Seattle Part Deux

built to withstand winds of 200 mph and earthquakes 9.1; 25 lighting rods

Good morning west coast time 9!!! It's 6:30 am here, but 9:30 back home, up early to get to Discovery Park. There is a Seattle Audubon group bird hike this am. Great!! I need 2 life birds here. There is about 20 of us, and I meet another person from Ohio!! Shocker.  The group leaders Neil and Carleen where great, with their help, I did get 2 life birds. The first was right around the corner, like 50 yards in, Neil phishs up a Pacific Wren ABA #558 lifer. Great!! no photos, it's a wren, it's wrenning, but great binoc looks. This bird was split in 2010 from Winter Wren(east) and Pacific Wren(west). We walk up top of the parking lot up to the bluffs. We stop and see Band-tailed Pigeon, Anna's Hummingbird, Golden-crown Sparrow, Red-breasted Nuthatch and . . .

Band-tailed Pigeon FOY

Anna's FOY

iridescent reddish-pink feathers

Anna’s Hummingbirds are among the most common hummingbirds along the Pacific Coast, yet they're anything but common in appearance. With their iridescent emerald feathers and sparkling rose-pink throats, they are more like flying jewelry than birds. Though no larger than a ping-pong ball and no heavier than a nickel, Anna’s Hummingbirds make a strong impression. In their thrilling courtship displays, males climb up to 130 feet into the air and then swoop to the ground with a curious burst of noise that they produce through their tail feathers

Golden-Crown FOY

RB Nut FOY

At the bluffs, where Neil and Carleen did their Big Sit the week before, down at the shores, probably two miles, scooped out was lifer

Harlequin Ducks ABA #559

Thanks again Canon SX50 with 50x zoom

A bird of fast-moving water, the Harlequin Duck breeds on fast-flowing streams and winters along rocky coastlines in the crashing surf. Medium-sized diving duck. White patch in front of eyes. Round white ear spot.

Wow, the good ole H-Duck!!! What a great find. I'm sure I'll see one closer some time in the future. But like Lucky Gambill's motto "One bird One time", that's all she takes. With that, day two was done. Now it's on to dinner in downtown SEATAC, sushi roll, hot shrimp soup and another IPA later at tavern Amazon employees.

It's Sunday, and that means one thing, SuperBowl Champion Seattle Seahawks football in Edmunds! Though the team took a tough road loss that day, Brad got a FOY in the front yard, a Chestnut-Backed Chickadee. After football, off to the gym for Don, dropping off me back at Edmunds waterfront to scope for birds. While watching the ferry load, there is a great area just north. Brackett's Landing north. From there, I scoped out and photoed lifer

Pigeon Guillemot ABA #560

 A seabird of the northern Pacific, the Pigeon Guillemot is found along rocky coasts from Alaska to California. It spends more time close to shore than other members of the puffin family.

Mostly white with dusky back in winter

Mew Gull FOY

 

Spotted Towhee FOY

I was excited by the Spotted Towhee visit at Discovery Park, we heard some, but saw 3 in a bush/tree thingy. Picture right. I had seen this bird only once before, 3/3/12 as bird #508 in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas with my grandparents Red & Louise and Sam. Boy--I've come a long way . . . Retracing the Steps . . . since ABA #508

This puts my #BIGYEAR2014 number at #351 for the year!!

#343  Pacific Wren--10/18 #558 ABA Lifer  
#344  Banded-tailed Pigeon
#345  Golden-crowned Sparrow
#346  Red-breasted Nuthatch
#347  Harlequin Duck #559 ABA Lifer
#348  Spotted Towhee
#349  Chestnut-backed Chickadee--10/19
#350  Mew Gull
#351  Pigeon Guillemot #560 ABA Lifer

Next up:  Back to Ohio birding, can I get #360 this year?

BANG BANG into the Birds!!

Welcome home!! Back from my annual trip to Seattle, Washington. My best friend and his wife moved there three years ago; Now I get a great chance every year to visit the Pacific northwest, stay with some friends, drink some IPAs, and of course . . . BIRD!!

Space Needle, built 1962, 605 ft tall

During my four fulls days there, I got chances to bird everyday, at different habitats around downtown and north on I-5. The "city" is so big, with so much traffic, that it really dictates when and where you can go. It's not like Columbus, where everything is 1 minute - 1 mile apart. In Seattle it can take 1 hour to drive 7 miles?!? 

So of to the Chase we go . . .

Friday afternoon we drove up to Edmunds Pier/Waterfront, and took the auto ferry over to Kingston. This was my first chance to take the ferry to the other islands, and you get to drive your car right up and park. They leave every 40mins or so and can hold 188 cars and 2000 passengers.

Dock at Kingston

Other ferry coming back to Edmunds

Front of boat

We go up to the top deck and I scope out some waterbirds . . . when I spot a . . .

Do I see a Life Bird?!?

Rhinoceros Auklet Lifer #557 FOY

Juvenile

The rhinoceros auklet is an unusual member of the Alcidae family. It is actually a puffin, not an auklet. The juvenile appears similar to the non-breeding adult, lacking both the feather tufts and beak horn, although the lower mandible is yellow on the adult and dark on the juvenile.

We head north on Hanesville Rd NE, up to Point No Point Lighthouse. Right before the entrance, off to the left is a great parking area with views of the Puget Sound. I spent an hour there and scoped out some great birds. The neigbhors house had bird feeders out, and I saw Eurasian Collored Dove, Western Scrub Jay and Steller's Jay.

Western Scrub Jay

Rainbow time

Pacific Loon  FOY

 

Eurasian Collored Dove

Western Scrub Jay

Right when we're getting to leave, packed up, I hear a loud "Bumff" all the birds take off from the feeder. I look up and here coming in hot chasing a dove . . .

Merlin  FOY!!

F.c. suckleyi subspecies

Thanks to my Canon SX50 and the bird landing in the top of the pine, I got these great pictures!

We only had about 90 minutes left til the ferry at 2:30, so we decided to stop at the town of "______" and eat lunch, with IPAs, mussels, fish&chips and clam chowder.

Lunch time

#TSB

On the ferry back to Edmunds, I saw Surf Scoters, Pelagic Cormorants and Heermann's Gull.

also called the pelagic shag FOY

all-black with a metallic iridescence

2 Male 1 Female Surf Scoters

Heermann's Gull FOY

With that, day 1 was in the books. Oh and the 2:30 ferry back to Seattle, is 14.6 miles from the dock, but took 2 hours coming south back into the city, and then in the city traffic.

This puts my #BIGYEAR2014 number at #342 for the year!!

#336  Pelagic Cormorant--10/17   
#337  Pacific Loon
#338  Glaucous-winged Gull
#339  Heermann's Gull
#340  Steller's Jay
#341  Merlin
#342  Rhinoceros Auklet  #557 ABA Lifer

Ohio FOYs

It's offically fall, and the start of winter migration is upon us. A good indicator is when you see your first Yellow-Rump Warbler of the fall. I saw mine on October 8th at Battelle Darby. The past thirty days, I've been out in the field search for my remaining Ohio year birds. My list is made, I've crossed some off but I'm running out of season. So off to the races . . .

At the end of September, a winter mirgrate gull was spotted with other Ring Bills at where else . . . Alum Creek Beach SP!! That's right where the Little Gull and Caspian Tern where seen this year for me. It's my lucky bird beach.

White crescents above and below eyes

Franklin's Gull pair

A small, black-headed gull of the prairies, the Franklin's Gull is a common sight in the interior of North America, following plows to eat exposed worms, insects, and mice


















Since the gull run was in the AM, I decided a stop in the PM by Hoover Reservoir/Galena Boardwalk for a migrate Plover, but no luck. Still missing that AMPL!!! Ugh!!
Right when I'm getting to leave, I hear all the Killdeer and Yellow Legs screech and take off flying!?!  I look around and here comes flying over . . .

Peregrine Falcon

Powerful and fast-flying, the Peregrine Falcon hunts medium-sized birds, dropping down on them from high above in a spectacular stoop. They were virtually eradicated from eastern North America by pesticide poisoning in the middle 20th century. After significant recovery efforts, Peregrine Falcons have made an incredible rebound and are now regularly seen in many large cities and coastal areas

Thanks Canon for 50x Zoom

Wow!! That was a good day, 2 FOYs and almost another. Since I was on a roll, the next morning I walked the Goldenrod trail at Blendon Woods MP, and finally caught my first Tennessee Warbler. The bird was hard for me see this year. It took me over five times to see it. Last year, the TN's where all over Blendon.

public photo; TN warbler

Now I move into October, and lots of new birds start to show up. After my research,  I dediced to go back to the Teal Trail/BD and try for sparrows, rails, and of course . . .

American Bittern!!!  The last of the Ardeidae family for the year!! Yeahhhh. Only code 4&5's left which are major rarities. One the morning of the Blood Moon, 10/8th, I spotted one flying from the parking lot--back against the treeline east. As I walked towards the info sign on the northeast trail, another Bittern flushed out with a toad in it's mouth!! Sorry, no pictures again.

public photo

Last but certainly not least, thanks again to Ohio listserv, a rare migrate Red Phalarope has appeared at Buckeye Lake north boat ramp, super close. I drove over early morning of 10/15 and saw the bird floating with the Mallards. I didn't get any pictures, but below are pictures from others on FB Birding Ohio page of it.  I've only seen this bird once, on 5/15/13 as a life bird #525, in full red breeding plumage at Teal Trail/Battelle Darby.

Red Phalarope, winter plumage

Size comparison to Mallard

Notice webbed feet

Red Phalarope: Breeds along the arctic coasts of Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland; migrates along both coasts, very rarely recorded inland. Winters mainly at sea in Southern Hemisphere. It is the most pelagic of the 3 phalarope species, spending up to 11 months each year in marine habitats

Young birds are light grey and brown above, with buff underparts and a dark patch through the eye. In winter, the plumage is essentially grey above and white below, but the black eyepatch is always present. The bill is black in winter.


























This puts my #BIGYEAR2014 number at #335 for the year!!

#331 Franklin's Gull--9/25    
#332 Peregrine Falcon--9/25
#333 Tennessee Warbler--9/26
#334  American Bittern--10/8
#335 Red Phalarope--10/15


Next up:  All a board to Seattle Washington!!!! 
Going for 20 FOYs & 6 Lifers!! Wish me luck