From the Contact Station January 2023

Winter is here

You may not have known because no one was out and about over the Christmas weekend given the icing of everything, but the auto tour was closed for a few days.  Winter landed with a big bang.  A big thank you goes to FWS staff Eric and Chad who cleared downed trees and debris from the refuge roads after our ice out and high winds.

Fortunately, before the storm, we had our Christmas Bird Count

(CBC) which includes all the Refuge and then some.  Terry Anderson has been doing the River S section of the Refuge for the CBC for several years now.  Her big surprise on December 19^th was counting 786 Green-winged Teal.  Wow! Anyone who visited at that time would have noticed a lot of them around.  Green-winged Teals typically feed in shallow water, near shorelines, and on mudflats. Given many of our ponds and lakes were very slow to fill this year, they were at prime condition by mid-December for the teals.  To me the teals resemble shorebirds the way they move along the muddy edges feeding.  You can always count on snipe and Killdeer in the same muddy areas frequented by the teal.  Terry found 15 Wilson’s

Snipe and 8 Killdeer on count day.  Northern Pintail were second in numbers to teal, with 619 found on River S.  But a look at the numbers of Pintail on the Roth unit south of the River S will push us up to several thousand for the circle count.  A stunning number.  Terry did an early round on the River S to listen for owls.  She was able to document two Great-horned Owls, two Barn Owls, two Short-eared Owls, and the Barred Owl she found as she came down the road toward the bridge before dawn.  Randy Hill, who birded the south end of Bachelor Island, picked up four hooting Great-horned Owls as he drove through the River S, two of which were north of the road to the hunt gate.  He had five Barn Owls on that same route.  Finding Barn Owls is so hard during the day, but they are surely here doing their night hunting.  For the little brown jobs, there were many Song Sparrows (23) and Golden-crowned Sparrows (39) on River S while a small number of Lincoln’s (3) and a Swamp Sparrow were also seen by Terry.  The Song and Golden-crowns have been around in big numbers, and it looks like the total tally for the Refuge will be a couple hundred for both. Terry, with birding partner Diane, tallied 63 species for the day.  Thank you to all the CBC participants who enjoyed a cold but calm winter’s day documenting the bird species on the Refuge and surrounding areas of Clark County and Sauvie Island.  The final counts will be published by National Audubon later in 2023.

One winter visitor that has captured our attention over the last several weeks is the male Northern Harrier.  Though sightings of Northern Harriers are common along our fields in winter, seeing males is unusual.

Why are the male harriers so rare on River S?  I went into a deep dive of birding literature trying to find out more about Northern Harrier habits.   Females do set up feeding territories and will chase the males out of their territories.  Females average about 50% heavier and 12.5% larger than males.  Maybe that explains a bit of why we usually see less of the males?  But some of what we do see are young males who wear plumage like the females though a little more cinnamon in color on the back and belly.  So, it might appear there are more brown harriers than silver gray ones.

There is not a huge disparity of females to males in harrier populations according to some studies.  Curiously though, most males are monogamous or bigamous, and some males pair with up to five mates in a season! However, polygyny seems to be influenced more by the abundance of food in spring than by a female-biased sex ratio.  And, females are known to abandon males, seeking better opportunities for a mate.  (Smile ladies)

The species is nomadic. Their densities vary in response to local changes in prey availability. We know we have voles in abundance, a favorite food of harriers.  I found an interesting tidbit in Pete Dunne’s book, Birds of Prey.  He writes: “In winter, males and females typically occupy different habitats, with females hunting lusher, wetter marshlands supporting taller grasses, and smaller, more agile males hunting brushier but shorter grassed edge and upland fields.”  Thinking about how dry our fields and wetland areas became this year, is it possible that as we eased into winter River S fields were more suitable for the male harriers passing through than the usual females we see? I offer this only as food for thought. As we move through another interesting weather season, we can contemplate weather changes and the effects on wildlife.

One other interesting find that has been around through December and was also documented on the CBC is a juvenile Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk.  It is striking as a very dark buteo which, if you are a hawk watcher, might give you pause to wonder at its different look.  Angie Vogel captured these amazing shots that show the unique coloring and patterns of the Harlan’s.

The classification of Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk has been variable over time.  It was considered a separate species once.  For now, it appears to be its own group within the Red-tailed array, every other variation being in the second group.  Its tail is distinctive: the feathers are whitish or gray mottled or streaked longitudinally with black, but at times can be tinged reddish or light brown. Not all Harlan’s are dark; there is a rarer white form too.  As with Red-tails in general though, there is a lot of variation that makes these raptors particularly challenging and very exciting.

The Harlan’s breeds from central Alaska through Yukon to northern British Columbia and winters chiefly in Great Plains and western Midwest to the Gulf Coast, but a few come down the Pacific Coast and that is why this is a special sighting for us.  Watch for this different-looking Red-tail.  Note the color and banding of the tail, the overall very dark, blackish body feathering when perched, and the banding on the primary feathers at the tips of the wings in flight. Angie’s second photo shows these characteristics very well.  There is white mottling on the chest like what you might see on a young Bald Eagle, but the size of the bill will certainly distinguish the two.

Happy New Year to all our visitors.  We so enjoy being able to see and chat with all of you again.  May your 2023 be filled with wonderous sightings on the Refuge.

-Susan Setterberg, Contact Station Volunteer