Now that the field trip season is in full swing again, it
might be timely to review the compensation plan that has been agreed upon by
the Board for drivers of vehicles. Each car receives the same amount of
money, assuming that each carries at least one passenger that is not a family
member and completes the entire trip. If a husband and wife choose to
drive only themselves, they do not receive a share of the costs. The
reimbursement rate is 25 cents per mile. It is the trip leader's
responsibility to calculate costs at the end of the trip and notify riders of
how much they owe the driver.
As an example, two cars made the recent trip to the
Turnbull Refuge, a husband and wife and one passenger in each car. The
round trip was 110 miles (X 2 cars X .25/mile = $55). $55 / 6 passengers
= $9.17/ passenger goes into the pool for division equally among the
cars. In this case, this is what each of the two riders owe their
respective drivers. Let's be fair to drivers and make sure they are
compensated for their time and vehicle use.
Also, I would like to welcome Valerie Zagar and Derek
Antonelli as new board members. We look
forward to their sharing their perspectives and providing inputs during our
board meetings.
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ADOPT - a - HIGHWAY
Saturday, Sept. 27
Judy
Waring
The great fall weather brought out
eleven volunteers to clean up our two mile stretch of Highway 95. Either the
weather or the donuts, whatever, the job was completed in an hour and a half,
surprisingly fast. Fourteen bags of litter were put out for pick-up by the
Highway Department. Among the unexpected finds were the remains of several
unlucky animals who crossed the road at the wrong moment.
This will take place again next spring so look for an announcement in a spring
newsletter and join the team.
Those taking part: Lynn Sheridan, Valerie and Mike Zagar,
Joan and Bill Gundlach, Janet Callen, Dick Cripe, Roger Young, Shirley Sturts,
Phil and Judy Waring.
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TURNBULL NWR
Field Trip, September 13
Judy Waring
Turnbull National Wwildlife Refuge lies a few miles south
of Cheney, WA and is a place of quiet beauty, with small lakes dotting the
landscape and wooded areas offering shade on warm days. The day slated for our
field trip was sunny and mild. Expectations were high. We didn’t know that we
were to be challenged by waterfowl in seasonal transitional plumage. There was
a lot of head scratching going on followed by “oh, yes - that’s what it is!”
Turnbull is a very large refuge and we spent part of our
visit on the driving tour, stopping along the way to check out a lake or walk
on a trail that led back to hidden bogs. We walked along an inviting trail
around a good-sized pond filled with
waterfowl, none of it easily identified. It took time and effort and patience.
With some we had to concede defeat. But we ended the day with 26 species so we
were happy.
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of Page
NOON TIME BIRDING
September 16, 2008
Lynn Sheridan
Shirley Sturts, Phil and Judy Waring (with dog Andy), Gale
Horst, and Roland Craft met me at the
Fernan Lake dock. On the way, I had passed under the freeway, and noted a
few pigeons roosting and a couple of stick piles left from summer nests.
The heron rookery was quiet, but one was seen standing at
lake edge. The new sign at the boat launch reading, "No
Feeding of Wildlife: $300.00 Fine"
has cut down the usual large
number of waterfowl but we still counted about 20 hopeful Mallards and a few
hybrids. Fearless Andy was happy to wade into the water and chase away 6
fat barnyard geese. As we walked around the park, two Osprey were heard and seen, one successfully
catching a fish, a painted turtle glistened on a log, a gull flew past, muskrat
swam nearby, starlings babbled in the trees, and 6 or 7 House Sparrows flitted
around a red berry bush.
There was very little activity around the lily pads
at the east end of the lake,. A
Bald Eagle flew above us, a jay species
competed with a squirrel in a noisy duet, a few Mallard were present with a Great Blue Heron as a sentinel.
Thanks, everyone.
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Idaho birding trail signs
Kris Buchler
The WREN Foundation of Coeur d’Alene has developed various
sign projects for North Idaho. Its
first large grant from Idaho Parks and Recreation supported the creation of 15
trail signs, several of which are placed along the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes
or other trailheads. These signs
educate the public about wildlife and noxious weeds.
The Inland Northwest Community Foundation awarded WREN a
grant to develop Idaho Birding Trail signs to be placed at IBT sites anywhere
in Idaho. The first ten signs were
designed for North Idaho locations.
These are single species signs, each featuring a photo of a different
species of bird that should help the novice in identification, as well as
providing a glimpse into its life and natural history.
Many local people
contributed to this project. Jenny
Taylor and Kris Buchler wrote the text.
Grady Meyers, formerly of the United States Forest Service in Coeur d’Alene, did the amazing
artwork on the headers for all of the WREN signs. Local photographers from Spokane, Tom Munson and Michael
Woodruff, contributed many of the photos.
All the photos were donated with the help of Sara Focht, Idaho Fish and
Game, in Boise, who facilitated the donation of photos to the Idaho Birding
Trail Guide.
Sites for the first IBT signs include Boundary Creek
Wildlife Management Area, Round Lake State Park, McArthur Lake Wildlife
Management Area, Farragut State Park, Coeur d’Alene River Wildlife Management
Area, Mica Bay (Audubon Adopted Wetland), Sandpoint City Beach, and Heyburn
State Park.
A new grant and a sponsorship program will support new
Idaho Birding Trail signs that WREN members will develop over the winter for
other locations in Idaho. The Laura
Moore Cunningham Foundation will provide most of the funding for the new signs,
with sponsorships from organizations and individuals helping with $150
donations. WREN welcomes comments and feedback about the signs.
The Red-naped
Sapsucker sign will be going up in Mica Bay.
It will be placed along the trail going to the bird platform. The text reads:
RED–NAPED SAPSUCKER
The Red-naped Sapsucker is a medium-sized woodpecker that does not
really suck sap. It is specialized for
sipping it. Its tongue is shorter than
those of other woodpeckers. The tip of the tongue has small, hair-like
projections that help pick up the sap, much like a paintbrush holds paint. Humming-birds and insects are often attracted
to their sapwells.
This western sapsucker is a
vocal bird with many calls and makes a distinctive drumming sound that is
slower than that of other woodpeckers.
Sapsuckers often select a
dead tree such as aspen or birch for nesting.
Both male and female drill the small, round opening and larger cavity,
leaving a few wood chips at the bottom.
All woodpeckers lay white eggs since they are hidden in cavities and
have no need for camouflage. The birds
often use the same tree for 5-6 years, but never reuse the same cavity.
Most woodpeckers show some
differences in the coloration of the male and female. The adult male has a red throat patch. On the female, the lower
part of the throat is red while the upper part is white. Historically, sapsuckers were considered an
orchard pest but they consume insects and some berries as well as sap.
To learn more or to
sponsor a sign, call Kris Buchler 664-4739 or
Jenny Taylor 666-9898
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Winnie the whimbrel: RIP
reprint
from The Collage of William and Mary Website
by Joe McClain
| September 9, 2008
The fast-flying,
wire-wearing, record-breaking shorebird known as Winnie the whimbrel is missing
and presumed dead near the Wisconsin shore of Lake Superior on her way south
and east from her Alaskan breeding grounds.
Bryan Watts, director of William and Mary's Center for Conservation Biology,
said Winnie was likely on her way back to the east coast—possibly to the
Eastern Shore—when she ran into sustained strong headwinds that probably left
her weak and in an inhospitable place.
"We feel this bird ran out of gas, and didn't have a place to
refuel," Watts said. "The area where she went down is remote and the
ground cover is really thick, so it's not likely that the tracking unit or bird
will be recovered." He said a group from The Nature Conservancy checked
out the area, as did some local bird researchers mobilized by the CCB's
Fletcher Smith, a native of the area.
Winnie made news after her record-breaking
migratory flight last spring from the Delmarva Peninsula to
the McKenzie River basin on the Alaska-Canada border. The bird was fitted with
a state-of-the-art satellite tracking device weighing just over a third of an ounce
by researchers from the Center for Conservation Biology and The Nature
Conservancy.
Winnie left the study area on May 23. The scientists expected Winnie to head
for known whimbrel breeding grounds south and west of Hudson's Bay. Instead,
Winnie took off northwest, flying more than 5,000 kilometers (3,200 miles) in
no more than 146 hours. The flight—probably nonstop—was a distance record for
the species and Winnie logged an average flight speed of nearly 22 miles per
hour.
After Winnie made her record-setting trip to the McKenzie River, she continued
to her breeding grounds in Alaska's Colville River system above the Arctic
Circle. She remained on the breeding grounds from June 7 to July 12, when she
began moving west. Her transmitter was still working, allowing CCB researchers
to track her movements along Alaska's western edge.
Trouble-filled return trip
The bird ran into trouble as soon as she left Alaska on
Aug. 3.
"She went down to a drainage that's a well-known
staging area in the west coast of Alaska and staged for a long period of
time," Watts said, then she took off south over the north Pacific and
straight into the teeth of a cyclone. "We thought there was a chance the
bird could be lost then. But it then went east to Washington, to Willapa Bay."
By coincidence, Watts happened to be at a conference in
Oregon and he went up to Willapa Bay to look for Winnie, who was feeding up in
what he called "a beautiful shorebird staging area" after fighting 50
mile per hour cyclone winds during her 1,000-mile flight from Alaska.
Watts couldn't find the bird, who stayed in Willapa Bay,
resting and refueling from Aug. 7 to Aug. 23. He expected her to fly down the
Pacific Coast, perhaps to wintering grounds in Central America, but Winnie
surprised trackers by heading east again, on what would be the last of her
great migratory flights.
"That bird turned inland and made another flight," Watts said, "
another 1,000 mile flight. And then finally made it to Lake Superior there in
Wisconsin." Winnie encountered stiff headwinds over the high plains,
ending up in a poor foraging area and "just ran out of gas," Watts
said.
"How frequently this sort of thing happens, we have
no idea. We have evidence of major die-offs over the Atlantic where some birds
go out and the storm comes and lots of carcasses wash up. We've actually lost a
peregrine down over the Atlantic before," he explained. "It kind of
highlights the significance of these places like the Delmarva, which have
incredibly high food resources. That's why they're attracted to these areas.
But to be lost in a place where you don't have much to feed on, that's a risk
that the birds take."
Whimbrel studies will continue
The CCB is continuing its study of whimbrel migration.
"We have plans to put several more transmitters out next spring and fall
and so once you start putting out numbers of these, you get a better sense of
what the normal patterns are," he said.
Watts said they fitted another whimbrel with a
transmitter three weeks ago, only to see it head for South America, flying into
the Hanna-Ike-Josephine "conga line" of storms.
"There's nowhere to hide out there in the middle of
the ocean," Watts said. " That bird made landfall in one of the
islands of the Bahamas, a single flight. I'm hoping it stays there until that
area clears."
The Center for
Conservation Biology maintains a Web Page: http://ccb.wm.edu/programs/migration/Whimbrel/whimbrel.htm which
includes a map of Winnie's record-breaking westbound flight.
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HAVE YOU FOUND A DEAD BIRD?
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is
asking for your help locating sick or dead ducks, geese, swans and
shorebirds! Since late 2003, a highly
pathogenic avian influenza virus (bird flu) has surfaced in more than 55 countries
in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
It has been found in some species of wild migratory birds, particularly
swans and geese. The migratory patterns
of waterfowl and shorebirds suggest the possibility of moving this virus to the
North American continent. The good
news: this virus has not been detected
in any of the tens of thousands of waterfowl and shorebird samples collected in
North America so far.
To report sick or dead ducks, geese,
swans or shorebirds, call the Idaho
Dead Bird Line toll free1-877-550-BIRD.
Please do not call this number when:
you find a dead bird that is not a duck, goose, swan or shorebird.
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THANKSGIVING BIRD COUNT
