Laura Erickson's For the Birds

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Charred remains

It's interesting for me to keep track of the investigation of the US Airways plane that crashed into the Hudson, because after an Air National Guard F-16 crashed on takeoff in Duluth on September 18, 1992, I was the first person to identify the charred remains of two or three American Golden-Plovers that had been sucked into the single engine. In that case, a flock of birds had been on the runway on a splendid migration day. F-16s go so fast that the pilot, David Johnson, didn't know what happened--he got up in the air and the engine instantly quit. He was quick-thinking, and pointed the plane away from houses before ejecting and parachuting to safety.

A few days later, two uniformed Air National Guard crash investigators showed up at my house with the remains of the birds in plastic bags, thinking I could identify them! They'd already stumped the people up at Hawk Ridge. Fortunately, since I had rehabbed so many birds, I had a pretty good feel for feathers. These were dull brown with no wingbars--although charring could mask colors, wingbars would have been at least a bit evident--and of the smooth and waxy texture characteristic of waterbirds. (That filled me with relief--when I heard about the crash, I was scared that the plane had collided with a hawk, since the day of the crash was also the day of our biggest raptor migration that year.) The remains were significantly smaller than duck wings, and so I methodically perused the field guide and saw that the only two shorebird possibilities were Solitary Sandpiper and what was then called the Lesser Golden-Plover, and that the length of the feathers was more consistent with the plover.

A couple of hours later, the investigators came by again, this time with photos of a dozen or so dead but easily identifiable Lesser Golden-Plovers. The photos had been taken by investigators scrutinizing the area around the runway. The plane had crashed into the whole flock. Sad as the little bodies made me, it felt wonderful to have figured out the charred ones correctly.

Cool as it was to identify those remains, playing forensic ornithologist for a day, my word could hardly be the final one. All the bird evidence was sent to the Smithsonian's amazing Roxie Laybourne for verification. She was a wonderful woman--I got to meet her at an AOU meeting and she was as warm and friendly as she was knowledgeable.

Anyway, today's New York Times has a fascinating article about the Smithsonian team that identifies birds now that Roxie Laybourne has died:

Published: January 25, 2009
At the National Museum of Natural History, scientists study the remains of birds that have collided with planes, looking for clues to prevent future accidents.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Birding in the Sax-Zim Bog


Boreal Chickadee
Originally uploaded by Laura Erickson
I spent today birding with Mike Hendrickson in the bog. We saw a lot of really cool birds despite the awful wind, but thanks to that wind, no owls. But we did see this Boreal Chickadee, trying to get into the deer rib cages on Admiral Road, though a Hairy Woodpecker interfered with those plans. You can see a bunch of photos from the day at my flickr set: http://flickr.com/photos/48014585@N00/sets/72157612916573968/

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Grandpa


Today my grandpa would have been 113 years old. It's hard to believe he's been gone, physically, from this world for 38 years, because he's been very much of a spiritual presence my entire life. He wasn't particularly knowledgeable about birds, but did inspire me more than anyone else in my childhood to learn about birds. I wrote about that in Grandpa's Canaries. I haven't yet had a redpoll at my feeder this year, but I sure hope one turns up today.

If any of my children turn me into a grandmother one day, I hope I'm as nurturing, loving, and inspiring as my grandpa was for me.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Trees for Tomorrow Elderhostel


Laura Erickson
Originally uploaded by tjwalters13
I'm so pumped! I get to do the Trees for Tomorrow Elderhostel in May with Troy Walters again! This is one we've done many times together, and we always see great birds--Boreal Chickadees and Golden-winged Warblers and Black-throated Blues and much, much more--and we and our group always have a lot of fun. It runs from May 24 to May 30--we should get peak numbers of birds and song that week! Check out the rest of Troy's photostream from the 2007 Elderhostel, which was the last time I was the instructor.

Great birding spot, or the greatest birding spot?

I can't wait till Friday, January 23! I'm going to spend the day birding with my friend Mike Hendrickson. Great Gray Owls, Northern Hawk Owls, and Boreal Chickadees, here I come!!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Yay, Obama!


Tufted Titmouse
Originally uploaded by Laura Erickson
The inauguration invitations are printed on paper approved by the Forest Stewardship Council! Read about it here. And when you buy new wood products or non-recycled paper, make sure it's FSC Certified.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Canada Goose and plane collide



Here's sad news to start the year, from today's Duluth News-Tribune:

The National Transportation Safety Board says a bird strike caused the crash of a University of North Dakota airplane that killed two people last year, including a young Duluth man.

Twenty-year-old student Adam Ostapenko of Duluth and 22-year-old instructor Annette Klosterman of Seattle died when the twin-engine Piper Seminole crashed in a swampy area in central Minnesota on Oct. 23, 2007.

The two were on a routine training flight from St. Paul, Minn., to Grand Forks.

The NTSB's probable cause report, dated Sunday, says the airplane hit at least one Canada goose. The NTSB says the collision "caused the airplane to be uncontrollable."

NTSB says the night flight contributed to the crash because the pilots could not have seen the goose.

Twenty-year-old student Adam Ostapenko of Duluth and 22-year-old instructor Annette Klosterman of Seattle died when the twin-engine Piper Seminole crashed in a swampy area in central Minnesota on Oct. 23, 2007.

The two were on a routine training flight from St. Paul, Minn., to Grand Forks.

The NTSB's probable cause report, dated Sunday, says the airplane hit at least one Canada goose. The NTSB says the collision "caused the airplane to be uncontrollable."

NTSB says the night flight contributed to the crash because the pilots could not have seen the goose.