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THE FISH HAWK
HERALD
Coeur d’Alene Chapter of the National Audubon Society
November 2004 Volume
14 Issue 2
ARTICLES: Bluebird
Trails-T.E. Musselman, Bird Tracks: Adopt a Highway Project - Idaho Audubon Council State Meeting - Bill
Deformities - Hummingbird Research - Summary of Board Meeting - Wild Birds Unlimited - Death
of a Gander - Fossil
Hunting with Dr. Bill Rember - Birding with a Brown Bag
- Observation Post
bluebird trails
(Editors note: This is the first in a series of articles on bluebird
conservation and bluebird trails)
T. E. Musselman
Condensed
by Bob Niebuhr, from article that first appeared in a North American Bluebird
Society Quarterly Journal
Reprinted from
"Bluebird Tales" the newsletter of Mountain Bluebird Trails,
Inc. (MBT). (Their website is www.mountainbluebirdtrails.com)
If Thomas Edgar Musselman didn’t start it all, he certainly made
it easier for the rest of us. The name T. E. Musselman is synonymous with
bluebird conservation; it permeates the published scientific literature about
bluebirds in this century. Dr. Musselman was a scientist, businessman, college
teacher, family man, and naturalist – not necessarily in that order. Above all,
however, he was an organizer.
He took a few rather commonplace ideas
and practices, then fashioned a novel yet workable plan to revive a declining
population of bluebirds. He called his plan the "bluebird trail". He
spent most of his 89 years educating all who would listen about the
effectiveness of these trails. Today, more than 70 years after he began,
thousands of people carry on the work he started. He was indeed the godfather
to millions of bluebirds, which his trails gave a chance for life. Certainly,
he was the father of modern bluebird conservation techniques, including nest
box design.
T. E. (only a few close friends and
perhaps his wife called him Tom) was the most famous resident of Quincy,
Illinois. He was born in that city on April 18, 1887. Hunting, fishing and wood lore practices were a steady regimen of
his childhood. By the time T. E. completed his undergraduate education at the
University of Illinois in 1910, he was an accomplished naturalist. In 1911,
while attending graduate school, he was a member of the first class in ecology
ever taught at the University of Illinois. After taking his master’s degree in
1913, he devoted a great deal of time talking about the interrelationships of
all life forms. Before his death, he had the opportunity to see this subject
become one of the foremost international issues of this century.
His work at Gem City Business College
gave him a forum from which he could pursue his other interests. As an active
naturalist, he gained regional recognition as a popular lecturer on natural
history. For years he visited the schools in and around Quincy, and "for
most of the students of three generations, ‘T. E. Musselman’ was the one
assembly of the year which no one wanted to miss."
"A lively and aggressive speaker,
he used a vast array of gestures to mimic his subjects – the boundless energy
of a chickadee, the menacing gestures of a snake, the proud display of a
courting grouse." He became immersed in the animal world and revealed the
intimacies of life in a quiet field or a patch of scrubby hedgerow. His young
audiences were mesmerized.
But, he was not only a gifted lecturer,
he also wrote magazine articles, a daily nature diary, a regular column for
Quincy’s Herald-Whig, engaged in scientific studies and enjoyed bird banding.
He became a director of the Inland Bird Banding Association, gave scholarly
lectures for both the Illinois Audubon Society and Illinois Academy of Science,
and somehow found time to write a book, Birds of Illinois.
The awards and honors proffered to him
were legion. But for all his work with many causes, T. E. remains best known,
and properly so, for his work with bluebirds. Dr. Musselman began to notice,
even in his youth, that the bluebird population around Adams County, Illinois,
was diminishing rapidly. From his personal observations and from his studies in
the field of ecology, he inferred the reasons. The abundance of House Sparrows
and Starlings were taking over most of the natural cavities which bluebirds
formerly used. Bluebirds therefore had no suitable place to nest.
In 1926, T. E. began to put up a few
nesting boxes, which he specifically designed for bluebird occupation. For the
next eight years, he observed that bluebirds readily took to them. In 1934, he
set out 25 bluebird nesting boxes along backcountry roads and began to monitor
them closely. His own account of that experience is highly instructive because
of his attention to detail, which was so characteristic of the Musselman
method. Keep in mind this study was done nearly 70 years ago.
In later years T. E. increased his trail
to more than a hundred boxes spread along 43 miles of county roads. His trail
produced splendid results. Dr. Musselman continued to experiment, checking the
nesting box entrance hole requirements, ventilation, drainage, floor
dimensions, cavity depth, and relating these to bluebird territorial
imperatives.
Encouraged by his successes, T. E. began
to spread the word. Others, some independently, some under his direct
supervision, began bluebird trails of their own. The experiments still continue
to this day, and new nesting box designs will be advanced periodically, but the
concept of the bluebird trail, with the emphasis on regular monitoring and
maintenance, began with Dr. Musselman. The ease with which anyone can operate a
trail makes it highly unlikely that a better concept in bluebird conservation
will emerge.
Dr. Musselman banded thousands of
bluebirds and conducted a range of studies about their behavior. The number of
people he has influenced is astonishing. Richard Sloan’s famous painting,
"Eastern Bluebird," was dedicated to T. E. at the time of its
publication. Dr. Lawrence Zeleney, author of The Bluebird and founder of
the North American Bluebird Society, has acknowledged Musselman’s contributions
many times.
T. E. died on Saturday, June 12 1976,
not too long after his bluebirds had completed their first nesting of that
season. Dr. Musselman left a considerable legacy to his children, his
grandchildren, and his great grandchildren. He brought the bluebirds back, and
along with them, a plan to guide their posterity.
At present, much of his original trail
of boxes has disappeared. A changing habitat in Adams County has encouraged
greater populations of House Sparrows. Sporadic efforts have been made to
revive this trail. However, Quincy was just the trail’s beginning. T. E. showed
us the way and there is whole continent remaining.
Bird Tracks
Audubon Members make a
difference
ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY PROJECT
We woke up to a warm and sunny morning
on October 2nd, surely a good omen. And it proved to be another
productive round of highway clean up on Audubon's two-mile stretch of
Highway 95. Thirteen of our members gathered for the traditional muffins and juice,
donned our handsome orange 1vests, and headed out to
pick up whatever the summer motorists decided they didn't want.
Two hours and sixteen full bags later, the job was done. No wonderful
finds were made but we were encouraged by passing cars that
tooted their horns and gave us the thumbs up sign. As part of the Adopt-a-Highway program we do highway clean up
twice a year, spring and fall. A big
thank you goes out to all participants.
idaho Audubon council state Meeting - twin falls
Schedule:
Friday, December 3:
Arrival. Evening program: 7:00 pm, Room 223, Shields Building, College of Southern
Idaho Topic: "Dragonflies", Jan Simpkin (of Nevada Odonata
fame) will share the excitement of these incredible predators with us.
Saturday, December
4:
Breakfast 9:30 am:
Presentations - Lynn Tennefoss (funding), Colleen Moulton
(IDFG, IBA's and Audubon) - Kent Fothergill (results from Idaho's first master
birder class – developing future volunteers) Lunch and birding:
(If we have enough
canoes we could paddle to Blue Heart Spring very close to the house and very
cool!!) State of the chapters
and IAC - chapter and IAC representatives will outline goals, recent problems
and successes. Discussion: Where do we go from
here?
6:00 pm: Dinner Educational bird related program
Sunday,
December 5:
Breakfast: Birding: Hagerman -Fossil Beds National Monument
Location
Fothergill house, located at beautiful Box Canyon Trout
Farm on the Mid-Snake River. Interesting yard birds can include: Glaucous Gull,
both eagles, Eurasian Wigeon and ?
Address:
4869 N 1115 E Buhl, ID 83316, Phone:
208 543 5806 e-mail:cyberzono@netscape.net
Mapquest.com will get you pretty close, and from there we
will do signs. Please RSVP and let us know how many nights to plan on
your company. Really good turn out means some of you will be staying at other
Audubon homes nearby.
BILL
DEFORMITIES
A wildlife
rehabilitator from Montana gave our chapter a presentation on bill and feather
malformations in birds on 18 October 2004. Judy Hoy described several types of
deformities in which either the upper or lower bill overgrows or is stunted.
These deformities can affect a bird's ability to feed. It is not known what
causes the deformities, but certain types appear to be increasing. In
Washington, hawk watchers have noted Red-tailed Hawks and a single Rough-legged
Hawk with overgrown upper mandibles in the last seven years, but none prior to
that. Alaska has seen an outbreak in recent years of upper mandible overgrowth
in chickadees.
So, take a close look at the birds
in your area. If any have bill malformations, record the following information:
Species
Date
Location (latitude and longitude are really helpful, if available; otherwise
street address or other precise location is useful)
Description of deformity
(Relative or absolute length of upper and lower mandibles;
curvature; crossing)
Photos (are really helpful)
Observer (name and contact information)
Behavior (Any unusual behavior or circumstances)
Report to: report sightings of birds with bill deformities
to Judy Hoy (bwrehab@mtwi.net)
and/or Colleen Handel of the USGS (colleen_handel@usgs.gov). They are trying to
assess the extent of the problems.
HUMMINGBIRD
RESEARCH
In
2001, Stacy Jon Peterson, from Mountain Home became the first Idaho resident to conduct hummingbird
banding research in the state. Visit his website on Idaho Hummingbird
Research
http://www.trochilids.com/Idaho/idaho.html
As part of his
research Stacy has collected first arrival dates from birders throughout the
state. He has them listed by county
and by year. Several of these sightings
come from members of our Audubon Chapter.
Check it out and see if your sightings are listed.
Summary of
Board october Meeting
·
Conservation
Committee continues to go to CCC meetings in Coeur d'Alene or Kellogg. It
is a citizens' group associated with the EPA Cleanup Fund.
·
National
Audubon has sent us a 9-page document regarding future changes in the
relationship between them and all chapters. We will study, and make
suggestions.
·
Idaho
Audubon Council meeting will be in Boise, Dec.3, 2004. We will try to
send a representative. (see program
on page 2)
Education
Activities
October was busy with a week long
Elderhostel titled, "Searching for Loons and Waterfowl on Idaho
Lakes". Twenty-four students took a cruise on the Seagull from Hope,
Idaho. Birds spotted were Common Loon, Western Grebe, Pied-bill Grebe,
Red-necked Grebe, Horned Grebe, Common Merganser, Canada Goose and Bald
Eagle. The Pend Oreille River produced a terrific close-up look at a
Common Loon, Green-wing Teal, Mallard, gulls and Belted Kingfisher. Many
small winter songbirds were seen and heard during a walk in the Hoodoo
Valley. Kris Buchler was the instructor for the natural history lessons.
Other subjects included the travels of David Thompson and geology in the
northwest.
Lutherhaven
hosted a "Golden-agers Retreat" October 13th. Kris presented a
program on the Common Loon to over 120 participants from Idaho and Washington.
WILD
BIRDS UNLIMITED
Wild
Birds Unlimited is donating 10% of their sales from Audubon members to our
Audubon Chapter.
The Wild Birds
Unlimited store is at 296 W. Sunset Ave. #22, Coeur d'Alene. When you go there be sure to identify
yourself as an Audubon member so that our chapter gets credit.
"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
DEATH
TAKES A GANDER
Christine Goff, award-winning author of the Birdwatcher's
Mystery series, announces the start of the "Name the Book" Contest,
and launches her newest title, Death Takes a Gander
Scheduled for
release on December 7th, and highly anticipated by the birdwatching
and mystery reading communities alike, Death Takes a Gander targets the
issue of poisons in misunderstood birds--the Canada Goose.
First published
in 2000, Goff's best selling Birdwatchers' Mystery series focuses on
environmental themes with a birdwatching bent.
The first book in the series, A Rant of Ravens, highlights the
illegal trade of Peregrine Falcons to the Middle East. Her second novel, Death of a Songbird,
centers on the coffee industry and its effect on migratory songbirds. Both
titles were named Willa Literary Award Finalists for Best Original Paperback
Fiction. Her latest book, A Nest In
the Ashes, explores the effects of fire on habitat while offering readers
an entertaining mystery.
Named Rocky
Mountain Fiction Writers 2002 Writer of the Year, Geoff began her career
writing non-fiction, penning columns for local newspapers in Summit County,
Colorado, as well as articles for regional and national publication. A life-long Colorado resident, Geoff is an
avid "backyard birder," and lives in Evergreen with her husband,
three children, two dogs, a beta fish and assorted wildlife--her inspiration
for murder.
Geoff also
announces the start of her "Name the Book" contest. Those entering have a chance to win a 2005
National Parks pass. For more
information, please visit her website a www.christinegoff.com
WITH DR. BILL REMBER
Sept. 25, 2004
So, when is the last time that you found a 15 million year old fossil of
a Liriodendron hesperia, or a Taxodium dubium? Well, several CdA Audubon and Native Plant
Society members found those and more at the field trip to Dr. Bill Rember’s
property near Clarkia. During the
Miocene era this site was under Lake Clarkia when these leaves fell from their
trees and were covered in mud. Fifteen
million years later we dug some of them up and exposed them to air and
sunlight.
Bill showed us his several digging sites and demonstrated how to
proceed. First, you remove the
overburden (we got to learn several cool words like that); then, with Bill’s
special shovel, you cut out a 10 inch cube of clay; with a flat knife you cut
through the middle of the clay cube until it separates, hoping that you expose
a complete leaf of something. Usually
you expose pieces of fossils that you ruined in the splitting. Next you cut through the middle of each of
the halves and then each of the eighths until you find something worth saving,
or throw it all aside and take another chunk and start over again. We were rewarded regularly with fossils of
various leaves and occasionally a seedpod, cone, or flower. We were encouraged to take home what we
found, although Bill asked to keep a few of our finds as they represented good
samples that would be useful to him.
Thus, we collectively made a modest contribution to the advancement of
science. Later in the afternoon part
of the group accompanied Bill to a nearby hilltop where he pointed out the
boundaries of Lake Clarkia and the topography as it is believed to have been 15
million years ago.
The biggest problem encountered was the occasional laceration of a hand
due to our lack of familiarity and skill with the tools. But, nobody lost a finger or required more
than superficial first aid. With our
heads down and our eyes concentrating on long dead plant life we did not notice
very many birds. On our trip home we
were sufficiently tired that we neglected to stop to scan for avians. Next time.
Birding
with a Brown Bag
10/19/04
Lynn Sheridan
Nels and Steve Johnson met me at Independence Point. It was wonderful to see them carrying a
small spotting scope; with it we were able to identify the 2 distant grebes as
Red-necked. Later we found 5 more
Red-necked Grebes in the distance.
There was a
notable lack of Rock Pigeon numbers, but 3 were seen going under the green
piling covers on the pier. Along the shore
we scanned the gulls, and found 10 heavier, darker California Gull with the
many Ring-billed Gull. We were treated to an amazing display between a
Merlin and a gull. They chased each
other in the air until the falcon drove the gull down to water surface. We were not sure of the outcome.
Perched on
pilings and a log were a total of 16 Double-crested Cormorant, the most I've
ever seen there. At an autumn red
Virginia Creeper, a flock of European Starling were harvesting the black
berries. We looked in vain for the resident California Quail, and
something unusual among the commoners, but only saw Mallard, Canada Goose,
Common Raven, American Crow, Red-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatch, and a woodpecker
species.
Thank you, gentlemen!
Observaton Post
2004 Kootenai County Big Year - Total to date 198 as of Oct. 24 TWO MORE SPECIES NEEDED TO REACH OUR GOAL OF
2000.
Long-billed Dowitcher 1
farm pond north of Hayden 1st week in Oct., Joe Taggart
OTHER SIGHTINGS
Pacific Loon 1 Sandpoint City Beach, Oct. 12, Earl Chapin
Surf Scoter about 15 in scattered
groups out from Sandpoint City Beach, Oct. 12-13, Earl Chapin
White-winged Scoter about 15
in scattered groups out from Sandpoint City Beach, Oct. 12-13, Earl Chapin
Double-crested Cormorant 8,
Cougar Bay, CDA Lake, Oct. 8-9, Roberta Larson
Merlin 1,
in her yard CDA, October 13, Jennifer Soules
Northern Pygmy Owl 1,
Armstrong Hill, CDA 1st week in October, Kris Buchler
Blue Jay There is an influx of Blue Jays this fall throughout Idaho,
Montana Eastern Washington and British Columbia . In North Idaho they have been seen at several locations: 1 Squaw
Bay, CDA Lake Sept. 29, Barbara Dorrell; 2 Mica Flats area on Weniger Road,
Oct. 5-6, Vera Weniger; 2 Indian
Meadows (Arrowhead Road) Oct. 6 and 12, Theresa Potts and Dan Audet; 1 Sept 9
and Oct. 12 Pine Ave. CDA (+2 Steller x Blue Jay Hybrid at feeder daily), Nancy
Mertz; 1 St. Maries, Oct. 13, Dave Spicer; Lea Carter, Wild Birds Unlimited
Store saw at her home on Nunn's Rd (east of Silverwood) and had reports from
people visiting the store: 1 in Clagstone, 1 in Hayden and 3 in Sandpoint
between Oct. 3-9.
White-breasted Nuthatch 1, Arrowhead Road, Oct. 9,Theresa Potts
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3, Armstrong Hill, Oct. 23, Kris Buchler
Varied Thrush 1, heard for the last two weeks on Armstrong
Hill, Kris Buchler
Rusty Blackbird 1, first year, Colin, Priest Lake, Oct. 20,
Bob Bond
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