Innholdsfortegnelse for July - August 2015 i BirdWatching

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,…

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…

July 6-12 ABA Camp Colorado 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 ABA Camp Avocet Virden Retreat Center, Lewes, Delaware August 12-16 Tucson Bird and Wildlife Festival Tucson, Arizona August 15 Henderson Hummingbird Hurrah Henderson, Minnesota August 22 Wonder of Hummingbirds Festival Knoxville, Tennessee August 28-30 Mississippi River Nature Weekend Vicksburg, Mississippi August 28-30 Tanana Valley Sandhill Crane Festival Fairbanks, Alaska For additional information, including contact info, visit…

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…

Jim Williams’s trip to the Kenai Peninsula was as simple as it was productive. He consulted the excellent Kenai Wildlife Viewing Trail Guide, made arrangements through the Kenai Peninsula Tourism and Marketing Council, flew to Anchorage, rented a car at the airport, and went birding. The council website offers sample itineraries as well as information about guides, lodging, fishing charters, destinations, and events. KENAI PENINSULA TOURISM AND MARKETING COUNCIL 35571 Kenai Spur Highway, Soldotna, Alaska 99669 (907) 262-5229 www.kenaipeninsula.org/ 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 fl oat trips on the Kenai River, guided hikes in Kenai Wildlife…

SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA 2015 will be the final year of 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, and Audubon of Florida. The first 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.…

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. BIRDS More than 220 species. Wood Duck, Bluewinged Teal, Pied-billed Grebe, Green and Great Blue Herons, Sora, Sandhill Crane, Herring, Ring-billed, and Bonaparte’s Gulls, Caspian Tern, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied, Downy, and Hairy Woodpeckers, American Kestrel, Alder, Willow, Least, and Great Crested Flycatchers, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Kingbird, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireos, Northern Rough-winged, Tree, Bank, and Barn Swallows, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Yellow Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Claycolored, Chipping, Field, Savannah, and Song Sparrows, Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting. Unusual: Eared and Red-necked Grebes, Least Bittern, Short-eared Owl, White-eyed Vireo, Yellow-breasted Chat, Western Tanager. WHEN…

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. Fort Hill is the southern gateway to Cape Cod National Seashore. Visitors who don’t tour the Penniman House, the home of a 19th-century whaling family, or admire the 20-ton granite boulder on Skiff Hill that the Nauset likely used to sharpen harpoon heads, fishing hooks, and stone axes, can look for birds. Yellow Warblers and Willow Flycatchers nest in the dense vegetation along the path toward…

HABITAT Mixed upland forest, spoil islands, lakes, wet prairie, live oak/riparian woodlands. TERRAIN Mostly flat around Piney Z Lake. Fairly rugged and steep in the western portion. Most trails not wheelchair-accessible. BIRDS Year-round: Wood Duck, Wood Stork, Anhinga, herons, egrets, Osprey, Red-shouldered Hawk, Barred Owl, Forster’s Tern, Red-bellied and Pileated Woodpeckers, White-eyed Vireo, Fish Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Boat-tailed Grackle. Fall through spring: Ring-necked Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, Bald Eagle, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler. Spring and summer: Least Tern, Great Crested Flycatcher. Spring through fall: Purple Gallinule. Summer through winter: Belted Kingfisher. Rarities: Whitewinged Scoter, Limpkin, American Bittern, Brown Pelican, Bay-breasted Warbler. 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…

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…

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 evident. On a roadside where the snowplow had veered off the pavement, exposing bare earth, I spotted two American Woodcock probing…

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 nesting wherever they can find a spot, adults use their experience from past breeding seasons to decide where to nest. Jeffrey Hoover of the Illinois 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 different site to try. EGG DUMPING: The behavior known as conspecific brood parasitism, in which females lay eggs in nests of other members of their species, occurs…

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 mudflats serve migrating shorebirds 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 also prominent. About five percent of the global population of Rock Sandpiper can be found on narrow, crowded Homer Spit in winter.…

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. Wisconsin’s first atlas, conducted from 1995 to 2000, was the largest coordinated field effort in state ornithological history. Volunteers logged almost 69,000 hours in the field and 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 two decades since the first atlas kicked off. The ranges 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.…

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 ago, a small gray bird zipped across Illilouette Creek, just upstream from me. It bobbed up and down a few times on a moss-covered rock and then dove beneath the icecold waves. It was my first encounter with an American Dipper, and watching it hunt along the creek bottom inspired me to learn more about the funny little species. Over the years, I’ve visited…

HABITAT Open grasslands, kettle hole swamp, forest, and salt marsh. TERRAIN Easy to moderate trails; some log steps and tree roots to navigate. Boardwalk wheelchair-accessible from Hemenway entrance. BIRDS More than 260 species. Greater Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Plover, Great Egret, Great Blue 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, Common Eider, Green-winged Teal, Common 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: Mountain Bluebird, Painted Bunting. 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…

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. 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…

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 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.…

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…

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…

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…

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, and a unique gorge, and the property abuts the Ulao Waterfowl Production Area, so the chances of good birds are high. Well-maintained trails, including wheelchair-accessible gravel sections, lead through the area. The preserve’s namesake, Lion’s Den Gorge, is a coastal ravine sheltering a cedar and hardwood forest that supports a number of rare, mostly northern, relic plant species. Rainfall runoff and…

HABITAT Pine and oak woodlands, wet and dry meadows, river, streams, cliffs. TERRAIN Flat. Paved and well-maintained dirt trails. Wheelchair-accessible. BIRDS More than 250 species. Year-round: Bewick’s, Canyon, and Pacific Wrens, Northern Pygmy-Owl, Great Horned, Great Gray, and Northern 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 Oriole, Lesser Goldfinch, Violet-green Swallow. WHEN TO GO Year-round. 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…

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 two of us coming back all year long. We love the many bird species that we encounter each season. More than the name implies, the park encompasses 795 acres of wooded and aquatic habitats, and it offers an excellent multi-use trail system that connects to two neighboring parks. A paddling trail links two lakes, allowing close access to Wood Storks, herons,…

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 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…