January 2002 Field Journal 1.1 Southwestern United States
1.5 Myna's Swan Song Saddens Vancouver
By ROD MICKLEBURGH
Saturday, January 5, 2002 –
Globe and Mail Print Edition, Page A2
VANCOUVER -- Amid the dumpsters, back-alley debris and old warehouses of a
tiny urban pocket of central Vancouver, one of the most remarkable birding
chapters in North America is coming to a gloomy end.One day soon, after more than 100 years, the city's famed population of
crested mynas, which once blackened skies by the tens of thousands, will
almost certainly vanish for good.The cheeky, starling look-a-like is already the rarest bird on the
continent. Forget the several hundred whooping cranes that still survive.
Vancouver's crested myna is down to five. Or is it two? Recent counts
are not reassuring."I give them two to three years," said birder Brian Seft, focusing his
powerful binoculars on a remaining myna as it hopped unconcernedly from
curb to gutter."Without a doubt, we are seeing the last days of the crested myna in North
America. It is very sad."The demise has been sudden. Though the myna population peaked in the 1920s
and 1930s, hundreds of the birds still flourished throughout the city as
recently as 10 years ago.Then, abruptly, these mynas, too, began to disappear, a victim of lost
habitat and an all-out push by starlings to take over their surviving
nesting sites.Losing out to the aggressive, unloved starling -- let go in New York in
1890 as part of a misguided attempt to introduce birds mentioned in
Shakespeare to the United States -- is a bitter pill for the more laid-back
crested myna, since neither species is indigenous to North America.A few years later, legend has it, either a careless sea captain or grumpy
customs officer released several crested mynas from their cages in
Vancouver, where the imported sub-tropical bird was a favourite pet of
Chinese labourers.The birds initially flourished in the mild Pacific climate. Unlike the
starlings, however, they never really budged from their starting point.Bird-book listings for the crested myna read like a Monty Python excerpt.
"Habitat: Laos, Hong Kong, southeast China and Vancouver, Canada," reads
one.Ever since word of the myna's last stand began to spread, birders from
around the world have been flocking to its chosen Alamo.
"We see them outside all the time, standing there in the street, cameras
ready," said Janet Racela, a receptionist at the Best Janitor four-storey
brick office building where the final few mynas reside.Robert Schutsky leads annual bird-watching expeditions to the Pacific
Northwest all the way from Pennsylvania. He regularly includes an
overnight stop in Vancouver."People know this is the only place in North America for the crested myna,"
said Mr. Schutsky. "By the time they finally see it, their excitement has
built to a fever pitch."Despite its rarity, the crested myna is not hard to find. An afternoon
visit to the Best Janitor building at the out-of-the-way corner of First
and Wylie usually pays off.Properly known as Sturnus Cristatullus, the crested myna is a black,
robin-sized bird, with distinctive white patches on its wings clearly
visible when it flies. It has a yellow bill and a noticeable, punk-like
crest on top."Like a starling having a bad-hair day," Mr. Seft advised. "Look, there's
one now. Right on the window sill."Sure enough. There it was. Spotted after only 15 minutes. The bird
quickly skipped onto an adjacent iron bar, posing and basking in the deep
sunshine. A moment later, it was off, first to the roof, then to a
telephone wire and finally, a frantic scoot down the lane in search of grub.Trapped on distant shores an ocean away from the lush, sup-tropical
vegetation were it belongs, the crested myna attracted attention from the
moment it arrived.U.S. agricultural experts worried that the bird would spread and wreak
havoc on grain production. Scholars have kept busy on the myna's many
mysteries: why only here and nowhere else, why did it do so well, why its
equally sudden decline, and should anyone care?"I, for one, will miss it. The myna always makes me chuckle," said Mr.
Seft. "My wife remembers seeing two mynas disappearing into a dumpster,
each emerging with a cold, abandoned McDonald's french fry in their beak.
No wonder they're in trouble."1.14 House Finches
Continuing the discussion of House Finches and evolution, there was an
interesting piece on the radio (I cant remember the source, Living on
Earth?) about House Finch nesting habits. I was working while this was
on so I may not get it quite right but— female House Finches can control
the sex ratio of their clutches. House Finches in Colorado have
disproportionately more male first-borne (first of clutch) than House
Finches in the East. Because of environmental in factors Colorado males
have a higher survivability rate than the females. In the east coast
environmental factors make the first borne females have a higher
survivability rate . I'll try to find the resource.1.14 [ SFBirds] Sightings (?) of interest
Didn't see the oriole at the Conservatory this afternoon, but there's a good
chance I heard it. Something made a single "chuck" note which certainly was
unfamiliar, but it was too far away to chase down and didn't repeat its
vocalization.Otherwise:
Varied Thrush (4)
Hutton's Vireo
Hairy Woodpecker (2)
White-throated Sparrow "white stripe"
Deranged Person
Feral Cat
Smart Ass
Anna's Hummingbird with grossly deformed upper mandible1.15 House Finches
This research was actually done by a close personal friend of mine from
grad school days, and it is indeed fascinating stuff. The article is
published in the current (11 Jan.) issue of Science magazine. You need a
subscription for that, but a news story on the research by one of Science's
news writers is posted on a free site.
BTW, at this Academic Press site you can view many ScienceNOW articles for free ... one
of the places I write for from time to time.) If you're really fascinated
by the House Finch stuff, let me know and I can send you a PDF reprint of
the original research article. Alex has been doing a lot of very cool
stuff with these birds over the last several years.1.16 [SBB] Panoche Field Trip, Jan 12
Hello All,Since no one has posted anything yet on the SCVAS Panoche Valley field trip on
Sat, Jan 12, I thought I'd say a few words about it. Over 60 species were seen,
and here are the highlights.We started at Paicines Reservoir where 6-8 TUNDRA SWANS were seen as well as a
good variety of ducks (Canvasback, Amer Wigeon, Comm Merganser, N. Pintail,
Ring-necked Duck etc), grebes (Western, Clark's, Pied-billed, Eared and one
Horned) and others (Great & Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Heron, Greater Yellowlegs,
and ever-present coots). An adult BALD EAGLE cruised around and perched on a
small oak by the reservoir.Then into the oak/grey pine woodlands where four WILD TURKEYS were seen
sauntering into the woodlands. At Willow Springs (Antelope Fire Station)
PHAINOPELA and W. BLUEBIRDS were seen among the mistletoe-draped oaks. At
Panoche Pass several RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROWS foraged openly among the brush
giving better- than-average views of this often elusive species.In Panoche Valley itself we had excellent views of perched and soaring PRAIRIE
FALCON, FERRUGINOUS HAWK, and GOLDEN EAGLE. LARK SPARROWS and SAVANNAH SPARROWS
were numerous along the roadside fences. We then headed toward Silver Creek
Ranch where a MERLIN flushed a flock of 25+ MOUNTAIN PLOVERS, several of which
landed to forage quite close to where we were standing thereby giving us
prolonged "best-ever" views of these very special birds. Further down the road
at Silver Creek Ranch we came upon several beautiful sky-blue MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS
flitting about the sage scrub and associating with House Finch flocks. And if
all this wasn't enough, a small group of CHUKARS was sighted at Shot Gun Pass.Late afternoon in the Panoche Hills was quiet, only W. Meadowlarks and House
Finches noted, but we were treated to wide panoramic views of the snow-covered
Sierras gleaming in the late afternoon sun above the fog-enshrouded Central
Valley. Many thanks to our leader Clay Kempf (and the cooperative birds) for a
memorable field trip.Ann [Verdi]
1.16 [SFBirds] Bizarre sighting du jour
5 CEDAR WAXWINGS on a power line at 22nd and Pacheco.1.18 [SFBirds] Seawatch this AM
Nothing of particular note this morning off Fort Funston with Paul and
Brian, but just as we were packing up, an adult, dark-backed gull flew by.
I happened to look up and noticed that the back seemed unusually, dark,
showing little contrast between the mantle and the black primaries. As it
went by I did notice that the neck was heavily streaked, which would seem to
preclude even a pure L.o. wymani. Lesser Black-backed Gull came to mind,
but by that point, the bird was well on its way towards Ocean Beach. Anyway,
if you're looking for something to chase...1.19 MIDWINTER BARN SWALLOWS IN THE NORTHWEST
Wayne Hoffmann, in the attached note posted to OBOL on Jan. 14,
wondered about the origin of the swallows, mainly BARN SWALLOWS,
reported from numerous localities in late December and January from
southwestern BC and western WA and OR.In a nutshell, I'll offer my opinion. This is NOT "early migration",
and the birds were NOT "here all along and not noticed" (2 of the 3
possibilities suggested by Wayne). My hypothesis is that these were
birds caught up in the "Pineapple Express" (persistent warm,
southwesterly winds) which dominated the weather of the Pacific
Northwest for the first 2 weeks of January, and carried up here from a
point of origin many hundreds of miles to the south.This is not "unprecedented", at least not if BC and WA records are
taken into account. Similar incursions of Barn Swallows in January and
February have been observed previously, at least once involving a much
larger number of birds. However, I have not seen any sign of this
phenomenon until about the last 5 years or so.A partial list of winter reports of BARN SWALLOWS on the Northwest
Coast this winter is as follows:early Dec. "several" Monmouth, OR Maggie Meikle
Dec. 30 1 Hansen NWR, WA Russ Copenheim
Jan. 3 1 Near Shedd, OR
Jan. 5 8 Yaquina S Jetty, OR
Jan. 5 to 15 1 Nisqually NWR, WA D Hayden, S Nord
Jan. 5 to 15 1-2 Iona I., nr Vancouver, BC many
observers
Jan. 6 3 Livermore Rd., Polk Co., OR
Jan. 13 15 Spencer I., nr Everett, WA Dennis
Paulson
Jan. 13 1+ Steigerwald NWR, WA Pamela
Johnston
Jan. 13 1 Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta, BC
Jan. 14 1 Monmouth, OR Maggie Meikle
Jan. 14 1 Amazon Cr., Lane Co., OR Dave
BrownThe only records of TREE SWALLOWS I could find were the following:
Jan. 5 1 Yaquina S jetty, Newport, OR
Jan. 15 8 Jackson Bottom, Hillsboro, OR Dennis ManzerThere may have been other reports of TREE SWALLOW that I missed
(Harry, perhaps you have some?) There were a couple of reports of
"white-bellied swallows" from WA and BC, but these may have referred
to unusually pale first-winter BARN SWALLOWS.Clearly, most of the invading swallows were BARN SWALLOWS.
At Vancouver, B.C., this species does not normally arrive until the
first week of April, and the earliest "spring arrival" date I have is
March 24. So I feel confident in saying that these birds were not
"early spring arrivals".At the same time, at one location-- the Reifel Bird Sanctuary near
Vancouver, BC-- a few BARN SWALLOWS remain until late November or
early December every year, and in at least two winters, were seen
daily into early January (until the first hard freeze). At this
location, a few midges can be seen flying about most days in November
and December when temperatures are above freezing. However, this
pattern of tardy departure (which has persisted since the late 1960s)
does not explain the sudden appearance of Barn Swallows in mid-January
or February in places where they had not been seen for months
previously.The situation with TREE SWALLOWS is different. This is an early spring
migrant, which normally arrives in Vancouver by late February, and has
arrived as early as February 10. Nevertheless, January or early
February sightings of this species, in my opinion, are probably due to
long-distance movement of birds associated with a flow of warm air
from the southwest.My apologies for the lack of observer credits in some of the sightings
above, and for any errors or omissions in the list, which I compiled
rather hastily.In short, my conclusion is, "blame it on the Pineapple Express"! The
phenomenon of winter swallow records would certainly be worth a more
detailed and comprehensive analysis.Comments, anyone?
Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops and Delta, BC
contopus@shaw.ca1.25 [NBB, CalBirds] Common Grackle, Emperor Goose
Yesterday, Alan Hopkins and I had the COMMON GRACKLE in Guerneville. It happened to be east of the Safeway on 1st Street when we had it, but it could be anywhere between the river and north of Hwy. 116 in town. As usual, find the (blackbird) flock, then find the bird.Below is a description written from memory based on comments made in the field:
"An obvious blackbird easily 20% larger than the surrounding Brewer's Blackbirds. The bird had a pale eye, purplish iridescence on its head and the body was colored with a marvelous bronze iridescence with hues that were a joy to watch. The bill was all dark and proportional to the head size; the upper mandible did not exhibit any significant curvature. The greater and median coverts were tinged rufous, in slight contrast to the rest of the upperparts. The tail was quite long and graduated, with the central rectrices appearing to be longer than the outer rectrices, possibly due to molt."
Size alone is sufficient to eliminate all blackbirds other than grackles. Boat-tailed Grackle is unrecorded in the state, and western populations of adult birds show dark eyes. Adult male Great-tailed Grackle has a yellow eye, and purplish iridescence on head, but lacks bronze coloration on the body. Also, the tail is extremely long on an adult male Great-tailed Grackle. Female Great-tailed Grackles are brownish in coloration and lack iridescence. First basic male Great-tailed Grackles are similar but smaller than adult males and may have yellow eyes. However, they are only weakly iridescent and lack the bronzy coloration of the this bird.
Thus, we're left with COMMON GRACKLE Quiscalus quiscula. Common Grackle has three distinct subspecies, Q.q. versicolor, or "Bronzed Grackle", Q.q. stonei or "Purple Grackle" and Q.q. quiscula, or "Florida Grackle". Q.q. quiscula has olive-greenish wash on the back and underparts, not bronzy. Q.q. stonei is intermediate between quiscula and versicolor, and can show some bronze on the back and underparts with contrasting coverts. Q.q. versicolor has the entire back with a bronze-olive sheet with contrasting purplish coverts. While I'm not sure that we can entirely eliminate Q.q. stonei due to the amount of possible variation, range and coloration do seem to prefer Q.q. versicolor.
Additional photos and a description of this bird may be found here.
The EMPEROR GOOSE continues on Bodega Bay as well. We had good close looks of the bird on the sandbar at Spud Point, but a PEREGRINE FALCON flushed all of the BRANT and the Emperor Goose into open water.
Below is a description written from memory based on comments made in the field:
"An obvious goose with striking plumage very similar in size to the Brant in the immediate vicinity. The goose had an all white head, crown, and nape with a bright pink bill. The throat was black, with the black extending more broadly around the neck closer to the breast. The legs were bright orange and the tail was white. The back, scapulars, coverts and underparts were pale gray with black subterminal marks and edges, giving a broadly scaly appearance. The tail was white. The flight feathers were darker and the secondaries and tertials were broadly edged in white, more so than the primaries."
The white head and darker body effectively eliminate all other geese other then blue phase Anser geese and EMPEROR GOOSE. Juvenile white phase Snow Goose has crown, rear and sides of neck, mantle and scapulars grayish brown. Juvenile blue phase Snow Goose is totally dark slaty-brown. Juvenile white phase Ross's Goose is similar to white phase Snow Goose, while juvenile blue phase Ross's Goose may be undescribed (?). Juvenile Emperor Goose is entirely sooty gray.
So we're left with the adult Anser geese. White morph Snow and Ross's Geese adults are easily eliminated, but the blue morphs merit discussion. Blue morph Snow Goose has white head and neck contrasting with dark gray of much of the rest of the plumage, typically darkest on the body with whitish undertail coverts. However, it lacks the scalloping one finds on an Emperor Goose. Blue Morph Ross's Goose is similar to blue morph Snow Goose; a good picture may be found here. The crisply-marked plumage on the back and scapulars and crisp demarcation between light and dark on the head unambiguously identify the bird as an adult EMPEROR GOOSE.
Photos and an additional description of this bird may be found here.
73 species seen:
Red-throated Loon (7, 14)
Pacific Loon (7, 14)
Common Loon (4, 7, 14)
Horned Grebe (4)
Eared Grebe (4)
Western Grebe (9, 14)
Brown Pelican (7)
Brandt's Cormorant (7)
Double-crested Cormorant (10)
Pelagic Cormorant (7)
Great Blue Heron (12)
Great Egret (9)
Snowy Egret (11)
Turkey Vulture (1)
Emperor Goose (5)
Brant (4)
Green-winged Teal (8)
Greater Scaup (4)
Surf Scoter (4)
White-winged Scoter (12)
Black Scoter (15)
Bufflehead (4)
Common Goldeneye (4)
Red-breasted Merganser (7, 13)
Ruddy Duck (4)
White-tailed Kite (13)
Northern Harrier (8)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (13)
Red-shouldered Hawk (13)
Red-tailed Hawk (1)
Semipalmated Plover (11)
Killdeer (16)
Black Oystercatcher (10)
American Avocet (8)
Willet (11)
Whimbrel (11)
Marbled Godwit (5)
Ruddy Turnstone (11)
Surfbird (7)
Sanderling (11)
Western Sandpiper (11)
Least Sandpiper (11)
Dunlin (11)
Common Snipe (16)
Mew Gull (10)
Ring-billed Gull (7)
Thayer's Gull (7)
Western Gull (7)
Glaucous-winged Gull (7)
Forster's Tern (11)
Common Murre (7)
Marbled Murrelet (7)
Mourning Dove (1)
Belted Kingfisher (10)
Northern Flicker (13)
Black Phoebe (15)
Steller's Jay (2)
Western Scrub-Jay (3)
American Crow (3)
Common Raven (3)
Western Bluebird (2)
American Robin (2)
Varied Thrush (2)
Wrentit (13)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (3)
California Towhee (2)
Savannah Sparrow (15)
Song Sparrow (15)
White-crowned Sparrow (15)
Red-winged Blackbird (7)
Brewer's Blackbird (3)
Common Grackle (3)
House Sparrow (3)Elephant Seal (15)
Locations:
1) Hwy. 101 (Jan 25)
2) Hwy. 116 (Jan 25)
3) Guernville (Jan 25)
4) Bodega Bay (Jan 25)
5) Spud Point (Jan 25)
6) Bodega Head (Jan 25)
7) Rutherford Firm (Jan 25)
8) Doran County Park (Jan 25)
9) Hole in the Head (Jan 25)
10) Marina (Jan 25)
11) East side of Bodega Bay (Jan 25)
12) Breakwater (Jan 25)
13) Hwy. 1 (Jan 25)
14) North Beach (Jan 25)
15) Fish Docks (Jan 25)
16) Outer Point (Jan 25)1.31 [SFBirds] Spring is here
A Pygmy Nuthatch was investigating last year's woodpecker hole, no doubt
with breeding on its mind...Home
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