March 29th - Digitally Nomadic Cowlitz Trip, Day 1

Wide variety of trees at Lake Sacajawea

As I sat in Renton, typing away at lessons, items, reviews of lessons, and reviews of items, it occurred to me that I could do all of the aforementioned activities while sitting in a cafe in Castle Rock as I had in January - and it just might get me outside looking at birds when I needed a break! It's really a blessing to not have to arrive at an office, and I could even manage to do a video call with one project team in the morning. 

So, I packed it up early, and found my way down to Canal Road outside of Toutle, shortly before the sun was going to come up. 

Before my foot had hit the pavement outside of my car, I heard my first new year bird for Cowlitz, a Virginia Rail (my 84th bird for the year in Cowlitz). They were calling quite actively throughout the morning, as were many Marsh Wrens (85). I also had some hopes for some owls - Barred and Great Horned, which had both been reported here with some frequency. I called for both and was answered by a Barred Owl (86). An American Pipit called as it passed overhead as well - not a new bird for the year, but still a nice surprise. 

I heard, then saw, my first Violet-green Swallows of the year (87). It's always fun to watch their swift-like flight! I scanned through the small handful of them for any Tree Swallows but found none. Drumming was heard from several different directions. I suspected Red-breasted Sapsuckers (88) and was thankful when one gave a nasal call to confirm. Additionally, I was able to get a visual on one as I got ready to leave. 

Kelso

Well. . . I got down to the Vault in Castle Rock in advance of my 8:00 meeting. . . and found that it did not open until 8:30! I did have enough time to make it down to Kelso, where I got plugged in at the Panera right off of the highway. I really do try to hit local spots over chains during these trips, but I thought it best to take the safe bet here (wifi, plugins, and reliable food and coffee). This proved to be a productive spot for several hours before I decided it was time for a walk. 

Lake Sacajawea

The number of squirrels, ducks and geese looking for a handout beggared belief

There had been a sighting of a Eurasian Wigeon here many weeks earlier. I had not heard of any sightings since, so I checked again while at Panera. My friend Russ had been the one who reported the EUWI, and he'd not been back since, so I thought it was at least worth a try! A report of a Greater White-fronted Goose gave me further reason to walk the lake. 

What a fun stop! The highlights for me were mostly trees. There were a lot of different species of trees, and many of them had little signs to identify them. 

I did find the Eurasian Wigeon (89) - on the north end of the lake, in the first of several wigeon flocks I found foraging on the grass. There were a million or so Mallards, and also some overly friendly squirrels, all a product of people feeding them - an activity I watched 2-3 times during my walk! 

Violet-green Swallow

At one of the fountains, droves of swallows were doing their aeronautic tricks over the water. In addition to dozens of Violet-green Swallows, I picked out a few Tree Swallows (90). Content that I had seen all of the geese, I started back towards the car, finding a few Wood Ducks (91) right in the lake where I had started. 

Lunch, work

PNW Meatheads BBQ was the next camp for this digital nomad. I worked on writing over a delicious brisket sandwich, and admired the big stage they have for musical acts (including karaoke! although not on that particular night), and the long shuffleboard tables. I had texts from Russ about Snow Geese and a White-throated Sparrow, although they were on opposite ends of the county, so I peeked at possibilities closer to Longview. 

Once I'd finished up a couple more projects for the day, I set my sights on finding an American Dipper. 

North of Highway 4

These are just interesting little roads: Coal Creek, Harmony Road, Stella Road, Abernathy Creek. . . I picked up a Turkey Vulture (92) and an Osprey (93) on the way - big, easy birds from the car. I had tried some of these roads in January, given the nice views they provided of some rapids in the creeks descending from the south slopes of the Willapas into the Columbia. 

Look, some kids aren't as fast as other kids. . .
But do we need to call it out on a sign?

Brown Creeper was another hoped-for bird in the thick second-growth forests as I drove up these roads. Most of them loop back around to Highway 4, and others just dead end. I had a repeated experience of turning southward towards the highway, only to be greeted by a peekaboo view of the Columbia. American Robins, Black-capped Chickadees, and both kinglets were the soundtrack for most of this exploration, and I did at one point get to hear a couple of Hutton's Vireos (94). In fact, I got Hutton's Video!

These are not easy birds in the county, and they seem to sing more in February through April than other months, so I was happy to stumble on them. But no dippers! Given the week of work leading up to this semi-escape, it was still worth it to stand. . . listen to the running water. . . and to just enjoy the word-free time. 

Evening in the Twin Cities

Are Kelso and Longview called the Twin Cities? It's not a bad moniker, with the Cowlitz River serving as a divide between the adjacent cities. A little research tells me that "occasionally" is the answer to that. 

? :)

Names aside, I gassed up at the Fred Meyer in Longview (which, for whatever reason, consistently has the best gas prices during my travels) then made one last attempt to find some birds at the Longview Mint Farm. 

This. . . was a puzzle for me. I'd been here once with a friend a decade ago. I simply could not figure out where any trail may have taken me in to look at the refuge. I'm excited to have it as a destination on a future trip - but on this day, I can at least confirm that the signage is not so clear as to be Tim-proof. Tim-proof signage is a higher bar, as I'm prone to get turned around, to be fair. 

I met up with my friend Sariah from Kelso, and we made our way to Tim's Tavern, where I had a plate of 5-dollar wings that . . . compared to any similarly sized plate of ten-dollar wings. . . did not taste half bad. It was nice to share all of the little roads I'd taken with someone who had grown up along the Highway 4 corridor. 

Day one of my sneak-down-to-Cowlitz trip was in the books! Sariah was putting me up for the night, and I'd be getting more birding in on the way home the next morning. The primary targets were Woodland Bottoms and Imboden Road, where Russ had mentioned the White-throated Sparrow and Snow Geese respectively. 

The fruits of 10 days of birding