Today Ken was finally feeling well enough to get out birding, and we met at 7AM at the I-5 / HWY 512 Park and Ride to try to track down some local eBird rarities and fill out our state and Pierce County year lists. First stop was the American Lake Camp Murray Boat Launch where Read More…
Category: Pierce County
A Walk at Wildwood
Today Kay and I took an afternoon walk at Wildwood Park, near home. It was a sunny day and nice to get outdoors. We spent only about a half hour, and the best birds of the day were a pair of Brown Creepers, heard initially by me, sighted quickly by Kay, and eventually seen well Read More…
Black Scoter and Greater White-fronted Goose
Today I broke free from working on our rental for long enough to dash to Ruston Way to look for Black Scoter that he had seen there yesterday afternoon. They had been seen last weekend also. I first went to the Thea’s Park lookout over the waterway where they were seen yesterday, but none there. Read More…
A Brief Stop at Ruston Way in the Rain
Today after leaving our rental place in Tacoma Kay and I made two quick stops on the Ruston Way waterfront and before we turned in to park in the public lot beside the Lobster Shop had sighted the immature Snow Goose feeding on the lawn with a flock of Canada geese, and one stubby-billed smaller Read More…
2015 Wrap Up
2015 was a very eventful year for me. I retired at the end of August, my Dad passed in August, and I had both lots of time to travel and tried to accumulate a Pierce County year list. Here were some of the birding highlights: Pierce County: I got to know Bruce Labar much better Read More…
TAS Trip Today
Today I led a trip of 12 TAS birders, mostly ABC grads, to see what we could find in Pierce County on a spectacularly beautiful sunny day. After finding very little except the Queen Eider on the sound over the last 3 days I decided we’d try for fresh water and land birds. We met Read More…
Queen Eider
I got a chance to chase my first new 2015 Pierce County bird this morning, the female King Eider that has been hanging out off Ruston Way in Tacoma since discovered by Bruce Labar a couple of days after I left for my Rio Grande Valley trip. I had to look around a bit but Read More…
Short-eared Owl at Gog-Li-Hi-Ti
I was on the way home from our administrative office at SFM today where I stopped by to pick up some things, when Bruce Labar called to let me know he had flushed a Short-eared owl at the mitigated marsh called Gog-li-hi-ti near the tide flats in Tacoma. I dashed home, got boots and binos Read More…
Nothing New on Commencement Bay Today
Kay and I got out after a movie at the Grand this afternoon looking for a Parasitic Jaeger or Ancient Murrelet from Dash Point, the Brown’s Point Lighthouse, and the log booms on Marine View Drive today. I had hoped to take advantage of the only dry day of the week if the weatherman is Read More…
Pectoral and Snow Goose
Today Bruce texted me that he had 4 Pectoral Sandpipers at the 56th Street stormwater ponds, and I dashed right down. He had mentioned that the PESA was on the second pond, but when I got there no PESA, but a whitish goose was standing there with a Cackling goose. My first thought was that this Read More…