Loon & Grebe Wreck on the Long Beach
Peninsula - Oct 25, 2009
This weekend Sidra and I spent some time
birding the Long Beach Peninsula from Cape Dissapointment
to Leadbetter State Park. We saw many great birds including
5 Pacific Golden Plover, 2 Eurasian Wigeon, and thousands
of American Wigeon, N. Pintail, Sanderlings, and Dunlin.
However, we were also witness to an incredible "wreck" of
loons and grebes on the peninsula. In walking ~ 2 km of
beach we located 24 Red-throated Loons, 4 Common Loons, 1
Common Murre, and 25 Western Grebes. The experience of
seeing loons and grebes, which look so graceful on the
water, waddling and flopping around on the beach was
depressing experience. The apparent cause of the wreck is a
dinoflagellate algea (Akashiwo sanguinea) bloom
that when whipped around by wave-action creates a soapy
foam that destroys the oils that waterproof their feathers.
The birds then succumb to hypothermia. The birds washed
ashore appeared "soaked" and we saw many birds apparently
affected by the algal bloom in the water within feet of
shore. In addition, we found several loons inland < 1km
on highways and in parking lots that had apparently been
able to get airborne and were either weakened by
hypothermia or the weight of their soaked feathers and
crashed. Even if the event is localized, which it appears
not to be, the shear numbers of loons, grebes, and seabirds
that will be affected or die from this event are
staggering.
A Red-throated Loon found in a parking lot near Cape
Dissapointment
A "flock" of wrecked Red-throated Loons at the North Jetty
(Cape Dissapointment)
A wrecked Common Loon.
A wrecked Western Grebe.
Wrecked grebes and loons on Benson Beach, Cape
Dissapointment
A wrecked Red-throated Loon at Leadbetter SP.
A wrecked Western Grebe becomes dinner for a
Glaucous-winged Gull.
Click here for an article on the seabird wreck
at The Oregonian.
Click here for more on the dinoflagellate algea
(Akashiwo sanguinea).
Wolves Won't Shed a Tear for
Palin - July 28, 2009
Photo by Joel Sartore
FROM ALDO LEOPOLD'S - A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC
[....] We were eating lunch
on a high rimrock, at the foot of which a turbulent river
elbowed its way. We saw what we thought was a doe fording
the torrent, her breast awash in white water. When she
climbed the bank toward us and shook out her tail, we
realized our error: it was a wolf. A half-dozen others,
evidently grown pups, sprang from the willows and all
joined in a welcoming melee of wagging tails and playful
maulings. What was literally a pile of wolves writhed and
tumbled in the center of an open flat at the foot of our
rimrock.
In those days we had never heard of passing up a chance to
kill a wolf. In a second we were pumping lead into the
pack, but with more excitement than accuracy; how to aim a
steep downhill shot is always confusing. When our rifles
were empty, the old wolf was down, and a pup was dragging a
leg into impassable side-rocks.
We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green
fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known
ever since, that there was something new to me in those
eyes—something known only to her and to the mountain. I was
young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that
because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would
mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire
die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed
with such a view.
Since then I have lived to see state after state extirpate
its wolves. I have watched the face of many a newly
wolfless mountain, and seen the south-facing slopes wrinkle
with a maze of new deer trails. I have seen every edible
bush and seedling browsed, first to anaemic desuetude, and
then to death. I have seen every edible tree defoliated to
the height of a saddlehorn. Such a mountain looks as if
someone had given God a new pruning shears, and forbidden
Him all other exercise. In the end the starved bones of the
hoped-for deer herd, dead of its own too-much, bleach with
the bones of the dead sage, or molder under the high-lined
junipers.
Ridgefield Otters - July 19, 2009
Observed a group of 6 River Otters at
Ridgefield NWR today. There were making all kinds of
grunts, growls, and whistles.
Chasing Things With Wings on Silver Star
Mountain - July 10, 2009
Spent the day chasing birds and butterflies on
the Grouse Vista trail leading up to Silver Star Mountain.
The wildflowers were truly spectacular and the butterflies
were equally amazing. Western Sulphurs and checkerspots
(both Edith's and Chalcedona) were present in impressive
numbers. We also saw numerous Clodius Parnassian
butterflies cruising the Pacific winds on the ridge. I also
saw my first Mariposa Copper!
Bird wise we heard Olive-sided and Willow Flycatchers as
well as numerous flocks of Red Crossbills. Hermit Warblers
were extremely common the earlier parts of the trail. In
the flower filled meadows we found three species of
hummingbirds (Rufous, Calliope, & Anna's) dining on the
temporary buffet.
Just a few of the 18 species of butterflies we encountered.
A vista from the Grouse Vista trail below Silver Star
Mountain.
Juvenile "Big Bird" Captured By USFWS
Personnel - July 9, 2009
USFWS biologist Sidra Blake captured this ~ 10
day old juvenile "big bird" (aka Long-billed Curlew) at the
Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon as part of her research
on habitat usage by curlew chicks. They certainly rank high
on the cuteness scale.
Approx. 10 day old Long-billed Curlew chick
Big Bird of Sesame Street issued a statement soon after the
announcement in support of current studies on "big birds"
taking place in Oregon, Nebraska, and elsewhere in the
West. The famous long-beaked bird said, "For too long the
government has ignored the needs of our species. We big
birds have rights to healthy breeding and wintering grounds
too! It is about time they look into our needs."
Big Bird has come out in support of Big Bird research.
A Tragedy in Malta - July 2, 2009
Sport hunters are decimating migratory bird
populations in Malta. They shoot anything from stilts, to
nigh-herons, to eagles. BirdLife Malta is trying to raise
awareness and hopefully bring an end to the slaughter.
Click on the picture to watch a video produced by them
spring hunting of birds in Malta. For more information on
how you can help visit BirdLife Malta's webpage at www.birdlifemalta.org
A stilt shot by Maltese "sport hunters". Photo by Jason
Raine
Ranching Ringlets - July 1, 2009
I've been raising Ochre Ringlet (aka Common
Ringlet) in the greenhouse at WSU-Vancouver as part of my
dissertation research on the effects of herbicides used in
prairie restoration and management on non-target butterfly
species. I am learning a lot about raising ringlets
including what flavors of gatorade they like to drink
(melon & fruit punch). The larvae are still very small
but growing larger everyday on a rich diet of Idaho Fescue.
Ringlet ranching facilities at WSU-Vancouver (Go Cougs!)
Ringlet eggs start off green but turn a brown/red color as
they age. If they
stay green it means they are infertile.
An ~ 12 day old ringlet caterpillar about 3 mm long.
Fendering off my caterpillar blues - June
18, 2009
Spent the day at Baskett Butte NWR counting
Fender's Blue eggs and larvae. It sure was a beautiful day
with many birds singing including Black-headed Grosbeak,
Western Tanager, Lazuli Bunting, and Western Wood-Pewee. In
addition, I could of swore I heard a Blue Grosbeak sing but
didn't think much of it until I got back and saw that they
aren't supposed to be here. That is the difficulty in
moving somewhere new. You have to learn what's rare and
what isn't.
Fender's Blue Larvae
Silvery Blue Larvae
Icecrawlers (Grylloblattidae)in the Ape
Cave - June 13, 2009
Today I visited Ape Cave in search of my first
icecrawler. Icecrawler are a rare order of cryophilic
("cold-loving) insects in the order Grylloblattidae that
can only be found in the Pacific NW, Japan, Korea, Russia,
and China. Icecrawlers are typically found in cold high
alpine environments and in ice caves and apparently lava
tubes.There are only 5 genera and 25 species currently
recognized. Undoubtedly there are undescribed species
awaiting discovery in field or in a museum somewhere.
I found several icecrawler nymphs and adults in Ape Cave, a
two mile long lava tube that you can hike through. The
whole region south of Mt. Saint Helens is covered in lava
tubes and I found icecrawlers in most of the large ones
where the temperature felt cool and the humidity was high.
I also found a number of salamanders, centipedes, and
spiders in the caves. Outside I heard numerous Hermit and
Varied Thrush as well as Hermit Warblers. It was a nice
break from butterfly ranching but I'll comment more on that
later.
A nymph icecrawler (they can take up to 7 years to reach
adulthood)
An adult icecrawler in Ape Cave
One fish, two fish, three fish, eat fish,
no fish - June 10, 2009
There is an upcoming documentary on
overfishing titled "End of Line". It will have a limited
release in the U.S. on June 12th. If you like sushi and
have a conscious then you shouldn't watch this film. If
you like sushi and don't have a conscious then you
should be fine.
The Recession is All My Parents Fault -
June 10, 2009
Barret Sheridan compares U.S. boomer
demographics with that of Japan's and the associated
changes within the economies in this Newsweek article.
For more light-hearted reading on the troubles the Baby
Boomer generation will bring us I suggest reading Boomsday
by Christopher Buckley (author of Thank You For Smoking).
Here is the synopsis taken from
Wiki:
Cassandra
Devine, "a morally superior twenty-nine-year-old PR chick"
and moonlit angry blogger incites generational warfare when
she proposes that the financially inviable Baby Boomers be
given incentives (free Botox, no estate tax) to kill
themselves at age seventy. The proposal, only meant as a
catalyst for debate on the issue, catches the approval of
millions of citizens, chief among them an ambitious
Presidential Candidate, Senator Randolph Jepperson.
With
the aide of PR guru Terry Tucker, Devine and Jepperson
attempt to ride "Voluntary Transitioning" all the way to
the White House, over the objections of the Religious Right
and the Baby Boomers, deeply offended by the demonstrations
taking place on the golf courses of their retirement
resorts.
Be Sure & Leave the Night Light On -
May 30, 2009
" Our environmental problems
originate in the hubris of imagining ourselves as the
central nervous system or the brain of nature. We're not
the brain, we are a cancer on nature." - Dave Foreman
Sprucing It Up On the Oregon Coast - May
29, 2009
Visited the Perpetua Coast of Oregon. Lots of
beautiful scenery, great birds, and awesome forests. My
favorite tree was this monster Sitka Spruce (see below).
i
15 ft diameter Sitka Spruce
& a rugby loving wood nymph
In addition, we stopped at
Mary's Peak on the way home. The meadows at the top were
teeming with hundreds of Pacific Fritillaries and the
meadows were coated in yellow and purple violets.
Pacific Fritillary at Mary's
Peak
USFWS Considers Use of Llamas In Defense
of Endangered Lupine - May 26, 2009
The federally threatened (aren't we all
federally threatened?) Kincaid's Lupine (Lupinus
sulphureus ssp. kincaidii) is found primarily in the
Willamette Valley of western Oregon. The lupine is the
primary host plant of the federally endangered Fender's
Blue Butterfly (see below). The plant is really a beautiful
plant especially when a cluster of them is in bloom.
However, on my field site where the lupine grows and llamas
graze, I noticed that the llamas were not grazing the
lupine. Which begs the question. Why? Well I did some
digging around and found that lupines contain a number of
quinolizidine and/or piperidine alkaloids. These alkaloids
can be found in the plant leaves and flowers but are
apparently most heavily concentrated in the seed pods of
the lupine. The lupine can cause a variety of neural toxic
affects and some are known to be teratogenic (causing birth
defects) which explains why ranchers and livestock
(including llamas) aren't too fond of lupines but without
them there wouldn't be those beautiful Fender's Blues.
A Kincaid's Lupine in bloom
A llama lupine guard stands watch & eyes me
suspiciously
Burrowing Owl Article "Starring Sidra" -
May 26, 2009
Here is the link to the article in the Tri-City Herald
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/kennewick_pasco_richland/story/585572.html
Ephemeral
Blues - May 25, 2009
I've been working on a mark recapture study on the
endangered Fender's Blue butterfly in the Cardwell Hills
area west of Corvallis, Oregon. After just a few weeks the
blues are beginning to die off. So sad : (
A fresh male Fender's Blue.
A marked male Fender's Blue.
First Entry - May 24,
2009
Seeing as I have just moved to the Pacific Northwest far
from the Rockies and the always reliable social drinkers of
Gunnison, Colorado I thought I might e-reach out to those
far removed from the Cascades and build some social
capital. Stay tuned!