May 27/28th - Whistle Punk and Wind Mountain (Skamania County)

Whistle Punk Trailhead

What a neat spot. I had seen lots of good sightings from this trail, near Wind River Road, and not far from the Pacific Crest Trail north of Carson. A morning chorus in May is too valuable to miss, so I made my way down on Saturday. Somehow, in the planning of this weekend, it had not sunk in that I was looking at Memorial Day weekend. As I looked around for campsites/hotels/anything, I got the quick and firm impression that things were pretty full and/or expensive. So, it would be time to sleep in my car!

I was okay with this - my rotator cuff issues have been improving, but the idea of sleeping a little more upright seemed like it might reduce some stress on the shoulder. I also liked the idea of being here for owls! The mix of habitat here, from old-growth to deciduous, to swampy, to open fields. . . I just figured I'd wake in the middle of the night to some kind of hooting or another. 

On my way in, I stopped at the Bungalow Bar and Grill to grab a pint and to do my usual thing - getting a feel for what places are like by chatting with strangers, playing fly-on-the-wall, etc. It was a busy Saturday night in Carson! Lots of people were in playing pool, shouldered up to the bar chatting. I ended up in a conversation with a young man at the bar. 

What an interesting conversation! He was at the tail end of six months where he was living out of his van off and on. He had plumbing and a stove set up in it and was enjoying life on the road. He pulled up his phone and showed a panorama view from one of his hikes, and we talked about some of the places that we had both visited in Skamania. He'd be settling in with work and a place to live soon. It feels like it's been an interesting confluence of several events out there in the world: 

It's getting more expensive to find a place to live. 

It's getting easier to work remotely. 

It's getting easier to live nomadically. 

This guy is going to be doing work as an electrician, so not all of that is part of his story, but there are definitely a lot of resources available now for people that want to save some money. He was not at all unhappy about his six months on the road, and it was fun to hear his story. 

To the trailhead

So. . . just to restate this: I am running around (quite happily) with a data-free phone. Add to this, I am running around in a car that has GPS, but it appears to have maps on it that are extremely out of date. So, if I'm going to go anywhere off of the grid, it often means spending a little time in advance, hand sketching maps, comparing it to the maps in my gazetteer, and finally - expecting to get a little lost. :)

All of this happened, in short, but I did get to the trailhead fine, in the end! I finally came across a sign for the Whistle Punk Trailhead, pulled into the large parking area, and fell asleep under the stars. 

Morning Chorus

American Robin, MacGillivray's Warbler (my 95th species for the year in Skamania - one bird closer to the goal of 150), Black-headed Grosbeak (96), Pacific-slope Flycatcher (97), and Olive-sided Flycatcher (98) were the most prominent calls at 5 A.M. I stepped out and added Song Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow as well. I had slept well and was excited to get my breakfast going. I poured water into the pot and set up the stove. . . no lighter. I could picture the little bag - the one with matches and a few instant coffee packets and a spoon. But it was nowhere to be found. 

I looked at the trail. I looked at the time. I looked southward to where Carson would roughly be. . . and tried to imagine anywhere being open at this hour. With something between a grumble, a chuckle, and a sigh, I packed up my breakfast-to-be, and set off on the trail. 

As I continued, I was amazed at the range of birds I was hearing - Western Wood-Pewee (99), Willow Flycatcher (100), and Yellow Warbler (101) joined the year list. Spotted Towhees were also fairly active in this lower area. Then the trail started going uphill a little bit. Odd. My perception from reading trail reports was that this was a pretty accessible trail, but I stuck with it. Western Tanagers (102) gave their prikadik calls now as well, with the sky just now starting to get lighter. It had been a cool and clear night, and this was a near-perfect morning for the walk. 

Continuing up the trail, the trees seemed to get bigger. The trail was lined with Vanilla Leaf, Nipplewort, Salal, Sword Ferns, and numerous other native plants. Evening Grosbeaks (103) called overhead. It had been such a thin year so far for finches - any returning ones were more than welcome. New birds kept coming, including Warbling Vireo (104), and Hammond's Flycatcher (105) - an expected flycatcher in the conifers that were packed on this hillside. 

I stopped at some point and wondered on this. Hillside? I distinctly remembered that there were reports from this trail that included things like. . . Sora and Virginia Rails! How. . . I looked up the trail, looked down and was starting to feel pretty sure that I was not on the Whistle Punk trail. I started to head down but remembered my thoughts about owls. I whistled Northern Pygmy-Owl whistles for a bit as I walked now, listening as far as I could with this nice elevated spot. Nothing!

Vanilla Leaf

I got back to my car and was pretty happy with my totals for the morning. But I knew without coffee and food, I'd be pretty cranky later. That's when a pickup rolled into the campground. I waved down the guys that got out. "Beautiful morning, yeah?" "Say. . . would you happen to have any matches. . . ?"

I explained the situation, and they whipped out their own stove to boot! We chatted as my water boiled over their stove. It turns out that they were in the area to collect firewood to sell. One of the guys chatted with me about this as the other walked up the trail a little, returning with some "pitch wood". I got a good whiff of this and immediately understood the name. "This stuff will light so fast," he nodded as he broke it down into smaller pieces with his hatchet. 

The other guy chatted with me about the economics of their scavenging, which also included the collection of shells from shooting ranges. They would get the bullets, which contain a lot of lead (to this day, somehow), remove them from the environment (thankya!), and make ingots. My eyes widened at this. Just the idea that Joe on the street could make . . . ingots blew my mind. Now, the guy went on to explain more about this, and clearly there was a lot to it - ventilation for one, keeping water away from the works so that nothing exploded - but I was still impressed by the whole thing. 

As he chatted with me, my eyes and ears remained open, among the things that I saw and heard were Band-tailed Pigeons, Cedar Waxwings (106), Brown-headed Cowbird (107), and a Black-throated Gray Warbler (108) that conveniently flew onto a branch right behind the guy, posed for me, and then flew into the cover of the branches. 

I got my breakfast, thanked them, and then asked before they left. "Is there a marsh or something around here?" "Right up the trail," hatchet guy said, pointing at the *actual* Whistle Punk Trail. I cracked up at this and explained that I had gone up the adjacent trail. "Oh. . . yeah, you were going up Bunker Hill. That trail's kinda gnarly!" 

Oh. . .

So, I'd arrived at 7:30 or so, had already gotten a little walk in, finally had breakfast, and was ready to start walking the trail I'd originally wanted to walk! The prospects of getting some of those elusive marsh birds served as a good carrot for me. I was thinking to myself that my friend Wilson would have to explain where his warblers were hiding, but they did make an appearance (109), as did Brown Creeper (110), Swainson's Thrush (111), and Canada Jay (112). I also kept hearing calls of Hermit Warblers. . . or Townsend's. I started to give myself Warbler Neck Syndrome, just trying to look up at them, but kind of gave up on the idea that I'd see them. They were so often far away, or high up in the canopy. 

I did eventually find the marsh, where I was greeted by Common Yellowthroats and Red-winged Blackbirds. I clapped a few times, and tried to do my best Virginia Rail imitation, but no other marsh birds were calling. Red-breasted Sapsuckers (113) called and gave their syncopated tappings all along this stretch of the trail. Vaux's Swifts (114) also flew overhead. 

In the next little area, the forest got a bit thicker with nice old trees, and I actually succeeded in finding a Hermit Warbler (115). This was one of the birds I'd really hoped to find here, and it gave me nice views of all field marks. Were there Townsend's Warblers here too? Almost certainly, but I've kind of given up on naming these two species without a visual!

40 plus species for the morning. About half of them were new for the year. This was a good stop. 

A few birds for the road

I went down the road - much less lost now - and pulled into a cafe in Carson, the Crosscut Cafe. This gave me a chance to peek at emails, pull images off of my phone and camera card, and to enter some observations. The "needs alerts" and "target species" tools on eBird shine brightest when you don't need so many darn birds! Removing 20 and more from the list gave me a clearer picture of where I wanted to go next. 

Wind Mountain looked like my ultimate stop. Nashville Warblers seemed to be easy to find there, based on reports. It was time to go confirm this hypothesis! Heading to the car, a Hutton's Vireo (116) called. :)

On my way there: Wind River Mouth - Cliff Swallow, and Caspian Tern (117); Home Valley Park - Bullock's Oriole (118).

Wind Mountain

I got to this trailhead and found there were a lot of people hitting the trail this morning! Armed with just my camera and binocs, I started to follow some of these people but found that it was a little dead-end trail from the parking lot. We conferred as we were returning to the parking lot. I flagged down someone getting into a van. "Where's the trailhead?" "Oh hey, I know you!" It was the guy from the Bungalow from the night before. He directed us down the road to the trail. 

"So how long is the trail. . . ?" I asked someone. Usually a good question to ask before heading off on a hike, right? "1.2 miles."

Well, why not?

I found this to be one of the best warbler-viewing hikes I've ever taken. The reason? Observe the following diagram: 

I feel like the situation on the left is where I usually am. Hiking up Wind Mountain, it was almost constantly the situation on the right. There were almost always trees off of the trail whose tops reached just to my eye level. This made for magnificent views of the birds along the way, including. . . 

MacGillivray's Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Hermit Warbler

At some point, I was probably still able to justify turning around, as I'd seen the Nashville (119) Warbler that I'd come for, but I was close enough to the end of a short trail. I wanted to see the top. How awesome it was to get there! It had gotten a bit warm, so the cooling wind at the top was not at all unwelcome. Signage explained that this was a common site for spirit quests by Native Americans in the area, and I could see why. 

Having rested a little at the top, I started back towards the car, adding one more bird on the way down: Sooty Grouse (120). 

The rest of the afternoon

Spotted Sandpipers 
Little White Salmon Fish Hatchery

I got to the car and wondered where to go next. The needs list was certainly shrinking! I decided that the Little White River Hatchery would be the best bet. I had somehow gotten my hatcheries mixed up at one point and had waited patiently for Canyon Wrens to sing from above the buildings at Spring Creek Fish Hatchery a month or two back. This was the spot. Although. . . I did get confused about *which* buildings, perhaps. Either way, I got no Canyon Wrens here, but this is the right spot. I also got no Harlequin Ducks here, but this is also the right spot. What I did get were some Spotted Sandpipers (121) playing in the river, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows (122) buzzing around. 

Brown-headed Cowbird
Saint Cloud Wayside

Other stops: Beacon Rock State Park - here I really only drove the entry road, but I came across some Bushtits (123) that had been sighted there by others. 

Saint Cloud Wayside - I stopped for Yellow-breasted Chat here, following other observations, but came up short. 

Marble Road: Bingo! or Yahtzee. . .But it was only three birds, so I guess we'll go with: Tick-tack-toe.

Marble Road

Yellow-breasted Chat (124), calling from along Marble Road - a nice new year bird, and following this general pattern of "these are noted as rare, but just wait a couple of years". Lazuli Bunting (125) singing from the hillside as well, and then Savannah Sparrows (126) from a field just a little further along. 

Marble road will take you all the way to a sign telling you you're entering Clark County. I turned right here onto Fitzgerald Road, and got one more Skamania bird to finish off the day - Eurasian Collared-Dove (127). 33 new birds for the year. . . this was a good day of birding. 

Evening plans

I drove to the Steigerwald parking lot, and promptly took a nap right there in the lot. There were likely dozens of Clark birds waiting for me, just a short walk away, but I was a little tired!

I stopped in Washougal for dinnerlunch, getting some pizza and wifi at Trap Door Brewing, then hit Vancouver to check in with my friend Kevin Black, picking up a camera bag that I had left in his car earlier in the month. And goodness, I got a shower. He and his wife are salt-of-the-Earth kind of people who made me feel not at all unwelcome on this unplanned stop. Once I was clean, I even got to hold their newborn! Kevin and I chatted and chatted and chatted about the birds behind me from the morning, and about birds ahead of me in the next day. 

My day actually ended. . .in Cowlitz County! I drove up to Woodland, and took a right, up Lewis River Road. Please note that the parentheticals are changing now - I made a couple of stops along the way, including one at Merwin Park, situated on the large artificial lake. Here I picked up Olive-sided Flycatcher (134 for my Cowlitz year) and Cedar Waxwing (135).

On the road to Merrill Lake

I kind of started to head for the Merrill Lake Unit (Merrill Lake Unit opens to public: ‘It’s like a national park’ - The Columbian), but it was getting late enough, and I saw a sign at Merrill Lake itself that said "campground". I figured it was worth a shot, and I had my Discover Pass with me. I was in "luck", finding an open campsite (completely littered with food scraps and utensils). It was nice to finally pull out the tent! I set up camp pretty quickly and fell asleep with the light bustle of a summer campground in the background. 

Day 19 in the books!

May 13th - Mid-spring Wahkiakum Trip

Eirinikos Grove

Gaston is ready for the day!

I'll be honest. . . I didn't sleep well at Kyleen's place! But this was no fault of the accommodations, which couldn't be beat: comfy bed with cool air and owl hoots drifting in through the screen after a hot day. But recently, my rotator cuff has been having conversations with me. Unpleasant ones. Nonetheless, I woke up in time to get some coffee and breakfast in me. 

Syrupy churrrp sounds got my attention, so I got dressed and slipped out to where Kyleen had put up boxes for Purple Martins. And. . . there they were! I shot her a text, as I knew that she'd had her fingers crossed to have these birds come in and make themselves at home. All other birds aside, this was her happiest bird of the day. In this particular case, the boxes were salvaged by Kyleen. They'd had wasp nests in them at one point - and martins will nearly never use boxes after wasps have nested in them. I can see the logic in that, lol. 

Success!

Yellow Warbler

But time and vigorous cleanings can apparently solve many problems, including this one. Two pairs of Purple Martins circled overhead, came in to investigate the boxes, went back to circling. This was a very fun start to the day. Yellow Warbler (118), Wilson's Warbler, Black-capped Chickadee, and Western Tanager (119) were among the passerines working the diverse woods on the property. Plenty of icterids (Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Brewer's Blackbird) made themselves known as we walked. 

And we discussed plans. We had been planning on a Big Day with two other local birders until a virus came through and put the kibosh on those plans. But there were still all of the possibilities to consider. One of these had come up in email conversations - Yellow-breasted Chat. 

Yellow-breasted Chats are on an interesting little trajectory. I tend to think of hot, rocky, brushy, canyony places in Eastern Washington when I think of these birds. They've been slowly moving into counties on the west side in the last decade or so. I actually found the first one for Island County, many a year ago - the only time I've been able to add a bird to a county list! They are one of those birds that seem to signal that climate change is happening, as their range expands northward. 

Chats had been seen on a trail near Wahkiakum High School - the hundred-acre-wood trail. I was pretty interested and optimistic, so that was our first stop. 

Wahkiakum High School Forest Road

Hairy Woodpecker

Across highway four from the proud home of the Wahkiakum Mules is a huge bit of forest that was donated to the school. It's turned out to be quite a good birding spot, although Kyleen explained that they recently logged the heck out of it to sell the timber in an effort to balance budgets. Some stands remain, while others are a few years into recovery. 

In those early stands, the year birds started rolling in: Pacific-slope Flycatcher (120), Warbling Vireo (121), Black-throated Gray Warbler (122), and Black-headed Grosbeak (123). Wilson's Warblers were constantly chattering from either side of the trail as well. I continued to have good thrush luck, getting calls for Swainson's (124), and Hermit Thrush, the latter being a tough bird to get in the county. 

Once we passed the first large grove of trees, we got to some brushier areas where we picked up Orange-crowned and MacGillivray's Warblers (125). Evening Grosbeaks (126) also gave some calls as a group flew overhead. Gaston trotted alongside us as we listened to more and more calls from Pacific-slope Flycatchers, including the whistle you make to call your puppy, as well as pieces of the three-part song. 

Finally, we got to the more open area where the chats had usually been found - and find them we did. 

Yellow-breasted Chat (127)

All told, I'm guessing there were 3 or more, given the calls heard on both sides of the trail. At least once, I heard some calls and we continued on to this spot. Glad we did, as this bird was pretty accommodating. So often these birds just stay under cover! 

Julia Butler Hansen

We made a stop at JBH after the trip on the high school trail. I. . . have been going there for who knows how many trips, and I never knew you could pull up to the headquarters office! So, needless to say, I had a better view than usual of the headquarters pond! 

We watched swallows swarming around us, and listened to Yellow Warblers. I. . . am becoming convinced that there's two groups of songs around us, but I'll need a few recordings, and I'm sure I can disabuse myself of this belief. 

It's just that I'm very used to the fairly rapid sweetsweesweeti'msososweet! with a nice emphasis on that last note. But around here (and. . . I don't think it's for the first time in Wahkiakum), I get this sassy call from them. Same number of "words" in the song, I think, but they're just drawn out a little. Especially the so so's. 

I can't unsee this now, but it reminds me of the tower-buzzing scene from Top Gun.
That bird up top is about to spill his coffee.

Cinnamon Teal!

Anyway, ignore that ramble! Kyleen and I talked about this a bit - music and birding. I never "did" music until college, when I'd already decided on a sciencey path. But my sense of pitch is pretty good, and the ears are still intact - frequency-wise, so I'm enjoying the sounds while I can!

One enjoyable sound came from a branch deep in a cottonwood, the cackling and whistling of a Bullock's Oriole (128). We also had one of the main targets of the visit drop in on the pond, a Cinnamon Teal (129). 

We took a peek at the White-tail Trail, but it was pretty quiet. I mean. . . it was LOUD with Yellow Warblers, but otherwise quiet. Kyleen talked to me about possible destinations to pick up more of the birds I was hoping to find. She also reviewed tides with me so that I was as clear as possible on how to walk out into Grays Bay and not end up. . . like that one guy who thought he'd walk out on a mudflat. . .

Kyleen's makeshift map to get me to Sora and Barn Owl

At this point, we parted ways. She had some hours ahead of her with a weedeater! I took the pic above, certain that it would be enough to help me find what I needed that morning. Although. . . lovely views, and some quiet time away from a computer screen is *largely* what I needed to find. That seems to be the easiest target on any trip. 

Beaver Creek Road

Beaver Creek Road . . . well, here you go. This is better than trying to describe where it is: 

From Elochoman Valley Road just about to the East Point on the Road, 
where it becomes "Cathlamet Road" in Cowlitz County and drops down to HWY 4

Western Bluebird (131)

My meanderings on here are actually pretty well marked. The box showing the mileage for the drive is actually pointing at the clearcuts where I pulled over and walked the road for a bit. What a great stop! Western Wood-Pewee (130) was my first of the year. MacGillivray's Warblers called from the clearcuts, but at first I did not hear the birds I expected - House Wren and Western Bluebird. I thought I heard some warblers on the north side of the road, so I walked off in that direction and scanned the trees. 

Then I *did* hear the hollow churp of a bluebird. I scurried over to the south side of the road again and found a pair of them. One of them stayed perched on a big pile of tree debris for me. 

As a bonus, the warblers here did come down blessedly close, and I was able to pick out a pure Hermit Warbler (132), checking off all of the little not-a-hybrid boxes. Red-breasted Nuthatches (133) also joined in, which had started to become a troublingly hard species to find!

When you get here, you may have passed the Hermit Warblers

Leaning towards Margined, or Pine White?

It was still pretty early. The tides I needed wouldn't come for hours, so I decided to follow the signs to the Bradley ORV trail. Up a gravel road, with only occasional cars coming the other way. . . to the trail head. . . and down a slightly random road back south. I should explain, and this may be zero surprise at all. I am working with my car's GPS, which is delightfully antiquated. In fact, is now offically named Grandpa. GPS is Grand Pa Seems(tothinkthere'saroadhere), or something of the sort. I was never on a bad road, although at some point, it started to just feel like some guy's driveway, rather than a road road. 

Any idea what this is? :)

Most of the shots I got of the butterflies were this

I pulled over at one point, and just drank in the calls of Varied Thrushes in the deep shade of the evergreens, while trying to get pictures of butterflies, and *also* calling for Barred Owls off and on. This was one of the most relaxing 15 minutes of the trip! 

You have no reason to go down this road, but it was my favorite of the trip

Indian Jack Slough

This is the area that Kyleen had been outlining for me. It's a piece of land owned and managed by the Columbia Land Trust at the corner of Nelson Creek Road and Risk Road. The first birds I heard here were not the target birds, but another new year-bird: House Wren (134). I pulled up to the intersection in question, and totally remembered a previous visit here. I'd come here with Andrew many a year earlier, likely in an attempt to find a Barn Owl. 

It does require a climb over a gate, but all sources have told me that this is fine. I started to walk towards the barn and remembered the description I'd gotten of the process. You go into the barn, and the owl flies out, then you. . . jump out of the barn or something and try to see it before it heads for cover. I thought these instructions over. . . looked at the giant square opening in the top of the barn, and pointed my binoculars at it. Barn Owl (135!). Maybe it's not always so easily placed, but I watched it for a little while before heading back to the car. I'd left the camera behind, rather than having it accompany me through the gate climb. 

I parked in view of the area where the Soras supposedly live. I ate an apple (I try to bring an Apple of Waiting. They often work.) It was warm, traffic was light to nonexistent, and I started to drift off for a nap. This effort was disturbed eventually by a Sora call. (136). I didn't entirely mind!

Back into the mud

I made the drive out to Grays Bay, found a shady spot and made good on my intentions to get a nap. Occasionally I'd wake, look at the time, drive up the road and back to try to spy shorebirds out on the mud. But it was high tide, and the birds were pushed in close - some likely up against the wall of trees and shrubs blocking the view from the road. 

I did spy a single Whimbrel on one of these back-and-forths. As the water started to recede in earnest, I hydrated, sunscreened, booted up, and started my walk towards Crooked Creek. The tide was on its way out, and the mud was about equal in squoosh to the mud back in April. 

This picture should have you just about caught up!

Racoon!

As I started my squoosh sploosh out it was mostly Ring-billed Gulls and Whimbrels, with some American White Pelicans in the distance. As I walked, however, this changed! It eventually became Ring-billed Gulls and Whimbrels, with Some American White Pelicans not quite so far out. 

I scanned the tide line, hoping to see flocks of peeps. If I could find a group and wait it out, the tide would eventually push them back into view. Nope. I looked for a late Bonaparte's Gull hanging around with the locals. Nope. 

It was still nice to perfect my squoosh stride. I got especially good at getting unstuck. My initial inclination is to just pull the foot right out. . . but then your other foot is stuck. So, I got this back-and-forth thing going with the other foot. Step forward, lift a little; Step back, lift a little. Never ran into any real trouble, although there were certainly times where I chose not to keep walking!

I did push onward to the creek. I really believed there was a chance that some odd shorebird might have been tucked in and hidden in the slopes of the creek bed. Nope. Lots of nope. So I found a good log, and I sat. . . I let the breeze blow past and cool my face, listened to Purple Finches. . . Yellow Warblers. . . and the occasional mellow calls of the Whimbrels. 

I hope and pray to always have this kind of wisdom - I haven't always

American White Pelicans

The Log of Sitting

Astoria Bridge

Back to the car! I was at 136 species for the year, and the life list was at. . . 149. :D I guess if I had *really* wanted to, I could scurry around trying to find one more bird, but why ruin a good day? I made one more trip to Kyleen's to pick up the camera battery charger. Dinner at the Spar in Cathlamet, and then home.

Day 18 in the books!

May 12th - Cowlitz County, Toutle to Saint Helens

THIS whether the Big Days happen
or not, is half of the fun

Boy, I look at a May day during these years, and my brain always turns to the idea of a Big Day. I sat down and looked at the possibilities in Cowlitz and mapped out like. . . 200 birds worth of possibilities! Once I had a route semi-planned in my head, I checked in with some of the Cowlitz folks, and they pointed out that the Columbia is high, so shorebirding has been poor. It's. . . amazing, honestly, how slow this has been to sink into my brain. 

So, brain. . . there are dams on the Columbia River. . . *nod nod*. . . and they can let water go through. . . or hold it behind the dam. . . *blink. . . blink. . . *. . . so sometimes there's more water, or less water. 

*pause*

"Well, but. . . if there's more water, it just goes out into the ocean, so it gets like *level*, right? Like sea *level*. . ."

"No brain, that's not how it works."

It may take a while for this to fully sink in. I have to say, in general, the folks who bird in this corner of the state are very pay-attenchical. They seem to know what the weather is going to be like (the Seattle area just seems so predictable, especially during Novembruary. . . I get a little lazy about it), which way the wind is blowing, and what that means for birds/comfort, and what roads are being logged (handy to know if you don't want your blissful morning of birding to be ruined because you got flattened by a logging truck). It's interesting to just see this normal routine of understanding the local conditions at work. 

Our morning stops: 1. Seaquest State Park. 2. Canal Road (via Sightly Road) 
3. Signal Peak, but we missed it. 4. Harry Gardner Park

So, I put my list aside, and thought of where I might want to focus my birding. I had my friend Kevin Black joining me from Vancouver - on a morning reprieve from caring for a newborn. Those were the conditions he'd be keeping an eye on that morning!

We both had goals coming in: I was sitting at 107 for the year in Cowlitz, and 148 for my life list. My goals for the year are mostly mapped out in the "Bad Math" section. The Big Goal for the year is to see 150 species of birds in all four counties (Cowlitz, Clark, Skamania, Wahkiakum) in 2023. Getting the life lists to 150 along the way is kind of nice - that way, even if something keeps me from finishing out the year, it's not a complete bust. And once 150 is done for the year, I'd love to try to push them all as close to 175 as possible! 

Kevin was at 138 for his life list, and. . . having grown up in Cowlitz. . . thought this year would provide some good opportunities to head out birding with me to get his life list over 150 as well. He sent me his needs list for the county, and I slapped together a bingo sheet. It never got printed, but it was still nice to have a dirty dozen birds in mind as target species. 

Seaquest State Park

Hey Tim, why are the pictures more in focus 
all of a sudden. . .?
Because I was today years old when I learned
"A" on my camera is not "autofocus"
It's "Aperture"
True. Story.

I rolled in at 6 and was expecting Kevin at 6:30. Immediately, I heard Pacific-slope Flycatchers, Hutton's Vireo, and Western Tanager - all birds that he needed. The flycatchers and the tanagers were also new for my yearlist (108 and 109, respectively). Kevin missed all but the tanagers but picked them all up later in the day. We also got Red Crossbills (110), which have seemed like a tough find this year, as well as the first of many Brown-headed Cowbirds (111) for the day. Brown Creeper (112) was a species I'd missed through the year, but today they were plentiful and loud. 

I did a stroll along the nearest trail before Kevin arrived, taking it out to the water. There had been a Green Heron sighting here the day before. It's not an entirely easy species to find in Cowlitz, so I thought I'd give it a try. No luck there, but there were plenty of Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Yellowthroats, and Marsh Wrens. 

Canal Road

We left my car in Toutle and went up Canal Road - an area I've been to a few times this year, but a new place for Kevin. On our way in, along Sightly Road, we were listening to passerines with the windows down when I heard a distant Northern Pygmy-Owl (113)! We stopped and got out of the car, and Kevin got on the bird as well. This corner was really birdy, with Wilson's (114), and Black-throated Gray (115) Warblers. We heard our first Swainson's Thrush (116) calling softly from cover, as well as Warbling Vireos (117). 

We were about to head further up the road, when a truck pulled up next to us, rolling the windows down. 

"Hi! Are you from around here."

Hooboy. . . this question got my guard up a little. Kevin let the driver know that he had grown up in the County. I was hoping that put us in the clear, but it turns out my worries were unfounded. This guy was a local who just wanted to share his love of nature with others. He filled us in on the wild horses up the road, the morels and shaggy mane he was foraging for that day, the Great Horned Owl nesting in his backyard. We chatted for a good few minutes before parting ways - I made sure to grab his number just in case Great Horned Owl turns out to be a nemesis bird this year!

Douglas Squirrel

Further up the road, we pulled at a marshy area where I'd had Virginia Rail. We tried for it to no avail, and then tried for Sora as well. At first it was just Marsh Wrens and Northern Pygmy Owls (there were two now), but we did eventually get a call from a Sora (118). Yellow Warblers (119), and Black-headed Grosbeak (120) called from all around us as well. We enjoyed watching the nesting Tree Swallows, which lined the road. We continued up to a culvert that had been noted as a good warbler spot. From that spot, we got more of the same warblers, as well as Common Yellowthroats and Yellow-rumped Warblers. 

Most ducks had left the building at this point, but we did find Common Mergansers, a couple of Canada Geese, as well as some late American Wigeons. 

After taking a look at the wild horses, we zipped back to my car. I grabbed some of the food out of it, and we started following the printed out directions to Signal Peak. 

We didn't get to Signal Peak

Somewhere along the way, we missed a turn, but it mattered almost not at all. We found a lot of great birds along the way. At one of our early stops, we listened to Sooty Grouse (121), MacGillivray's Warbler (122), Orange-crowned Warbler, and a surprising Hermit Thrush (123). Evening Grosbeaks (124) did a flyover - my first of year in *any* county, and we got our third Northern Pygmy-Owl of the day as well. 

The other mountain was out too - Mount Rainier

Further up, we started to hear Black-townsmits Warblers. I call them this, because the songs do seem to have a little bit of overlap. . . to be fair, the road to Signal Peak (or at least the area, because who knows when we left the road to Signal Peak) has far more pure Hermit Warblers, and not many Townsend's Warblers to hybridize and confuse things. But still, we were able to get on a bird that sounded good for Hermit Warbler. With some patience, we finally got some great views of the bird, and Kevin even got a few pictures. 

eBird Checklist - 12 May 2023 - 98649, Toutle US-WA 46.28751, -122.56847 - 34 species

Hermitty Warbler

And then. . . jeez, from my look at the Hermit Warbler, I saw yellow on the breast, which I think identifies it as a hybrid with Townsend's Warbler. I thought that with the whole list of field marks - yellow face, grey back, white below with no streaking, etc - that if you had at least one from each type of warbler, that you were outside of the Warbler Purity Laws of 1897. So. . . based on the picture, we pulled it off of the list. From all accounts, the hybrid zone for this species is shrinking. I'm hoping I can see some pure ones during the year. I'm definitely in the right part of the state for it!

Western Tanagers confused me for a bit. I got pretty darned excited as I saw birds perched on some snags doing some odd acrobatics. I eventually got on them and unequivocally saw that they were "just" tanagers. What fun to see a familiar bird doing something unfamiliar! In the same area of snags, we got  House Wren (125), and Canada Jay. 

We also at one point got a raptor in flight. Kevin believed it was a Merlin, whereas I believed that I needed a Sharp-shinned Hawk. I. . . am not completely sure that he understood his role as a birding friend, as he blah blah blahed about what falcons looked like and took *pictures* of the bird. So. . . if I don't get a Sharp-shinned Hawk this year I just wanted to make sure everyone knew why! 

Sha. . . fine, it's a Merlin :D I do wish that I'd watched to see if it "looked
like it was migrating. This might not be a bad spot to be in the fall. . . 

Right around there, we excitedly started our drive to the summit. . . and dead ended, turned around and saw the signal towers on an adjacent peak. :D  But we had found the Hermit Warblers, picked up some grouse, and other fine birds. At this point, we thought Kevin's life list total was at 149 (it may have been 150 at the time - shame on us, we may have gotten caught up in just enjoying the birds and the scenery!). At any rate, I turned to him and told him: 

"American Dipper. . . if you take this car down the hill to the Harry Gardner Bridge right now. . . you will obliterate your record. . ."

This. . . is funny if you've seen The Big Year. In either case, one bird is one bird. But you know what. . . we were in the mood for obliteration, so logic went out the window! (also, this may have been a way to get Kevin *back* to his wife and kiddo, whereas in the movie, Owen Wilson goes chasing after a Snowy Owl, ditching his wife on a day when they were doing fertility treatments). Down the hill we went, still carefully and curiously trying to figure out what turn we'd missed!

Harry Gardner Park

We parked and looked one way from the bridge. We moseyed over and looked the other way from the bridge. No dippers. Just a distant Spotted Sandpiper. Then we thought of looking *under* the bridge, why not. Down a short trail, and boop! American Dipper!

Kevin's 150th bird seen in the county (126 for my yearlist). We watched it shaking what its dipper momma had given it and then diving off in search of . . . larvae? I think they eat larvae. They're nearly the only birds that use river rapids as their primary habitat, so whatever they're eating, there's no competition to speak of. On the way back to the car, a tree full of silent passerines got our attention. My best guess is that 80 degrees takes all the songsterness out of a bird. We had Warbling Vireo, Western Tanagers, and possibly some warblers in the tree - foraging around without a sound. 

We parted ways at this point, more than content with the amazing morning of birding we'd had. 

But not *too* content

Common Raven - another bird from my
your-camera-thinks-that-mountain-is-cool
series

Kevin went down-hill and I went up. I was kind of excited to hit some of the spots below Mount Saint Helens. It's interesting, there's like. . . Mount Saint Helens National Monument. Pay for your pass, have fun looking right into the crater. These other spots are just outside of MSHNM and did not require that pass. 

It's quite a drive up! I had almost forgotten this, but the view of the mountain coming closer and closer is a good bit of fun. You keep thinking "OHMYGAWD I have to take a picture here!!" and then ten minutes later, you have a better view. This mountain, on just about this day 43 years ago, erupted. That was a Sunday, and I remember going out to get the paper on Sunday morning. . . and I just knew something was off. I wasn't a birdwatcher at the time, but that is my best guess. I wish I could go back and see if my 8-year-old self was used to the morning chorus of birds without noticing it. . . and then didn't hear it that morning. 

For clarity, this was in Yakima, which I think it's fair to say was the first major city to get dumped on. Amazing to thing that the absent mountainside in front of me was partially deposited inches deep in the form of ash on my childhood home, and *everyone's* home in town. I spent weeks playing in the ash - scooping it up to make mountain ranges with all of the local peaks. The news had been filled with journalists and scientists stepping through each of those peaks and explaining which ones were active and which ones weren't. What a crazy time. 

Barrow's Goldeneyes - Coldwater Lake

Okay, but I eventually got to Coldwater Lake. Right out of the car, I added bird 127 - a Hammond's Flycatcher. I was pretty happy with this, although the birds of interest were waiting up on the lake. I actually came across someone with a BHL (big honkin lens) up there to look for the same birds: Barrow's Goldeneyes. These ducks spend their winters out with all of the other ducks, here and there in the state. Summer rolls around, and many of the ducks head north to cool off. Barrow's Goldeneyes head to higher elevations. 

As soon as I could see a good bit of the lake, I started scanning. Nothing. I walked farther, and realized how much of the lake had previously been out of view. I scanned again. Nothing. I kept going to a spot where the boardwalk takes you almost to the middle of the dang lake. Nothing. I sat, closed my eyes, and enjoyed the cool breeze for a bit, listening to birds from the shore, including MacGillivray's Warbler, a Sooty Grouse, and a nice surprise - Northern Rough-winged Swallow (128), letting its staccato fart sound fly as it skimmed the water. 

We (because I'd pretty much teamed up with the other man at this point) continued up and around the corner, finding a goldeneye pair tucked back by a little boat launch. (129). 

After getting some good shots, we briefly got distracted by a hummingbird. I'm still wondering about it. . . as it was a fairly silent bird. Rufous Rattles, Anna's Zips had always helped me with the local hummers. The fact that I didn't hear either from this bird, means A) it was a Calliope Hummingbird, or 2) I just didn't hear the bird. I suppose 2 was more likely, but I do wish I'd been able to stay with the bird, which zipped out of sight before any of this processing happened. 

Hummocks Trail

Just a short way up the road is the trailhead for the Hummocks Trail. Admittedly, I was taking in the scenery and the birds, so I have to sheepishly include this from Wikipedia: 

In geology, a hummock is a small knoll or mound above ground. They are typically less than 15 meters in height and tend to appear in groups or fields. Large landslide avalanches that typically occur in volcanic areas are responsible for formation of hummocks. Wikipedia

Sooty Grouse!

Although, I suppose since it's from Wikipedia, this is not reliable information at all, so. . . yeah, just don't believe the information above! It was likely crafted by eruption-deniers. . . right? :D I do appreciate the 8 billion situations in which one might be concerned about information gained here, but on agenda-free/less complex topics. . . I'm just fine with it. 

And yes! Now that I've read this. I agree that I was surrounded by hummocks. Up a hill, down a hill, past a marsh. Rinse, lather, repeat. The first bit of fun was not a new bird for the year, just a new experience with a familiar bird. I've heard Sooty Grouse booming 7487639472 times (source - wikipedia), but never actually seen one whilst it has been booming. At one point, a bird sounded close. Very close. So I stopped, scanned, and eventually found this guy booming from deep shade below a conifer. 

As I continued, I added Chipping Sparrow (130). There were many juncos that tried to imitate them, but when you get a Chipping Sparrow, it's a Chipping Sparrow. They take that dry insect-like call, and just drawwww it out more than a junco might. Fun find. I was hoping for Nashville Warblers as well, but maybe it was just getting a little warm. I know I worked up a little bit of a sweat by the time I was done!

Townsend's Solitaire

 And I had one more bird - it was a nice little surprise - a Townsend's Solitaire. I don't know why, but they end up baffling me at least briefly the first time I see them in a given year. This one posed on a branch with Saint Helens as a nice backdrop.

And that was bird 132 for the day. So this is the funny part - something I usually just fix, but. . . I missed a bird in here somewhere. When I figure it out, I could go back and change every . . . single. . . number in this post, but transparency does have a certain beauty. Found it! Black Throated Gray Warbler - first heard and seen while we were talking to the guy about mushrooms, horses, and owls. 

I started down the hill, taking nearly every side road on the way down, with dreams of Western Bluebirds and Olive-sided Flycatchers. There had been a sighting of a Bay-breasted Warbler around here back in 2006, and nearly every one of those sightings included Western Bluebirds. Apparently, 17 years of growth is enough to convert bluebird habitat into something else! 

Dinner in Longview, and I checked my email for the first time all day. The blessings and the curses that come from having a flip phone. :)

"Hey Tim, I see you haven't responded in this thread. What are your plans for tomorrow?" 

Oh no! 

I skimmed through the thread and found that half of the foursome who had been ready to do a Wahkiakum County Big Day the next day had come down with viruses. That included Andrew, on whose property I had planned to camp, in hopes of hearing some owls (Barred, and an outside chance of Northern Pygmy). 

I got in and shot some emails around, and Kyleen - another member of the foursome, offered to put me up in her guest cottage (which she has just finally readied to be a rentable experience! Her website would not be a bad place to contact her about this). 

I hopped back in the car, made a stop at the Longview Sewage Lagoons (Purple Martin - Cowlitz yearbird #133), and another stop in Cathlamet to pick up some "Thank you for giving me a bed for the night" smoked salmon from River Mile 38 Brewery. Here, I picked up a new Wahkiakum bird - Vaux's Swifts calling over the marina. (Wahkiakum yearbird #116!)

(Note - after pulling the Hermit Warbler from the list, it's actually 132. I. . . feel like there was an error in the tallying somewhere, but eBird has kept good track!)

Eirinikos Grove

The path to the guest cottage - Eirinikos Grove

Gaston! He feels just as floofy as he looks

What a neat little spot! I should highlight some things from a birding point of view first. This patch of trees here, including a nice mix of pines and cedars among others, is one of the largest (*the* largest?) such patch on Puget Island. As such, owls love it. She has a pair of Great Horned Owls and a Barn Owl right there on the property year-round. The Barred Owl is more hit or miss, but still not an uncommon sighting. She knows the property intimately, so she was able to point out the trees that were more likely to hold owls. 

Inside the guest cottage

Kyleen informed me that the name comes from Greek, and that it means "peaceful". She liked the theme in general and noted that it fit with all of the Mourning Doves and Eurasian Collared-Doves that live in the grove. This got me thinking about the whole name-your-home thing, because Andrew (up the road a ways outside of Skamokawa) had named his home "Alcyon Farm". I haven't asked him directly but was just doing a search; It appears that the alkion bird (something like a kingfisher) is also a symbol of peace/placidity for its ability to fly calmly over turbulent waves. There ya go! Peacefulness abounds in Wahkiakum. O Come All Ye Hippies! :)

I got to meet Gaston, who is in a first place tie with 99 percent of the dogs in the world as the friendliest therapy dog. I also got to meet the chickens, who on a normal (announced) visit would be helping to provide the "and breakfast" during your stay. As Kyleen was talking to me, I kept thinking that I was hearing Purple Martins. As I was moving my things into the cottage, I kept thinking that I was hearing a Hutton's Vireo. I as so groggy from a full day of birding in the sun (and I'd been up since 4. . . ), so neither of these leads were pursued. 

If I stick to the plan, I'll need this. . . 
when I'm like 80 :)

I got oriented with the amenities in the cottage, got a much-needed shower, and got plugged into the wifi. I poked at a few emails but was really making a beeline for sleep. 

I closed my eyes listening to the evening chorus of birds drifting in with the cool breeze through the screened windows. Outside temperature would suit me just fine after a day that had reached 90 in some places. 

I woke up around 3 to the sounds of the Great Horned Owl pair hooting back and forth (117). I smiled, flipped to my other side and drifted back to sleep. Why not try for Barn Owl? From both Kyleen and Andrew, I'd gotten the impression that anyone who needed a Barn Owl in Wahkiakum could go to "The Barn". Fair enough. Why not try for Barred? I had a sense that I'd be around Barred Owls at other times in the year. If one wanted to call tonight, it would be welcome, but I'd occasionally try to call one myself. 

Day 17 was a productive one! Kyleen and I had made some plans to walk the property, and then to hit a few quick stops together in the morning. 

I Slept.

Day 17 in the books!

Post-script here. When writing these, it's always a challenge to note the birds in the order I found them. Add to that, there were shared checklists with Kevin and I, so some may have been a little out of order. Add to that, the Hermit Warbler was removed as I wrote AND I added Dusky Flycatcher, based on a whole mess of other sightings, and a recording I'd captured on the Hummocks Trail. . . so we're at 133 for Cowlitz. Added on this trip: