It’s been a couple of weeks since I updated my online journal as like most of the world I’ve been engrossed in following this Covid-19 pandemic, have hunkered down staying close to home, and so have really been out less overall.
I did take a great trip to the coast last week with Bruce LaBar and Bill Tweit. I get out with Bruce pretty often, but far less with Bill. Bill is a long-time close friend of Bruce, and it was really fun to spend some time with him on a trip to the Westport area birding on March 4th. This was before recommendations to completely socially isolate came into effect, and we lucked out with a sunny calm and overall spectacular day. Highlights re birds were multiple Black-legged Kittiwakes, seen especially around Westport harbor, but really in many areas. One especially cooperative bird was perched on the railing of the marina floating walkway.
We also had two Glaucous Gulls at the same time at Grayland Beach while looking unsuccessfully for Snowy Plovers, lots of the usual Willets at Tokeland, the flock of Marbled Godwits in the corner of the marina near the start of the walk onto the docks, an unusual place we thought, Black Phoebe, American Bittern and both swan species on Brady Loop on the way home.
After a day of rest I joined Ken Brown for a day of Kitsap County birding, mostly a trip to Point-no-Point and places nearby. It was a windy but clear day, and highlights were many Boneparte’s Gulls, a pair of Black Turnstones seen at two different places, and a nice day with Ken.
Since then I’ve mostly birded Pierce County near home. On Feb 29th Marian and I cruised some of the Ft. Lewis Prairie and the highlight was FOY Western Bluebirds in a large returning flock, along with FOY Tree and Violet-green Swallows near Muck Creek.
Other places have included around Tacoma and then a trip to the base of Mt. Rainier with Marian yielded Canada Jay at feeders in Ashford, a pair of American Dippers under the Dashel River Bridge with one singing, and a fly-over of two Wilson’s Snipe over Hwy 7 on March 15.
Yesterday I birded at Chamber’s Creek, Farrell Marsh in Steilacom, and the Mountain View Cemetery in Lakewood, adding Band-tailed Pigeon, Purple Finch, Greater Yellowlegs and Red-breasted Sapsucker to my Pierce 2020 list.
Today Bruce LaBar and I got into the same car, not sure if this is social distancing compliant, and birded a couple of hours at Ft. Lewis, adding California Quail to my county year list.
Overall birding has helped get through the social distancing feeling of isolation. Come on migration!

Over the last few days I’ve continued to explore the area. On Friday Jan 31 I headed first to the National Butterfly Center where I met with Mary Gustafson to meet here and to record a podcast episode. This should be published on Thursday Feb 6th if all goes as expected. Mary is a top valley birder, a long-time ABA and Mexico birder who is the eBird reviewer for this area, a guide for birders in the valley and elsewhere, and just a really enjoyable person to talk with. She has been very active in recruiting more diverse trip leaders for the Lower Rio Grande Bird Festival each fall, and we finished our recording she showed me the McCall’s race of Eastern Screech Owl roosting in the picnic pilapa cover rafters.

From there I headed north and west to Mile 7 Road, and area Mary suggested as good for sparrows and dry land birds. It was fairly quiet there, but I got to see some new life roads.
The next day I headed early to Santa Ana NWR, where I walked around a bit before joining the bird-walk leaders for their 4-hour tour. My primary goal was to get them to show me the Eastern Screech Owl roost holes, and that was good to know, along with the exact location of the Paraque day roost near the tower. This info should help with the ABC birders coming down Wednesday.
After that I went to Estero Llano Grande primarily to study hummingbirds for a while. I learned just enough to realize it is really difficult to tell Ruby-throated from Black-chinned non-male birds apart. It prompted me to buy the Peterson Hummingbird guide at the office there to study more.
I took a break in late afternoon to get my phone battery changed.
Yesterday Ryan Rodriguez, from Episode #47, joined me on a chase to Reseca de las Palmas in Brownsville where a Rose-throated Becard had been seen, and a Dusky-capped Flycatcher seen and heard the two days prior. No luck there, but nice to get to bird with Ryan. We followed that with a dash to Boca Chica to look for seabirds, waterfowl, shorebirds, etc. Really much less birdy than when Ken, Bruce and I were there last week.
Then I live-streamed the Superbowl and took a break late in the day.
Today an easy day. I slept in, stopped by a couple of local spots including the Roselawn Cemetery, Tom’s Pond, and the McAllen Nature Center. Audubon’s Oriole at the nature center was nice, though the look again brief and no photo. This oriole seems to be a skulker, hiding a lot in dense brush.
Tonight Marian flys back down after attending to family issues, and the group may show up a day early due to expected flight delays from weather in Dallas on the 5th. We will see.
I’m excited for everyone to get here and do the group trip.
Good birding. Good day!