Winter Wonderland For Water Birds

What would you say about a birding day that brought dozens of Harlequin Ducks and Rhino Auklets?  Plus a Cooper’s Hawk on an offshore piling, Red-breasted Mergansers by the score, Red-necked Grebe, Cassin’s Auklet, Long-tailed Duck, Black Oystercatcher, Greater Yellowlegs and even a co-operative Belted Kingfisher who posed for pictures at our luncheon restaurant?  Well, our Colorado birding group said, “Wow!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And our total for the trip: 112 species and a couple dozen lifers for many on the trip.  A nd this is the season.  There won;t be any Pacific Loons or Red-necked Grebes this far south in summer.

Olympic Birding, My Last Pics

Ferryboat approaches Port Townsend ferry dock.  The water really is that blue.

This lone Sanderling was acting like a “rockpiper” on the boulders at Point Wilson Lighthouse.   From this location we found dozens of Pigeon Guillemot, a dense float of about three dozen Rhino Auklets, saw pairs of Marbled Murrelets and one tiny Cassin’s Auklet.

Dozens of Pintails were grazing in the tall grasses near the Keystone Ferry Terminal on Whidbey Island.  There were also Marsh Wren, Harrier, Bald Eagles and another handful of duck species there.

Left: Kingfisher on pole at Keystone Ferry Terminal.  The right hand Kingfisher was along the beach at Fort Ebey State Park on Whidbey Island.

House Finch at Audubon Center, Sequim, WA.

Black-capped Chickadee at Audubon Center feeder, Sequim.  The center is located in Railroad Bridge Park on the Dungeness River.  Good riparian habitat for birding.  The bird in the logo of the local Audubon Society?  Male Harlequin’s head.

Here’s website for the Dungeness River Audubon Center.

Here’s website for the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society, complete with their Harlequin head logo.

Gallery of Puget Sound Birds

From top to bottom:

Black Oystercatcher works rocky shore at Seqium’s yacht harbor.

Gaggle of gulls: loafing Glaucous-winged Gulls at Hama Hama River delta along the Hood Canal.

One of a Bushtit flock feeding in an alder.

Male Belted Kingfisher at the Sequim yacht harbor.

Red-necked Grebe on Hood Canal.  We saw many on our five-day trip in Oregon and Washington.

American Wigeons on the lawn at Potlatch State Park along Hood Canal.

Pigeon Guillemot on Hood Canal.

Northwestern Crow patrolling the parking lot at Potlatch Park.

Flock of Trumpeter Swans on farm pasture in Sequim.  Olympic Mountains in the background.