March "Big Day" in The Mason

Technically...

...an official Big Day can only have one car, and the four members need to be in contact with each other at all times.  I found this out early in the day when I asked our trip leader, Matt Bartels, why no Big Days had been recorded for Mason county in March during the annual field trip.  So it wasn't a big day in that sense, but I was still keeping track of birds I had during the day!

http://www.potomacaudubon.org/Resources/Documents/Birdathon/bigdayrules.pdf  
The rules, for those curious!

Before the trip

The trip began at 7 AM in the Safeway parking lot, which gave me some time for owling before we met up.  An Orange-crowned Warbler (102) sang from behind the hotel on Saturday night to give me a start, and Sunday started with a Barred Owl (103 for the year, 1 for the day).  From here on out, I'll keep track of the year and day birds thusly (Year bird, day bird).  I tried my best to keep track of the day birds as we went, although I feel like I got a little lazy as others on the trip were tracking them.

This is not what it looked like.. at all.  I know that there
are ways to make your camera do things, but for now
I just don't have a picture of the morning.  It was breathtaking.

I stopped at Starbucks just at 5 AM, grabbing some breakfast and coffee.  They were happy to see some business at that early hour just as they opened, and we talked a little about birds as I ate.  Northern Pygmy-Owl was one owl that was supposed to be relatively easy in the county, and I had a lead from a field trip that had gone out the previous day.  Heading up the North Shore Road, I missed a turn and actually drove all the way to Tahuya before heading north to Tahuya-Blacksmith Road.  The view, however, was amazing, with thin clouds in parts of the sky, Sagittarius and Scorpius in the other.  Lights on the far side of Hood Canal were reflected in the water, and my camera skills failed me.  I'll work on drawing it or something... it was gorgeous.

Drew it from my notes a month later - this is what it looked like!  (But way less streaky)  4/28/15

Tahuya-Blacksmith Road is one of the roads that is often visited as people search for Mountain Quail, and the group had come across a Northern Pygmy-Owl which came into plain view.  I found the little gated side road pretty easily, walked in a hundred yards to an opening, and started calling for the owl as the stars started to fade.  It came in pretty quickly (104, 2), and kept calling away as I made my way back to the car.  Owls had been my biggest worry for the year, and I now had all of the annual ones except Spotted.

Back in Belfair

I made a little stop at Elfendahl Pass to try for other owls (unsuccessful) before heading back to Starbucks to meet up with the group for the field trip.  We had a nice full group of four cars, with birders from the Seattle area, Yakima, Naselle, and Gig Harbor.  I rode with Asta and Cara from Gig Harbor, and was happy not to have to drive. 

Getting ready to bird in The Mason

Matt provided us all with county checklists, and a map with the stops we would be making during the day, time permitting.  Some people's eyes went wide as they saw the stops were lettered through V, although of course, some stops would be unnecessary depending on the birds we found along the way.  In the parking lot, we listened to Dark-eyed Junco (3), American Robin (4), Varied Thrush (5), European Starling (6), and watched the Rock Pigeons (7) hunting the parking lot for crumbs.

Elfendahl Pass Road

Mountain Quail habitat

Once we were all gathered and had made introductions, we piled into cars and headed up to Elfendahl Pass Road, in hopes of finding Mountain Quail.  We were greeted by more robins and thrush, and other birds joined the morning chorus as we got onto the trail:  Pacific Wren (8), Bewick's Wren (9), Spotted Towhee (10), White-crowned Sparrow (11), and some Purple Finches (12).  The finch songs were so lovely - and they added their little vireo like calls to their songs the whole time.  I have to say Purple Finches are one of the birds I've learned the most about vocally this year.

Scot's Broom - a required planting for attracting Mountain Quail?

We made several stops, eventually coming to a full halt on the noisy gravel we were walking.  The only sounds we had were the birds around us and the numerous mosquitos!  Finally we got a response... a soft clucking that I heard twice from the Scot's Broom that had filled in the decimated areas of the landscape. 

Now... I struggled with this one.  I do count heard-only birds, but... we never got the distinctive piercing calls that these little dudes make.  "That was Mountain Quail."  Matt told us, just as information, but not as an encouragement to count them.  Matt respects the rights of others to keep their own lists, and to make decisions about what birds to count/not count.  That said, he has for himself kept a list that is free of heard-only birds.  Through patience and persistence and skill, he has nonetheless built county lists over 175 in every county in the state! 

Evidence... Mountain Quail footprints

I knew that there were Mountain Quail there.   It was the right habitat.  We even at one point found footprints in the mud.  The pictures I got of the tracks matched MOQU, and not Ruffed Grouse (the only other clucker that I could imagine up there).   But... was this distinctive enough??  Here's how my decision went:   1) I stand by my choice to county heard-only birds.   2)  I know that I heard a bird, and I'd bet quite a few dollars that the bird we heard was a Mountain Quail.  3)  Still...  4) I have a sense of humor which must trump all in "difficult" situations. 

So here we go.  I'm counting it.  Mountain Quail (104.5, 12.5). 

I realize that I may lose some of my massive readership every time I need to leave this as a 0.5, but it's the obvious choice, given facts 1-4 above.  Nobody will be more annoyed and distracted by it than me, so I'll get back out there to look for those elusive little dudes.  Until then, I will enjoy the fact that I was able to count this bird while still finding a way to keep less forgiving list-keepers off of my back.  I'm sure the ABA will have me round down in the end, and I'm happy to do so if I must, come December.

American Robin on an overcast morning

Red-breasted Nuthatch (13.5), Tree Swallows (14.5), Mourning Doves (15.5) and Yellow-rumped Warbler (105.5, 16.5) rounded out our morning in the perhaps-unsavory habitat that Mountain Quail call home, and we headed off to Belfair State Park.

Belfair State Park

This was a productive stop for the group, and I picked up a couple of year birds.  We of course passed through the wooded area between parking and the water.  Today it held Pine Siskins (17.5), Song Sparrow (18.5), Golden-crowned Kinglet (19.5), Steller's Jay (20.5) and later on, a Bald Eagle (21.5).

The water was very productive, and I apologize for not getting a lot of bird pictures.   I think most importantly, the Marbled Godwit (22.5) was sitting so close, a good picture would have been easy to do, but I got too caught up in the birding and with the rest of the group!  A few easy birds were found and heard quickly - Mallard (23.5), Bufflehead (24.5) and Killdeer (25.5).  Getting closer, we quickly found some more birds, including a half dozen Greater Yellowlegs (106.5, 26.5). 

A couple of Bonaparte's Gulls - Belfair State Park.

I did miss birds that others had here, including Dunlin and Herring Gull, but the excitement came when one of the scopes landed on an Eared Grebe (107.5, 27.5).  The awesome thing about heading out at this time of year is that the little grebes give some more clues to help in their identification.  The Eared with the black throat was observed for a bit before we got scopes trained on a Horned Grebe (28.5), which was starting to show some red in the throat.  Did I apologize for not having pictures?  I'll apologize again, but to be fair, this bird was not all that big even in the scope, sitting more that half way across the water to the other side.

Other water birds seen during this stop included:  Canada Goose (29.5), Common Goldeneye (30.5), Northern Pintail (30.5), Green-winged Teal (31.5), Greater Scaup (32.5), Common Merganser (33.5), Red-breasted Merganser (34.5), Surf Scoter (35.5), White-winged Scoter (36.5), Double-crested Cormorant (37.5) and Belted Kingfisher (38.5).  Gulls also included Mew (39.5), Glaucous-winged (40.5), and a new one for the year - Bonaparte's (108.5, 41.5).

American Crows  (42.5) were seen at several stops, starting at the Safeway parking lot in the morning.  I'm not going back through to change all of the numbers, hopefully you're with me on this one.

Mary Theler Wetlands

You can't make a trip to Mason County without stopping at Theler!  Well... I do hope to challenge that assertion at least once this year, but it is a pretty productive place, and quite a few of the year birds that had been waiting for warm weather were waiting for me there. 

Flowering Currant - this one pulled in a Rufous Hummingbird

We got our House Sparrows (43.5) as we walked in, and tried for Barred Owl, finding Red-breasted Sapsucker (44.5) instead.  As we came out to the opening with the education center and plant exhibits, we marveled at all of the flowering currant.  "There ought to be a Rufous Hummingbird here!" someone thought out loud.  Ask and ye shall receive!  The hummer (109.5, 45.5), made it's rattling hum for us, and proceeded to do several J dives, lifting high above us slowly before plummeting down near our heads and swooping back up at the very end. 

Rufous Hummingbird - Mary Theler Wetlands

Onto the boardwalk through the woods, and we came across what some including myself briefly thought was a Hairy Woodpecker, but it showed itself to have a tiny bill and a soft call, so we went with Downy Woodpecker (46.5).   A puzzle for me was solved as we came around the corner to what used to be a rail marsh - they've moved!   In the salty remains of their previous habitat, we had numerous Song Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds (47.5), and Marsh Wrens (48.5) chattering away.  I got a double dose of new birds as a Common Yellowthroat (110.5, 49.5) sang a few times (this one went unseen for us, by and large), and a Turkey Vulture (111.5, 50.5) flew overhead. 



Savannah Sparrow

As we continued around the corner, spring continued to greet us in the form of Tree (51.5) and Violet-green Swallows (112.5, 52.5).  Others heard and saw Northern Rough-winged in the mix, but I never got on one of them.  It was still nice to discuss the different flight patterns of swallows, and some described the roughies as having a more bat-like flight.  I'll have to look for that down the road.  Savannah Sparrows (113.5, 53.5) sang from the fields, and eventually came in to view for photos.

Find the Virginia Rail! 

We came to the new home for the Virginia Rails and got some glimpses of some as they scurried around their little reedy puddle (114.5, 54.5).  It was nice to see them, and to finally have this bird in the bag.  It's interesting how easy they are... if you know where to look!.  I'll have to come back to this spot for Sora later in the year. 


Level two - find the Virginia Rail!

We had no Red-tailed Hawks here, but we doubled up on Falcons with an American Kestrel (55.5) in a tree, and a Peregrine Falcon (56.5) soaring high above us.  Again, I benefitted from the presence of knowledgeable birders, who could discuss the pointed wings in addition to other field marks on the bird.  I learn a lot every time I get out on field trips.

Canada Geese coming back to ground - Mary Theler Wetlands

We circled past the Salmon Center and the llama pasture hoping for Ring-necked Pheasant, but were skunked again!  Nearly everyone in the group had Wilson's Snipe, either in that field or elsewhere during the day - they were a miss for me.  We also passed a field which should e good for shorebirds down the road.  We all saw a Great Blue Heron (57.5), and a few people saw what may have been dowitchers dipping out of sight.   This one was hard to walk away from!  I confirmed that Long-billed are the more difficult dowitcher in the county.  It would have been nice to see some at a time when Short-billed would not even be in the state! 

White-crowned Sparrow (Pugetensis)

Rounding the corner past the vault toilets, we came across some White-crowned Sparrows, and Bushtits (58.5).  We got songs from Ruby crowned Kinglets (59.5), and Orange-crowned Warblers as well (60.5).  Whoops!  Northern Flicker  (61.5) should have been on the list several times over by now!

One of my favorite shots in Theler - I'll try to get it monthly.

More signs of spring - there's a Marsh Wren nest at center.
(We also saw Song Sparrows copulating, but I'll keep
the blog PG-13...)

Twanoh State Park



I was aided by so many good sets of eyes on this trip.

Our next stop was Twanoh - and we found some good day birds from the parking lot:  Common Loon (62.5), Western Grebe (63.5), Red-necked Grebe (64.5), and Barrow's Goldeneye (65.5).  Both chickadees made appearances (66.5, 67.5) as we made our way over across the bridge to get a view from the other end of the park. 

I was still missing Pacific Loon and Black Scoter for the year, so I had my fingers crossed that this time there would finally be at least one of them at Twanoh!   Yes and yes!   Three Black Scoters (115.5, 68.5) were mixed into the Surf Scoter flock, and Matt and Alan got onto a loon that we nailed down as a Pacific (116.5, 69.5) - more delicate bill, and a nice straight light/dark line down the neck, unlike the broken pattern on the Common Loons.   

We also found a Pigeon Guillemot (70.5), and the loon sightings above remind me that I had a brief glimpse of a Red-throated (71.5) back at Belfair. 

Coltsfoot - Twanoh State Park

Leaving Twanoh, I now had the three birds that had most worried me (Black Scoter, Pacific Loon, and Eared Grebe) found for the year.  I'd had my fingers crossed that a lot of knowledgeable birders with scopes at this time of year would do the trick, and it was comforting to think that I could spend some time away from the saltwater to focus on some other birds (not the least of which was the ugly 0.5 bird making my list so untidy!)




Skokomish Mouth, Hunter Farms, Purdy Creek, George Adams Hatchery

None of these were full-blown stops, but we added a few more birds:  Red-tailed Hawk (72.5), Greater White-fronted and Snow Goose (73.5, 74.5) still in the flocks at Hunter Farms, and three new birds at Purdy Creek - Ring-necked Duck, Pied-billed Grebe and Lesser Scaup (75.5, 76.5, 77.5), and an American Dipper at the Hatchery (78.5).  This was just seen out of the corner of my eye, but it flew in under the bridge, ostensibly to a nest under there! 

Potlatch? Potlunch? Potluck?

Potlatch State Park

We made another stop for Mountain Quail - this one was closer to Highway 101, so it may fit well into my April trip.  I've struck out so hard on game birds, it seems like I'll need to take a morning just to go after like... all of them!  I'll lay out those plans later, but it all has my mind spinning with plans. 



More Mountain Quail habitat

At Potlatch State park, we found American Wigeon (78.5), and had better looks at White-winged Scoter.  This was just a beautiful stop, and some good lazy time after a lot of quick stops.  We also went up the road a little to a park that let us peek at some Harlequin Ducks (79.5) I kept missing the turnoff for this, but had found Harlequin once nonetheless from Potlatch.  More breeding plumaged grebes were hanging around as well - I wonder how much longer they'll stay?

Skokomish Valley Road

We had a lot of birds here that were missed or almost missed!  First almost all of the cars drove past a Merlin (117.5, 80.5) with the trailing car picking it out.  A three falcon day is a good day in Mason!

Merlin - Skokomish River Valley

Almost as good was making it a four dove day.  I missed the Band-tailed Pigeons (which I needed!  grr...), but others found them, and the rest of us found Eurasian Collared-Doves (81.5).  In the blackbird flocks we also had Brewer's Blackbird (82.5) and Common Ravens were overhead (83.5).  I was surprised here and everywhere that Golden-crowned Sparrows had made an exit, or at least were far less prominent.  Lincoln's Sparrow is another one that we missed today, and I'll hope will be there in April when they have a big migratory push.

And it may have been a Lincoln's Sparrow I was looking for behind the Skokomish Grange when someone yelled "Northern Harrier!"  I was a bit back from the road.  I figured I could go binoculars up, or run up to the group.  I went binoculars up and listened to directions.  Nothing.  I got closer and listened to more directions... nothing.  I couldn't get on the bird and it eventually went out of sight.  Cara and Asta were sweet enough to take the car back down the road, but we were unable to recover it.

Up the road a little more, we passed some Wood Ducks (84.5) in the pond (flooded area?  what's the distinction?) north of the road.  With that, we made the turn for my fourth?  fifth?  trip to...

Eells Spring Hatchery

The target here was Green Heron, and Dave was there as usual.  "How much did I miss him by?"  I asked after a wave.  "He was here yesterday."  After this many trips to the hatchery, the regular worker there knew that I was looking for the Green Heron.  We tried the back ponds and searched the trees before consoling ourselves with our first good views of a Steller's Jay, and our first good listen to a Pileated Woodpecker (85.5).

As we piled into the cars again to leave, someone called - "Green Heron!"   We all piled back out and found it.  Obscured way back in the branches, the little dude finally showed itself (ish) for the year.  (118.5, 86.5).  I struggled trying to get my camera to focus.  I will admit now (and those who know how to use cameras well have already suspected this).  I'm kind of a hack with my camera.  I mentioned not being able to get the Green Heron in focus with all of the obscuring branches in the way, and Asta graciously showed me how to manually focus my camera. 

LOL

Anna's Hummer?  This was a seen-only bird, sadly.

So I know how to do that now!  I still got no successful picture, but it was a success of sorts, and I'm sure I'll put it to use in the future when my camera can't figure out what I'm looking at.  The feeders at the hatchery were productive again, giving us Anna's (87.5) and Rufous.    I snapped the picture of the Anna's, and admittedly I often rely on sound for distinguishing hummingbirds if we're talking about females in the summer when both Anna's and Rufous are present.  I showed someone the picture to discuss the ID, and was told "Sorry... we're busy looking at the actual birds."

Photography is a funny thing.  I've seen it nearly ruin people's enjoyment of birding.  At its worst:

* It becomes a drag as people wait for the guy who has to get the perfect shot.
* It becomes awkward as the person unable to get the perfect shot becomes irritable.
* It turns into a little trophy case of sorts.  "Hey... wanna see my shot of the Brambling...?" with all of the requisite pats on the back.
* Photographers at their worst disturb the birds and indirectly the people who are trying to see them by flushing them (and yes... that was me with the Merlin on this field trip.  Ugh)

So, I get it.  I know that as soon as the binoculars are replaced by a camera, there's the potential for bringing the worst of photography into it.  I hope that the poor quality of the pictures to which I continue to subject my readership will assure them that I haven't gone off the deep end as far as all of that goes.  I do hope to capture some beautiful places, some beautiful birds when it works out, and of course in many cases, I hope to get shots of birds that might be difficult to identify or document without a picture. 

Rufous Hummingbird - Near Eells Spring Hatchery

The owners of the feeder gave us a happy hello as we had the cameras and binoculars trained on her window - proud to have others enjoying the hummingbirds as much as she was.  Then we piled in one more time and went up my favorite kind of road.

Primitive Road;  No Warning Signs

Now, that sign in and of itself is a warning sign, although I get what they are trying to say.  I think it would be awesome to find a road like that that didn't even warn us that there wouldn't be any signs.  That would be primitivity at its best!

"Cara, could you stop driving over the rocks?  Please... it's shaking the binoculars.  Thanks." 

As we were heading up Eells Spring Road, heading up the hill and over to Dayton, we were far enough into the day to joke around.  As we ascended, Matt let us know on the radio that this was good Hermit Warbler habitat, and I made a mental note to come back in May!  Our target bird here, Western Bluebird, had been 732 percent guaranteed by Matt, and a pair of them came in to one of the giant rubbish heaps to help him keep the guarantee (119.5, 88.5).

Western Bluebirds - Eells Spring Road

It looks like there is clearing going on to put in more houses in the area.  We finally hit pavement, and headed down past a velodrome (interesting thing to find here!) before we got to the road that heads out towards Matlock.  We had originally planned a trip out to Matlock and Nahwatzel, but we had our bluebirds, and I think Lake Nahwatzel has not been handing out coots lately, so we simply continued down to Little Egypt Road. 

Little Egypt Road was a place where I had hoped to find rails, but had clearly not driven far enough.  We came to a wet wet meadow and got some.  Matt played for Sora as well, which is something that I will be sure to do here this year, given the habitat.  We did get Virginia Rails to respond, but not much else was going on in the drizzle, so we pressed on to Shelton.

Shelton

The Mountainview neighborhood of Shelton is a place I had visited twice this year - it's easy enough to stop in and do a quick search for Western Scrub-Jay.  I realize that I looked a little odd walking the neighborhood with binoculars, but now fifteen of us coming through were enough for people to really gawk!  People were pretty pleasant with it, at any rate, and told us to enjoy our day once they figured out we were birdwatchers.  The neighborhood came through and gave us our scrub-jay (89.5), and House Finch (90.5).

From there, we made our way south to the final stop of the day - Kennedy Creek.

Kennedy Creek Estuary

I have to go back and look at the tide tables, but it was clearly well below a ten when we got there around 5 o'clock.  The birds were much farther out than on my previous trip, but we did find the huge flock which included Dunlin (91.5) and Black-bellied Plover (92.5).  The gulls and ducks added nothing to the day list, although we did end up finally getting a listen and a look at a Brown Creeper (93.5).  I have had Northern Shoveler here before, and this is a place I'm sure I'll check again in an effort to add those to the year list.  For a code one bird, they're pretty tough!  I mean, they're no American Coot, but...

Heading home  

Cara and Asta took me back to Belfair, and it was lovely to have the binoculars down and the brain off of birds for a little bit.  We made a stop or two for coots as we returned to Shelton and back up Highway 3, but mostly just talked about the other things we love about Mason County.  They passed on gas money for the day, negotiating instead for a return trip and payment in oysters and beer. 

My kind of people.

I'll update the needs list and running tally soon, although I don't know that ebird is going to accept a 0.5.  Details... details.   I'll also be laying out a plan for April, which is hugely affected by the birds I found (water birds and owls) and didn't find (game birds).   If I can make a trip in late April, there may even be some good shorebirds to hunt down!

Happy birding!

-Tim

Just to hint at the level of planning that goes into seeing
nearly a hundred species in Mason County in March!
Map by Matt Bartels of the Washington Ornithological
Society