NORTHWEST: Nisqually NWR and Tolmie State Park

Our PIB Northwestern Birding tour hit Washington State at dawn today.  We birded Tomie State Park first. It’s named for the Hudson Bay physician who also gave his name to the MacGillivray’s Warbler’s Latin binomial.  Then we went next door to the Nisqually National Wildli8fe Refuge.  We added many new birds, pushing our total to 95 for the trip.  White-winged Scoter, Pileated Woodpecker, Peregrine, Long-tailed Duck, Northern Shrike, Eurasian Wigeon, Marsh Wren and a small flock of highly unseasonal Barn Swallows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And these California sea lions on the boat dock next to our motel in Astoria:

Some Northwest Pics From Janet Hyypio

TOP TO BOTTOM:

Blue Heron, NIsqually NWR, WA

Pelagic Cormorant and Glaucous-winged Gull at ferry terminal, Port Townsend, WA.

Sunrise at Astoria, OR.

Northern Shrike, also at Nisqually.

More Murray…You Shudda Been There

Eagles in aerial combat above Nisqually River at Nisqually NWR.  One eagle had a duck in its talons.  Two other eagles envied that.

Mew Gull (Left) and three Western Gulls.

Rhino Auklet in flight.

Part of the Varied Thrush flock we found along the road in Ft. Stevens Park near the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon.

Red-necked Grebe.  There were many in Hood Canal, none near shore.

Pileated who flew around the treetops at Tolmie State Park, WA.

Red-throated Loon.

Steve Murray: More Fine Northwestern Images

Top to Bottom:  Mule deer buc watching the watchers.

Red-breasted Merganser.

White-winged Scoter male on Hood Canal where they were often within thirty yards of shore.

Lincoln’s Sparrow in the marsh at Crockett Lake on central shoreline of Whidbey Island, across the road from  the Keystone Ferry Terminal.

Marsh Wren at Nisqually NWR.

Steve Murray’s Focus on Northwestern Birds

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The only Pied-billed Grebe we saw on this trip.  There were dozens of Red-necked and Horned Grebe plus a few Western and Eared.

Thayer’s Gull

river otters

Eurasian Wigeon male at Nisqually NWR.

Dusky Canada Geese, Sauvie Island

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.

Further photos from the Northwestern adventure

Every day seemed to start with an eagle perched overlooking the nearest water.  This one was near the Nisqually River.

A Blue Heron sporting his feathery finery of spring breeding season.  Near one flooded field at Nisqually.

Below: Flock of American Wigeon at Nisqually.

To the right: pair of Common Mergansers on Nisqually River.

Pileated up a tree.

At Tolmie State Park on lower Puget Sound.

Winter Wren exercises his territorial urges and his curiosity at Tolmie.  He was moving so fast I was shooting without trying to stop the camera.  Very hard to follow.

Song Sparrow at Nisqually NWR Visitors’ Center.

Shovelers at Nisqually.  And at Tolmie State Park the land and water are distinct nor separate.

Pictures From Puget Sound

Here are some fine pictures by Tom Bush, one of the PIB expedition members on the Northwest birding trip.  We expect to do another trip in 2011.  The next group to go will gather in Portland next week.

There could not be a more emblematic bird for our trip than the Harlequin.  This delicately marked duck goes from breeding on crashing streams to wintering on cold, open water.  Here’s a pair of males cruising off Whidbey Island.

Here’s a pair on the rugged shore at Hama Hama on the Hood Canal.

Here’s that same pair, now alerted to our staring gaze.

Top to bottom:

Barrow’s Goldeneye male on Hood Canal at Potlatch State Park.

Common Goldeneye male practices for the spring displaying competition.

Truly a golden eye.

Black Oystercatcher feeding on the beach at Sequim yacht harbor.

Young Bald Eagle at Nisqually NWR.  We probably saw four dozen different Bald Eagles on this trip.  Sightings included a copulating pair at Railroad Bridge Park in Sequim.  Tow different eagles with ducks at Whidbey Island.  Most amazing was a young eagle catching, then losing, a Cackling Goose on a lake on Sauvie Island.  That action attracted three other Bald Eagles and not even the mature individual could re-capture the goose which actually dove to escape capture.

Trumpeters at Sequim.

Song Sparrow, Nisqually.