October 17th - Jefferson Half-day

Picture from a viewpoint along the Mount Walker Road
Courtesy of my copilot for the day, Maggie

Needs alerts

A sliver of my post-trip needs alerts

Kind of an uninteresting place to start, but it defined some of the planning for this trip. I had been birding Jefferson County with . . . near alarming frequency in August and September! Following a productive September trip, I passed on some interesting potential chases - Pectoral Sandpiper, American Golden-Plover, Red Knot, Short-tailed Shearwater - I knew they might have been good birds to add, but I needed to add balance to my life by not hopping in the car until October!

On eBird, you can set up alerts, giving you an email anytime a bird is reported that you need for a given list. I have quite a few set up! I get a daily email letting me know of birds reported that I need on my Kitsap Year List, for example. I get an hourly one letting me know of birds reported for my King County Life List. For Jefferson County, I get a daily alert for my year list. 

Day after day, it was giving me Eared Grebe. Not any Eared Grebe, but the same darn Eared Grebe that I'd missed on my last trip. One that was there day after day after day at Kah Tai Lagoon. I kept thinking the dang thing might leave, but there it was. Then. . . a couple of Clark's Grebe sightings here and there out on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I pulled the trigger. 

Morning obligations

Outside of my obligation to take care of laundry, I had reviewing obligations to handle in the morning. For a late-morning-through-afternoon situation, I thought it would be a good time to reach out to Maggie, a new birder to the area that I'd met on a previous trip. The goals of the trip were for me to find this grebe, and for us to get her a Northern Pygmy-Owl. 

Outside of a single year of my life (spent in my "home" state of New Jersey), I have never lived outside of Washington State. Even college was in-state. Maggie, on the other hand, has spent time living in Indiana, Texas, Florida, Oregon. . . so her list of birds-not-seen is considerably shorter than mine, and in the state, the birds with the most real estate on that list are owls. 

Some of this is geography - some species are just not seen in the states listed - but some of it is also a disinclination to be out and about at 4 A.M. Fair enough! But Northern Pygmy Owls are active enough during the day and have been a fairly regular find for me on Mount Walker. So, we agreed on Kah Tai Lagoon, Mount Walker, and a lazy trip back through farmland to try for sparrows, raptors, and maybe a shrike. 

Kah Tai Lagoon

I grabbed a parking spot in the McDonalds lot behind the lagoon. Good time to actually fast forward a bit. At the very end of the day - maybe 7 hours later, I found a note on my car. The spot I'd used was needed for a regular delivery. The McDonalds employee met me outside when I arrived and was almost. . . Canadian about it. Like, they apologized for the note, and they clarified that it was otherwise perfectly fine for someone to leave a car in their parking lot for 7 hours. I found that this kind of an interaction fit the general speed in Port Townsend. 

Maggie arrived, and we set off on our grebe hunt. 

The weather report was mixed for the day - we weren't expecting balmy weather, but it was still surprisingly brisk. Maggie for her part had at least made an attempt to layer in appropriate Pacific Northwest fashion, and I was ribbed a little as I shivered in my two layers - a simple shirt and a rain shell. 

After some scanning we found several Pied-billed Grebes, some American Coots, a trillion American Wigeon (admittedly, failing to scan for the Eurasian that has been continuing here!), and one "other" grebe: 

This is a photo that has been bugging me, and I honestly don't know what to make of this bird situation. I am regretting that I didn't stay for more pictures, but this bird was pretty content to stay at a distance, and it spent much of its time (as grebes do) under the water. But here's the thing. Back in mid-September, people found an Eared Grebe out on Kah Tai Lagoon. There were some great pictures and notes about field marks. And since then, it has been reported almost daily, with no reports of Horned Grebe during that time. 

But this bird in the picture is giving me Horned Grebe vibes. The back is fairly flat, rather than being all bunched/hunched up as you normally see in Eared Grebes. But. . . how variable is that with posture? Could an Eared Grebe strike this pose? Same with the peak of its head. It seems farther back, behind the eye, while Eared Grebes have a peak that is pretty far forward. Gun to my head, I'd call it a Horned Grebe. 

But. . . what? Am I saying that one Eared Grebe was swapped out for exactly one Horned Grebe, and nobody noticed? Like. . . "The Podiceps Trap", coming soon to a lagoon near you! Even though Horned is the more common species, it seems equally far-fetched that the timing would allow for only single sightings of an Eared Grebe with no Horned that entire time. 

Or it's possible that there were two birds here, and they just did a great job of never being visible at the same time. The other pictures of this bird are not great, but I'll leave them here. There are often other field marks that people use with some skill that I'd just miss. I'd love to hear that this bird was an Eared Grebe - it'd be the 191st species for the year! But my sense of humor can weather it if it turns out that it's just a Horned. And I'd be glad that I hadn't just put it in as Eared in eBird, leaving a note like "continuing".

Maggie is about where I am for sorting out these grebes, so at the time, we were both content with the idea that the single bird I'd found out there was the single bird that had been previously reported. She carefully double-checked our species list with me - something that I slack on more and more as the year goes along! Then it was back to the cars to make the run up to Mount Walker. 

Mount Walker

Fries and Diet Coke in hand from the McDonald's, Maggie did the driving here. Three weeks or so from an election, and passing a bazillion yard signs, the conversation naturally drifted to politics. Passing Fat Smitty's at the 101 junction may have been the tipping point for that conversation! The establishment itself is a locally famous burger joint that I still haven't visited this year. They proudly advertise their conservative leanings, via flags and signs. I have heard interesting mixed reports - from people that have been made to feel uncomfortable while there, and others who, despite their orientation/color/political inclinations, have felt nothing but welcomed. 

From takeout-guide.com

I haven't been in, so it's not for me to say at all, and it's definitely a stop I hope to make by year's end. I have a sometimes Pollyanna-ish view of the world and think that people are people. I like it during these years when I can get myself out of my echo chamber and get a chance to at least eavesdrop on conversations happening in the other echo chambers. Given the placement right on the Highway, any birders making runs off to UberHotSpots like Neah Bay have at least passed this place, so I really should get in. It's why I do these years honestly.

That, at least, is part of the running shtick in these blogs. Maggie and I discussed this at length throughout the day. It's. . . a lot of driving, birding, backpacking, kayaking, golf-cart-driving, and apparently squinting at grainy photos of grebes. But why do I do it? There are honestly a lot of answers. There are times where I'll put my tongue in cheek and resoundingly affirm that "I'm not really all that interested in birds." And there's a half-truth in that. Not that I don't have an interest in birds, but that *if* I had no interest in birds, there would still be 11.736 things about every day I spend on the road that would make it worthwhile. 

This conversation would count as one of those things. Maggie shared a lot about her family, her "birding path" (if I want to make us birders sound like a weird cult, which . . . I'll allow, tongue partially in cheek), and the important difference between being gungho and hellbent. As she followed career opportunities to different parts of the country, her bird list grew. At some point, it certainly became a situation where adding to that list could be done through carefully mapped out trips to this place or that place or jumping in the car and chasing a rarity. But her interest in that type of pursuit just isn't there. Gungho, but not hellbent. Same here.

At Mount Walker, we drove the winding dirt road to the top, got out at the North Viewpoint parking area, and looked out at the fog encircling us. 

It wasn't the day we'd expected. Reports seemed to provide a little more hope for clearing. But for an attempt to find Northern Pygmy-Owl, the setting was just fine. The fog was honestly beautiful anyway in this setting. As we walked towards the north/south viewpoint intersection, we were passed by a jogger. Hiker? She evaded classification, as she explained that she'd hiked up and would be just running off and on for the trip down. 

"So, what are you looking for?"

This was another fun little interaction. She actually lived near the foot of the mountain in the outskirts of Quilcene, which got us talking about various roads, and access to places like Devil's Lake. 

"As you go down (I can't remember which) road, there's a sign that says "no access to Devil's Lake". That's how you know it's the right turn." She explained with a wink. This actually brought me back to very early in the year, birding with another local Jefferson County birder. More than once, we walked past some signs that seemed to at least hint that we shouldn't walk past the signs, but. . . sometimes in Jefferson County you do, it seems. Not always! But sometimes. That's not stressful at all for an out-of-town birder, right? 

Douglas Squirrel

As we continued, Maggie mused over how odd it was that people in our state actually want to start conversations, relative to people in the Midwest, who generally keep to themselves. My brain did a little double-take on this, as Seattle is quite famous for its Freeze. But maybe there's a nuanced difference. Perhaps Seattleites (and how far out does this generalization reach?) excel at the elevator talk, but balk at the idea of actually coming over for the potluck. And the midwest may be quite the opposite - cheerful greetings and "howdy"s, but let's keep moving along, and I'll see you at the potluck. Unless you're from outside of this town of 300. And then no.

I'm no expert, but it's fun to try to sort through this stuff. In the spirit of "howdy", I occasionally gave a few Northern Pygmy Owl whistles (happy to see that Merlin on Maggie's phone, at least, was fooled by my efforts). During a silent part of the walk, we got greeted back! A quick trill from one of the little guys, followed by a clear, single toot. 

High fives were had, and we continued to the South Viewpoint. 

"See. . . this is why I do these trips." I said as we looked out on this strange and beautiful view. Above us, dark clouds, and below us was Dabob Bay (and Hood Canal at a distance), the water bright from reflected sun. This, and it was all seen through immaculately clear air. It was almost eerie, being in and under a cloud, and being able to see Seattle better than I'd seen it before from the viewpoint. 

Maggie showed me ocean spray, and I had her taste some late season salal (some of it still delicious), and we returned to the car. 

Jefferson County Farmland

This was a fun part of the trip. It was very undirected. I didn't have much to chase but had an inkling that farmland would at least have some possibilities. Snow Goose, White-throated or Harris's Sparrow, Northern Shrike, Peregrine Falcon, and Rough-legged Hawk were the unlikely suspects that at least tickled my brain as we explored. This included Boulton Farms Road, Uncas Road, West Valley Road, and Egg and I road.

Boulton Farms was the most interesting stop, with plenty of zonotrichia Sparrows to sort through. At the end of the road, we also happened on a field with Canada, Cackling, and Greater white-fronted Geese. My only Greaters for the year had been a heard-only flyover, so I didn't mind adding the visual for this bird. 

Uncas was interesting as always. Not much going on bird-wise, but it was nice to revisit the trees there with a tree geek. Maggie gave me. . . lord, I've forgotten it, but it may have been "Spiky Spruce, Friendly Fir" as a little mnemonic device. There were possibly multiple species of both trees present, as well as multiple species of pine, which got us talking about the needle-counting method for telling them apart (something I'd come across years back in Douglas County).

Such a variety of conifers packed into close quarters

It was easy to trust the Shrike search to the midwest girl with the Loggerhead Shrike tattoo. As we drove, she pointed out perches, and my brain slowly folded this in with places that I've seen them over the years. Only one raptor really grabbed our interest, a Red-tailed Hawk that didn't immediately appear to have the backpack straps as we passed it. 

As interesting as the raptor search got

Day's end

Naturally, we finished off the day at Finnriver Cider. The discount has been a nice draw (I got in at the Crow level for the year - just committing to six bottles a quarter), and they always seem to have something interesting cooking. On this particular day, it was only their own kitchen available for food, rather than the usual pizza, oysters, tacos (they were busy with a catered event). The sun dropped in the sky as we shared some life stories, and we "settled up" the way my old friend Pete and I always did. Just sometimes saying "I'll get this" and letting the other person doing the same when they want to. I always enjoyed birding with Pete for that reason. Accountants may not see the appeal. 

And accounting-wise. . . where am I?? I don't even know. I know I have seen 190 species for the year. I have sent my grebe pictures out so that better eyes and better brains can pore over them (although, they'll likely *hate* having to look at such grainy photos. . . I tried to append my inquiries with sufficient apologies). I. . . I have no idea. I'll be surprised by nearly any comment. Maybe except one, "I can't tell from the pictures." Hopefully, one of the responses will at least tell me something about grebes - not for this bird, but for the next one I'm going to see.  

Follow-up! Good news and bad news on this grebe. I got information that'd make me comfortable, gun to my head, in saying that the bird in the picture is an Eared Grebe. The Jefferson eBird reviewer looked over my pictures and old pictures of the grebe from September and saw a lot that pointed towards it being the same bird. He also pointed out that posture (such as the hunched back or forwardly peaked head) is more variable than people realize. So, basically, the Horned-looking pictures that I'd provided did not rule out Eared at all. Add to this, another birder saw the Eared Grebe just a day or two after my visit.  

So why not count the bird? I have struggled a good bit over this one! The one thing that might have made it possible to go with Eared is apparently bill-shape, which is not shown clearly enough in any of the images. So. . . the only things I have to "count" the bird are based on logic, more than observation and identification. I may have been able to put it in an eBird list and marked it as "continuing". But a running gag in my blogs is that "I don't know what birds look like." It's a little hyperbolic, but it's times like this where I think it rings true enough. I've relied on other marks to identify grebes in the past, and have never really gone to bill-shape, which... if you think about it... is hard for a grebe to change through changes in posture! 

So, I'm letting this one go for now. But I do hope to get back to that bird (please stick around, buddy), and to give it some better looks, try to get better pictures, and do a little studying of field marks in the interim. Everyone's list is their own, so I'm not saying this is the "right" way to do it. Some people may have counted this bird, and not counted, for example, the Lincoln's Sparrow that I discussed in the last post. Throughout, this is just an effort to be transparent, and to discuss that often completely unimportant, but in other ways completely essential question - how do you know what that bird was? 

 

Adding birds at the speed of a wooly bear