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Tuesday, November 1, 2022

 

We had a week of very smoky weather from wildfires, and then we had a very rainy week.  As a result, I took the last two weeks of October off from birding.  Now it's a new month, and I went out again.  It isn't only a new month, it is a new year for me, my 79th.  I finished my 78th year yesterday.  In other words, this is my 78th birthday.

 

Before I left home this morning, I started the month off with a Spotted Towhee at our seed feeder, and then American Crows and Feral Pigeons were feeding on seed outside the back door.  My first birding stop was Marymoor Park.  I added Anna's Hummingbird in the community gardens, and here's a picture of a male Anna's Hummingbird.

 

I parked and walked along the slough.  I saw Mallards, American Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds, and this Common Merganser, which I think was a juvenile male.

 

There were some Song Sparrows, and then I saw a Belted Kingfisher catch a fish.

 

Here is another picture of the Belted Kingfisher.

 

There were Cedar Waxwings flying around and a couple of Great Blue Herons.  As I drove through the park after that, I saw a small group of Canada Geese, and this much smaller Cackling Goose was with them.  Note the stubby bill and short neck.

 

I added Dark-eyed Junco, and then a Steller's Jay flew to a puddle for water. A European Starling went to the same puddle for a bath.  That's all I got at Marymoor Park, and I moved on. 

 

As I drove through the Evan's Creek wildlife area, a Red-tailed Hawk was perched on a dead snag.  At the Redmond Retention Ponds, I added five more duck species to my November list.  I got Gadwall and Northern Shoveler without any pictures, but then I took a picture of a pair of Hooded Mergansers.  The female is the less colorful one, of course.

 

Here's a male American Wigeon.

 

There were some Green-winged Teal, including this interesting one.

 

The head looks like a male Green-winged Teal, and the body looks like a female.  I looked it up, and I think it was a juvenile male Green-winged Teal, changing from juvenile plumage (which is like a female) to his adult male plumage.  He is in the midst of his first year molt.

 

After that I drove out to the Snoqualmie Valley.  As I drove across the valley, I got these next two pictures of a Lincoln's Sparrow.

 

 

Approaching Sikes Lake, I got this picture of a female American Kestrel.

 

There was a Bald Eagle at the top of a tree as I approached Chinook Bend, and at the pond at Chinook Bend, I added Pied-billed Grebe and American Coot.

 

At the original house in Carnation with feeders, there was little around, but I did pick up Eurasian Collared-Dove.  Here are three of them at the top of a tall tree.

 

At the "new" house with feeders in Carnation, I added House Sparrow and American Goldfinch. 

 

I picked up a sandwich at the deli at the Carnation Market and drove to the Tolt River bridge, south of Carnation.  My main target for the day was American Dipper, but I couldn't find one there.  I drove down the west side of the Snoqualmie River.  There were some Short-billed Gulls (formerly called Mew Gull) on the seasonal pond at Jubilee Farms, and a little while later there were three Northern Flickers in the road.  I drove up to Tokul Creek, and from the bridge over the creek, I spotted a distant American Dipper, way upstream.  Here is a very distant picture of my main target for the day, American Dipper.

 

I headed back toward home and drove up Neal Road in Fall City.  I finally saw a small flock of sparrows, and I added Golden-crowned Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow to my list.  On the oxbow pond along that road, I spotted a family of Greater White-fronted Geese.  Here is a picture of the six of them.

 

The two on the right are adults, and the four on the left are juveniles, hatched this year.  They breed in the far north, and they spend the winter along the west coast, mostly in California.  This little family is probably heading for California, but a few spend the winter around here or in Oregon.  Here is another shot of some of the family.

 

The two on the right are adults, with white on their face at the base of the bill.  Here is a picture of one adult (on the right) and one juvenile.

 

At the end of the road, I got out my scope and checked out the starlings and blackbirds across the river at the dairy.  I saw several Brown-headed Cowbirds, a good one for my November list.

 

I drove on into Carnation, and at the new feeder house, I added Mourning Dove.  Here is a picture of a Mourning Dove in an odd posture.

 

Here's a picture of a European Starling at a suet feeder.

 

Here's an American Goldfinch.

 

There were four or five Anna's Hummingbirds around, and here are two females at a feeder.

 

Here's a Eurasian Collared-Dove.

 

Then I was quite surprised and pleased to see a California Scrub-Jay fly in.  They seem to be moving into the area increasingly in recent years.  Here is the surprise California Scrub-Jay.

 

 

It was getting late, and I headed for home.  As I drove across the valley again, I noticed a large herd of elk across Sikes Lake.  I didn't realize that elk lived around here, so close to civilization.  I counted about 90 of them.  Here are some distant photos of elk.

 

 

 

While I was taking pictures of the elk herd, a male Northern Harrier flew across my field of view, so that excellent species went on my list.  When I got home, there were House Finches at our seed feeder, and that was my last species for the day.

 

I started November with 42 species today, 36 of which were repeaters.  I still have 194 species this year.  I have a couple of appointments tomorrow and more rain is on the way, so I don’t know when I'll be able to get out there again, but the month has started, and I'm back in the saddle.

 

 

Monday, November 7, 2022

 

We've had a lot of rain, and on a couple of days I just didn't feel like getting out there in the cold and wind.  Today was supposed to be dry, though, and when the rain stopped here, I headed up to the Edmonds area.  It started to rain when I got a couple of miles from home, though, and it never stopped, until I got home again.  I guess it never rained here, so I should have done something more local.  I was out there for about 2 hours, and I never left my car.

 

I kept hoping the rain would stop, and my first birding stop was the house in Woodway where I see quail.  I sat in the car, in the rain, and a male California Quail showed up fairly soon, heading toward the feeders.  Here's a distant shot in the rain and gloom.

 

I waited, with the window up, and more quail showed up.  There was a lot of calling as well.  I ended up seeing about 10 or 12 California Quail.  The only other halfway decent shot I got was a female California Quail.  Every time I lowered the window to take a picture, the rain came in.

 

After that, I headed to the Edmonds marina to look for Brown Pelicans.  No luck with that, although I did add Heermann's Gull to my list.  It was raining too much to walk out onto the pier, so I went up to Sunset Avenue.  From the car, I saw some Double-crested Cormorants for my November list, but nothing else.  I drove to Ocean Avenue, and added Horned Grebe to the list.  Here is a distant shot of a couple of Horned Grebes in the rain.

 

There was a pair of Buffleheads near the shore, so I added that one to my list and took this picture.

 

The male is the one on the left.  That was it for today.  I probably should have just stayed at home, but I hadn't been out birding for five days, and I wanted to try.  I added 5 species to my November list, and now I have 47 species this month.  Two of the five were repeaters, and now I have 38 of my 70 repeaters this month.  It is supposed to be dry now for the rest of the week, although cold.  I'll see if I can get out there and see some birds.  Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures today.  With the gloom and rain, the conditions were not favorable.

 

 

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

 

It's supposed to be dry and cold for the next week.  Today I had an early lunch appointment up in Everett, so I went up a bit early and visited the Everett Water Treatment Plant ponds.  It was in the high thirties and breezy, but I set up my scope and looked through the hundreds of ducks on the main pond.  I added 5 duck species to my November list - Northern Pintail, Lesser Scaup, Greater Scaup, Ruddy Duck, and a single male Common Goldeneye.  No pictures because everything was so distant.

 

Next I stopped at Port Gardiner Bay, on the Everett waterfront.  I found a raft of Canvasbacks, another duck species, for my list.  At the parking lot for the boat launch,  I added 3 gull species - California Gull, Ring-billed Gull, and Glaucous-winged Gull.  No pictures because gull pictures are boring, and I have shown them all so many times in the past.  Gulls don't ever do anything interesting.

 

That was it for today.  I didn't feel like braving the wind and cold after lunch.  I added 9 species to my November list, and now I have 56 species this month.  Five of them were repeaters, and now I have 43 of my 70 repeater species this month.  Maybe I can get some pictures tomorrow, when it is supposed to still be cold, but much less windy.

 

 

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

 

Today I headed north, to Skagit county, about an hour north of home.  My first stop was Wylie Slough, and as I drove down Wylie Road, there was a flock of starlings and blackbirds next to the road.  I picked out a couple of male Brewer's Blackbirds for my November list, but my pictures aren't good enough to show.

 

Just outside the reserve, I spotted a juvenile Northern Shrike on a wire, and took these two pictures.

 

 

That was a great one for my November list.

 

I saw nothing in the reserve itself, but as I drove back up Wylie Road, some swans had come in.  Here are a couple of Trumpeter swans.

 

I saw swans a number of times today, but I never found a Tundra Swan.  That was my biggest miss of the day.

 

At Hayton Reserve, there were a couple of Bald Eagles near the nest tree.  One of them was chowing down on some kind of prey.

 

I didn't see anything else I needed until I got to the house on Valentine Road called Rancho Valentine.  There was suet in their big suet feeder, and a male Downy Woodpecker was helping himself to it.  Here are three pictures of the male Downy Woodpecker, which I needed for November, from different perspectives.

 

 

 

I had Northern Flicker this month already, but a female flew in to the suet, and I took her picture.

 

I saw a large flock of Snow Geese, so that one went on my list.  I drove to the Samish flats and added Rough-legged Hawk to my list, getting this picture.

 

Just up the road from there, I took this picture of a Red-tailed Hawk, a species I already had this month.

 

Soon after that, I noticed three large birds fly across the road, so I pulled up and took a look.  They turned out to be Ring-necked Pheasants, two males and a female.  I'm sure they were captive-raised birds, released for hunters, and therefore not really countable, but I counted the species for November anyway.  My list, my rules.  Here is a male Ring-necked Pheasant in the dry grass.

 

Here's a closer shot of the female Ring-necked Pheasant.

 

She blends in much better than the male does.

 

I tried for Short-eared Owl at the West 90, but didn't see one.  I drove onto Samish Island and looked out over the water from the public beach access overlook with my scope.  There weren't many birds out on the water, other than gulls, but I did manage see a few I needed.  I saw a single Western Grebe, a couple of Surf Scoters, a flying White-winged Scoter, and a single Red-necked Grebe, all of which I needed for November.  They were all much to distant for pictures.

 

After that I drove to the East 90 and ate my Subway sandwich in the car, while I watched for Short-eared Owls.  I saw a Northern Harrier, which I already had, but no owls.  I did add Western Meadowlark to my list there, at least.  When I left there, I saw a flock of Dunlin, a small shorebird I needed, wheeling around in the sky and flying over the road in front of me.  From there I headed toward home, looking at every group of swans I saw, hoping to find a Tundra Swan, but I failed at that.

 

I was out there for about 5 1/2 hours, including the time to drive to and from Skagit county, and I added 13 species to my November list, bringing it to 69 species.  Only 3 of those were repeaters (most of the ones I saw today were winter birds, not seen since the spring), and now I have 46 of my 70 repeaters this month.  On the way home, I filled my gas tank with $4.10 gas, which is a much better price than you can find around my house.  I drove 158 miles today, and I got 25.4 miles to the gallon.  That's my story for today, and I'm sticking to it.

 

 

Monday, November 21, 2022

 

I haven't been doing much birding lately, for various reasons, but today I stopped by the Edmonds waterfront on my way to a lunch appointment in Everett.  First I walked out onto the fishing pier, and soon spotted about a half dozen Surfbirds.  Here is a picture of a Surfbird.

 

Out on the water, there was a Rhinoceros Auklet, and I got this distant picture of it.

 

There was also a Pelagic Cormorant fairly close in.

 

I needed all three of those species for November, and I needed this Black Turnstone as well.

 

Here's another Surfbird picture.

 

I didn't need the species, but I saw a number of Red-necked Grebes today, too.  Here is one of them.

 

I didn't get anything else from the pier, so I drove up to Sunset Avenue, which is on a bluff, overlooking the bay.  I found one of my main targets for the day, Black Scoter.  Here is a rather distant picture of a male Black Scoter.

 

Close to shore there were a couple of Horned Grebes, another one I already had this month.  Here are the two Horned Grebes.

 

Here is a closer crop of one of the Horned Grebes.

 

I also added Brandt's Cormorant to my November list from Sunset Avenue, and then I drove up to Ocean Avenue, but I didn't see anything new there.

 

Even though I hadn't gone out birding for over a week, I added a couple of species to my November list at home.  One day a Cooper's Hawk flew through the yard and I got a good look at it.  Another day, I spotted a Black-capped Chickadee at our seed feeder.

 

With those two from home and the ones I saw today, I added 8 species to my November list, to bring it to 77 species.  Two of those were repeaters, and now I have 48 of my 70 repeater species this month.  I don't know when I might get out birding again, maybe not until December.  I have another project I have been working on, and now I have so few species in November that I might just take the rest of the month off.