RARITY FOCUS
A Red-flanked Bluetail – an Old-World chat – was photographed in Lake Forest Park, Washington, on 17 March. The homeowner did not wish to share the exact address, but encouraged birders to check the general locality in the Sheridan Park neighborhood.
The Red-flanked Bluetail typically breeds in the Old World from Finland across central and southern Russia and the Kamchatka Peninsula into northern China and Japan, and winters southward into southeast Asia. Most North American records of this East Asian chat are from the outer edges of Alaska where the species is almost annual around the Bering Sea, although there is also a small handful of records from British Columbia through California.
This individual was only the third Red-flanked Bluetail record for Washington, and it may very well have overwintered in the area. The first state record was of a bird in Whatcom County that stayed for about nine days in March-April 2015; the second was a specimen picked up below a window in December 2015 at Lopez Island in San Juan County.
This most recent Lake Forest Park bird was fairly obliging, remaining almost until the end of March. A delightful narrative and accompanying photos can be found here, written by the bird’s discoverer, Nancy Morrison:
ACCESS MATTERS: CROWD CONTROL
When Nancy Morrison’s visiting Red-flanked Bluetail was identified, her neighborhood was almost overrun with over-eager birders. The scene was so bad that the Red-flanked Bluetail left Morrison’s yard for two days. In her words, “The main problem was that folks were trying to get a view into my back yard, so they entered my neighbor's yard (with permission) and flocked to the back fence.” Alas, the bird was frightened off. Accordingly, Morrison asked her neighbor to deny access to her back yard, and the Red-flanked Bluetail returned. A working solution developed; Morrison set up a viewing area by her side yard, a safe distance from her back fence and with a clear yet narrow view of the bird’s favorite backyard foraging areas.
In her words, it was a win-win experience, and she put up a rope-barrier to keep encroachment at a minimum. This solution worked well, and Morrison thoughtfully posted an announcement of the “viewing area” with the added “rule” that once observers got a view of the bird that they should make room for those who had not yet seen it.
This sort of thoughtful planning helps everyone and has worked before in certain similar situations. This is a fine example of why it should be emulated when possible, and also how it can serve as a model for providing gratifying access and viewing opportunity, while at the same time keeping homeowners happy.
IBA NEWS: GREAT SALT LAKE ANNIVERSARY
The Great Salt Lake in Utah is a significant Important Bird Area (IBA), since no less than five major bays on the lake (i.e., Farmington, Ogden, Bear River, Gilbert [or South Arm] and Gunnison [or North Arm]) are considered IBAs unto themselves.
That also goes for the lake’s dual status as a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site. Indeed, the lake achieved that status 31 years ago last month, in March of 1991. See here:
Gradations of salinity within the five major bays vary from freshwater areas to zones twice as salty as the ocean. While fish and most other aquatic organisms cannot survive in the salty areas of the lake, two invertebrate halophiles (able to survive in high salt concentrations), brine shrimp and brine flies, can flourish in the saltwater ecosystem. Taken as a whole, the lake provides a haven for many shorebird species.
There have been peak counts of over 1.4 million shorebirds using Great Salt Lake as breeding and staging areas. Wilson’s Phalaropes during fall migration can exceed 500,000, which is 30% of the global population. And as many as 250,000 American Avocets and 65,000 Black-necked Stilts also stage on the shores of Great Salt Lake. Individually, each of these species could qualify Great Salt Lake as a WHSRN Hemispheric Site, but several other shorebird species also spend time at Great Salt Lake in large numbers: Snowy Plover (5,500), Marbled Godwit (44,000), Western Sandpiper (190,000), Long-billed Dowitcher (59,000), and Red-necked Phalarope (240,000).
All this is significant, since the status of saline lake conservation is among concerns in the budget items that Congress approved in mid-March. There was an appropriation of $1.25 million dollars for the U.S. Geological Survey to establish a regional Integrated Water Availability Assessment study program in the Great Basin. The program’s immediate purpose is to assess and monitor the hydrology of saline lakes in the region along with the migratory birds and other wildlife dependent on those habitats. This modest investment could revitalize broader efforts needed to benefit birds and other salt-lake habitats. See a description of the funding and the opportunities here:
For the related IBA sites at the Great Salt Lake, see here:
For additional information about worldwide IBA programs, including those in the U.S., check the National Audubon Society's Important Bird Area program web site at:
WISDOM: A LEGACY
Last year in February and March, at more than 70 years young, “Wisdom,” the world’s oldest known Laysan Albatross and banded wild bird, was taking on the challenges of avian motherhood once again home at her home on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial.
Biologists led by Chan Robbins had first identified and banded Wisdom in 1956 after she had laid an egg, perhaps her very first egg. She herself had hatched around 1951, but possibly earlier. We last reported on Wisdom and her nesting on March of 2017:
Reports are that Wisdom has not been sighted this year, which is a situation of concern. But we know that at least one of her offspring, a chick from 2011, identified by leg-band number N333, has been sighted raising a chick of its own. N333, presumed to be a male, has been reported busy taking turns with his mate as they feed and care for Wisdom’s “grandchick”:
Indeed, while Wisdom has yet to be seen this year, we know that her lineage prevails.
BOOK NOTES: NESTING TIME
The recent addition to the “Peterson Field Guide” series, The Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests, was released late last summer, making this the first nesting season when this new guide book might get practical field use. The authors, Casey McFarland, Matthew Monjello, and David Moskowitz, have provided us a fine addition to the published bird-nesting genre.
Indeed, it was about time for a new book on the subject, and this contribution succeeds quite well. For starters, the first 55 pages are packed with vital information. Those pages include the preface, the guide to the use of the book, and two essential chapters on the subjects of classic nests, breeding behavior, evolution, nest design, materials, and construction. These 55 pages could easily stand alone, drawing attention to vital information that previous guides on the subject have treated only lightly. As such, they should be read carefully – and perhaps twice! – before diving into the thorough individual accounts – covering over 650 species - that make up the rest of the book.
These accounts are wonderfully organized and presented – most with color photos of nests with eggs or nest-sites with added details on placement. The expected material on the size of eggs, length incubation periods and nestling periods are there, but added details on the location and structure of the nests, as well as behavioral details about the nesters, are a significant supplement and enhancement to the species accounts. Especially valuable are individual nesting characteristics which may separate or distinguish species.
The disappointments in this book are few. The authors might have given us more individual details on some of the species – especially some that are marginal nesters in North America - but often that material is assumed to be covered in a generalized fashion in family/group summaries that precede individual species accounts. However, there is probably only so much space in a guide such as this, already stuffed into 500 pages!
An ongoing concern is the temptation in the field to examine nests closely, especially outside of ongoing breeding-bird surveys or studies. Such desire, and accompanying threats, are properly touched on in the book’s preface (pp. 2-3). However, with today’s added photo-simplicity – supplemented by online media and the proliferation of cellphone cameras – this activity can heighten the risk to bird nests and their survival. In a fine book on these nests, replete with delicious photos, the warning to avoid such actions might have taken on a more heightened emphasis.
This excellent guide, nevertheless, belongs in the library or backpack of every dedicated bird fan and nature devotee out there in the field at this season.
AVIAN INFLUENZA CONTINUES
In last month’s Birding Community E-bulletin, we reported on the presence and spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) being detected beyond poultry, but in wild birds, particularly among waterbirds in the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyways. See our coverage here:
By now, this highly pathogenic avian flu strain currently spreading in North America has been detected in 34 species of wild birds in 32 states in the U.S. In addition, seven provinces in Canada have also reported the flu in wild birds. This ongoing outbreak may have begun in South Carolina and also in Newfoundland and Labrador in December 2021. Since then, it has been detected in wild birds in 32 states and seven Canadian Provinces from Newfoundland to Florida and westward to North Dakota and Colorado, as well as British Columbia.
Among agencies monitoring the spread are the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative. While low-pathogenic avian flu is common among wild birds, this highly pathogenic strain is more troublesome. “This one is actually causing severe illness and death of wild birds in large numbers, which we haven’t seen previously,” said Brian Stevens, a wildlife pathologist from the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative.
Further attention to these developments is surely warranted.
LAST WORD
Finally, if you have any friends or co-workers who wish to join the monthly Birding Community E-bulletin mailing list, you can simply refer them to this link:
https://bit.ly/35Xd3hO
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You can access all the past E-bulletins on the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) website:
