I was really excited when a business trip to Seattle was scheduled in November 2016 giving me another opportunity to bird in the Pacific Northwest. My WA statelist was 251 which was 3 over the old ABA reportable threshold, defined as half of the state total. But with a little on-line research, I found that the WA statelist now stands at 511 – a whopping 15 higher than the total when the ABA threshold was calculated back in 2011. Dividing 511 by 2, the present threshold would be 255.5. WA is a great example of why I’ve revised my goal to be at least 15 over the old ABA threshold in each state, or “Reportable Plus 15” as I call it. In fact, maybe Reportable Plus 15 may not be enough to keep me over threshold for long in WA. In any case, I wanted to add at least 12 to my WA statelist to get to 15 over the ABA threshold.
Now comes the planning. Although I had a pretty good WA list already,
I expected I would have realistic possibilities for new statebirds throughout
the state. I was thinking of adding at
least a couple vacation days to my trip which would allow me to get to most any
portion of WA except for the far eastern end.
But now I needed to decide if I should I go east into central WA for
inland targets, stay in the Cascades for mountain targets, or head to the coast
especially for waterbirds and the like?
I compiled a list of targets for all these areas, and came up with
pretty significant lists of possibilities in each region. Then I set up a Needs Alert in eBird and
found that not only were most of my targets being seen, but several pretty
extreme rarities were being seen in Neah Bay, which is at the northwest tip of
the Olympic peninsula. The reliable Neah
Bay rarities included Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Dickcissel, Ruff, numerous Palm
Warblers, and as many as 6 Tropical Kingbirds.
With some more research I found that Neah Bay is quite notorious for
vagrants in October and early November.
So even if these rarities weren’t still around in 3 weeks when I got to
WA, others might take their place. Plus
there were several more regular targets being seen in the area as well,
especially on seawatches.
The last key factor was that I had planned
to take a summer trip one year to eastern OR to work on my statelist
there. On that trip I had also planned
to add a day or two in eastern WA to fill gaps in my WA list. My targets on that eastern WA trip included
several of my central WA targets of this November trip, as well as many of my
targets in the Cascades. And of course
few if any of my coastal targets would be possible in eastern WA. This was enough to help me make my decision –
I would take the coastal route on this trip, especially hoping for some nice WA
rarities.
With a couple tweaks just a day before my
trip started, my planned itinerary was to start on the afternoon of Day 1
pursuing two stakeout shorebirds in the Seattle area, then bird the last couple
hours of the afternoon at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. On Day 2 I would spend the entire day in Neah
Bay trying to chase after all those landbird rarities and to do an extended
seawatch. Birding Day 3 would start in
southwest WA in Westport for a stakeout Bar-tailed Godwit and nearby Snowy
Plover, and then near Ridgefield NWR for Red-shouldered Hawk and Sandhill
Crane. Finally, I had a late morning
flight out of Seattle on Day 4, which would give me a couple early morning
hours near Seattle to fill any last remaining gaps in my list.
With that itinerary I estimated that I
might be able to add 8 birds to my WA list.
Though it would be great to add 12 to reach my Reportable Plus 15 goal.
This post summarizes Days 3 and 4 of my WA statebirding
trip. The previous post summarized Days
1 and 2, when I ended with 11 new WA statebirds.
Day
3 – Southwestern WA
My plan for Day 3 was to start at the
Westport Marina to try for a Bar-tailed Godwit that had been in the area since
August. The Bar-tailed Godwit had been
reported mixed in with a large flock of Marbled Godwits in the marina. Although there were few details on the eBird
reports, luckily I was able to connect with a most helpful local birder who
gave me great details. He mentioned that
the Godwit was most frequently seen perched on the jetty or a floating dock in
the Westport Marina. However, that was
only at high tide. At lower tides the
birds would disperse to feed, and the most recent sightings were of the Godwit
feeding at Bottle Beach, more than 3 miles from the marina. Not only is that a huge area to look for a foraging
bird, but the most recent report was 2 weeks earlier. And the most recent report of the Bar-tailed
at the marina was almost a full month ago. But the local birder suggested it was likely
no one had looked for the bird recently, so not to worry about the recent lack
of reports.
Needless to say it seemed like my chances
of finding the Bar-tailed were higher if I could find it perched with the flock
of Marbleds in the marina. Unfortunately
the tides weren’t on my side – high tide was at 5:16 AM, and sunrise wasn’t
until 7:07 AM. So by the time there was
enough light to look for the bird there would be sufficient mudflats for the
flock to be out feeding. My best hope
was to get there at first light in hopes that the flock was still sleeping in
the marina. Since my hotel in Neah Bay
was a 3 ½ hour drive away, that meant yet another white-knuckle pre-dawn drive
on rainy, dark, and twisting roads. I
left my hotel at 3:45, and luckily it only rained part of the way on the
drive. Good thing I’m a morning person.
I arrived at the marina just after 7, and
began my walk out to the end of Float 21.
My birding contacs said to hope that there were no boats blocking my
view across the water. But the floating
dock was full of boats, including 2 very large fishing boats at the end. To reach the end of the dock I had to very
carefully maneuver around ropes that were tying the boats to the dock. I was able to see around the bow of one of
the fishing boats to the rocks to the northeast, but saw no Godwits at
all. Then I got to the stern of that
boat and looked to the southeast and spotted the flock of Godwits all sleeping
on a distant floating dock. The good
news was that I had an unobstructed view of the flock. Now I needed to pick out that one Bar-tailed
in a tightly packed group of 300 or more Marbleds.
I set up the scope, again avoiding the
ropes, and almost instantly spotted a bird that looked like it was paler below
that the others – the key field mark at this distance. I zoomed in to try to get a closer look, but
then the dock started rocking back and forth.
Did I say it was a floating dock?
It wasn’t as bad as setting up a scope on the deck of a boat, but
almost. Finally I got a good view and I
was able to see the Bar-tailed Godwit standing at the edge of the flock of
Marbled Godwits - paler below, and a bit smaller than the others (WA statebird
#12). I got this phone-scoped photo –
not bad given the distance and the rocking of the dock.
WA was my 3rd state for this
species – I’ve seen it in MA also as a rarity, as well as in AK as a breeder.
Not a minute after I took that photo a gull
that was also perched on the dock walked through the Godwits, waking all the
birds, and causing the Bar-tailed to walk to the middle of the flock. At that point the smaller Bar-tailed completely
disappeared from view. I thought I would
just wait for it to walk to the edge again, but then seconds later the entire
flock took off, not to return. Boy was I
lucky – if I had arrived just a few minutes later the bird would have either
been obscured, or the entire flock would have been gone. Not to mention if the target bird had roosted
anywhere in the flock except the edge closest to me it would likely have been
invisible the entire time.
With 12 new WA statebirds that meant I had
reached my Reportable Plus 15 goal. And
I still had a lot of birding ahead of me.
I had given myself a couple hours to bird
the area looking for the Godwit, so I was nicely well ahead of schedule. So I turned my attention to what other birds
might be in the marina, and quickly spotted a sleeping flock of Aechmophorus grebes. Clark’s was a remote possibility, so I
thought I’d give it a try since these birds were quite close. With a quick binocular scan I noticed one
bird was paler than the others. Could my
luck continue? I continued to watch this
bird until it woke up raising its head.
The face was paler than the couple others nearby, but not pure
white. Then I focused on the bill – it
was bright yellow; much paler and brighter than the others. I worried a bit about the face not being
completely white, but when I looked at the field guide I realized the pure
white face was for a bird in breeding plumage; the paler but not white face was
good for a non-breeding bird. And the
bill fieldmarks were perfect. It was an unexpected
Clark’s Grebe (#13). That’s was one that
would have been a bit more likely if I had taken the inland option on this trip,
though even then not very likely. I’ve
now seen Clark’s Grebe in almost all of the states in its regular range.
Next I was on to Grayland Beach State Park
to try for Snowy Plovers. Although that
might sound like a promising opportunity, in reality I was quite skeptical
about finding this target. In the
several weeks leading up to my trip there had been no reports of this species
at all. It was only when I started doing
research into older reports that I found the State Park could be a possible
spot for Snowy’s. The most recent report
was more than a month old, and specific locations weren’t provided in most of
the eBird reports. But fresh off a
successful search for this species in coastal OR a couple months earlier, I
decided to give it a try. Plus I was
ahead of schedule, and now had quite a bit more time than the 2 hours I had
originally allotted to search for this species.
I parked at the north end of the State
Park, and started my walk south down the beach.
Although signs said it was OK to drive on the beach, I didn’t want to
take any chances about getting my rental car stuck in the sand. Plus I thought I’d find more birds by walking
instead of driving. I targeted the
higher portion of the beach complete with bits of shells and driftwood, which
is the typical habitat for Snowy’s.
Along the way I encountered a nice mixed flock of Canada, Cackling, and
Snow Geese, along with a few Dunlin, foraging in a freshwater pond at the upper
edge of the sand. And there were a few
mixed flocks of Sanderlings and Dunlins down at the surf. But no Plovers.
As I kept walking south down the beach I
had to cross a pretty deep stream that was cutting its way through the beach to
the ocean. I only got a little wet. But then I came to a larger one that seemed a
bit too deep to cross. I couldn’t
realistically go any farther south (unless I changed footwear), so I set up my
scope to look farther down the drier part of the beach. Once again I didn’t see any Plovers. Then I scanned toward the surf and I could
see a small group of Sanderlings feeding in the distance near the mouth of this
stream. Then I noticed two birds a bit
farther from the flock, though still close to the surf. I zoomed in and they looked like they could
be Plovers. I walked down to the beach
and got closer views of 2 Snowy Plovers foraging in the wet sand (#14). I was surprised to see them so close to the
surf. I got this phone-scoped picture of
one of the birds which was banded.
I checked by GPS and I was 1.3 miles south
of the parking lot. Still ahead of
schedule I turned my scope toward the ocean to do a bit of a seawatch. But after a few minutes of seeing almost
nothing passing by, I called it quits and headed back. Luckily the weather had improved dramatically
so it was a nice walk down and back.
My next planned stops were about a 2 ½ hour
drive south and east to try for Sandhill Cranes and Red-shouldered Hawks. (I’m never proud of my carbon footprint on
these trips.) Both birds had been
reported regularly at Ridgefield NWR, though the Cranes were reported in only
small numbers. However much larger
numbers of Cranes were being reported a short distance to the north at Woodland
Bottoms. Plus there was one report of a
Red-shoulder there as well. So since I
was ahead of schedule, and Woodland Bottoms was on the way to Ridgefield NWR, I
figured I would stop there first.
While on the road of course I always keep
my eyes open for birds that might be along the way. At one point I stopped for a large flock of
Cackling Geese in a wet pasture. And at
that same location I spotted a raptor perched up ahead on a telephone
wire. It turned out to be just a
Red-tail not its smaller cousin. But the
prize along the way was in the small town of Raymond. As I slowed for a red light a small Accipter
flew right in front of the car – it was a Sharp-shinned Hawk (#15). Although this is quite a common species nationwide,
it has been an elusive one for me in several states.
I eventually rolled into Woodland Bottoms in the early afternoon hoping to find Sandhill Cranes. This is a flood plain of the Columbia River, with many acres of farm fields. The suggested strategy to find the Cranes is to drive the roads in the area in search of which field the birds happen to be feeding in at that time. As I drove into the northern part of the area I quickly spotted numerous raptors feeding low over the hayfields. And then I noticed an occasional Great Blue Heron out in the fields which initially grabbed my attention, but I couldn’t turn them into Cranes. I then climbed the road up to the top of the dike and headed north in the general area where the one recent Red-shouldered Hawk had been spotted. I pulled over to scan the fields from this higher vantage point and as I rolled down my window I heard a bugling Sandhill Crane (#16). I found a flock of 95 in the field a short distance away feeding with a flock of about 200 Ring-billed Gulls. WA was my 36th state for this species, including several states in the east where it is expanding its range.
I continued to search for Red-Shoulders in
the trees lining the river but with no success.
Though I did end up with a nice raptor tally otherwise – 6 Red-tails, 5
Harriers, 4 Ketrels, and 1 Rough-leg.
Plus I spotted a flock of 9 Great Egrets out in one of the pastures. There must have been shallow drainage ditches
out there that attracted all these waders.
Next I headed a short distance to the south
to try for Red-shouldered Hawk at what I hoped to be their more reliable
location. Initially this species wasn’t
even on my target list, as the maps in the field guides indicated that the
western race of this species didn’t get any farther north than OR. But they showed up in a number of my eBird
Needs Alerts, almost always at Ridgefield NWR.
And although they were reported at multiple eBird locations, the
“epicenter” of these sightings appeared to be the River S area and the auto
tour route there. Though since most
sightings were of just 1 bird (occasionally 2 or 3), this certainly wouldn’t be
a slam dunk. But with lots of time on my
hands I figured I would just keep driving the auto tour route until I found
one.
The tour route was full of cars, mostly
either folks out for a drive in the nice weather or photographers with their
long lenses trying to catch a photo of tame waterfowl close to the road. I on the other hand was scanning the trees in
the riparian woodlands nearby for a small perched raptor. In the first half of the drive I spotted
several Red-tails and some hunting Harriers, but no Shoulders. Then I reached the southwest part of the loop
that drove right through a stand of trees which I suspected might increase my
chances. And sure enough I soon spotted
a small perched raptor in the distance that turned out to be an immature
Red-shouldered Hawk (#17). A bit farther
along I spotted likely the same bird perched in the woods right along the
road. I got this backlit photo holding
my phone up to my binocs.
I’ve now seen Red-shouldered Hawk in all of
the states in its regular range – both the eastern races and now the western elegans race.
With some time on my hands I first turned
my focus to trying for Swamp Sparrow in the wetlands along the road. But like my efforts the day before at Neah
Bay, again I had no luck. Though I did
have a couple small groups of Sandhill Cranes here along the way. Then I spent some time studying the numerous
Cackling Geese – I love hearing their higher pitched calls. I got this phone-binoc shot of this most
cooperative flock (of the minima race
I believe) right along the road.
I still had a couple hours before sunset
and decided to take a short walk in the Carty Unit of Ridgefield NWR which the
guides mentioned was one of the few locations in WA where you could find
White-breasted Nuthatch of the Pacific aculeata
race. Although I already had White-breasted
Nuthatch on my WA state list, those are inland birds of the tenuissima
race. There is talk about splitting this
one into multiple species someday, so perhaps aculeata might be a separate species worth banking for now.
I took the short walk from the parking lot
over the train tracks to the riparian and oak habitat on the other side to
start to look and listen for Nuthatches.
One of the first birds I had there was a calling Red-shouldered Hawk in
the distance. Good thing I didn’t have
to worry about Blue Jays imitating their call out here (or do Scrub Jays
imitate them as well?). A slow walk
through the oaks yielded numerous Scrub Jays, and a number of Woodpeckers. And each time I heard tapping I tried to
track down the source to see if it might be a Nuthatch – but the best bird I
could find was a Red-breasted Sapsucker.
At one point heard a pair of Scrub Jays calling, and a White-breasted
Nuthatch joined in. Not the most
satisfying observation but good enough to bank an aculeata White-breasted Nuthatch. As I drove out of the area
toward my hotel another Sharpie flew by – a nice way to finish the day.
I ended up with 6 new WA statebirds on the
day – I had thought only the Crane and Red-shoulder would be likely additions
so this was much better than I expected.
Another great day of birding!
Day
4 – Greater Seattle in Route to the Airport
With a late morning flight I had a couple
hours of early morning birding time available on Day 4. But since my hotel the night before was a 2
hours to the south of the SEATAC airport (with no traffic!), I would likely
need to limit any stops I would make to somewhere in the greater Seattle
area. My original plan was to look for
Surfbirds in downtown Seattle. But I saw
this species as a bit of a surprise at Neah Bay, so it was no longer a target. I had a feeling I was fresh out of species to
chase after within my narrow time and geographic window – a victim of my own
success perhaps. But I decided to check
the eBird Needs Alert one last time, and found recent reports of a Snowy Egret
south of Seattle. The bird was first
found feeding in a flooded field near the town of Orting 3 days ago, and
re-found 2 days ago, though there were no reports the previous day. I had a feeling that might mean the bird had
moved on, but since I had no other targets to chase, and the spot was roughly
on my route to the airport, it was worth a shot.
The eBird reports gave excellent
micro-directions to the location – a flooded field between Orville Rd. and a
set of soccer fields just south of Orting.
I arrived at the location about 30 minutes before sunrise hoping the see
the bird quickly and then continue to the airport. After all, despite the low light conditions
an all-white wader should be pretty obvious.
But there were no waders in sight.
And worse than that, the flooded field where the Egret had apparently
been feeding had pretty well dried out.
I waited a bit longer but still had no target bird. One report mentioned the bird had flown off
to the northeast, so I drove around a bit in that direction, found some
drainage ditches and a runoff retention pond that could be suitable habitat,
but still no waders of any type. I then
drove a short distance to the south to continue to search the road-side
drainage ditches, but came up empty again.
It was just about time to head off to the
airport, and I decided to make one more search at the soccer fields. As I pulled into the parking lot I noticed a
white spot in the field in the distance.
Could it be? I put it in my
binoculars and it was the Snowy Egret (#18).
It must have just flown in. Not
only was this another eBird rarity, but also a review species for the WA rare
bird committee. The bird was most
cooperative, and I got these two phone-binoc shots of the bird.
What a way to end the trip! I even made it to the airport in time despite
miserable rush hour traffic.
The
Trip by the Numbers
I had a total of 122 species for the trip,
including 18 new birds for my WA statebird list. Needless to say that was way over the 8
additions I hoped for when planning the trip.
That gives me 269 in WA, which is 21 over the old ABA threshold. WA is now my 39th state where I’ve reached my
Reportable Plus 15 goal – I have 6 others that are over the threshold though
not 15 over. Of the 18 birds I added
only 4 are possible on that future eastern WA summer trip, meaning there is
still a lot of statebird potential in eastern WA. Then again, maybe I don’t need to take an
eastern WA trip now that I’m now safely Reportable Plus 15 in WA.
Although ordinarily the highlights of my
statebirding trips are related to reaching new levels in my statelists, for
this trip the key highlights were all the rarities I was able to see, some of
which I found on my own. These included
12 birds for which details were required in eBird –
- Pink-footed Shearwater – found on my own
- Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel – found on my own
- Snowy Egret – stakeout, WA review species
- Bar-tailed Godwit – stakeout
- Red Knot - stakeout
- Prairie Falcon – found on my own
- Tropical Kingbird - stakeout
- Palm Warbler - stakeout
- Prothonotary Warbler – WA review species found on my own, 4th WA state record
- Common Yellowthroat – found on my own
- Harris’s Sparrow – stakeout (but not new for my WA list)
- Orchard Oriole – WA review species, 1 found on my own and 1 stakeout
A truly remarkable trip!
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