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.

NORTHWEST WINTER BIRDS: A GALLERY

Our Colorado birders got 114 species on the Oregon/Washington State trip last week.  As we headed south from the Olympic Peninsula we got our final two species at the Wild Birds Unlimited Store along Hwy 101 southeast of Sequim.  Pine Siskin and Cassin’s Finch were among the crowd in the garden full of feeders there at WBU.

Look at the beak on this fella.  It would make a House or Purple Finch jealous.  It’s a serious seed-crunching implement.

Amonmg our 114 species: five alcids including a few fly-by Cassin’s Auklets and good look at Rhino Auklets. There were twenty-nine species of waterfowl from Trumpeter Swans to Eurasian Wigeon, three mergansers, two goldeneyes, Harlequin, Long-tailed Duck and both scaup in large numbers.

You got your Wood Duck, your Mandarin Duck, your Cinnamon Teal or even your Red-breasted Goose.  But this guy in full breeding regalia…Parisian courtiers could not conceive of such glamor.  Neither could I until I finally saw this duck up close a few years back.  This male and his mate paddled around the Keystone Ferry harbor, Whidbey Island, within thirty feet of us for half an hour.  An ecstatic half-hour for our birding group.

We did OK on raptors, with over sixty different Bald Eagle sightings. 

And we enjoyed some pretty good land-birding as well, from Pileated down to Pacific (nee Winter) Wren and both kinglets at close range.  And then there is the Northwest’s scenery where snow, fog, steep mountains, volcanoes and blue seas combine for a panorama not found in most of the world.

Not the overcast skies but no rain.  While the Coloradans’ friends and family struggled with blizzard and sub-freezing, we breezed around the Northwest under mild temps of 45-55 degrees and only a half day of rain in seven days afield. 

Finally there were several satisfying looks at Varied Thrush, including one in the garden at Wild Birds our last day.

The park is named for the Dr. Tolmie who gave his name to the Latin binomial for MacGillivray’s Warbler.

This group of VATH was in the shade beneath the Sitka spruce at Tolmie State Park near Olympia, WA.

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.

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.

SEABIRDS IN THE RAIN FOREST

The continental United States has only one rain forest.  It stretches along the spectacular Oregon and Washington State coastline.  The evergreens reach two hundred feet into the skies, often disappearing in the low-lying clouds.  The Pacific and Puget Sound shoulder up to a rocky coastline with scattered bits of sandy beach.  The cold, wave-churned waters are rich in critters from plankton to Orcas.  And here the seabirds pull out onto huge floating logs carried down from the forest just uphill from the water’s edge.

Last year PIB had two winter birding trips to the Northwest Coast for those wintering birds down from the Arctic.  Here are a few of the photos taken by birders on those trips.  Take a look, because we are once again offering this great photo safari into the great American Northwest:

TOP TO BOTTOM:

Northern Shrike at Nisqually NWR, Washington.  Photo by Ms Jennifer Hyypio.

Harlequins off the shore of Whidbey Island.  Photo by Steve  Murray.

Pelagic Cormorant and Glaucous-winged Gull pole sitting.  Photo by Ms J. Hyypio.

Gang of Bald Eagles patrolling the edge of a marsh at Nisqually.  Photo by Ms Hyypio.

Red-throated Loon in Hood Canal.  By Mr. Murray.

Rhino Auklet over Puget Sound.  By Steve Murray.

Surfbird along Oregon Coast.  You’ll wait a long time before this species shows up in Colorado.  Photo by Steve Murray.

HERE’S LINK TO OUR 2011 NORTHWEST TRIP SCHEDULE.

All birds seen on February, 2010, Northwest Trip.

PIB Northwest Birding Trip, Feb., 2010—Birds Seen:

Greater White-fronted Goose, Sauvie Is.
Snow Goose
Ross’s Goose, Sauvie Island
Brant
Cackling Goose,   Canada Goose,    Trumpeter Swans  on Whidbey Island                                                                                          
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
Am. Wigeon
Mallard
Shoveler
Pintail
GW Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter, Cannon Beach, OR
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow’s Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Red-throated Loon
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
(we could not locate the YB Loon at Point Wilson)
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe                                                                                      
Red-necked Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Brown Pelican (three off the Oregon Coast)

Brandt’s Cormorant, Whidbey Island

Pelagic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret, Sauvie Island
Bald Eagle–seen each day
Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk, Ft. Clatsop
Red-tailed hawk
Rough-legged Hawk, Sauvie Is.
Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine
Coot
Sandhill Crane, Sauvie Island
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer, Potlatch State Park
Black Turnstone
Surfbird
Sanderling
Dunlin
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Thayer’s Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Marbled Murrelet
Cassin’s Auklet
Rhino Auklet
Rock Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon, Whidbey Island
Eurasian Collared-dove
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl, Sauvie Island
Anna’s Hummingbird, Sequim
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker, Tolmie State Park
Steller’s Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Northwestern Crow or AmericanXNorthwestern
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper, Sequim
Bewick’s Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren,
GC Kinglet
RC Kinglet
Am. Robin
Varied Thrush, seen  in numbers at Fort Stevens Park
Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Sauvie Is.
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow, Whidbey Island
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
DE Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer’s Blackbird
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Total species:  120                                                              Can you find the Winter Wren?

Our mammals included: harbor seal, California sealion, mule deer, white-tailed deer(on January trip), river otter, orca, eastern gray squirrel, coyote, western gray squirrel, harbor porpoises off Seaside, elk, muskrat, surfers.   Cold-blooded animals included: steelhead on

the surface of Coffeeberry Lake; red-legged frog, ring-necked snake, a newt.

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.

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.

Sequim and Whidbey Island

Top to bottom:  Bewick Wren sings at Railroad Bridge Park in Sequim.

A “beach wren.”  This is Winter Wren feeding among the huge driftwood logs along rocky shore on Whidbey Island.  At Fort Ebey State Park.

This looks like a very busy male Bufflehead with his harem on Admiralty Inlet off Whidbey Island.

Black Oystercatcher along the shoreline at Fort Ebey State Park.

Two Dunlins on the mudflats along Penn Cove on Whidbey Island’s east side.

Greater Yellowlegs on the same mudflats.

Yellowlegs high stepping.

Loon offshore of Whidbey Island. There were also numerous Harlequin Ducks and a pair of Long-tailed Ducks far from the beach.

Location:     Whidbey Island
This includes birds seen from ferryboat between Port Townsend and Whidbey Island.

Observation date:     1/26/10
Number of species:     46

Brant (Black)     6
Gadwall     4
American Wigeon     120
Mallard     15
Northern Pintail     150
Lesser Scaup     6
Harlequin Duck     25
Surf Scoter     10
Long-tailed Duck     3
Bufflehead     80
Common Goldeneye     45
Hooded Merganser     4
Red-breasted Merganser     50
Red-throated Loon     1
Horned Grebe     16
Red-necked Grebe     10
Eared Grebe     2
Western Grebe     3
Double-crested Cormorant     20
Pelagic Cormorant     40
Great Blue Heron     8
Bald Eagle     5
Northern Harrier     1
Red-tailed Hawk     2
American Coot     10
Black-bellied Plover     30
Black Oystercatcher     25
Greater Yellowlegs     10
Western Sandpiper     80
Dunlin (Pacific)     200
Mew Gull     1
Western Gull     6,     Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)     100
California Gull     4
Herring Gull (American)     3
Glaucous-winged Gull     150
Common Murre     1
Pigeon Guillemot     50
Cassin’s Auklet     3
Rock Pigeon     40
Belted Kingfisher     2
Northwestern Crow     8
Winter Wren     4
Golden-crowned Kinglet     10
Song Sparrow     5
Golden-crowned Sparrow     6
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)     8