May 12, 2023
9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Once again this year, my Vertebrate Biology students had the opportunity get a glimpse into the amazing work being done by Point Blue Conservation at their Palomarin Field Station when we were given a demonstration of the mist-netting and bird banding they do at the station, to collect valuable information about songbird populations. We all met at the Field Station first thing in the morning, and after an introduction to the work, we set off down the trail to check the system of mist-nets, to see if any birds had been caught. I decided to hang back, rather than hiking the entire route, and I busied myself trying to get some nice photos of birds. There is always such a wonderful diversity of birds here . . . BUT it’s definitely easier to hear them, than to spot them.
So, I pulled out my phone and opened up Merlin, to start sorting out the various voices in the soundscape. Wilson’s Warbler was the first, and most common, song that I was able to identify. Dark-eyed Junco and Red-shafted Flicker were also singing and calling, and then I picked up a less familiar song: Warbling Vireo. I spent some time following that call, hoping to get a glimpse of the bird. It took me a while – I’d made it almost all the way back to the demonstration platform before I finally spotted movement high in a tree. Yes! I snapped a few pictures of the bird (not good ones, unfortunately), but I was happy to have had eyes on a vireo, even for just a few seconds.
Red-breasted Nuthatch were also calling, but I wasn’t able to spot one in the dense vegetation, and a Golden-crowned Kinglet was singing near the parking lot, but I was only able to get the barest glimpse of it. Wrentit is one of the birds I most associate with this location, because I’ve heard them here in the past. Today, I was hoping to see one, but no such luck. I heard several of them, but any time I tried to get close, they would go quiet, and I was never able to get eyes on one today. Swallows swooped overhead, and I heard a single American Robin, and I think I saw a few Band-tailed Pigeon in the distance. Douglas Iris were in bloom near the demonstration platform, and the meadow was peppered with Quaking Grass and Three-cornered Garlic. Delicate, pretty Common Ringlet butterflies flitted near to the ground, as a California Scrub-jay surveyed the area from high in a Douglas Fir. I picked up the calls of Chestnut-backed Chickadee throughout the site, but was never able to get my eyes on one of these birds. Even when I was in the woods, surrounded by multiple chickadees calling in the trees above my head, I never got a look at one of them. I also saw a gorgeous, bright turquoise Vivid Dancer damselfly.
The mist-net expedition did have some success! A gorgeous male Wilson’s Warbler. Come to think of it, they’ve had a Wilson’s in the nets every time I’ve visited the Field Station. It was great to see this pretty bird close up, and to see the process of data collection and banding.
Again, I’m so grateful to the folks at Point Blue for being so welcoming to my students, and for the good work they do.
Species List
Western Grey Squirrel (Scurius griseus), Columbian Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus), Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias wardi), European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris vulgaris), Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus californicus), California Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica), Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens neglectus), House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus), Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus), Red-shafted Flicker (Colaptes auratus collaris), Wilson’s Warbler (Cardellina pusilla), Oregon Junco (Junco hyemalis oreganus), Band-tailed Pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata fasciata), Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa olivaceus), American Crow (Corvus brachyryhnchos), Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica erythrogaster), Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri frontalis), Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata rufula), Common Ringlet (Coenonympha california), Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna), Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii marinensis), Pacific-slope Flycatcher (Empidonox difficilis), Hutton’s Vireo (Vireo huttoni), Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis), Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura aura), American Robin (Turdus migratorius), Vivid Dancer (Argia vivida), Western Wood-pewee (Contopus sordidulus veliei), Columbian Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus), Douglas Iris (Iris douglasiana), Three-cornered Garlic (Allium triquetrum), Greater Quaking Grass (Briza maxima), Yerba Buena (Clinopodium douglasii), Broadleaf Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis latifolia), Slender Stinging Nettle (Urtica gracilis), Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia), Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Coyote Brush (Baccharis pilularis), Western Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum), Pink Honeysuckle (Lonicera hispidula), California Blackberry (Rubus ursinus), California Manroot (Marah fabacea), Featherweed (Gamochaeta ustulata), Scarlet Pimpernel (Lysimachia arvensis), Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), Silver Bush Lupine (Lupinus albifrons), Varied Lupine (Lupinus variicolor)
Let me know what you think!