October 31st - November Trip, Day 3

Hooboy. I just looked at my posts, and it really sunk in: I have spent six of my days in October in the southwest corner of the state in some form or another. This, in part, is why I'm clarifying here - these are not extra October days. This is like. . . my November trip. I really don't plan on heading down in November itself. Balance. Balance is good.

The previous day, I'd found my 150th (and 151st) species in Skamania County. I woke up at the Society Hotel in Bingen and made an early break for it. I wanted to try for some owls and was up early enough to give it a go. 

First stops were along the river, and it was just far too windy. I took the road up to Carson, stopping at some great spots and enjoying some windless owling. My main target here was Northern Saw-whet Owl. At each stop, I'd whistle for 30 seconds or so, wait another half minute, and repeat that a couple times before departing. This had landed me 2 or 3 NSWOs in Wahkiakum County a few weeks back, but I totally struck out here. This included other stops up Wind River Road and one of the side roads from there. Great weather! Starry skies! No owls. 

I also tried for Barn Owl at the intersection of Marble and Fitzgerald Road. The catch was, it was just way too windy. I saw the barn that Wilson had described to me - a barn on the Clark County side of the road. I was hoping to catch an owl returning to the barn, and trace back its steps to determine it had been in Skamania. I could totally see where the evening variation of this effort would make a lot more sense. On a less windy day!

So, I continued, leaving Skamania County and landing at Steigerwald NWR. Here, I slept until I heard the automatic gate swing open. 

I was pretty excited to jump in and try to find birds 149 and 150 for my Clark year. With two counties down, the path to the final goal (150 birds in Skamania, Clark, Cowlitz, and Wahkiakum Counties) was feeling in reach. Here, I had hopes of finding Common Mergansers, Pine Siskins, White-throated Sparrow, Coopers Hawk, Common Loon or Western Grebe. 

Once I parked and stepped out of the car, I knew it was going to be a good morning. Clear as a bell and calm. But. . . then I walked the 50 feet up onto the berm, and the wind started its mistreatment of me that would last through the morning. It was worse up top, and really interfered with finding any birds. American Pipits were able to cut through the gales with their snappy "pipit" call. Cackling Geese. . . well three billion of anything is going to be easy enough to find, yeah? Northern Harriers and American Kestrels were also easy to pick out throughout the morning. 

American Kestrel playing in the wind

I started running through backup plans, on the assumption that I would find no new birds. The hard thing was, many of the Year Needs Alerts I was getting on eBird were for birds that are a little tough to chase (such as Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawk), had been seen too many days ago (such as Surf Scoter), or were not all that accessible (numerous White-throated Sparrows at peoples' houses), or were Ridgefield (sit in your car, driving ten feet at a time through a loop, and maybe THIS time, you'll see the American Bitterns!). None of these options sounded all that appealing. 

More pipits. More harriers. I even passed some ducks as I walked along the elevated path. I turned the corner and started in towards the center of the refuge. To my surprise, the water that had been here on every other visit was absent. Great Blue Herons perched in the fields here and there, but no bird sounds were really reaching me through the wind. 

Over the bridge, the path entered a forested patch, and things became more interesting. Bewick's and Pacific Wrens called from the path's edge. Golden-crowned Sparrows, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, and both kinglets joined them. I made it to the end. . . and the water was still impossibly far away. I could see waterfowl in my binoculars, but nothing was recognizable.

The water at the end of the path

Then. . .Pine Siskins! (149 for the Clark year)

A flock of 20 Pine Siskins flew overhead, giving their chattering calls before landing in trees in the distance. One more species. I was pretty certain that it would end up being Common Merganser, if I could just have a better view of some water. What a funny species to be looking for at 150! They're not an uncommon bird, per se, but in Clark they seem to be "everywhere and nowhere" to quote my Clark friend, Kevin Black. 

I retraced the two miles (if I read the signs correctly?) which brought me up on top of the berm once more. 

Boom. Common Mergansers. 150! Three counties down, Wahkiakum to go. 

Washougal

The
Washougal Starbucks was home to my celebratory cup of coffee. I plugged in and looked things over. It was early in the day, and my daughter didn't need to get picked up until 7 that evening. I was here in this neck of the woods, and I felt like I should make another birding stop or two if I could find one that made sense. 

In Clark. . . yeah, there were chances to make it 151. And I am kind of a fan of that idea! Lest I get lumped down to 149 somewhere out in the future when they decide that crows and ravens are the same species (okay, not them, but . . . we had just lost a flycatcher this way - you follow me?). But I saw no new breadcrumbs that really called for me to make more stops.

I looked at Wahkiakum. I mean. . . I could swing over to Wahkiakum. There's got to be some American Pipits waiting for me out there somewhere? Or the White-throated Sparrow that Jake had reported from Julia Butler? 

And Cowlitz. Yes, I'd passed through Woodland Bottoms just a few days earlier. But Common Loon and Western Grebe were among the new sightings that had popped up since then. And was it really too early for Rough-legged Hawk? 

I even considered trips to other counties! Pacific County was going a little crazy with bird sightings. A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and a King Eider were among some of the rarities that had been seen, but I did the math. I was two and a half hours from home. . . or I was two and a half hours from Tokeland, which was two and a half hours from home. This had been a long trip, and I've never been much of a chaser. 

Thurston County stood out as well. Thurston was actually the first county outside of King where I'd found 150 species in a year. My life list, however, was still sitting at 170, and it was on the way home. A dozen or so possibilities were sitting there in my needs alerts - Black-bellied Plover, Whimbrel, American White Pelican, Lincoln's Sparrow, American Pipit, Red-shouldered Hawk, Redhead, Tundra Swan, Pileated Woodpecker. . . It would be an easy stop and a walk at Nisqually to make a try for them and try to squeeze out five more. It would sure be nice to see it crest 175 species!

And the answer is. . . 

Hello again, Woodland Bottoms! I couldn't help myself. I wanted a chance to get some of those species that were likely out there. I got nice and turned around, honestly - following my GPS suggestion to take Pekin Road, only to take it to a dead end. Trying to make my way out to the Columbia, I grabbed Whalen Road going through the center of the bottoms. Along the way, I passed a pumpkin patch, with a vast parking area (few cars on a weekday morning - and on Halloween itself, no less!) and a massive flock of Cackling Geese on the far side. I pulled in, and parked. 

"You can walk on back!" I was encouraged by . . . the owner? Not sure, but I took him up on it. 

Two Snow Geese were sitting in the midst of this lake of Cackling Geese, my 151st Cowlitz bird for the year (and my 167th life bird in the county - a number I was keenly paying attention to as the year was drawing to a close!). 

Yeah, I tried for the other birds. I scanned the empty waters of the Columbia from several beautiful vantage points. Nothing nothing nothing. But what a beautiful day! I was mildly jealous for people that lived nearby, knowing that they had such easy access to such a relaxing spot (we have some beaches even up in King, but traffic prevents me from calling them easily accessible!). Yeah. . . the plastic bottle floating by. . . it didn't kill the vibe, but like, roughed it up a little bit. 

I also saw a gull soaring on the far side of the river. "You. Are in Oregon." I told the gull, quietly enough that it could not have possibly had its feelings hurt. 

At this point, I made a beeline for home. I suppose that was yesterday, wasn't it? It's been a blur of blogging since then, as well as an evening of college applications and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters with my daughter. 

30 days done! Three birds to go. 

And yes. This is really it! My plans at present are to head back down for the Christmas Bird Count in Wahkiakum on the 28th of December, and like. . . just stay there until I hit 150. :) Unless you start seeing some very miserable Tweeters posts on the 29th... 30th... I should be able to scrape those last birds out. 

Right?