The Birding Life, travels throughout the land - part one

Its been a long time since my last post. Part of the reason for my lack of posts have been my many travels both for work and vacation.

The first week of June found me in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Currently I am working on a technical report for the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge and needed to visit the area to talk with the biologists and managers who run and do research on the refuge. Mixing meetings and visiting the various refuge tracts during the day, and birding during the early mornings and evenings, I managed to see quite the variety of bird, butterfly and other animal life.

Plain Chachalacas are quite common and easy to see at Santa Ana NWR, my home base for my week long fact finding tour of the LRGV.

The predominant habitat community at Santa Ana NWR has been described as Mid-valley riparian woodland, this is essentially a bottomland hardwood community dominated by cedar elms, Berlandier ash and sugar hackberry, all draped in Spanish Moss.

I arrived in the valley during an intense thunderstorm. I knew that the much needed rain in the dry valley would bring out some interesting herps, including this Sheep Frog. This species' range barely reaches the U.S. only in very south Texas. Sheep Frogs are microhylids, this frog family has many members like the sheep frog that spend much of their time under leaf litter and specialize on eating ants and termites. This is a threatened species in Texas.

The Lower Rio Grande Valley, particularly these forested areas along the Rio Grande are important stopover habitats for neotropical migrant songbirds, including this very late (June 2!) migrating Olive-sided Flycatcher.

Texas Tortoises are listed as endangered in Texas. In the LRGV they rely on Upland Thornscrub habitats many of which have been degraded or destroyed. Many of the better areas left for this species lie on LRGV NWR lands.

The valley has the greatest butterfly diversity in the United States, here we have a Ceraunus Blue.

What would a visit to the LRGV be without watching some Green Jays for awhile. I followed around this likely family group as they foraged and interacted with one another.

The Chachalacas on the refuge are usually quite tame.

The managed oxbow wetlands, known locally as Resacas, are important habitat for many wetlands birds, like this Tricolored Heron.

More examples of the great diversity of butterflies found in the LRGV, from top, Tawny Emporer, Carolina Satyr, Clouded Skipper, Fiery Skipper, Teleas Longtail, Western Pygmy Blue (probably the worlds' smallest butterfly, and Clytie Ministreak.

The LRGV is also home to the Giant Toad (also known as the Cane Toad and other names). This species dwarfs the American Toads known by most people. It has become a problem in some areas where it has been introduced, in the valley however they are a native species.

The LRGV is home to several species of native cats. The Ocelot and Jaguarandi are both federally endangered and extremely difficult to see. Bobcats however are quite a lot more common, I actually saw them on multiple occassions on my evening hikes around Santa Ana.

Everywhere in the valley you are reminded that Mexico is literally only just across the river. This is of course both a blessing and a curse. Just another one of the many issues in a complicated land.

The LRGV NWR also includes lands on the Gulf of Mexico. These areas are some of the best preserved habitats for shore and seabirds left on the Texas Coast. Here we see a flock of mostly Royal Terns.

Black Mangroves along the mouth of the Rio Grande provide the farthest south habitat for Seaside Sparrows, as well as habitat for Mangrove Warblers, a distinctive race of the Yellow Warbler, that may warrent species status.

The Boca Chica beach tract of the LRGV provides habitat for rare and threatened species, including the above Piping Plover and below Least Tern, the beach is also a nesting ground for the endangered Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle.

The LRGV national wildlife refuges and associated Word Bird Centers, provide some of the best remainging habitat in the United States for many birds of more tropical origins. These include the above Groove-billed Ani, as well as the Gray Hawk, adult and nest with nestlings pictured above. Without these areas, many of the birds that draw thousands of birders and millions of ecotourism dollars in the LRGV region each year would lose their foothold in the United States.

Oklahoma Big Day attempt

Oklahoma Big Day Attempt – Sunday, 5-10-2009
Paul Van Els, Jason Heinen, Dustin Lynch and myself Vince Cavalieri, left Stillwater at 10:30 Saturday Morning on our way to Black Mesa. Our big day plan was to start in the Black Mesa area, then bird our way back east stopping at various hotspots and birds we staked out on our way out there. Being confident at finding eastern birds in the Stillwater and Tulsa areas (this would prove to be our undoing).

In general our Saturday trip out there was successful in finding target birds to stake out for the next day. At an old house and barn near the intersection of 412 and 95 south we staked out a Barn Owl. In the fields around Boise City we located two fields that had courting Mountain Plovers and a lingering Northern Harrier. The Boise City Sewage ponds were very active with 3 Red-necked Phalaropes in a large group of Wilson’s Phalaropes, as well as other common shorebirds, ducks and a Black-crowned Night-heron. The road between Boise and Black Mesa had many of the usual suspects including Lark Buntings, Long-billed Curlews and Ferruginous Hawks. We also found a Curve-billed Thrasher at the large prairie dog town south of the state park (but no burrowing owls). At the State Park we had a Bald Eagle at Lake Carl Etling and the usual Wild Turkeys hanging out in the park. Our best spot was the canyon and Mesas above camp Billy Joe where we had Pinyon Jays, Western Scrub Jays, a Juniper Titmouse and Common Ravens. I was a bit concerned about the time it would take to bird that spot the next day, but we had enough birds there to warrant the time we felt. We ended the day camping at the State Park, ready to get a few hours sleep before starting the big day very early the next morning.

We awoke at 3:45 am and got our first bird, Wild Turkey at 3:47 (three of them were roosting in the cottonwoods above our campsite). While we were packing up the tents, we added some other birds singing or calling in the darkness like Western Meadowlark and Killdeer. North of the state park we stopped at a spot we had heard a Poorwill the night before and not only picked up that species but also a singing Cassin’s Sparrow. We stopped at the Cimarron River Bridge hoping for Western Screech Owl and instead got lucky with a singing Lesser Goldfinch. Driving the road north and then east into the riparian area along the river again, we did hear a Western Screech Owl and then shortly thereafter we had Great-horned Owl.

As the sun was rising we raced over to Camp Billy Joe and made our way into the canyon and then up the canyon walls to the top of the Mesa. Here we had multiple Ash-throated Flycatchers, Canyon Towhees, Rock and Canyon Wrens, Bewick’s Wren and a Western Scrub Jay. Trying to keep up with the fleet footed Paul I stepped on a loose rock and went tumbling down the mesa side. Luckily I was mostly unhurt but did rip my jeans, leading me to bird the rest of the day with a jacket tied around my waist in an effort to not let the whole world know the color of my boxer shorts. On top of the Mesa we added Pinyon Jay, Juniper Titmouse and Bushtit. Back near the actually camp Billy Joe we added a seemingly out of place House Wren and a Bullock’s Oriole. We next drove into Kenton and quickly added Black-chinned Hummingbird, several of which were coming into the feeders at the Merc. At the merc we also had a Say’s Phoebe and two Yellow-headed Blackbirds in a nearby snag. We also added some more town oriented birds like House Wren, House Sparrow and Eurasian-collared Dove. We made a quick stop at the Hoot Owl Ranch but were unsuccessful in spotting Lewis’s or Ladder-backed Woodpeckers. We did however pick up Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped (both Audubon’s and Myrtle in the same tree!) Warbler and Northern Waterthrush. Other passerine birds included Blue Grosbeak, American Goldfinch and a Red-breasted Nuthatch of the pale variety seen in the Rockies.

At the state park we added Yellow-breasted Chat, some lingering sparrows like White-crowned and Lincoln’s, also a Rufous-crowned Sparrow. Could not find a Vermillion Flycatcher but did pick up a Willow Flycatcher. At Lake Carl Etling we quickly spotted our staked out Bald Eagle, sitting very near to where we saw him the day before, other water birds included Double-crested Cormorant , Blue-winged Teal and Spotted Sandpiper. Here we also spotted what was to be our only Orchard Oriole on the day.

Checking out the Prairie Dog town south of the state park we added our staked-out Curve-billed Thrasher, as well as Grasshopper Sparrow, Lark Bunting and Horned Lark (still no sign of Burrowing Owls). Farther along the road to Boise City we had one amazing occurrence where we spotted a Ferruginous Hawk, then in the same binocular view noticed a Long-billed Curlew with a Chihuahuan Raven flying over it. Paul then spotted a “Puma” which of course turned out to be a House Cat, which seemed to unfortunately be stalking the Curlew. Shortly after we added our Swainson’s and Red-tailed Hawks and then Great-tailed Grackle as we arrived in Boise City. The Sewage Ponds had fewer birds then it did the day previous, some Wilson’s Phalaropes were still there but we could not locate any Red-necked Phalaropes or the Black-crowned Night Heron we had seen the previous day. We also had Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Northern Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, Eared Grebe and assorted Swallows and a Chimney Swift.

At our staked out Mountain Plover spot, we had Mountain Plovers and a Northern Harrier in a matter of seconds and then soon thereafter added American Kestrel and Scaled Quail sitting on a water tank. In Keyes we finally added Rock Pigeon and European Starling. As we were nearing the Texas County line we spotted a Prairie Falcon (how regular are they in Texas County in summertime?) and then picked up our staked out Barn Owl. Along 412 we picked up Turkey Vulture and Eastern Kingbird which put us at 93 species, exactly halfway to tying the current Oklahoma record of 186. As it was only 11:00 and we weren’t even yet to Guymon we were feeling somewhat confident at this point.

In Guymon we lost some time getting gas and then having to retrace our steps when Jason thought that he had left his binoculars back at the gas station. Fortunately his binocs were safe in the trunk so we were able to continue on with our big day attempt. We decided to take the northern route across the state so we could bird the Salt Plains. This route had a lot of water and there were many little Playas and wetlands scattered across the landscape between Hooker and the Salt Plains area.

A wetland near Turpin had Cattle Egret, White-faced Ibis, Baird’s Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Ring-billed Gull and Long-billed Dowitcher. Though we now had over 100 species our hopes began to fade as we drove through the rest of the panhandle and through Harper County, encountering only a few new species over the next hour. In places like Ocain, Gate and Buffalo we added Loggerhead Shrike, Mississippi Kite, American Crow, Canada Goose, Eastern Bluebird and Common Nighthawk.

One amazing wetland complex near Ingersoll briefly restored our hopes as we started racking up a big number of species. We saw Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Franklin’s Gull, Willet, Eastern Meadowlark, a remarkable flock of 15 – 20 Marbled Godwits and 3 – 4 Hudsonian Godwits right next to the road, as well as some singing Dickcissels pushed our species total near the 120 mark.
The Sandpiper trail at Salt Plains NWR was simply full of birds. Here we added many of the remaining potential shorebird species like Semi-palmated Plover, Snowy Plover, Piping Plover, Least Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, and Semi-palmated Sandpiper. We also picked up Purple Martin and Forster’s Tern but unfortunately did not see any Least Terns here. The marsh overlook and observation deck near the exit of the Salt Plains auto tour also proved productive as we added a good number of species here. These included, Little Blue Heron, American White Pelican, Pied-billed Grebe, Black-crowned Night Heron, Black Tern, Great-crested Flycatcher, as well as Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs.

As we continued east we picked up a few more birds along the roadside, including Baltimore Oriole, Gadwall and a solitary, Solitary Sandpiper in a roadside wetland. Despite hitting 140 species we knew we were now in trouble as it was now past 4:30 and the weather was pretty terrible, windy, cold and overcast. We knew eastern migrants and residents were going to be hard to come by in this weather and that we probably didn’t have time to bird the Tulsa area well. We decided to take a gamble and go to Sooner Lake hoping for some lingering divers and hopefully a few surprises and then bird the Stillwater area the last few hours of daylight since we knew the area so well.

Unfortunately for our big day attempt the Sooner Lake plan turned out to be an almost total bust, the big lake and the power plant area had almost no birds and we didn’t add a single new bird between 4:30 and 5:30. The line of small trees along the fishermen’s access road did have some species, including Brown Thrasher, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Bell’s Vireo, and Northern Cardinal. We all found it humorous that Northern Cardinal was not seen until we had seen nearly 150 other species on the day.

With somewhat heavy hearts we continued on to Stillwater still hoping for a mini fallout of warblers or some other unlikely event that could give us the more than 30 species needed in the last couple of hours of fading daylight and poor weather. The Lake Sanborn area pushed our total to over 150 with common eastern species that we still needed like Carolina Chickadee and Blue Jay but there were very few migrants about just some Swainson’s Thrushes and a Nashville Warbler. Lake Carl Blackwell proved a bit more productive with Summer Tanager, Fish Crow, Orange-crowned Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, White-eyed Vireo and a Chuck-wills Widow that began calling at just past 8:00 to tell you how dark it already was due to the overcast sky.

We went to the Teal Ridge Wetland and picked up a Green Heron for bird number 164 on the day, as the last of the light faded. We could have pressed on and perhaps driven our total over 170, as we still needed things like Barred Owl and Eastern Screech Owl. We knew that the record was out of reach however and being tired we decided to call it quits. Of course we were a bit disappointed that we had fallen well short of the record after a pretty promising start. Perhaps if the weather had been better and we had been a bit quicker at some of our stops we may have had time to bird the Tulsa parks and pick up enough migrants to break the record. Likely the better plan is to start in the east and pick up as many species as possible during the dawn chorus before heading west. We wanted to stake out some of the harder species in the Cimarron County area however, and we did do pretty well out there.

Despite the small amount of disappointment however, we were all happy with a day well spent, many fine bird species seen and multiple state birds and even some lifers for some people in the group. In addition I made a huge addition to my Oklahoma year list pushing it well above 200 species which I was happy about. In the end a great day in the field in Oklahoma!!

Fun with butterflies!

As promised I have been spending a fair amount of time this spring looking for butterflies. I've found its a lot more productive if you concentrate on either birds or butterflies on a particular outing and not both. If you pay attention to birds you barely even see butterflies and vice versa, there is just a wider gap in search images, scanning techniques etc. than I would have imagined. Of course you can still listen for birds while butterflying :) Anyway I've had a lot of fun with it, particularly the whole "larval food plant" aspect of butterflies, and also the relative ease of photography (at least compared with birds). Its been a very rainy spring here in Stillwater, which has really put a damper on looking for butterflies in the last few weeks, but here are some images of butterflies that I have taken so far this spring. So far I have only seen 20 species or so, but I hope to expand that exponentially as the summer progresses here in Stillwater and also when I eventually head to the Lower Rio Grande Valley of TX, later this year.

Red Admiral

Painted Lady

Monarch

Eastern Tiger-swallowtail

Eastern Tailed-blue

Red-banded Hairstreak

Red-banded Hairstreak

Fun with herps

My Fiancee Nikki is doing her master's project on the breeding ecology of Skinks. For those who don't know Skinks are lizards from the family Scincidae, the largest and most diverse family of lizards. In general skinks have very little neck and usually have relatively reduced limbs, in some genera in fact they have no legs at all, which contributes to the myth that Skinks are or are related to snakes. Despite being the most common or only types of lizards in many areas, very little is known about skink biology. Nikki has two different study sites in the Stillwater area, one in a crosstimbers forest for woodland species, and one in a large old field for grassland species.

Anyway occassionally helping Nikki with her fieldwork helps me get my herp fix (I have always been interested in reptiles and amphibians nearly as much as birds). So I enjoy going out with her and trying to catch not only skinks but the many other species of reptiles and amphibians that she catches in her traps and under her cover boards. Here are some pictures of some of the various critters we have been collecting this spring.

Here we have a Ring-necked snake, a common snake species at the woodland site.

Here we see a juvenile five-lined skink in a bag! Nikki doesn not want him to escape, check out his beautiful blue tail.

This species occurs almost exclusively at the woodland site.

Here we have a Woodhouse's Toad, the grassland site can get quite marshy after rain and we see quite a few amphibians here.

Here we have a Strecker's Chorus Frog, this is a relatively range restricted species native to the southern plains

This beauty is a Speckled King Snake, a gorgeous black and yellow/green speckled constrictor snake, they eat rodents as well as other snakes and lizards.

Here Nikki teaches her minions a little bit about the biology of the Speckled King Snake.

Here we have a Small-mouthed Salamander, the only regularly occuring Salamander in the Stillwater area, I love Salamanders as much as birds, they are awesome!

Here I contemplate a world without Salamanders.

Nikki pit tags all of her Skinks, this way she can tell who she has captured already, as she is doing a mark/recapture study. This allows her to discover all sorts of things about skink natural history.

Here a beautiful southern prairie skink awaits his turn for a pit tag. This species occurs only in prairie habitat like the grassland site, it has a very restricted range and very little is known about it.

LIFER!!

No word is as exciting to a birder as the word "Lifer". Lifers are often the currency by which birders judge themselves and others. A lifer is simply a new bird for a birder's "life list" a bird that they have never before seen. For some birders, birds are often little more than numbers, something to collect as they build their life lists higher and higher. To these birders the goal, in this case a large "life list" is the important thing, the journey is just a means to an end. For others they barely pay attention to their lists, they simply enjoy the experience of seeing a new bird, watching its never before seen beauty and its novel behaviors. For the majority some mixture of the above two scenarios is the norm. Most birders (though not all), watch birds because they do indeed LIKE birds, they enjoy watching their behavior, soaking in the particular habitat of each new species and listening to new bird vocalizations. However, they may also enjoy some facet of listing, competing against others or just against their own goals and expectations.

I fall into the last category, I am and for as long as I can remember, have been fascinated by birds (and indeed by all of the natural world). So much so that I chose wildlife ecology and management as my career. To me life just doesn't get better than being in a new habitat for the first time and watching a whole new community of birds and other organisms interacting with the habitat and eachother. I do admit to also being conscience of my lists though as well. For example at the beginning of each year I set a goal for myself about how many birds I want to see that year, how many lifers etc. its the part of it that makes it a game and a little more fun. With that in mind I entered this year (in what will likely be my final year living in Oklahoma), wanting to get my Oklahoma state list over 300, something I was hoping to accomplish much earlier but with grad school obligations and other responsibilities, I haven't had the time to just bird like I did in years past. Last weekend I was leading a group of my ornithology students (I am teaching an ornithology lab class at OSU this semester) to the Wichita Mountains NWR, one of the last strongholds of the Black-capped Vireo in Oklahoma. It just so happens that I had never before seen this species, not only in Oklahoma but never before period.

The morning started off cool and foggy and I was worried the birding was not going to be very good. However about 15 minutes after arriving at the refuge the fog began to lift and we soon saw a herd of bison.

Many of the bison in this herd appeared to be young males, and they seemed to itching for a fight.

We then took a trail into some likely looking Black-capped Vireo habitat. The birding was good and the students were hearing and seeing many new birds, many of them newly arrived Neotropical migrants like Summer Tanagers and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. Soon we heard a probable Black-capped Vireo but after hiking off trail for awhile toward where the song originated from, we were unsuccessful in locating the caller. After contemplating turning back to check some other areas for waterfowl and other species, I convinced the group to continue on through likely Black-capped Vireo habitat for little longer.

Ornithology students walking through Black-capped Vireo habitat at the Wichita Mountains.

Only a couple of hundred yards farther down the trail. We heard another Black-capped Vireo calling from up on a hillside. Andy Crosby, one of the students who had formerly worked on a Black-capped Vireo project and I led the way up the hill towards the singing Vireo. The Vireo was skulky and mostly stayed hidden in the small shinnery oaks but we were patient and eventually he showed himself.

Perhaps the most important thing about "Lifers" is that sometimes its just an individual bird, never before seen that can propel somebody into a life of birds and birding and eventually bird conservation. These lifers are called "spark birds" a bird that lights the spark that ignites the birding pation in somebody. For me I can actually point to one of these birds and moments that hooked me on birds for life. At 8 years old I had been interested in dinosaurs first and eventually this led me to a fascination with non-extinct animals as well, especially birds. But I don't think you could have called me a "birder" until a fateful family trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1989. I had been watching the local birds around my little hometown in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a year or so, and had already seen many of the common species. This trip into the "west" however would change me from a passive birdwatcher into an avid birder. I had brought along my little Tasco binoculars and golden field guide my grandparents had given me as a present and while my parents and siblings were swimming at the pool in our campground I walked around the area looking for new birds. I still vividly remember the bright sky blue bird that flew into my vision, over the black hills spruce and onto a barbed wire fence seperating the campground from a pasture. My field guide said it was a Mountain Bluebird but to my 8 year old mind it was something much more, something new and exotic, it was a lifer.

Finally adding the beautiful and federally endangered Black-capped Vireo to my lifelist has certainly been one of the highlights of my spring. More importantly adding this species to the fledgling lifelists of my ornithology students might help influence some of them to become ardent birders and bird conservationists themselves, just like that Mountain Bluebird in that Black Hills pasture did for me almost 20 years ago.

Yearlisting amongst a cloud of sparrows

A number of years ago I read a book called "A Cloud of Sparrows". Although this book had absolutely nothing to do with birding, (it was a memorable story about the difficulties faced by the japanese people during the rapid industrialization and westernization that occurred in Japan during the late 19th century) I have always loved the title and thought it a fitting description of birding in Oklahoma. The Sooner state is well known for the many species of sparrows that spends at least part of the year here. We have interesting breeders, like the above Rufous-crowned Sparrow (a southwestern specialty), and the rare and hard to see Bachman's Sparrow (a southeastern specialty) as well as many others. We also have many more northerly breeding species that spend the winter here, including the white-crowned sparrow and range restricted Harris's sparrow seen below.

Oklahoma also has all four species of Longspurs (which are a specialized kind of sparrow) wintering here, as well as some of the harder to see Ammodramus sparrows that winter and/or migrate through like the Le Conte's Sparrow (the species seen in this blogs title) and the Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow.

All of these beautiful sparrows are part of what makes birding in Oklahoma great! This year I am attempting an Oklahoma "Big Year". This is an attempt to see as many species as possible WITHIN Oklahoma within the calender year. Most birders attempting a feat such as this probably have a lot more money and time on their hands than this recently graduated former graduate student, thus a very respectable OK big year attempt should be near or above 300 species. Due to my lack of funds and many time commitments I would be quite happy with something around 250 however. Wish me luck!

more things to identify

For many years now I have resisted the temptation to plunge myself into the world of butterflying. Still too many birds left out there to see, I thought. So many other vertebrate taxa that I haven't hardly began to enjoy. But having taken a short-term job that will place me in the LRGV of Texas (a region known not only for its awesome Mexican birds but also its awesome Mexican butterflies) for at least part of the upcoming spring/summer. I decided to pick up a butterfly field guide and start learning some of these guys! In fact the field guide helped lead me to some other resources that allowed me to (tenatively) identify some of the butterflies I photographed in Mexico last year.

Diaethria a. anna, aka Anna's Eighty-eight

Heliconius erato cruentus, aka the Erato Heliconius or the Crimson-patched Longwing

Hamadryas februa ferentina, aka the Gray Cracker

Papilio (Pterourus) multicaudata grandiosus? aka the two-tailed tiger swallowtail

So when the temps start warming up, not only will I be looking for the usual warblers, tanagers and flycatchers but also the skippers, fritillaries and checkerspots!