READER PHOTOS OF BIRDS P.48
HOW LONG BIRDS LIVE P.11
WHY BEAKS CHANGE COLOR P.56
SWEET SWEET SWEET! New info about the Golden Swamp Warbler
IDENTIFYING JUVENILE SONGBIRDS p.36 Nests, nest materials and nest sites p.44
AMAZING, ACCESSIBLE ALASKA p.22 PLUS Four new places to find birds, p.39 Why Wilson’s Warbler should be split, p.9 Siskin irruptions explained at last, p.7 Ross’s Gull breakthrough, p.9
GOLDEN PROTHONOTARY WARBLER lights up America’s old-growth bottomlands, p.16
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August 2015 Vol.29 No.4
Visit us online: www.BirdWatchingDaily.com FEATURES
IN EVERY ISSUE
16 Jewel of the swamp COVER STORY What we’re learning about beautiful golden Prothonotary Warbler. BY MAC STONE
4
From the editor
7
Birding briefs
Siskin irruptions explained, Ross’s Gull wintering grounds found, how long birds live, Wilson’s Warbler, and other news. Plus, photos of recent rarities, and 12 festivals and events in July and August.
22 Amazing, accessible Alaska The Kenai Peninsula delivers great birds with all the conveniences. BY JIM WILLIAMS
26 Invitation to observe
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How participating in a Breeding Bird Atlas makes you a better birder. BY LAURE WILSON NEISH
Since you asked JULIE CRAVES
The special feathers that give turkeys their beards, the pros and cons of putting pennies in birdbaths, and why this winter may be good for Red-breasted Nuthatch.
32 Champions Photos of birds and birders from the second Champions of the Flyway competition in Israel.
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On the move EBIRD
Migration maps for Baird’s Sandpiper and Calliope Hummingbird.
39 Four new hotspots Descriptions, tips, and maps and directions to four great places to find birds. BY JOAN SOMMER, AUDREY MEDINA, SHIRLEY L. RUHE,
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Birder at large PETE DUNNE
The benefits of bad-weather birding.
AND MARK KISER AND SELENA KISER
36
ID tips KENN KAUFMAN
Identifying juvenile songbirds.
44
Cerulean Warbler in winter, p.8
Amazing birds ELDON GREIJ
Nests, nest materials, and nest sites.
46
Attracting birds LAURA ERICKSON
The pleasures of finding life birds for a new puppy.
55
Classifieds
56
ID toolkit DAVID ALLEN SIBLEY
Why beaks change color.
FROM OUR READERS 48
Your view
A contest-winning shot of nesting Golden Eagles, and other photos taken by readers.
54
Fieldcraft
Ed Schneider
Startled Eastern Whip-poor-will, photographed by a reader.
COVER PHOTOS Prothonotary Warbler by Mac Stone, Snowy Egret (inset) by Fran Gallogly
OCT. 2-4, 2015
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fromtheeditor
Editor Charles J. Hagner Managing Editor Matt Mendenhall Art Director Mike O’Leary Lead Designer Lizz Anderson Graphic Designers Lisa Malaguti, Christina Grogan
One of the greatest pleasures of summertime is standing in my Wisconsin backyard, not far from the maple and the busy finch feeders that hang from it, and simply listening. As the sunlight dapples and young wings shake overhead, the incessant calls of begging fledglings fill the air. In “Jewel of the Swamp” in this issue (see page 16), author and photographer Mac Stone describes standing in a different place — on an elevated boardwalk in South Carolina’s ancient and beautiful Francis Beidler Forest, in Harleyville — and hearing a similar ringing sound: the clear, high song of Prothonotary Warbler, the species pictured on our cover. The bird is one of North America’s best-studied and most charismatic warblers, and Beidler is arguably the best place in the country to see, and hear, adults and their young. About 2,000 pairs nest there. Naturalist, environmental educator, and photographer Laure Wilson Neish has savored the sights and sounds of new bird life, too. As she relates in her article “Invitation to Observe” (page 26), between 2008 and 2012, she lent her considerable observational skills to British Columbia’s successful first Breeding Bird Atlas. The volunteer work made her a better birder, she says, and provided countless opportunities to photograph birds in breeding plumage as they displayed, squabbled, foraged, built nests, and engaged in other behaviors. Then, at the end of each season, she was rewarded with a delightful, musical parade of goofy-looking youngsters. According to Contributing Editor Kenn Kaufman, identifying the members of that parade is one of the most challenging and fleeting ID challenges of the entire birding year. Yet, as he explains in his column “ID Tips” (page 36), there are telltale signs that you can use to identify juveniles. His tips are what I’ll be thinking of as the songs and calls of the young of the year brighten the days and weeks ahead.
Founding Editor Eldon D. Greij Contributing Editors Julie Craves, Pete Dunne, Laura Erickson, Kenn Kaufman, David Allen Sibley
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birdingbriefs
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N E WS • PHOTOS • BOOKS • CON S E RVATION • Q& A • S IG HTI NG S • PRODUCTS • FE STI VA L S & E V E NTS
IRRUPTIVE MIGRANT: Yellow-winged Pine Siskin, shown here in a spruce tree in Colorado, is well-known for its erratic winter movements.
Winter irruptions tied to climate patterns Seesaw conditions affect seed production, siskin migrations Prevailing wisdom has it that the irregular irruptions of winter finches into southern Canada and the lower 48 states are triggered by food shortages caused by the large-scale collapse of seed production in northern pine, spruce, and fir forests. But it turns out that is only part of the story. Scientists have pinpointed a climate pattern that likely sets the stage for irruptions — a discovery that could make it possible to predict the movements more than a year in advance.
Many seed-eating boreal species are prone to wander, including Bohemian Waxwing, Boreal Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, crossbills, grosbeaks, and redpolls. According to a study published in May in the online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, persistent shifts in rainfall and temperature drive boom-andbust cycles in seed production, which in turn drive the mass migrations of Pine Siskin, the most widespread of the irruptive migrants.
Atmospheric scientist Courtenay Strong of the University of Utah and his colleagues used two million observations of siskins submitted since 1989 by backyard birdwatchers to Project FeederWatch, the popular citizen-science initiative run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The researchers paired the information with 27 years’ worth of climate data and found that weather patterns in one year could predict the birds’ movements for as much
as the next two years. Moreover, the authors identified two seesaw patterns of climate-induced seed production: from north to south and west to east. When wet and cold conditions in one region produced few seeds, the weather tended to be warmer and drier — and favorable to seed production — in another region. The birds likely followed social cues to areas with plenty of seeds. “It’s a chain reaction from climate to seeds to birds,” says Strong.
w w w. B i rd Wa t c h i n g D a i l y. c o m
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sinceyouasked YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY BIRD BANDER JULIE CRAVES
EYE ON CONSERVATION
Q
In the April 2015 issue, you described differences in the shape of male and female turkey droppings. It got me to thinking about turkey beards. Are they hair? — Sean Harrison, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
(continued on page 10)
Julie Craves is supervisor of avian research at the Rouge River Bird Observatory at the University of Michigan Dearborn and a research associate at the university’s Environmental Interpretive Center. 8
B i r d Wa t c h i n g
Ed Schneider
A
A Wild Turkey’s “beard” is the tuft that looks a bit like a miniature horsetail dangling from its breast. Year-old males have beards up to about five inches long, while toms three or more years old can have beards that are 10 inches or longer. Rarely, a tom will have one primary beard and one or two smaller beards just above it. About 5-10 percent of female turkeys may also sport short, thin beards. The bristles in the cluster of stiff filaments are hair-like, but they are not hair. They are feather-like structures called mesofiloplumes. Their structural proteins are similar to those of feathers, but they lack a follicle and other characteristics of most feathers. Unlike feathers, turkey beards grow continuously. However, they suffer from wear and tear, so beards longer than 12 inches are not common. Scientists consider the unique mesofiloplumes, which they refer to as filamentous integumentary appendages, important in understanding how feathers evolved from dinosaur skin and scales.
DECLINING: Cerulean Warbler is a species of high conservation concern in the eastern United States.
Reforestation to help Cerulean Warbler A ten-year reforestation and agroforestry project has resulted in the establishment of a critical conservation corridor in Colombia for the imperiled Cerulean Warbler. The species was once one of the most abundant warblers in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys. Now it’s one of the most imperiled migrant songbirds in the Western Hemisphere. Its population has plummeted 70 percent since 1966. The warbler spends the winter in South America, preferring the coffee-production areas of the northern Andes, and particularly the intermontane valleys of central Colombia, where the reforestation took place. Nearly 3,000 acres of land was planted, creating a conservation corridor six miles long and half a mile wide between two areas of existing habitat southwest of Bucaramanga — the private 545-acre Cerulean Warbler Reserve, in newly created Yariguíes National Park, and the 4,470-acre Pauxi Pauxi Reserve, located on the Cerro de la Paz mountain. More than 220 private landowners participated,
planting 500,000 seedling shade trees of 26 native species to increase shade on their farms and cattle ranches. The trees, chosen to promote more canopy cover, came from nurseries established in the two reserves. Silvopasture practices — the planting of trees in otherwise open cattle pastures — were used to benefit the health of cattle and business productivity and to provide tree cover for birds. Eighteen conservation easements, the first in Colombia, were used to conserve remnant patches of native forest. The reforestation is expected to benefit more than 150 species of birds, including such familiar, colorful migrants as Rose-breasted Grosbeak, American Redstart, and Goldenwinged, Black-and-white, Mourning, Canada, Blackburnian, Black-throated Green, and Swainson’s Warblers. The conservation effort was led by ABC and the Colombian nonprofit organizations Fundación ProAves and Fondo para la Acción Ambiental y la Niñez.
American Bird Conservancy is a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization whose mission is to conserve native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. You can learn about visiting the Cerulean Warbler Reserve at www.conservationbirding.org.
birdingbriefs
Breakthrough in the High Arctic
It takes a village
Geolocators and satellite tags reveal wintering grounds of Ross’s Gull
Minor yard enhancements can have a big bird-attracting effect
For the first time ever, researchers have successfully tracked the Ross’s Gull and identified one of its wintering areas. The gull is one of the world’s least known seabirds. Since the first colonies were located in Siberia over a century ago, no more than one percent of the world population has been accounted for at known or suspected breeding sites, and no significant numbers of the bird have ever been documented during winter. The gulls are known to congregate only in late September and early October off the frigid north coast of Alaska, particularly around Point Barrow, where they are seen in the tens of thousands while passing both eastward and westward. Researchers from the High Arctic Gull Research Group broke the news in a recent issue of Ibis, the quarterly journal of the British Ornithologists’ Union. They write that they captured Ross’s Gulls at known breeding sites on a pair of tiny islands in Queens Channel, Nunavut, in the Canadian High Arctic, in 2011 and 2012, and
outfitted the birds with geolocators and satellite transmitters. The gulls ranged widely after breeding. One, an adult female tracked by satellite, flew to Wrangel Island, in the East Siberian Sea, and back over 27 days in June and July 2012, a round trip of 7,023 kilometers (4,364 miles). The gull wandered more than 40,000 kilometers (24,855 miles) in a year yet never went south of 50°N. The tagged Ross’s Gulls wintered in an area of the northern Labrador Sea, in the northwestern Atlantic. No Ross’s Gulls had ever been recorded in the region before. Confirmation of the wintering area does not rule out that other wintering areas may be identified elsewhere. Rather, the findings “add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that the Labrador Sea and Davis Strait form a critical wintering area for many species of marine birds (e.g. Little Auk, auks, Black-legged Kittiwake, Northern Fulmar, Ivory Gull), and collectively merit consideration for protected area status.”
Cryptic warbler Black-capped Wilson’s Warbler is most likely two species Look up Wilson’s Warbler in your favorite field guide, and you’ll find a single species, but more and more research suggests that it’s just a matter of time until you see two. Based on coloration and size, taxonomists divide Wilson’s into three subspecies — one found along the west coast from southwestern British Columbia to southern California, a second reaching from Alaska through interior British Columbia and the Rocky Mountains to northern New Mexico, and a third that occurs from Alberta and the Northwest Territories to the east coast of Canada. The subspecies are commonly separated into two groups, eastern and western, based on their breeding and winter ranges and migration timing and pathways. Moreover, nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analysis performed in 2011 revealed strong differences between the eastern subspecies and its two western counterparts but only subtle differences between the western pair. The genetics led the researchers to suggest that the two groups were cryptic species — that
is, distinct species that have been hidden, erroneously, under one species name. Now we learn that researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico have reached the same conclusion. They assembled a huge database of warbler sightings and matched the records with monthly maximum and minimum temperatures and precipitation amounts, variables known to influence avian distribution. Then they tested how much the environmental conditions that predict the distribution of warblers in the western group predicted the occurrence of birds in the eastern group, and vice versa. The results revealed that, while warblers from both groups could occur within a considerable portion of the eastern group’s summer range, particularly in central and eastern Canada, birds from the eastern group would feel much less at home in the western area. The eastern group is ecologically and geographically more restricted than the western group, the researchers say.
When it comes to attracting native birds, minor enhancements made by individual homeowners can have a big collective effect. That’s the lesson of a novel study published recently by researchers with the University of Illinois and the Illinois Natural History Survey. They conducted point counts along transects in residential neighborhoods of Chicago during the peak of the 2012 breeding season and then surveyed homeowners about the plants, pets, feeders, and pesticides in their yards. Afterward, to assess the environmental characteristics of groups of yards, not just individual properties, the investigators aggregated the survey responses for each transect. The results were motivating but not surprising: Yards that contained a high percentage of fruit- or berry-producing trees and plants, for example, were associated with higher numbers of native birds, as were yards that featured evergreen as well as deciduous trees. Migratory birds were observed more often on transects bounded by yards containing wildlife-friendly features. Nonnative birds were observed on transects with greater numbers of outdoor cats and dogs. And the presence of bird feeders was found not to be an important predictor for native birds, probably because 14 of the 32 native species in the study rarely or never visit feeders, while 22, almost 70 percent, are known to eat fruits or berries. What was surprising was that the environmental characteristics of groups of neighboring yards, in the aggregate, proved more important for native-species richness than features measured at the neighborhood or landscape scale, such as the amount of open space or the percentage of canopy cover within 50 meters or a kilometer of each transect. “Our results suggest that urban conservation agendas would benefit from ‘thinking outside the park,’ ” write the researchers. Rather than relying on top-down educational efforts or incentives, homeowners associations and conservation groups should try “grassroots efforts that focus on dialogue” to highlight the collective effects of yard enhancements. w w w. B i rd Wa t c h i n g D a i l y. c o m
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sinceyouasked (continued from page 8)
Q
Copper treatments are used in ponds to deter algae. A friend told me he throws a few pennies in his birdbath to help keep it clean. Does this work, and is it harmful to birds? — Wiley Berry, Jacksonville, Florida
A
A few pennies in the birdbath probably won’t do much harm and may help a bit, as long as the pennies are dated prior to 1982. Since then, pennies have been made of zinc that is merely coated with copper. The water in a birdbath can become fouled quickly by droppings, food, and whatever else birds might introduce. For that reason, the water needs to be changed every day or so. The amount of copper that leaches into the water from pennies over such a short time is quite small, and it may not be enough to deter algae growth. If you change the water frequently and give the surface of the bath a quick scrub with a brush, algae, mosquitoes, scum, and dirt shouldn’t become a problem.
ON THE MOVE FROM eBIRD A shorebird and hummingbird to look for this fall Baird’s Sandpiper
August 2004-14
January 2004-14
Baird’s Sandpiper has one of the longest annual migrations of any bird. It breeds in the high arctic of North America and Russia and winters from the Andes of Ecuador to Tierra del Fuego, in South America. The maps above show its distribution in August and January from 2004 to 2014. In August, during fall migration, the shorebird is found widely across the lower 48 states. The Great Plains are particularly important for stopover and foraging sites; look for the species in shallow water and mudflats anywhere you see other shorebirds. In fall, adults migrate first, in late July and August. Juvenile migration peaks several weeks later. By January, most Baird’s Sandpipers are in South America, having completed half of an annual migration that can total 9,300 miles (15,000 km). The species is extremely rare in the United States in winter.
Calliope Hummingbird
Q
I live in northern Massachusetts and see many White-breasted Nuthatches at the feeder but few Red-breasted Nuthatches. Is this too far north for them? — Vahe Bedian, Ashburnham, Massachusetts
A
Red-breasted Nuthatches are permanent residents in much of New England and farther north into Canada, and they nest across Massachusetts. They favor habitats with conifers; spruce and fir are the most
August 2004-14
January 2004-14
Calliope Hummingbird is North America’s smallest breeding bird and the world’s smallest longdistance avian migrant. These eBird maps show its distribution in August and January over the last decade. Calliope breeds in southern British Columbia and Alberta and throughout much of the northwestern United States. It generally follows an oval-shaped migration route: north in spring along the Pacific coast and south in fall along the Rocky Mountains. The August map shows reports throughout its breeding range as well as sightings of southbound migrants. Most Calliopes spend the winter in western Mexico, where they are rarely reported, and a few are found every winter in the Southeast, from Texas to the Carolinas, where they often are first detected at feeders. As the January map shows, stragglers have been found as far north as southern New England. eBird is the real-time online checklist operated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon. “On the Move” is written by eBird’s Garrett MacDonald, Chris Wood, Marshall Iliff, and Brian Sullivan. Submit your bird sightings at ebird.org.
(continued on page 12)
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birdingbriefs
Nine birds at Yosemite set new records for their species You might think, after more than a century of bird banding in North America, that we’d have a solid answer to the question of how long birds live. Instead, new so-called longevity records are established frequently. No fewer than 15 records were set in 2014, and another six were reported to the federal Bird Banding Laboratory in early 2015. It’s rare, however, for multiple new longevity records to come from one location. That’s what happened last fall, when banders at California’s Yosemite National Park reported nine birds that were old enough to set records for their species. (See the list at right.) The park is home to five banding stations operated under the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS)
program, which standardizes mist-netting research of landbirds across North America. Yosemite’s stations are among the longestrunning MAPS sites. (The park is also a great place to bird; see “Hotspots Near You,” page 39.) A research team led by biologist Erin Rowan of the Institute for Bird Populations described the findings in the journal North American Bird Bander. “It is unclear whether the substantial number of new longevity records obtained from the Yosemite data reflects particularly high longevity at Yosemite, perhaps due to the relatively pristine condition of the habitat,” she writes, “or whether similar numbers of new maximum longevity records can be expected from other long-running MAPS stations across North America.”
Secret life of birds
Recordbreakers The nine species from Yosemite National Park that set new longevity records, listed from youngest to oldest. Each bird was released alive, so ages are minimums.
WILLIAMSON’S SAPSUCKER BROWN CREEPER
6 years, 0 months 6 years, 1 month
RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER
7 years, 0 months
CASSIN’S FINCH
8 years, 0 months
WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER
8 years, 1 month
WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE
8 years, 1 month
CASSIN’S VIREO
8 years, 1 month
LINCOLN’S SPARROW MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE
8 years, 11 months 10 years, 1 month
NEST OF THE EMPEROR: A female Emperor Goose stands over her eggs at Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The species breeds in far western Alaska and eastern Siberia.
Gerrit Vyn
Long-lived
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sinceyouasked PHOTO GALLERY
(continued from page 10)
Andrew Burnett
Dan Stotts/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Recent rare-bird sightings in North America
FIRST IN KANSAS: This Piratic Flycatcher, a bird of Mexico and Central America, was seen in early May at Scott State Park, in western Kansas.
FIRST IN DELAWARE: This Burrowing Owl visited Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, well north of its range in Florida, in mid-April.
FIRST IN MARYLAND: This Snowy Plover, a western shorebird, was seen in May on Hart-Miller Island, east of Baltimore in Chesapeake Bay.
FIRST IN NOVA SCOTIA: In early May, birders found this White-faced Ibis with a flock of Glossy Ibises in a park on the north shore of the province.
FIRST IN IDAHO: This Acorn Woodpecker was seen in early May near the Snake River east of Idaho Falls, far from its range in the West and Southwest.
FOURTH IN CONNECTICUT: This Smith’s Longspur, a bird of the Great Plains, turned up in a park in southwestern Connecticut on May 1.
Val Smith
Joe Hanfman
important tree species, although hemlock, pine, and other evergreens are also used. In eastern North America, forests inhabited by Red-breasted Nuthatches may contain more hardwoods than in the west. Some northern populations migrate south in winter. In years in which cone production in breeding areas is poor, non-migratory populations of Red-breasted Nuthatch may move south in great numbers, a phenomenon known as an irruption. Irruptions in the species tend to occur in a two- or three-year cycle. The winter of 2014-15 saw relatively few nuthatches move south, so be on the lookout for them this winter. Migratory populations tend to fly south in late summer, and they could be moving into the northern states as you read this. At feeding stations, they are especially fond of peanut chips, black-oil sunflower seeds, and suet. Your area may not have enough conifers to attract Redbreasted Nuthatches, even in winter. I have found that during irruption years, they are far more common at feeders in neighborhoods with conifers than they are in larger deciduous woodlots just a few miles away. A number of other northern birds also stage irruptions. Each fall, the Ontario Field Ornithologists (www.ofo.ca) posts a prediction about which species might be expected to move.
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Darren Clark
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Frank Mantlik
birdwatchingdaily.com or visit
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Festivals + events Fun things to do in July and August July 6-12 ABA Camp Colorado
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YMCA of the Rockies, Estes Park, Colorado July 19-24 Sharing Nature: An Educator’s Week Hog Island Audubon Camp, Maine July 21-24 Landscape and Wildlife Photography Workshop Glacier Institute Field Camp, Glacier National Park, Montana July 25 High Country Hummers Festival Sipe White Mountain Wildlife Area, Eagar, Arizona July 29-August 1 Southwest Wings Birding and Nature Festival Sierra Vista, Arizona July 31-August 2 Sedona Hummingbird Festival Sedona, Arizona August 1-7
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ABA Camp Avocet Virden Retreat Center, Lewes, Delaware August 12-16 Tucson Bird and Wildlife Festival Tucson, Arizona August 15 Henderson Hummingbird Hurrah
Introducing VICTORY SF. Stunning light transmission. The widest, most natural field of view. And an extremely lightweight ergonomic design that enhances comfort. It’s like seeing every bird for the very first time. Developed especially to catch your birding moments.
Henderson, Minnesota August 22 Wonder of Hummingbirds Festival Knoxville, Tennessee August 28-30
Explore the new ZEISS VICTORY SF at your local dealer or join us at: www.zeiss.com/us/explorevictorysf
Mississippi River Nature Weekend Vicksburg, Mississippi August 28-30 Tanana Valley Sandhill Crane Festival Fairbanks, Alaska For additional information, including contact info, visit our website: www.BirdWatchingDaily.com
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BY PETE DUNNE
Gerrit Vyn
birderatlarge
BRING IT ON! An American Woodcock pulls up an earthworm, its favorite prey.
Unexpected rewards Bad-weather birding means great encounters with birds Six inches of fresh powder was on the ground, temperatures were hovering near 0°F, and winds were blustery out of the northwest. Time to curl up with a book, you might think. And, yes, I did give this option more than a passing thought. In the end, I just put on another layer of clothes and headed out to my favorite local birding hotspot — a stretch of tidal wetlands in southern New Jersey known as Turkey Point. I’m not one to meet torment halfway, but I have come to respect the bird-stirring properties of harsh weather. Even before I reached my destination, the correctness of my decision was 14
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“None of these great badweather encounters was expected or predicted; they were just my reward for braving harsh conditions.” evident. On a roadside where the snowplow had veered off the pavement, exposing bare earth, I spotted two American Woodcock probing for worms in the sun-softened soil. American Robins almost carpeted the area, but the shorebirds’ long probing bills gave them an advantage.
Wow, woodcock in broad daylight! Under normal conditions, the woodland denizens would have been roosting in a thicket, out of view. Cold and snow have a way of squeezing birds to the icy but viable rim, where they are readily viewed. Then a flock of Eastern Meadowlarks exploded from the roadside. I had been driving this route all winter and never seen a meadowlark, but the nearby fields were now snow-covered. The cleared roadside was the only bare habitat available. My first encounter at Turkey Point was with a female Northern Harrier that was escorting another female out of her territory. The dominant bird flies below and slightly behind the intruder. In the language of harriers, this means, “Don’t even think about landing here, sister!” The pair was the first of more than a dozen harriers I saw. They and a Short-eared Owl were all hunting feverishly because eating is precisely how birds protect themselves from the cold: Fuel to burn means heat for feathers to trap. In a lead in a frozen creek, I startled a dozen Hooded Mergansers, causing them to fly. They turned the water to froth as they left, but they came right back because there was nowhere to go. Heading back, I noticed that a bit of a thawed edge lined the back side of a saltmarsh pond. Bringing my binoculars to bear, I spotted a Virginia Rail foraging. The species commonly winters hereabouts, but like rails everywhere, it is heard but seldom seen. It was another bird whose nocturnal pattern and vegetative proclivities had been altered by conditions. Alerted to possibilities, I found a second Virginia Rail foraging along a tidal creek. I’d probably walked right by the bird earlier. Like American Woodcock, it, too, would have been slumbering under cover except for the cold and the warming sunlight, which gave it the opportunity to forage in a landscape that otherwise would not sustain it. Later, as I summarized my coldweather encounters in my journal, I reflected upon other experiences that would have been missed had I chosen to
TABLET EXTRAS Tap the links below for tips and photographs. TURKEY POINT A season-by-season description of the site and driving directions. VIRGINIA RAIL Photographs of the bird taken by readers. FINDING RAILS Tips and strategies for adding rails to your life list. HOTSPOTS NEAR YOU Birding locations in New Jersey described by local birders. No tablet? Find a link to all Tablet Extras at www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/ the-magazine/current-issue
be comfortable instead of motivated — the great fallout of migrating Baybreasted Warblers I came upon once during a grounding rain, or the parade of Pomarine and Parasitic Jaegers that passed me as I stood on a jetty in the closing moments of a whopping big October nor’easter. The storm’s easterly winds had ferried the birds into Delaware Bay, then pressed them against the eastern shore when the eye of the storm passed north and winds swung around from the west. My point, your take-home message: None of these great bad-weather encounters was expected or predicted; they were just my reward for braving harsh conditions, and for knowing that weather doesn’t determine whether there will be birds but what birding opportunities will unfold. For the small price of a little discomfort, those opportunities will allow you to see unusual and hard-tolocate species with minimal effort. You suggest we should cancel plans to go birding this weekend because the weather looks bad? I insist: Bring it on! Great sightings await us. An old saying in the outdoorrecreation trade goes like this (and it is mostly true): “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear.” Dress well for inclement conditions, and there’s no telling what great encounters await you. Pete Dunne is New Jersey Audubon’s birding ambassador at-large. He is the co-author of Hawks in Flight: The Flight Identification of North American Raptors (2nd edition) and the author of The Art of Bird Identification: A Straightforward Approach to Putting a Name to the Bird and other books about birds.
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SPECIES PROFILE
MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE: Conservation of Prothonotary Warbler benefits Swallow-tailed Kite, Hooded Warbler, and other birds of southern swamps.
Prothonotary Warbler outlasted a timber blitz in the South to become the golden symbol of bottomland forests TEXT AND PHOTOS BY MAC STONE
AS I DRIVE the 200 miles from my house in northwestern South Carolina to Francis Beidler Forest, in Harleyville, in the south-central part of the Palmetto State, a soft but confident female voice leads the way. “In half a mile,” it tells me, “turn right, then a slight left.” The omniscient mandate is rarely wrong, and I put full trust in my digital copilot. I even programmed my GPS to dictate in a British accent because it sounds more credible. I’ve been to Beidler Forest a dozen times, but I haven’t yet committed the last few miles of roads to memory. The electronic crutch probably doesn’t help in the long run, but no matter: I’m headed to Beidler to photograph a bird the size of a tennis ball that puts my sense of direction to shame. Even when it is less than a year old, a Prothonotary Warbler can travel 25 times the distance of my trip, unaided over oceans and islands, through high winds and rain, and not only arrive at the forest but land in the same tree from which it left. The Golden Swamp Warbler, as it was once known, is a familiar, colorful, and charismatic songbird. It breeds primarily in the southeastern United States, from
central Oklahoma and Kansas to New Jersey, but its range also extends north along the Mississippi and other large rivers into the Great Lakes states and southwestern Ontario. It has two main population centers: One stretches from southern Virginia to northern Florida, while the other extends along the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain from southern Illinois and western Kentucky to southern Louisiana. In fact, one-fourth of the global population (estimated to be 1.6 million birds) breeds in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin, North America’s largest contiguous tract of bottomland hardwood forest. Bottomland hardwoods and other forested wetlands are the warbler’s summer home. Thankfully, Protonotaria citrea survived the blitz for bald cypress timber that began in the late 1800s and slowed about 60 years ago, only after we had logged nearly every last acre of virgin hardwood swamp in the country. Settlers valued cypress because it was weather-, insect-, and rot-resistant, the equivalent of modern pressure-treated wood. Moreover, the South had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of the timber. Hundreds of thousands of square
miles of swamps were cut, drained, and developed before we even began to understand how they worked. As a result, two other southern birds — Bachman’s Warbler and Ivory-billed Woodpecker — almost certainly crashed into extinction, and dozens of other species were imperiled. Pockets of uncut swamps remain, however, including Francis Beidler Forest. During the late 1960s, on the back roads of a small rural town halfway between Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina, local Audubon members grew troubled at the sight of logging trucks hauling off enormous bald cypress. They watched in disbelief as trees with buttress roots the size of Volkswagen Beetles headed to the sawmill. No one thought old growth was still around to harvest, but nestled deep in Four Holes Swamp, a 45,000-acre watershed, hardwood giants anchored the black water. Immediately, Audubon and Nature Conservancy representatives contacted the property’s owners, the Beidler family, and offered to purchase 3,400 acres. The centerpiece: 1,800 acres of old-growth bottomland that had somehow slipped under the radar and escaped the blade. w w w. B i rd Wa t c h i n g D a i l y. c o m
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HUNGRY MOUTHS TO FEED: A banded adult Prothonotary delivers a smorgasbord of insects to its begging chicks in a nest in a tree cavity at Francis Beidler Forest.
“Even when it is less than a year old, a Prothonotary Warbler can travel 25 times the distance of my trip, unaided over oceans and islands, through high winds and rain, and not only arrive at the forest but land in the same tree from which it left.”
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In the decades since then, acquisitions have increased the size of the forest to more than 17,000 acres. (Author and photographer Jim Burns described Beidler, Hotspot Near You No. 158, in April 2013. You can read his article at www.BirdWatchingDaily.com.) In today’s handful of old-growth swamps, 1,000-year-old trees dominate the canopy, and an ancient natural order prevails. Inside these cypress cathedrals, the soul of the South preaches in humid whispers, accompanied by choruses of melodic songbirds. I think of the swamps as sacred bottomlands of extraordinary character, terrestrial wormholes that allow visitors to see places relatively untouched by the hand of man. Aside from the aesthetic value of mature flooded forests, scientists have found that the importance of old-growth tracts lies as much with the standing cypress behemoths as it does with the decaying remnants of trees long fallen: the essential foundation for a productive ecosystem. Perhaps that’s why, per acre, Beidler Forest has one of the highest densities of nesting songbirds in the
country. Its most famous winged resident, Prothonotary Warbler, numbers about 2,000 pairs. Audubon South Carolina, which is headquartered at the forest and operates it along with the Nature Conservancy, has embraced the Prothonotary as its symbol of the swamp. Certainly, the bird is a more approachable ambassador to the bottomlands than the alligator or a snake, but it’s also more than just a pretty face. The warbler is a species of conservation concern, having declined in numbers by an estimated 40 percent since the mid-1960s. Improving prospects for Prothonotaries, conservationists say, helps other swamp-dependent species like Swallow-tailed Kite, Red-shouldered Hawk, and Swainson’s and Hooded Warblers. Prothonotaries get their name from high-ranking Roman Catholic clerics who once dressed in saffron robes. The birds, however, get their brilliant color from a rich diet, consisting mostly of the larvae of aquatic macroinvertebrates, as well as the occasional grub or spider. If the birds are thriving, it means the waters
Project PROTHO In 2008, biologists at Francis Beidler Forest began banding Prothonotary Warblers and asking visitors to help them keep track of the birds. The goal of the work, known as Project PROTHO, is to learn more about the birds’ territory sizes and the microhabitats they use. Banding continued until 2011, stopped for a few years, and was resumed in 2014. If you visit Beidler, stop at the visitor center and ask for a brochure about the project. Then, if you spot a banded warbler on the property, take note of its band colors and their arrangement, and look for the numbered aluminum medallions along the boardwalk to record the bird’s location.
BANDER AT WORK: Hoping to attract Prothonotaries into a nearby mist net, Audubon South Carolina biologist Matt Johnson (right) places a decoy on the boardwalk at Beidler.
around them are clean and clear. One of only two cavity-nesting warblers (the other is Lucy’s Warbler, a western species), the Prothonotary prefers to raise its young in hollow trees and cypress knees. It also readily accepts nest boxes, milk jugs, and even old tires for nesting sites. Over the course of a 10-year lifespan, an adult will raise around 50 chicks. Aldo Leopold, the father of wildlife management, called the Prothonotary the “real jewel” of his Wisconsin woodlot. “The flash of his gold-and-blue plumage amid the dank decay of the June woods is in itself proof that dead trees are transmuted into living animals, and vice versa,” Leopold wrote in his seminal work, A Sand County Almanac. “When you doubt the wisdom of this arrangement, take a look at the Prothonotary.” Today the species is one of the best studied North American warblers, at least in its breeding range. A population along the Lower James River near Richmond, Virginia, has been monitored since 1987, and another on the Cache River in southern Illinois has been the
subject of research since 1993. Biologists and their student assistants are learning more about the species almost every year. (See sidebar, page 20.) In addition to studying the birds, researchers and bird clubs have been placing nest boxes in Prothonotary habitat in Virginia, Louisiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and elsewhere to give the birds more places to breed. Along the Lower James River, for example, Virginia Commonwealth University scientists and members of the Richmond Audubon Society maintain nearly 600 boxes. It’s estimated that only 20 percent of the warbler’s historic breeding habitat remains, so the presence of boxes helps strengthen the population. Also, the warbler accepts eggs of Brown-headed Cowbirds, especially in natural nest cavities. Most boxes built for Prothonotaries have entrance holes that are too small for the brood parasites, enabling the warblers to raise broods free of young cowbirds. Studying the warbler can be an arduous task since scientists often have to venture into remote swamps and
navigate mazes of dense forests. Beidler, however, has a 1.75-mile boardwalk elevated six feet above the tannic water of the forest’s braided slough. Along the wooden rails, numbers etched on aluminum medallions provide geographical reference points that biologists and citizen scientists use to report sightings. (See sidebar above.) The yellow birds appear along the walkway, filling the air with their unmistakable sweet, sweet, sweet song, in the last few days of March. As the breeding season kicks into high gear in April, biologists set up mist nets to catch and band them, and to count warblers that had been banded in previous springs. Year after year, about 50 percent of banded Prothonotaries return to the swamp and reclaim their territories with seemingly impossible site fidelity. The banding research has shown that the birds will return to the same 20-squarefoot area and that they often use the same nesting cavity. Prothonotaries winter primarily in mangrove swamps along Central America’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts, w w w. B i rd Wa t c h i n g D a i l y. c o m
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Amazing Prothonotaries Long-term studies of Prothonotary Warbler in Virginia and Illinois have revealed much about the species. Here are three amazing facts scientists have learned: DECISION MAKERS: Instead of nestPUN ^OLYL]LY [OL` JHU ÄUK H ZWV[ adults use their experience from past breeding seasons to decide where [V ULZ[ 1LɈYL` /VV]LY VM [OL 0SSPUVPZ Natural History Survey, who studies a breeding population in southern Illinois, found that when adults successfully produce two broods at a nesting site, they are highly likely to return to the same place to breed the next year. When they don’t have a successful nest, they tend to look for a KPɈLYLU[ ZP[L [V [Y` EGG DUMPING: The behavior known as JVUZWLJPÄJ IYVVK WHYHZP[PZT in which females lay eggs in nests of other members of their species, occurs in more than 200 species worldwide but is rare in songbirds. It was discovered in a wood-warbler only a few years ago, when researchers at two locations in Virginia realized that Prothonotaries were dumping eggs in other Prothonotaries’ nests. According to authors Catherine Morton and Anna Tucker, more than 23 percent of clutches at one site and more than 33 percent at the other contained at least one chick that was not related to the resident female. WITH AGE COMES EXPERIENCE: After analyzing more than 18 years of data from Virginia, biologist Lesley Bulluck of Virginia Commonwealth University and her colleagues noticed that older female Prothonotaries are more likely to produce two broods, and therefore twice as many young, in years with warmer springs. Females that are at least three years old tend to arrive in breeding areas sooner, they say, and likely take advantage of earlier peaks in caterpillar abundance in warm years. The study shows that birds in a single population can respond to JOHUNPUN [LTWLYH[\YLZ KPɈLYLU[S` depending on their age.
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“The yellow birds appear along the walkway, filling the air with their unmistakable sweet, sweet, sweet song, in the last few days of March.” in Colombia and Venezuela, and on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, but until recently, biologists had only a loose understanding of the destinations of birds from specific breeding areas. That is beginning to change thanks to research with light-level geolocators. Over the last few years, the tiny tracking devices have revealed migratory routes and wintering sites of several species, from Burrowing Owl to Red Knot to Blackpoll Warbler. Researchers led by Erik Johnson, the director of bird conservation at Audubon Louisiana, recently formed the Prothonotary Warbler Working Group, a consortium of conservation organizations and academics trying to understand the bird better and reverse its decline. Part of the group’s work is to coordinate geolocator studies throughout the far-flung reaches of the breeding range. In 2013, Johnson and his colleagues with the Baton Rouge Audubon Society and the Louisiana Bird Observatory placed geolocators on three Prothonotaries in a Baton Rouge park, and a year later they recaptured one of them, a male. Data from its tracker showed that the warbler had migrated south for more than three months, traveling 5,000 miles through seven countries to winter in northwestern Colombia. It had made three major water crossings, and, amazingly, its return flight to Baton Rouge lasted only three weeks. The findings, which will be described soon in the Journal of Field Ornithology, mark the beginning of a new understanding of the Prothonotary’s year-round distribution. Populations of the bird are declining faster than breeding habitats are being lost, so biologists deduce that the problem is mostly on the wintering grounds. Researchers hope that by equipping more birds with geolocators, they will gather enough data to help guide land-management and conservation projects across international borders. The information should also help determine if birds from the core
breeding areas along the Mississippi and in the eastern states winter apart from each other. Johnson and his colleagues and biologists Lesley Bulluck and Cathy Viverette of Virginia Commonwealth University deployed 46 geolocators on warblers in 2014: 21 in Louisiana and 25 along the James River in Virginia. By early spring of this year, several of the birds had returned, and the teams were working to recapture them and retrieve their geolocators. Look for the researchers’ reports on their findings in the coming months. Prothonotary experts also want to know where Beidler’s birds spend the non-breeding season. Last year, Audubon biologist Matt Johnson (no relation to Erik) had intended to place geolocators on several birds, but he managed to capture only one, an adult male. After attaching a tracker and naming the bird “Long Shot,” he set it free. He knew well the threats warblers encounter migrating to and from their wintering areas — predators, weather, windows — so his expectations were low, but his hopes were high. Nine months later, in March, he paced the boardwalk as the first Prothonotaries made their appearances in the swamp. At the end of the walkway, where the slough empties into a deeper lake, he paused, delighted to hear a distinct call coming from the same place he had caught the bird the prior season. Lifting his binoculars, he was thrilled as the bands flashed green and black. It was Long Shot. As unlikely as it might be, the bird had returned and was singing as loudly as ever.
Mac Stone is the executive director of Naturaland Trust in Greenville, South Carolina, and a fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers. In our February 2013 issue, he wrote about Roseate Spoonbills in the Everglades. The University Press of Florida published his book Everglades: America’s Wetland in October 2014; we reviewed it in our December 2014 issue.
ONE OF MANY: A male carries a mayfly to deliver to its young at Beidler. About 2,000 pairs of Prothonotary Warblers breed in the forest.
TABLET EXTRAS Tap the links below to learn more about Prothonotary Warbler and places to see it. FRANCIS BEIDLER FOREST Read why our author says its boardwalk is “arguably the best in the country.” PROJECT PROTHO Details on Beidler’s citizen-science project about the warbler. TRACKING DEVICES Read our past articles about discoveries made with geolocators. PROTHONOTARY HOTSPOTS Places we’ve described where you can find the Golden Swamp Warbler. AN APP FOR BEIDLER This iPhone app includes photos and info about Beidler’s plants and animals, a detailed guide to the boardwalk, and more. FROM BAY TO BAY Watch a video from Virginia Commonwealth University about studying Prothonotaries in Chesapeake Bay and Panama Bay. No tablet? Find a link to all Tablet Extras at www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/ the-magazine/current-issue
FAR AFIELD
SEE IT ALL: Alaska’s 200-mile-long Kenai Peninsula is beautiful, easy to get to, and full of great birds. 22
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Alaska A M A Z I N G , AC C E S S I B L E
Carr Clifton/Minden Pictures
The Kenai Peninsula provides Alaska with all the conveniences by Jim Williams
WE COULDN’T TOUCH ’EM, and we couldn’t taste ’em, but our three other senses were overwhelmed with birds as our boat circled Gull Island, at the entrance to Alaska’s Kachemak Bay, southwest of Anchorage. Thousands of gulls and seabirds filled our eyes and ears, and stung our noses. This is an intense place during breeding season. One bird can be great. A flock can be a special treat. Slowly circle Gull Island, and you have a spectacle: perhaps 20,000 birds, all demanding attention one way or another. Black-legged Kittiwakes are the dominant species, perhaps half of the birds present — kittiwakes nesting, calling, circling above us. There are thousands of Common Murres. They’re in the water. They stand on island rock shelves like commuters waiting for a bus. They are tiny footballs when they take to the air, pointed on both ends, fat in the middle, arching down to a nest somewhere in that confusion. Glaucous-winged Gulls are here, with Pelagic and Red-faced Cormorants, Horned and Tufted Puffins, and a few Pigeon Guillemots. Surf Scoters float in flocks 10 birds wide by 200 birds long. Where do I look next?
And, as far as I can tell, you cannot separate the identity of species by the smell of their droppings. Bird poop is bird poop. The ammonia stench of the guano causes some people in our group to turn away, not that it did any good. Fifteen of us are on a small boat that left the harbor at Homer about 90 minutes ago. The narrow Homer Spit, just three miles to the northwest, points right at Gull Island. We — the captain, his one-man crew, 10 birders from New England with their guide, and my guide and I — had spent the first half of the trip slowly circling the narrow eastern portion of the 40-mile-long bay, mostly looking for an off-again on-again Yellow-billed Loon. Today it was off. The boat slid through absolute flatness, no waves, no swells, unusual for Alaskan waters. The sky was overcast, clouds low, mist against the mountains edging the bay. A teal-green light was pervasive. Any bird on the water could be seen easily. We found scattered murres, a guillemot, then our lone Aleutian Tern, perched on a floating branch. Sea otters stopped eating long enough to give us curious stares.
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Visiting the Kenai Peninsula Jim Williams’s trip to the Kenai Peninsula was as simple as it was productive. He consulted the excellent 2LUHP >PSKSPML =PL^PUN ;YHPS .\PKL, made arrangements through the Kenai Peninsula Tourism and 4 HYRL[PUN *V\UJPS Å L^ [V (UJOVYHNL rented a car at the airport, and went IPYKPUN ;OL JV\UJPS ^LIZP[L VɈ LYZ sample itineraries as well as informa[PVU HIV\[ N\PKLZ SVKNPUN Ä ZOPUN charters, destinations, and events.
The council is a sponsor of the annual Kenai Birding Festival. Details about the 2016 event, scheduled to take place in Soldotna, Kenai, Sterling, Kasilof, and Cooper Landing May 12-15, will be announced soon. The 2015 festival featured birding Å VH[ [YPWZ VU [OL 2LUHP 9P]LY N\PKLK hikes in Kenai Wildlife Refuge, Kasilof Flats, and other hotspots, a 24-hourlong Big Sit, children’s programs, and social events.
KENAI PENINSULA TOURISM AND MARKETING COUNCIL 35571 Kenai Spur Highway,
KENAI BIRDING FESTIVAL May 12-15, 2016 Soldotna, Kenai, Sterling, Kasilof,
Soldotna, Alaska 99669 (907) 262-5229 www.kenaipeninsula.org/
and Cooper Landing, Alaska www.keinaibirdfest.com
The shorebirds of Kachemak Bay At least 100,000 shorebirds rely on Kachemak Bay each spring, enough to earn it a designation from the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) as a site of international importance. Two areas within the bay are particularly valuable: Mud Bay and Mariner Park, both at the base of Homer Spit, and the Fox River Flats Critical Habitat Area, at the head of Kachemak Bay. Expansive intertidal T\KÅ H[Z ZLY]L TPNYH[PUN ZOVYLIPYKZ at both locations, while low-lying marshlands attract waterfowl to the Fox River. The most numerous shorebird in spring is Western Sandpiper, but Dunlin, Surfbird, and dowitchers are HSZV WYVTPULU[ (IV\[ Ä ]L WLYJLU[ of the global population of Rock Sandpiper can be found on narrow, crowded Homer Spit in winter.
Gull Island is one stop on a 65-location trail, the Kenai Peninsula Wildlife Viewing Trail. You’ll most likely see moose and caribou here, mountain goats or Dall sheep if either your eyes or your luck is good, and a brown (grizzly) bear if you watch carefully or don’t. And fish: We made the tour during early July, salmon season. Salmon are king at this time of year, pun intended. On salt water, expect killer and humpback whales, porpoises, sea lions, and seals. But mostly the trail is about birds. The fine trail guide published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game lists 256 bird species, ranging in availability, as usual, from common to accidental. Included are 26 species of
gulls, terns, and jaegers and 12 species of auks, puffins, and murres. A highlight of the boat trip out of Homer was Marbled and Kittlitz’s Murrelets, in breeding plumage. Both species are declining. The WashingtonOregon-California population of Marbled was listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1992. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service named Kittlitz’s a candidate for protection under the act in 2004 but denied the petition in 2013. I’ve seen both in California offshore waters, little bird butts rocketing for the horizon. On Kachemak Bay, they gave us very good looks with somewhat tentative toleration, enough for close photos. The wildlife-viewing trail begins at Potter Marsh, a 10-minute drive from the
“The boat slid through absolute flatness, no waves, no swells, unusual for Alaskan waters. Any bird on the water could be seen easily.”
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Anchorage airport. (A map, tips, directions, and a description of the marsh, Hotspot Near You Number 108, are on BirdWatchingDaily.com.) You can follow the trail to Seward, to Kenai and Soldotna, and down to Homer and Seldovia. There are mountains, meadows, marshes, lakes, rivers, and salt water. My guide and I spent several hours now and again along the Kenai River where salmon boats come to unload their catch. Processing plants line the shore. The parts of the fish that don’t arrive at your local market are ground to slurry and pumped into the river. Across the river, conveniently, about 30,000 gulls nest — Mew Gulls, Herring Gulls, and Glaucous-winged Gulls, plus some hybrids of the latter two species. A small Arctic Tern colony is there as well. All of the birds take commuter flights across the river to feed on the slurry. Almost always a cloud and clot of gulls is on the river. This is where we first saw the jaeger. It was 500 yards off, but easy to see with binoculars once you found the wheeling dark bird among the white gulls. It drew
TABLET EXTRAS Tap the links below to learn more about birding on the Kenai Peninsula.
black circles over the river water, gray-green with glacial flour, the talc-fine stone particles that cloud so many streams here. The jaeger, a Parasitic, worked the gulls for several minutes, my guide and I urging it to fly our way. It didn’t. So we moved 300 yards up river, for a better view. You know what the jaeger did: It immediately bee-lined for the slurry crowd, flying maybe 20 feet from our previous post. Spruce Grouse were much more cooperative. Over six days of travel, we encountered four grouse families, hen and chicks. Like the murrelets, they accepted us with tentative toleration, certainly enough for photographs suitable for your website. On the day I flew out of Anchorage for home, I had two extra hours built into my drive. I left the Sterling Highway (Alaska 1) for the 16-mile drive to Hope, a handful of buildings and a couple of signs on the south shore of Turnagain Arm, south of Anchorage. There you can take the Palmer Creek Road or Resurrection Road up into the mountains. This is where I will go first on my next visit.
The narrow gravel roads are wrapped in spruce and hemlock as they climb. White-winged Crossbills twittered from tree to tree. Juncos and Pine Siskins and Hermit Thrushes flushed from the road edges. Both Golden-crowned Sparrows and Wilson’s Warblers are up here. American Pipits are found in the tundra meadows. And all three species of ptarmigan — Willow, Rock, and White-tailed — have been seen here. Rock are said to be the easiest to find. The Kenai Peninsula is 200 miles long and 100 miles wide. For a birder trying to see it all, it can seem as big as Alaska itself. Consider it Alaska with all the conveniences: paved roads, motels, restaurants, and souvenir t-shirts, if you want them. But mostly, consider it Alaska with very accessible birds.
Jim Williams writes about birds for the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s blog Wingnut (www.startribune.com/ lifestyle/homegarden). He described birding at Alaska’s Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in our April 2008 issue.
KACHEMAK BIRDS A checklist of Kachemak Bay birds, published by the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, Homer (PDF). ALASKA’S HUMMINGBIRD Read about intrepid Rufous Hummingbird, recorded every spring on the east side of the peninsula. POTTER MARSH Tips, a map, driving directions, and a description of the popular Anchorage hotspot. KENAI WILDLIFE From the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, info about 65 good wildlife-viewing sites on the Kenai Peninsula. HIT THE TRAIL Purchase a printed copy of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula Wildlife Viewing Trail. UNBIRDED ALASKA Jim Williams’s account of birding Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. SEEN RECENTLY From eBird, a list of recent notable sightings in Alaska. WINGNUT Jim Williams’s popular blog about all things avian. No tablet? Find a link to all Tablet Extras at www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/ the-magazine/current-issue
Philippe Clement/NPL/Minden Pictures
COOPERATIVE: A Spruce Grouse hen enjoys a dust bath in an Alaskan taiga forest.
CITIZEN SCIENCE
MATING DANCE: Red-necked Grebes in breeding plumage rush across the water in Penticton, British Columbia.
INVITATION TO
OBSERVE How participating in a Breeding Bird Atlas makes you a better birder Text and photos by Laure Wilson Neish
The word atlas is a rather dry term. Back in 2008, it brought to mind a collection of maps collated into a travel guide, or a dusty compendium pulled off the library shelf once a year. But then I volunteered on an atlas project that plotted birds, rather than towns, roads, and rivers, and I realized quickly how fun, and valuable, an atlas could be. I contributed to the British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas, which from 2008 to 2012 drew on the know-how of a number of professional ornithologists and the skills of hundreds of volunteer birders like me to assemble information on birds’ distribution, their abundance, the status of rare and colonial species, and in particular, where birds reproduce in the province. Massive long-term surveys like it had already been completed in other states and provinces, and now, with an initiative from Bird Studies Canada, it was finally underway in British Columbia. Its five years of publicly available data — more than 600,000 individual records of more than 320 species — will
be used in avian conservation and management programs in the years ahead, and they will be compared to future data when the atlas project is repeated in 20 years. Results are interactive and online, and will be published in a digital format at the termination of the project. Personally, British Columbia’s bird atlas offered me a license to explore, an invitation to observe, and an opportunity to contribute to the knowledge of birds in the province where I make my home and work as a photographer. It inspired me to learn how to use a mobile GPS and become proficient in reading Google Earth maps to find my way around the backwoods. As a collateral bonus, it helped me become a better birder and bird photographer. Hours of observations instilled a greater patience for watching (the opposite of twitching) and translated into superb behavioral shots. One of the main objectives of doing fieldwork was to determine the breeding or reproductive status of bird species
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Two atlasses winding down
SHOREBIRD FACEOFF: Rival Spotted Sandpipers compare spots at Sawmill Lake, near Oliver.
SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA ^PSS IL [OL ÄUHS `LHY VM atlassing in Sonoma County. Volunteers who are familiar with the area are appreciated. For information, contact the sponsor, the Madrone Audubon Society, at info@madroneaudubon.org, or go to www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bba.
FLORIDA Next year, 2016, will be the last for Florida’s second atlas, sponsored by the Florida Ornithological Society, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, HUK (\K\IVU VM -SVYPKH ;OL ÄYZ[ ran from 1986 to 1991. Experienced volunteers are wanted and needed, especially in northern Florida. For more information, go to www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bba or www.fosbirds.org.
and enter it into a database. Observations were categorized according to how confident we were of a bird’s nesting status — Possible, Probable, or Confirmed. (If no breeding behavior was evident, we recorded the bird simply as “Observed.”) Instead of seeing a bird and ticking off the name on a checklist, I really had to look, sometimes for an extended, fidgety length of time, and I had to ask myself, “What is this bird doing? Does its behavior match one of the categories listed in the Breeding Evidence Codes?” To collect data in an organized fashion, the province was divided up into a grid consisting of 10 km x 10 km squares (almost 40 square miles), and the squares were assigned to surveyors. Although I heard birders talking about “their” square(s), it was just a loose assignment; there was no ownership. The reason for assigning squares was to ensure both that a minimum of 20 hours was spent covering each square over five years and that someone completed a randomly generated point count inside it. Point counts involved finding a spot on the map using the GPS — some points were along a road, others off-road — and counting all birds heard and seen within a five-minute time period. For a serious birder, it was just another incentive to roll out of bed early, to cover the points within a few hours after dawn, and a welcome opportunity to
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enjoy that lovely, fresh time of day when most birds are active and singing and traffic is light. The information gathered was used to estimate bird density and birds’ habitat preferences. During the five-year span, I took on five squares around my hometown of Penticton, at the southern end of Okanagan Lake, and spent about 30 hours exploring each one, from April to mid-August. As I visited new parts of the province for business or vacation, however, I could add breeding information from any square. Because of the size and geographic challenges of British Columbia, it’s obvious that some squares were not covered as thoroughly as others, but for the province as a whole, it was a team effort. Nesting season brought predictability to the movements of birds, making it so much easier to find them in their seemingly random movements. Early in the season, passerines spent long hours singing, often out in the open or perched high on branches, offering colorful photo opportunities. The bold males were advertising, so one needed only to follow the music to find the singer. Once territories were established, males tended not to stray far from their areas. Listening to birdsong repetitively, hour after hour, day after day, was a surefire method for learning how to bird by ear or improving one’s skills, and it became easier to distinguish a selection of
ACCIDENTAL ENCOUNTER: The author came across this Common Poorwill while searching for a calling nighthawk. A pair of poorwill chicks were huddling in a nest nearby.
“British Columbia’s bird atlas offered me a license to explore, an invitation to observe, and an opportunity to contribute to the knowledge of birds in the province where I make my home and work as a photographer.” songsters way off in the distance. I also began to tease out and recognize subtler chip and call notes. Now I hear the sounds of a woodpecker flaking bark or the snap of a flycatcher’s bill as it swoops in to nab a wasp. From atlassing observations, I also acquired the useful fact that birds dump their load just before they are about to fly, so if I was looking for a flight shot, I waited for the whitewash! As birds paired up and established territories, interactions between the sexes and disputes between males intensified. I witnessed Spotted Sandpipers entwined in a death grip, ravens gurgling sweet nothings to each other, and sparrows copulating as a high-wire act. As nest-building began, I looked for rustling movements on the ground in roadside grass or in shrubs where birds might be breaking off twigs. Early one morning while doing a point count, I was surprised to see the rather uncommon
Clay-colored Sparrow holding nest material in its bill. The bird appeared on a wire fence right next to my car. While watching Violet-green Swallows at the local marina, I realized that swooping in to pick up large goose feathers and riding them around like broomsticks was part of their mating display. The nest area, as a focal point, offered many chances to capture interesting behavioral photographs, but caution is warranted: One must take great care to keep a respectable observing distance, so as not to interfere with birds’ natural instincts and privacy. If I saw a bird in the process of nestbuilding, I took notes, then researched the number of days for incubation, and finally returned again when mom or dad might be carrying food to nestlings. It was not important to pinpoint the nest location because such behaviors as carrying food or nest material were evidence enough to confirm
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BOTTOM UP: A Dusky Grouse struts with tail feathers fanned. The bird was displaying east of Penticton.
An atlas just starting up If you want to experience the thrill of discovery described by author Laure Wilson Neish, lend your skills to Wisconsin’s second Breeding Bird Atlas. Fieldwork started this spring and will continue until 2019. >PZJVUZPU»Z ÄYZ[ H[SHZ conducted from 1995 to 2000, was the largest JVVYKPUH[LK ÄLSK LɈVY[ PU state ornithological history. Volunteers logged almost
OV\YZ PU [OL ÄLSK HUK documented 237 bird species. Results were published online (www.uwgb.edu/birds/wbba) and, in 2006, in a beautiful and useful book. But much has changed in the [^V KLJHKLZ ZPUJL [OL ÄYZ[ H[SHZ RPJRLK VɈ ;OL YHUNLZ of some birds known to nest in the state — Bald Eagle, Osprey, and American White Pelican among them — have
expanded, while the ranges of others, including Barn Owl and Loggerhead Shrike, contracted, some dramatically. And one famous species, the endangered Kirtland’s Warbler, waited until 2007, the year after [OL ÄYZ[ H[SHZ ^HZ W\ISPZOLK to start breeding in the state. For years, it had nested only in Michigan. Other changes, in population as well as range, await discovery.
Documenting them, and updating and expanding on the ÄUKPUNZ VM [OL ÄYZ[ Z\Y]L` HYL goals of the second atlas, a joint undertaking of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory. Details about the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II are at http://wsobirds.org/atlas.
“While watching Violet-green Swallows at the local marina, I realized that swooping in to pick up large goose feathers and riding them around like broomsticks was part of their mating display.” breeding. Also, I didn’t want any potential nest the breeding schedule was delayed by a week or two robbers to observe my interest. (but mosquitoes campaigned in full force). The One of my most amazing discoveries during season was winding down, and it was a bit of a atlassing was an accidental encounter. I was walking letdown, but the magic of fall migration would soon along a trail looking for a calling Common Nightbegin. Many breeders were marshalling in groups and hawk when I was suddenly confronted by a hissing, moving through en masse. puffed-out Common Poorwill. The northern edge of Each day of atlassing and each data set brought the poorwill’s breeding range is in south-central memories of little success stories. Counterbalancing British Columbia. I carefully moved out of harm’s the many troublesome news items about nature I way, then scanned the ground with binoculars. found in the media, each record of a bird’s quest to After several minutes, I found two camo-cryptic renew life offered me bits of joy. poorwill chicks in the shade of a rock! The sighting Overall, the British Columbia atlas concluded was one of only a handful of confirmed breeding with discoveries of new breeding records for records during the project, and it turned out that the Parasitic Jaeger and Caspian Tern and expansions nighthawk nest was only about 50 feet away, also on of species ranges. According to the atlas coordinathe ground. tor Christopher DiCorrado, a number of sub-arctic Through atlassing, I discovered species nested farther south and in secret habitats and microhabitats off greater abundance than previously TABLET EXTRAS roads less travelled, even though thought, including Arctic Tern, Tap the links below to learn they were sometimes only a few Lesser Yellowlegs, Blackpoll more about British Columbia, miles from home. It was a thrill to Warbler, and Gray-cheeked Thrush. the author, and other topics. stumble upon new hotspots, and it Areas in the province that had BRITISH COLUMBIA’S ATLAS was rewarding to find both provinpreviously been underbirded due to The website of the province’s first cially endangered Lark Sparrow and poor accessibility now had a Breeding Bird Atlas, 2008-2012. threatened Lewis’s Woodpecker comprehensive wealth of bird BIRD MAPS carrying food, evidence that information mapped out. Sixty-five Select a species and see where confirmed breeding only two miles species were found to breed it was found breeding in from downtown Penticton. They nowhere else in Canada, and for British Columbia. were nesting across the canyon from several other species, British SEEN RECENTLY a Bald Eagle’s hefty and active nest. Columbia holds the majority of the From eBird, a list of recent notable The reward at the end of each world population. The province sightings in British Columbia. atlas season was the parade of therefore plays a pivotal role in NATURE NICHE youngsters, all that goofy-looking North American bird-conservation A gallery of photos of birds taken cuteness in the next generation. efforts. I was pleased to be part of by Laure Wilson Neish. From floppy-necked babies strainthe team effort. WHERE TO BIRD ing to reach out for a grub meal to Five hotspots in British Columbia, grebe and merganser chicks riding described by local birders. Laure Wilson Neish, a retired on their parents’ backs, the bounty ATLAS II teacher, is a naturalist, an environand variety was truly “awww-some.” How Wisconsin kicked off its mental educator, and a wildlife By the time the dog days of second Breeding Bird Atlas. photographer. You can view her summer arrived in late July, avian GET INVOLVED photos at natureniche.zenfolio.com activity had turned quiet. Birds An excellent list of bird and in our online galleries. She lives became more secretive and songs surveys coordinated by in Penticton, in the Okanagan grew sporadic. I shifted to higher and Bird Studies Canada. Valley, British Columbia. cooler mountain elevations, where No tablet? Find a link to all Tablet Extras at www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/ the-magazine/current-issue
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PHOTO GALLERY
CHAMPIONS FOR BIR DS TO STOP ILLEGAL TRAPPING ON CYPRUS, BIRDERS RACE TO FIND BIRDS IN ISRAEL
On March 25, as the clock struck midnight, 135 birders on 31 teams grabbed their binoculars and set out for the salt pools, reservoirs, valleys, and agricultural areas in and around Eilat, the southernmost city in Israel. They were participants in the second Champions of the Flyway competition, an international race to find as many bird species as possible in one of the world’s most spectacular migration hotspots in just 24 hours. Organized by the nonprofit Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and BirdLife International, the annual race supports a different conservation cause each year. The 2015 goal: raising money to fight the illegal trapping and killing of birds on the island of Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean. First described by novelist Jonathan Franzen in a gripping 2010 article in The New Yorker, the trapping crisis occurs throughout the Mediterranean but is especially acute on Cyprus. More than 2 million birds were killed on the island in autumn 2014 alone, and over a full year, an estimated 2.5 million birds died after being lured by recorded birdsong and trapped in mist nests and on sticky lime sticks. BirdLife Cypress says that since 2002, 152 species have been trapped, including 78 threatened species. The race attracted participants from Israel and 15 other countries, including England, Finland, and the United States. The photos on this and the following pages were taken during the event by Marc Guyt of the Dutch Knights, a three-birder team from the Netherlands. Throughout the race day, teams shared their sightings on social media, enabling anyone to
follow along and allowing their fellow competitors to know what was being seen. By day’s end, 235 species had been recorded. (The bird of the day: a Black Scrub-Robin, also known as Black Bush-Robin, a long-tailed, sooty black bird and a rarity in Israel.) More important, the teams raised more than $52,000 for BirdLife Cyprus, which will use the funds to educate children and adults about the plight of birds on the island. Its teaching materials include a board game about birds and a film that tells the story of an animated warbler named Ulysses the Blackcap. Organizers awarded prizes to the Israeli and international teams with the day’s highest totals: the Jerusalem Bird Observatory Orioles (179 species) and the Cape May Bird Observatory American Dippers (168 species), which was sponsored by Leica Sport Optics. American Dippers team members Jeff Bouton, Glen Davis, Doug Gochfeld, and Michael O’Brien donated their top prize of three Swarovski binoculars to Birdlife Cyprus to aid in its conservation work. “We were shocked to win, considering the caliber of talent the event attracts from throughout the world,” said Bouton, Leica’s manager for birding and nature markets. Songbirds killed illegally on Cyprus breed or winter on three continents, he added, and many are endangered or threatened. “With higher numbers of birds being killed each successive year,” he said, “this is rapidly becoming a conservation issue of global significance that could affect birdsong around every garden throughout Europe in short order.” — Matt Mendenhall, Managing Editor
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Marc Guyt/AGAMI
DESERT DENIZEN: A Little Owl stands in the Negev Desert near Eilat, Israel. The species was one of more than 230 spotted during the Champions of the Flyway race.
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CHAMPIONS FOR BIR DS
MIGRANT: Shy Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush, above, winters in eastern Africa and breeds from Portugal to central Asia and stops in Israel during its migration.
Marc Guyt/AGAMI (2)
TAIL WAGGER: Black-winged Grey Wagtail (below), one of four wagtail species found in Israel, breeds from Ireland to Turkey to eastern Russia.
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TABLET EXTRAS Tap the links below to learn more about the race and the birds of Cyprus. CHAMPIONS OF THE FLYWAY Read about the race, the teams, and how to participate next year. BIRDING EXTREME Watch a video about the 2014 race. BIRDLIFE CYPRUS The most active conservation organization on the island. It campaigns against illegal bird trapping and for the protection of natural areas. EDUCATIONAL CARTOON Watch a video about bird trapping starring Ulysses the Blackcap. 152 SPECIES The list of birds that trappers have caught on Cyprus since 2002. EMPTYING THE SKIES A documentary about the rampant poaching of migratory songbirds in southern Europe, now available on iTunes, Amazon Prime, and other outlets. INTENSIVE BIRD KILLING Read Jonathan Franzen’s 2010 New Yorker article that inspired the documentary. No tablet? Find a link to all Tablet Extras at www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/ the-magazine/current-issue
Marc Guyt/AGAMI (3)
UNMISTAKABLE: A Eurasian Hoopoe (top) flashes boldly marked wing and tail feathers as it flies during the competition. CAPTION SKY GLIDER: Soaring Bonelli’s Eagle, pictured above, is the only species shown in this article that has not been trapped on Cyprus. WIDE HORIZON: Competitors in the Champions of the Flyway race (right) bird the Arava Valley, near Israel’s border with Jordan. w w w. B i rd Wa t c h i n g D a i l y. c o m
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idtips
BY KENN KAUFMAN • PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRIAN E. SMALL
Juvenile songbirds Feathers of head and body often duller or more camouflaged than those of adults
Frequently show remains of fleshy flanges at corner of mouth
Larger feathers of wings and tail usually colored like those of adults
Full juvenile plumage held briefly, followed by patchy transitional plumage Body feathers often loose and flimsy
Eastern Bluebird, juvenile June in New Haven County, Connecticut
What to look for Feather condition. Head and body feathers in juvenile WS\THNL HYL VM[LU SVVZL HUK Å \Ɉ ` ^OPSL ^PUN HUK [HPS feathers look more “normal.” Head and body pattern. Juveniles may be colored like HK\S[ MLTHSLZ VY [OL` TH` IL TVYL JHTV\Å HNLK ^P[O streaks or spots in place of bright colors. Wing and tail patterns. Juvenile songbirds usually have wing and tail patterns like adults, but wing bars, if present, TH` SVVR IYVHKLY HUK JSLHULY H[ Ä YZ[ Telltale signs. Birds might be recognized as juveniles I` [OLPY H^R^HYK ILOH]PVY HUK I` H Å LZO` HYLH H[ [OL corner of the mouth.
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Of all the ID challenges at different seasons, one of the most fascinating, and fleeting, is the juvenile songbird. A few mystery fledglings may be seen from early spring to mid-fall, but late summer is when juveniles are most prevalent and most likely to give us pause. For many birds, juvenile plumage is different from any appearance later in their lives. And songbirds generally show the plumage only for a very short time. Hawks may stay in juvenile plumage for almost their first full year, and some shorebirds may migrate thousands of miles before they begin to molt out of it, but songbirds typically start to molt out of juvenile plumage within a few weeks after leaving the nest — or even within a few days. If we don’t get out birding a lot, we may miss seeing the plumage even on our common songbirds.
“Juvenile plumage is different from any appearance later in their lives. And songbirds generally show the plumage only for a very short time.” Juvenile plumages are often more camouflaged than those of adults. Adult bluebirds, for example, show bright colors on the chest and back. On juveniles, the hues are replaced by a mottled pattern. On Chipping Sparrow, where adults have blocks of color, juveniles have streaks. These differences apply mainly to the head and body feathers. On juveniles, the larger feathers of the wings and tail tend to be colored like those of adults, and often these feathers are retained when the young birds molt and replace the body feathers. Body feathers on juveniles tend to be loose and fluffy, reflecting the fact that they grow quickly. We might think of a songbird’s nest as a safe and snug haven, but, in fact, it’s a dangerous place. The begging cries of the young and the repeated visits by the parents are likely to draw the attention of predators. It’s advantageous for young birds to get out as soon as they can. So they pour their energy into growing strong wing and tail feathers, allowing them to flutter away from danger, while the flimsy body feathers will soon be replaced anyway. It’s important to understand that juvenile and immature don’t mean the same thing in birding. Many birds take a while to achieve adult plumage. It may be a couple of years for warblers or buntings, up to five years or more for eagles. Until the birds are in full adult plumage, we could call them immature or young or subadult or even something like first-year or second-year. But they are juveniles only while they are wearing their first full coat of feathers, the juvenile plumage. Keeping the right terminology in mind can help us to appreciate this unique phase of a young bird’s life. Kenn Kaufman is co-author of Kaufman Field Guide to Nature of the Midwest and author of Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding and other books. Brian E. Small (www.BrianSmallPhoto.com) is a professional nature photographer who lives in Los Angeles.
Chipping Sparrow, juvenile August in Lake County, Oregon A classic backyard challenge is the cryptic plumage of the juvenile Chipping Sparrow. While adults have a plain, smooth, gray chest, juveniles are heavily streaked there, and they also show extra streaking on the head and nape. Unlike most sparrows, many Chipping Sparrows retain some juvenile plumage through at least part of the fall migration, especially
in western populations, so they may show up looking like this even far away from any breeding area. Aside from their overall size and shape, the young birds may be identified by face pattern: A strong dark line from the eye to the bill is a field mark separating them from Clay-colored and Brewer’s Sparrows, even in the youngest juveniles.
European Starling, juvenile June in Harris County, Texas While juveniles of many species are more heavily streaked or spotted than adults, European Starling goes in the opposite direction. It’s a classic confusion species, because the juvenile differs from the adult in so many ways. Two features — a dark eye contrasting with a pale gray-brown face, and a dark bill — give it a facial expression different from the adult. Even its voice differs: Its
common call is a rough, buzzing trill. Flocks of juvenile starlings often wander about with no adults in attendance, and they can be mystifying, even after they start to develop patches of black feathers with big white spots. They can be identified most readily by their chunky, shorttailed, strong-legged, spike-billed shape.
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A conundrum of spelling
Northern Mockingbird, juvenile April in Harris County, Texas In many birds, the differences between adult and juvenile plumages are slight. The feather pattern of this mockingbird, for example, differs from that of its parents mainly in dark spotting on the underparts. More subtly, its wing bars are fresher than those of adults at the same season. But there are other differences. This individual appears to have fledged
recently. Its bill looks small and still has yellow, fleshy flanges at the corner of the gape. Its eyes are dark, while adults typically have pale yellowish white eyes. Finally, young mockingbirds constantly give a thin, high-pitched begging call. The note is interspersed in songs of many adult males, possibly just remembered and added to the mix with all their imitations.
Red Crossbill, juvenile August in Lake County, Oregon Potentially confusing if seen alone, a juvenile Red Crossbill looks utterly different from its parents, with heavy brown streaks and buff wing bars. Even the shape of the bill may not help as much as we might expect, since it may not be fully developed on young juveniles. Adding to the challenge, Red Crossbills have an irregular breeding season. They nest at
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practically any time of year when they find good cone crops, so free-flying juveniles might be seen any time from January to October. On this individual, we could note the short tail, long wingtips, and a stubby bill that’s beginning to show crossed mandible tips. And with luck, since crossbills are sociable, adults will be nearby to provide the final clue.
The regular replacement of feathers is a subject so complex that books have been written about it. (Steve Howell’s excellent Molt in North American Birds, Peterson Reference Guides, 2010, is highly recommended.) If you read much on the topic, you’ll run across the word juvenal, and the different spelling can be confusing. In a pioneering 1900 work on plumage and molt, American ornithologist Jonathan Dwight advocated the term juvenal for a bird’s first coat of feathers. He felt that juvenile was too vague and might be applied to any young bird (a problem that I discussed on the previous page). According to Dwight, juvenal would be more specific to one particular plumage. His approach held sway for a century in North America, but it was always a source of friction. Some writers used juvenal only when focused on feathers — in other words, “juvenile birds wear juvenal plumage” — providing endless headaches for editors and proofreaders. Others claimed that a bird in juvenal plumage should be called “a juvenal,” and that juvenile could still be used for older immatures. Confusion reigned for decades. In the meantime, British ornithologists merely insisted that the word juvenile should be used only for birds in this first plumage stage. No separate spelling was needed. This simpler approach is gaining fans in North America. Many recent works on bird ID have dropped the word juvenal, leaving it as a historical curiosity.
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Kate Redmond
HOTSPOTS NEAR YOU
hotspotsnearyou
Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve
HOTSPOTS 213-216
LION’S DEN GORGE Nature Preserve, located along the shore of Lake Michigan near Grafton, north of Milwaukee, is one of the best birding spots in southeastern Wisconsin, and it’s not that old. Local and state agencies, the county government, a land trust, and the Riveredge Bird Club obtained the property for $1.3 million in 2002. Since then, the managers added a parking lot, trails, boardwalks, and other improvements, including the inviting stairway shown above. It
no. 213 lion’s den gorge nature preserve grafton, wisconsin no. 214 yosemite valley yosemite national park, california no. 215 fort hill eastham, massachusetts no. 216 lafayette heritage trail park tallahassee, florida
leads birders and other nature lovers from the bluffs above down through the deep, wooded ravine to the lakeshore below. Experienced birder and bander Joan Sommer lists the birds you can find at Lion’s Den on the next page. Three other birders describe more excellent hotspots on the following pages. — Matt Mendenhall
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no.
lion’s den gorge nature preserve grafton, wisconsin 43°20'15.81"N 87°53'16.22"W Ula o
To Sheboygan
Lion’s D e n G or g e
Lake Shor e Rd .
2000 ft 400 m
Pkw y.
Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve
AT A GLANCE HABITAT Lake Michigan bluffs and shoreline, fields, wetlands, white cedar and hardwood forest. TERRAIN Flat, with the exception of a long flight of stairs to shoreline.
Grafton
O Z AU K E E C O U N T Y PA R K S G U I D E
Hwy.
C
43
Ulao Waterfowl Production Area
OZAUKEE COUNTY PARKS MAP
L ake Michig an
Exit 92 County Hwy. Q
To Milwaukee
Hwy. C
60
LION’S DEN GORGE NATURE PRESERVE MAP
Blue Wing Waterfowl Production Area
e Rd.
Port Washington Rd.
Hw y. V /Hw y. 3 2
High Bluff Dr.
Lake Shor
HOTSPOTS NEAR YOU
213
Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve safeguards 72 acres of Lake Michigan shoreline and bluffs 20 miles north of Milwaukee. From north- or southbound I-43, take exit 92 and head east on Hwy. Q. Go 0.7 miles to Hwy. C, turn left, and go 1.4 miles to High Bluff Dr. Take a right and drive 0.25 miles to the entrance.
This gem of a preserve protects lakeshore, old fields, wetlands, sites nearby and a unique gorge, and Tablet readers: Tap the links to read the property abuts the Ulao more about each site. Waterfowl Production Area, so the chances of good birds Forest Beach Migratory Preserve, are high. Well-maintained Hotspot Near You No. 156 trails, including wheelchairEleven miles northeast of Lion’s Den accessible gravel sections, lead .VYNL VU *V\U[Y` *S\I 9K -VYTLY through the area. golf course turned sanctuary is great The preserve’s namesake, for songbirds, hawks, and shorebirds. Lion’s Den Gorge, is a coastal ravine sheltering a cedar and Riveredge Nature Center hardwood forest that supports a About 12 miles northwest of preserve number of rare, mostly in Saukville. More than 370 acres of northern, relic plant species. riverfront, prairies, forests, and ponds. Rainfall runoff and springs flowing from the ravine’s walls contribute to an intermittent stream running into Lake Michigan. I can bird the 72-acre site in two or three hours. I have had incredible spring mornings, with abundant warblers, sparrows, puddle and diving ducks, raptors, and numerous other migrants. Prized species seen fairly regularly include Olive-sided and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Black-throated Blue and Connecticut Warblers, and Rusty Blackbird. Large numbers of waterfowl, including mergansers, loons, Common Goldeneye, and scoters, make their way past the bluffs. On days with winds favorable for raptors, I have seen many falcons, accipiters, and buteos fly by at eye level or pop up over the bluff. — Joan Sommer Joan Sommer is a librarian at Marquette University. She maintains two bluebird trails and has banded birds for 14 years. 40
BIRDS More than 220 species. Wood Duck, Blue^PUNLK ;LHS 7PLK IPSSLK .YLIL .YLLU HUK .YLH[ )S\L /LYVUZ :VYH :HUKOPSS *YHUL /LYYPUN 9PUN IPSSLK HUK )VUHWHY[L»Z .\SSZ Caspian Tern, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied, Downy, and Hairy Woodpeckers, American 2LZ[YLS (SKLY >PSSV^ 3LHZ[ HUK .YLH[ *YLZ[LK -S`JH[JOLYZ ,HZ[LYU 7OVLIL ,HZ[LYU Kingbird, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireos, Northern Rough-winged, Tree, Bank, and Barn :^HSSV^Z )S\L NYH` .UH[JH[JOLY ,HZ[LYU )S\LIPYK .YH` *H[IPYK )YV^U ;OYHZOLY Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Yellow Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Claycolored, Chipping, Field, Savannah, and Song Sparrows, Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, 9VZL IYLHZ[LK .YVZILHR 0UKPNV )\U[PUN <U\Z\HS! ,HYLK HUK 9LK ULJRLK .YLILZ 3LHZ[ Bittern, Short-eared Owl, White-eyed Vireo, Yellow-breasted Chat, Western Tanager. WHEN TO GO Best in spring and fall. Visit early in the day. AMENITIES Boardwalks, flat trails, bluff vistas, deck overlooking adjacent federal wetland, picnic tables, portable toilets at main parking area. ACCESS County park. No fees. Open sunrise to sunset. TIPS Stay on trails to protect rare plants. Bring a scope for effective lake birding. Watch for large midge hatches in spring and mosquitos in summer. Deer hunting allowed in fall; check dates. Dogs allowed on leash. FOR MORE INFO 3PVU»Z +LU .VYNL 5H[\YL 7YLZLY]L ^^^ JV VaH\RLL ^P \Z 3PVUZ +LU .VYNL 5H[\YL 7YLZLY]L
www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/hotspotsmap
no.
214
120
To San Francisco
Yosemite National Park
TERRAIN -SH[ 7H]LK HUK ^LSS THPU[HPULK KPY[ [YHPSZ Wheelchair-accessible.
120
El Capitan
AMENITIES Hotels, restaurants, general store, and visitor center in Yosemite Village. Bicycles for rent. Ranger-led walks and professional tours. Downloadable checklist on park website. ACCESS National park. Entrance fee $30 per car, valid for seven days. Free shuttle busses. Amtrak offers train and bus service to the valley; .YL`OV\UK ZLY]LZ 4LYJLK HUK [OL @VZLTP[L Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS) offers bus service from Merced, Mammoth Lakes, Sonora, and Fresno. TIPS Never leave food in your car. If camping, store all food in bear-proof containers. Bring H ZWV[[PUN ZJVWL 3PZ[LU MVY .YLH[ /VYULK 6^S HUK 5VY[OLYU 7`NT` 6^S H[ <WWLY 7PULZ Campground near Yosemite Village. FOR MORE INFO @VZLTP[L 5H[PVUHS 7HYR ^^^ UWZ NV] `VZL Yosemite Area Audubon Society, www.yosemiteaudubon.org.
www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/hotspotsmap
Fla tR
d. El Portal Rd.
El Portal
140
e Me rc e d Riv
r
Yosemite Valley
. Waw o n a Rd
WHEN TO GO Year-round.
ak
Yosemite Village
Dr. side North e hsid Sout
gO Bi
Crane Flat BIRDS More than 250 species. Year-round: Bewick’s, *HU`VU HUK 7HJPMPJ >YLUZ 5VY[OLYU 7`NT` 6^S .YLH[ /VYULK .YLH[ .YH` HUK 5VY[OLYU Saw-whet Owls, Common Merganser, Acorn, Nuttall’s, Downy, Hairy, White-headed, and Black-backed Woodpeckers, Mountain and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Western Bluebird, Steller’s Jay, California Quail, American Dipper. Spring and summer: Sharpshinned and Red-tailed Hawks, Western Tanager, Anna’s, Calliope, and Rufous Hummingbirds, Lazuli Bunting, Bullock’s 6YPVSL 3LZZLY .VSKMPUJO =PVSL[ NYLLU :^HSSV^
120
D r.
HABITAT 7PUL HUK VHR ^VVKSHUKZ ^L[ HUK KY` meadows, river, streams, cliffs.
yosemite valley yosemite national park, california 37°44'22.01"N 119°36'3.17"W
140
To Merced
To Fresno
4 mi 4 km
Yosemite Valley is the eight-mile-long, one-mile-wide centerpiece of Yosemite National Park in eastern California. From Merced, take Hwy. 140 east for 68 miles, and when the highway becomes El Portal Rd., continue east for 6.8 miles. Bear right onto Southside Dr. After one mile, stay to the left and go about four miles to Yosemite Village.
On a backpacking trip in Yosemite Valley a few decades sites nearby ago, a small gray bird zipped Tablet readers: Tap the links to across Illilouette Creek, just read more about each site. upstream from me. It bobbed up and down a few times Crane Flat on a moss-covered rock and Sixteen miles west of visitor center on then dove beneath the ice/^` .VVK ZWV[ MVY >OP[L cold waves. It was my first headed Woodpecker and Hermit and encounter with an American 4HJ.PSSP]YH`»Z >HYISLYZ Dipper, and watching it hunt along the creek bottom El Portal inspired me to learn more Fourteen miles west of visitor center about the funny little species. on Hwy. 140. Acorn Woodpecker, Over the years, I’ve visited the Western Tanager, and Black-headed valley dozens of times. Each .YVZILHR time, I look for dippers among the boulders and rapids. Yosemite Valley’s cliffs, meadows, mixed conifer forests, and numerous streams attract birds year-round; my favorite times are late spring and early fall, when the crowds have thinned out and the migrants are still around. If you have a scope, set it up in El Capitan Meadow. You may be fortunate enough to see a Peregrine Falcon on the granite cliffs, and during the summer, you’ll almost always get a great view of climbers ascending 3,000-foot El Capitan. If you have only a few hours, bird Yosemite Village. The vegetation along the walkways attracts Steller’s Jays, Western Tanagers, Acorn Woodpeckers, hummingbirds, wrens, and chickadees. — Audrey Medina Audrey Medina is a freelance travel writer. She described Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada, Hotspot Near You No. 208, in April 2015. 41
HOTSPOTS NEAR YOU
AT A GLANCE
no.
HOTSPOTS NEAR YOU
215
AT A GLANCE
fort hill eastham, massachusetts 41°49'5.42"N 69°57'42.78"W Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
HABITAT Open grasslands, kettle hole swamp, forest, and salt marsh.
Cape Cod National Seashore
Atlantic O cean
6
Salt Pond Visitor Center C ape C od B ay
Eastham
Hemenway Rd.
Fort Hill Gov. Prence Rd.
6
1 mi 1 km
28
To Boston 6A
Orleans
Fort Hill is a historic area near the southern end of Cape Cod National Seashore. From northbound Rt. 6, go one mile past the roundabout in Orleans, turn right at the Fort Hill sign on Governor Prence Rd., and drive to the parking area. Or continue on Rt. 6 for 0.2 miles to Hemenway Rd. and turn right to reach a second parking lot.
TERRAIN Easy to moderate trails; some log steps and tree roots to navigate. Boardwalk wheelchairaccessible from Hemenway entrance. BIRDS 4VYL [OHU ZWLJPLZ .YLH[LY @LSSV^SLNZ :LTPWHSTH[LK 7SV]LY .YLH[ ,NYL[ .YLH[ )S\L Heron, Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons (late summer-fall), American Bittern, Clapper and Virginia Rails, Northern Harrier, Cooper’s Hawk, Merlin, Red-breasted and Hooded Mergansers, Bufflehead, *VTTVU ,PKLY .YLLU ^PUNLK ;LHS *VTTVU Yellowthroat, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, and other warblers, Willow Flycatcher, Marsh Wren, Bobolink, Saltmarsh, Nelson’s, and Seaside Sparrows. Winter: Hermit Thrush, Swamp Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark. Rarities: 4V\U[HPU )S\LIPYK 7HPU[LK )\U[PUN
Fort Hill is the southern gateway to Cape Cod National sites nearby Seashore. Visitors who don’t Tablet readers: Tap the links to read tour the Penniman House, more about each site. the home of a 19th-century whaling family, or admire the >LSSÅ LL[ )H` >PSKSPML :HUJ[\HY` 20-ton granite boulder on Skiff (IV\[ Ä ]L TPSLZ UVY[O VM -VY[ /PSS Hill that the Nauset likely used More than 900 acres of salt marshes, to sharpen harpoon heads, ILHJOLZ HUK WPUL ^VVKSHUKZ .YLH[ fishing hooks, and stone axes, for migrant warblers and shorebirds. can look for birds. Yellow Warblers and Willow Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge Flycatchers nest in the dense ,PNO[ TPSL SVUN ZWP[ L_[LUKPUN VɈ vegetation along the path the elbow of Cape Cod. Important toward Nauset Marsh, a Bird Area and Western Hemisphere productive salt marsh just east Shorebird Reserve Network site. of Fort Hill. In the open fields near the Penniman House, watch for Marsh Wrens and Saltmarsh and Seaside Sparrows. In September, large numbers of shorebirds wading in the salt marsh can be seen from overlooks along the trails. High tide is important — the higher the better. On any one day, you can see more than 60 Greater Yellowlegs clustered on a far shore. And as the weather cools, the leaves turn brilliant red and yellow, contrasting with the bright blue water beyond. Many species of ducks replace the shorebirds when they leave later in fall. Overhead, hawks circle their way down the coast. And at dusk, watch the base of the hill near the marsh for secretive American Bittern and Clapper Rail hiding in the weeds. — Shirley L. Ruhe Shirley L. Ruhe is a freelance reporter and photographer. In past issues, she has described hotspots in Virginia, California, and Florida. 42
WHEN TO GO Year-round. Best in fall, when crowds have diminished, shorebirds and hawks are moving through, and ducks are arriving. AMENITIES Two short trails and a boardwalk. Overlooks on Fort Hill and Skiff Hill allow excellent views of 5H\ZL[ 4HYZO :LHZVUHS YLZ[YVVTZ :HS[ 7VUK Visitor Center two miles north of Fort Hill has bookstore, museum, theater, and restrooms. ACCESS National seashore. No fees. Two small parking SV[Z VWLU H T [V TPKUPNO[ :HS[ 7VUK =PZP[VY Center open 9-4:30 daily (9-5 in summer). The Flex regional bus route stops in Eastham and at visitor center. TIPS Take bug spray; deer flies can be fierce in summer. Check for ticks, and avoid poison ivy. FOR MORE INFO Cape Cod National Seashore, www.nps. gov/caco. Cape Cod Bird Club, www. capecodbirdclub.org.
www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/hotspotsmap
no.
216 HABITAT Mixed upland forest, spoil islands, lakes, wet prairie, live oak/riparian woodlands.
lafayette heritage trail park tallahassee, florida 30°26'24.26"N 84°11'31.63"W 2000 ft 500 m
90
BIRDS Year-round: Wood Duck, Wood Stork, Anhinga, herons, egrets, Osprey, Red-shouldered Hawk, Barred Owl, Forsterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tern, Red-bellied and 7PSLH[LK >VVKWLJRLYZ >OP[L L`LK =PYLV -PZO Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, *HYVSPUH >YLU )VH[ [HPSLK .YHJRSL -HSS [OYV\NO ZWYPUN! 9PUN ULJRLK +\JR 7PLK IPSSLK .YLIL )HSK ,HNSL 9\I` JYV^ULK 2PUNSL[ Yellow-rumped Warbler. Spring and summer: 3LHZ[ ;LYU .YLH[ *YLZ[LK -S`JH[JOLY :WYPUN [OYV\NO MHSS! 7\YWSL .HSSPU\SL :\TTLY [OYV\NO winter: Belted Kingfisher. Rarities: Whitewinged Scoter, Limpkin, American Bittern, )YV^U 7LSPJHU )H` IYLHZ[LK >HYISLY WHEN TO GO Year-round. April and October best for maximum species diversity. Mornings and evenings best. AMENITIES Apalachee Audubon Society and Tallahassee Bird Club conduct bird walks. Two observation platforms, seven â&#x20AC;&#x153;fishing fingersâ&#x20AC;? (grassy ILYTZ L_[LUKPUN PU[V 7PUL` A 3HRL RH`HR canoe launch, Canopy Walkway, and paddling trail guide. Restrooms and drinking fountains. ACCESS City park. Open sunrise to sunset. No fees. Evergreen bus route stops at intersection of *VUUVY HUK /LYP[HNL 7HYR IV\SL]HYKZ TIPS Use a scope to find birds on lakes. Bring hat, snacks, sun protection, and water. Watch for cyclists on trails. FOR MORE INFO 3HMH`L[[L /LYP[HNL ;YHPS 7HYR www.talgov.com/parks/parks-parks-traillafayette.aspx.
www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/hotspotsmap
Tallahassee Capital Circle NE
TERRAIN 4VZ[S` MSH[ HYV\UK 7PUL` A 3HRL -HPYS` Y\NNLK and steep in the western portion. Most trails not wheelchair-accessible.
261
Upp e r L ake L afay et te Tom Brown Park Conner Blvd.
ge Herita lvd. Park B
J.R. Alford Greenway P ine y Z L ake
Lafayette Heritage Trail Park To Downtown
L ow e r L ake L afay et te
27 20
Apala
chee
Pkwy.
L. Kirk Edwards Wildlife and Environmental Area
Lafayette Heritage Trail Park skirts the shores of two lakes in Tallahassee. From downtown, drive east on Apalachee Pkwy. for 4.8 miles and turn left onto Connor Blvd. Go 0.7 miles, turn right onto Heritage Park Blvd., and continue 0.6 miles to the entrance road. After entering the park, follow the loop road to one of the parking areas.
This urban birding oasis has great scenery that keeps the sites nearby two of us coming back all year Tablet readers: Tap the links to read long. We love the many bird more about each site. species that we encounter each season. More than the name J.R. Alford Greenway implies, the park encompasses : 7LKYPJR 9K *VUULJ[Z [V 795 acres of wooded and 3HMH`L[[L /LYP[HNL ;YHPS 7HYR ]PH H aquatic habitats, and it offers hike-and-bike trail that crosses the an excellent multi-use trail railroad tracks. system that connects to two neighboring parks. A paddling Elinor-Klapp Phipps Park trail links two lakes, allowing About 25 minutes northwest of close access to Wood Storks, 3HMH`L[[L /LYP[HNL ;YHPS 7HYR VU herons, egrets, ibises, ducks, Miller Landing Rd. Outstanding for terns, and other waterbirds fall warblers; good for waterbirds. in the park and an adjacent environmental area. We enjoy watching resident Osprey fishing, Anhingas sunning on bald cypress limbs, and myriad songbirds singing amid the massive live oaks. Our favorite route leads east toward an earthen dam, where we often encounter breeding Orchard Orioles and Purple Gallinules in summer. Just north of the dam is a new 40-foot-tall Canopy Walkway; it provides superb birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s-eye views of Piney Z Lake and the surrounding forest. The walkway continues north to J.R. Alford Greenway, another excellent birding destination. On the west side of the park, the landscape shifts to hillier terrain, where Northern Parula, Great Crested Flycatcher, and other migrants brighten our day. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Mark Kiser and Selena Kiser Mark Kiser is a park and recreation planner with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Selena Kiser is a wildlife biologist for the state. 43
HOTSPOTS NEAR YOU
AT A GLANCE
BY ELDON GREIJ
Robert McCaw
amazingbirds
SNUG AS A BUG: A Costa’s Hummingbird sits on a nest of leaf bits, plant fibers, and spider webs.
Nest basics An astonishing array of nests, nest materials, and locations Perhaps nothing speaks to the cleverness of birds more than the variety of their nests. Driven primarily by predation, birds construct and locate nests to produce maximum survival of youngsters. Nests also favor efficient heat transfer during incubation. Nests vary from a hummingbird’s small cup, only two centimeters in diameter (about three-quarters of an inch), to an eagle’s six-foot-wide platform, and from the scrapes left in the ground by shorebirds to the massive piles of vegetation heaped up by megapodes, birds found in Australia. Their nests can stand more than 15 feet tall. 44
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Birds find nests in natural and manmade structures, build them from scratch, or take them over from previous owners. Nests are generally hidden, inaccessible, or camouflaged. Nest materials typically include twigs, grasses, leaves, rootlets, fungal threads, spider silk, mammalian hair, feathers, and mud. A few birds do not build nests. Whip-poor-wills and nighthawks, for example, lay their eggs directly on the ground without moving a leaf. Auks and murres lay theirs on narrow ledges on the face of cliffs. The seabirds’ eggs are pointed on one end. If bumped, they roll in tight circles rather than over the edge.
Tree cavities are occupied by many birds, including ducks, owls, flycatchers, chickadees, and woodpeckers. Some cavities are natural. Most of the others are excavated by woodpeckers, and many of these are later re-used by other species. Mud adds strength to nests. American Robin commonly mixes it with grass. Barn and Cliff Swallows gather it by the mouthful. Each mouthful dries as a small brick. Ovenbirds of Central and South American use clay to construct covered nests that resemble early Spanish ovens. When they bake in the sun, they become nearly indestructible. Shallow scrape nests are common but seem irresponsible places to entrust eggs, especially when located in the open. Eggs laid in most scrapes are patterned, not plain, which helps camouflage them. Gulls, terns, and other birds have visible nests, but they usually assemble in large colonies where group protection seems to compensate for the exposure. Most songbirds build cup nests from small twigs, grasses, other fine plant material, and spider silk, and locate them either on the ground or in trees. Hummingbirds use proportionately more spider silk than other species and typically cover the outside of their nests with lichens. There appears to be a relationship between brain size (at least cerebellar development, because it controls fine motor skills) and nest complexity. Tailorbirds, a group of Old World warblers, are a good example. They poke holes in leaves and sew them together with grass, strips of bark, or spider silk, forming a small basket. Then they line the inside with grass and make their nest. The most complex nests are woven. Orioles and other New World weavers fashion solitary, pendant nests that are a few inches deep, while oropendolas, large colonial blackbirds found in Central and South America, weave hanging nests that can be more than three feet deep. Their nesting tree is a spectacular sight. Males of Old World weavers tend to build ovate nests with an entrance tube extending downward, opening at the bottom — a deterrent to snakes. During courtship, if a female weaver doesn’t
“Whip-poor-wills and nighthawks lay their eggs directly on the ground without moving a leaf. Auks and murres lay theirs on narrow ledges on the face of cliffs.” accept a male’s nest, he tears it down and makes another. While nests confer a reproductive advantage to birds that use them, there is a negative side: Nests also provide hiding places and food sources for parasites, such as mites, lice, fleas, and several insects. Nestling mortality can occur. One way to combat the intruders is through chemical warfare. While a majority of nests are lined with plant material that simply serves as an egg chamber, some birds add yarrow, lavender, curry, and other plants that give off aromatic chemicals that tend to repel parasites. As the chemical concentration in the nest wanes, the birds add fresh vegetation. Anecdotal observations of House Sparrow and House Finch nests in urban areas prompted studies that showed that nests containing cigarette butts have fewer parasites than nests that don’t. Nest mites were drawn more readily to heat traps with non-smoked cellulose cigarette filters than traps with smoked filters. The takeaway is that mites avoided the nicotine and other chemicals present in the smoked cigarettes. This isn’t surprising, considering that the tobacco plant produced nicotine as a defense against plant-eating insects. It is astonishing, though, that urban birds utilize smoked cigarettes in the same way that non-urban birds employ aromaticchemical-emitting plants. That birds have adapted to their urban environment so quickly is surprising. Their ingenious array of nests, nest materials, and nest sites is clearly amazing.
Our great guides make for great tours.
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Eldon Greij is professor emeritus of biology at Hope College, located in Holland, Michigan, and the founding editor of Birder’s World magazine.
w w w. B i rd Wa t c h i n g D a i l y. c o m
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TABLET EXTRAS
attractingbirds
Tap the links below to read more by Laura Erickson.
BY LAURA ERICKSON
BULLIES AND MAVERICKS Simple chickadees observe a complex social hierarchy. FOCUS ON FINE POINTS How photographing birds opened up a whole new world. SOUL FOOD Why the thrills of a Big Year can’t compete with the comforts of home.
Laura Erickson
No tablet? Find a link to all Tablet Extras at www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/ the-magazine/current-issue
BIRD DOG: Pip started birding only in March but already has four falcons on her life list.
Dogged listing The pleasures of finding life birds for a new puppy On March 20, I got a puppy, a Havanese named Pip. I’ve taken her on a few birding walks, but my first goal is teaching her good birding manners, which start in the backyard. Fortunately, her breed doesn’t have a strong herding impulse or the hound/terrier drive to chase prey. The first birds Pip noticed were four pigeons. The moment she saw them, she charged, even though she was hardly bigger than they. Their noisy wingclapping on takeoff startled her, but she tracked them in the sky until they disappeared. She chased pigeons a couple more times but then seemed to figure out 46
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that running makes them disappear. Now she advances a few steps at a time, stopping to watch in between. She looks at smaller species but isn’t interested in chasing. Some birders could learn how to approach rarities from her. I’ve watched Pip track noisy airplanes, a goldfinch making its flight call, and a silent migrating Bald Eagle. She looks through the trees when robins sing or Pine Siskins twitter. I want my dog to keep keying in on birds, so every time she notices one, I praise her. To keep track of our adventures, I’ve started a life list for her. I’m rewarded in two ways: I’m getting more disciplined at
using eBird (I enter every bird we see), and I’m enjoying wonderful trips down memory lane. I started my own life list in March 1975. It’s fun comparing how easy it was to see birds then versus now. The first bird on Pip’s list was a House Finch singing as I carried her to my car from her breeder’s house, near Chicago. House Finches hadn’t arrived in my part of the Midwest back in 1975. The Eurasian Collared-Dove I saw with Pip two days later, also in the Chicago area, was unheard of virtually everywhere on the continent in 1975. We saw Trumpeter Swans, a critically endangered species, in early April in northern Wisconsin; I didn’t see my first, in Yellowstone National Park, until 1979, years before the first reintroduction programs. On the other hand, Number 20 on my life list, Red-headed Woodpecker, is more localized and harder to see nowadays. Then and now, Gyrfalcon is a rare bird at the national level, but it was easy for Pip, since one hung out all winter in Superior, Wisconsin, across the bridge from my home in Minnesota. Both Merlins and Peregrine Falcons are easy to find in Duluth now, unlike in 1975. So oddly enough, Pip had three species of falcons before we added American Kestrel. I couldn’t have imagined that back in 1975! Keeping a list for Pip is already paying off in insights about how bird numbers have changed in 40 years, and it’s fun. As I always say, no one, not even a dog, should go through life listlessly. Laura Erickson is co-author of Into the Nest: Intimate Views of the Courting, Parenting and Family Lives of Birds. Last year she won the American Birding Association’s highest honor, the Roger Tory Peterson Award.
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yourview Birding experiences and photographs submitted by readers
From our readers!
Nesting season
GOOD SPOT TO RAISE A FAMILY: Tom Olkowski spotted this female Mountain Bluebird at a golf course in Roxborough Park, Colorado, south of Denver, in late March. She was inspecting a tree cavity. Olkowski took the photo with a Nikon D100 and a 70-300mm lens. FEEDING TIME: This adult Sandhill Crane was feeding its month-old colt in Georgia Wilsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s backyard in Geneva, Florida, in late April. Wilson watched the adult and its mate courting last winter and nesting in a nearby marsh in March. They raised two chicks. She used a Nikon D7100 and an 80-400mm lens. 48
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REFLECTED IN THE RIVER: Five female Buffleheads fly up the Delaware River. Matthew Scurato of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, took the photo in mid-April at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in New Jersey. He used a Canon 7D Mark II and a 100-400mm lens.
BACK OFF: Tree Swallows squabble at Huron Natural Area in Kitchener, Ontario. Wayne Fulford took the photo in early April with a Canon Rebel T3i and a Sigma 150-500mm lens.
PUNK ROCKER: Fran Gallogly of Trumbull, Connecticut, found this displaying Snowy Egret at the alligator farm in St. Augustine, Florida, in April. She used a Canon 5D Mark III with a Tamron 150-600mm lens. 50
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HOT PURSUIT: A Peregrine Falcon chases a fish-toting Bald Eagle at Conowingo Dam in northern Maryland. Brian Kushner shot the photo in November 2014. He used a Nikon D4S, an 800mm lens, and a 1.25x teleconverter.
RADIANT: Ronald Zigler photographed this Scarlet Tanager in May at Peace Valley Nature Park, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (Hotspot Near You No. 12). He used a Canon 60D, a 300mm lens, and a 1.4x extender.
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ONLINE PHOTO OF THE WEEK CONTEST WINNER March-April winner Golden Eagles • by Mark Schmitt Congratulations to Mark Schmitt of Wofford Heights, California! He won our Photo of the Week Contest for March and April with this image of a Golden Eagle nest. He took the photo in Kern County, California, in 2006, after he and his brother, artist and biologist John Schmitt, had been invited by ornithologists to visit a blind set up about 300 feet from the nest. In addition to the imposing adult eagle, not one but two chicks are visible; one youngster lies flat and looks up at its sibling. Schmitt
says the nest, located in a pine tree growing from a steep slope, is still in use in 2015. Frequent contributor Glenn Bartley, whose photo of a Cuban Tody appeared on the cover of our June 2015 issue, was our judge. “This is a very strong image taken from a great vantage point,” Bartley says. “After all, it’s not every day you get to look down on an eagle’s nest! It’s great to see the young chicks and the adult keeping watch. It certainly is a very photogenic nest, and the photographer made the most of his opportunity.”
Photo of the Week Contest Complete rules and guidelines • www.BirdWatchingDaily.com 52
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Let’s hear from you! Submit photos as full-resolution, high-quality JPG files via email (no TIFFS, please). Include a short description of the photo: the bird name, the equipment used, and the location. Please include your name, address, phone number, and email address. If we publish a story or photo of yours, we’ll send you a complimentary copy of the issue in which it appears. There’s no payment for use of text or photos in “Your View.” Send your photos and stories to: Your View Editor BirdWatching Magazine yourview@birdwatchingdaily.com
From our readers!
fieldcraft
Feeling squirrely Rarely seen bird photographed with a little help from friends
Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus), Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, Chicago, Illinois, May 3, 2015, 12:41 p.m., by Jackie Bowman
When the migrants started returning this spring, Illinois birders Jackie and Chris Bowman knew right where to go: Chicago’s Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary (Hotspot Near You No. 74). On the first Sunday in May, they saw warblers and thrushes, a Least Bittern in a flowering crabapple, a Le Conte’s Sparrow in a meadow, and thanks to a tip from a friend, the Eastern Whip-poor-will pictured above. The often-heard but rarely seen bird was resting on a log less than 12 inches off the ground in the Magic Hedge, the stretch of trees and shrubs that is the sanctuary’s centerpiece. Jackie snapped photos of the bird four times. On her last observation, as she lifted her camera, a squirrel crawled just behind her subject. Startled, the whip-poor-will momentarily stretched its wings and buffy-tipped tail feathers, giving Jackie the amazing shot above. She shared it in our Flickr group. 54
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Camera: Nikon D7100 Lens: Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II Settings: 1/250, f/9, ISO 800, 0.7 exposure compensation Light: Natural Format: RAW converted to JPG
See great photos of birds and post your own! Bird photography galleries www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/PhotoGalleries BirdWatching Flickr group http://flic.kr/g/9PHt3
HOOKED: Subscriber Jackie Bowman has been birding and photographing birds since 2009, when her husband, Chris, pointed out birds during a vacation to Badlands National Park and the Black Hills of South Dakota. She was hooked. The Bowmans live in Geneva, Illinois, and visit Chicago’s Montrose Point at least weekly in spring and have birded in many states, including California, Texas, Minnesota, Florida, and Maine.
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idtoolkit
ART AND TEXT BY DAVID ALLEN SIBLEY
Breeding adult
Look for our next issue On sale September 1
Nonbreeding adult
SEASONAL SIGNAL: The bill of an adult American Robin is bright yellow during breeding season (left) but drab outside it (right). The vivid color signals the bird’s fitness as a mate.
Bill color What you can learn from the changing colors of a songbird’s bill Late summer is a time of transition for birds and a time of tremendous variety for birders. You can see adult birds in breeding plumage (looking worn after a long breeding season), fresh nonbreeding plumage, and any stage in between. And in the same flock, you might find newly fledged birds still in juvenal plumage, and others that fledged earlier in the summer and are already in fresh first-winter plumage. Considering the dramatic changes in feathers, and the variety of appearances, it’s not surprising that most birders miss the changes in bill color that happen at the same time. A bird’s bill is not a lifeless bony growth, like a horn or an antler. Bones form the foundation, but over the bones is a layer of living tissue, and covering that is a thin layer of hard but translucent keratin. The living cells just below the keratin layer can change color, 56
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“A bird’s bill is not a lifeless bony growth, like a horn or an antler.” and because the keratin is translucent, the colors are visible. In bills just as in feathers, all bright yellow and red colors are produced by carotenoid compounds. Because carotenoids must come from the diet and are also important in immune-system functions, a bright yellow or red bill can be a signal that a bird is healthy — that is, finding a good diet and having no immune-system stress. American Goldfinch, American Robin, European Starling, and other songbirds send this signal by developing yellow or orange bills in the breeding season. As the season winds down, adults need to signal less, and their bills fade to
a grayish color. Juveniles grow up with drab dusky bills and won’t develop the brighter color until the following spring, when breeding season begins. Other songbirds change bill color in subtler ways. In many warblers, such as Common Yellowthroat, and in House Sparrow and other species, the bill becomes mostly black in breeding adult males. Then, in the fall, it fades to grayish with a paler yellowish color at the base. Noting these differences can help determine birds’ ages and add to your understanding of their appearances. David Allen Sibley is the author of The Sibley Guide to Birds, Second Edition, Sibley’s Birding Basics, and field guides to the birds of eastern and western North America. In our last issue, he told how to reconcile the different looks of folded and extended wings.
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