder was so loud that we could hardly hear. The rain was bucketing down and we were glad that we were safe and dry in our tent, at least we were for about 5 minutes. We began to notice that there was water creeping in around the bottom edges of the tent. Ok, not too bad, it's just making the fabric a bit damp, we can deal. As the water began to pool at the edges and started moving further toward the centre of the tent we piled all of the stuff on top of the sleeping mats in an attempt to keep it dry. We soon gave up on keeping all but our clothes, my down sleeping bag, the car keys and our phones dry as the water just started dripping steadily through the door and the sides of the tent.

Let me just say, trying to sleep in wet clothes, on a soaked sheet, on a wet sleeping mat, in about an inch of water while a thunderstorm rages outside is not fun.

Funnily enough we were up super early the next day.

[allofthebirds]

Frog and Toad in the garden

Today Abby and I ventured into the attic to find the tent that we will be taking with us to Florida. Having a choice between an old, possibly leaky 4 man tent and a new 8 man tent we chose the former, but we cannibalised the waterproof fly from the larger tent just in case it rains on us. 

While we were putting up the tents in the front yard to make sure that they were all in one piece we saw some more tiny toads hopping around. Abby caught one and I finally got some pictures (after meaning to take pictures of them for days). This particular toad was shedding so he would scrape off some skin and then eat it. Tasty!

American Toad (Bufo americanus)

After the tent business we decided to make pesto for lunch. There are several rather large basil plants in Abby's veggie patch so we headed there to pick basil for the pesto. While picking leaves off one plant I noticed a tiny tree frog sitting on one of the leaves. Not about to pass up an opportunity to get photos of it I ran back to the house to get my camera. This frog didn't seem to keen on getting its photo taken but I still managed to get some good shots.

Grey Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor)

An unknown grasshopper...

An update on the Bluebird nest:

Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)

We went back to take a look today after seeing one of the parent birds delivering food to the nest and there were only 2 chicks left. They were about twice the size that they were the other day, though still very small (approx. 3cm long). The nest cavity in the fencepost is very small (maybe 15cm^2) and we were surprised that the parents were thinking to raise 4+ chicks in there. We don't even know how they plan to fit 2 full grown chicks in there.

There were also a flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds in the horse paddock. 

Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) - 1. male 2. female

Note: Today's title is homage to Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog_and_Toad

[allofthebirds]

Snake Racer, Go Snake Racer!

Things have been pretty slow since coming back from Ocean City. We drove back to Abby's place in MD on Saturday afternoon and didn't do much after getting in aside from eating and watching a movie. Yesterday we went down to the barn and fed all the birds (Abby has chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pheasants and emus. More to come on them later) and then sat inside while there was a huge thunderstorm. On the way back from the barn we found an Eastern Bluebird nesting in a fencepost. We peeked inside and saw 3 or 4 newly hatched chicks and an unhatched egg. We will probably go back tomorrow to take photos.

This afternoon we went for a wander around the garden in a vain attempt to look for turtles. Abby has found Box Turtles in her yard before and we were hoping to come across one. We didn't find any turtles but we did see a lot of tiny American Toads and some Leopard Frogs in the small puddles that are scattered around. Foolishly I didn't take my camera with me.

There are a bunch of wood piles dispersed around the yard and we half-heartedly started looking under them, not expecting to find anything. After lifting several planks of wood we were almost ready to give up. We lifted the last one and off shot a medium sized black snake, about 50cm in length. Abby managed to catch its tail before it disappeared completely whereupon I grabbed the body and picked it up.

Northern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor constrictor)

We took it inside and identified it as a Northern Black Racer. Despite the field guide saying that they are agressive when cornered this snake was fairly calm in my hands, though he did musk a lot and managed to poop everywhere on several occasions. We grabbed our cameras and headed back outside to take photos before we released it.

A comparison between the belly scales and the body scales of the snake.

The scales on the head of the snake.

Here you can see the dark amber of the iris.

He is wearing himself as a hat.

The vent. This is where all the musk and poop comes out.

Case in point.

It was preparing to moult and as such a lot of the skin over the scales was very loose. It managed to rub some of the skin off on the few occasions that it squirmed in my hands.

Note the skin hanging loose on the body of the snake.

We released it back at the plank where we found it. It certainly lived up to its name as it raced away to the shelter of some nearby bushes.

Stay tuned for more adventures! We should be heading down to Florida in the next couple of days.

[allofthebirds]

Secret birds + a new species!

So yesterday afternoon we went to a bar-type place called Seacrets for lunch and by the carpark there was a little hidden pool/marsh area that was full of birds. A female Red-winged Blackbird, a Willet (what a surprise), a Green Heron, some Mallards with ducklings and a large flock of Laughing Gulls were all hiding out. We tried tossing some bread to the gulls but I don't think they are that used to people feeding them. They just scattered briefly and then looked angry when they returned to the water.

Red-Winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) - female

Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) - female with ducklings

Laughing Gulls (Larus atricilla)

The bar place itself was right on the water and there on the water's edge were a pair of Mallards (which were chased off my some bachelor ducks a little later), a Herring Gull and a Laughing Gull. I have dubbed the Laughing Gull "Awkward Gull" as it had a very odd moult pattern, and was possibly leucistic, meaning it had reduced pigmentation of some of its feathers. 

Awkward Gull (Larus awkwardius)

[allofthebirds]

Creeping for birds

Yesterday morning (09/06/11) we headed to the Ocean City Park and Ride bus stop where last year Abby had seen Clapper Rails. We were unsure as to whether we would see any as we were there later in the day than the last time they had been seen. After looking for a while we had almost given up when two Rail chicks popped out of the grass into a channel thorough the marsh. Looking further up the channel we located the adult birds and some more chicks for a total of 4 adults and 3 chicks. Other birds seen around the bus stop were a Great Egret, European Starlings, Barn Swallows, House Sparrows, Mallards and a Mourning Dove. There were also a couple of Muskrats grooming themselves in the marsh, along with Fiddler Crabs and a Diamondback Terrapin.

Clapper Rail habitat.

Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris) - 1. adult 2. chicks

Fiddler Crabs (Uca spp.)

Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin)

Abby had read about a pond which was apparently really good for birding so we set that as our next stop. On our way to Elliot's Pond we saw Northern Mockingbirds, Turkey Vultures, a Mourning Dove, American Robins and Common Grackles. Birds of note that we also saw while driving were Purple Martins, a Black-crowned Night Heron, a Killdeer and a Snowy Egret.

As we approached Elliot's Pond we noticed that all the surrounding houses had "No Trespassing" signs posted around them. As we could find no public access to the pond we gathered that the people living around the pond were sick of birders coming onto their properties to scope out the pond. Not wanting to trespass we knocked on the door of the house right next to the pond but alas, noone was home. This was unfortunate as we could see from the car that the pond would have been an awesome birding spot. Just from a few minutes looking from the car we saw Snowy Egrets (12), Canada Geese (20+), Little Blue Herons (3), Wood Ducks (3 + chicks), a Black-crowned Night Heron, a Cattle Egret, a Great Egret and an Osprey.

After our disappointing pond adventure we decided to use the maps feature on Abby's magical new phone to find other ponds in the area. As a result we ended up creeping around in a rather swanky looking estate that had been built on the marsh. In Mystic Harbour Village we saw a Great Egret fly over, as well as a Little Blue Heron in someone's back yard. There were 10+ Canada Geese with awkward teenage goslings swimming around on a pond, along with a Mourning Dove and a Robin hanging out on the shore. In someone's front yard we saw at least 8 Common Grackles having a party and a Northern Mockingbird mocking something. The strangest thing we saw though was a Double-crested Cormorant hanging out at a pond on the estate.

Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) 

After creeping around for a while we went back to Assateague Island to see if we could find anything cool. We weren't too hopeful though because the temperature outside had reached the mid 30's (celcius). 

The Boardwalk over the dunes to the beach.

We started out at the dunes where we watched a male Grey Catbird sing his heart out for a while before walking along the boardwalk to the beach for a paddle.

Grey Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)

On the beach we found a small herd of ponies standing in the shallows in an attempt to cool off. The sight of horses on the beach is a new one for me and I can say that they were quite photogenic. 

Beach Ponies

We walked up the beach for a way following a Willet as it foraged for sand crabs. I also got some photos of ghost crabs (Ocypode spp.).

Willet (Tringa semipalmata)

We checked out Old Ferry Landing again on our way back to Ocean City but we didn't stay long because it was insanely hot and humid outside. I did manage to get some decent pictures of Glossy Ibis (4) and we saw a Brown Pelican fly over. The only other birds we saw were the usual crowd of Great Egrets (2), Snowy Egrets (2), Little Blue Heron (1), Herring Gull (4), Laughing Gull (1) and Boat-bailed Grackle (1).

Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)

Great Egret (Ardea alba)

There is a little sandbar out in the bay just as you cross over the bridge into Ocean City that is often covered with seabirds and peeps. We pulled over and had a look with out binoculars and managed to identify Black Skimmers, Brown Pelicans, Forster's Terns, Common Terns, Royal Terns, Greater Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls and Laughing Gulls. There was also a pair of Willets on a little island close to our shore. Oh how I wish that we could have gotten closer to that little sandbar. Unfortunately for me the only way to get there is by swimming, jetski or boat and you can't take a camera with you on the first two options and we don't have access to a boat right now. Hopefully we will see these birds down in Florida in a couple of weeks and I will be able to get photos then.

[allofthebirds]

Assateague Island National Seashore Pt. 2 - forest, marsh and dunes

After Old Ferry Landing we headed to the Life of the Forest Nature Trail. We could hear birds in the forest but most the them were not being very cooperative. I saw a Scarlet Tanager fly past and found a Field Sparrow preening after a bath and Abby managed to see a Pine Warbler, a Grey Catbird and a Northern Cardinal.

Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla)

An Eastern Towhee also made an appearance at the beginning of the trail. The forest part of the trail was swarming with mosquitoes and other biting insects so it was a relief when the trail suddenly brought us out back at the salt marsh and then a little beach. There we saw a Little Blue Heron, a Green Heron, a couple of Glossy Ibis, a Herring Gull, a Laughing Gull and Willet out on the marsh. Flying past us were Barn Swallows, a Red-winged Blackbird and an Eastern Kingbird mobbing a Fish Crow. Back in the forest we didn't see anything else as we rushed through in an attempt to avoid being eaten alive. A Diamondback Terrapin poked his head out of the water to watch us pass.

Green Heron (Butorides virescens) - 1. in the marsh 2. on the beach

Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)

Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin)

Next we went to the Life of the Dunes Nature Trail but the beach was full of horrible sunburned tourists so we didn't even bother. There was however Boat-tailed Grackles in the carpark and a little outhouse building where a group of Barn Swallows had set up shop. There were little mud nests all under the eaves and Barn Swallows were zipping around all over the place. The birds sitting on the nests were easy enough to photograph but the ones flying around were far to ADD to focus on easily.

Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major) - 1. male 2. female preening 3. female

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) - 1. begging behaviour 2. on nest 3. mid-air aerobatics

[allofthebirds]

Assateague Island National Seashore Pt. 1 - Salt Marsh

On Wednesday (08/06/11) Abby and I armed ourselves with binoculars (nocs), cameras and scope and headed to Assateague Island for some birding.

Assateague Island National Seashore is located on a barrier island that was formed by the ocean over many, many years. Unlike Ocean City, Assateague Island still has natural vegetation on the dunes and as such will likely survive a huge storm event like a hurricane.

We visited several different sites within Assateague and managed to spend about 5 or 6 hours exploring and looking for birds.

Salt Marsh generally looks like this.

Our first stop of the day was at Old Ferry Landing where we saw a plethora of wildlife. A male Boat-tailed Grackle was hanging out in the carpark area and as we walked towards the salt marshes we saw a Great Black-backed Gull sitting on the water, as well as a Herring Gull and several Laughing Gulls flying around overhead. 

Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) - This particular bird kept sitting with its chest on the ground then standing up and screaming.

Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla)

Willet were abundant on the marsh and we followed several up the shore while wading in the shallow water until they flew away. There was at least one nesting pair as one of the parents put on a great show in an attempt to scare us away. A Ruddy Turnstone also graced us with its presence for a short time before flying away. 

Willet (Tringa semipalmata) - The bird in the second photo had a lengthy bath which I captured with photos, however I didn't want to post a million Willet photos for fear of boring everyone.

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)

Further out on the marshes we saw a Tricoloured Heron, a Little Blue Heron and a Great Blue Heron as well as Snowy Egrets and Cattle Egrets. Eastern Kingbirds were fighting in the scrub and Barn Swallows were darting around in the air.

Tricoloured Heron (Egretta tricolor)

As we were walking around and wading through the shallows to get to different parts of the marsh I managed to pick up 3 deer ticks and 1 dog tick. Awesome.

Something really cool about Assateague Island is that it is home to a population of wild horses, commonly known as "ponies". They mainly hang around in the salt marshes and subsist upon salt grass. Some of them are a bit skinny but they seem to make do.

"Assateague Ponies" (Equus ferus caballus)

More to come soon. I'm still trying to catch up with the backlog from the past couple of days.

[allofthebirds]

On the joys of flight and the weirdness of Americans

After being seen off at the airport by my remaining friends in Ithaca I made my way down to Ocean City, MD. Apparently travelling with 4 cameras, three spare lenses and 30+ rolls of film in your carry on luggage is suspicious because I had all my bags searched and my cameras and film inspected by hand. Awesome. 

My first plane, from Ithaca to Philadelphia was on time and I spent the time I had to wait in Philly for my next plane writing about snakes. I finished writing, and it was nearing the time we were expected to beard so I put away my computer and rearranged my stuff. Expected boarding time passed, as did our departure time. It turns out the pilots were late. They arrived about 15 mins after our departure time. No worries, the guy rolling around on the floor next to me doing exercises was entertaining enough to get me through the wait, and anyway, being 15 mins late isn't too bad. We finally got to board the plane, only to find out that they needed to do some "maintenance" before we could depart. Slightly disconcerting. The time when we were supposed to land in Salisbury rolled around and we were just about to take off. Sigh. At least now that the "maintenance" had been done we could have a worry free flight. Right?

We finally landed in Salisbury and Abby and her folks were there to pick me up. Hooray! The drive from Salisbury to Ocean City was a lot shorter than I thought it would be (google maps fail) and we arrived at about 7 and had some dinner.

Ocean City is a weird place. As a popular holiday location it is only really occupied for the summer months and is apparently deserted for the rest of the year. The city is built on a sand spit that was thrown up by a hurricane 100 years ago (or something) and when the next big hurricane comes through it is likely that the whole place will disappear. The island is only 3 or 4 blocks wide and a couple of miles long and the whole thing is covered in condominiums, cheesy restaurants and chain stores. Apparently people in Ocean City only ever need swimsuits and lollies, as it appears that they are the only things you can buy in the place.

The giant cowboy at "Frontier Town"

This is the murderer's car that we were driving behind. Note the "I heart Satan", DOOM", "666", "Scumsucker" and upsidedown crosses on the back.

Every year Abby's family come to Ocean City for a week for a big lawyer convention and rent the same little condo every year from a family friend. The condo itself is rather quirky, having a mermaid and seashore theme (as is want of many beach abodes). There are fish painted on the wall of the kitchen and lots of bird statues. The namesake of the place is however a giant mermaid who is holding up a glass top table in the living room area.

That first evening we saw Brown Pelicans flying along the beach, as well as Forster's Terns and Laughing Gulls. There are also Common Grackles that hang out in the dunes and a couple of Northern Mockingbirds that have made their nest in a bush right by the fence. The nest is easily accessible so I hope to get photos of it in the next few days. There is also a rabbit of unknown species that lives in the dunes right outside.

EDIT (11/06/11): Went back to the Mockingbird nest but it was empty. Either the chicks fledged or they were eaten by something.

[allofthebirds]

161 steps

After living in Ithaca, NY for the last 18 months (minus adventures) it felt weird and sad to leave. Staying in one place for that long you start to think of it as home, and as different as it is from Australia I was sad to go and will definitely return someday, even if it is just for a visit.

The last week was rather hectic as I was packing and cleaning my house as well as trying to see all my friends one last time before I left. I realised on the weekend that I had never climbed the clocktower that is located in the middle of campus, which was one thing that I definitely wanted to do before I left. So, I checked to see when the next time to visit it was and gathered as many people as I could to come along. 

The clocktower

The top of the tower

To reach the top of the clocktower, also known as Mcgraw Tower, you need to climb 161 steps (it kinda reminded me of when I accidentally climbed to the top of the Basilica in Rome) . Even the fittest person would be feeling the climb once they reached the top but what awaits is definitely worth it. As the top of the tower is the tallest point on campus and because Cornell itself is on top of a hill you can see all of Cornell and Ithaca, as well as a good portion of Cayuga Lake.

Cayuga Lake

The Arts Quad

Part of Central Campus

Looking towards Tower Road

Towards Collegetown

West Campus

Uris Hall from above

Shortly after we reached the top and caught our breath the Chimes Master started to play. The tower houses a series of chimes which are played by students three times a day. Different songs are played each day but one of the most common song played in the Harry Potter theme. While we were up there the Chimes Master played the Backstreet Boys and something by Taylor Swift. As you are standing directly underneath the chimes and bells it is rather deafening and it can take a while to discern what songs are being played. It is much easier to hear the songs if you are on the ground.

After being deafened we stumbled back down the 161 steps and wandered down to Collegetown for one last trip to the bubble tea store. The Old Teahouse makes some of the tastiest bubbles I have ever had and once I get back home I will make it my quest to find a bubble store that rivals them.

Uris Hall

There are also some pretty cool stencils and stickers up in Ctown.

Cowboy riding a unicorn

MC Death Bear

I doubt that this will be the last you hear of Ithaca as I have 18 months worth of stories and adventures to recount. Besides, I'll be back one day. Who knows when, or how long for, but I'll be back.

[allofthebirds]

S'mores

Making s'mores at a campfire is a common pastime for most Americans. It involves cooking a marshmallow and then squishing it between two graham crackers (biscuits) with a piece of chocolate. Apparently s'mores are rather tasty. I don't eat marshmallows however, so when some friends invited us over for s'mores I took photos instead. I think the pictures are fairly self-explanatory.

[allofthebirds]

Dog days

A trip to the Ithaca dog park is always entertaining. I used to take my housemate's Golden Retriever along as well before he left for New Mexico.

This is Dante. He would sell his own mother for a ball and loves to lie in the paddling pool.

This is Coda. He likes to drink from the tap.

This is Maxie. She was a really sweet rescue owned by an elderly lady.

A view to the back end of the dog park. Man, Ithaca is green. It hurts my eyes.

[allofthebirds]

Mad as a cut snake

Growing up in a land full of venomous snakes and poisonous spiders breeds certain habits and instincts into a person. You always wear shoes when you go outside. You don't walk through long grass if you can help it, especially not in sandals. You stomp your feet when you walk in the bush to scare things away. You wear gardening gloves when rummaging through storage boxes. But above all, you don't actively look for snakes and if you see one you go inside immediately or you head the other way as fast as you can.

Before coming to the US the only time I had ever seen wild snakes up close there were cats involved. The first time was when I came home from school one afternoon and walked in the back door to find the cat standing about 2 metres from me surrounded by baby tiger snakes and with another in her mouth. They were still alive. Puss was a smart cat. She would feed herself all summer by catching rabbits in the cemetery across the road and was apparently very adept at catching snakes without getting bitten. This incident happened about 10 years ago and unfortunately Puss has since gone to the great cat paradise in the sky. No snakes were involved there however. She died of old age.

My parent's current set of cats are a bit lacking in the intelligence department. All of them have been bitten by a snake at least once in their lives and as such they are no longer allowed outside in the summer. My second close encounter of the serpent kind involved possibly the dimmest of the the three cats, Jaffa. She's an odd cat and sometimes you think that she can't possibly be that stupid and there must be some semblance of intelligence behind those small green eyes. Then she goes does something idiotic and everything returns to normal.

Her story begins with my dad and I returning from the shops to find two of the cats sitting next to the garage. Jaffa was pouncing at something in the grass while the other cat stared vacantly in the opposite direction. I grabbed Jaffa to bring her inside and as I lifted her from the ground a snake launched itself out of the grass at us. Of course I yelled "Ahhhggg! A SNAKE!" to which my mother (standing at the back door) responded "What kind of snake?". My response was apparently "A snakey snake!". I had more important things to worry about than identifying what snake had just thrown itself at me. As the path to the back door was blocked by the snake I had to run all the way around the house to the front door in order to get inside. I threw the cat on to the living room floor where it was evident that she had been bitten. She was crouched low on the ground, panting. Fortunately we have a vet in my town and even though it was a Sunday he was able to come in and give the cat some anti-venom. After the cat was all sorted my mother looked at me and asked how I was doing. I was starting to feel a little weird and had a strange mark on my hand so we jumped in the car and drove to the Queanbeyan Hospital just be be safe. The hospital staff were surprisingly unconcerned that I may have been bitten by a snake and seemed very reluctant to give me any anti-venom. Eventually my mother harassed them enough that they did and we spent a very boring few hours sitting in the hospital while they jabbed me with needles and IV drips before sending me home. We are not sure if I was actually bitten, but the general consensus is that the snake bit the cat, which got most of the venom and then bit me, or scratched me with it's fangs and I got the residual venom.

In the Northeastern United States there are only a couple of species of venomous snakes and they are quite rare and easily identifiable from a distance. As such it is a common pastime of nature-type people to look for snakes and try to catch them. When my friend Texas Tom offered to take me to Connecticut Hill last Thursday (02/06/11) to catch snakes I jumped at the opportunity. There is no way I could ever do anything like that back home. It was an odd experience, looking for snakes. It went against everything I had ever been told and many of my instincts. We walked up a hill, turning over every rock we found (and there were a lot of rocks) looking to see if there were snakes underneath.

Here we have some prime snake habitat. It was also prime mosquito habitat.

As you can see, the slope was rather steep.

Every time we found snakes I had to overcome the urge to drop the rock and run away. I am not afraid of snakes, but I do respect them, especially the ones back home and there was always something niggling at the back of my mind telling me that I should't be doing this. I managed to ignore it though and we caught upwards of 30 or 40 snakes in about 2 hrs.

Northern Red-bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata)

Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis)

Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus)

We mostly found Ringneck Snakes, though there were also Garter Snakes and Northern Red-bellied Snakes. The majority of the snakes were very small, <30cm long and very thin. Some of the Garter Snakes were thicker and maybe 50cm long. Nothing compared to the 1.5 - 2m long tiger and brown snakes in my back yard back home. We also found a fair number of American Toads hiding out under rocks as well, including one that was sharing a rock with a snake.

American Toad (Bufo americanus)

After we had our fill of snakes we headed back down the hill and back to the pond at the beginning of Connecticut Hill.

Now, Tom's housemates had been fishing at the pond for the entire 2 or so hours that we had been looking for snakes. They hadn't caught a thing. We get back, Tom grabs a pole and within 10 minutes has landed a monster of a Largemouth Bass. The housemates were not impressed.

Of course I made Tom kiss the fish before throwing it back, Rex Hunt style.

Below you can see the gills of the fish and looking through you can see why it is called 'largemouth'.

Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)

All in all a rather successful day I believe.

[allofthebirds]

A bucket full of crows

It was a Friday morning (27/05/11) and I was peacefully sleeping at 9 something when I received a phone call telling me to be up and ready in 20 mins. Oh, and awake. Well, I rolled out of bed (literally) and stumbled around the house trying to find clothes in the mess that is me packing to leave the country. 15 minutes later I was ready and waiting for Abby and Jonah to pick me up so we could go meet Jenn for crow banding. I may have been wearing pants but I'm pretty sure I wasn't awake yet...

We drove to somewhere in Sapsucker Woods (the suburb, not the actual woods) where we found Jenn, Kevin McGowan, Anne and another girl set up in someone's front yard. There is an American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) nest (ROTA11) in one of the trees behind their house and the chicks were ready to be banded.

When we arrived the team was already underway processing the chicks while the parents screamed at them from the safety of the trees.

Each chick is fitted with wing tags that have a unique code which allows observers (namely those people working in the crow project) to identify individual birds from a distance. The tags are attached to the thin membrane of skin between the shoulder and wrist of the bird known as the patagium. The tag is held in place by a piece of plastic that is similar, or even the same of the plastic bits that attach price tags to pieces of clothing. The plastic is just pushed through the membrane, inserted through a plastic washer, and then the end of the plastic bit is melted with a flame and flattened with a knife blade.

Each chick is also fitted with a metal leg band and a unique combination of coloured plastic leg bands (which are secured with either acetone or heat).

Basic data is taken for each chick including bill length, culmen diameter, tarsus length (which stays fixed from this point onwards), length of the seventh primary and the amount of feather that is showing past the sheath, tail length and skull length.

Measuring beak length

A small blood sample is also taken for each bird, some of which is used for DNA sexing. Blood is taken from the cutaneous ulnar vein in the wing by puncturing the vessel with a needle and then allowing some blood to be sucked into a tiny tube.

Taking blood

Weight measurements also needed to be taken for all the chicks which involved placing each chick in a pre-weighed paper bag and hanging them from a scale.

Bucket full of crows!

Now you may have noticed that the ROTA11 chicks have something weird going on with their feathering. Usually by this stage in their development crow chicks will be fully feathered but for some reason this particular nest is different. Every year the chicks are pretty much bald until their first moult, when they moult in their juvenile plumage before fledging. The researchers reckon that they have something funky going on with their genetics which results in the bald chicks.

Once all the chicks were processed it was time for them to be returned to the nest. Usually the team has a professional tree climber to take chicks from and return them to nest. Unfortunately as there was a mega storm the night before (complete with a tornado warning) the tree climber actually had a lot of real work that he had to do. This left the tree climbing up to Kevin. Attaching the bucket full of chicks to his climbing belt and using a ladder to reach the lowest braches of the pine tree that housed the nest Kevin began is ascent. It was both amazing and scary to watch him climb the tree as he was not anchored to anything for the while climb up. The tree must have been at least 25m tall. When he reached the nest (of course located at the very top of the tree) Kevin anchored himself around the trunk of the tree in order to free up his hands so he could return the chicks to the nest. Watching the descent was just as nail-biting as the climb up as again, Kevin as not anchored at all. Sensibly he kept always kept three limbs on the tree and only moved on limb at a time.

Kevin at the nest

The babies safely returned to their nest (Photo thanks to Kevin)

Photo of us from the top of the nest tree (Photo thanks to Kevin)

Once all the equipment was packed up we moved to a new nest location in the hopes of banding another clutch of crows. Unfortunately it seemed as if the nest in question was down (unoccupied or failed). After searching the immediate vicinity for any possible places the pair could have moved their nest to the party disbanded. Abby and Jonah left to run some errands and I tagged along with Jenn. We went to yet another nest for some observation. After looking for some time Jenn was unable to conclude whether this nest was down or not, and decided to return at a later date to watch it some more.

Observing nests is an odd business. You drive along in your car, and as a lot of the crow nests happen to be in people's yards you often stop outside houses and sit there with binoculars or a scope for upwards of an hour. If you're not careful you look like a creeper. Actually, even if you are careful you look like a creeper. I found it highly amusing that the crow project participants have had to register all of their license plate numbers with the local police so that if people do call up about them creeping the police know that they are just conducting research.

At this point we were so hungry that we were on the verge of resorting to cannibalism so we all reconvened for lunch at the Ithaca Bakery. After we had eaten some incredibly tasty sandwiches we headed to the Lab of O for skinning lab.

I shall finish the post with some photos of the babies being adorable.

The wing tags have Kevin's phone number on them so that he can collect mortality data if dead birds are found.

This crow was begging in the vain hope that Kevin would feed it.

Naww. Cuteness.