Trumpeter Swans in flight. Photo: John Gussman

CONSERVATION MATTERS

Conservation Matters is the title of of our conservation column in the bi-monthly OPAS Harlequin Happenings newsletter. We will post our column every two months for you to read.

This column is expanded from the March — April 2024 Harlequin Happenings

by Laura Davis and Liam Antrim

The winter of 2023–2024 started with a BANG! as our team counted a hundred swans pass overhead with a windstorm and still a week left in October. Half of them stopped over and swan counts settled down to relative low numbers that we would expect for a warm El Niño winter (as in 2014–15). See Figure 1. Our tallies this season have been one third to a half of what we typically experience. As the equinox approaches along with the restlessness of spring migration, we show a season high count of 89 and average of 60 swans at our daytime foraging locations between Sequim Bay and Agnew. See Figure 2.

The large, migratory Trumpeter Swans seem to travel only as far from their boreal forest breeding grounds as necessary. Our warm winter kept northern habitats open through December, and Trumpeter Swans found areas further north on their flyway to forage and roost – thus, the relatively low numbers of swans in our area this winter. El Niño periods may allow waterfowl distributions to be less compressed along the Pacific Coast, which eases food competition within and between waterfowl species. This may be a good thing for waterfowl in this region, but might not make for the best birding.

This fall, we hoped that broad dispersion across coastal and inland habitats would help reduce spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). In fact, no HPAI has been seen in migratory waterfowl in our area except in mid-November, when 34 Cackling Geese and one American Wigeon succumbed in an outbreak primarily in the Schmuck Road area. WA Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Discovery Bay Wild Bird Rescue Center are not aware of any other cases in swans or geese from our area.

The major story for January 2024 was the polar vortex that pushed an arctic cold front through our El Niño weather in mid-January. Low temperatures down to the single digits Fahrenheit with negative-degree wind chill factors and snow accumulations affected swan roosting and foraging in the lower Dungeness area. In spite of the severity of this storm, the swans stayed around. Salt water and shelter of Dungeness Bay allowed the swans to roost overnight as frozen inland freshwater bodies were slow to melt. Tidal influence on estuaries kept emergent vegetation available when pastures were snow covered. Warm temperatures returned after a few days, and we recorded an unseasonal 57 degrees during the January 31 survey.

During the two coldest weeks of January and WDFW's mid-winter survey, we extended our scope east to Chimacum Creek in Jefferson County and west to the Wa'atch River near Neah Bay. While we counted 76 Trumpeter Swans in our area, 90 Trumpeters and one Tundra Swan foraged on rain-flooded pasture grass adjacent to Chimacum Creek, with conditions five degrees warmer than here. This is our first record of a higher count of swans on that valley's watery agricultural landscape than in our rain-shadow location. The Port of Port Townsend recently purchased the 253-acre Short’s Family Farm and is actively planning agricultural land conservation and drainage objectives. Habitat for migratory swans and geese are not currently included in their goals.

The food habits of the Pacific Coast Population (PCP) of Trumpeter Swans are unlike other swan populations and species. In our area, swans were first documented on Lake Aldwell, the reservoir created by the lower Elwha dam. Swans are drawn to water bodies and grass-like plants. They graze on grass fronds and grub for their rhizomes – whether on a wetland or agricultural landscape. Likely first attracted to rain-flooded fields, swans acquired the habit of grazing on dairy pastures in late 1970s.

Previous studies of Trumpeters Swans within the PCP indicate forage selection based on quality rather than availability. Pasture grasses are higher in protein than the estuarine foods. Applications of nitrogenous fertilizers and the frequent mowing has resulted in a feed high in protein for livestock. Swans' attraction to an area can be due to the availability of resources like dairy pastures. Swans first observed wintering along the Pacific Coast were found exclusively in pasture but today, swans feed on a half dozen other agricultural crops and continue to expand their geographic distribution. Here, that includes corn, winter wheat and other grains, and tubers such as carrots and potatoes.

Trumpeter Swan nutritional needs and overwintering habitats in the Pacific Flyway are neither well understood nor are data up to date. It has been 30 years since regional studies of Trumpeter Swan forage focused on the areas of their greatest overwinter use: the Skagit River valley and the Comox River estuary. Cal Poly Humboldt and WDFW are collaborating on a new research study, now underway in the Skagit, that will answer some of the key questions we have about the forage needs of over-wintering swans. Using data derived from GPS collars on 23 Trumpeter Swans wintering in the Skagit, the analysis will focus on swans' spatial distribution among certain crop types in relation to all available food resources. The researchers expect that quantifying forage resources on private land will provide the fodder for conversations about swan conservation.

With a lack of freshwater wetlands, swans in the lower Dungeness rely in part on water resources managed for people including for irrigation and for duck hunting. Swan movements between roosting and forage sites vary through the season, and from winter to winter. They have used nineteen separate fields this year and six overnight roosting sites. One of the roosting sites was a new observation this year: a reservoir in a rural subdivision offering pondweed for overnight grazing.

Foraging locations also change due to agricultural decisions regarding crops grown and farming practices. In recent years, we have seen herbicide applied in midwinter to some grassy fields where swans have been foraging; these are abandoned as the plants die off. Typically, we see these fields tilled and planted with corn the following spring.

Due to harvest methods, equipment and conservation goals, crop residues may be left post-harvest – a condition that has no match in the swans' natural wetland landscapes. We have seen swans attracted to abundant carrots remaining on the ground post-harvest. On the flip side, the efficiencies in clean harvest of local silage-corn fields may leave little of interest to returning swans. Winter cover crops planted this past fall to reduce erosion and soil compaction and to reduce fertilizer costs are an excellent source of protein in spring and extend swan use of corn fields through to migration.

Our understanding of Trumpeter Swans has skyrocketed over the course of our study due to the engagement of our team. If you are interested in joining the swan team, please contact us.

We would like to recognize the contributions of Kendra Donelson, our dear colleague and friend who passed on. Kendra has surveyed ever since the early days of the OPAS swan surveys. We miss her loving spirit.

This column is from the January — February 2024 Harlequin Happenings

by Bob Phreaner, Conservation Co-Chair

I am writing this column on the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). 99% of the over 1600 species listed for protection since 1973 have been rescued from extinction. The Bald Eagle and Peregrine Falcon have recovered enough to be delisted. In a 2022 research paper published in PlosOne, further success of the ESA has been limited by insufficient funding and waiting until species are already too far gone. Such might be the case for the Northern Spotted Owl (SPOW) which was listed in 1990. According to the USFWS data, SPOW have declined 35-80% in the over 20M acres of protected federal old growth forest habitat the owl depends on. The Northwest Forest Plan stopped all logging of old growth forest in 1994. In the Olympics the SPOW have declined 8% per year. Acoustic monitoring devices now detect the presence of SPOW in only 20 of the 120 polygons on the Olympic Peninsula. The primary stressors affecting the SPOW’s current biological status include past habitat loss, wildfire, and since 1972 the incursion of the nonnative Barred Owl (BADO) which has had the greatest impact. SPOW persist in the Olympics mostly in areas with the lowest BADO density. These are at higher elevation areas and at the backs of fjord-like valleys of habitat surrounded by high elevation ridges without forest. BADO populations are denser at lower elevations in more contiguous forests.

For the past 10 years the US Fish and Wildlife Service has conducted an experimental program at multiple locations including Cle Elum, WA where they eliminated Barred Owls. Removal of BADO within and around occupied Spotted Owl sites retained the existing SPOW population, increased the potential of their reproduction and could provide a source population for translocation of SPOW into habitat where the BADO management strategy is employed. The USFW is planning to begin permitting this BADO management strategy on the Olympic Peninsula in 2024. The Government of British Columbia is engaged in BADO management and SPOW reintroduction including captive breeding and translocation.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service Barred Owl Management Strategy and associated MBTA permit is intended to be a voluntary tool in efforts to reduce the impact of the BADO for the conservation of the SPOW.

The OPAS Conservation Committee submitted comments on the Barred Owl DEIS to the USFWS on June 6, 2012, which you can read by clicking this link or read below:

“The recovery of the spotted owl remains a high priority for our membership, but lethal control of barred owls continues to be a controversial issue which warrants a high level of assurance that the Service will endeavor to address the original reasons for the spotted owl decline and adequate protections are assured.

“After careful examination of the DEIS, OPAS has taken the position to support a controlled, experimental, removal of the barred owl in order to prevent the extinction of the spotted owl. Our decision is based on scientific data that indicates that direct competition from an influx of the more aggressive barred owls into the Pacific Northwest has created a nesting decline which makes spotted owl recovery potentially impossible.

“We support continued, full protection of barred owls under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, but are willing to concede to experimental removal only for the specific purpose of determining whether long-term lethal control of barred owls is warranted and practical. If the Service determines the experimental removal of barred owls is successful, it is important that all management strategies proposed in the DEIS are determined economically feasible.

“We believe the most important aspect of the recovery of the spotted owl continues to be adequate habitat protection of remaining old growth forests. The proposed Revised Critical Habitat Rule for the Northern Spotted Owl could potentially weaken the protections currently provided by the Northwest Forest Plan.”

The US Fish and Wildlife Service Barred Owl Management Strategy can be read here.  You can also watch a 12/14/23 webinar explaining the program at that link. The comment period about this proposal closes 1/16/24. Prior to commenting it is important to read and understand the 300-page document which proposes controlled but desperate measures to save the iconic SPOW.

This column is from the November — December 2023 Harlequin Happenings

by Bob Phreaner, Conservation Co-Chair

Last month we described the mission of the OPAS Conservation Committee to include initiation and monitoring of community science projects. This time of year the emphasis is on our wintering population of Trumpeter Swans (TRUS). Last season, juvenile TRUS made up less than 10% of the flock. I was pleasantly surprised on 10/26 to visit Kirner Pond before sunrise to find a family group of 2 adults with 6 juveniles. That is an unusually large brood. Pardon my anthropomorphism but maybe this is a “blended” family? Several years ago I followed a family of 3 juveniles with two adults that we named “Full House,” and I remember a “single mom” with three juveniles that I dubbed “Hard Times.” It will be interesting for the OPAS swan observation teams to follow “Six Pack” to see if they all make it through the winter.

Commenting on conservation issues is one of the tasks of the OPAS Conservation Committee. Recently Audubon Washington asked the chapters to provide comments on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) Periodic Review of the Endangered status of the Northern Spotted Owl in Washington State. The WDFW staff report cited Climate Change, with associated drought and wildfire, as threats to survival but also emphasized competition from the invasive Barred Owl. WDFW is considering changes to the management of the Barred Owl population. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been experimenting with the removal of Barred Owls from Spotted Owl habitat to sustain the population of the latter species. OPAS supports maintaining the Endangered status of the Northern Spotted Owl but I would like to see the response of chapter members to WDFW policies that would remove Barred Owls. Let the Conservation Committee know your thoughts.

In 2017, our chapter proposed a resolution to the Washington State Audubon Conservation Committee for the banning of marine Atlantic Salmon net pens in Washington State. This resolution was unanimously approved by the Audubon Council of Washington. It is no coincidence that Governor Inslee and the Washington legislature have prohibited marine net pens for Atlantic Salmon aquaculture after 2025. If you have bird friendly conservation actions in mind please consider participating in your OPAS Conservation Committee

Visit the OPAS website under the Conservation/Take Action tab to learn more of our activities, attend a Conservation meeting, or contact Bob Phreaner (phreaner@aol.com) or Joyce Volmut (joyce.volmut@gmail.com) to volunteer.

This column is from the September - October 2023 Harlequin Happenings

Why Conserve Birds?

by Joyce Volmut, Conservation Co-Chair

People have always admired birds; in fact, they inspire artists, music, and design. Birds are the driving force behind many conservation efforts, for example, the ban of DDT, hunting regulations as it applies to bird species and the destruction of wetlands. Why conserve? It is in our nature. Even in the 1800s when farmers noticed a decline in bluebirds, they built nest boxes to bring the declining population back. Simply put, people love birds.

Birds today face some of the hardest problems they have in quite some time and the problems are complex. Too many birds are vulnerable and threatened, like the Rufous Hummingbird and the Tufted Puffin, whose declining numbers have been documented.

Today the Conservation Committee needs your help. We seek solutions and we ask you to take a leading role in conservation by joining forces with us. It’s time for a new generation of committed conservationists and your voice can make a difference in birds’ lives.

The conservation committee tackles local, statewide, or nationwide problems that affect birds. We examine the extent of the problem, draft letters that educate the public and policy makers on issues, and find solutions to conserve habitat and eliminate threats. Examples of OPAS programs developed through the Conservation Committee include:

Western Bluebird Study: This program was Initiated as an education and data collection program to help understand the plight of cavity nesters such as the Western Bluebird.

With permission from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), this program monitors nest boxes in strategic places on DNR and private property where the Western Bluebird nests.

Project BirdSafe: This project started by collecting data on the number of bird window strikes in our area, eventually partnering with Peninsula College, where a number of window strikes were noticed. Assisted by Peninsula College administration, students, teachers, and maintenance, the program is ongoing and receives grant dollars from National Audubon and matching funds from OPAS.

Project Swan Safe: When too many swans were killed or injured by striking powerlines, the conservation committee recommended partnering with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the local PUD to find solutions to keep swans safe. A community wide “Go Fund Me” campaign was initiated to seek finances to bury electric lines in an area where Trumpeter Swans roost. Since the lines were buried in 2021 there have been no casualties at that site.

Purple Martin Project: Since 1997, OPAS partnered with the WDFW and USFWS to build nest boxes and to monitor the breeding of Purple Martins. These birds are a threatened species in WA, and rely on human-supplied nest cavities.

We currently have 36 boxes installed during the breeding season at Three Crabs, Port Angeles, and Protection Island NWR. We coordinate with private land owners at Morse Creek and Diamond Point to monitor additional boxes.

Pigeon Guillemot (PIGU) Survey: Part of a Puget Sound survey, in cooperation with the Clallam County Marine Resources Committee, volunteers record the number of Pigeon Guillemots nesting in specific areas. This is important because PIGU are an indicator species for the health of the Salish Sea.

The OPAS Conservation Committee has been standing up for birds and their habitats for many years. We’re proud of our bird conservation results. But the need is great. Please join us and make a difference for birds.

Visit the OPAS website under the Conservation/Take Action tab to learn more of our activities and contact Bob Phreaner (phreaner@aol.com) or Joyce Volmut (joyce.volmut@gmail.com) to volunteer, or attend a Conservation Meeting.

This column is from the July - August 2023 Harlequin Happenings

How and Why we watch Pigeon Guillemots

by Bob Phreaner, Conservation Co-Chair

Pigeon Guillemots (Cephus columba) aka PIGU are considered an indicator species of the health of coastal ecosystems in the Salish Sea.

In 2004, Whidbey Audubon community scientists started monitoring PIGU breeding and population numbers. Ed Bowlby and Mary Sue Brancato started a pilot monitoring effort at Port Williams bluff in 2015 that was successful enough to engage Clallam County Marine Resources Committee (MRC) and OPAS to survey Clallam Pigeon Guillemots in 2016. Many of the OPAS volunteers have been monitoring the same locations for eight years. In 2022 Jefferson County joined the survey which now includes most of Puget Sound.

Every Tuesday morning from June through late August, about a dozen trained volunteers meet at Port Williams ramp at 6:45 a.m. to walk as a group heading north along the bluff, deploying an observer at locations with PIGU burrows until the beach is totally covered to monitor PIGU activity between 7 and 8:00 a.m.

The observer remains quiet and motionless on their beach chair positioned so that they can observe the bluff and the surf. We study the behavior of the nearshore Pigeon Guillemots with binoculars and note if the birds are carrying fish like gunnels in their beaks. The location of each burrow is mapped and a record of PIGU visits to burrows is kept by each observer. The records are entered into the data system weekly and the regional monitoring data are being utilized by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the University of Washington, and individual counties. Click on this link to the Salish Sea Guillemot Network (SSGN) to learn why we study Pigeon Guillemots.

Read the latest report from Scott Pearson at WDFW on Puget Sound Indicators, Abundance of Marine Bird Populations which includes Pigeon Guillemots as one of four Marine Bird Vital Sign Species. This is based on population estimates from aerial surveys and also considers population data obtained from SSGN. 

In June most of the visits of the birds to the burrows will be to change partners sitting on eggs. By July we record an increase in the number of Pigeon Guillemots carrying fish to their growing chicks.

After eight years as an observer at Port Williams I can testify that watching the charismatic red-footed PIGU ranges from relaxing to comical to hectic. Some mornings early in the season have little activity and you can photograph the PIGU courting and mating. Later in the summer your head is on a swivel to record every food delivery by multiple birds to different burrows simultaneously. This experience of watching the behavior of Pigeon Guillemots at short range has increased my interest for close up observation of other seabirds like Tufted Puffins and Rhinoceros Auklets, if only there were such an opportunity in Clallam County. I can dream.

Maria Mudd Ruth who spoke to OPAS about her book Rare Bird: Pursuing the Mystery of the Marbled Murrelet is writing a full natural history of guillemot from multiple perspectives now scheduled to be released by Mountaineers Books next Spring which will be essential reading for PIGU observers.

This column is from the May - June 2023 Harlequin Happenings

Keeping Birds Outdoors

by Tom Butler

Remember the campground pit toilets of old? Oh, the horror. The horror. Brave users would burst out gasping, eyes streaming, only to be revived with a charred hot dog and bottle of Grape Nehi. Modern vault toilets surely eclipse most other inventions of the past century. A large black plastic vent pipe on the south side of the building opens into an underground concrete vault. When the pipe warms up in the sun, the air in it rises. That rising air pulls air in through the only other opening, the seat, which then pulls fresh outside air into the room. It’s an elegantly simple solution to a problem that has tormented outhouse users since the beginning of, ahem, facilities.

As I’m sure you know, big hollow trees are great places for many birds to roost and/or nest, especially owls, but increasingly rare in modern forests. Those big vent pipes look like beautifully hollow trees from the air, though, and plastic pipes are slick. Once entered, there’s no getting out, leading to an appalling end for curious explorers.

Some agencies had started to screen their vent stacks, but the pre-made screens are sort of expensive, and of course so is crewtime. OPAS became aware that our underfunded Olympic National Park had not yet screened their vents. Numerous, but futile requests over several years to the short-handed park was cultivating an unfortunate rift between two otherwise closely allied organizations.

My phone call to ONP’s director of maintenance in spring of 2020 led to the loan of a good ladder and list of their thirty-five or so vault toilet locations.  I’d been tripping over some scraps of wire mesh at home and am rich enough to donate a few construction screws. The makeshift screens are just as effective as the commercial variety, and with only two screws, cheaper and safer to install. The Forest Service got wind of my screening, so I was invited for a tour of about fifteen of their toilets as well.

Put quite a few miles on the old Subaru, but getting to all those remote locations sprinkled about our lovely peninsula was beautiful and interesting. I also love covering my shirt with potato chip crumbs while driving lonely roads.  Some of the stacks were high enough to exercise my lifelong fear of heights, which is probably a good thing, and I also developed a very good working appreciation of the terms “windward” and “leeward”.

This column is from the March - April 2023 Harlequin Happenings

Project Swan Safe Update

by John C. Acklen, Project Manager

The overwhelming majority of our Sequim-Dungeness community enjoys and supports the Trumpeter Swans that spend their winter here. Each year since 2011 our Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society (OPAS) volunteers observe the swans and conduct a twice weekly swan census. Our objective is to better understand and document where the swans roost, where they feed, what causes them to move, and to monitor their well-being. Our volunteer surveyors work from November through March to note when swans run into trouble from disease, lead ingestion, or power line collisions. Such was the case with recent swan electrocutions along Woodcock Road, just west of Kirner Pond and along Holland Road off of Port Williams Road. In early January, Shelly Ament, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) biologist and John Acklen, OPAS’s volunteer Swan Safe Project Manager, met with , Mike Hill, Clallam County PUD’s Engineering Manager. They met in the field to decide where the swan fatalities occurred and determine what could be done to prevent them.

Subsequent to that, two more swans died from power line strikes near the intersection of Port Williams and Schmuck Road. PUD’s crews responded quickly to mark the power lines with an array of avian bird diverters according to the plan agreed to during the previous field meeting. Mike Hill and his crews also determined that it was possible to remove a third hazardous line which provided power to an unused irrigation pump. His crews completed the work by the end of January. 

PUD’s prompt response and willingness to work together with WDFW and OPAS has without doubt saved the lives of numerous birds, not just swans. It is a continuation of a collaboration among PUD, WDFW, OPAS, other non-profits and community members to underground a power line causing swan fatalities at Kirner Pond, fully described in the poster you see below. Click on the poster to enlarge the view or to view as an adjustable-sized PDF, click here.

We prepared this poster to display at the October 2022 International Swan Society meeting in Wyoming, where it received rave reviews. It highlights our unique local cooperation. We see the fruit of this approach in the recent utility responses. Not only was the work accomplished quickly, but it demonstrates the new care and attention of PUD crews. These PUD actions reflect not only a willingness to comply with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which protects birds, but also a sincere and growing commitment to bird well-being. In February OPAS sent a letter to the General Manager of the PUD thanking them for their responsive actions and cooperation.

This column is from the January - February 2023 Harlequin Happenings

Climate Watch Survey

by Joyce Volmut

Looks like the New Year is upon us and that means the Climate Watch Survey is fast approaching. The survey begins on January 15, 2023 and ends February 15, 2023.  Yes I am writing 2023 and it seems unbelievable.

The climate watch survey focuses on target bird species: the bluebirds (Mountain, Western, and Eastern), the towhee, the American Goldfinch and Lesser Goldfinch, the nuthatches, and the Painted Bunting. These species are selected by the National Audubon Climate Watch program because they are easily recognized and except for the Painted Bunting, some variety of the species is located throughout the United States.

We are familiar with most of the target species. They are our backyard birds. The Spotted Towhee kicking up dirt and leaves to get to a tasty morsel is a special treat and the Red-breasted Nuthatch with his quirky call always brings a smile.  

The celebrity in all of the target birds has to be the American Goldfinch.  A state bird in many states across the United States, including Washington where it was designated as state bird in 1951. Like the summer sun, the American Goldfinch stands out, a sparkle of bright yellow after a dismal grey winter sky. The goldfinch arrives in late spring.  It is one of the latest nesters of the migrating birds. It stays throughout summer and into late fall. I love to see it as it forages in my yard on the autumn hawk bit, a late fall dandelion look-alike.

A onetime border species that is visiting our area more frequently and you guessed it, one of my favorite songbirds, is the Western Bluebird. The winter climate watch survey only tell us a little about this species. Reviewing eBird, however, tells you there are quite a few sightings during this time period that are never reported as part of the survey at Railroad Park Bridge, Hendrickson Road, Taylor Ranch Road, Olympic Discovery Trail, and Port Angeles Airport. During migration, several return to the site where they have nested such as the Western Bluebird pictured here, nicknamed by the property owners as “Spot”.

There remains a lot we don’t know about the Western Bluebird in the Northwest.  In 2013, the University of Victoria set about to improve the habitat on various campus sites so that it’s hospitable to the Western Bluebird. Western Bluebirds were common in southern Vancouver Island through the 1950s but were extirpated by 1995. Their project included restoring the Garry Oak ecosystem, developing a nest box plan, and reintroducing breeding pairs, similar to the plans developed on the San Juan Islands. Both projects are monitored by volunteers and have seen a return of Western Bluebirds to the area. 

The OPAS Western Bluebird project attempts to place nest boxes in areas where there have been multiple sightings, such as the DNR clearcuts on River Road in Sequim where 4 boxes have been placed, and on Thompson Road on the Miller Peninsula where there are 6 boxes. 

More volunteers are needed at these sites to give a more complete picture of the outcome. The Western Bluebird begins nest building early in late March or early April. They generally have two broods during the nesting period and on at least one occasion, three have been reported.

For more information about volunteering for the Climate Watch survey, or if you think your property is suitable for Western Bluebirds, or simply would like more information about the Western Bluebird project please contact me by email joyce.volmut@gmail.com.

As a reminder, the Climate Watch Survey begins January 15 and lasts until February 15. It is a one time 5 minute survey that takes place any day throughout the survey period.

This column is from the November - December 2022 Harlequin Happenings

OPAS Swan Study

by Laura Davis and Liam Antrim

It's mid-autumn migration for birds – time to attune our ears and glimpse upwards then around the bend in the road, following the sounds and the line of trees into the field. The Trumpeter Swans, encouraged by nighttime freezes in the boreal forests of Alaska, are flying toward us – guided by their previous seasons' successes here. The Trumpeters won’t travel further south than needed, and we are at the southern edge of their core winter range. And in the end, it will be the healthy pairs returning to the breeding grounds that will win the survival contest. That means not going any further south than necessary. Last year, the swans had arrived in three distinct migrational waves by mid-winter.

After their long journey, the swans look for carbohydrates and fats to replenish reserves and then continue to sustain them through the worst of winter. Every acre of forage is not nutritionally equivalent and they look for sites that meet their caloric needs efficiently. Efficiency is fundamental for these large, flying birds. Even local movement from foraging to roosting grounds burns a lot of calories.

We have pairs of roosting and foraging sites that foster regular patterns of daily back and forth. Commutes typically occur shortly after sunrise, and then, well after sunset. The latter is a challenging time for many of us at the darkest time of year. So too with the swans who in unfamiliar places or conditions run a risk of collisions with power lines. Throughout the season there is reason to adjust foraging and roosting locations due to food and water availability, windy or icy weather, feelings of safety or harassment: what circuit of sites will least exhaust their energy resources? The swans need enough water and grit to process their diet – both day and night, even if that means a lesser quality food. Permanent water is also essential to nighttime safety. Making adjustments throughout the season, the life of a swan isn't so predictable.

In other areas of their range, the swans might hop over to their roosting sites for a midday drink; thus far, our studies have not seen that activity here. In our area, swans may find low areas where puddles of dew or drizzle accumulate and contribute fluids to their midday grazing. Learning about swan behavior in other ares helps us be alert to and observant of additional behavioral clues.

Our study is dynamic and observations lead to more questions. With over a decade of surveys, our OPAS swan team continues to ride the momentum of our amazing volunteers' efforts. We invite you to learn more. Attend the OPAS members' meeting on November 16 where you will hear and see illustrated our insights into the swans' use of our area, see the population changes from year-by-year, and the usages of different food stuffs and sites through the year. See, too, our OPAS Swan Study webpage for our report and details on the 2021–22 season.

You may find that joining our team is the most engaging way to learn about the swans and the habitats that our agricultural landscapes provide. Please contact OPAS if you're interested. We survey weekly at midday for the five months the swans are here. In addition, once a month, some of our volunteers are out before dawn for a simultaneous count at the roosting sites. The more volunteers we have for our dawn surveys, the more we can learn.

This column is from the Sept/Oct 2022 Harlequin Happenings

Naturescaping Your Yard

As the days grow shorter we can expect the rainy season to return soon. Fall is the best time to plant native trees and shrubs to help birds on the Olympic Peninsula.

Doug Tallamy is a professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 97 research publications and has taught insect-related courses for 40 years. His first book Bringing Nature Home (2009) alerted us to the declining numbers of native plants. His solution is for homeowners and naturalists to plant natives for wildlife. In 2014 Tallamy co-authored The Living Landscape. His most recent book, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard, is a blueprint for homeowners to eliminate lawns to improve the chance that birds survive climate change induced drought.

Let’s reconsider our lawns. In 2005 NASA satellite imagery determined that close to 2% of arable land in the US is turf-grass. How much gas is wasted mowing lawns? Fertilizer and glyphosate harm the environment when they enter our water system. Irrigation of lawns in the dry season when grass naturally goes dormant wastes water. Instead of a lawn could you grow a dry meadow to nurture pollinators? Or perhaps turn your lawn into a food producing garden? How about slowly replacing ornamentals with native plants?

Studies show that insect populations are in decline. Native plants have co-evolved with native insects. Native plants support the native insects that are vital for the protein young birds need to develop.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology has programs focused on turning some of the 40 million acres of lawns in the US into bird habitat by planting natives.

At our home, we have had success planting Red Flowering Current, Indian Plum, Serviceberry, Nootka Rose, and Oregon Grape in the Fall when they benefit from the coming rains. Browsing deer can damage young plants so we have placed fencing around our shrubs.

The Clallam Conservation District is an excellent resource for learning about native plants and the wildlife usage of these trees and shrubs.

Remember, bare root plants available in late winter and planted in the Spring require watering and mulching to survive our dry season. An alternative is to take advantage of our coming rainy season and start naturescaping your yard this Fall.

This column is from the July - August 2022 Harlequin Happenings

Motus Wildlife Tracking System

by Bob Phreaner

The Motus Wildlife Tracking System is a program of Birds Canada in partnership with collaborating researchers and organizations. Motus uses coordinated radio telemetry to learn about the ecology and conservation of migratory animals. Tiny radio-transmitter tags can be glued to the back of birds and the signal can be detected by receivers distributed about the landscape. Each tag emits a unique signature so we can determine where animals go, how fast they transit between points, and how long they stay in an area. This information can be used to support conservation of stop-over sites, leverage public engagement for funding, and encourage preservation of these crucial areas in a time when bird populations are in decline.

Motus has been used extensively in New England as well as Canada to track bird migration patterns and recently it is expanding to the Pacific Flyway. In British Columbia, Motus sites such as Robert’s Bank in the Fraser River Delta are used to monitor how Western Sandpipers (WESA) move through the Salish Sea. Recent data suggests that WESA counts fluctuate with salinity. Floods lower the salinity and decrease the quality of diatoms available to support the migrating WESA. In these conditions observers see a decrease in the duration of the stop-over and a decline in the seasonal count of WESA.

On June 8, I attended a virtual meeting on the expansion of Motus receiver sites into Washington State. At this time the US Fish and Wildlife Service has receivers in the Nisqually Delta, Tokeland, Oysterville and at Brekenridge Bluff. You can learn more at USFWS Shorebird Project, at https://motus.org/data/project?id=337. Kitsap (Point No Point) and Whidbey Audubon as well as the Samish Indian Nation are planning for receiver sites too.

How about the Olympic Peninsula? This might be an opportunity for a new Community Science project. There is much to learn about this technology such as the battery life of the transmitters, the optimal locations of receivers, and expense of maintaining this equipment. OPAS Conservation Committee volunteers are interested in following up on these developments. You can visit the motus.org website for more information.

This column is from the May - June 2022 Harlequin Happenings

Volunteers Needed for Pigeon Guillemot Observers

By Bob Phreaner

Wouldn’t you like to spend a tranquil early morning hour on the beach watching fascinating and photogenic birds while conducting Citizen Science? Your OPAS funding and the Clallam County Marine Resources Committee has supported the hiring of a data collator for this Puget Sound wide endeavor to monitor the breeding success of Pigeon Guillemots (PIGU). Since 2016 the mean population of PIGU breeding in Clallam County has been stable at approximately six hundred. Volunteers dress to blend into the beach, sit motionless, enjoy the spectacle and record our observations. I have been fortunate enough to participate in the Pigeon Guillemot breeding survey at Port Williams with Dan Stahler who provides the following invitation to join us.

The 2022 Pigeon Guillemot Survey season will begin in the first week of June. The Community Science project has been collecting data for over 20 years, 8 years in Clallam County.  It began with the Whidbey Audubon Society, but has grown into a regional, Salish Sea project. The data is used by the WDFW agency as an indicator of the health of the Salish Sea. The data collection is done by volunteers once a week for 10 weeks. You do not have to be an expert to participate. If you enjoy getting out on the beach early in the morning, observing nature, and being a part of an important effort to  learn about a key bird species, then be a volunteer data collector. It involves being at a specific site once a week for an hour and counting the number of Pigeon Guillemots (PIGU) seen, the times they fly to their nest burrows in the cliff, and the type of fish they deliver to the nestlings. Training is provided via a very good video series that you can explore on the website below.  To learn more about this very satisfying beach activity visit the Salish Sea Guillemot Network website at pigeonguillemot.org

If you are concerned that you do not have enough experience, you can be assigned to observe with an experienced volunteer and learn about the survey procedures. You could then decide if you want to accept a site of your own. Also, substitute observers are needed to fill in for those observers that have been carried off and eaten by eagles. Usually there are about 25 volunteers working the beaches of Clallam County each season.

To volunteer contact Ed Bowlby the Clallam County coordinator at  edbowlby2@gmail.com

This column is from the March - April 2022 Harlequin Happenings

Project Swan Safe Update

By Bob Phreaner

Good news for swans roosting on Kirner Pond (aka, Gaskell Slough)! When OPAS commits to a conservation project, we like to have pre- and post-data to confirm that our efforts have been effective. With this article, I’d like to review the Swan Safe Project, and report what I am seeing, now that the utility lines are buried along Kirner Road. Between 2014 and 2021 there were at least nine mortalities reported to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife at this location. But the number of mortalities alone did not tell the complete story. Often birds would strike the power lines along the west side of Kirner Pond and limp off, or even fly off, only to die later from their injuries.

OPAS wanted to know the scale of the problem, so in November of 2017, I began frequent dawn observations. Soon, I witnessed swans altering their flight path as they tried to clear the power lines. I learned some patterns, like their tendency totake off into the wind to get airborne regardless of the threat of collision with the power lines. In December 2019, I started filming every flight to the west toward the wires. These videos revealed many close calls like a wing grazing a wire, which was only detectable by seeing the wire bounce on “instant replay” as the lucky bird flew on. Before the videos, we only knew about the dead or injured swans found near the power lines.

You can see some of this footage in John Gussman’s film “Sudden Impact” that he made to tell the swans’ story. Following release of “Sudden Impact”, OPAS started a GoFundMe campaign, and within several weeks 290 donors raised $65,000.

But it took more than money to make the line burial happen. John Acklen shared his expertise in avian protection devices with PUD engineer Mike Hill’s crew, and WDFW biologist Shelly Ament worked with the property owners on the west side of Kirner Road. The power lines were successfully buried in August 2021.

This season, with the help of Vince Thrutshley, I have continued my daily roosting survey. I can report that we have recorded no swan deaths or injuries associated with Kirner Pond this year. When swans take off into the west wind, I no longer hold my breath for fear of catastrophe. The swans now routinely fly at the height of the former wires. As they fly just fifteen-to-twenty feet over my head, I can hear their wingbeats and their trumpeting calls and feel thankful that we, as a community, have eliminated one obstacle to swan survival.

I personally want to thank John Gussman, John Acklen, Shelly Ament, the PUD, the OPAS Swan Surveyors led by Laura Davis and Liam Antrim, the OPAS Conservation Committee and Board members, the property owners along Kirner Rd, and our indispensable Community of donors who have made the Dungeness Valley a little more “Swan Safe”.

This column is from the January - February 2022 Harlequin Happenings

OPAS Swan Study Update

By Laura Davis and Liam Antrim

With such robust swan numbers in our Sequim-Dungeness area last winter, we watched the skies this fall and had to simply hold onto our hats. Predictions of colder and wetter-than-average weather due to La Niña were verified with rain and strong winds across the Salish Sea, which may have hindered or diverted the swans' migration across the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Salish Sea. We counted over 20 swans by early November. The tally increased in mid-November and held steady at +/–80 swans through mid-December. Then, after several nights of a clear skies and bright moonlight, our team counted 132 swans on December 20. The temperatures, snow and hazardous travel conditions of late December risked safe survey by volunteers and delayed our counts until the new year 2022.

Our over-wintering Trumpeter Swan population has increased during the past ten years of OPAS surveys. The winter of 2020–2021 may prove to be exceptional, with average-count data reflecting a strong autumn arrival and swan numbers that remained high throughout the season. We counted 183 swans on December 1, 2020, versus 75 this year on November 30, 2021. We are now a third of the way into this winter, and it's still too early to know how this year will compare with previous. While annual differences in timing, numbers and usage may involve a complex interplay of many variables, we can expect to see longer-term change over time due to factors such as climate instability, wintertime habitat availability and habitat quality.

Our winter surveys document local numbers, distribution, habitat use, and changes in agriculture. For further information, download the OPAS Swan Team's 2020–2021 data-analysis graphics from our OPAS Community Science webpage.

Habitat and Forage

The Pacific Coast population of Trumpeter Swans that we see in western Washington spend summers along Alaska’s southern coastal plain, and the interior boreal forest and taiga habitats of Alaska, western Yukon and northwestern British Columbia. Studies show that the positive effects of breeding season habitats expanding northwards due to extended ice-free periods have outweighed the negative effects of wetland shrinkage in those habitats due to climate change. Researchers suggest the availability of sufficient wintering habitat may ultimately control and limit swan population growth. We can certainly see the changes in land use in our local area, with agricultural land converted to home lots and development encroaching on wetlands and small lakes. The swans are surprisingly tolerant during their daytime foraging activities adjacent to roadways, but are more sensitive to human disturbance at their roosting sites where there is also a negative association with nighttime lights.

As we write, freezing temperatures and snow cover are limiting access to both day and nighttime forage, as well as open freshwater for roosting. Nocturnal foraging helps generate body heat during the coldest time of the day. While we are seeing some swans on roosting sites that are totally frozen-over, others are seeking out locations that do not pose additional threats of predation, such as our saltwater bays.

Daytime forage for swans in winter includes pasture grasses, small grains, and tubers. This year, as is typical during our Sequim-Dungeness autumns, the swans have foraged largely on harvested corn fields, where they can find broken corn cobs and kernels. Fields over-seeded with cover crops in the fall become more attractive as plants grow and are available to diversify the menu. We also find the swans foraging on pasture grasses. Although our area has many fields managed for hay, we see the swans primarily on pastures and hay fields adjacent to previously harvested crops. Following our late-December snowfall, the swans discovered the carrot fields and shifted foraging usage in that direction. We are in touch with WDFW and the farmer to assist as requested in dissuading the swans from foraging on unharvested crop.

Through our regular counts and observations, we discover patterns that – fueled by our volunteers' interest and curiosity – spark further questions and commitment to the surveys. Researchers and ornithologists contributing to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World have identified gaps in understanding and research on swans' winter forage needs, information necessary to adequately protect and manage critical habitats into the future. These include:

• foraging ecology and nutritional needs: differences between migratory versus sedentary swans, and between swans foraging on agricultural crops versus aquatic vegetation.

• migration behavior and ecology: specific data on pre-migratory and migratory behavior and on the exact routes and sites used during migration.

Although the impacts of climate change on individual avian species are unknown, long-term and wide-spread monitoring programs – like the five-year North American Trumpeter Swan survey planned for mid-January – provide the best opportunity to identify population-level effects. We provide data and our team's analysis to WDFW, the Northwest Swan Conservation Society, and to the online audience via the OPAS website. We are grateful for our strong and reliable volunteer team dedicated to this long-term study. In addition to broad weekly surveys, volunteers also watch sites near their homes, participate in our monthly roosting surveys, and provide their observations when swans hit power lines or are otherwise injured.

Safe Flights and Power Lines

Even with successful mitigation efforts, power lines continue to pose a primary hazard to swans in our Sequim-Dungeness region. At Kirner Pond, the donation-funded power line removal project this past summer has prevented any further injury and casualty as swans fly from this important roosting site each dawn. This season, swans lifting off the pond to the west pass closely above the large willow shrubs at the Kirner Road edge – heights at which swans would have previously struck the power lines. Recent ice on the pond has meant some interesting take offs in a short amount of space. Volunteers continue to regularly monitor the pond this year, post-mitigation. Thus far, atypical prevailing winds, takeoffs to the east, and lower swan population are factors that may support continued observation beyond the current season.

This season's hotspot for hazards has been Evans Road, as John Acklen and Shelly Ament describe in the January/February newsletter. Alerted by social media, swan-team members helped WDFW watch, assess the swan flights and locate the areas of potential hazard. This was the first year this field was planted with corn since OPAS swan surveys began in 2011. Shelly was able to attribute three early-season swan mortalities to a power line leading to an irrigation pump. PUD quickly and temporarily removed the short span. Markers on power lines adjacent to the Evans Road fields will make the lines more visible in low to no-light conditions – very important at this location between two of our main roosting sites. Because it can often be difficult to identify the cause of swan injury and mortality, it is so useful when neighbors contact PUD, WDFW or OPAS with descriptions of suspected problems.

We extend our Sequim-Dungeness surveys to the Miller Peninsula and Port Angeles to monitor usage at roosting sites, some of which are on private or restricted access land. We primarily view swans from public road edges and are especially grateful to our local landowners tolerant of our swan-monitoring and count activities. We also serve the community by informing WDFW if swans seem to be causing crop damage. Intensive use of the road edges by other bird watchers makes landowners more reactive to our weekly survey presence. Please be mindful of private property, but if you are aware of swans using unsurveyed sites, please be in touch.

We all gain sustenance from our community and by working on projects larger than ourselves. Our OPAS teams share camaraderie, service to the community and time spent in nature. If you have interest in joining our group of surveyors or site stewards, please contact the OPAS Conservation Committee co-chairs.

This column is from the November - December 2021 Harlequin Happenings

Reduce Window Strikes: What works and what doesn’t

by Dee Renee Ericks

Here are some practical, do-it-yourself tips for limiting bird collisions on your home windows. Many of these suggestions can be applied at little or no cost.  

We know that birds strike windows for several reasons, primarily the transparent and reflective qualities of glass. Other reasons include:

• Birds believe they are on a safe flight path because they see the landscape around them reflected from the glass.

• They see through the window to habitat, either inside your home or through to the other side, and don’t perceive the glass as a barrier.

• They see their own reflection in the glass and attack the window. Territorial aggression can result in bill injuries.

Here are some simple modifications you can easily make to minimize injury to birds:

• Move feeders close to your windows (1.5 to 3 feet), or use window feeders. From that distance the birds can’t build up enough momentum to hurt themselves if they hit the glass. Otherwise, feeders should be placed at least 30 feet away.

• Close blinds, curtains, or shades to break up window reflections of habitat, or the illusion of a clear passage.

• Move houseplants away from windows.

•  Create markings on the EXTERIOR portion of windows to eliminate or break up window reflections. Make the openings so small that birds think they can’t fly through.

What Works!

Any portion of a window reflection, larger than 4” wide or 2” high, presents a possible flight path. FLAP Canada recommends that marker spacing be no more than 2” X 2”.  Window markings need to stand out in contrast to the glass in varying light conditions. Markers should be no less than ¼” thick. The entire exterior glass surface should be covered. Examples:

• Markings with a soap bar

• Use of Tempera paint designs (using stencils are fun!)

• Artwork or designs using a broad tipped oil based Sharpie pen in white. It’s removable with acetone to a cotton ball or pad. Lightly dab the affected surface to dissolve the paint marking. Also isopropyl alcohol, or rubbing alcohol works too!

• Feather Friendly Markers 

• Accopian BirdSaver cords 

• Window film treatment 

• Window tape

• Exterior screens

What does NOT work!

• Falcon Silhouettes

• Bird decals

• Netting (entanglement issues)

• Plastic Owls

Remove Unnecessary Lighting:

To minimize nighttime bird collisions with glass or buildings, reduce nighttime lighting!  Ideally, turn off all light sources between dusk and dawn, especially during migration season from mid-February to the end of May and from mid-August to the end of November.

Control when and where light shines by:

• Using light fixtures that are shielded, instead of globe-type models that spew light everywhere.

• Choosing downlighting over uplighting to keep from directing light into the night sky.

• Using motion sensors to avoid steady-burning lights, and timers to ensure that lights aren’t left on longer than necessary.

• Controlling the color of the light. When it comes to the effects of light on birds, not all wavelengths are created equal. Red light and white light disrupt birds’ geomagnetic orientation. Blue and green contain less long-wavelength radiation and are much less disorienting.

• Close shades, drapes and blinds.

For further information, check out OPAS’ Project BirdSafe.

This column is from the September - October 2021 Harlequin Happenings

Project Swan Safe

by John Acklen, Project Manager

On Monday, August 9, construction crews completed the road cut across Kirner Road and utility crews began installing conduit through which power line conductors and WAVE cable would subsequently be pulled. By the end of Tuesday, the trench had been cut along the west side to the corner of Kirner and Woodcock, remaining conduit installed, and the excavation backfilled. About 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 11 Clallam County PUD switched electric power flow from the overhead lines on the east side of Kirner Road to new buried conductors. Later that afternoon they removed the de-energized lines, which had caused injury and death to swans. These acts achieved a major goal of Project Swan Safe, organized by the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society (OPAS). Granted, the project is not quite done. Today, the WAVE broadband cable still hangs from an unneeded power pole but these vestiges will soon be removed. Final billing and accounting remain to be completed. The underground lines now provide full service to users and the threat to swans from these overhead power lines is gone. 

This threat became well known in the last several years, with at least nine mortalities reported to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) since 2014. The number of mortalities alone did not tell the complete story. It was not until the winter of 2017-2018 that the true scope and scale of the problem became clear through efforts of Bob Phreaner who showed up before dawn most winter mornings, from early November through late January, to observe and record swans leaving the pond to forage in the area. Bob started photographing swans roosting on Kirner Pond in 2017 and began discerning some patterns, such as their tendency to take off into the wind regardless of the threat of the power lines. In December of 2019, he began to make daily video recordings.

Bob Phreaner recorded all west bound take offs from early November of 2020 for 89 mornings until early February when the swans moved their roosting location to Gierin Slough (Graysmarsh). The most interesting result of reviewing the videos in slow motion was seeing the number of line strikes where a bouncing wire provided evidence that a wing had clipped a wire. Often birds would strike the line and limp off or even fly off, only to die later from their injuries. Before the videos, we only knew about the dead or injured swans found near the power lines.

On December 9, 2020 on a drizzly 39 degree overcast dawn with little wind, there were 112 swans present, roosting on Kirner Pond before dawn. At 08:30 a.m., in one of the last flights to take off, a group of 5 headed west but one swan was electrocuted. Bob called Shelly Ament of WDFW who arrived soon thereafter to pick up the dead swan. The following day, Shelly, Bob, Mike Hill, and a PUD crew met at Kirner Rd and placed 50 additional diverters; but all agreed after reviewing Bob’s video of the electrocution that diverters were not the solution. The lines needed to be buried.

Martha Jordan of Northwest Swan Conservation Association, notified local award-winning videographer, John Gussman, of the problem and he flew his drone camera over Kirner Pond for five mornings starting on December 11, 2020. Using this footage, John made the Sudden Impact video in which he included some of Bob’s collision videos.

Bob Phreaner shared his data with the OPAS Conservation Committee in early January and the committee immediately agreed to recommend raising funds to bury the Kirner Road power lines to the OPAS Board. This was a first for OPAS as they’d never sponsored a GoFundMe campaign before. It was also in January that I offered to help with the project as I had recently retired from the utility industry as an environmental professional with a specialty in avian protection. Thus, Project Swan Safe was born. In April 2021, just 3 months after beginning fundraising, Project Swan Safe had raised the estimated $65,000 to bury the underground the power lines!

The successful completion of Project Swan Safe is a unique accomplishment, not only for OPAS, but for our community and our coalition of dedicated project partners. In my experience as a utility environmental professional, utilities usually undertake projects such as this primarily to either reduce liability or increase reliability. Funds are rarely obligated to mitigate collision risk to wildlife. This is especially true for a public utility like our PUD where every project is paid for directly by rate payers. To have PUD come up with all the funding for this project would have been extremely difficult. The real catalyst and major backing for this project are our donors. More than 290 of you, contributed to the Swan Safe GoFundMe campaign to make it go. You are the heroes in this story. Our heartfelt thanks.

Along with donor funding, other private and public entities contributed to the success of this project. PUD stepped up and contributed not only partial construction funding but project design services and management as well. Mike Hill, PUD Engineering Manager, followed through on every facet of this project from initially hanging bird diverters through the design of the underground system, obtaining easements and permits, to scheduling. WDFW provided regulatory backing, support, and, perhaps even more importantly, Shelly Ament’s time and energy as a key project proponent, partner, and problem solver. Clallam County Roads engineers permitted us to open cut the road, rather than have to use a much more expensive boring operation. C&J, our excavation contractor, went above and beyond, not only reducing their administrative burden on the project, but coordinating with the irrigation ditch company and landowners to offer innovative solutions to sticky issues that threatened project design and schedule. WAVE Broadband reduced earlier project estimates, helping us to bring the project in on budget. This public-private-non-profit coalition is unique and may be the first of its kind. It certainly is in my experience.

Although the dust has yet to settle, this project appears to have come in on budget and within the critical summer scheduling window when the swans are still on their northern nesting grounds.  This winter, it will be a joy to watch swans flying into and leaving Kirner Pond without having to run the gauntlet of lethal power lines. Thanks to our innovative community coalition, the power lines are gone!

This column is from the July - August 2021 Harlequin Happenings

An Opportunity for the Wild Olympics Campaign

by Bob Phreaner, Conservation Co-chair

The OPAS Conservation Committee would like to use this column to review the history of the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and inform you of the bill’s current status.

In 2008, a coalition of conservation and recreation groups formed The Wild Olympics Campaign to protect the Olympic Peninsula watershed. The Wild Olympics Campaign developed an initial draft vision in 2009 which included 160,000 acres of wilderness additions and more than 550 miles of Wild and Scenic rivers on the Olympic Peninsula.

OPAS presented a resolution in October 2011 to the Washington State Audubon Conservation Committee to obtain statewide support for Wild Olympics. The Audubon Council of Washington passed this resolution.

More recently, Wild Olympics legislation was introduced In the US House of Representatives in 2019 by Congressman Derek Kilmer and passed in February 2021. The Bill was introduced by Senator Patty Murray on February 25, 2021 as SB455 and was heard by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources’ Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests and Mining on June 16, 2021.

In the last decade OPAS support of Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act has not waned and with the reality of climate change, the urgency of passing this Act by a narrowly progressive Congress couldn’t be greater. The OPAS Board  recently appropriated $200 to help fund a yard sign publicity program for passage of the Wild Olympics Act and supported the Wild Olympics Coalition testimonial letter to the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining.

To learn more of the background of the Wild Olympics Campaign please go to olybird.org. Next you may select Conservation Stewardship and scroll down for the detailed OPAS chapter history of this issue. To offer your support for the Wild Olympics Campaign go to wildolympics.org, where you will see many endorsements from diverse interest groups. Please add your name to the over 12,000 who have signed this important petition to our legislators.

This column is from the May - June 2021 Harlequin Happenings

Pigeon Guillemot Survey

by Bob Phreaner, Conservation Co-chair

One morning a week, shortly after sunrise, I am lucky enough to spend a tranquil hour on Port Williams beach observing the breeding behavior of Pigeon Guillemots (PIGUs). It is a very rewarding and peaceful experience. Dan Stahler and Ed Bowlby (PIGU co-leads for Clallam County), provide the following information:

Overview and training

The Salish Sea Guillemot Network monitoring program began with the Whidbey Audubon Society in 2003. It has grown into a region-wide program. This last year the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife began incorporating the years of data into their state-wide system. There are many Regional partners in the effort. For a full list visit the home page of the project's website. Clallam County's efforts are sponsored and managed by the Clallam County's Marine Resources Committee (MRC). Last year over 30 volunteers monitored 8 nesting colonies along county shorelines. OPAS and MRC members are active in the volunteer ranks. With COVID, volunteer training is being done online. Videos and Zoom meetings have worked well to keep everyone informed. Training dates will be announced soon for this year. To get an idea of how the observations work, you can see last year’s training videos at: Survey Training Videos

Observers at Port Williams are assigned a viewing location between the surf and the bluff. We become familiar with our positions and the PIGU burrows above us. We try to blend into the beach and record the birds that fly from the water to the bluff with fish for their growing chicks. Sometimes their routine is interrupted by predators like Bald Eagles.

Some beach walkers ask our team of observers about our objectives and our concern for the preservation of this important bluff. Jean Siesener, whose station is the first encountered by north bound walkers, developed the idea of an informational sign to alert the public to Pigeon Guillemot’s sensitive nesting sites along the bluffs, and together with Ed Bowlby approached Clallam County Parks for their approval. Park’s staff will be placing the sign at Marlyn Nelson Park this month. Your OPAS contributions and the Clallam MRC shared the expense of this welcome addition to preserving PIGU habitat.

Volunteers are needed for this year's survey

Observers volunteer one morning per week and observations are for one hour between 6 and 8 AM. The 10 week observation season will begin in early June. To become a volunteer, or for more information, contact Ed Bowlby edbowlby2@gmail.com

For details about the project visit: pigeonguillemot.org and https://www.clallamcountymrc.org/projects/pigeon-guillemot-survey/.

This column is from the March - April 2021 edition of the newsletter.

OPAS Swan Study Update

by Laura Davis and Liam Antrim

March 1, 2021

This has been an eventful OPAS swan season of reinforcing partnerships and focusing attention on critical investments in the future. As swan after swan was seen striking the power lines when departing the Kirner Pond roosting site, it was time to work decisively to get the power lines moved underground. We describe the Kirner Pond habitat and lay out the context of these power-line encounters on our Swan Study webpage. Below we share news from the busy survey season still underway, including positive partnerships with WDFW and our local farming community.

Foraging survey – Swans arrived early to our area last autumn and our teams were excited to count 200 swans already by December. Now in the tenth year of OPAS swan-foraging surveys, no year has surpassed this one. This season's average weekly count will be about 180, whereas our average count had ranged from 57 to 94 for 2011–2016 and 128 to 143 swans for 2016–2020. These are mostly Trumpeter Swans. Many of you have seen the juvenile Tundra Swans this season – as well as a lively Sandhill Crane youngster in the mix. The Tundras’ Western Population and the Trumpeters’ Pacific Coast Population use the same stopover habitats while migrating along the Pacific Flyway. We expect the young Tundras will join up with their own species on their way north.

Roosting survey – Out before daybreak once each month, several teams simultaneously count swans at known roosting sites, record dawn takeoffs and track their direction – all while sharing observations by text message. We compare these data to the daytime surveys. Our group has followed usage at seven sites this season, but with just four roosting surveys per season, it is only a snapshot. Patterns of usage and preferred usage by families are influenced by many factors including water level, forage opportunities, shelter, and disturbances like hunting activities. We can't see back into Gierin Marsh for accurate counts, so John Gussman deploys a drone to capture stills and video. His aerial photography improves the quality of our roosting surveys and increases understanding of the local wetland habitats used by swans.

Mid-winter survey – This year, we spread our wings wide for a mid-January survey extending from Port Townsend to Neah Bay. With a regional five-year Trumpeter Swan survey delayed until next year due to pandemic protocols, the WDFW Wildlife Section Manager and the Northwest Swan Conservation Association asked us to assist with their annual mid-January survey and broaden our typical reach. Including guest surveyors, our expanded team of 15 volunteers counted 298 swans (238 adults and 60 juveniles), scouting eleven locations from Port Townsend (0), Chimacum (83), Miller Peninsula (5), Sequim-Dungeness (200), Deer Park to Fairchild Airport (0), and Neah Bay (10).

Crop protection – Thanks to our farmers and the continued conservation of local agricultural landscapes, the swans can thrive in the Sequim-Dungeness landscape with a few ponds and brackish marshes, but otherwise scarce freshwater wetland habitat. Late in November, we helped WDFW protect a carrot harvest still underway near Ward Road by placing poles with mylar streamers around the field. A dense-enough matrix of this flagging can deter swans from landing, especially in combination with hazing. While swans are protected from disturbance by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, property owners are advised to use disturbance techniques such as hazing where swans are pests. These encourage the birds to move out of the area and avoid the field in the future. When the carrot harvest was complete, we removed the poles and flagging, and the swans foraged on that field for several weeks running.

We are grateful for the 26 volunteers, neighbors, friends and relatives that served our efforts this year. A special heartfelt thanks to the folks near Kirner Pond who have assisted with monitoring injured swans and those who are now helping OPAS realize the vision of the swans' safe return to Kirner Pond for generations to come. About 19% of the swans visiting our area this year are first-year birds; we expect these swans, their parents, elder siblings, and the next crop of juveniles will arrive at Kirner Pond next year to a site free of the hazardous overhead power lines.

The season is drawing to a close and migration is “in the air”. If you are watching when the conditions are right, you just might catch the last flights from the fields, over the bays, and across the Strait. The swan numbers typically dwindle to a handful by the end of March and we'll keep watch for stragglers into early April. Your postings on eBird always help guide us at the season's edges.

If you are interested in watching a roost site or reporting swans outside the Sequim–Dungeness Valley area, please contact us.