BOOM....Grassland Birds

By Cory DeStein



The Imperial Grasslands in Allegheny County is a large reclaimed strip mind with impressive grasslands, wetlands, and shrub habitat. The area has a long history when it comes to property development,  trespassing and some remarkable bird records for the county. In the past Blue Grosbeak and Short-eared Owls bred in the area. In the winter White-winged Crossbills, Common Redpolls, Northern Shrike, and Rough-legged Hawks can be viewed here. The area known to local birders as Main Pond has held impressive records such as; Snowy Plover, American Avocet, Whimbrel, Western Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper and all three phalaropes. For my walk this week I was able to enjoy breeding birds such as Bobolink, Eastern Meadowlarks, Prairie Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Henslow's Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow and Grasshopper Sparrows.

Just 1 of 30 Grasshopper Sparrows

Hitting the area at sunrise I immediately stumbled upon a Black Rat Snake being scolded by Prairie, Yellow, and Blue-winged Warblers. With my accidental interruption the reptile retreated to denser cover and the birds went back to their business. Coming to extensive grasslands I could hear Eastern Meadowlarks, Grasshopper Sparrows, and Vesper Sparrows singing. A Red-winged Blackbird chased a male Bobolink across a small pond where 4 Lesser Yellowlegs were feeding. Scanning the fields I spotted another male Bobolink singing, the bird was exceptionally tame and allowed me to approach within a respectable distance for some photography.

Male Bobolink

While photographing the Bobolink, I began to hear a new song being sung nearby, Henlow's Sparrow! This was a new bird in Allegheny County for me. I ended with at least 6 birds total for the day, including a very cooperative male singing from a nearby shrub.

Allegheny County Henslow's Sparrow!

Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, Yellow Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Wood Thrush, Great-crested Flycatcher as well as a Yellow-breasted Chat were singing from a nearby woodlot as I worked my way back to the car. Sadly this ever shrinking grasslands continues to be threatened with development  The ponds are drained, new roads are paved, and new construction flags seem to appear daily. I am only enjoying a small portion of what the grasslands was when birders began heavily using it in the 90's. Interesting in one of the new industrial parks a small pond was developed which held a pair of Ross's Geese in 2011, Red Phalarope in February of 2012!!? And breeding Sora this past summer. Time will tell what development holds in store for this unique area.

Eastern Meadowlark 

Male Bobolink

Eastern Meadowlark 

Up Close and Personal: Broad-winged Hawk

By Cory Ritter

It seems that Broad-winged Hawks are often seen in distant kettles, and are just specks to the naked-eye. Well, that isn't the case when you're trapping them. There are some private trappers (not affiliated with WPBO) around here at Whitefish Point, and they're kind enough to bring raptors up to the platform every now and then. The broadwings really started kicking into gear just earlier this month up here in the U.P., and on one of those days, one of the trappers, Bill, was lucky enough to catch two broadwings in his set at once--and nice enough to bring them up for me to take a look.

adult Broad-winged Hawk, in the hand, Paradise, MI

adult Broad-winged Hawk, in the hand, Paradise, MI

banded tail of an adult Broad-winged Hawk, Paradise, MI

adult Broad-winged Hawk, in the hand, Paradise, MI

adult Broad-winged Hawk, in the hand, Paradise, MI

adult Broad-winged Hawks, in the hands, Paradise, MI

Photo Quiz from 1/26/12 Answer

Well this was somewhat of a hard one, and only a few people got it.  The photo is dark, and this dull bird is definitely a confusing one.  Let's take a look again.

What do we see?  First of all we see a mostly olive-backed bird with a gray hood/head and grayish-olive tertials.  This bird is definitely a relatively slender, small-headed passerine with a medium-sized tail.  We know the bird is in California, but that doesn't rule out a vagrant.  Blue-headed Vireo may come to mind, but they have wing bars (not to mention quite rare in CA in January). They would also show white edging on the tertials, and their heads are usually darker and thus contrast more with the body.  Nashville Warbler may also come to mind and is a frequent vagrant to CA, but depending on age/sex they show some to a lot of bright yellow on the underparts.  They should be much greener above rather than drab-olive like this individual.  They also would be much shorter-tailed.  Female Mourning and MacGillivray's Warblers are also gray-headed but would show extensive bright yellow to the underparts.

This really only leaves a few options.  To me, from the beginning the bird was either a Tennessee or an Orange-crowned Warbler (but then again, I took the photo).  It is relatively slender and small-headed.  The tail isn't all that long, but isn't short either.  Oreothlypus (formerly Vermivora) warblers like Tennessee and Orange-crowned come right to mind because of the lack of wing-bars, gray head, and the overall drabness.  Look closely and see that this bird has some yellow poking out from under the tail (i.e. yellow undertail coverts).  Tennessee Warbler never shows this.  Even if this yellow tinge is an artifact of the lighting, exposure, etc., Tennessee Warbler's tail is fairly short.  This bird is an Orange-crowned Warbler of either the Taiga or Interior West race.  If you still don't believe me, look below.

Winners:
Timothy Schreckengost - PA
Francesca Massarotto - CA
Drew Weber - PA
Mark Dettling - CA
Andrew Longtin - MN

Thanks for playing!

~Luke Musher

Early (in the year) Birding and "Red" Fox Sparrow

It's early in the year, and that means there are still lots of birds to add to one's year list.  This makes for an exciting time for birding.  A time when a bird that might otherwise be common can now be exciting!  Anyways, beginning of the year aside, we heard about a really exciting bird, through the grape vine, that was seen right down the road from PRBO in Bolinas, CA.  We heard that Keith Hansen, a local artist/birder, had seen a Summer Tanager somewhere around the tennis court on Brighton Avenue in Bolinas.  We searched the area fairly well, but, much to our chagrin, we could not locate it.  We continued birding Bolinas, though.

Anna's Hummingbird, Bolinas, CA. 01/03/12. [Photo by Lukas Musher]

Starting around the tennis courts, we walked up the road leading uphill.  No Summer Tanager or eastern warblers, but lots of the common birds.  Anna's Hummingbirds were busy as ever displaying and feeding in the gardens along the road.  We then headed to the Bolinas cemetery to look for Pygmy Nuthatch (a bird both of us need for life).  We stopped to look at the wigeon flock across from the school and found two (maybe more?) female and male Eurasian Wigeon.

Eurasian Wigeon, Bolinas, CA. 01/03/12. [Photo by Lukas Musher]

At the cemetery we came across a very large flock of warblers that were, as far as we could tell, entirely Yellow-rumped (both Myrtle and Audubon's) and Townsend's Warblers.  We spent a lot of time sorting through them, but couldn't come up with anything else.

Townsend's Warbler, Bolinas, CA. 01/03/12. [Photo by Lukas Musher]

The biggest surprise of the day, though was what we believe to be a "Red" Fox Sparrow, which was feeding with a large flock of sparrows including both California and Spotted Towhees, as well as Golden-crowned, White-throated (no less than three), and Song Sparrows.  As far as we know, this race is quite rare in California, so we are hesitant to accept that it is a pure "Red."  We welcome your comments on this.

"Red" Fox Sparrow, Bolinas, CA. 01/03/12. [Photo by Lukas Musher]

"Red" Fox Sparrow, Bolinas, CA. 01/03/12. [Photo by Lukas Musher]

"Red" Fox Sparrow, Bolinas, CA. 01/03/12. [Photo by Lukas Musher]

We finished up the day birding some of the side roads off of Mesa Rd, looking again for Pygmy Nuthatch, but no luck again.  Birds around here included, Western Bluebird, White-crowned Sparrow, Townsend's Warbler, and a lone Cackling Goose in with the Canada Goose flock across Mesa Road from Overlook Drive.  On Mesa Road about one mile from PRBO we had one Say's Phoebe and a bobcat hunting in the coast guard field.

By Cory Ritter and Luke Musher