WINTER BIRDS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

UPDATE: SIGN-UPS FOR THIS TRIP CLOSE ON NOVEMBER 15, 2011.  This coming January PIB and Minneapolis Audubon are teaming up on a trip to the Pacific Northwest.  For Minnesotans the weather will seem mild despite the rain.  The wintering birds will agree.  Most have come down  from the Arctic to enjoy the temperate weather of coastal Oregon and Washington State.  The trip will begin and end in Portland.  For a complete itinerary, dates and list of target birds click here.

Here are soe pictures taken by birder Bob Shade on one previous trip:

Male Barrow’s Goldeneye on Hood Canal.

Black Turnstone on the rocks at Seaside, Oregon.

Pair of Harlequin Ducks just off the ferry dock at Keystone Harbor on Whidbey Island, WA.  This photo by tour leader, Harry Fuller.

A Pacific Wren in brush at Fort Lewis, OR, near the mouth of the Columbia River.  And a Surfbird with its gray back on the same stretch of beach as the turnstones.

A bunch of Brant watching a bunch of birders near Hama Hama, WA.

Other birds we see on this trip include: Red-throated and Pacific Loons, Black Oystercatcher, Long-tailed Duck, Pigeon Guillemot and Rhino Auklet, Glaucous-winged and Western Gulls, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Anna’s Hummingbird.  We will also visit Ft. Clatsop where Lewis & Clark spent the winter 1804-5 and a Native American cultural center for the S’Kallam Tribe.

Here’s a link to blogs done during last year’s trip.

SEABIRDS IN THE RAIN FOREST, GALLERY PART 2

More pictures from the birders on our 2010 winter trips to the Pacific Northwest.  HERE YOU CAN FIND OUT ABOUT OUR TRIP IN 2011.

PHOTOS, TOP TO BOTTOM:

Brant loafing along the shore of Hood Canal, Washington State.  Photo by Steve Murray.

Male White-winged Scoter, Hood Canal.  By Steve Murray.

Harlequin couple on the rocks along Hood Canal.  Photo by Jeannie Mitchell.

Male Olds… Long-tailed Duck cruising the yacht harbor at Sequim, Washington.  Photo by Ms Mitchell.

A Glaucous-winged Gull struggles to get up enough speed to show its disapprobation of an adult Bald Eagle.  The eagle seemed to be carrying a Coot  in its talons.  This action shot by Ms Jeannie Mitchell.

Red-tailed Hawk dining on fresh rodent, Sauvie’s Island, Oregon.  Photo by Ms Mitchell.

Trumpeter Swans in flight, Sauvie’s Island, Oregon.  Photo by Ms Mitchell.

Whidbey Island beach, photo by Jennifer Hyypio.  Here we saw a large flock of Black Oystercatchers.  A flotilla of Harlequins, several species of loon and grebe fished offshore and a Pacific (nee “Winter’) Wren came down to insect-hunt in the driftwood.

Shade Pictures of the Northwest, II

Top to bottom;

Brant on the beach at Dosewallips, along Hood Canal.

Common Loon with heavy beak and squarish head.  The more slender Red-throated Loon with a slightly up-turned beak.

Pileated Woodpecker at Tolmie State Park north of Olympia, WA.

Golden-crowned Sparrow.

White-winged Scoter on Hood Canal.   Male with his fancy face mask.

Red-tailed Hawk juvenile on

Sauvie Island.

Beach at Fort Ebey State Park on Whidbey Island.

February PIB birders sharing the path with Canada Geese at Nisqually NWR.

Olympic Peninsula: Winter Birding

Brant on the beach at Dosewallips State Park, north of the river bridge.

AND THEN THERE WERE ALL THOSE OTHER BIRDS

This bird is known as “Common Gull” in British bird guides for Europe.

Brant and more Brant

Lovely necklace, no?

All these Brant were along the shore in Dosewallips State Park along Hwy 101, Washington State.

Besides the beatific Brant there was the whizzing Merlin shattering a flock of Starlings; the hundreds of Siskins hissing in the alder tops; a trio of Long-tailed Ducks with the male as caboose, his spiney stern ruddering across the surface of the sound; Hooded Mergansers and Bufflehead diving in water so clear we could see every feather as they swam after prey.  But those are stories for a later blog.

Location:     Potlatch State Park
Observation date:     2/8/10
Number of species:     28

Canada Goose     15
American Wigeon     50
Mallard     20
Greater Scaup     6
Surf Scoter     65
White-winged Scoter     4
Long-tailed Duck     1
Common Goldeneye     35
Barrow’s Goldeneye     12
Hooded Merganser     2
Red-breasted Merganser     4
Pacific Loon     3
Common Loon     2
Horned Grebe     5
Red-necked Grebe     4
Eared Grebe     1
Double-crested Cormorant     4
Pelagic Cormorant     3
Great Blue Heron     2
Bald Eagle     2
Western Gull     2
Thayer’s Gull     1
Glaucous-winged Gull     16
Pigeon Guillemot     1
Belted Kingfisher     1
American/Northwestern Crow     5
Chestnut-backed Chickadee     12
Red-breasted Nuthatch     2
American Robin     3

Location:     Dosewallips State Park
Observation date:     2/8/10
Number of species:     27

Brant (Black)     250
Canada Goose (Large)     15
American Wigeon     16
Mallard     45
Northern Pintail     10
Greater Scaup     8
Surf Scoter     250
White-winged Scoter (North American)     125
Common Goldeneye     36
Barrow’s Goldeneye     2
Common Merganser     6
Horned Grebe     3
Red-necked Grebe     2
Western Grebe     1
Pelagic Cormorant     2
Great Blue Heron     2
Bald Eagle     2
Cooper’s Hawk     2
Merlin     1
Mew Gull     50
Ring-billed Gull     25
Glaucous-winged Gull     30
European Starling     120
Song Sparrow     2
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)     6
Red-winged Blackbird     1
Pine Siskin     300

Location:     Sequim and Dungeness
Observation date:     2/8/10
Number of species:     20

American Wigeon     10
Mallard     16
Northern Pintail     6
Ring-necked Duck     15
Greater Scaup     8
Surf Scoter     6
Long-tailed Duck     3
Bufflehead     18
Common Goldeneye     6
Hooded Merganser     12
Common Merganser     8
Red-breasted Merganser     4
Pied-billed Grebe     1
Horned Grebe     4
Western Grebe     1
Pelagic Cormorant     4
Great Blue Heron     2
Pigeon Guillemot     8
Belted Kingfisher     1
American/Northwestern Crow     40
Song Sparrow     3