Washington and Idaho (June 1998)
I attended a conference in Seattle and spent some time birding on Puget Sound,
on the Olympic Peninsula, near Spokane, and in the Idaho Panhandle. I saw 128
species and 8 lifers. Prior to the trip, I received some suggestions from Steve
Mansfield, Jeff Nystuen, and Eric Stahlfeld. Jim Acton was kind enough to show
me Black-backed Woodpeckers.
On June 21, I drove around the Olympic Peninsula with Bill Siegmann and made
stops at Quinalt Rain Forest, La Push, and Diamond Point. Lifers for the day
were NORTHWESTERN CROW, PIGEON GUILLEMOT, and COMMON MURRE. Other nice birds
were BLUE GROUSE and HARLEQUIN DUCK.
On June 22, I drove out to Spokane to see BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS at Riverside
State Park. I was not disappointed. Jim Acton showed me two nests, one with
young and one that apparently had eggs. I had great looks at two males and a
female and got to hear them call and see them preen. Jim also showed me several
other nice birds (including several that were drawn in by his perfect imitation
of a Northern Pygmy-Owl). That afternoon, I followed Jim’s directions to a
location in the Colville National Forest, where I tried unsuccessfully to find
Three-toed Woodpeckers but saw a RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER’S nest and got to hear
OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER.
Late in the afternoon on June 23, Dalcio Dacol and I did some birding in the
Seattle area. After seeing VAUX’S SWIFT at Marymoor Park, we drove to the
Mukilteo ferry and were treated to a great look at a MARBLED MURRELET that was
hanging out next to the boat.
On June 24, Dalcio and I took the ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor and
back. We were disappointed to miss the 8:00 am boat by just a few minutes but
then realized this was fortunate because we saw three BLACK SWIFTS over the
upper parking lot. Although this was my only lifer of the day, we got great
looks at RHINOCEROS AUKLETS and also saw COMMON MURRE, MARBLED MURRELET, and
PIGEON GUILLEMOT. We rented bikes on San Juan Island and rode over to American
Camp but were pressed for time and didn’t see much. On the ferry back to
Anacortes, we saw several dark alcids that appeared to have white on the face.
At first, we thought they might be puffins but then got a close look at one and
realized they were Rhinoceros Auklets carrying fish.
Late in the afternoon of June 25, we took the ferry from Widbey Island to Port
Townsend in hopes of seeing a Tufted Puffin. Although there was a lot of alcid
activity, we did not find our target. We drove on to Diamond Point and pointed
the scope out to Protection Island. We didn’t have much hope of seeing a puffin
as we scoped a few other alcids. Dalcio was scoping a COMMON MURRE when a
TUFTED PUFFIN miraculously drifted into the field of view! This was one of my
luckiest birding moments. What a spectacular bird!
We began June 26 in the Idaho Panhandle with stops along Smith Creek and the
road to Roman Nose Lakes. The birding was very slow apparently due to wind and
cool weather (but it seems that logging activity is also a factor). I got a
glimpse of an interesting looking woodpecker and we saw signs of fresh activity
on some of the dead trees, but we failed to locate the desired Three-toed
Woodpecker. However, it was nice to hear TOWNSEND’S WARBLER and VARIED THRUSH
singing. In the afternoon, we stopped at Riverside State Park, where I showed
Dalcio one of the BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS. We had some nice birds along I-90
on the way back to Seattle, including FERRUGINOUS HAWK and YELLOW-HEADED
BLACK-BIRD.
Common Loon, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Brandt’s Cormorant,
Pelagic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Turkey Vulture,
Canada Goose, Mallard, Gadwall, Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter, Red-breasted
Merganser, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Swainson’s
Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon,
Ring-necked Pheasant, Blue Grouse, California Quail, American Coot, Killdeer,
Heerman’s Gull, Ring-billed Gull, California Gull, Western Gull,
Glaucous-winged Gull, Caspian Tern, *Common Murre, *Pigeon Guillemot, *Marbled
Murrelet, Rhinoceros Auklet, *Tufted Puffin, Rock Dove, Band-tailed Pigeon,
Mourning Dove, Great Horned Owl, Common Nighthawk, *Black Swift, *Vaux’s Swift,
White-throated Swift, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird, Belted
Kingfisher, Red-naped Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker,
*Black-backed Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Western
Wood-Pewee, Willow Flycatcher, Hammond’s Flycatcher, Gray Flycatcher,
Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Eastern Kingbird, Cassin’s Vireo,
Warbling Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Gray Jay, Steller’s Jay, Black-billed Magpie,
American Crow, *Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Horned Lark, Tree Swallow,
Violet-green Swallow, Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, Black-capped
Chickadee, Mountain Chickadee, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtit, Red-breasted
Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, House Wren, Winter Wren, Marsh Wren, Golden-crowned
Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Western Bluebird, Townsend’s Solitaire, Veery,
Swainson’s Thrush, Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Varied Thrush, Cedar Waxwing,
European Starling, Orange-crowned Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler,
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Townsend’s Warbler, MacGillivray’s Warbler, Common
Yellowthroat, Wilson’s Warbler, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Lazuli
Bunting, Spotted Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Brewer’s Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow,
Lark Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed
Junco, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Yellow-headed Blackbird,
Brewer’s Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Red Crossbill, Pine
Siskin, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow.