I’ve not been following WA rare birds carefully for a few days, so yesterday I did not hear about the Rusty blackbird being seen at Nisqually NWR until Kay and I went to the volunteers recognition event for Tahoma Audubon, where other birders told us that they were just getting back from there and easily Read More…
Harris’s Sparrow
This week has been busy with very little birding after flying back from ME Monday. So when Bruce found the Harris’s sparrow yesterday at the 11th Street bridge, I climbed down from the ladder at Brett’s where I was painting and dashed over to try for it. No luck as the flock of sparrows seemed Read More…
Flood Brother’s Dairy and Fabulous Weather
The Flood Brother’s Dairy is the #1 eBird hotspot in Kennebec County, ME. Kay and I visited there this morning after having breakfast at the Early Bird Restaurant in Oakland with Morgan. My Aunt Donna and Uncle Royce happened in just as we were leaving, so that was nice to see them also. At the Read More…
Finally a Storm
We Pierce County listers have been impatiently waiting for the first big fall windstorm to blow in pelagic and maybe other rarities to pad our year lists. Today it blew and rained heavily in the AM, and the sun came out but the wind continued to gust in the afternoon. I worked the AM around Read More…
Sunrise is Closed
Today Bruce and I headed for one last day at Sunrise before it closes for the winter. We are late, looks like it closed already, when we got there the gate was down just past the turnoff to White River Campground. As an alternative we went up to Chinook Pass by Lake Tipsoo and birded Read More…
Catching Up
Life has been hectic since getting back from the coast ABC trip. See the post on the ABC site for a report on the rest of the trip. Highlights since returning have included seeing the Franklin’s gull at Dash Point (Pierce FOY) and best of all the Lesser Black-backed Gull at the 11th St. Bridge. Read More…
Westport Pelagic and Post Trip Pacific County Today
Ken and I headed to Westport last night along with Laurel Parshall and Lisa to go on today’s Westport Pelagic and a 2-day extension ABC trip to the coast Sunday and Monday. Kay is joining us tomorrow for the coast trip component. Today was the pelagic trip, and it went well. In brief weather and Read More…
AM Birding Today
This morning I got out for a couple hours of birding before focusing on getting materials for our “shed raising” tomorrow at Brett’s. First stop was “the Gog” where I was not able to find the Lapland longspur found last evening by Michael Charest. On my first loop around the middle pond, on the far Read More…
WOS Field Trip
Ken and I led a field trip today to the Skagit Flats, primarily on Fir Island as that’s where we saw most birds on Thursday. There were 8 of us in 3 cars as I needed to head home after we end the trip at 4 PM. We were fortunate to have Kim Thornburn from Read More…
Scouting for WOS Trip to Skagit/Samish Flats
Ken and I agreed to lead a trip for the WOS convention on Saturday to the Skagit and Samish flats, and today we headed north to check scout the area. We have both birded this area many times in the winter, but are relatively unfamiliar with migration birding here. Overall we had a great day. Read More…