New Plan for Rock Creek Park

The Washington Post has a report on a new plan by the National Park Service for Rock Creek Park. The article focuses on the Beach Drive closure issues. Some residents had tried to get a few segments of Beach Drive closed to traffic on weekdays as well as weekends; it will remain closed on weekends but open on weekdays, so there is really not much change there except for a reduction in the speed limit.

Some parts of the plan would rehabilitate trails and streams. Rock Creek itself would be altered to allow certain fish to spawn upstream in their historical breeding grounds. Some trails would be moved to keep them off slopes. While the purpose would be to slow erosion, I think this would be appreciated by hikers and walkers who have to balance carefully and fight gravity as they follow the trails.

The plan also calls for renovations to visitor centers and existing administrative buildings. One point of possible concern comes from the map of proposed changes. The maintenance yard near the nature center appears to be slated as the location for an "administrative facility" if a site outside the park cannot be found. Construction there could degrade necessary habitat for bird migration, as that is one of the "hot spots" while warblers are moving in the spring and fall.

Our powerless delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, complains that the park is underappreciated:

"We have trivialized this park, residents make too little use of it, and tourists don't know where it is," Norton said. "Neither the city or the federal government has bothered to make maximum use of it. The problem is that it had no plan and it's in a state of great deterioration."

As I see it, the main problem is that the park is difficult to access without a car, unless one lives nearby. Several bus lines cross the park, but the only Metro stations near the park are at Silver Spring, Cleveland Park, and Woodley Park. At none of these locations is there a pleasant entrance to the park, and the best areas - from Broad Branch Road up to where Rock Creek crosses into Maryland - can be hard to reach.

Turkey Postscript

When I was in New York over the weekend, I saw a wild turkey in Battery Park. It was foraging near a flock of rock pigeons in one of the fenced-in grassy areas. It seemed an odd place to see a turkey, but apparently one has been hanging around there for a couple months now. I guess there is plenty of food available, and it does not really need to worry about predators in that spot.

Counting Birds

Every year, birders participate in a series of "citizen science" projects during the winter. Though participation probably skews towards more experienced and active birders, people of all age and skill levels are welcome to contribute. These projects help to add extra interest to birding during the winter months when birding otherwise slows down in most places - because of both the weather and the diversity of birds in the area. (One of the few exceptions is along the coast, but not all birders can get there easily or care to fight the wind.)

Two relatively recent developments are Project Feeder Watch and the Great Backyard Bird Count. These are sponsored jointly by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Project Feeder Watch runs this winter from November 12 to sometime in April. (Yes, I am late posting about it!) Participants are asked to count the birds that visit their feeders on two days a week consistently over the course of the program. The Great Backyard Bird Count is a one-weekend event. In 2006 it is the weekend of February 17-20. Counters observe and report the types and numbers of birds they see in their selected counting area over the course of the weekend. This is similar to Project Feeder Watch in some ways, except that it provides a one-weekend snapshot of bird populations across the North America rather than a winter-long picture.

The oldest and most prominent of winter bird projects is the Christmas Bird Count. Christmas bird counts began as a non-lethal alternative to the competitive hunting that was common on Christmas at the turn of the twentieth century. Frank M. Chapman, a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and one of the founders of the National Audubon Society, encouraged bird lovers to go out and count as many birds as they could find, instead of shooting them. Over time, these counts became more organized so that the Christmas bird counts so that they developed into a nationwide bird census.

This winter, the Christmas Bird Count period runs from December 14 to January 5. The three-week range of dates gives localities flexibility in planning them (and in providing alternate dates in case of bad weather). It also allows individual birders to participate in multiple counts. (Some people are gluttons for punishment. Ahem.)

In the Washington, D.C., area, there are multiple bird counts, one for each county. A list of counts in Maryland is available here. The District of Columbia count is on December 17. A list of the counts in Virginia can be found here. Once the CBC period is over, there are also some midwinter counts, listed here. One count focuses on the C&O Canal, and covers its 184.5 mile length in 3-4 mile segments. (Check the DC Audubon page for more details.)

What all of these projects have in common is that they attempt to measure the wintering population of each species across North America and in specific regions. While not a perfect census, the data gathered can be useful for establishing broad historical trends. We can see which species are declining, which are increasing, and how wintering ranges shift.

Turkeys, Wild and Otherwise

I expect that today the only bird that I will be watching is the one coming out of the oven. And the bird coming out of the oven will be a turkey.

Wild turkeys are the most distinctive game bird native to North America, and is the only native species to be fully domesticated. The wild turkey belongs to the genus Meleagris of the family Phasianidae, which also includes grouse, prairie-chickens, pheasants, and ptarmigans. It belongs to the order Galliformes, which also includes quail - and domesticated chickens - among others. It shares its genus with the ocellated turkey, a Mexican species that may have been domesticated by Native Americans before the arrival of Columbus.

Wild turkeys prefer woodland habitats but have adopted to agricultural areas, and will even live in proximity to humans. At one time, turkeys largely declined in the 19th century due to land clearing. But because of open space preservation and the relocation of wild birds in the late 20th century, their numbers have rebounded and the decline reversed.

Since I live in a major city, I get to see wild turkeys only very rarely. Turkeys, though, do show up in DC occasionally. When I see them, it has been on forays outside of the district.

Most of us, though, do not eat wild turkeys, but domestic turkeys. The two share the same species but are bred and raised in far different environments. The domesticated turkey was developed from the wild turkeys native to North America, and come in several breeds. Some breeds descend from wild turkeys shipped to Europe, starting as early as the 16th century when explorers brought birds from Mexico back to Spain.

Modern-day domestic turkeys are engineered to produce the maximum amount of white meat as quickly as possible; these are the broad-breasted varieties. The broad-breasted turkeys could not survive away from farms as they cannot fly or run. Most are too weak to breed. Some smaller farming operations raise "heritage breeds" like the Narragansett.

Turkeys - wild or domestic - have become deeply embedded in American culture. Unlike the bald eagle, it is not an official national symbol, even if Benjamin Franklin expressed a preference for the turkey early on:

For my own part I wish the Eagle had not been chosen the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his Living honestly.... I am on this account not displeased that the figure is not known as a Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For [in] truth the Turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on.

Whatever Franklin's objections (which may have been tongue-in-cheek), both the bald eagle and the turkey have become important symbols in American culture in different ways. The eagle, with its majestic flight, symbolizes of American power. The turkey has come to be a symbol of abundance and family through its association with the uniquely American secular holiday of Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

More Than One Use for a Turkey

Laura Erickson has a report of a frozen turkey being used to rescue passengers from a burning car:

When they got to the car, Copsy, 42, said he couldn't open the door. Inside, he could see an elderly man in the driver's seat. A female passenger sat next to him, her face white. He tried to smash the glass with his foot, but couldn't do it. In his hands, he held a 20-pound frozen Norbest turkey he and his son had just bought for Thanksgiving.

''I said, `Hell, I'll just use the damn turkey.' And that's what I did,'' Copsy said. He yelled for the driver to cover his face, and used the turkey to smash out three windows.

That is certainly resourceful thinking on the rescuer's part. I am not sure if I would have thought of that.

I and the Bird #11

Hey I and the Bird fans, Clare of The House and Other Arctic Musings has delivered the eleventh I and the Bird, fresh from the Arctic.

Go take a look!

Your Blog Should Be Green

Hmm. It looks like I picked the right color.

Your Blog Should Be Green

Your blog is smart and thoughtful - not a lot of fluff. You enjoy a good discussion, especially if it involves picking apart ideas. However, you tend to get easily annoyed by any thoughtless comments in your blog.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

Loose Feathers #7

Bird-control programs are not popular with everyone:

• The Humane Society of the United States objects to the altered regulations that give communities more leeway in how they control abundant animals like the Canada goose.
• In the Great Lakes region, culling double-crested cormorants is a hot-button issue. The issue appears to have split local environmental organizations. The cormorant culls are motivated by declining fish populations in the Great Lakes. As with other cull situatations, the decline is probably rooted more in human-introduced problems of overfishing and invasive species.
  
• Milford, MA, is has been using a spray that makes birds sick to repel pigeons from public buildings, and now plans to use it to keep Canada geese out of parks.
  

Some further news on the Chesapeake Bay:

• The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is planting trees along tributaries of the Potomac River in West Virginia to improve the situation downstream. The only example cited here is of 600 trees being planted where a beef cattle farm runs along a stream.
• Another issue facing the Chesapeake region is rising sea levels. A new book documents some of the islands and coastline that have been lost to the water in the last 150 years.
• Governor Warner of Virginia announced increases in state funding for clean-water initiatives and also that the Water Control Board imposed new regulations for nutrient pollution of waterways. The regulations set limits on the release of nitrogen and phosphorus from water treatment facilities, while the funding is meant to encourage improvements there. It is hard to tell how much is really new here since the report does not give much detail, and Warner proposed the same regulations in 2003. (Why did it take so long to have them implemented?)
  

Chewy

Cheeewwy!

In the warmer months this sound emanates from the bushes alongside trails and near buildings. One of the more distinctive bird calls, it alerts the listener to the presence of a gray catbird. It is frequently one of the first calls a birdwatcher can learn to recognize. Even non-birders that I know can point out this call.

The call earned this bird the English name catbird. The call can alternately sound like a cat mewing or a baby crying. (See here and here for examples.) To me it has often appeared to say a drawn-out chewy!. The single-note call, of course, is not its only vocalization. Like other members of the family Mimidae, which includes mockingbirds and thrashers, its song consists of a series of imitations of other bird songs. (See here for an example.) The call, though, is what sets it apart. Some find it amusing, others find it odd, still others have found it annoying:

The catbirds have such an attractive song that it is extremely irritating that at any moment they may interrupt it to mew and squeal.
- Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, 1920 (quoted in Jen Hill, ed., An Exhiliration of Wings)

The gray catbird's Latinized name, Dumetella carolinensis, refers to a behavioral characteristic - its preference for underbrush habitats. (Dumeta are thornbushes or thickets.) Catbirds nest most commonly along streams or in other wetland areas. The edge habitats formed by human disturbance may become catbird territory as well.

While gray catbirds are common here in the summer, and ubiquitous during migration, their numbers drop substantially for the colder months. Most head south to winter along the Gulf Coast or in Central America. A few do linger for the winter, especially along the coast; there are almost always sightings in the area through December, January, and February.

Corpse Flower in DC

The U.S. Botanic Garden - across the street from the Capitol - is displaying a titan arum. It is also known as a corpse flower because of its putrid smelling, which resembles rotting flesh. The smell functions to attract carrion beetles that spread the flower's pollen. Apparently it also attracts crowds of people, who lined up to see it yesterday. A webcam of the flower and its visitors is available on the U.S. Botanic Garden's homepage.

National Arboretum Walk

I walked my usual circuit around the National Arboretum this afternoon. As is common in the afternoon, the birding was pretty slow, with only a few short bursts of activity.

I had been worried that perhaps the pileated woodpecker population in the arboretum had disappeared, since I had not seen any in quite a while. But today I saw one and heard another in the wooded area known as "Fern Valley." I saw one female at close range; it was digging a hole into a dead tree limb.

SPECIES SEEN: 28

Canada Goose
Mallard
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Carolina Wren
Northern Mockingbird
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
European Starling
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Eastern Towhee
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal

Loose Feathers #6

News and links on birds, birding, and the environment.

• Governor Ehrlich has proposed new air pollution standards for coal-fired power plants in the metropolitan Baltimore and Washington areas. The new rules require substantial reductions in emissions ofnitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide by 2010. Carbon dioxide, however, is left out. -- Some reduction is better than none, but carbon dioxide emissions will have to be addressed at some point. Perhaps Ehrlich wants to push the problem on to his successor.
• A house sparrow in the Netherlands was shot and killed for knocking over 23,000 dominoes that had been set up for an attempt at breaking a record. Since house sparrows are endangered in Europe, the killing is under investigation. (More here.) -- I did not know that house sparrows were endangered there, because they are so common here in the United States.
• The EPA plans to release new fuel efficiency standards in the near future. The new standards would take effect beginning for 2008 models. The goal of the new standards is to reflect actual driving conditions rather than the current city and highway ratings.

Other Stuff

• As the Washington area was feeling its first real cold snap of the fall, a tropical storm formed off Honduras. Tropical Storm Gamma may cross Florida, and may have a chance of affecting weather here.

Recent Sightings

• Friday afternoon I saw a gray catbird in the Ripley Gardens near the Arts and Industries building. It was skulking along the side of the museum.
• Today I was on a wonderful trip to Blackwater NWR with the DC Audubon Society. Strangely, the waterfowl were absent or uncooperative, but other birds (including a life vesper sparrow) made up for it.
  

New Federal Plan for Canada Goose Control

UPI has a story out that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that would reduce the number of Canada Geese by allowing some hunting without federal permits:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a formal plan to reduce the number of Canada geese in the United States.

Federal officials say the plan, effective in about a month, is designed to reduce the number of what is often called the nation's "newest urban pigeons."

Wildlife officials estimate there are more than 3.2 million Canada geese in the United States. The plan, designed to cull that number to about 2 million during the next decade, will provide states with the option of assuming control over goose-reduction methods.

The plan will allow farmers, property owners and public health officials to kill geese by various methods, including hunting, with state approval but without federal permits, the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer said.

John Brady, a biologist and senior vice president for the Humane Society of the United States, told The Rocky Mountain News in Denver his group strongly opposes the measures and will consider legal action.

"Our basic position is ... as a nation, we need to come to grips with urban wildlife, rather than trying to kill it all the time," Brady said.

Posted without comment.

Update: Here is the USFWS press release on the issue. (Via Mike's Birding & Digiscoping Blog)

Loose Feathers #5

• One person has announced a plan to try to confirm the imperial woodpecker story that came to light last week.
  
• Nuthatch suggests that we kick the catalogue habit, gives reasons why, and provides a list of mail-order companies along with their contact information.
• Grizzly bears in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park may be removed from the list of threatened species. Biologists working for the government consider the species to have recovered, and the numbers seem to bear that out. Some objections have been raised; the most significant appears to be that the change will remove protections from the land required for the bears' survival. My only concern is that decisions like this be made by the wildlife professionals and not on the basis of political pressure.
• In other bear news, New Jersey is permitting another six-day bear hunt this year as part of a five-year management plan.
  
• Fairfax County, Virginia, is implementing an ordinance that would ban people from feeding waterfowl; the measure is particularly aimed at Canada geese. This seems to me to be a sensible approach to goose control. Part of the reason that geese are so numerous is that humans have created ideal habitats for them. Banning feeding is one step towards making the area a little less hospitable.
• Ozone levels in the Shenandoah Valley National Park are being reduced thanks to federal regulations on power plant and industrial emissions. Ozone had reached unhealthy levels in years prior to the reduction in pollution, a situation that could create problems for hikers and others engaging in physically stressful activities in the national park. (Via Capital Weather)
• Tangled Bank #41 is up at Flags and Lollipops.
  

Chesapeake Bay Update

The Washington Post has followed up with an article on a report by the Government Accountability Office that criticizes the EPA division responsible for coordinating the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay:

A Government Accountability Office review found that the Chesapeake Bay Program Office -- an arm of the Environmental Protection Agency -- has no coordinated, comprehensive plan for cutting pollution in the bay, even after nearly $6 billion in state and federal money has been devoted to the effort in the past decade.

The office also does a poor job informing the public of its work, the GAO report concludes, and its annual State of the Chesapeake Bay report "is neither an effective reporting tool nor does it provide credible information on the bay's current health status."

The report by the GAO contains several specific criticisms and recommendations:

The GAO report takes the office to task for mixing monitoring data with computerized models, which are meant merely as predictions. That flaw, combined with a lack of independence in the Bay Program's reporting process, has led to "negative trends being downplayed and a rosier picture of the bay's health being reported," the report says.

Though the office has more than 100 indicators for measuring bay restoration progress and guiding decisions to improve it, "the Bay Program lacks an integrated approach that would allow it to collectively determine what the individual measures mean for the overall health of the bay," according to the report. For example, the report says, although the office tracks crab, oyster and rockfish populations, it has no means for determining what the measures taken together say about the progress made toward restoring the bay's aquatic life.

The report recommends that the office improve and revamp its assessment and reporting approaches and develop a "comprehensive, coordinated implementation strategy" that is achievable, given the program's limited funding. It also suggests that the office's reports undergo independent review to verify their accuracy and clarity.

An official from the Chesapeake Bay Program said that the office was changing its reporting procedures.

Further update: The application to list the eastern oyster under the Endangered Species Act has been withdrawn. (Via sphere, which has more on the subject.)

Another update: The coverage in the Baltimore Sun points out that reports that overestimate progress make it more difficult to implement unpopular measures to restore the Bay's health.

Tag: Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has released its annual report on the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its inhabitants. (The report is available online here.) This year the overall score is 27 out of 100, the same as last year and similar to scores in the previous few years. This comes to a 'D' on the foundation's grading scale. The low score is somewhat disheartening in that it marks little progress since a regional agreement made in 2000 to address many of the problems cited in this year's report.

One of the worst problems remains dissolved oxygen levels, which hit records lows this year. As a result 41% of the bay had oxygen levels that were too low to support marine life. The "dead zone" this year reached from just south of Baltimore all the way south to the mouth of the Rappahannock River, and oxygen levels remained poor as far south as the mouth of the York River. The culprit is the large amount of nitrogen and phosphorus that washed into the bay in the spring. Nitrogen and phosphorus increase the growth of algae, which in turn deprives the water - and anything living in it - of oxygen.

Nitrogen and phosphorus enter the watershed through several sources: agricultural runoff, urban runoff, pollution from power plants, and sewage treatment. Agricultural runoff is one of the heaviest sources of nitrogen pollution because of its use in fertilizers. Maryland has a program underway to reduce this part of the problem:

To help reduce this runoff, the foundation next year will ask the state for an additional $120 million for programs to encourage farmers to plant buffer strips along streams and cover crops during the winter to absorb nutrients, Baker said.

The state made a record $5 million available this year to help pay for farmers to plant winter cover crops. The money will allow 950 farmers to plant about 150,000 acres this winter with wheat, barley, rye and other crops not normally planted in the off-season.

These plantings will help absorb fertilizer left over from the summer growing season, said Sue DuPont, spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Agriculture. "It's a great way to control soil erosion," she said.

Sewage treatment remains a major problem as well. This article suggests that there is a plan in place in Maryland to reduce pollution from sewage. DC also has had well-publicized problems with sewage pollution; a solution appears to be in the works thanks to a legal settlement.

According to the Post article, the foundation's president thinks nitrogen reduction is key:

Baker praised the plan of Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich (R) to upgrade the state's sewage treatment plants to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus emissions. "We could get 80 percent of the way" toward the 2010 goals, Baker said, by improving sewage treatment plants and reducing agricultural runoff throughout the watershed, an effort he estimated would cost $6 billion over the next six years. Reducing nitrogen, he added, would improve the bay's health in at least half the categories measured.

"They're proven strategies that can work, and farmers have shown willingness. . . . What they need is the funding assistance," Baker said.

Frappr Comes to A DC Birding Blog

Frappr mapping has been spreading around the birding blogs like a virus, and I finally caught the urge to set one up. (I have seen it at Pharyngula, bootstrap analysis, Bird TLC, and most recently at the Modulator. There are probably more than that, but those are the ones I remember offhand.)

The way it works is you put yourself on the map with a name (real or a pseudonym) and a zip code, and a greeting if you wish. Here is my map.

(This was bumped to keep it on top. See below for newer posts.)

Birding Along The Anacostia

When I watch birds I tend to visit the same places quite frequently; readers of this blog will notice a report on the National Arboretum practically every weekend. Part of this is that, being dependent on Metro, I need to find places that are easy to access. There is also benefit in birding a patch. But I do like to explore new areas from time to time. That is what I did today.

Anacostia Park is a narrow strip of open greenery that runs along the east side of the Anacostia River from the U.S. Naval Air Station north to Benning Road, NE. In practice, however, the usable parts of it are smaller, mainly the areas on either side of Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, south to the 11th Street Bridge and north to the CSX railroad tracks. I had long been puzzled about how to access the park as its east side is bounded by a highway (Route 295/Anacostia Freeway). With the help of Google Earth (a really neat service), I found that the correct approach was to use the Potomac Avenue stop on the Metro and walk across the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge.

A small part of Anacostia Park. Pennsylvania Avenue is in the upper right.

Unfortunately there were not too many birds to be seen today. I think I may have covered the park at a lull in the season. There were plenty of gulls on hand, including all four locally regular species for fall migration: ring-billed, herring, great black-backed, and laughing gulls. The laughing gulls seemed to keep to themselves a bit more while the others mixed it up. One gull seemed to be trying to pull a crayfish out of the water.

Back on the west side of the river, I walked up a gated roadway that runs behind the Congressional Cemetery and DC General Hospital and up to RFK Stadium. (It seemed to be okay for people to walk here; it was closed to vehicles but not blocked for pedestrians.) The road was lined with trees and underbrush on both sides. Flocks of golden-crowned kinglets and dark-eyed juncos moved ahead of me as I walked down the path. Up at the stadium there was a reprise of more of the same gulls, plus a few Canada geese.

SPECIES SEEN: 20

Double-crested Cormorant
Canada Goose
Turkey Vulture
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
American Herring Gull
Laughing Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Northern Mockingbird
Fish Crow
European Starling
House Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal

Loose Feathers #4

More links from around the internet about birds, birding, and the environment.

• A recent study has shown that birds on islands can return and colonize the mainland, and not only the other way around. See here for a summary and explanation.
  
• The neotropic cormorant that has been observed in Maryland has moved on from Violette's Lock to Pennyfield Lock. (Monitor MDOsprey for updates.) With a little luck, maybe it will continue moving downstream and spend a little time in D.C. After all, what's the point of coming this far north if it's not going to visit the tourist destinations in the nation's capital? :-)
  
• The DC Audubon Society will have its next field trip next Saturday, November 19, to Blackwater NWR. Directions and contact info are on the DCAS webpage.
• Cave swallows were seen in Ohio for the first time this week. The event was not just notable for being the first record in that state, but also for the numbers in which they appeared. One birder estimated about 70 swallows, spread over two flocks. Like other southern species, cave swallows frequently appear along migration routes north of their range during autumn, as Kenn Kaufman explained in some messages reproduced here.
• Apparently there has been a rise in grizzly bear shootings in Montana over the past two years: 21 bears over two years as opposed to an average of 3 per year for the previous thirteen years. It is not clear if the rise in killings is coincidental or part of a concerted effort. The article is interesting from the standpoint that it looks at demographic changes in Montana and the "New West," and resulting cultural conflicts.
• A North American birder has observed 700 species this year. (List here.)
  

National Arboretum Walk

This afternoon I did my usual circuit around the National Arboretum. There is not much to report from today because the bird activity was fairly minimal except for a small pocket with a few individuals here and there. The foliage, however, was beautiful, and the weather was perfect for enjoying it.

The red-breasted nuthatches were still present in the conifers on Hickey Hill. Today they were more easily heard than seen, especially since the sun was making it difficult to scan the treetops. I believe I am starting to recognize the difference between the red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatch calls, though not well enough to explain it yet.

Odd note of the day: Down by the river I heard a call that I could have sworn was coming from a red-tailed hawk, but it turned out to be some blue jays. I think this is the first time I have noticed their mimicry in action.

SPECIES SEEN: 26

Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Mallard
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Northern Mockingbird
American Robin
Carolina Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
European Starling
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal

Hawks on the Mall

I walked along my end of the Mall late this afternoon. The sun was low in the sky and cast long shadows over the grass but also bathed the rows of elms in a golden light. The Capitol slowly turned from its daytime white to a twilight rose. Towards the middle of the Mall, a stage with red, white, and blue bunting was set up, presumably left over from Veteran's Day commemorations earlier in the day.

Though I had not brought binoculars along, I did note a few birds. The usual starlings and house sparrows were around, as well as a few robins (mainly near the Capitol). One flock of about fifty common grackles flew overhead, and a large contigent of mourning doves were picking something - either gravel or seeds - out of the protected sections. (Every winter the Park Sevice fences off a few sections of the Mall to rejuvenate the grass, which gets quite a beating in the summer.)

As I waited to cross one of the streets that cross the Mall, a red-tailed hawk glided past - almost at head level - and disappeared into the trees on the other side of the street. I walked over to that stand of elms but could not relocate it. Shortly after I saw a red-tailed hawk soaring high over the National Gallery. I am not sure if this was the same bird or a different one.

The National Mall tends to be a good place to spot hawks, especially the larger and more adaptable ones like the red-tailed hawk and the Cooper's hawk. Osprey and bald eagles will also turn up, though they are more likely to be seen down along the Potomac. But the Mall offers fine amenities for a raptor. Most of it consists of a big open field, and even the treed areas tend not to have much understory. This makes it easier for a hawk to find prey. And there is plenty of prey to be found. Eastern gray squirrels are ubiquitous and practically tame, making them easy targets. (I have had squirrels jump on the same bench and even on me when I eat lunch on the Mall or in nearby parks. They seem to have little fear.) Other rodents like rats and mice are also plentiful. There are plenty of "trash" birds that are attracted by the easy availability of leftover people food. Starlings are probably the most common of these.

The Cooper's hawk in the list below was seen earlier in the day, near Union Station.

SPECIES SEEN: 8

Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Mourning Dove
American Robin
European Starling
House Sparrow
Common Grackle

Zoo Birds

Late this afternoon I took a short stroll through the National Zoo and the part of Rock Creek that flows through its lower portions. Despite the stiff wind, it was a beautiful afternoon: plenty of sun with the foliage near its peak. I was a little underdressed for the wind. Once I started birding, though, the chill went away.

There may have been birds out other than the ones I have listed here, but I was primarily interested in checking the waterfowl numbers along the creek. The upper zoo was mostly quiet except for the flocks of starlings and robins that gather in the tree tops at night. The creek held mallards and wood ducks. The close range between the path and the creek allows the best looks at wood ducks that one could hope to see. The males are particularly spectacular at this time of year when their breeding plumage is fresh. Further along the creek there were several robins bathing themselves in the shallows.

SPECIES SEEN: 10

Wood Duck
Mallard
Rock Pigeon
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
American Robin
European Starling
House Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal

Loose Feathers #3

A round-up of links and news on birds, birding, and the environment.

• There is a report of a female imperial woodpecker being sighted in Mexico. So far the only reports have been through email on a Mexican bird listserve. Little Birdie reproduces one; another is reproduced at milkriverblog - where it is noted with a grain of salt. The imperial woodpecker is a close relative of the ivory-billed woodpecker, and like the ivory-bill, had been considered extinct for half a century. I am not sure how much credence to give this report; additional sightings would be needed to establish its presence and identity.
  
• Rock Creek is being re-engineered to remove or mitigate man-made obstacles that have prevented fish from spawning upstream. The most visible change will be a fish ladder at the Peirce Mill Dam. The goal is to attract blueback herring, white perch, and striped bass back to the upper areas of the creek. If successful it should benefit fish-eating birds as well as the fish.
  
• Sometime recently, the URL for the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center's online bird guide changed. The link on the right has now been updated.
• Yesterday's Senate committee hearing on energy prices was highly unusual in that the witnesses - oil executives - were not sworn in, and Ted Stevens (R-AK), the committee chair, cut off most criticism of oil companies and their executives. Hardly a way to have a serious discussion of the country's energy problems!
• Here is a pessimistic look at the future of Louisiana's coastal wetlands. A report from 2004 urged a study of which areas can be saved or rebuilt and which cannot. The problem appears to be that proposed projects are too little, too late to make much of a difference in slowing the advance of the Gulf of Mexico.

I and the Bird #10

Several months ago, Mike of 10,000 Birds started up a blog carnival about birds and birding, I and the Bird. Apparently there was plenty of interest in the subject, because ten issues later, the carnival is still going strong. The latest I and the Bird has been posted and is ready for reading at Thomasburg Walks. As always, the carnival features the best posts submitted by bloggers who write about birds and birdwatching. A blog carnival is a great way to find other people writing about a particular topic, and this one is no different.

My own contribution can be found here.

The next installment will be hosted by The House and Other Arctic Musings (note that the deadline for submissions will be early because of Thanksgiving).

Chickadee Invasion?

A week ago, Nuthatch wrote about an invasion of black-capped chickadees in southern Ontario and elsewhere around the Great Lakes. There the southward movement has been counted in the thousands at some locations. While this species is not usually associated with migration, it does move southward occasionally.

Since then, reports have been appearing of black-capped chickadees in Maryland. In the last few days, reports on the local birding listserve have indicated black-capped chickadees in Harford, Rockville, possibly Violette's Lock, and possibly Washington, D.C. as well. This means it is time to start paying closer attention to the chickadees in the area. (There was also a suggestion of looking out for boreal chickadees as well.) The black-capped chickadee is not on the Maryland review list (pdf), nor on the DC review list (pdf).

A sighting of a black-capped chickadee in eastern Maryland or the District of Columbia would be an exciting event. While black-capped chickadees are common up north, they are rare down here, where the local chickadee species is the Carolina chickadee. The problem is that black-capped and Carolina chickadees look superficially the same, and can be difficult to distinguish in the field.

Most guides tend to focus upon several identification points:

• Voice: black-capped sings a fee-bee or fee-bee-ee compared to the Carolina's fee-bee-fee-bay; the black-capped's chick-a-dee-dee-dee is slower and deeper than the Carolina's
• Head shape: the black-capped appears to have a proportionally larger head
• Wings: the black-capped has more white edging on the flight feathers, and (more importantly) have substantial white edges on the greater coverts
• Bib: the lower edge of the bib is more ragged on the black-capped than on the Carolina
• Tail: black-capped may have white edging on tail feathers, and the tail appears longer
  

The important thing is not to rely on one field mark alone, especially in areas of contact between the two species. In those areas, there is substantial hybridization, and chickadees have been known to learn the "wrong" song. In Washington, at least, we are below the dividing line, which runs through Central Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania.

Here are some online resources for solving the identification problem:

• Notes on black-capped versus Carolina chickadees from Project Feeder Watch.
• A general article on chickadees from Birdscope.
• Species accounts of the Carolina chickadee from CLO and Patuxent.
• Species accounts of the black-capped chickadee from CLO and Patuxent.
• Some additional id points from the local listserve.
  

ANWR Update

Legislation that would allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is likely to become law:

On Thursday the Senate voted 51 to 48 to allow drilling in the refuge as part of a massive budget package; this week the House is expected to take up its version, probably with identical wording. The House vote remains too close to call, but proponents say they are within reach of victory.

The usual tricky tactics will almost certainly be used to get this to pass. In the past, Republican leaders have held open votes in violation of Congressional rules to browbeat recalcitrant colleagues into voting in favor of the measure or even to change their votes. In addition to that tactic, the vote is likely to be delayed until late in the afternoon, to make it more likely that only gung-ho representatives will remain.

Some members opposed to the bill remain hopeful:

But opponents, including a coalition of moderate Republicans, liberal Democrats and environmentalists, say they may still prevail because, they argue, the measure will do little to ease the current energy crunch. House GOP leaders are scrambling to gather votes for their bill, which has angered some rank-and-file Republicans because of its offshore and Alaska drilling provisions, as well as cuts to food stamps and student loans.

"Hope springs eternal that we can pull the rabbit out of the hat," said Science Committee Chairman Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.), a vocal critic of drilling in the Arctic reserve. "I really do think moderates are coming into their own. We're flexing our muscles collectively."

As much as that may be true, the leadership of the House has proven adept at pushing through measures that they really want. The fact that this is attached to a budget bill makes it even more likely to pass, even if narrowly, because few will want to be seen as holding up a budget.

Update (11 pm): Apparently the House leadership has removed the provisions regarding drilling in ANWR from the budget bill after objections from moderates. Of course, it may be reinserted when the Senate and House leaders hold a conference to reconcile the two budget bills. And the budget is still problematic because of steep cuts in necessary programs like food stamps, student financial aid, medicaid, and farm subsidies. So it is still no prize even without the ANWR drilling, just slightly less harmful.

Loose Feathers #2

This is the second installment of an irregular series of links about birds, birdwatching, and the environment.

• With all the blog quizzes going around, there is now one to determine if you are now or ever have been a monk parakeet.
• The November Words on Birds has a story about an extraordinary yard list.
• Laura has more information about deer and nesting birds.
• Sikeston, Missouri, is reporting trouble with millions of wintering blackbirds, which cause crop damage and can carry diseases, according to area officials. The solution? Noise cannons! (I have a feeling this will end up disturbing residents more than the blackbirds.) Officials are also training residents in how to make noise, and suggest pruning or removing trees that blackbirds use for roosting.
• A new wind turbine design may make turbines both more efficient and less harmful to birds. If true, this would remove one of the environmental problems with wind power and make alternative energy look much better.
  
• Meanwhile Senator Barack Obama announced that he will block all EPA nominees until the EPA publishes new regulations for dealing with lead paint during home renovations.
• There is a new carnival in town, the Carnival of the Green, devoted to environmental issues.
• Pathologists are puzzling over the origin of the 1918 flu, since its genetic structure does not match that of modern strains of bird flu. To some this suggests that they need to look in different birds for the origin of the 1918 virus - and a possible originator for the "next" pandemic virus - but to others it suggests that the threat from H5N1 is less than advertised.
• The Kittitas and Seattle Audubon Societies are suing the government to finalize and implement a plan for the spotted owl's recovery. While timber-cutting restrictions are in place, the spotted owl has continued to decline. U.S. Fish and Wildlife claims that a plan will be out in eighteen months; the plaintiffs want to see one sooner.
• Woodsong has a post about the status of the Kirtland's Warbler, with a great photograph.
  

And a word from Tom Toles:

Birds at the National Gallery

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting the National Gallery of Art, which currently has an exhibit of the original prints from John James Audubon's Birds of America. (The bald eagle at right appears in the exhibit.)

Audubon, Haitian-born and educated in France, worked at a time when much of North American birdlife - in fact of North American natural resources generally - had yet to be studied and classified. Along with several other naturalists, he helped to discover and classify many birds, some of which bear his name, such as the "Audubon's" sub-species of the yellow-rumped warbler. (Some of his discoveries are head-scratchers, such as the carbonated warbler.) Audubon's approach was to blend his scientific interests with his artistic talent, to produce naturalistic depictions of the birds he found.

I have always enjoyed reproductions of Audubon's prints, but after viewing the exhibit I have to say that most reproductions do not do justice to his work. The scale of the prints is impressive. His plates were printed on double-elephant folios, which in terms of printed material are huge. If you have not seen these in person, imagine the largest book you have, and then imagine something larger. I have trouble seeing a book this size being held in anything other than a library's special collection; it certainly would not be armchair or bedside reading.

Audubon used double-elephant folios so that he could depict birds as close to life-size as possible. In some cases this led to strange results, particularly in the largest birds such as the whooping crane, which he could not entirely fit onto the page. The great blue heron is also somewhat awkward. But Audubon's talent really shines with the smaller birds, for which he was able to depict both their plumage and their behavior in detail. As a result his birds are not just static, but actors within their environment.

Take, for example, his plate of blue jays, shown robbing eggs from the nest of another bird. His osprey - shown in the exhibition both as a print and as an oil painting - has just caught a fish. He did not shy away from more gruesome scenes, such as these peregrine falcons with freshly killed ducks. Meanwhile his magnolia warblers give the impression of foraging actively, as warblers do, while his chickadees hang upside-down from branches.

Of course, the active depictions of birds are not ideal when it comes to identification. In many cases field marks are obscured or not clearly marked. But in his day, identifications were made with a shotgun rather than with binoculars, so field marks from a distance were less of a concern. (In fact, each Audubon print represents at least one bird he shot, and usually more.) All of the prints are marked with the English and Latin names. For the modern birder, these can sometimes be hard to decipher since in many cases the names have changed (the northern bobwhite was called by Audubon "Virginian partridge"). Fortunately the exhibit tags give the modern names as well.

One intriguing print included in the exhibit is Audubon's common goldeneye. His scene shows a male and female of the species, one ascending in flight and the other descending. The museum points out its similarity to a later painting in its permanent collection, Winslow Homer's Right and Left. Homer's painting exhibits two goldeneye ducks, but with the postures reversed; a crucial detail added is a gun fired from a distant boat. The added detail in Homer's version, which may have been meant as a homage, make the interpretation of the scene more clear.

The exhibit runs through March 26, 2006. The museum has posted a section of related online resources. I am not sure if this exhibit will appear in other cities. It is well worth seeing for anyone in the area.

Note: The National Audubon Society has a section of its website devoted to its namesake and the Birds of America.

Loose Feathers

This is a continuation of the "Odds and Ends" series under a new name. As always, here are some short blurbs and links to bird, birding, and environmental news from around the internet.

• The Army has admitted to dumping tons of old munitions offshore around the east and west coasts. The dumping was done in the mid-20th century, and ended in 1970. But it is not clear exactly where all the dumping grounds - and the munitions - are. Many of these are chemical weapons, which still pose a hazard to anyone who finds them. As these objects corrode, they may also pose an environmental hazard because of released toxins. (Via Metafilter.)
• Probably most local birders are aware of this by now, but a neotropic cormorant has been seen on the Potomac River near Violette's Lock in Montgomery County, Maryland. I have not been out to see it myself, but it has been reported on a daily basis for the last few weeks. Every year at least a few oddities show up around here during the fall.
• In another local Maryland story, it appears that Montgomery County is taking birdwatching into account in developing its land-use plan for public land in the county. The principle competitor for space against birdwatching and other quiet activities that require undeveloped land appears to be motorbiking and all-terrain-vehicles.
  
• The DC Department of Transportation is undertaking a tree-planting campaign over the next few months. They will plant 8,000 trees: 6,000 along roadways and 2,000 in city parks. The trees listed in the press release sound like good choices; some plantings in the past were rather unfortunate. An addition of several thousand trees should, over time, take a good chunk out of the urban heat island effect over the summer. (Via DCist.)
• The Washington Post reminds us that this Monday, November 7, is the 200th anniversary of the day Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean during their exploratory trek across North America and back. Bird Note: Two birds named for the pair are the Lewis's Woodpecker and the Clark's Nutcracker.
  

Finally, a cartoon from Tom Toles:

Back to the Arboretum

My morning birding plans fell through, so I returned to the National Arboretum this afternoon to do a little birding before the day ended. Today seemed even warmer than yesterday. That impression may have been caused by the mosquito bites I received, and the large weevil that landed on my shoulder. With the warm temperatures, many people were in the park; I rarely see the arboretum that crowded. I covered a few areas of the gardens that I had skipped yesterday.

I had only one real area of busy bird activity, and that was on one of the trails on the R St. hill. It began with the sounds of kinglets, which soon developed into sightings of kinglets flitting from branch to branch. Then Carolina chickadees moved in, followed by a noisy white-breasted nuthatch. Both ruby-crowned and golden-crowned kinglets were present; I was able to watch one ruby-crowned kinglet pick things off the trunk of the tree it was perched upon. To my surprise, a black-throated blue warbler appeared in the mix; I found it gleaning from the leaves of a small white oak. At least one eastern phoebe was in the same area. The whole ensemble presented a lesson in varied foraging techniques.

Elsewhere, I saw three eastern bluebirds in the state tree grove, and a sharp-shinned hawk struggling against the wind over fern valley.


BIRDS SEEN: 21

Sharp-shinned Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Carolina Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
European Starling
Black-throated Blue Warbler
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal

Some More DC Birding

What a beautiful September... I mean, November... day! After several days of flirting with it, temperatures finally surged over 70°F. Hardly a cloud was in the sky, while the trees continued their march toward colored foliage. Though the red oaks have been resisting change, pin oaks have been turning a lovely deep red, and the maples along R St NE have turned a brilliant yellow. Japanese maples near the visitor center were a bright red. One tree in the arboretum stood out for having reddish-purple leaves that looked almost unnatural; as it was a good distance away, I did not figure out the species.

Some birds have become very common since my last trip to the arboretum. Dark-eyed juncos were particularly common - and active - this morning. Their chatter is easily recognizable as they fly from tree to the ground and back again. Blue jays were also in good numbers this morning. I have noticed that at certain times of the year they will appear in large flocks at the arboretum and bully any other birds that happen to be around, whether the other birds are smaller or larger.

Red-breasted nuthatches are still present on Hickey Hill, and this morning there appeared to be a third. Unlike last Sunday, I did not get a very good look this morning, but just enough of one to identify the bird. Instead I got to watch a small group of golden-crowned kinglets flitting from branch to branch in the same area. The Asian gardens held a yellow-bellied sapsucker, my first of the fall for DC.

Later on I found a very upset patch of Carolina chickadees and tufted titmice. One or two will often scold at me when I approach, but this involved a lot more birds, and they were very upset, at least as I inferred from the intensity of their scolding calls. There very well may have been an owl around - probably a screech owl, but I was not able to set eyes upon it, and eventually the scolding stopped. I will need to check that area again in the future.

In the afternoon I tried a new birding spot in northwest, McMillan Reservoir. It is located across 4th Street, NW, from Howard University. A tip had come across the local listserve a week or two back that waterfowl were gathering there, so I decided to check it today. The pied-billed grebe, American coot, ring-necked duck, and the gulls were there. It seems like a good birding site for a quick stop and look around, though the angle of the sun presents a problem. McMillan is a shorter trip for me than the Georgetown Reservoir, and seems to attract a similar group of birds.

The hermit thrush was in a park near my apartment.

SPECIES SEEN: 42

Pied-billed Grebe
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Ring-necked Duck
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
American Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Tree Swallow
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Carolina Wren
Northern Mockingbird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Blue Jay
American Crow
European Starling
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal

ANWR Drilling Close to Approval

The Senate blocked an amendment sponsored by Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) that would have removed the ANWR drilling issue from the omnibus budget bill. Since the House also has included approval for ANWR drilling in its version of the budget bill, it will almost certainly pass. Backers of the proposal have been eager to attach the ANWR issue to the upcoming budget bill, because budget bills cannot be filibustered, and are unlikely to be defeated on a straight vote.

It is rather sad to see this measure pass. If environmentalists are correct, the drilling is unlikely to make much of a dent in oil prices, or in the supply of oil available to the American public. But at the same time, the drilling process can be expected to do much harm to the unique habitats and wildlife at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Oil spills are a bane associated with most oil production sites, and no doubt will occur at ANWR. The heavy machinery and traffic necessary to operate the drilling sites will certainly have an impact on the surrounding land habitats as well. As we know from other places, human impact is not restricted to the precise lands upon which the roads and buildings sit, but includes an impact zone that can stretch farther away than one might initially expect.

George Bush entered office determined to bring drilling to ANWR, and now it appears that he will get his wish. To me, the only surprise is that he did not get it four years sooner.

Update: Here is an annotated checklist of the birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Another Deer Shopper Case

After last week's incident in Georgetown, there was another case yesterday of a deer entering a store. This time a deer entered a Giant in Montgomery County, after it had entered several other stores. The sequence of events is somewhat muddled in the article, but apparently it entered the store by smashing through a window and then ran around inside. A police officer arrived on the scene and shot it in the head.

Incidents like this probably are to be expected when there are so many people and so many deer living in such close proximity to each other. Someone else might correct me on this, but I believe this is the breeding season for deer. So these animals are probably a bit more rambunctious because of the hormones at work. Whatever the cause, I hope that we do not have more of these incidents since they pose danger for everyone involved.

Winter Finches

Irruptions of winter finches can be difficult to predict. When speaking of "winter finches," one commonly means those species of finches that breed far north in the boreal forests and then move south for the winter. (Cornell has a summary of the species involved.) Because these movements are somewhat irregular, they are frequently called "irruptions." Some species, such as the purple finch, American goldfinch, and pine siskin, can be expected to come south in most winters. Others, such as the redpolls, grosbeaks, and crossbills, are much rarer south of Canada.

The useful eBird site has provided a winter finch forecast for the coming winter by an ornithologist from Ontario. He bases the predictions on assessments of food availability in the boreal forests. The prediction is for a relatively good migration this year, though it varies from species to species. One species of interest to me is the pine siskin, which I see rarely even though it is not particularly rare in the northeast. It seems to look good for a siskin invasion in the northeast:

Pine Siskin: There are very few conifer seeds to hold siskins in the boreal forest and Algonquin Park this winter. Siskins are now moving south through southern Ontario. Most will be elsewhere in North America this winter. Any siskins remaining in southern Ontario this winter will be at feeders where they prefer nyger seed.

Perhaps this will be the year I see my first DC siskin. Another "most-wanted" species for me is the common redpoll, which I still have not seen. It is not looking so good for a southward movement of that species this year:

Common Redpoll: When redpolls winter in the boreal forest they prefer birch (Betula) seed. Since white birch seed crops are average to good in many parts of northern Ontario, I expect many redpolls will stay north this winter. However, some redpolls likely will wander south in mid-winter as seed supplies diminish. Watch for them at feeders where they feed with goldfinches on nyger seed. Redpolls and most winter finches wander more widely than is generally realized. For example, Barry Kinch of the Mountain Chutes Banding Station near Elk Lake in northern Ontario banded a Common Redpoll on March 4, 2001, that was found dead a year later on March 24, 2002, in Kimberly, British Columbia, which is a straight line distance of 2,611 kilometers west.

Another winter finch, the evening grosbeak, appears to be in decline, and its movements are harder to predict:

Evening Grosbeak: This has been a mystery species in recent years. Where are the flocks of "greedies" that crowded feeders 25 years ago? The decline is real. Kelling (1999) analyzed Christmas Bird Counts from 1959 to 1998. Numbers of Evening Grosbeaks were stable or increased until 1980 when numbers began to decline. The rate of decline increased between 1990 and 1998 with the Northeast and Great Lakes regions having the steepest declines in winter. Recently, Bolgiano (2004) provided the most plausible explanation for the decline. He found higher numbers during outbreaks of spruce budworm and lower numbers after outbreaks ended. Evening Grosbeaks feed heavily on budworm larvae and the larvae are fed to young. Evening Grosbeaks began to decline in 1980 after the last major outbreak of spruce budworm during the 1970s. Evening Grosbeaks coming into southern Ontario will find a good crop of samaras (keys) on Manitoba Maples and an abundance sunflower seeds at feeders.

An evening grosbeak and white-winged crossbills have already been reported in New Jersey:

Other sightings in Sussex County were of a GOLDEN EAGLE over Culver's Gap Oct 31, 8 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS over Sunrise Mountain Oct 28, and an EVENING GROSBEAK at a feeder in Wantage Twp Oct 27.

I would recommend reading the entire article posted at eBird, at least for anyone interested in the winter finches, because it does have some interesting information. It also has migration information on three non-finch species, including the lovely red-breasted nuthatch. On the latter, the author writes:

However, this year only a small number of Red-breasted Nuthatches moved through southern Ontario in September and currently they are scarce in Algonquin Park and the boreal forest of northeastern Ontario. Where are they?

Well, it appears that they moved substantially south, as they were popping up at feeders and in pine groves across the mid-Atlantic region over the past week.

Update: Nuthatch has more information on the decline of evening grosbeaks.

Evening Mall Birds

In the late afternoon I took a short walk around the Tidal Basin and adjoining areas of the Mall. There were not too many birds around; it may have been a little too close to sunset for many to be active.

Out on the Tidal Basin itself I saw a trio of American coots settling in for the evening. Oddly enough, this was my first sighting of coots in DC this year. I must have missed them in the winter and spring, though I am sure I visited the usual spots for seeing them. Over by the various bridges crossing the Potomac around 14th Street, there was a young eastern phoebe, still with a lemon yellow breast.

The strangest thing I saw was after sunset, when the evening had grown rather dark and I was on my way home. I headed back by way of the WWII Memorial and the Washington Monument, since I do not usually go that way. As I passed the Washington Monument I noticed a peregrine falcon circling the monument, which was illuminated by multiple spotlights. It circled the monument at least twice, and appeared to be trying to land on its walls. Now the masonry is not entirely smooth on the lower half of the monument, but it certainly does not provide a place for a bird to perch. Perhaps it was confused by the lights and was trying to hunt its own shadow? I do not know why it was doing that. In any case it soon flew off in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial. I am not sure if any other visitors to the monument noticed the falcon.

SPECIES SEEN: 12

Double-crested Cormorant
Mallard
Peregrine Falcon
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Mourning Dove
Eastern Phoebe
Carolina Wren
European Starling
House Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow

Odds and Ends #6

News and links related to birds and birding from around the internet.

• The MDOsprey homepage has a combined review of three books: How to Be a (Bad) Birdwatcher, Hawks From Every Angle, and Flight Identification of European Seabirds. See Three Related Book Reviews (.pdf file).
• Via Sphere, there is a website up now devoted to ousting Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Cal-11). Among his other faults, Pombo has been pushing to gut environmental laws, especially the Endangered Species Act. Locally, he attempted to turn Roosevelt Island into a luxury housing development. Voting Pombo out of Congress in the next election cycle should improve the odds for environmental legislation.
• Via BirderBlog, I learned that the Cornell team is starting out on a new search for ivory-billed woodpeckers in Arkansas. The team is seeking to answer some unresolved questions from the last search, including how many birds there are and where their nests are located. The team will be under considerably more pressure this time around. In their past searches, they had at least the cover of secrecy, so if no bird was found, there would be no public disappointment. But with the publicity from various media appearances, and resulting controversy in some circles, failure to produce further evidence of the bird's existence could lead to significant embarrassment. It really ought not to be this way when the object is simply to find the truth. Unfortunately the ivory-bill may be one of those birds for which emotions run too strongly for complete objectivity.
• New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection is pushing Delaware to ban the harvest of horseshoe crabs, as opposed to its current less restrictive limits. Delaware allows the harvest of up to 150,000 horseshoe crabs, but none during migration. The purpose of such a ban is to aid the recovery of the red knot, which has been pushed to the brink of extinction because of a collapse in horseshoe crab populations in the Delaware Bay. Migrating red knots - and other shorebirds - feed on the eggs of horseshoe crabs as they migrate from wintering territories in South America to their breeding grounds near the Arctic Circle.
  

Dreambirds

I do not normally have birding dreams, or at least if I do, I tend not to remember them. Last night was a different situation. I dreamt that I was in a foreign country, perhaps Belize if I remember correctly, but it may have been elsewhere. I was surrounded by new birds - ones that I did not recognize because I had never seen them before. Many were waterfowl, but others were songbirds. Unfortunately I had no way of recognizing them as I had no field guide and (I think) no binoculars with me.

I suppose that may count as a "birder's nightmare" - to have the opportunity to see many lifebirds but not to be able to identify them.