End of one year list, beginning of another

With the end of 2019, so too came the end of my first decade tracking my bird year lists. While I traveled a lot throughout the year, I didn't go as far as some years, with just three states/provinces visited (Washington, Oregon, British Columbia). As a result, it's perhaps not surprising that 2019 was a tie for my second lowest year list count at 192 species. I fell short of my goal of reaching 200 species, and also fell just short of my goal of photographing 90% of the species on my year list, registering 88.5% with 170 species photographed.

Dave and my dad have also participated in the annual year list challenge, and my dad again won for the 8th time in the nine years he has participated, aided by some great trips to different regions. 

I added two life birds in 2019: the red knot while hitting the spring shorebird migration in Westport, and the lapland longspur during fall migration right on San Juan Island - a long sought after species for me, and a great photo op to boot!

Lapland longspur: one of my two lifers in 2019, and also one of my favorite bird photos overall for the year

I did manage to tally 144 species in San Juan County for the year, just above my annual average of 140 species, but still well short of the 176 species tallied by Phil! 

Ever since I started the year list challenge, January 1 has become a big day for birding. The last several years have been limited to San Juan Island, which alongside less than optimal weather has made for lower than hoped for Day One totals. This year, I was excited to be able to start the year list north of the border near the Fraser River delta, one of my favorite winter birding areas. On top of that, after a very stormy end to 2019, we got sunshine and no wind to start 2020!

The first and main stop for the day was the Reifel Bird Sanctuary, where despite not getting a super early start we still managed to beat the holiday crowds and tally 43 species at the preserve. The first unexpected find was a very cooperative flock of cedar waxwings.

It was so nice to start off the year with great photo ops of many of the common species; it feels so much better to add sunlit photos to the photo year list rather than dreary gray images!

Two more unforeseen additions were this fox sparrow and a flock of 30 (!!) greater yellowlegs:

About a dozen of us have also been participating in a photo year list challenge for the last three years. in 2019 we added the twist of no "hand of man" in the photos, meaning no birds sitting on wires, with buildings in the background, etc. The 2020 edition of the photo year list is now expanding beyond birds to include all vertebrates, and my first non-avian addition was this eastern gray squirrel. The first mammal I saw was actually a mink, which would have been an awesome addition as it's not guaranteed to make the list this year at all, but sadly he was too fast for me to get the camera up in time!

Mammal #1 for the year: eastern gray squirrel

One of the most hoped-for species at Reifel was the sandhill crane. We got a flyover early on in our visit, and I thought that was going to be it, but thankfully just before we left we came across five of them in just a perfect setting for photos.

After Reifel we made two other stops that were a bit disappointing in their lack of birdiness, and the best species added over the rest of the day indeed came alongside the road and not at one of our stops: a rough-legged hawk. (Yay for the no hand of man rule!)

Sadly after one awesome day it looks like the weather will be turning again, but we've still got a couple days of play before heading back home and to work, so fingers crossed there is still some good birding to be had despite the weather! Day one, though, certainly did not disappoint, with 54 species on the bird year list and 37 species on the vertebrate photo year list.

February 20 and 21: Birding Across Washington

After our two day guided trip in the Walla Walla and Pendleton area, we took our time getting home and, of course, did some more birding. Our first stop wasn't too far away at the Walla Walla River Delta where thousands of ducks and hundreds of gulls congregate in the winter.

Walla Walla River Delta

We added herring gull and California gull to the year list, but only got very distant pictures, so here's a slightly closer one of a ring-billed gull instead:

Near Pasco, Washington we stopped at a riverside park that had an incredible abundance of ducks - nearly all the common species and several uncommon ones all in one pond. Again I added a couple species (canvasback and ruddy duck) but didn't get great photos of them, though I finally got a decent shot of a gadwall for the year.

The rest of the day wasn't very birdy, so that night while staying in Ellensburg I did some research on what else had been seen recently between us and our ferry home. I was surprised to read that that very morning someone had seen a flock of 150+ Bohemian waxwings, a species we had been looking for all weekend, right there in Ellensburg! Thankfully she had posted great details about the location on eBird, so first thing the next morning, after another surprising dusting of snow, we headed over to check it out. Right in the very same berry-filled tree we got lucky - in with the house sparrows, robins, and starlings, was a Bohemian waxwing!

Bohemian waxwing - photo year bird #125

But where was the rest of the flock? We didn't have to wait too long before we saw them circling ahead. It was easily more like 200 or 250 birds, and they flew down in an amazing circling display, all briefly landing on the tree and grabbing a berry before taking flight again. We saw them do this two or three times before they flew off a couple block to regroup and, presumably, do the whole thing again.

At first you don't even see the birds in the tree, until you see the tree is just covered in Bohemian waxwings!

It's always amazing to me how incredible wildlife can be right in the middle of day to day life. This was in the parking lot of a feed store, and I think we got more than one strange look for being so excited and taking photos of the tree in the parking lot. It's both awesome that something so cool can happen right in the middle of an urban area and sad that so many people walk right by it without knowing the difference between the flock of waxwings and the flocks of starlings that frequent the area.

We went on to the airport area where gray partridges had been seen (another species we had been looking for all weekend), but didn't have any luck on this one, though I finally got a photo op of a mourning dove and also saw this cool sight of a black-billed magpie and bald eagle perched together:

Before leaving Ellensburg we made one more stop along the river, and lucked out by finding an American dipper, another hoped-for year bird. At this point in time the snow/rain really started coming down so we made a break to cross the pass and head back into the Seattle area. I never would have though I would get great gray owl, gray-crowned rosy-finch, and Bohemian waxwing on my photo year list before American crow, but that's just what happened! We have the very similar northwestern crows on San Juan Island, and other than voice location is really the only way to tell them apart. I had seen and heard several American crows so far this year but had yet to get a photo opportunity of one in a reliable location until this day. So there was the crow finally, an unlikely photo year bird #128! But that is why we go out there in bird, because you never know what you will see, or where, or when!

American crow, photo year bird #128

Near Marysville a couple of great egrets have been hanging out, well north of their typical range, so we stopped to see them:

Great egret - photo year bird # 129

Then one more stop before the ferry was back in our usual stomping grounds in the Skagit Flats. While we didn't turn up the gyrfalcon that's been seen there, we did see a trio of short-eared owls prowling the fields to make for an incredible 8 owl species trip. We also got great looks at several bald eagles in the late afternoon lighting.

With March right around the corner, the earliest of the spring migrants are starting to show up, so that will help keep the birding going in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, I got my first glimpse of J-Pod a little over a week ago, and us islanders are hoping for a good spring start to the whale season, as well! We got another three or so inches of show yesterday, though, so winter hasn't quite loosened its grip just yet!

Local Waters: Teeming With Life

It's been amazing to look into the water from the docks over the last few days. The marine life has been abundant everywhere you look. Most striking has probably been the huge schools of fish:

One evening the fish were this dense in all directions. There's only a gap at the bottom of the image because that's where the shoreline is. There must have been millions of them:

During lunch on Monday I was watching thousands of bigger fish feeding on the millions of little fish. There was a current that looked like a superhighway of the larger fish all traveling in the same direction, but a few would peel off and dart into the schools of small fish. I was bummed I didn't have my underwater video camera charged to capture a better view of it than this - the big fish in the middle on the left:

I did charge the camera, and will post some underwater video of the smaller fish that were around later in the day in a future post.  In the meantime, the still camera had to suffice to try and capture the schools of fish everywhere:

I captured a few of the fish in my net to take a few close ups. Anyone know what kind they might be?

It's not just fish out there, however. If you look closer you can find amazing things like this - crab larvae!

Last night another stunning scene unfolded. We heard it before we saw it. From off the docks all the way over to Brown Island and across a distance of several hundred yards, fish were jumping right before sunset. It sounded and looked like it was raining giant raindrops. It's hard to capture the full effect in a photo or even a video, but each of these little white splashes was a jumping fish to give you an idea of how many there were (click to see a larger view):

There were lots of gulls hanging around but it didn't look like they were able to catch any fish - they were just sitting there pondering what to do since fish were everywhere! It was hard to tell, but these looked similar to the larger fish that were preying on the small fish earlier in the day. Since the camera was out, I took a picture of the sunset from our dock too:

Back on land, this last weekend I added another year bird as cedar waxwings (161) have arrived on the island. Today I was able to get a picture of one at English Camp:

But as you can tell, my attention has been more focused on the water lately. There are whales out there too! Here's a shot of the J17 matriline on the west side of the island today:

A further testament to the thriving life in our local waters right now is that soon after the whales passed by, there was again jumping fish over a huge area of water. They filled the whole bay to the south of the Land Bank property. Let's hope this abundance continues all summer up and down the food chain. It's incredible to see!

Ridgefield NWR - May 2012

On Sunday afternoon my parents and I spent over four hours at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, one of my all-time favorite places to bird watch and a site I try to visit whenever I'm in the area. My dad and I comment how when you make a repeat visit to a location where you saw an uncommon bird, you always find yourself looking for that same species in the exact same spot. That's why we stopped before the bridge into the auto-tour loop to look around the trees where several years ago we found an oriole nest. We found a nest in the same tree, though it looked like the tattered remains of an old one made up primarily of blue fishing line. While looking around, we heard a loud call and then spotted a Bullock's oriole (190). Nice! Sometimes it pays off to take a closer look in those locations.

Along the first part of the drive we saw all the expected species: lots of waterfowl, including another family of pied-billed grebes. While we didn't see the numbers of ducks we do in the winter, a huge variety of species was still present, with small numbers of eleven duck species seen, including about 20 cinnamon teal, a few redhead, and a single male blue-winged teal (191).

Male gadwall

 We also saw some yellow-headed blackbirds and heard the first of many, many common yellowthroat and marsh wrens for the day. The new purple martin boxes seemed to be fulfilling their purpose, too - we saw one purple martin there, a new species for me at the refuge.

At the bird blind I found a white-breasted nuthatch (192), but the best photo op was of this little Pacific tree frog:

In the middle of the auto tour route is the one mile Kiwa Trail loop, which we hiked. It takes you out through a marsh habitat where this time of year you can hear lots of American bitterns, soras, and Virginia rails. On our walk we also heard several winnowing Wilson's snipes. The other main bird species present here were yellow warblers, tree swallows, and lots and lots of cedar waxwings:

Back in the car, we were able to find an adult great horned owl but not any of the chicks that were supposedly out of the nest nearby. The next reason to come to a stop was for this yellow-headed blackbird perched close to the road. Turns out he was also perched close to a red-winged blackbird nest, and the pair tending the nest were not happy about that, with the male red-winged blackbird keeping a close eye on him and flying directly at him if he made too many moves.

That didn't seem to be enough to deter the yellow-headed blackbird, however. This, for some reason, was definitely the place he wanted to be singing, if that's what you can call the interesting noises they make:

This was a popular stretch for singing birds. Here's one marsh wren belting his little heart out nearby:

Down the final stretch of the auto-tour loop is another one of those places where we always talk about how we saw black terns there once. With the species having been sighted there the day before, we took extra care to look for them again. I spotted something that very well could have been terns extremely high in the air, but as we positioned ourselves to get a better look they seemingly disappeared and we could not relocate them. Two other flying birds did catch my eye, however - at first I thought they were hawks, but the flight didn't seem quite right. Turns out they were bitterns! I've seen bitterns fly occasionally, but never so high in the air! It was quite a way to see these usually secretive birds. The one on the left was calling, and his mouth is open in this picture:

We were just pulling out of the refuge when one last bird caught my eye - a woodpecker that landed on a telephone pole. I only got a quick look, but enough to see it was a red-breasted sapsucker (193), my fourth year bird of the day. In total, we saw and heard 54 species at Ridgefield - not bad at all!

Enjoying September

The weather continues to be awesome and the wildlife continues to abound, helping September to live up to its billing as my favorite month on San Juan Island. Here are a few scenes from the last week or so...

Down at American Camp I was pleased to find a vesper sparrow (194) - not an entirely unexpected species here but still a pretty rare sight on San Juan Island. Not a great shot by any means, but enough to see the eye ring, streaked chest, and dark cheek patch bordered by white.

There have been so many cedar waxwings on the island this summer. Also at American Camp I came across this single bird, and then a little later a flock of a dozen:

On Saturday I saw the whales from Land Bank. Word was all three pods were there, but they were very spread out and mostly backlit, so I wasn't able to get many identifications. Some groups of whales were way out in the middle of the strait. Most of the whales went north, but the L12s and L2s stayed south. This male decided at the last minute to go south, and cruised by quickly, but closer to shore than most of the other whales had been.

On Sunday we went out to see the sunset (hard to believe it sets at 7:30 already, and getting earlier in the hurry!). We saw a few distant whales to the south, some harbor porpoises surfacing in the flat calm waters, and a couple of small bait balls made up mostly of glaucous-winged gulls. Although my favorite sunsets usually have some clouds, this one was stunning in its own right.

Finally, yesterday I went out to South Beach hoping to find some migrating American pipits to add to the year list. No luck with the pipits, but I was thrilled to find a flock of a dozen horned larks (195). Not only was this a year bird, but it's the first time I've ever seen this species on San Juan Island. If they hadn't flown a little ways I never would have seen them, because their camouflage against the sand dunes is amazing! Again, not a great shot, but enough to show what it is - I didn't want to get too close and flush them.

What will the next week of September bring? Hopefully some more whales, and according to the weather forecast also some of our first rain of the month...

Koll Center Cedar Waxwings

I stopped by Koll Center Wetlands yesterday afternoon, and was pleased to see close to 30 species in the half hour or so I spent there. One highlight was three long-billed dowitchers (114), a species I had been expecting to see there at some point, but hadn't as of yet because the water level has been too high to expose much in the way of mudflats. There was only a thin sand bar showing, but the dowitchers were busy probing the ground like sewing machines, making their way around the common merganser, green-winged teal, northern shoveler, and killdeer that were also using the exposed land as a place to rest.

The other highlight were two flocks of cedar waxwings that together probably totaled more than 50 birds. One group was perched in some willows and were flycatching insects over the water. There were some yellow-rumped warblers doing the same thing. With the number of bugs about and the fact that tree swallows are now starting to come back, it was somewhat surprising not to see any swallows over the lake.

I love the look of cedar waxwings, with their black masks and crests. They always remind me of little bandits. This one raised its crest, giving it quite the stylish look: