On The Trails: Early June observations

Scissor-tailed flycatcher perched near the river. (Photo by Dave Hanson)

By Mary F. Willson

At Point Louisa, the oystercatchers were foraging on the rocky intertidal, not very close together but surely keeping track of each other. Just offshore, we saw a tight group of small dolphins—at least six of them—passing by with their backs exposed as they cruised along. Only the backs were visible most of the time, but occasionally I thought I saw a flash of white on the lower body. The dorsal fin was strongly curved. Upon consulting a field guide, I thought they were probably Pacific white-sided dolphins. If so, that was a happy occasion for me!

Pacific white-sided dolphins are typically seven or eight feet long. Although we did not see this behavior, they are sometimes very acrobatic, leaping and somersaulting. They often travel in groups of various sizes, up to hundreds of them. Sometimes members of a group collaborate, rounding up the small schooling fish on which they feed. They have lots of small teeth, used not for chewing but for grabbing and holding prey, which is swallowed headfirst. Females mature at age five or six or so, males at age eight or 10. After mating, the pregnancy lasts about a year and females generally wait at least a year before bearing another offspring.  Orcas are a major predator and in some parts of the Pacific, fisheries have been a major cause of mortality.

A few days later, as I started on the dike trail, I noticed a few photographers all focused in one direction. Just then, I met some old friends who asked "Have you seen that flycatcher?"  My response was "Flycatcher? What flycatcher?" They said it is a scissor-tailed flycatcher. Wow! Really??? Then I grabbed my binoculars and, following their directions, looked over at a root-wad near the river. And there it was! Not a bird you’d expect to see here — they nest in prairie areas down around Oklahoma and Texas and winter in Central America. But the Sibley field-guide range maps show that they sometimes range very widely over North America, up into southern Canada. And Bob Armstrong’s book lists them on the back pages as accidental and casual in Southeast. Why do they wander so widely??

Scissor-tailed flycatcher taking off, showing the long forked tail. (Photo by Dave Hanson)

Scissor-tailed flycatchers commonly nest in isolated trees or bushes in prairies. Males are territorial when awaiting the arrival of females; then both male and female may defend the territory. Males typically have longer tails than females. Females build the nest and incubate the four or five eggs, often attended by their mates; males help feed the chicks.  The chicks fledge after about two weeks in the nest and are tended by both parents. Major sources of nest mortality are severe weather and predation by snakes. They feed on a variety of insects, chiefly grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles.  

One fine day I walked with a friend on the wetland on the west side of the river. Savanna sparrows were active — singing, diving into thick stands of grass, chasing each other. The meadow was a visual feast of floral color: mixed swathes of blue lupine, pink shooting star, brown chocolate lily, yellow buttercups and dandelions. Small bees were busy on the shooting stars. One bee briefly touched a lupine, and a few small flies attended the dandelions. The low abundance of insects on the flowers may be worrisome; for instance, lupines need bees to pry open the flower and pollinate, but I’m seldom seeing such activity this year (so far). Irises were still in bud. And along the roadway, willows bore numerous catkins that may soon release billions of fluffy seeds — if they were pollinated well.

• Mary F. Willson is a retired professor of ecology. "On The Trails" appears periodically in the Juneau Independent. For a complete archive of Mary Willson’s “On the Trails” essays, go to https://onthetrailsjuneau.wordpress.com.

The multi-colored flower array in the wetland meadow. (Photo by Mary F. Willson)