I had a blast talking with fellow Mainer Nick Lund on The Bird Banter Podcast #78. Nick, “The Birdist”, has carved out a niche in the ABA birding community as one of the top writers, speakers and birders especially in tune with birding in the broader context of life in America. He writes the blog, “The Birdist”, and is a regular guest on the ABA Podcast with Nate Swick, especially on the “this month in birding” segment.
Nick works for Maine Audubon, an independent Maine conservation organization, and his birding story is fun and inspirational. I especially enjoyed hearing how he got started in birding after stumbling across a used Peterson Field Guide with hand-written field notes in the side columns. This reminded me how my late wife Kay taught me to keep my notes as she had been taught by writing the date and county of every first sighting. Kay’s original Golden Guide field guide book, copyright 1966. It is her life list, and essentially a travel diary. It has been to the bottom of McGrath Pond in Oakland, Maine.
Here are Kay’s field notes/life list notation of her “spark bird” a Cedar Waxwing seen on the Middle Fork of the Weiser River in Adams County, ID 9/4/1976 where she first started birding while living with three young CA birders and working on a Boise Cascade brush crew,This is the Peterson Field Guide that I bought at the Ranger Station in the Everglades on my first day of birding there. It is the first Peterson Guide to the Birds East of the Rockies that has the plates in color and next to the descriptions rather than in black and white and in a separate section.Here is the page showing some of the waders I saw on my first day of birding in the Everglades with Kay. 4-17-1986.
I had a total R hip replacement surgery just over a month ago, and though I’m recovering really nicely, I’ve not been able to get out on anything close to normal birding trips. Friday, Brad Waggoner, my guest on The Bird Banter Podcast #34 located a Little Giull at Point-no-Point (PNP). Little Gull Hydrocoloeus minutus is a bird that is only rarely seen in North America, and has not been seen in WA very often. When I heard about this sighting it was already past midday, and I thought too late to try to chase on Friday. I called Ken Brown, my guest on The Bird Banter Podcast #2 and my great birding buddy, and he was at PNP looking when I called, but had not found the LIGU. We made plans to meet at his house at 6 AM the next AM and go together to try again. Moments later Ken called back to tell me he just got the bird, really close to shore, but he was up to go again with me the next AM.
We met at his house Sat AM, and headed for the point. Enroute we made a short stop to try for a Barn Owl, and insteaed heard Great Horned Owl and Barred Owl, but not the FOY Barn Owl Ken wanted. Still a nice start.
We got to PNP by 7:20 and started looking for the Little Gull. The day prior there was a big flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls at the location. Little Gulls are typically found associating with BOGUs, and for the first 3 hours we had no luck with the gull. We were the first birders there, but over the AM another 20 or so hopeful birders showed up. Finally, about 10:20 after Brad arrived, and the tidal action picked up, a nice flock of BOGUs streamed in. A shout out by Grace Oliver that she was on the gull as it flew in and settled on the water got us all excited. Another birder declared that he was on a gull on the water with white wing tips. This was a really helpful tip. If you look at photos or drawings of Little Gull, you’ll see that in winter plumage the adult has nearly the same grahish cheek sopt as BOGU, but also has some black on the top of the head. In addition the adult LIGU lacks the black wing tips of BOGU. It is not what jumps out of the field guide, but in a flock of birds on the water to me was much easier to spot thatn a little black on the head. I scanned for a gull with no black wing tips, and quickly found a candidate. It also had the black on the top of the head, seemed maybe smaller than the BOGUs, and so I stuck with it. I passed off the scope to Paul Baerny and he saw it, and on getting the scope back the bird had drifted but I got back on it. Then, after a couple of minutes the gull lifted its wings to take flight, and several of us shouted out that the jet black underwings were seen. I followed the gull for a couple of minutes as it flew among the flock of BOGUs, and got great looks.
My only prior LIGUs were in July in Maine when 3 birds were apparently either failed breeders or early returning gulls at the mouth of a coastal river. Those were in breeding pliumage, and cool too, but this was a WA first for me, and WA bird #395 for me. 5 more to 400.
Such a great day to break out of my post-surgery limitations. After leaving the point, Ken and I also found a huge gathering of loons, with about 35 Common Loons, and 355 Pacific Loons at Suquamish.
A great day. Good birding. Good day!
I first met Tom Bancroft at the first Washington Ornithology Society (WOS) meeting after I was elected as a trustee last year. Tom is the secretary of WOS, and impressed me with his quiet, thoughtful, knowledgeable and impactful input on most of the issues we discussed. I knew from reading the WOS newsletter that he is a good writer, and came to realize that is he also a very good birder and has had an interesting and broad set of experiences I was excited to explore on the podcast. I was not disappointed, and hope you enjoy the episode.
You can find Tom’s birding class with the Mountaineers here once it is listed.
Please leave a comment with any suggestions you have for future guests, other feedback, or contact me at the contact page on this site.
Until next time. Good birding. Good day!
On The Bird Banter Podcast #77 with John Patten Moss we talk about his experience travelling from Olympia, WA south into central California using only his unicycle for transportation while trying to find as many species of birds as possible, i.e. a unicycle big year! Covid cut the trip short, but still it was a journey worthy of note.
Here are some links to topics we discussed: 2020 The Vision Blog ius John’s blog with posts from while he was on the road birding.
I somehow failed to mention Chirstian Hagenlacher as a Bird Banter guest big year birder. He was in the mix in the biggest ABA big year or all, and was a guest on two separate episodes. Here is his website link. The Birding Project Christian didn’t just do a big year for birds, he met and interviewed birders and others all along the way, and wrote the book Falcon Freeway to tell his story.
I’m hoping to get lots of comments on your favorite “big year”, “Big Day” or big whatever stories. Please leave a comment and share your stories with readers.
On this episode I talk about 5 species of birds that can be found in many if not most parts of the United States, that most people in the U.S., birder or non-birder will be familiar with, and try to share information about these species that will be of interest to not just birders but their families, friends and others who wonder what’s with these birders anyway. Enjoy, and feel free to share with your less-avid birding friends.
Here are some photos of the 5 species discussed: Canada Goose with Goslings. |Male and Female Mallards. Note the slightly upcurved central tail feathers on the male, and the mostly orange bill with some central blackish areas on the female. Wild Turkey family crossing a dirt road in Eastern WA. A breeding plumage Common Loon with a crayfish on McGrath Pond, Oakland, ME. A non-breeding plumage Common Loon. A Great Blue Heron in Flight
Here is the Thanksgiving Episode of The Bird Banter Podcast with the Wild Turkey Story in the U.S.
I have met Matt Yawney in the field a few times. Each time left me with new respect for Matt as a birder and as a really nice guy. One of the first times I met Matt was on a visit to Bassett Park in Washtucna, WA. This is a quite small town in eastern WA, and Matt had found an uncommon eastern wood warbler there the day prior. I don’t recall which warbler, but I do remember Matt spending some time looking around the park with me, and seeing and hearing lots of other migrants in the trees.
Later in 2018 Matt was doing a Grant County big year, and we communicated when Ken Brown and I were birding fall migration in the area. Ken and I located a Short-billed Dowicher at Potholes Park and a Pacific Golden Plover at Perch Point, and helped get Matt onto these two species he needed for his year list.
At the last WOS Conference in Moses Lake Matt led a field trip to Northrop Canyon that included many other stops. He was a really fine trip leader, and again we were all impressed and pleased at his low-key but high energy birding leadership on his home turf.
Grant County is a fairly rural county, with less than 90,000 people in the 2010 census, but has a nice list of birds. There are 339 species on the Grant County Checklist on WABirds.com and Matt has seen 286 species on his eBird list. I don’t know of anyone with a list that approaches Matt in the county. The closest on eBird is Gina Sheridan with 245, and on the WA Birder site Randy Hill has 264 posted. `
I especially enjoyed Matt talking about really working the expected migrant spots in the key times of the year. This sounded a lot like when I talked with Kimball Garrett on episode 71 and he talked about knowing the geography, the vagrancy patterns, and the expected local birds as keys to finding uncommon vagrants.
Here are some links that relate to topics discussed on the episode: Matt’s eBird Profile page The WABirder Page.
The episode of The Bird Banter Podcast with Ryan Rodriguez
The Bird Banter Podcast with Kimball Garrett
Here is a cool article with more info on Arctic Tern migration.
Until next time. Good birding. Good day!
A bit of catch up here since it’s been about 3 weeks since I got back from a week at Chelan. It’s been mostly about shorebirds and sound-watching in Pierce County since then, as the juvenile shorebirds are moving through, and we are starging to get jaegers back. So here are the highlights of the fall migration recently.
In the first week back I tried a couple of times for Sanderling at Chamber’s Bay Beach Access, but had no luck until the next Friday when I managed to find one on a walk with Marian. Juv. Sanderling at Chamber’s Bay
While I was there I got a text about a Baird’s Sandpiper at Levee Pond, and dashed there, where just after I got there Bruce joined Marian and me to look at this bird.
Baird’s Sandpiper at Levee Pond.
This made for a nice 2-FOY Pierce birds in a day.
The day prior to getting these two species I joined the Theler Wetlands walk with Fay, Diane, Ken and John R. for a nice morning there. I managed three Mason firsts, Merlin, Bushtit and Ring-necked Pheasant. This is the only one with a photo. Female Ring-necked Pheasant.
A couple of days later, Aug. 30th brought a sighting of Black Phoebe at the 56th St Stormewater area, and Marian and I got there just before dark, and with patience (I had tried without patience earlier in the day) we spotted not just the BLPH but also a Sora.
The next great bird was at the McNeil Overlook where after Marcus and I searched for a while, Heather on taking over their scope almost immediately spotted these two Marbled Godwits.
Though distant you can get a feel for the pretty spectacular light for the great distance. Their warm brownish color just popped.
Just after I left them for Marcus to finish his conference call, they called me to say that they had a Heermann’s Gull. It has flown out of sight before I got back and I missed this one.
Since then seawatching, mostly from Dune’s Peninsula has dominated the Pierce County birding scene. Parasitic Jaegers have moved in to take advantage of the lingering Caspian Terns. On Sept 5th I was tied up recording an episode of the podcast when the text chain alerted us of Will, Marcus and Heather having THIRTEEN PAJAs from Dunes. After I finished the episode I dashed over and managed to see just two of them, still one was a nice close fly-by.
Shortly after this Heermann’s Gull flew right in front of us to give another 2-FOY Pierce birds.
Nothing new since then, but yesterday was a really pretty morning at 56th St and the light was perfect for some photos.
I had so much fun talking with Jason Fidorra on this episode of The Bird Banter Podcast. Jason has a cool birding story, and lives and works in a unique area of Washington. It was great to hear him talk about the shrub-steppe habitat and its challenges and cool aspects, and about his journey from beginning birder to passionate and skilled birder. He talks about a July county birding challenge in his local counties too, a great idea any of us could emulate.
You can find Jason on Facebook.
He moderates Tri-cities Birders on Facebook too.
I mention Andy Stepnewski on the podcast, so here is a link to a writeup about Andy’s talk to ABC Birding.
I hope you enjoyed the episode. Until next time. Good birding and Good Day!
I had so much fun talking with Kimball Garrett on this episode. Kimball is a rich source of history, birding information, and great perspective for me. I hope you enjoy the episode. We talk about L.A. County birding. For perspective here is a link to Kimball’s eBird profile where you can check out his recent birding. (see the comment below by Kimball re eBird vs. the actual accepted LA County lists. eBird encourages birders to submit findings of escapees and other non-listable birds seen in the field. This is good for their database, but is annoying to some of us who use eBird as our record keeping tool for our lists.) Here is where you can find him on the L.A. Natural History Museum webpage.
Kimball was a primary author on the book he mentions just briefly on Birds of Southern California at the ABA affiliated Buteo Books.
I mention a fabulous pelagic trip I took out of San Diego. Here is a link to the source for that trip.
Several of my previous guests are friends of Kimball or are mentioned on the episode. Here are some links to those episodes.
John Sterling from Episode #10 recommmended Kimball as a guest and was a member of the group of young California birders we discuss briefly.
The View from Chelan Butte
A week in Chelan in mid August may not be the most popular birding location in WA, but that was the time for Marian’s time share this year, and a chance to get out of Dodge for a week, explore some new roads, and spend hot afternoons in the lake seems too good to pass up. I managed to get in some good county birding too.
On the trip over I stopped at a dirt road pull out near Liberty hoping for some new Kittitas County lifers, but by the time we got there it was late morning, over 90 degrees, and things were really quiet. Two species, but hearing and seeing Red Crossbills high in the pines was fun.
From there we headed towards Chelan with our only stop enroute at Entiat at the city park on the lake, hoping for shorebirds. The park was packed with people, and devoid of shorebird habitat and birds. Dusky Grouse
Sunday morning though we decided to beat the heat, and got up and drove up the road to Chelan Butte, starting birding there at daybreak, about 5:56 AM. It was a really nice morning. State FOY Dusky Grouse were on the roadside, Lewis’s Woodpeckers were all over the place, a pair of playful Gray Flycatchers gave a great show, and Sharp-shinned Hawk and Olive-sided Flycatcher were also first Chelan County birds. The road gets really steep near the top, fun to drive and the vistas from the butte are spectacular.
A quick stop at Chelan Falls Park again looking for shorebirds yielded none, but added Caspian Tern to my Chelan list. It is a nice park, and on a weekday early could be a good stop for passerines and water birds.
Maybe the best birding day was Monday, when we again got up early and headed up into the highlands out of Entiat. The first stop was great, just a mile or so up the Entiat River Road on the abandoned old road beside the river (Lake Entiat). Bullock’s Orioles, Gray Catbirds and a Yellow-breasted Chat were highlights, but we had a list of 23 species and lots of numbers. A Lazuli Bunting was singing like crazy but refused to give us a look. Great-horned Owl
From there we drove up the Entiat River Road, with stops by rocky cliffs, and by orchards to see what we could find. Western Bluebirds put on a show, along with California Quail just everywhere. When we got to FR 5300 (Mud Creek Road), a route described in the WA Bird Finding guide, the ride up the hill went through nice riparian habitat down low, then pine forest higher. FOY White-breasted Nuthatches were nice, along with several stops for flocks coming in nicely to Pygmy Owl imitation whistles. Red Crossbills were very common, and Cassin’s and Red-eyed Vireos, MacGilvary’s Warbler, White-headed Woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker, and a nice look at a Great-horned Owl that flew right in front of us then perched for looks and photos highlighted the drive. Instead of going further up the Entiat River Road we decided to enjoy the morning cool and just do this road slowly and enjoy it. 32 species including 6 Chelan County firsts were really great. Baird’s Sandpiper
The rest of the week we had Marian’s daughter visit and so birded a bit less. I did get up to the Waterville Plateau hoping for shorebirds in Douglas County. The supposed flooded field on Heritage Road was not flooded, but Atkin’s Lake was great. I fought the sun a bit in the morning as the only good viewing was from the west looking east, but got great looks very close up at county first Baird’s Sandpipers, distant looks at Wilson’s Phalarope and Long-billed Dowichers, and very distant looks at about 1400 dabbling ducks, most too far and too backlit to ID, but fun to try.
The last fun bird of the trip was a pair of Common Nighthawks that put on a show over the lawn behind the Wapato Point condo we stayed in on Friday night. White-breasted Nuthatch
A quick stop at Confluence Stat Park in Wenachee on the way home yielded no shorebirds or much else, and we got home safely.
