Lowland Eagles of San Diego County

Well, it's been a prodigiously Eagle-y month here in the flat lands.

First we had an adult Bald Eagle in the San Pasqual Valley during our scouting trip on 16 December 2012 for our Escondido CBC count area. This was in the same tree -- possible even on the same branch -- where we had an adult and second-cycle Bald Eagle during the 2011 Escondido CBC.

Then we had what appeared to be a third-cycle Bald Eagle in the very same San Pasqual Valley tree a week later. Although as luck would have it, neither bird turned up for the actual 2012 Escondido CBC.

Ospreys also seemed to be well distributed this month, with individuals seen at Torrey Pines State Reserve, San Elijo Lagoon, Batiquitos Lagoon, and over the SD Bay at Coronado.

Then today on New Years Eve morning during a quick walk around the Encina Power Plant lagoon at Agua Hedionda, we were surprised to see a Turkey Vulture come cruising over the train tracks and start circling above us. Turkey Vultures just aren't very common in this area of the coast ... although they are considerably more common west of I-5 between Oceanside and San Onofre on Camp Pendleton.

Imagine our surprise then when this oddly-placed 'Turkey Vulture' with its relatively small head and V-shaped wing attitude, turned out instead to be a mature Golden Eagle upon close examination! (As luck would have it, we'd gone out for a walk without a camera, but did have the presence of mind to brings the bins.)

The San Diego County Bird Atlas (Unitt, 2004) notes that while Golden Eagles are on a steep decline in San Diego County, there are four recognized nesting territories west of I-15: three in Camp Pendleton, and one around Lake Hodges.

Our bird today was about 10 flying miles from the closest dependable Camp Pendleton Golden Eagle sighting area, and a good 14 flying miles from Lake Hodges. It would really be interesting to know where this bird calls "home," and what it was doing in such a relatively urbanised area.

Onging losses of bird and wildlife habitat in Southern California

One of the areas we've birded frequently in the past was the Macs Road Pond (restricted area) at MCB Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.  Typical bird lists for the site included three to four dozen water and upland birds.

However, this pond went dry over the summer of 2012.  We've checked back a few times over the fall, but construction in the area made it tough.  Nevertheless, there hasn't been any water in the area.

The other day, I stopped by on the way off base for Christmas break.  There was a bit of water around the sewer outfall pipe (?) at <33.243031,-117.395692>.  There was also a small bit of standing water (mere inches deep) in the main pool area between the road dike and Stuart Mesa Road.  But what had once amounted to acres of shallow lake and wetlands, remains effectively dry and dead.

Gone are the breeding Redheads, Coots, and Pied-bill Grebes. Nowhere to be seen are the Common Gallinules, Soras, Northern Shovelers and assorted Teals, and resident bands of Black-necked Stilts and Killdeers.

We don't know if this is due to climate-related precipitation changes, or changes in management of the Base's water resources.  Either way, it's a sad loss of too-scarce riparian and wetland habitat in increasingly urban and dry San Diego County.

Charity begins at home ... right?

Before you fork out those end-of-year charitable donations in response to all those last-minute emailed pleas for 2012 donations, it would be prudent to take a look at where your charitable donations go.
 
Fact is, many Americans are woefully naive when it comes to who "non-profit" thing.   Popular misconceptions notwithstanding, "non-profit" does not equal "doing the Lord's work."

All 501C3 non-profit status means in most states is that the entity is involved in some loosely define "public interest" activity, and that it has structured its accounting in a way that, from the IRS's perspective,  the entity earns no "profits" (although they can usually carry over excess income from year to year).
 
What 501C3 non-profit status does NOT mean is that the staff and directors and vendors and suppliers of the "charity" are all living a life of ascetic monks.

Consider for example the National Audubon Society, which gets money one way or another from virtually every active birder.  According to the BBB, National Audubon's Chief Executive Officer John Flicker (Flicker?  Really?  Has John Flicker met Debbi Shearwater?) made a cool $337,760 for the fiscal year July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's a lot of money to be paid for being the nation's best bird lover!

Now mind you, I'm not just picking on National Audubon, which is by no means the worst "non-profit" offender.  According to a recent Snopes report:

• The President and CEO of the United States Fund for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Caryl M. Stern, receives yearly compensation was $472,891.  (While it takes good care of its CEO, it is unclear whether or not UNICEF actually does very much to help poor children.)
• 
  
• The current President and CEO of the American Red Cross, Gail J. McGovern, in 2010 received a total yearly compensation of about $1,037,000.
•  
• The President and CEO of United Way Worldwide, Brian A. Gallagher, last reported total yearly compensation of $717,076 (including a base salary of $415,613).
• 
  The CEO of Goodwill Industries International, Jim Gibbons, in 2011 received a total reported compensation of $725,000.
   
• The two men who served as the Veterans of Foreign Wars' Commander-in-Chief during the 2009 tax year (Glen M. Gardner, Jr. and Thomas J. Tradewell, Sr.) received an aggregate total compensation of $329,868.
   
• In the 2009 tax year, the National Adjutant of Disabled American Veterans (Arthur H. Wilson), who is described as "serving as the DAV's chief executive officer," received a total compensation of $328,252.

I guess what it all boils down to is, in 21st century America, we've constructed a complex social caste system where most of the wealth is concentrated in a few families, and a bit-less wealthy servant class dedicates their careers to cajoling, begging, or conniving some of that wealth away to their respective "non-profits."  Of course, these professional panhandlers wear $1,500 suits, or little black dresses and pearls.  But if you did the same "work" standing next to a freeway off ramp with a "Will Work for Food" sign ... you'd likely get a ticket or worse.

The unseemliness of some high-class begging aside, some also wonder about the legitimacy of such relatively rich folks advocating on behalf of the poor or disadvantaged.  

Some people also point out that such well-heeled individuals working in the environmental non-profit arena are exceedingly well-insulated from the economic impacts of policies they may advocate.

On the other hand, is it not deeply troubling that an increasingly large share of 'public interest' work is being chosen, prioritized, and funded by a small handful of wealthy individuals ... individuals who must be pandered to relentlessly to get a share of their loot?  At best, it all seems very destructive to democratic principles.

Passing of Rich Stallcup

Rich Stallcup -- Ornithologist, Naturalist, Author, and Birder supreme – succumbed to complications from Leukemia on Saturday, December 15 2012 – the night of the Point Reyes Peninsula Christmas Bird Count.

Rich was one of the most famous, prolific, and beloved birders in California, and is known through-out the United States.  Together with our own Guy McCaskie, Rich is considered to be one of the true "Godfathers" of California ornithology.

Rich was a teenager when he began birdwatching in the early 1960s and he has continued to play a significant role in the State's birding world ever since. His birding discoveries on Point Reyes and Marin County are prolific and his Big Day and Bird-a-thon accomplishments are legendary.  Drafted into service during Vietnam and posted to Monterey, Rich recorded 18 "first" Monterey County bird species in a very short time. His Marin County "firsts" are said to number 90.

Rest in Peace Rich.  Yours was that too-rare combination of scientific expertise and human compassion.

Photo: At sea on Monterey Bay 18-Feb-1979 © D. Roberson

The Modernity of Jazz Album Covers: 1950s-1960s

From the blog "How to Be a Retronaut" -- The Modernity of Jazz Album Covers: 1950s-1960s. 

Very cool.

Our National Parks: Of, By, and For ... the Concessionaires?

Nowadays, it can cost upwards of several hundred dollars per night to stay in a lodge or hotel in one of our citizen-owned and much-beloved National Parks. You can also spend hundreds more partaking of amenities like camping, rafting, climbing, horseback riding, hiking, eating, etc.
 
So, what's the common link between all these things? 

Private concessionaires.

Now, is it a problem that the superintendents of some of our most beloved National Parks seem to have an, er, unhealthy relationship with these highly profitable operations?
 
Watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) believes it's a serious problem. So do investigative journalists at the Seattle Times.

On the other hand, the Obama Administration doesn't seem troubled at all.  

What do you think?

Grand Canyon NP Superintendent David Uberuaga by ERIKA SCHULTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

San Pasqual Valley (SD County) Bald Eagle

While out scouting our Escondido CBC area on Sunday, December 16 2012, we came across what is probably a fully mature adult Bald Eagle just off Bandy Canyon Road near the Santa Maria Creek bridge.  Approximate map coordinates are [33.074947,-116.97989].

This is the same tree -- probably even on the same limb -- where we had two Bald Eagles in our Escondido CBC area on 31-DEC-11, and also on 01-JAN-12. One of those looked to be a 3d-year bird, and the other appeared to be a mature adult bird. Sadly, however, that data is not available on the eBird range and point maps, presumably due to the chronic petulance and pedantry of the local eBird Gestap ... , er, monitors.

Please note the markedly ragged flight feathers on the left wing. (Unfortunately, the bird had launched and retracted landing gear before we got anywhere close enough to see any leg banding.)  It would be interesting to know if this bird also turns up at the Ramona Grasslands, which is only a few miles away by air. There was some question at least year's CBC if we were in fact counting the same BAEAs seen that day in Ramona.

***

AVISO! Your best viewing bet is to park at the Santa Ysabel Creek/Bandy Canyon Road trailhead and walk down the trail. But this bird is VERY skittish. We stopped a good distance away, hoping to get off a quick photo. However, the bird still bolted. We last saw it high up and headed southeast towards Ramona.

Cuckoo for Courtesy

There's been yet another ugly outbreak of argumentativeness in our home town on the subject of whether or not to play bird recordings in an effort to attract and see birds. 

Again, we think the ethical answer is pretty simple:  Do whatever you reasonably can to avoid having any direct impact on wildlife when in the field.

Thankfully, we've come a long ways from the days when both professional and amateur ornithologists regularly went into the field armed, not with bins and cameras, but shotguns and nets.  And no responsible birder would (we hope!) argue that it's ethical to toss a brick into a shrub to flush that bird that's maddeningly refusing to just come out and be seen. 

But for some reason, assaulting the ears of birds with phony calls becomes more difficult to figure out.  And more often than not, the 'reasoning' behind the arguments in favor of playing tapes is little more than, "I really want to see the bird, so it must be okay."

Meanwhile, we are proud to report that when we recently found ourselves in Monterey, California just down the road from the Common Cuckoo found in Watsonville, and when we found ourselves early one Saturday morning in the company of between 75 and 100 fellow birders patiently standing around for nearly two hours waiting for the bird to re-appear ... not one person played a tape.  No one even flashed out a cuckoo clock!

Instead of tapes being played and fences being trampled, we were frankly amazed to see one of the most civil, well-behaved impromptu mass gatherings we've ever been a part of.  We saw people helping complete strangers to get a better view, and we saw people willingly giving up prime viewing spots once they'd had a good look. 

In such a graceless and uncivil age, it did our hearts good to be even a small part of that gathering.

    

   

   

The Birds Are Coming!

Almost 50 years ago, Alfred Hitchcock launched a publicity campaign for his new project based on those four words. 

 

Now, NCM Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and Universal are bringing this American classic back to the big screen, newly restored and in celebration of Universal's 100th Anniversary, for only one day on Wednesday, September 19th.

 

TCM Event Series

Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds

In Select Movie Theaters Nationwide

Wednesday, September 19th - 7:00 PM (local time)*

 

*Additional matinee showings available at select movie theater locations. Check your local listings for details.

 

Turner Classic Movies Host Robert Osborne will introduce Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and share with you an exclusive interview he conducted with the film’s star Tippi Hedren specifically for this special presentation. Hedren will not only reveal how “Hitch” hand-picked her to play the part of Melanie Daniels but also how the movie that launched her career -- ended it. Osborne will even reach deep into the TCM Archives to share more on set stories from Hedren’s co-stars: Rod Taylor and Suzanne Pleshette. 

 

Don’t miss your chance to see this chilling horror classic return to the silver screen, newly restored by Universal for their 100th Anniversary for only one day and experience it like never before!

 

Tickets are on sale now!  Go to this link, and enter your zip code to find your nearest participating theater and to purchase tickets today. 

 

Limited Seats Available – so buy your tickets early!  North San Diego County venues include:

 

Oceanside 16
401 MISSION AVE
OCEANSIDE, CA 92054
760-439-1327  

 

San Marcos 18
1180 W SAN MARCOS BLVD
SAN MARCOS, CA 92078
760-471-3734

Coming attractions

Tourism dollars for the birds (and more open-space habitat)!

Environmental costs and impacts of hobby birding

Rufous or Allen’s?

Any other ideas?  Leave them in Comments.

California State Parks chicanery

UPDATE 12 August 2012:  Gov. Jerry Brown has asked lawmakers to spend some of the newfound parks money on a matching fund to solicit future donations -- rather than return money to donors who gave when they believed the system was broke.  WTF!?  Meanwhile, California's Joint Legislative Audit Committee has voted unanimously to approve an independent audit of the state parks department to examine how and why nearly $54 million in two special funds went unreported -- even as budget cuts were threatening to close 70 parks.

UPDATE 28 July 2012:  The Sacramento Bee reports that two more high-level employees have departed the state Department of Parks and Recreation in the wake of a financial scandal. Ann Malcolm had been chief counsel at the Parks Department for two years.  The other is Jay Walsh, who was a special assistant to parks director Ruth Coleman.
Gov. Jerry Brown has directed the Finance Department to audit state parks to explain the $54 million surplus.  Brown also asked the attorney general's office to investigate. On Thursday, the attorney general set up the phone hotline and a special email address to collect tips. 

State employees and members of the public with relevant information are urged to call (916) 324-7561 or email ParksInvestigation@doj.ca.gov.

Legislative Republicans have urged Democratic budget leaders to repeal $15.3 million in annual funding for state parks that lawmakers passed in June.  "As you are aware, the recent budgetary scandals at the Department of Parks and Recreation have undermined the public's faith in government," wrote GOP Assembly members Jim Nielsen and Beth Gaines. "As leaders on the Budget Committee, it is imperative that we work together to restore credibility to an already damaged budget process.

Finally, the California State Parks Foundation, a longtime nonprofit partner with the state, wrote to the governor and Legislature to request a separate probe by the state auditor to assure an "autonomous and unimpeded audit" of state parks. It urged lawmakers to appropriate the surplus to keep parks open and to fund new revenue generating programs.

ORIGINAL POST: 

To all the well-meaning types who rose to the defense of numerous California state parks following threats of park closure due to budget problems  — well, it should come as good news that the breathtakingly incompetent Ruth Coleman, director of the system since 2003, resigned Friday (20 July 2012) after officials discovered that her department had sat on $54 million of unspent money that it had not reported to the Department of Finance as required by as required by long-standing state fiscal policy.  In an especially astonishing bit of accountability for these times, the park department's second-in-command, Acting Chief Deputy Director Michael Harris, was actually canned.

You may remember that this whole park-closure debacle arose from a shortfall of "just" $22 million.

These events came a week after the Sacramento Bee broke the news of another scandal – involving an unauthorized vacation buyout program offered to employees at park headquarters in 2011 – which cost the state more than $271,000.  Manuel Thomas Lopez, the former deputy director of administrative services at state parks, admitted to The Bee that he was responsible for the buyout.  He was demoted in October and resigned in May.

While we here at SDVO do not mean denigrate the efforts of those who sought to protect their favorite state parks, the take-home lesson here is that we continue to pay huge sums of state taxes to fund these parks, and to pay very well the people who run them.  Rather than merely acquiescing to the truly bone-headed idea of locking up our state park gems, or else falling prey to extortion by public officials, our efforts should have gone into making those of Ruth Coleman's ilk explain why they had so miserably mismanaged our irreplaceable public assets in the first place.  If we had done, just maybe we could have all saved a lot of time and effort and money.

Slashing and burning for the ducks of Wister

Some visitors to the Wister Unit near Nyland, California have been surprised to find the entire area surrounding the Nature Trail burned and bulldozed, with only a few trees still standing along the road.

What's going on here?

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) reports that the Imperial Wildlife Area was created in 1954 in order to safeguard habitat for migratory birds, alleviate crop damage to adjacent farms and to offer some unique recreation opportunities to Californians. Facilities at the area include roads, parking areas, portable restrooms, flat hiking trails, public phones, primitive camping, maps, bird check lists, and a special viewing platform is available. Drinking water, however, is not available.

So far, so good.

Then in  2008-09, extensive habitat "enhancement work" (at least from a hunter's perspective) at the Wister Unit was funded by a North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) $1 million grant administered by DFG. The first step in that action was bulldozing salt cedars and phragmites from levees and units. Units were then burned to remove dense stands of cattails.

This latest effort looks to be more of the same kind of "habitat enhancement."

* * *

As background, Congress passed the NAWCA in 1989 to encourage partnerships to conserve North American wetland ecosystems for waterfowl, other migratory birds, fish, and wildlife. The NAWCA also encourages the formation of public-private partnerships to develop and implement wetland conservation projects consistent with the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP).

If there's a problem with any of this, it's that NAWCA-fostered public-private partnerships often involve hunting organizations.  In the case of Wister, substantial money grants went to the California Waterfowl Association (CWA) of Roseville, California.  CWA is a nonprofit organization whose principal objectives are the "conservation, protection, and enhancement of California's waterfowl resources, wetlands, and associated hunting heritage."

Before CWA, Ducks Unlimited (DU), another non-profit with a core hunting mission, was involved in "enhancing" 6,000 acres of the Wister Unit through at least 11 major projects spanning a decade.   

Given all this hunting organization involvement, it should not come as any great surprise when these kind of taxpayer-funded "habitat improvements" focus only on attracting ducks and geese, and on making it easier to shoot them.

It can also be a problem that state wildlife agencies like DFG often have dual missions: endangered species conservation on the one hand, and hunting and fishing enhancement on the other hand. That tends to create a political balancing act that doesn't always end well for non-game species that aren't otherwise protected by the Endangered Species Act or other specific laws.

* * *

Don't get us wrong.  Some of us here at SDVO have done our share of duck hunting.  Some of us even still have a fowling piece or two in the old gun rack.

The real problem, in our view, is the accelerating shift generally away from public projects, to these so-called "public-private partnerships."

This has been a groundswell change in American public administration philosophy based on the dogmatic ideal that government is inherently wasteful and inept, and that private interests will always do a better job of spending the public's money.

Moreover, this concept has been seized upon -- and often cynically in our view -- by a legion of lobbyists from hunting, conservation, and other organizations who adeptly recognized in this emerging "public-private partnership" concept a way to obtain substantial taxpayer funding, combined with broad action authority.  And the beauty of it is, it can all be shamelessly and openly done to primarily benefit these organizations' own memberships.

Unfortunately, what the hunter-friendly "habitat enhancements" at places like Wister show, is that so-called "public-private partnerships" most often involve granting private organizations like CWA and DU a way to further their private interests (i.e., duck and goose hunting for their members) by giving them access to the public checkbook, and by giving them a remarkable degree of control over re-shaping and managing our irreplaceable public lands.

Whelan Lake to get "free" water through 2031

UPDATE  03-August-2012:  The Oceanside City Council approved, on 01-August-2012 by 5-0 vote, Amendment 3 to the Water Supply Agreement between the City of Oceanside and Whelan Lake Bird Sanctuary, Inc.  The City will now provide recycled water to Whelan Lake from the San Luis Rey Wastewater Treatment Plant at no charge through June 30, 2031, in "exchange for use of habitat at the Sanctuary for future mitigation purposes for Water Utilities Department projects."

* * *

The North County Times reports that bird lovers can rejoice -- a compromise is in the offing that would allow Whelan Lake to continue receiving reclaimed water from the city.

The Oceanside City Council is set to vote Wednesday on a new agreement with the Whelan Lake Bird Sanctuary that would allow the city to continue providing free recycled water to the man-made lake through 2031 in exchange for the right to conduct future environmental mitigation projects at the property.

The agreement, if approved, removes a concern that the lake, on the northeastern edge of Oceanside near the city's wastewater treatment plant, might eventually run dry.

In 2011, the city put the nonprofit that runs the sanctuary on notice that it would have to start paying fair market value for the reclaimed water it was receiving for free from the city.

Without a long-term source of cash, sanctuary officials said they were not sure what they were going to do to keep Whelan Lake full.

Brent Jobe, president of the group, said Friday that everyone connected with the sanctuary is ecstatic about the compromise that has been worked out.

* * *

It took some sleuthing, but it appears that Brent Jobe is Director of Whelan Lake Bird Sanctuary, Inc.  This corporation is apparently the organization established to comply with the wishes of Ellen Whelan, who donated her family's entire 305-acre former dairy farm with the understanding that the land was to remain protected and used as a sanctuary for migratory and resident waterfowl.

Water would seem a crucial ingredient to fulfilling Ms. Whelan's wishes.  We here at SDVO wish the current owners well.

However, handing over use of the property to the City of Oceanside for "future environmental mitigation projects" could be fraught with grave danger if it's not absolutely clear who is in charge at the end of the day.  Be careful out there!

* * *

As an aside, we here at SDVO wish there were better access to Whelan Lake for birding.  But if the trust's mission is to provide a bird sanctuary rather than education or recreation, we understand completely that resources must be applied appropriately.  And we do appreciate all the infrastructure improvements made recently, as well as installation of a much more personable caretaker.

The wildlife killers

BLUF:  Wildlife Services is an Orwellian agency monicker if ever we heard one.  Generally speaking, it appears that Wildlife Services is to "serving" wildlife, as Pol Pot or Adolph Hitler were to "serving" humanity.

* * *

There was a bit of dust-up amongst the "elite" birders in our home town recently on the subject of "predator control," and about the division of the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service known as Wildlife Services.

The hub-bub all started with an article written by Rob Davis in the "Voice of San Diego." (The Voice of San Diego says it is a "member-based nonprofit investigative news organization that gives concerned citizens the tools they need to engage in important conversations about their community.") 

A number of highly-esteemed local birders have stepped up to defend Wildlife Services.  The fact is, however, that Mr. Davis is by no means alone in expressing concerns about this very active, but little-known federal agency. 

The Sacramento Bee earlier this year published a three-part report by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tom Knudson.  And the SacBee also doesn’t paint a pretty picture of a benign federal agency staffed exclusively by conscientious wildlife managers.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, while recognizing that much of the work of Wildlife Services does benefit the public, has also come out strongly in favor of reforming the Wildlife Service predator control program. 

Oregon Public Radio's "Thinking Out Loud" has also just done an interesting show on the subject with representatives from Predator Defense and the ranching industry.

Finally, two U.S congressmen – one a Republican, the other a Democrat (to preclude those shrill cries of partisanship) – are calling for a congressional investigation of the federal government's wildlife damage control program.  "We have an agency that appears to be wasting federal dollars and actually causing harm while doing it, but yet perhaps covering up what they are doing and why.  That's something Congress should investigate," Rep. John Campbell (R-Irvine) has said. 

The SacBee series, along with numerous other editorials and features, can be accessed at the Predator Defense website.  And yes, we here at SDVO get it ... Predator Defense is itself biased in its views.  But that doesn't automatically discredit the views of these dedicated professionals.  Moreover, it appears that these folks have actually spent some time studying this troubling subject.

Birding ethics

There are plenty of posts on the web on the subject of birding ethics.  Most are some variation on the American Birding Association (ABA) PRINCIPLES OF BIRDING ETHICS.

Rather than replicate the ABA guidelines here, we'll just start with a nutshell version - albeit with a few comments added:

1. Promote the welfare of birds and their environment.

• Support the protection of important bird habitat.  (But in my humble opinion, it's ALL important in over-crowded places like Southern California.) 
• Avoid stressing birds or exposing them to danger.  (Easier said than done!  This will likely be an often-recurring theme as we go along here.)

2. Respect the law, and the rights of others.

• Do not enter private property without the owner's explicit permission.
• Use public property in accordance with posted rules and regulations. 
• Practice common courtesy in contacts with all other people. (And notwithstanding the comments of a certain SoCal bird-jerks that we will re-visit in a later post, this should include limiting the scanning of people and their private property - and especially their homes - with binoculars, scopes, cameras, and sound recording devices.)

3. Ensure that feeders, nest structures, and other artificial bird environments are safe.

• If you're going to attract wild birds, find out first everything you need to know about protecting them from artificially induced predation, disease, or other physical dangers.

4. Group birding, whether organized or impromptu, requires special care.

• Probably the most common problem, and also the least understood and most overlooked ethical issue.
• For-fee tour operations (whether commercial or non-profit do-gooder types) bear a special responsibility to place the welfare of birds, and the benefits of public knowledge, ahead of economic gain.

Who are the San Diego Virtual Ornithologists?

San Di·e·go [San Dee-egg-oh]  noun 1.  A nice place ... that was so much nicer before most of the current population showed up in the latter decades of the 20th century, and before it was discovered by the unwashed masses of the Greater Los Angeles Basin as a relatively cheap, quick getaway from the bunghole in which they live and work.

Vir·tu·al  [vur-choo-uhl] adjective  1.  Being such in power, force, or effect, though not actually or expressly – e.g., such: a virtual dependence on objective reality.

Or·ni·thol·o·gists [awr-nuh-thol-uh-jists]  pl. noun  1.  Ornithologists study birds, but there is no clear job description for the practice.  2.  An ornithologist may practice professionally or informally (see, e.g., Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) at 01:14:24 (MRS. BUNDY:  "I have seen jays doing everything it is conceivable for jays to do. Ornithology happens to be my avocation, Miss Daniels.").

***

MISSON:

To get people's heads out of their atlases, and to get them looking at what's actually happening around them.

CREDOS:

Virtual Ornithologists understand that yesterday's hard-won personal knowledge, range map, or bird atlas may have been rendered virtually (there's that word again!) obsolete by changing global, regional, or local conditions brought on by climate change, human development, species overcrowding, food-supply failure, or myriad other factors.

Virtual Ornithologists know that perceived knowledge about the migration, distribution, and behavior of birds is never absolute.  It has always been, and will always be, subject to limits on data-gathering fiscal and human resources, physical or legal limits on access to all parts of any geographic terrain, and sometimes because the %$#&ing bird simply never called or came out of that %$#&ing hedgerow!

Virtual Ornithologists comprehend that collecting bird data always requires some quantum of subjective data – that it is often impracticable to actually count all birds in a flock, hard to identify a particularly young or odd-looking individual, and humanly impossible to perfectly enter all collected data error-free in a database. 

Virtual Ornithologists understand that the best source of information is the individual on the ground, and that it is the height of arrogance and hubris to interpose one's own judgment for any but the most absurd bird reports (e.g., a wild Emperor Penguin in the Mohave Desert!).  And when such an interposition is made, it should be done only by officially sanctioned bodies (e.g., the California Bird Records Committee) following clear and objective review guidelines, and as free as is humanly possible of ego-driven speculation, jealousy, or personal animosity.

Virtual Ornithologists strive for an ethics-based approach to birding that doesn't glorify, first and foremost, seeing in person the most birds in one year, one county, one lifetime, etc.  In other words, we recognize that all those birds are or are not objectively "out there" – whether or not we personally see them ... or not.

Virtual Ornithologists recognize that in many instances, (more on that soon!), most rare or unusual birds would be better of if we just stayed put.  (Think carbon footprints, clogged roads, smog, stress on the bird, etc., etc., etc.).  The real trick is to figure out how to balance our natural desires as birders, with the needs of the birds we want so badly to see.

Nutting's Flycatcher at Bill Williams River NWR, Arizona

While we were in the Lake Havasu area over the weekend on a pre-scheduled trip, we ran into Lauren Harter and David Vander Pluym at the Bill Williams River NWR visitor center overlook. And they spoke in hushed and reverent terms of a Nutting's Flycatcher (Myiarchus nuttingi) that had been found nearby at Planet Ranch.

Turns out that on 18 December, it was Lauren and David themselves who had heard what they thought was a Nutting's Flycatcher in a nearby riparian area, but they could not find the bird.

On the 19th the bird responded with prejudice to a recording of a Nutting's Flycatcher.  The bird was photographed and some sound recordings were obtained by Lauren and David.

At about 8:20AM (MST) on 21 January, SDVO went to the same area, where we ran into a nice couple from out of town who had hustled down to get the NUFL.

After a bit of wandering about, we heard a distinctive and repeated "reeep" which matched perfectly the 33-second recording on xeno-canto.org by Nick Athanas. And this even after the two other rarity-chasers on scene had set off their car alarm accidentally!

The Nutting’s Flycatcher was first found on December 18, 2011 by Lauren and David Vander Pluym.  Previously, there were only four records of Nutting’s Flycatcher in North America, three in Arizona and one in California.

Somewhat dated (2003), but extensive analysis of Nutting's Flycatcher ID by Don Robertson, can be found here.

19 December 2011, photos by David Vander Pluym

19 December 2011, photos by David Vander Pluym

19 December 2011, photos by Cole Wolf

26 December 2011, photos by Philip Kline

26 December 2011, photos by Philip Kline

09 March 2012, photo by Tom Johnson

09 March 2012, photo by Tom Johnson

09 March 2012, photo by Tom Johnson

This photo does not show the diagnostic field marks, but does show some supporting marks like the brownish face and shape compared to an Ash-throated Flycatcher.
20 December 2011, photo by John West