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July 26, 2008

Whidbey Island with Brian Bell

Yesterday I led a WOS trip to Whidbey Island. The day started out cool and partly cloudy. While we waited for the ferry at Mukilteo we started out the day with AMERICAN CROW, ROCK PIGEON, and  HOUSE SPARROW. We had a couple of HEERMANN'S GULLs on the beach at Mukilteo. As the ferry pulled away from the dock there were alcids flying past up the channel, including PIGEON GUILLEMOTs, a single COMMON MURRE (the only one for the day), two MARBLED MURRELETS and several small groups of RHINOCEROS AUKLETs. As we came into Clinton an adult BALD EAGLE was perched on a low piling off the beach. We ran into a small flurry of activity on Campbell Road with MOURNING DOVE, AMERICAN ROBIN, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, WESTERN TANAGER, STELLER'S JAY, SONG SPARROW, WILLOW FLYCATCHER, BARN SWALLOW, CEDAR WAXWING, AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, and BUSHTIT all while at one spot on the road.

It was a great morning on Ewing Road by the wetlands. There was an OSPREY nest in the top of a Douglas Fir (a natural nest, really nice to see). When we got out of the cars we had both SORA and VIRGINIA RAIL calling out in the marsh (a VIRGINIA RAIL came out in view later about two hundred yards further north). Much further out in the field/marsh we had first one AMERICAN BITTERN and later two additional ones visible. People were really excited to have both rails and bittern in the same spot. We got incredible looks at several NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWs perched just overhead, including a couple of juveniles. Other birds in the water and marsh included GREATER YELLOWLEGS, GADWALL, MALLARD, WOOD DUCK, KILLDEER, AMERICAN COOT (with several "teenaged" young), BREWER'S BLACKBIRD, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, CANADA GOOSE, CINNEMON TEAL, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, WILSON'S SNIPE, MARSH WREN, and PIED-BILLED GREBE. In the surrounding trees and over the fields we saw and heard: NORTHERN HARRIER, COOPER'S HAWK, RED-TAILED HAWK, OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER, HOUSE FINCH, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, SPOTTED TOWHEE, DOWNY WOODPECKER, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, and VIOLET-GREEN, CLIFF, and BARN SWALLOWs.

The tide was just starting to come in when we got to Deer Lagoon so there was lots and lots of mud. We had to really scan the flocks of shorebirds scattered over the mud. We saw WESTERN, LEAST and SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERs, KILLDEER, SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, SPOTTED SANDPIPER (actually across the dike on the freshwater channel side), GREAT BLUE HERON, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK being mildly mobbed by a few crows, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT.  We were going to stop and take the access to the beach from Lincoln, but a garage sale had the whole block stuffed full of cars so took a pass.

A brief stop at Earth Sanctuary yielded HOODED MERGANSER, MALLARD, WOOD DUCK, PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, YELLOW WARBLER, BROWN CREEPER, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, TREE SWALLOW, and still more CEDAR WAXWINGs.

The tide was way in when we got to Double Bluff and the channel was as devoid of birds as I have ever seen - a couple of very distant RHINOCEROS AUKLETs being the exception. We went down and walked the dike at the western extension of Deer Lagoon. We started with a BLUE-WINGED TEAL and a string of ducklings, saw GREATER YELLOWLEGS, SAVANNAH SPARROW, BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, CASPIAN TERN, BELTED KINGFISHER, OSPREY and a flock of distant, flying dowitchers (too far to hear any calls).

The water levels are being held really high at Crockett Lake with almost now mud showing on the east end. Further to the west we had CASPIAN TERN, GLAUCOUS-WINGED, CALIFORNIA, and  RING-BILLED GULLs, a single female PURPLE MARTIN on one of the houses, a few NORTHERN PINTAIL on the lake, two COMMON GOLDENEYEs, a distant BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER that still had black on the belly. At the parking area near the ferry terminal there was one PELAGIC CORMORANT on the old platform (the only cormorant around - really unusual), a huge flock of gulls on the jetty that included probably a couple hundred HEERMANN'S GULLs - both adults and juveniles - GLAUCOUS-WINGED and CALIFORNIA GULLs, a coupld of HARLEQUIN DUCKs just off the jetty, and a COMMON LOON a ways out.

Up at the picnic area at Fort Casey we had very pleasant warm weather even though the clouds were moving in. We saw or heard CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEEs, BARN SWALLOWs, PINE SISKINS, a very frustrating OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER who was calling repeatedly but never visible, a BEWICK'S WREN with several young fledglings, and for most of the folks three GREAT HORNED OWLS. One was perched at the northwest end of the picnic area and two were perched in the center of the area. None of them were at all concerned about us, only occasionally opening an eye.

At Libby Beach things were pretty slow, but we did have three distant PACIFIC LOONs working over what seemed to be a clump of seaweed, a couple of a HARLEQUIN DUCKs, a very distant RED-THROATED LOON and a single DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. Down at Hastie Lake access we had to scan the strait but turned up PIGEON GUILLEMOT, SURF SCOTER, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, two MARBLED MURRELETS still in alternate plumage, the everpresent HOUSE SPARROWS, and a distant RED-NECKED GREBE. Further north at the Swantown overlook there were tons of PIGEON GUILLEMOTS, a couple of PELAGIC CORMORANTs, a few DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTs, many RHINOCEROS AUKLETs both on the water and flying by in flocks, SURF SCOTERs, a single WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, and a BONAPARTE'S GULL. On Bos Lake there were MALLERDS, NORTHERN PINTAIL, several CASPIAN TERNs and a flock of CALIFORNIA GULLs. At all of the ocean overlooks we had to scan far out over the water to find the birds.

We made a brief stop at Rosario Beach, but it was crawling with people both on land and on the water. As a result there were no birds to be seen.

On the way home we stopped on Fir Island and by the always nice Stanwood Sewer Ponds. At the Hayton Preserve we had a very recently fledged BALD EAGLE perched on the top railing of the fence around the parking area. The first clue was that as we slooowwwly crept by in our cars the bird did not even twitch. It remained in place when we got out, and did not leave even when the adults came over and perched in the nest tree. At one point it flapped, got overbalanced and had a hard time correcting. It never did leave. At the intersection of Pioneer Highway and Old Pacific Highway there was a single EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE on top of a telephone pole. Nearby was a perched RED-TAILED HAWK. As we walked in to the Stanwood Sewer Ponds we spotted two SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERs in a puddle that obligingly allowed us to study them. On the ponds we saw MALLARDS, GADWALL, NORTHERN PINTAIL, RUDDY DUCK, NORTHERN SHOVELER, BUFFLEHEAD, GREATER and LESSER SCAUP, and a RING-NECKED DUCK.

Elsewhere along the way, at various times we saw: AMERICAN KESTREL, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, NORTHERN FLICKER,  COMMON RAVEN, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, EUROPEAN STARLING, and DARK-EYED JUNCO. All in all for a day with no rain (in spite of predicted showers) we were very successful with 108 species seen. We introduced many of the folks on the trip to new areas on Whidbey and it was an enjoyable and profitable trip for all.

Good birding!

Brian H. Bell