I’ve been travelling, working both in the yard a lot, and at the office a little, so have really not been out in Pierce County for the last couple of weeks. My last significant birding locally was the TAS Birdathon, so since then many of the neotropic migrants have returned, and today I got 7 Read More…
Category: Pierce County
Taking a Break from Yard Work Yields Lazuli Bunting and Western Kingbird
Today I had a short window between yard work and covering SDC so the PAs could go to their quarterly meeting, and when Bruce texted about not just the usual Lazuli Bunting but Western Kingbird in Orting, where to go was clear. I had only an hour to bird after dashing down the hill to Read More…
Birdathon Report: April 30, 2016
On the last day of April 2016 I headed out on my annual Tahoma Audubon Society fundraising project the Birdathon with the help of 4 strong birders. Kay, Ken Brown, Laurel Parshall and Eric Dudley met me at the park-and-ride and we squeezed into my Subaru to head out. We started immediately with 4 species Read More…
Birdathon Scouting/Preview
Today I got out in Pierce county to try out a possible route for a birdathon (TAS fundraiser) I’m leading Saturday. Overall not a terribly exciting day. I’m glad I got out to scout in a mock of a possible route. I learned that the place I had planned to start early, the Mountain View Read More…
A Morning at Upper Swan Creek
Today Kay and I took Dan and Patty Anderson to the upper Swan Creek area to see some of the early arriving passerines. It was cool but dry and as is often the case at this location birding by ear was great. Purple finches, Pacific wrens, Spotted towhees, and RB Nuthatches were incessant, and we Read More…
Owling Pierce County
I got out this morning owling in known owl haunts in the Tacoma area. Started about 5 AM at the Fife Hylebos waterway spot at the curve on 8th St. It does not look like the screech owl has been seen there this year and I did not hear one today. I played recordings for Read More…
Purple Martin
Today after seeing a really excellent movie, Eye in the Sky at the Grand Kay and I stopped at Ruston Way to see the early Purple Martins in box 4 off Dickman Mill Park. It was cool to see the female peeking out of the box hole with her gray forehead. After a while the Read More…
Local Pierce County Wetlands.
Today after church a quick rounds of the Fife and Puyallup wetlands, Levy Pond, Sha-Dax, wet area off 70th, 56th Street Stormwater Ponds, and Gay Road Mitigation. Really very little unexpected to be seen. The 56th St. Stormwater area was still locked up, so tough to see much. Sha Dax is getting overgrown, as is Read More…
Tables of # WA Species by Abundance Code Categories
For fun I’ve compiled a series of tables comparing the species of birds seen in various Washington counties sorted by various criteria. Abundance codes are assigned to species of birds based on likelihood of being seen, code 1 birds common, code 2 uncommon, code 3 usually seen every year, code 4 seen several times over the Read More…
Out of the Sick Bed- Barely
I’ve been laid low since Monday night with a flu-like illness, and today finally felt good enough to feel like some fresh air might help. I drove to Spanaway Marsh and took a pitifully slow stroll around looking for Pierce County FOY birds, found just 2, Wood Duck and Hutton’s Vireo, but not finding the Read More…