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.
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.
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
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Trailing Blackberry |
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| Wild Red Huckleberry |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The red marker is the end of the A-line |
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| 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.
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