-oOo-

KILLDEER

Other common names: Killdee.

Museum Specimen - Reflection Lake. (4860).

The killdeer is commonly found throughout Washington, so it is no great wonder that he is occasionally recorded en Mount Rainier. One was seen at the Owyhigh Lakes in 1934, one at Tipsoo Lake in 1936, and one at Reflection Lake in 1937. We have, of course, no spring records. They will have hatched and raised a family in the low country before our lakes are open.

No shorebird is better known to us all than this excitable plover. Every pond on the prairie has its pair of nesting birds, and they are also very common on all the tideflats. In winter, when the fresh-water ponds and sloughs are frozen, they resort to the salt-water flats to remain until warmer weather comes.

Description of plumage is scarcely necessary for identification. The continuous nervous call of "killdee", "killdee", makes it almost positive. However, like most plover, they are grayish above and white below. Two black bands cross the breast.

Killdeer nest on the ground by, or near, water. They usually lay four eggs, top-shaped and of a buffy color handsomely spotted with large black spots. No nesting material is used, but a camouflage of shells, stones, dead twigs, leaves or weedstems is often placed as a ring around the eggs. The female will not flush from the nest, but will run or sneak away when a person approaches. Like all shorebirds, the young leave the nest when hatched, never to return.

They are great deceivers, and when one approaches their nest or young, they go through a series of agonizing actions, feigning broken wings and legs, lying on the side in a dying condition - anything to entice you into following the "wounded bird". When you are safely away they take flight to circle back to the family.

Constant activity keeps the killdeer thin. In fact, the four large eggs laid will no doubt weigh more than the female bird. And they have two broods a season.

-oOo-

WILSON'S SNIPE

Other common names: Jack Snipe; Bog-sucker; English Snipe.

Museum Specimen - Reflection Lake (4860).

Little description is necessary in identifying this bird. Its extremely long bill, and large eyes placed almost on top of its head, are sufficient identification. The upper mandible has a sensitive hinge or tip to enable the bird to feel the worms while prodding in the mud. While its bill is thus thrust downward, the eyes, placed far back in the head, enable the bird still to see in front of him.

Wilson's snipe nest sparingly on both sides of the mountains in Washington. They arrive in numbers, generally after the first frost in autumn, and many remain all winter in the salt-water marshes.

It is an eventful day to the bird lover to witness and hear the "booming" mating performance of this erratic bird. As one approaches some swampy area where snipe are nesting, he will in time begin to realize that something is making a very queer sound overhead. It is different from any noise he has heard before and in tracing the source he will eventually locate a small bird flying high in the air, circling the swamp.

Several years ago I visited a swamp near Spanaway where one or two pairs of Wilson's snipe nested. The day was warm and soon two male birds "took off", circling high in the air. The mating sound soon reached me, undoubtedly made by the bird's spreading its stiffened tail feathers and holding them at right angles to the body, at the same time "zooming" in flight. In a few seconds he would resume the former altitude with tail in normal position and the sound shut off. One bird stayed up twenty minutes before finally dropping downward. This was done by holding the wings over the back until they touched, then wafting downward like a fallen leaf.

Wilson's snipe lay four eggs of a greenish clay color, spotted with crown and umber. No nesting material is used but the eggs are well concealed in long grass or cover and the bird is a close sitter.

Migrating south in the fall, jack-snipe often stop on our alpine meadows to rest. They have also been recorded in the swampy meadow near Longmire. They do not stay long as there are no worms or proper food. It is interesting to note that the "stomach contents" of the bird collected for the Museum contained nothing but grasshoppers, a difficult meal to digest compared to their regular soft diet.

One thing more - never talk about a flock, covey or bevy of snipe - it is a "wisp" of snipe, if you please.

-oOo-

SPOTTED SANDPIPER

Other common names: Peet-weet; Tip-up; Teeter-tail.

Museum Specimens - Nisqually River near entrance (2100).

Here is the one shorebird that claims the mountain as its summer home, and we find them in all sections of the park where there are streams and lakes. The Nisqually River below Longmire is a regular breeding range for these nervous little "teeter-tails". A pair usually nests at Reflection Lake, and the White River on the north side is a favorite breeding ground. In the fall they have been recorded at Mystic Lake (5700').

This little sandpiper has a grayish-brown back and can easily be identified in summer by the white breast, heavily spotted with brownish spots. Immature individuals in fall, however, lack these spots. As mentioned before, they are of a very nervous disposition, seldom standing still. They are always "bobbing" and their tails are kept "teetering" up and down, almost as bad as their companions on streams - the dippers. Their flight, when disturbed, is up stream a short distance, or a circle out from the shore and back, with tail spread and quivering, short wing-beats.

Spotted sandpipers nest near water on a sandy shore if possible. A slight depression is made in the sand and most nests have a lining of small dead leaves, usually willow or alder. Four eggs are laid, light clay in color with blackish spots. The little ones leave the nest immediately upon hatching.

-oOo-

WESTERN SOLITARY SANDPIPER

We know little about this bird in Washington or anywhere else for that matter. As the name implies, it is usually a single bird, feeding along the water's edge and reminding one of a small yellow-leg in action and shape. It also resembles the spotted sandpiper without the spots, is rather nervous in its actions as is the latter bird, their specialty being to raise their wings nervously high over their backs.

Solitary sandpipers are just rare visitors in out-of-the-way places and for that reason we are rather proud of the several records we have in the park. Taylor and Shaw recorded single specimens at Cowlitz Divide (5900'), Summerland (6000'), Owyhigh Lakes (5500'), Lake Eunice (5300'), Sunset Park (5000'), St. Andrews (5500'). One bird feeding in shallow water at Reflection Lake (4800'), and another at Shadow Lake (6100') have also been recorded (Kitchin).

The nesting site of this aloof bird remained almost a mystery for years. Oologists searched in vain through swamp and tundra in the north country. Then by accident some collector happened to look into an old thrush's nest in a tree and there were four spotted eggs of the shorebird. This strange tale was not believed when the collector returned, and it was not until other eggs had been found in similar situations that the secret was out.

-oOo-

SEMI-PALMATED SANDPIPER

Other common names: Peep; Sand-peep; Ox-eye.

When the thousands of shorebirds pass up and down our Pacific Coast each year, a majority of their ranks is made up of small sandpipers or "peeps". Of these, three varieties can scarcely be separated in the field. They are the western sandpiper (Ereunetes maurii), least sandpiper (Pisobia minutilla) and the semi-palmated sandpiper. In numbers, the two former exceed the latter according to our Washington records. Perhaps at times the semi-palmated makes a more eastern migration. The least is smaller than the other two and lacks the partially webbed feet. The western is heavier and more distinctly marked with blackish on the breast than is the semi-palmated with its brownish-gray breast in spring plumage.

We have but one record for the park - a single bird at St. Andrews Park recorded by Taylor and Shaw on July 19, 1919.

The peak of migration of these little sandpipers going northward in large flocks, is about May 10 to 15. In the fall, however, they return in more scattered companies in August and September. They breed in the Alaska tundra areas, laying four eggs of the usual shorebird markings and shape.

-oOo-

CALIFORNIA GULL

The California gull is abundant along the Washington Coast in late summer and fall, gradually working south as winter approaches. As it is an inland breeder, many may arrive via the overland route instead of coming down the coast.

They nest sparingly in eastern Washington, which may account for two adult birds that passed just over this observer's head at Reflection Lake on August 16, 1930. They were identified by their size and the very white wing-tips. They came up Stevens Canyon from over the Cascades and continued westward toward the salt water.

The California gull is a large, medium-sized gull with white head, body and tail, and pearl-gray mantle. The outer primaries are black with considerable white at the end of the first two feathers. The bill shows a red and black dot on the lower mandible. This distinguishes it from the ring-billed gull that has black on the upper as well as the lower mandible, and no red mark.

They nest on the ground, near marsh or lakes, collecting a few dead stalks of reeds and cattails, and laying three to five eggs of a grayish or green background, spotted with different shades of brown.

-oOo-

Descriptions continued...