WEBVTT 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:03.060 This is the Pepperwood Podcast, a production 00:00:03.060 --> 00:00:05.860 of Pepperwood, a non -profit conservation organization 00:00:05.860 --> 00:00:09.460 based at a 3 ,200 -acre nature reserve near Santa 00:00:09.460 --> 00:00:12.119 Rosa, California, in the heart of the traditional 00:00:12.119 --> 00:00:15.519 homeland of the Wappo people. At Pepperwood, 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:18.500 we aim to inspire conservation through science. 00:00:18.739 --> 00:00:21.660 And on this show, we talk to scientists, stewards, 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:24.420 and environmental educators about what they do 00:00:24.420 --> 00:00:27.670 and how they do it. We hope to give you a glimpse 00:00:27.670 --> 00:00:30.190 into the real experiences of folks who devote 00:00:30.190 --> 00:00:32.450 their lives to taking care of local ecosystems 00:00:32.450 --> 00:00:37.670 and sharing them with others. Welcome back to 00:00:37.670 --> 00:00:40.409 the Pepperwood Podcast. Today, we're talking 00:00:40.409 --> 00:00:43.649 science with one of our valued volunteers and 00:00:43.649 --> 00:00:46.630 a bonus special guest from our science team. 00:00:46.890 --> 00:00:49.969 Pepperwood's science team has a few data collection 00:00:49.969 --> 00:00:53.450 projects that depend on contributions from volunteer 00:00:53.450 --> 00:00:57.090 scientists. These projects include the Phenology 00:00:57.090 --> 00:00:59.750 Project, which we discussed with volunteer steward 00:00:59.750 --> 00:01:01.829 Gary Morgritt during the first episode of the 00:01:01.829 --> 00:01:05.129 podcast, and cover board surveys at our forest 00:01:05.129 --> 00:01:08.049 monitoring plots, which we learned about in Season 00:01:08.049 --> 00:01:11.920 1, Episode 3 with Michaela Freed. I've been directly 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:14.420 involved with both of those two projects, first 00:01:14.420 --> 00:01:17.060 as a volunteer and ultimately as a staff member. 00:01:17.299 --> 00:01:19.819 But in this episode, I get to learn along with 00:01:19.819 --> 00:01:22.500 you about another volunteer -driven project, 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:26.799 Pepperwood's Breeding Bird Survey. Something 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:29.640 that sets research projects apart from other 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:32.200 volunteer opportunities at Pepperwood is that 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:34.900 they require specific training for the volunteers 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:38.319 involved. To volunteer for other Pepperwood events, 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:41.269 like our monthly volunteer workdays, You don't 00:01:41.269 --> 00:01:43.890 need any prior experience. We will teach you 00:01:43.890 --> 00:01:45.510 everything you need to know the day that you 00:01:45.510 --> 00:01:48.349 participate. But for science projects, it often 00:01:48.349 --> 00:01:51.290 requires a developed skill set to collect quality 00:01:51.290 --> 00:01:54.810 data. In some cases, we can provide the training 00:01:54.810 --> 00:01:57.349 to help interested volunteers develop that necessary 00:01:57.349 --> 00:02:00.590 skill set. But certain skills take many years 00:02:00.590 --> 00:02:03.829 to learn. And in those cases, we need to recruit 00:02:03.829 --> 00:02:07.109 volunteers that have previous expertise. And 00:02:07.109 --> 00:02:09.710 that is very much the case for the breeding bird 00:02:09.710 --> 00:02:12.889 survey. Today we're going to hear from longtime 00:02:12.889 --> 00:02:17.110 volunteer Sean Jean, who was essentially headhunted 00:02:17.110 --> 00:02:19.770 for the breeding bird survey by Nicole Barden. 00:02:20.189 --> 00:02:22.750 Nicole was a staff member at Pepperwood for many 00:02:22.750 --> 00:02:25.569 wonderful years and still returns nearly every 00:02:25.569 --> 00:02:28.669 season to teach a birding class. Please check 00:02:28.669 --> 00:02:31.310 out our classes and events page for an opportunity 00:02:31.310 --> 00:02:33.750 to spend time in the field with Nicole at one 00:02:33.750 --> 00:02:35.949 of our birding classes. It is always a great 00:02:35.949 --> 00:02:39.569 experience. She met Sean when he was the coordinator 00:02:39.569 --> 00:02:42.330 of the West Sonoma County Christmas Bird Count. 00:02:42.650 --> 00:02:45.710 That is part of a national annual community science 00:02:45.710 --> 00:02:48.389 event organized by the National Audubon Society. 00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:51.979 It's an excellent, very long -standing project, 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:54.900 and I'll provide a link to our local Christmas 00:02:54.900 --> 00:02:58.639 bird count in the show notes. Sean's many years 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:01.099 of experience as a birder has helped to make 00:03:01.099 --> 00:03:03.740 him a valuable member of Pepperwood's Breeding 00:03:03.740 --> 00:03:07.860 Bird Survey team. I sat down with Sean in November 00:03:07.860 --> 00:03:11.500 of 2025 and asked him to tell me about the project, 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:15.680 when it happens, how it happens, and how he developed 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:18.460 the impressive bird identification skills that 00:03:18.460 --> 00:03:22.020 it takes to participate. So the first time I 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:24.740 came was probably 10 years ago, and I've been 00:03:24.740 --> 00:03:26.879 doing it ever since. It's a springtime event, 00:03:27.020 --> 00:03:29.560 and they've been doing that since before I started. 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:33.280 It's usually three times. If you can. We had 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:35.699 some issues with COVID that kind of killed it 00:03:35.699 --> 00:03:38.360 one year. I'm sure. Yes. But normally you go 00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:41.759 three times. You start, and we have what's called 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:43.800 a transect. And along your transect, there's 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:46.439 a certain number of stops or points that you 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:50.500 stop and listen. And you try to identify everything 00:03:50.500 --> 00:03:55.580 you can in that spot, around that spot. in a 00:03:55.580 --> 00:03:58.259 five -minute period. Ah, so you sit your watch 00:03:58.259 --> 00:04:00.020 for five minutes. Five minutes, yep. And are 00:04:00.020 --> 00:04:02.539 you only identifying by ear or are you using 00:04:02.539 --> 00:04:05.620 more than one sense? It's mostly by ear. If you 00:04:05.620 --> 00:04:10.580 see them, so what we do is you walk the transect. 00:04:11.060 --> 00:04:13.180 Ours has 10 stations. I'm not sure they all, 00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:15.159 I think they all have 10 stations. There's four 00:04:15.159 --> 00:04:17.860 different transects on the property. Okay. And 00:04:17.860 --> 00:04:21.810 I do one called Rogers Canyon. A little more 00:04:21.810 --> 00:04:25.009 in the cut. It's pretty rugged. And so we have 00:04:25.009 --> 00:04:27.829 to walk through there. And we had another gentleman 00:04:27.829 --> 00:04:30.689 that used to join us that didn't like all the 00:04:30.689 --> 00:04:32.689 poison oak. So he said, I'm not doing this anymore. 00:04:33.009 --> 00:04:35.730 You have to pick your zones when it comes to 00:04:35.730 --> 00:04:37.569 walking these transects. That makes sense. But 00:04:37.569 --> 00:04:38.930 it's beautiful down there. We've walked down 00:04:38.930 --> 00:04:43.529 there and just we love it every time. But so 00:04:43.529 --> 00:04:46.269 you go to each transect. You start. You set your 00:04:46.269 --> 00:04:48.750 stopwatch or whatever, and you count for five 00:04:48.750 --> 00:04:50.629 minutes, and then you just mostly listen because 00:04:50.629 --> 00:04:54.610 you're hearing probably 90 % of the birds, and 00:04:54.610 --> 00:04:56.910 so you have to be able to identify them by sound. 00:04:57.149 --> 00:04:59.730 Right. And so you have to be a reasonably good 00:04:59.730 --> 00:05:02.370 birder to do that. Do I know all the birds? No. 00:05:02.550 --> 00:05:04.050 Every once in a while, I'll hear one that I don't 00:05:04.050 --> 00:05:05.990 know, and I'm like, oh, I don't know that one. 00:05:06.089 --> 00:05:07.889 Mystery bird. That goes in a certain column, 00:05:07.949 --> 00:05:10.269 I'm sure. Well, it's funny because when I hear 00:05:10.269 --> 00:05:12.769 one that I know that I don't know, I know it's 00:05:12.769 --> 00:05:16.790 only a couple of things. You've narrowed it down 00:05:16.790 --> 00:05:18.870 based on the whole list. I know there's only 00:05:18.870 --> 00:05:20.350 a couple of birds around here that I don't know 00:05:20.350 --> 00:05:24.029 really well. So some of those birds are like 00:05:24.029 --> 00:05:27.529 some of the warbler species. They all sound very 00:05:27.529 --> 00:05:30.649 similar. And some I only hear really occasionally. 00:05:31.209 --> 00:05:34.790 And so I'm like, oh, I know it's a warbler. I 00:05:34.790 --> 00:05:37.009 don't know which one. So now we have this nice 00:05:37.009 --> 00:05:41.410 tool, eBird type stuff, where you can actually 00:05:41.410 --> 00:05:44.839 put it on and listen with that as well. And I 00:05:44.839 --> 00:05:46.779 sit there, I'm calling out what I'm hearing, 00:05:46.939 --> 00:05:49.579 and usually one of us, so I go with my friend 00:05:49.579 --> 00:05:52.560 John Cotting, and when we have a few others that 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:55.279 join us, Dana Riggs, she's a biologist who tries 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:57.779 to join us every time, but she's not, she's busy, 00:05:57.839 --> 00:05:59.399 she can't always make it, so sometimes it's just 00:05:59.399 --> 00:06:03.300 John and I. And so he's the recorder, I'm the 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:07.220 guy who knows most of the birds, and so I yell 00:06:07.220 --> 00:06:09.800 them out. And he writes them down. And we make 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:13.579 notations like... It's close. It's within 50 00:06:13.579 --> 00:06:15.779 meters, I believe, is the distance, or it's more 00:06:15.779 --> 00:06:18.480 than that. So we say close or far. We say whether 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:22.579 it's singing or just calling. We say whether 00:06:22.579 --> 00:06:25.279 we see it or whether we just heard it. And we 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:28.399 say things like, oh, this bird was carrying nest 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:32.060 -making materials. So you're trying to identify 00:06:32.060 --> 00:06:34.800 that kind of activity, whether they're nesting 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:38.060 or not. So it's a nesting bird survey. The fact 00:06:38.060 --> 00:06:39.459 that they're here and they're singing is probably 00:06:39.459 --> 00:06:41.500 indicative of the fact that they're making a 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:44.000 nest somewhere. That's the kind of singing type 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:47.199 of calls indicate they're trying to reproduce. 00:06:47.620 --> 00:06:53.339 So we've gotten pretty good in knowing what to 00:06:53.339 --> 00:06:55.519 expect in each of the transect locations. So 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:57.800 the 10 spots we go down, it's like, okay, we 00:06:57.800 --> 00:06:59.439 normally get this here. We've done it enough 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:01.680 times now. We normally get this here. So we sort 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:03.740 of know what to expect. Every once in a while, 00:07:03.779 --> 00:07:05.100 we'll get something that we don't expect, and 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:08.089 that's always fun. And then it's also sometimes 00:07:08.089 --> 00:07:10.230 we don't get anything, and you're like, well, 00:07:10.310 --> 00:07:12.750 where did I go? So you never know. Sometimes 00:07:12.750 --> 00:07:15.870 you get good results. Sometimes you get lesser 00:07:15.870 --> 00:07:18.269 results, we'll say. And that's probably why you 00:07:18.269 --> 00:07:19.889 have a little bit of repetition built in. You're 00:07:19.889 --> 00:07:22.430 going three times over the course of the season, 00:07:22.529 --> 00:07:25.350 right? Right. So usually we start in April, and 00:07:25.350 --> 00:07:27.910 we like to go at least two weeks later, usually 00:07:27.910 --> 00:07:30.790 three weeks, maybe four even if we can, and work 00:07:30.790 --> 00:07:34.500 it out. But the season is really April through 00:07:34.500 --> 00:07:37.399 early June. So we try to go kind of mid -April, 00:07:37.399 --> 00:07:41.000 mid to early May, and then very early June if 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.199 we can get it. Throughout those three surveys, 00:07:44.259 --> 00:07:48.459 do you tend to find different time frames where 00:07:48.459 --> 00:07:51.600 different species are active? Or are you sort 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:53.860 of looking at the same pool of species the whole 00:07:53.860 --> 00:07:57.790 time? When we come... In April, you'll find that 00:07:57.790 --> 00:08:00.509 some birds aren't here yet. Some are migrants, 00:08:00.649 --> 00:08:03.029 so they're not all going to be here yet. Most 00:08:03.029 --> 00:08:05.269 of them are, but one or two still haven't made 00:08:05.269 --> 00:08:08.569 it. The other thing we do, I didn't mention this, 00:08:08.670 --> 00:08:10.649 is that we start at the top of the canyon the 00:08:10.649 --> 00:08:13.370 first time, and we hike to the bottom, and we 00:08:13.370 --> 00:08:15.829 finish, then we hike back out. Then we start 00:08:15.829 --> 00:08:17.430 at the bottom of the canyon the second time. 00:08:17.790 --> 00:08:20.430 We hike up, so we kind of do a different order. 00:08:20.889 --> 00:08:22.769 And then we do it the other way again. It's about 00:08:22.769 --> 00:08:25.350 two and a half miles down the canyon. Then you 00:08:25.350 --> 00:08:26.910 have to walk back out. And it's not easy walking. 00:08:26.910 --> 00:08:30.350 Maybe two miles. Pretty rugged. It's rugged, 00:08:30.449 --> 00:08:32.690 but it's not that hard. That's good. Okay. So 00:08:32.690 --> 00:08:35.690 we can do that. So you're kind of getting some 00:08:35.690 --> 00:08:38.570 variation. So over the course of a couple of 00:08:38.570 --> 00:08:40.350 months, maybe you're getting a little variation 00:08:40.350 --> 00:08:43.309 in like late arrivals and maybe early leavers. 00:08:43.490 --> 00:08:46.070 And you're getting some variation from the time 00:08:46.070 --> 00:08:48.669 of the day, right? No, we always do it. So we 00:08:48.669 --> 00:08:51.240 always do the same time of day. So we start at 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:53.740 sunrise or within 10 or 15 minutes of sunrise 00:08:53.740 --> 00:08:55.679 is when we try to start because that's when the 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:57.440 birds are the most active and they're singing. 00:08:57.659 --> 00:09:00.039 You're identifying why I will never be a great 00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:02.679 birder. You've got to be a morning person. I 00:09:02.679 --> 00:09:05.600 would say I'm not the most morning person, but 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:07.879 when I have an event like this, I will come do 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:10.600 it. Very good. Yeah, so we always do it early. 00:09:11.059 --> 00:09:14.779 And what we find is that some birds will, by 00:09:14.779 --> 00:09:17.440 June, have already stopped singing. So we don't. 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:19.259 They're probably there. They've done their work. 00:09:19.460 --> 00:09:22.200 But we don't hear them at that point. So generally, 00:09:22.340 --> 00:09:24.799 the first time we go out, some birds aren't here 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:27.700 yet. So things like lazuli bunting. It's a wonderful 00:09:27.700 --> 00:09:30.740 bird. It's very bright blue, pretty, and has 00:09:30.740 --> 00:09:35.220 a wonderful song. Wonderful song, you say? I 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:37.919 think we ought to hear it for ourselves. Here's 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:46.500 a recording of the lazuli bunting song. But... 00:09:46.730 --> 00:09:49.129 When we go out the first time, we don't always 00:09:49.129 --> 00:09:52.350 hear it. It may not be here yet. The second time, 00:09:52.389 --> 00:09:56.210 we usually hear it. The second time, well, this 00:09:56.210 --> 00:09:59.149 year, in the last two years, we had Western tanagers 00:09:59.149 --> 00:10:03.929 in one stop or two stops, maybe, in the last 00:10:03.929 --> 00:10:05.590 couple of years. But when we went out the third 00:10:05.590 --> 00:10:09.850 time, nothing. We couldn't hear them. Ah, but 00:10:09.850 --> 00:10:12.309 what would it sound like if they did hear the 00:10:12.309 --> 00:10:23.450 Western tanager? They're there, but they aren't 00:10:23.450 --> 00:10:25.190 singing anymore. They've made their nests. They're 00:10:25.190 --> 00:10:28.450 sitting on their eggs, I guess, and they're just 00:10:28.450 --> 00:10:30.210 not singing anymore because they've done what 00:10:30.210 --> 00:10:32.379 they were singing. The singing there is over 00:10:32.379 --> 00:10:33.720 because they've done what they needed to do. 00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:37.440 Sure. Do you find that by switching directions, 00:10:37.659 --> 00:10:40.320 you said the first survey you go out, you kind 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:42.220 of go from the top of the canyon down, second 00:10:42.220 --> 00:10:43.720 time you go from the bottom of the canyon up. 00:10:43.779 --> 00:10:47.240 Is that trying to catch any variability in like 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:50.440 the very first break of dawn versus, you know, 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:52.379 maybe, I don't know, how long does it take you 00:10:52.379 --> 00:10:54.720 to do the survey all together? It takes us usually 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:57.379 close to three hours. Okay. So like three hours 00:10:57.379 --> 00:10:59.399 later is a pretty big difference for a bird. 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:01.929 Yes. Yes. It shouldn't take us three hours, but 00:11:01.929 --> 00:11:05.129 we get distracted with, oh, there's a cool bird 00:11:05.129 --> 00:11:07.230 over there. So we stop and do that for a minute. 00:11:07.330 --> 00:11:09.289 That's got to be half the fun, right? Yes. So 00:11:09.289 --> 00:11:11.970 we do a little of that. We could probably do 00:11:11.970 --> 00:11:13.830 the whole thing in two hours if we really needed 00:11:13.830 --> 00:11:17.169 to, but we don't ever try to go that fast. So 00:11:17.169 --> 00:11:19.289 yes, there's a variation. Some birds are singing 00:11:19.289 --> 00:11:21.690 early. Some are a little bit more later morning, 00:11:21.850 --> 00:11:24.350 I guess. And so they want us to sort of hit the 00:11:24.350 --> 00:11:27.070 spots at different times so we can capture that. 00:11:27.129 --> 00:11:29.090 Some of the volunteers here will join us sometimes 00:11:29.090 --> 00:11:31.440 and we don't. There's a few of them that have 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:34.399 done it a few times now, and we always like having 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:38.279 them. They're learning, and we like to help them 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:42.019 learn. And having an extra set of ears can be 00:11:42.019 --> 00:11:44.000 good, just because we don't always hear every 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:46.620 last thing. Especially if there's like, I don't 00:11:46.620 --> 00:11:48.840 know, 10 or 15 species of birds all calling at 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:51.279 once. That can be really difficult to discern 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:53.700 every one of them. So by having people spread 00:11:53.700 --> 00:11:56.159 out... By the way, when we stop at these points... 00:11:56.799 --> 00:11:58.600 We're supposed to stay within about 30 feet of 00:11:58.600 --> 00:12:01.460 it. But if there's three of us, I will all go 00:12:01.460 --> 00:12:03.559 different directions and try to get in different 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:05.840 spots. So maybe we're hearing a little bit different 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:08.179 things. Okay, so we're amplifying the data collection 00:12:08.179 --> 00:12:10.019 process a little bit. Yeah, and it really makes 00:12:10.019 --> 00:12:12.919 a difference. I think if one person's doing it, 00:12:12.919 --> 00:12:15.379 they're going to miss something. If you have 00:12:15.379 --> 00:12:16.820 two people, they're going to catch most of it. 00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:17.960 If you have three people, you're probably catching 00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:20.659 most of it. How long did it take you, would you 00:12:20.659 --> 00:12:23.259 say? And I'm sure it's an ongoing process. But 00:12:23.259 --> 00:12:27.440 learning the bird calls. by ear and being able 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.480 to identify a species. How long before you felt 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:32.960 even reasonably confident at that? And what process 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:36.580 was that? That's interesting. So for the longest 00:12:36.580 --> 00:12:40.240 time, I didn't try to do that. I started birding, 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:44.240 my wife and I were in the Peace Corps, and we 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:47.639 were given a book, and we were in Nepal, the 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:49.399 country, and there's 800 species of birds in 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:53.559 Nepal. And they're all really cool. Bright colors, 00:12:53.639 --> 00:12:56.370 all this neat stuff. And we had a lot of downtime, 00:12:56.509 --> 00:12:59.149 so that's when I started birding. I was in my 00:12:59.149 --> 00:13:03.710 mid -20s. And when I got back, I decided I was 00:13:03.710 --> 00:13:06.809 going to keep doing it. And so I got involved 00:13:06.809 --> 00:13:09.149 with the local Audubon. And at first, it was 00:13:09.149 --> 00:13:11.470 just a challenge to try and learn all the birds, 00:13:11.590 --> 00:13:14.330 let alone try to understand their songs. Or to 00:13:14.330 --> 00:13:16.370 even know them by sight, if you're lucky enough 00:13:16.370 --> 00:13:21.009 to see them. So learning your birds, yes, first 00:13:21.009 --> 00:13:24.100 there's sight. Then there's what habitat they're 00:13:24.100 --> 00:13:25.539 in. You can kind of narrow down what kind of 00:13:25.539 --> 00:13:29.720 bird it might be by habitat. You can start identifying 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:35.679 them by silhouette or habits, so how they move. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:38.639 Are they fast? Are they slow? Are they jittery? 00:13:38.700 --> 00:13:42.960 You know, those kind of things. So size. So I 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:45.019 was learning all of that first, and it took me 00:13:45.019 --> 00:13:48.179 a long time to be, what I would say, competent 00:13:48.179 --> 00:13:51.500 at identifying the birds, sometimes just at a 00:13:51.500 --> 00:13:54.159 glance. Maybe that's all you get. That's all 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:55.919 you get. And some birds are so similar, you might 00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:57.440 not be able to tell exactly what bird it is, 00:13:57.460 --> 00:14:00.100 but you know it was a certain sparrow group or 00:14:00.100 --> 00:14:03.179 something like that. But you might not know exactly 00:14:03.179 --> 00:14:08.500 which one. So it took me probably, again, working. 00:14:09.100 --> 00:14:11.940 I'm not a full -time birder like some people 00:14:11.940 --> 00:14:14.320 who just have all day to go do it every day. 00:14:14.539 --> 00:14:16.740 They get really good at it. But in your spare 00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:18.860 time? In my spare time, it took me some years 00:14:18.860 --> 00:14:20.720 to get good at that. I wouldn't know how long. 00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:23.320 But I realized that I was missing a lot of birds 00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:26.419 because I could hear them, but I couldn't see 00:14:26.419 --> 00:14:29.899 them. Right. And so some birds are obvious. Even 00:14:29.899 --> 00:14:31.960 people that don't do birding probably recognize 00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:34.799 the songs of some birds like robins and some 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:37.480 of the sparrows, blackbirds. But because you 00:14:37.480 --> 00:14:41.340 haven't paid attention, you just know. Sean is 00:14:41.340 --> 00:14:44.320 right that we all, hopefully, hear the calls 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:46.840 of common local birds like robins and sparrows 00:14:46.840 --> 00:14:49.440 and blackbirds quite often, but I'm not sure 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:52.220 that we would all necessarily recognize which 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:55.080 species we're listening to. Let's take a moment 00:14:55.080 --> 00:14:58.139 to listen in to those calls. Here's the American 00:14:58.139 --> 00:15:05.919 robin's song. Or the robin might make a tweet 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:11.919 and tut call like this. Here's the titular song 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:19.379 of the song sparrow. And here is a classic conch 00:15:19.379 --> 00:15:25.200 lorry from a red -winged blackbird. Next time 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:27.379 you are out in your neighborhood or local park, 00:15:27.500 --> 00:15:30.159 see if you can recognize those calls for a taste 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:32.759 of what it must be like to be Sean and his fellow 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:35.340 birders out there walking the Breeding Bird Survey 00:15:35.340 --> 00:15:39.000 transect. Okay, back to Sean's story. So I started 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:41.100 realizing that I was... I could pay attention 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:45.799 to that. And I started doing that by ear more. 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:50.220 And it took me a while. But when you see a bird 00:15:50.220 --> 00:15:53.179 and you see it calling, now it's kind of reinforced 00:15:53.179 --> 00:15:56.419 in your mind. Multiple kinds of information at 00:15:56.419 --> 00:15:59.820 the same time. So there's audio recordings that 00:15:59.820 --> 00:16:04.820 you can try and practice with. And yes, that 00:16:04.820 --> 00:16:07.960 can be effective. It's not quite the same. Well, 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:10.620 I'm at the experience of seeing a bird and then 00:16:10.620 --> 00:16:13.000 hearing its call at the same time is more imprinting 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:14.679 on you, right? Yeah, well, it's exactly right. 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:16.379 So now I've seen that bird. I've heard that bird. 00:16:17.019 --> 00:16:20.000 I can kind of remember that. But you still have 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:22.820 to do it regularly or you kind of forget. So 00:16:22.820 --> 00:16:26.279 I go to Texas to visit family sometimes and there's 00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:29.019 a whole set of birds there. I don't know all 00:16:29.019 --> 00:16:31.289 those birds. I'm learning them, but every time 00:16:31.289 --> 00:16:33.350 I go, I learn a little bit more, but then I forget 00:16:33.350 --> 00:16:35.710 a little bit because I don't go back for a few 00:16:35.710 --> 00:16:37.789 years. And then next time I go back, I'm like, 00:16:37.870 --> 00:16:39.850 oh, okay, I recognize that, but I can't remember 00:16:39.850 --> 00:16:43.070 what it is. So you really have to do it pretty 00:16:43.070 --> 00:16:48.240 regularly to be competent at your... recognition 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:51.200 by sound. As spring approaches overall and you're 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:52.700 heading toward the season where you're going 00:16:52.700 --> 00:16:54.480 to be doing the data collection, do you find 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:58.539 that there's a refresh process for all these 00:16:58.539 --> 00:17:01.179 local birds that you're used to? Absolutely. 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:04.799 First of all, I kind of bird my own yard all 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:07.319 the time, but that's maybe 30 or 40 species. 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:09.700 In our area here, we probably have a couple hundred 00:17:09.700 --> 00:17:11.640 species that could come through, or if you go 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:13.880 to the coast, there's a whole set of ocean birds 00:17:13.880 --> 00:17:15.930 and that kind of stuff. And I really don't know 00:17:15.930 --> 00:17:20.190 those because they're not there enough. But when 00:17:20.190 --> 00:17:22.950 it's time to start thinking about doing the pepperwood 00:17:22.950 --> 00:17:27.190 breeding bird survey again, I usually spend an 00:17:27.190 --> 00:17:29.730 evening or two refreshing my memory using some 00:17:29.730 --> 00:17:32.670 apps that I have. And then you mentioned also 00:17:32.670 --> 00:17:34.950 with eBird. eBird's an incredible application. 00:17:35.390 --> 00:17:37.130 eBird is put out by Cornell University, I believe. 00:17:37.390 --> 00:17:40.529 And they have a anthropological center there. 00:17:41.180 --> 00:17:42.900 And they have a couple different products. And 00:17:42.900 --> 00:17:45.539 one of them is called Merlin. And Merlin is when 00:17:45.539 --> 00:17:49.779 I used ID. If I'm not certain or if I'm in Texas 00:17:49.779 --> 00:17:53.460 and I really don't know, I can hold out my cell 00:17:53.460 --> 00:17:56.079 phone and it's got the Merlin app on it. And 00:17:56.079 --> 00:17:59.779 it's... Not 100%, but it's probably 90, 95 % 00:17:59.779 --> 00:18:02.200 correct. Right. So essentially you have AI technology 00:18:02.200 --> 00:18:05.460 that's listening alongside you and it's doing 00:18:05.460 --> 00:18:08.039 that same process of trying to identify and it 00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:10.900 will give you a readout of what it thinks it's 00:18:10.900 --> 00:18:13.119 hearing. Yeah. And it works in a lot of places, 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:15.920 but not everywhere. So for instance, birding 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:18.940 in Hawaii a couple of years ago. Merlin didn't 00:18:18.940 --> 00:18:21.279 work at all. Oh, okay. I mean, a couple of birds. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:23.839 So that data set, it's still learning. It's still 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:26.160 learning that set, yeah. So it didn't help much 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:28.579 there. But in Texas, it was awesome because I'm 00:18:28.579 --> 00:18:30.319 like, you know, I'd see the bird and I think 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:32.660 I know what it is. And then I would check the 00:18:32.660 --> 00:18:35.059 thing. Oh, yes, that's what it was. So right 00:18:35.059 --> 00:18:37.319 now, and you're using that more so it sounds 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:39.519 like a backup or like a cleanup hitter. I try 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:41.740 not to rely on it unless I'm really somewhere 00:18:41.740 --> 00:18:44.259 I don't know anything. And then I will use it 00:18:44.259 --> 00:18:47.529 to help try to learn. But when I'm here in my 00:18:47.529 --> 00:18:50.349 local territories where I know most of the birds, 00:18:50.450 --> 00:18:53.509 I just sort of use it occasionally if I'm a little 00:18:53.509 --> 00:18:55.130 uncertain or I'm hearing a little different call 00:18:55.130 --> 00:18:58.029 that I normally hear. For instance, the other 00:18:58.029 --> 00:19:01.910 evening I was hearing some owls, and they were 00:19:01.910 --> 00:19:04.109 great horned owls, and they were making a noise 00:19:04.109 --> 00:19:05.910 I hadn't heard them make before. I'm like, is 00:19:05.910 --> 00:19:08.849 that them? And so I put the app out. Sure enough, 00:19:08.930 --> 00:19:10.710 that was them making that noise. It was a noise 00:19:10.710 --> 00:19:13.720 I'd never heard them. It wasn't their normal 00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:17.440 hoots, you know. It was kind of a cat sound. 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:21.079 It was like a meow almost. I found something 00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:24.140 close to what Sean is describing in the Cornell 00:19:24.140 --> 00:19:27.319 Lab Macaulay Library, the database that generously 00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:30.059 provides us with access to the bird vocalizations 00:19:30.059 --> 00:19:33.690 that you hear on the podcast. Sean has confirmed 00:19:33.690 --> 00:19:37.230 that the following is a slightly louder, harsher 00:19:37.230 --> 00:19:40.450 version of what he remembers. Listen for the 00:19:40.450 --> 00:19:44.009 meow -like call interspersed with the well -known 00:19:44.009 --> 00:19:54.990 great horned owl hoot pattern. According to the 00:19:54.990 --> 00:19:57.809 Macaulay Library notes on this recording, this 00:19:57.809 --> 00:20:00.369 is courtship behavior between a male and female 00:20:00.369 --> 00:20:03.869 great horned owl, with the female calling and 00:20:03.869 --> 00:20:06.509 the male hooting back. Interesting. Yeah, it 00:20:06.509 --> 00:20:08.569 was really different. Yeah, well, that's nature 00:20:08.569 --> 00:20:10.309 for you, right? No matter how long you've studied 00:20:10.309 --> 00:20:11.789 it and spent time in it, you're always going 00:20:11.789 --> 00:20:13.769 to hear something new. You're going to get some 00:20:13.769 --> 00:20:17.609 new information. Yeah, and I'm kind of a nerd 00:20:17.609 --> 00:20:20.160 that way. I was very excited when I realized 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:22.500 they made a different sound. Yeah, I bet. I bet. 00:20:22.539 --> 00:20:24.359 A new thing in your catalog, right? File that 00:20:24.359 --> 00:20:26.380 away. That's so exciting. What would you say 00:20:26.380 --> 00:20:29.660 makes it possible for you to keep coming back 00:20:29.660 --> 00:20:31.400 year after year? It sounds like a pretty intense 00:20:31.400 --> 00:20:33.960 process. What inspires you to keep returning? 00:20:36.299 --> 00:20:40.700 Well, I don't know. It's a good question. I like 00:20:40.700 --> 00:20:43.940 what I'm doing. There's a whole series of reasons, 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:46.309 probably. First of all, I think Pepperwood is 00:20:46.309 --> 00:20:48.690 an awesome place. It's a great thing I think 00:20:48.690 --> 00:20:50.930 they have here. It's a wonderful property, and 00:20:50.930 --> 00:20:54.490 the science, the studies and things they're doing 00:20:54.490 --> 00:20:56.950 here I think are just fantastic, and they need 00:20:56.950 --> 00:20:58.809 to be done, so I'm glad someone's doing them. 00:20:59.890 --> 00:21:03.029 I'm just excited to be able to participate a 00:21:03.029 --> 00:21:05.349 little bit and help. I don't know a lot about 00:21:05.349 --> 00:21:08.109 a lot of things, but I do know birds, so I'm 00:21:08.109 --> 00:21:10.829 happy that I can do that one thing. So, yeah, 00:21:10.890 --> 00:21:13.700 I like doing that. Sometimes if it's raining 00:21:13.700 --> 00:21:15.059 out and you're looking at it kind of going, well, 00:21:15.140 --> 00:21:18.779 shoot. But usually we don't, we postpone that. 00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:20.920 And so it can be difficult to find a time that 00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:22.839 works for everybody in the group to come up. 00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:25.539 But that's the hardest thing. I mean, once you're 00:21:25.539 --> 00:21:27.380 up here and doing it, you're doing it and it's 00:21:27.380 --> 00:21:30.599 a nice day. So we always enjoy it. It truly does 00:21:30.599 --> 00:21:34.220 sound like a nice day. And data collection should 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:37.119 be a pleasure if possible. We love that our diligent 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:39.519 volunteers enjoy their time out on the reserve. 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:43.240 But there are outcomes to this work that go far 00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:46.059 beyond a series of pleasant spring mornings communing 00:21:46.059 --> 00:21:49.339 with our avian neighbors. Once Sean and his fellow 00:21:49.339 --> 00:21:52.220 birders complete their data sheets, our science 00:21:52.220 --> 00:21:55.579 team can use them to gain insights into the population 00:21:55.579 --> 00:21:59.019 dynamics of our local species and track how ecosystems 00:21:59.019 --> 00:22:02.940 respond to stewardship interventions, disturbances, 00:22:02.980 --> 00:22:06.400 climate change, a myriad of other variables. 00:22:07.360 --> 00:22:10.220 Michelle Halber, Pepperwood's Ecology Research 00:22:10.220 --> 00:22:13.400 Manager, was kind enough to join us again on 00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:16.279 the podcast to discuss what happens to the breeding 00:22:16.279 --> 00:22:18.859 bird survey data once it has been collected. 00:22:19.690 --> 00:22:22.589 Well, one thing to remember is data is on a piece 00:22:22.589 --> 00:22:25.349 of paper. So quite literally, we take that paper, 00:22:25.450 --> 00:22:29.049 we scan it, we process it, digitize it, which 00:22:29.049 --> 00:22:31.190 is basically entering it into a computer. Sure. 00:22:31.230 --> 00:22:33.569 And then we run all kinds of algorithms to see, 00:22:33.569 --> 00:22:35.069 you know, what are the outputs? What are the 00:22:35.069 --> 00:22:37.349 trends? What are the patterns over time with 00:22:37.349 --> 00:22:41.849 our bird populations? Birds are indicators of... 00:22:42.430 --> 00:22:45.390 ecosystem health. They really give us a sense 00:22:45.390 --> 00:22:50.230 of how intact habitats are supporting them or 00:22:50.230 --> 00:22:53.809 not, whether disturbance cycles like fire or 00:22:53.809 --> 00:22:57.490 grazing are supporting them or not. And so all 00:22:57.490 --> 00:22:59.670 this great data that our volunteers are collecting 00:22:59.670 --> 00:23:03.230 becomes useful when we can finally look at it 00:23:03.230 --> 00:23:05.849 and start pulling together the information to 00:23:05.849 --> 00:23:08.769 tell stories about what these birds might be 00:23:08.769 --> 00:23:12.079 experiencing or expressing. So, for example, 00:23:12.200 --> 00:23:14.799 birds, they are indicators of, you know, how 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:17.119 well ecosystems are supporting them, whether 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:20.519 we see a lot of different birds or maybe, you 00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:23.839 know, large abundances of birds or not. They 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:26.440 can tell us things about predator -prey relationships, 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:30.240 such as, you know, if there's a really good mouse 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:33.819 year, let's say, or small rodent year, in a year 00:23:33.819 --> 00:23:35.759 or two we might all of a sudden see a lot more 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:40.819 hawks flying overhead, which we do see. The data 00:23:40.819 --> 00:23:43.180 might tell us about disease cycles, you know, 00:23:43.180 --> 00:23:45.799 like avian influenza might be impacting certain 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:48.640 species like corvids more than others, corvids 00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:53.680 being crows, ravens, jays. And that seems like 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:56.420 information that regionally would be really important. 00:23:56.700 --> 00:23:59.299 Right, right. And so, you know, birds might not 00:23:59.299 --> 00:24:01.559 just be increasing over time or decreasing over 00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:03.579 time, but going up and down with these different 00:24:03.579 --> 00:24:07.289 disease and predator -prey relationships. But 00:24:07.289 --> 00:24:09.490 ultimately, at Pepperwood, we're monitoring our 00:24:09.490 --> 00:24:12.849 birds to really get a sense of how our land stewardship 00:24:12.849 --> 00:24:16.829 is doing. Are we achieving the goals and objectives 00:24:16.829 --> 00:24:19.990 of supporting native biodiversity that we're 00:24:19.990 --> 00:24:25.730 aiming for? So, for example, we do a lot of grazing 00:24:25.730 --> 00:24:27.890 in our grasslands, right? We do have a conservation 00:24:27.890 --> 00:24:31.039 grazing program. Which I talk about. You sure 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:32.839 did. We got to talk about that quite a lot. That 00:24:32.839 --> 00:24:36.759 was awesome. In a prior podcast. And there's 00:24:36.759 --> 00:24:40.160 actually a grassland associated species called 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:42.180 Western Meadowlark. Have you ever seen Western 00:24:42.180 --> 00:24:44.680 Meadowlark? I have heard Western Meadowlarks. 00:24:46.190 --> 00:24:49.589 As a matter of fact, you have also heard Western 00:24:49.589 --> 00:24:52.069 Meadowlarks if you have heard our previous episodes 00:24:52.069 --> 00:24:55.269 of the podcast. The Western Meadowlark song was 00:24:55.269 --> 00:24:58.170 the subject of a Season 1 Nature Sound Guess 00:24:58.170 --> 00:25:01.150 Who Game prompt. I won't spoil which one, but 00:25:01.150 --> 00:25:04.789 this is the striking, characteristic song of 00:25:04.789 --> 00:25:13.079 the Western Meadowlark. Such a wonderful, complex 00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:16.200 vocalization. And Michelle recommends looking 00:25:16.200 --> 00:25:19.380 as well as listening for them. This is an amazing 00:25:19.380 --> 00:25:21.500 bird. If you haven't seen one, I highly recommend 00:25:21.500 --> 00:25:23.700 looking them up online. There's a great website. 00:25:24.759 --> 00:25:27.660 eBird is a great place, resource for data and 00:25:27.660 --> 00:25:30.559 information about birds. During the breeding 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:33.420 season, they have this brilliant yellow chest 00:25:33.420 --> 00:25:36.579 that really is striking. And they tend to flock 00:25:36.579 --> 00:25:38.380 in the grasslands. So if you're, you know... 00:25:39.019 --> 00:25:40.579 Like us, we drive our little four wheel drives 00:25:40.579 --> 00:25:42.839 along the roads at Pepperwood. And, you know, 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:45.039 I just love watching the flocks of birds kind 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:47.700 of, you know, fly out from in front of the in 00:25:47.700 --> 00:25:50.380 front of the vehicle. But this bird, Western 00:25:50.380 --> 00:25:52.859 Meadowlark, is a ground nesting bird. So it produces 00:25:52.859 --> 00:25:57.220 its nests under, you know, large like bushes 00:25:57.220 --> 00:26:00.099 or excuse me, bunches of perennial bunch grass 00:26:00.099 --> 00:26:03.200 or like under little shrubs or things like gum 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.200 plant. If you know Grindelia, they're often found 00:26:06.200 --> 00:26:09.920 under there. Another thing that really matches 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:12.059 its name, gum plant, very gummy, very sticky. 00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:16.000 Yeah, it's a fun one. And then, well, I should 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:18.500 step back in that there is the North American 00:26:18.500 --> 00:26:21.119 Breeding Bird Survey, which is, you know, an 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:24.619 international program focused in the North American 00:26:24.619 --> 00:26:28.829 continent. their point counts that they have 00:26:28.829 --> 00:26:31.650 are very similar to ours. Our project is basically 00:26:31.650 --> 00:26:34.029 designed to be similar to theirs so we can compare 00:26:34.029 --> 00:26:36.289 our results at Pepperwood with their results. 00:26:36.809 --> 00:26:39.589 And unfortunately, their program, since it was 00:26:39.589 --> 00:26:44.369 started in 1966, has detected significant declines 00:26:44.369 --> 00:26:47.190 in western meadowlark populations in California, 00:26:47.450 --> 00:26:50.529 especially in the Central Valley. Primarily due 00:26:50.529 --> 00:26:52.930 to grassland habitat loss. Right. So all those 00:26:52.930 --> 00:26:54.990 grasslands are not really grasslands anymore, 00:26:55.130 --> 00:26:57.529 right? Right. And so this bird is being directly 00:26:57.529 --> 00:27:00.130 impacted and we are detecting that in the international 00:27:00.130 --> 00:27:03.289 data. But here at Pepperwood, we started our 00:27:03.289 --> 00:27:07.390 program in 2007. We have about 900 acres of, 00:27:07.390 --> 00:27:10.390 you know, wide open grasslands that we're actively 00:27:10.390 --> 00:27:13.329 grazing. We're actively burning it and, you know, 00:27:13.329 --> 00:27:17.160 to control for invasive weeds. Even though this 00:27:17.160 --> 00:27:19.380 is a ground nesting bird that could be impacted 00:27:19.380 --> 00:27:22.819 by cows walking around or fire moving through, 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:27.000 we are detecting significant increases at Pepperwood 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:30.950 every year by about 4 % per year. which is really 00:27:30.950 --> 00:27:34.569 quite astounding and speaks directly to us, you 00:27:34.569 --> 00:27:37.089 know, keeping our grassland habitats intact and 00:27:37.089 --> 00:27:39.650 keeping those, you know, really important disturbance 00:27:39.650 --> 00:27:43.789 cycles happening for the grassland community. 00:27:44.230 --> 00:27:46.390 That's one of those incredible counterintuitive 00:27:46.390 --> 00:27:48.450 feelings, right? We think that by introducing 00:27:48.450 --> 00:27:52.769 disturbance, a ground nesting bird would... have 00:27:52.769 --> 00:27:55.170 a decrease or you know be threatened by that 00:27:55.170 --> 00:27:57.210 but in fact those disturbance cycles are actually 00:27:57.210 --> 00:28:00.089 supporting that species specifically. Absolutely 00:28:00.089 --> 00:28:02.430 and you know we do things like rotate cattle 00:28:02.430 --> 00:28:05.630 and give different areas rest periods or we don't 00:28:05.630 --> 00:28:08.470 burn everywhere all the time right so we're building 00:28:08.470 --> 00:28:12.910 in kind of this heterogeneous stewardship and 00:28:12.910 --> 00:28:15.890 impact which allows these animals to move around 00:28:15.890 --> 00:28:18.900 and be supported. Well, tremendous. All right. 00:28:18.900 --> 00:28:21.359 So Western meadowlarks are increasing, right? 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:23.839 And we can trace the difference at least between 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:26.819 us stewarding grasslands as opposed to developing 00:28:26.819 --> 00:28:30.940 grasslands. That's a potential cause that we 00:28:30.940 --> 00:28:33.940 can feel pretty good about. Any other things 00:28:33.940 --> 00:28:35.759 that we've seen over the past several years? 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:38.319 Yes. Some other interesting stories that have 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:41.559 come out of the data have to do with our recent 00:28:41.559 --> 00:28:45.140 wildfires, the Tubbs and Kincaid fires of 2017 00:28:45.140 --> 00:28:49.470 and 2019. So different birds are apparently, 00:28:49.569 --> 00:28:53.250 you know, being differently affected by wildfires. 00:28:53.529 --> 00:28:55.829 So there are two birds that I'm going to talk 00:28:55.829 --> 00:28:59.869 about that are kind of having opposite responses 00:28:59.869 --> 00:29:03.750 to these fires. One is called a rentet. And these 00:29:03.750 --> 00:29:06.410 are little brown birds that are associated with 00:29:06.410 --> 00:29:09.430 shrubby chaparral habitats in coastal California. 00:29:10.049 --> 00:29:11.990 And this is a quote I'm actually going to read 00:29:11.990 --> 00:29:14.130 from Cornell Labs. I love their website with 00:29:14.130 --> 00:29:17.279 all the information. I love this quote. Wren 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:20.660 tits are homebodies and maybe the most sedentary 00:29:20.660 --> 00:29:23.819 bird species in North America. They rarely travel 00:29:23.819 --> 00:29:27.279 more than 1 ,300 feet from where they were born. 00:29:27.400 --> 00:29:30.279 So basically these are birds that, little brown 00:29:30.279 --> 00:29:33.240 birds that hang out, defend maybe like a one 00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:36.420 or two acre area their entire lives. They mate 00:29:36.420 --> 00:29:40.430 for life. They're just chill. And actually, they're 00:29:40.430 --> 00:29:42.329 not really chill because when you hear them, 00:29:42.369 --> 00:29:45.369 they're very active in that they constantly call 00:29:45.369 --> 00:29:47.869 all day long and they sound like a little ping 00:29:47.869 --> 00:29:55.309 pong ball dropping. That was a pretty great approximation 00:29:55.309 --> 00:29:58.650 of a rent it by Michelle. But let's hear a recording 00:29:58.650 --> 00:30:06.980 of that same vocalization. And they can make 00:30:06.980 --> 00:30:14.039 a neat little rattle sound as well. So keep your 00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:16.519 ears open for those sounds next time you're out 00:30:16.519 --> 00:30:18.839 walking through a shrubby chaparral habitat. 00:30:19.420 --> 00:30:22.880 Okay, back to Michelle's story about how our 00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:26.279 data on wren tits demonstrated a distinct change 00:30:26.279 --> 00:30:30.420 following the tub's wildfire in 2017. And so 00:30:30.420 --> 00:30:32.119 working here at Pepperwood, we have a bunch of 00:30:32.119 --> 00:30:33.920 chaparral right in front of the Dwight Center 00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:36.359 and the barn where a lot of people congregate. 00:30:36.420 --> 00:30:38.720 And almost every day I would hear them out there, 00:30:38.779 --> 00:30:41.920 you know, doing their ping pong call. But after 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:45.480 the Tubbs fire, we heard barely anything. And 00:30:45.480 --> 00:30:50.319 the chaparral in particular, it's a habitat that, 00:30:50.339 --> 00:30:53.319 you know, these plants, these shrubs that are 00:30:53.319 --> 00:30:56.480 there, the grasses that are there are really. 00:30:57.049 --> 00:31:00.829 They burn hot. And basically our chaparral went 00:31:00.829 --> 00:31:04.230 from, you know, thick cover of shrubs to just 00:31:04.230 --> 00:31:07.630 black open space. Well, I'm thinking about the 00:31:07.630 --> 00:31:09.609 way the Tubbs fire moved over the Pepperwood 00:31:09.609 --> 00:31:12.809 property in particular, like the area near the 00:31:12.809 --> 00:31:15.329 Dwight Center where we had a chaparral habitat. 00:31:15.490 --> 00:31:17.529 That was really the hottest part of the fire. 00:31:17.589 --> 00:31:20.309 Is that correct? Yeah, at least within the vegetation 00:31:20.309 --> 00:31:22.410 types at Pepperwood. Exactly. Yeah, and that 00:31:22.410 --> 00:31:24.829 is the area, the entrance to the preserve is 00:31:24.829 --> 00:31:27.769 one of the areas that burned during the initial 00:31:27.769 --> 00:31:30.589 high wind fire event. Right. And burned very 00:31:30.589 --> 00:31:33.430 hot. Compared to even how that particular fire, 00:31:33.569 --> 00:31:36.730 and as a wildfire, it wasn't at the levels we 00:31:36.730 --> 00:31:38.650 would have wanted it for, like a controlled burn. 00:31:38.750 --> 00:31:42.009 It was already a hot fire. But especially during 00:31:42.009 --> 00:31:45.220 that, a big wind event in the... entrance to 00:31:45.220 --> 00:31:47.279 Pepperwood, it was like especially hot. So it 00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:49.880 consumed more than we ever would have wanted 00:31:49.880 --> 00:31:51.660 it to, right? Absolutely. That's actually a good 00:31:51.660 --> 00:31:53.900 point because our prescribed burning, even within 00:31:53.900 --> 00:31:57.220 chaparral habitats, does not take that ecosystem 00:31:57.220 --> 00:32:00.920 from, you know, dense cover to no cover. We can 00:32:00.920 --> 00:32:03.319 have good fire on the ground and really control, 00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:05.700 you know, and have it be more of a mosaic of 00:32:05.700 --> 00:32:09.400 impact to maintain habitat. Because what we saw 00:32:09.400 --> 00:32:13.099 basically from the data and our own observations 00:32:13.099 --> 00:32:16.240 and not hearing them is that our detections of 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:19.799 rent hits from the point count surveys went from 00:32:19.799 --> 00:32:23.920 about 10 to 12 per year. And then right after 00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:28.000 Tubbs, we only detected two in the entire season. 00:32:28.019 --> 00:32:33.380 The following year, one. In 2020, zero. In 2021, 00:32:33.740 --> 00:32:36.759 zero. And that's not to say, yeah, there might 00:32:36.759 --> 00:32:38.859 have been some out there that we didn't detect. 00:32:38.920 --> 00:32:40.980 Maybe they moved to neighboring properties. That's 00:32:40.980 --> 00:32:42.940 the hope. Right. Right. They are these homebodies, 00:32:43.019 --> 00:32:44.940 but they can move. They can fly. So that's the 00:32:44.940 --> 00:32:47.980 hope is that they got to a place of safety. But 00:32:47.980 --> 00:32:50.380 we didn't detect them for a couple of years. 00:32:50.500 --> 00:32:54.380 And then in 2022, you know, about five years 00:32:54.380 --> 00:32:57.220 after the fire, all of a sudden we detected three. 00:32:57.559 --> 00:33:00.700 And then in 2024, we detected eight. So they're 00:33:00.700 --> 00:33:03.539 slowly coming back. They kind of repopulate the 00:33:03.539 --> 00:33:06.650 area as that. vegetation finally recovers from 00:33:06.650 --> 00:33:09.450 this sort of catastrophic event. Exactly. So 00:33:09.450 --> 00:33:11.730 the wren tits sound like they, you know, I often 00:33:11.730 --> 00:33:16.410 think about wildfire impacts. You know, the human 00:33:16.410 --> 00:33:19.230 impacts were like the most intense, right? So 00:33:19.230 --> 00:33:21.670 we lost our homes because we're kind of like 00:33:21.670 --> 00:33:25.289 wren tits, right? We have very specific homes 00:33:25.289 --> 00:33:27.829 and, you know, sort of locations that we spend 00:33:27.829 --> 00:33:30.269 time in. So the wren tits and the humans kind 00:33:30.269 --> 00:33:33.029 of had a similar experience where we had really 00:33:33.029 --> 00:33:35.309 big big impacts, and then it took us a couple 00:33:35.309 --> 00:33:38.009 of years to recover. Absolutely. Yeah, and people 00:33:38.009 --> 00:33:40.750 are still recovering, so it is something to watch 00:33:40.750 --> 00:33:44.289 over time. On the other hand, so rentits, of 00:33:44.289 --> 00:33:47.750 course, had this decrease post -fire, but are 00:33:47.750 --> 00:33:51.849 now recovering, whereas the opposite we saw in 00:33:51.849 --> 00:33:56.210 lazuli buntings. Lazuli buntings are this beautiful 00:33:56.210 --> 00:33:59.789 migratory bird. The breeding males are almost 00:33:59.789 --> 00:34:02.430 like a brilliant turquoise blue on their head, 00:34:02.450 --> 00:34:05.259 wings. and back. And they have this splash of 00:34:05.259 --> 00:34:07.180 orange on their upper chest. They're just really 00:34:07.180 --> 00:34:12.159 stunning. And as we've already heard this episode, 00:34:12.340 --> 00:34:15.579 lazuli buntings have a lovely song. Let's hear 00:34:15.579 --> 00:34:24.070 it again. This is a migratory bird that travels 00:34:24.070 --> 00:34:27.449 from Mexico in winter to California in April 00:34:27.449 --> 00:34:29.829 through summer. So they could not be more different 00:34:29.829 --> 00:34:32.090 from a wren tit. They really travel. They like 00:34:32.090 --> 00:34:35.969 to fly around. And we're so lucky to have them 00:34:35.969 --> 00:34:37.530 here during the breeding season when they have 00:34:37.530 --> 00:34:40.469 their brilliant colors. Now, lazuli buntings 00:34:40.469 --> 00:34:44.150 are known as a post -fire specialist or fire 00:34:44.150 --> 00:34:47.329 follower, meaning that their abundances often 00:34:47.329 --> 00:34:49.869 increase in areas that were recently burned. 00:34:50.889 --> 00:34:53.719 And... Folks think that this might be because 00:34:53.719 --> 00:34:56.260 they're often kind of on woodland edges. They 00:34:56.260 --> 00:34:59.860 like open forest canopy, more open shrublands, 00:35:00.059 --> 00:35:02.480 and they eat a lot of insects, which there's 00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:05.719 often kind of a surgence of insects after fire, 00:35:05.820 --> 00:35:07.760 like your bark beetles and things like that. 00:35:07.960 --> 00:35:09.860 So there's like kind of some special resources 00:35:09.860 --> 00:35:12.539 available in a post -fire landscape that lazuli 00:35:12.539 --> 00:35:14.579 buntings can really take advantage of. Right. 00:35:14.739 --> 00:35:17.699 And so it attracts them to those areas. And so 00:35:17.699 --> 00:35:20.639 what we saw is the abundance of lazuli buntings. 00:35:20.940 --> 00:35:23.420 increased after both the Tubbs and Kincaid fires. 00:35:24.300 --> 00:35:29.599 In 2007 to 14, we saw about 1 to 10 detections 00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:31.800 per year. So it wasn't really consistent, but 00:35:31.800 --> 00:35:33.719 you know, we could have a few detections to up 00:35:33.719 --> 00:35:37.869 to around 10. But in the years prior to Tubbs, 00:35:37.869 --> 00:35:42.570 in 2015 to 2017, it was a peak drought and we 00:35:42.570 --> 00:35:45.230 detected no Luzuli buntings at all. So because 00:35:45.230 --> 00:35:46.929 there was a drought, you know, we were concerned, 00:35:46.989 --> 00:35:50.670 like, is the drought impacting them? This is 00:35:50.670 --> 00:35:54.130 a migratory. So, you know, is something happening 00:35:54.130 --> 00:35:56.150 here at Pepperwood that's not attracting them? 00:35:56.210 --> 00:35:58.150 Are we not supporting them? Or maybe is something 00:35:58.150 --> 00:36:00.789 happening, you know, in Mexico along its flight 00:36:00.789 --> 00:36:03.989 route? So these international migratory birds, 00:36:04.269 --> 00:36:06.489 you really have to think beyond the property 00:36:06.489 --> 00:36:09.550 that you're at. It really connects us across 00:36:09.550 --> 00:36:15.010 space. And remarkably, after the Tubbs fire, 00:36:15.110 --> 00:36:18.570 the spring after, we saw... Double the number 00:36:18.570 --> 00:36:21.650 of lazuli buntings that we normally detect in 00:36:21.650 --> 00:36:24.769 our sampling. We saw about 15 to 20 per year 00:36:24.769 --> 00:36:28.309 for four years following these fires. So they 00:36:28.309 --> 00:36:32.070 stuck around. And then in 2022, so about three 00:36:32.070 --> 00:36:35.079 years after. the Kincaid fire, we're back to 00:36:35.079 --> 00:36:37.739 business with just a few detections per year. 00:36:37.980 --> 00:36:40.860 So there was this kind of upswing from nothing 00:36:40.860 --> 00:36:43.579 to double what we normally see, and now activity 00:36:43.579 --> 00:36:46.039 is kind of dying down again. So there's almost 00:36:46.039 --> 00:36:48.539 opposite cycles for these two birds in this post 00:36:48.539 --> 00:36:51.179 -fire environment, right? So for some species... 00:36:51.820 --> 00:36:54.900 especially a really catastrophic fire, doesn't 00:36:54.900 --> 00:36:56.639 seem like it really attracts them or supports 00:36:56.639 --> 00:36:59.360 the habitat where they want to stay. And then 00:36:59.360 --> 00:37:02.119 other birds come in and say, oh, this is a place 00:37:02.119 --> 00:37:04.280 that I can take advantage of these new conditions. 00:37:04.539 --> 00:37:07.559 Right, right. It's quite exciting to watch. And 00:37:07.559 --> 00:37:09.500 that's why we have long -term data, right? Because 00:37:09.500 --> 00:37:12.139 if I just sampled for a couple years, I'm not 00:37:12.139 --> 00:37:14.820 going to have these patterns or trends become 00:37:14.820 --> 00:37:16.900 apparent at all. Well, this is the beauty of 00:37:16.900 --> 00:37:18.840 a long -term study that doesn't have like one 00:37:18.840 --> 00:37:21.940 specific. you know, tactic in mind, right? We 00:37:21.940 --> 00:37:23.960 didn't know the fires were going to come through 00:37:23.960 --> 00:37:26.960 here. So you had years of data prior to the fire 00:37:26.960 --> 00:37:29.639 already tracking what the populations or what 00:37:29.639 --> 00:37:31.739 the, at least the behavior was demonstrating. 00:37:32.519 --> 00:37:35.659 And then when the fire came, you said, aha, now 00:37:35.659 --> 00:37:37.320 we can actually track how things are going to 00:37:37.320 --> 00:37:40.900 go during, after, and in the several years after. 00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:43.269 So that's really exciting. It is super exciting. 00:37:43.489 --> 00:37:46.050 And one thing that we're really excited about 00:37:46.050 --> 00:37:48.670 moving forward is we're starting to use more 00:37:48.670 --> 00:37:53.650 audio recorders to automatically detect bird 00:37:53.650 --> 00:37:56.670 song, and then we can use computers to identify 00:37:56.670 --> 00:37:59.610 them. Is that going to replace our volunteer 00:37:59.610 --> 00:38:02.190 project? Absolutely not. The point count is very 00:38:02.190 --> 00:38:04.190 important. We have, like you said, this long 00:38:04.190 --> 00:38:07.110 -term data set. It's also a standardized protocol, 00:38:07.469 --> 00:38:09.230 right, that we can compare to this international 00:38:09.230 --> 00:38:14.269 program. more automated formats we can put more 00:38:14.269 --> 00:38:18.289 recorders out there 24 7 different times of the 00:38:18.289 --> 00:38:20.429 year where we might have different groups of 00:38:20.429 --> 00:38:24.090 migrating birds moving through um and also we're 00:38:24.090 --> 00:38:26.909 thinking or we are i should say going to get 00:38:26.909 --> 00:38:30.829 a what's called a modus tower and modus is spelled 00:38:30.829 --> 00:38:35.909 m -o -t -u -s If you're like me and you're accustomed 00:38:35.909 --> 00:38:39.269 to encountering acronyms, you might be wondering 00:38:39.269 --> 00:38:43.449 what MOTUS stands for. But it turns out that 00:38:43.449 --> 00:38:47.110 MOTUS is not an acronym. It is a Latin word meaning 00:38:47.110 --> 00:38:50.130 movement, which makes sense based on what it 00:38:50.130 --> 00:38:53.969 helps scientists track. Migratory species that 00:38:53.969 --> 00:38:57.579 move over the landscape. We're fundraising right 00:38:57.579 --> 00:39:01.000 now to help install and support this MODIS tower, 00:39:01.219 --> 00:39:03.920 which is part of an international tracking network 00:39:03.920 --> 00:39:07.800 for birds, bats, and even monarch butterflies. 00:39:08.440 --> 00:39:11.480 Wow. So all these animals that are tagged as 00:39:11.480 --> 00:39:13.960 they fly through get picked up by these towers 00:39:13.960 --> 00:39:16.960 and it turns into this beautiful international 00:39:16.960 --> 00:39:20.539 data set. So I think this is something that Ryan 00:39:20.539 --> 00:39:22.440 Farrell mentioned back in our episode when we 00:39:22.440 --> 00:39:25.320 were talking about what a Sentinel site is and 00:39:25.320 --> 00:39:27.789 the idea that... MODIS towers are considered 00:39:27.789 --> 00:39:31.610 to be a standard part of Sentinel sites. In so 00:39:31.610 --> 00:39:34.269 many ways, as a Sentinel site, we go above and 00:39:34.269 --> 00:39:36.309 beyond Sentinel site. But this was one element 00:39:36.309 --> 00:39:38.909 of Sentinel sites that we had not had previously. 00:39:39.409 --> 00:39:41.750 And you seem like you're talking about it with 00:39:41.750 --> 00:39:43.909 a little more certainty. So this is a thing that's 00:39:43.909 --> 00:39:45.929 going to happen. It is going to happen. And we're 00:39:45.929 --> 00:39:48.809 super excited. And yeah, you know, we have the, 00:39:48.869 --> 00:39:51.789 fortunately, Ryan is an expert at installing 00:39:51.789 --> 00:39:54.489 towers and maintaining technology out in nature. 00:39:55.150 --> 00:39:56.949 with all its challenges. So we're really, really 00:39:56.949 --> 00:40:00.670 excited. And what this tower can do is it fills 00:40:00.670 --> 00:40:04.329 in a major data gap in coastal California, and 00:40:04.329 --> 00:40:07.130 it can just even more give us information about 00:40:07.130 --> 00:40:09.929 how birds are migrating and possibly changing 00:40:09.929 --> 00:40:13.250 their behavior given land use or climate change 00:40:13.250 --> 00:40:16.650 or other factors like fire. Wow. Well, that's 00:40:16.650 --> 00:40:18.530 exciting. All right. Can't wait to hear about 00:40:18.530 --> 00:40:20.590 some of the stories that that MODIS tower starts 00:40:20.590 --> 00:40:24.610 to tell us when that comes to pass. Michelle, 00:40:24.670 --> 00:40:26.710 this is really exciting stuff. Thank you so much 00:40:26.710 --> 00:40:29.030 for walking us through a little bit about what 00:40:29.030 --> 00:40:31.690 we've learned about birds through this. The data 00:40:31.690 --> 00:40:33.650 collection process sounded like so much fun, 00:40:33.710 --> 00:40:36.409 but I wonder if the data analysis, at least in 00:40:36.409 --> 00:40:39.210 its results, is kind of a fun process for you 00:40:39.210 --> 00:40:42.469 as well. Oh, absolutely. It makes the fieldwork 00:40:42.469 --> 00:40:45.630 come into more of a digital form, but then become 00:40:45.630 --> 00:40:48.289 a reality and a story we can tell over time, 00:40:48.369 --> 00:40:50.590 which is just, that's really why I love my job, 00:40:50.630 --> 00:40:52.809 is seeing the results of all this hard work. 00:40:53.710 --> 00:40:56.829 do without all of our fabulous volunteers. Absolutely. 00:40:56.869 --> 00:40:58.909 Going out there, taking that data. All right. 00:40:59.090 --> 00:41:01.670 This was wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank 00:41:01.670 --> 00:41:04.949 you. What a pleasure to hear from Michelle about 00:41:04.949 --> 00:41:07.230 the insights we can gain about bird populations 00:41:07.230 --> 00:41:10.389 from the Breeding Bird Survey Project. Sean made 00:41:10.389 --> 00:41:13.269 it clear that he and his fellow volunteers deeply 00:41:13.269 --> 00:41:16.670 value the analysis results as well. I would imagine 00:41:16.670 --> 00:41:20.030 that by seeing the overall big picture trends, 00:41:20.329 --> 00:41:24.300 they can start understanding better what may 00:41:24.300 --> 00:41:26.559 be happening, whether it's habitat, whether it's 00:41:26.559 --> 00:41:29.659 climate, whether it's something else going on, 00:41:29.760 --> 00:41:33.659 disease, who knows. But they can then devise 00:41:33.659 --> 00:41:36.239 strategies maybe for making things better or 00:41:36.239 --> 00:41:37.960 maybe things are getting better and they can 00:41:37.960 --> 00:41:40.500 at least report on that. Well, one way or the 00:41:40.500 --> 00:41:43.000 other, they can't predict or track that unless... 00:41:43.500 --> 00:41:44.579 They have these numbers. Unless you're doing 00:41:44.579 --> 00:41:45.699 the science. Unless you're doing the science. 00:41:45.699 --> 00:41:47.599 Unless you're collecting that information, which 00:41:47.599 --> 00:41:49.159 is what you're doing, which is so great. Yeah. 00:41:49.300 --> 00:41:51.320 Absolutely. And it sounds like it's an enjoyable 00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:53.519 process for you while you're going along as well. 00:41:53.639 --> 00:41:55.139 Oh, yeah. That's why I do it. It's because I 00:41:55.139 --> 00:41:57.619 do enjoy the birds a lot. That's wonderful. Yeah. 00:41:57.760 --> 00:41:59.659 Thank you so much, Sean. This was really interesting, 00:41:59.739 --> 00:42:02.119 and I really appreciate you talking to us. Sure. 00:42:02.179 --> 00:42:06.380 My pleasure. Thanks again to Sean and to all 00:42:06.380 --> 00:42:08.519 of our volunteer birding experts on the Breeding 00:42:08.519 --> 00:42:11.400 Bird Survey team. They bring an amazing skill 00:42:11.400 --> 00:42:14.800 set and invaluable time and dedication to Pepperwood. 00:42:15.420 --> 00:42:18.260 Thanks also to Michelle for shedding some light 00:42:18.260 --> 00:42:22.780 on what we've learned from this data. We have 00:42:22.780 --> 00:42:25.280 so many resources to share with you this episode, 00:42:25.380 --> 00:42:28.059 so please check out the show notes for some links. 00:42:28.699 --> 00:42:32.139 First, Please help fund our incoming Modus Tower. 00:42:32.219 --> 00:42:35.039 Follow the link to our donation page and join 00:42:35.039 --> 00:42:37.739 one of Pepperwood's Circles of Giving. Cornell 00:42:37.739 --> 00:42:40.599 Lab has a variety of resources that will help 00:42:40.599 --> 00:42:43.440 you learn more about birds. We'll have a link 00:42:43.440 --> 00:42:46.659 to the Macaulay Library, the source of the many 00:42:46.659 --> 00:42:49.159 sound clips we heard this episode and previous 00:42:49.159 --> 00:42:51.880 episodes. Check out all of those contributors 00:42:51.880 --> 00:42:55.300 at the Macaulay Library link. Or you can hear 00:42:55.300 --> 00:42:57.960 highlighted recordings at the All About Birds 00:42:57.960 --> 00:43:00.800 website, where you can search specific bird species 00:43:00.800 --> 00:43:05.079 or review which birds live in your area. The 00:43:05.079 --> 00:43:07.500 Macaulay Library database is part of what drives 00:43:07.500 --> 00:43:10.380 the phone application that Sean described using 00:43:10.380 --> 00:43:13.659 to learn bird calls. It's called Merlin Bird 00:43:13.659 --> 00:43:17.420 ID. So follow that link to download it to your 00:43:17.420 --> 00:43:21.000 smartphone and start learning for yourself. In 00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:24.219 addition to our own in -house analysis, Pepperwood's 00:43:24.219 --> 00:43:26.900 breeding bird survey data is uploaded to Cornell 00:43:26.900 --> 00:43:30.400 Labs eBird, a community science database where 00:43:30.400 --> 00:43:32.960 you can upload your own observations by joining 00:43:32.960 --> 00:43:35.199 eBird. You can follow that link to learn more. 00:43:35.360 --> 00:43:37.920 Our data is also uploaded to the Environmental 00:43:37.920 --> 00:43:40.480 Data Initiative, an avian knowledge network. 00:43:40.619 --> 00:43:42.400 You can learn more about those at their links. 00:43:43.559 --> 00:43:45.539 Finally, as promised at the top of the episode, 00:43:45.699 --> 00:43:48.460 we will include a link to the West Sonoma County 00:43:48.460 --> 00:43:51.460 Christmas Bird Count, where Nicole Barden first 00:43:51.460 --> 00:43:54.360 met Sean and invited him to join us at Pepperwood. 00:43:54.760 --> 00:43:58.500 So many cool bird resources to explore, but don't 00:43:58.500 --> 00:44:01.139 switch off yet. It's time for this episode's 00:44:01.139 --> 00:44:05.059 installment of the Nature Sound Guess Who Game. 00:44:07.679 --> 00:44:10.579 Each episode, we play a nature sound for you 00:44:10.579 --> 00:44:13.440 and challenge you to guess Which critter made 00:44:13.440 --> 00:44:16.960 that sound? If you email your guess to podcast 00:44:16.960 --> 00:44:20.539 at pepperwoodpreserve .org, you may become podcast 00:44:20.539 --> 00:44:23.900 famous with a shout out on the next episode when 00:44:23.900 --> 00:44:27.179 the answer is revealed. We didn't receive any 00:44:27.179 --> 00:44:29.760 guesses on last episode's sound. I'm afraid I 00:44:29.760 --> 00:44:32.500 may have intimidated you all from guessing by 00:44:32.500 --> 00:44:36.639 hinting that it was tricky. Let's listen back 00:44:36.639 --> 00:44:46.150 to last episode's mystery sound now. And that 00:44:46.150 --> 00:44:53.530 sound was made by the Stellar's Jay. Yes, indeed, 00:44:53.829 --> 00:44:58.070 the Stellar's Jay, Cyanoceta stellarii. Did you 00:44:58.070 --> 00:45:01.030 think it sounded like a red -tailed hawk? That's 00:45:01.030 --> 00:45:03.429 just what the Stellar's Jay wanted you to think. 00:45:04.070 --> 00:45:07.610 This clever Jay species can be a master imitator 00:45:07.610 --> 00:45:10.429 and has been known to imitate not only other 00:45:10.429 --> 00:45:15.840 wild birds, but also squirrels, cats, dogs. chickens, 00:45:15.940 --> 00:45:20.019 and even some mechanical objects. Here's a medley 00:45:20.019 --> 00:45:22.719 of calls selected from Macaulay Library's collection 00:45:22.719 --> 00:45:41.320 of Stellar's Jay vocalizations. The Stellar's 00:45:41.320 --> 00:45:44.179 Jay is no slouch in the looks department either. 00:45:44.679 --> 00:45:47.820 It is a large jay with a blue lower body and 00:45:47.820 --> 00:45:51.280 a charcoal black crested head. It is one of only 00:45:51.280 --> 00:45:54.559 two North American jay species with a crest on 00:45:54.559 --> 00:45:57.639 its head. The other one is called simply Blue 00:45:57.639 --> 00:46:01.900 Jay or Cyanoceta cristata. These two crested 00:46:01.900 --> 00:46:04.900 jays have historically split North America, with 00:46:04.900 --> 00:46:07.280 the Blue Jay being found in the east and the 00:46:07.280 --> 00:46:10.269 Stellar's Jay in the west. Blue jay populations 00:46:10.269 --> 00:46:14.150 are more recently expanding westward, and where 00:46:14.150 --> 00:46:16.449 the two species overlap, they have been known 00:46:16.449 --> 00:46:20.230 to interbreed and produce hybrid offspring. The 00:46:20.230 --> 00:46:23.630 Steller's jay gets its current name from George 00:46:23.630 --> 00:46:28.949 Wilhelm Steller, a German naturalist. Huh. A 00:46:28.949 --> 00:46:32.110 North American species named after a European 00:46:32.110 --> 00:46:35.170 adventurer who encountered them in the 18th century. 00:46:35.800 --> 00:46:38.500 This is a very common occurrence, both for birds 00:46:38.500 --> 00:46:41.920 and other taxa, and it's an artifact of the history 00:46:41.920 --> 00:46:45.039 of colonization and the cultural erasure of the 00:46:45.039 --> 00:46:47.079 indigenous communities who have shared a home 00:46:47.079 --> 00:46:50.619 with these species for thousands of years. There 00:46:50.619 --> 00:46:53.340 is a substantial and increasingly accepted movement 00:46:53.340 --> 00:46:56.820 to correct this practice, known as Bird Names 00:46:56.820 --> 00:47:00.510 for Birds. We'll include a link to the Bird Names 00:47:00.510 --> 00:47:03.570 for Birds website, as well as an excellent article 00:47:03.570 --> 00:47:06.289 from the American Birding Association called 00:47:06.289 --> 00:47:10.230 Bird Names for the 21st Century, written by Ashwin 00:47:10.230 --> 00:47:13.329 Sivakumar. The article features the seller's 00:47:13.329 --> 00:47:16.409 jay and some of its alternative common names, 00:47:16.570 --> 00:47:21.170 like pine jay, mountain jay, and long -crested 00:47:21.170 --> 00:47:26.099 jay. Now. It's time to hear our new mystery sound 00:47:26.099 --> 00:47:29.760 that you can try to guess before next time. Now, 00:47:29.760 --> 00:47:32.139 this bird -obsessed episode would not be complete 00:47:32.139 --> 00:47:35.340 without one more recording from Cornell Lab Macaulay 00:47:35.340 --> 00:47:38.000 Library, so I will give you the hint that it's 00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:40.940 definitely a bird. After this one, we're going 00:47:40.940 --> 00:47:43.099 to take a break from birds and explore some other 00:47:43.099 --> 00:47:45.980 taxa for the rest of the season, but let's see 00:47:45.980 --> 00:47:49.500 if this little bird sounds familiar to you. Here 00:47:49.500 --> 00:47:58.280 it comes in three. two, one. And here's your 00:47:58.280 --> 00:48:07.239 second chance to listen in three, two, one. Okay, 00:48:07.280 --> 00:48:10.699 folks, who's that bird? Email your guest to us 00:48:10.699 --> 00:48:13.980 at podcast at pepperwoodpreserve .org. Until 00:48:13.980 --> 00:48:16.960 next episode, thanks for listening. And don't 00:48:16.960 --> 00:48:18.980 forget to keep your ears tuned into nature.