From the Contact Station August 2023

Under the Cottonwood Trees

Another hot and dry summer. But not as hot and dry as some places. In the last couple of weeks, the grass has been mowed and baled. We have hopes for the harriers and kestrels to return to the area with better access to prey. I’ve been checking the tops of the hay bales from the back of the contact station for a perched hawk or two.

 

You may have noticed several volunteers are bringing in their favorite outdoor chairs to sit on the contact station porch. Facing north and surrounded by the cottonwood trees, the North-northwest breezes keep us cooler in summer. It also turns out to be a very pleasant way to do wildlife viewing, feeder watching, and chatting with visitors. The deer have been taking advantage of the trees too. Early in the morning they are often feeding or sitting in the cottonwood tree-shaded longer grass across the road from us. (Black-tailed Deer pictured.)

 

Our little oasis is quite the bird magnet. The cottonwoods are the big contributors. Stand by our porch and look up at the trunk of the large tree on the right. You can see the rings of holes that the sapsuckers have made to provide nourishing sap. Stand back and scan high up when you hear singers, look for the robins and grosbeaks. In winter, when the leaves are down, check high in the tree across the road for the Kestrel. There is always something.

Black cottonwood, Populus trichocarpa, is the most massive broad-leaved deciduous tree in the Pacific Northwest, and it can grow to over 150 feet tall and live well over 100 years. A young tree in the proper conditions can grow seven feet annually. When branches snap off older trees, cavities form providing shelter and nest sites for birds and mammals. Woodpeckers like to create nests in cottonwood, and I have often heard their tapping. There is enough bird activity around to wonder if some are using old cavities and nest holes each year. When the leaves come down this fall, I will have to pay more attention to possible nest holes.

Rabbits feed on cottonwood shoots and small stems. Much of the growth under the trees is from root sprouts. We weed-whack them back periodically because they can get quite dense around the contact station but that might be why the Bush Rabbit was sniffing around under the feeder before we last trimmed.

 

With all the baby birds around recently, we’ve enjoyed a few harassed parents bringing the kids in for seed. The California Scrub-jays brought in their brood of three mid-July. Talk about demanding teenagers! The fledglings are grayer over the back and head and a bit scruffy looking. The parent would go up to the feeder and grab seed and bring it to the ground. In the photo, one is getting fed while the second one waits for its share. Scrub Jays are daily visitors to the feeder. Their cousins, the Steller’s Jay, are more frequent in winter.

 

Early July I watched a White-breasted Nuthatch feed a fledgling. It was picking larvae out of the cottonwood bark and offering it to the young bird. Nuthatches are at the feeder year-round, when the Red-winged Blackbirds (RWBB)aren’t crowding out everything smaller that is. The nuthatches move down the tree trunk and then hop over to the feeder when there is a break in the crowd. Often, they are seen at the same time as Black-capped Chickadees. The call of one or the other is a good alert to their presence.

 

Starting in March, the number of RWBB increase at the feeder, usually the earlier arriving males. You would think they have plenty to eat on the Refuge, but they seem to like the easy pickings. As the season moves on, we start to see a few females, but mostly they come in to start their brood in the reeds over the water and are busy on nest in the beginning. Then, by July, we have a huge increase in RWBB, many of which are extremely difficult to separate juveniles and females, finally outnumbering the males. There is much variability in the look of both genders as they molt out of juvenile status. The timing of changes, colors, and the appearance of the epaulets vary as they mature. The best piece of advice to tell them apart is “Juveniles of both sexes resemble females but are duller.” Not much help. In the upper right of the group photo, one bird is developing an epaulet, a hint that it is probably a juvenile male. It will start developing the darker feathers of the male soon.

 

After the jays and blackbirds feed for a while, working out the sunflower seeds, as anyone with a bird feeder knows, the other seed in the mix often ends up on the ground. That works out fine for the ground feeders. We see Spotted Towhee (pictured), Song Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow (mostly in winter), Flicker and, for the first time ever two weeks ago, I had Mourning Doves (pictured).

Depending on the time of year we have also had Oregon Junco, Bewick’s Wren, Flicker, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Steller’s Jay on the feeder. But there is so much more. High in the trees, the birds can perch to hunt (Kestrel) or sing or call during breeding season (Robins, Bullock’s Oriole, Flicker, and Black-headed Grosbeaks). Some focus on the deeply crevassed trunk and branches with moss looking for insects (Brown Creeper, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, and Common Yellowthroat). Early this spring I had a beautiful male Western Tanager moving around at eye level gleaning for insects in the leaves.

 

One of the highlights for me is seeing the Yellow-headed Blackbird just feet away. This bird is hard to see close on the tour route. Late March to early April, you hear it first and feel lucky if you get a look back in the reeds. They are very focused on setting up the breeding area, attracting the females. They nest and raise a brood and then by June, they can be seen regularly at the feeder. Males show up first and then maybe 2-3 weeks later the females come in. I haven’t been able to pick out any juveniles yet. Like the RWBB, juveniles are much like females but more buff than yellow according to the literature. The photo has one male, and two that are female or juvenile.

Have you heard about patch birding? Loosely defined, it is a small area of good and/or unique habitat that is repeatedly visited by one or a group of birders. Many birders have a Patch. It can be a small park in a dense urban area, or a small water body, or a grouping of vegetation along your morning walk. To me, the cottonwoods around the contact station are a patch. During the winter, I do a weekly feeder watch count of birds on the feeder and the ground below. I also do the Great Backyard Bird Count there though the count is broader, including views beyond the immediate area. The sightings are recorded in e-bird under Contact Station RNWR. Join us sometime to bird our patch. You never know what will show. Our informal bird list has 21 species for just the feeder area.

People have been asking: What are those green lanterns hanging in the trees? They are baited stations to specifically attract Emerald Ash Borers. We are hoping they don’t find any, as you may have read, they have done a lot of damage to ash forests in the east. The Emerald Ash Borer is a jewel beetle native to northeastern Asia that feeds on ash species. Unfortunately, they were found in Forest Grove, Oregon a year ago, so the Washington State Department of Agriculture is monitoring their presence here. Our ash trees provide food, shelter, and nest habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, they play an important role in our refuge. Lots of work will be required to mitigate the borer’s presence here and plans are being developed to prepare and respond as necessary.

-Susan Setterberg, Contact Station Volunteer
images by Susan Setterberg