This bird photo could be better if...

WildBird holds a photo contest each year that generates hundreds of entries. We love seeing so many folks respond to the prizes available in each category, and this year's contest offered 16 prizes.

Among the gobs of great photographs that make the judges' jobs difficult, we always find images that make us think that they could've been just a wee bit better. I'll share some for your viewing and critiquing pleasure. (Click on an image to see a larger version.)

Tip: A tack-sharp focal point behind a flying bird can emphasize its movement. I wanted to see a version with the Great Egret's head in focus, so the Great Blue Heron's action appeared more dramatic.

This bird photo could be better if...

WildBird holds a photo contest each year that generates hundreds of entries. We love seeing so many folks respond to the prizes available in each category, and this year's contest offered 16 prizes.

Among the gobs of great photographs that make the judges' jobs difficult, we always find images that make us think that they could've been just a wee bit better. I'll share some for your viewing and critiquing pleasure. (Click on an image to see a larger version.)

Tip: Triple-check that the focus is razor-sharp after sizing the image to a large size. WildBird's judges want to see a bird's eyes and beak in crystal-clear focus in an 8x10 print.

Bonus tip: Reread the above tip. Roughly 75 percent of entries are blurry.

Neighborhood Explorers video game

Want to hang out in a treehouse and be part of a club that earns patches after completing projects? You can, if you're 8 to 11 years old!

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently released Neighborhood Explorers, an online game that aims to teach children about native, endangered and invasive species. The kids can earn patches after answering trivia questions, playing games, building birdhouses, learning how to recycle and conserve, and adding native plants to local habitat.

After earning all five patches, the children can receive a free tree from Arbor Day Foundation. Only the first 450 players to earn five patches will receive a tree.

Will you introduce your 8- to 11-year-old relatives and friends to the game? What do they think of it? On the Welcome screen, I get a kick out of the baby birds that pop up when my mouse scrolls over the nest. The praying mantis does a nice little dance, too!

This bird photo could be better if...

WildBird holds a photo contest each year that generates hundreds of entries. We love seeing so many folks respond to the prizes available in each category, and this year's contest offered 16 prizes.

Among the gobs of great photographs that make the judges' jobs difficult, we always find images that make us think that they could've been just a wee bit better. I'll share some for your viewing and critiquing pleasure. (Click on an image to see a larger version.)

Tip: Contest judges usually want to see a bird's eyes and beak.

Bonus tip: Scrutinize a photo's composition. Here, the owl's wing is cut off. The bare branches barely appear in the upper left. We'd see a better story with a different composition.

This bird photo could be better if...

WildBird holds a photo contest each year that generates hundreds of entries. We love seeing so many folks respond to the prizes available in each category, and this year's contest offered 16 prizes.

Among the gobs of great photographs that make the judges' jobs difficult, we always find images that make us think that they could've been just a wee bit better. I'll share some for your viewing and critiquing pleasure. (Click on an image to see a larger version.)

Tip: Turn off the date stamp, or crop the photo to remove the data stamp before submitting it to a contest.

Bonus tip: Ask yourself if your contest entry matches the quality of the photos that regularly appear in the host magazine or on the host website.

"LAX fends off feathered foes"

That headline in today's Los Angeles Time print edition rankles me to some extent, but I understand that birds cause problems at airports... and a copy editor's predilection for alliteration. The article's deck says "Birds of many sizes can bring down planes, so keeping them from airports is critical." (The head and deck are different in the online version.)

It's not just the big birds -- like the Canada Geese that brought down US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River -- that prompt concern. European Starlings received the nickname "bullets with wings."

Red-tailed Hawk, courtesy of Los Angeles Times

From the article:

Starlings also fly in the crowded skies above Los Angeles International Airport, a major concern of biologist Todd Pitlik, who works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His job is to control the wildlife populations at LAX, where more than 940 animal strikes involving commercial aircraft were reported between 1990 and 2008. About 4% of the collisions caused substantial damage to engines, wings and fuselages.

Pitlik's work isn't easy. LAX's 3,500 acres just east of the Pacific Ocean contain a menagerie of birds and small mammals that inhabit the drainage ditches, trees, dunes and grassy flats that surround the four runways of the nation's third-busiest airport.

Pitlik's work definitely isn't easy. Read the entire piece. Like he said, "It is important to minimize risk and liability, but it's also important to take care of the wildlife."

Kudos to South Bay Wildlife Rehab for its role. The nonprofit organization has taken in almost 40 hawks and falcons removed from three local airports, then released them elsewhere.

This bird photo could be better if...

WildBird holds a photo contest each year that generates hundreds of entries. We love seeing so many folks respond to the prizes available in each category, and this year's contest offered 16 prizes.

Among the gobs of great photographs that make the judges' jobs difficult, we always find images that make us think that they could've been just a wee bit better. I'll share some for your viewing and critiquing pleasure. (Click on an image to see a larger version.)

Tip: Very rarely will a photo taken through a window win a prize. Reconsider spending the time and effort to submit such a photo into a contest.

Birding at Superfund Sites, Landfills, and Sewage Ponds

The August issue of Journal of Sport & Social Issues includes an article with a title and an abstract that intrigue me: "Environmental Sporting: Birding at Superfund Sites, Landfills, and Sewage Ponds." Have you encountered that phrase -- environmental sporting -- before?

Spencer Schaffner -- professor at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign -- wrote the article. The abstract says:

This article describes birding as an example of what I call environmental sporting, an ostensibly green category of sport that relies on both environmental protection and degradation. Three competitive forms of birding are explored in relation to three toxic sites: the birding event called the World Series of Birding and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund sites, big-year birding and landfills, and the competitive practice of listing and sewage ponds.

At each site and in each competitive instantiation of birding, birders seek birds in close proximity with potent environmental toxins. The presence of active birds and birders at such sites works to make toxicity seem both hospitable and harmless. By discussing how birding relies on and ultimately masks the perils of toxic sites, the article suggests contradictions that arise from the relationship between sport and environmentalism.

Does that last sentence intrigue you, like it does me? I can't read the article itself without subscribing to the journal, so in lieu of that, we can read this article on PhysOrg.com, which cites portions of the professor's essay.

Schaffner cites seeming contradictions between birding's "green"/conservation aspects and birders' behaviors to find and see birds: the willingness to drive many hours in a car or to fly somewhere to see a single species and/or the blind eye toward the toxicity of landfills and sewage ponds. He also cites the World Series of Birding (in which WildBird has long sponsored a team):

In addition, he said, activities such as the World Series of Birding come across as environmentally friendly events because participants raise money for ecologically minded organizations. However, the event receives generous sponsorships from corporations ranging from binocular manufacturers to power companies. Ironically, many of these corporate sponsors are also major polluters, he said.

What do you think of the contradictions that Schaffner discusses? Do you think they're truly contradictions? If so, how do you reconcile them? Please share your thoughts below.

Disney's Club Penguin helps birds in subtropical regions

With a $150,000 donation, Disney's Club Penguin helps Rare continue its Pride campaigns in Asia and South America, teaching adults and children about the value of preserving native habitat.

During a two-year program, a Pride campaign coordinator emphasizes sustainable livelihoods, while Pride mascots visit schools to teach children about unique local species. The youth-focused Pride component can include environmentally focused classroom activities, new curriculum materials, songs, coloring books, games, festivals, demonstration gardens and field trips.

What is Rare doing for birds? One project focuses on endangered Red Knots in Argentina and works on reducing off-road vehicles and pollution from residents and tourists on the beaches of San Antonio Bay in Rio Negro. With support from Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences in Manomet, Mass., two other projects focus on Red Knots at Estuary Rio Gallegos in Santa Cruz and Costa Atlantica on Tierra del Fuego.

Want to learn more about Rare? You can follow the Twitter feed of its CEO, Brett Jenks. He tweets fairly regularly and contributes to a photo-filled blog with other Rare authors.

South Padre Island Birding & Nature Center

Need another reason to visit south Texas? Consider the grand opening of South Padre Island Birding & Nature Center in late September.

Scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26, the grand opening -- delayed by Hurricane Dolly's arrival last July -- will include nature interpreters along the boardwalks and inside the center. The Nature Store also will be open.

At the link above, you can sign up for the center's e-newsletter, see a copy of its bird list and learn more about the facility, which includes a five-story observation tower, an auditorium and an eBird Trail Tracker.

The South Padre Island center's opening celebrates the completion of the nine World Birding Centers. Their locations range from Roma to Hidalgo to Brownsville.

CMBO Morning Flight takes off

Down at the southernmost tip of New Jersey, a birding tradition began its seventh year on Sunday, just after sunrise. At Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area, bird counters stood on the dredge spoil and counted the songbirds traveling north and following a cold front.

From atop the dredge soil, looking south and at the observation platform

With support from Zeiss, Cape May Bird Observatory's Morning Flight Project employs counters and provides Zeiss spotting scopes and binocular to identify the fall warblers and other species. On some mornings -- such as Oct. 16, 1990, and Oct. 18, 1995 -- more than 100,000 birds fly above Higbee.

The project will continue until Oct. 31. Free programs that describe the count will occur at 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday morning through the end of October.

Power lines threaten Bosque del Apache NWR

Many birders visit Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, N.M., because of the annual Festival of the Cranes that celebrates Sandhill Cranes and other birds. This November marks the festival's 22nd year.

Friends of the Bosque del Apache NWR seek support before Aug. 28 regarding a proposed power-line projects. The SunZia Southwest Transmission Project involves two 500-kilovolt transmission lines that start at a new substation in Socorro County or Lincoln County near Bingham or Ancho, N.M., and end in Pinal County near Coolidge, Ariz.

The Friends say:

This proposal transects the flight path used by migratory birds including the sandhill cranes, snow geese, and ducks that travel up and down the river valley. Bird strikes and impacts to the rural farming community are of great concern, not to mention the degradation of the viewscape of the refuge and Socorro valley (an important resource to the ecotourism of the area).

Alternate routes take the powerlines across the river between the Refuge and Hatch, New Mexico and along the boundary of White Sands Missile Range. These routes go through Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wilderness Study Areas. Although one of these southern routes may be preferred due to the apparent lesser impact on the birds, there is not enough data available to make such an important statement at this time.

Details about the project appear here, as do links to a comment form if you want to write to the Bureau of Land Management, which is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement.

Corvids: whip-smart birdbrains

More great news about New Caledonian Crows (Corvus moneduloides) from ScienceDaily.com: "Crows Can Use 'Up To Three Tools' In Correct Sequence Without Training"

New experiments by Oxford University scientists reveal that New Caledonian crows can spontaneously use up to three tools in the correct sequence to achieve a goal, something never before observed in non-human animals without explicit training.

Sequential tool use has often been interpreted as evidence for advanced cognitive abilities, such as planning and analogical reasoning, but this has never been explicitly examined.

The researchers set out to investigate what the crows really understood about the tasks and their own actions with tools. A report of their research appears in the journal PLoS One.

In the wild, New Caledonian crows use a range of tool types for extracting invertebrate prey from holes and crevices, and in captivity, they have been shown to make, or select, tools to retrieve food rewards. In previous experiments, the Oxford team reported that a crow (named ‘Betty’) was capable of spontaneously inventing new tool designs according to what was required by the tasks. In all these cases, however, objects were used to act on pieces of food.

Betty (above) earned her spotlight in August 2002, and she lived in captivity until 2008. RIP, Betty.

Much more information about the New Caledonian Crows at Oxford University appears here. You even can watch movies of Betty choosing tools.