Birding with ABC at Bill’s Spit, August 2014

If I were trapped in the wilderness with just one other person, I would want it to be Donna La Casse. She knows how to survive, hunting, fishing, dealing with danger, what’s edible, when to run. But just 2-1/2 years ago, I didn’t know her. When her husband died, she knew exactly how to handle her grief, by sharing her expertise and learning more every day. The Batkers introduced her to me at the 2013 CBC count dinner and mentioned she was ready to start birding again, having birded with the Ramseys decades earlier. She took Ken Brown’s Advanced Birding Class until it finished and joined ABC; and she grabbed the Tahoma Audubon scholarship to take the banding training in 2014.

Donna received one of Tahoma Audubon’s banding scholarships in 2014.

When I asked for more volunteers to count swifts, she joined us; she joined Great Old Broads for Wilderness and has been all over the West with them, doing the dirty work to preserve the wilderness; and she’s with COASST when they’re out on the beach counting bird carcasses.

Picking up stinky dead stuff is part of what Donna does.

And of course she’s been with the Washington Nature Conservancy. They have just put their Volunteer Spotlight on our Donna! Lately she’s been working with them to census and try to save the last Pygmy Rabbits in the northwest.

Pygmy Rabbit project, Nature Conservancy. Photo/Hannah Letinich

Read the Conservancy’s article about Donna and congratulate her when you see her, if she’s not out saving the world!
http://www.washingtonnature.org/fieldnotes/2016/7/10/july-volunteer-spotlight-donna-lacasse

Donna carries a weight in her backpack to help her bad back. That weight is her cat, Stoney.

Ken Brown & Ryan Wiese took a group of ABC’ers over to the coast on a sunny windy weekend.  On Saturday July 23 we covered the Hoquiam sewer pond (record stinkiness!) with a surprise finding of a family of Swainson’s Thrushes and the usual birds.

7-23-16 – Swainson’s Thrush in molt across from Hoquiam sewer pond

From there we headed for the Point Brown jetty where there were record numbers of Heermann’s Gulls and our first Brown Pelicans.

7-23-16 – Heermann’s Gulls

Ocean Shores jetty

Then, not having enough of sewer ponds (!), Ken directed us to eat lunch at the Ocean Shores sewer plant, which luckily was not stinky!   Then off to Washout Beach where we continue our gull study there and at the Oyhut game range.

7-23-16 – Oyhut game range

Then off to Bill’s Spit where we hit the tide right and had thousands of gulls, terns, godwits, and whimbrels to sort through!

On Day 2, Ed & Kay Pullen and Chazz Hesselein joined us, and you can read about that on Ed’s blog:

Coast Trip Sunday

Some of my photos are on FLICKR now (more to follow): https://www.flickr.com/photos/76552838@N03/albums/72157668638371674

Will be updating as Laurel and others post photos.  Ed’s photos and Richard’s digiscopes of the Franklin’s Gull are on Ed’s blog.

Thanks to Ken, Ed, and others who helped with the eBirding!

On July 19, 2016, ABC’ers did our version of a relaxing summer movie, with Ordinary Extraordinary Junco, complete with popcorn.  A little skeptical going in that we’d find out anything new about Juncos, we happily found out there was more to know, with speciation going on before our very eyes, as well as mysteries still to be revealed, such as how those Juncos got out to that island way way way off Baja?

The Ordinary Extraordinary Junco, viewed by ABC’ers July 19, 2016

For those wanting to know more about this movie from Indiana University and the National Science Foundation, or to watch it again, go to the website:  juncoproject.org.

Ordinary Extraordinary Junco movie comes to ABC

Thanks to Melissa Sherwood for sharing her unique Junco story, as seen here:  http://abcbirding.com/local-juncos-make-history/

Melissa and Dennis Sherwood of Gig Harbor had a nest box of Juncos this spring, which is the first time in over a hundred years that Cornell could find any record of Juncos using a nest box.  Project NestWatch signed up Melissa and made her jump through a bunch of hoops to verify this, and now it’s in the history books!

The nest box was designed for swallows, but a rodent had apparently enlarged the entry hole, and these extra-smart Juncos knew what to do with it in April 2016.

A swallow house with a gnawed-out entrance hole was used by Juncos! (Photo by Melissa Sherwood)

Cornell required Melissa to climb a ladder at two different stages to check on the viability of the nest, take photographs and measurements, and log the trips to the box by the parents.  Melissa was shaking the first time she went up and looked into the box and accidentally pushed it askew, but all was well.

Measurements were among the requests from Cornell’s Project NestWatch (Photo/Melissa Sherwood)

Finally in May, Melissa went up the ladder one last time and startled a nestful of chicks out of the box, but they could fly well enough that they weren’t hurt.  The Sherwoods quit worrying when they observed the parents continuing to feed the young for quite some time.

The now-famous nestbox Juncos successfully fledged young! (Photo/Melissa Sherwood)

The experience has now been published by Cornell’s Project NestWatch, and you can see it here: http://nestwatch.org/connect/news/nestwatcher-finds-first-dark-eyed-junco-nesting-in-a-birdhouse/?utm_source=Cornell+Lab+eNews&utm_campaign=b800c90c02-Cornell+Lab+eNews+06_13_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_47588b5758-b800c90c02-302790209

SEPT 22, 2016, 6:45 PM, Pierce County LIbrary Administration Bldg, 3005-112th St. E., Tacoma 98446: John Klicka!  $10 speaker fee.

John Klicka, Curator of Birds at UW.

Join us in welcoming John Klicka, Curator of Birds at the Burke Museum, University of Washington, who will be our honored guest. He tells us, “I will be talking about some of the research that I have done recently. Basically, what we do here in my lab is take traditional museum questions regarding taxonomy, behavior, and morphology, and we attempt to answer them using modern museum tools (molecular methods, DNA analyses). In this way, I will touch on the taxonomy of sparrows, attempt to determine just how many of species of “House Wren” actually exist, and look at levels of genetic connectivity between bird populations occupying mountain-top habitats throughout western North America.”

For more info on Dr. Klicka and the Klicka Lab at the U, see his website:
https://klickalab.com/john-klicka/

ABC WELCOMES BACK PETER HODUM, JUNE 14, 2016:

ABC program director Kay Pullen introduces Dr. Peter Hodum.

Peter Hodum’s presentation: Plastic: It’s what’s for breakfast

Dr. Hodum from UPS came back for the third time and promised us another visit the next year, which we will hold him to. His first visit was about his work as a seabird ecologist and conservation biologist on Chile’s Juan Fernandez Islands in conjunction with Oikonos Educational and Conservation project, of which he is a founder (http://oikonos.org/). Then he came back and talked about seabirds nesting off the coast of Washington and educated us that Rhinoceros Auklets are really Puffins. Now for his encore he talked to us about a passion he never imagined he’d have — the growing problem of plastics littering the earth and especially the ocean where now most seabirds as well as their forage fish and benthic (had to look that one up!) prey have plastic debris, macro-, meso-, or microplastics, in their guts. The earth is now a “plastisphere.”

Explaining the rise of plastics since WWII.

Peter talked the ocean currents inevitably spreading the plastics and pointed to a map, telling us it’s better as an animation.

NASA has put together animations of this; see their website below.

NASA actually has a series of animations collectively called the Perpetual Ocean, which are absolutely fascinating. Study these before you send a message in a bottle:

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010841/index.html

The currents do demonstrate a likely scenario for the formation of ocean garbage patches that have been talked about a lot lately. A question from the audience elicited that Peter doesn’t think these can be cleaned up with the engineering, money, or the will currently out there, but doesn’t discount future cleanups. His current advice is to take responsibility for the plastic you put out there.

Northern Fulmars and Sooty Shearwaters were used as examples of two species that surprisingly have quite different foraging habits, especially relating to the depths at which they collect food. This corresponds to different plastic types (including different colors!) and different amounts found in each, with almost all Fulmars, feeding on the surce, found with plastics, corresponding to just under 60% of deeper diving Shearwaters.

Forage fish were found to have mostly filament-type micro-plastics ingested, which of course continue to degrade, but stick around in the birds that prey on them.

The most chilling statistic of the evening was a simple bar chart showing real differences on an upward trend since 2008 in ocean plastics (frequency of occurrence).

Now THIS is scary.

Peter finished up by talking about what we can do with his own targets of science and advocacy among them. He did not condemn plastics en masse, realizing how vital they are to our lives in so many ways, but urged responsible use and disposal.

Here’s what can be done now.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016:

ABC monthly lecture series presents, Dr. Peter Hodum speaking about his research:

PLASTIC: IT’S WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST!

Tuesday, June 14, 6:45 – 8:45 pm

University Place Library Meeting Room

3609 Market Place W, Suite 100

University Place, WA 98466

$10. All are welcome.

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The issue of plastic debris in the oceans is of growing concern globally, with plastic accumulating in marine habitats from the equators to the poles and from coastlines to the middle of ocean basins. Although patterns of plastic ingestion by marine wildlife such as sea turtles, marine mammals and seabirds are increasingly well documented, the consequences of ingestion remain poorly understood. The pervasiveness of marine plastics, especially micro-plastics, throughout marine food webs is also unknown. In this talk, Peter Hodum will discuss the magnitude of the marine plastic pollution issue, the impacts of plastic debris on marine wildlife, and the use of biological indicators, ranging from seabirds to mussels, to better understand the impacts of plastics on marine ecosystems. He will also talk about the challenges and opportunities of dealing with this global environmental issue.

Dr. Peter Hodum is an associate professor at the University of Puget Sound and the Chile Program Director for Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge, a conservation non-profit organization. In Chile, Dr. Hodum leads a long-term program dedicated to conducting applied conservation research, restoration and community-based conservation programs. His research focuses primarily on the conservation and ecology of threatened seabirds and island ecosystems in Chile and here in Washington State. His research program also focuses on issues related to marine plastic debris and its impacts on marine wildlife. He is an enthusiastic educator who loves working in the field and with communities, both locally and internationally.

Dr. Ursula Valdez puts a point across to ABCers.

ABC WELCOMES URSULA VALDEZ, May 18, 2016:

Dr. Ursula Valdez thrilled our group with her knowledge and her passion, both for her birds and for the loss of habitat in her homeland, Peru. Now teaching at UW-Bothell, she straddles two vastly different worlds and draws them together.

Dr. Valdez presents her multimedia summary to ABC.

Dr. Valdez is a founder of Centro de Educacion, Ciencia y Conservacion Tambopata (CECCOT) in the Madre de Dios area of SW Peruvian Amazonia, which trains students about the local avifauna. Five years in, the first students are now running the place, to the delight of all. The focus is on research including bird census and banding, as well as education in conservation and sustainability.

 
We moan about overdevelopment around here, but our local problems pale with the devastation of Amazonia. Dr. Valdez’s research has been mainly in the Madre de Dios area, a spot of record biodiversity, where she and her students have documented many hard-to-find species of birds and some true rarities. Nevertheless, slash-and-burn continues to impact this region more every day, for agriculture including soy and palm oil, cattle, logging, and road building, now with a major highway through Peru from Brazil to the Pacific. Cutting the forest is bad enough, but burning the slag has made smoke a major pollutant spreading way beyond localities, impacting human health and much more.

 
If there was one topic that made Dr. Valdez even more unhappy than deforestation, it was gold mining. Gold fever, as ever, makes mankind insane, crazy enough to risk their own lives with unsafe mercury handling and not caring about what else is at stake. Methods of mining completely gut the land, as demonstrated by Dr. Valdez’s startling photos. This is land that now can never be returned to habitat. Much of it is illegal, which barely slows it down, and human trafficking is rife in these areas as well.
Dr. Valdez did mention that political change is coming, just very, very slowly. Peru has national parks and reserves, but no funds or will to maintain them. They have a cabinet position that’s just for show at present, but at least it’s there in case they ever get a firebrand in the job. And there’s a national election coming which could help or hinder.

 
One thing Ursula Valdez did talk about happily was Forest-falcons! Her favorite birds and a main target of her personal research! She showed a slide of the five species found in her area of Peru, including two that are rarely seen, which she concentrated on, Buckley’s and Slaty-backed Forest-falcons. She also showed slides of several other colorful and unusual birds found in her area which her students have found and documented, including Band-tailed Manakin, Rufous-fronted Antthrush, Amazonian Motmot (now split from more northern birds), the very musical Musician Wren, and the Black-spotted Bare Eye, an obligate army ant camp follower, helping to sweep all bugs away.

The 5 species of Forest-falcons in the Madre de Dio region of Peru.

Dr. Valdez has invited ABCers to come down and put in some time with her group next spring, and Kay Pullen will be obtaining information on that prior to the dates involved. Ursula has made believers out of us!

ABC program director with guest presenter, Dr. Ursula Valdez

ABC EVENT:  MAY 18, 2016, 6:45 PM, Pierce County Library Administration Building, 3005 112th St E, Tacoma, WA 98446 (near Highway 512).

ABC is excited to welcome Dr. Ursula Valdez to speak about research and education to promote the conservation of Neotropical avifauna in the southeast Peruvian Amazonia.

The Madre de Dios region in Southeastern Peru, harbors one of the richest biodiversity in the Amazonian rainforest region and in the world. At the same time, this area is affected by high rates of habitat loss as a result of rapid human expansion, deforestation and illegal gold mining.  Over the past 5 years at the Centro de Educacion, Ciencia y Conservacion Tambopata (CECCOT), we have been documenting the distribution and abundance of avian species with the goal to evaluate the impacts of habitat change on these species. We have also developed a conservation program that aims at training local students in research and conservation practices with the goal to increase awareness on the conservation of the local forest and to promote sustainable living practices.  In my talk, I will be describing the bird research we do in this region and will offer information on the natural history of a few fascinating species found in the area. I will also talk about the conservation work we do in collaboration with local students of Madre de Dios.

Dr. Ursula Valdez is a Peruvian Tropical Ecologist and Conservation Biologist. She graduated as a biologist from the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina in Lima Peru. She holds a M Sc in Zoology from NCS, and a PhD in Biology from the University of Washington. She is currently a faculty member at UW Bothell, where she instructs on courses in Natural History, Ecology, conservation & sustainability and a study abroad program in Peru. She conducts ecological research on bird communities in UWB campus. She is the director of CECCOT and conducts bird research in Peru.

ABC’s distinguished guest speaker for May 18, 2016