Birds of Chignik Lake: Glaucous-winged Gull – So… What’s Up with the Red Dot?

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

One of Chignik Lake’s Glaucous-winged Gulls, in non-breeding plumage, surveys the shoreline for salmon scraps. (Chignik Lake, November 2, 2016)

Rubbery-looking pink legs and feet, splotchy-brown neck and head (in non-breeding plumage), thick bill and overall large size quickly narrow the choices when trying to determine the identity of this gull. If you’re in the Pacific Northwest, possibilities are further whittled down. Check for a dark brown iris. Finally, if the gull you’re looking at has wingtips of gray rather than black, it’s a Glaucous-winged.

Perched on an abandoned lakeshore house on a rainy day. Note the toenails. (Chignik Lake, November 12, 2016)

Although there are even more Glaucous-wingeds at Chignik Lagoon and along the nearshore ocean, as long as there is open water there are bound to be a few of these omnivores cruising the lake and river. When it comes to food, virtually anything is on the menu – including the eggs and chicks of other birds and even of their own species. These birds have no qualms about hanging out at the local dump.

This is a second winter Glaucous-winged. Note the overall more brownish-gray plumage and the dark bill tip. Glaucous-wingeds don’t begin breeding until at least their fourth year. (Chignik River, October 9, 2017)

In breeding plumage, the Glaucous-wing Gull’s crimson bill spot contrasts distinctively with its amber-yellow bill. (Chignik Lake, August 19, 2016)

During summertime visits to a seashore or lake, you’ve no doubt noticed the bright red dot on the lower bill of some gulls. Well, we can thank Dutch scientist Niko Tinbergen for figuring out its purpose.

He noticed that adults returning to the nest didn’t feed the chicks until the chicks pecked at the dot. He devised experiments in which he changed or covered the dot. The result was that the chicks didn’t get fed. So this dot – which is particularly obvious during nesting season – is a vital marker in triggering a response from chicks to tap the adult’s bill, and for the adults to then regurgitate a meal.

As the behavior of the chicks appeared to be instinctive, Tinbergen’s observations became important in debates regarding animal behavior: how much is learned verses how much is innate. For his contributions to the science of ethology, in 1973 he was awarded a Nobel Prize.

Glaucous-Winged Gull. (Chignik Lake, August 19, 2017)

Glaucous-winged Gull Range Map: with permission from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birds of the World

Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Laridae
Larus: from Latin for (large) sea bird
glaucescens: New Latin glaucous from Greek glaukos. In English – dull grayish green or blue in color

Status at Chignik Lake, 2016-19: Common mid-Spring through fall; Uncommon or Absent in Winter

David Narver, Birds of the Chignik River Drainage, summers 1960-63: Abundant

Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuge Bird List, 2010: Common Spring through fall; Uncommon in Winter

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Bird List: Present

loon silhouette

Previous: Mew Gull – The Gull of The Lake

Next Article: Great Horned Owl

© Photographs, images and text by Jack Donachy unless otherwise noted.

Birds of Chignik Lake: Sandhill Cranes – Wild, Resounding Tremolo (Check out the video/audio clip!)

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Gingerly lifting a muddy foot as he displays his stunning plumage, a Sandhill Crane steps through the Berry Bog and wild Iris leaves. Birders who observe Sandhills only in their wintering range may think of their plumage as gray. But on breeding grounds, cranes’ feathers take on a rich, rusty hue. (Chignik Lake, May 22, 2019)

One of the aspects of rural life we most enjoy is the changing of the seasons and the wild music that accompanies those changes. Springtime in The Chigniks ushers in a concerto of rainfall drumming on roofs, wind-driven waves lapping the shore, the crunching tread of bear paws on wet sand, owls hooting in the night, and all manner of songs from birds returning to their familiar breeding grounds: the eerie reverberations of winnowing snipe, the Golden-crowned Sparrow’s plaintive melody, geese cackling high over head, and myriad soli performed by robins, warblers, sparrows, thrushes, wrens, ducks and gulls. But without a doubt, the most iconic of all these vocalizations is the trumpeting tremolo of the Sandhill Crane. We were lucky enough to record a mated pair, heads thrown back, singing in full throat at a very close distance. If you’ve never heard such a performance, you’ve got to click on the video below.

We found this male feeding in a small, winter-browned field with his mate on a rainy day in Spring. (Chignik Lake, May 7, 2019)

These are huge birds. Fully grown they can measure over four feet in height (120 cm+), and if you are lucky enough to be near one, you might swear they go a foot beyond that. The Chigniks abound in the kind of wet, boggy habitat these birds are drawn to both for nesting and for feeding. They’ll eat just about anything – insects, small animals, berries and other plant material all figure into their diet.

Sandhills begin breeding as early as the age of two or as late as the age of seven, and once they have found each other they will remain bonded for a lifespan that might reach into the mid-thirties. They lay one or two eggs. A day after hatching, chicks are ready to follow the parents. Both feed their offspring. ((Chignik Lake, May 4, 2019)

Cranes generally arrive at Chignik Lake in late April, their brassy calls resonating across the lake. At the end of summer, after the chicks have been reared, they depart for wintering grounds to the south. Although they are hunted in some areas, Sandhill Crane numbers are stable. In fact, they appear to be expanding their wintering range to include locations further north.

With an especially long, curling esophagus designed for volume, the music these birds produce is astonishing. Note that toward the end of this clip, it appears that the larger bird, which I presume to be the male, is taking subtle cues from the smaller bird. I kept this video low resolution for faster downloads. (Chignik Lake, May 4, 2019)

Sandhill Crane Range Map: with permission from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birds of the World

Sandhill Crane Antigone canadensis
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Gruidae
Antigone: Etymology apparently is confused. Carlos Linnaeus chose this genus name after a Greek tragedy in which a character, Antigone, was first cursed when the goddess Hera turned her hair to snakes, but was later redeemed when other gods transformed her into a stork, which, Linnaeus’s either mistranslated or took as sufficiently close enough to crane as to merit the use of this appellation in identifying this genus. (The Antigone herein described is not to be confused with the daughter of Oedipus from the tragic play titled Antigone.)
canadensis: Latinized for Canada

Status at Chignik Lake, 2016-19: Common throughout drainage from approximately Late April through Early September

David Narver, Birds of the Chignik River Drainage, summers 1960-63: Occasionally observed but Commonly Heard at Black Lake

Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuge Bird List, 2010: Common in Spring, Summer and Fall; Absent in Winter

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Bird List: Present

loon silhouette

Previous: Peregrine Falcon

Next Article: Greater Yellowlegs – the Treetop Shorebird

*For a clickable list of bird species and additional information about this project, click here: Birds of Chignik Lake

© Photographs, images and text by Jack Donachy unless otherwise noted.

Birds of Chignik Lake: Peregrine Falcon

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Falco peregrinus, John Gould, English Ornithologist, (1804-1881). Wikipedia

I was driving across the bridge spanning Young’s Bay near Astoria, Oregon on the lower Columbia River when, seemingly from the sky, a single drop of blood spattered on my windshield. It was, of course, too late to look up and gather a clue; I had already passed beneath the overhead girders where that drop had originated. But I had my suspicions.

As soon as I got to the end of the bridge and could turn around, I headed back along the course I had just traveled. Sure enough, perched on a steel beam, a Peregrine Falcon sat, claws buried in the remains of one of the bridge’s Rock Doves – the latter known colloquially as common pigeon. In an instant I was transported decades back in time to Jean Craighead George’s magical novel My Side of the Mountain and Sam’s Peregrine Falcon, Frightful – boyhood fantasies of running off into the wilderness and living in a hollowed-out tree with my pet falcon and other woodland friends.

Duck Hawks, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, New York Ornithologist (1874-1927), Wikipedia. The original is housed in the New York State Museum. A print is used in Birds of America, Ed. T. Gilbert Pearson, 2017.

I haven’t gotten many good looks at these remarkable birds. Usually I see them as a blur while out fishing along some rocky coast. A duck or shorebird whizzes by in a panic, I look up, and there’s the falcon angling toward its intended prey, the pair gone in a flash, the outcome yet in question.

Formerly known as Duck Hawks, Peregrines are never abundant, but you might catch a glimpse of one or two along just about any rocky coastline in the world. Mudflats where shorebirds gather, too, are a good place to keep a sharp eye out. And don’t be surprised if you see a pair soaring among city skyscrapers. Building ledges make ideal nesting sites, and an abundance of the aforementioned pigeons ensure for a steady supply of food for adults and chicks.

We encountered a couple of them on a recent bicycle tour circumnavigating coastal Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. Very occasionally, in fact rarely, we’ve looked up or down the Chignik Lake or River and caught sight of a specimen speeding one way or the other – southeast toward the Alaska Gulf; north toward the Bering Sea. At about 16 inches long and with a wingspan of 41 inches, Peregrines in flight appear nearly twice as large as the only falcon regularly seen along The Chignik, Merlins.

I’ve never seen a Peregrine perched along the drainage. The habitat isn’t quite right for them. These are birds of rocky cliffs. No doubt a better place to look for them would be on the Gulf side around Chignik Bay or Castle Cape.

Duck Hawks, John J. Audubon, American Ornithologist, 1785-1851. Wikipedia

Peregrine Falcon Range Map: with permission from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birds of the World

Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus
Order: Falconiformes
Family: Falconidae
Falco: from Latin falcis = sickle
peregrinus: from Latin for traveller. The medieval Latin phrase Falco peregrinus originated with German theologian and scholar Albertus Magnus (before 1200 to 1280) who was referring to the manner in which young Peregrines were obtained for falconry. Because the nests were generally inaccessible, young falcons were taken while journeying to their breeding grounds.