We had a great meeting tonight reviewing some of the rare and unusual birds we’ve seen lately. At least one member of our group has seen each of the following lately:

Citrine Wagtail Red-Flanked Bluetail Brambling White-Winged Crossbills Thick-Billed Murre Horned Puffin Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker Black-Necked Stilt, out of range (ocean) Hermit Warbler, out of range Slaty-Backed Gull Glaucous Gull White-Breasted Nuthatch (in Pierce County) Semi-Palmated Sandpiper

Eyewitness reports and/or photos were presented by Ed Pullen, Faye McAdams Hands, Ryan Wiese, Brian Pendleton, Rolan Nelson, Carol Smith, and Ken Brown (and photos in absentia from Laurel Parshall, Vicki Biltz, Heather Roskelley, and Wayne Sladek). Difficult bird ID photo on Least Sandpipers was provided by John Riegsecker. Historical background was also provided by Ruth Sullivan on the Gulls.

Thanks to all. It was lively!

May 20, 2013: – ABC Meeting at UPlace Library – 6:45. We’ll be reviewing the amazing parade of rare birds that have visited our area in the past few months with eyewitness reports from many of you. If you have photos of some recent rarities or stories, bring them!

June meeting – (fourth week in June, actual date to be announced): We’ll visit the slater Museum at the University of Puget Sound and see their bird and wing collections, hosted by director Peter Wimberger, who is also on the board of Tahoma Audubon. Stay tuned for particulars.

July 25, 2013: (4th Thursday) – UPlace Library – 6:34: Malheur and other field trip reports, plus a look at Jamaican endemics courtesy of ABC member David Marshall who spends his winters there and is co-editor of their birding journal. He’ll have a riveting report on the bird smuggling trade there, too.

We may take the month of August off unless someone has a program they’re burning to present.

Birdathon Report 2013- Ed Pullen & Ryan Wiese

3:05 PM May 3 until  2:40 PM May 4, 2013

Ryan and I had no one sign up for our TAS overnight birdathon trip this year, and we so enjoyed the time together and the ability to both move quickly and yet have plenty of time to enjoy the birding. We are contemplating just doing private birdathon’s in years to come. The weather was perfect, high 60’s on Friday afternoon and in the 70’s most of Saturday.  A strong offshore breeze kept it cool, and migration kept it fun.

We saw 119 species, with just the highlights mentioned, the full list to follow.  We started at Steilacoom Park and found mostly expected species, but no House wren this year.  The waters off Steilacoom were very quiet, and we missed most of the expected water birds there, but picked nearly all of them up at later times.  Not even  a Pigeon guillemot seen from the ferry terminal, but we did pick up Common merganser and Common Goldeneye in Chamber’s creek.

Nisqually NWR was beautiful, and two bright male Yellow-headed blackbirds that had been reported for a week or so were obliging and flew in on our walk back off the marsh to the base of the trail.  After a few minutes they flew back out toward the sound and disappeared. We did do well on ducks, and heard and saw both Dowicher species as well as both yellow-legs species there.  Not a single rail was heard or seen though. Across McAlister creek at Luir beach we got Purple martins, and as they sang away we found Brant (geese) and Caspian terns.

Then as it started to get dark we dashed to Elma, where at the new access off Wenzel Slough Rd we saw two Barn owls flying over the fields and heard American bittern calling as Wilson’s snipe winnowed overhead.

After a short sleep in Ocean Shores we were at the Jetty just after daybreak, and watched migration happening.  Highlights were 3 “rock birds”.   Ruddy and Black turnstones and Surfbirds were easily seen at the base of the jetty, and many Pacific loons flew north, mixed with some Common and Red-throated loons.  Boneparte’s gulls fed in the turbulent water off the “bar” and Sooty shearwaters used the offshore wind to swoop over the waves.  Later, just before the 9AM high tide at Bill’s spit were large numbers of shorebirds, and Ryan found one Red knot by sorting through an estimated 3-4000 other shorebirds.  We squinted to make out two distant Whimbrel before turning around and getting great looks at three on our walk back to the car.

At Ocean City State Park we had plenty of time to be sure the Black-throated gray warblers were were hearing were not the similar sounding Townsend’s warbler, and added Golden-crowned kinglets and Stellar’s jays.  On the ride back east we stopped at Burrow’s road, Hoquiam’s Bowerman basin, Brady Loop, Schouweiler marsh and ended our day enjoying being in tee-shirts and counting at least 100 Whimbrel in a freshly mowed field off the west end of Wenzel Slough Rd.   Overall we had a great trip.  Thanks to anyone who chooses to donate to the Tahoma Audubon Society.  You can donate at my First Giving site by clicking on this link.  Good birding.

See the trip list below: