May 1 - "It's April 31st, and Everybody Knows..."

Because every joke is 37% funnier when explained...

I know... there's two groups of people landing here. People who recognize the song lyric reference in the title, and those who did not. But now that everyone at least has a link to get them up to speed, I can explain how I got here.

1. I really wanted to get 150 species in the books for Pacific County before April ended but just couldn't free myself up until May 1st. 
2. I thought how nice it would be if April just had 31 days.
3. I thought this thought at 3 AM May 1st as I was driving down to Pacific County, and I got the Dramarama song stuck in my head. Just... the April 31st version. 
4. I later wondered... IS Earth Day even on April 21st?? 
5. Fun Fact. It is not. 

And here we are. Dramarama was having a joke on us with "...everybody knows today is Earth Day." So, I'll have a joke about April 31st. And for what it's worth, the birds seemed to be having a joke with me over the course of the day. BUT it was a very good day with some good surprises. 

Starting with my owl search. 

Willapa Bay NWR

There are a few places that seem to identify as Headquarters. This is the one on the East shore of Willapa Bay, on Highway 101, with a boat ramp across the highway, and a nice view of Long Island. It wasn't my stop of choice. I had seen a report for Western Screech Owl from years back in the Ilwaco Watershed. Plan A was to go to bed eeeeeearly, get up equally early, and head directly there. But goodness. Leaving at 2:30 AM was hard enough to do. I did the math and realized I'd be hitting the watershed too close to dawn. Ah well. 

Trying for Owls in January... February... it all makes so much more sense. More hours of dark, and the owls are in their peak season for calling. But I only had one truly night-time owl to try for, and that sighting had encouraged me to give it a try. 

The full moon was up, the air was still, and traffic was light, so I decided to pull over at the headquarters and try for Western Screech Owls. I had no sightings to support this decision, but there are sightings sprinkled throughout the county, mostly close to water, whether along the bay itself or the rivers that feed it. 

So, I whistled from the parking lot. I'm proud of a lot of my owl calls, but honestly my Western Screech-Owl whistle is not one of them. It's almost disappointing when it works? But yes, it worked! I got a soft bouncing ball call from the little ... pond? slough? There's water. This was a water-adjacent owl. And if I understand the eBird data correctly, this was one of the toughest birds that I've been able to find this year. They're in the county. Reported annually. But people aren't always out looking for them, and these birds are often quiet. 

It was also my 148th species for the year (a number I'll note parenthetically) in the county. Not bad, given that it wasn't even May yet! ;)

Leadbetter Point - Martha Jordan Birding Trail - Attempt #1

I've gotten *really* good at packing for trips. I've left without my computer in years past. Never again. I've left without my camera charged in years past. Super diligent now. Change of clothes ready, just in case I had to go directly to work in the evening. Food for breakfast/lunch. Plenty of water. 

But no insect repellent. 

I'd been cavalier enough to run out the door without sunscreen back in April. And I came back with a little bit of pink. But... you can get in the shade. Poof! No more sun. The sun doesn't follow you quite so vigorously as a swarm of mosquitos. And it was a fine swarm indeed. To be fair, I DID have a can of off in the back seat of my car. I made a run for it. 

I pushed the button... nothing. I shook and shook... heard the liquid inside (and a Swainson's Thrush?? 149, but... Swainson's Thrush?)... pushed the button... nothing. (a second Swainson's Thrush called?? A little early on May 1st, but not impossible) I reached up to my forehead and squashed a mosquito that had landed. I tossed the useless can back into the back seat and closed the door. (Full Swainson's Thrush report here. Why couldn't they have been Western Tanagers?)

The Swainies kept calling as I scrambled back into the front seat and slammed the door shut with ONLY one mosquito in the cab - a minor success. I briefly toyed with the idea of just... exploring this trail without bug spray. You know, just... sprint-birding... picking things up by ear. 

But instead, I took the L, as the kids say. I drove back... looking at the Oysterville general store (not open until 8? 9? Can't remember, but it was just after 6:30). Asking the guy in the market parking lot in Ocean View when he opened, "7 O'clock..." he answered, in a very, "I've told you this a million times, pal..." tone. I kept driving and finally found a gas station that was selling bug spray. Amen. I got that, some more coffee, and a donut (a rare treat these days... the sugar is so hard on me!). I landed back in the parking lot at 7:30, ready to bird. 

Barred Owl! My first photographed owl of the year.

Just off the highway on my way to get bug spray

Leadbetter Point - Martha Jordan Birding Trail - Attempt #2

Soon to be salal berries

A lost hour is hard. But I made the most of this trail, making guesses about directions, and exploring as much as I could. I should note: The bug spray was on me, and it did *just* enough work. Any time I even slowed down to look at birds, the bugs swarmed close to me, sometimes landing, but I came away with no bites. Some new birds for the year came early and often - notably Black-throated Gray Warbler (150!), Wilson's Warbler (151), and Western Flycatcher (152).

Black-throated Gray Warbler

33 species for the walk, all in all. Most of the rest were birds I'd found elsewhere during the year. One surprise was hearing some "tschup" notes from a pair of Varied Thrushes. I would have expected Hermit Thrushes on this walk, but I got two other species instead! 

And then one more new species, Brown-headed Cowbird (153) before the trail dead-ended. I was hoping that the trail would give me a view of a pond at some point. A recent report had included a Cinnamon Teal, so I assumed I'd find at least a bit of water! I headed back, following one more side trail. Then I got to a fork. 

lol. 

See... I'm running around with a flip phone. I can call and text. It has a calculator, and an alarm, camera and video. It sure doesn't have GPS! So, (usually) I do a great job of keeping my bearings. But here I was, staring at this fork. Looking up at the grey morning sky, the sun would give me no help. In the end, I picked one of the forks, figuring that it was either a new trail (yay!), or it was the way back to the car (yay!), and that I could simply return to this point if it came to it. 

A few minutes in, I realized. OH... this for SURE is a new trail. Then I saw some familiar scat... and became less sure. Then I realized what these posts, placed sporadically throughout the trail, were actually doing. I looked this one over and realized that I was indeed walking East, in the direction of my car. I reached a pasture that I'd crossed on the way in and knew I was almost back to the car. 

No Cinnamon Teal - but still, some progress! I headed off to my next spot, Beard's Hollow, about an hour behind schedule. 

Beard's Hollow

This was the bummer of the day. I'd looked into the tides, and thought I could catch the falling tide in the morning, possibly finding some Black Oystercatchers that had been seen now and again during the year. It appears that I got there just past low tide, with the tide starting to return. I still took my time, picking up a flyover of an Evening Grosbeak (154), and then an Osprey (155) at the beach. 

The other highlights at the beach included a little pile of 200 Semipalmated Plovers, complete with Sanderlings, Western and Least Sandpipers mixed in. 

Least Sandpiper, Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover

Then I saw this: 

Looked like an anemone to me. But kind of far from home, sitting in the sand as it was. Then I saw *another* one... 

And...

This was my first exposure to By-the-wind Sailors. Apparently, they are closely related to Portuguese Man-o-War Jellyfish, but they come equipped with a sail! This helps them to move, with no effort on their part. They're apparently little colonies of organisms. It was a lot to take in, even having taught some biology. But apparently, these little guys sometimes get pulled into shore via an inconvenient current. This leads to these mass strandings as I saw here.

Pelicans.. gulls... rising tide... time to go. It was a beautiful and interesting stop, but I still had a few more to squeeze into my day. As I walked back to the car, I did pick up one more species for the year - Western Warbling Vireo, calling from the wetlands near the parking lot. (156)

A type of sedge, if I understand correctly

Ilwaco Marina

This was the closer of two sightings of Purple Martin. Could I find them?? Challenge accepted! 

Every bird needs a name tag like this

157!

Chinook Valley

I really had intended to have a kayak ready to drop in the water in here for a late April trip. But here I was... on the 31st of April, still without a kayak. Medical interestingness had delayed me. That, and work that had kept me busy nearly every day for the month. I haven't even thrown a roof rack on The Cackler. But the reason for that kayak would be to paddle the Chinook River and find what seems to be a recurring nemesis bird - American Coot. There have been sightings of them in the Chinook Valley, but birds quite easily tuck into parts of the slow river that are out of sight from the road. 

I did pick up my first Yellow Warbler (158), and my first Cliff Swallow (159) for the year, as well as a Ring-necked Pheasant (uncountable bird. These are released now and then in the county, so are never really "wild" birds). 

Saw this American Goldfinch just as I thought I should be keeping an 
eye out for Western Kingbirds

And then, to the surprise of ... not me ... I pulled over in a WDFW parking lot and took a fine nap.  It was noonish, and I was ten hours into a day on four and a half hours of sleep. It was time for a ten-minute nap. I took it, woke up refreshed, and continued up the road! (Type 2 narcolepsy is a blessing and a curse!)

And up the road, and up the road to Tokeland

I was cutting it close. I needed to get back to work in the evening (it being a Friday), and I was now in the 1:00 hour. Pulling into the Tokeland Marina, I didn't expect much, since it was high tide, but on April 31st, nearly anything could happen! I saw a group of people with binoculars, cameras, and spotting scopes also getting out of their cars. Birders!

The Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival was happening this weekend, and these birders were in town from the Portland Area. I chatted with them briefly when someone called out, "Phalarope!"

A Red-necked Phalarope (160) was derping around in the water near the marina dock. It was easily the easiest viewing I've had of any phalarope. We enjoyed watching it and photographing it. At some point, I thanked the man who found it, "I'm doing a big year in Pacific County, so this was much appreciated."

And Dear Reader... I have tried to be clear in here that my years are more "Big Enough" Years. I am neither unhinged enough, nor rich enough, nor remotely skilled enough to do anything that would be a Real Big Deal. But this slip here, calling it a big year, brought on the interrogation. One of the women looked at me closely, "So, what have you seen? What rare birds?" I chuckled briefly and just shook my head. It was going to be hard to backtrack exactly enough to explain what my year really looked like, let alone the fact that I was birding in a county that was not heavily birded. 

"I mean I'm at 160 species, but it's really been mostly pretty common birds." Some people in the group congratulated me on a pretty good start, but she apparently thought I was still just being coy. "Noooo... come on. What's a rare bird you've seen?" 

"Um... I had a Barrow's Goldeneye here? They're tough in the county."

"Oh yeah... they're really pretty birds." Pause... "So?? What else?" 

The secretive nature of some big years may have been overplayed in the movies and in lore. I *am* trying to do something interesting, and something that hasn't been done before (seeing 150 species in one calendar year in Pacific County; as well as all of the OTHER 38 counties in the state - probably a 20+ year project when I'm done). But this trail is blazed more with Common Nighthawks and MacGillivray's Warblers than anything earth-shattering.

And then I was saved by, "Are you Tim Brennan?"

And then I met Dennis Paulson! Dennis has written books on birding in Washington, books on shorebirds, and is the person I go to any time I capture butterflies or dragonflies that I can't identify. But we'd never put names to faces before today. I could still feel the suspicious eyes of the inquisitor on me, wondering what mega-rarity I was hiding from the public in an effort to be crowned the big year champion of Pacific County. But Dennis and I did our warm hellos, and I learned that he'd seen Ruddy and Black Turnstones up at North Cove earlier in the day. 

"Bye folks!" I smiled, thanking all of them for the help, but... I had very little time to hunt for these birds. I had been warned before leaving that tides and whatnot may make this a fool's errand, but I specialize in those. 

North Cove

I found a spot to park and found that there was a nice little trail that gave a good view of a rocky jetty. Looking down on the rocks, I saw nothing. Looking in the opposite direction, along the sandy beach, I saw shorebirds. But it couldn't be turnstones on a sandy beach... I started walking down the jetty trail. Paused, looked back, frowned. Couldn't be.  

Loons! Common and Pacific

I hustled down the short walk to get a full view of the jetty and found no rocky shorebirds. This brought my rocky shorebird total for the year up from zero to nil. No turnstones, Rock Sandpipers, Oystercatchers or Surfbirds. I got back to the car, drove just far enough up the beach to spy on the shorebirds in the sand - Dunlin! Fool's errand indeed. 

But hey... 160 for the year! This was more than I think I have ever had by the end of April. 

;)

A little bonus content - the Western Warbling Vireo from Beard's Hollow, along with what sounds like a Black-throated Grey Warbler, and American Robins in the background.

Hey! You're still here? 

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April 17th - These Are Not the Birds You Were Looking For

 

Breakfast at the Tokeland Hotel

Shared bathroom. No problem!
Nearly no water pressure 
in this particular bathroom?
Kind of a problem!

Truthfully, this was my second meal of the day. I got up pretty early and got cranking along on some writing work. Semester tests for some agriculture classes. It's always fun to get a little out of your lane, and I even picked up some new Scrabble words along the way, like fetlock and pastern. Once I got things squared away, I packed up my things (at my home from the previous night - the Tokeland Hotel), and got ... let's call it brunch. 

I'd finished the previous day with 144 species for my year list in Pacific County. (One more than I had reported in the last post, because I had forgotten to add Savannah Sparrow to the list!) I started the day by scanning Graveyard Spit. I found a few nice vantage points, but all of them gave me some of the other dozen or so shorebird species I'd already seen. No Long-billed Curlew anywhere I could see. A good year needs a good nemesis bird, I suppose!

And you know... one nemesis from more than one county in years past was the humble American Coot. They'd been seen recently at Potter's Slough, so I eventually hung up my hopes of finding a curlew -- exchanging them for coot dreams. 

No curlews detected! Graveyard Spit

And not just coots! I had hopes for many species at Potter's Slough, including recent sightings of American Bittern, and a reasonable hope for Cinnamon Teal. All kinds of reasons to get out to the slough, get some walking in, and find some good birds. 

Short Stop

I did stop at a pull-off before getting to Raymond. A field was rightly covered with shorebirds. As I zeroed in on some Wilson's Snipes, I also had an American Pipit fly past - not the easiest bird to find in the county!

Potter's Slough 

What a nice little hike! It was sunny (someone remind me to start putting sunscreen on...), and there was a light breeze. Just nearly perfect weather. Almost immediately after getting out of the car, I heard a familiar sound far overhead. The bugling call of a Sandhill Crane (145). The bird was so high up. . . I scanned the huge sky looking for the bird but never got eyes on it. This is a species that has been reported in many different parts of the state this week. They are definitely on the move! In Pacific, they are listed as a code 3 bird - seen annually but not easily found. eBird runs on a slightly different method, and it was interesting to see that there are over 240 different species seen more frequently than these cranes in Pacific County!

I continued walking and soon heard some Soras calling. This is a species I'd picked up just the day before - a code 4 bird which is actually seen more frequently on eBird than Sandhill Cranes! Over the course of the morning, I got to hear two of these birds, including the full range of vocalizations, from "kerwee!" to their whinny call, and even a sharp "kreek!" they give. 

One of many Marsh Wrens

Swallows galore flitted over the ponds at Potter's Slough. Yet another species that went into the heard-only pile of birds was Northern Rough-winged Swallow (146), giving its repetitive spray-bottle/fart call as it passed by. Not unexpected, but on the early side! The forests of the Willapas behind the slough run right down to the edge of the area, but they were pretty quiet for the morning. Black-throated Gray Warbler had been reported here, and it made sense to me, given all of the evergreens, but I still couldn't seem to find one. 

Northern Shovelers

It was a ducky morning! There were Gadwall, scads of Northern Shovelers, and even some Wood Ducks in attendance. I did not find any American Coots. The cranes would have to be a consolation prize. Not the birds I was looking for.... but maybe a better find! There were still a couple Buffleheads lingering around, but so few... could it be that the Northern Shovelers had just come out of their Bufflehead plumage?? Likely.

I got fooled several times on American Bittern. I would hear a low sound, pause, and realize it was just a passing car or truck hitting the rumble strips on the highway. I stopped periodically to listen for the oompa loompa calls that they make. It had been a good place for herons so far this year, with Great Blue Herons, and Great Egrets. It would have been nice to get a third heron. 

I scanned the sky, and again, came across not the birds I was looking for, but something a little better, perhaps: American White Pelicans! (147)

These, again, are code 3 birds, but one of the tougher code 3 birds on the county list. Ten of them circled overhead. I was happy that one of the new year birds was kind enough to pose for me! And yeah, not quite in the same family, but they are at least in the same order of birds -  Pelecaniformes.

Back to the road to head back towards my car, I nabbed a photo of another bird that had been heard the day before - Savannah Sparrow. 

And I gazed out at scads of distant shorebirds using the mud along the bay for a roost. The tide would start properly dropping soon, and they'd go out to really work the mud.

And with that, I nodded in approval at the morning and headed on home! 

April 16th - One Way or the Other

Welcome (or welcome back) to the blog!

If you just dropped in, you can peek here to get up mostly up to speed. If you read that entry and just keeping hitting "Newer post", you can get the full skinny. If you've been here all year, and maybe in previous years as well, take a peek at the button at right for The Albatross Fund. Any help is appreciated, and hopefully I've provided a couple bucks worth of reading over the years. :)

All right, back to 4/16. 

I have spoilers for you. This is not good birding. Not like. . . Tim worked really hard and found a bird he'd been looking for. Nope. This trip seems to be full of: 

• Birds that I expected would be work that just *poof* appeared, sometimes unexpectedly, and...
• Birds that I wasn't expecting much at all that did the same, and...
• Birds... no A Bird... A Bird that everyone is seeing except for me, despite any effort I throw at it

Looking for this kind of story?
Not today, friend.

Well, but 4AM...

I'll cut myself a little slack. I did set off pretty early. Pacific County is just close enough that an early departure can still look like... an early morning departure, rather than a middle-of-the-night departure. I decided to enter the county on Highway 6 this time, coming down I5, and passing through Pe Ell, before crossing the old "Entering Pacific County" sign. 

As I did on my very first trip of the year, I pulled over at this pull-off immediately on the left, got out and listened. As happened on that first trip of the year, I was greeted by Steller's Jays. I had no specific targets here, but it was close to sunrise, and I figured I'd catch some morning birds singing. Maybe a Black-throated Gray Warbler? 

But the first new year-bird for the day was not singing at all, it was tapping. A Red-breasted Sapsucker (131 for the year, a number I'll track in parentheses) did its syncopated tapping against a tree. I'm not great with most of the woodpeckers, when it comes to sorting them out by their drumming, but we had one of these birds outside of our home for nearly a decade, hitting a street sign morning after morning every spring. So, when I looked for, and failed to get a visual on this bird (another theme for the morning), I wasn't too concerned. 

This was a short walk down the road, to the copse of trees where the bird was tucked in. After a little looking, I saw that what appeared at first to be a driveway was a public road, Walville Creek Road. I started walking back up the road towards it, when I heard a "kerwee!" call. On this tree-lined road, I couldn't make sense of it on the first call, but my brain got up to speed on the second call. Sora! (132). This is a code 4 bird, meaning that it should not be expected every year. 

I wondered if that was still the case! The distribution and occurrence of birds can change over time, so I went to eBird to see what their recent history has been. 

Just soggy enough!

First of all - yeah... every year for the last decade or more, except for 2022. How strange! And you can see from the orange markings (which are recent sightings), that 2026 has already had them popping up in three different locations. And... uh.... how 'bout that location, there? This Sora did not pick this creek (and surrounding wet bits of field and grassy gullies) because it would have a lot of friends nearby! So, I imagine there may be others tucked in here along the Willapa Hills Trail and associated creeks. OR this Sora has got a cabin in the woods... a la Thoreau, Kaczynski, or McCandless. 

Common Yellowthroats (133) gave some little "cherf" notes. These skulky warblers love some of the same soggy places that Soras do, so this gave me some comfort about finding a Sora "high in the Willapas" (the Willapa Hills, are *not* high). Continuing down the Primitive Road with No Warning Signs, I felt a bit of odd pressure against my ears. Then again, then accelerating. Ruffed Grouse??? (134). This was another bird where I had mapped out places I would try to visit in search for it. The universe was just handing out birds today. 

Horsetail - one of our ancient native plants just starting to pop up

I packed up and drove half of a short stretch down the road, pulling over to take a look at a pond. I quickly found a pair of Wood Ducks (135). This is a species that I was expecting, but the speed of the birds rolling continued to be a surprise!

Elk Prairie Road

This is the road where I'd found an American Dipper on birding day 1. Again, I was thinking... here's my chance to find a Black-throated Gray Warbler singing. Nope! I pulled off several times in what seemed like nice enough habitat and got no singers. This road runs parallel to Highway 6, leaving the highway, then returning to it. I kind of like the option of taking it and getting off of the "busy" highway! I scanned the fields for anything interesting, knowing that even mid-April can bring surprises. 

At the end of the road, I pulled over and watched a sparrow patch for a little while. Horses watched me as I did. 

One treat I got while watching was some singing from a Purple Finch. It's not a new bird for the year, but one that I hadn't heard in full song yet. And lord, what a beautiful song! It had rained the day before, and you could see evaporation rising from nearly every square inch of ground in sunny places. I didn't get proper rainbows, but it almost felt like I was inside a rainbow at times. No better way to describe it that I can conjure up. 

I made one short stop along the road where I had a view of a little horse pond swirling with swallows, including Barn Swallows (136) another new species for the year. 

A-line Road off of Trap Creek Lane

I'd seen a pin here for Sooty Grouse on eBird. It was from a few years back, but I figured it was worth a try. Some areas are good for grouse, but become less good for them as they grow in. I went up Trap Creek Lane and found a pull-off where I could park. Up the hill I went!

Female Common Yellowthroat

The thing that surprised me most at the start of the walk was the sheer number of Common Yellowthroats hanging out on the hillsides. I had mentioned how they enjoy soggy spots. It seemed that they were less picky, at least for now, as they called from the hillside clearcuts. It was still a beautiful morning, and it was nice to be walking up a hill that got me huffing a little bit. Writing work is almost never a simple M-F 9 to 5 thing. Projects begin. Projects end. Of late, project work had been coming in guns-a-blazing, so life had drifted towards sedentary. 

Someday supper for grouse

And it was a birdy walk! Forest to my right had Pacific Wrens and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, open areas had Spotted Towhee and Song Sparrows. I crossed an open gate, and things got even a little steeper. Down along the slope to my right, in open spaces between the road and the forest, I heard a Sooty Grouse booming (137). Neither grouse species is a slam-dunk easy bird to find in the county, so I was pretty excited! 

As I was listening to the grouse, I heard Western Bluebirds higher up the hill, so I started to go higher. 

As I was going higher, I heard something large enough to make a large branch go CRACK make a large branch go CRACK, so I turned around. 

In my head, I'd considered cougar or bear. I'm sure that elk or even maybe a deer could have caused the sound. It just sounded heavy enough to not take chances. I gave a few yells as I walked. Sounding dangerous is a good plan with cougars. They really like a low-effort meal. 

I got back to my car and stopped to listen to a Townsend's Warbler (138) singing from the trees. Not a Black-throated Gray, but a very similar song! In some cases, the songs overlap, in my mind. Both are variable, so you can have very zippy, accelerated, electric sounding Townsend's (as I had here), and very bouncy, derpyderpyderpydee! songs from Black-throated Grays. There are times where I hear the songs, feel like I know which one I'm hearing, find the bird, and confirm. There are other times where.. I don't know, maybe a Townsend's is just feeling a little relaxed, or a Black-throated Gray is feeling a little excited, and I get a song that is not easily or safely sortable. But out on the far edges, they're pretty clear. 

138! It wasn't even noon, and I was really cooking with gas. 

Raymond to Tokeland

From here, I hit Raymond, passing through town to get to the airport. In mid-April, my target bird was a Cinnamon Teal. The little ponds were even more full of Ring-necked Ducks (a kind of challenging bird in Pacific) than usual, but I found no Cinnamon Teals, no American Coots, and no reason to linger longer. 

But good lord, once I continued farther up 105, on the way to Tokeland, I realized... there are shorebirds. So. Many. Shorebirds. 

And this is where... I mean I DID fill out an eBird checklist, but it was largely like.. I'M DOING SOME GUESSING HERE. How many thousand Dunlin? In some patches, however, I was able to find some species pairs that helped me add to the old year list. 

I heard calls from Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs (139). It was nice to see some in the scope side by side, highlighting just how chonky Greaters are by comparison. Lessers have a daintier, shorter bill, and especially in the neck, you can see how... I dunno "buxom" the Greater Yellowlegs is. 

Dowitchers... they were another story. Yeah, I was able to hear both calls. And I know that Short-billed (the species I hadn't seen yet this year) was more common, but these are not easily separated, and I'd say the distance beat me in the attempt. Some pictures like this one were tempting. 

The bird in the back *seems* bulkier and more hunchbacked than the birds in front, but... posture/variability/blahblah/nope. I did add Short-billed to the year list based on the calls (140), which are similar to a Greater Yellowlegs, but a softer sweeter sound. 

And then I went to Tokeland

Why'd I go to Tokeland? I mean, there are a few birds I was looking for in Tokeland. One of them was Simply There: 

Brown Pelicans! (141) There were as many as 60 of them at the Tokeland Marina at different times. 

And of course, there were other shorebird possibilities. Dunlin, Least and Western Sandpipers, Willet, Whimbrel, Marbled Godwit, Killdeer, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Long- and Short-billed Dowitchers, Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers had ALL been seen here in recent weeks. But I had all of these birds on my year list. One other bird was not on my year list, but... should have been easy enough to find!

Long-billed Curlew. The Clown Prince of Shorebirds: 

This photo (from Ruth Sullivan, a local birder) includes a godwit for comparison. Godwits are not small birds! So, this provides a nice perspective on just how big North America's largest shorebird is. Easy to pick out. Easy! 

A single curlew has been seen off and on in Tokeland for months. So... all I needed to do was stay here in Tokeland and find the thing. The universe had been throwing a lot of new birds at me. It was time to settle in and go on a focused search. 

...

I looked around...

There was no mud. No place for a curlew to even be. 

So, I went to lunch. 

The Tokeland Hotel is the oldest hotel in our state. I did not realize that until I stepped in and looked over some of the signage. I got greeted and seated and set up with Wifi. It gave me a chance to enter the morning's observations, look over my alerts to see if there were any new interesting sightings to chase, and figure out the tides for the day. 

And the Wandering Goose Restaurant is something else. The hotel and restaurant were purchased in recent years by a couple from Seattle. They've put a lot of work into both ends of the business, bringing a southern take on local ingredients. I looked around at the spacious tables and considered how convenient it might be to just get a room here for the night (I had no reservations yet). 

The hotel does not normally take reservations for single nights, but for a midweek drop-in in person, they were willing to talk!

I got rate information, and thought... I should give this curlew and honest effort before I lock myself in to Tokeland! 

Killing time

The tides were still rising, so I made some side trips. First, I stopped at the cranberry bogs east of Grayland. The little ponds sprinkled around would (I figured?) be a good enough place to find a Cinnamon Teal. I found some Mallards, and some Wood Ducks, but nothing more interesting than that. It was still a beautiful stop on a sunny April day. 

I want to understand these little pools and these little shacks. 
I'll have to either ask a stray farmer, or hit the Cranberry Museum

From there, I made a stop at the wind phone out on old SR 105. Had a nice chat with important people I miss. I also got a nice flyby of some birds that I had been missing: Brant! (142)

These saltwater geese are on the move in March and April. I was glad to see this flock moving through. 

Back to Tokeland

I went to the marina. Sat. Waited. The tide was going out, but was still pretty high. Close in on the rocks of the beach, a Willet kept me company. 

It was interesting to watch peeps roll past the marina. Sometimes in dozens, sometimes in hundreds, as the tide went out, exposing mud off to the northeast of the marina. 

So many Dunlin

I finally saw some signs of other larger birds flying overhead, as more and more mud appeared. I walked out to the marina dock, and bingo!

Marbled Godwits! And... maybe another Marbled Godwit. That light bird has been confusing.
Not a godwit with that bill. Not a Willet with no underwing marks?? Not anything else. 
Probably... an elk. We'll call it that for now. 
Unless it's just a bad picture of a Willet... I've taken my share of bad pictures!

An actual Willet - great fit for that bird above, outside of the white underwing markings 
(which, note, go all the way to the body)

I was so excited about the Long-billed Curlew in the back.... lol

Until I realized

It was a Whimbrel. And... yeah, these are Hudsonian Whimbrels now...
But as soon as I say "Hudsonian" I get all excited, 
because I think the next word is going to be Godwit. 
So I'm still just calling 'em Whimbrels.

Sigh...

A Caspian Tern flew overhead, screeching at me (143). "Yeah yeah... shhh.... I'm busy hating a bird."

Fun mix of birds on the way out

"I'll take that room." I told the man at the front desk ten minutes later. 

The tide had apparently gone out far enough, and birds started to leave the area, so I couldn't see a reason to stay. All in all, it seemed like a short window. As I sat down for dinner at the hotel, I pulled up the laptop and stared at tide tables for the next day. I mean... I was HERE for the night, but the outlook for the next day wasn't great. Not for the marina, at any rate, which seemed to get some business 2-3 hours after high tide. That would either be before sunrise, or too late the next day.

"Well then!"

I got squared away. It was a lovely dinner, and a lovely room. It should be for (large number redacted) per night! A last-minute shift in my taxes seemed to justify a little splurge, and I used the cozy tables and fireplaces as a nice backdrop for some work on my writing projects. 

I don't know who the "he" is here, but a few came to mind for me, 
having lost some friends along the way, and a father, and a son.
Be amazed at anyone who is still here, yeah? It's amazing. Be amazed.