Subject: [Tweeters] Black Hills Audubon Field Trip to Pt Townsend
Date: Nov 17 10:07:39 2014
From: scrubjay323 at aol.com - scrubjay323 at aol.com



Tweets,

Saturday 8 of us enjoyed a cold but productive field trip from Olympia to Pt Townsend. We met is 24 degree temps at the Martin Way Park & Ride at 6:00 am and went to the 6th Ave Park & Ride in Tacoma where we met the rest of the party and got our first birds of the day: Rock Pigeons and Crows.

Our first stop was in Gorst behind the closed strip club where we had great views up Sinclair Inlet. Here up saw Hooded Mergansers, Mallard, American Wigeon, Green-Winged Teal, Bufflehead, Northern Pintail, Common and Barrows Goldeneye, Surf Scoters, Horned Grebe, Cackling Geese, Great Blue Heron, Greater Yellowlegs, Killdeer, Dunlin, Red-Winged Blackbird, Crow, and Mew, Ring Billed, and Glaucous Winged, and Glaucous Winged x Western Gulls, and Song Sparrow.

Next we visited Kitsap Memorial State Park where we added Common Loon, White-Winged Scoter, Double Crested Cormorant, Red-Breasted Merganser, Greater Scaup, and Gadwall on Hood Canal. In the firs around the camp ground we found Pine Siskin, Robins, Steller's Jay, Starling, Junco, Towhee, Ruby and Golden-Crowned Kinglets, Varied Thrush, Brown Creeper, and we heard Red-Breasted Nuthatch.

At Salsbury Point we added Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot, and Marbled Murrelet to our trip list.

Our next stop was Lower Oak Bay Park where we got great views of water fowl inside the cut. Here we added our only Eurasian Wigeon of the trip as well as more Mallard, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Green-Winger Teal, and Bufflehead. We also added Belted Kingfisher, California Gull among some Mew and Ring-Billed Gulls and a Heermann's Gull that flew in and joined the flock. On the jetty between the park and Indian Island we saw Black Oystercatchers, Black Turnstones and a Surfbird in among the Turnstones, and some Western Grebes out along the far shore.

At Indian Island Park we stopped for lunch and added Bald Eagle, Red-Tailed Hawk, House Finch, and Golden-Crowned Kinglet. Mystery Bay State Park didn't add anything new to out list but did have Greater Yellowlegs, Pine Siskins, and Golden-Crowned Sparrows.

At Fort Flagler State Park we found several Black Bellied Plover on the parade field and saw Pacific Loon and a couple of River Otters At Marrowstone Point Light.

At Fort Flagler Campground we viewed a nice flock of Harlequin Ducks in full sun giving spectacular views. We also had more Black Bellied Plover, a White-Crowned Sparrow in with some Golden Crowned Sparrows, Pelagic and Double Crested Cormorants, and our target bird of the trip. As we were preparing to leave Micah spotted some Long-Tailed Ducks out off the boat ramp. We all had good looks at a flock of 9 Long-Tailed Ducks drifting with the current. Made my day! Valerie also watched a pair of River Otters cross the spit and swim off up Kilisut Harbor.

From there we went to Point Hudson and saw Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot, Rhinoceros Auklet, Red-Throated Loon, Black Brant, and a half dozen or so Sanderlings scurrying around with some Black Turnstones.

We made a quick dash to Kai Tai Lagoon for a quick look as darkness fell. In among the waterfowl we added Ruddy Duck and Coot to our list as well as Lincoln's Sparrow, Virginia Rail (heard), Marsh Wren and Pacific Wren. As darkness fell we called it a day and headed home, tired but happy.

Besides the River Otters the other mammals we saw were Black-tailed Deer and Harbor Seals.

For the day we had 75 species.

Phil Kelley
scrubjay323 at aol.com
Lacey, WA