March 12th - Clearly Not Merry Weather (Clark)

Poor Clark County

Clark County is a fine place to go birdwatching. I am sure of this. People have seen a lot of birds there. 90 percent of the land in Clark County is actually National Wildlife Refuge land. Okay, the last statement may be a stretch. I'm just trying to be nice! Find the positive. All the good stuff. 

I've said a couple times now: In the spirit of my master plan for the year, in which I'll try to scrape out 150 species of birds in Clark, Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, and Skamania Counties, it's important that I divide my efforts appropriately. 

And that means that Clark County will have to get neglected a little. 

150 species for the year is not difficult when you have these magnificent birding sites, and the combined populations of Portland and Vancouver right on the doorstep. Lots of birds to be found, and lots of people to find them. So, the plan (or the narrative, or at worse, the schtick) is to neglect Clark, and bird there as *little* as possible on the way to getting to 150. As part of the schtick, I decided it would be easier for me if I pretended I didn't enjoy birding in Clark County.

But. . . Clark County, c'mon! My single days so far: 

• January was biting cold and windy at Steigerwald; 
• February I was "birding for people who like feeling like they're in slow traffic!" at Ridgefield;
• This particular day in March was everything from drizzly to downright soggy!

Add to that. . . a lot of the scenery has been pretty similar! I have nearly always felt like I was in Clark County: Grassy stuff with a river/pond/STP and a few scattered deciduous trees draped in that light green lichen that seems to be everywhere. 

I'm going to get excited for Clark County. I really am! And it will be all the more fun when it comes, given the first few months. 

Salmon Creek

As noted, there are a lot of people in this area, so the one beautiful thing is that it's never too hard to find some people to head out birding. On this particular day, Randy and Karen were my copilots/tourguides/pishers-in-crime. We met at the Salmon Creek Park and Ride just as the birds were waking up. Karen was there when I arrived, and Randy joined us soon after. From the parking lot, we already picking up some common birds - American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, American Robin, and Spotted Towhee, as well as Anna's Hummingbird, my 65th species for Clark this year (a total I'll drop in parentheses from here on out). 

We hopped into Randy's car, because the hybrid would get better mileage than either of ours, ". . . and more importantly, I can use it as an excuse to have someone else take care of the eBird checklists!" Randy added with a grin. Well played. I had to shirk this duty, as Flippy is not even wifi-enabled. What was I contributing to this day? With two skilled local birders driving me around and taking care of the checklists for me? I was thanked "for creating a reason to head out birding today." I'll take it. 

My eyes were pretty wide with my list of target birds - over 60 of them. Randy had wanted the list to help map out the day and had a good list of stops/targets ready to go. Our first stop was at the Salmon Creek Greenway. What a great stop! This trail runs along Salmon Creek, starting at a bridge where 36th Ave runs over the creek. This is just a little North of Vancouver Lake, for those not familiar with the area (which. . . until 5 minutes ago, when I pulled up a map, included me.)

There was a good mix of little birds, including Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees (66), Bewick's Wrens, and Bushtits (67). Randy's ears miss some of the birds with higher-pitched songs, but his wealth of birding knowledge more than makes up for that. Karen and I were happy to point out the occasional birds that we heard calling, and he was happy to sort out which swans were Tundra and Trumpeter as he viewed them from his scope on the bridge!

Then. . . Oh. My. Gosh. There was a GREAT EGRET down in the creek. My birding roots are in King County, so I'm still allowing myself to get excited every time I see one. I tried to get Karen and Randy just as excited every time. 99 percent sure they were. I could tell from the simple nod from Karen and the "yep." from Randy that they were pretty much in awe of this bird, and the other dozens of them that we saw during the day. 

photo Courtesy of Karen Pickering

Wood Ducks (68) were tucked away in a pond below, and as we worked to get better looks, a large bird floated up from below the bridge into a tree, melting into it. "Red-tailed Hawk?" was the theme of the discussion between us until we finally got our binoculars on the bird - a Barn Owl (69)! This was not a bird we expected here at all. Karen and I scrambled for cameras, but it turned, gave us a good look, and moved for deeper cover. 

Cackling Geese streamed overhead from West to East in the hundreds, and we eventually took the trail down below. Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Mallards, and Northern Shoveler were among the other birds we saw as we walked. Karen heard a House Finch - a bird which had somehow eluded me so far during the year. I missed it here as well! But since I did hear one later in the day, we'll call that 70 species while I'm remembering it. 

It rained. It rained more. It was a lot of raindrops and fog on the optics, and we decided that moving along and getting some coffee would be a fine idea. 

Burnt Bridge Creek

The invisible Felida Coffee Company

We went south on 36th. Again, Google Maps is my friend here, and it's been fun to actually see where we went. This brought us past the Felida Shopping Center, which had a cafe sign out front. I honestly could not tell you if there was one there or not, but we looked for it like only birders could do. We circled a few times, checking to make sure that it wasn't secretly housed within Mount Tabor Brewing or the Barre studio in the same complex. We even tried the upper level in a few spots. I think the only birding effort we did not employ was "Let's give it ten more minutes," followed by sitting and scanning the area in binoculars, waiting for it to arrive. 

"That's weird. . . I'll send an email to the property manager," Karen said as we decided to head down the road. "There's a joke in that sentence. . . " I thought to myself at the time.,

Between now and then, I've started to wonder if I need to perpetuate a joke that is, at its core, a bit sexist, ageist, and classist. Sorry to pull you away from the birding for a second, dear reader, but this is not a bad question. . .

We ended up at Creed Coffee, and goodness it was nice to sit for a couple minutes inside where the water could start to evaporate away. I'd only had two cups of coffee at the hotel the night before. It wasn't the number of cups that left me slightly undercaffeinated, but the size of the cups. At home, I use a mug that must hold 20 ounces. The hotel cups would look like a thimble alongside that mug! We sat and talked about the plans for the route. 

It's such a joy to talk with other birders. Everyone approaches the sport hobby with a slightly different approach, but there are just endless connections to make with people through the birds, the places, and the people we've experienced. Dry enough, we hopped back in the car, and went to Burnt Bridge Creek. 

There's an 8-mile trail that runs along Bridge Creek. We were at the end nearest Vancouver Lake. When we got out of the car, we were greeted by the "Tweeyoo"s of Lesser Goldfinches (71). As we picked through waterfowl below, we found the bird(s?) that we had hoped to find: A Eurasian Wigeon (72) or two. The male was easy to pick out, and it was with a female that happened to be the only other wigeon on the pond. So, we may have had two of them, but female wigeon are devilishly hard to tell apart!

As we discussed wigeon a flock of about 20 shorebirds came flying in to the mud and grasses at the middle of the little pond. They promptly dissolved. We all had a good laugh about this as we scanned, and scanned, and finally found a couple Wilson's Snipes (73) poking around in the mud. These birds camofla... camouflu...c... These birds blend in so well with their surroundings. I'm just used to seeing it in the other direction: Where I arrive at a muddy spot, with no birds in sight - and one-by-one Wilson's Snipes pop up out of nowhere. 

Fruit Valley 

We continued South on Fruit Valley Road, with Vancouver Lake now north and west of us. This brought us to Fruit Valley Park. This was nearly the only patch of conifers that we would have during the day. It's still in a pretty urban area, so most of the birds were typical urban birds (crows, starlings), but it also brought us Varied Thrushes (74), and a Merlin (75). It was fun to watch the Merlin, perched atop a conifer, and eventually flying off to the East and out of sight. It's not a super-easy bird in Clark County, but it made sense to find it here, with a slightly suburban setting and some conifers. 

Ring-necked and Ruddy Ducks

The Fruit Valley STP is just around the corner from this park. I was amazed at how packed this was with ducks. To be fair, I'd found a good number of puddle ducks up to this point, so my birds added at this point were actually a couple of passerines - the House Finch mentioned before, and a singing White-crowned Sparrow (76). 

Shillapoo

A little confusing here - we first went to Shillapoo Wildlife Area, and then later to Shillapoo Lake, both on opposite ends of Vancouver Lake. It seems like every county has these weird little naming conventions to throw me off, like these places in Douglas County, or this continuous stretch of parks in Wenatchee that I just called Wenflorawalluence Natural Park Area and variations on that theme. At any rate, we were doing the Southeasty Shillapoo. This took us right up to Vancouver Lake, where we were able to see some big white blobs on the far side - American White Pelicans (77). 

Sweet Jesus Mary and Joseph (pardon the Catholic swearing) I saw a video recently on "Pelicans eating things" and am in complete horror now. If it'll fit in the pouch, they'll try to swallow it. Don't let your cat fall asleep too close to the water, friends. Randy also found a Common Goldeneye in the distance to make it 78 species. Surprise, there were also dozens of Lesser Scaup, and. . . brace yourself. . . a Great Egret!!!! There was also a Bald Eagle there. I know some people get excited about those, but they're really pretty common birds, so. . .

Northern Shrike

On the way out, we stopped and viewed a Northern Shrike (79). It appeared to be eating a bird as we watched it perched across the field, and then as it returned for a photo shoot. It's always a nice opportunity to talk about field marks. I still think of a Northern Shrikes as having their mascara and eye liner perfectly applied, while Loggerhead Shrikes look like they put it on and had a good cry, giving them a wider, sloppier eye stripe. There are plenty of other marks to follow, but this one worked well on this particular day. 

On the way from Shillapoo to Shillapoo, we stopped on the East shore of Vancouver Lake, where a crew race was going on. Tents and cars filled the lot, and kids were running back and forth excitedly as their teams raced out on the lake. We had mostly common birds here, with a suspected Red-breasted Sapsucker disappearing on us, and a Spotted Towhee making some crazy sounds to distract us for a short while. As we continued on our way, we also passed a few handsful of Eurasian Collared-Doves (80).

The Other Shillapoo, which is a lake

This really was a neat spot. An American Tree Sparrow had been seen here through most of the winter, although most of the sparrows seemed to have packed it in for the day. We were greeted by a Northern Harrier, and. . . this may beggar belief, but. . . there were also three Great Egrets. :) I found my first swallows of the year, Tree (81), and Violet-green (82) - the first wisps of what will surely be clouds of swallows here in the months to come. 

Northern Harrier at Shillapoo Lake - a place that looks 
remarkably like Everywhere, Clark County :)
(to me. . . so far. . . )

Misses here did include some marsh birds - Virginia Rail, Sora, and American Bittern - all hoped-for and some called- and clapped-for. We did pick out a single Canvasback (83) out of the rafts of Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked Ducks. 

Crows vs. Harrier

Some of the Killdeer were especially vocal, circling high over the fields and crying out in alarm. I think this is just the natural state of Killdeer - alarm. If you had a habit of building nests in well-traveled gravel parking lots, it's a natural state that would suit you well. Still, in my head, I pictured a productive therapy session with a Killdeer on the couch, and - in all likelihood - a Varied Thrush calmly taking notes and asking questions. Are there two birds that better symbolize panic and placidity?

Short-eared Owl! (84) At least one of these birds was fluttering around over the wetlands while we were there. Honestly, maybe this is why the Killdeer was freaked out? Not a bad day when you get to see two different owl species in broad daylight. 

Photo courtesy of Karen Pickering

We had the Short-eared Owl on the ground. Waaaaay too far away for anything but an optimistic picture. I asked Karen if I could use some of her pictures in the blog, and got all of the standard photographer apologies ("They're not great. . ."). But dear reader, please:

Karen's bad owl picture

My bad owl picture

Ya would've been looking at that bottom picture as a picture of a distant Short-eared Owl. I *love* it when photographers brag that they have some bad bird pictures. I can win that game every day of the week. ;)  

Wrap-up

We were sitting somewhere around 1:00 at this point. My tummy grumbled and my mouth followed suit. It had been a full day of Dad Taxi with my son and daughter on the previous day, and I really hadn't planned out food and whatnot all that well. Nor did I know for sure where I'd be staying that night!

We were so close to the end of the route that Randy had planned out for me, though. He cajoled me into hanging on for the last stretch of Lower River Road, where we were greeted by thousands of Snow Geese (85), and hundreds of Sandhill Cranes.

Oh yeah! And some Dusky Canada Geese - a subspecies specifically protected in this area

On the way back to our starting point, I picked up a few birds as well: Brewer's Blackbirds (86) picking at some feed set out for them at Vancouver Lake, a Belted Kingfisher (87), and a Ring-necked Pheasant (88). The latter. . . I'll put it on the list. I know on eBird, it doesn't go into the species totals, but then on the checklists put out on Washington Birder, it's still got a normal notation on the checklist as a code 2 bird. I'll just make sure that whatever totals I hit for the year allow for this asterisk. ;)

I said my goodbyes at the park and ride. This was truly a joy. Sometime near the end of my Klickitat year in 2022 (www.klickitatcountybirding.blogspot.com), I had groused a little about how I'd gone all the way into December before I actually had a chance to bird *with* someone in the field. I've tried to more actively seek out these shared birding days and am glad so far that I chose to do so. 

Into Vancouver

I was on the West side of Vancouver and needed food. Pacific House on Main Street was there to rescue me with a BLT (the Varied Thrush of sandwiches) and a pint. I got plugged in and checked in with various clients. Most of them knew I'd be out on the road for a couple days, but it was still good to at least peek at email. I also got to work on a plan for the next day - one that would involve a night at the Society House in Bingen, I decided - and what birds I might target on the way there. 

Barrow's Goldeneye

The Vancouver waterfront, along Columbia Avenue, is a low-traffic situation, all-in-all. I was happy to use this road to East-to-West myself, checking the Columbia along the way. This did give me a couple more birds - an Iceland Gull (89) on the water from Marine Park and Barrow's Goldeneye (90) and Greater Scaup (91) from Mintler Park. I was surprised to come out of these first three months without a Horned Grebe! This would have been as good a place as any to find one, but. . . birds is birds!

To Bingen

It may seem odd to drive the entire length of a county to get to a hotel, but for 40 dollars or so a night, it made sense. I was also unsure about the weather situation facing me the next day, so I figured I'd try to pick up a couple birds on the way. This paid off, with Wood Ducks and Killdeer at Skamania Landing - birds 61 and 62 for the Skamania year list. I rolled in at the Society House, got my bunk, got showered up, and just sat down and read a dang book for a bit before going to bed. It felt so nice to get warmed up after a drizzly day, and certainly. . . certainly Skamania County would treat me better the next day. . . right? heh.

Day 8 in the books! Although they'll get harder, it's worth noting that I'm over half-way 
to my goal of 150 birds in each county with a total of 309 county ticks.