july-august 2009 sandpiper newsletter grays harbor audubon society

8/8/2019 July-August 2009 Sandpiper Newsletter Grays Harbor Audubon Society

1/8

Membership MeetingSunday August 2, 2009

Vacation TimeNo Meeting

The

Sandpiper

July/August 2009

Noxious weeds are not forthe birds

By Nancy Ness,Grays Harbor CountyNoxious Weed Board

Non-native plant species thathave shown aggressive and in-vasive tendencies can destroycrop values, invade natural areas,choke waterways, and displacenative plants and animals. Morethan one third of the Audubonswatchlist species are threatenedby invasive species.

Plants brought here whether

intentionally or unintentionallyhave no natural enemies, andare not a part of the food chain.Some are capable of proliferatingat alarming speeds, throwing thenatural order into chaos. Whilesome generally advantageous birds are able to nd food andshelter within new plant introduc-tions, many specialized feedersand other birds lose their primary

source of food and or shelter.We have seen non-native phrag-

mites providing cover for preda-tors of shore bird species here inthe Bowerman Basin. There issome discussion that plant speciesshifts are followed by bird rangeshifts, i.e., multiora rose invad-ing New England followed by an

increase in cedar waxwings.Many attractive owering plants

are freely shared by gardeners,who then learn, the hard way, thatalthough attractive, these plantsare nearly impossible to eradicateonce established.The role of County Weed Boards

is to help landowners be goodstewards of the land, stewardshipin preserving the natural beautyof this place we love. Noxious

weeds are designated by law inour state by a State Weed Board.County Weed Boards assist in theproper control methods for eachnoxious weed. The tool boxfor weed control is referred toas integrated pest management.Cultural, mechanical, chemicaland biological methods are used,determined by the biology of thespecic plant, the extent of theinfestation, and the effectivenessof the tool.

Knotweed species like Japanese,Bohemian, giant or Himalayan arevery difcult to control mechani-cally. Very small patches can bedug, but once the large woodyroots get established, it is almostimpossible to control. Repeatedapplications of herbicides arerequired, but careful timing andselect applications can minimizethe amount of herbicide used, for

instance an injection gun (devel-oped especially for knotweed)can deliver a very small amountof herbicide within the hollowstem. Treated plants can then bewiped with an herbicide the fol-lowing year when they are verysmall. This results in very littleherbicide being used and evenless getting off target.

On July 30th, beginning at 10:00AM, well be working on theknotweed at the Audubon proper-ty near Bottle Beach, the infesta-tion is large and will take severalyears to eradicate. Volunteers willlearn how to identify knotweedsand how to apply integrated pestmanagement principles.Anyone interested in getting in-volved should wear long sleeves,long pants, closed toed shoes, and

eye protection. Call Arnie Martinat (360) 612-0437 for further de-tails and directions if you wouldlike to volunteer.

Knotweed leaves and stems

Knotweed fower spike


2/8

The Presidents Perch

By Arnie Martin

page 2

GHAS MissionThe mission of the Grays

Harbor Audubon Society isto seek a sustainable balance

between human activity andthe needs of the environ-ment; and to promote enjoy-ment of birds and the naturalworld

During this period of excellentweather, our bird neighbors arerearing their young in our treesand hedges. We have had anexample of natures wrath withour resident scrub jay pairs rstnesting destroyed by a murder ofcrows (isnt that the proper col-lective noun for crows?). Whilenature does her own pruning ofspecies, we have to be watchfulthat we dont cause further prob-lems to our nesting species.

Example of our unintention-al acts that can and will harmthe nestlings are spraying theplants for insect pests (causingthe food supply to the young tocrash), letting the cat out for justa few minutes (you know whatthese carnivores are capable of),letting the dog run on the beach(disturbing parents feeding or possibly killing the nestlings),and putting excess fertilizer on

the lawn (causing phosphaterunoff with consequent algal blooms and oxygen-starvedsh).

What can we do to preventcausing this unintentionalharm? Read and understand allthe package labels on the insec-ticides, and apply them at timeswell before and well after thenesting season. Better yet: trysystemic controls for pests anddiseases (soil drenches for fun-

gus and mildews) or nd outabout integrated pest manage-ment at http://ipm.wsu.edu/.Learn to share! Those littleaphids wont eat much.

Try to turn your cat(s) intoindoor cats (from personal experience this takes sustainedeffort and patience). We haveattempted to allow our cats ac-cess to a conned outdoor area,

and nd that the birds quicklylearn not to venture into danger-ous parts of that space. Keep-ing the fencing, netting, etc. ingood condition requires nearlyas frequent inspection tours asthose made by the cats. So far

the number of escapes and thenumber of captures are equal,and timely enough so the birdnumbers werent reduced.

Keep your dogs leashed, evenwhen on the beach, and dont bring your dogs into protectedwildlife areas, refuges, etc. Evenfairly well trained dogs may ndit impossible to resist the swirl-ing ocks of gulls and sandpip-ers. Keeping your dog leashedwhen at the beach is a good

precaution. By all means, keepthe dogs away from the postednesting areas of the birds thatuse the vegetated dunes, suchas snowy plovers and streakedhorned larks.

Feeding the lawn duringthe summer months could bestopped, but at least, follow allthe instructions on the fertilizer,and be sure to use a clean, qualityspreader that will not dump ex-

cess granules in an area. Apply-ing the fertilizer when the grassis dewy or slightly damp allowsyou to see the wheel tracks, pre-venting excess overlap.

Besides all the above plati-tudes, perhaps changing thelandscaping to all native plants,and accepting the damages thatwill appear from our suite of in-sects would be a better solution,eliminating the need for the ap-plications of articial controls.

What is there in the male psychethat requires the green lawn?Why does your lawn have to beas green as your neighbors? Imafraid that Im just as guilty asanyone, as I havent been ableto accept totally eliminatingthe lawn, but the weather thisyear has been very conduciveto bringing it into a nice mottled pattern of tan and light green.

Perhaps it will revert back toits former even green in the fallif our anemic rainfall total ap-proaches a more normal level.

For those of you who feed the birds, continuing during thesummer may assist the parent

birds in having larger numbersof edglings, or might allow anadditional nesting later in theseason.

Guess whats happening inOctober?

The picture below gives a hint


3/8page 3

Mockingbirds in ckleclimates sing fanciertunes

DURHAM, N.C. -- Why aresome birds simple singers andothers vocal virtuosos? Re-searchers at the National Evo-lutionary Synthesis Center(NESCent), the Cornell Lab ofOrnithology, and McGill Uni-versity suspect that inconsistent

climates may play a role.A large-scale study of mocking-

birds in diverse habitats revealsthat species in more variableclimes also sing more complextunes. As environments be-come more variable or unpre-dictable, song displays becomemore elaborate, said CarlosBotero, a postdoctoral research-er at NESCent in Durham, NC.NESCent is an NSF-funded col-

laborative research center op-erated by Duke University, theUniversity of North Carolina atChapel Hill, and North CarolinaState University.Local climate patterns are good

indicators of how challenginglife is in a given location, Boterosaid. Survival and reproductionbecome more complicated whenweather patterns are unpredict-able because you dont knowwhen food will be available or

how long it will be around, heexplains. Whats more, the con-sequences of picking a mediocremate are magnied in harsherclimes.

In really difcult or demand-ing environments you would ex-pect females to be choosier, hesaid.

Male mockingbirds sing pri-marily to impress mates, said

Botero. Superior singing skillsare a cue that a male is a goodcatch. Complexity of song dis-play how many song types abird sings, how hard the songsare is a good predictor of thequality of the individual, said

Botero. Males that sing morecomplex songs tend to carryfewer parasites, and have off-spring that are more likely tosurvive.Songbirds arent born knowing

their songs, however: they haveto learn them over time. Since birdsong is a learned behav-ior, Botero and colleagues suspect that song-learning abilitymay also be a display of learn-ing ability in general. The bird

equivalent of sparkling conver-sation, complex songs may indi-cate which males have not only brawn, but also brainpower.Birds that sing better are tell-ing others, at least indirectly:Hey, Im a good learner, saidBotero.

More importantly, singingskills may be a sign that malesare clever enough to cope withiffy environments. Individuals

that are more intelligent tend tobe better able to compensate forthe difculties of unpredictableclimates. For example, if someindividuals are able to inventnew foraging techniques, thenthey are going to be better atsurviving harsh winters than the poor guys who only know oneway to forage, Botero said.The more intelligent you are,the more resourceful you are,and the more curve balls youre

able to handle.To see if there was a correla-tion between climate and song,Botero searched sound archivesaround the world and embarkedon a solo tour of the southernhemisphere to record bird songsin the wild. Armed with super-sensitive recording equipment,Botero trekked his way throughdesert, jungle, scree and scrub in

search of mockingbirds in song.Boteros recordings - nearly 100tracks from 29 mockingbirdspecies - will enhance pre-exist-ing sound archives by lling ingaps for species for which high-quality recordings werent pre-

viously available.Back in the States, Botero used

computer programs to converteach sound recording - a medleyof whistles, warbles, trills

Bird languagesFromFunk & WagnallsStandard Dictionary of

Folklore, Mythologyand Legend

Before we could speak,

we understood them.They spoke in riddles:promising oak and sycamorewould become ladders to sky,that our tongues--lost leaves--would attach to mother-cotton-wood again.While our parents slept intheir royal bed, robins and jaystaught us to singby whistling, to praise bychortling skys blue and gasp of

cloud.From birch and walnut,they summoned wind untilit soared through our bodies,poured out our mouths.We knew every bird languagethen:oriole, thrush, magpie, cluckof domesticated chicken, eventhe hoo-hoo, toohoo of itsdistant cousin, the barred owl.We lay in our cribs, listening,practicing.

Ever since we have yearned,for riddled bark, for stalksspring,for vibrating grass and stem,for mornings borrowedbut uent song.

2008 Commonweal Foundation

2009 Gale, Cengage Learning

suggested for inclusion by Franz

Schneider

Continued on Page 4


4/8page 4

Fancier tunes continued frompage 3and twitters - into a sonogram,or sound graph. Like a musicalscore, the complex pattern oflines and streaks in a sonogramenables scientists to see and vi-

sually analyze sound.Botero and colleagues then

painstakingly analyzed eachsnippet of song and comparedtheir patterns to a database oftemperature and precipitationrecords. The researchers foundthat species subject to morevariable and unpredictable cli-mates had more elaborate songdisplays.

The connection between bird-song and climate is new and

somewhat surprising, Boteroexplains. Were connectingtwo dots that were far away be-fore.

For Botero and his colleagues,the next step is to see whetherthis pattern holds true for otheranimals. By studying animalcommunication, Botero ulti-mately hopes to shed light onhow language evolved in hu-mans. You cant help but won-

der what is it about humans thatmade our vocal communicationso incredibly complicated com-pared to other animals, Boterosaid.It has long been hypothesized

that one reason why humanshave such exaggerated displays not just language, but music,art, and even math is becausefemales have selected for sig-nals of intelligence, explainsBotero.

What we have now is a nicearena outside of humans where we can test these ideasand start understanding process-es that are fundamentally impor-tant for our own species.

The teams ndings were pub-lished online in the May 21 issueof the journal Current Biology.

Membership meeting annual picnicIf you dont see yourself in the pictures below you missed one of

the all time Audubon Picnic greats. Held at Lake Sylvia State Parkwhich borders along the north edge of Montesano, the park is builtaround an old lumber mill pond. Spectacular! It was free shingday for the State and we saw a couple of 2-3 pound trout pulledfrom the clear waters. In the meantime an osprey circled above,

hopefully.


5/8page 5

Are you interested in receiv-ing The Sandpiper online?Send us your email address

and we can forward the latestissue the moment it is readyto publish or visit http://ghas.org to view the newsletter asa color pdf le.

Need another hint??

Bird Monitoring andBanding WorkshopThe Bird Monitoring and Band-ing Workshop sponsored by theVancouver Avian Research Cen-tre is a 3 day action-packed in-troductory course consisting of presentations, specimen study,eld mist-netting, banding, and processing under the directionof Derek Matthews, MasterBander and Bander-in-charge atthe Vancouver Avian ResearchCentre.This workshop has been devel-

oped for people with little or nobird banding or bird in the handexperience and provides a fan-tastic opportunity to see birdsup close and personal, to learn

about their plumages, molt se-quences, and life habits.By participating in establishedbanding programs, you can con-tribute in a direct way to theirconservation. Imagine captur-ing a bird such as a SwainsonsThrush or Wilsons Warbler andknowing that it traveled to LatinAmerica or Mexico and returnedto the exact location where you banded it the previous year.Holding and releasing birds like

this is a unique experience andone which lasts a lifetime. Theexperience gained and skills ac-quired from this course can beused for a variety of avian re-search and conservation projectsincluding the Monitoring AvianProductivity and SurvivorshipProgram (MAPS) and the Cana-dian Migration Monitoring Net-work (CMMN).

But most of all the workshopis designed to be a fun and in-teresting experience and a wayto take your interest in birdsand the environment to the nextlevel.The cost is $315 ($300 + GST)

per participant with a $25 re-duction for students - $288.75($275 + GST). All course mate-rial is provided. Space is limited,so please be sure to book early!Canandian currency.

Things to bring and things towear!

* Warm clothing for the eldsessions

* Rubber boots this is a mustas the Burnaby Lake banding

site is located along the marshedge at Burnaby Lake and trailscan be underwater especiallyduring spring run off!

* Binoculars* Camera* Water / snacks for eld ses-

sions (Pizza is provided for theFriday evening session)

For more information visithttp://www.birdvancouver.com

It is ofcial!

Audubon members and localbird activists Bob Morse andDianna Moore joined withWashington State Parks to of-cially cut the ribbon on BottleBeach State Park, Ruby EgbertNatural Area on July 9, 2009.


6/8page 6

GHAS Board of Directors

Steve Hallstrom 273-9280 [email protected]

Theressa Julius 537-4386 [email protected]

Arnie Martin 612-0437 [email protected]

Dianna Moore 289-5048 [email protected]

Mary ONeil 533-9833 [email protected] Orgel 648-2476 [email protected]

Renee Prine 268-0485

Diane Schwickerath 495-3101 [email protected]

Janet Strong 495-3950 [email protected]

Chapter Ofcers

President Arnie Martin 612-0437

[email protected]

Vice President Mary ONeil 533-9833

[email protected]

Treasurer Diane Schwickerath 495-3101

[email protected] Theressa Julius, 537-4386

[email protected]

Committee Chairs

Newsletter R.D. Grunbaum, 648-2476

[email protected]

Membership Dianna Moore 289-5048

[email protected]

Conservation Janet Strong, 495-3950

[email protected]

Education Renee Prine, 268-0485

Field Trips Dianna Moore 289-5048

[email protected]

Program Chair Dianna Moore 289-5048

[email protected]

Hospitality Linda Orgel 648-2476

[email protected]

Publicity Vacant

Habitat Vacant

Other Audubon Contacts

GHAS voice mail (800) 303-8498

State Audubon (360) 786-8020

National Audubon (212) 979-3000

GHAS Website http://www.ghas.org

2009

ACOW

Pilchuck Audubon

October 9 11, 2009Holiday InnEverett, WA

Registration on line beginningAugust 1, 2009 Room reserva-tions are the responsibility ofthe attendee.

Keynote speakers Fridayand Saturday evening

Breakout sessions to includeBoard & Committee Chair

Focus along with the theme:Sustainability.

Conservation & EducationCommittees meet at 1:00 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 10th

Field trips will be to local

hotspots led by Pilchuckmembers! Watch for moredetails this summer.

Monthly emails will be sent toWashington Audubon ChapterPresidents. Camping informa-tion will be announced later.Please watch our website forup-to-date information regard-ing this event. www.Pilchuck-Audubon.org

Contact person:Colleen vanNiel

Phone: (425) 778-7568Email:

[email protected]

Ha! You guessed it!


7/8page 7

Please Fill Out and Mail Back

ANNUAL GRAYS HARBOR AUDUBON

CHAPTER MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES

If you would like to join Grays Harbor Audubon Society (GHAS), please ll out the form below, makecheck payable to Grays Harbor Audubon Society and return it with your check to:

Grays Harbor Audubon SocietyP.O. Box 470

Montesano, WA 98563

Chapter Memberships include a subscription to The Sandpipernewsletter. All Chapter Membershipsabove the Sandpiper category provide nancial support to our Chapter. The Grays Harbor AudubonSociety is totally self-supporting.

Name _________________________________________________ Date ____________

Address _________________________________________________________________

City _____________________________________ State/Zip _______________

Phone Number _____________________ E-Mail ______________________________

Heron $25.00

Pelican $50.00 Falcon $75.00

Eagle $100.00

The Sandpipersubscription only $15(Fixed or limited income membership orSandpipernewsletter only)

I am renewing my membership I am a new member

To join National Audubon or renew your National Audubon Membership, call 1-800-274-4201.

If your newsletter is stamped withLast Issue-Please Renew, be sure to ll out the Membership Formabove and send it in to keep your membership active and keep receiving the newsletter! Thanks!


8/8

MembershipMeetingOnVacationSeeyouinOctober

News&Editorial sendmaterialsto

P.O.Box1044Westport,98595-1044

[email protected]

InsidethisIssueNoxiousweeds1

PresidentsPerch2Fanciersongs3Birdlanguages3Songscontinued4AnnualPicnic4Birdmonitoring5BottleBeach5PilchuckAudubon6Board&Ofcers6

MemberApplication7

The SandpiperP.O. Box 470Montesano,WA 98563

Non Proft Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDAberdeen, WAPermit # 5

HowDoIKnowWhenMyMembershipIsDue?

Justlookintheupperright

handcornerofyourlabelanditwillgiveyouyour

renewaldate!

july-august 2009 sandpiper newsletter grays harbor audubon society

Documents