Birding

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There's a regular weekend feature on the mostly political blog at DailyKos.com, the Dawn Chorus Birdblog. Today, blogger lineatus warns of problems in California for wild birds:

Every year I make a trip to the Panoche Valley, south of Hollister, CA. This year I was planning to go twice, last Sunday and again today. Last week was a bit of a scouting trip, and the results led to this week's trip being scratched. California's drought is hitting the valley hard, and the bird life is showing the effect.

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The "Woodpecker House" about 12 or 14 miles in (maybe more?), you'll be driving along with a steep rock hillside on your right and the creek on your left. The rocky hillside drops away for a moment, revealing a house with an enormous oak in the front yard, and the road crosses a small creek. Park there and take a moment to wander around. The oak is a favorite spot for woodpeckers, sapsuckers, nuthatches, phainopepla and any number of other species. We've had extremely close looks at a very cooperative roadrunner along the creek on the opposite side of the street. It's a remarkably birdy area and a lot of fun... except for this year. Not a peep.

It's been inordinately cold and snowy for the "wet side" of Washington so far this winter. The feeder birds have been in constant attendance and approve of the seed and suet offerings. Except for the addition of an occasional Flicker, the birds coming to the feeders haven't changed. It's still the Juncos, Purple Finches, Chestnut Backed Chickadees, Spotted Towhees, Fox and Song Sparrows and the talkative Stellar Jays. The Varied Thrush came several times and then disappeared and, as yet, the Pine Siskens and Goldfinch have not descended en masse as I expect them to. I keep hoping to hear some owls, but no luck. Owls would be exciting, but having bears returning to our small development again this year was more excitement than I really wanted. They have wreaked havoc at two bird feeding stations in the neighborhood so far. Whether I'm one street too far removed, or because of the presence of multiple dogs, I've been lucky not to have seen any sign of them. I hope it stays that way!

Since I only started bird watching late last spring, this has been my first winter to seek out migrant waterfowl. I've made several trips out to Point Wilson and to Point No Point. For the most part, the weather has been foul during those trips with high winds and rain. I "birded" from the car one day and saw a single Marbled Murrelet fly over. I had hoped to see the Ancient Murrelets which a reliable rumor had placed in the area, but they were likely too far out to be seen with mere binoculars. I've seen Western, Eared, Horned and Red Necked Grebes, a few Eurasian Widgeons mixed with large numbers of American Widgeons, Harlequin Ducks, Pacific Loons, and Greater Scaups. Closer to home I'm seeing lots of Northern Pintails, Buffleheads and both Barrows and Common Golden Eyes. Next month I've signed up for a day long waterfowl identification seminar and field trip. That should be fun as well as educational.

It's road trip time now, though. I plan to go birding with a friend in Northern California at Consumnes and the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. It should be good birding and the warmer weather will be a real plus.

All Things Reconsidered (now in paperback) is worth picking up. This is a collection of essays written by Roger Tory Peterson and originally published in Bird Watcher's Digest. To say that RTP had an interesting life would be to significantly understate the obvious.

We've had a couple of major storms here recently with high winds, snow, rain and subsequent flooding -- lots of flooding and landslides. It's been devastating for many people who lost their homes and everything in them. I've been lucky with the exception of a few downed trees and a lot of fallen branches. During a break in the storms, I went out for a quick inspection of the fence lines. The fences looked good and I was treated to a veritable symphony of birdsong. I imagine the birds were as delighted as I to have a respite from the weather.

A few days of reasonably decent weather followed the storms and gave me time to clean up the branches (the trees that came down are staying put) and clean and refill the bird feeders. I had been scolded by the resident Stellar Jays for the low supply of in-the-shell peanuts. After they empty the tray of peanuts, taking them and stashing them for another time, they condescend to hang around and eat the jay and squirrel mix left out for them. This week I supplemented their usual fare with banana bread I had made during the storms. The jays thought it was fine, but the other birds gave it a thumbs down.

It's been a bit quiet bird-wise, but yesterday brought lots of robins and a varied thrush as well. Such a colorful bird, it can lift your spirits even on a gray day. The juncos have also returned as well as the chestnut backed chickadees and spotted towhees. There had been a lull in bird traffic at the feeders so it was good to see activity again. I'm looking forward to warmer weather when I can open the windows and listen to the birds again.

If you're interested in learning the different birds' songs, there are many resources to choose from. Here are a few to start with:

Peterson's and Stoke's both have bird song CDs available for the Eastern/Central and Western US.

There is an attractive "coffee table" book entitled "Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song." The audio is from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the author is Les Beletsky.

Birdjam has its own software program and Stoke's CDs for iPods. You can order either without the iPod or installed on an iPod from them.

Saving the best for last, FatBirder.com looks like it has an exhaustive collection of bird song information with links.

Happy birding!

Today was a birding red-letter day in my life. I went out with a group of experienced birders at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge early this morning and saw an incredible number of birds, many of them birds that were new to me. We saw a total of fifty-one species. This was possibly the fastest five or so hours I've ever spent. The fellow who led the group had his scope set up and focused on birds before I was even aware of their existence! It's tremendous to find such a congenial, knowledgeable group and I plan to join them often.

Highlights included both Golden-Crowned and Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, which are very small, fast moving birds. At the end of the walk, we found ourselves in an area of mixed passerines including the Kinglets, both Black Capped and Chestnut Backed Chickadees, a solitary Townsend Warbler (which I failed to get a good view of), Bushtit and Bewick's Wren. The Brown Creepers were icing on the cake.

Earlier, we had seen shorebirds, ducks and geese. Among them were both Long and Short-Billed Dowitchers; an abundance of Cackling Geese; a pair of Hooded Mergansers; an Eared Grebe; and Snow Geese. Recognition is coming slowly and I'm impatient to see improvement.

There was a Peregrine watching for a meal from high up in a tree. We saw him make three unsuccessful attempts at snagging an unlucky bird. A Northern Harrier provided us with up close acrobatics and even a Bald Eagle made an appearance. Two Great Horned Owls as we were heading back were a grand surprise. I would never have picked up many (most) of these birds on my own, but I hope experience will be a great teacher.

Here's an "ornithological joke" from the Tweeters list:

A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The
stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion
allowed per passenger." Apparently an old joke, but new to me.

Happy birding!

From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, their featured "Bird of the Week":

The Wild Turkey was a very important food animal to Native Americans, but it was eliminated from much of its range by the early 1900s. Introduction programs have successfully established it in most of its original range, and even into areas where it never occurred before.

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Populations dropped drastically in 19th and early 20th century because of hunting and habitat loss. Northeastern populations were eradicated. Stocking programs successfully reintroduced turkeys to most of eastern range, and to areas outside the ancestral range in West. Populations continue to increase.

Actually, it was a dark and stormy day until late afternoon when I chanced a quick trip to the Theler Wetlands. Although the sun had come out, the winds were still strong and no self-respecting birds seemed to be around.

It was so windy that the Crows, usually abundant in the trees, had taken to lower elevations and were either hunkered down on the ground or braving the fence posts. The usual large population of Great Blue Herons was represented by a sole member, and even he didn’t stick around for long. There were a few Cormorants out, and my pal, the little Pied-Billed Grebe was there as I made my way back.

Before leaving, though, I took a side trip down the jetty and encountered a small flock of Song Sparrows fluffing up their feathers and hanging on to the handrail while the wind tried its best to dislodge them. It wasn’t the wind, though, that did the dislodging. Not speaking song swallow, they failed to understand me when I said I meant them no harm. I could have tried to speak louder, but that never seems to work either.

I did enjoy watching an Osprey and a Red Tailed Hawk seemingly out for joy rides, but more than likely just looking for dinner. The tide was on its way out and probably the most interesting thing was a rather large fish that had apparently waited a bit too long to move out with the tide. He was making an alarming amount of noise thrashing through the channel.

When I pulled into my driveway, an ever cheerful Robin dropped out of the sky and landed on the lawn. So, it was a nice end to today’s birding. When the dogs came out to greet me, the bird took off. But, there’s nothing like a dog to make you feel like the most important person in the world!

If Albino, Leucisto, or Piebald Hummingbirds interest you, take a gander (can’t help myself) at the Hilton Pond Center. I highly recommend this website and wish I’d remember to go there more often.

And, from that website, if you’d like some of your online shopping to benefit hummingbirds, iGive.com will set you up. Lots of stores participate and it costs you nothing extra.

On the way home today, I pulled over to see what kind of ducks were massed on the Canal. There wasn't a lot of light left, but enough to see that Common Golden Eyes were there and possibly Barrow's Golden Eyes, too. New birds, for me. I think another trip is warranted tomorrow for a better look as the similarities between the two are great. And there is also a Barrow's x Common Golden Eye cross to make things a little harder.

I'd also been birding/walking on the wetlands earlier and it had been a fabulous day for Double Crested Cormorants. I've never been able to discern a double crest, but they're an easy ID because of their orange-yellow throat pouch. And they sit very low in the water, something common to Loons, too. But, Cormorants tilt their heads up while swimming, which Loons don't do. There were lots of Mallards today as well as the ubiquitous Great Blue Herons, and one lonely Pied Billed Grebe -- a really cute little fellow.

I won't give you a rundown on the rest of the birds seen and heard today, but instead segue into how interesting I find it when I see birders report they have seen "531 of such and such" and "1000+ of so and so." The first time I read these reports, I thought just how in the world can anyone say they've seen those nearly precise (or precise when you're talking "531") numbers of birds. How can you possibly count them with any accuracy?

A post on a birding list explained one way of counting birds. It's simple, really. But, I can't do it. Yet. You take your field of birds and mentally divide it into sections. Count one section and multiply by the total number of sections. Did I say it's simple? Really?

So, here's your challenge. Count the birds yourself in the Irania Bird Counting Game and see how well you do. My numbers skew so wildly, I can only call them guesses at this point. But I hope to be ready for the Christmas Bird Count anyway.

http://personal.inet.fi/cool/live/birds/index.html

Enjoy! And I hope your skills beat mine.

Info on next February's Great Backyard Bird Count

Info on participating in the upcoming Christmas Bird Count

Living in the Hood Canal area of Washington, arguably one of the most beautiful places on earth, it's hard to remain oblivious to the opportunities available for outdoor activities, but I managed to do pretty much just that for more than four years. Not that I was housebound, but there never seemed to be time for different activities. Showing dogs, going to the dogs' athletic events, home remodeling, and yard work (good grief, don't get me started on my nemesis, Scotch Broom) seemed to stretch into endless days and weekends.

A lucky visit to a friend newly transplanted to Oregon from New Jersey turned me onto the joys of bird watching. This friend is also an amateur mycologist, but no way do I want to brave the murky depths of mushrooms! That visit was all it took to start me walking at the local wetlands, haunting the wild bird stores and stocking up on a raft of bird identification books.

Although it seemed fair to start a bird "life" list from this point, I also thought it was legitimate to include some birds that I knew absolutely I had seen and identified previously. California condor, peregrine falcon, turkey vulture, wild turkeys, herring gulls and crows fell into that category. But the crows turned out to be not quite as simple as I thought. Up here we have Northwest Crows as well as American Crows and then the burning question, "How do you know if it's a crow or a raven?" For those of you as clueless as I, it turns out that the shape of the tail is a dead giveaway. (OK, the "caw" call is also a pretty good indication that we're talking crow.) From then on I was hooked. Plus, by then I was getting heavy traffic at my bird feeders.

There's a school of thought that birds you entice to your feeders don't count for your life list. I'm new enough at this, that I'm happy to include them. On the really positive side, you have tons of time to watch them as not all of them eat and run. (Add a bird bath to the area and you'll have even more birds around.) You have time to check for wing bars, eye lines, eye circles, streaks, spots, shape of beak and whatnot. Not only is it fun to watch during breakfast (although the bird books may suffer from greasy fingers), but it's a real learning experience.

Birding almost recommends itself as a hobby. It's a great way to meet people; exercise in the fresh air; and sharpen your observational skills. And, if you like "gear" to go along with your hobbies, there are tons of binoculars to check out before you buy the perfect pair(s).

When Terri Campbell moved to the Pacific Northwest four and a half years ago, she was a serious breeder and exhibitor of dogs. But after a few years, a friend dragged her into the world of birding... a world that became just as additive as dogs were.

I recently visited Terri in her Hood Canal area home, and while I still think I prefer my walks with dogs involved, I have to admit the bald eagle we spotted, as well as many blue herons, were pretty exciting to me. I convinced Terri to share her beginner's journey into the birdwatching hobby -- or, in her case, obsession -- on BirdHobbyist.com, and after a little arm-twisting, she agreed to give it a try.

Welcome to BirdHobbyist.com, Terri!