Late April, Early May - A Couple of Quick Passes

April 30th - Short's Farm

I don't generally chase birds. It's not part of the schtick. Birding isn't a quick adrenaline fix for me - hopping into a car and speeding off to see some rarity. Or in the case of this county birding business, it's not about hopping into the car and speeding off to see a couple of code 4 birds. 

But. . . I mean. . . six??

Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Western Kingbird, Sandhill Crane, Solitary Sandpiper, and Green Heron. 

And maybe. . . maaaybe, I'd pass if all of these birds were spread to the four corners of a county, required an extra-long drive/hike etc etc. But all six birds were sitting at one easy location - Short's Family Farm in Jefferson County. So, on April 30th, I bent my no-chase policy and made a run over. 

It's hard to wrap my brain around this day. I've got over three thousand eBird lists. An extremely modest number relative to many avid birders, but still - far too many for me to sort through to check this statement: This might be the most birds I've ever entered on a single checklist. I've had bigger days, including some 100 species days in counties, but never something quite like this in one location. 64 species.

Going in with a year list of 137, I figured some of these rarities, migrants, and new arrivals would give me a little bump towards 200.   

Time has passed since this trip, so I thought I'd break form, and just list the 64 species, and talk about them this way instead of the normal chronology. There are lots of ways to tell a story, right? 

1. Cackling Goose (Code 3) 
2. Canada Goose. Center Road runs North/South. There's a little road that runs down from Center Road, passing over a little bridge, and across to the far side of the fields. I'm just going to call this "The Main Road" for ease. These geese were on the North side of the main road, together at first, but later splitting up, with the Cacklers heading off to the little pond on the west end of the Main Road. Most of the area is plain-old flooded fields, but this pond seems to be more of a permanent feature. 

   

   "Main Road Pond"

   
   
3. Wood Duck. The other entrance, South of the one mentioned above, with a little room to park near a gate, allows views of the South end of the fields, with an option to walk along the East border to the South end of the property. This is where I found a single of this species. 
4. Cinnamon Teal. (Code 4, bird 138 for the year) Main Road, east end, south of the road. A breeding plumage male. It was alongside some Mallards and Northern Pintails. I'm often on the lookout for blue bills as I look for teal, and the female pintails often cause me to double-take! Of note. . . I missed Blue-winged Teal, despite them being seen that very day. Oof, but. .  that's part of why we enjoy this whole thing. It requires persistence, planning, connections with people to find out about birds. . .They were down at "The Quarry Pond" - water viewed from a north-south road that intersects the main road. I'll call it the Quarry Road. 
   
   
   
5. Northern Shoveler. 40 or so of them. This is why they're tough in places like Skamania at this time of year. They're all at this farm. 
6. Gadwall. 3 of them. Not a bird that I take for granted in this county. All seen along the Main Road. 
7. American Wigeon. Still a good few hanging around. A Eurasian had also been seen, but I didn't notice one, and didn't look too hard for it. Part of the dirty habits of year listing. I stop paying attention to birds if they're already on the list. I need to remedy that, honestly. 
8. Mallards
9. Northern Pintails - both noted above. 
10. Green-winged Teals. Far north end. Scoped. Yes, I have an actual tripod now, so it's not just propping the scope up on my car window!
11. Ring-necked Duck. Most on the northwest Main Road pond mentioned above, along with some. . .
12. Hooded Mergansers.
13. Eurasian Collared-Dove. Strangely, no Mourning Doves (a species I found on a subsequent trip here in large numbers. At the barn at the intersection of Main Road and Quarry Road. This is now the Quarry Barn.
    
    
    
14. Virginia Rail
15. Sora (Code 3). Rails and Soras were so vocal throughout the day. A couple other birders were in this space, and one got some great photos of some Soras. At least 4 of these. 
16. American Coot. A single at the northwest Main Road Pond.
17. Killdeer. lol
18. Wilson's Snipe. Actually on the edges of the flooded fields by the Quarry Barn. I got to hear them winnowing, and even recorded it. . . on my now-defunct flip phone. It bit the silicon dust after this trip, sadly. I had been excited to upload the sounds, which I rarely get to hear. 
19. Solitary Sandpiper (Code 4, bird 139). Quarry Barn flooded fields. This little fella (maybe?) was tucked in along the fence line, and it took a good bit of time just watching it to get all of the field marks needed. Nice comparisons to Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, which, let's be honest, were also fortunately giving nice comparisons to each other! 
20. Lesser Yellowlegs (bird 140) 
21. Greater Yellowlegs
22. Dunlin. Gorgeous! North of the Main Road with some Least and Western Sandpipers, sporting black bellies in breeding plumage. 
23. Least Sandpipers (141). Over 100 of them in multiple flocks across the extent of the farm. 
24. Western Sandpipers (142) Along the Main Road. All visual, so "Seen-only", which is an expression you don't see much on checklists! I'd rather hear their strained call for comparisons to Least Sandpipers. My ears are much better than my eyes in this case!
25. Great Blue Heron - a few scattered around the fields
26. Bald Eagle. Somehow the only raptor that I found on a day with 64 species at a farm field. Crazy.
27. Belted Kingfisher - at the northwest Main Road Pond.
28. Red-breasted Sapsucker. This - not Flicker? - as the only woodpecker?
29. Western Flycatcher. (143) - from the South Entrance, calling from across Center Road
30. Western Kingbird. (Code 4, 144)  Apparently it had been seen from the Quarry Road before, but I found one on the west end of the Main Road.
    
    
    
31. Hutton's Vireo - Calling from the bit of woods at the end of the Main Road. Main Road Forest, I suppose.
32. Steller's Jay. Distant calls.
33. Common Raven. Flyover.
34. Black-capped Chickadee. South Entrance walk.
35. Tree Swallow. A few mixed in.
36. Violet-green Swallow. So many.
37. Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Heard and seen, but. . . folks, I have to share. On one of these trips, I found myself in the Silverdale Buffalo Wild Wings at the end of the day. Someone went to clean the table next to me, pulling out a spray bottle of cleaning solution. Squirt squirt squirt squirt squirt. My brain exploded as I realized that this is the sound that these Swallows are almost certainly imitating. I am going to admit, I just spent 15 minutes trying to find this sound online, and I just couldn't find it in that time. Dear Reader, I just spent 15 minutes negotiating... so many ASMR spray bottle videos. And for nothing. But look: just go to Silverdale, and the sound is there. Most spray bottles just give that spritzy sound, but others are 100 percent the sound of a Northern Rough-winged Swallow.
38. Barn Swallow (many)
39. Cliff Swallow (bird 145 for the year, giving nice views of the orange rump patch)
40. Bushtit. Heard on the south entrance walk.
41. Red-breasted Nuthatch. South entrance walk.
42. House Wren: Both at the South entrance walk and in the Main Road Forest. The latter was persistent and loud!
43. Marsh Wren. I can't remember not hearing them.
44. European Starling. Most notably at the South entrance walk
45. American Robin. Yep.
46. American Pipit: (146) Distantly seen on fields at the South entrance walk. Undistantly seen on the flooded fields by the Quarry Barn.
47. House Finch. Reliable in the brambles at the start of the Main Road.
48. Purple Finch. Singing in the Main Road Forest.
49. Pine Siskin: Main Road Forest
50. American Goldfinch: Main Road Forest (finchy place!)
51. Dark-eyed Junco: Brambles at the west end of Main Road, also on the South Entrance walk. 
52. White-crowned Sparrow. lol
53. Golden-crowned Sparrow. Brambles at the west end of Main Road. This was a very sparrowy spot, including Spotted Towhee, Song and Lincoln's Sparrows as well. 
54. Savannah Sparrow. Densest along Quarry Road. Out in the road pecking at the ground. 

    

    Savannah Sparrow - One that happened to come in close and sit still.
    90 percent of my photos are not this sharp, and I've rightfully been asked before
    "Did you take the photo from space?" :D
    Still surprised to see a 1-star rating for the photo on eBird
    
    "1 Star: Very poor quality. Very low resolution or very poor focus; bird may be very small or obscured in the frame or have extremely bad exposure. In general, should only be uploaded as record shots, if still identifiable"
    
    If you use eBird, take some time to read through the ratings descriptions! 
    Good opportunities to contribute to the citizen science end of things from your armchair. 

    
    
55. Song Sparrow.
56. Lincoln's Sparrow. Code 3.
57. Spotted Towhee.
58. Red-winged Blackbird. Many
59. Brown-headed Cowbird. (147) Quarry Barn flooded fields. Nice views on the ground. This area also had a ton of Yellow-rumped Warblers on the ground and in the trees. I don't have the data on how many of them it takes to make a ton, but. . . yep.
60. Brewer's Blackbird. Quarry Barn flooded fields.
61. Orange-crowned Warbler. South entrance walk and Main Road Forest - also Wilson's in these areas.
62. Common Yellowthroat. Main Road
63. Yellow-rumped Warbler. Including some Myrtle.
    
    
    
64.  Wilson's Warbler (148) 

May 4th - Mason??, Jefferson, Kitsap

My friend Kevin was free to bird in the morning, and we used it to hunt down some birds in Mason and Jefferson Counties. 

Nipplewort - one of about a dozen 
different native plants that 
distracted us over the course of 
the morning. 

Mason county had been the first subject of a single county blog for me. Kevin had joined me on one trip during that year, and in the ten or so years that followed, he added some birds in bits and spurts, putting his life list at 71. Jefferson was one of his lower county totals on the west side of the state, at 50. Jefferson, I figure, is a bit more of a drive from. . . well from nearly anywhere, unless you're actually ON the peninsula! And a lot of birders, once on the Olympic Peninsula, find it hard to resist the siren song of Clallam County (which almost always seems to have a few rare birds mucking around). 

So, we met at Kennedy Creek and got started. Following my usual form, once I was birding with someone else, I kind of forgot that I had a camera, and just talked and birded, birded and talked. This naturally led to a moment when I realized that this forgetting had extended to actually leaving it at Kennedy Creek, somewhere on the ground, as we drove around to some other nearby stops. Long story short - there's not going to be many pics in this segment!

I'd looked over Kevin's lists earlier in the week, and ebirded the heck out of his needs lists, coming up with a few stops to knock out as many birds as possible. After birding the estuary and the road that runs south from it (and dead ends after a couple feet in Grays Harbor County), we headed to George Adams Fish Hatchery to get an American Dipper, ultimately running him up to 90 species for The Mason before we headed into Jefferson. 

In Jefferson, we made our first stop at Dosewallips State Park. I'd been here in April and picked up a lot of new year birds but was definitely expecting a few more. 

As the map shows, we spent our time on the canal side of the highway, rather than in the campground area. There were swallows (Northern Rough-winged, Barn, Violet-green, and Cliff) and warblers (Orange-crowned and Wilson's, as well as Common Yellowthroat) aplenty. 

Three birds added to my year list - Western Tanager (149), Warbling Vireo (150), and White-winged Scoter (151). The latter were a nice surprise! Not rare birds, but ones that I thought I might not see until the fall. 

A couple of photos courtesy of Kevin: 

"I am Northern Rough-winged Swallow
I am a motivational speaker
I am 35 years old
I live on a steady diet of government cheese, and I live...
on a plant...
down by the river!!

 

Rufous Hummingbird with extra sprinkles

From there, we hit Spencer Creek Road, a spot I have really come to enjoy, even when there aren't a lot of the birds I imagine could be there (still waiting for bluebirds and solitaires!). On a clear day, the views are stunning, both of the Cascades, and of Hood Canal. The new bird on this stop was MacGillivray's Warbler (152 for the year). This is one that surprises me at a code 3, as I think I have been able to find them in previous years just looking around in expected habitat. Regardless, it was nice to hear their fun songs on the hillsides above Hood Canal. 

Band-tailed Pigeon - Spencer Creek Road

And then it was off to Short Farm. Kevin had limited time for the morning, so we did a focused run along the Main Road. I looked for the Blue-winged Teal again on the Quarry Road Pond, while Kevin made a quick run up to the Main Road Forest to get the House Wren that has been hanging around there. I added Black-headed Grosbeak (153) but dipped on other birds. Kevin had started the day with 50 species in Jefferson and had finished with 96! I still wonder what we might have done with a full day, but it was still nice to get a good morning of birding in with him. 

I made a quick stop at Shine Tidelands (Yellow Warbler - 154), and then drove directly to Silverdale to hit the Clear Creek Trail network. 

I was pretty happy with the first little loop. Especially with how I didn't get lost. I went out. I came back. The stretch shown in blue on the map begins in some open habitat (including a marshy area, where I picked up Wood Ducks - bird 105 for my Kitsap year. The goal for Kitsap for the year is 150 birds, so this is a pretty good start!

American Goldfinches (106), Pine Siskins, and Purple Finches dominated the first part of the walk. Golden- and White-crowned Sparrows were next up before the trail ducked into deeper cover. 

I'll admit. . . it was pretty loud. The traffic noise from 303 (Waaga Way) was persistent and problematic. I tried to compare it, in my head, to traffic noise at Renton Park, near my home. But it was just worse. I tried to enjoy this walk, where there have been a lot of species seen and heard over the years. But for someone that really enjoys hearing birds every bit as much as seeing them, it wasn't my favorite birding walk. 

Trillium

Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers were pretty common, and I also picked up my first Western Flycatchers (107) and Black-throated Gray (108) and Wilson's Warblers (109). I returned to Silverdale Way and started on a walk to the other side. 

I don't have an app on the ol' flip phone that officially tells me where I've been, but those lines are 100 percent accurate. Along the way, I caught more swallows, including my first Cliff Swallows for the year (110). Rufous Hummingbirds (111) were seen and heard at a few points along the way as well. The trail ducked into some covered bits, and I got very close (and brief) views of Black-headed Grosbeak (112), Yellow Warbler (113), and Warbling Vireo (114).

It hadn't really sunk in that the traffic noise was now from Highway 3. I got kind of a continuum of it. And at one point, in my head, the only thing I did was stop, and return in the direction I had come. But then things didn't look familiar, and then I was no longer on the trails. 

Indian Plum

And then I stopped a pedestrian on one of the streets, just to confirm that I was going in the exact right direction to get back to my car. Hooboy. Good thing I asked! I returned down trails that I also had not been on, eventually returning to areas that *did* look familiar. 

And to the car. Ten species to the positive! This despite a pretty noise-polluted environment. The habitat is great, and the birds are there! 

And despite all of this. . . I sit here on the 13th of May, staring at 42 species on my Year Needs Alerts on eBird, and 54 of them in Kitsap. To be fair, some of those birds just aren't options. Some in Jefferson came from a repositioning cruise (including numerous birds that'd be life birds for this pelagic-less guy), and many of the Kitsap ones are behind the various gates (permits, private property, personal connections) that regularly keep most birders from accessing them. But still, it's funny to see that these are basically numbers that could all but finish my year goals! 

But, it has to wait! The other Needs Alerts in my life will keep me in Renton most days. Needs like "You need to spend a little less on gas this month" and "You need to get her to late start at school". The latter is an anchor that lightens my heart every day, and that bird is leaving the nest soon.