From the Contact Station June 2022

Riding with Roger

It was a day that promised to be nice for us and the birds, even though it started a bit chilly in the high 40s. I met Roger at the dog park parking lot at 7:30 am. Roger Windemuth is a long-time volunteer with the Refuge. You might have seen him pre-covid on Wednesdays in the Kiosk or riding around the River S. What you may not know is that Roger has been doing the weekly bird survey going back seventeen years now. In the past, I have featured a few of the contact volunteers in this column. I was thinking about including Roger about two years and three months ago when, well, you know what happened. Now, being fully vaxed and really wanting to start up again, I contacted Roger with a request to ride around River S on his next survey. Roger quickly responded ‘yes’ so we met and started out with our very first stop, just feet from the dog park at the first pull out down from the River S gate. Roger started doing the bird survey when e-bird was in its infancy. He joined with another volunteer, Al Larrabee, to do the weekly count. As the sighting numbers swelled, Roger’s son helped him to capture the information by developing a database. The weekly reports published from the database can be found on the Friends website, and Roger also uses e-bird to record his sightings. Roger continues to use both systems so those who do not use e-bird still have a good source of current bird sightings.

Roger and I shared a lot of information about birds as we moved through the day. At our first stop, we listened to the woods trying to get the Red-breasted Nuthatches he usually hears along the top of the road. We dipped (a birder’s term for missed it) on the nuthatch. But we were soon surrounded by multiple, moving Western Tanagers. What a treat. Robins were everywhere, a crow complained, and then a sweeter voice penetrated the chorus. Ah yes, the first of many Black-headed Grosbeak for the day. Roger really knows the songs and chips of the refuge birds. I don’t. But I heard a slow tap-tap nearby which Roger quickly identified as a Red-breasted Sapsucker. He explained it was the only woodpecker we see that does that double-tap. Got it! By the time we were at the bridge, we already had twelve species. Our trip would prove that Roger really knows the refuge well, and the best places to stop. No wonder he has been getting lists numbering mid-sixties in April and May.

As we crossed the bridge, we stopped to enjoy the Cliff Swallows passing beneath us. Roger has counted as many as sixty in one stop. The bridge is a great place for these colonial nesters to attach their mud nests. As we passed the contact station, Roger told me how the numbered posts came to be. When talking to visitors, he realized when they asked him about a bird they saw, they had a hard time describing where they saw it. He thought if there were numbered posts around the drive, that would help. Knowing the habitat on the refuge where a bird is found can help to identify the species. So, about 2009, Roger went to the Refuge managers and convinced them a number system on the route would be useful. By this time Roger was also on the Board of the Friends. He was able to find a donor for the posts and got his friend, Al, to help set the posts which were numbered in white paint. There is a strategy for where the posts are set. If you listen to the summer or winter CD, each stop tells a story about the refuge and its habitats. The male voice on the CD is Roger’s. He worked with refuge staff to put together the scripts for the CDs.

As we drove up the first leg of the road to the hunt gate, we discussed how interesting it is that the swallow species we see tend to sort themselves into different sections of the Refuge. Having spent a considerable time on the refuge, both of us agreed there was a lot of satisfaction in observing patterns of bird distribution that only comes when you have been around for several years. Roger noted the disappearance of the large number of coots in mid-May although, we both had noticed, there are an unusually large number of Cinnamon Teal around now. Interesting, with Roger’s records, he knows that the Cackling Geese seem to amass in April and then, like clockwork, they are gone by the 28^th. As we consider global warming, all the historical data Roger has could give us considerable information on changes in the years to come. By the time we reached the hunt gate, we had 35 species on our list.

It is always a good idea to stop and listen between posts 5 and 6. I had a great lesson from Roger on Wilson’s, Yellow-rumped and Yellow Warbler songs. They always confuse me as they have a lot of similarity. We ended up seeing all three along with the Orange-crowned Warbler. What a show. Farther down the road, on the walk to the blind, I was able to show Roger the Anna’s Hummingbird nest along the trail. (See Species Spotlight article.) Then a very extraordinary sighting. We were looking out of the

blind watching the Black Phoebes when there was a ruckus approaching us. Two Pied Billed Grebes were going at it. One was hot on the tail of the other as they came at us weaving through the reeds. The grebe at the rear was partly on top, occasionally causing the front bird to sink mostly underwater. And, the rear bird was reaching around to grab the front grebe’s neck in its bill. It seemed very aggressive as opposed to a mating ritual. Reading some background, I found that due to their anatomical structure, Pied-billed Grebes can’t mate in water. Also, the description of mating behavior is much more pleasant with neck movements and posturing than what we witnessed. This was definitely agonistic behavior. There was a territory staked out by a male, and the second bird being chased was in the wrong place.

Roger took lots of photos of the encounter, but everything happened so fast and among the reeds that he didn’t get one clear enough to show the behavior. Roger really enjoys nature photography while on the refuge. He is always looking for the next great photo. It was Roger’s idea to start the photo contest the Friends hold each year for Birdfest. He contacted Pro Photo, our sponsor, and worked with them to design the protocol that we continue to use. He was a judge for years.

There were several stops in the woods past the Kiwa Trail to listen for anything we hadn’t seen or heard yet. Surprisingly, that included the House Finch which Roger finally pinned down in a spot where he usually finds them. As we emerged from the Ash woods, we had ticked 57 species. One species we were surprisingly missing was a Virginia Rail, but then it started. As we drove between posts 11 and 12, it was like a reception line with Virginia Rails “singing” to us as we moved down the road.

We rounded out our duck finds at Rest and Swartz Lakes finding only one lone Long-billed Dowitcher for our shorebirds. We ended up with 65 species, a new high for me. Now, after five and a half hours riding with Roger, I am well prepared to try to break that record on my own.

Roger has spent many volunteer hours on the Refuge and with the Friends Board helping to make the visitor experience better. His database was instrumental in helping us develop the recently updated bird list, which you can find on the Friends website, and we hope it will be available at the Contact Station soon. When I asked Roger why he has done his bird census for so many years, he said, “I just like birding.” He likes to compete with himself; seeing what he can find with each visit. In the last year, he even got a first for the Refuge, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. “I enjoy the peace and solitude of the Refuge,” he said.

We are very thankful to have volunteers like Roger on the River S. Soon you should see him back at the Contact Station or riding around doing that census on Wednesdays, which he was able to continue all through covid shutdown. He has a wealth of knowledge to share.

If any of this activity sounds like something you might also like to get involved in, we will be doing some volunteer orientation soon for new volunteers to staff the contact station or walk open trails to help visitors identify the wildlife. We would love to have you join us. Contact information, as well as our sign-up form, are available, here! Or, head to the “Get Involved” tab at the top of the page, then choose “Volunteer.”

-Susan Setterberg, Contact Station Volunteer