Campus Bird Report
By: Isaac Brown
Illustrated by: Carla Cieza-Espinoza
Biology professor and ornithologist Dr. Don Powers said that this year alone, three new types of birds have been spotted on campus: the belted kingfisher, the hooded merganser, and the raven.
He hasn’t seen these birds until now in his thirty-three year career at GFU. Aside from these new arrivals, Powers said it is “a tall order” to begin to name all of the birds that are common to campus. But from some of those he did mention, here are a few you can regularly see around campus.
The hermit thrush has earned itself the title of “The Poet’s Bird” for its frequently written about song, which Powers said is perhaps the most “haunting” bird song. The hermit thrush has a pair of valves in its syrinx (throat), which allow the thrush to sing two different pitches simultaneously. The hermit thrush’s song begins with a long whistle followed by a quick burst of melody; though ornithologists have identified up to ten distinct songs―even these vary every time they sing―each one follows this pattern. In a study performed by a composer (Cornish College of the Arts) and a biology professor (University of Vienna), who slowed down the bird’s song, it was found that 70% of males’ songs follow harmonic series―the same pattern of increasing frequencies that the intervals of human music are based on. Many ornithologists suggest this is why humans tend to find the hermit thrush’s call so beautiful. They are small brown birds with white bellies and black-speckled breasts; they may not be the easiest to spot, but their song is nearly unmistakable.
The rufous hummingbird is a migratory bird you can find on campus during the spring. Their weight varies from lighter than a penny to no heavier than a quarter. Nonetheless, they’re a force to be reckoned with: their hearts beat four times a second, they can fly up to 50 mph, and they drink up to five times their body mass every day. Rufous hummingbirds can be recognized by their rusty color, along with flashes of green and, for males, red around their eyes and chin. Their coloring is an unusual twist on the distinct green bodies and purple heads of their more locally common and equally impressive relatives, the Anna’s hummingbird.
The red-breasted sapsucker’s name does not lie: they drill into trees and drink the sap. Powers said you can see trees by Wheeler Sports Center filled with rings of holes; this is a sure sign of sapsuckers. A sapsucker may drill up to 1500 holes in a year and drink 10 ounces of sap a day―over five times their body weight―thanks to their fast metabolism. There is so far no contest for their name. These birds are hard to miss thanks to the bright red of their head and, as may be assumed by their name, breast.
The barred owl’s feathers, like other owls’, offer less air resistance than other birds, making them less efficient, but quieter, flyers. The barred owl’s physiology is geared toward stealthy and precise hunting. For instance, their disk-shaped arrangement of their face feathers helps redirect sound into their ears; further, their right ear is higher than their left, because hearing a sound from two different angles helps them more accurately locate the source of a sound. Nonetheless, they are not merely impressive hunters―their diet includes snakes and fish―but are also family-oriented, mating for life and looking after their young for up to 6 months, which is longer than most other owl species. They often nest in tree hollows or old crow or hawk nests. Generally, they can be recognized by their speckled brown backs, white breast and face, and their striking black eyes and yellow beaks.
Powers also said there’s a variety of birds to look forward to, come May, including bald turkey vultures, bright yellow warblers, and blue-backed, orange-chinned swallows. Vaux’s swifts will also be migrating around that time. The Vaux’s swift will not be found where you’d usually look for birds: they cannot perch. If they’re not nesting, they are always in the air; and when they are nesting, they only cling to vertical surfaces. Their claws, though unable to grip a twig or branch, can easily hold onto the side of a tree or even a smooth plaster wall. They are not easy to spot: they are small and black-gray and often in motion. However, they can be identified by how they cling to vertical surfaces and how they descend simultaneously upon nests (often in trees or chimneys) in flocks of hundreds or thousands―occasionally even tens of thousands.
Of course, this is just scratching the surface; there are around 500 species of bird in Oregon. And though there’s whole books to fill about each species, it’s worth a few moments just to stop and watch one.
Illustrated by Carla Cieza-Espinoza