| ||||||||
|
ESAS Home Join or Renew: |
BIRDING ARTICLES BY TOM AND JO HEINDEL
Back to master listThe “New” Owens Lake Hosts “New” BirdsEach season brings avian surprises and this fall was no exception. Four species were found that had never been documented before in Inyo County and it should be no surprise that all four were found at the “new” Owens Lake. The habitat being restored has not been seen there for over a century and clearly supports the adage “Build it and they will come.” Because of ongoing construction the lake is not open to the public but several trained people are authorized to conduct shorebird surveys to document the impact of dust control measures on birds. These surveys, conducted every few days during spring and fall, are revealing the lake’s avian secrets. It is hoped that after construction is finished some level of access will be returned to the public. Ornithologically speaking fall is primarily August through November, the main time most birds are moving south, although a few do start earlier. All four additions were photographed, which is supporting evidence of the validity of the identification. Two of the species are sufficiently rare in the state that they will be reviewed by the California Bird Records Committee.
On 30 August a juvenile Black Turnstone was found by Mike SanMiguel and remained for at least three days. This species, usually found along the Pacific Coast with only a few inland records, is more unusual inland in fall than in spring. On 16 September a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper was found by Susan Steele. This species breeds in Siberia and winters in the Old World from Africa, through southern Asia to Australia. It has been seen in California about 36 times before this sighting; most records are along the coast, usually in fall, while the few interior records are usually in spring. This sighting is unofficial until accepted by the CBRC.
As if the “fabulous four” weren’t enough, Inyo was also treated to other slightly less rare species like three different American Golden-Plovers (2nd, 3rd, and 4th county records), a juvenile male Ruff (4th county record), an immature Long-tailed Jaeger (4th record), and a juvenile Ruddy Turnstone (11th county record). It is not surprising that all of these sightings occurred at Owens Lake as well. While the avian significance of this county’s crown jewel will continue to grow as long as LADWP continues to enhance and maintain wetlands habitat there as a result of required dust control mandates, it will be a long time before it returns to its former status. Winter Birds in the Eastern Sierra
Bald Eagles are on everyone’s “Wish List” and they seldom disappoint. Most arrive in early November and have been seen through April, although they are not easily found after mid March. Most records are 1-2 birds but often 3-4 are seen. Seventeen were reported on the Eastern Sierra January 2008 Eagle Survey, the same number as last year but a different combination of adults and immatures (8 adults and 9 juveniles versus 11 adults and 6 juveniles in January 2007). The Rough-legged Hawk is an enigma. In the 1970s it was often seen in numbers greater than Red-tailed Hawks, sometimes 8-10 birds in a day. In the last two decades 1-2 birds are usually reported the entire winter although when scarce in the Eastern Sierra there are reports of many more in the Bridgeport and north areas. This past December on the Bishop Christmas Count, 2-3 were seen. One party (Kristie Nelson) saw an adult male and the other party (Jon Dunn and Debbie House) had an adult male and juvenile. It is problematic if the parties saw the same adult male since the two locations are somewhat near each other…then again, they could have been different birds. Northern Shrikes are rarely reported November through February and all but one record are of single birds; the exception is two birds at different locations, but within flying distance, that may have been one bird moving around. This year one was reported at Big Pine in late December impaling a goldfinch (Earl & Eliot Gann). The second group of wintering birds is normally seen in the nearby mountains during the year but some winters they can be found on or near the valley floor. Examples are jays, nuthatches, rosy-finches, and chickadees. This has been an excellent winter for some of these lowland invaders, especially Mountain Chickadees, with fewer reports of Steller’s and Western Scrub-Jays. Nuthatch and rosy-finch reports have been few but one deep snowfall could change that! It is easy to assume that these species have descended from our nearby Sierra Nevada but that may not be the case since these species are found well north into Canada and are known to leave their “homeland” if there is a food supply failure. Some years the chickadees or jays at your feeder may be from British Columbia, not the Sierra! Every winter also provides surprises, this year a Short-eared Owl in Deep Springs Valley (Chris McCreedy). Again, it is not known from where this bird came. Is it a resident from the marshes at Deep Springs Lake, or a visitor from the north, or an early migrant? We are mindful that the more we learn about the birds of the Eastern Sierra the more we are aware of how much more we don’t know. Winter isn’t over, ornithologically speaking, until the end of February so there is time for more birds to appear providing more opportunities to discover just how much more there is to learn about winter birds in the Eastern Sierra. “As the radius of knowledge extends, the circumference of ignorance expands.” – attributed as a Japanese saying(Rough-legged Hawk photo courtesy Debby Parker) Kingbirds of Inyo County
The most common kingbird in the Eastern Sierra is the Western Kingbird, Tyrannus verticalis. It migrates throughout most of Inyo County and breeds annually in the Owens Valley towns and ranches as well as Deep Springs College. Arriving in April, they set up their territories in towns, often using electrical boxes as nest platforms, and in cottonwoods at ranches. They regularly begin singing before daylight with an electrical song that resembles a tape recorder playing on fast forward. Early in the breeding season they may sing all night long eliciting amazement from some people and anger from others. When they have nests with young they attack any and all birds, people, and cats and are vigorous defenders against much larger birds like jays, crows, ravens, and even hawks that try to predate their young. By September most have departed for their wintering grounds from Mexico to Costa Rica where the insect supply is bountiful. Don Nikolaus, a Big Pine old-timer, called this bird “Bee Martin” as a youth, since bees are a prime prey item in the Owens Valley. The other breeding kingbird in Inyo County is the Cassin’s Kingbird, Tyrannus vociferans, which has bred at Deep Springs College but not annually. There are a few countywide reports of migrants in areas inappropriate for breeding but any sighting of this species is noteworthy and should be reported with substantiating details to the Eastern Sierra Birds website. During the fall when birds are molting, a kingbird without white outer tail feathers is not necessarily a Cassin’s since that is the time when a Western can lack the otherwise distinctive tail feathers. Attention should be directed at the contrast and colors of the cheek, throat, breast, back, and wings. The Eastern Kingbird, Tyrannus tyrannus, unsurprisingly, is primarily an eastern kingbird but regularly wanders west and breeds in eastern Oregon and eastern Washington. There are over one hundred records for Inyo County with most birds reported mid May to early June. The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Tyrannus forficatus, is a kingbird since it is in the kingbird genus but for reasons known only to a few, and not us, its common name remains flycatcher. This species is found most regularly in southcentral U.S. but has been found twenty-one times in Inyo County with sixteen records between late April and early June and five scattered from late July to late October. The Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus, is usually found in the New World tropics but has been recorded along the West Coast in fall and winter. There are two records for Inyo County with one at Furnace Creek Ranch, Death Valley National Park, in late May and another photographed at Panamint Springs, Death Valley National Park, in mid September. The Thick-billed Kingbird, Tyrannus crassirostris, a tropical species usually found from Mexico to southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, made it to Inyo County once. Its appearance in Lone Pine on 24 December 1991 was a very fancy Christmas present for the many birders who saw it. No one could have predicted that it was going to remain through 1 April 1992 since the insects it normally eats disappear during the winter. The temperatures dropped into the teens but it survived by snuggling up to a nearby greenhouse for added, although not tropical, warmth and when the ambient temperature increased a little it would fly out to a perch over a bee hive and wait for the bees to exit the hive to drink nectar out of a dish placed at the edge of the hive. Few bees made it to the dish, much less back inside! Two other kingbirds have been reported in the state, each only one time. A Couch’s Kingbird wintered in southern California and a Fork-tailed Flycatcher spent early September in Sonoma County (another Fork-tailed sighting in Sutter County is under review by the California Rare Birds Committee). Needless to say, the phones will be ringing off their hooks if any kingbird, other than the expected species, shows up in the Eastern Sierra! Copyright Eastern Sierra Audubon Society. All Rights Reserved.
P.O. Box 624, Bishop, CA 93515 |
|
Winter
brings a suite of birds from the north that are not seen the rest of the year,
such as Tundra Swans, Greater White-fronted, Snow, Ross’s, Cackling and Canada
Geese, Bald Eagles, Rough-legged Hawks, and Northern Shrikes. Tundra Swans
are found from early November to mid March in numbers that vary from year to
year with daily averages of 10-60 birds. Some years over 100 have been seen but
the maximum is 202 (31 Dec 1997 at Klondike Lake and Tinemaha Reservoir). This
year there were fewer birds than expected. While the geese are migrants
as well as winter visitors, there are birds that, once they find a location to
their liking, will spend the winter trying to avoid hunters and photographers.
Most numerous are Snow and Canada Geese with Greater White-fronted, Ross’s, and
Cackling Geese less common, usually fewer than ten but occasionally more. 