Washington- July 29th to August 9th
I would like to make this trip report as short as possible,
but I know it will end up being long and probably to boring for you to be
interested enough to keep up. So to make it a little easier to find highlights
and interesting parts of the trip to you I will capitalize each of the birds
name (at least the first time).
We flew into Seattle/Tacoma on July 29th and
immediately started to make our way down towards Mount
Rainier National Park.
The time change had obviously messed us up a bit, with a stop for pancakes and
a milkshake sometime in the middle of the day at a time when it wasnt even
breakfast back home or in Washington. In any case, I didnt see any real change
of bird life until we actually entered the park itself, where VAUXS SWIFTS
soared far above us and OREGON
JUNCOS flew up from everywhere you walked. A few stops along the way brought
the first CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES, STELLERS JAYS, and CLARKS
NUTCRACKERS. The nights at Mount Rainier would be spent
at the Paradise Hotel, about 5,000 ft (I dont remember it exactly) in
elevation. Species seen around the hotel itself included the above as well as
MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, TOWNSENDS WARBLER, VARIED THRUSH, TOWNSENDS SOLITAIRE, GRAY
JAYS, and ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. Hiking to Panorama Point (elevation
7,000ish?) gave us a good size flock of GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCHES, with both
adults and juveniles mixed in. AMERICAN PIPITS were common on the hike up and
back, and strangely enough the RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES here seemed to prefer
clinging to the rock far from trees then the trees themselves. Disappointingly
we did not find the ptarmigans known to be high up around Panorama Point, so we
opted to try a few other places in the park we though they could be at. We
should have stayed at Panorama, other hikers and birders say the ptarmigans the
2 days that we didnt hike up there. In any case, hiking around Sunrise was
interesting and gave us some great views, including being able to watch the
climbers making their way down the opposite side then we had seen them coming
up the day before. Birds around Sunrise
included more of the above as well as RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS, OLIVE-SIDED
FLYCATCHER, and surely SOMEOTHERSTUFF.
During our last day at Paradise we
had planned to hike up Panorama Point again, but iffy weather conditions kept
us from making it the entire way (others did see the ptarms latter in the
day
once we were long gone). Instead we decided we would go down to Mount
Saint Helens National Monument,
which turned out to be very interesting. Aside from the scenery, there were
also numerous lower elevation species that were not to be had high in the
subalpine of Mt Rainier. We were able to study a pair of DUSKY FLYCATCHERS at Meta
Lake, where there were also
numerous MACGILLIVRAYS WARBLERS, some BARROWS GOLDENEYE, BAND-TAILED PIGEONS,
and many VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS. I was pleased to watch 2-3 BLACK SWIFTS
cruising around Windy Ridge, a species that as I understand it can be difficult
to find in Washington. We then
continued on to waste a few long hours at the south end of Mount
Saint Helens looking for Hermit Warblers, which because of lack of
any real directions and the bad time of day/year we failed miserably. We ended
up not finding a hotel until a number of hours later over on the eastern side
of the cascades in Yakima, and my parents were certainly not the happiest of
people after a long and (at the end of it) unproductive afternoon.
I wasnt able to have them up as early as I would like, so when
we got lost on our way to Wenas Campground 3 or 4 times I figured I had just
blown the whole eastern portion of the trip. Fortunately, we did find our way
in and bird activity picked up immensely immediately as we entered the Wenas
area. Stops along the way came up with BREWERS SPARROW and CALIFORNIA QUAIL.
Along Audubon Road we found 2 young RED-NAPED SAPSUCKERS, 1 female CALLIOPE
HUMMINGBIRD, and 2 dusky/Hammond type flycatchers (not calling, habitat could
have gone either way, and the views were brief). Once we arrived in Wenas
Campground itself we noticed that birds (aside from the WESTERN-WOOD PEWEE) had
pretty much completely disappeared, why? In any case, the lack of sound was
probably the only reason I heard a few calls behind us and decided to look up
into the tree to see
2 WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKERS, the bird Wenas Campground
seems to be best known for. It appeared to be 1 female and 1 immature bird, and
we were able to watch these good looking woodpeckers for the next ten minutes
before they disappeared into the forest. Another half-mile up the path I found
the source of the lack of birdlife, a NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL about 200 feet off the
trail half way up a Ponderosa. The bird wasnt calling, but as I neared it I
noticed that there were many birds around the owl calling and flitting about.
As it turned out, this worked out great. Sitting down to watch the owl in the
tree, I was able to watch as GRAY FLYCATCHERS flew in and called along with my
first CASSINS FINCH and numerous other interesting birds that I expected to
really have to search for in this area to find. No other birds of note around
Wenas Campground itself, but I did have one LAZULI BUNTING on the way out and
an adult RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER. While driving towards Ellensburg, where we would spend
the next night, I noticed how many BREWERS SPARROWS were around, almost as
many as there were VESPER SPARROWS around Wenas. Commenting that it seemed like
a great area for SAGE THRASHER, we rounded a corner and there was one perched
on a sign right off the road. Both the sparrow and the thrasher I had counted
on having to drive far out east of Ellensburg to find, so to find them well
before we had even ventured that far out was excellent.
After dropping off my mom off at our hotel, my dad and I headed
out along Old Vantage Highway
to find one last sage bird, the Sage Sparrow. This proved to be much easier
said then done; the road was dead silent
so quite in fact that my dad claims he
could hear his watch ticking. We drove back and forth listening and watching
around MP 20 and a few other areas the birders guide suggested seeing nothing
aside from some red tails (by nothing, I really mean nothing
.there was zero
action out here). We eventually did find an interesting bird, a ROCK WREN, but
even these we had to view from pretty far away most of the time. Almost ready
to give up, we decided to drive back and forth one more time. At a random stop
at who-knows-where in the middle of nowhere I noticed something far off flying
left to right. Must be a red tail I told myself, but no, it was a falcon, so of
course it must be a kestrel, but no freakin way it was a PRAIRIE FALCON, a bird
I didnt even dare hope for out here. This was an impressive bird; its powerful
flight had it covering the entire horizon in the seconds I watched it fly past,
until it landed on a post far off the road. A scope didnt bring him too much
closer, but he sat there confidingly for another 5 minutes and the views were
decent. And what an awesome bird it was and, of course, he was a falcon so he
looked freakin awesome. A sign on the side of the road hinted at a petrified
wood forest ahead, where we stopped to see what it was like. We saw our SAGE
SPARROW here, mouse-like with its tail held high as he ran low through the sage
brush, and even more SAGE THRASHERS, but not even this was enough to beat the
falcon.
We were all tired, and my dad was to tired to go looking for
chukars or partridge, and I decided that it didnt matter
just introduced
little fat game birds, nothing really interesting. The next morning we were up
late again and once again failed to find any Cassins Vireos, Hammonds
Flycatchers, or Williamsons Sapsuckers (and along with the Lewiss Woodpecker
we would pretty much have to cross them off as a miss once we were out west
again). Despite those misses, we did have a very productive hour around the
Northern Pacific Ponds in Cle Elem. Here there were BLACK-THROATED GRAY
WARBLERS, MACGILLVARYS WARBLERS, RED EYED AND WARBLING VIREOS, SWAINSONS THRUSH
and my dad had a few PYGMY NUTHATCHES. Our next stop would be hours away on Puget
Sound, where a Red-necked Stint had been staked out for about a
week. I was worried about going to late and missing the right time of tide, but
alas we had to stop for gas in a small town called Port Orchard. Finally, I saw
my RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER here, just on a post at the gas station, a bird I
figured was common enough not to worry about. Arriving at the Three Crabs
Restaurant we found a group of about a dozen birders already looking for the
bird. No luck so far that day, but it was about the time it was seen the day
before. Even though the stint never did show up that day, I was plenty occupied
with my first ocean shore birds of the trip. A gull flock produced a few pure GLACOUS-WINGED
GULLS, many CALIFORNIA GULLS, and even turned up a few MEW GULLS. Among the
shorebirds here there were MARBLED GODWITS, WESTERN SANDPIPERS, LEAST
SANDPIPERS, and AFEWOTHERS. PELAGIC CORMORANTS perched on polls far out over
the water, and a Washington
birder brought me to a near-by pond where we had 4 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS
among the westerns, apparently a good Washington
bird.
I made sure we woke up early the next morning so I would
have time later to try for the stint. On our drive up to Hurricane Ridge in the
Olympics we had 2 female BLUE GROUSE at separate locations, the main reason I
had for coming up there. No other avian highlights in particular (but I did
finally get to hear a OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER sing its beer song), but aside from
the abundant Yellow-pined Chipmunks we had 1 Olympic Marmot, which was
interesting to see after so many Hoary Marmots at Mt. Rainier. After leaving
there I was dropped off again at the Three Crabs for another few hours of
diligent searching, despite the fact that yesterdays miss and pretty much
convinced all birders that it wasnt worth coming back. Not to much changed
from the day before, but there were many more BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS (with not
golden unfortunately) and 2 RUDDY TURNSTONES. My only lifer here today was a
frustratingly distant PACIFIC LOON. A stop at Tongue Point got us HARLEQUIN
DUCKS, MARBLED MURRELETS, and a RHINOCEROS AUKLET. Our next few nights would be
spent at a small resort at La Push at the Indian reservation there. As it
turned out the accommodations were fantastic and we had an ocean view from our
small cabin. Just sitting inside with my scope I was able to see TUFTED
PUFFINS, RHINOCEROS AUKLETS, COMMON MURRES, and WHITE-WINGED and SURF SCOTERS
as they flew by. A walk to the river mouth produced my first HEERMANNS GULLS,
lots of BROWN PELICANS, PIGEON GUILLEMOTS, and PROBABLYSOMEOTHERSTUFFIFORGOT.
The next morning was spent at the 2nd beach,
where the tide was far enough out for us to walk among the nearest Quillyiete
(no clue on spelling) Needles. From here we could scope a distant island full
of TUFTED PUFFINS, COMMON MURRES, etc. Once the crowds had left the tidal pool
areas we walked over and found 3 BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS, 2 adults and 1 juvenile.
In the afternoon a walk to the river mouth produced MARBLED MURRELETS, loads of
scoters, HARLEQUIN DUCKS, and such. A jetty stuck out into the ocean here and I
thought I might have a better chance to find a few shorebirds out at the end if
I walked out on it. It was a rather long hike, but once I reached the end I
found I was right out among the scoter flock and had some of the best views of
the ocean birds that Ive ever had. I had almost forgotten about looking for
shorebirds until a WANDERING TATTLER called as it fly by not 5 feet from me.
All together there were 3 WANDERING TATTLERS and 1 BLACK TURNSTONE, all giving
me great looks and wonderful photographic opportunities
if I hadnt already
filled up my memory card just a few minutes before. That evening we drove up to
Cape Flattery, where I hoped we could scope out some
interesting seabirds. The cape was interesting in itself, as it was the western
most point in the Lower 48, but we did not see to many other new birds that
were not at La Push. A pair of RED-NECKED PHARALOPES fed among some seaweed far
below the cliff and off to the north we counted 11 BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS among
some rocks. I did manage to find one shearwater far off, presumably a SOOTY
SHEARWATER, and of course there were many alcids flying by far off towards the
island off to the west. Above, we watched a group of about 8 BLACK SWIFTS feeding,
giving us some great looks.
Our next morning was spent going into the Hoh Rainforest,
where I finally heard a PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER
but it was a horrible lifer
and I really wish I had seen it. On the way down towards Westport
we stopped at Lake Quinult
(sp?) where we had excellent looks at a WILSONS WARBLER, heard a few WESTERN
TANAGERS, and were confused a few times by the very dark SONG SPARROWS that
lived here.
The last day of the trip was certainly the highlight of the
trip, as we took a pelagic trip from Westport.
To a Michigan loser like me,
every single bird far from shore was worthy of celebration and I would give
anything to do another one soon. Impressive numbers of Sooty Shearwaters (24,
803 were counted) were had the entire trip, but to me they were as exciting as
anything else on the trip. We had excellent views of all three JAEGERS at some
point in the trip, with a full adult LONG-TAILED JAEGER (no tail) being my
personal favorite. 2 SOUTH POLAR SKUAS were seen, but only one was seen really
well as it flew right by the boat then preceded to hover above the stern for a
bit. Apparently the numbers of birds were a bit low, but the diversity was good
and we had 22 BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES (excellent looks when chumming), 19
NORTHERN FULMARS (also came into chum), 35 PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS, 3 BULLERS
SHEARWATERS, 12 FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS, and 13 LEACHS STORM-PETREL (I was
surprised at how many we saw, I figured them to be much farther offshore). Also
seen at various times were 11 SABINES GULLS, 23 ARCTIC TERNS, 4 CASSINS AUKLETS
(although the only satisfactory view was one that was floating just next to the
boat as we cruised by), and 64 RHINOCEROS AUKLETS. These are all numbers taken
from the Westport Seabirds website, I didnt count them myself. Once we were
closer to shore we saw more COMMON MURRES and such and along the jetty we had
many BRANDTS CORMORANTS, 2 BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES, and a good number of
SURFBIRDS. The Surfbird was my last lifer of the trip, bringing the tally up to
an incredible 51 lifers, more then I probably will ever be able to get in one
state again.
Overall the trip was a great success, with the only misses
being birds that we were probably too late in the year to easily find and we
just didnt have enough time to really search for. The trip list totaled
167ish, with 51 life birds and 74ish total year birds. Most of our success I
have Charlie Wright to thank, a young birder from Washington who put up with my
pestering questions on where to find every single bird in Washington. The
Birders Guide to Washington was a
great asset, but there were a few times on the trip where its directions got us
horribly lost, but overall I found it to be a very comprehensive and useful
guide.
TRIP LIST (lifers in bold)
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Bufflehead
Barrows Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Blue Grouse
California Quail
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Black-footed
Albatross
Northern Fulmar
Pink-footed
Shearwater
Bullers Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Fork-tailed
Storm-Petrel
Leachs Storm-Petrel
Brown Pelican
Brandts Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Coopers Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Prairie Falcon
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher
Lesser Yellowlegs
Wandering Tattler
Spotted Sandpiper
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Black Turnstone
Surfbird
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Wilsons Snipe
Red-necked Phalarope
South Polar Skua
Pomarine Jaeger
Parasitic Jaeger
Long-tailed Jaeger
Heermanns Gull
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Sabines Gull
Black-legged
Kittiwake
Caspian Tern
Arctic Tern
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Marbled Murrelet
Cassins Auklet
Rhinoceros Auklet
Tufted Puffin
Rock Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Northern Pygmy-Owl
Common Nighthawk
Black Swift
Vauxs Swift
Calliope Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-naped Sapsucker
Red-breasted
Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
White-headed
Woodpecker
Northern Red-shafted Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Western Wood-Pewee
Gray Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Pacific-slope
Flycatcher
Says Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Gray Jay
Stellers jay
Clarks Nutcracker
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Chestnut-backed
Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch (dad)
Rock Wren
Winter Wren
American Dipper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Townsends Solitaire
Swainsons Thrush
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Varied Thrush
Gray Catbird
Sage Thrasher
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Townsends Warbler
MacGillivrays
Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilsons Warbler
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Brewers Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Sage Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincolns
Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Oregon
Junco
Lazuli Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewers Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Gray-crowned
Rosy-Finch
Cassins Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow