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Screech Owl Steals the Stage and Compost Pile Attracts a Pile of Birds!

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Black throated Blue warbler
Young male Black-throated Blue Warbler. Notice the greenish hue to his back. This indicates he was born this summer.

Hello Everyone,

Here is our banding update for the past 2 weeks of Fall Migration Banding thus far.   Sorry for the delay, but we have been up to our ears in rain and getting ready for the Run-a-Muck, which is still on for tomorrow rain or shine, from 2- 6 PM ish.  Check out our website for more information about this delightful countryside bash!

Blake with Eastern Screech Owl
Me (Blake) with the Eastern Screech Owl at Rushton Woods Preserve.

The following is our official banding update written by our magnificent Master bander, Doris McGovern:

Friends of Rushton Banding,

We began our 2011 fall season weeks later than 2010.  August’s never-ending rain filled our net lanes with standing water and made it unsafe for birds and impossible for banders to work.  That’s why you haven’t heard from us until now.

Eastern Screech Owl
This young Eastern Screech Owl was born in Rushton Woods this spring.

However, when we finally got underway we caught the cutest gray phase Eastern Screech Owl I’ve ever seen.  Its plumage was an intricate bark-like camouflage pattern with subtle gray shadings, streaks and contrasts.  This young bird was so cooperative; there were more than a few visitors who would have been happy to have it as a pet.  We don’t anthropomorphize (attribute human personality to things not human) very often, but this little guy or gal came very close to being adopted.  This is our second Screech Owl.  The first, an adult red-phase, was caught late at night during Saw-whet Owl banding in 2010.  Only Lou Hahn and I saw that bird, but this little owl was seen by lots of visitors.  Children were wide-eyed.  These owls are quite common even in suburbia.  If you haven’t seen or heard one, check out http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Megascops&species=asio

Connecticut Warbler
This male Connecticut Warbler graced Rushton with his fleeting presence last week.

Last fall we caught six Connecticut Warblers, an amazing feat since these illusive warblers, skulkers in fields and low vegetation, are rarely seen by even the most avid bird watchers.  Last week on the 16th we caught our first Connecticut, an attractive male with a gray hood.  A female followed this week (Tuesday the 20th) and we could get a few more of these warblers if it ever stops raining.  Thirteen warbler species netted so far this season include Worm-eating, Wilson’s, Black-throated Blue, Prairie, and lots of American Redstart and Magnolias.   Of course, we enjoy all the vireos, thrushes and woodpeckers that live in and stop over at Rushton Preserve as well.

Northern Flicker
This Northern Flicker is a resident of Rushton.

Our catch for the past 2 weeks  has been very good with no total below 28 birds and one as high as 57.  On Wednesday Godefroy, a post doc at Penn from Burgundy, suggested setting a net near the farm’s compost piles where we often see birds flitting about as we are leaving.  The birds glean insects and seeds from the rows of vegetables and use the hedgerow for shelter.  Lou and Godefroy set the net late in the day, but within half an hour, we caught 15 birds including Field and Chipping Sparrows, Indigo Buntings and wrens.  While the sparrow migration is on, this could become our best net.

Young female Canada Warbler
This young female Canada Warbler was one of our first migrant warblers this season.

Members of ’PA Young Birders’ will attend a banding session scheduled just for them next Thursday, September 29th from 9-11 am.  This program was very successful last fall when over 40 youngsters from 7-17 attended and were overwhelmingly excited by the experience.  If you have a youngster or know a young person who would be interested in learning about birds, contact Lisa Kiziuk (lkr@wctrust.org)  for a schedule of the fun birding and nature programs that she and Blake Goll (bhg@wctrust.org) have prepared.

See you in the woods,

Doris McGovern

Blogster Blake here again.  I just want to emphasize how exciting it was to have all those 15 birds in the “compost net!”  Lisa is the one who found them all in the net by herself as we were closing up.  She quickly called for reinforcements, and Doris drove her car right up to the net from the banding station!    After helping Lisa to extract all 15 birds,  she drove the birds back to the banding table for speedy delivery, and Doris and I got to work banding birds double time!

Many of the Indigo Buntings, Field Sparrows, and Chipping Sparrows in the “compost net” were young of the year, which is great proof that they nest in or near Rushton Woods Preserve.  In addition to contributing to nationwide bird conservation efforts, one of the main reasons we set up this banding station last year was to see which birds are using this special habitat.  Baby birds are great proof of the quality of our habitat as a breeding ground.  The baby Field Sparrow was especially important because they are declining throughout their range as a result of loss of grassland habitat.  Plus, this sparrow was absolutely adorable with its tiny pink bill, its bright white eye-ring, fuzzy baby body feathers, and lopsided tail (the rectrices were all coming in at different rates).  He was a cute little mess!  Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture to show you because we were in the middle of processing the 15 birds.

Adult Field Sparrow
An adult field sparrow banded earlier this summer.

The other thing I wanted to share with you is this recent New York Times article about the sobering truth of glass buildings luring millions of birds nationwide to their death each year.  Collisions with glass buildings in cities is the second leading cause of deaths to migrating birds, after habitat loss.  I don’t like to end on such a sad note, but this is a real problem that Audubon and the American Bird Conservancy are working hard to publicize.  Raising awareness is the key, as some architects are already coming up with innovative solutions that are being readily adopted by some cities.

And for the next addition to your personal library, I would recommend “The Birder’s Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds.”  It is an essential companion to any identification field guide.  I spotted Doris’s copy on the banding table the other day and immediately snatched it up to page through it.  It is quite a treasure and a joy to read (for bird lovers).  There are species accounts with the most detailed information, like what height in the tree you should look for that particular bird, interspersed with fascinating articles on avian natural history and ecology.  I’ll be ordering my copy from Amazon very soon!

I hope to see you at the banding station next week, Tuesday and/or Thursday morning, if the rain has stopped!  The Rushton fields of goldenrod are absolutely stunning, almost as stunning as our fall warblers…

Happy Fall,

~Blake

Screech Owl
Portrait of our Eastern Screech Owl by Justin Thompson.

Fall Warblers are Back in Town

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…. “Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art.”
~Izaak Walton

Female Prairie Warbler
Female Prairie Warbler banded April 2011 at Rushton Woods Preserve.

The little colorful warblers have indeed begun streaming down from the North to grace us with their fleeting presence this autumn.  I think the hurricane may even have helped to stir them up a little. On the day of Irene’s visit, before it got really nasty, I spotted a visiting Black-and-white Warbler and a lovely pair of American Redstarts hunting insects in my yard, and Doris (our Master Bander) had a Canada Warbler in hers.  Unfortunately, we won’t hear the warblers’ “curious ditties” much, if at all, because they are more cryptic during fall migration in both voice and plumage.  This is why you hear the term “confusing fall warblers”; identification is extra challenging because they are not in their bright breeding plumage, differences between species are more subtle, young males born this year look an awful lot like adult females, and song is no longer a dead giveaway!  But if you want to start studying your bird songs in preparation for next spring, here is a great resource: Nature Instruct.org.

Male Canada Warbler
Stunning male Canada Warbler banded May 2011 at Rushton Woods Preserve.

And of course, you are invited to drop by our banding station (no sign-up required) this fall to see, touch, and learn more about these beautiful migrants that visit Rushton Woods Preserve.  We are in the process of clearing vegetation from the net lanes and finishing data entry from summer MAPS banding.  We are eager to start the passerine banding season next week on Tuesday September 6 and will band every Tuesday and Thursday from sunrise to 11am (when it’s not raining) through Nov 1st.  Public Northern Saw-whet Owl banding (by reservation only) will begin the week of October, probably Friday October 7th.  More on that to come…

Check out these unbelievable pictures of an incredible early morning fallout of migrants, mostly warblers, this past spring on Machias Seal Island, Canada.   Be sure to scroll through all 12 pictures!  Those poor birds are so exhausted they are letting the photographer pick them up in his hand.  We forget how amazing a feat these migrations are for such small creatures… It literally almost kills them.  I wonder what these birds are saying to each other…Anyway, this is the type of fallout we are hoping for at Rushton this fall! Miracles happen, right?

Speaking of fallouts, did you hear about the exotic seabirds that Hurricane Irene blew in last week?  Birders were going crazy along the Delaware River and Cape May checking off life birds they would normally have only been able to see by taking a trip out to the sea or the islands.  These seabirds travel effortlessly in the relatively calm eye of the storm and then drop out into ‘new worlds’ when the storm begins to weaken.  Sightings included 10 species of terns including a Bridled Tern and a Sandwich Tern (Who thinks of these names?), a Jaeger, and even a Whitetailed Tropic Bird, normally seen in Bermuda and the Caribbean.  Very exciting.

Sanderling
Some South-bound Sanderlings and Ruddy Turnstones were also "beached" during Hurricane Irene. This is a Sanderling being banded this past spring for the Delaware Shorebird Project.

Although some birds can travel unscathed through the eye of a hurricane, I’m sure Irene forced the burgeoning Monarch butterfly migration to a screeching halt!  All the rain in general last month seems to have slowed the butterflies down; we didn’t find many Monarchs or other butterflies during last week’s PA Young Birder meeting, “Monarch Madness.”  We did find and observe one tiny Monarch larvae, one Spicebush swallowtail adult, and some praying mantises! The children had fun bug hunting and learning all about Monarch life cycles and migration while wearing their “thinking antennae!”  Please read more about this community event and see the great pictures by photographer Amanda Mahnke in The Malvern Patch!

PA Young Birder observes a Praying Mantis
A PA Young Birder observes a Praying Mantis. Photo by Amanda Mahnke

This month’s PA Young Birder meeting will take place at Rushton Woods Preserve on Saturday September 24, 9-11 AM.  The little birders will discover the fabulous fall migrants as they join us for songbird banding.  They’ll see that around this time of year, Rushton becomes a hoppin’ Bed and Breakfast Inn for a multitude of different bird species, many of which we don’t see during any other time of the year.  Each Jr. Birder will also get to spend a life changing personal moment with some of these special avian visitors before they continue on their way south for migration vacation!  Interested Jr. Birders should RSVP to Lisa Kiziuk (lkr@wctrust.org).

Side note:  Don’t forget to contact me (bhg@wctrust.org) if you are interested in volunteering to monitor our milkweed patch at Rushton for monarch larvae or to tag migrant adult monarchs this month.  The data from these citizen science projects is crucial to Monarch butterfly conservation.

Monarch Larva
Monarch Larva feeding on Common Milkweed. Photo by Amanda Mahnke

There is yet another interesting migration event that I should let you in on….  Nighthawks. Most active during dawn and dusk, they say these strange birds are the missing evolutionary link between diurnal birds and owls.  They sort of look like owls with their cryptic coloration, they fly like bats skillfully catching mosquitoes out of the air, and they have the word ‘hawk” in their name.  So what is it?  It is actually a member of the Nightjar family and related to the Whipoorwill.  Right now, these strange little birds are migrating by the hundreds to South America, and you can view this fascinating phenomenon at the Haverford College Observatory from 6-8pm any evening from now until September 11.  Observers saw 648 migrating nighthawks last night!   Better than a fireworks show! Read more in the BCDC blog 

Unfortunately, migration may be the only time most people see nighthawks in this area.  Although their “peent” call used to be a familiar sound in cities and towns, they are now thought to be declining through most of their range as a result of changes in roofing.  They prefer to nest on old fashioned, flat peastone gravel roofs and hunt for insects attracted to city lights.  Project Nighthawk is an Audubon initiative encouraging people to create gravel nest patches on their roofs.  This is a project we hope to become involved with in the near future as well! Go to the Project Nighthawk website for more info.

And last but not least, while we are sort of on the topic of hawks…here are two remarkable videos about hawks that are worth watching:

“Parahawking” over the skies in Nepal (watch in HD)

Goshawk in slo-mo (only works in full-screen mode)

Oh and don’t forget to plan a visit to Hawk Mountain this Fall!  No Goshawks so far, but they’ve had 700 raptor migrants of 14 species in addition to many species of warblers.  Click here to see the count.  And since we like Monarchs too, I’ll tell you that their Monarch Celebration day is September 17th.

Have fun, and I hope to see you at the Rushton banding station soon!

~Blake

Echinacea

Our Owls Make the News!

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Our Saw-whet Owls got the attention of Philadelphia Inquirer blogger Sandy Bauers, and she ran the following on her blog this past Thursday.  Hooray for Willistown’s open spaces that attract these beautiful creatures!

Sadly, I’ve never seen a saw whet owl. But I’d love to. Apparently, the folks at the Willistown Conservation Trust are seeing lots of them. Or, at least more than usual.

They just sent a press release about the success of their banding efforts this year, and it’s so cool I’ll simply copy it below.

For more information about the Northern saw whet owl, this Cornell Lab of Ornithology site has information and a recording of the owl.

Here’s the info from Willistown:

On a cold autumn night last week, bird banders at The Willistown Conservation Trust (WCT) set a Chester County record by capturing and banding 15 Northern saw-whet owls. These rare but regular winter visitors usually pass unnoticed through the meadows and woodlands of Pennsylvania. However, thanks to WCT’s new banding station in their Rushton Woods Preserve, just 15 miles southwest of Center City Philadelphia, visitors are getting an up-close glimpse of these reclusive birds. In the last few weeks alone, the Rushton Banding Station has captured 89 owls, a record for the Delaware Valley.

The tiny Northern saw-whet owl (no bigger than a can of soda) is exclusive to North America. In certain years when the northern conifer seed crop declines, the population of Microta (mice-like species) also decreases. In turn, owls that feed on microta wander south in search of food, creating an event scientists call an “irruption year.” The winter of 2010 is an irruption year not only for Northern saw-whets, but for other birds like the Black-capped chickadee and Purple finch that arrive at our feeders and in our woods as conditions worsen in the north.

“We’re experiencing something special,” says federally licensed bander Doris McGovern. “An irruption year presents an amazing opportunity for bird research”.

“Once we band these owls and record their vital statistics, we can track their movements and health status as they disperse,” notes Lisa Kiziuk, fellow bird-bander and Assistant Director of Stewardship at WCT.

In the past two weeks, Lisa, Doris and a handful of dedicated volunteers have been working tirelessly to catch, record, band and release Northern saw-whet owls into the Rushton Woods Preserve – to the wonder and delight of all who have ventured into the cold autumn night hoping to hold one of these tiny visitors.

Banding sessions are typically conducted during periods of migration in the fall and spring. Special “mist” nets, used to gently capture birds, are erected several mornings each week as weather permits. Amongst the record number of Northern saw-whets at the banding station last week, there was a special visitor – a “foreign recovery”- or bird already sporting a band. This owl was first caught at Massachusetts Audubon’s Drumlin Farm, a wildlife sanctuary and organic farm located just west of Boston. That he found his way to another organic farm and preserve – in Willistown, PA, – was a notable phenomenon.

Rushton Woods is in an ideal location for bird research. Its large tracts of protected woodland, open meadows and stream habitat, combined with the sustainably managed crop fields of Rushton Community Farm, attracts a wide variety of birds, including predatory species like owls. Great horned owls eat Long-eared owls, that eat Screech owls, that eat Northern saw-whet owls. In truth, it’s an owl-eat-owl world out there!

About the Rushton Woods Preserve Bird Banding Station: The Rushton Woods Bird Banding Station is the only one of its kind in the 5-County Philadelphia region. The Trust established this station at Rushton Woods Preserve in the spring of 2010, and in that short time over 60 species of bird have been tagged. The station’s goals are to contribute to global bird conservation, demonstrate the benefits of preserving undeveloped land, and provide a open classroom for the entire region.

About the Willistown Conservation Trust: The Willistown Conservation Trust has been preserving the open land, scenic, historic and ecologically significant resources of the Willistown area for over 30 years. To date, some 6,000 acres have been protected through conservation easements and land purchases. The Trust operates 3 publicly accessible preserves and the Rushton Community Farm – a model for sustainable agriculture that celebrates open space and natural resource protection. Through its research and habitat restoration programs the Trust seeks to demonstrate the ecological benefits of careful land management and provide opportunities for hands-on learning. For more information, please visit www.wctrust.org.

See the original Inquirer post.