December 28 - Priest Point

It was raining lightly but steadily after I finished my errands, so I drove out to Priest Point Park on the east side of Budd Inlet just north of town.  This 314-acre park is owned by the City of Olympia, and has a mile of shoreline, as well as over four miles of hiking trails.

The name Priest Point is derived from the history of the site.  The popularity of the inlet as a trading and gathering area for Native Americans led to the founding of a mission at the point by Father Pascal Ricard of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1848. “Guided” by French Catholic clerics, local Native Americans grew produce and fruit to feed the ‘poor’ brothers and for sale. The mission continued its contributions to the local economy and education until 1860 when the missionaries left Olympia to concentrate on British Columbia ministries.

I started from the east parking lot, and headed toward the Mission Creek Estuary trail.

There were still quite a few trees down in the park - blowdown from last Thursday’s windstorm.  This tree succumbed due to some heart rot near its base

and ‘tho most of the main trails had been cleared, there were several side paths that had trees across.

I get to go around this one . . .

This year wasn’t all that unusual, as trees go down in the second-growth forest all the time.  By counting the tree rings, you can get an idea of the ecological history of the park.  This tree went down a few years ago, and showed 95 rings.

Ninety-five years ago was about 1934

This tree had been taken down recently, and showed about 120 rings at the stump.

This tree began growing around 1899

I dropped down to the beach to scope through the waterfowl flocks, and found a group of Wigeon.

Wigeon in the Rain

While I watched, I noted a bird with grey flanks and a red head – a Eurasian Wigeon drake was in the flock.

Red head, grey flanks - Yup!  It's a drake Eurasian Wigeon

Depending on the location here in Puget Sound, almost any time you sort through a few hundred wigeon in the area, seeing one or more Eurasians is likely.  The tide was dropping, and the birds pulled out to feed on the strand.

Luncheon on the Beach

The beaches here are closed to people for shellfish gathering, due to poor water quality.

No clamming.  No Swimming.  No Wading.  Enjoy Your Visit.

There are high levels of coliforms in the water, and just across the bay is a Superfund site.  Cascade Pole operated a wood treatment plant on the "North Point" site from the 1930s to the 1980s.  Creosote, a mixture of several different chemicals used to preserve wood, was released to the environment during the plant’s operation. Soil and groundwater were contaminated as a result.  They started clean-up, and pretty much just capped off the worst of the contaminated soils.  Don’t eat the clams around here.

The concern over pollutants doesn’t impact the non-consumptive fishing.  There were a couple of guys fly-fishing for coastal cutthroat trout.

Fly-fishing at the mouth of Ellis Cove

The Great Blue Herons were fishing as well.  No one appeared to be catching anything.

Obligatory Blue Heron Photo

The woods were pretty quiet, what with the rain and a 5 to 10-knot south wind, so most of the birding was watching the ducks and gulls out on the Inlet.

Yet another "Olympic Gull" . . .

On the trail back to the car, I looked up on a fir tree and saw:

A Bear??!!

But when I looked closer, I saw that it was Art.

Arthur Bear - - Just call me Art

Priest Point eBird Checklist is Here

December 26 - Shut Down - But Not Shut Out

Every Wednesday at 8 a.m., Refuge Volunteers lead a bird walk at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.  I arrived at the Refuge a little before Eight, only to find the gate locked, and I thought that perhaps the notice that the NWR would remain open to the public was incorrect.

But, the gate is on a timer, set to open at “Sunrise”, which was 7:58 a.m. today at this latitude, and it swung open for us right on time. 

With Ol’ Orange-Hair throwing his tantrum and having shut down the 25% of the Government that was not yet funded, the staff at the Refuge were busy ‘mothballing’ the place, locking offices, securing equipment, and posting signage to inform the American Public who don’t deserve this Political Travesty.  What a bunch of ....

In all, 16 folks joined the walk this morning, all pretty happy to be birding, and we set off in a light rain to see what could be seen.

The rain kept a lot of the passerines under cover, which somewhat diminished our species list, but the rain let up a bit later in the morning.  Trying to see wet woodpeckers against wet tree trunks and limbs is always challenging

Wet Red-breasted Sapsucker

Wet Downy Woodpecker

But the waterfowl don’t mind a little rain.  We had a pair of Snow Geese fly in

 

All-white Adult Snow Goose - showing the dark "grin patch" on its pink bill

The immature Snow Goose has a lot of gray in its plumage

and a few dozen Canadas

Big Honkers

mixed in with the Cackling geese and dabbling ducks

Hen Northern Pintails 
Great Blue Herons seem likewise dismissive of precipitation

The wealth of wintering waterfowl, combined with the run of Winter Chum Salmon in the Nisqually River, draw a lot of Bald Eagles to the place.  We didn’t see quite as many as last week, but it’s still nice to stand in one spot and see over two dozen eagles!

Immature Bald Eagle

A 15.61-foot high tide at 8:52 a.m. was ebbing toward a +6.56-foot low water at 2:51 p.m., so the die-hards amongst us continued out on the Estuary Boardwalk during high water, but it was a mud flat when we came back.

The mid-high tide affords pretty good views of gulls and shorebirds,

This "Olympic Gull" is lunching on a piece of Starry Flounder

Western Sandpipers are fairly uncommon here in the Winter

But they often come in close to the boardwalk

The Least Sandpiper is the World's Smallest Shorebird - and has yellow legs

as areas to perch are limited at this water level.

Glaucous-winged Gull watching the River Run By . . .

On the way back to the Visitors’ Center, the skies opened yet again.  We ‘dipped’ on seeing the Great Horned Owl, as well as several other expected birds, like Fox Sparrows, etc., but the worst day birding is better than the best day working.  I hope to see you at the Refuge one of these Wednesdays.

Nisqually eBird Checklist is Here