7/01/2023 Wahkiakum County (link to here)
In a visit earlier this spring we put 100 species within reach in Wahkiakum County. Today we completed the job. We knew where to go; Darchelle's research had determined that we could find all the species we needed by visiting just two locations - Julia Butler Hansen NWR + and a place called Alcyon Farm + - so visit them we did, after a stop at the Cathlamet Marina l+ and a brief exploration of Little Island +. The marina had been our first stop during our first (and unfortunately undocumented) visit to the county in 2019 so it just felt appropriate to stop there on this, perhaps our last, visit to the county four years later. Crossing the bridge onto Little Island felt familiar too, as if we had been there before even though we did not stop there back in March. But we had been there before, back in January 2021, to chase a rare White-tailed Kite. We encountered nothing rare this morning though between the two stops we added 14 new county birds, a strong start towards our goal. At Julia Butler Hansen l+ we added 6 more (5 for me since I missed the Caspian Tern) and at (or at least in the vicinity of) Alcyon Farm l+,
another 5.
The hour or so we spent in the lush mixed forest along Oatfield Road near Alcyon Farm in Skamokawa (apparently pronounced Skamockaway) was a highlight of our weekend. There was the Sooty Grouse we both heard at the end of the county road, a cleanup bird for me since the one I heard back in April may have been a phantom. There was the Barred Owl we flushed near the double-track driveway to Alcyon Farm, a satisfying sighting despite not getting a photo because our Barred Owl back in March was a heard-only bird.
Then there was the young male Hermit Warbler which Darchelle called out of the treetops after I
suggested that the second-growth fir (and spruce?) forest around us should be mature enough to host
them. It flew down to perch on a Salmonberry twig right outside my car window, turning this way and
that and singing softly while it searched for its mysteriously invisible competitor. Sweet bird
encounters enhanced by our sweet memories of our 2019 stay at the nearby
Inn at Crippen Creek +,
memories made more poignant both by the Inn no longer offering the dinner and accommodations we
enjoyed back then and by my own decline which would render the Inn inaccessible even if it were
still open.
Wahkiakum completed, we set out forhome Mason County.
In a visit earlier this spring we put 100 species within reach in Wahkiakum County. Today we completed the job. We knew where to go; Darchelle's research had determined that we could find all the species we needed by visiting just two locations - Julia Butler Hansen NWR + and a place called Alcyon Farm + - so visit them we did, after a stop at the Cathlamet Marina l+ and a brief exploration of Little Island +. The marina had been our first stop during our first (and unfortunately undocumented) visit to the county in 2019 so it just felt appropriate to stop there on this, perhaps our last, visit to the county four years later. Crossing the bridge onto Little Island felt familiar too, as if we had been there before even though we did not stop there back in March. But we had been there before, back in January 2021, to chase a rare White-tailed Kite. We encountered nothing rare this morning though between the two stops we added 14 new county birds, a strong start towards our goal. At Julia Butler Hansen l+ we added 6 more (5 for me since I missed the Caspian Tern) and at (or at least in the vicinity of) Alcyon Farm l+,
Willow Flycatcher, Julia Butler Hansen NWR
Alcyon Farm driveway, Skamokawa
Hermit Warbler, Skamokawa
The hour or so we spent in the lush mixed forest along Oatfield Road near Alcyon Farm in Skamokawa (apparently pronounced Skamockaway) was a highlight of our weekend. There was the Sooty Grouse we both heard at the end of the county road, a cleanup bird for me since the one I heard back in April may have been a phantom. There was the Barred Owl we flushed near the double-track driveway to Alcyon Farm, a satisfying sighting despite not getting a photo because our Barred Owl back in March was a heard-only bird.
Hermit Warbler, Skamokawa
Hermit Warbler, Skamokawa
Hermit Warbler, Skamokawa
Wahkiakum completed, we set out for
7/02/2023 Mason County, mostly (link to here)
We pulled into Shelton, Mason's County seat and perhaps only city with a motel, around 7 PM, too late
to get started on our quest to find 32 more species of birds to add to Darchelle's county list.
Instead we stopped at the Shelton Inn, a property which though neatly painted nonetheless manages to
look a little long in the tooth, to inquire about a room for the night. Before Darchelle ventured
into the office, I suggested that if the price was more than $200, we should just drive home and
return tomorrow. We did not have to do that - the price of their last available ground floor room
was $125 - but I did have to forgo pooping for the third day in a row because the toilet was too low
and the bathroom too tight. The bed was nice and hard though and I would have slept well have we
not stayed up too late once again watching Suits.
In the morning we stopped at Urraco Coffee Company +, conveniently just down the street. Darchelle picked me up a Drip with an extra shot to augment my preexisting coffee from yesterday and it was good but not until we got home did I realize how good. She had picked up a bag of their House Roast, as she is wont to do when we visit a new coffee shop, and it was exceptional. But I digress.
We had no plan for our campaign to complete Mason County but after a fruitless stop at the local marina we found ourselves in a
lumberyard l+
in Johns Prairie a few miles north of town. Nesting Ospreys, a distant Turkey Vulture and multiple
singing White-crowned sparrows gave us our first three species but it was behind shrink-wrapped
packages of dimensioned lumber in a parking lot out back that we really got underway. The dry
brushy woodland of Lodgepole Pine and Douglas Fir fronted by a bank of willow and Scotch Broom
delivered another 14 species for Darchelle's list. A brushy but otherwise undistinguished clearcut
along Brockdale
Road l+ provided another 4 species and
West Skokomish Valley
Road l+ supplied the rest. My most exciting bird of the day was a Black Swift flying directly
away from us over the Skokomish River bridge but, unable to definitively identify it, we did not
count it.
Mason County complete, we set out forhome Kitsap County. Darchelle needed just a handful of
summer forest species to top 100 and we found them in a wooded port Orchard neighborhood l+. The few neighbors who noticed
us seemed a bit uncomfortable about our presence though perhaps we were imagining that; after all we
are white, middle-aged, apparently heterosexual and driving a fairly nice car - you can't get much less
threatening than that, at least while driving around a well-to-do white neighborhood in the Pacific
Northwest.
At the Shelton Inn
In the morning we stopped at Urraco Coffee Company +, conveniently just down the street. Darchelle picked me up a Drip with an extra shot to augment my preexisting coffee from yesterday and it was good but not until we got home did I realize how good. She had picked up a bag of their House Roast, as she is wont to do when we visit a new coffee shop, and it was exceptional. But I digress.
Black-throated Gray Warbler, Skokomish River Valley
Townsend's Warbler, Skokomish River Valley
Mason County complete, we set out for
7/06/2023 Lincoln County (link to here)
With the completion of Wahkiakum and Mason Counties last weekend, Darchelle has six counties left in which she does not yet have 100 species. Three of those are down in the southeastern corner of Washington; this weekend we set out to tackle the other three.
Those three counties comprise a contiguous block bordering the Columbia River in the northeastern quadrant of the state. From the Canadian border the Columbia flows south through about 70 miles of forested mountains in northeastern Washington before joining up with the smaller Spokane River and turning abruptly to the west. Ferry and Stevens counties encompass those forested highlands on the west and east sides of the Columbia respectively. Lincoln County m+ occupies the northern third of the Columbia Plateau +, straddling its northern rim and following the south bank of the Spokane River to its confluence with the Columbia then downstream to Grand Coulee Dam. The plateau is a primarily geographic feature which is more or less coterminous with the geologic province of the Columbia Basin +, a region of gently rolling hills, almost entirely devoted to dryland wheat cultivation, interspersed with deep canyons and rugged valleys which were carved into the underlying basalt by massive ice age floods. Lacking deep soils, these channeled scablands + have not been converted to agriculture so still retain native shrub-steppe habitat + with marshes and ponds occupying low areas scoured out by the floods.
In Lincoln County + the scablands are most evident in the area west and south of Sprague but otherwise, as we drove across the county on I-90 we didn't see anything but wheatfields and indeed the county is generally acknowledged as one of the largest wheat producers in the country, second only to neighboring Whitman County. The apparent absence of trees would suggest a corresponding absence of birds but the Washington Birder County checklist + includes 311 species while eBird + reports 310 species on about 12K checklists. By comparison, Whitman County has only 278 species in eBird + and even neighboring Spokane County, with more than 53K checklists, lags Lincoln at 308 species in eBird +.
Unlike in the rest of Lincoln County, the Columbia Plateau along its northern edge reaches an elevation sufficient to support groves of Ponderosa Pine before it drops precipitously down to the Spokane and Columbia Rivers in a series of forested canyons. Both the mixed coniferous forest on the canyon slopes and the ribbons of dense riparian vegetation along the mostly ephemeral streams in the floors of the canyons support diverse communities of birds.
Our plan was to visit those canyons early tomorrow morning so we drove over the mountains today to bird areas around Sprague for the afternoon before driving up to Davenport for the night. As the county seat and largest city, Davenport boasts at least two motels and twice that many restaurants. Sprague has a motel too but it looks as though it might have closed down several years ago, and moreover Davenport would be closer to our target areas. Sprague also has a lake l+ and a sewage treatment plant l+, both stocked with waterfowl, and between the two locations we added 15 species to Darchelle's county list.
By the time we reached Davenport, the Davenport Motel had filled up so we stayed at the Black Bear, not our favorite but at least they had a room. We stayed in room 6, the "City Slicker", and it was better than the last room we stayed in, the "Farmer", but the lighting was still dingy, the bathroom still inaccessible and the bed still too soft. Still for all that we enjoyed a comfortable supper together, though we once again stayed up later than we should have watching Suits. In the morning during breakfast I discovered that I had acquired a new ailment - a hollow popping sound below my left ear each time I bite down while chewing. Dr Google diagnosed it as TMJ after we got home.
With the completion of Wahkiakum and Mason Counties last weekend, Darchelle has six counties left in which she does not yet have 100 species. Three of those are down in the southeastern corner of Washington; this weekend we set out to tackle the other three.
Those three counties comprise a contiguous block bordering the Columbia River in the northeastern quadrant of the state. From the Canadian border the Columbia flows south through about 70 miles of forested mountains in northeastern Washington before joining up with the smaller Spokane River and turning abruptly to the west. Ferry and Stevens counties encompass those forested highlands on the west and east sides of the Columbia respectively. Lincoln County m+ occupies the northern third of the Columbia Plateau +, straddling its northern rim and following the south bank of the Spokane River to its confluence with the Columbia then downstream to Grand Coulee Dam. The plateau is a primarily geographic feature which is more or less coterminous with the geologic province of the Columbia Basin +, a region of gently rolling hills, almost entirely devoted to dryland wheat cultivation, interspersed with deep canyons and rugged valleys which were carved into the underlying basalt by massive ice age floods. Lacking deep soils, these channeled scablands + have not been converted to agriculture so still retain native shrub-steppe habitat + with marshes and ponds occupying low areas scoured out by the floods.
In Lincoln County + the scablands are most evident in the area west and south of Sprague but otherwise, as we drove across the county on I-90 we didn't see anything but wheatfields and indeed the county is generally acknowledged as one of the largest wheat producers in the country, second only to neighboring Whitman County. The apparent absence of trees would suggest a corresponding absence of birds but the Washington Birder County checklist + includes 311 species while eBird + reports 310 species on about 12K checklists. By comparison, Whitman County has only 278 species in eBird + and even neighboring Spokane County, with more than 53K checklists, lags Lincoln at 308 species in eBird +.
Unlike in the rest of Lincoln County, the Columbia Plateau along its northern edge reaches an elevation sufficient to support groves of Ponderosa Pine before it drops precipitously down to the Spokane and Columbia Rivers in a series of forested canyons. Both the mixed coniferous forest on the canyon slopes and the ribbons of dense riparian vegetation along the mostly ephemeral streams in the floors of the canyons support diverse communities of birds.
Our plan was to visit those canyons early tomorrow morning so we drove over the mountains today to bird areas around Sprague for the afternoon before driving up to Davenport for the night. As the county seat and largest city, Davenport boasts at least two motels and twice that many restaurants. Sprague has a motel too but it looks as though it might have closed down several years ago, and moreover Davenport would be closer to our target areas. Sprague also has a lake l+ and a sewage treatment plant l+, both stocked with waterfowl, and between the two locations we added 15 species to Darchelle's county list.
By the time we reached Davenport, the Davenport Motel had filled up so we stayed at the Black Bear, not our favorite but at least they had a room. We stayed in room 6, the "City Slicker", and it was better than the last room we stayed in, the "Farmer", but the lighting was still dingy, the bathroom still inaccessible and the bed still too soft. Still for all that we enjoyed a comfortable supper together, though we once again stayed up later than we should have watching Suits. In the morning during breakfast I discovered that I had acquired a new ailment - a hollow popping sound below my left ear each time I bite down while chewing. Dr Google diagnosed it as TMJ after we got home.
7/07/2023 Lincoln County again (link to here)
We spent the prime hours of the morning birding the Teel Hill Road l+ which traverses the upper reaches of one of the canyons north of Davenport, an area of pine forest, meadows and sagebrush flats with enough pockets of riparian willow and cottonwood to keep things interesting. We covered 10 miles and by noon we had accumulated 19 more species, putting us over our goal, but lacking Internet access to submit our checklist, we didn't know that so we kept birding. We followed Harker Road l+ down into a mixed forest of Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine in Harker Canyon. The comfortable warmth of the morning had ripened into the bright heat of midday but the birds didn't seem to mind too much; they were still out and about and we found quite a few of them, though only two were new. Darchelle had one more spot she wanted to try so we followed Green Canyon Road down to Mill Canyon l+, turned left and followed a gravel road down a valley with a wide strip of dense riparian brush - willows, dogwood, some cottonwoods and more.
We were about 1.9 miles down from Green Canyon Road when we heard a commotion in the dense willows along the road and stopped to investigate. The heat and lack of sleep were getting to me at that point so I nodded in and out of consciousness while Darchelle checked out the bird activity. While I was awake I noticed at least two Black-headed Grosbeaks, two male Yellow Warblers, a Willow Flycatcher or two and at least one colorful Bullock's Oriole all in the bushes just outside my open window. While I was not awake Darchelle spotted something else which, from the description she shared with me shortly after it flew off, sounded very much like a very rare Yellow-throated Vireo.
We spent the prime hours of the morning birding the Teel Hill Road l+ which traverses the upper reaches of one of the canyons north of Davenport, an area of pine forest, meadows and sagebrush flats with enough pockets of riparian willow and cottonwood to keep things interesting. We covered 10 miles and by noon we had accumulated 19 more species, putting us over our goal, but lacking Internet access to submit our checklist, we didn't know that so we kept birding. We followed Harker Road l+ down into a mixed forest of Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine in Harker Canyon. The comfortable warmth of the morning had ripened into the bright heat of midday but the birds didn't seem to mind too much; they were still out and about and we found quite a few of them, though only two were new. Darchelle had one more spot she wanted to try so we followed Green Canyon Road down to Mill Canyon l+, turned left and followed a gravel road down a valley with a wide strip of dense riparian brush - willows, dogwood, some cottonwoods and more.
We were about 1.9 miles down from Green Canyon Road when we heard a commotion in the dense willows along the road and stopped to investigate. The heat and lack of sleep were getting to me at that point so I nodded in and out of consciousness while Darchelle checked out the bird activity. While I was awake I noticed at least two Black-headed Grosbeaks, two male Yellow Warblers, a Willow Flycatcher or two and at least one colorful Bullock's Oriole all in the bushes just outside my open window. While I was not awake Darchelle spotted something else which, from the description she shared with me shortly after it flew off, sounded very much like a very rare Yellow-throated Vireo.
By the time we left Mill Canyon it was too late to find a motel anywhere but back in Davenport so back
to town we went. We couldn't, or at least didn't want to, face another night at the Black Bear so we
tried the Davenport Motel and fortunately this time they had an accessible room. Once again the toilet
was low and inaccessible but the room was well-lit and the bed was adequately firm, and at $100 and
change, the price was only $15 more than the Black Bear. We would stay there again if we returned to
Davenport, which we probably won't. We might not order Mexican food from the place next door again
either; it was underwhelming, though not terrible.
One of the spots we had intended to visit in Lincoln County was Reardan Ponds l+ about 10 miles east of Davenport, so after securing our room at the Davenport Motel we drove over there. I watched anxiously in the rearview mirror while Darchelle stopped in the middle of the road to scan the ponds, and to try to call up a Sora. The traffic got to us before the Sora called back but from the wildlife viewing area we succeeded in hearing one, and Darchelle found a Black-necked Stilt. On the way back to Davenport we found bird #111 for Darchelle for the county, a rather odd-looking juvenile Bald Eagle. That made a total of 41 new birds in 15 hours of Lincoln County birdwatching.
One of the spots we had intended to visit in Lincoln County was Reardan Ponds l+ about 10 miles east of Davenport, so after securing our room at the Davenport Motel we drove over there. I watched anxiously in the rearview mirror while Darchelle stopped in the middle of the road to scan the ponds, and to try to call up a Sora. The traffic got to us before the Sora called back but from the wildlife viewing area we succeeded in hearing one, and Darchelle found a Black-necked Stilt. On the way back to Davenport we found bird #111 for Darchelle for the county, a rather odd-looking juvenile Bald Eagle. That made a total of 41 new birds in 15 hours of Lincoln County birdwatching.
7/08/2023 Ferry County (link to here)
Our original plan had been to work our way up through Stevens County yesterday afternoon, spend last night in Colville, wrap up Stevens if necessary this morning then head over to Republic in Ferry County, where Darchelle needed about 40 species. An afternoon around Republic and a morning birding down the Sanpoil River + valley to the Keller ferry should put Darchelle over the top in time to complete the four hour drive back to Seattle for a celebratory dinner at home.
Needless to say, it didn't work out way. While I did not want to return to either Ferry or Stevens County, if I had to choose to leave one of them incomplete, it would be Stevens. Stevens isn't that far out of the way on a trip to Spokane, a trip we would probably be making sometime in the next month or two for some bird or another, but Ferry just feels remote. So it was that bright and not so early this morning we caught the Keller ferry across Lake Roosevelt (formerly the Columbia River) to finish Ferry County m+.
Ferry County + is the 4th least populous county in the state and may well enjoy a similar ranking in terms of number of bird species - 270 on the Washington Birder County checklist + and 245 on 6K checklists in eBird +. Our strategy for the county was to bird opportunistically in suitable looking habitats while on our way to two or three specific locations where species we needed had recently been reported. Our strategy worked. Ten hours after disembarking the Keller ferry into Ferry County we drove back out of the county at Kettle Falls with 55 new species for Darchelle's county life list putting her at 118, well over our goal of 102. Not only that, but we had acquired year bird #310 as well - a Spruce Grouse.
Immediately after leaving the ferry we encountered our first suitable habitat. The hills along the southern edge of Ferry County are about the only place in the county where shrub-steppe habitat can be found and there l+ we found our first dozen county birds, though only one or two of them were really shrub-steppe species. Continuing up the Sanpoil River, we stopped at Bridge Creek l+ to call up a few species from the dense green thickets along the river before heading up into the mountains to look for waterfowl at Twin Lakes l+. The mixed-age montane mixed coniferous forest in the vicinity of the lakes was good for woodpeckers as well. Thunder threatened rain from the cumulus clouds aggregating overhead but not until we were on the road did the showers get underway. With the rain the temperature dropped 25F but not for long. By the time we made it back down the hill to the river the sun was out again, the temperature was back up to 89F and the car was clean and dry.
Before we reached Republic we flushed a rufous Ruffed Grouse across the road and picked up swallows, blackbirds, Sora and a Snipe in a wet meadow l+ but not until we managed to find the sewage treatment ponds l+ just south of town did we really hit the jackpot. Eight new species of waterfowl were shepherding their families around the ponds while an adult Bald Eagle looked on, affecting disinterest.
It was 6:40 PM when we crossed Sherman Pass heading for Kettle Falls and Colville, where we still needed to find a place to stay. I was worried that we if pulled into town too late on a summer Saturday evening we might find everything already booked but Darchelle wanted to look for a Spruce Grouse. She promised we would spend no more than 10 minutes driving up Albion Hill Road l+ and back so I agreed, even though I have only seen two grouse there in the past 10 years (the most memorable of them a year ago last fall) and there is no way we would get up there and back in less than half an hour. We had burned through just about 10 minutes and traversed about a mile of good grouse habitat when I spotted a female Spruce Grouse standing on a rock next to the road on Darchelle's side of the car. Darchelle had not noticed it. I was too startled to say anything other than "There you go!" but Darchelle immediately knew what I meant. The grouse hopped oFf the rock before we were able to back up to it but lingered for a photo or two before fading into the forest with her several chicks.
The first motel we checked in Kettle Falls was full but that was just as well because the Comfort Inn in Colville, while not cheap at $174, had a spacious ADA room with a comfortable bed and a toilet tall enough for me to use in the morning.
Our original plan had been to work our way up through Stevens County yesterday afternoon, spend last night in Colville, wrap up Stevens if necessary this morning then head over to Republic in Ferry County, where Darchelle needed about 40 species. An afternoon around Republic and a morning birding down the Sanpoil River + valley to the Keller ferry should put Darchelle over the top in time to complete the four hour drive back to Seattle for a celebratory dinner at home.
Needless to say, it didn't work out way. While I did not want to return to either Ferry or Stevens County, if I had to choose to leave one of them incomplete, it would be Stevens. Stevens isn't that far out of the way on a trip to Spokane, a trip we would probably be making sometime in the next month or two for some bird or another, but Ferry just feels remote. So it was that bright and not so early this morning we caught the Keller ferry across Lake Roosevelt (formerly the Columbia River) to finish Ferry County m+.
Ferry County + is the 4th least populous county in the state and may well enjoy a similar ranking in terms of number of bird species - 270 on the Washington Birder County checklist + and 245 on 6K checklists in eBird +. Our strategy for the county was to bird opportunistically in suitable looking habitats while on our way to two or three specific locations where species we needed had recently been reported. Our strategy worked. Ten hours after disembarking the Keller ferry into Ferry County we drove back out of the county at Kettle Falls with 55 new species for Darchelle's county life list putting her at 118, well over our goal of 102. Not only that, but we had acquired year bird #310 as well - a Spruce Grouse.
Immediately after leaving the ferry we encountered our first suitable habitat. The hills along the southern edge of Ferry County are about the only place in the county where shrub-steppe habitat can be found and there l+ we found our first dozen county birds, though only one or two of them were really shrub-steppe species. Continuing up the Sanpoil River, we stopped at Bridge Creek l+ to call up a few species from the dense green thickets along the river before heading up into the mountains to look for waterfowl at Twin Lakes l+. The mixed-age montane mixed coniferous forest in the vicinity of the lakes was good for woodpeckers as well. Thunder threatened rain from the cumulus clouds aggregating overhead but not until we were on the road did the showers get underway. With the rain the temperature dropped 25F but not for long. By the time we made it back down the hill to the river the sun was out again, the temperature was back up to 89F and the car was clean and dry.
Before we reached Republic we flushed a rufous Ruffed Grouse across the road and picked up swallows, blackbirds, Sora and a Snipe in a wet meadow l+ but not until we managed to find the sewage treatment ponds l+ just south of town did we really hit the jackpot. Eight new species of waterfowl were shepherding their families around the ponds while an adult Bald Eagle looked on, affecting disinterest.
It was 6:40 PM when we crossed Sherman Pass heading for Kettle Falls and Colville, where we still needed to find a place to stay. I was worried that we if pulled into town too late on a summer Saturday evening we might find everything already booked but Darchelle wanted to look for a Spruce Grouse. She promised we would spend no more than 10 minutes driving up Albion Hill Road l+ and back so I agreed, even though I have only seen two grouse there in the past 10 years (the most memorable of them a year ago last fall) and there is no way we would get up there and back in less than half an hour. We had burned through just about 10 minutes and traversed about a mile of good grouse habitat when I spotted a female Spruce Grouse standing on a rock next to the road on Darchelle's side of the car. Darchelle had not noticed it. I was too startled to say anything other than "There you go!" but Darchelle immediately knew what I meant. The grouse hopped oFf the rock before we were able to back up to it but lingered for a photo or two before fading into the forest with her several chicks.
The first motel we checked in Kettle Falls was full but that was just as well because the Comfort Inn in Colville, while not cheap at $174, had a spacious ADA room with a comfortable bed and a toilet tall enough for me to use in the morning.
7/09/2023 Stevens County (link to here)
In 9 hours of birdwatching in Stevens County m+ today we managed to find 26 new birds for Darchelle, nudging her life list for the county over the 100 species threshold to 106. I really didn't think we would manage to do that so I was grateful for our success. I was less grateful that it took us another 6 hours to get home, though it helped that Suits on Darchelle's iPhone anesthetized me to the discomforts of the drive.
Stevens County + resembles its neighbor Ferry County + in size, topography and natural history but has 7 times the population. It also has a few more birds listed on the Washington Birder County checklist + (285) and in eBird + (268 on 15K checklists), thanks probably to its easier access from Spokane and other major population centers in the state.
We probably stayed up late; how late I don't remember, but we did not get an early start. It being Sunday morning, traffic was still reasonably light along Hwy 20 at our first stop, the oddly-named White Mud Lake l+ two miles east of Colville where Darchelle picked up a few ducks. We both did well at our next stop 15 miles farther up the road at the Amazon Creek marsh l+. The warblers weren't singing much but they readily responded to playback and Darchelle was able to get some photos. At nearby Black Lake l+ we found a pair of Common Loons. Returning to Colville we took the scenic route past Hatch Lake l+ and added three species of ducks to Darchelle's county list, boosting her total over 100. The gentle hills and valleys in that area, a few miles southeast of town, appear to be composed mostly of gravel and, in the satellite photos, appear to trend northwest to southeast while the surrounding mountains are mostly crystalline rock and do not have any consistent orientation. Once again though, I was tired and hot (94F) so did not pay much attention to either geology or birds.
Hoping to find a gull or two along Lake Roosevelt we took Hwy 25 from Kettle Falls down to Fort Spokane but it was a hot afternoon and the birds were for the most part laying low. We did find a pocket of activity at Gifford Campground l+ but not till we were about to cross the bridge out of the county at Fort Spokane l+ did we find the gulls we were looking for.
In 9 hours of birdwatching in Stevens County m+ today we managed to find 26 new birds for Darchelle, nudging her life list for the county over the 100 species threshold to 106. I really didn't think we would manage to do that so I was grateful for our success. I was less grateful that it took us another 6 hours to get home, though it helped that Suits on Darchelle's iPhone anesthetized me to the discomforts of the drive.
Stevens County + resembles its neighbor Ferry County + in size, topography and natural history but has 7 times the population. It also has a few more birds listed on the Washington Birder County checklist + (285) and in eBird + (268 on 15K checklists), thanks probably to its easier access from Spokane and other major population centers in the state.
We probably stayed up late; how late I don't remember, but we did not get an early start. It being Sunday morning, traffic was still reasonably light along Hwy 20 at our first stop, the oddly-named White Mud Lake l+ two miles east of Colville where Darchelle picked up a few ducks. We both did well at our next stop 15 miles farther up the road at the Amazon Creek marsh l+. The warblers weren't singing much but they readily responded to playback and Darchelle was able to get some photos. At nearby Black Lake l+ we found a pair of Common Loons. Returning to Colville we took the scenic route past Hatch Lake l+ and added three species of ducks to Darchelle's county list, boosting her total over 100. The gentle hills and valleys in that area, a few miles southeast of town, appear to be composed mostly of gravel and, in the satellite photos, appear to trend northwest to southeast while the surrounding mountains are mostly crystalline rock and do not have any consistent orientation. Once again though, I was tired and hot (94F) so did not pay much attention to either geology or birds.
Hoping to find a gull or two along Lake Roosevelt we took Hwy 25 from Kettle Falls down to Fort Spokane but it was a hot afternoon and the birds were for the most part laying low. We did find a pocket of activity at Gifford Campground l+ but not till we were about to cross the bridge out of the county at Fort Spokane l+ did we find the gulls we were looking for.
7/13/2023 Our Final County Birding Push (link to here)
As usual, when Darchelle got up this morning I did not know what time it was. Once day breaks, the diffuse daylight in our bedroom provides no clue as to how high the sun has risen. We stayed up until 2 AM last night watching Episodes 82-85 of Suits + so I hoped that it was later then I feared it might be.
We made it out to the kitchen around 10:30AM, shared coffee and impressions from the recent episodes over coffee and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Darchelle gave me a shower then went out to water the garden while I sat down at the computer to write. I am way behind in my writing and did not make much of a dent in the backlog during the few hours I had this afternoon. I have yet to write anything about our road trip across the country and back, nor have I written about our county bird outings and family visits in June, but I did get started on a description of our visit to Lincoln County last month.
We departed for Dayton around 4 PM on what I hope will be our final county birding excursion. We don't need all that many birds but with the breeding season well underway and the summer heat building, the few birds we need could nonetheless be difficult to find. We stopped for neither coffee, gas nor birds until we reached Mesa Lake l+ south of Othello. The sun was close to the horizon and the air still and hot (though not nearly as hot as it would be for the next couple of days) but we still managed to pick up a couple of Franklin County species. An hour and a half later despite, or more accurately because of, the late hour we added two Columbia County species as well - first a Great-horned Owl l+ then a Western Screech Owl l+. I have to give Darchelle credit for those two species; had it been up to me we would have gone straight to the hotel.
As usual, when Darchelle got up this morning I did not know what time it was. Once day breaks, the diffuse daylight in our bedroom provides no clue as to how high the sun has risen. We stayed up until 2 AM last night watching Episodes 82-85 of Suits + so I hoped that it was later then I feared it might be.
We made it out to the kitchen around 10:30AM, shared coffee and impressions from the recent episodes over coffee and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Darchelle gave me a shower then went out to water the garden while I sat down at the computer to write. I am way behind in my writing and did not make much of a dent in the backlog during the few hours I had this afternoon. I have yet to write anything about our road trip across the country and back, nor have I written about our county bird outings and family visits in June, but I did get started on a description of our visit to Lincoln County last month.
We departed for Dayton around 4 PM on what I hope will be our final county birding excursion. We don't need all that many birds but with the breeding season well underway and the summer heat building, the few birds we need could nonetheless be difficult to find. We stopped for neither coffee, gas nor birds until we reached Mesa Lake l+ south of Othello. The sun was close to the horizon and the air still and hot (though not nearly as hot as it would be for the next couple of days) but we still managed to pick up a couple of Franklin County species. An hour and a half later despite, or more accurately because of, the late hour we added two Columbia County species as well - first a Great-horned Owl l+ then a Western Screech Owl l+. I have to give Darchelle credit for those two species; had it been up to me we would have gone straight to the hotel.
7/14/2023 Garfield County completed (link to here)
Darchelle and I made it close to 100 species in Garfield County back in March after birding for the first time there in June 2018 and adding a few more in 2021 and 2022 while in pursuit of a Cordilleran Flycatcher. Today we returned to the county to finish the job. Andy and Ellen completed the county two weeks ago while we were over in Mason County. This weekend we are here and they are there, both of us trying to complete our county lists while the summer birds are still singing. Conditions are more challenging now with temperatures in the mid-90s on both sides of the Cascades but we nonetheless managed to find birds.
As always, an earlier start would have been preferable but we'd done a little owling yesterday evening before checking in to our room at the historic Weinhard Hotel + in Dayton. The hotel might not have been quite as comfortable as the Best Western a few doors down the street - the toilet in particular was too low for me to use though the bed was just right - but the ambience was considerably more charming and the prices were comparable. We also took time in the morning to procure coffee (respectable) and breakfast (delicious) to go from Locally Nourished + before hitting the road to Pomeroy.
I did not have a clear plan as to how to proceed. Andy gave us some tips on Columbia County yesterday afternoon on the phone but we got disconnected before we could talk much about Garfield County. I only needed a couple of species but Darchelle needed about 20 so we had to be at least a little smart about finding birds, especially since our first checklist l+ didn't start till 10:30 AM. In Pomeroy we turned onto South 15th St which turned into Peola Road which followed Peola Creek up a canyon and onto a gently sloping plateau mostly planted to wheat. I wanted to sample the birds in the strip of willow trees and bushes in the canyon so we found a side road and did a checklist l+. The Cliff Swallows which flew over were new, and were probably not Barn Swallows, but the most interesting birds there were Brown-headed Cowbirds, over 100 of them, which flushed from one of the willow trees and flew overhead in waves headed up the canyon. Most of them appeared to be warm brown in color, in part due to sunlight reflecting off the amber waves of grain in the fields on either side of us, so I assume they were either juveniles or females.
Back up in the wheatfields we started a new checklist l+ with a Mountain Bluebird which it turned out neither of us needed for the county. We concluded the checklist at a patch of Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine with a diverse brushy understory from which we extracted several birds we did need, including a pair of Western Bluebirds. A half mile up the road we made a discrete stop on a gravel driveway l+ where we found several more species in tall brush and young pines regenerating from the School Fire 18 years ago. A mile above that we turned off onto a forest road l+ and meandered several miles through a mixed-age and partially-thinned pine-fir forest from which I picked up only Pileated woodpecker though Darchelle got several other new species. A stop at the Rose Springs Sno-park another mile up the road completed our foray into the forest but we did not find much activity there so did not do a checklist. We did do a checklist upon returning to Pomeroy l+ in order to record a Rufous Hummingbird. We have not done well at identifying hummingbirds in the wild recently so have had to resort to finding feeders in town in order to add the tiny little birds to our county lists.
It was about at that point that things went south. I had in mind going down to the river at Central Ferry because I believed we could pick up several new birds without much effort down there. I was not wrong about that but I was wrong about how to get there and we ended up not in Garfield County but in Columbia County, down at the stretch of river below Little Goose Dam l+. We did find the new species I had been expecting and we did end up saving ourselves a trip out there the next day, but we had both been looking forward to an early evening back at the hotel and now that wasn't going to happen because we were backtracking to Central Ferry l+ instead. Darchelle was annoyed and I was embarrassed and nobody had a good time but we did find four more species to top off our respective Garfield County lists.
We had been planning to stop at Fiesta En Jalisco + to pick up takeout then celebrate back in our hotel room over an order of their excellent Chile Rellenos but when we arrived back in Dayton I was still not feeling in a celebratory mood. Darchelle insisted nonetheless and we both pronounced our the rellenos even better than we remembered. They did not however pair very well with my Obsidian Stout +, making that normally decent beer taste fishy.
Darchelle and I made it close to 100 species in Garfield County back in March after birding for the first time there in June 2018 and adding a few more in 2021 and 2022 while in pursuit of a Cordilleran Flycatcher. Today we returned to the county to finish the job. Andy and Ellen completed the county two weeks ago while we were over in Mason County. This weekend we are here and they are there, both of us trying to complete our county lists while the summer birds are still singing. Conditions are more challenging now with temperatures in the mid-90s on both sides of the Cascades but we nonetheless managed to find birds.
As always, an earlier start would have been preferable but we'd done a little owling yesterday evening before checking in to our room at the historic Weinhard Hotel + in Dayton. The hotel might not have been quite as comfortable as the Best Western a few doors down the street - the toilet in particular was too low for me to use though the bed was just right - but the ambience was considerably more charming and the prices were comparable. We also took time in the morning to procure coffee (respectable) and breakfast (delicious) to go from Locally Nourished + before hitting the road to Pomeroy.
I did not have a clear plan as to how to proceed. Andy gave us some tips on Columbia County yesterday afternoon on the phone but we got disconnected before we could talk much about Garfield County. I only needed a couple of species but Darchelle needed about 20 so we had to be at least a little smart about finding birds, especially since our first checklist l+ didn't start till 10:30 AM. In Pomeroy we turned onto South 15th St which turned into Peola Road which followed Peola Creek up a canyon and onto a gently sloping plateau mostly planted to wheat. I wanted to sample the birds in the strip of willow trees and bushes in the canyon so we found a side road and did a checklist l+. The Cliff Swallows which flew over were new, and were probably not Barn Swallows, but the most interesting birds there were Brown-headed Cowbirds, over 100 of them, which flushed from one of the willow trees and flew overhead in waves headed up the canyon. Most of them appeared to be warm brown in color, in part due to sunlight reflecting off the amber waves of grain in the fields on either side of us, so I assume they were either juveniles or females.
Back up in the wheatfields we started a new checklist l+ with a Mountain Bluebird which it turned out neither of us needed for the county. We concluded the checklist at a patch of Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine with a diverse brushy understory from which we extracted several birds we did need, including a pair of Western Bluebirds. A half mile up the road we made a discrete stop on a gravel driveway l+ where we found several more species in tall brush and young pines regenerating from the School Fire 18 years ago. A mile above that we turned off onto a forest road l+ and meandered several miles through a mixed-age and partially-thinned pine-fir forest from which I picked up only Pileated woodpecker though Darchelle got several other new species. A stop at the Rose Springs Sno-park another mile up the road completed our foray into the forest but we did not find much activity there so did not do a checklist. We did do a checklist upon returning to Pomeroy l+ in order to record a Rufous Hummingbird. We have not done well at identifying hummingbirds in the wild recently so have had to resort to finding feeders in town in order to add the tiny little birds to our county lists.
It was about at that point that things went south. I had in mind going down to the river at Central Ferry because I believed we could pick up several new birds without much effort down there. I was not wrong about that but I was wrong about how to get there and we ended up not in Garfield County but in Columbia County, down at the stretch of river below Little Goose Dam l+. We did find the new species I had been expecting and we did end up saving ourselves a trip out there the next day, but we had both been looking forward to an early evening back at the hotel and now that wasn't going to happen because we were backtracking to Central Ferry l+ instead. Darchelle was annoyed and I was embarrassed and nobody had a good time but we did find four more species to top off our respective Garfield County lists.
We had been planning to stop at Fiesta En Jalisco + to pick up takeout then celebrate back in our hotel room over an order of their excellent Chile Rellenos but when we arrived back in Dayton I was still not feeling in a celebratory mood. Darchelle insisted nonetheless and we both pronounced our the rellenos even better than we remembered. They did not however pair very well with my Obsidian Stout +, making that normally decent beer taste fishy.
7/15/2023 Columbia County completed (link to here)
A year and a half ago during a visit to southeastern Washington I added Columbia to the growing list of Washington counties in which I had seen/heard at least 50 species. Last March Darchelle and I added another 31 species to my Columbia County list and 34 to Darchelle's list, boosting us both into the mid-80s. Owling two nights ago added two more. This morning, acting on a tip from Andy, Darchelle and I got ourselves out of bed and paid an early morning visit to Lewis and Clark Trail State Park l+ a few miles west of Dayton. The air was cool and the colors of pine and cottonwood rich and warm in the morning light as we pulled into the campground at 7:15 AM. Anticipating lots of bird activity, we drove the loop road between green walls of understory shrubs, stopping frequently to look and listen, but the bird songs were largely drowned out by the roar of grain truck traffic on Hwy 12. We persisted for a couple of hours though, picking out calls and songs between the passing trucks, and accumulated enough new county species to put us both over the top.
Returning to town to check out of the Weinhart, we found Main Street barricaded for the annual Dayton High School Alumni parade. Helpful police officers explained where we could park near the hotel so Darchelle left me in the car to watch the parade out of the corner of my eye while she walked back to the room to pack up. The sheriff, a fire truck and a few cheerleaders were followed by convertibles, trailers, a school bus and a few floats representing classes from '53 to '78 while an announcer on a distorted speaker extolled their virtues. I didn't envy him. He ran out of commentary somewhere in the 60s and as if that weren't bad enough, had to repeat it all when the parade circled around a second time. The spectators had mostly dispersed and a city employee in a white pickup truck had just packed up the barricade next to our car when Darchelle returned with coffee and breakfast again from Locally Nourished.
We were done and we hadn't even visited several of the hotspots on our itinerary so before departing Dayton we drove by the fishing pond l+ instead. From the parking area I couldn't quite see the Spotted Sandpiper Darchelle called up so she drove me up onto the walking trail along the dike and from there we each picked up several more species before any legitimate trail users showed up. Not wanting to get caught illegally driving on the trail, I urged that we move on and so we did, escaping Columbia County without further incident.
Once again we didn't have much of a strategy other than to drive from one end of the county to the other with a few stops - Lyons Ferry l+ at the east end, Scooteney Reservoir l+ on the northeastern border and Sacajawea Park l+ at the southern tip - along the way. We did not find the Tricolored Blackbirds but the Scooteney and Sacajawea stops more than made up for that miss. Along the way the Bank Swallows panting in the heat at Lyons Ferry, the Grasshopper Sparrow near the turnoff for Palouse Falls (across from a gravel pit where we suspect Burrowing Owls might have nested last month) and a Lark Sparrow perched in the shade of a utility pole along Hwy 261 at a dry coulee west of Palouse Falls all contributed to our county totals. The Mallard Pond at the Scooteney Reservoir Park was a highlight of the afternoon, providing a variety of dcks and shorebirds, most of them unfortunately too distant for me to identify but Darchelle looking through the scope pointed out and named the dark dots on the pond for me.
Here is a list of the counties we completed this year We have added birds in other counties as well but these are the counties where we were below or just barely above 100 species as of the start of the year. We began our county birding project back in February intending to complete all of my counties and a month or two later, decided to tackle Darchelle's counties as well. Although the project was not as difficult as we anticipated, this afternoon its completion inspires more relief than celebration. We have pushed hard since the beginning of the month to get to our remaining counties while the summer birds were still defending territories and singing.
We will spend this evening with Darchelle's folks in Walla Walla and maybe after that, we will spend our nights at home for a while.
A year and a half ago during a visit to southeastern Washington I added Columbia to the growing list of Washington counties in which I had seen/heard at least 50 species. Last March Darchelle and I added another 31 species to my Columbia County list and 34 to Darchelle's list, boosting us both into the mid-80s. Owling two nights ago added two more. This morning, acting on a tip from Andy, Darchelle and I got ourselves out of bed and paid an early morning visit to Lewis and Clark Trail State Park l+ a few miles west of Dayton. The air was cool and the colors of pine and cottonwood rich and warm in the morning light as we pulled into the campground at 7:15 AM. Anticipating lots of bird activity, we drove the loop road between green walls of understory shrubs, stopping frequently to look and listen, but the bird songs were largely drowned out by the roar of grain truck traffic on Hwy 12. We persisted for a couple of hours though, picking out calls and songs between the passing trucks, and accumulated enough new county species to put us both over the top.
Returning to town to check out of the Weinhart, we found Main Street barricaded for the annual Dayton High School Alumni parade. Helpful police officers explained where we could park near the hotel so Darchelle left me in the car to watch the parade out of the corner of my eye while she walked back to the room to pack up. The sheriff, a fire truck and a few cheerleaders were followed by convertibles, trailers, a school bus and a few floats representing classes from '53 to '78 while an announcer on a distorted speaker extolled their virtues. I didn't envy him. He ran out of commentary somewhere in the 60s and as if that weren't bad enough, had to repeat it all when the parade circled around a second time. The spectators had mostly dispersed and a city employee in a white pickup truck had just packed up the barricade next to our car when Darchelle returned with coffee and breakfast again from Locally Nourished.
We were done and we hadn't even visited several of the hotspots on our itinerary so before departing Dayton we drove by the fishing pond l+ instead. From the parking area I couldn't quite see the Spotted Sandpiper Darchelle called up so she drove me up onto the walking trail along the dike and from there we each picked up several more species before any legitimate trail users showed up. Not wanting to get caught illegally driving on the trail, I urged that we move on and so we did, escaping Columbia County without further incident.
Franklin County (link to here)
Completing Franklin County this afternoon means that both Darchelle and I now have
over 100 species in each of the 39 counties in Washington. We had little doubt that we could
achieve that goal before returning home tomorrow evening though we weren't certain about making it
this afternoon. Our expectations were modest because it was the middle of the day in the middle of
the summer and by our western Washington standards, it was hot. The temperature was approaching
100F when we crossed the Lyons Ferry bridge out of Columbia County shortly before 1PM. It reached
104F two hours later in Kahlotus while we were driving the dusty margins of an alfalfa field looking
for Tricolored Blackbirds and was still over 100F as we were leaving the county at Pasco at 6:30PM.Once again we didn't have much of a strategy other than to drive from one end of the county to the other with a few stops - Lyons Ferry l+ at the east end, Scooteney Reservoir l+ on the northeastern border and Sacajawea Park l+ at the southern tip - along the way. We did not find the Tricolored Blackbirds but the Scooteney and Sacajawea stops more than made up for that miss. Along the way the Bank Swallows panting in the heat at Lyons Ferry, the Grasshopper Sparrow near the turnoff for Palouse Falls (across from a gravel pit where we suspect Burrowing Owls might have nested last month) and a Lark Sparrow perched in the shade of a utility pole along Hwy 261 at a dry coulee west of Palouse Falls all contributed to our county totals. The Mallard Pond at the Scooteney Reservoir Park was a highlight of the afternoon, providing a variety of dcks and shorebirds, most of them unfortunately too distant for me to identify but Darchelle looking through the scope pointed out and named the dark dots on the pond for me.
Here is a list of the counties we completed this year We have added birds in other counties as well but these are the counties where we were below or just barely above 100 species as of the start of the year. We began our county birding project back in February intending to complete all of my counties and a month or two later, decided to tackle Darchelle's counties as well. Although the project was not as difficult as we anticipated, this afternoon its completion inspires more relief than celebration. We have pushed hard since the beginning of the month to get to our remaining counties while the summer birds were still defending territories and singing.
We will spend this evening with Darchelle's folks in Walla Walla and maybe after that, we will spend our nights at home for a while.
7/16/2023 Walla Walla (link to here)
Yesterday evening Richard and I played Wordle + while I ate my leftover Chile Relleno for supper. Even with our combined efforts we still tend to finish the game squarely in the middle of the pack. Darchelle visited with her mother in the living room while Richard and I puzzled over the Mini Crossword + then moved onto Spelling Bee +, where I focused on coming up with a few long words while he cranked out shorter ones, an approach which did not work as well for me this morning. Perhaps I just wasn't awake yet, having foregone brewed coffee for a dose of instant.
As we were starting up the Easton hill between Cle Elum and Snoqualmie Pass on our way home an adult Northern Goshawk glided across the road at a eye-level a few car lengths in front of us. It was gone in less than a second but will not be forgotten; we have been looking for one to do that in that section on the freeway for the past 8 years.
Yesterday evening Richard and I played Wordle + while I ate my leftover Chile Relleno for supper. Even with our combined efforts we still tend to finish the game squarely in the middle of the pack. Darchelle visited with her mother in the living room while Richard and I puzzled over the Mini Crossword + then moved onto Spelling Bee +, where I focused on coming up with a few long words while he cranked out shorter ones, an approach which did not work as well for me this morning. Perhaps I just wasn't awake yet, having foregone brewed coffee for a dose of instant.
As we were starting up the Easton hill between Cle Elum and Snoqualmie Pass on our way home an adult Northern Goshawk glided across the road at a eye-level a few car lengths in front of us. It was gone in less than a second but will not be forgotten; we have been looking for one to do that in that section on the freeway for the past 8 years.
7/19/2023 Puffins and Peeps (link to here)
A puffin pilgrimage has been an annual outing for us in mid-July for the past two years but after successfully spotting our target species in both 2021 and 2022, I would have been content to rest on our laurels. Darchelle was not. She loves the opportunity to be out on the water in the midst of the birds which live there and she was unwilling to miss the trip to Smith Island this year. She also wanted to get that Horned Puffin again. The odds of a hat trick were not great. Although the Horned Puffin has been seen several times in the past month, most of the trips in the past week have missed it. Fortunately we did not l+.
Elizabeth arranged the trip with Chris Long of Jolly Mon Charters + this year. It was Elizabeth who had spotted the bird last year and we were looking forward to her company this year as well but at the last minute she couldn't make it. Shep and Henry joined us instead along with Liam who maintained their family tradition of being the first person on board to spot the Horned Puffin.
I anticipate these trips with some trepidation despite knowing that Chris will help me on and off the boat and that the boat is ideally configured for accommodating my wheelchair. Without Chris's assistance getting on and off the boat we probably would not have been able to do the trip but Shep's help was invaluable too. He and Darchelle lifted me out of the chair on the dock and handed me off to Chris in the boat, who held me while the others lifted my chair over the gunwale and into the cockpit. For the trip out to the island and back I sat towards the back of the cockpit on the port side with a good view forward over the water. There wasn't much wind and the sun was warm so I was comfortable even without zipping up my green jacket. The Sound is never perfectly smooth so on the way out Shep kept his arm on the arm of my chair to keep me from rocking forward too abruptly when we hit waves. Chris did a great job driving as always, making the ride as smooth as possible. Overall it was probably the easiest and most comfortable trip of the past three years.
We had good views of the bird and close-up encounters with most of the other species out there too, including a Sea Otter. The Horned Puffin was perhaps 200 yards east of the northern point of the island and perhaps half again as far from our boat when Liam first found it. As far as we could tell it was almost exactly the same place we found it two years ago. After we carefully motored over for a closer view, it flew west and appeared to perhaps land briefly right below the top of the bluff on the west side of the point before flying back north and landing on the water maybe 300 yards offshore. Its new location was not far from where Elizabeth first spotted it last year. Both we and another boat headed for it and had pretty good views before it took off again, flew right between the two boats and landed in roughly the same area as where we had first seen it.
Darchelle and I did some shorebirding both on the way up to Anacortes and on the way back home. The summer southbound migration of adult sandpipers is underway and we found lots of peeps and Long-billed Dowitchers at both Eide Road and Channel Drive. At Eide Road we wheeled out the dike but the tide was a little too low and most of the birds were too distant to identify. We hit the tide perfectly at Channel Drive but at that location as well the birds are too distant for me to see them and for Darchelle to photograph them as well as we each would like. Summer peeps all look alike so it was good for us to get our feet wet figuring out how to identify them again.
On the way home we stopped at Snow Goose Produce + on Fir Island wHere Darchelle picked up sea scallops, Brazilian coffee, Mango salsa, blueberries, raspberries and a loaf of whole wheat bread. To celebrate of our Horned Puffin hat trick, she seared the scallops for supper along with pasta in a mushroom cream sauce and steamed okra. I drank half a Bodhizava + and we stayed up until 2 AM watching Episodes 109-113 of Suits +.
A puffin pilgrimage has been an annual outing for us in mid-July for the past two years but after successfully spotting our target species in both 2021 and 2022, I would have been content to rest on our laurels. Darchelle was not. She loves the opportunity to be out on the water in the midst of the birds which live there and she was unwilling to miss the trip to Smith Island this year. She also wanted to get that Horned Puffin again. The odds of a hat trick were not great. Although the Horned Puffin has been seen several times in the past month, most of the trips in the past week have missed it. Fortunately we did not l+.
Elizabeth arranged the trip with Chris Long of Jolly Mon Charters + this year. It was Elizabeth who had spotted the bird last year and we were looking forward to her company this year as well but at the last minute she couldn't make it. Shep and Henry joined us instead along with Liam who maintained their family tradition of being the first person on board to spot the Horned Puffin.
I anticipate these trips with some trepidation despite knowing that Chris will help me on and off the boat and that the boat is ideally configured for accommodating my wheelchair. Without Chris's assistance getting on and off the boat we probably would not have been able to do the trip but Shep's help was invaluable too. He and Darchelle lifted me out of the chair on the dock and handed me off to Chris in the boat, who held me while the others lifted my chair over the gunwale and into the cockpit. For the trip out to the island and back I sat towards the back of the cockpit on the port side with a good view forward over the water. There wasn't much wind and the sun was warm so I was comfortable even without zipping up my green jacket. The Sound is never perfectly smooth so on the way out Shep kept his arm on the arm of my chair to keep me from rocking forward too abruptly when we hit waves. Chris did a great job driving as always, making the ride as smooth as possible. Overall it was probably the easiest and most comfortable trip of the past three years.
We had good views of the bird and close-up encounters with most of the other species out there too, including a Sea Otter. The Horned Puffin was perhaps 200 yards east of the northern point of the island and perhaps half again as far from our boat when Liam first found it. As far as we could tell it was almost exactly the same place we found it two years ago. After we carefully motored over for a closer view, it flew west and appeared to perhaps land briefly right below the top of the bluff on the west side of the point before flying back north and landing on the water maybe 300 yards offshore. Its new location was not far from where Elizabeth first spotted it last year. Both we and another boat headed for it and had pretty good views before it took off again, flew right between the two boats and landed in roughly the same area as where we had first seen it.
Darchelle and I did some shorebirding both on the way up to Anacortes and on the way back home. The summer southbound migration of adult sandpipers is underway and we found lots of peeps and Long-billed Dowitchers at both Eide Road and Channel Drive. At Eide Road we wheeled out the dike but the tide was a little too low and most of the birds were too distant to identify. We hit the tide perfectly at Channel Drive but at that location as well the birds are too distant for me to see them and for Darchelle to photograph them as well as we each would like. Summer peeps all look alike so it was good for us to get our feet wet figuring out how to identify them again.
On the way home we stopped at Snow Goose Produce + on Fir Island wHere Darchelle picked up sea scallops, Brazilian coffee, Mango salsa, blueberries, raspberries and a loaf of whole wheat bread. To celebrate of our Horned Puffin hat trick, she seared the scallops for supper along with pasta in a mushroom cream sauce and steamed okra. I drank half a Bodhizava + and we stayed up until 2 AM watching Episodes 109-113 of Suits +.
7/24/2023 Swifties (link to here)
This weekend Taylor Swift attracted over 100,000 fans, including Daniel and Caroline and Darchelle's three cousins and a friend, to Seattle for a pair of concerts +. Darchelle and I prepared for their arrival by posting a "Welcome Swifties" sign on the front door, spending an hour over coffee and breakfast watching recent Taylor Swift interviews on YouTube and listening to a few Taylor Swift songs on Alexa. Our guests prepared for the concert by donning beaded bracelets and outfits representing different periods from Taylor Swift's musical career. After everyone left for the concert Sunday evening we ate corn and roasted chicken (for me) for supper and watched Suits while we waited up for them to return, which they did around 1 AM as we were just getting started on the final episode.
The concert may have been the highlight of everyone else's weekend but mine was dinner together on Monday night. Darchelle's cousins left early in the morning then Daniel and David went for a hike up Snoqualmie Mountain while Caroline worked upstairs. When everyone reconvened at the house Daniel, Caroline and Darchelle fixed supper - salmon, corn and Caprese salad, along with salami, cheeses and salmon dip for appetizers. Daniel scrounged around in the mini fridge and pulled out several spectacular stouts. I immediately called Tim and Mary because exceptional beer demands exceptional company. Our first beer was Stickee Monkey +, a barrel-aged Quad by Firestone Walker. The subtleties of this complex beer were lost on me; it just tasted like Fig Newtons. We opened a 22oz bottle of 2016 The Dissident + next. It was a very smooth and substantial beer, not sour but sweet and slightly tart with just a hint of cherries. We were pretty impressed with that one but the third beer, a Black Butte XXIV + from 2014, was the one we all liked the best. It was supposedly derived from Black Butte Porter but if so, it was a porter which had died and gone to heaven. Aging had given it woody notes which complemented the sweetness while the hops backbone kept it grounded. I lack words to do it, or for that matter either of the other two beers, justice and in retrospect, we probably should not have asked them to complete with the food and the company for our attention. By midnight the company had departed, the food had been put away, Darchelle had retreated into the bedroom and Caroline had fallen asleep under the coffee tree. Daniel and I stayed up another half hour talking; what we discussed may have been less important than the experience itself of savoring together the conclusion of an exceptional evening.
This weekend Taylor Swift attracted over 100,000 fans, including Daniel and Caroline and Darchelle's three cousins and a friend, to Seattle for a pair of concerts +. Darchelle and I prepared for their arrival by posting a "Welcome Swifties" sign on the front door, spending an hour over coffee and breakfast watching recent Taylor Swift interviews on YouTube and listening to a few Taylor Swift songs on Alexa. Our guests prepared for the concert by donning beaded bracelets and outfits representing different periods from Taylor Swift's musical career. After everyone left for the concert Sunday evening we ate corn and roasted chicken (for me) for supper and watched Suits while we waited up for them to return, which they did around 1 AM as we were just getting started on the final episode.
The concert may have been the highlight of everyone else's weekend but mine was dinner together on Monday night. Darchelle's cousins left early in the morning then Daniel and David went for a hike up Snoqualmie Mountain while Caroline worked upstairs. When everyone reconvened at the house Daniel, Caroline and Darchelle fixed supper - salmon, corn and Caprese salad, along with salami, cheeses and salmon dip for appetizers. Daniel scrounged around in the mini fridge and pulled out several spectacular stouts. I immediately called Tim and Mary because exceptional beer demands exceptional company. Our first beer was Stickee Monkey +, a barrel-aged Quad by Firestone Walker. The subtleties of this complex beer were lost on me; it just tasted like Fig Newtons. We opened a 22oz bottle of 2016 The Dissident + next. It was a very smooth and substantial beer, not sour but sweet and slightly tart with just a hint of cherries. We were pretty impressed with that one but the third beer, a Black Butte XXIV + from 2014, was the one we all liked the best. It was supposedly derived from Black Butte Porter but if so, it was a porter which had died and gone to heaven. Aging had given it woody notes which complemented the sweetness while the hops backbone kept it grounded. I lack words to do it, or for that matter either of the other two beers, justice and in retrospect, we probably should not have asked them to complete with the food and the company for our attention. By midnight the company had departed, the food had been put away, Darchelle had retreated into the bedroom and Caroline had fallen asleep under the coffee tree. Daniel and I stayed up another half hour talking; what we discussed may have been less important than the experience itself of savoring together the conclusion of an exceptional evening.
7/27/2023 Mill Creek (link to here)
Yesterday morning Darchelle received a tip about a Spotted Owl in the vicinity of Mill Creek m+ south of Leavenworth. Liam drove over there and spent the night but did not come up with any conclusive evidence, which nonetheless did not deter us from checking it out for ourselves. Lacking precise location information, we drove FR 7300 up the creek valley from Ranch Creek Road just off US 97 about 3 miles up to a height of land then returned to the creek crossing and drove up FR 7305 m+, which on the map is also called the Allen Creek Road. Both roads traverse steep forested terrain, mostly second growth Ponderosa Pine, Douglas Fir and Grand Fir of various ages, but while 7300 is in good shape 7305 was very rough with deep ditches and potholes. It was also quite steep, at one point reaching a pitch of 17° which turned out to be close to the limit of what our Forester could handle. Where the forest appeared old enough to interest an owl we stopped and played recordings but heard no response. After a very slow 3.5 miles the habitat did not appear to be improving so we turned around.
As darkness approached we decided to try spur road 400 which runs west and up the hill from FR 7300 at the height of land. Within a quarter-mile we encountered an apparently impassable obstacle - a deep gully running down the left center of the road. We could have avoided the gully except for a muddy ditch running down the right side of the road. Darchelle tested the mud and decided it was too deep for us. Deterred by neither the depth of the mud nor my suggestion that to proceed would be unwise, she gathered an armload of dead wood, dumped it into the ditch, hopped back into the car and powered forward.
As Siri observed when we subsequently attempted to transmit our location to the Starlink SOS service, something went wrong. Our right front wheel almost immediately sank up to the axle and when we attempted to back up out of the hole, our right rear wheel did likewise. At that point both wheels spun freely in both drive and reverse. We were stuck. Darchelle got out to investigate and quickly realized we were not going to got out of this without help. I quickly realized that all we needed was someone who could pull us out with a winch. The problem was that we had not seen any other vehicles for the previous four hours. Fortunately we had cell service. Darchelle called the Leavenworth police station. The dispatcher was friendly but not very helpful. It was then that we remembered the Starlink SOS service, provided for free for the first three years after we purchased the car. All we had to do was press the SOS button above the rearview mirror, so Darchelle did that. The woman who called us a minute later was also very nice but informed us that the nearest towing service which could help us was located in Seattle.
Some might call that an "Oh shit" moment. I began to feel a knot of panic growing inside my chest. To quell the panic I took stock of our situation. The time was shortly before 10 PM. Someone would probably come by on the 7300 Road within about 12 hours. My ventilator would go dead in about 6 hours, but the spare battery could probably give it another 2 or 3 hours. The car had about half a tank of gas, and every hour that we ran the car would give us an extra 1.5 to 2 hours of ventilator operation. I was too anxious to do the math but I would probably make it through the night. That thought did not give me as much comfort as I thought it should have.
It was about then that Darchelle said, "Someone's coming." I didn't know what she was talking about. She repeated, "A car is coming down the hill!" I could see it then, a light flickering between the trees up ahead of us. It could have been the moon but wasn't. It was a truck and as soon as it appeared around the corner we turned on our headlights and Darchelle hopped out and waved her arms. Two men got out of the truck and talked with her. I could not quite hear what was said but it looked promising. I held onto my panic a little longer just the same. Darchelle pointed at me through the windshield and one of the men walked over to her door, leaned in and introduced himself as Nate. They had a rope and as soon they could sneak their truck past us, they would hook up the rope to us and pull us out. As our car lurched out of the hole, plowed through a few bushes along the ditch then rolled out onto the hardpacked gravel, I just about broke into tears.
We got turned around and followed them back down the few hundred yards to FR 7300. Darchelle asked them for a selfie so Nate and his son Kaston leaned into the passenger-side windows and Darchelle took a photo with her phone. We thanked them profusely. They asked how long we had been stuck and when we told them we had only been there about 10 minutes, they agreed that the timing was amazing. They had been setting up camp farther up the mountain and had only come back down again because Kaston's hammock had broken when he had climbed into it. They seemed delighted to have been able to rescue us and were at first reluctant to share their address information because they were concerned that we might try to send them money. They asked if we had a place to spend the night and we replied that we had booked a motel before we came up here and were very grateful that we were going to going to be able to stay there after all.
We didn't go directly to the motel but instead drove up and down FR 7300 until after midnight playing Spotted Owl recordings. We heard no response. On the way down the hill we discovered that we had not escaped the ditch unscathed. The growling sound we heard whenever we made a sharp right turn proved to be the right front tire rubbing against the mudguard, which had been bent forward when we had been towed backwards out of the ditch. The wheel had taken on quite a bit of mud as well but the brakes still worked. We were okay.
Yesterday morning Darchelle received a tip about a Spotted Owl in the vicinity of Mill Creek m+ south of Leavenworth. Liam drove over there and spent the night but did not come up with any conclusive evidence, which nonetheless did not deter us from checking it out for ourselves. Lacking precise location information, we drove FR 7300 up the creek valley from Ranch Creek Road just off US 97 about 3 miles up to a height of land then returned to the creek crossing and drove up FR 7305 m+, which on the map is also called the Allen Creek Road. Both roads traverse steep forested terrain, mostly second growth Ponderosa Pine, Douglas Fir and Grand Fir of various ages, but while 7300 is in good shape 7305 was very rough with deep ditches and potholes. It was also quite steep, at one point reaching a pitch of 17° which turned out to be close to the limit of what our Forester could handle. Where the forest appeared old enough to interest an owl we stopped and played recordings but heard no response. After a very slow 3.5 miles the habitat did not appear to be improving so we turned around.
As darkness approached we decided to try spur road 400 which runs west and up the hill from FR 7300 at the height of land. Within a quarter-mile we encountered an apparently impassable obstacle - a deep gully running down the left center of the road. We could have avoided the gully except for a muddy ditch running down the right side of the road. Darchelle tested the mud and decided it was too deep for us. Deterred by neither the depth of the mud nor my suggestion that to proceed would be unwise, she gathered an armload of dead wood, dumped it into the ditch, hopped back into the car and powered forward.
As Siri observed when we subsequently attempted to transmit our location to the Starlink SOS service, something went wrong. Our right front wheel almost immediately sank up to the axle and when we attempted to back up out of the hole, our right rear wheel did likewise. At that point both wheels spun freely in both drive and reverse. We were stuck. Darchelle got out to investigate and quickly realized we were not going to got out of this without help. I quickly realized that all we needed was someone who could pull us out with a winch. The problem was that we had not seen any other vehicles for the previous four hours. Fortunately we had cell service. Darchelle called the Leavenworth police station. The dispatcher was friendly but not very helpful. It was then that we remembered the Starlink SOS service, provided for free for the first three years after we purchased the car. All we had to do was press the SOS button above the rearview mirror, so Darchelle did that. The woman who called us a minute later was also very nice but informed us that the nearest towing service which could help us was located in Seattle.
Some might call that an "Oh shit" moment. I began to feel a knot of panic growing inside my chest. To quell the panic I took stock of our situation. The time was shortly before 10 PM. Someone would probably come by on the 7300 Road within about 12 hours. My ventilator would go dead in about 6 hours, but the spare battery could probably give it another 2 or 3 hours. The car had about half a tank of gas, and every hour that we ran the car would give us an extra 1.5 to 2 hours of ventilator operation. I was too anxious to do the math but I would probably make it through the night. That thought did not give me as much comfort as I thought it should have.
It was about then that Darchelle said, "Someone's coming." I didn't know what she was talking about. She repeated, "A car is coming down the hill!" I could see it then, a light flickering between the trees up ahead of us. It could have been the moon but wasn't. It was a truck and as soon as it appeared around the corner we turned on our headlights and Darchelle hopped out and waved her arms. Two men got out of the truck and talked with her. I could not quite hear what was said but it looked promising. I held onto my panic a little longer just the same. Darchelle pointed at me through the windshield and one of the men walked over to her door, leaned in and introduced himself as Nate. They had a rope and as soon they could sneak their truck past us, they would hook up the rope to us and pull us out. As our car lurched out of the hole, plowed through a few bushes along the ditch then rolled out onto the hardpacked gravel, I just about broke into tears.
We got turned around and followed them back down the few hundred yards to FR 7300. Darchelle asked them for a selfie so Nate and his son Kaston leaned into the passenger-side windows and Darchelle took a photo with her phone. We thanked them profusely. They asked how long we had been stuck and when we told them we had only been there about 10 minutes, they agreed that the timing was amazing. They had been setting up camp farther up the mountain and had only come back down again because Kaston's hammock had broken when he had climbed into it. They seemed delighted to have been able to rescue us and were at first reluctant to share their address information because they were concerned that we might try to send them money. They asked if we had a place to spend the night and we replied that we had booked a motel before we came up here and were very grateful that we were going to going to be able to stay there after all.
We didn't go directly to the motel but instead drove up and down FR 7300 until after midnight playing Spotted Owl recordings. We heard no response. On the way down the hill we discovered that we had not escaped the ditch unscathed. The growling sound we heard whenever we made a sharp right turn proved to be the right front tire rubbing against the mudguard, which had been bent forward when we had been towed backwards out of the ditch. The wheel had taken on quite a bit of mud as well but the brakes still worked. We were okay.
Our motel, the Wedge
Mountain Inn + near the junction of US 97 and US 200, was convenient, clean and comfortable. We
parked in back, rolled in through a sliding door and were in bed 10 minutes later. Though I did not
end up using it, the toilet was reasonably tall and easily accessible, and the bed was sufficiently
firm as well.
In the morning I sat in the sun in the parking lot while Darchelle chipped mud out of the wheel well then we drove over to Cashmere to look for a few more Chelan County birds. Along Dryden Road we found several Eastern Kingbirds and a pair of Loggerhead Shrikes. At the Dryden fishing access we found lots of fruiting shrubs - Chokecherry, Elderberry, Serviceberry and Red osier dogwood (clusters of white berries) and Buckthorn? (clusters of black berries) - popular with robins and waxwings. In Leavenworth we found an Anna's Hummingbird. After some searching, we found the north end of FR 7300 and followed it up out of town along a lateral moraine of the Icicle Creek Glacier +. The moraine, consisting of sand and gravel studded with huge granite boulders, is now a forested ridge running along the west slope of the Icicle Creek Valley 500 to 800 feet above the valley floor. Above the moraine FR 7300 skirts a broad brushy area of flat terrain burned in 1994 by the Rat Creek Fire + before climbing to the height of land above Mill Creek. We parked on the 400 spur around the corner below the ditch and I waited in the car while Darchelle hiked up the road looking for owl habitat. After that we spent another hour along FR 7300 before abandoning our owl effort and heading home.
In the morning I sat in the sun in the parking lot while Darchelle chipped mud out of the wheel well then we drove over to Cashmere to look for a few more Chelan County birds. Along Dryden Road we found several Eastern Kingbirds and a pair of Loggerhead Shrikes. At the Dryden fishing access we found lots of fruiting shrubs - Chokecherry, Elderberry, Serviceberry and Red osier dogwood (clusters of white berries) and Buckthorn? (clusters of black berries) - popular with robins and waxwings. In Leavenworth we found an Anna's Hummingbird. After some searching, we found the north end of FR 7300 and followed it up out of town along a lateral moraine of the Icicle Creek Glacier +. The moraine, consisting of sand and gravel studded with huge granite boulders, is now a forested ridge running along the west slope of the Icicle Creek Valley 500 to 800 feet above the valley floor. Above the moraine FR 7300 skirts a broad brushy area of flat terrain burned in 1994 by the Rat Creek Fire + before climbing to the height of land above Mill Creek. We parked on the 400 spur around the corner below the ditch and I waited in the car while Darchelle hiked up the road looking for owl habitat. After that we spent another hour along FR 7300 before abandoning our owl effort and heading home.
7/31/2023 July Wrap-up (link to here)
It was a tough month for the car. We drove just over 3000 miles for a cumulative total of 93,365 miles on the odometer, about 10% fewer miles than our monthly average since we purchased the car. We gave it a major tuneup early in the month but then dented the bumper and bent a mudguard during close encounters with a rock and a ditch respectively. It still drives well but complains a bit at low RPMs and on sharp rght turns.
We submitted 80 checklists during 12 days in the field, mostly during the first half of the month, and spent 8 nights away from home, mostly in the service of our successful effort to complete 100 species in every county in the state. Darchelle took about 4000 photos; I kept about 600 of them but haven't had time to do much with them yet. We added 5 species to our Washington state year list, giving us a total of 314 for the year to date. Last year at this point we had 337 species.
In other news, I have noticed more decline in the past month than in the previous quarter - not a welcome development. Most alarming is the loss of leg strength which renders transfers from both the toilet and the office chair consistently risky. Most annoying are the changes in my voice which cause Dragon Naturally Speaking to consistently misunderstand me, requiring that I spell out a couple of words out of every sentence and even then, Dragon does not understand my Y's and 8's. That is more than annoying; it is "foxtrot uniform charlie kilo india november golf" infuriating! Along with speaking difficulties are some swallowing changes. The past few evenings I have had difficulty clearing residual liquid from the entrance to my windpipe after swallowing. For several years now swallowing a mouthful of food or liquid has required one or two additional efforts after the initial gulp, and even after that I have had to squeeze a little residue back up my throat and away from my windpipe. Just recently though, that effort to clear my windpipe has instead resulted in a minor aspiration incident. I assume that, as with other changes in my swallowing over the years, I will learn to adjust to this one as well.
Darchelle and I spent most of the day in the Jungle Room. Outside it was a classic Seattle summer day - sunshine, blue sky, 77F and a light breeze. Unlike yesterday, we did not do a backyard checklist l+. They only new bird today would have been a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Darchelle refilled the feeders a few days ago after a long hiatus and the birds have quickly rediscovered the food source.
It was a tough month for the car. We drove just over 3000 miles for a cumulative total of 93,365 miles on the odometer, about 10% fewer miles than our monthly average since we purchased the car. We gave it a major tuneup early in the month but then dented the bumper and bent a mudguard during close encounters with a rock and a ditch respectively. It still drives well but complains a bit at low RPMs and on sharp rght turns.
We submitted 80 checklists during 12 days in the field, mostly during the first half of the month, and spent 8 nights away from home, mostly in the service of our successful effort to complete 100 species in every county in the state. Darchelle took about 4000 photos; I kept about 600 of them but haven't had time to do much with them yet. We added 5 species to our Washington state year list, giving us a total of 314 for the year to date. Last year at this point we had 337 species.
In other news, I have noticed more decline in the past month than in the previous quarter - not a welcome development. Most alarming is the loss of leg strength which renders transfers from both the toilet and the office chair consistently risky. Most annoying are the changes in my voice which cause Dragon Naturally Speaking to consistently misunderstand me, requiring that I spell out a couple of words out of every sentence and even then, Dragon does not understand my Y's and 8's. That is more than annoying; it is "foxtrot uniform charlie kilo india november golf" infuriating! Along with speaking difficulties are some swallowing changes. The past few evenings I have had difficulty clearing residual liquid from the entrance to my windpipe after swallowing. For several years now swallowing a mouthful of food or liquid has required one or two additional efforts after the initial gulp, and even after that I have had to squeeze a little residue back up my throat and away from my windpipe. Just recently though, that effort to clear my windpipe has instead resulted in a minor aspiration incident. I assume that, as with other changes in my swallowing over the years, I will learn to adjust to this one as well.
Darchelle and I spent most of the day in the Jungle Room. Outside it was a classic Seattle summer day - sunshine, blue sky, 77F and a light breeze. Unlike yesterday, we did not do a backyard checklist l+. They only new bird today would have been a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Darchelle refilled the feeders a few days ago after a long hiatus and the birds have quickly rediscovered the food source.
8/04/2023 Pelagic trip (link to here)
After our very successful pelagic trip last year we did not plan to do another one but the allure of a dozen year birds proved too difficult to resist so sometime in March we contacted Chris and Phil and arranged for another charter. Neither Darchelle nor I can remember why we asked for a midsummer date instead of early September; maybe it was so that we could try for a Leach's Storm-petrel. If so, our plan paid off, barely - although we saw only one, no subsequent trips saw any. We also added 12 other species to our year list, missing only three of the species we considered reasonably likely.
Darchelle booked an AirBnB for the nights before and after the trip and split it with Ed and Delia.
That worked out well, giving us space to have guests over on both evenings - Liam and Elizabeth on
Thursday night and Tim and Mary for dinner on Friday night.
We left the dock at 6AM under clear skies with no wind and minimal swell over the bar. Just outside the entrance channel we encountered our first year bird - Sooty Shearwater - 3000 of them, but over the next couple of hours birding was fairly slow as we crossed the continental shelf l+. Phil informed us that the shrimpers were down off the Oregon coast so we would not have any fishing boats to concentrate the birds for us. We accordingly adjusted our expectations downward. Maybe we would have to settle for as few as 10 species.
At the edge of the continental shelf things started looking up, jump-started by the first of seven
South Polar Skuas. Continuing out over Grays Canyon l+,
about 40 miles west of Westport m+,
we found all 13 of our new year birds of the day, though we had already seen all but two of them
during our trip out there. For me the Jaegers, both Long-tailed (which I did not see well) and
Pomarine (which I did) were the highlights.
At our chum stop over the canyon we attracted quite a few albatrosses although only one of them
seemed very enthusiastic about the sardines and suet we were offering for lunch. That one, an
older adult with worn plumage, was so inspired that it even managed to walk on water for several
feet, quite a feat for a bird the size of a goose.
While still over the canyon on our return trip we encountered small flocks of juvenile Sabine's
Gulls, the first of the season, and unusually large flocks of Fork-tailed Storm-petrels. The one
pictured above is probably a juvenile, distinguished from the
adults
by its fresh-looking plumage. We also passed numerous small rafts of mostly Pink-footed
Shearwaters. The absence of fishing boats probably allowed us to see more natural patterns of
behavior and distribution of the pelagic albatrosses, shearwaters and storm-petrels than we do when
the boats are present.
The rest of the return trip across the continental shelf was uneventful. The big flock of Sooty
Shearwaters at the mouth of the channel had moved on and we could not find the customary rockpipers
out on the jetty. We eked out a Wandering Tattler the next morning from the observation platform
thanks to scouting by Ed and Delia and skillful scoping by Darchelle who spotted the bird then held the
binoculars up to my eyes just in time for me to see it before it disappeared around the corner of a
distant groin.
It was a sweet trip with beautiful weather, great company, a good selection of birds and no mishaps, until my ventilator battery went dead. Fortunately we had already docked. Bill was reviewing the list of birds with all of us in the back of the boat when I ran out of air. I don't really remember who did what to get me and the chair out the boat, onto the dock, up the ramp, across the street and into the car, followed immediately by the ventilator, plugged into the car with the engine running. I do remember, with deep gratitude, the moment I had air again. For future reference, the fully-charged ventilator and spare battery together lasted just under 11 hours. Next time it would be a good idea to keep the ventilator on AC power during the half hour or so between getting out of bed and leaving the AirBnB for the dock. If there is a next time.
After our very successful pelagic trip last year we did not plan to do another one but the allure of a dozen year birds proved too difficult to resist so sometime in March we contacted Chris and Phil and arranged for another charter. Neither Darchelle nor I can remember why we asked for a midsummer date instead of early September; maybe it was so that we could try for a Leach's Storm-petrel. If so, our plan paid off, barely - although we saw only one, no subsequent trips saw any. We also added 12 other species to our year list, missing only three of the species we considered reasonably likely.
Birding with Ed outside the AirBnB, Westport
Whale Tail, Westport offshore
Red-necked Phalaropes, Westport offshore
We left the dock at 6AM under clear skies with no wind and minimal swell over the bar. Just outside the entrance channel we encountered our first year bird - Sooty Shearwater - 3000 of them, but over the next couple of hours birding was fairly slow as we crossed the continental shelf l+. Phil informed us that the shrimpers were down off the Oregon coast so we would not have any fishing boats to concentrate the birds for us. We accordingly adjusted our expectations downward. Maybe we would have to settle for as few as 10 species.
South Polar Skua, Grays Canyon offshore
Long-tailed Jaegers, Grays Canyon offshore
Pomarine Jaeger, Grays Canyon offshore
Feeding Albatrosses, Grays Canyon offshore
Black-footed Albatross, Grays Canyon offshore
Sabine's Gull, Grays Canyon offshore
Shearwaters and Storm-petrels, Westport offshore
Fork-tailed Storm-petrel, Grays Canyon offshore
Leach's Storm-petrel, Grays Canyon offshore
With Tim on the return trip to port
My transportation crew
Our final scorecard for the trip
It was a sweet trip with beautiful weather, great company, a good selection of birds and no mishaps, until my ventilator battery went dead. Fortunately we had already docked. Bill was reviewing the list of birds with all of us in the back of the boat when I ran out of air. I don't really remember who did what to get me and the chair out the boat, onto the dock, up the ramp, across the street and into the car, followed immediately by the ventilator, plugged into the car with the engine running. I do remember, with deep gratitude, the moment I had air again. For future reference, the fully-charged ventilator and spare battery together lasted just under 11 hours. Next time it would be a good idea to keep the ventilator on AC power during the half hour or so between getting out of bed and leaving the AirBnB for the dock. If there is a next time.
8/20/2023 Happy Birthday (link to here)
Actually it wasn't particularly, despite Darchelle's best efforts and a successful bird chase on short notice. Part of the problem was probably that I was tired; I had not slept well for the previous several nights and was generally down most of the day. Darchelle on the other hand was cheerful and energetic. Unfazed by my grumpiness, she wheeled me out to the car, drove us down to the mouth of the Cedar River in Renton, held binoculars for me so I could get a view of our quarry and patiently negotiated rush-hour traffic to get home again where she dismembered a roast chicken from PCC for my supper and served it along with a selection of special cheeses and a new IPA, which turned out to be quite tasty. For dessert she delivered up a 4" birthday cake with a single candle and held it right up to my lips so I could blow it out. I couldn't think of a wish at the time but in retrospect might have asked that the coming year not be as bad as I expect it to be.
The bird was an Arctic Tern, a long-distance migrant which usually travels well offshore and turns up
inland only a few times a year. Having missed it on our pelagic trip two weeks ago, we did not expect
another opportunity to see it but around noon Darchelle spotted a notification on the King County
chat that two of them had been discovered at the Cedar River mouth l+ two hours earlier. Nadine D, Raphael
F, Dave S and
several other birders were already present when we arrived; Nadine met us at our car and reassured
us that the bird was still being seen and Raphael helped us spot it for ourselves.
We chased another bird yesterday, a Bar-tailed Godwit out on the coast at Tokeland. It being a two and a half hour drive we made a day of it, driving the beach at Grayland before and Midway Beach after scanning the large godwit flock at the marina for our target.
Driving south into hazy sunshine on Grayland Beach l+ we found more gulls than shorebirds; the most exciting sight
was a dead Sea Lion attended by 19 Turkey Vultures. Returning north on
Midway Beach l+
I optimistically misidentified Horned Larks in the wrack line as Lapland Longspurs then we both
puzzled over a mystery bird Darchelle flushed from the dune grass until we realized that it was a
juvenile Common Nighthawk.
At Tokeland l+
it was not easy to distinguish the Bar-tailed from the very similar Marbled Godwits but after
scoping for a half hour or so while I sat in the car, Darchelle was able to pick it out. She
pointed it out to me and I monitered it through my opera glasses while she walked out to the end of
the float and took photos. Only today, perusing her photos on my computer, did I realize that I was
looking at the wrong bird the whole time.
Actually it wasn't particularly, despite Darchelle's best efforts and a successful bird chase on short notice. Part of the problem was probably that I was tired; I had not slept well for the previous several nights and was generally down most of the day. Darchelle on the other hand was cheerful and energetic. Unfazed by my grumpiness, she wheeled me out to the car, drove us down to the mouth of the Cedar River in Renton, held binoculars for me so I could get a view of our quarry and patiently negotiated rush-hour traffic to get home again where she dismembered a roast chicken from PCC for my supper and served it along with a selection of special cheeses and a new IPA, which turned out to be quite tasty. For dessert she delivered up a 4" birthday cake with a single candle and held it right up to my lips so I could blow it out. I couldn't think of a wish at the time but in retrospect might have asked that the coming year not be as bad as I expect it to be.
We chased another bird yesterday, a Bar-tailed Godwit out on the coast at Tokeland. It being a two and a half hour drive we made a day of it, driving the beach at Grayland before and Midway Beach after scanning the large godwit flock at the marina for our target.
Sanderlings, Grayland Beach
Turkey Vultures, Grayland Beach
California Gull, Grayland Beach
Dune Flora, Midway Beach
Horned Lark, Midway Beach
Juvenile Common Nighthawk, Midway Beach
8/21/2023 Dinner Party (link to here)
Slightly smoky weather, great company, delicious food and an unexpected avian guest made for a delightful summer dinner party. The official occasion was my birthday, and though there were several moments during the preceding week when I wished we could call it off, plans had been made and guests had been invited and the party was on. Afterwards we had no regrets.
Shortly before anyone arrived, I was sitting in the kitchen watching Darchelle clean up a few dishes
at the sink when I noticed the shadow of a fluttering bird in a spot of sunshine on the ceiling over
her head. I mentioned the bird to her but she did not see it and, preoccupied by how sunlight could
be shining on the ceiling, I thought no more of it until a few minutes later when Karin and John
arrived and Karin exclaimed "You have a bird in your house!" She was right; we did! A Red-breasted
Nuthatch had arrived before anyone else, presumably by flying in through the open back door, and
made itself comfortable in our coffee tree while the rest of our guests trickled in and gathered
around the tree trying for photos with their cell phones. The bird seemed little distressed by the
attention, foraging head-first down the trunks of the coffee tree in a futile (we hoped) search for
insects. I suggested that we smear a little peanut butter on the trunk for it to eat but more
reasonable minds prevailed and we were just beginning to debate how to help the bird find its way
back outside when it did so on its own.
Although I was too engaged in conversation to eat much of it, the food (and beer) were excellent.
Darchelle baked tofu and scalloped potatoes with Gruyere cheese. Monica brought an
appetizer board
with multicolored roasted carrots, fresh exotic fruits, soft cheeses, cured olives and myriad other
treats. Tim and Mary brought lentil salad and baked salmon with lemon garlic sauce. Ed and Delia
brought several hazy IPAs of which Icicle Brewing's Enchantments Hazy IPA + was my favorite. Unfortunately it is
a limited release so I may not be able to procure any more. For dessert there was a tiramisu cake
though of it I waited a day to partake, having not finished my supper. Aran helped me blow out the
candles.
Before we ate, Ellen suggested that people offer a word that came to mind when they thought of me. People said mostly nice things - optimist, naturalist, knowledgeable, skilled birder, writer, kindred spirit. The word that came to my mind was grumpy, though I agreed with most of the others as well. I was grateful to be considered a writer but in my view, I am no more a writer now than I was an artist back when I used to paint. In both painting and writing my primary objective has been simply to preserve memories for my own future reference.
Slightly smoky weather, great company, delicious food and an unexpected avian guest made for a delightful summer dinner party. The official occasion was my birthday, and though there were several moments during the preceding week when I wished we could call it off, plans had been made and guests had been invited and the party was on. Afterwards we had no regrets.
Before we ate, Ellen suggested that people offer a word that came to mind when they thought of me. People said mostly nice things - optimist, naturalist, knowledgeable, skilled birder, writer, kindred spirit. The word that came to my mind was grumpy, though I agreed with most of the others as well. I was grateful to be considered a writer but in my view, I am no more a writer now than I was an artist back when I used to paint. In both painting and writing my primary objective has been simply to preserve memories for my own future reference.
8/23/2023 Tokeland again (link to here)
Another day, another godwit, or so we hoped. Yesterday a rare Hudsonian Godwit turned up in the
godwit flock frequenting the Tokeland Marina. The report was credible but Darchelle was working so
we waited until this morning to drive out there and look for it. When we arrived we found two birders
from Oregon, Matt C and Cheney, already studying the godwit
flock, which was conveniently foraging on the beach next to the fishing pier. They had spotted two
Bar-tailed Godwits among the 400 or so Marbled Godwits but had not seen the Hudsonian. Darchelle,
scoping the flock for the next hour, did no better. At 1PM she had a phone appointment so she took
it in the car while I sat outside in the sunshine and watched the flock. I did not find the Hudsonian
either but when the flock flushed for the last time I did manage to spot one of the Bar-tailed
Godwits. Its white rump and barred tail gave it away.
I subsequently saw the Hudsonian too but it was hardly a satisfying view. After her appointment Darchelle
and I drove over to the boat launch to scope the godwit flock, which had relocated to the jetty to wait
out high tide. I sat in the car and peered at the birds through my opera glasses. I suspected the
desired godwit had moved on overnight but Darchelle persisted in scrutinizing the sleeping birds
until she found a promising candidate - a godwit-shaped bird which was smaller, darker and browner
than the nearby Marbled Godwits. She digiscoped a few photos and studying them, I agreed with her
that she had found the elusive Hudsonian. She directed me to the exact location of the bird and
this time, I focused on the correct brown dot. Although I certainly could not have identified it
from my view, I did happen to see the diagnostic dark underwings when it stretched briefly.
Other birds around the Tokeland Marina l+ included the Laughing Gull which first appeared last March and the resident flock of Willets which, in their faded late-summer plumage look superficially like the Hudsonian Godwit.
Sweetening the incentive to make the trip to the coast for the godwit was the opportunity to stop at
KGY Point l+
in Olympia where a Common Tern has been seen for several days now. Their name notwithstanding,
Common Terns are not common in Washington state and we rarely see them without making a special trip
for that purpose. Today's trip was indeed special because the bird was perched at the water's edge
when we pulled into the parking lot. H Saunders was
watching it through her scope and verified that it was the bird we sought, not that there was much
question about the ID. It was nice to have seen the similar Arctic Tern just a few days ago for
comparison.
Bar-tailed (center), Hudsonian (bottom center) and Marbled Godwits, Tokeland
Bar-tailed (bottom center) and Marbled Godwits, Tokeland
Laughing Gull, Tokeland
Hudsonian (bottom center) and Marbled Godwits, Tokeland
Other birds around the Tokeland Marina l+ included the Laughing Gull which first appeared last March and the resident flock of Willets which, in their faded late-summer plumage look superficially like the Hudsonian Godwit.
Common Tern, Olympia
Common Tern, Olympia
Common Tern, Olympia
8/30/2023 Ruff (link to here)
Jon H photographed a Ruff + at Channel Drive l+ a day or two ago. Last year only one turned up in the state all fall and we missed it so we took no chances on this one. Maxine was there when we arrived and assured us that the bird had been present but was not actually visible at the moment. Darchelle got out the scope and soon located it again then helped Maxine and another birder find it. She and Maxine walked out to get photos while I sat on the bank and watched little Lesser Yellowlegs forage in the shallow water below me. Of course they weren't any smaller than normal; I guess they just looked that way because I was closer to them than normal. The several Stilt Sandpipers foraging with them looked even smaller. Unfortunately the Ruff remained at scope distance but Darchelle held the scope for me and I was able to have a brief view of the bird, which was quite colorful for a fall shorebird, buff-brown below and rather Text Darchelle isrufous above.
Jon H photographed a Ruff + at Channel Drive l+ a day or two ago. Last year only one turned up in the state all fall and we missed it so we took no chances on this one. Maxine was there when we arrived and assured us that the bird had been present but was not actually visible at the moment. Darchelle got out the scope and soon located it again then helped Maxine and another birder find it. She and Maxine walked out to get photos while I sat on the bank and watched little Lesser Yellowlegs forage in the shallow water below me. Of course they weren't any smaller than normal; I guess they just looked that way because I was closer to them than normal. The several Stilt Sandpipers foraging with them looked even smaller. Unfortunately the Ruff remained at scope distance but Darchelle held the scope for me and I was able to have a brief view of the bird, which was quite colorful for a fall shorebird, buff-brown below and rather Text Darchelle isrufous above.
8/31/2023 Vagrants (link to here)
During the month of August we submitted (or at least shared in) 42 checklists during 12 days in the field and picked up 26 new year birds, half of them during our pelagic trip on the 4th. We spent only 5 nights away from home and put only 2700 miles on the car (ending mileage 96080).
Finding ourselves in Pasco on the last of the month, we booked a room at the Courtyard by Marriott (bed too soft, toilet too low) and picked up Chile Rellenos from the Desert Heat (delicious) for supper. It was a sort-of celebration for two sort-of successful chases today. Our first target was a Blackburnian Warbler photographed yesterday by Christopher L at Fishhook Park +. Arriving at 2 PM we found Alex P already present and studying the tall trees at the north end of the park l+. Darchelle got me out of the car to watch from my chair while she joined Alex to search for the bird. Eventually they found it and had a couple of brief binocular views before losing it again. I saw the silhouette as it flew into another tree and disappeared forever. Darchelle described the bird as follows:
There was a consolation prize though. Matt Y reported a Ross's Goose an hour and a half north of Fishhook Park at Perch Point so we scooted on up there l+ before sunset and easily found the bird foraging on a mudflat with 58 Snow Geese. Ross's Geese are typically quite a bit smaller than Snow Geese. They are also much less common in Washington so we were grateful for the opportunity to get one for the year, but I would have been more grateful had this bird not been virtually the same size as its companions, casting doubt on its credentials as a bona fide Ross's. Everyone else counted it though so we did too.
During the month of August we submitted (or at least shared in) 42 checklists during 12 days in the field and picked up 26 new year birds, half of them during our pelagic trip on the 4th. We spent only 5 nights away from home and put only 2700 miles on the car (ending mileage 96080).
Finding ourselves in Pasco on the last of the month, we booked a room at the Courtyard by Marriott (bed too soft, toilet too low) and picked up Chile Rellenos from the Desert Heat (delicious) for supper. It was a sort-of celebration for two sort-of successful chases today. Our first target was a Blackburnian Warbler photographed yesterday by Christopher L at Fishhook Park +. Arriving at 2 PM we found Alex P already present and studying the tall trees at the north end of the park l+. Darchelle got me out of the car to watch from my chair while she joined Alex to search for the bird. Eventually they found it and had a couple of brief binocular views before losing it again. I saw the silhouette as it flew into another tree and disappeared forever. Darchelle described the bird as follows:
Continuing with nearby warblers, and briefly associating with a Warbling Vireo near the top of a
maple tree at north end of park during our view. In overcast light and somewhat backlit, the bird
appeared predominantly gray and pale/white with yellow throat and breast (more obvious during view
of front), two bold white wingbars on gray wing, dull gray “mask”on face with some gray extending
from “mask” down the side of neck to breast, unlike female Townsend’s Warbler. No olive color
apparent. White underparts with coarse gray streaks on sides. Two brief views while standing with
Alex P who first pointed out area where he thought the bird was. Front view in leaf cluster
followed by side view on bare branch, both from below at about 50 ft through binoculars. Active and
difficult to spot. Bird activity quieted down again soon after and we did not definitively relocate
it after it flew into a neighboring tree.
All good, except that Alex, perhaps because he did not see the brief but clear side view which
Darchelle had, decided not to report it. That left Darchelle is the only person to report the bird
today and left us suspecting that the eBird reviewers would not confirm her sighting. We decided to
report it anyhow but it was certainly not the definitive view we had hoped for. Blackburnian has
been a tough warbler for me in Washington, eluding me
last year at Neah Bay and
the previous year in the Columbia Gorge.
As they say, the third time's a charm, but definitely not as charming as I hoped.There was a consolation prize though. Matt Y reported a Ross's Goose an hour and a half north of Fishhook Park at Perch Point so we scooted on up there l+ before sunset and easily found the bird foraging on a mudflat with 58 Snow Geese. Ross's Geese are typically quite a bit smaller than Snow Geese. They are also much less common in Washington so we were grateful for the opportunity to get one for the year, but I would have been more grateful had this bird not been virtually the same size as its companions, casting doubt on its credentials as a bona fide Ross's. Everyone else counted it though so we did too.
9/07/2023 Helen's Pond (link to here)
Bob B discovered a rare Sharp-tailed Sandpiper this morning around 7:30 at Helen's Pond l+, a postage stamp-sized saltmarsh along Three Crabs Road in Sequim. We caught the Edmonds ferry and drove out there as soon as we heard about it, which was not soon enough. Liam was the last person to see it, around noon, and we did not get there until 3 PM. The Stilt Sandpiper and Long-billed Dowitchers which had accompanied the Sharp-tailed were still present and gave us nice close-up views but though we waited for four hours, the star of the show did not show. Maxine and Mike were there too and Bob stopped by for a while so we had some nice social time. We also had dramatic views of a Black Merlin chasing the shorebirds and Darchelle got a few photos. Not a bird I have seen very often, and not a bad day altogether.
Bob B discovered a rare Sharp-tailed Sandpiper this morning around 7:30 at Helen's Pond l+, a postage stamp-sized saltmarsh along Three Crabs Road in Sequim. We caught the Edmonds ferry and drove out there as soon as we heard about it, which was not soon enough. Liam was the last person to see it, around noon, and we did not get there until 3 PM. The Stilt Sandpiper and Long-billed Dowitchers which had accompanied the Sharp-tailed were still present and gave us nice close-up views but though we waited for four hours, the star of the show did not show. Maxine and Mike were there too and Bob stopped by for a while so we had some nice social time. We also had dramatic views of a Black Merlin chasing the shorebirds and Darchelle got a few photos. Not a bird I have seen very often, and not a bad day altogether.
9/10/2023 Hat Trick (link to here)
We have done pretty well during this fall shorebird migration season but five continue to elude us - the two Golden-Plovers, the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, the very rare Buff-breasted Sandpiper and the not rare Red Knot. Normally we would not chase the Knot but worried about missing it, we made the trip to Sequim because one has been reported recently from Dungeness Landing l+. Low tide was early so we drove out the night before only to find our usual motels fully booked. The room we found at the Sequim Bay Lodge + was more than we wanted to pay at $199 but it was pleasant and the bed was firm and the toilet usable, I think. We would try it again, during the off-season when the price would be below $100.
The Red Knot was hanging out with dowitchers quite a ways out on the mudflat. Darchelle found it then lost it before I could see it. Roger O helped us relocate it then Darchelle held the scope for me so I could distinguish it from its companions.
On our way home we detoured over to Fort Flagler. Parasitic Jaeger is a bird we like to get every fall, preferably without too much effort. They had been reported recently at the Marrowstone Light but we found little activity there and no wheelchair access to the beach so we tried the beach campground l+ instead. Darchelle counted several with the scope in a large feeding flock out the strait but I could not pick them out even when she held the binoculars for me so we waited and eventually I spotted a likely suspect closer to shore and she confirmed my suspicion with a photo.
There being still a few hours of daylight when we disembarked the ferry in Edmonds and Maxine having reported her American Golden-Plover earlier in the day and Philip D having reported that he saw it from the road, we drove up to Tulalip Bay l+ and found it quite easily with the scope. I could even see it with the opera glasses, though as usual could not have identified it. Darchelle, as Maxine had earlier in the day, ignored the "No Beach Access" signs and walked out the spit to get photos while I waited uncomfortably in the car, certain that someone would call the police to report us for parking illegally in the neighborhood. Noone did.
We have done pretty well during this fall shorebird migration season but five continue to elude us - the two Golden-Plovers, the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, the very rare Buff-breasted Sandpiper and the not rare Red Knot. Normally we would not chase the Knot but worried about missing it, we made the trip to Sequim because one has been reported recently from Dungeness Landing l+. Low tide was early so we drove out the night before only to find our usual motels fully booked. The room we found at the Sequim Bay Lodge + was more than we wanted to pay at $199 but it was pleasant and the bed was firm and the toilet usable, I think. We would try it again, during the off-season when the price would be below $100.
The Red Knot was hanging out with dowitchers quite a ways out on the mudflat. Darchelle found it then lost it before I could see it. Roger O helped us relocate it then Darchelle held the scope for me so I could distinguish it from its companions.
On our way home we detoured over to Fort Flagler. Parasitic Jaeger is a bird we like to get every fall, preferably without too much effort. They had been reported recently at the Marrowstone Light but we found little activity there and no wheelchair access to the beach so we tried the beach campground l+ instead. Darchelle counted several with the scope in a large feeding flock out the strait but I could not pick them out even when she held the binoculars for me so we waited and eventually I spotted a likely suspect closer to shore and she confirmed my suspicion with a photo.
There being still a few hours of daylight when we disembarked the ferry in Edmonds and Maxine having reported her American Golden-Plover earlier in the day and Philip D having reported that he saw it from the road, we drove up to Tulalip Bay l+ and found it quite easily with the scope. I could even see it with the opera glasses, though as usual could not have identified it. Darchelle, as Maxine had earlier in the day, ignored the "No Beach Access" signs and walked out the spit to get photos while I waited uncomfortably in the car, certain that someone would call the police to report us for parking illegally in the neighborhood. Noone did.
9/11/2023 Canada Warbler (link to here)
Yesterday evening when we discussed the possibility of driving to Walla Walla for the day today to try to see the Canada Warbler discovered yesterday morning at Bennington Lake I was determined not to make the trip, but when Darchelle learned from the chat group that the warbler had been seen again this morning I relented. Although she claimed to be ambivalent about it, Darchelle seemed to want to go so we did. Mason M had asked us for a ride so we picked him up in Bellevue at 9:30 AM, notified Richard and Donna and Sally that we were on our way and hit the road.
I did not have much hope of seeing the bird but I thought that Darchelle might, particularly if other birdwatchers had relocated it, but as we approached Walla Walla we learned that Christopher L had been searching for it since 8:30 in the morning without success. That suggested that the warbler had moved on, but when we arrived at the lake and I saw the extent of the forested area along the lakeshore in which the small and secretive bird might be hiding, I concluded that even if it was still present, I had been overly optimistic about our chances of finding it. Nonetheless Sally and Ben were willing to help us get around the lake to the spot where the bird had last been seen m+ and I was willing to go along for the ride so we sent Mason on ahead while Sally started wheeling me across the dam.
It turned out to be a long ride indeed, just about 4 miles m+ altogether, most of it on pea gravel though our route also included at least a quarter-mile of rough singletrack. It was 1.5 miles across the dam and around the lake to the bird and Sally pushed me all of it with the kids mostly leading the way. When we reached the spot we discovered Mason who had found Chris who had still not found the bird, though they might have recently heard it in the dense brush down towards the lake. We also discovered that we had forgotten to plug in the ventilator during the drive across the state and the battery was now almost dead.
Now a pleasant, if warm, afternoon outing in the late summer sunshine became a desperate effort to get the spare ventilator battery from the car before my air supply quit. While Darchelle hurried back to the car to retrieve the battery, Sally began to push me back toward the dam so that we could be closer to the parking lot in case the battery was dead and we needed to recharge the ventilator from the car. Ben met us within a minute or two and took over from Sally, hustling me along singletrack trails while Tommy and Willy scouted the best route for us. When we reached the base of the dam we spotted a woman on a gray horse trotting towards us on the trail on top of the dam. From Darchelle over the phone we learned that the woman was Kaylie and Darchelle had given her the battery in the hope about she could reach us more quickly. Unfortunately Kaylie had taken the longer high road while we were on the low road so Darchelle reached us a minute before Kaylie did. We had just three minutes left when Darchelle plugged in the battery, which turned out to be almost fully charged and gave us an extra four hours.
We used them all. Returning to the bird spot we learned that Mason had just seen the warbler a few minutes earlier. Our hopes rejuvenated, we all waited for it to turn up again, which it did about a half hour later. Improbably, this time I was the only one who had a good view, or at least good glimpse, which I described as follows in my checklist l+:
We left Bennington Lake at 6:55 PM, drove west out of Walla Walla directly into the setting sun at 7:05 PM, continued into Wallula under a salmon-colored sunset featuring curtains of virga descending from lenses of peach-colored altocumulus and dropped Mason off at the Eastgate Park and Ride at 11:05 PM. Darchelle stayed awake the whole way home.
BTW, Mason described the warbler as follows in the his checklist +:
Yesterday evening when we discussed the possibility of driving to Walla Walla for the day today to try to see the Canada Warbler discovered yesterday morning at Bennington Lake I was determined not to make the trip, but when Darchelle learned from the chat group that the warbler had been seen again this morning I relented. Although she claimed to be ambivalent about it, Darchelle seemed to want to go so we did. Mason M had asked us for a ride so we picked him up in Bellevue at 9:30 AM, notified Richard and Donna and Sally that we were on our way and hit the road.
I did not have much hope of seeing the bird but I thought that Darchelle might, particularly if other birdwatchers had relocated it, but as we approached Walla Walla we learned that Christopher L had been searching for it since 8:30 in the morning without success. That suggested that the warbler had moved on, but when we arrived at the lake and I saw the extent of the forested area along the lakeshore in which the small and secretive bird might be hiding, I concluded that even if it was still present, I had been overly optimistic about our chances of finding it. Nonetheless Sally and Ben were willing to help us get around the lake to the spot where the bird had last been seen m+ and I was willing to go along for the ride so we sent Mason on ahead while Sally started wheeling me across the dam.
It turned out to be a long ride indeed, just about 4 miles m+ altogether, most of it on pea gravel though our route also included at least a quarter-mile of rough singletrack. It was 1.5 miles across the dam and around the lake to the bird and Sally pushed me all of it with the kids mostly leading the way. When we reached the spot we discovered Mason who had found Chris who had still not found the bird, though they might have recently heard it in the dense brush down towards the lake. We also discovered that we had forgotten to plug in the ventilator during the drive across the state and the battery was now almost dead.
Now a pleasant, if warm, afternoon outing in the late summer sunshine became a desperate effort to get the spare ventilator battery from the car before my air supply quit. While Darchelle hurried back to the car to retrieve the battery, Sally began to push me back toward the dam so that we could be closer to the parking lot in case the battery was dead and we needed to recharge the ventilator from the car. Ben met us within a minute or two and took over from Sally, hustling me along singletrack trails while Tommy and Willy scouted the best route for us. When we reached the base of the dam we spotted a woman on a gray horse trotting towards us on the trail on top of the dam. From Darchelle over the phone we learned that the woman was Kaylie and Darchelle had given her the battery in the hope about she could reach us more quickly. Unfortunately Kaylie had taken the longer high road while we were on the low road so Darchelle reached us a minute before Kaylie did. We had just three minutes left when Darchelle plugged in the battery, which turned out to be almost fully charged and gave us an extra four hours.
We used them all. Returning to the bird spot we learned that Mason had just seen the warbler a few minutes earlier. Our hopes rejuvenated, we all waited for it to turn up again, which it did about a half hour later. Improbably, this time I was the only one who had a good view, or at least good glimpse, which I described as follows in my checklist l+:
Seen at 46.067280, -118.257501 near the NE corner of Bennington Lake in thickets of snowberry and
rose around 3:30 PM when it perched briefly on a branch near the top of the bushes before diving back
into cover. I had a side view of the bird at eye level from 15-20 feet away in decent light for
about one second. First impression was of a fairly dark gray and yellow warbler with some white on
the face and black on the breast. Upperparts were uniformly medium-dark bluish gray, perhaps
slightly darker on the wing, which had no wingbars. Throat and breast were bright yellow
contrasting sharply with both the upperparts and with a black area or mark on the breast which I did
not see well enough to determine size or shape. Face was blackish with a bold white mark, either an
eyering or spectacles, around the eye. I saw no olive color anywhere on the bird, which together
with the sharp contrast between yellow throat and dark gray/black face distinguished this bird from
the MacGillivray's warbler with which it was loosely associating.
The bird was not seen again. Around 4:00 PM Ryan M showed
up and joined the quest. Around 5:30 PM Ben left with the kids, who had been remarkably patient and
quiet while the grown-ups had done whatever it was that they had to do. Around 6:00 PM Sally began
wheeling me back to the car with Darchelle following along behind. Around 6:30 PM the spare battery
went dead and the ventilator quit. Fortunately we were only 5 minutes from the car and even more
fortunately, the battery revived several times and gave me an extra 30 seconds of air each time
until Darchelle caught up to us, turned on the car and plugged me in.We left Bennington Lake at 6:55 PM, drove west out of Walla Walla directly into the setting sun at 7:05 PM, continued into Wallula under a salmon-colored sunset featuring curtains of virga descending from lenses of peach-colored altocumulus and dropped Mason off at the Eastgate Park and Ride at 11:05 PM. Darchelle stayed awake the whole way home.
BTW, Mason described the warbler as follows in the his checklist +:
Finally located at 2:52 PM with Chris L. Associating
loosely with a MacGillivray’s that had come in to pishing right at (46.0673220, -118.2576071). Gave
a few distant calls earlier that were hard to discern, but eventually showed itself briefly.
Distinct yellow Warbler with dark, bluish-gray back and nape (darker than nearby MacGillivray’s) and
obvious blackish necklace with streaking on to breast. Also appeared to have a pale eye ring,
though I wasn’t able to get as good of a look at the face as it was partially obscured by a branch
on my first viewing. Very skulky, staying low in the underbrush and moving quickly between any open
branches it stopped on. Seen again poorly in thicket across trail at 3:25, still with MacGillivrays
after coming in to chickadee mobbing calls. Was extremely secretive throughout the day, but Brian
was able to see it as well on its second appearance.
As we expected, our sightings of the Canada Warbler were marked as unconfirmed in the Notable Sightings
list in the Dashboard +.
Unconfirmed sightings normally remain in the Notable Sightings list along the confirmed sightings,
but our sightings of the Canada Warbler completely disappeared from the list before we even made it
home. We did not expect that. We wondered if perhaps the eBird reviewers found our sightings so
egregiously erroneous that they refused to allow anyone else to see them, or to independently assess
their credibility. Alternatively we wondered if perhaps they were reluctant to embarrass the
more-experienced birders who had tried and failed to find the warbler that day. I maintained that
it was probably a mistake and would soon be corrected. I was probably wrong. Perhaps in part due
to concern about the disappearance of our entries, Mason changed his to "Warbler sp." but I remain
confident of what I saw and am keeping the Canada Warbler on my list.
9/13/2023 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (link to here)
Liam found another Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at the Hoquiam STP yesterday so even before it was reported again this afternoon, we were poised to chase it. Darchelle was anyhow. Because viewing birds at the Hoquiam sewage ponds generally requires a scope which I can't use and because the light is generally bad, I generally expect a bad experience there so did not relish the prospect of another visit. This time though, the weather at least was promising. It was drizzling in Olympia. Darchelle would have to stop for an appointment on our way out to the coast and with that and traffic delays, the sun would be low in the west by the time we reached our destination and according to all reports, the bird was only visible by looking west across a pond through a scope. A persisent stratus overcast could have made the bird much easier to see but the overcast did not persist.
Instead when we parked at the spot l+ from which we could see the bird, the sun was casting a gleaming path across the pond into our faces. Despite the light, Darchelle soon found the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, along with the Pectoral Sandpiper with which was associating, but then lost them both. Bill T and Charlie W drove up and after scoping for a while, walked in from the south along the east edge of the pond and helpfully called Darchelle with the location of the bird.
For the next 15 minutes, she and I played a very frustrating game where she would find the bird in the scope then attempt to hold the scope in front of my face so I could look at it. By the time she, trying to follow my instructions, was able to position the scope so I could see its location, the bird would have moved and she would have to take the scope back and refind it. I never did get a clear view of the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper but she assured me that the orange and brown shape I had seen in the mud at one point was in the exact spot where she had just seen it through the scope. The sun had set by then and I was too cold to keep trying to get a better view. I waited in the car with the heat on full blast while Darchelle walked over to the dirt bank where the bird had been and took a few photos of it and the other sandpipers.
Liam found another Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at the Hoquiam STP yesterday so even before it was reported again this afternoon, we were poised to chase it. Darchelle was anyhow. Because viewing birds at the Hoquiam sewage ponds generally requires a scope which I can't use and because the light is generally bad, I generally expect a bad experience there so did not relish the prospect of another visit. This time though, the weather at least was promising. It was drizzling in Olympia. Darchelle would have to stop for an appointment on our way out to the coast and with that and traffic delays, the sun would be low in the west by the time we reached our destination and according to all reports, the bird was only visible by looking west across a pond through a scope. A persisent stratus overcast could have made the bird much easier to see but the overcast did not persist.
Instead when we parked at the spot l+ from which we could see the bird, the sun was casting a gleaming path across the pond into our faces. Despite the light, Darchelle soon found the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, along with the Pectoral Sandpiper with which was associating, but then lost them both. Bill T and Charlie W drove up and after scoping for a while, walked in from the south along the east edge of the pond and helpfully called Darchelle with the location of the bird.
For the next 15 minutes, she and I played a very frustrating game where she would find the bird in the scope then attempt to hold the scope in front of my face so I could look at it. By the time she, trying to follow my instructions, was able to position the scope so I could see its location, the bird would have moved and she would have to take the scope back and refind it. I never did get a clear view of the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper but she assured me that the orange and brown shape I had seen in the mud at one point was in the exact spot where she had just seen it through the scope. The sun had set by then and I was too cold to keep trying to get a better view. I waited in the car with the heat on full blast while Darchelle walked over to the dirt bank where the bird had been and took a few photos of it and the other sandpipers.
9/17/2023 Pacific Golden-Plover (link to here)
Three days ago we drove up to Hayton Reserve l+ near Conway to look for a Pacific Golden-Plover, on spec (as I heard recently) since none had been reported recently, though it is a good place for them. We hit the tide a little late; the mudflats were soon flooded and we saw lots of ducks but few shorebirds. We stopped at farm stands and bought fresh corn (not organic) and berries (organic) and two more ears of corn (organic) along with an expensive pink can of Hazy IPA. FWIW, I thought the inorganic corn tasted better than the organic, perhaps because it was younger.
Optimism and convenience inspired us to visit Hayton Reserve l+ again and they paid off. Among the many peeps and Killdeer on the mudflats were two medium-sized warm-brown shorebirds which Darchelle was able to identify as Golden-Plovers despite some backlighting and heat distortion. Sometime in the last week we figured out how to attach the old scope to my wheelchair so today I actually got to study the birds through the scope. During my initial view of the two Golden-Plovers, I tentatively identified one as an American by its attenuated back end. They appear almost to have a little dark handle back there that you could grab to swing them like a tennis racket, or maybe like a very short-handled flyswatter. We lost those two but a while later Darchelle found another and this one, I followed around with the scope for about a half hour. It did not have a handle. As I wrote in my description on the eBird checklist:
The addition of the Pacific Golden-Plover to our year list (#347) means that this year we have seen all but one of the shorebirds which regularly (albeit in some cases rarely) occur in Washington state. The missing one is at this point unlikely to turn up during the remainder of the year, which means that we are most likely done chasing shorebirds. A cause for celebration, n'est ce pas?
Three days ago we drove up to Hayton Reserve l+ near Conway to look for a Pacific Golden-Plover, on spec (as I heard recently) since none had been reported recently, though it is a good place for them. We hit the tide a little late; the mudflats were soon flooded and we saw lots of ducks but few shorebirds. We stopped at farm stands and bought fresh corn (not organic) and berries (organic) and two more ears of corn (organic) along with an expensive pink can of Hazy IPA. FWIW, I thought the inorganic corn tasted better than the organic, perhaps because it was younger.
Optimism and convenience inspired us to visit Hayton Reserve l+ again and they paid off. Among the many peeps and Killdeer on the mudflats were two medium-sized warm-brown shorebirds which Darchelle was able to identify as Golden-Plovers despite some backlighting and heat distortion. Sometime in the last week we figured out how to attach the old scope to my wheelchair so today I actually got to study the birds through the scope. During my initial view of the two Golden-Plovers, I tentatively identified one as an American by its attenuated back end. They appear almost to have a little dark handle back there that you could grab to swing them like a tennis racket, or maybe like a very short-handled flyswatter. We lost those two but a while later Darchelle found another and this one, I followed around with the scope for about a half hour. It did not have a handle. As I wrote in my description on the eBird checklist:
This bird did not show the attenuated back end characteristic of American Golden-Plover. At one
point I was able to clearly distinguish the tertials from the primaries, confirming the short
primary projection. At another point the bird startled and raised its wings, allowing me a clear
view of the pale underwing and brown rump and tail.
We did not get any photos, which is too bad because distant Golden-Plover sightings at Hayton
Reserve without photos tend not to get confirmed in eBird, and too many unconfirmed sightings in
one's eBird lists are a bit like too many overdrafts on one's checking account, though not nearly as
expensive. At best they impugn one's credibility and at worst imply more profound if possibly
inchoate flaws of character.The addition of the Pacific Golden-Plover to our year list (#347) means that this year we have seen all but one of the shorebirds which regularly (albeit in some cases rarely) occur in Washington state. The missing one is at this point unlikely to turn up during the remainder of the year, which means that we are most likely done chasing shorebirds. A cause for celebration, n'est ce pas?
But wait, the day is not yet over. An owl remains unseen (and unheard) in the remote spruce-fir
forests of the North Cascades. In the same vicinity is a grouse which has not yet been encountered
this year (and barely encountered last year, and not at all for three years before that). The
grouse is a White-tailed Ptarmigan; the owl is a Boreal and the vicinity is
Hart's Pass m+ and it is
only four hours away via the North Cascades Highway. We could be there by 7 PM, and we were.
The drive to Slate Peak from Manzama took just over an hour. The road is much improved over last year but the last couple miles are still very rough, which had not deterred about a dozen vehicles, most of them pickup trucks, from tackling the ascent. Hikers? Hunters? We arrived at sunset and saw only one other person. Unfortunately we did not see many birds either, and the only grouse we saw were not Ptarmigan but Sooty Grouse. An adults with two youngsters crossed the road at dusk.
By 8:30 PM we had made it back down to Hart's Pass and judged the night dark enough to begin playing Boreal Owl recordings. No owls responded until we played Saw-whet calls at the edge of the meadow about along FR 700 a half mile northwest of the pass and aroused two Northern Saw-whet Owls, but no Boreals. Those we found over by the second entrance to the Madows Campground loop road. One responded with a single "skiew" from up the hill above us then two came down to the road and gave "skiew" and "tiewtiew" calls from very close in on both sides of the car. One could not have been more than five feet from my open window. The calls were emphatic and squeaky-sharp, unmistakably Boreal, but our sighting was not confirmed in eBird until we reduced the count from two to one.
The drive to Slate Peak from Manzama took just over an hour. The road is much improved over last year but the last couple miles are still very rough, which had not deterred about a dozen vehicles, most of them pickup trucks, from tackling the ascent. Hikers? Hunters? We arrived at sunset and saw only one other person. Unfortunately we did not see many birds either, and the only grouse we saw were not Ptarmigan but Sooty Grouse. An adults with two youngsters crossed the road at dusk.
By 8:30 PM we had made it back down to Hart's Pass and judged the night dark enough to begin playing Boreal Owl recordings. No owls responded until we played Saw-whet calls at the edge of the meadow about along FR 700 a half mile northwest of the pass and aroused two Northern Saw-whet Owls, but no Boreals. Those we found over by the second entrance to the Madows Campground loop road. One responded with a single "skiew" from up the hill above us then two came down to the road and gave "skiew" and "tiewtiew" calls from very close in on both sides of the car. One could not have been more than five feet from my open window. The calls were emphatic and squeaky-sharp, unmistakably Boreal, but our sighting was not confirmed in eBird until we reduced the count from two to one.
9/22/2023 Broad-winged Hawks (link to here)
Darchelle wanted to look for vagrants in Eastern Washington this week because according to eBird records the third week of September is the peak of the fall migration. We were excited because the migration forecast was predicting the biggest night the season so far and the weather forecast was predicting showers overnight Wednesday which, if we were lucky, just might cause many of the migrating birds to drop out of the sky over Washtucna m+ and spend Thursday at Bassett Park where we planned to spend Thursday looking for them.
Things did not go according to plan. We don't know for sure so some of this is conjecture, but it appears that the showers moved in from the southeast a few hours later than had been predicted, permitting the overnight-migrating songbirds to continue south to the Snake River and beyond instead of stopping at Washtucna. Daytime migrants on the other hand, in particular vultures and hawks, were apparently deterred and perhaps detoured by the weather. When we arrived at Bassett Park l+ around 11:30 AM we found few songbirds but about an hour later, hawks and vultures began to show up. Lots of them!
Accipiters arrived first. Following a track up past the old swimming pool, we had parked ourselves in a small grassy area overlooking the tangle of willow trees at the northeast end of the park Backed up against the steep cliff-slope on the northwest side of town, our view to the south was clear but to the east was blocked by a bank of willow and Russian Olive trees. The Accipiters came shooting over the tops of those trees, eight of them in five minutes. Darchelle was able to photograph most of them and her photos revealed that most were Sharp-shinneds, and that the one I'd thought was a Goshawk was actually a Broad-winged Hawk, though we didn't realize that until later.
Then the Turkey Vultures arrived, gliding in over town from the east like waves of bombers in a World War II movie. When they reached us they began circling around just above the treetops, so many of them they almost darkened the sky. In retrospect they were probably searching for a thermal but we found them a little intimidating. The sky was overcast and the wind was calm so some of the flock began settling onto the topmost branches of several trees around town. Others flapped across to the south and began coalescing into small kettles over the hills south of the STP. We tracked three kettles of 20, 25 and 18 vultures each as they drifted off to southwest and out of sight.
Scanning those kettles with the scope, Darchelle identified one Broad-winged Hawk in the first kettle and three more in the second. They are small buteos with a characteristic flight pattern of gliding interrupted now and then with two or three quick wingflaps. Adults are easily distinguished by the narrow white band across the middle of the black tail. Juveniles are a little more challenging but typically show a dark breast grading into very coarse streaks on the sides and coarse spots on the belly. The wings are pale below and often show a narrow black trailing edge; they lack the dark patagial mark of the Red-tailed Hawk and the mostly dark secondaries of the Swainson's. As we began to realize that the number of Broad-wings we were seeing was unusual we began to take greater care to examine and verify the field marks of each individual. Darchelle had already photographed several among the vultures when they first arrived but was not able to get photos of the Broad-wings in the departing kettles so made sure to verify those birds with scope. My point is, for those who might be inclined to question our sightings, that Darchelle knew what she looking at and we both knew how many we saw.
Within a half hour the party was over. Turkey Vultures continued to trickle into town but as far we know, none of them left. Around 4 PM they flushed from their willow and I counted at least 40 but there were more in other trees around town. As for Broad-wings, we only saw one more, a juvenile which Darchelle photographed as it flew into the big lollipopped cottonwood in Snyder Park. We staked out that tree for another hour until Ed and Delia arrived, hoping to show them the bird because they had never seen one in Washington, but though they and Darchelle searched the tree from every angle they were able to find only a Barn Owl in its dense crown.
We returned to Othello and shared Mexican takeout from Guadalajara Restaurant (nicely seasoned relleno and chicken enchilada) in our room at the Quality Inn ($125, bed high but soft, room spacious, breakfast decent, didn't attempt the low toilet) with Ed and Delia (excellent company, delightful evening). I slept no better than I had the previous night in the same bed; we had originally intended to stay at the Ritzville Day's Inn but all the motels in Ritzville had been full - on a Wednesday night, what's up with that? Although I didn't enjoy the bed, Othello is only 10 minutes farther from Washtucna than Ritzville and the Mexican food was undoubtedly better.
Darchelle wanted to look for vagrants in Eastern Washington this week because according to eBird records the third week of September is the peak of the fall migration. We were excited because the migration forecast was predicting the biggest night the season so far and the weather forecast was predicting showers overnight Wednesday which, if we were lucky, just might cause many of the migrating birds to drop out of the sky over Washtucna m+ and spend Thursday at Bassett Park where we planned to spend Thursday looking for them.
Things did not go according to plan. We don't know for sure so some of this is conjecture, but it appears that the showers moved in from the southeast a few hours later than had been predicted, permitting the overnight-migrating songbirds to continue south to the Snake River and beyond instead of stopping at Washtucna. Daytime migrants on the other hand, in particular vultures and hawks, were apparently deterred and perhaps detoured by the weather. When we arrived at Bassett Park l+ around 11:30 AM we found few songbirds but about an hour later, hawks and vultures began to show up. Lots of them!
Accipiters arrived first. Following a track up past the old swimming pool, we had parked ourselves in a small grassy area overlooking the tangle of willow trees at the northeast end of the park Backed up against the steep cliff-slope on the northwest side of town, our view to the south was clear but to the east was blocked by a bank of willow and Russian Olive trees. The Accipiters came shooting over the tops of those trees, eight of them in five minutes. Darchelle was able to photograph most of them and her photos revealed that most were Sharp-shinneds, and that the one I'd thought was a Goshawk was actually a Broad-winged Hawk, though we didn't realize that until later.
Then the Turkey Vultures arrived, gliding in over town from the east like waves of bombers in a World War II movie. When they reached us they began circling around just above the treetops, so many of them they almost darkened the sky. In retrospect they were probably searching for a thermal but we found them a little intimidating. The sky was overcast and the wind was calm so some of the flock began settling onto the topmost branches of several trees around town. Others flapped across to the south and began coalescing into small kettles over the hills south of the STP. We tracked three kettles of 20, 25 and 18 vultures each as they drifted off to southwest and out of sight.
Scanning those kettles with the scope, Darchelle identified one Broad-winged Hawk in the first kettle and three more in the second. They are small buteos with a characteristic flight pattern of gliding interrupted now and then with two or three quick wingflaps. Adults are easily distinguished by the narrow white band across the middle of the black tail. Juveniles are a little more challenging but typically show a dark breast grading into very coarse streaks on the sides and coarse spots on the belly. The wings are pale below and often show a narrow black trailing edge; they lack the dark patagial mark of the Red-tailed Hawk and the mostly dark secondaries of the Swainson's. As we began to realize that the number of Broad-wings we were seeing was unusual we began to take greater care to examine and verify the field marks of each individual. Darchelle had already photographed several among the vultures when they first arrived but was not able to get photos of the Broad-wings in the departing kettles so made sure to verify those birds with scope. My point is, for those who might be inclined to question our sightings, that Darchelle knew what she looking at and we both knew how many we saw.
Within a half hour the party was over. Turkey Vultures continued to trickle into town but as far we know, none of them left. Around 4 PM they flushed from their willow and I counted at least 40 but there were more in other trees around town. As for Broad-wings, we only saw one more, a juvenile which Darchelle photographed as it flew into the big lollipopped cottonwood in Snyder Park. We staked out that tree for another hour until Ed and Delia arrived, hoping to show them the bird because they had never seen one in Washington, but though they and Darchelle searched the tree from every angle they were able to find only a Barn Owl in its dense crown.
We returned to Othello and shared Mexican takeout from Guadalajara Restaurant (nicely seasoned relleno and chicken enchilada) in our room at the Quality Inn ($125, bed high but soft, room spacious, breakfast decent, didn't attempt the low toilet) with Ed and Delia (excellent company, delightful evening). I slept no better than I had the previous night in the same bed; we had originally intended to stay at the Ritzville Day's Inn but all the motels in Ritzville had been full - on a Wednesday night, what's up with that? Although I didn't enjoy the bed, Othello is only 10 minutes farther from Washtucna than Ritzville and the Mexican food was undoubtedly better.
Hoping to catch that lone Broad-wing in Washtucna before it left town, we bolted out of the motel at
6:30 AM but our haste was unrewarded. Dense fog and a stop at Hatton Coulee Rest Area l+
to check for vagrants slowed us down then when we did reach Washtucna we drove right by it and
didn't realize our error until we were almost to Hooper. What can I say - it was foggy. No raptors
were moving in town so we touched base with Ed and Delia who were keeping watch up behind the old
swimming pool then drove around town looking for little birds. We found lots of them at
this corner m+
and were tallying them for our checklist l+
when I noticed a few Turkey Vultures on the move over the other end of town.
That was just after 10 AM, about 20 minutes after the sun had begun break up the dense stratus overcast hanging low over the valley. We drove closer for a better view and found about 30 Turkey Vultures already circling in a kettle and with them four buteos, all Broad-winged Hawks. Darchelle verified them with the scope and I think, photographed them. Just then another adult flew low over our car, headed for the park. Five minutes later it flew back out again, presumably to join the departing kettle. We too headed for the park to alert Ed and Delia to the Broad-wings but they were already on them.
We were driving back to the little bird corner when I spotted another kettle of hawks circling over the east end of town. We raced over for closer look and Darchelle jumped out of the car with the scope. "Eight birds", she announced, "but one is a Red-tail. The rest are Broad-wings!"
"Get photos!" I shouted. Sitting in the car I could the bursts of shutter clicks and each time I thought with relief, "Another one documented." Then straight ahead of us two more appeared just above the treetops and began circling up in the sunshine. "Get those too, down low over the trees!", and she did. Distracted by the latest two birds, we lost track of the kettle but we believe it drifted off to the southeast. Darchelle photographed the last Broad-winged Hawk at 10:53 AM, about 45 minutes after the first one. That was end of the show. Had we not happened to glance up in the right direction a couple of times, we could have missed the whole thing.
That was three days ago. Suspecting that our Broad-winged Hawk counts for the two days will not be confirmed in eBird, Darchelle has devoted considerable effort since then to analyzing photos in an attempt to document how many different individuals we saw and when we saw them. Unfortunately she has only back-of-camera photos to work with since my desktop crashed a week ago and I don't have Lightroom on my laptop. Nonetheless she succeeded in photographing at least eight and perhaps as many as a dozen different hawks over two days. At this point our daily checklist counts of 5 and 14 are based on the birds we observed leaving town, not on the photographs, and on our assumption that once they joined a kettle, the hawks did not return to town. Better quality photos once I get my desktop set up should help validate that assumption.
Although we may revise these numbers slightly after further review of the photographs, we believe that we saw a total of 18 Broad-winged Hawks in Washtucna over the two days, of which about two thirds were juveniles and two were dark-phase birds. Excluded from our count are several likely Broad-wings which left town without our being able to verify them. Considering that a few others probably departed undetected, the actual number is probably in the low 20s.
Show Tweeters post
That was just after 10 AM, about 20 minutes after the sun had begun break up the dense stratus overcast hanging low over the valley. We drove closer for a better view and found about 30 Turkey Vultures already circling in a kettle and with them four buteos, all Broad-winged Hawks. Darchelle verified them with the scope and I think, photographed them. Just then another adult flew low over our car, headed for the park. Five minutes later it flew back out again, presumably to join the departing kettle. We too headed for the park to alert Ed and Delia to the Broad-wings but they were already on them.
We were driving back to the little bird corner when I spotted another kettle of hawks circling over the east end of town. We raced over for closer look and Darchelle jumped out of the car with the scope. "Eight birds", she announced, "but one is a Red-tail. The rest are Broad-wings!"
"Get photos!" I shouted. Sitting in the car I could the bursts of shutter clicks and each time I thought with relief, "Another one documented." Then straight ahead of us two more appeared just above the treetops and began circling up in the sunshine. "Get those too, down low over the trees!", and she did. Distracted by the latest two birds, we lost track of the kettle but we believe it drifted off to the southeast. Darchelle photographed the last Broad-winged Hawk at 10:53 AM, about 45 minutes after the first one. That was end of the show. Had we not happened to glance up in the right direction a couple of times, we could have missed the whole thing.
That was three days ago. Suspecting that our Broad-winged Hawk counts for the two days will not be confirmed in eBird, Darchelle has devoted considerable effort since then to analyzing photos in an attempt to document how many different individuals we saw and when we saw them. Unfortunately she has only back-of-camera photos to work with since my desktop crashed a week ago and I don't have Lightroom on my laptop. Nonetheless she succeeded in photographing at least eight and perhaps as many as a dozen different hawks over two days. At this point our daily checklist counts of 5 and 14 are based on the birds we observed leaving town, not on the photographs, and on our assumption that once they joined a kettle, the hawks did not return to town. Better quality photos once I get my desktop set up should help validate that assumption.
Although we may revise these numbers slightly after further review of the photographs, we believe that we saw a total of 18 Broad-winged Hawks in Washtucna over the two days, of which about two thirds were juveniles and two were dark-phase birds. Excluded from our count are several likely Broad-wings which left town without our being able to verify them. Considering that a few others probably departed undetected, the actual number is probably in the low 20s.
Show Tweeters post
9/30/2023 Long Beach (link to here)
Heading south on I-5, we were passing through Centralia en route to Skamania County to look for Spotted Owls when we received a text from Liam letting us know that he and Ryan had just found a Painting Bunting at the Cape Disappointment boat launch. That is a bird which we have not seen since 2017 so we immediately changed course to go see it. The bird had been foraging in grass and blackberries on a steep sunny bank along the access road. It was last seen 45 minutes before we arrived. We and other birders searched for several hours but could not relocate it.
That was yesterday. After driving the beach, crowded with clam diggers but not with birds, we booked a room at the Best Western in Long Beach for $175. It was not their ADA room but it was right by the lobby and featured a firm but high king bed and an accessible but low toilet which, in combination with the 5" toilet seat riser available by request at the front desk, is my favorite place to poop in the entire state. The seat riser is made by Drive Medical but is apparently not available online. I have looked for it. Anyhow, I made use of it this morning while Darchelle packed up the car. We spent the next hour or two looking for the bird again before heading down to Portland to spend the weekend at the Budget Inn in Gladstone with Richard and Donna, stopping only to pick up an and Americano and a couple bags of coffee at Astoria Coffee Roasters.
Heading south on I-5, we were passing through Centralia en route to Skamania County to look for Spotted Owls when we received a text from Liam letting us know that he and Ryan had just found a Painting Bunting at the Cape Disappointment boat launch. That is a bird which we have not seen since 2017 so we immediately changed course to go see it. The bird had been foraging in grass and blackberries on a steep sunny bank along the access road. It was last seen 45 minutes before we arrived. We and other birders searched for several hours but could not relocate it.
That was yesterday. After driving the beach, crowded with clam diggers but not with birds, we booked a room at the Best Western in Long Beach for $175. It was not their ADA room but it was right by the lobby and featured a firm but high king bed and an accessible but low toilet which, in combination with the 5" toilet seat riser available by request at the front desk, is my favorite place to poop in the entire state. The seat riser is made by Drive Medical but is apparently not available online. I have looked for it. Anyhow, I made use of it this morning while Darchelle packed up the car. We spent the next hour or two looking for the bird again before heading down to Portland to spend the weekend at the Budget Inn in Gladstone with Richard and Donna, stopping only to pick up an and Americano and a couple bags of coffee at Astoria Coffee Roasters.
We conclude the month of September with 349 species for the year in Washington and 99,875 miles on
the odometer, including 9 species and 3795 miles added during the month. During our 13 days in the
field we submitted or shared in 30 checklists and spent 8 nights away from home.
In other news,
my twelve-year-old desktop crashed again early this month and this time, I opted to replace rather
than repair it. The new computer should arrive next week. Meanwhile I have been using my
six-year-old laptop on which I can write but not edit photos. The laptop is slow but since using
the computer is the only activity besides sitting which I can do without assistance, it is better
than nothing.