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Saturday, September 1, 2018

 

A new month begins.  Today I drove over to the Snoqualmie River Valley, around the town of Carnation.  On the way I stopped to try for a Snow Goose that has been hanging around with Canada Geese at the sod farm in the Sammamish Valley, but the geese weren't in the south part of the sod farm today.  I did pick up Dark-eyed Junco and Song Sparrow there, at least.

 

My next stop was the Redmond Retention Ponds.  I was looking for ducks and shorebirds.  In the duck category, I got Mallard, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, and Hooded Merganser.  Here is a Northern Pintail.

 

Here are a couple of Hooded Mergansers.

 

In the shorebird category, I got Killdeer, Least Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, and Lesser Yellowlegs.   Here is a Lesser Yellowlegs.

 

While driving across the Snoqualmie River Valley, I saw a flock of European Starlings.  I stopped and got out to look at some swallows, but I wasn't able to identify the species and they flew on.  While I was stopped I did see an American Goldfinch and a Cedar Waxwing, though.  At Sikes Lake I added American Coot and Belted Kingfisher.  I drove on, and just across the Snoqualmie River I stopped to check out some more swallows.  This time I was able to identify Barn Swallow, and I also saw some Brewer's Blackbirds with some starlings.  A Cooper's Hawk was circling high overhead, too.  I looked out over the Snoqualmie River and spotted a Green Heron on the other side of the river.  Here is a distant picture of the Green Heron.

 

I saw my first House Sparrows of the day there, and also a Turkey Vulture circling overhead.  As I drove on I saw an American Robin on the road.  I stopped at my sparrow spot on NE 60th St in north Carnation, and I saw White-crowned Sparrows.  Then I spotted this Lincoln's Sparrow.

 

It had been over 2 months since I saw a Lincoln's Sparrow.  I'm glad to see that they are starting to come back from their summer vacations.  Hopefully, Fox Sparrows will be right behind them.  I could see birds in the little trees at the sparrow spot, and one of them turned out to be a Bewick's Wren.  Soon after that I saw some more swallows, and this time I was able to pick out at least one Violet-green Swallow.

 

I went on to the house in Carnation that has feeders.  It was pretty quiet there today, but I did add Bushtit (at a suet feeder), American Crow, and Band-tailed Pigeon.  Here are a bunch of Band-tailed Pigeons eating seed that the house owner had scattered at the edge of the street.

 

Here's a closer shot of two of the Band-tailed Pigeons.

 

I moved on to the site I had been heading for all morning, the Stillwater Unit of the Snoqualmie Valley Wildlife Area.  I walked on the trail and saw this garter snake by the trail.

 

 

There was a Great Blue Heron on a snag at the pond to the south of the parking area, and there were several Wood Ducks around.  Here is a female Wood Duck.

 

A female Anna's Hummingbird was foraging near the trail  It was pretty quiet there today, though, overall.  It seems to be a much better spring birding place.  I met a birder named Vicki that I have seen before and asked her what she had seen.  She said it was very quiet, but she had seen several American Bitterns.  That was my main target at Stillwater today, so I joined her as we both headed back toward the parking lot.  By golly, she came through for me and spotted two bitterns.  I would have seen them if they had been showing when I went by, but timing is everything.  Here are a couple of pictures of American Bitterns, two different ones, I think.

 

 

Here is an American Bittern and a Great Blue Heron, for a size comparison.

 

And here is one more American Bittern picture, since they aren't easy to see and I think they are cool.

 

It was after noon by then, so I headed for home and my lunch.  I drove by the north sod farm field on the way, and the Snow Goose was there with the flock of Canada Geese.

 

 

Snow Geese are still up in the far north, finishing their breeding season, but this one seems to have stuck around all summer.  The rest of them will be coming back in a month or two, and they winter up in the Skagit Valley, along with Tundra and Trumpeter Swans.

 

That was all my actual birding, but as I have been doing lately, I had my lunch out on the front porch and read, while watching for birds around the birdbath and feeder.  I added House Finch, Spotted Towhee, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Black-capped Chickadee, and Feral Pigeon in our yard.  Today there were fewer birds than the last couple of days, but there was a flurry of bath-taking at one point.  Today was group bath day, I guess, because the birds kept bathing in small groups.  I know I just showed a bunch of bird bathing pictures, but today they show groups.

 

 

 

 

In that last one, there are two House Sparrows and a House Finch in the water, with a Dark-eyed Junco watching them.  In this last picture, there is a pair of House Sparrows on the left and a pair of House Finches on the right.

 

That was my first day of September.  I got 41 species for my September list, and 27 of them were repeaters, ones I have seen every month this year.  That isn't a big total, but I was only out there for about 3.5 hours, and an hour of that was just driving between sites.

 

 

Sunday, September 2, 2018

 

Today my destination was Skagit county, which is about an hour north of here.  Before I left home, I added Steller's Jay to my September list, here in the yard.  My first birding stop was Wylie Slough, but as I approached it, I saw a Red-tailed Hawk on a pole, and that was a second September bird for the day.  At Wylie Slough, the tide was higher than ideal, but still low enough that there were shorebirds around.  There were several dowitchers near the big parking lot, and I took pictures so I could try to identify them.  Dowitchers are difficult, and my identifications are always kind of iffy.  I think I got both Long-billed Dowitcher and Short-billed Dowitcher there today.  I think these next two pictures are a Long-billed Dowitcher.

 

 

It looks to me like the bill droops a bit in the last one-third of its length.  The location of the eye and the angle it makes with the bill is another indication.  Here are two pictures of Short-billed Dowitchers, I think.

 

 

The bills seem straight and the eyes seem right for Short-billed - especially the upper picture.  The differences are very subtle, and I'm far from certain about my ID's, but I'm putting both species on my September list.

 

There were a lot of Lesser Yellowlegs there, and a few Greater Yellowlegs, too.  I got both of those yesterday, though.  I noticed that one of the birds that looked at first like a Lesser Yellowlegs was foraging like a dowitcher, with a sewing machine motion, up and down repeatedly.  Then I noticed it was smaller than a Lesser Yellowlegs nearby.  Furthermore, the legs were more greenish than those of the yellowlegs.  It was a Stilt Sandpiper, a really excellent bird.  Here's a picture of the Stilt Sandpiper (on the right) with a Lesser Yellowlegs for comparison.  Note the size difference and the difference in the color of the legs.

 

To cap it off, the bill of Stilt Sandpiper is downturned at the end, and this next picture clearly shows that.

 

That was one of the species I was hoping to see today.  I walked out on the dike to look for Cinnamon Teal, and I found a group of them, another one for my September list.  I also added Red-winged Blackbird to the list.  I took this picture of a couple of juvenile male Wood Ducks, too, although I didn't need Wood Duck for September.

 

Next I went to Hayton Reserve.  The tide was out, but I did see a few Western Sandpipers for my list, as well as Caspian Tern, also for my list.  On my way out I stopped and scoped the ducks on the slough at the entrance and saw my first Northern Shoveler of September.  There was also a Pied-billed Grebe there.  None of those were great birds, but they all added to my September count, and I needed to see them eventually this month.

 

I went on to the house on Valentine road that has bird feeders, including a big suet feeder.  When I got there, a Steller's Jay was on the suet feeder.

 

I sat in the car and ate half of my Subway tuna sandwich, while I watched for birds.  To my pleased surprise, a male Pileated Woodpecker flew in and went to the suet.

 

Here is a close up of his face.

 

That was a great September bird, our largest woodpecker.  Next, our smallest woodpecker flew in, and I needed that one, too.  Here is the little female Downy Woodpecker and the big male Pileated Woodpecker on the suet together.

 

I don't think I have ever gotten a picture of both of those species together before, and the size comparison is striking, I think.

 

I stuck around for awhile, hoping to see Hairy Woodpecker or Red-breasted Nuthatch, both of which I saw there last month, but I never saw either of them.

 

I decided to go up to the Skagit Flats in search of raptors.  I got this picture of a Red-tailed Hawk, a species I had counted earlier today.

 

I saw Common Ravens in several places, so that one went on my list.  At one point there were some blackbirds by the side of the road, and I took a look.  One of them turned out to be a male Brown-headed Cowbird, a good one for September.

 

Then I spotted an American Kestrel on a wire.  It flew off, but landed on a power pole down the road.  I was able to slowly drive up, stop, get out, and take some pictures.  Here is a female American Kestrel, one of the species I was looking for up there today.

 

I went on to what birders call the West 90, and I sat in the parking lot there and ate the second half of my sandwich, while watching for birds.  I didn’t see anything, and on my way back the kestrel was still around, on a different pole, and I got a picture of her from the front.

 

I had been watching for Northern Harriers, and at one point I thought I saw a bird on a fence, so I stopped to look.  It wasn't even a bird, but while I was looking at it, in the background I noticed a bird flying low over the ground.  It turned out to be a female Northern Harrier, so that one went on my list.  I figured I would see a Bald Eagle somewhere today, but I never did.  I always see eagles when I go up to Skagit county, but not today.  I'm not concerned, though.  I'll see Bald Eagle somewhere this month, for sure.

 

I drove through the tiny town of Edison, hoping to see a Merlin, but I didn't see one.  There was some sort of festival going on, so I didn't stick around to look very hard.  On the far side of Edison, I drove along the very short Smith Road, just to see what might be there.  I had read that there were shorebirds there, in Edison Slough, when the tide was right.  The tide was right today, and I saw a small group of 6 or 7 Western Sandpipers.  Here is a picture of four of the Western Sandpipers.

 

I had gotten Western Sandpiper earlier in the day, but I'm always interested in pictures.  Then I noticed that one of them was a little different, and it was not really in with the others, either.  I got some pictures and looked at them in the camera, and I decided that it was a Semipalmated Sandpiper, a really excellent bird that I wouldn't have expected to be able to identify on my own.  Here is a picture of the Semipalmated Sandpiper.

 

The distinguishing characteristic is the short bill.  It looks like a Western Sandpiper, but the bill is short and straight, while the Western Sandpiper bill is longer and droops a bit.  See the picture of the four Western Sandpipers above.  The face of the Semipalmated Sandpiper is a bit different, too, with more white on it.  The bill length is the really obvious thing, though, if you have a good enough picture to show it.  When the bird is foraging, it is hard to tell, but that's where the camera comes in, as an identification aid.

 

There were more Western Sandpipers a little farther on, although they kept flushing and flying around.  I moved up a bit and noticed three birds that were apart and didn't flush with the others.  The light was absolutely terrible, with a very bright reflection off the water behind the birds.  They seemed different, though, so I took some pictures, hoping I could process them later on the computer to make them clearer.  Here are a couple of those pictures, showing a shorebird that seemed a bit different.

 

 

The most obvious thing about them was their bills.  They were sharp, coming almost to a point.  They didn’t droop like the Western Sandpiper bills.  In the first picture you can see that the wings extend farther back than the tail, and seem to be crossed as well.  Once I saw them on my computer and looked at the field guide, I was sure they were Baird's Sandpipers, another really excellent shorebird that is quite uncommon here.  I never saw them next to the Western Sandpipers, but if I had, I would have noticed that they were somewhat larger than the Westerns.

 

After that, I turned toward home.  I stopped again at the Valentine Road house, but didn't see any birds at the suet.  I stopped at Hayton Reserve again, and this time as I drove in I saw a Savannah Sparrow, one for my September list.  I also added Ring-billed Gull there.  One last stop at Wylie Slough got me Virginia Rail.  I played the call and got a couple of answers back.  That's a nice one to get for September.

 

It was a fairly productive day, and I added 22 species to my September list, to bring me to 63 species.  That's my third highest total after 2 days, of any of the 9 months so far this year.  11 of the species today were repeaters, to give me 38 repeaters now.  September is off to an excellent start.

 

 

Monday, September 3, 2018

 

No pictures today.  I took some, but they all came out blurrier than I expected.  I hope my camera hasn't developed a problem.  My last two cameras developed problems with the image stabilization system, and the pictures today remind me of that.  I'll see how it goes tomorrow.

 

Meanwhile, today I started at Richmond Beach Saltwater Park, looking for California Quail.  I saw one as soon as I got to the pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks.  I ended up seeing three of them, I think, and I took distant pictures, but they are too blurry to even show.  That was a nice repeater for September.

 

After a stop at Kayu Kayu Ac Park, where I saw nothing of interest, I drove into the town of Woodway and stopped at the place where I had managed to attract a Brown Creeper a week or two ago.  Today I wasn't able to attract a creeper, but I did attract a Pacific Wren with playback.  It was much too dark in the woods to even try for pictures, and the wren stayed well hidden in the foliage, anyway.  Pacific Wren wasn't a repeater because I had missed that species in April.

 

I moved on to the Edmonds waterfront, hoping that the Purple Martins were still around the nest boxes there.  No such luck.  I did pick up Heermann's Gull there, though.

 

Next I went up to Sunset Avenue and looked out over the water.  There was a Double-crested Cormorant (a repeater) on one of the ferry pilings, so that one went onto my list.  Later I saw three more Double-crested Cormorants, so they are coming back from their summer vacations now.  I moved up the road and was able to see a pair of Red-necked Grebes, a pair of Pigeon Guillemots (repeater), and a single Common Murre.

 

I went on to Ocean Avenue and saw my first Horned Grebes of the fall.  The winter birds are starting to come back.

 

That was 8 species for my September list, to bring me to 71 now.  3 of those were repeaters, and now I have 41 species that I have in all 9 months this year so far.

 

I hope my camera works better tomorrow.

 

 

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

 

I'm glad to report that my camera was fine today.  It had a streak of something on the lens, right across the middle, and I presume that's why my pictures were so blurry yesterday.

 

This morning I went north again, to Tulalip Bay, which is about a half hour north of here.  There were dozens of Black-bellied Plovers there, which was my main target.  There has been a Red Knot mixed in with them for a week or so, and I looked for it.  They were pretty distant from my vantage point at the marina, so I went around to the west side of the bay.  Most of them were visible from there, and they were much closer.  I carefully scanned the flock several times with my scope, but I couldn't find a Red Knot.  It might very well have moved on.  While doing that, I did see a California Gull, which was a repeater for me.  I also heard a Northern Flicker call, and I looked around and found it near the top of a tree.  That was another repeater.  I looked for Purple Martins there, since there are nest boxes, but they seem to be done nesting for the year, and I didn't see any.

 

Next I went to the Everett sewage ponds to look for ducks.  There's a small area of mud when the tide is low enough, and there were a few shorebirds there today.  It was a good test for my camera, and I took this picture of a Least Sandpiper, which I already had for September.

 

I noticed a bird at the edge of the reeds.  It turned out to be a Sora, an uncommon bird in most of Washington, and an excellent September bird for me.  Here are three mediocre pictures of the Sora.

 

 

 

Soras, like most rails, are pretty secretive, and it was great to get a picture of one.  Usually I end up counting them from hearing their distinctive call.

 

Here is a picture of Western and Least Sandpipers.

 

The Western Sandpiper is the one in the back.  Here is another picture of those two birds, with the Least Sandpiper in the back.

 

Here is a Killdeer.

 

Here is a picture that shows a Killdeer, a Least Sandpiper, and a Western Sandpiper, in that order, front to back.

 

I moved back toward the entrance, to look at the ducks on the big pond.  Most of them were Mallards, with some Northern Pintails and some Northern Shovelers - none of which I needed for September.  There were also some Ruddy Ducks, which was one I did need.  It was also a repeater.  I stopped a few places and played Marsh Wren and Common Yellowthroat songs, but I didn't get any takers.

 

My final birding stop was the Everett waterfront.  I was hoping to see the rare (for this area) Great Egret that has been hanging out there, but I couldn’t find it today.  The Ospreys were still at their nests, though, and that was one I needed.  They will be heading south soon, so I wanted to get Osprey before they took off on migration.  Here are a couple of kind of distant pictures of an Osprey on its nest.  I suspect it was a juvenile that was almost ready to fledge, since it was staying on the nest and was begging for food repeatedly.

 

 

I noticed some Purple Martin nest gourds across the channel, and there was a male Purple Martin on top of one of them, so that one went on my list.  I also picked up Glaucous-winged Gull, a repeater, there.  In addition to that, there was a group of about 15 or 20 Common Mergansers, another repeater.  I have read about people seeing large groups of Common Mergansers lately, heading south on migration, and I imagine that's what these were.  Some do winter around here, but most move on south for the winter.

 

That was it for the actual birding, but like I've been doing lately, I ate my lunch and read on the front porch this afternoon.  I know I've shown a lot of bird bath pictures, but here is one more sequence of them.  A juvenile Dark-eyed Junco took a long bath and got very wet.  I missed getting a picture before it went into the water, but here it is near the start of its bath.

 

It splashed around a lot.

 

Here it is getting out of the water after part one of its bath.

 

It shook itself off like a wet dog, and sat there for a few seconds, looking very wet.

 

Then it went back into the water for part two of its bath.

 

Finally it had enough, and got out and shook itself off again.  Here is the clean, but very wet, juvenile Dark-eyed Junco.

 

I added 9 more species to my September list today, to bring it to 80 species.  Five of those species were repeaters, to make it 46 species now that I have seen in each month this year.

 

 

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

 

This morning I went over to Alki in West Seattle, looking for "rockpipers", shorebirds that live on rocky shores.  My first targets were the rare Ruddy Turnstones I saw there last week.  I couldn't find them today, though.  I saw a couple of Savannah Sparrows on the rocks, and I took these next two pictures.

 

 

I didn't need it for September, but a rocky beach seemed like a strange place for Savannah Sparrows.

 

I moved on to the north side of Alki Beach and stopped a couple of places to look for Black Turnstone and Surfbird.  I found a flock of at least 32 Black Turnstones, which was great, but there weren't any Surfbirds with them, as is usual.  Here are a couple of Black Turnstone pictures.

 

 

At Luna Park I talked to another birder who was also looking for Surfbirds.  He had found another flock of Black Turnstones, but there weren't any Surfbirds with them, either.  I looked through that flock, just in case he had missed a Surfbird, but I didn't find one there either.  There were over 40 Black Turnstones in that group.  So, I ended up only getting one of the three rockpiper species I was hoping for.

 

I had lunch with my friend, Chris, in Bellevue, and after lunch we went over to Phantom Lake.  There were some ducks far out on the lake, and since I had left my scope in the car, I used my camera to take pictures so I could identify them.  They turned out to be American Wigeons, a repeater.  On the way back to the car there was a bird near the top of a tree, and I took a look.  I could see it was a finch with my binoculars, but again I took pictures, and they showed me it was a female Purple Finch, an excellent September bird.  Here is the female Purple Finch.

 

Female Purple Finches look very much like their cousins, female House Finches, but the markings on the head are different.  Here are a couple of pictures of female House Finches from our yard this afternoon, for comparison of the head markings.

 

 

So, I got three more species for my September list today, to bring it to 83 species.  The American Wigeons added a repeater, to give me 47 repeaters now.

 

 

Thursday, September 6, 2018

 

I started today at the Redmond Retention Ponds.  There were some ducks there, but no Blue-winged Teal, which is what I was hoping for.  In addition to the usual Killdeer, there were two Least Sandpipers and one Lesser Yellowlegs, neither of which I needed.  I tried for other species, but didn't get anything I needed.  A Red-tailed Hawk caught something and took it to a stump to eat, but my pictures came out too blurry for use.  I left there with nothing new for September and no pictures.

 

I stopped next at Juanita Bay Park.  I tried the Fire Station Road, and I managed to get good looks at a Red-breasted Nuthatch, which was a good September bird for me and a repeater as well.  No pictures, though.  I moved on to the main part of the park, and walked out onto the causeway, which is actually the old road, from before they made it a park.  I played Marsh Wren and Common Yellowthroat songs, and eventually got a male Common Yellowthroat that came to check me out, although it stayed well back in the bushes.  That was a September bird that I was happy to get because they will be going south for the winter soon.

 

Farther out on the causeway, I scoped the beach in front of the condos on the north side of the bay.  I got a distant view of a Spotted Sandpiper, another good bird for my September list.  The coots had returned in numbers.  A couple of weeks ago there were almost none around, and today there were many dozens of them at Juanita Bay.  Here is an American Coot, which I didn't need.

 

There were a lot of Wood Ducks around, since they breed there.  Here is a juvenile male Wood Duck that is just starting to get its adult male plumage.

 

I had already gotten Wood Duck this month, as well as Northern Shoveler, which were also out there today.  Here is a female Northern Shoveler in an unusual posture.

 

Here is another view, showing her unusual bill.

 

That was it for today.  I added 3 species to my September list, to give me 86 now for September.  One was a repeater, and now I have 48 species that I have seen in every month this year so far.

 

 

Friday, September 7, 2018

 

Yesterday the people on the weekly Thursday bird walk at Marymoor Park had seen over a dozen species that I needed still for September, so I went there first this morning.  Of course, I didn't expect to do nearly as well as a group of 8 people who started at 6:30 AM and birded for over 4 hours did, but I hoped to get at least 1 or 2 species I needed.

 

I parked and set out along the path between the East Meadow and the off-leash dog park.  Right by the parking lot there was a flock of birds, and they turned out to be juvenile Cedar Waxwings.  Juvenile Cedar Waxwings have streaky breasts, unlike the adults.  Here is a picture of a juvenile Cedar Waxwing.

 

Here is a group shot of several of them.  It was interesting that so many juveniles were together in a flock.

 

Here is a picture of two more juvenile Cedar Waxwings.

 

After that I set out down the path, and almost right away I saw a bird fly into a bush, so I took a look.  I wasn't expecting anything interesting, but you have to look at everything because you never know.  To my great surprise, it was a MacGillvray's Warbler, an outstanding species to get.  I saw one at Yosemite this year, but this was the frist one I have seen in Washington for two or three years, I think.  They breed in the mountains and on the East side of the Cascades, and now they are migrating south for the winter.

 

I moved on but saw very little.  I saw a flock of Bushtits, but I didn’t need that species.  I met a couple of birders and we talked a bit about what we had seen.  They had just seen 2 or 3 Black-throated Gray Warblers, and that was one I very much wanted to see.  They kindly walked with me, back to where they had seen them.  We all looked and I managed to get several good looks at a Black-throated Gray Warbler, an excellent one for my list.  After that I walked and played the songs of several species, but I never got any responses and I never saw anything else I needed.  It was a bit disappointing, but I had seen two really excellent species, and that was as much as I had been hoping for.

 

I picked up a sandwich at Subway and went up to Tokul Creek to look for American Dipper.  I figure I have seen a dipper there about 80% of the time I go there, but today I struck out.  I even went on to the park at the end of the road and walked the short trail along the river to the viewpoint of Snoqualmie Falls, but I didn't see a dipper there, either.  Yesterday a birding buddy of mine had seen one at Tokul Creek and another one on that stretch of river, but today they were elsewhere, I guess.  I spent a lot of time and looked very closely.  I did see a Spotted Sandpiper across the river, and I got this distant picture.

 

I had never bothered to walk that trail, which is a boardwalk most of the way, but today I went to the end and got this picture of Snoqualmie Falls.

 

I ate the first half of my sandwich as I drove to Carnation, to the house with feeders.  I was hoping to see both Mourning Dove and Eurasian Collared-Dove there, but I only got Eurasian Collared-Dove.  Here is a picture of that September list bird.

 

A European Starling was on the bird bath.  I didn't need it, but I took this picture.

 

It went into the birdbath and splashed around.

 

Here it is, looking pretty wet.

 

A couple of dozen Band-tailed Pigeons were around, too.  I didn't need that one, but I got a picture I like.

 

I like that picture because it shows the iridescent patch on the back of its neck, and it also shows the dark band across the tail that gives the species its name - Band-tailed Pigeon.

 

I ate the other half of my sandwich and moved on to the Stillwater Unit of the Snoqualmie Wildlife Area.  It was quiet there, too, and warm in the sun.  I walked quite a bit today, for me.  I figure I walked over 3 miles today, which is nothing, I know, but for this fat old man, it was a good workout.  I'm just glad that my Achilles tendon has healed enough that I can walk three miles now without pain. 

 

On my way back to the car at Stillwater, ready to throw in the towel for the day, I saw a small flock of birds.  They turned out to be juvenile Cedar Waxwings for the most part - the second batch of them I had seen today.  This group had some adults with them, too, and some of the time the adults were feeding the youngsters.  I kept trying for pictures, which meant looking at them closely, and I noticed something different in with them.  It was a female Black-throated Gray Warbler, one of the species I had been so pleased to get at Marymoor earlier.  This time I got some pictures.

 

 

 

I continued to try to get pictures of the Cedar Waxwings, which kept moving around, deep in the bushes.  At one point I saw a Red-breasted Sapsucker, another excellent September bird.  I even got a picture of sorts.

 

Here are a couple of pictures of juvenile Cedar Waxwings.

 

 

Here is a picture of one of the adult Cedar Waxwings, for comparison.

 

I was ready to leave when I saw a small bird in with the waxwings, and it turned out to be an Orange-crowned Warbler, another excellent September bird.

 

I headed for home, keeping my eyes open going across the valley, but I didn’t see anything.  I stopped at the Redmond Retention Ponds in the hopes of seeing a Blue-winged Teal.  I didn't, but both species of yellowlegs were there.  I didn’t need either one of them, but I went down to the edge of the pond and took pictures.  Here is the Lesser Yellowlegs.

 

Here is the larger Greater Yellowlegs, with its relatively longer bill.

 

Here's one more of the Greater Yellowlegs.

 

This Killdeer insisted that I take its picture, too.

 

I was through taking pictures and was ready to leave, when I noticed a sparrow-like bird on the mud.  I took a look, and it turned out to be an American Pipit, still another excellent September bird.

 

It was a long day of birding for me today.  I was out there for six and a half hours.  It seemed pretty slow, but I kept seeing excellent birds for my September list, and I kept getting photo ops, so I guess it was a good day of birding.  I added 6 species to my September list, to bring it to 92 now.  They were mostly very good ones, too.  Only one was a repeater (Eurasian Collared-Dove), and now I have 49 species that I have seen in each month this year.

 

 

Saturday, September 8, 2018

 

I didn't really have any place good to go today, so I went down to Juanita Bay Park to try for some little birds.  I went to the Fire Station Road and played the songs of several species.  I didn’t see anything except a Downy Woodpecker, which I didn't need, but I did hear a response several times from what I believe was a Hairy Woodpecker.  I debated it but I ended up counting Hairy Woodpecker as a "heard only" bird for September.  No pictures and no other birds of note.  The Hairy Woodpecker, a repeater, brought September to 93 species and repeaters to 50.

 

 

Sunday, September 9, 2018

 

Today I decided to go over to Seattle to get California Scrub-Jay in the spot where I have found them every time I have tried this year.  I parked and walked a little, not seeing anything at first.  I played the call of California Scrub-Jay and heard a couple of responses.  Two or three birds flew overhead, but didn't stop for pictures.  I chased them down and played the calls again.  This time I lured one out for a quick picture.  California Scrub-Jay (formerly called Western Scrub-Jay), which was a repeater.

 

I headed for home then, but I stopped three places on the way home.  I stopped at the Union Bay Natural Area and walked around a little, then I drove around Magnuson Park, and finally, I stopped at the Fire Station Road at Juanita Bay Park.  I didn't see anything interesting or get any pictures at any of those places.

 

From our front porch I did get some pictures this afternoon, but didn't get anything I needed.  Here are a couple of American Goldfinches.

 

The goldfinches are losing their yellow color and will be pretty drab for the winter.  Here is a Black-capped Chickadee at the birdbath, getting a drink.

 

Here's a wasp on a dahlia bud.

 

Some House Sparrows bathed today, and I took pictures.

 

 

 

A couple of feral pigeons came along and pecked around the yard, including under the seed feeder.  One was pretty normal looking.

 

The other one was more exotic looking, with a lot of white on it.

 

Pigeons are an interesting story.  They all belong to a species called Rock Dove that is native to Europe and North Africa.  They were domesticated a long time ago (centuries?), but then many have escaped over the years, and now feral Rock Doves are on every continent and probably in every country.  They have obviously adapted to living in cities amongst people.  Birders don't pay much attention to them ,and they are widely scorned by most people because they can be pests.  I count the species every month, though, a totally gimme repeater.

 

So, with California Scrub-Jay today, I now have 94 for September.  It was another repeater, so now I have 51 species that I have seen in each month this year.

 

This week is supposed to be rainy every day, off and on, so I don't know how much birding I'll do.

 

 

Monday, September 10, 2018

 

Today I decided to try for Mourning Dove and American Dipper, either one of which would be a repeater.  On my way out to the Snoqualmie River Valley, I stopped at the Redmond Retention Ponds, mainly to see if a Blue-winged Teal had shown up.  It hadn't.  There were a number of Green-winged Teals, and 3 or 4 Northern Pintails, of which this was one.

 

I didn't get anything I needed there, so I went on out to the valley.  I didn't get anything I needed as I crossed the valley, either, until I saw a Mourning Dove on the side of the road, along NE 60th St.   I would have gotten pictures, but a car came along and flushed the bird.  I had planned to stop at the house with feeders in Carnation to try for Mourning Dove, but now I didn't need to find one there.  It was good that I had seen it already because there was nothing at all at the feeder house.  I wonder if a hawk had been through, scaring everything off.

 

I drove on up to Tokul Creek, to try for the dipper, another repeater.  I had missed it a couple of days ago, but today I was lucky and one was just downstream of the bridge.  I took some pictures, but the light was poor and the bird never stopped moving around.  It only stuck around for 3 or 4 minutes, and then it flew off, not to be seen again today, by me, anyway.  Here are my best efforts at pictures of the American Dipper.

 

 

It was feeding all the time, dipping its head under the water.

 

That was it for today.  I stopped at Juanita Bay Park on the way home and played some calls, but never saw anything interesting at all, not even for a picture.

 

My two repeaters today brought me to 96 species for September, and 53 of them are repeaters.

 

I only had a few sprinkles today, but there are still supposed to be showers all week, so I don't know how much more birding I'm going to be able to do.

 

 

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

 

I had an early lunch appointment in Bellevue, but I stopped at Marymoor Park on the way.  I walked around the office/mansion area of Marymoor, playing Golden-crowned Kinglet and Brown Creeper calls, but all I saw was a Red-breasted Nuthatch, which I didn't need.  I parked in the west parking lot for the dog park and walked along the slough.  I got this picture of a female Belted Kingfisher, which I didn't need for September.

 

Females have that brown band across the lower breast.

 

At the weir, there was a female Common Merganser sleeping.

 

I didn't need Common Merganser, but I got a picture of one of the three juveniles as well.  The female and the three juvies have been hanging out there for a month or so, since they were hatched, I guess.

 

I walked out of the dog park, along the slough, playing the song of Brown Creeper.  To my pleased surprise, two of them flew in and I even got a decent picture of one of them.

 

That was a repeater, and one I have been trying to get for a number of days, in various places.  I had decided that in this season they simply weren't responding to playback, but the two today certainly responded.  I had tried at that exact same place last week, though, and got no response.  I suppose they move around a lot, but two birders told me they had seen creepers at that place on the day that I didn't get any response.  Anyway, now I have Brown Creeper for the ninth month in a row.

 

I didn't get anything else at Marymoor, and I didn't get anything new at Phantom Lake after lunch, either.  I did get this picture of a juvenile male Wood Duck at Phantom Lake, though.

 

There was a distant Red-breasted Sapsucker, too, which is a good bird, although I already had it for September.  I needed my camera to identify it because it was so far away, but the pictures aren't worth showing.

 

At home I took some pictures from the front porch.  I didn't get anything I needed, but there were a couple of Spotted Towhees, which I haven't had a picture of lately.  Here is an adult male Spotted Towhee.

 

Here is a juvenile Spotted Towhee, looking pretty splotchy as it gets its adult plumage.

 

 

A juvenile White-crowned Sparrow showed up, too.  We don’t see them very often at our feeder, but they drop by from time to time.  This is the first juvenile I can recall seeing this fall.

 

 

Brown Creeper was the only species I got for September today, and it was a repeater.  That gives me 97 species for September and 54 of them are repeaters.

 

 

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

 

Today was a "big" birding day for me; I was out there for 7 1/2 hours.  I went over to Whidbey Island to try for sea birds.  There were a lot of possibilities, and before I left I told myself that I "expected" to get at least 8 species for September, hoped to get 10, and it was possible to get as many as 12.

 

I got my first September species before I left the mainland for the island.  I was early enough at the Mukilteo ferry that I had time to go down to the water and look around.  There was a juvenile Pelagic Cormorant there, and that was a repeater for me.  Here's a picture.

 

The brownish color is an indication that it was a juvenile bird.

 

When the ferry got across the sound, I picked up my second repeater of the day near the ferry terminal, when I spotted a flock of Surf Scoters in the distance.

 

I picked up a sandwich and went on to Deer Lagoon.  I walked out on the trail, trying for Marsh Wren all along the way, but I never could get any response from a Marsh Wren.  That species is going to be a big problem for me in September, I think.  They are around still, I believe, but they don’t seem to respond to playback in the fall and early winter, so it is going to be tough to find one.

 

I did get American White Pelican there, though, which was one of the September birds I was expecting to get.  Here is a shot of several of them in the distance.

 

Here's an American White Pelican flying, showing off its black wing tips.

 

That one that was flying landed closer than the rest of them, so I took its picture again.

 

I didn't get any of the others at Deer Lagoon that I was hoping for, but I did get these next two close pictures of a Song Sparrow that responded to my Marsh Wren songs.

 

 

I drove to Crockett Lake, hoping for shorebirds I needed, but I didn't see any shorebirds except one Killdeer.  At the Keystone Ferry landing the usual cormorants were sitting on the old dock, and I added Brandt's Cormorant to my September list.  I looked around with my scope and found 7 Western Grebes out on the water.  That was a great repeater, one I had hoped for but hadn't really expected to get.

 

From there I went on to Libbey Beach, a spot I hadn't visited before.  There were a lot of Red-necked Grebes there and some Horned Grebes, but I didn’t need either of those species.  I did see one Pacific Loon, though, and one Common Loon.  Those were both September birds, and the Common Loon was a repeater.  I think that was where I saw a small group of Marbled Murrelets, too, an excellent September bird.

 

I moved on to the little park at Hastie Lake Beach Access and ate my sandwich there.  There were several Harlequin Ducks just offshore.  That was a good September bird for me.  Here is a picture of two male Harlequin Ducks.

 

Here's a closer shot of one of them.

 

Here is a Horned Grebe, which I didn't need.

 

I drove on to the overlook called West Beach county park, but I didn't see anything new there.  On Bos Lake there were three scaup close to the road.  I stopped and took pictures, so I could try to identify the species.  There are two species of Scaup here, Greater Scaup and Lesser Scaup, and I needed both of them for September.  They are very similar, and having pictures is very helpful.  Here are three pictures of the scaup I saw today.

 

 

 

Based on the bill size and the shapes of their heads, I'm calling them Greater Scaup, so that one goes on my September list.  They were juveniles, as indicated by their brown eyes.  Adults would have had yellow eyes, but otherwise look the same.  While I was taking their pictures, I noticed a Greater Yellowlegs, which I didn't need, but I took its picture anyway.

 

I drove off Whidbey Island at Deception Pass and stopped at Rosario Beach on the next island, Fidalgo Island.  I was hoping for Black Oystercatcher, but I couldn't find one.  I did see a Mew Gull, though, and I needed that one for September.  I also saw a small group of American Goldfinches, and I took this picture of one of them.

 

After that I headed for home, across the Skagit Flats and Fir Island.  I stopped at Hayton Reserve and Wylie Slough briefly, but I didn't see anything new at either place.  All day I had been looking for a Bald Eagle, but I never found one.  I think the Bald Eagles are up in the foothills feasting on the spawning salmon at this time, and they just aren't around in the lowlands.  It is a repeater that I might miss this month.  At any other time of the year, Bald Eagle is easy, but it might be tough this month.  Maybe I'll find out where the salmon are spawning and go there to look for an eagle.

 

So, I ended up getting 11 species for September today - one more than I had "hoped for" in my pre-assessment.  That gives me 108 species for September now.  Four of my species today were repeaters, and now I have 58 repeaters.  I had 62 at the end of August, so there are four more to go - Bald Eagle, Rhinoceros Auklet, Bonaparte's Gull, and Marsh Wren.  All are possible, and I'll try to concentrate on finding them before the end of the month.

 

 

Thursday, September 13, 2018

 

Today I decided to go after the four repeaters that I still need this month, along with anything else that happened to show up.  The only place to try for all four repeaters was Edmonds, so I went up there.  First I stopped at the Edmonds Marsh.  I played Marsh Wren songs in several places, and finally I actually got a response and a bird flew in.  Just before that I had spotted a small bird in the reeds, but that one turned out to be a chickadee.  The one that responded to playback was a Marsh Wren, though - I think a juvenile, based on its markings the color of its beak.  At first it lurked down in the reeds, but I managed to get this picture of it, peeking out at me.

 

I kept playing its song, and eventually it perched up on a reed, and I took these next three pictures of the juvenile Marsh wren.

 

 

 

The Marsh Wren I saw last month in a different place was also a juvenile, I believe.  My theory is that the juveniles respond to playback because they remember being fed, and the parents called them for feedings.  It seems like I have seen the same behavior with juveniles of other species, too - notably Golden-crowned Kinglet last month.  Anyway, I managed to get one of my repeaters, despite the fact that Marsh Wrens don't seem to respond much in the fall or winter.  It will be interesting to see if I can manage to find them in the next three months.

 

I scanned the tree tops up on the hill above the marsh for Bald Eagles, since they hang out there a lot in the spring and summer.  Nothing today, though.  I think there are a few eagles around, but I haven't been able to find anywhere where they are reliable in this season.  I'll keep looking.  I notice that one was reported at Juanita Bay Park today, so I'll be watching when I'm there.

 

I went over to the waterfront to look for Bonaparte's Gulls or Rhinoceros Auklets.  There was very little out on the water today.  I did see a single Red-necked Grebe and three Horned Grebes, so they are back for the winter, I guess.  I didn't need either species, but at least it was something.  There was a single Harlequin Duck there, too, but I got that one yesterday on Whidbey Island.  While I was scanning the water with my scope, a bird flew through my view.  I followed it with the scope and got a good look at it.  I decided it had to be a Rhinoceros Auklet, my second repeater of the day.  I would have liked to have seen one on the water, but I had an excellent, long look at it, and I believe that's what it was.

 

I stopped at Logboom Park and then at Juanita Beach Park on my way home, but I didn't get anything else.  It was a cold and windy day out there today, and not much was stirring.

 

I got 2 more species for September, to bring me to 110 species now.  They were both repeaters, and now I have 60 of the 62 possible repeaters this month.  Bald Eagle and Bonaparte's Gull are the two that are left.  I can almost certainly get Bonaparte's Gull over at Point No Point, which will require a ferry trip across Puget Sound, and I'll probably do that next week.  I could see a Bald Eagle there, too, so fingers crossed.  Other than those two repeaters, there isn't much for me get still, although I do have a list of 11 species that should be returning this month, so I'll be looking for those.  I won't get all of those 11, but I might get half of them.

 

 

Friday, September 14, 2018

 

I had to be in Everett at 1 PM today, to be fitted for a new mask for my CPAP machine.  It was raining this morning, though, so I just stayed home.  After my appointment, I went over to the Everett waterfront to look for the rare (for this area) Great Egret that has been hanging around there for about a month.  I saw it in August, but I missed it the last time I stopped there.  Today I first tried North View Park, where it has mostly been seen.  I couldn't find it from there, so I went down the street to South View Park.  This time I got lucky and spotted it.  It's a difficult bird to miss if it's around.  Here is the Great Egret, an excellent September bird I hadn't expected to get.

 

The light was coming from the wrong direction, but I took more pictures, anyway.

 

 

A woman was feeding gulls there, and I took this picture of a Ring-billed Gull - not a bird I needed, but the photo op was there.

 

I didn't need California Gull either, but one posed for me, with another Ring-billed Gull in the frame, too.

 

There were dozens of little shorebirds out on the mud.  Most, if not all of them, were Western Sandpipers, I think.  I looked through them closely to try to find a Semipalmated Plover, but couldn't find one.  Here's a shot of some of the sandpipers.  There might have been some Least Sandpipers in the mix, too, but I didn't need either Westerns or Leasts.

 

Here is as closer shot of three Western Sandpipers.

 

Here are three more.

 

From time to time, something would spook them and they would all fly around in a flock.

 

That was it for me today.  The Great Egret brings me to 111 species for September.  I'm still on 60 repeaters.

 

 

Saturday, September 15, 2018

 

Today I went over to Marymoor Park.  I had a list of 11 species that I needed that had been seen on Thursday (by a large group of birders, in 7 hours).  I kept my eyes peeled for all of the eleven species, but I was mainly looking for three species - Golden-crowned Kinglet, Fox Sparrow, and Golden-crowned Sparrow.  The kinglets tend to hang out high in the evergreen trees, and birders usually identify them from their calls.  I'm hopeless at that, and their call is so high pitched that I'm not sure I can even hear it.  Sometimes they respond to playback, though, so that was my strategy.  The two sparrows are just now starting to come back from their summer breeding grounds, and the first ones had shown up on Thursday.

 

The park was jumping with people.  They were playing soccer, baseball, softball, rugby, and cricket.  There was also some kind of three-day camping thing going on, with dozens of pink tents on a couple of ballfields.  As usual, there were maybe 200 people walking their dogs in the dog park, too.  Cirque du Soleil has their tents set up there, but their performance wasn't until this afternoon or evening.  People and cars were everywhere, but I walked along the slough in a quiet place and looked for sparrows.  I saw some birds, including some Bushtits, chickadees, House Finches, Spotted Towhees, and a couple of warbler-type birds that I couldn’t identify.  I did manage to identify one warbler, an Orange -crowned Warbler foraging in the blackberry vines.  Here's the Orange-crowned Warbler peeking out at me from the blackberries.

 

Here is another shot of the Orange-crowned Warbler.

 

I didn't actually need it because I had seen one earlier this month.  That earlier sighting was a bit marginal, though, so getting the one today was what I call insurance, insuring the species for September.

 

I saw some sparrows, and at first I thought one of them was a Golden-crowned Sparrow, but I didn't get a good enough look to count it.  I followed them, and got good looks at 3 or 4 of them, but they were all juvenile White-crowned Sparrows, which look a lot like Golden-crowned Sparrows.  I had White-crowned Sparrow already this month, so I wasn't able to count anything.  I also saw some little birds high in the trees that could have been Golden-crowned Kinglets, but I never got a good look at them.

 

It started to rain lightly, so I headed for home.  I decided to stop at the Redmond Retention Ponds, though, just to see if maybe a Blue-winged Teal had shown up.  There were almost no ducks there, and the ones there were soon flew off.  I saw a shorebird and it looked like a dowitcher to me.  I tried to get closer for a picture, but it flew off to the other end of the pond.  I found it again, but it flew again.  Eventually I thought I had found it, but it turned out to be a Wilson's Snipe, a species I needed for September.  Here are a couple of pictures of the Wilson's Snipe.

 

 

The bird kept flying around, and it turned out there were two of them.  Then I realized that one of them was indeed a dowitcher, as I had first thought.  In fact, I decided eventually that there were two snipe and one dowitcher.  I got pictures of the Short-billed Dowitcher, which I didn't need for September.  You can see how similar it is to the snipe, which is why I was confused at first.

 

They are a similar size, more or less the same colors, and both have long bills.  The plumage is different, though.  Here's a picture of the Short-billed Dowitcher standing up tall.

 

So, I ended up adding one more species to my list, to bring me to 112 for September.  I still have 60 repeaters and 238 species for the year.

 

 

Sunday, September 16, 2018

 

It was raining this morning, but it stopped at about 10:30, so I went down to Juanita Bay Park to see what was around.  I was hoping for Ring-necked Duck and maybe Bald Eagle.  The first thing I did was try playing Golden-crowned Kinglet songs, but that didn't attract one.  I'll keep plugging away at that one, but maybe I won't get one this month.  They are supposedly fairly common, but I don't see them often.  I've seen that species every month this year except April, when I never could attract one.

 

I walked out onto the east boardwalk and saw a Lincoln's Sparrow on the boardwalk itself.  That's an excellent sighting, but I already had it this month.  I couldn't get a picture.

 

Out at the end of the boardwalk, I soon saw about a dozen Ring-necked Ducks, so that one went on my September list.  I knew I would get it sometime this month.  It was one of the eleven species on my list of birds that should be returning this month.  Here are three Ring-necked Ducks, two females and one male.

 

There were some American Wigeons around. Another recent returnee.  I didn't need that one, but here is a picture of two American Wigeons.

 

As usual, there were a number of Pied-billed Grebes around.  I didn’t need that one, either, but here is a picture of a Pied-billed Grebe, a juvenile, I think.

 

The sun was shining (off and on), and the light was great, after the overnight rain.  Here are two shots of Juanita Bay from the end of the east boardwalk.

 

 

A Great Blue Heron was hunting nearby, and I took this series of pictures as it caught a fish.

 

 

 

 

 

There were a number of Gadwalls around.  The males look like ordinary brown ducks until you see one up close.  Check out the intricate patterns on this male Gadwall.

 

There were also Canada Geese around.  Birders tend to ignore Canada Geese because they are so common, but they are actually attractive birds. If they were uncommon, birders would appreciate them a lot more.

 

 

All the time I was out there, this Caspian Tern sat in the same place, in some shallow water.  Either that, or it was standing on something just under the water.

 

It was very pleasant out there, but eventually I had to head for home.  I was disappointed that no Bald Eagle came around, but I'll keep looking.

 

On my way back to the car I stopped and rested at a table, and I watched the nearby trees.  I saw a little bird, and it turned out to be a flycatcher.  This is late in the season for Flycatchers - most of them have already headed south for the winter.  I got these two pictures.

 

 

Based on the olive-green color, the bill color, and the shape of the eye ring, I believe it was a Pacific-slope Flycatcher, an excellent addition to my September list.  They are supposedly fairly common, but I don't see them often at all.  This was the third one I have seen this year, I think.  I think people usually identify them from their song, but I don't know the song.

 

I ended up adding two more species to my September list today, to bring it to 114 species.  We're supposed to have three or four days of dry weather now, so maybe I can get some more.

 

 

Monday, September 17, 2018

 

I had an early lunch appointment in Bellevue today, but I went to Marymoor Park on the way, to see if I could get anything.  I tried for sparrows first, needing Fox Sparrow and Golden-crowned Sparrow.  I had no luck with that, so I tried playing Golden-crowned Kinglet songs near the tall evergreen trees, where they hang out.  I didn't get any interest for quite a while, but just as I was about to give it up, a Golden-crowned Kinglet flew in for me.  I got one blurry picture of it, and then it flew off and wouldn't come back.  Here is a blurry male Golden-crowned Kinglet.

 

I just learned today that there is a difference between male and female Golden-crowned Kinglets.  Males have an orange crown, and females have a yellow one.  I never knew that before.  I had noticed that there was a variation in the color of their crown patch, but I didn't realize it denoted their sex.  I looked a little more for sparrows and then I tried Golden-crowned Kinglet songs again, hoping to get a better picture.  One flew in, maybe the same one as before, or maybe not.  I got a better picture of it, anyway.

 

This time the bird stuck around, and in fact, there were two of them for a while.  I got more pictures, but they all turned out to be of the female, with a yellow crown.  Here are some pictures of a female Golden-crowned Kinglet.

 

 

 

 

It was very satisfying to finally get Golden-crowned Kinglet for September, after trying for it a number of times at various places.  I guess they are still responding in this season, or at least, the two today responded for a long time, while I took pictures.

 

I went back to trying for sparrows, and I heard a "chip" call from a blackberry bramble.  I know that Fox Sparrows will call like that, but so will Song Sparrows, and Song Sparrows are a lot more common than Fox Sparrows.  I kept playing the Fox Sparrow song and the chipping continued, but no bird would show itself.  Song Sparrows usually aren't shy about showing themselves, so I had hope.  Finally I tried something different, and I played a different Fox Sparrow song.  My birding app said this second song I played was a female responding to a male's calls.  Well, when I played that song, a Fox Sparrow popped right out and sat there in the open.  I took some pictures of the Fox Sparrow, an excellent September bird.

 

 

 

That was my first Fox Sparrow since June.  They have all been gone to wherever they go to breed, and they just started coming back within the last week.

 

That was it for my actual birding today.  After lunch, my friend, Chris, and I went over to Phantom Lake as usual.  There were some birds around, including a good sized flock of juvenile Cedar Waxwings.  The waxwings kept flying around and catching bugs.  I didn't need that one for September, but I got some rather distant pictures of the juvenile Cedar Waxwings.

 

That last picture had some cloud in the background, and this next one has blue sky.

 

Here are two juvenile Cedar Waxwings sharing the top of a small tree.

 

While we were watching the Cedar Waxwings, a swift flew through.  Later, a second one flew over and gave us even better views.  I was very pleased to add Vaux's Swift to my September list.  They are already heading south for the winter, and I was pleased to see a couple of stragglers.

 

I got 3 more species for September today, which was great.  Now I have 117 in September.  It doesn't seem like there is much else I can get, but I keep getting pleasant surprises.  There are still half a dozen returning species that I could get this month, with some luck.  They have all been gone for the summer, but based on the last few years, they should be back in the last couple of weeks of this month.  Whether I can find any of them is another question, but I'll be looking.  I still have two repeaters I want to get, too - Bonaparte's Gull and Bald Eagle.  I plan to go over to the Kitsap Peninsula tomorrow, and I should be able to get Bonaparte's Gull.  Bald Eagle is possible, too.

 

 

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

 

As planned, I took the ferry from Edmonds to the Kitsap Peninsula today.  At Point No Point, I soon picked up Bonaparte's Gull, which was my primary target for the day and a repeater.  Bonaparte's Gulls are small gulls that have a black hood in the summer and lose almost all the black in the winter.  Here is a picture of a Bonaparte's Gull in winter plumage.

 

All that is left of the black hood is the spot behind the eye, which the bird will keep all winter.  Here are two Bonaparte's Gulls flying.

 

At the overflow parking lot just west of Point No Point, I saw some sparrows in the grass when I stopped there to use the rest room.  Most of them were juvenile White-crowned Sparrows, but at least one was my first Golden-crowned Sparrow since May.  They have been gone for the summer, and they are just now returning for the winter.  Here is a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow.

 

Here is the Golden-crowned Sparrow.

 

Here's a picture of the Golden-crowned Sparrow (on the left) and one of the juvenile White-crowned Sparrows, for a comparison.

 

The tide must have been wrong because there were almost no sea birds on the water, other than gulls.  I did see one Pigeon Guillemot in winter plumage, and here is a picture.

 

I watched the Bonaparte's Gulls far out on the water, flying around and also sitting on the water.  I was looking for another bird I need.  I was thrilled when I spotted my first PARISITIC JAEGER of the year, chasing the gulls.  Jaegers chase other birds and steal their catches by making them drop them.  They also catch fish themselves sometimes.  Right now they are migrating through this area, and I've seen reports of them, but today was the first time I saw any this year.  Here's a very distant picture of the first one I saw today.

 

That's the first picture I've ever gotten of a Parasitic Jaeger, I think.  I think this was only the third time I have seen the species - once in San Diego and once in Edmonds.  I have more pictures later in this report.

 

I backtracked to Norwegian Point and was looking at the Bonaparte's Gulls way out on the water.  I was taking pictures while sitting on a log on the beach, and a couple of little shorebirds flew in and landed right in front of me.  I got these pictures of the closer one, which I identified as a Western Sandpiper.

 

 

I assumed the other one was the same species, but it wasn't.  It was a Semipalmated Sandpiper, I believe, an uncommon species that I don't see often, although I did see one earlier this month.  Here is a picture of the Semipalmated Sandpiper.

 

Note that there is less red on it, compared to the Western Sandpiper.  The bill is also significantly shorter.  In addition to that, the coloration of the face is different.  Here are some more shots of the Semipalmated Sandpiper.

 

 

 

It's really nice when you can just sit there and have the birds come in and pose for you, in great light.

 

I continued to sit there and watch the distant Bonaparte's Gulls.  I saw another larger dark bird chasing them, but this time it was a Heermann's Gull, rather than another Parasitic Jaeger.  Here's a distant picture of a Heermann's Gull harassing the Bonaparte's Gulls, trying to make them drop their catch.

 

When I saw my pictures, I was very surprised to see those houses in the background.  I checked Google Maps, and those houses had to be five miles away, across the straight, and I hadn't even noticed them because of the distance.  The Bonaparte's Gulls were at least a half mile out, maybe more.

 

After a while I spotted another Parasitic Jaeger among the gulls, and I took more pictures.

 

 

 

 

That was a lot of fun, getting pictures of Parasitic Jaegers, and dealing with the challenges of such distant photos, but eventually I moved on.  I kept looking for Bald Eagles, but I never found one.  I drove to Driftwood Key, but the tide was too high for the shorebirds I had hoped to see there.  I did see a couple of Hooded Mergansers and got this picture.

 

I headed for home and caught the 2:30 ferry for Edmonds.  While waiting for the ferry to leave, I got this next picture of Mount Rainier, with the tall buildings of downtown Seattle in the foreground.

 

I used Google Maps to measure the distances, and I figure that downtown Seattle was about 12 miles away, and Mount Rainier was about 75 miles away.  It wasn't exactly crystal clear, but "the mountain was out", as the people of Seattle say.

 

When I got to Edmonds, I checked out the waterfront, but I didn’t see anything interesting.  I had an excellent day of birding today, and I added 3 more species to my September list.  I have 120 species for September now.  I got one more repeater (Bonaparte's Gull), and now I have 61 of the 62 possible repeaters I could get this month (that is, I had 62 repeaters at the end of August).  The last one is Bald Eagle, and I'll continue to try to find one.  I also added 4 species to my Kitsap county list, to bring that one to 64 species.  Last, but not least, Parasitic Jaeger was one more year-bird, and now I have 239 species for 2018.  What a life!

 

 

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

 

Today I set out to find a Bald Eagle, my last possible repeater this month.  First I went to Log Boom Park in Kenmore, but there wasn't anything around, including eagles.  I moved on to Juanita Bay Park.  As I was heading for the east boardwalk, I saw a flock of little birds in a tree.  There were some Bushtits, but they flew off pretty soon.  Most of the rest of them were American Goldfinches, but I also spotted an Orange-crowned Warbler working the tree.  A Northern Flicker flew off, and a Song Sparrow flew up into the tree.  The Orange-crowned Warbler flew out the back of the tree, so I chased it, hoping for a picture.  I didn't catch up with the warbler, but I did see a Bewick's Wren and I got this picture.

 

I didn't need any of those species, but I was birding!  It was fun to find a little mixed flock like that.  I went out onto the boardwalk, hoping for an eagle, which I never found.  The water level in the lake is down quite a bit, and there is mud around the edges in places.  There were a couple of Least Sandpipers on the mud.  One of them was puffed up and one looked skinny.  Here's a picture of the fat and skinny Least Sandpipers.

 

There were half a dozen Killdeer on the mud, too, and one posed for me.  I like the feather detail on this Killdeer.

 

I didn't see anything very interesting, but the day was beautiful and I enjoyed the sunshine and the view.  On my way back to the car, I checked out the tree that had held the mixed flock of birds, and I found that the Orange-crowned Warbler had stuck around, or another one had shown up.  I sat at a table and tried for distant pictures.  Here are two distant pictures of the Orange-crowned Warbler, which mostly kept moving around.

 

 

I continued to sit there in the sun, and I was rewarded with a Savannah Sparrow that flew in.  I got this picture of the Savannah Sparrow.

 

I didn't need any of the species I had seen, but I had had a good time birding in the sunshine, and I got some pictures.  Originally, I had planned on going over to Marymoor Park in my search for a Bald Eagle, but I had taken enough time at Juanita Bay Park that I decided to skip that.  At the last minute I decided to make a quick stop at the Fire Station Road, in the east part of the park.  I played the song of Ruby-crowned Kinglet, since they should be coming back soon, but I never got any responses.  I did see two or three warbler-sized birds up high in some trees, though, and at least one of them turned out to be a Yellow-rumped Warbler, which was one I needed for September.  Yellow-rumped Warblers are supposed to be moving through here now, on their way south for the winter, and I had actually thought about that species when I stopped at the Fire station Road. 

 

I couldn't get a picture of the Yellow-rump, but I did see a Downy Woodpecker that seemed to be working on a hole.  It seems like a strange time of year to be making a nest hole, but maybe they work on the hole all winter, so as to be ready for spring.  Or, maybe the bird was confused about the season, I don't know.  Here is the female Downy Woodpecker at the hole.

 

Here she is with her head in the hole.  She seemed to be excavating it.

 

That was it for my birding today.  This afternoon it was warm enough to sit out on the porch and eat my lunch and read, and I got these next two pictures of a Steller's Jay.  First, here is one that shows the front of the bird.

 

Here's a picture showing its back, wings, and tail.

 

I like blue-colored birds.

 

I added one more to my September list today, to bring it to 121.  I plan to keep looking for a Bald Eagle, and tomorrow I think I'll go up to Skagit county, where eagles are common.  I've missed seeing one both times I've been up there this month, though, so we'll see.  There are some other birds I can look for, too, including migrants, a semi-rarity that I've missed there twice this month, and a returning species that just started coming back.  What excitement!

 

 

Thursday, September 20, 2018

 

This morning I headed up to Skagit county, about an hour north of home.  I was hoping to see a Bald Eagle and some other good birds that had been reported yesterday.  I picked up a sandwich at Subway, and my first stop was Wylie Slough.  That's when my day started to go sideways.  A Fish and Game employee stopped me at the entrance and said the reserve was closed because they were doing some spraying by helicopter.  She said it would open about 11:30.  I went on to Hayton Reserve, but the tide was out and I didn't see anything I needed there.  I did see some yellowlegs, which I didn't need, and I took a few pictures.  Here are three yellowlegs.

 

I think they were Greater Yellowlegs, rather than Lesser Yellowlegs, but I'm not sure.  Here are two more.

 

The one in the back seems like it has longer legs than the others, but the size of the body is about the same.  I guess it was a long-legged Greater Yellowlegs.

 

I went back to Wylie Slough just after 11:30, and I was the first person to get in after the spraying.  The tide was out, which should have been good for shorebirds.  There were many dozens of dowitchers and a handful of yellowlegs, but no other shorebirds that I could find.  Here is a Long-billed Dowitcher.

 

I saw a perched raptor, and got this picture of a female Northern Harrier.  [9/23/18 - I now think this next picture was actually a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, and I think I saw the same bird again today.  See Sunday, September 23 report]

 

The light was terrible for that picture, but it came out pretty good after a lot of processing.  Here's a picture of a couple of Long-billed Dowitchers.

 

I kept looking for eagles and I searched for the Black Phoebe that everyone else sees there.  I kept my eye out for a Peregrine Falcon and I looked for the pectoral Sandpipers that have been there, along with the rare Sharp-tailed Sandpiper reported yesterday.  Nada.  I got nothing.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do next, but I was heading back to my car to have lunch, at about 12:30, when I suddenly remembered that I had a guy coming over today to do yard work for me at 1:00.  Oops.  I didn't have his phone number with me, and Christina wasn't at home.  I was about an hour from home.  Not an ideal situation.  I thought about it and decided I should head for home.  If the guy didn't wait for me, I had his number at home, and I would call him.

 

I ate half my sandwich as I drove to the freeway, and then I just boogied on down the highway, getting home at about 1:35.  It turned out that the guy had called about 12:50 to say he couldn't make it today, but could come tomorrow.  What a day!  To top it all off, I saw online this afternoon that a couple of guys I have met before got there about an hour after I left, and they saw all the birds I was looking for - an eagle, a peregrine, the Black Phoebe, the Pectoral Sandpipers, and the rare Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.  I often say that timing is important in birding, and today sure was an example of that.

 

Back at home, I sat on the porch and ate the rest of my sandwich.  There was quite a bit of bird action in the yard, so I took a lot of pictures.  I recently moved our suet feeder, and today was the first time I saw a woodpecker at it in the new location.  Here are a couple of pictures of a male Northern Flicker.

 

 

The birdbath had a lot of action today.

 

A juvenile White-crowned Sparrow picked at a fallen flower, picking out the seeds from the center of the flower.

 

The juvenile White-crowned Sparrow didn't take a bath, but it took a drink.

 

 

Here's a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow with a Chestnut-backed Chickadee for a size comparison.

 

Here is a Chestnut-backed Chickadee by itself in a bush.

 

A Golden-crowned Sparrow was feeding under the seed feeder, too.

 

Here's a Spotted Towhee.  I think it was a juvenile female.

 

A second juvie White-crowned Sparrow showed up.

 

Here is one of the White-crowned Sparrow youngsters with a Spotted Towhee that I think is a juvenile male.

 

The Golden-crowned Sparrow got a drink from the birdbath, and here it is on approach.

 

Birds don't usually fly right to a feeder or to the birdbath.  They like to approach and look things over from somewhere nearby, to be sure it's safe.  In addition to the species I have shown, I had Dark-eyed Juncos, a Steller's Jay, House Finches, House Sparrows, a Bewicks' Wren, Black-capped Chickadees, and a European Starling.  Like I said, it was pretty active this afternoon.  To finish it off, a Downy Woodpecker flew in to the seed feeder and grabbed a half a peanut, then took it to the bush next to the feeder and proceeded to peck it apart and eat it.  Here is the female Downy Woodpecker.

 

 

So, the day didn't go at all as I had planned, and I didn't get anything for my lists, but I did see some birds, and I did get some pictures.  I'll keep looking for a Bald Eagle.

 

 

Sunday, September 23, 2018

 

On Friday I went to Marymoor Park, mainly looking for a Bald Eagle and not finding one.  Then I drove out to the Snoqualmie River Valley and drove from Carnation to Duvall, again looking for a Bald Eagle.  Again, I didn't find one, or anything else.  I had other stuff I had to do on Saturday.

 

Today, Sunday, I went back up to Wylie Slough in Skagit county.  Bald Eagle was one of my targets, but there were several other possibilities as well.  I parked at the end of the road near the boat ramp and pump house, and watched from my car.  I was looking for the Black Phoebe that I keep missing up there.  It's a rarity in this area, but one or two of them have been hanging around Wylie Slough most of the year.  I saw one at least twice, earlier in the year, but it has been months since I saw one.  Today there were some other small birds, and eventually I spotted a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, which is a recent fall returnee and one I needed for September.  I hadn't seen one since April, but now they are back and will be fairly common.

 

I talked to a guy who had been out on the dike, and the tide was still too high for shorebirds, which I had expected.  My plan was to go other places and return to Wylie Slough later.  Before I left a raptor flew in and perched in a dead tree, and I got these two pictures.

 

 

I believe it was a juvenile Cooper's Hawk.  It also looked familiar, and I looked back at Thursday's report, when I had used a picture of a bird that I had identified as a female Northern Harrier.  I now think I was wrong on Thursday, and that bird was actually this same juvenile Cooper's Hawk.

 

I went on to Hayton Reserve, but I didn't see any eagles there, either.  I did see a female Northern Harrier, though, swooping over the fields.  I got this picture of her in flight.

 

While I was at Hayton, I discovered that the head on my tripod had broken, and I can't use my scope until I get a new one, or figure out how to fix it.  Without the use of my scope, I gave up on Hayton and went back to Wylie Slough to look for shorebirds with binoculars, keeping an eye out for eagles at all times.  Today I ended up seeing large birds soaring overhead several times.  They included a Turkey Vulture, an Osprey, and several Red-tailed Hawks, but no eagles.

 

On my way out of Hayton there was a perched female Northern Harrier on the ground, and I got these next two pictures of her.

 

 

Back at Wylie Slough, I walked out on the dike trail, to look for Pectoral Sandpiper and the rare (for anywhere in the continental US) Sharp-tailed Sandpiper that had been reported there in the last week.  There was a group of about 5 or 6 birders already there, looking for the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.  They pointed out the single Pectoral Sandpiper that was there at that time, and I had another September bird.  Here are some pictures of the Pectoral Sandpiper.  The larger birds around it are Long-billed Dowitchers.

 

 

 

The pictures are mediocre, but Pectoral Sandpiper is pretty uncommon around here, and I was pleased to get it.  I had seen one and gotten better pictures last month at Wylie Slough.

 

There were dozens of Long-billed Dowitchers feeding and snoozing.  Here is one of the Long-billed Dowitchers.

 

I was looking at the shorebirds and getting ready to give it up and leave, when one of the other birders shouted "incoming!".  I looked around, and all the birds took off as a Peregrine Falcon swooped in, right in front of me, and snatched up one of the dowitchers and flew off with it.  Peregrine Falcon was an excellent September bird for me, and it was very cool to see it swoop through like that.  Here is a shot of some of the other birders, just before the peregrine flew through.

 

In a short while the birds came back and resumed their feeding and roosting.  I couldn't find the Pectoral Sandpiper after that. Maybe the falcon grabbed the Pectoral Sandpiper, rather than a dowitcher, but odds are, it got a dowitcher, since there were so many more of them.

 

There were a few yellowlegs around, too.  Here is a Lesser Yellowlegs.

 

Here’s a Greater Yellowlegs, which is larger and has a longer bill, with respect to the length of its head.

 

Here is a shot of a Lesser Yellowlegs (on the left) and a Greater Yellowlegs, standing in roughly the same funny pose, like one was copying the other.

 

 

It's too bad about the green and orange streaks in the picture.  They are reeds in the foreground, way out of focus.  The wind was blowing the reeds back and forth, and they got in the way of this picture.  I show it because of the odd pose they are in, and because it shows the size difference nicely.

 

I had something I needed to do at home, and I was tired of standing, anyway, so I left.  I left at about 2:00, and I see now that the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper was seen at about 4 or 4:30.  I wouldn’t have wanted to wait around for another two hours for it, so I'm glad I left when I did.  The Black Phoebe was seen later, too, right where I had been looking for it.  Timing is everything.  On the way back to the freeway, I got this picture of a Red-tailed Hawk.

 

I missed Bald Eagle (others had seen one before I arrived today) and the two rarities (Black Phoebe and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper), but I did add three species to my September list, so it was a successful day of birding.  Now I have 124 species for September.

 

I have a week left to find a Bald Eagle.  I need to fix my tripod, too, so I can use my scope.  I'll probably have to buy a new head for it, to the tune of about 100 bucks, but it is an essential tool for my birding, so I need to get it fixed, one way or another.

 

 

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

 

On Monday I went to Log Boom Park in Kenmore and the Edmonds Marsh and waterfront, looking mainly for an eagle.  I didn't see any eagles or anything else I needed.  No pictures, either.

 

On Tuesday, I visited Juanita Bay Park and Marymoor Park, again hoping to find an eagle or anything else.  I got nothing, and again, no pictures.

 

Today I went up to Skagit county in a final desperate search for a Bald Eagle.  There were several other possibilities as well.  My first stop was Hayton Reserve.  The tide was too far out for any chance at Semipalmated Plover, which was one of my targets.  I take a lot of pictures of Song Sparrows because they show themselves well.  Today a Song Sparrow was singing loudly to me, seemingly insisting that I takes its picture.

 

 

There were a few shorebirds in the slough on the west side of the reserve.  Here are five Long-billed Dowitchers.

 

There was one Western Sandpiper, too.

 

I spotted a Peregrine Falcon in the distance.  I didn't need it, but it is always great to see a Peregrine.  A Red-tailed Hawk came in and displaced the falcon and the Peregrine flew off.  I saw a Northern Harrier in the distance, and then one flew by closer.  I got a couple of pictures of the female Northern Harrier as it hovered, looking for prey.

 

 

I couldn't find an eagle there, so I moved on.  On my way out of Hayton Reserve, I got this picture of one of the Eurasian Collared-Doves that were sitting on a fence.

 

I drove by the Jensen Access and then toward the North Fork Access.  Along Maupin Road birds kept flying up from the fields, and finally I got a look at a couple of them, and they were American Pipits.  That's a great species to get, although I had already seen one earlier this month.  Here is an American Pipit from today.

 

Two of the species I was looking for today were Cackling Goose and Greater White-fronted Goose.  Both species have been off on their breeding grounds for months, and they are just starting to come back this week.  They had both been seen along Maupin Road in the last few days, and I saw some geese in a field.  I got out my scope, but the geese were only Canada Geese.

 

At the North Fork Access, I got out and walked up on the dike.  There were a few birds around, but nothing I needed.  As I was getting ready to leave, I saw a large dark bird flying in the distance.  I got my binoculars on it, but it was flying away from me.  It had an all white tail, though, and the only species like that in that area is Bald Eagle.  I had my final repeater for the month!  It was an unsatisfactory look, but it was a Bald Eagle.  It was flying toward Hayton Reserve, which was about 2 or 3 miles away at that point.  I was planning on going back to Hayton, anyway, so I drove a roundabout route across Fir Island, looking for geese.  No geese, but when I got to Hayton, I spotted a Bald Eagle flying low over a field.  It was carrying something pretty large.  I jumped out of the car and tried for pictures.  They were too distant to be any good, but I got one that at least shows the eagle, and you can see it is carrying something.

 

I assume that it was the same bird I had seen fifteen minutes before, flying toward Hayton.  I walked around Hayton a bit, and I got this picture of a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow.

 

I had seen where the eagle with its prey had landed, and as I left Hayton I saw it fairly close to the road.  I stopped and was close enough that I would have gotten good pictures, but I guess I was too close, because the eagle flew off with its prey.  It landed on a fence post across the road, but it was pretty far away.  I took some pictures, mainly in the hopes I might be able to identify its prey.  The heat wave distortion and the distance make the pictures terrible, but here are two of them.  I think the prey was a bird, because it seemed to be plucking feathers from it.  I'd guess it was a duck, since an eagle wouldn't normally be able to catch any other kind of bird.

 

 

It was good sized bird, and it seems too light colored to be a duck, but the eagle had a nice meal, anyway.

 

I had my eagle, with pictures, but I went to Wylie Slough to look for birds I needed there.  I wanted to find the Black Phoebe that everyone else sees there, but I missed it again today.  I did get this picture of a female Belted Kingfisher.

 

There were a lot of Yellow-rumped Warblers around, but they wouldn't stay still long enough for pictures, for the most part.  I did finally get one mediocre picture of a Yellow-rumped Warbler, though.

 

I got one other picture of a Yellow-rumped Warbler on a wire, showing off its bright yellow rump.

 

I headed for home, not having found any other birds I needed.  I stopped at the dairy on the road back to the main highway, to look at blackbirds.  A guy had told me over the weekend that he had seen a Yellow-headed Blackbird there, so I looked for it today.  I saw a lot of starlings, cowbirds, and blackbirds, but not a Yellow-headed Blackbird.  Here is a female Brewer's Blackbird.

 

Here is a male Brewer's Blackbird.

 

Here are a couple of male Brown-headed Cowbirds.

 

On my way home I stopped at the Everett Sewage Treatment ponds to look for ducks.  There were hundreds of ducks there, with a good range of species.  I didn't see any of the ones I needed, though.  I drove on to the end of the road, to the pedestrian bridge to Spencer Island, just to see what I could see.  What I saw was another Bald Eagle!  After looking everywhere for them all month, today I saw either two or three of them.  I was able to get a decent picture of this one, anyway, although the spindly branches in front of it detract from it.

 

So, I finally got my Bald Eagle, which was the last of the 62 repeaters that were possible this month.  I had seen 62 species in each month of the year at the end of August, and now I've seen those 62 species in each of the first nine months of the year.  I'm going to try to see them in each of the last three months of the year, too, of course.  September is up to 125 species now, with the addition of Bald Eagle today.  I probably won't get any more species this month, but you never know.  October is right around the corner, though, and then I will start with a fresh list.

 

 

Saturday, September 29, 2018

 

The month is winding down and I don't have much else to look for.  There have been reports of two goose species nearby, though, over in Woodinville, which is only 10 minutes from home.  I went over to the sod farm and found a large flock of geese out on the grass.  Here is the view from the place where I stopped at first.

 

You can't see them in that picture, but there are dozens of geese out there on the grass.  I set up my scope and was able to see four species of geese - Canada, Cackling, Snow, and Greater White-fronted.  I needed Cackling Goose and Greater White-fronted Goose for September.  Those two species are just now starting to come back from their breeding grounds in the far north.  The geese were all down at the south end of the field, so I moved on, but I came back later and found they had moved closer to the road.  Here are some pictures I took on the second visit.

 

Here's a picture that shows the out-of-season Snow Goose that has been hanging out there for at least a couple of months, surrounded by Canada Geese (the larger ones) and Cackling Geese (the smaller ones).

 

There was a hybrid goose there, too.  It looks to me like a cross between a Canada Goose and a (probably domestic) Graylag-type Goose.  Here's a picture of the oddball goose.

 

Here are the three Greater White-fronted Geese I saw there today.

 

Here's a closer picture of two of the Greater White-fronted Geese.

 

Here is a shot of the Snow Goose.

 

Snow Geese have been in the far north, too, and they should be returning in October.  This one never left, I guess, choosing to spend the summer with the local Canada Geese.

 

Finally, here is a picture that shows all four species of geese in it.

 

In between my two stops at the sod farm, I went to the Redmond Retention Ponds.  It was really dead.  There were no ducks at all on the main pond, which I don’t recall seeing before.  I was looking for a White-throated Sparrow because one had been reported there yesterday.  I found some White-crowned Sparrows, a Song Sparrow, and some Dark-eyed Juncos, but nothing I needed.  Walked around the main pond, which I hadn't ever done before.  Usually the water level is too high to do that without getting your feet muddy, but the pond is very low now.  I flushed a couple of Wilson's Snipe, and caught up with them at the little pond.  Here are a couple of pictures of a Wilson's Snipe, which is a great bird, but not one I needed for September.

 

 

So, I didn't stay out there long, but I picked up two more species for September.  That gives me 127 species for September.  I have 239 species for 2018 now.  I also have 62 repeaters, species I have seen in each of the nine months so far this year.  October starts on Monday.

 

 

Sunday, September 30, 2018

 

I hadn't thought I would go out birding today, since there were so few species left for me to get.  I was satisfied with my total of 127 for September.  Then I happened to notice online that yesterday a couple of birders had seen three species I needed for September, up at the Everett Sewage Ponds.  That's an easy half hour drive north of here, and the weather looked OK, so I headed out.

 

The main pond there is hundreds of yards on a side, and there were many hundreds of ducks on it.  I could barely make out the ones at the north end, but I set up my scope and started scanning the ducks.  There were hundreds of Northern Shovelers, hundreds of Ruddy Ducks, some Northern Pintails, lots of American Coots, some Gadwalls, some American Wigeons, a couple of dozen Ring-necked Ducks, a few Canada Geese, and probably others in small numbers.  I didn't need any of those species, but I was looking for the three species I needed.

 

The first one I spotted was Eared Grebe, an uncommon species around here.  I probably actually saw that species earlier in the week, but I thought they were Horned Grebes, which look very much like them and are much more common.  I hadn't looked at them closely, but after reading the report of other people seeing Eared Grebe yesterday, I looked more closely, and I was able to add that one to my September list today.

 

Another species I was looking for was Lesser Scaup.  I saw a couple of dozen Ring-necked Ducks, way out there at the north end of the pond.  Lesser Scaup look very much like Ring-necked Ducks, so I scanned them slowly.  Eventually I saw three males that were definitely Lesser Scaup, so that one went onto my list.

 

I wasn't bothering with pictures because the ducks were pretty far away, and duck pictures are pretty boring.  After quite a while, I saw the lone male Bufflehead that had been reported yesterday, and I had my third September bird.  The Bufflehead was close enough and different enough that I went back to my car and got my camera, but I when I got back with it, I couldn't find the Bufflehead again.

 

Since I had gotten my camera, I took some distant duck pictures.  Here is a female Northern Shoveler (in front) and a smaller Ruddy Duck.

 

At that point, most of the ducks took off and flew around.  I looked to see what had spooked them, and there was a Bald Eagle flying over the pond, looking for a duck it could catch.  I saw another Bald Eagle, and at one point, there were three of them in view at the same time.  I had looked for weeks for a Bald Eagle for my September list, finding one a few days ago finally, and then today I saw three of them.  Go figure.  Here is a distant blurry picture of one of the Bald Eagles flying over the pond.

 

I saw an interesting looking bird flying around, and I tracked it until it landed, relatively close to me.  It turned out to be one of two Black-bellied Plovers, a shorebird that I wouldn’t expect to see there.  Here are a couple of pictures of the two Black-bellied Plovers.

 

 

Most of the ducks at the south end of the pond, where I was, were Northern Shovelers, with some Ruddy Ducks mixed in.  Here is a male Northern Shoveler.

 

Here's a female Northern Shoveler.

 

I love the goofy bill of Northern Shoveler.

 

To my surprise, some Bonaparte's Gulls flew in.  They are fairly uncommon on this side of Puget Sound.  Here is a picture of a Bonaparte's Gull, which is a small gull.  That's a female Northern Shoveler in the background.

 

There aren't any really good vantage points to view the pond from, and I had been in the parking lot for Spencer Island.  I packed up my scope and moved down to where you can get a closer look at one corner of the pond, but you can't see most of it.  I was standing there and the male Bufflehead showed up again, this time fairly close to shore.  Here's a picture of the male Bufflehead.

 

Buffleheads are common around here in the winter, but they go north to breed in inland Canada and Alaska.  They are due back in October, and this one is the first one I have seen reported in the area.  I was fortunate to be able to find it among the many hundreds of ducks there today, but it does stand out because of its striking pattern.

 

At the same time that the Bufflehead cruised by, close to shore, I saw a Spotted Sandpiper on the concrete edge of the pond, and I got a couple of pictures of it.

 

 

More Bonaparte's Gulls showed up and I got this picture with some of them in the foreground, with ducks in the background.

 

More and more Bonaparte's Gulls kept flying in, and I counted at least 70 of them at one point.  Here are eight more Bonaparte's Gulls.

 

Here is another picture of a Ruddy Duck, a female, I think.

 

I finally gave it up and drove on to the end of the road and came back.  One of the Bald Eagles had perched in a tree, so I took these next two pictures of it.

 

 

I think that Bald Eagles are really magnificent looking birds.

 

It turned out to be an excellent birding day today, in terms of numbers.  I added three more species to my September total, to give me 130 for September.  I finish September with 239 species for the year, and I have 62 repeaters to look for in each of the next three months.  Tomorrow October starts, but the weather looks wet and I have a lunch appointment, so the month won't start out with a big number tomorrow.

[Correction - due to an error I made on June 18, my 2018 total is understated here by 50 species.  I actually had 289 for 2018 at the end of September.]