Mike Denny
Mike Denny is my guest on The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #63, and what fun we had doing the recording. I called Mike a week or so ahead of a hoped for trip to the Walla Walla area in hopes of seeing my first Washington State Great Gray Owl. I had seen this species in Oregon, on a trip coordinated by Ken Brown for our ABC Birding Club, when a local biologist took us to a known nest box. That was very exciting, as an lifer and we got to see both adults and young birds. Mike offered to take Ken and me to a known nesting area in WA, and though the birds had fledged a week or so earlier, he expected that we would be able to find them in the area. Gray Catbird
After a nice early morning of birding the lower elevations of Walla Walla County, and adding Veery to our WA year list, we headed up Jasper Mountain. Along the way Mike held told storiesAdult Ferruginous Hawk in a tree right beside the road. Photo taken through open drivers window from passenger seat. of the Jasper Mountain Land Trust and how important they, and land trusts in general are to habitat preservation, as well as lots of cool info on the birds, butterflies, salamanders, snakes etc of the area.
After getting to the area of the nesting spot, Mike showed us the unusual nest site, a large escavated Pileated Woodpecker working, and we started to look for branching owlets. Mike pointed out scree by the road. He showed us how adult scree is all urea, like most birds, but that the scree of young owls can contain undigested hair and other material. We also saw wolf dung, like large dog poop but containing lots of hair from the deer or elk that they take as prey. Wolf Dung. Note the hair from prey .
Shortly Ken spotted two owlets on a branch of a tree maybe 75 meters away. We looked at them, and then moved to a place with a clearer view. Mike suggested that we sit and watch, and wait for the parents to come feed them. I thought this was a perfect time to talk, and record the podcast, so Mike, Ken and I sat on a roadside bank, watched the owlets, and recorded this episode. I used an omnidirectional speaker, so listen carefully and hear both the owlets begging, the adult GGOW answering, and lots of other birds in the area. Two of the 3 Great Gray Owl branching young birds that we watched for an hour or so.
Here is a link to The Secret Life of the Forest: The Northern Blue Mountains.
Here is the web site of the Blue Mountain Land Trust, the group that has helped preserve the land around a top birding area we visited, Coppei Creek https://bmlt.org/
Here is the snake that Mike spotted in the road on the way down from Bethyl Ridge Road. 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.
And here is Mike looking for the snake in his engine compartment, after he tried to shoo it away to safety, and instead it hid under his car, then disappeared. Mike searching for the snake in his engine compartment.
Overall a great day of birding, ending with this fabulous sunset. Sunset over Rattlesnake Mountain.
Until next time, 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.
Jean at her Caribean Food Forest
On The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #62 with Jean Pullen we talk primarily about her passion for restorative agriculture. Other names for this type of food production are Permaculture, Food Forestry, and Agriforestry. Jean and her partner Alan are in the process of restoring a hectacre of previous pastureland into a self-sustaining agricultural forest, with multiple layers of habitat for birds and other animals, along with an abundance of food for themselves and to market.
Jean is also involved with other organizations that are working to improve farming in the tropics and elsewhere, to restore the land, improve the farmers lives, and provide uber-healthy food for their own consumption and as a revenue producing crop. See lots of additional information at Kiss the Ground, where you’ll find podcast, video and blog posts.
You can follow Jean at her Facebook page.
We talk about the relatively tiny 500 M2 property on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica that Alan and Jean have converted from a small lawn into an incredibly abundant food-producing multi-layered forest in just a couple of years. Jean resting from her agriforestry work.
I cannot wait to have the chance to spend time in Costa Rica with Jean, learning the birds there, of course visiting my daughter, and enjoying the insanely delicious fruit.
I also talk about the Scarlet-rumped Tanager seen in Jean’s garden. Here are some photos of the tanager and a few of the other birds I saw in her garden. Social Flycatcher The Clay-colored Thrush, the National Bird of Costa Rica I discuss in the introduction.
You can find my podcast episode with my son Brett at The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #42
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.
In this episode of The Bird Banter Podcast with Stefan Schlick we talk about Stefan’s evolution from a relatively causal birdwatcher in Germany to an avid and keen birder after moving to the U.S. He is now a full time trip leader based near Portland, OR and leads trips for the Portland Audubon Society, as well as for other organizations and on his own.
I know Stefan from many winter trips to the Okanogan area of eastern WA, where Ken Brown (see episodes #2 and #46) and I would compare notes with Stefan at the Omak Inn after our first day of leading our groups around the area. Stefan was usually leading trips for WOS, and Ken and I leading trips for Ken’s birding class or more recently for the ABC Birding Club.
Stefan is an avid county birder, has spent time living in Florida, California and lots of time birding in Arizona, so has lots of field time in many of the top ABA birding spots. He is also becoming interested in finding and identifying dragonflies and butterflies, and we talk a bit about these as offshoots of birding.
Here are links to some of the things we talk about on the episode:
Portland Audubon Society Field Trips
“Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest” by Robert Michael Pyle and Caitlin LaBar https://www.amazon.com/Butterflies-Pacific-Northwest-Timber-Press/dp/1604696931/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=butterflies+of+the+pacific+northwest&qid=1590101437&sr=8-1
“Dragonflies and Damselflies of Oregon” by Cary Kerst and Steve Gordon https://www.amazon.com/Dragonflies-Damselflies-Oregon-Field-Guide/dp/0870715895
Here is a link to Stefan’s blog. http://birdmeister.wordpress.com
You can contact Stefan by email at: greenfant – at – hotmail- dot- com.
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 — — — — —
Nate Swick is my first ABA guest on The Bird Banter Podcast. Nate joined the American Birding Association team about 10 years ago when as an ABA member he contacted them and pitched himself as the person to bring them online and into the information age. I enjoyed talking with Nate, hearing his birding story and his story of work at the ABA.
In the intro to this episode I mention an odd sandpiper that perplexed Bruce LaBar (see episode #3), Shep Thorpe (See episode #9)
Here is a photo of that odd Tringa Odd Tringa, likey a Solitary Sandpiper
What fun to talk with Gary Bletsch on The Bird Banter Episode #59. Gary is a county birder supreme, having 328 species in Skagit County, WA on eBird, a number that is among the highest individual county life lists for any county in WA. I had a really great talk with Gary. I hope you enjoy it.
Gary is an eBird lister almost beyond compare. He has submitted, as of 5-9-2020 24,648 eBird checklists from Skagit County alone, and 27,194 in Washington, and 30,128 in the world. This ranks him at #1 in both Skagit and WA (second in WA is at 11,373) and #15 in the world. His total in Skagit County alone would rank at #24 in the world!
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.
On The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #58 I talk birding with Dave Irons. Dave is an Oregon birder, husband of Shawneen Finnegan, my guest on Episode #17, author, eBird reviewer and past regional editor of North American Birds. I first met Dave at the last WOS annual conference at a dinner meeting when Bruce LaBar (episode #3), Ken Brown (episode #2) , Shawneen and Dave, and several other birders shared a table. He is a funny, smart and engaging guy who I thought at the time would be a great guest on the podcast. After a doing the episode I’m glad I met him and glad he agreed to do the episode.
I have a lot of respect for eBird reviewers. It is a thankless volunteer job, looking at and confirming or inquiring about the many records of unusual species of birds submitted as sightings to eBird. eBird, the Cornell University citizen science project where birders all over the world can submit our sightings for inclusion in a massive database, has fundamentally changed how birders keep records, find places to go birding, and learn.
Every time, or nearly every time, I go birding I take my smart phone. When I get to a birding location I start an eBird checklist. The phone uses its GPS function to “drop a pin” of my exact location, and then I choose from options to name the list location, usually an eBird “hotspot” at or very near where I’m birding. As I go along, or often when I’m done at a location I enter the number of each species of bird I see, and submit the list to my personal eBird account. If I identify birds that are unusual for the location and time of year I am asked to write supporting evidence to help the reviewer decide if I am likely correct in the ID. The reviewer either confirms the sighting, or sends me an e-mail asking for more information, i.e. details of what I saw, a photo, an audio recording, etc to support my sighting. After that the reviewer makes a decision on whether to “confirm” the sighting as valid, or not. If not the record remains on my personal list of sightings, but is not included in the sight database of sightings. We talk about this on the episode, and Dave gives his approach to this process, one I find fairly common but not universal. An occasional reviewer is less gracious than he might be.
We also talk about his new book titled, American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of Oregon. CLick for a link to buy it on Buteo Books. It is a new type of book by the ABA aimed at beginner and intermediate birders to help them find and identify birds in a state. It sounds interesting.
We also talk about the Rio Grande Birding Festival, and his experience as a guide there. It is a really well done festival. I went only once, but met lots of top birders, went on terific field trips, and generally had a great time. I recommend the festival. Mary Gustafson from the recent Episode #48 is a field trip coordinator, and I first med Dorian Anderson of Biking Big Year fame who did Episdoe #5 on the podcast.
I mention Larkwire, a cool web-based game-style tool for learning bird songs. I recommend it highly.
Here is a link to an article about the horse shoe crab and Red Knot issue we talk about on the episode.
Dave also mentions the change in timing of plant flowering at Walden Pond since Thoreau kept his notes in the early 1920’s Here is a link to info about that issue.
We talk about the Oregon and Washington birding listservs and here is a link to Tweeters in WA and OBOL in Oregon.
The Western Field Ornithology meeting that Dave talks about has a website link here.
In my intro I talk about Blair Bernson’s 50-50-50 project and blog. Here is a link to the blog. You can follow on Facebook or subscribe to blog updates on his website. Blair was my guest on Episode #18.
I talk briefly about the Cornell University online Bird Biology course I’m working through, and here is a link to that course.
I mention the difference in golden plover molt strategy, and Dave gives some info. This prompted me to review the issue. American Golden Plovers are an extreme long distance migrant. The first year birds get their juvenile feathers after hatching and migrate huge distances to southern South America. They then need to fly all the way back to the arctic to breed the next summer, and have the unusual molt strategy to have a complete molt of all their flight feathers as a “pre-formative” molt in the fall-winter the year that they are born. So essentially all spring returning American Golden Plovers have fresh flight feathers, i.e. not the worn juvenile feathers. The shorter distance migrant, Pacific Golden Plovers, have the more common molt strategy of retaining their juvenile flight feathers through their first winter, flying back to the breeding grounds, and not molting their juvenile flight feathers until after their return flight (their third long trip on their first set of flight feathers). So a birder in the know about golden plover molt strategies knows that any golden plover seen with very worn primary wing feathers seen in migration has to be a Pacific Golden Plover, because all the American Golden Plovers grew fresh feathers after their first trip south the year they were born. This is just one example of how knowing about a species molt strategy can help with tough species ID issues. Thanks Ken Brown for your teaching in your many years of birding classes for me knowing this bit of molt trivia.
I hope you enjoyed the episode and this post.
Until next time. Good birding and good day!
