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Friday, October 1, 2021

 

A new month begins.  Every species was new for my list today.  Before I even left home, I put Dark-eyed Junco, House Finch, House Sparrow, American Crow, and Feral Pigeon on my October list.  First I drove through Marymoor Park to see what I could get from the car.  In the community garden, I added White-crowned Sparrow and Anna's Hummingbird.  On the east side of the park, I found two or three little groups of Canada Geese and a group of Cackling Geese.  There were the usual Killdeer in one of the fields, too.

 

From there I drove out to the Snoqualmie River valley.  Going across the valley, I saw a bunch of Turkey Vultures in a dead tree.  Here is a shot of about 15 Turkey Vultures.

 

I counted about 30 Turkey Vultures in total, in the area.  They were roosting in several trees and flying around a little.  Here is another picture of five of them.

 

Turkey Vultures are currently migrating south, and this batch of them probably roosted in that area overnight, and they were waiting for the fog to lift and for it to warm up a bit before continuing on their way south.

 

I also got Savannah Sparrow and European Starling as I drove across the valley, and I was happy to see a Bald Eagle in the usual place.  Bald Eagles are hard to find in September for some reason, and I was glad to see one today.  At Sikes Lake, I added Great Blue Heron, and then I saw three Northern Harriers in a distant field.  You don't usually see more than one Northern Harrier at a time, so it was strange to see three of them, swooping around over the same point.  They prey on little rodents, so maybe there was a group of them.

 

There were no Ospreys around the nest at the river across from Chinook Bend, but the usual Red-tailed Hawk was on its station.  At the house in Carnation with feeders, I took this picture of a couple of American Goldfinches.

 

There were some Eurasian Collared-Doves near the top of a tree, and I took this picture of three of the Eurasian Collared-Doves.

 

Here is another Eurasian Collared-Dove on a pole.

 

Around the corner, I spotted these three Band-tailed Pigeons at the top of a tree.

 

I picked up a sandwich at the Carnation Market and stopped at the Tolt River bridge just south of Carnation, but I didn't see a dipper there.  I drove down the west side of the Snoqualmie River to Fall City.  At the pond on that road I added Mallard and heard some Common Ravens calling in the area.  I was kind of surprised to see a Greater Yellowlegs in the shallow part of the pond.

 

The yellowlegs did some preening, and I got this picture that shows its tail pattern.

 

Here is the Greater Yellowlegs looking for food after preening.

 

I drove up to Tokul Creek and walked out on the bridge, looking for American Dipper.  I didn't see any dippers, but there were some large fish in the creek.

 

I assume they were spawning, but I couldn't figure out what kind of fish they were.  There is a hatchery there that raises trout and steelhead, but these seemed too big for either of those species.  I thought at the time they were some species of salmon, but I couldn't find any pictures online that matched them.

 

I gave up on finding a dipper, but I had a plan.  It was a little early for lunch, but I was hungry, so I sat in my car and ate my great ham and salami sandwich from the Carnation Market.  After I ate, I went back out on the bridge.  The fish were still there, and eventually I spotted an American Dipper almost straight down from me.  The light was very poor because of the lingering fog and deep shade, but here are some pictures of the American Dipper, looking down on it.

 

 

 

The dipper was turning those leaves over, presumably looking for insects or something on the undersides.

 

 

American Dipper had been my primary target for the day, and I got it.  I backtracked to Carnation, and in the neighborhood around the house with feeders, I saw two or three Steller's Jays.  On my way back across the valley, I saw a little group of American Robins, and right after that there was a Northern Flicker feeding on the side of the road.

 

At Sikes Lake I saw a huge flock of swallows, feeding over the lake and neighboring fields.  Most of them were Violet-green Swallows, but there were some Barn Swallows mixed in with them.  Those two species were high on my target list for the day since they will be migrating south any day now.  This big flock was undoubtedly migrating already, from somewhere north of here.  I also saw a couple of American Coots on Sikes Lake.

 

As I drove on from there, I saw a flock of small brown birds.  Some were on the road, some on the wires, and some flying from one field to another.  They turned out to be AMERICAN PIPITS, my first ones of the year.  American Pipits migrate through here and are only around for two or three weeks.  I had been looking for them for the last couple of weeks, but never saw one in September.  Here are two pictures of American Pipits.

 

 

That was a very nice surprise, and I continued on my way home.  At the ponds along the west side of the valley, I spotted another species I had been looking for last week, but I never found one.  Here is my first Ring-necked Duck since May.

 

 

There was a Pied-billed Grebe near the Ring-necked Duck, too.  Here are the two of them.

 

Ring-necked Duck was the second bird of the day that I hadn't gotten in September, but got on the first day of October.

 

That was it for my birding today, but later in the afternoon, I noticed a bird at our suet feeder.  It turned out that a small flock of Bushtits came through the yard.  Here is a male Bushtit (with a dark eye).

 

I like this next picture because it shows the long tail of the species.

 

Here's a shot that shows the tails of two Bushtits on the other side of the feeder, as well as the one on the front side.

 

There were some Bushtits in the birch tree as well, but I was only able to get one picture.

 

Bushtit was the third species of the day that I never got in September, despite looking for them all month.  I always think it is interesting when I get species on the first of a month that I wasn't able to find the month before.

 

It turned out to be quite a successful day of birding, considering I was only out there for five hours in the middle of the day.  I started the month of October with 34 species.  American Pipit was new for the year, and now I have 254 species this year.

 

 

Saturday, October 2, 2021

 

I went north today.  My first stop was at the Everett waterfront.  I had three target species - Osprey, Caspian Tern, and Great Egret.  The first two are migrants that are already leaving, but I hoped to find one of each today.  Great Egret is a rarity in our area, but there have been two of them hanging around the Everett area in recent weeks.

 

I stopped at the North View Park and got out my scope.  I looked around the bay for Osprey, and after finding two Great Blue Herons and two Red-tailed Hawks on top of pilings, I finally found an Osprey on the top of a piling.  I kept looking but I couldn't find a Caspian Tern, although I did see some Double-crested Cormorants, an October bird.  Then I spotted a Great Egret in the distance, near the boat launch area.  I hopped in my car and drove to the boat launch, and the Great Egret was showing itself nicely.

 

I still couldn't find a Caspian Tern, so I used the rest room and started to leave.  On my way out, though, I noticed that there was a second Great Egret, even closer than the first one, which was still in the same place.  Here is the second Great Egret.

 

 

I had two of my three targets, with a chance to get Caspian Tern up north.  I left Everett and drove up to Skagit county.  After stopping to pick up a sandwich at Subway, I drove to Wylie Slough.  While approaching the reserve, I saw a raptor in the distance, perched on a dead branch.  I used my camera and got one picture of it before it flew off.

 

It is a terrible picture, of course, but it is good enough to show the long tail with rounded corners and the flat head.  Cooper's Hawk, an excellent October bird for me.  As I drove into the Wylie Slough reserve, there were some Hooded Mergansers on the little slough at the entrance.  Driving through the reserve, I found some Cedar Waxwings in a tree.  Here is a juvenile Cedar Waxwing.

 

Here are three juvenile Cedar Waxwings.

 

A Spotted Towhee flew into the same tree, so it went on my list.  At the parking lot by the headquarters, I saw a couple of male Purple Finches near the tops of some trees.  I parked there and walked out on the dike.  My main goal there was shorebirds, and the tide seemed right, but there were no shorebirds at all.  Very disappointing.  At the blind, I added Northern Shoveler and Green-winged Teal to my list.  Here is a pair of Green-winged Teal.

 

I gave it up and moved on.  As I left that area, I added Red-winged Blackbird and Brewer's Blackbird to my list.  On my way to Hayton Reserve, there was a large flock of geese in a field.  It was a mixture of Snow Geese, Cackling Geese, and Greater White-fronted Geese.  I had gotten Cackling goose at Marymoor Park yesterday, but I needed the other two species.  The white geese in this next picture are Snow Geese.

 

Here is a shot that shows Cackling Geese in the foreground and Snow Geese beyond them.

 

The Greater White-fronted Geese were at the east end of the flock, rather distant, but here are some of them.

 

At Hayton Reserve, I found a couple of birders with scopes who put me on to the rare (for this area) Black-necked Stilt that has been around there in the last week.  Here are a couple of pictures of the Black-necked Stilt.

 

 

Here is the Black-necked Stilt with a Greater Yellowlegs.

 

Here is the Greater Yellowlegs on its own.  I had gotten that species yesterday out in the Snoqualmie Valley.

 

The tide was out, but I scanned around to see if I could find a Caspian Tern with the gulls, since I had missed that one at Everett.  No luck on that, but I did add American Wigeon to my list.  As I drove out of Hayton Reserve, I saw my first Song Sparrow of October.  I drove to the house on the corner of Valentine Road and Dodge Valley Road that has feeders.  It is my most reliable place for Mourning Dove, but all I saw there was a couple of Eurasian Collared-Doves.  Up Valentine Road at the house with feeders there (Rancho Valentine it is called), there was a Downy Woodpecker at the big suet feeder.  I turned around and parked and watched the suet feeder while I ate my sandwich.  I soon added Red-breasted Nuthatch, and here are a couple of pictures.

 

 

A Black-capped Chickadee came to the suet and added to my list, and then this Chestnut-backed Chickadee came in.

 

When I finished my sandwich, I drove back down Valentine Road.  This time I found a Mourning Dove on a wire.

 

 

At the house on the corner, I was surprised and pleased to see this female Hairy Woodpecker eating suet from its perch on a nearby tree.

 

It is the first time I have seen Hairy Woodpecker since February, so that was a great addition to my October list.  I drove back across Fir Island, and on Rawlins Road I saw an American Kestrel for my list.  I also saw this Red-tailed Hawk, a species I got yesterday.

 

I drove through Wylie Slough Reserve again, but got nothing new.  I missed Black Phoebe there today, one of my targets for the day.  I had a plan, though.  I drove down to the reserve at Eide Road, in Stanwood.  From the turnout near the Davis Slough Access, I looked around and found some Caspian Terns with some gulls.  That was what I was hoping for.  Caspian Terns will be leaving our area very soon for their wintering grounds in southern California and Mexico, so I wanted to get that species before they all left.  I also added Northern Pintail there.

 

I headed for home then.  I added 26 more species to my October list today, bringing me to 60 species this month.  I mentioned yesterday that I got three species that I hadn't gotten in September, and today I got two more species that I hadn't gotten in September - Snow Goose and Hairy Woodpecker.  Oddly, in September I did get the two rarities I saw today.  In September, I saw Great Egret at Everett, just like today, and I saw Black-necked Stilt on Whidbey Island, at Dugualla Bay.  I wonder if this was the same Black-necked Stilt, since the distance from Dugualla Bay to Hayton Reserve is only about 5 or 6 miles, as the crow flies.  Black-necked Stilt is quite rare in this area, so it seems more likely to me that the bird flew 5 or 6 miles than that another one showed up, hundreds of miles out of terrirtory.  It was last reported at Dugualla Bay on September 10 and first reported at Hayton Reserve on September 27.

 

 

Sunday, October 3, 2021

 

Today I went up to the Edmonds area, mainly to try for California Quail.  At my quail site in the town of Woodway, I sat in the car for 15 minutes or so, but I didn't hear or see any quail.  I did add Golden-crowned Sparrow to my October list, though, and here are three different views of Golden-crowned Sparrow.

 

 

 

Eventually I moved on to the Edmonds Marsh, but I didn't see any shorebirds there.  Up on Sunset Avenue, I added Pelagic Cormorant, Surf Scoter, Red-necked Grebe, Horned Grebe, Heermann's Gull, and Glaucous-winged Gull.  Those are all common species, and I missed all the more difficult ones.  It was pretty windy, and that didn't help any.  The wind seems to discourage birds on the water (although I don't know where they go), and they are more difficult to see in the waves.

 

I drove up to Ocean Avenue, but the only thing I saw there was a Horned Grebe.  It was diving, but it was not too distant, so I took some pictures.  Here is the semi-distant Horned Grebe.

 

On one of its dives, it caught a fish.

 

I kept watching it, and eventually it quit diving, to rest a bit, I imagine.  Then a second grebe showed up.  Here is the second grebe.

 

I could see it was different, but I wasn't sure if it was another species (Eared Grebe) or just a Horned Grebe that hadn't molted as much into winter plumage yet.  Here are the two grebes together.

 

 

Other than plumage differences, the main difference between the two species is the shape of the head and bill.  After examining my pictures closely and consulting the internet, I decided they were both Horned Grebes.  Horned Grebes are quite common here, and they spend the winter here.  Eared Grebes are uncommon around here, and they only migrate through here, right at this time of year.  I kept trying to make it an Eared Grebe, but I guess it was only a Horned Grebe in an unusual molting plumage.

 

I headed for home then, but on the way I stopped again at my quail site in Woodway.  While I was sitting there, I thought I might have heard a quail call a few times, but it wasn't the most common (and easy to identify) call, and I decided I wasn't sure enough to count it.  Then a raptor flew through and scattered the sparrows I was watching.  It came back and landed on a power pole, quite near my car.  I had counted Cooper's Hawk yesterday, with a very distant picture, but today I got some close pictures of the juvenile Cooper's Hawk.

 

 

While I was out of my car taking pictures of that juvenile Cooper's Hawk, I noticed another hawk in the distance.  Here are a couple of distant pictures of it.

 

 

Cooper's Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks are members of the same family, and they are referred to as accipiters, which is the Latin name for the family.  They are notoriously difficult to distinguish from each other, and birders often debate about the identification when size can't be easily determined (Cooper's Hawks are generally larger than Sharp-shinned Hawks, but females in both species are significantly larger than males, and the sizes can actually overlap.  That is, a female Sharp-shinned Hawk can be as large as a male Cooper's Hawk.)

 

Birders talk about the "weight of the evidence" in discussing difficult identifications of the two species.  In this case, there are points of identification pointing to each species, and a reasonable argument could be made for either one.  I'm not going to count it as a Sharp-shinned Hawk, but it is a close decision.

 

After I took those pictures of the distant accipiter, the juvenile Cooper's Hawk on the pole nearby flew down and landed briefly, near where the sparrows I had been watching had been.  Accipiters feed on small birds mainly, but the sparrows got away this time.  Here is one more picture of the juvenile Cooper's Hawk.

 

That was it for my birding today.  It was all common birds, but I added 7 more species today.  Now I have 67 species this month.

 

 

Monday, October 4, 2021

 

I had a lunch appointment up in Everett today, and I went up to the area early to look for birds before lunch.  My first stop was Tulalip Bay.  The tide was very low, though, and there weren't many shorebirds to see.  I ended up adding Black-bellied Plover, Short-billed Gull (formerly Mew Gull), and Ring-billed Gull to my October list.

 

My next stop was the Everett sewage treatment ponds.  There aren't many ducks back from their breeding grounds yet, but I added Ruddy Duck, Gadwall, and Lesser Scaup to my October list.  As I drove back toward the highway, I spotted a Peregrine Falcon in a dead tree, and that was an excellent October bird.  It stayed there while I parked and got out for pictures.

 

I walked up on the dike, and the bird stayed in place and looked down at me.

 

I moved around for a better angle, and the bird moved a bit, too.

 

I can't remember ever being that close to a Peregrine before.  I was less than 10 feet from the base of his tree, and he was only up about 15 or 20 feet.

 

It got tired of posing for me and flew across the river, and I moved on.

 

I stopped at the 10th Street boat launch on Port Gardner Bay and added California Gull to my list.  I was interested to see that the two Great Egrets I had seen on Saturday were there again.  At least I assume they were the same two, because Great Egret is pretty rare in this area.  They were both walking along in the shallow water, looking for food, and I took pictures of them.

 

 

They kept finding little bits of food.  Here is a picture of one of them swallowing one of its catches.

 

 

I like their big feet.  Here is a shot of one of them catching something.

 

 

 

 

I guess that's enough pictures of Great Egrets, but I had fun watching them.  They moved very slowly and in a stately manner, striking when they saw something to eat.

 

I added another 8 species to my October list today.  The only "good" bird was the Peregrine Falcon; the others were all pretty common.  Now I have 75 species this month.  That seemed pretty good for the fourth of the month, but I looked back at my old reports, and in 2018 and 2019, I had 81 species each year, after the fourth of October.  Last year I had the same as this year, 75 species after October 4.  I still have some easy ones to add, and then it will get more difficult.  The next two days are supposed to be rainy, so I might not add any more until later in the week.

 

 

Thursday, October 7, 2021

 

On Tuesday, it rained all day, and yesterday I had stuff to do around the house, so I didn't do any actual birding on either day.  I did see a Bewick's Wren in our yard yesterday, though, and I needed that one.  Some Bushtits came around, too, but I had that one already.

 

Today I drove up to Skagit county and then around to Whidbey Island.  A stop at Wylie Slough only got me Wood Duck for my list.  I got this picture of a Spotted Towhee there, too.

 

I drove to Hayton Reserve, but all I saw was a huge number of Snow Geese.  Here is the bay at Hayton Reserve, with the tide out.

 

When the tide is high, that whole area is under water.  Those are Snow Geese out there, many hundreds of them.  I saw Snow Geese in a number of places today, thousands of them altogether.  Here is a little group of Snow Geese.

 

The white ones are adults, and the darker ones are juveniles, hatched this year up in the arctic.  Here is another small group of Snow Geese.

 

 

That could have been a family group.  A pair of Snow Geese can have up to three chicks.

 

I drove on and I saw more Snow Geese in several more places on Fir Island.  On Rawlins Road there was a large flock, and I took this picture of one Snow Goose.

 

One of the jets from Naval Air Station Whidbey flew over, making a huge noise, and the flock rose up and flew around.

 

After that I drove to Whidbey Island.  My first stop there was Dugualla Bay, and I found four Canvasbacks there, an excellent duck to get for my October list.  Next I drove to the overlook at Joseph Whidbey State Park.  I saw Surf Scoters there, which I already had, but there were some White-winged Scoters as well, and I needed that one.  I also saw the first of several Common Loons that I saw today.  That was another October species for me.

 

I was disappointed not to find any shorebirds at Swan Lake, other than a couple of Greater Yellowlegs and some Black-bellied Plovers, two species I already had.  It is very late for migrating shorebirds, but I had hopes, anyway.  At West Beach county park, I saw a Pacific Loon, which I needed.  Then a flock of Sanderlings flew up off the beach, where I hadn't noticed them.  I was able to identify them, though, so that one went on my list.  I also added Pigeon Guillemot there.

 

At the Hastie Lake beach access park, I ate my sandwich and watched for birds.  I spotted four or five Black Oystercatchers way up the beach.  I always like to see Black Oystercatchers, and it went on my list.  Here is a distant picture showing some Black Oystercatchers, with their long red bills.

 

I also saw a group of Harlequin Ducks in the distance, so that one went on my list.  I had gotten Horned Grebe at Edmonds earlier this week, but here is a picture of a Horned Grebe.

 

A little later, a couple of small grebes came by, and I decided they were Eared Grebes, an excellent one to get.  They only migrate through here, and there aren't many of them.

 

I stopped at Libbey Beach, but I didn't see anything interesting there.  At the Keystone ferry terminal, I found one Brandt's Cormorant on the old pier, along with a dozen or more Pelagic Cormorants.  I needed the Brant's, but not the Pelagic.

 

I stopped a couple more places, but I didn't get anything else.  I headed for home, and that was it for my birding day.  I was out there for 7 and a half hours, and I drove 209 miles.  It was a long day for this old birder.  I added 10 more species to my list today, and along with the Bewick's Wren from yesterday, I now I have 87 species this month.

 

 

Friday, October 8, 2021

 

Today I went over to Marymoor Park, which is located in Redmond, the next town over.  I went up on the viewing mound in the hopes of calling up a Lincoln's Sparrow or a Fox Sparrow, but I failed at that.  I saw several other sparrow species, though, and I took some pictures.  Here is a White-crowned Sparrow.

 

Here is a Savannah Sparrow.

 

I had Song Sparrows and Golden-crowned Sparrows, too.  Dark-eyed Junco is a member of the sparrow family, and they often respond to sparrow calls.  Here is a male Dark-eyed Junco.

 

I saw a House Finch and some American Goldfinches, too.  Here is one of the American Goldfinches, feeding on seeds on a weed flower that has gone to seed.

 

I gave up on that and drove through the park, looking for meadowlarks or the pheasant, but the only birds of interest I saw were three American Pipits.  I missed getting a picture of them, and I already had that good species this month.

 

I drove along the edge of the community gardens, and I got out and tried for pictures.  There were  a lot of common birds around, but I couldn't find a Lincoln's Sparrow, which was the one I needed.  I got this picture of a Black-capped Chickadee with a sunflower seed.

 

I parked and walked along the slough for a while, but the only thing I saw that I needed was three Common Mergansers in the slough, just below the weir.  Here are the three juvenile Common Mergansers.

 

Here is a picture of one of the juvenile Common Mergansers.

 

That was it for my birding today.  I missed a lot of species that had been seen yesterday, but I didn't walk nearly as much as the group that had birded yesterday.  Still, I was hoping for more than one species for my list.  Common Merganser brings me to 88 species this month.

 

 

Saturday, October 9, 2021

 

I had better birding luck today than yesterday.  I stayed close to home and went down to Juanita Bay Park, which is only about 3 miles from home.  I played some bird calls around the parking lot, but I couldn't attract a Golden-crowned Kinglet or a Brown Creeper.  I walked to the east boardwalk, and I played Pacific Wren songs in the place I had seen that species a couple of years ago, and I was pleased to see a cute little Pacific Wren popup and show itself.  I had great looks at it, but it was too dark under the trees, and I couldn't get my camera to focus for a picture.

 

Out at the end of the boardwalk, I spotted a Belted Kingfisher on the old Osprey nest platform.  I needed that one still this month.  Here are two distant pictures of the Belted Kingfisher.

 

 

I didn't see anything I needed out on the water, but I took some pictures.  Here is a male Wood Duck in breeding plumage.

 

Here is his much less colorful mate.

 

Here are the two Wood Ducks together.

 

A female Northern Shoveler cruised on by.

 

A Great Blue Heron was hunting nearby, and I took this picture because it gives a different view of a Great Blue Heron than I usually show.

 

I started back toward my car, and I noticed some little birds in some trees.  It turned out to be a mixed species feeding flock.  I wasn't able to get any pictures because they never stayed still, but I had good views.  I counted five species in the flock - Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Black-capped Chickadee, Bushtit, and Yellow-rumped Warbler.  I needed both kinglets and the warbler for my October list.  On my way back to my car, I tried again for a picture of the Pacific Wren, but again, I couldn't get one, although I did see the bird again.  I tried again for Brown Creeper near the parking lot, but again I missed on that one.

 

So, I got 5 more species for my October list today, to bring me to 93 species this month.  It is supposed to be rainy tomorrow, but Monday might give me an opening for a little birding.

 

 

Sunday, October 10, 2021

 

There was an interval between rain showers this morning, so I drove up to the Edmonds area.  My first stop was Deer Creek Park in the town of Woodway.  I played Brown Creeper songs in the parking lot, and I ended up attracting two of the little cuties.  Here are a couple of pictures of one of them, a good addition to my list.

 

 

Next I moved on to my quail site, but a guy and his dog were in the yard, so I gave that up and moved on to Richmond Beach Saltwater Park.  I have seen and heard quail there, but not today.  I scanned around the bay from the pedestrian bridge over the railway tracks.  I spotted a couple of Rhinoceros Auklets and a little flock of about 8 or 10 Black Scoters.  Both of those were excellent October birds, but much too distant for pictures.  Black Scoters are just starting to return from their summer migration, and I hadn't seen one since April.

 

I drove to Kayu Kayu Ac Park in Richmond Beach and again scanned the water.  There were four Horned Grebes feeding near the shore, but I had that one already.  Here is a picture of three of the Horned Grebes.

 

I saw a group of Harlequin Ducks, but I had seen that one over on Whidbey Island last week.  Then I spotted a single Red-breasted Merganser, another winter resident that is just now starting to return.  It was my first Red-breasted Merganser since May.

 

I stopped again at my quail site in Woodway, but I didn't see or hear any quail.  I drove into Edmonds and walked out on the fishing pier.  To the north and west I could see dark clouds and rain, but it was actually kind of sunny where I was, briefly.  The ferry was just coming in to the Edmonds ferry terminal, and I thought it was interesting to see the white ferry with the dark sky behind it.

 

A Rhinoceros Auklet was diving fairly close to the pier, and I got this picture.

 

I had been hoping to see Black Turnstone or Surfbird, but the tide was high, and I didn't see either species.  As I was leaving the pier, a Horned Grebe was repeatedly diving near the shore.  Here is a fairly close picture of the Horned Grebe.

 

It is interesting to see them dive.  They kind of come up a bit out of the water and go in head first.  Here is a picture of that Horned Grebe just starting its dive.

 

I drove up to Sunset Avenue, but it started to rain in earnest about then, and I couldn't do much scope work.  I didn't see anything interesting, and I drove home.  As I was coming down my driveway, I noticed a Northern Flicker on our suet feeder.  I stopped as I pulled into the garage and took these next two pictures of the male Northern Flicker on the suet feeder, taking the pictures through the open passenger side window.

 

 

I missed my primary target today (California Quail), but I added four good species to my October list.  Now I have 97 species this month.  It was supposed to be a rainy day, so I was glad to get anything at all.

 

 

Monday, October 11, 2021

 

I started my birding day by driving up to Tulalip Bay, which is about 35 miles north of home.  I was looking for two species of turnstones, which are round little shorebirds that feed on rocky shores.  The tide was high, which was what I wanted, because when the tide is too high for them to feed along the beach, they roost somewhere, waiting for the tide to go down again.  I knew that the turnstones at Tulalip Bay liked to roost on the log boom surrounding the little fishing boat marina there.  Sure enough, when I scanned the log boom with my scope, I found 7 Black Turnstones first, and then a little farther along the log boom, I saw a RUDDY TURNSTONE, an uncommon to rare bird here in Western Washington.  I knew one was hanging out there, because of eBird reports, but I had tried many times to find it, and today I finally got lucky.  The species name is capitalized because it was my first Ruddy Turnstone of the year.

 

The two turnstone species gave me two species for my October list, and I moved on.  I had found the turnstones so quickly that I had extra time, so I drove to the neighborhood in Marysville where I used to see California Scrub-Jays.  I hadn't seen one in my last 5 or 6 visits, but I had the time, so I decided to give it a go.  I didn't see any jays on my first pass, but I got out of my car and walked around the park next to where I have seen the jays in the past.  There was a woman with a dog, sitting on a bench feeding peanuts to jays..  Most of the jays were Steller's Jays, which I didn't need, but there was one California Scrub-Jay coming in for peanuts, too, so it went on my list.  Here is my October California Scrub-Jay.

 

I like blue-colored birds, so I took pictures of the jays.  Here are a couple of pictures of Steller's Jay.

 

 

Here are some more pictures of the California Scrub-Jay.

 

 

 

 

I like the fall colors with the blue of the jays.

 

With that excellent October bird under my belt, I drove to the Everett sewage treatment ponds.  Another birder was there with his scope, and we chatted as we scanned the water.  He spotted a couple of grebes, and we agreed they were Eared Grebes, an uncommon species that is migrating through here now.  I had counted Eared Grebe over on Whidbey Island last week, but I wasn't 100% certain of my identification, so today's sighting "insured" that species for October.  I also saw some Greater Scaup way on the other side of the main pond, so that one went on my list.  Greater Scaup is one of the winter residents that are returning this month.  That was it for my birding today.  I had a lunch appointment in Everett, and after lunch I stopped at Costco in Lynnwood and drove on home.

 

I added 4 more species to my October list today, and now I have 101 species this month.  In October 2018, I had 122 species; in October 2019, I had 137 species; and in October 2020 I had 129 species.  I seriously doubt I can match 2019, but maybe I can catch one or both of those other two years.  There is a lot of time left, and there are quite a few winter resident species that haven't shown up yet, or that I haven't found yet.  Ruddy Turnstone brings my 2021 total to 255 species.

 

 

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

 

I went over to Marymoor Park today, in nearby Redmond.  My first birding stop was the viewing mound, near the East Meadow.  I played Lincoln's Sparrow songs, but couldn’t attract one.  I heard a bird singing, and I decided it was a Western Meadowlark, which I needed, so it went on my list.  I would rather see a bird than just hear it, though, so I tried playing the song on my phone, partly to be sure I was remembering right.  To my surprise, a meadowlark flew in to the top of a nearby tree and sang back to me.  Here are some pictures of the Western Meadowlark.

 

 

 

Eventually, I ended up seeing three of them, but the others wouldn't pose for me like this one did.  I hadn't ever had a meadowlark fly in like that to its song;  I'll have to try it again in the future.  I gave up on Lincoln's Sparrow and moved on.  I drove along the side of the community garden, but I didn't get anything there, either, although I tried playing Lincoln's Sparrow songs there, too.

 

I parked and walked along the slough.  I was hoping for Wilson's Snipe, but I never saw one.  I played Lincoln's Sparrow songs, and a Fox Sparrow responded by flying in.  Sparrows often respond to other sparrows' songs.  I needed Fox Sparrow, too, and I used its own song to try to coax it out into the open for pictures.  It mostly stayed back in the blackberry brambles, but I got two pictures of the Fox Sparrow.

 

 

I walked farther along the slough and got this picture of a Savannah Sparrow, a species I already had this month.

 

There were birds feeding in a hawthorn tree that had lots of berries on it.  There were mainly robins and Cedar Waxwings, both of which I had already this month.  Here are a couple of pictures of juvenile Cedar Waxwings with hawthorn berries.

 

 

They swallow the berries whole and move on to the next one.  They can really go through them quickly.  Here is that last Cedar Waxwing, just as it was swallowing a berry.

 

I continued my walk, playing Lincoln's Sparrow songs repeatedly, and I spotted a bird fly in to the weir, up ahead.  I hustled up there and just missed getting a picture of a Western Meadowlark on the weir.  It flew a short distance and walked through the grass, foraging for food.  Here are some pictures of the Western Meadowlark in the grass of the dry channel of the slough.

 

 

 

I don't recall ever seeing a meadowlark on that side of the park before.  A bit farther along, there was a Belted Kingfisher watching the water.  I had that one, too, but pictures are always welcome.  There were branches in the way of a picture, but I found a couple of little windows to shoot through.  Here are a couple of peek-a-boo pictures of a Belted Kingfisher.

 

 

I walked back to my car, continuing to look for snipe and playing Lincoln's Sparrow songs on my phone.  No luck, so I gave it up.  As I approached my car, though, there were some birds feeding right in front of my car, in a grassy patch in the parking lot.  Lo and behold, one of them was a Lincoln's Sparrow!  I had been playing the song all over the park, and when I gave it up, one was two feet from my car.  Here are three pictures of my October Lincoln's Sparrow.

 

 

 

While I was still taking pictures, a woman with a couple of dogs that weren't on leash came back to her car, which was next to mine.  Her dogs scared off the sparrows.  I got in my car, and she put her dogs in her bright blue jeep and got out some pieces of bread, which she proceeded to feed to crows.  Crows flew in from all over, and there must have been 30 of them by the time I left.  On my way out, I saw some sparrows on the ground near the community gardens, and I stopped to check them out.  Nothing interesting, so I started out again.  The woman in the bright blue jeep was just leaving, and there were 2 or 3 dozen crows following her car.  She pulled in to the next parking lot and the crows landed around her car.  I think she was getting out, maybe to feed them again, as I drove off.  Maybe she feeds them regularly and they know her.  It was funny watching them following her car.  I wish I had a picture of it.

 

As I drove through the park one more time, hoping to see Lonesome George, the pheasant.  There was a small flock of Cackling Geese near one parking lot, so I took some pictures.  I like the compact version of Canada Geese, with their stubby little bills and short necks.

 

 

That was it for today.  I added 3 more species to my October list, and now I have 104 species this month.

 

 

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

 

Today I went up to the Edmonds area.  My first stop was my quail site, and I finally got lucky there.  As I pulled in, about 6 quail came scurrying from the area where the feeders are to a hole in the hedge across the grass.  My only pictures are crap, but I got my California Quail for October.

 

Next I drove to the Edmonds fishing pier.  From the pier, I got this picture showing a Red-necked Grebe (closer to the camera) and a Horned Grebe.

 

There was a small gull fairly far out, so I took a picture in an attempt to identify it.  I had left my scope in the car, so I was using my camera for distant identifications.  It turned out to not be a Bonaparte's Gull, as I had hoped, but a Short-billed Gull (formerly called Mew Gull).  Here is the distant Short-billed Gull.

 

There were ten or twelve Rhinoceros Auklets out there today, but I had added that one to my list on Sunday.  Then a Rhinoceros Auklet showed up quite near the pier, and I got this close picture.

 

I didn't see anything I needed out there, so I headed back to my car.  On the way, I saw this Savannah Sparrow on the rocks, another species I already had.

 

It was interesting to be looking almost straight down on the Savannah Sparrow.

 

I stopped up on Sunset Avenue, but I didn't see anything I needed up there, either.  On Ocean Avenue, I saw hundreds of Western Grebes in the distance, right where I have seen them before at this time of year.  I wonder why they like to hang out there.  I needed that one.  I also counted 18 Pacific Loons in various stages of molting from breeding plumage to winter plumage, but I had that one already this month.

 

I made one more stop on my way home, at the Edmonds Marsh.  I played Marsh Wren songs, but couldn't attract one.  A couple of Black-capped Chickadees were foraging in the reeds, and I got this picture of one of them.

 

That was it for today.  I added two more species to my October list, and now I have 106 species this month.

 

 

Thursday, October 14, 2021

 

I went down to Juanita Beach Park this morning, which is across the bay from Juanita Bay Park, where I go more often.  I was in search of Wilson's Snipe, and I found five of them along the beach to the east of the dock.  They were too distant for pictures, but they went on my list.

 

After that I drove over to the fire station road at Juanita Bay Park.  I played Virginia Rail calls, and I heard responses, so that one went on my list, too.

 

That's all I did this morning, but after lunch I drove over to Marymoor Park.  I was hoping to maybe see or hear the resident pheasant, which I haven't seen or heard for a long time, but I again missed it today.  I was also hoping to see the Northern Shrike that had been reported there a day or two ago.  No dice.

 

I never got anything I needed, but I did take pictures of a Golden-crowned Sparrow that was eating a blackberry.  Here is my first picture of the Golden-crowned Sparrow, before it found the blackberry it was eating.

 

It flew a little farther away after that shot, and started to eat a blackberry.  Here are some shots of it eating the berry.

 

 

 

 

If you look closely, you can see that two or three of the berry parts are missing in that last picture.

 

That's it.  Pretty boring today, sorry.  I added two more species to my list, though, and now I have 108 species this month.  I'm waiting for about a dozen species to return from migration this month, but I won't get all of them.  I expect to end up with between 115 and 120 species this month, assuming I can get out and do some birding up in Skagit county in the last week of the month.

 

 

Saturday, October 16, 2021

 

Today I went up to Skagit county.  I had a few target species, and several other species will be returning by the end of the month, and they could have come back early.  I picked up a sandwich at Subway and my first birding stop was Wylie Slough.  I figured this was my last chance for 3 or 4 shorebird species, but there weren't any shorebirds around at all.  I didn't see Black Phoebe, either, or anything else.  As I left Wylie Slough, I took these next two pictures of a Mourning Dove on a wire.

 

 

A little farther up the road, there were blackbirds on a wire, and I added Brown-headed Cowbird to my October list.  Here is a male Brown-headed Cowbird.

 

Here is a female Brown-headed Cowbird, who is brown all over, not just on her head.

 

Here is the pair of Brown-headed Cowbirds.

 

I drove up to the town of Lyman, which is up the Skagit River Valley.  It was only an elevation gain of about 100 feet, but the temperature dropped from 65 degrees to 56 degrees.  It was drizzling up there, too.  In the barn of Gary B, a birding acquaintance of mine, I found a Barn Owl for my list.  I drove back to Wylie Slough and ate half my sandwich in the car, while I watched for Black Phoebe near the structure in the west parking lot.  No luck, so I walked out on the dike.  It was very windy, and there weren't any shorebirds at all out there.  It was the first day of duck hunting season, so there were lots of gun shots all around the area.

 

I drove on to Hayton Reserve and ate the other half of my sandwich.  After that, I walked up on the dike there.  It was even windier there, I think, and all I saw was a couple of Greater Yellowlegs and the rare Black-necked Stilt that has been hanging around there for two or three weeks.  Here is the stilt, which I had already seen this month, sitting down out of the wind.

 

The weather forecast had called for 13 mph winds, but it seemed like a lot more to me.  It was so windy that I couldn't even use my scope or my binoculars, and I could barely stand up.  I would have liked to look through the many ducks for a Eurasian Wigeon, but there was no way I could do that in the wind.  When I got back to my car, I looked it up on my phone, and the wind in nearby La Conner was reported to be 21 mph, but I think it was even worse at Hayton Reserve.

 

Anyway, I gave it up and headed for home.  On the way, I stopped at Eide Road, just west of Stanwood.  I took this picture of two Greater Yellowlegs at the Davis Slough access pullout.

 

I took that picture from the driver's seat of my car.  There was no way to stand out in the wind and take pictures or use a scope or binoculars.  I headed for home again, but I stopped at Everett.  At the 12th Street wetlands, just north of the ponds at the Everett sewage treatment plant, there was a little more water than last week.  It was completely dried up two or three weeks ago, but we have had quite a bit of rain.  That's a great place for shorebirds, and the fact it dried up this year hurt me in October.

 

At the main pond, there were few ducks out on the water.  It didn't seem as windy, though, and when I checked the weather report for nearby Marysville and Everett, it said the wind was only 12 mph in those two places.  That was what I had expected up in Skagit county, but mother nature fooled me today.  I was hoping for Merlin in one of the dead trees at the end of the road, but not today.  There was a Peregrine Falcon, but I had that one already this month.  The Peregrine Falcon was preening, and when it was done, I took this picture of it while its feathers were still being ruffled by the wind.

 

Here is the best picture I got today of the Peregrine Falcon.

 

On my drive out, I stopped and got this picture of a pair of Northern Shovelers.

 

The male is coming into his breeding plumage.

 

As I drove out of the water treatment plant complex, I saw some colorful mushrooms by the road, so I stopped and took pictures.  I looked them up, and they are called fly agaric mushrooms, I guess.  They are toxic, but not usually fatally so.  They are very colorful, however.

 

 

 

So, I only got 2 more species for my October list today - Brown-headed Cowbird and Barn Owl.  I probably would have done better if it hadn't been so crazy windy, but that's how it goes.  I knew the forecast was for strong winds, but I had the time, so I went.  Now I have 110 species this month.  I expect to end the month with somewhere between 115 and 120 species, but who knows?

 

 

Sunday, October 17, 2021

 

I went up to Edmonds today.  I walked out on the fishing pier, mainly hoping to see Surfbird on the breakwater rocks.  No dice.  I drove up to Sunset Avenue and looked around.  For the second day in a row, the weather forecast let me down.  Yesterday the winds up in Skagit county were twice as strong as they had forecasted.  Today the wind at Edmonds was coming from the west, not the south southeast, as the forecast had indicated.  That meant there were waves out there, which made looking for birds very difficult.  I probably wouldn't have found anything, anyway, but I really couldn't even seriously try with the wind coming from the west.

 

I drove up to Ocean Avenue, anyway, just in case something was close to shore.  As it turned out, there was a flock of 2 or 3 dozen American Wigeons on the water close to shore.  I searched through them, looking for a Eurasian Wigeon, an uncommon vagrant that shows up here in the winter, and I found one.  I hadn't seen that species since March, and it was one of the dozen or so species I have been waiting for to return this month.  I expected to find one later this month, but there was no guarantee, and now I won't have to spend time searching through every flock of American Wigeons I see.  The uncommon Eurasian Wigeon brought me to 111 species this month.  Unfortunately, the flock took off before I could get my camera out for a picture.

 

 

Monday, October 18, 2021

 

I started out today at the Marysville sewage treatment plant.  I parked and walked along Eby Slough to the ponds.  There were many dozens of Bonaparte's Gulls on the ponds, which is the species I was looking for, for my list.  Here is one of the cute little Bonaparte's Gulls.

 

Here is a shot of six of them, a little farther away.

 

From time to time, some of them flew around.

 

Getting Bonaparte's Gull there will save me a trip across the Sound to Point No Point, which is great because the ferry schedules are all messed up due to staffing issues.

 

This next duck was interesting to me because of its plainness, size, white eye arcs, and bill size.  I thought it was either a Cinnamon Teal or a Blue-winged Teal.  The females of both species are very similar.

 

This next picture shows it preening, and the blue on the wing definitely made it one of those two species - Blue-winged Teal or Cinnamon Teal.

 

This next picture makes me say it was a Blue-winged Teal.  The forehead is too steep for Cinnamon Teal, and the whitish patch at the base of the bill, connecting to a whitish chin, also says Blue-winged Teal.  The bill isn't long enough for Cinnamon Teal, either.

 

That was a great one to get for my October list.  Blue-winged Teal is uncommon at the best of times, and by now, they have almost all migrated south for the winter.

 

A pair of Lesser Scaup came by.  I had that one already, but this was an opportunity for pictures.  Here is the female Lesser Scaup.

 

Here are two pictures of the male Lesser Scaup, which has a different head shape than Greater Scaup.

 

 

Here is the pair of Scaup together.

 

At about that time I noticed that there were three juvenile Greater White-fronted Geese just on the other side of the chain link fence I was looking through.  Here are two pictures of a juvenile Greater White-fronted Goose, through the chain link fence.

 

 

There were Ruddy Ducks on the pond, too, and here is one of them.

 

A medium sized shorebird with a long bill flew by and landed at the end of the pond.  I thought it maybe was a Greater Yellowlegs, which I had already this month, but it turned out to be a dowitcher.  I still needed both dowitcher species this month.  Long-billed Dowitcher is more common at this time of year in that location, but I decided it was a Short-billed Dowitcher, an excellent October bird.  Here are a couple of pictures of what I think was a Short-billed Dowitcher.

 

 

A duck was swimming back and forth in front of the dowitcher, and I thought it was another Blue-winged/Cinnamon Teal.  I took pictures and I decided this one was a Cinnamon Teal.  One thing that helped me identify it was the red eye.  Male Cinnamon Teals have a red eye in eclipse (non-breeding) plumage.

 

The forehead is not as steep as that of the Blue-winged Teal I showed earlier, which is another indicator that it was a Cinnamon Teal, not a Blue-winged Teal.  It is amazing that I would get both Cinnamon Teal and Blue-winged Teal there today.  Neither one was at all likely.  For that matter, Short-billed Dowitcher was very unlikely, too.  Here is the dowitcher and the male Cinnamon Teal together.

 

Here is one last duck picture, a female Northern Shoveler.

 

After that very successful visit, I walked back to my car and drove to the nearby Everett sewage treatment ponds.  I didn't get anything there, and I went to lunch with my friend, Chris, in Everett.  After lunch, I went down to the 10th Street boat launch parking lot, to look for a Herring Gull.  I didn't find one, but as I drove out to the freeway, I stopped at North View overlook and saw a Great Egret feeding in the shallows.  I had that one, but it is rare around here, so I took a couple of pictures.

 

Here's what a Great Egret does when its neck itches.

 

Getting by without arms can be a problem.

 

Much to my surprise, I added 4 more species to my October list today.  Maybe I can get somewhere between 120 and 125 species this month, if I'm lucky with the returning species at the end of the month.

 

 

Thursday, October 21, 2021

 

We had one more dry day today, before a series of storms hits us, so I took advantage of it and went up to Skagit county.  There were five or six species up there that I still hoped would return this month, although next week would be much more likely than this week.  I had some to look for, though, so I went.

 

My first stop was Wylie Slough.  I looked for Black Phoebe there several times this month, and today I finally got lucky.  Just as I drove in and stopped to look at the first little slough, I saw a bird fly into a bush.  It turned out to be my Black Phoebe.  It flew on before I could get a picture, but I followed it and it landed in another bush and posed for me.  Here are three pictures of the Black Phoebe from the back.

 

 

 

I was still taking pictures of the Black Phoebe when a small flock of Pine Siskins flew into a tree behind the phoebe.  I hadn't seen a Pine Siskin since July, and I had pretty much given up on that species this month.  Pine Siskins have a widely varying migration pattern, and some years there are a lot of them, and some years there are none around here.  I had seen reports of them at Wylie Slough in the last week, so I was hopeful.  Here is a terrible picture of a Pine Siskin that is at least good enough to identify the species.

 

That was a great start to my day, and I moved on to Hayton Reserve.  Next to the parking lot, there was a female American Kestrel catching prey (probably bugs or spiders), and I got this picture.

 

It was cloudy where I was, but the sun was shining on Mount Baker, so I took this next picture.

 

The tide was mostly out, and there were shorebirds feeding in the medium distance.  I finally got Long-billed Dowitcher for my October list, and here is a picture of one.

 

Here are two Long-billed Dowitchers.

 

Long-billed Dowitchers are around most of the year here, but a smaller shorebird called Dunlin is a winter species here.  Here are my first two Dunlin since May.

 

The medium length, slightly downturned bill is characteristic of Dunlin.  They are smaller than dowitchers, but larger than the little "peeps".  Here is a picture of three Dunlin and a larger Long-billed Dowitcher.

 

In addition to the Long-billed Dowitchers and Dunlin, I saw two or three smaller "peeps".  Here is a picture that shows Long-billed Dowitcher, Dunlin, and a peep.

 

The little peep is in the bottom right corner of the picture.  It is easy to see that it is smaller than the Dunlin on the left, and much smaller than the dowitchers on the right.  There were two possible species that the little shorebird could have been - Western Sandpiper or Least Sandpiper.  I needed both species still this month, but I wanted to know which one it was.  The easiest way for me to tell the difference between those two species is the color of the legs.  Western Sandpipers have black legs and Least Sandpipers have yellowish legs.  Here is another picture that shows a dowitcher with one of the peeps.

 

It is difficult to tell the leg color in that picture, but here is a blowup of the peep in the bottom right corner.

 

It's still hard to tell, but I think those legs look yellowish, rather than black.  That confirms what I thought I had seen with my scope, so I'm calling the peeps Least Sandpipers.  Both species have been reported by other birders there all month, including today.  I'm adding Least Sandpiper to my October list.  That was the third shorebird I added to my list at Hayton today, which I was quite pleased about.

 

Next I drove up to the Samish Flats, up around the little town of Edison.  I was hoping that several species might be back from migration, but I didn't see any of them.  I hope the weather will allow me to go back up there at the end of next week, in the hopes of seeing some of those returning species.  On Samish Island, I took out my scope and looked out over the bay from the little lookout park.  It was really disappointing.  There was almost nothing out there, and nothing I needed.  I did get this picture of a female White-winged Scoter, a species I already had this month.

 

There were three or four species I could have seen there, but I got none of them.  I hope I can go back there at the end of next week, too.  Back down on the Samish Flats, I stopped at the West 90 to look for Short-eared Owls, which is one of the species that I hope will come back soon.  I didn't see any owls, but I took some pictures of a female Northern Harrier.

 

In this next picture, you can see her white rump better.  That is the sure-fire indicator of a Northern Harrier.

 

There was a female American Kestrel on a wire, and she stayed there for pictures, which is rather unusual.

 

Note the band on her right leg.

 

It was getting pretty windy by then, so I headed for home.  I had lots of time, so I stopped at the Everett sewage treatment ponds, hoping to see a Merlin or maybe a Bufflehead, which is a duck that is due to return very soon.  I didn't see either one, but there were some Bonaparte's Gulls sitting on the concrete side of the pond, along with many ducks.  While taking pictures of the Bonaparte's Gulls, I accidently got this next picture of a male Northern Shoveler, which I think shows an interesting perspective on that species.

 

Here are the cute little Bonaparte's Gulls.

 

In the summer, their heads would be all black, and in the winter there will only be a black spot behind and below the eye.  This next Bonaparte's Gull hasn't molted as much yet to its winter plumage, with more black feathers on its head still.

 

So, it was a very successful day in terms of numbers.  I didn't get the returning species I was hoping for, but I can try again next week, if the weather permits.  I did get Black Phoebe, Pine Siskin, and three shorebirds, and that was great.  I added 5 species to my October list, and now I have 120 species.  I expect to add Bufflehead by the end of the month, and maybe I can get 2 or 3 others if I'm able to get back up to Skagit county this month.  I could theoretically get 3 seabird species at Edmonds, but they would be tough, and the weather isn't going to be good at all for that, either.  There is a "bomb cyclone" storm off the coast of Washington now, and more storms following that one, so it is going to be quite wet for the next 4 days.  Maybe there will be some breaks in the storms, though, so I'll keep an eye out.

 

 

Friday, October 22, 2021

 

It was supposed to be windy and rainy today, but so far, our "bomb cyclone" rain storm has been a non-event.  It wasn’t raining in mid-morning, so I went over to Marymoor Park.  I intended to drive through the park looking for the pheasant and then to look for the Northern Shrike around the viewing mound, where it was seen yesterday.  I didn't find either one of those species, but when I drove along the side of the community gardens, I saw a hawk posing for me.  Here are three pictures of the juvenile accipiter (either a Cooper's Hawk or a Sharp-shinned Hawk).

 

 

The head seems more round on top than flat, which would indicate a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  When it flew off, it seemed a bit smaller than the crows that chased it, another indication for Sharp-shinned Hawk.  Here it is as it was getting ready to fly off.

 

The pattern on the breast seemed more like Sharp-shinned Hawk, and the legs seemed fairly skinny, which is still another indication for Sharp-shinned Hawk.  I decided to look at my pictures on the computer before deciding which species it was, and I moved on.  Here is an American Crow.

 

As I drove through the park, I spotted a bird in a tree, so I turned around and went back.  The bird was back in the branches, and most of my pictures focused on the branches in front of the bird, so the bird itself was out of focus.  It was another juvenile accipiter.  Here are my only two pictures that were in focus.

 

 

At the time, I assumed that was the same bird I had seen in the gardens, which were about 200 yards away from where this hawk was.  When I saw my pictures of this bird, though, the streaking on the breast looked much more like that on a juvenile Cooper's Hawk than a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk.  The two species are very similar, and I pored over the descriptions and comparisons I could find online.

 

At the time, when the hawk flew off, I moved on to the viewing mound, but I couldn't find the shrike there.  I got these two pictures of an immature White-crowned Sparrow.

 

 

Eventually I gave that up and drove back to the community gardens, still hoping for the pheasant, which seems to like hanging out there.  I saw some immature White-crowned Sparrows there, too, and here is one of them.

 

Here is a Golden-crowned Sparrow.

 

As I was leaving the gardens, I spotted still another juvenile accipiter.  This time I could see the front of the bird.

 

 

If you scroll back up to the pictures of the juvenile accipiter I saw in the tree, it is clearly a different bird than this one.  The streaking on this one is much thicker and continues farther down onto the belly.  After comparing my pictures and consulting all the info I could find online, I believe that both of the birds I saw in the gardens were the same juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk and the one in the tree was a juvenile Cooper's Hawk.

 

As I drove out of the gardens, I took this picture of an American Crow.

 

 

There was some straw spread on the ground in one corner of the gardens, and the crows seemed to be finding something eat in the straw.

 

That was it for my birding today.  I added Sharp-shinned Hawk to my October list, and it was a new species for me this year as well.  That brought me to 121 species this month and 256 species this year.  I had a nice little outing and got a year bird.  Not bad.  They are still forecasting rain for the next week, but the last weekend of the month looks like it might give me one more chance to go up to Skagit county and maybe get some of the birds that should be returning soon.  Meanwhile, I'll look for breaks in the rain, but there is little I can go look for, other than Bufflehead and maybe going back to Marymoor to try again for the pheasant and the shrike.

 

 

Friday, October 29, 2021

 

We had a week of wind and rain, and I didn't get anything I needed or any pictures, although I did go out briefly a couple of times.  The rain was finally supposed to end this morning, so I headed up to Skagit county, hoping to see some of the species that should be returning about now.  I picked up a sandwich at Subway and drove up to Chuckanut Drive.  I had a list of 8 or 9 species, but only three of them seemed very likely - Trumpeter Swan, Long-tailed Duck, and Bufflehead.  At the East 90, I saw some Western Meadowlarks that were singing, but I had that one already this month.  At the West 90, I looked around from the car with my binoculars, looking for Rough-legged Hawk or Short-eared Owl.  I saw a large bird in a tree in the distance, so I got out my scope, and it turned out to be a Rough-legged Hawk, an excellent October bird that must have just returned from migration.  That was an excellent start, getting a bird for my list that wasn't even one of the three most likely ones.

 

I drove on to Samish Island, to the overlook, to look for sea birds.  It was much windier than I had expected, which made the birding more difficult.  I did see birds out on the water, although I didn't see any I needed.  Here are some Red-breasted Mergansers, a species that just returned this month.

 

You can see that the wind was making waves, which makes it harder to find birds in the distance.  Here is a Harlequin Duck.

 

Here is a shot of a Red-breasted Merganser and a Harlequin Duck.

 

Here are two Harlequin Ducks.

 

I saw Horned Grebes, Red-necked Grebes, Western Grebes, Surf Scoters, White-winged Scoters, Lesser Scaup, Common Loons, Pacific Loons, and various gulls, but none of the four species I needed that were possible there.

 

I drove back down to the Samish Flats and I got this picture of a Red-tailed Hawk, but again, nothing I needed.

 

From there I drove to March Point, but that turned out to be a waste of time, partly because of the wind and waves.  I ate half my sandwich there, but I didn't see anything of interest.  I drove back toward the Skagit Flats, stopping at the house on the corner of Dodge Valley Road and Valentine Road at the house with feeders, just to try for pictures, since I had so few at that point.  Here is a Golden-crowned Sparrow.

 

Here is a Chestnut-backed Chickadee at a feeder.

 

After that I drove onto Fir Island and went down Rawlins Road.  I saw a Western Meadowlark fly across the road, and it landed where I could take pictures of it.

 

 

 

At the end of the road, I walked up on the dike, but I didn't see any of the three species I was hoping for there.  As I drove back up Rawlins Road, a kestrel flew across the road right in front of me.  I watched it, and it landed where I could get pictures.  Here is a male American Kestrel with a winged insect it was eating.

 

After it finished its snack, it was ready to take off again.

 

All day I was looking for swans, but I had no luck.  I drove to Hayton Reserve and ate the second half of my sandwich in the car.  The two Bald Eagles were hanging around the nest there, and I took this picture of one of them.

 

There were dozens of ducks on the slough along the entrance road, and I took this distant picture of a male Canvasback.

 

I had Canvasback this month already, but it is an uncommon species and pictures are always welcome.  Here is a pair of Canvasbacks, with the female on the left.

 

I drove around Fir Island a little, looking for swans, but I didn't find any.  At Wylie Slough, I didn't see anything, so I gave it up and headed toward home.  I was feeling a bit bummed out that I had only added one species to my October list (Rough-legged Hawk), and I hadn't gotten any of the three most likely species.  I continued to keep a look out, though, and as I was approaching the freeway, I spotted some swans in the distance.  I found a road that brought me fairly close to them, and my pictures showed me they were Trumpeter Swans, which was my most likely target for the day.  Here are a couple of pictures of Trumpeter Swans.

 

 

I felt considerably cheerier after that, and I got on the freeway for home.  I was early enough that I decided to stop at the Everett sewage treatment ponds to see if I could find a Bufflehead.  There were hundreds of ducks on the big pond, and I managed to find two female Buffleheads in the distance, so I had three species for my list for the day.  I noticed a bird in one of what I call the falcon trees (because I have seen both Peregrine Falcons and Merlins in those two dead trees).  I had Peregrine Falcon this month already, but not Merlin.  The bird in the tree turned out to be a falcon all right, but it was a Peregrine.  It was in the more distant tree, so the pictures aren't great, but here is the Peregrine Falcon.

 

It turned around at one point.

 

 

There were a lot of Bonaparte's Gulls in the water with the ducks, and I took this picture of one of them.

 

As I was heading back to the freeway, I saw an interesting sized bird in a tree, so I pulled over.  It turned out to be a Merlin, a great bird and one I needed still this month.  It was eating a small bird it had caught.  The light was terrible, but I stopped in the road and took pictures anyway.

 

The only species I can think of that would have that much white on it is Dunlin, a small shorebird.  There were hundreds of them flying around at the big pond, which was only maybe a hundred yards from where I saw the Merlin.

 

 

 

The bright sky behind the bird made pictures difficult, but I tried another setting on my camera and got one that showed the blue sky a bit, anyway.

 

So, I ended up with four species for my October list today, and now I have 125 species this month.  I don't know if I'll get any more or not, and I need to decide if it is worth it to make another trip up to Skagit county and north Whidbey Island.  The weather forecast for Sunday is good, but I don't know if I'm up for another all day trip, clear back up to Skagit county, which is about an hour north of home.  We'll see.

 

 

Saturday, October 30, 2021

 

I didn't feel like a big trip today, so I went up to the Edmonds waterfront, which is about a half hour northwest of home.  I walked out on the fishing pier, hoping to find Surfbird, an uncommon species that has been reported there this month.  It was my third or fourth attempt this month.

 

It was a beautiful sunny day, although it was chilly and pretty windy.  I did find three Surfbirds on the north end of the south breakwater, seen from the end of the fishing pier.  It was too distant for a decent picture, but here is a terrible picture of three Surfbirds.

 

It felt good to finally get Surfbird this month; it was only the second time I had seen that species this year.  There were some Horned Grebes bobbing around in the waves, and I got these next two pictures of Horned Grebes.

 

 

A Bonaparte's Gull was near the base of the pier, and I took this picture of it.

 

I drove up to Sunset Avenue and got out my scope.  As I started scanning around the bay, a small group of birds flew by, and I was able to get my binoculars on them.  They were Barrow's Goldeneyes, one of the species I was hoping would return by the end of the month.  Later I saw them after they landed, but they were much too far away for a picture.  Still, it was an excellent one for my October list.  There were various species out there, most notably dozens of Western Grebes, a species I had already.

 

I drove to Ocean Avenue, hoping to see Brant, a small goose that is due to return and has been reported the last two days there.  I didn't see any Brant or anything else I needed.  There were several groups of American Wigeons along the shoreline, and one group was close enough for pictures.  The light was excellent, so I took some pictures.  Here is a pair of American Wigeons.  The male is the one on the left.

 

In this next picture, two males are following a female, perhaps trying to get her attention.

 

Here is a male American Wigeon.

 

Here's a female.

 

Finally, here is another picture of a male and a female American Wigeon.

 

As I mentioned, it was a beautiful sunny day.  Here is a picture of the Olympic Mountains, looking across Puget Sound.

 

That was it for me today.  I added 2 more species to my October list, bringing it to 127 species.  Tomorrow is the last day of the month, and I don't know where I'll go.  It all depends on what I feel like doing tomorrow.  I could make the long drive around to the north end of Whidbey Island and maybe get one or two more species, or I could go back up to Edmonds and maybe get one or two.  Or, I could just settle for 127 species this month and stay home.  My lawn needs mowing, and the weather should be good tomorrow.

 

 

October 31, 2021

 

The last day of the month.  Halloween.  I didn't feel like doing a long drive today, but I went back up to Edmonds to look for seabirds.  I thought that Brant was my most likely possibility.  The wind was a lot less today, but there were also a lot fewer birds on the water.  I didn't get anything at all, either from Sunset Avenue or Ocean Avenue.  I was ready to give up, but I decided to make one last try for Marsh Wren at Edmonds Marsh.  I played some songs and calls, and by golly, a Marsh Wren showed up!  It must have been at least the 10th or 12th time I had tried for Marsh Wren this month, at various locations, and finally I hit the jackpot.  I even got a couple of pictures of the Marsh Wren.

 

 

Marsh Wren brought my total for October to 128 species.  I have 256 species so far this year.  This afternoon I mowed about 90% of my lawn, and if I'm lucky with the weather, I might not have to mow again until March or April.  It was a successful day, and the Seahawks even won.  Tomorrow is a new month and a new list.