Birding From Portland to San Juan Island

With a stretch of warm, summer-like weather I took advantage of some great days for birding. Before leaving Portland, I stopped by Vanport Wetlands where I added yellow-headed blackbird (143) to the year list. This was just a stop on our way to Smith and Bybee Lakes, a beautiful wetlands area nestled right near the Oregon-Washington border. It's a very green place in spring time, and the first part of the trail was just humming with yellow-rumped warblers - there were probably hundreds of them there!

There was lots of osprey (144) activity around - we saw three different pairs at or near the wetlands. There were numerous adult and immature bald eagles, too. Nothing outnumbered the turtles sunning themselves on logs, however. There were easily more than 100 visible from one overlook!

We saw a nice variety of waterfowl here, and some more uncommon sightings included a pair of bushtits and a calling pileated woodpecker.

The next day, Wednesday, it was time to start heading back north to the San Juan Islands, but we got an early enough start to make sure we had ample time to enjoy Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on the way. We spent two hours there, and it was pretty amazing to see that the parking lot was full on a weekday morning!

The number of people present didn't seem to put a damper on the bird sightings as I saw or heard nearly 40 species while we were there. The cliff swallows were in abundance, and were busy building their nests on the visitors center and on the Twin Barns. Tree swallows were also busy coming and going from nesting cavities in the deciduous trees along the first part of the walk. Pretty much all the expected duck species were present in pretty good numbers, too: northern shoveler, northern pintail, mallards, American wigeon, green-winged teal, bufflehead, ring-necked ducks, gadwall, and Canada and cackling geese. A pair of pied-billed grebes chased each other around the marsh and more savannah sparrows were singing around every corner. On the first stretch of the trail I also saw my first brown-headed cowbird (145) of the year, and I also heard a sora (146) call once.

In addition to all the waterfowl, the marshy areas were noisy with singing marsh wrens and common yellowthroat. The yellowthroat are often secretive, but one pair of males seemed to be in the middle of a territorial dispute and were chasing each other back and forth in plain sight. It was still tough to get a photograph of them, as whenever they landed they were obscured by grasses. This is the best picture I got - you can see the second male behind and to the right of the one in the foreground.

Out on the boardwalk part of the trail the bird activity quieted down substantially, but the landscape and the colors were still impressive to take in:

It was low tide, and only a few green-winged teal and a pair of greater yellowlegs seemed to be foraging in the mudflats. In the distance some glaucous-winged and mew gulls could be seen too. 

Time went quickly and all too soon it was time to get back on the road to catch our ferry. We made it home in the evening, but it wasn't straight back to work for me - I took a few extra days off to make sure I could enjoy a few days of spring time here on the island, too. Thursday was another awesome day with temperatures nearing 70 degrees, and I spent several hours out in some of my favorite birding spots. Inspired by the sora I heard at Nisqually, I wanted to see if I could turn up the species on San Juan Island as well, and indeed I heard a couple of birds at both Swan Valley Marsh and False Bay Creek. Also at False Bay Creek, the swallows seemed to be selecting nesting boxes and four turkey vultures soared overhead. Just like at Nisqually, I heard some more marsh wrens, common yellowthroat, and savannah sparrows, but also saw a hunting northern harrier and heard a single Virginia rail.

Down at the south end of the island, common camas is starting to bloom in the prairies:

We haven't quite hit our wildflower peak here yet, but the careful observer can still find lots of species in bloom right now:

While walking the prairies in search of wildflowers, a pair of American goldfinches (147) flew overhead, my first of the season. Large flocks of surf scoters and red-breasted mergansers could still be seen off of South Beach, and another northern harrier cruised over the grasslands. Savannah sparrows, seeming especially abundant this year, were also everywhere. The biggest surprises of the week were still in store for me, however.

As I drove along the Redoubt Road, I saw a bird fly up from near the ground to perch on a tree. At first I assumed it was another savannah sparrow, as nearly every bird I lifted the binoculars to throughout my walk had turned out to be one of these streaky sparrows with yellow by the eye and a buzzy call. Something about this one struck me as different, however, and am I ever glad I stopped! It turned out to be a female mountain bluebird (148). This species is usually only seen east of the Cascades, but a few always migrate west of the Cascades while heading to more northern climates and sometimes stop over on the San Juan Islands. This is only the second time I've seen the species in the county and my first time seeing one on San Juan Island. The bird flew further along the road and I was able to get this photo of it before she took off and flew out of the sight to the north:

From here I scanned the American Camp prairies with my binoculars and saw a beautiful red fox still in its lush winter coat, surprisingly my first fox of the day. Usually this time of year the prairies are active with foxes - to my surprise I saw lots and lots of rabbits (the national park has attempted and is to eradicate these guys from the historic grasslands) but only this one fox! With further scanning I saw something perched in a stand of fir trees, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it was a short-eared owl. I thought all these owls had taken off by now, as they're usually only seen here in winter and I hadn't heard of any sightings since the last week of March. But, there it was! I was thrilled when after watching it for a few minutes it took flight, giving me the opportunity to get what I think is probably my best shot of the week:

Next up, the weather has turned cloudy again, but I've still got a few days off and plenty of places to explore. I'll report back with what I find!

End of April: Year List Update

I'm in the middle of spending a week down in Portland, where my parents have just sold their house to move outside of the city. In addition to packing, sorting, and doing a little bit of work for my dad, I've had the chance to go on a few different birding excursions. Sorry for the lack of pictures today - the conditions just didn't quite align very often either due to distance or weather or both!

On the drive down south I stopped at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge where unfortunately it was pouring rain. I still managed to find 18 species on the one mile Twin Barn loop trail. The highlight of the visit were the hundreds and hundreds of swallows buzzing around over the marsh near the visitor center. While the majority of them were violet-green swallows, there were also tree swallows, barn swallows, and a few cliff swallows (156) mixed in.

Yesterday my dad and I made a brief stop at Vanport Wetlands in north Portland, where a vermillion flycatcher had been spotted a couple of days before. While it remained elusive for us as it had for many other birders who tried to follow up on this report of a normally more southern species, there was still a lot of activity on the marsh. Dozens of red-winged blackbirds were singing away, with a few yellow-headed blackbirds (157) mixed in for good measure. The most plentiful bird on the water was the American coot, though there were also Canada geese, mallards, gadwall, northern shoveler, pied-billed grebes, and lesser scaup. The waterfowl highlights were several male ruddy ducks, a pair of redhead, and a pair of cinnamon teal (158). Again several swallow species were catching insects over the water, but there were also about a half dozen Vaux's swifts (159), another first for the year.

We went to check on the nearby great horned owl nest, but it appeared to be empty. On the walk over there we did have a close encounter with a surprisingly tame mourning dove, however. At Force Lake I got several close looks at a male common yellowthroat who became camera shy as soon as I pulled out my bigger lens. The only cooperative bird turned out to be this charming song sparrow:

Today we took a day off from "work" to go to Tillamook and do a COASST survey on my dad's beach. On the way out we stopped at Killin Wetlands in Forest Grove, which didn't turn up any bitterns or soras as we had hoped. The highlight of this stop for me was the chorus of about five marsh wrens singing simultaneously, with the red-winged blackbirds providing back-up. There were also some northern rough-winged swallows mixed in with the swallow crowd, and we saw a pair of Eurasian collared-doves nearby. Closer to Tillamook along the river we found a flock of about 30 greater scaup.

We didn't find any dead birds during our survey, which meant we had extra time to spend looking for live birds. At the Happy Camp beach most of the activity was near the end of the Netarts spit where we saw a few surf scoters, pigeon guillemots, and western gulls in addition to a single common loon. A group of 16 Brandt's cormorants flew by, as did a single Caspian tern (160). Everything was too far away for photos, so the only thing I took a picture of was this scene on the beach:

Next up we swung by Bay Ocean Spit as we always do, but got delayed longer than usual by the bird activity. First we came across a small flock of mallards and northern pintail, as well as a nearby group of bufflehead. Then a larger flock of ducks including northern shoveler, green-winged teal, American wigeon, and two Eurasian wigeion. Through my dad's scope we also found about 50 brant greese out in the bay, as well as our only red-breasted merganser for the day. On the mud spit were several dozen more Caspian terns, though one of the tern-like birds flying around turned out to be a lone Bonaparte's gull in breeding plumage.

The highlight of this stop for us was the shorebirds. We saw four marbled godwits, a dozen western sandpipers (161), and a group of about 45 dowitchers. My dad thinks they were long-billed, which would make them another year bird for me, but they were just too far away for me to be certain, especially with all the heat distortion looking through the scope! Still cool to see, even without knowing for sure what they were.

Our last birding stop for the day was Fenk Road, a little agricultural side road that seems to turn up more than its fair share of "good" birds. Today was no exception, as just after turning onto the road we were surprised to find a flock of about 20 least sandpipers (162) along the river bank! I don't think I've ever seen peeps along a river before. While we were watching them, a flock of about a hundred greater white-fronted geese flew in - another great find! Several ravens were also in the field nearby. The sightings didn't end there. As we pulled up to the cow barns in addition to the red-winged blackbirds, European starlings, crows, and house sparrows, I saw a single male American goldfinch (163). A little further on along the river we could see mallards, green-winged teal, gadwall, shoveler, and a couple bufflehead. Here's one of the tree swallows that was perched nearby:

The brambles between the road and the river were bustling with activity as they always seem to be, with lots of yellow-rumped warblers (both myrtle and Audubon's) as well as both white-crowned and golden-crowned sparrow. The best find of the day turned out to be the very last species we added to the day list - a single palm warbler (164). This species was reported here a couple weeks ago, and in fact this is the exact same spot I saw it for the first time in January 2010.

With the five birds added to the year list today that makes a total of 25 species added for the month of April. That's better than the 21 added during April last year, when by the end of the 30th I was sitting at 152 species on the year. I'm sure those eastern species added in January have helped boost me ahead of last year's total, but it's a good thing because during May last year is when I started my trip to Alaska! It will be tough to match the 2010 year listing efforts of May and June in Alaska during this year, but I'll be out there birding regardless! :)