Subject: [Tweeters] WOS Conference fieldtrip to La Push-23 August
Date: Aug 25 11:34:12 2015
From: Andy Stepniewski - steppie at nwinfo.net


WOS TRIP-KALALOCH TO LA PUSH

23 AUGUST 2015



This WOS conference trip, co-led by Eric Heisey, Ellen and myself headed north with eight participants from Ocean Shores hitting beautiful Kalaloch in Olympic National Parks coast section, after a bit less than 2 hours. Whew! We undertook a seawatch here, taking our positions overlooking the Pacific Ocean along the bluff edge near the lodge. We were hoping for shearwaters but the immense flocks noted by others in the area at this time eluded us. We did see plenty of Surf and White-winged Scoters, about 1000 in all, in a dense raft just off the breakers. Impressive and this is only August! We noted the usual three species of loons: Red-throated, Pacific, and Common. Shorebirds were few except for a distant flock of 16 Surfbirds scurrying about the wave-washed rocks off the beach. We scoped three species of alcids: Common Murre, Marbled Murrelet, and Rhinoceros Auklet. Gulls were about, too, with Bonaparte?s, Heermann?s, Western, California, and Western X Glaucous-winged hybrids, the so-called Olympic Gull.



Landward, we relocated the Green Heron, noted by others, along the edge of Kalaloch Creek. Eric judged it a juvenile bird on account of its extensive striping on its breast and belly. Belted Kingfishers rattled as they flew over the creek, spying for fish in the clear waters.



Landbirds moving south along the coast proved interesting, too. Vaux?s Swifts were zipping by, most just over the tops of the Sitka Spruce back from the beach. Evening Grosbeaks were chowing down on the just opening Sitka Spruce cones. An early American Pipit called overhead, We spotted four species of warblers moving through the dense shrubbery at the bluff: Orange-crowned, Yellow, Wilson?s, and Common Yellowthroat. An impressive 150 Northwestern Crows (well, why not, we?re on the outer Olympic coast?) flew by. Other cool bird that posed nicely here included Rufous Hummmingbird, Pacific Wren, and White-crowned Sparrow.



Heading north, we stopped by at the Anderson Homestead unit of the Olympic Wildlife Area, a tiny postage-stamp size opening of prairie and tiny farm fields amidst the sea of coniferous forest that is the dominant ecosystem on the Olympic Peninsula. This wildlife area is primarily managed for Roosevelt Elk, but we saw enough birds to keep us occupied: Sharp-shinned and Cooper?s Hawks, Band-tailed Pigeons, and a brilliant Black-throated Gray Warbler. We took a short walk through the grassy field on a track beaten down by elk to the edge of the Bogachiel River, now not much more than a creek on account of the extended drought.



A pit stop in Forks was good for Eurasian Collared-Dove, a recent emigrant to the region, but seemingly firmly established now.



A stop at the Quillayute Prairie, a much bigger opening in the forest, gave us another opportunity to seek birds of shrubby thickets, deciduous tree copses (Red Alder, Bigleaf Maple, and surprisingly large Mountain Ash-heavily berry laden), and open fields. We were rewarded with Turkey Vulture and American Kestrel, Band-tailed Pigeon, and warblers: Orange-crowned, Common Yellowthroat, and Black-throated Gray. Swainson?s Thrushes called ? whit? from the thickets, and a Purple Finch perched atop a willow.



Scott Horton, a resident birder here, enthusiastically invited us out to the ?taxiway? of the decommissioned airport. He pointed out the hazy outline of Mt. Olympus to the east and said smoke from the massive Okanogan fires had blown east over the Cascade Range and filled Puget Sound. This suggests a high pressure weather system with upper winds from the east, and thus an offshore breeze at the coast.



La Push, our destination, is set amidst classic Olympic coast ?seastack? topography. These rugged and very scenic islets are sea floor sedimentary rocks scrunched against the coastline by plate movements, and lifted out of the ocean to form the dramatic cliffs we see today. Alas, these rocks are crumbly and continually being eroded by the ocean breakers so unless subduction is ongoing, we can expect the landscape sometime in the future to look like the seacoast at Ocean Shores.



This area was great for several new species for our trip list. Eric spotted a Tufted Puffin flying in circles around the big rock between James and Little James Island. His guess was that puffins are nesting along the west side of the rock as the Google Earth image reveals bright green grassy patches on that part of the island, indicating soil possibly deep enough to allow the puffins to burrow. Everyone had at least passable views of this bird as it repeatedly circled that part of the island. We added Harlequin Duck Pigeon Guillemot, and Black Oystercatcher for our trip list here.



While at La Push, several young women approached us to see what we were looking at through our scopes. It turns out they were from Finland and I talked with these gals for several minutes. They were touring the Pacific Northwest ending in San Francisco. That the Olympic coastal strip is on the tourist circuit for International visitors moved me. I recalled that William O. Douglas, who served longer than anyone else on the Supreme Court, was also a passionate environmentalist. He was a key player in helping protect the world-class scene here. In 1958, Douglas was enlisted to protest a planned highway north from here to Lake Ozette. He participated in a hike along this fabulous stretch of coast where the group met pro-road folks with signs reading "Bird Watchers Go Home." In the end, the coast remained un-roaded and is now one of the most famous wilderness hikes in the United States.



Heading back to Ocean Shores, we stopped again several times in the Kalaloch area, hoping to see the shearwater spectacle others had witnessed along the coast. Still, not a single shearwater! I mused whether the high pressure system in general ?blows? the shearwaters offshore, even though there was an onshore (diurnal?) breeze while we were there. At the Beach 6 overlook (unmarked, but just north of access to the ?Big Cedar Tree?), Sea Otters were the big attraction, with numbers of these mammals swimming on their backs, and occasionally diving.



At Kalaloch Lodge, though there were still no shearwaters. All was not lost bird-wise as Eric?s sharp eyes picked out a shorebird flock on the beach. We scoped Semipalmated Plover, Sanderlings, and sandpipers: Baird?s, Least, and Western in the flock .Juvenile Mew Gulls on the beach, too, was another addition to our trip list, which was a bit over 80 species.



Andy Stepniewski

Wapato WA

steppie at nwinfo.net




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