Birdathon '09

Below is my report for last Saturday's Birdathon trip:


On Saturday, May 2nd, “The Murre the Merrier” Birdathon team spent thirteen hours seeking as many species of birds as possible while traveling from Hillsboro to the Coast and back. It rained during much of the day and the species total was smaller than that of the previous year, but the number of "exciting" species was high and everyone had a great time. We began the day at Dawson Creek Park, where we found reliable birds such as Acorn Woodpeckers and Ring-necked Ducks, in addition to Anna’s Hummingbird and Lesser Goldfinch, which had been missed on our previous Birdathons.
After loading into our vehicles, we entered the coast range and stopped at a rest area near the Nehalem River. As we walked along a forest trail, we listened to singing Varied Thrushes and Black-throated Gray Warblers. We “enticed” one of the warblers in for a closer view before moving on to the next stop. After a pause at Klootchy Creek, we arrived in Cannon Beach and marched straight for Haystack Rock.


We quickly spotted Tufted Puffins near their nesting burrows. A small flock of Brown Pelicans passed by and we moved to the other side of the rock in search of Harlequin Ducks.

Photo by Jill Neson-DeBord

We saw plenty of Common Murres and Pelagic Cormorants, but no Harlequins, so we prepared to move on to our other stops. As were about to leave, Sarah spotted six ducks at the base of the rock.


They turned out to be five male Harlequins chasing around a single hen! The males were in brilliant breeding plumage and made for the most memorable sighting of the day.
We moved on to the Cannon Beach Settling Ponds where we spent a few minutes spotting ducks and listening to singing Marsh Wrens and Golden-crowned Kinglets. Our next stop was the Nehalem treatment ponds which held flocks of Northern Shovelers and Red-necked Phalaropes swimming in circles to stir up food. As the sun emerged, a Bald Eagle chased a pair of Osprey and a Northern Harrier hunted a field east of the ponds. We ate lunch at Wheeler, then moved on to Tillamook Bay. We pulled off of the road at a cluster of rocks known as the Three Graces.


The rain had resumed, but we found several new birds including Purple Finches, Brandt’s Cormorants, Pigeon Guillemots, Common Loons, and, most surprising of all, a Red-throated Loon in breeding plumage.
We found Black Turnstones and Western Tanagers at the Pacific Oyster Company dock, stopped for coffee in Tillamook, then birded Bayocean Spit. The tide was low and the birds were far from shore, but we were able to find a few Northern Pintails and a single Brant in the bay. We drove uphill to Cape Meares and were greeted by wind gusts that threatened to blow us back down to the bay. Cliff-nesting birds, such as pelagic cormorants hugged the rocks for protection from the wind.

Photo by Jill Neson-DeBord

After a quick walk to the lighthouse, we returned to the parking lot and drove down to Netarts Bay. We picked up Red-breasted Mergansers and an immature Barrow’s Goldeneye as we drove along the bay. At Whalen Island, we located a Brown-Headed Cowbird in its usual spot, but found few other birds, so we drove to Sarah’s parents’ beach house in Pacific City. After some searching, we found an Orange-crowned Warbler behind the house and a Red Crossbill perched on a spruce tree across the street.
As it neared 7:00 pm, we began the drive home. We stopped at the Tillamook River rest area where we found our 100th bird the year before. We added a Brown Creeper to our list and later spotted some Common Mergansers along the Wilson River. At our last stop, we topped off our species list at 86 with a flock of Cliff Swallows east of Banks. Those who finished the trip at Hillsboro said their goodbyes and we look forward to seeing each other again at the Birdathon banquet next month.

Birds seen or heard:

Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Brown Pelican
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Brant
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Harlequin Duck
Bufflehead
Barrow's Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Black Oystercatcher
Western Sandpiper
Red-necked Phalarope
Black Turnstone
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Tufted Puffin
Rock Dove
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Acorn Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warblers
Wilson's Warbler
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Purple Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Obtaining Owls and Finding Flycatchers

Today I found a great video on Science Friday's website showing the tedious nature of capturing cavity-nesting birds.



This video brings back a lot of memories from a project I worked on in a similar forest in Arizona where I saw my first and only, flammulated owl nesting in an aspen cavity.


Speaking of bird work, it looks like I will be conducting extended field work on birds this summer for the first time in four years.


Once the mountain of paperwork and logistics is cleared, I will have a grant from the state to investigate nesting habitat use of willow flycatchers in response to restoration of Geyer willow in Killin Wetlands, where I have been conducting volunteer bird counts for the last few summers.



This will be like a part-time job to supplement my Forest Service work, which does not get me outside very often. Full-time research biology work is nearly impossible to find in the Portland area, so I have had to piece together a position of my own design,which has worked out so far. A larger salary and job security would be nice, but these days I can't complain.

Back to the Beach

We spent last weekend at Pacific City to scout the area for our upcoming Birdathon trip and survey beached birds along our routes.


We saw more bald eagles than during any previous beach weekend. Most were immatures, like the one above that was eating a fish in a tree near the beach house.

While surveying Bob Straub State Park, we found two birds that had reached our coast from the Pacific Islands.


A sooty shearwater, a surface feeding and diving bird that nests on islands near New Zealand,


and a massive, black-footed albatross, which breeds from Hawaii to Japan.

Neighborhood Nests

A day after my hummingbird banding adventure, I found another Anna's hummingbird nest near our apartment.


It is in an oak that is a few meters west of the oak that held last year's nest.

Two large nestlings are packed into the tiny nest, almost ready to fledge. I snapped a few pictures from a safe distance until their mother buzzed me away.

Closer to our apartment, I found a pair of bushtits hard a work on a nest in another oak. Most of their nests are built in conifers such as Doug firs and redcedars and this is the first I have seen in an ornamental oak.

The birds are busy these days. I also found a white-crowned sparrow bringing material to these shrubs. I have never seen an actual white-crowned nest because they hide them well. To avoid disturbing the parents, I will not look for the nest, but revisit to watch for parents carrying food during the nestling period.

The nesting crows are flying around as a pair, so they must not be incubating yet. Any day the female will disappear as she tends to her eggs.

Hummingbird Heaven

Hummingbirds were a central theme of my recent Tucson trip. Southestern Arizona is serious hummingbird country, where 18 species have been seen, more than in any other state except Texas.


I attended a day of hummingbird talks and workshops on Thursday, viewed numerous Anna's and black-chinned hummingbirds on Friday, and presented data from our New Mexico black-chinned hummingbird studies, including the climate change slide above, on Saturday.

On Sunday morning, I woke at 4:20 and drove from my friends' house in north Tucson to parking lot of Sabino Canyon in the Santa Catalina Mountains.


The desert morning was beautiful. The birdsong and sunlight on the cacti were well worth the sleep deprivation.

Another visiting hummingbird biologist and I joined volunteer bander Elissa Fazio, her intern, and two volunteer assistants for a morning of trapping.


The banding area was a perfect blend of riparian and desert scrub habitats, attracting numerous birds such as the Bell's vireos that were singing all around us.


We set up traps around two large feeders in a grove of large Gooding's willows along the Creek.


The traps consited of a circular curtain that could be raised and lowered over the trap. When a bird landed to feed, the curtain was dropped and we reached in to remove the birds, place them in a bag, and deliver them to Elissa for identification and banding.


The birds were identified, sexed, and banded. Before releasing the birds Elissa and her intern gave them a drink from the feeder. We snapped numerous photos as the little birds gained their bearings before buzzing away.


We captured a female Anna's hummingbird, a species currently found both in Portland and Tucson following a rapid range expansion.


Black-chinned hummingbirds nest in riparian woodlands throughout the western US. We captured several females and one male, above. Since this is one of my "study species" I was happy to see them up close once again.


My favorite species of the day was the broad-billed hummingbird. The Santa Cruz watershed, which surrounds Tucson, is the northern limit of their breeding range. Broad-bills nest in riparian woodlands and adjacent desert scrub.


Males and females have pink bills with black tips. You can see from this photo where they get their name.


We all oohed and awed at the brilliant males broad-bills. Even Elissa, who has banded hundreds of these little guys could not get over their good looks.

After a busy couple hours of banding, the birds slowed their activity as the morning began to warm. My flight departed at noon, so I left the operation early to drive to the airport. I could not ask for a better way to end my trip.

Back from the Desert

Yesterday I returned from a five day trip to Tucson, Arizona where I attended the Cooper Ornithological Society meetings. I reconnected with many friends and colleagues, found some great birds, and gained a bit of speaking practice.

I flew into Tucson Wednesday afternoon, grabbed my rental car, and drove up to Molino Basin in the Santa Catalina Mountains.


I drove through saguaro cactus stands and found a nice riparian woodland full of migrating warblers and broad-billed hummingbirds.


While in Tucson, I stayed with my friends TJ and Karie. Their house is surrounded by some nice desert scrubland full of chollas, barrel cacti, and saguaros.

The next morning I woke early to attend the Western Hummingbird Project's symposium and workshop.


I learned a lot about hummingbird biology at the talks and we broke into groups to discuss research and management needs for this much-understudied family of birds.


On Friday, I woke even earlier and birded the Sweetwater Treatment Plant Wetlands.




With a great mix of wetland, riparian, and desert scrub habitat, I racked up dozens of bird species, including the resident Harris's hawk above.


The Santa Cruz River passes near the wetlands. Most of the stream bed is dry, but effluent from the plant is discharged in one location, creating some streamflow and riparian vegetation. The mesquite, willow, and cottonwood trees lining the effluent flow were full of migratory birds as well.

On Saturday I gave talks at two symposia, one focusing on climate change and another on wildfire. I have been working on these presentations for months and now that they are finished, I will take a day or two off from bird biology, then start on my next projects.


Yesterday I helped with some hummingbird monitoring at Sabino Canyon before flying back to Portland. More on that later.

Crow Nest

For the first time since we moved here, American crows are building a nest in our apartment complex.


The nest is being constructed in the Doug fir farthest to the right.

As you can see in the background, it has been quite stormy here this week. Luckily, it has not slowed down the birds.