June 4th - Emerson to Midway to Highway 6

174!

That was the grand total for this "Big Enough Year" I was doing in Pacific County for 2026. Why not a "Big Year"? I guess it's just that fine line between gung-ho and hell-bent. I swore I'd push the needle on this for Pacific County this year, dabbling in hell-bent from time to time. But goodness. . . there are pelagic birds and birds on islands in Willapa Bay, and... lord, probably a lot of birds tucked back on private logging roads or at the end of a 5 or 6 mile hike... a *true* Pacific County Big Year would be something to behold, and would probably rival some of the crazy numbers seen in other counties. 

Still, 174 was big enough indeed. I woke up in my room at the Pitchwood Inn in Raymond, quickly shifting to the computer to see if I had any work emails to tend to, or interesting birds to chase. Nothing popped up, so I grabbed a shower and swung over to the Hungry Heifer Diner. My standard diner purchase is a Denver Omelet, but it was not on the menu. I thought I'd go ahead and try the breakfast sandwich and hash browns. The sandwich was fine, the hash browns... I think in my head, you've got hash browns, and you've got potato pancakes. This landed in some odd territory between the two. Awfully mushy for hash browns! 

Interesting to hear the locals talk a bit about the construction going on across the street. A new town hall is going in. Service was super friendly. My coffee was topped off after I had taken two or three sips, and then never again. :D I switched to my ice water, and got it drained too before I went asking for the check. I was now nourished and ready to give Tokeland another try. A Lazuli Bunting had been seen in Tokeland 2-3 days before my visit. I knew it would not likely be there but figured I should give it another try. 

Willapa Airport

I stopped at the airport on the way, figuring I'd give myself a chance at some of the breeding birds I was missing, particularly Vaux's Swifts (possible anywhere) and Olive-sided Flycatcher. I drove all the way back to the airport itself, parked, and listened. 

eBird Checklist - 4 Jun 2026 - Willapa Harbor Airport - 25 species

It was fun to just give it time, listening and adding new species as I heard or saw them. No traffic to listen to, no jet noise (I can hear some now, even as I type) - just bird song on a pleasant-enough morning. The new bird for the year came only when I decided to move along. As I drove back out to the highway, I heard an Olive-sided Flycatcher calling from the far side of the road. 175!

Emerson Avenue (Tokeland)

As noted in the previous post, I've been in Tokeland many times, but have just never given Emerson Avenue a drive. From my discussion with Allison the evening before, this is a great spot to look for passerines. Bird fly hundreds of miles off-course to play around in this little patch of Scotch Broom. No Lazuli Bunting today, but not a bad bunch of birds here either, with over 20 species once more, including a flyover Brown Pelican. The Tokeland Marina itself was not all that exciting, so I headed to Warrenton Cannery Road to do a little seabird watching.

Warrenton Cannery Road

This is as exciting as it got for birds at sea. :D

Was this a chase as well? No? There had been a list from here, recorded by Allison's husband, Cameron (who *also* works for Fish and Wildlife) that had several birds that I still needed for the year - White-winged Scoter, Harlequin Duck, Rhinoceros Auklet, Marbled Murrelet and Heermann's Gull. I knew that Sooty Shearwaters had been sighted along the coast recently as well, so I went with eyes wide open, ready to have so many birds flying by unidentified. 

I missed out on this dream. There were a lot of Brown Pelicans at a distance, the usual gulls, and a few Surf Scoters swinging by. But hey, I got on a brown bird of some sort and thought I'd give it a closer look in my scope when a truck pulled up. "What're you watching?"

Man. . . half the time we get approached while we're out looking for birds, it's someone ready to excitedly tell us that they know about a spot to look for Bald Eagles. And someone pulling up to me on a beach in their truck seemed to up the odds that it was going to be that kind of conversation. "I think I've lost it..."

"What do you think it was?" the man asked as he hopped into the bed of the Fish and Wildlife truck, lifting his binoculars to scan for the bird. It took some work to convince him that I had neither a clue about what I was looking at nor where that bird might even be a minute later. But then I got to formally meet Josh Emm, a WDFW employee out doing some monitoring of the local Snowy Plover population. 

Hit the beaches in this part of the county, and you'll see the signs up, warning you to stay out of different areas because Snowy Plovers are busy living their Snowy Plover lives, and protecting their little Snowy Plover nest sites. Interesting to learn that they don't just put those signs up willy-nilly. They are out there actively monitoring the situation, finding nests, and marking off the exact areas where nesting is occurring. 

On this particular morning, Josh had found a new nest site that would soon necessitate some additional signs. But, in the absence of any signs yet, and accompanied by him, he let me know it was fine to come and take a look at a nesting site just discovered that morning. 

And folks, this is the kind of thing that had to be on my bucket list for the year in Pacific County. Not planned exactly this way, but I got *life* views of this cute little mom and pop and even got to see an egg tucked in neatly in a clump of grass.  

Pictures... goodness, they're not great. And I should learn how to camera better, and I was invited to get closer, but... I don't know, I'm just always so easily contented with my view of a bird. It's almost disrespectful to people who take the time to click on these links and read the whole reports, and I DO apologize, Dear Reader. There's just something in the moment about trying to get a better picture that takes me out of moments that I just want to enjoy. 

And like... if you need to be a distance X away from a bird to enjoy it... and you need to be a distance Y away from a bird to disturb it? Hey, as soon as I'm at a distance that is less than X, the existence of Y gives me pause. No shame to anyone who skillfully works with the distance between X and Y, and who also knows how to camera. It gives us a lot of nice bird pictures. But that mountain of bird pictures will exist and grow without me sneaking up closer on endangered birds. And I was easily at a distance less than X. What an enjoyable moment!

In regard to posting about the sighting, Josh encouraged it, and clarified that he *likes* to show the plovers to people. The connections people make with these cute little birds aid in conservation. These kinds of efforts help, although there are certainly people who get upset that swaths of Their Beaches are taken away. But the efforts help.

I thanked Josh for the time, grabbed my scope from his truck bed, left my guidebook behind, and drove off to Midway Beach.

Midway Beach

I'd missed this spot so many times. For one, there is the foreboding sign that says "NO BEACH ACCESS" from the road. Also, there were all of the interesting marshy/heronny birds reported from this spot over time. I was curious about how that habitat fit into this beach spot. 

It's not a beach spot. 

The trail ends at a glorious little marsh. Again, I was looking for a specific rarity that had been seen here - a Yellow-headed Blackbird. And again, I missed it, but I did pick up two more species here - Vaux's Swift (176) from the start of the trail, and an American Bittern (177) calling from the marsh. I tried to record the bittern, and. . . I don't know. Maybe you can hear it? I could hear the part where it was making noise in the video I captured, but I wouldn't go so far as to say I can hear a bittern in the recording! 

A code 3 bird. This after collecting two other code 3 birds (Western Wood Pewee and Common Nighthawk), as well as a code 4 bird (Black Swift) the day before. And now, with a total of 7 new birds between two days, I figured I was good to start on my way home. From Josh's report, my lack of success at seabird watching was partially tied to weather. It wasn't a storm day, so the birds weren't going to be pushed in towards shore quite as much. 

I grabbed some lunch in Raymond and decided to do a Highway 6 crawl. 

Highway 6

Two birds occupied my thoughts during this little explore - Yellow-breasted Chat, and Lazuli Bunting. Lazuli Bunting *has* nested in the county, with most of the nesting records coming along Elk Prairie Road (but not in recent years). Yellow-breasted Chat is a species that has nested in the ... lord, do we call it the "foothills of the Willapas"? They aren't much more than foothills as it is! But there are a good handful of sightings tucked in between I5 and Pacific County, along with a sighting along Elk Prairie Road off of Hwy 6. 

Yellow-breasted Chat sightings

There are so many little towns, ghost towns, etc, as one drives along Highway 6! I passed Menlo and decided to head up one of the next roads. "Green Creek Road" was an encouraging name! Water is good, and I was hoping for some good clearcuts or powerline cuts along the way - the kinds of places where my target chats and buntings had been found in other places in Western Washington.

Mama and baby deer were right here a second ago

I was mostly wrong! :D This was a creek that was mostly getting a lot of shade. One notable exception was a single powerline cut. No notable bird species, but the entire drive was a joy. Butterflies were flittering around almost constantly. I had some Parnassian butterflies that were *very* reluctant to give it a rest. I got one picture - enough to at least identify it to the right genus! A more careful look at distribution of these butterflies tells me this was likely a Clodius Parnassian. 

Clodius Parnassian

There were plenty of Tiger Swallowtails, the one butterfly I have known for most of my life, and even a Pale Swallowtail. The only other butterfly that gave me some poses was a Margined White.

Flower nerds? Can you help me with the ID here? 

"Can I eat it?" My favorite question out in the woods. I saw at least six plants which gave me a yes. Five of these are berries (salmonberry, salal, red huckleberry, thimbleberry, trailing blackberry). And if I don't come back with more stories about these berries by the end of the year... I don't even know what the point of this year was. 

Trailing Blackberry

Wild Red Huckleberry

Thimbleberry

The bigger surprise was a plant that I don't think I've seen all that often. Clearly often enough to identify it! Indian Plum. 

I may have eaten an Indian Plum before, but it was clearly not a memorable experience. This time around, I mean... it was neither awful nor amazing. The taste was not for me, but I didn't have to wash it out of my mouth. They're so pretty to look at, and I'm happy that they are available for the birds. 

Wilson's Warbler

The road was feeling like a driveway, more and more as I neared its end. At the very end, I could see a ... shed? Garage? I didn't feel the need to inspect. 

Trap Creek Lane

I've made multiple trips to this spot, but have always stopped at the first little turn, up into a lovely clearcut. I've had Sooty Grouse, Canada Jay, and Western Bluebird up that trail, but wanted to explore a little further up the road. 

Again, I found not much new. I was surprised at one bridge crossing to find three Turkey Vultures erupting from underneath the bridge. I had to look up, for I had no idea - Where do Turkey Vultures nest? Sheltered, secluded areas, with lots of debris. The bridge seemed like a nearly perfect location, especially down this lonely road. 

I got to a point where going further didn't seem 1000 percent safe. Unsafe? It's just that the very start of this turn (which I believe was for the A-line) looked a little rough and immediately turned around a blind corner. So, at the time, I skipped out at this point. Now... looking at the A-line on a map?? It goes out into the middle of the Willapas in the *exact* stupid way that I was hoping for when I started this year. Google maps seems to be telling me that this road goes for 8 more miles into the hills. 

The red marker is the end of the A-line

Common Yellowthroat

Doyle Road

Interesting little road here. Just west of Lebam, I decided to follow this one because of the barn that I spied from the road. I truly had hopes that I would run into someone at the homes near these barns. These barns and the surrounding habitat seemed not awful for American Barn Owl, but my ideal way of finding them would be to peek in the barns with permission. Barn Owl O'clock is just so elusive for me. I found not a soul to help me with this side quest. 

The road is not all that long. As it heads towards the home at the end of the road, there is a little space to pull out. I did and immediately thought that I heard the tail end of a Lazuli Bunting song. The scrubby hillside and the Christmas-tree-farm-sized conifers all supported the idea of a Laz being here, but I never heard another call. Being here with no mode for playback was certainly a disadvantage. There will be a return trip!

Elk Prairie/Frances Road

I've been down Elk Prairie Road plenty of times. This time I took the turn for Frances Road, which I had never gone down. Again, I was taken past new barns, and tried to find people, but failed to find 'em. I didn't come into this with as much interest in Lazuli Buntings as I now have for this site. I'll certainly be back to try for them! And lastly, I had to stop by the spot where I had found the Red-naped Sapsucker early in May... but could not even recognize the patch of trees, now that they had filled with foliage. 

I Loved This Trip. It gave me a lot of fun reasons to come back. 

June 3rd - Swift Weather

I was sitting with 170 species for the year in Pacific County. I was also sitting with a pile of laundry, and a chicken in the fridge that would best be broken down and turned into stock. 

And it was swift weather. 

Black Swifts are one of the most interesting birds in the state. Their nesting sites were mysteriously tucked into the Cascades, with birders identifying a few different sites over time. There's even speculation that they *could* use the steep cliffs of the Pacific Coast for nesting. Waterfalls and cliffs are their jam. Not sites that are the most accessible! 

lifted from www.birdweb.org

On warm overcast days in late spring, they sometimes head a bit farther afield. We'd just had a hot day in Western Washington, and the weather reports were calling for overcast skies throughout this part of the state. Black Swift weather! These birds are a code 4 in Pacific County. Not detected annually, but they have a pattern of occurrence, more than 5 records over the years. 

Two other reports grabbed my eye. A Lazuli Bunting in Tokeland, and a Yellow-headed Blackbird at Midway Beach. These are both birds that wouldn't be expected annually and were a short distance from each other. I considered the idea of hopping right in the car in the morning, but the laundry and stock situations just made it feel silly. I pushed through lunch before heading out the door. I've entered the county on three different roads this year - this time, I took the one that would get me to Tokeland fastest - I5 to Hwy101 to Hwy 8 to Hwy 12 to 107 to 101.

This landed me in Pacific County, and the weather continued to feel just right. Although I knew there were possibly other birds waiting ahead, I wanted to give myself a chance at Black Swifts! I pulled off to walk one of the gated roads - owned by forest companies (this one was Hancock), but open for foot recreation. The skies remained a flat gray as I tromped out, listening to Wilson's Warblers, Swainson's Thrushes, and a new bird - Western Wood-Pewee! (171 for the year). These birds are not all that uncommon in the Seattle area, and are almost junk birds in parts of Eastern Washington. But here, they are a code 3, so this felt like a good find.

It was not my last such stop. I continued to find great spots with clearcuts. As it had become 3....4 PM, I increasingly thought my luck for finding a Common Nighthawk was increasing as well.  Nothing.

I drove to Tokeland and could see the cloud surrounding it as I approached. It was just kind of a misty, windy, unpleasant time to be there. I drove Emerson Avenue twice, keeping an eye out for any sign of a Lazuli Bunting. Nada.

Parking Space Pelican - Tokeland Marina

And now, I was thinking of what a waste the trip might turn out to be. Head home and spend a tank of gas for a Western Wood-Pewee? Camp in crappy weather... for a Western Wood-Pewee? Grab a hotel room and add to my expenses, for... you get the point. 

I texted Allison, a Pacific County birder I'd been contacting during the early part of the year. She works for Fish and Wildlife in Pacific County. We'd never gotten out to do any birding, and I'd missed out on opportunities to volunteer for their plover monitoring season, but they'd been a big help nonetheless, helping me understand some of the birding spots better, especially relative to the tides. We decided to meet up at the Pitchwood Tavern in Raymond. 

Good lord, we talked about a lot of birds. It was interesting to hear about her interactions with the birds, the places, and the people of Pacific County. Some of the most interesting shorebird spots - the ones that she and her team survey - are best (or only) accessible by boat. Great Knot, Rock Sandpiper, Bar-tailed Godwit - all had been found during the spring by her teams. There was an offer to look into joining the upcoming godwit surveys - they are trying to sort out subspecies patterns with those birds - and there was also talk about trying to organize a "blanket day" in October. 

The map of the Mason County Blanket Trips
What would it look like in Pacific County?

I've done these little blanket days in the past in Mason County and Chelan County. The basic idea is that three cars meet up in the morning, say hello, then head off in different directions in a county. They spend the morning sweeping through the Good Spots in different parts of the county, then get back together at lunch time to compare notes, giving everyone plenty of time to go and chase good birds that are found. 

Maybe like this...? Blue and Green trips could say hello in the morning
Red and Green trips could say hello at lunch? 
Pencil it in for Sunday, October 4th. Message me if you're interested!

For me, it's a nice way to catch birds that I have had trouble finding for the year. For others, they get to benefit from the familiarity I've gained from ten months of exploring the county. Between Allison's depth of knowledge with shorebirds, and her husband Cameron's skill with seabirds (I mean, he *has* written a book on them!), they would be *amazing* as part of a blanket day! Stay tuned. 

Tick tock tick tock

It was a great chat, and there was *also* live music provided by the Pitchwood Inn. Three singers took the stage while we talked, and they were all great. The crowd (and I've become a crowd afficionado as a karaoke host) was also great. People were deep in conversations, enjoying time with friends, but almost to a person stopped to cheer on the people on stage after each song. It's such a small thing, but I rank it up there with Being Nice to Animals as one of those litmus tests for good souls. 

BUT... I had nighthawks to find and still needed to get a room at the Pitchwood Inn. I wrapped up our conversation (pro-tip that I didn't need to use: double-tapping your thighs with both palms and saying "Welp" is a nearly unbreakable method for signaling a departure. Practice this.) and continued the online process for reserving a room. I had started it before Allison arrived, and I was able to hit "reserve" after we ended the talk. 

And I reserved a room for the wrong night. 

Holy Booking.com this was a headache. I could have made the reservation with the guy at the bar, and there would have been no lack of clarity. But I was encouraged to hop on a site to save money. Now, I was given a room key, along with a number to call Booking.com to cancel the reservation that had been made, and hopefully not get double-charged. As I made my way to the room, watched time tick away, and went back and forth over the phone, and finally got it squared away AS I was in the car, driving to what I thought would be good spots for nighthawks.

Stop number one - north of Raymond on Highway 101, I listened to the soft whits of Willow Flycatchers, all tucked away out of sight. Not a super-rare bird, but hey, 172 for the year! This was pretty close to the road, and I wasn't seeing much action, so... now past 7 PM... I drove further up the road and started up Smith Creek Road.

My first stop was a clearcut just a short way up Smith Creek Road. There was barely any room to park on the South side of the road, but I took the space, got out, and listened. No nighthawks. This surprised me! It seemed like a nice clearcut (insert jumbo shrimp/military intelligence joke here), and nighthawks do seem to like to spend their nights in clearcuts!

But what I did hear was better. At first, the rhythmic chipping confused me. Then there was some chittering to go with it, and I sat there confused for yet another half-minute. Then I realized what I was hearing. Black Swifts! (173). I scanned the sky, looking for one of these tiny scimitars cutting through the sky. The calls were helpful for at least trying to find a direction. 

And then a White-crowned Sparrow popped up, and started "PINK"ing at me. At short-range, these suckers are quite loud! And... folks, I may just have a comic misunderstanding of birds. We all may? I don't know. I thought that "pishing" was a really specific sound meant to put birds on alert, encouraging them to vocalize more. Do you know what else seems to encourage them?? Talking.

"Hey! Could you pipe down? I'm trying to listen..."  I can't guarantee that I was this civil when I spoke to the White-crowned Sparrow, but I feel like I was trying? Then a second one popped up and started sounding the alarm as well. With this, I lost all hopes of finding the Black Swifts against the huge gray sky. 

And honestly?? I didn't like hearing these birds at 7:45. I was at least puzzled by it. It seemed late in the day for the birds to be heading back to their homes in the Cascades (this was before I learned that they *could* use spots on the coast, but even this is an unsupported belief). And here I am, staring up at the sky like an idiot, ready to drop a weird observation into eBird, with zero documentation. I knew that I could describe the observation, describe the conditions and habitat... it would be fine for *my* list, but from the other side of things, from the side where you are evaluating the data point, my expectations were low that this would be accepted. 

But these White-crowned Sparrows were not backing down, I could get on no birds, and the hour was getting late, so I packed it up and drove further up the road to the intersection with the "H-line". I may sort this nomenclature out at some point, but this was another private forest road where the signage says "just don't block the gate or drive a vehicle beyond the gate without a permit." 

And I heard nighthawks before the car door even fully swung open. 174. 

I continued the walk past the gate, and I was happy to get a visual on a nighthawk, along with some video to capture the calls. I also got to hear a fair number of Willow Flycatchers making their full calls. "Fitz Bew!" is the accepted phonetics for this. I hear something a little different but would need to really sit down and hammer it out to say what. 

And just like that. In the work of an hour or so, I went from a kind of wasted trip to a trip where I picked up four species - three of them being code 3 or higher! I returned to the Inn, and collapsed, knowing I wouldn't have to get up particularly early the next day. 

May Have Snuck in Some Trips; May Have Found Some Birds

It's been a busy month for writing, and I did make some dashes down to Pacific County. It's going to be kind of digest-style here!

May 7th-8th

Hammond's Flycatcher!
Identified by call, but nice 
to capture the cute lil bill

The general gist of this one: I came in along Highway 6, stopping and listening for (and finding!) a few more easy breeders: Black-headed Grosbeak, Western Tanager, Hammond's Flycatcher. These were birds 161-163 for the year list. To my surprise, Hammond's Flycatcher is a code 3 in the county! It was not my last time coming across the species in May. 

I did try the A-Line Road off of Trap Creek. I'm kind of enamored of that little spot! I think my biggest hopes here were MacGillivray's Warbler, House Wren, and Olive-sided Flycatcher. I got none of the above but got *several* Sooty Grouse - great spot for them - and a couple of Canada Jays as well. 

Toothed Somberwing - a handsome moth

Green Hairstreak butterfly

Canada Jay

And here, I thought that was as interesting as it got on the way in along Highway 6. But. . . Look. I was trying to find some pretty common birds. Yeah, at one point, I heard some sapsucker tapping on a tree, and thought "Hey! I need a nice lil pic of a Red-breasted Sapsucker." So, I tried. 

Little 'sucker getting away

And then I tried again. 

This is not a picture of a Red-breasted Sapsucker

And then I sat on that pic of a Red-breasted Sapsucker for dang near a month. And here I am, catching up on blogging, and I was looking for good pictures to include. And I stared at this Red-breasted Sapsucker a bit closer. . . The white mark across the face sometimes happens in worn birds. Yep, white... mark across the red head. . . I cranked up the brightness on the photo, and dropped the contrast. 

At worst, it's a hybrid, but this looks like a Red-naped Sapsucker

Well, I always make the joke that a rare bird crossing my path would be a disaster, because I'd just miss it. Half-true here. I missed it for nearly a month, anyway. I'll add an addendum here after I hear back from the eBird reviewers. There are a lot of hybrids out there. This one shows no evidence of hybridization ... that I can see. That is most commonly in the form of some red wash on the head or breast, but maybe there are other things that are just out of view in this picture. 

Tokeland to Washaway Beach

The whole run from Tokeland to Washaway Beach was something that I drove several times on the 7th, and again on the 8th. I had four primary shorebird targets: Red Knot (yes! 164. :) ),

Craptastic image of a Red Knot - Graveyard Spit

Black Turnstone - nope :( , Ruddy Turnstone - yes! 165 :) 

Ruddy Turnstones - North Cove

and.... the largest shorebird in North America...

Long-billed fricking Curlews, I swear. Reported 873 times during the year (I made that number up, but...), and ... it shouldn't be hard to pick one out. Do you know why? Because they are the largest shorebird in North America. Didn't stop this guy from missing them, despite scoping nearly everywhere from the Marina down all of the viewpoints from Graveyard Spit. And like... I could have been sitting over an American Golden-Plover. Who knows? I was going to look those other birds over more closely, just as soon as I found... the Largest Shorebird in North America.

Jumping ahead a little bit but keeping in the same location: On the morning of the 8th, I ran into a birder from Nebraska who was feasting on life birds. Red Knot was a species he still needed, and I got him on a spot to set up a scope - one where I'd been ten minutes earlier and had seen many-a Red Knot. From his report on eBird, I saw that he found them! And... a Black Turnstone! Goodness, I'm good at missing birds, it would seem. 

Whimbrels over Graveyard Spit

The Local Bar and Grill
Grayland

My night was spent at Grayland Beach State Park. I grabbed dinner at the Local Bar and Grill. It was fun to arrive on Ladies Night, with the staff handing out roses to every lady in the place. The place was a nice mix of locals and travelers. Would recommend. I need to get back to try the octopus!

A morning walk around Grayland was pretty quiet and uneventful. As I left, I drove past the signs at Midway Beach that loudly proclaim, "NO BEACH ACCESS". And, I realize that I have, as a birder, been fooled here. The locals are clearly tired of people driving down the road, turning around in their driveways, etc etc. But to my understanding, there ARE places to park, and to walk a birdy area down to the beach. It's a good spot with some good birds like Sora and American Bittern popping up. But I gave it a pass on this particular morning. Just figured I'd go find the Largest Shorebird in North America, and get that out of the way, yaknow?

After a bit of effort at Tokeland, I really did want a change of scenery. So, I set the GPS for Brooklyn!

Smith Creek Road runs out of Tokeland and up into the Willapas. It's back roads until you reach the other side of this remote drive in Rochester, Grays Harbor County. But along the way, tucked into the smack-dab middle of nowhere, is Brooklyn. It's a little town with a school, a grange, a bible camp, and... a tavern! It's not open every day, and it's open for limited hours, and it's apparently easy enough to drive right past it, because I did this time! I'd been in years ago, but definitely want to grab a cold one at the Brooklyn Tavern some time. 

The drive there was marvelous. I decided that, rather than stop at The Good Spots, I would do a full survey. Stop at roughly 1/3 mile intervals recording everything seen and heard at each stop until it seemed like there was nothing more to see or hear. The result? 44 species of birds, including numerous tougher-to-find birds: Code 3 birds along the way included Ruffed Grouse, Sooty Grouse, Anna's Hummingbird, Hammond's Flycatcher, Western Bluebird, and the last new bird for the trip: MacGillivray's Warbler (166!). It was one of 7 species of warblers along the way. A long drive for one bird, but it was so nice just driving, stopping, and enjoying the lack of traffic as I drove through wooded hillsides, clearcuts, and open meadows. 

eyyyy! Finally a picture of a Western Bluebird. 

May 18th

Happy Mount Saint Helens Day? What a fitting day to make a non-birding trip with a friend who is dealing with a mountain of grief. We drove in through Brooklyn, stopping to look at clear-cuts, talking about how there are good clear-cuts, and not great ones. We watched Turkey Vultures and she told me of the Tibetan Practice of sky burial. We stopped and looked at the Brooklyn Tavern and talked about all of the lives out there in this world that are in progress, some of them ending with little fanfare or notice. We went to Washaway Beach and looked at what had once been the fastest eroding beach on the Pacific Coast, now somehow in recovery. She had often spoken of grief as erosion. And we visited the wind phone. I had my talk, then went to scope the water while she had her talk. 

We also stopped in at the Tokeland Hotel, grabbing a couple of starters to share. Stomach issues and diabetes keep her body constantly at the ready to punish her for having food, but some nibbles made their way in, including some fried green tomatoes. It was a Good Trip. Nearly no birds of note, but ... friends, has this ever actually been a blog about birding? Chew on that one and give all of these entries another read. Maybe I'm wrong. Who's to say?

That said, Sariah, to her credit, did keep her eye out for the Largest Shorebird in North America throughout the trip.

May 29th

This day started with something that I have never previously allowed myself during these years. And, please, dear reader, if you've been along for much of this ride at all... sit down. 

I birded in other counties. 

Some of the counties that need 
to be "cleaned up"

The main goal for this whole endeavor, 20-endeavor that it is, has been to have a 150 year in every county in the state, a year where I see 150 species in that county in a single calendar year. Another goal is to have a life list of 175 in every county in the state. 

A few years back, I made a move that helped immensely with the primary goal... while wildly disregarding the other. Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Clark, and Skamania counties all landed north of 150 by the end of the year. But all of them were short of 175 for my life list. Cowlitz ended at 167; Wahkiakum at 158; Clark at 157; Skamania at 163. 55 problems to be solved. At some point... but when?? 

Well... I realized that Pacific County was in spitting distance of 175, and I MAY be realizing that a year with 220 species (largely via a pelagic trip that would be breathtakingly difficult to plan) is all but out of reach. So, I made a trip that started in other counties, and ended in Pacific. 

Stop one: Thurston County. Thurston County was the first county outside of King where I decided to do a 150 year. I was happy enough ending the year at 165, back in 2014, and have been picking away at the missing birds over time. 173 is the total now. Most of those birds have come at Nisqually NWR. And... it's fine. Nisqually is fine. I just do these counties, in spirit, because I like to do more than just visit the same places... over... and over... again. So, a trip to Tono Ponds sounded just dandy. 

No chats! I was surprised. They were well documented. They were listed as an expected species here. But I heard no sign of these birds, and they are remarkably easy to hear. I didn't mind the diversion. It was a beautiful spot, and I got to hear my first Willow Flycatchers of the year!

From there, I shot a text to Russ, down in Cowlitz County, who had reported three birds that I needed in Cowlitz County - all in one report, and all in a location close to the freeway. After my stop at Tono, I slipped down past Kalama... turned around, realizing that maybe I didn't remember where Meeker Pond was (it's... on Meeker Street), and finally met with Russ, trying to find the Blue-winged Teal he'd seen the previous day. 

As he looked, I listened for either of the other birds I needed: Bank Swallow and Bullock's Oriole. We looked and listened for a bit, with no luck. Russ ended up taking me to a better spot - one where we found two of the species I was hoping for - Port of Kalama, North Beach. We got more than a fair share of Bullock's Orioles, my 170th species for my life in Cowlitz. Then we drove down closer to the Columbia, parked, and walked to the river itself. 

Swallows passed by: Tree Swallows... Cliff Swallows... and finally some Bank Swallows (171 for Cowlitz). Brown above, white underneath, with a nice band across the breast. Unfortunately, the birds were silent as they passed us, standing on the shores of the Columbia, near the banks they had dug in the sand. But I DO count seen-only birds on my list. :)

From there, I hit a place I'd had my eye on for a little while: "HEWA spot". Driving down Highway 6, one passes Rainbow Falls State Park, a pretty good place to find Hermit Warblers in our state. Continuing, one slips into Pacific County, where Hermit Warblers are listed as a Code 4 bird. But somewhere along this road, someone found a spot where these warblers are not so hard to find. Others followed the breadcrumbs and were rewarded, year after year, including this year, when the spot showed up on my alerts for the county: Hermit Warbler, seen at "HEWA spot".

Well, they weren't wrong! It just took a while to see this stinking bird. I drove a short way up the road, got out, and heard a bird with an abrupt lift to its song at the end. I was pretty excited to hear it, but. . . for the life of me, I couldn't remember if Hermit Warbler went up or down at the end. I had always used the up/down distinction to just get on birds to see if they were a Townsend's or Hermit. 

I looked at Sibley's... and it said that Hermit Warbler has a song that goes abruptly up OR down. 

...

Well... to be fair, there are many hybrid birds that can sing anything they feel like singing. But I firmly believed that I had seen a Townsend's Warbler singing a Hermit Warbler song... or maybe the reverse?... in the past. That had been based on a field guide telling me that the distinction was the direction of the end-of-song shift. Now, I was reading that it was the shift itself, rather than the direction of it, that was the important distinction. The bird I was listening to was definitely going sharply North at the end of the song. 

I excitedly pointed my binocs off of the road, into the trees where I thought I'd heard the bird. It continued. It remained hidden. I pished. The bird stopped... disappeared... something. I was unable to find it. I drove up the road a bit, stopping occasionally, and occasionally hearing good birds, but always off of the road. Without playback, there was no easy, effective method to pull the bird in for a closer view. 

Frustrated, I returned to a spot near the highway - an opening where a powerline cut through the wilderness. In my head, there was no way I wouldn't find a Willow Flycatcher up this line. I walked upward, listening closely for a "Fitz-Bew!", and was instead greeted by the thin high calls from a flock of Cedar Waxwings sitting in a tree (167 for the year).

No new flycatchers to be found, I dipped back down and drove up the road again, taking a few turns, stopping now and then (and hearing *very* loud Evening Grosbeaks) before I finally got a good opening on a Hermit Warbler. 168!!

Image lifted from this site
Open circles indicate 
More Hermitty areas

This guy looked unhybridized, and eBird at least seems to tell me not to be surprised. I do not fully understand what prevents this particular part of the state from being a hybrid zone. Does just enough salt air drift in from the Pacific to kill the mood for any potentially hybridizing Townsend's and Hermit Warblers? 

I suppose that might be the wrong way to model the situation. Contact between species may lead to occasional hybridization, but it may just take long stretches of time for that hybridization to really snowball. In an area where a lonely Hermit Warbler sees mostly hybrids, it could very well just give in to the math of the situation. But here in the Willapas, they still seem to have the ability to distinguish between the species, and the inclination to pursue the purest options. 

I finally dropped the binoculars and rubbed my suffering Warbler Neck, then decided to explore further up the road. This brought me to a lovely clearcut. And I know... it may be hard to think of the complete removal of trees as "lovely", but these areas often support a different mix of species than deep forests. One such species, Northern House Wren (169), started bubbling from one of the piles of logging debris in the middle of one of these clearcuts. I knew it was rare, I tried to get the song recorded. I failed. I really wanted to capture this one in a photo or recording, since it stands as the most infrequently detected bird that I have found this year! 

Other birds were a little more amenable to some photo opportunities. A pile of Red Crossbills nearly got run over by the Cackler (my compact SUV) as I came down the road. I stopped to get out of the car, and they flew into a nearby tree, before returning to the dusty road. They kept poking around on the road in front of me, pretty unconcerned about my presence. The recordings I was able to get had me thinking these were Type 3 - a Western Hemlock-favoring type of Red Crossbill. These crossbill types are distinguishable by call, and the types seem to have good breeding fidelity within types... 

What an interesting contrast! Birds that are considered different warbler species - carrying out the long process of blurring that line. And at the same time, these crossbills that are all considered the same species doing their darndest to keep their distance from each other. 

So that was May! What will June bring? Nighthawks? The rest of the flycatchers I'm missing? (Olive-sided Flycatcher, Willow Flycatcher, and Western Wood Pewee) And, oh to dream, maybe some breeding Marbled Murrelets? My old-growth dreams may get shattered on that last one, but hey... a boy can dream. 

My research has already begun...

This opens up all kinds of identification options.