Today Bruce Labar (see The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #3) and I did a low elevation Pierce County Big Day. Our goal was to try to see as many species as we could in one day without going to the mountain (Mt. Rainier) and with a level of effort such that we could enjoy ourselves. We understood that for a May Pierce County Big Day we were at a disadvantage by waiting until May 18th. By this date most waterfowl, gulls, loons, alcids and shorebirds have already left for their breeding grounds, and in the past we have tried to time our May Big Day a week or so earlier to catch the lingering species in these groups of birds while delaying long enough to get many of the returning breeding birds.

We waited until today because last weekend we were at the WOS Conference in Moses Lake, and a combination our schedules, weather and convenience had us wait until today. We feel we had a great day all things considered, and at 101 species identified we feel good about our results.
We started the day at Puget Park, where a Barred Owl flew right in for a look after our first playing of a recorded call.

We made many stops, with 24 eBird lists, and the route was from Puget Park to Point Defiance to Fox Island with a stop at Adam Tallman Park, to Titlow Park, Chamber’s Creek, Steilacom Park and then McNeil Overlook, to JBLM including Spanaway Marsh, Range 72, Muck Creek, Areas 15 and 13, then back to Tacoma and Fife to wrap up the big day about 5:15 PM.

Best birds were the Barred Owl, lingering Pacific Loons and Common Murre at Fox Island, Marbled Murrelets at Titlow Beach and also in Steilacom, Vesper Sparrow, Western Kingbird, Lazuli Bunting and Sora at JBLM, and a Peregrine Falcon in downtown Tacoma. Here are some photos from the day.

Good Birding. Good Day!