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!

Mystery sparrow! Can you ID?

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.

Ken Brown faces his jury of peers on bird ID

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.

Laurel and Rachel give Ken something to think about

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.

Willettes congratulate Ken (Melissa, Faye, Laurel, Diane)

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!

Kay and Teri, who came all the way from Seattle, chat with Faye

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!

Ed Pullen here. I’ll be in McAllen, TX from Jan 14 thru Feb 13th, 2020. I will be staying in a 3 BR AirBNB with 3 queen sized beds. I’d love to have up to 11 ABCers join me from Feb 5-12, 2020 to bird the valley area. I’m hoping to have become pretty familiar with the area by then, and feel like I can lead day trips based out of McAllen.

I’m open to sharing the 2 extra bedrooms I have, 2 beds available. I’m thinking that if we have more interest than the beds I have, one of the other participants can get an Air BNB in the area, or some people can stay in a local hotel. I’ll have a vehicle for 4 (including me) and if we have 12 people altogether two you you can rent a car and we can be a 3-vehicle group. I’m going to be rigid about holding it to 12 people.

I expect to get out each day to bird the area, chase any good rarities, and we should see a representative species list of the Lower RGV in winter. Aplomado Falcon, Clay-colored Thrush, and Mottled Duck should be easy, and many more goodies possible. Think of things like Hook-billed Kite, Groove-billed Ani, and various others.

I’d expect if we all stay in AirBNBs we can breakfast in our place, bring lunches each day, and each make our own plans for dinner, or eat as a group, whatever works.

I will try to arrange great birding, but will need participants to work together, and with me, to arrange rental cars, lodging, and eating.

Reply to me by email edwardpullen-at- gmail-dot-com to reserve a place. Once the makeup of the group is in place, we can figure out housing and cars.

A great way to catch some winter sunshine (hopefully) and add to your ABA list for many of you.

Ed

On October 20th, Adam and I went north to the known crow roost at UW-Bothell (see last year’s report: http://abcbirding.com/harrowing-halloween-happening/). This is absolutely the best way get your haunted house fix, because this is REAL!

It was every bit as frightening and exciting as last year, with the addition of rain this time! Didn’t stop the crows! And they didn’t come any earlier than expected, either. Since we got there early (an hour before sundown time of 6:11 PM), it seemed like nothing was happening, but as we despaired, they started flowing toward us. Just before sunset, the flow was huge, coming from the northwest, and we were surrounded. Upon arrival, they circled us, looking for a personal spot. The surrounding trees and pavement of the parking terrace were already covered. The noise was deafening and sinister and would make a good soundtrack for a horror film. Crows are technically songbirds, but this music was strictly from the percussion section of the band.

They somehow reminded me of Vaux’s Swifts coming in to roost, a little less organized, but arriving in a steady one-directional stream headed straight for us! Then groups of about a hundred each would swirl a bit, parting before us in clockwise and counterclockwise tribututaries before finding a tree or building to claim. Like the swifts, they didn’t seem to have a particular leader, but instead chased those they wanted to harass, which were many!

The top of the parking garage where this was happening is surrounded on 2 sides by a wetland park, and the campus itself has many trees. But at that moment, the center of universe was right where we were standing. Rather than feeling like gods, though, we felt more like we were in the witch’s boiling cauldron. About 20 minutes after sundown when we were really starting to wonder what their plans were for us, everything abruptly stopped! Frozen in place, the crows just halted where they were and became silent and still. Darkness descended, but the crows who were on the parking pavement with us just stood there in the rain like statues. The surrounding trees all had crow-like ornaments on their branches, now faint black outlines in the drizzling night. This was at 6:35 PM, about 25 minutes past sunset. We realized there were at least 3 other carloads of onlookers as we left, so we’re not the only ones who appreciated the free show.

We had to travel to Bothell to find this fantastic roost, but really we were glad we didn’t live in a roost. It’s just for Halloween for us.
Check out more of our photos and videos at: https://tinyurl.com/y2abyq6t

We talk a lot about the Neah Bay Phenomenon, county birding and Brad’s birding family on the episode. Brad is funny, a really good guest on the show, and such a fund of information and knowledge about birding I wanted to spread the word here. Enjoy.

Find the episode on the Bird Banter Webside or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher.

Good Birding.

Ed

ABC’s MOVIE NIGHT, September 18, 2019

“From Billions to None,” documenting the demise of the Passenger Pigeon was shown to ABC. The film had some excellent re-creations of the birds darkening the sky, simulating many eyewitness accounts. The concept of extinction and the extent of our culpability were explored, with one scientist postulating that the loss of Passenger Pigeons may have allowed the spread of Lyme disease that is happening now. The railroad enhanced the speed at which the birds were dispatched, along with the concurrent extirpation of the bison.

The film briefly looked at the artists who are bringing back extinct species to our senses, as well as actual researchers seeking to de-extinct Passenger Pigeons using DNA from museum specimens and Band-tailed Pigeon hybridization. So far, this has produced no birds, but the concept is expanding to other species now (Woolly mammoths, for example).

Joe Tieger remarked after the meeting ended that the take-away for him was when one of the scientists interviewed remarked that we (humans) are the equivalent of the comet that wiped out the dinosaurs.

After the film, we relaxed with two short subjects, the oft-watched Goshawk flying through incredibly narrow spaces easily, followed by our “cartoon” feature on flying penguins, which everyone enjoyed. Ed played the stooge at the end by asking, “Is that true?”

A contingent of ABCers in 3 vehicles met as usual for Eastern WA trips at the Snoqualmie Pass rest area on Wednesday Sept 4^th and headed west.  Our first stop was at the boat launch near Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, where we started looking for vagrant passerines, one of the primary goals of the trip.  As was the case all day, sorting through Yellow-rumped Warblers in every variant of plumage for the Audubon’s race was the biggest challenge, but singing and calling Canyon Wrens were the highlight of the stop, with Say’s Phoebe and Yellow Warblers among the 15 species there.  Up top, at the Ginkgo State Park it was slow so we made it a quick stop and headed for Getty’s Cove.

At Getty’s Cove we enjoyed good looks at two of the three vireo species seen there. Fortunately Red-eyed and Cassin’s were the two seen well by most, and the more common Warbling Vireo was the only tough one to get focus on.  Wild Turkeys were seen, and molted feathers collected by many, empids were confusing as can be with silent fall birds, and we all started to get our warbler neck ache going.

Next at the Wanapum Recreation Area we saw a daytime Great Horned Owl, at least 2 Townsend’s Solitaires, Red-necked Grebe and a Herring Gull among 25 species and sat for lunch.

North Potholes Reserve took up most of our afternoon, and we had 28 species there highlighted by a large flock of American Pipits, several Lark Sparrows, a bright male Townsend’s Warbler, another Townsend’s Solitaire, a fly-by Black-crowned Night Heron, but very few shorebirds.

We spent the first night in Moses Lake at the Inn at Moses Lake, and ate at Michaels on the lake.

Thursday Sept 5^th we started with a look at the Winchester Rest Area Sewer Ponds, where there were only Killdeer as shorebirds. 

Birder’s Corner off Dodson Road was better, with looks at a Sora,  our only Solitary Sandpiper of the trip, plus good looks at Wilson’s Snipe, Long-billed Dowicher, Yellow-headed Blackbird, and lots of dabbling ducks.

We spent the morning at Potholes State Park where again the challenge was to sort anything else out of the seemingly everywhere Audubon’s Yellow-rumped Warblers.  We conservatively estimated 350 of these for our eBird list, but there may have been >1000.  We all got nice looks at a Nashville Warbler, several Orange-crowned Warblers, a Lincoln’s Sparrow, Pine Siskin, a Sharp-shinned Hawk and a Peregrine Falcon.  There was a nice flock of Western Sandpipers, at least two Semi-palmaged Sandpipers but a low diversity of shorebirds.

A highlight of the trip was a Sabine’s Gull sighted from the O’Sullivan Dam Road stop flying with small terns.  Ken and Ed got long in-flight looks in scopes, and at least a few others managed to get onto the gull with binos.  We tried for a while for better looks, going back to the boat launch area for a while, but could not relocate the bird.

Lind Coulee after lunch on Thursday was the shorebird highlight of the trip, but immediately on arrival at the upper overlook 4 Sandhill Cranes were the first thing that caught the attention of everyone. We quickly forgot about them though as at least 60 Lesser Yellowlegs, 13 Wilson’s Snipe 1 Baird’s Sandpiper, 3 Semipalmated Sandpiper, 7 Pectoral Sandpiper, and both Least and Western Sandpipers along with over 60 Killdeer seemed everywhere.  This was one of the highest recent counts for LEYE that any of us could remember.

We were exhausted after a long day of searching for birds, and were happy to find rest at a hotel in Othello, with Mexican food for dinner.

Friday we started with a fly-by Merlin in the parking lot of the hotel as we loaded up for the day.  A quick stop at Hatton Coulee Rest Stop sewer pond gave much better looks at Baird’s Sandpiper, a good look at a Semipalmated Sandpiper, and got the day off to a good start. This was a day for looking for rare eastern vagrants, and as that sort of day can go we didn’t really find any, but were pretty happy to find other good stuff, though not much at Washtucna, our next stop. Diane, Fay, Laurel and Melissa joined us in Washtucna for the rest of the trip. Lyon’s Ferry was much birdier though, after we left the waterfront to get out of the wind.  Along the road into the old camping area we saw a White-breasted Nuthatch, a House Wren, a Barn Owl, and at least 7 very unusual Evening Grosbeak, and again tons of YRWAs.  The grosbeaks were fun, as Faye saw them at the same time and in nearly the same place that many of us were looking at a flock of Cedar Waxwings.  As the birds took flight we all heard the loud flight call of the grosbeaks. Ken was startled, saying I could hear that, thinking it was the waxwings, and several of us knew immediately it was not the waxwings, and Melissa added that she thought it sounded like Evening Grosbeaks.  Consensus agreed, and then Faye told us she had seen them perched.  Ken gave her grief for not pointing them out to us, and I suggested we sit, do our eBird list and see if they would return.  We soon heard them again, and 7 of them flew right overhead for good looks and photos.

I convinced Ken to cross the river, to try for some Columbia County birds as we seemed ahead of time, and I added 4 new county birds, Osprey, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Brewer’s Blackbird and Barn Swallow, and Diane snagged a needed diet cola to fend off her withdrawal headache.

Our last stop of the day was going to be the Connell Sewer Ponds, but as there were few ducks and almost no shorebirds there we Ken aimed us to the Scooteney Reservoir where we scanned a flock of gulls, managed to pick Bank Swallows out of the more numerous Barn Swallows, and squinted to ID very distant ducks.

Friday night we stayed in Connell, and ate at the next-door family restaurant for dinner and breakfast Saturday AM. 

Saturday we met Jason Fidorra at the Mesa (in WA pronounced Me-Sah not Meah-sah like in AZ)  STP, an area usually inaccessible, and a good spot especially in the AM with great light for shorebird observation and photography.  We had great looks at Lesser Yellowlegs, along with peeps, Spotted Sancpiper and a few ducks.  Jason is encouraging the city to make the area open to birders to promote birding tourism in the area. Great stuff Jason!

We finished the trip with stops at Lind Coulee, the O’Sullivan Dam Road again hoping for looks at the Sabine’s Gull and had to settle there for early Snow Geese found by Ken on a distant rock in the lake, had lunch at the state park again, tried for a Northern Waterthrush seen earlier in the day without success, and ended at Perch Point, where shorebirds were largely lacking.

Overall a fine trip, good company, good birds, and 134 species on 27 eBird Checklists. See the eBird summary below.

I didn’t have my camera working, so have few photos to add, maybe Pat and Kirsten can add links to some photos in the comments below.

Ken Brown and Ed Pullen will be leading a 4-day 3-night Eastern Washington trip looking for migrating shorebirds, vagrant passerines, and whatever else we can find leaving Wednesday Sept 4 and returning Saturday Sept 7th. We will visit the usual places along the Columbia River, Potholes, Washtucna, Lyons Ferry, and other spots.

We will stay in motels, eat dinners out and breakfast either out or at hotel spreads. Bring lunches, water, etc. Meet at the Travelers Rest Stop at Snoqualmie Pass at 7:30. Contact Ken by email for resevations. Limit 4 vehicles. Ken will keep a waiting list.

There is no telling what we will find, but a good variety of shorebirds is likely, and an uncommon eastern passerine or two would not be unexpected.

Let’s go birding!

Ed Pullen opened the meeting, introducing Eric Dudley, currently the WOS president, to lead the book discussion. Some short announcements were made. Diane let the group know about the recent deaths of Melody Mayer and Bill Scheidt, which were quite a shock about this power couple.

Book cover

The discussion was very well attended and lively, to say the least, with no holds barred. Eric opened by talking about Kenn Kaufman and his previous books, especially his wild and wildly successful description of his first Big Year (and one of the first publicized Big Years ever), “Kingbird Highway.” Since much of Kenn Kaufman’s new book revolved around spring warbler migration at McGee Marsh in northwest Ohio and the fairly new “Biggest Week in Birding” festival there, which has just exploded, we were lucky to have many people in attendance who had birded there or nearby. In fact, Shep Thorp, who works nights and is unable to attend our meetings, takes a group every year, and we heard all about that. Accommodations near McGee Marsh are sparse, so info was exchanged among our group on where to stay and where to eat. Surrounding hotspots such as Point Pelee were also discussed.

Art and Laurel show off McGee shirts. Laurel’s has her birds check off!

A funny aside is that a large percentage of birders in attendance were wearing McGee Marsh or eastern warbler t-shirts, not just the Willettes! Laurel even had the warblers that she had seen in 2 consecutive years checked off on her shirt!

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