Elysia Learns Birds: Lake Hope Birding

Hello again,

Today's ornithology lab saw us at Lake Hope once more, which was a nice break from netting. We arrived at around 7:45, and temperatures started in the low 60s. Cloud cover was around 50%. For the first few minutes, we were by the dam. We quickly realized that it was an Eastern bluebird kind of day. Somehow, we made it the first half of the semester without seeing any, but today we must have seen two dozen!

Other birds at the dam:

Blue jay
American crow
Belted kingfisher
Canada geese
Carolina warbler
Chipping sparrow
Eastern phoebe
Great blue heron
Wood ducks
Mourning dove
Turkey vulture

At around 8:20, we were at a marshy area, with lots of stumps left over from beaver activity. Our arrival flushed a flock of wood ducks out of the water, and there must have been over thirty of them. As we were watching and listening for birds, we heard a bird singing. It's important to know that there's a difference between a bird "song" and a bird "call." Usually, only male birds "sing," but both males and females will call. Songs are longer and more complicated than calls. Birds generally only sing during the breeding season as a way to attract mates and keep other males out of their territory. The bird singing, it turns out, was a young male song sparrow, and he was practicing his songs to get them ready for the spring. I couldn't really tell a difference in quality, but my instructor said his songs were really bad and that it was good he was practicing!

Other birds at the marsh:

Belted kingfisher (female)
Eastern phoebe
Pileated woodpecker
Eastern towhee
American goldfinch
Cooper's hawk
Yellow-billed cuckoo
Golden-crowned kinglet
Black-throated green warbler
Downy woodpecker
Hairy woodpecker

Our last stop for the day was at the Lake Hope campground, where we arrived at 9:30. There, we saw and heard:

American crow
Eastern bluebird
Dark-eyed juncos
Downy woodpecker
White-breasted nuthatch
Red-bellied woodpecker
Pine warblers
Chipping sparrows
Northern flicker

Dark-eyed juncos have lots of color variation, and the kind we have around here are the "slate-colored." Other forms are the "Oregon," "Gray-headed," "Pink-sided," and "White-winged."