Weekend Trip Reports

May 5, 2013: Kopachuck State Park
By Jonathan Blubaugh

On May 5^th three birders took part in the Weekend Bird Walk to Kopachuck State Park in western Pierce County. It’s across the Narrow’s Bridge and about five miles north of Gig Harbor.

We made our first observations at Everett Mall’s mitigation ponds. The resident waterfowl had been producing offspring. One family of Canada Geese had seven goslings and a Mallard mom had one duckling. I got a picture of some goslings through the fence. It seems likely that she would have started out with a much larger clutch… Anyways, there was also a Common Goldeneye hen as well.

On our way to Kopachuck we decided to keep track of the birds along the way. It was a beautiful day so we actually saw quite a few as we drove, tabulating a series of roadlogs for the various stretches of highways. Besides abundant Red-Tailed Hawks, crows, and pigeons, we actually spotted a Yellow-Headed Blackbird flying parallel to the freeway in Tukwila. Not what one would expect, but unmistakable. That’s one big reason I like to carpool: I can sightsee. We spotted two more goslings along the Tacoma Narrows freeway before we got to the bridge.

Between the three of us we got eighteen bird species at Kopachuck State Park in a little over two hours. Obviously, if we knew any of the summer bird calls we would have had substantially more. The beach was composed mostly of rounded cobbles of basalt under which we found Little Green Shore Crabs. The tide was pretty low, so we also found Acorn Barnacles, mussels, and anemones all closed up waiting for the tide to come in. On the water were thirteen Surf Scoters, a Canada Goose, and a beautiful Common Loon in breeding plumage. What a dumb name for such an extraordinary creature! Afterwards we walked through the forest enjoying the marvelous day and tons of new green foliage. In a little sunny patch in the woods we found a young Black-Tailed (Mule) Deer. He had just begun to grow in velvety stubs for his antlers. The only thing I’m worse at than identifying summer bird calls is photography, but I got a picture, somewhat out of focus, of the deer preparing to cross the glade behind us. It seems like we heard more birds than we saw. The most surprising was a Turkey Vulture.

Next we looked at the map and picked a promising looking nearby site, Rosedale Park. It turned out to be a sunny ballfield sans ball players. There was a family of House Sparrows having a dust bath. They evidently were nesting in the adjacent Rosedale Church steeple because we saw them fly into it.

We capped off a perfect day with lunch at the Market Place Grille at the water’s edge in Gig Harbor including a view of the harbor and Mt. Rainier in the distance.

Here’s a list of most of what we tallied that day: eighteen Canada Geese including nine goslings, fifteen Mallards including a duckling, the goldeneye, the thirteen Surf Scoters, the loon, a Great Blue Heron, an adult Bald Eagle, three Red-Tailed Hawks, at least seven Glaucous-Winged Gulls, a Great Horned Owl (I missed), ten Rock Pigeons, heard a Pacific Slope Flycatcher, two Northern Flickers (saw the red wing linings), 43 crows, a Black-Capped Chickadee, heard a Red-Breasted Nuthatch, three Violet-Green Swallows, heard a Golden-Crowned Kinglet, heard a Swainson’s Thrush, seven American Robins, nine European Starlings, heard a few Orange-Crowned Warblers, six Spotted Towhees, four Song Sparrows, heard about four White-Crowned Sparrows, four Dark-Eyed Juncos, the Yellow-Headed Blackbird, three American Goldfinches, three House Finches, and six House Sparrows for a species total of thirty. All were uploaded to eBird.

April 21, 2013: Vashon Island
By Jonathan Blubaugh

On April 21^st nine birders attended the Weekend Bird Walk to Vashon Island. We made our first two sets of observations at the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal and on the Fauntleroy Ferry. I only got partial lists at both places because the state ferry’s WIFI hotspot was interfering with my smart phone’s ability to link up to eBird. It turns out that WSF charges $10 per month for internet access for passengers. It was Terry who explained to me why I was having difficulty. By turning off the phone’s WIFI it was enabled to access eBird through the cell phone network instead of its internet connection. So I am still learning some of the technical aspects of recording bird sightings electronically.

At the terminal we began see what seemed to be a consistent assemblage of sea birds. These included Surf Scoters, Buffleheads, cormorants, grebes, guillemots, and occasionally loons. One of the nicest treats was seeing many of them in their handsome breeding plumage. I’m much more used to seeing grebes and loons around here in dull grey and white winter plumage. The ferry crossing is only about twenty minutes.

I was surprised to find out that Ferry tolls are only collected going TO Vashon Island, making the toll essentially a round trip fare. That saved us a little money from my pre-trip estimate.

Our first stop on the island was an unplanned stop at a point of interest recommended by Terry and Sue called the Bicycle Tree. Into this tree someone had placed a child’s bike and the tree simple continued to grow around it. Interesting. Anyways we recorded a few typical urban and forest edge birds there.

Our first planned stop was at Point Robinson Lighthouse. It is in a park, many of which are maintained by the Vashon Park District within King County. The beaches, vistas, and solitude are easily well worth a visit. Exploring the lovely park we found about 25 bird species in about an hour and a half including a couple Dunlin and a Bonaparte’s Gull in sexy breeding plumage. Dunlin have a big black spot on the belly and warm brown plumage on the mantle in the summer. Again we usually see them in dull grey winter plumage. Bonaparte’s Gull with a black hood in the summer is the only black-hooded gull I would regularly expect in the Puget Sound region. We usually see them around here in non-breeding plumage with a white head and only a little black streak on the face.

As we explored the beach a Killdeer boldly approached us calling vociferously and making her famous “injured bird” display. I called out to our group to stop and hold their positions. Killdeer make this display to lead predators off their nest sites. As an undergraduate I had seen this very behavior with tragic results. One of my classmates on a geology field trip in eastern Idaho had gotten too close to a Killdeer nest. The displaying parent came right up to my classmate’s boots. Too late we realize he had unknowingly stepped on an egg. The proper term for the nest sites of certain beach nesting birds such as some shorebirds and terns is a scrape, since that’s really all they are. A Killdeer’s scrape is amazingly camouflaged in beach gravel. So I recognized the predicament we’d walked into. This time it was different. The bird had stopped us several meters from her precious eggs. A little while later someone spotted the Killdeer again. She was sitting motionless on her scrape. Amazingly and strongly counter intuitively, her neck stripes and coloration make her almost invisible in the gravel. Someone photographed her and tried to show me the image on the camera screen. I just couldn’t see the bird. I was trying to see some tiny feature in the background that might be a bird. It turned out that the camera had zoomed the picture so that the Killdeer filled the image, but I had to step back to see it because it just looked like so much gravel!

Our next two stops were along the shore of Quartermaster Harbor. This harbor separates the southeast side of Vashon Island from the seemingly misnamed Maury Island: it’s connected by an isthmus and looks like a peninsula to me. Point Robinson is on the eastern shore of this peninsula whilst Quartermaster Harbor is on its western shore. Along Quartermaster Drive we saw eight bird species including four sea ducks. Our last stop on the island was at Jenson Point within a four acre park on the around on the west shore of Quartermaster Harbor. Again there were plenty of sea ducks. Here there was a flock of some twenty White-Winged Scoters. None of us had ever seen a flock of them anywhere nearly that large. We usually see only a few at a time at most. In addition to more Horned Grebes in gorgeous breeding plumage was a Bald Eagle watching the shoreline for its next meal.

Our next meal came at a charming combination coffee shop, café, and country store in the village of Vashon, an essential part of any Weekend Bird Walk. Like my first flight instructor said, “It’s no fun flying somewhere, if you can’t eat when you get there!” The return ferry ride was just over fifteen minutes, and only spotted two bird species: a Pelagic Cormorant and a few gulls gliding across the sound in the boat’s updraft.

Here’s list of most of the birds we saw that day: about a hundred Greater White-Fronted Geese (I missed), two Greater Scaup, about 120 Surf Scoters, 21 White-Winged Scoters, 55 Buffleheads, six Barrow’s Goldeneyes, three Common Merganser hens, a couple of Bald Eagles, three Common Loons, five Pelagic Cormorants, at least twenty Horned Grebes, a couple of Red-Necked Grebes (I missed), seven Pigeon Guillemots, an endangered Marbled Murrelet, a Rhinoceros Auklet, two Killdeer, two Dunlin, a Western Sandpiper, the Bonaparte’s Gull, six Glaucous-Winged Gulls, at least three “Olympic” hybrid gulls, a Eurasian Collard-Dove, five Rock Pigeons, four Band-Tailed Pigeons, heard a Northern Flicker, nine Steller’s Jays, thirteen crows, a Black-Cheeked Chickadee, a Chestnut-Backed Chickadee, heard a Red-Breasted Nuthatch, a Bewick’s Wren (I missed), three American Robins, four European Starlings, heard a Yellow-Rumped Warbler, heard a Spotted Towhee, two Savannah Sparrows, two Song Sparrows, two White-Crowned Sparrows, a Dark-Eyed Junco (I missed), a couple of House Finches, six Red Crossbills, and four Pine Siskins for a species total of at least 41. All were uploaded to eBird.

March 17, 2013: Tolmie State Park
By Jonathan Blubaugh

For March’s Weekend Bird Walk Terry Nightingale and Sue Miller joined me on a field trip to Tolmie State Park near Lacey. It’s real easy to get to off I-5 at Hawk’s Prairie. It is somewhat typical of state parks on the shores of the Salish Sea: it has a marine sanctuary, a stream, upland forest, camping and picnic facilities, and nature trails. It’s a formula that works well and that I can’t get enough of. We all had plans back in town later that day, so this trip was a little shorter than most with only the one stop. We pretty much had the place to ourselves except for a few kids enjoying the seashore off in the distance.

As is so often the case, good birding could be had right away in the parking lot. We ended up spotting 21 species in just less than an hour. We lingered quite a bit longer than we had planned in the parking lot because we just kept seeing more birds there, the highlights for me being a Townsend’s Warbler that Terry spotted and a few Varied Thrushes mixed in with a flock of robins. We also easily found a male Downy Woodpecker making his distinctive “PEEK” call. After a while we decided to drop down to the shore where there’s more parking and a sturdy wooden bridge across the creek with good views across the Sound. From there we scoped the bay wrapping up the majority of our birding for a short and sweet visit. If we had had more time we definitely would have walked the loop trial. Here’s what we saw: an American Wigeon, 26 Mallards including a drake having a boisterous, splashy birdbath in the creek, a dozen Surf Scoters, 9 Buffleheads, two pairs of Common Goldeneyes (usually we expect to see Barrow’s Goldeneyes on saltwater, but we easily spotted the smaller facial marks on the drakes), a Common Loon, a Double-Crested Cormorant, a Pelagic Cormorant in breeding plumage with sporty white wing patch, the Downy Woodpecker, a crow, a Black-Capped Chickadee, a couple of Chestnut-Backed Chickadees, heard a Red-Breasted Nuthatch, heard a Pacific Wren, three Golden-Crowned Kinglets down low where we could see the spectacular crown, six American Robins, three Varied Thrushes, the Townsend’s Warbler, heard a Spotted Towhee, three Song Sparrow, and three Pine Siskins.

On our way out we spent a little time looking for a Black Phoebe whom Terry and Sue had seen hanging out at some settling ponds near Cabela’s at Hawk’s Prairie. We came up short due to our time constraints and some barricaded roads, but just wait ‘till next time! During my lengthy sojourn to California the Black Phoebe was always my favorite bird to watch. They are so cute in their formal attire, and so intent on the business on bugsnatching. They are riparian: frequently hunting and calling off of a perch next to a stream.

Finally we wrapped up the trip with a nice lunch at Ivar’s on South Tacoma Way on the way home. Wish you were there.

February 24, 2013: Port Susan Snow Goose & Birding Festival
By Jonathan Blubaugh

Again this year I was privileged to be able to lead an outing at the 2013 Port Susan Snow Goose & Birding Festival in Stanwood. Early on they mentioned that they wanted two leaders for each trip, so I asked my counterpart, Terry Nightingale, to join us, and he graciously accepted. The outing we were assigned to was the Sunday morning trip to The Nature Conservancy’s Port Susan Preserve, a trip I have lead for at least four years. Also joining us was Kat of the Conservancy’s staff.

Kat told us of the many changes the Nature Conservancy has brought to the Port Susan shoreline. After several years of planning, TNC has removed the outer levy and used some of the material to upgrade the inner levy. Additionally they have constructed a flood control structure at the south end of the levy beside the mouth of the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River. This enhances safety and livability for folks in the Stillaguamish Delta while potentially reducing damage to the agriculture industry during flooding. It will allow the release of floodwaters, such as from the 2009 event, to return to bay rather than being held on agricultural lands in case of an upstream breach. It’s just a big one-way safety valve allowing waters out into the bay, but not back into the fields and homesteads. In my view it’s a marvelous improvement.

The Conservancy’s final removal of the outer levy finished a process started by flooding, I believe, during the winter of 2009-10, when storm-driven waters first breached the levy. The resulting standing water between the old outer levy and inner levy caused a noticeable change in the avifauna. Prior to the breach we spotted quite a few shorebirds between the levies. Ponding allowed by the subsequent partial breach had brought in more dabbling ducks and fewer shorebirds. Now the outer levy’s removal sets the stage for the replacement of fresh water-dependent plants with marine plants, and, in my view, quite possibly the creation of more habitat for the marine invertebrates that shorebirds depend on. The die-off of fresh water plants is remarkable. We have noticed the same effect at Nisqually NWR on a larger scale. How this affects migratory fish, shorebirds, and waterfowl is yet to be seen. Kat informed us that TNC’s hydrodynamic model predicted more of the Stilly’s fresh water would spread north past the site of the former levy causing a reduction in salinity in the north end of the bay. We have learned that this brackish water is critical for juvenile migratory salmon. Thus I believe that we can reasonably predict that the removal of the outer levy will benefit by adding mudflat habitat for migratory shorebirds and transitional brackish habitat for migratory salmon. Still, on the day of this most recent trip, as with the last couple of years, it appeared that the winners were the dabbling ducks.

We picked up a busload of birders at the Floyd Norgaard Center in Stanwood. At the preserve we met some more people who had driven on ahead. Altogether we had sixteen people. The walk was shorter in distance and duration than before because of the removal of the outer levy. It was just out and back along the inner levy to its end at the new flood control structure. Still it was well worth it. We ended up seeing about 24 species in a little more than 2¼ hours. Here’s what I came up with. An estimated 5000 Snow Geese, 58 Trumpeter Swan including a dozen immatures, a couple of Gadwalls, 35 American Wigeons, eighteen Mallards, twenty Northern Shovelers, eleven Northern Pintails (I missed), 22 Green-Winged Teal, a Ring-Necked Duck, a couple of Buffleheads (I missed), thirteen Great Blue Herons, a pair of Northern Harriers, 21 Bald Eagles including a couple of immatures, a Red-Tailed Hawk, four Killdeer, a Glaucous-Winged Gull, a female American Kestrel, a Common Raven scavenging-all we could see left were some scattered white feathers, heard a Black-Capped Chickadee, a Bewick’s Wren, an American Robin, a couple of Song Sparrows including a singing male, fourteen Golden-Crowned Sparrows, and heard three Red-Winged Blackbirds.

I am very interested in returning now and again to see how this habitat will evolve.

March 10, 2013: Camano Island Hot Spots
By Terry Nightingale

On Sunday, March 10, twelve birders exclaimed “pshaw!” to the start of Daylight Saving Time and took advantage of the cold but dry weather to visit a few of the birding hotspots on and around Camano Island. We were fortunate to have among us Virginia Clark, one of the co-leaders of Pilchuck Audubon's weekly Tuesday birding trips. Not only is Virginia an excellent birder, but the baker of the tastiest cookies your correspondent has ever tasted.

After making carpool arrangements, we headed north and west from Tulalip through Stanwood and across the high-rise bridge onto Camano Island. Immediately upon reaching the island, Virginia made her expert presence felt by directing the group to stop in the back parking lot of an antique store, where she knew the shopkeeper regularly sets out seed for the birds. As soon as we got out of our cars, we saw Mourning Doves, American Robins, Brewer's Blackbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds and lots of sparrows feasting on the offering of seed: Song Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrows, House Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, a Spotted Towhee, and even a Fox Sparrow. A few of us thought for a moment we had spotted a new kind of sparrow, larger than the others, and with lots of yellow mixed in with generally streaky plumage—but just then we realized we were describing the female red-winged blackbird, which of course makes sense given the obvious presence of the males.

After this productive stop, we ventured on to English Boom, a lovely park on the north side of the island that features a view to the north toward Fir Island, a beach with walkable trails, and forest habitat made up of fir trees clinging to the side of a cliff. A little later in the year, this would have been a great spot to find swallows and purple martins, but we were a little too early. Still, there was much to see and hear: two Northern Flickers apparently squabbling over a nice bit of breeding territory, two American Crows mobbing a Common Raven and chasing it out of their territory, a Belted Kingfisher perched on a piece of driftwood along the beach, three Bald Eagles perched on pilings, and Great Blue Herons hunting in the shallows. Out on the water were Double-crested Cormorants, and lots of ducks: Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Green-winged Teal, and Northern Pintail.

Our next quick stop was a farm field just off the main highway, where Virginia thought we might see some interesting birds. Trumpeter Swans were there grazing with Greater White-fronted Geese and one Cackling Goose, a diminutive cousin of the familiar Canada goose. We also picked up another dove species: a Eurasian Collared-dove in a nearby bush. A little farther west, Virginia directed us to a spot on Utsalady Point, where the kind souls with bird scopes allowed the group to feast our eyes on more ducks, distant Surf Scoters, and a Red-throated Loon far out in the bay, which was a real treat! Only a few of us had ever seen that species before.

Continuing our journey, we next made our way to the east side of the island, where Iverson Spit juts northeastward from Camano. Here is another nice park where forest meets beach, but this time there are extensive grasslands as well. I recommend the dike trail along the beach, which eventually turns away from the water and into the forest, where we happened upon a mixed flock of small passerine birds: Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Bushtits, and Black-capped Chickadees. We're not sure whether to count the Pileated Woodpecker who flew over us as one of this flock, but it was nice of him to fly by and give us a nice look at his black and white plumage and brilliant red head. Perched on a willow tree was a tiny male Anna's Hummingbird who, as he looked around in different directions, showed us his brilliant purple throat when the sun caught it just right.

At this point our day of birding was almost done, and we said farewell to most of the group. After a quick lunch, four of us stopped off at Eide Road, a little-used road that winds south just after you cross the bridge back to the mainland. A word of caution if you decide to go there: it's dangerous to turn left onto Eide Road from the main highway, and in fact there are signs telling you not to. It's much safer to go to Camano Island first, and then when you are heading back toward the mainland, turn right onto Eide Road. Also worth noting is that you'll need your Discover Pass to visit here. All that said, it's well worth a visit. Here we saw the first big flock of shorebirds of the day, Dunlin. Also notable were Common Mergansers swimming on the slough nearby. But the stand-outs for this stop, and arguably the entire trip, were birds that a new birder pointed out: first an American Bittern hiding in tall grass, an amazing find to see one rather than just hear it making its “thump-wump” sounds, and a Short-eared Owl perched in a tree, who then took flight and we got to see its majestic flapping and soaring, with wings that look far too long to be part of a bird with such a short body. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Snowy Owls, four in total. Paulette Hunter snapped a photo of one perched on a piece of driftwood near the slough's edge.

Overall, another fine day of birding, and we hardly even got rained on! My thanks go to Virginia for joining us and pointing out some excellent birding spots.

Upcoming Trip: Wolf Haven

Snowy Owl ~ Paulette Hunter

February 17, 2013: Montlake Fill
By Jonathan Blubaugh

This was a repeat trip. Last year we got rained out. This time was a different story: it didn’t start raining until we were basically done.

This year the bird walk was made in conjunction with the Great Backyard Bird Count. According to the GBYBC press release this is the first time that observations could be made the world over due to the use of eBird. After having learned about eBird a couple of years ago, I have been an enthusiastic user. Like the Christmas Bird Count, the GBYBC and eBird are citizen-science schemes that allow legions of birders everywhere to record their sightings in a format that can be used by researchers. All are sponsored by the Audubon Society. The information technology heavy lifting is done at the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology. The newer eBird software is the most sophisticated. It allows for good collection of so-called effort data: who, what, where, when. It’s flexible: area count, traveling count, stationary count-whatever. It allows you to choose an existing hotspot or create one of your own. It allows us to share our checklists around with all the people we went birding with. Don’t get me wrong: birding is not just about fanatic counters. Many of us just want to enjoy the beauty and wonder of observing wildlife in its natural habitat.

It seems clear to me that the superior eBird technology has made the means of submitting CBC and GBYBC data obsolete. I predict that the Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology will perhaps sooner rather than later switch over to using eBird to compile data for the Christmas Bird Count as well as the GBYBC.

In linking our bird walk to the GBYBC, I used the occasion to advertise the use of eBird to our guests. I hope I wasn’t being presumptuous in doing so. I also relish just the whole social aspect of birding together in groups.

Well, back to the birding. The trip was planned for carpooling from Everett Mall and four of us met there. Six others decided to meet us at the site to save on unnecessary driving. Those of us who met at the mall took a few minutes to check the birds at the mall’s mitigation ponds. We found seven species there including diving Ring-Necked Ducks and Buffleheads. One person quite reasonably asked what I meant by a “mitigation pond.” Now I’m not knowledgeable about urban development practices or regulations, but I have been reliably informed that when building, paving, or development take place, current regulations prevent pollution or overflowing of local streams. It seems the way this is accomplished is by creating man-made holding ponds to allow for settling and filtering of sediment before it flows out to the stream system. These ponds harbor waterfowl at the southwest corner of the huge mall parking lot.

We met up with the others at the Montlake Fill nearly an hour later. They had already begun counting the birds. This area is a portion of the University of Washington’s Botanic Garden and Arboretum. It provides a perfect place for the students and faculty to do their research and conservation projects as well as a wonderful park for wildlife and people along the shore of Lake Washington. As is often the case the count started off quickly at the parking lot. There were plenty of waterfowl in the pond and herons and cormorants like gargoyles on the buildings and light poles. A couple of folks graciously brought spotting scopes, allowing us to examine the varied water birds. Some of us mentioned that the best looks we got were of some close-in Wood Ducks and Green-Winged Teal. We also found a Pied-Billed Grebe on the far side of the pond actively foraging. Grebes love to dive for their food and this little one was no exception. Soon it surfaced with a little fish and slurped it down.

True to form, Sue Miller piped up, “Oh, it caught a Three-Spined Stickleback!” (The side-trip to Wikipedia was well-worth it.)

In a ditch along the trail right behind the Husky baseball diamond we found Ruby-Crowned Kinglets and Yellow-Rumped Warblers catching bugs. Calling from concealment in the same ditch were a Virginia Rail and a Marsh Wren gearing up springtime defense of his realm. (As I write this the Allman Brothers are crooning about “Mr. Bluebird!”) Following a nice gravel trail we headed towards the lakeshore taking note of the obvious signs of industrious beaver activity. We also found a very helpful kiosk with a nice map of the area.

Finally when it did start to sprinkle we cut short our visit, but not before tallying 38 species at the Union Bay Natural Area. Here’s what we got: four Canada Geese, twelve Trumpeter Swans, three Wood Ducks, two Gadwalls, five American Widgeons, six Mallards, five Green-Winged Teal, fourteen Northern Shovelers, five Canvasbacks, five scaups (I missed), three Ring-Necked Ducks, ten Buffleheads, a Common Goldeneye drake, a Hooded Merganser hen, sixteen Common Mergansers, the Pied-Billed Grebe, ten Double-Crested Cormorants, sixteen Great Blue Herons, a female Bald Eagle (I missed), a Red-Tailed Hawk, the rail, about 750 American Coots, nine Glaucous-Winged Gulls, seven Rock Pigeons, an Anna’s Hummingbird, three Northern Flickers, five crows, four Black-Capped Chickadees including a singing male, a couple of Bushtits (I missed), the Marsh Wren, a Bewick’s Wren, two Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, an American Robin, ten European Starlings, four Yellow-Rumped Warblers, heard a couple of Spotted Towhees, a couple of Song Sparrows, seven Red-Winged Blackbirds, a House Finch that I tried to turn into a redpoll, and twenty American Goldfinches.

To any of you reading this on the website or in the Profile, if you would like me to add you to my email distribution list for Pilchuck Audubon Weekend Bird Walks, just drop me a line or text me at 425-244-7633, aracfi@msn.com.

January 5, 2013: Parks and Wetlands of the King-Snohomish County Line
By Terry Nightingale

On Saturday, January 5, eight birders defied the foul weather predictions and tried our luck at birding a few of the hotspots near the King-Snohomish county line. Most often when I hear a mention of this region, it’s on the morning traffic report telling where the I-5 south back-up begins. On this day, though, there was scarcely any traffic on I-5 as we journeyed south from Everett. Our first stop was Terrace Creek Park in Mountlake Terrace.

We started at the south end of the park, which features a children’s playground and a picnic structure. Immediately upon getting out of the cars, we started hearing familiar forest birds. A group of about twenty Pine Siskin flew above us and landed high up in the nearby trees. Black-capped Chickadees were calling nearby, and we heard the cackle of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Heading north past the grassy fields, the park’s main trail next moves into a long and skinny stretch of woods. Here we got nice close-up views of the Ruby-crowned Kinglets we had seen before, as well as Golden-crowned Kinglets. No binoculars required! Just as we started to wonder, “Where are all the woodpeckers?” the locals introduced themselves—first a Pileated Woodpecker called from high up, giving us nice binocular views, and then a Downy Woodpecker made its “peep” calls from a snag a bit deeper in the forest. One of our birders with sharp eyes spotted aBrown Creeper making his way up a tree trunk, and we had nice views of a flock ofVaried Thrush near the trail. If you visit the park, be aware that it also serves as a disc golf course. Toward the end of our visit, we encountered several golfers, who were all friendly and courteous, but you’ll see more birds early in the morning when disc golf is not yet in progress.

Having seen a good number of birds and only having gotten rained on a little, we set off next for Log Boom Park in Kenmore. This is a small park on the shores of Lake Washington, tucked between Bothell Way and the lake. It also happens to be on the Burke-Gilman Trail. The primary feature of the park that we were interested in was the lengthy pier that leads out into the lake, giving us a wide panorama of waterfowl. This was a good time to have scopes with us, and a great opportunity to see a lot of waterfowl species all in one place. Alongside Mallards and Gadwall were Ring-necked Ducks,Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Bufflehead, Double-crested Cormorants, and a group of 150 American Coots. The highlight (at least for me) was a group of twenty-seven Canvasback, a species which I’ve only seen a few times before, and never before on Lake Washington.

Less than a mile away is another of Kenmore’s parks, Wallace Swamp Creek Park, which was our next destination. Most of us were hankering for lunch, so we barely scratched the surface of exploring this park, sticking to its main, paved trail. This was also the time of day when the birds tend to go quiet, so we didn’t see or hear much. The most exciting find was a male Anna’s Hummingbird who was perched in a small tree near us. We got a nice look at his beautiful green color, and one birder saw his gorget light up in brilliant magenta when the light caught it just right.

While walking back toward the cars, we came across two friendly ladies walking their Corgies, who told us about the “bird lady” who regularly birds the park, and who had led the local Christmas count of the area a few weeks before. Now that we know which trails to follow, we can return and look for the owls. These ladies reported having seen baby owlets, which is quite intriguing indeed!

After a relaxing lunch at Third Place Commons in Lake Forest Park, four of us decided to venture to one more birding spot: the North Creek Wetlands. True to the theme for the day, this office park and mitigation wetland literally straddles the county line in Bothell, adjacent to I-405. The first observation of note was a pair of Bald Eagles, looking quite majestic perched high in the trees. Could they be preying on the waterfowl in the ponds here? In addition to our waterfowl from earlier in the day, we added Green-winged Tealand Common Goldeneye. Thanks to Jonathan’s tutelage, we can now better identify female goldeneyes, even when males are nowhere in sight!

By far the highlights of this leg of our journey were the two secretive birds that one of our sharp-eyed birders found. The first was a Virginia Rail, who walked out in plain sight for a few minutes before disappearing into the tall reeds near one of the park’s ponds. The other secretive bird was a Wilson’s Snipe, hiding in the shadows under a Douglas fir tree.

Finding these elusive species was a fine way to wrap up another excellent day of birding! To see a few photos from the trip, go to the Flickr website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67331192@N04/

We started at the south end of the park, which features a children’s playground and a picnic structure. Immediately upon getting out of the cars, we started hearing familiar forest birds. A group of about twenty Pine Siskin flew above us and landed high up in the nearby trees. Black-capped Chickadees were calling nearby, and we heard the cackle of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Heading north past the grassy fields, the park’s main trail next moves into a long and skinny stretch of woods. Here we got nice close-up views of the Ruby-crowned Kinglets we had seen before, as well as Golden-crowned Kinglets. No binoculars required! Just as we started to wonder, “Where are all the woodpeckers?” the locals introduced themselves—first a Pileated Woodpecker called from high up, giving us nice binocular views, and then a Downy Woodpecker made its “peep” calls from a snag a bit deeper in the forest. One of our birders with sharp eyes spotted a Brown Creeper making his way up a tree trunk, and we had nice views of a flock of Varied Thrush near the trail. If you visit the park, be aware that it also serves as a disc golf course. Toward the end of our visit, we encountered several golfers, who were all friendly and courteous, but you’ll see more birds early in the morning when disc golf is not yet in progress.

Having seen a good number of birds and only having gotten rained on a little, we set off next for Log Boom Park in Kenmore. This is a small park on the shores of Lake Washington, tucked between Bothell Way and the lake. It also happens to be on the Burke-Gilman Trail. The primary feature of the park that we were interested in was the lengthy pier that leads out into the lake, giving us a wide panorama of waterfowl. This was a good time to have scopes with us, and a great opportunity to see a lot of waterfowl species all in one place. Alongside Mallards and Gadwall were Ring-necked Ducks, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Bufflehead, Double-crested Cormorants, and a group of 150 American Coots. The highlight (at least for me) was a group of twenty-seven Canvasback, a species which I’ve only seen a few times before, and never before on Lake Washington.

After a relaxing lunch at Third Place Commons in Lake Forest Park, four of us decided to venture to one more birding spot: the North Creek Wetlands. True to the theme for the day, this office park and mitigation wetland literally straddles the county line in Bothell, adjacent to I-405. The first observation of note was a pair of Bald Eagles, looking quite majestic perched high in the trees. Could they be preying on the waterfowl in the ponds here? In addition to our waterfowl from earlier in the day, we added Green-winged Teal and Common Goldeneye. Thanks to Jonathan’s tutelage, we can now better identify female goldeneyes, even when males are nowhere in sight!

Finding these elusive species was a fine way to wrap up another excellent day of birding! To see a few photos from the trip, go to the Flickr website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67331192@N04/

October 12, 2012: Deception Pass State Park
By Jonathan Blubaugh

On the day of our October Weekend Bird Walk rain was forecast, so only one participant showed up: my counterpart, Pilchuck Audubon Trip Leader, Terry Nightingale. But I had carefully chosen the location for the outing considering the microclimates of Western Washington. We can safely predict rain in October and November here, especially in the notorious Puget Sound Convergence Zone. Just 20km northwest of Everett, however, we are out of the PSCZ and into what we pilots call the “Blue Hole.” It is the rain shadow behind the Olympics. It runs from Anacortes in the east across northern Whidbey Island, the San Juans, Port Townsend, Sequim, and on through Port Angeles in the west. We experienced no rain at Deception Pass, nor, I guess by luck, on the way over there either. We had a great time, saw lots of birds, ran into some nice people, and had a pleasant walk around Bowman Bay at Deception Pass SP.

We started off with a “pelagic” leg: the Clinton Mukilteo Ferry. Of the 200 or so gulls along the route about half were Bonaparte’s in their winter plumage with a thin black necklace. Upon disembarking we stopped at Clinton Beach Park, which is a tiny pullout next to the terminal. It has a play set for the kids and some benches with a few parking spaces. It affords a commanding view of the interesting environs of the dock and shoreline. The highlight there was clearly a pair of adult Bald Eagles perched in a tall Douglas Fir just up the shore from us.

As far as I am concerned, I think Coupeville is just the prettiest place in Washington. I was stationed at Whidbey Island NAS way back in 1985, so when I made it back here in 2006, I was astonished and delighted that Whidbey Island had not changed all that much. It’s a rare example where rampant urbanization has been held at bay. The reason in large part is because of the establishment of the Ebey’s Landing National Historical Preserve. It preserves the status quo of farming, logging, ship building, tourism, and rural communities without massive suburban sprawl. I sincerely hope it proves to be economically sustainable for residents in the long run.

Sometimes Terry and I are thinking the same thing and this was definitely the case this time, because we both chose the same site for our next stop: Penn Cove in Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve. This site is right beside S/R 20 between Coupeville and Oak Harbor. I had driven by numerous times, but Terry had actually spent time there at a B & B. We birded at a pullout alongside S/R 20 and then drove down a side road along the bay towards the inn. We tallied 25 species on that stop alone. There was an interesting mix of waterfowl, passerines, and raptors including another pair of eagles.

Our last stop of the day was at our planned destination, Deception Pass SP—Bowman Bay on Fidalgo Island in Skagit County. Actually Deception Pass SP straddles the pass on Whidbey Island in Island County and Fildalgo Island in Skagit County on the north side. We had both visited the south side before, so we were looking forward to exploring the north end. The first thing we found was a radio-controlled sailboat regatta: the second straight time we had run into a boat race on a Weekend Bird Walk. At Green Lake it was racing shells (made of CFRP-like my jet). These sailboats were nearly a meter long with sails half a meter tall. They looked to each be the same, so the winner would be the operator with the greatest skill. Their radio controls controlled the rudder and the position of the sails. There was very little wind, but it didn’t seem to impede the competitors. It didn’t impede us either. Like I said, the weather was fine all day: cool and cloudy.

We chose a trail that headed southeast along the east shore of Bowman Bay. Terry got five beautiful photos of the 23 species we saw: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11875754. The photos were of a California Quail, a second year California Gull, a Hairy Woodpecker (who’s dainty call impersonated a Downy Woodpecker's), a Pacific Wren foraging around some driftwood, and a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. We also spotted a couple of Red Crossbills. We have recently learned that the type of crossbill can be determined from a sound recording, so I whipped out the smart phone. However, not being familiar with its audio recording feature, I failed to capture it. I’ll try to be better prepared next time. The smart phone seems like it’s going to be a revolutionary combination of camera, audio, and video recorder.

Overall it was a wonderful day, and we made a list of more places along the way that we’d like to visit in the future. A checklist from each stop was uploaded to eBird. Here’s a list of most of the 46 species we saw for the day: 17 Canada Geese, 19 Mallards, 13 Common Mergansers, four Surf Scoters, eleven California Quail, eight Double-Crested Cormorants, three Great Blue Herons, a couple of pairs of Bald Eagles, four Red-Tailed Hawks, a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, a Killdeer, about a hundred Bonaparte's Gulls, a Mew Gull, a couple of Heermann’s Gulls, a Ring-Billed Gull, 19 California Gulls, 36 Glaucous-Winged Gulls, a couple of “Olympic” hybrid gulls, seven Rock Pigeons, a couple of Belted Kingfishers, the Hairy Woodpecker, a couple of Northern Flickers, five crows, four Common Ravens, three Black-Capped Chickadees, a couple of Chestnut-Backed Chickadees, five Bushtits, a Red-Breasted Nuthatch, a couple of Pacific Wrens, heard a March Wren, heard a couple of Bewick’s Wrens, five Golden-Crowned Kinglets, three Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, a Hermit Thrush, three American Robins, a Spotted Towhee, a couple of Savannah Sparrows, heard a Fox Sparrow, five Song Sparrows, four Golden-Crowned Sparrows, seven Dark-Eyed Juncos, a couple of House Finches, the two Red-Crossbills, about fifty Pine Siskins, ten American Goldfinches, and seven House Sparrows.

November 3, 2012: Green Lake
By Terry Nightingale

On Saturday, November 3, seven birders made their way to Greenlake to enjoy a cloudy but virtually rainless day at one of Seattle's iconic parks, which also happens to be a favorite spot for our feathered friends. We walked the wide, paved trail around the lake, encountering a bevy of joggers, walkers, and a full-on rowing competition complete with hot food and beverages for sale.

The first birds to greet us from the parking lot were the American Crows, who cawed loudly to alert us of their presence and of their willingness to be fed. From this first encounter it was clear we had come to the land of tame birds, and it was a theme that was to repeat throughout the day. Next, our youngest birder (nine years old, going on ten) spotted a hummingbird high in one of the trees adjoining the parking lot. Though the light was not great for photography, there really was only one possibility at this time of year: Anna's Hummingbird, an unexpected treat for November!

I hope I am not giving away too much if I share with the Pilchuck Profile readers my tip for visiting Greenlake: park at the Bathhouse Theatre. The parking there is still a bit crowded, but nothing so crowded as the parking lot for the community center and swimming pool around the other side of the lake. At any rate, starting here meant that our first stop along the lake itself was behind the Bathhouse, where we scanned the diving platforms a few feet from shore. Gulls of several types were visible, both our common and familiar Glaucous-winged Gulls, and a whole lot of (47) Ring-billed Gulls. It was interesting to see the size difference between these two gull species, something that we don't always get a chance to see close-up with perched birds.

The next fun stop along our circumnavigation of the lake was a dock that goes out into the water about twenty feet, from which we got nice views of Duck Island, a tiny island that is a protected bird sanctuary. Just as we started thinking “where are all the raptors?” a Bald Eagle dove in pursuit of American Coots swimming near the island. That certainly got the birds moving! Alas, after two attempts, the bald eagle came up short and decided to perch atop the island's tallest tree and await a better chance. Meanwhile, Common Mergansers, Mallards, Gadwall, and Hooded Mergansers were joining the coots in enjoying a swim on the lake. Here, too, the contrast between the different species was quite interesting to observe. Hooded mergansers, for instance, are noticeably smaller than their common merganser cousins. Seeing gadwall so near mallards made for a striking comparison between their head shapes and bill sizes.

Not to be outdone by the other waterfowl, the grebes also decided to make an appearance as we continued walking around the lake. I have seen Pied-billed Grebes at the lake before, so seeing those again was not a big surprise, but today the Eared Grebes and even one Western Grebe were out on the lake!

In addition to the excellent waterfowl, Greenlake Park offers plenty of trees for passerines to enjoy. Some of the usual suspects were there, such as Golden-crowned Kinglets and a bold Song Sparrow who perched out in the open on a thin branch and scolded us as we walked by. While making our way around the lake we also found two examples of non-bird life worth pointing out for safety reasons: deadly nightshade berries (don't eat these), and a beautiful red toadstool mushroom with white polka-dots (also don't eat unless you are a trained mycologist). Which, speaking of, made me realize how thankful I was for the birders who decided to join our trip regardless of the mushroom hike that happened that same day, and for the excellent day of birding we were able to share! To see photos from the trip, go to the Flickr website.