Most of the group.
On July 5th 26 other birders and I met Matt Stolmeier, Marian’s nephew, and captain for Outer Island Excursions at the Skyline Marina in Anacortes, WA for a chartered trip on their 30/person boat hoping to see the Horned Puffin that has visited the Tufted Puffin colony on Smith Island for the last few summers. We had tried last summer, and though it was a great trip, failed to see the Tufted Puffin. Matt takes many whale watching tours annually, and also has three scheduled bird watching trips this year planned. You can book one here.
Matt is an excellent spotter, and has several other boats on the water, which turned out to be really a good thing. We left the dock at 4PM, with the hopes that as the evening approached more puffins would be nearing the colony ready to feed their young at dusk. On the ride out we saw moderate numbers of Rhinoceros Auklets, cormorants, gulls and enjoyed the great weather and calm seas.
On arrival at Smith Islands we began to see good numbers of the breeders there.
As you can see Smith Island has the prerequisite soil for burrowing birds like puffins and auklets.
We sorted through dozens of Tufted Puffins like this but for our first couple of hours failed to find the Horned Puffin. We focused on finding the hoped for Horned Puffin, but for the first couple of hours saw only Tufted Puffins like this
There were hundreds of Rhinoceros Auklets to admire too. California Gulls were present in small numbers as it’s early for the huge flocks seen later in the summer. Heermann’s Gulls were seen in good numbers for this early in the summer. This species breeds in the Gulf of Mexico, coming north to feed and molt post breeding. After looking for a couple of hours Matt suggested we circle the island and check back at the kelp beds later. We saw this pair of Marbled Murrelets on the other side of Smith Island. We also saw several Common Murres.
As we headed back to the area by the kelp beds where most of the Tufted Puffins were staying Matt got a radio message from one of the captains of another Outer Island Expeditions boat that he had the Horned Puffin in sight. We headed back and after a few minutes of tension, got killer looks and photo ops. My and most other participants first Washington State Horned Puffin. Horned and Tufted Puffins for comparison.
After we got long and great looks at the HOPU, Matt offered a treat. He gave us about an extra hour and we headed out to see the T-99 pod of Orcas not far away. There were 5 Killer Whales in the T-99 pod, a transient pod of marine mammal eating Orcas.
After enjoying the whales, Matt also gave us a nice time at the Williamson Rocks, which is a rocky island near the harbor. Williamson Rocks Most of the time we were at the Williamson Rocks up to 8 Black Oystercatchers noisily circled the island and the boat. A Brown Pelican, uncommon in Skagit County was on the tip of the island.
We got back to the dock about 8 PM with happy faces and expanded state and many life lists.
Be sure to think of Matt if you want a trip to see the birds.
Good birding!
White-tailed Tropicbirds were easily seen in various places.
Although this trip has been based out of the Pono Kai resort about midway up the east coast of Kauai, and has not been primarily a birding trip, I’ve had pretty good chances to get out birding, though have not been able to access any of the higher elevation native habitats needed to see most of the endemic species. Rain- heavy at times- and driving sedan with not-new tires has prevented even trying the dirt roads needed for access to Koke’e State Park and the Alaki i Swamp areas I’d have liked to get to bird in. At the Fern Grotto on a boat ride up the only river large enough to navigate in Kauai, the most common bird was feral Rock Pigeon.
Still I brought a spotting scope, and have birded most of the lower elevation spots I knew about.
My #1 take away is that it is hard to find many species of birds on Kauai. Pacific Golden Plovers are all over Kauai at this time of year.
Hawaii life list prior to this trip, when I’d really only casually birded near Honolulu, and on Maui and Kauai, was only 20 species on eBird. I’d visited Maui in 1992 and Kauai in 2003. I know I had a few more, but didn’t keep good records so that was my starting point. Now with 1 more day and low expectations for any new birds, my HI list stands at 41. Common Myna
At first glance that seems pitiful. I must admit I have not really worked the urban areas to try for every possible introduced species. Misses have included Red Avadavat, Saffron Finch, Japanese Bush-warbler, and African Silverbill. Hawaiian Black-necked Stilt
My birding started at the airport in Maui, where I had a 55 minute layover before changing planes to Kauai. I saw House Sparrow and Common Myna there.
I had learned from the Hawaii Audubon Society website 2 most common birds, Common Myna and Zebra Dove. I believe that. This was one of the few lists that did not have both of those species.
On arrival at our condo, it was dark, so Sunday AM we took a brief walk on the Kapa’a State Beach State Park walkway. Very nice paved walk, on abandoned sugar plantation train route, 4 miles long on Kapa’a shore. #1 eBirder for this hotspot is George Gertz from WA. I managed 10 species, including new HI birds for me White-rumped Sharma. As expected, but still really cool, were Pacific Golden Plovers everywhere. Seen in WA in migration, usually fall juveniles. Fly across the Pacific from Alaska. Here seen all over. Rooftops, parking lots, any grassy area. Wonder what Parr is for a golf course in PGPL / hole. My guess is higher than parr for golf shots. Red-crested Cardinal is one of the more common exotic songbirds here.
Also Sunday we visited ‘Opaeka’s Falls, a nice view but 4 species of birds previously seen. Farther south along Hwy 50 we pulled out at a scenic lookout, and got nice but distant looks at two new HI birds for me, White-tailed Tropicbird and Rose-ringed Parakeet. Also spectacular vistas of a distant waterfall, the seemingly ubiquitous rainbow we have seen this week, (speaks to the weather) and fought off the domestic Jungle Fowl.
Nene, or Hawaiian Goose is fairly common after a successful recovery program.
Monday I headed out myself, leaving Marian to explore Kapa’a Town, and fought rain most of the morning. I planned to head south, visiting some urban, forested and wetland areas. As is often the case when visiting new areas access to viewing was difficult, but I had a nice morning. First was Hule’ia NWR. Heavy rain made it tough, but I managed to see a few Warbling White-eyes, (used to be Japanese White-eye prior to a lump of Japanese and Mountain White-eyes in 2018). I tried and failed to find viewable access to the reservoirs around Koloa, but stumbled upon a birdy area of farmland, finding my only Chinese Hwamei of the trip so far, and great looks at adult male White-rumped Sharma with their long streaming tail feathers. Zebra Dove is one of the most common birds on Kauai, and throughout the islands.
By far my favorite stop of the day was at the Salt Ponds State Park, just past the south tip of the island. A place with open wetlands where sea salt is harvested, making muddy habitat where I found several WATA, RUTU and lots of BNST Hawaiian race, and of course PGPL. I also saw a Brown Booby working off shore, and two species of dabbling ducks, N. Shoveler and N. Pintail. By the time I finished there about noon it was getting really hot, and I headed for the pool and lunch. Cattle Egrets are ubiquitous here.
Tuesday we had planned to take a helicopter ride, but it rained so hard the trip was cancelled. We only planned to do this because Marian won a 2-for-1 drawing at the condo when the concierge told of things to do nearby. My experience on this trip maybe 20 years ago was of trying not to barf from the diesel fumes and motion sickness the whole trip, so I called this good Karma and gladly bailed. We headed for the dry side of the island, and enjoyed stops at the Kawaiele Wildlif¬e Sanctuary¬ where we spotted the first Hawaiian Coot, Hawaiian race of Common Galanule, and N. Mockingbird of the trip. It was great to show Marian Nene, and BCNH too. The rest of the day was beach stops, swimming and nothing special for birds. The old lighthouse at Kilauea Point. It was powered by a kerosene lamp, and with the 8000 pound Fresnel Lens that floated on 260 ;bs of mercury could be seen 90 miles at sea. It is now inoperational.
Wednesday we took a bus trip around the island, with little birding, but saw more White-tailed Tropicbirds here and there, and at the Kilauea Light House saw hundreds of Red-footed Boobies and lots of White-tailed Tropicbirds, Great Frigatebirds, and a few Brown Boobies, along with the expected Laysan’s Albatrosses roosting under some pine trees. 20 years ago when I was there, we saw them nesting on grass right by the lighthouse, but this time they were fairly distant looks. Surprisingly we didn’t find Red-tailed Tropicbird, which I had expected to see. The new LED light can be seen only 7 miles at sea, but does not need the toxic mercury, is efficient and inexpensive to operate.
Today we headed back north, with plans for spending some time at the Kilewea Lighthouse Park on a seawatch, and see the RTTR along with hopefully a Wedge-tailed Shearwater. I spent nearly 2 hours on a seawatch. I did manage lots of great looks at the same species we say yesterday, but no WTSH anywhere. I talked to a ranger. She warned me it was late, but any chance for WTSH would be remaining chicks in their burrows. She advised looking for scree on the paved path, and look near there. We spent a few minutes doing this, and sure enough, right behind the pay-station at the foot of the path was fresh scree, and literally a foot off the trail, in a burrow was what appeared to be a soon-to-fledge WTSH chick peeking out of its hole. Really cute and obliging. My first non-introduced lifer for the trip. Yahoo!
The last birding hotspot of the day was at the Hanalea NWR, a large wetlands where I found Hawaiian Ducks and my first Scaly-breasted Munia of the trip. Earlier this AM on an exercise walk near the condo I had seen several Chestnut Munia, so managed both of those species today. Hawaiian Duck, not the brown tail, distinguishing it from a Mallard.
My takeaways for the trip so far is that a birder should not come to Hawaii expecting to easily tick a large number of species. To get many native species plan to get to high elevation areas, spend some time there, and have an all-wheel drive high clearance vehicle to get in and out.
Still, maybe the definition of a first-world problem is struggling to find a large list of birds when getting to the “garden island” of Kauai for a week away from the short days and likely cold rain of the Puget Sound area in November. View from an overlook above Hanalea.
It’s been a very enjoyable trip, and I’m having lots of fun, and seeing a few birds too.
Until next time, good birding, and good day!
Marian spotted this moose near the end of the auto loop at Turnbull NWR. I had not expected there to be moose there.
Last weekend I headed east of the Cascades to bird some areas I had not visited before, and to introduce a friend and new birder to the experience of a birding trip. We found new roads, good birds and Marian survived, so overall I consider the trip a success. Gray Catbirds seemed easy to find in all three counties we birded on this trip.
We started going north to Hwy 20, the North Cascades Highway. The first birding stop was at the Goodell Creek Bridge near Newhalem. This is one of the best places in WA to see Black Swift. Black Swifts are believed to be breed only in nests behind waterfalls, and forage far and wide espeicially high up, so are tough to go find. It seems more often they are seen almost by accident, looking up into the sky on overcast days near the mountains. Today I lucked out. As I munched a PB&J sandwich on the bridge a single BLSW flew by, among many more Violet-green Swallows. Wild Turkeys were hard to miss each day.
Next stop was at Washington Pass. I had never really stopped there before, but David Poortinga had reported a Spruce Grouse there a month prior, and it was a good half way stop for the day to stretch, so we pulled off on the Chelan County side and explored a bit. The meadow on the west side of the entrance road was lush, moist, and beautiful. A Spotted Sandpiper teetered on a stump in the middle of the meadow. Above the parking lot is a nice short hike to vistas in several directions, that was quite spectacular. A small portion of the vista from Washington Pass overlook.
From there we headed on to Republic, where I thought I had reserved a room. As I got near, I brought up my Priceline app to get exact directions, and was momentarily confused when the map showed it was 1 day, 3 hours to the destination. It turns out I had a reservation in Republic, Missouri. Not helpful, and so we had to settle for the Honeymoon Suite at a low quality place. I felt like a newbie, egg on face. Still, a place to sleep was fine. Not the room I had envisioned, but any port in a storm.
The next day I was excited to bird the Sandpoil River Valley. It is a well known area for eastern U.S. species whose range just makes it into WA in this riparian corredor. The best bird there for me was a calling Least Flycatcher. Misses were Northern Waterthrush, supposedly easy, but not for me that day, Red-eyed Vireo and Bobolink. Still it was great to explore a new area, and the overall birding was good.
About midday we took the turn east onto Wilson Creek Road to Freidlander Meadow, and had lunch and a sit down there. As we ate, and I studied the Red-crossbill flocks, Marian pointed out a large raptor. I oblgingly checked out what I figured was the Red-tailed Hawk that had been screaming, and was very happy to see my FOY Northern Goshawk zipping along the back side of the meadow. No photos as it kept popping behind trees, and gave only interrupted looks, but a clear-cut ID.
Just before lunch we had seen a Black Bear browsing beside the road, and the trip from lunch to the Inchelium Ferry across the Columbia River was uneventful. The ferry was pretty cool, and the drive down to Spokane was beautiful. Red-naped Sapsuckers were easy to find at Mt. Spokane S.P.
Saturday we headed up to Mt. Spokane State Park, and enjoyed the scenery, the short hikes, and another new area for me. At our first stop after entering Turnbull NWR this American White Pelican was the only one we saw on the trip.
Sunday was maybe my favorite day of the trip. We birded Turnbull NWR in the AM, with lots of Gray Catbirds, waterfowl, and a nice scattering of Spokane County species.
After lunch we dipped into Whitman County, to fill out my county list there. Highlights were the two-track roads high with weeds in the wheat fields I chose from the DeLorme road atlas. We didn’t get high-centered, and on the way to Moses Lake for the night tried for Ferruginous Hawk at Wilson Creek (different place I think) but settled for a fly by FOY Black-crowned Night Heron.
I finished the trip with 5 FOY WA birds, 77 new Spokane County species (I started with only 10), 36 new Ferry County birds (83 now) and 22 new Whitman County species failing to make it over 50 species for the county as hot early afternoon was not a productive time there, and we only spent about 2 hours in the county. Trumpeter Swans apparently breed in the NWR too.
We had trouble believing the trash incorporated into the Osprey Nest in Whitman County.
It is always fun to explore new places, and Marian got a feel for what a birding road-trip is like. We got home safely, and I score the overall experience as quite good. Here is the route we took.
Good birding. Good day! More turkeys Long-billed Dowichers at Turnbull. Northern Harriers were abundant at Turnbull too.
Distant Seattle skyline as seen from the north overlook on Mt. Walker today. If you look closely you can see the space needle.
Ken and I spent a very nice day today in Jefferson County, WA birding primarily inland areas in hopes of adding to our meager county life lists. We had a number of highlights, but seeing chicks of two grouse species had to be near the top. This Ruffed Grouse chick was seen after a passing pickup truck driver told us about a “Ruffed-neck Grouse with chicks” just behind us on the road while we were trying to locate a tough-ID flycatcher.
Newly hatched Ruffed Grouse chick seen on Lord’s Lake Loop Road.
Shortly later on the drive up to Mt. Walker we came upon this Sooty Grouse chick along with the mom and another chick ahead of us on the road.
Sooty Grouse chick
We had a really good day with empids, seeing this Willow Flycatcher, along with Hammonds and Pacific Slope Flycathers. All were in full song. We also added Olive-sided Flycatcher and Western Wood-pewee for a great flycatcher day.
Willow FlycatcherSame bird just taking flight.
We did well with woodpeckers also, with Hairy Woodpecker and this Red-breasted Sapsucker. Red-breasted Sapsucker.
We wrapped up the day with about 31 new Jefferson County species for our county lists.
Tomorrow I get together with Will Brooks to record an episode of The Bird Banter Podcast.
Today Bruce Labar (see The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #3) and I did a low elevation Pierce County Big Day. Our goal was to try to see as many species as we could in one day without going to the mountain (Mt. Rainier) and with a level of effort such that we could enjoy ourselves. We understood that for a May Pierce County Big Day we were at a disadvantage by waiting until May 18th. By this date most waterfowl, gulls, loons, alcids and shorebirds have already left for their breeding grounds, and in the past we have tried to time our May Big Day a week or so earlier to catch the lingering species in these groups of birds while delaying long enough to get many of the returning breeding birds. Western Meadowlark from Area 13 JBLM
We waited until today because last weekend we were at the WOS Conference in Moses Lake, and a combination our schedules, weather and convenience had us wait until today. We feel we had a great day all things considered, and at 101 species identified we feel good about our results.
We started the day at Puget Park, where a Barred Owl flew right in for a look after our first playing of a recorded call. Laxuli Bunting at Area 15 JBLM
We made many stops, with 24 eBird lists, and the route was from Puget Park to Point Defiance to Fox Island with a stop at Adam Tallman Park, to Titlow Park, Chamber’s Creek, Steilacom Park and then McNeil Overlook, to JBLM including Spanaway Marsh, Range 72, Muck Creek, Areas 15 and 13, then back to Tacoma and Fife to wrap up the big day about 5:15 PM. Northern Bobwhite from Muck Creek on JBLM
Best birds were the Barred Owl, lingering Pacific Loons and Common Murre at Fox Island, Marbled Murrelets at Titlow Beach and also in Steilacom, Vesper Sparrow, Western Kingbird, Lazuli Bunting and Sora at JBLM, and a Peregrine Falcon in downtown Tacoma. Here are some photos from the day. Lazuli Bunting from Area 15 JBLM
Lark Sparrow seen Thursday on our scouting trip to Gloys Seeps.
Ken Brown (see TBBP Episode #2) and I went to the Washington Ornithologic Society (WOS) convention last weekend and led two field trips as well as went on an epic trip led by Matt Yawney. On Thursday we scouted for our Friday trip to Gloyd Seeps, an area neither of us had birded before. This area has two parking lots off Road 12 on Hwy and we decided to park in the first lot, and hike across the sage / desert to the seep. This turned out to be a hot and long walk in the late morning. It was not terribly birdy until we got to the seep, and we discovered a series of paths and finally a road along the wetlands that went to the second parking lot. We were glad we did this alone, not with the group on the WOS trip. Later in the afternoon, after our briefly checking out areas in the North Potholes Reserve area for our trip Sunday, Ken and I decided to go to Othello and the Para Ponds, hoping to see the colony of Tri-colored Blackbirds there, as well as possible Black-necked Stilts, American Avocet and Wilson’s Phalarope. Success on two, TCBL and BNST. We found the avocet on a later trip, but few WIPH were in the area on any of the trips, and we saw none all weekend. Yellow-headed Blackbird was seen often on this trip.
Friday and Sunday our field trips went uneventfully. Highlights were a perched male Black-chinned Humminbird on Fridays trip at one of the two city parks included, Blue Heron Park, and on Sunday a very cooperative Grasshopper Sparrow that gave everyone great looks. This is usually a hard to see and photograph species, and we felt really good about our looks. Black-chinned HummingbirdGrasshopper Sparrow at North Potholes Reserve.
The highlights, as mentioned in the podcast, were the Saturday trip with Matt Yawney, when we saw 115 species, I entered 19 eBird lists, and everyone felt like we had done a Grant County Big Day. Matt is the top county birder, with great local knowledge, as well as being young, sharp eyed and eared, and being a fine trip leader. He set the Grant County big year record last year with 243 species. On the trip we found a Hermit Warbler at Northrop Canyon, possibly a county first.
Horned Lark
At the Friday WOS social hour and Stump the Experts slide show by Dennis Paulson, he called it Stump the Chumps, the audience volunteered guesses at ID of very challenging photos, and amazingly the audience got some of them right! He had several photos from the UPS museum collection of outstretched bird wings, really tough to ID as a stand alone photo. Check out the collection online here: https://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/slater-museum/biodiversity-resources/birds/wing-image-collection/
An up close Bull Frog.
On Saturday night I was privileged to sit at at table with Ken Brown, Bruce LaBar, Shawneen Finnegan and David Irons, all fine birders, good story tellers, and good folks. It made for great conversation and it was one of the highlights of my weekend. Tree Swallow
Here are some photos from the weekend.
Lark Sparrow
Ken (see The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #2) and I headed out early today for the Moses Lake area to check out the areas were are leading field trips to on Friday and Sunday. Tomorrow we are going to the Gloyd’s Seep area in addition to two small parks near Moses Lake, Blue Heron Park and Neppel Landing. We had not birded two of these areas before, so in order not to get lost, and to feel ready we got here today and checked them out. Great Egret
We first went to Blue Heron Park getting there about 9:15 AM. It was very windy near the lake, and we didn’t see much of interest on the water, a few Western Grebes, very few ducks, etc. It was better behind the bluff in the trees, and we added FOY Black-headed Grosbeak and a few other species.
A quick stop at Neppel Landing gave looks at the water, but few birds. Yellow-headed Blackbird
Gloyd’s Seep is a much larger area that we had not visited before. It is a large patch of sage with a few trees and a big wetlands where a creek spreads out in a low area to form a big wetlands. We were hoping for lots of shorebirds and waterfowl. We saw small numbers of several ducks, including FOY Blue-winged Teal, but only 3 Long-billed Dowichers and Killdeer for shorebirds. Very few passerines were found. Blue-winged Teal Cinnamon Teal
We had time after this to scout the area of Sunday’s trip to the Potholes Reserve near the heron rookery. We felt much better about this area. We saw more FOY species, including Lark Sparrow, Forester’s Tern, and got nice looks at Clark’s Grebe and Spotted Sandpiper. Turkey Vulture
Not to sleep fast and be ready to meet our group at 5:45 AM tomorrow. Lark Sparrow
Wish us luck, good birding and a good day! The same to all of you.
A smippet of the shorebirds at Bottle Beach TodayToday Bruce LaBar and I led a trip for the Gray’s Harbor Shorebird Festival to the Bottle Beach, Tokeland and Westport area. Hear more about Bruce LaBar on The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #3. Gray’s Harbor is one of the 4 most important shorebird refueling stopovers on their northward spring migration from their southern wintering grounds to their arctic breeding locations. Western Sandpiper was probably the shorebird we saw in the highest numbers today.
Every year large percentages of the west coast Western Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowichers, Dunlin, Red Knots, and other species stop over at Gray’s Harbor, and especially in Bowerman Basin, to rest and feed to fatten up for their next leg of the migratory journey.
In the spring it is always good to have one shorebird that is unmistakable. The Dunlin, with its black belly and red back is tough to screw up ID in our area.
Their next stop in many cases is the Copper River Delta, and then on to the arctic. On the east coast the analogous areas are the Delaware Bay and Bay of Fundy. Today did not disappoint as we saw 15 species of shorebirds and thousands of individuals. There were about 34 birders loaded onto a school bus to get around, and we made 5 stops.
Whimbrel were at Tokeland in good numbers, and not seen again all day.
This year the high tide was about 3 PM, so we headed straight for Tokeland to look for birds there at low tide, hoping to catch the spectacle of Bottle Beach on an incoming tide in the early afternoon. At Tokeland, besides Nelson Crab House, where at least one birder had a crab cocktail before 9 AM, we saw 3 common species, Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher and Dunlin, and saw our only Whimbrel of the trip.
This Least Sandpiper with a Dungeoness Crab shell was the first close-look shorebird of the day at Tokeland.
In addition we saw and heard Purple Martins, and saw Common Loons in both basic and alternate (breeding) plumage. One breeding plumage Red-necked Grebe, Caspian Tern, a single distant Eurasian Wigeon, and a Peregrine Falcon on a channel marker were highlights. We totaled 31 species at this stop. `Here is the eBird link. https://ebird.org/pnw/view/checklist/S55869326
Barn Swallows were present at nearly every stop today.
A stop at Graveyard Spit added our first Red Knots and Ruddy Turnstones of the day, as well as a Greater Yellowlegs. The tide was quite low, and birds there were distant. Bruce and I tried to assure birders that we would have much closer looks at these birds at Bottle Beach, and we kept moving. Ebird list for this stop: https://ebird.org/pnw/view/checklist/S55869336
We saw Common Loons in both basic winter plumage, and like this one in Alternate breeding plumage.
From here we headed for Grayland Beach. Bruce had noted that the 2-day prior trip to the same areas had seen Snowy Plover at Grayland Beach, so we were hopeful to do likewise. This is at the very northern edge of its range, and Snowy Plovers struggle because they like to breed in the same areas people like to play with their dogs, their SUVs and hence breeding can be problematic for a species that builds a nest in the dry sand up on the beach. Still, we managed to see 3 Snowy Plover, along with spring Baird’s Sandpiper and a Red-necked Phalarope, both unexpected bonus birds for the trip. eBird list: https://ebird.org/pnw/view/checklist/S55869367
I like this Snowy Plover photo, not because it’s a good close-up, but because it shows how darn hard it is to see these little guys.
The primary reason this feastival works is because of the topography of Gray’s Harbor. It is a vast mudflat at low tide, that at high tide has very limited places for shorebirds to feed, congregating the birds into predictable areas for viewing. The best place used to be near the airport in Hoquiam, but as the sands have shifted, now Bottle Beach, across the harbor near Westport is much better.
More of the spectacle.
Yesterday I saw an estimated 6-7000 shorebirds there, and today there were less birds, but still a good show. We estimated over 1500 shorebirds, with close looks at all species seen as the tide pushed the birds in close to us for viewing. We estimated 80 Black-bellied Plover, 20 Semi-palmated Plover, 1 Marbled Godwit, 8 Ruddy Turnstone, 20 Red Knot (I had over 175 yesterday at the same location), 40 Sanderling, 250 Dunlin, 800 Western Sandpiper, 250 Shirt-billed Dowitcher, 25 Greater Yellowlegs, and 31 total species. eBird list: https://ebird.org/pnw/view/checklist/S55869287
Red Knots in the spring are a beautiful red. In the fall they resemble their European Name, Gray Knots, as they are a uniform gray-color. We are lucky to see them in Gray’s Harbor in their red outfits at this time of year.
We had time after Bottle Beach to retrace our track to the Westport Marina area where a Wandering Tattler was almost immediately found by Bruce on the rocks beside the viewing platform, another Red-necked Phalarope was seen by a couple birders, all 3 species of cormorant, Common Loons, and a very close and cooperative breeding plumage Rhinoceros Aucklet were the stars.
Wandering Tattler
Rhinoceros Aucklet, with its Rhino Horn from which it gets its name.
We got back to the Hoquiam Middle School by 4 PM with a trip list of 69 species. Everyone seemed to have a good time, Bruce shared some local history on the bus rides between stops, and I managed to stay awake all the way home. (jet lag still is kicking my butt)
Western GullsBaird’s Sandpiper, an uncommon spring adult.Caspian TernPigeon GuillemotsA distant Peregrine Falcon. Falcons enjoy the shorebirds in a different way.Semi-palmated Plover
Find Black-bellied Plover, Red Knot, Short-billed Dowicher, Ruddy Turnstone here.
Overall a great day. Good birding. Good day!
Today was a really pleasant day of birding in Morocco. After an open air breakfast on the roof of the inn, we headed to a park with a lake and woodlands called Dayet Aoua, where almost immediately we found good numbers of Hawfinch, lifers for many thought I’d seen Hawfinch in England in 2006 on a Rotary Friendship Exchange trip.
Hawfinch
We found lots of first birds for Morocco, including Eared Grebe (here called Black-necked Grebe) and a great look at a Great Spotted Woodpecker excavating a nest cavity. I got a good video of this species and posted it to my Facebook and Instagram pages, so not added here as a video. Here are a couple of still shots.
Great Spotted Woodpecker
The rest of the day was spent at other woodland areas, where we added Atlas Flycatcher with incredible ease. This can be a tough bird to find, and Mohammad had one before we got out of the bus
Our last trip bird today was a very distant scope look at a Northern Shoveler at a lake. We earlier got brief looks at Iberian Chifchaff.
One of many “dunes view” spots we saw today.
How nice today to have a day with lots of birding, less driving and what driving we did was in 4 wheel drive SUV in the desert, and finishing early for a swim. We are at a hotel in Merzouga, right on the edge of the Sahara. It is a place people come to play in the desert, and we did just that, American birder style.
A lunch spot in the shade under a bridge over a ‘”wadi” or a wash.
After a late breakfast at 7:30 we hopped into 4 SUVs, just Bruce, myself and our driver in ours, as for our group of 11 someone had an empty seat, and as Bruce and I had 2 of the 3 spotting scopes on the trip we got the spare seat. Greater Flamingos at Dayet Srij.
First stop was at a beautiful shallow lake near town where some years there is water. Lots this year, and an estimated 1500+ Greater Flamingos distracted us from seeing all the other cool shorebirds. We tore our eyes free to see lots though, including good looks, but no photos of Spotted Sandgrouse flying by and stopping on the shore. Sharing scopes prevented either of us from getting digiscope shots of them standing, and my inability to get on them with the camera in flight precluded flight shots. Still, really cool to see these lifers. Ruddy Shelducks and Mottled Teal with babies were great to see, and Ruff, Common Redshank and Greenshanks, Common and Kentish Plovers, Black and Gull-billed Terns, Little Stints, Black-winged Stilts, and much more gave quite a show. Still a common North American gull, Franklin’s Gull, rare in Morocco was the “hot” bird of the stop, found by Stephan Schlick and his tour group earlier this month.
Franklin’s Gull
After that we drove through the desert and saw Desert Warblers, Cream-colored Coursers, a Pharaoh Eagle Owl, and just enjoyed the desert. Highlight for me though was seeing Egyptian Nightjar. Mohammad, our in-country guide, along with the drivers have a network of local Bedouin shepherd families and they know birders want to see this species. They keep their eyes open, and after a few calls we raced to a remote family residence where a local woman pointed us right at the nightjars.
The group got good looks and then I snuck in for photos.
We finished the day driving to a sandstone cliff area, Escarpment au sud-ouest Tinegherass, where a Pharoah Eagle Owl nest was known to be, and we got great looks at this owl.
Pharoah Eagle OwlBedouin Home
Then back by 4:45 PM, a nice swim and a beer, and now off to dinner.
Good birding. Good Day!
