ellowthroat Newsletter of the Maryland Ornithological Society JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 VOL. 26, NO. 1 Conference 2006 June 9-1 1 • Rocky Gap Lodge, Allegany County I President's Comer I Ask Birdie I by Janet Millenson Non-birders have some urgent questions. . . Dear Birdie, Can I catch avian flu from the birds at my feeder? — Worried Dear Worried, Not unless you clean your feeders by licking them. Anyway, there have been no reports of avian flu in North America yet, so I suggest you focus your worries on West Nile Virus and Lyme Disease instead. Dear Birdie, There's an amazing bird in my yard! What kind is it? — Entranced Dear Entranced, I bet it's either a male goldfinch in breeding plumage or a Northern Flicker. Dear Birdie, Oh, but it's huge! I think it's an eagle! — Entranced Dear Entranced, In that case, it's a Red-tailed Flawk. Dear Birdie, Me again. I went walking in the woods and heard this whistling that went up and down, well maybe I should call it a trill, though there was also sort of a squawky sound. It was kind of far away. Do you know what's making these noises? — Entranced (President’s Corner continues on page 3) Inside this Issue: President’s Corner 1 Conference 2006 1 DNR Reports 2 Demystifying the Silent Auction .... 3 Year Four Atlas Snapshot 4 Birds of Note 5 Warbler Workshop 5 The Birder’s Vest 6 Telling Tales 6 Chapter Chatter 7 In Memoriam: Helen Ford 7 Raffling Feathers: Saw-whet Owls . . 8 Ivory-billed Woodpecker 9 Wanted: Blockbusters 9 MOS Calendar 10 It’s Who You Know? 15 Review: Identify Yourself 16 Last Call 16 T he annual MOS Conference is slated to take place June 9-11 at Rocky Gap Lodge, a conference center (and golf resort) located in scenic Rocky Gap State Park, Allegany County. Hosted jointly by the Atlas Committee and the Conference Committee, the weekend will include all of our familiar and favorite features, including lots of field trips, Wine and Cheese Social, and Annual Banquet. KEYNOTE SPEAKER: We are extremely fortunate to have Tim Gallagher, one of the first three people to actually see the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and the author of The Grail Bird: The Search for the Ivory- billed Woodpecker. I have been told that Tim gives a dynamic talk. He will be autographing copies of his book after his presentation. FIELD TRIPS: Walter Ellison will be assisted by Nancy Martin in arranging the field trips to locations in Allegany, Garrett, and Washington Counties. We will also get to some areas in Pennsylvania. Walter is recruiting field trip leaders; if you can help, please contact him at 410-778-9568 or rossgull@broadband.net. RESEARCH POSTER SESSION: Research reports on Maryland birds, in poster format, will be on display during the Wine and Cheese Social Saturday evening, and the researchers will be on hand to discuss their projects and answer your questions. Persons interested in presenting posters should contact Gwen Brewer, 301-843-3524 or glbrewer@comcast.net. ARTISTS’ EXHIBIT: Dale Johnson always welcomes leads on good local talent. You can get in touch with her at 410-867-7743 or ckadj@juno.com. RAFFLE AND SILENT AUCTION: This year’s proceeds will benefit our atlas project. To arrange donations for the Raffle, contact Maryanne Dolan at 202-483-8188 or abtrowbridge@msn.com. To get the lowdown on how the silent auction works, read Maryanne ’s article on page 3. VOLUNTEERING: Both Dale Johnson and Maryanne Dolan need volunteers to help set up and moni- tor the displays. Please contact them if you can help. Remember that as a thank you, all volunteers, field trip leaders included, will be able to sign up in advance for the field trips of their choice. BIRDING SUPPLIES: The Wild Bird Center in Gaithersburg will stock the official conference “store,” and owner Steven Maier will be at Rocky Gap with many interesting and unusual items. You will also be able to order Tim Gallagher’s book, The Grail Bird, ahead of time, then pick it up from Steven at the conference and have it available for Tim’s auto- graph. Ordering information will be in your registration brochure. (Conference 2006 continues on page 2) 2 The Maryland Yellowthroat Conference 2006 (continued from page 1 ) WARBLER WORKSHOP: Mike Bowen, our Statewide Education Activities chair, will be conducting a workshop on the warblers of Maryland on Friday afternoon. For details, see Mike’s article on page 5. I hope you will be able to join us for what promises to be an outstanding conference. Be on the lookout for your conference registration packet. — Janet Shields 301 - 416-7109 janethill@prodigy.net The Maryland Yellowthroat Newsletter of the Maryland Ornithological Society, Inc. Editor: Lydia Schindler paulydia@erols.com 301-977-5252 Layout: Suzanne Probst sprobst@comcast.net 410-992-3489 Calendar Editor: Andy Martin apmartin2@comcast.net 301-294-4805 Chapter Chatter: Shireen Gonzaga whimbrel@comcast.net Proofreader: Ann Weeks annweeks@erols.com Mailing list: Helen Horrocks hlh 37@yahoo.com 301-831-6135 MOS web site: http://www.mdbirds.org Webmaster: Frances C. Saunders fcsaunders@att.net Anyone is welcome to contribute articles or ideas that would be of interest to other birders. Copy may be mailed or e-mailed to Lydia Schindler by January 18, 2006 for the March/April 2006 issue. Illustrations on pages 1, 6, and 7; photographs page 8 © M. Suzanne Probst Photographs page 5 © George Jett © VtlR Reports. . . by Qlenn Jherres ■! X\7T ildlife in Maryland and throughout most of the eastern W United States depend on private property for much of their habitat needs. Though DNR owns several thousand acres of land in our state, we alone cannot support all of Maryland’s wildlife. National Wildlife Refuges, National Park Service lands, military lands, and other federal land holdings provide good habitat for many wildlife species, but again, they can- not support all of our wildlife. Thus, private landowners are extremely important to the well-being of our birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, etc. Many landowners enjoy wildlife on their properties. Some actively manage for certain types of animals. Those who hunt on their properties may provide food and cover for the game animals they pursue. Many people have placed shallow ponds on their properties to attract waterfowl for hunting purposes; these wetlands are also utilized by many other wildlife species. Quail hunters and grouse hunters also manage habitat for these game species, but they can benefit many other early successional species — such as Prairie Warbler or Field Sparrow — in the process. Other private landowners manage habitats, either actively or passively, for a host of species. Habitat enhancement can be very costly. Some landowners can afford such costs and do so willingly. Many others are interested in managing for wildlife on their properties, but they don’t have the wherewithal to do so. With a little financial help, these landowners can be recruited to help our wildlife. The government sponsors a number of cost-sharing programs that are available to private landowners. For example, federal farm programs provide millions of dollars that benefit wildlife on agricultural lands. A new cost-share program that directly benefits wildlife on private lands is the Landowner Incentive Program (LIP). LIP is a competitive grant program funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and administered in Maryland through the Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife and Heritage Service. It provides funding to private landowners to enhance and restore habitats that are important to rare, threatened, and endangered species. Habitats that may be eligible for restoration under this program include ridge and valley or coastal plain stream systems, Delmarva bays, bog turtle wetlands, mountain or coastal plain mature forest, cypress swamps, caves, shale barrens and glades, xeric sand ridges, or cliffs and sandstone outcrops. Eligible conser- vation practices include reforesting, establishing grassland buffers, controlling invasive species, managing vegetation, and livestock fencing. DNR will pay up to 75% of the costs of projects that are accepted into the program. The 25% required match can be in the form of in-kind services, equipment, or funds from partner organizations. The LIP website (http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/lip.asp) contains informa- tion about the program and how to apply. Landowners can download and fill out a simple application describing the habitats on their property and current land uses. DNR ranks each application according to a scoring system that takes into account the rare species and habitats present on the property, the surrounding landscape, and existing threats to the habitat or species. Applicants who are chosen will receive technical assistance from DNR in developing a restoration project for their property. Projects may include grassland and forested buffers on streams, wetland and forest restoration, warm-season grasslands, invasive species control, or early successional vegetation management, and other practices. We received our first LIP applications in December 2004. Though on-the- ground habitat enhancements have not yet started, we have received $705,000 from USFWS to disperse to eligible private landowners over the next few years. The second round of applications, received by December 2005, are now being evaluated. If you are a private landowner interested in promoting wildlife habitat on your property or know of a private landowner who may be interested, check our website to see if you may be eligible for an LIP award. Word-of-mouth is a good way to promote LIP. Please help. January /February 2006 3 Demystifying the Silent Auction E ver ask yourself how the Silent Auction works? Well, the brief answer is through the dedication of volun- teers and the generosity of MOS members. But there are some “do’s” and “don’ts.” Friday, when the conference opens, is a hectic day, descending into near chaos within the first few hours of registration when fully 90 percent of all donations arrive. So it’s important for the donor (that’s you!) to fill out one of the forms located on a table close to the entrance. It’s a short form, requesting only your name and a suggested price. And while we’re on the subject of pricing: It’s better to start low and let the bidding process take over. Often folks get caught up in the excitement of the chase, and the item fetches more than if it had been priced out of reach in the beginning. Each new bid must exceed the prior bid by 10 percent. Any item not receiving a bid by Saturday morning gets marked down or placed on the clearance tables. Great bargains can be had by sifting through those tables. It can be disappointing to see an item you’ve donated going for less than the declared value, but remember... it will likely show up at a future auction. We often see items recycled year after year. So who decides what gets put into the Auction and what hits the Raffle? Well, that would be moi. Several fac- tors come into play: Is the item “birdy”? Likely to have widespread appeal? Unique? I try to limit the raffle to no more than ten items. Some years we exceed that limit; other years the pickings are slim. What about the hours? There never seems to be enough time to visit and revisit the Auction. It’s true. MOS confer- ences are very tightly scheduled. The auction runs until dinnertime Friday evening, and we reopen after dinner for an hour or so. We’re there all day Saturday, but the Auction MUST close on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. And win- ning bidders MUST pay for and remove newly acquired treasures then. That’s a lot of “musts,” but we have to clear the decks for the fire sale that takes place after the business meeting Saturday evening. And boy, is that a popular event! Everything must go. No exceptions. Unsold items are marked down to a few cents until finally, by evening’s end, anything left is free. Yes, free. The only things I take home to my small apartment are memories of a fun event. So, now that you, too, are in the know, stop by the Silent Auction at the June conference — and bid, bid, bid. — Maryanne Dolan Chair, Silent Auction and Raffle President’s Comer ( continued from page 1) Dear Entranced \ Tufted Titmouse, frog, or squirrel. Now get out of here and go refill your feeders. Dear Birdie, Why do you special-interest extremist environmental elitists get so aggravated about bulldozers and chainsaws? — Destructo Dan Dear Destructo Dan, Because the birds pay us huge sums of money to represent their inter- ests. Also, they've threatened to release embarrassing photos of us hug- ging the trees if we slack off. Dear Birdie, What a bunch of nitwits you are, standing around at the crack of dawn in every kind of weather trying to catch a glimpse of little brown birds that all look the same! — Couch Queen Dear Couch Queen, That's unfair and inaccurate. Little brown birds have plenty of distin- guishing features. It's the grayish-and-yellowish ones that all look alike. Dear Birdie, I'm new to this hobby, and I've just equipped myself with armored zoom binoculars, spotting scope, carbon-fiber tripod, digital camera, sound recorder, weatherproof notebook, four field guides, three bird club memberships, two regional checklists, and a subscription to American Birds. Have I forgotten anything essential? — Gear Glutton Dear Glutton, No serious birder would be caught dead without distinctive headgear. Your best choices are to wear either a canvas bucket hat festooned with enamel pins or a colorful baseball cap embroidered with the logo of a remote lodge in an exotic location. (Note: Actually visiting the remote lodge is optional.) Dear Birdie, How can I stop a @!#$%* woodpecker from drumming on my house?! The noise is driving me crazy, and the little [expletive deleted] is caus- ing serious damage! ! — Sleepless in Severna Park Dear Sleepless, I recommend you have him neutered. You could also try draping your house with icicle-style Christmas lights year-round. Dear Birdie, Having done well materially in my life, I now seek to do well spiritually by giving money to worthy organizations. Do you have any suggestions? — Gill Bates Dear Gill, There's a terrific bird club in Maryland that lets you make donations using PayPal. Go to www.mdbirds.org and scroll down. I'm sure that you of all people, Mr. Bates, will enjoy the convenience of online giving. Dear Birdie, Urn, hello? I forgot to mention that I'm pretty sure I saw an Ivory-billed Woodpecker in my yard this morning! It looked just like the pictures!! You'd better hurry over right away! ! ! — Entranced 4 The Maryland Yellowthroat ^y^aryland/DC Breeding Bird A tlas KS 2002 Year Four Atlas Snapshot:The Picture Develops 1 through Project * < . ■ ; 2006 BY WALTER ELLISON $ T his is it, folks. We have one more year afield to complete our atlas maps for Maryland and D.C.’s nesting birds. After four years, the snapshot of our breeding avifauna at the start of the 21st century has developed to the point where I can make some reasonably strong statements about the conservation status of our summer birdlife. The broadest summary of our atlas results is provided by the grand species total for the 1,261 blocks for which we have data: 201 species are likely to have bred over the last four years. (This total could increase if we choose to count reports of possible nesting by a number of once and future nesters, such as Purple Gallinule and Mississippi Kite.) More firmly, we have records of confirmed breeding for 185 species. Corresponding numbers from the first statewide atlas project from 1983 to 1987 were 201 and 194. Given an often gloomy assessment of the bird conserva- tion situation, it might surprise some readers that the numbers from the two atlases are so similar. When one examines the details, the conservation status of many of our birds is not rosy, but neither is it disastrous. Many species are in dire straits indeed, and they continue to hold on here in very small numbers; these include Blue-winged Teal, Black Rail, Common Moorhen, Piping Plover, Upland Sandpiper, Loggerhead Shrike, Sedge Wren, and Nashville and Swainson’s warblers. Maryland has also apparently lost four nesting species, unless something miraculous happens and they are relocat- ed in our final field season. These are Wilson’s Plover, Laughing Gull, Gull-billed Tern, and Bewick’s Wren. Save for the Laughing Gull, all of these species were rare and at the edge of their ranges during the last atlas. The loss of the plover, gull, and tern indicate that all is not right with the waterbirds of Assateague Island, in spite of land preservation by the National Park Service. Seven species have been confirmed as nesters this time around that were not confirmed during the 1980s atlas. Only one of these is a completely new species for the state and District — Common Merganser (recorded in seven blocks, confirmed in three). All of the others are species added as breeders over the last two decades or historical nesters: Ruddy Duck, Double-crested Cormorant, Royal Tern, Long-eared Owl (no published record in the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center database, fide M. Iliff, et al .), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker {fide F. Pope), Yellow- rumped Warbler, and Pine Siskin. Analyzing increases and declines in breeding ranges from breeding bird atlas data has some pitfalls. Increases can be tallied straightforwardly: either a bird has been found in more blocks or it hasn’t. Declines are trickier to posit, because one must assume that observers know what to look for and expend the necessary effort to find all bird species. Even an apparent decline can be announced only at the end of a project. At this point, four years into the five-year project, if a bird occurs in far fewer blocks than it did in the 1983-1987 atlas, it seems likely that it has declined significantly. Night birds provide an exception to this statement, in that I am reasonably sure observers have not put in the sort of effort that was made in the 1980s to locate woodcock, owls, and nightjars. I hope local bird clubs and county coordinators make a major effort to rec- tify this situation next year, such that we can feel more assured that the apparent declines we see for nocturnal birds are in fact genuine. I feel fairly safe in reporting the following preliminary figures on status changes. Forty-four bird species have increased their nesting ranges in Maryland, whereas 73 species have notably smaller ranges. Some habitats appear to show declines in many of their characteristic birds; these include successional shrublands, grasslands, and wetlands. Forest bird trends are more complex, with many residents and short-distance migrants actually showing increases, but many, if not most, Neotropical migrants showing declines. Declining shrubland birds include Northern Bobwhite, American Woodcock, White-eyed Vireo, Blue-winged, Golden-winged, and Prairie Warblers, and Yellow-breasted Chat. Examples of declining grassland birds are American Kestrel, Killdeer, Vesper Sparrow, and Eastern Meadowlark. Other grassland birds appear to be holding on, or even increasing, including Henslow’s (+5 blocks) and Savannah sparrows (+4), Dickcissel (+25), and Bobolink (-3). Several resident and short-distance migrant northerners have increased, apparently a compensatory response, via the occupation of newly opened habitat left by declining competitors — Red-breasted Nuthatch (+16), Golden-crowned Kinglet (+10), Hermit Thrush (+13), Yellow-rumped Warbler (+11), and Dark-eyed Junco (+5). Other increasing forest resi- dents include Pileated Woodpecker (+83), and Brown-headed (+32) and White-breasted Nuthatches (+150). Another example of apparent compensation between residents and a Neotropical migrant pits the greatly diminished range of the Broad-winged Hawk (-223) against the slightly increased range of the Red-shouldered Hawk (+16) and the notably increased range of the Red-tailed Hawk (+45). Many warblers that nest in hardwood forest interiors have greatly declined, including American Redstart and Cerulean, Black-and-white, Kentucky, and Hooded Warblers. The sole warbler that has reversed this trend, for unknown reasons, is the Northern Parula, which has been found in 25 more blocks than 20 years ago. Many increasing birds have proven tolerant to humans or have benefited from human activities, some indirectly, January /February 2006 5 Birds of Note • A handsome BARNACLE GOOSE visited Great Oak Pond in western Kent Co in mid-October. • A BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER was briefly glimpsed at Little Bennett RP, Montgomery Co, on Oct 15. • A GRAY KINGBIRD — just the sixth state record — drew flocks of birders to Worcester Co in October. It was found Oct 19 near the end of George’s Island Landing Rd, where it could still be seen, perching on the wires and diving into tangles, on Oct 24. • The next big excitement erupted when a NEOTROPIC CORMORANT showed up on the Potomac River in Montgomery Co in late October. Dave Czaplak had noted a “small” cormorant in August, but it was only when the bird reappeared, and was photo- graphed and scrutinized, that its ID was confirmed. • A wayward HAMMOND’S FLYCATCHER, discovered in northern Baltimore Co Nov 23 by Hank Kaestner, made it a very special Thanksgiving weekend, and beyond, for many Maryland birders. Only after a few days of scrutiny and photography was the ID of this wing- and tail-flicking Empidonax nailed down. The only previous state record dated to 1987, when a skin collected (by Chan Robbins) some 24 years earlier was correctly identified. Photos of Gray Kingbird (top) and Hammond’s Flycatcher ( bottom ) courtesy of George Jett. AtlaS (continued from page 4) Warbler Workshop others through protection or active encouragement. Species receiving active or indirect human aid include Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Wild Turkey, Tree Swallow, and Eastern Bluebird (+28). Many fish-eating birds have increased as well, for varying reasons. These include Hooded Mergansers (+26 blocks, +18 confir- mations), Common Mergansers, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron (+15 colonies), Osprey, and Bald Eagle. Next year will be our last chance to document the changes that have occurred over the last two decades. After the 2002-2006 Maryland and D.C. breeding bird atlas has been completed next year, we will need to take careful stock of the changes we find and turn to pinpointing the causes of those changes. Registrants at the Rocky Gap Conference are invited to attend a workshop on "Warblers of Maryland" planned for the afternoon of Friday June 9. Designed by the MOS Statewide Education Activities Committee, the workshop will feature photos, illustrations, habitat preferences, songs, and calls of all of the won- derful North American wood warblers that breed in Maryland or can be expected in the state during migration. A number of field trips at the conference will offer opportunities to look for these beautiful birds. Information on registration for the workshop will be given in the conference infor- mation package. Persons who want to attend will be asked to sign up after they have arrived at the conference. In the meantime, anyone who wants further information is invited to contact me at 301-530-5764 or at dhmbowen@yahoo.com. Photographers who have pictures (slides or digital images) of Maryland's warblers and who might be willing to have some of them appear as part of the workshop presentation are also invited to get in touch with me. — Mike Bowen Chair, SEA Committee 6 The Maryland Yellowthroat S'be girder’s