25 Years of Birds at Fernwood: One Naturalist s Observations By Wendy E. Jones, Head Naturalist

Transcription

1 25 Years of Birds at Fernwood: One Naturalist s Observations By Wendy E. Jones, Head Naturalist Having a connection to the birds of what today is Fernwood goes back nearly 80 years. As founder Kay Boydston writes in her book Reflections: Portraits of Fernwood in Four Seasons, after she and Walter were the finders on October 12, 1938 of the property then known as Janeida,... as time passed, we thought about Janeida more and more and for nearly three years, saw it at every opportunity as a fairyland in snow, in the heat of midsummer, at the time of autumn color and with its million blossoms in spring. On one such spring visit, we heard the liquid call of two wood thrushes in the woods as well as the wild sweet song of a water thrush as we crossed the bridge by the little falls. This does it, we both said. No longer able to resist our growing attachment for these hills and woods and water, first steps were taken toward a possible purchase.. Louisiana Waterthrush, flickr While wood thrushes are still found at Fernwood, it is rare for us to hear the wild, sweet song of the Louisiana waterthrush along the Corkscrew Falls, but when I do, I think of Kay. Once the Boydstons purchased the 12½ acres of Janeida in 1941, they lived on the property, enhancing it with many of the gardens we still enjoy today. After Fernwood incorporated in 1964 and opened to the public, additional lands were purchased, trails were woven through the added nature preserve and arboretum, and the first records of the birds at Fernwood were made. I arrived at Fernwood in March 1991 and under the early guidance of Fernwood s second naturalist, Mike Champagne, who started at Fernwood in 1976, I came to know the birds at Fernwood. While Fernwood s natural integrity has remained intact from its earliest days, the environments that our birds use (ranging from the north of Canada to the rainforests of South America and beyond) have changed significantly over the last 80 years and birds face increasing pressures from climate change. I was asked about the birds of Fernwood and how they have changed over my time here, and that gave me the opportunity to meld my general observations into distinct citizen-science data that contains some interesting stories. Because of Fernwood s varied habitats, we are host to a great diversity of bird species that live here year-round, spend the summer nesting on our grounds, just pass through during spring and fall migration, or visit for a few months in winter. Our mature forests (both upland dry forests containing oaks, beeches, maples, and hickories and our lowland wet forests consisting of sycamores, tulip trees, hackberries, paw paws, and spicebush) are host to species that prefer older and larger blocks of forest, such as Acadian and least flycatcher, Kay s beloved wood thrush, scarlet tanager, and ovenbird, yellow-throated warbler, and cerulean warbler.

2 Kaye Longacre Trumpeter Swan, Wikimedia Our three-quarters of a mile of St. Joseph River frontage allows sightings of bald eagle, common loon, trumpeter swan, and a variety of diving ducks during the winter months. Our inland waters (both the Big Pond and the South Vista pond, as well as our numerous creeks) host great blue and green heron, belted kingfisher, solitary sandpiper, and that occasional Louisiana waterthrush. A walk through the gardens turns up yellow-throated and warbling vireo, Swainson s thrush, and Michigan s state bird the American robin. Overhead fly-bys include sandhill crane and ring-billed and herring gulls. Fernwood s Arboretum is host to our nesting bluebirds, indigo bunting, brown thrasher, pine warbler, and the occasional northern mockingbird. Head to the tallgrass prairie to find common yellowthroat and field sparrow. With such wonderful habitat diversity, I ve often started Birdathon days at Fernwood pre-dawn and left five hours later with our team identifying close to 70 species. If you want to see a good variety of birds in one outing, Fernwood is a great place to go birding! And because of that diverse and high-quality habitat, Fernwood can proudly say that nearly onethird of the birds included on Michigan s list of protected birds have been or are found at Fernwood: common loon (threatened), trumpeter swan (threatened), red-shouldered hawk (threatened), bald eagle (special concern), osprey (special concern), Eastern whip-poor-will (special concern), common nighthawk (special concern), red-headed woodpecker (special concern), golden-winged warbler (special concern), Louisiana waterthrush (threatened), prothonotary warbler (special concern), cerulean warbler (threatened), hooded warbler (special concern), yellow-throated warbler (threatened), and dickcissel (special concern). The majority of those species are both listed and at Fernwood because they are southern species found here at the northern end of their distributional range. In 1997, naturalist Rick Willey compiled The Birds of Fernwood: A Species Checklist. It included 166 species. Since then, nine additional species have been seen at Fernwood, bringing our total species list (including species that were once seen at Fernwood but no longer are present and those seen today) to 175 species (list provided below). Of that, I would say there are 103 species that are likely to be seen over the course of a year and with a bit of luck. Spending as much time at Fernwood as I do, my personal Fernwood list stands at 155 species. While I love watching any bird, perhaps some of the most unexpected birds were a blue grosbeak that stopped by our feeders on 22 May 2002 (a rare southern visitor to Michiana) and a Philadelphia vireo found during Birdathon 2004 (an uncommon species that passes through during migration). Another unexpected Birdathon find at Fernwood was a calling whip-poor-will in 1997; these birds have seen declining populations for decades. I never get tired of seeing our turkeys, which are descendants of birds that were reintroduced to the area in the late 1980s and early 1990s and arrived at Fernwood in And those who were here to observe will never forget our nesting ruby-throated hummingbirds, just above the trail in front of the Nature Center in 2010.

3 Fernwood Archives What trends have I observed over the last quarter-century? The increasing of certain species, such as the bald eagle and osprey as they have recovered from the DDT crisis in the late 1960s and 1970s. The returned presence of trumpeter swans since 2009, when some of Michigan s reintroduced birds began wintering on the St. Joseph River in Buchanan. Pileated woodpeckers have made a strong comeback and are now common and nesting at Fernwood. Carolina wrens have expanded their range northward with climate change, now staying at Fernwood year-round. But some species are declining or are now absent from Fernwood: while 2018 is the 100 th anniversary of the first wide-spread statewide releases in Michigan, pheasants have not been heard at Fernwood in perhaps 15 years. Possibly the last ruffed grouse at Fernwood met its demise via Cooper s hawk, in a pile of feathers I found in March 1998, with drumming not heard and tracks not seen at Fernwood after that date. Meadowlarks, kingbirds, and savannah sparrows are now very rare at Fernwood, when they were once givens for our Birdathon teams to see and hear in the Arboretum. Except for the ruffed grouse (they were never common in the area to begin with), these declines are directly tied to the loss of grassland habitat, among other causes. In 2014, stateofthebirds.org from the North American Bird Conservation Initiative released the statement that there has been a 50% decline in bird populations in North America in the last 40 years. Partners in Flight has estimated there are one and a half billion fewer landbirds in North America than in That is basically within my lifetime, and based on my observations at Fernwood and beyond, I agree with those statements I have started to voice the observation that while the diversity of birds I see remains good, the abundance of individuals that I see is falling. Climate change; habitat alteration and loss; death of birds directly by pesticides and indirectly by reduced insect populations from pesticide use; tower, window, and vehicle collisions; predation by domestic and feral cats all are significant factors that reduce bird populations and are impacting factors not just for our birds here in Michiana but also as they migrate across international borders throughout the western hemisphere. Which makes every bird seen a gift, every song more beautiful, every successful nest a step in the right direction. I still love birding, but recognize that birding today is not what it was just 25 years ago. Kay would still enjoy the birds at Fernwood, both the ones familiar from her days and the new arrivals of recent years. So remember, come May, birds will be busy singing from the trees, feeding at the Nature Center feeders, nesting in the gardens grab your binoculars and come out for a walk to see what you might discover! Fernwood Archives

4 The Birds of Fernwood: A Species Checklist 2018 Canada Goose Mute Swan Trumpeter Swan Wood Duck Mallard Greater Scaup Lesser Scaup Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Hooded Merganser Common Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Ring-necked Pheasant Ruffed Grouse Wild Turkey Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Green Heron Turkey Vulture Osprey Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper s Hawk Broad-winged Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk Sora American Coot Sandhill Crane Killdeer Spotted Sandpiper Solitary Sandpiper Wilson s Snipe American Woodcock Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Yellow-billed Cuckoo Black-billed Cuckoo Eastern Screech Owl Great Horned Owl Snowy Owl Barred Owl Northern Saw-whet Owl Common Nighthawk Eastern Whip-poor-will Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher Red-headed Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker American Kestrel Eastern Wood-Pewee Acadian Flycatcher Alder Flycatcher Willow Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Yellow-throated Vireo Blue-headed Vireo Warbling Vireo Philadelphia Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Horned Lark Tree Swallow N. Rough-winged Swallow Bank Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper House Wren Winter Wren Sedge Wren Carolina Wren Blue-grey Gnatcatcher Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird Veery Gray-cheeked Thrush Swainson s Thrush Hermit Thrush Wood Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Brown Thrasher Northern Mockingbird European Starling Cedar Waxwing Snow Bunting Ovenbird Louisiana Waterthrush Northern Waterthrush Golden-winged Warbler Blue-winged Warbler Black-and-white Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Tennessee Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Connecticut Warbler Mourning Warbler Common Yellowthroat Hooded Warbler American Redstart Cape May Warbler Cerulean Warbler Northern Parula Magnolia Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Palm Warbler Pine Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Canada Warbler Wilson s Warbler Yellow-breasted Chat

5 Eastern Towhee American Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln s Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Scarlet Tanager Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak Blue Grosbeak Indigo Bunting Dickcissel Bobolink Red-winged Blackbird Eastern Meadowlark Rusty Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Orchard Oriole Baltimore Oriole House Finch Purple Finch White-winged Crossbill Common Redpoll Pine Siskin American Goldfinch Evening Grosbeak House Sparrow