April 17th - Fairweather Birding Trip, Day One

Clear skies

Trip prep! Flauta filling

I really do plan on getting out once a month to Jefferson and Kitsap Counties. More than that in a normal month threatens my sense of balance. But my daughter had set off on a band trip, we were in between batches on projects. . . and the weather. Oh goodness. 

I'd been running over to the peninsula in the crummiest weather, time and time again this year. But this window was looking absolutely gorgeous. I had some high hopes for spring birds rolling in and singing their way onto my year list. 

Peninsula no Peninsula

I had considered a clockwise (up Hood Canal, through Port Townsend, into Kitsap) run through the area, or counterclockwise. I did reach out to a Kitsap County birder, who helped make this an easy decision by inviting me to do some birding with him on his property up on. . . yaknow. . . that one peninsula with Point no Point on it? 

This bugged me. I kind of get the geography over here, but I'll still tell people I'm heading to "the Olympic Peninsula" for ease. Kitsap Peninsula still seems like a broad term, as it includes a few peninsulas itself. I knew the name of some of the peninsulas I've been visiting this year, but. . . why not this one? So, I dug a little, and this is as far as I got: 

1. Miller Peninsula - between Sequim Bay, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Discovery Bay.
2. Quimper Peninsula - between Discovery Bay, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Port Townsend. 
3. Toandos Peninsula - reaching out into Hood Canal, and separating Quilcene Bay from the Canal.
4. Tahuya Peninsula - defined completely by Hood Canal as the fjord arcs around it. 
5. Key Peninsula - bordered by numerous named passages and inlets, because of its size, and all of the islands around it - but largely between Carr and Case Inlets, and reaching down into the Nisqually Reach.
6. The Manette Peninsula - including East Bremerton, Tracyton and the like, between Port Orchard on the east and Dyes Inlet on the west. 

But the one with the ??... I couldn't find a thing. So from now on, in this blog, I guess it'll just be called the Peninsula no Peninsula. Ridiculous name, but it's their own fault for not handling this before now. 

It did surprise me a bit, given how well it fits in with the other peninsulas on that map. Some are smaller, some are bigger, but they are all, as this one is, pretty well defined. Most sites seem to dodge the question by just referring to the area as "the north tip of the Kitsap Peninsula", but. . . something similar could have been done with the other ones in this list. 

Birds with George

Farmland from the main road - Peninsula no Peninsula

Stopping along the dirt-and-gravel drive at George's place, I picked up one new year bird - Savannah Sparrow (99). I continued up the driveway and met up with George. This was a treat. Not only was the setting amazing (including pastures, temporary flooded fields, and a thick bit of forest surrounding it all), but George was a great tour guide of the property for the morning. I'd gone with shorts for the day but was encouraged to boot up as we stepped out into the muck to look for our first target, a Solitary Sandpiper. 

Kaching! Solitary Sandpiper (100)

Not a bad 100th bird for the year. George asked if I wanted to try to get closer for a better picture. I explained that I blog... and the picture quality had to stay at a certain level. Otherwise, people might start to get elevated expectations, and then. . . it'd just be so much work from there! 

Still, it was nice to get good scope views to see the delicate spotting on the breast, the olive-yellow legs (as opposed to the bright yellow legs seen on a yellowlegs), the distinct eye ring and straight, medium-length bill. Enough of those features did show up, even in my photos, so I was happy. The bird stayed in full view for us the entire time. I listened and picked up a lot of birds around us, most of them ones I'd seen previously during the year, Orange-crowned Warbler, Purple Finch, White-crowned Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet all standing out with their bold singing.  

Barn and Violet-green Swallows flew and called overhead (101, 102). George noted that Cliff Swallows also become quite common once spring and summer get into full swing- birds that should be conveniently found even from Hansville Road, honestly. At one point, we stopped to listen to. . . I mean, I didn't get a recording, but if you wanted to hear the sound: First, go to Fred Meyer. Next, get yourself something nice. A pair of shoes, a bottle of good gin. It needs to have the electronic theft detectors on it, regardless of what the item is. If you next attempted to step out of the store without paying... you'd hear the weeeyooweeyooweeeyoo sound that we heard. 

Osprey nest at top

It puzzled us for a bit, and our best guess was the right one - Greater Yellowlegs. Apparently, in situations where tu-tu-tu is not enough, they pull out this call. I don't recall hearing it before, and that's always a treat. Almost like getting a new life bird. 

I stepped through some of the birds I needed for the year list, and George thought it might be good just to take me on a quick run around Peninsula no Peninsula. "But I need to ask first", he told me with a wry grin - heading in to ask his wife. He got permission, in exchange for some lawn-mowing upon his return. Not a bad deal, by his estimation. 

Our first stop was in Hansville. Parking at the waterfront, and turning around, we could see a pair of Ospreys (103) starting a nest. I was surprised. I'm so used to seeing massive nests sitting on platforms, but this nest was tucked inconspicuously into the top of a tree. I had to look in the scope to see the female on the nest. 

On the water, it was pretty quiet, although we did get some nice looks at a Bonaparte's Gull zipping by. 

Bonaparte's Gull

Point no Point

The next stop was Driftwood Key. As with so many places I'd been, both in Jefferson and Kitsap, the spot where we stopped to look at birds was not a spot that I would have found and/or immediately recognized as a place it was okay to stand. "As long as you're clearly birdwatching, it's fine" is a not-uncommon phrase. I can't say that you can just apply this to any old spot in Kitsap County. Great way to learn about the second amendment, I'm sure! Reaching out to local birders (perhaps on Tweeters?) is not a bad way to start, at any rate. Kitsap is more birdable than it seems to be on a first pass. Or tenth.

Savannah Sparrow

More swallows were seen from here, and I did pick out one new year bird, waaaay out, first in binoculars, and then in George's scope - a Black-bellied Plover! (104) Not super rare, but it was still nice to catch it sporting the black belly, unlike the plain-Jane plumage I saw them wearing in January in Jefferson County. 

Our last stop...I'm just not posting here. It was a spot that is restricted access. The people restricting the access, presumably, were there, and had absolutely no problem with George and I stopping to look at birds there. But, it's not my place to advertise it as a birding spot on a blog. 

George and I did talk about a couple of other spots in the county - a couple of them falling into that restricted access category. Both of them are easier to describe here. 

One: Restoration Point on Bainbridge Island. This is like... the gem of Kitsap County in many ways. I'm not even going to look up the species totals from the hotspot, because I'd cry. :D But it is in a gated community, and there is no lack of clarity on this: they have exactly three people that they would like to come in and record species at the point. Those kinds of access rules are much easier to follow! George is one of those three people, and the specialness of that birding spot is not lost on him at all. 

The other: Gold Mountain. Here, George and I have had different experiences, and I think we sorted out the source of those differences. Many eBird checklists from Gold Mountain note that it is restricted access. A permit is required for access to the areas birded by people making those lists. These are free permits and can be procured online from a company called Rayonier. Not a bad system. They don't mind people visiting - not at all. They just have rules, and if you've got a permit, you have seen those rules. 

Gold Mountain *can* be accessed through a gate on the south side of the mountain (actually in good old Mason County!), using one of these permits. By George's description, it's quite a haul to the top. 6 miles in all. 

Or... you can get there from the Green Mountain Trailhead, taking the Tin Mine Trail, and getting to ... the top? Something close to it?... in just 4 miles. On the one hand... 4 miles is less than 6! But, to be fair, the lists others have posted from the other route often include Mountain Quail, a species I have never found on my approaches. 

There you go! I really should collect *all* of this information and put it in a single post at the end of the year. Maybe maybe. 

George and I had our goodbyes as he headed back to his lawn duties. I made a beeline for Oak Bay County Park in Jefferson County. 

Oak Bay County Park in Jefferson County

Caspian Tern

I was looking for a lot of birds on this trip, but one bird in particular, Cinnamon Teal, was one I thought I might be just savvy enough to find on this trip. It was the right time of year to expect them coming through, and Oak Bay has been one of the spots they've shown up over the years. 

The new year birds I *did* find were Caspian Terns (117 - switching now to the Jefferson year tally!), roosting with some Short-billed Gulls in the little lagoon. One of them popped up and circled overhead, giving its coarse calls.

Looking out... okay, I'm just lumping things in my head, to some extent. I'm looking at water so much this year, and over the course of this three-day trip, some of the experiences blurred. High probability for any stop at all during the trip that I had: two Canada Geese, three Horned Grebes, 6 Red-breasted Mergansers, a dozen or so Buffleheads, and more gulls - more Short-billed Gulls, more Olympic Gulls. Add to that: White-crowned Sparrows. So many of them. Singing. At all hours. It just starts to blur, I'm telling you!

East Beach

This was a must-stop stop. Reports had been rolling in for some Whimbrel and a Marbled Godwit. I asked Steve about them and was told to try when the tide was a -1, and that the best spot for East Beach was about a half-mile south of the entrance. I'll pass that advice along, as I'm sure it's good! But I ended up finding these guys just a short walk north of the entrance. Not sure what the tide was!

Whimbrel

Marbled Godwits

The tide was, at any rate, far enough out for me to be able to walk to the birds along the beach without getting too close. In addition to the Whimbrels (118), I found a pair of Marbled Godwits (119), working on the beach. 

Bonaparte's Gulls

Short's Farm

I had a goal of reaching Dosewallips State Park in time to set up camp, but I realized that it still wasn't too far to drive. In my continued hunt for Cinnamon Teal, I made a stop in at Short's Farm. This habitat looked great for them, and there was no shortage of ducks to pick through! But none of them had the bright cinnamon coloring I was looking for. Swallows were on the way in, and some patience got me Violet-green (120) and Barn Swallows (121). Shovelers, Gadwalls, and Pintails were among the ducks found. There were some Canada Geese on the far edge of the pond, but no Greater white-fronted or Snow Geese. A Wilson's Snipe flushed from the path - a nice surprise - and a few Greater Yellowlegs were found out in the mud. 

Off to camp

On the road, I put away some of the flautas that I'd packed for the trip. Between these and the other packing I'd done (bagels, oatmeal, chips, bananas), I really ended up pretty good on the trip. Before hitting Dosewallips, I stopped at Quilbilly's in Quilcene. Reliable wifi is such a good sell, and I've found a couple of tables that work well. I checked in with work and tackled some ACT practice test items. Shifting from birds to momentum and kinetic energy was hard on the transmission! 

This left me time for a leisurely drive to camp. I set up my tent and did a little walk to the Dosewallips River. Red-breasted Sapsucker, Belted Kingfisher, and (surprise) White-crowned Sparrows were found along the way. 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Across Hood Canal

April 8th - Early Spring Trip, Jefferson County

Can't even remember where - Kitsap County

Catching up

I woke up Monday morning. Not a shocker. I just got to thinking - what an interesting montage could be made of us waking up. Mine would include a few times where I had parked my car, fallen asleep, and then woke up not realizing that I was not driving my car. I'd pay money to watch that panic. Always funny once I realize that I did not, in fact, fall asleep at the wheel.

My montage would also include a physics class in college where a lecture finished up, and the sound of people exiting woke me up. It woke up the guy next to me too. That's how I met Sean. Over the years, we suffered through many late-night problem set efforts, did a fair number of labs together, and kept in light touch over Facebook as we went off, got jobs and started families. I'd last seen him over a decade ago but found out that he was living here in Bremerton. 

The guest apartment that he and his wife, Christine operate was my bed for the night. I have to admit - having a sink, a counter, and a microwave greatly improves the breakfast experience. I got my breakfast, and was sliding out to my car to start my birding day, but Christine and I saw each other through their kitchen window, and I was excitedly waved in. 

I don't need to tell anyone how nice it is to catch up with friends. Coffee with Sean and Christine was simply a joy. I'd overcomplicated things in communicating my "plans" for Friday... or maybe Sunday and/or Monday. So, it had not sunk in for any of us that they'd actually be back from their trip to get their boat serviced, and that I'd be there that morning to allow for this sit and sip. Very fun to remember the old stuff, and very good to catch up on the new stuff, both highs and lows.

And of course, I had to explain. . . that I was trying to find some birds this year (they knew this), and that some of those birds might just be too challenging for me to find. 

"Unless I knew someone with a boat. . . " :)

So... we shall see. It takes a lot of planning, skill, equipment, and knowledge to find birds. But gumption doesn't hurt either, and it may get me some birds this year yet.

Keyport

The rush of Monday morning
museum traffic

As I left Sean and Christine's (leaving my food bag behind...), I started towards Jefferson County, but had two quick stops to make. I'd not found any Surfbirds for the year and had scribbled something on one of many slips of paper: "Surfbird. Keyport sw park"

I've never been to Keyport, so it wasn't a park I'd heard of before, but . . .how hard could it be to find a park? I got into the little town and saw signs for the Naval Undersea Museum. For some reason, my brain was telling me I'd find people there at like... 9 in the morning on a Monday. And those people might be able to tell me where the park could be found. As I drove through town, I started getting very confused. How could a park on the Southwest side of Keyport have Surfbirds? The water was on the North edge of town? 

I arrived at the museum, which is adjacent to the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. I saw that the museum was closed, and then just looked back at my car's GPS map."South... west..." Then I left the museum parking lot, looked up and saw across the street: "Keyport Saltwater Park". 

S... w.... Saltwater. Not Southwest. Nicely done, two-days-ago Me. Nicely done.

Nice spot for some rockpipers

It was a quick stop, but it was easy to see where the shorebirds might congregate at the right tides. There was even a Greater Yellowlegs resting on the shore as I scanned the rocks, the water, and the beach. I left empty-handed in the end. 

Port Gamble

This is such an easy stop, and I keep missing the Black Oystercatcher(s?) that have been hanging out there this winter. I searched for a bit, and as I started to leave, caught sight of an oystercatcher flying along the beach, bird 98 for my Kitsap year. This code 4 bird, a couple of code 3 birds the day before, and a smattering of other birds (including surprising ones like Common Yellowthroat) had also been new life birds in the county. After the trip, I got a good chuckle as I saw I'd finally made it onto the Kitsap County all-time list on eBird. 

Oh yeah. ;) Tied for 99th. I'll take it! Still hoping to add at least 43 more birds to this list! Ideally, by the end of the year. I've added 17 so far, and am missing an awful lot of shorebirds, so it'll be interesting. 150 for the year is the bottom-line goal for the year in Kitsap, and I'm feeling good about that. Especially given the Needs Alerts for Kitsap that eBird just tossed my way - 17 species long!

And most importantly (I think), Kitsap is really growing on me. It'll be interesting at the end of the year to look back at my list of reasons for not really enjoying Kitsap County, if only to see how many have been debunked.

Oak Bay County Park

Properly inside Jefferson County, I made a beeline for Oak Bay County Park. Steve, from Port Townsend, had spoken so glowingly of the spot. Although I realized I was going in with no sense of the tides, I thought I'd have a chance at some kind of surprise. 

Gulls. How interesting that learning more about gulls has made them even more frustrating this year! Olympic Gulls... Short-billed Gulls... yep. That's all I picked out for the morning! I scanned farther out for new scoters or grebes. I listened to the hills above the water for the neighborhood California Quail. Nothing! Still a pretty stop, and I have no reduced belief in the potential of this spot for producing some good birds this year. 

I drove back up to the junction, taking Cleveland, with thoughts of coming across some quail, or maybe walkers to ask about quail. As I drove the road slowly, windows down, I picked up my first Bushtits in Jefferson for the year (species 102). This road took me to a campground - one I may use over the course of the year! But I felt the need to continue on to stops on Marrowstone Island. 

Morningtide - Jefferson Land Trust

I'm stumped on this one. I've tried to find out more about this spot. But the Jefferson Land Trust seems to be pretty active, so there's a lot of other lands that come up in my searches. Hopefully the link to the hotspot, and the map that can be found via eBird, will be enough to at least help you find it and see what species have been found here. It looks like a great spot, although I didn't explore it very thoroughly. I had seen that Virginia Rail and Sora had been found here recently, so I went in with some focus. The wind. . . I'll tell you what. . . for as windy as the day was, it was not windy here. The trees around this open area provided an excellent wind break. So even though the wind could be heard running through the tops of the trees, it was relatively calm around me as I walked. 

I got a lot of nothing at first. American Robin. Pine Siskins. Before I started getting closer to the marsh. At the marsh itself, I started by viewing from the small footbridge. Rufous Hummingbirds (103) could be heard around me. Claps and calls got no response, so I moved to the path along the marsh. Marsh Wrens chattered a little bit from the cattails, and I heard a warbler call from a tree. 

I swear, my memory of warbler calls must get wiped completely every winter. I had some excitement that I was hearing a Yellow Warbler, but after a little pishing and closer inspection, it turned out to be an Orange-crowned (104). All the better. Finding birds a few weeks before I expect them always makes me feel itchy. I tried again for rails and got grunting responses from multiple spots along the marsh (105). After getting some good looks at the warbler, I tried again, and additionally got some high rusty keek! calls from a Sora (106).

100 percent trying to get pictures of branches here, not that out of focus warbler

The trail continued on from here, but I did not. Passerines were not singing quite enough to warrant a stay, and I was curious about what might be found up at Flagler. 

Fort Flagler

Geese! Canada's up front, Brant in the back

The wind was not quite so guarded here! This led to quite a bit of chop out on the water, and I even occasionally got stung by bits of sand blown against my face as I walked the spit from the campground. More of the usual suspects: Horned Grebes, Red-breasted Mergansers, Brant, and Harlequin Ducks. I saw no shorebirds on my walk out, but then found a few Sanderlings on my way back. 

Harlequin Duck in even breedinger plumage

Sanderlings

All Horned Grebes today - no Eared!

Boy, was I excited to find a Sea Otter! 

But it was a River Otter. Just. . . in the sea.  

This was an interesting bit of reading for me. Sea Otters are not all that likely to be seen this far from the Pacific, and River Otters are not at all unexpected out on these beaches. 

My one add for this stop was Bonaparte's Gull (107), as several danced and dived past me in the wind. Additionally, on my return trip down Marrowstone Island, I spied a Band-tailed Pigeon (108). 

Lunch - Ajax Cafe

I'd hit about 1:15 and had hoped to make a visit to the Ajax Cafe. Off the beaten path, and it looked like a nice little place. I arrived dreaming of soup, but they were out of their soup of the day. Instead, I opted for the blackened chicken sandwich, and a pint of Haulin' Oats, an oatmeal stout from Rainy Daze Brewing in Poulsbo. Apologies for the bite I'd already taken from this! The menu highlighted the fact that the produce for the salads is all local from Chimacum. If I don't stop at a few farmstands in the months to come... I've lost my mind. 

Anderson Lake State Park

I'd only been here at night, back in February to find a Great Horned Owl. Today, I was hoping for Wood Ducks. The first thing that caught my notice was the jumble of swallows on the south end of the lake. They were too far to hear, but I could see the blue/green coloring. From a distance, I followed swallow after swallow, expecting that at least one might show a white rump patch, but all I found were clean-backed. I called them Tree Swallows (109), but there were undoubtedly other swallows mixed in that I just couldn't identify. 

Gardiner Beach

I'd not made a trip out in this direction before. It's getting a little closer to the Pacific... a little closer to the rainshadow... As far west as east Jefferson County gets, so to speak. Along the way, I could see Turkey Vultures (110) circling over farm fields. I stopped at one of these fields on Gardiner Beach Road, and found a nice surprise, a pair of Cackling Geese! (111)

I still need Snow Geese and Greater White-fronted Geese for the year, but there is some comfort in knowing that if a pile of geese looks like Canada Geese, I don't need to hunt through for the little one. These other two geese stand out pretty well in those situations! So, it's a very helpful find. 

From the beach itself, there wasn't much! There's a nice little pond just off-shore that held a nice mix of dabbling ducks, including Gadwall - a duck I'd found earlier in the year, but not necessarily an easy one to find on the peninsula. I eventually hung it up and tried exploring some of the side roads. This proved to be productive, as I ended up finally finding some Brewer's Blackbirds (112), and my first Savannah Sparrow (113) of the spring. 

South

"Fixer-upper" Leland Valley Road

At this point, I could return to the Port Townsend area. . . a Mountain Bluebird had been seen near Point Wilson, but not for several days. Wood Ducks were another possibility, but they could also be found if I turned South. South it was!

more Wood Ducks - Quilcene Fish Hatchery

As I got closer to Leland Lake, I turned off on Leland Valley Road. This is a road I'd been on an age ago. It just felt extremely familiar! It started with some nice farmland, and then shifted to deciduous swamp. It was here that I found my Wood Ducks (114). Swallows in the fields all had that similar problem with distance - none of them could be confirmed as anything but Tree Swallows, as several of the blue-green birds banked and showed off blue-green backs. 

Continuing down the road, I stopped at the Quilcene Fish Hatchery. My target here was American Dipper. It took a few strolls up and down the riverside near the hatchery before I started hearing the ringing calls from a dipper. It took a bit of peering through chainlink fences to get my first peekaboo view, but I did eventually find the source. 

A second dipper called from farther up the river, not a surprise as this has been a good spot for them all year. 

Mount Walker

The road up Mount Walker was open, so I decided to make the four-mile drive to try for Sooty Grouse and Canada Jays. It was a beautiful drive but got a little cloudy as I got higher up the road. I did scare up a Hermit Thrush (116) as I drove. At the top, I enjoyed a lot of silence, broken occasionally by raven calls. I'd had Canada Jays here in the past, after reaching the top the hard way with a hiking group. If I remember right, I'd had Sooty Grouse on the way too. But nothing was going on up here, besides the quiet rolling of clouds past the summit. 

I drove back down and parked at a pulloff to get some pictures. 

And then I hit Quilbilly's in Quilcene to plug in, come up with some kind of plan, and get some food. I'd ideally hoped to just buy one meal on the road but had left my food bag back at Sean and Christine's in the morning. 

I got the special here, which included some great brisket. I ordered the IPA from Rainy Daze, and was asked by the waitress, "Could you tell me the name of the beer, Hon?" 

"... Only the Tip..."

"Bwahahaha! I love making people say it." 

These folks were about as refined as one would expect in an establishment called Quilbilly's. I'm sure I'll be back. 

It was also, to be fair, one of the more convenient spots for plugging in and connecting to wifi. I looked at the list of birds I could go after for the next day, and considered the places I could potentially sleep that night: A campground, a hotel, Sean and Christine's, or. . . the winner in the end: my very own bed.

This trip had thinned out my needs alerts. Most of it was now early spring birds like swallows and warblers that I could find later in the year. That, or nearly unchasable birds like Cooper's Hawks. Sometimes there's a Cooper's Hawk. Be outside. Pay attention. 

So, I called this trip short! It gave me a chance to recover from the hikes, to get back to work more quickly, and to save a little gas and food money for another trip. 

116! I'll take it.