Marian and I took a 4 day-3 night camping trip to Field’s Spring State Park last week, staying the 3 nights in the park, and birding the two full days there on morning car trips from the campground to the two half-day loops described in the ABA’s A Birder’s Guide to Washington. American White Pelican at Central Ferry HMU
We drove from Tacoma to the park on Thursday, with brief stops at the Central Ferry HMU in Whitman County on the way there to pad my Whitman County list. It was midday, birding was slow there, but I added 11 species to my feeble Whitman List while we had lunch. A Say’s Phoebe along with Bullock’s Oriole and American White Pelicans on the river were the highlights.
We got to the campground by late afternoon, and an evening walk and sit by the campfire added several new Asotin County birds to my life list there; not a tough task as I had only birded the county in winter previously. First evening highlights were Red Crossbill, a species that throughout the stay was easily heard and occasionally seen overhead in the coniferous treetops, and a calling Common Nighthawk as it got toward dark. A Tee Pee at the Field’s Spring SP
The next morning I got a great group of songbirds excited just outside the campground with a Pygmy Owl imitation whistle, and added a few more species Then we drove down Hwy 129 to the Grande Ronde River Road and drove west for a few miles on that road. Several Townsend’s Solitaires, along with both Canyon and Rock Wrens, innumerable Lazuli Buntings, and several vocal Yellow-breasted Chats were highlights. The drive itself was spectacular, with many basalt cliffs, deep valleys, and open pine forest and huge meadows all around.
The river was cool too, but we missed American Dipper, and we got home in time to have lunch and to to Chief Timothy Park, where a swim and sit in the shade was enjoyable. Grande Ronde River
he next day was my favorite day of birding. We headed down from Anatone on Montgomery Ridge Road, pretty much following the route suggested in the guide book in reverse. One side road went down to the river, and then on the main road down to Asotin we went through fields with many Grasshopper Sparrows, Mountain Bluebirds, and as we got to the deciduous riparian area near the bottom Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos. We visited Swallows Park and Looking Glass Parks along the river, with a few shorebirds, Caspian Terns, gulls and had a nice lunch at Looking Glass.
On the drive home we took the W. Mountain Road from Anatone to Prosser, a long very dusty but beautiful drive. I picked up a female FOY Williamson’s Sapsucker there, along with a county first Northern Pygmy Owl that responded to my imitation whistle, both in Garfield County.
Overall a trip I recommend to anyone who wants to spend some time in the northern part of the Blue Mountains.
Barn Owl
County Birding has becoome my way of expanding my birding experiences in WA over the last couple of years. In the winter of 2019 Ken, Brian, Ryan and I took a 4-day trip to the far Southeast corner of the state to get the gray our of our county maps on eBird. By this I mean that when you look at the profile page of an eBird users profile page, areas with no sigtings are colored gray. The color changes by the number of species reported. For me the last 3 states without reported sightings were Asotin, Columbia and Garfield. We birded those three areas and that got color over the whole state. It seems like that visual has been removed in favor of a list of counties and information about birds seen in each county with the latest upgrade to eBird, so that visual is gone, but we joked about it at the time.
This week Ken took me birding on Wednesday in Mason County. I sent him my eBird Needs list and he thought I could find maybe 8 first county birds on the fabulous route he planned. We met a little after 7 AM and headed for Belfair State Park. It is good shorebird area where I expected to find Western Sandpiper, and we hoped for a Semi-palmated Sandpiper. I havn’t birded the county in shorebird migration before, so both would be first county birds for me. Western was easy, along with lots of Least Sandpipers, but as we looked around I spotted the head of a larger sandpiper just over the vegitation farther away. I thought dowitdher by size and behavior, and sure enough it was the FOY Long-billed Dowicher for Ken and a county first for me. Ken did his first victory dance of the day.
A quick stop at East Adler Road added no new species, but Bayshore Preserve had all the finds Ken hoped for and more. He thought we could find California Scrub Jay, Chipping Sparrow, and Brown Creeper, and with some effort we added all of these, but on the walk out Ken spotted an owl in a tree, his county first Barn Owl. Owls are always special, and we got great looks and Ken added a Mason County lifer. Completely unexpected. A flyover Red Crossbill was also sweet.
The tide was too low to see much at the Hwy 106 Skykomish Delta Overlook, and a brief stop at Hunter farms didn’t yield the hoped for American Kestrel, but we made our day great at Potlatch State Park. Marbled Murrelet was the target county first for me. We looked a full bay scan and found little, but on the second pass Ken spotted a not-too-distant MAMU. Then, way out in the bay Ken spotted a huge brown bird, and though ?Brown Pelican? We both got scopes focused and sure enough there was a Brown Pelican floating in the water. It may be only the 3rd or 4th county sighting of this species, another county first for Ken, bringing his county life list to 199. We were really pumped, and as I watched the pelican a Common Murre flew right through my binos view. I called it out, and Ken couldn’t believe it. I was certain, it’s an easy ID when seen well in flight, a black head, breast and back with a sharply demarkeded gleeming white belly and alcid flight and shape. We looked for a bit and it had circled back and landed on the water in the distance, so presto! Mason lifeer #200 for Ken, and it wasn’t even noon yet.
We finished up the day with stops at North Sunnyside Road where we got my county first Cassin’s Vireo and American Kestrel, and I got to meet Ryan , a very good young birder who lives on that road with his family on a large farm, and then went on to stops at Forest Road 2340 and finished at the George Adams Salmon Hatchery where two adult American Dippers were looking after a young bird.
All-in-all a spectacular day, 12 county first for me, 3 county lifers and 4 FOY birds for Ken, and a really fine day of birding with a good buddy. Life is good.
Good birding and good day.
Female Bullock’s Oriole on Bateman Island, Day 1.
South Eastern Washington is the part of our state that I have visited the least. Most of western Washington is just a long day trip or an easy overnight trip. Ken led class trips to the North East and north central areas regularly, and most of the Columbia Basin in central WA is both accessible in a day or two, or on the way to other areas, so I feel like I’ve been to most of the top birding areas in other parts of WA. To get to the Southeast of the state is a long drive, and for some reason is not an area I’ve birded much.
This past weekend Ken Brown and I decided it was time to break with our pattern of staying near home during the pandemic, and headed to Walla Walla county, with the bird that has eluded me in the state despite lots of attempts in the Okanogan area, Great Gray Owl as the big prize. We had the advantage of arranging to meet Mike Denny, part of one of the top birding couples, WA and the person to show us birds in Walla Walla county. American Avocet at the Millet Ponds, Day 1
On the trip over Ken and I stopped at Bateman Island in Benton County, the Blood Tyson Ponds, and at the Millet Ponds after a detour to try for and not see the Least Tern seen the day prior from the 520 bridge in Seattle. Top birds for the trip over were Gray Catbird (FOY for both of us) along with lots of singing Yellow-breasted Chats at Bateman Island, nesting Barn Owls just past the Blood Ponds, and Eastern Kingbird, several Black-crowned Night Herons and lots of mosquitos at the Millet Ponds. Gray Catbird Bateman Island, Day 1
Another first for us in the pandemic time was a hotel in Walla Walla. The experience was quite good, with easy “no-touch” check-in, a clean room, and we felt pretty safe with the experience. Mike Denny
The highlight of the trip, by far, was the day with Mike Denny. He met us at the hotel at 7:30 AM, leaving us thinking it might be a low-key day, not getting up too early. We birded Coppei Creek, with lots of Gray Catbirds, chats, and singing Veery. It was a great start to the day, and Mike told us the story of the conservation of that area, just the first of many incredibly educational and interesting stories of the area we enjoyed throughout the day. A species of snake, a “Racer” of some variety, that Mike managed to get to move from the middle of the road to directly underneath his vehicle.
Next was up Jasper Mountain Road, with several stops looking for Green Towhee, a stop looking for Great Gray Owls, and generally good birding. After a while we came to an area Mike knows for its nesting Great Gray Owls. The young have fledged already, and Ken and I ware concerned we might not find them nearby. Mike remained confident, and after a bit of walking, Mike giving us lessons about owl scree (the young incompletely digest their swallowed-whole prey, so the scree has prey parts in the urea, whereas the adults scree is all white urea) Ken spotted two owlets tucked into a branch maybe 75 meters into the drainage area beside the road. After photos, a minor victory dance for this first WA sighting for me, Mike suggested we circle around for a better look. Two of the 3 Great Gray Owl branching young birds that we watched for an hour or so.
We walked back to a side road, got close enough for great looks, but far enough not to crowd the birds, and Mike suggested we just sit and wait for the adult to return. This gave me the idea that this was a perfect time to record the Bird Banter Podcast episode Mike and I hoped to take time out of the day of birding to get done. I got the recorder, and we sat, talked about Walla Walla County birding, GGOWs, and told other stories. It was a blast, and the owls performed nicely to keep us entertained. One of the owlets with a vole one of the adults delivered so quickly I missed the photo op.
From there we walked the few steps to Columbia County along another road where Ken and I added lots of summer species to our county list. We moved on to Bisquit Ridge, where we finally found a Green-tailed Towhee, along with lots of butterflies and a Green Racer snake that was sunning in the road. We all got good laughs as Mike while trying to shoo it out of the road got the snake to hide under his vehicle. Then while Mike got down to try to get it out it just disappeared. Mike thought it might have climbed up into the engine compartment, and we all looked everywhere for the snake, but it somehow eluded us and hopefully just raced into the shrubs. Mike searching for the snake in his engine compartment.
Ken and I were ecstatic, and thought the day must be wrapping up, as it was about 5 PM. We drove down the road, and near the end Mike asked us if we wanted to get dinner in town before trying for Ferruginous Hawk in the desert on the other side of the county. I learned that Mike is a fellow vegan, and we settled on Impossible Burgers at Burger King. Probable first spring Ferruginous Hawk
We spent the rest of the daylight seeing an incredible 13 individual Ferruginous Hawks on at least 3 nests, with at least 6 young on nests. This was by far the most FEHA either Ken or I had ever seen in a day. The entire state population of FEHA may be as low as maybe 40 individual birds, as we are on the far northwest part of their range, and their habitat here has been severely degraded by loss of desert areas to agriculture, and the extirpation of Jackrabbits from the area, one of their historical top prey species.
Mike told us about aspects of FEHA that more resemble eagles than other buteos. They have huge powerful talons, and massive bills like eagles. Check out these photos. Adult Ferruginous Hawk in a tree right beside the road. Photo taken through open drivers window from passenger seat. Ferruginous Hawk landing gear up. Three Ferruginous Hawk young on the nest.
We finished the day chatting and watching a fabulous sunset over Rattlesnake Mountain, before parting ways as Ken and I headed for sleep at a hotel in Umatilla. Mt Hood from the Balsh Cemetery.
Thursday we decided to come home along the Columbia, with stops for Ash-throated Flycatcher (successful FOY for both of us) and Acorn Woodpecker (no luck) and White-breasted Nuthatch (no luck) near Balsh Road in Klickitat County. Ash-throated Flycatcher fat the cemetery.
A couple of last stops in Skamania County padded our lists for that county, and led to a comical run-in with a red-neck local who puffed all up and tried to look intimidating as he thought with short pants we looked like the Portland protesters, and asked if we were “queer.” He said he hated birds, wanted to shoot or poison all the birds because they spread blackberry seeds everywhere. It was quite a show to end the trip. More work to do on Butterfly ID for sure. This from the Balsh Rd area.
Home safely with 11 FOY species for me and I think 12 for Ken. Much thanks to Mike Denny. Be sure to watch for the podcast episode to be published soon.
Willow Flycatcher
Marian and I got out birding a bit on both Saturday and Sunday of this weekend. Saturday was a day to drive through some of eastern Pierce County, to see some new roads and explore locally. Maybe my favorite spot was a wooded wetland near Kreger Lake. I have been to Kreger Lake at the overlook lots of times, and nearby Silver Lake a few times, but had never driven down the dead end road that is the turn east just before going straight on the dead end road to the overlook at Kreger Lake. It is a road through a wooded wetland, and though nothing rare was seen, it was very quiet, birdy and a nice place to just check out. The day prior I heard my FOY Willow Flycatcher, but here at least 4 WIFL were singing and perching in plain sight.
Here is the same bird just after taking flight.
At the same place Swainson’s Thrushes were singing and giving peek-a-boo looks. Swainson’s Thrush
Cedar Waxwings were all over the place. It’s amazing that 10 days ago CEWA were hard to find. Not they are everywhere. Cedar Waxwing
Yesterday we drove to Camano Island, to visit Marian’s youngest sister. This gave me a chance to pad my Island County list. By far my favorite place of the day was Iverson Beach where a trail starts at the parking lot, up to an overlook of the bay, then along the dike, through a mixed forest, and back through a marshy area. It even has a “Hobbit Trail.” Purple Martin on a perch by a nest box.
Almost as soon as I got on the viewing platform I picked a Parasitic Jaeger out in the distance on the water, and we got to watch it harass Caspian Terns and show off its tail chase stuff. I had not really birded Island County except in the winter. A few years prior Kay and I spent a weekend on Whidby Island in mid winter. My county list going into yesterday was 75 species, and now stands at 109. Low hanging fruit for sure, but the PAJA along with calling Red Crossbills, an Osprey, and just a nice variety of common species made for a great morning of birding. A wierd looking Spotted Towhee. I think an adult, but with its feathers being blown all over and pushed around by the branch.
Overall easy birding, good weather, and a nice 2-day stretch of birding. Today it is steady rain so far. I missed the Eared Grebes that were seen yesterday at Dune’s Peninsula on a quick check after getting up.
I did publish The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #61 with Stefan Schlick today. Another fun episode to record, as Stefan is smart and super nice.
Good Birding.
This past Friday and Saturday Ken Brown and I decided it was safe enough to go to Eastern WA for a 2-day spring birding trip. We were hoping to see our first-of-the-year (FOY) birds of lots of species that are best found east of the Cascades.
We met at my condo at 6 AM Friday AM and headed east. Our route was generally to try for our sagebrush area species first off the old Vantage Hwy, then head south on Hwy 82 to stop at the Selah Canyon Rest Stop for the White-throated Swift, then come back to Wenas from the south with stops enroute.
Then after camping in a big field above the Wenas Audubon Campsite we would head east to bird the Moses Lake area Saturday before coming home.
At a sage area off the highway we saw the target sage species. Brewer’s Sparrows and Sage Thrashers were singing all over the place. Sagebrush Sparrows were tougher, I managed a brief look in a scope, Ken didn’t get a good enough look to feel confident listing them, but a single Loggerhead Shrike gave a distant scope view, and Vesper Sparrow was a FOY for Ken. Sage Thrasher
We drove back to the Kittitas Exit of I-90 and then south on Hwy 82 to the Selah Canyon Rest Stop and several White-throated Swifts were zipping around. Then on to the south road up to Wenas. On the way we expected to easily see Swainson’s Hawk, but didn’t see any. Our next major stop was at the Wenas Lake entrance. We are coming to really like birding there. The pair of Bald Eagles with a nest at Wenas Lake.
The riparian road past the boat launch tends to be very birdy, and we had a nice list of 32 species there, including FOY Dusky Flycatcher for Ken, Black-chinned Humminbird, and singing Yellow-breasted Chat.
Butterflies were abundant all over the place. Ken named some of them, like this Anise Swallowtail, but I just enjoyed the colors.Ochre Ringlet
Large Marble
Mylitta Crescent
Next a walk into Hardy Canyon gave nice looks and photos of Lark Sparrow, Lazuli Bunting, and lots of singing Chats.
Lark Sparrow
We tried Malloy Road at Wenas for Gray Catbird and Least Flycatcher, with no luck. eBird bar charts show GRCA is just on the early edge of arriving. Then on the road into Wenas we looked for Lewis’s Woodpecker without success, and could not find a Calliope Hummingbird, which was one of few misses for the trip. In the campground we walked around, and got great looks at FOY Gray Flycatchers, Cassin’s Finch, and as well as Townsend’s Solitaire and a nice variety of birds. Western Wood Pewee
Townsend’s Solitaire
We headed into the fields above the campground to set up camp and wait for dark. As we arrived I got a text from Marian, asking if I forgot my sleeping bag, as one was in the study on the floor. Sure enough, I went camping without my sleeping bag. Not to fear. Ken slept in the back of his SUV, as planned, and I slept in my tent wearing all of my clothes, some of Ken’s , and with a spare tent cover on top of me. Not cold, and really no more uncomfortable than usual for sleeping on the ground.
We crushed the night birds. At dusk Common Poorwills started to sing, and then Western Screech Owl and Flamulated Owls called for us relatively closely. I got to hear the WSOW for the first hour or so as I tried to get to sleep.
The next day Ken spotted our only Red-naped Sapsucker as we drove out of Wenas, I found a Lewis’s Woodpecker as we drove north on Umptatum Road and Mountain and Western Bluebirds were all over. Red-naped Sapsucker
Day 2 focused on the desert birds around Moses Lake. We got a couple of Swainson’s Hawks on I-90 as we headed east. A stop just over the Vantage Bridge scoping the river gave many distant likely Western Grebes but none close enough to ID a Clark’s Grebe.
At County Lime Ponds we got great looks at American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Wilson’s Phalarope and Yellow-headed Blackbird were 4 FOY birds for both of us. We also parked right behind Bruce and Marian LaBar when we stopped there. I’ve never seen Marian laugh so hard as when I told them I had camped out at Wenas and forgot my sleeping bag.
American Avocet Wilson’s Phalaropes
Next at the Para Ponds we found the gate to the predictable Tricolored Blackbird viewing area was closed, and we were unable to find a the species, but Ken managed a FOY Long-billed Dowicher. On the drive through the Columbia NWR we got Rock Wren and a fly-by Prairie Falcon and as we neared the end of the dirt road I got a text from Matt Yawney that her had seen Ruddy Turnstone and Black Tern from the Moses Lake Dam Road pullout. We drove the couple of miles to there, and after the nearest grebe was a close-in Clarke’s Grebe (FOY) we recovered both species. Clark’s Grebe
I spotted the Black Tern trying to land on a very distant rocky island near the big gull breeding island. It kept trying to land, and apparent breeding Forester’s Terns kept driving it away. There may have been two BLTE, but we could only see one at a time. Almost immediately after spotting that bird, I looked back at the nearby rocky islands where we had initially looked for the Ruddy Turnstone, and now one was standing on top of a rocky spot, relatively nearby. We got great looks, and some photos, before the RUTU flew out to more distant islands joining FOTE there. Ruddy Turnstone, a Grant County first for me.
We finished the trip checking Lind Coulee for night-herons without success, managed our FOY American White Pelican on the drive back across the Moses Lake Dam where none were seen on our primary stop there, and dipped one last time for Gray Catbird in Cle Elum at the Teanaway Bridge area at a stretch break driving home. The Ruddy Turnstone with a FOY Forester’s Tern after it flew out to a more distant rock.
A great trip. 26 FOY species for me. A first time sleeping in a cold area without a sleeping bag and surviving easily. 130 species total for the trip, 80 on day 1, 95 on day 2. Ken and I both ended the trip with lots of FOY birds, and a chance to get out of our local birding area for the first time in far too long.
Here is a trip list from eBird.
Report Details
Date range: May 15, 2020 – May 21, 2020 Total # of Species: 130
Total # of Checklists: 22
Location(s): 18268–19364 Vantage Hwy, Ellensburg US-WA 46.99272, -120.28497; 99344, Othello US-WA 46.92063, -119.24066; County Line Ponds (Grant Co.); Hardy Canyon; I-90 E, Ellensburg US-WA 46.94396, -120.23826; Kittitas–Parke Creek Road; O’Sullivan Dam Road; Para/McCain’s Ponds; Potholes Reservoir–Lind Coulee; SR-26, Beverly US-WA 46.94054, -119.96036; Selah Canyon Rest Area; Teanaway River Bridge; Umptanum Road (Kittitas Co.); Wenas Area; Wenas Campground; Wenas Creek Riparian Area; Wenas Creek at Maloy Road; Wenas Lake; Wenas–Lower Dry Creek
Summary
May 15 May 16 May 17 May 18 May 19 May 20 May 21
Number of Species 80 95 — — — — —
Number of Individuals 619 2,722 — — — — —
Number of Checklists 10 12 — — — — —
What a treat to get out birding with a group of birders yesterday for my Tahoma Audubon Birdathon and for a Pierce County Big day. I knew I missed the fellowship and camaraderie of birding with friends, but the reality of the lack of sharing the excitement and energy of finding birds with a great group of fellow birders really dawned on me as I headed out with Bruce LaBar, Will Brooks and Peter Wimberger on a Pierce Big Day yesterday May 7th. Birdathon is the primary fundraiser for the Tahoma Audubon Society each year, and interested readers can contribute on the TAS Birdathon Donate Page Here.
Peter (back to camera), Bruce and Will at a makeshift roadside Puget Sound overlook near Steilacoom.
We made an effort at social distancing, driving 2 cars instead of 1, Bruce and I in his Corolla and Peter and Will in Peter’s Forester. We met at 4 AM at Puget Park, and saved about 13 of the allotted 15 minutes when a pair of Barred Owls called immediately and flew to us hooting and calling right overhead when I played a recording for about 5 seconds. From there we took a very different route than we have used in past May Pierce big day efforts.
In the past we have started the day in the Purdy/Fox Island area at the crack of dawn to look for seabirds. By this time in May most of the waterfowl, looks, and winter gulls have departed the south Puget Sound for their breeding areas. This year it seemed to us that they have departed a bit early and on scouting we had really struggled to find these species. That combined with great success in the last week in the foothills of Mt. Rainier near Greenwater prompted us to start there instead, hopefully adding more mountain species there than we might miss by skipping the early AM Fox Island bridge and DeMolay Spit stop. A nice side benefit was that it sounded like a lot more fun.
The mountains did not disappoint, driving up in a and the extraordinary birding skills of Will were at the leading edge there as they were all day. At the first stop on the bridge over the White River on FR 73 Will and I heard an American Dipper singing in the dark on a very quick stop. Moments later Bruce and I saw a Hermit Thrush on the road in the headlights, and the race to find species was on.
We made stops at the Elk Compound off FR 73 with highlights being a distant Pygmy Owl tooting, fly-over Red Crossbills and generally the dawn chorus. ON the way out we all got looks at the dipper by the bridge in daylight. The next stop was two clearcuts and a horse ranch on the Crystal River Ranch Road. We wracked up on woodpeckers, which can be challenging on a big day including Downy, Hairy, Pileated, Red-breasted Nuthatch, N. Flicker all seen easily, as well as swallows, flycatchers, several Townsend’s Solitaires, and just a nice variety of singing passerines. On at least two spots the more palpable than audible drumming of Ruffed Grouse were heard, and later on FR 70 more solitaires and a very distant booming Sooty Grouse interrupted the many MacGilvary’s Warblers and Townsend’s and Black-throated Gray Warbler songs.
We then raced back down Hwy 410, quickly listing Bank Swallows at the known sandpits just across the county line in Buckley. Stakeout birds generally cooperated. Will heard Lesser Goldfinch before we parked on Riverside Drive in Sumner, and we all got looks at several after stopping. Will also pointed out a Bullock’s Oriole that flew over giving most of us a brief glimpse of bright orange.
We missed Green Heron at the expected stop at Levy Pond in Fife, even taking time to walk all around the pond, but three flew across the Puyallup River and back while we were stopped at the traffic light there for a quick recovery of that tough to find species.
The storm water ponds on 56th Street in Puyallup largely disappointed, but we managed to add American Coots there, and then the flooded fields off Frank Albert in Fife came through nicely, adding Western, Spotted, and Solitary Sandpipers, Long-billed Dowicher, Cooper’s Hawk, Cinnamon Teal (a species that though usually difficult to find in Pierce County seemed everywhere on this date- with a high count of 7 later at the Mountain View Cemetery in Lakewood), Green-winged Teal, N. Shoveler, Gadwall, another singing oriole and three Lazuli Buntings singing and hiding in a small tree at the end of the hedge row. The Gog-li-hi-ti Mitigated Marsh didn’t add much on a quick stop. We missed the Tacoma Peregrine by the nest box downtown, and began our largely frustrating search for seabirds at the mouth of the Puyallup River, Thea Park, Ruston, Titlow, and later Steilacoom and McNeil Trail Overlook in Dupont. For all these stops we settled for Pigeon Guillemot, Marbled Murrelet and Rhinoceros Auklets all at Titlow, Western Grebes, a single very distant Pacific Loon seen only by Will in Steilacoom, along with Caspian Tern, Ring-billed Gull and little more.
A Great-horned Owl chick in a known nest on Chamber’s Creek Trail.
A stop at the Mountain View Cemetery added Lesser Scaup, Mourning Dove, and maybe the surprise of the day a Sora doing its whinny call near the back of the marsh while we scoped for ducks.
We finished the day on JBLM by really finding almost everything we targeted and more. A distant singing Vesper Sparrow was seen and heard off Story Road as an estimated 200 Vaux’s Swifts flew behind us overhead, Western Bluebirds flitted all around, and our only American Kestrel of the day looked on. Last stops on the fort yielded a spontaneously calling Northern Bobwhite at Muck Creek, a Western Kingbird conveniently perched on a roadside building that Bruce and I drove by but Will and Peter stopped and called us back to see, a Hooded Merganser at a hidden pond beside a cutoff road that Bruce knew about, and Ringed-neck Ducks and were found at Chamber’s Lake. Bruce and I called it a day there, but Will and Peter managed the energy to go back to the far end of Chamber’s Lake and add their species #133 for the day, Western Wood-Pewee.
Overall this was a really spectacular day in many ways. The #133 species tied for 2nd in Bruce’s history of most species in a Pierce County Big Day. He has been doing them for about 3 decades. Only one day with 137 species by an all-star group years ago topped this total.
The what-if’s had us all thinking as the day ended. What if we had better luck on the sound. No Common Loon, Surf Scoter, Red-necked or Horned Grebe. Few alcids, few gulls… Maybe doing this route a week earlier would have added a few more migrants, got a few more lingering seabirds but missed only a few later arriving songbirds.
These are the thoughts that only a true birding fanatic can savor.
Anyway, I want to offer many thanks to all of you who donate to TAS in support of this effort. Stay safe, but find a way to get out birding.
Bushtit
I’m taking advantage of more time home than I usually experience (grrr think Covid-19 and “stay home”) to keep working my way through the Cornell University online ornithology course textbook. It is a wonderful text and course, with lots of online video aspects too. I hope to put out summary posts of some of what I’m learning using examples to make learning fun. On the section on thermoregulation Bushtits are used as an example, tweaking my interest in researching Bushtit trivia. Birds, like only mammals in the animal kingdom, are warm blooded, a.k.a. are endothermic homeotherms. This means that when they are in an environment warmer or cooler than their core temperature birds, just like us, need to do something to maintain their stable body temperature. There are exceptions, namely torpor-like states where birds allow themselves to cool down and slow their metabolic temperatures, but most birds find ways to maintain a body temperature without burning external fuels to heat their environment, or wearing warm clothes other than their own feathers. Bushtit
I’ll focus here on birds staying warm, though how they stay cool is maybe even more interesting. The example used in the text was Bushtits. These tiny hyperactive birds weigh about 5.5 grams. A teaspoon of water weights 5 grams for comparison. This is only slightly more than the Anna’s Hummingbirds that also winter around our area. (4.3 grams) A study looked at Bushtits in the south and showed that they need to consume about 80% of their body weight in animal matter daily to maintain their body temp and metabolic demands at 20 degrees C, a pretty nice summer day here (68 F). It has to be higher in our near freezing winter weather.
Here are some tidbits about Bushtits and things they do to stay warm:
• There is some evidence that Bushtits sometimes build winter nests that are warmer than their breeding nests.
• Like other small birds they often huddle together in tightly packed protected areas on cold nights.
• In the daytime they are constantly moving, both to find enough food to burn to generate heat, but also to use their larger muscle masses to generate heat.
• There is no evidence that they gain body fat in the winter to add a layer of fat for warmth.
• It is not felt that they intentionally allow their body temp to drop at night.
Here is a table comparing some other common wintering birds in our area, with their weight in grams, a calculation of their surface area as if they were sphere shaped (obviously they are not, but for comparison I assume that the ratios are relatively appropriate as birds generally have the same body parts and general shape), and the ratio of surface area to mass.
American Robin
It seems cool to me that intuitively it seems that the bigger birds can remain relatively still, and the smaller birds seem to need to move around a lot. Likely lots of reasons, but thermoregulation has to be among the more important of these reasons.
Both birds, this Northern Shrike, and the Say’s Phoebe seemed to enjoy being photographed and kept coming closer as I tried to get shots.
Today Bruce LaBar, my guest on The Bird Banter Podcast Episodes #3 and #46 alerted the rest of our Pierce County birding test chain participants that he had found a Say’s Phoebe on Area 13 on JBLM. This is a common Eastern WA species, that is only seen rarely in migration in Western WA. I had only seen one in Pierce previously, at Brown’s Point March 9, 2017 when one was found at Brown’s Point Lighthouse. (I had actually forgotten about this sighting until reminded by Marcus about it yesterday, at the Say’s spot on JBLM from a nice safe much >6′ distance outdoors. Say’s Phoebe
While looking for the phoebe, Scott Saunders found a Northern Shrike, another tough Pierce bird, and so I got a 2-fer for FOY Pierce birds on the trip. It was really nice to break out of the house and see the beauty of the JBLM prairie as well as the two birds. Western Meadowlark
Stay safe, stay well, and find a way to get out birding safely. Northern Shrike, even heard singing!
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!
Bad photo. Great bird. Siberian AccentorIt’s been an eventful week since returning from McAllen on Feb 13th. For Valentine’s Day Marian rode 2 hours south from Tacoma to the Woodland Bottoms area so I could try for the Siberian Accentor that had been seen there over the prior week or so. We woke earlier than the alarm, quasi jet-lag, and so got to the site just before 8 AM. There were already a few birders looking, and in the 2 or so hours before the Accentor made its appearance we saw 43 Great Egrets roosting in a tree far across the fields, a Black Phoebe perched over our heads, a Rough-legged Hawk perched low across a different field, and finally an east coast lister spotted the bird taking a bird-bath in a pool of water on a tarp or carpet outside a travel trailer beside the driveway of the homeowner. We all got nice looks, especially in the scope, but photos were distant and poor quality for me. Sandhill Cranes
Following this we drove another half hour south to see the uncommon for WA Snowy Egret at the end of the dike road in Vancouver, along with lots of Sandhill Cranes.
The weekend was uneventful, but Monday and Tuesday Blair Bernsen came to Tacoma to bird with Bruce LaBar and me, and we added about 10 birds to Blair’s Pierce County life list, and generally had a good time together. YOu can read about day one of this time on his blog Blair Birding. Fortuitously Bill Tweit called me to bail on speaking to ABC on Tuesday night on Monday (an emergency business trip) and Blair overheard the call. He graciously volunteered to come back on Tuesday to give the talk he had planned to give in March.
Thursday was a busy day for me with Rotary, a doctor’s appt and driving to LAke Forest Park to see Marian and stay for a memorial today.
Today I took a birding walk and added Pine Siskin to my King County life list, a paltry #151 for KINGCO.
Tomorrow Ken, Bruce and I head east to the Okanogan area for our annual Freezathon. More on that to follow.
Good birding. Good day!
