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!

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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!

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(Renew NAS by sending remittance to NAS, using the renewal form

they will send directly to you)

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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.

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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!

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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)