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Saturday, May 1, 2021

 

A new month.  Everything goes on my May list today.  I drove up to the Edmonds area, about a half hour northwest of home.  On the way, I stopped at my Band-tailed Pigeon site in Lake Forest Park, but none were around this morning.  I did see American Crows and an American Robin, so they went on my list.

 

At my quail site in the town of Woodway, I watched and listened for a while, and I heard a California Quail give its distinctive "Chi-ca-go" call 3 or 4 times, so it went on my May list as "heard only".  I would have stuck around longer, hoping to see quail, but it was drizzling lightly and the water was coming in my open window.

 

I drove to the Edmonds waterfront next.  One species I wanted to get was Brant, because they will be migrating north very soon.  There were well over a hundred Brant spread around.  I think they must be gathering to make the migration in groups.  Here are three Brant, which is a small saltwater goose.

 

There were a number of Surf Scoters there, and three Horned Grebes.  I saw some Feral Pigeons and some Harlequin Ducks, too.  A Common Loon in breeding plumage was fairly close to shore, so I took these two pictures.

 

 

I got Pelagic Cormorant and Double-crested Cormorant, and then Bufflehead and Mallard.  I got this picture of a Pigeon Guillemot.

 

European Starlings were flying around, too.  I missed several species that may have already headed north for the summer, but I could see them tomorrow if I go to Whidbey Island, as I hope to do.  I tried Ocean Avenue, but got nothing new there.  I drove to the Edmonds fishing pier, and I added Great Blue Heron there.  I also got this picture of a female Red-breasted Merganser.

 

Here is a Glaucous-winged Gull,

 

On my way back to my car, I got this picture of a male House Sparrow that was holding something white in his bill.  I don't know if it was food or nesting material, but I presume it was one or the other.

 

At the Edmonds Marsh, the tide was going out, and there were some shorebirds on the mud.  Here is a picture of a Dunlin (the larger bird with the black spot on its belly), a Least Sandpiper (with yellow legs) and a Western Sandpiper (with black legs).

 

Later two or three Killdeer flew in, too.  Here is a shot of a Least Sandpiper and a Western Sandpiper.

 

The Least Sandpiper, on the left, has yellow legs.  The Western Sandpiper, on the right, is slightly larger, has black legs, and has more red on its head and back.  The bill is longer, too.  Here is a Western Sandpiper on the left and a Least Sandpiper on the right.

 

There were a few ducks around, too - Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, and a single American Wigeon.  I heard Marsh Wrens singing, but never saw one.  A Bald Eagle flew over, and there was a single Canada Goose across the water.  I got Red-winged Blackbird and Song Sparrow, and then I saw some sparrows on the grass.  Here are two White-crowned Sparrows, like mirror images.

 

There was a single Golden-crowned Sparrow, too, and I was glad to get that one because they will be leaving soon.  Here are a couple of pictures of a White-crowned Sparrow and the Golden-crowned Sparrow together.

 

 

That was all I got there, but on the way home, I stopped at Long Boom Park in Kenmore in the hopes of maybe finding Canvasback  I was successful and saw a single female Canvasback, along with a dozen or so Greater Scaup and a pair of Ring-necked Ducks.  I scanned the lake and saw a single Western Grebe in the distance, too.

 

When I got home, there were birds at our feeder, so I stopped the car in the driveway and took pictures through the open passenger side window.  I got House Finch and Pine Siskin first.  Here are two Pine Siskins.

 

Here is a single Pine Siskin.

 

I like these pictures at the feeder because the flowering quince in the background, along with the spring greens, make for colorful pictures.  The Pine Siskins are aggressive about the feeder, chasing off House Finches, chickadees, juncos, and other small birds.  Here is a Black-capped Chickadee waiting its turn to go to the feeder and get a seed.

 

A male Red-winged Blackbird came in and chased the smaller Pine Siskins away.

 

When he left, a female Red-winged Blackbird took her turn.

 

After the blackbirds left, the Pine Siskins weren't around any more, and this male Dark-eyed Junco took advantage.

 

The patient Black-capped Chickadee had been darting in from time to time and grabbing a seed, and here is one last picture of that little cutie.

 

That was it for the first of May.  I put 41 species on my May list in about 3 1/2 hours, including driving time.  A new month is underway.

 

 

Sunday, May 2, 2021

 

Today I wanted to go to Whidbey Island to look for sea birds that will be leaving soon.  Normally, I might take the ferry from Mukilteo to get there, but since it was Sunday and expected to be good weather, I decided not to take a chance on the ferry traffic backup, and I drove up through Skagit county instead.  That way I could bird the north end of Whidbey Island without having to take a ferry, since you can drive onto the north end of the island over the Deception Pass bridge.  My first stop was Wylie Slough, for a quick drive-through and rest room break.  I added Northern Harrier, a beautiful male, to my May list as I approached the reserve.  I also added Savannah Sparrow, and here is a picture.

 

As I drove into the reserve, there were two pairs of Wood Ducks on the slough, my first for May.  Here's a shot of female and male Wood Ducks.

 

A Black Phoebe was sitting on top of the structure at the headquarters parking lot, so that one went on my May list.  A few weeks ago I had noticed that the nest that had been used for a couple or three years had fallen down or been removed, but it has been rebuilt in the last few weeks.  I hope it is successful, as it will make it easier to find Black Phoebes for a month or so.  Here is the Black Phoebe.

 

There were a couple of male Brown-headed Cowbirds posturing for each other at the top of a dead tree, in the bright sunshine.  They were sticking their heads up and moving around, as if to impress each other, or maybe a female.  I didn't see a female, though, so maybe they were practicing.  Here is a picture of my first May Brown-headed Cowbirds.

 

I saw my first May Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows there, too.  Next I drove to the house on the corner of Valentine Road, my go-to place for Mourning Dove and Purple Finch.  As I drove up I spotted a couple of Mourning Doves immediately.

 

They had moved their feeders around, and I watched one on the corner.  There were finches coming to the feeder, and I got this picture of a male finch.

 

There are things about it that made me think it was a House Finch, but other things that made me think Purple Finch.  I'm glad I didn't have to decide, because a female Purple Finch showed up and I got this picture of her.

 

I added American Goldfinch there, too.  I got pictures of goldfinches later, on my second stop there in the afternoon.

 

From there I drove to March Point.  I was hoping for American White Pelican on the spoil islands at the bottom of Padilla Bay, but they weren't there.  I did add Northern Pintail, a duck, to my list, though.  I drove around the point, looking for Black Oystercatcher, but I didn’t find any.  Next I drove to Deception Pass State Park.  No oystercatchers there, either, but I added Rhinoceros Auklet and Red-necked Grebe to my list.  There were some Common Ravens flying around calling, too, and I needed that one.

 

Next I drove to West Beach county park.  There were birds out on the water there, including some Western Grebes.  I had gotten Western Grebe yesterday at Log Boom Park, but as I was looking at the grebes, I noticed a couple of Pacific Loons that were hanging out with them.  That was an excellent one, since they are heading north now.  Then I spotted 3 White-winged Scoters, which was an even better one.  I thought they had all left by now, so I was very pleased to add that one to my May list.

 

I moved on down the coast to the Hastie Lake beach access to eat the first half of my Subway tuna sandwich.  The sandwich was good, but even better was the three Whimbrels that flew by.  One landed right in front of me, and I got these next pictures.

 

 

Notice that the Whimbrel had caught some kind of little critter for a snack in that last picture.

 

I had seen 6 or 7 birds flying in the distance a little earlier, up the coast, but they were too far away to really be able to identify them.  I had been thinking about them and had just decided that they had to have been Whimbrels and I had just put them onto my list when these three Whimbrels flew in and insured that listing.  Whimbrels are quite uncommon around here, only passing through in migration, but this year it seems there have been a lot more than usual around.  I went back to my sandwich, and four black birds flew by.  I got my binoculars on them, and they were Black Oystercatchers, always a great one to get.  A couple of minutes later, two more flew by the other direction, and I even saw one of them on the beach when it landed, in the distance.  Then to top it off, on one of my scans of the water with my scope, I spotted a Red-throated Loon, another excellent one that is heading north now.

 

I left there and saw an American Kestrel on a wire on my way to Libbey Beach.  That was another May bird for me.  At Libbey Beach, I scanned the water offshore and was quite pleased and surprised to see 6 or 7 Long-tailed Ducks, another species I didn't think I would get this month because they are leaving now.  I thought they had all left, actually.  That was it for Whidbey Island.  I had done far better with the sea birds that are leaving than I had expected.

 

Back on the Skagit Flats, I stopped at Channel Drive, but the tide was too high still for shorebirds to be close enough to identify.  I did add Red-tailed Hawk to my list on the road to Channel Drive, though, and another one on Channel Drive itself.

 

I stopped again at the Valentine Road feeder house, though, and hummingbirds were visiting a feeder there.  I added both Anna's Hummingbird and Rufous Hummingbird to my May list.  I also got pictures of both male and female goldfinches.  Here is a female American Goldfinch.

 

Here is the more colorful and striking male American Goldfinch.

 

It was getting late by then, but I had needed to wait for the tide to go out because I was looking for shorebirds at Wylie Slough.  I had four shorebirds I wanted to find, two dowitchers and two yellowlegs.  I parked and walked out onto the dike trail with my camp chair, and as I left the parking lot, I added Yellow-rumped Warbler to my May list.  Out on the dike, I soon added Greater Yellowlegs to my list, and then there were some dowitchers.  I ended up convincing myself that I saw both Short-billed Dowitchers and Long-billed Dowitchers, although the two species are very similar.  Here is what I believe is a Short-billed Dowitcher.

 

Here are three Long-billed Dowitchers, I believe.

 

There weren't nearly as many shorebirds there as I had expected, so I walked out to look at the Great Horned Owl nest.  I could barely see the two youngsters in the nest, and the adult was pretty much obscured by branches.  Here is the adult Great Horned Owl, hiding in the branches.

 

I still needed to see Lesser Yellowlegs, but I never found one.  I only saw two Greater Yellowlegs, which was quite surprising.  Maybe they showed up later.  Here are three more pictures of what I think is the same Greater Yellowlegs.

 

 

 

I'm not 100% sure that all three of those were the same bird.  I kept trying to make one of them a Lesser Yellowlegs, but I decided I couldn't do that.  Here is another Long-billed Dowitcher.

 

I watched a male Green-winged Teal take a bath, and then he preened his feathers afterwards.  Here he is in the sun, with his feathers ruffled from the preening and the wind.

 

As I walked back to my car, I added Eurasian Collared-Dove and got this picture.

 

That was it for today.  I didn't get home until 5:10, later than my usual time.  I was out there for 8 hours and drove over 200 miles.  I got 30 more species for my May list, though, and many of them were really good ones that will be leaving soon.  Now I have 71 species in May.

 

I had made a list of 45 species that will be leaving this month on migration, and in the first two days of May I have gotten 25 of those, plus two more (Long-tailed Duck and Red-throated Loon) that I hadn't put on the list because I thought they had already gone.  The idea of the list was to help me focus early in the month on those species that will be leaving this month.  I also have a list of 31 species that should be arriving this month, and I have only gotten 3 of those species so far, so there are a lot of new ones to look for later in the month.

 

 

Monday, May 3, 2021

 

I had a lunch appointment up in Everett today, so I went up early and my first stop was Tulalip Bay.  I missed some of the species that are leaving soon, but from the parking lot at the marina, I added California Gull, Caspian Tern, and Black-bellied Plover to my May list.  I drove around the bay, but I couldn't find a kingfisher.  I was also hoping that Purple Martins had started nesting, and I got excited when I saw this Purple Martin nest box.

 

I thought that was a Purple Martin on the perch, but when I looked closer, I noticed it was a decoy.  I suppose the idea is to encourage the Purple Martins to check out the nest boxes and maybe settle in.

 

I moved on to the 12th Street NE wetlands, and there was a pair of Cinnamon Teal in the little ditch full of water next to the road.  Unfortunately, by the time I got in position for a picture, they flew off.  Still, that was a good May bird.  There were dowitchers on the pond, as well as both Least Sandpipers and Western Sandpipers, but I had gotten those already this month.  While I was looking at the shorebirds with my scope, I noticed a male Common Yellowthroat in the background, so that one went on my list.

 

I drove around to the main pond at the sewage treatment plant, and I got all three duck species I was hoping for there - Northern Shoveler, Lesser Scaup, and Ruddy Duck.  The number of ducks there is down dramatically from the winter months.  I had a little extra time, so I went to the 10th St boat launch parking lot on Gardiner Bay.  I stopped on the way, though, at the little North View park, and I noticed a whole ton of shorebirds feeding on the beach there.  They looked like bugs scurrying around while they looked for food.  They are on their way to the Arctic, and they have to fuel up for the long flight.  Here is a picture of some of them.

 

Most of them were either Dunlin (with the black belly patches) or Western Sandpipers, but there were a few Least Sandpipers mixed in with them.  Here is a shot that shows Dunlin and Western Sandpipers.  The Dunlin are the larger birds in the back with the black belly patches.

 

Here are two Western Sandpipers; note the black legs.

 

Here is one of the few Least Sandpipers, with its yellow legs.

 

There was a Greater Yellowlegs on the outskirts of the action, too.

 

 

Here is another Western Sandpiper (black legs and more red on it than Least Sandpipers have).

 

And here is another Least Sandpiper with yellow legs.

 

Here is another Western Sandpiper.

 

And, finally, another Least Sandpiper shot.

 

I drove to the parking lot for the boat launch, but there weren't many gulls roosting, and none were ones I needed.  I don't think I mentioned that the last time I was there, I noticed that the old Osprey nest that had been occupied by a Canada Goose for a couple of weeks had two Ospreys on it, so I guess either the geese had finished their nesting and hatched their eggs, or the Ospreys drove them away.  An Osprey was on the nest today, and I needed it for my May list.

 

That was it for my birding today.  I added 9 more species to my May list, including several that will be leaving this month.  Now I have 80 species in May.

 

 

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

 

Today I went on a dipper hunt.  My first stop was the Redmond Retention Ponds.  I got this picture of a female Bufflehead, a species I already had this month.

 

I was looking for Pied-billed Grebe, and at first I couldn't find one.  Then one called and swam out into the open.

 

The colors of the water are interesting.  The background vegetation is reflected, giving the various colors.  A couple of desirable shorebirds had been seen there yesterday, but I didn't see any shorebirds at all.  There were Violet-green Swallows flying around, and I needed that one.

 

I moved on and stopped next at the Redmond Watershed Preserve.  Hooded Mergansers have nested there the last couple of years, and today there were two females on the pond.  Here is a female Hooded Merganser, for my May list.

 

I continued on my way, and going across the Snoqualmie River Valley, I saw a number of birds sitting on wires.  I didn't need any of them, but I took pictures.  Here is a male American Goldfinch.

 

Here is a male Rufous Hummingbird.

 

Next was a White-crowned Sparrow.

 

At Sikes Lake, there wasn't anything on the wires, but this Song Sparrow posed for me.

 

At the house in Carnation with feeders, Band-tailed Pigeons were in the trees.  I needed that one for May.

 

While I was taking pictures of the pigeons, I noticed a Turkey Vulture flying in the distance.  I needed that one, and I watched it as it flew closer.

 

I picked up a sandwich at the Carnation Market and went to the bridge over the Tolt River, hoping for American Dipper.  No luck with that, so I drove down the west side of the Snoqualmie River.  At one point there were some swallows on a wire, and I stopped to look at them.  One of them looked like a Northern Rough-winged Swallow, which I needed.  When I looked at my pictures, though, I realized it was actually a drab female Violet-green Swallow.

 

I picked up Northern Flicker, and I drove on to Tokul Creek, my best site for American Dipper.  I get one there about 75% of the time, I think, but today I struck out.  I couldn't call up a Pacific Wren either, like I had last month there.  I headed back down to the valley and when I got to Carnation, I stopped again at the Tolt River bridge.  This time I got lucky and an American Dipper flew in to the shore just as I got there.  It only stayed for several seconds, and then flew across the river, and I lost track of it.  It was encouraging to see it, because dippers have nested there in the last couple of years.  The nest under the bridge is still there, and maybe they will use it again.

 

It was time for lunch, and I drove to the Stillwater Access to the Snoqualmie Valley Wildlife Area and took my camp chair up onto the dike trail, taking my lunch with me.  I sat up there and ate my sandwich while I watched and listened for birds.  Here is a female Tree Swallow.

 

Here is a male Tree Swallow.

 

I walked down the trail a short distance, but I couldn't find anything I needed.  I did get these next two pictures of a male Red-winged Blackbird, though.

 

 

When I got back to where I had left my chair, I heard a bird singing.  It turned out to be a male BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, a returning migrant that was new for the year for me.  Here are two pictures of that guy, sitting at the top of tall tree.

 

 

After that I drove up to Duvall and went up the west side of the river from there.  The only thing I got there was Brewer's Blackbird.  I needed that one, and I saw a blackbird of some kind across the river.  I used my camera to get this very distant shot, verifying it was indeed a male Brewer's Blackbird.

 

As it turned out, I didn't actually need that distant picture because a male Brewer's Blackbird flew across the road and landed where I could get a close shot of it.

 

As I drove back to the main road, I got this picture of a Barn Swallow on a wire.  Note the long forked tail.

 

It was a moderately successful day.  I got my dipper, but I missed lots of birds I could have seen on the dike trail at Stillwater.  Migrants are starting to come back, but I guess it is still a bit early.  The Bullock's Oriole was a good consolation prize, anyway.  I added 10 species to my May list, and now I have 90 this month.  Bullock's Oriole raised my year total to 215 species.  Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 70's, and I think I'll stay local and see if I can get some "little birds".

 

 

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

 

Today I stayed local and went down to Juanita Bay Park, which is only 2 or 3 miles from home.  First I walked the fire station road.  I saw an Orange-crowned Warbler at a spot where I have often seen warblers, and that was a good one for my May list.  I played Virginia Rail calls as I walked, and eventually I got a response, so that one went on my list, too.  Back at the warbler spot, I saw my first WILSON'S WARBLER of the year.  It stayed back in the vegetation, and I couldn't get a picture.  I saw a bird at the top of a snag, and I couldn't tell what it was with my binoculars.  My trusty camera got this picture, though, and I decided it was a female Brown-headed Cowbird, a species I already had this month.

 

Cowbirds lay their eggs in other species' nests, one to a nest, and the host parents feed and raise the cowbird chick, after the cowbird chick kicks the other babies out of the nest.  Often the cowbird chick is much larger than the host parents, but they don't seem to notice, even when  they have to work their tails off to feed the cowbird chick.  In other parts of the world, cuckoos do the same thing.

 

I went over to the main part of the park and played Golden-crowned Kinglet and Chestnut-backed Chickadee songs near the parking lot.  No kinglets showed up, but a couple of Chestnut-backed Chickadees came along.  I didn't get a picture then, but later I saw two more of them, and I got these next three pictures of a Chestnut-backed Chickadee, one for my list.

 

 

 

I walked into the park and got this picture of a male Spotted Towhee, a species I needed for May.  It was kind of distant, but it was singing and posing nicely.

 

I walked out on the east boardwalk, but I didn't get anything there.  I walked to the west end of the park and sat on a bench for a while, listening and watching for birds.  A single Bushtit came around, another species I needed still for May.  Here is the male Bushtit, with some nesting material in his bill.

 

I played Red-breasted Nuthatch songs, and while I was looking for that one, I noticed a Red-breasted Sapsucker on a dead tree.  That was another one I needed.  Then, as I was trying to get a picture of the sapsucker, a Red-breasted Nuthatch came by and I got that one, too.

 

As I was going back to my car, I stopped on another bench, enjoying the nice sunshine.  I noticed this American Robin close by, obviously looking for food in the grass.

I don't know how it knew where to dig, but it rooted around in the grass for a few seconds and came up with this juicy tidbit.

 

A few minutes later, I saw a male Downy Woodpecker, another species I needed.  Then, when I got back near the parking lot, I sat again and played Golden-crowned Kinglet songs again.  This time I got a response and added that one to my list.  I also got pictures of the cute little Golden-crowned Kinglet.

 

 

It was constantly flicking its wings, as can be seen in this next picture.

 

From time to time it would talk to me.

 

Here is one final picture of the Golden-crowned Kinglet.

 

I tried playing Brown Creeper calls, but couldn’t attract one.  I stopped at Juanita Beach Park on the way home to see if any coots were around, but there weren't.  I had a pleasant outing for close to three hours, and I added 10 species to my May list.  Now I have a nice round 100 species in May.  Wilson's Warbler added one to my year list, and now I have 216 species in 2021.

 

 

Thursday, May 6, 2021

 

Today I went over to Marymoor Park, which is in Redmond, about15 or 20 minutes from home.  I drove along the edge of the community garden and played some bird calls but I didn't get anything or any pictures.  Next I parked and walked along the slough, through the dog park.  I soon saw my best bird of the day, a male WESTERN TANAGER, a migrant that is just now showing up.  I wasn't quite fast enough to get a distant picture.

 

I didn't get anything at all as I walked along the slough, all the way out to the observation platform at the lake.  There I found the expected swallows flitting around the nest gourds there.  There are four nest gourds, in two groups of two, and one pair had Tree Swallows in one of the gourds, and the other pair had PURPLE MARTINS in one of the gourds.  Here are some pictures.  First, here is a female Tree Swallow looking out of a nest gourd.

 

Here's a shot of a female Tree Swallow outside the nest, hanging on to the opening.  Note her tail, which is bracing her.

 

Here is a male Tree Swallow hanging on the opening, bracing himself with his tail, too.

 

Here is a shot of a male Tree Swallow leaving the nest gourd.

 

Here is another picture of a female Tree Swallow looking out of the nest gourd.

 

As I mentioned, there are two pairs of nest gourds.  The Tree Swallows seem to have claimed one pair and the Purple Martins seem to have the second pair, although I only actually saw Tree Swallows at one gourd and Purple Martins at one gourd.  Here is the pair of gourds that the Tree Swallows are using.  You can see the female Tree Swallow looking out of the hole.

 

At one point, two or three Tree Swallows seemed to be fighting over the closer gourd, but it didn't seem to be in use yet.  Here is the pair of gourds that the Purple Martins are using, although I only actually saw them at the one on the left.

 

Here is a male Purple Martin.  Very purple.

 

Here is a male Purple Martin hanging on the hole to his nest gourd, using his tail to brace himself.

 

Here are a pair of Purple Martins at their nest gourd - the male on the top and the female looking out of the nest.

 

Here is a close up of the female Purple Martin looking out of the nest hole.

 

I headed back to my car, watching and listening for other species, but I didn't see anything new.  I saw Yellow-rumped Warblers in two or three places, and sometimes other warblers join them in a little feeding flock, but I didn’t anything but Yellow-rumps today.  At one point,  when I was sitting by the slough, a female Common Merganser flew upriver, and I needed that one.  Great Blue Herons have a rookery there, with two or three dozen nests, and they are all over the place.  Here is a Great Blue Heron looking for lunch in the slough.

 

Finally, here is a picture of two Killdeer in the river bed.

 

On my way home, I stopped at the Redmond Retention Ponds, but I couldn’t find any shorebirds except a single Killdeer.  The water level is just too high this year for shorebirds.  Shorebirds need the muddy edges for feeding.  Maybe it will be better later, for fall migration.

 

I only added 3 more species today, a disappointing result.  Now I have 103 species this month.  At least 2 of the species were new for the year, and now I have 218 species in 2021.

 

 

Saturday, May 8, 2021

 

Yesterday it rained off and on all day, and I didn't go birding.  Today I got up fairly early (for me) and was up in Edmonds by 9:10 or so, and I got on the 9:35 ferry for Kingston., which is across Puget Sound.  At the Kingston ferry terminal, I took some pictures of cormorants, hoping to find the one I needed still, Brandt's Cormorant.  All I got pictures of were Pelagic Cormorants, which I will show later.

 

I picked up a sandwich at Subway and drove to Point No Point.  I immediately saw one of my three target species for the day, Bonaparte's Gull.  Here is a picture of two of those cute little gulls, still in their winter plumage.

 

 

Here is a picture that shows how small Bonaparte's Gull is.  This is three of them and a regular sized gull.

 

Another target species today was Marbled Murrelet, and here are some distant pictures of that one.

 

 

 

Marbled Murrelets are usually far from shore, but there were two of them fairly close today.  Here is the beach at Point No Point, looking across the channel to Whidbey Island.  The Marbled Murrelets were maybe 50 to 75 yards offshore.

 

I also saw a couple of Rhinoceros Auklets, one I already had.  Here is a distant shot of a Rhinoceros Auklet.

 

I saw two or three Pacific Loons and a couple of Pigeon Guillemots, but that was all that was out there today.  I think the tide was wrong for the best seabird viewing, but I got the two seabirds I wanted, so that was fine with me.  Having gotten Bonaparte's Gull and Marbled Murrelet, I set about getting my other target species.  I had to drive through the area several times before I finally saw a California Scrub-Jay, my third target.  The light was wrong, but here is a picture of the California Scrub-Jay, formerly called Western Scrub-Jay.

 

The bird stayed there, and I drove out of the driveway I was in and stopped on the road, and I got this next picture, in better light.

 

There was a parking area at the side of the road, and I was able to pull into that and get still another angle on the bird, in optimum light.

 

With all three of my target species under my belt, I headed back toward the ferry terminal.  I detoured on Gust Halvor Rd and drove to the south entrance to the Point No Point county park, up on the hill.  I had never been there before, and this was a chance to check it out.  There was a nice trail going trough the forest, down to the point, but forest birding is tough, and I didn't want to bother with it.  I did walk a little distance into the woods and played Pacific Wren and Brown Creeper songs, though, because the habitat looked good for those species.  I didn't attract a wren, but I did get Brown Creeper for my May list.

 

When I got to the Kingston ferry terminal, it was unclear if I would get on the 12:45 ferry or not, so I waited and ate my sandwich in my car.  I ended up missing that ferry by about 20 cars (out of about 200 cars that it holds), so I had to wait for the 1:30 ferry.  Since I had the time, I walked over to the terminal and out onto the gangway that ferry passengers use to board the ferry.  From there I could see the cormorants sitting on the pilings next to the ferry slip.  I took pictures and found a Brandt's Cormorant, the species I still needed for May.  Here is a poor picture of the Brandt's Cormorant.

 

Note the brownish patch on the throat and the slight hook at the end of the bill.  Here are two shots of Pelagic Cormorants, the most common species there today.

 

 

The brownish one in the middle is a juvenile and the other two are adult pelagic Cormorants.  Here are two shots of the third cormorant species we get around here, Double-crested Cormorant.

 

Note the yellow around the face.  That one was a juvenile, and this next one is an adult with some breeding plumes on its head.

 

I caught the 1:30 ferry and was home by 2:30.  I added 5 species to my May list today, and now I have 108 species.

 

 

Sunday, May 9, 2021

 

I didn't feel like making a big trip today, and I needed American Coot for this month.  The coots have mostly flown off north and inland by now, but there have been regular reports from the Montlake Fill, also known as the Union Bay Natural Area, near the University of Washington.  Sunday is a great day to go there because you can park for free, closer than the usual free parking.  I first tried for ducks from the boating center, but there were only a handful, and nothing interesting.  I parked (for free) and walked into the area from the west side.  There were tons of Marsh Wrens singing today.  I didn't need that one, but pictures are always cool, and the males were sitting up in sight, singing away, trying to lure a female to lay her eggs in their nest.  The male builds a nest or multiple nests and tries to attract a female to lay her eggs in one of his nests, after having his way with her.  Here are a couple of pictures of the first Marsh Wren I saw singing.

 

 

His nest was right by the trail, about two feet off the ground, and I suspect it will have a problem being successful, with all the people walking their dogs there.  Maybe the females will notice that and reject him.  I moved on and after a few minutes, I saw four American Coots across the bay.  Here are three of them.

 

I had my main target species, but I wanted more, of course.  I walked into the main area, hoping to see migrants.  It was a pleasant walk, but no birds of note until I heard a Pileated Woodpecker call loudly.  I wasn't sure it wasn't a Northern Flicker, since they sound so similar, but I spotted the Pileated Woodpecker across the water in a dead tree.  He called again, just to insure I understood what species he was, and I got a couple of distant pictures of what was only the second Pileated Woodpecker I have seen this year.

 

 

It was a male, as can be determined by the red stripe on his chin.

 

Most of the ducks have now left for the summer, but Mallards, Gadwalls, and Wood Ducks breed here, so they are here all year.  Here is a pair of Gadwalls.  The female is the one closer to the camera.

 

Male Gadwalls have a  very intricate pattern on them, which you only see when you get close.  I came upon a pair of Gadwalls sleeping on the shore, and here is the male after I woke him up by getting close.

 

I moved on, and I saw a male Spotted Towhee in a tree, so I took his picture.

 

 

I was on my way back to my car when another Marsh Wren was singing loudly by the trail, advertising for a female.  It let me get very close, so I took these pictures of him.

 

 

 

That was it for me today.  I got my coot, which was the main point, and the Pileated Woodpecker was a nice bonus.  I enjoyed getting the Marsh Wren pictures, too.  My two species today bring my May total to 110 species.  Now we have several days of dry weather forecasted, and I would like to find some returning migrants.

 

 

Monday, May 10, 2021

 

OK, this is probably going to be the most boring report I have ever written.  Fair warning.

 

I started my day at St. Edwards State Park, looking for Pacific Wren.  I couldn't call one up.  Most of them migrate up to the mountains for breeding season, so they are tough in the summer.

 

Next I went to Big Finn Hill park and walked around for 45 minutes or so.  I couldn't call up anything, and I didn't hear or see anything interesting.  Strike two.

 

I had a lunch appointment in Everett, so I drove up there and stopped at the 10th St Boat Launch, looking for Ring-billed Gull, which had been reported there yesterday.  No luck with that, either.  Strike three.

 

I went to lunch, and afterwards I decided to give it another go at the boat launch.  There were more gulls there this time, and most of them were immature gulls.  Gulls take two to four years to get their adult plumage, and they have various other plumages each year until they get their adult colors. I normally just ignore immature gulls because there are so many different plumages, but I am beginning to recognize some of the many plumages the local gulls go through.

 

I sorted through the gulls present, and after consulting my field guide, I decided that some of them were immature Ring-billed Gulls, a species I needed still this month.  Here are some pictures, which will be incredibly boring to everyone else, but I want to have a record.  These Ring-billed Gulls are first summer birds, meaning they hatched last year.  Actually, the plumages are between first winter and first summer, which is just where we are now.  The thing that got my attention is the size of these gulls.  Ring-billed gulls are smaller than almost all the other gulls that are around now.  The only smaller one is Mew Gull, and they have just about all left now for the summer.  Here is a shot that shows how much smaller the immature Ring-billed Gull in the center is, compared to the larger gulls around it.

 

Besides the size, the colors were right for a first year Ring-billed Gull.

 

Here is a California Gull (on the left) and an immature Ring-billed Gull (on the right).  California Gull is 21 inches long, and Ring-billed Gull is 18 inches long.

 

Here are two more pictures of immature Ring-billed Gulls.

 

 

That was it.  I told you it was boring.  I added one more species to my May list, and now I have 111 species this month.

 

 

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

 

Today I headed over to the Snoqualmie River Valley.  Driving across the valley, I spotted three Cliff Swallows on a wire, and I needed that one for May.  I picked up a sandwich at the Carnation Market and drove to the Stillwater Access to the Snoqualmie valley Wildlife Area.  I took my camp chair and walked on the dike trail.  I soon saw my first BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK of the year.  Here is a picture of the male Black-headed Grosbeak.

 

A couple of male Cinnamon Teal were flying around, and after they settled down, I got this picture of one of them.

 

Here is a picture of a pair of Tree Swallows at a nest hole.

 

Here's the female Tree Swallow.

 

Here's a male Tree Swallow.

 

I walked on the trail, sitting from time to time and enjoying the beautiful weather.  I spotted a male Bullock's Oriole, a species I had already this month, but I got pictures.

 

 

 

A little later I saw another male Bullock's Oriole, and I took a picture of that guy, too.

 

I wasn't seeing anything I needed, but at least there were birds around.  A European Startling was carrying food to a nest hole, and I got a couple of pictures.

 

 

Eventually I got back to my car, and I drove up the road a short distance and accessed the trail from another point.  This time I sat in my camp chair and ate my lunch while I looked and listened for birds.  I saw an Orange-crowned Warbler, but nothing I needed.  I checked my phone, and a rarity (for this area) that had been seen recently was sighted again today, so I headed north.  On my way, I drove up West Snoqualmie River Road NE, hoping that the Western Kingbird that has been showing up there for two or three years would be back this year, but it wasn't.  I did see a single Northern Rough-winged Swallow on a wire, and I needed that one.  Here are two pictures.

 

 

I continued on to the town of Snohomish, where I visited a place I hadn't ever been before, Riverview Wildlife Refuge, which is adjacent to the Snohomish Water Treatment Plant.  I wasn't sure where to park or access the refuge, but I guess I figured it out and parked just off the street at the entrance.  I was looking for a Great Egret, a large white bird that I thought would be easy.  Well, it turned out that the refuge was much larger than I expected, and much of it wasn't really visible because of the vegetation.  I walked on the only path, and I was just about to give it up because the place was so large.  Just as I was about to turn back, though, I saw the Great Egret, sitting up in the open where I couldn't miss it.

 

I took some pictures, and the bird flew off, heading back toward the entrance.  I also headed toward the entrance, watching for other birds.  As it turned out, I got another look at the Great Egret and got this picture in which the bird had its neck extended.

 

Great Egret is a semi-rarity around here, but I saw them in Southern California in April.

 

Back at the entrance, I got this picture of a Canada Goose and her goslings.

 

That was it for my birding today.  I added 4 species to my May list, and now I have 115 species this month.  Black-headed Grosbeak added one to my year list, and now I have 219 species in 2021.

 

That was the end of my birding report for the day, but some of the flowers in our yard are so beautiful right now that I am going to show some pictures of them.  Here is the wisteria that is older than I am, still going strong.

 

I think the azaleas are as old as the wisteria, and they are looking good, too.

 

 

The warm, sunny weather is supposed to continue all week, so I'll see if I can get out there and see more of the returning migrants and the regular species I haven't seen yet this month.

 

 

Wednesday, May 13, 2021

 

I went over to Marymoor Park today.  While driving along the edge of the community garden, I saw a couple of male LAZULI BUNTINGS, my first of the year.  They are uncommon around here, but they do breed at Marymoor some years.  I wish I could have gotten a picture.  Male Lazuli Buntings are really pretty.  Next I walked along the slough, and I saw a pair of Western Tanagers across the slough at the top of a dead tree.  Here is a distant picture of the male Western Tanager, a species I already had this month.

 

Here is the female Western Tanager with a flying insect she had caught.

 

Here are two more distant pictures of the female Western Tanager.

 

 

I walked some more and found a Bewick's Wren, a common species that I hadn't yet seen this month.  Back at the weir across the slough, a pair of Common Mergansers were foraging in the current.  Here is the male Common Merganser.

 

Here are two pictures of the female Common Merganser.

 

 

I was glad to see them there because Common Merganser isn't easy to find in the summer months, and maybe they will breed there at Marymoor.  For the last couple of years, a female Common Merganser has raised a brood of young ones there, so I have hopes it will happen again.

 

On my way out of the park, I drove along the edge of the community garden again, and I got this picture of a male Black-headed Grosbeak, a returning summer migrant that I already had this month.

 

That was it.  I added two more species to my May list, to bring me to 117 species in May.  Lazuli Bunting brought my year list to 220 species.

 

 

Thursday, May 13, 2021

 

This morning I went up to the towns of Woodway and Edmonds.  My first stop was at Deer Creek Park in Woodway, and I walked in the woods and played Pacific Wren songs.  No luck, though.

 

I drove to Sunset Avenue, on the Edmonds waterfront and scoped the water.  I saw lots of Surf Scoters, three or four Pacific Loons, a Common Loon, and a pair of distant Rhinoceros Auklets, but not Black Scoter, which was the one I was hoping for.  A pair of them had been reported on Tuesday, but they probably moved on.  The Black Scoters have virtually all migrated north for the summer by now.

 

I gave it up and drove home.  When I got home, I saw an email report to Tweeters, our local birding mailing list, about some shorebirds in Redmond, at a location that is only about 15 or 20 minutes away from home for me.  I drove over there and found three PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, a migrant species that is pretty uncommon around here in the spring migration.  They are much more commonly seen in the "fall" migration, in August or September.  Here are two very distant pictures that at least serve to document my sighting.

 

 

As a bonus, there were two Spotted Sandpipers chasing each other around, and that is one I needed for May, too.  The birds were in a wetlands that has been created in the last year or so, and I hadn't realized it was active now.  I hope it has water all year round, because it could be a good spot in the fall migration and in future springs.  It is on Avondale Road, just north of downtown Redmond.  I saw a Greater Yellowlegs and a couple of Least Sandpipers there today, too.

 

I added two more species to my May list, to bring it to 119 species now.  Pectoral Sandpiper gives me 221 species in 2021.

 

 

Friday, May 14, 2021

 

Today I went over to Marymoor Park.  First I stopped at the rowing club parking lot and checked the pond, but I didn't see anything useful.  Next I drove through the park, looking for the pheasant that hangs out there.  No luck with that, either, so I paid my $1 parking fee and drove along the edge of the community garden.  As it turned out, the male Ring-necked Pheasant, which I needed this month still, was walking right in the roadway, near the back of the gardens.  I got out of my car and took pictures.  The pheasant was amazingly tame, and I got within 5 or 6 feet of him, which didn't seem to bother him at all.  Here are some pictures of the male Ring-necked Pheasant.

 

 

 

I guess that red thing on his face is feathers, but it sure is strange.  I like the blue "horns", too.

 

So, with that one under my belt, I parked and walked along the slough.  Here is a male Mallard, sitting in the sun.

 

Check out the black, curly feathers on his butt.

 

A couple of Red-tailed Hawks were flying around overhead, being harassed by crows.  Here is a shot of one of them.

 

The crow almost looks like the hawk's shadow.

 

Across the slough a family of Canada Geese were foraging.

 

I counted twelve goslings, so the parents are doing well so far.  These babies were larger than others I have seen so far this year.  Here is another shot of some of the goslings with a parent.

 

I was hoping to see a kingfisher, but I missed on that one again today.  I was sitting on a bench when I spotted a WARBLING VIREO in a tree across the way.  No picture, but that is another returning migrant to check off my list.

 

I headed back toward my car and got this picture of a male American Goldfinch.

 

That was all I got at Marymoor Park today, and I headed up to Everett for a lunch appointment.  After lunch, I drove to Tulalip Bay, hoping to find a kingfisher there.  The tide was too far out, though, and no kingfishers were around that I could find.  I did see Purple Martins around a couple of birdhouses, though.  Here are two pictures of male and female Purple Martins.  The males are the darker ones.

 

 

I noticed a group of Western Sandpipers, all huddled together.

 

I wonder if a predator had flown over, causing them to huddle up like that, or if they were just snoozing.  I figure there were more than 50 of them.  In a minute or so, they started to spread out, foraging.

 

 

After that, I drove home.  I added two more species to my May list today, and now I have 121 species this month so far.  Warbling Vireo was new for the year for me, and now I have 222 species in 2021.

 

 

Saturday, May 15, 2021

 

Today was a spectacular day in terms of numbers of species I needed.  I went up to Skagit county, which is about an hour north of home.  After a stop at Subway to pick up a sandwich, my first birding stop was Fox Road, just outside the little town of Clear Lake.  My first activity was using the outdoor bathroom, and as I finished my business, I heard Wilson's Snipe winnowing in the distance.  I heard it once more after that, but not again in the 20 minutes or so that I stayed in the area.  Timing is everything.  I had just about given up on getting Wilson's Snipe this month, as most of them have moved out of the usual places I see them.  I think they breed in the Fox Road area, though, and I have gotten them in the summer there in the past.  I didn't get anything else there, but I took this picture of a swallow on a wire.

 

I guess it was a Barn Swallow, but the throat and chin shouldn't be white, in that case.  The gray head is odd, too.

 

I left there and drove to the town of Lyman.  I stopped at the place where last year I had seen a swallow species I needed.  There were a couple of dozen BANK SWALLOWS flying around the nest holes they had made in a sand bank on the edge of the river.  I thought it was too early for them, and I didn't know if they would nest there again this year, but there they were.  Here are three blurry pictures of Bank Swallows, showing their bright white throats and brown band across the upper breast.

 

 

 

Bank Swallow is uncommon around here, and I hadn't really expected to get that one this month.  I'll go back there in June for sure.

 

As a bonus, a Belted Kingfisher was flying around over the river, mixing in with the swallows.  I needed that fairly common species still, and now I have it.  I had tried for that species several places this month but I kept missing it.

 

I moved on to the barn of my birding acquaintance, Gary.  I had missed seeing Barn Owl in his barn in April, in two visits, but I got it today.  My good luck today continued.

 

Next I checked out the Northern State Recreation Area, which is almost right on the way to Gary's house.  It was really crowded on a sunny Saturday, and it looked to me like it is more of a hiking destination than a birding place, at least for me.  I can't walk like I used to be able to, and it would require a lot of walking.  Still, it was good to check out another birding site I had read about but never seen.

 

I drove to the little town of Bay View, on Padilla Bay.  I got out my scope and looked across the bay.  In addition to over 200 Great Blue Herons (that's not a typo - over 200!), there were more than a dozen American White Pelicans in the distance.  That was the one I wanted for my May list.  I had intended to drive around the bay to look for them from March Point Road, but seeing them across the bay saved me that drive.

 

Next I headed south toward the Skagit Flats.  On Valentine Road, at the place called Rancho Valentine, I played the song of the wren that nests there, not knowing if they had returned yet or not.  Soon a cute little House Wren flew in and sang back to me while it posed.  Here are a couple of pictures of the uncommon (for this area) House Wren.

 

 

I'll most likely get House Wren if I go over the mountains later this month, as I plan to do, but now I have it for May.

 

My last stop of the day was Wylie Slough.  I drove through, watching and listening for birds.  I thought I heard the "weep" call of a bird I needed, so I played its song.  Sure enough, I guess I was right, because my first SWAINSON'S THRUSH of the year flew in to check me out.  Here are two pictures of the Swainson's Thrush that didn't stick around long.

 

 

In the west parking lot, I pulled up and got this picture of a Black Phoebe on the new nest, which is under the eaves of the structure there.

 

I already had that one this month, but I was glad to see that they are using the new nest.  Black Phoebes nested there for the last couple of years, but someone had knocked down the old nest, and this is a new one, in the same place, on top of a light fixture, out of the weather.

 

I walked out on the dike trail, hoping that maybe a Lesser Yellowlegs would still be hanging around.  I saw one Greater Yellowlegs, but no Lessers or any other shorebirds.  There wasn't much around, but I had a nice walk in the sun, carrying my camp chair so I could rest my back from time to time.  When I got out to where the Great Horned Owl nest is, there were other people there, taking pictures of a Great Horned Owl that was sitting out in full view.  So, I took pictures, too, of course.

 

It woke up and preened a bit, and I took another picture, with the owl's eyes open, more or less.

 

It looked off to its left, so I took another shot.

 

Here is a picture of the owl watchers.

 

Here's another shot of the owl watchers from a different angle.

 

The owl was in that big tree, on the right side, about a third of the way up.  I had seen the owl earlier this month, a couple of times, actually, but my pictures today are better. 

 

I headed back toward my car, and I saw my first YELLOW WARBLER of the year.  Later I saw three more Yellow Warblers, and I even got pictures of one of them.

 

 

 

When I got back to my car, I checked the Black Phoebe nest again.  There was still a Black Phoebe on the nest, but it was facing the opposite direction from earlier, and the tail was showing.

 

After that I drove home.  I put 172 miles on my car and was out there for 6 hours and 40 minutes, including the time to drive to and from Skagit county (about an hour each way).  I like to set my expectations for the day, and this morning I had listed the species I thought I might see and assigned percentage chances to them.  It added up to 2.9 species that I expected to add to my May list today.  I figured that 3 would be OK, 4 species would be very good, 5 would be excellent, and 6 would be outstanding.  I didn't go beyond that.  I ended up adding 8 species to my May list today!  Amazing.  Now I have 129 species this month.  3 of the species today were new for the year, and now I have 225 species in 2021.  As I said at the beginning of this report, it was a spectacular day in terms of numbers.

 

 

Sunday, May 16, 2021

 

I debated with myself as to whether I ought to send out a report today or not, but I decided to send a very brief one.  I went two places this morning, looking for birds - Wallace Swamp Creek Park (in Kenmore) and Big Finn Hill Park (on Finn Hill, which is in north Kirkland.  I walked in the sun and sat on benches.  The only thing I got was a Pacific-slope Flycatcher, which is actually an excellent bird - one I don't see very often.  It was new for May, but I had seen one in San Diego already this year.  That brought me to 130 species this month so far.  No pictures.

 

I have various things I need to do in the next few days, and I might not do any more birding until the end of the week.

 

 

Monday, May 17, 2021

 

Well, I hadn't planned to bird today because a friend was coming over at 11:00 to help me haul some stuff to the dump.  Last night I looked at eBird, though, and I noticed that  Pacific Wrens had been reported last week at a nearby reserve, and I needed that one.  Pacific Wrens are fairly easy in the winter, in the right habitats, and I have several places I can find them.  In the summer, though, most of them evidently go up into the mountains to breed.  The ones that stick around seem a lot less likely to respond to callback, too, which is how I find them in the winter.  I had tried several places for that species this month, and I hadn't gotten a sniff of one.

 

Anyway, based on what eBird indicated, I drove to the Redmond Watershed Reserve this morning.  It is in northeast Redmond, on Novelty Hill Road.  I parked and walked on one of the trails, playing Pacific Wren songs.  It took about 15 minutes, but eventually a cute little Pacific Wren checked me out, although it was silent.  Usually they will sing or call back to me when I play their song.  I suspect that in breeding season they are more reclusive, though.  It was too dark in the deep forest on a heavily overcast day for decent pictures, but I tried anyway.  Here is my best effort to get a picture of a Pacific Wren in the totally inadequate light.

 

I walked back to my car, and on my way out of the preserve, I stopped at the pond along the entrance road.  Hooded Merganser is another species that largely disappears in the summer from around here, but that pond is a reliable place for them because they breed there each year.  I had already picked up Hooded Merganser there earlier this month, but I wanted pictures.  Today there was both a male and a female on the pond, which bodes well for breeding there again this year.  Here is the female Hooded Merganser.

 

Here is the more strongly marked male Hooded Merganser, with his hood in the down position.

 

That had all gone so well that I had extra time, and I was more than halfway there already, so I drove out to West Snoqualmie River Rd NE, just outside of Duvall.  I was hoping for the uncommon (for this area) Western Kingbird that has shown up there the last 2 or 3 years.  Two of them were reported there last week, so I had hopes.  I didn't find a kingbird, but I got a couple of pictures of birds on wires.  Here is a Eurasian Collared-Dove.

 

Here is a White-crowned Sparrow.

 

That was it for my birding today.  I hustled home, and Dan and I took a couple of loads of junk to the transfer station in Houghton.  I had just about given up on Pacific Wren this month, so it was very nice to find one this morning.  Now I have 131 species this month.

 

 

Thursday, May 20, 2021

 

I had medical appointments and other chores to do this week, but today I got out birding again.  I was told about a Cooper's Hawk nest next to a park in Seattle, and that is a species I needed still this month.  I don't like driving in the city; I don't know the streets, the streets seem very narrow to me, and there are always lots of cars parked, blocking my view and passage.  This park was on Capitol Hill, a part of Seattle I am unfamiliar with.  I managed to find my way there, though, and I parked in the convenient parking lot.  My instructions were to go into the tennis courts and look south, over the bus stop.  I did that, and I soon spotted the nest, a little east of the bus stop, actually.  I couldn't see anything in the nest, but I moved around to other angles and from one side I could see the tail of a bird sticking out of the nest.  Here is a picture of the nest and tail.

 

Here is a closer shot of the tail.

 

It is definitely the tail of a Cooper's Hawk, and so I am counting the species for my May list.  It seems strange to count a bird after only seeing its tail, but there is no doubt about the identification, and all you have to do is see enough of the bird to identify it, in order to count it.

 

Rather than stick around to see if the bird would move or if there would be any other action, I left and moved on to the Union Bay Natural Area, also known to birders as The Montlake Fill.  I had seen reports of a pair of Blue-winged Teal there this week.  I walked around the area, but I never found any Blue-winged Teal.  I did see a pair of Long-billed Dowitchers, which is a good bird for that site, but I had it already this month.  Here are some pictures of the Long-billed Dowitchers.

 

 

 

 

There were a couple of Canada Goose families around, and I got some pictures I like of one of the geese with five goslings.

 

 

 

Here is a Pied-billed Grebe that was close to shore.

 

An American Coot was preening on the shore, and I got this picture of it.

 

On my way back to my car, I heard some loud drumming from a woodpecker.  I tracked it down and actually found the bird.  It was high up in a tree, and it was hard to get pictures, let alone get a good look at the bird.  It was either a Downy Woodpecker or a Hairy Woodpecker.  I had the former, but I needed the latter.  The bird was drumming most of the time, and when it would stop, it never showed me its bill, which is what I needed to see to tell which species it was.  Here is the best picture I could get.

 

Downy Woodpecker is quite a bit smaller than Hairy Woodpecker, but size is always hard to determine when there isn't anything nearby to compare it to.  I went back and forth, but in the end, I decided I just can't tell which species it was, so I'm not counting it.

 

On my way home, I drove through Magnuson Park, and I spotted two Cedar Waxwings high in a dead tree in the distance.  That was one I needed still this month.  Here is a distant picture of the two Cedar Waxwings.

 

So, I got two more for my May list today - Cooper's Hawk and Cedar Waxwing.  That gives me 133 species this month.  I wish I had been able to get a better look or picture of the woodpecker; it might have been a Hairy Woodpecker, and that one is difficult to find.

 

 

Friday, May 21, 2021

 

I didn't have much time this morning, but I went over to Marymoor Park to see what I could find.  I walked along the slough, and the first thing I saw was a group of 4 or 5 European Starling fledglings, begging to be fed.  Here is a picture of two of the European Starling fledglings.

 

I walked along the slough and just below the weir I saw a pair of Blue-winged Teal.  That was the species I was looking for at the Montlake Fill yesterday, but never found.  Here is a picture of the female Blue-winged Teal.  Note the characteristic pale patch on her face, at the base of the bill.

 

Here is the male Blue-winged Teal, with the characteristic white crescent on his face.

 

Here are three pictures that show both the male and the female Blue-winged Teal.

 

 

 

I walked some more along the slough, and among some swallows flying overhead, I spotted a VAUX'S SWIFT.  (Vaux's is pronounced to rhyme with boxes.)  Swifts are somewhat uncommon, so it was great to get that one for my lists.  I continued my walk, but I didn't see anything else of interest.  I was almost back to the car when I saw my first WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE of the year.  I should have tried for a distant picture, but instead I moved closer, and the bird must have flown off, because I didn't see it again.  Western Wood-Pewee is a fairly common summer resident that is just now starting to return.  I'm sure I'll see more of them this month.

 

I spotted a bird at the top of a dead snag, maybe 200 yards away.  I could barely see it with the naked eye, and even with binoculars, I couldn't tell what it was.  I took a very distant picture, and I was surprised it came out as good as it did.  The bird was a male Dark-eyed Junco.  The picture is poor, of course, but I show it to demonstrate how useful my camera is in making identifications.

 

I saw another bird across the slough, and I got this poor picture of a distant Red-breasted Sapsucker.

 

I got one more picture, a female Brown-headed Cowbird.

 

I was only there for about an hour, but I added three more species to my May list - Blue-winged Teal, Vaux's Swift, and Western Wood-Pewee.  Now I have 136 species this month.  Two of those were new for the year, too, and now I have 227 species in 2021.

 

There isn't much left for me to try for on this side of the mountains, but a couple of species are just about to return, and I could see them before the end of the month.  There are uncommon species I could see, too.  I'm planning a two night trip over the mountains next week, and that will be my chance to add a number of species.

 

 

Saturday, May 22, 2021

 

There wasn't much left for me to get for May, so today I decided to mainly try for pictures.  I still visited a couple of places where I might get something, but it wasn't likely.  My first stop was the rowing club pond at Marymoor Park, hoping for a longshot Green Heron.  No Green Heron, but I got this picture of a colorful male Wood Duck snoozing.

 

I drove through Marymoor Park, Evans Creek wildlife area, and over Novelty Hill Road to the Snoqualmie Valley.  As I drove across the valley, I saw four Turkey Vultures take off from a tree near Sikes Lake.  If I had been a couple of minutes earlier, I might have been able to get a picture of them roosting in the leafless tree or taking off.  On the east side of the Snoqualmie River, someone has built a nest platform at the top of a very tall pole, for Osprey.  A pair of Ospreys have built a nest, and I would guess there are eggs in the nest now, if not youngsters.  Here is one of the Ospreys on a nearby pole, keeping guard.

 

Here is the new nest platform and the other Osprey on the newly built nest.

 

The nest is only 50 feet from the river and an endless supply of fish.  It will be a good place to watch the Ospreys raise a family, if they are successful.

 

At the house in Carnation with feeders, I got this picture of three finches at one of the feeders.

 

The upper bird is a female American Goldfinch, the lower one on the left is a male House Finch, and the lower one on the right is a male American Goldfinch.  Note the black forehead on the male goldfinch.  There were Band-tailed Pigeons around, and here is a picture of one.

 

I picked up a sandwich at the Carnation Market and I moved on to the Tolt River, just south of Carnation.  I was looking for American Dipper, for pictures.  I didn't see any dippers, but I saw a little Spotted Sandpiper and got pictures.

 

 

It was coming closer and closer to me, and I kept shooting pictures.  I looked around at one point, and I saw an American Dipper just standing on a rock out in the river.  I got one picture, and when I tried to move around to get a better angle on it and took my eye off it, it flew off somewhere, possibly to the nest under the bridge.  Here is the American Dipper standing on a rock.

 

I went back to taking pictures of the Spotted Sandpiper, and before I left, I looked up and down the river.  I saw the dipper downstream, so I moved closer for pictures.

 

It had opened its wings for some reason.  Here is the American Dipper looking underwater for food.

 

It flew back to the same rock I had first seen it on, and then disappeared again when I took my eye off it.  I was walking on the riverbed rocks, and had to watch where I was stepping, and that's why I kept taking my eye off the bird.  I suspect it flew up to the nest again.

 

I headed back north, through Carnation, and I stopped again at the feeder house.  This time a single Mourning Dove was feeding in the street when I got there, so I took its picture.

 

There were some Brewer's Blackbirds feeding on the ground, and I got two pictures of a male Brewer's Blackbird.

 

 

A Steller's Jay flew in, so I took its picture.

 

 

I noticed a larger bird at the closest feeder, and it turned out to be a female Black-headed Grosbeak.

 

In a minute or two, a male Black-headed Grosbeak flew in to join her.

 

That house is a good place to take pictures.  I can just sit in my car across the street and get pictures out the window.

 

From there I drove to my real destination for the day, the Stillwater Access to the Snoqualmie Valley Wildlife Area.  My back has been improving recently and I wanted to walk a bit.  I took my lunch and my camp chair and walked down the trail that runs along the old railroad track bed.  There were two or three possible species I could get there for my May list, but none were likely.  I mainly wanted to walk and take pictures.  There were a couple of male Cinnamon Teal on the first pond south of the parking lot.  Here is a picture of one of them.

 

I took several pictures, as usual, and when I processed them, I noticed that the duck had its bill open in one of them.  I don't know if it was vocalizing or yawning or just flapping its bill, but it looks kind of strange, I think.

 

Maybe it was laughing at me.

 

I walked down the trail to the second bridge and then I set up my chair and ate my sandwich, while watching for birds.  I've seen Willow Flycatchers there in the past, and they are just now starting to come back from their wintering grounds down south.  I didn't see anything interesting while I ate, and when I finished, I headed back toward my car.  I saw a couple of Cedar Waxwings and got this picture of one of them.

 

I was about 100 yards from the parking lot when I heard what I had been listening for - an American Bittern doing its weird call that sounds like a pump or something.  Score!  That was one for my list, and I hadn't expected to get it.  I went back and set up my chair near where I thought it was.  I heard it again and moved my chair a little.  The third time it called, I got a bead on the location, and I spotted it in the grass, across the pond, maybe 40 or 50 yards away.  I sat there and watched it, taking pictures and listening to it call at least a half dozen times more, over the next 20 minutes or so.  It never moved from where it was.  Here are my best two pictures of it, hiding in the grass.

 

 

It was interesting when it would make its weird call.  It would take several deep breaths, inflating its chest and throat like a balloon.  Then it would make this pumping sound as it exhaled the air in three or four breaths.  While I was sitting there, hoping it would move around, I got this shot of a couple of Barn Swallows.

 

One of the male Cinnamon Teals was sitting across the pond, preening.  Here is a shot showing some of the colors on its wing.

 

There were Red-winged Blackbirds all around, and I got this picture of one of them that landed in front of me.

 

Eventually I gave it up and headed for home.  As I drove back across the valley, I took this picture of a White-crowned Sparrow on a wire.

 

I was out there for about 5 hours, and I had a great time.  I walked a little, I saw some good birds, I got a lot of pictures, and I even added one to my May list (American Bittern).  Now I have 137 species in May so far.  Last year I got 138 species in May, entirely in Western Washington.  I am hoping I can get a couple more on this side of the mountains still this month, so I can beat that.  In 2019 I had 160 species in Washington, but I birded on two days in Eastern Washington.  I plan to bird on parts of three days east of the mountains this year, and I am hoping to beat that 160 number for May.  Meanwhile, I have three more days before I leave on that trip over the mountains, but there is really not much to look for.  Two or three species haven't yet returned to this area, or they have just barely started, and I'm hoping I can get them by the end of the month.

 

 

Sunday, May 23, 2021

 

Today I went over to Wallace Swamp Creek Park, in Kenmore.  It is only about fifteen minutes from home.  There were only a couple of species I could have gotten that I needed, but it was an easy outing.  I had emailed Linda, a birding acquaintance that knows the park intimately, about the two species I wanted, and she had given me an excellent answer, along with some other tips.  One of the species I wanted was Hairy Woodpecker, but she told me that the birds had fledged from that nest a week or so ago.  Too bad I hadn't asked her last week.  I found the Red-breasted Sapsucker nest she mentioned.  Two sapsuckers were going in and out of the nest.  Here is one of them at the nest hole.

 

Here is one of the sapsuckers coming out of the nest.

 

The bird seems to have a bill full of wood chips, which would have been left over from when the birds made the nest hole.  I think there are young ones in the nest, so I'm not sure why they would be removing wood shavings now.  The young of woodpeckers, and many other birds, excrete little sacs of poop, called fecal sacs.  The parents then carry the fecal sacs away from the nest.  Maybe for whatever reason, the young ones are pooping in the shavings, which would have been left there by the parents.  I am only speculating.  All I know if that they were taking wood shavings away from the nest.  Here is another picture from another angle.

 

They didn't always have wood shavings, and here is a picture of one of the parents leaving the nest.

 

While I was watching the sapsuckers, a Western Wood-Pewee showed up and flew out from a snag behind the sapsucker snag.  The light was terrible, but here is a lousy picture of the Western Wood-Pewee.

 

Here is another one.

 

That is only the second Western Wood-Pewee I have seen this year, but they will be all over the place in days.

 

A couple of Cedar Waxwings came around, too, so I took their pictures.

 

 

Note the red, waxy substance on the wing joints.  That gives the species their name.  Only fully mature birds have that red substance on their wings.

 

I walked around looking and listening for Black-throated Gray Warbler, but I never got a sniff.  I decided to try to find a Bushtit nest that Linda had told me about.  I followed her directions, and I found it after looking for a few minutes.  It is largely obscured by branches, but here is a shot of the nest.  It is like a wooly sock, hanging down the middle of the picture from that branch descending to the left.  The nest stretches all the way to almost the bottom of the picture.

 

Here is a picture of the opening to the nest, which is at the top.

 

The Bushtit parents were going in and out regularly, which indicates that there are young within.  Here is a male Bushtit coming out of the nest.

 

Here is a female Bushtit coming out of the nest.  (Males have dark eyes and females have light eyes.)

 

Here is a shot of one of the Bushtits going into the nest.

 

Here is another one of the female coming out of the nest.

 

So, I didn't get anything I needed for my May list today, but I had a good time walking around the park and checking out the nests.  My counts remain at 136 species for May and 227 species for the year.

 

 

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

 

Today the weather was a little questionable, but I had seen reports over the weekend of two flycatcher species I need this month, at a site in Snohomish county that I am familiar with.  Both are summer residents here, and they are due back here now.  I knew it was a longshot, but I felt like a little walk would do me good.  I drove to the Fobes-Ebey Slough Dike Trail, on Fobes Road, just west of the town of Snohomish.  It had been cloudy when I left home, but as I approached the site, it started to drizzle.  By the time I got there, it was a heavy drizzle, bordering on light rain, so I sat in the car, waiting for it to pass.  After about 40 minutes, the drizzle pretty much stopped, so I walked out on the dike trail.  I never saw either of the flycatchers I was hoping for, but I had a nice little walk on the dike.  I saw Cedar Waxwings several times, and I got these next two pictures of a very wet Cedar Waxwing.

 

 

Here is another Cedar Waxwing that looks dry.  I wonder if it found somewhere to sit out the drizzle and keep dry.  This one and the wet one seemed to be together, along with 2 or 3 others.

 

When I got back to my car, I drove to the end of Fobes Road, and I spotted this male Western Tanager in the distance.  It looks rather wet.

 

That was it for today.  I have 137 species this month so far, and I have 227 species this year so far.  Tomorrow I plan to head over the mountains for two nights in Yakima, east of the mountains.  I hope to add as many as 24 species to my May list, and 5 or 6 of those species could be additions to my year list as well.  Maybe I am being too optimistic, we will see.

 

 

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

 

Today I drove over Snoqualmie Pass, through the Cascade Mountains, to what we Western Washington people call Eastern Washington, but is actually more accurately described as Central Washington.  My first stop was just over the pass at Hyak, where I visited the water treatment plant.  They have two small ponds and I saw three Barrow’s Goldeneyes on one of them.  Here is a picture of two of the Barrow’s Goldeneyes, an excellent May bird for me.

 

The one on the right is an adult male, and the one on the left is a first year male, meaning it was hatched last year.  Barrow’s Goldeneyes are interesting because they spend the winter on Puget Sound, mostly around ferry landings or other docks, and then they go up into the mountains and breed on streams and lakes at elevation.   I usually only see them in the winter, on saltwater.  I have seen the species before at the water treatment plant at Hyak, and I saw a report from a couple of weeks ago that mentioned them there, so I took the ten minutes to check it out.  It paid off.

 

I continued on I-90 East and got off just east of Cle Elum.  I drove on Airport Road, Masterson Road, Red Bridge Road, and Ballard Hill Road to Swauk Prairie.  I soon saw my first Black-billed Magpie of the day and the month, right next to the road, and it stayed in place while I took pictures out the passenger side window.

 

 

The blue on the wing usually looks black, but when the light hits it right, it looks blue.

 

Soon after that I saw the first of 4 or 5 Western Kingbirds that I saw toady.  That was another May bird.  Here is a picture of the Western Kingbird in good light.

 

A little later I saw my first of several Say’s Phoebes of the day and month.  Here is a shot of that one.

 

Cliff Swallows were actively visiting their nests under the eaves of the farm buildings at the west end of Ballard Hill Road.  Some of them were sitting on wires and preening.  Here are two shots of a Cliff Swallow, a species I already had this month.

 

 

I stopped at my Pygmy Nuthatch site, where they had nested the last couple of years, but today I couldn’t call one up.  That was my first big miss of the day.  A House Wren showed up, and I got a couple of mediocre pictures of it.  Normally, House Wren would be a good Central Washington bird for me, but I know of a nest site in Skagit county, where they are quite uncommon, and I had seen one there already this month.  Here is a House Wren.

 

 

I heard Western Meadowlarks all along that route, but I didn’t get a picture today.  I saw them a few times, later in the day.  That was a Central Washington species I was counting on for my May list.

 

I got nothing at the old Swauk cemetery, and all I got along Swauk Prairie Road was Western Bluebird.  Here is a male Western Bluebird that appears to have caught a spider or bug for a snack.

 

Here is a female bluebird on a wire.  I’m not sure which species of bluebird it is.  It looks more like a Mountain Bluebird than a Western Bluebird, but I didn’t see any male Mountain Bluebirds along that road, and there were several male Western Bluebirds.  A female Western Bluebird should have some red-brown color on the upper breast.

 

I didn’t count it as a Mountain Bluebird, and later I saw several obvious male Mountain Bluebirds to count for my list.

 

Next I stopped on the part of Swauk Prairie Road that goes through some evergreens, where I usually can call up a Mountain Chickadee.  My second big miss of the day came when I couldn’t call one up.  I did eventually get a couple of vocal responses to WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH songs, though, so that surprise bird went on my year list as a “heard only” species.

 

I drove to Bettas Road and slowly drove through the valley.  I missed seeing Chipping Sparrow there, but that was only a small miss because I don’t always get them there.  I played Vesper Sparrow songs in several places, and eventually one showed up and posed for me while singing back to me.  Here is my May Vesper Sparrow.

 

 

I continued on to Hayward Road and added Mountain Bluebird there.  Here are two rather distant pictures of male Mountain Bluebirds.  Neither picture is very good, but I love blue colored birds, so here they are.

 

 

 

I was quite pleased to spot a Horned Lark on Hayward Road, too.  I missed that one in April.  Here are a couple of pictures of my May Horned Lark.

 

 

I was low on gas by then, as expected, and I drove on in to the outskirts of Ellensburg and filled up at the new Pilot station there.  After that I drove out to the town of Kittitas and took Parke Creek Road toward the hills.  I got my Yellow-headed Blackbird at the usual marshy place along Parke Creek Road, but my pictures are ridiculously distant, and I didn’t bother processing them.  I drove out the old Vantage Highway, up into sage country.  At the Wild Horse Wind Farm, I stopped at my usual spot for three sage species, but today I couldn’t call up any of them there.  I drove up the road a little and tried again.  I did eventually hear a Sage Thrasher singing in the distance, not in response to my playing.  It was good enough to put it on my May list.

 

I was disappointed, but I had a couple more places to try.  At the west entrance to the Quilomene Wildlife Area, I walked up the road a bit and managed to call in a Brewer’s Sparrow that then hung around and sang back to me for a long time.  At first it was in the sage, and here is a partially obscured shot of the singing Brewer’s Sparrow.

 

It came out more into the open and continued to sing, although I had stopped playback several minutes earlier.

 

Eventually it came out fully in the open, still singing away.

 

A Sage Thrasher was singing from a post across the road, too, so I could take the “heard only” designation off that one.

 

I drove on to the east entrance to the Quilomene Wildlife Area, where I had read years ago that the type of sage there favored Sagebrush Sparrows.  I walked up the road there and eventually attracted a Sagebrush Sparrow with playback and got this picture.

 

So, even though I struck out at my usually place for those three sage species, I managed to find them all today.  I drove on to Recreation Drive and played Rock Wren songs.  One flew over the road and I tracked it down and got a couple of mediocre pictures in poor light.  Rock Wren, another good Central Washington species.

 

 

That was it for me today.  I was an hour away from my lodgings in Yakima, and it was about 3:45, so I hit the freeway.  I ended up getting 15 species for my May list today, and now I have 152 species this month.  White-breasted Nuthatch was new for 2021, and now I have 228 species this year.  I missed some species today, but I’ll have another chance at them in the next two days.  My biggest misses were Mountain Chickadee and Pygmy Nuthatch, with Chipping Sparrow in third place.  I could get all three of those at a couple of other places I plan to visit tomorrow and Friday, so I haven’t given up on them.  I had hoped for 16 to 18 species today, but 15 is actually pretty good, I guess.  Tomorrow I plan to visit some places I haven’t been to for a couple of years.

 

 

Thursday, May 27, 2021

 

My first destination today was Kerry’s Pond, a little farm pond about a half hour from my motel.  I immediately saw a pair of Redheads, an uncommon duck that hangs out at Kerry’s Pond for some reason.  Here is a male Redhead.  You can see where the species gets its name.

 

Here is a more drab female Redhead.

 

I don’t know where or when Redheads breed, but there are 8 or 9 pairs of Redheads hanging around Kerry’s Pond, with no signs of ducklings.

 

The next species I got was Black-necked Stilt, a long-legged shorebird that also hangs out at Kerry’s Pond.

 

 

Those two were easy, but there was a third species I was hoping for.  It was there, too, as it turned out.  Here is a picture of two American Avocets on the little island in the pond.

 

I also took this picture of a male Cinnamon Teal, a species I had already seen this month.

 

That worked out well, and I headed back toward Yakima.  I had spent about an hour and a quarter getting those three species that I almost certainly won’t see anywhere else this month.

 

The next stage of my plan for the day took me west into the foothills, to the Oak Creek Wildlife Area.  I pulled in to the parking area across the road from the cliffs where White-throated Swifts nest, and I very quickly located a White-throated Swift flying around, in the midst of a lot of Cliff Swallows.  With that one on my list, I drove up Oak Creek Road in search of my other target there.  It didn’t take long to find a Lewis’s Woodpecker, a bird with a very limited range in Washington.  Here are a couple of pictures of that striking-looking woodpecker.

 

 

I could have looked for other birds there, but I turned around and headed off to my third destination, which was the area at the head of the Wenas Valley.  I had a list of more than 20 species I might find there, and I was eager to look.  I haven’t mentioned that it was very windy today.  That hadn’t affected me at my first two stops because of the particular birds I was looking for.  Wind doesn’t make it any harder to see a duck on a pond, for example, but if you are looking for little birds in trees and bushes, that is a completely different story.

 

I don’t know how much of it was due to the wind and how much to the fact that I am not a good birder in a forest situation, but for whatever reason, I got absolutely nothing I needed in the Wenas area and saw very little of anything else as well.  Wind causes several problems.  The birds hunker down, the constant motion of the leaves and branches makes it difficult to detect birds through seeing motion, and the sound of the wind makes playback or listening for bird sounds more difficult.

 

I ate the first half of my sandwich at the Wenas Campground, and after that I gave up on it.  I had planned to spend two or three hours in that area, but the birding was so bad that I threw in the towel.  In addition to the wind, which kept blowing dust around, there were people on 4 wheel ATV’s roaring up and down the unpaved roads, throwing up more dust.  I thought about just going back to my hotel at about 2 o’clock, but I decided instead to drive up over Ellensburg Pass and into Ellensburg, then return to Yakima through Yakima Canyon.  There were two or three places I wanted to stop along that route, and I could see birds while traveling as well.

 

It turned out to be a great decision.  As I drove up the canyon from Wenas, I saw a little bird at the top of a tree.  I got my binoculars on it, and it looked to me like a warbler I had been looking for at Wenas (MacGillivray’s Warbler).  I got out and took some distant pictures at a terrible angle.  It turned out that it was actually a different warbler than I had thought, an even better one for me to get.  Here are two shots of a NASHVILLE WARBLER, a species I can’t even remember seeing in Washington before, although my Washington county spreadsheet indicates I have seen it in King county at some point since 2012.  Here is my second Nashville Warbler in Washington State.

 

 

I moved on up the hill leading to Ellensburg Pass.  I stopped at a place that had possibilities and ate the second half of my sandwich.  I also played some bird songs.  My playback didn’t actually attract anything, but while I was out of the car doing it, a bird flew across the road, and when I got my binoculars on it, I could see it was a CHIPPING SPARROW, one of the species I had missed yesterday.  It flew just as I was ready to get its picture.  Another bird flew across the road, and it turned out to be a Mountain Chickadee, another species I had missed yesterday.  I couldn’t get a picture of it, either, but it was great to see one.  I had picked up three more species for my May list within 15 minutes of giving up on the Wenas area.  For some reason, it wasn’t nearly as windy in the canyon I was in, as it had been down below.

 

I drove on across the plateau, and saw bluebirds several times.  People have installed bluebird nest boxes all along that road.  I stopped at one point and got this picture of a female Western Bluebird that had some food and wanted to take it to a nest box.

 

She took it into a nest box, and here is a picture of her looking ot of the box, just before leaving.

 

I stopped at the parking lot for the trailhead for Umptanum Falls.  A fire had gone through there last year, but not everything was burned along the creek.  I played the song of the warbler I had been unsuccessfully looking for at Wenas, and a MACGILLIVRAY’S WARBLER flew in.  I tried for a picture, but the bird would never sit still long enough.  While trying for that, I saw a Yellow Warbler and a Wilson’s Warbler, too, both of which are good birds, but I already had them this month.

 

I continued on down the hill to Ellensburg, but on the way I stopped at a point that looked good for a bird I had been told can be found along that stretch of road.  I played the song, and got a response.  I never could see it, but I listened to a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT singing its wacky song for several minutes.  I was hampered in my attempts to see it by the second rain shower I had had today, and I never saw the bird.  Still, it went on my lists as a “heard only” species.  While I was doing that, I heard a California Quail calling nearby, too, and when the rain stopped and the chat stopped responding, I looked around the area and found a pair of California Quail, a species I got way back on the first day of this month.

 

Here is the male on his own.

 

Here’s the female on her own.

 

And, because you can never have too many pictures of quail, here is the pair of them again.

 

I drove through the south edge of Ellensburg and took Canyon Road through the Yakima Canyon, back to my hotel in Yakima.  I stopped a couple of places, and at one of them, a couple of Black-billed Magpies were performing some kind of ritual.  Each of them had a bit of what looked like food in their bill, and they were sticking their tails up and sort of moving around each other.  I assume it was some kind of courtship ritual.  Here are pictures of each of the Black-billed Magpies.

 

 

They flew off after that, maybe because I was watching and taking pictures, and I moved on.  At another stop, I saw a bird I couldn’t identify.  All of my pictures except one are too blurry and out of focus to be useful even for identification.  Here is the only one that isn’t blurry, and it doesn’t show enough of the bird for me to identify it.  It was smaller than the nearby House Finches.  Here it is, in case I get a brainstorm and have some idea of what it might have been.

 

It was another long day of birding, by my standards.  I was out there for almost 8 hours and I drove about 180 miles today.  I added a very surprising 10 species to my May list, and now I have 162 species this month.  Four of those were new for the year, and now I have 232 species this year.  My decision to give up on Wenas (which is an extremely popular birding venue) and drive over North Wenas and Umptanum Roads to Ellensburg was a really great one, since I got five species on that route.

 

Tomorrow I head for home, but I plan to stop several places around Cle Elum to see if I can get a couple more species.

 

 

Friday, May 28, 2021

 

Mostly I drove home today, but I stopped a few places to try for birds on the way.  My first birding stop was Taylor and Hart Roads, between Ellensburg and Cle Elum.  I didn't find anything I needed on Hart Road.  I didn't find anything I needed on Taylor Road, either, but I did get a couple of pictures.  I was playing Pygmy Nuthatch songs, and a Pine Siskin flew in and seemed interested in the songs.  Here are two pictures of a Pine Siskin.

 

 

I moved on to the bridge over the Teanaway River.  I had seen reports of several species I need there, and I played some bird songs.  I got a response when I played one of them, and a GRAY CATBIRD kept singing away for ten or fifteen minutes after that.  It moved around, and for the longest time, I couldn't find it.  Finally I saw it fly across the road, and after that I tracked it pretty well.  It never came out in to the open, though, and the only pictures I could get were partially obscured.  Here are three pictures of a Gray Catbird.

 

You can see its black or dark gray cap and also the cinnamon color under the base of the tail.

 

As I said, it stayed back in the foliage, but kept on singing away, loudly.

 

Eventually I gave up on it, or it gave up on me, and I moved on.  After a quick unsuccessful stop at a fishing access point where I have seen Red-eyed Vireo in the past, my next real stop was the Railroad Ponds in Cle Elum.  I wanted Pygmy Nuthatch there, but I couldn't call one up.  I did see a female Barrow's Goldeneye in the pond, and here is a picture.

 

That was the species I had seen at the Hyak water treatment ponds on my way across the mountains on Wednesday, so it wasn't a May bird today.  It was windy there today, and that didn't help.  It was also very noisy from the heavy holiday traffic on the nearby freeway, and big trucks kept coming by, both ways.  There must be a cement plant or something at the end of the little road that runs along the ponds, because I had 20 or 30 large tricks come by today while I was there, which didn't help any, either.

 

My last birding stop of the day was Bullfrog Pond.  I was sorry to see that they have put up a No Parking sign where I used to park, making me walk an extra 70 or 80 yards each way.  There is a short dirt path you walk there, and I took my camp chair along and sat at times and played bird calls.  I eventually did hear three or four clear calls from my main target species there, VEERY, but I never saw one.  I think there were other calls from them, too, but I wasn't sure about any but this one particular call I heard 3 or 4 times in a row.  So, Veery went on my lists as  heard only bird.

 

That was it for me today.  It was only about 1:00, but I wanted to miss the traffic in town, and there wasn't much more I could go for.  I stopped at Lake Easton State Park and ate my sandwich in the car, because it happened to sprinkle heavily for a few minutes right then.  The traffic going east over the pass was really slow, and I was glad I was going west.  I only had one little slowdown all the way home, and I got here just before 3:00.

 

Today I added 2 more species to both my May and 2021 lists.  Now I have 164 species in May and 236 in 2021.  I got 27 species on my little trip, which exceeded the 24.7 that my spreadsheet had indicated, so it was a successful trip in terms of birds.  I liked the hotel I stayed at, too, and other than the wind, the weather cooperated.

 

I have three more days in May, but there is little to go looking for.  I could always get something unusual, but I have two flycatcher species (Eastern Kingbird and Willow Flycatcher) that should be just now returning from migration, and I will look for them over the weekend.