My dad Roger and I are in Ocean Shores
right now, at the end of Day 2 of a three day trip. I thought I?d go ahead and report on today?s
and yesterday?s birds.



On Friday morning (1/4/08), I drove up to Jim Christensen?s
house near Mt Spokane to look for the Williamson?s Sapsucker he had the day
before. No luck, but I did see an adult
NORTHERN GOSHAWK fly over his house. I
saw lots of raptors in the area. Jim has
fantastic photos of the male sapsucker, and the holes drilled by the bird near
the base of a large ponderosa were very much in evidence.



I met my dad mid-morning and we headed west to Grant County. En route we had 5 Wild Turkeys on Hwy 2
between Davenport and Creston, an interesting Lincoln County location for them.



We pulled in at Electric City at 12:40, and the BLACK-HEADED
GULL was loafing on the log booms at Coulee Playland Marina with only a few
other Ring-billed Gulls. It was great to
see this bird with so little effort! We
watched it for a while and also noted 3 THAYER?S GULLS and lots of Herring
Gulls.



Next we found the NORTHERN HAWK-OWL on SR 174 west of Grand Coulee, on the opposite side of the road from the
large substation. A fellow photographer
had already found the owl and was parked less than thirty feet from the bird
with his 500mm lens. We pulled up behind
him and couldn?t believe our luck as we watched the bird preen, rest, and
casually glance around for almost forty-five minutes. I took plenty of photos before we eventually
left the bird to continue west.




The BLACK-HEADED GULL was still on the log booms as we
passed at 2pm. We drove down along the
chain of lakes and didn?t note anything unusual aside from a few good birds at Soap Lake. There were 2 TUNDRA SWANS looking out of
place, and we spotted a CHUKAR on a rockslide after hearing it call.



Our last bird of the day was a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL
heard-only near Hobart in King County. We met up with our friend Russell Cooper from Oregon
and spent the night in Auburn.



Today (1/5/08), we got up early and started up the Sound. As it began to get light, we stopped at Salsbury Point
County Park
in Kitsap County.
Birds seen included HORNED and RED-NECKED GREBES, SURF and WHITE-WINGED
SCOTER, BRANDT?S CORMORANT, COMMON LOON, PIGEON GUILLEMOT, and RED-BREASTED
MERGANSER.



As we worked our way up Hwy 19 in the Chimakum Valley of
Jefferson County, we saw a large flock of 100+ PINE SISKINS, and a large gull
flock of a couple hundred MEW and GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS.



We birded Point Wilson from 8:40am until 12:20. New species for the day included LONG-TAILED
DUCK -2, HARLEQUIN DUCK -14, PACIFIC LOON -12, RED-THROATED LOON -6, BRANT -1,
SANDERLING -9, BONAPARTE?S GULL -1, MARBLED MURRELET -1, and WESTERN GREBE
-2. After 3 ? hours of searching, we
finally saw 1 ANCIENT MURRELET fly by at a very nice close range, and all three
of us were able to get on the bird.



We birded our way back south, finding WIGEON, SHOVELER,
PINTAIL, and GREEN-WINGED TEAL along Hwy 19.
We took the Kingston-Edmonds Ferry, seeing a couple BARROW?S GOLDENEYES
in the harbor, and another RED-THROATED and PACIFIC LOON still on the Kitsap
side. Crossing in to Snohomish, we saw 7
BRANT and a RHINOCERUS AUKLET in the water, and another Barrow?s Goldeneye and
a Red-throated Loon near the dock, as well as a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER.



We ended the day watching the Cedar River Mouth from 3:15
until 5pm. We watched the gulls come in
with Sherry and Dave Hayden, Lonnie Somer, and a couple other birders. It looks like Dave has already posted what we
saw. The 31 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE
randomly loafing right by the dock were fun, and the gull studies were very
interesting in between fireworks, as we picked out WESTERN, THAYER?S,
RING-BILLED, and HERRING from among the Glaucous-winged and numerous hybrids.



Michael and Roger Woodruff

Spokane,
WA

(in Ocean
Shores hoping for good
weather tomorrow)


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