North Coast Diaries

Saddle Mt State Park, Clatsop Co

I hiked up Saddle Mountain (the one in Clatsop Co.) today (May 27) hoping to get there before the Memorial Day Weekend tourists beat the place up.....

My primary mission was to find early butterflies, particularly MOSS'S ELFIN which I located with surprising ease.

Also a likely county first ACMON BLUE which wouldn't hold still for photos.

The big surprise was at the summit where 3 breeding plumage Hepburn's GRAY-CROWNED ROSY-FINCHES were hanging out. The only other rosy-finch I've seen in the county was one coming to a feeder a few years back. Not something I expected this late in May, either.

Also near the summit was a female CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD working the paintbrush. Many RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS as well, including at least 2 juveniles and a still territorial male.

Non-avian species:
Anise Swallowtail 3
Pale Swallowtail 4
Margined White 15
Spring Azure 3
ACMON BLUE 1
MOSS'S ELFIN 4
W. Meadow Fritillary 1
Painted Lady 19
skipper sp. 1
Cinnabar Moth 2

Brush Rabbit
Townsend's Chipmunk
Douglas's Squirrel
Wapiti
Northwestern Gartersnake

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):
Blue Grouse 1 [1]
Turkey Vulture 6
Calliope Hummingbird 1 [2]
Rufous Hummingbird 12 [3]
Northern Flicker 2
Pacific-slope Flycatcher 6
Warbling Vireo 2
Steller's Jay 3
Common Raven 2
Violet-green Swallow 8
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 2
Brown Creeper 2
Winter Wren 5
American Dipper 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 10
Swainson's Thrush 3
American Robin 4
Varied Thrush 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Black-throated Gray Warbler 3
Hermit Warbler 1
Wilson's Warbler 6
Western Tanager 1
White-crowned Sparrow 6
Dark-eyed Junco 8
Black-headed Grosbeak 1
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch 3 [4]
Evening Grosbeak 2

Footnotes:

[1] calling near the parking lot
[2] near the top; female, small, short-billed, short, squared off tail.
[3] probably an under count, at least one male and a couple definite juvies
[4] First seen in the gravelly area at the summit, then later on the back side feeding on the viewpoint trail.

Total number of species seen: 28

Grampa Swainson

We caught a SWAINSON'S THRUSH today at the Neawanna Banding Station, originally banded in May of 1999 as an adult. That makes it at least 7 years old.

Also a significant movement of PAINTED LADIES theis morning in the unseasonably warm weather. (65°F this morning at 06:30; 91°F on my porch at 17:30).

In anticipation of a few sunny days

The sun was out full force today after at least two weeks of below normal temperatures and record rainfall. The weather forecast is calling for near record temperatures and sunny weather pretty much through the Memorial Day weekend. Most birders in Oregon will be headed off to eastern Oregon and the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for 3-4 days of eastern vagrants and Great Basin specialties. Me? I'll be going to my daughter's dance recital and doing some butterfly censusing.

But to be honest, I'd rather be at Malheur...

Speaking of butterflies, the OCHRE RINGLETS have finally emerged and they've awakened to an amazing display of flowers, all brought on by the late rains. I did a count on the Clatsop Plains near Gearhart yesterday and was astounded by the lush floral array: Westerrn Buttercup, Field Chickweed, Blue Violets.

And I hope to get up to Saddle Mountain before the weekend "hikers" trash the place.

Go, and sin no more

He that is without sin among you, let him cast a first stone...
                                                           -John 8:7

You can tell the weather's been bad around here the past week or so. Oregon Birders OnLine has now gone through the "what to report thread", the "birding access" thread and now the "why hunters are/are not evil" thread.

I am not a hunter; never have been. Neither was my dad. The one time he went out with some friends hunting, he came home with a Barn Owl. We took a stab at fishing, but neither my dad nor I had the temperament for it. My younger brother, however, is a hunter and a fisherman. I know many hunters and while I have misgivings about killing stuff just for recreation, I absolutely get hunting for food and see value in some forms of hunting as a means of population control (though I believe other large carnivores do a better job from a natural selection perspective). I would even say that on average, most hunters are conscientious, law abiding citizens.

I've seen my share of hunter transgressions and I've heard about even more. I've also heard the rationalizations from "good" hunters about "slob" hunters and ethics, but I've never met a "slob" hunter who identified himself as such. All hunters, even the poachers and egregious lawbreakers call themselves "good" hunters. When there's a conflict, it's the rules that are unreasonable, not the hunter's behaviors.

But I don't really want to dwell on hunters, because I can take the above paragraph and exchange "hunter" with "birder" and still be able to stand by the sentiment.

The American Birding Association has a code of ethics which is worth reviewing. Am I as good a birder as I could be?

In my younger days, I played fast and loose with the rules surrounding birder ethics. I hopped more than one posted fence. I have 8 stitches in my right leg from the time I failed to out run a large German Shepherd while I was trespassing on private property. I probably pushed the limits on stressing one or two birds while trying to get a photograph. And I was probably not always as nice as I could have been to those I perceived as my lessers. I can't say that I ever trampled anyones flower bed. I've never deliberately run off a bird so others couldn't tick it. I've never lied about what I saw or made anything up. And I can say with confidence that all the birds on my life-list pass a 95% certainty rule.

We live in a time when personal accountablility seems in short supply and finding fault in other has become a national pasttime. I am not perfect. Perfection is unattainable. But I do try to set a better example than I might have back in the day when I actually stood a chance in out running a German Shepherd.

Ethical behavior begins with the man in the mirror.

The Unchasables

Startling revelations this week as result of the discussion surrounding an unchasable GARGANEY in Linn Co. It seems that several rare species have gone unreported this spring because of access issues. I have expounded upon my own ambivalence about chasing in previous essays, so those who follow this blog know my heart is pure....

The Garganey was unchasable because it was found on a municipal sewage pond. The rules regarding access to sewage ponds vary from community to community and from manager to manager. The restrictions usually center around liability issues. This particular sewage pond is one for which access is near zero. The other three unreported rarities were on private property. In each of these cases the property owners were concerned about being overrun by twitchers. It is my view that in all four cases the restrictions were valid and quibbling does nothing but make birders look petulant and self-centered.

The other three unchasable species were a CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR which is now nearly annual on the Oregon Coast in the fall, so mostly a county rarity, an EASTERN PHOEBE which is rare, but increasing in frequency and a CRESTED CARACARA. The caracara is the major rarity and the bird worth focusing on. I suspect that caracaras are at the front edge of a range expansion and in 10 years no one will think much of seeing one in Oregon. Such has been the case with White-tailed Kites, Red-shouldered Hawks, Black Phoebes and Anna's Hummingbirds. But right now, this is only the second or third documented state record and it's a big deal to some.

The caracara was seen for several days feasting on sheep carcasses. The property owner was adamant about not allowing visitors. It was even suggested to him that he might charge $50 a peek, but he wouldn't have it. I personally don't blame him. I don't believe any birder has an inherent right to see birds. I don't believe birders are any more special, or responsible, or righteous than other folks. Getting the bird documented is sufficient and the property owner is capable of that.

So how come a select few beyond the property owner and a couple local birders got to see it?

Aye, there's the rub.

This is, I think, the number one reason why this whole inaccessible birds thread is so rancorous and I also think it's the real reason why some are shy about reporting unchasable rarities in real time. It's not about the property owners, most people get over that. It's about "how come you got to see it and I can't" issues. We have a few birders who believe it's their right to see every bird that comes into the state. Some of them have the influence to get to see a bird, usually under the banner of records documentation, even though adequate documentation has already been taken care of.

It's not really fair. Records documentation does not require a team of "experts" driving down from Portland. It's all about exploiting position to get special access. It probably does nothing positive for the images these self-selected individuals among other birders. And the resulting need for secrecy robs the rest of us of real-time information.

Had I known about the caracara, I would not have gone to chase it. I've seen them in Texas and Costa Rica It's only a matter of time before I see one in Oregon (unless I get hit by a bus or something). I have followed up on local rarity reports for individuals who did not want their locations revealed and have always reported them as such in a timely manner. I have also turned down invitations to come see birds, already documented by others, in places with restricted access. My reputation (such as it is) is all I have and I choose to err on the side of egalitarianism.

Another lost angel?

Call it Stint Fever. Call it the Asian Flew. Call it being under the influence of Malheur. Sometimes the stress of finding (or expecting to find) something rare or interesting gets to be too great and a birder snaps. Most birders have been there. It seems to be worse right after something truely rare has turned up. The reference to stints speaks to this. The number of Long-toed Stint reports always seems greatest around the time the one or two annual Red-necked Stints appear in July and August along the West Coast.

So it shouldn't be surprising that after the mother of all megararities was announced a few weeks ago that hysteria begins to set in.

Today on ID-frontiers comes a report of a possible female BACHMAN'S WARBLER photographed in Cuba. back in 2002. Plausible, but unlikely. The last reliable report of a Bachman's Warbler was from 1962 in South Carolina. The species wintered pretty much exclusively in Cuba. It is presumed extinct and unlike the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, no significant stretches of habitat remain.

There is video, but it hasn't been posted, yet.

Stay tuned.

A rare breed

The human need to create hobbies around the celebration of rarity is a strange one. The compulsion to attach value to diamonds, antique furniture or rare animals has sparked many a battle. And the tendency for some to become irrational over these rare things has led to the need to set boundaries to protect property and habitats. We saw a recent example of this with the rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The folks who re-found it felt obliged to withhold the announcement for at least a year out of concern over the rarity seekers. An inevitable secondary effect of rarity finding is the ripple of other rarities reports that follow, both real and imagined.

One form of the ripple effect is the well documented Patagonia phenomenon. The Patagonia rest stop in Arizona is routinely visited by birders in part, because it's a rest stop. The increased use by birders results in better coverage, so things get found. Those found species attract more birders, increasing the coverage even more and more interesting things get found. The Patagonia rest stop is probably not any more special than other spots in Arizona. What makes it a hot spot are access and advertisement.

Access and advertisement are routine topics of discussion among birders. Not every bird turns up in a place with access and so the question of advertising becomes a legitimate and often contentious issue. The semiannual, what-to-post-on-the-listserve debate fired up yesterday over an unchasable GARGANEY in Linn Co. There is a subset of the birding community that seems to feel that the only reports that matter are those with access. All others, essentially, don't exist and shouldn't be reported, because they can't be chased. There are also people who choose not to report rare species when accessibility is an issue, for fear of having sensitive sites overrun by birders.

There are legitimate reasons to withhold information, Ivory-billed Woodpeckers being a case in point. But birders live under a big tent and the value of knowing about unaccessible birds is significant. In many cases, the appearance of a rare species speaks to a larger trend which makes the most sense when taken with the whole of other reports. These trends can be very hard to see if some information is delayed or excluded over access issues.

For example, last fall (2004) there was a remarkable fallout of fairly rare eastern warblers in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Taken singly they don't mean much, because there are always a few seen in the fall. This was substantial however, many were unchasable and a few lingered well into the winter season.

These patterns are certainly of interest to biogeographers, but they also provide useful information to the rarities chasing hobbiest. Most of us probably live in a place like the Patagonia Rest stop in Arizona. We just don't know it. It's often just a matter of knowing when to look and a willingness to recognize and appreciate what is rare and special in our own backyards instead of chasing off to some else's Patagonia.

April lowdown

Early arrivals noted for WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE and YELLOW WARBLER. Other typical April migrants were more or less on time.

I had reports of a pair of BARRED OWLS in the Irving Forest, Astoria. I have been unable to locate them though I've made several attempts.

I also received and as yet unconfirmed report of TRI-COLORED BLACKBIRDS at Brownsmead. It seems unlikely, but the species has been doing some impressive range expanding in the last few years.

A TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE at Coxcomb Hill was notable (as were several seen on the Long Beach Penisula). I also got lucking and stumbled on what was most likely a SORA migration at Astoria Mitigation Bank. Usually, we se see or hear one or two in any given year, but I heard at least 7 in the last week of April.