February 8th - Cowlitz and Clark

Barlow Point Road, Cowlitz County 6:30 AM

Astronomical Twilight

There was a blanket of fog resting on the fields north of the road as I rolled in. This was the road where I'd met the gentleman and talked to him about Barn Owls, and I thought I had gotten there at about the right time. Barn Owl o'clock is a time that I've tried to get dialed in. It seems to be a time that plays with two twilights: astronomical and civil. 

Civil Twilight

During astronomical twilight, we would pack up the telescope for the night - that's what I remember from college. The sky would lighten up just enough to make observations challenging, and the astronomer's "workday" would be done. It's still too dark to walk around properly, so in a sense it's still night. That was the twilight I was viewing as I looked across the field, scanning for any motion, and listening for a screech. 

Interestingly, you're more likely to hear a Barn Owl screech than a screech-owl. It's an eerie banshee sound that always gives me goosebumps. There are times when just being out looking for owls gives me goosebumps, but there's definitely something I love about it - especially in twilight like this. The world is usually still asleep, and most birds are as well, so there's a kind of quiet that . . . we just don't get. We just don't get enough. 

The owl drifted in coming in quietly at the end of its workday, no more than three feet above the ground, and swooped up into the opening in the barn.

Barn Owl (77). On the one hand, wow - over halfway to the goal of 150 for the year, and it was just barely over a month into this little quest. But goodness those next 73 birds would be a challenge, as more and more of the more common birds leave the list. Any owl is a good bird for the year though, and it was a great way to start the day. 

I went back through the town of Longview to I5, and actually tried Woodland Bottoms for Short-eared Owls but came up empty. Not wanting to linger too long, I continued south to my morning destination, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Clark County. 

Moon in the Columbia

Ridgefield NWR - River S Unit

Back in Clark County! My intentionally neglected county this year. I know it's a relatively small county, it's got a larger population than any of the other three I'm birding this year, and it has some pretty productive birding spots. Rather than spend too much time sitting in traffic to chase sightings, I am kind of hoping to hit a single productive spot each month in Clark, and Ridgefield is an obvious winter stop for that! I was sitting at a nice even 50 species from my January trip to Stiegerwald, and made that 51 with House Sparrows along the way before I reached the refuge. 

It continued to be a beautiful morning. The sun made for great views as I got in line for the loop. And that's how this locale is birded, unfortunately - you get in your car, get in line, crawl along, occasionally stopping to put some optics on birds from the car. My other goal with Clark had been to make my single stops a walking/hiking stop if at all possible, but it just wasn't an option here. 

At the restrooms at the start of the loop, there are a few feeders - these gave me a Steller's Jay (52, for Clark County now), which joined some California Scrub-Jays, House Finches, and Red-winged Blackbirds. Cackling and Canada Geese were nearly always present, sometimes in the hundreds, in the fields around me as I started driving. I kept an eye on these for possible Greater White-fronted or Snow Geese. 

Early ponds were full of American Coots, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Great Blue Heron, and Ring-necked Ducks. I was also able to add Pied-billed Grebe (53), and Ruddy Duck (54). It was admittedly nice to be able to see so many birds at such short range, and I never felt pressured to move along - people generally negotiated the traffic situation fairly well (with the notable exception of a shouting and swearing match that I overheard at one point behind me. . . )

Freedom, solitude, quiet . . . all things I'd enjoyed in the bit of owling I'd done in the morning were not completely present during this visit to Ridgefield! Dipping into a rare bit of tree-lined road, I stopped and listened, enjoying Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets (55), as well as a Pacific Wren (56), Song Sparrows, and Spotted Towhees. Further up, I heard White-breasted Nuthatch (57), which is a bird I'd love to see this year as well. On this loop, I still wasn't feeling great about getting out of the car and making efforts to see it closer. 

There were also some nice stretches here for shorebirds. Killdeer were fairly common, of course! I also got a large flock of Dunlin (58), and a single Greater Yellowlegs (59). A Black Phoebe (60) also called from out of sight - a fairly regular bird for the refuge.

Dunlin foraging in the sprinkles

As I reached the final part of the loop, I started to see more raptors, including Red-tailed Hawk, and Nothern Harrier. Above me at one point, I got a clear listen to a Red-shouldered Hawk (61), but the darn thing was almost directly above me, and I couldn't really get out of the car. Driving up and around a bend, I scanned for it in the trees where I'd been. Nothing. . . nothing. . . and then it flew out from cover. I got a butt shot of it as it moved to cover on the far side of the field. 

Getting the cold shoulder from a Red-shouldered Hawk

Sandhill Cranes (62) flew overhead, and then I finally got some big white birds: Trumpeter Swans (63), and a very cooperative Great Egret (64) right outside of the window. American Bittern, and Rough-legged Hawk - those were two species I'd really hoped to find, but missed on this trip, but it was still a productive bit of birding for the morning. 

Trumpeter Swan

At this point, I had to find a place to plug in, unfortunately. Work emails loomed, and I also wanted to do a quick check of eBird sightings to get a good plan for the rest of the day. I swung down to historic Ridgefield. I'd not been to this part of town before, and I really may need to return! All of the restaurants were closed at this hour, but I did see a sign for an upcoming bluegrass concert in March outside of one of the pubs. That may just be worth planning around for my March trip!

I may eventually get over the excitement of Great Egrets this year. . . but not yet

A Starbucks, closer to the freeway, gave me a place to collect myself. I shot off some editorial reviews and set my eyes back on Woodland Bottoms in Cowlitz County. 

Woodland Bottoms

Boy there are a few birds that I have expected to find here that I keep missing. Rough-legged Hawk and Western Meadowlark are the most notable. Tundra Swans (78 - back to the Cowlitz list now) flew overhead to reduce that challenging list by one. I stopped at one of the spots that looks out to the Columbia, and watched Greater Scaup floating by, looking for Redheads that had been reported off and on during the week. They're a tough bird in the county! While I missed them, I did end up hearing California Quail (79) - a species that had once been more regular in Woodland Bottoms but had become less common over time. 

Kalama

I think I will finally remember this. It's not "CAL uh ma" (rhying approximately with Panama) nor "kuh LAHM uh" (rhying with former Mariner's pitcher John Halama. . . you're welcome for that random reference, but it works for me), but "kuh LAMB uh", kind of like. . . Shama Lama Ding Dong. I guess my thoughts of opening a Zoo in Kalama will have to be put aside. Maybe a tea shop instead? 

TLDR: Kalama Tea, not Kalama Zoo. 

What a delightfully unproductive start! I got parked near McMenamin's on the waterfront and started to walk. . . and look at the Columbia. . . and quickly realized this was a "Nothing to see here! Please move along!" situation. I drove out to the end of the spit with the same result. 

1. Left key on car
2. Key fell off
3. Meeker Pond
4. Sportsmen's Club Road
5. Kalama Mouth with Russ

And somewhere around here, I put my car key - the little keyless start fob - on top of my car. I swear to you I don't remember doing this. But there's always a bit of juggling going on with keys, binoculars, camera, and scope. At any rate, I got driving, taking a road that ran parallel to the highway north. It eventually loops back around south, where I hoped to hop on Meeker Road. And that's when I heard the clack-clack-bang of something on the roof of my car. 

I looked down to make sure my binocs and camera lenses were all present. They were. I pulled over to do a more careful search. . . and my car told me that there was no key detected, and that it was in time out until I figured out where the key had gone. 

. . . 

Walking back up Frontage Road a couple hundred yards, I finally saw the little black fob in the road.

*thumpthump*

*thumpthump*

Fun fact. these little fobs can get run over several times, and still work! Now. . . to be fair. . . I do need to be nearly inside my car before it will detect the key. This may be a problem at some later date, but for now. Phew! Kalama Tea averted. 

Up Meeker Road, I pulled over to view Meeker Pond. This. . . did not feel safe. I found some Northern Pintails (80), got off the shoulder, and continued north. 

Sportsmen's Club Road was a neat stop! I knew that a few birds had been seen. . . somewhere around here, but I was a little fuzzy on the exact location. Nonetheless, I got some nice views of gulls - California (81), Western (82), Short-billed, and Ring-billed. It was a little tricky, trying to get close enough to where the gulls were roosting out on the river, as I tried to get photos. As I stood and scanned, I realized that my feet were getting a little wet! What a fun little reminder that even here, you can get a little bit of in and out from the tides. 

I was still confused on where to look for a Red-necked Grebe and Red-breasted Merganser than had been seen along the Columbia near Kalama. I texted Russ, my Cowlitz County connection, and his advice was "Follow me!"

Red-breasted Merganser

Russ pulled up next to my car as I walked back to it - he'd been out birding himself and wanted to look for the merganser. The comical delivery of the text was exactly the kind of thing that I've come to expect from him. I'd say the same about finding him out birding. He gets out after those birds! I followed him around to the mouth of the Kalama River - on the south side, rather than the North. My car's outdated GPS did not really give any hints as to how we would get there, following a gravel road out behind some warehouses to a nice open spot. But we got there, and pulled out the optics, and found our target - a Red-breasted Merganser (83). 

We talked a bit about separating these from Common Mergansers. Nearly every field guide shows the Red-breasteds with a spiky mohawk, and the Commons with a slicked back hairdo. But Commons can show the spikes too! It really does come down to the breast, where Commons show a lot of white, clearly delineated from their heads and necks, and also, Russ pointed out, to color. Commons are a much deeper red, while Red-breasted Mergansers had a lighter, orange-y tinge to their head. 

That ended my February trip to the Southwest corner of the state! I was quite happy with the start to the year. Cowlitz was off to a great start at 83. Wahkiakum had only gotten a single day of attention from me in January but was sitting in second place with 73 (although it has since moved into third place behind my home county - King, where I've slowly been adding to the year list (75)). Clark, despite my neglectful approach, was at 64, and Skamania had given me 60 species in a single trip during an intermittent February downpour.

Am I on track? I have nearly no idea. I do know that in many of these years, things get quiet during October. . . November. . . December. . .but I may just be scrambling to find some winter birds during those months this year. Should be exciting!