Birds for thought

Howdy!

I'm in a little bit of a waiting period, which just gets the mind thinking of birds that might have been off my radar.  These are some of the code 4 and 5 birds that I've thought about looking for/looking out for:

California Quail

These guys have been chased out of the county by Mountain Quail... or have they??  I will be following up on reports from the area North of Shelton between Webb Hill Road and McCreavy Road.  There are a few tree farmers who have reported coveys of both Mountain and California Quail, and they seem like they'd be hard to mix up.

American Bittern

Bittern is not an annual bird, but the range map below shows a couple preferred areas to look.  I was surprised to see the Southeast corner - down in the area of Little Skookum Inlet.  This seems like an inlet that is pretty overdue for a visit.  There have been reports of shorebirds, ruddy ducks, shovelers, and within the last year, the Mason County firsts for Ancient Murrelet and Northern Mockingbird were from the inlet.  The other area is the Southwest corner, where the range nearly reaches the area of Schafer State Park.  It doesn't reach into Mason, but I have a couple reasons to head there now (see Bullock's Oriole below)


Image from www.birdweb.org - Range map for American Bittern. 

It's been interesting to look through these range maps from birdweb - with a tongue in cheek knowing that a color on the map isn't a guarantee that birds will be present there!

Northern Goshawk

They really could show up anywhere at relatively high elevation in Mason, and could make their way down lower in the winter.  I just need to have the camera ready to take a crappy picture!  They are a Code 4 bird, but wouldn't be out of place at all.  They're just hard to find anywhere.

Golden Eagle

Here is the range map that has me tempted to head up to Mount Stone - the county high point.  The range for Golden Eagle extends just barely into Mason in the Northwest corner.  Hiking up the trail at Mount Ellinor, it was hard not to look in the direction of those peaks and think about Golden Eagles.

Again - a range map produced by Kelly Cassidy.  Incidentally,  I don't know the whole history of how and why these were produced, but I know they appeared in Birds of Washington State as well (Tweit, Mlodinow and Wahl).  It's an amazing book, with full discussion of the status of each species seen in the state.

Sora

Any wet meadows along Hood Canal are a possibility.  I will check again along Little Egypt Road, and will continue to expect one to pop up at Theler.  The next best guess, and an area I haven't checked well enough, is the Skokomish Valley.  I need to play for them now and then and see what pops up. 

A handful of alcids, gulls and shorebirds...

...will be worth looking for in earnest in August-September, but aren't really on my radar yet. 

Black Swift

Because why not?  It's a code five, but they will forage awfully far from nesting/roosting sites, to my understanding.  If the weather is trying to push them down, I'll keep an eye out.

Costa's Hummingbird

I'm kidding on this one.  In fact, this would be disastrous.  If one of these came through, and landed on my spotting scope for a few minutes, it would be the biggest waste of a rare bird ever.  There are a lot of 5's on here where I would similarly fail, but I haven't the foggiest idea what one of these actually looks like (or Allen's, or... well, I wouldn't get it mixed up with Black-chinned or Calliope would I?  Would I??)

Red-eyed Vireo

A couple sources have excitedly spoken of George Adams Fish Hatchery - the place right off of the freeway with the dippers!  It's totally in their range too, so I'm hopeful for this code 4 bird despite the code.

Clark's Nutcracker

Code 5 bird, and unlikely, but the range in Jefferson County does edge down towards Mason - I'll have an ear open when I head to Mount Stone.

Lazuli Bunting

There was one seen at Theler in May!  Beyond that, it's just wishful thinking on a code 5 bird that seems too common around King County lately not to have made a nest or two over in Mason.

Bullock's Oriole

So there's been a lot of Bullock's Oriole's seen in some parts of the state... and the range map for Bullock's is very similar to Bittern in the southwest corner - almost going up to Schafer - so I'm going to check out the Satsop River in this little corner, and have an ear or two open for those two birds.  (Or you industrious blog-readers can go there for me and save me some time!  Just sayin'...)

Pine Grosbeak

Here's the range map - and it's a Code 5 bird...??  Weird.  All finches seem to have irruptive years, so I'll hope it's the case here.  I will keep ears open when on Mount Stone.

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch

See Clark's Nutcracker above - another reason to go to Mount Stone with some optimism!


So there they are!  I have been clear about plans for the 1-2-3 birds, but this kind of creative thinking is an important part of the big year, I think.  Maybe some of these birds are in the county more often than we realize...?  It'll be interesting to see if any of them show up and where!

OH!!  I'm serious - if anyone wants to help a guy out on a Big Year - these birds could be fun ones to look for!   Scouting anyone...?  Scouting...?  :D

-Tim