APM Welcome, APM North West Network Conference, Synergies Across Sectors
Bird watching january_february_2016
1. Tips, maps, and driving directions to four new hotspots
Kirtland’s Warbler’s most successful season
A record number of Peregrine Falcons
Black-capped Petrel migration revealed
PLUS
Harlequin
hotspotWhen and where to
find lords and ladies
February 2016
4+ PAGES
OF READER
PHOTOS
SIX DIFFERENT
TYPES OF
FEATHERS
REASONS
TO LOVE
BLUE JAYS
PHOTO
GALLERY OF
RECENT
RARITIES,
P.12
HARLEQUIN DUCK
Why the future looks
bright for our most
beautiful sea duck, p.16
Eye to eye with a
ID tips from
KENN KAUFMAN
and DAVID SIBLEY
ELECTION-YEAR SPECIAL:
Issues birders care about
GREAT
GRAY OWL
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4. Visit us online:
www.BirdWatchingDaily.com
4 From the editor
7 Birding briefs
News about Hawaiian birds, Black-capped
Petrel, Snowy Owl, Kirtland’s Warbler,
Peregrine Falcon, and the West Nile virus.
Plus, birding events to put on your calendar
and a photo gallery of recent rarities.
8 Since you asked JULIE CRAVES
Answers to questions about unusual bands
on tails, plants that make good nesting
material, and woodpeckers that peck on
stone walls. Plus, a special honor for Julie.
10 On the move EBIRD
Migration maps for Snowy Owl
and Bohemian Waxwing.
14 Birder at large PETE DUNNE
Why no birder regrets buying
premium binoculars.
38 ID tips KENN KAUFMAN
What to look for on Northern Harrier.
46 Amazing birds ELDON GREIJ
Six different types of feathers.
48 Attracting birds LAURA ERICKSON
Reasons to love Blue Jays.
55 Classifieds
56 ID toolkit DAVID ALLEN SIBLEY
How to identify birds by bill shape.
FROM OUR READERS
49 Your view
The eider that won our latest contest,
plus other photos taken by readers.
54 Fieldcraft
Resplendent Quetzal, photographed
by a reader.
IN EVERY ISSUEFEATURES
COVER PHOTOS Harlequin Duck by Glenn Bartley,
Blue Jay (inset) by Paul Reeves/Shutterstock
February 2016 Vol.30 No.1
16 Harlequin hotspot COVER STORY
What changing numbers and new winter locations mean
for our most beautiful sea duck. BY CHERYL LYN DYBAS
22 Almost dinner
The amazing story of the hiker who came eye to eye
with a Great Gray Owl. BY CARY RIDEOUT
25 Election-year special
Leaders of the birding community describe issues
that birders care about. BY MATT MENDENHALL
32 The subspecies conundrum
How it’s decided whether a subspecies deserves
recognition as a full species. BY JOHN KRICHER
41 Four hotspots
Tips, maps, and driving directions you can use to
find great birds. BY LANCE TANINO, HOWARD ALTMAN,
CHUCK GRAHAM, AND G. JOAN HOLT
CommonRavenbyDaveandEileenMundy
Uncommon
reader
photos
p.49
DIGITAL
BONUS
Our review of
The Messenger, a
new documentary
about threats
to the world’s
songbirds.
5. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 3
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9. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 7
Think of it as a one-two
punch for Hawaii’s honey-
creepers and other songbirds.
Avian malaria has already
forced most of the state’s
forest birds to move to refuges
above 4,900 feet, where
temperatures are typically too
cool for the mosquitos that
carry the disease.
Now climate change
promises to cause the birds’
ranges to shrink even further.
According to scientists from
the U.S. Geological Survey and
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service in Honolulu, the birds
may lose between 60 and 100
percent of their remaining
habitat by the end of the
century. The researchers used
a species-sightings database,
regional climate projections,
and distribution models to
learn how potential climate
shifts would affect the ranges
of 20 Hawaiian bird species at
high elevations.
They determined that, by
2100, three species —
‘Akeke‘e, ‘Akikiki, and
Puaiohi — are likely to lose all
of their ranges; that three
others — Hawaii ‘Akepa,
‘Akohekohe, and Maui
Parrotbill — may lose more
than 90 percent of their
ranges; and that four others
could lose 60 to 78 percent of
their ranges.
“As dire as these findings
are, they do not mean that
these bird species are doomed,”
says lead author Lucas Fortini.
“Instead, our findings indicate
what may happen if nothing is
done to address the primary
drivers of decline: disease
spreading uphill into the few
remaining refuges.”
Fortini and his co-authors
identify several conservation
actions that could help the
birds: aggressive reforestation
of former habitats at higher
elevations, maintaining
captive populations of species
that are extremely endan-
gered, and translocating
species with small ranges to
higher elevations outside of
their known historic ranges.
And they argue for the
development of techniques
that would interrupt the cycle
of malaria transmission and
mortality. “Such actions
could include vector control
and genetic modification of
both birds and mosquitos,”
they write in the online
journal PLoS ONE.
JackJeffrey/BIA/MindenPictures
One-two punch
Climate change and avian malaria are shrinking the ranges of Hawaii’s native birds
NATIVE HAWAIIAN: The range of ‘Akohekohe, a crested honeycreeper from Maui, is projected to decline to four square kilometers by the year 2100.
birdingbriefsNEWS • PHOTOS • BOOKS • CONSERVATION • Q&A • SIGHTINGS • PRODUCTS • FESTIVALS & EVENTS
birdingbriefsNEWS • PHOTOS • BOOKS • CONSERVATION • Q&A • SIGHTINGS • PRODUCTS • FESTIVALS & EVENTS
10. EYE ON CONSERVATION
Refuge brightens future for rare bird
Tiny, iridescent Honduran Emerald is the
only endemic bird species in Honduras. A
vibrant flash of blue, green, and turquoise, it
went unrecorded for almost 40 years, from
1950 to 1988, and is now listed as Endangered
on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Thanks to the Research Association for
Ecological and Socio-
economic Development
(ASIDE), American Bird
Conservancy, and other
groups, the hummingbird
will benefit from the protec-
tion of 147 acres in the
Agalta Valley, in the Department of Olancho,
northeast of Tegucigalpa.
Officially designated as the El Ciruelo Wild-
life Refuge by the Honduran Forestry Depart-
ment, the property will preserve an expanse
of the dry tropical forest that the hummingbird
needs to survive.
“We are still in the early stages of this
project in the Agalta Valley but are thrilled by
the early conservation success that the new El
Ciruelo Wildlife Refuge represents,” said John
Tschirky, who manages the project for ABC.
Cattle ranching is widespread in the
Agalta Valley. As a result, the land is chang-
ing from dry forest to grasslands. Increasing
summer temperatures, declining rainfall,
and soil exhaustion reduce the quantity and
quality of milk from cows. Many ranchers
compensate for the shortfall by clearing for-
est for additional pasture.
ABC and ASIDE are work-
ing to develop a payment-
for-ecosystem-services
program that will give private
landowners an incentive to
maintain and even improve
tropical dry forests on their lands. Conservation
of the forests will benefit not just the humming-
bird, but also declining migratory birds, such
as Wood Thrush and Golden-winged Warbler,
along with rare plants and other wildlife.
ASIDE has completed an ecological evalu-
ation to determine which of the remaining
dry-forest areas are most crucial to the hum-
mingbird. Supported by ABC, the organization
has also established a nursery to supply native
trees for reforestation and as an alternative
source for fuel wood and fence posts.
Q
A
YOUR QUESTIONS
ANSWERED BY
BIRD BANDER
JULIE CRAVES
sinceyouasked
ONE OF A KIND: Endangered endemic Honduran Emerald is one of Central America’s rarest species.
American Bird Conservancy is a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization whose mission is to conserve native birds and their habitats throughout
the Americas. You can read more about the Honduran Emerald Project at abcbirds.org/program/communities/honduran-emerald.
RobertHyman
8 BirdWatching
Can you recommend
any specific plants
besides grasses that I
can grow and leave
standing into spring and
that birds will use for
nesting material? It
seems more natural
than putting out yarn in
baskets. — Adrienne
Boone, Kansas City,
Missouri
Descriptions of the nests of
most songbirds speak in only
general terms about the plant
materials used: twigs, grasses,
bark strips, and plant down.
Many birds aren’t too fussy
regarding plant species, as long
as the items are of the appropri-
ate size, texture, and strength.
However, I have observed
that birds favor a few plants.
The peeling bark of old grape
vines is used frequently.
Likewise, birds seek out plants
with especially fibrous stems.
I leave last year’s pokeweeds
and milkweeds standing well
into spring because I’ve seen
orioles and robins peeling strips
from the stalks.
Plant down is used to line
the nests of many species.
Cottonwood, willow, and
thistles are common sources.
I like to provide piles of small
twigs next to my brush pile,
since I find it exhausting to
watch wrens struggle to enter
a nest box with twigs too big
to fit. Finally, whenever I pull
Julie Craves is supervisor of avian
research at the Rouge River Bird
Observatory at the University of
Michigan Dearborn and a research
associate at the university’s
Environmental Interpretive Center.
(continued on page 10)
11. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 9
A ground-breaking study of
Black-capped Petrel is raising
questions about conserving an
endangered marine species that
breeds in few nations but visits
the waters of many.
The little-known petrel
once had colonies throughout
the Caribbean, but in the late
1800s, introduced predators
and hunting caused the
species to become extirpated
on many islands. Today, fewer
than 2,000 pairs are thought
to remain. Breeding is
suspected in Cuba, and the
birds may have returned to
Dominica, but colonies have
been confirmed only in Haiti
and the Dominican Republic.
Petrels that were rearing
chicks on Loma del Toro, a peak
near the Haiti-Dominican
Republic border, were the
subjects of the latest study,
conducted in 2014. For the first
time ever, three were fitted with
solar-powered satellite tags and
tracked for 136-208 days.
Because petrels are com-
monly observed in spring and
summer months over the
continental shelf offshore of the
United States, the researchers
assumed the tracked birds
would commute there from
their nest sites. Instead, the
birds flew primarily south,
foraging for days at a time off
the coasts of Venezuela and
Colombia before returning to
Hispaniola to provision their
young. The birds dispersed
north after breeding, moving
through the Windward Passage
to areas off the mid- and
southern Atlantic coast, as well
as to the Gulf Stream and
deeper pelagic waters east of it.
In all, the petrels used
waters within 14 different
exclusive economic zones, the
200-nautical-mile-wide
buffers in which states have
special rights regarding the
exploration and development
of marine resources. “While
the species is afforded some
legal protection in each
country in which it is known
to or suspected to breed,”
write the researchers,
“protection in nations where
the species does not breed but
where it uses marine habitats
is far more difficult to assess.”
A historic first and several record
highs made 2015 a very good year for
Kirtland’s Warbler watchers in the state of
Wisconsin.
In April, biologists on Cat Island, in
the Bahamas, chanced upon a young
warbler wearing colored leg bands. The
sequence of colors — aluminum, blue,
purple, and indigo — identified the bird
conclusively. It was one of only six
warblers that had been banded as
nestlings in Wisconsin the previous
summer, so the odds of re-sighting it
were astronomically slim. It was the first
time that a Kirtland’s Warbler banded in
the state had been re-sighted on its
wintering grounds.
Wisconsin’s year-end nesting sum-
mary, released in November, provided
another cause for celebration. In Adams
County, in the center of the state, 14 pairs,
the highest number ever, made 15 nesting
attempts, and 12 of the nests were success-
ful. Between 34 and 51 young fledged.
Both the percentage of successful nests
and the number of fledglings set records.
Better yet, for only the second time
ever, Kirtland’s Warblers nested
successfully farther north, in Marinette
County, fledging two young. Three
males were also observed in Bayfield
County, along Lake Superior, raising
hopes that it and Marinette will become
important nesting sites in the future.
birdingbriefs
Joy in Dairyland
Endangered Kirtland’s Warblers in Wisconsin have most successful season ever
Peregrine-palooza
Florida hawk watch sets daily, seasonal falcon records
Even before this fall, the Florida Keys Hawk Watch at Curry
Hammock State Park, in Marathon, Florida, had established itself as
the No. 1 place in the world to see migrating Peregrine Falcons. Its
counters had tallied more falcons on one day and in one season than
anywhere else.
Then, on October 10, 2015, hawk watchers at the park counted
1,506 Peregrines, shattering the one-day record of 651 birds set
exactly three years earlier. And for the fifth year in a row, the site
established a new seasonal record: 4,559 Peregrines, surpassing its
2014 total of 4,216 falcons.
An article about the hawk watch, published in our October 2008
issue, is available on our website, www.BirdWatchingDaily.com.
Windward wanderer
Black-capped Petrel visits marine habitats of 14 nations
RobertL.Kothenbeutel/Shutterstock
JackSwelstad
FALCON KEYS: More Peregrines
migrate over the Florida Keys
than anywhere else on Earth.
PIONEER NESTER: A
Kirtland’s Warbler sings
in Marinette County, in
northeastern Wisconsin,
in late May 2015.
12. Q
A
sinceyouasked
10 BirdWatching
(continued on page 12)
Two nomadic birds to watch for in winter
eBird is the real-time online checklist operated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon. “On the Move” is written by
eBird’s Garrett MacDonald, Chris Wood, Marshall Iliff, and Brian Sullivan. Submit your bird sightings at ebird.org.
ON THE MOVE FROM eBIRD
Snowy Owl
Bohemian Waxwing
In July (left map), Snowy Owls are found above the Arctic Circle in Alaska and Canada, where
humans rarely encounter them. (Purple squares in places like Indiana and Ontario represent rare
records of summering individuals, which tend to be heat-stressed and in poor condition.) During
most winters, however, at least a few Snowies show up in southern Canada and the northern lower 48
states. The regions hosted thousands of owls in 2013-14, and a smaller but still significant flight
occurred again in 2014-15. Such irruptions are unpredictable, but they’re believed to occur after high
chick production the previous summer. The species’ February distribution over the last 10 years is
shown on the map at right. Look for Snowies perched on sandy dunes, beach driftwood, farm
equipment, and telephone poles. They can be especially hard to spot against a snowy landscape.
Breeding in open coniferous forests in the boreal zone of Alaska and Canada, Bohemian Waxwing in
July is beyond the reach of most birders. It wanders widely in search of sugary fruits during the winter
months, however, and by February (right) is found across southern Canada and the northern lower 48
states. Its winter movements are largely unpredictable. Enormous flocks may descend on parks,
gardens, and neighborhoods containing fruit-bearing trees, and waxwings may persist in a single
location until every berry is gone. The species largely vacates the northernmost part of its breeding
range during winter, but flocks often remain where berries are plentiful, as shown by the purple
squares in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska, on the February map. If you don’t already know
Bohemian’s call, learn it. It’s a lower-pitched, burrier seeee than Cedar Waxwing’s high-pitched whistle.
July 2005-15
July 2005-15
February 2005-15
February 2005-15
(continued from page 8)
out plants or saplings with
wiry roots, I put them on my
brush pile where birds can
access the fibers.
Several researchers have
investigated birds’ use of green
plant materials that help repel
insects or ectoparasites in
nests. Plants that may have this
effect include yarrow, Queen
Anne’s lace, mints, lavender,
and fleabanes. Overall, it’s best
to offer a diversity of plants,
thereby giving birds plenty of
choices for nest materials, and
to provide optimal places to nest
and forage.
I recently saw a catbird
with a band across its
tail. Is this an unusual
color form? — Art
Columbus, Toronto,
Ontario
The condition isn’t too uncom-
mon, but it’s not a plumage
variation such as a color
morph, in which a species can
occur in one or more color
forms. What you saw was a
series of fault bars — pale sec-
tions caused by a reduction or
absence in part of the feather
structure. Fault bars are
defects that are usually caused
by a nutritional shortage or
another form of stress while a
feather is growing. They can
happen to any feather but are
most often visible on tail or
wing feathers. When fault bars
appear in adjacent feathers,
forming a band, it means the
feathers were growing simul-
taneously, then slowed and
malformed at the same time.
In most songbird species, this
happens only when a bird is
very young. Adult birds replace
just a few feathers at a time, so
fault bars appear staggered.
13. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 11
RichardShucksmith/NIS/MindenPictures
Secretlifeofbirds
UNDER THE SEA: Northern Gannets plunge for fish
off the coast of the Shetland Islands, in Scotland.
The seabirds usually dive 10-16 feet below the surface,
but they have been recorded as deep as 72 feet.
Razorbills breed along the
Atlantic coast from Labrador to
Maine and normally spend the
winter in the cold ocean waters
between Canada’s Atlantic
provinces and North Carolina,
but in the winter of 2012-13,
they moved farther south.
Thousands reached the Florida
Keys, and some, emaciated and
starving, made it all the way to
the Gulf of Mexico.
Many never completed the
return trip to the breeding
grounds. Thanks to workers at
New York’s John F. Kennedy
International Airport and
investigators at the Smithsonian
Institution’s Feather Identifica-
tion Lab, in Washington, D.C.,
we know at least one became a
meal for a Snowy Owl.
The workers were perform-
ing a routine inspection of a
runway in early February 2013,
at the height of the seabird
irruption, when they came
upon a dead Snowy Owl. They
sent the carcass to the Feather
Lab to be preserved as a
museum specimen.
A feature story in our April
2009 issue described how
Feather Lab scientists identify
what’s left of birds that are
struck by aircraft. In this case,
the investigators’ challenge was
to make sense of the contents of
the owl’s stomach — a mamma-
lian skull, feathers, and several
avian bones, including a
furcula, or wishbone.
A comparison of the skull
with similar items in the
Smithsonian’s osteological
collections showed that the
mammal was a meadow vole,
one of the Snowy Owl’s
favorite prey species.
Microscopic examination of
the feathers revealed barb
lengths, pigmentation patterns,
and other features that are
characteristic of the family
Alcidae — that is, auks,
murres, and puffins.
Common Murre, Thick-
billed Murre, Razorbill,
Dovekie, and Black Guillemot
all occur in the New York area
during February. When the
scientists checked specimens of
these species for a furcula
similar to the one discovered in
the owl’s stomach, they found
their match.
The Feather Lab researchers
write in a recent issue of the
Wilson Journal of Ornithology
that they could not determine
whether the Snowy Owl hunted
or scavenged the Razorbill.
Feathers and bones
Snowy Owl benefited from 2013 Razorbill irruption
14. Q
A
sinceyouasked
12 BirdWatching
FIRST IN ONTARIO: In early October, this Eurasian
Dotterel was on a mudflat on the South Bruce
Peninsula, near Lake Huron.
FIRST IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: In late October,
birders found this Wood Thrush in a backyard in the
village of Trout Creek, north of Penticton.
FIRST IN SOUTH DAKOTA: This Great Kiskadee
was seen in mid-November near Volga, in the
eastern part of the state.
PeterCandido
KenWright
GarrettWee
MichaelButler
FIRST IN OREGON: This Great Crested Flycatcher
was on a farm in Lincoln County, west of Corvallis,
for a few days in late October.
THIRD IN IDAHO: This immature Little Blue Heron
was spotted on the Boise River in Boise from late
October through late November.
KenPahlas
W.DouglasRobinson
Recent rare-bird sightings in North America
PHOTO GALLERY(continued from page 10)
Send a question
Send your question to ask@
birdwatchingdaily.com or visit
www.BirdWatchingDaily.com
and look for “Contact us.”
Or write to: BirdWatching
Since You Asked, 25 Braintree
Why would a wood-
pecker peck on a stone
wall? — Carmen Crane,
Baltimore, Maryland
The bird may have been probing
for insects in holes and crevices.
Or if the wall was limestone or
a similar material, it may have
been obtaining calcium. Birds
cannot store calcium in their
bodies, but they seek it to aid in
eggshell formation and chicks’
bone development.
FIRST IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: This Field Sparrow, a
bird of eastern North America, was seen in late
October near Furry Creek, north of Vancouver.
A SPECIAL HONOR
Contributing Editor Julie Craves,
the author of this column, has
received a great honor: A new
(albeit extinct) species of owl
was recently named after her.
Craves’s Giant Barn Owl
(Tyto cravesae) was described
based on fossilized bones dis-
covered in several caves in Cuba
by Julie’s great friend, the orni-
thologist and paleornithologist
William Suárez. The etymology
states: “After Julie Craves, of the
University of Michigan-Dearborn
for her dedication to avian
conservation and her boundless
appreciation of Cuban friends
and birds.”
You can read more about the
discovery at www.BirdWatching
Daily.com and on the blog of the
Rouge River Bird Observatory,
http://net-results.blogspot.com.
Please join me in congratulat-
ing Julie on this high honor. —
Chuck Hagner, Editor
15. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 13
Festivals
+events
Three early-spring
birding festivals
Nothing beats spring birding festivals.
Here are three for your calendar:
International Festival of Owls,
Houston, Minnesota
Owl lovers in Houston, near the Mis-
sissippi in southeastern Minnesota,
go on evening owl prowls, build nest
boxes, and see live owl programs. The
annual World Owl Hall of Fame awards
are also presented. March 4-6.
Wings Over Water Northwest
Birding Festival, Blaine,
Washington
This event, in a city located on the
Canada-U.S. border, celebrates the
birds of Drayton Harbor (Hotspot
Near You No. 149), Birch Bay, and
other nearby locations with a photo
gallery, field trips, cruises in the
Strait of Georgia, exhibits, and other
events. March 11-13.
Audubon’s Nebraska Crane
Festival, Kearney, Nebraska
During the peak of the spring migra-
tion, festival-goers watch tens of thou-
sands of Sandhill Cranes leave their
Platte River roosts at sunrise or return
at sunset. The 46th annual event also
features speakers, field trips, and
other activities. March 17-20.
For festival contact info,
or to list your event in our
calendar, visit our website:
www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/events
What we’re reading
THE LIVING BIRD
Photography by Gerrit Vyn
This gorgeous book, published to commemorate the 2015 centennial of the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology, deserves a place on every birder’s coffee table or nightstand. We can’t decide what’s
more impressive: the beautiful photography or the thoughtful essays. Our friend and regular
contributor Gerrit Vyn provides one stunning image after another — showing flamingos, warblers,
swallows, owls, and many other birds — while Barbara Kingsolver, John W. Fitzpatrick, Scott
Weidensaul, Lyanda Lynn Haupt, and Jared Diamond write convincingly, movingly, about birds as
marvels, birds as mediators between the obvious and the hidden, birds as indicators of our planet’s
health, and the future of birds and how we can shape it. A deep love is evident on every page.
West Nile virus had a larger impact on
North American bird populations than
anyone knew, according to a study pub-
lished in November by the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences. About half of
the 49 species studied experienced large-
scale declines, the investigators found.
After the virus arrived in New York City
in 1999, a trail of dead crows marked its
spread from the East through the Midwest
and to the West Coast. It took only four
years for the virus to span the continent.
The authors of the report analyzed mark-
recapture data collected at more than 500
banding stations across the United States
spanning the years 1992 to 2007. The
stations were operated using the Monitoring
Avian Productivity and Survivorship
protocol developed by the Institute for Bird
Populations, a nonprofit based at Point
Reyes Station, California.
The research, the first to document the
demographic impacts of the virus on North
American bird populations, found a much
higher percentage of declines than a 2007
study based on Breeding Bird Survey data.
“Clearly we didn’t see the whole picture,”
said co-author Joseph A. LaManna, of
Washington University. “It wasn’t just the
jays that were dying; half the species we
studied had significant die-offs.”
Some species fared much better than
others. (See boxes below.) Roughly half of
the afflicted species managed to rebound
within a year or two. Ironically, the
resilient ones include the crows and other
corvids that were so strongly associated
with the disease on its arrival.
A second group of birds has not been so
lucky. Knocked down by the virus, they
have not rebounded and seem to have
suffered long-term population declines.
“Prior to this study,” said lead author
T. Luke George, of Colorado State, “we gener-
ally thought the West Nile virus had a very
short-term effect on bird survival.”
The whole picture
West Nile virus caused big declines in many bird species
SPECIES THAT HAVE YET TO RECOVER:
Purple Finch
Tufted Titmouse
Black-headed Grosbeak
Eastern Towhee
Wrentit
Swainson’s Thrush
Warbling Vireo
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
American Goldfinch
Ovenbird
Gray Catbird
SPECIES THAT REBOUNDED:
Field Sparrow
Western Wood-Pewee
Downy Woodpecker
Red-eyed Vireo
Fox Sparrow
White-eyed Vireo
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Carolina Wren
Yellow Warbler
Northern Cardinal
16. 14 BirdWatching • February 2016
birderatlarge BY PETE DUNNE
The good stuff
Why no birder regrets buying premium binoculars
GlennBartley/BIA/MindenPictures
CONE-JARRING: No view of Andean Cock-of-the-Rock is ever ho-hum.
I will say categorically that no one
who has invested in a premium binocu-
lar has regretted the decision.
Look, this is simple: Birds bring you
pleasure. The better the glass, the better
the image and the more pleasure you
experience. If you love the vibrant colors
of birds, if you crave supernatural
intimacy with them, then why settle for a
ho-hum image when you can have wow?
Put another way, every time you study a
bird with a less-than-stellar binocular,
you are cheating yourself.
See for yourself. Bring a top-of-the-
line instrument to your eyes, and you’ll
not fail to appreciate the difference.
Can’t afford them now? Wait and
save. Aspire, don’t settle. Remember, the
talented people who are crafting and
illustrating the latest field guides are
using the good stuff. (See sidebar.) If you
want to be in sync with your guide, you
need premium optics.
Sure, any binocular will make a bird
appear closer. But will it make colors
pop? Will it help you find birds hiding in
a blurry maze of branches? Or will it turn
everything into an opaque mush?
Of course, the reason that 20 years
out, I am able to discuss binocular
purchases with former customers is
because premium binoculars are built to
last. They’re able to take the day-to-day
and day-after-day use that birding
binoculars are put to.
I’ve been party to several binocular
focus groups over the years. During one,
the engineers were shocked to learn that
every member of our group used his or
her instruments every day. The sport
hunters that the engineers had been
accustomed to catering to used their
binoculars only occasionally or intermit-
tently. It never occurred to the engineers
to build binoculars that might sit in
sweaty, insect-repellant-impregnated
hands for ten hours a day, seven days a
week. Now they do.
If you have been looking for an excuse
to buy a new premium binocular, read on.
After five decades of bringing
people and nature together, I am
surprised to discover that what has
given me the most satisfaction is not
sharing rare or aspired-to birds; it is
fitting birders with binoculars, the
kind whose quality ignites a sense of
wow on every bird they fall upon.
I mean binoculars that elevate
everyday encounters with Northern
Cardinals into cone-jarring, sensory-
packed experiences. Binoculars that turn
an American Robin into an Andean
Cock-of-the-Rock. Not literally, of
course, but evocatively. I am particularly
delighted when a birder comes up to me
and says, “You probably don’t remember
me, but 20 years ago, you talked me into
buying these.”
The these he or she is referring to
enters the conversation with an elevated
hand. The binocular is almost invariably
the hot premium model of the time
period they defined.
The birder sometimes adds, “It was a
lot more money than I wanted to spend at
the time.”
To which I reply, “But it was the best
purchase you ever made, right?”
“Right,” the birder agrees.
“Birds bring you pleasure.
The better the glass, the
better the image and
the more pleasure you
experience.”
17. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 15
Much of the cost of high-end
binoculars is related to durability.
Quality comes with a price. Unfortu-
nately, there is no sidestepping this
fundamental equation.
Which premium binoculars do I
recommend? The one that fits you best.
The one that makes you say, “Wow!”
Test a number of makes and
models. Never mind that the price may
also make you say, “Ouch.” It’s only
expensive for one day. After that, every
look is free.
So don’t settle. Aspire and buy.
Twenty years from now, we’ll meet at
some birding hotspot. You’ll show me
your binoculars, grin, and thank me for
this article.
Till then, I’ll look forward to raising
glasses beside you. What kind? The
choice is yours.
As I sometimes explain, premium
binoculars are a lot like fine wine: Once
you taste the difference between a fine
California cab and a box wine, there’s
no going back. Let your birding friends
settle for a jug-wine taste of the birds
they see. You’re more discriminating
than that, and, I promise, the taste will
linger in your mind.
Pete Dunne is New Jersey Audubon’s birding
ambassador at-large. He is the co-author of
Hawks in Flight: The Flight Identification of North
American Raptors (2nd edition) and the author
of The Art of Bird Identification: A Straightforward
Approach to Putting a Name to the Bird and
other books about birds.
Authors and their bins
Which binoculars are the
people behind the latest field
guides using? We asked some
well-known authors.
Both Tom Stephenson and
Scott Whittle, authors of The
Warbler Guide, use Zeiss
Victory binoculars. Tom uses
the Victory SF 10x42, while
Scott uses the Victory HT
8x42. Jonathan Alderfer and
Jerry Liguori are Zeiss Victory
owners, too. Both prefer the
Victory FL 8x42. Alderfer
is a co-author of National
Geographic Field Guide to the
Birds of North America. Liguori
is the author or co-author of
three books about raptors,
including Hawks at a Distance.
Richard Crossley, creator of
the Crossley ID Guide series,
is also a Zeiss man, but of an
earlier vintage. He uses Zeiss
Dialyt 7x42s, purchased in
1987. “Although there are no
doubt slightly better optics out
there,” he says, “they still get
the job done.”
David Sibley, author of the
Sibley Guide to Birds and
other books, uses Swarovski
EL 10x42 binoculars. Kenn
Kaufman, the author or
co-author of many books,
uses ELs, too, but prefers the
8.5x42s, and he also likes to
carry an older pair of Leica
Ultra 8x42s, which he says
are very sharp and seemingly
indestructible. Cameron Cox
and Dale Rosselet use Leica
binoculars, too. Cox, co-author
of the Peterson Reference
Guide to Seawatching, uses
the Ultravid HD 8x42. Rosselet,
a co-author of the Peterson
Reference Guide to Birding by
Impression, uses the Ultravid
HD 8x32.
Six Continents of Birding
(with 100 + trips annually)
Small Groups
Better Pricing
(same great lodging/logistics)
Premier Birding Guides
(local expertise in bird-finding,
communication & leadership)
Save an Acre (or 200)
for Bird Conservation
888•203•7464 • www.pibird.com
18. SPECIES PROFILE
WINTER COLOR: Male Harlequin
Ducks sport a dazzling mix of
dark blue, brick red, white, and
black. This one was just off the
New Jersey shore.
JimZipp
19. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 17
n hour before dawn on a day in
January, I gaze down onto the
Atlantic Ocean from Rhode
Island’s Beavertail State Park, a cliff-
lined 153-acre promontory at the
southern end of Conanicut Island, in the
mouth of Narragansett Bay. The sea has
gone the color of old silver, its surface as
smooth as a wave-worn shell. The
temperature is 10°F.
An hour passes. The sun mounts the
horizon, and fierce winds begin to
blow, whipping the once-calm ocean
into a froth. Stepping onto a steep and,
today, ice-covered path to the sea feels
like falling into gray oblivion. Indeed,
local newspapers once hailed the area’s
vistas but warned that “the drop to the
Atlantic is an easy walk to eternity for
those not sure of foot.”
A shiver runs down my spine. With
Peter Paton, a wildlife ecologist at the
University of Rhode Island, I begin my
descent along a barely there track
through tangled, seemingly lifeless
briars. Tough going awaits. The rocky
cliffs are exposed to constant erosion
from sea and storm. Covering our faces
with scarves to protect against the biting
cold, we pass enormous boulders
dropped by long-ago glaciers and pick
our way to the water’s edge.
Our quarry lies where rock meets
ocean at jagged underwater ledges: the
Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrioni-
cus), one of North America’s smallest
and most beautiful sea ducks. Although
scientists have solved several mysteries
about the bird’s unusual predilections for
rough seas and a salmon-like lifestyle,
others still remain.
LORDS AND LADIES
Paton has come to count the Harle-
quins that winter along the Narragan-
sett Bay shoreline.
In the 1800s, the duck’s numbers on
the East Coast peaked at 5,000 to
10,000. Then overhunting, as well as
habitat loss and other factors, reduced
the population to about 1,000 before
hunting along the Eastern Seaboard
was banned in the late 1980s. With
restrictions in place, East Coast
numbers have rebounded to some 1,800
ducks. Rhode Island’s rocky coast, and
Beavertail in particular, is a winter haunt
for the species. The duck’s name comes
from a likeness to Harlequin, a colorfully
dressed stock character in Commedia
dell’arte, a form of theatre. The species
name is derived from histrio, the Latin
word for actor.
The ducks are also known as lords
and ladies, says Paton, lifting his
binoculars into the stiff wind to search
for “bobbers” — Harlequins that dive to
snag a mussel or crab, then somehow
manage to pop up again in the very same
spot. White-eyed diver, blue streak, and
rock duck are among the Harlequin’s
other names, for good reason. “How
these ducks can survive right at the crests
of breaking waves is a marvel,” Paton
says as he points to a Harlequin that
appears and disappears in roiling waters.
The ducks are split into two popula-
tions, Pacific and Eastern. Birds in the
Pacific Population breed from eastern
Russia, Alaska, and the Yukon south
through British Columbia to northwest-
ern Wyoming and central California.
Harlequins in the smaller Eastern
Population nest primarily in Quebec,
WHITEWATER
What changing numbers and new winter locations
mean for the beautiful and hardy Harlequin Duck
BY CHERYL LYN DYBAS
DIVER
20. 18 BirdWatching • February 2016
Recognizing Harlequins
There’s no mistaking a male
Harlequin viewed from close
range. But seen from a distance,
the same dark blue and brick-
red bird can appear mostly
black. When it does, it’s best to
concentrate on the duck’s small
size and unique shape.
Harlequin Duck is smaller and
weighs less than all other sea
ducks — Common Eider weighs
more than three times as much
— and its bill is smaller and
stubbier than any scoter’s.
What’s more, the patterns
created by a Harlequin’s white
feathers are unique: A small
white dot and a large white
crescent mark the male’s face,
and white stripes bordered with
black outline its chest, while
three blurry white spots mark the
female’s face: a dot behind the
eye, a tiny smudge in front of the
eye, and a smear below it.
Labrador, Newfoundland, and New
Brunswick but also farther north, on
Baffin Island, in Nunavut, and farther
east, on Greenland and Iceland.
Birds in both populations nest along
fast-flowing inland rivers and streams.
Harlequin Duck is one of only four
waterfowl species in the world with this
whitewater affinity. The others are Blue
Duck of New Zealand, the aptly named
Torrent Duck of the South American
Andes, and Salvadori’s Duck of New
Guinea. Breeding Harlequins flock to
the headwaters of streams that flow into
lakes with abundant black flies, a
favorite summertime meal.
When migrating to interior rivers,
the birds become salmon with feathers,
flying low and following water courses
closely. “When passing up or down
stream it zigzags and turns, to accom-
modate its line to every bend of the
stream, however slight,” wrote famed
ornithologist Arthur Cleveland Bent in
Life Histories of North American Wild
Fowl in 1925.
“The harlequin never thinks of
cutting off corners, and it would seem
that it imagines its life depends on
keeping exactly over the water, however
much it bends or twists,” Bent states. “I
have seen harlequins fly religiously
above a bend in a stream that formed
almost a complete circle in its course,
and yet the birds did not cut across it to
shorten their route.”
After breeding, ducks in both
populations head to rocky coasts, where
they settle close to shore. Satellite
tracking and genetic data show birds in
the Eastern Population winter in two
locations: in southwestern Greenland
and along the East Coast, from the
Maritime Provinces to southern New
England. They return to ocean cobble-
gravel or bedrock-boulder substrates,
small offshore islets, or shorelines with
attached or nearby reefs and islets. Their
favorite wintering locales are places with
tidal rapids swooshing across boulder-
covered bottoms — a perfect description
of Beavertail.
“Watching Harlequins frolic as
waves crash into the rocks around
them is one of the most exciting
birding experiences,” says biologist
Stuart Pimm, of Duke University and
the conservation organization Saving
Species. Pimm has conducted ornitho-
logical research around the world. An
article in the last issue described his
work with Sooty Terns in Florida’s Dry
ROCK DUCK: Harlequins are at home
in fast-flowing streams. This male
was in a rapids in Iceland.
SteveKnell/NPL/MindenPictures
21. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 19
Tortugas. (See “Hurricane Terns,”
December 2015, page 16.)
“They’re elegant birds, seemingly
oblivious to turbulent seas,” he says of
the ducks. “Yet they’re not immune to
human actions, their numbers letting
us know how we’re changing their
environment.”
BELEAGUERED
Streams silted in from logging and
other development runoff. Overhunting.
Fast-flowing rivers, such as the Torrent
River in Newfoundland, slated for
hydroelectric plants. Oil from the 1989
Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska’s Prince
William Sound. Pollutants along coasts,
streams, and lakes. These and other
factors have contributed to the Harle-
quin’s decline.
The Exxon Valdez spill alone killed
or injured thousands of Harlequins in
the Pacific Population. Studies con-
ducted from 2005 to 2009 show that,
20 years after the spill, all sex and age
classes were still being exposed to oil
hidden in the intertidal zone. Research
indicates that the recovery of the
region’s Harlequins could take a
quarter-century or longer from the time
of the disaster. In coastal British
Columbia, the aquaculture industry is
another concern, since it is expanding
rapidly into prime Harlequin habitat.
In the Eastern Population, past
overharvesting in coastal wintering areas
is the likely cause of the duck’s low
numbers. The falloff led to the closure of
Harlequin hunting seasons in the
Atlantic Flyway in 1989 and the listing of
the species as endangered in eastern
Canada in 1990. In
the years following,
the Eastern Popula-
tion began to recover,
with counts increas-
ing in Isle au Haut in
Maine and Canada’s
Maritime Provinces.
In 2001, Canada delisted the Eastern
Population, lowering its status from
endangered to species of special concern.
GOOD NEWS
In good news for the Pacific Population,
a study conducted by ecologist Eric Ward
of the Northwest Fisheries Science
Center has shown that Harlequin Ducks
are faring well in the Puget Sound region
of Washington. Biologists affiliated with
the Puget Sound Seabird Survey used
citizen-science data to identify local
hotspots. The findings were reported in
the journal PeerJ in January 2015.
Beavertail’s wintering Harlequins
may provide a glimpse of the Eastern
Population’s future. The ducks feed on
crustaceans known as amphipods, crabs,
mussels, and other invertebrates that
cling to wave-pounded underwater rocks.
Paton locates a bird that’s just surfaced
with a small crab in its beak. “It’s a lucky
sighting,” he says. “We
seldom catch a
Harlequin in the act of
snagging its prey.”
Bent described the
perils of preying on
blue mussels. “These
mollusks grow in
immense beds on shallow ledges and are
easily obtained,” he wrote. “Occasionally
a large mussel has been known to trap
the [Harlequin] duck and cause its death
by drowning.”
Ill luck aside, Paton’s research has
found good news for Rhode Island’s
wintering Harlequins. The biologist
analyzed historical records and recent
observations and discovered that
numbers have increased by about three
percent per year since 1975. In the
mid-1970s, fewer than five Harlequin
“How these ducks
can survive right at
the crests of breaking
waves is a marvel.”
FOLLOW THE LEADER: A female leads
her ducklings over a rock as they swim
upstream in Alaska, breeding grounds
for ducks of the Pacific Population.
FabriceSimon/Biosphoto/MindenPictures
22. 20 BirdWatching • February 2016
When to look for Harlequins
Now is the time to see Harlequin
Ducks in the Strait of Georgia,
British Columbia, or at Dungeness
NWR, Washington; Cape Saint
Mary’s, Newfoundland; Isle au Haut,
Maine; Sachuest Point NWR or
Beavertail State Park, Rhode Island;
or other winter strongholds.
The sea ducks typically arrive
and their numbers increase until
mid-December. Harlequins remain
until the beginning of April, when
they start returning to their breeding
grounds. By late May, they are
usually all gone.
BLUE STREAKS: Brown females fly ahead of
colorful males as two pairs of overwintering
Harlequin Ducks speed past Barnegat Light.
GerritVyn
Ducks were wintering in Rhode Island
waters, says Paton. Today there are more
than 150.
To determine wintering Harlequin
numbers, Paton and graduate student
Christine Caron performed 28 surveys
between January and March at the two
sites with the largest numbers of the
ducks: Beavertail, on Conanicut, and
Sachuest Point National Wildlife
Refuge, on Aquidneck, the island to the
east of Conanicut.
To look at the effects of tide and time
of day, the scientists conducted counts at
low tide in the morning, low tide in the
afternoon, high tide in the morning, and
high tide in the afternoon. Zones
included areas within 50 meters (164
feet) of the shoreline, within 50 meters of
offshore rocks, and farther than 50
meters from either shoreline or offshore
rocks. The most Harlequins were
detected near shore at low tide. Paton
and Caron published their results in the
Journal of Field Ornithology.
The explanation for the pattern? The
ducks may find it easier to snag
intertidal-zone prey that’s exposed at low
tide. Because of Harlequins’ small size,
they must feed almost constantly. “Close-
to-shore rocky habitats support their
preferred food items,” Paton says, “and
foraging bouts are more energy-efficient
in shallow water because dive and search
times are reduced.”
Similarly, Rick McKinney, an
ecologist with the EPA’s Atlantic Ecology
Division in Narragansett, found that
Harlequins south of Cape Cod, Massa-
chusetts, wintered along coasts with high
densities of mollusk and crustacean prey.
In choosing sites, the ducks avoided
areas within 100 meters (328 feet) of
human development. “Harlequins may
be especially vulnerable while concen-
trated on their wintering grounds,” says
McKinney. “Even small, localized
disturbances can affect substantial
portions of the population.” He and his
colleagues published the results in the
journal Northeastern Naturalist.
CURIOUS TREND
Along the way, the biologist discovered a
curious trend. Sachuest Point NWR has
long been considered the hotspot for
wintering Harlequin Ducks not only in
Rhode Island, but in New England south
of Maine. McKinney’s field research,
however, turned up more Harlequins at
Beavertail than at Sachuest Point, a trend
that has continued through this past
winter (2014-15).
The scientist has kept close track of
what’s happening at the two sites, which
are less than 10 miles apart by car and
fewer than that as the Harlequin Duck
flies. He runs the Narragansett Bay
Winter Waterfowl Survey, which was
begun in the winter of 2001-02 as part of
an effort to investigate the effects of habi-
tat change on coastal wildlife. Each year
in early January, Narragansett Bay’s
coast is surveyed for Harlequins and
other waterfowl such as Common Eiders.
Plans are underway to add dates in
November and March.
In 2005, 75 percent of Rhode Island’s
wintering Harlequin Ducks were found
at Sachuest Point; only a little more than
20 percent rode the surf off Beavertail.
The switch happened in 2011, when 50
percent of Narragansett Bay’s Harlequins
were at Beavertail and some 30 percent
were at Sachuest Point. By 2013, 85
percent had taken up winter residence at
Beavertail. In 2014, the most recent year
for which McKinney has analyzed data,
more than 60 percent were at Beavertail.
What’s going on? McKinney thinks
it’s most likely related to prey availability,
which for some reason may be better at
Beavertail. It remains a mystery, as the
areas are similar in terms of habitat and
human disturbance. He hopes that with
additional surveys, the reasons may
become clear.
Among the possibilities is climate
change. Water temperature in Narragan-
sett Bay has increased 3.6°F since the
1960s. The warming waters are leading
to changes in species composition and
dynamics. Blue mussels are particularly
affected. Ocean acidification, a result of
23. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 21
climate change, has turned the normally
taut threads the shellfish use to attach to
rocks into flimsy fibers. Mussels may be
tossed about by wind and waves, and
eventually set adrift.
Will shifting food resources be the
Harlequin Duck’s next challenge? “At
this point, we really don’t know,” says
McKinney.
ICY PEARLS
It’s well after noon at Beavertail, and the
light is beginning to fade. “Time to go,”
says Paton, stowing his binoculars. The
wind has grown stronger, threatening to
carry us away. Turning back as we hike
up the cliffs, we see the wildest seas
of the day. Spindrift clings to my
winter hat like a net of icy pearls,
and the ocean threatens to pull us
into darkening waters.
I look out toward the whitewater
rafters of the waterfowl world with
admiration, thinking: Is this what
it’s like to be a Harlequin Duck?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas is an ecologist
and science journalist. Her article
about Northern Saw-whet Owls at
Michigan’s Whitefish Point Bird
Observatory appeared in our April
2014 issue.
TABLET EXTRAS
Tap the links below to learn more about Harlequin Ducks.
BLUE STREAKS
A collection of photos of Harlequin Ducks.
HARLEQUIN HOTSPOT
Our February 2007 article about Rhode Island’s
Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge.
WINTER SURVEYS
Data and reports produced by the Narragansett Bay
Winter Waterfowl Survey from 2004 to 2015.
A CLASSIC, UPDATED
Our review of the updated edition of the classic
reference Ducks, Geese, and Swans of North America.
WILD FOWL ONLINE
Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl:
Order Anseres (Part), by Arthur Cleveland Bent.
No tablet? Find a link to all Tablet Extras at
www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/the-magazine/current-issue
24. 22 BirdWatching • February 2016
BIRDWATCHING
AFTER THE SNOW ARRIVES,
I spend many hours tramping the
countryside on snowshoes and highly
recommend them for winter birding.
The broad racquets not only make
negotiating deep snow far less tiresome
but provide a stable base for photogra-
phy. A light pack with snacks, a Ther-
mos, a few shavings for a fire, and a
camera complete my outfit. An item
needed on any winter-woods excursion
is a warm hat of some type. I have tried
everything from heavy wool stocking
caps to alpaca toques.
One Christmas, my better half gave
me a wonderful North Woods trapper’s
hat. Big, lined
with insulation,
and covered in
thick fur, it looks
like something
from that famous
film Doctor Zhivago, and as a matter of
fact, that’s the name I gave it. With it tied
tightly under my chin, I am able to face
the bitterest wind and search the deep
woods for winter birds.
Periodically, birders here in Atlantic
Canada are treated to feathered visitors
from farther north and west. One cold
January a decade ago, reports of Great
Gray Owls began to circulate. The big
dark owl occurs year-round from
Alaska through much of Canada but is
very rare in New Brunswick, where I
live. As luck would have it, I spotted
one cruising along the edge of some
woods. The bird slipped into the trees
before I could get the car pulled over,
but I carefully noted the spot and
vowed to return on the weekend.
I arrived the following Saturday,
strapped on my snowshoes, and slowly
made my way through the powdery
snow. Once in the woods, I was envel-
oped in deep silence. Making long,
looping trails, I peered down through
the spruce trees for any sign of the owl.
Great Grays, like many owls, appear
much larger than they really are. The
majority of their
bulk is the thick
feathering that
protects them
from the frigid
Arctic air, much
like my trusty Doctor Zhivago does for
my head. Great Gray Owl is a striking
bird with large, gray facial discs that help
focus sound as the bird hunts both by
vision and sound. Remember that vision
part, folks.
For my careful stalking, I was
rewarded with the sight of several rabbits
bounding away and a Ruffed Grouse
exploding from the brush. Noisy
chickadees escorted me everywhere.
Tracks of white-tailed deer, a coyote, and
DI N N E RThe owl that mistook a hat for a meal BY CARY RIDEOUT
Almost
“Ever had the sensation
of being observed when you
were sure you were alone?”
26. 24 BirdWatching • February 2016
two red foxes showed clearly in the snow,
but I saw no sign of my quarry. Unde-
terred, I clambered down a hill and
wandered along a frozen brook lined
with huge hemlock trees. The softwoods
made a thick canopy overhead, blocking
out the sun and creating a high-contrast
scene that I snapped with my camera.
Snowshoeing can get a sweat going, so I
untied my hat’s flaps and turned them
up. I paused under a hemlock to rest, and
then it happened.
Ever had the sensation of being
observed when you were sure you were
alone? I suppose it is a survival skill from
our past, when man was often the prey.
For some reason, I felt I had company
and turned around to look back.
Nothing.
I looked everywhere but saw...
nothing. Then, for some unknown
reason I looked up into the hemlock and
got the shock of my life. A fierce set of
eyes, owl eyes, were staring into mine.
Worse yet, the owl was plunging down
toward me, broad wings outstretched,
and, even worse, the owl’s talons were
extending and reaching for me!
All I could do was stand there,
frozen. As a birding enthusiast, I enjoy
getting close to my subjects, seeing birds
in their daily lives, and keeping the
feeders full, but I was suddenly going
from bird feeder to bird feed! Who was
more surprised is a tossup, but if an owl
could say, “Yikes!,” that big fellow did.
Realizing its mistake, the Great Gray
shifted gears, swept over my head, and
sailed in complete silence down through
the hemlocks.
Well. It took a few minutes to get my
wits back. Mistakes happen, but this was
ridiculous. The Great Gray had almost
landed on my head! Its talons had looked
long and razor sharp! Badly shaken, I
pulled off Doctor Zhivago to wipe my
sweaty brow.
Doctor Zhivago? That had to be it!
The Great Gray Owl had to have
noticed the ear flaps flapping as I
walked under its perch. Deciding
bunny would be a nice afternoon snack,
the owl had tipped off the limb and
descended to gather up a meal.
But can you image the owl’s shock
when I looked up? Making a snap
decision that better hunting was
elsewhere, the owl had flown past my
head so close I could feel the air rush. If
the Great Gray had latched onto my
head, I would have been terribly
lacerated. One look at that owl swoop-
ing down, and I know how bunny feels!
As I snowshoed back to the car, I
watched for another glimpse, but
nothing resembling a Great Gray
appeared. When I reached home, I
recounted my adventure to my wife.
Utterly astonished, she agreed I was
lucky to have avoided a bad clawing.
Can you imagine how the owl would
have driven in those claws and tried to
lift me? The experience has given me a
tale to tell: I was almost dinner for a
Great Gray Owl.
Do I still wear my Doctor Zhivago hat
on winter birding tramps through the
woods? Of course! But now I keep a close
eye overhead for Great Gray Owls.
Cary Rideout is a writer and avid
outdoors enthusiast who lives with his
artist wife, Lorain, in Carlow, near the
Maine border in western New Brunswick.
Our largest owl
Great Gray Owl is a bird of the world’s
dense boreal forests. In North America, it
is found primarily north of the US-Canada
border, but its breeding range reaches
south through the Cascade and Sierra
Nevada ranges to California, Nevada, and
northwestern Wyoming, and the owl also
nests in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Though smaller in stature, both Snowy
Owl and Great Horned Owl weigh more.
The Great Gray eats small mammals, and
especially rodents.
TABLET EXTRAS
Tap the links below to learn more
about Great Gray Owl and birding
in New Brunswick.
GREAT GRAY GALLERY
A collection of photographs
of Great Gray Owl.
STRIX NEBULOSA
A detailed profile of Great Gray Owl
prepared by the U.S. Forest Service’s
Rocky Mountain Research Station.
BREATHTAKING
The story of an extraordinary leucistic
Great Gray found in Saskatchewan during
the great irruption of 2004-05.
WINTER SIGHTINGS
Birds recorded in New Brunswick
between December 1 and February 28
from 1996-97 to the present.
CANADA’S BOREAL
A province-by-province look
at where our birds breed.
No tablet? Find a link to all Tablet Extras
at www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/
the-magazine/current-issue
FIERCE EYES: A Great Gray Owl in northern Minnesota
powers through a January snow shower.
BrianE.Small
27. BIRDS ON OUR
RADARYear after year, polls find that the economy and jobs are
the top-of-mind issues for Americans.
The 2016 election season is no different: As much
attention as health care, immigration, and terrorism receive,
they fall far behind the overriding concern most voters have
for their own pocketbooks.
Even farther down the list are the environment and
climate change. In poll after poll, they’re mentioned by no
more than eight percent of respondents.
The number made us wonder how well such polls
represent us birdwatchers. Sure, we share every citizen’s
desire for a healthy economy, and these days, who doesn’t
worry about foreign affairs? But we’re willing to bet the
environment occupies more than eight percent of the
typical birder’s thinking. A lot more.
To test our assumptions, I interviewed John Fitzpatrick,
George Archibald, Joel Greenberg, and other prominent
birders, including leaders of local, statewide, and national
bird clubs, and well-known authors. I asked them what
special concerns they thought birdwatchers would carry to
the polls this year.
As we suspected, their answers revealed passions about
matters that are critically important to birds but rarely make
the national political radar. Five issues — climate change,
cats, budget cuts, wind power, and habitat loss — stood out
in particular. They’re summarized on the following pages.
Leaders of the birding community describe the issues that concern birders most this election year
BY MATT MENDENHALL, MANAGING EDITOR
BrianE.SmallGOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER:
It and other declining species are
harmed by cuts to the Neotropical
Migratory Bird Fund.
28. 26 BirdWatching • February 2016
CLIMATE CHANGE
The chief worry for Brigid McCormack,
John Fitzpatrick, George Archibald, and
many other respondents is the changing
climate. As we reported in December
2014, the National Audubon Society has
identified 314 North American bird
species that are at risk from climate
change. More than half, 188 species, will
lose over half of their current range by
2080, and the remaining 126 species,
called climate-endangered, will lose
more than half their current range even
sooner — by 2050.
One climate-related event, the
four-year-long drought in parts of
California and neighboring states, is
already taking a toll on birds, says
McCormack, executive director of
Audubon California. In some areas, she
reports, breeding by raptors and song-
birds has dropped “below levels necessary
to support their populations — if the
birds are breeding at all.” The number of
resident breeding waterfowl, she notes,
has declined more than 40 percent.
“These days, we’re spending a lot of
time talking with birders about the
changes they might see in the birds they
love if we fail to address climate change,”
she says. “While climate change is a
controversial topic in America’s political
sphere, birdwatchers by and large are
already seeing changes, and they’re
concerned about it.”
Long-distance migrants, such as
shorebirds, face especially severe
‘While climate change is a
controversial topic in America’s
political sphere, birdwatchers by and
large are already seeing changes,
and they’re concerned about it.’
— BRIGID MCCORMACK
29. climate-related threats, says Fitzpatrick,
director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithol-
ogy. Melting arctic sea ice, for example,
leads to sea-level rise, causing the
“rampant loss of biologically rich coastal
wetlands” that the birds rely on for
winter and stopover habitat.
Archibald, co-founder and senior
conservationist of the International
Crane Foundation, provides additional
examples, noting that drought in
Australia is shrinking wetlands across
the range of Brolga and Sarus Cranes,
and that sea-level rise could inundate the
Texas wintering areas of endangered
Whooping Crane. In eastern Siberia,
melting permafrost has made lakes
larger, flooding wetlands that were once
breeding sites for Siberian Crane. “I don’t
know what will happen to the cranes if
the permafrost is lost,” he says.
As alarming as the threats posed by
the changing climate are, Bill Mueller,
director of the Western Great Lakes Bird
and Bat Observatory, in Belgium,
Wisconsin, says the unwillingness of
many politicians to face the reality of
climate change is equally unsettling.
“This affects not just birds but all
natural resources,” he says.
OUTDOOR CATS
Carl Schwartz travels all around Wiscon-
sin in his role as chair of the steering
committee of Bird City Wisconsin, a
coalition of groups that work to help
communities maintain healthy bird
populations and grow an appreciation
One question
If you had the chance to ask a
presidential candidate one question,
what would it be? Here’s what the
birders and conservationists we
interviewed would ask:
“Are you willing to work with us to find
solutions to the challenge of climate
change?” — Brigid McCormack,
Audubon California
“Given today’s fractured political
climate, how can we make substantial
progress on concerns about climate
change?” — Derek Lovitch, author
“What is your stance on lifting
the trade embargo with Cuba?”
— Carrol Henderson, Minnesota
Department of Natural Resources.
Henderson has taken four birding
trips to Cuba, and he wrote about
the island in our June 2015 issue.
“What can you commit to doing
that would ensure the long-term
conservation of the natural resources
of the U.S.?” — John Fitzpatrick,
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
“Will you support the Endangered
Species Act, and would you renew
past levels of funding in the Land
and Water Conservation Fund?”
— Carl Schwartz, Bird City Wisconsin
“Can you name 10 species of plants
or animals that are native to the place
you call home?” — Kim Kaufman,
Black Swamp Bird Observatory
“What do you think of birds?”
— Nils Warnock, Audubon Alaska.
Warnock explains why he’d be
interested in a candidate’s answer to
the question: “I’m wondering if a
politician sees any aesthetic, spiritual,
or economic value in birds, or even if
they think birds have a right to be in
the ecosystem.”
StevenDavidMiller/NPL/MindenPictures
BROLGA: In southeastern Australia,
climate-related droughts are drying
up wetlands that the red-naped
cranes use for breeding. Only about
500 of the birds remain in the region.
30. Friends in high places
Think no politicians care about birds?
Think again.
GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO (D),
NEW YORK In October 2015, he vetoed a bill
that would have used public funds to support
statewide trap-neuter-release programs for
feral cats. And in April, he ordered buildings
owned and managed by the state to turn off
nonessential outdoor lighting from 11 p.m.
to dawn during peak bird migration in spring
and fall. The goal is to reduce sources of light
pollution that disrupt and disorient birds.
SENATOR RANDY GARDNER (R),
OHIO SENATE He helped pass resolutions
in both houses of the state legislature in 2014
and 2015 declaring the second Saturday
in May as Bird Ohio Day. Staff at the Black
Swamp Bird Observatory helped draft the
statements, which were read aloud in the
House and Senate, prompting statewide
media coverage of birds and birding.
U.S. SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR (D),
MINNESOTA After the 2010 Deepwater
Horizon disaster, she gathered wildlife experts
to learn if the spill would hurt Minnesota’s
birds. The meeting led to research that is
examining the effects of oil on Common
Loons and American White Pelicans — birds
that winter in the Gulf of Mexico and breed
in Minnesota. The study, headed by the
state’s Department of Natural Resources and
funded by more than $650,000 in state lottery
revenues, will continue through 2018.
SPEAKER ANTHONY RENDON (D),
CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY In 2013,
his first year in office, he wrote a bill that bans
the use of lead ammunition for hunting across
California. A previous law, signed by former
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, banned lead
shot in the range of the California Condor. The
new legislation, which became law in October
2013 and must be fully implemented by July
2019, better protects condors, Bald and
Golden Eagles, and other scavengers.
for birds. The bird-related issue he
encounters most often?
Feral and free-roaming cats. “It
overwhelms everything else,” he says.
Kim Kaufman, executive director of
the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, in
northwestern Ohio, agrees. “Almost
every town and village in our area has a
cat problem,” she says. Most people hope
it will work itself out, but it won’t
disappear on its own. The observatory
encourages pet owners to keep domestic
cats indoors and opposes the establish-
ment of feral cat colonies.
Studies show that cats are by far the
leading cause of death of resident and
migrant birds, killing 1.4-3.7 billion in
the United States and 200 million in
Canada each year, yet birds are not the
only victims. Jim Stevenson, founder of
the Galveston Ornithological Society,
on Galveston Island, Texas, has seen
significant declines in tree frogs,
snakes, and lizards, and he believes cats
are to blame. (In 2007, Stevenson killed
a feral cat that was hunting Piping
Plovers, prompting the New York Times
to call him “the most notorious cat
killer in America.”)
In recent years, bills that would have
permitted feral-cat colonies or so-called
trap-neuter-release (TNR) programs
have been defeated in Florida, Mary-
land, New York, and other states, says
Grant Sizemore, director of invasive
species programs for the American Bird
Conservancy. Local communities,
however, are more likely to pass such
ordinances.
Galveston, for example, is home to
thousands of feral cats. Last spring, the
city council adopted a plan that Steven-
son calls “TNR 2.0.” It allows for cats to
be trapped, neutered, and released but
also says feral cats that venture onto
property where they’re not wanted can
be trapped and euthanized.
Pet owners can face daily fines for
cats that are trapped and taken to the
island’s animal shelter, and people
cannot create an “attractive environ-
ment” for stray cats by putting food out
for them. Stevenson opposed the plan
because it doesn’t remove cats from the
island. The council intends to revisit the
issue in two years.
ATTACKS ON CONSERVATION
Asked what issues birders should keep in
mind as they go to the polls this fall,
Derek Lovitch, Joel Greenberg, and
Carrol Henderson all decried the
devastating effects of budget cuts on
birds and other wildlife.
For more than two decades, a program
known as the Land for Maine’s Future has
protected forests, trails, lakes, ponds, and
other areas throughout Maine. But for the
last few years, Governor Paul LePage has
held up $11.5 million in conservation
bonds, ostensibly due to a fight with the
legislature over timber-harvest revenue,
stopping the program.
Lovitch, co-owner of Freeport Wild
Bird Supply in Freeport, Maine, and
author of How to Be a Better Birder
(Princeton University Press, 2012), says
the program “is critical in a state with so
little public land.” Despite broad support
among hunters, birdwatchers, and the
general public, Land for Maine’s Future
may be destined for elimination if
LePage doesn’t reverse course.
The dispute is but one example of a
broad attack on conservation laws and
programs and on state and federal
agencies charged with protecting wildlife
and natural resources.
Wisconsin’s 2015-17 Department of
Natural Resources budget, for example,
eliminated a science division that
included nongame bird ecologists.
Alabama closed five state parks and
reduced staff and operational hours at
several other parks. And in Illinois, the
governor closed the state natural history
museum, which was founded in 1877. A
bill to reopen it passed with bipartisan
support in early November, but the
chairman of the museum’s board said
the closure had been “devastating”
because many employees had already
started looking elsewhere for jobs.
The museum’s cost to the state was a
“tiny amount of the overall budget,”
says Greenberg, author of A Feathered
‘The problem of feral and free-roaming
cats overwhelms everything else.’
— CARL SCHWARTZ
TimFitzharris/MindenPictures
AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN:
Birds in Minnesota carry oil
and dispersants from the
Gulf of Mexico.
31. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 29
River Across the Sky: The Passenger
Pigeon’s Flight to Extinction (Blooms-
bury, 2014) and an Illinois resident. “I
understand the need to make cuts, but
this seemed to be targeted beyond
concern for the budget.”
At the federal level, government
spending on natural resources and the
environment has dropped from 2.5
percent of the overall budget in 1977 to
1.07 percent in 2014. Projections show
the total falling below 1 percent by 2019.
A recent report from Defenders of
Wildlife says across-the-board cuts
mandated by the 2013 sequester
substantially worsened already-compro-
mised conservation and management
actions, maintenance backlogs, and
other challenges faced by federal
agencies. Since 2010 at the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, for example, the
Migratory Bird Management program
has been cut 20 percent, and the
Neotropical Migratory Bird Fund has
been slashed by almost a third.
Last summer, an attempt in Congress
to prevent the Justice Department from
prosecuting offenders under the
Migratory Bird Treaty Act was quashed
after birders and the public objected.
Bills that remain alive, however, include
proposals to gut the Endangered Species
Act, Clean Water Act, and Environmen-
tal Protection Agency.
And in September, the 50-year-old
Land and Water Conservation Fund
(LWCF), America’s largest conservation
funding source, was allowed to expire. It
had collected $900 million a year from
offshore drilling revenues and spent
‘Fully funding the Land and
Water Conservation Fund would
do a huge amount of good.’
— JOHN FITZPATRICK
PhilipRosenberg
HAKALAU NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE: Sunlight glistens
through a koa tree in the refuge, on the Big Island of Hawaii.
In 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hopes to spend
$8.6 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to
add about 7,000 acres to the refuge, a critical reserve for
native honeycreepers. The fund recently expired.
32. 30 BirdWatching • February 2016
about a third of the amount restoring
and protecting public lands, including
parks, refuges, and beaches. Rep. Rob
Bishop (R-Utah), chair of the House
Natural Resources Committee, wants to
limit the fund’s ability to acquire new
lands and redirect revenues toward local
recreation projects.
Greenberg, Schwartz, and other
leaders lament the fund’s expiration. It
should be renewed automatically, they
say, and not be subject to congressional
approval every budget cycle. “We could
do a huge amount of good,” says
Fitzpatrick, if the fund was reinstated and
allowed to spend all of its revenues. “It
would be a monstrous accomplishment.”
Another poorly funded federal effort
is the State Wildlife Grants program,
which helps support state wildlife
agencies. Henderson, nongame wildlife
program supervisor for the Minnesota
Department of Natural Resources and
the author or co-author of 13 books
about birds, says that his state should
receive about $15 million a year from the
grants but instead gets no more than
$1 million. “I first testified before
Congress about this issue in 1977,” he
says, “and it still hasn’t been resolved.”
A possible solution is on the
horizon, however. In 2015, Fitzpatrick
served on a panel that included the
leaders of hunting, fishing, and
conservation groups, the oil and wind
industries, and others. It is working on
a plan it will present to Congress in
2016 for new conservation funding
sources for the states.
WIND TURBINES
Given their concern over climate
change, birders are quick to acknowl-
edge the need for renewable forms of
energy, including wind-generated
power. But wind power, as Mueller, of
the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat
Observatory, says, “has to be done
carefully and correctly.”
For the last couple of years, he has
been conducting aerial surveys aimed at
documenting where ducks and other
birds concentrate in the open waters of
‘Wind power has to be done
carefully and correctly.’
— BILL MUELLER
TomReichner/Shutterstock
GREATER SAGE-GROUSE: About 45
percent of the species’ historic range
has been lost to agriculture, oil and
gas drilling, livestock grazing,
mining, unnatural fire, roads, fences,
pipelines, and utility corridors.
33. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 31
western Lake Michigan. In the event that
offshore wind projects might one day
become a reality, he and other scientists
want to be able to say where turbines
could be placed without harming birds.
Lovitch echoes Mueller, saying siting
is key, since wind farms placed too close
to bird habitat or migratory routes can be
deadly. Lovitch is worried about a
proposal to place two turbines in deep
water off the coast of Monhegan Island, a
spring and fall stopover site about 10
miles off the Maine coast. The project is
not a done deal, but the fact that it’s a
possibility is upsetting, he says.
According to Kaufman, the impacts
of wind projects on wildlife are not
subject to review in Ohio, and many
communities where turbines are
placed don’t have zoning boards, so
conservationists lack a forum where
they can air concerns.
To counter the influence of wind
developers, she and her colleagues at the
Black Swamp observatory “talk to
politicians at the local, state, and federal
levels about the value of bird tourism.
We talk about it from an economic
perspective.”
THREATS TO HABITAT
At first glance, habitat loss may seem like
a problem of a different era, when forests
were cleared and prairies were dug up no
matter the cost to wildlife, but threats to
habitats remain real and ongoing.
Ron Martin, president and treasurer
of the North Dakota Birding Society,
says the recent oil boom in his state has
produced thousands of wells on lands
that were once farms and pastures.
Habitats have been fragmented, and the
large amounts of water pumped for
hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has
altered the hydrology of the region.
What’s more, the oil fields are
having a ripple effect as far away as
Oregon and Washington. According to
Brian Moore, deputy director and
legislative director of the National
Audubon Society, oil companies are
shipping oil by rail to terminals on the
Pacific coast, exposing communities to
the risk of derailments, explosions,
spills, and the long-term climate effects
of burning more fossil fuels.
And in Ohio, says Kaufman, state
parks have been opened to fracking.
“The places we thought were protected
are not,” she says. “It’s sad that parks
have become less about wildlife and
more about minerals and fossil-fuel
extraction.”
Even a federal Wilderness Act
designation — the highest level of
conservation protection for federal lands
— does not deter plans to alter wildlife
habitat, says Nils Warnock, executive
director of Audubon Alaska.
For decades, local and state leaders
have pushed for the construction of a
road through Izembek National Wildlife
Refuge, near the southern end of the
Alaska Peninsula. Audubon Alaska, the
Sierra Club, and several other conserva-
tion groups oppose the road because the
refuge provides stopover or wintering
habitat for Emperor Geese, Steller’s
Eiders, Black Brant, and more than 30
shorebird species.
The road would traverse federally
designated wilderness areas that birds
and other animals rely on. Since the
passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964,
no wilderness area has been stripped of
protection for the purpose of con-
structing a road.
The Interior Department rejected the
road in 2013, and a federal judge upheld
the ruling in September 2015. But a bill
that would swap nearby land for the road
corridor and require the road’s construc-
tion passed a Senate committee last
summer and was recently attached as a
rider to a funding bill for Interior and
related agencies. Alaska Senator Lisa
Murkowski, a leading proponent of the
road, chairs the Energy and Natural
Resources Committee.
SHIFTING TIDES?
All of Alaska’s top elected officials
support the construction of the road,
Warnock says, meaning “all the state’s
major politicians are against birds,
literally against birds.”
The attitude, which is not unique to
Alaska, means that advocates for birds
have their work cut out for them. As
Kaufman observes: “Not just in Ohio,
but wherever I travel, natural resources
are seen less as an asset to be valued and
more as something to be exploited.”
Still, she has seen political tides shift
in the past and senses that a change in
favor of environmental protection is
not far off. “There’s a growing discon-
nect with the natural world,” she says.
“And yet the health of the environment
matters to every person on the planet. I
think people who care about birds need
to stand in a united front in defense of
areas that we still have and to remem-
ber that it’s our job to pull people back
to nature.”
Matt Mendenhall is the managing editor
of BirdWatching magazine.
TABLET EXTRAS
Tap the links below to learn
more about bird-related issues.
BIRDS AND CLIMATE
Read articles from BirdWatching about
the effects of climate change on birds.
CATS INDOORS
The American Bird Conservancy’s
program explains why cats
should be kept inside.
LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION FUND
See an interactive map from the
Wilderness Society showing nearly every
project financed over the history of the fund.
BIRD-SMART WIND ENERGY
The American Bird Conservancy’s program
to improve siting of wind turbines.
BIRD OHIO DAY
Read the Ohio Senate resolution
declaring the state’s first Bird Ohio Day.
OIL BY RAIL
Updates on the shipping of oil
by rail in the Pacific Northwest.
GREEN INVESTMENTS
Defenders of Wildlife’s report
on budget cuts to federal
environmental agencies (PDF).
NATIONAL SCORECARD
Find out how your elected officials
rank on the legislative scorecard of
the League of Conservation Voters.
No tablet? Find a link to all Tablet Extras
at www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/
the-magazine/current-issue
‘The places we thought were
protected are not.’
— KIM KAUFMAN
34. 32 BirdWatching • February 2016
Who wrote the following sentence?
“The problem with subspecies is complex.”
Older birders will likely surmise that it was none other than
Roger Tory Peterson. He wrote the words in his 1947 revision of
A Field Guide to the Birds, a book first published in 1934.
To Peterson, whose goal was to enable readers to identify
bird species in the field, plumage, song pattern, and other
differences among distinctive regional populations, called
subspecies, posed a vexing problem. Many subspecies are
recognizable in the field — consider juncos and Fox Sparrows
— but they are not considered to merit full species status.
Subspecies have posed practical and theoretical problems
not only for Peterson, as a field-guide author, but for ornitholo-
gists in general. When is a subspecies deserving of recognition
as a full species? The problem remains with us. When the sixth
edition of the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of
North America was released in 2011, it included 10 pages of
maps showing the distributions of selected subspecies. Most are
sufficiently distinct to be recognizable in the field. Perhaps they
will eventually attain full species status, new checkmarks for
the life list. But what, exactly, is the “problem of subspecies”?
What are subspecies?
EVOLVING STILL
The answer begins with the reality that birds have evolved
and are evolving still, a genetic continuum going back at least
150 million years. The formation of new species is slow, a
temporal process that makes simple classification anything but
simple. Subspecies are sometimes referred to as “incipient
species” — works in progress, so to speak. More accurately, a
subspecies is a regional population that is somewhat genetically
distinct from other regional populations within the same
species. “Oregon” Juncos, for example, differ in appearance
from “Slate-colored” Juncos. Both are subspecies within the
Dark-eyed Junco species.
Why subspecies? Because wherever two or more Dark-eyed
Junco subspecies overlap in range, they tend to hybridize. Thus,
genes flow relatively freely among regionally distinct subspecies
of juncos, and such gene flow does not appear to lower the
reproductive fitness of the hybrids. Because of the ease of gene
flow, juncos (aside from Yellow-eyed Junco of Mexico and the
Southwest and the recently designated Guadalupe Junco of
Guadalupe Island, off the west coast of Baja California) are still
regarded as a single species: Junco hyemalis, Dark-eyed Junco.
Ornithologists refer to the classification of birds as “avian
systematics.” The term describes the study and practice of
naming species and placing them in a logical, scientifically
based classification scheme reflecting their actual evolution-
ary histories. Remember when field guides (such as Peterson’s)
all began with loons? No more. Now, thanks largely to major
advances in molecular analysis and the sequencing of DNA,
North American bird guides begin with waterfowl and
gallinaceous birds.
Remember when there was the Canada Goose, the Solitary
Vireo, the Winter Wren, and the Gray-cheeked Thrush? As we
all know, the small Cackling Goose was recently split from
Canada Goose; Solitary Vireo is now recognized as three
regionally separate species (Blue-headed, Cassin’s, and
Plumbeous); Winter Wren is considered a different species
LISTING
The subspecies
How we decide whether a subspecies deserves
recognition as a full species BY JOHN KRICHER
CONUNDRUM
Here’s a field-guide trivia question for you:
35. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 33
A NEW SPECIES: Ridgway’s Rail didn’t exist until 2014. Then
several southwestern subspecies of Clapper Rail were
combined and elevated to full species status, distinct from
birds on the East Coast. This one was photographed in Orange
County, California, in January 2015.
BrianE.Small
36. 34 BirdWatching • February 2016
from the recently designated Pacific Wren (and separate, too,
from Eurasian Wren, with which it had been lumped until
2010); and Gray-cheeked Thrush is a different species from the
much more range-restricted Bicknell’s Thrush. Where once
there had been four species, there are now nine.
Each of the splits, as they are called in the frequently
argumentative science known as taxonomy, resulted from
decisions by the American Ornithologists’ Union’s prestigious
Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of North and
Middle American Birds. Made up of 13 members and four
advisors, the committee is tasked with evaluating evidence
submitted by ornithologists who propose changes in classifica-
tion, including the formal designation of species status. Data
from laboratory and field studies are submitted, and the
committee decides.
Each year, the committee updates the AOU’s Check-list of
North American Birds, currently in its seventh edition, the
official list of all recognized species. The committee also assigns
official common and scientific names to all North American
birds. Updates appear as supplements, which are published
annually in The Auk: Ornithological Advances, the AOU’s
quarterly journal. Listers are typically eager to see what splits are
made in hopes of attaining more checks on their life lists. In 2014,
birders could tick a new bird in California, Ridgway’s Rail (Rallus
obsoletus), split from Clapper Rail. Thank the AOU for that.
It was Charles Darwin who in 1859 first clearly articulated
that species evolve. But the actual process by which species
multiply was elusive to Darwin and those who followed. That
changed in 1942, when the book Animal Species and Evolution
was published. Its author, Ernst Mayr, an ornithologist with
extensive field experience in the Pacific islands, devised a model
whereby one species might eventually split into other species.
He called the model the Biological Species Concept, or BSC.
Others contributed to the formulation of the BSC, but Mayr is
recognized as its principal architect and champion.
LUMPING AND SPLITTING
It is the BSC that the AOU uses as its basic model for deciding
when a subspecies should be elevated to full species status
(splitting a lineage) and when a previously recognized species
should be lumped within a more broadly occurring species,
essentially demoting it. For example, recent molecular
evidence suggests that Hoary Redpoll, long recognized as a full
species, is not sufficiently genetically distinct from Common
Redpoll to merit full species status. Although obvious plumage
variability exists among redpoll populations (providing fun
for birders trying to find the Hoary among a wintering flock of
Commons), redpolls may in genetic reality be part of but one
broadly distributed and variable species. We might lose Hoary
Redpoll. That decision likely awaits the AOU.
Subspecies-free since 1983
The last edition of the AOU’s Check-
list of North American Birds to include
Committee excluded treatment of
subspecies in both the sixth edition,
published in 1983, and the seventh (1998),
the most recent.
Committee members stress that they
continues to endorse the “biological reality
and practical utility” of subspecies as a
taxonomic rank, however. “Subspecies
evolutionary, behavioral, ecological, and
conservation biologists,” write members of
the committee.
“After careful study, an unknown number
of subspecies likely will unmask cryptic
biological species, or ‘species-in-the-
making,’ that constitute a significant
element of newly evolving biodiversity.
On the other hand, the Committee
also recognizes that an uncertain
number of current subspecies apply to
poorly differentiated populations and
thus cannot be validated by rigorous
modern techniques.”
MaxAllen/Shutterstock
37. w w w.BirdWatchingDaily.com 35
The BSC (unlike quantum mechanics) is quite simple to
explain and makes logical sense, at least for birds. It begins with
a geographic feature that divides a population, preventing
groups from interbreeding. For example, extensive and complex
river systems in Amazonia, in South America, serve nicely to
isolate populations, as do equally complex mountains such as
the Andes. They are principal reasons why bird diversity on the
continent is so rich.
Countless other topographical features on the planet act in a
similar manner. Populations occurring on different islands, for
example, eventually evolve sufficient genetic divergence to
become new and separate species. Darwin’s finches of the
Galapagos Islands and the Hawaiian honeycreepers of the
Hawaiian Islands are classic examples of species divergence
based initially on geographic isolation.
Once populations are geographically separated, they begin
to diverge genetically, and that is the process of species (and
subspecies) formation. Natural selection will inevitably select
for differing traits among separated populations — often, in
the case of birds, stimulated by behaviorally complex mating
patterns in a process called sexual selection. As generations
follow, divergence increases until the separated populations
become reproductively isolated from one another, unable to
interbreed and produce viable progeny. At that point, they
become full species.
One significant component of the BSC is that the species, by
virtue of reproductive isolation, tell us who they are. If various
populations interbreed and succeed in raising offspring, they
are members of the same species. If two or more populations
avoid interbreeding by use of plumage signals, behavior, song,
habitat, or some combination of “reproductive isolating
mechanisms,” they are in reality separate species. (Think of
Empidonax flycatchers as examples.) As neat and satisfying as
the BSC would seem to be, the devil is very much in the details.
The model is surprisingly difficult to apply in actual cases.
The obvious difficulty with the BSC is that it requires proof
of reproductive isolation to achieve species designation. Such
proof can be elusive. For example, extinct species, whose only
traces remain part of the fossil record, cannot be shown to
interbreed because they are all dead. Thus, the criteria applied to
designating extinct species remain entirely based on anatomical
distinctions and the judgments of ornithologists. (Craves’s Giant
A SINGLE SPECIES: The junco at left,
a member of the gray-headed
subspecies, looks dramatically
different from the hooded bird at
right, of the Oregon race, yet
taxonomists consider both birds the
same species: Dark-eyed Junco.
“Remember when there was
THE Canada Goose, THE Solitary
Vireo, THE Winter Wren, and
THE Gray-cheeked Thrush?”
vagabond54/Shutterstock
38. 36 BirdWatching • February 2016
Barn Owl, a new but extinct species, was recently named after
Contributing Editor Julie Craves. See page 12.)
But on a more pragmatic level, distributions of extant
populations often make species designation frustratingly
complex. Florida Scrub-Jay, for example, is separated by
thousands of miles from Western Scrub-Jay, while Island
Scrub-Jay is confined to Santa Cruz Island, off the California
coast, near Los Angeles. Populations of the jay species are
non-migratory, so they never meet. Thus, there is no obvious
way of knowing if they would interbreed and if such introgres-
sion would produce viable offspring. So the AOU designates the
three populations as separate species based essentially on the
preponderance of the evidence, a term borrowed from the legal
profession. In such cases, the evidence is typically multiple,
based on morphological, vocal, behavioral, and, increasingly,
genetic and molecular data. Strict adherence to the tenets of the
BSC is thus not required. Attaining species status becomes a
judgment call by a team of dedicated ornithologists.
In a paper published in April 2014 in The Auk: Ornitho-
logical Advances, ornithologist Frank B. Gill argues for the
adoption of a subtle but major change in the underlying
hypothesis of the BSC. Gill, a former president of the AOU
and the author of a leading ornithology textbook, refers to
the following hypothesis:
Distinct and reciprocally monophyletic sister populations
of birds do not exhibit reproductive isolation and would
interbreed freely if they were to occur in sympatry.
The word monophyletic refers to sharing a recent common
ancestor. Sympatry refers to when ranges overlap. Thus, the
statement means that closely related but geographically
separated populations (usually subspecies) of birds should
be, by default, considered one species until it is proved that
they are reproductively isolated, something that is often
impossible to know.
Gill suggests a 180° shift in emphasis. His new wording
would have the basic BSC hypothesis read as follows:
Distinct and reciprocally monophyletic sister populations of
birds exhibit essential reproductive isolation and would not
interbreed freely if they were to occur in sympatry.
To Gill, adopting the modified hypothesis would recog-
nize the realities of applying the BSC and serve the AOU bet-
ter in its task of classifying species. It would recognize that
many species designations are not based on literal adherence
to the BSC. Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers,
Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees, and Baltimore and
Bullock’s Orioles are birds that hybridize with regularity, yet
each is recognized as a full species. Other examples are
numerous. Would Gill’s hypothesis, if adopted (which to
date it has not been), result in a proliferation of newly
recognized species?
Consider Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris). Is it one
species or two? Two subspecies are separated geographically
by 340 miles (550 km). One, P. c. ciris, occurs from northern
TWO SPECIES, FOR NOW:
A pink breast and streaked
flanks distinguish the
Common Redpoll at left from
the paler, fluffier Hoary
Redpoll at right. In the field,
the species can rarely be
separated so easily.
KellyNelson/Shutterstock
