Audubon Society: Backyard Birds

Posted @ Oct. 24 2011 03:25PM by Susan - out-and-about

Flocking together to observe, enjoy feathered friends

Story by Ann Kastberg • Photos by George Vlahakis (Tanager on 2012 Calendar cover) and Craig Strand (Jay)

With the darker days and stormy weather, now is a great time to organize your calendar. If you were lucky enough to get the Willapa Hills Audubon Society’s 2011 Backyard Birds Calendar, you might be laughing at October’s picture of a Western Scrub-Jay with a nut balanced in its beak or November’s black-masked Common Yellowthroat.

To get ready for 2012, try WHAS’s full-color 13-month calendar featuring beautiful birds of the Pacific Northwest photographed by Northwest artists. Here are some ideas for your calendar.

OUTDOOR ADVENTURES

Woodland Bottoms
Mark October 29 to join WHAS in exploring the Woodland Bottoms. You don’t have to know a raven from a robin to join the fun. Experienced birders happily point out pintails and hone in on hawks. Waterfowl, cranes and raptors over-winter by the thousands on the Bottoms, and field trips are open to anyone who wants to participate. You might go home knowing the difference between a sandhill crane and a great egret or be able to recognize the call of a red-tailed hawk.

Annual Lake Sacajawea Bird Walk & Social
On December 3, join WHAS on the 5th annual Bird Walk and Social. Everyone is welcome for a couple hours of birding on Lake Sacajawea followed by hot beverages and tasty treats.

For both events contact John Green at jgreen2317@aol.com or 360-575-9238 to sign up.

Be a citizen-scientist
Sign up for Christmas Bird Counts, citizen-science at its best. You can help, whether you have ever bird watched or not. Observant eyes are needed for that day: the more the better. In the field, while you meet new people or spend time with friends, point out birds for experts to identify. Or count birds at your feeders at home. For dates, consult the WHAS 2012 Backyard Birds of the Pacific Northwest Calendar (which includes December 2011) or for more information go to www.willapahillsaudubon.org.

Take in a movie
After your WHAS field trip you might better understand birders and relate to the characters in “The Big Year,” a major Hollywood motion picture starring Owen Wilson, Jack Black, and Steve Martin, released on Oct. 14. The movie was inspired by Mark Obamscik’s best-selling chronicle of three colorful and obsessive birders as they compete for the biggest “Big Year.” Audubon served as a resource for the filmmakers and, “It even presents a fairly accurate version of Audubon’s founding and its history,” according to David Yarnold, Audubon President and CEO, in an email message sent to local chapter presidents.

How to help out birds
“As temperatures start to drop and natural food becomes more scarce, supplemental feeding helps birds get through the rough winter months… Only add enough food (to your bird feeders) to last 2-3 days so the food doesn’t spoil and clean feeders every week or two to prevent the spread of disease.” (Hints from the WHAS 2011 Backyard Birds of Western Washington Calendar.)

Five more tips to make your yard more bird friendly come from the 2012 Backyard Birds of the Pacific Northwest Calendar: build a brush pile; use native plants; add a bird house; offer water; and, provide cover. A brush pile provides shelter from the elements and predators, even cats. Native plants provide good food that birds can easily digest. Many dead trees that historically provided nesting cavities have been cut down, making manmade birdhouses an effective alternative. Water can be critical, especially during freezing weather when natural sources are frozen solid. Provide cover, as most wildlife find shelter in trees and shrubs, and leaf litter and dead branches provide shelter for insects and amphibians that birds like to eat.

Relax with your favorite beverage
With your yard made bird-friendly, cozy into your easy chair with a cup of hot coffee or a coffee nudge, look out the window into your yard and up into the sky to see what birds are visiting or passing by. Watch the migratory change from summer to winter. With summer-loving swallows, flycatchers and grosbeaks gone, the winter-tough juncos, chickadees and varied thrushes settle in.

Make your Christmas shopping easy
The 2012 Backyard Birds of the Pacific Northwest Calendar makes an affordable, quality gift you can easily send near and abroad. Give our fighting men and women a little taste of home. Show off our birds to your distant friends and family. Mark everyone’s birthdays and your anniversary on one and give it to that relative who needs reminders. And be sure to buy one for yourself to mark the fun you have planned.

Birding is a favorite hobby of many local folks. As the season progresses, tell us about the birds you are seeing in our region. Place your comment below and update it often!

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Ann Kastberg lives in Castle Rock with her husband, Russ. Members of the Willapa Hills Audubon Society, they enjoy birding adventures, as well as planning and constructing backyard habitat with native plants and a pond for frogs, salamanders, birds and dragonflies. Photo by Carlo Abbruzzese