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 |
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 |
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" |
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.
...
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 |
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. |
No comments:
Post a Comment