Abut noon, also low tide, I dashed over to the 11th St. Bridge to look for the Glaucous gull, but it was not with thei 60-70 bathing gulls. While there I did manage a distant look at the Tacoma resident Peregrine falcon high on a brown building to the right of where it is often Read More…
Category: Pierce County
Cleaning Up 2017 Leftovers
Today I made time before and after Rotary to try for some uncommon Pierce birds left over from 2017. No luck at the 11th St Bridge area for Harris’s sparrow where Marv Breese and I looked without success in the morning. Then on the way to Puyallup I did manage a distant look at the Read More…
Welcome 2018
Despite having to complete moving out of the back of the house today, I managed a bit of a start on Pierce County birding. I looked briefly for the Gyrfalcon at McChord AFB but no luck, and Heather Voboril had no luck yesterday either, so maybe it has moved on or met a jet collision. Read More…
Gyrfalcon at McChord
Yesterday after working at SFM Hartland SDC 7-2, I stopped by the spot on Steele St where the Gyrfalcon has been seen. It was quite foggy, and I was not dressed for the cold or wet ground, but I set up my scope and scanned the power poles on the east side of the runway Read More…
CBC on the Sound
Today I met Bruce Labar and Will Brooks to try for owls before getting out on the Citizens for a Clean Sound boat to bird the salt water areas of the count circle. We managed to find just one Great-horned owl at Pt Defiance and missed Saw-whet owl there as well as missing Barred owl Read More…
Puget Creek Drainage Park
Today it was sunny, calm winds, and cold. A nice day for a walk, so I first headed to Gog-li-hi-ti and birded all the trails. Then after an early lunch I walked down Ruston Way to Puget Park. It is a well maintained trail up the creek drainage from Ruston Way to Proctor. Interestingly at Read More…
A Weather Break in the Afternoon
Today was a rainy morning, but when I figured out the TV/WIFI problem before the Comncast guy was due at 2 PM and so I took advantage to try again for the Redpoll at the Gog. No luck at all, really pretty quiet there, but on the way back I stopped at the gull bathing Read More…
Local Rarity Chases Today
Today Ken came over to chase the Glaucous Gull and Common Redpoll that had been seen near the Puyallup River recently. I made a really quick stop for the gull at the 11th Street Bridge without luck before meeting Ken and Bryan at the Gog. We chased two good sized flocks of PISI around for Read More…
Two More FOY and One County Lifer Today
This morning I headed out just after daylight in hopes of seeing the Snow Bunting located yesterday at Brown’s Point. On arrival Bruce, Peter and a Seattle birder were standing about 20′ from the SNBU near a blue trash can just off the beach. It was another super-easy Pierce lifer. Bruce agreed to go over Read More…
Rough-legged Hawk at Gog-li-hi-ti
Late in the day yesterday Michael found a Rough-legged hawk at Gog-li-hi-ti and this AM Heather and Bruce relocated it. Bruce texted and I broke away from my pledge to help Kay pack up the kitchen stuff prior to our renovations that now start this Saturday. I dashed quickly and as I walked in Bruce Read More…