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Thursday, March 1, 2018

 

A new month begins, and a new list starts.  My first bird this morning was Steller's Jay, outside my bedroom window.  I soon added Dark-eyed Junco, Anna's Hummingbird, American Crow, and House Finch to my list.  After breakfast I went down to Juanita Bay Park to see what I could find.  I soon saw American Robins, European Starlings, and a Song Sparrow.  I played the song of Pacific Wren in a place I had seen one recently, and it obligingly popped up and posed for me.  Here are a couple of pictures of the cute little Pacific Wren.

 

 

A pair of Black-capped Chickadees were feeding on the old cattail tops, and I got this picture of one of them.

 

Out at the end of the east boardwalk I added Red-winged Blackbird, Bald Eagle, Mallard, Bufflehead, Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Green-winged Teal, Common Merganser, Double-crested Cormorant, and Gadwall to my March list.  On the first day of the new month, adding species is easy.  I played the calls of Virginia Rail, but today I couldn't get one to respond.

 

On my way back to the parking lot, I got this picture of a Red-tailed Hawk.

 

Before I left I walked up the stairway from the parking lot and played Brown Creeper songs.  At the top of the stairway I saw some tiny birds in an evergreen tree and added Bushtit to my list.  Then I spotted the Bird of the Day, a TOWNSEND'S WARBLER.  There were actually two of them, a male and a female.  Here is a terrible picture of one of them, I think the female.

 

I couldn't get them to come down to a lower level, and they kept flitting around all the time.  It was not only my first Townsend's Warbler of this year, this was the first one I have seen in three years.  I never saw one in 2016 or 2017.  They live locally year-round, but I very rarely ever see one, and I don't really understand why not.  Anyway, I have that one in 2018 now.

 

As I was heading back to my car I saw a Brown Creeper as well and got this picture.

 

Next I went around the bay to Juanita Bay Park, which is on the north side of Juanita Bay.  I was looking for Wilson's Snipe and Wood Duck there.  I saw some Wood Ducks, but didn't see any snipe.  I walked in the man-made wetland at the mouth of Juanita Creek and added Northern Flicker to my March list.  A Feral Pigeon (the common pigeon we see everywhere) flew over and then I heard a bird calling.  It turned out to be a Bewick's Wren, so that one went on my list, too.

 

At that point I had 28 species, and I could have quit for the day.  I decided to do some car birding, though, and I drove out to the Snoqualmie River Valley.  I got Canada Goose and Cackling Goose on the west side of the valley, as well as American Wigeon.  I kept stopping at places where I have seen various sparrows recently, but they were absent today.  I did get Ring-necked Duck at the pond at Chinook Bend, and then along NE 60th I finally saw a Golden-crowned Sparrow with some juncos.

 

I stopped at the house with feeders in Carnation, but I didn't get anything at all there.  I got a sandwich at the Carnation Market and went to Tolt-MacDonald Park and ate the first half of it.  While I was eating I saw some more Golden-crowned Sparrows and a single Fox Sparrow as well.

 

Next I headed north and I saw an American Kestrel along the Carnation-Duvall Road, in the same place I had seen one last week.  I stopped in Duvall at McCormick Park and ate the other half of my sandwich.  While I was eating, a Cooper's Hawk flew in and perched out in the open, in the sun.  I got out of the car, but it flew off before I could get a picture.  After I ate, I walked down the trail to the pond where Wilson's Snipe hang out, and I saw four of them.  Here are three pictures of Wilson's Snipe.  Notice how their eyes are located very high on their head.

 

 

 

From there I went to W. Snoqualmie River Rd NE, hoping to find Western Meadowlarks.  I never found a meadowlark, but I did see a Eurasian Wigeon in the midst of dozens of American Wigeons.  A little farther along I saw Northern Shovelers and Northern Pintails.  Here is a picture of a male Northern Pintail.

 

Around one of the houses I saw a couple of Spotted Towhees, and at another house with feeders there were some House Sparrows.  There is a dead snag across the river at one point, and Great Blue Herons have nested in it the last couple of years.  Today there were herons on two of the old nests.  Here is a picture of a Great Blue Heron on a nest.

 

The road is a dead end, and when I got back to the start of the road I stopped and looked around again for meadowlarks.  I didn't see any meadowlarks, but a Northern Harrier flew across in front of me, so that one went on my list.  I stopped one more time at Cottage Lake to look for Ruddy Ducks, but I didn't see any.

 

Back at home I saw a Chestnut-backed Chickadee and a Red-breasted Nuthatch at our feeder, to finish out my day.

 

I ended up with 46 species for the day, which happens to be exactly how many species I saw on the first day of January this year.  One was new for the year (my Bird of the Day, Townsend's Warbler), to bring me to 144 species for the year.  It was a beautiful sunny day today, and it was fun to be out and about, finding birds.  My respiratory infection is just about completely gone now (knock on wood), and I would say I was at about 95% today.

 

 

Friday, March 2, 2018

 

Today I had an early lunch appointment, but I went to Marymoor Park on the way, to see what I could get.  The first species I looked for was Lincoln's Sparrow, and I parked near the compost piles and planned to play the Lincoln's Sparrow song there.  As soon as I got out of the car, though, I heard what I thought was the song of a Western Meadlowlark.  It kept singing, and I finally spotted it at the top of a tree in the distance.  It seemed to be too far away for a picture, but I took a few anyway, just to see how they might turn out.  Here is a very distant picture of a Western Meadowlark, against a bright sky background.

 

I was pleased with how well it came out.

 

I kept playing Lincoln's Sparrow songs, off and on, but never attracted one.  I felt pretty good, so I walked the Audubon birding trail and went all the way out to the lake overlook at the end of the boardwalk.  This was the first time I had been to that lake overlook since my Achilles tendon problems started.  Scaling it from Google Maps, I think I walked close to a mile today, round trip.  I know, that is nothing to healthy people, but for me, that was a good long walk.  My heel held up, and I didn't feel wiped out this afternoon, like I would have last week when I was in the grips of the respiratory infection.  I think I'm back to 100% of "normal", whatever that means for a fat, old, out of shape man.

 

Part way to the lake I spotted a Ruby-crowned Kinglet for my March list.  Out at the end of the boardwalk, I played Marsh Wren songs, and got a couple of them to respond.  One of them kept singing back to me.  They both stayed in the reeds, though, and the best I could do for a picture is this picture of the back of a Marsh Wren.

 

There were several rowing boats on the lake, and here is a picture of Lake Sammamish with a couple of the rowing boats.

 

On my way back to the car, I played the songs of Golden-crowned Kinglet, and I actually attracted at least two of them.  They move around constantly and stayed high in the trees, but I got one picture that at least identifies the species.

 

That was it for my morning birding today.  I had lunch with my friend, Chris, and after lunch we went over to Phantom Lake, as usual.  There were some birds around today, including one or two Ruby-crowned Kinglets, which I had seen in the morning at Marymoor.  There were some distant ducks, and I could tell they were scaup.  There are two species of scaup, and the difference are quite subtle.  I took some pictures at full zoom because that gives me a closer view than my binoculars, and I decided that they were Greater Scaup.  Here is a picture of a group of Greater Scaup.  The males are the ones with the bright white sides, and there is one female, who is brown.

 

In that picture you can see that the heads of the males have a green tint to them, and that is an additional indication of Greater Scaup (Lesser Scaup would have a purplish tint).  The main separator between Greater Scaup and Lesser Scaup is the head shape.  The ducks above have rounded heads, "longer" looking, as opposed to "taller" looking.  As we headed back to the car, there was a female scaup in a small inlet, and I got this picture.

 

It's a close call, but I think that is a female Lesser Scaup.  The head is "tall", as opposed to "long", and it sort of peaks in the back.  I could be wrong, but I'm calling this one a Lesser Scaup and adding it to my March list.

 

When I was reviewing my photos here at home this afternoon, I noticed another duck in one of the pictures.  Here is the picture, and the duck in question is the brown one that is closest to the camera.

 

I believe that is a Ruddy Duck, so that one goes onto my list as well today.  I didn't notice it at the time, but I decided some time ago to count birds I get pictures of, even if I don't notice them or identify them at the time.  Some birders wouldn't do that.

 

So, I ended up adding 7 species to my March list today, to bring it to 53 species.

 

 

Saturday, March 3, 2018

 

Today I headed across Puget Sound to Fort Flagler, in Jefferson county.  I was just there on Tuesday, on my way home from Sequim.  That was February, though, and now it is March.  Since I'm keeping monthly lists this year, I needed to get the same good birds I got on Tuesday, if possible, for my March list.

 

I got up early and actually got out of here at 8:12, which is very early for me.  I hoped to catch the 8:50 ferry in Edmonds.  I was there in plenty of time, but evidently a sunny Saturday in early March is a popular time to cross Puget Sound, and based on the number of cars there already, I decided that I probably wouldn't get on the 8:50 ferry.  I pulled out of line and went up to Sunset Avenue to see what I could see there, planning to come back for the 9:40 ferry.

 

As I mentioned, it was sunny today, but it was also fairly breezy.  The sound was pretty choppy, and there were very few birds out on it.  I did see some Brant, which are small geese that live on salt water.  I also picked up Pelagic Cormorant and Brandt's Cormorant for my list.  There were Surf Scoters around, too, and some Mew Gulls.  All of those were new for March for me.  I went on to Ocean Avenue and picked up Common Goldeneye and Black Scoter for my list.  After that I drove back to the ferry line and waited for the 9:40 ferry.

 

As the ferry was leaving Edmonds, I added Pigeon Guillemot to my list.  At the Kingston ferry terminal, I added Barrow's Goldeneye.  Here is a picture of a couple of male Barrow's Goldeneyes, taken from the car deck on the ferry.

 

I picked up a Subway sandwich and after that I stopped at Shine Tidelands State Park.  I had seen a rare (for this time of year) shorebird there on Tuesday, but today the Spotted Sandpiper wasn't around.  I drove over to Indian Island and stopped at the county park.  I had seen Surfbird, Black Turnstone, and Black Oystercatcher there on Tuesday, but today the tide was out and all I saw was one Black Turnstone.  I also picked up Red-breasted Merganser for my list.

 

There was nothing at the isthmus, but in Nordland I saw a couple of Greater Yellowlegs, and I got this picture of one of them.

 

I heard the rattling call of a kingfisher, and I found it across the bay.  Here is a very distant picture of a female Belted Kingfisher.

 

There was nothing at Mystery Bay State Park, so I went on to the campground at Fort Flagler.  The last two times I was there, there were flocks of shorebirds on the grass, but that was because the tide was high, I think.  Today the tide was lower and they were all out feeding along the shore.  I grabbed my scope and walked to the edge of the grass and looked at the birds feeding along the shore.  I soon added Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin, and Sanderling to my list.  Eventually I found one Western Sandpiper as well.  There were also 3 or 4 Black Turnstones and one Surfbird in the mix.  Here is a picture of a Black-bellied Plover.

 

Here is a Dunlin, with its slightly downcurved bill.

 

Here is a typical bunch of shorebirds feeding.

 

Here is a picture of a group of Dunlin and Sanderlings feeding along the water's edge.

 

One of the Black Turnstones posed on a rock for me.

 

I was getting hungry by then, so I ate my tuna sandwich in the car while I watched the birds moving around.  I mentioned that I had picked up Brant in Edmonds, and there were quite a few at Fort Flagler, too.  Here is a picture of some Brant.

 

There were several Harlequin Ducks around, and I got pictures.  Here is a male Harlequin Duck on a rock.

 

Here are a couple of pictures of a female Harlequin Duck - she isn't nearly as gaudy as the male.

 

 

Here are two male Harlequin Ducks in the water.

 

There was also a Common Loon in that area, a good one for my list.

 

I went to the end of the land and scoped the water, but it was so choppy that it was hard to see any birds that were out there, and there weren't very many, anyway.  I did see 2 or 3 Long-tailed Ducks, which was a great species for my list.  On Tuesday I had seen Marbled Murrelets and Pacific Loons from there, but not today.

 

There wasn't anything else to see there, so I started back toward home.  I stopped at Indian Island county park again, hoping to see Black Oystercatcher, but I didn't any.  There were multiple Black Turnstones this time, and one Surfbird, but I didn't need those species by then.  I drove around to the west side of the bay, stopping at a Jefferson county park, and got out my scope.  I looked back across the bay toward Indian Island and found two Black Oystercatchers on the distant shore.  I also picked up my first Horned Grebe of March there.

 

I stopped again at Shine Tidelands, but I still didn't see the Spotted Sandpiper.  It might have moved on, as I haven't seen any reports since I saw it on Tuesday.  I caught the 3:10 ferry out of Kingston, and added Red-necked Grebe in the harbor there.  I stayed out on deck, out of the wind and in the sun, and out in the middle of the sound I saw a group of 6 or 8 Western Grebes for my list.

 

That was it for today.  I added 25 more species to my March list today, to bring it to 78.  After January 3, I had 71 species; and after February 3, I only had 57; so I'm off to a fast start this month.  At the beginning of a new month, the numbers are very dependent on where I choose to go birding, since different places have different birds.  It also depends largely on how long I stay out there each day.

 

March is going to be interesting for a couple of reasons.  First, some of the winter birds will be leaving and some of the spring birds will be arriving.  Second, I plan to head to California at the end of the month, so I should be able to get a lot of new birds that don't come up here to Washington.  I have no way to estimate how many species I will get in March, but it should be more than either January (133) or February (127), God Willing And The Creeks Don't Rise.

 

 

Sunday, March 4, 2018

 

Today I decided to head north to look for a couple of rarities (for this area) and another good species I wanted to see.  Before I even left home, though, I saw a Yellow-rumped Warbler at our suet feeder, so that one went on my March list. 

 

I drove the 40 minutes to Tulalip Bay, which is just west and north of Marysville.  I didn't see either rarity at first, but I did see 3 or 4 Red-throated Loons way out on the water.  That was one I hoped to get, a great one for my March list.  Here is a distant picture of a Red-throated Loon.

 

One of the rarities I wanted to see was Ruddy Turnstone.  Last month I saw the one that has been hanging out there with the Black Turnstones.  I found some Black Turnstones, far across the bay on the spit, and I took a good look with my scope, but I couldn't distinguish a Ruddy Turnstone among them.  They were so far away that it was difficult to be sure, though.  I decided to drive around the bay and try them from the other side.

 

Meanwhile, I had been looking for the other rarity, an Eared Grebe.  Eared Grebes look a lot like their cousins, Horned Grebes, in the winter, so I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to tell the difference.  I watched 2 or 3 grebes of about the right size, and I got this distant picture of one of them.

 

I didn't have my field guide handy, and I couldn't remember the differences between the two species, but this one looked different from the other couple I saw out there.  I took some pictures and figured I would look it up later.  Before I left, though, I saw another small grebe, closer in, and this one was definitely different from the others.  Here is a picture of what I believe to be my first EARED GREBE of the year.

 

Individual birds vary, so it isn't easy, but the first bird has much more white around the chin and neck.  The black cap ends at the eye.  That is characteristic of Horned Grebe.  On the second one, the dark color extends below the eye and there is much less white on the neck.  That indicates an Eared Grebe.  In summer (breeding) plumage, the differences are much greater and it is easy to distinguish between the two species, but in the winter, I have always had problems.  Both species live in the Monterey, California, area in the winter, and I always used to have trouble telling them apart.  I feel confident, though, that the second one is an Eared Grebe, which is quite uncommon in this area, if maybe not quite a rarity.  It is the first time I have ever seen an Eared Grebe in Western Washington.

 

I drove around the bay to look for the Ruddy Turnstone.  I never found the Black Turnstones from that side, though.  I did get this picture of a Belted Kingfisher.  I like that bird, maybe because of its blue color.

 

Back on the east side of the bay, I found a new place to set up my scope, and I again looked for the turnstones.  I found the Black Turnstones, but never could pick out a Ruddy Turnstone with them.  I notice that the only recent report of the Ruddy Turnstone was several days ago, and that person saw 23 Black Turnstones.  I only saw 8 or 10 Black Turnstones at the most, so maybe the Ruddy Turnstone was with the others, wherever they may be now.  Or, maybe the Ruddy Turnstone has moved on.  I'll watch for reports.

 

While I was doing all this scoping and moving around, I added Glaucous-winged Gull and Ring-billed Gull to my March list.  That made 5 species today for my March list, to bring it to 83 species.  I'm still running ahead of January (79 species) and February (68 species) after four days.  That probably won't last, but my analytical nature causes me to notice the comparisons.

 

 

Monday, March 5, 2018

 

Today I took some lunch with me and went over to the Snoqualmie River Valley around Carnation.  I didn't see anything while driving across the valley, and my first actual stop was at Sykes Lake.  I played the song of Swamp Sparrow, where I had seen one a couple of weeks ago, but got no response today.  I went up on the hill on the south side of the lake to one of the sparrow spots, and got out of my car.  I found a flock of sparrows, and among the Golden-crowned Sparrows (which I didn't need), I found a few White-crowned Sparrows (which I did need).

 

I moved on and tried the sparrow spot on NE 60th St, but saw nothing there.  There was nothing at all at the house with feeders in Carnation when I got there, but I sat and watched for a while.  Some birds started coming in, and eventually there were quite a few, although none I needed.  Then some Eurasian Collared-Doves flew in, and I needed that one.  Here is a picture of some Eurasian Collared-Doves.

 

When I left there, I drove through Tolt-MacDonald Park, mainly hoping to find Varied Thrushes, but I didn't find any.  I moved on to Neal Rd SE and drove to the end of it, to look for blackbirds across the river at the dairy farm.  I was able to identify Brewer's Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds for my March list there.

 

After that, I drove up to Tokul Creek to look for American Dipper.  At first I didn't see any, and I thought this was the time I would dip on the dipper, but then I spotted one downstream.  American Dipper was a great one for my March list.

 

The bird flew in much closer, and I got this picture.

 

That was exciting, but it was even more exciting when a second one flew in and landed on the same rock.  It was a Double Dipper Day!  Rather than concentrate on taking photos of the birds, I decided to experiment with video.  I took three videos of one of the dippers as it did its signature dipping movement and dove into the water.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out how to insert a video into this report.  For those of you who are reading this in an email, I'll attach one of the videos of American Dipper to this email, and you can view it if you are interested.  If you want to see the other two dipper videos, let me know, and I can send them as attachments as well.  I would be interested in any feedback as to whether this works and you can actually view the attached video.

 

So, having seen my two dippers, I headed back down the hill into Carnation.  Nothing was going on at the feeder house, so I drove on up to the Stillwater Unit of the Snoqualmie Wildlife Area.  I ate my lunch in the car, and then I walked a little on the trail.  I was mainly looking for Hooded Merganser, and I soon saw a female.  Later I saw a male and three females, and I took some pictures.  Here is a pair of Hooded Mergansers, with the male closer to the camera.

 

Here is the male Hooded Merganser on his own.

 

When he puts his crest up, that white part forms a three-quarter circle, and he looks quite a bit different.

 

I walked on down the trail and was very surprised to come upon an AMERICAN BITTERN, my first of the year.  It was standing right out in the open and didn't seem to be bothered by me.  Here it is, frozen into its imitation of a stick or a branch.

 

I walked down the trail a little and got this picture of it from the back.

 

After a while it slowly walked.

 

Here is a close up of the head of the American Bittern.

 

Here is one final picture of my surprise bird of the day, American Bittern.

 

All the time I was walking on the trail, I kept hearing a loud call in the distance.  I thought it was a Pileated Woodpecker, but this particular call sounds quite a bit like one of the calls of Northern Flicker, and I wasn't positive.  I kept playing it on my phone, comparing the sound, and I was ready to count it for my list.  As I was leaving, the bird finally flew out of the group of trees it had been in and landed in a tree along the trail.  It was indeed a Pileated Woodpecker.  It was high up in the tree, against the bright sky, but I managed to get this picture of a female Pileated Woodpecker.

 

That was another great one for my list.  On my way home I tried for Swamp Sparrow again, and kept watching and listening for Common Raven, which I need still for March, but I had no luck.  I got this picture of a male Ring-necked Duck at the pond at Chinook Bend, although I didn't need that species for my list.

 

When it was all over, I had added 8 species to my March list, including three excellent ones - American Dipper, American Bittern, and Pileated Woodpecker.  I now have 91 species for March, staying ahead of January after 5 days (82 species) and February (79 species).  Tomorrow I'm planning on going up to Skagit county in the hopes of adding another 8 or 10 species.

 

As a reminder, I am attaching one of my videos of the American Dipper to today's email.  Let me know if you are able to view it (or if you aren't).  Sorry that the video is so shaky, I was hand-holding the camera and trying to follow the bird as it moved.  For me, a major part of the charm of American Dipper is the way it dips, and it takes a video to really be able to appreciate that.

 

 

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

 

Today I headed north to Skagit county, and I had company - my friend, Dan.  We stopped and picked up sandwiches at Subway, and our first birding stop was in the tiny town of Bow, to look for the Blue Jay that has been hanging out at a particular house for the last couple of months.  The friendly owner told us he had seen the bird this morning, so we watched the main feeder area.  The jay didn't show up, and the guy told us that it also visited a secondary feeding table in the front yard, so we watched that for a while.  We went back to the main feeding area, and in a couple of minutes, the guy called out that the Blue Jay was there, at the front feeding table.  We hustled around the house, but the bird had flown.  We stuck around another 10 or 15 minutes, but it never came back, as far as we could see, anyway.  I was disappointed, but we had to move on.  I was also disappointed that we didn't see any Mourning Doves, which I had seen there before on both of my earlier visits.

 

I did see a Downy Woodpecker for my March list while we were there, and I also heard a Common Raven calling in the distance, so I did add two species to my list there, even though I missed the two I wanted.

 

Our next attempt at a March bird for me was in the tiny town of Edison, just down the road from Bow.  I was looking for the Merlin that has been hanging around there this winter, but we never found it, despite driving around town for 10 or 15 minutes.

 

As we drove out of Edison, Dan spotted some Wild Turkeys in a yard.  We went back and we counted 16 of them.  Here is a picture of a few of them.

 

Here is a closer look at one of them.

 

They were definitely running around loose - later we saw them a couple of houses away - but I'm not counting them because Wild Turkeys don't live in Skagit county.  Someone must have captured them and released them in Edison.  If they become a self-sustaining population, they could become "countable", but for now, I'm going to assume they were domestic animals, despite the fact they were running wild and presumably fending for themselves.  There must be a story there, somewhere.

 

We drove across the Samish Flats, looking for several winter species.  There were several Red-tailed Hawks, but we couldn't find any Rough-legged Hawks, which was disappointing to me.  We didn't see any Short-eared Owls or Northern Shrikes either - other ones I needed that I saw there earlier this year.  Winter is winding down, and I suspect that the winter birds are starting to head to their breeding grounds.

 

We drove onto Samish Island to the overlook point and ate our lunch there at the picnic table in the sun.  I set up my scope and looked out onto the bay.  This was our view from our lunch spot today.

 

There were a few birds out there, and among other species, I saw a Red-throated Loon and some Long-tailed Ducks - both were excellent birds, but I already had them this month.  The only species I needed that I thought I might see there was White-winged Scoter, and eventually I did get a good look at a female White-winged Scoter.  That was probably the "best" bird of the day for my list.

 

Back in the Samish Flats area, I took this picture of a Bald Eagle on its huge nest.

 

We drove around some more, looking for the winter species I wanted, but didn't see any of them.  After going through Edison once more, unsuccessfully looking for the Merlin there, we headed south to the Skagit Flats.  We detoured to the house with feeders on Valentine Road to try for woodpeckers.  Sure enough, we got both of the woodpeckers I was hoping for there.  I had already gotten Downy Woodpecker earlier, at the Blue Jay house, but I got this picture at the Valentine Road feeder house.

 

The other one I needed for March was Hairy Woodpecker, and I got this picture of a Hairy Woodpecker.

 

I didn't need it, but I got this picture of a Red-breasted Nuthatch at the suet feeder.

 

After that we drove across the bridge to Fir Island, in search of swans and Snow Geese.  We drove around a while, looking for swans close enough to the road for me to get a good look at them, because the two swan species are very similar, and I needed a good look to tell the difference.  Eventually I got a good look at a Tundra Swan, and most of the swans were Trumpeter Swans, so both of those went onto my list.  We never did see any Snow Geese today, though.

 

We went to Wylie Slough to try for the rare (for this area) Black Phoebe that has been wintering there, but we didn't see it.  I missed it the last time I was there, too, but it keeps getting reported, so it must be hiding somewhere when I come through.  I didn't see much else, but I got this picture of what I believe is a juvenile Great Blue Heron, hatched last year.

 

That was our day.  It was a great day in terms of weather, and I really enjoyed having company while I made my usually-lonely birding rounds, but in terms of bird numbers, it was disappointing.  I missed many of the birds I had expected to see.  I had said last night that I hoped to add 8 or 10 species to my list today, but I actually only added 6.  That brings me to 97 species for March.  I feel like I'm usually very lucky in my birding, but today was a clunker in terms of numbers.  Oh well, that's birding.

 

 

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

 

Last night as I was thinking about where to go birding today, I kept thinking about the species I missed yesterday up in Skagit county.  I decided to go back and try to get some of the ones I had missed.

 

Like yesterday, my first stop was the house with the rare (for this area) Blue Jay.  I planned to spend more time today, in hopes of seeing it.  As soon as I arrived, I got a bonus bird that I hadn't expected.  A Varied Thrush was feeding on the ground under the feeding table.  It didn't stick around for a picture, and I never saw it again, but it was an excellent one for my March list.

 

I moved back and forth between the feeders in the back yard and the feeding table in the front yard, and eventually, after about 45 minutes, my perseverance was rewarded and I got some brief views of the Blue Jay at the feeding table.  I didn't get a picture, unfortunately.  There were at least four Steller's Jays that kept coming to the table, too, and I did get a picture of one of them.

 

So, with that one under my belt, I headed into Edison to try for the Merlin that eluded us yesterday.  On the way I detoured, though, to a place I had seen Savannah Sparrows in past years.  I played the song of Savannah Sparrow, and to my surprise, one flew in and posed for me.

 

That was another very good one for my March list.  In Edison itself, I drove around and soon found the Merlin.  Here is a picture of it with its tail spread.

 

Here is another picture of the Merlin of Edison.

 

I drove on through Edison, and along the Bayview-Edison Road I spotted a distant raptor in a small tree.  I got as close as I could on the road and got out my scope.  It was a Rough-legged Hawk, another species we had missed yesterday that I had really wanted.  It wasn't even noon by then, and I had found five excellent species for my list, including the three that I had wanted the most, after missing them yesterday (Blue Jay, Merlin, and Rough-legged Hawk).

 

I drove around the Samish Flats looking for other birds, and then went south to the Skagit Flats and eventually to Fir Island.  I looked all day for Snow Geese, and never found the flock that is around that area.  There were lots of swans, but I had gotten both species of swan yesterday.  Today I got some pictures that illustrate the subtle differences between the species.

 

Tundra Swans are smaller than Trumpeter Swans, but size is always hard to judge.  The other differences are in the head.  Most (but not all) Tundra Swans have a small patch of yellow on their bill, just in front of the eye.  The size and shape of that yellow patch varies a lot.  Here are two Tundra Swans, one with a smaller yellow patch and one with a larger one.

 

 

For comparison, here is a Trumpeter Swan.

 

The yellow patch on the bill is the best way to be sure you are looking at a Tundra Swan, but not all of them have the patch.  In addition to the yellow patch, the shape of the head is supposedly different, but it always seems to me like the shapes of swans head vary all over the place.  The other distinguishing feature that I can usually see is the way the black of the bill meets the eye.  In a Trumpeter Swan, the black of the bill sort of surrounds the eye, while in a Tundra Swan, the black of the bill almost comes together in front of the eye.  OK, the differences are subtle, but that's birding for you.  With practice, the two species can be identified if you can get a good enough look at the head.  It helps me a lot to have pictures.

 

I visited various places on Fir Island, looking for Snow Geese and other species, like the Peregrine Falcons that hang out there, but I didn't find anything new.  My last stop was Wylie Slough.  I looked for the Black Phoebe again today, but again couldn't find it.  I walked a little and saw a few birds, but nothing for my list.  Here are a couple of Greater Yellowlegs that seem to be marching in step.

 

There were 11 Greater Yellowlegs feeding in the shallow water.  I first heard and then saw a Pileated Woodpecker, my first one for Skagit county, and I got this distant picture.

 

I also saw my first Ring-necked Duck for Skagit county.  Here is a picture of a male Ring-necked Duck.

 

As I headed back to the freeway to go home, I got this picture of Mount Baker in the distance.

 

In terms of birds, it was a successful day, especially considering I had just covered the same ground yesterday.  I added 5 more species to my March list, to bring it to 102 species.  I also added two species to my Skagit county list, to bring that one to 108 species.  It seemed kind of strange to be visiting many of the same places two days in a row, but I enjoyed being out there and I did get some good species today.

 

 

Friday, March 9, 2018

 

Yesterday it rained pretty much all day, and I stayed home, except for a lunch appointment.  Today I went over to Seattle.  On the way I stopped at Lake Forest Park to look for Band-tailed Pigeons at the house with feeders where they hang out.  I wasn't disappointed.  As soon as I pulled up I saw about 15 or 20 of them in a tree right next to the street.  Unfortunately, the light was terrible, looking up into the bright sky, but I did get this picture of a Band-tailed Pigeon, with a bright background.

 

My next stop was the Union Bay Natural Area, known to birders as the Montlake Fill, just east of the University of Washington campus.  I was looking for a particular duck, and I had a couple of other possibilities as well.  I decided not to lug my scope along, and I walked out onto the loop trail.  I soon saw some small birds high up in a tree, and I added American Goldfinch to my March list.  Here is a picture of an American Goldfinch in winter plumage.

 

The cloudy-bright sky was a problem all morning for pictures.  It felt good to walk, and my heel felt great.  It is such a relief to be able to walk with only a little discomfort, after over two years of pain from my torn Achilles tendon.  The tendon isn't completely healed, and I still feel a little pain sometimes, especially if I drive a lot, but it's nothing like it was for over two years.  Now my problem with walking is that I'm completely out of shape and I tire easily.  I'm trying to build myself up, but at this age, that takes time.

 

I spotted a tiny bird at the top of a small tree, and I got this picture of a male Anna's Hummingbird.

 

A little farther along the trail I got this picture of a male Red-winged Blackbird.

 

I finally got around to the view of the lake, and there were a lot of ducks out there.  Unfortunately, they were a long distance away.  I wished I had brought my scope along.  I could barely distinguish some of the species, and I couldn't identify the one I was looking for.  I noticed that they were near the university marina, and I wondered if there was a way to get closer to them.

 

I walked back to my car, and I considered walking back with my scope, but I decided that would be overdoing it.  It must have been close to a mile round trip, and that's a lot for me these days.  Instead, I consulted Google Maps on my phone and found what looked like a street that went near the marina.  It appeared it would put me a lot closer to where the ducks were.  I drove around and found my way there.  It was all university parking there, just east of the football stadium, but the lot at the end of the road was almost empty, and it afforded a view of the ducks I had seen in the distance.  I got out my scope and soon found my target duck, a male Redhead.  It was a little distant for a picture, but I had a great scope view of it in the sun.  Redheads are quite uncommon around here, so that was satisfying.

 

With that success in hand, I drove over to the place where I have seen California Scrub-Jays a couple of times.  They are uncommon in this area, too, but getting more common, according to the reports I see.  Because it was a weekday, there wasn't any parking, but I found an illegal place near a stop sign and pulled in there.  I sat in the car and scanned around, and within 30 seconds I saw my target.  I got out of the car and actually got a picture of a California Scrub-Jay before it flew off.

 

I was doing great, finding all my target birds.  I headed back toward home and stopped at Magnuson Park, to see if my luck would hold.  I was looking for California Gull there.  There were a number of gulls on the swimming raft, but none were California Gulls.  I looked around a bit for other birds, but then got in my car and headed out.  On my way out there were some gulls on the grass, so I stopped and took a look.  One of them seemed to have all the characteristics of a California Gull except the legs weren't yellow, like I expected.  I took some pictures, though, and when I got home I consulted my field guide.  It turns out that in the winter, California Gulls can have greenish-gray legs, and I decided this gull, which met all the other criteria, was a California Gull.

 

Most persuasive to me was the size - bigger than the nearby Ring-billed Gulls, but smaller than the Glaucous-winged Gulls and hybrids.  The markings on the neck and the bill are right for California Gull in winter plumage, too.  My luck had continued, and I had another March species, my fifth of the day.

 

I also scanned around for Canvasbacks at Magnuson, but didn't see any.  I stopped at Matthews Beach and tried again for Canvasback, but again came up empty.  I made one last stop, at Long Boom Park in Kenmore.  There have been reports of a group of Canvasbacks in the north end of Lake Washington, and I was trying to find them.  I finally got lucky at Log Boom Park and found about two dozen of them, and I had another March bird.  They were close enough for distant pictures, but the light was so bad I didn't even try. 

 

I did get this picture of a male Greater Scaup as I walked back to the foot of the dock.

 

On my way back to the car a female Downy Woodpecker flew into a tree, and I got this picture.

 

That was it for my day of birding.  I added 6 new species to my March list, to bring it to 108.  I'm still ahead of the pace I set in January (102 species after 9 days) and February (107 species), but that will end soon.  I'm rapidly running out of species to get for March, although tomorrow I plan to go across Puget Sound to Point No Point, at the tip of the Kitsap Peninsula, and I hope to get some more there, if I'm lucky.

 

 

Saturday, March 10, 2018

 

As planned, I went across Puget Sound to the Kitsap Peninsula today.  I caught the 9:40 ferry and the crossing was beautiful because it was a clear, sunny day.  Here are the Olympic Mountains, to the west.

 

Here is the other ferry on the run, coming back from Kingston, with the Olympics in the background.

 

I picked up a tuna sandwich at Subway and went up to Point No Point, at the north end of the Kitsap Peninsula.  There have been great reports of birds seen there, so I was hopeful.  I had five species on my wish-list.  I was disappointed when I got there, though, because there were about a dozen small boats with fishermen on them, sitting offshore, right where the birds were supposed to be.  Of course, that made the birds mostly go elsewhere, mostly farther out, just out of comfortable scope range, and way beyond camera range.  Here are the boats that were spoiling the birding.

 

I set up my scope anyway, and there were a few birds out there within range.  I saw more Long-tailed Ducks than I have seen at one time before, I think, over a dozen.  That's a great bird, but I had seen them at Fort Flagler last Saturday.

 

As I said, there were a few birds, and I got really lucky.  I saw three or four Rhinoceros Auklets, which was a great start on my wish-list.  Next I saw three Marbled Murrelets, another excellent one for my March list.  Then I saw a single Common Murre, which was the one I least expected to see today.  There were very few other birds out there in range, but I had managed to see three of my five targets.

 

I got back in my car and went back to Norwegian Point, where I again set up my scope.  Again, there was very little out there, but right in front of me was a Pacific Loon, which was number four of my wish-list species.  It was close enough for pictures, but it dove, and I never saw it again.

 

Next I drove to the west end of the peninsula and looked for birds there.  I didn't see anything, so I headed back to try for the fifth species I needed, which was Bonaparte's Gull.  Back at the overflow parking area I scanned the beach for Bonaparte's Gulls, but couldn't find any.  I did see a very dark-backed gull that I ended up deciding was a Western Gull, another species I needed for March - one I hadn't really expected to see.  Finally, I did see some gulls near some fishing boats, and it turned out to be a whole flock of Bonaparte's Gulls, sitting on the water.  I was five for five, with a bonus bird (Western Gull) thrown in for good luck.  Outstanding!  Even though there were very few birds around, probably because of the boats, I had found all my targets, plus one.

 

It was lunch time by then, so I drove to the little community of Driftwood Key, where a quite uncommon bird had been reported several times a week or two ago.  I parked on the street where the bird had been seen and ate my lunch, but I never saw the Townsend's Solitaire that had been reported.

 

After I ate I drove to a place where you could look out over a bay, and I sat on a log and took some pictures of the ducks in the bay.  Here is a male Northern Pintail, a duck I think is very handsome.

 

Here's a picture of a male Green-winged Teal.

 

After that I went back to Kingston and caught the 1:30 ferry.  While waiting for the ferry to depart, I took this picture of a Pelagic Cormorant in breeding plumage.  They normally look just plain black, but they are kind of iridescent when the sun hits them right.  The red skin around the eye and the white patch on the flank are both only there during breeding season.

 

On the ferry ride back to Edmonds, Mount Rainier was visible in the distance.  Here's a picture of Mount Rainier with Seattle in the foreground.  You can just see the top of the Space Needle in the middle of the picture.

 

Mount Rainier is 50 or 60 miles away from where I was on the ferry, based on what I scaled off Google Maps.

 

I hadn't yet seen any Killdeer in March, which was surprising, since they are quite common.  I stopped at the Edmonds Marsh because there are always Killdeer there.  I didn't see any on my first scan of the marsh, but on the second scan, I saw four of them up on the grass, rather than down in the mud where they usually hang out.  Killdeer made it 7 species today for my March list.  That gives me 115 species for March, well ahead of both January (104 species) and February (107 species) after the first ten days of the month.  I'm running out of new species to get for March, and I'm hoping a few species will start returning after their winter down south.

 

 

Sunday, March 11, 2018

 

We had another beautiful sunny day today, and I went over to the Snoqualmie River Valley.  When I got to NE 100th St, I was keeping my eye out for Northern Shrike because one had been reported there a month or two ago.  I must have gone by there 15 or 20 times since then, and each time I have looked for the shrike.  Today I finally hit the jackpot.  I saw a white blob in a tree, and I pulled over and got out to take a look.  Darned if it wasn't a Northern Shrike.  It was a bit distant for good pictures, but I took some anyway.  Here is my best effort at the Northern Shrike.

 

Northern Shrike is quite uncommon around here.  It is only the second one I have seen this year, and the other one was up in Skagit county, where they are a little more common in the winter.  In the summer they all go north to Alaska and northern Canada to breed.

 

My next stop was Sikes Lake.  I saw a Swamp Sparrow there a few weeks ago, and although it hasn't been reported there lately, I stopped and played its song.  I've done that a half dozen times, at least, since I saw it there, but when you are birding, you just keep trying.  A sparrow perched up and looked at me.  At first I thought it was the Swamp Sparrow, and I took a couple of pictures before it left.  It turned out to be a Lincoln's Sparrow, which happened to be another species I still needed for March.  I had planned a couple of stops to look for Lincoln's Sparrow, but I got it while trying for another species.  Here is the Lincoln's Sparrow from this morning.

 

A Song Sparrow also responded to my playback, as they often do.  Here is the Song Sparrow from this morning (not one I needed for March).

 

Next I drove into Carnation and went to the house with feeders.  I was looking for Mourning Dove, which I had seen there a couple of months ago, but not recently.  There were a lot of Red-winged Blackbirds there, and not much else.  A couple of doves flew into a tree, so I got out of the car to check them out.  They were the much more common Eurasian Collared-Doves, not Mourning Doves.  The owner of the feeder house came over and talked with me, as he often does, and without me mentioning that I was looking for Mourning Dove, he suddenly said "There are some Turtle Doves", and then corrected himself and said "Mourning Doves".  He isn't a birder, but he enjoys the birds that he feeds, and he is learning to identify them.  I looked where he pointed, and there they were - two Mourning Doves.

 

I have been looking there for Mourning Doves for weeks, and today I got lucky.  They aren't very common around here.

 

I had three birds for my list, which amazed me, but I had more time, so I headed up to the Snoqualmie Wildlife Area to look for a migrant that was supposedly due to return about now.  I stopped first at the Fay Road access and walked a little on the trail, but I didn't see any of the one I was looking for.  I did get this picture of a Fox Sparrow, though.

 

It was repeatedly making a little "chip" sound, which is why I noticed it.

 

I went south to an unofficial access to the trail and walked again.  On the trail, a guy on a bike pointed at a tree and said he had seen what he thought was a Hairy Woodpecker fly in.  I looked for it, but couldn't find it.  He spotted it again, and this time I got on it.  It turned out to be a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER, which was the very species I was looking for there.  Again, they aren't very common, but there it was, and early in the season, too.  I tried for pictures, but it kept going up a tree and the light was poor.  I never got what I would consider a good picture, but here are three mediocre pictures of my Red-breasted Sapsucker.

 

 

 

Here is an end-of-winter picture of the Snoqualmie Valley Trail as it goes through the Snoqualmie Wildlife Area.

 

Here's another view of that same pond, with the trail running along the right side of it.

 

The temperature got up into the mid-60's today, and it felt like spring is just around the corner.

 

So, I got four more species for my March list, when I really thought I might get none today.  That brings March to 119 species.  The Red-breasted Sapsucker was my first of the year, to give me 147 species for the year now.

 

There are very few species left to get locally for March, but a couple of swallow species are due back any time, so I have hopes of finding them in the next couple of weeks.  I plan to leave for a trip to California on the 24th, so I would like to see them before that.  There are one or two other species I might find, one in particular that I'll look for tomorrow.  Maybe other migrants will return early, maybe there will a rarity found somewhere that I can chase, or maybe I'll decide to drive some distance to try for more species.  Meanwhile I have 119 species in March, which exceeds my expectations for the month, and it is only the 11th.

 

 

Monday, March 12, 2018

 

This morning I decided to go for the last relatively easy species I still needed for March.  I went down to Juanita Bay Park and played the calls of Virginia Rail until I got responses.  I eventually heard two or three of them, along the east boardwalk.  It was a lovely morning, though, so I walked out on the west boardwalk to see what might be around.  I had hopes that maybe swallows had returned from their winter sojourn down south, but not today.  I got this picture of a female Ring-necked Duck.  It would have been perfect, except she turned her head away just as I took the picture.

 

I like the ripples in the water.

 

A male Common Goldeneye was sitting on a log, and I got this picture of him.

 

There wasn't much around, although I did see a couple of Wilson's Snipe, a couple of Downy Woodpeckers, and a Belted Kingfisher, none of which I needed.  I rested on a bench on my way back to the car, and I took this picture of an American Robin in the grass.

 

That was it for my actual birding today, but I went to lunch with my friend, Chris, and after lunch we went to Phantom Lake, as usual.  It was a beautiful warm day, reaching 70 degrees eventually, with full sunshine.  We saw a lot more birds than usual.  Right at the parking lot there were some small birds in a loose flock, including Black-capped Chickadees, a couple of Brown Creepers, at least one Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and a new year-bird for me, a HUTTON'S VIREO.  Hutton's Vireo looks very much like Ruby-crowned Kinglet, but today I got a good close look several times, and at least one of the birds was definitely a Hutton's Vireo.  The pattern on the wing is different from that of Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and I got a good look at least two times.  I never could get a picture of the Hutton's Vireo, but I did get a picture of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

 

Again, the bird turned its head away just as I snapped the picture, but at least it does show the characteristic wing pattern of Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  The feet are orangish, too, while Hutton's Vireo has Blue-gray feet.  Hutton's Vireo has two distinct wingbars, and the area between the wingbars is dark, while in Ruby-crowned Kinglet, the darkest area of the wing is below the lower wingbar and the upper wingbar is less distinct or not even visible, as in this picture.  This was actually the first time I have identified a Hutton's Vireo since 2015.  It was also only the second time I have identified one in Washington State, and the first one for King county.  Hutton's Vireos are not all that uncommon around here, and I wonder how many times I have seen one, but identified it incorrectly as a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  In the future I'll try to look more closely at Ruby-crowned Kinglets when I see them, and I suspect I will be able to identify more Hutton's Vireos.

 

We saw other birds at the park, including both Downy Woodpecker and Red-breasted Sapsucker, next to the parking lot.

 

I added two more species to March today, to bring me to 121 now for March.  The Hutton's Vireo brought my year total to 148 and my King county total to 158.

 

I don’t know what I'll go looking for now, as there is so little left to see locally that I don't already have for March.  I'll watch for reports of rarities and returning migrants, I guess.

 

 

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

 

It was supposed to rain today, and I had nothing to go looking for, so I decided to take the day off.  I did our taxes this morning, and as I finished, I checked my email, and a message was posted about a Say's Phoebe at Marymoor Park.  I finished things up, hopped in the car, and boogied over to Marymoor.

 

When I arrived at the location specified, I found a couple of my local birding mates, Hank and Karen.  They had seen the post, too, and as I got out of the car, they pointed out the bird to me.  I said, okay, thanks, and pretended to get back into my car.  Five seconds there, and I had my bird.  In actual fact, I stuck around for ten or fifteen minutes and we talked birding while taking pictures.  Here are three rather mediocre pictures of the Say's Phoebe for my March list.

 

 

 

Say's Phoebes are uncommon here, and only a few pass through on spring migration, going to wherever they go to breed, north and east of here.  I saw one in early February, which was extremely early, and now more will be passing through, but not many.

 

I added one species to my March list, to bring it to 122 species.  I'll keep watching Tweeters and eBird for more rarities and returning migrants.  I could make another trip up to Skagit county to try for 2 or 3 species that I missed up there, but they are ones I will see on my upcoming California trip anyway, most likely, so I don't know if I'll bother.  Likewise with another trip over to the Olympic Peninsula.  It depends on whether I feel like taking a drive one day.  I think it would be better for my Achilles tendon to rest it by not driving much, prior to my long trip to California, but we will see.

 

 

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

 

I had planned to take the day off and stay at home, but I saw a post on Tweeters about a rarity at Marymoor Park, in the same place I had seen the Say's Phoebe yesterday.  So, I piled into the car and headed on over.  I spotted the bird as soon as I got there, and I got out my scope for a closer view.  I ended up deciding it was a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, the species that had been reported.  Loggerhead Shrike and Northern Shrike are very similar, and I didn't decide for sure on which it was until I got home and looked at my pictures.  Northern Shrike is much more likely here, especially in March.  Loggerhead Shrike is a true rarity in March in Western Washington.

 

Another birder showed up, having seen the same report, and we talked about the identification as we gradually worked our way closer and took pictures.  Here is my best picture of today's year-bird, Loggerhead Shrike.

 

For my future reference, these were the identification points.  This bird seems to have a wide black mask behind the eye, which would indicate Loggerhead.  It also doesn't seem to have any white around the eye area, which also would indicate Loggerhead.  The bill seems short, again indicating Loggerhead, although you can't really tell if we are looking at a true profile or if the head is slightly turned.  The black mask also seems to extend over the bill, again indicating Loggerhead Shrike.  I see no signs of white nasal bristles, which would indicate Northern.  The bill is also uniformly dark, while Northern Shrike has a lighter colored lower mandible at the base, although only in fall and winter.  This might be considered spring and the bill might have already changed color for the breeding season.  The most persuasive points for me are the shortness of the bill and the black feathers where the forehead meets the bill.

 

Here are three more pictures of the bird.

 

 

 

There were Western Meadowlarks singing constantly, and I saw at least a half dozen of them.  Later I saw the Say's Phoebe again, too.  Another birder showed up and he mentioned seeing swallows flying over the dog park, so when I had had my fill of the shrike, I drove over to the east parking lot for the dog park.  I got out and walked a bit, and I saw one TREE SWALLOW overhead, my first of the year.

 

I next drove over to the west parking lot and again walked around.  There were several dozen swallows swooping around over there.  Most of them seemed to be VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS, another year-bird for me.  Yesterday there were none, and today there were dozens.  I guess that spring migration is fully in swing now, at least for swallows.  I walked along the slough and got this picture of a male Common Merganser.

 

I was looking for one of the Green Herons that had been along the slough earlier in the winter, but didn't find any.  No one has reported Green Heron there for more than a month now, I think.  I also took this picture of a singing Song Sparrow.

 

So, I had planned to stay home today, but I ended up adding 3 species to my March list and also my year list.  That gives me 125 species for March and 151 for the year.  I'll continue to watch for reports of rarities and returning migrants, and maybe I'll take the time to drive up north to Skagit county and maybe beyond, to try for two or three other March species that I might add.

 

 

Thursday, March 15, 2018

 

Today I was finally over the "jet lag" effect from the daylight saving time change over the weekend.  I don't know why one hour affects me so much, but it always does.  I just felt "off" all week.  Anyway, today I felt normal.  It was another beautiful sunny day, and I decided to drive over to Richmond Beach in the hopes of hearing California Quail.  Last year I went there many times and only heard quail once or twice, and I don't think I have ever seen quail there.  I didn't have anything else to chase, though, and it was a lovely day to go to the beach.

 

As I pulled out of my garage, though, I saw a bird at our feeder and I thought - Pine Siskin!  It indeed was a Pine Siskin, which is one I still needed for March.  Here is a picture of my first Pine Siskin of March.

 

I don't see Pine Siskins very often, so it was a pleasant surprise.  I drove over to Richmond Beach Saltwater Park and listened for quail.  I walked down the path to the beach, crossing over the railroad tracks on the pedestrian bridge.  I scanned the areas near the tracks, and danged if I didn't see a little covey of quail in the distance.  The light was wrong and the distance was great, but here is a picture that shows eight California Quail.

 

On the west side of the bridge, I took this picture of the Olympic Mountains in the distance and the beach in the foreground.

 

 

California Quail have a loud, distinctive call and they were calling frequently.  As I walked back across the bridge, the little covey of eight of them came closer.  Here is a still-distant picture of a pair of California Quail.

 

Here is another mediocre picture of a male California Quail.

 

There were crows all around, and they were making a racket.  Here are three American Crows in a tree.  I just liked the way they looked.

 

Here is a closer shot of one of them.

 

For good measure, here is one more shot of the American Crow.

 

It turned out that the crows were making their racket because a Red-tailed Hawk was sitting in a tree nearby.  I didn't see the hawk until just before it flew off, so I didn't get a picture.  A few minutes later the crows were at it again, and this time they were chasing a Cooper's Hawk high above.  I noticed that the quail all disappeared into the underbrush as soon as the crows started their alarm calls.

 

I was very pleased and surprised to get California Quail so easily.  They are not common at all in this area, but that park is the one place that they get reported regularly.

 

I drove back home and there were now about a half dozen Pine Siskins around the yard.  Here is one in the birch tree.

 

They were going to the suet feeder and I got this picture of a Pine Siskin at the suet.

 

Here is one last picture that I like of a Pine Siskin.

 

I hadn't really expected to get anything today, and I ended up adding both Pine Siskin and California Quail to my March list.  That brings March to the amazing total of 127 species, matching February.  The weather is supposed to be good again tomorrow, and I think I'll drive up north to Skagit county and try for 2 or 3 more species.  It's a long drive, and the birds I might see are ones I will probably see on my California trip anyway, but I don't have anything else to claim my attention, so if I feel like it in the morning, I'll do it.

 

My Achilles tendon continues to improve (knock on wood).  When I walk now, it doesn't hurt, and my mind is expecting pain.  It's an interesting sensation to be expecting pain and then not having it.  I like it.

 

 

Friday, March 16, 2018

 

I felt like venturing out today, so I headed north, to Skagit county and beyond.  I was looking for a couple of semi-rarities that have been reported recently, and a couple of easy species.  I decided to take a slightly longer route to Wylie Slough and went through Stanwood.  As I had hoped, I came upon a huge flock of Snow Geese, just north of Stanwood.  There were thousands of them, I'm sure.  They look like a white carpet in the next picture.

 

I was parked on a busy road in an awkward spot, and the road in the picture was a private driveway with a No Trespassing sign on it, so I couldn't really try for good pictures.  Here is one more picture of part of the flock, showing some of the geese in the air, displaying their black wing tips.

 

That was one of the easy species I needed for March, although I had been up to that area twice before this month, and I hadn't been able to find any Snow Geese, so I was happy to get them.

 

At Wiley Slough, I went looking for the Black Phoebe that has been there for a couple of months.  I had seen it back in January, but I missed it the last three or four times I was there.  I walked around this morning and never could find it.  Swallows had returned, though.  I saw both Tree Swallows and Violet-green Swallows, the same two species I had seen at Marymoor Park a couple of days ago.  Here is a picture of a Tree Swallow on a nest box.

 

They just got back from migration in the last couple of days, but they were already showing interest in the nest boxes.  Here is a picture that shows one on the top of a nest box and one peeking out of the box.

 

There are only so many nest boxes, and I suppose the early bird gets the worm, so to speak.

 

I didn't see any of the other species I still need, although I hadn't really expected to, as they are all uncommon.  I gave it up and moved on north.  It was only about 35 minutes from there to Fairhaven, in south Bellingham (in Whatcom cuonty), and I wanted to get Northwestern Crow for March.  Northwestern Crows look just like American Crows, but they live mostly along the coast of British Columbia in Canada.  I have made the arbitrary decision that when I see a small crow near salt water, in either Whatcom or Clallam county, I count it as a Northwestern Crow.  No one really knows which species is which in the border areas, and the only way to really tell would be to do a DNA test.  Every birder has to make his or her own decision on which species to count when they see a crow in a border area.  Anyway, I saw a lot of small crows near salt water in Fairhaven, so Northwestern Crow went onto my March list, per my personal arbitrary rules.

 

I was making good time, and although I had one more place I wanted to stop, I had time to go back to Wylie Slough to try again for the Black Phoebe.  I ate half my Subway tuna sandwich in the parking lot there and watched for the phoebe.  No luck.  I walked again, but still couldn't find it.  I gave up eventually.  I did see a Bald Eagle on a snag, and I took a couple of pictures.  Here is a picture of the Bald Eagle with the light in the wrong place, coming from behind the bird.

 

I went around to the east parking lot and the light was better, although still not great.  Here is another shot of the Bald Eagle, with better light.

 

It was only about 1:30 by then, so I decided to try for another semi-rarity.  It was only about a 35 minute detour (each way) to go to Darrington to look for the Mountain Bluebirds that had been seen there yesterday.  I was less than an hour from home, so I had time.  I ate the second half of my sandwich as I drove. 

 

I found the field where the bluebirds had been seen, but all I saw were dozens of robins and a few starlings.  I spent 20 minutes or so looking, but never could find a bluebird.  Later, when I got home, I looked online, and someone had seen 3 or 4 of them this morning, so I should have gone there first, on my way north, instead of on my way home.  Someone even saw two of them at 1:30, and I was there at 2:30.  Oh well, that's birding sometimes.  Today I dipped on both the Black Phoebe and the Mountain Bluebirds.

 

I did get two more species for March, anyway - Snow Goose and Northwestern Crow.  That gives me 129 species for March.  I had 127 in February and 133 in January.  I leave for California a week from tomorrow, and I'll add plenty of species on that trip, but I rather doubt I will add any more locally.  Still, there are one or two migrants that could return in the next week, and I'll keep watching online for reports of rarities.  There might not be many Reports from me, if any, though, before I leave for California on Saturday, March 24.

 

 

Saturday, March 13, 2018

 

I decided to go out birding again today, although I didn't think it was very likely I would find anything new for my March list.  There are three returning migrant species that ought to start showing up in the next week or two (Turkey Vulture, Rufous Hummingbird, and Barn Swallow), and I thought I'd just go out and see if I could find any early arrivals.  There are also 3 or 4 uncommon species that I might run across at any time if I'm out there looking, so I went out.

 

I went up to the area around Duvall, at the north end of the Snoqualmie River Valley.  My first stop was W. Snoqualmie River Rd NE.  Almost right away I saw a large raptor in a tree, and I stopped to take a look.  I figured it was a Red-tailed Hawk, but it looked like it could possibly be a Peregrine Falcon.  By golly, it was indeed a Peregrine Falcon, one I needed for March and a bird I don't see very often.  Here is a picture of it, high in a tree, with the light coming from the wrong direction.

 

So, I was just getting started for the day, and I had a March bird.  Amazing.  Peregrine Falcon was one of those uncommon species I mentioned earlier.

 

There were swallows around today, too.  I saw Tree Swallows and Violet-green Swallows for the first time this year on Wednesday this week, and now I'm seeing them everywhere I go.  Here is a picture of a Violet-green Swallow on a wire.

 

It's difficult to see the violet color of its wings normally, but this picture shows both the violet-colored wings and the green back and head.  In the air, they look very much like Tree Swallows, but sitting in the sun like this makes the differences obvious.

 

There is a house on that road where I have relied on seeing Rufous Hummingbirds in the past, but this year they don’t have a hummingbird feeder out, at least not yet.  I don't understand why we never get Rufous Hummingbirds here at our house, but I have never seen one here.  Once they are back, I'll try the feeder at Marymoor Park.  I've seen them there in the past, too.  They are just now starting to show up in the area, so maybe I can still get one this month, which means this week, since I'm leaving for California next Saturday.

 

Farther along that road I got this picture of a Eurasian Collared-Dove.

 

For comparison, here is a picture of a Mourning Dove, which I saw later, across the river.

 

There were some Golden-crowned Sparrows feeding by the road, and I got this picture of one with the light coming from behind it..

 

That road is a dead end, and on my way back the Peregrine Falcon was still there.  The light was still in the wrong place, but I got this picture of it looking over its shoulder at me.

 

Here is one more picture of the Peregrine Falcon.

 

I drove around to the Cherry Valley Conservation Area and walked a little.  There had been a report a day or two ago of a single Barn Swallow with the other swallows, so I thought I'd take a look.  I saw both Violet-green Swallows and Tree Swallows, but no Barn Swallows.  Barn swallows don’t usually show up in any numbers until April anyway, around here, but it was worth trying.

 

It felt good to stretch my legs and walk a little, without worrying about pain from my Achilles tendon.  I noticed something there that is bird related.  The power lines had things hanging from them, and I had seen those same things many times before and wondered what they were.  I had looked them up last week, and now I'm going to tell the story here.  First, here are some pictures.  The devices come in two shapes, round and rectangular, and in two colors, green and red.  Here is a round green one.

 

Here is a rectangular green one.

 

Here is a rectangular red one.

 

It turns out that each one is red on one side and green on the other side.  Here is a picture of the power lines with the devices hanging from them.

 

They are called bird flight diverters.  If there is any breeze at all, they twirl around, alternately showing their red and green sides.  The idea is that birds will see them and notice the wires, and therefore not fly into the wires.  The colors are designed to be highly visible to birds, and they also are luminescent and glow in the dark at sunset for a while.  They put them on wires where there are large birds frequently flying - like swans, ducks, and geese.  They are mainly for the protection of the wires, but they also protect the birds from injury.  I have seen them in many places where I have been birding, over the last several years, and I never could figure out their purpose.  Now I know what they are.  I don't know why they come in two shapes.

 

I drove around some more places, but I didn't see anything interesting or get any more birds for my list.  I did notice that what birders call the Monroe Prison Farm pond is now totally ruined for birding.  It used to be a nice pond in the winter and spring, and some good ducks would rest there, but now the farmer who owns it has more or less cleared it, and in the summer it will be pasture for his cows.  Now it is just a bare, muddy pond, with no vegetation.  I used to be able to get Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teal there in the spring, and they are both pretty uncommon around here.  Shorebirds landed there in spring migration, too, but now they won't.

 

The Peregrine Falcon brings March to 130 species now.  I'm not even going to try to predict whether I'll see any more species locally or not, or even if I will bother going out birding before my California trip.  I'll be watching for sightings online, and if anything looks good, I'll go for it.

 

 

Sunday, March 18, 2018

 

Today I decided to go over to Marymoor Park to look for two species mainly, with some other possibilities.  The two primary target species were Purple Finch and Rufous Hummingbird.  I don’t see Purple Finches very often, and I hadn't seen one yet this year.  Rufous Hummingbirds migrate in the winter, and they are just now starting to come back to this area.  Both species have been reported multiple times at Marymoor in the last few days, so I thought I might as well do some walking and looking (and listening, since Purple Finches sing quite loudly in the spring).

 

My first stop was the hummingbird feeder near the park office building.  I sat in the car and watched for 20 minutes or so.  Hummingbirds came to the feeder several times while I watched, but they were all male Anna's Hummingbirds, probably all the same bird, or maybe two of them.  While I was sitting there, a Red-breasted Sapsucker flew in and landed on a tree right in front of me.  I only managed to get off one shot before it left, and it's kind of blurry; nonetheless, here is my blurry picture of a Red-breasted Sapsucker.

 

That was the third time this week I had seen that species, after not seeing them at all for the first two months of the year.  I didn’t think they migrated, but evidently some of them do, and they are just starting to come back for the breeding season.

 

After twenty minutes or so, I parked and walked around the mansion area.  I didn't see much, and none of my target species.  I did get this picture of a male Spotted Towhee that I like, though.

 

Next I went over to the P-patch, a community garden area.  I walked around there, too, but all I saw was this Cooper's Hawk overhead.

 

It was a small Cooper's Hawk, indicating it was probably a male.  Females are larger.  I had to look closely to determine it wasn't a female Sharp-shinned Hawk, which I still need for March, but I decided it was a Cooper's Hawk.  I took some pictures and it took off and flew away.  Here is a picture of it just as it started to take off.  Note that one foot is raised.

 

After that I went over to the east parking lot for the off-leash dog park and walked around the East Meadow.  I came across a group of five Golden-crowned Sparrows feeding quietly by the path.  Here is a picture of one of them.

 

As I walked around, I saw hummingbirds several times, maybe 5 or 6 times altogether.  All of them turned out to be male Anna's Hummingbirds, though.  No Rufous Hummers.  Here is a picture of one of the male Anna's Hummingbirds at the top of a tree.

 

I walked on the trail to the lake, playing Purple Finch songs on my phone.  At one point I thought I heard a response in the distance.  It was too brief and too distant to be sure, but I looked in that direction and walked to where the path went closest to where it sounded like it was.  I saw a small bird near the top of the tree in the distance, and I couldn't tell what it was with binoculars, since it was so far away.  I took some pictures, since my camera has more zoom range than my binoculars give me.  Here is one of the pictures.  Remember, it was very far away, too far to normally even consider trying for a photo.

 

I wasn't sure at the time, looking in my camera's viewfinder, but when I got home and looked on the computer and consulted my field guide, it was clear that it was a female PURPLE FINCH, my first of that species this year.  The facial pattern is distinctive, separating it from House Finch.

 

At the time, having only been able to look at it in my viewfinder, I though it was a House Finch, so when I saw some birds in a tree, I took a look with binoculars.  This time they were close enough for me to be able to identify a male Purple Finch among some females.  I even got a blurry picture of the male Purple Finch.

 

It's a terrible photo, of course, but it does serve to identify the species as Purple Finch.  So, I actually got Purple Finch twice today, in two separate places.  I tried to bring this little group of them closer by playing their song, but they never came closer, although they did sing back to me a few times, thus further cementing the identification.

 

Back near the parking lot, I went up onto the viewing mound at the north end of the East Meadow and took this picture of the off-leash dog park.

 

The dog park starts on the other side of that path that cuts across the middle of the picture.  There were tons of people out there on a Sunday, and I did a quick count and got 117 people in just this part of the dog park.  There is a whole other part that can't be seen in this picture, a path along the Sammamish Slough on the other side of those distant trees.  There are five dog beaches along that path, where the dogs can go into the slough.  I'm sure it was packed with people, too.  It's a huge off-leash dog park, and it fascinates me to see so many people taking advantage of it.  As I left, people were lined up to pay their one dollar parking fee to park in one of the two parking lots.  It amazes me to see people with their dogs off-leash in other parts of the park, despite many signs prohibiting it.  They have that huge area to walk their dogs in, but they still let them run lose in areas with ground nesting birds.  People are sure interesting.

 

From the viewing mound, I got one more picture of a male Anna's Hummingbird, flashing his gorget at me.

 

That was it for today.  I was quite pleased to finally get Purple Finch for my year list, and now I have 131 species for March and 152 for the year.  I did quite a bit of walking today (for me), and my heel felt fine.  It still hurts a little, mostly only when I drive, but it is a whole lot better than it was for over two years (knock on wood).

 

 

Saturday, March 24, 2018

 

I didn’t do very much birding at all since Sunday, until today.  I had just about everything I could get for March already, and I wanted to rest my Achilles tendon.  On Wednesday I did go out to lunch with my friend, Chris, though, and after lunch we went to Phantom Lake.  We saw quite a few birds, and I got this very distant picture of a Red-breasted Sapsucker.  I couldn’t even tell what species it was with the naked eye, and barely with binoculars.  I sure like my camera, and it’s very useful for identifications when I don’t have my scope with me.  Here is the Red-breasted Sapsucker in the distance.

 

This morning, Saturday, I left on my 18 or 19 day trip to California.  I had planned to go over the Cascades and go down Highway 97 through Central Oregon, but I was put off by the weather forecast.  I didn’t want to deal with snow and freezing temperatures.  Instead I’m on my usual route, down I-5 to Sacramento, to start off the trip.  Today I drove for about 7 hours, but a half hour of that was a detour to look for a bird, and another half hour was a delay going through Portland due to heavy traffic and an accident on the freeway.  I’m in Canyonville, Oregon, tonight.  I suppose there is an actual town of Canyonville, but I’ve never seen it.  The only thing here that I have seen is an Indian casino (with overpriced hotel), a large gas station/truck stop, and my hotel.  The hotel is a Holiday Inn Express, and it’s overpriced, too, probably because of the casino and it being Saturday night, but I’m using Holiday Inn Rewards points, so it’s OK for me.  It is several steps up from the places I used to stay.

 

My detour to look for a bird today was in Woodland, Washington.  I drove around what birders refer to as the Woodland Bottoms, and I found the flock of SANDHILL CRANES that spent the winter here.  They’ll be leaving soon, and I wanted that species for my year list and March list.   I might not see them anywhere else on my trip.  They were too far away for pictures, unfortunately.

 

While driving through Oregon on I-5, I saw my first TURKEY VULTURES of the year, in several places.  They migrate south in the winter, and they hadn’t yet come back to the Seattle area by the time I left.  A few had, I guess, but I hadn’t seen one.  I’ll see tons of them on the trip.

 

Toward the end of the afternoon there was a GREAT EGRET by the side of the highway in a field.  That was another year bird for me, and I’ll see tons of them on this trip, too.

 

I got here to my hotel about 4:15 and after I got settled in, I went out for a walk, just to stretch my legs.  I thought about going over the casino.  There is a free shuttle that they will send to pick me up and bring me back, but I thought about spending time in a room with smokers, and I decided to pass on that.  I like to gamble, and I would have spent 100 bucks to shoot craps for a while, but I couldn’t stand the thought of my clothes all reeking of cigarette smoke for days.

 

Instead, I just walked around outside the hotel, despite the sprinkles that were falling from the sky.  I had had intermittent rain since my detour at Woodland, but this was so light I just ignored it and covered my camera as I walked around.  There is a creek behind the hotel, so I scanned the trees and bushes for birds, and darned if I didn’t find my first two LESSER GOLDFINCHES of the year.  They were far away, the light was bad, and there were a lot of branches in the way, but here are three pictures of a Lesser Goldfinch.

 

 

Here is a little closer crop of that same bird.

 

I expect I’ll see them many times on this trip, too, but today is the first time.

 

That was it.  It wasn’t a very exciting day, but I made some miles, and I’m on my way.  I got four new year-birds, which is great, although three of them were bound to come at some point on this trip, maybe most days.  My pictures are mediocre today, but I’m b-a-a-a-c-k, and that’s why I wrote this report.  Tomorrow is another travel day, but I might have some more pictures, and I’ll almost certainly get some more year-birds and March birds.

 

 

Sunday, March 25, 2018

 

I had another six hours to drive on Sunday, and I had good weather and an easy drive into Sacramento.  I stopped for lunch in Redding, and got this picture of a male Brewer’s Blackbird that I like.

 

After lunch I went on to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge and drove around the auto tour.  As expected, there were quite a few ducks still there, although far fewer than there would have been a few weeks ago.  Birds are definitely into their spring migration thing.

 

Almost at the beginning of the drive, I saw a YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE flying in the near distance.  (As a reminder, when I show a species in ALL CAPS, it indicates it was the first time I saw that species this year.)  Yellow-billed Magpies are a specialty of the central valley of California, and I had definitely wanted to see one here.

 

There were many WHITE-FACED IBIS around; here is a picture of the first one I saw.

 

Yesterday I had seen a Great Egret along the road in Oregon, and here is a picture of a Great Egret, hunting right next to the road.

 

There were also a number of SNOWY EGRETS at the refuge.  They are smaller than the Great Egrets and have black bills.

 

There were Western Meadowlarks flushing along the way, and I got a picture of one of them on the ground.

 

I saw Black Phoebe’s several places, and that was a March bird.  At one point I picked out a single CINNAMON TEAL for my lists.  I had been looking for Greater White-fronted Goose for my March list, and I saw several of them in the water at one point.  Here is a picture of a Greater White-fronted Goose with a Snow Goose.

 

I would say the most common duck was Northern Shoveler, which I didn’t need, but here is a picture of a male Northern Shoveler in the sun.

 

There were AMERICAN AVOCETS in a few places, and also BLACK-NECKED STILTS.  Here is a picture of a Black Necked Stilt reaching for something.

 

I had already seen Snow Geese near home, but I needed their slightly smaller cousin that looks very similar.  There was a large flock of white geese, but they were sitting on the water a long way from the car.  You aren’t supposed to get out of your car on the auto tour, so I couldn’t get out and set up my scope to look them over.  Instead, I took some pictures at full zoom and looked at them later.  I was able to pick out a few of the smaller ROSS’S GEESE, which was the species I was hoping to find.  Here is a picture that shows a Ross’s Goose in the middle of mostly Snow Geese.  The Ross’s Goose in the middle of the picture, in the back of the other geese.

 

The bill is shorter and the forehead is more steeply sloped that those of the Snow Geese around it.  I can see a couple of other Ross’s Geese in the picture, too.

 

There were quite a few long-legged, long-eared jackrabbits around, too, and one of them posed for me right next to the car.

 

I finished up the auto tour and got back on the freeway south.  As I was getting off the freeway in Sacramento, I saw four WILD TURKEYS along the road, for my final year-bird of the day.

 

I added 8 species to my March list, to bring it to 145 species, and 8 of those were new for the year.  That gives me 164 species so far this year.  I’m staying with my friend, Fred, and we plan to do some birding while I’m here, so more reports should be forthcoming.

 

 

Monday, March 26, 2018

 

This morning, Fred and I headed out to find some birds.  On the way to the freeway, I added NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD to my lists.  I didn’t get a picture of that particular one, but later I got this picture of a Northern Mockingbird.

 

It was sunny today, and by this afternoon it warmed up into the high 60’s, but it was windy all day.  It was also pretty cold in the morning.  Our first stop was the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area.  As we approached it on the freeway, I spotted a group of 15 or 20 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS to the north.  We didn’t see any more today, so that was a good sighting.

 

We went around the auto tour and looked at the ducks and other waterfowl.  At one point I saw some little shorebirds in a field, and we stopped and I got out my scope.  It was so cold and windy that it was difficult, but I soon was able to identify them as my first LEAST SANDPIPERS of the year.  As soon as I was able to identify them, I put the scope away and got back into the warm car.

 

We saw a number of Red-tailed Hawks today, as usual, and here is a picture of one perched on a water valve.

 

In one place there were several pairs of Cinnamon Teal, which I had gotten yesterday for my lists.  The ones today were napping and wouldn’t take their heads out from under their wings, so I took this picture of a pair of them snoozing.

 

It was pretty un-birdy at the Yolo Bypass today.  I blame it on the wind, but for whatever reason, we didn’t see several species I had hoped to see there.  After stopping at Subway to get a sandwich for me, we went north a short distance to look for Burrowing Owls in a place they have been reported recently.  We drove slowly through the area, but the closest we got to seeing a Burrowing Owl was seeing this sign, which at least told us we were in the right area.

 

Next we drove to Lake Solano county park, west of the town of Winters.  It was remarkably un-birdy there, too.  We first drove through the campground, and at least I saw a lot of INDIAN PEAFOWL (peacocks), which was one I wanted to see there.  They have had a good year, I guess, because there were a lot of them, including a couple of groups of about a half dozen young birds that were no doubt hatched last year.  I don’t know who introduced peacocks to that park, but they have flourished.

 

We saw ACORN WOODPECKERS several places today.  Here is a picture of one I got late in the day.

 

That’s a branch of a dead tree, and those holes were drilled by Acorn Woodpeckers.  In the fall they gather acorns and stick them in the holes to eat during the winter.

 

We saw California Scrub-Jays all day, and here are a couple of pictures of them.  First, here is one from the front.

 

Here is a shot of a California Scrub-Jay from the side, showing more of its blue back and wing.

 

We walked through the county park, but saw very little.  As we were about to leave and were almost back to the car, I did manage to see a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, and I even got a picture.

 

A NUTTAL’S WOODPECKER flew into the same tree, and I got a picture of that one, too.

 

We missed several of the ones we usually see there, but at least I got the nuthatch and the woodpecker before we left, along with the usual peafowl.

 

We headed back toward home then, and stopped again at the Burrowing Owl site, but again saw nothing.  We went down Mace Blvd in Davis, looking for birds we have seen there before, but came up empty there, too.  We did go into Grasslands Regional Park, though, and I saw some AMERICAN PIPITS on the model airplane field there.  They were too far away to be sure of the identification with binoculars, and it was still too windy to use the scope, so I took pictures to confirm the ID.  Here is a distant picture of an American Pipit, just good enough for identification.

 

All in all, it was a fun day of being out looking for birds, but the results were only mediocre.

 

We got back to Fred’s house by about 4:00, mainly to beat the traffic, and I went out again to Ancil Hoffman county park.  As I drove into the park, I went through the little parking lot at the entrance, and I saw a couple of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS hawking bugs over the grass.  I didn’t get pictures of them, but later I got this picture of a male Western Bluebird high up in a tree.

 

There were quite a few birds around the Effie Yeaw Center at the park, but I already had most of them.  I walked a bit, and played the song of a bird I have seen there before, and a cute little HOUSE WREN responded and flew in and sang back to me.  Here is a frontal view of the House Wren.

 

Here is a picture of it singing to me (or to my phone).

 

I didn’t get any more birds for my list after that, but I did see a couple of Bewick’s Wrens on the way back to my car.  Here is a Bewick’s Wren.

 

Note the distinct white eyebrow, which marks this species of wren.

 

That was it for my birding today.  It seemed quite slow all day long, but I did manage to get a few pictures, and I also added 11 species to my March list.  All of those were also new for the year.  That gives me 156 species for March now, and 175 for the year.  Fred and I plan to go out birding again tomorrow, but my numbers won’t be as good tomorrow.  I’ve already harvested most of the low-hanging fruit in this area.

 

 

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

 

This morning I went out into Fred’s back yard to look for birds.  I immediately saw a number of birds flying between a couple of large trees in neighboring yards.  They turned out to be Cedar Waxwings, an excellent March bird.  I couldn’t get close, but I walked around the corner and got distant views.  Some of them seemed to be feeding others.  It’s the wrong time of year for young ones, so I don’t know what was going on.  Here’s a picture of a couple of them, and the one on the right appeared to be feeding (or kissing) the one on the left.

 

Maybe it was some kind of courtship behavior.

 

There was also a bird singing in Fred’s back yard, closer than the waxwings.  It turned out to be an OAK TITMOUSE, and I got this picture of that little cutie.

 

Out in Fred’s front yard, I got this picture of a Mourning Dove, which I didn’t need for any lists.

 

The birding still wasn’t over, though.  There was a small bird foraging high in a tree, and I took these pictures of my first ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER of the year.

 

 

All of that action came before we even left for the day.  Our first stop after leaving was Sailor Bar, a park on the American River.  There were several Northern Mockingbirds singing and interacting there, but we didn’t see anything I needed and I didn’t take any pictures.

 

Our next stop was the Nimbus fish hatchery, which is also on the American River.  While still in the parking lot, I saw WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS flying around over the river.  They nest in holes under the Hazel Avenue bridge, so I was hoping to find them there.  We tried the hatchery fish ponds Green Heron, which I almost always find there, but not today.  There was a busload of school age kids rampaging around, so that might have discouraged the Green Herons.  I did manage to see a Spotted Sandpiper across the river, for my March list.

 

After that we drove down to the Sunrise area on the American River.  We drove through, but the only thing I got was a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, and we only heard it and didn’t see it.  I thought I recognized the call, so I played it on my phone, and that was it.  That was a California specialty that I was hoping to get.  I’d still like to see one and get pictures, but at least it is on my March list now, since I count “heard” birds as well as seen birds.

 

Next we stopped at Costco to get gas and get lunch for me, while Fred went in to Costco and got a couple of things.  Refueled, we went to Mather Lake.  We immediately saw my main target there, MUTE SWAN.  There aren’t many places in the US where Mute Swans (native to Europe) have formed viable populations, but they have been breeding at Mather Lake for 20 years at least.  Here is a picture of one of the Mute Swans we saw today.

 

I don’t know why the bird holds its wings like that, but it’s interesting, I think.  Here is another shot of the same Mute Swan a few minutes later.

 

I also added COMMON GALLINULE (formerly called Common Moorhen) there at Mather Lake, but my pictures are uninspiring.  There were also a lot of GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES there, but I didn’t bother with pictures because I have so many from my last Texas trip.  While we were sitting on a bench enjoying the beautiful day, we saw a couple of American White Pelicans flying in the distance.  I counted that species yesterday, but I didn’t get any pictures, so here are a couple of distant American White Pelicans soaring around.

 

They get those growths on their bills during the breeding season.

 

We walked a little at Mather Lake, but didn’t see anything else I needed.  We headed back toward home and stopped on the way to drive through the Lower Sunrise area along the American River.  I was looking for a particular species that had expected to see by then, and finally I saw my first CALIFORNIA TOWHEE of the year.  Here is a picture of it.

 

I also got this next picture, of a Lincoln’s Sparrow, at that place.

 

I didn’t need Lincoln’s Sparrow for my March list, but it’s a great bird to see, and I was glad to get a picture.

 

Today was a much “birdier” day than yesterday was.  It wasn’t windy today, and it was warmer, too.  I ended up adding 10 species to my March list, to bring it to 166.  This morning I told myself that if I got 7 today for March, it would be good, so getting 10 was excellent.  Eight of those ten were new for the year, too, to bring my yearly total to 183.  I’ve now added 35 species to my March list since leaving home 4 days ago.  31 of those 35 have been new for the year.  So far, the trip is quite successful in terms of birds.  We’ll see how it goes from here.  Tomorrow morning I head for Southern California.  Tomorrow will mostly be a travel day, and there aren’t many species left for me to get for March in this area, so there won’t be much tomorrow, if anything.  The numbers should start going up again the following day, Thursday.  After stopping tomorrow night on the way, I plan to spend six nights at my sister’s house north of San Diego, and I hope to get some good birds while I’m there.

 

 

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

 

Today my plan was to drive south for five hours, to get closer to San Diego and thus be able to drive through the L.A. mess in the middle of the day.  On my way out of Sacramento, I stopped at the Cosumnes River Preserve, to see if I could pick up a species or two.  Cosumnes is about 20 miles south of Sacramento.  The first thing I did there was to drive down Desmond Road, to check out the ponds there.  As I turned into Desmond Road, I spotted two Barn Swallows on a wire, and that was a March bird.  I later saw many hundreds of Tree Swallows, but those were the only Barn Swallows I saw today.

 

I didn’t need it for my lists, since I had seen them at the Sacramento NWR the other day, but I saw some American Avocets and I got this picture of one of them.

 

I always think the curved bill of the American Avocet looks so delicate.

 

There were two or three American Pipits along the road, and although I didn’t need that one either, here is a picture of one of the American Pipits.

 

There were some Black-necked Stilts, too, and I got this picture of one of them with its reflection.

 

There were a couple of Greater Yellowlegs, also, and I got this picture of one of them.

 

As I drove into the parking area for the boardwalk into the marsh, I spotted a shorebird I needed.  Here is a picture of a somewhat scruffy looking LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER.

 

The reason it looks a bit scruffy is that it is molting into its breeding plumage.  Here is a slightly out-of-focus picture of another one that is even scruffier looking.

 

There were some Dunlin feeding with the dowitchers, and here is a picture of a Dunlin that is also transitioning into breeding plumage.

 

The black on its belly will get more extensive and the red on its back will also increase as it comes into breeding plumage.  Those last two shorebirds have many hundreds of miles to fly to get to their breeding grounds in the far north, and they are probably already well on their way, depending on where they spent their winter.

 

I walked out onto the boardwalk into the marsh, and Marsh Wrens were singing all over the place.  In the winter they are pretty shy, and I had a hard time calling one up in the winter, but now it’s spring, and the males are singing their heads off, trying to attract females to the nests the males have built.  One male might build several nests and try to attract females to mate with him, lay their eggs in his nests, and raise the young without any help from him.  I find it interesting how many different breeding patterns various bird species use.  Anyway, here are some pictures of Marsh Wrens.

 

 

 

I played the calls of Sora because it looked like good habitat for Sora, but the only responses I got were from Virginia Rails, another rail species.  I didn’t need that one, unfortunately.

 

There were a couple of Black Phoebes catching bugs, and one of them had some nest material in its beak.

 

Song Sparrows also were singing, and I got this picture of a Song Sparrow.

 

Song Sparrows in most of the country are much lighter colored than the ones we have in the Northwest, and it always surprises me when I see the light-colored ones, like this bird.

 

That was it for Cosumnes, and I got back on the freeway and headed south again.  After stopping for lunch at an In ‘N’ Out Burger, I had some extra time.  I figured I was on track to get to my stopping place tonight, at the top of the Grapevine Grade, south of Bakersfield, by 4:00, and I didn’t need to get there that early.  So, I headed up into the foothills of the Coastal Range on Little Panoche Road, to see if I could see a roadrunner or some interesting sparrows, both of which I have seen there before.

 

There were some White-crowned Sparrows, which I didn’t need, but I got this picture later of an immature White-crowned Sparrow.

 

There were also some Savannah Sparrows, another one I didn’t need.  Here is a Savannah Sparrow.

 

Then I came upon a large flock of dozens of American Pipits.  I had just gotten that species this week, and I already showed one picture from this morning at Cosumnes, but here is another picture of an American Pipit.

 

I like the way you can see the edges of the white undertail feathers that you sometimes see as they fly away from you.

 

Farther up the road I saw a very large bird on a fence in the distance.  It was far away, but I got this distant picture of it.

 

The golden feathers on the head and neck mark it as a GOLDEN EAGLE, a great one for my year list that I hadn’t really expected, although I did know they live in that area.

 

Eventually I turned around and headed back to I-5.  On my way back a small flock of birds flew in and perched on a fence by the road.  I stopped and took a look because you never know what they might be, and darned if they weren’t LAWRENCE’S GOLDFINCHES, an uncommon species I hadn’t even thought about finding.  Here is a picture of an immature male Lawrence’s Goldfinch.

 

Here is a mature male Lawrence’s Goldfinch, showing his black face and yellow breast.

 

That detour into the hills took 55 minutes, and I ended up getting to my motel at about 4:50, so it worked out fine.

 

I added 4 more species to my March list, and 3 of those were year-birds.  That gives me 170 species for March and 186 for the year.

 

Tomorrow I plan to drive to my sister Kathy’s house in north San Diego county, and I plan to stop at a couple of excellent birding sites in Orange county as I go through, time and traffic permitting.  I looked at my lists and I set some goals for tomorrow.  If I get 8 more species for my March list tomorrow, that will be okay.  If I get 9, that will be good, and getting 10 would be very good.  11 new species for March would be excellent.  We’ll see if I’m being overly optimistic.

 

 

Thursday, March 29, 2018

 

Today was another travel day, but it was pretty short.  I learned a lesson, though.  After this trip, I’ll never drive through Los Angeles on a week day again.  I thought that driving through in the middle of the day would be okay, but I learned otherwise.  My first leg was from Lebec to Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve.  At 10 PM last night, it would have been a 1:44 trip.  Today at 10 AM, it was a 2:30 trip.  An extra 45 minutes due to traffic.  I used the GPS app Wayz, and it took me from one freeway to another, zig-zagging across L.A.  I finally got to Bolsa Chica about 11:45 AM.

 

I parked and walked out onto the preserve.  I added Marbled Godwit and Willet to my March list right away.  Here is a Marbled Godwit.

 

The tide was high, which wasn’t good, and there weren’t as many birds as there might have been, but there was still good diversity.  I saw some little peeps (sandpipers) and among them was my first RED KNOT of the year.  Here is a picture.

 

Red Knot was probably the Bird of the Day for me.  I don’t see them often, so it was nice to see one today and get a picture, no less.

 

There were little peeps in several places, and most of them were Western Sandpipers.  There were also some Least Sandpipers, though, and I got this picture that shows both a Western Sandpiper (with black legs) and a Least Sandpiper (with yellow legs).

 

I didn’t need either species for March, but it was still interesting to get a picture that showed both species.  It’s blurry because it was so distant and I cropped it close.

 

I also saw one SEMIPALMATED PLOVER with some other peeps.  I saw several LONG-BILLED CURLEWS today, and here is a picture of one of them.

 

There were lots of terns flying around, and I added ROYAL TERN, ELEGANT TERN, and CASPIAN TERN to my year list.  There were also a couple of BROWN PELICANS, so that one went onto my year list, too.  I missed some of the uncommon species I had hoped to find, so I walked back to my car and headed out.  As I approached my car, I got this picture of a Snowy Egret.  Check out those yellow feet.

 

On my way past the north part of the preserve, I stopped and added BLUE-WINGED TEAL to my lists.

 

My next stop was the San Joaquin Marsh, which is an Audubon refuge, located in Newport Beach.  It is actually on a waste water treatment plant property, and there are a number of settling ponds with paths and plantings between them.  I saw a lot of the same species I had seen at Bolsa Chica.  Here is a picture of a pair of Cinnamon Teal.  You can guess which one is the male.

 

It looked like good habitat for a warbler species that I needed, so I played the song.  I got a response, and a male COMMON YELLOWTHROAT flew across the path.  It didn’t pose for me, though.

 

At one of the ponds I saw a distant BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON fly at a Snowy Egret and chase it off its territory, I guess.  At one point I saw a hummingbird, and it turned out to be an ALLEN’S HUMMINGBIRD, a species that is restricted to Southern and Central California.  Here are a couple of pictures of a male Allen’s Hummingbird.

 

 

I think it is interesting how different his gorget looks in different lighting.  He just turns his head, and it shines out.

 

I saw Western Grebes in a couple of places.  I didn’t need that one, but I needed its close cousin, Clark’s Grebe.  One group of three of them was too far away for me to be sure, but I think they were Western Grebes, not the one I needed.  Even with pictures, I couldn’t be sure.  Here is a picture of a closer Western Grebe that I feel confident wasn’t a Clark’s.

 

There were a number of American White Pelicans on one of the ponds, and I got this picture of one of them.  This shows the problem getting a good picture when the light is in the wrong place (coming from behind the bird, in this case).

 

While I was walking the trails among the ponds, I played the song of a bird that I thought probably was there, and I got a response from my first SORA of the year, a good one for my lists.

 

I walked back to my car through the butterfly garden, and sat on a bench to rest for a few minutes.  As I sat there, a Yellow-rumped Warbler flitted around in a tree in front of me, and I got this picture of it.

 

There are two subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warbler, and there are gender differences and seasonal differences as well, and I don’t even try to keep track of which ones are which.  The one thing that is common among all the various plumages is the yellow rump, which you can see in this picture.

 

That was it for my official birding for the day.  I hit the freeways again to drive to my sister’s house in Rancho Santa Fe, north of San Diego.  In no traffic it is supposed to be just over an hour, but on a Thursday afternoon it was very heavy traffic and bumper to bumper much of the time.  It took about two hours, and it was frustrating as the dickens.  This was at 2 in the afternoon, but it doesn’t matter what time it is, I guess.  I’ll never plan a trip through the L.A. area on a week day again.  I grew up in L.A. and lived there for about 20 years.  I liked it, but in the subsequent 48 years since I left, it has gotten unlivable in my opinion.  I’m sure that many wonderful people love it, but it isn’t for me.

 

At Kathy’s house I sat out on the patio and just relaxed.  I looked at my pictures from the day after a while, and I watched the birds around her yard.  Here is a female Red-winged Blackbird at the top of a tree.

 

I didn’t recognize it at first because our female Red-winged Blackbirds at home are much browner.

 

There were well over a dozen Lesser Goldfinches that mobbed her feeders.  Here is one of the Lesser Goldfinches waiting its turn at a feeder.

 

There were some White-crowned Sparrows around, and I got this picture of one.

 

A male Allen’s Hummingbird flew in and perched for me in the sun, so I took some pictures, even though I had already gotten some earlier today.

 

 

Who can resist shots like that?

 

There was a male Anna’s Hummingbird flying around, too, and I got a picture of him, too.

 

Finally, a male Brown-headed Cowbird flew in and perched at the top of a tree, and I took this picture.

 

So, it was a travel day, and a really hellish one, too, with the Southern California traffic, but I managed to see a lot of birds for my lists – more than I had expected.  I ended up adding 14 to my March list, to bring it to 184 species.  I said last night that if I got 11 new species for March today it would be excellent, so where does 14 fall?  I guess I am consistently too conservative in my estimates.  12 of those 14 were new for the year, too, to bring me to 198 species in 2018.

 

Tomorrow I need to spend most of the day helping my sister with her income taxes, but I hope to get out in the later afternoon and maybe find one or two new species for my lists.  We will see.

 

 

Friday, March 30, 2018

 

Today we had an appointment at noon to meet with Kathy’s accountant about her taxes, but I snuck out in the morning to look for a rarity that had been reported locally.  I didn’t find the rare (for this area) Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, but I did see a couple of CASSIN’S KINGBIRDS on my way to the location.  Here is a picture of my first Cassin’s Kingbird of the year.

 

Back at Kathy’s house, I got this picture of a male American Goldfinch.

 

For comparison, here is a male Lesser Goldfinch.

 

The vast majority of the goldfinches in Kathy’s back yard are Lesser Goldfinches, but there are a few American Goldfinches, too.

 

After we met with the accountant and had lunch, I went over to San Elijo Lagoon to look for birds.  I had three target species I hoped to see.  First I tried for Ridgway’s Rail (formerly Clapper Rail), but they are working on restoring the lagoon, and the habitat for the rails is somewhat compromised right now, and I never could see one or get a response to the calls I played.  I’ll have one more chance for that species for March tomorrow, I hope.

 

I walked the nature trail and played the songs of the two other target species, which I had seen there last year.  I got no response at first, but on a second pass on the trail, I heard an answering song from a WRENTIT, one of my target species.  Eventually I lured it in close enough for excellent views, but it wouldn’t sit still long enough for a picture.

 

I kept walking, and playing, and I finally got a response from another target species, CALIFORNIA GNATCATCHER.  Here is a kind of strange picture of a male California Gnatcatcher, looking right at me as it sang back to me.

 

Getting both Wrentit and California Gnatcatcher was very satisfying and not really expected.  Meanwhile, I saw a single Bushtit a couple of times, and I got a couple of pictures of that little cutie, too.

 

 

Next I went around to the south side of the San Elijo Lagoon, to the Rios Avenue access.  I played California Thrasher songs because I had seen one there a couple of years ago, but I got no responses except from male House Sparrows who flew in and seemed interested.  Some of the trails at the lagoon are closed because of the huge restoration project they are working on, but I spent a few minutes at the start of the trails, just looking for birds.  There were a couple of Allen’s Hummingbirds, and then three Bushtits flew in and entertained me.  Then I saw a bird that I never was able to identify.  I got a couple of decent looks at it, but I just don’t know what it was.  Here is a poor picture I got of it, in case I suddenly realize what it was.  It was light-colored below and maybe had a light eye-ring.  It was about the size of a large warbler.  My best guess would be female Common Yellowthroat, but it didn’t seem quite right for that.

 

I walked down the trail that was open and played Wrentit songs because someone had reported seeing them there a few days ago.  At one point I did see a couple of them fly in, but they didn’t sit still for pictures.  I went farther down the trail and soon came to a bench, where I sat and rested and enjoyed the beautiful day.  While I was sitting there, I saw a bright yellow bird, and found it was a male WILSON’S WARBLER, an excellent one for my lists.  I even got a strange picture of it, looking at me.  Male Wilson’s Warblers are bright yellow all over, except for a small square patch of black on the top of their heads.

 

While I was trying for more pictures of the Wilson’s Warbler, I heard a bird repeatedly singing, and I realized I recognized the song.  I had been playing it ten minutes earlier, the song of Wrentit.  I managed to track it down and actually got a picture this time.  Here is my Wrentit picture for today.

 

That was it for my actual birding today, but I went back to Kathy’s house and relaxed on the patio, while watching the various birds at the feeders.  Here is a male American Goldfinch posing nicely for me.

 

There were Mourning Doves feeding under the seed feeder, and one of them posed nicely for this frontal view picture.

 

It turned sideways to show more of its body, too.

 

A Yellow-rumped Warbler flew in and looked at the fountain.  I was sitting nearby, but eventually it decided to come in for a drink of water, anyway.  Here it is in a tree, looking the situation over.

 

I like that picture because it shows the bird’s yellow rump.  I like the pose better in this next picture, though.

 

Here it is at the fountain, swallowing one of its sips of water.

 

That was it for today.  I added 4 more species to my March list, to bring it to 188 species.  All 4 of them were new for the year for me, too, and that brings my year list to 202 species.  Tomorrow is the last day of March, and I plan to go out birding all day, hitting several of the best birding locations around the San Diego area, to see what I can add to March.  On Sunday my monthly list will start all over again, so tomorrow is my last chance to add to my March list.  I have a list of 28 possible birds I could see tomorrow for March, and there are 2 or 3 rarities I will be looking for as well.  Only 6 of those seem likely, but anything can happen in birding.  It would be really great to get 12 of them and get to 200 species for March, but that seems quite unlikely.  We will see.

 

 

Saturday, March 31, 2018

 

It was a long day today (for me).  I left here at 8:50 and got back at 5:00.  For me, eight hours is a long day, these days.

 

I started by going south, down near the border.  I stopped at the J Street Marina in Chula Vista to see if anything interesting was around.  The tide was quite high, though, and there was very little on offer.  I did see a couple of OSPREYS across the bay, though, sitting at a nest on a platform.  When I get home, the Ospreys will be back, but I hadn’t seen one before I left on this trip.

 

I went on to the Dairy Mart Ponds, which are only a couple of miles north of the border with Mexico.  There were several possible species I could see there, and I walked for a while.  I played the songs of several species, but nothing ever responded.  I did get a quick look at a BELL’S VIREO, though, and that was an excellent year-bird.  I didn’t need it for my lists, but I got this picture of a House Wren singing away.

 

There were ducks on the main pond, and I got this distant picture of a male Ruddy Duck, which I didn’t need for any list.

 

That blue bill looks unreal, but that is how the bird looks in the spring, in breeding plumage.

 

I was hoping to see a Green Heron, but I never did.  I wasn’t exactly sure which pond was which.  There are three ponds, as it turns out, and after I walked quite a bit near the main pond, I discovered what I think is called the “stick pond”.  It hasn’t had water in it when I have been there before, but this year there is water.  I walked along the pond, looking for a Green Heron, and I ran into a couple of women who told me where the rare (for here) duck could be located.  I had read that there was a Long-tailed Duck (formerly called Oldsquaw) at one of the ponds, but I thought it was the main pond.  They also told me that there had been a Green Heron there, but it had flown off.  I walked to where I could see the female Long-tailed Duck, and I took this picture.

 

I already had Long-tailed Duck for March.  They are uncommon up our way, but not as rare as they are here.

 

Walking back to my car, I got this picture of a Common Gallinule (formerly called Common Moorhen), which I didn’t need because I had seen them up in the Sacramento area, but it’s a good bird.

 

I hope to go back there on Monday or Tuesday to get Long-tailed Duck and Common Gallinule for my April list.  I was looking for 3 or 4 other species there today, too, and maybe I’ll have better luck on Monday or Tuesday, for my April list.

 

Next I visited the Bird and Butterfly Garden, which is near to Dairy Mart Ponds.  I walked around, again looking for several species, but the only one I found was COMMON GROUND-DOVE.  Here’s a picture of a Common Ground-Dove.

 

As I was leaving I drove through the back area and got this picture of a Black Phoebe.

 

There had been a few swallows flying around, and as I left one of them landed on a wire.  I got this picture of my first NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW of the year.

 

That was a tough photo, looking up into the bright sky, and I had to process it a lot.

 

After that I stopped at Nestor Park, where two rare orioles (Baltimore Oriole and Orchard Oriole) have been reported, along with another rarity, Hepatic Tanager.  I spent 15 minutes or so there, and saw nothing of interest at all.

 

Next I picked up a tuna sandwich at Subway and went on to the Imperial Beach Skate Park, where night-herons nest and roost.  There are baseball fields there, and I was lucky to get a parking place with all the baseball stuff going on.  I sat in my car and ate my lunch, and then I walked over to one of the trees where I have seen night-herons before.  I managed to see the top part of a YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON just roosting there, while kids were running and screaming all over the place.  The bird was too deep in the foliage for a picture, and I didn’t feel like bothering to check the other nearby trees.  I just moved on.  There are supposed to be 3 or 4 nests in the trees, there.

 

I went next door to the headquarters of the Tijuana Slough NWR and walked out onto the reserve.  At the bridge, where I have seen them before, I played the call of the rail I was looking for, but today I got no response at all.  I decided to walk a little farther into the marsh to a bench I could see out there, and I sat down and played the calls again.  This time I got immediate responses from three RIDGWAY’S RAILS.  Two of them were actually swimming in the little slough in front of me, and then one took a bath across the water from me.  The other one approached me even closer, and I got pictures.  Here is a Ridgway’s Rail looking me over.

 

It was so close that I took this close-up of its head.

 

It just stood there looking at me, and eventually I decided to leave it alone, and I left.

 

On my way back to my car I got a nice surprise when I spotted half a dozen WHIMBRELS along the slough, from the bridge.  They hadn’t been there ten minutes before, when I went by there, so deciding to walk farther into the marsh got me both the rail and the Whimbrels.  Here are a couple of Whimbrels.

 

Here is another Whimbrel, a little closer.

 

That was it for the extreme south.  I had 7 March birds, and all of them were year-birds as well.  Next I wanted to bird around the San Diego River and Mission Bay.

 

My first stop was the San Diego River, across the street from Sea World.  I met my old friend, John, there and he went around with me for a couple of hours.  There were some dowitchers feeding on the river, and I wanted to determine which dowitcher species they were.  Long-billed Dowitchers and Short-billed Dowitchers look very similar, so I took some pictures so I could look at them later.  I needed Short-billed Dowitcher, but not Long-billed.  Here is a picture of a dowitcher that I’m just not sure about.

 

I think it might be a Short-billed Dowitcher, but I’m not sure enough to count it.  Here is one that I’m pretty sure is a Long-billed Dowitcher.

 

Here is a Caspian Tern, a species I had seen on Thursday.

 

I saw several LITTLE BLUE HERONS, which was a species I especially had wanted to see here.  Here is a picture of a Little Blue Heron hunting.

 

Here it is as it tried to grab something in the water.

 

Another species I was looking for was FORSTER’S TERN, and I saw a number of them at various places.  None of them were close enough for pictures, though.

 

I was also looking for another tern species, and I knew there was a flock of them around Mission Bay.  I didn’t know where they might be today, but I found the flock at Crown Point, where I have seen them before.  Here is a picture of a BLACK SKIMMER,  a species of tern.

 

The lower mandible of its bill is much larger than the upper part, and the bird feeds by skimming along over the water and scooping up fish in that large lower mandible.

 

One of the Black Skimmers was lying prone in the sand, resting, I guess.  I’ve seen them doing this before.

 

The first time I saw that, I was down in Texas, and I thought the bird must be dead.  It got up and moved around, though, when I approached, so I guess that it’s just a way of resting.

 

After that we drove around Fiesta Island, looking for Horned Larks, but had no luck.  I dropped John back at his car and headed back to my sister’s house in north San Diego county.

 

I managed to add 10 species to my March list today.  That brought me to 198 species for March, two short of the 200 I had dreamed of getting to, but more than I had expected.  All 10 of them were new for the year, to bring me to 212 species for 2018 so far.  I added 67 species to my March list on the trip, and 60 of those were new for my year list.  I had expected to add 45 or 50 to my March list, so I was obviously being way overly conservative in my estimate.

 

Tomorrow is Easter and we have some family stuff planned, but maybe I can squeeze in a little birding, too.  It will be a new month, so even the common yard birds will be new for my April list.  Even if I don’t get out birding, I’ll get some birds.