Ruthven Park Nature Blog

I don’t know any other way to put it: this season’s Snow Bunting banding has been a disaster. Consider the numbers: at this same date in 2010, we had banded 619 (total for the whole Winter – 985); at this date in 2011, we had banded 1,074 (Winter total – 2,844); so far this year we have banded only 33! And it’s not just us: David Lamble, who bands in the Fergus area and who banded just under 7,000 last Winter, has banded only 200 so far this season. So what’s going on?

To try to answer this, I’ve had to take a crash course in major weather systems. We’ve all become acquainted with El Nino and its effects on Summer weather conditions but few of us have even heard of the Arctic Oscillation [AO] (or the North Atlantic Oscillation [NAO] which is a part of it), a system that impacts our Winter conditions.

 A quick Google search of “arctic oscillation” brings a wealth of information. Just below is a good, quick and easy explanation from EarthLabs of AO with diagrams.

(EarthLabs is a collaborative effort by individuals at the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at TERC in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.)

How the Arctic Oscillation Works

Let’s start with the basics. Air moves from one place to another around the world because of air pressure. In some places, the air is thicker, or more dense, than it is in other places. When this happens, we say the air pressure is higher. Air moves from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure, creating wind.

The Arctic Oscillation is the movement of air back and forth between the North Pole area and areas farther south (for example the middle of the U.S.). Sometimes the air pressure is higher in the south than it is in the north. When this happens, warmer air pushes north and keeps the really cold Arctic air in the Arctic. This is called the “positive phase” of the Arctic Oscillation. During a positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation, wind and water currents draw warmer, saltier water farther into the Arctic than usual. Other times, the air pressure is higher in the Arctic than it is further south, so the cold air moves south. This is called the “negative phase.” During the negative phase, strong surface winds maintain a powerful clockwise gyre (circular current) around the north pole, which helps to keep colder, fresher water more evenly distributed at high latitudes. The Arctic Oscillation is a little more complex than this basic description, but this is basically how it works. The AO typically seesaws between its positive and negative phase over three-to-seven-year periods.

 This Winter we’re in the midst of a very strong – in fact, a record ”extreme” – positive cycle resulting in the very mild and snow-free conditions we’ve been experiencing. Interestingly, this has followed two Winters of record extreme negative values, which brought us cold weather and lots of snow. This is highlighted below by an excerpt from Dr. Jeff Masters’ wonderful weather blog: Weather Underground.

[www.wunderground.com/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2021]

Wild swings in the December Arctic Oscillation
This winter’s remarkable AO/NAO pattern stands in stark contrast to what occurred the previous two winters, when we had the most extreme December jet stream patterns on record in the opposite direction (a strongly negative AO/NAO). The negative AO conditions suppressed westerly winds over the North Atlantic, allowing Arctic air to spill southwards into eastern North America and Western Europe, bringing unusually cold and snowy conditions. The December Arctic Oscillation index has fluctuated wildly over the past six years, with the two most extreme positive and two most extreme negative values on record. Unfortunately, we don’t understand why the AO varies so much from winter to winter, nor why the AO has taken on such extreme configurations during four of the past six winters. Climate models are generally too crude to make skillful predictions on how human-caused climate change may be affecting the AO, or what might happen to the AO in the future. There is research linking an increase in solar activity and sunspots with the positive phase of the AO. Solar activity has increased sharply this winter compared to the past two winters, so perhaps we have seen a strong solar influence on the winter AO the past three winters. Arctic sea ice loss has been linked to the negative (cold) phase of the AO, like we observed the previous two winters. Those winters both had near-record low amounts of sunspot activity, so sea ice loss and low sunspot activity may have combined to bring a negative AO.

It will be interesting to see what the rest of the Winter brings. But one thing is for sure: without any snow, we will not be getting Snow Buntings.

Rick

 

The old adage goes: “Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning”. Fortunately, this morning was the exception that proves the rule – it was a beautiful morning. I was interested in seeing when the birds arrived and what they did at that early hour but they beat me to it. Even though I reached the site well before sunrise, there was a flock of at least 125 Snow Buntings swirling around above the bait area. When I checked while putting out the traps I found that all the cut corn that I had put down yesterday had been eaten. These birds were just waiting for me to bring them breakfast.


Interestingly, the first group of birds I caught were NOT Snow Buntings. The first flurry trapped 5 Horned Larks and 2 Lapland Longspurs. The longspurs I could understand as they seem to have the traps figured out but last year I had a harder time catching Horned Larks (today I got 12 vs 4 longspurs), so this was a bit of a surprise. Multiple flocks of Snow Buntings (I think they were multiple) dropped in throughout the morning ranging in size from a dozen birds to, in one instance, well over 150 birds. The buntings were very “skittish” though, flying in, foraging quickly (and usually well away from the traps) and then flying up. Sometimes the flock reeled and returned but at other times it just kept going and I was able to follow it with binoculars for over hlaf a kilometer. My conclusion is that there are lots of Snow Buntings in the area and that they know about and regularly visit this concentrated food source. So, when the conditions worsen (if they worsen in this very strange Winter) then I think I will catch them in good numbers at this site…..we’ll see.


Banded 35:
12 Horned Larks
19 Snow Buntings
4 Lapland Longspurs

Retrapped 1:
1 Lapland Longspur (banded on January 14th; recaught twice today)

Rick

Education Co-ordinator, Natalie Campbell, doesn’t let any grass grow under her…..she had a class of grade 10′s visiting Ruthven, ostensibly to go through the Mansion but “could I please open the banding lab” just in case. Sometimes all I need is an excuse…

It wasn’t a good day for nets – cold and VERY windy – but these conditions had raised an appetite in the birds so I put out some traps. It didn’t take long as the feeders, having been in place for a long time and, therefore, well-known to the local avifauna, have been drawing large numbers of wintering species. When the hanging feeders get too crowded, many birds forage beneath them and readily check out the copious food offered in the traps. So I didn’t have any trouble catching “demonstration birds”.

The class was from the W. Ross Macdonald School in Brantford. This is a residential school for youth with a sight impairment. I was a little concerned about how these kids would handle the birds (they were all keen to touch and hold the birds) without sight to guide them. Impaired vision wasn’t a concern! They have compensated with a heightened tactile sensitivity to the point that I felt much more confident in and comfortable with these kids handling the birds than I usually feel with students with vision. They were amazing and it was wondrous to me to watch them experience these marvellous creatures so gently with their fingers and hands. One young man, on first entering the lab, heard the twittering of an American Goldfinch and right away identified it correctly. He had an amazing ability to make a variety of bird calls (and obviously recognized many others). When I do the Forest Bird Monitoring Counts in the Ruthven forest in June, 95% of the birds identified are picked out by ear. What an asset this guy would be!!

Although the title of this entry says “January 18th”, I am, in fact, writing it in the early morning of the 19th. And while doing so, I’m listening to the CBC Radio 2 morning show. The weather report just mentioned that the prairies are experiencing a real cold snap with record lows being recorded in many communities. What an odd Winter, eh? Anne Klaus, who was out yesterday working on the Fox Den Trail, sent me a couple of pictures. One shows the Grand River running wide open and ice-free….in the middle of Janaury!? The Snow Buntings are hard-put to find any snow.

Banded 11:
3 Mourning Doves
2 American Tree Sparrows
1 Dark-eyed Junco
5 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 12:
2 Mourning Doves
1 Eastern Tufted Titmouse
3 American Tree Sparrows (2 were originally banded last February -they’ve returned for the Winter)
2 House Finches
4 American Goldfinches

Rick

I arrived at the trapping site just before 7:30. Although sunrise wasn’t until 7:50, it was still quite light, light enough to see a large flock of Snow Buntings wheeling over the bait. I had hoped this would be the case and had felt pretty confident that it would be so – due to the deep cold during the night. The temperature was -19 C. I quickly set out the traps and replenished the cut corn. I had the first Snow Bunting by 7:50.

The flocks continued to be “skittish” however – flying in, dispersing around the traps and then quickly taking off again without taking the time to figure out to get into them. It was kind of frustrating! The more one watched, the more frustrating it got. Faye Socholotiuk dropped by for an hour to help out and quickly coined the adage: a watched trap never fills. Unfortunately, too true.

We continued to catch birds slowly but steadily until around 9:30 at which time the birds simply disappeared. Some of the reason was the presence of a Northern Shrike perched in the top of a roadside tree not more than 100 m from the traps. (I wondered how long it would be until a predator would clue in to the feeding activity concentrated in a small area.) And then a Northern Harrier went through. But I don’t think this was the main reason for their disappearance. As the morning progressed, the temperature went up and, although, it was only -12 by 10:00, the absence of wind and the intensity of the sun was resulting in very pleasant conditions. Further, there was only 2 cm of snow on the ground and, with the sun, bare patches were opening up – very reminiscent of early March, actually. So my thinking is that the birds simply began to spread out over the countryside to forage. The conditions that had driven the birds to the trap area at first light had ameliorated. In regard to yesterday’s prediction that they would be at the traps….I was sort of right.

Banded 19:
5 Horned Larks (all females)
1 Lapland Longspur
13 Snow Buntings (all females)

Rob Mueller and Angie Macaloney arrived from Mississauga to see some Snow Buntings – these were the first for Angie…and she was able to get to hold one! Fortunately for me, Rob had his camera (and new lens) and was able to take some great shots:

Rick

It was an inauspicious start….but still a start. Yesterday, Nancy Furber had spotted a mixed flock of Horned Larks and Snow Buntings in a wide-open field along Stoney Creek Road, right by the York Airport [yes, York actually has an airport...no international flights though...yet]. She had the good sense to put some bait (cut corn) piles down. Lo and behold, today there was a mixed flock of Snow Buntings, Horned Larks, and Lapland Longspurs feeding there when I arrived around 9:00. I had to whip back to Ruthven to get some ground traps but half an hour later I was ready to go. The birds however weren’t. The actual site seems to have been a loading area for the local farmer and there was a considerable amount of spilled corn on the ground that the birds were still able to find under the 2 centimeters of snow. So, while they showed interest in the piles of cut corn, they weren’t going to work out how to enter the traps to get it. There was enough food outside them.

After an hour or so, the falling snow began to obscure the spilled feed making the bait much more attractive. The first bird to get caught was a Lapland Longspur. I recall a blog entry from last Winter where I questioned whether longspurs were smarter or dumber than buntings and larks because they were often the first ones caught and were often retrapped (sometimes multiple times in a day). I think I came down on the side of their being smarter – they just “get” that there’s food in there and how to retrieve it.

We were there for 4 hours and ended up catching 7 birds: 5 Lapland Longspurs, 1 Horned Lark and 1 Snow Bunting. These numbers don’t nearly represent the birds that were present though. At one time I counted ~130 in the immediate vicinity (within 10 m) of the traps. But most were foraging on spilled feed. Much of that has now been consumed. At 3:30 I returned to replenish the piles and found close to 100 Snow Buntings finishing off what was left. The important thing is that the bait has been found. In our experience, feeding birds attract other birds that want to feed. And as long as there’s feed there, we should get these 3 species for the rest of the Winter (unless there’s a prolonged warm spell with considerable melt).


I went to Ruthven tonight to replenish the feeders. The sun had just gone down and through the trees the river looked aflame in the sunset. Shortly after, the first stars broke through: Aldebaran, a red star in the Hyades and Capella in Auriga. A wondrous evening. And, important for tomorrow, the temperature was going down – it’s supposed to drop to around -16 C. That will bring the birds to the feeding area at first light tomorrow. And I’ll be there…..

Rick

Every so often, Snowy Owls come south of their normal wintering grounds in large numbers. These “irruptions” are a result of food pressure in the north (not enough food for all the owls). This is an irruptive year for snowy owls, so keep your eyes peeled for these amazing creatures. Also, if you see one, please keep your distance so you don’t stress the bird. Often when they arrive as far south as Ontario, they are emaciated because of the poor food situation further north. Click the link below for a video sent out by BSC recently, and produced by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

Snowy Owls

Except speculate about the reasons for it. Click here for an explanation of our mild, non-stormy winter by Jeff Masters on Weather Underground.