Author: Ed

Grand Park Trail on a Sunny Day

Bruce Labar and I hiked the Grand Park trail again yesterday with a few differences from our last trip.  By far the biggest difference was that yesterday was a sunny, warm and clear fall day, unlike the overcast and drizzly day we chose last week.  Second was that we had no need to get back early, so had plenty of time to get to the “park” itself.

Our primary goal again was to look for the American Three-toed and Black-backed woodpeckers that had been previously reported from this area.  We started up the trail and shortly after entering Mt. Rainier National Park, maybe 1/3 mile from the trailhead I heard a woodpecker tapping.  We looked for some time and I managed only a very brief look at a woodpecker that I think was black-backed, but the look was so unsatisfactory that I just couldn’t list it as such.  We also had a N. Pygmi owl far away tooting.

Later, well past the lake, we had a woodpecker drilling off to the right of the trail, and we were able after a bit of searching to locate an American Three-toed woodpecker very close and only about 20 feet up a tree.  As we watched the bird and tried to get photos and a video, a second bird joined it and they squabbled and chased each other around for several minutes.  We rejoiced and continued up the hill.  Both of these birds we took as juveniles, lacking any yellow in the head.  A bit farther up the hill we located an adult make ATTW, with yellow on the back of the head.  It had feeding and tapping behavior as expected with some bark peeling noted.

A bit farther yet we heard a much louder and more emphatic tapping, in the same area we had identified a drumming BBWO on our last hike on this trail.   We located an adult female Black-Backed woodpecker working up a tree just beside the trail.  We had great views and felt confirmed in our prior ID, and blessed with such good fortune.

From here we continued up the trail, finding the Grand Park meadow itself, with great Mt. Rainier views and lots of Mountain Bluebirds.  It was really fun to see several Rufous-type females, as neither Bruce nor I were familiar with this color morph.  We spent nearly 2 hours relaxing there, primarily on a raptor watch. It paid off with distant looks at two eagles, an adult Bald and an adult Golden eagle.  The tail and head differences were the primary way we IDed the GOEA.  Bruce’s great eyes found a soaring Prairie falcon and a fast-passing Merlin, in addition to a Red-tailed hawk.

We almost danced down the trail after such a terrific morning of birding Pierce County.  Here are a few phone photos from the trip:

 

A Drive to the Snow Today

This midday I was able to get out birding, and since I needed to go to Puyallup anyway I kept going east to Ashford hoping for maybe a Pine grosbeak, N. Pygmy owl or Townsend’s solitaire.  What I got was beautiful snowy scenery adn the dipper at the usual Elbe stop.  One was singing under the bridge in response to a recording, but didn’t come into view.  Another was far upstream and the only photos I could find the bird in were in flight.

Overall a nice drive on a cold snowy day.

Sparrows

Lincoln’s sparrow

Today on the way home from work I managed to get out in the sunshine for a few minutes on 134th Ave near the old Van Lierop’s Farm to look for sparrow flocks and hopefully a FOY Pierce goldfinch.  No luck on the goldfinch, but I did manage a nice look at lots of sparrows.  The best flock was 40-50 crowned sparrows, nearly equally split between Golden-crowned and White-crowned, with a brief glimpse at a White-throated sparrow.  One Lincoln’s sparrow popped up for a nice look and a photo, and the light was nice on the crowned sparrows, so I enjoyed the stop.

Very Quiet at the Gog Today

About 10 AM I  broke free for a  quick stop at the 11th St Bridge gull spot where nothing unusual a all was happening.  Then I spent an hour at Gog-li-hi-ti where the wind appeared to keep the birds down, and after birding the whole area I managed just a FOY YRWA for Pierce.  The bright male did its usual chip note just before the parking lot on the way out salvaging an otherwise nice walk from being birding-wise fruitless.

No Common Redpoll Today for Me

Today Will Brooks found a male Common redpoll in a small flock of Pine siskin in a community on the Key Peninsula.  I couldn’t race to the site, but at 2 PM was able to go, so I called Ken and we met and headed there.  We easily found the location, and shortly after arriving I did see 3 Pine siskin in a tree just to the left of the light blue house, but no CORE.  We birded about an hour in the area, but no further sightings of PISI or CORE.  PISI was a FOY Pierce species for me.

UPS Bird Walk with Will Brooks

This afternoon I joined Will Brooks at the UPS Slater Museum at 2 PM to join Will and about 5 other UPS students on a campus birding walk.  My primary goal was to learn my way around the campus and see the better birding spots.  My takeaway was that Will is an extraordinary young birder, with keen eyes, great fund of knowledge, and phenomenal hearing.  He picked out a TOWA high in a fir tree by its chip note.  This was a FOY species for me.  The campus is pretty easy to bird, basically walk around looking for winter mixed flocks, and the few neighboring wood lots

January Big Day for Pierce County

Today Bruce Labar and I undertook a January Pierce County big day. This is in response to a challenge from WA birder to fill out the various counties in WA with big days for each month. Per WA Birder at the end of 2016 only 3 WA counties have had a big day report submitted for each calendar month. In Pierce only May has had a big day report submitted. We after today, January will have had a report.
We completed our day with 21 eBird lists submitted, 88 species total, I saw 87 and only Bruce saw the YRWA at the Gog. The highlights/lowlights of the day were:
-Rain and wind in the predawn hours making owling very difficult, and we found zero owls despite tries for Barn owl in Fife, Barred owl at Puget Park and Pt. Defiance, and Saw whet and Great-horned owl at Pt. Defiance.
-Good success at DeMolay Sandspit at Fox Island where we found everything we expected except for Common loon, though we didn’t find any hoped for unexpected birds like BLSC, MAMU, ANMU, or SPSA. In retrospect we probably took too long here.
-Titlow added expected EUWI and HOME in little time at the back pond.
-We tried to hit Owens Beach on the way by but the road was closed because of “tree work.”
-Ruston Way yielded Black turnstone as hoped, and an unexpected flock of BRBL at Dock St.
-We missed PEFA on the Tacoma high rise buildings (recovered later at Mount’s Rd.) and the Gog was a disappointment, with no HEGU, no GLGU at 11th St Bridge or the Gog though others had it at the Gog earlier in the morning, and nothing “good” at all there.
-Taylor Way gave us the expected CITE, Least sandpipers were as expected at the end of Alexander, but we spent time missing the HASP at the base of the 11th St. draw bridge spit, and also missed the NOPI that have been regular there.
-Brown’s Point was a flop, with no MAMU or anything else special.
-We missed Killdeer everywhere today including the sandy beach off Marine View Drive where it always is found.
-South Pierce began with PEFA, NOHA, RTHA but little else at Mount’s Road after waiting out a rain front while we got the WTSP at Easterday along with PUFI.
-At Edmund’s Marsh in Dupont we easily added MODO, DOWO, ANHU and huge numbers of RWBL, DEJU and mixed sparrows and finches.
-The Redheads found yesterday by Will remained at American Lake Murray boatlaunch along with the usual winter CANV, along with GRSC, LESC, RNDU, AMCO and other ducks.
-Only RBDU was at Harry Todd, no CAGU which we missed today.
-No WODU at the Puget Sound Wildlife area, and only RUDU on a lightening stop at Waughop.
-We ended the day with quick looks in waning light in Steilacom, adding COLO and RNGR from a roadside pullout past Sunnyside Beach overlooking the mouth of Chamber’s Creek.
Lessons learned for Feb. Maybe spend less time at Fox Island. Hope for better weather for owling.  Consider limiting time looking for stake-out rarities, we might have spent too much time on Harris’s sparrow.    Reconsider direction of route, consider starting south after Fox Island. I’ll add additional thoughts here if I have any.
Here is the day’s totals from eBird.

WEEK REPORT: Species Totals

Report Details
Date range: Jan 22, 2018 – Jan 28, 2018 Total # of Species: 87
Total # of Checklists: 21
Location(s): 1527 Narrows Dr Tac, Tacoma US-WA (47.2647,-122.5368); 3100 Taylor Way, Tacoma US-WA (47.2608,-122.3763); American Lake — Camp Murray boat launch; Browns Pt. Lighthouse Park; Easterday Rd. SW; Edmond Marsh, DuPont; Fort Steilacoom Park; Fox Island Bridge; Fox Island–Tacoma DeMolay Sandspit Nature Reserve; Gog-Le-Hi-Te Mitigated Wetlands; Harry Todd Park; Mounts Road – Nisqually Tribe Site Turnout; Point Defiance Park; Port of Tacoma – Alexander Avenue; Puget Park; Puyallup River–11th Street Bridge; Ruston way; Sunnyside Beach Park; Tacoma, Hylebos Bridge; Thea’s Park; Titlow Park

Summary
Jan 22 Jan 23 Jan 24 Jan 25 Jan 26 Jan 27 Jan 28
Number of Species 87 — — — — — —
Number of Individuals 3,103 — — — — — —
Number of Checklists 21 — — — — — —

Total Number of Birds (sample size)
Species Name Jan 22 Jan 23 Jan 24 Jan 25 Jan 26 Jan 27 Jan 28
Cackling Goose 150
(1) — — — — — —
Canada Goose 134
(4) — — — — — —
Trumpeter Swan 9
(1) — — — — — —
Cinnamon Teal 1
(1) — — — — — —
Northern Shoveler 56
(2) — — — — — —
Gadwall 8
(2) — — — — — —
Eurasian Wigeon 3
(1) — — — — — —
American Wigeon 114
(8) — — — — — —
Mallard 128
(8) — — — — — —
Green-winged Teal 30
(2) — — — — — —
Canvasback 6
(1) — — — — — —
Redhead 4
(1) — — — — — —
Ring-necked Duck 22
(3) — — — — — —
Greater Scaup 13
(2) — — — — — —
Lesser Scaup 13
(3) — — — — — —
Harlequin Duck 2
(1) — — — — — —
Surf Scoter 88
(5) — — — — — —
White-winged Scoter 20
(1) — — — — — —
Long-tailed Duck 7
(2) — — — — — —
Bufflehead 59
(10) — — — — — —
Common Goldeneye 45
(8) — — — — — —
Barrow’s Goldeneye 48
(6) — — — — — —
Hooded Merganser 1
(1) — — — — — —
Common Merganser 20
(6) — — — — — —
Red-breasted Merganser 88
(7) — — — — — —
Ruddy Duck 5
(1) — — — — — —
Red-throated Loon 4
(2) — — — — — —
Pacific Loon 2
(1) — — — — — —
Common Loon 1
(1) — — — — — —
Pied-billed Grebe 3
(3) — — — — — —
Horned Grebe 77
(9) — — — — — —
Red-necked Grebe 1
(1) — — — — — —
Western Grebe 33
(2) — — — — — —
Brandt’s Cormorant 14
(2) — — — — — —
Pelagic Cormorant 23
(4) — — — — — —
Double-crested Cormorant 52
(12) — — — — — —
Great Blue Heron 5
(5) — — — — — —
Northern Harrier 1
(1) — — — — — —
Bald Eagle 10
(8) — — — — — —
Red-tailed Hawk 4
(3) — — — — — —
American Coot 260
(2) — — — — — —
Black Turnstone 13
(1) — — — — — —
Least Sandpiper 12
(1) — — — — — —
Common Murre 1
(1) — — — — — —
Pigeon Guillemot 69
(4) — — — — — —
Rhinoceros Auklet 11
(2) — — — — — —
Bonaparte’s Gull 50
(1) — — — — — —
Mew Gull 240
(7) — — — — — —
Ring-billed Gull 12
(1) — — — — — —
Western Gull 2
(1) — — — — — —
Iceland Gull 30
(1) — — — — — —
Glaucous-winged Gull 75
(7) — — — — — —
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 20
(1) — — — — — —
Western/Glaucous-winged Gull 316
(6) — — — — — —
Rock Pigeon 170
(2) — — — — — —
Mourning Dove 15
(1) — — — — — —
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
(1) — — — — — —
Belted Kingfisher 3
(2) — — — — — —
Downy Woodpecker 1
(1) — — — — — —
Northern Flicker 4
(3) — — — — — —
Pileated Woodpecker 1
(1) — — — — — —
Peregrine Falcon 1
(1) — — — — — —
Steller’s Jay 2
(2) — — — — — —
California Scrub-Jay 7
(2) — — — — — —
American Crow 51
(10) — — — — — —
Common Raven 2
(1) — — — — — —
Black-capped Chickadee 9
(2) — — — — — —
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 4
(1) — — — — — —
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
(2) — — — — — —
Pacific Wren 3
(2) — — — — — —
Marsh Wren 6
(2) — — — — — —
Bewick’s Wren 1
(1) — — — — — —
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
(1) — — — — — —
American Robin 13
(3) — — — — — —
European Starling 66
(3) — — — — — —
Fox Sparrow 7
(2) — — — — — —
Dark-eyed Junco 90
(2) — — — — — —
White-crowned Sparrow 15
(1) — — — — — —
Golden-crowned Sparrow 38
(3) — — — — — —
White-throated Sparrow 1
(1) — — — — — —
Song Sparrow 23
(8) — — — — — —
Spotted Towhee 8
(3) — — — — — —
Red-winged Blackbird 98
(3) — — — — — —
Brewer’s Blackbird 30
(1) — — — — — —
House Finch 2
(2) — — — — — —
Purple Finch 4
(2) — — — — — —
House Sparrow 9
(2) — — — — — —

 

Most notable misses:

American kestrel, Killdeer, Marbled murrelet, American goldfinch, Pine siskin, Varied thrush, Northern pintail, Wood duck, both accipiters, Virginia rail, Herring gull, 3 owls, Hairy woodpecker, Hutton’s vireo, Bushtit, Lincoln’s sparrow, and the two rarities we had hoped to find, Harris’s sparrow and Glaucous gull.

 

Ruston Way Walk- Bushtit and Black Turnstone

This morning I took a walk from the condo down to Ruston way and out to Marine Park and back. On the way out I found a nice flock of sparrows, WCSP and SOSP in the little pond behind the old mill, and in the bushes with them was a small flock of feeding Bushtits for FOY birds. Then finally, at Marine Park on the concrete areas at the bottom of the piles was a flock of 9 Black turnstones, again FOY birds, bringing me to 92 species for Pierce and 144 for WA for 2018.

Students at Point Ruston Today

This afternoon I joined Art Wang and about 30 Tacoma high school students on a birding walk from the far end of Point Ruston, near the Yacht Club where we met, and slowly birded and talked our way around the point to just past the boat. Overall not very birdy, very talkative group with a few moderately interested kids and lots of others with varied levels of birding interest. Art was good at keeping them somewhat on task, and we saw the common species. Marcus joined us late in the walk. No BLTU, but a WEGU was a Pierce FOY bird over near the Yacht Club.