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The Hooter Kittitas Audubon November 2010
All Audubon meetings, held on the 3rd Thursday of each
month, September through May (except December), are
open to the public, so feel free to come and meet with
us. A brief business session precedes the program.
Stay afterwards for juice, treats, and conversation.
A rare opportunity to learn the latest strate-
gies about forest health and restoration
awaits those who attend the Kittitas Audu-
bon meeting on November 18th. The event,
co-sponsored by Kittitas Audubon and the
Ellensburg Public Library, is open to the pub-
lic. Two highly qualified people from the We-
natchee National Forest will make the pres-
entation.
Bill Gaines, Forest Wildlife Ecologist, Oka-
nogan-Wenatchee National Forest, has been
with the Forest Service for 24 years and has
spent most of that time living, learning, and
working in eastern Cascades environments.
Bill has a BS, MS in Biology from Central
Washington University (1983, 1987), and a
PhD in Wildlife Science from University of Wash-
ington (2002). He is an Adjunct Professor for
CWU. Bill has published approximately 40 jour-
nal articles, book chapters, and other technical
publications.
Richy Harrod, is Deputy Fire Management Officer for Fuels and
Fire Ecology for the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, beginning his career in the Leavenworth
Ranger District and in 1990 as botanist and plant ecologist. He has been involved in forest and fire
restoration planning and research for 20 years. Richy has a BS in biology and terrestrial ecology, an
MS in biology from WWU, and a PhD in ecosystem sciences from the University of Washington. He
has published 38 research papers and technical reports, been a presenter at numerous scientific and
management conferences, been a guest lecturer, and taught college level courses.
“Forest Restoration Strategy in the Eastern Cascades” presented by Richy Harrod & Bill Gaines, USFS researchers
Membership Meeting - Thursday, November 18th 7:00 PM ~ Hal Holmes Center
Remember our new meeting location at the Hal Holmes Center next to the library. Many thanks to the Ellensburg Public Library for sponsoring our meet-ings here!
Web p
hoto
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19th Century engraving
Page 2 The Hooter
KAS BOARD MEMBERS
Co-Presidents – Gloria Baldi 933-1558 Gloria Lindstrom 925-1807 Vice President – Bud Rechterman 962-4508 Secretary – Jim Briggs 933-2231 Treasurer – Tom Gauron 933-2550 Conservation – Janet Nelson 509-674-6165 Education – Beth Rogers 509-674-1855 Field Trip Coordinator- Jeb Baldi 933-1558 *Newsletter – Jan Demorest 933-1179 Historian – Marianne Gordon 964-2320 Program Coordinator – Hal Lindstrom 925-1807 Publicity – Gerry Sorenson 968-4857 Wildlife Habitat – Joe Meuchel 933-3011 *Bluebird boxes – Jan Demorest 933-1179 Past President — Tom Gauron 933-1558
Membership – Tuck Forsythe 925-2356
*Christmas Bird Count – Phil Mattocks 962-2191 *Librarian - Ginger Jensen 925-5816 Social/Greeter – Kay Forsythe 925-2356 *NON-VOTING VOLUNTEER POSITIONS
KAS Board Meetings are held at 4:30
PM on the 1st Thursday of each month on the third floor of the CWU Science Bldg, Room 301 (above the elephant desk). These meetings are open to the public and all Audubon members; please come and join in the discussions. Meetings adjourn
by 6:00 or 6:30, after which we all
go out for a sociable dinner ~ NO business discussion allowed!
Send in your stories & photos!
The Hooter is the newsletter of
Kittitas Audubon, published
monthly except for July.
~~~~~~~
~ Submissions from readers /members are most welcome and encour-
aged! ~
The editor reserves the right to edit
for space, grammar, and/or suit-
ability. Email text and/or photos to
bobcat@kvalley.com or snail mail
to Jan Demorest, Hooter Editor,
1009 North B Street, Ellensburg,
WA 98926. Submissions need to be
in by the 15th of the preceding
month.
NEW PRESIDENT FOR NATIONAL AUDUBON
National Audubon's new
President and Chief Executive
Officer, David Yarnold,
assumed leadership in
September. A passionate
conservationist, he is giving
new momentum to efforts to
connect people with nature
and their power to protect it. Yarnold’s past experience was
as Director of Environmental Defense Action Fund, and prior
to that he was Pulitzer Prize-winning editor at the San Jose
Mercury News. According to Holt Thrasher, Audubon’s Board
Chair, ―David brings proven leadership in the for-profit and
non-profit sectors to Audubon at a time when efforts to
protect birds, habitats, and the resources that sustain us are
needed more than ever. His leadership ability, his passion
for conservation and grassroots action, his communication
skills and his organizational expertise all make him a perfect
fit for the Audubon of 2010 and beyond.‖
While at EDF he was responsible for all operations, from
programs to development and marketing/
communications. He helped expand EDF’s international
programs, particularly in China, and helped the organization
grow from $52 M to $117 M in revenue. He was
also president of the organization’s Action Fund, its political
action arm.
For Audubon chapters in the western U.S., Yarnold’s
selection is a rewarding choice because he has lived here and
understands that conservation issues faced in the west are
often different than those in the eastern U. S.
On October 9th, KAS Co-President Gloria Lindstrom and
husband Hal had the pleasure of meeting David Yarnold in
Seattle, along with other WA Audubon members. He
stressed his commitment to strengthening the relationship
between NAS and chapters across the U.S., while citing the
unique position that Audubon holds in having, for example,
twenty-six Chapters in Washington State
that can provide a unified voice on
issues. Yarnold said this was one of the
main attractions for accepting the position
of National Audubon President.
The mission of Kittitas Audubon is to develop an appreciation of nature
through education and conservation, with a focus on birds.
October 2nd, 2010 ~ First Saturday BirdWalk ~
If you were not with us on this fantastic fall morning I hope you were at least outdoors. When we began, temperatures were in the low 40’s with fog, but no
wind. As we meandered and cocked our heads for bird sounds, the morning ground fog moved in and out, challenging us at times to identify birds by their silhou-ette. However, that was short-lived as the sun soon appeared and illuminated the glorious fall colors, and warmed our bones as well.
The birds and leaves were not the only bright delights of the walk, as we had a great array of brightly colored
fungi, most notably the Amanita muscaria with scales in cream to light orange, which we surmised grew after the heavy rainstorm we had in September. According to Tom Gauron, who prepared a paper when in college,
shamans in Russia ate this mushroom for its hallucino-genic properties, and the student trainees under the shamans drank the urine of their teachers. (Hmmm…
what one will do for wisdom!)
Was it the compatible company, the beauty of the morning, or the temperature pushing 70 degrees that made us so slow getting back to the cars at 11:00? It certainly was not the numerous bird species as the nine participants had a total count of only 21 species on this Saturday, the end of the eighth year of doing the First Saturday BirdWalk. Over the years we have tallied
about a hundred species, but on this day the only new one found was a flock of domestic mallard-cross ducks that escaped from a local farm or were deposited by people who tired of them. (Well, it was a new species!)
Come join us November 6th. ~ Gloria Baldi
October 9th ~ to areas South and Southeast in the valley ~ The Sorenson's field trip to "out-of-the-way ponds" turned into more of a scavenger hunt. The weather had been so nice during two scouting trips, but
no birds were found (out of the way), so we went to the big ponds.
Eleven people went on the trip. Our first stop was Sorensen Pond on Berry Road, where we found 3 types of grebes: Western, Horned, and Pied-billed, also a Greater Scaup. A trip on down Woodhouse Road, then Ringer Loop Road to Helen McCabe Park pro-
duced only a domestic
goose. The South end of No. 6 Road gave us two male Ring-necked Pheas-ants, Fiorito Pond pro-vided little, but back on #6 Road we soon spot-
ted a Peregrine Falcon in a tree surrounded by about 50 crows. He sat still while we unloaded 3 cars, set up scopes and all got a good look at
him (or her).
We continued out towards Badger Pocket, via Tjossem,
Ferguson, Sorenson, Denmark, Thrall, Fourth Parallel, and finally Camion Road, to reach our farthest-away pond. This rewarded us with Wilson's Snipes and Kill-
deer. After doing some guidebook checking, we also identified a Long-billed Dowitcher, along with two more Killdeer foraging in the pasture about 50 yards north of the pond.
Turning back towards town, we stopped along Badger Pocket Road and counted eight Red-tailed Hawks from that spot. We turned west when we reached Fourth Parallel Road and followed it along the orchards and
through a small valley, where an American Kestrel scared up a Western Meadowlark in front of us. The road changes to Denmark Road along in here, and we stopped at this high point to look North out over the
valley. From there we returned to town.
In addition to the 13 species mentioned, we saw 22 others (plus the domestic goose). This turned into a pretty fair count day after all, with a total of 45 species.
~ Gerry Sorenson
October 16th ~ Birding by the Map Site #8, Coal
Mines Trail ~ These trips are a shared survey of the locations on our county birding guide map in order to establish what species are found there in each season. It happens even if no one else comes along. I needed the sleep but convinced Kurt, my S.O.B. (Spouse Of Birder), to join me.
As we drove down out of the woods to the open fields around Cle Elum, a puffy grey fog quilt shrouded the
bottom of the valley. (OK - so birding is going to be a bit challenging.) Within minutes it started to clear; by the time we parked at the Coal Mines Trail, it was a beautiful fall day.
This is a really lovely trail, colored with yellow and red leaves in the fall. There was a moment of complete peace, standing still, watching the aspen leaves wander down to the brush and earth below.
It is, however, not a very ―birdy‖ trail. We did see all the expected species plus a bonus bird, Varied Thrush,
in with a small flock of robins. Plus Dark-eyed Junco, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Flicker, Steller’s Jay, American Crow, Common Ra-ven, Evening Grosbeak, Red-
breasted Nuthatch. A pretty short list. Now you can tell
that I really do need help finding all of the birds! Call me next month; I am going to Swauk Prairie on November 20th. Maybe we can find tur-keys to get us in the holiday
spirit. ~ Cricket Webb
Field Trip Reports Page 3 The Hooter
Peregrine Falcon (with crows…)
Diane Gauron photo
THANKSGIVING BIRD COUNT The Thanksgiving Bird Count was begun in 1966
by Dr. Ernest Edwards in Virginia. It spread
slowly across the country until in 1992 a
―Western‖ division was formed for
eleven western states
and Alaska. Last year in
the western division 447
counts were made
tallying 142 different
species, with the House
Sparrow (2054), the House
Finch (1953), and the Junco (1855) being the
top three species. The rest of the top ten were
California Quail, Black-capped Chickadee,
Mourning Dove, White-crowned Sparrow,
American Goldfinch, Lesser Goldfinch, and
Golden-crowned Sparrow. In 14th place was the
newcomer, the Eurasian Collared-Dove, with the
Pine Siskin dropping to 16th.
The process is very simple. Select a
comfortable spot at a window (or elsewhere) for
one hour and view a 15-foot diameter area that
reaches into the air becoming a cylinder. Any
bird flying through the cylinder can be counted.
The circle can include bird baths, feeders,
vegetation, or whatever habitat you wish.
Count each bird only once. If a flock of the
same species visits several times during the
hour, count the flock with the highest tally. The
count can be any hour but it must be on
Thanksgiving Day. Report forms will be
available at the KAS program/meeting on
November 18th.
However, if you cannot attend the meeting,
you can still participate. With your name,
location of the count, temperature &
weather, date, time begun and ended,
habitat and number of feeders and baths,
plus the list of species (or even if you see
no species), send the results to:
Dr. John, G. Hewston
Natural Resources Building
Humboldt State University
Arcata, CA 95521
This is citizen science at the grassroots level;
the science indicates trends for bird species
over the many years of tallying. If you’d like
more information, call Gloria Baldi @ 933-1558.
Something told the wild geese
it was time to go,
though the fields lay golden,
something whispered, “Snow.”
Leaves were green and stirring,
berries luster glossed,
but each wild breast stiffened
at remembered frost.
Something told the wild geese
it was time to fly.
Summer sun was on their wings,
winter in their cry.
~ by Rachel Fields (1894-1942)
When Steve and I were staying at the historic Frenchglen Hotel near the Malhuer Wildlife Refuge this past summer, I found this poem entered in the guestbook for our room. The woman who wrote it had learned it from her mother as a young girl. To read the entire poem, visit this website:
http://www.poems.lovecanadageese.com/wildgeese.html
You can also find performances of a beautiful choral version on YouTube….. ah, the Internet!
Jan Demorest
Page 4 Hooter Poetry for the Migration & Citizen Science
SOZAN HOSOBAN ~ “Flying geese and moon”
Albatross Summer Page 5 The Hooter
At length did cross an Albatross;
Through the fog it came;
As it had been a Christian soul,
We hail’d it in God’s name.
It ate the food it ne’er had eat
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steer’d us through!
This is the part of the ―Rime of the Ancient Mariner‖ that made albatross a household word. It was written
by Samuel Coleridge, in 1798. The albatross brought the ship good luck until the Ancient Mariner killed it, then all kinds of bad things happened. It gave rise to the expression that anything causing bad luck is an albatross, and a person with a handicap is carrying an albatross around his neck, like the Ancient Mariner.
This summer I finally got to meet the Albatross clan up close and there are few birds more famous and interesting.
We made our usual trip to the Kilauea National Wild-
life Refuge on the northernmost point of the Hawaiian Islands. There we learned that there were only two Laysan Albatross chicks left to fledge and one was on
the refuge and the other one was on a bare point of land near our condo.
We made our way to the latter one and found that it was on a semi-public walkway between two houses (Thanks to the foresight of our Founding Fathers, the public has access to the ocean anywhere in the United States). Out on a bluff stood a juvenile albatross,
named Joy by the Albatross Response Team. Why a response team? That’s because the chicks which are hatched away from the refuge are exposed to an ar-ray of hazards, the most serious of which is unleashed dogs. So when the parents quit brooding the young ones, the response team takes over.
When we got there, two volunteers were sitting in lawn chairs watching the chick with the whole North Pacific Ocean in the background. Not bad volunteer duty. We were asked to join them and spent several hours watching Joy and getting all kinds of insider in-formation on Island life (ask me for the best restau-rants if you go to Kauai).
Not long before we had to leave, the wind came up and Joy started stretching her wings, as if to get ready to take off. The watchers got very excited be-
cause she had been sitting there for two days. That’s how they fledge. After about five months the parents quit feeding them and leave for good and finally the chick gets hungry enough to learn to fly and get on
with its life.
Living up to the Albatross nickname, ―Gooney Bird‖, Joy then waddled off to the leeward side of the bluff. So Bob Waid, the chief volunteer, circled
around and herded her back to the
windward side. She sat down again and then we had to leave.
We found out
later that she took off a cou-ple of hours after we
left. That made her the 61st chick to have fledged this year from Kauai’s North Shore and the volunteers were very pleased. Sixty-one doesn’t sound like
many, but for a populated island it is pretty good. Midway and other smaller islands in the Hawai-ian chain have hundreds of thousands of birds so the species is still pretty safe from extinction. The only reason Kauai still has some is because the refuge has kept the developers and dogs out, and Kauai is the only Hawaiian Island that doesn’t have mon-
gooses. These Asian weasels were introduced to the other islands to kill rats but, like most introduction attempts, it backfired. It turns out that mongooses are diurnal and rats are nocturnal. And guess what they eat during the day? Ground-nesting birds’ eggs and hatchlings. That’s why Kauai still has albatrosses
and Nenes, the endangered Hawaiian goose.
The newly-fledged albatrosses stay out to sea for three to six years, using their extraordinarily long wings to soar on ocean wind currents for days without flapping their wings. They occasionally rest on the surface but they can sleep while soaring. They feed mainly on squid but also eat small fish and crusta-
ceans. They only come ashore to breed, during which time they go through an elaborate courtship ritual,
which strengthens the pair bond. This is important because both parents feed the single chick, regurgi-tated food from their crops.
The volunteers and refuge personnel have a good time with their birds and generally have cute names
for their wards. One was called ―Obama‖ and they said that was interesting at a gathering when some-body said, ―Is Obama still in the back yard?‖ Another
(Continued on page 7)
A Laysan Albatross fledgling practices how to take flight.
Photo: Claire
Johnson/NOAA
Page 6 Hooter BirdKitt Postings! Here’s a selection of recent listings from our very own
regional “BirdKitt”, an online “listserve” for all birders interested in bird sightings in Kittitas County.
If you are not already signed up, here’s how to do it: send an email to subscribe@yahoogroups.com . Reply
to the first email about Birdkitt that you receive from “yahoogroups”. To unsubscribe: send email to birdkitt
- unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com . If you have diffi-
culty, email Beth Rogers kittittasadudbon@inland.net or Chris Caviezel chris.caviezel@gmail.com
Thanks to Beth Rogers and Cricket Webb for get-
ting this up and running! This is a great resource
for finding places to look for birds in the valley.
9/26/10 ~ After leading a very pleasant Seattle Audubon field trip through the lower Grand Coulee yesterday, I decided I still needed
some birding time and ventured to Colockum Pass area last night to try for Boreal Owl and anything
else that might be around. Specifi-cally, I located a response from
one Boreal Owl near Naneum
Meadows. Sub-sequent stops at Colockum Pass resulted in a response from a
Northern Saw-whet Owl and then a few incidental Great-horned Owls flying across the road as I
headed back to Ellensburg. A per-fect night to be owling, cooling down after a warm September day with a clear sky and little wind.
On the Seattle Audubon trip, a few notables:
~ A Pacific Slope Flycatcher at
Gingko Overlook
~ Black-bellied Plover remain-ing at Soap Lake, South Beach
~ Two flocks of Sandhill Cranes passing overhead at Lake Lenore,
each flock about 65-70 birds.
~ Sanderling at Coulee City Sew-age Ponds.
The White-throated Sparrow seen by myself on Friday at Sun
Lakes St. Park couldn't be seen. The park in general was very slow on Saturday. Scott Downes ~ Yakima
10/3/10 ~ Yesterday morning right before our WOS (Washington
Ornithological Society) board
meeting, I checked out a small flooded area about 2 miles north of Hungry Jct Rd on Reecer Creek Rd. In that flooded area I found a Pectoral Sandpiper. A good bird for Kittitas County, it was only my
third observation of them here since 2000. Scott Downes ~ Yakima
10/10/10 ~ We had an unusual visitor in our yard yesterday and today. I suspect this (Western) Scrub Jay was traveling with a group of Steller's Jays, since we've been seeing quite a few of those
recently. Our place is up Secret
Canyon just off Colockum Rd, approx. 13 miles NE of Kittitas.
Sharon & Scott Lumsden
10/10/10 ~ Hmmm. I saw a
bird last week, I think, that pretty much caught my attention. It was at my deck. I was not able to make a positive identification, but I definitely know it was in the
“jay” family. My first inclination was to call it a Steller’s Jay imma-ture, but it certainly had the char-acteristics of the Western Scrub
Jab, shown above. Makes me wish I could re-look at what I saw awhile back… Chris Caviezel
10/10/10 ~ I would expect the Ellensburg valley to begin to get more of these sightings in the coming years. About 5 years ago in Yakima, scrub-jays were fairly
scarce. Now there are quite a few around the city, with a pair even residing in my neighborhood block. I know of at least one other record for Kittitas County, a bird that spent the winter around Diane Deleon-Monroe's neighborhood in
Cle Elum about 4 years ago, and I think there are 1-2 other records that I've heard of, but can't re-member details of right now. Logi-
cally, I would think that the can-yon would be a natural corridor for
movement into the valley. I'll have to keep my eyes out on my sector of the Ellensburg CBC (Canyon-Ringer Loop Rd) this winter.
Scott Downes
10/14/10 ~ Diane and I spent last Sunday morning birding Bate-man Island in Kennewick. Kenne-wick has a wonderful paved trail that travels along the Columbia
River. Bateman Island is a nature area along this trail. I'm told the
local Audubon club has a first Sat-urday Bird Walk on Bateman Is-land similar to Kittitas Audubon's monthly walk.
We found 25 bird species during our 3-hour visit, including a Great-horned Owl and a Great Egret. I'm sure we would have found many more if we had brought a scope.
Tom Gauron
Web photos
Photo by Scott & Sharon Lumsden
Western Scrub Jay in NE Kittitas County
BECOME AN AUDUBON MEMBER!! (Or renew your membership!)
Receive The Hooter ~ help support education and conservation activities and projects!
_____ Become a member of Kittitas Audubon $20 (you will receive the monthly newsletter)
____ Renew your KAS membership $20
_____ Join as a National Audubon (NAS) member $20
(includes local membership & monthly newsletter)
(Renew NAS by sending remittance to NAS, using the renewal form
they will send directly to you)
_____ Make a donation. Amount enclosed $_______
Mail to: Kittitas Audubon, PO Box 1443, Ellensburg, WA 98926 ~ Checks payable to Kittitas Audubon
Kittitas Audubon is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization.
All memberships and donations are tax-deductible.
Membership forms are also available on our Web site: Kittitasaudubon.org.
Webmaster – Mark Whitesell Email markwhitesell@hotmail.com
Check out our website ~ see The Hooter in color at Kittitasaudubon.org
Name ___________________________________
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Page 7 Hooter
Darling Bird Studios, ©2007 UNA
was called Molly the Moli, since Moli is the Hawaiian word for albatross. The best, how-
ever, was George Gooney, in honor of the actor, George Clooney, who was recently on the island filming a movie.
So the albatross has brought us all the way from Coleridge to Clooney. It certainly has soared into our culture.
~ thanks to Jim Briggs for this fine story.
Consider sharing your story!
(Continued from page 5)
Albatross cont.
The Hooter is now printed on “Grays Harbor 100” pa-per ~ 100% post-consumer waste, manufac-tured in Washington State, using 100% renew-able, zero-carbon-footprint energy.
Check out the Grays Harbor Paper website at:
http://www.ghplp.com/index.html
Your KAS membership dues working for a better
environment!
Let us know what you think!
Web p
hoto
GET “THE HOOTER” ONLINE Save paper, printing, postage. If you would prefer to receive the elec-
tronic version, send your name, mailing address, & email address
to: info@kittitasaudubon.org
At the beginning of each month we’ll send you an email with a quick
link to the new Hooter.
Upcoming KAS Field Trips & Programs
THANKS TO KITTITAS COUNTY BUSINESSES SUPPORTING KAS!
Inland Internet, Roslyn, donates Internet service for our Website: http://www.kittitasaudubon.org
Old Mill Country Store, Ellensburg ~ Provides a discount on bird seed to KAS members
and prints our county bird lists. Get your bird seed here!
Kittitas Audubon
P.O. Box 1443
Ellensburg WA 98926
November
Saturday, November 6th ~ First Saturday
BirdWalk – Irene Rinehart Riverfront Park. Meet
at the bridge parking lot at 8:00 AM for about a
three-hour walk on uneven ground. Bring binocu-
lars and a friend or two. Leaders: Gloria & Jeb
Baldi
Saturday, November 20th ~ 3rd Saturday
Birding by the Map Site # 16: Swauk Prairie
Call Cricket (674-4035) or Marianne (964-2320)
for details.
December
Saturday, December 4th ~ First Saturday
BirdWalk – Irene Rinehart Riverfront Park
8:00AM Bridge parking lot. Gloria & Jeb (see
above)
Saturday, December 18th ~ Ellensburg’s 32nd
Christmas Bird Count and potluck. Help count
every bird in the 15-mile circle. More details in
the December Hooter, but if you have never
before participated and would like to—or if
you have participated and cannot do it this
year, please call Gloria Baldi at 933-1558.
The Hooter - November 2010 The Newsletter of Kittitas Audubon - http://www.kittitasaudubon.org
Image by Dugald Stewart Walker (1883 - 1937) from “The Boy Who Knew What The Birds Said”
Published: 1918
Future Programs (mark your calendar!)
December: Christmas Bird Count and Potluck
No Program/Membership Meeting!
(details in December Hooter)
January 20th, 2011: Bird of Australia
~ Dick Ambrose
February 24th, 2011: Members’ Photo Show
(details in December Hooter)
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