Today Ken, Bruce and I went to try for the woodpeckers seen recently at Government Meadows. Bruce drove and we got to the horse camp 19 miles on FR 70 on the left off Hwy 410. The first 10 miles are paved, then it’s dirt but a pretty good road. Note-to-self to stay straight at the fork where it looks like the better dirt road turns left. At the horse camp there is a pretty nice toilet and a good picnic table.
Our plan was to first bird the 3/4 mile trail from the horse camp to the PCT. Given this we made our biggest mistake of the day, leaving our water and lunch in the car, planning on picking it up prior to going on toward Government Meadow. On Saturday Marcus and Wayne had two pair of Black-backed woodpeckers, one at the start of the trail, and another near the junction with the PCT. We found one Red-breasted sapsucker near the start of the trail in the snags on the left, and near the piled up decomposing logs a bit farther in we had another sapsucker we hope is a Red-naped sapsucker, but may be a hybrid RNSA x RBSA. I’ve sent this out to several of the top birders around and await their opinion.
No BBWO though, and so we decided to bushwhack our way to the small meadow where Bruce and Peter W. had seen nesting BBWO last week. From there we managed to get to a different meadow, not find the BBWO, go on to find an off trail route to a large meadow we think may have been a part of Government Meadow with a backtrack to chase a drumming RBSA to the meadow Bruce had us aiming for initially. From there after finding the large meadow we could not locate the PCT, initially looking for a trail off the meadow, then taking a steep dirt road (Naches Trail) downhill, back to the meadow, behind the meadow, then back again. We finally decided to bushwhack back to the initially targeted meadow, which we managed to find pretty easily, and then bushwhack up to the PCT. By now it was about 2 PM and we were thirsty, hungry and tired by the time we got to the car. I never really felt lost, but certainly we were a bit confused as to the best way to get back onto the Pacific Crest Trail again though.
We did manage good birds on this exploration of the area. In one of the meadows we found Lincoln’s sparrow, had a fly by of a calling Evening grosbeak, Gray jays were around with one flying in for a close look while we watched the possible RNSA, and Hermit thrush, Varied thrush, and DEJU were seen several times each.
After a late lunch and rehydration on the drive back down FR 70 Bruce spotted a Ruffed grouse on the side of the road. We managed to stop, all get nice looks, and get photos as it puffed up and strutted before walking into the grass.
For me 4 FOY Pierce county birds, Evening grosbeak, Gray jay, Pine grosbeak and Ruffed Grouse, with a possible fifth if the sapsucker is deemed to be a Red-naped.