posted May 11, 2009 1:14 PM by Linda Orkin
Hey all,
Trish led a walk at 9 on Saturday and Bill led a walk at 9 on Monday. I am posting both of their emails to me so everyone can feel included.
And much thanks to both for good and enthusiastic guiding and for letting us all in on what they saw and heard.
First is Trish's
Thanks for inviting me to lead today's walk. I had a great time, especially with the 7:30 AM hotshot warm-up!
We saw many of the same birds on the 9:00 AM walk as on the 7:30 AM
walk: Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, American Redstart,
Warbling Vireo, Baltimore Oriole, Gray Catbird, Blue-winged Warbler,
Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Downy Woodpecker, American Goldfinch, Tree
Swallow, Red-wing Blackbird, Common Grackle, Great Blue Heron, and a
few others I can't recall. We also had an excellent view of a Wood
Thrush.
The herons were entertaining -- the one on the nest was joined in the
tree by a second heron which fed the heron on the nest a frog.
Tracking down the Blue-winged Warbler involved an attempt to lure it
out of the shrubbery using the recording on my iBird software. While
several of us waited patiently squinting into the bushes, the bird flew
to a tree behind us. Luckily one of the other participants was looking
that way and called us over. We got a good long glimpse (oxymoron, I
know) at the bird.
And now Bill's
Bird Walk Report
Sunday, May 10, 9 a.m.
Weather: Overcast, windy and cool (40s)
It was not a particularly good day for birding. The birds seemed to be
lying low and many species were uncharacteristically silent or sang
infrequently.
As we walked away from our initial meeting place at the front door to the Lab, a Baltimore oriole
made himself known by his liquid two-note call. He was high in a tree
near the Podell Boardwalk. We sang a bit and I noted that he had a loud
song that carried well for such a small bird (the wind was actually
against him). I speculated that this might be related to the
Neotropical origin of the family; a loud voice might be necessary to
carry through the dense jungle foliage.
The redwings seem relatively unaffected by the cold, remaining vocal and active. The Canada geese were quite active in the area around the Owens Observation Platform. There were tree swallows and grackles in the air over the water her, but little else.
Another Baltimore oriole appeared in the willows south of the
embankment for the platform ponds. This was a pale bird, and may even
have been a richly colored female. It did not sing the full song of the
species.
Once we were in the woods north of the trail the wind was less stiff, but it still made a lot of noise (as did the airport). A least flycatcher called (che-bek) north of the trail, but it was at least 30 yards into the woods and no one spotted it more than fleetingly. A warbling vireo sang bravely above the trail and most got a good look at this nearly fieldmark-less gray-green bird.
A pair of goldfinches had a knock-down drag-out
territorial spat right on the trail, giving us a good show of “spring
spirit.” The most interesting thing about this display is that these
birds do not usually breed until July or August, yet are already
apparently defending territory.
Warblers were quite scarce this day. Yellow warblers were singing and occasionally visible. A redstart could
be heard, but not seen. A warbler with a buzzy song rising
hyperbolically in pitch called a few times, but never showed himself.
It sounded like a blue-winged warbler.
A yellowthroat picked its way desultorily through the
alders along the Sapsucker Woods Pond, but never uttered so much as a
call note. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of them so silent.
I caught sight of catbirds, pine siskins and cedar waxwings here and there, but we had no good looks at them. Some other members of the group spotted a (presumably male) scarlet tanager, but it departed for the south side of the pond very quickly. A kingfisher rattled once, but did not stick around.
The great blue herons are sitting on eggs in the dead tree
in the south side of the pond. One bird (the male?) alighted near the
nest as the second one sat on it.
On the walk back someone spotted a robin sitting on eggs
from the boardwalk in the wetland south of the Owens Observation
Platform. The nest is only about 4 feet off the ground and is wedged
among the trunks of a dead alder (?) in about the exact center of the
wetland.
|
posted May 2, 2009 10:36 AM by Linda Orkin
Saturday, May 2
Time: 9 a.m.
Weather: cool (40s), bright and breezy
Seven people walked out as far as where the Wilson Trail loops back to the
shoreline on the north side of Sapsucker Woods Pond. Our first notable bird
was a swamp sparrow in the reeds at the northeast corner of the lab. It was
a large heavily streaked individual, nearly the size of a female redwing,
but with the recognizable sparrow bill. Between the parking lot and the
Owens Observation Platform we saw many redwings (male and female), including
a female on the nest in the cattails at the south edge of the pond. There
were tree swallows flying over the pond and when one alighted on the high
tension wires I mentioned Iding ³B.O.W.s² by their posture. Swallows look
neckless and slightly hunched. I introduced the idea of the Peterson field
marks: characters that can be seen at a distance and tend to be unique to
that bird as compared to similar birds. E.g., the snow-white breast and
belly of the tree swallow. Out on the platform the wind was from the north
and the noise of the airport smothered the bird sounds, although we did see
two belted kingfishers flying in different directions and grackles flying
every which way.
In the wooded wetland immediately north of the lab a warbling vireo was
singing persistently from a nearly fixed location. Its lack of wing bars,
clear gray breast and lack of pronounced head stripes, along with its
³languid² uninterrupted song gave it away. This individual did not have a
pronounced light stripe over the eye. I made mentioned of the variation
among birds of the same species, saying that Sibley was good about including
multiple examples. Someone spotted a female robin with nesting materials in
her beak and also later found the nest; she was squirming around in it,
creating the characteristic bowl shape.
Once in the woods we began to hear many birds singing including:
goldfinches, more warbling vireos, a house wren, and robins. We noted the
tendency of the goldfinches to interrupt their song with their call note. We
saw a pair of cowbirds (male and female) and noted their dissimilar
appearance, but shared conical bill, unusual for a blackbird.
As we drew nearer the thickets between the trail and the Sapsucker Woods
Pond we began to hear yellow warblers singing. We also saw several
chestnut-sided warblers, but they did not seem to be singing, but instead
devoted their time to foraging. We compared them to the cedar waxwings,
which were moving much more slowly, and feeding on fox grapes from last
year. Someone saw one waxwing feed a berry to another. Folks spotted the
yellow cap of the chestnut-sideds before they saw the eponymous feature.
When the yellow warblers were seen I told everyone to look for the variation
in the darkness and extent of the chestnut striping on the breast and sides
of each male.
A least flycatcher appeared, hunting for flying insects in its usual sally
forth fashion. I contrasted it with the foraging technique of the
chestnut-sided warblers, which were gleaning the insects directly from bud
clusters at the tips of branches. Although the flycatcher is about the size
of warbler, it moves and sits very differently.
As we climbed the embankment to the pond we heard and then saw a male
redstart, singing vigorously and moving from place to place quickly, but not
apparently feeding. A catbird or two was also singing here. Across the pond
to the west a male Baltimore oriole was singing in the top of a tree. He
flew toward us and then over through the woods to the north. An apparently
fearless muskrat foraged along the shore in the alders distracting most
people from birdwatching for a few minutes.
Along the path returning toward the lab there were chickadees, cardinals,
all the warblers we had already seen and in the distance a yellowthoat sang
his witchity-witchity song a couple of times.
We wrapped up the trip with another visit to the Owens observation platform
where a great blue heron was fishing with repeated success. His breeding
finery is already starting to fade with his bill no longer orange all the
way to its base.
|
posted Apr 3, 2009 8:06 AM by Linda Orkin
[
updated Apr 3, 2009 8:09 AM
]
Saturday’s walk was great, with Jessica
and Randy along to help lead the
group. We had about 12 people show up
and started out with many Song Sparrows. We
took some time to watch a particularly crisp looking male singing his
heart out, with head and beak upraised and beak wide open. I keep on
emphasizing to people to watch and let the sound roll into them as they observe
the bird singing. There is no better way to learn song and to learn to love
song. Male red-wings are very actively displaying, splaying their tails and
expanding their cherry red epaulets as they declare their territory. The Common Grackles, also, inflate their
bodies and fan their tails as they set up territories. People never fail to be
impressed by the beauty of both of these blackbirds and are fascinated by their
very overt behaviors. I am getting
better at asking questions of people, I am finding it comes a bit more
naturally to me, and is carried along by my excitement and enthusiasm. So I am asking people more about what they
notice when we are looking at a bird:
yellow eyes, large beak on grackle… of course, red breast on robin, but what
else?.... what do you notice on the Song
Sparrow, not just that it is a brown bird.
We heard a Killdeer
fly over the wetlands but could not locate it. We had our first Painted
Turtles, all sprawled out on some dried grass hassocks in the water, their
favorite log still being submerged
The American
Kestrels were at it again, by Kip’s barn, their pair bonding copulations have
become a regular feature. One of the Kestrels went and perched under the eave
of the barn where there is some kind of bar. In the sky overhead, Larry spotted the R-T
Hawk soaring (we had seen him perched in the snag on the other side of the
island in the pond, we got to look at the white scapulars there,) overhead I
pointed out his somewhat faint belly band, the black outline around his wings,
and his black patagial mark on both wings.
While we were watching this bird, Jess found a female Northern Harrier who flew through and out of the scrub on the
far side of the wetlands, heading toward the airport, I barely had time to see
her very prominent white rump and long tail
And then a Turkey Vulture soared
over, on tipping dihedral wings. Nice
turnout of raptors and vulture.
The siskins are still very active in the north woods and
still very visible at the feeder. On my run earlier that morning we had seen
Pine Siskins carrying nesting material.
At the Sherwood
platform Randy got the scope on the
Hooded Mergansers and people appreciated this close view. There were many turtles in view here. Spring
Peepers were peeping, the first of the year for us. Jessica
spotted a female redwing in the scrub along the edge of the pond. And then we saw another frog off to the right of the trail in a little vernal
puddle, just big black eyes goggling out of the water.
A woman who was there
with a very old field guide asked me at the end, if a Common Grackle is the
same as a Purple Grackle. She had a 1969 Peterson’s
and we compared the Latin name in hers with the Common Grackle Latin name and
found that they were
identical. Purple
Grackle still seems like a pretty good name, I wondered why they changed it.
We finished up the
walk with the pair of juncos in the small little oak by the Visitors’
Center. They seem to be there quite
reliably, I wonder if we might see a nest there at some point. It was a warm, balmy day and the woods were
quietly reflective of this early spring in Ithaca.
Sunday Julie and I led about 6 people on a gray, damp morning. Again, we spent much time looking at
Red-wings, Grackles, there were some Starlings around, surprisingly to me,
still in winter plumage, which is the black speckled over with white.
We saw the Kestrel’s
again, busy with their love life and spent
some time talking about the sexual dichromatism, with the male having
slate blue gray wings and reddish tail with broad black terminal band, and the female being all over
brown, with a barred tail. For some
reason, I find the difference in tail to be the most interesting, as I wonder how
that would have evolved.
Further on, Julie
spotted a Brown Creeper and I just saw it briefly but excitedly, as it moved
around behind the trunk out of sight. Julie showed the group this bird in the field guide
and we kept hoping for a reappearance but were not lucky with that. At the Sherwood
platform we watched a muskrat swimming around, were able to see the back and
forth beat of his tail as he moved. No
turtles today, it was too cold, but not too cold for Peepers, who were
extremely loud. The Common Mergansers were displayed to us perfectly. On a
little tiny mound that made a small island, they were standing flank to flank,
with the male facing one way and the female facing the other way.
We saw Black Capped Chickadees; heard them
singing their Sweetie song, we saw a Downy Woodpecker or two. On the way back, Julie
pointed out a tree dripping sap and told
us she had seen Chickadees at this sweet stream, drinking. There was not much else unusual, American Robins, American Goldfinches, White Breasted Nuthatches,
Northern Cardinals. Everyone is singing, which is great. I love to hear the
Pine Siskins singing, it is so reminiscent of Goldfinches but lacks the
goldfinches squeaky notes and is good training for my ear. Canada Geese are still interacting very
vigorously, and there seems to be one lone goose, who is making trouble for
some of the pairs.
I had an interesting visual moment with a male Red-wing. He
was low enough on a scrubby tree so that I could have a very clear view of his
whole soft black back. I noticed some tiny little vestiges of his
juvenile plumage (the brownish streakiness like the female) right between his
wings, it made him look pixelated, as though he was a “virtual” bird that might disappear at any
moment. He must have just gotten into his adult plumage this year. It is
always so much fun to see something unusual like this..
Julie has been
spending much time in Sapsucker Woods, both walking and running. She has
become very in tune with what is there, what is to be seen, what is to be
quietly observed and pondered. She told me she has developed a strong
attachment to the other side of the woods, with its two ponds and its deep air
of peace and quiet. She has seen the Pileated Woodpeckers over
there. Her connections to this place make her a wonderful leader, with a
quiet and intense enthusiasm.
The air was becoming more chilled and the sky was gray, but
no one’s spirits were dampened as we completed another special walk in the
woods.
|
posted Mar 27, 2009 7:55 AM by Cornell Lab of Ornithology & Sapsucker Woods
Trip Reports March 20 and 21, Linda Orkin
Saturday, March 20We have finally landed in Spring and it is lovely. Saturday morning was bright and sunny, although quite chilly. In spite of the chill, Tom, Randy and I had a large group of about 14. The level of energy is palpably higher as we are getting in to warmer weather, visibly swelling buds on trees, bright daylight, and many birds singing. More and more Common Grackles are here, more American Robins, more Redwings, including recently arrived females. Song Sparrows are singing everywhere, flying low into weed patches, perching high to sing. It is so nice to see their little mousy brown bodies and watch their bodies vibrating with song. We started out walking and pointing out all of this activity to our very enthusiastic group. When we got to the wetlands platform, we were looking for the male American Kestrel and having no luck, when I suddenly spotted a bird right on top of a light post to the right. It was the Kestrel, but this time, the female. All brown with striped tail, she was just sitting there quietly. This was our first view of the female after having seen the male for the past two weeks. I just read a really great book about Falcons and learned that, yes, the male Kestrel does come back first and the female follows later. They do mate for life as long as they both live and have nesting success. I like a quote from the book though, specifically about Peregrines that says, “they mate for life, but do not mourn for a second”. (It has become quite interesting to learn how many birds do maintain a pair bond throughout the year and over years, for example, the Pileated Woodpeckers that I discussed recently, Carolina Wrens, and resident Northern Cardinals. Of course, Canada Geese and Swans are famous for the longevity and strength of their bond. It seems especially true for birds that overwinter and maintain a territory, but it is so even for migratory birds such as falcons and other raptors.) I just got external speakers for my iPod and along with the Stokes CD of bird sounds that lists each bird individually that I was able to alphabetize in my iTunes, I had a great way to play sounds that I was hearing. This was a great resource really. At the end of the walk when Randy and I were near the building I saw and heard a Song Sparrow but was not able to point it out quickly enough before it flew down, so I played it for Randy just so he and the other woman Lois that we were with could hear it. And then the sparrow responded and flew up. I only played it once, I did not want to stress out the sparrow and that had not even been my intention. I was telling Randy and Lois that Song Sparrows learn the songs of their neighbor males and they sing those shared songs back and forth to each other on their territories to constantly redefine their territories but also, probably, to reassure each other that it is a familiar male nearby. Perhaps this song on my player, being an unfamiliar bird, would cause the male some additional stress and I did not want to do that. At the feeder by the blind, Randy told us that he had learned what the little electronic device was at the base of the feeder. He said it is a device that is able to read a certain type of band that has been placed on Black Capped Chickadees. Charles said that this, for now, is just to test how well the device works and then, to determine how often a chickadee visits the feeder and to try and make some determination of territory size and other data. Very interesting. Tom and Randy had both participated in the nest maintenance with Charles and several others on Friday. They lowered the PVC snags so that the hole is at the same level as the companion conventional nest box hole, which will make the chickadee preference experiment have much more validity. Tom spoke to some interested people about this while Randy and I walked on. Along the sidewalk, Randy asked me if I knew what a certain dried plant was. It was a goldenrod, but very interestingly and not surprisingly, it had a large gall in its stem. This gall was drilled out, with a pretty good sized hole on one side. It could have been a Black-capped Chickadee that did it, but from the scrape marks, I thought it was more likely a Downy Woodpecker that had excavated the Goldenrod Fly larva. We talked about how a fly larva would chew his way out of the gall while it still had proper mouth parts, then go back in the tunnel to pupate and then be able to emerge from this tunnel when it was a fly. Tom wondered it a chickadee would know to look for this little hole to find the pupa inside. This was a very successful walk. Tom and Randy were great co-leaders, helping to detect and locate birds for the group. Sunday, March 21Sunday, I had weekend visitors and they came out for the walk, along with Randy and Larry. Besides those 8, we had at least 12 other people. This was a surprisingly large group to show up on a cloudy, cold, flurrying morning and it makes me feel that both Spring and our continued execution of this program are creating a tipping point. We may have these very large groups all through the Spring. We spent some time at the feeders, looking at siskins and many Red-winged Blackbirds on the ground who were not displaying at all. I described to people how redwings can choose to not display territoriality by keeping their epaulets covered, so that they can participate in this type of group activity peacefully. The pair of Canada Geese was on the little pond right by the stone bridge walkway. They were both sinuously dunking their heads in the water and up again. I pointed out this courting behavior. Someone asked if you can tell male Canada Geese from females. I said I wasn't sure but Charles has since told me that males are noticeably larger. I am not good with larger and smaller, I can not detect this difference. As we watched them court, the male suddenly jumped atop the female to copulate right then and there. And then we could tell! At the platform by the wetlands, we found the male Kestrel in a tree off to the left. We were not able to locate the female. I decided to play the sound of the Kestrel just so people could hear, and maybe just serendipitously, and maybe not, the female flew in, lower down than the male. He immediately flew down to join her and then they copulated. This was fun, but I made sure to tell people that I had not played this for that reason, and I certainly would not continue to play these sounds. We walked on the Wilson Trail north spur, I heard a White-throated sparrow sing and when he stopped before people got to hear it, I played his song. He immediately responded to it (again, not my intention) but then we were able to locate him in a small shrub, but so hunkered down that his whole white throat was hidden. We heard the high pitched zseets of Cedar Waxwing and watched a small flock of about 20 of them fly away. We saw a couple of Downy Woodpeckers, White-breasted Nuthatches, and many chickadees. When we came around by the feeder, someone found a female red-wing in a shrub by the pond. People are always so amazed at the female. I saw an American Tree Sparrow in a shrub by the feeder, they seem to have certainly decreased in number. There are still many siskins in the trees on the north side of the building, many are singing. Listen to the songs of the siskins and goldfinches on All About Birds & compare them. They are very similar in their complexity, but the siskins lack the squeaky quality of the goldfinches. We had three flyover and around sightings of R-T Hawks, and then saw one perched in a tree in the back of the building. We had a Turkey Vulture fly over. There were at least two GB Herons flying back and forth over the far side of the pond. We saw both the Hooded and Common Mergansers on the other side of the berm. There were lots of singing Song Sparrows when we got back to the building. This was really just a great day. Can’t wait for more, it is addictive. |
posted Mar 17, 2009 1:05 PM by Cornell Lab of Ornithology & Sapsucker Woods
Trip Report by Linda Orkin
Saturday March 14It would be hard to beat Saturday morning’s bright crisp sunshine. Tom, Randy, Angelika and I were psyched for our birdwalk with such pleasant conditions. We waited in the Visitors’ Center for our group to gather and get binoculars. A birder who I know named Paul Anderson showed up looking for Rusty Blackbirds and our lone Common Redpoll (he is a competitor in our local birding communities friendly list competition called the David Cup) and while there, quickly noticed an American Widgeon on the remnants of the ice, just mingled in among the Mallards. We all enjoyed good views of him, his green head split by a white forehead and most noticeable, dark legs as compared to the bright orange of all the Mallards. Another good birding lesson for me, do not assume that all birds in a flock are the same, it is always worth a scan. The male and female Hooded Mergansers were present also, just the cutest little diving ducks, the male bright in his breeding plumage and the female crazy with her reddish spiky head do. I was talking about the difference between dabbling ducks and diving ducks and the Hoodies obliged by diving out of sight and then coming back up with fish that they had snared. Then we started out on our walk with about 7 participants. As we came across the first boardwalk headed out to the wetlands, Larry noticed a bird perched in the tree by the barn. It was the male kestrel, very exciting for us all. We went out onto the observation platform and watched him fly back and forth and go into both nesting boxes and then under the eaves. We had very clear views of his blue gray wings which clearly identified him as the male and we could even clearly see his mustache stripe typical of many falcons. We saw European Starlings on the wire and there were redwings and grackles everywhere. I pointed out the keel shape of the long grackle tail, a very good field mark especially as a blackbird is flying. I was hoping to see the Great Blue Heron and he was spotted in a tree, nice to see him there and this brought up discussions by the group about the colonial nesting in trees of these large birds. Someone mentioned a rookery and was commenting how the nests were so visible before the leaves came out, but completely hidden after the trees leafed out. The GBH then gracefully flew down to the ice and was stalking on the surface but looking into the water at the edges. We saw and heard American Robins singing and eating buckthorn berries and saw a female cardinal singing. The siskins are still present in abundance, we watched them for a while at the back of the building and heard them singing in addition to their “zweet calls”. People were really hoping for Pileated Woodpeckers. We talked about them for a while, and someone wondered what the size of their territory would be. I looked this up on Birds of North America and learned the territory size can be from ~100acres to ~400 acres. It would seem from that that it is likely that Sapsucker Woods would possibly just be large enough for one mated pair. Also, male and female stay paired up throughout the year and jointly defend their territory, although they will admit some others the call "floaters". As we were talking about them and walking back past the wetlands, the pair of Pileateds suddenly flew over, a little far away, kind of in a line with Kip’s Barn, but close enough to clearly id them and see their lovely white underwing primary color. All agreed this walk was fun, we kind of ambled for almost two hours and thoroughly enjoyed . I heard a Song Sparrow singing as I left but did not have the opportunity to point it out people. Saturday March 15Julie and Randy led a large walk of about 12 people. They both agreed it was a fairly quiet morning also. Julie said that one of her highlights was watching two male Redwings displaying in a tree, one higher than the other, then the higher one flying down and the two birds sparring physically. Randy and another person had again gone out on the observation deck by the wetlands to watch the male Kestrel flying in and out of the boxes and under the eaves. Randy talked about the different classes of falcons and other raptors. They saw the Great Blue Heron when they returned to the Visitors’ Center. Before they had started out, Paul Anderson showed up again, still looking for that one Common Redpoll and Rusty Blackbirds, but we spotted three male Hooded Mergansers, way in the back, beyond the berm, and at least two females. And a Killdeer flew over calling. Julie had a person monopolizing her spot at the front and we talked about this after the walk. This is still a problem for all of us to know how to handle. Julie tried gathering the group up with her in the center to try and break up this dynamic, but it didn’t work. I don’t think we are the only ones with this problem, I think even the most experienced leaders may not know how to really deal with this. And as Julie said, some people just settle into the back and some are in front just naturally. I had gone out by myself while Julie and Randy were leading the walk just to see what was on the other side. I heard a Red-bellied Woodpecker and heard the song of, then saw, a Brown Creeper. When I came back to the other side, I saw two Dark-eyed Juncos singing and then, by the Sherwood Platform, I heard lots of tinkling song, located very low down . I finally located a large flock of tree sparrow flitting in the scrub. I never saw any one specifically singing, but the whole situation was interesting, especially that they seemed to be singing from so low down. Also, I had a little chipmunk on the South Wilson trail scurry up inside a beech low trunk crack, then scurry back down and peek at me, then scurry back up. It made me wonder about all of the things that might go on inside trees. It was a good weekend, but the premature ice melt, long daylight days and balmy breezes makes us feel as though there should be much more activity. I have to keep reminding myself how early in the year it actually is. |
posted Mar 17, 2009 10:55 AM by Cornell Lab of Ornithology & Sapsucker Woods
Hello docents!
A number of updates in this announcement:
1. Date Change: The date for this month's meeting has been changed to the 28th. Sorry for the late notice, but I had forgotten it was spring break at the university this week! Unfortunately, I know that some folks will be unable to attend, but next month we'll get back on track. This meeting will focus on identifying the birds of Spring, as well as talking about a group of "set" interpretive pieces for leaders and co-leaders to share on the walk.
2. New Birdwalk Times: Beginning in April the weekend birdwalks will begin an hour earlier, at 9AM. If you are interested in volunteering to lead or co-lead a walk, please let Linda or I know! Thanks.
3. Training: I'm going to begin having docent orientation sessions (similar to the "core training" from a year ago) for the two hours prior to the Docent meetings. These orientation sessions will cover the basics about the Lab of Ornithology and our philosophy about working with and leading groups.
4. Spring Nestbox Maintenance: This Friday, March 20
I'm looking for a few volunteers to help out with cleaning out and readjusting the nestboxes on our nestbox trail in Sapsucker Woods. It will probably take a few hours during the afternoon of March 20. I plan on working on it from 1-5, and will accept anyone interested in volunteering for all or some subset of this time. Thanks!
5. NestQuest Workshop at Cayuga Nature Center, Thursday March 26
I'm going to be doing a 4-hr workshop on nestbox monitoring and nestsearching for the volunteer staff at the Cayuga Nature Center on Thursday afternoon from 1-5. The workshop will have a mix of hands-on and lecture material, plus an opportunity to walk around and view the CNC nestboxes. I plan on hosting one for docents at the Lab as well, but if you are available for that Saturday and would rather take it sooner than later, let me know by this Friday and I'll include you on the roster.
6.Docent NestQuest Workshop at the Lab of O, Sunday, April 5, 1-5pm
The workshop will have a mix of hands-on and lecture material, plus an opportunity to walk around and view the Sapsucker nestboxes. We'll also cover data entry and how to go about leading a guided nest monitoring walk. If you are interested in leading nestmonitoring walks this spring and summer, you must complete this training (or have taken the training last year). You will also need to become a certified Nest Monitor (read more about it online at nestwatch.org). Let me know by March 27 if you are interested in participating in the training so I can prepare sufficient materials.
OK-phew! That's all for now. Questions? Feel free to write & ask...Now get out and enjoy the sun and the birds!
Thanks!
charles.
|
posted Mar 11, 2009 11:12 AM by Cornell Lab of Ornithology & Sapsucker Woods
Trip Reports March 7 and 8 Linda OrkinIt was a rare late winter day on Saturday with temperatures in the 50’s as people started showing up at the Lab of Ornithology for the 10 AM bird walk. And just kept on showing up. We had a line of people extending to the video wall waiting for binoculars. It was a very amazing scene, and fun, to see so many enthusiastic people coming out to enjoy Sapsucker Woods. Thank goodness Jill, Randy and Angelika showed up and Larry was there to help also. We started out North like a long Conga line and Jill quickly realized that the people in the back could not hear anything from the front so following her good suggestion and initiative, we split the group of about 20 into two and proceeded in a much more manageable fashion. Saturday March 7Below is Jill’s trip report as written and submitted by her, and I will add a little at the end.Angelika, Randy and Jill enjoyed a group of birders made more lively by the enthusiasm of two young girls eager to learn more about birds and their habitats. (Their enthusiasm sprang from a recent unit in their second grade in Lansing.) Leadership of our small group was a fluid thing, with each of us sharing our knowledge and experience. Angelica heard, then spotted the red-tail. It stayed just out of our binocular ranges our whole walk, but looking for it added to the girls' fun - and ours. Angelica talked to the girls about frogs, and explained how we should be looking for them right along. Just after our groups split, we had good "silhouette views" of the RWB and the grackle. Later additional sightings gave us the rich colors of the grackle. Jill talked about the anting the grackles do, and we all agreed we would like to see them do it with mothballs, (information coming from All About Birds). People were also interested to learn that a crossbill can eat 3000 pine cone seeds a day. Jill mentioned that crossbills are being seen where there are lots of pine trees. She talked about being close enough to see how those crossed bills do work to their advantage. We covered downy and hairy identification. One of the highlights of our walk was the discovery of the sturdy nest under construction - an "engineering feat," as someone in the group described it. This prompted an interesting discussion, led by Randy, as to what terms are acceptable in describing birds and their habitats. For example, is it acceptable to call a dray "messy?" Randy and Angelica gave a good history on our geese who stay here, since they cannot "go home again." Angelica heard the pileated, and we pointed out the bark stripping near the feeder station, but we did not see it. We listened to the siskins and goldfinches for a while. Sylvia, a docent-in-training, said that she had hoped that being a docent would be fun. We think she might have decided it is. (Linda's report)I don’t have much to add to Jill’s report from Saturday. I had a couple of families with children also, the young children had borrowed binoculars and were quite serious and intent on finding birds that we heard singing. We had a very vocal lovely male Cardinal on one side of the trail, we all got great views of him singing and I heard a cardinal answering on the other side of the trail which I presumed to be a rival male but someone spotted the singer and it turned out to be a female. She lightly glided and flitted over us to join up with the male. It is always fun to see things that you read but don’t get to see often confirmed by a sighting, like the fact that female cardinals sing. The Canada Geese were sparring and shouting at each other on both the wetlands and the pond, flying up, down, sliding across the ice, running side by side in pairs with their necks and beaks extended. Their annoyed honks resounded over the whole woods all morning. We had Common Grackles displaying, puffing their feathers and expanding as they called, and male Redwings displaying, although the full revelation of their red epaulets is not quite happening yet. Jill had mentioned on our way back that she had read that there can be up to 15 female redwings in one male’s territory. Jill also mentioned that she had spent much time Saturday morning, before coming, reading some different species accounts on All About Birds and found that very helpful for providing these very interesting facts to people as they were walking along during some bird down times. The group the I was with did not see much else that Jill, Randy and Angelika’s group didn’t see. Larry spotted the Red-tailed Hawk soaring around the pond on thermals, we got some good views of the red tail as he circled round into better light. One of the women in the group found a beautiful yellow fungus on a dead branch that she told us is named Witch’s Butter. And then she found a little grey feather with a beautiful yellow tip that I am guessing is a Pine Siskin, but not really sure. We heard and saw singing House Finches, heard the high pitched tseet of Cedar Waxwings but could not find them. Lots of chickadees, goldfinches, siskins. (although I did see Cedar Waxwings in the trees across the road later, and one of them flew out and hovered in place for several seconds in pursuit of a flying insect.) I heard from Randy on Sunday that Angelika had found a Wood Frog also, and told everyone about how they are such early breeders. I found a link to an article by Berndt Heinrich about these frogs that I think people will find interesting and relevant for this time of year. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1134/is_3_109/ai_61524414and there are several sites on line also, where you can listen to frogs. These Wood Frogs vocalizations sound, to my ears, very much like quacking. Sunday March 8
I got to Sapsucker a little early Sunday morning. I walked around the parking lots looking for birds along the edges. I was watching some small birds sparring and when I got close enough, I found it was a pair of WB Nuthatches and a pair of BC Chickadees fighting over a dead snag with some holes in it. Both pair seemed determined to prevail, but all took off before occupancy was settled. It was interesting to see such competition between two different species. Three different times, with three different Blue Jay couples, I saw one feeding the other, accompanied by a low muffled growl sound. I had never observed such behavior in Blue Jays and felt very lucky to see this. I saw a flock of Wood Ducks fly over in the fog, heard a Carolina Wren singing, and then went to the Visitors’ Center to meet up with three people who had come for the walk, and Randy, who is so reliably present to help out any leader who needs backup. As we were looking at the Feeder birds from the bridge, every bird scattered into thin air and off to my left I saw a bird drop down to the ground. It was the red tail. It was a little hard to see him in the weeds under the trees at the other end of the bridge but we kept looking and enjoying what we could see. I believe he had gotten something, as he had one foot planted on the ground and was kind of dancing around, and then appeared to be eating. This morning’s walk was also fun, although I think we all found both days to be a little light on birds. Of course, there is always enough to see and talk about to ensure an enjoyable time. One of the points that Mark Chao makes in his Bird Walk suggestions is not to mention that things are quiet when there are not that many birds around. I was consciously trying to follow that, but I find it hard not to sound apologetic when there is less or little activity. I feel a bit like a failure when we don’t see much and I feel a compulsion to comment on the lack of birds. It easy enough to be enthusiastic about any birds we do see though, even the more common ones. I became curious about Chickadee vocalizations on Sunday. I heard two chickadees doing their fee bee song, almost in unison, a lovely little duet. It did not sound at all aggressive, it was so in tune. I was wondering how we can be sure that it is only the males that sing in birds where we cannot tell males from females. I looked up BC Chickadees on Birds of North America when I got home. I learned that both the “fee bee” vocalization and the “gargle” vocalization (that very liquid little sound) can serve song functions and that song versus other vocalizations in chickadees is not that clear cut. And it said that females can do the soft “fee bee” song. So interesting and new for me!!! Having this many children showing up on our walks has been just fantastic. Little children on foot, in backpacks, in slings, with their parents, enjoying their time out in nature. Kids have been great to have along, they really are enthusiastic, with great eyes and keen ears and almost always, a very deep curiosity. Whenever we are leading walks for Kids Discover the Trail, or any other kids group, we are careful to tell the children that we need to be respectful on the trails, as we are guests in the birds’ habitat (home). I feel should have made this point on Saturday, when introducing the walk to this group that included so many kids. Certainly not to squelch any child’s interest or excitement, but to give the leader maybe a bit more control and to help the kids tune into their role as non-intrusive observers. This is making me realize even more that Charles’ suggestion of writing a script for ourselves and practicing it out loud could be helpful for me. There are always things I forget to say and feel bad about omitting when I think about it later. So many harbingers of spring are around us, water is running in little streams, the trails are almost completely free of ice, buds are swelling, birds are pairing and looking for this year’s nursery. Killdeer have made an appearance, a Tree Swallow was sighted, Wood Frogs are “explosively laying”, Woodcocks have been heard peenting and each day can bring something new to the woods. Julie emailed a copy of the Average first arrival dates, which Charles had given us (and I lost). I am including it on the next page, it is exciting to anticipate. Just look at all those days in May!!! |
posted Feb 25, 2009 1:31 PM by Cornell Lab of Ornithology & Sapsucker Woods
Hello Docents! This email is a summary of last weekend's meeting to bring everyone up to date. Also, we didn't make it to the last bit of what I wanted to discuss that day, namely plans for the upcoming Spring and Summer seasons. Meeting Recap:Most of this meeting was spent discussing strategies for leading bird walks in Sapsucker Woods. We began by going over the slides from an earlier presentation by Mark Chao entitled "Tips for Birding Success". Mark is one of the premier bird walk leaders in the area, and if you take a look at his slides (online in the Resources section of the Docent web pages) the most common theme on every slide has to do with adequate preparation *prior* to the walk that you're leading. Though the information may seem intuitive in hindsight, it is some of the most helpful information you'll come across! There's no way that I can give you a 15-point checklist that will allow you to ID every bird and engage every visitor--it takes work, preparation, and awareness, and Mark's talk gives a good overview of the most important aspects to focus on. A topic that always comes up has to do with being comfortable with identifying birds, especially in front of a group. Of course, one way to start overcoming this is getting outside and birding on a regular basis. You can also proactively prepare by keeping an eye on what's being seen; the cayugabirds-L listserve is a great way to leverage the sightings of people across the entire cayuga basin; you can use eBird to look at bar charts of bird species to see what might be normally seen in a given area; you can even use a google gadget to see what birds have been seen in Sapsucker Woods over the last few days! You can check each of these out on one of the Visitors' Center webpages: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Education/visit/SSW/sswbirdsYou can use this information to hone your ID skills prior to even leaving the house to go birding! Check out confusing species, birds you've never seen, etc., so that when you see them it's pure enjoyment rather than a potentially stressful situation with a group of people. Your enjoyment is infectious to the people who you are guiding, so let it flow : ) It's also helpful to prepare an opening statement and a closing statement-it's not that you're going to read from it necessarily, but that the language will flow more cleanly if you've already thought about it. Here are examples of how I might start and end a walk: Big Start: Big welcome, introduce self and thank the group on behalf of the Lab of Ornithology for coming to visit. “Today we’ll spend about an hour exploring Sapsucker Woods and trying to get a look at many of the birds that spend time here. In the quiet time between birds I'll try and point other interesting natural history tidbits about Sapsucker Woods, and by the end of the walk we should all have a richer understanding of the birds and biodiversity that inhabit this wonderful place."
Big Finish: "Finally, before I let you go I wanted to thank you all for coming to the Lab today and for the interest in the Lab that brought you here. As you may know, the Lab is a non-profit institution, and if you like what we do and want to help support us in our mission of conserving birds and biodiversity, I encourage you to become a member of the Lab. You can find out more information about it from me or at the front desk. Thanks a lot for coming out!"
Spring & Summer Outreach PlansIn addition to the big Migration Celebration (managed by Anne Rosenberg and I) and Kids Discover the Trail, there are a lot of exciting things planned for the Spring and Summer. - I'll be beginning Saturday docent training sessions in mid/late-March to try and get new folks ready for the upcoming season as well as giving a chance for current docents to get a refresh if desired.
- We'll also be starting to do consistent nest-monitoring this year on the paired nest-box study in the woods, and potentially putting up a new loop around the parking areas.
- I'd like to start having a "naturalist on station" opportunity on weekends and potentially during the week, where a docent is stationed on the trail at a particular location with a scope and interpretive materials to help visitors learn more about those spots.
- Potential collaborations with Cornell Plantations doing bird walks and plant walks with walk leaders.
- More bird walks: offer walks on the weekends and during the week through the Spring and Summer.
Research plans:- Begin point counts and nestsearching this coming Spring.
- Potential bird banding station grant looks probable, meaning we may be starting to band birds here during spring & fall for both the scientific results as well as for public outreach.
I'll be emailing in the next week or so with dates for the upcoming training sessions, as well as my needs for some help doing nestbox maintenance and re-marking the research grid in Sapsucker Woods. If you plan on remaining active with the docent program, please download the volunteer forms from the resources link above, fill them out, and turn them in to me (either via mail or drop them off at the front desk). Thanks again for all your hard work! charles. CLO Docent Program clo_docents@cornell.edu http://sites.google.com/clodocents |
posted Feb 23, 2009 6:53 AM by Cornell Lab of Ornithology & Sapsucker Woods
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updated Feb 23, 2009 6:59 AM
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Trip Report 2/21 and 2/22 Linda OrkinBefore I begin, I wanted to share the link to this video that was posted on the Cayuga Birds listserve showing a Green Heron using bait to fish. It is a pretty neat video and although the narrator says he has never seen anything like this, it is a known attribute of Green Herons that they do use tools (feathers, bread etc) floating on the water to attract fish. But watch this; the bird is very actively involved http://www.break.com/index/bird-learns-how-to-fish.htmlFriday, February 20: Landscape Architecture Conference AttendeesCharles led a walk Friday morning at 7AM that I took rear guard on, and if you remember Friday at all, you will know that we had a very frigid, windy challenging morning. There was a workshop all day at the Lab of Ornithology on Native Plants and our group of people had signed up for a birdwalk before the start of the conference. I won't go into much detail as it was Charles's walk. I only want to say, in spite of the fierce conditions, we had many active birds and a good bunch of enthusiastic people, at least 10 I would say. Just by the little wooden bridge by the stream, a group of jays were calling excitedly and suddenly the Red-tailed Hawk soared out of that thicket and perched low in a tree right alongside the trail. He was great to see, all fluffed out to keep warm, and the mass of downy feathers under his tail spread around like a skirt. Seeing this Red-tail over and over again reinforces my thoughts about learning hawks from frequent encounters. Every time I get to look at him, I see more about what makes him a Red-tail. As he sat there, I paid careful attention to his wing and tail alignment and could see that his primaries were almost as long as his short tail, and pretty much hid it from view. And I keep noticing these white feathers on his back which are his scapulars (shoulder feathers). I didn't know if this was something to depend on but I was just reading a bird id book and it actually says that birders call these backpack strap marks. Before I proceed with the trip report, I have a few more observations on leading, co-leading and skill levels. I realized after my walk with Charles on Friday, that the level of communication between front person and back person is really much more in the control of the person leading the way. The person in the back really does not have the "power". So I have learned a lot. This was my intention when I went with Charles, as it has been a long time since I have been in the back. It is so easy to get stale when you just keep doing things the same way so I needed a different perspective. I did much thinking after Friday and I realized that it is me that is not paying enough attention to my co-leaders. I spoke to Randy, Tom and then, Erin on Sunday, about this and they all agreed with me. So I told them I would be looking back at them a lot, trying to make eye contact and making sure that we stop to gather up the group frequently enough. Actually, in a way, it could be thought of as an actor speaking to the back row. Of course, I will have to remind myself of this each time and I may not always be successful. I felt very good with everyone on both Saturday and Sunday walks, I felt as though we had good energy generated throughout the group. And I wanted to compliment everyone that came out this weekend, Tom, Erin and Randy, on their increasing spotting and identifying skills. Saturday, February 21: Public Weekend FeederWatch Bird WalksSaturday AM, Tom, Randy and I had a large group which included a family from Dunkirk down here to check out Cornell for their son, a local guy Jason and his young son Sky in a backpack, Bruce, a member of the Cayuga Bird Club and several others. It was quite a lovely morning, with the sun struggling to emerge. As we passed the first boardwalk on our way north, I heard some familiar chipping sounds and then singing and right there on a low branch near us was a Dark-eyed Junco just vibrating with energy and song. They have just started singing in the past week. I was very excited. We got really nice views of his pink bill and beautiful dark back. As we walked on there was not too much else of note, by which I mean, not any new arrivals. The Cedar Waxwing flocks were flitting all around the little bridge. We watched them eating buckthorn berries and they were illuminated in the soft winter sunlight in quite a spectacular way. Bruce had been out earlier in the woods, around 7:30 and commented that there had been many more birds at that time. Tom talked about the Chickadee nest box experiment. I hadn't updated him on the new information that Charles had given me, that they had finally realized that these nest boxes need to be at the same height (as Tom had pointed out), so in the next few weeks, Charles is going to be cutting the PVC pipes down so the holes of the box and the snag are at the same level. Then they will run this experiment for another three years. I am realizing that I do not know if the data on this includes fledging success or just choice of nest by the chickadees. This walk was very successful with much interest evinced by all. After our docent meeting on Saturday, Erin took advantage of the calm, sunnyish weather to walk around the South Wilson Trail by herself. She wanted to refresh her memory, both mental and sensory. She was in quest of signs of woodpecker activity, especially YB Sapsucker wells and she said she was well rewarded. As she finished up, and came around by the wetlands, she came upon the Red-tailed Hawk just near the last boardwalk. More great views, and as she watched, he started kind of rearranging his body and fidgeting. Erin thought he might be cold but then he pooped. Maybe not the most aesthetic activity to watch, but it is so wonderful to have the opportunity and the respectful presence to be allowed to be an observer of the intimacies of the natural world. And I want to emphatically encourage everyone to try and get out solo occasionally, just for some meditative peace of mind in the company of birds.
Sunday, Feb 22.Sunday, a softly falling snow and grey skies and as Erin and I waited and discussed the finer points of leading bird walks, we wondered if any one would show up. And they did, a couple drove all the way down from Auburn for the walk, along with Randy. We practiced with binoculars at the feeders from the bridge. There were myriads of Pine Siskins, American Goldfinches, House Finches, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers. Then Randy saw a brilliant red patch fly away, called it out and then found the Pileated (female) across the way. Good find and good feeder morning. Then we walked north, talking about the lab, the plantings, nests that we were seeing. It was snowing quite hard, but not windy at all. It was pretty and peaceful but not good for keeping our binoculars functional which became more and more of a problem. In the woods, the siskins were again putting on their show. We got to see several foraging on the ground and then one singing right near us in a shrub, with his little throat just swelling. Around by the feeder there were bunches of American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, House Finches, one quick American Tree Sparrow, several male Red-wing blackbirds with only their little yellow stripe showing. Keeping their red epaulets covered to keep the peace among themselves. Everyone was singing, House Finches, robins, titmice, chickadees, red wings (coke a ree), goldfinches, and siskins. We saw several Downy Woodpeckers, did not hear any woodpecker drumming. We saw woodpecker holes, very round and deep, but not for nesting or foraging as they had much bark peeled away from all the edges. You can imagine what a bad choice it would be to have your nest hole be that obvious with glowing fresh wood encircling the hole. I looked these types of foraging holes up in the Bird Tracks and Sign and found that they are Pileated WP holes. They do not always create oblong holes, sometimes they are very round. Randy was wondering why Crows and Blue Jays are in the same family. I looked the Corvid family up in the Sibley's guide to Bird Life and Behavior and some of the charecteristics that this family share are scales on the front of their legs but smooth on the back, strong bills and feet, stiff bristle-like feathers covering the nostrils. These are some of the types of morphological similarities that people in the past used to determine evolutionary relationships and recent biochemical evidence confirms this. The whole Corvid family evolved and radiated from one crow like ancestor in Australia. Kevin McGowan wrote this segment in the Sibley's and it is very interesting. So in spite of snow and our binoculars becoming virtually useless, we had a great walk, with Erin and Randy finding lots of birds. (Forgot Erin's WB Nuthatch, uncharacteristically silent, so it took good eyes to find.) Three days of winter walks, ranging from frigid, to pleasant to snowy, with great turnouts on all three days (more people again showed up at 11 on Saturday for a mis-advertised walk). This just goes to show how appreciated we are in our roles as guides through the little microcosm of natural world that is Sapsucker Woods and thanks again to everyone for great work. |
posted Feb 20, 2009 1:10 PM by Cornell Lab of Ornithology & Sapsucker Woods
We'll cover three topics during this meeting:
1. Challenges of leading bird tours in Sapsucker Woods, and strategies for overcoming them
2. Monthly training sessions beginning in March
3. Outreach plans, events, training for the coming Spring season
Also, I will bring a large stack of forms for folks to sign--I'd like to get this current crop of active docents (and docents-in-training) on the same renewal schedule. Cornell's volunteer agreement only lasts 2 years so it will save me some time to have you as a cohort rather than tracking all the different expiry dates.
Please reply to let me know if you will attend. Thanks!
charles.
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