Marian and I had a nice vacation in a friend of Marian’s Big Pine Key home from Jan 21 until Jan 31, and it was very quiet and pleasant. Overall cooler than last year, and quite windy at times. We visited Key West one day, and a couple of beaches nearby other days, but overall I birded locally a bit each morning, and we relaxed a lot. Binged on a couple of Prime series, and read a lot. Yellow-headed Caracara
Jan 31 I dropped off Marian, and that afternoon I headed north to Oleta River State Park, where for a few weeks an ABA first (accepted by the Florida Bird Records Committee, not yet by ABA) Yellow-headed Caracara has been seen. It has seemed to develop a pattern of a morning visit to fish cleaning areas, and in the afternoon, after things at the picnic area quiet down, stopping by the Pelican Pavilion Picnic Area to look for scraps. I got there about 2:45 and waited. At about 5:03 I spotted the caracara come in low over the beach, and three birders, including me, got great looks and photo ops for about 20 minutes.
Amazingly, after picking up Bruce that night, spending a day with Mariah Hryniwich and her spouse and partner Luis who took us out for a great day of briding, I took Bruce back and the bird gave a repeat performance on the next day.
On the day with Mariah and Luis we got several exotics, Spot-breasted Oriole, Red-masked and Mitred Parakeet, Orange-winged Parakeet (not yet listable), along with Limpkin and several other cool species. It was fun to be with Mariah and Luis for the day. Spot-breasted Oriole. This bird was spotted as it flew in overhead by Bruce and Mariah. Orange-winged Parrot
After getting the Caracara we headed north, spent the night in North Ft. Lauderdale, had a great dinner at a Jewish kosher deli for hummus and Mediterranean food, and a nice night at a the Fairfield Inn and Suites, we headed north to have a nice walk, but no Nanday Parakeets, at Loxahatchee NWR, before ticking Florida Scrub Jay at Jonathan Dickinson SP. A long drive back to Miami, then overnight and at the airport to head to Barranquilla, Colombia for a week of birding.
Two American Aligators were directly below the observation deck at the Blue Hole on Big Pine Key, FL.
Marian and I left Cocoa, FL on Thursday, Jan 18th and visited Epcot Center, a place that can be decribed as a nice place for a walk where you spend a lot to park to be able to pay a lot to enter where you can spend a lot for mediocre food and on Disney Brand merchandise. Anyway, it was a pleasant day. On the walk around the center pond we saw the various “country demonstrations”, had some Tex-Mex food, and visited a few exhibits with rides.
That night we stayed in a nearby area with more “entertainment park” stuff, and headed south. We made a very nice stop at Loxahatchee NWR, where we spent a couple of hours walking on the marsh trail, Purple Galinule, Yellow-throated Warbler, Sandhill Cranes being the birding highlights, and then on to spend two nights in Miami Beach. We splurged on a hotel right in the middle of the tourist area, the Esmé, a tiny room but nice place. Overall good food, a nice beach, and it was nice to show Marian the place. Anhinga
From there we drove down to Marian’s frineds place in Big Pine Key, where we will be staying for about 10 days before I head back to Miami for a couple of days of birding before the Santa Marta’s in Colombia with Bruce LaBar and Gene Revelas.
Today was very windy here, so I found shelter in a place called the “Blue Hole” where I found a small warbler flock with a Black-and-white Warbler and an American Redstart with the many Yellow-rumped and one Palm Warbler.
A nice afternoon walk to No Name Key was surprisingly without waders.
Good birding.
Aptly named Roseate Spoonbill
The week leading up to our trip to Florida was one with several phone conversations with my brother Bill and his wife Carol whom we planned on visiting for the first few days in Florida. He had just had a PRP (platelet rich plasma) injection in his arthritic knee, and we having a terrible reaction with swelling and lots of pain. He was going to be unable to pick us up in Orlando, so we arranged the day prior for a one-way car rental, but about 15 minutes prior to my 3:05 alarm was to go off to get ready for our Lyft to Seatac Bill contacted me to know that he now had a cough and tested + for Covid. An abrupt change in plans, as I changed the car rental to a 5-day rental with a drop off in Marathon Keyca where we planned our second stay of the trip. Wood Stork
We drove to Cocoa, Florida for a couple of days near Cape Canaveral, the Kennedy Space Center, some local birding and to watch the Space X launch this evening. The night went as planned, and this morning we got up and headed to Merritt Island NWR where 4 adult American Flamingos have been seen most days since being blown in by Hurricane Idalia. We got to the Haulout Canal location, and easily saw the flamingos about a mile away by a small island. Easy to see, but difficult to ID for sure (Roseate Spoonbills are also bright pink) but a friendly birder gave us a scope view to confirm the ID. ABA lifer for me, lifer for Marian, and a nice start to the day. We got even better views, and I taught two visiting birders how to digiscope, for them and then for me!
The rest of the day was exploring. The highlight was the Merritt Island–Black Point Wildlife Drive. A fabulous 6+ mile auto loop, with getting out of the car allowed, and great looks at most of the possible waders. Wood Stork about to land. White Ibis with Roseate Spoonbill in the foreground.
White IbisTri-colored HeronSnowy EgretRoseate SpoonbillsSuperimposed Roseate Spoonbill and White IbisReddish EgretGreat EgretAmerican Kestrel (stuck out tongue or prey?)
Wood Stork
From there we went to Titusville for very nice Mexican for lunch, where I got online to learn that the planned launch at Kennedy was postponed until tommorrow (windy?) and we birded a bit and came back to our hotel for some rest and dinner.
Tomorrow maybe Epcot if we have the energy.
I different, but very nice start to the trip
On this episode I talk with Liam Hutcheson, who just finished his record breaking Washington State big year. We talk about his big year, highlights, misses and people. Also about his birding story. The prior WA record holder for most species seen in a calandar year was Will Brooks, and we talk about his big year on Episode #121. While talking with Liam I marveled at how interconnected our birding community is, and how helpful birders are to each other. Pervious guests on the show who helped in one way or another with Liam’s birding and his big year include:
Bill Tweit episode #8 Bill is such an icon in Washington State birding that I felt so proud and happy to have him as one of my early guests. He is also just a really nice guy.
Shep Thorpe episode #9 In the next episode I continued my streak of both extraordinary WA birders, but also really nice people with Shep.
Ryan Rodriguez episode #47 Ryan has been my youngest guest on the podcast, at age 12 when we met and did the recording.
Ken Brown #2, Bruce LaBar #3 and I were with Liam on a trip in early 2023 with Jacob Miller to the southeast corner of WA to see winter specialties.
For more details check out the BirdBanter.com blog post about this episode.
I visited Italy over a decade ago with my wife Kay, who was also a birder, and we were pretty surprised at how few birds we were able to see. I learned while talking with Marco Valtriani, my guest on this episode that it was likely because we looked in all the wrong places for the season we visited, I believe in early October. I learned lots more and really enjoyed talking with Marco. He is a lead guide for Birding in Italy, a bird guide group who specialized in Italy, and especially taking visiting birders whose primary reason for visiting Italy may be other tourist activities, but who want to get in a day or more of birding and use the time optimally.
I learned that Italy has a lot of national park land set aside, but than much of it has been used for human activities over the centuries prior to being set aside. I also was pleased to learn that the practice of killing songbirds for food has been markedly curtailed and is a minimal issue today.
I also talk about this being the Christmas Bird Count Season, and my experiences and enjoyment from participating in CBCs. Consider joining a count near you, find one here.
You can read the Audubon summary report of last year’s CBCs here. For more granular data on any particular count here is a link.
Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding.
Pierce County listing for me this year has not been a priority, and so the year end is near and I’d yet to successfully chase or find my own Black Phoebe in the county this year, although several have been seen. Recently on has been reported at the Sha Dadx Wetlands in Fife, not far from home in Tacoma, and so I’ve made a couple of trys in the last week. Finally today, despite moderate fog, the bird was calling loudly over the pond in the middle of the wetland. I got a recording, although no visual. It seemed to be moving around the edges of the pond, and visibility was obstructed by the bushes.
On this episode Steve Hampton and I talk about a wide variety of topics. Maybe the most timely and of widespread interest was his experiences ad a member of the AOU Ad Hoc committee charged with the task “to develop a process that will allow the [AOS] to change harmful and exclusionary English bird names in a thoughtful and proactive way for species within AOS’s purview.” I enjoyed hearing Steve’s perspectives and experiences on the committee’s work. You can read the recommendation in full, and I recommend you do if the topic interests you here.
Steve is retired from his prior job in California, and retired in the Port Townsend area. He recently wrote a very thourough and informative post on his The Cottonwood Post blog about gull ID in the area. He also writes on issues of indigenoous peoples of the U.S. area on Memories of the People. You can contact Steve, and get links to both of his blogs and all three of the Facebook groups he helps administer at his personal/professional website Stephen-Carr-Hapmton.com.
Steve talks about the eBird trends section, and here is a link to that feature.
I mention a prior episode about the mouse eradication on the Farralone Islands, so here is a link to the episode with Tim Larson about that topic.
Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding and good day!
Marian and I were staying at our Lake Forest Park cabin after returning from Orcas Island and Thanksgiving with her family on Saturday, and I was pleased to here that the Black-and-White Warbler was still being seen at Green Lake in Seattle on Saturday. Marian had plans to decorate the cabin with her grandsons on Sunday, and so I took the chance to chase the BAWW. I got to Green Lake about 8:10 AM, and was surprised that there was not a birder in sight as I located the Bath House (now a theatre) and the described area for the bird. I spent the first hour or so looking all over, with no luck. Around then birders started to arrive; a relief that I was in the right place. We looked all around, and a couple of birders I know, Bruce LaBar a good friend from Tacoma and a guest on episode #3 of the podcast, and Alex Patia who was also a guest on episode #91. We continued to search, and after a while I followed Alex well south of the usual area. He continued to look, and as I walked back toward the bath house area I saw about 4 birders intently looking and taking photos of a tree right in front of them. I was hopeful, and hurried to their location, to be rewarded with great looks at the warbler. It was doing the BAWW thing, creeping along branches and the trunk of trees, like a nuthatch or creeper but more on the horozontal limbs. No camera, and elusive to digibin attempts, but still a really great WA state first for me. After great looks, putting the word out to Bruce and others via the WhatsApp King County thread, I headed back to see Marian. She was ready to head home so we headed south just as word got out about a Tuften Puffin at the Dune Peninsula park near our home.
I drove home, and Marian agreed to come with me to Dune as it was nearing dusk. I got there, after communicating with Bruce that the puffin continued to show, and on arrival the Tufted Puffin was close enough to see bare-eyed. I got great looks, digiscope photos, and also great looks at 3 very close in Ancient Murrelets. Overall a great day for lifers in WA for me.
On this episode Rachel and I talk about her years birding and growing up in East Texas, her move to Washington after high school, her interests in art, photography, birding and more.
Every time I’ve met Rachel in the field I’ve been impressed that she was an extremely quiet and almost shy but very competent birder. It was fun to get to see her one-on-one for the podcast episode. She is highly energetic, a good story teller, and was a lot of fun to feel like I now know her a little bit at least.
We talked briefly about her birding and friendship with Dalton Spencer, who was a prior guest on the podcast, and recently broke the Montana Big Year record.
The Vaux’s Swift project, Vaux Happening, has helped understand the movements both spring and fall of this migratory species in the western U.S. for over a decade. You can learn about it and volunteer to help at their website .
You can best reach out to Rachel by email lighteningdash09-at-yahoo-dot-com
Route in Ferry County
Today I broke away from Marian’s condo at Lake Chelan to get up to Ferry County in hopes of finding the last 11 species there I needed to give me at least 100 species in each of Washington’s 39 counties. The day really depended on finding ducks, as they were the “low hanging fruit” in mid November that I hadn’t seen in Ferry. That really depended on whether the fresh water was still open, and I knew it was nearing time to freeze. Yesterday I had the idea to reach out to Donna Bragg, a birder I’d met at some point on one of Ken’s trips to this area, but didn’t have a contact of any sort. I asked Ken, no help there, and so asked Google. I got a phone number easily, and tried to text her. Whoops! A land line, so no luck and so I did the old fashioned thing and called. Tom, her husband answered, and Debbie is away on a birding trip, but he reached out to her, who reached out to a local birder, and so after a few calls I learned that the water is open here still! Big thanks to the Bragg family for going above and beyond.
A lingering Marsh Wren at the Rail Trail Wetland north of Curlew Lake
As for the day it went great. A mostly overcast but dry and mid-40’s with only moderate wind day, so I left Manson at 5:45, drove across the Waterville Plateau to Grand Coulee, crossed the river, took 155 to Peter Dan Rd across to Hwy 21. About half way across to Rte 21 I entered Ferry County, and promptly saw a single Wild Turkey, not a species I needed. The rest of the day was spent driving south on 21 to the Keller Ferry, the back up to Republic, then on to Curlew Lake, and then across Hwy 20 and Sherman Pass to Colvile where I’m spending the night at the Comfort Inn.
Birding highlights were:
-First Ferry lifer was a Northern Shrike in a utility wire, the first of at least 3 seen today.
-Bufflehead in a small backwater on the road back to Keller Ferry (several more seen later in the day)
-Pacific Wren, heard when I stopped to see a bird on a wire that was a Song Sparrow, but with pishing it came out for a good look.
-At a roadside pool off 21 were 6 Green-winged Teal and a Lesser Scaup, both seen again later.
-Finally a Mallard in an algae filled wet area again off Hwy 21. (many later)
-A little later I stopped to watch in awe as a Ruffed Grouse slowly walked across the road. Photo through the windshield
-The Republic STP worried me at first, as the two easily visible ponds were pretty empty, but walking back to the back pond gave a lot of ducks, including 95 Northern Shovelers and several Common Goldeneye, bringing me to 98 species by noon of day 1. There were also Mallard, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Green-winged Teal, and an Northern Shrike there.
-From here I drove straight to the Rail Trail Wetland north of Curlew Lake. I can’t wait to put this site into BirdingHotspots.org as e-bird’s hotspot pin is at the Rte 21 end of the trail where I had to cross a creek on a fallen tree to access the trail. At the W. Curlew Lake Rd end is a good parking lot, toilet, and easy access. The trail though is great and is the top eBird hotspot in Ferry by species, and traversed a large shallow pond and extensive cattail marsh, and ends at the north end of the lake where by the parking is a nice tressle-turned walking bridge to look at the lake. There I added American Wigeon and #100 for Ferry Common Merganser, along with a loudly singing Marsh Wren, and on the lake from the tressle Red-necked and Western Grebe to end the lowland part of the day’s list at 103. I was having so much fun I forgot to have lunch, so about 3 PM Iad stopped at Curlew Lake SP, closed so I just ate quickly and headed back to cross Sherman Pass on Hwy 20. A few quick stops used up the last of the light, adding only Steller’s Jay at Sherman Pass on a snowy walk to the parking area. Sunset came early
Beyond Burger and fries at Zip Drive-in for dinner, and now to figure out what’s left for tomorrow.
After a night at the Comfort Inn, I was out before daylight to try for a couple of Stevens County birds at dawn. I headed for two places I’d never been, the mouth of the Colville Rived and Colville Flats, two pretty beautiful spots I realize. The Mouth of the river was pretty, but really few birds, so after a false stop at the recycling center (nothing at all) I headed for the Colville Flats where I added 4 new county birds, Herring Gull, California Gull, Western and Horned Grebes. It’s a pretty place but I made it a quick stop.
From here I headed back to Ferry County and at the Kettle River Campground I lucked out at 4 Trumpter Swans (alert birds) flew in to the wetland. Two American Coots were there too and an Evening Grosbeak was calling regularly, though not seen.
Trumpeter Swans at Kettle RIver Campground
From here I finished my loop around the county, heading south along the river on Inchelium Road, and then across Silver Creek Road to Rte 21, in and out the Swawilla Basin Road (learning the west end is impassible, and back home across the same route I cI decided not to explore this road.
ame. The highlights were a single Ring-billed Gull along the river, finally Hairy Woodpecker on Silver Creek Road, several stops to put up a NOPY toot and getting nice flocks of chickadees, Pygmy and Red-breasted Nuthatches and eventually a pair of Golden-crowned Kinglets. At Swawilla Basin I finished strong with a huge flock of California Quail, a small group of White-crowned Sparrows, and a sub-adult Golden Eagle, bringing my Ferry County list to 113. Golden Eagles seem to be in the most beautiful places.
What’s next?
