End of 2016: One Year List Ends, Another Begins

On December 7th, I was grateful to have one final orca encounter for the year, and it was an extra special one because it was totally unexpected! We were out for a walk on Lime Kiln on a beautiful, crisp day when a friend messaged me telling me to look north. Sure enough, there were blows from J-Pod! The whales were very spread out, but one active group gave us an awesome pass close to shore.

J41 Eclipse and J51 Nova

J37 Hy'shqa

On the year list front, I was thrilled to add not only a year bird but a life bird to my list in late November when a friend found a burrowing owl (year bird 205) hanging out at South Beach. Amazingly, it has stayed for weeks within yards of the same spot! Can you see it? It's well camouflaged.

In December, I also added ancient murrelet (206) when I saw some from the ferry, the sharp-shinned hawk (207) when one visited the yard - I was surprised I hadn't seen one yet this year!

By the time we headed down to Oregon for the holidays I figured my year list was done, but that didn't keep us from checking out some of our favorite birding spots. It's amazing to me how many species we can see in the Portland area that we don't have on San Juan Island!

Great egrets at Scappoose Bottoms

Some of the best birding is at my parents' bird feeders, where they get an impressive array of species, all at close range. 10 minutes of watching birds can sometimes turn up a dozen species!

Red-breasted nuthatch

Female California quail

Male and female California quail

Another awesome phenomenon we got to witness was something called ice hair, where apparently a fungus interacts with soaked, barkless, broadleaf wood in sub-freezing temperatures to create these amazing ice formations. Water basically freezes and then squeezes out of the pores in wood to create these hair-like structures. My parents had seen it several times, and I felt lucky it occurred while we were here!

Finally, we also got to visit Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, one of my all-time favorite birding spots but a place I hadn't been able to visit in a couple years.

Close up of a hunting great egret

Red-tailed hawk takes flight

Female and male hooded merganser

Perched red-tailed hawk

We didn't see any uncommon species, though we did tally 28 species in just over an hour. But, it also turned out tundra swan (208) was a year bird. All my crazy travels and life changes this last year has led to me almost missing some "gimme" species! :) But, my goal was 200, and I made it! There are still a few days left, but my dad is sitting at 185, same as Dave in England! So the victory should be in the bag.

But next year will hold a different challenge! For several years my dad has talked about doing a photo year list, where we count not species identified but species photographed for the year. Both Dave and I signed up for this new twist for 2017, along with a few other friends, so it should be interesting! Each bird can only be "submitted" once and must be identifiable in the photo, which lead to some interesting new considerations. Should we use the first photo opportunity we get of each species, replace with better photos as the year goes on, or wait for what we think are better than average photos for common species? Also, what will a reasonable target be? My dad is hoping for 80% of his typical year list, which for this year would be equivalent to nearly 150 species. Out of the gate Dave is going to be targeting 100 species. I think somewhere between the two may be the result, but 150 would be awesome! We will be tracking our joint progress via Facebook photo albums, but also I'm sure on the blogs as usual. If anyone else wants to join in, let me know! I'm looking forward to it as I'm sure it will lead to me having my camera out more than usual.

Oregon Trip: Happy Camp

With my dad retiring from his job this month, it was time to take a trip to Oregon to help celebrate. First stop was at my parents' house in St. Helens, where a skunk visited us on the first night. It's a blurry picture because I didn't want to use flash and scare it, but it's amazing how close we got - pretty much face to face! Skunks are amazingly beautiful animals up close, but a bit oddly shaped: narrow and small up front, and higher and wider in the hind quarters.

My parents' feeders remain very active, with pine siskins, chickadees, juncos, Steller's jays, flickers, nuthatches, squirrels, and rufous hummingbirds:

Next up it was time to head to Happy Camp Beach in Netarts on the Oregon Coast for a long weekend's worth of celebrations with family and close friends. We rented a cabin with space for 12 people overlooking Netarts Bay. During low tides you could see up to 30 harbor seals hauled out on the sand spit, and also visible were common loons, surf scoters, red-breasted mergansers, western gulls, and sometimes large flock of brant (137).

On Saturday two of us hiked the Cape Lookout trail, which winds mostly through the woods but also offers stunning coastal views in places to both the north and the south:

There were probably a dozen or more wildflower species in bloom, including two types of violet, candyflower, twinflower, a paintbrush species, salmonberry, wild ginger and:

Western trillium (Trillium ovatum)

Fairybell species? (Disporum sp.)

Oregon oxalis or wood sorrel (Oxalis oregana)

While we had a bit of everything weather-wise over the course of the weekend, it was warm, clear, and sunny when we got to the end of Cape Lookout.

There was a lot of bird activity, including a raft of 500 or so common murres and one or two hundred Pacific loons, all flying from south to north. A pair of Caspian terns (138) flew by, as did a pair of ravens, and we could hear orange-crowned and Townsends warblers (139) singing. There relative calm was broken up by a cackling commotion that turned out to be a pair of peregrine falcons. It was pretty awesome from such a high vantage point to look down on them from above:

When other people at the lookout left, we were quiet enough that a ground squirrel was bold enough to come out and grab a few flower buds:

We spent about half an hour out there enjoying the sights and sounds and scanning for whales. It's past the peak of the gray whale migration, but it shouldn't be over entirely and Oregon has a small coastal resident population in the summer. I was disappointed not to see any, but I figured it wasn't to be, so we started back up the trail. I stopped at another small overlook and was just framing a picture when I heard the distinct kawoof of a whale taking a breath. There was my gray whale for the day, and it was pretty close! We saw it surface four times before diving. We walked back out to the end thinking we would see it again rounding the point, but it wasn't to be, so I was thankful we saw it at all.

The weather was supposed to be even nicer on Sunday, but instead it was drizzly all day. That didn't stop a group of us from helping my dad with a COASST survey, and unlike on my always empty San Juan Island beach, we found (parts of) five stranded sea birds: one glaucous-winged gull, three western gulls, and the wing of an alcid of some kind. I was also surprised when someone found some mushrooms growing right out of the sand near the grassy high beach. I've never seen that before! I wonder if there was wood or some other organic matter buried beneath?

Another surprise sighting was a brief look at a white-tailed kite (140) cruising the cliffs above!

After lunch a few of us headed over to Cape Meares, one of my favorite state parks along the Oregon Coast. Last time I was there the Cape Meares Lighthouse had just been vandalized and was closed, but it was open again (though with some bullet holes remaining in some of the irreplaceable glass panes) and we got to take a tour to the top.

There were more Caspian terns, common murres, and pelagic cormorants to be seen, and we also found one red-necked grebe. My dad added a whopping seven year birds here since he was still missing a lot of the common oceanic species, but I just added one that I was surprised wasn't on my list already: hairy woodpecker (141).

Inshore of the lighthouse we also took the short trail to see the Octopus Tree, a large Sitka spruce with eight living trunks that is an Oregon Heritage Tree:

The weather was beautiful again on Monday, but after a morning walk on the beach it was time to head back to Portland. We stopped on the way off a tip from a friend at the Tillamook Forest Center, where we found an American dipper (142) right under the suspension bridge just as described.

My parents had somewhere to be in the afternoon, so we spent a lazy couple of hours reading outside in the warm sunshine and enjoying the local wildlife. In addition to all the species I saw when we arrived, there were also mourning doves and band-tailed pigeons, and a single yellow-rumped warbler:

My parents' little pond was also bustling with micro flora and fauna. It's kind of hard to tell in the picture, but this is one of two clumps of frog eggs that I saw, with tadpoles well on their way developing:

In addition to all the great nature sightings, we had a great long weekend filled with fun games, good food, and great company. Thanks to everyone who came, and congrats Dad on your retirement!!!

Kicking Off the 2013 Year List

Snow fell on New Year's Eve, and as the sky dimmed for the last time in 2012 we gathered our usual friends and family for our last day of the year festivities. Game playing was interrupted shortly before midnight when someone spotted movement on the deck outside. It was a raccoon - the first one my parents have ever seen in their yard. Closer inspection showed it to be a raccoon with a story to tell - he had a gash on his nose and was missing his tail. We could only imagine what might have happened to him.

Just like last year, when I awoke on New Year's Day I added the same first species to my year list without opening my eyes as I heard a Steller's jay (1) in my parents' yard. I went downstairs and ate a bowl of cereal in front of the sliding glass door overlooking the beautiful, snow-dusted landscape, every bough and branch looking like it had been dipped in ice. I added seven more species to the list, most of them the same ones that made up my first ten species from last year: black-capped chickadee (2), mourning dove (3 - was 30 last year), chestnut-backed chickadee (4), red-breasted nuthatch (5), dark-eyed junco (6), spotted towhee (7), and song sparrow (8).

We took off towards Saint Helens, passing ten species with the American crow (10) and adding a few others on our way to the Honeyman Road loop that goes through Scappoose Bottoms. Along the way we had to stop to take a few pictures not only of birds but of the snowy landscape, too:

The reservoir on Honeyman Road had at least 50 tundra swans (16) on it, a species it was nice to add so early and one that wasn't present when we had visited shortly before. Just down the road from the swan overlook was my first red-tailed hawk (17) of the year. My camera settings weren't quite right when it took flight, but I like the result in this photograph anyway:

The rough-legged hawk wasn't in his usual corner, so we thought that might be a big miss. There were other raptors around, however, including a bald eagle (20), several American kestrels (21), and a northern harrier (23). Kestrels are often quite skittish, but this one didn't move when we slowed the car down below it. It wasn't until I looked at the photo that I realized he was clutching a mouse, with blood on his beak and feathers and dripping down the pole. Such is the life of a bird of prey:

We found the rough-legged hawk (24) further down the road form his usual hang out - yay! The rest of Honeyman Road turned up our first bunch of waterfowl and three gull species, with some highlights being half a dozen Wilson's snipe (28) and a small flock of sandhill cranes (29).

The weather was crisp but it was time to get out and walk part of the Crown-Zellerbach trail. The Ross' goose from a few days before was no where to be seen, but in its place were six snow geese (35) with a huge flock of cackling geese. More of the regular wetland species were added here, most notably a Virginia rail (42) that responded to a played vocalization, one or two marsh wrens (43), and a lone cinnamon teal (46). There weren't as many sparrows and small birds in the blackberry bushes, perhaps due to all the people out walking their dogs and enjoying the sunny first day of the year. One dog walker even stopped and asked to take a picture of us crazy birders for the county webpage. Several others stopped to share their own bird sightings with us, even if it was just "a flock of 50 starlings". It's always nice to get others to think about the birds they've seen!

We drove along Dike Road next where the highlight was a male Eurasian wigeon (51), a species that eluded both me and my dad last year. From there it was a short drive to Sauvie Island, where the first stop was to enjoy a pair of peregrine falcons (54) perched in perfect lighting:

Last year, I didn't add peregrine falcon until #218 in October. These two were on adjacent poles, and then one flew to join the other, setting up this great photo op of a pair of falcons, each facing different directions:

It was hard not to stop and take another picture of the same photogenic cows, especially because of the flock of Brewer's blackbirds (55) in their field.

The next pasture over were some very strange looking llamas. They're carrying quite the load of wool, which looks so unkempt as to be growing its own layer of moss of algae:

From there it was on to the Reeder Road observation blind. The duck composition had changed quite a lot from a few days before, perhaps in part because of all the hunting that was going on nearby. We actually saw one guy across the marsh shoot and then wade out to net a duck or goose, the poor thing still struggling as he made his way back to shore. It was interesting to have lots of bird watchers with scopes and binos on one side of the lake and hunters with guns poking through blinds right across the way on the other side. Most of the birds were American coot, and gone from what we could tell were the ruddy ducks, but we did re-find the redhead (58) and canvasback (59), as well as a single female bufflehead (60) and some lesser scaup (61).

With getting a later start than planned and taking our time everywhere we went, we realized we weren't going to cover nearly as much ground as we had originally planned for January 1. Still, without traveling nearly as far as we did last year, we equaled last year's first day of the year total by about 2:30 in the afternoon. Next up was Rentenaar Road, where we had seen the Harris' sparrow on the 29th. It looked like lots of other birders had the same idea, as the road was busy from end to end. As we pondered what it was about this particular dirt road edged with blackberries that so attracted sparrows, we saw dozens of golden-crowned and white-crowned sparrows (63). All in all, we only turned up four of the seven sparrow species from a few days before. We managed to turn up two Lincoln's sparrows (64), but no Harris' sparrow for us that day.

By this time the annoying cold that has greeted me this new year was beginning to take its toll on me, so we started to head home. On our way off the island we picked up double-crested cormorants (65) as expected, but didn't see any of the hoped-for mergansers along the Multnomah Channel.

As we reviewed the first day of birding, we agreed the peregrine falcons were the highlight, but were surprised that fox sparrow hadn't made it onto the list - last year it was #10 for me. On our way home we went by a patch of bushes where we had seen a pair of fox sparrows a few days ago. They hadn't been there in the morning, but amazingly to me, there they were in the afternoon (66). Just like the rough-legged hawk and so many other birds, they astound me with their site fidelity. Since we were so close we returned to the rough-legged hawk area, a spot known to some birders as Owl Corner. While the rough-legged hawk had returned to his usual perching tree, there were no short-eared owls or any other kind of owls to be seen patrolling the fields.

That proved to be it for day one, but with an improvement of five species over last year, I was pleased enough. I perhaps paid for being out and about so much with a cold coming on, as I proved to be totally down for the count today and further birding plans had to be postponed. The only species I added on day two were evening grosbeaks (67) and varied thrushes (68) that came to my parents' feeders, seen comfortably from under a blanket on the couch. I hope to still get in a trip to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge before I leave, and hopefully seek out a couple of the rarer birds reported in Portland recently on the way there.

Birds In Motion

This morning my dad and I drove the Honeyman Road loop near Scappoose Bottoms to do a little bit of birding, in part to scout out the region for our January 1 birding day to kick off the 2013 year list. We turned up more than 30 species in an hour of birding, including lots of waterfowl species (mallards, wigeon, shoveler, green-winged teal, pintail....) The weather was overcast but not raining or too windy, with some views towards the mountains, like here towards Mt. Saint Helens:

Due to the low light conditions I thought I'd try to catch some images of birds in motion, and my first opportunity was this rough-legged hawk in flight:

He/she then perched in a nearby field. After scanning with the binos we found a second rough-legged hawk, the first time my dad has seen two in this area together. There were also an amazing number of red-tailed hawks, probably at least a dozen in the ten-mile loop, including a pair nearby the rough-leggeds. While we watched the raptors several hundred cackling geese flew overhead, cackling away the whole time.

Along the next stretch of road we saw some western meadowlarks - a good find that I hope we turn up again on New Year's Day. We also found lots of dark-eyed juncos and a couple flocks of golden-crowned sparrows, and a few song and fox sparrows. One field had eight great egrets, and we also saw a couple of great blue herons. There was a belted kingfisher who was looking for fish in a flooded ditch. Check out how steep his dive was off the branch:

Another red-tailed hawk was perched on a nest, maybe preparing it for the upcoming breeding season:

 The low hanging stratus clouds and flooded farm fields made for some neat scenics, like this one:

Our last stop of the day turned out to be a surprisingly productive one. In addition to hundreds of cackling geese, there were several hundred gulls. At least three species were present - most of them seemed to be mew gulls, but there were also glaucous-winged and ring-billed. Several duck species were in the middle of the flooded field, and at the edge of the marshy area we spotted six greater yellowlegs, another species that it would be great to repeat on the 1st. The real coup, however, turned up when I spotted something white among the cackling geese. We thought it was probably a gull at first, but after a closer inspection it turned out to be a Ross' goose (221)! One more year bird for the list, one that has eluded me the last couple of years.

That's likely all that will be added to the year list (I said that once before, didn't I?) unless something very unexpected turns up at my parents' feeders in the next couple of days. We'll see!

From Stanwood to Saint Helens

Friday afternoon we headed south from San Juan Island to Saint Helens, Oregon to spend a week with friends and family and attend an event at my alma mater. Our first stop after disembarking the ferry was Eide Road in Stanwood, Washington where there are always some great birds to be seen - it's where I saw the snowy owl in December of last year. There were several species that had been reported the weekend before I was particularly interested in seeing, the rarest of which was a bobolink. I didn't have luck turning up the bobolink, but the shrubby trees at the beginning of the road were very active with birds, including cedar waxwings, yellow warblers, and western tanagers.

A little further along the road I saw a pair of western kingbirds - always a great find. Then, I was really surprised a few hundred yards away to see a second pair! Despite their name, they're pretty uncommon in western Washington, and I've never seen so many in one place.

Northern harriers, an osprey, and a pair of turkey vultures soared overhead, and a few great blue herons were flying in the distance, but still no sign of any of the "target" birds I was looking for. From the parking area I could see a pond to the southwest with lots of birds on it. As I was walking along the path, a bald eagle flew over and flushed almost all the birds off the pond. Argh! A few birds remained, however, so I continued in that direction.

The only ducks left were a pair of cinnamon teal. There were three shorebirds left.....what were they......one was a Wilson's phalarope (182)! (Note: just realized I never mentioned cedar waxwing near home was 181.) An excellent find. When the other two flew, I was able to confirm that they were short-billed dowitchers (183), another year bird.

It was time to continue south, and the plan to take an extra ferry from Edmonds to Kingston to avoid the Memorial Day weekend traffic on I5 turned out to be a good one. There was a wait for the ferry, but there was virtually no traffic down Highway 3 on the other side. I'm no fan of scotch broom since it's so invasive and causes me horrible allergies, but my attitude towards it softened a bit on this drive. I've never seen so much of it in such peak bloom - it lined both sides of the highway for miles and miles, and was a pretty impressive sight.

On the first day of our visit in Saint Helens my dad and I went birding along the Crown-Zellerbach Trail in Scappoose. A gray morning turned into another beautiful afternoon, and right when we got out of the car we saw an olive-sided flycatcher and a pair of California quail - not a bad start!

Lots of flowers were in bloom, and some of the Nootka rose provided an opportunity to get a photo of another plant in in all its stages - bud, blossom, and rosehip:

Along the first part of the trail some of the birds we saw included common yellowthroat, American goldfinch, and marsh wren. At the marshy area, I was hoping to hear an American bittern, and I wasn't disappointed (184). We also heard a pair of Virginia rails there, and a couple of Vaux's swifts (185) flew overhead too.

While looking at a pied-billed grebe family with a couple of cute chicks, all of a sudden there was a flurry of bird activity. In one tree there was a cedar waxing, an olive-sided flycatcher, and a western wood-pewee (186) perched on right above the other.

Western wood-pewee

A woodpecker flying across the trail caught my eye, but when I investigated further the only thing I could find was a pair of warbling vireos (187), already the fourth year bird of the day!

Before heading home we drove to a spot further along the C-Z Trail where my dad had seen some good birds biking a few weeks ago. Right under the bridge where he had seen it was an American dipper (188). We were ready to head home when I heard a bird singing I didn't recognize. I headed in that direction and spotted something blue perched on a wire, facing away from we. What the heck? It turned out to be a lazuli bunting (189)! Another species, along with the Wilson's phalarope from the day before, that didn't make it onto my year list last year.

The birding is just as good at my parents' house, where their feeders are always bustling. The main attraction is the big flock of evening grosbeaks that comes by, with a few black-headed grosbeaks mixed in for good measure.

Two female evening grosbeaks

Male evening grosbeak

Female black-headed grosbeak

Other regular visitors include band-tailed pigeons, mourning doves, Steller's jays, dark-eyed juncos (including one with one leg), red-breasted nuthatches, both black-capped and chestnut-backed chickadees, rufous hummingbirds, and pine siskins. There's a lot to watch, and it's a treat to spend time just sitting by the window taking in all the activity.