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The morning of the 14th was standard Washington weather-cool and foggy. Our first stop, at 7:40 am was La Push, located along the coast, within the Quileute Indian Reservation. The scenery is beautiful, with huge rock formations rising from the ocean floor.

We walked about a mile, seeing the expected birds, including this Bald Eagle.

We stopped at other spots along the coast, finding gulls, scoters, loons and cormorants. At the Kalaloch Campground we got good looks at the Surf Scoter.

Alex had promised some sight-seeing today, so he turned off the highway and took us to see the world’s largest spruce tree.

At about 1:30 we stopped at the Hoquiam Sewer Treatment Plant to view the ponds. Alex set his scope down, looked through it to adjust it and found he was on the bird of the day, the Eurasian Wigeon. It is much like the American Wigeon but is a rufous overall rather than having a green and cream-colored head. This individual seems to stay with his American cousins.

We made a few stops here and there and finally arrived at Westport Marina.

Here we found 650 Marbled Godwit. These are sandy brown shorebirds with very long pink and black bills. They do everything together. Alex was hoping to find a similar bird, the Bar-tailed Godwit, among them but it wasn’t there.

We called it a day and went to the small grocery store to buy snacks for tomorrows pelagic tour. We were all a little nervous about getting seasick so we were buying all of the ginger products we could find. I even made ginger tea to put in the water bottles. Dad had a prescription motion sickness patch that he applied well in advance of our early morning departure.

Sep 15, 2022 – Westport Seabirds Pelagic to Grays Canyon

We arrived at the docks promptly at 6:00 with our snacks and ginger products. The pelagic tour leader, Bill Tweit, wrote such an accurate summary I decided to include it here. I will insert photos that we managed to take. Even with calm seas the boat was in constant motion so photos are imperfect.

Westport Seabirds Pelagic
Thursday September 15, 2022
Summary written by Bill Tweit

Great birds, great marine mammals and smooth waters added up to a highly memorable Westport Seabirds pelagic trip onboard the Monte Carlo on September 15. Most of the participants were on a Wildside Nature Tours, led by Alex Lamoreaux and Chris Brown, and a few other birders joined. Numbers in parentheses are the totals for the day.

Birds were generally numerous all day, beginning with large strings of Common Murres (1433) a few miles offshore, mostly still flightless adult males and chicks drifting north after the young had fledged from their Oregon colonies. Two Common Terns (5) were being harassed by a Parasitic Jaeger (32), giving us a preview of the abundance of jaegers for the day.

We also saw the first of many Humpback Whales (28), while we were still in the nearshore area. After the trip, we learned that one of the Humpback Whales was CRC-19155, of the Hawaiian breeding population. Many groups of Red-necked Phalaropes (134) flew past our bow heading south. We saw migrant waterfowl in flocks all day, mostly Northern Pintail (172).

Further offshore, as we neared the 50 fathom line (300’ depth), the first large groups of Sooty Shearwaters (5180) appeared and Sabine’s Gulls (245) began to be seen frequently. They were accompanied by numerous Parasitic Jaegers and a few Pomarines (16), by the end of the day we had recorded near record numbers of Parasitics. In this area, as we watched a dark bird harassing a Sabine’s Gull, we realized that this dark bird was not another jaeger, but instead was a Peregrine (2) trying to capture a Sabine’s Gull. The pursuit, with amazing dives and twisting evasions, moved closer to us as we watched, and eventually was directly over us for a few moments before moving off to an unknown end since we lost track of them. Pink-footed Shearwater (331) numbers began to increase at this point, and the first Short-tailed Shearwaters (607) were detected.

We were headed for the area where the shrimp trawlers were fishing, and as we neared them three South Polar Skuas (13) made an appearance providing good views of both light- and dark-bodied birds.

Although the trawlers were not attracting many birds, we enjoyed the numbers of birds in the area.

The first Black-footed Albatross (8) and Northern Fulmars (24) were also found in this area, just south of Grays Canyon. Single Buller’s Shearwater (11) and Arctic Tern (3) appeared briefly. The numbers of marine mammals in the area kept us scanning the horizons for telltale splashes and blows. Four species of cetaceans were in this one area: 1 Humpback Whale, 7 Dall’s Porpoise (38), 20 Pacific White-sided Dolphins (982), and a large but distant group of about 150 Northern Right-Whale Dolphins sped past us (170).

As we turned to catch up with them, a single alcid on the water caught our eye, an immature HORNED PUFFIN. A very cooperative bird, it sat for us as we circled it, with cameras frantically clicking. Unfortunately, stopping for the puffins meant we lost track of the dolphins. This is the first Horned Puffin for Westport Seabirds since 2011!

Since we were already south of Grays Canyon at this point, we headed southwest into deeper water, going from 400’ depth to almost 2000’ in just a few miles, to see if we could catch up with the speedy dolphin gang, no luck on that score. Small groups of flying Cassin’s Auklets (96) began to appear over the deep waters of the canyon, and one pair on the water afforded good views, which the Red Phalarope (1) that flew past did not. Once we were well over the deep waters south of the canyon, we stopped to chum but the little bit of wind that we noted when we stopped quickly dissipated, so the effectiveness of the chum was low as success depends on a breeze to carry the scent. It did attract a Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel (20) and a couple of albatross circled us, attracted either by the chum or the crowd of birders. Even still, we enjoyed watching the passing birds as we drifted silently without the boat engines running. A nearby Northern Fur Seal (2) seemed relatively undisturbed by our presence. Our attention was drawn to a Parasitic Jaeger engaged in aerial acrobatics, when we realized it was after a small passerine, likely the American Pipit we had heard overhead just a few minutes earlier. Soon up to three Parasitics were chasing the poor passerine, and an Arctic Tern began chasing one of the jaegers!

A skua flew by, cast a casual eye at the commotion, and kept going. We don’t know how it ended, but it went on for long enough that it can’t have been a positive outcome for the passerine. Heading back east, as we neared the Continental Shelf, we encountered a massive herd of 800 Pacific White-sided Dolphin and 20 more Northern Right Whale Dolphins. Both dolphins came in to ride our bow wave for a few minutes, while others performed somersaults and other acrobatics nearby.

Once we returned to waters over the shelf, we continued to see smaller groups of dolphins as we headed first for a few more shrimpers that were fishing east of the end of Grays Canyon. Again, we found them relatively devoid of birds but large numbers of shearwaters and Sabine’s Gulls were feeding on bait just inshore of the trawlers, with more dolphins and a couple of lunge-feeding Humpback Whales. A few more Buller’s Shearwaters were with these flocks, providing better looks than in the morning, and we found one area that held large numbers of Short-tailed Shearwaters with great comparisons with Sooty. Amidst all of this abundance, one area held skua, numerous Parasitics, a few Pomarines and one adult Long-tailed (1), giving us the “jaeger slam” in quick succession. This was also the area that held the largest numbers of Rhinocerous Auklets (63) and California Gulls (563), which we had been seeing in small numbers throughout the trip. Three Herring Gulls (3) here were our first of the fall, aside from a lone bird in August.

The excitement didn’t drop off as we headed back to the harbor. First, a group of 9 Pomarine Jaegers on the water marked the end of the great jaeger show we had been enjoying all day. About a half hour out, we came to an abrupt halt to watch a pod of approx. 8 Orca, apparently transients (Bigg’s Killer Whales) of the T-38 group (the matriarch is T-38, born in 1980), as they surfaced and lob-tailed. Reluctantly leaving them, we spotted the last skua of the day much closer to shore than is normal for this species. Then, we were entertained for a few moments by a Savannah Sparrow that came aboard and hitched a ride back to shore. The excitement wasn’t over though, as we neared the end of the Westport jetty, we checked the gulls perched on a log floating less than a mile off the jetties, and were stunned to see a BROWN BOOBY sitting among them. More pandemonium as we circled the log, while the booby sat and posed for pictures.

Finally, back into Grays Harbor, a couple of Harbor Porpoise (2) made it a seven cetacean species day! The last excitement of the day came after we tied up but before we disembarked, as a Peregrine cruised in low and fast, flushing all of the Marbled Godwits (800), which helped us ascertain that the godwit flock held a Willet, but no Bar-tailed.

Our second Peregrine of the day, not a typical pelagic trip! This was a trip that most of us won’t forget anytime soon. As usual, we had the privilege of the superb skippering by Phil Anderson, and his wife Chris as a great first mate. Spotters for the trip were Scott Mills and Bill Tweit, with credit to many of the sharp-eyed birders on board, especially Alex Lamoreaux, Chris Brown, Bob Archer and Eric Heisey.

Marine Wildlife:
“Bigg’s” Orca/Killer Whale
Humpback Whale
Northern Right-whale Dolphin
Pacific White-sided Dolphin
Dall’s Porpoise
Pacific Harbor Porpoise
Pacific Harbor Seal
California Sea Lion
Steller’s Sea Lion
Northern Fur Seal
Blue Shark
Ocean Sunfish/Mola mola

I will add a few more photos of unidentified marine mammals. Keeping the bird ID’s correct was all we could handle!

We had a great day and nobody got sick!

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And then we were Nine

We met our tour guides and the five other participants in a crowded hotel lobby near the airport. This hotel caters to cruise guests also so the lobby was full of luggage and people waiting for transportation to their ships. The birders could recognize each other because we were all using the neon green tags that were sent to us in advance. I stayed there with the luggage while Dad returned the rental car. Finally the guides, Alex and Chris, showed up and we piled into a van. Thanks to us the luggage area in back was full to overflowing. We left the city of SeaTac and drove to Seattle.

Our first stop was Alki, an urban area that juts out into Puget Sound. Our stops are indicated on the map by red flame symbols.

To get there we passed the industrial district at the south end of Elliott Bay. There we saw giant cranes on the docks. In the channels and bay were huge container ships, cruise ships and fishing boats. We parked in a neighborhood and searched for local songbirds. We found a cooperative Rufous Hummingbird and the expected songbirds and warblers.

The beach had a nice selection of west coast birds, including Black Turnstones and Surfbirds.

We traveled north through the city to Discovery Park, a 534 acre natural area. Situated on Magnolia Bluff overlooking Puget Sound, Discovery Park offers spectacular view of both the Cascade and the Olympic Mountain ranges. But all we cared about was birds. We found a lot of land birds, some gulls and a Western Grebe.

After the Seattle tour we drove back south to the airport hotel we started at. This was a good starting point for the next day’s route on the west side of the sound.

Sep 12, 2022 – West Puget Sound & Salish Sea Hotspots

We traveled north from SeaTac, stopping at a few places and only getting the expected land birds and waterfowl. We finally got to the northern two hotspots (flames) shown on the map. Point No Point was named so because this bit of land was hard to see from the deck of a ship and was too shallow and muddy for anchorage, therefore did not qualify as a “point”. The spot included a historic lighthouse and the remaining lens described below.

“On January 10, 1880, the fifth-order Fresnel lens arrived and was installed in the Point No Point Lighthouse. Fresnel lenses capture and direct light by prismatic rings to a central bull’s-eye where it emerges as a single concentrated beam of light. A fifth-order Fresnel lens, used mainly for shoals, reefs, and harbor entrance lights, is one foot, eight inches high, has an inside diameter of one foot, three inches, and weighs approximately 300 pounds. The light at Point No Point, illuminated by a kerosene lamp and 27 feet above grade, was visible for about 10 miles.”

Birds seen at Point No Point included Pigeon Guillemot, Bonaparte’s Gull and Parasitic Jaeger.

The Parasitic Jaeger above is being harrassed by Bonaparte’s Gulls. The Jaeger is a kleptoparasite, stealing food from other species rather hunting for its own. Worse than that, during breeding season on the Arctic tundra, it preys mainly on birds and their eggs. Even when it appears in Waukegan the gulls are on high alert. This bird will harry another bird that has just swallowed prey, forcing it to regurgitate it’s meal. In this case the jaeger finally left, unsatisfied.

The Pigeon Guillemot dives and swims underwater, flapping its wings for propulsion. It catches fish, worms, and crustaceans.

We also had some interesting land birds.

We carried on, stopping here and there at spots the guides had chosen ahead of time. We found more expected birds. We spent the night in Port Angeles.

Sep 13, 2022 – Hurricane Ridge, Neah Bay, & Cape Flattery

The next morning we only had to travel three miles south from the coast to enter Olympic National Park. This first stop was simply a trailhead where we stopped to listen for owls. We were probably too late, at 6:35 am.

By 7:22 am we were in the Olympic Mountains, on Hurricane Ridge. We parked at the Visitor’s Center a spent a while admiring the Olympic Marmot on the slope below us.

We had fun with the Canada Jays, with our guide Alex feeding them weed seeds out of hand.

On the way down the mountain we had to stop for some road work. The flagman was able to tell us right where to stop to see the Sooty Grouse.

From Olympic National Park we headed back north to the coast. We stopped at beaches and jetties along the way. Some of them were familiar from many years ago, however we did not walk out very far on any of them. The highlight was the Wandering Tattler at Neah Bay.

Our last stop of the day was Cape Flattery, “Located in the Makah Reservation, outside Olympic National Park near the town of Neah Bay. The short (¾ miles/1.2 km each way) trail leads through the forest to a viewing platform, perched on a cliff with a dramatic view overlooking the Pacific. Cape Flattery is the Northwest most point on the contiguous United States.”

Actually, after the pleasant walk in the woods there was a very steep and unforgiving staircase down to a small look-out still high above the rocky shore. By now it was getting very foggy and cooler. We were here to see the Black Swift, roosting the nearby sea cliffs and caves. The swifts never appeared but we did get Black Oystercatchers, Surf Scoters and a Pacific Loon, among other species.

Finally, at 6:30, Alex agreed to call it a day. After a supper in a little cafe we drove inland to Forks, WA , to our motel. I was proud of myself for climbing the steps at Cape Flattery and more than ready for a rest.

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Part I

Thursday 9/8/2022

At 8:45 we were getting into the limo on our way to O’Hare. It was a push to get everything squared away with the real estate ladies and leave the house ready for showing. We had Rachel and Matt lined up to check on the house after showings (a commitment made after a nice dinner at Sushi Kushi). We were ready to roll.

The experience of getting from our front door to the SeaTac Rental Car Center went smoothly, with front row seats on the plane and beautiful views of the mountains. At the car rental center they pointed us to a Honda SUV and said “Have a nice time”. We were out of the facility and around the corner before realizing that the smell in the car was not something we could tolerate for three days. Back we went to the rental facility to trade it in for a different car. This was a Kia SUV. Not as nice but not smelly either. Off we went with the rest of the traffic, east and south toward Mt. Rainer National Park and Packwood WA. We got off the interstate and things thinned out considerably. We realized we needed to stop for groceries while there was still a supermarket available. We stopped at the Fred Meyer in Maple Valley. It was a giant store that included everything from groceries to clothing and garden supplies. We got our groceries and planned to go the the B&B for supper. “Do you have the key? Where’s the key?” “There it is, on the front seat!” Oh, boy, we were locked out! Our Toyota doesn’t allow that sort of thing to happen. We assumed all modern cars were so smart. So we called the Avis Road service. In the meantime we sat at a table outside the store and ate grocery store sushi. Finally a guy came and unlocked the car. Back in business. We drove another hour and a half and managed to find our “Cozy Cabin” near the Cowlitz River, in a neighborhood where every other house had a similar A-frame on the property. It was on a very quiet cul-du-sac and we really looked forward to three quiet nights of listening for owls.

Cozy Cabin was named for its tiny space and efficiency. It had everything you needed but nothing extraneous. Everything was condensed into a small space without being overly crowded. There was a queen size bed and we had a very quiet night’s rest. There was no stove top but in the morning Dad made perfect soft boiled eggs in a countertop electric kettle. He planned to repeat the menu for the next morning.

Friday, 9 9 2022

After breakfast we headed back north into Mount Rainier National Park. It was cool and sunny; a perfect day for sightseeing. We stopped at a trailhead parking area and grabbed the last spot. “Wonderland Trail” took us up and over a beautiful slot canyon.

We continued on to the Paradise Visitor’s Center. The trail from the visitor’s center was Dead Horse Creek Trail. It was a popular trail and we saw many hikers geared up for back-country hiking and camping. We took a paved trail that wound through scattered evergreen trees. We gained elevation and found ourselves in an alpine meadow full of flowers. Another hiker approached us, pointing excitedly and crying “Bird!”. It took us a moment to find a grouse foraging in the dense ground cover.

The bird was oblivious to our presence and allowed us to take a lot of photos. We finally realized that it was a Sooty Grouse, a target lifer for the trip!!

We had a picnic lunch at the visitor’s Center and decided to head back to the cabin. It was a long ride and we were ready for a little relaxation after we got there. The Kia we were driving seemed to have an alarm for everything, the most frequent one was the lane monitor. At one point there was a much louder alarm and I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then I looked at my phone.

We hurried to our B&B through the curvy roads. As we passed the turn-off to go east the road was closed and there were six large army vehicles waiting there. As we got closer to the B&B we could see, and smell, clouds of smoke.

We got to the cabin and packed up as fast as we could. We could smell the smoke coming through the neighborhood. There weren’t many people on the roads so we made good time. But where do we go now?

The fire was east of us so we went west to the base of Puget Sound. There was a national wildlife refuge there that could have a lot of shorebirds. We ended up right off Interstate 5 in Lacey, WA, minutes from the refuge. Lacey is the home of Joint Base Lewis-McChord. From the website: “Joint Base Lewis-McChord provides state-of-the-art training and infrastructure, responsive quality of life programs, and fully-capable mobilization and deployment operations for Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.” It occupies a huge area in Lacey.

We had a nice room and looked forward to birding the preserve in the morning.

Saturday, September 10, 2022

We started at the parking lot and walked past some shallow ponds on a boardwalk. The climate here is temperate rain forest. All of the trees had lichens growing on them and there were ferns everywhere. We didn’t find any interesting birds in the water. Further north in the refuge a boardwalk juts out a mile over a vast mudflat. We walked about three quarters of the way. There was not much variety but we did see a lot of Bald Eagles.

We were hoping that this mud would have a lot of shorebirds but all we found were six Greater Yellowlegs. Nisqually Wildlife Refuge was not very productive so we went into town a little ways to Farrell Marsh Park. There was only a tiny place on the side of the road in a neighborhood so we parked the car there and went in. There was a network of narrow trails through dense vegetation. We got a good look at Chestnut-sided Chickadees and I saw a Bewick’s Wren.

This was our last chance to bird alone. Tomorrow we were to join the Wildside Bird Tours group.

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This gull, along with 700 of his friends, has been guarding the Waukegan beach. It’s been difficult to bird the beach without disturbing the gulls or getting in the way of the very vocal Spotted Sandpiper and Killdeer. They seem to have hatched a second clutch and they are very protective of their territory.

Between the dunes there has been a pond stretching the whole length of the beach. This is perfect habitat for the Black-crowned Night Heron and the Green Heron. They can be found early in the morning close to the southern most entrance to the north beach.

The Fourth of July parade was uneventful and mostly boring. Aside from the horses, the best thing was the vintage firetruck.

The city fireworks had been cancelled due to the tragedy in Highland Park, but the neighborhoods west of us provided their own displays. All fireworks have been outlawed in Waukegan but this only reduced the number and firepower we heard by a fraction.

When I got up and went to go birding I realized that the real action was overnight, right in our front yard. As I drove out the driveway I saw a lot of dirt on the driveway right under the magnolia tree. I didn’t think much of it and kept going. A bit later, I thought I needed to investigate more thoroughly. I found the trunk of the tree facing the driveway had it’s bark ripped away and was damaged down to the base. The flower garden was disturbed and my very healthy cactus was gone!! There were tire marks on the neighbor’s lawn that extended through the flower garden and ended at the magnolia tree. There were small plastic and glass shards all over the front yard, especially on the north side on the garden. Finally the neighbors came out and explained what had happened. While we were asleep, a car had spun out of control on Sheridan road, driven through their yard and land with the back of the car crashed into the tree. The police were called, the tow truck removed the car and nobody so much as put a post-it note on our front door. We are still in the process of getting it fixed. This is the second time we had a car in our yard, the second tree damaged and the 7th time a speeding car missed the turn and crashed in this block. We complained to the neighborhood police officer and he said he would try to run s speed check. They are so understaffed that I can’t see that happening enough to make a difference.

I’m sorry to say that the neighborhood news gets worse. The school district has decided to repurpose Lincoln Center as a school for those high school students unable to function in the standard high school environment due to social and mental challenges. Basically, the neighbor said these are the kids who come to school with guns and knives. The district has kept this under wraps and it is already a done deal. Soooo…

We are going to move. As much as we love the house there is really nothing to keep us in Waukegan. Yesterday we looked at a beautiful home in Wisconsin, on the southern edge of Sheboygan. It is very near to Kohler Andrae State Park. It was on a private road and backed up to the Black River. Unfortunately the house was very big and not really what we wanted. But we will keep looking. After talking to our financial advisor we know what price point is feasible for us. None of this will happen in a hurry, so hopefully we can have Feast here this fall.

The next big project is for us to empty the house of as much junk as possible. That will keep us busy for a while!!

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Sunday, May 29 to Wednesday, June 1

We got off to a late start on Sunday, and we had a big day ahead of us. Our route was Kougarok Road which follows the Nome river north and then veers northeast past Salmon Lake and north again to Coffee Dome Trail, home of the Bristle-thighed Curlew. We stopped at various points of interest along the way.

Our first stop was the Nome River bridge. Here we had the usual waterfowl in the river but up on the slope we had our lifer Willow Ptarmigan.

Wilson’s Snipe were everywhere but they were all hidden deep in the brown grass. We continued north on Kougarok Rd. to find the related Ptarmigan, the Rock Ptarmigan, a very similar bird. Another Alaska specialty is the Wandering Tattler, a shorebird that is barred gray overall. That is a bird we had already seen in Alaska on a previous trip but fun to see again.

There was a small campground on the barren shore of Salmon lake. The ladies in the group were all thrilled to find an outhouse! We also enjoyed the lifer Bluethroat. This Alaska specialty is the most colorful bird we saw on the trip. The glaring sun made it hard to capture the bright blue on the throat and breast of this small thrush. It has a beautiful red and black tail but that was also hard to see.

Finally we reached or furthest spot-Coffee Dome Trail. The spot was marked by a stake on the side of the road holding a selection of old hiking boots. The terrain was somewhat difficult. The ground was very wet even though it was the side of a hill. there were little hillocks of grass everywhere with only small spaces in between them. We hadn’t brought our giant rubber boots so I tried to walk on the hillocks. They were very unstable and just collapsed to one side under my weight. Even stepping on the saturated earth was difficult because it was so spongy. One of the other ladies kindly loaned me her walking stick which made the going much easier. The target here was the famous Bristle-thighed Curlew. We were warned that we might have to stand on this hillside hours before it appeared. We were lucky. After twenty minutes two called and flew over the crest of the hill. I didn’t manage to get a photo and was very disappointed. The guide said it probably would be a while before they appeared again and we were a long way (72 mi) from Nome.

It was 7:00 pm as we were approaching Nome. We made a short detour to the Mouth of the Nome River.

We drove out onto the sand to bring us closer to the mouth of the river. There were a lot of shorebirds, mostly Semipalmated Sandpipers and red-necked Phalaropes. But a larger shorebird was by itself in the shallow water. This was the Bar-tailed Godwit. This is a bird we never see at home. Another lifer!! I love shorebirds and wished we could stay there longer but we still had to eat. So we all piled back into the van. Once Rich put it in gear we realized we were stuck in the sand! We all got out and pushed and finally got going again.

After dinner we went out again and saw a bird perched in the distance on a rocky area. This was the same Gyrfalcon that we had seen earlier in the day. Oddly enough, this is a bird we had already seen-in Waukegan at the beach last January.

We made one more stop and finally called it quits. It was 11:00 pm and still very sunny.

Monday, May 30th

There was another Alaska specialty bird we hadn’t seen yet- the Northern Wheatear. In order to see this bird we had to travel north and west on Teller Highway. This is the road with the sinister warning sign as you leave Nome. So off we went.

Today we would get out on the tundra.

There were rocks and boulders scattered everywhere. We were looking for a gray black and white bird probably perched on one of them.

We searched for nesting shorebirds and also got a really close look at the tundra . It looks barren from a distance but up close it is covered with tiny, low growing plants and flowers. When you step on the soil your foot sinks in a little and water squeezes out. There are potholes here and there, presumably where chunks of ice had melted.

This was our furthest point west. On the way back we saw some other interesting wildlife.

Tuesday, May 31

We only had half day left to bird before flying out of Nome. After breakfast we headed east along the shoreline. I had been asking about the Arctic Loon and was assured by the guide that it was only seen very far north, in Barrow, and then it wasn’t easy. He went on describing the bird but I had already discounted the possibility. Suddenly another birder in the van pointed out a loon that fit the description that the guide haad just provided. We stopped, took a lot of photos and discussed the ID points that were visible. The guide assured us it was an Arctic Loon. We were all thrilled. With that, Dad and I had all the North American Loons on our life list. More on this later.

We saw more Musk Oxen, including some young ones.

We finished birding at about 10:15. We were already packed with everything in the van and Rich got us to the airport at 11:30 for a 12:25 flight to Anchorage. The airport was busy with people checking luggage. We had a suitcase. It seemed everyone else had big coolers, presumably packed with seafood or salmon.

Rich had entered all of the birds we saw into eBird and shared the lists with us. All we had to do was check them and remove any birds that he saw and we didn’t. He was pretty good on getting everybody on the bird. Our Flight from Anchorage left at 9:04 pm and arrived at O’Hare the next morning. It was six hours but with all the on board food, etc. I didn’t sleep at all.

There was one small issue when we got home. I got an email from an eBird reviewer in Alaska. My Arctic Loon was really the regular Red-throated Loon after all. Very disappointing! But I’m glad it was corrected. It took forever to go through my photos and I’m still not quit finished.

It’s time to plan our next trip!

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Our flight left O’Hare just after 4:00 pm. During the two hours at the airport I couldn’t help thinking about the birds we were going to miss in Lake County. We had one last look at Waukegan Beach from the air.

It was a nice flight. The flight attendant kept bringing us glasses of sparkling wine. We had a nice view at 9:07 CDT.

We spent the first night in a hotel near the airport. The target bird at this point were the American Three-toed Woodpecker and the Black-backed Woodpecker. They were seen at Hillside City Park, which I imagined to be a tot-lot style spot. I forgot that the city parks in Anchorage are more like Wisconsin State parks. It was beautiful and we had a lot of ground to cover. Anchorage residents were there in numbers, cycling, jogging, hiking and just taking the kids, or dogs, (I think owning a dog is a legal requirement to live in Alaska) for a walk. We did our best but only came up nine species, including a Canada Jay and a Fox Sparrow.

Finally, we headed south to our B & B in Girdwood. The drive was beautiful, following the Turnagain Arm from southern Anchorage to Girdwood, which is indicated on the map by the arrow.

We felt at home in the B & B mainly because we had stayed there last time we were in Alaska. Anchorage had a great grocery store so we stocked up on a few things and settled in. Around the B & B the birding was mostly by ear. The Orange-crowned Warbler sang incessantly.

Where to eat?? You might think salmon would be the go to menu item or even reindeer. But Cajun food?? In Alaska? Right here at the Double Musky Inn.

This was supper club to the max, crazy Mardi Gras stuff everywhere and a gigantic wine cellar. We ate there on the first night, ate the leftovers the second night and went back the third night. You’ll see the cookbook when you come to visit. I am practicing the Double Musky Pie.

We birded along the coast and into the mountains where trails permitted. There was still snow on the trails as we gained elevation so we could only go so far. We returned to Anchorage and finally did get the American Three-toed Woodpecker. It was such a brief view that we didn’t even get a photo. We saw some nice shorebirds, terns, gulls and waterfowl. We had 39 species in all for the Anchorage area, but only one lifer.

It was time to go to Nome. The plane was surprisingly big and full. I realized that there was really no other practical way to get to Nome. The trip was an hour and a half. The Nome airport was a bit like a bus station. When we got in to pick up our luggage, the small area was full of birders and bird guides. Ours was the guy in the yellow hat.

We piled into a passenger van and our guide, Rich, started the birding on the way from the airport to the hotel. We checked in to our hotel and after having dinner at a pizza place, we went out and birded some more. Finally we got to go to bed.

The Nome area does not have a lot of roads. Once you are out of town they are all gravel. At Teller Highway the first road sign is a warning. A more compelling warning was the sight of abandoned vehicles on the roadside at intervals along this highway. Apparently the vehicles had less value than the cost of towing and repair. At breakfast our guide talked to the tow truck driver to find out how far we could go on Teller Highway. We only needed to go 72 miles on that particular road (day 3).

On our first full day, May 28, we took the Council Highway, traveling east along the coast, then heading northeast toward Council. On the coastline we had good looks at waterfowl that are scarce and fleeting in Lake County. We saw Red-throated Loons, Long-tailed Ducks, Mergansers, Scoters, Phalaropes, many gulls, terns and other birds. A lot of waterfowl were distant but we were still able to identify most of them. This is where we realized that maybe the guide didn’t have his bird IDs 100%. We would have to be responsible for our own IDs. Photos are a BIG help.

Speaking of using photos for identification, I got a big surprise when I got home and started editing my photos. In a photo of a group of Long-tailed Ducks, I found a pair of Steller’s Eiders!! A lifer!

Along the road we saw a herd of Musk Ox. They were grazing with their young.

One of the species we looked forward to seeing was the Lapland Longspur. They migrate through Waukegan, at the beach and in farmers’ fields, but they are rarely seen in breeding plumage. It was a treat to see them here. Their hind toe actually has a long claw or “spur”.

After leaving the shore of the Bering Sea and driving inland we got one the the first Alaska specialties- the Eastern Yellow Wagtail. It was near a snow bank and the less exciting American Pipit was in the same vicinity. I kept finding the Pipit and not the Wagtail. But I did finally get a look at it although no photo. Dad got a photo.

We didn’t go into the village of Council. There is a river between the end of the highway and the village roads. The locals cross by boat when the river is high. They just drive through when the river is low and I imagine it is pretty well frozen for a good part of the year. We were heading back to Nome when Rich slammed on the brakes. There was a rocky area next to the highway and at just about eye level from the van was a nest . It was a Golden Eagle sitting on it’s nest!

We had an uneventful drive back to Nome for dinner and another short outing. We all went to bed exhausted.

More to follow.

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53 Days, 1 Wedding, 1 Garden, 175 birds and 8000 miles

Part 1

It’s so nice to look back at E and J’s wedding and remember the fun we had. We enjoyed spending some time getting to know Jesse and Wendy and Matthew. I’m so glad everyone could be there. We’re still waiting for a gift selection. I know you have both been busy seeking public offices. Congratulations to E!!

The day after the wedding Dad and I went chasing a rare bird at nearby Goose Pond FWA in Greene County. The bird was a Whooper Swan. We missed it by a few days. But we did get a Whooping Crane which is a good bird anywhere! After we got home the migrating birds started coming in fast and furious. We were covering Lake County exclusively when a rare bird alert came in for a Garganey in Lake Mills WI. A Garganey is a small duck that wanders in to North America from Europe or Asia. The day we tried to see it was pouring rain. We thought that by the time we drove up to Lake Mills area maybe the rain would diminish. It seemed to actually increase. While in the parking lot we met a guy who had been there very early in the morning and had seen the bird. He had wanted to get photos but the rain prevented that. He told us where it was seen, (the Zeloski Marsh is a big area) and gave us other information. We did some searching but finally decided to call it quits and try again the next day. That evening we looked up the birders who had reported it that morning. We found out that the guy we had been talking to was a published bird illustrator, having contributed to the National Geographic Birds of North America and The Peterson Warbler Guide. Wow!! The next day we took our paper copies of these guides with us when we returned to the marsh, just in case we were to encounter him again and we could have him sign our copies. That Friday was beautiful weather but the Garganey and the artist were both no shows. We met some of the regular Lake County birders there and we got some Wisconsin birds.

From April 23rd, pm to May 22nd we remained in Lake County. As it happened the rare birds came to us. During this time all of the lakefront area had been experiencing a massive hatching of midges. They were creating thick clouds everywhere you went near the beach. The swallows and flycatchers were going crazy! We had a nice visit from Colette and Roger during this time. They did a walk on the beach and were surrounded by midges.

On a Wednesday morning after breakfast I decided to go up to the North Unit of Illinois Beach State Park. Nothing new had been seen lately so I thought it would be a nice quiet place for a walk. There’s not a lot of beach there but the waves had eroded an area north of the weather station and created a new stretch of sandy beach. I watched the newly made beach from a distance and saw about 10 medium sized birds near the water. They weren’t foraging like shorebirds do and I realized that they were all flycatchers, Eastern Kingbirds to be specific. But one was different. It was very pale and had a hint of salmon coloring to the flanks and underwing. I did my best to take a picture without approaching the birds so as not to disturb them.

After careful observation I was sure of the ID-a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher! This bird visits only occasionally from it’s usual range in southeast Texas. But it drew a lot of birders from Lake County and Cook County. Having a lot of good birders in one spot led to even more great sightings. One birder found a Blue Grosbeak in his photo of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Next a Swainson’s Hawk was seen. Then a Fork-tailed Flycatcher, even more rare than the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, was reported and also a King Rail. The Cook County birders were getting tired of having to drive up to Lake County continually.

The grassy areas all over the state parks had been very recently burned. The burned grass near the shrubs was of interest to the King Rail and he circled the shrubs hunting for insects. The blackened grass and stems made an interesting background for the reddish brown rail. I crouched down with my camera behind the restroom and he approached me as if I wasn’t there. Snap! I got the shot that would make it to the homepage of eBird!

Migration was in full force. The BirdCast website shows a radar image of birds migrating during the night. Millions of birds were heading our way.

And breeding season had begun. A Robin had built a nest at eye level right next to the parking area at the beach. There was a fair amount of traffic but she seemed to handle it OK.

The next three weeks we worked hard keeping up with warblers, shorebirds, and all the other birds that were arriving daily. By May 22 we were at about 244 year birds including Wisconsin and Indiana. My Lake County list was 239.

The Garden

Doug and Lisa visited for Mother’s Day. Lisa assured me that Doug would be happy to dig up some of the lawn in the back yard. I ordered flowers from a nursery that specializes in Illinois native plants. Unfortunately some of the delivery arrived while we were gone but now everything is planted. Some of the flowers were delivered as bare roots. I think these may have died from not being put in the ground right away. It doesn’t look like much now but I will continue to enlarge it. Thanks again Doug and Lisa for all the digging, for the information on native plants for shade, and the beautiful hanging plant.

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Our windows were supposed to be installed January 6 but by 2:30 pm nothing had happened. We finally called to find out that they had moved the installation date back a week. It’s a good thing they did because we were having bitter cold spell. Finally, on the 13th they got started. Here’s a last look at the old windows.

The installers were efficient and very resourceful in finding a way to remove the old windows in order to make way for the new ones. Some of the old windows were actually embedded in the wall with their frames somehow between the bricks and the walls. They did the whole house in two days.

We had the painters here on the following Monday to give us an estimate on staining the new woodwork. At that point we got a big surprise. The contractor told us that the wood used for the woodwork surrounding the windows was poplar, a wood that is normally painted due to the tendency of the wood to have a yellow to greenish color a a wide variation in the grain. They would stain a piece of poplar to see if they could make it look acceptable. The results was disappointing at best. But then we remembered that when we purchased the windows, maple had been specified in the contract. So we got back to the person who made the initial estimate and she told us that all of the woodwork would be changed out for maple (as soon as they could get the lumber and schedule a crew). So, we’re waiting for February 28th to have the woodwork replaced. Only then can we shedule the painters. Only after the painters have come can we put the furniture back and all of the window treatments. I knew there would be some inconvenience but this is crazy!

There were still birds to be chased. We had some nice raptors in a quiet spot west of Grayslake. We also had some hard to get smaller birds-Snow Bunting and Horned Lark. Winter finches were also present in bigger numbers this year. The Common Redpoll only visits Lake County in years when there has either been a shortage of food in the northern forests or when there has been a population explosion. I this case there was an abundance of food in Lake County, with the Douglas fir and other conifers producing a bumper crop of cones. Redpolls and White-winged Crossbills are being reported all over the state. We even got two Common Redpolls at or feeder and White-winged Crossbills at Lyons Woods.

The pier has been shrouded in ice, with waves continuing to add more icy water. Just walking out to the base of the pier is dangerous on some days. I got some Nano Spikes to prevent me from slipping.

Fast forward to February 18th. Colette and Roger had rented a house in Sheboygan which was right on the lake. It was small, with two bedrooms on the second floor and a kitchen and living room on the 1st floor. There were large windows giving beautiful views of the lake. It was very cold Friday night so we stayed in, ordering fish dinners from Rupp’s and drinking Chief Ishnalas, thanks to Roger’s planning ahead. There was a beautiful moonrise once the clouds started to clear.

The next morning was just as spectacular.

Saturday morning Roger made some awesome omelettes for breakfast. Then we the set out for some serious shopping. We hit the kitchen store, the chocolate shop, the art supply store, the beer store, the fish shop (no smoked chubs) and finally the Greece-e Spoon for gyros. It was a great time in Wisconsin. Co and Rog were staying on another night.

Meanwhile, Max was busy racking up points to qualify for the state diving meet. E kept us posted on his progress. At this moment he has qualified!! We are planning to be at the meet at the IU Natatorium to cheer him on.

That brings us up to speed. I’m going to try not to let so much time pass between posts.

Total year birds: 61

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The Big Year is over. It started with  the usual winter birds on the Christmas Bird Count (held on New Year’s Day in Waukegan). Dad and I were assigned the beach so it was like a normal day except a little more thorough. But January 2nd was different. Everyone had to rush down to the beach because a Brant had appeared. The Brant is a small goose that is almost completely black above, with a faint white necklace and streaked sides. It was standing out on the pier, just looking around. This bird hasn’t been recorded in Lake County since 1982. It stayed long enough for most  birders to get a decent look. It’s usual range is along both coasts. 

I was a bit worried about winter finches-Redpolls and Crossbills. These little finches are an irruptive species that moves south in numbers only some years. This is determined by the food supply in the north and the population level. If the birds had a good year last spring reproducing, they may need to spread out more to find food for everyone. But maybe a few were still here from 2020. Fortunately we got our Common Redpoll on January 2nd, at Manville ponds overlook, in the weeds. We have seen them sporadically throughout the early spring and fall. We whiffed on Crossbills. A few birders counted some as heard only but this bird does not have a very distinctive call so I’m not sure of the accuracy of those reports. Beau did get a sighting. 

The next day was Sunday, and we drove out to a subdivision in Grayslake. If you parked at the edge of the subdivision you could enter Rollins Savanna near a dense brushy section. This was the spot to search for the Long-eared Owl. A lot of other people showed up with the same idea. But we all know each other so instead a small party of two or three searching for the owl, we had about eight people. Owls are considered sensitive species and eBird hides the reports. Normally we don’t even make a report until at least a few weeks after the sighting  and the location is deliberately ambiguous.In 2020 we saw that owl with another birder as a guide so we new the general location to look in. We all set out, looking very carefully for these long, skinny owls that like to sit on a small branch right next to the trunk of the tree. It didn’t look we were going to find it  but finally someone located it, hidden in a dense bush. These owls were not seen again at that spot because at some point the forest preserve district decided to clear the brush in that spot. 

In month of January we recorded 63 species. The last bird of the month was the most notable. 

On January 23 a friend had posted a photo taken at the lakefront of a Peregrine Falcon, a bird we routinely see there. Bird guide Josh Engel saw the photo and identified the bird as a Gyrfalcon. This bird is the Peregrine Falcon’s big tough cousin. He’s bigger and heftier than the Peregrine and afraid of nothing. I got the word that it was at the beach and raced down there. I was surprised to find few cars in the parking lot. But I headed out to the pier anyway. I looked up and two raptors were racing toward the shore. The first was an adult Bald Eagle, the chasing bird was smaller than the eagle but still presenting a threat. That had to be the Gyrfalcon! Apparently the eagle was hunting in the area that the Gyrfalcon decided was his. Most of the sightings were taking place near the yacht club. The Gyrfalcon spent time perched on top of the cement elevators, just as he would if he were in Duluth and sitting on a grain elevator. He had his choice of ducks, gulls  and pigeons and was perfectly satisfied for about about two weeks. 

January always has the most species because every bird you count is a year bird. Things calmed down in February when we only recorded 11 new species. This included waterfowl and raptors, the usual winter fare. In March we saw 29 new species. The first shorebird, a Killdeer, arrived on March 3rd. We saw more raptors, woodpeckers, waterfowl, and the expected kinglets and other small birds. In April migration really got started. Shorebirds were coming in daily at Waukegan Beach, Illinois Beach State Park and other nearby spots. The Piping Plover arrived on April first but only stayed a few days. They did not breed in Waukegan this year. They returned in August for 8 days on their way back south. In general, shorebirds were present in Lake County  from March 3rd until September 29 with most sightings in April and May and then again in August and September. The Purple Sandpiper is the outlier. He comes in November, usually around the first week. Everyone gets excited about this one because it doesn’t happen every year. May was our biggest month with 79 birds. All of the smaller birds were arriving in every habitat. We had a good year for some of the difficult warblers, our birder friends keeping us informed of sightings in real time. Warbler season usually requires birding in some of the forest preserves that border the Des Plaines River but this year we got 28 warblers close to home and 2 at Ryerson Forest Preserve bordering the Des Plaines. 

In June the migrants have passed through and the breeding birds are left. We had already counted most of these birds already in the preceeding months so getting a year bird in June is a challenge. We got 6, and these were grassland birds. In July we had even  fewer FOYs (first of year) -5. But they were very good birds. The Northern Bobwhite was calling at dawn at Rollins Savanna, so getting there by 6:30 was early enough to hear it. Then, in July, someone was canoing in Chain-o-Lakes State Park and found a Limpkin! Here is a link to a friends list with photos. https://ebird.org/checklist/S91737121

All birders were forced to get into a canoe or kayak, or to walk a swampy trail, to see a lake county rarity. Were rented a canoe and on a windy day, in the company of two other birders in their own canoe, we paddled out to the marsh and saw the bird. The water was a bit rough so I left my camera in the car. That’s when I decided to add a tiny instamatic camera to my gear bag. 

A week later, Dad and I were on our daily tour of Waukegan Beach. By now there were a good number of terns and gulls hanging around, as well as killdeer and other sandpipers. There was a tern that seemed to stay away from the other terns further north on the beach. I didn’t think much of it except I noticed it didn’t look well. It seemed to be missing it’s tail. A while later I looked more closely at it and realized it was a Royal Tern. This is only the second sighting of this bird at Waukegan Beach, the last sighting being in 2015, which was also my discovery. It was great to get a rare bird and ironic that Dad and I already had seen this bird in Lake County. 

August had a lot of birds but only three were new for the year. The most outstanding bird was the Mexican Violetear. This is a hummingbird whose normal range is in southern Mexico. EBird records show that it is prone to wandering north with sightings as far north as Canada. The bird was coming to a feeder at a private residence. The news of this bird spread by word of mouth to prevent a deluge of birders descending on the homeowners. Fortunately, Beau Schaefer thought of us and let us know. Most birders were considerate and went to see the bird, staying a short time and then leaving so that the yard did’t get too crowded. 

September and October had the migrating birds that had already passed through in the spring. This is our chance to get anything you may have missed at that time. We had the usual hawks taken care of by then, but we added Broad-winged Hawk to the list. 

So what’s left? Winter finches, winter waterfowl and owls and the Purple Sandpiper. I was birding the beach every morning and finally the Purple Sandpiper appeared. This bird shows up  in early November, when a layer of algae appears on the wet areas of the pier. I believe it eats tiny bugs that are attracted to the algae. It is a Waukegan specialty and is nearly always seen in the same place, known by many as “the Purple Sandpiper Pier”. 

Then there are the unexpected birds. We had a very lost bird at the lakefront, near the water plant. A birder had posted on Facebook a photo of a flycatcher that she couldn’t identify. The birding community experts identified it as a species of Elaenia that lives in south America. After many observations and photographs by birders from all over (it was busy down there) it was decided that it was a Small-billed Elaenia. The Illinois Ornithological Society is still not putting on the checklist but they at least have confirmed the species. Lake County recorded 226 observations of the bird. 

It is the end of the year. Things are winding down. The habitat of the Long-eared Owl was gone, so we would probably not see that bird again in Lake County. Hmmm-this is a chance to get all the Lake County owls in one year. So, with some help from our birder friends, we got current locations for the two owls we still needed, Barred Owl and Northern Saw-Whet Owl. Barred Owl is usually not that hard out in the county but we had missed it all year. Fortunately some birders found it in a preserve that we were unfamiliar with. We raced out there to catch up with Steven Hurst, who was making a video of the birds. We had good looks and Dad even got some good photos. Finally, on New Year’s Eve, we made a pre-dawn trip to McDonald Woods. Andy said there might be a Saw-Whet Owl there. We parked in the neighborhood and entered the preserve, starting a 1.25 mile trail. We circled around a small lake and then climbed uphill to an area with tall pines. We stopped to play the call of the Saw-Whet, as we had been doing in various spots along the trail. This time we got a response. First a kind of snarl, then long drawn-out toots. It was our last FOY of the year but a very exciting one. To recap the owl list: Eastern Screech Owl, Great Horned Owl, Snowy Owl, Barred Owl, Long-eared Owl, Short-eared Owl and Northern Saw-Whet Owl. Just that list is a first for us!!

We finished the year tied at #2 for the county, seeing 90% of the birds reported in that time frame. Another birder came in 2 birds ahead of us at 264 birds. The next highest was Gustavo at 253. Two people had 93% in 2020, Andy had 93% in 2019, and in 2017 Andy had 281 birds, one of the highest counts in recent history. The Big Year was a challenge and it really got me to get out and bird.

Lake County Lifers 

Brant

Gyrfalcon

Black-legged Kittiwake

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Limpkin

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Mexican Violetear

Whooping Crane

Small-billed Elaenia

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We all had a great time in Btown this weekend. Here are a few shots.