Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I enjoyed the day exploring portions of Mason Co. primarily in the Belfair area,which most of the day was a combination of birding,and searching for dragonflies and butterflies. We began the day at Mary Hrudkaj's residence ,which lies along Bear Ridge at approximately 500 feet in elevation and hosts great views of the Olympic Mountains and associating foothills. Our main objective was Mountain Quail,which she has on her property and we obtained good looks at 2 males soon after our arrival at 7:45am. Both birds foraged separately on the ground and remained quite shy and alert and we were able to get several digital photographs of them. One particular male was far more crisp in overall plumage,where the other bird lacked the distinct tones and also had only one head plume. We also heard up to 2 California Quail calling from the brushy hillside just below her house and her property in general was very productive during our entire visit with a total of 30 species observed/and or heard. We really enjoyed her accommodations and allowing us to visit her property along with seeing the Mountain Quail,exceptional views of the Olympics and the potential for unusual species to visit her property due to the location. A total list of species observed during our morning visit from 7:30am-9am included the following:

Turkey Vulture(4 birds)
California Quail(2 calling birds)
Mountain Quail(2 birds)
Band-tailed Pigeon(25+ birds)
Rufous Hummingbird
Downy Woodpecker
Willow Flycatcher
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow(unusual for location)
Barn Swallow
Steller's Jay
Am.Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick's Wren
Am.Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Western Tanager
Black-headed Grosbeak(3+ birds)
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed"Oregon"Junco
Purple Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Am.Goldfinch

After leaving Mary residence we scouted a few areas in the general vicinity she mentioned to us for additional birding,etc. On our way back towards North Shore Drive we observed a few additional species of note including a single Black Swift flying along Hurd Rd. along with 2 calling Hutton's Vireos. We continued along North Shore Dr. to Belfair-Tahuya Rd.,where we then traveled along a dirt road to Wood Lake,which was a location Mary mentioned to us and offered a great diversity of dragonflies and butterflies with some birding too. The main bird highlights noted at this location were 2 Hermit Warblers and a Chipping Sparrow, as our main time was spent identifying dragonflies and butterflies,specifically at the lake. We observed and identified a total of 10 species of butterfly and 12 species of dragonfly,which all came primarily from Mason Co.

Butterflies:

Silver-spotted Skipper
Woodland Skipper
Clodius Parnassian
Anise Swallowtail
Western Tiger Swallowtail
Pale Tiger Swallowtail
Cabbage White
Great Spangled Fritillary
Hydaspe Fritillary
Lorquin's Admiral


Dragonflies:

Boreal Bluet
Western Red Damsel
California Darner
Common Green Darner
Blue-eyed Darner
American Emerald
Western Pondhawk
Eight-spotted Skimmer
Chalk-fronted Corporal(male and females)
Variegated Meadowhawk
Striped Meadowhawk
Dot-tailed Whiteface


In addition we briefly checked along S.R.106 east of Hwy.101,where 2 Red-eyed Vireos were heard singing from the dense stands of Black Cottonwoods and various other deciduous trees along the Skokomish River. A single Cooper's Hawk and 8 Turkey Vultures were observed flying over the George Adams Fish Hatchery,with an additional Cooper's Hawk observed along North Shore Drive earlier in the day south of Belfair State Park.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net