Point Reyes National Seashore--Common Murre and Peregrines

The earth is stunningly beautiful and the state of California possesses a wealth of breath-taking coastal areas. 

Our first destination at the seashore--the light house.  

As we reached the first viewing platform, it was about 9:45 a.m. and the gate to the light house was still locked.  My birding companion and guide today (February 21st) was Talissa Ralph who lives in Knoxville, where I live, but is practically a native of Stinson Beach from a lifetime of exploring the area.   We stood on the deck looking down on the light house and checked out the colony of Common Murre crowded on a rock shelf below us.    

Lighthouse Rock Murre colony.

Common Murre are seabirds that weigh about two pounds, are about the size of a football and spend most of their life on the water.  During the nesting season, from April to July, they gather in crowded colonies on rock surfaces to nest. Their eggs are varied in colors and spots and are uniquely shaped with one end more pointed so that a disturbed egg rolls in a tight circle.  About 16,000 murres nest here on Lighthouse Rock.

As we observed the murres, we caught a glimpse of gray wings disappearing behind a boulder just as the park ranger arrived to open the gate to the stairs that lead to the lighthouse.  Talissa asked if there were falcons in the area. He answered, "yes", and walked closer to the fence on the other side of the bolder, motioning for us to join him.. "Look right down there." 

Not one, but a PAIR of Peregrine Falcons were perched on the rocks below!  A breathless view.  

One of the pair flew before I could get an image of them together but this beautiful peregrine remained for a while. See if you can locate her in the image below after I zoomed out to show the surrounding habitat.   (she is on a boulder on the left half of the image)

Zooming brings her closer, below.

and cropping, even closer.

Below, she assumes a pre-flight position just prior to lifting off and disappearing behind the cliffs to my right. Peregrines nest on cliff ledges and lay their eggs on simple rock scrapes, usually under a protective overhang. This was a breath-taking look at these resident falcons and their habitat with all the characteristics needed to sustain their life cycle.  

Her departure was actually a good thing.  We had a lot to see on our visit to the seashore and I'm not sure I would have left this spot with the opportunity to observe this falcon still possible!

"Peregrine Falcon" -- watercolor by Vickie Henderson

Next:  The light house and a pair of Rock Wrens!

Peregrine Falcon
My website:  Vickie Henderson Art
Painting a Peregrine at Vickie's Sketchbook

The Common Murre Restoration Project
A Day in the Life of a Murre Biologist
Point Reyes Light House history
Point Reyes National Seashore

TN Conservationist Magazine--The Peregrine Falcon in Tennessee

The July/August issue of the Tennessee Conservationist Magazine is in the hands of many subscribers now and if you haven't received your copy, its on its way. This issue includes my article on the "The Peregrine Falcon in Tennessee" and I am delighted that the article received the cover headline.

The recovery of the Peregrine Falcon is one of the greatest conservation stories in our nation's history.   Peregrine Falcon populations plummeted in the United States due to the widespread use of DDT after WWII, and the species was completely extirpated from the eastern United States.  A species that preys on small birds, peregrines absorbed the pesticide into their tissue and their eggs became too thin for incubation.  

The article tells the story of restoration efforts in Tennessee and the first breeding Peregrine Falcons discovered in 1997, fifty years after the species disappeared from the state.  But Tennessee's story is not complete.  USFWS reports that North America recorded from 2000-3000 breeding pairs of Peregrines in 2012.  Tennessee records currently confirm only one productive breeding eyrie, while neighboring states report from 10-23.  In the early twentieth century, prior to the species decline, Tennessee had 25 confirmed eyries.

It is uncertain whether more birds are breeding and remain undetected, or some unknown factor is interfering with the return of the species to historic breeding sites. Hopefully, the article will raise awareness and increase efforts to discover the reason for the Peregrine's slow recovery in Tennessee.

I would like to acknowledge those who contributed information to this article, especially fellow Tennessee Ornithological Society (TOS) members , Harold Sharp and Jack Gentle for their historical observations and photographs, and the TOS publication, The Migrant.  Greg Lavaty of  Sugar Land, Texas, contributed beautiful flight photographs.

A special thank you to Louise Zepp, editor of the Tennessee Conservationist Magazine, and her staff for the beautiful layout, cover headline and for highlighting the article on the magazine's website.

Links and Resources:
Tennessee Conservation Magazine
Greg Lavaty Photography and Bird Guiding
Tennessee Ornithological Society (TOS)
The Migrant--TOS' scientific publication

A Day at the Meadow with Experts

The more time you spend with nature, the deeper and richer your experience becomes.  That's the quality of accumulating experience.  Put yourself out there and your mind and body will absorb it.  But add an expert to that experience and your world of discovery will enlarge in leaps.        

Above:  Common Blue Violet, one of many violet species enjoyed during the festival.

This is one of the fun parts of attending a nature festival and a good description of my experience at The Meadows at Opossum Creek Retreat during the New River Birding and Nature Festival. I couldn't possibly remember everything I saw and heard on that day, but familiarity is the first step and I did store away a few  enriching experiences to share with you.

My first delight of the day was learning a new bird song, the Ovenbird's "teacher, teacher, teacher".  As many as three of these birds were singing in the area as we walked.  Even though one of our hosts, Keith Richardson (right), had his scope handy, we did not see Ovenbirds on this day.  As the days of the festival went by, I had more opportunity to practice recognition of this song.  More about this bird later.  

A blue-green lichen picked up from the ground, now has a name and an interesting function.

Lichen is actually formed by a symbiotic relationship between an alga and a fungus.  This particular blue-green lichen is called Green Shield Lichen. The expert who called our attention to it was Jim McCormack (right), who rolled the scientific name off his tongue like it was an everyday expression, Flavoparmelia caperata.  This is also the name of the fungus that partners to create the lichen.

Even more fascinating, Jim informed us that hummingbirds favor this type lichen for nest building material because of its characteristic ruffled edges.  These variable edges make the lichen easier to pry loose and more pliable for molding into the rounded shape of a tiny hummingbird nest.    

                                

Bill Hilton, Jr.(left) talked about birds while demonstrating banding.  

Below, he examines a female Red-bellied Woodpecker's  feathers to age her for the record and explained that the emerging red feathers on her crown were an indicator of older age, possibly caused by hormonal changes.

Once the banding and recording were complete, he carefully pulled out the woodpecker's tongue to show us the tiny little barbs that enable this woodpecker to capture insects hiding in tiny cracks and crevices.  This of course gets your thoughts churning.  Every species in nature is especially equipped for its habitat, its food, its lifestyle and its relationship with the other species that share that habitat.  And that is part of the intrigue that keeps my curiosity so engaged and coming back for more.

(Click the image to enlarge)

Birds were only part of what we enjoyed on our nature walks.  Keith Richardson pointed out the leaves of the Dwarf Rattlesnake Plantain growing along an adjacent wooded trail.

Colorful violets (top image) and Golden Ragwort were plentiful all around us.

And a short postscript on birds.  The most surprising bird of the day was a calling Peregrine Falcon, the first ever recorded at The Meadows.

Next:  WV's Waterfalls and Warblers

Related Links and resources:
WV's New River Birding and Nature Festival

National Park Service, New River Gorge Website

Bill Hilton Jr--Hilton Pond
Jim McCormack--Ohio Bird and Biodiversity and Hummers, gnatcatchers and lichen
What are Lichens?
Susan Kailholz-Williams--Susan Gets Native
Debbie Barnes-DJB Photo Adventures
And on this blog, you may be interested in:
Impressed with a Red-bellied Woodpecker's Tongue and Who's Boss?

Young Peregrine Now Wanders

With the opening of his hacking box door at dawn, Rocky, a young 7-week old, male peregrine falcon, was released yesterday.Within 30 minutes, he accomplished his first flight and was out of sight of viewers who waited a short distance away. The day prior to his release, he was fitted with leg bands which will aid in future identification and with a tail-mounted radio transmitter for tracking.
A fledged peregrine falcon remains with his parents for as long as two months, while he learns to hunt. High speed flyers, peregrines primarily feed on birds that they catch in flight or from a perch. But both the strategy and precision of this hunt must be learned.
The radio transmitter allows Dale and John Stokes to monitor Rocky’s progress for the next few weeks so they can assist if something goes wrong. Dale and John obtained Rocky from a falconer in Minnesota for a fee of $600 in order to release him in a process called hacking. The hacking box (see previous post) serves as an artificial nest and fledging home. Raptors are known to imprint on their fledging area and will generally return to that area when it is time to nest and raise their own young. Peregrines nest on high bluffs and it is hoped that after adolescent wandering for the next two years, Rocky will return to nest in the Lookout Mountain area.
It was falconers like Dale and John Stokes who alerted the world to the effects of DDT on our raptors and subsequently saved many species from extinction. Peregrine falcon populations plummeted from 1950 to 1970 due to DDT poisoning, but the hacking re-introductions that began in 1970 have restored species numbers. Peregrines were removed from the national endangered list in 1999 but remain on the state endangered list in Georgia and TN.

More than falconers, Dale and John Stokes have a combined 49 years of experience with birds and have devoted their lives to educating the public about raptors. They conduct live birds of prey shows at Rock City, near Chattanooga and visit regional schools, parks and festivals to provide programs.

Links to peregrine information: Dale and John's S.O.A.R. blog site with update's on Rocky's progress. Chattanooga Times article on release. Cornell's interesting facts on the peregrine falcon.

Enriching our World

John and Dale Stokes of S.O.A.R. are enriching our world. This is Rocky, a young male peregrine falcon, released this morning on the bluffs of Rock City, near Chattanooga, TN. The door to his hacking box, high on Lookout Mountain, was covered with a sheet and opened before dawn today. The sheet, carefully drawn open as daylight emerged, allows a gentle release so that the falcon can consider his freedom and his first attempts to fly. John and Dale then quietly await his fledging and monitor with telemetry.
Here Dale and John remove Rocky from his hacking box to secure leg bands and telemetry the day before release. More about Rocky and his stewards next post.