November 27, 2019 - Thankful to Be Back in the Pacific Northwest

I was awake at 5:30, so got up on a 39º, calm, mostly cloudy morning.  The wind is supposed to pick up today.  I made coffees then headed out to Nisqually Refuge to join the “Wednesday Walk” birders for a day’s outing.  After being on the road and out of my ‘home range’ for several weeks, it is well to be back in the Pacific Northwest.

Several Refuge Volunteers help lead the walk, which begins at 8 a.m. at the Visitors’ Center each week on the Wednesday.  Here, volunteer Shep Thorp explains bird identification and behavior to one of the birding participants.

The “usual” track of the walk is through the orchard and out toward the estuary afterward.  However, today we worked our way toward the estuary boardwalk, as there was a morning high tide.  The flood pushes birds toward the dike and walkway, where we hope to get views of anything unusual, and better counts for the eBird report.

When the tide is out, this area is a mudflat, and the birds can be over ¼ mile away.  As it is, we often need spotting scopes for even the “close” birds.

The north end of the boardwalk itself is closed during the waterfowl hunting season.  Nisqually Refuge is owned by the federal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and doesn’t allow hunting.  However, the adjacent “State marsh” is owned by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, which provides public hunting access.  Since the Feds built the estuary boardwalk out to the property boundary, they close the distal 215 meters of the boardwalk for the safety of the Refuge visitors during the three-month hunting season.

The waterfowl take the opportunity to feed in the intertidal zone, away from the hunters.

Great Blue Herons are opportunistic foragers.  When the tide is out, we can get good counts of this species feeding on fish and shore crabs in the mudflats.  When the tide is in, they move to the fields and freshwater marsh to feed on frogs, salamanders, garter snakes, and field mice (voles).

We returned as the tide ebbed, and birded along the east side of the Twin Barns boardwalk loop, stopping to scope the Nisqually River overlook and checking out the Riparian overlook.  Here, a Belted Kingfisher surveys the slough at the Riparian boardwalk for her lunch.

We ended up walking through the orchard in the afternoon.  The trees here are venerable, and were part of the old Brown’s Farm before the property was acquired by the Federal Refuge in 1974.  The current Refuge management has pretty well neglected this Heritage orchard, with the idea that the trees are not ‘native’.  In fact, they have planted ‘native’ firs and spruces amongst the apples and pears, that will quicken the demise of the old fruit trees.  It seems that a 100-year-old orchard might qualify under the provisions of the Antiquities Act, but . . . .

Often, bird activity here slows down after the morning ‘rush’, but today we saw several of our ‘target’ species, including great views of a Red-breasted Sapsucker.

The Nisqually Wednesday Bird Walk bunch is pretty friendly, welcoming, and informative.  Those attending include novice birders, experts to provide help to the novices, as well as a number of folks with a wide array of natural history expertise and training; sometimes, it’s not just about the birds!  And, it’s always about the people.  Hope to see you out here one of these Wednesdays.

Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR eBird Checklist is Here

 

December 11 - Tumwater Historical Park

I took a turn down into Tumwater Historical Park, where all of the small birds were keeping to shelter in the 45° F steady rain and 15-knot south winds.  Even the ducks seemed to be in ‘dampened spirits’.

Rainy Day Mallards

There was a flock of Canada Geese grazing on the lawn & getting gravel.

Canada Goose

Waterfowl, of course, have no teeth to grind their food, so eat gravel, which works in the gizzard to ‘masticate’ the grass and seeds they eat.  A bird’s digestive tract is somewhat more complicated than, say, ours.

Mallard Drake

Food is taken in with the bill, and swallowed.  A small bit of saliva and digestive enzymes are added as the food moves from the mouth into the esophagus.  From the esophagus food moves to the crop, an expandable storage compartment located at the base of the bird’s neck, where it can remain for up to 12 hours. The food trickles from the crop into the bird’s stomach (proventriculus or gizzard) where digestive enzymes are added to the mix and physical grinding of the food occurs.

From the gizzard, food passes into the small intestine, where nutrients are absorbed.  The residue then passes through the cæcum, a blind sack along the lower intestinal tract, where bacteria help break down undigested food.  From the cæcum, food moves to the large intestine, which absorbs water and dries out indigestible foods.  This remaining residue passes through the cloaca where the bird’s urine (the white in bird droppings) mixes with the waste.  Both exit at the vent, the external opening of the cloaca. 

Crows were also on the lawn, picking up the flooded-out nightcrawlers.

Tumwater Lawn Crow

At the edge of the goose flock, I picked out a pair of Greater White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese on left, Snow Goose on right

And an immature Snow Goose

Immature Snow Goose

The Canadas were obviously long-time visitors to the park, and showed little concern with my approach, but the Specklebellies and the Snow are winter visitors, and not quite as certain about having people so close to them.

Dubious Specklebelly

A little flighty . . .

 . . . and keeping its distance

It was stormy enough that after a half-hour I figured it was time for a hot chocolate back home.

Tumwater Park eBird checklist Here