Sleeting, and Snow Geese, and Sandhills...oh my!

Photo credit: The Wildlife Society

When I was at FLCC, I was very involved with their chapter of The Wildlife Society. I was elected to be the president in the fall of 2010, and then was lucky enough to keep that title through 'til I graduated in May 2012. My current college, SUNY Cobleskill, has a very active chapter. I think it's a bit easier for a 4-year school to keep members, there's less turnover and more momentum between school years. And because FLCC is still very near and dear to my heart, I had wanted to do a joint event between the chapters. FLCC and Cobleskill have a good articulation agreement, so many students transfer here from there, as I did, and I thought it would be cool to get the 2 groups to mingle!

Students here already had a field trip planned to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge in Seneca Falls, NY for this past Saturday, 11/3. For FLCC, this is a quick 35/40 minute drive. For us, it was more like two and a half hours. BUT it's worth it. This past spring I planned this same trip for FLCC's chapter, and we had a great time. Check that out at: Wildlife Wednesday: April 18th, 2012.


Photo credit: Google Maps
A= FLCC, B= Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, C= SUNY Cobleskill
 

Montezuma is located at a prime location for migrating waterfowl. As you can see at letter B, the Refuge is located between NY's Great Lake Ontario, and at the northern end of NY's largest Finger Lake, Cayuga. Montezuma is a complex of wetlands. There's a lot of emergement vegetation as well as open water for birds to rest at. In the spring and fall, it's an AWESOME place to bird at. Upstate NYers are lucky to have this great spot to visit.

I've been many, many times with my family, friends, classmates, and fellow club members, and I can add to my "bird list" everytime I visit. What made this visit unique is that not only are waterfowl migrating, but we just experienced Hurricane Sandy here in the northeastern United States. While Upstate New York really didn't suffer from Sandy, the birds may or may not have been blown about, and they're using this Refuge even more than normal.

The day we went was cold, rainy, snowy, windy...not ideal for us, but the birds didn't seem to care. My only complaint about the weather was that I couldn't keep my binocs and camera clear of water droplets. I did the best I could with pictures, but the lighting wasn't the best. There were some cool birds there this time. The following is what I could best capture!

Oh, and by the way: our day was led by John Van Niel, a past professor of mine, current prof at FLCC. He has volunteered for years at MNWR, and know his birds. I selfishly wanted him to lead so that I could visit with him and the other FLCC students, and I think Cobleskill students enjoyed him too. Thank you JVN! (John's the one who got me into blogging, please visit his blog: Backyard Beasts)

We caravan'ed around the Refuge. There is a several mile "wildlife drive" that you can take, and there are several spots to get out and observe (from the road). This was one of them!

Cobleskill TWS Treasurer Kristi is using one of Cobleskill's PREMIER spotting scopes: a 85mm Zeiss Diascopes, 20-75x. I've heard that apparently we have around $45K worth of this gear, which is pretty awesome!

Canada Geese

The next place we travelled to was the Tow Path Road. John said that this was open to the public, but I'd like to think it's a secret spot. Because we saw this:

Sandhill Cranes!

 

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Soldotna, AK
May 28, 2012

Sandhill Cranes are special to me, as I'm sure they are to many people. I first learned about these birds in the Conservation 100 class I took almost 3 years ago. John was the instructor of that class, and drilled Aldo Leopold's collection of essays, "A Sand County Almanac" into my brain. I'm a reader. I love it- BUT this was and is a hard read for me. I've since picked it up 4-5 times and tried to read it cover to cover, and I can't. So instead, every now and then I pick a story and read just that. Aldo purchased his "shack" in Wisconsin because he heard that Sandhill Cranes had been seen nearby. So he purchased this land with hopes of seeing them one day. This was back at the turn of the century, when populations of animals were low due to overhunting and slaughter. Aldo is the Father of Conservation, as he's known, and established the beginnings of managing wildlife in the United States. John also has a few great Crane stories himself, and told me before I went to Alaska this summer, to watch for them. He told me that even though I may have never heard them before, I'd know it when they were near.



Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge
Seneca Falls, NY
November 3rd, 2012

My first night in AK, I was sitting on my porch (at 11:30 pm reading in the daylight) and heard this bizarre trumpeting. I ran down the steps out into the open of the parking lot and stood staring, open mouthed at a pair of Sandhills flying over.

 

It was magical.

 

So now, I associate that sound with Alaska. You know how sometimes a particular smell or sound can bring you back to an earlier time and place? That's what these Cranes on Saturday did for me. Brought me back to my cabin in the black spruce and poplar forest I lived in for 3 months.

Ok, anyway...



Snow Geese

Assorted ducks and swans and geese...not sure of species. This was REALLY far away...

AnotherSandhill Crane...and for more information on birding at MNWR, visit: Montezuma Birding.

 

It was a great time for all, and I hope we can do a joint event again in the future!

 

 

 

 

ABDU banding - Cayuga Lake

Another awesome experience: checked off my list!

I was able to be a part of an American Black Duck (ABDU) banding session with some Department of Environmental Conservation employees on Friday February 3rd. Myself, and 3 friends from school: Katie, Patty, and Sara joined others on the quest for ABDUs!

We met at our local National Wildlife Refuge: Montezuma. I guess I'm pretty lucky to say I HAVE a local National Wildlife Refuge. It's PRIME waterfowl birding territory, there's a really cool wildlife drive you can take, and many other neat learning experiences for people like me :)

So we met the team at the NWR, and got the rundown of why they were targeting ABDUs specifically, how they were catching them, and what we would be doing once we got to the trap sites.

The leader of the day was Frank Morlock, a Region 8 Wildlife Technician. Although the NWR is federally owned, there is a state owned portion of the land, and that's where Frank works. I met Frank this past fall when my Wildlife Management class took a field trip out to the state land of Montezuma to do some wood duck banding with Frank and his team.

Photo credit: Katie Boye

We all piled in a van and headed for Cayuga Lake, the largest Finger Lake we have. This is significant because in a TYPICAL winter season, most of the lake is frozen over, but not all the way. This is usually the only lake that has open water on it, which concentrates the waterfowl. Because we've had very few inches of snow and very mild temperatures, the DEC team has not had a very successful trapping season. For the past 2 years they've been able to boast being the MOST successful ABDU banders in NY as well as in this migration flyway down the East Coast. At this time last year they had banded ~150 ABDUs, and this year only about 40. There's alot more food available and open coast for the birds to disperse to.

Anyway, we arrived at the first site and there were a few ducks in the trap. FYI- the trap is a LIVE trap that the birds can get into, but not out of. I'll explain below.

The wire cage is actually the trap, and the wooden cage is the holding cage where the birds wait while we process them.

Here is the trap. It's an incredibly simple design, yet very successful. Below is an edited version to help you see how the ducks enter the cage.

The top two arrows funnel the birds in. Many animals follow edges, it seems to be a behavioral thing. So, the birds follow the edge in the opening, which funnels them in, and then if they walk the perimeter of the common area (the center square), the opening leads them away from the opening. It's brilliant! Then, on the sides of the common area, there are other funnels to the left and the right, as shown by the straight arrows. Same concept here. The ducks get stuck in there, and hang out until the team comes to check on them, which is only a few hours. The animals are not left for long periods of time.

The holding tank.

Frank and Scott explaining the differences between Mallards and ABDUs. They look very similar, hang out together, and apparently are even hybridizing.

Isn't this a BEAUTIFUL animal? Sometimes the most common animals, a duck, are gorgeous. I know I'm guilty of not taking the time to appreciate their gorgeous plumage!

Photo credit: Sara York

Here I am with this gorgeous male Mallard! Just after this picture, I set him free. What a feeling to let a wild animal fly free from your hands!

Here are a female and male Black Duck. The female is on the left: olive colored bill, often a dark 'saddle' on the top. The male, on the right: bright yellow bill.

Katie and a female ABDU!

Photo credit: Katie Boye

Sara and I with female ABDUs!

Many of the birds were recaptures, so we were able to handle them, but not all of us could go through the process of banding. Below are pictures of Patty banding an ABDU.

Band kit: Federal bands usually come on strings of 100. The pliers on the left are specially made to fit these bands that are for ducks or birds of similar size. The band can go no smaller than that hole, so the animal doesn't get hurt.

Bird bands are closely monitored federally or by state. I have had experience tagging small mammals when I took the Winter Ecology course, and THOSE tags are not monitored. Birds can and will migrate all over the world, and are typically long-lived. The chances of someone banding in Tenessee and catching one of our NY birds is high, where as someone would NEVER catch a NY meadow vole. They don't migrate, and rarely live longer than a year. The numbers on the band signify when (what year/season) the bird was banded and where. So when that biologist in TN gets one of "our" ABDUs, they can look up the number and see where the bird has travelled from. Wow!

The way to safely hold the bird while banding is to flip it upside-down, and gently but firmly clamp it between your legs. Birds tend to enter a trance-like state when flipped over. And the tight grip helps to make them feel secure, like they won't fall. Patty then picked out the leg she was going to band (doesn't matter which), and fit the pliers and band around the leg.

All done, Patty and the male ABDU with his new shiny bling!

Finally, I'll explain why ABDUs were being targeted and not other species. ABDUs seem to be in decline and the true reason is unknown. Some possible reasons include: loss of habitat (same old tragic story), and more interestingly: the hybridization of ABDUs and Mallards.



 American Black Duck wing

Mallard wing - as you can see they look VERY similar. The Mallard though, has bright white bars surrounding that blue speculum. Easy to confuse, but this is a sure-fire way to correctly ID the ducks.

Young male Mallards or if they're not in the breeding plumage may also look very similar to ABDUs, as well as female Mallards. BUT, the reason they're hybridizing is not because they can't tell eachother apart, because they can. It may just be that in dire situations if there aren't suitable mates of the same species nearby, breeding with a different species is better than not at all. It seems the main purpose of all wild animals are to just perpetuate their species and dreams. Some creatures just breed and then die!

I've ALWAYS learned that sometimes different species can breed, but do not create viable offspring.

Example: Donkey + Horse= Mule. The mule is sterile, therefore a new species can not be created.

BUT ABDUs and Mallards seem to have been a "recent" evolutionary split on the phylogenetic tree, so they are able to interbreed AND create viable offspring. I didn't believe it at first. Other examples are coydogs (coyote + domestic dog), wolf-dogs (gray/red wolf + domestic dog), and any other combination you can make out of coyote, wolf, and dog. Geologically speaking, they were "recently" the same animal. Kind of.

I'm probably not explaining this as thoroughly as I should...but this is the level of my understanding right now! Like I said, up until 6pm yesterday I thought different species COULD NOT interbreed and create viable offspring. Who knew?!

Truck vs. Duck

"There's a duck in my truck!"

My roommate Kasey came home from her parents home earlier this evening, and I pulled in just as she did. She waved me over and pointed in the bed of her pickup...and there lay a dead duck.

She said she was driving along, and saw flash of white in her rear view. She didn't think much of it, maybe a piece of garbage or a box flapping around...but when she got home and checked- it was a dead duck! What are the chances of a duck somehow flying into the bed of her truck as she was driving along? The poor thing's neck is broken and there is some blood on the feathers...but other than that it's probably "stuffable" if she or I wanted to pay to bring it to a taxidermist.

And here's the proud owner, with her new pet "Crash"!

A typical Sunday...blowing off reading and homework to ID a duck in your living room!

Beautiful coloring of the feet

The verdict: Common Goldeneye- Bucephala clangula

Adult male in breeding plumage

Thank you to The Sibley Guide to Birds!

And now that we've each plucked a few feathers for our collections, we're going to bring Crash to school tomorrow and donate him to the Big Freezer of Death, and hopefully someone can do a dissection on him this spring for us!