Northern spotted owls, barred owls and forest management

In the local paper they recently mentioned that a plan has been created that involves removing barred owls from all northern spotted owl habitat via lethal measures. The reasoning behind this planned seemed to be mostly presumption and conjecture. Wanting to know more about the impact barred owls are having on northern spotted owls and the reasoning behind the plan I wrote about this issue for my Environmental Issues class presentation. What I discovered is that there isn't much scientific evidence that barred owls are to blame for the northern spotted owl population declines. Loss of habitat leading up to the northern spotted owl's listing under the Endangered Species Act is the main culprit but there are all manner of other confounding factors. The paper follows.

Northern Spotted Owls vs. Barred Owls: Interspecific Complications, the Endangered Species Act and Management Implications

The Situation

One of the greatest conservation and land use debates, in the Pacific Northwest, in the last two decades has been the listing of the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentals caurina) as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973. The 1990 listing of the northern spotted owl lead to a 90% decrease in logging on 24 million acres of federal lands, managed by both the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), over the last twenty years. This decrease in timber harvest lead to an economic collapse in many parts of the Pacific Northwest, particularly Oregon, as private mills and timber companies had to close their doors.

The northern spotted owl is a small brown owl with white mottling or spots that hide it well in the dense canopies of late-successional forests, also favored by timber companies, that are found in their geographic range. Various studies conducted in the 1980s indicate that habitat is a limiting factor in the survivability of northern spotted owls and as such must be conserved in order to ensure the survival of the species. The 1990s-era closure of much of the late-successional forests of the Pacific Northwest ensured the habitat would be available for the expansion of northern spotted owl populations. Despite the availability of habitat northern spotted owl numbers continue to decrease by three times the rate of decrease noted at the time of listing.

Concurrent with the decrease in northern spotted owl numbers scientists have noted an increase in the numbers of barred owls found in the Pacific Northwest. The barred owl (Strix varia varia) is a cousin of the northern spotted owl and originally found east of the Great Plains, from Maine to Florida. There are many theories as to how and why the barred owl arrived in the west. These theories include an increase in the number of small stands of trees in the Great Plains, increasing summer temperatures creating a more ideal temperature range in the boreal forests of Canada, increased fire suppression efforts and changing forest dynamics due to timber harvests. Regardless of the reason that barred owl range expanded west their ability to live in diverse habitats, eat a diversity of prey species, their more aggressive nature and 20% larger size allows them to outcompete northern spotted owls for habitat and food.

In 2007 resource managers began proposing barred owl elimination programs in an effort to combat the interspecific competition happening between barred and northern spotted owls. These programs call for the shooting of hundreds of barred owls in the Pacific Northwest and have been met with significant opposition from the scientific community and the general public. Many scientists agree that controlled barred owl elimination studies could provide helpful in determining the overall impact that barred owls are having on northern spotted owl populations but a large scale culling would be time consuming, could be expensive and would have to be regularly maintained in order to have lasting impacts.

Background Information

· In 1973 the ESA was passed. This allowed for the designation of species as either endangered or threatened, defining endangered as a species “in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range” and threatened species as “a species likely to become endangered.” Under Section 4 of the ESA allows for subspecies, such as the northern spotted owl, to be listed as a threatened or endangered “species,” allow the same level of protection as is given a species and requires both a Recovery Plan and Critical Habitat Designation to be created for all listed species (Stanford Environmental Law Society, 2001).

· The Interagency Scientific Committee to Address the Conservation of the Northern Spotted Owl (ISC) found that northern spotted owls select habitat with a relatively closed canopy, a variety of vegetation layers with a diversity of canopy species dominated by large overstory trees, large trees with broken tops or cavities, the presence of large snags, large logs and woody debris on the forest floor and openings within and beneath the canopy. These habitat attributes are typically found in mature late-successional forest but can be found in younger mid-successional forests that retain either several individual large trees or small stands of large trees from the original late-successional stand (Thomas, Forsman, Lint, et al, 1990).

· At the time of listing, all the studies of Spotted Owl habitat use concluded that owls select old forests or younger forests that have retained characteristics of old forests. Studies published since the ESA listing decision provide additional support that habitat selection is significantly nonrandom (Noon and Blakesley, 2006).

· Barred owls were first sighted west of the Rocky Mountains in 1912, in southern Alberta, Canada (Levy, 2004).

· Northern spotted owl populations have continued to decline since the 1990s, despite being listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act and habitat conservation efforts. Scientists are uncertain as to why this decline isn’t reversing.

· Weather and climate can impact northern spotted owl reproduction, recruitment, annual survival and population growth rates. Increasing drought conditions and increased precipitation during nesting season will likely negatively affect northern spotted owl populations (Glenn, Anthony and Forsman, 2010).

· Interspecific hybridization between barred owls and northern owls, creating offspring called “sparred owls” occurs in some instances. These instances often occur in areas that barred owls have recently invaded and are therefore less common than northern spotted owls or in areas where northern spotted owls have become rare and barred owls are common.

· There are many examples of multiple owl species coexisting in the same habitat. These species are typically from different genera and are successful in coexisting due to interspecific differences in behavior (Gutierrez, et al.; 2006).

· Owls exhibit reverse sexual dimorphism; females are larger than males.

· Barred owls from the Strix varia sartorii subspecies and spotted owls from the Strix occidentalis lucida subspecies have a sympatric relationship in Mexico. S. v. sartorii is the largest subspecies of barred owl and S. o. lucida is the smallest subspecies of spotted owl. The difference in mass of these species is a factor of two, a ratio that facilitates coexistence. The northern spotted owl S. o. caurina and the northern-most subspecies of barred owl S. v. varia differ in mass by a factor of 1.8, a number that statistically seems to support competition between species (Gutierrez, et al.; 2006).

· Genetic bottlenecks have been detected in many populations of northern spotted owls. These bottlenecks create situations of inbreeding depression that could decrease the rate of reproduction and an increase in population decline. A decline in genetic variability combined with competition with and exclusion by barred owls, climate change and habitat loss may be confounding factors in the efforts to save the northern spotted owl from extinction (Funk, et al.; 2009).

· From 1994-2003, northern spotted owl populations declined by 7.5% per year throughout northern ranges and 2% per year throughout their southern ranges (Rapp; 2008).

· Timber harvest on federal lands has occurred at only about 54% of the amount allowed under the Northwest Forest Plan (Rapp; 2008).

· Fire suppression in areas where fires are a normal part of the ecosystem, for example in the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion, can put northern spotted owls at greater risk of habitat loss because of the build up of fuels.

· About 59% of spotted owl habitat occurs on federal lands (Rapp; 2008).

· According to the 10-year review of the Northwest Forest Plan the wood products industry employment has dropped by 70% since the implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan, due in part to the lower than expected number of boardfeet of timber harvested.

· In areas where barred owl numbers are the highest and time since invasion has been the longest spotted owl numbers have decreased by 20-25% (Wiens, Anthony and Forsman; 2011).

· The high cost of putting together a timber sale due to the required surveys (spotted owl and various other wildlife surveys) and potential lawsuits has contributed greatly to the greater reduction in logging that required by the Northwest Forest Plan and northern spotted owl Habitat Conservation Plan.

· A recovery plan for the northern spotted owl was drafted in 1992 but was never signed because of the creation of the Northwest Forest Plan in 1994. In 2008 the US Fish and Wildlife Service issued a recovery plan for the northern spotted owl. After pressure from scientists and a court challenge of the recovery plan the Service filed for a voluntary remand of the plan, filing a Revised Recovery Plan in 2010. The final Revised Recovery Plan was released June 30, 2011.

· The Revised Recovery Plan will likely increase timber harvest in spotted owl habitat as the USFWS recommends “ecological forestry” management that allows for thinning in late-successional ecosystems that northern spotted owls are found in (USFWS; 2011).

Literature Cited and Bibliography

Buchanan, J.B., R.J. Gutierrez, R.G. Anthony, T. Cullinan, L.V. Diller, E.D. Forsman, A.B. Franklin. 2007. A synopsis of suggested approaches to address potential competitive interactions between Barred Owls (Strix varia) and Spotted Owls (S. occidentalis). Biological Invasions 9:679-691.

Funk, W.C., E.D. Forsman, M. Johnson, T.D. Mullins and S.M. Haig. 2010. Evidence for recent population bottlenecks in northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina). Conservation Genetics 11:1013-1021.

Glenn, E.M., R.G. Anthony and E.D. Forsman. 2010. Population trends in northern spotted owls: Associations with climate in the Pacific Northwest. Biological Conservation 143:2543-2552.

Gutierrez, R.J, M. Cody, S. Courtney and A.B. Franklin. 2006. The invasion of barred owls and its potential effect on the spotted owl: a conservation conundrum.

Levy, S. 2004. Native Incursions: Avian Range Expansions imperil Threatened Species. Bioscience 54:94-98.

Rapp, V. 2008. Northwest Forest Plan— The First 10 Years (1994–2003):

First-Decade Results of the Northwest Forest Plan. USDA General Technical Report PNW-GTR-720. Pacific Northwest Experimental Station, US Forest Service. Portland, OR.

Stanford Environmental Law Society. 2001. The Endangered Species Act. Stanford University Press, Standford, California.

Thomas, J.W., E.D. Forsman, J.B. Lint, E.C. Meslow, B.B. Noon and J. Verner. 1990. A Conservation Strategy for the Northern Spotted Owl. USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Parks Service. Portland, Oregon.

US Fish and Wildlife Service. 2011. Revised Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina). Region 1 US Fish and Wildlife Service. Portland, OR.

Wiens, J.D., R.G. Anthony and E.D. Forsman. 2011. Barred Owl Occupancy Surveys within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl. Journal of Wildlife Management 75(3):531-538.

Related Environmental Issues

1. Climate Change

2. Fire management and fire regimes (fire suppression, altered regimes, etc)

3. Congressional efforts to eliminate or decrease the effectiveness or “power” of the Endangered Species Act and the implications of these efforts on northern spotted owls.

4. Unsustainable (non-ecologically sound) forestry management practices

5. Exponentially expanding human population/carrying capacity of humans

6. Clear-cutting on private land

7. Management of native species vs. endangered native species

Actions and Proposals for Action

There are a variety of actions being proposed by various groups, agencies or organizations. Many timber companies are claiming that barred owls have been to blame for the spotted owl decline all along and are advocating for increased timber harvests in mature or late-successional forests in the northern spotted owl’s geographic range. Some forest managers have suggested eliminating barred owls from spotted owl habitats, while scientists prefer the idea of experimental removal, as not enough is understood about interspecific interactions between barred owls and spotted owls. Still other scientists, conservationists and members of the general public advocate for no action under the premise that barred owls are a native species and that it is natural for shifts in species to occur.

Author’s Position

The majority of information present explores northern spotted owls and habitat use or influences of habitat. Barred owl interactions with northern spotted owl populations have become a popular topic of study in the last five years. Based on the available science more research needs to be done in terms of how barred owls are affecting northern spotted owl populations and what other factors are confounding recovery efforts. One research area should be climate/weather as climate change or shift occurs researchers, conservationists and land managers could see further decreases in northern spotted owl numbers. Another area of study that will be important is the specifics of interspecies interactions that barred owls and northern spotted owls experience. Small scale experimental control of barred owl populations in northern spotted owl habitat will provide researchers with the information they need to assess the threat from barred owls to spotted owl recovery. The actions that should not be taken are increasing timber harvesting (aside from some thinning of areas that are in need of thinning to promote forest health), large scale removal of barred owls from spotted owl habitat and the “no action” action. Drastic measures are almost always ill-advised, particularly in manners of wildlife or land management.

Happy Mother's Day!

Sadly, this picture is not mine. Click here for more information about this picture.

Man, life has become quite busy these past few weeks! Today I took my mother and grandmother birdwatching on Bolt Mountain (home to Fish Hatchery Park only on the BLM portion of the mountain). It was an excellent day for birding! It started out great with an ash-throated flycatcher sighting almost immediately into the trip. Then the wind started picking up making birding-by-ear virtually impossible. Finally, it started raining. Then, as spring rains will do in Southern Oregon, as suddenly as the rain started it stopped. We hiked for about 1.5 miles before grandma needed to turn around (the trail is at about a 12% grade). Before she turned around we heard many orange-crowned, black-throated grey and yellow warblers, black-capped chickadees and American robins. Needless to say we talked a bit too much to hear (or see) much else.

After she and my mother turned around I headed off trail toward a long abandoned osprey nest. Well, not so much abandoned as partially destroyed by a wind storm and finally so broken down the osprey moved on. To the north of the phenomenal snag that this nest sits in, directly uphill, is an old "fort" that my grandfather built to sit in while deer hunting. My senior year in high school I climbed up to the fort almost everyday to watch the osprey courting, nesting and then raising their young. I recorded my observations as part of a senior project. Alas, I digress...as I neared the nest I heard a bird to the northeast that I was not familiar with. I have been casually birding in Fish Hatchery Park for almost half my life now and so hearing a bird that I was unfamiliar with up there was rather shocking. After a good fifteen minutes of "stalking" the bird, following its call through the brush trying to pinpoint the source, I caught a flash of white in a Ceanothus cuneatus, or buckbrush. I quickly brought my binoculars to my eyes but was too late, the bird had disappeared to another bush. At least I knew I was in the right area! Then the bird darted out of its hiding place and was joined by a second of the same bird. When I got my binoculars on them I knew instantly that I was seeing a pair of blue-grey gnatcatchers! The last time I saw blue-grey gnatcatchers was in early summer of 2000, in Orange County, CA where I was working on a bird banding internship for the Institute for Bird Populations. I know that they are uncommonly seen on the Table Rocks in Jackson County but I've never heard of them being in Josephine County. After watching the birds for a good fifteen minutes I headed up to the fort where I sat, enjoying the sun and looking out over the Applegate River. Finally, realizing that I still needed to get some things for making Mother's Day dinner I headed home. On the way down I spotted two male western tanagers, one immature and one quite a bit older; two male lazuli buntings and ended the hike with the first male Wilson's warbler of the year!

When I got back to the house I tried convincing my birding compatriot from Eugene to enter the blue-grey gnatcatchers into eBird for me but she, wisely, refused as she had not been the one to ID them. I have been reluctant to create an account on eBird because, well I'm not sure why. I suppose because I am often so busy as it is that I worry I will some how create skewed data by only recording birding adventures when I return excited and motivated. In the end I was motivated to do my part as a citizen scientist (and hopefully one day I will be a paid scientist) by a bar chart for Josephine County showing a very thin line for blue-grey gnatcatchers and only in May. My compatriot was able to dig up some more specific information (I'm not familiar with eBird yet) and informed me that the last recorded sighting was in 2004 in Merlin, OR! This makes two rare birds in two weeks!

All of this has me thinking about citizen science (which will certainly lead to an ethno-ornithology blog) and really how important it is. Citizen scientists have been assisting with tracking bird populations via the Christmas Bird Count and Project Feederwatch for years and eBird is another, more consistent, way for those of us that are regularly in an area to help create a better picture of what birds are where and when they are there. So, if you are reading this blog, you birdwatching regularly and have not yet signed up for eBird, please do so today. Your observations are important!

And, thanks to all you mothers out there for the life you help create!

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.

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.

Klamath Basin

This weekend I went to the Klamath Basin. It was a birthday celebration that happened to coincide with the Winter Wings Festival. I attended the festival last year but came to the conclusion that I am not really a bird festival kind of person. Now, maybe it was the setting, the timing or the place I'm at in my life. Maybe it is because bird festivals seem so serious and the word festival makes me think of playing, celebrating and festivities. You know, carnivals, face painting and the like. Who knows. Anyway, this year I didn't have the money to take any classes or go on any field trips. My intention was just to bird.

The Klamath Basin is an area of Oregon with an interesting and often tumultuous history. So, I may have gone just to bird but I didn't just pay attention to the birds. I contemplated the people that lived there thousands of years ago, when Petroglyph Point was just an island in Tule Lake. I contemplated the people that came into the Basin and drained the lakes, the farmers that live there and lastly the large numbers of people that come to the basin for Winter Wings every year. Birding festivals are part of ethno-ornithology that I find particularly fascinating. Bird watching in general is a really interesting aspect of people and birds.

My first day in the basin I hung out at the Veteran's Memorial Park. While there I encountered throngs of Northern coots, domestic duck variations, gray-lag geese and a Chinese goose (both are domestic varieties of geese). As usual there were a plethora of gulls and so I was able to practice my gull identification. There were ring-billed gulls, California gulls and two glaucous-winged juveniles (I overheard some birders with scopes say there were adults out in the middle of the lake). Additionally there were several buffleheads, common goldeneyes, common mergansers and lesser scaup. I also saw my first winter flock of bushtits, which was happy and odd as I encountered them commonly in the Willamette Valley and always expect to here. There were the usual suspects too, European starlings, American robins, mountain chickadees and gold-crowned kinglets. There were only four or five other birders at the park that day, I'm sure the cold had driven most everyone inside.

The following morning (February 20, 2011), I headed toward the Tule Lake Auto Tour Route and Visitor Center and the northern/north-eastern area of the Lava Beds National Monument. It was snowing and overcast and I felt a terrible sadness as it seemed likely I would not have ideal birding conditions. At the visitor's center they have a feeding station. At the feeding station I saw house sparrows, European starlings, house finches, gold-crowned sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, California towhee, spotted towhee, dark-eyed junco of the Oregon and slate-colored (the slate-colored was a first for me!) varieties, California quail and a nesting great-horned owl! At the reclamation wetlands (a discovery marsh of sorts) there were most of the afore mentioned birds plus bufflehead, northern pintail, western meadowlark, red-breasted sapsuckers, American kestrel, red-tailed hawk, song sparrow, American robin, common goldeneye, coot ring-neck pheasant, greater white-front geese, cacklers and a juvenile bald eagle (three or four years old based on plumage). Along the auto tour route is where the REAL fun began. I saw my first ever rough-legged hawk (and then another six on top of that one)! Additionally, I saw tundra swan, northern shoveler, lesser scaup, ring-neck duck, greater white-fronts, cacklers, red-winged blackbird, common goldeneye, ruddy duck, heard black-billed magpie (delightful) and a canyon wren, saw house finch, brewer's blackbird, northern ravens, white-crowned sparrow, mourning and rock doves, pine siskin, lesser goldfinch, say's phoebe, a flock of at least 30 horned lark, ring-billed gull, Clark's grebe, common merganser, coot, canvasback, northern harrier, western meadowlark, prairie falcon, norther flicker, gadwall, snow geese by the hundreds, blue-winged teal, many bald eagles of varying ages, great-horned owls and a rock wren. Finally, I feel quite certain I saw some band-tailed pigeons. The sighting was brief and they have not been sighted often in the Klamath Basin (1-3 times in the last 25 years). Now, that doesn't mean they couldn't have been band-tails, but it does mean that it is unlikely. I'd like to believe they snuck in there topping off the awesomeness!

There were many more birders out on Sunday, all on the auto tour route and at the visitors center. The interesting thing about birders in situations like this is that they all flock to the areas where birds have been seen, particularly people that keep life lists. I understand life lists and wanting to see what there is to see, but I'd rather do it on my own (and my list is in my head, nothing formal, as the goal for me is just to see birds, any birds, and enjoy them). There is something amazing about watching scads of waterfowl with other people that are just as excited as I am. But...in the long run, I'd rather be there alone watching the birds. Silently paying homage to these feathered extra-ordinary beings. I find myself wondering if the other people birding there think about the folks that came before. If when they are at Captain Jack's Stronghold, looking for prairie falcons, they think about the Modoc and the events that unfolded there. How amazing that band of Modoc were, how well they knew their homeland, how tragic the outcome of that stand-off. When they are looking for nesting owls and golden eagles at Petroglyph Point do they stop to look at the petroglyphs? Do they wonder, like I do, what the symbols mean? Do they marvel at the tenacity of individuals to canoe all the way to the island and stand, in a canoe to carve these symbols into the rock? Can they appreciate the struggles of the salmon and sucker fish, sacred to the First Nations tribes of the area, to survive in an overly irrigated area (meaning in a river that is often too low, slow, polluted or warm)? We come together at these festivals to celebrate the wild awesomeness that birds are. These bits of nature that find us in even the most urban areas. That call to our souls, to our subconscious. That sing songs we recognize in the deep recesses of our brains. But do we think of how we are destroying their world? Do we think, as we celebrate, that this could be the last year we see them? That as we clear, fill, burn and develop we homogenize the beings that we pursue for their heterogeneity? I know I do, constantly. Even when I am shouting with glee about my first ever rough-legged hawk sighting.

Airplanes and birds

Okay, this may not be the most thoroughly researched or well written blog post but I HAVE to respond to something I heard said today regarding birds and airplanes (ethno-ornithology is EVERYWHERE!!!).

"Bird strikes" are when birds, often flocks of birds, collide with aircrafts. Somehow the phrasing makes it sound (to me) like the strikes are blamed on the birds. My understanding of said strikes is that the birds don't hear the airplane coming, the plane is moving faster than the birds or the birds don't know what the airplane is and how it can affect them (they didn't invent airplanes after all) and are kind of sucked into the propellers and whatnot. January 15, 2009 US Airways flight #1549 crash landed on the Hudson River shortly after striking a flock of Canada Geese after taking off from LaGuardia airport in New York. I mention this incident because I have heard it discussed many times this month, two years after this particular bird strike incident. The discussion that I heard today mentioned that bird strikes are up because of population increases in birds weighing over eight pounds.

According to Richard Dolbeer, of the USDA National Wildlife Research Center in Sandusky, Ohio, 13 of the 14 species of birds that weigh over eight pounds and nest in North America, are on the rise. The reason for these increases is surmised to be due to stronger environmental regulations, conservation efforts, land-use changes and urban acclimation by some bird species. Increases in these populations is a good sign and in many instances a sign of environmental health.

Many (if not all) airports hire companies, like Birdstrike Control Program, to assist with keeping bird populations on airport grounds at bay. These non-lethal methods of protecting birds (okay, I acknowledge that the birds are not the airports' priority it is human lives and money they are trying to protect) are clever and preferable to lethal methods. I particularly enjoy the border collie and falconry options.

Finally, the Federal Aviation Administration has a Wildlife Strike Database that is interesting, while being concurrently horrifying (the have pictures of bird strikes on their page). There is a great deal of information available online about making airplanes that can withstand bird strikes and not have engines that fail. Currently, airplane engines can withstand varying levels of bird strikes, based on the number of birds, the size of birds or some combination of both. Interestingly enough a plane engine's ability to not be destroyed if it encounters a flock of birds is called its ability to digest birds. Thus, most plane engines today can handle "digesting" four pound birds. For some reason I find this terminology repugnant.

Now for the personal opinion stuff...I cannot BELIEVE (or maybe I can) that there is so much information about airplanes that have experienced bird strikes but very little about the birds themselves. I can't understand how there aren't more people interested in finding ways to alert birds to the oncoming aircrafts. The pictures I've seen are not only disgusting but heart wrenching, disturbing and sad. I want to scoop up the bird's parts and bury them. Or say some sort of prayer for the thousands of birds that are killed annually in a rather gruesome way. I understand that people like to fly because it saves time. I have never really enjoyed flying and I must say that after reading all of this information I don't see myself flying any time soon. I'd rather drive. Or take the train, which I acknowledge likely have their own wildlife strike problems...




Associated Press. NTSB confirms birds in engines of US Airways plane ditched in Hudson. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/ntsb_confirms_birds_in_engines.html. Updated February 4, 2009. Accessed January 31, 2011.

Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Canada_Goose/id. Updated 2009. Accessed January 31, 2011.

Dolbeer, Richard A. Population Increases of Large Bird Species in Relation to Impact Standards for Aircraft Engines and Airframes. 2002. USDA National Wildlife Research Center. Available at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1147&context=icwdm_usdanwrc. Accessed January 31, 2011.

Federal Aviation Commition. FAA Wildlife Strike Database. http://wildlife-mitigation.tc.faa.gov/wildlife/default.aspx. Updated February 18, 2010. Accessed January 31, 2011.

Rinse and repeat

Alas I did not keep up with blogging in the last year (ish). I mostly keep my thoughts in my head, or randomly spout them at people who acquiesce my ramblings but never seem to know quite what to say in return. Sometimes they seem to share my horror, but maybe they are horrified by my outbursts (an amusing thought I dare say). When I started this blog ethno-ornithology brought up very few links when searched. Today, there were two pages brought up before I found my blog (which I had to Google because I couldn't remember the name or my log-in information for certain until today). Maybe this is a good sign for me. Maybe this means FINALLY some professor will decide to humor my interest in people and birds (how we affect them and how they affect us...mythology would be a good thing to include in there too).

I am taking a Geology class this term. Two parts "because I miss college/university" and one part "because I need to know more about Geology." Having not spent much time invested in the specifics/basics of geology I must say my brain is feeling challenged. A lovely feeling indeed. The instructor is funny and I remembered how interesting community colleges are. I am concurrently enrolled in the Master Gardener program (thanks to my AmeriCorps site sponsor). Yay OSU! I find the program a bit too social for me but the people seem genuinely interested in soil and green things and food (yum!) so it eases some of the pain.

So, here's to hoping I can carve a little time out of my life/time to do something I miss and truly enjoy doing...researching and relaying information!

Ethno-ornithology Sunday: Thanksgiving style

With Thanksgiving come and gone and millions of pounds of turkey consumed, given to the dogs and thrown out I figured it would be appropriate to pay a little homage to turkeys today.

There are two species of wild turkey, the ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata), from the Yucatan Peninsula, and the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) from North America. Domestic turkeys descend from the wild turkey and though there appear to be a large number of breeds of domestic turkey they are technically all the same breed, just different varieties.

Ocellated turkey, from: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3075/2325795822_c290ddc1a3.jpg

Ocellated turkeys are quite lovely, I hadn't heard of them until tonight. In 1993 the National Wild Turkey Federation sponsored research on the ocellated turkey. They found that this species is found in only a 50,000 square mile area, encompassing the Yucatan Peninsula, northern Belize and the El Peten region of Guatemala. Male and Female ocellated turkeys are similar in appearance, both have blue heads with orangish nodules, though males have a fleshy blue crown behind the snood that is covered with more nodules; both birds have bronze and green iridescent feathers, females often appear more green; neither sex has a beard and their breast feathers do not indicate sex; and both sexes have blue-bronze eye-shaped spots on the end of their tails, followed by a gold tip. During the breeding season males have a red ring around their eyes and larger spurs than North American wild turkeys. Ocellated turkeys live in diverse habitat types, from arid brushlands to marshlands, to second growth forests, to rain forests. Their diet includes grasses, mint-like herbs, and small seeds, insects and fruit. Hens lay 12 eggs in the period starting mid-March and ending in late-May. Poults hatch in early-May to mid-June.

Wild turkey, from: http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/IMAGES/Massachusetts/wild_turkeyTOMpgc.jpg.

Wild turkeys are native to North America, except for Alaska, north to Ontario, Canada. By the early 20th century wild turkeys were extirpated from the northeastern United States. Reintroduction programs across the east have been successful. Domestication of the turkey began in Europe in 1500, when wild turkeys were brought back to Europe from Mexico. Domesticated birds were brought back to the United States by European colonists. Birds decending from the first domestic birds are similar to wild turkeys but have a white band at the tip of their tail that is not present in other wild subspecies. Benjamin Franklin is known for having desired the brave turkey to be nominated the nation's symbol rather than the "cowardly" bald eagle. More information is available here and here.

Domestic turkeys come in a dazzling array of colors and patterns. Broad-breasted whites are the most common domestic breed. This variety of turkey has been bred to have so much additional muscle mass that they can no longer breed without human intervention. Another common (though not as common as the whites) domestic breed is the broad-breasted bronze. Heritage breeds are not as common as the white and bronze but they are pretty awesome either way. Some of the more common heritge breeds are the spanish black, standard bronze, bourbon red, slate (the light version of which is called lavender) and the Narragansett. Currently, my mom has a pair of Lavenders that I adore, Freyja spent the weekend playing with them. Lavenders are registered as critical by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (listing breeds of livestock as critical or threatened is a little bizarre to me but that's another post entirely). All heritage species are listed as needing to be watched, threatened or critical, none are listed as recovering. In the past we've had a variety of breeds, including Narragansett's, I've seen Royal Palms (another heritage breed) and I'd like to see the bourbon reds in person. For more information about domestic turkeys go here.

Taylor, C.I.; Quigley, H.B.; Gonzalez, M.J. Ocellated Turkey (Meleagris ocellata). National Wild Turkey Federation, Wildlife Bulletin No. 6, 8pp. Available at: http://www.nwtf.org/all_about_turkeys/history_ocellated_wild_turkey.html> Accessed November 30, 2008.

Wikipedia. Domestic Turkey. 2008. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_turkey> Accessed November 30, 2008.

National Wild Turkey Federation. All About Turkeys. 2008. Available at: http://www.nwtf.org/all_about_turkeys/index.html> Accessed November 30, 2008.

More on ornithophobia

Most of the information that I've read on ornithophobia says that people afflicted with this phobia often had a traumatic experience as children. Maybe they were bit by a goose, had a bird fly in their face or were attacked by a rooster. I find this interesting, mostly because I've had plenty of crazy experiences with birds and they never affected me. I've been chased by geese, attacked by chickens and swallows, bit by any number of birds and my love for them continues to grow. So, for this very short entry I'd like to ask, what kind of experiences have you had with birds that have either made you fear them, left you unaffected, or made you love them more? Sadly I've found nothing else about Ornithophobia. I guess I expected to find professional sites about it. Oh well, maybe I'll search the library databases tomorrow.

On a side note, I'm doing a presentation on badgers for FW 255 (they're my secret adoration). I've discovered that they cache food sometimes. The study I'm presenting on discovered 27 Richard's ground squirrels that had been cached by badgers. Possibly the most intruiging part is that the squirrels appeared to have been removed from their burrows while hybernating. There was no evidence of how they died, they remained curled up in a ball (as in hybernation) and the badgers consumed them in the order they were cached. Badgers rock. I also discovered that there is a type of badger called a ferret badger, they're adorable. I think I'd like to meet one someday.

Ethno-ornithology Sunday: Ornithophobia

This week I've yet again been busy so I'm going to do things a little different in regards to Ethno-ornithology Sunday. I'm going to post what I've got on Ornithophobia-fear of birds-thus far and add more throughout the week, as I find more.

Mednet.com defines ornithophobia is the abnormal and persistent fear of birds. This phobia creates an excessive amount of anxiety when encountering birds and an irrational fear of being attacked by them. Ornithophobia was the basis for the movie The Birds (1963). The Birds was written by Daphne Du Maurier and Evan Hunter and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This movie is planning on being remade in 2009 by Martin Campbell and is rumored to be starring George Clooney and Naomi Watts. International Movie Database (IMDB) has a summary of the movie. In the summary they describe the movie as being about a town in Northern California where a flock of birds begin attacking people and over time the number of birds and viciousness of attacks increases. According to various sources George W. Bush has ornithophobia (though many are basing this in his "bird flu" rant, so this may be inaccurate). While I've been unable to find statistics specifically on ornithophobia rates I did find a page (found here) that claims 15-18% of the population suffers from some form of anxiety, phobia or compulsive disorder that goes unrecognized or untreated. Also, the best form of treatment is exposure therapy, at least that's what all of the information I've read thus far says.

People pretending to have ornithophobia, from: http://www.wikihow.com/Overcome-Fear-of-Birds.

End Part 1

Ethno-ornithology Sunday: birds as merchandise

I've noticed a disturbing trend the last few years, which has led me to my next ethno-ornithology blog. Birds as merchandising. The plethora of t-shirts, bags, labels and other material goods being produced with bird designs is phenomenal. In addition, graphic "swallow" tattoos are becoming increasingly popular as well. Possibly the most disturbing aspect of this trend is that awareness of birds, how we affect them, that they need our help and things of this nature is not increasing. Most of the bird designs out there are graphic representations of birds, or crows and hummingbirds. If you ask people to name their favorite bird they don't know the names of any (really), most don't even realize that the bird on their shirt isn't real. Of course I have no real studies to back me up. This is simply an observational study I've had in the works (more on the back-burner but I've been busy so it's coming out a little early). I'd actually like to explore this further. Even better would be for Old Navy, American Eagle and all the other "bird crazy" trendy stores to put real birds on their goods. Anyone for a peregrine falcon? How about an osprey? Or maybe a yellow warbler? Eh, I don't know, as a bird lover I find it incredibly frustrating and fascinating. These birds are literally graphic designs removed from all reality. An animate object made into an inanimate one, and none of the supporters of this trend realize the irony. Everyone I've talked to that has bird related graphic designs on their person doesn't see what the big deal is. Something else that has always bothered me is the use of bird species as street names. The birds that are used won't be found there any longer, shoot most people that live there don't even know what bird they've actually replaced (or had their street named after). Ugh . . . This is not my best ethno-ornithology blog, but there isn't much to go off of other than my own opinion, which I assume is readily apparent.

I'm taking suggestions for next weeks ethno-ornithology blog. Got one for me? Leave it as a comment. Cheers.



An applique bird bag. It's lovely sure, do you know what bird this most closely resembles?

An example of the "swallow" tattoo that is so popular.

Hummingbird shirt, nothing much to say about it.
I searched for bird fabrics, rather than post a picture though I'll provide the link here.

Ethno-ornithology Sunday: artists and collectors

Carolina Parakeet, the now extinct native North American Psittacidae family member. From: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2041/2334948993_3ee4befb53.jpg.

When people hear the name Audubon the first thing that pops into their minds is birds. This makes sense as John James Audubon himself was a prominent bird artist. I am a big fan of his art, and the society named after him (of course)! One thing that many may not know is that Audubon once wrote that “he felt incomplete if he didn’t kill a hundred birds a day” (Gibson 2005). Many of Audubon’s paintings were created using freshly killed models that were meticulously posed using wires to hold them in place. Sometimes it would take more than a hundred birds to find one perfect for his paintings (Gibson 2005). Audubon’s paintings were part of his “Birds of America,” which included 435 life-size paintings. For an interesting description of Audubon as an artist go here. Eventually Audubon began to worry about birds like the Carolina parakeet and the ivory-billed woodpecker, as he traveled the country painting, he encountered fewer of them. In “The Race to Save the Lord God Bird” an excerpt of Audubon’s diary mentions his concern remarking that it was popular to wear ivory-billed woodpecker bills and crests and that their habitat was being eliminated in many parts of the south. Finally, their loud calls and bright colors made them easy to find by hunters (Hoose 2004). Audubon himself actually had little to do with the creation or naming of the Audubon society. One of the Audubon Society’s founders, George Bird Grinnell, was tutored by Audubon’s wife. Knowing Audubon’s affinity for birds and his reputation as an ornithologist, Grinnell chose to name the society after Audubon (Audubon Society 2008).

Swainson's warbler from: http://www.surfbirds.com/media/gallery_photos/20040419054308.jpg
Another aspect of this time that negatively affected bird populations (aside from over-hunting, birds hats and a general lack of concern for nature) was museum collectors. Hoose recounts the actions of one man that while acceptable at the time, today are quite deplorable (and bewildering to me). George Beyer was a German born American museum-creator at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. In 1899 ivory-billed woodpeckers were rarely, though not extinct. Beyer was informed that ivory-bills still existed and went on an expedition to bring skins back. While in LA he killed seven birds in a week (mind you they’re known to be rare at this time). Three of these birds were a family. The parents were still feeding their recently fledged baby when he killed them, cutting the next from its tree top home, so it could be part of the museum display (Hoose 2004). Arthur Wayne is another museum collector whose love of birds led him to become a hunter for museum collections. Wayne’s loved of birds was equaled by William Brewster, another museum collector. In 1884 Wayne and Brewster collected 47 swainson’s warblers, a species considered extinct until Wayne and Brewster “re-discovered” it (Hoose 2004).

Unfortunately I can’t find more information on this. I suppose I should check OSU’s library, though I’m not sure what else to search under. If I find more I’ll bring it too your attention at some point. Ultimately, my goal was to bring to light some bizarre, possibly previously un-thought of effects we have/had on birds. Birds have been popular ornamentation since man came into existence. Cave drawings depict birds, artists have painted them and people have committed their lives to studying birds. What gets me most about the “collecting” portion of our history is the “collecting” part of it. People who felt a true affinity for birds, a love for their plumage, their lives, killed them. In some cases these people helped wipe them out. I don’t get it. In 2000 I worked with a volunteer in Orange County, CA that originally brought this practice to my attention. We had caught a female calliope hummingbird in one of our nets. They’re a rare find in that area, so he brought her back to the banding station (mistake number one on his part). Once there he asked me if he could kill her, so she could be stuffed and placed in a natural history museum he worked for. I was horrified, why should she have to die? There are pictures of calliope hummingbirds. There are specimens in cases elsewhere for certain. It is all very odd. I got to work with some 50+ year old specimens last spring in Systematics of birds class. These specimens are spectacularly beautiful, and when will I ever see a typical roller in person again? They are also spectacularly sad. I held them in my hands knowing they had once breathed, cared for a family or been cared for and I cried.
Lilac-breasted roller from: http://www.davidmixner.com/images/2007/09/15/image002_2.jpg

Audubon Society. John James Audubon 1785-1851. 2008. Available at http://www.audubon.org/nas/jja.html. Accessed October 12, 2008.
Hoose, P. 2004. The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. Melanie Kroupa Books, New York. 196 pp.
Gibson, G. 2005. The Bedside Book of Birds. Nan A. Talese, New York. 369 pp.