2011 Washington - Br. Columbia MBWeek
WASHINGTON & BRITISH COLUMBIA MBW SUMMARY
SEPTEMBER 17-25, 2011
Also see the PHOTO GALLERY from this MBWeek following the summary
Yes, of course it was disappointing that the Westport Seabirds trip had to be canceled due to high seas, but at least we salvaged a quasi-pelagic experience in Ocean Shores as an impressive flight of hundreds of Sooty Shearwaters passed by the Pt Brown jetty. A jaeger also joined them briefly, and earlier that day we enjoyed a much closer adult Parasitic stirring things up at Bottle Beach. (And if all that wasn't consolation enough, you can always go out and buy yourself something nice with the $130 refund – your proverbial check will soon be in the mail!)
We had also been hoping for a rarity like Pacific Golden-Plover or Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, and none of the rocks we scanned held any tattlers or surfbirds. But our shorebird list was still quite respectable, considering that we turned up 26 species, certainly highlighted by no fewer than three Bar-tailed Godwits, and at least there were an oystercatcher and several Black Turnstones on the rocks we scanned.
Otherwise, we didn't miss much, considering that most of the passerines had already gone south, and that the pleasant but uneventful weather we had almost all week was not conducive to much migration. In all, we come up with 153 species, with nearly 40 of these "non-Minnesota" birds. Clearly, the Black-tailed Gull in Tacoma on our first day was the star of the show, considering that it's a rarity even in Alaska.
And this was followed by many other highlights: especially the two Barn Owls in, well, a barn by Boundary Bay; those flying and vocalizing Sky Larks near Victoria; our N Pygmy-Owl and Sooty Grouse family on the Hurricane Ridge day....and lots of others – e.g., 3 kinds of cormorants, several gulls, 3 alcid species, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Bewick's & Pacific & "western" Marsh wrens, dippers, and "Sooty" Fox Sparrows to name just a few.
We certainly owe thanks to Bruce Labar and Bill Tweit for making sure we saw that seagull in Tacoma, to Bob & Sally for the tour of their yard in Tenino, to Richard for his tour of his owl-infested barn, to the folks at the Royal Victorian for inviting us to their complimentary seafood cook-out, and to Rhonda's hospitality at the Silver Sands.
ITINERARY
Sept 17 – Early afternoon arrival at Sea-Tac; rest of afternoon at Commencement Bay & Marine View Dr (for Black-tailed Gull!) and briefly at Browns Point; dinner at Budd Bay Cafe and night at Red Lion Inn in Olympia.
Sept 18 – Morning at Capitol Lake & Watershed Park in Olympia, Tumwater residential streets, Bob & Sally Sundstrom's yard and Vantine Rd in Tenino; afternoon drive to BC via I-5 traffic in Tacoma & Seattle, Tulalip Spit, and an incredibly inefficient border crossing in Blaine; dinner at White Spot Restaurant (!) and night at Days Inn in Surrey, BC.
Sept 19 – All day in BC: Boundary Bay, Richard's Barn Owl barn (!), Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Iona Beach Regional Park & vicinity, and a convoluted Vancouver rush hour; dinner again for most at White Spot and night at Days Inn.
Sept 20 – 7:00-8:40 am ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay, Sky Larks (!) on Saanich Peninsula along Central Saanich Rd, Holland Point & Clover Point parks and McNeill Bay in Victoria, 3:00-4:30 pm ferry across Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Angeles, WA; complimentary seafood BBQ dinner (! – some went to Kokopelli Grill) and night at Royal Victorian Motel.
Sept 21 – Morning in Olympic National Park along road to Hurricane Ridge (for pygmy-owl & a grouse family!); afternoon at Ediz Hook, Elwha Dike, Dungeness & vicinity; dinner at Three Crabs and night at Royal Victorian.
Sept 22 – Marilyn Nelson Co Park, Washington Harbor Rd, John Wayne Marina, Diamond Point, Gardiner Beach Rd, Leland Lake, Quilcene Fish Hatchery, Mt Walker, and drive to Westport; dinner at the Islander and night at Rhonda's Silver Sands Motel.
Sept 23 – Westport Marina area, Bottle Beach, Grays Harbor NWR & vicinity, Ocean Shores (incl shearwaters at Pt Brown jetty!), return to Westport via Bottle Beach and the marina (for godwits!); dinner at Islander or Original Pizza and night at Silver Sands.
Sept 24 – (Westport Seabirds pelagic trip canceled due to 10-15' swells.) Westport Marina, Westhaven State Park, Midway Beach, Tokeland (more godwits!), Bottle Beach & Brady's Oyster's; dinner at Bennett's in Grayland and night at Silver Sands.
Sept 25 – Drive to Sea-Tac via brief stops for some at Brady's, Kennedy Creek, Nisqually NWR, and Des Moines Marina; afternoon flights home.
BIRD LIST
WA = seen/heard only in Washington (Sept 17-18; Sept 20-25)
BC = seen/heard only in British Columbia (Sept 19-20)
(species not annotated with WA or BC were seen in both places)
boldfaced species = "non-Minnesota birds" (i.e., absent, accidental, or casual in MN)
Canada Goose
Wood Duck BC
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal (best views at Reifel)
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck BC
Harlequin Duck (several locations, incl adult males)
Surf Scoter (ditto)
White-winged Scoter WA
Bufflehead WA
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser WA
Ruddy Duck WA
California Quail WA (only in Bob & Sally's yard)
Sooty Grouse WA (female + 4 young at Hurricane Ridge)
Red-throated Loon WA (distantly at Cline Spit)
Pacific Loon WA (incl some in breeding plumage)
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Western Grebe WA
Sooty Shearwater WA (100s streaming by Pt Brown jetty)
Brandt’s Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant (all 3 cormorants at several locations)
Brown Pelican WA (mostly in Westport)
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret WA (Nisqually NWR)
Green Heron WA
Black-crowned Night-Heron BC
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk WA (causing the demise of a quail at Bob & Sally's)
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel WA
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
American Coot BC
Sandhill Crane BC (Reifel Sanctuary)
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden-Plover BC (distantly at Boundary Bay)
Semipalmated Plover WA
Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher BC (1 from the ferry to Swartz Bay)
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet WA (Tokeland)
Lesser Yellowlegs BC
Whimbrel WA (Tokeland)
Long-billed Curlew WA (ditto)
Bar-tailed Godwit WA (2 at Westport + 1 at Tokeland)
Marbled Godwit WA (by the 100s, mostly at Westport)
Ruddy Turnstone WA
Black Turnstone (several – but, alas, no tattlers or surfbirds)
Sanderling WA
Semipalmated Sandpiper BC (close study at Reifel; rare in WA-BC)
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Baird’s Sandpiper BC (1 at Reifel)
Pectoral Sandpiper
Dunlin WA
Stilt Sandpiper BC
Short-billed Dowitcher WA
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe WA
Red-necked Phalarope BC (from the ferry to Swartz Bay)
Bonaparte’s Gull
Black-tailed Gull WA (with thanks to Bill Tweit and Bruce Labar; only casual-accidental in North America)
Heermann's Gull
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Western Gull WA (relatively few)
California Gull
Herring Gull WA
Glaucous-winged Gull (plus numerous hybrids with Westerns)
Caspian Tern WA
Common Tern BC
Parasitic Jaeger WA (close adult at Bottle Beach; another distantly at Pt Brown jetty)
Common Murre (most numerous from the ferries)
Pigeon Guillemot (lots of these murrelet look-alikes)
Rhinoceros Auklet (closest view at Browns Pt)
Rock Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon WA (good looks in Tumwater)
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove WA
Barn Owl BC (thanks to a fortuitous meeting with Richard)
Northern Pygmy-Owl WA (unobstructed & prolonged views en route to Hurricane Ridge)
Anna’s Hummingbird (the few brief looks we had were Anna's by default)
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker WA (only along Vantine Rd)
Downy Woodpecker BC
Hairy Woodpecker WA
Northern Flicker
Warbling Vireo WA
Gray Jay WA (especially entertaining on the Hurricane Ridge road)
Steller’s Jay WA
Western Scrub-Jay WA
American Crow
Northwestern Crow (most countable at the Victoria ferry dock?)
Common Raven
Sky Lark BC (mostly in flight, but heard and seen well)
Purple Martin BC
Violet-green Swallow WA (Capitol Lake in Olympia)
Cliff Swallow WA
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (several locations)
Bushtit BC (along McNeill Bay in Victoria)
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper WA
Bewick’s Wren (best at McNeill Bay)
House Wren WA
Pacific Wren WA (best behind the Ocean Shores Interpretive Center)
Marsh Wren (a potential split from eastern Marsh Wrens?)
American Dipper WA (by the Quilcene Fish Hatchery)
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet BC (but no Hutton's Vireos?!)
Townsend’s Solitaire BC (out-of-place at Boundary Bay)
Hermit Thrush WA
American Robin
Varied Thrush WA (several seen well at Mt Walker)
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing WA
Lapland Longspur BC (fly-bys heard at Boundary Bay)
Yellow Warbler BC
Yellow-rumped Warbler BC
Black-throated Gray Warbler WA (Vantine Rd)
Townsend’s Warbler WA (along the Hurricane Ridge road)
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson’s Warbler WA
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow WA (the "Sooty" form – a potential split from eastern Fox Sparrows)
Song Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow (several of them, mostly juveniles)
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird WA
Purple Finch WA
House Finch
Red Crossbill WA (near the pygmy-owl spot; a different species from Minnesota crossbills?)
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak WA (Vantine Rd)
House Sparrow
Significant Others (a partial list):
Townsend's Chipmunk
Coyote
Harbor Seal
Elk
Mule Deer
Harbor Porpoise
Roughskin Newt....and slugs!
PHOTO GALLERY
Barn Owls
