Subject: Thurston County Birding: MOUNTAIN QUAIL
Date: May 9 17:53:59 2002
From: Ryan Shaw - rtshaw80 at hotmail.com


Greetings all,

Charlie Wright and I did a Thurston County Big Day today starting at
Midnight until 5:00PM, when exhaustion finally prevailed. We had a total of
123 species, birding most of the county, from Scatter Creek, Mima Mounds,
Rock Candy Mountain road in the Capitol Forest, Weir Prairie, Nisqually NWR,
Tolmie State Park, Mud Bay, Budd Inlet(East Bay Marina), and Lake Lois in
Lacey.

Our major highlight occured at 5:30AM about 9 miles up Rock Candy Mountain
towards Capitol Peak (accessed from Rock Candy Mountain Road and Highway 8)
when we came upon 4 MOUNTAIN QUAIL in the middle of the road at fairly high
elevation (high for the Black Hills that is). We also heard another 6 or so
calling quite loudly in the general area.

I knew this area had good potential for Mountain Quail, but have not heard
of anyone finding any recently in the Black Hills. Any previous County
records from you County listers?

The Capitol Forest was also real productive for owls. Having Northern
Saw-Whet, Western Screech, and Great Horned Owl calling during the night,
and at dawn we had several Northern Pygmy Owls calling all over.
Surprisingly no Barred Owls...all the other owls were responding to our
Barred Owl immitations, except the ones we were immitating. Hope that
doesn't mean our Barred Owl calls suck ;-)
Anywho, here's the list of birds for the day.

PACIFIC LOON - Tolmie
COMMON LOON - Tolmie
PIED-BILLED GREBE - Nisqually NWR
HORNED GREBE - Tolmie
WESTERN GREBE - Tolmie
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT - Widespread
GREAT BLUE HERON - Widespread
GREEN HERON - Tumwater Falls Park (missed Dipper).
TURKEY VULTURE - Weir Prairie
CANADA GOOSE - Nisqually NWR
WOOD DUCK - Black Lake Meadows/Nisqually/Lake Lois
GADWALL - Nisqually NWR
MALLARD - Widespread
CINNAMON TEAL - Nisqually NWR
NORTHERN SHOVELER - Nisqually NWR
GREEN-WINGED TEAL - Black Lake Meadows/Nisqually NWR
GREATER SCAUP - Luhr Beach
SURF SCOTER - Luhr Beach
WHITE-WINGED SCOTER - Luhr/Tolmie
BUFFLEHEAD - East Bay/Luhr/Tolmie
BARROW'S GOLDENEYE - East Bay
HOODED MERGANSER - Tumwater Heritage Park
COMMON MERGANSER - Tumwater Falls
OSPREY - Nisqually NWR
WHITE-TAILED KITE - Mima Mounds
BALD EAGLE - Nisqually NWR
NORTHERN HARRIER - Meadows Road
RED-TAILED HAWK - Various Locations
AMERICAN KESTREL - Weir Prairie
PEREGRINE FALCON - Meadows Road
RING-NECKED PHEASANT - Meadows Road/Mima Mounds
RUFFED GROUSE - Capitol Forest. Sitting in the road!
MOUNTAIN QUAIL - Capitol Forest
CALIFORNIA QUAIL - Black Lake Meadows
NORTHERN BOBWHITE - Weir Prairie
VIRGINIA RAIL - Nisqually NWR
SORA - 4 birds, 2 at Black Lake Meadows (1 seen), 2 at Nisqually
KILLDEER - Various. 1st bird of the day
SPOTTED SANDPIPER - Mud Bay
WESTERN SANDPIPER - Nisqually NWR
LEAST SANDPIPER - Nisqually NWR
DUNLIN - Luhr Beach
COMMON SNIPE - Black Lake Meadows
HERRING GULL - 1 bird, Tolmie SP
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL - numerous
CASPIAN TERN - Budd Inlet/Luhr Beach
COMMON MURRE - Tolmie SP
PIGEON GUILLEMOT - Budd Inlet/Tolmie
RHINOCEROS AUKLET - Tolmie SP
ROCK DOVE- Various
BAND-TAILED PIGEON - Capitol Forest/elsewhere
MOURNING DOVE - Meadows Road
WESTERN SCREECH-OWL - Scatter Creek Wildlife Area/Capitol Forest
GREAT HORNED OWL - Scatter Creek WA/Capitol Forest
NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL - 8 birds calling - Capitol Forest
NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL - 3 calling birds - Capitol Forest
VAUX'S SWIFT - Luhr Beach
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD - Capitol Forest/elsewhere
BELTED KINGFISHER - Tumwater Falls
RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER - Rock Candy Mountain Road (base)
DOWNY WOODPECKER - Nisqually NWR
HAIRY WOODPECKER - Capitol Forest/Nisqually
PILEATED WOODPECKER - Weir Prairie/Nisqually
HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER - Weir Prairie/Mima Mounds
PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER - Capitol Forest/Nisqually
CASSIN'S VIREO - Capitol Forest/Mima Mounds
HUTTON'S VIREO - Capitol Forest
WARBLING VIREO - Black Lake Meadows/Nisqually
GRAY JAY - Capitol Forest
STELLER'S JAY - Various
WESTERN SCRUB-JAY - Tumwater/Meadows Road
AMERICAN CROW - Various
COMMON RAVEN - Various
PURPLE MARTIN - East Bay/Weir/Luhr
TREE SWALLOW - Various
VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW - Various
NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW - Black Lake Meadows/Nisqually
CLIFF SWALLOW - Meadows Road/Nisqually
BARN SWALLOW - Various
BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE - numerous-riparian
CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE - numerous-conifer zone
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH - Capitol Forest
BROWN CREEPER - Capitol Forest/Nisqually/elsewhere
BEWICK'S WREN - Capitol Forest/Nisqually
HOUSE WREN - Weir Prairie
WINTER WREN - Capitol Forest
MARSH WREN - marshes!
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET - Capitol Forest
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET - Lois Lake (our last bird unbelievably!)
WESTERN BLUEBIRD - Weir Prairie
HERMIT THRUSH - Capitol Forest
AMERICAN ROBIN - Various
VARIED THRUSH - Capitol Forest
EUROPEAN STARLING - very very very rare
AMERICAN PIPIT - Weir Prairie
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER - Numerous
YELLOW WARBLER - Nisqually
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER - Numerous
BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER - Various
TOWNSEND'S WARBLER - Various
HERMIT WARBLER - Capitol Forest
MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER - Capitol Forest
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT - Various
WILSON'S WARBLER - various
WESTERN TANAGER - Capitol Forest/Tolmie
SPOTTED TOWHEE - Capitol Forest
VESPER SPARROW - singing on exposed perch/Scatter Creek WMA
SAVANNAH SPARROW - numerous
SONG SPARROW - numerous
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW - had one in full song at 1:00AM
GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW - Weir/Nisqually
DARK-EYED JUNCO - Capitol Forest/Weir
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK - various
LAZULI BUNTING - male singing- Mima Mounds
RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD - Numerous
WESTERN MEADOWLARK - Weir Prairie
PURPLE FINCH - Capitol Forest/Elsewhere
HOUSE FINCH - Mud Bay
RED CROSSBILL - Weir Prairie flyover
PINE SISKIN - Weir Prairie
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH - Various
EVENING GROSBEAK - Various
HOUSE SPARROW - another rare and elusive fellow.

Just call us the duo that can't find a Bushtit or a Coot if our lives
depended on it! Let alone a Barred Owl...sigh...

Ok, time for sleep.

Cheers and good birding


----Ryan Shaw
----Lacey, Washington
----rtshaw80 at hotmail.com
----(360) 491-1084
----AIM: RTShaw80


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