Bird of the Week, 13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fbb72et4MI

Good morning students, this weeks bird is one of my favorite Northwest birds.  In fact, I think it should be the Oregon State Bird.  Our current state bird, (do you know what it is?) is shared by five other states and I think we should have our own unique bird.  This bird would be well qualified because it is only found in the US in very northern California, Oregon, and Washington.  Most of their nesting is done in Canada and Alaska but I do believe they also nest at higher elevations in Oregon and Washington.   They can be found fairly easily in Deschutes County in winter.  They are related to Bluebirds and Robins.  (big hint) Some of you may already know what it is but maybe not, they don't come to feeders that much because like all thrushes, they eat worms and insects in the summer and fruit in the winter.  A good place to look for them is in decorative Crab Apple trees,  or Mountain Ashe. Good luck and happy birding. 

Bird Of The Week 12

This Bird of the Week  likes people and in many towns there is one in every yard it seems, in the summertime.

Time for another bird of the week. I really enjoyed meeting everyone last week and seeing all your hard work in your journals. You seem to be starting to get the mystery of birds sorted out a bit. I am hoping you now see why I enjoy birding so much. It is often a challenge to figure out what a bird is and just when you think you know them all pretty well, one comes along that just stumps you.


This weeks bird enjoys a pretty wide range in North America but its range  eliminates most of the northern states and Canada. This bird is placed in bird books in a group of families that are sort of miscellaneous hodgepodge of birds. We have already had a thrasher (you remember the Brown Thrasher) which is one of the families in this group. They range all the way up the California coast but are absent inland in Northern California. Jackson County and Klamath County do get a few of these bird every year so they are not completely absent in Oregon but pretty hard to find for an Oregon list. We have had a couple of records of one straying into Deschutes County but it is a rare bird alert if one shows up. Five states have this bird as their state bird and South Carolina used to have it as a state bird but they decided that the Carolina Wren would make a better state bird. This should give you enough clues that it will be an easy bird.


As you recall, one of the tools for bird identification is to listen to the song. All bets are off with this guy cause he knows the songs of ten to fifteen birds that live nearby and this repertoire changes from region to region as some of the songs they sing in one part of the country would be of birds they would not hear if they lived in another part of the country. But then the very fact that he is doing all these songs, gives away who he is.  So these birds are pretty popular, as you can see by the state bird count, and I think I have pretty much given it away at this point. Have fun and happy birding.


I apologize for the quality of this video, I took it outside my motel in Branson, Missouri and lots of cars started driving by, but you can hear him pretty well and see him fine. Listen closely and you can hear a second bird trying to outdo him in the background.  Among other birds I here in his repertoire, are Carolina Wren, Robin, and Cardinal. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BxnZYMDUp8&feature=youtu.be

Anybody Ever Hear of a Bean Goose?

Nestucca National Wildlife Refuge in Tillamock County, Oregon in the middle right of the center field is the flock that contains the rare Tundra Bean-goose

What does the word vagrant mean to you? As with most English words, there are several meanings that have common ground but the synonyms that apply to birds are wanderer, drifting, maybe lost. In biology, vagrancy applies to animals that appear well outside their normal range.


With bird watchers, this is the holly grail. Once you have found all the birds that live and breed in your area, getting a new bird for the list starts to get tough. If a rare bird shows up in Oregon, several lists can grow simultaneously. It can go on your State list, your County list, and possibly or probably your life list if it is from far away. It will also increase your year list. So you can see why birders get excited by the report of a vagrant bird.


So what makes birds go off course? This is something that remains a bit of a mystery for biologists. Some are studying the idea that their biological makeup becomes altered and the area in their brain that tells them which direction to go for migration is somehow changed sending them in the wrong direction.

Tundra Bean-goose flying with Cackling Geese

Many of the birds that are found far off course are juveniles and are inexperienced so they just “make a wrong turn” so to speak. They might get in with the “wrong” crowd, birds of similar species that are headed to their own wintering ground and they just follow them and end up vagrants. Another closely related situation is weather. Huge storms can just blow them way off course. In fact you will find birders becoming strangely excited when big weather patterns are coming their way because they know that it is inevitable that some birds that they may have never seen, could get blown in by the storm.


This past Sunday morning, a mega rarity showed up in Oregon. A Goose called the Tundra Bean-goose was found with a flock of Cackling Geese at the Nestucca National Wildlife Refuge in Tillamook County, Oregon. This is a fitting place for this bird to show up because the refuge is set up as a wintering ground for geese, mostly the Aleutian Cackling Goose. It is very likely that the Bean Goose got in with a flock of Aleutian Cackling Geese and migrated down with them instead of heading to it's normal wintering ground in Japan. It will be interesting to see how long it stays at the refuge, presently it seems very happy to hang out with it's cousins.

Tundra Bean-goose, November 11 2014, Nestucca NWR

Tundra Bean-goose, November 11 2014, Nestucca NWR

So you can see why I decided to head to the coast on Tuesday to see this bird. It might be the only one I ever get a chance to see and probably one of the most rare sightings in North America in a while.

Tundra Bean-goose in flight

Meanwhile, here are more birds to add to the growing list of birds on the Amazing Bird Race.


235 American Pipit, Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, Utah
236 Carolina Wren, Chattanooga, Tennessee, (somehow I missed this one)
237 California Quail, Bend, Oregon
238 Ferruginous Hawk, North Texas, (another one I missed)
239 Rough-Legged Hawk, North Texas, (another catchup, not sure how these got overlooked )
240 Lesser Goldfinch, Bend, Oregon
241 Ring-necked Duck, Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, Utah
242 Tundra Bean-goose, Nestucca National Wildlife Refuge, Tillamook County, Oregon
243 Pacific Wren, Nestucca National Wildlife Refuge, Tillamook County, Oregon
244 Cackling Goose, Tillamook County, Oregon
245 Common Goldeneye, Tillamook County, Oregon
246 Horned Grebe, Tillamook County, Oregon
247 Brandt's Cormorant, Tillamook County, Oregon
248 Pelagic Cormorant, Tillamook County, Oregon
249 Western Gull, Pacific City, Oregon.
250 Varied Thrush, Suttle Lake, Oregon

Bird of the week 11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKHHPbLMdRo

Good morning Students.  This week I am presenting the bird of the week at Three Sisters Christian School in Deschutes County, Oregon.  I was going to put off posting the bird but I have been told there might be others following the blog so I will stick to my Monday posting. 

This little gut challenged me considerably.  I was hiking the trail by Jacks Creek this summer when I became aware of his singing and he really sounded close but I tried for ten to fifteen minutes to find him without luck.  I am not sure how I finally discovered him but there he was a mere ten feet away singing his heart out on his nest.  I have never heard a bird singing on the nest but it was pretty neat. 

He belongs to a family of birds that is similar to warblers as they have distinctive songs and love to sing.  They are generally much plainer than warblers. He might be a bit more challenging but one of his main field marks is very visible in this video even though we don't see most of his body.  I will add a couple of photos so you can see the entire body.

Good luck and happy birding.

Bird of the Week # 10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_gDn-yFuMc&feature=youtu.be

Can you believe we are at number ten on bird of the week?  Mrs. Sutherland and I  are now back in Bend and what a great trip we had across this great country of ours.  I have several bird videos to share from the trip and I have some ideas of birds right here in our neighborhood to video as well, so the rest of the year should be interesting.

This is one of my favorite wading birds.  On this bird, the bill should give it away, not to mention the fantastic pink color.  Another big hint is that this is a very tropical bird, only coming into North America on the southern edge of the gulf states.  The bird calling in the video is not the bird of the week but rather a Common Gallinule .  You will see a Common Gallinule come into the last part of the video as he forages on the bank behind the featured bird.  Have fun with this bird.

Next week, I will be coming to your classroom on Wednesday to see what you are doing in your journals and to present the bird of the week.  I have a great little bird in mind and I think you will really like this one. I would also like to pick your brains on how I can make the blog better so be thinking of what you might like me to address on the blog.  There should be at least twenty-eight to thirty more birds of the week so lots of challenges ahead.  I look forward to talking with you next week.  Happy birding. 

Why Do Birds Flock?

Small flock of White Ibis

 I came out of my hotel in the late evening and immediately heard this ruckus.  A hundred or so House Sparrows coming to roost for the night.  It got me to thinking about why birds form flocks so here is a bit of information about flocking behavior.  Sorry about the sideways video, I must remember this when I film from now on.  Meanwhile, I guess you will have to lay on your side to watch this  :)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGg577MpsfY

Why do birds of a feather flock together? Understanding why birds flock can help birders understand bird behavior and the fight for survival all their feathered friends face.

About Bird Flocks

Many bird species are gregarious and form flocks for different reasons. Flocks may be different sizes, occur in different seasons and may even be composed of different species that can work well together in a group. Flocks are so prevalent in some bird species that these groups of birds have special names, such as a raft of ducks, a charm of finches, a horde of ravens or any other of the names for flocks of birds. But no matter what a flock is called, it always has a benefit for the birds that make it up.
Birds do not engage in any behavior that does not bring them a benefit for survival in some way. There are many advantages to flocking, including:
1) Foraging: Birds often form flocks while foraging, which allows many birds to take advantage of the same food supplies. Feeding in a group also gives more birds the opportunity to find food that one bird has already located. Foraging flocks are often comprised of mixed species that may feed on similar foods but in non-competing ways, such as chickadees that glean insects from leaves flocking with nuthatches that glean the same insects from bark.

2) Protection: A larger group of birds has a better chance of spotting a predator or another potential threat than a single bird has. Furthermore, a group of birds may be able to confuse or overwhelm a predator through mobbing or agile flight, and staying in a flock also presents a predator with more possible targets, which lowers the danger for any single bird.

3) Mating: Some bird species, most notably game birds, form mating flocks in areas called leks where males will show off their breeding plumage and courtship behavior in an attempt to attract a mate. By performing in a flock, these birds make themselves more visible to a greater number of females, increasing their chances of a successful mating.

4) Raising Families: Different types of birds form communal flocks on nesting grounds called rookeries. In a rookery, while each nest is individually tended by parent birds caring for their young, the full group of birds can take advantage of flock benefits against predators to care for their vulnerable chicks. Birds that do not use rookeries may still form family flocks, and juvenile birds from a first brood may help contribute to raising their late-season siblings.

5) Aerodynamics: When birds fly in flocks, they often arrange themselves in specific shapes or formations. Those formations take advantage of the changing wind patterns based on the number of birds in the flock and how each bird's wings create different currents. This allows flying birds to use the surrounding air in the most energy efficient way.
6)Warmth: In winter, bird flocks can share the benefit of communal warmth to survive severely cold temperatures. Many small birds will share the same tiny roost space to keep warm, often in bird roost boxes, hollow trees or other similar spaces that can help them conserve heat. Large flocks may congregate in a single tree to share their body heat as well.

Disadvantages of Bird Flocks

While there are many advantages to flocking behavior, birds also take a risk when they assemble in flocks. The problems with flocks include:

1) Visibility: The more birds there are in a flock, the more noise and motion it makes, and the more visible it can be to predators. Predators may stalk flocks searching for the weakest members, and several predators can be attracted to the same flock, causing a constant threat to the birds.

2) Competition: Larger flocks need greater amounts of food and have more competition for mates, making it more difficult for each bird in the flock to find enough food or a suitable mate. Weaker, slower members of the flock may suffer if supplies are limited and they cannot compete as ably to get the resources they need to survive.

3) Disease: When many birds congregate closely together, the risk of spreading diseases increases dramatically. Many avian diseases are spread through either direct contact or fecal matter, and a larger flock has more potential for a disease to ravage an entire local population of a particular bird species. This can often be seen in backyard flocks with house finch eye disease or avian pox.
Despite the risks, the advantages of flocking are great enough that many different types of birds assemble in small, medium and large groups for different reasons. From a roaming band of foraging finches to a stupendous migrating flock of geese, flocks of birds can be an amazing sight for birders to enjoy, even more so when they understand how important those flocks can be for birds' survival.

I just looked at the odometer on the car and we have traveled 11,223 miles on our trip so far.  We are closing in on Bend, spending the night north of Salt Lake City.  I just went out to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and drove the wildlife drive.  Added two more species to the list that are added at the end here.
i look forward to relaxing at home for a bit and doing some birding on my home turf.  See you soon and happy  birding.

American Avocet in winter plumage

This is the rest of the birds up to tonight.  Sorry I missed a week so this is quite a few birds.  I look forward to seeing the map when I see you next month.

193 Barred Owl, Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

194 Winter Wren, Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

195 Sedge Wren, Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

196 White-throated Sparrow, Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

197 Eastern Meadowlark, Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

198 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Rural Route 95 Missouri

199 Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Horseshoe State Park, Illinois

200 Great-horned Owl, Rural Route 51 south of Sulfur Springs Texas

201 Great-tailed Grackle, Baytown Nature Center, Baytown, Texas

202 Brown Booby, Baytown Nature Center, Baytown, Texas

203 Brown Pelican, Baytown Nature Center, Baytown, Texas

204 Little Blue Heron, Baytown Nature Center, Baytown, Texas

205 Tricolor Heron, Baytown Nature Center, Baytown, Texas

206 Cattle Egret, Baytown Nature Center, Baytown, Texas

207 White-winged Dove, Baytown Nature Center, Baytown, Texas

208 Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

209 Fulvous Whistling Duck, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

210 American Bittern, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

211 White Ibis, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

212 White-faced Ibis, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

213 Roseate Spoonbill, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

214 White-tailed Kite, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

215 Purple Gallinule, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

216 Common Gallinule, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

217 Black-necked Stilt, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

218 Crested Caracara, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

219 Loggerhead Shrike, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

220 Anhinga, Smith Point Hawk Watch, on the Gulf Coast, Texas

221 Mississippi Kite, Smith Point Hawk Watch, on the Gulf Coast, Texas

222 Swainson's Hawk, Smith Point Hawk Watch, on the Gulf Coast, Texas

223 Chuck-wills Widow, Smith Point Hawk Watch, on the Gulf Coast, Texas

224 Black-crested Titmouse, Warbler Woods, San Antonio, Texas

225 Common Ground Dove, Warbler Woods, San Antonio, Texas

226 White-eyed Vireo, Warbler Woods, San Antonio, Texas

227 Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Warbler Woods, San Antonio, Texas

228 Western Grebe, John Martin Reservoir, Southeastern Colorado

229 Semipalmated Sandpiper, Cheraw Lake, Southeastern Colorado

230 Townsend's Solitaire, Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado

231 Spotted Towhee, Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado

232 Cassin's Finch, Silver Plume, Colorado

233 American Avocet, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

234 Clark's Grebe, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

Bird of the Week 9

Female

I think you will like this bird of the week.  It is one of my favorite birds in this family of birds.  It is the Oklahoma State Bird (big hint:=)  I was very please when we finally found some, the male in the video was on the wires in front of a bank building in a small Texas town. The female was photographed in Baytown Nature Center, Baytown, Texas.   This bird is a semi-tropical bird and only spends the summer in a couple of southern states and as we were finding them they were already migrating. In one refuge in Texas we saw at least 25 of them slowly moving south to Central and South America for the winter.  I think there is one or two records of one showing up in Oregon. 

It's hard to believe that this segment of the Great Bird Race is coming to a close.  We are currently in Colorado and I am having trouble finding any new birds for the list.  Tomorrow as we continue to head home I will be looking for another life bird but I do not have much faith that I will find it.  If I do I might make it a bird of the week.  So watch for my post in the middle of the week and I will post all the rest of the birds from the trip up to that date.  After that the list will be shorter for a while because all the common birds have been seen as well as some pretty uncommon ones. I still do not have very many shore birds or ducks.  I have plenty of birds to share for bird of the week and in January I will be heading back to Texas and then if all goes as planned, spending time on the lower Rio Grande River as well as refuges in New Mexico and Arizona which should add at least another 100 birds to the list.  But that will be next year.  I hope to drop in next month and see  what you have done with the list on the map and take a look at your journals.  Happy birding. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSpwpA2LUmk&feature=youtu.be