10/18 - WOS County blanket trip

The plan

This is actually how the field trips went.  Three cars led by Matt Bartels (black), Cara Borre (red) and myself (blue)

I was asked about leading a field trip for the Washington Ornithological Society by the field trip chair Matt Bartels.  I thought this one over.  Usually field trips involve three cars driving along in single file, hitting "the good spots".  There's nothing wrong with the good spots.  Nothing at all!  I just felt like the big year was asking for me to peek into more of the corners where I hoped to find some of my long shot birds as well.

So I eventually emailed this:

Crazy stupid idea.  Ready?

Trip idea one:  Drive up to some good mountainous areas above west Hood Canal, hoping for ruffed and sooty grouse, owls and raptor migration.  Come down to Hood Canal to search for rocky shorebirds, ducks and gulls, hit Hunter farms, the Skokomish Delta and Purdy Cutoff, then head to the Biser's for Wood Ducks and a bowl of soup.

Trip idea two:  Search for Ruffed Grouse, owls, and maybe MOQU on Tahuya in the morning.  Quick look at a lake or two for coots.  Take it down to the water for alcids and shorebirds (there are infrequently viewed spots out there).  Belfair, Theler, then to the Biser's for Wood Ducks and a bowl of soup.

Trip idea three:  Ruffed Grouse search in southwestern Mason, followed by a look at the farmland out there for raptors and sparrows.  A stop at Nahwatzel to look for coots, then Kennedy Creek for shorebirds.  From there, head to the Biser's for Wood Ducks and a bowl of soup.  

None of them are too ambitious right?  Could we run all three?  I'll take a car to do trip one.  Cara Borre can take trip two, and you could take a car to the southern end.  We could all meet up for a bowl of soup at lunchtime.  If there's a bird to chase in the (expletive deleted) county, it would be found, and the afternoon could be a chase!

I stared at it for a little bit, thinking that this would be the last time that anyone asked me to lead a WOS trip, then hit send.

They bought it.  I did a little dance and we spent the next couple of weeks hammering out plans.  Here's how it all went - with my end of the trip in detail, of course, and the synopses I was able to get from the other trips added at the end.  I'm calling it a blanket trip for now.  I came up with the silly idea, so I figger I get to name it. :D

Getting there

Shaggy Mane - Still Waters Farm

Kevin and I got breakfast at the Maki's without waking anyone and got heading out the door.  We took both cars and collected Ruth Godding and Margaret Snell from their deluxe accommodations at the Shelton Inn.  "You know, Tim, punctuality is a virtue!"  That was Ruth's greeting for me.  It was going to be a great day.  If good company is measured by how hard people work to give you crap because they are comfortable doing it, then it was going to be a very good day indeed.

We drove up to the Biser's along 101 to Brockdale, rather than coming straight in on Brockdale from Shelton.  It was probably the shorter route, although I'd had the inclination to do the latter because I'd had Great Horned Owl on that stretch of Brockdale back in May. Alas, Siri was the boss of me, and I ended up on 101.  We opened the gate, deposited the cars by the sawmill, and embarked in Ruth's car.


Mount Ellinor

Morning on Mount Ellinor

Kevin listening for forest birds

We stopped for coffee and bathrooms in Hoodsport.  I grabbed a pumpkin spice latte and a bag of chocolate donettes, getting an earful from our car about healthy living.  Even in the parking lot, Kevin was on any bird he could find - his Mason list sitting at 5-10 at the start of the trip.  We packed into the car and made the drive up along Lake Cushman, then turned off for Mount Ellinor.

This was honestly some of the deadest birding I have done this year!  It was socked in with fog - like a twelve pack of socks.  Okay, we could actually see the road ahead of us, so perhaps only eleven.  Nonetheless, we got to the parking lot at the lower trail head having stopped once or twice for robins, varied thrushes and juncos.  The view from the trail head should have been stunning, with raptors riding thermals up the rock face of Mount Washington, but instead it was just fog.  It was also approximately quiet enough to hear the fog.

Margaret tries to lure in some Gray Jays

The idea of grouse had us interested, and we set out to climb the trail from the lower portion.  "Just like... ten minutes up"  I said, making up plans to sound like I was official.  We made it five minutes and the deafening silence melted our resolve.

We tromped back down to the cars knowing that others in the county had found Gray Jay and Sooty Grouse at the upper trail head.

NOPE

It was pretty empty and quiet, although we made a good try for Gray Jay, including Margaret's rustling of a food bag.  Classic.   It would have been possible to stop at any number of places on the way down to try for Northern Pygmy Owl or Barred.  in the end, that number was two or three.

Hood Canal up

Hood Canal - Tahuya Peninsula on the far side

We arrived at Hood Canal  at Jorsted Creek. This was a good stop for gulls (Mew and California) and Cormorants (Double-crested and Pelagic), we also picked up some Common Loons and a Pigeon Guillemot.  We had hopes for some alcids at some of these stops on the way up - tough birds in Mason! - but none showed up besides the guillemots.   We continued up, eyeing places we might stop later, and then we went...

Out of Mason County

Russula Mushrooms

I know.  Invite people up to find you some birds in Mason County, then drag them off to Jefferson.  To be fair, it was only a mile or two up 101 to a private residence where Mountain Quail visit a couple three times a day.  In planning for the trip, we had figured out that Kevin needed Mountain Quail on his life list, and Margaret had no more than fleeting views of them.  The Biser's had put me in contact with this couple, and we had arranged to make a stop in the morning

Spotted Towhee

What a lovely stop.  It's always amazing to find a home where people care for the habitat, and even keep track of the birds that come through.  In this case, the couple had been watching over this covey of Mountain Quail that seemed to have joined with others in the area at some point during the year.  They're still remaining a bit private about the location of their home, but they were very welcoming for us and let us pull up the chairs on the back deck, which seems like the norm for Mountain Quail experiences!

We walked the property and neighborhood a little, picking up a handful of Jefferson County birds, and especially enjoying the Anna's Hummingbird that flitted around at arms length at one of the feeders. We didn't get the Mountain Quail, but gave some warm goodbyes and hopeful see-you-again's, before running back towards Mason County.

Back!

The time had ticked around to 10..11... and we were now making our way down some of the good stops on Hood Canal - Hamma Hamma estuary, another stop a little farther south on 101 with a wide shoulder.  We noted when we passed Jorsted Creek that the water was Mason all the way across.  We finally got down to Eagle Creek (right across from the Eagle Creek Saloon) and started to scan through gulls.

"Heermann's Gull", Kevin said casually as he looked through the flock.

"Shut up."  I told him, letting him know that I was on to his little game.

Pause.....

Heermann's Gull (176)

I looked in the scope, grinned at Kevin, and pounded it. "You can't beat Heermann's Gull!"  I informed him with certainty.   Kevin and I have an incredibly long list of unbeatable birds.  I think the first one may have been a Clark's Grebe, and it just kept going from there.  "You can't beat White-throated Sparrow!" "You can't beat Spruce Grouse!" 

The crazy part was... the other groups had found Heermann's as well!  Tom Mansfield had found 3 of them at the mouth of the Skokomish, and Matt's group had them at Lake Nahwatzel and Lake Isabella.  Having them on freshwater was especially surprising.  Apparently the coots were also sighted at Lake Isabella  -"Scads of coots" I was told.  Cara's group had found the White-throated Sparrow at Hunter Farms and some Rhinoceros Auklets.  As we texted back and forth, the temptation to chase the gulls and delay lunch at the Biser's was tempting, but it all got reined in, and we made our way south with only a stop at Potlatch (nothing new).

Still Waters Farm

Cara, Tim, Matt, Margaret, Brian, Kevin, Ruth, Asta and MaryFrancis - post lunch at Still Waters Farm

I keep getting mixed up on the name of the farm, and got the help from Mark on this one.  "Twenty-third Psalm.  He leadeth me beside still waters."   So I won't be going with Still water farms or any other variation from now on. We pulled in around 1:15 - the first group to arrive.  I realized it was a little tough to find the addresses, so I dropped a banana peel on the edge of the street to make it a little more visible.

Mark and Beth were ready with pizza, beer and soup, as well as a few televisions turned to the Seahawks.  I got Kevin, Margaret and Ruth introduced and settled before manning the driveway to help people figure out the parking.  The next car rolled in with MaryFrances Mathis, Brian Bell and Matt Bartels, apparently with Western Bluebird on their list now as well (from the end of Skokomish Valley Road before it rises up into the clearcuts), and Cara Borre arrived with 2/7 of her crew, just herself and Asta Tobiassen, who declared that the Biser's property was "Eden".

It's been interesting, with every visit I feel like I learn a little bit more about what the Biser's do.  This time they pulled out a property map and stepped through the major changes that had happened in their years on the property.  I hadn't realized that they are on the Masonental Divide, so to speak, with water from their property joining Hood Canal in one direction, and Oakland Bay (and then to Puget Sound) in the other.  They explained the history including the removal of spirea from the ponds, the return of the beavers to the ponds, and the arrival of the Wood Ducks.  As we were talking, a pair of river otters arrived and flopped around on the bank of a small island in the pond, and others saw a small hawk take out a Hairy Woodpecker.

Truffles from the nest box (not edible)

We ate pizza, drank beer, and listened to the story of the place.  It was awesome to get a bunch of birdwatchers together to hear about this kind of project.   What many people don't realize is that Mark and Beth are not the only people in Mason County engaged in this kind of enterprise.   Not only are there people working on restoring the habitat in the county, but they are also working to educate the kids that they'll be handing it all over to someday.  There's still logging going on of course, but the methods have changed over time.

We ended the visit by heading out to a nest box by the lake, where Mark showed us the truffles that had been collected by the flying squirrels on the property and stored up for winter.  They also appear to be stashing them in an old boot out by their barn!  We got a group shot and had our goodbyes.

Second wind

Northern Harrier - Skokomish Valley Road

I'm usually heading into the second half of a field trip day with a lot of good birds already seen, and vague hopes of new birds to come.  I'm also usually being fueled by a peanut butter sandwich and an apple instead of a full lunch.  Today it was exciting - heading out well fed, and just figuring out with people - what do you need?  Many people went to Hunter Farms.  My trip was originally going to bird Hunter Farms, but that became unnecessary as Cara's group made it the start of their run.  It's just ten minutes or so from the Biser's so that made it an easy chase for many on the trip.

Northern Harrier

I wanted some meadowlarks that Tom Mansfield had found on Skokomish Valley Road being harried by a harrier, and I wanted to meet with Kevin Black to get coot.  I ended up dropping him off at Eagle Point, where Matt's group had picked up Mountain Quail, and ran off to the Skoke Valley.

Tom's report of the Northern Harrier was confirmed - a grey ghost (male) was flying over what I figured was the field in question, although the 8 meadowlarks didn't show themselves, so I tried all of the side fields I could, walking them and listening and watching.  I finally gave up on these fields altogether (the ones before the one lane on Skokomish Valley Road), and went beyond the one lane to try other fields.  I didn't get to hear it or shoot it, but got a singleton Meadowlark (177).  I was sad to see it take flight back towards the other end of the one-lane, but fist pumped anyway.

%$#@@#&!! Coots finally!
 

American Coots - Isabella Lake

Kevin had no luck with Mountain Quail, so we met up and went off to Isabella Lake.  This time around it didn't take long.

American Coot (178).

I know they're just birds, and they go where they need to to get what they need, but I did give the birds the bird.  Kevin and I decided that code 1 birds that had hidden from me so well may have been in on the whole prank, and would have laughed back and waved, so the picture with a little editing should be appropriate.  As Matt Bartels pointed out to me by email, these guys are hard to find all the way through this corridor - Kitsap, Jefferson and Mason counties.  So this was a great find.

And that's where the day essentially ended.  I made my way back to the Bisers to get the growlers of beer I had brought.  We made one of them a little lighter and talked about the trip.  They had somehow digested all of the names and histories of the people that had come through.  It's a gift I lack - but we chatted for a bit to fill in the holes of information.  They emphasized    emphasized that they would really like to see more birders pass through their property. Feel free to contact Mark at his email address here.

What now?

So close to the end, it's scary

There's just a little over two months left, and Cara and I are both on the verge of eclipsing the 179 bird record for the county.  We both need Common Murre's.  She actually purchased AND used a boat in the time since the trip - pushing her total up to 176 with a trip that brought her Brandt's Cormorant and boat trouble.  If it gets resolved, we may have a trip ahead of us!


My "easy" birds now are Common Murre, Ring-necked Pheasant and Eurasian Wigeon.  California Quail is going to be worth a chase, and I otherwise am dreaming of raptors in the lowlands (Rough-legged is the one I'm most hopeful for - Matlock-Brady Road isn't that much of a trip for one of the Roughies that hangs out on Brady Loop in the winter over in Gray's Harbor County, but who ever looks for them there?), odd gulls, maybe an Ancient Murrelet in the right window... and of course a good search for California Quail!

Time for a little break, and then a push to the finish!


running tally and needs list