January 27th - South Kitsap Day Trip

Day Trip!

This is the weather I chose
for a day trip. :)?

I like the idea that trips to Kitsap, especially the South end, can make for a quick trip. My daughter had a full Saturday with Senior year activities, so I dropped her off and went right for the ferry. . . 

Just to find out that it had just left, and the next one would be coming in two or three hours. 

So, I'd been talking to a friend about this. I honestly have a pie-in-the-sky view that sometimes the ferries will be the best choice. Her contention. . . is that they cost more and will only in rare circumstances get you across the sound faster than driving around (once you factor in the wait at the terminal). Today, for a trip from South King to South Kitsap, I decided to make it a drive. 

Down I-5, over the Tacoma Narrows (beautiful bridge), and up to Kitsap. 

Long Lake

This was the first, and not the last time during the day where I thought, "I don't need boots for this!", when I probably needed a kayak. There were two Mallards. . . swimming in the field. Red flag, but I guess I thought maybe there were some high spots? dry spots? No. But I tried to find those spots, splooshing across the field one step at a time. 

For a couple of Pied-billed Grebes, and a couple of Lesser Scaup. :D So. . . this was almost entirely just an opportunity to get my feet wet for funsies. Some Red-winged Blackbirds, however, were new birds on the year list. 48 and counting! This is a species I'll see plenty of this year, but it was still nice to get a tick!

The goal for the year, 150 birds, is something I'm trying to hit as efficiently as I can. I'm trying to also bring the life list up to 175. I'd started the year with 117 species on the life list. After my trip earlier in the month, and then this Red-winged Blackbird, my total was now up to . . . 117! It will be interesting to get more and more of the common birds off of the year list, but I definitely wanted to use this day to get a few good lifers added as well. 

Port Orchard

I nearly typed "Port Gamble". So many Ports this year. I didn't make a beeline for Port Orchard, but first made a stop at Yukon Harbor. 

What a neat stop! One of my biggest dissatisfactions with birding in Kitsap County has always been how hard it is to find access to water views. But here, I found plenty of easy birding. 

The sprinkles had lightened a little bit, so I was able to stand on the edge of the beach and scan through 600 American Wigeon, hoping for a Eurasian Wigeon. 600 was actually a pretty good count! I am of a belief that this is one of the ways to find the interesting birds hiding in the large groups - just count them all!

No shortage of American Wigeons!

None were hiding in there, but I did have a Pacific Wren (49) calling from a nearby yard. As I listened to the whistling wigeons, I heard a high-pitched rattle of shorebirds - Black Turnstones! (50)

Black Turnstones

I'd seen some of these in Jefferson, but not Kitsap, in January. In the distance, I had a good few birds to sort through. Plenty of Surf Scoters, and a lot of Short-billed Gulls. I always snap pictures of large groups of distant birds, and in this case found a single bird that was new for the year, Bonaparte's Gull (51). Yaknow. . .  it's early in the year. I need to set the bar as low as possible, in terms of picture quality in this blog. It ain't much! But this little dude with the black splotch behind the eye is a pretty common bird. Not likely to be the last I see this year. 

Hey look! Another Short-billed Gull.

The best way to get to know any town. . . 

is definitely not to just drop oneself down in a Starbucks. But hey. . . they've got one in Port Orchard! I did plan on getting some work done during the day, needed to dry out a little bit, and also. . . wanted to see if there were any breadcrumbs to follow on eBird. There were two seats with outlet access, and neither dropped me near a person. I learned nothing about Port Orchard at this stop. But I dried out just fine and came out of it with some good ideas. 

Not open today, but you can get across the inlet this way. Foot traffic only.

The Port Orchard waterfront was the second time that I was pleasantly surprised with the water views. I just parked it at the Park and Bird lot (90 percent sure on the name of it) and walked the dock for the Port Orchard-Bremerton (seasonal) passenger ferry. So many Olympic Gulls - the uncountable hybrid birds with some mix of Glaucous-winged and Western Gulls. So many Short-billed Gulls. That has been 3000 percent of the gulls I've seen this year, the Bonaparte's Gull notwithstanding. 

There's a nice paved trail that runs along the waterfront, so I continued along. There were more Surf Scoters, more Common and Barrow's Goldeneyes, and finally a new duck for the year, White-winged Scoter (52). 

One bird that I had half-expected here was California Scrub-Jay (53). There had been reports from eBird, but not quite as many as Bremerton and Hansville seemed to have. But I was not surprised when I heard one calling from the hillsides above the water. These birds would have been completely unexpected a dozen years ago, but they've moved in. Binoculars kept getting misty, but I kept turning corners and finding new flocks of gulls and rafts of ducks to hunt through. Finally, I caught a single gull that was light enough on the mantle and primaries to call a Glaucous-winged Gull (54), and another sitting on the water that was dark enough in the mantle and primaries (and clean enough on the head) to call a Western Gull (55). There'd been enough almost-pure ones along the way that were just a little off

. I also had a chance to scope out the businesses along the waterfront. It looked like there might be a few different possible places to sit down, plug in, have a meal and a pint and do some work to end the day. 

Gorst 2.0

After my explorations at the Port Orchard waterfront, I drove to a place I've been to quite a few times over the years, but I'd had a chance to talk about birding from Gorst with some Kitsap birders a few weeks back. 

"There's a spot behind the Subaru dealer."

"Is that before or after the bikini barista place?"

"Which one. . .?"

"Oh. . . um. I guess there's the first pull off. . . "

"Oh yeah, the spot where we walk over used needles. Past that. And you go into the Subaru dealer lot. It's going to look like you're not supposed to be there. . ."

100 percent accurate description of the path to this neat little spot. A parking area that can only be accessed by going through the unsigned Subaru lot, leading to a great view of the terminus of Sinclair Inlet. This was a game-changing bit of help. From the parking, there's a path that takes one down closer to the water. For the second time today, I thought "I don't need the boots" in a situation where I may have appreciated the boots. 

Song Sparrows called from the brambles near the lot. Bald Eagles were perched in the trees above, as well as a Great Blue Heron (with 5-10 more flushing by the end of my visit). Similarly, I quickly found a Greater Yellowlegs (56), not far from me, but later found a dozen or more on the far side. 

Northern Flicker (57) was another new bird for the year - one of many "easy" birds that I'll be adding early in the year. Scanning the water, I came up with Common Mergansers, Buffleheads, and Surf Scoters. Continuing to follow the line of Greater Yellowlegs out along the far side, I landed on a couple dozen Dunlin (58) as well. Killdeer added another shorebird to the stop, and as I was starting to leave, a Wilson's Snipe (59) flushed and wheeled around to land farther up the shore. 

Bremerton

I had a few birds to try for in Bremerton, including several at Lions Park. So, I continued around the corner. I found myself much more able to drive past the birds I could see from my car, armed with a better idea of how to get to the water to see some. And Bremerton is not a place where I've really done any exploring. I got into town and thought of taking a look at birds from the ferry terminal. I misread a sign at some point, and realized I was in the ferry line. I started to take a U-turn, and I realized I would be doing so into oncoming traffic. It took a second or two to navigate, but I found the way out. That will be a puzzle to figure out another day!

Getting to Lions Park was easy enough, and it was raining. So hard. I found a parking spot away from the lake, and started scanning the flock of gulls on the lawns. Mostly more of the same - so many Short-billed Gulls, and so many Olympic Gulls. But one Ring-billed Gull (60) slipped past security. 

I saw a big pile of American Wigeons out on the far end of the walk, so I tried to get a closer view. Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Golden-crowned Kinglets (61) stuck it out in the rain, calling from the trees above. In amongst the wigeons, I actually found two Eurasian Wigeons (62), working hard not to get too close to them. Wigeon just seem to make a run for it at a shorter distance. I could see from here that, if I chose to walk across the soggy field, I could look down at the Port Washington Narrows (the water leading into Dyes Inlet) and scan through more birds in the rain. Nope! In retrospect, I think I missed out on a good chance for Harlequin Ducks. But it was time to get dry, get fed, and get some work done!

Whiskey Gulch, Port Orchard

This was a nice place to finish the day! I landed here during happy hour, so my beer and my wings were both discounted, letting me get work done in a nice quiet corner pretty inexpensively. The final tally of 62 was a much better place to end January, especially with four code 3 birds on the list, including three new birds for the life list (Western Gull, Wilson's Snipe, California Scrub-Jay). I'm already looking over how to make it to Jefferson County in February! By which I mean, how to pass through Kitsap and pick up some birds efficiently. 

And, in keeping with the theme for the year, I came out of this (weather aside), with a new and improved perspective on some of the birding spots and some of the towns in Kitsap. Yeah. . . there's a lot of water, and there's a lot of homes on the water. There's some sketchy places, as you might find in any town in any part of the state. But that's not the whole story for Kitsap County. I think this is true of any place (and, far more importantly, of any person). Neither perfect

January 15th - Starting not with a Bang, but a Quimper

The Quimper Peninsula

I got up Monday morning and looked at the after-math of the eBird lists I'd entered the night before. A nice feature on eBird is that you can look at needs alerts for life lists or year lists. One tempting sighting that was fairly recent was a Great Horned Owl, not too far from my hotel. But I thought about the efficiency of heading out, searching, and then coming back to pack and get breakfast. Nope. Most of my birding plans revolved around three spots, all fairly close to each other - Kah Tai Lagoon, Point Wilson, and North Beach. 

For as large as the county is, it was pretty exciting to consider the many possibilities in such a small area!

Kah Tai Lagoon

I made coffee in my room as I looked over checklists and had the coffee maker do a second round of hot water to make up the oatmeal I'd brought along. Once I had a plan in place, I packed up the car and got out the door. 

Kah Tai Lagoon is a sweet little birding spot that was just blocks from the hotel. Formerly a tidally flushed lagoon, then degraded, then saved by volunteers, the 75+ acre park has had over 180 bird species visiting it, according to eBird. I found the parking lot, stepped out into the clear cold morning and started birding from the parking lot. 

Immediately, House Sparrows (species 37 for the year) and American Robins could be heard. And, as I'd seen elsewhere the day before (and throughout Western Washington during this cold snap), Varied Thrushes were out and active. 

Parking lot thrushes

In the same conifer right there in the lot, a Red-breasted Nuthatch called with its little tin-horn call (38). I even had a Common Raven come in and perch on a tree, calling off and on throughout the morning. 

I. . . loved the art installment. Loved it. Here's a few of the placards: 

"When you slow down"

"You see more"

It continues, and I eventually decided that I needed to clear the frost off of the words. It follows (three words at a time) the story of an area, and I was just taken by the simple art and storytelling, done in so few words. As someone who rambles, it was a fun departure! 

They change the art every few months or so. I'll be back!

Bird-wise, it was Song Sparrows, Spotted Towhees (39), a Pacific Wren (40), and several Bewick's Wrens (41). 

Bewick's Wren investigating some Douglas Fir cones.

Other trees held Black-capped Chickadees (42) and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, as well as some Golden-crowned Kinglets (43). A very typical Western Washington forest lineup, and I hadn't even gotten to the water. 

About that water, though. . . 

The lagoon had completely frozen over! Several Mallards still hung around on the ice, and some marshy looking stuff gave me my first Red-winged Blackbirds (44) and Marsh Wrens (45) for my Jefferson County year. Some finch appearances provided nice surprises, with both Red Crossbill (46) and American Goldfinch (47) making appearances during the walk. The final additional species was a Fox Sparrow (48). 

The deer seemed awfully tame. 

A meander through town

I left the lagoon and did a bit of a meander.  I got to the waterfront, looking for some new waterbirds, but the cormorants were all Double-crested, and no other good birds had really come in to use the water near town. Rock Pigeon (49) was at least a new species. I tried some other neighborhoods in town, windows down and eyes open, hoping for California Scrub-Jay. They've become more common in town but could not be found by me this morning. I did hear some House Finches (50) along the way.

Point Wilson

This was the lighthouse I had seen from across the harbor the previous evening! Nice to enjoy it up a little closer. This was also the opening round of Tim-needs-to-relearn-saltwater-birds. Immediately out of the car, I got distracted by more of the passerines, however. Golden crowned Sparrows (51) gave me hopes of other rarer sparrows - always fun to pick through them. The tall grasses held at least one Lincoln's Sparrow (52), and the fields between the parking lot and the water had a Western Meadowlark (53) - heard, but never seen. . . stealthy little suckers. Walking the beach I found some more Short-billed Gulls, and another mutt or two, but nothing else of note. 

Then it was Alcid time. :)

About as good as it got for Alcid Pics - Pigeon Guillemot

My first one was one of the easier Alcids (for me) - Common Murre. Black up top, white below. That basic pattern on a larger, slower moving Alcid is not too complex. The bill matched up, and it was flying not too far from shore. 54! Pigeon Guillemots then became 99 percent of what I saw for quite a while! (55). They gave me a nice reference, however. Getting views of so many of them and getting a feel for their flight and overall size and shape - all good things. At one point, I was watching a line of 6-7 Pigeon Guillemots in flight. . . so far out. Then two smaller white blobs overtook them, zipping past. Murrelets! I could see white underwing as they flew, which narrowed it down to Ancient Murrelets (56), an identification confirmed by their dive (or rather dissolving) into the water. 

Common Goldeneyes were still among the more common birds

I love watching Ancient Murrelets do this - it happens in a blink, where other Alcids will put on the brakes and land on the water. They go straight from flight into a dive! It also feels like most of the Marbled Murrelets I've seen over the years have been solo, rather than flying with others? I'm sure it's not a "field mark" but was at least something that had me suspecting Ancient Murrelets here. 

One more Alcid - Rhinoceros Auklet - was also on the easier side. These birds are just plain old dark, all the way down to the bill, in this season. (57). 

Looking around the corner, I got on a loon, and discovered it was a Pacific (58).

Anywhere else in the state, these would be a bit more of a surprise, but they are a pretty common bird in Jefferson. Here's hoping for photos in the future that don' look like they were taken from space. :D

I also found a Common Loon (59) and both Brandt's (60) and Pelagic Cormorants (61). I'm 100 percent sure that a better choice of viewing time (relative to the tide) would have led to a fuller list, but this felt like a good start!

Brandt's Cormorant 

North Beach/China Gardens

Just on the other side of the State Park, there's a nice little area offering saltwater, freshwater, fields, feeders, and forests! North Beach Park was a very productive stop for me. I'd seen the reports for Pygmy Nuthatches but arrived without a recollection of *where* in the park they had been seen. Advice was to play tapes to bring them in - not an option for me with my telofono-no-intellegente, so I just went for a nice walk. 

Lots of Salal and Trailing Blackberry along the trail. Good signs!

Before leaving the parking lot, Pine Siskin (62) and Yellow-rumped Warbler (63) were heard. The latter were there in a pretty big flock. Likely a good spot for them throughout the winter, as YRWA's seem to latch onto favored areas. At home, I have to walk exactly two blocks to find my local ones in their favorite tree!

Marsh Wren

I followed the North Beach Trail, which took me into the forest. The forest was very quiet on this particular morning! The one species I had really expected to find in here (or gosh, just anywhere during this trip) was Steller's Jay. Maybe next time! Golden-crowned Kinglets, and a handful of Black-capped Chickadees were all I could get out of that little hike. When I got back to the large field, I could hear the American Wigeon calls coming from the China Gardens pond. Heading down, I could see them better, although in typical Wigeon fashion, they flew before I was even very close to the pond. 

On the north edge of the pond was a small bit of marshy stuff that turned out to be a little jackpot for me. Gadwall (64), Hooded Merganser (65), and Marsh Wren were quick and easy finds. Two Wilson's Snipes (66) also flushed from the reeds while I was there. Surprisingly, I struck out on Pied-billed Grebe here - it felt like another logical species to find. An Anna's Hummingbird (67) gave its zippy calls as I started back towards the car.

I took a look at the pond again, this time from the road as I exited, and saw a half-dozen-or-so Northern Shovelers (68). 

Very good stop!

Leaving the Quimper Peninsula

I'd hit the afternoon, and still wanted to drive the road through West Valley. I got back to the freeways through the West side of town, stopping once on Jacob Miller Road to look at some Mourning Doves in a tree that also included a Eurasian Collared-Dove (69). 

I passed more than a couple wineries and cider houses, but most were not open on the three-day weekend. I'm looking forward to coming back when they're open! Some had posters on their doors for live music events, and it's hard to imagine a more relaxing way of spending an evening. 

I stopped at the Chimacum Cafe for lunch, ordering up the Varied Thrush of sandwiches - a BLT. It was a double-stacker, and quite delicious. Much needed after all of the walking I'd done on my three stops! 

Red-winged Blackbird

West Valley. . . oh goodness, this road. It was just kind of ice. I mean. . . at one point, I wanted to stop just to get a picture of a Red-tailed Hawk, but the car kept going. So, I quickly just agreed with the car. Of course I didn't want a picture of a Red-tailed Hawk! Living is much more fun. Most of this was just driving slowly, stopping to scan fields, and listening for birds with the windowns down. That last plan was the only thing that got me any new species for the day! Brown Creeper (70), and Red-breasted Sapsucker (71). 

Here:

This is an interesting puzzle. I wanted to go to the Shine Tidelands, and my Gazetteer seemed to disagree with a few other sources. I ended up going down a "Primitive Road; No Warning Signs" gravel and dirt road, ending at a spot where. . . it looked legit? There was another car parked there, and I passed the couple belonging to the car as they were returning from their walk. So. . . I don't know. I think there's about a 50 percent chance that I was at Shine Tidelands State Park. I don't even know what other possibilities make up that other 50%, but I'm sure I'll find out over the course of the year. 

Gulls (all the same ones - Olympic and Short-billed), and the ducks I'd seen during most of the trip (American Wigeon, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye), and one final addition to the year list - Hairy Woodpecker (72). Still, it was a pretty walk, and it was fun to watch the gulls actively playing the shell game. They'd pluck some poor shelled creature from out of the mud, fly high in the air with it, and drop it to crack it open. 

Hairy Woodpecker

To the ferry! The Kingston Ferry

The sun was getting low, so I started towards Kingston. This actually involved a 10-15 delay, as traffic on the Hood Canal Floating Bridge stopped mysteriously (I was around the corner, so I couldn't see the cause). Easy drive to Kingston, and about 20-30 minutes to shoot pictures at the ferry terminal before heading back across the water. 

Plenty of cormorants to pick through. I did find Brandt's and Pelagic - Species #'s 46 and 47 for Kitsap.

Thanks for reading! 

January 14th - Kickoff in Kitsap and Jefferson

A Busy Brain

Jefferson peaks - King-side perspective

Any time I do these years, of late, it seems like my January trips are well planned out and take me out the door (often on Jan 1), at an obscene hour of the morning. I end up trying for owls too early but catch sunrise with my feet on the ground. This year, it took me a couple weeks to get settled on a plan, I scrambled to get some lists and leads together, and got my January trip to Jefferson and Kitsap planned right on the tail end of a writing deadline. My brain had hardly shut down, I hadn't packed, and my notes were less than complete. 

3 A.M. found me awake, ready to take on the day... but also sleepy. 

7 A.M. found me wondering what exactly had happened to my morning! 

But none of these years are without their wrenches. If I needed sleep, then taking it was a tip of the hat to balance - something I try to honor. I got up and started packing, happy to have a full breakfast at home. One less meal to pack or purchase. 

And off I drove to the ferry. 

"The" ferry?

Kitsap and Jefferson Counties are on the other side of Puget Sound from me. I've stepped through the different paths I could take to get from here to there. . . 

Mukilteo-Clinton, Copeville-Port Townsend. The northernmost way to get there, and one of the more direct ways to get right to the heart of the birding in Jefferson. 

Edmonds-Kingston. More driving on this side of the water to get me from Renton to Edmonds, but this drops me off on the north end of Kitsap, and very close to Jefferson. 

Seattle Bainbridge. Maybe? I'll have to keep looking at the birds to get my head around this choice. It means driving into Seattle, and getting dropped off on Bainbridge Island - an area that is a birding puzzle to me, with its private beaches. But I'm sure there's places to explore here as well!

Seattle-Bremerton. Still taking me into Seattle and dropping me off a little farther south. This one's not out of the question. 

Fauntleroy-Southworth. Hard to beat, in that I have to drive the least distance and the boat runs me directly into Kitsap. If I'm hitting the south end of Kitsap at all, this is almost a no-brainer. 

Or no ferry at all: The Tacoma Narro

Diagram A

ws, or even a long drive around through Olympia - up to Shelton, and up Hood Canal to the Southern end of Jefferson. These save me money on ferry passage, but at the cost of miles in my car. Depending on the goals during a trip, though - not a bad plan!

Getting to Jefferson from Kitsap, incidentally - not so complicated! To get directly from one to the other, there is but one bridge! The Hood Canal Floating Bridge, to my astonishment, is the only way. I suppose a bridge farther South - something connecting, say. . . Seabeck to Brinnon. . . never got a lot of support! 

Until then, for reference, consider Diagram A.

There's actually no situation that makes Mason County a shortcut. Unless you have people to see in Mason County. That may happen for me this year - haven't been back to the Mason in a couple years now. 

So, at least as long as I'm doing Kitsap and *East* Jefferson, my birding plans are on this grid: 

I don't feel as bad now about sitting and wondering which way to go home at the end of the trip!

Back to the Ferry - Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth

The most direct east-west line from Renton to Kitsap is the one that I took. I'm going to come clean on one thing very early on. I haven't seen like. . . a Pigeon Guillemot in a few years! I know, these are common birds in King County, but I've been running around to Douglas, Klickitat, and the entire southwest corner. The Columbia just isn't that salty! So, after a few years away from all of the saltwater birds. . . I'd gotten a bit rusty. 

Snipped from activity_murrelet.pdf (savetheredwoods.org), 
a neat organization dealing in conservation.

Like. . . as an example. . . This is a coloring book page I'd fail. Black, white, gray. . . somewhere on the bird. . . yep. And mix them around, and you have a Pigeon Guillemot. Then invert all of the colors, maybe? And you have a breeding plumage Pigeon Guillemot. Or maybe an Oreo? I'm just not the one to ask, is what I'm saying. Not today. Not quite yet. 

Even from the ferry terminal, I had lots of bird to sort through. The quiz before the tests, I suppose!

Brandt's Cormorant - Vashon terminal

These cormorants certainly fall into that category. Birds you're simply never going to see in Cowl... well, okay there was one in Cowlitz County last year. And Clark, but. . . c'mon, you get the point!

Vashon Island is still King County, so the year tally couldn't start quite yet as we pulled up to the Vashon terminal. I was so ready to start ticking off birds as we got to the Kitsap side!

But. . . by-golly it happens fast. You get about halfway to Southworth, comfortably in Kitsap waters, and they're rushing you down to your car. You pull up and engines are starting, and you're off. I somehow imagined some of the same relaxed pace from boarding. Clearly this was a good memory jog (or common sense jog?). Disembarking from the ferry is the fastest part of all. 

Kitsap Lake

No rest for the person on a freeway with traffic behind them! I set the GPS for Kitsap Lake, and simply got-a-going. Bald Eagle (1) and Red-tailed Hawk (2) became my first two birds for my Kitsap year as I drove. I passed by Gorst, seeing that Sinclair Inlet had gotten a bit iced over. Not seeing any birds from the car, I decided to pass it by. Of course, as I turned around the north side of the inlet - kaboom - I could see all 5 bazillion gulls and ducks roosting on a secure bit of ice, but it was too late to stop and find a vantage point. On to Kitsap Lake!

The lake itself would be a good stop, and I expect it will continue to be a good one through the year. In Kitsap County, you're never *that* far from saltwater! It means that there's not an abundance of lakes and freshwater marshes that hold dabbling ducks like Gadwall, teals, and for that matter, even American Coots. 

One recent sighting here was of a Canvasback - a code 3 bird. My plan for Kitsap this year was to make it a "through" county, but to make sure that I have a good list of code 3 or higher birds to guide my path through the county. If I can pick up a couple of those each month, I figure a 150 year should be doable? It's the plan, at any rate! 

First step out of the car, and I caught my favorite song. Varied Thrush! (3)

I feel like the cold weather really brings these birds out. They're hands-down my favorite bird, and I keep figuring the groundswell should be there to make them the state bird. But, alas, I think I have to resign on this one. It's the American Goldfinch for us. Yep. That's the bird that makes us special. Us, and a few other states. 

American Robins (4), Song Sparrows (5), and Spotted Towhees also made their presence known as I made my way out to the dock. The lake had frozen in parts, but there were quite a few birds scattered around the lake. 

Ring-necked Duck

Photo for perspective, more than. . . look, if you're new to my blogs, I should explain. There's going to be a lot of out of focus distant birds here. Squint. It helps. :)  But Common Merganser (6), Hooded Merganser (7), Bufflehead (8), and Mallard (9) were some of the more common ducks on the lake. More scanning brought me to a big pile of Ring-necked Ducks (10) and some Canada Geese (11). Some American Wigeon (12) and a Pied Billed Grebe (13) were mixed in with this group as well. 

A Double-crested Cormorant (14) picked up from somewhere on the lake and did a flyby, but I could not see any Canvasbacks. Finally, I did at least pick up some other ducks from the Aythya family - Lesser Scaup (15). 

Back towards the parking lot, I found more Varied Thrush, some Black-capped Chickadees (16), and Dark-eyed Juncos (17). A bird was working the ground around the base of a tree and turned out to be a Fox Sparrow (18). 

Cartographical Recap

This helped me. Maybe it'll help you. The first points are in King County - ferry terminals. 3 is the Southworth Ferry Terminal - finally in Kitsap. 4 is Gorst - Sinclair Inlet is the water poking in there. 5 is Kitsap Lake. 

6 is a spot I marked - Chico! I saw some birds where Chico Creek was emptying into Dyes Inlet. Briefly encouraged, I pulled off on Chico Way. I found two private roads, one private beach, one coffee shop I'll need to visit another time, and zero places to look at the water.

7 - I marked the freeway here, because I feel like maybe this is the stretch that I recall as just being miles of Scotch Broom - an awful invasive plant that lines freeways here and there in Washington. It was largely gone! Not. . . gone, which is always the problem with Scotch Broom. But I'm a fan of things like progress and hope, even against some of the worst stuff we need to deal with, yeah? 

8

Here on the map we finally reach Poulsbo. I had seen a report of a Trumpeter Swan, a nice code 3 bird, at the Fish Park, just North of town. This was a fun little stop. Things were, again, fairly frozen over, but I still picked up some new birds - American Robins, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Spotted Towhees were joined by Ruby-crowned Kinglet (19), and Yellow-rumped Warbler (20). A Bewick's Wren (21) also belted out its calls from the parking lot.

Lots of people were out and about on a Sunday, with dogs or family, and I came across a path that dead-ended at what might have been a little pond. . . now a little ice rink that a few kids were tromping across. It had been. . . a long while since I'd stood on natural ice, so I took a few steps out. 

Onto the ice - Not much, but it's important now and then.

The park had plenty of signs documenting the volunteer hours that had gone into the park over recent years. An amazing amount of work and thought had gone into making the park what it was. Everything down to the parking lot - designed to ensure that oils would run inward to the center of the lot, where a small bit of plantings could help keep the oils out of the groundwater. 

Amazing bit of work by the good people of Kitsap

I eventually found some water that had dodged the freeze. Some ducks, including Green-winged Teal (22) had also found it, and quite a few Killdeer (23) had also gathered on the rocky bars in the stream. 

Continuing into Poulsbo-Proper got me a handful of everyday birds I hadn't seen yet, including American Crow (24), European Starling (25), Rock Pigeon (26), House Finch (27), and House Sparrow (28). Spotted Towhee didn't get a tally before! So, we're actually at 29 species for the year. 

Poulsbo itself will warrant a stop someday. I was inclined to, as I'd still not had lunch, and it was now past noon. But on the middle day of a three-day weekend, there were no parking spots to be found by any of the bakeries, brewpubs, or boutiques. Birding Liberty Bay would have to wait. The Scandinavian roots of the town are deep - had I taken the time, I could have even bought an opportunity to try some new cuisine. . . But on this day, Port Gamble would be getting my business for lunch. 

Port Gamble

There's not a lot to Port Gamble, but that's fine by me. The core of the town is just a few blocks on the water, and it's a beautiful setting. I scanned the water from the park perched high above the water, picking out a lot of the common salty birds. Surf Scoters (30) were prominent here, and everywhere on the trip. The binocs and scope pulled in some Goldeneyes (both Barrow's and Common - 31 and 32), and Grebes (Pied-billed, Horned, and Western - 33, 34, 35). Red-breasted Mergansers (36), were also prominent.

Barrow's Goldeneye - Port Gamble

I saw people down below, so I hiked down the road to the Olympic Outdoor Center - a kayaking operation, based only on the signage and racks full of kayaks. Maybe a place to visit later in the year? I finally reached a couple who were birding the shore with binocs and a spotting scope. As they helped me find some birds they'd gotten in the scope (including a Northen Pintail - 37), we talked about their birding and mine. As it turned out, some of the breadcrumbs I'd been following, such as the Canvasback sighting at Kitsap Lake, had been placed on eBird by them over the past week or so. 

I told them that I was from King County, "And. . . they let you in? Guess they've gotten a little lax," they joked. They filled me in on a few of the good spots to bird. I did ask them about one of the code 3 birds I'd been looking for here - Black Oystercatcher. They show up now and then on the rocky tips that enclosed the small bay. To the right, and around the corner, the water would lead into Port Gamble - the geographical feature, not the town. To the left, I now realize, was technically Hood Canal - some of the last stretches of the Fjord before it emptied into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. 

Map from this study - image available through creative commons

 

This map. . . wow. I knew from my year in Mason County (www.masoncountybirding.blogspot.com) that some of the saltiest birds, alcids like Marbled Murrelet and Common Murre, could be very difficult to find farther up Hood Canal, as the saltwater competed with the various rivers that pour freshwater into the fjord. From the looks of it, things really start to get salty once you've reached Port Gamble!

Common Loon (38) from waaaay out in Hood Canal

Scanning the water from below, I added Greater Scaup (39). Great Blue Heron (40) and Belted Kingfisher (41) perched on the rocks. I was told that Black Oystercatchers and Black Turnstones could show up on those same rocks every now and then. 

Great Blue Heron

The couple left, and I took the opportunity to head up and grab some lunch at the cafe/gift shop. The soup/salad/sandwich offerings were excellent, and I grabbed soup and salad. I eyed some of the Port Gamble mugs, but . . . a buck and a half for a Chico Credit Union Mug would be more my speed. 

People-watching is an important part of taking the pulse of a place, and on this particular day, it was three women at the cafe that gave me a soundtrack for my soup and sandwich. What an interesting change of pace after a few years in places like Douglas, Klickitat, Wahkiakum. I'd been privy to talks about recycling, politics, million-dollar rains, and the local high school football team. Today, it was just talk about golf, entertaining, and the joy of finishing a man-cave. "With pool tables and a bar. . . a place where they can talk, but you know. . . not talk talk, but just a place they can relax and talk about sports or poker."

Tuna salad sandwich and soup of the day (parsnip!) The half-sandwich option was welcome. 

The discussion turned to hobbies, and how their husbands all seemed to lack them. Whether or not their husbands would agree with that assessment, it made me thankful for my chosen hobby. It made me thankful for the friends and the family in my life with whom I can "talk-talk". There's much I don't "have", I suppose, and much that I've lost, but I've got what I need. I'd been talking with a dear friend about the "please"s and "thankya"s we cast out into the universe, and for all this, I say thankya.

I took a last peek at the shore and was happy to see a flock of Sanderling (42) do a flyby of the shore. Short-billed Gulls (43) used the little cove as well, and I finally caught a Pigeon Guillemot (44) floating into view from Port Gamble - The Geographic Feature (I'm. . . going to call it that now. Sorry, dear reader). Of final note was the only code 3 bird I'd found all day - Common Raven (45). 

On my way out, I had to pause for a wedding party crossing the street. I clapped from the car for the bride, and she took a bow. Happy people. :)

Jefferson County!

45 was not an awful start for Kitsap, although the plan of grabbing a couple code 3 birds each trip was missed in a bigly big yuge way. In fact - not a single Kitsap bird had been added to my life list! Still, the matrix of planning would be less complex the next time, and the next time after that. 

My landscape photos, always the special job for Flippy, my phone, are going to be a little lighter on this trip. After a good few years of flipping, Flippy has started giving me a message "Cannot access the camera" now and then. It seems to go away sometimes when it's jostled - the modern-day equivalent of that TV set you have to slap to get the picture to come in clearly. But trust me, the bridge is a beaut. The Hood Canal Floating Bridge is the third-longest floating bridge in the world (one and two are in King County, incidentally). As noted, it is the one way to get directly from Jefferson to Kitsap - separated by Hood Canal all along their common border. 

As I snipped the map, I thought that northern bit of the Kitsap Peninsula looked familiar. . .

Incidentals along the way included a couple of Common Ravens (1 - the parentheticals now tracking my Jefferson list) sitting in the snow as I turned up Oak Bay Road. Red-tailed Hawk (2), European Starling (3), and American Robin (4) were my other incidental finds. Cars in the ditch. . . two. Unfortunately, with the icy roads, there had been a few instances of people overdriving the situation. I've been in exactly one ditch during these trips (on a muddy forest road at 1 A.M. - Chelan County). Once was enough. 

Oak Bay County Park was my first destinope looks like I just passed it. This was an occasional theme during the trip. New spots, icy roads, missed a turn, too bad. So, I continued up Hwy 116, or Flagler Road. I did find a good shoulder at Nordland, so I pulled up and scanned the water for fowl.

Northern Pintail (5), presumably with an adopted Green-winged Teal (6)

I also found some Mallards (7), Killdeer (8), Song Sparrow (9), and a Blue Heron that was at the very least *good*. Possibly Great, although Egrets last year changed my whole perspective on Great. But still. . . possibly a Great Blue Heron (10).

Nordland - always picturesque

Fort Flagler Finally

At the advice of Steve, a local birder, there were shorebirds to be found on the lawns at Fort Flagler, but "it's a high tide roost". I was just kind of there and was not sure what the tide situation was as I pulled into the beach/campground area. Just as a shot in the dark, I held up my phone. 

"Hey Flippy. When is high. tide. Marrowstone Island."

. . . 

Nothing. The usual response from my phone in these situations. But I do like to explore my options.

Canada Geese (11), an American Crow (12), and a distantly calling Northern Flicker (13)
formed the bulk of the welcoming committee.

No shorebirds to be found on the lawns, so I grabbed my binoculars and camera and took the beach to the East. What a nice walk! Yes. . . it was cold, but the wind stayed light enough to make things tolerable (throughout the weekend, thankfully). A Chestnut-backed Chickadee (14) called from the wooded areas on shore, and Common Goldeneyes (15), Surf Scoters (16), and Red-breasted Mergansers (17) were the common ducks offshore.

Shoreline and shorebirds

And right on that shoreline itself were some Sanderling (17), and Black-bellied Plover (18). Again, birds I'd not enjoyed for a few years, as I had been birding counties along the Columbia River. The plovers. . . I just found myself thinking that evolution should have been able to tackle this a little better. I was just walking up the beach. I tried different ways of demonstrating that. . . this was what I was doing. An action with direction, consistency, etc. And one that did not involve attempts on the life of a plover. 

But these little dudes would skitter away, looking nervously over their shoulders, like someone in a horror movie running inefficiently away from The Killer. But skittering back in the direction I was coming from, letting me pass, was not an option for some of these little guys. 

the over-the-shoulder peek

Sanderling, by contrast, seemed to have an understanding of the situation, and would let me pass. They were on this stretch of beach in about equal numbers, sometimes clumping up. 

Sanderling

I thought I heard a familiar Tschup, and found a Varied Thrush (19) up on the sandy banks. 

Not the best camo

The cold weather seemed to be pulling out the Varied Thrushes, here, and certainly in the Seattle area. I don't know if they are just more active and visible when it's cold, or if they move downslope a little in the cold. In summer, they do seem to prefer higher elevations, colder climes. I'll have to find out how this works for my favorite bird. (I did)

I continued to add some more birds from the water as I walked, stopping periodically to scan the gentle waves. Bufflehead (20), Horned and Red-necked Grebes (21 and 22), and the occasional flyby of a Double-crested Cormorant (23). 

Grebes up front, Whidbey Island in the back

I turned back towards the campground. It had been a long walk already, but I'd seen people headed to the West end of the beach as well, so I figured I should explore the place thoroughly. At first it was the same cast of characters - Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover. But then I heard the high, scratchy "creak!" of a Dunlin (24). I was walking towards the sun at the time, so I had missed some small details on the beach ahead of me. Dozens of shorebirds sat roosting on the shoreline. 

Yahtzee!

I moved away from the shore and came around the shorebirds a little bit for better lighting. Comically, as I did this, the Black-bellied Plovers continued to run ahead of me, stumbling on rocks now and then, and calling from the ground "What do you want??!! Don't kill me!! Pleeease!!" Every other species seemed pretty unworried about me walking the beach. I was scanning for a bird that looked a little different, and pretty quickly found the Rock Sandpiper (25). 

This was a lifer! And I'll admit, in my scrambling, I had not studied them in my Sibley's all that closely. Had not asked a lot of questions such as. . . "What does a Rock Sandpiper look like?" I did remember some of the basic appearance but was mostly just looking for the odd sandpiper in the bunch. Take a ton of pictures. Look them over later with book in hand. 

Jumping ahead to that, actually, I had a few moments of doubt when I got back to the car. Superficially - leg color, breast pattern, bill color, overall darkness, habitat, abundance - there were some reasons for me to stop and wonder if I'd just seen a Surfbird - a more common bird in these parts, and one that I don't get a look at annually.y (as easy as it would be at Alki!). But there's a good size difference. Rock Sandpipers are more Dunlin-sized, while Surfbirds are more Black Turnstone sized. The bill as well - it's much stubbier on a Surfbird. 

Black Turnstones (26), incidentally, were also running around on the shore. Some were even turning over stones, imagine that.

The end of the little spit. . . there were gulls. The gull situation out here was just weird. For the entire trip, I took a close look at dozens of gulls, and found only two kinds. Short-billed Gulls (27). . . 

And uncountable "Olympic" Gulls - hybrids between Glaucous-winged Gulls and Western Gulls. 

I was picking through this pile of Olympic Gulls when I realized there were some large black birds alongside them. Black Oystercatchers! (28)

 

Such beautiful birds, and then throw in a group of Harlequin Ducks (29) just off the end of the spit, and I was feeling pretty spoiled. 

I walked back, right past the calm Rock Sandpiper, the calm Dunlins and Sanderlings, and the hysterical Black-bellied Plovers. A Belted Kingfisher (30) rattled off a call, and moved farther down the beach, rising up and hovering over the water, looking for the right time to plunge. I also got a few sparrows, including Song, White-crowned (31), and Dark-eyed Junco (32) foraging on the edge of the campground and beach. A little out of place, two American Wigeon (33) were on the lawn now, with the Canada Geese, flying off at my approach. 

Okay, I sank 15 minutes into this lol. Red-breasted Merganser and Sanderling were both 17. I'm not going to sink another 10 into changing every number between here and there. But updates - that makes 34. And actually, Bald Eagle at Fort Flagler was species 35 for the day. A tree full of Mourning Doves (36) were my last addition on the way to Port Townsend and my bed for the night. 

Port Townsend

I got settled in at the Port Townsend Inn - pretty reasonable accommodations, all in all. Then it was off to Port Townsend, in search of dinner. I. . . need to research this better. I pride myself in finding some great food, and often without breaking the bank. But I looked at the menu in one establishment in PT, and . . . you're not going to put affordable options next to duck pate, let's be clear. So, I thanked them for letting me look over the menu and continued on foot to the Whiskey Mill. 

I have no complaints about the Whiskey Mill. Great place. It wasn't what I was looking for, but that's nothing on them. Great tap selection, and as you'd guess, quite a few whiskeys behind the bar. Interesting menu choices, but just more than I'd hoped to spend on a meal and a drink, in the end. The bar area was also a little smaller, so the opportunities to grab bits of conversation were limited. Good food, but not likely a place I'd hit again on these trips. Gotta watch those nickels! 

Slept. Hard.