Most sightings of this Eastern Hemisphere sandpiper in North America are of juveniles in fall migration. One such visitor spent more than two weeks on the mudflats on the Seattle side of the SR 520 bridge from September 22 to October 10, 2022, sparking a newspaper story and interest from birders and nonbirders.
Dear Friend,
Red-breasted Nuthatch by Mick Thompson
My time as a member of Eastside Audubon has given me a new appreciation of the birds around us. I first joined to simply learn how to better identify them, but I've gained so much more. Birds amaze me with their beauty, their presence in our neighborhoods, parks and natural areas, the long migrations that some make twice a year, and their unique behaviors for finding food and raising young. Birds can teach us so much about the world and our impacts on the environment.
I've also come to realize that it's very important that we share our love of birds with as many other people as possible, whether it's with politicians in order to shape policy that will benefit birds and people, or with those who haven't had the opportunity to experience the joy of birds firsthand. That's why our chapter is starting the effort to make Eastside Audubon activities more welcoming and accessible to people who perhaps haven't previously thought of connecting with Audubon or learning about birds.
During the pandemic our Board worked with a National Audubon Society consultant to learn about implementing concepts of equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging to our organization. With that knowledge, we created an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee and Board chair position. Two high school students were added to the Board as youth members. To make our meetings more accessible we’re using closed captioning in our online meetings. We are reaching out to new followers with our new high school social media intern. We’ve partnered with the Snoqualmie Tribe and Youth in Focus to help folks learn about responsible recreation on public and tribal lands. And we hosted our first LGBQTIA+ birding trip at Marymoor Park. We’re planning on making our activities and events welcoming spaces where everyone belongs!
Mandarin Duck by Margaret Larkin
Eastside Audubon has been sharing our passion for birds for 42 years with our friends, neighbors, family, and community. We’re continuing our education programs with local schools, field trips, online classes and program night lectures. Our conservation and advocacy programs build broad support for actions to help bird populations recover and preserve the habitats they need to thrive.
We depend on your support, so please make your annual donation by the end of the year. In 2023 we’re focusing on bringing the joy of birding to all of Eastside Audubon’s empowering education programs, committed advocacy efforts, and expert on-the-ground conservation initiatives. We all belong together to learn about and protect birds and the places they need. Please join us!
With gratitude,
Lori Danielson
Board President
PS. Make a gift to Eastside Audubon before midnight on December 31st to be an advocate for birds. Visit eastsideaudubon.org/donate or mail your donation.
The Eastside Audubon Bird Gallery is a repository of 27 years of Bird of the Month columns written by Hugh Jennings and Andy McCormick. To date there are 206 articles and photos of your favorite birds from Washington sprinkled with a few from other places. We have updated the gallery by reorganizing the bird categories and included more photos from the EAS Photo Group.
The new gallery has been divided into 12 categories to help you find birds more easily. Birds are not in traditional taxonomic order but are grouped by the types of birds you might see together or by habitat. Here are the categories with the number of birds in each category in parentheses: Shorebirds (26), Birds of Prey (25), Hummingbirds and Doves (7), Grassland Birds (7), Woodpeckers and Jays (11), Finches (7), Sparrows (14), Seabirds and Gulls (23), Marsh Birds (15), Waterfowl (26), Woodland Birds (26), and Warblers and Flycatchers (19).
The Bird of the Month column has been a popular feature in the chapter’s monthly newsletter The Corvid Crier since 1995. Begun by Hugh Jennings, who wrote articles until early 2009, the regular column has been written since then by Andy McCormick. Both writers have had a good knowledge of birds and enjoy passing on their experience in an engaging manner with identification tips, natural history, and conservation information about each bird species. Almost all of the birds can be found in Washington, but occasionally a rare or newsworthy bird is featured.
The Bird Gallery will continue to grow as each Bird of the Month column is added to the collection. The gallery is available to anyone who visits the website here. Check it out and enjoy reading about the birds of our wonderful State of Washington.
Thanks to Hugh and Andy for their writing, Tyler Hartje for improving the website, Penelope Kipps and other previous editors of The Corvid Crier, and Amanda Leon, the chapter’s current Executive Director for keeping it all organized.
Summer has slowly slipped away and so, the Youth Education Committee (YEC) is gearing up for another busy fall. Check out our website and schedule your event.
Do you want a classroom presentation on birds? Great! On what particular aspect do you want the presenter to focus: introducing students to birds, backyard birds, beaks? Or are your students more advanced and need to learn about migration and habitat? Are they interested in owls? What particular workshop will appeal to them?
Are they ready for a walk in a lovely park to see and identify birds? Then, you might be interested in one of our walks with an experienced guide to help you identify birds that you see on land and on the water. You will see a wide variety of birds: on land such as the Black-capped Chickadee, the Northern Flicker, and the Red-breasted Nuthatch. On the lake, look for the Common Goldeneye, the Bufflehead, and the Canada Goose. You might even be lucky enough to spot a Bald Eagle winging its way across the lake.
Whatever your interest, we are there to help your students learn. Check out our website and give us a call at 425-894-0100.
King County Proposition 1, which would restore funding for the Conservation Futures program, will be on the ballot Nov 8, 2022. This program is one of the most important mechanisms for conserving undeveloped land within the county. The EAS Board of Directors will be discussing whether to formally endorse Proposition 1 at the September board meeting. The following offers background information for those interested.
King County has a long history of preserving and protecting our natural resources. Land conservation in King County—and 13 other counties—is largely funded by the Conservation Futures Program that the state created 50 years ago. However, the Conservation Futures program is currently generating only 50% of the original revenue limiting the capacity to conserve open space.
Over the past 40 years, King County has protected more than 100,00 acres of greenspace including waterways, forests, farmland (through the purchase of development rights), trails, in-holdings within public lands, and urban parks. Applications from the county, cities, or conservation groups are made to the Conservation Futures Advisory Board which assesses the requests and makes recommendations to the King County Executive. Generally, municipalities provide 50% of the funding with the remaining 50% coming from Conservation Futures grants. Examples of land preserved through Conservation Futures include Cougar Mountain, Bear Creek Waterways, Issaquah Creek Greenway, Evans Creek, and EasTrail.
With all this success, why do we need Proposition 1? The King County Land Conservation Initiative (LCI), a collaborative effort between the county, businesses, farmers, and environmental groups to preserve green space, has currently, identified 65,000 additional acres of undeveloped land with the goal of preserving them within the next 30 years. Continued development and increasing property values have made obtaining these natural areas for the public good more difficult. While property values have been increasing, funds from the property tax levy used for preserving land through acquisitions has been shrinking.
In 2001, the legislature capped property tax increases at 1%/year. This has brought down the Conservation Futures funding from 6.25 cents/ $1,000 to 3.12 cents in 2022 and will be only 2.84 cents in 2023. This halving of the funding has occurred while property values have increased which has significantly limited the ability to purchase land for conservation. Conservation Futures funding has simply not kept pace with property values of the remaining open spaces.
What does Proposition 1 do? If passed, Prop 1 will restore Conservation Futures funding back to the original $.0625 cents per $1,000 assessed property value. Cost for the average homeowner would be about $2 more per month. This $2 per month would double our ability to protect the most important open spaces within a single generation.
Why protect our remaining green space? Besides providing habitat for birds, protecting our remaining greenspace confronts climate change by protecting mature forests, adds equitable access to greenspace in underserved areas, preserves salmon habitat, protects more homes, farms, and roads from flooding, provides more land for recreation, and protects farmland from development.
As detailed in Part One, growth of large-scale oil palm plantations starting in the 1990’s showed immediate and obvious negative effects. Outcry from NGOs, environmental groups, and consumers over deforestation and human rights abuses led to the formation of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Starting in 2008, the RSPO developed a set of criteria which producers could voluntarily apply in order to gain an RSPO sustainable palm oil certification.
In late August I was watching birds at our feeders when a Steller’s Jay sounded an alarm call startling other birds which flew in all directions out of our yard. However, I saw something that completely surprised me. Two Northern Flickers did not join the escape flight. Instead, they froze in position.
Don and Margaret Larkin were named the Eastside Audubon Society photographers of the month for the second time in August for a series of owl photos. The couple won the EAS Photography Group award in May.
You can see more of their work on SmugMug and Instagram.
Here is the story behind their owl photographs.
By Don and Margaret Larkin
Barred Owl #2 – Margaret Larkin, 450 mm, 1/30 sec, F 8, ISO 2500
In June, during our evening walk just before sunset, my wife Margaret and I were excited to hear a faint and familiar sound coming from the woods. This sound was a lot different from the usual chickadee and song sparrow calls that we normally hear. This was a soft hissing sound that could only come from a juvenile owl calling out to be fed by its parents. We spotted the owl and soon discovered it had a sibling nearby. Both parents were busy hunting for food while the owlets were practicing their flying skills and exploring the woods. Over the next couple of months, we were able to sit quietly and watch the owl family go about their evening routine. As the owlets grew, they became more confident and courageous. They appeared to be just as curious about us as we were about them. The parent owls didn’t seem to worry, and they were calm and relaxed while we were there.
What is it about owls that make even non-birders stop and gaze at them with amazement? Is it because we remember reading about them in children’s books or seeing them in movies as the wisest of all birds? Since Greek times, owls have been considered wise because of their heightened senses and their association with the night. Their night vision and superior hearing abilities allow them to easily catch prey and protect themselves from danger in the dark. They are mysterious birds who fly without making a sound, and whose presence can only be heard at night by their familiar hooting calls. Owls are also difficult to see during the day because their feathers blend so well with their surroundings.
Barred Owl #3- Margaret Larkin, 550 mm, 1/40 sec, f 6.3, ISO 2500
We are also fascinated with owls because they seem to have some human “personality”. Sometimes we see an owl’s behavior or body language and can’t help but imagine that they think the same way we do. Over the years, Margaret and I have focused a lot of our photographic attention on owls because we see them demonstrate behavior that we admire in humans, such as strength, patience, skill, caring, and family commitment. Perhaps it is these qualities that make owls so fascinating and wise.
The series of photos show the parent owls relaxing and showing affection, and one owlet waiting for the parents to feed him.
Barred Owl #1 – Don Larkin, 500 mm, 1/30 sec, F 6.7, ISO 2500
Barred Owl #4 – Don Larkin, 500 mm, 1/45 sec, F 5.6, ISO 8000
The Photo of the Month award was instituted to recognize the work of the Photo Group Members. The group members meet monthly to show their latest photos and videos as well as share their knowledge of photography and wildlife. To attend the meetings, please join the group’s announcement list.
Canon 5D Mark IV | Tamron 150-600 mm lens | 1 /640.of a second at f/8 | ISO 1600
Jay Galvin, a long-time member of the Eastside Audubon Society photography group, was selected as the Photographer of the Month for his series of photos of a Virginia Rail he shot at Flaming Geyser State Park.
“The Virginia Rail that came out of the reeds in front of me and proceeded to preen itself for a couple of minutes,” he says. “Flaming Geyser State Park is a great marsh for photographing all kinds of avians all year long. The bird knew I was watching it, but it seemed not to care as I clicked away with my Canon 5D Mark IV!”
Jay started photographing birds when he purchased in 2005 his first digital camera, a 12.8 megapixel Canon 5D. He gravitated towards bird photography as they are close-at-hand and often willing subjects.
More of Jay’s work is available on Facebook.
Canon 5D Mark IV | Tamron 150-600 mm lens | 1 /800.of a second at f/8 | ISO 1600
About the Eastside Audubon Photograph of the Month Award
The Photo of the Month award was instituted to recognize the work of the Photo Group Members. The group members meet monthly to show their latest photos and videos as well as share their knowledge of photography and wildlife. To attend the meeting, please join the group’s announcement list.
Canon 5D Mark IV | Tamron 150-600 mm lens | 1 /800.of a second at f/8 | ISO 1600
Each year at this time the American Ornithological Society’s (AOS) Committee on the Classification and Nomenclature of North and Middle American Birds (NCAA) publishes updates to the Checklist of North American Birds. The report provides a window into our deepening understanding of birds and their place in various ecosystems.
Editor's note: How We're Connected is AlTo's occasional series about the connections between conservation and local communities in Tompotika with the outside world, particularly members of the Global Consumer Class. This is the first of a two-part series about Palm Oil, by AlTo's Senior Science Advisor Galen Priest, PhD.
Tropical rainforests are critical for life on Earth. As the "lungs of the planet," they stabilize the global climate by absorbing carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, clean the air and water, and maintain a healthy water cycle. They are also the planet’s most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystem, hosting about half of all the world’s species. On a local level, tropical rainforests prevent flooding, offer soil stability and landslide protection, and provide medicine and other products that sustain local communities.
Indonesia is home to the world’s third largest tropical rainforest and is the single most biodiverse country in the world. But, as a result of global demand for palm oil, tropical forests in Indonesia, Malaysia, and elsewhere are rapidly being clear-cut, burned, and replaced with oil palm plantations. Currently there are at least 16 million hectares (61,800 square miles) of oil palm plantations in Indonesia, an area larger than the U.S. state of Georgia, or roughly the size of South Korea. In Indonesia alone, 3.1 million hectares (12,000 square miles) of rainforest were destroyed, cleared, and converted to palm oil between 2001 and 2019, and it is estimated that approximately 20% of the total palm oil land is located in illegal areas such as protected forests. While rates of deforestation for palm oil have been slowing in the last decade in Indonesia, the conversion of rainforest to oil palm is ongoing. Many experts are concerned that a recent uptick in palm oil prices paired with signs from the Indonesian government mean rates of conversion may be set to increase.
Lowland areas which are especially precious as wild habitat and agricultural land for farmers are especially vulnerable to conversion for oil palm. This land in Tompotika has been cleared for oil palm planting (left) but was once rich Tompotika tropical rainforest (right). Photos: Kevin Schafer.
Palm oil is extracted from fruits and seeds (kernels) of several palm species, most commonly the African Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis) which has been used as a source of vegetable oil for millennia. In 2021, global palm oil production exceeded that of any other vegetable oil, with 75 million metric tons produced, 68% of which came from Indonesia. Last year, the U.S. accounted for just 2% of global palm oil consumption (1.6 million metric tons), yet this is an astonishing 4.8 kilograms (10.6 lbs) of palm oil consumed for every person in the United States in a single year. Globally, 68% of palm oil is consumed in the form of food products, 27% is used in industrial applications and consumer products such as soaps, detergents, and cosmetics, and the remaining 5% is used for biofuel. It is estimated that around half of all packaged goods in grocery stores contain palm oil in some form. It is now ubiquitous in our food and consumer products, but how, and why, has palm oil become so entrenched in our everyday lives?
Palm oil is extracted from the fruits and kernels (seeds) of the Oil Palm Elaeis guineensis. Photos: T.K. Naliaka (left), Arodi (right).
In the 1990’s health professionals and consumers became increasingly concerned about the health problems caused by consuming trans fatty acids ("trans fats"), found mostly in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Food manufacturers thus sought a healthier, equally shelf-stable, and cheap alternative to sell to consumers. From a health and commercial perspective, palm oil is an ideal substitute. It is free of trans fats, semi-solid at room temperature, resistant to oxidation and spoiling, odorless and nearly tasteless when purified, and can withstand high cooking temperatures. Palm oil is also cheap and efficient to grow. One hectare of oil palm produces 2.84 metric tons of oil per year, four times the amount of oil per unit of land that can be produced from any other common vegetable oil crop. While palm oil was already being used to some extent in food products, in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s food manufacturers rapidly replaced unhealthy hydrogenated vegetable oils with palm oil. With demand for palm oil on the rise, developing countries where palm oil is produced saw an opportunity for economic growth. The palm oil boom was on, and Indonesia’s expansion of oil palm production made it the largest global producer by 2006.
While palm oil has many desirable qualities for use in food and consumer goods, the problem lies in where and how it is produced. More and more tropical forests, so critical for life on earth, are being destroyed for oil palm plantations. Oil palm grows only in a narrow band of climate along the equator, in areas formerly occupied by the world’s tropical rainforests as well as some of the economically poorest human communities. Not only is oil palm replacing the rainforests that stabilize global climate and host much of the world’s biodiversity, but fires set to clear land for plantations are releasing hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide from forest and peat carbon sinks, further accelerating global climate change. While a few native species can forage on oil palms and persist in plantations, from a biodiversity standpoint, monocultures of oil palm constitute what some call a “green desert” relative to the productive and diverse rainforests they replace. Shrinking habitat is having drastic impacts on Indonesia’s megafauna such as Orangutans, Sumatran Tigers, Pygmy Elephants, Javan and Sumatran Rhinos, and Sulawesi's own Maleo bird. In fact, it is estimated that palm expansion could impact 54% of all threatened mammal species and 64% of all threatened birds worldwide.
The expansion of palm oil is also disastrous for the people who live where it is grown. Despite bringing billions of dollars into Indonesia, for the most part the expansion of palm oil does not benefit the people living in poor rural populations where it is grown. Rampant corruption means that palm oil money is consolidated in the hands of corrupt government officials and wealthy families. Permits for land previously leased to farmers by village authorities, which provided income and food for the rural population, are given to shell companies created under the names of family members and friends of government officials. These shell companies then sell the leases to oil palm conglomerates, grabbing the land away from rural farmers to enrich the shell company owners. Villages and smallholders are powerless as the state-issued palm plantation permits trump all previous land use agreements. In some instances, farmers have no knowledge that their land rights have been sold out from under them until bulldozers and armed security guards arrive to level their crops and homes.
Rainforests are often illegally clear-cut to make way for palm oil plantations throughout Indonesia (left). Farms and forests which once supported rural people and wildlife are turned to palm oil estates. For formerly self-sufficient farmers turned plantation laborers, the wages are low and the work is back-breaking (right). Photos: AD Partners (left), Hursutimbul (right).
Farmers and local people who do own land may be offered compensation by palm oil companies to buy their land. But agreements are often brokered using deceptive tactics, including promises to share profits or to set aside portions of the established palm plantation for the original owners to farm themselves. More often than not, such promises go unfulfilled, and local people simply lose their land. Some who lose their self-sufficiency and livelihoods may go to work on the palm oil estates as day laborers, but the wages are low, with higher-paying jobs in the palm estates going to more specialized outsiders. Those in poor rural communities who choose not to work for the palm plantations have little alternative but to clear additional land (often illegally) in order to reestablish subsistence farms or their own small palm oil plantation.
So, what can YOU do about the palm oil conundrum? Worldwide, oil palm is here to stay: switching to a different vegetable oil would likely require even more land and cause more environmental destruction. On the grand scale, as with most environmental problems, controlling worldwide human population will help. Individual consumers, however, can commit to using only truly sustainable, conflict-free palm oil (more on this in Part Two), reducing or completely avoiding consumption of conventionally-produced palm oil. Though sometimes a bit of a challenge, the key here is heightened attention to label-reading and a healthier lifestyle.
Palm oil is estimated to be in half of all packaged goods at our grocery stores. Yet, if you look at the products in your home or at the store you won't always see the words ‘palm oil’ among the ingredients. This is because palm oil may be labelled generically, as "vegetable oil," or, more commonly, it is refined into derivatives. These derivatives account for about 60% of all palm oil consumed, and go under hundreds of different names. To complicate matters further for the responsible consumer, some of these derivatives can be sourced from any of the common vegetable oils, though palm oil is the dominant vegetable oil on the market, making it the most likely source. Common palm oil derivatives include any substance that includes the words “palm” or “kernel” such as Palmolein, Etyl Palmitate, and Sodium Kernelate; and most products using the root words -stear-, -laur-, and -glyc-. A few examples include Stearate, Sodium Laureth/Lauryl Sulfate, and Glycerin/Glycerol. Such additives are ubiquitous on store shelves; for virtually all products that include these ingredients, however, so-called "natural" or alternative products are available that avoid the palm oil ingredients. Read the labels.
And here's the good news: the consumer changes we can make to solve the oil palm conundrum are the same changes in our consumption habits that we already know will support healthier bodies and a more just economy. Reducing your personal palm oil consumption can be seen as yet another reason to make those win-win changes: cut back on all pre-packaged and processed foods. Buy more fresh and locally-produced food. Consume more fresh fruits and vegetables. These actions are not only healthier for you and more environmentally friendly in general, but they will also drastically reduce the amount of palm oil you consume. Also, carefully reading the labels and monitoring your use of soaps, shampoos, and detergents is another way to reduce your personal palm oil consumption while simultaneously reducing a critical source of pollution in aquatic habitats. For those of us in the Global Consumer Class, whenever possible, we should try to simply use less, and avoid waste. By being aware and reducing our consumption we can help curb the rate of palm oil expansion, reducing the rate of tropical deforestation.
In Part Two of this series, next month, we will look at palm oil sustainability certification schemes, other efforts to rein in environmental and human abuses in the palm oil industry, and how consumer pressure from people just like you has already helped enormously, and can make a big difference going forward.
21416 – 86th Ave. SW
Vashon, WA 98070
206-463-7720
info@tompotika.org
Eastside Audubon is seeking four new board members in the next few months. Being on the board is a great opportunity to meet new people and support an important environmental conservation voice on the Eastside. Our current board is a very welcoming group and works well together to advance the work we all care about and support our staff and volunteers. We have a great mix of people who really care about birds, the environment, and our organization.
Diversity on the board is really important to us, so we’re looking for candidates of all ages, backgrounds, cultures and neighborhoods, as well as younger professionals.
The board positions that we’re looking to fill include:
Birding
Community Outreach
Volunteer Coordination
Financial Development
We have job descriptions for each of these positions and can provide those on request.
Besides the board chair positions, we have other open projects for volunteers too, including coordinating our program night speakers, citizen science, holiday gift wrap event, and our Birdathon fundraiser, among others.
We’ll be holding an online open house to talk about volunteer openings on Monday, September 12th at 7 p.m. via Zoom. In it, we’ll talk about the organization, the open positions, and we’ll answer questions.
If you’re interested or know someone who might fit the bill, register here to get the Zoom link for the virtual open house.
