rt CB© '> rt. ;i!SH museum (NATURAL HISTORY) ? 1993 for members of the Carolina Bird Club, Inc., ornithological society of the Carolinas Volume 39 May/June 1993 Number 3 Out To The Banks The Outer Banks of North Carolina, a favorite migrant trap for birds and birders, will once again be the site of a Carolina Bird Club fall meeting. With cooperative winds, the September 24-26 dates should deliver a wealth of landbird migrants as well as the usual assortment of shorebirds, waders and other coastal specialties. Headquarters will be the Comfort Inn Ocenfront at Nags Head. This is the same meeting site which we have used before, but it has recently been renovated internally and has taken on a new name. The rate for up to four persons per room is $50.00 plus tax. Reservation deadline is September 10, 1993. Please us the form provided in the Newsletter or call toll free 1-800-334-3302. Directions to Hotel: • From Manteo continue on US 64/264 across the causeway to Nags Head. Upon reaching the Outer Banks do not veer left onto US 158 Bypass but instead proceed straight across the intersection with NC 12. Continue straight ahead 1/10 mile to the beach dunes. Turn right. The Comfort Inn is the large six story hotel just ahead. As usual on the Outer Banks, anticipation of a favorable frontal passage and bountiful migrants will keep excitement in the air. And just as with fishing, this kind of birding can often be summed up with the statement, "you should have been here yesterday!" So plan to come a day early to take advantage of organized field trips which will be offered on Friday morning as well as the usual Saturday and Suntlay morning trips. Evening programs will be highlighted by our Saturday evening speaker, Steve Dinsmore. Steve, a gifted young ornithologist and birder, has spent the last year studying the migrations and populations of Sanderlings on the Outer Banks. During this time on the banks he has observed (and photographed) . a great variety of shorebirds and other coastal birds, including some truly great rarities. All of this he will share with us. Those interested in the possibility of an offshore pelagic birding trip to the Gulf Stream on either Saturday of Sunday are advised to immediately call Michael Tove (919) 460-0338 and make inquiry about space available on his pelagic trips for September 24 and 25. These are not CBC sponsored trips, but they are a great opportunity at a modest price. The boat departs from the Pirate's Cove Marina, . only a mile or two from our hotel. More details will be forthcoming in the July/August CBC Newsletter. In the meantime, any questions may be directed to John or Paula Wright (919) 756-5139 or Ricky Davis (919) 443-0276. INS ID E Traveling Birdwatcher 2 Backyard Birding 3 Migratory Songbirds 4 Field Trip Reports 5 Hotline Highlights 7 Officers elected at spring meeting at Lake Lure, NC (standing L to R) Lex Glover, Harry LeGrand, Teddy Shuler, Bob Wood (seated) Paula Wright, Judy Walker The Traveling Birdwatcher Birding The High Desert and Northern Rockies (Continued from the March/April issue) As the departure time grew near, I flew out a few days ahead of the rest of the group to do some wildlife photography and exploring on my own. When the group arrived, I was there at the airport in the rental van stocked with the first week's groceries. We planned to eat in restaurants most evenings but fix our own breakfasts and lunches from our communal stores in the van. That part of the plan really worked out well and allowed us to be at our sites during the best birding times without delaying or missing meals. We first headed west to Deer Flats National Wildlife Refuge for Western and Clark's Grebes, Western Meadowlark, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Black-billed Magpie, and California Quail. Then we traveled into the desert to Bruneau Dunes State Park where the true meaning of desert became clear at 1030 F. Here and nearby we spotted Western Kingbirds and Wilson’s Phalaropes, along with Great Homed Owls, Black-necked Stilts, several duck species, and other birds at a pond surrounded by dimes and sagebrush. At the Snake River Birds of Prey Area we were too late in the season to see the large variety of breeding raptors, but Prairie Falcons were relatively plentiful, as were Swainson's Hawks. We saw our only Burrowing Owls here, and got good looks at Sage Sparrows, White-throated Swifts and Violet-green Swallows. On of the group's favorite sites was City of Rocks National Reserve, a dramatic landscape of huge jumbled boulders, pinnacles and sheer cliffs. We discovered that this area in south central Idaho is well known to rock climbers and should be considered a hot spot by birders as well. Here we saw Mountain Bluebird, Western Tanager, Say's Phoebe, Lazuli Bunting, Red-naped Sapsucker, Mountain Chickadee, Green-tailed Towhee, and many other species. We visited Cherry Springs Nature Area briefly, where we added warblers and other passerines, as well as a Ruffed Grouse and a Willow Flycatcher. Then we continued on to Bear Lake NWR. another hot spot. by Dennis Burnette Western Meadowlark We spent two days in this vicinity and saw many good species including White-faced Ibis, Sandhill Crane, American Avocet, Lark Sparrow, and MacGillivray's Warbler. On our way north to Grays Lake NWR, we spotted a pair of Short -eared Owls and at the refuge got distant looks at Whooping Cranes which are part of an experimental nesting program there. Not all of our stops were so productive, of course. Tex Creek Wildlife Management Area and a couple of other promising spots didn't produce the hoped-for species. We were heading out of the sagebrush country now, and into the cooler (and rainy) mountains. A stop at Harriman SP rewarded us not only with displaying Common Snipe but also with Northern Goshawk and Red Crossbill. Across from the lodge where we spent several nights, Bald Eagles perched along the river, and Trumpeter Swans were nesting in a nearby pond. A Townsend's Solitaire was in the National Forest and, on a tip from a local birder, we spotted a Great Gray Owl along the road that took us into Montana to Red Rock Lakes NWR. In the refuge we noted Eared Grebes in breeding plumage. We hadn't realized that we would be passing so close to Yellowstone National Park and couldn't resist rearranging our schedule to spend a day and a half there. We picked up a copy of Birds of Yellowstone by McEneaney, and used this excellent bird-finding guide to locate American Dipper, Barrow's Goldeneye, Clark's Nutcracker, and Gray Jay, as well ‘ as other good species in the park. We were running out of time and had to start heading back west. Our next stop was another favorite of the group, the Nature Conservancy's Silver Creek Preserve. Although we had already seen most of the species we found there, it was a delightful spot well worth visiting. A popular place for flyfishing, it is another of those wildlife areas that should be better known as a birding hot spot. The last site on our itinerary was Craters of the Moon National Monument, and area of spectacular landscapes created by volcanic lava flows and cinder cones. By arranging ahead by mail, we were allowed into a portion of the monument generally closed to the public where we saw Blue Grouse, Strickland's Woodpecker, and Golden Eagle. Not only had we seen many species of birds on the trip, other species of animals were evident as well. Bison, elk, pronghorn, mule deer, red fox, black bear, coyote, jack rabbit, and many species of small mammals had been spotted. Gorgeous wildflowers were everywhere they could find enough water. Anil the scenery was fantastic. Our last day on the road was July 3rd. We hadn't seen every bird, but we had put a good dent in our hit list. We got up early, boarded the van and began the last leg of the trip to Boise. Few people were out that early, and we were soon away from town and in the sagebrush again. I was driving and others were still dozing, their birding done for this trip. Out of the comer of my eye I spotted a familiar shape from the field guide and hit the brakes. Everyone came awake as I shifted into reverse and backed up the empty highway. There, sitting on a bale of hat at the edge. of an irrigated field, was a Sage Grouse and slipping into the grass were several half-grown chicks. A lifer for every one! It was a good way to celebrate the upcoming Fourth of July holiday and a fitting end to a fabulous birding trip. 4209 Bramlet Place Greensboro, NC 27407 My mailbox has been active with letters from fellow backyard birders since the last newsletter. Kate Lewis, Sumter, SC, had a lone robin hanging around her yard in March. A mockingbird fried to mn him off but to no avail, a hundred or more robins migrated through, and Ms. Lewis thought surely the loner would leave with the group. The robin, instead, tried to run the others off. When the migrants finally left, the lone robin sat in a pine tree and sang his plans to stick around. Ben and Lucy Smith, Mt. Pleasant, SC, had seven male Indigo Buntings in their yard April 17. On the 21st, they saw sixteen males and four or five females. And on the 24th, they had twenty-seven males gobbling up millet! These Indigo Buntings were in addition to a pair of Painted Buntings and a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak (their first ever). The grosbeak began eating white proso millet but later changed to black oil sunflower seed: Dave Abraham, West Columbia, SC, has had good luck with marvel meal. During the winter, juncoes ate from his "cap-stick" feeders (feeders to which the juncoes had to hang and cling in order to eat. He also had a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a Myrtle Warbler eating marvel meal. This spring a pair of bluebirds has been nibbling the marvel meal. The male learned to use the feeder first. The female watched closely and tried but couldn't get the hand of it, so she sat on the ground and ate what the male knocked off. Eventually, though, the female learned to eat from the feeder. A robin showed up and found some marvel meal crumbs that were quite tasty. He began sitting under the feeder when other birds were on it and catching the dropped tidbits. Mr. Abraham, feeling sorry for the starving robin, stood a brick on end under the feeder. The robin perched on the brick and stared at the feeder hoping another feathered friend would drop some crumbs his way. The robin eventually flew vertically from the brick to the feeder and down again." When that didn't work, the robin put on his hummer act and hovered an poked at the marvel meal. Brown Thrashers, too, discovered the crumbs beneath the feeder, but they gave up after a day. Perhaps the robin was too tough. Mr. Abraham though he had lost the robin then a thrasher had him down, but the robin got" away, he was back at the feeder fifteen minutes later. The Backyard Birding with Frances J. Nelson thrashers were gone. On April 13, Mr. Abraham watched Cedar Waxwings eat apple blossom petals, and on the 14th, he heard swifts in his chimney (he uncaps his chimney in the spring so the swifts can nest). With all of the bird activity in his yard, coupled with the large number of feeders, Mr. Abraham stays busy. He’s thinking maybe he ought to start raising poultry; then he could get the eggs. He's only bluffing— he enjoys the birds too much to give them up. Believe it or not, the column is not about backyard birding just in South Carolina, but I heard from no North Carolinians. But CJ and I did have some interesting happenings. We have added five birds to our property list: Tree Swallow (a flock flew over our airspace . April 15), Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue- winged Warbler, an Osprey (also in our airspace), and a pair of Blue-winged Teals. We have heard an Ovenbird but haven't seen him yet. One morning we awoke to four Great Blue Herons on the pond. And last week I saw five Wood Ducks swimming around (three males, two females). One female flew up in the direction of the nesting box, and this was the day after we had cleaned out a starling nest. Unfortunately, I can't see the box from the house, so I don't know if she went in or not. As much as we would like to have Wood Ducks nest on the pond, we worry about their safety. We have neighborhood dogs that sit and star hungrily at our lone muscovy. I'm sure they'd love a chance at some baby Wood Ducks. Our regular summer birds are back— Indigo Buntings, Blue Grosbeak. Summer Tanager, Louisiana Waterthrush. Wood Thrush, etc., and we seem to have more birds this year. Several areas nearby were logged this winter, so I wonder if that's why we have more birds. The only other news is our wren. We have several bird houses hanging under the eaves of the house. Friends and relatives buy these homes for birds for us as gifts because they know how we feel about the feathered creatures. An where does the wren build a nest? In the top of the LP gas tank! One week after the tank arrived, the wren started building. She laid five eggs, they hatched, and the birds should fledge tomorrow (May 5). We can't explain it. The tank is by the big dog's doggy door, so it probably gets more traffic than any of the houses would. The nest is situated so that the rain can splash in, a snake could crawl up the side of the house and get to the nest, and when the babies try to leave the nest, the big dog may get a little snack. Perhaps it was my wise crack about the South Carolina wren. This one is definitely a (North) Carolina one. Oh, well, Nature is unexplainable. I’ll let you know the outcome of the babies in my next column. Keep me informed of your backyard birding: 1006 Dogwood Hill Lane, Wake Forest, NC 27587. Le Grand Resigns Harry E. LeGrand, Jr. surprised Carolina Bird Club members gathered for their annual business meeting at Lake Lure, NC, May 8, 1993, with the announcement of his resgnation as regional editor for American Birds and editor of Briefs for the Files in The Chat. He has held these posts since 1979, and the Club is grateful for his many years of outstanding serv ice. His successor will be named at a later date. Harry was elected CBC Vice-President for Eastern North Carolina at the meeting and will continue to chair the CBC bird records committee for North Carolina. Other officers elected at the spring meetmg were: President— Lex Glover, Lugoff, SC; Secretary— Len Pardue, Durham, NC; Treasurer— Robert Wood, Columbia, SC; Members-at-Large— Judy Walker, Charlotte, NC, (WNC), Paula Wright, Greenville, NC, (ENC). Teddy Shuler, Tamassee, SC, (SC) and Steve Patterson, Telion, SC, (SC 1 yr. unexpired term). The Executive Committee reelected Robin Carter chairman of the SC bird records committee and Teddy Shuler chairman of the conservation committee. A full report of the spring meeting w i 1 1 appear in the July/Aug Newsletter. Migratory Songbirds in by John Cely All members of the Carolina Bird Club should be aware of the plight of our songbirds that nest in North America and migrate to the tropics in winter. These so- called neotropical migrants include the thrushes, flycatchers, orioles, tanagers, vireos, warblers, buntings, grosbeaks, goatsuckers, hummingbirds, cuckoos, swallows, and swifts. About half of the breeding birds in the Carolinas are considered neotropical migrants. Population trends for many of these species based primarily on results of the Breeding Bird Survey, have caused alarm among many conservationists. Between ,1978 and 1987, 75% of all neotropical migrants declined at rates of 1 % -3% a year. Particularly hard hit in the Carolinas have been the Wood Thrush, Prairie Warbler, Painted Bunting and Yellow-breasted Chat. Reasons for these declines are complex and not fully understood, but attention has focused on deforestation of the tropical wintering grounds, especially in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, where some countries have lost 90% of their forest cover, and on fragmentation of the breeding grounds in North America. Even though most migrant songbirds have small breeding territories of an acre or so, studies have documented that it may take habitat of several hundred or thousand acres to support viable populations of these species. As an example, a 100-acre hardwood forest may have no successful breeding pairs of Northern Parulas; it may * require a tract twice that size for a single pair of Parula's to produce young, and a forest of 1300 acres as a minimum area for a long-term population survival of Parulas. This "area-sensitive" phenomenon is likely a result of increased predation in the smaller forest tracts on the eggs and young of migrant songbirds by crows, jays, grackles, cats, racoons and other predators, and brood parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds. Brown-headed Cowbirds, once confined to the western plains where they were called "buffalo birds," have spread eastward with the clearing of forest, and in the process have found more than 100 new host species, primarily neotropical migrants, to exploit. The Kirtland's Warbler, for example, would probably be extinct without and active cowbird control program. In 1990 a large group of concerned individuals from academia, state and federal agencies, and private organizations gathered in Atlanta and formed the Partners in Flight program in an effort to conserve neotropical migrant birds. With little funding but a lot of volunteer spirit, this program has focused on five major areas of emphasis: Research, Monitoring, Legislation, International Affairs, and Information and Education. An additional five working groups, representing different regions of the country, were also established. In 1991, the first Southeastern Regional Working Group met in Atlanta and decided to use the "physiographic" approach to neotropical conservation. The Carolinas were divided into three provinces: Southern Coastal Plain, Southern Piedmont and Blue Ridge. Volunteer coordinators were assigned to each region to drum up support and interest for the program. Since 1991, six meetings, all open to the public, have been held at the physiographic regional level. Experts have identified the highest priority species and habitats to focus on. For the Coastal Plain, highest ranked species are Painted Bunting, Swainson's Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Cerulean Warbler and Hooded Warbler. Priority habitats in the Coastal Plain are bottomland hardwoods, maritime forest, Carolina bays/pocosin, and longleaf pine. For the Piedmont, highest rafiked species are Wood Thrush, Cerulean Warbler, Trouble Prothonotary Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler and Swainson's Warbler. Priority Piedmont habitats are riparian forests, upland mature hardwoods, mature mixed pine-haidwood and old fields/scnib habitats. For the Blue Ridge, highest priority species are Chestnut-sided Warbler, Swainson's Warbler, Wood Thrush, Golden-winged Warbler, and Cerulean Warbler. Priority Blue Ridge habitats are spruce-fir forest, high-elevation early successional forests, cove hardwood forest and montane alluvial/bottomland forests. The future of these physiographic region meetings may evolve into state-level programs and meetings. For further information and how you can help, contact for North Carolina, Allen Boynton', NC Wildlife Resources Commission, 209 Ervin Road, Morganton, NC 28655; Harry LeGrand, NC Natural Heritage Program, PO Box 27687, Raleigh, NC 2761 1 ; or Laura Mitchell, US Forest Service, Cherokee National Forest, Cleveland, TN 37312 (for blue ridge information). For South Carolina, contact Sidney Gauthreaux, Dept, of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemsonj SC 29634 or John Cely, SC Wildlife and Marine Resources Dept., PO Box 167, Columbia, SC 29202. Input is needed from all federal, state and private individuals and organizations involved in land management such as timber companies, extension agents, and consulting foresters. Input from birders would be valuable, especially because of their abilities to survey and monitor bird populations. An excellent, non-technical book that started the ball rolling in this effort is highly recommended reading: Where Have All the Birds Gone? by John Terborgh, Princeton University Press, 207 pp.; $14.95 soft cover .. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is producing an informative newsletter on neotropical migratory birds and the Partners in Flight effort. To get on the mailing list, write: Peter Stangel, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, 1 1 20 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suites 900, Washington, DC 20036. Field Trip Reports As the 15 people on a CBC sponsored trip to Ecuador got off the plane in Quito on February 12, someone heard the common but sprightly Rufous-collared Sparrow. At our hotel later that afternoon, Harry LeGrand took up station outside the entrance, others of us joined him, and soon— with Harry's guidance-in the trees and shmbs across the street we spotted a Cinereous Conebill, a handsome Yellow Grosbeak, and a probable Long- tailed Hermit (a hummingbird). For the next nine days, six of them in the rainforest east of the Andes, we tested our binoculars, our stamina and our birding skills. We encountered rain, humidity, chiggers, ants, and stomach bugs. But the birds we saw and the wonders of our surroundings more than compensated for the challenges: Our group, led by Merrill Lynch and Derb Carter, identified a total of 337 species in Ecuador. Individual totals varied widely, if only because we often split into two groups in the rainforest. The group listed 303 species in the lowlands, and 34 more in Quito and on a day trip in the Andes. (Some of us spent a few hours birding in Miami between planes on the way home February 2 1 , but I'll oniit that excursion.) Though only twice the size of North Carolina, Ecuador boasts about 1 ,400 species of birds. More than 500 species have been seen near La Selva Lodge, our base in the rainforest. Those of us making first time trips to Amazonian Ecuador by Len Pardue Latin America saw lifers by the dozen ( 1 85 of the 208 species I observed were lifers). We were fortunate that our leaders, Derb (an environmental lawyer based in Chapel Hill) and Merrill (a field biologist for the N. C. Nature Conservancy), had visited Ecuador's rainforest and mountains at least twice before. So had Harry, a biologist with the N. C. Natural Heritage Program. All of them added significantly to their life lists this time. But numbers fail to suggest the excitement of the trip. Along with seeing exotic birds, we visited a wild place and glimpsed a different qulture. The trip's second morning, we left Quito in a two-engine prop airliner to cross the eastern range of the Andes. After we passed a snow-capped volcano and reached the eastern slop, we flew over what seemed an endless expanse of green— the rainforest: We landed at Coca, a dusty, raw-looking oil frontier town (yes, there's oil in the jungle— a pipeline carries it across the mountains to the coast). Our bus matched the town’s character. It consisted of rows of benches on the back of a r