SOUTHWESTERN WASHINGTON WEEKEND
15-16 FEBRUARY 2003

Steady rain greeted nine Yakima Auduboners for a weekend of birding in
southwestern Washington. We met at breakfast in the Aladdin West Western in
Kelso. Here I devised a "rainy day" itinerary, hoping the weather would
improve. The strategy would be to embark on a long, long drive. Then, just
maybe, the Pacific storm would pass over and we could enjoy the coastal
scenery and birds more. So, I suggested we head to Tokeland on northern
Willapa Bay to check out the famous flock of "long-legged" waders at their
high tide roost. I heard no dissension from the ranks; they evidently didn't
know this was a pretty serious drive. So, we all headed out northward on I-5
to take a "shortcut" to Tokeland.

Our route was off-the-beaten track (I-5 west on SR-506 to Vader, then
Wildwood Road past Wildwood, finally Pe Ell-McDonald Road west to Pe Ell)
through picturesque countryside. We passed extensive areas of pasture and
abandoned fields, perfect, I thought for White-tailed Kites, though we saw
none here. This is a long and slow route from I-5 out to the coast, not for
one in a hurry, though a pleasant drive. Lots of maturing second growth
coastal forest on the hills also added interest to the scene.

It was still raining as we arrived in Tokeland. We desert folk donned our
rain gear and ventured out into the squalls to admire the 500 or so waders
tightly packed together, roosting on the dock at the Tokeland Marina. Most
were Marbled Godwits. There were also att least 10 Willets, and a few
Dunlins and Long-billed Dowitchers. I sensed excitement from the group; the
sight of all these shorebirds provided payback for the long drive. A
sprinkling of diving birds were also present here, including Common Loon,
Horned and Western Grebes, Surf Scoter, and Red-breasted Merganser. Gulls
included Western and Glaucous-winged.

Heading around Willapa Bay, the tide remained very high. Not many birds were
about in the bay. One lone Trumpeter Swan in a slough spiced up one stop. He
re we had distant views of our first White-tailed Kite perched atop a Sitka
Spruce at Raymond, a life bird for a number of folks in our group.

By Fort Canby on the extreme southwest coast, the rain had ended, and we
even saw some blue sky. The parking lot to the Cape Disappointment
Lighthouse proved attractive to a variety of winter birds of the
"bark-gleaning" guild, including Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Brown Creeper,
Winter Wren, both Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and a bright,
fresh-plumaged male Townsend's Warbler. Varied Thrush was also spotted here.
Surveying the cliffs and ocean from the interpretive center, we enjoyed
close studies of Brandt's Cormorants, sporting breeding plumage filoplumes,
inspecting their nesting cliffs. One adult was on a nest; too, indicating
the breeding season had started. Offshore, the highlight was a distant view
of a loose group of Black-legged Kittiwakes. A few Surf and White-winged
Scoters were about and the odd flyby loon, otherwise the nearshore seemed
almost birdless.

East from Fort Canby, we noted at least 20 Bald Eagles along the lower Grays
River near the hamlet of the same name, the highest concentration of eagles
noted on this trip. We surmised a fish run was in progress to attract so
many of these regal birds.

We reached Julia Butler Hansen NWR in late afternoon, too late, I feared,
for much activity. Fortunately, I was wrong. We had great luck here! First,
there was lots of mammal action. Elk, some with impressive antlers,
sauntered about the meadow edges. Second, we had good views of the
"advertised special" of this refuge, the scarce Columbian White-tailed Deer,
a dwarfish subspecies making this area its last stand along the lower
Columbia. Finally, we studied several beaver-sized rodents in the sloughs
and wetlands that we surmised were Nutria,a South American import.

Birds were everywhere here. Small, dark Canada Geese flew overhead in large
flocks, yelping (not honking) as they went. In a flock of American Wigeon,
we picked out two Eurasians. White-tailed Kites seemed to verge on common
here. I believe we were justified in tallying six of these beautiful
raptors. We even watched several hover and successfully capture food in the
rank grasslands, presumably microtine prey. Northern Harriers and Red-tailed
Hawks were conspicuous, also.

We struck it rich at the refuge headquarters. As I arrived at the
observation deck, I heard the distinctive "tsip" of the Black Phoebe, a
rarity from extreme southwestern Oregon or Caifornia, reported here for a
number of weeks. This surprised me, as it was 5 PM and dusk setting in. With
a little searching, we located the phoebe flycatching close to the edge of
the slough. We all had reasonable views of this Washington rarity. Moments
later Ellen spied on a hawk perched atop a fence post nearby. I took a peek
in her scope and Holy Toledo; it was a Red-shouldered Hawk! We debated on
the age of the bird, but it was clearly a small Buteo with a black-and-white
banded tail, a hint of rufous on its "shoulders," and much
black-and-white-patterning. We did not have good views of its breast
patterning, though. We left at 5:30 PM; the phoebe was still calling loudly.

We started Sunday morning by hiking the Oaks to Wetlands Trail at Ridgefield
NWR. Though a bit mucky in places, this proved to be a nice walk, and a good
start in burning off our Saturday evening dinner at the Azteca Mexican
restaurant in Kelso. The huge old Garry Oaks here are magnificent, their
main branches hosting miniature gardens of bright green ferns and mosses,
the smaller ones festooned with gray-green lichens. The Douglas-fir groves
were impressive, also. The birding here was most interesting at the north
end of the loop, where, atop a brushy knoll, we had views of waterbirds,
while close at hand, small landbirds were numerous. Interesting birds in
this area included a lone Great Egret stalking about the sloughs, and away
in the distance, calling Tundra Swans, Virginia Rails, and Sandhill Cranes.
In the brush were Western Scrub-Jays, Bushtits, and numbers of
Golden-crowned and at least one Fox Sparrow. On the hike back, we rounded a
bend in the trail and were thrilled to view a group of Tundra Swans feeding
and conversing with gentle music in the shallows of Boot Lake, a magical
moment, indeed. Back near the parking area, we studied at least two noisy
White-breasted Nuthatches (aculeata, a seriously declining subspecies), this
place evidently being the last reliable site for them in Washington.

The finale for this trip was the auto tour route at Ridgefield. Along the
way, we enjoyed good views of many waterfowl, for which the refuge is
famous, including Tundra Swan, a lone Snow Goose, loads of various
subspecies of arctic nesting Canada Geese, Green-winged Teal, Mallard,
Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Canvasback,
Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, and Ruddy
Duck. We had good views of one Rough-legged Hawk. While on this route, a
number of swallows, either Tree or Violet-greens, flew by overhead.
Respectfully, we remained within our vehicles, as instructed and missed
getting good enough views to identify them. Darn, this refuge is geared more
for the critters than the humans.

We ended the trip with a respectable list of 85 species of birds, pretty
good I thought, considering moderate to heavy rain affected our birding for
a good part of the trip, the first time in three years of doing this trip
that we've encountered a major storm.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA
Steppie at nwinfo.net