Birder's World Field of View

Bird shootings and poisonings in Oregon alarm Audubon officials

Who shot this Osprey? That's what wildlife and law-enforcement officials want to know after the adult female raptor was found mortally wounded on Monday in northwestern Oregon. Shortly after the photo was taken at the Audubon Society of Portland Wildlife Care Center, the bird was euthanized because its injured wing was beyond repair.

A resident of St. Paul, a small town southwest of Portland, called the Audubon Society Monday after finding the Osprey on the ground below its nest. Audubon sent a volunteer, who captured the bird and brought it to the society's Wildlife Care Center, where it was examined and x-rayed. A wing was twisted 360 degrees, and x-rays showed shattered bones and a small-caliber bullet in the wing.

"I've been doing this for 15 years and have seen a lot of injured birds, but it's always a shock when an x-ray comes back and you see a bullet," says Bob Sallinger, the society's conservation director. "How someone can shoot a big beautiful bird that doesn't cause anyone any problems is mind-boggling."

Law-enforcement officers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Portland are investigating the shooting.

The Osprey's nest is located high on a power pole, and her mate flew back and forth to the nest while the Audubon volunteer captured her. The volunteer could not see young in the nest, but it's likely that eggs have hatched because most nesting Ospreys are feeding chicks by now. Sallinger says Audubon will monitor the nest in hopes that the father will be able to raise the young.

Sadly, the case is not an isolated incident. The bird was the latest victim in a string of disturbing crimes against birds in the state:

Avian Odyssey 2

Chuck, Ernie, and I are going birding for a good cause tomorrow (Monday, May 12). We're participating in the Wisconsin Humane Society's 2008 Avian Odyssey, the annual birdathon-fundraiser that supports the society's Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Milwaukee.

We will be birding in some of the best spots in Milwaukee County — Lake Park, where we saw the Red-headed Woodpecker above during last year's Avian Odyssey, Kletzsch Park, the Coast Guard Impoundment, and maybe more. We're hoping to top the 81 species we saw last year.

See more of Ernie's photos and read about the birds we saw on Avian Odyssey 1 last May.

If you'd like to support us with a donation to the center, we'd sure appreciate it, as would the center. Donations can be made any time in May via our team page on the Avian Odyssey website. To learn more about the good work performed for wildlife by the Rehab Center, see a story I wrote last June about a Chimney Swift that the staff nursed back to health.

We'll let you know how we do on Monday! — M.M.

Celebrate migratory birds today

Today, Saturday, May 10, is International Migratory Bird Day. Through birding walks, festivals, and education programs, IMBD recognizes the great spectacle of migration. This year's theme, "Tundra to Tropics," highlights the vast distances birds fly between their breeding and non-breeding territories.

Mexican wildlife artist Eleazar Saenz painted the poster promoting this year's celebration. (Click it to see it big! You won't be disappointed.) Saenz displays 12 species against a backdrop of mountains, forest, desert, and other habitats. From the top, the birds are: Long-tailed Jaeger, Northern Harrier, Blackpoll Warbler, American Redstart, Northern Shoveler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Ruddy Turnstone, Cinnamon Teal, Bobolink, Azure-rumped Tanager, Short-eared Owl, and Bananaquit.

Most are birds you can see in the U.S., but you won't find all 12 species on one bird walk. (You'd have to go to Mexico's Chiapas region or neighboring Guatemala to glimpse the tanager, which is endangered.) But if Saenz's art doesn't make you want to get out and see birds this spring, nothing will. Find an IMBD event near you, and watch birds! — M.M.

Read more about International Migratory Bird Day.

Read an article on climate change and birds by IMBD Program Director Susan Bonfield.

Wisconsin Whooping Cranes abandon their nests

The 11 pairs of Whooping Cranes that nested in central Wisconsin this spring have abandoned their nests. One nest failed in mid-April, and seven more were lost between April 30 and May 5. The last three pairs of cranes deserted their nests on Tuesday, May 6, a day when the temperature climbed into the 80s. According to Operation Migration, biologists collected at least seven fertile eggs from the nests and transported them to the International Crane Foundation for incubation.

"The nest desertions are reminiscent of last April, when during the same short space of time, all four 2007 incubating pairs abandoned their nests," notes Liz Condie of Operation Migration. "Then too, the birds leaving their nests appeared to be associated with a surge of warm weather."

On a brighter note, chicks have begun to hatch at the captive breeding center in Patuxent, Maryland. In a few short months, they'll begin learning to follow ultralights for their first migration to Florida. — M.M.

Read our behind-the-scenes report on the crane-reintroduction program.

Read our news story about the deaths of 17 young cranes in Florida in February 2007.

Careful planning put Vermilion Flycatcher in focus -- and on our cover

It's difficult to get a sharp, clear, and unobstructed photograph of a wild bird like the stunning Vermilion Flycatcher on the cover of our June 2008 issue.

But let's suppose it's your lucky day, and the red and black bird lands nearby. Do you really think its perch will be bathed in beautiful light with no distracting branches? And will your luck last long enough to snap the picture before the bird flits away?

There's a saying -- chance favors the prepared mind -- and no one could be more prepared than veteran bird photographer Alan Murphy, who took this remarkable photo on the Ramirez Ranch in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas.

The ranch has a side business catering to bird photographers (you can write to Roel Ramirez, the owner, for information), and Murphy visits annually. On his first visit, he noticed a Vermilion Flycatcher that hunted for bugs in one four-acre patch of land. "When hunting, they'll have several perches, in a circle," he said. But this particular flycatcher liked a space that was a little short on perches.

So two years ago, Murphy put his observations to work. He made a perch from a dead branch and took it into the flycatcher's territory. "I took note of the sun's direction in the morning and placed the perch in front of some mesquite trees, so the background would be green. Within hours, the bird started using the perch."

Then Murphy set up a tent-like photo blind about 15 feet away, in a spot from which he could see the bird in the best morning light. But he didn't take any pictures. He left the blind unattended for three days, so the bird would not sense any threat.

On photo day, he arrived at the blind before sunrise, cut a fresh mesquite branch, and attached it to the perch. "My goal is to create a perch with the same diameter as the bird's feet or grip." Within 20 minutes of sunrise, the flycatcher came over, hovered for a second, then settled on the mesquite branch, but not in the precise spot Murphy had anticipated. Instead, the bird perched on the flimsy, topmost boughs. "They like to get as high as possible," he said.

"It stayed for 20 minutes." Murphy told me. "It would fly off and come back. I got multiple shots as it turned its head and posed. It doesn't always work out that way."

The flycatcher, of course, had no idea it was the star of a precisely built stage. But that's the beauty of Murphy's fieldcraft. His setups are built around the bird's desires and needs, not his own.

The bird you see on our cover is a wild bird, pictured at a moment when it felt safe and secure, despite Murphy's presence. And because of his advance observation of lighting and sight lines, the image you see is what he saw through his lens, with no retouching or digital alteration. --E.M.