Warblers!

Black-throated gray warbler borrowed from this website.

I woke up early last Thursday (April 21, 2011) and went bird watching in Fish Hatchery Park before work. I have been anxiously awaiting the return of the black-throated gray warbler for most of the winter. These little black and white birds are stunning and they have a pretty fun song. All told I saw four species of warbler; black-throated grey, yellow, orange-crowned and yellow-rumped. I also saw a Hutton's vireo. These little guys resemble ruby-crowned kinglets both in behavior and appearance and they can be found here year-round. Birds that can't be found here year-round that I am hoping will return soon are western wood pewees and Pacific-slope flycatchers (various other flycatchers too). Finally, I haven't encountered any yellow-breasted chat yet this year. I think they returned in May last year so I am hoping they will be gracing my life soon.

Ethno-ornithology: Double-crested cormorants

Adult double-crested cormorant in non-breeding plumage. Photo information available here.

My good friend Flicker Boi has written several blogs about using lethal measures to reduce or remove populations of non-native birds from areas where they are in direct breeding, foraging or nesting competition with closely related species of threatened or endangered birds. Lethal methods of population control seems to be the most common form of control, likely because we are more familiar with this form of control. Eminant Domain says we should conquer, control and subdue nature (and the people that live close to it). Hunters relish the chance to kill coyotes, cougars, wolves and other "pests." This leads me to my current train of thought. Double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) are the most common species of North American cormorant (and darn cute). Their numbers are on the incline and thus they are the focus of blame for declines in sports fishing and for "devastating fish farms" (All About Birds, 2011). In 2003, true to our "lethal control" nature, a management plan was proposed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to use depredation to decrease the North American population of double-crested cormorants by <160,000 birds (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2003). Before I go any further let me just say that I'm not sure why managers are not allowed to use lethal measure to control populations of FERAL horses, cats, etc (not that I am advocating for the slaughter of these animals...though I do advocate RESPONSIBLE management) but it is encouraged in regards to NATIVE species (cougars, coyotes, cormorants, wolves, etc). My assumption is that horses and cats are charismatic/domestic species so we feel a stronger connection to them. Or maybe it's just Eminant Domain in another form.

The reasons listed in the approximately 140 page Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the creation of the management plan are: negative impacts on other bird species, declines in native fish populations (including threatened and endangered species of fish), destruction of vegetation at nesting sites, increasing economic losses to aquaculture producers and commercial fishers and fish-related businesses, a loss of private resources and loss of water quality. As internationally migrating, birds double-crested cormorants are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The MBTA does allow for migratory bird "take" permits so long as they follow regulations set forth by the MBTA. In fact, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "permits to take DCCOs have been issued by the Service since 1986 and may allow the take of eggs, adults and young, or active nests.". Though apparently commercial interests don't always have to have a permit for depredation, if so deemed by the United States Government. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

"In 1998, the Service issued a depredation order (USFWS 1998b; 50 CFR 21.47 ) authorizing commercial freshwater aquaculture producers in 13 States (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas) to take DCCOs, without a Federal permit, when found committing or about to commit depredations to aquaculture stocks. The depredation order states that DCCOs may be taken by shooting only during daylight hours, and only when necessary to protect freshwater commercial aquaculture and State-operated hatchery stocks and that such actions must be carried out in conjunction with a non-lethal harassment program certified by APHIS/WS officials."

This seems odd to me as permits keep track of the number of individuals being killed and would thus allow international governments to understand what we are doing here in the United States (and would help to ensure that there is international cooperation and agreement on managing population levels). As I read this EIS I am struck at how certain the individuals writing the EIS are that "taking" <160,000 cormorants won't hurt regional or continental populations. How do they know that wiping out entire winter roosts (as is permitted under this management plan) won't create genetic bottleneck? How can they be certain that the birds that are left won't be subjected to some disease that the birds that were killed wouldn't have been susceptible to? With what certainty can they say that Mexico, who according to the EIS has no management plan on record, and Canada, who has a status of no protection for the double-crested cormorant, aren't killing >160,000 and that at some point we will have to create a restoration plan (like they did in 1972 when DDT and lethal control lead to federal protection of double-crested cormorants)?

One of the more interesting parts of this EIS comes about in Chapter 3. Throughout the EIS Federally-recognized Tribes and Tribal hatcheries are listed as individuals that can practice lethal measure with double-crested cormorants (at hatcheries or aquaculture facilities). In chapter three tribes also fall under a section about Environmental Justice. That is all well and good but here we find a bit of a contradiction. Earlier in Chapter 3 the EIS mentions that in Oregon populations of double-creseted cormorants are on the decline (about 2.6% annually), other than at the Columbia River Estuary. Under the Environmental Justice section the writers mention the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Responsibility to tribes to provide them with fish stock. In the next paragraph they mention "in Oregon, approximately 80 percent of all trout harvested come from Oregon fish hatcheries," implying that by not increasing the numbers of double-crested cormorants killed would create a system of environmental injustice to Oregon tribes (though I feel certain most tribes raise salmon here). This is despite the fact that double-crested cormorant populations are declining in Oregon. In yet another ironic, and contradictory, twist in the "Issues Raised, but Eliminated from Detailed Study" section the writers mention the fact that double-crested cormorants are considered sacred by some tribes and therefore this plan could directly conflict with their spiritual beliefs. The mention of their sacredness follows a mention of yet another issue rejected for study, "Affected Human Communities." In this section the writers mention the three letters they received from tribes or members of tribes. These letters were:

"(1) a member of the Kiowa Tribe of the State of Oklahoma felt that since waterbirds are sacred, they should be given to Tribal people for use in their native ceremonies; (2) the White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona recommended that we use a hunting season to manage DCCOs; and (3) a Conservation Officer from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (of southeastern Massachusetts) said that they have experienced some trouble with DCCOs roosting on the Tribal Shellfish Aquaculture Program’s spawning/rearing cages and recommended limited hunting."

There is also mention several times to double-crested cormorants adding to the "Spirit of Place" but this too falls under the issues not studies. If you'd like to read the quite lengthy EIS click here. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a double-crested cormorant faq sheet you can peruse and an informational page too. I found this USGS map from the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and this USGS map from the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) to be quite interesting. The entire USGS double-crested cormorant information page is accessible from either of those links, but just in case you can click here for the double-crested cormorant ID page.

While researching double-crested cormorant management plans I came across a blog written on March 29, 2011 about Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's (ODFW) application for a depredation permit. According to Jim Yuskavitch, ODFW intends to identify the areas where double-crested cormorants will be killed, likely areas where they are considered to be most likely to harm wild juvenile steelhead and salmon populations. Yuskavitch mentions the debate over lethal control of sea lions at Bonneville Dam and whether or not allowing the "take" of native predators of salmonids makes more sense than cultural controls that improve habitat quality and abundance and decreasing commercial fishing, among other things. I find it interesting that cormorants are protected by the MBTA and sea lions are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the wild (not hatchery) salmon (some of them) are listed as threatened or endangered by the Endangered Species Act. The common thread between all of these species? At some point in time we decimated, or nearly decimated, their populations, for one reason or another, and now they are all federally protected species. While reading the ODFW publication "Avian Predation Management on the Oregon Coast, " published March 25, 2010 I learned that Caspian tern's are also considered a threat to juvenile salmonids on out-migration (their journey to the sea). It is interesting to note that they don't seem to be considering lethal control at this time. Additionally both Caspian terns and double-crested cormorants seem to be considered a problem (with increasing population sizes) in one major area, the East Sand Island on the Lower Columbia River, an island created by the deposition of dredge spoils. So...WE are the cause of these population inclines of these species, just as we are the reason that sea lions find such fishing success at the Bonneville Dam fish ladder.

Our decisions or proposals or plans to kill native wildlife for taking advantage of the habitat that we have created and for acting as they should in the situation they are in is preposterous. Everything I have read tonight has pointed to humans as the main culprit (which I already knew/thought) and has me thinking (as many things do) about the fact that we live in a highly managed world. No matter where we are, no matter what we are doing we are in a managed area. What we see and what we experience, these things are all allowed to be, or altered, or removed from existence based upon their economic value, on our perception of aesthetic, or on our concept of worth. Tonight, for me, the battle that we face ahead as stewards of the land and of nature looms not in the distance, not on the horizon, but in my backyard. At my favorite birding places. At the places where I find the most solace. The fate of every species of this place (Earth) balances on the ability of someone, somewhere to give it value. We are seriously disrupting the balance of the systems that we live in, with. That we are part of. The continual separation of humans from nature. Intrinsic value versus extrinsic value. Economic value from natural/ecosystem value. These separations destroy the very things we claim to be trying to protect.

More Eugene birdwatching

This picture of a ruby-crowned kinglet with his crown showing is available at: http://buildyourownbirdhouseplans.com/images/rubycrownedkinglet1.jpg

I have been searching for inspiration for my next "big" blog post but I seem to be out of ideas...or something. What I do have is a plethora of random thoughts about subjects varying from how to make jean potholders for my niece's play kitchen to salmon. Birds are always in there too and work has started in the garden at work so my brain is pretty full of garden "stuff." My garden, despite all of my efforts, is mostly in my head. I write down the lists of things to do and places to ask for donations from and still they float around in my head. Well, some version of them does.

So, I sit at my computer and think about what I want to write about. I went birdwatching in Eugene, Oregon again last weekend. The adventure leading up to the birdwatching "event" was almost as great as actually getting to birdwatch. While trying to find the first stop on our list my companion and I were quite lost in conversation and ended up passing the turn by several miles, at which point we were enticed forward by state park and Fall Creek Dam (reservoirs can be great birding sites) signs. Alas, the Fall Creek Reservoir is nothing like the reservoirs from Southern Oregon and anything other than boat-type recreation would have been futile. Thus, we turned around and eventually found the site that we had planned on visiting first. This site is part of the Willamette Valley Birding Trail Guide but I am not sure why. Jasper Meadow is, for all intents and purposes, a playground with a small wetlands (which I do appreciate them preserving), surrounded by a new cookie cutter subdivision and a lovely carved sign of a chickadee that says something to the effect of "birding spot." There were many children there and not many birds. The best thing about this location was the playground (I am a sucker for a good playground). It was the most bizarre and wonderful playground I've been to in quite some time. I played for a bit and then we moved on to the next location on our list, the Walterville Pond. This 70-acre pond is a reservoir maintained by Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB). The number of ruby-crowned kinglets making their territories and breeding intention known was phenomenal. I literally don't think I've ever seen so many ruby-crowns being territorial in one place! There were also many, many violet-green swallows and my first barn swallows of the season (hurray!). Probably the birds that I enjoyed the most on this day were the double-crested cormorants. The majority of the double-crested cormorants at this site were first-year juveniles and they were being incredibly amusing. Jostling for space on a stump, swimming around and "yelling" at each other.

And so...by way of randomly typing about whatever thread of thought I was able to capture I have an idea for my next "big" blog. Stay tuned.

ethno-ornithology Sunday: family tradition

So, I did an incredible amount of birdwatching, well compared to normal, in the last week. I headed to the Willamette Valley, a la Eugene, Oregon, for a four day bird adventure. Saturday I bird watched for several hours at a place called Delta Ponds, a wetlands restoration area not far off of Delta Hwy. The birding was fabulous, including a great-blue heron rookery. This only surprised me because I've never seen such an urban rookery location. Quite exciting (if not a tad disturbing because on a scientific level this can have so many reasons). There were a good 30 species of songbirds and waterfowl at this location (maybe not the most impressive number but I was quite happy with it). One of my two serious interests in regards to birds and research are urbanization and birds and recreation and birds. I am always delighted to see birds in areas as urban as Delta Ponds, but in the back of my mind I have to remember that these birds often represent the bottlenecking of species diversity. These birds could some day be the reminder of what once was.

March 20th was a bit less urban birding at Meadowlark Prairie, one of my favorite places to run/bike/etc when I lived in Eugene as the bike path from the apartment I lived in lead(s) right to/through the prairie. True to its name there were many western meadowlarks singing. There were several more species of birds than at Delta Ponds and hundreds more individuals (of course the migrating flocks of cacklers helped boost that number!). The flock of long-billed dowitchers made that expedition for me, along with the diversity of waterfowl. Here in the Rogue Basin we have waterfowl, but NOTHING as spectacular as the Klamath Basin or the Willamette Valley.

March 21st was a split day of birding at Alton Baker Park and Lane Community College. Alton Baker was the site of a most unusual sighting. A greater-white fronted snow goose hanging out with a snow goose-ish bird of some kind. It was a snow goose but with grayish primaries and a dark beak. It looked like a juvenile snow goose (which apparently keep their darkish feathers until January) but it is the wrong time of year to see a snow goose. My birding compatriot and I decided to call it a snow goose, with the understanding that it could be a mutt of some sort, I mean it was hanging out with a greater-white front. Maybe its parents were a snow goose/greater-white front coupling. Lane Community College is listed by ebird as a birding hotspot so it was a natural choice for an outing. While it didn't host the greatest number of species it did host a great number of individuals. It was also raining and as we all know rain can greatly alter the diversity of species encountered.

Speaking of ebird...I learned that Winter Wrens in the west have been split into a separate species, now known as the Pacific Wren. I guess I'm a bit out of the loop as this happened in August and I had no idea. Now is a good time to be getting back into graduate school and, hopefully, the bird world.

I also hiked Lower Table Rock on March 25th. It rained off and on so birding was not great, but I did see a random mixed flock of yellow-rumped warblers and golden-crowned kinglets. I also saw a flock of pine siskins. While the birding wasn't that great I did get plenty of time to ponder humans and our habit of loving things to the point of destroying them. I can't count the number of times I've seen people with their dogs on the Table Rocks, despite the numerous signs telling them dogs are not allowed. I saw teenagers tossing a football in the meadow atop Lower Table Rock once. On this trip I saw mountain bike tracks. I try so very hard to not dislike groups of people based on the behavior of a few, but my experience with mountain bikers actually extends to a variety of places and experiences. I understand that people feel they should be allowed anywhere they want. I also understand that they feel their sport is low impact. But, I have never seen a place that mountain bikers frequent (other than on-trail biking) that isn't being impacted, and often seriously. In Orange County they trespassed on property managed by The Nature Conservancy, despite the dangers it posed to the birds caught in our nets (and our prolific protests) and despite TNC personnel trying to educate the bikers about a sensitive species of lichen that grew on the rocks that they often biked on. So, I was surprised (but not really) to find tracks on the trail leading up Lower Table Rock. When I got to the top and saw the tracks riding off-trail randomly across the plateau I was once again struck by how selfish people are. Upper and Lower Table Rock vernal pools are the northern most range for the vernal pool fairy shrimp (the only place in Oregon they are found), a rare species of fairy shrimp also found in California. They are also home to an endemic (meaning found only in this place) species of flower, the dwarf woolly meadowfoam. These flowers are endangered, in big part to individuals going off trail and trampling them. I'm not sure how we can educate people about the importance of respecting nature. How can we teach them that just because people hiked off trail around the plateaus fifty years ago doesn't mean we can do it today. There are many, many more people using a space that can't grow to accommodate them. In order to not completely destroy these amazing places we have to use them carefully.

All of this brings me to my final bit. On March 26th I took my almost-three-year-old niece birdwatching. She and I first discussed it around the time of my trip to the Klamath Basin. We didn't see much, the rain and her storytelling (which I was happy for) likely had something to do with that, but the trip is one I am not likely to forget. I adore my nieces and nephews. I try to not force my interests on them but birds are an integral part of me, so...it filters into our interactions too. Anyway, I took my niece birdwatching. She told me all about these amazing flowers that bloom in the park and about the many species of purple birds that she saw and all about the species that I tried to see but they flew away too fast. She chattered on and on about her favorite bird (currently the American robin) and I sat, or piggy-backed, adoringly. She even brought her own binoculars (which she talked about for quite some time too). We sat in the rain, looked for birds and talked for well over an hour. My eight-month-old nephew also loves birds and I am quite certain that he and I will make a birdwatching excursion when he is old enough. So...to fit with the title theme...THIS is a family tradition that I can handle handing down. Loving and appreciating nature, life and things greater than ourselves witnessed through these amazing feathered beings.

Ethno-ornithology Sunday: birdwatchers

I started this last Friday to have it posted Sunday. Then we had a HUGE storm (wind gusts at one hilltop weather station recorded at 70mph) come through and I was without power for a good 50+ hours.

Frog-o-rama

Image from the Northern Pacific Treefrog USGS fact sheet

I have never been much of a frog person. I mean, I like them, like what they do in the ecosystems they are found in, but they've never topped my "favorite animals"

chart. Being that it is almost spring and their circadian clocks are telling them it's time to make themselves known I've been giving them more notice than usual. Tonight, as I have for the last several nights, I listened to the chorus of frogs "singing" all around my home. Tonight they seem to have reached a more frantic, urgent rhythm. Their little croaks giving the night a different kind of pulse than it usually has. I drink in the sound, allow it to seep into my skin, my bones, my veins, until I can feel the rhythm playing out in my own being. If I were a frog I'm sure I'd be aroused by all of these boisterous males proclaiming their sexual prowess and genetic superiority. Sometimes, like the undulation of the ocean, their volume decreases until it is almost silent. Then their voices raise, in volume and in number until they are virtually shouting for attention and by force of sheer numbers their cacophony crashes around me, wave after wave of glorious little frogs "songs."

This, of course, makes me think of birds. Even males that procure a territory before they procure a mate sing of their own sexiness in order to attract a mate. In all honesty there are many, many ways that birds actually attract their mates but right now, be

cause of the frog song I'm thinking of male birds and their boisterous, glorious singing. One lonely marsh wren has the same affect on me as the scads of Northern Pacific treefrogs that are out singing right now. The wrens get to really singing and I feel like their song is all that matters, because in that moment it is all that matters. These little birds that sing, and sing, and sing, at risk of being discovered and consumed desperate to attract a mate. Marsh wrens, among many other species, create new songs in a constant effort to "one up" their neighbors. I rather enjoy walking along areas that have several wren territories in a row and listening to the increasing complexity of their songs. And that is just at the frequencies and decibles that I can hear, I'm sure that if I could hear like their intended audience I'd be even more exhilarated. Or I'd think they were unexciting and move on to find a more suitable male.

Bird songs, of course, make me think of birdwatchers. What self-respecting birder doesn't know at least a handful of songs with which to identify the birds they can hear but not see. More specifically, I am thinking about the waste we create in our continuing efforts to learn to identify birds or to add one (or 100) new birds to our life lists (which I don't keep and don't quite understand keeping). Books, cds, computer programs, binoculars, scopes, bird feeders and an ever expanding array of technological gadgets. I recently learned about applications, BirdJam being one of them that seems fairly popular (at least when I did my online search), for ipods and iphones that help identify birds. Mark at "Birds in Your Backyard" talks about tech-savvy birders and the inroads that technology is making into the birding world. While I understand the appeal of technology in birding (how many times would I have really appreciated a recording of a bird call when out birding) I just can't support increasing the amount of disposable, breakable and toxic material goods being produced, used and disposed of in this country every day. Now, that isn't to say that there aren't advantages to having technology in the field, home or office. And it isn't to say that there aren't ways of making technology less harmful (borrowing cds from the library or buying bird guides as mp3's to forgo shipping and packaging for example). I just think that it is our responsibility, as consumers of nature, as "collectors" of birds, to protect them and the land that they (and we) depend on. If the ultimate goal is to know more birds, by sight and by ear, than anyone else. If the goal of finding birds is to outcompete, out ID, out do every other birder/birding competitor how much better are we than the people that raced against each other and time to kill ivory-billed woodpeckers for their collections/collectors. We may not be directly killing them, but maybe slowly killing them through habitat destruction, introduction of invasive species, nesting disturbance and by polluting their homes is worse. Maybe we too are loving birds to death. To extinction. To finality. Maybe it is time to get back to basics. To live, and bird, simply. To realize that if our presence in an area is threatening a species…maybe we don't need to add them to our life lists. I know for me, birding is best done with (at most) a pair of binoculars, a bird book and my own curiosity. Oh, and sometimes a little help from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology All About Birds guide when I have a bird song stuck in my head that I can't seem to identify.

*When you click on the All About Birds link you will be directed to their page about brown creepers. This is because these little guys have a delightfully melodious song that "plagued" me about two springs ago. I'd walk around singing the song in my head trying to pair it with the birds that I knew would be here. Then, one day when the song was filling the air around me, I saw a brown creeper in one of the ponderosa pines near my house. I immediately ran up to the house, logged onto All About Birds, looked up the brown creeper and discovered that this often shy and seemingly quiet nuthatch-like (the reason I had skimmed over them originally) birds, are really quite wonderful singers.

Acceptance!

I have been accepted to the M.S. Environmental Education program at Southern Oregon University. I have accepted an offer for a graduate assistantship position as the Educational Outreach assistant at the Siskiyou Environmental Eduction Center. This comes with a monthly stipend (in exchange for 10 hours of work/week) and an 80% tuition waiver. I already have thesis ideas...we'll see what they get narrowed down to!

Superfund Sites

For my geology class we are discussing the Love Canal. While doing research for my part of the group discussion (describing and defending the actions for the Niagara Falls Education Board once people started coming forward about the toxic puddles their kids were playing in) I came across a page that lists the top 100 companies and agencies, based on the number of sites they are attributed to, that are responsible for superfund sites. If you are interested in this stuff you should look at it. I was both disturbing and wicked interesting.