Sandhill Cranes

In Utah, we took one day to explore a series of rivers southwest of Salt Lake City. Jordanelle State Park is located near the Jordanelle dam. It's a very popular spot for fishing.

As we were leaving the area, we spotted some movement in the grasses and stopped the car. I saw my first sandhill crane!

Sandhill cranes are so beautiful and delicate. They move like ballet dancers; very carefully and quietly. They're quite skittish.

The sandhill crane has the oldest fossil records of any existing bird species. Scientists have found a fossils of a sandhill crane that dates back 2.5 million years, which is 1.5 times older than the second oldest fossil of any existing bird species.

And then there were two!

Sandhill cranes mate for life. Their mating ritual involves a series of leaps and deep bows.

They're supposed to migrate through the Bay area starting in September. I'm going to try and find somewhere local that is in their known migration path. Lodi, CA holds a crane festival every year, which is tempting, but located over 100 miles away.

Nest Box

Okay, Conner hasn't taken a wet enough shower yet to warrant pictures.  I haven't forgotten; I promise.  In lieu of wet Conner, I have Conner in a box!  Now that Conner has chewed down a side of his box, he can hang out in the box without missing any of the action.  

He's all about redecorating the box too.  Since these pictures were taken, Conner has chewed down the green box and repositioned it on the other side of the nest box in front of the opening.  Last night I found him napping inside the nest box next to the green box.

He also does his flirting routine inside the box.  Here his head is high.

Here he dips his head down low.

Once he reaches the lowest point, he pops his head back up while making a kissy noise.  It's very charming.

Search Terms

Okay, whoever came here using the search term "mixing cockatiel with chickens" needs to know that these species can't breed with each other.  The only mixing of cockatiels that I've seen is with a pink cockatoo called a Galah.  I tend to think that is a hoax, but there is a video, so maybe it's legitimate.  But this type of breeding is dangerous for the cockatiel.  The cockatiel could be hurt during the mating process, or become egg-bound.  In any case, don't try to breed your cockatiel with a chicken.

On a less alarming note, whoever came here wondering about what it means when a cockatiel dips its head, you've come to the right place!  When a cockatiel dips his head and spreads his wings like Audrey is doing below, he's flirting with you.

This position is referred to as a heart-shaped pose (Update: or more commonly known as heart wings, as Cyndi mentioned in the comments).  The best way to respond is to play along with him by dipping your head, making kissy noises, etc.  

The dipping behavior is also a way to determine if your cockatiel is male or female.  The males flirt and sing.  The females enjoy being flirted with and sung to.

Pigeon Guillemot

We're back from the marshes of Pescadero, CA.  Alas, I did not find any avocets, but I saw tons of birds.  I saw at least five kinds of birds that I've never seen before.  Tonight I'll be trying to determine whether I saw different types of terns or one kind with slight variations.  The key to these water birds is in the beak, the tips of the primaries, and the shape of the head.  If you ever have a question about bird identification, you can post a picture on Birdforum.  The members are incredibly nice and very knowledgeable.

Have you ever been to Pescadero?  It's lovely.

Growing up in Massachusetts, I was really quite surprised the first time I saw a California coast.  It's all high bluffs and crumbling rocks here in California. 

Onto the birds!

Pigeon guillemots live along the coast and obtain their food by diving into the water.  Their name is derived from their similarity to pigeons.  I was really surprised to discover that they are not water pigeons.  Just look!

They have awesome bright orange feet.

They are very vocal.  We kept hearing an eee-eee-eee and they'd come flying out of the rock crevices.  

Pigeon guillemots are quite common, especially this time of year, when they're breeding in crevices, caves, or burrows.  This next part is from my field guide and it's so funny that I have to quote directly from the book:  "In their summer courtship rituals, these birds flaunt their scarlet mouths and wave their scarlet feet while peering down the throats of potential mates."  Don't you wish I captured a picture of that?  Instead I can only show you the inside of their mouths.

They were really busy today.  They were searching for food, calling to each other, disappearing inside the rocks.  I suspect that they're raising babies right now.  They feed their babies throughout the day to reduce the time it takes for the babies to fledge.

I wanted to get a really good picture of their feet.  We kept yelling "Show us your feet" but they're stubborn.  

 You see that face?  That's the face of a bird with resolve.  He will not show you his feet.

Black-necked Stilt

I never understood the appeal of visiting marshes until I discovered the black-necked stilt.  

Aren't they lovely?  I found them in a small marsh near Monterey, CA.  Black-necked stilts are social birds, so you frequently see them in groups.  I couldn't get any pictures of both of them in focus, so the above picture is here to show two together and how they look in their native habitat.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has an indoor aviary with local birds and the black-necked stilt is included.  Here you can see his long beak, which is used for eating insects and spearing aquatic invertebrates.

This is the only picture where I captured the red in his eye and his puffy underside.  My field guide refers to the underside as "clean white underparts," which makes me giggle.

When you compare the ratio of the black-necked stilt's legs to the rest of his body, these birds have the longest legs of any North American bird.  When they walk, their strides are long and their movements delicate. 

They carefully eat from the water.

Jon got him to talk by making yip-yip noises.  Here, the stilt is answering Jon's call.

This picture goes along with my birds in motion obsession.  The birds surrounding the black-necked stilt are greater yellowlegs.  It's worth enlarging the picture to see the details.  The stilt is thinking, "What's up with these spazzes?  I have humans photographing me all the time."

We're going to visit some marshes this weekend, so I hope to see an avocet.  They're supposed to be really common, so cross your fingers!

Cockatiel Showers

In reviewing the blog analytics, I've determined that a lot of people reach this website by researching the Internet for basic cockatiel information.  So this is a post on how to give your bird a shower.

Bathing is very healthy for birds.  They get dusty and showers are good for maintaining shiny feathers.  Plus, once the bird is comfortable showering, he'll really like it.  Birds like showing so much, they'll take dust showers in the wild.

The most important thing to remember about giving your bird a shower is that the process should be gradual so the bird doesn't become scared of water.  African grays in particular are known to dislike showers, so don't do anything drastic like bringing the bird into the shower and putting him directly into the stream the first time you introduce him to showering.

Start with putting a wide bowl of water on the cage.  The next time, try lightly misting the bird with a spray bottle.  Then, bring the bird into the shower but put her on a perch the first few times so she becomes used to the shower.  Then try putting the bird into a portion of the stream.  If at any point during this process the bird gets upset, stop immediately. 

Audrey grew up around cockatiels so he knows how to shower.  When he sees water running and he's in the mood, he gets puffy, spreads his wings, and dips down with his tail up in the air.  Audrey likes to get soaked!

When he's finished showering, he maintains the puffy posture.  If he's in the shower with me, I have to put him on the towel rack after he showers because he's so into posturing that sometimes he loses his balance and falls.  

Conner didn't understand showering until recently.  He would stick his head directly into the stream and breathe in the water...and then choke on the water.  That made him dislike the shower.  So we started again more slowly: I would put him near the water and let droplets fall from my hand onto him.  He progressed from tolerating showers to enjoying them.  Now when Conner wants to shower he'll run along the top of the shower door and lean towards me.

We've reached the point where I can put him in the stream if I deflect the water with my hand to avoid shooting water into his nose.  The last time he showered, he was so excited that he used my thumb for support so he could get the underside of his wings wet.    

After the bird finishes showering, move the bird to a warm room.  They're very vulnerable when they're wet both physically and mentally.  Audrey insists on being left alone after his shower.

I'll try to get pictures of Conner the next time he showers.

Tracy Aviary, SLC, UT

Liberty Park in Salt Lake City is home to the Tracy Aviary. I'll have several posts on this aviary because they have a really great setup. Unlike the San Francisco Zoo, all the birds are free to move around. Most of the birds are housed in large cages with fresh branches, ample shading, and a covered back area away from prying eyes.

The birds that are out in the open have large areas with shade. They were brought into the aviary with wing injuries that prevent them from flying. The aviary has a great sign in front of the eagles explaining that most of the birds were hit by cars, so there is a list of helpful suggestions to protect birds from being injured in the future, such as moving roadkill off to the side of the road.

One of the cages in the Tracy Aviary is open to the public. It houses quakers!

I love quakers. They're really smart, enthusiastic birds. One of my friends has a quaker named Sage and I adore him. He'll let you snuggle up next to him and whispers "I love you" in his scratchy quaker voice. He also gets really excited and says, "Scooby Doo" three times fast. My friend tells me that when she puts his food bowl in front of him, he'll climb up onto the rim, look at her, and say "I love you" before eating. So polite!

The Tracy Aviary had three pairs of quakers in this cage. I don't know if it was the heat or the time of day, but they were all very sleepy and cuddly with each other.

Quakers are outlawed in California because of their remarkable ability to live outside in a variety of climates. Although quakers are native to South America, there are wild populations living in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and even Illinois! I'm amazed that they can adapt to winters in Chicago.

Quakers build huge nests, typically using telephone wires as scaffolding for their nests. One of the best chapters in Of Parrots and People is about the fight to stop electric companies from destroying quakers and their nests in these cities. The electric companies argue that the nests are a fire hazard and that they cause too many power outages, but Tweti provides ample statistics that suggest that the increase in fires and power outages caused by the nests is minimal.

You can see an example of their nest making abilities below:

I love this aviary because they not only provided supplies for creating the nests; they helped the quakers by installing metal grates to form the scaffolding.