A bird walk to help Monroe swifts
Published 9:08 pm Friday, April 10, 2009
California has its cliff swallows returning to Capistrano every spring. Monroe has its Vaux’s swifts.
The cliff swallows, immortalized in Leon Rene’s “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano,” became a symbol for spring migrations.
So far, no one has written a song for our swifts.
Last year they arrived in Monroe on April 16, circling the chimney at Frank Wagner Elementary School at dusk, then darting inside to roost.
Pilchuck Audubon Society is planning a fundraiser on Saturday for the swifts and their chimney, which needs repair.
The school’s principal, Robin Fitch, will lead a bird walk around Buck Island at 2 p.m. Meet at the Lewis State Park parking lot, 561 S. Lewis St. at 1:45 p.m.
At 4 p.m., watch the new one-hour video, “On the Wing,” about the lives and behaviors of Vaux’s swifts of Portland, Oregon’s, Champion School. The movie will be shown in the auditorium at Frank Wagner Elementary School.
The movie comes with popcorn and a chance to donate time and money. There’s a $5 suggested donation for adults, $2 for children. Expect to be recruited and trained as a docent or swift counter for a few weeks each spring and fall.
“We are getting close to having a chimney repair plan but it won’t be cheap. The three Audubon chapters (Pilchuck, Seattle and Eastside) got together and paid for a structural engineering analysis last month,” said Susie Schaefer of the Pilchuck Audubon Society.
Ignorance or arrogance? What could be better than eating an ice cream cone at Snow Goose in Skagit Valley and listening to a surprisingly large late-to-head-north flock of snow geese with Mount Baker as a backdrop?
At least until Idiot with Camera starts trudging toward the flock. Eventually, of course, he spooked the birds up and away; Idiot with Camera was rewarded with images of birds in flight.
The thoughtful, patient spectators waiting for the flock to come closer (which it was doing before camera guy moved in) were rewarded with a spooked flock landing far away and no photographs.
The worst, of course, was that the snow geese burned much-needed calories that they would use to fly north to their breeding grounds. Imagine this happening a few times a day.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s ignorance or arrogance. It doesn’t take an ornithologist to figure out that disturbing wildlife — particularly wildlife that is feeding — is unacceptable.
A day at the beach: Consider making a trip to the Washington coast next weekend, staying a couple of nights and volunteering for the beach cleanup effort Saturday in advance of Earth Day, April 22.
More than 1,000 folks are expected to collect and remove water bottles, fishing gear, tires and other types of marine debris that can harm marine mammals, fish, plants and birds.
Last year 22 tons of debris were removed from the state’s Pacific Ocean beaches. Washington CoastSavers (www.coastsavers.org/washington) makes it easy to choose a beach with maps and color-coded access points.
Secrets of Shangri-La: Mountaineer and cinematographer Peter Athans has stood on the summit of Mount Everest seven times. But the accomplishment that will affect more people is his and Broughton Coburn’s discovery in 2007 below a summit.
The two led an expedition into a previously off-limits region of Nepal. At an elevation of 14,000 feet, they found a subterranean chamber with a huge 13th-century 55-panel mural depicting important Buddhist sages and 11th-century Tibetan manuscripts.
He’ll talk about that experience, with visuals, as part of a National Geographic Live! series at 7:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle. Tickets are $18 for adults, $12 for students; 206-215-4747.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
