ABC BIG YEAR PARTY, January 15, 2019

Nearly every big year included this Clay-colored Sparrow found by Will Brooks at 134th Street in Puyallup. Actually nearly every Pierce County Big Year relied heavily on Will’s findings.

ABC celebrated our birding achievements in 2018 with Big Year reports and best photos from all, with refreshments and merriment.

As usual, we had so much active participation that we ran overtime, but isn’t that a sign of a good time?  

The Big Year reports started out with Carole Breedlove, who continues to search the earth for new kingfishers and other birds, but this past year covered Washington state thoroughly as well.  She doesn’t e-bird, so it’s nice that she keeps us in the loop.

Many reports followed including the duos of Jerry Broadus and Clarice Clark, followed by Marcus Roening and Heather Ballash, both highlighting Spanish-language birding, Ecuador for Jerry & Clarice, Mexico for Marcus and Heather

A highlight was Ed Pullen’s report on how to get a really big year in Washington without being an expert or trying too hard, which was both hilarious as well as instructive!  Bottom line: Go on all the ABC field trips and add a couple of others such as a pelagic, and pay attention to the experts! I believe this was Ed’s way of explaining how he became the expert he is today. Here is a link to a PDF of the presentation.

Bruce LaBar, Marcus, Ken Brown and others talked about using eBird and Washington Birder county lists, getting to the magic number of 253 in the 253 area code, and sharing sightings.  

Essentially every WA big year depends on Westport Seabirds to get us out to find pelagic species, like this Northern Fulmar.

Heather Voboril and Laurel Parshall gave meticulous presentations, carrying on the tradition that Heather started several years ago of women reporting!   Both had well-organized professional quality photographs, and both projected their personal birding excitement.

We ended up with special guest star Blair Bernson, the #1 birder in the state for the year, who outlined his plan to cover the country with his progress so far with numerical quotas, photographing as he goes.  He was set to head off next day for New Mexico. Here is a link to Blair’s website where you can follow his birding posts and enjoy his photography and writing.

The 5 best photos will continue with those we missed!  This is very enjoyable for all, and ABC will post the 5 best for each soon, whether or not you attended the party!

Puyallup-Orting Half-Day Field Trip Report

The Tahoma Audubon Society Field Trip to Puyallup and Orting was remarkable for the great weather and the number of participants.  Likely due to the PR in The News Tribune, with both Sunday and Friday notices in the activities section, we had 29 participants.  Of these only 7 were TAS members.  The TAS members were primarily ABC birders.The day started under bright sunny sky trying to pick the waterfowl on Bradley Lake out of the glare of the rare bright yellow thing in the sky.  We managed to get a perspective showing beautiful scope views of 8 Hooded mergansers along with a Ringed-neck duck, American Wigeon, Mallards, and Double-crested cormorants as a male Belted kingfisher rattled at the end of the lake. In the nearby forested area we had 4 woodpecker species.  Downy, Pileated, Red-breasted sapsucker and Northern flicker were seen or heard by some.  On the way back to the car a nice winter mixed flock of songbirds responded well to Ken Brown’s Pygmy Owl whistle, and we tried but failed to find a Hutton’s vireo among the 30 or so Ruby-crowned kinglets mixed with good numbers of Golden-crowned kinglets, Black-capped chickadees. A Brown creeper gave everyone a close look at its typical tree trunk climbing feeding behavior.We headed for Orting as a 7 car caravan, leaving only a few Puyallup-only birders behind.  The winter’s flock of 87 Trumpeter swans was compliant and we studied them and failed to pick out a Tundra swan at the corn field at Pioneer Way & Hwy 162.  On the way to our next stop a Merlin atop a fir tree stayed for us to see in the scopes, and we headed on with only a minor traffic hassle. Next was a short stop by the Puyallup river behind Orting Middle school where adult and young Bald eagles roosted, we saw and heard Song and Fox sparrows, another Sharp-shinned hawk (juvenile this time) was sighted, and a pair of Gadwall swam in the collection ponds.

At the farm loop off Calistoga Road just across the Puyallup River we finished up our morning by finding an American kestrel, getting everyone great looks at Sooty Fox Sparrows, and seeing another Red-tailed hawk.

Everyone seemed to have a nice time. Many saw parts of our county they had not visited before.  I was thankful for pleasant company, the birds, and most of all the sunshine. Life does seem a bit better after a day birding in the sunshine in Washington.

Day’s totals:  29 human participants, 40 species, and no accidents.

For those interested I also started an e-bird user called TASFieldTripLists.  If trip leaders share their e-bird lists to that user name we will be able to have an ongoing record of field trip sightings that may be helpful in considering what trips may be good to repeat and as a tool for data keeping.

 

E-bird Trip List

Report Details
Date range: Jan 4, 2014 – Jan 10, 2014 Total # of Species: 47
Total # of Checklists: 6
Location(s):   Bradley Lake; Mounts Road – Nisqually Tribe Site Turnout; Orting Farm Loop; Traveling Hwy 162; behind Orting Middle School; corner of Pioneer and Hey 162 Orting
Summary
Jan 4 Jan 5 Jan 6 Jan 7 Jan 8 Jan 9 Jan 10
Number of Species 47
Number of Individuals 898
Number of Checklists 6
Highest Count for a Species   (sample size)
Species Name Jan 4 Jan 5 Jan 6 Jan 7 Jan 8 Jan 9 Jan 10
Trumpeter Swan 87
(2)
Gadwall 2
(1)
American Wigeon 14
(1)
Mallard 12
(4)
Green-winged Teal 12
(1)
Ring-necked Duck 1
(1)
Bufflehead 2
(1)
Hooded Merganser 8
(1)
Double-crested Cormorant 8
(2)
Great Blue Heron 1
(3)
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
(2)
Cooper’s Hawk 1
(1)
Bald Eagle 8
(4)
Red-tailed Hawk 1
(3)
American Coot 4
(1)
Western/Glaucous-winged Gull 4
(2)
Glaucous-winged Gull 1
(1)
gull sp. 8
(2)
Rock Pigeon 20
(3)
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2
(1)
Mourning Dove 2
(1)
Belted Kingfisher 1
(1)
Red-breasted Sapsucker 1
(1)
Downy Woodpecker 1
(2)
Northern Flicker 3
(3)
Pileated Woodpecker 1
(1)
American Kestrel 1
(1)
Merlin 1
(1)
Steller’s Jay 2
(1)
Western Scrub-Jay 3
(3)
American Crow 200
(6)
Black-capped Chickadee 8
(4)
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
(1)
Brown Creeper 1
(1)
Pacific Wren 2
(1)
Marsh Wren 8
(1)
Golden-crowned Kinglet 20
(1)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 30
(4)
American Robin 16
(2)
European Starling 30
(5)
Spotted Towhee 6
(4)
Fox Sparrow 4
(2)
Song Sparrow 30
(4)
Golden-crowned Sparrow 2
(1)
Dark-eyed Junco 12
(4)
Brewer’s Blackbird 30
(1)
House Sparrow 8
(1)

Eastern WA Vagrant and Shorebird Trip

The ABC East Side passerine vagrant and Shorebird trip on the weekend of Sept 7-8, 2013 was a great weekend for shorebirds and a bit slow for migrating passerines.  We had 11 participants in 4 cars and so made great time on the road, and the overall weekend gad good weather and lots of time birding without excessive driving.

Our first stop was at Gingko State Park at Vantage.  The sprinklers were on and at the top we had few birds.  The highlight of the stop for many was a herd of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep at very close range with nursing babies and about 25 total sheep.  The bird of the stop for me was a pair of canyon wrens calling incessantly and showing off at eye level close views down by the river.  It was the first time for me to hear their call note well, not just their well-known song.  I’ll attach e-bird lists for each stop for anyone interested in more details.  See here

Sheep flock

Next stop was Getty Cove, south of the State Park, where we found modest numbers of the expected warblers (YR, Yellow, Wilson’s) as well as Warbling Vireo.  See list here.  Overall not as birdy as last September, but a nice place to bird in the fall migration.  On the drive back to Wanapum State Park we saw a Red-necked Grebe close in on the river just fading from its red-necked alternate plumage.   At the park after a slow start we finally found a nice flock of mixed migrants, including 3 vireos Warbling, Red-eyed and Cassin’s, as well as a Townsend’s and Orange-crowned warblers among the YR flock.  Also had two Western Tanagers and lots of American Robins.  List here.

A quick stop on the frontage road toward Moses Lake yielded great close looks at a Swainson’s hawk on a utility pole before we got to the Winchester Rest Stop Sewage Ponds where we had a remarkable 10 species of shorebirds including American avocet, Pectoral sandpiper and Least sandpiper.  See list

Perched Swainson's Hawk

We headed to the Potholes Rookery site where the reported Snowy Egret was not obliging but lots of American white pelicans and had a nice fly-by of an immature Black-crowned night heron.  On the way out we had some flocks of sparrows including Vesper and Lark. List here  and here.

After a night at The Inn at Moses Lake and a dinner on the lake at Michaels (recommended) we spent Sunday early looking for the Eastern wood-pewee at the horse-chestnut orchard above Lind Cooley without success, though some saw a Prairie falcon there.  list From there we went to Perch Point on the Potholes Reservoir.  It was the highlight of the day of shore-birding with large numbers of Pectoral sandpipers, peeps, about 100 Great egrets, several gull species including some Bonaparte’s gulls with some juvenile (not formative which we usually see on first winter birds) aspect remaining.  list

The rest of the day was spent circling the reservoir with several stops.  Lind Cooley was not as productive as last year except at the parking lot on top where we picked up Baird’s sandpiper along with a variety of other shorebirds  list.  On the way back we decided to try again at the Potholes Rookery for the Snowy egret without success, but a small water hold off Dodson Rd we saw a Stilt sandpiper to round out a nice weekend of shorebirding.  list

Stilt Sandpiper

All photos thanks to Pat Damron.

Here is the list for the trip:

Summary
Sep 7 Sep 8 Sep 9 Sep 10 Sep 11 Sep 12 Sep 13
Number of Species 64 60
Number of Individuals 712 2,017
Number of Checklists 8 10
Species Name Sep 7 Sep 8 Sep 9 Sep 10 Sep 11 Sep 12 Sep 13
Canada Goose 45
(2)
80
(3)
Mallard 2
(1)
14
(3)
Blue-winged Teal 6
(2)
Cinnamon Teal 1
(1)
4
(1)
Northern Shoveler 8
(1)
teal sp. 20
(1)
California Quail 2
(1)
Common Loon 1
(1)
Pied-billed Grebe 1
(1)
Red-necked Grebe 1
(1)
Western Grebe 20
(3)
Clark’s Grebe 3
(1)
Western/Clark’s Grebe 50
(1)
Double-crested Cormorant 80
(1)
75
(4)
American White Pelican 150
(1)
42
(3)
Great Blue Heron 4
(4)
Great Egret 45
(1)
98
(3)
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
(1)
Osprey 2
(2)
1
(3)
Northern Harrier 1
(1)
Cooper’s Hawk 2
(1)
Sharp-shinned/Cooper’s Hawk 1
(1)
Swainson’s Hawk 1
(1)
Red-tailed Hawk 1
(1)
1
(1)
American Coot 1
(1)
American Avocet 1
(1)
Killdeer 2
(3)
11
(4)
Spotted Sandpiper 2
(2)
Greater Yellowlegs 2
(2)
5
(4)
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
(2)
3
(3)
Stilt Sandpiper 1
(1)
Sanderling 2
(1)
Baird’s Sandpiper 5
(1)
Least Sandpiper 3
(1)
30
(3)
Pectoral Sandpiper 2
(2)
7
(3)
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
(1)
1
(1)
Western Sandpiper 15
(1)
80
(4)
Long-billed Dowitcher 1
(1)
3
(2)
Red-necked Phalarope 1
(1)
2
(1)
Bonaparte’s Gull 11
(1)
Ring-billed Gull 50
(2)
200
(4)
California Gull 2
(2)
8
(3)
gull sp. 300
(2)
Rock Pigeon 3
(1)
6
(1)
Eurasian Collared-Dove 4
(1)
Mourning Dove 4
(3)
6
(3)
Vaux’s Swift 3
(1)
Downy Woodpecker 1
(1)
Northern Flicker 2
(2)
1
(1)
American Kestrel 1
(2)
Peregrine Falcon 1
(1)
Prairie Falcon 1
(1)
Say’s Phoebe 1
(1)
Cassin’s Vireo 1
(1)
Warbling Vireo 3
(3)
1
(2)
Red-eyed Vireo 1
(1)
Black-billed Magpie 2
(1)
2
(2)
American Crow 4
(2)
4
(2)
Common Raven 4
(3)
Tree Swallow 40
(1)
Bank Swallow 4
(1)
Barn Swallow 40
(3)
20
(2)
Rock Wren 3
(1)
Canyon Wren 2
(1)
Marsh Wren 1
(1)
Bewick’s Wren 2
(1)
American Robin 28
(3)
European Starling 6
(1)
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
(1)
1
(1)
Yellow Warbler 4
(1)
1
(1)
Yellow-rumped Warbler 8
(2)
40
(3)
Townsend’s Warbler 1
(1)
1
(1)
Wilson’s Warbler 1
(1)
3
(1)
Vesper Sparrow 3
(1)
Lark Sparrow 2
(1)
Savannah Sparrow 2
(3)
Song Sparrow 1
(1)
1
(1)
White-crowned Sparrow 7
(3)
6
(1)
Dark-eyed Junco 4
(1)
Western Tanager 2
(1)
Red-winged Blackbird 30
(2)
Western Meadowlark 8
(2)
4
(1)
Yellow-headed Blackbird 10
(2)
Brewer’s Blackbird 8
(2)
30
(2)
House Finch 14
(2)
16
(1)
American Goldfinch 12
(2)
6
(3)
House Sparrow 1
(1)

Thanks to Ken Brown for arranging another great trip, to all participants for an excellent time birding together. Thanks to the lightening at the Seahawks game for me finding time to get this report on the ABC site.  Ed Pullen