June/July 2013

The Hooter

Kittitas Audubon June/July 2013

PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR Summer Ornithology Class: FOR THE KITTITAS AUDU- Biology 452 BON SUMMER SOCIAL ON Are you a high-powered bird fanatic…..or TH AUGUST 15 . MORE DE- just one who wants to know as much as TAILS IN THE AUGUST IS- possible about birds? If so, you might SUE OF THE HOOTER. consider an upper-level ornithology class being taught this summer on the CWU No program meetings until September (see below), campus. It is on MTWTH from 8:00 AM but join us for some great field trips (see page 8). There are also some Native Plant Society field trips if to 9:05 AM with Lab experience on you’d like to learn more about our local flowers and Thursdays from 2:00 PM to 4:50 PM. plants (www.wnps.org). And the Ice Age Floods In- Class runs from June 17th to July 26th. stitute (www.iafi.org) has some field trips planned. This could be an illuminating experience. Don’t miss Nick Zentner’s If interested, call Jerry Scoville @ (509) Wednesday evening geology 925-1577 for talks—fun, educational, fascinat- more ing, entertaining and accessible for the average Joe or Jane: June information. 5th and 12th, 7 PM at Hal Holmes.

Summer may come, but don’t turn your furnace off yet!!! The Hooter will take a one -month vacation. Next issue will be August 2013. Have a great summer~ stay cool...or warm… get out in the woods, or the desert, take a kid for a hike, take an elderly person for a ride around our beautiful valley. See you in August at the annual BBQ potluck! Or at the next program meeting in September...

All Audubon meetings, held on the 3rd Thursday of each month at Hal Holmes Center next to the Library, September through May (except December), are open to the public, so feel free to come and meet with us. A brief business session precedes the program. Stay afterwards for juice, treats, and conversation. Will re- sume September 19th. Thanks to the Ellensburg Public Library for sponsoring our meetings here! Page 2 The Hooter

KAS BOARD MEMBERS As I write this, there is an Eve- President – Jim Briggs 933-2231 PRESIDENT’S ning Grosbeak sitting in the Vice President – Bud Rechterman 962-4508 Secretary – Diane Bullock 968-3175 MESSAGE tree waiting for me to give Treasurer – Sharon Lumsden 968-3889 him some sunflower seeds. I Conservation – Beau Fairchild won’t do it because I only feed Education – Judy Hallisey 674-6858 birds in the winter, but I don’t have a problem with people Field Trips – Steve Moore 933-1179 *Newsletter – Jan Demorest 933-1179 who do feed all year. I remember back when I lived in Historian – Gloria Lindstrom 925-1807 New York and our Naturalist’s Club had a speaker from the Programs – Jeb Baldi 933-1558 Cornell Lab of Ornithology. He said you should feed the Publicity – Gerry Sorenson 968-4857 birds for your own enjoyment, not because you are help- Wildlife Habitat – Joe Meuchel 933-3011 *Bluebird boxes – Jan Demorest 933-1179 ing the birds. He said they will get along on their own. Past President — Gloria Baldi 933-1558 Now, decades later, I think he was mostly right, but over *Membership – Tuck Forsythe 925-2356 the years I have observed many instances where birders *Christmas Bird Count – Phil Mattocks have lent a helping hand. Nowhere is it more evident than 962-2191 in our beautiful valley. The KAS has several ongoing pro- *Librarian - Ginger Jensen 925-5816 Social/Greeter – Kay Forsythe 925-2356 jects designed to directly enhance the fortunes of birds— and by extension, ourselves: *NON-VOTING POSITIONS  Several members are working to find a suitable re- KAS Board Meetings are held at 4:30 placement for the chimney that was torn down , PM on the 1st Thursday of each thereby leaving the migrating Vaux’s Swifts without month on the third floor of the CWU a secure roosting place. Science Bldg, Room 301 (above the elephant desk). These meetings are  KAS has an increasing number of bluebird trails. open to the public and all Audubon This project is working. Drive out the old Vantage members; please come and join in the Highway, up Hayward Hill, or hike up Manastash discussions. Meetings adjourn by 6:00 Ridge, to see those gorgeous blue wonders. or 6:30, after which we all go out for a  Perch Poles have been set up around the valley. sociable dinner ~ NO business discus- This is good for raptors and bad for mice and con- sion allowed! sequently, good for farmers.  One member has published a brochure on how to Send in your stories & photos! make your barn good for Barn Owls and bad for mice and good for farmers. The Hooter is the newsletter of Kittitas Audubon, published  We are trying to educate farmers to police their monthly except for July. baling twine so it doesn’t end up in Osprey nests, creating a hazard for the nesting birds. I won’t ~~~~~~~ mention how this would affect fish and fishermen. Submissions from members &  We have begun a proposed big effort to erect Kes- other readers are most wel- trel boxes which will be bad for mice and good for farmers. come and encouraged! We have lots of other projects going on. There will be The editor reserves the right to edit field trips all summer and a barbeque at the Lindstrom for space, grammar, and/or suit- Party Barn (this has to be confirmed and will be agenda ability. Email text and/or photos to item number one at our next board meeting) but no meetings until September. Jeb Baldi is working on another [email protected] or snail mail great program year. By the way, I hope you got to see to Jan Demorest, Hooter Editor, the last program on butterflies. 712 E 2nd Ave, Ellensburg, WA See you then unless PETA has me arrested for cruelty to 98926. Submissions need to be in mice! by the 20th of the preceding month. Jim Briggs, KAS President The Hooter Reports from the field... Page 3

First Saturday BirdWalk ~ “Oh, what a beau- Tall Timber Birds tiful morning” aptly describes May’s BirdWalk! We opened the cabin at Tall Timber on Memorial Sunny with only a breeze from the east and Day weekend. After a slow start because of rain, temperatures at 55 to 65 degrees, the walk was we had Steller’s Jays (6-8), Evening Grosbeaks splendid in the fresh spring morning. Nine bird- (15-18) both adult and new crop (juvies), Black- ers did enjoy seeing Warbling Vireos, a pair of headed Grosbeaks (7-9) both adult and young, a Mourning Doves nesting at eye-height in the top Purple Finch and 3 young, Pine Siskins, a couple of a broken cottonwood tree, a male Downy of Western Tanagers, and a couple of Rufous Woodpecker excavating a tree cavity, throwing Hummingbirds. On a walk over west of the out sawdust as he made a new home for his church camp to take a look up the White River, mate, and a pair of picturesque Red-tailed Harlequin Duck were spotted, a male and 2 Hawks making lazy circles in the sky. females. We found 21 species……….a low number for this ~ Gerry & Marilyn Sorenson time of the year. Not only was the species count low, but it seemed like total numbers of birds were low. Why the relatively low number? Was it the high water with river and creeks near flood stage because of the warm weather melt? Are the birds not all back? Are they busy nest- building? Is the habitat changing? All are possi- bilities. Following is the list of the sightings for the morning: American Robin, Brown-headed Cow- bird, Tree Swallow, European Starling, Red- tailed Hawk, Canada Goose, Black-billed Magpie, Black-capped Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker, American Goldfinch, Song Sparrow, Rough- winged Swallow, Mourning Dove, Warbling Vireo, Brewers’ Blackbird, Belted Kingfisher, Red -winged Blackbird, Killdeer, House Finch, Yellow- New Woodpecker* During my many years rumped Warbler, and Cedar Waxwing. living in the Taneum, I have seen this bird Please join us on June 1st for First Saturday hawking insects like a flycatcher, but never in BirdWalk when Tom Gauron promises to find my yard and especially not this close! (about 4 more species. ft from the window!) ~ Jeb Baldi ~ Marianne Gordon *(Lewis’s Woodpecker)

Black-headed Grosbeak

photo by Diane Bullock Brewer’s Blackbird nesting in Tom & Diane’s yard. Nest with eggs spotted 2 weeks ago; chicks in the nest 5/28. photos by Tom Gauron Page 4 This & that... Hooter “THREE FROM THE TANEUM” b. Icteridae ~ Bird I.D. Quiz ~ (from Marianne Gordon) c. Cardinalidae RANGE I will identify as a, b, and c. a. All across northern states, forest edge, mountains COLOR b. West of the 100th meridian a. Yellow and black with white c. West of the 100th meridian b. Yellow and black with orange DIET c. Yellow and black with more orange. a. primarily seeds SIZE b. fruit and sugar syrup a 7.75-8.5" c. seeds, insects, berries b. 7-8.25 SONG c. 7-8.5 a. Loud cheep MIGRATION b. hick-uppy chirp a. Eruptive in big flocks to where the seeds are c. warbling song b. Short-distance migration Have you put all this together? c. Migrates to Mexico What birds are they? FAMILY a. Fringillidae (answers on bottom of page 6)

Around the West & Home Again... Returning from a 2+ week road trip around the Southwest, we plunged back into bluebird nestbox monitoring, finding that those little blue gems seem to get along just fine without us, for the most part. Some At Standing Rock, east of Colorado Rockies: Chuska Mts, NE Arizona Cinnamon Pass out on the Vantage Highway are starting 2nd clutches of eggs ~ they’re always the earliest because it’s lower and warmer there. A few tragedies (failed nests) probably because of the cool and rainy weather in mid-May, after a nice period of rather warm days. All in all, it looks like a good season, even in the burned areas, with more that the usual number of boxes occupied by bluebirds (as opposed to Tree Sparrows, House Wrens, and House Sparrows) except on Hayward Road in the area of the new wind farm buildings, where House Sparrows are moving in. The Watt Canyon Elk Fence trail is looking good with the highest percentage of bluebirds in the 9 years we’ve been checking this trail. Those older boxes are showing their age, however, prompting some creative improvisational roof repairs (photos). Flowers are out in the sunshine ~ we saw 5 species of Lomatium (desert parsley family), and 5 or 6 species of Eriogonum (buckwheat). Bitterroot are blooming, along with Kittitas Larkspur (Delphinium). Other birds around: Horned Larks, Brewer’s Blackbirds, Western Meadowlarks, a few House Wrens, Tree Swallows, Eastern & Western Kingbirds, quail, and a single female Kestrel catching some nice updrafts. After... ~ Jan Demorest Before…. The Hooter Birds on the Edge Page 5

Finding endangered birds on vacation isn’t just taken over the perimeter of Maui. That’s one of like birding back home. These are special crea- the threats: these birds need those native nectar tures – there may not be thousands more to fill -bearing trees to live. Another worry is avian your field of view next year, or 10 years from malaria which kills native birds at low elevations. now. That eventuality puts your observational We were gratified to learn that there are large drive at a higher level. This was our experience forest preserves on the northern slopes of the on a recent trip to Maui. volcano that are off-limits to people and are sur- rounded by miles of fence to exclude introduced predators (feral pigs and goats). A second confrontation with species vulnerability was our heart-warming encounters with Hawaii’s native goose, the Nene (nay-nay). These birds

We lucked onto a “private” tour of Nature Con- servancy’s Waikamoi Preserve, a patch of native forest perched on the slopes of Haleakala volcano, which dominates the island of Maui. A monthly tour had been rescheduled on short no- tice, and we were the only birders who got wind of it. Our Park Service guide led us through a evolved from grove of introduced vegetation into the heart of Canada Geese an ohia (“oh-hee-uh”) forest. This red-flowering beginning half a tree provides food for a group of honeycreepers million years – native Hawaiian birds that evolved from ago. In 1770, finches and developed curved bills for extracting Captain Cook the nectar from the flowers. We were able to found 25,000 of spot 5 endemics. The two red ones, colored like them on the Big Island, but by the 1950’s their the flowers they wild numbers were about 30. Close call! Cap- feed on, include tive breeding in England and then Hawaii has the I’iwi, with restored their numbers to about 1,500 on four its bright red, islands. They are classified as Vulnerable. curved bill We found the geese while we were staying in (photo). Two cabins and hiking around Haleakala crater. The yellow birds geese are safer from predators there, and they have various partake of both native berries (including a deli- lengths of cious native Huckleberry) and exotic grasses. curved bills also, They frequent the cabins because of the grass – and as a special and because some human beings can’t resist treat there was a silhouette view of a Crested feeding them (prohibited by park rules). We Honeycreeper – that tuft of feathers on its fore- saw them in pairs and as families, and fell in head really stands out. Of the birds we saw, love with them. On my last trip to Maui the Crested is IUCN-classified as Critically En- (1960’s), there were none to see; we hope they dangered and was once thought to be extinct; find a niche where they can expand to greater two others are Endangered and Vulnerable. numbers again. Under human influence, exotic vegetation has ~ Steve Moore Page 6 Birding, Vehicles, & Sustainability Hooter

I love birds and I love reading the but I do believe that it is essential emails about all the wonderful for us to be aware of our personal birding trips and birding in our part in the global environmental amazingly diverse county. I also crisis, to somehow include this love my grandchildren who live in significant impact to our Seattle and I drive over to visit environments in our awareness and them every week that I am not perhaps even in our birding trip working out of the state. My innate logs. Blaming others, like love of nature and my need to drive corporations, is a pretty normal way my vehicle around to do the things for humans to deal with difficult I deeply enjoy leaves me, and many of us I think, issues (both personally and collectively), but that in a deep and constant dilemma: how to live a seldom solves problems and often creates more worthwhile life and also be kind and gentle to this problems. Some simple things that I do to offset delicate planet. I have been studying and writing my consumption of fuel include: furnishing my journal articles about systemic sustainability for new (very old) home in Roslyn only with used humans on this planet for a few decades (I would items, never drive to the post office or library be very happy to send journal articles or book (even in horrible weather!), ride my bicycle chapters to anyone interested: whenever possible and minimize electricity use [email protected]); and by my research, (turn off lights and all things that have little red humans are putting about 100,000 times the or green lights like chargers and electronics and amount of carbon into the atmosphere than shut down all heat, refrigerator and water heater would be normal for our species, as one member when I go away for over a few days). Personal of the infinitely complex ecosystems of which we awareness and responsibility seem a better are a part. Those kinds of numbers are pretty approach than guilt, shame or blame to turning hard to relate to so here is another and I think the tide of the huge problems we face on the rather surprising number: a passenger vehicle planet today. I believe that each of us can and emits about 1 pound of carbon per mile of travel must do our part , whatever that is (it might just (20 pounds of carbon per gallon of gas if you get be awareness of our contribution) and however 20 miles per gallon) mostly as carbon dioxide. small that might seem. I am grateful for all that That’s a lot of carbon! So here is the dilemma Kittitas Audubon does to promote conservation which I and, I think, all of us as conservationists and would love to see what others are doing to face daily: how do we relate to the fact that we offset consumption in the pages of the Hooter. are putting a pound of carbon into the ~ Larry Hobbs atmosphere per mile we drive our automobiles (be that for work, visiting family, shopping or Editor’s note: The Hooter welcomes your birding)? I personally don’t think that guilt and response to Larry’s invitation to share ways in shame are a very good answer to that question which others are actively offsetting consumption.

Chelan Ridge Hawk Migration Festival 2013 ~ September 14th, 2013 Thanks to Join the Methow Valley Ranger District, North Central Washington Audubon Society, and HawkWatch Interna- Renewing tional this fall for the fourth annual Chelan Ridge Hawk Migration Festival! This family event combines free activities in Pateros Memorial Members: Park with trips to the Chelan Ridge site to learn about and celebrate raptors as they journey to winter territories. The festival takes place in Pateros Memorial Jim Briggs Park and will have vendors, live raptors, birding field trips, and projects for kids. The trip to and from Chelan Ridge lasts 4 hours and includes seeing raptors as they are banded and released. Pre-registration is required. Jeri Prater

More information and on-line registration will be available beginning June 15th at www.ncwaudubon.org. Mark Benedict

Pateros, WA (City Park), Saturday, September 14, 2013; 8:00 am – 3:00 p.m.

answers: GAME ID ***BIRD Grosbeak headed - Black c. Oriole Bullock's b. Grosbeak Evening a. Hooter Membership & other news! Page 7 GET “THE Check out BirdKitt!! HOOTER” ONLINE Get the latest news on bird sightings in Kittitas County from our very Save paper, printing, own regional “BirdKitt”, an online “listserve” for all persons inter- postage. If you would ested in bird sightings in Kittitas County. You can post your own prefer to receive the sightings and sign on to have new postings sent directly to your email address. electronic version, send your name, mailing address, & If you are not already signed up, here’s how to do it: send an email email address to: to [email protected] . Reply to the first email about Bird- kitt that you receive from “yahoogroups”. To unsubscribe: send email [email protected] to birdkitt- [email protected] . If you have difficulty, At the beginning of each month, contact Chris Caviezel [email protected] we’ll send you an email with a quick This is a great resource for finding places link to the new Hooter. to look for birds in the valley.

BECOME A KITTITAS AUDUBON MEMBER!! (Or renew your membership) Receive The Hooter ~ help support education and conservation activities and projects!

OPTION 1: Membership in National Audubon includes a subscription to the magazine, Audubon, membership in the local chapter (KAS), and KAS monthly newsletter, THE HOOTER ____ Join as a new National Audubon member $20 (includes KAS membership) ____ Renew a National Audubon membership $35 Make check payable to: National Audubon Society Include this form and mail to: Membership Data Center, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 Name ______Address ______City ______State, ZIP ______Chapter Code COZY220Z

OPTION 2: Membership in only the local chapter, KAS, includes the monthly newsletter, THE HOOTER ____ Join the local Kittitas Audubon Society (KAS) chapter $20 ____ Renew your KAS membership $20 ____ Make a donation to KAS $______(amount) Make check payable to KAS and mail to: KAS, P.O. Box 1443, Ellensburg, WA 98926 Name ______Phone ______Address ______Cell ______City ______Email ______

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Kittitas Audubon is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational society. All memberships and donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. Membership forms are also available on our Web site: Kittitasaudubon.org. For membership information contact Membership Chair, Tuck Forsythe ~ [email protected] Upcoming KAS Field Trips

June overhead. Deb Essman, leader; please call 509- 968-4532. 16th ~ Saturday ~ Bluebird Trail Monitoring. Mountain and Western Bluebird chicks are grow- July ing their feathers in the nestboxes, and some 6th ~ Saturday ~ First Saturday Birdwalk, nests already have a second hatching. Come see Rinehart Park. A summer morning chance to how we check on the lives of bird families in each see birds that nest in the Rinehart woods: pe- of a few dozen roadside boxes - either on Van- wees, killdeers, ospreys, waxwings, woodpeckers tage highway or up Hayward Hill. Both areas are and swallows. Meet at the Irene Rinehart river- doing well despite the 2012 fire. The nestbox trail side parking lot off of Umptanum Rd at 8 AM. Jeb is monitored by car, with short walks to a series and Gloria Baldi lead; 933-1558 for info. of boxes. Trip limit 2 cars. Half-day trip starts at 8 am; call Steve & Jan, 933-1179. 20th ~ Saturday ~ Discovery Trail. The 2-3/4 mile nature loop trail through the woods on Ble- 29th ~ Saturday ~ Sage Steppe to Columbia wett Pass is a chance to spot some forest-nesting River. Explore our iconic habitat and see Sage birds and their fledglings. We’re also curious to Thrashers, Brewer’s Sparrows, and Mountain see the part of the trail that was burned in 2012; Bluebirds nesting along the Vantage Highway. has that affected bird presence? Steve & Jan Includes a special search for Burrowing Owls, and lead; please call 509-933-1179 for plans. we can expect other brushy birds and raptors

THANKS TO KITTITAS COUNTY BUSINESSES SUPPORTING KAS! Inland Internet, Roslyn, donates Internet service for our Website: http://www.kittitasaudubon.org Old Mill Country Store, Ellensburg ~ Provides a discount on bird seed to KAS members and prints our county bird lists. Get your bird seed here!

Kittitas Audubon P.O. Box 1443 Ellensburg WA 98926

The mission of Kittitas Audubon is to develop an appreciation of nature through education and conservation, with a focus on birds.

The Hooter - June/July 2013 The Newsletter of Kittitas Audubon - http://www.kittitasaudubon.org