Hi Tweets:
Patti Coolsen and I looked for birds in Tacoma after she and I had attended some
excellent classes and lectures this week. Dennis Paulson taught a good Seabird class
on Saturday, that was full-up, but luckily had a cancellation at the last minute for
Patti. She learned a lot about seabirds and gulls at the Slater Museum, and during a
field trip; but she wanted more experience in the field.
I had attended the excellent WOS meeting program on March 3. It was by Gene Hunn et
al and was entitled THE GREAT GULL DEBATE. The room was almost full for a lecture
about gulls! Can you imagine? The subject was the large gulls that we see here in
Washington, even some rarities.
Gene had lots of facts, maps, tables, and pictures taken by local birders. These
pictures even included a fuzzy picture of the Ivory Gull that Brad Waggoner saw in
TriCities this winter, and of a number of controversial gulls which could be Glaucous
or Iceland or ??? Michael Hobbs had a picture of one of these seen this past week at
Renton. It was excellent, and looked like he had perched out on the logboon to get
the shot!
I found that I could keep up with Gene's lecture to near the end, when the subject
was rapidly going over my head. Whew, it was complex. But challenging! Many thanks
to Gene and all the folks who submitted their images.
Anyway, Patti and I decided to look for birds in the Tacoma tideflats on Wed, Mar 5.
We met near the Poodle Dog in Fife, a central meeting place for seeing the tideflats.
Take exit 137 from I-5, and turn right. Poodle Dog restaurant on the far corner.
It's on hwy 99 and 54th Ave. We left for the tideflats about 9:30am, and drove on
hwy 99 over to Portland Ave which is just past the Puyallup River as you approach
downtown Tacoma. We turned north (toward the bay) on Portland Ave, and drove approx.
1 mile north to the next light. We turned right on Lincoln Ave, and crossed over the
Puyallup River on the Lincoln Ave bridge. We drove 1/2 block and arrived at
Gog-le-hi-te wetland, formerly called Lincoln Ave marsh on the right. (Directions to
this are in the Birder's Guide to Washington by Opperman, p 196-199.)
Gog-le-hi-te is now open, and there aren't any landscaping crews in the area. There
aren't any no-trespassing signs. The parking lot is still closed off, so we parked
in the pullout along Lincoln Ave, and walked around the yellow gate. We walked right
out to the lagoon, but the tide was out (low tide at 9:35) and the logboon was a
mudflat. No gulls were in the lagoon, or on neighboring rooftops, although there
were bunches of Gl-w Gulls flying over from the rendering plant. At the lagoon area
we had a close-in LINCOLN'S SPARROW, 2 RED-TAILED HAWKS (one on a nest briefly), and
a 2nd year BALD EAGLE. An accipiter few through.
We drove 1/2 block farther on Lincoln Ave, and turned right on Marc St. We were
going over to the rendering plant at the end of Marc St to see gulls, but they were
hazing the gulls w/ noise and the gulls all left.
We back-tracked on Lincoln Ave toward the river, and turned right (north) on Stewart
St. Bear left along Stewart, and you are next to the Puyallup River. We drove up on
the dike and viewed gulls below. Most of the gulls were Gl-winged or hybrids, but
there was a handful of HERRING GULLS, and a few adult THAYER'S GULLS. We
concentrated on adult birds. Eventually Patti was able to recognize the very-black
primaries of those two species, and then zero in on the light colored backs of
Herring and the darker ones of the few THAYER'S. We zeroed in on these with the
scope. I was very proud of her a little later, as she watched a Thayer's fly in, and
told me where to look. Wow!
We drove down off the dike (this dike is on Puyallup Indian land, so you must be
courteous if asked to leave), and turned north (toward the bay) on Stewart. Up past
the bridge it looks like you should turn around at a truck entrance, but you can
drive along the left near the river, to access parking for a trail. The trail
follows the bank of the river along the left side of a long chainlink fence. There
are blackberries along here. You can walk about 1/2 mile out to the bay, and are
across the river mouth from the Simpson Plant. Luckily this pulp mill's fumes were
blowing away from us on Wed. Along this stretch of the river we saw a beautiful
adult RED-THROATED LOON. Out at the mouth of the river there were many D-C
CORMORANTS, and a 2nd year BALD EAGLE. In the waters we were seeing more common
birds such as COMMON GOLDENEYE AND RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. Several GREAT BLUE HERONS
were loafing on a roof next to the river. An adult BALD EAGLE flew overhead. As we
walked back along the Puyallup, many gulls flew in, including two MEW GULLS. From
here we drove back on Portland Ave to hwy 99, and drove back to the Poodle Dog. The
Poodle Dog is on 54th Ave. We wanted to access the Blair Waterway out at the bay.
We drove north on 54th Ave, and it becomes Taylor Ave as you get farther out on the
tide flats. We drove several miles. At Lincoln Ave, we turned left, and drove about
1/2 mile over to Alexander. We turned right and drove straight out Alexander to the
end. At the end there is a T at a business park. We turned left, and drove around
to park in the lot by the edge of the Blair Waterway. Perched on cement pilings at
the end of the Blair Waterway were over 150 BRANDT'S CORMORANTS. We see these huge
numbers of Brandt's out there pretty much most of the year, I think. (I get them in
summer out there, but it is mostly juveniles in summer. Now there were both adults
and juveniles. The adults were going into breeding plumage. Some had white facial
plumes, and many were getting the bright blue gape or chin patch. There was one juv
PELAGIC CORMORANT perched right near where we parked. A juv BRANDT'S landed next to
the Pelagic for a good size comparison. Under the dock were about 30 BARROW'S
GOLDENEYES. These birds that have been in short supply farther north in the sound at
Des Moines this year. A number of GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS were in the area, but they
apparently aren't nesting yet and they weren't divebombing yet. They breed out here
in summer. We finished up our birding day about 2pm. It was sunny and glorious all
day, even in these industrial areas of the tideflats.
Yours, Carol Schulz
Des Moines, WA
linusq at att.net