treasures in the Canopy

300 feet above an Oregon forest, biologist Nina Ferrari uncovers the secrets of warblers, juncos, and other treetop songbirds

MARINA RICHIE

From my perch high in a 200-foot-tall Douglas-fir, I listen to the lone chord of a Varied Thrush sugaring upwards from the understory. Chip chip chip calls signal a flock of Red Crossbills rippling through the mid-canopy. Close by, a Pacific-slope Flycatcher whistles an uptick Hap-PY? Secured by a rope and climbing harness, I gaze over a treescape like none I’ve ever witnessed. Gray spires—the tops of living and dead trees—rise like ship masts above a sea of textured Douglas-fir, western cedar, and western hemlock. No spire is the same. Some are straight, others forked. Everything has a signature. The sky on this early August morning is the blue of a Steller’s Jay in flight. The rushing sigh of Lookout Creek breezes up on windless air. A western swallowtail butterfly…

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BirdWatching (Digital) - 1 Issue, July/August 2023

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