The Birders Report

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Burrowing Owl photo by Larry Jordan

If you are concerned about the conservation of bird species in the world and more specifically Burrowing Owls in California please download the Guidance for Burrowing Owl Conservation and read this document.  It has been sitting on a desk at the California Department of Fish and Game for at least two years.

This document, dated April 14, 2008, opens with the following statement, “Additional immediate protection is needed for the Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia), a vulnerable California Bird Species of Special Concern (Gervais et al. 2008) and federal Bird of Conservation Concern (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2002), that was the subject of a listing petition to the State of California Fish and Game Commission in 2003. Most Burrowing Owl populations in California still face the same primary threats they did three decades ago (Gervais et al. 2008). Burrowing Owl population declines continue, primarily caused by habitat loss and control of California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) and other host burrowers.”

The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) has been promoting this decline by giving the go ahead to developers who discover Burrowing Owls on the property where they want to build their homes.  The developer hires a wildlife biologist to create an “eviction plan” which goes to the CDFG for approval.  What does the plan contain?  A method to evict the owls, demolish their burrows, and kill all the remaining ground squirrels to make sure the owls (which have a very high degree of nest site fidelity) have no place to return to (download the eviction plan for the recent Antioch burrowing owls at Blue Ridge (1.4 MB) to see what I’m talking about).

This is just one example of Burrowing Owl evictions that are going on all over the state.  If it wasn’t for the diligence and persistence of Scott Artis over at JournOwl, we may never have know about this plan to evict a colony of eleven owls at his location (Scott has several posts on the Antioch owls that you can access from the right hand column on his blog).

How many Burrowing Owl evictions are going on in other areas of the state?  We don’t know but we need to find out if we want to help reverse their declining numbers.  At the last Burrowing Owl Consortium meeting in Livermore last Saturday the estimates of their decline since the last survey in 1993 by the Institute for Bird Populations were 8% statewide and an astonishing 27% in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento Delta Region.

It is time to monitor these destructive CDFG practices in California involving the Burrowing Owl.  It is time to put pressure on the CDFG to enact a new conservation plan for the Burrowing Owl in California, as stated in the Guidance for Burrowing Owl Conservation, to protect this Species of Special Concern and stop heading down this road we are on toward their endangered status.

YOU CAN HELP!  I have a letter you can print out and sign and mail to the Attorney General’s Office and the Director of CDFG asking the Attorney General to investigate this practice as to its legal status.  According to their own guidelines, this eviction practice results in take of this beautiful bird.  “Take” according to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, means “pursue, hunt, shoot, capture, collect, or kill, or attempt to pursue, hunt, shoot, capture, collect, or kill.”

I believe we have taken enough Burrowing Owls and can’t afford to take even one more, for any reason.

This has been my world for the past several months.  Trying to bring these beautiful birds back from the brink.  To see what’s going on in other parts of the world, check out MyWorld!

Cedar Waxwing photos by Larry Jordan

Cedar Waxwings are one of three birds in the family Bombycilla which also includes the less common Bohemian Waxwing and the Japanese Waxwing which is listed as Near Threatened (NT).  The Cedar Waxwing has actually been increasing in numbers over the last twenty years in North America.

Waxwings eat predominately sugary fruits year round but add insects to their diet in the summer.  They are a nomadic species, following the ever changing distribution of ripening fruits like this Firethorn (Pyracantha) found here at Christmas time.

They will typically hang upside down when picking berries and sometimes use some pretty interesting maneuvers to get at their target fruit.

I thought this bird might fall right out of the bush but he kept his balance …

and kept right on eating!

To see more great sky photos, check out SkyWatch Friday.  For more bird photos you’ve got to go to Bird Photography Weekly!

Burrowing Owl photo by Larry Jordan

The 38th Symposium of the California Burrowing Owl Consortium will meet this Saturday, February 6th at 9 a.m. in Livermore. This event is co-hosted by the Alameda Creek Alliance and Ohlone Audubon Society of Alameda County.  You can get the agenda, as well as directions and all pertinent information here.

I will come back with the latest information and a full report on the Burrowing Owl in California.

Ring-billed Gull at Kutras Lake, Redding, California photos by Larry Jordan

Kutras Lake is actually an outcropping of the Sacramento River in Redding, California.  There are many places to bird adjacent to the downtown area as you can see on this map.  The most popular spots being Turtle Bay and Kutras Lake.

If you click on the link to Turtle Bay, make sure to check out the EagleCam.  The Bald Eagles have been nesting at the edge of the Turtle Bay marsh area, on the West end of the highway 44 bridge, for many years now.  The last couple of years, successfully raising young while the bridge is being worked on.

But this story is about the Ring-billed Gull.  We see them here in the winter, in their non-breeding plumage.  At Kutras Lake, they are often seen with Herring Gulls, California Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls.  On occasion Western, Thayer’s, Mew and Laughing Gulls are spotted at Kutras Lake also.  I took the following images of this adult Ring-billed Gull, apparently in a somewhat aggressive display causing the surrounding birds to move away.

The most entertaining aspect of the Ring-billed Gull for me are their aerial maneuvers.  The adult birds will drop objects, then swoop down after them as if to show off their skills to the onlookers.  They are very skilled fliers and people love to toss pieces of bread into the air and watch as they snatch them up effortlessly.  Their normal diet however consists of mainly of fish, insects, earthworms, rodents and grain.

The previous photos were taken on an overcast day back in mid December but this last week I went out looking for some rarities at Kutras (like the Red-throated Loon or the recently seen Tundra Swans).  No luck with the uncommon birds but I did get these in-flight shots.

Have a bird filled weekend starting with Bird Photography Weekly!

Geese Flying Overhead in “V” Formation photos by Larry Jordan

As the winter turns to spring and the geese once again begin flying north in those beautiful “V” formations you hear flying overhead, it is time to check your nest boxes once again.  Even if you cleaned your birdhouses out in the fall, after all the nesting activity was over, you need to check them all and make sure they are once again ready for the return of all of your cavity nesting birds.

You may find that your birdhouses were used by some bird species during cold winters to stay warm at night. You may even find evidence that mice were using some of your nest boxes for homes.  No matter what birds or animals took advantage of the warmth of your birdhouses during the winter, there are important considerations you need to know when you begin cleaning out those nest boxes in the spring.

I found a couple of nest boxes full of acorns this week

Position yourself to avoid inhaling any dust from the nest box and wear gloves while cleaning out the boxes.  I use a putty knife to remove any old birds nests or wasps nests and put them into a plastic bag with a tie or a zip lock bag in case there are any parasites in the nest box material.  Dispose of old nest materials in the trash. Do not dispose of the old nesting materials close to the birdhouse as this may attract predators.

Once you have scraped out the nest box and made sure all of the drain and vent holes are open, you can disinfect birdhouses by spraying them with a 10% bleach solution (one part bleach, nine parts water).  If you decide to disinfect your birdhouses, leave them open for 24 hours to allow them to dry before closing them back up.  I recommend disinfecting your nest boxes if you have evidence of parasites in any specific boxes.  Many times you can simply scrape the insides of the birdhouses and wash them out with a sharp stream of water.

Just as I’m sure you like a clean house, your birds enjoy a clean birdhouse when they arrive in the springtime to bring all of their beautiful color and song to your backyard.  Make them welcome by keeping your birdhouses clean before they arrive in the spring and, if you have nesting birds that produce more than one brood per season, clean out the nest boxes after each brood.  You can download a complete nest box monitoring guide in PDF format here (3MB).

It’s also very important to clean your bird feeders regularly.  Cleaning bird feeders and birdbaths is a crucial practice in preventing the spread of disease between birds.  Audubon recommends disinfecting your feeders with the same 10% bleach solution you use for your nest boxes once or twice a month.

When you clean your feeder, get rid of the old seed.  Rake or sweep up any uneaten hulls on the ground.  Avoid overcrowding by providing more than one feeder for each type of feed you plan on feeding.  Move your feeders, if you can, to prevent waste from piling up below the feeders.

Empty water from your birdbath every few days, brush it clean and refill it with fresh water.  You will need to do this more often in warm weather.  Having a constant source of running water is ideal.  Birds can’t resist running water!

Once you clean out all of your nest boxes and bird feeders, you are ready for the Great Backyard Bird Count.  The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent and in Hawaii.  It takes place from February 12th through the 15th this year.

Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts.  It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event.  It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds.