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!