November 1st - Finally, Bainbridge Island

So close, and yet

Almost 16 miles, as the Common Raven flies

Bainbridge Island is spitting distance from King County. Maybe a little more than that, but not much. Birds seen in King County, from Alki, or Discovery Park, often drift far enough away to call them Kitsap County birds. Birds seen from Restoration Point in Kitsap do the same, drifting over into King County, while remaining visible.  

Having spent a few decades in Renton, however, the trip to Bainbridge often seemed like a chore for something so close. I'd either negotiate the drive up into Seattle, and through downtown to get to the ferry, or drive almost an hour and a half going through Tacoma. 

Many other places in Kitsap County are more appealing (like Peninsula no Peninsula) or closer (the entire southern half of the county). So, I'd just comically tried to see how much I could see for the year without stopping on Bainbridge. The gap in geography finally got to me. I cooked up a list of birds I might be able to find - maybe more easily from other spots, but still possible on Bainbridge. 

Getting out the door proved to be a challenge. I thought I had the day completely in the clear, but some review work in the morning had me tied up, and a client pushed for a video call to go over some of the work our writers had done. I made plans to head over to Bainbridge with a video call at lunch. I packed up and left for Seattle. 10 minutes up the road, I was cursing in my car, as I'd left my backpack, including the laptop, back at home. 

And it's easy to let inconvenience paint one's mood, but with some work, I decided to let it go. I eventually got what I needed, catching the ferry to Bainbridge with nearly no wait. 

I enjoyed making this trip. I don't think I'd done this in years, at least while paying any attention to the geography around me. It was fun to really see Elliot Bay as a bay, Alki Point coming closer and closer before the ferry finally pushed out into the open sound. I overheard a group of three women talking about orcas, and asked for clarification - one of them was a member of an orca alert text group, and there had been chat about a large pod making its way into this part of Puget Sound. Subsequent reports had them moving south, but it was briefly exciting to imagine coming across a pod of orcas!

Schmid Waterfront Trail

I'd looked over potential spots to stop, and honestly may have been confused on this point, but it worked out in the end. This trail is a platform 9 3/4 situation - very easy to miss, and. . . I'm 90 percent sure that I used it correctly, but there *is* that pesky 10 percent. I followed signs on the street, and it eventually led me to a private drive. The drive itself seemed to clearly note that turning around in it was unwelcome. I couldn't see how to park without doing this. And just outside of the drive was a little parking spot. I still had a little doubt about the propriety of parking in this little spot, but of the options I have, it seemed best. 

The trail itself was an interesting mix of accessibility. The trail had become a bit soggy from the rain, but there were planks on the trail allowing me to keep my toes dry. Twice along the trail to the beach, fallen trees/low branches forced me to duck pretty low to get through. This eventually opened up into a view of Eagle Harbor. 

I had some hopes of adding a few different birds to my year list here - Spotted Sandpiper and American Coot felt like the best bets. I scoped out to the east and found a raft of American Wigeons, including one Eurasian Wigeon in the mix. 

I'd honestly been looking for an American Coot, but that report had come from a similarly secret little path one harbor south - Blakely, not Eagle. But I still enjoyed this stop. It added to debunking a myth I'd developed over time regarding Kitsap County - that it was nothing but hundreds of miles of inaccessible shoreline. Now. . . I'm sure it's got those hundreds of miles! But this overlooks how many spots, large and small, are available for birding the county. 

On my walk back to the car, I was. . . in this person's driveway? At the trailhead? This becomes nebulous. But I heard a call that grabbed my attention. I put my scope back in the car and investigated the sparrows in the brush and came across a White-throated Sparrow! 153 for the year, and a nice surprise. They pop up nearly everywhere, to be clear, but so often at feeders, which are not always publicly viewable. Fun find. 

Pegasus Coffee House

Image from the Pegasus
Coffee site

I meandered through the streets of Winslow, looking for an inviting place to plug in for my meeting. It was interesting to take in some of the signs. "Hot Yoga", "The birthplace of pickleball", "Paint and Sip". One did not have to look far at any moment for little signs of the affluence of the community. I can't put my finger on why I chose those three signs, but somehow, it fits. Bainbridge does have a slight reputation for affluence - much like Queen Anne or Mercer Island, but a boat ride away from Seattle. 

I eventually landed at the Pegasus Coffee House. I secured a plug in (not always a given!) and was warned of spotty internet (it held up just fine), then got to work. Freelancing has been entirely remote work, and it's been nice when it provides this kind of flexibility. Sure, in a sense, no day is ever a day "off", as there's nearly always work to be done. But where and when that work takes place is flexible enough to allow for days like this. It was a little loud for a video call, once that got started. . . not perfect, but not unworkable. 

I finished off my breakfast sandwich and coffee and set off for Blakely Harbor. 

Blakely Harbor

This was a nice little stop. It was one where I hoped to catch the aforementioned American Coots. There are better places to find them in Kitsap, but that was part of the fun of the morning. Narrowing the geography of the search to Bainbridge forced me to get creative. A quick search of the googles tells me that this idea is called "creative limitation". Maybe my generation learned to love creative limitation through MacGyver. I've enjoyed it in so many forms since, from cooking shows ("The secret ingredient is cumin!", "You and your team will be catering a dinner for 40 using only an EZ bake oven!") to freestyle rap. It's part of the basic reason for getting into county birding in the first place. It's fun to find the birds that are easier, or a little more challenging in a given place. 

Horned Grebe - not even a hint of an 
upturn to that bill

This walk had easy parking, and a nice short walk to the water. I had a nice spot to pull out the scope and get closer looks at some of the birds. I spent a lot of time on a Horned Grebe in the little . . . man, I don't even know what to call this bit of water. It's the terminus of the harbor but seemed pinched off and separate from the rest of the harbor, I'll rely on description over definition here. My attention to the grebe was not about doubts regarding the identification. It was more a matter of practicing. I'd been flat-footed with an Eared Grebe on a previous trip, and I really wanted to get good views of the bill structure on this lil guy. 

I scanned the shores carefully for any other birds of interest and came up empty. Nothing further out in the harbor seemed to be asking for closer looks - no coots that I could see. So, I packed it up and made my way to the far other corner of the island. 

Fay Bainbridge Park

Up on the northeastern corner of BI, is a park with campsites, trails, and a wide-open bit of waterfront. Here, Western Meadowlarks were the outside-shot birds, although I had other hopes out on the water. One of the first scans of Puget Sound gave me a new year bird for Kitsap - Pacific Loons! (154)

I can't recall seeing such a large group of them together. There may have been a dozen of them, although they bunched up, spread out, dove, surfaced, and made it pretty hard to keep track! Fun to see the grey heads under different lighting take on such different hues. 

A single Common Loon - by far the loon I encounter most frequently - swam closer to shore. Some Red-necked Grebes were swimming in close, avoiding the fishing boats off the shore, and I even got a flyby from some alcids. Not a great shot, but in the end, I think I had Common Murres. Larger, slower alcids, and a few different field marks that fit their winter plumage. 

Satisfied that the shore likely had no more new birds for me, I went looking for a Peregrine Falcon. 

Agate Pass

The bit of water separating Bainbridge from the rest of Kitsap Peninsula is Agate Pass. Peregrine Falcons have been seen in this area off and on for quite a few years, from the bridge to some of the artificial structures around the Clearwater Casino. I took a little road on the Bainbridge Side that circled underneath the bridge, letting me scan the structures carefully. In Renton, a Peregrine hangs out near the south end of Lake Washington, so I had a pretty good feel for the kinds of perches they prefer. And then, as I finally dropped my binoculars, I spied the Peregrine on a tree branch! Unusual, in my experience, to catch them going au naturel when perfectly fine bridge trusses are available for perching. I don't know if it saw me going for my camera, but it flew south behind the trees and out of sight. (155!)

Jefferson County

Cooper's Hawk - Hicks Park

Once I left Bainbridge, I continued to the Hood Canal Bridge, then to Shine Road, then to Hicks Park. All year, I'd never been to this little spot, overlooking Squamish Harbor. But folks had been seeing a Franklin's Gull here for a week or so, and I had to give it a try. 

Cooper's Hawks were active in the area during my stay. One prominently perched along the road as I arrived, and another calling noisily later. Both were seen in flight at one point. 

Out on the water, the highlight was easily loonapalooza - 60 or more Common Loons (along with a Red-throated, and a few Pacifics) out in the Harbor. I don't recall seeing such huge congregations of these birds before today - maybe a seasonal occurrence? I also had an interesting call coming from East of the edge of the park. To my ear, it sounded like a Black Phoebe, but I never did see the bird. It's close enough to a Swamp Sparrow call (even more unlikely here, I'd think) or even close enough to some calls made by Golden-crowned Sparrows (more likely, even if it didn't seem to be a great fit). For a bird I didn't see, and one that had only been seen in the county for the first time last year, I decided to let this one go. 

I saw no signs of very few gulls, and certainly no strong candidates for a Franklin's Gull, so I hung it up and continued towards Chimacum. 

Another interesting post I'd seen was for some Snow Geese (191) at Short Farm. Kind of a drive-by situation is what had been advertised, and that was exactly what I got. A handful of birds in the fields with some Canadas. I pulled off of the road, got a poor picture, and got back on the road before slowing any traffic down. 

And then. . . the Port Townsend Inn. Finally, back to winter rates, and not on a festival weekend. My wallet appreciated this. I polished off some of the cheese and bread I'd packed and made it a relatively early night. Not a lot of new birds for the day, but such is November in these years!