Seahawks??

Nope, no Seahawks seen this trip. No Osprey either. But I did end up with my life bird Varied Thrush. So it was a good trip.  Below is a recap of places birded and trip list from Seattle 2015.

Friday--Juanita Bay Park in Kirtland for the Red-breasted SapSucker, no luck
             Washington Park Arboretum--wait, is that a Varied Thrush?? just ducked down, does that count?

Saturday--Discovery Park birdwalk with Seattle Audubon.  http://www.seattleaudubon.org/sas/GetInvolved/GoBirding/NeighborhoodBirdWalks.aspx

                Same walk and leaders as 2014, so it was nice to see familiar faces! The park is big and has several types of habitats. So many of the local birds are there.  Many first of year(FOY) birds and even my lifer. Best bang for your buck birding spot if you are in downtown. I've birded there 3 of my 4 trips to WA.

Is there a bird in this pic?

50x times ZOOM!! BOOM!!

Merlin, juvi

 FOY

Varied Thrush, #572

Discovery Park last year got me #558--Pacific Wren 10/18/14
#559--Harlequin Duck 10/18/14. Gotta love this place.







Monday--Edmunds Marsh, Edmunds Pier/Sunset Ave.
                  The marsh is good for ducks and shorebirds. There is a nice boardwalk and history to this place. Just half mile from there, at the ferry pier is Brackett's Landing. This place is hot too! And just as last year, I saw a raft of Rhinoceros Auklets out toward the bay. Several more scooters, gulls, & cormorants.


 Trip Stats:
 108 hours in Washington
 4     Uber trips
 54  total species
19  FOYs--Notables
(American Wigeon, Surf Scoter, Common Merganser, Pelagic Cormorant, Merlin, Heermann's, Mew, Glaucous-Winged Gull, Rhinoceros Auklet, Band-tailed Pigeon, Anna's Hummingbird, Steller's Jay, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtit, Bewicks Wren, Pacific Wren, Varied Thrush, Fox Sparrow, Golden-Crowned Sp, Western Meadowlark)
  1 LIFER, now at ABA#572

 Next up: Birds, birds, birds,  . . . I need to finish 2015 in Ohio STRONG!!

Washington +1 Lifer!!

Varied Thrush

 . . . And the streak continues!! Back from my fourth trip to Washington state, and I get to tick off another life bird off the list.  This time, at Discovery Park after the birdwalk, up in a tree about 125 yards away . . .

Ixoreus naevius

ABA #572

Bold black band across rusty-orange breast

The Varied Thrush seen in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, with their towering conifers and wet understories of ferns, shrubs, and mosses. Catch a glimpse of this shy bird and you’ll see a handsome thrush with a slaty gray back and breast band set against burnt-orange breast and belly. Common in the Cascades, Northern Rockies, and Pacific Coast, Varied Thrushes forage for insects in summer and switch to berries and seeds in winter.

Both males and females make a variety of calls, usually in aggression or defense. Those calls include a short trill, a harsh churrr, and a series of low chect notes. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Varied_Thrush/sounds

#birdwalk

Gambill family history of seeing a Varied Thrush:
My dad Buddy has his first observation on 12/23/1979 in Findley State Park, Ohio
Red & Louise have seen many through out their years of birding, starting in 1982, 84', 86' and on.

Next up: Washington trip round up . . what's next??

Seattle Hit list

Well, it's that time of year again, a fall visit to the Pacific Northwest!!!  This will mark my fourth year in a row visiting Seattle. Aug 12', Sept 13', and Oct 14' & 15'.  I'm visiting my best friend and his wife again since they moved out there from Ohio. It's a great trip, and since they live in downtown Seattle, I am limited on my travels for birding. So no trips to the mountains, islands, coasts or pelagics, but I"m getting pretty good at city parks and Edmunds pier/marsh.





Current ABA list list: 571
Last one seen: Clark's Nutcracker  9/10/15

Lifers needed:

• Varied Thrush code 1, will Discovery Park payoff finally??
• Northwest Crow code 1, ferry/car trip to Gardiner 
• Parasitic Jaeger code 1, at Discovery Park flying off the coast maybe
• Red-Breasted Sapsucker code 1, again the pines at Discovery park, recent sightings
• Marbled Murrelet code 1, Edmunds pier/ferry ride
• Cassin's Vireo code 1, city parks, one of three from Solitary Vireo split                      "Blueheaded-Plumbeous-Cassin's."

I'd like better looks at:
  Pigeon Guillemot
  Rhinoceros Guillemot 

Next up:  Sleepless in Seattle???

RUFF !! local

It was spring break week back in 1992. I was a freshman in high school. I was fresh off my 500th bird in the fall of 1991.  My dad Buddy would take me down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the week. We had a beach house there, that he would have to get ready for summer rental season. It was back then on April 21,1992 in Nags Head, NC that I saw my life bird Ruff. I don't remember any details, but it was in my book, so I'm sure dad made sure I saw that damn bird!!!

Fast forward 23 years later, and BOOM!!!  A juvenile Ruff was spotted on Friday 25th at the north Hoover mudflats in Galena, OH. Two days later, the chase was on.

Ruff

Philomachus pugnax

taken from the boat

Code-3: Rare.
Species that occur in very low numbers, but annually, in the ABA Checklist Area. This includes visitors and rare breeding residents. Mostly east coast and California coasts.

Juvenile

Ring-billed Gulls, Greater Yellowlegs, Ruff in the middle

The ruff is a migratory species, breeding in wetlands in colder regions of northern Eurasia, and spends the northern winter in the tropics, mainly in Africa-Senegal. The largest numbers breed in Russia (more than 1 million pairs), Sweden (61,000 pairs), Finland (39,000 pairs) and Norway (14,000 pairs). Of the various Eurasian shorebirds that stray into North America, this one is the most regular and widespread in its occurrence.



Gambill family history of seeing a Ruff:
My dad Buddy has his first observation on 4/10/1979 in Wooster, Ohio
Red & Louise have seen many through out their years of birding, I just don't have an exact date.

Life Bird time Nevada

ABA #571

My annual trip to Las Vegas, Nevada continues to pay off. Too bad the casino's are not as hot as the birding has been.  While there on vacation, I manged to bird with birdingpal.org guide, John Taylor again. After visiting Henderson BP on Wends, Thursday morning we went north on SR 95 to Corn Creek NWP. Wow, what a place. But we needed to change the habitat and elevation to get different birds. So we moved north, then west off SR 156 up to Mt. Charleston.  We drove from 2000 ft elevation up to 8100 ft elevation. Once at the Deer Creek Picnic area, off SR 158, we got out and walked up the trail. On the way out back to the parking lot . . . I keep glancing the top of the trees . . .  then bang!!!

Clark's Nutcracker

Nucifraga columbiana

High in the mountains of the West, gray-and-black Clark’s Nutcrackers swoop among wizened pine trees, flashing white in the tail and wing. They use their dagger-like bills to rip into pine cones and pull out large seeds, which they stash in a pouch under their tongue and then carry away to bury for the winter. Each birds buries tens of thousands of seeds each summer and remembers the locations of most of them. Seeds they don’t retrieve play a crucial role in growing new pine forests.

Clark’s Nutcrackers are birds of the mountains. They are closely associated with pines that produce large seeds, such as whitebark pine and limber pine, but are also found in other montane evergreen forests from about 3,000 to more than 11,000 feet in the West.

Oh yeah . . Lifer!!

Clark’s Nutcracker is in the crow and jay family—but the first time Captain William Clark saw one, in August of 1805, he thought it was a woodpecker. He and Meriwether Lewis collected a specimen in Idaho on their return journey a year later. Clark’s Nutcracker was one of three new bird species brought back from their expedition, all of which were described by the naturalist Alexander Wilson

Next up:  Las Vegas birding . . . should I start a state list for NV yet??

Puffin Palagic Boat trip

Bucket found

That a girl . . . let that nice lunch you just had out . . . you shouldn't eat before a boat trip grandma says:)

Whew, we finally made it to Maine, and got a boat trip to take us out to see Puffins and other waterbirds. After some research, I located http://www.oldquarry.com/ out of Stonington that host several outdoor adventures. From camping and sea kayaking to light house boats trips and puffin boat trips. They schedule trips out to see the puffins twice  a month, from May until August. So we are set, now if it would not rain on us!!


The trips are usually 9am-2pm, five hours total and that Tuesday morning was perfect(see the Bar Harbor pics), but wouldn't you know it, the rain front coming up the east coast was hitting NE Maine around 2pm, but we had 16 people, a bird guide, and 2 crew . . . nothing can stop puffing us now!!!

the SS Nigh Duck

So it's 2 hours out,  one hour there, and 2 hours back, a 5 hour tour.  And it starts raining on the way out. We had rain gear so we stayed in the back of the boat and got great sights of Wilson's Storm Petrels, Northern Gannets, and Greater Shearwaters.

Having fun yet??

Wilson's Storm Petrel

Also the crew spotted this fin sticking out of the water?? What is it??  We slowed down and got closer to it.

What?

  

Ocean Sunfish

Turns out, it is a large Common Imola or Ocean Sunfish.  The heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight between 545–2,205 lb. The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.

google images photo

Cool, a new life fish!!!  So by now the waves/swells are getting bigger, it's raining more, wind is picking up, and 4 people have now used the puke buckets . . . it's getting rough. But finally, after a little more than 2 hours, we see an island off in the distance . . it's Seal Island NWR

#T4P at Seal Island NWR

Once we get there, we cut the engines down to no wake speed and troll around the back side of the island, back and forth for about 30 minutes. Lucky the rain had slowed to a sprinkle, and the wind and waves where calm in the cove.

We're here!!

Navigation of iPhone working

16 Miles out from coast

No land in sight

Above is a one minute video I took of the island/boat trip, so you get an idea of the nicest part of the trip, and what it's like out there in the middle of nowhere. It' neat to think that Atlantic Puffins and Razorbills come out here to nest. Partly is because of no natural predators like cats, foxes etc can get to them.

After the 30 minutes, we make the turn to head back into land, this time riding the waves makes it easier on the boat and quicker.  We boat through Isle au Haut bay and island and see Gray Seals and Harbor Seals.

Seal

Atlantic Puffin

And this concludes my three part blog series of Maine, where I got 6 life birds now taking me up to #570 ABA birds.

Next up:  Viva Las Vegas!!!!  4th time a charm . . . can I get a lifer??

Lobster rolls?!?

Yes, Mickey D's serves LR

Maine, what a state to visit and bird in. We had a great time in the short time there, with lots of driving. This blog post, I wanted to share places visited and trip details.

We arrived late Sunday night in Portland, ME and got a free upgrade rental car. What to choose from?? Camaro, Mustang, BMW 3series, Camry . . . Hmm it's going to be gorogeous weather, and we are driving up the coast via Route 1 . . . let take . .

Mustang Convertible V6

#T4P

After waking up early for the 5:30am sunrise, we birded Scarbough Marsh and Jones Creek pointe for two life birds. Back for the continental breakfast and check out. This is great, the day has just begun. Time to hit the road, top down, Pandora radio and the scenery. Maine is beautiful. Up I295 North to Brunswick, then old school US RT 1 to the coast, small towns like Bath, Waldoboro, and Rockland for lunch. But looking at the navigation, I see Owl's Head. Let's stop there, we're birders and this is a bird town. Turns out there is a state park and old Coast Guard lighthouse. Bam, Black Guillimot, lifer.

Birder welcome

Gulf of Maine

Lunch!!

We stopped in Rockland and ate lunch at a locally owned shop. So I got some Lobster Roll, Clam chowder, slaw and pickle. It was very good and I like how they reuse all the plates, silverware and cups. Now back on US 1 North to Bangor for the night, but we have time to kill, so we stop at Camden Hills State Park. It's just north of Rockport and Camden, ME.

Mount Battie view

If you are get the chance, stop by the park and drive up to the top of the park. Views of Penobscot Bay and Mount Megunticook, the highest mainland mountain on the Atlantic Coast are spectacluar. But again, not a lot of bird activity. We did hear a Least Flycatcher up here and that's it.  So on through Belfast, then Bangor for the night.  Tues is going to be epic!!


Tuesday its 5:30am, the sun is coming up. Time to hit the road. The Puffin boat trip is later at 2pm so we have the morning to head to Acadia National Park. The first place to stop is a marsh for a reported Ruffed Grouse. After several minutes of little activity producing juvenile Common YellowThroat and RubyThroated Hummingbird, JK spots the grouse moving off the road. Bam-another lifter!!

Beautiful

Mount Desert Island

We take Route 3 out of Ellsworth, McD's breakfast in belly, and make the loop down and around the isle up to Bar Harbor, Maine. The place everyone's heard of. There are cruise boats and birding palagics out of the harbor and it is touristy place to visit.

Agamont Park

DT Bar Harbor

Expensive yachts

4 mast sail boat

After BH was done, we decided to head back down to Stonington for the Puffin trip at 2pm.  The morning was gorgeous, but there was a storm a coming my friends, this might be a bumpy ride on the seas today fellas. That blog post will be the next and final one of the trip.

Yea

 Trip Stats:
63 hours in Maine
508 miles driven in a Stang
25.7 MPG
75 total species
18  FOYs--Notables
(BlackScoter,GreaterShearwater,Wilson'sStormPetral,NorthernGannet,GreatCommorant,RuddyTurnstone,Red-neckPhalarope,GBBG,RedbreastedNuthatch,
  6 LIFERS, now at ABA#570


Next up:  Does anybody have a bucket?? Pass up the bucket . . .