Ken Brown, Bruce LaBar and I met at 6 AM yesterday to go on our more-or-less annual pilgramage to see our FOY birds that are most easily seen in eastern WA. I chose this day because we could all go, and because the weather looked promising. As we got over the Cascades about 7:30 it was clear that the weather was going to cooperate, and as we got to our first stop for sage species though still chilly, there was almost no wind (rare for this wind-farm area) and the sun warmed things up. Sage Thrashers were singing in all directions, and we also added the expected Brewer’s Sparrow and hoped for Vesper Sparrow both singing and perching in view for us.
One of the cool things about birding in the spring in wide open areas is that the birds there have big loud songs. At our next stop, the Wild Horse Puget Sound Wind Farm HQ, Sagebrush Sparrow was no exception, as were Mountain Bluebirds, Say’s Phoebe and more thrashers and Brewer’s Sparrows.
From here we worked our way along the Old Vantage Hwy to Vantage. Along the way we stopped to see the Great Horned Owl on a nest at a cliffside area, and then on to the Gingko boat ramp, where Rock Wrens were singing, but we missed Canyon Wren.
From here we headed to the County Line Ponds. At County Line Ponds the American Avocet and Black-necked Stilts were easily seen, but the highlights for us were large flocks of Sandhill Cranes calling and flying overhead, an immature Golden Eagle on a utility pole, singing Horned Lark, and great studies, thanks to Ken’s expertise, of the Gambellii subspecies of White-crowned Sparrow.
From hgere on to Othello, where very few blackbirds were to be found, though we added Yellow-headed Blackbird we dipped on Tricolored. FOY Cliff Swallows, that nest in numbers under bridge there were FOY for all of us, and we looked over the vast flocks of Cackling Geese, finding one Greater White-fronted but no rarities. Shorebirds were overall absent. (Killdeer and Black-necked Stilts were there).
We enjoyed the weather, the Mariner’s game on Ken’s phone, and our company as we crossed the Columbia NWR to the Moses Lake area for FOY Clark’s Grebe before heading home. On any trip there are some cool finds.
When the Mariner’s saved their terrible road trip from total disaster with a 10 inning 6-1 win our smiles were cemented for the ride home.
I think Bruce and Ken both had 15+ FOY species for the trip (I went to Yakima last month, so had a few of these) and one more great day birdng with friends is in the book.
Category: Ken
Some Days are Just Special
A delayed post here about a really terrific day of birding at Tokeland, WA with really good birding buddies Ken Brown and Bruce LaBar. Often days of birding have their ups and downs. Maybe the birds are good, but the weather is lousy. Maybe you find some desired species and miss others. Maybe traffic is tough on the way to or from the destination. Then some days seem like not much could go better. Friday, Oct 27, 2023 was one of those really great days.
Ken met me at my house at 6:30, a really civilized time we thought, and we picked up Bruce and headed for Tokeland, WA where a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher had been found two days prior and seemed to be sticking around. The drive down was full of talk of Mariners baseball, the MLB playoffs and World Series, along with the usual catching up with each others lives. Immediately on arrival at the designated 8th and Kindred intersection we parked a block away and as we walked to the intersection saw a birder aiming his long lens at the wires over the intersection. I shouted to Ken and Bruce that THE BIRD was on the wire. We walked up in beautiful crisp cool air and morning light to see the WA lifer for Ken and myself Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in exactly the same place it had been for the last 2 days (off-and-on).
We all celebrated the great bird, spent some time watching it, and headed off to the marina to look for the other target birds of the day. It was near high tide, and the usual flock of Marbled Godwits were immediately under the bank on the shoerline of the marina, and we quickly located the one Bar-tailed Godwit among the maybe 1000 or so MAGOs. Over 30 Willits were in the flock, along with a few Short-billed Dowichers. A bit later as we walked out to the fishing pier to look for the female King Eider (a.k.a. “Queen Eider”) we got great looks at the county first for me Surfbird, far from surf, huddled at along with the godwits.
The eider was spotted far out off the jetty for identifiable but poor views, but later in the day we all got much better looks. We spent the rest of the day birding the marina, enjoying the sunshine, and generally feeling great.
The drive home was easy, and we all got home for dinner safely. Overall an A+ day in my way of looking at life. Great friends, great birds, great weather. It all adds up to a memorable day.
May there be many more!
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.
Local Rarity Chases Today
Today Ken came over to chase the Glaucous Gull and Common Redpoll that had been seen near the Puyallup River recently. I made a really quick stop for the gull at the 11th Street Bridge without luck before meeting Ken and Bryan at the Gog. We chased two good sized flocks of PISI around for a couple of hours without any luck, and then headed back to the bridge to try for the gull. Very few gulls were at the bridge, but lots at the mouth of the river, so after a while we drove across to the Stewart St. entrance to the trail to the river mouth and hiked out there.
Lots of gulls, a good flock of Dunlin, and a few other birds but no GLGU at the mouith, but while out there we got a text from Peter W. that the GLGU was back at the gull bathing spot. We quickly walked back to find that it had flown away towards Gog-li-hi-ti just before we got back.
So back to the Gog where we almost immediately got on the Glaucous Gull on a container with pretty good scope views.
Another hour + of chasing siskins around failed to show the Redpoll, though I did spot a Black phoebe over the water in the second field. Marv Breese had the Redpoll, and I think I got a glimpse in his camera viewfinder, but none of the rest of us could locate it again before I left just after 1 PM. A nice day one Pierce lifer for me, but disappointment on missing the CORE.
Catching Up
Life has been hectic since getting back from the coast ABC trip. See the post on the ABC site for a report on the rest of the trip.
Highlights since returning have included seeing the Franklin’s gull at Dash Point (Pierce FOY) and best of all the Lesser Black-backed Gull at the 11th St. Bridge. I was working at Brett’s house on August 5th, planning a couple of hours of work before heading to Rotary, when Will sent out a group text that he had the LBBG. I quickly left, binos but no scope, and on arrival at the bridge Will and Michael Charest both had the gull in their scopes from the shore just upstream from the bridge. It was only maybe 40 meters out on the sand bar, and I got great looks, a couple digiscope photos on Will’s scope, and drank in great looks. The gull was obvious through binos, by its very dark back and wings, its yellow legs, pale yellow eye, and was felt to be a 3rd year because it lacked much for white spots in the wing tips. This was a Pierce lifer for me.
A Heerman’s gull, again found by Will Brooks, has been hanging out on the Marine Park all this week, and I was just driving into my parking spot here at home when will texted us all. I hopped back in the car and again without a scope easily found the gull on the pilings as described.
Yesterday Bruce and I spent the morning birding Pierce from the south back to Pt. Defiance. Stops at Mount’s Road, Easterday Rd, the trail at the end of McNeil (where Bruce showed me a better place to look over the delta area), a new spot for me called Saltar’s Point Park in Steilacoom, Sunnyside Beach, and Pt. Defiance gave us nice looks at lots of common birds, but nothing outstanding.
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.
Bushwhacking Around Government Meadow
Today Ken, Bruce and I went to try for the woodpeckers seen recently at Government Meadows. Bruce drove and we got to the horse camp 19 miles on FR 70 on the left off Hwy 410. The first 10 miles are paved, then it’s dirt but a pretty good road. Note-to-self to stay straight at the fork where it looks like the better dirt road turns left. At the horse camp there is a pretty nice toilet and a good picnic table.
Our plan was to first bird the 3/4 mile trail from the horse camp to the PCT. Given this we made our biggest mistake of the day, leaving our water and lunch in the car, planning on picking it up prior to going on toward Government Meadow. On Saturday Marcus and Wayne had two pair of Black-backed woodpeckers, one at the start of the trail, and another near the junction with the PCT. We found one Red-breasted sapsucker near the start of the trail in the snags on the left, and near the piled up decomposing logs a bit farther in we had another sapsucker we hope is a Red-naped sapsucker, but may be a hybrid RNSA x RBSA. I’ve sent this out to several of the top birders around and await their opinion.
No BBWO though, and so we decided to bushwhack our way to the small meadow where Bruce and Peter W. had seen nesting BBWO last week. From there we managed to get to a different meadow, not find the BBWO, go on to find an off trail route to a large meadow we think may have been a part of Government Meadow with a backtrack to chase a drumming RBSA to the meadow Bruce had us aiming for initially. From there after finding the large meadow we could not locate the PCT, initially looking for a trail off the meadow, then taking a steep dirt road (Naches Trail) downhill, back to the meadow, behind the meadow, then back again. We finally decided to bushwhack back to the initially targeted meadow, which we managed to find pretty easily, and then bushwhack up to the PCT. By now it was about 2 PM and we were thirsty, hungry and tired by the time we got to the car. I never really felt lost, but certainly we were a bit confused as to the best way to get back onto the Pacific Crest Trail again though.
We did manage good birds on this exploration of the area. In one of the meadows we found Lincoln’s sparrow, had a fly by of a calling Evening grosbeak, Gray jays were around with one flying in for a close look while we watched the possible RNSA, and Hermit thrush, Varied thrush, and DEJU were seen several times each.
After a late lunch and rehydration on the drive back down FR 70 Bruce spotted a Ruffed grouse on the side of the road. We managed to stop, all get nice looks, and get photos as it puffed up and strutted before walking into the grass.
For me 4 FOY Pierce county birds, Evening grosbeak, Gray jay, Pine grosbeak and Ruffed Grouse, with a possible fifth if the sapsucker is deemed to be a Red-naped.
Nisqually NWR
Today, after spending most of the last 2 weeks getting ready to move, I got together with Ken and we went to Nisqually NWR for the morning. Overall cool and damp but not rainy in the AM, but by afternoon it warmed up and was nice. Birding at Nisqually was typical summer breeding birds in good numbers but nothing really remarkable. Coolest thing was maybe that finally, after several years have passed since tearing down the dike and letting tidal action cover most of the reserve, a Salicornia like growth is covering much of the flats. Hoping for good shorebirding in the fall this year.
In the PM we first went to the Pierce side lookout at the end of McNeil in Dupont hoping for a White Pelican, but not. Then we visited Harry Todd, hoping for WBNU but not. Then went to the look at the Mountain View Cemetery marsh to get a few FOY Pierce birds for Ken. Good to get out.
BIrding in Sunshine, Pierce County in January with a Good Buddy
Birding locally does not get much better than getting out with a good birding buddy, on a sunny day, and finding most of the birds you are looking for. That was today for me. Ken texted last night to see if I was interested in getting out in Pierce County to look for several FOY WA state birds for him and several FOY Pierce and/or state birds for me. Sounded great and we met and headed for American Lake to get Canvasbacks for Ken, easy at the Ft. Lewis boat ramp, then south to Easterday Road where the White-crowned Sparrow was at the feeders as expected. In addition a Wilson’s Snipe flew up just as I clapped my hands to startle it at a wet area after I told Ken this was an area they had been seen by others, but not by me Pretty cool experience. Not much was at Mount’s Road, and we headed back to see if we could find the Clark’s Grebe at the N. American Lake Park.
It was fairly easily found once we found a not too back-lit viewing area, and Marv Breese and we found it almost simultaneously. Pretty good though distant views. The bright yellow-orange bill, eye in the white of the face, and slightly paler gray color were noted and as we gave high-fives all around we headed to Gog-li-hi-ti for the Black Phoebe that has eluded me yesterday.
On arrival there a King Co. birder nabbed us on the walk in and told us just were to find the bird. Pretty much where we expected from my discussion yesterday with Bruce Labar and earlier with Marv. It posed pretty nicely for a photo and we felt like we couldn’t miss today.
The next stop for Slaty-backed gull at the 11th St Bridge proved us wrong, as almost no gulls were around, so we decided to see if we could find the Least Sandpipers reported a few days ago by Bruce at Alexander St. We got there and immediately were drawn to looking at a hybrid American x Eurasian Wigeon It was pretty cool, but eluded good photos. I soon noted a few Least Sandpipers near the right edge of the water and as we scoped the area we realized we has 26 individuals working the rocky beach.
Overall a great day together. I had 5 FOY Pierce birds, including two tough ones, the WTSP and BLPH. Sunny days birding in the Pacific NW rock!
Snowy Egret in Pierce Today
Thanks to a call from Bruce Labar I dashed off to see the Snowy Egret he located at the industrial pond on 43rd St in Fife. It was a county first and a WA second bird for me. Nice! Ken dashed over from Green Mountain where he was watching Gray Jays, Diane Y-Q came over from Kitsap, and birders near and far descended. 
