I’m back at home in the Pacific Northwest, and have no further extensive birding trips planned. I’ve attained and exceeded my initial goal for my “Peregrination”, which was to observe 75 new “Life Birds”.
However, I hadn’t been paying much attention to my “Standing” compared to other birders in the country. Mainly because I know I’d not be able to see as many bird species as some of the active birders in the “American Birding Association” area (North America north of Mexico).
For instance, I birded with Tammy and David McQuade back in September, they are excellent birders and nice people. But, there’s no way I can afford to bop back-and-forth around the continent the way they can and rack up year lists of 750 species . . .
Now, it has been pointed out to me that I “still have a good chance to be in the ‘Top Ten’ list of birders…” for the year, using the eBird program. I realize Birding is not a competition, but this changes my outlook on birding here at the end of the calendar year - from the mere enjoyment of seeing a new species of bird, of enjoying ‘old feathered friends’, of seeing new places, and of sharing the outdoors with my birding friends. At this point, should I make an effort, in the time remaining, to maximize my “Year List”??
Well, why not? It was foggy and 35º this morning, but I had a goal. A Mountain Plover was found by the COASST Survey crew at Copalis Beach north of Grays Harbor and reported by Carl Haynie. This species breeds on the high plains from Montana south to New Mexico, and is, at best, a “casual” visitor to Washington State, with only a half-dozen previous records in the State. It usually winters from southern California to Texas and northern Mexico.
Somehow, I’d missed seeing this species of plover when I crossed the prairies this past Spring, and since it was lounging on a beach only an hour-and-a-half away, I loaded into the Subaru and drove west. Arriving at the Griffiths-Priday State Park parking area, I was greeted by a nice Western Meadowlark flitting around the picnic tables.
As I walked down on the beach, I was all alone and able to enjoy the quiet beauty of a lonesome winter beach in the Pacific Northwest. It was cool, but pleasant with an offshore breeze.
It did not take long to find the plover near the mouth of Connor Creek. The bird’s buffy brown plumage contrasts with the dark grey sand. The bird was a little wary, but I kept my distance, and it resumed foraging and finding a comfortable place out of the breeze.
After a bit, other birders arrived, and I got them onto the bird. We enjoyed good views of the visitor. At one point, we saw someone bringing a dog down the beach toward us and were worried that the beast might spook the plover, but it turned out to be Tacoma birder Ken Brown, and his well-behaved dog on a leash.
Besides the plover, another uncommon bird on the beach today was an immature Glaucous Gull. This northern species is larger and paler than the more-common Glaucous-winged Gulls that are ubiquitous in Puget Sound and the Washington Coast.
After we had our fill of plover-watching, I returned to Copalis Beach and had lunch with the Olympia Ken Brown (yes, there are two of them….) and Whittier at the Green Lantern Tavern.
Since I was at the Coast (I don’t think native Northwesterners ever call it “the Beach”… it would be like calling Interstate 5 “the Five”, rather than just I-5… just wrong!), I stopped to scope the Ocean Shore “settling” ponds and the base of the Point Brown jetty before heading home. Driving through Ocean Shores, it is always well to expect deer in the road.
Now, here’s another Northwestern Grammar Point that I need to address: This is regarding describing the “horns” on a Columbian Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus). The points on the buck Black-tails’ antlers here are counted differently to that of the eastern white-tails.
"Out East", every point is counted, including the piddly little ‘brow tines’. Here, you only count the main tines on one antler.
If the ‘rack’ is uneven, you can call it a “Three by Two”, although referring to it as a “little three-point” is entirely acceptable.
It’s OK to call a “Two-Point” a “Forked-Horn”. In fact, that’s the preferred nomenclature.
Back to Birds. The treatment ponds are just east of the jetty, and can often hold a good diversity of birds, but were pretty empty today. The base of the jetty, on the other hand, had a nice set of “rockpipers” to sort through. The main three ‘pipers’ here are the Black Turnstone, the Surfbird, and the Rock Sandpiper.
The Rock Sandpiper superficially resembles the Surfbird with a spotted breast and yellowish legs, but is smaller and has a longer bill.
Black Turnstones are almost always found on rocks around here. This is ‘way different to the Ruddy Turnstone, which are often/usually found on beaches, and likely reflects differences in the diets of the two species.
The Mountain Plover wasn’t a “Life Bird”, but was the 607th species I’ve seen this “Peregrination” year, and it was a good day spent with the birds and birders.
Griffith-Priday State Park eBird checklist is Here
Ocean Shores STP eBird checklist is Here
Point Brown Jetty eBird checklist is Here
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