The Birders Report

Red-breasted Sapsucker (Syphyrapicus ruber) photo by Larry Jordan

Please check out my latest West Coast Beat Writer post over at 10000 Birds to learn about the Red-breasted Sapsucker and leave a comment if you are so inclined!

Also, if you use Google Friend Connect, please consider joining my site via the widget in the right side column ————————>

Northern Saw-Whet Owl photo by James D. Thompson

ACTION ALERT FROM THE CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

Right now, the Obama administration is accepting comments on a draft policy interpreting the phrase “significant portion of its range” (SPOIR), which specifies that if a species is at risk of extinction in any significant portion of range, it shall be protected.

This provision has played a key role in the recovery of the bald eagle, grizzly bear and many other iconic wildlife species, ensuring that animals and plants receive protection before they’re past the point of saving by providing protection to species in important parts of their home ranges.

The draft policy would limit species protection. Please tell the Obama administration to scrap this disastrous policy proposal and develop one that will truly protect species when they are at risk in significant portions of their range.

To read the full story and take action go here.

Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) photos by Larry Jordan

It all started with the Fall River Christmas Bird Count (CBC) back on December 17th. Well actually it started a week or so before that with the rare bird alert of the Falcated Duck at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. Then there were the unusual sightings of Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter and Black Scoter, all seen in and around Turtle Bay! Come on, these are coastal birds not usually found 150 miles inland on the Sacramento River.

Well, during the Fall River CBC, some of the participants found more rare birds for Shasta County, but I didn’t know about them until I returned to our meeting place to carpool back to Redding. Apparently there was a Common Redpoll (Carduelis flammea) flocking with some Savannah Sparrows…

and an American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea) with a flock of Juncos.

I took the above two photos on a trip back up to Fall River Mills to see these rare sightings but I also wanted to photograph the raptors you have seen in my most recent posts.

The Fall River Valley is located in the southern Cascade Mountains between Mount Shasta and Mount Lassen and includes acres of pasture and agricultural land that abounds with wildlife, including many species of birds. We counted 127 species in our count circle, the Loggerhead Shrike being one of those species.

This is the range map of the Loggerhead Shrike.

Traveling Rat Farm Road to its end there is a parking area and a small boat launch area with access to Big Lake and Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park. It was there that I finally got a chance to photograph a Loggerhead Shrike, one of my nemesis photographic species. Click photos for full sized images of the Loggerhead Shrike.

The Loggerhead Shrike is the only one of the world’s thirty species of true shrikes that occurs exclusively in North America¹. I believe they are year round residents here.

Sometimes known as the “butcherbird,” it is a small avian predator that hunts from perches and impales its prey on sharp objects such as thorns and barbed-wire fences.

This beauty was sitting atop a sign as I drove into the parking lot at the end of the road, seemingly waiting for a photo op.

According to Birds of North America Online, “Although such predatory behavior mimics that of some raptors, impaling behavior represents a unique adaptation to the problem of eating large prey without benefit of the stronger feet and talons of raptors. In addition, the hooked bill, flanked by horny tomial projections and functionally similar to the notched upper bill of falcons, further sets shrikes apart as distinctive in the order Passeriformes. Being both passerines and top-level predators, these birds occupy a unique position in the food chain.”

Unfortunately, despite its wide distribution, the Loggerhead Shrike is one of the few North American passerines whose populations have declined continentwide in recent decades. My Peterson Field Guide lists it as “uncommon to rare.” I don’t see it very often but I do know a couple of places where it can sometimes be found. Now, thanks to this bird, I can search for another nemesis bird and I have found another possible place this interesting species can be seen.

Please visit World Bird Wednesday and post some of your own bird photos. It’s lots of fun to see what species other people are seeing around the world!

References: ¹Birds of North America Online

Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) photos by Larry Jordan

One of my favorite things about winter in northern California is seeing my first Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) and hearing their short little tchup, tchup, tchup call, which I usually seem to think is an American Robin calling.

They come down from their breeding grounds in the higher elevations, where they sing that beautiful flutelike song, to partake of the fruit or pome of my Photinia bushes. Range map courtesy of Birds of North America Online.

They stay fairly well hidden in the shade of the bushes for the most part but occasionally flutter into the open while snagging a berry, similar to a Black Phoebe hawking an insect.

Occasionally they will briefly be seen in the leaf litter on the ground but…

more often they are noticed on a perch, cocking their tail and dropping it slowly

This week I watched two Hermit Thrushes as they quickly flew out of their hidden places to snatch a photinia berry and disappear back into the bush before you could say “Catharus guttatus.”

But every once in awhile, they would work their way to the outer branches and pause just long enough to catch them red berry beaked!

If you like seeing birds form all over the world, you will really enjoy World Bird Wednesday. It’s even more fun if you join us and post a photo of your own!

Gray Wolf (Canus lupis) photo courtesy of Rocky Mountain Tracking

Our environment is under attack by the United States Congress! Current members in the U.S. House of Representatives have cast the most anti-environment votes of any Congress in history.

You can read the minority report in its entirety from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce here.

The conclusion of this report is:

1. The House was in session for 165 legislative days in 2011 and took 191 anti-environment votes during that period. On average, the House Republicans averaged more than one anti-environmental vote for every day the House was in session.
2. More than one in five of the roll call votes taken in 2011 – 22% – were votes to undermine environmental protections.
3. On average, 228 Republican members of the House – 94% of the Republican members – voted for the anti-environment position during these roll call votes.
4. On average, 165 Democratic members of the House – 86% of the Democratic members – voted for the pro-environment position.
5. The anti-environment votes included 27 votes to block action to address climate change, 77 votes to undermine Clean Air Act protections, 28 votes to undermine Clean Water Act protections, and 47 votes to weaken protection of public lands and coastal waters.
6. The Environmental Protection Agency was the target of 114 of these votes; the Department of the Interior was the target of 35 of these votes; and the Department of Energy was the target of 31 of these votes.

I don’t know about you, but this kind of news scares the hell out of me! We obviously need to keep an eye on our elected officials and write letters or send emails to our representatives when they are doing the right things, and most definitely when they are doing harm to our environment.

When congress begins erasing the environmental safeguards we have been putting in place for decades and strips away protection for the planet’s biodiversity, we need to act.

You can check out how your legislators are doing by checking this Conservation Report Card from Defenders of Wildlife. You can look up records of individual Congressmen both from the House and Senate on that page.

I found this cartoon from Joe Liccar depicting the U.S. Congress score card and thought it was way too generous.

Personally, I would give them a FAIL!