Salton Sea Trumpeter Swan?

Continuing in the tradition of stumbling across some pretty cool rarities like a Nutting's Flycatcher in Arizona, a Common Cuckoo in downtown Watsonville, and a Magnificent Frigatebird over San Diego Bay, SDVO traveled to the Salton Sea over the weekend with some other hardy souls from Palomar Audubon Society with nothing in mind but a nice birding weekend with nice folks, and lots and lots of regular old birds.

Now, this trip had been in the works for weeks.  But when we left San Diego on Friday morning, there was some new chatter on the web about a Tundra Swan at Unit 1 of the Sonny Bono NWR.

Not fantastic, but a Tundra Swan would have been a county and year bird for us.

But by the time we got out to Unit 1 on Saturday morning and ran into Howard King and Curtis Marantz, the bird had been seen by Guy McKaskie, had had its mug shot passed around back east by Paul Lehman, and had morphed into a very likely Trumpeter Swan.

So what?  Well, the status of the Trumpeter Swan in California has long been a matter of considerable controversy.  In the late 1990s The Trumpeter Swan Society had suggested that as many as 200 birds may regularly winter in California. However, the only firm evidence was a mere 21 accepted records out of a total of 58 sightings reviewed by the California Bird Records Committee.  (As of writing date, sightings reviewed by CBRC has soared to a whopping 67.  And none of those birds reviewed were supposedly seen in Imperial County.)

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While we wait for the CBRC to annoint this bird (or not), here's what we know:

This bird has been in this area since at least 12-Jan-2013 when the San Bernardino Valley Audubon Goose and Crane trip tentatively listed it as a juvenile Tundra Swan, and when other listers posted it to eBird as a juvenile Trumpeter.

This large single bird was pointed out to us by Howard King and Curtis Marantz when the PAS group was headed back out of Unit 1. When King and Marantz first re-found it a few minutes earlier, it was in a large group of Snow Geese. However, by the time we arrived on the scene it was already standing alone in a field on the east side of Vendel Road about 0.80 miles south of the Unit 1 observation tower.

We studied the bird for about 10-15 minutes, but it never took wing while we were there. Nor did we get to hear it vocalize.

***

As the Trumpeter Swan Society (HQ'ed in Plymouth, Minnesota) notes, there are three species of swans ordinarily found in North America. The Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator) and Tundra Swan (C. columbianus) are indigenous, while the Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) is a Eurasian species that has been introduced and now breeds in the wild in some areas. All three are very large all-white birds.

The bird was clearly a swan. Mute Swans are easily distinguished by the bright orange bill and distinctive knob on the forehead. The all black bill, and smoothly wedge-shaped head/bill, eliminates the Mute as a possibility here. (Mute Swans are easily distinguished by a bright orange bill and a distinctive 'knob' on the forehead.)

Trumpeters and Tundras are similar looking species that are more difficult to identify. Moreover, Trumpeters often mix with flocks of the relatively more common Tundra Swan throughout their migration and winter range. Distinguishing Trumpeters from Tundras is not easy, but it is possible by paying close attention to a few distinctive characteristics.

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While our light was poor, the swan's plumage appeared mostly white underneath, and mostly gray-brown on the upper areas (albeit with some lighter areas on the back and wings).

The head/bill was wedge-shaped. The bill appeared all black, but the distance (~0.253 km) and poor light made it difficult to see a lot of detail. However, we noted no red border on the lower mandible (but the red border may be present on some Tundras as well). We also saw no yellow spot in front of this bird's eye (but this tell-tale spot maybe absent on some Tundras).

The bird's neck appeared to rise from the forepart of the back, rather than from the front of the body as with Tundra Swans.

***

Guy McCaskie and Matt Sadowski also re-found the swan the previous day, and got to see it fly. (Since Trumpeters usually hold their necks differently from Tundras during takeoff, it would be interesting to know if Guy and Matt noted any tendency of the bird to pull its neck into a shallow S-curve during its first few wing beats.)

Guy has reported it as a Trumpeter tenatively, and notes that "Steven Mlodinow and Bill Tweit, far more familiar with the separation of Trumpeter and Tundra swans than [Guy], have looked at photos of this swan and concluded it is a Trumpeter Swan."

eBird and Conservation

I hear lots of people ask, "Why should I enter my data into eBird?"  Or even more often, "Why should I put up with the egomaniac eBird monitors ... just to keep a bird list?"

Every birder might have a different answer to this question. For some it might be "to help me track my life list," or "to create a permanent record of my sightings," or "to let others know about rarities in my area,"  or even "because I love the pain of some jerk challenging my sighting based on a pedantic and arrogant self-confidence that he or she knows better than me what I saw."

And sure, those things are all important.  But Dave Bell over at BirdsEye and BirdLog argues that these are just the perks (or pains) that come from doing something even more important: providing raw data that supports the long-term conservation of birds and other species globally.

Say what?

Well, don't take my word for it.  Go read Dave's blog post and see what you think.

The high cost of a credit-based life

Okay, it's a bit off the topic of birding. But an article entitled "10 Shocking Money Facts" on AARP's website got me to thinking again about how much of a negative impact the easy-credit environment of the past few decades has completely changed the fabric of our lives ... changed for the worse for most of us, but I suppose for the better if you make your living in the finance so-called "industry."

(I say "industry" because, like virtually everything else in our lives, this term has been bastardized of late. Traditionally, "industry" meant "economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacture of goods in factories." But since the arbitrage financiers have pretty much killed off that kind of productive activity in the U.S., the term "industry" has been subverted to include lots of non-productive activities like high finance, and purely consumptive activities like tourism and fast-food. I guess they just like the dynamic sound of the word?)

1. Let's start with an easy one.  Americans now spend more than $110 billion annually on fast food. What's that got to do with a general rant on the evils of a credit-based life? Well, a study by BankRate.com found that when people use a charge card to pay -- which they increasingly do -- they tend to buy about 50 percent more of this vile crap per meal than when they pay with cash. And that's not good for anyone but Col. Sanders, Ronald McDonald ... oh, and your cardiologist.

2. CNN reports that thanks to rising tuition and a tough job market, college seniors graduated with an average of nearly $27,000 in student loan debt last year, and one in every five families is now saddled with education debt.  In 2012, the total amount of outstanding student loan debt hit the $1 trillion mark for the first time in U.S. history, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  And according to CNBC and the the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the proportion of U.S. student loan balances that are in delinquency — that is, unpaid for 90 days or more — surpassed that of credit-card balances in the third quarter for the first time.  And believe me, if things go badly with your ability to "service" (another great Orwellism!) your student loan, they go really badly.  They're one of the few debts where you pretty much have to die to discharge them.   Bankruptcy sure won't get 'er done.  Finally, aside from saddling our next generation of would-be socio-economic self-improvers with crushing debt right out of the chute, it would be hard to argue with a straight face that an educational "industry" awash in easy credit money  (at least easy to get, if not to repay!) isn't the foremost reason education fees and tuitions have skyrocketed since this particular loan racket was turbocharged starting in the 1990s.

3.  The average amount of a new car loan is now more than $30,000 — a 40 percent increase over the past 10 years — and about 45 percent of those loans are now longer than six years.  But back in 1950 when most folks paid cash, an average new car ran about $1,510, and average household income was about $5,000.   In other words, in 1950 an average American worker could by a new car with just 3.6 months of earnings.  But by 2010 an average car cost $29,200, while average household income had only grown to about $67,300.   In other words, after 60 years of "progress,"an average American worker now has to work 5.2 months to pay for an average car.  What's changed?  Well, lots actually.  But the ability to bury such price increases in the "easy monthly payments" scam certainly can't have hurt car makers, can it?  Starting to see a pattern here?

4. According to the website CreditLoan.com, the average American will now pay more than $600,000 in interest over the course of a lifetime.  Think about that for a minute.  That $600,000 is the price of your instant gratification -- of being able to have RIGHT NOW what you want and/or "deserve."  Moreover, as I've been trying to explain above, that $600,000  is just the tip of the iceberg.  The whole "easy monthly payments" scam has also enabled all kinds of "industries" -- from car makers, to realtors and house builders, to education providers, to fast-food purveyors -- to increase their prices and profit margins whenever the average American consumer is willing to look no further than what it'll cost per month to pay for their latest prize acquisition.

5. If that doesn't make you feel like a chump, consider that Creditloan.com says the typical American now first takes on debt — usually a credit card and/or car loan — while still in high school!  When I was in high school, my folks thought it was a big deal when they got their first BankAmericard (but I recall it also scared my mom shitless).  But now we're teaching our kids to be good little debtors before they even get out of high school.  Yay wage slaves!  Way to go, America!!

Gen-Xers don’t care much about global climate change

UPDATE  09-JAN-2013:  According to the NY Times, the numbers are in, and 2012 -- the year of a surreal March heat wave, a severe drought in the Corn Belt and a huge storm that caused broad devastation in the Middle Atlantic States -- turns out to have been the hottest year ever recorded in the contiguous United States.  And in on-fire Australia, it's gotten so much hotter that they've had to add new colors to the weather maps.  But will these developments finally change the minds of climate change deniers?  Not bloody likely.  As Upton Sinclair once famously quipped, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

UPDATE  28-AUG-2012:  From the American Meteorological Society’s 40th annual Broadcast Meteorology Conference, in Boston, Mass. comes the story of weathercaster Jim Gandy, one of the nation’s most effective climate change communicators.  Gandy broadcasts in South Carolina, one of the most conservative states in the nation.  But instead of the expected backlash from "deep red" viewers, the public response has been very positive.  That's a lesson for the kids.   Watch here to see Jim Gandy explain how climate change is great ... at least for Poison Ivy!

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UPDATE  07-AUG-2012:  Mother Jones offers a handy guide to the health impacts of global climate change.  Increased rainfall, warmer temperatures, dying reefs, and hotter oceans are handing diseases that afflict humans—algal, fungal, mosquito-borne, tick-borne—a chance to spread.  That means that diseases previously unheard in the United States of are now emerging.  Thanks, Ma!

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UPDATE 30-July-2012:  Even Richard A. Muller, a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a one-time leading climate change skeptic, has issued a mea culpa and announced, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, that not only is global warming real, but estimates of the rate of warming were correct, and humans are almost entirely the cause.  

* * *

A story in Grist provides alarming new insights into the views and concerns of members of Generation X on the subject of climate change. ("Generation X" is often defined as the post-Baby Boom generation born in the developed Western nations between 1961 and 1981.)

According to a 2011 poll of about 3,000 Gen-Xers in their late 30s, members of Generation X are responding in a disturbing way to climate change — with a big, collective shrug of indifference. 

Only 22 percent expressed “high concern” about climate change ... and this despite the fact that “Generation X is the most scientifically literate and best educated generation in American history,” according to lead researcher Jon D. Miller.

Of even more concern is that these numbers seem to be trending downwards, while people with children and grandchildren appear to care even less on the whole.

Miller says the complexity of climate change and global weather patterns, combined with contradictory messages broadcast by politicians, environmental groups, media outlets, and fossil-fuel companies, make it difficult for busy people to wrap their heads around the issues.

Or to put it less delicately, Christian Chynoweth, a 40-year-old San Francisco poll respondent who fears that his two children will grow up to face a topsy-turvy climate, is “totally into the environment” and “definitely concerned” about climate change. 

But Mr. Chynoweth just doesn’t “spend much time” thinking about climate change. 

Why not?  Mr. Chynoweth complains of the sensationalistic approach of American media, and added “you’ve got to read through a lot of bullshit” to find actual, impartial news.

Just so.

Nevertheless — and notwithstanding frequent proclamations to the contrary on Fox News — the vast majority of actual scientists worldwide concur that the global climate is trending significantly warmer.  And as a recent Audubon policy brief concludes, that situation is increasingly bad for the birds we claim to care so much about.

Lowland Brown Creeper in Santee

On our way to Lindo Lake today (Sunday 06-JAN-2013) we stopped by Santee Lakes at about noon to see if we could re-find Brennan Mulrooney's HOODED MERGANSERS. We carefully checked the three southernmost ponds; no luck.

But just as it started to drizzle lightly, Amrit spotted a BROWN CREEPER skittering up in a spiral fashion from very low on a medium-sized Cottonwood situated at (32.850432,-117.005003), just north of Mast Blvd on the east side of the pond. After reaching the top of the trunk, the bird flew away to the north, whereupon we completely lost sight of it.

Along with the infusion of RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, it continues to be an odd year for birds that ought to be found much higher in the mountains in this part of the state! 

According to the SD County Bird Atlas (Unitt), creepers found way from coniferous woodlands are rare, and were noted at lowland elevations (e.g., Santee at ~400' AMSL) on only 13 occasions from 1997 to 2002.  Phil Unitt continues:

"These records are scattered over the coastal slope south to Singing Hills golf course (Q14; one on 5 December 1999, N. Perretta), though in previous years the species had been recorded south occasionally to the Tijuana River valley (3 November 1963, G. McCaskie; 19 December 1987, P. Unitt). The Brown Creeper is recorded rarely on Escondido, Oceanside, Rancho Santa Fe, and San Diego Christmas bird counts, in frequencies ranging from 4 times in 17 years for Escondido to 3 times in 50 years for San Diego. Its occurrences are not as irregular as those of many other montane birds, but there was a larger incursion in 1987-88, when these four counts yielded a total of six individuals; their annual average is only 0.13."

All in all, a very small bird, but kind of a big deal to find one of these critters in this neck of the woods!

New Year's Day

Our second annual Sand-to-Sage San Diego County New Year's Day driving tour bagged an even 80 bird species, and a few cool mammals.  

How many places in the civilised portions of the northern hemisphere can two people in one car do that on a January 1st outing?  What a place we live in!

Canada Goose, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Canvasback, Redhead, Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Wild Turkey, Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Eared Grebe, Western Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, American White Pelican, Brown Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, White-faced Ibis, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Northern Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, American Coot, American Avocet, Willet, Whimbrel, Marbled Godwit, Heermann's Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Western Gull, California Gull, Rock Pigeon, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Barn Owl, Anna's Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Acorn Woodpecker, American Kestrel, Black Phoebe, Say's Phoebe, Cassin's Kingbird, Western Scrub-Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, Verdin, Bushtit, Rock Wren, Bewick's Wren, Cactus Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, California Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Western Bluebird, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Phainopepla, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, California Towhee, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Tricolored Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Brewer's Blackbird, Purple Finch, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch.