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Vol. 32 - No. 4 January, 2021, Pg. 1 Owashtanong Islands Audubon Society-far flowing water

Grand Haven, Michigan

January, 2021 Volume 32, Issue 4

Bird Bones 6 Birds Moving North 4 Excerpts from Team eBird 3 Field Trip Report 2 Member’s Sightings 5 President’s Corner 2 Upcoming Programs 2

Visit OIAS: • Homepage: http://www.oias.org

• Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/OwashtanongIslandsAudubonSociety

EveryoneiswelcometoOIAS’sprograms

Join us as Bob McAndrews takes us into the wonderful world of spiders to reveal some amazing facts and share awesome images of these often misunderstood eight-legged wonders that we share the earth with. You’ll learn some things that perhaps you never knew about our arachnid friends as we tag along on some of his famous hunts. He will speak about several different species of spiders, but will focus his attention on Michigan's own, Six-spotted Fishing spider. As Bob says about his early morning hunts, "The early bird may catch the worm and unsuspecting spider, but the earlier Spider Hunter catches the spider before the bird does!" He has been interested in spiders since he was eight years old. Today he has a YouTube channel with well over 8,000 subscribers from all over the world and is known as "Bob the Spider Hunter."

January 19

Presented by Bob McAndrews, The Spider Hunter

7:00 P.M.

Spider at Holland State Park - Judi

This presentation will be presented via ZOOM teleconference software.

The link will be emailed prior to the meeting

The Wonderful World of Spiders

If you get the newsletter by mail, are a member, and want the ZOOM link, email oias (at) oias.org.


From the President’s Desk – January 2021

I hope that everyone had a safe holiday season and is looking forward to the year ahead. As some of you know, Leslie and I were in North Carolina from the week before Thanksgiving until the week after Christmas providing elder care for her folks. Needless to say, I was not able to get much birding done while there but this beautiful Red-shouldered Hawk was a frequent visitor to the neighborhood in Hendersonville. I hope to be able to catch up on my birding and see some of the crossbills and redpolls that have been seen so far this winter in Ottawa County. At 7:00 pm on Tuesday, January 19th OIAS will hold our first “virtual” program of 2021! Dr. Bob McAndrews, The Spider Hunter, will present the program “The Wonderful World of Spiders via ZOOM videoconferencing software. Bob has had a life-long love affair with spiders and will take us into the wonderful world of spiders to reveal some amazing facts and share awesome images of these often misunderstood eight-legged wonders that we share the earth with. Bob will speak about several different species of spiders, but will focus on Michigan's own, Six-spotted Fishing spider. Be sure to check out Bob’s YouTube channel “Bob TheSpiderHunter.” We will email all members for whom we have an email address an invitation to join this Zoom meeting. I think that our first ever virtual program in November worked well. Stay well, and good birding, Michael P. Lombardo

Photo by Michael Lombardo

2020-2021 Dues are past due

Far Flowing Water is published eight times per year. If you would like to contribute a complete article for the next issue, please have your articles to me by February 1st


February 16: Understanding Groundwater in Ottawa County Paul Sachs, Ottawa County Director of Planning and Performance Improvement March 16: Adventures in Nature Ed Post, Nature Photographer April 20: Saltwater and Freshwater Pelagics (New April Program) Chace Scholten May 18: Potluck, Annual Meeting Bring photos for member slide show

This Season’s Programs

Field Trip November 14th Two participants birded the Grand Haven North Pier and spotted 7 species for an hour. They spent an hour birding Ottawa Sands County Park and observed 16 species. Total species count for both places was 20. It was a beautiful morning and nice to be out.

Pat B

G H N P Mallard Red-breasted Merganser Horned Grebe Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Common Loon American Crow

O S Canada Goose Mallard Bufflehead Red-breasted Merganser Belted Kingfisher Downy Woodpecker American Crow

Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet White-breasted Nuthatch Eastern Bluebird American Goldfinch American Tree Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco

Judi Manning Excerpts from Team eBird: eBird has over 900 million bird observations that gives it the power to shed light on continental-scale movement, distribution, and abundance patterns for species around the world. “. . . the eBird Science team released exciting NEW! data products that depict the distribution patterns of 807 species on six continents— with an expanded set of species from the Americas and 82 additional species from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. The team used cutting-edge statistical models and machine learning techniques along with checklists from 311,692 eBirders to create these visualizations.” “Each checklist you submit will allow eBird to refine and expand the ability to track trends for more species, more regions, and with more precision.” “. . . explore the brand new visualizations, the result of state-of-the-art statistical models combined with eBird data, which allow us to see patterns in abundance with greater detail than ever before. Watch the mesmerizing movements of the Fork-tailed Flycatcher . . .” Explore more species and dive deeper into this new eBird Science release.


Birds Moving North - Climate Change

Synopsis/Excerpts: An Atlas Reveals Climate Change is Pushing Birds Further North, Phoebe Weston, Science, 12/12/2020, https://www.wired.com/story/an-atlas-reveals-climate-change-is-pushing-birds-further-north/ and many other websites. “This story originally appeared in The Guardian and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.” Thank you Dave H for sending me the link to this story. “Data from 120,000 birdwatchers in 48 countries shows forest birds have expanded their range while area occupied by farmland birds has shrunk.” 120,000 volunteers and field-workers surveyed 11 million square kilometers from the Azores in the west to the Russian Urals in the east and their research was published in the European Breeding Bird Atlas 2 (EBBA2) which shows Europe’s 539 native birds are moving north 1 kilometer every year for the past 30 years. The breeding range of 35% of the birds (forest birds) increased and 25% (farmland birds) decreased their breeding range. The increase in areas could be from habitat deterioration in its normal area and not an increase in population. Protected birds are doing better than those not protected. With the warming climate, forests are growing in the Arctic and boreal regions where tree planting for wood and paper has occurred and land being abandoned hurt farmland birds but benefitted woodpeckers and warblers. Farmland birds are also declining because there is less food due to intensive farming which reduces the insects and residue from harvesting. The UK’s farmland birds have declined by 55%. Milder winters result in some Mediterranean species (European Bee Eater and Little Egret) to be found in the UK, France, and the Netherlands. Nonnative species are increasing. “One in 10 breeding bird species is nonnative (57 in total), and 39 of these arrived in the past 30 years…” Iván Ramírez, senior head of conservation at BirdLife Europe and Central Asia, said: “… this is caused by the “perfect storm”—an increase in the wildlife trade, climate change making European habitats more suitable for exotic birds, and an abundance of food in urban areas. Taken together, invasive species are one of the top five drivers of biodiversity decline globally, but the researchers did not look at whether these particular species were negatively impacting native populations.” “If birds are forced into new habitats on the edge of their range, this can also put them under stress, particularly migratory species such as swifts and swallows, where small changes in timing have considerable implications. ‘Birds are optimized machines,’ said Ramírez. ‘They have been learning for generations and millennia how to do these migrations. They have genetically been designed to do a migration of x kilometers. If you’re putting x plus 10 or 15 kilometers, you are putting them under stress.”

To read more of the article, follow the link at the top.

Judi Manning

Great Backyard Bird Count February 12-15, 2021 Connect to birds and nature. Each year people from around the world come together to watch, learn about, count, and celebrate birds. https://www.birdcount.org/

Great Backyard Bird Count results from 2020: • 268,674 Estimated Participants • 27,270,156 Total Birds Counted • 6,942 Species of Birds Identified • 194 Countries


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Far Flowing Water is published eight times per year. If you would like to contribute a complete article for the next issue, please have your articles to me by February 1st

Member’s Sightings

Late Bird Sighting On November 13th I just happened to see this Baltimore Oriole while taking my soup bowl to the sink. It was on the back side of the suet first so I just saw the orange tail sticking out and I ran for my camera. It helped me out by moving to the black-oiled sunflower seed feeder so I could get a photo. I haven't seen one in my yard since August 3rd so I was quite surprised by this guy. Seen until November 23rd.

Cindy Dobrez

“Snow Cap” House Finch I received a phone call from Jim P shortly after the newsletter was out in November about our “Snow Cap” Junco. He said he has a House Finch that has the same pattern on its head. In fact, this House Finch was in his yard this spring also.

Another “Snow Cap” Junco Emily T sent this photo of a Junco she spotted and photographed in January, 2020 at Sax Zim Bog

Rare Bird Sighting A female White-winged Crossbill came and visited my feeders on Thanksgiving Day and several days after. While out filling my bird feeders, I heard a bird singing a nasally 'beep beep.' I spotted a yellow bird with a crossed bill that I had never seen before resting on a garden post. I quickly took several photos and shared them with some local birders, who quickly identified the bird as a White-winged Crossbill.

Photo by Emily

Both photos by Cindy

Lonny Garris

Notice the crossbill's size compared to American Goldfinch and House Finch Both photos by Lonny

Evening Grosbeaks Evening Grosbeaks were seen in many locations in West Michigan in November. Karen R was very lucky to have 60+ frequent her feeder for a few days. To see and hear them was special. The last year there was a large invasion was 1987! Photo at Karen’s feeder by Judi


Bird Bones Skeletons of birds have thin, hollow bones so they can fly. Birds get extra energy in flight by inhaling and exhaling oxygen through the air spaces in the bones that are connected to the respiratory system. The bones of birds are heavier than other same sized animals because a bird’s bones are denser. “If you compare just the bones, the skeleton of a two-ounce bird is heavier than the skeleton of a two-ounce mouse. A bird’s bones are denser” [Reference (1) below.] but holow to keep them lighter.Denser bones are stronger and stiffer to keep from breaking. Some bones are not hollow. The number of hollow bones a bird has varies among species. Soaring and large gliding birds have more hollow bones. Diving birds have fewer hollow bones. Loons, puffins, and penguins have only solid birds to aid in diving. Birds have fewer bones than reptiles or mammals because many are fused together so the skeleton is more rigid during flight. Powerful flight muscles are attached to the sternum. Skull bones are fused to protect the brain while being light weight. The skull size is proportionally small when compared to other species’ skulls. Flying would be difficult with a large head. To protect the brain from too much jarring when landing, they have long, flexible necks that act like shock absorbers. The neck has between 13 to 25 vertebrae to help them keep the center of gravity when it changes from the upright position of walking or perching to a horizontal position to fly. For more information, check the references. References: (1)Avian Adaptations, Rosie Costain, VNS Volunteer, 4/5/2018, https://www.montananaturalist.org/blog-post/avian-adaptations/; Skeleton, http://www.fernbank.edu/Birding/skeleton.htm, Avian Skeletal System, Dr. Jacquie Jacob, University of Kentucky, https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-anatomy/avian-skeletal-system/, https://www.ck12.org/biology/bird-structure-and-function/lesson/bird-structure-and-function-advanced-bio-adv/

Judi Manning

Banded Bird I was watching birds enjoy the small birdbath outside the front window in early November and to my surprise there was a Black-capped Chickadee with a silver band on its left leg. As the information is so small and silver, we were unable to see any numbers. As I got out of the car the other day, the banded chickadee was at the feeder and I was able to get photos of its band. We are missing one number in the sequence to find out where it was banded. First time we have seen a banded bird in the yard. It is still visiting the feeders taking the peanut pieces away.

Judi Manning


2020-2021 OIAS Membership Appl icat ion Date S Email: Name Street City/State/Zip Phone How did you hear about OIAS?

Check Member Type: $18 Individual or Family $30 Contributing $100 Individual Life

My contribution to speaker fees $______________

Make checks payable to: Owashtanong Islands Audubon Society, Post Office Box 1654, Holland, Michigan, 49422

Grand Haven, Michigan

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is a publication of the Owashtanong Islands Audubon Society, Grand Haven, MI. All articles are copyrighted; permission is granted to copy any article in its entirety with author and references attached. Please contact Editor at [email protected] for other arrangements.

FAR FLOWING WATER

1/2021

Northern Mockingbird I was surprised when I looked out the window on November 22 and saw the back of a lighter gray larger bird. I grabbed the binoculars as it turned around. A Northern Mockingbird was eating our native holly berries and was seen quite often partaking of the berries. It even chased the cardinals and other birds that wanted to eat the berries. It sat out in a different bush in the rain, periodically flipping its wings to disperse the raindrops. The mockingbird was in our yard until the morning of December 2nd when we left to do some birding. Did not see it again. We had two brief sightings of mockingbirds in our yard in 2006 and one earlier year.

About December 5 Jeremy reported a mockingbird in his yard. He lives almost 3 miles directly south of us. This bird is still being seen. Is it the same bird?

Judi Manning


Owashtanong Islands Audubon Society Judi Manning, Editor P.O. Box 1654 Holland, MI 49422 PLEASE FORWARD ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

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Mission Statement Owashtanong Islands Audubon Society

a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation

Provide stewardship of local Grand River island wildlife sanctuaries owned by the Michigan Audubon Society; Achieve through education, public recognition of the value and need for protecting and preserving wildlife, plants,

soil, water and other natural resources as well as an understanding of their interdependence; Promote an interest in our native birds and as well as native flora and fauna, and their habitats because of their great

economic, cultural and recreational value; and Aid the Michigan Audubon Society in its study, conservation and research efforts.

7:00 The Wonderful World of Spiders Bob McAndrews Via ZOOM

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