en

 
President's Message - April 2021

            by Machelle Johnson

It was fun to see some of you on the April field trips, and at Noah Strycker's presentation. I'm so glad we are able to meet in person more now. I've talked to several of you who are doing great with the challenge, getting out there to see the birds in so many counties. I'm loving all of the Facebook posts as well. Spring is such a great time for birding in our state! Out my office window I see a lot of birds this time of year. I watch Crows, Turkey Vultures, Cedar Waxwings, Woodhouse's Scrub Jays, Robins and House Finches. A nesting pair of Coopers Hawks patrol the area as well. My 'yard' list at work is up to 31, I saw 3 Sandhill Cranes fly over about a month ago, and a Bald Eagle flew by in January. I've had House Sparrows, House Finches and a Black-chinned Hummer sit on the window ledge or hover near the window to admire themselves in the reflection. I'm glad I have the opportunity to see out windows even when I'm stuck at my desk all day!

In other news, I saw this article pop up on my Facebook page and thought it was really neat. Nature is astounding and lovely and fierce and gentle all at once. I love living in Utah, near the mountains and the lake. I love the 4 changing seasons we experience, and being able to enjoy so much of it on a daily basis. I love the friendship and fellowship of the birding community and meeting such great people along the way.

I think this article caught my eye because I'm getting excited to start planting in my garden and flower beds. I hope you enjoy these cool flowers, and I hope to see you all in May, we've got some fun field trips planned and we'll meet at the Bean Museum for our May meeting!

Flowers that look like birds, Unique Resemblance: 10 Flowers That Look Like Birds - EarthWonders.co

         Machelle
              ,__,   
             (0,0)    
              /)_)   
  

 
 
The 2022 Birding Challenge

Prinout with the details
(PDF file)

                     by Keeli Marvel

Work sent me down to San Antonio last month for a recertification course for a pesticide applicator and program manager certification I have to maintain as the Pest Management Coordinator on my installation. As with most trips I go on, I checked eBird a few weeks before my trip to see if there were any species I had not seen yet that were possible to get while I was down there. Barred Owl was top on my list and has been a nemesis bird for awhile. I've tried a few times, but as you all know, owls are sometimes hard to track down, unless you happen to know where they are nesting. I did some sleuthing and found a few ebird records of an owl being reported pretty consistently at a particular location.  So, the first day I flew into San Antonio, I picked up my rental car, dropped my stuff off at my hotel, and set out on a bird hunt. My search took me to a really cool network of trails on the northwest end of San Antonio called the Howard S. Peak Greenway Trails System.

 The trails connect a series of parks and access points, and it was at one of these along the Leon Creek Greenway that I found a pond where I tracked down my lifer Barred Owl. I wandered around the pond checking all the trees until I spotted one that looked right sized to house a cavity nesting owl, and as I glassed the tree I could just barely see an owl face peeking out at me from a crack in the trunk. I whispered a triumphant yessssss to myself, snapped a couple quick digiscoped photo through my binos, sent off a celebratory text or two, and continued my circuit around the pond. Other cool birds I spotted around the pond included Black-crested Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Black-and-white Warblers (one of my favorites), White-winged Doves, and plenty of Northern Cardinals.

After being stuck in training all week, and taking (and passing) my recertification exams, I was ready to hit the road again when they released us on Friday. I packed up my stuff and hit the road for the coast. After a quick stop to photograph Scissor-tailed Flycatchers on the drive down, and a bbq lunch in Corpus Christie, I headed out to Mustang Island State Park where I went for a walk down the beach. Along the beach there I spotted five different species of terns, most of them all in one mixed flock on the beach - Least, Caspian, Forster's, Royal, and Sandwich. I also saw what felt like a million Sanderlings, laughed at (and with) some Laughing Gulls, and got up close and personal with a Snowy Egret who I much enjoyed watching hunt for crustaceans and fish in pools along one of the jetties. 

The morning of the boat tour was overcast and I boarded a small boat appropriately called the Skimmer with about 20 other people. We cruised across Aransas Bay and up into the refuge, and saw sever fun species like American Oystercatchers, Dunlin, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Ruddy Turnstone, and as we pulled up into one of the waterways inside the refuge - we were in luck! The captain spotted a Whooping Crane foraging along the edge of the marsh for the Blue Crabs that make up their primary diet there. A little further up into the refuge we got even luckier and saw a family of three Whooping Cranes way off in the marsh. Success! Lifer #3! After that, the rest of the boat trip was icing on the cake. We cruised further north to some little island rookeries where hundreds of birds were nesting/roosting and saw bunches of Roseate Spoonbills (always a treat and one of my favorite birds), Reddish Egrets, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, terns, and a few other species. On the ride back to Rockport we had another treat - a pod of Atlantic Bottle-nosed Dolphins showed up to follow our boat and play in our wake for awhile. It was a real treat to go out on a boat trip with a captain who was very knowledgeable about the local bird species. Following my boat tour, I drove straight back to San Antonio and headed to the airport for my flight home thankful for a successful trip and the opportunity to add a few more species to my life list.

Happy Birding!

Keeli Marvel
 
 

BIRD OF THE MONTH:
    

   Bicknell's Thrush
 (Catharus bicknelli)
[BITH]
 

Compiled by Robert Parsons
    

This month, I wanted to write about a bird that I have never seen---but that was still found in the ABA area.  For years I have looked for Bicknell’s Thrush and despite several attempts to find one, never have.  So, I selected that species for our monthly report.

Like our other spotted North American thrushes, this bird is mostly found on the ground or perched in low branches or bushes.  Nearly identical, although slightly smaller, to Gray-cheeked Thrush, it is a medium-sized thrush, weighing about the same as a first-class letter.  It is mostly warm brown on the back, with heavy dots on a breast washed with buffy tones and a prominent pale buffy strip on the underwing.  The tail is dull chestnut.  The flight pattern is relatively swift and direct, with somewhat jerky wing strokes.  Difficult to tell apart from the Gray-cheeked Thrush, the best clues are breeding range and song (the Bicknell’s has a higher pitched song, with an ascending end, compared to descending on the Gray-checked).  The Bicknell’s lower mandible also has much more yellow than the Gray-cheeked and until 1995 it was considered a subspecies. 
     

Except for the Hermit Thrush, spotted thrushes in North America are usually found east of the Mississippi River.  The Bicknell’s Thrush is no exception, with a very limited breeding range in the far montane areas of northern New England and parts of Eastern Canada---primarily above 3,000 feet in the mountains of northern New York, Vermont, Maine and Eastern Canada (it can be locally common in these areas).   The wintering range is mostly in wet montane forests in Hispaniola (West Indies) and it may also winter in Cuba and Jamaica, although more research is needed.
 

This bird was named after Eugene Bicknell, an American amateur ornithologist (see there is hope for all of us), who discovered the species on Slide Mountain in the Catskills in the late 19^th Century.  One interesting note---a group of thrushes are collectively known as a “hermitage” or a “mutation” of thrushes.  No idea where that came from!
  

Bicknell’s Thrush, a member of the Catharus genus, eats insects, especially ants and beetles, along with snails, moths, slugs, spiders, earthworms and even small salamanders, supplemented by some berries and fruit in the fall.  They forage on the ground, scratching with their feet to uncover prey or patiently watching and listening, much as American Robins do.  When feeding young, they will even occasionally be seen flycatching or hover-gleaning. 
  

Since the Bicknell’s Thrush was only recently recognized as a full species, no long-term population trends are available.   However, Canadian surveys have shown steep declines in populations since the 1960s and Bicknell’s Thrush have disappeared from numerous historic breeding sites.   Although the reasons for declining populations are not well understood, they may include airborne pollutants that harm the high-elevation forest habitats and contribute to higher levels of mercury. Warming temperatures may also be a factor. The Bicknell’s Thrush has an estimated population of 60,000-120,000.  The limited breeding habitat and habitat destruction in its wintering range, have raised conservation concerns, giving this thrush a Vulnerable status
  

Females apparently select the nest site and build the nest, usually near the trunk of a tree in dense stands of short or stunted balsam fir and often near a gap or edge in the forest. Nests are about five feet off the ground and made of fir or spruce twigs, with some grass or horsehair used to line the nest, which is about five inches across.  Clutch size is 3-4 bluish green eggs with light brown speckling, with a 9-14 day incubation period followed by another 10-12 day nestling period. 
 

Bicknell’s Thrush have a very unique mating and breeding system, in that there are not traditional pair bonds between males and females.  This behavior is unique among North American songbirds, with the possible exception of Smith’s Longspur.  Both males and females mate with multiple partners and most broods contain young from several fathers.  Males often feed nestlings in two nests at once (feeding nestlings that are not their own) and often more than one will feed young in any particular nest.  Males do not appear to defend classic territories but rather sing from a large home range that overlap with multiple active nests. Males sometimes chase other males, but not to the extent that other territorial male songbirds do. Females, however, regularly chase away other females from their smaller home range, which is centered around the nest area.  Occasionally, males will pursue females in flight, sometimes singing, and drooping or fluttering their wings when perched or singing quietly, presumably as prelude to copulation.
  

I still hope to find one of these beautiful, but somewhat elusive birds on a hike up the mountains of New England.  Want to come with me?

References, Notes and Credits

1. Sibley Birding App.
2. “Birds of the West Indies,” Herbert Raffaele.
3. “The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America,” Donald and Lillian Stokes.
4. “National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America,” Seventh Edition.  Jon L. Dunn.
5. iBird Pro Birding App.
6. Peterson Birding Field Guide App.
7. Wikipedia, “Bicknell’s Thrush”
8. All About Birds (allaboutbirds.org).
9. “Where to Watch Birds in Ceneral America, Mexico and the Caribbean,” Nigel Wheatley and David Brewer.

  
  
       [See past Bird of the Month articles] 
  

Box Elder, Cache

& Weber County Fieldtrip
  
  
23 Apr 2022

by Suzi Holt
  

What a trip!!! Alarm clock at 2:00 am, 403 miles, a tank and a half of gas, 17 birders, 71 species of birds in 3 counties, and we finished 3 more counties with 22 species for the 2022 challenge.
  

Sharp-tailed Grouse-Box Elder
  

We headed out of Utah County around 3 am. and headed for Box Elder county, the smart ones decided to get a hotel! Others were not so smart. Best bird of the day Sharp-tailed Grouse!!! What a treat to hear and to watch the "wind up baby toy" as Billy Fenimore would say. A priceless memory I will never forget! Today we saw 16 birds dance their little hearts out!  Box Elder County was amazing, we also saw American Kestrel, Red-tailed Hawks, Black-billed Magpies, "28" Swainson's Hawks and a Short-eared Owl! We also had tons of Horned Larks, Common Ravens, American Robin, Mallards, Northern Flicker, Western Meadowlarks, Northern Harrier's, Franklin Gulls, European Starlings, and Rock Pigeons.

  

   Swainson's Hawk-Pocatello Valley        Swainson's Hawk-Pocatello Valley
                   photo by Jessie

  

Next stop Cache County and Cutler Marsh. It began to snow/sleet as soon as we got there...but it quickly dissipated and we were able to quickly find more than our 22 species. We saw Red-winged and Brewer's Blackbirds, Canada Geese, Sandhill Cranes, Pied-billed Grebes, Western and Clark's Grebes, Mallard, Gadwall, American Avocet, Franklin's Gull, California Gulls, Double-crested Cormorant, American White-Pelican, Great Blue and Black-crowned Night Herons, Northern Harrier, Bald Eagle, Swainson's and Red-tailed Hawk, Common Raven, House Finch, American Robin, Song Sparrow, Cliff Swallow and heard a Marsh Wren.
   

Cutler Marsh Cache County

Barrow's Goldeneye-First Dam Cache County
  

Ogden Bay WMA

Next stop Ogden Bay WMA North Parking Lot.
A great stop with Northern Shoveler, Mallard, American Coot, Red-tailed Hawk, American Robin, Red-winged and Brewer's Blackbird, Canada Goose, Northern Harrier, Green-winged and Cinnamon Teal, Canvasback, Red-breasted Merganser, Gadwall, Caspian Tern, Forester's Tern. We also saw Eared, Clark's and Pied-billed Grebes, Eurasian Collared Dove, European Starling, Sandhill Crane, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, American White Pelican, Killdeer, California Gull, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, White-faced Ibis, Tree, Barn and Bank Swallows, House Sparrow, some unidentified peeps and a Solitary Sandpiper!
  

We had a great afternoon fieldtrip today out in Tooele County. Our first destination was Clover Springs Campground. As we got closer we saw a nesting Red-tailed Hawk. As we entered the campground at Clover Springs it was so cold, the wind was blowing and cold rain was starting to fall. We saw a couple Common Ravens but decided we may have better luck finding our 22 species down in town. So we lined up to head out. Luckily we had given Alona, Kathleen and Lynn a radio. As we were leaving the campground they messaged us saying we think we have a Pygmy Owl!! So yes we carefully turned around, and sure enough it was a Northern Pygmy Owl! We all got good looks through the scope and watched it for about 20 minutes. We thought if we stayed for 22 minutes we could make our own new challenge rule and consider Tooele County done!
  

  
But we decided to continue onward. On our way back to town we saw another Red-tailed Hawk, Western Meadowlarks, a American Kestrel and a few Turkey Vultures. We took a side road and found more Turkey Vultures, European Starlings, Red-winged Blackbirds, American Robin, Eurasion-collard Dove and a Ring-necked Pheasant.
 

Mourning Doves
 

Our next stop was Fitzgerald WMA. In the parking lot we found White-crowned Sparrows and a surprise Lincoln's Sparrow. We had lots of American Coots, Canvasback, Ruddy Duck, Redhead, Eared Grebes and the Swainson's Hawks put on a great show. We also saw Osprey, Clark's Grebe, Double-crested Cormorants, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Red-winged Blackbirds, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, Northern Harrier's and had five Long-billed Curlews fly over! There were Violet-green Swallows, and Canada Geese too.
 

It was a great afternoon trip and we were so grateful the weather finally cooperated. We also had a few new birders join us as well. Thanks for coming!
 

 
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