Today I took a day off from the work on the rental in Tacoma and went to bird Kitsap County with my birding buddy, Ken Brown. We got up early to try for a Western Screech Owl that had been heard on the recent CBC at a local park, only to find that access was locked and a big dog lurked loudly somewhere in the dark. We called from the gate, but no response. The parking lot where the owl had been heard was pretty far away, so no surprise. After a discussion of wait and hope the gate was unlocked right at daybreak or head for the day’s #1 target, two Common Redpolls seen yesterday afternoon on Bainbridge Island by Brad Waggoner and others, we headed for the town of Winslow. We got there just at daybreak.
We easily located the birch trees the birds were seen in yesterday though initially there was some doubt if they were the right trees as several stands of white birch trees were in the area. While Ken walked around I ran into a neighbor who asked what birds we were looking for in the trees across from his yard. He know birders yesterday were excited over something they saw but didn’t know what. With the location confirmed I stayed put, and pretty soon a flock of American goldfinch appeared. Foolishly I had left my scope in the car while Ken had his, and he was nowhere in sight as I located the birds. I called him on his cell and he came quickly. In the meantime I was fairly certain I had two Common Redpolls along with 10 Am. goldfinch high in the birch by binos views. Ken got there and on setting up his scope the first bird he focused on was a redpoll. I got a very quick glimpse thru the scope and the flock took flight and flew across town and out of sight. We had a view adequate for ID, but it was very brief. We spent an hour or so looking around at many birches planted in Winslow, found a flock of 7 goldfinch, but no more glimpses of the redpolls.
From there we were off to Eglon County Park where we found an American Kestrel in nearby fields, and a variety of other common birds. There were few birds on the bay.
The rest of the day was spent a the Point-no-Point hotspot adding several birds to my Kitsap year list, and finding a couple for Ken’s, W. Scrub Jay and an Audubon’s type YRWA. Possibly the most interesting bird there was a gull with a black tail, white rump, light head, just starting it’s second year PA molt. We looked for a while and decided it is a GWGU x HEGU hybrid.

We checked a few more places in Kitsap on the way home, and finished with almost an hour at the Purdy Wauna area where I added some year county birds including Eared grebe, Harlequin duck, Ring-billed gull, Western Grebe, and and soaked up the last rays of sunshine of the first at least partly sunny day in a while. Oddly now after jsut 2 days birding in Kitsap my year county list there far exceeds my home Pierce County year list due to not getting out much near home yet this year. (Kitsap 90 – Pierce 77).
I left Ken and on the way home made a quick stop at the Fox Island Bridge where I added a pair of Long-tailed ducks to my Pierce year list. The coolest thing about this was the fancy courtship display the pair was showing. The female would splash her wings and race away from the male. The male would similarly flutter his wings and hold his head high following very closely behind the female. His long tail would stick high in the air all the time. There was a nice flock of Dunlin at the rocks by the bridge.

Home just after 5 PM and watched the second half of the Carolina Panthers dismantling of the Arizona Cardinals.