Spring visitors

This week I intended to write a follow-up column about prairie birds, but a rare bird visiting the Billy Frank Jr. National Wildlife Refuge stole my attention – and the attention of a lot of other birders as well.

The visitor, a white-faced ibis, arrived last Thursday. On Friday I saw it and, thinking it would soon move on, added a quick comment to last week’s Thurston’s Birds column.

A white-faced ibis. 

George Walter | The JOLT

But good news: Not only has the ibis stayed around, it’s now been joined by a second.

Sometimes rare birds are challenging to find, either because they’re small, requiring a telescope, or they’re in locations that are difficult to reach. But that’s not the case this time.

These two ibis are in the grassy strip and wetland edges between the Refuge’s Twin Barns gravel access road and a large wetland, and often seen from the Twin Barns observation deck. Some lucky visitors have also seen them within a few minutes of leaving the parking lot and starting up the gravel road towards the Twin Barns. They are often seen near Canada geese.

Ibis are duck-sized wading birds that search for food in and near wetlands, acting like small herons, although they are not closely related. Their most prominent feature is a long, curved bill. They also have long legs and a long neck.  Those features give them a striking profile that may be familiar to people who like Egyptian art. An ibis species that lives along Africa’s Nile River valley is featured prominently in Egyptian mythology and artistic expression.  

An Egyptian temple hieroglyph.

George Walter | The JOLT

These ibis often look dark brown or black against the grass. But in sunlight, as they move around their feathers show glossy metallic colors - maroon, bronze and green. Then the reflection angle changes and they again look dark. Their appearance is really quite striking and they would be worth seeing even if they were not rare.

A similar species, the glossy ibis, lives in the southeast United States. The main identification difference between the two species is the white facial outline on “our” birds. Breeding adults will also have red eyes and bright pink legs and facial skin. Our current visitors are either younger birds or haven’t developed these secondary breeding characteristics yet.

How rare are they? It seems that these two birds are the first of their species ever seen in Thurston County. About a week before they arrived at Nisqually, Liam encountered a small group of them in the Chehalis River valley, prompting a rush of birders to that location. Now we have them as local celebrities.

A white-faced Ibis in flight.

Liam Hutcheson | For The JOLT

After wintering in Mexico, white-faced ibis migrate north, sometimes reaching southeast Oregon and southern Idaho. It seems likely that our visitors are migrants that overshot their target. How long they will remain is uncertain (often rare visitors leave quickly which is why birders respond quickly when they learn about a rarity on the birder’s hotline). It’s possible they could spend the entire summer.

This is the season when many other migrating birds visit our local Nisqually refuge too. While I was walking out to the Twin Barns observation deck, I encountered many yellow-rumped warblers, both the Audubon’s and Myrtle types. There were hundreds of them, all noisily moving through the newly leafed trees seeking insects. Migrating birds, especially the smaller ones, need a lot of energy, and a migrating flock will stop for days at a good habitat site to replenish their fat stores before flying further to their breeding territories.

A close-up of a Myrtle.

Liam Hutcheson | For The JOLT

The Myrtle and Audubon yellow-rumped warblers used to be considered separate species but now are regarded as subspecies -- unless you are using an older bird book. The "Myrtle" type is mainly found in the eastern North America, although we see them during migration to their breeding territories in the Canadian boreal forest. Males have a prominent white throat and black ear patch.

An Audubon yellow-rumped warbler.

Liam Hutcheson | For The JOLT

The Audubon type frequents the mountainous west and is our local subspecies, using the tops of conifers as breeding areas. This subspecies has a yellow throat and lacks the black ear patch. In looking at Liam’s photos one can’t help but think that these birds look like different species. However, in areas where their breeding ranges overlap, such as the Canadian Rockies, interbreeding is common and there frequently are intermediate forms. 

Going for a walk in the spring with my binoculars and Merlin app in hand always seems to result in surprises. Last week the treat for me, in addition to that ibis, was seeing so many of these talkative and charming warblers.

Shorebird Festival

We’re in the middle of shorebird migration and Grays Harbor, just a short 90-minute drive west of Olympia, is one of the premier shorebird migration locations in North America.  The Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival is scheduled for this weekend, May 1-3. High ocean tides during daylight hours, like what’s occurring this weekend, are the best times to get a close-up view of the varied and abundant shorebirds that visit Grays Harbor.

George Walter is environmental program manager at the Nisqually Indian Tribe’s natural resources department; he also has a 45+ year interest in bird watching. He may be reached at george@theJOLTnews.com

Bird photos for this column are provided by Liam Hutcheson, an 18-year-old Olympia area birder and avid photographer.