Utah County Birders Newsletter
August 2001
August Meeting:
Wednesday, August 29.
Summer Social- Dennis and Carolyn Shirley's House.
Meet at 7:00 p.m. at the Shirley's.
399 N. Loffer Drive, Elk Ridge.
Bring Pot Luck
A Fine Kettle of Fish Birds
by Dennis Shirley
Last week, I saw my first fine kettle of birds of the
"fall". I had gotten up early and was up along the Strawberry Ridge at
dawn, classifying elk, which means counting cow/calf and cow/bull ratios. The
early morning elk counting was over, and I had recorded a pretty good morning. I
saw 19 mature bull elk, one mature bull moose, and one black bear, not to
mention several dozen mule deer. Around nine o-clock, I turned my attention to
birds.
As I so often do, I was slowly driving along with the
window rolled down, listening and looking for singing birds. In a grove of
aspen, near the head of Indian Creek, I came on my first-of-the-year kettle of
migrating passerines. Birds show a wide difference in flocking habits during
migration. Many species, such as hawks, migrate singly. Others, such as shore
birds, migrate in flocks composed of their own species. But a kettle is a flock
of mixed species that migrate together. Usually these birds are of the same
general size and habits, such as small song birds. And they are usually moving
as a group through the trees or understory. When you find a moving kettle, you
need to move with it to effectively identify the bird species in it, and this
can be challenging.
Last week's flock had maybe 25 individuals including
Townsend's, orange-crowned, yellow-rumped, and MacGillivray's warblers; warbling
vireos; black-capped chickadees; chipping sparrows; dark-eyed juncos; western
tanagers; and a single downy woodpecker. That's ten species, and luckily, the
loose flock was traveling parallel with the road. That gave me a chance to look
over pretty well all of the individuals. There was one vireo that, at first, I
thought was different and possibly a Philadelphia vireo because of the much more
extensive yellow underneath than a warbling vireo. But, after getting good looks
at it for some time, I convinced myself it was a subspecies (possibly eastern)
of a warbling vireo.
This little kettle, like they always do, made me wonder
what part of the continent they came from and, of course, where they were going.
It also made me wonder if these birds had been neighbors in a certain location
and had started out migrating together or had picked up new members as they
headed south. Additionally, I wondered whether this kettle would stay together
throughout its migration and then winter together when it reaches its migration
end. Are more individuals added to this group as it migrates? Or does it loose
individuals as it goes? Why does it seem there is always a downy woodpecker in
these kettles of songbirds? Why would you have a northwestern species like a
Townsend's warbler in the same flock as an Eastern subspecies of warbling vireo?
Certainly, there's safety in numbers. Predation on any one bird would be
minimized. There are always more questions that come to mind than answers.
Over the last couple of years, we've seen some really neat
kettles. Last year, on a field trip to southeastern Utah with several of our
club members, we saw a great kettle of warblers and vireos along the Colorado
River, which included Cassin's vireos and Townsend's warblers. Another September
day, I found a kettle moving along the riparian woods in Diamond Fork. This one
included three vireos and 14 other passerine species. One of the vireos was, I
believe, a blue-headed vireo from the East, which would have been a
first-of-state record, but we'll never know because I didn't get a really good
look at it. That's why finding a group of migrating passerines can be exciting
because you never know what's going to be in the pot. Keep track of the kettles
you see this next couple of months and let's compare notes!
Birdnet
by Robin Tuck
There are more birders out looking for birds than ever
before, and the birdnet reports are making it possible for more of us to see
them. In the past, the club has operated phone trees, where the person finding
an unusual bird calls someone in the tree and the sighting is passed on. This
worked great if you were part of the phone tree, but not so well if you weren't.
Now it is easy to inform everyone by simply sending an email to the birdnet. And
virtually anyone can subscribe to birdnet. (Subscribe by going to UtahBirds.org
and following the directions there.)
In spite of birdnet's efficiency at informing lots of
people about bird sightings, sometimes it is hard for birders to report their
sightings. The person seeing the bird may not have access to email or might not
get to their computer soon enough. I have often heard someone lament "Gee,
I wish I'd heard about that bird in time." Lately, I have been pondering
the birdnet and what my expectations of it ought to be. Half a dozen years ago,
I came across an article about Finnish birders who used pagers to keep everyone
informed about the latest sightings. I spoke about this with Milton Moody, who
has just visited Finland. He reported that this system works so well that other
birders often show up within 5 minutes of the initial report.
I have pondered what it would take for us to achieve
the same thing here in Utah. Every time I see a new pager advertisement, I
carefully read it to see if it would work for us, but each time I find some
fatal flaw, such as limited coverage or high purchase and operating cost. Yet,
some of us already have equipment that can support quick report submission and
reception. For example, many cell phones have the capability to send and receive
text pages. The changes necessary to enable the birdnet to accept input and send
sightings to these phones are not difficult to implement, but they do require
some learning and experimentation on our part. So, the question is "Should
we begin work to implement sighting send and receive to pagers and cell
phones?" Please let me know if you would like to send and receive sighting
information via text messaging by sending me an email to robin@utahnature.com.
Please send both positive and negative responses.
Where the Birders Hang Out
by KC Childs
In trying to think up an article to write I decided to
focus on what the public's perception of birders was. I asked people old, and
young. I looked up things on the internet to see some of the myths, and
misconceptions of a birder. I also have many experiences and encounters with
birders to make some judgements. I hope to unravel the mystery behind the
birder.
I went and asked people from all around Utah what they
thought about when they heard the term "bird watcher." I had several
answers, ranging from extremely patient, tree huggers, nerds, old, minded their
own business, stand offish, had no life, and many other terms. Many thought of
men as birders. I knew a lot of these were not true at all, and attempted to
disrobe these myths. When I told them, I was a birder most were shocked. They
were surprised to see someone young to be out birding. Of course there are
young, and old, and by no means do we have no lives. We are extremely busy with
work, birding, and many other constructive activities. Many are active in club,
church, work, and voluntary positions. They are an active group with much to
offer, and learn, and with a sense of humor.
I searched the internet to find out what there was out
there about myths about birders, and birding. I found a lot of myths referring
to birding myths such as; Keeping your feeder up in the fall is bad for the
migrants. This being because it will keep the birds there through the winter,
and kill them. Also things concerning all the Rails that have died due to people
playing there tapes. Supposedly this brings the animal so close that you step on
them, or as they jump up and fly people hit them and break their neck out of
fright. But as for myths about the birders this was a hard subject to find
information on. There are many pages talking about "You might be a birder
if . . . " These are pages meant to be funny though. My favorite being
"You might be a birder if you pish at the bushes at the local mall parking
lot."
As for misconceptions about the birder there are few.
All I could find is referring to them as geek's nerds, and sorts. Which is
obviously not true? My experience through my years of birding here in Utah is a
pleasant one. I have met many young birders, and many great older birders as
well. They are some of the nicest people, always willing to lend you a hand (or
a scope depending on the case ) and help in any way they can. They care for
nature, and the animals and birds in it. They all have other hobbies, and a lot
of other activities they are involved in. Personally I am involved in sports,
and love to go to music concerts, and go out with my friends. All I am is not
birding, all though many people have that idea. I know that there are birders
that are interested in so many things, from art to hunting. I have learned a lot
since I have started birding. If you had asked me two years ago, I would have
agreed with the stereotypes. Granted there are some different, and odd people,
as there are in any hobby or profession.
Well I explored people's opinion on the birder, I
looked up information on the internet to hopefully get a better perception, and
have talked to and met birders all over the state. I think that it is safe to
say that the birder is an individual. The birder is not one thing, the only
thing they are is a human. Even the definition of a birder varies from birder to
birder. I guess it is good to know we share a common bond, but yet are all
different.