Kay picked me up from working today and we went to the beach at Santa Barbara near the wharf where we had subway sandwiches and watched the Western gulls eat shrimp, the Snowy egrets chase each other around, the Black-crowned night herons fly overhead, and enjoyed the cool breeze and bright sunshine. A nice way Read More…
Friday at Paradise
Today Ken and I headed to Mt. Rainier. On the way we stopped at Kreger Lake to see if the Sora and American Bittern I heard yesterday were still calling. It was yes on the AMBI and no on the Sora. On the way through Elbe we stopped to add American dipper to Ken’s Pierce Read More…
Three Rails at Kreger Lake Today
This morning I headed to Kreger Lake to see if I could get American Bittern and Sora. As soon as I got there, about 6:30 AM both Virginia Rail and the bittern were calling. Lots of Willow flycatchers, Common yellowthroats, Yellow warblers, Cedar waxwings and RWBL added to the chorus. Here is an iPhone recording Read More…
North Cascades Highway Day 3
Today Kay and I got up early to go up to the Sun Mountain Lodge trails to try for Dusky Grouse, Nashville Warbler, and Dusky Flycatcher. We were 0-for-3 on these targets, but did manage to see my FOY WA Vesper sparrow as they were singing loudly from conspicuous perches early, and both of us Read More…
North Cascades Loop Day 1
Today Kay, Jean, Brett and I headed up I-5, across Hwy 2 and crossed Steven’s Pass to Leavenworth for the first stop on a 3 night road trip. It is our first family road trip in years, and we are luxuriating in our first prolonged family time since Brett returned from Thailand. The major event Read More…
Icicle Gorge Trail
Today Kay and the kids and I hiked the 4 mile river loop at Icicle Canyon. It is a relatively level, well marked and maintained 4-mile trail that parallels the creek on both sides, crossing the creek below and above the trailhead. We started our hike at about noon, so it was fairly quiet birding Read More…
Willow Flycatcher Today
I worked a half day today, and thought I was supposed to be at our Bonney Lake office. I got there to open Same Day Clinic at about 7:20 AM and while walking in from the parking lot a Willow Flycatcher was calling it’s Fitz-bew call repeatedly from the trees at the side of the Read More…
Wrap Up Day of GGOW Trip
Today our ABC group birded Oak Creek Canyon, seeing many Lewis’s Woodpeckers Rock wrens on the basalt columns, White-throated swifts, MacGilvery’s warblers, Western kingbirds, and a good variety of east side birds. It was a sunny and wonderful morning in a very pretty spot. I left before the last stop of the day planned to Read More…
Day 3 of ABC Trip: Walla Walla Area
Today our ABC trip took us to Walla Walla County. We stayed in Pendleton, OR because of graduations in Walla Walla made it no room at the inns, so drove an hour or so to start the day at Biscuit Ridge just East of Walla Walla where Green-tailed Towhee was the target bird. We managed Read More…
Great Gray Owls near LaGrange and More
On Day 2 of our ABC trip we headed first to Spring Creek out of LaGrange to look for Great-gray Owl nest boxes managed by Walawa-Whitman National Forest. Our first stop was to look for two nest boxes off FR-21 where the anticipated polka-dotted tape marking a tree from which to look for the boxes Read More…