September bird migration updates

George Walter

Photo by Jill Severn

Earlier this month Thurston’s Birds described September as the best month for finding unusual birds. It’s peak migration time and sometimes these migrating birds become lost or disoriented and show up in unusual places.

It did not take long before the first report - a very tired, Black-chinned Hummingbird landed on a feeder in an Eastside Olympia neighborhood. It was a male and he rested for a while, then drank deeply from the feeder, then rested again. Soon, he seemed to recover and, after another long drink, took off, never to be seen again. Nice sighting! At this time of year, we only expect to see our common Anna’s Hummer, but it’s always a good idea to be on the lookout for something unusual.

Several unusual visitors have been recorded at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. The first was a Brown Pelican flying, and presumably feeding, at the mouth of the Nisqually River. Several of these late summer visitors have been reported in southern Puget Sound so you might see one almost anywhere.

My son Aaron and his mom visited Alaska this summer and he reported how surprised they were by all the Sandhill Cranes. It seemed that these birds were nesting in almost any open grassy area. Well, these birds are now flying through our area, bound for wintering grounds further south.

Sandhill Cranes are large gray birds; in flight they exhibit broad wings and outstretched neck and legs. (The familiar Great Blue Heron is smaller and slimmer in flight, with its neck crooked in). They usually migrate in small flocks, and several flocks have been seen locally. Listen for their loud bugling call, which can be heard several miles away.

But the star of local unusual birds has to be the single American White Pelican that has been seen throughout this week in the large wetland located between the north and south lanes of I-5 and just east of the Nisqually River. You cannot misidentify this bird even while driving 60 mph; it’s a large white bird with black wingtips and a huge orange-yellow bill with a feeding pouch. These pelican do not dive like their brown relatives. Rather, they scoop up small fish with their bills as they paddle along lakes and ponds. They breed in Eastern Washington and are occasionally seen in the western part of our state during migration.

Red-footed Booby – this rare bird is still being seen daily in Port Townsend, usually perched on the same piling near the Marine Sciences Center. It’s been there nearly a month and one local estimates that on an average day ten or more cars full of birders parked nearby to take a look. Sometimes you can get remarkably close. One wonders what the economic impact of all these birders might be on the local economy.

A more common bird: Crows – Since writing about feeding crows recently, I have received several comments and questions. It seems several folks are mad at their local crows for invading their bird feeders, chasing away all the “good birds” and decimating the feeders. That’s what crows sometimes do; they are adapted to living in close proximity with humans and taking advantage of the abundant food we make available to them. Once they learn about a good feeding opportunity, they will include that location in their daily round, similar to that overflowing trash bin in a local park.

Another reader asked whether crows really can identify individual people. Yes, they certainly can and do. In a famous experiment conducted by a UW professor, he and his students wore caveman masks while catching and banding crows near the UW campus. The crows responded by vocalizing alarm calls and dive-bombing the caveman mask wearers.

After the banding project was completed, the UW professor continued to send masked students to various locations at UW and elsewhere in Seattle, and the crows continued to call the alarm and harass the mask wearers. It’s now been over ten years, and most of the birds that have experienced the dangers of the caveman mask are deceased. However, this shared knowledge of danger remains with some Seattle-area crows, although the response has diminished each year. It would seem that the shared knowledge fades when it is not reinforced, and within a few years wearers of caveman masks in Seattle may be safe from crow attacks.

The lesson for potential crow chasers seems clear: by chasing and yelling at that flock of crows bothering your feeder, you might create something far worse: the inability to enjoy your yard free of harassment from your neighborhood crows.

So, what’s the solution? There’s nothing certain, but I would suggest an approach that recognizes how smart crows are and train them away from your feeder. You could employ a favorite and easily recognized crow food, peanuts in the shell. Instead of chasing the crows away, throw a handful of peanuts on the ground. Chances are they will immediately recognize this food and go to the peanut feast. They may, over only a few days, become so familiar with your special treatment that, rather than attack the seed feeder, they nosily call demanding that you “bring out the peanuts.”

George Walter is environmental program manager at the Nisqually Indian Tribe’s natural resources department; he also has a 40+ year interest in bird watching. He may be reached at george@theJOLTnews.com

Photos for this column are provided by Liam Hutcheson, a 17-year-old Olympia area birder and avid photographer.