February 6th - Birding in, at Most, an Intermittent Mizzle

It had been a long. . . long. . . very long day of birding. So, when my car rolled into Fort Flagler, I was likely asleep no more than negative eleven minutes later. I'd seen a Barred Owl the night before, on the way into the campground. That had been my primary reason for choosing this as a campground (inasmuch as sleeping in one's car can be called camping). Yes, Surfbird, Eared Grebe, and Yellow-billed Loon were all possible as well if I waited for sunrise, but my sights were set on other owls, and a morning walk at North Beach in Port Townsend. 

I woke up intermittently, and heard the pitter patter of . . . well, hold up. Rain makes a pitter patter noise on a car. What sound would drizzle make? That noise. At any rate, it *did* stop, signaling go-time for me. I'd gotten to sleep plenty early, so 4 something A.M. was not feeling all that early. 

I stopped in the park to try for Northern Saw-whet Owls. Nothing. I stopped along 116 (Flagler Road) for Great Horned Owls. Dogs. I stopped on. . . I'm 93.7 percent sure it was Schwartz Road, and actually am 100 percent sure that I never stopped, because . . . it wasn't trailers, it wasn't run-down homes, it was run-down trailers. And aggressive signage against a tax for the Port Townsend Pool, and. . . I just got back onto 116 and called it a morning for Marrowstone Island. 

Anderson Lake Park

I stopped here to try for Northern Saw-whet Owls. Nope, BUT I did get a Great Horned Owl (95 species for my Jefferson County year list). 

Kah Tai Lagoon

No new birds here, but I tried again for Virginia Rail. Surely, they'd be more impressed with my rail call at this hour? They were not.  What impressed me was the increased bird activity. Slightly better weather, and the birds were singing like. . . like birds in slightly better weather. It was great. But no rails. Stubborn birds. 

North Beach

I'm continuing to just call this North Beach, although I did start my birding at the other eBird hotspot ten feet away - the Chinese Gardens. One can park, view the salt water, view the pond at North Beach, listen to birds in the neighborhood, and the birds from the State Park without much of a walk. So, these spots will be "North Beach" for blogging purposes. I walked to the pond and got one of the easier birds I'd been missing, Ruddy Duck (96). I don't know if the whole pond was birdier than it had been on my last visit. Things had been so frozen over before that all of the birds had just gotten packed in together on one end of the pond. Today, things were more spread out. 

The bushes lining the pond held dozens and dozens of sparrows, mostly Golden-crowned, although a White-throated Sparrow had been seen in this area the previous day. I scoped the saltwater, then started walking up the road to meet Steve. 

This little area is interesting. There are roads that look like nothing but driveways. . . but are actually public. . . trails, I suppose. The city has just never gotten around to paving them. So, they're not open for motorized traffic, but there are signs clarifying that it's fine to stroll along these paths. This is most of what Steve and I did during the morning, in a search for some lingering Pygmy Nuthatches. 

How do you even code a bird that's new to a checklist? Do you call it a Code 6? Numbers aside, that's the story behind these birds - new to the county checklist from the previous year and seen off and on since. They vocalize occasionally, but they have been most easily found with the aid of some playback. 

Sharp-shinned Hawk

As we walked, we stopped for a snag that looked like a Merlin. . . but was just a snag. This reminded me that, in general, I should be keeping my eyes more open for raptors. I turned and scanned the treetops around us and found a Sharp-shinned Hawk (97)! In a year like this, I can say based on last year, getting to December with accipiters on your needs list is kind of frustrating. How do you find them? Bird a lot. Pay attention. They are less likely to be at That One Spot. They're just everywhere - pay attention! So, this was a nice addition. 

Purple Finch. . .goodness. I'm usually so content to wait for these guys to start singing. I *love* Purple Finch songs! But Steve picked them out, making a semi-soft jip jip sound. Plus one yay. (98). This is a call that I *have* heard before from Purple Finches, but it's definitely been a while, so it was almost like getting a new call in my earpertoire. I think what has worn on me since is that I had a single Red Crossbill (weird) in January (weird) at Kah Tai Lagoon (weird) up at the top of a tree (typically inconvenient) making. . . jip. . . jip calls. Were they hard enough to go with the weird call over maybe-I-had-just-heard a Purple Finch? Unless there's a definitive yes here, Occam's Razor needs to shave a bird off of my list (97). 

We did eventually get a call from a Pygmy Nuthatch (98!). Not a peep peep peep call as we were listening for, but a high trill that stopped us in our tracks. We pulled up recordings of Pygmy Nuthatch and happily confirmed the call. We tried to pull the bird in but had no success. Success with these birds was still usually just a peek-a-boo view of them at the top of a conifer, at best, so I didn't feel incredibly let-down. I later picked up one of the other calls that they make - a call with a little bit of harsh chatter. For a heard-only bird, not bad. 

I learned a lot from Steve during the stroll - he's an excellent birder and has gotten to know the county quite well since moving here a few years back. I thanked him for the time but had to make an exit. I was still hoping to do some birding in Kitsap before catching a ferry back to pick my daughter up from school. 

Some birding in Kitsap

"West Kingston Wetland (roadside birding only)" is the name of this hotspot on eBird. Nothing about, "you may almost die". It's such a tiny shoulder. There's plenty of traffic, and they're moving pretty fast. At one point, it was clear enough, so I opened up my rear door, grabbed my camera, and closed the door. That activity, even at a hustle, was enough time for a car to appear on the road, almost clip my door, and blare on the horn. 

But hey. . . it's a hopping hotspot in Kitsap, and one that doesn't include the tag "restricted access", so I was going to give it a look. 

Trumpeter Swans (65 for the Kitsap year). Great bird, but was there a Kestrel down there perhaps? Did I want to die looking? Nope! I swung through Port Orchard, did some light birding on the waterfront, and then just got antsy about catching the ferry. Off to Southworth, and I got on a boat that left ten minutes later. Good deal. From the Ferry, I was able to see Common Murres (66) flying off towards Blake Island. Not a tough bird to find, but welcome nonetheless!

And with that, I slipped back into King County. Plotting and planning for a good March trip. I'll have to decide if the light touch I've been using on Kitsap County is going to be enough. It's starting to feel like March may be a good time to spend a longer day there, looking in South/Southwest part of the county for a few of the toughies (Canada Jay, Western Bluebird, Sooty Grouse, Ruffed Grouse, Mountain Quail. . . ). A trip to Point no Point might be nice as well. March often means that the seabirds are starting to put on their breeding plumage, making some of them (Eared Grebes. . . ) easier to tell apart from their more common cousins (Horned Grebes). 

We shall see!