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.
Category: Pierce County
TAS CBC on a Boat
For the first time I did the Tahoma Audubon CBC from the luxury of a boat. I was able to join Bruce Labar, Charlie & Linnaea, Peter Wimberger, and others on the Sea Scout 72′ boat on a clear, nearly windless cruise of the Puget Sound waters in the CBC circle.
Before the boat Bruce, Peter and I joined Ken Brown, Ryan Weise, Heather Voboril, and Bryon Hanson at Point Defiance so Peter could lead us to the Saw Whet Owl he located there on his early morning walks. We drove right to the area and in short order heard initially a faint tooting call, then a very nearby screech call, then persistant and nearby tooting. Really cool. Two distant GHOW were also calling in the same area.
After that we headed for the boat, and boarded right at 7:30. Bruce was pleasantly surprised to see Charlie and Linnaea there as they are leading the first Neah Bay CBC on tomorrow, and it’s a long drive there. Still they added a big + in finding good birds, as Charlie was all over distane birds, including several Cassin’s Aucklet sightings, and finding the first Ancient Murrelets. Surprises were seeing exactly ONE Boneparte’s Gull, missing the 2-3000 that have been seen recently, and overall relatively few alcids. Still a good day and a warm, easy way to do the TAS CBC.
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.
Orting Farm Loop
Kay and I drove the Orting Farm Loop, across the Puyallup River on Calistoga, today and enjoyed sunny skies and the ride but only a likely juvenile Am. Kestrel was of any note for birds. This was on our way to the Bellevue Arts Museum where the shows were excellent and we visited with Stephanie and Dave Allgood. Lunch at Araya’s Vegan Thai Restaurant was extraordinary.
What Storm?
This morning I got out to look at the Sound, at Brown’s Point Lighthouse and Dash Point, hoping maybe the wind had blown something in from the ocean, but it was very quiet, and despite fair viewing conditions, not much wind or rain, nothing much there. Then I checked out American Lake, at the Camp Murray Boat Launch and the Harry Todd Park, and again nothing much at all. Good to get some fresh air, but not birdy at all.
Pierce First Lapland Longspur
Today Kay and I headed back to Gog-li-hi-ti to look for the Lapland Longspurs seen yesterday by Michael Charest. We got there about 8:30 and started to walk back and forth in the mowed central meadow hoping to see or more likely flush the longspurs. After several transects walked, I was starting to be discouraged, when on the next to the last area, getting closer to the river, I flushed three birds from the grass which called the classic LALO rattle call, and got good looks at the face pattern, unmarked underparts, and face pattern as they flew overhead, made several large circles of the whole area, calling often, before they settled back down just about 50 yards back where we had previously walked. We slowly crept up to where they landed, and Kay first saw one about 10 feet from her. I tried to get in position to see it but it flushed, calling, and set down about 30 feet away in clear sight. Nice views, no photos as i didn’t bring the camera today, but we watched two birds sneak around the grass for a half hour or so. Later as we walked the loop 18 LALO’s took flight, circled a bit, flew across the river before at least 2 returned to the meadow. It is remarkable that we must have walked right by that many without flushing them earlier. Anyway Pierce first for both of us.
Today in Pierce
This morning after a workout at the “Y” I headed for the trail at the end of McNeil in Dupont to see if the Northern Harrier or BBPL seen from there recently might still be around. A bit drizzly but not too wet, but nothing but distant gulls, cormorants, a couple of Common Loons, and small flocks of robins and waxwings seen.
Several more stops at Mount’s Road, Easterday Road, Gog-li-hi-ti, the 11th Street Bridge gull spot, and on the way home the 56th St Stormwater area in Puyallup yielded little of note. Good to be back home birding though.
Pectoral Sandpiper at Levy Pond
Bruce and others have had a Pectoral Sandpiper at Levy Pond for several days, and so when I got home from ME today I headed there after unpacking and getting lunch. Sure enough, it hung around and was in good light at pretty close range for photos.
content/uploads/sites/8/2016/10/29515441103_1ddbee71e4_z.jpg” alt=”29515441103_1ddbee71e4_z” width=”640″ height=”536″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-1285″ />
Six Long-billed Dowichers were there too.
A nice quick stop to feel back at home.
Cassin’s Aucklet Today
About 11:30 AM today Bruce texted to let me know he had a Cassin’s Aucklet off Dash point. I had to work the Rotary Lot 1-5 today so was not able to dash over. I thought it was unlikely the bird would remain long, but after dinner Kay and I went over to check it out and watch the sunset. Nothing at all at Dash Point, but at Brown’s Point Lighthouse sure enough the CAAU was in flat water, just about 200-250 M off shore. We had nice if distant looks, and are confident of the ID. Digiscope attempts in waning light were useless, but the small size, round head, very pointy bill, grayish color overall with whiter below just at the water without a sharp demarcation line, lack of white wing patch and no strong head pattern exclude most other options, and the general shape especially head shape exclude MAMU. A Pierce first for us.
Out with Kay this Morning
This morning Kay and I intended to first bird several areas at Point Defiance, but after checking Owen’s Beach were unable to do the 5-mile drive as it was closed until 10AM. We then went to the Chamber’s Bay beach access where two sanderlings remained, and enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air, but not much else for birds of note.