Tall Trees and a Bright Flash…by Brad Marks

I need a word with the individual who turned off the heat in Arizona – we are NOT amused. We expect to get snow at home (and they ARE), but Ron and I have already birded in a snow shower down here and now 12 days into our migration, yet to wear a T-shirt much less a pair of shorts. The bright spot is we are getting looks at some good birds. Ron is at 106, I am at 100 species in the young year, which includes 6 lifers for me and 12 for my brother. That is plenty of great fodder for future posts. Meanwhile, Brad is going to take over while we get ready to move to our next basecamp (please be warmer, please be warmer!!). Take care everyone and for those stuck back at Intrigued HQ…throw and extra log on the fire (high is looking like 2 degrees (F) BELOW zero next week). 

Take it away Brad…

It is Day One of our Southwest National Park Tour.  Jan and I flew into Las Vegas and rented a car to drive to SoCal to experience a few National Parks.  After all, we have the National Parks Annual Pass and want to wring every cent out of it.  Truthfully, there isn’t much to see between Las Vegas and where we stayed in Fresno, CA.  Unless you like desert scenes, Joshua trees, and gigantic citrus orchards as far as the eye can see.  Anyone ever enjoyed Cuties or Halos?  They are called mandarin oranges, or clementines, depending on where you live.  The orchards where they are grown, and the “factory” that packages them, went on for miles.  While those are enjoyable, for a few miles, we travelled to see mountains and trees and wildlife.

After a restful night, Jan and I drove to see Kings Canyon National Park at nearly first light.  I was prepared for some very twisty-turny roads on the way to the park, and I wasn’t disappointed.  However, the entrance was near the beginning of the curvy roads so I didn’t have to endure very many switchbacks.  We arrived at Kings Canyon very early.  How early was it? (remember the show Match Game from the 1970’s?)  It was so early, the ranger stations at the entrance weren’t staffed yet.  I still flashed our National Parks Annual Pass just in case there was a camera inside checking out cars and license plates on the way in.  Kings Canyon is known for, well, a canyon.  A very nice canyon to be sure.  It is also known for some of the largest trees (by volume) in the world, the Giant Sequoia.  Coastal Redwoods are certainly taller, by almost 100 feet, but are spindly in comparison to the Giant Sequoia trees.

On our way to see the General Grant Tree (268 feet tall), something caught our eye.  As Jan and I wandered down the trail to see the General, there was a brilliant flash of yellow in the undergrowth.  Keep in mind, we are just outside the parking lot where Giant Sequoia “seedlings” were towering over us (see Notes below).  I had a hard time wrapping my mind around something so large when I’m used to oak or maple trees topping out at 50-75 feet tall after a hundred years or more; a Giant Sequoia is just getting started at that age.  I also realized that by days end my neck would be stuck in the “looking straight up” position.  Or normally what happens to me when we fly discounted seats and the headrest only hits the middle of my neck.

There was the flash again, hiding in a bunch of brambles near the base of a Sequoia, the tree not an SUV of the same name.  Jan had the medium length zoom on her camera while I only had the short range zoom in hopes of being able to capture an entire tree in one photo.  My camera setup was useless for something so small.  Jan started snapping away and was able to capture the bright yellow flash.

Hit the jump to reveal the source of the bright yellow flash!

We still had a mobile phone signal, which was completely surprising considering how far I thought we were from “civilization.”  While Jan was taking photos, I grabbed my phone and started up Merlin.  I like to get sound recordings to help me remember what we have seen on our excursions.  Merlin only heard one bird in the cacophony of tourist children yelling and running around.

The bright flash was a Wilson’s Warbler, a +1 for me.  The males have a small black cap on top, while the females are slightly less neon in their coloring, and only a hint of a few dark feathers on top.  Both have light greyish-green wings and a yellow-grey back.  Yellow is the dominant color on both sexes.  Wilson’s tend to be much brighter yellow on the West coast than on the East coast according to many birding sites.

Warning:  Editorial Content follows. 

Some group of people (try not to disparage them here, but you all know who they are) decided to rename any bird with an English name to something else.  This story was begun before the renaming debacle was announced.  Since they haven’t actually provided a new name for the Wilson’s Warbler, I’m still calling it that.  I suppose that means that at least five of my stories, and probably dozens of Brian’s will need to be rewritten for the new names.  Not to mention buying all new books with the new names in them.  I recommend letting your local/regional/national birding authority know how you feel about renaming bird, or other, species.  It sort of reminds me when a local sports team was forced to change its name because it “may” offend some people, when the people who were deemed to be offended were far more offended when the team was renamed. 

OK, off the soap box now.  Thanks for sticking with the story.

Once I found out the name of this little neon yellow bird, I resisted calling out “Wiilllsssooon!” like Tom Hanks in the movie Castaway.  Well, actually I might have said it quietly, but no one will ever know that.

The next group of tourist kids was running behind us, but Jan was able to capture one more photo before this one was gone.  I could tell it was already thinking of its next move.

Wilson’s rarely slow down and are in nearly constant motion.  They are also among the smallest of the warblers.  Wilson’s frequent thickets and nest right on the ground near saplings, which is precisely where we found this one.  The female will lay 2-7 eggs per brooding session, up to two times per year.  Once the Wilson’s flitted away to quieter locations, we continued the hike to see the General Grant Tree.

It is hard to portray in a photo, but this tree is nearly 90 yards tall, an American football field in height (or soccer pitch for our UK friends) and almost as big at the base as a modest two-story house.  After hiking in the area around this mammoth Sequoia for about an hour, it is a very big tree, my tummy started rumbling.  There was a snack bar near the Visitor Center at the head of the trail.  I kept a rough count of how many kids ran by and figured the parking lot would be quite full of minivans and campers, meaning the lines for lunch might be a bit long.  Jan and I headed back to the Visitor Center area.  I stood in line to order on their kiosks while Jan wandered into the meadow behind the Visitor Center.

Guess what she saw?  That’s right. More Wilson’s Warblers enjoying the sunshine.

Did you catch my good side?  Here let me turn a bit.

As Jan zoomed out a bit, one of its rivals appeared.

Two males were in the same area, hoping to get lucky with the ladies.  We didn’t see any female Wilson’s, and these guys probably didn’t either.

Jan and I were lucky enough to catch a Wilson’s in its breeding range, because they don’t seem to hang around for very long.  Wilson’s Warblers have been in a steep decline in the past few decades mostly due to habitat loss around their breeding grounds and migratory (best pronounced like Monty Python says it:  my-GRATE-or-ee) paths.  Cowbirds are a huge threat to the tiny songbird, because of their habit of leaving their eggs in everyone else’s nests.  Wilson’s can live up to 8 years in the wild, but the average is much less than that.

Ironic how something so small can flourish among giants.

Thank you for reading. If you want to see more Wilson’s Warbler photos, please visit here.

Credits

Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing.  Thanks to Jan for all of the bird photos in this article.  Allyson is on international assignment through the end of the year. 

Notes 

• Giant Sequoia “seedlings” are about 80-100 feet tall, up to 8-feet in diameter, and less than 50 years old.  The Giant Sequoia are medium-fast growers and can be 30 feet tall at only 10 years old. 
• The largest Giant Sequoia in the Kings Canyon National Park is the General Grant tree, standing 268 feet call, and almost 40 feet across at the base of its trunk.  Its circumference is 107 feet.  General Grant is the world’s second largest tree by volume at 46,608 cubic feet of wood.  
• The General Sherman tree, in Sequoia National Park, is the absolute largest tree in the world by volume at 52,508 cubic feet.  It is 275 feet tall and 102 feet around at the base of its trunk. 
• Sites vary on the age of these giant trees.  The Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park site lists the General Grant as being close to 3,000 years old, plus or minus a century.  A new study suggests it may only be considered middle aged at only about 1,650 years old.  Either way, the General has been around a very long time.  
• The General Grant tree carries the nickname of “The Nation’s Christmas Tree.”  The official designation by President Calvin Coolidge was made in 1926.
• Twenty of the world’s top 25 largest trees are located in the three parks of:  Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks.  Luckily for us, they are also right next to each other.  “Next to” is relative because each park is fairly large on its own.  I had more than my share of twisty roads by the time we left the area.
• Ironically, Giant Sequoia cones (aka. pinecones for pine trees) require fire to germinate properly.  Small fires are normal in a forest.  The fire consumes the leaf litter and small brush, cleaning off the forest floor to expose the soil.  Seeds from the cone need contact with the soil to germinate.  If a cone lands on leaf litter, it becomes much needed food for woodland creatures, both furry and feathery. 
• Giant Sequoia can have thousands of cones at a time.  They also have one of the smallest cones of any conifer.