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NORTHWESTERN ROBIN

Museum Specimens - Longmire (2700).

We all know the robin as the commonest bird in our city parks and gardens, but they are also abundant in our park. They find climatic conditions different here and have to adapt themselves to their surroundings. In the low country the birds arrive early and begin nest-building in April. Here their arrival is delayed on account of snow conditions, so their nesting time is set back a month or more. As is the case with so many of our summer breeders, conditions make it seem strange in spring to see our robins nesting with several feet of snow on the ground. They have to fly to open spaces where the running water has melted the snow. Here they find food and also mud to use in their nest-building, but they look cold and sing but little until the hot weather comes and the bare earth is again visible.

This well-known bird needs little description. Visitors to our museum, however, are sometimes interested in comparing specimens, especially to note the difference in shades between the male and female. The darker head and richer red on the breast of the male is distinctive, and the spotted breast of the immature bird differs greatly from that of the parent.

Robins build a nest of moss and twigs with a well-formed cup of mud in the center. This cup may contain a few dried grasses. The eggs, three or four in number, are of the true and original "robin's egg blue". Two broods a year are usually raised, and we have records in Tacoma of three. In our very high country with such a short, late season, they may have time for only one family.

The robins are heavy eaters and at times believe in a change of diet. When they arrive in spring they are hungry for angle worms, pulling them out of our lawns and seldom "breaking" a worm. Have you ever tried it? See how many you can pull out whole! Then when the berries, cherries and other small fruits ripen their diet changes entirely. In late summer the birds consume many moths and other flying insects, and here is where the orchardist and farmer is more than repaid for the fruit taken earlier in the season. In the fall they again turn to fruit and feast on the huckleberry, salal and mountain ash. As this autumn fruit becomes over ripe it has a decided alcoholic effect on the birds who become, first, quite hilarious and, later, almost doped and stuped.

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PACIFIC VARIED THRUSH

Other common names: Oregon Robin; Alaska Robin; Swamp Robin.

Museum Specimens - Sunshine Point (2000); Longmire (2700).

The varied thrush is a bird of the mountain slopes and inhabits the deep, dark forests of coniferous trees. To know and hear them one should enter the forest some day in April. A light rain may be falling and we are conscious that the birds are about, but they keep to the tree-tops and we see little of them. Then from the hillside above comes a long, pure note, often answered at once by another bird, several notes lower. It is beautiful and the sound carries a long distance. All seems so different; instead of the usual condition of sunlight and song we have a state of saturation - the dark, green forest with trees dripping rain, a misty fog hanging at the tree-tops, the green moss soggy under foot. But from all this comes that pure, inspiring note penetrating through the cloud-curtained surroundings!

These thrushes are common in the forested sections of the park and breed throughout this range. In winter, as the snow comes, they are slowly driven downward and out of the park, descending at times to sea-level. It is then that most persons become better acquainted with this shy bird. The bird-man may have a telephone call from a suburban lady, "There is a new bird in our garden. It is like a robin but smaller. It has a red breast and - -". He interrupts to ask if it has a black bib across the breast. "Yes, yes", comes the reply, and she is informed that it is a varied thrush or Alaska robin. She thanks the bird-man in a most gracious manner, seemingly delighted to know the bird's identification.

The birds re-enter the park about March 1 and slowly follow the snowline as it retreats up the hillsides. Nesting begins about May 1, depending on snow conditions. They build a bulky nest, shaped like that of the robin but without the mud cup. The material used is mostly twigs and moss with a lining of coarse grasses and weed stems. It resembles the robin's nest from below, but the appearance of the shorter tail of the bird over the edge of the nest is identifying. Three or four eggs are laid - blue like those of the robin but sparingly spotted with brown specks.

The varied thrush outranks the robin in color and color flashings. The breast is more of a golden-orange color with the black band across the chest. This orange appears in bars on the wings and in a very conspicuous dash over and behind the eye. The coloring of the female is more subdued, and the immature bird has the spotted breast like that of the young robin.

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SIERRA HERMIT THRUSH

Museum Specimens - Nickel Creek (3300); Reflection Lake (4800); White River (3800).

Much has been written about the wonderful song of the hermit thrush, to the effect that its notes of purity and sweetness excell those of any of our feathered songsters. This is, perhaps, a broad statement, but very near the truth as its song, heard from some alpine meadow on a quiet evening, is almost sublime.

This small thrush summers throughout the park, but is most often seen among the dwarfed alpine trees at timberline. The birds arrive at this high altitude in May while the snow is still on the ground. These alpine trees, so often draped with black moss, are ideal for these shy, retiring birds to nest and raise their broods.

Their habit of dwelling in coniferous trees separates them from the russet-backed thrushes that frequent the alder and vine maples of our deep canyons. They are smaller than the latter bird and darker on the back. The reddish tail is identifying, and the spots on the white breast are brownish-black as compared to the lighter brown spots on a buffy breast of the russet-backed thrush.

The nest is well concealed in a low bush or alpine tree near the ground. It is built of small twigs, moss and rotten wood and lined with small rootlets. Two to four light-blue eggs are laid.

Hermit thrushes become excited and demonstrative when disturbed at the nesting site.

I heard a commotion below the Blockhouse at Yakima Park. Clark's crows and Oregon jays were excited and tormenting something in a thick clump of moss-covered alpine trees. Upon investigating, the crows and jays departed, but a hermit thrush still continued to scold and excitedly flew from branch to branch. It took some searching finally to make out the outlines of a young saw-whet owl hidden close to a tree trunk about twelve feet up. Even after the owl had been put to rout the thrush kept coming back to continue its scolding, its excitement seemingly slow to abate.

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RUSSET-BACKED THRUSH

Museum Specimens - Longmire (2700) Sunshine Point (2000).

The russet-backed thrush is decidedly a summer bird in western Washington, arriving late in spring and leaving early in fall when the first touches of autumn appear. In the park they arrive in May, nest in June and are gone by early September.

They are birds of shaded deciduous growth and choose the alder and maple thickets as their summer abodes. Thus sheltered from the wind and sun, their appearance is always immaculate and their color soft and clean. The russet-brown on the back is distinctive while the brown spots on the buffy breast stand out plainly even in the shaded woods.

In the daytime the birds are generally silent, but toward evening their beautiful vesper song begins and continues until darkness ends their day. To stand at eventide on the rim of some gulch and listen to several birds below, chanting that vesper chorus, is indeed a treat, and the pure, almost whip-like notes floating upward makes one linger until their concert is over.

The nest is rather roughly made with bits of bark, moss and coarse grasses on the outside. The cup is shaped of dead leaves firmly pressed and lined with rootlets. It may be hidden in a thick bush, often near the bushy top of a clump of vine maple. Sometimes it is built close to the trunk in the new shoots of a willow. Three or four light-greenish eggs, covered with brown markings, are laid. In the vicinity of Longmire they nest in June, the young leaving thee nest in July.

Stevens Canyon contains many of these birds and they are common on the Nickel Creek burn. The maple-covered slopes of Mount Wow near Fish Creek afford ideal nesting areas.

In early summer they feed mostly on the ground, scratching among the dead leaves for food. Later, they turn to a small fruit or berry diet, such as raspberry and black-cap, but never to over-indulge as do their red-breasted cousins, the robins. These birds have not the flocking habits of the robins or other migratory birds - just "here today and gone tomorrow".

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WESTERN BLUEBIRD

The western bluebird was recorded by Taylor and Shaw in the summer of 1919 - one bird at Longmire and another at Narada. We have no recent records, so the bird seldom occurs in the park. It is common at low levels but does not pass over the foot-hills.

This bluebird resembles the eastern bird in having the blue back and head with reddish underparts. It differs greatly in its song, our bird being practically silent while the early warble of the eastern bird comes as a prelude to the opening of spring.

The birds nest in tree cavities, old woodpecker holes and bird boxes, lining the cavity with short dried grasses. From four to six light-blue eggs are laid, and in lower altitudes two broods a year. The male does his share of the incubating and both birds are close sitters. In building bird houses for the bluebird, the cavity should be made so deep that no predatory bird such as the screech owl can reach in and take the incubating bird.

Bluebirds show a decidedly family affection. When the nursery days are over the family still remains together, and they can be seen feeding along some country road. They perch on the telephone wires and can be seen feeding as first one, and then another, drops down to seize a bug or grasshopper and returns to their high perch. They keep together and just gradually drift along through the hazy autumn day. At night they may all fly into and occupy one bird house for the night. They pass slowly southward out of our state for the winter months.

It is a strange fact, but nevertheless true, that the Audubon's warbler often accompanies our bluebird in both spring and fall migrations. Just what the attraction is or why they should do so, no one knows. In action it is the warbler following the bluebird. They do not work in harmony; that is, we frequently see the warbler chase and dodge with the bluebird, although they never meet and fight. Both feed on flying insects and often both birds are seen on the ground, though the Audubon is considered a tree-loving bird. This attraction does not exist during the summer months, the bluebird nesting in open country while the warbler seeks the edges of the coniferous woods.

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MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD

Museum Specimens - Reflection Lake (4860).

This blue emblem of our mountain attracts the visitor as he reaches the alpine country. Picture, if you can, the mountain meadow; spotted with groups of short alpine trees with a few dead, silver-colored snags rising above them; the flower-carpeted ground; the reflective pool. Then a flash of azure-blue passes - a crumb from the blue sky above!

Our mountain bluebird is a lighter and brighter blue than the western bluebird. The male is very handsome - blue on the back, wings shading to black at the tips, underparts shading to white on lower belly. The female's color is more subdued, being a bluish-gray, the lower back turning to dull blue.

This bird seeks the natural cavities and old woodpecker holes in which to nest, as do other bluebirds, using grassy material for lining. Four to six eggs are laid - whitish-blue in color - and two broods a year. Scattered through our alpine country are snags of trees destroyed by fire ages ago. These snags are now hard and brittle and have few woodpecker holes but many cavities. For this reason the summer home of the mountain bluebird is ever associated with these silver, ghost-like trees.

It is interesting to observe that the Audubon's warbler joins this bird in fall migrations as it does the western bluebird.

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TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE

Museum Specimens - Tahoma Creek (2100); Tahoma Vista (3000).

Few easterners know the Townsend's solitaire as it is truly a western bird of the mountains and forests. Solitary in its habits, as the name suggests, and somber in color, it is not often seen or recognized by the public. In the park we now have more chance to study it as it has adopted the use of our high cut-banks along the roads as a nesting site. When the site is chosen and the nest completed, both birds remain close at home and are quiet and gentle in their habits, affording ample opportunity for study and observation.

In action and flight, it reminds one of the bluebird, but when observed in the thick, dark woods it may easily be mistaken for a flycatcher.

These birds like to be near a stream or waterfall. A pair nested on a ledge at Christine Falls not more than 12 feet from the highway bridge crossing the stream. When first observed they were nest building and appeared somewhat alarmed and frightened when approached too closely. During the period of egg-laying both birds spent much of their time together, perched on the topmost branches of a tree nearby. The female would, visit the nest now and then, flying directly to it. When incubating began she became a close sitter and cared little for the visitors who at times lined the bridge to gaze at the falls below. Few persons noticed her. She had a way of snuggling down in the nest, out of sight, leaving only the tip of her tail exposed. Later, while feeding young, the approach to the nest was swift and direct, the parent bird appearing nervous if anyone stood too near.

Nests located on the cut-banks were usually placed in a slight depression in the sand under the overhanging rim. They were loosely made of grasses, shallow, and held together by an outside ring of twigs. The sitting bird would not flush until closely approached. The eggs, generally three or four, have a white background covered with light-brown markings. Solitaires have a long nesting season, probably two broods. We have nesting dates in May, and a nest above Tahoma Vista contained three incubated eggs on August 8 - a very late date.

Solitaires are gray in color above and below. The outer tail feathers show white. There is a tawny mark on the wing, noticeable in flight, and a white ring about the eye. The head and bill seem small for the size of the bird.

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Descriptions continued...