Our Big Year people include our key counties and state and now include the 253 CLUB, thanks to Marcus, who monitors that! Yes, you must reach 253 species inside the 253 area code!

Check it out below!

by Scott Saunders

Birders: Scott Saunders, Julia Dolan, Tina Suda, Laurel Parshall, Ellen Cohen, Ken Zirinsky, and Sydney Rometsch.

We all met at the Roy Y Park-N-Ride at 5:30, figured out our car pooling arrangements and off we went, ‘The Mountain’ in sight.

Our first stop on the way to Paradise was Ohop Creek where we hoped to see a few Lazuli Bunting. There were plenty of Cedar Waxwing and swallows, but no Lazulis. 

Link to Ohop Creek Checklist

Our next stop was at the Elbe bridge where there are occasionally American Dippers, but again no luck. We got to see a Great Blue Heron take flight and a family of Common Mergansers.

Link to Elbe Bridge Checklist

On our way up the mountain a pair of Barred Owls flew over the lead car and landed on a big snag. Not realizing the owls had flown over us we kept going and Julia walkie-talkied us that we might want to turn around and come back. At least one of the owls was kind enough to stay put while we took pictures.

Link to Barred Owls Checklist

Upon reaching Longmire we ran across the road to view the meadow and within a minute Julia jumped on a MacGillivray’s Warbler flitting around. It took a bit of searching but we all got eyes on it. A couple of trees on the other side of the meadow were loaded with Band-tailed Pigeons with one sitting out on the end of a fallen snag. Life birds for some: Red-breasted Sapsucker.

Link to Longmire in the morning

Finally our main destination, Paradise, 9:00am. No rain, a little cool, hardly any wind. Crossed our fingers that the weather would hold. 

One of our first treats was a flock of 14 Red Crossbills, they may have split up as we repeatedly had 2 flocks of 7 all day long. 

We got on 6-7 purple finches, all appeared to be first year males with their streaky breasts.

Here and there a couple American Pipits showed themselves, a life bird for some which is always exciting. Laurel used her pipit whispering skills and got one to come right over to us as she took several hundred pictures 😉  right after this a Gray-crowned Rosy Finch flew over us, calling as it went, the only one of the day.

“But in the mountains did he feel his faith.

All things, responsive to the writing, there

Breathed immortality, revolving life,”

• Wordsworth 

By now it was starting to lightly sprinkle and the wind was picking up just a little. Panorama Point beckoned. We continued to see Pippits and Marmots everywhere as we got onto the steeper trail. The wind started to pick up pretty strong, blowing in clouds, which drenched us even though at the most it still was only sprinkling. By the time we reached Panorama Point the wind was blowing us sideways, it was a little cold, and we had planned to eat lunch. We scarfed down a little of our food and then headed onwards to get to the rock face that blocked the wind almost entirely. Then we all sat and actually ate lunch. Without the wind we warmed up a bit, attempted to dry off and changed clothing. We learned later that shortly after continuing on it started to sleet – we were lucky to have missed it.

Continuing around the loop and starting down it took awhile to reach the tree line again.

A Hermit Thrush was spotted hopping around in the brush and actually came out and poised for us. A lifer for Sydney!

It was still sprinkling, the wind had slowed down a little, and it was still a little chilly. Coming around a corner we came upon a small meadow where Ellen pointed out a large dark bird. With all of our binoculars clouded over it was difficult to see. But then a laser pierced the fog to land on a male Sooty Grouse! Where’d that laser come from? Another lifer for several. A Varied Thrush took off from right next to the male grouse and landed right next to a female grouse about 30 feet away.  As we watched three chicks, that appeared only a few weeks old, crept out of the scrub and ran over to her. We spent a good 10 minutes watching the family.

After passing Myrtle Falls we paused under some trees providing a nice dry spot.  Ken put down his backpack and poles while he took pictures of some wildflowers nearby.  A Hoary Marmot wandered through the group, completely ignoring us, and went straight for Ken’s poles. After sniffing them several times and determining them to not be edible he continued to wander in and out of the group.

After escaping the Hoary Marmot we came to a grove of evergreens that were a short way up slope and discovered a handful of Pine Grosbeaks making their way back and forth through the trees. Lifers for some!

The parking lot finally provided us with a couple of Canada Jays, they had been absent all day. 

Paradise/Skyline Trail Checklist

Before heading back home we sat down in the visitor’s center for something warm to eat and drink and reflect on our day. Though cold and wet we all agreed that we had a great time, saw some birds (several lifers) and altogether enjoyed each other’s company. Looking forward to doing this at Sunrise in a few weeks.

One last stop at Longmire and we were ready to go home!

Longmire in the Early Evening Checklist

And so ends another birding adventure on ‘The Mountain’.

Le Fin

CONGRATULATIONS BIRDERS!
2022 BIG YEARS

Washington State:
1-Brian Pendleton 380*
9-Bruce LaBar 327
9-Blair Bernson 327
14-Shep Thorp 315
18-Jacob Miller 309
19-Bill Tweit 306
30-Marcus Roening 291
38-Teri Martine 286
40-Ed Pullen 282
40-Heather Ballash 282

*For an account of Brian’s amazing Big Year under impossible conditions, see Ed Newbold’s blog with the Seattle Times’ article about him: https://ednewbold.com/seattle-times-ad-honors-brian-and-darchelles-bigyear/

Pierce County:
1-Bruce LaBar 222
2-Marcus Roening 211
3-Charlie Wright 204
3-Ed Pullen 204
5-Wayne Sladek 203
6-Heather Ballash 201
8-Will Brooks 190
9-Max Merrill 188
10-Scott Saunders 183
11-Linnaea Wright 179
12-Peter Wimberger 174
13-Bryan Hanson 168
14-Mike Charest 158
15-Marjorie Sladek 147
16-Glenn Johnson 145
17-Art Wang 142
18-Mary Pearse 137
18-Shep Thorp 137
21-Kathryn Cooper 134
24-Richard Smedhurst 132
26-Christopher Clark 128
26-Ellen Cohen 128
29-Chris Rurik 126
30-Joe RouLaine 123

Mason County
1-Jacob Miller 200
2-Ken W. Brown 191
3-John Riegsecker 181
4-David Ness 172
5-Lindsey Watts 166
6-Cindy Ziobron 165
8-Ed Pullen 156
10-Faye Hands 149
11-Laurel Parshall 141
12-Bill Tweit 139
13-Mary Frey 134
14-Diane Yorgason-Quinn 133
15-Rick Hurst 132
16-Kirsten Tucker 127

Kitsap County
6-Ken W. Brown
13-Kyle Elman 144
15-Ed Pullen
18-Chazz Hesselein

October 17, 2021 – CROWS!!!

by Diane Yorgason-Quinn

Adam and I did our yearly Halloween trek to the famous crow roost at Bothell. From our vantage point atop the North Parking garage, we could look down into the protected wetland where so many birds of all kinds spend the night. Arriving 45 minutes before sunset, we saw only one crow at first and wondered if this phenomenon had moved on. But soon, here they came! Dozens, then hundreds, then thousands! The noise increased and drowned out the I-405 traffic noise!

A special treat was that the U had left the game lights on the playing field just south of where we stood, and the crows showed up to play! It was amazing how many crows were playing there, but when the lights went off, the crows slowly dissipated into the swamp to the east.

As was their habit, about 15 to 20 minutes after sunset, the crows suddenly hushed all at once. We could still see a few, but they were no longer moving around, and they certainly did not vocalize. We had tried to count them, but when you’re in the eye of the hurricane, you are not in a position to measure it. Nevertheless, we entered 15,000 into eBird, and eBird didn’t even flinch!

Show over. We thought. As we turned to the car getting ready to leave, Adam said what’s that? It was quite dark by then, but there was no mistaking a large flock of birds circling the wetland. They were not crows, neither by their voices or their formation. We watched as they were joined by several other large groups, making the entire group probably around 5000. Photos were hardly possible, though I did try! And a little movie to hear their voices. Later we decided they had to have been Cackling Geese! What a great encore to the Crow Show!

To see more of our photos and videos, go to: https://www.flickr.com/photos/76552838@N03/albums/72157720070686191

Story and photographs by Max Warner, May 17, 2021

Chambers Bay area Ospreys have arrived from migration on April first every year for quite some time and have usually reclaimed existing territories and nests. But this year, a non-migratory female Canada Goose had earlier taken possession of a well-established pole nest near the Chambers Bay Dam and refused to give it up to a returning Osprey Pair. This behavior by geese had been noted in the area sporadically before.

After a day or two, the Ospreys decided to build a new nest nearby, right on top of a utility pole with many energized wires attached, and went at it vigorously. This being a hazard both to birds and potentially to power transmission, Tacoma Power and the Department of Fish and Wildlife were notified. A day or two later the new Osprey nest was removed, apparently with a permit allowing this because of safety concerns. Anti-nesting devices were placed on the pole and a nearby one.

But the Goose remained on the original nest and indeed was plucking breast down and lining the nest with it. However, in the next two or three days she and her pile of down were removed and the Ospreys, who had been hanging around stubbornly, reclaimed their home and have proudly remained on it ever since.

Final Score Ospreys 1, Goose-0. (“Goose egg” ?)

Unable to do our Big Year celebration this winter, we still recognize our big hitters!

Congratulations to our people who broke into the TOP 10 (via eBird) in 2020:

PIERCE COUNTY TOP 10

Heather Ballash (235)

Marcus Roening (234)

Bruce LaBar (229)

Ed Pullen (222)

Will Brooks (220)

Peter Wimberger (214)

Wayne Sladek (214)

Margie Sladek (189)

Charlie Wright (185)

PIERCE COUNTY HONORABLE MENTIONS: Art Wang, Shep Thorp, Kathryn Cooper, Shelley Parker, Heather Voboril, Bryan Hansen, Scott Saunders.

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MASON COUNTY TOP 10

Ken Brown (185)

Jacob Miller (170)

John Riegsecker (165)

Faye McAdams Hands (150)

Ed Pullen (150)

Bill Tweit (138)

MASON COUNTY HONORABLE MENTIONS: Jon Anderson, Diane Yorgason-Quinn, Donna La Casse, Lisa Pedersen, Mark Biser, Laurel Parshall, Kirsten Tucker

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KITSAP COUNTY TOP 10

Brad Waggoner (226)

Ken Brown (200)

KITSAP COUNTY HONORABLE MENTIONS: Ed Pullen, Chazz Hesselein, Heather Voboril, John Riegsecker

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THURSTON COUNTY TOP 10

John Anderson (179)

Tom Schooley (173)

Bill Tweit (172)

THURSTON COUNTY HONORABLE MENTION: Shep Thorp

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LEWIS COUNTY TOP 10

Dalton Spencer (163)

Rachel Hudson (158)

Dave Hayden (123)

Will Brooks (110)

LEWIS COUNTY HONORABLE MENTION: Whittier Johnson

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KING COUNTY TOP 10

Anonymous (262)

Dave Slager (231)

Ryan Merrill (230)

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STATE OF WASHINGTON TOP 10

Shep Thorp (351)

Blair Bernsen (330)

Bruce LaBar (319)

WASHINGTON HONORABLE MENTIONS: Ryan Merrill, Will Brooks, Brian Pendleton, Ed Pullen, Teri Martine

***************

CONGRATULATIONS! See you for next year’s Big Year Party!

At this spooky time of year, crows signify the bird identity of Halloween spirits, which is why Adam and I always choose October to go see the crow spectacle in Bothell. The University of Washington’s Bothell campus is host to thousands of crows with one of the biggest, if not the very biggest, nighttime roost in the state. They have become very well known on campus, and the University sponsors their very own webpage (https://www.uwb.edu/visitors/crows), plus students are now studying this bonanza that just landed in their lap due to their choice of college. Much media has been focused on these Corvids in the greater Seattle area, but the roost is less well known in the south Sound. We have our own crow roosts, but really nothing like this.

It was a balmy evening when we drove up on October 17th to an empty campus due to the coronavirus pandemic. We drove to the top of the north parking terrace as usual and waited. At first we saw a few crows. As it started to get dark, more crows came in, and soon it was apparent that there really were more crows, not just the same bunch circling us. Just at sunset, the numbers increased logarithmically. We couldn’t really get a good count because it was getting so dark, and these are very dark sinister-looking birds, but we put 10,000 down as our count on eBird, and eBird didn’t even blink. Might have been twice that number.

Adam and I were very happy to have this pandemic-safe outing with just us. Most of the time we were there, there were no others on the parking garage roof, so we were able to push our masks down and breathe freely. The only protective equipment we might have wanted would have been earplugs to blunt the crow symphony a bit. But just as in previous visits, a half-hour after sunset, the noise suddenly ceased, as if some demonic conductor had put down his baton.

We noticed people down on the ball field just south of where we were, and one of them came up and told us that crows line up on the east side of the field, then when their social group has all arrived, they just seem to fall down into the swamp/wetland there. We saw a bit of that, but we were so busy looking up that we couldn’t really enjoy that part. The woman who told us that was a local, and she brought dry cat food and sprinkled some out on the parking garage floor. We knew she was a regular because They Were Waiting for Her! Maybe they’d already sent a contingent to her house to threaten her if she didn’t show up with the goods

We cast our own magical spell for Corvids (Corvus brachyrhynchos) to beat off Covid-19. And we think the spell will work. Once the coronavirus has passed, we predict the numbers of crows in Puget Sound will be higher than ever. A safe bet since there are always more and more crows as the numbers of Homo sapiens increase and unwittingly invite them. So bet on Corvids, not Covid.

Some of our photos are posted here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/76552838@N03/albums/72157716526428897
Our report from last year is here: http://abcbirding.com/a-birdy-halloween-haunting/

ABC was privileged to host Blair Bernson on his inaugural presentation of his 50-50-50 Project, a presentation he intends to exhibit at many venues over the coming months and perhaps incorporate into a book. With his excellent photos and his insights into the people and places he’s experienced, we believe this would be an excellent contribution to this growing genre of birding adventures. He has enough material already just by culling his really great blog: https://blairbirding.com/2020/02/20/fotos-friends-and-fabulous-weather/#like-23601

Title of the presentation was, “50/50/50 – A Passionate BIrding Adventure,” and Blair turned out to be passionate about not just the birds, but the adventure and all that means. It was a way to become optimistic about the world for him, and he communicated that very well.

A whirlwind of activity filled every month over a couple of years, birding every month except July last year. As any birder knows, May is BUSY! He had a 15-state marathon in May 2019! His modus operandi was to plan 2 days at the minimum wherever he went, one day for birding and one day for travel. His “rule” was to see 50 birds in ONE DAY, and he never had to break that rule.

He called “coordinating with others” a logistical complaint, but it was also a highlight for him, getting to know people all over and following up leads on who to contact. He has a bunch of new lifelong friends now that he’ll continue to follow. His local birding companions numbered 300!

To sum up, he saw 491 birds on his 50 project days and 660 on project trips. Whew!

He did take a few plane trips, but managed a lot of his travel with rental cars, having planned to do the “next state” next door to where he was.

Blair Bernson is not “Just a Birder,” as he claims, but someone we are happy to know. He was also willing to move up his presentation for us when we had a cancellation, which is why we happened to see it before anyone else! So we’re all lucky that way, too1

Thanks, Blair!

As I left the University Place library when they finally kicked us out at closing time after our Big Year party, the librarian commented to me that she couldn’t remember a group having such an obviously good time as we did! Luckily she was smiling when she said it.

2019 was a great year for ABC’ers. Many of you attended our festivities and told about your year or showed your 5 best photos from 2019. We had many goodies provided by members, too, and Carole Breedlove brought some bird books to give away as she continues to try to tame our huge collection.

To start out, a slide was shown of Bruce LaBar (#1 in Pierce County) and Ken Brown, taken by Ed Pullen yesterday, from Texas, where they were shown in big winter coats complaining about the unseasonal cold snap. They all sent in their 2019 photos, but they received no sympathy for being in Texas! Ed is expecting some ABC’ers in February, so they were scouting an itinerary for that. We kept the boys’ image up while announcements were made of upcoming meetings.

We mentioned Bud Anderson’s FRG retirement and had a card for those who know him to sign.

Speaking of Ken’s diabolical quizzes, one of the photos he sent was titled, “Find the Bird.” Sure enough, there was no obvious bird in the picture, but as soon as the photo appeared, I started hearing whispers of “pauraque” from the group. This is a sharp group that can see pauraques instantly!

We had some great Big Year reports including Tahoma Audubon’s 50th Anniversary Big Year, where many of us “shared” our reports with TAS. The final report will be posted on their website in the near future, but preliminaries included birds from Australia, Colombia, Chile, Morocco, Tanzania, Taiwan, China, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand, Panama, Hong Kong, and many states in the U.S. A pretty fun way to do a big year! New presenter Jane said it was the TAS Big Year that made her start her own, and we really enjoyed her great photos, starting with her favorite, the Bald Eagle.

Starting off the Big Year reports, I tooted my own horn by saying my Big Year number was 4: In Chile, my 4th total eclipse and my 4th and last Avocet of the world! I showed the write-up in the November ABA Birding magazine detailing that.

We read Ed Pullen’s Big Year report of birding in Cambodia, Thailand, and Washington. Then we started pulling people up for theirs. One highlight was Bryan Hanson’s report, with Ryan Wiese’s input, which included how to use eBird to find out what birds you still needed for any year and where to get them. Bryan and Ryan used this to good effect this year.

One highlight was Blair Bernson’s great photo of the sadly famous Ross’s Gull which he clicked right before the criminal Bald Eagle murdered it, witnessed by many birders.

We really enjoyed Brian Pendleton’s photos from Washington, Portugal, and Spain. He had mentioned he might come to the meeting, but unfortunately got tied up in Seattle. His photos were actually clicked by his companion, Darshell, but they were definitely his sightings. He was #10 in the state for 2019. He still gets around with a little help from his friends, but can no longer hold a camera. We wish him many more birds!

As usual, we were treated to Heather Voboril’s great PowerPoint with some of her exciting travels to the other side of the world. Carol Breedlove described her worst ever guide in Guiana, and she’s had dozens, if not hundreds, of guides in her world travels. Willettes Faye, Carol, Laurel, and I also showed our stuff.

Wayne Sladek introduced a scary story about his travels in the far east where he found more birds kept in cages and being sold in markets, than in the wild. Jon Anderson came up from Olympia to give his report, one that many of us had been following on his blog, and enjoyed his droll humor as well.

Will Brooks continues to astound us with his knowledge and talent, including several firsts for Pierce County and glimpses of his travels with his girlfriend. We just hope he sticks around now that he’s a senior at UPS.

More photos were shown by Jerry and Clarice, including that really funny steam-punk portrait of Clarice with the loupe attached to her eye. Eric Dudley and Mary Kay Elfman, as well as Joe and Maggie Tieger showed their usual professional quality photos. John Riegsecker spared us his usual scary prey-and-poop pics and showed us some birds with charm for a change. Vicki Biltz continued an underlying Spain theme with her very sophisticated bird portraits. Kathleen Miller and Pat Damron showed their professional photography skills, as usual.

All the Spanish birds have made me want to go to Spain. Stay tuned!

What a great evening! Thanks to all and good luck in 2020!

On November 20th, Ken Brown was back to the group he helped form, the ABC Club, which was formed originally for the “graduates” of his Advanced Birding Class, but now has expanded to become the birding branch of Tahoma Audubon, for all birders.

It was with some anticipation and dread that we gathered, knowing Ken was going to try to stump us. Showing off his newfound prowess with photography, he had us “help” identify the birds in the slides, after having cropped off all distinguishing features! Turns out, he trained us well, and many of them were identifiable, at least to some of the group.

That Ash-throated Flycatcher was shown in a foreshortened view, and it could only be identified by knowing where and when the photo was taken. The Hutton’s Vireo was shown with the toes cropped off so we couldn’t use their color as a hint. Both of these were readily identified in the followup shots, though. And what about that invisible gull, hidden in plain sight in the flock of Bony’s? What was expected to be a toughie, an immature Common Yellowthroat was immediately identified by Faye, followed by others chiming in.

But then there was The Sparrow. Even Ken was unsure what it was and had just a frontal shot. Speculation included young Chipping or Clay-colored in transition plumage. But maybe something else entirely. So we found out the real reason Ken showed the slide, to get us to do his ID work!

A highlight of the evening was refreshments! Much popcorn and other snacky foods, as well as water, were catered by Rachel Brown, Ken’s wife, and were complemented by great big cookies brought by Chazz.
After the official part of the evening was over, many stayed to exchange stories of recent birds as well as ideas for future presentations. Eric is going to astound us next year sometime with a recap of hawkwatch sites he’s visited, and Laurel might show some Harpy and Crested Eagles in Panama, seen with Sergio Seipke’s Raptours, inspired by Sergio’s appearance at one of our meetings last year.

Looks like we’ll have an exciting year ahead with ABC. Our New Year’s Day “Cruise”, our Big Year and Best Photo party in January, then an ABC trip to the Lower Rio Grande in February, and much more!