2/16 Small Day

Still Waters Farm

After a fairly productive day on Saturday, and a very hard sleep, I did something that I may just continue to do.  I slept in and prepared to take a more leisurely pace on Monday - not driving to as many places and trying to rack up a lot of species, but to explore a little more and spend some longer bits of time on fewer species.  I got up with it still dark, and tried a few times for Barred Owls, which the Biser's have had on their property recently.  A warm shower and a change of clothes later, and I walked the driveways running along the lake and the rest of the property. 

The ducks still hadn't made their way out onto the water, but other birds were starting to sing, including both chickadees, Song Sparrow, Pacific Wren and Brown Creeper.  It's been interesting to hear the birds just start to warm up their vocal cords.  The fog rose from the pond at the center of the property as I looked along its edge for Ruffed Grouse.  Mark has run into one of them fairly regularly in the same areas on his property.  None showed up today, but there are many months to come!  All of the game birds ought to be more vocal (or.. well you know... many of their noises don't come from their vocal chords!) as spring moves along, which should get me out of the rut I'm in with them - not a single one yet!

Shelton

Mason County traffic

I gave up on owls and game birds once things got a little light, and made my way in to Shelton for breakfast.  Blondie's at the Shelton Inn has been my people-watching spot.  It was pretty busy as I had the special (Polish link!), and I got to listen to an interesting conversation between five guys about Cabella's.  The topic turned quickly to the difficulties presented by the traffic circle leading to the entrance.  I laughed at the time, as I navigate one every day in getting to work, but I realized... they are kind of annoying things sometimes!   It got me thinking about traffic in general, and how numb we really have gotten to all of it.  My brother sometimes visits Renton from Yakima, and nearly goes crazy with the traffic.  In retrospect, I was a little envious of a life that was as traffic free as the one they likely had.

Cloquallum Road

Hairy Woodpecker - 100!

I had a short list of birds I was looking for as I left Shelton and headed east.  I wanted to check some of the lakes for American Coot, some of the clear cuts for Western Bluebird, and some of the farm land for Northern Harrier.  I had even thought that Schafer State Park would be on my itinerary, just to check it out and possibly pick up some of the woodpeckers I was missing.  Two of them showed up for me at a clear cut, however!  I heard a Red-breasted Sapsucker (99) hammering away, and followed the sound to a pair of them on a snag, then a Hairy Woodpecker (100) announced its presence a mere five trees away!

The Hairy Woodpecker may have been my 101st bird of the year if I counted the Greater White-fronted Geese that I unknowingly took pictures of the previous day, but I was celebrating it as the hundredth bird, so I'll leave it there.

Nahwatzel Lake and Matlock

Mason County... you've got to be cooting me...

I turned north on Highland Road to cut up towards Nahwatzel Lake, with Evening Grosbeak and Hutton's Vireo joining the list of birds that I found today but not the day before.  The Hutton's was emphatically giving its own rendition of "zuwee", but not one that was familiar to me.  I smiled when it finally changed its tune to something more familiar, filing away the new call in my head. 

I wanted to take a look at Panhandle Lake, but the 4H camp there advertised itself quite clearly as private, and the gate was pretty foreboding.  I sat at the entrance for a few minutes, just listening for sounds from the mixed habitat of clear cuts and copses.  Nothing but Common Ravens and a light breeze. 

I finally made it up to Nahwatzel, and tried several pulloffs before finding the boat ramp.  The lake had a cormorant, several goldeneyes and mergansers, but nothing that even half-resembled an American Coot. I struck up a conversation with one of the guys lowering a boat into the water in hopes of catching some huge trout that the lake holds.  I swear, people who fish and hunt understand all of this better than us humble birders.  He gave me a couple of leads on American Coot - Skookum Inlet and Kennedy Creek - we talked about ducks in general and specifically coots, and it seemed like he knows exactly which birds I'm talking about.

North of Matlock - a peek at the Olympics from the South

What an odd bird to have as a nemesis bird in the county!  I can head down to Coulon Beach Park in Renton and find dozens upon dozens of coots in the water and along the beach at the swimming area.  They like inland freshwater lakes - so it must be that the lakes in Mason County aren't far enough inland?  or...?   I can't quite figure it out, but I know there are a lot of lakes where there aren't coots, and I'll be excited to find one that does this year.

I checked my email on my phone as I returned to the car, and found a note from Tom Mansfield, "Thanks for the Snow Goose!  I'm assuming you already had Greater White-fronted Geese?  There's a flock of 16."  This was good news!  I didn't realize I kind of sort of already had them, so I checked the time and decided I had a little time to explore the area around Matlock before heading back to Hunter Farms. 

The General Store in Matlock got really quiet as I walked in with my map in hand.  The clerk got up from his table where he was chatting with the locals and went back behind the register while I found myself some simple food for an early lunch.  As I sat down with a burrito, the woman at the adjacent table was bemoaning the fact that prayer is not allowed in school.  "As long as there's testing in schools... there's going to be prayer."  I added with a smirk.   She vented a little bit more before I changed the topic.

Hmm.. I can't use FR 2341, and the lumber company
around here is Simpson Lumber... coincidence???

"Can I ask a map question?  I want to get to the Skokomish Valley, but I'd really rather go the back way if there is one..."  She came over and looked at my gazeteer, and I got a good bit of bad news - many of the roads that one finds on a map like mine would have been open for the public to explore five or ten years ago, but many have been gated up, meaning that some of my wanderlust would be kept to a minimum this year.  I still made it a point to follow Beeville Road up north until it dead-ended, just to make sure that it did.



Satisfied, I made my way back towards Hunter Farms - No Harriers, no coots, no bluebirds, but no panic yet.

Hunter Farms

My return trip to Hunter Farms gave me a good look at the Greater White-fronted Geese that I had seen the previous day.  The farm itself was closed, but the flock was actually in a different field visible from the road.  I snapped a picture, and made my way back up Hood Canal.

Greater White-fronted Geese - Sunday

Greater White-fronted Geese - Monday

The rest of the day was spent at many of the spots I had been to on Sunday, looking for birds I hadn't seen on Sunday, and getting the same results.  It was a little after two o'clock when I left Theler and made my way East towards home.


American Kestrel - a code three bird that is still hanging around at Theler!