In his talk on bird names Ken asked the question, “What is a species?” I answered that the answer is evolving. On my latest podcast episode I talk with Dr. Geoffrey Hill, a professor at Auburn University, who proposes that the compatability of the DNA in the mitochondria, 100% from the female, and the DNA in the nucleus, equally from the male and female (sort of but not really as in birds a lot of the DNA that codes for proteins used in the mitochondrial functioning and structure are coded for on the male sex chromosome, males are ZZ and females Zy). I write about this on a BirdBaner.com blog post and we talk about it on the podcast episode. If you’re interested in speciation I think you’ll find it pretty cool stuff. Link to my blog post summarizing my understanding of this theory.
After Ed Pullen’s Bird Banter podcast interviewed Dalton Spencer, we realized we needed to go birding with Dalton before he left for college in Montana in August! You can never tell when an 18-year-old whiz kid will end up, and we wanted to be able to say we knew him when! Dalton seemed kind of surprised that we would want him to lead a field trip, but we were right about him! We set out to Lewis County on June 22, 2019.
The field trip to Lewis County ABC participants
Dalton led 4 carloads of ABC’ers with co-spotter Rachel Hudson, also a whiz kid from south of here. And the reports were not wrong!
They led us to Schaefer County Park, Centralia-Goodrich Road, Fort Borst Park, and Chandler Road, as well as lesser stops where they knew the odds were good for target species. Check out the eBird lists, which also include some of Rachel’s incredible photos:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S57634388
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S57634486
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S57634591
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S57634643
More photos from Diane are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/76552838@N03/albums/72157709226298557
Dalton took us to the river, or rather several rivers, starting with Skookumchuck, then Chehalis River and Lincoln Creek and everything in between.
Highlights were Red-breasted Sapsuckers of all ages everywhere! A Black-headed Grosbeak sitting on a nest! Nesting Orioles! An Anna’s Hummer on a nest! Baby Downy Woodpeckers, baby Bushtits, baby Creepers, baby everything!
Red-breasted Sapsuckers were THE woodpeckers of the day
The culmination of the day was at the cemetery on Chandler Road where the hoped-for Hermit Warbler was heard immediately by our intrepid leaders, then seen by all. A little confusion ensued over a hybrid hanging around with the Hermit, but the hybrid was mostly Hermit, not the more typical HETO with streaking on the front.
Hermit Warbler! A lifer for some of us. (Photo/Rachel Hudson)
Hermits still haven’t been swamped out at this site. A life for several of our group!
Not just one Kestrel, but at least 3! (Photo/Rachel Hudson)
The day ended with a closer look at a Lazuli Bunting, to make up for an incredibly distant look earlier. Everyone went home very happy!
On June 11, 2019, ABC shared a close-up encounter with endangered birds of Hawai’i with Clarice and Jerry, who volunteered to work on a couple of different islands with various endangered species, a category into which most native species fall for various reasons.
6-11-19 – Jerry & Clarice educate ABC about Hawai’i
Clarice described finding a worthwhile project for them. They both have lots of projects on their resume including banding in most of the central America nations. She was frustrated by many of the potential projects that not only wanted you to pay all your own expenses but subsidize the project and then do mostly housework and cleanup. At last they found these Hawai’i projects that seemed to be the answer. Of course the terrain turned out to be not only roadless, but impassable, requiring helicopters part of the time!
6-11-19 – Clarice and Cali try to find trails
And what’s with those Nomex flight suits requiring particular underwear anyway? Clarice quoted the New York Times mentioning that journalists and photographers following the researchers can’t take it — one had to be flown out after 24 hours, as if she were “used to pine trees or something, or trails.”
6-11-19 – Clarice second from right in heli flight suit6-11-19 – Home above the mosquitos
The endemic birds of the islands have a long history of serious challenges, one of the first major ones being the arrival of Captain Cook in 1778, with many extinct species from that time only identifiable from subfossils (not quite completely fossilized yet). Exotic species since then have had their way with the birdlife, including ungulates, cats, and worst of all — mosquitoes bringing avian malaria, which is why you can barely find any native honeycreeper species below 5000 feet, an altitude that is climbing with global warming. They all descend from Asiatic Rosefinches on Oahu before Kaui was even a blog in the ocean, and there were no mammalian predators or mosquitos. Species which have colonized the islands in more recent times sometimes have some immunity to mosquitos, but not to the other threats. But not all mosquitos are as bad as the Culex genus, which kills 93% of I’iwis that get bitten, the most iconic red honeycreeper of all. Various methods of control are being invented including baits (“stinky” water) and even recordings!
6-11-19 – Before Captain Cook (1778)
The good news is that there seems to be the will to save these birds, citing recent avoidable extinctions as a rallying cry. The new rat traps that really work (see video) are good news! But those cats that develop a particular taste for seabird fledglings are an even bigger problem than the usual very bad outdoor cats, whether feral or pet (but indoor cats are fine pets). Toxoplasmosis is hitting the population pretty badly as well, and it is spread almost entirely by cats (read the article for the complicated method of spreading). Pig wallows and exotic plant and tree invasions are somewhat successfully being countered with special fencing and re-terraforming the islands.
6-11-19 – A surprising way to save birds with laser lights
The Seabird Recovery Plan took them down to sea level. The problems include cats and Barn Owls (which were introduced to take care of the rats!), as well as lack of food, which stable isotope analysis tracked persuasively to the arrival of humans who also ate fish. Stable isotope analysis also can tell what a cat eats, which is how they found out there are seabird chick specialists among the cats. Collisions with power lines surprisingly are a major threat. Adding lasers or LED deflectors seems to be a possible way to go.
6-11-19 – Albatross successfully relocate!
Midway Island is undergoing translocations of albatross colonies away from missile ranges and also to O’ahu to save them from the rising seas threatening the lower elevation Midway. Luckily, the Albatross have no problem with being moved!
June 11, 2019 – An assortment of Hawai’i shirts (including the back of Terry’s shirt featuring the state fish)
Last Wednesday my condo in Tacoma was a stopover for a small flock of Willettes. Diane, Faye and Laurel came by to drink wine (with bird labels of course), watch the sailboat races, and record an episode of the podcast. Fun was had by all and I hope you’ll enjoy the episode.
