RUDIMENTS OF BIRDSMANSHIP CONSIDERED

A cartoon (based on some local birding characters)
Painting, courtesy Dena McKee

See end of article for details on this week's field trip

If you are going to pursue the great sport of birding, you will need an introduction to "birdsmanship", a British word that you won't find listed in Webster's. Birdsmanship is an elusive aspect of birding that consists of a variety of responses to birding situations; it enables one to spend an enjoyable day in the field with birders of greater or lesser competence, and emerge with your reputation for birding expertise either greatly enhanced or gone with the wind, depending upon how well you handle the thrusts and parries of a fellow birder who may have honed his birdsmanship to a fine edge.

I would prefer that you believe I am accomplished in the art of birdsmanship, but that is not true. However, since my last disastrous foray into the field with two highly skilled birders, I have given considerable thought to the rudiments of birdsmanship. For whatever my thoughts are worth, here are some simple guidelines which may help you to "outbird" the other guy.

If you are a novice birder, your best approach is to admit it, and appeal for help. This will absolve you from any blame for missed identifications, while putting the burden on your companions. You can learn a lot this way.

You may pretend that you are beyond the beginner stage, and you may advance this charade in several ways. First, tone down the gleam on your new binoculars, and if your hiking boots are still squeaky clean, try soaking for fifteen minutes in the nearest mud puddle. Pay particular attention to the "antiquing" of your new bird guide; give it all the character than benefits a well-used guide... spill some coffee on the cover, (this will stain well and leaves no sticky residue to attract insects). Drop it from the roof several times into your compost heap. Give it a few licks with your son's football cleats, and send it for a brief ride in your electric dryer. If you are to succeed in this impersonation, remember this rule.... Keep your eyes and ears open, and your mouth shut!

Your companion turns out wearing hip boots, a poncho, and a hat draped in mosquito netting, packing a wide range of accessories including a high protein lunch and a snake bite kit!  There is nothing to do in the face of such birdsmanship, especially if your birding ensemble is a hit or miss affair.

You could also be intimidated by the birding couple who arrive in stylish his and hers outfits, complete with lace-up boots and camouflage jackets, dressed in layers, just like the book says. Remember though, that your casual attire could indicate to them that you have a certain "laissez-faire" of your own.

Once in the field you must use all your finesse against the subtle birdsmanship of your companions. Don't yield to the temptations of making a difficult identification; if you miss you will then have to bridge the credibility gap which can be an albatross of gigantic proportions. If some puzzling species has come into your field of vision, make a show of wiping the lenses of your binoculars while your friends discuss the possibilities; once you have a hint that they have concurred, step in, peer intently at the subject and proclaim that it is indeed a Semi-palmated Sandpiper. Other ploys work as well... tie your shoe, blow your nose, trip over your own feet, or observe that your eyes aren't what they used to be (if you are over forty, you can use this dodge repeatedly).

Your companions may be intent on one-upping each other; you should take note of their strategy for your own future use. The best defense is a good offense.. if you come across a bird that is impossible for you to identify, you might say "well, what have we here?" or "look at this terrific specimen". giving the impression that the bird is too elementary to warrant a label. Your curious companions can complete the identification while you go on to other things. Passing the buck this way needs perfect timing.

Beware of the old "taxonomy trick" especially if they persist in tracing a bird's family tree using latin. Feign aloofness, or quickly divert their attention (if fainting is one of your specialities, do it!)

Birds' songs and call notes are an additional hazard in the field. While your companions are astutely labeling the most obscure trills, warbles and shrieks, try to remember that "silence is golden". As one with vast experience in the mechanics of putting one's foot in one's mouth, I cannot overstress the need for self-restraint!

The defensive birding techniques outlined above will work only once during a field trip, and once you have exhausted your repertoire, you are on your own. If you cannot evade or ignore a birding challenge, give it your best shot! and good luck!

This article was published in September, 1976

All are welcome on Mississippi Coast Audubon Society field trips!

Oct 1, 2016: Ocean Springs Medley, Jackson County

Leader:  Janet Wright (jwright01@cableone.net, 228 238-4099 cell & text)

We’ll explore 3 sites on the Mississippi Coastal Birding Trail, all in Ocean Springs.  First, Twelve Oaks – deciduous woods and wetlands with a view over Fort Bayou.  Then Hellmer’s Lane, a gem of creekside forest in the heart of Ocean Springs, and finally Ocean Springs Harbor with its rock jetty. 

Place and Time:  Meet at Twelve Oaks off Bienville Boulevard (behind Hancock Bank) in Ocean Springs (MAP) at 7:30 AM. 

Conditions:  Half-mile up-and-down loop trail at Twelve Oaks; very short trail with stairway at Hellmer’s; public pier at OS Harbor.

Check out our future field trips at www.mscoastaudubon.org!

FEATHER MAINTENANCE HELPS BIRDS SURVIVE

Ruddy Turnstone - photo courtesy Sharon Milligan
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For information on this Saturday's field trip (9/24/2016) see end of article

Just how long a bird may survive in this world of hazards is very often dependent upon how well the bird has looked after its feathers --- flight feathers to escape from danger in an instant, and body feathers to insulate against the extremes of heat and cold.

Knowing this, we are not surprised that a bird will spend part of its day in an assortment of activities which are called, collectively, feather maintenance. Preening, bathing, dust-bathing, and anting all come under this behavior.

So let's talk about birds at the bath. Most birds bathe, although some birds take to water more than others, and we can readily see that some species combine business with pleasure. Blue Jays, Mockingbirds and House Sparrows for example, can get right into the spirit of a Roman orgy in the backyard bird bath.

The cardinal, on the other hand, has no great affinity for bathing, and when prompted by necessity, will give itself a lick and a promise in the dew-wet leaves of some old oak tree.

The standard approach to the bird-bath seems to be a cautious toe-testing affair, and it is not until Morton Mockingbird is well immersed that the obvious enjoyment is noticed, with fluffing of feathers, flinging of water everywhere, and a complete abandonment to the pleasures of the moment.

Most birds will scorn the ornamental bird bath with its Victorian trappings and miniature fountains of Trevi if somewhere nearby there is a shallow pool in a natural setting. Or they may even add insult to injury by bathing in an upturned garbage can lid not three wingbeats from your splendid bronze affair. This perversity is well known.

Rain water which collects near the curbing can suddenly become a melting pot of all kinds of birds doing all kinds of watery acrobatics. These games are generally officiated by an important looking Blue Jay ready to give the alarm if the neighborhood cat becomes too curious!

Various techniques of bathing are typical of certain families of birds. Swallows, swifts, and terns plunge into the water from the air; kingfishers from an overhanging branch. Although terns may spend their day in dive after dive into the water in pursuit of food, it is not unusual to find a group of terns bathing in shallow tide-pools in much the same manner as the birds in your yard. There seems little doubt that bathing offers a little physical gratification along with its necessary care of the feathers.

I once came upon a Ruby-crowned Kinglet going through its ablutions, and though you may consider this avian voyeurism at its lowest level, I studiously took notes on the entire ritual, and it remains to this day, a most revealing portrait.

The time was December... not too cold for a hearty little northern sprite like the kinglet, and i had seated myself above a little gully where past experience had show many a bird to carry out the necessities of its day, completely unaware of my presence. Then came the kinglet to a branch overhanging a pebble-lined natural shallow pool, and without so much as testing the water, it had plunged down from a height of three feet.

For several minutes the kinglet doused its body with water, taking real care to keep its head dry. It then pulled its water-logged body out of the pool, stood close to the edge, and commenced to dunk its head into the water, whooshing it around and around until drenched to the skin, literally. Encumbered as it was by the soaking, the bird staggered up the bank and out to the end of a limb, shook itself so violently that it fluttered off the perch, and dropped down again to the pool where it repeated without variation, this entire ritual.

It strikes me that said kinglet was getting a genuine kick out of bathing .. and that's kind of nice to believe. It couldn't happen to a nicer, more charming bird!

Bird Bathing - drawing by Desmond Toups

Mississippi Coast Audubon Society field trip - all are welcome!

September 24, 2016:  Ship Island, Harrison County

Leader:  Dave Reed, vickianddave1@gmail.com, (985-788-0536)

Migrant shorebirds, and often some surprises! The cost is $29 round trip ($27 for Seniors 62 and older).  The boat leaves at 9 so be there early to get your ticket.  Information on Ship Island Excursions is available online at http://www.msshipisland.com/.  If weather is a question, contact Ship Island Excursions at 228-864-1014 and then select option 2.  In the event of rain, we will try again on Sunday.  Once we arrive at the island, we will meet at the pavilion between the Fort and bathrooms.  After a bathroom break and birding around the Fort, we will walk to one end of the island (east or west depending on ebird reports and scouting trips) so expect to walk 3 to 4 miles in sand in hot conditions.  We plan on being back to the pavilion and ferry for the 2:30 return home.  Those interested may wish to bird more and come back on the 5:00 ferry.  Be sure to bring plenty of water, sunscreen, and snacks/lunch.  There is a snack bar but we will not be near it it until about 2:00 when we return to the pavilion.  Watch for updated information about what to expect, or contact Dave.

Place and Time: Gulfport Harbor Boat Dock before 9:00 AM (see above).

IN DEFENSE OF THE SHRIKE

Loggerhead Shrike - photo courtesy Sharon Milligan

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To read about this Saturday's field trip (17th September, 2016) see details at end of article.

The shrike goes through life with a double handicap - one that nature inflicted in the dawn of the Cenozoic era and one that man, despite his intelligence, inflicted upon it in early times by dubbing it the "butcher bird", thereby insuring its unending persecution!

This meat-eating predator has strength in its body, and in its powerful hook-like beak, of a hawk .. and it has, conversely, the small body size and delicate weak feet of a songbird. One has only to watch a shrike in action to realize how well it has compensated for nature's deficiency.

Insects, mice, reptiles, and birds of equal weight constitute the major prey of the shrike. Kills are swift and efficient. But the shrike's feet are insufficient to the task of gripping and holding the prey while it eats, a problem for which the shrike has an innovative, albeit probably instinctive, solution!

The shrike impales its victims on thorns, or sharp branch stubs, the tines of barbed wire, or hangs them by the neck in the crotches of twigs, as a butcher hangs meat. One can readily understand the reason for the shrike's common name, but it carries with it a connotation of barbarism which has put a strain on the shrike's relationship with man, or rather on man's ability to relate to the shrike.

While it many be perfectly proper for the butcher to hang his carcasses all in a row from meat hooks, we do not in our combined ignorance and intolerance, grant the shrike its right to cope with life in the wild on its own innovative terms.We still shudder over the shrike's supposed capacity for violence!

Shrikes are accused of taking and impaling more prey than they need and it is true that a shrike's larder may often contain as many as six victims in various stages of dessication. Perhaps the shrike is as prone to excesses as are we humans. Or, more likely, the shrike takes advantage of good hunting days against some future times of austerity.

Nature is violent, and often perverse, and it is not always easy to understand that the violence and perversity are as much a part of nature's grand design as are the song of the veery and the flight of the Woodcock.

Our southern shrike is known as the Loggerhead Shrike, (again, an unfortunate assignation meaning "blockhead"), and it may be found atop a bare tree, or perched motionless but alert along power lines. From vantage points such as these it surveys the world below, watching and waiting for the field mouse.. the grasshopper... the chickadee!

The shrike must get above its flying victims, wings drawn slightly to the side, until it maneuvers into a good striking position. If its intended victim can rise in altitude and make a quick dive for cover, the pursuit is over. If not, the shrike, with quick blows to the skull, dispatches its prey and carries it back to the larder.

That thumbnail description of predator against prey may assault our sensitivities, but would it have the same effect if the prey had been a mouse, or a lizard? Probably not!

There is little doubt that the shrike's taking of songbirds has colored man's ability to understand and approve the shrike's position in nature's scheme.

At this time of year and throughout the coming winter, shrikes may be found monitoring the activity in an open field, or as lone sentinels atop a barren tree.  The beautiful but deadly hunter fills a vital niche in the wildlife community.

This article was published in September 1977

Mississippi Coast Audubon Society Field Trip  September 17, 2016:  Ansley Preserve, Hancock County

Leader:  Ned Boyajian nedrbo@gmail.com

Ansley Preserve is famous for spring migrants, but should be interesting in fall as well with several warblers, grosbeaks and tanagers possible in addition to resident birds. This site is part of the Mississippi Coastal Birding Trail; more information athttp://mscoastbirdingtrail.audubon.org/ansley-preserve.html.

Place and Time:  Meet at the intersection of Hwy 90 and 603 in the large parking lot on the northeast corner.  Park near the east end of the parking lot near McDonalds (MAP).  Meeting time will be between 7:15 and 7:30 AM. 

Conditions:  short walks and roadside birding. Deerflies may be numerous.  All are welcome on our field trips!

PSSH! SOME BIRDS ARE IN THE AREA

"Who Dat" - (Marsh Wren) Photo courtesy Sharon Milligan

Photo taken at Seaman Rd Lagoons. This Saturday (9/10/2016) there will be a field trip to this facility.

Details  at end of the article)

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While we are waiting out the current slump in migrant bird activity, it seems appropriate to prepare for what we hope will be better pickin's in late September by boning up on some tricky dicky-birding.

There are some widely used methods of attracting small land birds to within binocular range, and they work. When one is lusting for an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with a Magnolia Warbler, each is worth a try.

The first method is what birders call "psshing" - a series of sounds made with the lips which approximate, very loosely, the alarm notes of some small birds when danger, such as a snake, owl, or other predator threatens.

Psshing is not an inherited talent: it is easy to learn. You could practice in your own backyard. Remove all traces of cheese and crackers from your mouth. Take in a deep breath, purse your lips, curl your tongue (lengthwise), and force the air out while opening and closing your pursed lips. Repeat as needed.

Psshing is an effective method of calling up a bird or two, but it does have its drawbacks. In a few years you may be pondering the origin of wrinkles between your nose and upper lip. They are Pssh lines, for which there is no cure. Psshing is also exhausting; it can result in oxygen deprivation if done for more than thirty seconds at a gasp. Then, there is always the possibility that you will be discovered at this unconventional activity and have to move to a place where nobody knows your name.

Some birders kiss the back of their hand repeatedly, smacking loudly each time. This modus operandi may seem more genteel and less fraught with risk than psshing, but it can be especially distasteful if one has recently doused herself with mosquito repellant.

Other sounds which sometimes attract birds may be reproduced mechanically and have been in use for ages, as in the duck calls used by hunters. A variation on that theme is a gadget patented as the Audubon Bird Call - a wood cylinder with a loosely attached metal plug. Your first attempts with it may produce a sound like chalk drawn against the grain of a blackboard, and literally clear the area, but, with practice, you will soon learn to work the metal plug with just the right pressure, and get notes remarkably attractive to sparrows and wrens and other small birds.

In my opinion, of all the ruses which we use to get the birds closer to us, none is as successful as the taped call of a screech-owl.  (Judy mentioned a tape recorder here, but now these are easily accessed on bird watching Apps). When played for a minute or two at some likely spot, "Screech" often brings in a number of small birds - woodpeckers, flycatchers, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, creepers, wrens, kinglets, gnatcatchers, thrushes, vireos, warblers, tanagers, sparrows, orioles and finches.

Each little militia that comes to investigate may be composed of several of these woodland/thicket birds, and they are especially responsive in fall or winter.

Use of recorded calls (a bird's own, or those of a predator) should NOT BE USED DURING THE BREEDING SEASON, or for prolonged periods during other seasons.

As for psshing... you're on your own!


MISSISSIPPI COAST AUDUBON SOCIETY FIELD TRIP

September 10, 2016: Seaman Road Lagoons, Jackson County

Leaders:  Sharon Milligan (2sharon123@gmail.com, 228-861-1622) and others

One of our richest and most popular birding sites, normally only by restricted access, so now’s your chance! IMPORTANT: This is a working facility. You MUST stay with leaders while on site. Call Sharon (above) if you have questions about policy. 

Place and Time: Meet at the park and ride at 7:30 AM I-10 exit 50 (Ocean Springs). (As soon as you exit the interstate going south, park and ride will be on the right.)  

CONFUSING FALL WARBLERS?

A female Redstart, photo (in the fall) - courtesy, Sharon Milligan
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GAILY GILDED "COME-HITHER" BUTTERFLIES OF THE BIRD WORLD HAVE HOOKED MANY A BIRDER

Warblers are come-hither birds. I know. I was led down the garden path on a long-ago March morning by an incandescent sprite known as a Prothonotary Warbler, and I have not been the same since.

I overcame the lust I felt for dirty dishes and unmade beds and I cut the cord from the PTA. I forsook the afternoon suds bath in front of the TV and became a leading proponent of any meal that could be prepared in 30 minutes or less.

With the time I saved, I watched the birds.

Until the day of the Prothonotary Warbler, mine had been a passing passion for Purple Finches and Chipping Sparrows, the birds of the backyard feeder. I would like to believe that I could have turned it off at any time. It was that Prothonotary Warbler, though, colored moon yellow, dancing through flickering shadows in a ditch full of elephant ears, that did me in.

Many a veteran birder can reach back in memory to the time and the place and the particular bird that likewise did him, or her, in. In so many cases, the turn-on bird has been a gaily gilded warbler of spring.

From the day of one’s first Blackburnian Warbler in the treetops, or one’s first Ovenbird mincing upon a woodland floor, life changes. It becomes better!

Roger Tory Peterson called them “brightly colored birdlets”. Someone (I wish it were I) once called them “butterflies of the bird world”.

Objectively, warblers are small, fast moving, insect-eating birds. They are intricately patterned and brightly plumaged. Thirty-nine of them occur in Mississippi’s coastal counties at some time during the year. Three of them are permanent residents. They live here and breed here. Ten others arrive in the spring, remain to breed and depart in the fall. Three others join our permanent residents over the winter.

The majority though -23 of them – are called transients. They merely pass through or fly over the Coast during spring and/or fall migration.

Unfortunately, the suggestion that one actually should try to identify fall warblers strikes terror into the hearts of all but the most dedicated birders. The turn-on birds of spring have suddenly become the turn-off birds of fall!

There is no reason to be more than mildly catatonic at the prospect of meeting the fall warblers. So, such warblers are not always dressed for instant recognition! So, some males lose their “emperor’s clothes” of spring!  So, females are slightly more nondescript than they are at other seasons! Don’t be discouraged!

If the dice are loaded against the birder by the overwhelming numbers of young birds that rarely resemble either of their parents, that sweetens the challenge! If the odds are lengthened by birds that won’t hum a few bars of their personal serenatas, one should not abandon all hope.

Success is the reward of the determined. Most males retain some of their identifying marks, and to a lesser extent, so do the females. One who has seen a warbler in spring has an edge on identifying that same warbler in fall.

I thought it might help to take a stand against the fear and perpetual confusion which confronts the birder who is confronted by a fall warbler. Hence, the lists!

The accompanying lists are of warblers

Confidence should be gained by noting that those “identified without difficulty” make up the largest group. Those with an asterisk to the right of the name are either rare here, or unlikely to be seen in the fall.

Under the “moderately difficult” heading, judicious use of a field guide should help.

Those termed “a little more difficult” are not really difficult at all after you’ve seen them a few times.

In the “difficult” list, the chances are good that one could go through an entire fall and not agonize over any of them. Either they are rare here at any time, or rare here in fall.

When approached from the point of view that at least some of the fall warblers are readily identifiable, fall warbler-watching can take on a whole new perspective. For every birder who has been turned on by a spring warbler, as I was, there are many others who give up too fast… are turned off permanently by the idea that fall’s birds are a rush of confusing and uncooperative youngsters.

One should try to remember that every warbler that is properly identified is effectively eliminated from the remaining birds. I once wrote that “elimination is the key to serenity.” Bear that in mind when agonizing over the next bird you see.

Once, after returning from New England, (Mass), I would like it known that I stumbled badly over fall Blackpoll Warblers and was embarrassed to the core by a Bay-breasted Warbler.

Many fall warblers go unidentified, even by those of us who are considered proficient. One should not feel defeated when up against the anonymous hordes of fall. It would be short-changing oneself to give up too soon, because the “come hither” birds of spring are equally as enticing in autumn.

IDENTIFIED WITHOUT DIFFICULTY

Black and White Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler

Swainson’s Warbler

Worm-eating Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler*
Blue-winged Warbler
Yellow Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler (male)*
Black-throated gray Warbler*

Yellow-throated Warbler

Palm-Warbler

Ovenbird

Northern Waterthrush

Louisiana Waterthrush

Kentucky Warbler

Common Yellowthroat (male)
Yellow-breasted Chat
Hooded Warbler (male)

Canada Warbler

American Redstart

Cerulean Warbler (male)

MODERATELY DIFFICULT

Nashville Warbler*

Northern Parula

Black-throated Blue Warbler (female)

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Cerulean Warbler (female)

Blackburnian Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler (immature)

Pine Warbler

Common Yellowthroat (female)

Hooded Warbler (female)

A LITTLE MORE DIFFICULT

Tennessee Warbler

Orange-Crowned Warbler

DIFFICULT!

Cape May Warbler*

Townsend’s Warbler*

Bay-breasted Warbler*
Blackpoll Warbler*

Connecticut Warbler*

Mourning Warbler*

Wilson’s Warbler (immature)*

* Rare in this area, or unlikely to be seen here this time of year.

NOTE: This Saturday (September 3rd 2016   8.30-11am) Mississippi Coast Audubon Society will host a workshop led by Dr. Mark Woodrey. This workshop teaches how to lead nature field trips and is appropriate for all who are interested (Scout Leaders, Master naturalists, and Birders)
Meet at Ms State University Coastal Research and Extension Centre) 1815 Popp's Ferry Rd, Biloxi.