Flora and Fauna of the Cascades

During the past 3 months I lived in North Cascades Recreation Area. I spent most of my time in the Thunder Creek and Ross Lake areas as I surveyed for Spotted Owls with a crew of 4 others for The Institute of Bird Populations. Here are some of the common plants and wildlife I encountered. This is a work in progress.

Water Birds

Sandhill Crane


Northern Pintail

Mammals

Roosevelt Elk


Mule Deer


Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel


Black Bear

Raptors
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Barred Owl Pair


An Unknown Strix Owlet (located by begging call)

Birds around the west

I plan to update this list periodically with all the amazing birds I see during my journey. Here is the start...

Sandhill Cranes leaving the Platte River to feed on corn grain in Nebraska

Feral Peacock in Cortez, Colorado

Birch Bark Baskets

The paper birch tree is widespread throughout Minnesota's deciduous forests. The bark of this tree releases itself from the trunk in paper thin strips. The strips are highly flammable. The paper birch can do more than start a fire. Anishinabe people used Paper Birch as a scrolls to document things on, as an easel for artistic bark bitings, and as a raw material for basketry. A 'makuk' is a style of birch bark basket that was used by the Anishinabe people. A few weeks ago I was taught how to construct makuk style birch bark baskets.
I undertook a challenging design for my first basket, which involved a lot of cursing. One may have thought I was of sailor heritage the way the words flowed from my mouth. It turned out nice, and I gave it to my mom for holiday. I made three additional baskets, for a total of four. Some lessons I learned: (1) the thinner the thread the easier construction will be, (2) if you are tired do not stitch your basket with twined basswood inner bark (the two together will bring on early on-set arthritis), (3) quality homemade gifts made my family happy, allowed me to work with my hands, and kept me out of the capitalist consumer nightmare of Christmas shopping.

Feeder Watch Brings Record Purple Finch Numbers

I got up unusually early this Sunday morning, perhaps a negative side effect of Saturday's even earlier morning. I was a tad bit groggy and not ready to tackle making coffee so I took Libby outside and made sure my feeders were nice and full. To my surprise the moment I went back inside I found my feeders being infiltrated by a hungry flock of 34 Purple Finches. If that wasn't enough, shortly thereafter, American Goldfinches attacked coming in as great of numbers as 24. Good thing these species are easy to distinguish from one another or I may have been SOL for counting them.

Other birds of interest was the female Pileated Woodpecker and the Male Downy Woodpecker (below)

I still hope for the return of the Dark-Eyed Junco for my final count next weekend.

Weather and Effort: December 20, 2009
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1: morning Day 2: morning
Estimated cumulative time:	1 to 4 hours
Daylight temperature:	-9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) low -9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) high
Daylight precipitation:	None - -
Total depth of ice/snow cover:	5 cm to 15 cm (2" to 6")

Checklist for FeederWatch Minnesota Birds

Red-bellied Woodpecker	1
Downy Woodpecker	1
Pileated Woodpecker	1
Blue Jay	1
Black-capped Chickadee	5
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1
White-breasted Nuthatch	1
Purple Finch	34 Confirmed
American Goldfinch	24 (0 with eye disease)

Christmas Bird Count 2009

I took a Saturday off of Feeder Watch and participated in the annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) in the Duluth area. I rode along with an astute team comprised of: Hawk Ridge Educators Debbie Waters and Sarah Glesner and Hawk Ridge Enthusiast and Bird Whisperer Andrew Longtin. We started early, and I miraculously made it out of bed at 5AM in order to meet my team in Duluth. For those that are not privy to Christmas Bird Count, it is an international citizen science project where bird enthusiasts and their friends and family garner winter bird population data. The data collected will be added to historical records and then analyzed for trends in populations that can then be used to make conservation decisions. For more details about CBC check out: http://www.audubon.org/Bird/cbc/

My group was a lively bunch, a must in a Minnesota winter birding event. We dressed in our warmest 'quiet' gear (mainly fleece and wool, no swishy materials, see Sarah's below left) and headed out around 7:30AM.


Our region mostly comprised of residential area, the luxurious Duluth Airport, the Duluth Mall, and various woodlots. The most common bird observed was the Black-capped Chickadee (see above right); however we had some less common birds as well like the Cedar Waxwing, Barred Owl, and Brown Creeper. My birding highlights included:
(1) Flushing out a very irritated Barred Owl, because we had phished in a cluster-fuck of Black-capped Chickadees
(2) +/- 150 mixed flock of Cedar Waxwing and Bohemian Waxwings enjoying the berries that covered the Mountain Ash
(3) Spotting an adult Bald Eagle in the Duluth Mall Area at 14:10
(4) The Brown Creeper doing what it does best, creeping slowly head first around a lichen covered tree

My favorite non-bird specific highlights included:
(1) The teddy bear Hit-N-Run, who may or may not become a Hawk Ridge Mascot

(2) Andrew's premonitions about the birds we would see. i.e. A Swainson's Thrush and/or Tree Sparrow being flushed out by a late migrating Northern Harrier being acutely watched by a Great Gray Owl
(3) Debbie and Sarah's vocal imitations of many comedic acts

Overall, though my toes are still thawing out, I enjoyed my first CBC. Here are my team's results:

Species	Zone O	Zone N
Cooper’s Hawk	1	0
Bald Eagle	0	1
Mourning Dove	2	0
Rock Pigeon	0	4
Barred Owl	1	0
Downy Woodpecker	5	9
Hairy Woodpecker	4	1
Pileated Woodpecker	0	1
Blue Jay	5	2
American Crow	8	22
Common Raven	3	0
Black-Capped Chickadee	116	82
Red-breasted Nuthatch	7	6
White-breasted Nuthatch	2	3
Brown Creeper	0	1
American Robin	2	27
Cedar Waxwings	0	150
Bohemian Waxwings	16	8
Northern Cardinal	1	2
European Starling	4	169
Purple Finch	1	0
Dark-eyed Junco	0	7
White-winged Crossbill	26	35
American Goldfinch	15	0
House Sparrow	0	27

Sentimental

Definition: expressive of or appealing to sentiment, esp. the tender emotions and feelings, as love, pity, or nostalgia

Can sentiment be escaped? I do my best to not get cheery eyed when true love beats the odds and conquers all. I don't know true love, and I do not know if it exists. I know joy, sadness, pain, pleasure, and a few others. I feel joy when I gambol through the woods or watch my niece play. I feel sadness when I don't get a job I want or when a tragedy takes a life sooner than I expect. I feel pain when a Bald Eagle pinches my skin through a glove or I touch a hot pan. I feel pleasure when I drink a well-crafted beer or a friend massages my shoulders. These emotions are easy to describe in simple scenarios.

True love is not so easy to describe. What defines true love. Many epitaphs and stories attempt to answer this question. Theories like: there is only one soul mate for each of us and we will know them when we find them. I am more enthralled by the lust of Pan's flute than this illogical search. I have heard the lyrics of love songs. They have been flooding into my head since my first Hank Williams record. The Beatles wrote, "All you need is love, dadadada." I want love, but I don't need the cookie-cutter kind. Love is all around me. I can love without true love.

So why this concept of true love?

Count #1 Complete

I have completed my first two-day count period. My species counts are as follows:
6 Black-capped Chickadees
6 Purple Finches
2 White-breasted Nuthatch
2 Red-breasted Nuthatch
4 American Goldfinches
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay

10:30AM seemed to be a bustling hour at the feeder. The early morning and late afternoons were filled with squirrel antics. Including a red squirrel chasing a gray squirrel twice its size. I am going to construct buffers for the feeder to create an impasse for squirrels. Additionally, I would like to build a suet feeder. This might attract woodpeckers. I noticed the Purple Finches move about like a synchronized swim team. The banded female White-breasted nuthatch visited this morning. Her elegance caught my eye as she grabbed her seed perched upside-down. In short, I look forward to the rest of the feeder watch season and hope the Dark-eyed Juncos return.