Sorry about no post last week, it just got by me. So if you want this to be your best bird if the last 2 weeks I’m not going to be the calander police. For me no one bird stood out particularly, but the hike at Sunrise that seemed to have almost all juvenile passerines was most memorable. Bruce LaBar and I went on Tuesday and got an early start, avoiding the crouds of later in the day. We had great, if initially at times confusing looks at several juvenile species.

Leave a comment with your favorite birds of the last week. Good birding. Good Day!

It’s tough to say for me. Just yesterday I had three FOY Pierce birds in one day. Starting with Will Brooks texting that he had a pretty-near-in Cassin’s Auklet in the rip just off Dune’s Peninsula. I dashed right over and got nice looks for a bird usually seen only on Pelagic trips. Then the immature Brown Pelican finally showed itself to me at the mouth of the Puyallup River when I looked up from gorging on ripe blackberries. Then after dinner I headed to Puyallup to see the juv. Pectoral Sandpiper seen earlier in the day at Levee Pond. A great three-bird day.

Leave a comment with your best bird of the last week. Good birding.

I just got back last night from a 3-day camping trip at Field’s Spring State Park near Anatone, Asotin County. A really cool place. I had spent little time in the Blue Mountains, and wanted to explore, and work on my Asotin County list. A great trip. That said my favorite bird of the week was yesterday on the trip home when Marian wanted me to show her a Yellow-headed Blackbird. We pulled into Othello for a porclein stop, and checked out the Para Ponds. The Yellow-headed Blackbird males were in molt, and quite unimpressive, but several Tricolored Blackbirds shared the lone remaining roadside pond with any water with 8 Lesser Yellowlegs, 8 Greater Yellowlegs, a Pectoral Sandpiper and loads of Killdeer, giving me 3 FOY birds almost by accident.

My real treat this week though was the chance to talk with Dennis Paulson on the Bird Banter Podcast Episode #68. I had put off asking Dennis until I felt confident enough to be comfortable. We all have people we hold in such esteem that it is a bit intimidating, and Dennis was that person for me. Completely self-imposed pressue, as you all know Dennis is very humble and kind. Still it was a thrill for me to get the chance to talk with him. Check out the episode and the associated blog post on my blog post about the episode.

I am also asking any of you who are able and who listen on iTunes to leave a rating and review on the episode. It is not as easy as you’d like. If you listen on your phone you can’t leave it directly on the podcast feed. Please just use the search bar, enter Bird Banter, select the Bird Banter Podcast, scroll down to where you see the little pencil and “Write a review” Click there and rate the podcast with stars ***** and then write a review. This will be a big favor to me.

Now leave your comment with your favorite bird of the past week. Thanks and good birding.

This interacive weekly post is starting to gain traction. I love it, keep commenting. For me the best bird of the last week was really a best day of the week. Ken and I got out in Mason County, and as a Mason County lister he didn’t mind taking me out trying to pad my Mason life list in hopes of padding his Mason County year list. Well what a day. I write about it on the Ed’s on th Bird Banter Blog in my Ed’s Birding Notes page. I also talk about it on the last Bird Banter Podcast episode in the introduction. What a day. We found 12 new county birds for me, not that astonishing as my list is not high, and that I’d not birded shorebird migration in the county yet, but we got Ken 3 Mason lifers, bringing him to 200 in the county. First was a Barn Owl at Bayshore Preserve, followed by Brown Pelican and Common Murre at Potlatch State Park. A pretty spiffy day. How about you guys. Leave a comment with your best bird of the last week. Good Birding!

Distant digiscope of an adult Heermann’s Gull at the spit off Ft. Flagler State Park.

I am having fun reading and replying to many of the comments on your best bird of the last week. Merlin experiences seemed to dominate last weeks comments, but Russ telling us about his Olive-sided Flycatcher experience and reports from around the country continue to be fun to see.
I went camping at Fort Flagler SP last week, and a distant FOY Heermann’s gull seen along with Black Oystercatchers has to be my favorite. How about you. Leave a comment with your best bird of the last week.  Good birding!

I have really been enjoying reading about our members best bird of the last week. Mid June is here, the songbirds are a bit less vocal, the young are starting to fledge more and more. My best bird of the week was really 3 birds. Marian and I made a quick stop at the Goodell Creek Bridge on Hwy 20 on our way back home from a camping trip near Winthrop. Immediately on stopping and looing upstream over the creek I saw three different sized pointy-winged birds. Tiny twittering Vaux Swifts, much larger languid wingbeat Common Nighthawks, and in between in size, with more soaring and less twittery flight were Black Swifts. Just a really nice trio to watch feeding together. How about you? Leave a comment with your best bird of the last week.

Ed

I missed last week in getting this post up, so you get to tell about your best bird of the last 2 weeks. For me, no doubt. Great Gray Owl! Mike Denny showed Ken and me a known area, we watched the owlets branching and being fed by an adult, and the three of us sat by the side of an old logging road and recorded an episode of The Bird Banter Podcast. An incredible experience. I wrote a trip report on the blog here for anyone interested in photos and the whole 3-day story.

What was your best bird, or birding experience of the last 2 weeks. Share by leaving a comment on this post. I’ll try to approve quickly. By the way, some birding walks are reopening. The Theler walk with Fay and others is on for this Thursday, and Scott had a walk today at Ft. Steilacoom Park.

Westport Seabirds is opening some trips for the summer and fall. Birding in small groups with social distancing seems to be opening back up to a limited degree. Stay safe, but have fun.

Ed

This is a place to stay connected with your birding friends, talk birding, and let the rest of us know you are still birding and doing well. Post the “best” bird you saw in the last week, tell us why you chose this bird, and tell a story if you like.

For me the best bird of the week was not the Franklin’s Gull that somehow Charlie Wright saw way out on Commencement Bay from the gravel lot up on top of the Dune’s Peninsula area. It was the Parasitic Jaeger that I found myself from Iverson Beach on Camano Island. Marian and I went up Sunday to visit her sister, have a socially distant visit on their deck, and before meeting them birded the Iverson Beach area. When I got there several Caspian Terns were squawking and flying around, so I thought, why not a jaeger? Very few birds were out on the water, and one of the first floating birds I saw had the jaeger profile. I zoomed up the scope and sure enough, an adult Parasitic Jaeger. It subsequently did its tail-chase thing with the terns, even more diagnostic of it’s ID with the white wing flashes, pointy wings, and behavior. No photo, way too far away. The location is really cool though, with a dike walk, a forest trail, and a walk back through a marsh with a “Hobbit Trail” that was unexpected. I now don’t have to wait for a possibly “not-happening” pelagic trip or the fall migration for my PAJA this year. Good birding. Leave your best bird notes in the comment section. Thanks.
Also if you listen to The Bird Banter Podcast, help me out and leave a rating and review on the podcast feed of your choice. It helps me out with feedback, and better ratings on the podcast feed platforms.

Good birding.