A few birds from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
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Hairy Woodpecker:Hairy Woodpecker Puugtuyuli I call this guy Harry, and his mate Harriet, and I see them quite a bit these Autumn days, especially during afternoon walks in the woods above my house. I often hear one of them yelp at me from behind a birch or aspen as it pecks at the bark for its favorite food, wood borers and bark beetles. The Hairy woodpecker is much shyer than its smaller cousins, the Downy and Three-toed woodpeckers. It doesn't usually allow close approach by humans, and dodges around the tree trunk to hide, or it takes off in a graceful bounding flight for trees farther away. I didn't see these big woodpeckers much on the Yukon Delta coast when I taught out there, but when I moved up to Marshall where there were more trees every once in awhile I'd come across them during my daily walks or skis in the area. When I asked for their Yupik name I was told it was Puugtuyuli, meaning "the one who is good at diving through the air and banging its head against something." It's the same Yupik name used for all the woodpeckers that hang around the YK Delta during the winter. They were given the common English name "hairy" because of their hairy appearance. Their scientific name, Picoides villosus, means basically the same thing, "woodpecker with shaggy plumage." Sometimes, if I was really lucky during my walks, I might catch a glimpse of the bird striking its beak on the wood and holding it there. In this way, it detects, by feeling, the vibrations and locations of its prey. It also listens intently for the sounds of insect jaws crunching wood on the inside of the bark. Here in Fairbanks, I've noticed over the years that Harry and Harriet have a loose association during the onset of winter, but that as the season progresses they forage more and more closely together. By midwinter they have paired up again in preparation for nesting in spring. This occurs rather early and is accompanied by a courtship ritual of intense drumming by both sexes. The drumming is usually done during flight and involves beating the wings against the bird's flank to produce a long, loud rolling tattoo. Other rituals include tapping at real or false nest sites by the female, and a quivering, fluttering flight by the female to attract the male. These courtship rituals are all performed within the female's original winter territory, since it is here that nesting will take place. When warmer weather finally rolls around in late March, the pair begin to excavate a nest in the dead or dying branch of a live aspen, birch or spruce tree. The male usually selects the actual nest site, then does most of the work in hollowing out a hole adequate for them to set up their household in. The nest cavity is usually about a foot deep and located from 5-60 feet above the ground. It takes the birds three weeks to do the digging and when they're finished they line the nest with a soft bed of fine wood chips. Harriet lays four white eggs on these chips and shares duty with Harry in their incubation. She does daytime duty while her hubby does the night shift. The eggs hatch in two weeks at which time both parents also cooperate in feeding the nestlings. Harry hunts farther away from the nest but brings back more food for the new family. Harriet forages nearby so she can be within hearing distance of her young. They do this for about a month when finally the brood is ready to take their first leap from the edge of the tree hole and fly free as a, well ..., free as a bird, and begin to fend for themselves in life. As the young are learning the art of flight, their parents help transition them into their new more dangerous life by feeding them for a while. At the same time they show them how to forage for themselves. Part of this learning process involves the use of their specialized tongue. Over the one hundred million or more years of their evolution, they and other woodpeckers have acquired a tongue unlike that of other birds. Exceptionally long, it wraps around the skull and is anchored at the base of their upper beak. They extend it into a hole in tree bark by a complex system which includes very long hyoid (tongue-base) bones. The tips of their tongues are barbed to extract insects from holes, and the tongue is coated with sticky saliva which helps them hold on to their prey as it is extracted from the hole. Interesting, eh?  |
Hawk Owl:Hawk Owl Mengqucivak This is one owl you don't have to look for during the night, for it hunts mostly during the daytime. In Alaska, this means you might see it anytime over the course of our long summer days. If you are lucky enough to come across one of these interesting birds, watch it closely and you'll see why it's called Hawk owl. Notice how it flies Goshawklike, straight and rapid on short, pointed wings, and the way it hunts low to the ground, flapping and gliding like a Northern harrier. Watch the way it hovers like an American kestrel, and even perches and jerks its long tail like one. But, no doubt about it, it is an owl. It is actually one of our smallest owls, and might be confused with the Boreal owl, which is also found in many parts of Alaska. But look closer and you'll see that the Hawk owl's underparts and tail are cross-barred and that it is several inches taller than the Boreal because of its unusually long tail. The Yupik people also recognize this owl's similarity to hawks. One of its names, Eskaviaq, is also the name they give to Gyrfalcon, Goshawk and Sharp-shinned hawk. Two other names, Mengqucivak (Yukon area) and Qaku'urtaq (Scammon Bay) relate more to one of the owl's loud screeching calls, although Qaku'urtaq is the name Scammon Bay people also give to the Goshawk and Northern harrier. For those interested in the scientific name, Surnia ulula, the origin of Surnia has been lost, but ulula is a Latin term used to describe another of the owl's calls. This is actually an unusual species name, since normally in the western tradition scientific monikers are not imitative of birds' calls. Whoever named it must have been a poet. So much for names. Let me tell you about its love life. Like many other birds, a part of Mengqucivak's courtship involves ritual feeding of the female by the male, especially toward the end of the courtship period. The two owls also engage in a duet of song, including a rolling, trilling whistle or ululation, similar to that of the Boreal owl, but much faster. By this stage the couple have already found a good nesting spot, which is usually in the hollow tops of dead spruce and birch trees, as well as in natural tree hollows, abandoned woodpecker holes and deserted nests of ravens and birds or prey. In this nest they lay 3-9 glossy white eggs, the number varying with the abundance of rodents. Incubation is done mainly by the female, although the male feeds the female during the entire time she is on the eggs. He is also fearless in defense of the nest against would-be intruders. The young hatch about 28 days later, and both adults cooperate in feeding them. Their daily fare is the same as for the adults, which includes voles, lemmings, shrews, young snowshoe hares, ground squirrels, weasels, ptarmigan, grouse, small birds and insects. Rather than swallow these animals whole as their parents do, however, they eat them piecemeal, at least until they're old enough to handle the increased roughage and burp the bones, etc., back up as pellets. With their ravenous appetites, the young grow quickly and fledge from their nest in about a month. Soon thereafter they have learned how to hunt and do as their parents do. If you're observant, you might find one of the pellets I mentioned above. Owls, unlike hawks, swallow their food whole, or mostly so. When they eat a small animal, they digest all but the bones, fur and feathers. They then regurgitate the remains as hard, felted or feathered pellets. Where they have eaten insects, the pellets also contain the indigestible parts of the insect exoskeletons. If you do find a pellet, take it home or to your classroom, soak it in warm water, carefully dissect it and examine the remains under a magnifying glass to try to identify some of the owl's prey. Summer is gone all too soon here in Alaska, and when the snows of winter begin to accumulate, the weather becomes much colder, and prey is scarce these owls start heading for warmer climes. Whether they stay in Alaska or go farther south to Canada and the Lower 48, their family bonds are strong. The young remain with their parents during the winter months, and the following spring even migrate together as a family unit back to their nesting territory. Once here, however, the family separates and the young search for their own niche where they will begin the cycle of courting, ululation, incubation, feeding and fledging all over again. Which is the way it should be.  |
Hermit Thrush:Hermit Thrush Ciitaarayuli Even for those who live near a forest the "hermit," as I call this thrush, is hard to find (therefore, its English common name). But if you are quiet and sit and wait awhile, it's possible you'll hear its clear flute-like song during spring. If you are really lucky, you may even see this spotted russet-brown bird as it furtively flits along on the forest floor searching for insects, larvae and maybe a few berries. But listen for its ethereal song first, as it rises and falls up and down the scale, sometimes sounding like small muttered bells and at others like a drawn-out silvery tinkle. Indeed, its pure song is what gives the bird its scientific name, Catharus guttatus, meaning "pure-singing spotted bird." The Yupik people have two names for the Hermit thrush that I'm familiar with, Ciitaarayuli and Elagayuli. Ciitaarayuli, means, the one who is good at making the sound "ciitaar," which is yet another example of onometopoeia (remember, the name of the critter sounds like its call). Elagayuli, is a name shared with the Robin, and means "the one who is good at digging." Watch it for a while in its forest setting and you'll understand why it was given that name probably thousands of years ago. But on to the bird itself. Shhhhh! It's spring, and the male hermit is courting his mate. Watch, as wide-eyed he flicks his wings, then raises his small crest and assumes a sleek erect posture with his bill pointed upward. This guy means business, no doubt about that. Soon after business is consummated, 4 greenish-blue eggs are laid in a nest built by the female usually on the ground in a natural depression under spruce or birch trees. After two weeks of incubation by the female, during which she is fed by her mate, the young hatch into ugly chicks with gaping mouths which constantly demand stuffing. This is done first by the male, as the female does the brooding, then by both parents, for at least 12 more days when the now feathered young at last fledge from the nest and begin to fend for themselves. Since it takes a little practice to hunt mosquitoes and other winged insect quarry, however, it will be several more days till the young are completely on their own. Of course, the little hunters quite often become the hunted by such predators as sharp-shinned hawks and Goshawks. Thanks to their camouflage and furtive behavior, however, they are able to survive and flourish to produce more generations of "pure-singing spotted birds." The hermit has spread into more of North America than any other American thrush except for the Robin. Its secret may be that, like the Myrtle warbler, its diet includes not only meat but fruit. In addition to its preferred fare of grasshoppers, caterpillars, spiders, bees, beetles and ants, it has learned to get by during lean months on the fruit of dogwood, elderberry, raspberry, blueberry, cranberry and others. Ants are not only eaten by this remarkable bird. They are also used in a process called "anting," which involves picking up single ants or small groups of them and rubbing them on their feathers. This seems to be a way for the thrush (and many other birds) to acquire the defensive secretions (formic acid) of ants, primarily for their insecticidal, fungicidal and bactericidal properties. Speaking of feathers, have you ever wondered why thrushes and other birds bathe in water or saturate themselves in dust? By doing this, they are actively maintaining their plumage. Frequent dusting, in fact, helps to maintain an optimum amount of oil on the feathers. Excess plumage lipids and preen oil are absorbed by the dust and expelled along with dry skin and other debris. The amount of time and effort birds put into bathing and dusting indicates how important feather maintenance is. Shhhhh! There it is again ...that pure fluting trill ...repeated three times, sounding maybe like, Oh, holy holy,. .. ah, purity purity, ... eeh, sweetly sweetly. No doubt about it, spring is here.  |
Horned Puffin:Horned Puffin Qengacuar(aq) Can you imagine a bird that flies underwater? Well, this one does, and even better than it flies in the air. I've never watched them do this in the wild, but two years ago when I was at the Sea Life Center in Seward I watched them for a long time as they used their wings to propel themselves around and around, twisting and turning only with the movement of their webbed feet. They're pretty nimble walkers, too, but when it comes to flying in the air, they are just plain awkward. Even getting up from the top of the water is a challenge, requiring a run along the surface, which may include an occasional crash through a wave or two before they finally push aloft. This is why puffins choose to dig their burrows into steep hillsides or on rocky slopes or cliff faces, so they can dive off the edge to get enough speed for flight. I've watched their eastern cousins, the Atlantic Puffin, as they took to the air, kicking their feet back and forth to change direction. Horned puffins belong to the family Alcidae, which includes murres and guillemots. Like other alcids, they spend most of their lives on the open sea and visit land only to breed in the late spring and summer. When I lived in Scammon Bay in the 1980's I learned these birds nested on the westernmost headland of the Askinuk Mountains called Cape Romanzof. From a recent trip to Alakanuk I was told they still nest there. Early sailors dubbed puffins "sea parrots" because of their large upright parrot-like bodies and colorful bills. In Scammon Bay the people perhaps humorously dub the bird Qengacuar(aq), meaning "little nose." Another name for them in that part of the Lower Yukon Delta is Qilangaq. I have also read that some Yupik people refer to them as "Qategarpak" because of their big white breast. Their scientific name, Fratercula corniculata, translates as "horned little brother." And, while I'm at it, their common English name derives from both its puffy shape (Coues) and the small fleshy "horn" that projects just above their eyes. In spring, hormones tell these pelagic birds to start heading for shore where both sexes excavate 3-4 foot long burrows into steep hillsides with their sharp claws. Only a single white egg is layed then incubated by both parents, who take turns, for 42-47 days. When the egg hatches in July the chick remains in the burrow for another 45-55 days while its parents take turns feeding it and standing guard. By late summer the parents have finished with their duties and leave for the north Pacific Ocean. After fledging and fattening up, the young follow suit, spending the next year far offshore on the open ocean. Only when they are fully two years old do they return to visit the colony during the summer. At three they come back again, sometimes to breed, but it is mostly at 4 years old that they return to find mates and raise families. It's fascinating watching puffins dive straight into the water from the air and continue flying underwater by flapping half-folded wings and using their brightly colored feet as paddles. They feed in flocks on fish and zooplankton, and when they catch fish for their young they line them up crosswise in their bills, without losing the first one when they add another to their catch. They also manage to take off from a choppy ocean and deliver the fish to their young in the same way. In late summer puffins shed the outer layer of their zany bills, leaving a much smaller drab-colored bill to get them through the winter. Their body plumage also becomes a dusky gray color. In the Hooper Bay-Scammon Bay area Qengacuaraq was once hunted for food and clothing, and the eggs were collected for food. A method used by hunters was with a net on the end of a long pole. When the puffin flew in towards its burrow the hunter suddenly thrust the net in its flight path, making the bird an instant candidate for the next soup pot. Some other English names of the Horned puffin are: Ice bird, Razor-billed auk, Sea crow and Tinker.  |
