Poised for Flight

400 but really 585

2010-05-08T07:41:00.000-07:00

It has been a fabulous spring here in the beautiful Shenandoah Mountains. Now approaching mid May migration is in full swing. I have been getting out birding every chance that I get. On May 4th I was delighted to find my 400th bird species of the year. A Cape May Warbler that was singing in the treetops at Ragged Mountain Natural Area in Charlottesville, VA. I did a bit more research curious at how many birds I had seen in the last 12 months from May 4th to May 4th. I was astonished to realise that I have seen 585 species since May 4th 2009 including my California and Costa Rica banding stints each several months long. So I will list by 20 favorite birds seen in the past year in no particular order to celebrate the past year of birding.

1. Pink-footed Shearwater spotted through the fog offshore of Crescent City, CA.

2. Boat-billed Heron - A small group found at the lagoon in Carara National Park in Costa Rica. This bird had started to become a nemesis bird for me, not particularly difficult to see but one I just kept missing. Plus it is just so weird looking.

3. Green Ibis - found while kayaking in Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica. Ibises are just so cool, especially when they are green.

4. Great Green Macaw - Only 200 - 1000 pairs are estimated to remain in the wild and I will never forget seeing a pair dive and bank into the sunlight screaming over the meandering canals of Tortuguero National Park.

5. Spotted Owl - Although never actually seen, this highly endangered species often sang me to sleep in my tent in the mountains of Northern California

6. Black Swift - These specialists can usually only be found near waterfalls where they will build their nests behind the falling water for protection from predators. Masters of flight, watching these larde swifts forage for insects over a misty waterfall pool is one of my birding highlights of the year. Seen at Burney Falls near Burney CA, and at Catarata Las Fortunas in Costa Rica.

7. Coppery-headed Emerald - While there are certainly species of hummingbird more beautiful and with more showy names such as the Violet-Sabrewing or the Fiery-throated Hummingbird, this species is unique in that it is endemic to only the cloud forests of Costa Rica. Seeing them at the Monte Verde Cloud Forest Reserve was a special treat.

8. Royal Flycatcher - What can I say about this bird. Just look at it. It's amazing. We caught this bird and banded it at Cano Palma Research Station located in the Barro Colorado Reserve in Northeastern Costa Rica. Only the 3rd record of this species in 20 years.

9. Red-capped Manakin - Quite possibly the coolest bird in the world. It's stunning red cap and bright neon yellow thighs are amazing enough but when you look at the moonwalk dance that this bird does to attract females you have to agree that this bird is amazing.

10. Northern Shrike - Searching for this bird with my good friends Dan Haas and Warren Strobel in Queens Anne County, MD was a very enjoyable birding experience. Seeing it just as we were about to call it a day and after searching in vain for the large dinosaur like Sandhill Crane made it even more enjoyable

11. Song Wren - This bird may have the beautiful song that I have ever heard - frequently heard singing in Cano Palma, Costa Rica but only captured once.

12. Varied Thrush - of the 19 species of Thrush I have seen in the past year this bird is my favorite. It's plumage is stunning and it's eerie, creepy space alien song that sifts through the Redwoods from all directions is a defining sound of Pacific Northwest forests.

13. Hermit Warbler - Of all the wood warblers I think that this is the most beautiful. This was a commonly captured bird in N. California and it was always a treat to find one in the nets.

14. Mourning Warbler - For some strange reason this bird showed up 5 feet from my door on April 24th of this year. The earliest record in VA by 6 days and the earliest in the piedmont by 2 weeks. I credit this bird with getting me out of my non photo taking funk that I had fallen into.

15. Red-legged Honeycreeper - One of those birds that you just have to google and see the picture to see why it is on this list. At Manuel Antonio National Park, CR.

16. Evening Grosbeak - This bird, apart from being very beautiful is becoming increasingly rare. One banding station in Lassen National Forest is California always had them and their distinctive flight calls always alerted to me their presence often atop a strand of conifers nearby.

17. Bicolored Antbird - Since these birds occur in only tropical and subtropical regions, it was interesting to see many different representations of the family in Costa Rica. Named antbirds because they follow army ant swarms and eat the insects that are trying to escape the ant swarm.
Early ornithologists didn't know what to call them so they just named them after things they looked like hence, antwren, antshrike and antvireo. Not all these birds follow swarms, but the bicolored antbird is an obligate follower of ant swarms. Often birds will follow the same swarm their whole lives. Finding an army ant swarm is a highlight for anyone birding in the neotropics.

18. Red-Necked Phalarope - This bird was a highlight for me because of the exceptional photo shoot I was able to get of a very tolerant bird found in the Arcata Marsh in CA.

19. American Pygmy Kingfisher - A kingfisher the size of a warbler. What could be cooler than that? Seen on numerous occasions on the east coast of Costa Rica.

20. Marbled Murrelet - The life history of this bird is insane. A seabird that flies inland as far as 50 miles to nest in old growth Redwood, of Douglas Fir forests in the Pacific Northwest. After a one month incubation period it is then fed by the parents for 40 days before fledging. The parents must constantly return to the sea for food and their flight calls can be heard early in the morning as they are returning from the sea to the nest. I was lucky to participated on several surveys offshore Northern California this past summer.

Some recent pics:

Indigo Bunting at Secluded Farm outside Charlottesville, VA

Bobolink at Old Trail - Crozet, VA

Prairie Warbler in Crozet, VA

Mourning Warbler outside my front door in Charlottesville, VA. New early date for VA

2010-03-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

I arrived back in Virginia this week after spending 2 and a half months in Costa Rica. I finished with 287 birds (not 300 as I planned because of last minute scheduling change). But that's Ok. I saw lots of cool birds, and other things as well. Such as this Red-eyed Tree Frog (Agalychnis callidryas) Notice how when it is sleeping it hides its brilliant colors very well in an attempt to avoid predation, but once awakened looks like a totally different animal. It must work very well since despite being fairly common, this is the only one I saw.

Another interesting thing I saw only once was this strange looking, but beautiful mushroom. The bizarre looking fruiting body is only around for a few days and smells like rotting flesh in order to attract flies that will carry away the spores.

Here is yet another eyelash viper found in Tortuguero National Park. This is the brown phase which much less easily seen that the yellow phase I had seen earlier. It was only 10 feet away from our banding station and we worked nearly the whole day before guide pointed it out to a group of tourists who were passing by the banding station. Scary but beautiful.

One of the most amazing things I visited in Costa Rica was the Hummingbird Feeder Garden just outside the gates of the famed Monte Verde Cloud Forest Reserve. There are numerous feeders up and the entire garden is buzzing with hummingbirds of all kinds. I counted 13 species in the 20 minutes that I was there but I overheard a guide saying that over 30 species have been seen at the garden. I managed to snap a few pictures while I was there.

(above 2) Purple-throated Mountain Gem - male and female

A Magenta-throated Woodstar hovers while a Coppery-headed Emerald feeds.

My personal favorite, the Violet Sabrewing

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A Green Violetear feeds while a Stripe-tailed Hummingbird come in for a landing.

Imposter!!! A Bananaquit pretends to be a hummingbird. I am not fooled.

(Above 3) Scenic shots from Manuel Antonio National Park on the Pacific. This park is home to some endemic Costa Rican birds such as Fiery-billed Aracari.

The last bird I banded, a male Chestnut backed Antbird at Cano Palma in Barro Colorado Reserve, Costa Rica.

2010-03-13T16:24:00.000-08:00

So my short banding stint has finished in Tortugero. All in all it was great. I got to band lots of cool birds, and hang out on the beach for seven weeks. I leave behind the tremendous staff at CCC who work so hard to make the research center successful. I also leave behind the turtle researchers and incoming bird banders. It is such a treat to be able to work with other biologists from around the globe. Special thanks to Ivan the boat captain for graciously waking at the crack of dawn to drive us through the canals (and leave us isolated in the pouring rain), Juanita for cooking wonderful Costa Rica fare (beans and rice) and Javier for overseeing the lodge. I finished in Tortuguero having seen 153 bird species including the rare WHITE-CROWNED PIGEON and beauties such as ROYAL FLYCATCHER, GREAT GREEN MACAW & GREEN IBIS. I am now on a mad dash throughout the country to try and see 300 species before I leave. I am currently at 249 and have a full day of birding Manuel Antonio National Park tomorrow where I hope to find some south Pacific endemics. I have seen over 100 life birds in the past week including remarkable species such as RESPLENDENT QUETZAL, 3 WATTLED BELLBIRD, EMERALD TOUCANET, SCARLET THIGHED DACNIS, AND BLUE LEGGED HONEY CREEPER as well as 13 species of humming bird including the endemics FIERY THROATED HUMMINGBIRD and COPPERY HEADED EMERALD. I hope to continue this pace throughout my visit. Costa Rica is truly an astounding place with so many beautiful birds that words cannot describe. Since I have shelved my camera in order to focus more on finding birds I will have to leave you to google any birds I mention (which I suggest you do).

My travels took me up through the central valley to Arenal Volcano National Park to look for some middle altitude species on the Carribean side of the Continental Divide. The park and surrounding areas are amazing and I found many interesting species such as NICARAGUAN SEEDFINCH, whose massive beak is bigger than it's head, and the stunningly beautiful GREEN HONEYCREEPER as well as a BLACK SWIFT that flew to a perch behind a waterfall.

I then headed out through the valley across Lake Arenal and up to Monte Verde, the world renowned cloud forests. Here I had the most amazing day of birding I have ever had. I was able to log 27 lifers in the park. The mountain is uniquely situated on the continental divide and offers chances to see middle altitude species as well as those from both sides of the divide. It is also home to the stunning RESLENDENT QUETZAL of which I was able to find 4 in the day and countless species of hummingbird. I found 13 hummers in the park in one day. The following day I headed out to the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. Located slightly higher in altitude the park boasts slightly different bird fauna than Monte Verde. Here I was able to find the stunning EMERALD TOUCANET as well as Costa Rica's 2 resident Redstart species - COLLARED REDSTART, & SLATE-THROATED REDSTART. I was able to add 9 more lifers to my list before the day was done including an 8KM walk back to town to tick off a few new grassland species most notably OLIVE-CROWNED YELLOWTHROAT, a long overdue bird.

Back to Monteverde and 8 hours on 3 buses brought me to Manuel Antonio where I ticked of 3 new species near the hotel. Tomorrow I will spend the day in the park before heading to Carara National Park, about 75 KM north along the coast. This is Costa Rica's premier birding spot. It is located in a transition zone between the southern humid rainforests and the northern dry forests. As a result species from both wet and dry zones are possible. I will finish my trip off banding for 3 days with Chespi, the Partners in Flight Costa Rica Representative in the higlands at over 2500 Meters. Here I hope to find highland specialties such as SOOTY ROBIN, VOLCANO JUNCO, VOLCANO HUMMINGBIRD, & TIMBERLINE WREN in my quest for 300 Costa Rican species. Wish me luck!!!!

Beautiful Birds

2010-02-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

So, I could talk about rain in all of my blogs. I could talk about the 11.7 inches that fell in 18 hours flooding half the town. (It is hard for this place to flood badly mainly because it is already flooded). I could talk about the 3 mile walk home from the airport banding site along the beach in drenching downpours, strong Carribean winds, amongst lightning bolts and falling coconuts; but I am not going to talk about rain. Instead I am going to talk about cool birds. Like this Royal Flycatcher that we caught at Cano Palmas Tropical Research Center. This amazing bird rarely displays its spectacular crest unless courting or agitated. Banding sessions are a great way to see the crest because the bird leaves it open constantly in defense. This bird is rare in the Carribbean, but has been caught in the past by the banding teams here. Last one was in 2008. This is a bird that I actually banded in Peru in 2004 and depending on some sources they list it as a different species meaning that I have banded 2 different species of Royal Flycatchers!

Another amazing bird that I am going to talk about is this Red-capped Manakin. Like the white collared manakin that we catch very frequently and other manakins, the males preform spectacular courtship dances in hopes of wooing an available female. This bird's dance is so elaborate it has earned the nickname the "moonwalking bird" because of its slide dance that it preforms. MOONWALK VIDEO

We also band hummingbirds. Here in Costa Rica there is an astounding diversity of hummingbirds. My guide book lists 57 species! Compared to the one species on the east coast of the US the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (which incidently is a winter resident in Costa Rica) the skies are filled with tiny flying jewels. We have captured 6 species. This bird, the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird is our most frequently captured hummer.

The bands we use are very very tiny. They come in a pre printed sheet of aluminium which we then cut out, trim, shape, sand, and polish so that they are safe for the birds. This bird we captured early in the season, a Long-billed Hermit (below), was already banded. Since no banding has occured since last winter, we know that this bird has survived here for at least a year. Pretty impressive given the numbers of hawks, kites, falcons, lizards, snakes, and other predators that would love to eat one of these.

Another Long-billed Hermit (below 2). This beautiful bird is large for a hummingbird, topping the scales at about 6 grams compared with the Ruby-throated Hummingbird at about 4 grams. In the extremes, Bee Hummingbirds of Cuba weigh only 2.2 grams while the largest hummingbird in the world, the Giant Hummingbird of South America, can weigh 20 grams (think song sparrow size).

Notes from the field:

Get ready all you northerners. (Which from here includes just about everyone). Migration is starting down here. Shorebirds are increasing in number especially Sanderlings which have arrived by the hundreds compared with the small numbers seen this winter. I heard a Yellow-throated Vireo, and winter resident here that is normally silent, sing its full song. We have also seen an increase in the number of new bands applied to Prothonotary Warblers. (We have been just catching the same 9 or 10 individuals over and over again but today we applied 3 new bands). Five times a day we conduct migration counts from the beach and note all birds moving north. As you can imaging this was pretty boring during the winter when we only occasionally saw Magnificent Frigatebirds, or Common Black Hawks that were probably just foraging rather than migrating. Things have changed. Purple Martins and Barn Swallows are now migrating in huge numbers with our counts reaching into the hundreds for the day. Cliff Swallows and bank Swallows are also on their way in lesser numbers. It is very interesting to see how migration begins. While the resident Mangrove Swallows and Gray-chested Martins continue their normal feeding, migratory swallows take on a whole new task. The impressive feat of migrating thousands of miles north to take advantage of the available food sources that come with spring in the US and Canada. Lets hope they make it. While Costa Rica is losing birds to northern forests for the summer, some birds also come here from South America. Yesterday, I spotted 2 Yellow-green Vireos just outside the banding station which surely have just arrived from wintering further south.

The Spectacular Blue-gray Tanager (above)

Mangrove Cuckoo

Black-cowled Oriole (note that one individual is banded, not me!)

It's a Jungle Out There

2010-02-14T10:32:00.000-08:00

First off, Happy Valentine's day Eliza. I am missing you loads and can't wait till I see you again.

This past Friday afternoon while I was out checking the nets, my banding partner went to check on some bird commotion that was occuring in a tree nearby the banding station. To our surprise, we observed a Green Parrot Snake (Oxybelis fulgidus) that had caught a black-cheeked Woodpecker and was attempting to kill it with its venom. This snake is a specialist in eating small lizards and occasionally insects, birds, and small mammals such as mice. The Black-cheeked Woodpecker, extremely abundant in the Caribbean lowlands, seemed to be a very sizable prey for the snake whose neck seemed to have one tenth the girth of the medium sized woodpecker. (Similar in size to Red-bellied for those of you familiar with Eastern U.S. avifauna). It was quite an impressive feat to watch this small snake subdue the woodpecker and swallow it whole before retreating to a resting place out of site in the canopy of the tree. Numerous other birds such as yellow warbler, and Boat-billed Flycatcher participated in mobbing the snake and scolding it although they seemed to loose interest once the bird was diseased. Even though the bird was dead within 30 minutes, the whole ordeal took nearly 4 hours as the snake attempted to swallow it's prized catch. This is a snake I have handled in Peru, and if my memory serves me correctly it was quite feisty, and willing to bite, although the toxin is not harmful to humans barring an allergic reaction. What a beautiful snake. What an unfortunate woodpecker. I am happy to report that there still seems to be plenty of Blacked-cheeked Woodpeckers singing in the area.

A Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) participates in mobbing the offending snake.

In other news, I was fortunate to be able to take the company kayak deep into the park and explore the extensive canal system. After an hour paddling against the flow I reached Harold Canal (formerly Death Canal, of which I was pleased that this former name had been dropped). This is one of the best wildlife experiences I have ever had. The canals are narrow, 20 feet across, giving the whole scene a surreal jungle book experience. The wildlife is top notch, with all 3 species of monkey, as well as sloths, very easy to observe. River otters are also abundant and I saw 4 including one who was happily gnawing on a fish unaware of my presence. The birdlife is some of the best I have ever witnessed. It will take me many more trips here to figure out what all the birds singing in the canopy are but notable life birds I saw include BLUE DACNIS, GREEN IBIS, SUNGREBE, GREAT CURRASOW, and the hightlight - GREAT GREEN MACAW, the seventh species of macaw I have seen in the wild and 22nd species of Psittacidae (the family that consists of parrots, parakeets, and macaws). The pair of Great Green Macaws, a species I was really hoping to see, flew right overhead after announcing their presence with a great raspy scream. They then banked towards the water surface and sharply to the left offering me detailed binocular views of their magnificient plumage before disappearing through the light drizzle into the hidden canopy in search of fruiting trees.

One of the neat things about banding is it gives us the opportunity to catch difficult to see ground foraging birds such as wrens and sparrows. Several times I have checked the nets only to find a bird I had not previously detected despite conducting intensive area searches. I am quickly learning to appreciate wrens of the family Troglodytidae for the unique challenge they offer in locating, their beautiful and complex songs and skulking behavior. As their scientific name implies (Trogodytidae = cave dweller) the often choose to forage in dark crevices and are small and hidden except for their complex songs. Having spent a month in Costa Rica, I have now seen 4 species including the super abundant migratory House Wren which most are probably familiar with. These wrens prove to be quite unlike the Carolina Wren that I am used to from the states in that they are very secretive and not often spotted. In fact of the 4 species, I have only seen 3 because the wound up in the mist net.

Above and below: Bay Wren (Thryothorus nigricapillus)

Below: White-breated Wood Wren (Henicorhina leucosticta)

Above and below: Song Wren (Cyphorhinus phaeocephalus)

A very interesting bird that we caught this week, and one of my favorites in Costa Rica, is the American Pygmy Kingfisher. This small kingfisher has all the traits of a kingfisher except that it weighs only 18 grams, roughly the size of a Prothonotary Warbler or a Song Sparrow. They occur in thick forest along streams and canals with dense vegetation such as mangroves searching for fish and tadpoles, and occasionally insects. This particular individual we captured flew into the net right next to me as I was extracting a large spiny stick that had become entangled in the net (yes we have to take out insects as well - weevils, dragonflies, grasshoppers, massively large stinging wasps and bees).

American Pygmy Kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea) - the lack of a green breast band makes this a male bird.

We aged this bird SY (second year) due to the presence of a block of 3 older retained primaries. Visible in the bottom picture as the 7th, 8th, and 9th primary in from the tip.

A couple days later, we captured 2 more American Pygmy Kingfishers including this bird which had a strange deformed bill shaped much like it was a crossbill eating pine cone seeds rather than a kingfisher eating fish. It appeared to be an older bird due to its plumage details and we aged it at least AHY (after hatch year) since it had a fully ossified skull indicating that it is able to successfully hunt with its deformed bill.

Willets (Tringa semipalmata)on their wintering grounds

Tropical Kingbirds (Tyrannus melancholicus) Tortuguero, Costa Rica

Rain

2010-02-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

This week was a soggy one. Tortuguero, Costa Rica, with an excess of 6000mm (19.7feet) a year, is one of the rainiest places on the planet and the rainiest in Costa Rica. The pattern seems to be that we get a late night storm, followed by and early dawn one. The next one usually comes after we have been dropped off from the boat into the middle of nowhere with no shelter to open the nets leaving us entirely soaked for the rest of the day. Banding during these days can be tough as we must close the nets when rain starts. With 15-20 nets and some of them with birds to be untangled, this can be a tricky maneuver. Luckily, tropical birds seem to be less affected by the rain than the northern species and certainly the risk of hypothermia is drastically reduced. Still we aim to have the nets emptied and closed when a storm comes in only to reopen them one hour to get rained on all over again. The incredibly high rainfall contributes to the amazing amount of diversity that can be found in Tortuguero such as this male Emerald Basilisk (Basiliscus plumifrons).

This along with Costa Rica's 2 other basilisk species are collectively know as the Jesus Christ Lizards because of their ability to walk on water when frightened. Another reptile found in Tortuguero is the Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus).

Caimen like to hide in the shore vegetation waiting for some passing, unsuspecting prey...

Possible this beautiful migrant Yellow-Crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) will fall victim to the waiting Caiman

Or this locally common Northern Jacana (Jacana spinosa).

Or maybe this Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga).

Despite the rainy days that we encountered we still managed to catch a lot of cool birds. The highlight was catching 3 new birds including one lifer, the beautiful BAY WREN, a new migrant for me in Costa Rica a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, and the hard biting painful to handle BUFF-THROATED SALTATOR who let me know what he felt about his new band applied gently to his right leg. These were all captured at the Airport site, a 45 minute walk or 10 minute boat ride to the north after a morning of heavy rainfall.

Bay Wren (Thryothorus nigricapillus) captured in highly disturbed secondary forest near Tortuguero, Costa Rica

Northern Waterthrush (Seiurus noveboracensis), a Neotropical migrant which breeds in northern U.S. and Canada captured on its wintering grounds near Tortuguero.

Buff-throated Saltator (Saltator maximus), a relative of the Northern Cardinal near Tortuguero, Costa Rica.

Common Tody Flycatcher (Todirostrum cinereum) a commonly captured bird in Tortuguero. This is one of the smallest flycatchers I have ever seen, similar in size to a kinglet.

I just wanted to quickly revisit last week's post in which I talked of determining the sex of Prothonotary Warblers based on the amount of white in the under tail feathers as per Peter Pyle's Identification Guide to North American Birds used by banders. I didn't have a good photo of the male, but I got lucky this week and caught one. Notice how the male shows extensive white in all tail feathers whereas the female lacks white in some of the tail feathers.

These are some of the things that banders use to determine age and sex of birds in the hand. Some characteristics are obvious and easy to see such as white feathers in the tail whereas others are more subtle and take much more practice and experience such as recognizing molt limits or determining age based on feather wear. I learn a bit more with each bird I handle and have learned much from the various other banders I have worked with.

Finally, there have been several reports of a boa being seen at night by the night security man Don Victor. I told him "Victor, si U.D. ve a una culebra mas gruesa que el brazo, me tiene que despertar". If you see a snake thicker than your arm you must wake me. Sure enough I got a knock on my door at 11PM this past Tuesday night. Hiding in the vegetation by the lake shore was a Red-tailed Boa (Boa Constrictor), a long sought out snake by me that I had never been able to see in Peru. Here is a horrible photo of the snake at night. Next week we are off to the primary forest sites. Hopefully we continue to capture interesting species.

1st week of banding completed

2010-01-31T08:20:00.000-08:00

This week we finished our first full week of banding here in Tortuguero. We have 5 banding sites, including our home site at Caribbean Conservation Cooperation (CCC) which we band every other day. CCC has 20 nets which we aim to open at 5:40, before the sun rises just as the first rays of light are penetrating the rainforest. The timing can be tricky, as we learned this week when we found ourselves extracting bats not birds from a net opened too early. Our home site consists of 5 nets arranged in the coastal scrub habitat, and 15 nets in the adjacent highly disturbed secondary forest. So far our most captured birds at CCC seem to be residents such as White Collared Manakin (my first bird banded in Costa Rica), Variable Seedeaters, and 3 common hummingbirds - Long-tailed Hermit, Bronzy Hermit and Rufous-tailed hummingbird. There are also some migrants hanging around, Prothonotary Warbler being the most common capture, but we also have duplicate catches of Chestnut-sided Warbler, House Wren, and Yellow-throated Vireo. Baltimore Orioles and Yellow Warblers also seem to be abundant, but we have yet to catch one.

A migrant female Prothonotary Warbler (above). The sex of these birds can be reliably determined based on the amount of white on the tail feathers (below). The males will have white in all tail feathers whereas in the females it will be lacking or barely visible in the inner tail feathers.

A Chestnut-sided Warbler, common throughout Costa Rica during the winter months. This, the first CSWA we caught, was already banded indicating that it had successfully migrated to North American last spring and returned to winter again in Tortuguero selecting the same exact area to winter as last year!!

White-collared Manakin (female above, male below). The males preform complex dances in leks in hopes up attracting a mate in which they produce a loud snapping sound with their wings. The snapping sound is a constant early morning occurrence however I have yet to find a dancing bird. Video of manakin dance

We also have a banding site located in the Parque National de Tortuguero. This expansive park was founded in 1975 to protect the important nesting grounds on the beaches for sea turtles as well as the surrounding rainforest. Banding here involves an early morning hike of about 25 minutes to the park where we set up our nets. Consisting of mostly primary rainforest we see (and hear) a totally different array of birds than at CCC. This place is a paradise for birders and the mornings are filled with bird songs such as the beautiful Song Wren (3rd link) Song Wren Song We spotted a White-Crowned Pigeon in the coastal scrub and unknown to me, this is an extremely rare sighting for Costa Rica. Upon entering it in ebird I received a confirmation email asking for more clarification. Luckily I snapped a terrible, documentation quality photo which I submitted and word got around in the birding community initiating a steady flow of birders in the country into the park to search for it. My first Costa Rican rare bird!

Documentation photo of a White-Crowned Pigeon in Tortuguero National Park.

Tortuguero National Park is home to a spectacular amount of biodiversity including 375 species of birds, 400 species of tree and over 2000 species of plants. It is also known for its abundance of the dangerous eyelash viper (Bothriechis schlegelii). This beautiful but highly venomous snake is present in many color morphs. It certainly keeps me on my toes and adds a whole new element to banding birds. I make it a rule to not step or touch anything without looking carefully. We took great care when we set up the site to make our net lanes wide to provide ample space to walk by the nets without touching vegetation. I have so far seen 2 (both of the yellow phase) in just 3 trips to the park.

An Eyelash Viper (below possibly a juvenile based on its much smaller size)

Next week we will band 3 times at CCC as well as travelling to 3 sites (the Airport, Cano Palma - a Canadian run tropical research station in old growth primary rainforest, and Tortuga Lodge - a tourist lodge located within primary rainforest where pale-billed woodpeckers, a relative of the ivory-billed woodpecker, are sometimes caught. With any luck I will get to band one myself).

Tortuguero

2010-01-22T16:15:00.001-08:00

A lot has happened since my last post. Spent a couple days in San Jose getting to know the common bird species. I was lucky enough to be able to visit INBIO, the Costa Rican equivalent of the Smithsonian. I got a private tour of the insect taxonomy lab and was blown away by what I saw. Picture a building the size of a high school gym, filled with specimens. One entire wing, bigger than my house, was dedicated solely for beetles and butterflies which are pinned in trays stacked 35 high 15 long and hundreds of rows. You do the math, millions is what you will find. Each tray has 10-100 insects depending on size, rhinocerous beetles, weevils, fireflies, click beetles, silver and gold beetles, blue, yellow, red, striped, poca dotted, zig zags, you name it. No pattern made by man has not already been displayed on a tropical beetle. This place turns out new species weekly, in fact it has been calculated that in their first 20 years (celebrated this year) they have described a new species every 3.5 days!!! There is also a little park on the grounds that has a impressive array of birds to be found. I saw some beautiful life birds such as RUFOUS CAPPED WARBLER, and NORTHERN JACANA as well as some familiar migrant birds such as YELLOW WARBLER and BALTIMORE ORIOLE.

On Monday, we left for Tortuguero, this involves a 2.5 hour bus ride to Cariari through the perfectly preserved primary rainforest of Braulio Carrillo National Park. The bus rides up over the mountains offering breathtaking vistas of steep precipices blanked in rainforest without a human blemish as far as one can observe. From Cariari we took the bus 1 hour to Las Pavonas and transfered to a boat which took us to Tortuguero an hour further. Tortuguero is one of the wettest rainforests in the world with nearly 6000mm of rainfall each year. There are no roads and the only means of transport is boat which winds through the maze of canals that penetrate in every which direction. The town itself is situated on a narrow sliver of land between the caribbean and Tortuguero lagoon and at the opening of the massive Tortuguero National Park and this is where I am staying at a turtle investigation center.

This past week has consisted of the grueling job of opening the trails and banding net lanes reclaimed by the jungle from when banding last occured this time last year. The machete is the best tool assuming you don't slice though an eyelash pit viper of which I was very careful not to do. We were able to clear one site a day. I have found only one snake so far, a non venomous tree snake. I have seen lots of new birds including 3 species of trogon and 2 manakins as well as the absolutely stunning golden hooded tanager (you must google this bird).

Tomorrow we open the nets for the first time here at CCC. I wonder what the first bird will be.

A Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)feeding on Tortuguero Beach

Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)

Cane Toad (Bufo Marinus)

Bare-throated Tiger Heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum)

A very cool insect

Bienvenidos al San Jose

2010-01-15T04:58:00.000-08:00

Tropical Kingbirds are common in Downtown San Jose. Public Domain Photo by Unknown Author

San Jose is the gateway to the rest of Costa Rica. Inevitably anyone who wants to witness the treasures of the country must past through this bustling city whose beehive marketplaces can both dazzle and frighten the traveler. I am staying at a popular hostel in the financial district of town. I am already familiar with the country's two most popular beers Imperial, and Pilsen, which are made by the same company and actually taste the same. Surely they just slap another label on the bottle and call it something different. Last night I got a chance to see the University, and the busy district adjacent not to unlike an American college town. Chespi who will be overseeing our work in Tortuguero, took us out so that we could go over some of what we will need to know, however the noise from the bar made communication difficult. Hopefully I will have another opportunity to listen to what he said.

For me, the one thing that always assures me that I am traveling and no longer at home, is hearing the the different pigeon songs of the morning. I think this was even true before I was a birder. The one here seems to be White-winged Dove, whereas this summer I was awakened by Eurasian Collared Dove. Both songs are very different than the locally abundant early morning singer the Mourning Dove. So far I have been able to track down: Rufous-collared sparrows, Tropical Kingbirds, Great-tailed grackels, Rufous-tailed hummingbird, Rock dove, and some unknown parrots. It promises to be a good trip filled with new birds. Today I will visit the metropolitan park of the city, and will have special permission to bird the research section thanks again to Chespi.

Tomorrow I will be heading to Tortuguero for a few days of machete work to reclaim the net lanes from a season of jungle growth and hope to be banding birds by Monday.

The widespread Rufous Collared Sparrow. Public Domain Photo by: Dario Sanches

Hello goodbye

2009-12-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

Goodbye

Hello

The new year has arrived and brought much change, new home, new state, and new places to look for birds. The recent move from Annapolis to Charlottesville has wreaked havoc on my bird records. It will be tough to leave behind my Anne Arundel county life list of 217 species and shift to a new county. Nonetheless, Albermarle county will be a pleasure to bird and I look forward to learning all of its secret spots privy to birds and yet unknown to me. I am currently at 39 species two behind the leader after adding Common Raven, and Yellow-rumped Warbler yesterday. The lakes are frozen solid eliminating chances for any ducks I may find.

Even though I have just arrived, in 3 days I will leave for the tropical warmth of Costa Rica on assignment to operate the bird banding station at the Caribbean Conservation Corporation Tortuguero Biological Field Station located within Tortuguero National Park on the northern Caribbean coast. This is a real paradise in the world with staggering biodiversity and I feel privelaged to have been selected to work at the banding station. The bird life in this park is phenomenal with over 300 species occuring within the park boundries alone. Taking a detour from birds, I have spent the day trying to become familiar with the reptiles, most specifically the venomous snakes of the region. Few of you may remember that before my obsession with birds, I was equally obsessed with snakes and frogs and sought to find and photograph as many as I could. Having had the opportunity to participate in a research project collecting reptiles and amphibians in south eastern Peru in 2005, I am familiar with many of the species found in Costa Rica. However many of them will also be new and given the time that I will spend in the forest, I will inevitably encounter a venomous species. Don't worry, I won't touch the venomous ones. Here are a few pics of snakes I took when I was working in Tambopata National Reserve in Peru.

Oxibelis fulgidus

Coral Snake (although I forget which one) Micrurus spp.

Lead Herpetologist Wilfredo Arizabal catching the very venomous Fer de Lance, Bothrops atrox

Me, practicing my snake handling skills on the non-venomous but beautiful Rainbow Boa; Epicrates cenchria

And now for something completely different...

killdeer

American Pipit

Savannah Sparrow, Sandy Point Beach

A pair of American Pipits on Sandy Point Beach

Northern Shrike, Chino Farms in QA county, Maryland

Merlin - Near the shrike

Ruby-crowned kinglet - Thomas Point Park

Hermit Thrush - Thomas Point Park

Ruby-crowned kinglet

Sandy (Snowy) Point Park, Truxton Park

2009-12-21T06:18:00.000-08:00

The bridge leading into Truxton Park over Spa Creek

Contrary to the norm, I used this blizzard of nearly 2 feet snow to get out and have some adventure in and around Annapolis - and find birds. On the day of the storm, I strapped on Uncle Bob's waders (bequeathed to me by Eliza's uncle who was in his day an avid Maryland birder) and headed out to Truxton Park on foot. Diversity was not great, but the birds that were present were active and easily visible as they tended to stay up out of the snow. The plumage colors were strikingly vivid compared to the widespread colorless background of fallen snow. Even a tufted titmouse commanded my attention for several moments as I noticed, possibly for the first time, the extent of rufous in the flanks.

Frozen Spa Cove

Yesterday, Dan Haas had the idea to venture out to Sandy Point Park in hopes of finding Snow Buntings, or some other unusual bird taking advantage of the limited foraging area available on the wave beaten but snow-less beach. His instinct was right, although we didn't find any buntings there was a misplaced HORNED LARK, as well as 2 SAVANNAH SPARROWS. The lark was Anne Arundel County bird #203 for the year, a number I am quite pleased with. That places me at a solid third for top Anne Arundel lists of the year behind Dan with a stunning 237 and Stan Arnold at 233.

A Horned Lark forages on Sandy Point Beach

A Savannah Sparrow does the Same

A first winter Ring-billed Gull

Snow, Beach, Lighthouse - Sandy Point MD

Purple Sandpipers

2009-12-03T16:59:00.000-08:00

Thomas Point Park has been has been a very productive birding hotspot this month. The Northern Gannet show has been impressive. They have been present in large numbers nearly everyday this month and it seems that there are more each time I go. It has also been a great spot to see the scoter species as well as Bonepart's Gulls. My friend Dan Haas found a Purple Sandpiper today, or rather two. I have been expecting the arrival of this hardy winter sandpiper. These guys prefer rocky shorelines such as jetties where they feed upon insects and mollusks. They are very tame and approachable and the lighting was perfect for a great photo session.

add your text here and then make sure you end it with

Red-breasted Mergansers at Greenbury Point

Lastly, here are a few scenic pictures I have taken over the last few weeks. They are from Greenbury Point in Annapolis, and Old Trail Park outside Crozet, VA.

Fall Birding Pics

2009-11-23T07:26:00.000-08:00

I have not posted in a while, but that does not mean that I have not been birding. Mostly locally, the state has yielded plenty of interesting birds this fall.

Most recently while picking up my girlfriend's grandmother at Riderwood assisted living in Silver Spring I got an intimate photo session with the local Trumpeter Swans. The presence of this beautiful bird, the largest species of waterfowl on earth, is most likely the result of efforts to reintroduce the species into it's former range. This bird was heavily hunted as game and a source of feathers in the 19th century. Wild Trumpeter Swans are only very rarely reported in Maryland, and reintroduction of swans has only had moderate success partly due to competition with non-native mute swans, heightened vulnerability to lead poisoning from poor hunting practices, habitat loss, and inability of released swans to take to migrating.

The larger size and detail on the bill separates this bird from the locally common and abundant winter visitor the Tundra Swan.

Dan Haas and I running for our lives from a rather aggressive Trumpeter Swan. Note that we did not approach the swans, they swam across the pond from the other side to get us as soon as we stepped on the walking path. And this is an old folks home.

At the other end of the spectrum is the very common, ubiquitous White-Throated Sparrow. This beautiful sparrow is only a winter resident in Maryland. It's song which it sings occasionally on sunny winter mornings, defines for me winter in a Maryland forest.

Sandy Point Park hosted some interesting fall birds this year for the county. Some birds reported were White-Rumped Sandpiper, Black-Bellied Plover, Dunlin, Sanderling, Lesser-Black Backed Gull, and Brant. Pictured above: Black-Bellied Plover and below: Brant with Canada Goose

Finally, perhaps one of the most enjoyable parts of birding in Maryland is being able to visit the many beautiful, often overlooked parts of the state. The beauty of nature and birds is for me the fundamental reason that I enjoy searching for birds (and other things) and learning about their life histories. As I realise how difficult it is to photograph a small songbird with a big crappy lens, I have resorted to taking scenic shots as well. Below: Sunset at Thomas Point Park, in Anne Arundel County, and a beaver pond in beautiful Bacon Ridge Natural Area.

Just a Few Recent Photos

2009-08-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

Just a few recent pics:

Black and White Warbler at Gov. Bridge Natural Area

Northern Parula at Davidsonville Park

Black-Throated Blue Warbler at Davidsonville Park

Osprey at Greenbury Point

White-Eyed Vireo at Davidsonville Park

Chipping Sparrow at Davidsonville Park

Kentucky Warbler at Gov. Bridge Natural Area

Home sweet home

2009-08-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

It has been a soggy few days since I have returned to Maryland from California leaving me little time to bird. It is nice to hear the familar sounds of eastern birds once again. Even the common birds that I often take for granted such as the Northern Cardinal, Northern Mockingbird, and the Carolina Wren are welcomed sounds. I am sure all birders are familiar with the joy of seeing birds in their bins that they have not seen in a while or do not see often. Right now that is the case with all Maryland birds and with migration approaching, I predict a joyous fall. I took a trip to one of my favorite spots (Greenbury Point) to look for early migrants and although I found none I still managed to get some nice photos of some missed resident birds.

An adult male American Goldfinch

Juvenile Eastern Kingbird

Northern Mockingbird

Juvenile American Robin

A Juvenile Eastern Bluebird

Solitary Sandpiper

I then ran into Hal Wierenga and Lynn Davidson who were to lead a butterfly trip to the eastern shore but were rerouted to Greenbury Point due to poor weather on the coast. I gladly accepted their invitation to join the group and was thrilled to have nearly 15 species of life butterflies pointed out to me. (Maybe this will be a new hobby)

A Red Spotted Purple butterfly at Greenbury Point

A Variegated Fritillary, Greenbury Point

Sachem, Greenbury Point

Pearl Crescent, Greenbury Point

Sachem, Greenbury Point

Monarch, Greenbury Point

A Great Summer of Birds

2009-08-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

This week I completed (sadly) my last full week of bird banding here in northern California. We went out to my 2 favorite sites located in Lassen National Forest in the Sierra Mountains. The sites were still a bit smoky from the 6200 acre wildfire that burned through the park last week as a result of a lightning strike. Nonetheless, the sites were as birdy as usual and we banded 90 birds at Big Springs with just 2 people. One particular half hour net run yielded 42 birds!! Highlights for this week include: American White Pelicans at Balm Lake, Sandhill Cranes at Burney Meadow, Evening Grosbeaks at Big Springs and another Gray Flycatcher banded at Burney Meadow.

The offshore team this week spotted 5 Juvenile Marbled Murrelets, and found and photographed a LONGBILLED MURRELET; an Unbelievable find!!! (Vagrant bird native to China, Japan and Korea) This photo is provided courtesy of Elias Elias. (left - Marbled Murrelet, Right - Long-billed Murrelet)

Banding Lists:
Burney Meadow
Spotted Towhee 4
Oregon Junco 14
Nashville Warbler 1
Black-throated Grey Warbler 1
Lesser Goldfinch 1
Western Wood Pewee 4
Orange-crowned Warbler 3
Yellow Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 1
Warbling Vireo 1
Mountain Chickadee 1
Purple Finch 5
Western Tanager 2
GRAY FLYCATCHER 1
Black-headed Grosbeak 2
total birds = 42

Big Springs
Song Sparrow 5
Oregon Junco 19
Wilson's Warbler 1
Chipping Sparrow 8
Mountain Chickadee 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 17
Orange-crowned Warbler 4
Hermit Warbler 8
Warbling Vireo 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 3
Lazuli Bunting 3
Purble Finch 5
Cassin's Vireo 1
Western Tanager 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Fox Sparrow (Thick-Billed) 3
Black-headed Grosbeak 1
American Robin 2
WILLOW FLYCATCHER 3
Rufous Hummingbird 2
total birds = 90

Stiener Flat
wilsons warbler 1
macgillavrays warbler 3
yellow warbler 1
spotted towhee 1
western flycatcher 3
song sparrow 3
total birds = 12

Salmon Creek
Song Sparrow 11
total birds = 11

In other news, shorebirds are showing up in tremendous numbers here in Humboldt Bay. I estimated over 5000 marbled godwits and 10,000 western/least sandpipers on the flats in front of my house. Other new migrants are showing up as well including American Avocets, Wandering Tattlers, Surfbirds, and Red-Necked Phalaropes. Near my home there is a Jetty that sticks way out into the Pacific Ocean.

This Jetty is a hotspot for birders who want to make the long trek out with their scope. In two separate trips last Friday and this Friday I tallied:

surfbird 125
WANDERING TATTLER 6
black turnstone 45
double crested cormorant 15
pelagic cormorant 2
brandts cormorant 8
Elegant Tern 125
forsters tern 3
common loon 2
PARASITIC JAEGER 2
SHEARWATER SPP. 1
heermans gull 8
western gull 35
MARBLED MURRELET 1
common murre 20
sanderling 650
western sandpiper 1200
least sandpiper 1
brown pelican 40
barn swallow 5
western grebe 3
surf scoter 1

Wandering Tattler at North Spit Jetty - Samoa, CA

Black Turnstone at North Spit Jetty - Samoa, CA

Western Sandpipers and Sanderlings at North Spit Jetty - Samoa, CA

Elegant Tern diving at North Spit Jetty - Samoa, CA

Whimbrel seen at Clam Beach - Mckinleyville, CA

Barn Swallow - Arcata Marsh - Arcata, CA

Juvenile Tree Swallow - Arcata Marsh - Arcata, CA

Red-necked Phalarope - Arcata Marsh - Arcata, CA

It has been a great summer filled with amazing birds, and stunning northern California scenery. I am grateful to have had this experience and it has only solidified my love of birds and wildlife. It has been a pleasure to work with so many talented biologists and interns who are working so hard to monitor bird populations and assist in their protection. Special thanks to Dr. C John Ralph, Dr. Sherri Miller, Pablo Hererra, Jared Wolfe, Lucy Rowe, Amber Carver, David Haines, Lola Morgan-Outhisack, Maia Lipschutz, Leslie Tucci, Laurie Neville, Vincente Slabe, Elias Elias, Moe Morrisette, Brian Odonell, Linda Long, and all the folks at the Redwood Sciences Laboratory, the Klamath Bird Observatory, and the Humboldt Bay Bird Observatory as well as anyone who I forgot. This will be my last post related to bird banding in California. I look forward to returning to Maryland to see my friends and family and as always, to continue to observe and photograph birds in nature. I will continue to update this blog periodically related to Maryland birding. I have also began to post photos on my flickr! site for anyone who wants to see more bird pictures. Hope you enjoy!!! Chris's Bird Pics

Fire!!!!!

2009-08-07T15:02:00.001-07:00

The signs of fall are beginning to show here in California. On the east coast I look forward to fall as it means, changing leaves, cooler temperatures and migrating birds. In Northern California fall signifies slightly different thinds... lightning storms and forest fires. On Tuesday as we approached Lassen Natl. Forest we noticed clouds up ahead. Since it NEVER rains in the summer here, I was not surprised to soon see that this was not an approaching storm, but rather a giant forest fire burning near our banding station. Make that 3 forest fires burning near our banding stations.

The road to one station was closed so we headed to the second station which ironically is named BURN. When we got there, we could see the fire in the distance and decided it was too smoky to band to we fled back across the valley to Trinity National Forest where we camped for the night. Had we approached the fire this is what we would have seen. This photo was taken that same night when 4000 acres had burned. The fire doubled over night and has since grown to 10,000 acres.

Hopefully it is controlled by Monday when I am scheduled to return.

The following day we headed up to Indian Valley and were greeted by a monstrous electrical storm, (which sparked 11 new fires, all extinguished). If you really want to get good looks at lightning bolts I suggest heading to the top of a mountain. You really want to get out in the open so your are the tallest thing around and thus will have the best view.

We rode out the storm in the car and hoped not to see any fires burning. Enough about that, after all we were here to band birds, and that is just what we did. We have recently started owl banding, which consists of arranging four nets in a square surrounding an audio lure which plays the songs of the 4 species of smaller owls that we are targeting. We then check the nets every 40 minutes from sunset to sunrise. We work in shifts so that we can get some sleep. The first night we didn't catch anything but a bat however, we had lots of owls come down close to the nets including singing Northern Pygmy Owls (2), Western Screech Owls (2) and Northern Saw Whet Owls (1).
Banding this week was a bit slow, but we did still get lots of cool birds, the highlights being a HY Mountain Quail captured at Indian Valley, and a HY Belted Kingfisher captured at Salmon Creek.

Belted Kingfisher captured at Salmon Creek

HY Mountain Quail captured at Indian Valley (Dont' mind the funny goggles.)

Many of the warblers have completed their adult prebasic molts (a replacement of all feathers after breeding) and are stunningly beautiful. This yellow warbler captured at Indian Valley is a good example. The outer most 2 primaries were the only feathers still in pin and the bird looked brand new. I wanted to take it home with me. Lets hope his feathers last for the whole year.

Banding Lists:

Hocker Flat
Song Sparrow 4
Yellow-Breasted Chat 1
Spotted Towhee 2
Yellow Warbler 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 2
Western Tanager 3
Wrentit 1

Cap D Creek
Wrentit 1
Yellow-Breasted Chat 2
Spotted Towhee 1
Wilson's Warbler 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 2
Swainson's Thrush 1
Song Sparrow 1
Black-Headed Grosbeak 1
WILLOW FLYCATCHER 1
Western Flycatcher spp. 1

Indian Valley
Wrentit 6
Purple Finch 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Oregon Junco 5
Red-Breasted Sapsucker 5
Spotted Towhee 8
Dusky Flycatcher 4
Western Flycatcher spp. 1
Orange Crowned Warbler 1
Cassin's Vireo 2
Yellow Warbler 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 1
Mountain Quail 3

Salmon Creek
Song Sparrow 4
Wilson's Warbler 2
BELTED KINGFISHER 1

Black Tern hovering; Rocky Point, OR

Yellow-Headed Blackbird photographed at Rocky Point, OR

Clark's Nutcracker at Crater Lake, OR

Offshore Surveys

2009-08-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

A Marbled Murrelet in flight offshore from Crescent City

This week I got a little break from banding and got to participate in the offshore monitoring of seabirds. We left out of the port of Crescent City, CA at about 7:30AM in a 20' Boston Whaler and headed out into the thick fog. The surveys consist of 200m wide by 8Km transects which we follow at about 15 miles/hour navigating by GPS. There are 2 observers/data recorders (port and starboard) and one driver and we switch positions after every transect. Basically we just ride along with a voice recorder and note any sea birds seen. We can ask the driver to stop and approach questionable birds, as well as marbled murrelets which require additional data. These Federally Endangered birds, relatives to puffins, are unique in that they nest inland at distances of up to 50 miles in the branches of old growth conifers most notably the coastal redwoods. They are severely threatened due to the uncontrolled logging of pacific old growth forest that has occurred up until recently. Recent threats also include nest predation, mainly by corvids (jays and ravens). The single egg must be incubated for 30 days and fed for 40 days (from the ocean) before the chick can fledge. I spoke to a student at Humboldt State University who works in a lab where they have a camera mounted on a marbled murrelet nest, and she told me that 6 of the last 7 years the single egg has been pilfered by a Steller's Jay. These Jay's are able to access many more murrelet nests than previously since they are often lured into the forests by messy campers and picnic sites. Forest fragmentation has also exposed the murrelet nests to more danger. There is a plan in effect to save the murrelets but sadly after speaking with many of the researchers here it seems grim for the murrelets whose numbers are decreasing at a rate of around 3%-4% annually. The California population was estimated at just 6500 birds in 1995 (Miller and Ralph, 1995) and has most surely dropped. Having said that, I did in 2 days of surveying, see about 75 marbled murrelets including 2 juvenile birds.

Offshore Crescent City:
surfbird 30
surf scoter 2
white winged scoter 3
double crested cormorant 6
brandts cormorant 200
pelagic cormorant 20
MARBLED MURRELET 65
common murre 2000
RHINOCEROUS AUKLET 85
pigeon guillemont 40
SOOTY SHEARWATER 3
PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER 2
barn swallow 6
tree swallow 5
western gull 300
clarks grebe
western grebe
pacific loon 4
rock dove 1
ruddy turnstone 1
black oystercatcher 1

Offshore Humboldt Bay:
white winged scoter
double crested cormorant 20
brandts cormorant 125
common murre 750
MARBLED MURRELET 8
PARASITIC JAEGER 2
SOOTY SHEARWATER 1
JAEGER SPP. 2
Elegant Tern 55
western gull 115
california gull 2
caspian tern 3
red necked phalarope 8
barn swallow
RHINOCEROUS AUKLET 2
pigeon guillemont 3

Now some photos: These are bad and blurry because:
The boat was super shaky with 6 ft. swells?
The birds are little targets for a big lens in a big sea?
The fog was thick, and when it cleared it was overcast?
Nonetheless these are very cool birds that are hard to observe so even a bad photo is interesting

A Rhinocerous Auklet off the coast of Crescent City

Rhinocerous Auklet

Common Murre with chick

Different Common Murre with chick

Brandt's Cormorant

Pigeon Guillemont

Marbled Murrelet pair displaying courtship behavior

I did band birds this week on Friday at Mad River and although it was rather slow (only 16 birds) we did catch many beautiful freshly molted Wilson's Warbler HY birds (one of my favorite warblers)

Mad River, July 31

Wilson's Warbler 5
Wrentit 4
Song Sparrow 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 1
Swainson's Thrush 4
Hermit Thrush 1

And a few photos I have taken over the summer:

Spotted Sandpiper in alternate breeding plumage. Trinity River near Douglas City, CA

A Common Yellowthroat captured and banded at Salmon Creek near Eureka, CA

A Western Wood Pewee near Rocky Point, OR

Trinity/Six Rivers Natl. Forest

2009-07-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

This week we visited the Trinity River sites. It is hard to believe it but breeding season is nearly over. Birds are definitely on the move, and singing has nearly stopped. We are capturing many molting birds.Juveniles are initiating their pre-formative molt (to replace lower quality juvenal body feathers but not flight feathers) and many adults are beginning their adult pre-basic molts (a yearly replacement of all body and flight feathers). It is interesting to catch birds in this molting process because you can get a feel for the sequence that feathers are molted. It also allow us to actually see the molt limits we have been using all season to age birds being created. A quick molt refresher:

I keep it straight this way. All North American songbirds replace all feathers once a year after breeding and this molt is called the prebasic molt. Some birds then have inserted molts within these yearly cycles. All juveniles have an inserted molt called a preformative whose job is to replace low quality juvenal feathers. This is not a complete molt and in most species does not include flight feathers. Some birds also have an inserted molt called an alternate molt which yields feathers we often associate with breeding plumage. These are also not complete molts and generally do not include flight feathers. Note that the yearly molt cycles are not interrupted by the inserted molts. All birds still molt all their feathers after breeding.

In this Yellow Warbler, the inner wing coverts are being replaced in the pre-formative molt. The molt limit is being created between the carpal covert and the alula in a pattern typical of warblers.

Yellow-breasted chat is the exception within the warbler family and often undergoes an eccentric pre-formative molt, that is it often replaces some of its outer primaries as seen in this photo. (Remember preformative molts in most North American passerines do not include flight feathers)

Another thing to consider is that we have to start being careful aging birds because we can no longer assume that the presence of a molt limit indicates a second year bird. It could be a juvenile that has gone through it's pre-formative molt, or an adult that has not yet initiated its adult prebasic molt. Feather wear can help us in aging these birds however, the way we can most accurately age these birds is by skulling it. This molt stuff can be a bit confusing and for anyone who is interested in learning more I highly recommend reading the introduction to Peter Pyle's bird identification book used by banders to age and sex birds. Beware that molt theory has been slightly modified recently and Part I of Pyle's book uses old terminology while Part II has been updated and includes new terminology.

Ok enough of that,
Highlights this week were good looks at a ruffed grouse, a California Quail in the net, and 7 species of warbler banded at Indian Valley.

Birds Banded:
Hamilton Ponds 7/21
Lesser Goldfinch 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 3
Macgillivray's Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Pacific Slope Flycatcher 1
Anna's Hummingbird 1
Spotted Towhee 1
Wilson's Warbler 1
Swainson's Thrush 1

Indian Valley 7/22
Hermit Warlber 7
Yellow Warbler 5
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 1
Wilson's Warbler 1
Black-throated Grey Warbler 1
Audubon's Warbler 1
Cassin's Vireo 5
Mountain Chickadee 1
Purple Finch 3
Red-breasted Sapsucker 1
Spotted Towhee 2
Dusky Flycatchers 15
Anna's Hummingbird 2
Golden-Crowned Kinglet 2

Stiener Flat 7/23
Yellow-breasted Chat 2
Song Sparrow 2
Black-headed Grosbeak 1
Spotted Towhee 2
Pacific Slope Flycatcher 1

Hocker Flat 7/24
Macgillivray's Warbler 2
Song Sparrow 3
Yellow-breasted Chat 3
Wrentit 1
Bushtit 2
Western Tanager 5
Spotted Towhee 7
Red-breasted Sapsucker 1
Black-headed Grosbeak 8
Pacific Slope Flycatcher 1
California Quail 1

Photos...Enjoy!!

An adult male Black-headed Grosbeak captured at Steiner Flat, CA

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A hatch year (HY) Pacific Slope Flycatcher at Hamilton Ponds, CA

A Wilson's Warbler captured at Hamilton Ponds, CA. Any guidebook will tell you this is a male bird based upon the black crown patch however, this bird is a female!! (Brood patch present) The females of the pacific population seem to have extensive black on the head.

Ruffed Grouse

Song Sparrow in juvenal plumage captured at Hocker Flat, CA

Bushtit, Hocker Flat

A HY California Quail captured at Hocker Flat, CA

Lassen National Forest

2009-07-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

Seven hours of driving (one missed turn) brought us to Lassen National Forest and the banding sites of Big Springs and Burney Creek. We cut across the Trinity Range and into the central valley and then up the route 5 into the Sierras. These sites are typically more dry than the other banding sites and offer opportunities for slightly different avifauna than the coastal and Trinity sites. A YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE, an endemic bird to the central valley of California flew right over the car as we headed north through the savannas dominated by blue oak. We arrived at the campground near Big Springs at about 10 and just threw down our tarps and crashed before waking at 4:45 to set up the banding station. This station is a riparian strip of willow on Big Springs Creek and consists of 8 nets that can at times be very birdy. From there it is another half hour drive to Burney Creek, a beautiful large meadow along the creek that stretches for miles under the shadow of a dormant volcano with snow capped Mt. Lassen off to the side.
We had many good birds in these two days. Highlights besides the magpie were: A GOLDEN EAGLE flyover at Burney Creek, a captured ACORN WOODPECKER, WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER, and OAK TITMOUSE in the nets at Burney Creek. as well as EVENING GROSBEAK and RED CROSSBILLS feeding at Big Springs and a single BLACK SWIFT at Burney Falls. However, the absolute hightlight of this trip was a GRAY FLYCATCHER captured in the net at Burney Creek. This bird, being in the genus empidonax is very similar to the other empid species that we capture but the dark dusky tipped bill and extensive gray wash nails it down as a Gray Flycatcher. We also took measurements of bill width and primary feather extension to determine 100% the species. A great find, and a life bird for me.

Complete lists of birds banded:
Big Springs
song sparrow 9
audubons warbler 6
orange crowned warbler 16
dark eyed junco oregon 4
western wood pewee 1
chipping sparrow 1
mountain chickadee 4
cassins vireo 3
hermit thrush 1
western tanager 1
fox sparrow thick billed race 1
spotted towhee 2
red breasted sapsucker 1
dusky flycatcher 1
rufous hummingbird 1

Burney Creek
dusky flycatcher 1
western wood pewee 1
song sparrow 4
white headed woodpecker 1
bushtit 9
black throated grey warbler 3
orange crowned warbler 5
dark eyed junco oregon 1
chipping sparrow 2
yellow warbler 1
audubons warbler 1
lesser goldfinch 1
purple finch 5
cassins vireo 1
oak titmouse 1
western tanager 1
spotted towhee 5
black headed grosbeak 1
acorn woodpecker 1
gray flycatcher 1
selasphous spp. 1 (released at the net before species determination was made)

An Acorn Woodpecker. The black stripe between the white and red on the head IDs this as a female bird. In the male the red extends all the way to the white.

Acorn Woodpeckers are very infrequently captured in nets due to their habit to stay high in the trees. Also interestingly, this bird (and some other woodpeckers) can be aged by iris color since it changes with age

An HY (hatch year) Western Tanager in full juvenal plumage. By the way juvenal is the word for plumage in a juvenile bird (not a misspelled word.)

HY Chipping Sparrow at Big Springs

A Western Wood Pewee captured at Big Springs

A Gray Flycatcher. Note the dusky tipped bill characteristic of this species.

White-Headed Woodpecker captured at Burney Creek

An Acorn Woodpecker captured at Burney Creek

Hands full of Woodpeckers!!!

Bird Factories

2009-07-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

This week we visited Masterson Meadows and Plasket Meadows in the Mendecino National Forest. These high altitude sights consist of black alder and willow thickets nestled in mixed coniferous forest dominated by ponderosa pine, sugar pine and Douglas fir. The alder and willow as well as the abundance of native grasses and wildflowers provide abundant food sources for songbirds. Fledgling season has definitely arrived. Newly fledged birds are constantly moving and seeking sources of food. These high altitude meadows are extremely attractive to fledgling year birds. We caught an astounding 229 birds in two days of banding at the meadows of which 164 were hatch year birds. Incredibly these sites were banded 10 days ago yielding 188 birds of which we only recaptured 15. This demonstrates the amount of movement happening in these meadows and the number of birds hatching. These meadows truly are bird factories. We could have easily caught twice what we caught but we had to close some of the nets because we were totally overwhelmed. Some nets were catching 25-30 birds every half hour and birds continued to fly into the nets as we were extracting birds. I honed my extracting skills as I was elected principle extractor for the day and basically just did constant net rounds extracting birds, dropping them off at the banding station and leaving immediately to check the nets again. On several occasions I would find nets with more than 10 birds and have to call in back up.

The highlights this week were the incredible number of hatch year birds (including 22 nashville warblers and 59 orange crowned warblers!!). Additional birds of note were: white headed woodpecker, 4 ruffed grouse, another northern pygmy owl, northern flammulated owl, and a possible hermit warbler X townsend's warbler hybrid.

Complete lists:
Masterson Meadows:
lincoln sparrow 10 (5 hatch year)
dark eyed junco oregon 43 (31 hatch year)
fox sparrow thick 3 (1 hatch year)
orange crowned warbler 8 (6 hatch year)
golden crowned kinglet 2
nashville warbler 5
audubons warbler 17 (11 hatch year)
wilsons warbler 1
mountain chickadee 8 (5 hatch year)
red breasted nuthatch 1 (hatch year)
cassins vireo 3 (2 hatch year)
lazuli bunting 1
western tanager 1
black headed grosbeak 7 (1 hatch year)
dusky flycatcher 2
113 total birds

Plasket Meadows
lincoln sparrow 7 (5 hatch year)
orange crowned warbler 31 (28 hatch year)
wilsons warbler 2
dark eyed junco oregon 26 (22 hatch year)
nashville warbler 17 (17 hatch year)
golden crowned kinglet 3 (3 hatch year)
red breasted nuthatch 1 (hatch year)
audubons warbler 12 (7 hatch year)
pine siskin 1 (hatch year)
mountain chickadee 4 (4 hatch year)
lazuli bunting 1 (hatch year)
cassins vireo 8 (8 hatch year)
black headed grosbeak 8 (2 hatch year)
american robin 1 (hatch year)
dusky flycatcher 1
allens hummingbird 3 (hatch year)
126 total birds

Salmon Creek:
black Phoebe 2 (2 hatch year)
american Goldfinch 2
swainson's Thrush 5
song Sparrow 8 (5 hatch year)
wilson's warbler 1

Corn Lilly flowers provide food for newly hatched birds. Oregon Juncos often nest on the ground at the base of this plant.

Masterson Meadows

Plasket Meadows

A hatch year Audubon's Warbler captured at Masterson Meadows, CA 7-7-2009

Outstreched wing of a black phoebe. Notice the cinnamon buffy tips of the inner greater and secondary coverts diagnostic of a hatch year bird.

A HY Black Phoebe captured at Salmon Creek, CA 7-10-2009

Allen's Hummingbird at Masterson Meadow, CA

Brandt - Clam Beach, CA

Brandt seen at Clam Beach, CA

In other news, shorebird migration is really getting underway here in Samoa. Today's counts were

1500 western sandpiper
450 least sandpiper
800 marbled godwit
15 black bellied plovers
25 long-billed curlews
50 long billed dowitchers
10 greater yellowlegs
10 whimbrel
Still waiting for avocets and phalaropes
Good Birding,
Chris

Distant Shorebirds seen from my porch

N California day trip

2009-07-05T11:46:00.000-07:00

So we headed out of Arcata towards the southeastern portion of Humboldt County. The goal was to find a few birds that could only be located in one spot within the county. County birding is big here, that is locating as many birds as possible within certain counties. Some of the top California birders have achieved incredible feats and I was told that a few have found 200 birds in all counties, and 300 in the southern counties. Our goals for the day however, were much more modest Ash-Throated Flycatcher, California Towhee, and Rufous-crowned Sparrow were the birds we had hoped to find. After crossing Humboldt Redwoods State Park,we arrived at Alder Point Rd. and headed up through the mountains. The temperature was scorching hot as we made our way along the road and ticked off birds. Grasshopper sparrows were heard as were Lark sparrows, and Chipping sparrows. A california towhee was calling and later located representing the first target bird of the day. We parked in Alder Point and headed down the railroad tracks along the Eel River. Yellow-breasted chats and blue gray gnatcatchers were abundant along the river as were common mergansers with chicks. The we walked about a mile down the tracks and there was talk of a bridge crossing the river that would lead us to our destination however, I was in no way prepared for what would have to be done to find these birds. We rounded the final corner and then...

Hmm... Anyone know when the next train is due? Having seen the movie Stand By Me several times all I could think about was Vern crawling across the tracks scared half to death and then black smoke rising from the approaching train just around the corner. But that was not a real concern. The tracks were not in service and judging by the condition of the bridge I don't think it could carry the weight of the train much more than I questioned whether it could carry the weight of the 7 of us that were about to cross. I wanted to see those birds though and they were on the other side and there was only one way across.

The view from the beginning of the bridge across to the other side.

Don't look down, except to take a picture of your feet many feet above the river below. On second thought, you better look down because not all the railroad ties are there.

The view from the bridge looking down on the Eel River. I sure hope there isn't an earthquake right now. One nice thing was that Northern Rough-winged Swallows were nesting under the bridge and I got close up looks as they flew by inspecting me.

We all made it safely to the other side and were treated almost immediately by singing Ash-throated flycatchers including fledgling birds that were food begging. We located the young one and then watched as the parents flew in with food. Nearby were many cliff swallows that had built their nests on a cliff (imagine that) and were soaring over the river collecting insects before returning to the nests to feed the young. Below on the river's banks spotted sandpipers were also tending their nests. It is an exciting time of year to be a birder. Everything is raising young and I feel lucky to be able to spend my summer in the outdoors working with birds.

Cliff swallows feeding young in nests constructed on a cliff face.

We did not find the rufous-crowned sparrow but all in all it was a good day of birding with lots of adventure and a little bit of danger. We headed home and stopped off to see the Redwoods. They are truly amazing. Some are reported to be 2000 years old and it is strange to imagine that many of these giants I was photographing were flourishing as the same time that the Maya were flourishing in Central America. It is nice to know that many of these trees still exist and are protected.

Lucy Rowe and I admiring a fallen redwood. A fallen redwood is an important part of the ecosystem often lasting as long as 400 years before returning to the soil.

The Redwoods have endured while this Mayan city in Guatemala (Tikal) was born, flourished, collapsed, lost in the jungle and refound for us to enjoy.

2009-07-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

This week's highlights include an adult male Calliope hummingbird, an adult male Western Tanager, a fledgling Western-scrub Jay, and a Male Downy Woodpecker all captured in the nets. Other interesting birds were a flyover flock of yellow-headed blackbirds, townsend solitaires and 2 groups of mountain quail with babies.

This week we set out of Arcata to band at some of the sites on the Trinity and the Klamath rivers. We had an interesting week and we are seeing more and more fledgling birds captured in the nets. The rivers flow through the mountains of northern California and several national parks including Six Rivers National Forest, and Trinity/Shasta national forests before they converge and flow into the Pacific Ocean north of Humboldt bay. The sites that we band at on the rivers usually consist of willow patches on the rivers edge. Alder is also abundant. The willows provide nesting area, and food resources to many species of migratory songbirds. The position of the nets is important and usually located between willow thickets and near flowing water. A poorly placed net will have very low capture rates or may fail to capture any birds at all. Some of the busier nets will catch birds consistently throughout the day. After we open the nets just after sunrise, we check the nets every half hour. We will decrease this to 20 minutes if the capture rates are high, or the temperature is too cold. If the capture rates are slow we may increase the time, but never more than 40 minutes as the longer the birds are in the net the more severely they can become entangled. The risk of predation also increases when birds are in the nets. When we take a bird back to the station, under ideal conditions we can process a bird in about a minute. This includes checking for breeding characteristics, fat stores, wing and tail wear, body or flight feather molt, and determining the age and sex of the bird. We also swab birds quickly to contribute samples to an avian influenza study that is being conducted. After that we weigh the birds and release them. This continues for 5 hours every day until we close the nets and take them down and drive to the next site.

birds banded:

Red Cap Creek (13 birds banded)
Yellow-breasted chat 3 (1 fledgling)
Yellow warbler 1
Spotted Towhee 3 (1 fledgling)
Macgillivray's warbler 3
Orange-crowned warbler 3

Hamilton Ponds (13 birds banded)
Yellow warbler 3
Bewick's wren 2
Yellow-breasted chat 2
Spotted towhee 5

Indian Valley (44 birds banded)
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET 2 (both fledglings)
Hermit warbler 2
Macgillivray's warbler 2
Warbling vireo 1
Orange-crowned warbler 3
Mountain chickadee 2
Pine siskin 5 (4 fledglings)
Oregon Junco 5 (1 fledgling)
Chipping sparrow 1
Purple finch 1
WESTERN TANAGER 1 (beautiful after second year male)
Red-breasted sapsucker 3
Thick-billed fox Sparrow 3
Black-headed grosbeak 1
Spotted towhee 3 (s fledglings)
Yellow warbler 1
Wrentit 2 (including the same individual captured 4 times)
CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD 1 (the smallest bird in North America!!)
Rufous Hummingbird 1
Allen's Hummingbird 1
Dusky flycatcher 3 (1 fledgling)

Hocker Flat (19 birds banded)
WESTERN SCRUB-JAY 1 (fledgling)
BLACK-THROATED GREY WARBLER 1
Macgillivray's warbler 3 (1 fledgling)
Song sparrow 5 (3 fledglings)
DOWNY WOODPECKER 1
Wrentit 2 (1 fledgling)
Yellow-breasted chat 4 (2 fledglings)
Anna's Hummingbird 1
Bewick's wren 1

And now some pictures:

A fledgling Western-scrub Jay at Hocker Flat

A fledgling Golden-crowned kinglet at Indian Valley

An adult male Downy woodpecker at Hocker Flat

An adult male (ASY) Calliope hummingbird captured at Indian Valley

An adult male (ASY) Western tanager captured at Indian Valley

Black-throated grey and Macgillivray's warblers

Me with western-scrub jay and funny shadows on my face

2009-06-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

Highlights this week included Blue Grouse (Pacific Sooty Race) and Townsend Solitaire at Doe Flat, Northern Pygmy Owl singing at Indian valley as well as Mountain Quail with 5 or 6 fledglings. I also got to visit a sea-bird nesting colony which held 50,000 Common Murres as well as Pelagic Cormorants, Double-Crested Cormorants and Black Oystercatchers. I didn't have my scope to scope out the Island (Doing that later today), but twelve different species are known to have nested on this island including common murre, cormorants, pigeon guillemots, Cassin’s auklets, rhinoceros auklets, and storm petrels.
Special Congratulations to Lucy, Laurie, and Amber for catching a Northern Pygmy Owl in the net at Burney Falls (photos to follow courtesy of Lucy Rowe). Dave, Maia and Jared's team netted 100 birds at Masterson Meadows, and 86 birds at Plaskett Meadows, mostly orange-crowned warbler fledglings. Fledgling season has arisen and we can expect bird numbers to increase.
Speaking of juvenile birds, you may wonder "How can I tell a bird is a Juvenile?" Well there are various techniques that we use. Some birds such as the Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon Race) show notably different plumage patterns and are distinct in the field without any other tests. Feather quality is also different since juvenile birds molt out of their pre-natal down very quickly to avoid nest predation. This causes the feathers to be of a poorer quality than adult feathers since the birds have traded quality for speed. This juvenile plumage is usually very obvious with the bird in your hand. By far the most accurate method and the one that we use for most birds is a technique called skulling. This technique allows one to age birds based upon the amount of pneumatization in the sections of skull over the brain. When a young bird fledges there is a single layer of bone over the brain. Pneumatization is the gradual formation of a second layer of bone over the brain. We can see this bone formation through the skin and therefore judge a bird to be a juvenile (hatch year bird) based upon this observation. Tables are available for each species which tells us between which months skull pneumatization occurs. Enough about that for now. Here are this weeks lists, and some photos to enjoy:

Birds Banded:

Doe Flat
Dark-eyed junco (Oregon)
Macgillivray's warbler 2
Purple finch 2
Hermit warbler 4
Warbling vireo 2
Swainson's thrush 3
Willow flycatcher 1
American Robin 1
Pine siskin 2

Hocker Flat
Macgillivray's warbler 5
Yellow warbler 1
Song sparrow 3
Wrentit 5 (including 3 recently fledged birds)

Indian Valley
Dark-eyed Junco 2 (Oregon, 1 fledgling)
Chipping sparrow 1
Nashville warbler 5
Orange-crowned warbler 1
Yellow warbler 4
Macgillivray's warbler 4
Hermit warbler 4
Cassin's vireo 2
Dusky flycatcher 2
Red-breasted sapsucker 1
Allen's Hummingbird 3
Calliope Hummingbird 1
Bushtit 3 (2 fledglings)
Purple finch 2
Fox sparrow 2 (pacific thick billed)
Audubon's warbler 2
Spotted Towhee 2

Swainson's Thrush banded at Doe Flat in No CA, near the Oregon border

Cassin's Vireo banded at Indian Valley

A Beautiful after second year (ASY) male calliope hummingbird caught at Indian Valley

Checking a Yellow warbler for molt limits. This is an obvious second year bird. Notice the contrasting feathers in the alulas (the elbow of the wing) The yellow feathers are fresh feather while the darker feathers were retained from the previous year indicating this is a second year bird. This birds also shows alternate breeding plumage in the coverts.

Lucy Rowe demonstrating how not to hold an owl, that is unless you want a painful reminder just what those talons are for. A Northern Pygmy Owl at Burney Falls (Photo provided by Lucy Rowe)

(Photo by Lucy Rowe)

An Adult Oregon Junco Near Big Springs

Hatch year Oregon Junco near Big Springs

Pretty much all I do is look at birds!!!

2009-06-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

This was a busy week for the banding team as we visited 4 sites in northern California. We headed out of Arcata on Monday for a five hour drive across the central valley and up to a site called Burney Falls. The site is actually about 5 miles from the falls in a beautiful isolated meadow surrounded by mountains. The site was pretty birdy with loads of purple finches and warblers. Olive sided flycatchers, Nutall's and Acorn woodpeckers, and a bald eagle were also good sights. From here we headed out to the falls, one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Nesting behind the falls were a colony of black swifts, the largest US swift that primarily nests behind (are you ready?) waterfalls. The next morning we banded at Big Springs in Lassen National Forest about an hour from the falls. After a bout of rain early in the morning we were able to open the nets and band. Highlights were willow flycatcher in the net and a pygmy nuthatch nest near the banding station. We headed back across the valley and south east the next morning to Indian Valley, a beautiful isolated creek surrounded by willow thickets and rich with bird life. Birds of interest that we banded were a western tanager and 2 epidonax species of flycatcher Dusky, and Hammon's. We flushed a Northern Pygmy owl while checking the nets and a Great Horned owl sang us to sleep. The last site brought us down out of the mountains to the Trinity River to a place called Burney Road. This site was beautiful but with few birds. We were all tired from camping out for the last 4 nights and the heat and swampy trails were getting to us. The following is a list of all birds banded by the team this week as well as some photos. Enjoy!!

Big Springs
song sparrow 6
yellow warbler 2
fox sparrow (thick billed) 1
dark-eyed junco (Oregon) 1
orange-crowned warbler 2
yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon's) 1
pine siskin 2
lazuli bunting 1
red-breasted sapsucker 1
Brewer's blackbird 2
American robin 1
Allan's hummingbird 1
willow flycatcher 1

Burney Falls
spotted towhee 4
western wood peewee 2
song sparrow 3
purple finch 17
bushtit 1
Nashville warbler 1
black-throated grey warbler 2
lesser goldfinch 1
oak titmouse 1
lazuli bunting 1
black-headed grosbeak 2
hairy woodpecker 1
red-winged blackbird 1
orange-crowned warbler 1

Indian Valley
purple finch 3
yellow warbler 3
fox sparrow (thick billed) 5
Nashville warbler 3
hermit warbler 4
pine siskin 2
lazuli bunting 3
Macgillivray's warbler 1
western tanager 1
black-headed grosbeak 1
spotted towhee 1
American robin 1
dusky flycatcher 4
Hammon's flycatcher 1
Anna's hummingbird 1

Hawker Road
downy woodpecker 1
song sparrow 5
Macgillivray's warbler 3
spotted towhee 1
yellow-breasted chat 1
wrentit 1

black-throated grey warbler at Burney Falls (Photo taken by Lucy Rowe)

pygmy nuthatch at Big Springs (notice this bird has a band on its leg)

hermit warbler at Big Springs

Nashville warbler at Burney Falls

Lazuli Bunting at Indian Valley

On my days off earlier this week I headed out to Clam Beach to try and find the Snowy Plovers. Snowy Plovers are federally endangered and are threatened by loss of habitat. They are also in danger of being struck by vehicles that ride on the beach of which there are many (Can't we keep our cars on the roads?). They build their nests right in front of the dunes and are very hard to see due to their cryptic coloration. I was also able to photograph these birds:

California Gulls at Clam Beach, CA

White-Crowned Sparrow at Clam Beach, CA

Wrentit at Clam Beach, CA

California (foreground) and Western (background) Gulls at Clam Beach, CA

2009-06-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

This week's banding sites included some of the higher elevation sites (6000 feet) that we work at in Northern California. We banded at two natural high elevation wet meadows dominated by mixed conifers and willow thickets, great for breeding warblers and sparrows. The sites were Plaskett Meadows and Masterson. We had our busiest days this season capturing 36 birds and Plaskett Meadows and a remarkable 58 birds at Masterson.

Plaskett:
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Rumped Warbler (Audubon's Race)
Orange Crowned Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Lincoln's Sparrow
Fox Sparrow (Pacific thick billed race)
Purple Finch
Robin
Stellar's Jay
Black Headed Grosbeak
Warbling Vireo
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Mountain Chickadee
Red-Breasted Sapsucker
McGillavry's warbler
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon Race)
Red-Breasted Nuthatch

Masterson:
Hermit Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Orange Crowned Warbler (including an entire nest of fledglings in one net!)
Yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon's Race)
Lincoln Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
American Robin
Fox Sparrow (Pacific thick billed race)
Black-headed grosbeak
Red-Breasted Sapsucker
Dusky flycatcher
Pine Siskin

Olive-Sided Flycatcher at Plaskett Meadows, CA(very unusual to catch in the nets, one of my favorite birds)

Stellar's Jay at Plaskett Meadows, CA

Fox Sparrow at Plaskett Meadows (note the thick finch-like bill in this race)

Mountain Chickadee at Plaskett Meadows

Yellow Warbler at Plaskett Meadows

Campsite at Masterson Meadow in CA

A few pics that I shot in Samoa, CA near my house. Enjoy!!

Caspian Tern - Samoa, CA

Barn Swallow - Samoa, CA

2009-06-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

Untangling a bird in a mist net can be quite a difficult process. Many birds hit the net and fall into the bag area between the trammel lines. It is a matter of realizing which way the bird entered the net, grasping the body, and beginning to remove the netting from a wing. With one wing free, the bird can be more securely handled to extract the head, the other wing and the feet. This is the best case scenario. I am finding that many birds get far more tangled. Song sparrows for example like to ball up the net with their feet, sometimes grabbing their own wing which makes it difficult to free. Chickadees sometimes enter the net and in an attempt to fly, spin around and around before grabbing the netting with their feet. Even worse are wrens with their tiny wings that can easily fit through multiple holes in the netting. Some birds that hit the net just right can swing in one net bag down to the one below and get tangled in that one. You must thus untangle two separate layers of net and it can be difficult to judge just which way the bird can enter. Nonetheless, I am getting the hang of it. I feel more confident than I did my first day out, especially with the larger birds. I will get plenty practice this week as we are heading out to the Masterdon banding site up in the mountains which is supposed to be one of the busiest. Here are some pictures of birds that we netted this week:

Audubon's Warbler - CA

Black-headed Grosbeak - CA

Female Hairy Woodpecker - CA

Yellow-breasted Chat, CA

Willow Flycatcher - CA

This weekend I went on an Audubon Bird Walk at the
Arcata Marsh and found some interesting stuff including these guys below:

Cliff Swallow - Arcata marsh, CA

Cinnamon Teal - Arcata marsh, CA

2009-05-31T14:14:00.001-07:00

I started a bird banding internship this week in northern California. I have been training all week. One of the most important aspects of banding birds is to be able to properly age a bird based upon the plumage that the bird is wearing. In order to do this one must be aware of the different molts that a bird goes through throughout it's life history. We focused on two strategies common amongst passerines; the Complex Basic Strategy (CBS), and the Complex Alternative Strategy (CAS). The vast majority of birds go through a yearly entire replacement of feathers, or a prebasic molt which produces basic plumage. Some birds additionally go through a prealternate molt producing alternate plumage. An example of the latter is the male American goldfinch which goes through a prealternate molt in early spring to produce the vibrant yellow plumage worn during the breeding season.
It is also important to realize that a young bird exhibits slight variations to the molting schedule which can aid in age identification. A bird hatches in natal down which quickly goes through a prejuvenile molt which leads to juvenile plumage. Approximately 3 weeks to a month later, most birds go through the 1st prebasic molt which leads to 1st prebasic plumage. This differs from the adult prebasic plumage in that the flight feathers (primaries and retrices) are retained. So if you have a bird in hand from mist netting and it possesses juvenile plumage in the flight feathers, and 1st prebasic plumage in the rest of the body, then you know that it is a young bird.
This is just a brief intro to some of the techniques available to us to aid us in aging a bird. I plan to describe more once I am more familiar with them. For now, some pictures to enjoy:

White-Crowned Sparrow in Samoa, CA

Black Phoebe in Samoa, CA