Birds for Breakfast!

Cockatoo?

My latest blog post for the Golden Gate Audubon Society is now live on their website. Birds for Breakfast is a quick read on how my wife and I have been entertaining each other  during the pandemic with (frequently) bio-inspired fruit carvings on our oatmeal. I included over a dozen examples of bird designs in the essay — we’ve made over 200 since last spring!

Birds of Wildcat Canyon: July Edition

Note: this post was published on NextDoor.

**As always in our new normal, please check with local agencies regarding safety alerts and closures. **

 

European Starling, Wildcat Canyon

WHAT’S IN THE CANYON? We are still in summer birding mode here in the East Bay hills. A glance at the eBird data from the park indicate we may notice some departures of a few species from Wildcat Canyon. By the end of July it will be a lot harder to find Allen’s Hummingbird, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Hooded and Bullock’s Orioles, and Grasshopper Sparrows. I’m not going to put money on whether these are truly gone from the area or just much harder to detect, but from our perspective as birdwatchers it amounts to much the same thing.

 

July may seem to be peak summer and way too early to be thinking about fall migrants coming through, but that’s not strictly true. Some individuals of northern or montaine (mountain-dwelling) species could turn up. These “early” migrants could be parents who failed to nest successfully and are cutting their losses with an early exit. On the other side of the coin, some species don’t require an extended period of parenting so successful moms and or dads might be able to start their migration before their kids are ready to make the trip. Finally, we could see some movement of birds because of local or regional events like fires, droughts, or extreme heat. We are still learning about these responses. Bird reports from this time of year can help scientists chart and predict how birds react to our frequently-inhospitable western landscapes.

 

MORE BIRDING RESOURCES. Last month I provided some information on physical field guides and binoculars. This month I’ll add to that some apps and online resources for birds and bird identification.

 

Apps for Identifying Birds:

 

Great Horned Owl, Wildcat Canyon

Guide apps. Most paper field guides now have mobile app analogs that you can download to your phone. The convenience of this is pretty revolutionary – to have a book, or even a whole library, with you at all times! On my phone I have Sibley, Peterson, and an app-only title called iBird PRO. Audubon is also highly regarded. Most of these aren’t free, so maybe start with one (my favorites is Sibley, possibly for the same reasons I like his real-world guide) and then watch for sales on the other ones.

 

Aside from convenience, these bird apps have another huge advantage. Along with the photos or illustrations, most also provide a few samples of sound recordings for each species. These may be listed as either songs or calls, with songs usually the more elaborate territorial or mate attraction vocalizations and calls often indicating alarm, anti-predator behavior, contact with conspecifics, begging for food, etc.

 

White-tailed Kite, Wildcat Canyon

A couple of warnings and caveats about the sound recordings: First off, most species have a lot of variation in their sounds and even across several apps you may not capture all of this. Don’t get frustrated if you can’t find the exact sound you are hearing. Secondly, it’s possible that the birds themselves can hear the recordings and react to them. While this can be a handy technique for matching a sound to a species THIS CAN ALSO BE DISRUPTIVE TO THE BIRDS. Imagine some stranger standing outside of your house shouting at you! It’s not that it’s never OK to use audio playbacks, but just be mindful of how you use this tool. Don’t do it to sensitive or threatened species, don’t do it in popular birding spots where the impacts are multiplied, don’t do it when you might be near a nest, and don’t do it more than you absolutely have to.

 

For more on this and other issues of responsible birding, please check out the American Birding Association statement on birding ethics:

 

 

If our first generation of apps are more or less translations of the field guide and birdsong records to the mobile format, the next generation is here and getting better. Check out Merlin, an app from the famous Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Merlin makes use of your location to suggest birds you might be seeing. More than that, you can upload photos (and now sounds) that it will try to identify using machine learning. These AI-ID techniques are not perfect ­– the sound identification in particular is pretty new – but they sometimes get it right or at least might suggest the another part of the avian family tree if you aren’t close to an ID through more traditional means.

 

Of course you can also crowdsource your questions, either in local birding forums or on sites like Whatbird.com.

 

Apps for keeping track of your bird sightings:

 

Most of the field guide apps will let you check off whether you’ve seen a species or not. Here I want to focus on apps where your sightings data can be put to use by scientists.

 

eBird: this app has a lot of functionality for both reporting birds you’ve seen and finding birds. This is primarily what I use for my hikes in the canyon and more and more for “official” counts such as the Audubon Christmas Bird Count. I’ll direct you to some tips for using the app since I could spend several updates on how best to use it. The one thing that I’ll mention is that there are (volunteer) reviewers who follow up on sightings of unusual or unexpected birds. There is no shame in being asked for more information or being gently corrected by one of these people. It has happened to yours truly. Since your sightings become part of datasets that many scientists depend on, the reviewers provide an important function in quality control.

 

 

iNaturalist. This app is hosted by the California Academy of Sciences. This app isn’t strictly for bird sightings. You can enter mammals, plants, insects that you see as well. I’m not quite as familiar with the app as eBird, but my impression is that iNaturalist focuses more on documenting presence using photos or other media and is less expectant that your list is going to include everything you saw (compared with eBird, which puts a premium on completed lists).

 

Technology to find birds

 

Gone are the days when you had to dial into a phone recording to hear the latest bird sightings. What are some of the 21st century options to learn what birds are where?

 

List-serves. This is still a go-to for many people – send your birds by email and receive sightings as they come in or as daily digests. Be sure to understand the rules for each one, they may or may not allow photo attachments, discussion, out-of-area sigtings, etc. The local list for the East Bay is run by Mt. Diablo Audubon and is called ebb-sightings@groups.io

 

For an overview of all the birding listserves, check out this compiler (California is near the top).

 

eBird. Wait, didn’t I already talk about eBird for reporting your lists on a hike? Ebird is also a powerful way to keep up with both expected species in a location and specific birds you might be interested in. At eBird .org check out the Explore tab for some of the possibilities. Hotspots are birding locals (like a park, or section of shoreline) — searching through these lets you see what’s been reported at a given location, either scrolling through recent sightings or bar charts of seasonal abundance. This is my main tool for writing these updates about Wildcat Canyon!

 

Want to know where other people have reported a species you want to see? Use the Species search and you’ll see a map with sightings of that bird flagged for you. You can even set up county-level email alerts to inform you when a new sightings of interest show up.

 

Social media. Like photos of birds? There are facebook and flickr groups that might be your cup of tea. Birding California gets dozens of posts per day from all over the state, while The San Francisco Bay Area Birding Group is lower traffic but everything you see will be within an hour or so drive. Some locations and parks may have their own small groups as well. As with the listserve, be sure to check out the rules before you post or share content.

 

This has turned into quite a long post, but I’ve only scratched the surface. Questions? Suggestions for your favorite apps? Let me know!

 

Good birding!

Alan

 

alankrakauerphotography.com

 

 

Birds of Wildcat Canyon: June Edition

Juv. Black Phoebe in Wildcat Canyon

Birds of Wildcat Canyon June Edition

**As always in our new normal, please check with local agencies regarding safety alerts and closures. **

My update from May still broadly applies in June (and July). We’re not going to see much in the way of turnover of birds until August at the earliest. Birds are singing less and many are going to look a bit ragged as they molt into new feathers. Many of the birds you will see will be youngsters, so be prepared for some unfamiliar-looking versions of our familiar favorites. Pay attention to overall shape of the bird, the habitat it is in, and its behavior. Also watch to see who it hangs out with, since some of our parent birds will still keep an eye on the kids for some time after fledging.

Wild Turkey Poult resting in Wildcat Canyon

Since there’s not much new to point out bird-wise, I thought I’d take the opportunity to share some resources for birding. This month I’ll focus on binoculars and (paper) field guides. Next month I’ll mention some apps and web resources.

 

BINOCULARS

Most birds want to stay away from people, so we need something to spy on them from farther away. Thankfully now there are a ton of (reasonably) affordable alternatives for binoculars. The high-end models run thousands of dollars, but you can definitely jump in with great results at ~$150-$250 or even better if you hit a good sale. Check out a recent (2019) rating from The National Audubon Society. 

If you are new to birding, the best advice is to get something in the range of 7x-10x magnification (as opposed to 12x or higher). Higher magnification gives a double-whammy of being heavier and magnifying shakes, making them more difficult to use. If you aren’t sure, go with 8x to start out with.

The second key stat on a pair of bins is the objective (the “42” in 8x42s for example). Larger objective diameter will mean a wider field of view and vice versa. You’ll need to figure out where you are in the trade-off between portability and light gathering. 8×20’s are likely to be ultra-compact but give you a narrow tube to look through, compared to 8×50’s which will be bigger but give you a nice wide and bright view.

 

If you have the chance to visit a store, try out the different sizes and see which brands feel most comfortable in your hands. If you are a glasses-wearer like I am, pay particular attention to the eye relief and how the image circle looks. Local stores like REI or Wild Birds Unlimited will have some selection, or get overwhelmed by the stock at Out of This World in Mendocino or Cabela’s that have pretty much everything.

Spotting scopes and camera optics are separate worlds from binoculars. Happy to answer questions about them but I’ll skip those topics for now. I’ve laid out my general opinion about camera gear for wildlife here.

PRINTED FIELD GUIDES

There are digital alternatives, but I’m not sure an app can invite you into the world of birding in the same way that flipping page after page of gorgeous bird images can (they do have their advantages, which I will get to next month). The small pamphlet-style guides are fun but it’s impossible to cram enough species and different views of a given species, so if you are going to invest in a hard copy go all out and get a regional or national guide. The top birders have seen over 300 species in Contra Costa County and several hotspots have over 200 species seen; a trifold picturing 40 species is only going to get you so far.

You can always add sticky notes and highlighter to mark your familiar birds in a bigger guide!

My Favorite:

Sibley Guide to Bird of the West. For me this offers an amazing balance between portability and detail, and David Sibley’s illustrations are widely lauded for capturing realistic postures characteristic of each species.

 

My Runners up:

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America

If you are a used book fan, you can always get an older edition, but just be aware that bird names and relationships are a little fluid as ornithologists learn more, so your vintage guide may list antiquated names Western Flycatcher or Solitary Vireo that are now antiquated and possibly unhelpful. If you do go the used route, the newer the better.

RIP David Wake

Slender Salamander, Wildcat Canyon. David Wake contributed decades of important work on salamander biology.

Very sorry to learn about the passing of another colleague and mentor, David Wake. Dr. Wake was director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology when I first came to Berkeley. I was fortunate to be able to take his famous Evolution course my first year, and it was absolutely everything you would expect from a thoughtful giant in the field. My first year was filled with some uncertainty as I searched for a project with both of my advisors out of the country, but taking his class helped solidify my feeling that I was in the right place.

 

 

I wasn’t often in his immediate orbit in the Museum, but even so I quickly appreciated he was such a kind, thoughtful, and supportive person. Not just in a generic sharing pleasantries way but really seeing you and engaging in things he wanted to learn more about.

One of the biggest joys in my life was running into him at a conference several years after I left and getting to share with him that I was teaching Evolution at UC Davis.

Birds of Wildcat Canyon: May Edition

Another in my series of posts on local birding in the Richmond hills, originally published on NextDoor.

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It’s been a strange spring. My impression is that it’s been a poor migration this year. Some of the birds I mentioned in the April update haven’t really put in an appearance yet. Between last year’s fires and this year’s extreme drought, I don’t think we should expect a normal year. But maybe they’re just late? This past week seems to be ushering in a lot of new birds to the hills. As Emily Dickinson wrote, hope is the thing with feathers.

 

**As always in our new normal, please check with local agencies regarding safety alerts and closures. **

 

NEW ARRIVALS: Hopefully lots! As I mentioned above, if you haven’t yet seen “my” April birds like Lazuli Bunting or Ash-throated Flycatchers, they should be pulling into town now.

 

Western Tanager, Lake Tahoe.

Some of the pass-through migrants are also making pit stops. Within the past week I’ve seen Western Tanagers, Hermit Warbler, and Yellow Warbler.  These birds spend the winter south of us and are just on their way north or to the higher mountain areas to breed. If you enjoy the excitement of finding birds that only put in a brief appearance, these are for you! Also appropriate for fans of the color yellow. Western Tanagers slightly larger than a bluebird with a stout bill. They range from dull to brighter yellow, with the males also showing a bright red face or head. Hermit Warblers show a stunning pure yellow face, males adding a rich black throat for good measure. And Yellow Warblers are pretty much yellow all over, with some reddish streaking on the breast in the males. Your best bet is to check the tree canopies for birds foraging for insects.

Male Hermit Warbler, Gyuto Foundation, Richmond.

 

Swainson's Thrush, Wildcat Canyon

Also listen for Swainson’s Thrushes in the wooded areas. These birds have now replaced the very similar looking Hermit Thrush (Swainson’s are a shade paler and grayer, usually with slightly lighter chest spots and if you get a good look at their face, a light bar in front of their eye kind of like the nose piece of a pair of spectacles). Their song spirals up in a rising series of flute like notes. I most often hear these towards the bottom of the canyon, and at least right now, the earlier in the morning the better.

 

Of course, late spring and summer are about more than just the new birds on the block. It’s family time! Species that got an early start may already be out and about with their broods. Listen for noisy flocks of chickadees, titmice, and bushtits. Woodpeckers will be shuttling back and forth to their nest cavities. Owlets may be branching out from their nest. Fledgling birds are like teenagers, always hungry. Their begging calls may be unfamiliar as they transition from nestling peeps to adult calls, but their faces are usually giveaways since they often sport vestiges of the bright yellow or orange “lips” (bill coloration) that helps parents see where to aim their food.

 

WINTER BIRDS ON THE MOVE: Most of our wintering birds should be gone. One that’s still here (and singing!) is the Townsend’s warbler. Other exceptions include some of the more nomadic species that rarely if ever breed here, things like Pine Siskin, Cedar Waxwing, or Red Crossbill. For the rest, you’ll need to wait until the fall migration picks up towards the end of the summer.

Townsend's Warbler, Gyuto Foundation Richmond.

OUTSIDE THE CANYON. Although the hills are drying out quickly, there’s still time to head to interior Bay Area/east county sites to catch the breeding birds there.

 

For birds at least, our parks along the Bay are going to get less and less exciting for the next few months. Waterfowl and shorebirds numbers are mere fractions of what they are in the fall and winter. That’s not to say there aren’t interesting birds still around. Maybe you’ll come across an endangered Ridgeway’s Rail, or a Least Tern up from the breeding colony in Alameda, or an American Avocet in its breeding plumage. Also look for Ospreys ­– many are nesting now and their growing chicks will need a steady supply of fish. And who doesn’t love watching a bright white Snowy Egret shuffle along the shallows looking for food.

 

Maybe it’s time to go farther afield? Bring your binoculars when you head to the Sierra Nevadas and say hi to some of our winter friends, and meet some new birds like Cassin’s Finch and Evening Grosbeak. Or sign up for a whale watch and be amazed by the long-winged shearwaters and albatross that lurk just off shore.