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The Prairie Owl
Palouse Audubon Society
VOLUME 42 ISSUE 3
December 2013—January 2014
PALOUSE AUDUBON
President: Ron Force, [email protected], 208-874-3207 Vice President: Marie Dym-koski, [email protected], (509)595-1650 Secretary: Diane Weber, 509-334-3817, [email protected] Treasurer: Lavon Frazier, 509-595-1913, [email protected] Board Members: Tim Hillebrand, 208-310-1341, [email protected]; Jim Storms, 509-635-1272, [email protected]; Marie Dymkoski, 509-595-1650, [email protected]; Becky Phillips, [email protected], 509-339-6277; Paul Schroeder, 509-334-2470, [email protected]; Kerry Little-field-425-583-6287; [email protected] Membership: Ron Force, 208-874-3207, [email protected] Newsletter: Tim Hillebrand, 805-518-9612, [email protected] Publicity: Diane Weber, 509-334-3817, [email protected] Conservation Committee: Mike Costa, 509-332-1793 [email protected]
Field Trips: Vacant
EVENT CALENDAR December 3 Board Meeting December 14 Christmas Bird Count for Pullman-Moscow December 15-Lewiston-Clarkston December 20-Juliaetta-Lower Potlatch River February 14-17 Great Back-yard Bird Count (see website for details) Scheduled Programs-See adjacent article for details-> NO DECEMBER PROGRAM
MEETING
Happy Holidays!
Local Birds Occur
in Australia too by Paul Schroeder
I recently returned from an almost 3
month long visit to Australia, and much
of this time was spent birding. Although
most of the birds are quite different from
our familiar locals, I was somewhat sur-
prised to see some familiar birds which
may also be readily found in the state of
Washington. These fall into three cate-
gories: those whose range extends from
here to Australia (and much of the rest of
the globe), long-distance migrants which
occur seasonally, and common European
species which have been introduced to
both continents.
I was really surprised to find that os-
preys occur in Australia. They look iden-
tical and are given the same scientific
name in field guides for both areas. They
are not infrequent in the right habitats
in both Australia, where they are mostly
coastal, and in the Pacific Northwest.
(Inland Australia is pretty dry.)
The Great Egret occurs throughout Aus-
tralia, though it too is most abundant on
the coast. I also saw this species on the
island of Bali, in Indonesia. In addition
PAS Scheduled Programs
January 15: State of the Birds 2013: Re-port on private lands February 19: Climate and fire shaping evolution in Australian Fairy Wrens (Douglas Barron) March 19: Feathered Architects: Birds and their nests January 15 Meeting: State of the Birds 2013 : Report on Private Lands
The fourth State of the Birds report
highlights the enormous contributions
private landowners make to bird and
habitat conservation, and describes op-
portunities for increased contributions.
Roughly 60% of the land area in the
U.S. is privately owned by millions of
individuals, families, organizations,
and corporations, including 2 million
ranchers and farmers and about 10 mil-
lion woodland owners. Private lands are
used by virtually all of the terrestrial
and coastal birds of the US and more
than 100 bird species have more than
50 percent of their distribution on pri-
vate lands.
The report shows that important
breeding, migratory and wintering bird
habitat is located on private working
lands that produce food, fiber and en-
ergy for the U.S. The result of the re-
port emphasizes the high dependence
on private lands among grassland, wet-
land and eastern forest birds, with im-
portant conservation opportunities ex-
isting in all habitats.
Many conservation programs avail-
able to private landowners offer win-
win opportunities to implement land
management practices that benefit
birds and landowners. Furthermore, as
society requires more production (food,
timber, energy) from private lands, con-
Great Egrets
From the Prez
VOLUME 42 ISSUE 3 THE PRAIRIE OWL PAGE 2
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
Financially supports the programs and activities of the Palouse Audubon Society and
includes an annual subscription to THE PRAIRIE OWL newsletter.
Annual Membership $15.00 Donation _______________ For questions call: (208) 874-3207
NAME ____________________________________________ ADDRESS _________________________________________
CITY ____________________________________ State ____________________ Zip _________________________
PHONE _________________________________ EMAIL ___________________________________________________
Return this form with your check to: Palouse Audubon Society, PO Box 3606, Moscow, ID 83843-1914
Check one: I PREFER TO READ THE PRAIRIE OWL ON THE WEBSITE (notice will be sent by email after a new issue is posted on the website)
PLEASE SEND A HARD COPY OF THE PRAIRIE OWL
Australia continued
Congratulations to Ann Bershaw of Clarkston!
Ann won The Sibley Guide to Birds book. Her name was drawn
from all members who paid their dues by October 15.
.
our home. I hope as many as pos-
sible can participate in the
Christmas Bird Count on Decem-
ber 14-- see Marie’s announce-
ment elsewhere in the newslet-
ter. If you can’t get out, think
about participating in the Great
Backyard Bird Count
http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/.
It’ll be held Friday, February 14,
through Monday, February 17,
2014.
Thanks to all of you how have
renewed their local membership,
and a big “Thanks” to those who
included an additional donation
to the work of the Chapter. Local
dues are due no later than the
end of December. Renew now to
ensure you get the next newslet-
ter.
Ron Force
the northwest corner of Australia.
This is a major gathering site for
migratory shorebirds, most of
which migrate to and from Siberia,
so I would guess that these come
from the Siberian population men-
tioned by Sibley in his field guides.
The same would apply to the Bar-
tailed Godwit, common in Austra-
lia, but only in Alaska in North
America. Other overlapping spe-
cies included Red Knot, Ruddy
Turnstone, Red-necked Stint and
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. I saw all
of these at Roebuck Bay, but there
are still more shorebirds, especially
some that only show up sporadi-
cally in Australia.
Since both Australia and North
America were settled by English-
men and other Europeans, it is
hardly surprising to find our com-
mon House Sparrow in much of
Eastern Australia; and the very
first bird I saw when I arrived in
Australia for the first time was a
European Starling, which are
abundant in places. That was a bit
disappointing for me at that mo-
ment, but true Australian birds
appeared soon thereafter. These
distribution overlaps hardly mean
that bird watching in Australia is
boring. Even these birds are more
interesting in their new context
and Australia boasts a bird list of
over 700 species. I hope you get a
chance to go sometime!
Red Knot and Ruddy Turnstone
Sharp Tailed Sandpiper
It’s time to redi-
rect our attention
from big bird on the
table (Turkey) to
the birds outside
PAGE 3 THE PRAIRIE OWL VOLUME 42 ISSUE 3
Blue Jays by Tim Hillebrand
I grew up in Santa Barbara where there was an abun-
dance of Scrub Jays. Out on the Channel Islands off the
coast there is a sub-species call Island Jays. Up in the
mountains there are Stellar’s Jays along with Gray Jays
and Clark’s Nutcrackers. I missed the Scrub Jays after
moving to Idaho. But recently there are numerous re-
ports of Eastern Blue Jay sightings in Idaho. Wait a
minute, they are supposed to exist only east of the Rocky
Mountains. Where are they coming from?
If you check out the distribution map, you will notice
that they are in the east but they also range up into Al-
berta and British Columbia. There is a thin, blue line of
them down Washington, across Oregon, and in Southern
Idaho. So a reasonable assumption is that the ones
sighted in our area are coming up from Southern Idaho.
But they could just as easily be pushing in from Western
Montana where they exist year round.
There are three subspecies of Blue Jays in North Amer-
ica:
Cyanocitta cristata bromia is a somewhat migratory bird
that breeds from central Alberta and British Columbia
through northeast Nebraska to Newfoundland and down
to south-central Virginia. It winters from Louisiana
through northern Florida.
Cyanocitta cristata cynotephia can be found during
breeding season in southeast Wyoming to New Mexico
and from Nebraska to south Texas. It winters in these
areas as well with some movement into the southern
portions of the range for winter.
Cyanocitta cristata cristata ranges from southern Illinois
to southeast Texas across to Florida to southwest Vir-
ginia for both breeding and winter seasons.
It can be difficult to differentiate these subspecies and
the young are virtually identical. Considering the closer
proximity of C.c. bromia to Idaho, this would be the ex-
pected critters that are invading our feeders. Bromias
are the largest of the three subspecies and they are
darker blue than the others.
On a recent episode of The Big Bang Theory (one of my
favorite TV shows because I used to live just down the
street from CalTech where the show is set) Sheldon is
terrified by a Blue Jay on his window ledge. Feeling very
superior, I proclaimed there was no way such a bird
would be in Pasadena, California. Well now, I may have
to take that back with my tail between my legs because I
have read reports of Blue Jays being sighted in Southern
California as well as Colorado and Utah.
I found a report that in 2004, 319 individual Blue Jay
sightings were recorded for Idaho. But I was unable to
find any reliable data for more recent years. In any case,
I welcome them, but I have yet to see one. If anyone
spies one, please give me a call; I’ll be right over. It
would really be cool to have a Terry Gray day and wit-
ness a whole scold of Jays that included a Blue Jay,
Grey Jay, Clark’s Nutcracker, and a Stellar Jay. I sup-
pose the party would be all the better if some cousins
were invited and included Crows, Ravens, and Magpies
for a real scold of corvids. Hey why not invite some Yel-
low Billed Magpies and Mocking Birds too? Might as
well include the green and brown jays as well.
My father used to entertain himself by creating a
trail of peanuts from the patio through the open kitchen
door and up onto the kitchen counter where he would
sit and have coffee in the morning. Rascally Scrub Jays
would follow the trail fearlessly and end up on the
kitchen counter. This is what I’d like to do with any
Blue Jays in my yard.
By the way, where did the phrase, “Naked as a Jay
Bird” come from?
Blue Jay in Terry Gray’s back yard
Blue Jay on Quarry Hill, Latah County. What sub-
species?
PAGE 4 VOLUME 42 ISSUE 3
January 15 Program continued
THE PRAIRIE OWL
expanded across our nation's varied landscapes, so
landowners are empowered to choose conservation
tools that fit best and serve everyone's best interest—
landowners, fellow citizens, and birds.
Our speaker, Jocelyn Aycrigg is Conservation Bi-
ologist for the Gap Analysis Program at the Univer-
sity of Idaho and science team member for the State
of the Birds report in 2011 and 2013.
On January 15, 2014, she will present an overview
of the results of this report at 7:30 pm in the Fiske
Room, Moscow’s 1912 Center.
New Palouse Audubon Website
The new Palouse Audubon Website has launched and is
up and running. The new site is much improved over
the old one, with information easy to find under "tabs"
including About Us, Activities & Events, Birding, and
Citizen Science. It has a page devoted to links to other
Resources, a page for all digital issues of the Prairie
Owl Newsletter, and a page for Photos. All the content
from the old site has been brought forward to the new
site, with quite a bit of new and helpful information
added. Thanks to board members Becky Phillips, Ron
Force, Mike Costa, Marie Dymkoski, and Lavon Frazier
for their work on this. The website is being built by Bo
Ossinger, owner of Netpalouse Web Services in Palouse.
www.palouseaudubon.org
In 1900, American ornithologist Frank Chapman asked birders across North America to head out on Christmas Day to count the birds in their home towns and submit the results as the first "Christmas Bird Census." The Christmas Bird Count, as it is now called, is conducted in over 2000 localities across Canada, the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. These bird observations have been amassed into a huge database that reflects the distribution and numbers of winter birds over time.
The Palouse Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count will be conducted on Saturday, December 14th. To participate, contact Kas Dumroese [email protected] for the Idaho count.
Contact Marie Dymkoski [email protected] to participate on the Washing-ton side.
A map and more information about the count can be found on the new PAS website at www.palouseaudubon.org
As well as adding an exciting and fun event to the holiday season, the Christmas Bird Count provides important infor-mation for bird conservation.
Christmas Bird Count
Very few Bald Eagles have shown up so far at Wolf’
Lodge Bay on Lake Coeur d’Alene. Normally from
November to March there is an abundance of Bald
Eagles that make a popular wild-life viewing attrac-
tion.
The eagles are attracted by the spawning Ko-
kanee in the bay. Bureau of Land Management bi-
ologist Carrie Hugo says that the kokanee are about
normal. So where are the eagles?
So far only two or three have shown up. Nor-
mally there are at least a couple hundred. The re-
cord was 273 in 2011.
The eagles seem to be hanging out up at Lake
Pend Oreille and on Granite Creek spawning area.
Maybe they will show up later if there really are
plenty of kokanee. I hope so because it has become
an annual event for me, and I wouldn’t want to miss
it. Let’s keep each other informed. If you hear there
are eagles, put it on our Facebook page or post it on
the list serve. I can’t imagine a winter without ea-
gles. It’s one of the highlights.
The Eagle Hasn’t Landed by Tim Hillebrand
PAGE 5
THE PRAIRIE OWL VOLUME 42 ISSUE 3
MEMBERSHIP
Palouse Audubon Society (PAS), PO Box 3606, Moscow ID
83843-1914, is a chapter of the National Audubon Society (NAS)
with its own dues. New NAS members in our chapter area receive
one year’s free membership in PAS, along with the chapter news-
letter and other benefits of membership.
PAS dues of $15 are payable in September. Members may re-
ceive the chapter newsletter, The Prairie Owl, either by mail or
by email notification of its posting on the chapter’s website. Mem-
bers are encouraged to read the newsletter online to save printing
and postage expenses. PAS members who have not renewed and
NAS members who have not paid dues after one year of member-
ship are removed from the newsletter distribution list on Decem-
ber 31st.
General membership meetings are held at the 1912 Building,
FISKE ROOM, 3rd and Adams St, Moscow ID, at 7:30 p.m. on the
third Wednesday of each month, September through May. The
board of directors meets at the 1912 Center at 7:30 p.m. on the
first Tuesday of each month.
The Prairie Owl is published every other month, August
through April. Material for the Owl should be sent to the editor,
Tim Hillebrand, 857 Orchard Ave., Moscow ID 83843, 805-518-
9612, [email protected] by the 20th of the month. Subscription
problems should be addressed to the membership chair, Ron
Force, PO Box 3606, Moscow ID 83843-1914, 208-874-3207, ron-
[email protected]. Visit the Palouse Audubon Society website at
http://www.palouseaudubon.org/ or find us on Facebook.
MEET THE BOARD
Jim Storms
Wingtips
Collective nouns for Blue Jays: band, cast, party, scold.
Beginning Birding Class
Look for the announcement of a beginning
birding class this coming spring.
Someone gave my brother-in-law an Audubon clock
that had bird songs for each hour. I thought that
was neat. Sometime later I came across an adver-
tisement for membership in the National Audubon
Society (NAS) that offered the same, I thought, clock.
I am always open for “free” offers and sent in my
money. I did not realize how things worked and soon
I received the clock and a little later a newsletter for
the Palouse Audubon Society (PAS). OK, good, there
is a local group! The clock, however, was silent.
There are, or were, two versions of the Audubon
Clock – one silent and one with recorded songs.
In the newsletter was an article stating that PAS
was seeking an individual to work on membership
and mailing labels. I convinced Diane Weber to let
me try to help.
I knew I could do the job as I had earned my com-
puter skills on mailing lists, membership reports,
and printed labels for the Inland Empire Christmas
Tree Association (IECTA). I studied other programs
to figure out how they programmed the software to
get the format that was needed. I hacked and tested
until I had the templates I needed for each user.
Since I controlled the mailing list it was a short step
to being Membership Chairman, another to Treas-
urer, and over 30 years I have held all of the offices
with IECTA.
My membership in IECTA was important to my part
time business as a Christmas tree grower. Christmas
tree and wreath season is in a nasty time of year; I am
not as fond of snow, rain, wind, and cold as when I was
younger!
It was my pleasure to work with Tom Weber in the
construction, assembly and installation of the Ferrugi-
nous Hawk Nesting Platform that was completed in
2012 near Lacrosse, WA. I am currently involved in a
similar project to be installed near Winona, WA.
My PAS position on the Board is “Member at Large”. I
think they keep me involved to provide a corporate
memory.
Primary Business Address
Your Address Line 2
Your Address Line 3
Your Address Line 4
PALOUSE AUDUBON SOCIETY
.
We’re on the Web:
www.palouseaudubon.org
and on Facebook
PALOUSE AUDUBON SOCIETY
NOW IS THE TIME TO HONE YOUR
SHOREBIRD ID SKILLS
Palouse Audubon Society
PO Box 3606
Moscow ID 83843-1914
The mission of the Palouse Audubon
Society is to promote education,
conservation, and the restoration of
natural ecosystems--focusing on
birds, other wildlife, and their
habitats--for the benefit of humanity
and the Earth's biological diversity
Ornithologists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
have been studying bird caching behavior for several
years now using transponder tags to track individual
feeding behavior. More birds do it than you may think.
They found that during peak caching season, an indi-
vidual bird may visit the same feeder up to 200 times a
day and hide their food for consumption later. We cer-
tainly know about Acorn Woodpeckers. Blue Jays also
cache their food but unlike squirrels who do it near the
source, Jays may fly far afield to stash their cache thus
spreading forests in the process.
If you want to have some fun this winter, consider
putting out some nuts for birds to store and acquiring
some special feeders for this purpose.
The only problem I have is that the squirrels would
get it all, and that would be the end of it. The best
known birds for caching include jays, chickadess, nut-
hatches, woodpeckers, magpies, crows, and ravens.
Should you wish to treat your birds to some winter
delights, put out sunflower seeds, peanuts, pine nuts,
and acorns. Look at some of the feeders online for spe-
cial seed and nut feeds. Try Amazon.com or Wild Birds
Unlimited.
If you’ve never seen the work of an Acorn Wood-
pecker, it is something to behold. They will completely
riddle the side of a barn, fence posts, telephone poles,
trees or just about anything made of wood, but they are
very efficient hoarders.
Cache and Carry by Tim Hillebrand