Audubon Members make a difference
2005-YARD LIST CHALLENGE
Lisa Hardy
As the calendar year turns over, it is time
to make a new list of the bird species you see (and hear) in or from your yard.
Then, at the end of the year 2004, submit your list to be judged in categories
to be decided at the whim of the judging panel. And don’t worry about your list
being small – every list adds to the big picture.
For those of you who find the lister
approach a bit too “serious”, think
of it instead as a motivation to hone your
observational skills. You may, for example, have to spend a little time with
the book in order to sort out the Cassin’s and House Finches so that you can
tally both on your list. Also, many people add notes to their lists of odd and
interesting bird behavior.
time to turn in your 2004 YARD
LIST
Turn
your list into: Lisa Hardy basalt@earthlink.net
2153B Old River Road, Kingston, Idaho 83839
You will need to submit a list of species
and information about your location. Note whether you are in city limits, urban,
suburban or rural, whether you have a water view, type of vegetation and cover
available, feeders provided etc.
Remember, your list should include all birds seen or heard from your yard, so you can include, for
example, the geese that flew over at 3000’, or the owl you heard one night in
the neighbor’s yard. What was your
favorite bird? Share any interesting
bird behavior you noted while observing birds in your yard.
Look for the results in the February Fish Hawk Herald
Great Backyard
Bird Count
February 18-21st, 2005
The
"Great Backyard Bird Count" GBBC is a fun, citizen science joint
project of the National Audubon and Cornell Lab of Ornithology and sponsored by
Birds Unlimited. To participate and
learn more, go to: www.birdsource.org, where you can enter your own bird
counts and view maps and data from past years.
Statistics from 2003: 48,346 checklists reported, 512 species counted
and 2,233,327 individual birds were reported.
News from the Peregrine fund
E-NEWSLETTER
December 6, 2004: The first flights were successful for both of the
California Condor chicks wild-hatched in Arizona this spring.
The Thanksgiving holiday was truly a time of thanks and celebration for all
those involved with and following the California Condor restoration project.
Biologists, volunteers, and condor supporters have held their breath during
November, waiting for two wild-hatched chicks to stretch their wings and take
their risky inaugural flights. By Thursday afternoon (25 November 2004), both
chicks, just over six
months old, had successfully fledged
Brenda Musgrave Doss, Wildlife Artist
(Taken From her website)
"There is
nothing quite as fragile as Nature. I can't think of a more rewarding way to
use my art."
Born in
McMillan, a small rural town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I acquired a
great love for the outdoors. Hours were spent studying and appreciating nature,
and as my interest grew so did my fascination to capture it as I saw it.
So I started a dream, and at the age of eleven,
with my parents' help and encouragement, I began a life-long career in art. As
my love for wildlife grew so did my need to paint it. I feel a closeness toward
each animal as I work with it. "An animal's eyes, just as ours do, tell a
story. I want my animals to come alive as you look at them, and speak to you.
Their eyes can do that."
My studio is in
a quiet town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in northern California.
The town is aptly named, Paradise. From there, with my husband Gene, and Welsh
terrier, Shauni, I travel to sell my work. I am pleased that my original
artwork is owned and hangs in homes all over the world, and I am honored to
include the White House on that list.
See Brenda's website: www.BrendasArt.com
"If I were to make a study of the
tracks of animals and represent them by plates, I should conclude with the
tracks of man"
Henry David
Thoreau
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Careful
Identification Skills
Dennis Fast: Kleefeld, Manitoba
Taken from the North Dakota
Birding Listserve "great discussion from our friends to the north..."
Hi All,
I had initially decided not to wade into
the "Tufted Titmouse" debate but several things prompt me to write
after all. Not the least of these is an experience with a bird on Saturday that
will illustrate the points I wish to make first. If you do nothing else
(because this may be a fairly long and rambling piece) DO read the incident I
just referred to which I will describe at the end of this article.
First of all, my apologies to Luc Blanchette
if he will interpret this as an attack on him and his birding skills. It is
not! It is an attempt to write something instructional about bird
identification, and Luc's call of the Tufted Titmouse simply provides an
appropriate springboard at this time.
It's been almost 30 years since I first
bumped into George Holland at Oak Hammock Marsh and he taught me the difference
between the calls of Long-billed (Marsh) and Short-billed (Sedge) Wrens as they
were then called. I was amazed that anyone could confidently "call" a
bird without even seeing it. Since then I have spent many birding outings and
Big Days with the likes of Gord Grieef, Rudolf Koes, and Peter Taylor whose
birding skills I was determined to emulate. I have probably disappointed them in
that regard because they have been witness to many of my misidentifications
along the way.
I have been consoled, somewhat at least,
by the fact that I have seen others make mistakes too. In 1986, Rudolf Koes and
I were privileged to spend a day birding with Roger Tory Peterson in Southern
Manitoba, thanks to Dr. Bob Nero. The very first bird that Roger Tory Peterson
called out was a clear misidentification, but Rudolf and I were hardly going to
correct the guru of all birders. Fortunately, after some reflection and another
listen, he corrected himself and did two things with that: he said in effect
that "I can make a mistake" and secondly that "I can admit
it".
Why did Roger Tory Peterson initially
misidentify the bird? It was certainly not because he was not familiar with
both species!! Perhaps it had to do with being in a new jurisdiction where he
was not quite sure what to expect and called out what to him was the logical
first guess. It is something I do all the time because I want to be the "first"
to call a bird, but first impressions are not always accurate.
Snow Geese
Photographed by Wayne Tree
Years later I was to read two articles
in Birdwatcher's Digest about this topic that really fascinated me. One
was by none other than Roger Tory Peterson, who was a regular contributor till
his passing a few years ago. In a remarkable display of humility and insight he
described in great detail some of the "birds" he had identified
incorrectly over the years. I put "birds" in quotations, because at
least one case involved a decoy planted in a marsh by "friends" to
mislead him deliberately. The other involved a blue bottle at a landfill site
that he called two different species before turning glassy eyed (sorry, I
couldn't resist that) to those around him and admitted his mistake.
The other article was by Erik A. T. Blom
who wrote countless bird ID pieces over the years, as well as conducting
workshops and leading bird outings. My favorite story was his account of a
field trip he was leading after conducting a series of workshops for beginning
birders. When he spotted a group of
Snow Geese feeding in a field, he was delighted to be able to get the scope on
them and to point out to each student in turn (as they looked through the
scope) the particular differences between blue and white-phased birds. Later,
as they were driving down the road, one of the students asked, "But if
those geese were feeding, why weren't they moving?" As the realization of
his misidentification slowly sank in, he turned the van around, set up his
scope again, and proceeded to tell his students how to recognize decoys in the
field! The other lesson he taught them was that anyone can make a mistake on a
snap call, but that you should never be too big to admit it, and you SHOULD
consider all the possibilities.
Over the years, I have been a frequent
guest on CBC questionnaire, and more recently on CHSM, to answer people's
questions about birds. As a result, I get many calls from all over southern
Manitoba from people reporting "rare" birds, or asking for my ID
help. Two things always amaze me: one, is the tendency for people to believe
they have a rare bird because they are not aware of all the options; and the
other is to defend themselves when I try to raise any questions about their
possible misidentification. This is usually exhibited by one of two reactions:
"What else could it be?" (they
don't want to hear the answer to that), or "No, I know the species you are
talking about, and it definitely wasn't that."
All of this brings me to the "Tufted
Titmouse" and several things I feel need to be said about bird ID's like
that. First of all, when anyone sees or hears a bird that is rare for the
Province (or out of season, for that matter) every attempt should be made to
confirm the ID. In the case of a "heard only" bird it MUST be
followed up by a visual ID, and, if possible, a photograph. Be prepared to be
wrong, to have the sighting questioned by everyone who didn't see it, and to
experience the frustration of having your skills questioned. That is not only
human nature, but imperative in order to have a reasonably accurate checklist
for the Province.
A rare bird should IMMEDIATELY be shared
with other competent birders, not so late that nobody has a chance to confirm
it. It's much more satisfying to have a rare sighting confirmed than to keep it
to yourself and have everyone disbelieve you. But equally important (as you
will see in a moment) is to weigh all the possibilities before declaring
anything rare. Every call out there is a common bird until proven otherwise.
Now here are two personal examples that my
ramblings have been leading to. The first one concerns the Slaty-backed Gull I
was lucky enough to find at the Delta dump a few years back. When Frieda and I
pulled into the dump which had thousands of gulls milling about, I saw the bird
in question sitting about 75 meters away among a host of other birds. Immediately I blurted out Western Gull
because I had just been in California for three weeks and thought I recognized
the bird as such. Now I will freely
admit that I am no gull expert. The finer points of "feather counting"
have never fascinated me, and I do not profess to have any kind of expertise
there. But I did recognize that the bird was different and reported it
tentatively as a Western Gull. It didn't take long before Bob Luterbach from
Saskatchewan and others were emailing to ask why I had not considered Slaty-backed
Gull or even some other species.
Fortunately, I had captured the bird on
video, and after Rudolf Koes and Peter Taylor had a good look at it, I became
convinced by them (and the detail revealed in the video) that I had been wrong. I had made two mistakes: I thought I
"knew" the Western Gull, and I had not considered all the options.
Finally, the other example brings me back
to the Tufted Titmouse. Like Gene and Andy, Harv Lane and I drove out to Carman
to attempt to add a new species to our Provincial list. I have had extensive
experience with Tufted Titmice, most recently while spending 5 weeks in Southern
Texas in March/April of this year, but I had my trusted tape with me to back me
up. For about half an hour, Harv and I lingered at the pond in question,
playing the various calls and scolding notes of the Tufted Titmouse every few
minutes. The sharp call notes on the tape were so similar to a House Wren's
that it was actually responding while keeping out of sight. I "knew"
it was a House Wren, but under the circumstances I made very sure I finally got
a good look at it. The mewing calls on the tape were very similar to the mewing
calls of the Warbling Vireo, several of which were present.
Unfortunately, we did not see or hear the
Tufted Titmouse. This, of itself, does NOT prove that there was no Titmouse
present or that it had not been there the day before. All of us have chased
many a rare bird that had simply disappeared by the time we got there. It does
emphasize, however, how important speed of reporting is when it comes to rare
birds. Because they are out of range, they are usually not setting up territory
and their presence may be fleeting at best.
Two days after that experience I was
sitting on my back patio deck when I suddenly sat up with a start. A bird began
calling incessantly from the woods about 75-100 meters from our property. My repeated
playing of the Tufted Titmouse tape a few days before was still ringing in my
ears, and I thought I was hearing it again. I ran for my binoculars in case the
bird approached and waited impatiently. After about half an hour it appeared in
the trees between Harv Lanes' and our house. To my surprise, it was an immature
Baltimore Oriole. I ran for my Tufted Titmouse tape and then called Harv.
Without telling him what the bird was, I asked him to step out onto his patio
deck. While he was listening to the oriole, I played back the song of the
Tufted Titmouse, and Harv was having a hard time even differentiating between
the two. The call had none of the rich staccato bubbling quality of the adult
Baltimore Oriole. Instead, the notes were sharp, clear, and measured in groups
of 4 or 5 - almost identical, in fact, to my tape recording of the Tufted
Titmouse.
What does all of this prove? Perhaps not
much, except that one should never eliminate the possibilities regardless of
how sure one is. Rudolf was certainly right in suggesting that the Baltimore
Oriole should not have been ruled out. If you have birded a lot you doubtless
have heard birds singing songs quite uncharacteristic of their species.
Mimicry, or at least "alternate learned songs" are not limited to the
species we generally consider the Mimidae. In the case of rare birds, it never
hurts to err on the side of caution.
I hope all of this is seen as
instructive. Manitobabirds Listserv is frequently filled merely with sightings
including the "listing" of common backyard birds. I understand the
excitement of beginning birders (I hope I continue to enjoy the American Robin
for years to come) but a little more emphasis on unique bird behavior or the
sharing of expertise wouldn't hurt. Above all, keep reporting possible rare or
out of season sightings promptly, but keep an open mind about the possibility
that it may have been something common after all. Good birding everyone.
Cheers, Dennis Fast
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Sandpoint and Pend Oreille River
Sunday
28 November 2004
Dick Cripe
Six
Coeur d'Alene birders traveled to Sandpoint today for a morning of birding Pend
Oreille Lake and River. Highlights included a pair of Red-breasted Merganser
off City Beach, and an American Tree Sparrow along the river. We see female
Red-breasted Merganser on Coeur d' Alene Lake from time to time, but it seems
like Pend Oreille Lake is the only location for male Red-breasted around
here. The real crowd-pleaser, though, was a Great-horned Owl sitting on a
fir limb in the sun and preening itself. It appeared unconcerned by our
presence in parked cars 150' away, and reminded me of nothing so much as a fat
tabby cat cleaning itself.
We saw an
estimated 10,000 ducks on the water between the Sandpoint Bridge and Priest
River. Most were too distant to identify, but American Wigeon appeared to be
most common, followed by Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck and Mallard. A surprising 25 Double-crested Cormorant
were seen from the 3rd Street dock.
We began at
City Beach and 3rd Street Dock, then proceeded west on the north side of Pend
Oreille River and back on the south side to Hwy 95 via Dufort Road. This
trip had multiple purposes. We visited a couple of sites along the river
that no one had been to previously, notably Riley Creek campground at LaClede
and the wildlife observation site at Priest River. In addition, we
stopped at Seneacquoteen and Morton Slough on the south side of the
river. These sites will be included in the Idaho Birding Trail. The
Century Bird Count this Memorial Day weekend will be in Bonner County so each
of these sites will be visited that day.
Participants included Roland Craft, Janet Callen, Kris Buchler, Lisa Hardy,
Dick Cripe and his son-in-law from Portland, Yorck Franken.
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Winter
Birding Cruises
Fantasy
Cruises will be offering "Winter Birding Cruises" beginning February
2005. The 130' M/V "Island Spirit" will cruise north from
Seattle
through Skagit Flats, Deception Pass, San Juan Island, Anacortes and
LaConner. We can accommodate 32 passengers in 16 staterooms, each with
private head & shower. All meals are included, prepared by our
on-board chef. We carry an 8-person pontoon skiff and kayaks for closer
viewing opportunities. For more information, please call or e-mail.
Our web site is: www.sanjuanislandcruises.com.
Thank
you,
Brenda Plantz (360) 981-5116
charliesdaughter@hotmail.com
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Observaton Post
Shirley Sturts
2004 Kootenai County Big Year - Total to date, 207 for the year 2004
Our goal of 200 was reached!
White-winged
Scoter: 3 Mica Bay, Coeur d'Alene Lake, Nov. 24,
Mica Bay Survey - Shirley Sturts, Roland Craft
OTHER SIGHTINGS
Rough-legged
Hawk: 12 Rathdrum Prairie, Dec.
5,.CDA Audubon Field Trip
American Kestrel: 3 Rathdrum Prairie,
Dec. 5, CDA Audubon Field Trip
Trumpeter
Swan: 7 Sawmill Pond on Dredge Road near Cataldo,
Nov. 15, Lisa Hardy
Snow
Goose:
Sawmill Pond on Dredge Road near Cataldo, Nov. 15, Lisa Hardy
Gadwall:
151 Chain of Lakes, Nov. 25, Lisa Hardy
Barrow's
Goldeneye: 2 Wolf Lodge Bay, Coeur d'Alene Lake, Dec.
16,
Steve
Johnson
Canvasback: 64
Chain of Lakes, Nov. 25, Lisa Hardy
Merlin: 1 Armstrong Hill, CDA, Nov. 21, Kris Buchler
Killdeer:
3 Cataldo Area
Dec. 5, Lisa Hardy
Bonaparte's
Gull: 7 Harrison (CDA River Delta), Nov. 25, Lisa
Hardy
Mew
Gull: 1
Wolf Lodge Bay, CDA Lake, Nov. 22, Lisa Hardy
Northern
Pygmy Owl:
1 Armstrong Hill, CDA, Nov. 21, Kris
Buchler
Clark's
Nutcracker:
14, St. Maries, Nov. 13, Linda Stackow; 7 Harrison, Nov. 25, Lisa Hardy; 4
Tubbs Hill Dec. 12, Bill Gundlach
Northern
Shrike: 1 Mica Bay, Coeur d'Alene Lake, Nov. 24,
Mica Bay Survey, Kris Buchler, Shirley Sturts, Roland Craft
Brown
Creeper: 2 Enaville, Dec. 11, Bill Gundlach
Bewick's
Wren:
1 Enaville, Dec. 11 Bill Gundlach
Harris's
Sparrow
1 Lockhaven Hills, Hayden Lake, 1st found on Nov. 20. Doug Ward)
seen again Nov. 21, Gina Sheridan, Matthew Moskwik
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THE FISH HAWK 