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Thursday, August 1, 2019

 

A new month begins.  I started out today up at Snoqualmie Point Park, in the foothills of the Cascades.  I tried for Warbling Vireo, but the only bird I saw was an American Robin.  I saw American Crows on my drive to my next stop, which was Three Forks Park.  From the parking lot there I got one of my target species for the day, Eastern Kingbird.  Here's a poor picture of an Eastern Kingbird.

 

Eastern Kingbirds are quite uncommon on the west side of the Cascades, but a pair nested in this location this year, and I was happy to see two of them.

 

I walked through the dog park to the trail on the dike.  I saw a Steller's Jay on the way, and once I got on the trail, I picked up European Starling, Canada Goose, and Black-capped Chickadee.  A couple of Cedar Waxwings flew through, and I saw a Northern Flicker down the trail.  I had been playing Red-eyed Vireo songs, and finally I attracted one.  It sang to me and flew back and forth across the trail, but it stayed deep in the bushes mostly, and these were the best pictures of it I could get.

 

 

That was another of my main targets today, as Red-eyed Vireo is pretty uncommon around here also.  By that time it was getting on for lunch time, so I headed down the mountain toward Fall City.  I stopped at Tokul Creek to look for American Dipper, always a good one to get.  I saw one right away, but the only picture I could get was pretty distant.

 

I drove to Carnation and picked up a sandwich at the supermarket there.  I took it to the house in Carnation with feeders, and I ate while watching for birds.  It was very quiet, but I picked up American Goldfinch and Eurasian Collared-Dove.  Then suddenly all the goldfinches scattered and a Cooper's Hawk flew through, chasing one of them.  The hawk missed the goldfinch and landed in a bush near the road.  I was just a little too slow to get a picture of it before it flew off.  Cooper's Hawk was another good bird for August, though.  I never did get one in July.

 

After I finished my lunch, I drove north and went across NE 60th St.  That road curves around and becomes 310th Ave NE, and I saw some swallows on wires there.  Here's a Barn Swallow, a species I saw a lot of today.

 

There was a Violet-green Swallow on a wire, too, and I got this picture.

 

There were Brewer's Blackbirds there, too.  At Chinook Bend, I added Mallard, Gadwall, Wood Duck, and Great Blue Heron to my August list.  I didn't get anything else until I was coming back across the valley on NE 100th St.  I saw a Turkey Vulture circling in the distance and more swallows.  I was happy to add Northern Rough-winged Swallow, and I got this picture.

 

There was also a juvenile Tree Swallow, kind of sitting off on its own.

 

I was pleased to get four swallow species because all but the Barn Swallows will soon be flying south for the winter.  Barn Swallows hang around another couple of months.  I added House Finch and House Sparrow along that stretch, too.

 

Next I drove up to the Duvall area and went up W. Snoqualmie River Rd NE, looking for the Western Kingbird that hangs out there.  As I pulled up in front of the Halal butcher place, I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk in a tree and the Western Kingbird flying away from its perch on a wire.  I didn't get anything else new on that road, and on the way back I got these two pictures of the Western Kingbird.

 

 

I headed toward home and added Feral Pigeon along the way.  I only got 29 species today, which is kind of low in terms of numbers, but I got some excellent species.  Eastern Kingbird, Red-eyed Vireo, and Cooper's Hawk were all great ones, and American Dipper and Western Kingbird were good ones, too.  So, now I have 29 species for August and 20 of them were repeaters - species I have now seen in each month so far this year.

 

 

Friday, August 2, 2019

 

Today I went over to Marymoor Park, and my first stop was the rowing club pond, hoping to see Green Heron.  All I saw was a couple of female Hooded Mergansers, which at least was one for my August list.  I drove around to the main part of the park and walked through the community garden, hoping to find the Ring-necked Pheasant that has been hanging out around Marymoor for several months.  I didn't find the pheasant, but I saw a group of songbirds and got some pictures.  Here's a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow, one for my August list.

 

I didn't need American Robin, but I got this picture of a juvenile robin with its spotted breast.

 

There were three or four juvenile Spotted Towhees in the flock, looking rather scruffy as they molted into their adult plumage.  That was an August bird.  Here are a couple of juvenile Spotted Towhees in different stages of molt.

 

 

I picked up Dark-eyed Junco and Song Sparrow for my August list, and I moved on to the slough.  I soon added Killdeer to my August list, and as I was looking at the Killdeer I heard a loud call that sounded familiar, although I couldn't place it.  I saw a large bird fly up into a tree, and I realized that the call had been a Green Heron, a great one to get for August.  Here is the Green Heron in the tree.

 

The Green Heron flew off, but another bird flew down the slough and landed in a tree.  Here is my first August Belted Kingfisher.

 

I walked up the slough and spotted a raptor in a tree across the slough.  It was a Cooper's Hawk, a great bird, but one I had seen yesterday out in Carnation.  I looked all of July for a Cooper's Hawk and never found one, and now I have seen two of them in the first two days of August.  Go figure.  Here is the Cooper's Hawk across the slough.

 

The streaks that run vertical on its chest indicate that it was a juvenile Cooper's Hawk.  Here's another picture, as it was about to take off.

 

At the weir, I saw the Green Heron again, on the other side of the slough.  It was also a juvenile, and here are two distant pictures of it.

 

 

I added Common Merganser to my list, and here's a picture of a female or juvenile Common Merganser.

 

Here are a couple of juvenile Common Mergansers with a couple of adults.

 

As I walked back to my car, I saw a Downy Woodpecker on a tree out in the flood plain of the slough, so that one went on my August list.

 

Over by the model airplane field, I checked out the Osprey nest.  Here is a juvenile Osprey (in the nest) with an adult.  That was still another August bird.

 

Here's another shot from a little different angle and a bit closer.

 

I left Marymoor, but I drove down the east side of Lake Sammamish far enough to check out the Purple Martin nest boxes out in the lake, and I added that species to my August list.  After that I drove to the Redmond Retention Ponds.  I was there last week and saw no shorebirds, other than one Killdeer, but last year I had had good luck with shorebirds there, and I wanted to check it out.  Shorebirds are just now starting to move south in bigger numbers.  I added Greater Yellowlegs right away, but I didn't get any pictures until later.  A small shorebird flew from the shore near me to a beach a bit farther away, and it turned out to be my first SOLITARY SANDPIPER of the year.  Here's a distant picture.

 

That was a great bird to get, and I crept around the end of the pond to get closer.  Here's a shot of the Solitary Sandpiper standing near a male Mallard, showing the size difference.

 

Here's a closer shot of the Solitary Sandpiper on its own.

 

While I was stalking the Solitary Sandpiper, a Lesser Yellowlegs came along.  That was another great shorebird for my August list.  Here's the Lesser Yellowlegs.

 

There was a single Least Sandpiper there, too, and that was another August bird.  Here's a picture of the Lesser Yellowlegs (upper left) and the little Least Sandpiper.

 

The shorebirds flew off to the other end of the pond, and I headed back toward my car.  I detoured at the other end of the pond, though, and got more pictures.  Here are two Greater Yellowlegs that had stayed at the south end of the pond.

 

The Lesser Yellowlegs had flown to that same area, at the south end of the pond, and here is one more picture of the Lesser Yellowlegs, to compare to the two Greater Yellowlegs above.

 

The Lesser Yellowlegs is quite a bit smaller than the Greater Yellowlegs, which you can't really tell from the pictures.  What you can see, though, is that the bill is relatively shorter and straighter in Lesser Yellowlegs, compared to Greater Yellowlegs, which has a slightly upturned bill.

 

I was finished birding, but I added one more species this afternoon at home - Anna's Hummingbird.

 

I got 17 more species for August, to bring me to 46 species now this month.  Two of them (Lesser Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpiper) were new for King county for 2019, and now I have 144 species in King county this year.  Solitary Sandpiper was new for the year, and now I have 284 species this year.  11 of my species today were repeaters, too, and now I have 31 repeaters this month.  I was home in time for lunch, and I stayed in this afternoon, partly because it was hot and humid.  The next couple of days are also supposed to be hot.

 

 

Saturday, August 3, 2019

 

I started my birding day at Fox Road, near Clear Lake, east of Mount Vernon.  I was hoping for Sora and Virginia Rail, but I couldn't entice a response from either species.  I also didn't see or hear any snipe.  I did see a Marsh Wren for my August list, and then this female Black-headed Grosbeak, also for my August list.

 

I already had Belted Kingfisher this month, but I got this nice picture of a female Belted Kingfisher.

 

The brown breast band indicates that it was a female.  It was new for my 2019 Skagit county list.  There were a couple of Red-tailed Hawks in a tree fairly nearby, so I took pictures of them.  Here is one of the Red-tailed Hawks.

 

Here are the two Red-tailed Hawks.

 

I added Common Yellowthroat there, too, but I couldn't get a picture.  As I left the area, there were a lot of swallows sitting on wires, and one of them seemed different.  Most of them were Barn Swallows, but I could see that this one wasn't.

 

That's a heavily processed image because of the terrible lighting, but it shows what I needed to make the identification.  I had to look it up, but it is perfect for a juvenile Cliff Swallow, and I needed that one for August.  The blotchy white around the face, the dark band on the upper breast, the short tail, and most especially, the stripes on the underside of the tail.  That finishes off the local swallows for me for August, other than Bank Swallow, which is quite uncommon, and I don't expect to get one this month.

 

I got a sandwich at Subway and drove to the house on Valentine Road with feeders.  There wasn't seed in most of the feeders, but a few birds came in to the big suet feeder.  Here is my first Chestnut-backed Chickadee for August.

 

I think it's interesting how sheer the tail feathers are; you can practically see through them.  Here is my August Red-breasted Nuthatch.

 

A couple of Downy Woodpeckers came to the suet, but I had that one already.  I had been hoping for Hairy Woodpecker, but not today.  I drove down to the corner of Valentine Road and Dodge Valley Road and parked where I could see the feeders there.  There were some Mourning Doves feeding on the ground, so that one went on my August list.  Here is a Mourning Dove.

 

I ate half my sandwich there, but all I got was House Finch and American Goldfinch, both of which I already had this month.  Then a female Purple Finch flew in and foraged around on the ground.  That was a good August bird, and here's a picture of the female Purple Finch.

 

I saw another one in a tree, and that one had clearer facial markings, but I didn't get a picture of that one.

 

I drove to Hayton Reserve, but the tide was way out, and I didn't see anything there except Bald Eagles, which was another August bird anyway.  The young ones there are almost ready to fledge, and they are moving around on the branches around the nest.  Here is a juvenile Bald Eagle that hasn't fledged yet, I think.

 

I think these next two pictures are a different juvenile eagle.

 

That second one was calling repeatedly, presumably wanting to be fed.

 

An adult Bald Eagle flew in and went to the nest.  I couldn't see anything, but I suspect it brought food, as the youngsters scrambled to the nest, which is obscured by leaves and branches.  Here is the adult Bald Eagle, after leaving the nest.

 

I had been hoping to see some shorebirds and maybe some ducks there at Hayton Reserve, but not today.  I did get this picture I like of a Great Blue Heron, at least.

 

I moved on to Wylie Slough.  It was very quiet there, and the tide was too high for shorebirds.  It was moving out, but it takes a long time for the saltwater slough to drain, and the water was still too high for shorebirds to feed.  I ate the second half of my sandwich in the parking lot by the headquarters building, hoping to see one of the Black Phoebes.  Black Phoebe is rare here, and one has been hanging around there for about 18 months now.  Somehow a second one found it, and they nested and fledged two youngsters, so there are presumably several Black Phoebes around there now.  I didn't see one while I was eating, but on my way out I saw one on the freshwater slough near where I had been parked.  Here is the Black Phoebe, an August bird and a repeater.

 

I saw a Yellow Warbler near there, too, and that was an excellent August bird and one for my 2019 Skagit county list.  I also saw a distant Osprey, and that was new for my lifetime Skagit county list, and also for my 2019 Skagit list, of course.   I added 3 more species to my 2019 Skagit county list, and now I have 124 species in Skagit county this year.  The Osprey gives me 154 species in Skagit county for my lifetime (meaning since 2012, when I started keeping county lists).  I added 11 species to my August list today, and now I have 57 species in August.  Seven of those were repeaters, and now I have 38 repeaters that I have seen in each of the first 8 months this year.

 

Overall, it was a disappointing day because I missed a number of birds I had expected to see, but not all days are perfect in birding. If I had stuck around and done more walking at Wylie Slough I might have gotten more, but it was too hot, and I didn't feel like walking in the heat.  As John Denver put it "Some days are diamonds, and some days are stones."

 

 

Sunday, August 4, 2019

 

Weekends aren't a good time for many of my birding venues because there are too many darn people out and about.  I didn't do much today.  I headed over to Seattle, but on the way I stopped at the house in Lake Forest Park where I usually see Band-tailed Pigeons.  There were several in a tree, and I got these pictures.  That was an August bird. 

 

 

 

Next I continued on to my scrub-jay site near the University of Washington, and I walked around, playing scrub-jay calls.  I was about ready to give it up when I heard a couple of responses.  I was going to count it from hearing the calls, but then a couple of California Scrub-Jays flew out into the open .  Here is one of them.

 

 

That was another August bird.  On my way home I stopped at St. Edwards State Park and tried for Brown Creeper and Pacific Wren.  I couldn't call up either one of them, so I went on to Juanita Bay Park.  At the fire station road, I found the flock of Bushtits that hang out there, and that was another August bird.  I also spotted a flycatcher, so I played the call of Western Wood-Pewee and it came over closer.  That was still another August bird, and I got these two pictures of it from underneath.

 

 

That was it for today.  I spent the rest of the hot day in the coolness of our house.  I added 4 species to August, and 3 of them were repeaters.  Now I have 61 species for August, and 41 of them are repeaters.  Tomorrow is supposed to be hot again, and I plan to go over to Whidbey Island and spend most of the day near the water, with a nice sea breeze to keep me cool.  With some luck, I could add 15 or 20 more species to my August total, but it will be a long day.

 

 

Monday, August 5, 2019

 

Today my quest for birds took me over to Whidbey Island.  I caught the 9:30 ferry out of Mukilteo, and as we came in to the Clinton ferry dock, I saw a couple of Bonaparte's Gulls.  I also had seen a Glaucous-winged Gull on the crossing.  Both of those gull species were new for me for August.  At the ferry terminal, I added Pigeon Guillemot, and I got these two pictures of one with a fish.

 

 

I picked up a sandwich at Pickles deli and drove to Deer Lagoon.  I walked on the trail and added Willow Flycatcher to my August list and also my lifetime Island county list.  Here is the Willow Flycatcher.

 

When the trail broke out into the open and I could see the two lagoons, on each side of the dike trail, I saw hundreds of gulls and terns.  Caspian Tern was new for August for me.  A couple of Savannah Sparrows showed themselves, too, and that was another August bird.  Many of the gulls were Bonaparte's Gulls, and I got a couple of pictures.  In the spring and early summer, they have a black hood, and they then lose most of the black feathers in the fall and winter.  Here's a Bonaparte's Gull that is in the midst of losing its black hood.

 

A few weeks go, that whole speckled gray area on its head would have been black.  Here's another Bonaparte's Gull that has lost almost all of its black head feathers.  In the winter, they retain that spot behind and below the eye.

 

I expected to see dozens of American White Pelicans there, but they must have been elsewhere this morning.  I finally saw one, way across the freshwater lagoon, so at least it went on my August list.  I saw more of them later, at Crockett Lake, too.  As I started back to my car, I heard California Quail calls, so that repeater went on my August list.  I never saw one, but the calls are very distinctive, and I heard them a number of times.  I already had Bald Eagle for the month, but this magnificent adult was sitting in the sunshine, and I couldn't resist taking a picture.

 

Here's a close-up shot of its head.

 

That's a pretty formidable-looking bill.  I also added Red-winged Blackbird to my August list there.

 

Next I headed north and detoured off to check out South Whidbey State Park.  I hadn't remembered ever going there, but it was familiar when I got there, so I guess I was there a long time ago.  I walked a little in the woods, but I didn't get anything and I had to move on.  I stopped along the road at Crockett Lake, but I didn't see any shorebirds on my side of the lake.  Those I saw were much too far away to identify.  At the parking area near the Keystone ferry terminal, I added Brandt's Cormorant and Pelagic Cormorant, as usual.  I found the female Common Goldeneye I had discovered a couple of weeks ago, so that one went on my August list.  I see that it has been on some eBird lists in the last couple of weeks, but I found it myself, before anyone else reported it.  It shouldn't be here at this time of year, so it was great to get it again.  I also added Heermann's Gull and California Gull there.

 

My next stop was Libbey Beach.  I saw a pair of Marbled Murrelets for my August list, and then three early returning Red-necked Grebes still in breeding plumage.  A Double-crested Cormorant showed itself, too, and that completed the three local cormorant species for me for August.

 

It was getting late and I was hungry, so I moved on to Hastie Lake Road beach access and ate there, in my car.  I added Surf Scoter, Harlequin Duck, and Pacific Loon before I ate, and then kept watch as I had my sandwich and veggies from home.  Some Rhinoceros Auklets flew past, so that one went on the list.  I also spotted a single Western Grebe, another excellent August bird.  I was looking at some Surf Scoters, and one was different.  It was a female, and I think it was a female Black Scoter.  Here is a distant picture.

 

It was associating with this immature Surf Scoter, which I thought at first was a White-winged Scoter.

 

While I was eating, a male Harlequin Duck swam up the beach, and I got this picture.

 

Its plumage is odd, and I think it is either a male that is changing from breeding plumage to winter plumage, or a first year male that is gradually getting its adult plumage.

 

I stopped briefly a couple of other places, and then I drove to the beach area at Deception Pass State Park, hoping to see a Black Oystercatcher or maybe a loon offshore.  The tide was out and there were way too many people around for any oystercatchers to be there, but there were birds offshore.  Most of them were Rhinoceros Auklets, but there were some Common Murres mixed in with them, and that was an excellent August bird.  It was a lifetime first for me for Island county, too, as was the Black Scoter earlier.

 

I drove off the island at the north end, over the Deception Pass bridge, and drove home through Skagit county.  I didn't have much time left, but I stopped at Hayton Reserve to check the tide.  It was way too far out, as usual, but this time I was able to find two of the three Whimbrels that have been reported there recently.  This was the third time I had looked for that continuing rarity there recently, and I finally found it.  It was a lifetime Skagit county bird for me.  Here is a very distant picture of one of the Whimbrels.

 

On my way out, I stopped at the slough to check out some ducks, and I saw a shorebird land on the shore, quite a distance away.  I hoped it might be a Spotted Sandpiper, so I got out my scope.  It turned out to be a much better species than Spotted Sandpiper, a Solitary Sandpiper.  I already had that one this month, but it was another lifetime first for Skagit county for me.

 

After that I boogied for home, stopping only to fill my tank with cheap gas ($2.96 per gallon, which is good for around here).  It was a long day, about 8 hours.  There weren't really very many birds, but there was an excellent variety, considering.  I added 25 species to my August list, and now I have 86 species in August.  I got 3 new lifetime species for Island county, and now I have an even 100 species in Island county, lifetime.  I added 2 to my lifetime Skagit county list, and now I have 156 in Skagit county.  My 2019 Skagit county list went up by those same 2 species, and now I have 126 species in Skagit county this year.  It was hot here at home today, but the temperatures along the water on the island were in the mid-60's, with bright sunshine, which is perfect for me.

 

 

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

 

I had a lunch appointment today in Everett, so I drove up there early and stopped first at the Everett Sewage Treatment Plant, looking for ducks.  Most ducks migrated away from here for the summer, but they are just starting to come back.  In addition to the expected Ruddy Ducks, I saw a Northern Pintail, a number of Northern Shovelers, a couple of Green-winged Teal, and about ten Lesser Scaup.  That was a great result, much more than I had expected.  No pictures because they all were very far away, near the limits of my scope.

 

After that success, I went up to Tulalip Bay to try again for Black Bellied Plover there.  I think the tide was too high, but it is also a bit early for them to be back, and I didn't see any.  I did pick up Ring-billed Gull and Mew Gull, though, a couple more August birds.

 

I still had time, so I stopped at the Everett marina to check out the Osprey nest I have been watching.  The nestlings were still in the nest with an adult, so I took pictures.  I read that the female Osprey usually is the one that tends to the nestlings, while the male protects the nest and fishes for everyone, so I'll refer to the one on the nest as the female, although they look the same to me.  Here is mom with a couple of the nestlings.

 

The eggs hatch a few days apart, so the nestlings are slightly different ages.  The one on the left in the picture above must be the oldest, because it was flapping its wings a lot today.

 

It looked like it wanted to fly off the edge, but it never did, while I was there.

 

I wondered if all three nestlings were still there, and then they all showed themselves.

 

At one point, the female flew up to the top of the pilings and the "flapper" continued to flap a lot.  It would flap its wings and kind of hop up a few inches, as if testing its strength.

 

During that time before my lunch, there was no sign of the male.  Usually he has been standing guard, but not today.  I figured he was out looking for fish.

 

I went to lunch, and afterwards I came back to the marina.  I knew the tide was going out, and I hoped to see some shorebirds on the mud.  I was in luck, and there were many dozens of little "peeps" out on the mud, too far away for pictures.  I got a good look at them with my scope, though, and I was able to see a number of Semipalmated Plovers, which was the one I had wanted the most.  Most of them were Least Sandpipers, and I already had that one this month.  I did pick out some Western Sandpipers, which I needed, and then I surprised myself and was able to identify a Semipalmated Sandpiper, a bird I wouldn't have been able to identify a couple of years ago.  It had black legs (like a Western Sandpiper), a shorter bill than a Western Sandpiper, and no reddish tones on its back and wings (which a Western Sandpiper would have at this time of year).  So, I had three more August birds.  Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and Western Sandpiper were new for my 2019 Snohomish county list, too.

 

I went over to the Osprey nest, and now the second adult, presumably the male, was sitting on a barnacle-encrusted stump fairly close to the nest, eating a fish.

 

The female and the youngsters were in the nest and they kept calling, presumably begging to be fed.  The male just kept chowing down.

 

Meanwhile, the female at the nest flew around a little, and here she is coming back to the nest.

 

On one of her sorties, she scooped up some seaweed or something and brought it back to the nest.

 

I don't know if she was just lining the nest with it or if she was bringing some greens to go with the expected fish.  Here she is bringing back another load of seaweed, if that's what it was.  She grabbed it out of the water on the fly, whatever it was.

 

All this time the male kept eating, while the female kept calling loudly.

 

Finally the male had his fill of fish and flew with it to the nest.  Here he is landing in the nest with his fish.

 

In that picture, it looks like the female is telling him "it's about time!"

 

The male soon flew off to his guard post and the female took her turn at the fish.  The youngsters hung back and let the female eat.

 

I had to leave then, but I assume the kids got their turn when mom was done eating.

 

So, that was fun watching the Osprey family, and I was quite pleased to have gotten 10 more species for my August list.  I have 96 species in August now.  Four of the ones today were repeaters, and now I have 53 repeaters - species I have seen in each month of this year so far.  The three new ones for Snohomish county in 2019 bring my total for that county to 128 this year.

 

I'm off to a really great start for August, but last year I had 142 species in August, and I don't see how I can come close to that this year.  I need to analyze last August's species list to understand why that is.

 

 

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

 

Today I started at Juanita Beach Park, looking for the female American Wigeon that has been hanging out there this summer.  The rest of the wigeons are way up north, but this one seems to have hung around.  I couldn't find it.  While looking for it along the beach in front of the condos east of the beach area, I saw three Lesser Yellowlegs and 3 or 4 Least Sandpipers.  I had both of those species for August, but they were both excellent ones for my 5 mile radius list.  I also picked up Pied-billed Grebe, a repeater, for my August list.

 

I drove around the bay to Juanita Bay Park and played Golden-crowned Kinglet songs.  It took a while, but eventually a couple of them responded and flew in.  There wasn't enough light for pictures, as it was overcast, but it was still a good August bird, and another repeater.

 

I walked out onto the east boardwalk.  At the end I got American Coot, another repeater.  I tried for Virginia Rail and others, but got no responses.  It was very quiet, with almost no birds at all.  I moved over to the east side of the park, and walked the fire station road.  It was very quiet there, too.  I did get this picture of a male Northern Flicker from an interesting perspective, though.

 

At the end of the fire station road is a little wetland, and I got a response from a couple of Virginia Rails, another repeater.  That was it for my birding today - very quiet, and only the one picture.  As it turned out, though, I wasn't quite done.  This afternoon, while reading on the front porch, I saw a Bewick's Wren, another repeater I needed for August.

 

So, I got 5 species today for August, and all of them were also repeaters.  That gives me 101 species in August so far and 58 repeaters.  Lesser Yellowlegs and Least Sandpiper raised my 5 mile radius list to 101 for the year, too.

 

 

Friday, August 9, 2019

 

Yesterday (August 8, 2019), I didn't have much time, but I drove up to Yost Park in Edmonds.  I walked the trails, but the only thing I could scare up that I needed was a male Wilson's Warbler.  That was an August bird.

 

Today I didn't really feel much like birding or exerting myself, but I went over to the Redmond Retention Ponds to look for shorebirds.  I thought I saw a dowitcher when I got there, but it must have flow off, because I never could find it again, and I don't know which dowitcher species it was.  I did find a Lesser Yellowlegs, not one I needed, but always a good bird.  Here are three pictures of the Lesser Yellowlegs.

 

 

 

There were four or five little "peeps" around, too.  I took pictures and tried to identify them.  I thought that at least some of them were Western Sandpipers, which I need for my 2019 King county list, but after seeing my pictures, I think they were all Least Sandpipers, which I already had.  Here are some pictures of the Least Sandpipers, with their yellowish legs (as opposed to the dark black legs of Western Sandpipers).

 

 

 

 

 

After that I drove out into the Snoqualmie Valley, looking for several species, but I didn't find anything of interest.  For the last two days, the only bird I got for any list was the Wilson's Warbler at Yost Park yesterday.  Now I have 102 species for August.

 

 

Sunday, August 11, 2019

 

I didn't do much birding on Saturday because it rained in the morning, but I went down to Juanita Bay Park in the afternoon.  I walked the fire station road, and I got Yellow Warbler and Western Tanager.  Both were new for my 5 Mile Radius list and also my 2019 King county list.  The Western Tanager was new for my August list as well.  Not bad for half an hour of birding, five minutes from home.

 

Today, Sunday, I went up to Skagit county.  I picked up a sandwich at Subway and then went to Wiley Slough first.  Right outside of the Wiley Slough wildlife area, I saw some blackbirds in a field.  There were some juvenile Brown-headed Cowbirds in with them.  That was a new species for me for August and also new for Skagit county this year.  Here are a couple of pictures of juvenile Brown-headed Cowbirds.

 

 

At Wiley Slough, I looked for various species, including Great Horned Owl, which nested there this year, and has been seen recently.  I couldn't find an owl, a Hairy Woodpecker, or a Brown Creeper.  I parked in the west parking lot and walked out on the dike, looking mainly for shorebirds.  I also needed Cinnamon Teal, and I saw this female Cinnamon Teal from the bird hide.

 

Both Brown-headed Cowbird and Cinnamon Teal were repeaters.

 

I found about 30 dowitchers, and I think most of them were Long-billed Dowitchers, although I think there were some Short-billed Dowitchers mixed in with them.  The two species are extremely similar.  Here are some pictures of what I think were Long-billed Dowitchers.

 

 

 

Here is one that was with that original group of about 30, but I think it was a Short-billed Dowitcher.

 

There were two or three Greater Yellowlegs there, too.

 

 

There was another group of dowitchers a little farther out, and I think they were mostly or all Short-billed Dowitchers.  As I watched them, they moved closer and joined up with the original group of Long-billed Dowitchers.  Here are some pictures of what I think were Short-billed Dowitchers.

 

 

 

 

In addition to having slightly shorter bills, the placement of the eye in the head is slightly different in Short-billed Dowitchers, compared to Long-billed.  They are also slightly smaller.

 

I was pleased to get both dowitchers for my August list, and I moved on to Hayton Reserve.  The tide was too far out, but another birder who had a scope showed me a Semipalmated Plover, which was a new one for Skagit county for me this year.  I looked unsuccessfully for a Northern Harrier, but couldn't find one.  I resolved to come back later, after the tide had risen, and I moved on.  I saw a Common Raven there as I drove out, and that was another repeater for me this month.

 

I stopped at the house with feeders that is located at the corner of Valentine Road and Dodge Valley Road.  I got this picture of a female Purple Finch there.

 

Here's a shot of the female Purple Finch and an American Goldfinch, a juvenile, I think.

 

I moved up Valentine Road to the house with the large suet feeder, hoping to see a Hairy Woodpecker.  I ate my lunch there, but I didn't get any birds for any lists.  I did get some pictures, though.  The people who live in the house have put up a wire fence between the road and the suet feeder, and that, along with encroaching vegetation makes pictures more difficult there than they used to be.  They have also stuck a couple of plastic flamingoes alongside the suet feeder, and they get in the shots, too.

 

Here's a Chestnut-backed Chickadee, shot through the obstacles.

 

 

A male Downy Woodpecker came to the feeder several times, and I shot him through the obstacles, too.

 

 

A couple of Red-breasted Nuthatches showed up a few times, too.

 

 

I finally gave up on Hairy Woodpecker and moved on.  I drove up to the Samish Flats, hoping to find an out-of-season American Kestrel, but I never found one.  That's a repeater I'm probably not going to get this month.  I also wanted to find a Northern Harrier, another repeater that I had missed so far this month.  At one point, north of the West 90, I saw a bird on a post, and I thought it might be my Northern Harrier, but it was a Red-tailed Hawk.  There wasn’t a good place to park the car so I could use my scope, but I stopped partly in the road and got this distant shot that showed it was a Red-tailed Hawk.  I think the colors in this picture came out interestingly.

 

I continued looking for Northern Harrier, and at about the 5th or 6th place I stopped to scan the fields, I finally found one.  That was a repeater I was happy to get.

 

Enough time had passed by then that I wanted to get back to Hayton Reserve, to see how far the tide had come in, and if that had produced some birds.  When I got there the tide was well in, and there were hundreds of birds on view. 

 

There were also about a dozen other birders there, so I joined them.  They pointed out 3 Franklin's Gulls to me, which was great, because that is a rarity in Skagit county, or in Western Washington, for that matter.  That was a lifetime first for me for Skagit county.  It was only the second time I had seen Franklin's Gull in Washington State, and the first time in Western Washington. 

 

There were a number of Black-bellied Plovers, too, and that was an August bird.  There were lots of gulls, terns, and ducks, and I found two American Wigeons, which was an excellent August bird.  While we were all looking for other birds of interest, someone noticed a Peregrine Falcon flying around, and I got a good look at that excellent August bird. 

 

Most of the other birders there were mainly there to look for a mega-rarity that had been reported for the last two or three days there.  Yesterday the two rare Hudsonian Godwits had shown up at about 4 pm, so everyone was hoping.  I didn't want to stick around that late, so I left about 3:30.  As I got in my car, I took this picture of the hopeful birders, waiting for the Hudsonian Godwits to show up.

 

I haven't seen any reports that anyone saw it today, so I'm glad I didn't stick around.  As it was, I got stuck in the heavy Sunday afternoon traffic approaching Everett, and I didn't get home until about 4:45, 15 minutes later than I would have without traffic.

 

It was a long day of birding.  I was out there about 7 hours and 45 minutes and I drove about 155 miles.  Here are the numbers for Saturday and Sunday.  I added one species on Saturday and 10 more on Sunday, to my August list, and now I have 113 in August.  On Saturday I added 2 to my 5 Mile Radius list, and now I have 103 species within five miles of home this year.

 

I added 2 species to my 2019 Skagit list and one of those was a county lifer as well.  I now have 128 species in Skagit county this year and 157 lifetime (since 2012,when I started keeping Washington State county lists).  Four of my species today were also repeaters, and now I have 62 repeaters this month - those are species that I have seen in all 8 months so far this year.  I had 70 repeaters after July, so there are potentially 8 more I could get this month still.  Most are tough, and I'll be quite pleased if I can get four of those eight possible repeaters.

 

 

Monday, August 12, 2019

 

I had a lunch appointment up in Everett today, and I went up early to the Everett sewage treatment ponds.  I had read that Ring-necked Ducks had been seen there, and I needed that one for August.  They are just now starting to come back from their annual migration.  I found that species, which was a repeater, too.  I also found the female Bufflehead that had been reported there.  That was great, because they aren't due to come back for a couple of months yet.  I continued to scan the many ducks, and way on the other side of the main pond I saw three RED-NECKED PHALAROPES, a year bird!  They migrate through there at this time of year, but they are uncommon, and I hadn't expected to see any this year.  Phalaropes are shorebirds, but they usually are swimming, so they are more like water birds.  They were my first Red-necked Phalaropes in Snohomish county ever.

 

After that trifecta, I moved on down the road to check out the tidal spot.  The tide was out and there was a Lesser Yellowlegs there.  I didn't need that one for August, but it was new for Snohomish county this year.  Here is the Lesser Yellowlegs.

 

There was also a Peregrine Falcon in a tree.  I just saw one yesterday, up in Skagit county, but this was my first peregrine in Snohomish county this year.  Here are a couple of pictures of the Peregrine Falcon.

 

 

The wind was ruffling its feathers, I guess.

 

I had some extra time, so I stopped at the bay to check out the Osprey family I have been following there.  When I got there, there didn't appear to be an adult at the nest or nearby.  That was a first.  One of the youngsters was flapping its wings a lot.

 

After a while an adult Osprey flew around the nest, but then flew off again.  Then I noticed an adult Osprey with a fish, sitting on the same little barnacle-encrusted stump that one had been on last week with a fish.

 

Up until then, I had only seen two of the nestlings in the nest, but all three stood up at that point.

 

The adult with a fish flew to the nest and delivered the fish to the youngsters.  Here's the adult landing with the fish.

 

The young ones ate the fish, but they politely took turns and the ones not eating just watched.  The one on the left is eating in this next picture.

 

The juveniles, who don't seem to have fledged (taken their first flight) yet, have spots on their wings, so they are easy to identify.  The adult had flown off after delivering the fish.  When I left, the three nestlings were still working on the fish and stretching their wings.

 

That was all the birding I did today, but this afternoon I sat on our porch and read.  A female Northern Flicker flew in to the suet, and I got this picture of her.

 

She left and a male flew in.

 

Males have that red "moustache" streak, but I noticed that this one also had that red V on the back of his neck.  There are two subspecies of Northern Flicker - orange shafted and yellow shafted.  Yellow shafted ones live east of the Rockies and orange shafted ones live west of the Rockies.  They can interbreed, though, and the resulting hybrids are called intergrades.  They can have various plumages, but a common plumage for a male intergrade Northern Flicker has that red V on the back of its neck.  A pure yellow shafted one has the same red V, but it would have yellow under the tail and on the ends of the wings, rather than the orange that orange shafted ones have.  Intergrades are common close to the Rockies, I guess, but rather uncommon this far west.  I've seen them before, but not often.  Note that orange shafted and yellow shafted refers to subspecies.  They are all the same species - Northern Flicker.  Here is another picture of the male intergrade Northern Flicker.

 

Later another male Northern Flicker flew in, and it seemed to be a pure orange shafted one, although I'm not sure.  Orange shafted ones are supposed to have a gray face, while yellow shafted flickers have a brown face.  This next male Northern Flicker seems to have a brown face, but I didn't see any sign of red on the back of its neck.

 

Later a little flock of Bushtits visited the suet feeder, and I took pictures of them.

 

 

 

I was very pleased to have gotten 3 more August species today, and now I have 116 species in August.  Ring-necked Duck was a repeater, and now I have 63 repeaters this month.  I added 3 species to my 2019 Snohomish county list, too, and now I have 131 species in Snohomish county this year.  Red-necked Phalarope was a lifer Snohomish county bird, and now I have 173 species in Snohomish county since I started keeping county lists in 2012.  Red-necked Phalarope was also a new 2019 bird, and now I have 285 species this year.

 

 

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

 

I didn't feel like making a big birding expedition today, but I went down to Juanita Beach Park to look for shorebirds that I might need.  I have almost no shorebird habitat within my 5 mile radius circle, but there is a short stretch of sand and mud along the shore in front of and beyond the condos just east of Juanita Beach Park.  I had seen Least Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs there last week, and I was hoping for Spotted Sandpiper and maybe Western Sandpiper or Wilson's Snipe as well.  I got the Spotted Sandpiper, anyway, and that was an August bird and also one for my 5MR list.

 

After that I parked at Juanita Bay Park, on the south side of Juanita Bay, and I tried for Brown Creeper.  I had no luck at that, so I moved on to the fire station road on the east side of the park.  I played various bird calls and managed to attract a Black-throated Gray Warbler, which was an excellent August bird.

 

I added 2 species to August today, and now I have 118.  Spotted Sandpiper was new for my 5 mile radius list, and now I have 104 species within 5 miles of home.

 

 

Thursday, August 15, 2019

 

Yesterday (Wednesday) I did yard work in the morning and read all afternoon.  I did add one bird to my August list, though - I heard a Pileated Woodpecker in our neighborhood while reading on the porch.  That brought my August total to 119 species.

 

Today I went out to the Snoqualmie Valley.  First I drove around looking for a kestrel, but I didn't find one.  I stopped along 310th Ave NE at a spot where I had seen Brown Creeper once before.  I played the creeper song, and one flew in.  That was a repeater.  Here are some pictures of the Brown Creeper.

 

 

I like the colors and feather patterns on Brown Creepers.

 

I moved on to the Stillwater Access to the Snoqualmie Valley Wildlife Area and walked on the dike trail.  It was extremely quiet, and I didn't see anything of interest.  I tried the Fay Road Access, too, with the same results.  I picked up a sandwich at the Carnation supermarket and drove down the west side of the Snoqualmie River to Fall City.  I was hoping for a kestrel along there, but saw nothing of interest.  Since I was going right by, I stopped at the Tokul Creek bridge to look for American Dipper.  I didn't need dipper for any lists, but it is one of my favorite birds, so I'm always pleased to see one.  At first I didn't see anything, and I was about to leave when a dipper flew up the creek.  It landed fairly far upstream, but I took some distant pictures anyway.

 

 

 

 

Next I drove up to the trailhead for the Rattlesnake Ridge trail.  I played Warbling Vireo, Swainson's Thrush, and Pacific Wren songs there, but I didn't see any birds at all.  I sat in my car in the shade and ate my lunch, then I headed for home.

 

The Brown Creeper today was species number 120 for August.  It also gives me 64 repeaters now for August.

 

 

Friday, August 16, 2019

 

Today I stuck close to home and went down to Juanita Bay Park.  First I walked on the fire station road.  There were more birds around than the last time I was there, and I saw an Orange-crowned Warbler briefly a couple of times.  That was an August bird for me.  I also got these two pictures of a Black-headed Grosbeak, which I didn't need for any lists.

 

 

It was either a female or a juvenile bird.  I moved on over to the main part of the park and walked to the west boardwalk.  I didn't see anything I needed there, but I got this picture of a Cedar Waxwing.

 

I backtracked to the east boardwalk and went out to the end.  I didn't see any birds I needed, but I took some more pictures.  There were some Northern Shovelers off the end of the boardwalk.  Here is a female or juvenile Northern Shoveler from the front, showing off the broad bill of the species.

 

Here is the same duck from the side.

 

Here is another Northern Shoveler, either a male in eclipse plumage or a juvenile.

 

Here are a couple more Northern Shovelers.

 

There were lots of Wood ducks around, as usual there.  Here is a male Wood Duck in eclipse, or non-breeding season, plumage.

 

It fascinates me how much a bird can change appearance for the breeding season.  Here's a picture I took in early May this year of a male Wood Duck in breeding plumage.  Talk about a big difference!

 

Here's a female Wood Duck.

 

Here's a side view of the female Wood Duck.

 

As I walked back down the boardwalk toward my car, I played the call of Hairy Woodpecker in a spot where I have seen them before, and darned if one didn't fly in!  Here is a picture of the male Hairy Woodpecker from an odd perspective.

 

That was a repeater, and one I have been trying for in lots of places.  They aren't real common, but I have managed to see one every month so far this year.  Here is another shot of him.

 

So, I managed to add 2 more species to my August list, and now it stands at 122 species.  Hairy Woodpecker was a repeater, and now I have 65 species that I have seen or heard in each month so far this year.

 

 

Saturday, August 17, 2019

 

My main target today was the repeater, Black Oystercatcher.  They are pretty uncommon around here, but I have seen them a number of times at Rosario Beach, which is located on the south end of Fidalgo Island, just across Deception Pass from Whidbey Island.  Rather than take a ferry to Whidbey Island and drive up the length of the island, I drove around through Skagit county.  At Rosario Beach, which is part of a state park and is located in Skagit county, they were setting up for a wedding, but I carried my scope to where I could see the offshore islands and rocks.  I spotted a Black Oystercatcher right off, so that repeater went on my list.  I looked around some more, adding Heermann's Gull and Common Murre to my lifetime Skagit county list (and consequently to my 2019 Skagit county list as well).  On my way back to the car, I checked out the Black Oystercatcher again, and there were actually three of them at that point, on a rock to the southeast of where I was standing.

 

I moved on across Deception Pass bridge onto Whidbey Island and stopped at several places along the west coast of Whidbey.  I saw at least a dozen Common Loons at various stops, and that was one for August.  I also found one Horned Grebe, my first since May, when they all flew off to their breeding grounds.  In a few weeks there will be lots of them around, but this one was one of the first to return this year.  I ate my lunch at Hastie Lake beach access and moved on.  At one of the stops I got this very distant picture of a Marbled Murrelet, a species I didn't need, but always a nice one to see.

 

I also saw Harlequin Ducks, Surf Scoters, Rhinoceros Auklets, Common Murres, Pigeon Guillemots, and Red-necked Grebes.  I didn't need any of those for August, but it was a good variety of species for August.

 

I stopped at Dugualla Bay lagoon and saw a couple of ducks that I think were Cinnamon Teal.  I didn't need that for August, but it was new for my lifetime list for Island county.  Here are what I think were a couple of Cinnamon Teal.

 

 

I also saw a Turkey Vulture, and that was also a new lifetime Island county bird.

 

After that I went back into Skagit county and stopped at what birders call Channel Drive.  The shorebird site is an old remnant of the Swinomish Channel and is tidal.  The tide was out and there were a couple of birders already there.  I joined them, and they pointed out a STILT SANDPIPER to me, a new year-bird for me. 

 

[ Corrections made from here.  At the time the expert birder there identified the phalarope as a Red-necked Phalarope, and I went along with that, although I did wonder when I saw my pictures.  Today, after examining photos, that expert and a couple of other experts are saying it was a less commonly seen Wilson's Phalarope, rather than a Red-necked.  This report has been edited to reflect that correction. ]

 

They also said there was a Red-necked Phalarope [ later identified as a Wilson's Phalarope] around, a great bird.  Eventually one of them found it again, and I got it.  Wilson's Phalarope was new for August and also for Skagit county for me this year.  Here is a distant picture that shows three species.

 

The bird on the left is the Red-necked Phalarope [ identified later as a Wilson's Phalarope, a species I saw in Oregon in May], the large bird is a Greater Yellowlegs, and the little one in the front is a Semipalmated Sandpiper, I think.  The sandpiper was new for Skagit county for me this year, but I had seen one at the Everett waterfront this month.  Here is another picture of the phalarope and the Greater Yellowlegs.

 

There were three Spotted Sandpipers nearby, and I took this picture of one of them.

 

Another Spotted Sandpiper took a bath, so I took its picture.

 

 

I took some pictures of the little peeps nearby, and when I processed my pictures I spotted this next bird - the one on the right.

 

I'm pretty sure the one in the back left is a Western Sandpiper, and I think the one in the front right is a BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, another year-bird for me.  It might be a large Western Sandpiper, but it has the markings of a Baird's Sandpiper, and it seems larger than the Western Sandpiper.  That was an outstanding bird to find, and I found it at my computer, not while in the field.

 

It was getting late, and I wanted to stop at Wiley Slough, so I moved on.  I didn't get anything I needed at Wiley Slough, but I saw one of the Black Phoebes that live there, and got this picture.

 

Here's the Black Phoebe taking off to chase a flying insect.

 

I walked out onto the dike trail and took pictures of the dowitchers and yellowlegs that were feeding at low tide.  Here are three Lesser Yellowlegs.

 

Here's a shot of a couple of Long-billed Dowitchers.

 

This is a Greater Yellowlegs, standing on one yellow leg.

 

Here is a Short-billed Dowitcher.

 

Most of the dowitchers were Long-billed, I think, and here are five of them.

 

For a size comparison, here is a Lesser Yellowlegs and a Short-billed Dowticher.

 

Finally, here is a picture of a Long-billed Dowitcher that I like.

 

That was it for me today, and I headed for home.  I was out there for over 7 1/2 hours, and I drove over 200 miles.  It was an extremely successful day in terms of numbers, considering how many I already had this month.

 

I added 6 species to my August list (including the re-identified Wilson's Phalarope - see correction above] and now I have 128.  Two of those were new for the year, and now I have 287 species in 2019.  When I started out this morning, I thought I might very well not add any to August today.  Six is exceptional.

 

I added 2 species to my lifetime Island county list, and that one stands at 102 species now.  I added a whopping 6 species to my 2019 Skagit county list, to give me 134 species in Skagit county this year.  Two of those Skagit birds were county lifers, too, and now I have 159 species in Skagit county since 2012, when I started keeping county lists.

 

On top of all that, Black Oystercatcher was a repeater, and now I have 66 repeaters this month.

 

I'm running out of birds to look for, and I don't know what I'll do next.  Maybe I'll take a few days off.  Last year in late August, I took an overnight trip to Ocean Shores, on the ocean, and maybe I'll do that again this year.  I could add another 4 to 6 species that way.

 

 

Monday, August 19, 2019

 

Before I get into today's report, I want to report a correction to Saturday's report.  On Saturday I saw a phalarope up at Channel Drive in Skagit county, and an expert birder who was there identified it as a Red-necked Phalarope.  When I saw my pictures, I wondered, but I wasn't about to disagree with the expert.  Well, on Sunday the expert posted that he had changed his mind after seeing pictures of the bird and consulting another expert who had also seen it.  He changed it to Wilson's Phalarope, so I modified my lists, too.  The size is especially convincing, since Wilson's Phalarope is larger than Red-necked Phalarope.  That added one more to my August list, making it 128.  It didn't affect my Skagit county list, since I lost Red-necked Phalarope and gained Wilson's Phalarope.  Nor did it affect my year list because I had already counted Wilson's Phalarope in May in Oregon.

 

So, turning to today, I started by going down to Juanita Bay Park for about a half hour, walking the fire station road.  I saw a number of species, but nothing I needed.  I had a lunch appointment in Everett, so I went up a little early to check on the Osprey nest I have been watching for several weeks.  Last week I thought that the three youngsters were getting ready to fledge (fly for the first time), and this week I found that at least two of them have indeed started flying.  Here is one of the recent fledglings, out of the nest.

 

Here is another fledgling out of the nest.

 

The young Ospreys have white spots on their wings and backs, so they are easy to identify if you see them well enough.  Here is the third youngster, in the nest.  I don't know if this one has flown or not yet, but I didn't see it leave the nest.

 

One of the parents was on a piling nearby.  Note the lack of spots.

 

The one on the pole was calling constantly.

 

An adult Osprey flew into the nest soon after that, and it apparently had a fish, although I didn't see the fish.  Here is the adult and two of the youngsters, one of which had flown back to the nest.

 

The adult left, and one of the two youngsters remaining in the nest seemed to be eating whatever the adult had brought.

 

The juvenile that wasn't eating flew off and I got this picture of it landing nearby.

 

Meanwhile, the young Osprey in the nest was still eating.

 

The fledgling that had left the nest took off again and flew around a bit.

 

Here it is landing again.

 

The third juvenile flew in to the nest again.  Here it is landing at the nest.

 

Meanwhile, while all that was going on, there were Caspian Terns fling around, looking for fish.  Here is one of the Caspian Terns.

 

That was it for today.  Two of the three juvenile Ospreys have fledged now, and the third looks to be almost ready.  I think the parents will continue to feed them for a couple of weeks, until they learn to fish for themselves.  In September, they will all fly off to Southern California or Mexico for the winter.  I didn't get anything I needed for any lists today, but it was fun to see the Ospreys again.

 

 

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

 

Today I ventured across Lake Washington to West Seattle, to look for a couple of "rockpipers", shorebirds that hang out on rocky shores.  These two species are there in the winter, and they have just come back from wherever they go in the summer, according to reports.  I parked in the parking lot near Luna Park, across Elliott Bay from downtown Seattle.  Here is a view of Seattle from there.

 

I decided to start out by walking east along the shore, and within about 30 or 40 feet, I spotted a Black Turnstone, one of the two species I was looking for.  Here is a Black Turnstone.

 

The other rockpiper I was looking for was Surfbird, and I soon saw one of those, too.

 

There were about 6 or 8 birds altogether, I think, and I took pictures.  Here is a Black Turnstone.

 

Here is Surfbird again.

 

Continuing the alternation, here is a Black Turnstone again.

 

Back to Surfbird.

 

Here's another Black Turnstone.

 

Here's one more Surfbird picture.

 

I'll finish up with one last Black Turnstone picture.

 

That was my birding adventure for today.  I added two species to my August list, and now I have 130 species in August, which is much higher than I thought I would get.  Last August I got 142, but I never thought I had a chance to come close to that.  At this point, I probably could actually beat that total if I took an overnight trip to Ocean Shores (on the coast) and another one to Ellensburg, in central Washington.  I don't really feel like taking an overnight trip, though, let alone two of them, but maybe I'll change my mind.

 

Both Black Turnstone and Surfbird were new for King county for me this year, too, and now I have 148 species in King county in 2019.

 

 

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

 

Today I don't have anything new for any lists, but I have a little Osprey story to tell, so be sure to read it today, and not just look at the pretty pictures, if you want to know the story.

 

I went over to Marymoor Park and after trying to find the pheasant there, unsuccessfully, I drove to the Osprey nest and watched it.  There were two juveniles in or near the nest, and they were calling loudly and incessantly.  Here they are.

 

 

The one on the post next to the nest hopped back down into the nest, and they called even more loudly and expectantly.

 

I think they must have heard or seen the parent that was coming back to the nest.  The parent flew in with a fish.

 

Here's the parent landing with the fish, which you can barely see on the right of the photo.

 

In this next picture, all three Ospreys seem to be looking to the right side of the nest, and if you look closely, you can see the fish, on the outside edge of the nest.

 

Here is a closer crop of the fish, which I assume must have been flapping, and flopped itself right out of the nest.

 

It must have continued to flap and fall, because it isn't visible in this next picture, but the two Ospreys look rather puzzled, I think.

 

Here is another picture, taken a few seconds later, and the two juveniles have resumed their loud calling.

 

After that, the parent flew off, presumably to try to catch another fish for the hungry youngsters.

 

The one on the right seems to be expressing itself loudly to the parent.

 

I hadn't realized at the time that the fish had flopped out of the nest, and I didn't understand why the juveniles weren't eating after the parent left.  If I had realized it, would have gone over and looked under the nest, to see if I could see the fish.

 

So, that's my little Osprey family drama for today.  No new birds for any lists.

 

 

Thursday, August 22, 2019

 

Today I went over to Marymoor Park to see if I could find anything I needed.  I tried for the pheasant at the community gardens, but didn't find it.   It hasn't been reported for the last two weeks, so I guess it has moved on.  I walked along the slough, and I played Swainson's Thrush and Warbling Vireo songs from time to time. 

 

At one point I saw a couple of Cedar Waxwings, so I took a picture.

 

I was on my way back to my car when I thought I might have heard a response from a Swainson's Thrush.  I looked around and I found a Swainson's Thrush feeding on some red berries in a bush.  That was an August bird for me.  Here is the Swainson's Thrush and the red berries it was eating.

 

Here is the Swainson's Thrush from the back.

 

While I was taking pictures of the thrush, I saw another bird flitting around in the bushes.  It turned out to be a Pacific-slope Flycatcher, a great one for my August list.  They are fairly common, supposedly, but I never seem to see them.  This was only the third one I had seen this year, and one of the others was in Southern California.  Here is the Pacific-slope Flycatcher.

 

Here is a picture in better focus, but the bird turned away just as I snapped the picture.

 

I left soon after that, and I stopped at the Redmond Retention Ponds because a Blue-winged Teal had been reported there a couple of days ago.  I found nothing of interest there, including no shorebirds at all.

 

So, I somehow got 2 more species for August, when I though I might not get any more.  Now I have 132 species in August.  I've got lots of time left in the month, so maybe I'll get some more.  There are 3 or 4 possibilities locally, but it is difficult to know where to go to look for them.  Maybe I'll decide to take an overnight or day trip out of this immediate area.  I have at least 4 possibilities, but I don't really feel like travelling.

 

 

Sunday, August 25, 2019

 

On Friday I tried for a couple of species at Yost Park in Edmonds, but I didn’t see anything I needed, and I didn't get any decent pictures.  I was playing Pacific Wren songs at one place and a wren showed up, but it turned out to be a Bewick's Wren, unfortunately. 

 

On Saturday morning I had a kid come over to do yard work, and I did some, too.  In the afternoon, I was lazy and I read, which is my secondary retirement hobby. 

 

Today I had a family party in the afternoon, but I went down to Juanita Bay Park in the morning, and walked on the fire station road.  It's interesting how much the birding can vary from day to day, in the same spot.  Today there were tons of birds along the fire station road.  Many of them were House Finches, which I certainly didn't need, but I saw lots of other species, too.  Most of them were on the east side of the road, though, which meant that I was looking up into bright clouds most of the time.

 

Here's a picture that I like of a male Northern Flicker.  He was calling loudly, and was to the west, so the lighting was good.

 

He looks kind of raggedy in that last picture, so here is one where he looks less so.

 

At the end of the road there was a Great Blue Heron sitting on a railing.

 

Here's a Black-capped Chickadee that was picking at some blackberries.

 

I couldn't tell if it was eating the blackberries or if it was hunting insects.  There were lots of little birds around, including a Red-breasted Nuthatch and a Brown Creeper.  I didn't need either of those, but I called in a pair of Warbling Vireos, and I did need that one.  Here is a Warbling Vireo.

 

The two Warbling Vireos chased each other around, and I tried for pictures for at least ten minutes.  Usually they were high up in the trees, and sometimes with the bright sky behind them.  Here is a picture I got of one of the Warbling Vireos with a bright background.  I had to process this picture heavily, as the bird was just a black silhouette in the original image.

 

There were several Song Sparrows around, as usual.  Here is one that had been eating blackberries.  You can see the blackberry it had been working on, above and to the right of its head.

 

Here is another shot of that Song Sparrow in the blackberries.

 

I saw Downy Woodpeckers a couple of times, and here is a peek-a-boo picture of a male Downy Woodpecker.  I like how the feathers on his head are sticking up.

 

The male Downy Woodpecker came out and I got this picture of him in the open.

 

I saw another little bird moving around in the bushes, and I thought at first it might be a Yellow-rumped Warbler, which I need for August and would be a repeater.  It turned out to be a Pacific-slope Flycatcher, though.  That's the species I saw on Thursday that I mentioned that I rarely see, even though they are reported often by other birders.  My sighting today confirmed what I thought I had learned on Thursday, which is that they forage in the interior of bushes and the lower branches of trees, as opposed to most flycatchers that perch out in the open and fly off into the open to catch flying insects.  It was my first Pacific-slope Flycatcher in my 5 mile radius circle this year, as well as the first one I have ever identified at Juanita Bay Park.

 

I hadn't really expected to get anything I needed today, but the Warbling Vireos brought me to 133 species in August this year.  I had 142 species in August last year, and I never thought I had any chance of getting even remotely close to that this year. 

 

The Pacific-slope Flycatcher brought me to 105 species within 5 miles of home this year, and to 101 species on my lifetime Juanita Bay Park list.  Juanita Bay Park is where I first got interested in birding and keeping lists, and I have kept a list since I started birding in 1998, the year I retired.  I am hoping to go up to Sunrise at Mount Rainier this week, and if I do, I hope to get another 5 to 10 species for August.  Actually, 5 would be quite good, but 10 isn't out of the question, and hope springs eternal.

 

 

Monday, August 26, 2019

 

Today I had a lunch appointment up in Everett, and I stopped at the Everett Sewage ponds to look for a duck species that had been reported there in the last few days.  Greater Scaups left this area in May or June, and two people had reported the first ones back.  I scanned the many ducks on the main pond, and I found some scaup.  There are two species, Greater Scaup and Lesser Scaup, and the differences are very minor.  I studied the several scaup I saw, and I decided I could count Greater Scaup for August.  That brought me to 134 species for August.

 

Tomorrow I plan to make the long drive up to Sunrise, at Mount Rainier, and I have hopes of adding some more species up there.

 

 

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

 

Today my cousin, Bruse, and I drove up to Sunrise in Mount Rainier National Park.  It was a beautiful cloudless day, and I should have taken scenery pictures, but I didn't.  We picked up sandwiches at Subway, and we were ready to eat by the time we got to Sunrise.  It was warm in the sun, the elevation is 6400 feet, there were lots of people around, I didn't see any birds at all around the parking lot, and the picnic area was up a hill.  We decided to go back down to the White River Campground, where we hoped the picnic area would be closer to where we could park.  I didn't see a single bird at Sunrise, although I did hear a Common Raven calling.

 

At first there didn't seem to be any more birds at the White River Campground than at Sunrise, but at least there were picnic tables near the parking lot and it wasn't nearly as crowded with people  It was shady, too.  While we were eating our lunch, Bruse spotted a bird across the parking lot, and I was able to get a good look at my first CLARK'S NUTCRACKER of the year.  I just missed getting a distant picture, but it flew off.  Still, I had a year-bird, so that was great.

 

As we continued our lunch, a cute little chipmunk came around, so I took its picture.

 

We saw a Steller's Jay around our table, and then saw another bird nearby.  It turned out to be another year-bird for me, CANADA JAY, formerly named Gray Jay.  I chased it around, and there turned out to be two of them.  They flew off, but we saw them a little later, and I chased them around some more.  I got these three pictures of Canada Jay.

 

 

 

We moved on and stopped several other places, including the Crystal Mountain ski resort, but I saw no birds at all in any of those places.

 

That was it.  I saw four species all day long, Common Raven, Clark's Nutcracker, Canada Jay, and Steller's Jay.  Not another bird.  I did hear some other birds, but I couldn't identify them.  I guess I had forgotten how poorly I do when I'm birding in forests and in the mountains, and this was mountain forest birding.  Anyway, I added 2 more species to my August list, and now I have 136 species in August.  Those same two species, Clark's Nutcracker and Canada Jay, were new 2019 birds for me, and now I have 289 species this year.  I didn't see many birds at all, but the two I did get were excellent ones, and it was a beautiful day for a drive up into the mountains, and that was the main point of the day, not the birding.  Bruse and I had a great day together.

 

 

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

 

A Ruddy Turnstone, a rarity around here, was reported over on the south side of Alki Point, in West Seattle, so I decided to go for it.  I parked across the street from Charles Richey Sr. Viewpoint and scoped the beach.  I found the Ruddy Turnstone and got a good scope view of it.  I moved my car up the beach and looked again, but couldn't find it again.  I'm sure I could have found it and gotten semi-distant pictures if I had walked out onto the beach, but it was low tide, and I didn't want to have to pick my way through the seaweed and rocks.  That brought my August total to 137 species.  It was also new for me for King county this year, and now I have 149 species in King county in 2019.  Ruddy Turnstone could easily be the last new species I get in August this year.

 

 

Friday, August 30, 2019

 

There were 3 species reported at Marymoor Park yesterday that I needed for August, and another one at the Redmond Retention Ponds.  I didn't have a lot of time because I had a last minute lunch appointment up in Everett, but my first stop was at the Redmond Retention Ponds, looking for the Blue-winged Teal that had been reported there yesterday.  I didn't find it, but here is a picture of one of the several Green-winged Teals that were there.

 

There were a couple of Northern Pintails in non-breeding plumage, and here is a picture of one of them.

 

I didn't get anything I needed there, so I moved on to Marymoor Park.  The two juvenile Ospreys there have left the nest, but they are still hanging around and being fed by the parents.  Here is one of the juvenile Ospreys.

 

I drove through the park checking out the flocks of Canada Geese, looking for the Greater White-fronted Goose that had been reported yesterday, but I never found it.  Next I went to the community gardens to look for the male pheasant that had shown up again yesterday, after an absence of 2 or 3 weeks.  I struck out on that one, too.  I did get some pictures as I walked through the gardens, though.  Here is a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow.

 

Here's a female Anna's Hummingbird.

 

There was a little flock of chickadees feeding on sunflower seeds, which they were picking out of sunflowers, so I took some pictures.  Here is a Black-capped Chickadee.

 

Here's one working on a sunflower.

 

Here's another Black-capped Chickadee getting a seed out of a sunflower.

 

A chickadee would fly to a sunflower and get a seed, then take it away and open it and eat the nut.  There was a steady stream of Black-capped Chickadees going to the flowers.

 

Here's a close-up shot showing one of the chickadees with a sunflower seed it had pried out of a flower.

 

At that point, I had struck out on the first 3 species I was looking for today - Blue-winged Teal, Greater White-fronted Goose, and Ring-necked Pheasant.  I had thought I would find at least one of those.  I moved on to the fourth species on my wish list, Lincoln's Sparrow.  They have been off somewhere breeding or several months, and they are just starting to come back for the winter, starting this week.  I couldn't call one up along the slough, so I drove over to the viewing mound, north of the East Meadow.  I played the song of Lincoln's Sparrow, and one flew right in and posed for me.

 

I think there were at least two, and maybe more of them, although I never saw more than one at a time.  Here is another shot of a Lincoln's Sparrow, a species I hadn't expected to get in August.

 

After that I had to hustle up to Everett for my lunch appointment.  After lunch I tried again for the three species I had missed in the morning, but I missed them all again.  I did see both of the juvenile Ospreys, though, and I took more pictures.  One of the juveniles flew in to the nest, and I got these next two pictures of it as it called incessantly.

 

 

I spotted the other juvenile on a light fixture across the baseball diamond from the nest, and it seemed to have some kind of food, presumably a fish, since that is about all that Ospreys eat.

 

Here is that one from a slightly different angle.

 

I guess you can see the tail of the fish in that picture.

 

So, the only bird I got for August was Lincoln's Sparrow, and that gives me 138 species for August.  I don't know if I'll get any more this month, so here are my totals at this point.

 

For 2019 so far, I have 289 species.  66 of those are repeaters, meaning I have gotten them in each of the 8 months so far this year.  I have 149 species this year in King County, 131 in Snohomish county, and 134 in Skagit county.  Finally, I have 105 species on my 5MR list, meaning I saw them within 5 miles of home.

 

I might go across the mountains tomorrow, in the hopes of getting a few more species.  Last year I had 142 species in August, compared to this year's total of 138 at this point, and it is barely possible I could get 4 more in the Cle Elum area.  I won't go unless I feel like a long day trip and a lot of driving, when I get up in the morning.

 

 

Saturday, August 31, 2019

 

I decided to pull out all the stops and drive over the mountains today to Kittitas county, in one last gasp attempt to catch up with last year's August total number of species.  I needed to get 4 species for August to tie last year.  They had predicted heavy traffic over the pass because of the holiday weekend, and it was indeed heavier than usual, but not heavy enough to slow me down.  There were fewer big trucks on the road than I have ever seen before, and that helped.

 

My first destination was Robinson Canyon, and I got off the freeway a few miles early so I could drive on country roads more, hoping to see something I needed, like American Kestrel, Western Meadowlark, Western Bluebird, or Black-billed Magpie.  Within a minute of getting off the freeway, I had an American Kestrel on a wire.  That was not only an August bird, it was a repeater. What a terrific start!

 

At Robinson Canyon it was completely dead.  I don't think I saw a single bird while there, and I didn't stay long.  I drove to the edge of Ellensburg and got a sandwich at Subway, then drove along some roads where I often see magpies.  Not today, though.  I went up Bettas Road and drove through meadowlark country  with the window open, but never heard or saw a meadowlark all day long.  No Horned Larks on Hayward Road, either.  Many of the birds I usually see in that area have now gone south for the winter.

 

While going through the valley on Bettas Road, I saw a flock of small birds, and they turned out to be Chipping Sparrows, a species I needed for August and one I thought had probably headed south by now.  Here is a Chipping Sparrow, either an immature one or one in winter plumage.

 

Here's a sparrow that was mixed in with the Chipping Sparrows, so I guess that is what it is, but it doesn't really look like it to me.  Maybe it is an immature one.

 

Looking at my field guide, it really looks like a Clay-colored Sparrow, but that would be a rarity in Washington.  Here is one that I think is an immature Chipping Sparrow.

 

So, I had two August birds.  A little farther down Bettas Road, I saw a Western Bluebird, my third August bird of the day.  Later I saw a lot more Western Bluebirds.  Here is a distant picture of that first Western Bluebird.

 

Here is another Western Bluebird, still along Bettas Road.

 

Incidentally, the brown backgrounds on those pictures are typical of what I saw today.  Everything was dry and brown, as would be expected in the hot, dry country over there in late summer.  My camera blurs out the background, and the overall brown color comes through.

 

I drove to Swauk Prairie Road and stopped where I usually can call up a Mountain Chickadee or two.  I played the song, and sure enough, a Mountain Chickadee flew in.  That was new August species number 4 for the day, and I had matched last year's total for August.  I didn't even have time to celebrate that, because as I was starting to set up to try for a picture of the Mountain Chickadee, I heard a bird calling, and I thought I recognized it.  It was indeed a White-breasted Nuthatch, still another one I needed for August.  I didn't hang around to try for pictures, since I still had a lot of ground to cover.  I had 5 new August species today and I beat August 2018!

 

Along Swauk Prairie Road I saw another American Kestrel, the repeater I had seen first thing in the morning, just off the freeway.  I tried for very distant pictures, but the pictures all came out blurry,  I was looking right into the sun, and that may have been why.  Here is a very blurry picture of the kestrel taking off.  I only show it because the picture shows the pretty colors and patterns of the bird.

 

I don't understand why my camera wouldn't focus better for that shot.

 

A little father along Swauk Prairie Road I saw a Say's Phoebe, still another August bird, number 6 for the day.  Here's a picture of the Say's Phoebe, looking into the sun.

 

Swauk Prairie is well named, because it is indeed a prairie, and there are some American Bison in a field there to prove it.

 

I tried for Pygmy Nuthatch where I know they nested this year, but couldn't call one up.  I saw several more Western Bluebirds and took pictures.

 

 

While I was taking pictures of bluebirds, a guy on an ATV stopped and we chatted.  I mentioned magpies because I have seen them there many times, and he said there were usually tons of them around there, but they had all disappeared two days ago.  I drove around the county for four hours today, and I never saw one, which is unusual.  No magpies and no meadowlarks.  I always see those two species there, and I had expected to see them today.  Instead, I got several I hadn't expected to see.  Go figure.

 

Here is another Say's Phoebe, which is one of the species that I thought would have migrated by now.

 

Here is one more Western Bluebird shot.

 

A family of California Quail scampered across the road in front of me.  The parents were long gone, but some of the youngsters were still on my side of the road, so I took some pictures.

 

 

That last one might be an adult female, but I think it is a juvenile female California Quail.  It is too blotchy looking for an adult, I think.

 

Here's one that I think was a juvenile male California Quail.

 

I drove around some more, looking for meadowlarks or magpies, but I still couldn't find any.  I stopped one more place to try for Pygmy Nuthatch, but came up empty.  I hit the freeway at 3:00 and boogied over the pass to home.  I was out there a bit over 7 hours and about 4 hours of that was actual birding time.  Almost everything I saw was from the car, except that I was standing next to my car when I saw the Mountain Chickadee and the White-breasted Nuthatch.  All my pictures were taken from the driver's seat of my car.  I drove about 238 miles.  Interestingly, I saw all six August birds in one 5 mile stretch, from Bettas Road to Swauk Prairie Road.  I drove 238 miles, and I got all 6 of my August species in one short 5 mile stretch.  I had seen an American Kestrel in the morning, but I saw another one in that 5 mile stretch.

 

I really surprised myself and got 6 more species for August today, to bring me to 144 species.  American Kestrel was a repeater, too.  That beats August 2018 by 2, much to my surprise, as I didn't think I had any chance at all of matching last year's total for August.  This was the first time I have ever gone over to Kittitas county on a day trip; I've always made it an overnight trip before.  I had to skip many of the places I usually go, but at this time of year, many birds aren't there, and I tied to pick the places where I could get the ones I needed for August.

 

For my own records, I'm going to repeat my totals for my various spreadsheets at the end of August, updating what I wrote last night.

 

I got 144 species for the month of August this year.  For 2019 so far, I have 289 species.  67 of those are repeaters, meaning I have gotten them in each of the 8 months so far this year.  I have 149 species this year in King County, 131 in Snohomish county, and 134 in Skagit county.  Finally, I have 105 species on my 5MR list, meaning I saw them within 5 miles of home.