From the Contact Station October 2023

Autumn is Here

Welcome Fall:  Roger Windemuth so perfectly described the move into Fall, or Autumn as he likes to say, that I have taken the liberty of re-printing his article from 2012 in the Friends RNWR newsletter.  Followed by some current news.

It’s Autumn time at the refuge!  And once again, it’s the changing of the guard.  We say good bye to the friends of summer and welcome back our old friends of fall and winter.  Late summer and autumn is migration time and the face of the refuge is changing.

Not only will the leaves be turning red and gold, but the lakes, ponds, and wetlands will again be filling, hiding the mud and plants that were exposed during the dry summer.  The ducks and geese will again be covering the skies and many parts of the grasslands.  The refuge will have a fresh new look, completely different from just a few short weeks ago.

Migration is an interesting phenomenon at whatever moment, throughout the year, day or night, there are birds wending their way high in the skies of the Western Hemisphere, migrating.  But it is in the spring and fall, when the continent’s sky is swarming with billions of birds, that migration becomes apparent even to the most unobservant.  And yet, not all migration of birds is done by wing.  When the first winter snow comes, the Blue Grouse leave the warmer foothills of the Western mountains and migrate, by foot, up to the bitter wind-driven cold of the high country, searching for a diet of conifer needles.

Among our summer refuge birds, the Rufous Hummingbird is one of our smallest visitors. It migrates south along the mountain ridges to its traditional winter home in Mexico. But, more and more over the last quarter of a century, these little tykes are finding their way to the southwest and many places east of the Mississippi.  Another summer refuge bird is the Yellow-headed Blackbird.  It is less cold-tolerant than its cousin, the Red-winged Blackbird, and retreats farther southward. Yellow-headed Blackbirds leave most of their breeding areas and occupy a winter range that stretches from the extreme southwestern United States to central Mexico.  This year (2012) at the refuge they began to migrate early.  The last one was seen on July 20.

Among our winter refuge birds, the Cackling Goose is the most numerous and, because of its numbers, the most vocal of our winter birds.  At one time the Cackling Goose was a sub-species, along with ten other sub-species of the Canada Goose, but since 2004, it can boast that it, along with three other sub-species, is now its own species, collectively called Cackling Goose.  Cackling Geese breed in western Alaska along a narrow strip of coastline primarily between the Yukon and the Kuskokwim Rivers.  They generally migrate to the Pacific Northwest in winter. In fact, it was this past week, September 24 -26 (2012) that they made their first appearance at the refuge—around three weeks earlier than usual!

Susan’s note:  Eleven years later, we are still waiting for winter birds to appear during the changing Fall season.  Dryer than most years, we may not see some of these birds on the auto tour until the water levels come up a bit.  But they will be around eventually.  Look up!  They just might be circling overhead looking for that fresh water.  Sandhill Cranes were already sighted in mid-September.

Now in 2023: 

Begger’s Tick Abounds: There have been many comments about the beautiful fields of yellow flowers on River S. We are seeing one of the benefits of a dry cycle.  And dryer than most longtime visitors have ever seen this year. A good drying cycle is not always bad.  I last wrote about this in September 2016. Such cycles allow toxins to oxidize, instead of building up in the mud, and can take care of some less desirable plants while letting beneficial wetlands plants regrow and thrive.  Under the right conditions, seeds that lay dormant in the mud will sprout and produce vegetation we don’t see each year.  Beggar’s-Tick, Bidens frondosa, is one of these. It is from the aster family and blooms in late summer providing opportunity for pollinators and, eventually, seeds which will fall into the wetlands to wait for dabbling ducks to dine when the water returns.  The seeds are double barbed and easily stick to pants legs or socks if you wander through a patch; presumably beggars did so some time ago hence the name Beggar’s Tick.  Enjoy these beauties while we have them this dry season.

A Few Improvements: We are pleased to report the River S and Carty Unit will be getting new benches soon.  The staff in the shop have been building them as time allows.  One is out on the Kiwa trail now and three more will be moved out there soon.  The Carty Oaks to Wetlands Trail will get two benches in November and more in the spring.

Also, have you noticed all the audio tour numbered posts have been replaced on River S?  On Oct 1, we change out the audio CD to the Fall/Winter program.  However, this year, you will need to access the program via the Friends website. There is a QR code posted in the kiosk to help you make that connection.

Sometimes it is the Little Things:  Going into the Contact Station in the middle of a warm September day, I spotted this surprise on the step.  What a curious looking caterpillar staring at me.  I have never followed caterpillars much, maybe an occasional “wooly bear,” so I was very intrigued. My caterpillar guide wasn’t much help but the iNaturalist app got me to a Swallowtail species and eventually Western Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio rutulus.  The caterpillar, or larval stage, likes to eat Cottonwood leaves. It usually feeds high in the treetops, making a shelter by folding the edges of a leaf together. It must have fallen from the trees surrounding the contact station.  I was puzzled since most of the photos I saw of this caterpillar were bright green.  But I finally found a source that said when they are ready to pupate, they turn brown.  The chrysalis suspends from a twig for over wintering.  Checking on it later in the day, I couldn’t find it, I only hope it wandered into an area to complete its pupation and didn’t get picked off by a wandering jay. I will be watching more closely for the beautiful yellow and black butterflies in spring.

Correction:  In the August edition of From the Contact Station I erroneously credited the Washington State Department of Agriculture as monitoring the Emerald Ash Borer on the Refuge.  They do monitor some pests and currently have triangular bait boxes out looking for Spongy Moth, another insidious pest.  However, it is the refuge staff that is doing the monitoring for ash borer and has developed a plan should they be found here and threaten our extensive ash trees.  So far, so good.

Welcome Fall by Roger Windemuth
Remainder and photos by Susan Setterberg, Contact Station Volunteer