The morning dawned 46º and sunny, and I
got Marty off to work after making her last mocha latté for a while. I packed the car to leave for my trek to Ohio
and Magee Marsh. In my usual efficient
way, I finally got on the road at the ‘crack of noon’, when it had already
warmed up to 72º F.
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| Waiting for the Ferry is a Way of Life in the Puget Sound |
I drove up Highway 101 along Hood Canal to Port Townsend, and missed
the 2 p.m. ferry by 7 cars, so went over to Sirens Gastropub for a couple of
pints of lager for $11, and waited for the 3:30 Ferry (which cost $14.80).
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| Sitting at the dock of the bay . . . |
While waiting there, there was a bit of
commotion on the nearby dock, and we saw that there was a river otter hauled
out, and paying little attention to the tourists.
When the ferry embarked, we got great views of the White Volcanoes.
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| Mt. Rainier is the tallest in Washington State at 14,411 feet |
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| Koma Kulshan (Mt. Baker) is a 10,781-foot active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano |
Landing on Whidbey Island, I got out at
Crockett Lake to look for a Ruff, that had been reported for the past several days. I haven't been much of a "chaser", when it comes to birding, but this year, I've set a goal of increasing my "Life List", and this would have been a "Lifer". In any event, I couldn’t find it after scoping the lake edge pretty completely. There were 4 White Pelicans at the far end of
the lake.
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| 'Way out there |
I could find no shorebirds, other than a few sandpipers on the
salt water side. So, I walked back to the car, enjoying
the flowers growing on the spit.
Keystone
Spit is one of the larger barrier beaches in the central Puget Sound. The well-sorted gravels host a number of
native “prairie” species.
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| Barestem biscuitroot - Lomatium nudicaule |
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|
Cerastium arvense - Field chickweed
|
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| Thrift - Armeria maritima ssp. californica |
Finally, it was time to leave and make a few miles on my trek toward the East. At 7:30, I was tired, so checked into
the Fairground Inn in Monroe, for $84.48, and was pleasantly surprised to find that this newly-renovated establishment was a pretty good value for a 'budget' stay. For supper, I ate a burger and quaffed a pint at the
next-door JR Phinickey's Pub. I'd missed
seeing the Ruff, and it had apparently flown, as I saw it hadn’t been reported
on eBird or the Tweeters chat group that day (or since). I hope the bird made its way back home to Siberia for
a successful nesting!
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| Distribution map for the Ruff - Philomachus pugnax |
Port Townsend-Keystone Ferry eBird checklist is Here
Crockett Lake eBird checklist is Here
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