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!