July 25th - Shorebirds to Spotties

My last post recorded my efforts from a day in late June. Nearly a month ago, and I just now got it posted! That very day was also the day that a pretty large writing project began for me. It's on the tail end now, and I was able to breathe enough to get out of town. The backpacking trip I'd planned in June could finally happen a month later. 

"Didn't you already make a trip to (destination redacted)?" my daughter asked as I drove her to work that morning. I had cancelled these plans in June because the weather had not cooperated. And I always do let her know where I'm headed, "so that they know where to send the search team". I didn't always do that, but my late father always insisted that it was foolish not to let people know where you're going. 

Spotted Owl Sightings -
blurred to large areas on eBird 

So. . . yes. I did tell one person where I was going to look for Spotted Owls. This is a "you don't talk about fight club" situation, but I think my daughter is unlikely to go on a hunt for them. 

The Northern Spotted Owl is an endangered species in our state. It has been here for as long as people can remember, but the numbers have dropped drastically in the last century. Harvesting of the old-growth trees that support their ecosystems, and the invasion of Barred Owls from the east coast have led to this decline. It's a bit of a mess, and people are doing what they can. 

Part of this has included "thinning" of Barred Owl populations near nest sites. Barred Owls outcompete Spotties in most habitat and have even been hybridizing with Spotted Owls. Another piece of it is careful monitoring of nest sites, including ones that have not been used in years. And another important piece is the first rule about fight club - you don't talk about fight club!

Not sharing information about nest sites of endangered species is implied in the code of birding ethics. And. . . I know. If that information is never shared, how does anyone know where they are? But of course, without the rule, the Birding Tour Bus would be rolling up for pictures, (my daughter called them "The Spotparazzi". . . this makes me smile.) and possibly using calls and playback to catch a glimpse of them. Ebird sums this up by saying of limited species that they are hidden to avoid "targeted disturbance of nests, roosts, or individual birds from birdwatchers or photographers." 

But with some research and breadcrumb hunting, I felt like I had a good guess at a spot where they might be hanging around, and hopefully hooting. And I figured, hey, if I'm wrong, I'm going on a beautiful backpacking trip. Nothing to lose, and one of the benefits of birding with a sense of humor, I suppose. It's perhaps one of the most important things that separates hell-bent from gung ho!

Shorebirds - the getting-there edition

My needs alerts were pretty well lit up with shorebirds for Jefferson and Kitsap Counties. On the upside, there are all of these opportunities to find new birds for the year. On the downside, I always feel like an idiot looking at shorebirds. If a person is diligent, studies the field marks, and gets out in the field a lot with shorebirds, it gets *easier* but never easy. 

My plan was to get up to Peninsula no Peninsula and investigate Foulweather Bluff, and maybe Point no Point. But on my way, I stopped at a very familiar spot - Sinclair Inlet at Gorst. This spot has been pretty productive for me over the course of the year. I knew there were extensive mudflats at times, so why not? I had seen nearly no eBird reports from the spot, so I wasn't sure what to expect. 

The first stop was the upper viewing spot off of the highway. No shorebirds could be seen from here, but I did get some nice views of some dumpy Band-tailed Pigeons. 

Meandering though the labyrinth of cars and construction, I got to the parking area, and walked down for a closer view of the mudflats. Bingo!

Least Sandpiper - yellow legs, delicate bill, just kinda brown on top, and white below!
The most common tiny shorebird in these parts

Western Sandpipers - Front and Right. Black legs, longer down-turned bills, more lightly colored overall, with bits of orange (or as birders call it, "rufous") especially in lines on 
the back - making a bit of a V of orange on some pipers in the right view.
Slightly bigger than Least, but not always easy to tell. Bills vary quite a bit too!

 

Shorebird quiz!
And if you're relying on me to learn about shorebirds... oh dear.

Least and Western Sandpipers - species 135 and 136 for my Kitsap year list. Oddly enough, they were also life birds for me in the county. Clearly, I'd just never been here during shorebird season! I spent a lot of time on some of them, slowly remembering what a Baird's Sandpiper does not look like. I feel like I don't fully remember this information until I see my first Baird's of the fall. Then they stick out like sore thumbs! But until then, it's squinting and head-scratching.

Quite likely a Woodland Skipper! Only recently grouped with the butterflies.
Skippers used to have their own superfamily alongside moths and butterflies 
in Lepidopterae. First one I've really seen, bringing my butterfly 
life list to .... lol probably less than ten still.

As I squinted and scratched, I added another bird - Red Crossbill (137). A dozen of them zipped from tree to tree during most of my stay, always out of sight, but giving off distinctive, flat "chip chip chip"s. Once I felt like I'd seen what there was to see, I thought it over. Did I really need to head all the way up to Foulweather? Or should I just move on to Jefferson County for more shorebirding? The latter plan won out. I packed up my optics, got in the car, and made a beeline for Oak Bay. 

Yes - and a Greater Yellowlegs

Oak Bay County Park

Fun stop! I first looked over the pile of gulls that roosts on the little bar in the lagoon. Caspian Terns and California Gulls. "Darn. Guess I'll get a Ring-billed Gull eventually though." I told the gull in the stream below me. 

The gull nodded in understanding.

I nodded. 

The gull's eyes went wide. 

I went for my camera. 

It flew. 

So, no pictures of that mega-rare Ring-billed Gull (176 for the year - as I switch to the Jefferson County list), but I'll get them. I'll get them. . . \

Gulls and Terns

On to the shorebirds. I found a path leading out towards the north end of the park. I followed it and got to a stream separating it from the rest of the gravel/mud. I stared at it, looking for the shallowest part. Nope. The narrowest part. Nope, but only because I couldn't imagine any reasonable effort at a long jump whilst carrying my scope and camera. I found a piece of driftwood and tried placing it halfway across the narrowest part of the small stream. Perfect! Then it floated away.

In retrospect, I can imagine my boots waving from the car, watching all of these efforts and just trying to get my attention. I did eventually come to the ohyeahboots realization, put them on, and explored the farther reaches of the park. A Lesser Yellowlegs was not a new bird for me, but it was still a nice surprise. There were plenty of Least and Western Sandpipers to pick through as well. 

And folks, I'm bad at shorebirds. To be fair, shorebirds are also bad at being identified. As with any inconveniences in life, one always hopes that the true culprits are making efforts to reduce their impact. I'm not convinced that shorebirds are 100 percent behind this effort. But in amongst the obviouslyleast sandpipers, and obviouslywestern sandpipers was this chonky bird. 

CHONK!

And I've been fooled before, so I should know better. Some "Least" Sandpipers apparently put on a lot of weight. This one seemed big enough in my head, and had a well-defined breast, so I really considered that it might be a Pectoral Sandpiper. 

A lesson in chonkometry.
I'd been told that this was not a Pectoral Sandpiper. I agree. 
One reason: "A Pectoral Sandpiper is twice as big as a Least"
This Least is closer....and it's got to turn full sideways to equal
the chonkiness of the bird behind it. 

I've stepped away from that idea. The field mark pointed out to me was the dark ear spot on the bird, which is something that Least Sandpipers have, but Pectoral Sandpipers do not. So, that aside, can we stop and appreciate the efforts this bird has made to make sure it has the energy to get back to wintering grounds? It may not have the strength to fly now, but its heart was in the right place!

The back bird has an ear spot, and not a well-defined light eyebrow. 
So. . . not a Pectoral. 
But, please. . . can we take a moment to appreciate the mass of this bird. 
Late July, so it can't even use the excuse of "it was cold! My feathers were fluffed!"
Red beans and rice did not miss this bird. 
I defend my statement: Shorebirds are very bad at being identified :D

Fort Flagler

I took the road up to Flagler, stopping in the Nordland Store for the first time. Folks, stop at the Nordland Store. To be fair, I was feeling frugal on this trip, so I only grabbed the things I needed - a pair of large water bottles to supplement what I already had for my backpacking. But the shelves had so many products from local farmers, wineries, jammeries, honey..eries? Lots of locals. I'll be back!

I've had Elevated Ice Cream in Port Townsend - thumbs up. 
Fiddlehead is vegan. I don't eat ice cream without meat, so 
I'll have to have Kevin review them eventually

The park itself was not productive bird-wise. Two Greater Yellowlegs, some distant gulls, and a few flyby Rhinoceros Auklets. I got another good walk in, at any rate!

Unfortunately not countable - but vegan alternatives to some popular cereals

Then...

I went backpacking on the Olympic Peninsula, in Jefferson County. There was a lot of driving, or not much and a lot of walking, or not much. I ate at some point. I set up a tent. I'd love to add more details, but that's gotta be it, I suppose. Because fight club. 

But sometime around 9 PM, I heard a Barred Owl. "Who cooks for you?" Bummer, but not completely unexpected. About 15 minutes later, I heard a Spotted Owl. Slightly higher pitched than a Barred, and honestly sounding like Christopher Walken briefly possessed a Barred Owl. "Who. . . cooks for. . . you??" On a slightly higher pitch. 

177!

The moon from a place

No pics, no efforts to get closer to the bird, to shine a spotlight on it, to call it in or use playback. Just sitting under an overcast sky in a fresh change of clothes and smiling. I tried to get recordings, but I can barely make out owl sounds in the recordings I got. I ebirded the evening as "Jefferson County", so I think it's all been flagged, and the report isn't even publicly visible as a marker for any of those birds. So, I think I've left this free of breadcrumbs. I even cautioned breadcrumb distributors, ("Hey! You left some breadcrumbs here!") so with any luck I've done better than breadcrumb neutral. Those may still be sitting around, but maybe they've been picked up. Anything past neutral is out of my hands.

With any luck, this is set up for any bad actors, any members of the Spotparazzi, to just get lost in the woods (not a bad end, from my experience). There will certainly still be the slow leak of information out there in the years to come. From the members of fight club - to people that seem trusty - to people who really seem like they'd enjoy the birds - to friends. 

If none of that information leaks from me to you, it's honestly not because I don't trust you, that I don't think you'd enjoy the birds, or that we're not outstanding friends. Just. . . as soon as you're telling some people and not others, (rather than everyone or nobody), it takes on such a strange feel. I'm actually one of those people that thinks everyone has good intentions, so it really isn't personal.

Actually - lies. I did tell: The Department of Fish and Wildlife; and my kids, again so that they'd know where to look for the body if I didn't return. :D