Bruce LaBar and I headed east chasing two birds neither of us had ever seen in WA. Ken Brown was planning to join us but I got a call about 3:40 AM, about 20 minutes before I expected him to meet me at my house, that the power was out at his home and he needed to stay home to keep everything going. So I picked Bruce up at 4 AM and headed for Spokane to try to find the Black-throated Green Warbler that has been found in Waterfront Park there a few days earlier. Bruce hadn’t gone yet primarily because he had been recovering from major back surgery. He called the night prior to see if I was up to chase the Eastern Bluebird, a first state record, that had been found at Leslie Groves Park in Benton County. On talking with Ken, he suggested we make a loop for both birds, either in one day or if needed with an overnight stay. We decided to try for both.
Snoqualmie Pass had 50 mph traffic until we were headed down the east slope, but overall traffic was fine, and the roads in good shape despite the snow. A big plus for us for the whole day was that due to slow travel over the pass, Bill Tweit was just about a half hour ahead of us, and as we approached Spokane he and Bruce talked, first to tell us where to park, at the Centenial Hotel lot, and minutes later that he was on the warbler with great directions. As we quickly walked across the bridge onto the island in the river, Bill waved us over and pointed to the warbler. Bingo, WA lifer #408 for me and #459 for Bruce.
After drinking in this bird for a half hour or so we left and headed for Benton County and the Eastern Bluebird. A remarkably similar story as Bill was ahead of us, gave us parking info and then as we walked into the park he pointed out the bird for us. This was a spectacular finding with a great back story. It was posted initially on iNaturalist, discovered by I believe Charlie Wright, and the birding community notified and descended in mass the next day. We arrived on day 3 for the bird I believe, and in beautiful sunshine it cavorted with another county first for me, a Mountain Bluebird.
After a safe drive home, 666 miles later we were happy birders. Here is Bruce’s eBird Profile.
Of note Ken and Jacob Miller got out the next day and got both species too.
Good birding.
Tag: State Birding
The Bird Banter Podcast #134 with Mike Resch Additional Info.
Mike Resch is such a wealth of information on state and province birding throughout the continental U.S. and Canada. He has not just birded in every state and province, he has birded a lot in every state. So much that he has seen >200 bird species in every U.S. state (except Hawaii). You can find more about Mike on his State Birding Blog
We talk about his most recent trip to western Montana and the Idaho panhandle. We talk about the difference between chasing rarities and finding a large number of common birds in each state. Mike has done both, so knows the difference well.
Mike also has a post-retirement business of trip guiding and planning. If you need help planning a trip to see rarities, see great birding spots near where you’ll be visiting, or otherwise planning a birding trip, Mike is available to help. Reach him through his website or at reschmike1-at-gmail-dot-com on email.
I read Mike’s blog, and wondered how he creates the cool U.S. maps with color and numbers for each state. I didn’t ask him how he does it, but this website works.
If you want to hear the first episode with Mike check out episode #33
I’m hoping that when Mike decides to visit eastern WA and OR that we can link up and bird a bit together there. He has not visited these areas, and I love getting east of the mountains birding. Mike has 268 WA species and 249 in OR, all west of the Cascades. I’m sure we could add some good birds for the states in SE WA and NE OR. The Blue Mountains, Mal Huer, and the Asotin County areas would make a great trip.
Here are some photos of birds mentioned on the episode.
If you know of birders who might make great guests, please contact me with suggestions.
Thanks for following. Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #33 with Mike Resch supporting notes.
In The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #33 with Mike Resch we talk primarily about his lifelong quest to see over half of the birds on the state bird checklist in the lower 48 states + Washington D.C. So far he has about 14,700 state ticks, and is only 2 states from achieving his goal. Oregon and Montana are yet to succumb to his passion, but they are on the near-term horizon.
You can find Mike at his blogG. State Birding on Blogspot, or you can email him at reschmike1 – at- gmail -dot- com”
Mike has a public profile on eBird. Here is a link to his profile. https://ebird.org/pnw/profile/MjM1MjQ3/US
I mentioned my Ferruginous Hawk trip. Here is a link to a facebook post about that.
Please ask questions, leave comments, and subscribe to The Bird Banter Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher.
Good Birding. Good Day.