The Prairie Owl

Palouse Audubon Society

VOLUME 42 ISSUE 3

December 2013—January 2014

PALOUSE AUDUBON

President: Ron Force, ron-force@gmail.com, 208-874-3207 Vice President: Marie Dym-koski, mariedymkoski@msn.com, (509)595-1650 Secretary: Diane Weber, 509-334-3817, cat-birdz@roadrunner.com Treasurer: Lavon Frazier, 509-595-1913, lavon_frazier@roadrunner.com Board Members: Tim Hillebrand, 208-310-1341, tshphd@gmail.com; Jim Storms, 509-635-1272, nbutte@pullman.com; Marie Dymkoski, 509-595-1650, Marie-Dymkoski@msn.com; Becky Phillips, beccap22@gmail.com, 509-339-6277; Paul Schroeder, 509-334-2470, schroe-de2003@yahoo.com; Kerry Little-field-425-583-6287; little-fieldka@gmail.com Membership: Ron Force, 208-874-3207, ronforce@gmail.com Newsletter: Tim Hillebrand, 805-518-9612, tshphd@gmail.com Publicity: Diane Weber, 509-334-3817, catbirdz@roadrunner.com Conservation Committee: Mike Costa, 509-332-1793 ma-jcosta@live.com

Field Trips: Vacant

EVENT CALENDAR December 3 Board Meeting December 14 Christmas Bird Count for Pullman-Moscow December 15-Lewiston-Clarkston December 20-Juliaetta-Lower Potlatch River February 14-17 Great Back-yard Bird Count (see website for details) Scheduled Programs-See adjacent article for details-> NO DECEMBER PROGRAM

MEETING

Happy Holidays!

Local Birds Occur

in Australia too by Paul Schroeder

I recently returned from an almost 3

month long visit to Australia, and much

of this time was spent birding. Although

most of the birds are quite different from

our familiar locals, I was somewhat sur-

prised to see some familiar birds which

may also be readily found in the state of

Washington. These fall into three cate-

gories: those whose range extends from

here to Australia (and much of the rest of

the globe), long-distance migrants which

occur seasonally, and common European

species which have been introduced to

both continents.

I was really surprised to find that os-

preys occur in Australia. They look iden-

tical and are given the same scientific

name in field guides for both areas. They

are not infrequent in the right habitats

in both Australia, where they are mostly

coastal, and in the Pacific Northwest.

(Inland Australia is pretty dry.)

The Great Egret occurs throughout Aus-

tralia, though it too is most abundant on

the coast. I also saw this species on the

island of Bali, in Indonesia. In addition

PAS Scheduled Programs

January 15: State of the Birds 2013: Re-port on private lands February 19: Climate and fire shaping evolution in Australian Fairy Wrens (Douglas Barron) March 19: Feathered Architects: Birds and their nests January 15 Meeting: State of the Birds 2013 : Report on Private Lands

The fourth State of the Birds report

highlights the enormous contributions

private landowners make to bird and

habitat conservation, and describes op-

portunities for increased contributions.

Roughly 60% of the land area in the

U.S. is privately owned by millions of

individuals, families, organizations,

and corporations, including 2 million

ranchers and farmers and about 10 mil-

lion woodland owners. Private lands are

used by virtually all of the terrestrial

and coastal birds of the US and more

than 100 bird species have more than

50 percent of their distribution on pri-

vate lands.

The report shows that important

breeding, migratory and wintering bird

habitat is located on private working

lands that produce food, fiber and en-

ergy for the U.S. The result of the re-

port emphasizes the high dependence

on private lands among grassland, wet-

land and eastern forest birds, with im-

portant conservation opportunities ex-

isting in all habitats.

Many conservation programs avail-

able to private landowners offer win-

win opportunities to implement land

management practices that benefit

birds and landowners. Furthermore, as

society requires more production (food,

timber, energy) from private lands, con-

Great Egrets

From the Prez

VOLUME 42 ISSUE 3 THE PRAIRIE OWL PAGE 2

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includes an annual subscription to THE PRAIRIE OWL newsletter.

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Australia continued

Congratulations to Ann Bershaw of Clarkston!

Ann won The Sibley Guide to Birds book. Her name was drawn

from all members who paid their dues by October 15.

.

our home. I hope as many as pos-

sible can participate in the

Christmas Bird Count on Decem-

ber 14-- see Marie’s announce-

ment elsewhere in the newslet-

ter. If you can’t get out, think

about participating in the Great

Backyard Bird Count

http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/.

It’ll be held Friday, February 14,

through Monday, February 17,

2014.

Thanks to all of you how have

renewed their local membership,

and a big “Thanks” to those who

included an additional donation

to the work of the Chapter. Local

dues are due no later than the

end of December. Renew now to

ensure you get the next newslet-

ter.

Ron Force

the northwest corner of Australia.

This is a major gathering site for

migratory shorebirds, most of

which migrate to and from Siberia,

so I would guess that these come

from the Siberian population men-

tioned by Sibley in his field guides.

The same would apply to the Bar-

tailed Godwit, common in Austra-

lia, but only in Alaska in North

America. Other overlapping spe-

cies included Red Knot, Ruddy

Turnstone, Red-necked Stint and

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. I saw all

of these at Roebuck Bay, but there

are still more shorebirds, especially

some that only show up sporadi-

cally in Australia.

Since both Australia and North

America were settled by English-

men and other Europeans, it is

hardly surprising to find our com-

mon House Sparrow in much of

Eastern Australia; and the very

first bird I saw when I arrived in

Australia for the first time was a

European Starling, which are

abundant in places. That was a bit

disappointing for me at that mo-

ment, but true Australian birds

appeared soon thereafter. These

distribution overlaps hardly mean

that bird watching in Australia is

boring. Even these birds are more

interesting in their new context

and Australia boasts a bird list of

over 700 species. I hope you get a

chance to go sometime!

Red Knot and Ruddy Turnstone

Sharp Tailed Sandpiper

It’s time to redi-

rect our attention

from big bird on the

table (Turkey) to

the birds outside

PAGE 3 THE PRAIRIE OWL VOLUME 42 ISSUE 3

Blue Jays by Tim Hillebrand

I grew up in Santa Barbara where there was an abun-

dance of Scrub Jays. Out on the Channel Islands off the

coast there is a sub-species call Island Jays. Up in the

mountains there are Stellar’s Jays along with Gray Jays

and Clark’s Nutcrackers. I missed the Scrub Jays after

moving to Idaho. But recently there are numerous re-

ports of Eastern Blue Jay sightings in Idaho. Wait a

minute, they are supposed to exist only east of the Rocky

Mountains. Where are they coming from?

If you check out the distribution map, you will notice

that they are in the east but they also range up into Al-

berta and British Columbia. There is a thin, blue line of

them down Washington, across Oregon, and in Southern

Idaho. So a reasonable assumption is that the ones

sighted in our area are coming up from Southern Idaho.

But they could just as easily be pushing in from Western

Montana where they exist year round.

There are three subspecies of Blue Jays in North Amer-

ica:

Cyanocitta cristata bromia is a somewhat migratory bird

that breeds from central Alberta and British Columbia

through northeast Nebraska to Newfoundland and down

to south-central Virginia. It winters from Louisiana

through northern Florida.

Cyanocitta cristata cynotephia can be found during

breeding season in southeast Wyoming to New Mexico

and from Nebraska to south Texas. It winters in these

areas as well with some movement into the southern

portions of the range for winter.

Cyanocitta cristata cristata ranges from southern Illinois

to southeast Texas across to Florida to southwest Vir-

ginia for both breeding and winter seasons.

It can be difficult to differentiate these subspecies and

the young are virtually identical. Considering the closer

proximity of C.c. bromia to Idaho, this would be the ex-

pected critters that are invading our feeders. Bromias

are the largest of the three subspecies and they are

darker blue than the others.

On a recent episode of The Big Bang Theory (one of my

favorite TV shows because I used to live just down the

street from CalTech where the show is set) Sheldon is

terrified by a Blue Jay on his window ledge. Feeling very

superior, I proclaimed there was no way such a bird

would be in Pasadena, California. Well now, I may have

to take that back with my tail between my legs because I

have read reports of Blue Jays being sighted in Southern

California as well as Colorado and Utah.

I found a report that in 2004, 319 individual Blue Jay

sightings were recorded for Idaho. But I was unable to

find any reliable data for more recent years. In any case,

I welcome them, but I have yet to see one. If anyone

spies one, please give me a call; I’ll be right over. It

would really be cool to have a Terry Gray day and wit-

ness a whole scold of Jays that included a Blue Jay,

Grey Jay, Clark’s Nutcracker, and a Stellar Jay. I sup-

pose the party would be all the better if some cousins

were invited and included Crows, Ravens, and Magpies

for a real scold of corvids. Hey why not invite some Yel-

low Billed Magpies and Mocking Birds too? Might as

well include the green and brown jays as well.

My father used to entertain himself by creating a

trail of peanuts from the patio through the open kitchen

door and up onto the kitchen counter where he would

sit and have coffee in the morning. Rascally Scrub Jays

would follow the trail fearlessly and end up on the

kitchen counter. This is what I’d like to do with any

Blue Jays in my yard.

By the way, where did the phrase, “Naked as a Jay

Bird” come from?

Blue Jay in Terry Gray’s back yard

Blue Jay on Quarry Hill, Latah County. What sub-

species?

PAGE 4 VOLUME 42 ISSUE 3

January 15 Program continued

THE PRAIRIE OWL

expanded across our nation's varied landscapes, so

landowners are empowered to choose conservation

tools that fit best and serve everyone's best interest—

landowners, fellow citizens, and birds.

Our speaker, Jocelyn Aycrigg is Conservation Bi-

ologist for the Gap Analysis Program at the Univer-

sity of Idaho and science team member for the State

of the Birds report in 2011 and 2013.

On January 15, 2014, she will present an overview

of the results of this report at 7:30 pm in the Fiske

Room, Moscow’s 1912 Center.

New Palouse Audubon Website

The new Palouse Audubon Website has launched and is

up and running. The new site is much improved over

the old one, with information easy to find under "tabs"

including About Us, Activities & Events, Birding, and

Citizen Science. It has a page devoted to links to other

Resources, a page for all digital issues of the Prairie

Owl Newsletter, and a page for Photos. All the content

from the old site has been brought forward to the new

site, with quite a bit of new and helpful information

added. Thanks to board members Becky Phillips, Ron

Force, Mike Costa, Marie Dymkoski, and Lavon Frazier

for their work on this. The website is being built by Bo

Ossinger, owner of Netpalouse Web Services in Palouse.

www.palouseaudubon.org

In 1900, American ornithologist Frank Chapman asked birders across North America to head out on Christmas Day to count the birds in their home towns and submit the results as the first "Christmas Bird Census." The Christmas Bird Count, as it is now called, is conducted in over 2000 localities across Canada, the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. These bird observations have been amassed into a huge database that reflects the distribution and numbers of winter birds over time.

The Palouse Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count will be conducted on Saturday, December 14th. To participate, contact Kas Dumroese kas.birder@gmail.com for the Idaho count.

Contact Marie Dymkoski marie-dymkoski@msn.com to participate on the Washing-ton side.

A map and more information about the count can be found on the new PAS website at www.palouseaudubon.org

As well as adding an exciting and fun event to the holiday season, the Christmas Bird Count provides important infor-mation for bird conservation.

Christmas Bird Count

Very few Bald Eagles have shown up so far at Wolf’

Lodge Bay on Lake Coeur d’Alene. Normally from

November to March there is an abundance of Bald

Eagles that make a popular wild-life viewing attrac-

tion.

The eagles are attracted by the spawning Ko-

kanee in the bay. Bureau of Land Management bi-

ologist Carrie Hugo says that the kokanee are about

normal. So where are the eagles?

So far only two or three have shown up. Nor-

mally there are at least a couple hundred. The re-

cord was 273 in 2011.

The eagles seem to be hanging out up at Lake

Pend Oreille and on Granite Creek spawning area.

Maybe they will show up later if there really are

plenty of kokanee. I hope so because it has become

an annual event for me, and I wouldn’t want to miss

it. Let’s keep each other informed. If you hear there

are eagles, put it on our Facebook page or post it on

the list serve. I can’t imagine a winter without ea-

gles. It’s one of the highlights.

The Eagle Hasn’t Landed by Tim Hillebrand

PAGE 5

THE PRAIRIE OWL VOLUME 42 ISSUE 3

MEMBERSHIP

Palouse Audubon Society (PAS), PO Box 3606, Moscow ID

83843-1914, is a chapter of the National Audubon Society (NAS)

with its own dues. New NAS members in our chapter area receive

one year’s free membership in PAS, along with the chapter news-

letter and other benefits of membership.

PAS dues of $15 are payable in September. Members may re-

ceive the chapter newsletter, The Prairie Owl, either by mail or

by email notification of its posting on the chapter’s website. Mem-

bers are encouraged to read the newsletter online to save printing

and postage expenses. PAS members who have not renewed and

NAS members who have not paid dues after one year of member-

ship are removed from the newsletter distribution list on Decem-

ber 31st.

General membership meetings are held at the 1912 Building,

FISKE ROOM, 3rd and Adams St, Moscow ID, at 7:30 p.m. on the

third Wednesday of each month, September through May. The

board of directors meets at the 1912 Center at 7:30 p.m. on the

first Tuesday of each month.

The Prairie Owl is published every other month, August

through April. Material for the Owl should be sent to the editor,

Tim Hillebrand, 857 Orchard Ave., Moscow ID 83843, 805-518-

9612, tshphd@gmail.com by the 20th of the month. Subscription

problems should be addressed to the membership chair, Ron

Force, PO Box 3606, Moscow ID 83843-1914, 208-874-3207, ron-

force@gmail.com. Visit the Palouse Audubon Society website at

http://www.palouseaudubon.org/ or find us on Facebook.

MEET THE BOARD

Jim Storms

Wingtips

Collective nouns for Blue Jays: band, cast, party, scold.

Beginning Birding Class

Look for the announcement of a beginning

birding class this coming spring.

Someone gave my brother-in-law an Audubon clock

that had bird songs for each hour. I thought that

was neat. Sometime later I came across an adver-

tisement for membership in the National Audubon

Society (NAS) that offered the same, I thought, clock.

I am always open for “free” offers and sent in my

money. I did not realize how things worked and soon

I received the clock and a little later a newsletter for

the Palouse Audubon Society (PAS). OK, good, there

is a local group! The clock, however, was silent.

There are, or were, two versions of the Audubon

Clock – one silent and one with recorded songs.

In the newsletter was an article stating that PAS

was seeking an individual to work on membership

and mailing labels. I convinced Diane Weber to let

me try to help.

I knew I could do the job as I had earned my com-

puter skills on mailing lists, membership reports,

and printed labels for the Inland Empire Christmas

Tree Association (IECTA). I studied other programs

to figure out how they programmed the software to

get the format that was needed. I hacked and tested

until I had the templates I needed for each user.

Since I controlled the mailing list it was a short step

to being Membership Chairman, another to Treas-

urer, and over 30 years I have held all of the offices

with IECTA.

My membership in IECTA was important to my part

time business as a Christmas tree grower. Christmas

tree and wreath season is in a nasty time of year; I am

not as fond of snow, rain, wind, and cold as when I was

younger!

It was my pleasure to work with Tom Weber in the

construction, assembly and installation of the Ferrugi-

nous Hawk Nesting Platform that was completed in

2012 near Lacrosse, WA. I am currently involved in a

similar project to be installed near Winona, WA.

My PAS position on the Board is “Member at Large”. I

think they keep me involved to provide a corporate

memory.

Primary Business Address

Your Address Line 2

Your Address Line 3

Your Address Line 4

PALOUSE AUDUBON SOCIETY

.

We’re on the Web:

www.palouseaudubon.org

and on Facebook

PALOUSE AUDUBON SOCIETY

NOW IS THE TIME TO HONE YOUR

SHOREBIRD ID SKILLS

Palouse Audubon Society

PO Box 3606

Moscow ID 83843-1914

The mission of the Palouse Audubon

Society is to promote education,

conservation, and the restoration of

natural ecosystems--focusing on

birds, other wildlife, and their

habitats--for the benefit of humanity

and the Earth's biological diversity

Ornithologists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

have been studying bird caching behavior for several

years now using transponder tags to track individual

feeding behavior. More birds do it than you may think.

They found that during peak caching season, an indi-

vidual bird may visit the same feeder up to 200 times a

day and hide their food for consumption later. We cer-

tainly know about Acorn Woodpeckers. Blue Jays also

cache their food but unlike squirrels who do it near the

source, Jays may fly far afield to stash their cache thus

spreading forests in the process.

If you want to have some fun this winter, consider

putting out some nuts for birds to store and acquiring

some special feeders for this purpose.

The only problem I have is that the squirrels would

get it all, and that would be the end of it. The best

known birds for caching include jays, chickadess, nut-

hatches, woodpeckers, magpies, crows, and ravens.

Should you wish to treat your birds to some winter

delights, put out sunflower seeds, peanuts, pine nuts,

and acorns. Look at some of the feeders online for spe-

cial seed and nut feeds. Try Amazon.com or Wild Birds

Unlimited.

If you’ve never seen the work of an Acorn Wood-

pecker, it is something to behold. They will completely

riddle the side of a barn, fence posts, telephone poles,

trees or just about anything made of wood, but they are

very efficient hoarders.

Cache and Carry by Tim Hillebrand