From the Contact Station November 2021

Fall Changes

Where are all the swans?  Usually, we anxiously await their arrival for BirdFest, the first weekend in October.  And, generally, they do not disappoint.  But as of today (Oct 23) we have had only one sighting of a single Tundra Swan reported on a closed section of the Refuge on Oct 11 during the Crane census (more on that below).  So, I decided to go searching for sightings using e-bird.  There was a Tundra Swan sighting at Fernhill in Oregon and a single flyover just south of Portland.  North of us, there were six flying south of Olympia.  Most other Tundra Swan sightings in the greater NW are in single digits.  You must get into the Yukon Territories or Alaska before seeing any bigger numbers for September and October.  One of the issues could be low water everywhere.  Though we have had a lot of good rain of late, the ponds the swans use on the refuge are still not full enough.  They like a depth where they can just reach the bottom with those long necks.  That is why we usually see them on the Carty Lake first, while we are trying to pump in water to the ponds on the River S.  The waves of storms for the end of October, by the time you read this, may have filled Rest Lake and Big Lake sufficient to become attractive to any swans in the area.

The Tundra Swans nest on the tundra of the northern slope and western land edges of Alaska and northern edges of Canada.    Trumpeter Swans are usually a little bit later in their movement, migrating south out of central and southern Alaska and the Yukon for us.   Maybe things are so great up there right now and water is too scarce down here, that they haven’t migrated south yet?  Something to ponder. Our late October storm waves will bring water from the southwest out of the Pacific.  The question is will these high wind storms further delay movement of the swans to us.  The largest part of the Trumpeter migration is into areas east of the Rocky Mountains.  They are indeed showing up there in the last month plus, but along the west coast, there are only a few sightings north of Seattle into British Columbia.  Eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Sandhill Crane Census: One of the things I love to do is count

birds.  Goose counts and crane counts have been allowable activities during Covid times.  We go out independently in our own cars to stay covid safe. It’s wonderful to be able to participate in Citizen Science at times like these.  This year’s Lower Columbia River Sandhill Crane census was performed on October 11^th.  The area covered includes the Refuge, Sauvie Island, Vancouver Lake Bottoms, and private property south of the Lewis River.  We get to our stations by about 4:30 pm and stay until it is too dark to see any birds flying in, about 45 minutes to an hour after sunset.  We count cranes as they fly into roost areas to get the most accurate count possible.  I was covering the River S so I set up at #12, near the fields they have been frequenting and watched to the north for crane flight coming in. Sitting in one spot watching and hearing animal movement into night roosts or onto feeding perches can be very interesting.  I only had one Great Horned Owl hoot this year and it was south of me beyond the southern dike.  I had two cranes feeding in the Big Lake area.  They decided to leave about ten minutes after sunset and go south, probably for better and safer roosting areas.  Other than five more flying south, that was it for my crane experience this year.  It was not very surprising given how dry everything is.  Cranes like night roosts surrounded by standing water to protect them from predators. There was a lot of Cackling Geese movement close to sunset and some deer wandered around, still feeding.  But the best experience was about 40 minutes after sunset when I was pretty much out of light to see anything.  To the west, a coyote started to call; shortly after it was joined by another also to the west but north a bit.  It was a duet.  Then two more joined in east of me on the far side of Big Lake.  I had a couple minutes of coyote surround song that was thrilling.  Probably the family that successfully raised the two pups this year.

Despite my very small contribution to the count, this year was good at 5103 Sandhill Cranes counted overall.  The Oregon side held 3278, and the Washington side had 1825.  Sauvie Island has more roost capacity than the Washington side of the river so always has the bulk of the cranes. It was the highest count number since the census started in 1991, but there are several factors that could contribute to variability each year.  Water levels, either too high or dry, can cause cranes to move out of an expected roost area. Timing of the count to hit peak can be off, like the year we had a government shutdown that pushed the count later.  Nevertheless, we are happy to see a trending up of crane numbers for our area.

Mother Nature’s earth rainbows: As October moved into November, we have had a greening of the fields on the refuge as rain falls and nurtures more growth.  At the same time, trees and bushes are turning orange and brown preparing to drop their leaves.  As that happens, our sightlines along the auto tour will open and we will be able to spot perched raptors in trees, mixed flocks of small songbirds and deer across the fields.  The ponds will fill and deepen for the wintering waterfowl.  On the way to fall and with the waves of rainstorms October has brought to us, rainbows of earth colors appear – browns, yellows, oranges, deep crimson, and a myriad shades of green.  Heading down to the refuge during a sunbreak, I was soothed and astounded by natures rainbows of color in my late October drive around the River S.   I am not a plant person so I can’t even begin to identify the waves of plants in these photos, but I can surely appreciate them.  Enjoy our Refuge any season.

-Susan Setterberg, Contact Station Volunteer, unlabelled photos by her.