Showing posts with label christine southwick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christine southwick. Show all posts

For the Birds: Habitat loss—a preventable disaster

Sunday, August 7, 2011


MacGillivray's Warbler--morning bath before flying on.
Photo by Chris Southwick
By Christine Southwick

Your gas tank is almost empty. The last place you stopped, the pumps were dry. You know another place – it is miles away, but you should be able to just make it. When you get there, the filling station is gone, replaced by a parking lot. Now what?

If you were a bird with this scenario, you would probably fall to the ground, too exhausted and too hungry to travel on. If you were lucky you might find enough water, food, and shelter to recover and travel to your breeding or wintering grounds. If not, you, and possibly your whole flock, would die, never to fly again. This is happening throughout the US. Indeed, the Evening Grosbeak population has plummeted by 91% since 1967, due to rest stops and watering holes on their flyways being poisoned by pesticides, drained and plowed for crops, or made into strip malls.

Migrating White-crowned Sparrow eating bugs
Photo by Whitney Hartshorne
Habitat loss is the number one cause of bird deaths.

There are fewer and fewer places for birds to perch and feed, raise their young, and find open water. Distances between resting and refueling stops often become so great that many birds traveling thousand-year-old migration routes will die from lack of water, food, and safe stop-overs.

How can you help?

If you must cover a ditch, offer water and shelter to replace that which you have eliminated.

Have a sick tree, or one you fear in your yard? Make a snag out of the bottom twenty feet or so. Dead trees will shelter cavity nesters, and provide food too; and it is fun to watch the birds that use them. Trees are the lungs of the earth, so plant a tree or fruiting bush to replace what you took away.

Snag created by homeowner,
used by Pileated Woodpeckers etc.
Photo by Diann MacRae
Don’t make your gardens so clean that they become sterile for wildlife. Gardens that don’t have bugs, can’t feed birds, salamanders, garter snakes, frogs, dragonflies, or any other wildlife.

If you clear an area, don’t do it between March and August. Wait until Labor Day, by then the young have left their ground nests.

Keep a hedgerow of weeds along an edge or corner of your yard. Make a brush pile for hiding and escape routes for birds. Brush piles, and brambles provide shelter during the winter cold also.

When you change the landscape to suit your tastes, ask yourself who and what you are depriving of water, food, and shelter.

Unless you are willing to face a Silent Spring, you need to provide the four necessities: water, food, shelter, and a place to raise young.

You can make a difference. Start now!

Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.

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For the Birds: American Goldfinch – The Wild One

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

American Goldfinch in April. Photo by Christine Southwick
By Christine Southwick

With its vibrant yellow plumage, black cap worn jauntily low over its forehead, black tail and wings edged with white, the American Goldfinch is always a welcome summer sight at local feeders. This goldfinch arrives in small flocks, often calling while flying in an undulating (roller-coaster) fashion.

American Goldfinches were first identified in print in 1758. They became Washington’s State Bird in 1951 after being picked the favorite by a state-wide elementary school poll. At that time it was called the Willow Goldfinch, but now the two main subspecies seen in Washington are called American Goldfinches.

Two winter males with a Pine Siskin. Photo by C. Southwick
The American Goldfinch is the only finch that molts its body feathers twice a year: in late winter the male changes to the lemon-yellow breeding plumage that so many of us expect when we think of goldfinches; in late fall their body feathers are exchanged for yellow olive-brown ones, minus the cap. The females stay a drab grey with yellow highlights that are bright in summer, and pale in the winter. Females have two light wing bars on their black wings, versus the single white wing bar that the male displays.

Most goldfinches arrive in our area mid-April and leave mid-October, but there are always a few hardy flocks that stay and grace our presence, roaming from weed-patch to open fields, staying for a while in yards with seed-heads and nyjer thistle seed feeders, and then nomadically moving on to the next source of seeds. American Goldfinches are happiest in abandoned fields and road-sides where they consume vast amounts of thistle¸ dandelion, tree, and other wild seeds.

Two males in April.  Photo by C. Southwick
By using their feet extensively while feeding, American Goldfinches are able to pluck seeds that other birds can’t reach. They are classified as “granivores”, meaning that they are almost totally vegetation, eating only seeds, or maybe a few aphids. They even feed their four-to-six nestlings regurgitated seeds, not insects. This non-protein diet is deadly to Brown-headed Cowbird chicks that may have hatched in an American Goldfinch nest.

Their breeding season starts in July, later than any other finch, timed to use seed fibers, especially thistle down, for their nests, and to have ripe weed and flower seeds for eating.

Bring American Goldfinches into your yard with nyjer thistle seed, black-oil sunflower seeds, and bird baths. Plant zinnias, cosmos, bee balm and perennial flowering plants, and in August leave the flower heads for winter feeding. You may be rewarded with a fly-in by these cheerful Wild Canaries.


Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.



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For the Birds: Townsend’s Warbler—the prettiest songbird in Western North America?

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

A bird in the hand of Christine Southwick during the
February bird banding.
By Christine Southwick

There are some who say the Townsend’s Warbler is one of the prettiest birds in Western North America. With its dark stripes and cheek patch in a bright yellow face, yellow breast, white belly, and two white wing bars in dark olive and black wings, I’d have to agree.

The male has a black head-stripes and cheek patch, and black on the throat and crown; the female has olive-colored stripes and cheek patch and crown, and a light throat. The male is very distinctive, but the female and juvenile can be confused with the Hermit Warbler. Since Townsend’s sometimes mate with Hermits, there can be some really confusing looking hybrids.

Female Townsend's Warbler
Photo by Christine Southwick
Townsends’ are migratory birds with two separate wintering grounds. Because the wintering grounds of the Queen Charlotte Islands’ Townsend’s is here and along the Pacific Coast, we are lucky enough to have Townsend’s around all year round. Whether the Townsend’s Warblers you see in the winter are the same ones you see in the summer, or if the winter ones go north to the Queen Charlotte Islands, and our summer ones are from Mexico or Guatemala is not known. Preliminary studies suggest that the Townsend’s that winter here have shorter-length wings than the ones that fly all the way to Central America, but more banding and study is needed.

And because Townsend’s prefer to nest on the ends of branches on tall mature evergreens in dense forests, there is much that isn’t known about their movements, or all their breeding habits. It is believed that they are seasonally monogamous, with the males arriving first to pick and defend their territories by singing. The female lays 3-5 eggs in a well-concealed nest, and both parents feed the young.

Juvenile Townsend's Warbler in bath
Photo by Christine Southwick
 
Townsend’s Warblers are primarily insect eaters, gleaning bugs from tree branches and foliage, usually by climbing around, but sometimes they will hover. They will eat some berries, and there have been numerous local reports of Townsend’s drinking nectar from hummingbird feeders

Add a bird bath with warmer, and suet in the winter time and you will probably have a Townsend’s visit your yard, and maybe even stay for the winter.

One thing is certain, once you have seen a Townsend’s Warbler in your yard,you will be looking for it again, and again.

Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.


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For the Birds: Wilson’s Warbler - the other yellow bird with a black cap

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Wilson's Warbler.  Photo by Christine Southwick.
By Christine Southwick

There are two yellow birds with black caps that are seen in this area during the summertime. 

Our state bird, the American Goldfinch is one; the other is the Wilson’s Warbler.

The Wilson’s is a small songbird with a bill designed to catch bugs, and has olive green wings with no wing bars. It moves through wet dense vegetation foraging for insects, twitching its tail and singing its song. I usually hear a Wilson’s before I see it.

Here in the Puget Sound area, both the female and the male have black caps that sit back on their head a bit. Their lores [the space above their nose] are the same bright yellow as the rest of their face. Their eyes are black and are a good visual clue. The sub-species here is a brighter yellow than in the east; sometimes the face is almost neon yellow.

Wilson's Warbler. Photo by Doug Parrott.
The Wilson’s is often solitary, and you will usually only see one by itself; with one other Wilson’s; or while it is waiting its turn around a bird bath.

Wilson’s forage low in bushes and trees, but rarely on the ground. They will also fly out and catch bugs on the wing, which is called “flycatching”.

The Wilson’s females build their nests on or near the ground during May thru August, so it is important to keep dogs on leashes and cats indoors during breeding season for these birds and for all ground birds. Wait until about Labor Day to clear brush and high grasses.

Only the female broods the 2-7 eggs, but both parents feed their young for up to 25 days after they have left the nest.

The Wilson’s Warbler has seen a dramatic decline in population in Washington since 1980 mainly due to destruction of their preferred habitat in the Northwest: river and creek-side brushy areas. Pesticides have also greatly affected their numbers, both by direct exposure; eating of tainted bugs, and diminished food supply.

Wilson's Warbler. Photo by Christine Southwick.
Because Wilson’s eat only insects, and occasionally berries, you won’t find a Wilson’s at your feeder. If you want to see these fun little birds, plant or keep dense bushes and trees, and set up running water: a dripping or recycling fountain or stream, or maybe just a misting attachment on your hose.

Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.

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For the Birds: Merlin –the feisty falcon

Saturday, June 25, 2011

a male Merlin. Photo by Hal Everett.
By Christine Southwick

If you hear a high-pitched, “Kee-kee-kee”, LOOK UP.

It will be a raptor of some sort. If you are lucky, it will be one of our local Black Merlins (also called Coastal Forest Merlin).

This small fast flying falcon is easily over-looked because of its size and speed. Since 2008 Merlins have been observed breeding here in urban trees . 

This year there were three identified pairs laying eggs, and attempting to raise young. Because of the long cold weather two of the nests may have failed, but the third nest in Shoreline appears to still be active.

The male Merlin has a blue-grey back, while the female and immature are brownish-grey to dark brown on their backs. Both have similar buffy streaked chests. On cloudy days, it is often hard to tell the orangish tint on the male’s chest.

Female Merlin. Photo by Barbara Deihl.
These feisty little falcons readily chase off larger predators, and will chase and capture flushed prey, no matter who was the original hunter. Merlin often tag behind a hunting Sharp-shinned Hawk just for that very reason. Merlins are such successful hunters that they often cache extra food nearby, to be eaten later. These fearless feathered raptors have been known to take on much bigger prey by knocking it out of the sky. They’ve even been known to take on cars….

Merlins don’t build their own nests, instead remodeling abandoned nests—mainly crows nests. The nests must be high, 36-100 feet up in a tall tree, usually evergreen, with some cover above it. Additionally, there needs to be an exposed tree top or limbs nearby from which the Merlin can view prey. 

It is important that big tall evergreens be protected and preserved in city landscapes for the charismatic Merlin.

Merlins fly fast and straight; they rarely dive-bomb like the Peregrine. They are the second smallest falcon in this area, with the Kestrel being the smallest. It is easy to misidentify a flying Merlin with a Sharp-shinned Hawk due to size, but look for the bent pointed wings of a falcon. Sharp-shinned Hawks have rounded wings, and their wing bend is nearer the head. Both raptors mainly eat birds, and indeed, Merlins were once called Pigeon Hawks.

flying Merlin. Photo by Doug Parrott.
At this time, the greatest danger to Merlins is loss of suitable habitat. Needing tall trees with an openness to hunt, some have now started nesting in urban area, since so many of their traditional breeding sites have been logged, or razed by urban expansion. Window strikes while chasing prey cause approximately 50% of all premature deaths.

Tell your neighbors to keep their tall trees, and LOOK UP. Who knows when you may find the next breeding Merlins?


Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.

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Pesticides: Who Are You Eliminating?

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Black-capped Chickadee photo by Craig Kerns
By Christine Southwick

The problem is not that pesticides, herbicides, and biocides kill whatever they are advertised to kill; it is that they keep on killing….

Herbicides kill weeds, but they also kill worms, ground beetles, and other beneficial organisms in the soil. Herbicides commonly get into the ground water, and into our local streams killing aquatic plants and organisms, thereby killing the fish that eat them. 

And the longer the life of the herbicide, the more likely it will spread far beyond its intended range, and with our wet weather, it will get into the ground water and into our streams. Even dilution does not make these herbicides safe. Thornton Creek has had documented episodes of fish-kill blamed on herbicides and pesticides. All local streams and the Sound itself have tested with high enough levels to compromise many aquatic species.

Pesticides are deadly to many organisms, including humans. Not only are many pesticides very potent, but they are usually sprayed on, often becoming airborne for several adjacent backyards. This means that you could be unintentionally poisoning your neighbors’ children, pets, and any wildlife nearby, when you spray your roses with the latest and greatest, most effective spray.

Great blue heron with fish.  Photo by Kenneth Trease.jpg
Approximately 672 million birds a year are directly exposed to pesticides; 10% die outright. No one knows the percentage of birds that fall ill later. Birds that eat poisoned insects, or fish, or rats, die from eating them; and any birds that eat those sick birds also die. The food-chain effects of DDT, and of rat poisons, on raptors has been seen.

Systemic insecticides are suspected as a cause for bee “colony collapse disorder.” Both seed and foliar applications (Ed. Foliar feeding is a technique of feeding plants by applying liquid fertilizer directly to their leaves) appear to poison the pollen that bees need.

It is estimated that half of the ever-increasing toxic mix is created by homeowners using weed killers on their lawns and spraying insecticides on their garden plants.

Violet-green swallow feeding young. Photo by John Riegsecker

Organic gardening, especially using native plants that are naturally hardy in this area, is the healthiest answer.

Nature isn’t perfect. Your garden shouldn’t be either. A few holes in leaves means that the garden is supporting local wildlife; be it cutter bees, bugs that birds feed their young, or caterpillars that become the local butterflies.

Just because there are some bugs and weeds that are less desirable to humans, doesn’t mean that birds and other wildlife don’t need them. Bugs and weeds are food.


Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.

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For the birds: Black-headed Grosbeaks

Monday, June 13, 2011

Male Black-headed Grosbeak.
Photo by Christine Southwick.
By Christine Southwick

Once you see a male Black-headed Grosbeak, you’ll know its name is fitting. The black head and large seed-cracking conical beak cries out, “Look at me”. This starling-sized songbird with its bright orange-cinnamon body has lemon-yellow on the breast and underside of the spotted-black wings. And if that isn’t enough, it has a faster, mellow robin-like song. Actually, both males and females sing, but different songs. The female is not the looker that the male is, but she is still a distinctive bird to have at your feeder.

Seasonally monogamous, the males help incubate the 2-5 eggs, with the nest being built in trees such as willow, alder, big-leafed maple, or cottonwood. They have been known to even build their nests in dense stands of blackberries. The young usually leave the nest up to two weeks before they can fly—both parents feed their precocious offspring until they can safely fly and feed on their own.

Juvenile Black-headed Grosbeak.
Photo by Christine Southwick.
Migrating from their wintering grounds in Mexico, where they are one of the few birds that can eat the poisonous monarch butterflies, the Black-headed Grosbeaks arrive here in late spring. If they find suitable habitat they may stay and breed here, if not they will continue into British Columbia.

Suitable habitat is dense deciduous areas, with large trees and thick bushes, especially near some sort of water, such as: streamside corridors (called riparian), wetlands, lakeshores, or even a garden creek or pond. They appear to dislike dense coniferous forests, but can be found in patches of broadleafed trees and shrubs within conifer forests.

Black-headed Grosbeaks often sing from prominent perches, and their song is similar enough to the robin’s that you might just ignore them until you here their distinctive “eek” call.

During the summer they eat mainly insects, spiders, and snails, in addition to seeds. In the fall they will gladly eat any berries they find, including the highly invasive ivy and holly berries.

Female Black-headed Grosbeak.
Photo by Christine Southwick.
The female Black-headed Grosbeak is often mistaken for the locally-scarcer Rose-breasted Grosbeak, female. The Black-headed have a dark top bill and the lower bill is pale; the Rose-breasted have pale upper and lower bills. The Black-headed female has lemon-yellow wing-lining.

If you really want Black-headed Grosbeaks in your yard, provide black-oil sunflower seeds, running water, and deciduous trees or bushes. Oh, and you might try putting out a tiny dish of grape jelly near the sunflower seeds.

Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.

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For the birds:Western Tanager

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Breeding male Western Tanager.
Photo by John Higbee.
By Christine Southwick
There’s a towhee-sized bird in my bird bath with a bright red head, yellow body, black wings with two wing bars, and a medium sized bill.

What is it? Is it wild, or escaped? And if it is wild, will it stay?

It’s a migrating Western Tanager on its way to nesting sites in LARGE, mostly coniferous, trees.

Douglas Firs and Hemlocks with trunks 21-inches-or -larger, which means 80–year-old-or-older, are the Western Tanager’s definite preference n the Pacific Northwest. They are vitally important for their breeding habitat, perhaps because of the types of insects that live in older trees.

During breeding season they eat almost exclusively insects, majorly consuming Western Spruce budworms and Douglas-fir moth larvae. Western Tanagers are mostly foliage gleaners, but will fly out and catch insects [called hawking], and sometimes will hover. They avoid continuous canopy, and seem to prefer about a 70% canopy, with some openings. Except during migration, they usually forage high in the canopy, making them even harder to see than their bright colors and slow movements would suggest.

Female. Photo by Christine Southwick.
Monogamous for a season, the adults arrive first; alone, with a mate, or occasionally in a small flock. . Female Western Tanagers build their flimsy nests 20-42 feet up, out on an end branch fork. The 3-5 eggs nests are often parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds which can dramatically reduce how many Western Tanagers fledge.

The adults migrate south first, leaving their offspring to find their own way down. During fall migration they eat berries and other fruits; and indeed their bill has evolved to be thinner than seed-eaters but thicker than insectivores.

This species was first discovered by the Lewis and Clark Expedition .

Non-breeding male.  Photo by Doug Parrott.
And did you know that the red coloring on the male’s head is gotten from the insects they eat? The females don’t have red on their heads, and non-breeding males usually only have a little red coloring, so hormones must activate the process.

It is during migration, when these flying travelers are looking for good feeding, drinking and bathing rest stops that you will see Western Tanagers.

If you have running water, or a bird bath in an a yard with trees, you may be visited by these lovely birds. Search for them if you hear their rolling “Pit-er-ick”. Despite their bright colors they can be hard to see.


Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.

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For the birds: Cooper’s Hawk

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Adult Cooper's Hawk. Photo by Terry Olmsted.
By Christine Southwick

Which local hawk is considered one of the bird world’s most skillful flyers?

Want a hint? Which hawk flies so fast through tree canopies in its pursuit of other birds, that approximately 23% of those hawks have fractured their wishbones at one time or another? If you said the medium-sized accipiter named after the New York naturalist, William Cooper, you should pat yourself on the back.

Adult Cooper's Hawk on nest.
Photo by Kim McCormick.
Cooper’s Hawks are monogamous, and usually mate for life. They build their nests mid-way up in tall, usually deciduous trees on bottom land, not hillsides, and lay a clutch of 3-5 cobalt blue eggs. The male feeds the female while she sits on eggs for a little over a month, and he helps bring food until the young are fully fledged. During the eight weeks that the young are being taught to hunt, they will continue to use the nest.

The females are much larger than the males, and bring down larger prey, sometimes as large as pheasant or hares. They were once called “Chicken Hawks” and were frequently shot due to the mistaken belief that they fed on chickens. Research has found that they almost never eat domestic animals.

Being hunted is no longer their greatest danger.  Now, loss of habitat is.

Though they hunt in more open areas than Sharp-shinned Hawks, they require mixed or deciduous forests for breeding. This habitat aids their hidden-approach and surprise-attack which makes their hunting so successful, and enhances clutch success.

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk.
Photo by Doug Parrott.
Telling Cooper’s Hawks from Sharp-shinned Hawks can be tricky, and even experts can be fooled. Compared to Sharpys, the Cooper’s legs are thicker—a judgment that often fails me, since I never see Sharpy and Cooper’s side by side. 

Cooper’s Hawks do have large feet and a large head relative to their body size. Another good field mark is that their body is a uniform width, unlike the Superman build of the Sharp-shinned. If it’s an adult, and in good light, the back of the head is darker, giving a hooded look. The Cooper’s will also raise its hackles, making it look fierce. And, if you can see a perched hawk’s tail, remember: Cooper’s is curved; Sharp-shinned is Square.

In the end, you may have to say it was an unidentified accipiter, and just enjoy the speed and nerve of a hawk if it visits your bird feeders for a much needed meal.

Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.

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For the birds: Sharp-shinned Hawk

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Adult Sharp-shinned Hawk
Photo by Ron Green
By Christine Southwick
Tilting its short rounded wings and twisting its long tail, this small predator catches unwary birds, be they feeding on the ground in the forests or at a neighborhood bird feeder. The smallest of the Accipiter group, Sharp-shinned Hawks, so called because of their skinny legs with sharp shins, are able to navigate quietly and quickly through even dense forest, and when they spot a likely meal, overtake it with a burst of speed.

Ninety percent of their food is small birds, with the other percentage being small rodents, snakes, frogs, lizards, and larger insects.

The female can be twice as large as the male, and will capture the larger prey, usually up to a flicker or maybe even a small grouse, while the male will hunt sparrows, chickadees, maybe a hummingbird or two.

Juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk
Photo by Michael Hobbs
Sharp-shinned hawks hide their 2-5 egg nests up high in a large conifer, or a dense group of trees to protect the nest from owls, larger hawks, and humans who hunt their prized multi-spotted eggs, or who shoot them, believing them to be the chicken-hunting Cooper’s Hawks.

Sharp-shinned Hawks are hard to tell from the slightly larger Cooper’s Hawk, and it doesn’t help that the female Sharpy can be as large as a male Cooper’s.

Sharp-shinned Hawks prefer coniferous or mixed forests, and will rarely be found out in the large open areas, except during migration.

The majority of Sharpys breed in the temperate boreal forests in Canada and migrate to southern US, Mexico, or Central America, but there is a resident population in the Northwest that breed in higher elevations, and then winter here in our area. Perhaps some are even breeding locally, but more study is needed, since their secretive ways make them difficult to locate during breeding season.

Juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk
Photo by Randy
Sharp-shinned hawks have a “Superman’s build”, being broad at the shoulders and narrow at the hips, with a square tail and long pencil-thin legs. Side view, their eyes appear to be centered between the front and back of their smallish head, and in flight the head barely extends past their wings. Their flight pattern is usually several quick strokes then a short glide. They have a square edge to their tail, a field mark that is helpful, but can be hard to judge since this is only obvious in perched birds.

Juvies have yellow eyes and are brown above, with chests of a diffuse brown; adults have red eyes, and have gray upper -parts and barred reddish chests.

If the birds at your feeder sound a quick alarm and scatter, look for a Sharp-shinned Hawk searching for a meal. This is an opportunity to watch the checks and balances of nature right in your own yard.


Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.

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For the Birds: Birds of Prey have gotten a bum rap

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Sharp-shinned hawk. Photo by Ron Green
By Christine Southwick
Birds of prey, also called raptors, have it hard. Nobody wants them in their neighborhood. Smaller birds mob them to make them leave, and many people scare them away when they see them at their feeders.

Hawks, falcons and eagle s are all day hunters, which is called diurnal. It is common to see any raptor, except Osprey, being mobbed by crows, red-winged blackbirds, or almost any breeding bird. Most all birds ignore Osprey since they only eat fish and don’t have baby birds on their menus.

Owls are also birds of prey, but since they hunt at night, the only time they are mobbed by smaller birds is early morning before an owl goes to its roost, or when crows or chickadees discover an owl on an exposed roost.

In this area, we have Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper’s Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, Peregrines, Bald- Eagles, Osprey, Barred Owls, Northern Saw-whet Owls, and in some places Barn Owls, and an occasional Short-eared Owl. Many raptors breed in this area, including a pair of Merlin who have set up housekeeping in a tall tree in Shoreline for the second year.

Cooper's Hawk. Photo by John Tubbs.
Mortality is high for raptor youngsters. Many raptor species have up to a 75% mortality rate for the first year. Fledglings only have a few weeks before their parents migrate South, often as far a South America. They need to learn how to hunt well enough to feed themselves, without crashing into windows, telephone lines, or moving cars or trains.

Then they have to travel South by themselves, and hunt food as they fly hundreds of miles each day. Fledglings need to find an unclaimed–productive-enough habitat to feed themselves until it is time to fly back here for the summer breeding.

After they are grown, another danger is eating poisoned vermin. Did you know that grinding up a couple of vitamin D tablets into some peanut butter and putting the peanut butter in a rat run will kill the rats, but not harm raptors, cats or other predators? Tis true. I’ve used it successfully.

Because they are at the top of the food chain, raptors can die from eating prey with lead shots, or other human caused contaminations, like pesticides.

Photo by Wendy Duncan
Raptors help keep flocks healthy and smart. Birds that are ill are slower, and easier to catch. Birds that are less intelligent are more easily tricked and caught. Birds that have learned to adapt to being hunted, are more adaptable in general, and more likely to survive.

Raptors are birds of speed, grace and intelligence. Where you see birds of prey means that the area is reasonably healthy, and that you are doing things right for the birds. Remember that the smart birds hide, and wait until the hunter is gone, before venturing out again. Birds of prey are an important balance in the bird world, maybe even in your own yard.

Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards. 

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For the Birds: Kinglets

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Photo by Doug Parrott
By Christine Southwick

What’s olive-green, has a crown patch, is constantly moving, and is only a little larger than our North American hummingbirds? If you said kinglets, you were right.

This area has both Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Golden-crowned Kinglets.

Golden-crowned have a striped face pattern. The Ruby-crowned has a plain face with a bold white eye-ring. Golden-crowned: both male and female have erectable yellow crowns, and males have an orange stripe in the center. 

Ruby-crowned: only the males have the usually hidden, erectable red crown. Both kinglets have two white wing bars, with a black smudge below the second bar. Did you know that both kinglets have black legs and yellow feet? Because they are so small, and flit around looking for their bug meals, that field mark isn’t always easy to see.

Red-crowned Kinglet with crest raised by Scott Ramos
Ruby-crowned Kinglets are often found with other small birds during winter, but are most obvious in the spring and fall when they migrate to/ from their higher elevation breeding grounds. While migrating they often search for bugs on lower branches than the rest of the year. During March-April, I listen for a “Cheebe cheebe che “ “Cheebe che”,

“Cheebe cheebe che “ “Cheebe che”.

This is what the Ruby–crowned call sounds like to me. The Golden-crowned Kinglets have a high-pitched single note, repeated. Listen to a CD of local birds, and create a reminder that makes sense to you, and you’ll be more likely to recognize the bird when you hear it.

The Golden–crowned Kinglets are year-round residents here, but because they stay high in the conifers, they are often overlooked during summer. In the winter they also forage lower, and this winter there were many reports of them feeding on the ground, perhaps seeking spiders in leaf litter.

Gold-crowned Kinglet. Photo by Craig Kerns
Both Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets are seasonally monogamous. Both species build their nests in tall trees, usually conifers, anywhere from 40-100 feet above the ground. Little is actually known about their nesting habits. These kinglets lay an unusually large number of eggs for their size, from 5-12 eggs. Large broods usually mean that there is high mortality. It is believed that most of the deaths are from exposure to cold temperature, although Golden-crowneds can tolerate temperatures of minus 30 F for short periods of time.

So, listen for the songs of these two kinglets. Usually you will hear a kinglet before you see it. Then look for a tiny bird flicking its wings, and a quick fluttery flight.

Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.

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For the Birds: Fox Sparrows Need Himalayan Blackberries

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Photo by Christine Southwick
by Christine Southwick
Fox Sparrows get their name from their red “foxy color”, especially on their tails. There are four recognized groups: Red, Sooty, Slate-colored, and Thick-billed.

The Fox Sparrows that we have here are called “Sooty Fox Sparrows” and have little or no red on their tails, instead are a rich chocolate brown. Occasionally, State-colored, and Red Fox Sparrows may be seen during migration. The lower bill, called a mandible, is a yellow to yellow-orange, and contrasts with the dark upper bill.

Our Fox Sparrows are very large chunky sparrows that like blackberry brambles, the thicker and denser, the better. Fox Sparrows are seen in this area mainly in the winter time, although some may stay all year round if the habitat is right. They are vigorous two-footed jump-kicking ground-foragers, looking for their favorite seeds and insects. They even make Spotted Towhee look like they are lazy.

Photo by Christine Southwick
The female sits on 3-5 eggs for 12-14 days, and both parents feed the young until after they leave the nest, usually 9-11 days after hatching. The majority of Fox Sparrows in this area breed in higher elevations. Consequently, I have not yet seen a fledgling Fox Sparrow. Since the seasonal movement of Fox Sparrows isn’t well documented, I am helping study these handsome birds by putting colored bands on their legs, as part of a Puget Sound project.

Because they are ground feeders and nesters, feral and pet cats are documented predators.

Our Fox Sparrows and our Song Sparrows are both darker species and people often have trouble telling one from the other. Especially since both forage on the ground. Look for an overly-enthusiastic kicker turning over leaves[Fox Sparrow]. Also look for lots of tail bobbing [Song Sparrow]. 

Here are some other helpful clues:

FOX SPARROWS
  • Solid brown heads
  • Yellow mandible contrast with top bill dark
  • Solid looking back
  • Chevrons on whitish breast
SONG SPARROWS
  • Gray and brown striped heads with a dark line through the eye
  • Top and bottom bills are both darkish
  • Streaked looking back
  • Stripes on a buffy breast
Song Sparrow. Photo by Christine Southwick
The first impression is usually, “That’s an awfully big sparrow. It is really digging for food.” If you’re lucky you’ll be able to watch it before it darts back into the blackberries. If you have blackberries near your yard, you may be able to entice it into your yard with a bird bath or suet.

Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards. 

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