Pacific Wren fledgling and other camp visitors in the western Cascades
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Joel Geier
Jun 10, 2022, 10:26:13 PM6/10/22
to Mid-Valley Nature, boo, Oregon Birders OnLine
Yesterday after running some forest bird surveys near Leaburg (Lane County), I headed up above Cougar Reservoir to scout some points for another survey route, then settled in to camp for the evening, resting in a camp chair while I made a sandwich for supper (note toes of some type of non-furry Homonid in the first photo).
I soon had multiple visitors of the kind in the second photo -- some kind of large, black fly. The longer I sat there, the more flew in. Eventually there were a dozen or more on the sword fern right in front of my feet. I was expecting that they might be biting flies, but they didn't really bother me at all. They just clustered on the fern right in front of my feet.
As a further clue to this interesting fly behavior, I should mention that my feet smelled pretty bad, after spending all day in muck boots, with boots and socks soaked from the early part of the day. My socks smelled so bad, after I peeled them off, that I couldn't stand the stench of them myself. I'm anticipating that the entomologists on this list will tell me that these flies are attracted to something fetid.
I soon had multiple visitors of the kind in the second photo -- some kind of large, black fly. The longer I sat there, the more flew in. Eventually there were a dozen or more on the sword fern right in front of my feet. I was expecting that they might be biting flies, but they didn't really bother me at all. They just clustered on the fern right in front of my feet.
As a further clue to this interesting fly behavior, I should mention that my feet smelled pretty bad, after spending all day in muck boots, with boots and socks soaked from the early part of the day. My socks smelled so bad, after I peeled them off, that I couldn't stand the stench of them myself. I'm anticipating that the entomologists on this list will tell me that these flies are attracted to something fetid.
My next camp visitor was arguably the cutest, you decide. I saw something move abruptly into the opening about 20 feet ahead of me, then stop. Reaching down for my binoculars, I saw that it was a fledgling Pacific Wren, with a barely grown tail and a still-yellow gape. Warning, cuteness overload if you look at the 3rd photo! It must have stopped when it saw me move a bit, and it stayed there frozen without moving for at least 15 minutes, basically pretending to be a pine cone. I was starting to worry if it might stay there all night, since I was going to need to drive out in the morning. But finally it changed around to face the other direction.
Then, about 5 minutes later, it hopped off in a series of frog-like hops, without using its wings at all, detouring this way and that if it saw an insect nearby, but mainly heading toward some downed branches and sword ferns on the other side of the clearing. About ten minutes after it reached that destination and eventually disappeared into the undergrowth (though in no great hurry), I heard some vocalizations of adult Pacific Wrens from that same patch.
Then, about 5 minutes later, it hopped off in a series of frog-like hops, without using its wings at all, detouring this way and that if it saw an insect nearby, but mainly heading toward some downed branches and sword ferns on the other side of the clearing. About ten minutes after it reached that destination and eventually disappeared into the undergrowth (though in no great hurry), I heard some vocalizations of adult Pacific Wrens from that same patch.
I was not previously aware that young Pacific Wrens will hop away from the nest before they're capable of flight. A lot of grassland birds will do this (such as Horned Larks, Vesper Sparrows, and Savannah Sparrows). It's a sensible strategy for ground-nesting birds, since sooner or later nest predators are bound to home in on the smells associated with a nest.
Much better to be mobile, even if you're only able to hop. And this little bird could certainly hop, going distances of 1 to 3 feet per hop, and able to peel off five or six such hop before pausing for a break. Kind of astonishing that such thin legs (as you can see trailing behind the bird in this photo) can make such good "springs"!
My next camp visitors were more predictable: Canada Jays, formerly known as "Gray Jays" and also known as "Camp Robbers." They moved in quietly but then moved off, apparently finding no camp scraps to their liking.
Later in the evening I went to bed listening to the songs of Hermit Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, Hermit Warbler, Black-throated Gray, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, and an Olive-sided Flycatcher staying up past a decent hour. Overnight I heard Common Nighthawk calling before the rain moved in, and I think I caught a distant Northern Pygmy-Owl. I was able to record most of these species on my first point count this morning, on a short hike out into the forest about 100 yards from where I camped. But then rain moved in and I was unable to complete more than 5 of 12 points on the route. What a weird month of June this has been for weather!
Much better to be mobile, even if you're only able to hop. And this little bird could certainly hop, going distances of 1 to 3 feet per hop, and able to peel off five or six such hop before pausing for a break. Kind of astonishing that such thin legs (as you can see trailing behind the bird in this photo) can make such good "springs"!
My next camp visitors were more predictable: Canada Jays, formerly known as "Gray Jays" and also known as "Camp Robbers." They moved in quietly but then moved off, apparently finding no camp scraps to their liking.
Later in the evening I went to bed listening to the songs of Hermit Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, Hermit Warbler, Black-throated Gray, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, and an Olive-sided Flycatcher staying up past a decent hour. Overnight I heard Common Nighthawk calling before the rain moved in, and I think I caught a distant Northern Pygmy-Owl. I was able to record most of these species on my first point count this morning, on a short hike out into the forest about 100 yards from where I camped. But then rain moved in and I was unable to complete more than 5 of 12 points on the route. What a weird month of June this has been for weather!
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Joel Geier
Joel Geier
Tampico neighborhood north of Corvallis
Nancy Betty Baumeister
Jun 10, 2022, 10:39:09 PM6/10/22
to Joel Geier, Mid-Valley Nature, boo, Oregon Birders OnLine
That wren has hardly any tail either!
Nancy (Betty) Bee
"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." -Lao Tzu
On Jun 10, 2022, at 7:26 PM, Joel Geier <clear...@peak.org> wrote:
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<Campsite_DSCN3460_scaled.JPG><Fly_DSCN3461_scaled.JPG><Pacific Wren fledgling DSCN3463_scaled.JPG><GrayJay_DSCN3464_scaled.JPG>
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