The Pacific Northwest: An Introductory Birding Tour Aug 02—06, 2008
Posted by Bob Sundstrom
Bob Sundstrom
Bob Sundstrom has led VENT tours since 1989 to destinations including Hawaii, Mexico, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, Iceland, Papua New Guinea, the Southwest Pacific islands,...Related Trips
Mid-summer is a fine season to enjoy the wildlife and scenic beauty of the Pacific Northwest region. Participants on our 2008 Pacific Northwest Introductory tour, a five-day tour, met mid-afternoon at the Seattle airport, and then we drove directly to the rural South Puget Sound region. Here we birded the upper reaches of Scatter Creek, where a few Vaux's Swifts flew with flocks of Violet-green Swallows, and Willow Flycatchers and a Red-breasted Sapsucker drew our interest. Nearby, we enjoyed an excellent dinner at my home in the country, while watching lots of bird activity in the yard. Purple Finches and Black-headed Grosbeaks competed for space at the feeders, as did Western Scrub-Jays and Band-tailed Pigeons, while ten or more Rufous Hummingbirds sped back and forth among the flowers. California Quail pairs cautiously escorted broods of chicks through the yard.
We birded early the following morning in the same area, adding such birds as Western Tanager, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Winter Wren, Marsh Wren, and Wilson's Warblers to our sightings. A few miles down the road, we had great views of a silvery White-tailed Kite, as well as a singing Lazuli Bunting, both new and unusual additions to the tour's historical list. Along the oak-shaded edge of lower Scatter Creek, we found Warbling Vireos, Western Wood-Pewees, a Pacific-slope Flycatcher, and a busy pair of Brown Creepers. By late morning we were driving the scenic west shore of Hood Canal, heading north toward the Olympic Peninsula. After a lunch with the option of homemade pie or cobbler in Brinnon, we took a turn along the Dosewallips River. The shady forest along the river, lush with ferns and mosses, was beautiful enough. But just as we turned to leave, a hen Sooty Grouse escorting her brood stopped right in the middle of the gravel road—an exceptional view of this Northwest specialty and a new bird for many in the group. Our next stop was for an American Dipper along the Quilcene River. And within an hour we stood on the beach at the mouth of Discovery Bay, scoping iconic Tufted Puffins, Rhinoceros Auklets with bills full of silvery fish, and black Pigeon Guillemots flashing their scarlet feet in flight.
The following day, after a wonderful breakfast in Port Angeles, we drove into Olympic National Park and up the scenic, winding road to Hurricane Ridge, a mile above the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Road work along the way made birding a bit awkward, but we managed good views of Olive-sided Flycatcher and Townsend's Warbler, and enjoyed roadside meadows loaded with summer wildflowers. At one point a flock of crossbills flew over—which turned out to be White-winged Crossbills, very rare here, but likely part of the widespread irruption of this finch species going on this summer. By late morning we were strolling along Hurricane Hill Trail, where Chestnut-backed Chickadees chattered at eye level, and a blonde, endemic Olympic marmot sunned atop a boulder in an alpine meadow. We picnicked among the mountaintops, with a grand view of the Olympic Mountains, and with the assistance of a family of Gray Jays.
That afternoon we birded the shoreline of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, near Port Angeles. Scores of Harlequin Ducks shared a log boom with a pair of Black Oystercatchers, thousands of California and Heermann's gulls, Northwestern Crows, and basking harbor seals. Near the tiny town of Dungeness, the namesake of the famous—and delectable—Dungeness crab, we found our first concentrations of southbound sandpipers.
On the final full day of our tour, we began with an early morning jaunt to Sequim Bay, where tiny Marbled Murrelets bobbed on the bay, two Whimbrels probed the rocky beach, and the first southbound Mew Gulls of the season showed up. We birded south in the morning to thickly forested Mt. Walker and beyond, scoped an Osprey nest with three near-fledglings, and had another fine lunch in Brinnon. After a break at the lodge, we returned to the Sequim-Dungeness waterfront.
The final morning of the tour, after one last sumptuous breakfast in Sequim, we visited the Dungeness River mouth. The soft morning light glowed on an adult pair of Bald Eagles, perched side by side on a driftwood log. Flocks of Black-bellied Plovers whistled mournfully and then landed on a sand spit, joined by Sanderlings and Ruddy Turnstones. All too soon it was time to ferry back across Puget Sound—through a flock of Bonaparte's Gulls—and drive to the airport.