Cascades Banding Camp

PSBO Is Hiring!

2010-04-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

Today is the application deadline for our Outreach Coordinator position. Come work for PSBO! Click for the job description.

2010 Cascades Banding Camp Registration is now open!

2010-04-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

We'll be headed back to McDaniel Lake for another season of Cascades Banding Camp.
Adult Training is July 25th - 31st.
Teen Training is August 9th-13th.

Contact Emily at emily@pugetsoundbirds.org for more info or to register

Volunteer with PSBO

2009-12-16T22:08:00.000-08:00

We're looking for volunteers to help with a wide range of tasks - including both field and office work. Would you like to learn more? We're planning a volunteer open house this winter to talk more about how you can get involved. Sign up to get on our volunteer email list and we'll keep you up to date with news about the open house and other upcoming volunteer opportunities.

Free Bird Monitoring Training

2009-10-27T00:08:00.000-07:00

How to find and report color-banded birds

Learn more about PSBO’s Birds Wintering in Urban Landscapes project, and how you can contribute. This project uses color coded leg bands to track chickadees and juncos in Shoreline and Lake Forest Park. We need observers to help us find and identify color banded birds to learn more about how they use the urban landscape throughout the winter.

The training will cover:

The goals of the project
Background about bird banding and color-banding
Identification of the target species
How and where to search for color banded birds
How to read color bands
How to report your findings

This class will be offered twice, each session will cover the same material:

Saturday, November 14^th, 12pm-2pm

at Shoreline Community College

AND

Sunday, November 15^th , 12pm-2pm

Near Shorecrest High School

Training is FREE—please contact Emily for more info or to register: emily@pugetsoundbirds.org

Teen Camp Report

2009-08-27T23:13:00.000-07:00

Read a great report by Seattle Audubon's BirdWatch Coordinator, Carly Gelarden about this year's teen banding camp.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading this blog. Data summary will be coming soon, and check back for information on next summer's training program.

Or email Emily Sprong (emily at pugetsoundbirds dot org) if you'd like to be put on our email list for future PSBO trainings.

The Final Day

2009-08-16T23:08:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm showered after the long drive back with the cargo van on Saturday night, I'm sad that I'm not watching the osprey catching fish in McDaniel Lake, and wondering who will be coming down to the little creeklet by camp for a drink. On Saturday morning, we had an adult male Evening Grosbeak lead its juvenile to see where to drink and how to get ashes from the firepit.

We closed out the banding on Saturday with another day of nets full of birds at the willows, including a slew of Nashville Warblers, some with fat levels in their furcular hollows of 3 and 4, possibly indicating that they are in the middle of migration, or have fattened up at the willows, in contrast to the many Yellow-rumped (Audubon's) Warblers, which mostly had no, or only traces of fat (scoring 0s or 1s). Their weights reached up over 10 grams, a good 20-25% over normal!

We also closed out the trainee banding with a White-headed Woodpecker - not a bad note to end on!

The adults trainees left and we broke up camp which will now be a some more streamlined set of 3 banding "blitzes" with experienced banders over the next week to capture the rest of the migration period this August up in the Wenatchee.

Thanks to everyone who made these two weeks so fantastic! We have been fortunate to have excellent partners: Seattle Audubon, and the Naches Ranger District of the Wenatchee National Forest, two fabulous groups of trainees, terrific trainers and other onsite staff, and better cooperation from the birds than we could have imagined. Thanks also to everyone who has read the blog, joined our facebook fan page, shared either with friends, or even joined PSBO - we appreciate your time and interest.

We will continue to post updates from the banding blitzes, LOTS of pictures, and data summaries here - so keep checking the blog!

The final bird of the 2009 Cascades Banding Camp

A second trip to Cash Prairie

2009-08-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

Thursday night the campers endured cold temperatures - dipping as low as 43 degrees. We started a little later than usual, to allow it to warm up to a safe temperature for banding (it is difficult for birds to keep themselves warm when they are caught in a mist net), but by 8:30 we were set up at Cash Prairie ready to band. We caught mostly juvenile dark-eyed juncos and chipping sparrows, but also caught some Townsend's Warblers (with a higher percentage of adults than at McDaniel Lake). We also caught a second-year female Lazuli Bunting - a new bird for the trip, and a surprising bird to find at such a high elevation.

The week had been full of Red Crossbills, but the group was interested in finding some White-winged Crossbills. Dan explained that we shouldn't get hopes up, as they are rare in this area, and it wasn't likely that we'd see them two years in a row (we banded one in 2008). Not to be deterred, the group prepared themselves by listening to some pre-recorded calls, and before long, were rewarded with a singing adult male White-winged Crossbill, accompanied by two females.

Unfortunately, the wind picked up abruptly, making it dangerous to mist net birds. Before we could close the nets, 3 birds had succumbed to the wind in the nets. Occasional mortalities are one of the harsh realities of banding, and while our mortality rate has been very low, every one is difficult.

As it was unsafe to band, we gathered our gear and headed out. We decided to explore a bit on our way back, and found Timberwolf Mountain not far from Cash Prairie, along a dramatic crest of the road. This expanse of terraced meadows is an old Forest Service lookout site. It is a much drier meadow than the one's we've been studying, where some sagebrush has even taken hold. The view from Timberwolf was terrific - and we could even see McDaniel Lake beneath us. The view in the meadow was just as exciting, as the meadow was overflowing with birds. We found super high concentrations of mostly resident birds, including some Mountain Blubirds, the first for the trip.

We headed back to McDaniel Lake, for our final night of camping.

Cold Weather Sets In

2009-08-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night the front passed and clear, cold weather set in at McDaniel Lake. We had a very busy morning and caught most of our birds for the day between 8:00-9:30am, after which we closed the nets for the morning.

The morning birds were very similar to the day before - mostly juvenile migrants, with a smattering of adults who had already completed their pre-migration molt. The birds from the day before had high fat contents (some of the data we collect on the birds to measure their condition), but today's birds were not in as good condition - either the stronger birds with higher fat content had moved on, or the cold night had depleted the birds' fat stores.

After a very busy morning, the group was still game to band more in the afternoon, so we headed back out, only to find that the migrants had, for the most part, vanished. We did catch more birds in the afternoon, although most were residents, the migrants had already moved on.
We did catch 2 new birds for the week and for this location - a Hermit Thrush and a Lincoln's Sparrow - both species we had caught the week before at higher elevation Cash Prairie.

Were the birds moving up in elevation or down? The decline in insect activity after the cold night was noticeable to us, surely it was impacting the birds as well, but the lower elevations, while warmer, were also drier, with fewer insects too.

Friday we head to Cash Prairie (at almost 6000' in elevation) to see what we can find up there.

The Green Gentian at Cash Prairie awaits us.

FALLOUT!!!

2009-08-13T15:40:00.000-07:00

We started the day by teaching the trainees how to set up nets. By 8am, we'd caught no birds in the new nets, so we decided to open up the meadow nets that have been so reliable. By 9am, we'd only caught 2-3 birds, an unusually slow start to the day. At the 9am net run, we came upon our first net - with 13 birds in it (all warblers, 4 different species)! We left a few people to extract birds from that net and the rest of us moved onto the net in the meadow alders, which was filled to the brim with 27 birds! At the final net, there were 24 birds, about 15 of which (all juvenile Yellow-rumped Warblers) we released at the net - there were just too many birds to safely band. As it was, it took a full hour to extract the 60+ birds from the net, and took until 1pm to process them all. Fortunately, we'd closed the nets after that net run, so did not continue to get inundated with birds.

For our trainees, it was a bit intimidating, especially for some who were doing their first net extractions this morning. But the group was ready to band again in the afternoon - so at 4:30, with the meadows still swarming with birds, we opened the nets back up. In an hour, we caught 23 birds at net 5 (where we'd had 27 in the morning - that net was open for a total of 2 hours and caught 50 birds).

By the end of the day, we'd caught 106 birds (98 of them in only 3 nets), a new single day record for the six years weve been holding the Cascades Banding Camp.

Of thest 106 birds, only a handful were adults, and only a few were recaps. As we've hypothesized, these wet, high elevation meadows seem to be an important stopover habitat for juvenile birds prior to their seasonal migration.

The quantity of birds was like a classic, eastern spring fallout. These birds had not been in the meadow the day before. They likely had come through with the front the night before, landed in the meadow in the night, and then rested through the night and late into the morning (hence the later than usual start to the bird activity).

It was truly an amazing day.

These montane wet meadows are important areas for juvenile birds.

More Birds, and Bats!

2009-08-12T23:15:00.000-07:00

We had a steadily busy day on Tuesday, catching 75 birds (15 species) between 7:30 am and 1:30 pm. We had lots of warblers - including 27 Yellow-rumped (Audubon's) and 14 Townsend's Warblers, as well as Yellow and Orange-crowned Warblers, Other highlights were both Hammond's and Dusky Flycatchers, and a hatch year male Williamson's Sapsucker molting into adult plumage.

We've been catching a lot of Cassin's Finches, which tend to be smaller than they are described in the Pyle Guide (the bander's manual). We're always checking to see if any of the Cassin's Finches might be Purple Finches (which are smaller). Today, our careful checking was rewarded with a juvenile female Purple Finch. It was smaller all around than a Cassin's Finch, especially her head, and her color was browner than Cassin's Finches.

Once the rain started, the Pacific Tree Frogs came out to celebrate around camp. This evening a western toad also ambled through our campsite.

We also had an interesting bat experience. We found 2 bats walking along the road, locked in each others' clutches. Perhaps they'd had a mid-air collision and fallen to the ground that way. Their pale brown fur and long ears told us they were Long-eared Myotis. -

As we wraped up Tuesday, the light rain continued, and the strong wind gusts we'd experienced earlier in the day were starting to subsude. Conditions could be good for a fallout romorrow...

First Day of Banding, and a New Woodpecker, for Adult Camp

2009-08-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning we put up one net in our campsite, across the drip that continues to draw in birds. We caught a small number of birds, just right for the first day, so everyone had a chance to get started slowly, with plenty of time for the trainers to check birds, instruct, and maintain data integrity.

We continue to find interesting birds for our study, and to illustrate the points made during the training. We caught an adult male Cassin's Finch leading offspring, with natal down poking out from their heads like horns, to the water. We caught a second adult male Cassin's Finch that was brown, and just molting into its red plumage (you could just see red feathers starting to emerge from feather sheaths). The two birds made a good comparison of ageing by plumage and molt.

We also caught another Red Crossbill with mixed red/yellow/orange plumage, and flight feather wear indicative of a 3rd year bird. The bird had retained a patch of 5 secondaries in each wing from it's juvenile plumage through the 1st and 2nd prebasic molts, which is indicative of a 3rd year bird.

Note the mixed coloring of the body feathers

We're noticing an interesting age pattern in the different areas we band. In the meadows, we catch mostly juvenile birds, but at the drip, we're finding mostly adults. There does not seem to be competition at the drip to exclude young birds. Perhaps molting flight feathers (experienced by adults but not juveniles) lead adult birds to bathe more frequently? Another possible study to ponder.

While banding we had both a Williamson's Sapsucker and a Black-backed Woodpecker fly through our campsite (but not into our nets). The Sapsucker was an adult male, not the juvenile bird that we banded last week. The Black-backed Woodpecker was a new species for the trip - bringing us to a total of 6 woodpecker species seen (5 banded).

Tomorrow we'll set our meadow nets back up, and possibly set up some of the rail traps - stay tuned for tomorrow's entry.

Week Two Gets Underway

2009-08-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

One of the wet meadows that is the focus of PSBO's study

On Sunday afternoon our 8 adult trainees arrived with trainer Don Norman. This year's group comes from all over the United States - four from Washington, and one each from Wisconsin, New Jersey, Virginia, and Arizona. We began the week with an introductory lecture, discussing everyone's experience and interest, and by talking about PSBO's Cascades Meadows Project, to which all the data we collect contributes.

Another of our study sites

The study looks at how birds use high elevation meadows in the post-breeding season, and how that use changes as the meadows dry out. We'll be banding birds in wet meadows at various elevations throughout August, during our 2 weeks of banding training, and during three 3-day banding blitzes coming up later in the month. If you're interested in participating in one of our banding blitzes, please contact Emily Sprong (emily@pugetsoundbirds.org).

And since we've now banded 5 and seen 6 different woodpecker species at McDaniel Lake, we're likely to add a woodpecker study to our project list in the future.

The prime Woodpecker spot at McDaniel Lake

A day off - to band 60 more birds!

2009-08-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

The teens left on Friday, and remaining trainers Dan and Ben decided to do some more banding on their off day before the adult trainees showed up on Sunday. They caught about 60 birds, of 18 species, with a strong emphasis on juvenile warblers. Some species we've yet to mention - a juvenile and a second year Downy Woodpecker. A recapture of an adult Cedar Waxwing, a juvenile Red-breasted Nuthatch, and a juvenile Brown Creeper.

The list of warblers for the day included: Orange-crowned, Nashville, Yellow, Yellow-rumped (Audubon's), Townsend's, and MacGillivray's.

They also heard both Sora and Virginia Rail in the swamp today! We'll be bringing some rail traps back for the second week, so maybe we'll be able to band one!

The Teens!

2009-08-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

The whole group at McDaniel Lake

Here are some pictures of Seattle Audubon's budding ornithologists. Twelve high school students who were thrilled to spend the week studying birds - one even came all the way from New Jersey. For anyone out there who was a young birder at one time, you either know how valuable it was to have a peer group that shared your passion, or, more likely, you wished you had such a peer group. If you are still a young birder, contact Seattle Audubon to find out more about the 2010 Cascades Banding Camp. Seattle Audubon's BirdWatch program serves as an important launching pad for these teens, and PSBO is proud to partner with them to offer a week of Cascades Banding Camp just for the teens.Exploring Cash Prairie

Peter practices his photographer's grip with a Townsend's Warbler

The view from the Cash Prairie Trailhead

Waiting for Violet-green Swallows to fly into the net across the lake

Jake relaxes at camp

Tristan staying warm at Cash Prairie, elevation 5980'

Sam, always ready to examine (usually by trying to catch)
any kind of wildlife - especially the kind that slithers.

Lindsey, 3 year Banding Camp veteran, and 2 year camp TA

Tristan gets a rare, closeup view of a Common Nighthawk

As does Annie

The adventurous eaters in the group got to enjoy this gigantic,
and delicious Shaggy Mane mushroom

Thanks for a great week everyone!

Bird Pictures!

2009-08-07T23:44:00.001-07:00

Juvenile Male Williamson's Sapsucker

The teens are home - probably happy to sleep in a nice warm bed tonight. We have a day to relax before the adult trainees arrive on Sunday. Enjoy some pictures of some of the incredible birds we banded during the week.

Adult MaleTownsend's Warbler

Common Nighthawk

Red Crossbill

Cashing in at Cash Prairie

2009-08-07T23:03:00.000-07:00

The view from Cash Prairie

It was cold and somewhat windy this morning at Cash Prairie, elevation 5980 feet. We felt the cold, but not nearly as much as the birds did. The meadow is full of blooming Green Gentian, with a small patch of willows that was full of birds. We banded about 60 birds, and released about 45 juvenile Dark-eyed Juncos at the nets without banding them as we had too many birds to safely process. About 8 of today's birds were cold-stressed and 2 flew off with difficulty, but after a little time in the hot box, the other six seemed to fully recover and flew off just fine upon release.

At this higher elevation site we added four new species to our list of birds banded: Hermit Thrush, Lincoln's Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Vesper Sparrow, another new species for the meadows project. We saw, but did not band, several Clark's Nutcrackers.

We were surprised to catch a very young Song Sparrow up that high, as we did not expect them to breed at such a high elevation. We also caught an adult Townsend's Warbler just finishing up molt. We're still catching the last Western Tanagers and Warbling Vireos as they wrap up their breeding before heading to Mexico, where they will molt.

Adult male Townsend's Warbler (the black throat and chin with
bright white median coverts gives it away),

just completing molt - note the supercilium feathers growing in behind the eye,

and secondaries 5 and 6 just finishing growing in.

Cooling Temperatures

2009-08-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

Examining a Pygmy Nuthatch

Last night, for the first time, we felt a considerable chill in the air overnight that required a little more diligent sleeping bag use. We got a bit of late start, and so did the birds. At first there were no birds around, and then we started seeing and catching only residents, but eventually things picked up and migrants started to show up too. We are still catching a wide diversity of birds, including 6 Western Tanagers today, more Violet-green Swallows, and another Pygmy Nuthatch. Most of the birds are new captures, although we did recapture the Williamson's Sapsucker today, 200 meters away from where we originally caught it.

The cold night impacted the birds too - fat contents were low this morning and quite a few birds were chilled and having a hard time at release. We set up a hot box to warm six of them up, and after a while in the box, warmed by hand warmers, we released them and all six flew off just fine.

One of the benefits of camping is that we experience the same weather as the birds, so it's not hard to make the connection between a cold night, and low fat content the next day.

Today we saw active brood patches on Western Wood-pewees, American Robins, and Pine Siskins. We also saw family groups of Pine Siskin, Hammond's Flycatcher, Brown Creeper, and Cassin's Finch. These birds are all nesting late enough into the season up here that they are still feeding young.

The tiny creek (really more of a drip) next to our campsite continues to draw birds in. They don't seem to be discouraged by the proximity of 16 people (12 of them teenagers), who are enjoying watching the show.

Tomorrow is our last morning of banding with the teens. We're heading up to Chase Meadow, which is at 6,000 feet. We expect to find some higher elevation species in this very different habitat, so we might have some interesting sightings to report tomorrow.

The teens expect to return home to Seattle between 6:30-7:00pm and will be full of pictures and stories to share of this tremendous week of birding and banding.

Another Fire Update

2009-08-06T01:04:00.000-07:00

There are actually 3 fires currently burning in the area - the largest, the Discovery Fire is now 25% contained, and currently covers 3664 acres. This fire is at Conrad Meadows (our 2007-2008 site), almost 20 miles, as the crow flies, from McDaniel Lake, we are at a very safe distance.

On the other side of 410, just north of Nile, WA, is the Hailstorm Fire. It is 55 acres, and currently 100% contained.

The third fire is in the William O. Douglas Wilderness area near the Deep Creek Campground (our site from 2004-2006). This is a small fire over the ridge from our current location but we are in close contact with the Forest Service and the fire fighters. They know exactly where we are and will contact us if they feel the fire is getting too close. There are still no signs of the fire - no smoke in the air, no smell of fire, and the moon is no longer orange. This fire is not large enough to show up on any of the fire tracking websites, so it is likely smaller than 55 acres. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and maintain communication with the fire fighters and the forest service.

Five Woodpeckers and Counting...

2009-08-06T00:08:00.000-07:00

Last night we put up some nets by the edge of the lake to try to catch one of the Common Nighthawks that we've been watching circle the lake each evening. We managed to catch one in our net, and all gathered around in the darkness to observe the bird's especially soft plumage, very wide caprimulgid mouth, and long wings, by flashlight.

Today did not disappoint either. Temperatures were cooler, as on the west side, bringing some relief from the heat, which was a good thing, because we were all very busy - banding a grand total of 84 birds today! We added 2 new woodpeckers to our banded list - Red-naped Sapsucker and White-headed Woodpecker!

Another highlight was during dinner when we noticed a flock of Violet-green Swallows foraging over the lake. We rushed to open the nets by the water and managed to catch 11 of the swallows! All but one were juveniles. Dinner could wait...

Today a forest ranger also came to talk with us about the nearby fires. The Discovery Fire is growing but we still can't see any obvious signs of the fire. There is no smell of smoke and no smoke is visible, but the moon is now orange rather than yellow. We continue to monitor the status and location of the fire and will keep safety as our highest priority.

The nets around the meadow have been especially productive - this sight is turning out to be a fantastic spot, just dripping with birds. Our species tally for birds banded is now at 32 (over only 4 days of banding). In comparison, we caught 29, 20 and 21 different species from 2004-2006 at Deep Creek, and banded 28 and 31 different species at Conrad Meadows in 2007 and 2008, and the 31 species we caught in 2008 was over 2 weeks of camp. We're on track for the most birds and most diversity ever during the six years we've run this program.

Not only do we have great birds, we're discovering some other
taxa, like this rare and elusive Arboreal Tree Octopus

Really Getting Rolling

2009-08-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

Returning from a net run

On the first morning of banding with everyone up there we put up a small number of nets, and caught 50 birds! The teens did a terrific job processing the birds, and with so many returnees, assistants abound. A birding exploration the previous night turned up a Western Wood-pewee still on a nest, a Western Bluebird, and another White-headed Woodpecker. We've already banded some Wood-pewees, hopefully we'll get the chance to band a Western Bluebird and a White-headed Woodpecker to. Of the 50 birds we did band, 11 were Cassin's Finches, quite a few were Yellow-rumped Warblers (all Audubon's - we've caught 29 so far, 23 of which were juveniles). We also caught more Red Crossbills and the highlight of the day, a Williamson's Sapsucker (a hatch-year female)!

The Dragon on the way up to McDaniel Lake

The Seattle Audubon Teens arrive!

2009-08-04T22:33:00.000-07:00

This year we have our largest group of teens ever, 12 in total. With 4 staff members onsite, we have a total of 16 people in the field. Luckily, we have the campground entirely to ourselves.

Many of the teens are members of BirdWatch, Seattle Audubon's excellent teen program, but others have come just for the banding, one from as far as New Jersey! Our two student TAs went up with the Advance Team, but the remaining 10 headed up with Carly, the Camp Manager and BirdWatch Coordinator, and Dan, our lead trainer, on Monday morning.

TAs Lindsey and Sam work to get camp set up.

On Monday morning, as the majority of the teens were driving up, the remaining members of the Advance Team set up a few nets -and proceded to catch 4 Red Crossbills! The Crossbills had begun to molt from thier subadult yellow plumage to their adult red plumage so they were splotchy red and yellow. Although they were in between plumages, they weren't molting body feathers. We saw a similar arrested molt on the White-winged Crossbill we banded at camp last year.

We also banded two more Yellow-rumped Warblers (Audubon's), and some Cassin's Finches. The Cassin's Finches were likely adults (after hatch year) as they were starting their flight feather molt, but were not yet molting body feathers.

Monday evening, after the rest of the group arrived, a few more nets went up and caught two
Cedar Waxwings, more Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a Hairy Woodpecker.

At dusk on Monday evening, Common Nighthawks were flying over the lake, a full moon was rising, and coyotes were howling in the distance.

McDaniel Lake - Jackpot!

2009-08-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

Not only is the campground lovely, shady, and equipped with the perfectly serviceable outhouse pictured above, it's teeming with birds, particularly some great Ponderosa Pine specialties. We set up 4 nets for a few hours (with a fairly late start), and caught 14 birds! The first bird we caught was a Pygmy Nuthatch!
We ended up banding a bunch of Yellow-rumped Warblers (Audubon's), a pair of Western Tanagers, a Dusky Flycatcher, and a Western Wood-pewee.

We also saw some old nest holes of White-headed Woodpeckers, and even briefly saw one fly through the campground.
Red Crossbills frequented the edge of our campsite, dropping down from low branches to the small creek running alongside camp. During lunch, we watched an Osprey fishing in McDaniel Lake - pulling out a good sized fish. The lake is tiny (see below - yes, that's it) it's clearly stocked).

As we started to set up camp, we finally checked for cell phone coverage, the last item on our wish list - we had a strong signal! We wouldn't need to find and rent a satellite phone - a huge relief. The spot is truly ideal.

Here are a few shots of our well-outfitted campsite, and the banding site nearby - it's going to be a terrific few weeks!
Still getting organized - but we have plenty of room to spread out with separate areas for banding, cooking, eating, sleeping and a classroom for training lectures.
The banding meadow - banding around the outskirts of a meadow allows us to open and close nets throughout the day to make sure the open nets aren't in the sun - it's a banding sundial!
We're hoping to lay a stick bridge down to make a path out to this shubby patch in the middle of the meadow to set up an interior net.

The Route to McDaniel Lake

2009-08-03T22:31:00.001-07:00

For those of you coming up for the second week of camp - here is some information about where we are. Find the banding map on the right hand side of the blog. Clicking on it will take you over to our Google Maps site which pinpoints the locations. Scroll about halfway down to see McDaniel Lake - zoom way in and turn on satellite and you'll see some pretty cool pictures of the area. If you click on it you can get directions from where you're coming from. It's clearly marked and pretty easy to get to. The pictures below should help you with some landmarks.

From 410, you're looking for Nile Road. The road loops around so has 2 entrances off 410. You will want the eastern entrance to Nile Road - which will be the first one if you're coming from Yakima and the second one if your coming from Mt Rainier. The correct turn is nicely marked by the Wood Shed restaurant.

Once you turn onto Nile Road, you are about 30 minutes away. In about a mile you will turn left off Nile Road onto Bethel Ridge Rd.
Then follow the clearly marked signs on 1500 for McDaniel Lake - 12 miles up the road.

You will eventually turn onto 1502 - which is also clearly marked.

The turn into McDaniel Lake will be on your left!

Once you enter the campground, turn to your right and follow the road as far as you can - you can't miss us!

Advance Team Photos

2009-08-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

Loading up the 3 vehicles going up with the Advance Team.

Checking the maps before heading up to McDaniel Lake

Advance Team Report

2009-08-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

After packing up our extensive gear - banding and camping with 12-16 people for 2 weeks is not exactly a simple affair - we headed up into the eastern Cascades. Our first stop was Kaner Flats Campground which was to be our base camp for the first night. The Campground was nice enough, but a little less remote than we were hoping for, and devoid of the wet meadows we are studying. It was also quite hot. We needed to go higher.

Through conversations with the forest service and scouring satellite imagery, we had identified 2 potential areas - one at Rimrock Lake and one at McDaniel Lake. We headed up to McDaniel Lake in the afternoon to scout the campground and surrounding areas. The site looked quite promising - the campground was almost deserted, there were 2 outhouses, and there was a fantastic shrub rimmed wet meadow on the edge of the campground. We headed back to Kaner Flats for dinner and to camp for the night.

We had recently found out that the fire near Conrad Meadows was more extensive than we'd originally thought. The Discovery Fire is currently covering over 3 square miles and is 0% contained. It is not expected to be contained until August 30th. We decided that while the Rimrock Lake campgrounds are not currently in the fire closure area, they are adjacent to it, and the chance of the fire spreading to that area was too great (we actually saw fire fighting helicopters filling their buckets with water on the way up). Since McDaniel Lake looked promising - we'd bring all three vehicles back there to more thoroughly scout the area and set up some nets for preliminary banding. Our 2 major unknowns were - could we catch birds, and was there cell phone coverage (we had not had coverage at Kaner Flats, or any other nearby area, and Carly was still working on finding a last minute satellite phone rental.)

Follow PSBO on Facebook too!

2009-08-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

If you are on facebook, we invite you to join our facebook fan page to keep up with PSBO highlights.

Puget Sound Bird Observatory on Facebook

Advance Team Packing Up

2009-07-31T22:42:00.001-07:00

The advance team for the 2009 Cascades Banding Camp is packing up and will be heading out Saturday morning. Typically the advance team brings up gear, sets up camp, and clears some net lanes - but we just found out there is a fire near our former campground, so we need to find a new location to camp/band. Since we're looking for moist meadows, and this has been a particularly hot and dry summer, it's a bit of a challenge to find appropriate banding sites that are within the vicinity of campgrounds. We've been communicating with the Forest Service, and scouring satellite imagery to identify potential sites. The advance team will figure out a new location in time for the Seattle Audubon teens to head up on Monday. We'll communicate our new location here, and directly to participants and their families.

Registration Open for 2009 Banding Camp

2009-04-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

Sign up now for this summer's Banding Camp!
We will once again offer a week of teen training and a week of adult training.

Cascades Banding Camp for Teens
August 3rd-7th

Cascades Banding Camp for Adults

August 9th - 15th

Lead Trainer – Dan Froehlich

Learn how to band birds in Washington's Cascade Mountains. The training will focus on the basics of net placement, bird handling and net extraction, ageing and sexing, with special emphasis on molts and plumages. This class follows NABC guidelines and is taught by NABC certified trainer, Dan Froehlich and Master Bander, Don Norman.

Six nights, meals included, $700. No birding or banding experience required.

Visit www.pugetsoundbirds.org or email Emily@pugetsoundbirds.org for more info or to register.

Read below to learn more about the Cascades Banding Camp experience!

Netting Cattle

2008-08-18T20:14:00.000-07:00

After a bit of a lightning show last night (luckily our group is camping a good deal east of the Cascade crest where the lightning was concentrated), our intrepid banders awoke to cold and rain. They headed down to Tieton Alders, which had proven so productive on Sunday. While banding amidst the cows, a sapsucker started screeching as it was extracted from a net. It seems that the noise spooked the cattle and they started to stampede, running through and destroying two nets. Luckily, there were no birds in the nets at the time, and the only casualties from the incident were the nets. The group has now learned some important lessons about how to manage mist nets in the presence of cattle (walk the cows away from the nets before opening them). This should be useful information as many of the banding sites are also grazing sites.

Eventually the rain picked up and the banders had to pack it in after only catching about a dozen birds. They headed back to camp for soup and hot drinks for lunch. During afternoon lecture, blue sky started to break through and the group was optimistic that they would get in some late afternoon/evening banding, and that the temperature might climb above 61 degrees.

Adult Camp Begins

2008-08-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

After the teens departed, the remaining staff spent the evening organizing camp and then awoke early the next morning to get in a little more banding down at the Tieton Alders site. On August 14th the group banded 21 birds, but on the 16th, Dan, Paul and Andrea caught 52 birds! They still had time to take a swim in the lake and pick up some more ice before getting back to the campsite to meet the next group.

Seven new campers arrived and got settled while the staff sorted through the bonanza of new food sent up to re-provision the camp.

Not to be outdone by the teen group's Wilson's Snipe and Three-toed Woodpecker (see below), the adults caught a White-winged Crossbill at Minnie Meadows on Sunday morning! This is an eruptive species in Washington, and 2008 has been an eruptive year, but Rimrock Lake is farther south than most sightings. This bird had a recently used brood patch and was starting to molt its primaries. According to the Pyle Guide, White-winged Crossbills seem to molt near where they breed. Taken together, the molt and brood patch are strong indicators that this bird bred locally, which is a very southerly breeding record.

Another interesting sighting from this evening's banding near the campground was a female Townsend's Warbler with an almost fresh brood patch, indicating she had just fledged a brood. On the next net run, at the very same net, three juvenile Townsend's Warblers, one still growing juvenile feathers, were caught. These birds probably just fledged from the nest of the female caught on the previous net run.

No pictures from week 2 yet, but here is a Townsend's Warbler from the teen week. New pictures will be added as soon as the group returns from the field. A lightning storm was moving through the area on Sunday night - weather often brings in interesting birds, so check back tomorrow to see what the storm brings in.

Let's hope our campers stay warm and dry as the storm passes through.

Some GREAT birds to end on!

2008-08-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

Teen banding camp wrapped up on Friday with some fabulous birds. The group was lucky enough to net and band an American Three-toed Woodpecker and a Wilson's Snipe! Data summaries for the week will be posted soon - in the meantime, take a look at these beautiful birds! Lots more photos in the slide show too! The adults should arrive at camp for the adult training soon. The teens banded a greater percentage of adult birds than in years past. We'll see if the adults see a changeover to a greater percentage of juveniles...

Wilson's Snipe

Checking the leg gauge for band size

Reading the band number

Putting on the band

Checking for body molt and fat

Molting rectrices (tail feathers)

A few photos before the release

American Three-toed Woodpecker

Collecting data from the bird.

Look at those molt limits (note the color and pattern difference between the feathers in the middle and the exterior feathers).

Note the strong feather shafts in the tail that allow the bird to brace itself against the side of a tree.

Count 'em - 1, 2, 3!
Releasing onto a tree

Thursday, Aug 14th

2008-08-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

After a delicious pancake breakfast, we drove down to a wet alder swamp along Rimrock Lake, a site we called Tieton Alders. Braving the knee-deep mud and patches of stinging nettle and skunk cabbage, two groups set up nine nets in hopes of catching more birds than yesterday. Back at the banding station, the nearby bird activity included flickers, jays, tanagers, and nuthatches, which suggested a productive banding day.

After the first net run, Sam came back with a prized bird--the Steller's Jay. Sam claimed this large bird for himself to band, while the bird paparazzi immediately zoomed in to capture the beautiful blue plumage on film. Meanwhile, Tayler was processing another exciting bird, an adult red-naped sapsucker. Another prize capture was a Warbling Vireo that had been banded 3 days earlier.

(Posted by Carly & Andrea)

Recap - and other notes from the field

2008-08-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

I just spoke to Dan who gave me an update on the day's training. Another day of banding at Minnie Meadows netted about 25 birds, including a recaptured Nashville Warbler. The adult female was originally banded last year by Lauren (our bander from Georgia). She was caught on August 15th and had just completed the prebasic molt. This year, on August 13th, the bird was about 2/3rd of the way through molting. The later molting is consistent with the late nesting season that PSBO and other researchers have been documenting all season.

On the non-bird front, there have been 2 porcupine sightings already - one walking through camp late last night, and one crossing the road as some members of the group returned from setting up new nets down in the Tieton Alders - tomorrow's banding location.

If you'd like to see a map of the area, with the specific banding locations, check out our Google Map.

We're hoping to get some pictures posted tomorrow - so check back!

-Emily

Tuesday August 12th

2008-08-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

It looks like the Satelite E-mail works! So here is a short post for Tuesday from Don Norman. Today after a breakfast of scrambled eggs (or tofu) and hash browns, we headed over to Minnie Meadows to band. We thought we were off to a bad start with a stressed MacGillivray's Warbler, but after a little sugar water and a stint in the hot box, it flew off fine! It was 40F last night, so many of the juvenile birds we banded were very thin on fat. There was a wide variety of species banded, including a new species banded in the Tieton, a juvenile Cassin's Vireo. The tally of birds was 20, and all the nubies, new Bird Watch members new to banding, learned to hold birds and process the age and sex of the birds. This afternoon Dan Froehlich gave a lecture on all of the aspects of aging and sexing, and for dinner we had great burritos. As the clouds move in we await tomorrow's birds in the meadows!

Minnie Meadows - Day 1

2008-08-11T14:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning the advance team headed down the street to Minnie Meadows to set up net lanes and see if we could start banding some birds. Wet meadows like this one are the focus of our high elevation study, and we expect the meadow to be full of juvenile birds before long.

We're excited to watch the changes in birds over the time period we'll be banding (August 10th-23rd).

The area is also grazed, and the ranchers came by to take the cattle out of the meadow while we were setting up. We're interested in learning more about the impact of grazing on nesting birds and Minnie Meadows is certainly a good place to study that impact.

We spent several hours choosing and preparing net lanes, and had some up for a few hours. It was slow, but we caught two birds on our last net run - both flycatchers.

We confirmed by wing measurements that they were Western Wood-Pewees, which was not a huge surprise since it was the most commonly seen and heard bird in the meadow at the time.

Both birds had brood patches (thickened, bare wrinkly bellies that help keep eggs and baby birds warm on the nest). For Western Wood-Pewees, brood patches are only seen in females.

Lindsey examines the not-yet fully ossified skull of her bird.

Erica demonstrates the bander's grip

Advance Team

2008-08-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

The advance team of Dan Froehlich, Emily Sprong, Andrea Wuenschel, Paul Taillie, and BirdWatch teen TAs Lindsey and Erica, arrived at the Corral Creek Campground near Minnie Meadows on Saturday evening. The drive along Rimrock Lake was beautiful (both times). Once we found the right spot, and found each other, we quickly set up a great campsite - complete with a well-organized kitchen (thanks to our excellent TAs Erica and Lindsey), and covered classroom (thanks to Seattle Audubon's spiffy canopy), which kept us dry during a surprise rain shower. We planned to head down to Minnie Meadows (about a mile down the road) to set up net lanes in the morning.

Scouting Trip

2008-08-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

One of our trainers, Don Norman, made a scouting trip to the site last week. Here are his notes from the field:

We checked out the spot Dan suggested west of the outlet of the FS1000 along the Tieton, and it looked OK (ie good pull off areas and some birds) but there were lots of cows. So we banded at the willow and mixed willow-alder area just in from the lake on FS 1000. It was a sandy area, and we had only resident type species except for one HY HETH. 9 birds in 12 net hours. Further into the alder area was not as easily accessible.

Minnie Meadows was about as wet as last year, but much buggier (we were there in late afternoon). There was one group of campers at Corral Creek Campground, the bench there was again one with only one side for eating. We cannot bathe in the Tieton river, and should use Corral Creek for getting water etc... as it is bull trout spawning time. Corral Creek was flowing much higher than last year.

Birds were still feeding young and singing. We still had CPs.

We did see a flock of RWBL and BRBL up at Conrad Meadows, and lots of WETAs feeding on the open ground again.

We caught a HY OCWA and HOWR (! with a bent bill) so there are some altitudinal migrants occurring.

We had 4 HY chippies, so they are all still around, and we did some nice measurements of bill and tail to make sure they were not Timberline Sparrows!

We only set up 3 nets for 3 hours, and 9 birds in 9 net hours. Nets were up in 4 locations where they were last year. There were LOTS of cows around again.

We drove over White Pass and it was 3.5 hours going the Hwy 7 route. It would be just as fast to go 90 to Ellensburg way I think. Not really any different habitat spots to stop the way we went.

all for now... don

(we'll try to write future posts in layman's terms so friends and family can understand what we are talking about)

Gearing Up for Camp!

2008-07-23T23:44:00.000-07:00

We're gearing up for the 2008 Cascades Banding Camp run by Puget Sound Bird Observatory. The advance team heads to the field site August 9th to prepare for two weeks of bird banding training. The teen camp, run in partnership with Seattle Audubon, will spend 5 days studying birds while learning the ins and outs of banding. The teens head home on Friday, August 15th and the crew gets an evening off before welcoming the adult trainees on August 16th. There are still a few spaces available for the week-long adult training. Visit PSBO's website for more information and registration.

If all goes according to plan, this blog will feature regular reports from the field - starting around August 10th.