Killdeer Counts This Year

I'm concerned about the killdeer populations this year.  I just checked out Cornell's population counts.  They're low.  Here's the link to the data.  Notice that in 2007 (orange) the killdeer population was around 200 in March.  This year (green) it was barely 50.  Oddly enough, this month's populations are the same as they were last year.  I want to keep an eye on the trends.

I think one of the biggest issues is overmowing in the fields around Vancouver.  I've noticed a lot of unnecessary mowing and haying in perfect fields for killdeer nesting.  I'm sure that development and human footprint activity aren't helping.

Last year I could easily identify at least 20 killdeer around my place on any given day.  Now I'm lucky to see 2 in one week.  That same killdeer at WSUV seems to keep showing up, too.  I haven't seen any big gatherings of them there, just that one.

Please keep an eye out for killdeer populations.  If you see them somewhere, make a note of it (preferably here!).  I consider killdeer to be an important indicator species of field habitat around here...which is disappearing.

Blackbirds

The tanagers seem to have gone off a bit on campus, so I took my kid and dog to Delta park to check out the waterfowl. Ramona was obsessed with eating rocks and dirt, so I didn't get much looking in, but saw several glorious yellow-headed blackbirds and red-winged blackbirds, as well as herons on the wing who looked like great kites hung in the sky. That neck posture, an s-curve, floors me. Incredible bird song. Will return with someone to look after the kid.

Great bird week

On campus tanagers are everywhere, as are barn swallows, swifts, and Wilson's warblers. Off campus, had dinner with friends who have a great house on a double lot full of mature trees last night. We ate outdoors; a busy nest of bushtits just above us flitted about, three tanagaers, several Wilson's warblers, two Stellar's jays, robins galore...they had a tree full of cedarr waxwings a few weeks ago and a barred owl last spring. I want to live on a double lot full of mature trees.

Red-Tails Courting!

I forgot to post this on Monday evening after I witnessed it.

The Red-Tailed Hawk of the Clark campus has found a mate!  I watched the pair fly right over Hanna/Hawkins/Foster at a great speed with the male performing his usual diving technique attempting to win over the female.  Unfortunately, she didn't seem too impressed (or at least while I was watching), for she didn't engage in the ritualistic talon-locking that signifies acceptance.  It's quite an amazing display, for those of you who haven't seen it!

"In the courtship display a pair of Red-tailed Hawks soars in wide circles at a great height. The male dives down in a steep drop, then shoots up again at nearly as steep an angle. He repeats this maneuver several times, then approaches the female from above. He extends his legs and touches or grasps her briefly. The pair may grab onto one other and may interlock their talons and spiral toward the ground.

When courting, a pair of Red-tailed Hawks soar in wide circles high above the ground. The male will dive, then shoot up again. After repaeting this maneuver several times, he will approach the female from above. He will extend his legs and touch or grasp her briefly. They may grab onto each other, interlocking their talons and spiraling to the ground."

That comes from this website, which I have verified the information as accurate from my knowledge volunteering at the zoo: http://digital-desert.com/wildlife/red-tailed-hawk.html

I tried to find a video of their courtship, but I couldn't find one on YouTube.  Keep an eye out around campus!!

Sightings at WSUV

I took a walk on one of the trails at WSUV this afternoon and took quite a few pictures.  I was pleasantly surprised at the spring activity; I noticed a large number of birds out and about.

A young American Robin was the highlight of my walk.  The parent was twittering around and not exactly happy that I was taking a picture of the young one.

A Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (I'm pretty sure?) that would not hold still for more than two seconds.

And a Bewick's Wren, singing proudly on the snag.

Other sightings include a plethora of American Goldfinches, Black-capped chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, our friend the flicker, a Red-Tailed Hawk, and a small group of bushtits.  I also took a picture of what I think is an apple tree in bloom.

Return of the swifts!

As site administrator and geeky recent convert to bird watching, I reserve the right to report on bird stuff that happens off campus. My swifts are back. We got a new furnace several years ago, and a colony of swifts has been making a summer home of our now-unused old brick chimney for three summers, counting this one. I noticed them again about a month ago, but I think their numbers have increased, as I hear them above and see them several times every day, particularly at dusk when they circle and finally dive into the chimney. Are they chimney swifts or Vaux's? How do you tell? They appear as a near-perfect crescent when in flight, with a tapered tail. The last two years, when the hatchlings came of age, I could hear a surge of shimmery peeps coming from my pantry when the adults came home to feed the young. Standing next to my refridgerator and listening to a chorus of swifts in my kitchen is just good news all around.

Tripping Over Tanagers

Now that I'm sure what they look like, I saw two more on campus today. One in a leafy tree at the daycare and one in the conifer just off the handicapped access ramp behind the old security offices. They were bright, lively, and polite enough to let me take a good long look...

Spotted Towhee at the daycare

Hopping around near the shrubs. I would have mistaken it for a juvenile robin but for the red eye and the scrub-jay-like posture. What a swell bird!

I think I saw a Western Tanager

I am pretty sure, but wonder if it's possible--I saw it in a North Portland cherry tree, right on a city street. Might one have been there?

In the Heat of Spring

It was brought to my attention this afternoon (while I was in chemistry lab) that a Western Scrub-Jay appeared to be sick.  I walked out of the lab and went to see for myself what was going on.  It was a female panting underneath the trees lining the wall of APH, in the pathway right between APH and Science (across from the feeder).  I approached the bird, and she quickly stopped her lethargic behavior and waddled away.  She was dehydrated.

So, this is just a reminder that as the temperatures around here rise, keep your bird waterers filled for our fine feathered friends!

In other news, a couple of Rufous hummingbirds were battling it out and a male House Sparrow was busy performing a courtship display across from Dental.  Like we really need more House Sparrows around here.

Killdeer Encounter

On the way to class this morning at the Clark Center on the WSUV campus, I walked right past a solitary killdeer.  He didn't move at all when I walked by, and I came within a few feet of him.  I stopped to watch his behavior for a few moments until he finally walked away and flew off.

I thought his behavior was rather strange...killdeer typically feed in fields in spaced out groups and never let anyone come close to them.  Perhaps they are going to be more friendly this year.

So, keep your eye out for our favorite plover!

Action

Two ruby-crowned kinglets poked in the rose bush at the back of my yard on Monday, and I saw a downy woodpecker in a neighborhood suet feeder Sunday. Biggest news is that my neighborhood flicker discovered my suet feeder, so I now can observe him from the sofa (feeder is on the front porch). Also, the white-crowned sparrow has claimed the little tree in front of the Clark daycare. I see him there every day.

Addition to my Life List!

I saw the most wonderful little bird today. I heard a unique, LOUD song from inside the daycare while dropping Ramona off and found the singer in a young tree just outside the fence. It let me get within six feet to check it out: a tufty head, black and white stripes around the eyes, buff breast, long, narrow tail, and chestnut wings with a lovely scallop pattern of white just edging the tips of some wing feathers. It had a short, bright orange beak, and was singing for all it was worth. Got help IDing it as a white-crowned sparrow, a native species back to breed for the summer. It's so thrilling to see a new bird.

Spring Break sightings so far

I took my toddler to Laurelhurst Park for a stroll, and we had a lovely time at the duck pond. Frisky hooded mergansers were diving & resurfacing (check them out--such bizarro heads!), a couple of Canada geese hung out, and a single double-crested cormorant stood pretty stoically on the island, looking skyward among many mallards. I'd only ever seen cormorants in large groups. A red breasted sapsucker mewed in a great old fir. Laurelhurst is worth the drive from North Portland, and we had coffee at Stumptown after.

My neighborhood flicker

Just after I took this he (and it's a he--check the red mustache) dropped into the yard and hunted ants.

Old Bushtit nest

That Don showed me a couple of weeks ago near the science building.

Great hummingbird moment

I was lucky to see an Anna's hummingbird light on a bush a few feet away from me--the first time I've seen a male Anna's still and close up. The magenta plumage on his head was so vibrant, and it shimmered like a hologram. No wonder the Aztec revered them. In non-Clark news, I saw a bald eagle flying low & close at Kelly Point park & a Bewick's wren digging around in the undergrowth just off the path. Kelly Point, at the convergence of the Willamette & Columbia rivers & just off the I-5 near the Interstate bridge, is great for spotting raptors and waterfowl--riverfront and scrubby woods. A bunch of cormorants were hanging out on some posts sticking out of the surf. Tomorrow I'm hanging my "birds you might see at the feeders" display in the Clark daycare.

Rabbit season?

I'm pretty sure I saw a young rabbit outside Hanna today, unless it was a Manx rat that knew how to hop...

The beauty of bushtits

Though this sighting was not technically at Clark, it was pretty good. While I was planting gladiolus bulbs in my front yard today a cluster of seven bushtits attacked my suet feeder just eight or so feet away from me. I guess they decided I smelled enough like dirt not to constitute a threat. I've never been so close to them before. I love their big heads, and the subtle shading of grays in their plumage, and how cheerfully they collaborate in having at the suet. It was actually a pretty bird-social day of gardening. A very chipper European starling perched just above me on the utility wire and basically ran through the whole starling songbook. I know they're non-native, but you've got to love birds who enjoy one another's company so much. I know now these are the birds I watched when I moved here in 1996 as they slowly gathered in one tree, twittering, until their numbers swelled into the hundreds, and then all inexplicably silenced, then moved off in a cloud of wingbeats. Much as I wonder what I used to do with my time pre-Ramona, I now wonder how I could have missed so much avian activity before I picked up a bird book. Reviewed my copy of Birds of the Willamette Valley over post-gardening tea so I could recognize the yellow-rumped warbler if I come upon one.

This Week

The revelations were kind of minor, but sweet. I counted 25 goldfinches in the tree kittycorner from Hanna 101, and listened to their modest song. The cherry (I think) tree at the end of the sidewalk leading out of Foster went in a day from potential pink to kinetic pink. It bleeds into its neighbor, a tree that flowers an alarming yellow. I cozied up to the Turkish Fir, which is a brick house of a tree. It's practically square, and its needles fan out in a bottle-brush shape. My favorite thing this week was watching the goldfinshes dine: tiny birds digging with tiny motions to unseat & eat tiny seeds. And finding that I had learned the call of the Anna's hummingbird. It makes a sound like sucking your teeth, or water gurgling down a drain; I heard it & looked up outside the Humanities office to see the sharp beak of our friend poking from the top branches of a bare tree. I couldn't help but tell a random passerby to check the bird out. The gentleman replied, Well, I'm worried for him. It frosted at my house last night. Such community spirit!

Red-tailed News

After not seeing a Red-tail in campus trees since last Tuesday, I saw one in the tall Douglas-Fir near Pechanec last night around 5:30. I could not tell if it was our erstwhile friend, but it may have been. The upper back looked about right.
Goldfinch numbers are still pretty good, and Mew Gull flocks continue, more especially on the Hudson's Bay baseball diamond. Any other migrant action is a little slow at present, but the blooming of flowers and leaves has begun (does the birch leafing seem early?)

Interested in blogging here?

Just fire me an email at mel.favara@gmail.com & I'll add you as a poster.

more goldfinches

The red oak outside Foster has goldfinches galore. One has more color than any I have seen thus far this year.

Today's Bird Walk

A quick 15-minute walk revealed some inklings, some hints of what is to come as Spring approaches. A male Audubon's yellow-rumped warbler was in all his finery near the Science bird feeder, and the Slate-colored Junco there continues. I am fascinated as I learn about these small birds and the diversity of plumage in them. I have a Cassiar's Junco in my yard (google that if you want to learn something really new) and the bird here are campus is a much more typical Slate-color.

A Red-breasted Nuthatch was also actively feeding over by Science as was a flock of Bushtits. Golden-crowned Kinglets were in a tree near Frost, and a Flicker was near Scarpelli. Courtship behavior among House Sparrows was ongoing, and House Finches were also in song.

Why You Should Love Flickers

I heard one today near Foster; the "wik-wik-wik" is pretty unmistakeable. The flicker is by far my favorite bird. Though wikipedia claims that the flicker likes to nest in forests, they're all over my neighborhood. Fun things I learned today about the flicker:

They mate for life.
They use the acids in the ants they eat to preen.
The males and females share egg-sitting duty.

Their flight pattern is also pretty fascinating. They pump their wings like mad for a moment, then still their wings, careening like a bullet and dropping a few feet before they flap and rise again. There are many on campus. This is the bird that got me into birding when I spied one hammering away at our telephone pole from the bedroom window--I didn't know that woodpeckers dug urban living. Hooray!

A stroll with Don

Don & I ventured out to see the beautiful blue day & check out what was doing on campus. We chatted about the woman who freelanced onto campus the trees that live here and visited a nifty area near the physical plant. We saw black-capped chickadees and juncos going for seeds, and we found a lovely hummingbird by his voice--he was chirping in the top of a naked fruit tree. We examined an old bushtit nest and then walked to the turkish fir, where we hoped to see a sapsucker. A goldfinch lit around a few branches, and we greeted it. Then we saw what looked like hawks wheeling high overhead. They were too far away to catalogue.

American Goldfinches

Were peeping in a tree outside Hanna, eating seeds, socializing, and looking like a slightly larger bushtit with yellowish overtones. Also saw a medium-sized bird I couldn't identify & took a picture that I'll post soon to see if anyone else might know it. Am loving the nascent pink haze of the cherry tree about to bloom at the end of the sidewalk that leads out of Foster.

A Brief Reverie About Penn State Critters

Though I missed the Northwest desperately and at every moment while I was earning my MA at Penn State, I had the stalwart companionship of a form of fauna I've never seen here. I often read late at night on the lovely porch of my State College rental, and many evenings had the pleasure of watching a skunk amble up to the porch, clock me there, and casually turn in another direction. The gait of the skunk cannot adequately be described to those who have not seen it: they sort of roll forward, each limb seemingly independent of the others, and something about their pace suggests that every skunk is humming along to Muzak as he or she strolls toward nowhere in particular. I miss skunks.

Seeking advice on feeders for the daycare

My Ramona spends half a day at the campus daycare. Her teacher is interested in placing a couple of feeders outside the classroom window to attract birds for the toddlers to watch. Any suggestions on the best kinds of feeders for the birds they're likely to get on that end of campus? Thoughts on who might turn up? The teacher thinks she's seen woodpeckers in the courtyard, and there are a bunch of beautiful old firs just behind the compound. I'm planning on doing a classic posterboard display of likely birds to post near the window. I've seen juncos, house finches, and a Northern flicker on the grounds in the past.

Once more that Hawk

Saw the hawk with my own eyes today, perched in what my friend Nick calls, probably erroneously, an "English Birch" (help other posters?) near Foster. What a neato experience. I recognized the brown & white speckled chest & tail shape as he was on a pretty low branch & hung out for minutes. Called the Humanities office to advise the Dean of the hawk's presence, & he (the Dean) came out to confirm that this very hawk, young, probably male, and missing a telling tail feather, was the selfsame hawk that ate the rat. He wheeled over the building & was joined by another hawk who did not land anywhere for me to check him/her out.

The new campus Red-tail

The Red-tailed Hawk that has been in the oak tree by the totem pole the last four days (on and off) is a younger bird--the brown tail that the bird has gives it away. It is not a big hawk, so it may very well be a male, though it is hard to tell without another to compare. The rat population around Hanna Hall is such that it probably will succeed in hunting again--the bird is a bit on the skinny side and the available food that is around Foster/Hanna is attractive (I had a rat the size of the one it took outside my office about an hour before the hawk showed up). Red-tails are not uncommon sights above campus, especially towards Waterworks park, and a pair has been circling over Officer's Row at least twice in the last two weeks.

return of the red tailed hawk

He...or she was back today as I walked from Joan Stout to Foster. I had stopped to watch what I'm convinced were goldfinches and he flew into the fir tree just west? of Scarpelli. I waited to see if I could I.D. him for sure, but the crows went crazy and drove him to the red oak outside Foster and then from that tree too.

I have taught here 25 years and have not seen such a bold hawk. Rat pickings must be better than usual...huh, the mouse problem in Foster is worse than ever. I remember reading an article about hanta virus on the Navaho res. Some epidemiologist was interviewing some old guy who kept trying to tell the doc that the illness was in some way connected to all the mice the old guy had noticed on the res.

Mel, don't hate me that I feel mostly revulsion for varmints. Death is ugly.

Anna's Hummingbird

I forgot to mention: during the viburnum walk Don spotted an Anna's hummingbird in a tree near Bauer and surprised me and Kate my putting his hand to his mouth and producing a squawk calculated to "enrage" the hummingbird. Bird noticed & took flight, probably because Don was bigger.

Rat redux

While most of my campus wildlife sightings are of the avian variety, I had a near spiritual awakening today after telling my English 098 class about the hawk eating the rat yesterday in the Foster oak tree. When one student looked greenish at the image, I said, "I, too am horrified by nature's violence, but it was a rat." My students were filling out their teacher evaluation forms while I sat outside on the concrete steps that lead down to Hanna 101 just after the dialogue. As I sat lost in non-thought, an adolescent rat poked his nose out of the bed of ivy and sniffed the blue day, making full eye contact with me. Startled at a noise, he (or she?) edged back into the ivy, only to resurface a few inches down, still offering a whiskery sniff. I was struck by the perfection of his/her ears and sable fur. RIP rat who became hawk bait. I pour a little of the tea from my omnipresent peanut butter jar into the earth for you.

Day One: Hawks & a Rat

My colleague Don reported, during a walk he, Kate and I took to check out the viburnum, sweetbox, and daphne blooming near Bauer Hall, that what appeared to be a red tailed hawk was spotted munching on what appeared to be a rat in the oak tree outside of Foster Hall. I'm delighted that raptors are living on campus, and assume the RTH brought the rat in from the I-5 corridor.