Today Kay, Rachel, Ken and I headed for a sunny afternoon walk around the Theler Wetlands in Belfair, Mason County. We really enjoyed each other’s company, and the birding was surprisingly good for an afternoon in March. We started with walking through the deciduous area on the way to the boardwalk near the big tidal flats. In a small flock of BCCH and RCKI I got onto a bright lutescens Orange-crowned warbler (FOY for me). It was active and neither Ken nor Kay could get onto it despite working the flock for a few minutes. Not many waterfowl and no shorebirds on the tidal flats, and we then walked the other loop.
On the far end of the loop, near the Salmon Museum area we studied a flack of swallows, counting ten Tree Swallows, six Violet-green swallows, and two FOY (for me) Barn Swallows. Shortly after as we took a break near the outhouse a Turkey Vulture soared by catching the afternoon thermals. FOY for all. We had one more TV later on the walk. We had nice looks at several ducks and totaled 40 species for the list.
During Kenny’s fabulous vegan Indian food dinner at Ken and Rachel’s a Rufous Hummingbird buzzed just outside the window, making a 4th FOY WA species for me for the day. We all got a good laugh as I paused from eating long enough to enter an incidental eBird list.
This brings me to 178 WA species so far in 2017, and added 11 species to my Mason County eBird life list, still at a meager 72 species, 68 this year. Ken and I hope to bird Mason quite a bit more this year, venturing out from our home counties. A great day with great friends and sunshine as a bonus.