Yesterday after working at SFM Hartland SDC 7-2, I stopped by the spot on Steele St where the Gyrfalcon has been seen. It was quite foggy, and I was not dressed for the cold or wet ground, but I set up my scope and scanned the power poles on the east side of the runway from the road next to the trucking parking lots. No Gyr on the first pass, or on a second pass. Other birders showed up, and I spent a few minutes scanning other fences, and potential perches. I walked to the end of the road, and on scanning again presto, the Gyrfalcon had flown in and was perched on the nearest power pole. I walked back to higher ground to get views unobstructed by the fence, and digiscoped very distant photos. Adequate views for ID, i.e. a very large grayish brown falcon, powerful looking shoulders, thick tail, and very short wings, but the fog and distance made it less than satisfying.
Today after finishing the decisions with Kay on the remodel issues, and before going to her doctors appointment, I brought Kay back hoping for another look. No bird on the power poles, but after looking around a bit I located a distant dark area in a tall tree to the east of the air base. On scoping it was the Gyrfalcon, and views were better than yesterday. After getting good but distant looks, I decided to try walking down the dirt road toward the tree. Incredibly the road led right beside the tree, and the Gyr just sat there quietly. I got much better photos, and went back to get Kay. She walked down also, and we both got close up looks, probably my best looks ever at a Gyrfalcon perched. On my first walk down I think it was calling too, a fairly soft squeeky call note, not too much different from an AMKE.
At one time an accipitor, I think a SSHA but possibly a COHA was perched very close to the Gyrfalcon in the same tree!
Category: Kay
Harris’s Sparrow
This week has been busy with very little birding after flying back from ME Monday. So when Bruce found the Harris’s sparrow yesterday at the 11th Street bridge, I climbed down from the ladder at Brett’s where I was painting and dashed over to try for it. No luck as the flock of sparrows seemed to have dispersed.
After church today Peter Wimberger texted that he had relocated the sparrow, and I convinced Kay to come help me try to find it.
We got to the spot just after 11 AM and found Peter there along with Christopher Clark. We looked for a while with Peter, but on the first trip around the area no luck. Then we decided on one more try at the point/end of the trail and all 3 of us (Peter had just left) got great looks at the HASP when it popped up near the top of a bush, and again on a piece of driftwood. This was a Pierce FOY for me, and a lifer for Chris. Here is the eBird list with photos.
Eclipse
Today was just a terrific day from start to finish. Kay and I drove to Gig Harbor to meet Ken and Rachel at Schmel Homestead Park to have a picnic breakfast and watch the eclipse. Kay and I brought vegan coffee cake, and Ken and Rachel brought fresh berries. Ken also brought toys and ideas on ways to experience the eclipse. He had figured out how to use his spotting scope to focus in the sun onto a notebook to show the sun without looking at it.
This worked great during the eclipse when it got near fully covered by the moon, but at other times it simply started to incinerate whatever it was focused on. A 9 year old at the park had fun burning the moon-shaped eclipse onto a 2×4. Ken also brought metal colanders as a way to see the sun focused on a paper.
It was cool too, but we had more fun pretending to be fending off aliens with the colanders on our heads. We sat, told stories, ate, chatted with a young father and his son, eating, and watching the eclipse happen.
After this I brought Kay home, and while she went to dinner with friends I went to Brett’s house after picking up some lumber at Home Depot, and put up the high trim on the side of the house that needs a gutter, started to find level spots for the shed, and then had dinner and watched the M’s with a beer at the Top of Tacoma bar in his neighborhood.
On the way home I birded 56th St. Stormwater, the Black phoebe is still there,
Levy Pond, and the Freeman Rd Mitigation where the adult Pectoral Sandpiper remains with 16 WESA.
Home just in time to watch the bottom of the 9th inning of the M’s win as Diaz got the save without too much drama.
Pectoral Sandpiper at Levy Pond
I happened to check my email around noon and saw a very recent (hourly) eBird needs alert for Pierce County that Christopher Clark had seen a Pectoral sandpiper at Levy Pond. Kay and I headed right there, and the PESA was feeding near two Long-billed dowitchers on the sand bar. It moved around a from the near side to the far side and back while we were there. Good light and fairly close photos obtained. A good FOY Pierce bird for both of us.
Ft Steilacom with Kay
To enjoy the nice weather this evening Kay and I drove over to Ft Steilacom Park to take a birding walk around the lake hoping for Bullock’s Oriole and to enjoy the newly arrived passerines. We did hear one Oriole chattering, and I saw a male fly away, but no good looks. Black-headed grosbeaks, Cedar waxwings, Yellow warblers and Western Tanagers gave better looks, and birdsong was constant. A nice evening.
More Spring Arrivals
Today was a day for work around the house, but I started the day off right with an exercise walk from the edge of Manorwood past Pierce College and around Bradley Lake and back. The road was closed to traffic and on a sunny morning the birds were singing nicely. Best bird of the walk was Black-throated Gray Warbler with at least 3 singing loudly for FOY IDs. Also had at least 2 Hutton’s Vireos singing, and I think I heard an Evening Grosbeak, though I was not sure enough to list it.
Kay and I were about to head out on errands after meeting Steve to review and send in taxes when Bruce Labar texted that he had a Yellow-headed Blackbird at the 56th St. Stormwater Ponds. Kay and I headed there on a revision of our errand route, and sure enough after a few minutes a bright breeding male plumage YHBL strutted along the sandbar between the 2nd and 3rd ponds. This was both a FOY WA bird and a first ever Pierce species for me. We only stayed a few minutes, but for a day not focused on birding two FOY Pierce and WA birds, and a new Pierce lifer made it pretty great. All photos digiscoped.
Say’s Phoebe in Pierce Today
Yesterday a Say’s Phoebe was sighted at the Brown’s Point Lighthouse Park, but Bruce tried for it with no luck. Today it was relocated, I think by Marcus about 11:30 and I got a text from Marcus. I couldn’t go until after Rotary at noon-1:30 because I had invited the speaker, but right after watching the League of Women’s Voters program Kan and I headed for the bird. Heavy rain, cold, and no luck on the park property itself. Kay retreated to the car while I searched the neighborhood. I walked around, and finally went down the dead-end road beside the park to the beach. Sure enough, I noted a small bird sally flycatcher-like over the beach, and Voila.
Overall a great opportunity for a first Pierce bird.
Three Trips to Tacoma Day
Today Kay and I had an appointment in Tacoma at 10 AM, so we decided to try for the Clark’s grebe at American Lake after the meeting. I got brief but definitive looks, she missed as her scope in in repair and was sharing mine. Then after lunch we tried for the Greater-white fronted geese in Sumner, no luck, but while there Bruce called to tell me of large numbers of alcids viewable from the Chamber’s Bay trail. I dashed back to get distant looks at Common Murre, Marbled Murrelet, and Rhinoceros Aucklet, all FOY Pierce birds. Then after returning home Kay and I went to U.P. for the ABC January meeting and party. Makes me more excited about looking for a place in T-town to live. Pierce year list up to 100 after today.
Ohop Lake
This morning Kay and I took a drive out to Ohop Lake to see if we could locate the Tundra Swan Marcus and Bruce had yesterday, but no luck. Still, after working M-W this week it was nice to get out even for a brief bit of birding. There were lots of Hooded and Common Mergansers, Bufflehead, Ring-necked Ducks and a Coot on the lake, and a few species here and there, but the lake was just about to freeze over. Maybe tomorrow I will get out around the Puget Sound a bit and see what’s there. Interestingly when I looked at my Pierce County eBird list for 2016 I have 196 species and 196 complete checklists before going out today. Now one more checklist than species I guess.
3 FOY Pierce Birds
It was great to get out today straight from the 8AM service, and we headed for Purdy with target species of Common Murre, White-winged Scoter, Heermann’s Gull, and Ancient Murrelet. Purdy was pretty quiet, and our next stop at the Fox Island Bridge gave nice looks at lots of birds, but none of the above species. From there we headed to the sand spit at the end of Fox Island, called the Tacoma DeMolay Sandspit Reserve. I didn’t know about this spot until Bruce Labar and Bill Tweit posted their e-bird list from yesterday so I headed there in hopes of COMU and WWSC that they had yesterday. The WWSC were just about the closest birds, with a small flock of 4 SUSC and 4 WWSC seen immediately. After scanning through at least 30 Pigeon Guillemot I finally found a single COMU far off to the left on the water. I also saw a lone Cassin’s Murrelet fly all the way across the spit and continue flying out of sight. They have been unusually frequently seen in the last 10 days on the sound.
From there Kay and I decided to have our picnic lunch on the pier at Titlow Beach. Sunshine, calm winds, and a very obliging Heermann’s Gull perched on one of the posts made lunch very nice.
Overall a wonderful sunny day for late October. Not as exciting as the hoped for Westport Seabirds Pelagic trip that was cancelled for today due to high seas, but still pretty nice.