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Winter Raptor Survey – East Cascades Audubon Society requests help

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The following email was forwarded to me with a request to post it here so people who may be available and interested to help will know of the need.  If this appeals to you please contact Jeff Fleischer directly.  Thanks.

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to inform interested folks about an opportunity to engage this winter in some meaningful citizen science survey work, mainly, to conduct raptor surveys for the East Cascades Audubon Society’s Winter Raptor Survey Project on routes throughout Washington and a small section of NE Oregon and western Idaho.  I am hoping that some of you will find this sort of effort interesting and want to get involved with the surveys this winter in your area 🙂

Specifically, here are the routes that are available (length in miles listed), they all have been surveyed in the past and I am hoping that we can continue collecting data on them :

LaCenter                              67 miles

Raymond – Holcomb            54

Winlock                                59

Castle Rock.                        53       

Moses Lake East                 60

Othello East                         73

Pullman SW                         64

Steptoe – Saint John.           82

LaCrosse                             74

Moscow North (ID)              87

Moscow South (ID)             59

Hermiston West (OR)         45

Pendleton (OR)                  98

Helix South (OR)                55

In addition, there are new routes available that have been created for our continuing expansion efforts in Washington.  They include:

Lakewood                            62

Sedro Woolley East             54

Sedro Woolley West            52

Sedro Woolley North           72

Coulee City                          83

Warden                                67

White Swan West                52

White Swan East                 73

Wapato                                67

Toppenish West                   79

Toppenish East                    54

Sunnyside North                  89

Sunnyside South                 43

Benton City NW                   69

Prosser North                      61

Prosser South                      92

Prosser West                       91

Grandview                           32

Tyler West                           79

For this project we ask our volunteers to commit to doing one survey each month for December, January and February.  Surveys can be conducted on a day of your choosing to fit with your own life schedule each month, hopefully you also have flexibility to conduct them when weather is not too crazy! :).  The months of November and March are also available but they are optional for this project, about 60% of all routes do get surveyed during November.   You should have confidence in your raptor ID skills, especially for Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels, Northern Harriers, Bald Eagles, and Rough-legged Hawks which combined account for around 92% of all birds counted in this project.  A pair of binoculars is a must to be able to see birds at a distance and if you happen to have a spotting scope those are very much encouraged. Some of these routes will necessitate  4WD or all wheel drive so that should be taken into consideration when you choose.  You should also bring a desire to thoroughly cover and search all available good raptor habitat, rushing through a survey just to get it done will invariably lead to missed birds.  

If this sounds like an activity that you would like to participate in this winter, you will be joining a group of 350 plus volunteers who last winter covered 452 routes covering more than 25,000 miles of transects each month throughout OR, ID, WA, and small parts of northern CA and UT and your assistance will be most welcome! :).  Please let me know which route you wish to take on (you might include a second and third choice if your first choice has been assigned), these will be filled on a first come first served basis.   I will provide you with the necessary information right away to get you prepared for what you will be doing.  It is a very active citizen science project that gives you an opportunity to engage with this wonderful family of birds and offering your help in helping us all to better understand their life histories :).  Hope to hear from some of you soon, thank you! 🙂

Jeff Fleischer
Project Coordinator
Winter Raptor Survey Project
East Cascades Audubon Society – Bend, OR  (project sponsor)

Monthly Bird Walk – Confluence State Park / Horan Natural Area 9/1/21

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It was wonderful to resume the long-term guided bird walk through the Walla Walla Point Park area and into the Horan Natural Area. This was the third trip to this area since the North Central Washington Audubon Society started offering activities after a long Covid shutdown. Ten people gathered at 07:30 at the Walla Walla Point Park parking area (free parking, bathrooms- thanks Chelan PUD). We discussed the current Covid-19 protocols and most people were comfortable being outdoors and maskless as long as we attempted to stay socially distant (not easy on a bird walk).

Back Row (L-R): Bob Doolittle, Sherry Doolittle, Craig Garver, Larry Tobiska, Mark Oswood, Jackson Wilson. Front Row (L-R): Halley Knifeton, Dianne McCammon, Merry Roy. Photo by Bruce McCammon

We set out on a cool (46 degrees F) walk to the end of the sand spit separating the swimming lagoon and the Columbia River. Being on the sand spit allows views of the Columbia River, the lagoon, and riparian shrubs/trees along the spit and south shore of the lagoon. Today, the birds were limited in number.

We examined the cottonwood trees and shrubs along the river bank as we moved from the sand spit area to views of the Columbia River bay area. I had previously scoped the bay to see if any of the recently reported sandpipers were there. I saw one in the distance and consulted with another birder who I encountered. We were not confident in our ID but believed that it was a Pectoral Sandpiper. Another expert birder, Joe Veverka, told me that he, too, had seen what he thought was a Pectoral Sandpiper there that morning. Still, without confirmation, I left the bird out of our eBird checklist.

As we started to head to the Horan area our youngest group member, Halley Knifeton, spotted a Great Egret that had just flown into the bay. We all got good looks at the bird. It soon flew off into the trees to the north when a Great Blue Heron came in and assumed possession of the bay. Great job finding the egret for us, Halley. Thanks.

The Horan loop trail offers a lot of varied habitats as you walk the short loop. Trip leaders need to keep an eye on the clock to stay within the advertised time for the trip. When we reached the edge of the cottonwood gallery along the Columbia River we were treated to a VERY birdy setting. Western Wood-pewees were in abundance and gave us several great looks. We reluctantly left the area after about twenty minutes of watching a great variety of species.

Since we are never far from the cars, this bird walk allows people to leave early if they have other commitments. A couple of our group left us and the rest of us continued on. A few people in our group had the newest version of the Cornell Lab’s Merlin app on their smartphones. This version allows you to make an on-site recording of birds you hear. The app diagnoses the calls using the sound library at Cornell and gives you real-time identification. It seems to be remarkably capable of filtering out background noise and finding faint bird calls. It’s another good tool for anyone trying to learn birds and their calls.

We returned to our cars about fifteen minutes past the advertised ending time. I take that as a good sign that the participants were enjoying the beautiful morning and each other. I sure did.

The species we saw include:

Canada Goose
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Common Merganser
Ring-necked Pheasant (H)
Mourning Dove
Anna’s Hummingbird
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-pewee
Warbling Vireo
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Violet-green Swallow
Barn Swallow
European Starling
Gray Catbird
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
House Finch
Purple Finch
American Goldfinch
Brown-headed Cowbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Western Tanager


Methow Valley Bird Banding 2021 – End of Year Report

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The 2021 MAPS banding season came to an abrupt end shortly after the July 15th banding session. Two wildfires in the area, Cedar Creek and Cub Creek 2, were growing in size and producing a lot of unhealthy smoke. Given the uncertainty of the situation, I made the difficult decision to cancel the last two banding sessions and dismantle the station. Thankfully the Cedar Creek Fire never reached the MAPS station. The firefighters have done an amazing job protecting structures and containing both fires. The map below shows the boundaries of the Cedar Creek and Cub Creek 2 fires in relation to the banding station as of August 11th.

Cedar Creek and Cub Creek 2 Fires, 11 August 2021. Map by Southwest Area Incident Management Team 2.

Most juvenile birds are captured during the last two MAPS sessions near the end of the breeding season. Identifying juveniles can be tricky, because many species look much different as juveniles than adults. Since we missed out on seeing a lot of juveniles this year, I thought I’d share a few pictures to illustrate some of the differences. (The juvenile descriptions are from Identification Guide to North American Birds, Part 1 by Peter Pyle https://www.birdpop.org/pages/moltAndPlumage.php.)

A juvenile Spotted Towhee has buffy-brown, streaked body plumage and a grayish-brown iris. The iris will gradually become red as the bird matures. Photos by Julie Hovis.
The Red-eyed Vireo is another species that has a grayish-brown iris as a juvenile. Photos by Julie Hovis.
Juvenile American Redstarts have brownish upperparts, grayish underparts, and two yellowish wing bars. Male American Redstarts do not obtain their distinctive black and orange plumage until they are two years old. Photos by Julie Hovis.
Juvenile Song Sparrows are drabber and buffier than adults with diffuse streaking on the face and underparts. They also have less distinctive facial and crown stripes and lack the rusty tones to the crown and back. Photos by Julie Hovis.

For reasons that are not easily explained, fewer birds were captured in 2021 than in previous years. At the end of the fifth (and final) banding session, we only had captured 61 birds. Even if the last two sessions had been conducted, it would have been almost impossible to reach the numbers captured in 2019 or 2020. Perhaps the low numbers are related to the die-off that happened in the southwestern U.S. last year during fall migration (https://www.audubon.org/news/study-starvation-and-freak-snow-storm-caused-southwests-mass-bird-die). It will be interesting to see how many birds find their way into the nets next season.

Methow Valley MAPS Banding Station Results, 2019-2021. Recaptured Previously Banded (R) includes same day recaptures, same year recaptures, and recaptures of birds banded in previous years. Unbanded (U) includes birds that escaped before they were banded and hummingbirds (which I am not authorized to band). Brown-headed Cowbird was the only new species captured in 2021.

Focusing in on eBird

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There is little question that eBird, an online database of crowd-sourced bird observations, provides a remarkable resource to find birds of interest in a certain area or at a given time. Ordinary people, like me, use the eBird data to scout recently seen species in areas that I plan to visit. Researchers use the data to investigate relationships between bird abundance and climate change or seasonal weather patterns. Recently, eBird data has been fundamental in defining migration patterns for a number of bird species, and, unfortunately, the decline in bird species numbers.

Started in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, eBird has matured into a worldwide database.  As of December 2019, more than 500,000 eBirders (people who submit to eBird) have contributed over 737 million bird observations to the database. eBird is known as the world’s largest biodiversity-related community science project. If you are an eBirder, thanks for your contributions.  If you aren’t currently using eBird to record your bird observations, you might consider setting up a free account at the Cornell Lab website so you can begin to track your observations and add them to the global database.  You can enter data online or through a mobile device. There are even data entry kiosks at a few well-known birding areas. 

Being a bit of a data geek, I was curious about the bird observations that have been entered into eBird from the NCWAS four-county area (Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, and Okanogan). I applied to Cornell for access and was quickly granted permission to download all the data from our area. After I stored the data files on my computer, I began exploring.  Some of my initial observations are provided below.

  • There are 1,133,171 individual bird observations in the combined datasets.  The datasets include hybrid species (e.g., Coopers/Sharp-shinned) and generic designations (e.g., Accipter sp.). 
  • People have entered observations that were made prior to 2002 when eBird was created. The Chelan County data contains a few records as early as 1900. In general, though, the data records begin between 1967-69 for all four counties. 
  • There are gaps in the annual records of some of the datasets.
  • eBirder names are anonymous.  Each observer has a unique Observer ID.
  • There are 5,512 unique eBirder Observer ID’s in the database for the NCWAS four-county area. Since many people bird in more than one of the four counties, there is considerable overlap of Observer ID’s between counties.  Given that, there are 2,223 unique observers listed in the Chelan County data, 1,064 are listed in Douglas County data, 378 are listed in Ferry County data, and 1,847 are listed in Okanogan County data.  While the number of birders is a small percentage of each county’s population, there are a lot of people out looking at and counting birds.
  • 791 people entered bird observations from the four-county area into eBird in 2020.  So far in 2021, 673 observers have entered data.
  • 270 species are documented in 2020.  That is about 52 percent of the 520 species listed by the Washington Ornithological Society for Washington State. 2021 already has 260 species recorded within the four-county area.
  • The most commonly entered species in 2020 was the American Robin.  The species that were entered only one time include: American Bittern, Ferruginous Hawk, Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull, Indigo Bunting, Ross’s Goose, Swamp Sparrow, and Willet. One might think that a single observation of a species could be an error or a prank. It is important to know that eBird uses local authorities to review data that is submitted to the database. If a reviewer thinks that an entry is suspicious or mis-coded, they will challenge the observer to provide additional support for the observation.
  • In 2020, one observer saw 223 species in the NCWAS four-county area. In that same year, 76 people saw and entered 100 or more species.

One question I had about the NCWAS area eBird data is “how many unique species are seen and documented in our area each year?”  I also wanted to see if the data showed the relative abundance of species observed each month of each year.

I analyzed the 2020 and 2021 datasets. The 2021 data includes January to early June. Complete lists of species seen, by month, in 2020 and the first half of 2021 can be found on the NCWAS website. The alphabetically arranged 2020 table is here, and the 2021 table can be seen by clicking here.

One page of the table of species recorded in 2020

You can view, download, or print the information, organized by taxonomic Family. Start by clicking here.

One of my motivations for analyzing and presenting the eBird data from our area is to encourage people to make use of eBird. I’ve learned about how the data is used to help understand our birds and what affects them. I’d like to help with the scientific understanding of the population diversity and dynamics of the bird species in our area. I think it would be great if you would join the crowd-sourcing effort by entering your bird observations into eBird.  You can start by going to www.ebird.org to create an account.  It’s free.  Any observations you enter will contribute to the global database. Each observation is important to a greater understanding of our birds.

Methow Valley Bird Banding Update – 12 July 2021

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Beginner Bird Banding Class, June 2021. Photo by Jackie Hovis.

The 2021 Methow Valley banding season has been very busy.  It started in early June when I hosted a five-day beginner bird banding class.  The class was supported by NCWAS and taught by Danielle Kaschube.  Danielle works for the Institute for Bird Populations and coordinates their MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding program.  (You can learn more about the MAPS program by visiting the Institute for Bird Populations’ web site.)

Morning banding session. Photo by Julie Hovis

The class was fast-paced and covered a lot of material, which made for some very long days! Starting at sunrise the students spent several hours mist netting and banding captured birds. Skills taught during the morning banding sessions included the operation of mist nets and safe extraction of birds, bird-handling skills, and in-hand ageing and sexing techniques. In the afternoon they attended classroom lectures where the topics of banding ethics, the permitting process, and avian plumages and molt strategies were discussed. By all accounts the class was a success.  Everyone (including me!) learned a lot, and the students have been applying what they learned by volunteering at my MAPS station.

Learning to band and process birds. Photo by Julie Hovis.

To date, four of the seven required MAPS sessions have been completed and 54 birds representing 21 different species have been captured.  One of the goals of the MAPS program is to determine survival rates, so it is both exciting and informative when we recapture a bird that was banded in a previous year. So far this year we have recaptured five birds originally banded in 2019 (the year the station was started): one Warbling Vireo, two Swainson’s Thrush, one MacGillivray’s Warbler, and one Yellow Warbler.

Swainson’s Thrush photo by Jackie Hovis. All other photos by Julie Hovis.

All of these birds are Neotropical migrants. I can’t say exactly where they migrated to each winter, but range maps and e-Bird records show their nonbreeding ranges include Central America. Hypothetically speaking, if they migrated as far south as Costa Rica, these birds have made the one-way trip of ±3,600 miles between their winter and breeding grounds at least five times. That is beyond amazing!

Mountain Home Bird Field Trip – 20 June 2021

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By Richard Scranton

On Sunday, June 20th, Mark Johnston and I led a birding field trip to Mountain Home Preserve near Leavenworth. We had one hearty soul join us as we trekked the mostly flat 3-mile trail. 

This bird hike is one of my favorites as there are 3 distinct habitats: dry forest, a wetland area, and open hillsides. The landscape is continually changing and with it the fauna and flora, making each stop along the way a place for discovery.  Each habitat tends to attract different sets of birds thus increasing the number of species encountered. For example, we had Western Tanagers and Cassin’s Vireo in the dry forest, Yellow Warbler and Willow’s Flycatcher in the wetland area, and Lazuli Bunting and Olive-sided Flycatcher on the open hillside.

The highlight of the trip was encountering both Ruffed and Dusky grouse. About a mile into our trip, we heard the male Ruffed Grouse’s display which is caused by beating the air with its wings which creates a drumming sound that increases rapidly in tempo. We inadvertently flushed 4 young that were hunkered down next to the trail. Further up the trail in a dry wooded spot, we heard the Dusky male gives a series of deep hoots, the soundless vibrant and softer than the Ruffed.

Overall, we saw or heard 35 species of birds while enjoying a pleasant 4-hour walk.

June 2021 Big Count results

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Below is a brief note that Joe Veverka sent to the leaders of the individual teams that participated in the 2021 Big Day Bird Count in our four-county area. Thanks for compiling all the data Joe.

Thanks for participating in the NCWAS Annual Big Count!  Despite incredible wind speeds we found a lot of birds.  I only birded until about 2pm vs my 10pm end time on the previous Big Count.  Attached is the complete species list of the count.  We identified and counted a total of 8972 birds of 172 species in our 4-County area and submitted a total of 127 complete checklists!  Okanogan Co. found 152 species captured with 52 checklists followed by Chelan Co. with 136 species and 53 checklists.  Douglas Co. was a distant 3rd counting 103 species and submitting 22 checklists.  Ferry Co……0 species and 0 checklists.  I predict in 2022 Ferry Co will win most improved! 

 

I hope you will join us again next year as we evolve and refine “The Big Count”!

Thanks! and Happy Birding!

Joe

You can see the composite species list by clicking here. Looks like a great day filled with a wonderful variety of birds.

5 Legislative Successes

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2021 was a big year for state-level conservation and climate policy. Thanks to the support of Audubon Washington and Local Audubon Chapters across the state, the bills listed below are now law.

  • Clean Fuel Standard (HB 1091)
  • Cap and Invest program (SB 5126)
  • HEAL Act (SB 5141)
  • Updating Washington’s shoreline armoring policy (SB 5273)
  • Funding for post-fire sagebrush recovery, smart solar siting in the Columbia Plateau, and a near record-setting state conservation budget 

How did we do it in a pandemic while everyone is working from home? Audubon’s statewide network wrote to key legislators, signed and shared Action Alerts, and met with legislators to support these policies.    While seeing the above bills enacted into law was a huge lift that Audubon members can and should be proud of, we must continue our work to advance the ball for the environment.  Bottom line, what’s good for the environment is good for birds.  So our work is not done, in fact we never will be, and NCWAS will remain involved.

submitted by Mark Johnston 060121

Twisp Area Hot Spots – Trip Report 5/29/21

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Prepared by Mark Johnston, NCWAS

With Covid restrictions winding down, North Central Washington Audubon Society is again offering field trips.  And the timing is just right to enjoy our neotropical migrants’ arrival and breeding season in our area.

Our first trip this season, “Twisp Area Hotspots”  took place on May 29th.  10 of us headed out early, visiting riparian, dry forest, wetlands, and other varied habitats.  We finished the day having found 68 species!  Highlights included Great Horned and Western Screech Owl (the Screech owl vocalizing at 11 am no less), Sora, Virginia Rail, 2 Golden Eagles, and more (full trip list attached).  All in all, a great day in the field.

Mallard
Barrow’s Goldeneye
Common Merganser
California Quail
Chukar
Ruffed Grouse
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Calliope Hummingbird
Virginia Rail
Sora
American Coot
Spotted Sandpiper
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Golden Eagle
Western Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Lewis’s Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Hammond’s Flycatcher
Say’s Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Cassin’s Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Steller’s Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven

Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
N. Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
American Dipper
Veery
American Robin
European Starling
Cassin’s Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Yellow-breasted Chat
Western Meadowlark
Bullock’s Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
MacGillivray’s Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Western Tanager
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting