The Little Beggars are Scarce
Young of the year came out of maternal burrows in the rim area during the first week of August, 1949, in numbers much under modal, and gave no support to the theory that a rather sparse population of adults is necessarily favorable to population replenishment. In 1947 squirrels were so plentiful on highway 230 that they constituted a driving hazard. This year the area is so largely deserted that it must be concluded that squirrel scarcity is a more than local phenomenon. Be that as it may, the individuals that are with us are acting as though they are convinced that lean squirrel years need not necessarily produce lean squirrels.The golden-mantled ground squirrel, which certainly affords park guests as great an amount of entertainment and opportunity for behavior study as any member of our wildlife group, was only moderately common during the 1949 season. Good indicators of the size of the squirrel population are the maximum number of squirrels that can be seen at one time at the head of the Lake Trail and the number of squirrels resident in the upper part of the Rim Camp area. To see twelve squirrels at a time at the head of the Lake Trail, and all of them big ones, means a big park population. Sample observations made during 1949 gave the writer an eight squirrel maximum and a mode of four. Some of the squirrels were yearlings and one was even a young of the year. No such callow operative could have maintained a pitch there during the roaring 30’s. He wouldn’t have lasted an hour. One squirrel only has been around the upper Rim Camp area.
Ornithological Notes of Interest
Passing observation was made of a number of bird species during the 1949 season. Rosy finches were seen near the top of Garfield Peak Trail and on Cloudcap on several occasions and during the last week of July a parent was seen feeding two birds of the year. The hunger cry of these proved to be quite musical and a pleasant change from the bleats of young robins and squawks of petitioning nutcrackers so commonly heard in the Rim Camp.
On August 5th a flock of about 20 large finches was feeding along the edge of the crater of Wizard Island. They moved rapidly but ultimately one bird perched within about forty feet and in full view of the binoculars. It appeared to be a female pine grosbeak, and the undulating flight of the flock as it crossed Skell Channel presented additional evidence in favor of the identification.On August 4th two golden eagles were soaring over Garfield Peak and the next day an immature bird was seen over the rim drive behind Llao Rock. Golden eagles were seen over Garfield again on August 13 by the morning field trip party. When seen in the park, they are more often observed in the area along the rim between Garfield and Applegate Peaks than elsewhere. Consequently, this area is called Eagle Crags. Although both bald and golden eagles have been seen along the rim, recent nesting records here are of bald eagles which bred seven years ago on Wizard Island. No bald eagles were reported this year.
Rock wrens, unreported during the 1948 season, were present on the large talus slope underneath the Garfield Peak trail. Singing birds were heard there during the second week in July. In past seasons these handsome little rock dippers have been common inside the rim, their pleasant song rising to greet the Sinnott Memorial attendant on his arrival.
During our stay in the utility area at headquarters we heard more than the usual number of olive-sided flycatchers. In the same locality during the first week of July, Audubon Warblers were present in considerable numbers but no other warbler species were heard or seen.
From the rim viewpoint just west of Hillman Peak, ravens have been observed a number of times during the summer. Past observations strengthen an assumption that these large corvids nest within the rim. During June and July a company of four, probably a family group, have been seen casually along the rim from the lodge to the Devil’s Backbone, sometimes flying over the Rim Village or wandering down Munson Valley. The hoarse croak and the long pointed wings distinguish the ravens from their close relatives, the crows, and the ranges of the two birds seldom overlap.
Besides those of golden eagles there have been some other interesting notes on birds of prey this summer. The red-tailed hawk has previously been reported nesting in upper Munson Valley, and evidently did so again this year. At least one immature red-tail wandered about the valley near park headquarters. It was seen several times during July and August, giving the hunger cry almost constantly and being besieged by robins, tanagers, and jays. The falcons reported annually to nest in Llao Rock are prairie falcons. A family group of two immature birds and an adult were observed near the base of the Rock on July 27, the young giving the hunger call. During the afternoon of Saturday, August 13th, one of the juvenile birds perched on a hemlock by the Sinnott Memorial for about 15 minutes. A crowd of park visitors collected on the walk in front of the Information Building, and there was ample opportunity to identify with field glasses this strikingly light-colored, dark-eyed falcon, whose plumage contrasts to the dark color of the duck hawk. Although the latter nests typically near a body or stream of water, the paucity of waterfowl and shorebirds on the lake would suggest that these falcons depend largely on small mammals for food, as would be expected of prairie falcons. One member of this family group was observed soaring on the outside of the rim on August 4th.
During the latter part of August and early September a rather extensive migration of hawks passed through the park. When northwest winds prevailed, creating thermals on the west slopes, the fire lookout on Scott Peak reported scores of hawks of several species passing all day long. Notable among them were goshawks, marsh hawks, and a number of eagles.
The handsome state bird of Oregon, the western meadowlark has been seen again in the meadow east of the lodge, this year on July 8th. Post nesting dispersal probably accounts for the singular appearance of the only member of the blackbird family that has been reported from the rim area during the summer. As winter approaches the meadowlark gathers in small flocks and move down into sheltered valleys. like the eastern meadowlark, it’s mellow, fluted notes may be heard in fields any month of the year. It is not to be confused with the true larks, of which the western representatives are the horned larks. Another family, the pipits, have a member known commonly as the “American skylark.”
