Northern Vancouver Island Part 1: Grizzlies and Waterfalls

The first week of September has been marked off all year as a reset, recharge, and rejuvenate week spent on northern Vancouver Island. With various stresses having built up over the preceding months, it couldn't have come at a better time. As our departure date approached I decided to unplug for the trip as well - no e-mail, phone, or social media. We didn't have much planned other than lodging, and we left open to whatever adventures awaited us.

On a whim we decided to splurge on a tour to Bute Inlet to look for grizzly bears. The day dawned in classic Pacific Northwest style: with steady rain. Luckily the fog lifted as we headed out, and the scenery on the two hour boat ride to Orford Bay was beautiful.

As we arrived for the land-based portion of our tour we were welcomed to traditional Homalco lands by our First Nations hosts. We didn't even have to leave the dock to see our first two grizzly bears meandering around the estuary at low tide. We headed over to an observation tour to get a better look.

Over the next couple of hours we got to see a total of six grizzlies, the highlight of which was this one that hopped up on a log in close proximity (seen from the safety of our vehicle).

Equally amazing to seeing the bears was not only being in such a remote area, but hearing stories from our Homalco guides who are working to reconnect their youth to their traditional lands and culture. The rain continued to fall as we viewed bears, but luckily the sun broke through shortly before we left.

The stunning view from land at Orford Bay as the sun broke through

The highlight of the trip may have actually been the boat ride back to Vancouver Island on glassy seas with stunning scenery around every corner, even more awesome than in the morning with the late afternoon light. We sat on the top dock of the boat the whole way and soaked it all in.

We even got to stop and take a look at a three year-old humpback named Linea, who is the 2016 calf of BCY0027 Maude.

One more photo of the Cape Mudge Lighthouse as we headed back to port at sunset:

The next day we headed inland to Strathcona Provincial Park to check out several waterfalls. As would be the theme for the trip, it was another scenic drive.

The highlight of the day was climbing on the rocks around Myra Falls:

Next up, it was time to head further north, with plenty more wildlife to come....

Driving Across the American West From North to South

A few months ago we decided to plan a road trip south to get a much needed dose of sunshine during the long, gray months of the Pacific Northwest winter. Since then we've been keeping an eager eye on bird sightings along our route with the potential for lots of life birds as we traversed a climate very different from our home base. Saturday, February 3 was departure day and we found our change in weather as soon as we crossed east over the Cascades. Surprisingly, it was sunny and 60+ degrees and we went birding in T-shirts, adding our first new species of the trip:

Mountain chickadee in Union Gap, WA

This is my second year doing a photo year list, trying not only to see or hear but also photograph as many bird species as possible in 2018. Unlike last year, where I would post the first identifiable photo I got of a species only to later go back and upload a better replacement, this year I decided to wait until I got shots I was happy with for common species I knew I would get photo ops for. The sunshine gave me just the right sort of opportunity to get some better shots of common species like these American wigeon.

American wigeon in Kennewick, WA

As daylight descended on the first day of our road trip, we crossed the Columbia River into Oregon with a beautiful sunset.

The next day we crossed northeastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho, beginning the part of the drive that was new territory for me. Sadly the Idaho landscape was not very compelling and on our few stops we found hardly any birds. The day was salvaged by a late unplanned stop at Shoshone Falls which were an impressive sight.

Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls, Idaho

While it had been overcast all day, as we left Twin Falls, Idaho we were treated to another spectacular sunset, with the colors getting better and better in all directions after the sun went down. They call Montana the Big Sky State but we got a taste of it in southern Idaho, with colors surrounding us on all sides in a wide open sky.

We spent our second night just across the Nevada border, and the next morning it was amazing to see how much the landscape had changed from nearby Idaho. I had never really thought of the Great Basin as being surrounded on all sides by mountains, which made for compelling scenery.

We had to stop several times for some unexpected wildlife sightings. I'm lucky enough to see bald eagles regularly and have had opportunities to get some amazing photographs of them, but this was my first time photographing a golden eagle at close range.

Golden eagle

Not far from the golden eagle, we came across a coyote.

And later on we also saw several herds of pronghorn, North America's closest equivalent to the antelope of Africa.

We made a slight detour to check out Cathedral Gorge State Park, which turned out to be a great decision. The geology was beautiful, with red rock slot canyons and other amazing formations. Luckily the skies cleared and the sun came out, too, making for even better photo ops.

Several times as we traversed the landscape of the American West we noticed the sudden appearance and disappearance of certain plant species. I know certain trees, shrubs, and cacti are adapted for particular climates, but it was amazing how abruptly they would start and stop - related to elevation, or...? I have no idea. The Joshua tree was one of those plants, that went from non-existant to present by the thousand to absent again.

While this trip is nature-focused, we inevitably have to pass through some cities, and as Jason had never seen Las Vegas before we decided to make it a one-night stopping point. When we checked in the hotel clerks couldn't believe we were only staying one night, but it felt like more than enough! We walked the Strip at night and it was sensory overload. But, worth seeing at least once in your life.

All throughout our trip we've found ourselves coming up with questions about the places we're traveling through, things we have to look up every night. We were wondering how a place like Las Vegas ended up in the middle of the desert, and I never would have guessed that the initial beginnings of Sin City were due to its proximity to the construction site for the Hoover Dam. While workers were eventually banned from going there, it started getting its reputation during that time when dam workers would go there to drink, gamble, and find prostitutes.

Anyway, the next day, it was thankfully back to birding. Incredibly, not far from Las Vegas, is an amazing little area called the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. Run by the local parks and rec department, you have to check in upon arrival but access is free and then you can walk freely around the nine ponds which create an oasis for a wide variety of species in the middle of the desert. I would have loved it anyway, but perhaps especially in comparison to walking the Strip the night before, it felt like an oasis to me, too! And, the very first bird we saw there was my first lifer of the trip.

Common gallinule

It's fascinating to realize that the further we get from home, the more our common species become unexpected and vice versa. The people at Henderson don't bat an eye at the common gallinule, which was one of the reasons I wanted to go there. Meanwhile, they are very excited about the dozen snow geese that have stopped there, which up in Skagit Flats we have by the thousand. But, somewhat ironically, while scanning those thousands of geese in Washington has yet to turn up a Ross' goose for me, there was one among the dozen snow geese here at Henderson.

Small, cute Ross' goose front right with larger, less cute snow geese for comparison

The Henderson Preserve also turned up Jason's target species for the trip: a greater roadrunner. This species can prove elusive so we felt lucky to find one so early on!

That afternoon we continued on down into Arizona, where we would have our first multi-night stop in the Phoenix area. I don't like flying to begin with, but another benefit to driving is you really get to comprehend the landscape you're traversing. It was pretty darn awesome to drive the American West from nearly the Canadian border to nearly the Mexican border in a matter of days. But now that we had reached so far south, the birding would really pick up, and that's where I'll continue on my next blog post.

October 27th ~ From North Bend to Goldendale

At the end of last month I turned 30, so to celebrate the big birthday we decided to take a little road trip to parts of Washington and Oregon that I hadn't ever explored before. After running some errands the day we left the island, (and driving through Fir Island where I added snow goose [186] to the year list) we spent the night in North Bend, Washington before heading east over the Cascade Mountains. We were so close to Snoqualmie Falls, our first stop in the morning was to check those out:

Snoqualmie Falls

Heading over the Cascades, we got to see some nice fall colors. Overall, it was pretty dark and gray though, so we didn't make too many stops.

As we reached Yakima, the sun was shining. Ahhh, eastern Washington - that's more like it! Having crossed over the mountains, it didn't take long to add black-billed magpie (187) to the year list.

It almost looks like the mgapie is in the grass behind the cow, but he's actually sitting on the cow's head

Instead of staying on the major highway, we took a smaller side road that followed the Yakima River Valley. Good decision! It was beautiful. We stopped at a little river access where there was a hike that went up a side creek. It ended up being one of my favorite walks of the trip, perhaps because it was totally unexpected.

Suspension foot bridge crossing the Yakima River

Beautiful fall colors - and sunshine! - in the Yakima River Valley

We also made a brief stop at the Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge, but it was a bit of a disappointment bird-wise. The only birds we saw in about half an hour there were two white-crowned sparrows! It was, admittedly, the worst time of day in the middle of the afternoon, but still!

I was very excited to continue across the Yakama (yes, it's spelled different from the town) Indian Reservation. We headed up the Toppenish Ridge and across the Lost Horse Plateau, where I was hoping to see some wild horses. I read about it a bit ahead of time, and knew that there is a rather large population of horses there - an estimated 15,000, which most people think are way too many. When we started seeing groups of horses right away, I really wondered if we were seeing the wild ones. Turns out, we were!

Wild horses on the Lost Horse Plateau, along Highway 90 south of Toppenish, WA

A few groups were even pretty close to the road!

They were so cool to see! Day one of the real road trip was an absolute success, and we hadn't even reached the region where we planned to spend most of our time yet. There would be many more sights to come!

Shaw Island

We've gotten in the habit of going on a weekend camping trip near Keith's birthday, and this year the plan was to visit nearby Shaw Island. Amazingly, despite spending at least parts of every summer in the San Juans for the last 13 years and despite the fact that it's served by the Washington State Ferry, it's an island I've never been to. It was time to remedy that! Unfortunately, our plans got cut short due to Keith coming down with a bad cough and we had to bail early, but we still had time to enjoy the island a little bit.

Sign at the Shaw Island ferry terminal. Shaw became the 10th island I've set foot on in the San Juan Islands.

The campground, part of a county park and the only public lands on Shaw, is perched on a wooded cliff above the beach. Indian Beach is a rare sandy beach - most of our shorelines are rocky.

As we walked the beach, I saw something I've never seen before: a hummingbird taking a bath in a tiny waterfall!

Afterwards, it stuck its tongue out at me, perhaps for photographing such a private moment:

There were actually three hummingbirds flying about, as well as a recently fledged group of house wrens, olive-sided and Pacific-slope flycatchers, orange-crowned warblers, white-crowned sparrows, and spotted towhees.

It was amazing to see dozens and dozens of tent caterpillars crawling around on the driftwood. This year has seen an explosion of tent caterpillars, and many local gardeners are happy that their season is coming to an end. We actually found some cocoons that I've assuming are from the tent caterpillars.

We had a peek-a-boo view of the water from our campsite, where we could watch the ferries going by:

In the morning we knew we were going to pack up and catch a ferry back home, but we still had a couple hours to explore the island a little bit. We walked to Reef Net Point, where I heard a Hutton's vireo (163) to add to my year list. (I erroneously stated in an earlier blog post that I had added Hutton's vireo, but it was a typo on my part, as it was Cassin's vireo I added at that point!) In the campground I also heard a Steller's jay to add to my county list - not a species I'm likely to see or hear while on San Juan Island.

There were lots of foxglove in bloom everywhere:

Driving around the island, it really reminded me of Waldron Island, but with paved roads. The population on Shaw is about double that of Waldron (165 to 80 or so), but they both have limited public facilities (no lodging or restaurants - though Shaw does have a general store and public campground). Both islands have small schools, post offices, and grassy airstrips.

I also don't remember seeing a fire station on Waldron, but it doesn't look like this one on Shaw sees too much activity:

At least the weather was beautiful for our ferry ride back to Friday Harbor. We had a stop at Orcas Island and I took this photo that I love of the Orcas ferry landing:

Here's the scene as we pulled back into Friday Harbor:

After a fairly sleepless night, we both has to spend part of the sunny afternoon taking a nap, but I wasn't about to let the entire day go to waste. After dinner I headed down to American Camp, where I was amazed at how much I saw in one hour before sunset - the next post will feature photos of that excursion!