Saturday, July 25, 2020

Coming of Age

On Thursday, Chip's hammering reverberated through the local neighborhood. I ran to the sound.

I found him on top of a power pole. Most houses in Montlake were built around 100 years ago. This pole appears to be of the same vintage. The ancient grain of the wood shows cracks and crevices that may harbor a few ants. Although, I suspect he was communicating his location by drumming on the small piece of wood sticking up from the top of the pole.

Carpenter ants are the favorite food of Pileated Woodpeckers. Generally, they find the ants in wood that is soft, moist, and rotting as opposed to hard, dry, and cracked. (I remember watching Chip spend 45 minutes hammering through the side of a perfectly sound-looking Western Red Cedar. He then spent the next 45 minutes feeding. Evidently, the heart of the tree was full of ants.)

Chip quickly tired of drumming and retired to this horizontal crossbar. He spread his wings and laid down apparently enjoying the sunshine. A slightly more active female preened nearby.

Neighbors asked if they were a mated pair. Since the two were of opposite genders, it was a good question. 

(Females lack the red malar stripes and the red forehead which identifies the male Pileated Woodpeckers.) 

After a few more minutes, 'the pair' flew down from the pole and resumed looking for food. 

Sadly, their presence irritated an aggressive American Crow.

A tighter view of the female also shows some key characteristics which indicate her immaturity. 

Here is a photo from February, of Goldie - Chip's mate. Can you see any obvious differences between the two females? 

The most obvious is their top knots. The young bird's is an orangish-red as opposed to the brilliant red of her mother. Also, her white feathers near the base of her bill are pure white. She has not spent months excavating ants and their larva which has slowly discolored the white feathers above and behind Goldie's bill.

It is somewhat harder to see that the young bird's irises are also darker than those of her parents. Chip's golden-yellow eyes are by far the lightest irises in the family. They are shown clearly in the first photo above.

This photo is from early June when the young Pileated Woodpeckers were nearly ready to leave the nest. You can easily compare the color difference between their top knots and Chip's. You may read more of their nesting story by Clicking Here.

Their erect head feathers indicate the young birds' excitement about the prospect of food. On the other hand, Chip's top knot was totally relaxed. He has fed his offspring hundreds of times over the years. It comes with the job and is not really a cause for parental excitement.

I have seldom seen the parents traveling as a mated pair during the summer. Normally, I find each parent with one or two of the young. As the adults obtain food, the young benefit from 'just-in-time' feeding. In the process, the next generation also learns how and where to find food. Click Here to read about an example from 2018.

Pileated Woodpecker pairs remain in their territory year-round. In the Fall and Winter, they can often be found feeding relatively close to each other. Sometimes, they will occasionally call back and forth, apparently reassuring each other that they are within earshot especially when they are out of sight. 

In early Spring, they stay fairly close while nest building and mating. Later in the Spring, they working together but do so separately. While one incubates the eggs and protects the nest the other is usually away finding food. Then they switch roles and repeat. 

As the young and get close to fledging both adults begin hunting for food. This is also done separately and they return to feed the young based on their individual success. Finally, as mentioned above, during the summer the feeding, teaching, and protection of the young are often done separately. I don't know if the young choose which parent to follow or if the adults choose which offspring to feed.

In late June of this year, almost two weeks after the young left the nest, my friend Tom, sent me a couple of messages. Tom spotted Pileated Woodpeckers on the telephone pole near his home. In this photo, Chip was on the shady side of the pole, preening his wings.

Soon he moved to the top and the two young females worked their way up the pole, obviously hoping to be fed.

When her begging became a bit too close and incessant, I was surprised to see Chip peck in the direction of one of the young. It appeared to be a reprimand rather than an infliction of harm. 

A week later, I found Chip picking fruit from a tree near the serviceberries in the south end of the Arboretum. When an American Crow came to investigate Chip quickly left the tree. On this occasion, I did not see any other family members.


Five days later, while walking below Monty and Marsha's eagle nest, I heard what sounded like a branch breaking. I jumped, turned, and peered through the foliage and there was Chip excavating ants from a log. 

After he secured a full load, he flew to the side of a cottonwood tree and met with one of his offspring.

At this point, the young had been out of the nest for over three weeks and at least this one was still being fed by Chip. By the way, the process of putting food deep inside her mouth was repeated four or five times, without Chip leaving the tree to secure more food.

This week, I did not see the young female begging for food. There was even a moment when Chip landed on a tree trunk just above her. He was in the perfect position to deliver food, but he did not. They both flew and landed a few feet apart. Each bird began searching for their own food. The young bird worked on the far side of this small European Ash.

Chip inspected a nearby stump. The crow momentarily perched in the ash tree before diving at Chip.

Chip immediately evacuated to the nearest telephone pole. 

The crow took over the stump. It was obviously searching for food. It apparently envied Chip's success. The crow wandered around, pulled up a piece of moss, and tossed a chip to the ground. At this angle, you can see a hint of a light-colored gape on the crow. This indicates it is a first-year bird and still learning where to find food.

No matter how hard it looked the crow could not find what Chip had been eating. Apparently frustrated, the crow turned and flew at the young female on the tree.

 She traded places and flew to the stump. The crow chased her again.

 She flew to a lower position on the same pole as her father. The crow followed.

The young woodpecker and the young crow consider their options. Pileated Woodpeckers will often put a tree trunk, or a telephone pole, between themselves and any potential source of danger like hawks or eagles passing overhead.

In this case, I would not have been surprised if Chip had swooped down from his perch and chased the young crow away. However, I was startled when the young female came out from behind the pole and flashed her wings at the crow. The young crow immediately took to the air and left. 

The young woodpecker calmly hitched her way up to the top of the pole and settled down in the sun near her father. Suddenly, their relationship seemed different. It was as if a torch had passed between them. When push comes to shove, this young female has the fire and determination to do what needs to be done. I suspect she will be an excellent parent and protector of the next generation.

Have a great day on Union Bay...where Black Birders are always welcome!

Black Lives Matter,
Larry

Going Native:

Without a well-funded Environmental Protection Agency, it falls to each of us to be ever more vigilant in protecting our local environments. Native plants and trees encourage the largest diversity of lifeforms because of their long intertwined history with our local environment and native creatures. I have been told that even the microbes in the soil are native to each local landscape. I hope we can inspire ourselves, our neighbors, and local businesses to respect native flora and to support native wildlife at every opportunity. I have learned that our most logical approach to native trees and plants (in order of priority) should be to:

1) Learn and leave established native flora undisturbed.
2) Remove invasive species and then wait to see if native plants begin to grow without assistance. (If natives plants start on their own, then these plants or trees are likely the most appropriate flora for the habitat.)
3) Scatter seeds from nearby native plants in a similar habitat.
4) If you feel you must add a new plant then select a native plant while considering how the plant fits with the specific habitat and understanding the plant's logical place in the normal succession of native plants.

My intention in my weekly post is to include at least one photo each week and visually challenge us to know the difference between native and non-native lifeforms. 

By the way, my friend Tom Brown pointed out that the application named 'Wildflower Search' is extremely helpful. Click on the highlighted link to see for yourself.













What species is this? Is it native to Western Washington?











Scroll down for the answer.









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Devil's Club: A native plant with an interesting formal name - oplopanax horridus. Click on the green lettering to learn more.





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The Email Challenge:


Over the years I have had many readers tell me that Google is no longer sending them email announcements regarding my posts. Even more frustrating when they go to 're-sign-up', hoping that will enable them to once again start receiving the announcements, they get a message which says 'Sorry, you are already signed up.' Google has not responded to my requests for help with this issue. 

My functional workaround is to set up my own email list and each week I manually send out a new post announcement. If you are experiencing the issue and would like to be added to my personal email list please send me an email requesting to be added. Thank you for your patience!


My email address is: LDHubbell@Comcast.Net





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Here are a couple more photos for those who read to the end.
Chip and his maturing daughter.

This photo shows a curious row of bead-like bumps next to the top of Chip's bill. I looked through a number of old photos and found a few that showed somewhat similar bumps. There were however less of them and they were less consistently sized and spaced. I am wondering if they form as the woodpecker gets older - maybe these are due to the repeated slamming of its bill into trees or maybe they have been there all along and have just been overlooked.

Maybe I should have said underlooked. In general, this area is not visible in most photos in part due to the birds being positioned above their photographers. In the first photo in this post the bumps are not visible despite the relatively good angle and proximity. That may be partially because I tend to focus on the bird's eye so the bill is slightly blurry.

I also wonder if there are bumps on both sides of the bill? Do the bumps have value to the birds? Do they form for a reason? These are mysteries I would love to solve. During my next visit to the Burke or Slater museums I hope to investigate their collections. In any case, I will certainly be watching closer while taking photos in the field.


Saturday, July 18, 2020

Eaglet Update

Congratulations to Tyler and Sue! They saw the same thing I saw yesterday morning but they came to the correct conclusion. I too saw no sign of Tsuloss in the nest on Friday morning. There was a lot of nearby construction noise. On previous occasions, in similar seeming situations, Tsuloss had been laying down in the nest, invisible from the ground until she moved about.

Yesterday afternoon, after being inspired by Tyler and Sue, I went back to double-check. There was still no sign of Tsuloss in the nest or the nest tree. I crossed over to the north side of Montlake Cut.  I was hoping the angle would increase my visibility into the nest. Still, there was no sign of Tsuloss.

I was a bit despondent until I heard a faint 'Tsuloss-like' cry. I turned to the east and saw the flash of a dark eagle flying towards Monty and Marsha's favorite hunting roost, just north of the Waterfront Activities Center. It was Tsuloss. She landed in the old-world cedars.


For a few minutes, she was harassed by a gull.

After Monty, her father, circled the area the harassment stopped. He may have been carrying food. Although, I did not see a food delivery to Tsuloss or either of them actually eating.

Monty landed nearby where he could keep a close eye on Tsuloss.

Tsuloss stared back at Monty while continuing to beg for food. I watched for quite a while before needing to head home. Both eagles seemed to settle in.

This is my last photo of Tsuloss, from when she was consistently in the nest tree, which was taken on Wednesday evening. This means she most likely left the tree on Thursday the 16th or Friday the17th. Thanks again to Tyler and Sue for realizing what was happening.

The obvious winner of our contest to guess Tsuloss' first flight is:

July 1st - Barry Saver
July 4th - Larry Hubbell
July 6th - Joe Clancy
July 8th - Cynthia Jones
July 9th - Lynne Kelly
July 10th - Lynn Adams
July 14th - Helen Spiro
July 15th - Jeff Graham
July 16th - Audrey Weitkamp
August 2nd - Tyler Mangum
August 3rd - Sue


Congratulations, Audrey!

Thank you to everyone who played and to all of you who followed along!


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Nature is a wonderful teacher. This week I learned, once again, how misconceptions can lead one to erroneous assumptions and the need to constantly validate our assumptions.  


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Last year, after Monty and Marsha's young eagles fledged, the parents often brought food to the nest and the young returned and ate their meals in the cottonwood. Yesterday, I was asked where the young one will spend her nights. I had to say I don't know. It will be very interesting to watch and see what happens over the next few weeks. I certainly hope you are able to get out and observe the process. There is always more to learn!

Have a great day on Union Bay...where nature lives in the city and Black Birders are always welcome!

Larry

Friday, July 17, 2020

Out On A Limb

This July 9th, 2020 photo proves Tsuloss has begun branching.

It is hard to believe this small white eaglet, photographed on April 26th, is the same bird. She has probably replaced every feather on her body, gained close to ten pounds, increased her wingspan by close to six feet, and done it all in less than three months.

On July 3rd, Tsuloss was focused on feather cleaning and alignment. Her eaglet down appeared to be gone but her new feathers still needed to be aligned to maximize lift as she begins preparations for her first flight. 

Sadly, I am not certain of Tsuloss' gender. However, female Bald Eagles are usually larger than their mates. (This distinction is primarily useful when you see two adult birds side by side.) Nonetheless, Tsuloss' size is impressive. I am guessing, she is a female.

Possibly because of the weight difference, juvenile females are slower to develop than males. If we estimate Tsuloss was ten days old when first photographed, that would make her 92 days old as of July 17th. All About Birds estimates the nestling period is 56 to 98 days. This implies that Tsuloss should learn to fly within the next week. If you are planning a visit to see her in the nest - the sooner the better! 

The nest is located on the southeast corner of Montlake Cut. You do not need to worry about disturbing her. I suspect the nearby sewer replacement, highway construction, and the constant flow of boats through Montlake Cut has thoroughly acclimated her to humans and noise.

However, when it comes to taking her first flight she does seem to be behind schedule. Which might be another reason to assume she is female. Larger birds need extra time to reach their full size and potential. In this July 6th photo, she apparently just walked out on the easily accessed northern limb, attached at the same height as the nest.

On July 8th, she walked a bit further. When Monty returned to the nest, possibly with food, she did not fly (or even walk) over to investigate.

The parents no longer need to be constantly near the nest to protect her. Tsuloss' new feathers can handle the elements just fine.


Plus, with her fully-grown talons and bill, she could probably handle most predators as well. I suspect any predators capable of reaching the nest, will wish they hadn't.

I am often asked how to tell the difference between a young Bald Eagle and a Golden Eagle. One easy difference is that Golden Eagles have feathers covering their complete tarsus. In this photo, we can see the feathering near the lower portion of a Tsuloss' tarsus looks a lot like 'high-water' pants revealing an exposed ankle.

Also, as far as I know, Golden Eagles don't reside in cities.

On July 9th, as in our initial photo, we see Tsuloss spreading her wings. However, this appeared to be mostly a response to the wind and not a part of a consistent exercise regime.

As impressive as her wingspan and feather development is, she needs to be regularly working the wings to develop muscle strength. While I have not been at the nest around the clock, I still have not seen her flapping her wings with the expected consistency required to develop flight strength.

This July 11th photo, shows her still walking on the northern 'easy-access' branch.

On the positive side, when she reached the end of the flat portion of the branch she flew-hopped approximately two feet up onto the outer portion of the branch, where she could watch the boats passing through Montlake Cut.

This week, Tsuloss has finally taken the next step in the process. She has moved out to a westward pointing branch. I have watched her fly-hop from the branch back to the nest. She kind of scrambles into the nest, which may tend to pull it apart. Hopefully, her flight skills improve rapidly.

Earlier this week, after she returned to the nest she hurried out onto the northern branch. She was apparently trying to get a better look at Monty, who flew in and landed in a tree at the east end of the nesting grove. She was probably hoping for food delivery.

Now is an important time for all of us to be watching out for Tsuloss. At this point, if she leaves the nest I suspect at best she might glide to the ground. Even if she lands safely, I doubt she would have the strength to return to the nest. It is also possible she could easily be injured coming down. From what I have read, leaving the nest may be the most dangerous moment in an eagles life.

I would rather see her spend the next few weeks constantly flapping her wings and learning to move about in the nesting tree. 

Exploring the upper branches would give her multiple opportunities to practice short flights, precise landings, and functional takeoffs. Even though the branch to the west requires a small flight-hop, it is still at almost exactly the same height as the nest, and not enough of a challenge. I believe, she needs to work her way higher in the tree to properly develop her skills.

It also would not be surprising for her to remove some small branches and leaves, so she has room to extend her wings and practice. Over many more years, the Bald Eagles in Broadmoor have nearly denuded the tree above their nest. 

In regards to our contest to guess the date of Tsuloss' first flight, the pool of likely winners is rapidly shrinking. Early August or late July are still full of days when she may take to the air.  Feel free to send in a new or revised date on which you think she will take her maiden voyage.

The last few feasible flight dates are:

August 2nd - Tyler Mangum
August 3rd - Sue


The rules for this impromptu, prize-less contest are:

A) I plan to only publish the name associated with the first entry I receive for each date. I want to encourage the widest variety of dates as possible.

B) Practice hops do not count e.g. when the young eagle flaps, lifts up and then comes right back down in the nest.  Also branching - hopping from branch to branch - does not count. Tsuloss must leave the air space above the nest (and come out of the tree).

C) Falling does not count. Tsuloss must leave the nest and exhibit an ability to stay in the air. However, if you do see Tsuloss fall from the nest and land on the ground, especially if she is unable to fly, please call:

 Lynnwood PAWS at 425-787-2500

PAWS has rehabilitated and released 3 out of Tsuloss's 4 siblings during the last 2 years. (The fourth sibling did not require assistance.)

The following information may help you make a more accurate guess:

Eaglet Patrol - The post suggesting when Tsuloss might have hatched.

Tsuloss - The last eagle update.

By the way, Tsuloss is most easily seen with binoculars from the north side of Montlake Cut. The nest site is shown on this Union Bay Map.

My email address is: ldhubbell@comcast.net

Naming Update:

There is evidently more than one way to pronounce the number five in the Lushootseed language. Aaron Peterson sent in this interesting update. 


Clicking Here will enable you to find the word for five and the link to the pronunciation guide, which I originally used. 

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By the way, there are some interesting developments taking place with the Red-breasted Nuthatches, which were covered in last week's Social Distancing post. Once the current action resolves I will write and post the conclusion to their nesting story.

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Have a great day on Union Bay...where Black Birders are always welcome!

Black Lives Matter,
Larry




Going Native:

Without a well-funded Environmental Protection Agency, it falls to each of us to be ever more vigilant in protecting our local environments. Native plants and trees encourage the largest diversity of lifeforms because of their long intertwined history with our local environment and native creatures. I have been told that even the microbes in the soil are native to each local landscape. I hope we can inspire ourselves, our neighbors, and local businesses to respect native flora and to support native wildlife at every opportunity. I have learned that our most logical approach to native trees and plants (in order of priority) should be to:

1) Learn and leave established native flora undisturbed.
2) Remove invasive species and then wait to see if native plants begin to grow without assistance. (If natives plants start on their own, then these plants or trees are likely the most appropriate flora for the habitat.)
3) Scatter seeds from nearby native plants in a similar habitat.
4) If you feel you must add a new plant then select a native plant while considering how the plant fits with the specific habitat and understanding the plant's logical place in the normal succession of native plants.

My intention in my weekly post is to include at least one photo each week and visually challenge us to know the difference between native and non-native lifeforms. 

By the way, my friend Tom Brown pointed out that the application named 'Wildflower Search' is extremely helpful. Click on the highlighted link to see for yourself.













What species is this? Is it native to Western Washington?











Scroll down for the answer.









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Henderson Checker Mallow: This is a beautiful plant. The specimen in the photograph was seen near Arboretum Creek - just across from Boyer St. To the best of my ability, I believe this plant is correctly identified. If so, it is native to our area. Confirmation or education are both welcome.








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The Email Challenge:


Over the years I have had many readers tell me that Google is no longer sending them email announcements regarding my posts. Even more frustrating when they go to 're-sign-up', hoping that will enable them to once again start receiving the announcements, they get a message which says 'Sorry, you are already signed up.' Google has not responded to my requests for help with this issue. 

My functional workaround is to set up my own email list and each week I manually send out a new post announcement. If you are experiencing the issue and would like to be added to my personal email list please send me an email requesting to be added. Thank you for your patience!


My email address is: LDHubbell@Comcast.Net





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Here is one more photo for those who read to the end.