On eBird prior to the latest update you could use the summarize findings to create a trip list. I cannot figure out how to use that feature now, but Chazz Hesselein answered an Facebook query with a link to a cool website that allows an eBird user to create an Excel spreadsheet with a trip list by just copying the ebird list urls from eBird, pasting them into a box on the site, clicking to create a list, and presto, an Excel spreadsheet is automatically downloaded with your trip list. See the screen shots below if you don’t understand this, but the directions are all there, and pretty simple. I believe you can use Google Sheets or other free tools to open the Excel Spreadsheet if you don’t have Excel.

Good birding.

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/

I spent most of the last week at Wapato Point in Manson, near Chelan on the lake. It was really hot, so decent birding was an early morning thing, and a drive up the very steep road to Chelan Butte was a highlight. FOY Dusky Grouse, Gray Flycatcher, and many Lewis’s Woodpeckers were highlights. The really steep road was fun to drive both up and down, and the vistas were stunning. So the grouse makes Best Bird of the Last Week for me. How about you? Tell the club about your best bird of the last week in a comment below. Good birding!

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