When Owls and Airplanes Don’t Mix

I was sickened to hear that three Snowy Owls were purposely shot and killed at New York City’s JFK Airport this past weekend. Why? Even though they are protected from trapping and shooting (according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, anyway), they were added to the Port Authority’s list of birds it may kill to protect airplanes from bird strikes after one of them apparently resting (the article uses the term “nesting”) on top of a taxiway sign on a runway got sucked into an airplane turbine. Other birds that have been added to the “kill list” include Canada Geese, Red-winged Blackbirds, European Starlings, Rock Pigeons, American Crows, Double-crested Cormorants (huh?) and Mute Swans. Most of these birds gather together in huge flocks – sometimes consisting of hundreds of thousands of individuals – in the winter and during migration, and are considered pests as a result of the noise and the mess they leave behind. Snowy Owls, on the other hand, usually appear in singly or in small groups, and spend most of their time sitting still, whether on a sign, a rooftop, a treetop or the ground. They blend in so well with the winter landscape that most of the time you wouldn’t even notice if one was around.

Snowy Owl
Ottawa, 2006

This is turning out to be another irruption year, with hundreds of these beautiful white owls flying south in search of a safe, food-rich place to spend the winter. Snowy Owls depend on birds and small mammals to survive, in particular rabbits, hares, squirrels, weasels, mice and voles. As a result, Snowy Owls prefer large, open treeless places in which to hunt. With so many owls moving south again this winter, it is clear that there isn’t enough food up north for all of them. They are going to find it difficult enough to survive as it is without being placed on the Port Authority’s “kill list”, which even wildlife experts don’t understand as the owls “are not part of a large population and they are easy to catch and relocate, unlike seagulls.”

Logan Airport in Massachusetts does exactly that – instead of killing these majestic northern visitors, they capture and relocate them to a safer place. Not only that, but Logan Airport even attaches transmitters to the healthiest birds, helping to contribute to our scientific knowledge about these birds’ movements in irruption years. So if Logan Airport has been able to develop a much more humane and enlightened response to this issue, why can’t the New York Port Authority take a page out of their book instead of condemning the owls to death? The answer: one owl got sucked into an airplane turbine, and someone overreacted.

Snowy Owl

Many people are sickened and concerned by the way the Port Authority is handling this situation. A petition is taking off on Change.org, asking the Governor to stop shooting the owls and to rethink their approach to Snowy Owls and other birds that visit Metro-Area airports. I urge you to sign and share it with as many of your Facebook friends as you can.

If you have a twitter account, please send a tweet to @NYGovCuomo asking him to follow the lead set by Boston and #saveoursnowyowlsNYC.

If you live in New York State, you may also wish to mail, email, or telephone Governor Cuomo and share your concerns.

When it comes to protecting our wildlife, every voice matters.

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UPDATE: WOW! As I was writing this the Port Authority announced that it is working with the state Department of Environmental Conservation in order to relocate snowy owls and to “strike a balance in humanely controlling bird populations at and around the agency’s airports”. What an awesome job by everyone who voiced their concerns!

Chasing a Rarity

I rarely chase birds that are more than a 30-minute drive from my home. I don’t like driving on the highway or in traffic, and I always worry that bird will have left by the time I get to the spot or that no one else will be there to point the way if the bird is in a place I am not familiar with (the main reason I never did see a Boreal Owl last winter). It would have to be a really good bird for me to make the effort, such as the Whimbrel Deb and I went to see at Presqu’ile Provincial Park three years ago….but then, Presqu’ile is renowned birding location in its own right, and we were planning to go there anyway.

The Ross’s Gull is another such bird. A species of the remote Arctic wilderness, it inhabits the pack ice and tundra of Greenland, Siberia, and the North American High Arctic. In Canada, only a handful of breeding locations are known from Churchill, Manitoba and Queen’s Channel in Nunavut, and only a few birds nest at each site. To add to its mystique, this species migrates north in the fall, spending its winters on the Arctic pack ice where it feeds on fish and crustaceans found in the open water of the Arctic Ocean. It was unknown in the continental United States until 1975 when a single bird was discovered in Newburyport, Massachusetts, but sightings now occur almost every year, each vagrant individual drawing birders from hundreds of kilometers away. The Ross’s Gull isn’t just a rarity; it’s a MEGA-rarity.

Rare Bird Alert: King Eider in Ottawa

King Eider

On the morning of Wednesday, November 14th, three female King Eiders were discovered at Andrew Haydon Park. This is a rare bird in Ottawa; the last one seen here was in 1993! My email inbox and Facebook feed were full of reports of the three eiders all morning long, until they flew south and a fourth one was discovered at the end of Scrivens Street later that morning. The last I heard of the eider, she was sleeping on the water at the east end of Andrew Haydon Park at dusk. Chances were good that she would still be there in the morning.

That night I dreamed of going to the river to look for her. And when I woke up earlier than usual, I decided I would take a quick look before I had to go to work. It was just getting light when I left at 6:40 am, and as soon as I arrived I started scanning the flocks of geese at the east end of the park. There were lots of other birds on the river, including some Common Goldeneye, scaup and a Surf Scoter, but I saw nothing that looked like the bird I’d seen in the photographs. Then I spotted another birder, Aaron, scanning the water from the middle of the shoreline. We met up to compare notes. Like me, he only had limited time to look for the bird before work and hadn’t found her. Just as I was about to tell him I had to leave, I spotted a lone duck with a distinctly sloping profile swimming away from the shore. I took a quick look through my scope and confirmed that it was the female King Eider – a lifer for me!

A Rainy Day during Migration

Dunlin

Because it was so cold last Saturday, I didn’t stay out too long; so when it warmed up on Sunday, I decided to go out even though it was drizzling a bit when I left. I hadn’t been up to the river yet this month, so I drove over to Andrew Haydon Park to look for some water birds.

There were eight Hooded Mergansers swimming in the eastern pond, together with about 20 Lesser Scaup. On the river I spotted one female Bufflehead, eight Red-breasted Mergansers, about 40 Common Goldeneye and seven more Hoodies. I could also see two Herring Gulls and one Great Black-backed Gull on the dock at the marina.

Changing Seasons

Blue Jay

The last few weeks have brought yet another change in migration. The only fall migrants that seem to be around these days are water birds; the late-season land birds, such as Ruby-crowned Kinglets, White-throated Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows have all gone, while winter birds such as American Tree Sparrows and Snow Buntings have arrived. There are still many robins, juncos, and Golden-crowned Kinglets around, though these may stay the winter if they can find enough food.

I spend a lot of time birding along the Ottawa River in late October and November. A good variety of water birds can be found on Lac Deschenes this time of year, and birding anywhere between Bate Island and Shirley’s Bay can produce good numbers of loons, grebes, geese, scoters, and diving ducks. Many dabbling ducks can still be found in the smaller ponds, and it is worth stopping in at Sarsaparilla Trail, the ponds at Andrew Haydon Park, or the Richmond Lagoons to see what’s around.

The Last Insect

I was surprised when I got home from birding on Saturday and found this small beetle clinging to the front of my house. It was tiny, about the size and shape of a ladybug, and I’m fairly sure that it’s a Common Willow Calligrapha (Calligrapher multipunctata) based on Christine Hanrahan’s lovely photos on Pbase. The nights have been frosty lately, dipping down to about or just below 0°C, and I haven’t seen many insects about so I assumed they had all died off or were preparing to hibernate in some nook or cranny.

Common Willow Calligrapha

As its name implies, the Common Willow Calligrapha feeds almost exclusively on willow leaves. It is considered a pest, as the larvae skeletonize the willow leaves, while the adults chew small holes in the leaves. While the damage usually isn’t severe enough to kill the plant, it can weaken it and make it susceptible to other pests and diseases.

The tiny gold beetle was still there yesterday morning when I got up, and I was surprised it was still alive. I gently removed him from the wall and put him on a leaf in my garden in a warm beam of sunlight. When I checked a couple of hours later, he was gone.

Common Willow Calligrapha

The Common Willow Calligrapha overwinters as an adult in the leaf litter on the ground or beneath the bark of willow stems, emerging again the following April or May. Females lay eggs shortly after emergence, and, in the northeast, two or three generations may occur each season before the shorter days and colder nights force them to hibernate in the fall.

This was the first time I had ever seen this species, and I was amazed to find this willow-specialist on my house of all places! This isn’t the first interesting bug I’ve found on my house; others include the fishfly and the Blinded Sphinx Moth in June 2009, and the Ebony Boghaunter in 2012. Given the lateness of the season, I probably won’t find any more; I’m guessing this will be the last insect I photograph in 2013. If so, it’s a beautiful one to end the year with!

Wild Coyote

I returned to Sarsaparilla Trail the following day. The Pied-billed Grebe and Ruddy Duck had disappeared, but the Hooded Mergansers were still there, swimming and diving in the middle of the pond. A female scaup had joined them, as had eight Green-winged Teal; I didn’t even notice the Green-winged Teal hiding near the reeds at the back of the pond until something startled them into flight, causing the green patches on their wings to flash in the sun. To my surprise, a Green Heron was also still present. When I first saw it, it was flying low over the water; I wasn’t sure what it was until it landed among the downed trees near the beaver lodge. Then I spotted the bright yellow legs and green back. It seems rather late for him to still be here.

I heard a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds calling from the marsh and saw a single Song Sparrow in the shrubs next to the boardwalk. Then I spotted a mammal walking along the water’s edge on the other side of the pond. It wasn’t a deer, which I’ve seen here many times before; it was a coyote! He walked along the shore right behind the Green Heron and then disappeared into the vegetation. A few minutes later, he reappeared at the water’s edge several meters to the right.

Coyote

Coyotes are not well-liked in my area, and the hunting of them often crosses the line into persecution. Although coyote sightings are described as “commonplace” by the Ministry of Natural Resources, I rarely encounter them on my outings. Whenever I see one I am usually thrilled, especially when I find one in a conservation area where they are less likely to encounter humans and are therefore less likely to engender conflict.

Coyotes migrated to Ontario more than 100 years ago, when settlers began clearing the southern forests. Since then they have adapted well to both rural and urban environments. Rural coyotes prefer open, agricultural landscapes interspersed with woodlots and other brushy terrain. Urban coyotes typically inhabit green spaces and industrial areas within cities, where they avoid people whenever possible. They are able to coexist with humans by feeding primarily at night and resting in bushy or wooded areas during the day.

As with most wild animals, if you keep your distance upon encountering a coyote, it will most likely avoid you. I had a close call with one in Stony Swamp a few years ago when I rounded the corner of the trail and saw one walking along the path toward me. However, I was on part of a trail where dogs are allowed and thought it was a dog that had been let off its leash with its humans somewhere behind. I was surprised when it walked into the woods upon seeing me, and quickly vanished into the brush. When I rounded the corner, the trail was completely empty…..there were no humans in sight. Had I realized what it was when I first saw it, I could have gotten some awesome photos.

Coyote

This one didn’t linger by the water, but instead walked back into the tall grasses at the edge of the water and disappeared. Hopefully he will stay deep in the woods on the other side of the pond, away from the trails and roads, and stay safe.

Blue-spotted Salamander

Blue-spotted Salamander

After I left the Brant at Dick Bell Park I continued on to Shirley’s Bay. I spotted a pale bird gliding low over the field on the west side of Rifle Road and was thrilled to see a male Northern Harrier gracefully hunting for small mammals. I sometimes see these birds flying over the marshy spit on the bay; I think this was the first time I’d seen one flying over the nearby fields.

I parked at the boat launch, called to get permission to go out on the dyke, and then took the trail through the woods since the river was so high. Unlike the last time I had visited Shirley’s Bay, there were very few birds in the woods. I heard a couple of robins, saw a couple of chickadees, and had three Blue Jays fly over and that was it….there was nary a migrant to be seen.

Thanksgiving Goose Chase

Brant

The Thanksgiving long weekend is one of my favourite holidays. The fall colours are at their peak here in Ottawa, and the days are usually still warm enough to wear T-shirts. Migration brings an interesting assortment of birds, while a few butterflies and dragonflies are still flying. If the afternoons are warm and sunny, you may even see some frogs or snakes enjoying the last of the nice weather.

On Friday I visited Hurdman at lunch and was happy to hear the loud, ringing song of a Carolina Wren. This is likely the same bird I saw back on September 13th; the habitat is good in this section of the park, with lots of dense thickets and thick, deciduous woods, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he stayed a while longer.

Enjoying Algonquin’ s Fall Colours

Shadow Darner

Deb and I went to Algonquin Park last Sunday to enjoy some birds, fall colours, and late-season odonates. The fall colours were said to be at their peak, and with the temperature expected to reach a beautiful, sunny 20°C, we couldn’t have asked for a better day. Unfortunately the great weather enticed several other carloads and busloads of people to visit, so the park was the busiest we had ever seen it. Police were stopping people before they drove into the park to remind them of the speed limit (only 80 km/h in the park, and 50 km/h at the gate), and the parking lots along Highway 60 were full of cars – most even had a tour bus or two parked at the entrance. Some trails (such as the Lookout Trail and Peck Lake Trail) were so busy the cars had spilled out of the parking lot and were parked along the narrow shoulder of Highway 60.