Golden Eagle

We banded one of these yesterday. It was the first of the season to be banded, though nine have been counted from the hawk watch. This bird may have been seen from the hawk watch on the same day.

Snowy Owls, Part 2

Some bloggers north of here went to see snowy owls that have already been reported in the northeast.

Christopher went to see the snowy owl at Plum Island (MA).

Tom visited the snowy owl in Norwalk (CT).

Remember, if you do follow a snowy owl report and find the bird, keep a respectful distance and do not interfere with its normal activities.

Deformed Bills

Raptors with deformed bills are turning up along the West Coast.

Hundreds of other birds are not so lucky. The most commonly affected seem to be raptors and crows. But it’s easy to find distressing pictures of other species... from chickadees to hummingbirds....

Manthey surveyed fish and game departments and wildlife rehabilitation centers across the region. Reports of affected birds stretch from California to Alaska. Sightings appear to be concentrated west of the Cascades. It gets sketchier the further east you go; for example, nothing in Idaho. Among researchers, this has become known as “long billed syndrome.”

The cause of the deformity is undetermined.

Veterinarian Lindsey Oaks studies animal diseases at the university in Pullman. Other researchers are based at the Alaska Science Center in Anchorage and Oregon State University. Dr. Oaks says “many, many things” could cause a bird’s beak to grow abnormally.

Oaks: “Since there are no inflammatory cells, no evidence of infectious disease, it sort of makes you want to think about toxins. But of course there are all kinds of toxins, all different sorts of things. There is nothing consistently associated with this type of disease that we’re aware of. So it presumably would be something new.”

Oaks says genetic defects could play a role as well. The affected birds are a mixture of residents and migrants, which adds to the mystery....

Oaks hopes to unravel the mystery by figuring out what’s happening at the molecular level and then working backwards. So far, he’s found unusual proteins in affected birds that are not present in normal bird beaks.

I hope that the cause is found soon if this is being caused by an environmental contaminant or a contagious disease.

Murre

After several days in which rain shut down most banding activities, we finally reopened all of the banding stations yesterday morning. Unfortunately, the results were still not good. The "best" bird of the day (at my station, anyway) was a purple berry-stained sharpie. (Unfortunately, I did not get photographs of it.) Midway through the day, we got a call about a rare bird being seen at St. Mary's Jetty - a thick-billed murre.

Normally found off eastern Canada and New England, this alcid comes this far south only rarely. So we closed up and went down to see it. The murre was floating in the surf about 10-20 feet offshore. For a long time it hung around the jetty; then suddenly it started swimming westward towards the bay. It appeared to be injured, and gulls (both herring and great black-backed) would occasionally harass it. Eventually it grew more distant from land and disappeared.

While we were standing on the beach, with a flock of other birders, some other interesting birds passed by, including a parasitic jaeger, Bonaparte's gulls, northern gannets, and a lot of royal terns.

Snowy Owls on the Way?

Some bloggers in Connecticut are reporting that there has been a spurt of snowy owl sightings in their state. From sphere:

From Frank Mantlik:
11/05 - Norwalk, Calf Pasture Park -- 6:35-6:50am (at least) SNOWY OWL on ground in parking lot, located with the help of a few crows. I walked in, as gate was not opened till 6:50.

From Mardi Dickinson, Larry Flynn, et al:
11/05 - Norwalk, Calf's Pasture Beach Park -- 9:52 SNOWY OWL continued to the right of pier roosting on jetty rocks. The owl stayed in that area for most of the day. The Owl did however fly several times back in front of the stone wall, the grassy area next to the pier, and the fence along the path with incredible looks and photographs were taken. Sara Zagorski and I stayed till 5:15PM watching the owl sitting on the post fence looking around gearing up for it's evening hunt for food. Not a care in the world!

From Bev Propen:
11/05 - Stratford, Stratford Point -- 1 SNOWY OWL. I could only stay from 10:30AM-11AM, but I got magnificent views of this majestic bird; Beautiful gold/yellow eyes, and some dark streaking on its crown. Blood still on its claws from a recent hunt.

If this is an irruption year, as some are calling it, there is a good chance for snowy owl sightings here in New Jersey or even farther south. Keep an eye out for big white spots in open areas.