From the Contact Station June 2021

Loving spring

When a friend called me yesterday (May 20) and asked if I wanted to do a round on the River S, it was a quick yes from me. There was a promise of afternoon showers, but I love to be there when that happens. Usually there are less people, the air becomes even fresher, and the sun breaks can be dazzling.  It also helps keep the dust down on the road, a definite plus.

There were several groups of Columbia White-tailed Deer along the road and several Brush Rabbits popping in and out as we toured. Our Brush Rabbits are in the same genus as the introduced Eastern Cottontails, Sylvilagus. It can be hard to decide which you have when they scamper into the bushes so quickly. But the Brush Rabbits are a bit smaller overall and more evenly colored with hardly a tail at all. Western Painted Turtles were evident sunning on the logs in the sloughs.

We stopped at the trail to the blind and had a lovely walk out. Once in the blind, we started to hear the wetland birds.  First up was the croaking, grunting American Coot. They are feeding and nesting in the emergent grasses. Soon we will be seeing the precocial, red-headed babies that leave their floating nest within a day of hatch. The chorus really started with Virginia Rail and Sora calling. To me, the Virginia always sounds like an old car that can’t start, while the Sora has a descending whinny along with its quick “ker-wee” call. Next, a

nearby American Bittern started doing its mating song. We did not see any of the birds because the vegetation is so dense, but what a thrill to have all of them calling for us. To top the experience off, we had singing Song Sparrow, Barn Swallow on nest within the blind, and we could hear Yellow-headed Blackbirds in the distance.

As I write this, the Kiwa Trail is still closed for the benefit of the baby crane, or colt.  But you will see that the signs to stay in the car are down, so when you see something interesting and can pull out of the way, you get out of the car and explore from the road. That is exactly what we did when we encountered a moving Pileated Woodpecker (just a reminder, no wandering into the bushes.)  Friend Barb spotted the red of the head low in the willows along the ash forest edges. Calls of the Pileated Woodpecker are sometimes confused with the Northern Flickers, also around and calling right now. The Pileated call is a bit more maniacal, and we heard it a couple of times between its loud, deep tree pounding sounds.  Our bird was busy excavating stumps and woody trees for food. The Pileated Woodpecker is

considered a keystone species because it plays a crucial role in many forest ecosystems by excavating large nesting, roosting, and foraging cavities that are subsequently used by a diverse array of birds and mammals for shelter and nesting. We don’t see many of them on the refuge, but they are here all year. They like old forest with enough dead or rotted larger trees for easy excavation. It was great fun watching this continually active male. He has more extensive red feathering on the head than the female.

Our next delight was having two noisy Wilson’s Snipe pop up in front of us just before #10 in the ash forest. Perched on a low log, we watched one bird calling. A second jumped up near it. We wondered which might be the male, but that soon became clear. Both male and female snipe will do an elaborate flight display when setting up and protecting their territories. Their courting can be rather elaborate with nuptial displays in flight. On the ground, the male struts around the female with drooping wings and erect fanned tail, while

female remains in one spot. What we saw was the male erecting his fanned tail while calling behind the not-so-engaged female. The female flew from the log down to the road and was quickly followed by the male strutting behind her. But alas, she must not have been overly interested and she flew away into the woods. This was a first for me and so much fun to watch.

It is nice to have these intermittent spring rainstorms come through as they are keeping some areas wet enough to continue to attract shorebirds. That is not going to last much longer.  But we were rewarded by a full breeding plumage Black-bellied Plover on the back edge of Swartz Lake as our final surprise for the day. Things will quiet as birds are on the nest and don’t want to attract predator attention.mThen, listening carefully, we should hear the begging chick calls as parents are carrying food to the nests.mThen we will be seeing lots of baby birds around. Some Canada goslings are already growing into the equivalent of a gawky

teenager.

For those of you who follow the birds closely, besides checking Roger’s weekly bird list on the Friends’ website, you can also get a copy of the newly updated bird list there. There are lots of changes from the 15+ year-old refuge brochure. Species have been split and renamed. But the new list also includes an update of seasonal likelihood of seeing a species and nesting. Using data from e-bird and in consultation with expert birders who have been doing surveys on the refuge for years, all the listings were updated. We had to add the Sandhill Crane to the nesting list of course.

As we move into late spring and summer, enjoy the life growing around you on the auto tour.  As happened last year, as soon as the FWS staff are sure the crane colt can get around well enough to evade predators and not be disturbed by our presence, the Kiwa Trail will open for hiking.

-Susan Setterberg, Contact Station Volunteer