On October 20th, Adam and I went north to the known crow roost at UW-Bothell (see last year’s report: http://abcbirding.com/harrowing-halloween-happening/). This is absolutely the best way get your haunted house fix, because this is REAL!

It was every bit as frightening and exciting as last year, with the addition of rain this time! Didn’t stop the crows! And they didn’t come any earlier than expected, either. Since we got there early (an hour before sundown time of 6:11 PM), it seemed like nothing was happening, but as we despaired, they started flowing toward us. Just before sunset, the flow was huge, coming from the northwest, and we were surrounded. Upon arrival, they circled us, looking for a personal spot. The surrounding trees and pavement of the parking terrace were already covered. The noise was deafening and sinister and would make a good soundtrack for a horror film. Crows are technically songbirds, but this music was strictly from the percussion section of the band.

They somehow reminded me of Vaux’s Swifts coming in to roost, a little less organized, but arriving in a steady one-directional stream headed straight for us! Then groups of about a hundred each would swirl a bit, parting before us in clockwise and counterclockwise tribututaries before finding a tree or building to claim. Like the swifts, they didn’t seem to have a particular leader, but instead chased those they wanted to harass, which were many!

The top of the parking garage where this was happening is surrounded on 2 sides by a wetland park, and the campus itself has many trees. But at that moment, the center of universe was right where we were standing. Rather than feeling like gods, though, we felt more like we were in the witch’s boiling cauldron. About 20 minutes after sundown when we were really starting to wonder what their plans were for us, everything abruptly stopped! Frozen in place, the crows just halted where they were and became silent and still. Darkness descended, but the crows who were on the parking pavement with us just stood there in the rain like statues. The surrounding trees all had crow-like ornaments on their branches, now faint black outlines in the drizzling night. This was at 6:35 PM, about 25 minutes past sunset. We realized there were at least 3 other carloads of onlookers as we left, so we’re not the only ones who appreciated the free show.

We had to travel to Bothell to find this fantastic roost, but really we were glad we didn’t live in a roost. It’s just for Halloween for us.
Check out more of our photos and videos at: https://tinyurl.com/y2abyq6t

ABC’s MOVIE NIGHT, September 18, 2019

“From Billions to None,” documenting the demise of the Passenger Pigeon was shown to ABC. The film had some excellent re-creations of the birds darkening the sky, simulating many eyewitness accounts. The concept of extinction and the extent of our culpability were explored, with one scientist postulating that the loss of Passenger Pigeons may have allowed the spread of Lyme disease that is happening now. The railroad enhanced the speed at which the birds were dispatched, along with the concurrent extirpation of the bison.

The film briefly looked at the artists who are bringing back extinct species to our senses, as well as actual researchers seeking to de-extinct Passenger Pigeons using DNA from museum specimens and Band-tailed Pigeon hybridization. So far, this has produced no birds, but the concept is expanding to other species now (Woolly mammoths, for example).

Joe Tieger remarked after the meeting ended that the take-away for him was when one of the scientists interviewed remarked that we (humans) are the equivalent of the comet that wiped out the dinosaurs.

After the film, we relaxed with two short subjects, the oft-watched Goshawk flying through incredibly narrow spaces easily, followed by our “cartoon” feature on flying penguins, which everyone enjoyed. Ed played the stooge at the end by asking, “Is that true?”

Ed Pullen opened the meeting, introducing Eric Dudley, currently the WOS president, to lead the book discussion. Some short announcements were made. Diane let the group know about the recent deaths of Melody Mayer and Bill Scheidt, which were quite a shock about this power couple.

Book cover

The discussion was very well attended and lively, to say the least, with no holds barred. Eric opened by talking about Kenn Kaufman and his previous books, especially his wild and wildly successful description of his first Big Year (and one of the first publicized Big Years ever), “Kingbird Highway.” Since much of Kenn Kaufman’s new book revolved around spring warbler migration at McGee Marsh in northwest Ohio and the fairly new “Biggest Week in Birding” festival there, which has just exploded, we were lucky to have many people in attendance who had birded there or nearby. In fact, Shep Thorp, who works nights and is unable to attend our meetings, takes a group every year, and we heard all about that. Accommodations near McGee Marsh are sparse, so info was exchanged among our group on where to stay and where to eat. Surrounding hotspots such as Point Pelee were also discussed.

Art and Laurel show off McGee shirts. Laurel’s has her birds check off!

A funny aside is that a large percentage of birders in attendance were wearing McGee Marsh or eastern warbler t-shirts, not just the Willettes! Laurel even had the warblers that she had seen in 2 consecutive years checked off on her shirt!

Continue reading →

Trip leader Dalton Spencer stops for lunch

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!

The Kingfisher Kids (Photo/Rachel Hudson)

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.

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!

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.”

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!

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.

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.

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!

IMPORTANT LINKS!!

The fund-raising shirt:
https://www.bonfire.com/birds-not-rats-1/?fbclid=lwAR1ihorlLaQMdlTTeUiAZQqZHq3gKy6V4MUTxg-GN8BVcM0GCjTrNBmUlxl

The feral cat problem (and also see ABC’s previous summer read, Cat Wars, by Smithsonian ornithologist Peter Marra):
https://www.outsideonline.com/2127956/hawaiis-crazy-war-over-zombie-cats

What researchers have to contend with in the shorebird nesting sites:
https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2018/one-scientists-valiant-mission-save-two-hawaiis

RAT TRAPS THAT WORK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZedgyTsk-uw

On April 17th, Joe and Maggie Tieger took us along with them on their recent trip to Madagascar, the fourth largest islands in the world and isolated enough (250 miles off Africa’s east coast) to be stuffed with endemics, both fauna and flora.

Tropical Birding Tours was very good to them, not cancelling the tour when more people didn’t sign up, so they had two excellent guides to themselves. They were able to see an extraordinary number of endemics of all types including most of the birds, lemurs, lizards, and plants, but the wrong season for the famous frogs, alas!

They started out their slide show with an overview of Madagascar, history, climate, culture, etc. It’s one of the poorest places on earth, human-wise, and the infrastructure shows it, including traffic, sanitation, and lack of upkeep on wildlife refuges. They did have some good accommodations in the first half of their circuit of the country, but in the second half there was a lot lacking and some resultant illness.

About the time some of us were thinking we’d never go there, they started in on lemurs, and suddenly we were enthralled again! The lemurs were truly magical and many of them quite approachable, as humans were not on their predator radar. Sizes ranged from mouse-size to almost human scale, with those long talented tails on most, but surprisingly not all. The lizards were also amazing and varied.

Birds were fabulous. Many of them appeared to be African species, but recent DNA has shown their isolation has made new species or subspecies, so many endemics. In fact, 90% of the birds are endemic species or subspecies! These include several Kingfishers, and Carole Breedlove was on hand to appreciate seeing them again after including Madagascar on her world travel for Kingfishers.

The Vangas were the equivalent of Darwin’s finches for Madagascar. All descending from the original Vanga, the many current species imitate finches, flycatchers, woodpeckers, and many other types of birds. And many are beautiful, too.

One interesting aside about photographing birds is that the guides on this trip had very bright flashlights and used those instead of flash photography. Joe explained that most of their shots were lit this way and how much easier it was to focus and click on an item already lit up for the camera.

When they got home, they put together a photo book in lieu of printing their best shots. It was one of the best photo books I’ve ever seen and the ultimate souvenir for a birder.
Thanks, Joe and Maggie!

Willettes representing WOS and Young Birders Fund

Will Brooks presents to ABC

Will Brooks, ace birder and student at UPS, presented to ABC on March 26, 2019, his research findings, “Song Recognition in a new White-crowned Sparrow Hybrid Zone: Studying Hybrid by Hybrid.”

Plumage differences

This project was helped along when Will received last year’s Washington Ornithological Society (WOS) Patrick Sullivan Young Birder’s Fund award. Tom Mansfield, speaking for Andy and Ellen Stepnewski and the PSYBF, said, “Will is a super person in addition to being an extremely talented birder. You can all be so proud of Will, as we are. Will epitomizes our profile of a PSYBF honoree. I know your ABC will learn much and enjoy the opportunity to meet and see Will.” In fact, Will showed a slide of his recording equipment, which he said was purchased with the WOS fund and made his astute analyses possible.

Subspecies dialects

Those of us who attended can now tell you all kinds of info about the songs of pugetensis and gambelii subspecies and whether they hybridize and where. These two subspecies are the two found in Washington and other parts of the western U.S., sometimes in overlapping areas. The sonograms showed that pugetensis has many dialects, but gambelii mainly just one. Song recognition varied as well, a factor in hybridization.

Will m

Recording equipment made possible by grant from WOS Young Birders Fund

entioned that he studied Hybrid by Hybrid by driving his Prius all over the Cascades, using playback of both subspecies and testing and recording reactions. Of course he had the fabled birder story of a flat tire in a no-cell region and finding his car did not have a spare! Luckily someone came by and rescued him!
He showed a map showing where the 10 of 13 pugetensis dialects principally occur. We have type #5 here.

Study sites

After hearing both subspecies, including several dialects of pugetensis, we’ve been educated! We now know what to watch for in appearance and songs of these beautiful sparrows.

Conclusions

Will ended his talk with some conclusions and a list of what’s next for him, including finishing up a few details, tying it in with genetics, and getting the research published in a journal.

SERGIO BRINGS HIS RAPTORS TO ABC, February 5, 2019

Mike Walker introduces Sergio Seipke of Raptours to the ABC group on Feb 5, 2019

Sergio Seipke brought his stories of raptor-watching all over the world to ABC on February 5. His enthusiasm for these species led him, with famous raptor guy Bill Clark, to start Raptours. Our own Mike Walker had been on two of his trips and knew Sergio would be in the northwest about now doing the Skagit winter raptors with Bud Anderson, so he grabbed him to do a presentation for us!

Letter-winged Kite, one of many slides of various kites of the world

We were all astounded at Sergio’s experience and deep knowledge of these birds, not to mention his super photos and videos!

Vultures inviting us to the Himalayas!

His opening slide was of the most iconic raptor in the world, the elusive Harpy Eagle, along with Harpy stories, of curse. His slides also included one of his Argentinian riverside home which he described as Eden, with Raptors flying along the river right in front of the house. When he showed a slide of the gorgeous Black and White Eagle (or Hawk-Eagle to some), he admitted this was his favorite bird.

His many slides of Kites included Swallow-tailed Kites (featured on Raptours’ logo), which many of us have seen in Florida. Upon questioning, Sergio revealed his deep knowledge of the species, saying there are 5 separate populations which completely different ranges and migration patterns.
Sergio’s love of vultures led him to the Himalayas! His joy in this area planted a few seeds among ABC’ers. Then to Madagascar with its famed endemics!
Interestingly, Sergio wasn’t as keen on Veracruz, the Mexican migration bottleneck that many of us were hoping to visit. Apparently the birds fly very high there, making it difficult to see them well, let alone photograph.
It was also fun to see Mike and Bud in photos of some of the Raptours groups that Sergio spearheaded, and then to see a bunch of northwesterners in the Skagit census groups that Sergio joined. At the time of this posting, that event may have been canceled this year due to Snowmageddon, but we hope they were able to get some good figures anyway.

Sergio with some of his biggest fans, the Willettes!

In the question-and-answer time at the end, Sergio was asked about and showed his current equipment, although he apparently uses others as well. He is currently using Zeiss binoculars and Canon cameras. Upon Faye’s question about photographing with a smartphone, he let us know that most of the little videos were digiscoped with a smartphone!
Check out Sergio’s website: http://www.raptoursllc.com/
Thanks, Sergio!

February 5, 2019, 6:45 PM, University of Puget Sound, Thompson Hall, room 175, suggested $10 contribution for expenses and for room use.

Join us to welcome Sergio Seipke of Raptours, who is in the state with Bill Clark to enjoy the raptors of western Washington, hosted by Bud Anderson of Falcon Research Group, whom we all know.

Bill Clark and Sergio Seipke at the Platte River (courtesy RapTours)

Sergio will talk discuss “Five Years Hawkwatching Around the World.”  He says, “I will share raptorial highlights in our tours from 2014 to 2018. This talk features a number of raptor photographs, landscape pics, anecdotes and some funny facts of the destinations Raptours has been to as a company. In other words, a collage of raptor images taken in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Nepal, Panama, South Africa, Thailand, and the USA.”  Sergio will also discuss the 19 diurnal birds of prey of Madagascar briefly, where he will lead a tour next November/December.

World raptor expert and wildlife photographer Bill Clark founded Raptours in the 1990s to cater to birders who have a particular interest in birds of prey. In 2006 Bill co-led a tour with Sergio Seipke in northern Argentina. Bill then suggested to Sergio that he should offer raptor tours as a means to help fund his Raptors of South America field guide project. The idea was an appealing one: small tours would be perfect to be in the field and collect data for the book. So, Sergio started offering raptor tours himself to destinations in South America following Raptours’ guiding style and philosophy.

In February 2013 Sergio formally organized Raptours, L.L.C., in Lincoln, Nebraska, and now owns the company. Sergio says, “This resulted in a new and very exciting phase of my raptor career. Since 2005 to date I have designed, organized, and led or co-led raptor tours in eight countries in four continents.

“Raptors have inspired me to travel. I’ve watched, studied, photographed and enjoyed raptors in 13 countries including Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Germany, Panama, South Africa, Thailand, the U.K., and the U.S.A. While mother taught me to speak Spanish, raptors made me fluent in English and Portuguese. I have met many inspiring individuals in my travels ranging from superstar international raptor experts to impressively knowledgeable local naturalists. Not that I am counting, but as of March 2015 I have seen 192 species of raptors. OK, maybe I am counting them, after all.”

SPRING BIRDS OF ISRAEL

Bird Migration map by Yossi Leshem of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel

The ABC meeting on November 13, 2018, featured birding travels in Israel by two sets of the WIllettes. Carol Smith and Laurel Parshall traveled there in April 2017 in a small tour group. Faye McAdams Hands and Diane Yorgason-Quinn went in March 2018 in connection with the International Swift Conference and the Eilat Birding Festival.

Click to enlarge maps and photos.

Willettes’ travels in Israel

First shown was the migration map showing that the migration route through Israel is huge due to its being a bottleneck. Then a map was shown of points of interest covered by each twosome. We actually covered different areas in the north half, then many of the same points getting down to Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba (Red Sea). Interestingly, Israel is only about the area as one-third the state of Washington.

Carol Smith starts out the Israel bird show (photo/Diane Y-Q)

The difference of a month made a big difference in species seen. Spring migration continues pretty strong for March and April as different streams flow through. The Med, the Dead, and the Red sea were covered well between the two groups, as well as the huge Negev Desert in the center. Jerusalem was a high point for March this year as the Common Swifts returned right on time to places holy to all three of the monotheistic religions.

Faye IDs a Steppe Buzzard (photo/Diane Y-Q)

Carol and Laurel saw and photographed all 5 species of Sandgrouse in April, while the March twosome had only three species which were very hard to find that early. Carol and Laurel also saw the rails and crakes, while the March trip only had Coots and Moorhens.

Hoopoe, national bird of Israel (Photo/Laurel Parshall)

Palestine Sunbird (Photo/Diane Y-Q)

Raptor migration was going on over the cliffs above the Dead Sea and of course at the world-famous Eilat Mountains. The March group rubbed shoulders with teams prepping for the Champions of the Flyway, a huge international bird contest that took place soon after our trip, which raised funds for tackling illegal killing of birds in Croatia and Serbia for 2018. They choose different projects for the funds each year.  Faye and Diane had the good fortune to have Jonathan Meyrav as a leader at the Eilat Birding Festival, who founded the Champions of the Flyway project, keeps the Israel Bird List, and is birding tourism director of the Israel Ornithological Center.

Carol Smith & Laurel Parshall model the Birds of Israel shirts from their April 2017 trip to Israel (photo/Diane Y-Q)

The iconic birds for all were the Hoopoe (national bird of Israel), four species of Swifts, Wryneck, Tristram’s Starling, White-spectacled Bulbul, Griffon Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Black and White Storks, and lots of different Buzzards and Eagles!

Diane Yorgason-Quinn and Faye McAdams Hands model their Swift Conference shirts & regalia from March 2018 (photo/Adam Trent)

A web article that describes the incredible migration: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-israels-500-million-birds-the-worlds-eighth-wonder-1.5485176