The Trials and Tribulations of a Bird Lister

While I was in Portland over the Thanksgiving holiday I knew there would be the possibility of picking up a few more birds for the year list, but I didn't anticipate a brambling showing up just a few miles away from my parents' new house! This was only the 12th confirmed record of the species in Oregon, and as you can see, the morning after the report quite a few birders flocked to the scene:

I can only imagine what some of the neighbors thought of the sudden onslaught of bird-watchers to their small neighborhood trail! Unfortunately for all the patient onlookers, the bird only made one brief appearance early in the morning and then wasn't seen again. We only spent about an hour there (others camped out for the whole day!), but it turned out to be a very active bird spot, and one that I probably wouldn't have discovered if it weren't for the rare bird report. Some of the species I saw and heard there included a Virginia rail, sandhill cranes, a band-tailed pigeon, a great egret, and a white-throated sparrow. 

After looking for the brambling we headed into the city to do some errands, and while there made another stop off at Westmoreland Park where I hoped to see the eared grebe that had been hanging out there. I was disappointed not to find it. No vermilion flycatcher (see previous post), no brambling, no eared grebe. What a streak of luck! But I was even more disappointed when I heard that later the same day the eared grebe was found dead, perhaps attacked by a dog in the park! What a sad ending for that wayward bird.

Again, though, even without the grebe there was lots of bird activity at Westmoreland. There was a big flock of cackling geese on the lake along with American wigeon, mallards, bufflehead, a couple of lesser scaup, and some ring-billed and glaucous-winged gulls. Within the flock of wigeon grazing on the grass I also found a female Eurasian wigeon, which is always a fun species to find. It was thanks to my close up looks of a Eurasian wigeon at this very park about two years ago that I finally got confident enough to pick female Eurasians out of a flock, even without the presence of a male.

The weather stayed pretty nice for the rest of the weekend and I got out to see some more of St. Helens. At the marina I found a group of half a dozen Steller's jays, a species that I still need to find on Orcas Island for my San Juan County list this year:

Back at my parents' house, I was hopeful to see of the feeder visitors that my dad had reported from earlier this fall season. I struck out on the gray jays, but I did get to witness one of the brief sporadic visits of an evening grosbeak (year bird 201) flock. About 20 birds descended to the feeders and were only there about five minutes before moving on. All that effort of traveling around to look for birds, and I ended up seeing a year bird right from my parents' kitchen!

On the trip back north to San Juan Island I made another stop off at Stanwood, hoping that in the nicer weather and with better daylight I could get a better look at the snowy owls and maybe even get some photos. Unfortunately the owls weren't in sight during my half hour stop there, though again I saw lots of other good bird species including a rough-legged hawk, a ring-necked pheasant, a Wilson's snipe, and a short-eared owl. 

My year list has now reached my goal of 200 species, but I still want to add some birds to my San Juan County list. With only a month left, I've got some of my naturalist friends on alert for a few of the species I'm still keen to see. It paid off when I got a message last Sunday from Phil on Yellow Island, along with a photo of a pair of Barrow's goldeneye he had seen that morning. Being a great birding pal, he picked me up and we made a quick jaunt out to Yellow where we were able to relocate the female Barrow's goldeneye (SJ county bird 151). Not only that, but I also found a western grebe (SJ county bird 152) out in the channel! After all that trying and failing for owls in November I thought the county year list goal would remain out of reach, but the two birds in one day rekindled by hope....

Another report rekindled my hope, too: that of a snowy owl seen at South Beach! I figured with all the snowy owls showing up all over western Washington there was a decent chance of one being seen on San Juan Island this season - we've got some nice prairie habitat down around the American Camp and Cattle Point area. I've made several trips to that part of the island in recent weeks hoping for an owl sighting - on one outing I pulled over along the way to look at a bald eagle who was feeding on a deer carcass. He took flight and circled around my car before landing again, providing this photo op:

Surely a good omen for the bird-watching day? But alas, the snowy owl report was two days old, and despite my searching high and low around South Beach no owls could be found. Perhaps it just stopped over here before moving on? Too bad.

South Beach, in fact, was incredibly quiet bird-wise. Not even the regular gulls and scoters were hanging out. And it was such a good day for birding, too:

It wasn't until I scanned well offshore and found a flock of about 20 long-tailed ducks that I saw anything worth mentioning.

So, in conclusion, there have been some disappointments over the last couple of weeks in my efforts to locate some new birds for the year. There were lots of "just misses", even on the same day when the species had been seen by others. Some listers will sympathize with my frustration, while some other naturalists may question the logic of "chasing" certain species. I'm certainly not one of the most extreme when it comes to listing - I'm only willing to chase after birds that are fairly close to where I live or happen to be traveling - but upon reflection finding the new species for my county list, year list, or life list, is only half of the reason I like to head out in search of more unusual species. The other reason is that it motivates me to get out, often to new places that I haven't seen before, where I'll end up finding other cool things to look at whether or not I find the target species. Without searching for the brambling, I wouldn't have found the cool little marsh with the calling Virginia rail so close to my parents' new house. If I hadn't made efforts to find the snowy owls, I wouldn't have found the rural road in Stanwood that's home to cool species like rough-legged hawks and short-eared owls, nor would I have had the close encounter with the bald eagle on my home island. Every time I go out looking for something in particular, I see something cool, whether or not it's what I was looking for.

So, as the year winds to an end, I'm going to continue to chase down the species I don't yet have on my lists. Because who knows what I'm going to find. Stay tuned....

Eurasian Wigeon and Other Waterfowl

No more outdoor ice skating at Westmoreland Park, which means it has returned to being a winter birding hotspot. Someone had reported a Eurasian wigeon there a couple days ago, so yesterday I decided to head out to try and find it. It wasn't until I reread the sighting report a little more carefully that I realized it was a single female Eurasian wigeon, which was going to make the task of finding it a little tougher. Female ducks aren't nearly as difficult as immature gulls, but they are not my specialty! So, I consulted the Sibley's on the nuances of female wigeon identification and off I went.

There were hundreds of wigeon at the park, but I found her! I was lucky that she was in a flock that was grazing on the grass rather than in the middle of the lake. I was able to pick her out of the crowd by her head, which was obviously a warmer brown color than the grayish heads of the female American wigeons. Check out this comparison shot, with the Eurasian in front:

The above photo neatly shows all three of the (admittedly subtle) field marks. First of all, the difference in head color as I mentioned above. As a result, the American wigeon has a starker contrast between the neck (gray) and chest (brown) plumage, while on the Eurasian its all a cinnamon brown color and blends together. Secondly, the forehead is steeper on the Eurasian and more sloped on the American. Finally, and you may have to click to enlarge the picture to try and see this one, the gape (the base of the bill where the two mandibles come together) is black on the American wigeon and there is no black on the Eurasian. Here's another nice photo showing just the female Eurasian:

In addition to birding Westmoreland and I head over to the nearby Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens which is another great place to view and photograph wintering waterfowl. Over the course of the afternoon I saw 20 species, eight of which were new to the year list bringing me up to 49 species on the year. The new species included three ducks and my first gulls of the year (since Dave requested it a while back, stay tuned for a gull quiz coming up in the next post!). Here are a few other photographic highlights from the day:

A bathing male bufflehead

A beautiful male wood duck - their plumage always looks almost painted to me

A male lesser scaup

A pair of gadwall

A pied-billed grebe that somewhat uncharacteristically wasn't shy and didn't just swim straight away from me

Portland Pond Hockey!

The temperatures have been sub-freezing for a week now, mostly in the mid-twenties during the day and high teens at night. It's been very dry with crisp, clear blue skies, but standing water has had plenty of chance to freeze. The calm, man-made pond in Westmoreland Park where I saw the red phalarope just a few weeks ago has frozen solid and transformed into a giant, outdoor hockey rink.

This morning the local major junior hockey team, the Portland Winterhawks, took the ice to scrimmage for an hour or so with fans. For those who aren't familiar, the Hawks are members of the Western Hockey League (WHL), a developmental league for players aged 16-20 who hope to go on to play pro hockey. I've been a big hockey fan for years and had season tickets for the Hawks when I lived in Portland full-time. It was great to see the players and fans out having so much fun on such a beautiful winter morning!

The Winterhawks, in red, scrimmaged against the fans, mostly in black

Nino Niederreiter, the Swiss left-winger who leads the team in goals

Twenty year-old team leader Chris Francis, in his fourth year with the team

Future NHLer defenseman Brett Ponich is currently the team captain of the Hawks, but he's also second round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues

Center Stefan Schneider gets ready to head home


Tough guy Taylor Jordan gets interviewed by one of the several media teams present

I even made a cameo appearance on the video clip aired by one of the local news stations - check it out, that's me right at the end taking photos!

If you're interested in seeing more photos of the Hawks, check out my Picasa album.

Even after the Hawks were done for the day, lots of other people enjoyed the ice for the rest of the afternoon. I like this artsy shots of someone's hockey skates during another scrimmage

I brought my skates too and took to the ice for a little skate and shoot. One thing I've always wanted to do is skate outside and experience some honest to goodness pond hockey. I never in a hundred years thought I would get to do that in Portland!

It wasn't just hockey, though! The ice rink was flat so this dad had to run for his son to get up to speed on his sled. Looks like they're having fun though!

There were the obligatory signs warning of thin ice, but the ice was easily a foot or more thick, so the warning was no heeded

The pond couldn't be set up better with built-in benches all the way around. These kids were taking a break from skating to say hi to one of the many dogs that enjoy the park daily

Check out the snow kicked up during a hockey stop by a couple of scrimmaging players. The games were still going on as sunset neared.

A silhouetted hockey player

A make-shift dog sled: dog pulls mom, mom pulls child

The clouds have moved in tonight and they're forecasting potential snow and freezing rain this weekend. It will be interesting to see what happens....there's no doubt winter is here in full force!

Waterfowl at Westmoreland Park

With the nicer weather yesterday, I went back to Westmoreland City Park in hopes of getting some nicer photos of the red phalarope. Unfortunately the phalarope had moved on (I'm glad I went in the rain and saw it before it left!), but there were lots of other waterfowl hanging out on the two ponds there. Since I had my camera in hand anyway, I decided to walk around the two ponds and take some shots.

First is a female American wigeon who was flapping her wings after bathing:

Here's a male American wigeon:

Some of the Canada geese were being fed, which is probably why they were much more approachable than the other species. I took advantage of this to try some close-ups. While I got some neat head shots, this full-frame picture turned out the prettiest:

There were only two lesser scaup that I could see, but the male took one pass close to the shoreline:

Finally, I've tried several times in the San Juans to get a nice picture of a bufflehead, but haven't had too much luck. I had a little more luck yesterday. There were a few of them hanging out together on the pond, and with the sun peaking through the clouds you can really see the iridescent feathers on the head of this male: