The Winter of our Disconnected Wren

From home base in Ohio, Kenn writes: A number of years ago when I was a kid birder, bumming around North America to learn as much as I could about birds, my friends and I started to get interested in Winter Wrens.

Of course, there are plenty of reasons to be interested in the Winter Wren. For one thing, there’s the question: is it a bird, or a rodent? Living in dense woods, it can be almost impossible to see sometimes, mousing around in the undergrowth, crawling under logs and vine tangles. (When it does pop up into the open, you have to be very lucky or very skillful to get anything better than the crappy photo shown below.) But when it starts to sing, then you get a different idea. It has a beautiful, long, varied, tinkling series of runs and trills, not what you’d expect to hear from a mouse, or even from the average bird.

An "Eastern" Winter Wren at Magee Marsh, Ohio, in early April. Winter Wrens are common early spring migrants along the boardwalk at Magee, but they're not easy to see; often they're foraging under the boardwalk itself.

However, my friends and I were interested for another reason. At the time there were no bird guides that illustrated (or even mentioned) the difference between eastern and western Winter Wrens. But in our birding travels, trying to glimpse Winter Wrens in various places, we had noticed that their callnotes sounded different on the west coast than they did in the east. They all gave a fast double note, but the tone quality was different: the eastern birds called a low cheff-cheff, with the tone of a Song Sparrow’s call; the western birds gave a squeaky chimp-chimp, with the tone of a Wilson’s Warbler call. As more and more of us started to focus on the question, it was amazing how almost everyone made the same comparison of the callnotes.

I knew that the eastern and western birds had been described as different subspecies; but in many cases, subspecies are based in tiny differences that aren’t readily apparent. At some point, though, I was looking at specimens at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and was stunned to find that eastern and western Winter Wrens actually looked very different. The eastern birds were a paler grayish-brown on the chest, with lots of darker mottling, while western birds were a smoother rich golden-buff on the chest, and richer brown on the back.

These days, of course, many field guides show the two forms, or mention the different callnotes, and many of the more serious birders pay attention to the difference. But before long, all birders may have to take notice, because it’s very likely the eastern and western birds will be split into two species. The American Ornithologists’ Union committee responsible for such decisions hasn’t acted on it yet, but some Canadian researchers have found convincing evidence that the two are, in fact, distinct species.

Ornithologist Darren Irwin, of the University of British Columbia, discovered an area near the town of Tumbler Ridge in northeastern BC where the two forms of Winter Wrens are found side by side. They are readily recognized by their songs here, and they apparently don’t interbreed at all, or if they do it must be a rare event. Genetically they are quite distinct. Professor Irwin and his grad student David Toews have published some of their results in technical journals; you can read an abstract of one paper here and you can read a more popular account, with links to samples of the songs, here.

What will the "new" species be called? "Pacific Wren" has been suggested for the western bird; the eastern bird might remain as "Winter Wren" or it might get a different modifier. The western bird apparently doesn’t stray eastward past the Rockies very often, but the eastern one does stray to the southwest. When I lived in Arizona, where Winter Wrens were scarce winter visitors, I occasionally found both eastern and western types on the same day.

This may not be an "official" split for a few years yet, but this is a good time for birders to start thinking about these fascinating little birds, and paying attention to their differences.

Croatia

On the Wings of One Tiny Bird...

From the Headquarters of Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Kim Writes: The following post is taken from a migration fund appeal letter recently sent to all observatory members and contacts. I wanted to share it with all of you because it includes an amazing announcement about BSBO's research.

500,000…
Roll that number around in your mind for a moment as I tell you the story of one small bird.

Thursday, August 27, 2009:
The tiny bird flitted among the branches of a large spruce, climbing until he had reached the tip of the uppermost branch. From there, he surveyed his world. Up until now his “world” had consisted of the forest close to the tiny nest he had left just weeks ago. But his world was about to change. It was a clear night in the boreal forest of central Alaska, and something in the wind was speaking to this little bird; it was telling him that it was time to go. After thoroughly preening his flight feathers, he lofted himself up, up, up, into the star-filled darkness. And all alone, he began to fly…

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009:
As the sun began to spread its golden mantle across Northwest Ohio, the BSBO research team greeted the day from deep within the marsh at the Observatory’s Navarre Banding Station. The mist nets, 28 in all, were open and ready. Now, all they needed were birds. On the point count, Mark & Julie Shieldcastle could hear chip notes of warblers and soft call notes of Swainson’s Thrushes; each was duly noted. The good winds overnight had delivered birds into the marsh, and there was one bird out there—one tiny traveler from the far north—that was poised to become an astounding milestone.

The bird lingered in the shrubby dogwood branches with a hesitancy born not of experience, but of pure instinct. Experience was something he was still in process of acquiring, in spite of the fact that he had made several stops like this one since that night in August when he had lifted off from his spruce tree to embark on this journey into the unknown. His instincts had taken him on a southeasterly course, and had now delivered him into the Lake Erie Marshes. He was hungry. And food was here, just as his instincts had told him it would be. A short distance was all that lay between the safety of his dogwood fortress and a willow tree where a juicy caterpillar was making its way along a low branch. A short distance… But so much can happen in a brief space in time. Hunger finally overcame fear, and he pushed away from his little dogwood and immediately found himself cradled in the soft hammock of a BSBO mist net.

A few minutes later, he was back amid the dogwoods, actively searching for the food he would need to sustain himself for the rest of his journey: an astounding transoceanic adventure that would carry him to South America, perhaps all the way to southern Brazil. This feat alone makes every Blackpoll Warbler special. But this individual—“our” Blackpoll Warbler—was now sporting a practically weightless leg band marked 2560 59455. He was now an individual.

---He was also the 500,000th bird banded by the Black Swamp Bird Observatory.

Blackpoll Warbler Number: 2560 59455

500,000…
On its own, it is an overwhelmingly impressive accomplishment to reach this banding research milestone. But it exceeds the limits of mere impressiveness and enters the realm of astounding when you consider the fact that every one of those birds was banded under one Master Banding Permit, a permit belonging to Mark Shieldcastle.

The name Mark Shieldcastle has become synonymous with bird migration in Ohio, and rightfully so. Mark’s knowledge and understanding of migration in the Lake Erie Marshes is unprecedented, and his accomplishments vast. ---But even superheroes need a sidekick. Mark’s wife Julie has been at his side since the beginning. As two of the five founding members of the Observatory, the Shieldcastle team has sacrificed much for BSBO, and for the cause of bird conservation. Mark and Julie embody the passion, dedication, and commitment that every successful nonprofit is built on. They have been assisted throughout the years by an amazing team of volunteers, and the significance of banding half-a-million birds is rivaled only by the incredible number of volunteer hours that have been given to this organization.

500,000…
This milestone also reflects the tremendous volume of birds that pass through the Lake Erie Marshes during migration. These huge passages of birds bring huge numbers of birders, and these binoculared bystanders spend millions of dollars in the local communities while they are here enjoying “our” birds. Just ask one of BSBO’s Birds & Business Alliance members. The Alliance is not only helping to bring business to its members, it’s also helping to create awareness of the economic value of conserving habitat for migratory birds.

If you are reading this blog, then I have to believe that birds are important to you; that birds bring something meaningful to your life. I am writing this because that is precisely why we do-what-we-do at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. We do it for the birds, for the beauty and joy that they bring to our world.

We also do it for you.

It is an incredible feeling to share the Observatory’s work with every person we can reach. To see the joy on a child’s face when they see a Blue Jay, or a cardinal, or a goldfinch up close for the first time at one of our school programs. To see the most stoic adults transformed into children when they release a wild bird for the first time at the banding station. To see accountants, construction workers, nurses, truck drivers, musicians, grocery store clerks, and attorneys working side by side to help us help birds.

We want to continue to do our part to care for the precious resources that birds need to survive the incredible demands of migration. We want to continue to share the message about the joy that birds bring to our world. We need your help to do it.

---Thank you for reading our blog, and for sharing in this amazing adventure that we call "birding."

Youth Gone "Wild"

From the home base of the Ohio Young Birders Club, Kim writes:
On November 14, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, Oak Harbor, Ohio, will provide the setting as student members of The Ohio Young Birders Club (OYBC), host their annual conference from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 pm.

If you don't have a really good excuse for not being there I'll show up in the BSBO bird bus, drag you out of your house, and take you to the conference!

The BSBO Bird Bus!
(We love you Lloyd & Norma!)

In May of 2006, I brought together six teens from across the state to start some kind of a birding organization for young people. With the help of several dynamic adult supporters, we simply tried to facilitate all the great ideas these young people generated, and the OYBC was born. Most of the original six members of what has became known as the club's "Youth Advisory Panel" have "aged out" of the club. Four of those six are now off to college pursuing, you guessed it, careers in avian / wildlife-related fields!

The line-up from our first conference

The OYBC is a ground-breaking club that puts youth in charge. In addition to the annual conference, student members provide content for the club newsletter, and help plan monthly field trips all over the state of Ohio. The OYBC is serving as a model program, and many other states are now following Ohio’s lead on this approach to nature clubs for teens. It’s an inspiring thing to see, so you should make plans to attend. Come see some of our best and brightest teens in action and experience hope for the future of conservation!

One of early OYBC field trips to Millersburg, Ohio. Robert Hershberger welcomed us to gather at Time & Optics LTD. There's no website since Robert is Amish, but you can call the shop at: 866.308.0727

The club was founded under the auspices of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory; if only every nonprofit board had the kind of guts that the BSBO Board of Directors had. There are risks involved with any venture like this, and the BSBO Board exercised a great deal of faith when they gave us the go-ahead. I'm so proud to work for this organization!

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor slippery tower can stop an OYBC field trip.
OYBC field trip to Kelleys Island

This year, the student panel planning the event selected 17-year-old Malkolm Boothroyd, from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, as their keynote speaker. Malkolm will present "A Big Year and Bird Conservation.” A birder since age seven, and an environmental activist since age eight, Malkolm has found ways to combine conservation efforts with birdwatching adventures. Last year Malkolm and his parents bicycled 13,000 miles to see how many birds they could see, in what birders refer to as a “Big Year,” and collected “per-bird pledges” to raise money for conservation. Twelve months and 548 birds later, they had succeeded in raising over $25,000 for bird conservation! Malkolm blogs about his adventures at: BIRD YEAR BLOG

Kenn had the great fortune of communicating with Malkolm during the Big Year adventure! Malkolm and his parents took a copy of Kingbird Highway on their journey and took turns reading it aloud when they camped each night. His parents encouraged him to contact Kenn to compare notes about their road trip adventures, so when they stopped to post to the BIRD YEAR blog in areas with WI-FI, Malkolm would eMail Kenn about their progress.

OYBC Field trip to Killbuck Marsh

Some of Ohio’s own inspiring teenagers will also be giving presentations.
* Sarah Winnicki, age 16, of Medina, Ohio, will present: "For the Love of Condors, a Conservation Story."
* Lukas Padegimas, age 16, of Cleveland Heights, will present: "The Piping Plovers of Cape Henlopen."
* Elliott Miller, age 14, will serve as our Master of Ceremonies
* Elliott will also assist Kenn with his ever-challenging Bird Identification Quiz.

During last year's conference our friend, and great naturalist, Steve "Funky Bottoms" Carbol, waded into Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area (it's the real name, no kidding!) to fish out a Barn Owl that, sadly, discovered that owls don't swim well. Funk Bottoms is located on the edge of the tiny village of Funk. Oh, I soooo want to move there. It would be so funky to live in a town called Funk. I'm just sayin....

The presentations will be followed by an afternoon field trip around the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. Breakfast and a hot lunch are included. The event is just $10 for students (ages 19 and under), and $20 for adults over 19. THIS EVENT IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! You need not be a member to attend!

For more information and to register visit
http://www.bsbo.org/OYBC_conference.htm or call 419-898-4070.

We have been blessed with tremendous support for this event, and for the club in general. I'd like to offer our heartfelt thanks to:

Our neighbors, friends, partners, and all-around wonderful people, at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge They have supported the OYBC from day one!

Jeff Bouton and Leica Sport Optics are on-board, offering their support and loaning us their best and brightest field expert, Austin Bouton! Austin attended our conference in Holmes County last year and really added a lot to the experience! Sometimes Austin brings his Dad along to give all the participants tons of free Leica goodies, and lead a digiscoping workshop! Austin has a regular column in Wild Bird Magazine. You should subscribe and read about all of his adventures!

Mike Freiberg and the crew at Nikon have also been great to us. Their support made this year's conference possible! Mike will also be leading one of our OYBC monthly field trips next year on May 15th. The walk will take place during the Biggest Week in American Birding. [teaser alert...]

A HUGE thanks to Ben Lizdas and Eagle Optics for their generous support. (Ben, you have NO IDEA how popular you are with young birders in Ohio right now!)

Each year the folks at RITE IN RAIN have given us these great little samples of their waterproof notepads -- we're all addicted to these things. This is a great product that every birder should know about!

To Robert Hershberger @ Time & Optics Ltd. Robert's unwavering support has made it possible for dozens of our Amish OYBC members to attend field trips and the annual conference.

The absolutely brilliant people at the Ohio EPA's Environmental Education Fund made a very smart decision when they selected the OYBC as one of their grant recipients last year. The support from that grant has really elevated the kind of things the club can offer its students!

There are many organizations across the state of Ohio who have supported the OYBC and we are so very grateful to each and every one. The following organizations have offered their support for this year's conference: Kirtland Bird Club, Ohio Ornithological Society, Audubon Society of Ohio, Clark County Audubon, the Tony Hess Memorial Fund, the John Gallagher Memorial Fund.

To Key Bank (and Delores Cole) for providing funding for the OYBC Conference through their employee match program!

To the following individuals. Without the support, generosity, patience, and guidance of the following people there would be no OYBC: Delores Cole, John Sawvel, Paula Lozano, Rebecca Hinkle, Julie Shieldcastle, Jim & Cindy Beckman, Auriel Van Der Laar, Phil Chaon, Ethan Kistler, Brad Wilkinson, Emily Rich, and Jena Jaskulski. I really do love you people!

And finally, to the amazing, handsome, generous, loving, incredible man behind the Kaufman Field Guide Series, for all of his tremendous support, for donating copies of his field guides to the conference, and for putting up with his wife and all of the madness she brings into his life. ~ Kenn, you are my hero!

See you on November 14th!

Kimmer's Favorite Random Bird Pictures

From Home base in Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kimmer writes: It's rather dreary here in O.H. this morning, and, to be honest, I don't really feel much like working. I was looking through some of the thousands of bird photos that Kenn and I have, and in the spirit of all things good and beautiful, I want to share a few of my randomly selected favorite bird photos.

Now tell me, who can resist fuzzy little baby Black Terns? Not me...

What all fuzzy little baby Black Terns hope to be; an adult Black Tern. This one was photographed at Metzger Marsh, just west of the Bird-O.

Compared to gulls, terns seem to get all the accolades. But, this supremely gorgeous gull helps to level the playing field. It's the Heermann's Gull, and we photographed this one on the coast of California three years ago. Not only is it handsome, but, it spells its name with two N's, just like another handsome creature I know!

This photo might just look like a substandard shot of a Red-breasted Nuthatch. But, in fact, this little bird brought such joy and delight to my life, that this picture will forever be one of my favorite bird photos of all time. I had just gone through a very difficult time in my life, and moved from a big beautiful house surrounded by fabulous bird habitat, into a tiny drab apartment in the city. Just to make myself feel better, I hung a tube feeder filled with thistle seed and one tiny little suet cake outside my window; never suspecting that any birds would find them. Two days later, this little stinker showed up, and put my life back on track for me. He was tiny, but he carried a HUGE message of hope; that, even when your world is turned upside down --

upside down ain't all that bad!

Turn to page 358 in your Kaufman Field Guide to the Birds of North America to learn more about the diagnostic song of the White-throated Sparrow!

This is the Channel-billed Toucan, taken from the canopy tower at Sacha Lodge. (Give me props for being brave enough to climb that dreadful thing!) VERY SCARY...but...VERY COOL! Now listen, I know that this photo sucks, but, I took it by holding my little point and shoot camera up to our spotting scope. (my apologies to Jeff Bouton, the Leica King of Digiscoping!) AND, this is the veryfirsteverinmy life TOUCAN and I wanted a photo of it. I wasn't too thrilled about climbing the tower in the first place. It's like 2000 feet in the air (height perhaps slightly exaggerated) and I certainly didn't want to be carrying ALL of our digiscoping gear up the 17,000 steps to get up to the top (number of stairs perhaps slightly exaggerated). I know I'm making this sound terrible and scary, but, ohmygoodness, it was massively amazing! Imagine standing ABOVE the canopy of a tract of Amazonian Rain forest so vast that you cannot see anything but an ocean of tree tops in every direction. Once they drugged and blindfolded me and got me up there, I never wanted to come down.

The canopy tower at Sacha.

Black-browed Albatross tending its young on Saunders Island on our trip to Antarctica. What a mind-blowing adventure this was. Hey, I know --- Kenn and I should start a blog and tell you all about this trip we took to Antarctica! Yeah, wouldn't that be great.....(Yikes!) I swear on a stack of Kaufman Field Guides that we'll get back to sharing the trip with you. SOON!

Even though many people seem to take American Goldfinches for granted, you have to admit that their nests are lovely.

Although I have been blessed with some astoundingly good birding experiences, this bird remains the single-most-mind-blowing bird I have ever seen. I was so stunned by the sight of this bird that I literally had to sit down. The Sword-billed Hummingbird (this one photographed at the Guango Lodge in Ecuador) has a bill so ridiculously long that it cannot even perch on a feeder. See what I mean!

What happens when you combine a really crazy duck that thinks it's human, some really crazy humans who think they're ducks, a flotation device, some beer, a pond, and a camera that no one really cares about....

A whole new approach to bird feeding. A young Red-tailed Hawk (note the brown tail) that hung around BSBO for several days.

One of the most outrageously bizarre birds on the planet

And finally, a quiz for you. Who can name all five of the brown thrushes shown in this photo taken at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory's banding station in the Navarre Marsh. (Name them left to right)

Thanks for having fun with me today!

36

Diversifying Our World

From Oak Harbor, Kim Writes: Last Saturday Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO), Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR), and Toledo Metroparks partnered to host a conference that looked at diversity in the outdoors in a very different way. If you're a birder (and, if you're not you SHOULD be!) then you've certainly noticed that most birders tend to be somewhat similar in appearance. So, after many years of talking about this problem, we finally decided to DO something about it. That "something" became:

"Diversity in Outdoor Recreation: The Many Faces of Conservation"

a one-day conference that we hoped would help to break down the cultural barriers that prevent ethnic groups from actively participating in outdoor activities.

This conference was Kenn's idea and he spearheaded the effort as the chair of the education committe for BSBO. He put together a great committee and led the way throughout the entire process. *Thank you to the crew - Rebecca Hinkle, Laura Bonneau, Karen Mitchell, Mark Plessner, Julie Shieldcastle, Tim Bollin, and Karen Zach! Along the way, Kenn expressed a new undestanding of what it takes to pull something like this together. For someone who has given hundreds of talks/presentations, being on the "other side of the fence" was a whole new experience for Kenn. And, although he was outside his "normal" role in an event like this, he was a marvelous leader. I have always been proud to share his name, but never more than now. He truly is my conservation hero! Thank you so much, Kenn! (I'm gonna get in so much trouble for this paragraph! But hey, that's what you get when you turn your wife loose with your blog!) : )

We invited three of the country's leading authorities on the subject to give presentations. First up, John C. Robinson, author of the book, Birding for Everyone: Encouraging People of Color to Become Birdwatchers. BUY THIS BOOK!! Or, buy two or three copies and donate them to your local school or public library! John's presentation was excellent. He discussed his experiences as a black birder in an almost entirely white birding community, and how this affected him and some of the people he met while out birding. He shared passages from his book, and concluded by challenging everyone in the room to help take the next steps to breaking the color barrier in the outdoors.

John C. Robinson in action!

Next up, Tamberly Conway. Tamberly is the Director of Latino Legacy: Building Place-Based Connections of Youth through Family Experiences with Forest Lands. This program is an amazing collaboration between USDA Forest Service (USFS), Texas Forest Service (TFS), US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU), Conroe Hispanic Force (CHF), Conroe Independent School District, Houston Independent School District, Texas Wildlife Association, Texas Youth Hunting Program, and the National Wild Turkey Federation. She shared the story of how she created the "Bosque Móvil" ("Forest Mobile"), a traveling information station filled with bilingual conservation and management outreach materials as well as hands-on activities and experiences designed to engage youth and their families in interactive interpretive and educational activities, exhibits and programs. Tamberly's energy and enthusiasm held everyone in the room at rapt attention.

Tamberly Conway in action!

Our final speaker of the morning was Dudley Edmondson. Dudley is a renowned nature photographer, and his dynamic presentation was punctuated with his stunning images. While birds and nature remain his primary subjects, Dudley realized a few years ago that in order to encourage more people of color to participate in outdoor activities, they needed role models. He began to turn his camera toward people, and use those images as a gateway to the outdoors. Black and Brown Faces in America's Wild Places was the result of these efforts. The book features 20 African Americans who are actively pursuing nature related careers and hobbies. As an added bonus, a 44-page booklet for youth is included.

Note the large camera in the forefront to Dudley's right. Footage from our conference will be included in a documentary about birders!

The conference was powerful stuff! While the audience was small -- it was mighty! Many state and federal agencies, as well as local organizations and NGO's were represented, including: Ohio Department of Natural Resources; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Toledo Public Schools, Woodmore Schools, Toledo and Cleveland Zoos; Black Swamp Conservancy; and Toledo Naturalists Association. The afternoon panel discussion was filled with great dialogue about the challenges we face, but, also with many useful suggestions. (More on the panel discussion in a future post!) We're planning to compile a summary of the conference and make it available as a pdf though the BSBO, ONWR, and Metropark websites. We'll keep you posted on the progress.

Wow! ---The conference was so dynamic that I almost forgot to mention that we kicked things off on Friday night with a wonderful reception at the National Center for Nature Photography, located within the Secor Metropark in Toledo. Karen Pugh and her staff at the center did a great job of coordinating the event, and arranged to have a digital exhibit of Dudley's fabulous images. It was a lovely evening, and a great way to get everyone fired up about the conference the next morning!

Dudley answers questions from an enthralled audience at the National Center for Nature Photography at Secor Metropark in Toledo.

---More on the conference, including the panel discussion, the amazing field trip experiences, and links to resources on diversity in the outdoors in a future post.