Epiblogue - 12/13 and the end of the year

12/13 

I woke up at Hunter Farms, and made my way out towards Theler.  Civil twilight was my target, as it nearly always is.  I was set up for a walk with Terry Sisson, taking a last look around for some new birds.  Interesting day, as the water was in farther than I had ever seen it - right up against the boardwalk in many spots. Terry and I dodged the sprinkles for a little bit, then set out. 

There's something about having waited three weeks to get this post in.  I don't remember all that we talked about as we walked.  We found some birds - nice ones, but no Swamp Sparrow or any other birds as the birding year closed out for me.  I didn't mind it.

186

That'd be the new record!  Cara Borre was able to get out a few more times to pick up Canvasback, and a Long-tailed Duck found by David Ness on Skookum Inlet - incidentally the 200th bird that had been seen in the county for the year!  By the end of it all, she was thankful for the coming of January, as it had become something akin to a job for her during November and December.

Even up to the last bird, Cara texted trying to lure me with the excitement of the chase.  I sat with my daughter watching television and texted back that it would have to be a pass. 186 was not a number that I would have had on my radar, and I don't think I could have concocted a way for me to find that many birds and still enjoyed the year as much as I did.

I did end up finding:  All 95 of the code 1 birds in the county.  All but two of the code two birds (Cinnamon Teal and Common Murre may be getting a change in code), and about 80 percent of the 40 or so code three birds.  The extra ten birds I found were the higher coded birds, some of which will be changing codes in the other direction.   All of this without... well not without chasing.  I didn't blog my one chase in November.  I ran after a Tundra Swan and missed it.  How many chases would it have taken to make things different?  To put me at 185? 190?  Too many, I figure.

2016

Walking along 204th street in Kent, I found the American Tree Sparrow that others had found earlier in the week.  It was a great ten sparrow day for our team on the Christmas Bird Count, and the longest stretch of time I'd spent birding in King County, probably since the previous year.  Other birders were in and around, and I got a chance to meet a young couple who had been reading the blog and have a place in Lilliwaup.

If you don't know where Lilliwaup is, it's time to get a map of Mason County, get in your car and check it out. Yes?  Yes.

Thanks for reading!  

Primitive Blog: No Warning Signs

Erasing that silly asterisk:  December 12th

Twanoh State Park

The goal for the year had been 180 species of birds, and here I was sitting at 180... kind of... In the end, I decided to just call it 179.  I couldn't think of any way to count a Ring-necked Pheasant in the end, so the asterisk and 180 just went away.  In the weeks leading up to this trip, Cara Borre and Matt Bartels had found a Glaucous Gull and a Swamp Sparrow, respectively.  The gull was my target as I made my way over Saturday afternoon.


I left Renton around 2:00, and went directly for Twanoh State Park.  I couldn't believe how easy this bird was to find!  Gulls at Twanoh tend to sit around on the lawn, close to the lawn right on the shore, or at worst, out in the water right off shore.  The GLGU decided to do the latter.  I would have overlooked this gull, honestly. 




I've seen so few Glaucous Gulls in my life (one?  it might be two, but I'd have to check) that I don't have a good overall feel for them, and as soon as a gull looks cryptic, I tend to write it off as a weird hybrid, juvenile, etc.  180 floated around in the water, and then did a bit of fishing for me before I decided to pack it up and head to Alderbrook for dinner to celebrate the goal of hitting 180.

Hood Canal all dressed up

Half a room or a hell of a dinner

Alderbrook Resort

I had asked for a gift certificate to Alderbrook last Christmas, and my mother and father in-law had generously thrown 100 dollars my way.  This, as the title implies, is about half of the price of a room at Alderbrook Lodge, or it's enough money to sit down for dinner and not care at all what things cost.

I arrived at the lodge and was amazed at the Christmas lighting around the lodge.  It had gotten dark enough to warrant a picture, so I clambered up on top of the rock wall next to the parking lot to get a good shot.  I smiled as I looked at it on my phone, and started back down to descend the wall.

Train Displays in the lobby

This was one of those times where I just wish there had been a camera on me.  The grass I stepped on gave way from the wet mud of the slope, and I was on my way to biting it pretty good.  In the process of righting myself, my arm swung up and knocked my glasses off of my face.  I somehow got my feet back under me and caught my glasses as they fell before sliding to a stop.  I looked around.  In the parking lot, the driver in a pick-up looked back at me and gave me a big thumbs-up.  I returned it and hopped back down into the parking lot.

I got into the bar at 4:15, with dinner service starting at 5:00, so I sat down and grabbed a beer while looking through the dinner menu.  As I sat, a wedding party rolled into the bar - seven guys waiting for a reception  - and ordered rounds of whiskey.  The lodge hosts big events, and I realized after looking at the menu that they host other public events as well.  I chatted with the bartenders a bit before getting seated in the restaurant.

A mighty fine dinner to end the year

For dinner, I started with oysters, and got ones that came from Cranberry Creek.  Cranberry Creek takes its name from this unnamed ridge that runs between Highways 106 and 3.  Mason Lake, Lake Limerick and the Biser's place all sit up on that ridge, with water heading north to Hood Canal, or south to Puget Sound, which was where these oysters were harvested.  They were small and sweet.  Pretty tasty and didn't really need the mignonette that came with it - basically a little bowl of soy sauce with a sprinkling of shallots. The drink wasn't a great pairing, but it was tasty - I had a hard cider from Finn River - "Selkie" which is made just for the resort, and aged in oak barrels. 

Hunter Farms storefront

Next... I had duck.  I may get some angry emails here, but I had duck.  It was really well done, and it's a dish I've always enjoyed.  It came with fingerlings, orange marmalade and mushrooms, and I had it with a glass of red wine - a blend from Mosquito Fleet Winery over in Belfair.  So I was able to keep things fairly local in the end.  Dessert looked tempting, and I'm pretty sure I would have gone with the egg nog creme brulee... but I had one more trip I needed to make, and it was getting late.





Still Waters Farm

A welcome sight

I told you there wouldn't be warning signs.  I had a good cry or two at the Biser's.  I'd put a lot into this year, and having them take me in so readily and so completely was a gift I couldn't repay.  Not only that, but... I don't know if I'll be back.  This is something I need to get figured out down the road, but I don't know if I'll be back.

I tend to plan out my birding years, as you've seen by now, and there's no question that I've *done* Mason County now.  With 38 other counties waiting with all of their own birds and people and places... I don't know when or if I'll be back.  So I did get emotional about this visit (and am again just typing it).  Apologies to anyone who wasn't ready for this in the middle of a birding blog.  I told you there wouldn't be warning signs.  Besides, crying isn't all that bad.  It just means that we cared about something, which is a fine thing to do.



We shared stories and some wine that I had brought... for twenty?  Thirty minutes??  "So what was for dinner?"  I asked them, smelling good things in the kitchen.  "Oh we haven't eaten yet."  I gave them firm handshakes and long hugs and got situated in their barn once more, asleep and content.