Father's Day birding Part 2: June 20th

A long day of birding

Morning on Entiat Valley Road

Right up against the summer solstice, I had a day to bird the wheels off of the county, and some slightly optimistic plans.  I woke up at Lake Creek Campground on Entiat Valley Road and packed up as the birds started to wake up.  Hammond's Flycatchers were the dominant part of the soundtrack, along with Western Wood-Pewees and Western Tanager.  One bird had my attention for a good long while - a repeated high call that didn't sound quite right for Northern Pygmy Owl.  It took me a week or more before it sunk in that it was a Townsend's Solitaire, doing its rusty gate call.

I drove up several roads hoping to catch a Dusky Grouse on the road, a Brown Creeper calling, or a Northern Pygmy Owl to call back to me, but found none of the above - just a beautiful morning.  One bird that was finally added for the year was Willow Flycathcer (170 for the year list).  It was calling from a swampy slough about 15 miles from 97 with its wheezy fitz-bew. I tried to keep a nice balance between lolligagging and hurrying along, as I needed to catch a boat at Fields Point to get to Stehekin.  After some poking around, I zipped down to the gas station on Hwy 97 for some coffee, then backtracked to somewhere around Ardenvoir to start exploring north of the road.


Crum Canyon

Crum Canyon was a road that had several sightings of interest, including Lewis's Woodpecker, Northern Pygmy Owl, and a large number of hummingbird sightings from a house along the road.  I didn't know exactly where along the road, but was ready to pull off of this primitive road if I spied a red feeder hanging from an eave!  I did find the house, or at least one that had hummingbirds aplenty!

The easiest ones to spot at first were the Rufous Hummingbirds, of course, and most of the other ones seemed to be Calliope Hummingbirds - short tailed and short billed.  Eventually, I found a female Black-chinned in the group.  A long bill on a relatively small head, with a little bit of down-turn to it.  This... was exhausting.  Identifying birds without sounds to help me is sometimes a challenge, and I found female hummingbirds to be a tough test, especially given the dearth of experience viewing them.  The good news here was that the birds allowed me a lot of time to watch them until their field marks became more and more apparent to me.

Funky Fence on Crum Canyon Road

I've forgotten all of it since, or nearly all of it.  Someday... someday I'll be good at hummingbirds... and gulls... and shorebirds...

Mud Creek (NF 5300)

Oh dang - they were edible... Red Currant

Returning to Entiat Valley Road, and becoming quite aware of the time, I took a different road north and eastward from the main road.  Mud Creek was shown to go all the way through to roads that would take me down to Lake Chelan.  This is my favorite kind of exploration - taking the "other" road from A to B.  This road was miles of easy and about 1/4 mile of OhGodWho'sGoingToFindMyBody. 

It followed Mud Creek, which meant swallows, occasional puddles with mallards, and a nice selection of riparian birds - Veery, Yellow-breasted Chat, Willow Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, Black-headed Grosbeak, Warbling and Cassin's Vireos.  It was mostly Ponderosa Pine, but occasionally ran through alder thickets, and finally opened up as it got closer to Navarre Coulee Road.

Red-naped Sapsucker

NOGO:  Not a Goshawk. 

I had a few interesting bird encounters along the way - the first was a Red-naped Sapsucker.  I had hopes of finding Black-backed or Lewis' Woodpeckers along this road but struck out.  Nonetheless it was fun to find a nest and watch this bird flying back and forth to feed the kiddos. 

The second was a bird that had me thinking Goshawk, but upon looking at pictures turned out to be a Red-tailed Hawk.  A Red-tailed Hawk that flew along dense tree-lined forest roads in the vicinity of clear cuts... weird place to find it, but it doesn't change its genetics!  

The final fun bird was a Ruffed Grouse, which was kind enough to pose on the side of the road.

Ruffed Grouse -Mud Creek Road

Uh.. the time...

This had already been a busy morning, but I had a boat to catch at 9:20 - the express boat to Stehekin.  I was on a treacherous road, running a little behind, and the morning's coffee was... well, I was looking forward to the fact that Field's Point Landing has bathrooms.  I finally made it to Navarre Coulee Road, then up to the Ferry Docks.  I had concerns that I was just too late, but they said the boat was loading as I spoke.  I dashed down to the dock, purchased my ticket and got on a boat.

Just in time

I love being on boats.  Operating one the day before had a little bit of stress mixed in, but there is something amazing about being on the water.  The Lady Express is also the fast boat, so I would be up in Stehekin by 11:00 from there, I was a little torn.  I knew that Harlequin Ducks had been seen a good ways up river, so I assumed that for me it would be a trip up on the express and a late trip back on the Lady of the Lake.

It was fun to chat with people along the way.  There was a woman with a summer cabin in Stehekin, and a new couple, one of whom was also a high school teacher.  We talked about education, about birds, about the fires in the area - it made the time pass pretty quickly, and I was able to get the scoop on some of the birding spots I was looking for.


We did pass Holden Village, or at least the Port of Lucerne, which is the starting point for the road up to Holden.  Not being able to stay there (closed for casual visitors like myself because of last year's fires) was one of the bigger disappointments for the year.  American Three-toed Woodpeckers favor recent burns and are usually found at slightly higher elevations than Black-backed.  I thought the area around Holden would have been awesome to explore, in addition to just being able to meet the people that make the Village work.

Part of the Wolverine fire complex near Lucerne - taken from the Lady Express

Stehekin

Approaching Stehekin

Stehekin, Washington is not accessible by road.  People wanting to visit need to get on a boat, as I did, or hike in from one of several trails feeding into it from the high Cascades.  I wasn't sure if I would be making it to Stehekin this year, but a report of a Least Flycatcher gave me a good reason to check it out.

When I got off the boat, the first order of business was to walk up to one of the bike rental places a few hundred feet from the dock and ask about renting a bike.  I... really don't bike all that often.  I don't have one, although I did head out on a long bike ride with my son when we visited Yellowstone last summer.  This sounded manageable though - for twenty dollars, I would be able to cover a lot more ground along the main road up from the docks, and I wouldn't be tied to a shuttle schedule and the planned stops (this option is a good one if you have the time!  The schoolhouse in town, the bakery, and a hike to a lovely waterfall are all part of most shuttle packages).

One of those trees had a Least Flycatcher in it

So... I'm riding a bike!  My camera was tucked into the compartment on the back of the bike, and pedaled up the road to my first stop.  There is a slough right near the mouth of the Stehekin River where the flycatcher had been... well, found.   Least Flycatchers more than nearly any bird I know are heard so much more easily than seen.  They call with a repeated che-bek che-bek call, but usually stay deep in cover.  I've had four experiences with them - in King, Skagit, Walla Walla, and now Chelan County.  Never even seen a bird!  In every single case, despite sitting... waiting... I've never even seen something that I could identify as being the right size for a flycatcher.  The call is so distinctive, that it hardly matters, especially given how tricky it can be to identify Empidomax Flycatchers, but these guys are strange strange birds. 

Veery and Red-Eyed Vireo were more plentiful on the bike ride than in most stops I've made in the county.  I continued up and past the bakery, thinking a stop on the way back down would be nice.  The road was actually not all that steep, so it made for a pleasant ride.  My goal was to get to Harlequin Campground, as Harlequin Ducks had, perhaps not surprisingly, been spotted on the river near there.  Not too far past the bakery, I pulled over to scan the river...

As my old friend Pete Fahey would say:  KaChing!  Two Harlequin Ducks sat in the river - making it 173 birds for the year.  What an amazing setting to find these little guys in.  They breed in mountain streams and spend the winters in salt water.  I'd missed them on a couple attempts this year, and now they made things a little easier, cutting miles and time off of my day. 

Harlequin Ducks - Stehekin River

Dude... the tiiiime!

From my camera, it would seem my last Harlequin Duck picture was taken at 11:36.  The boat was leaving Stehekin at 12:00.  I felt a little adrenaline course through my veins as I realized the reachable challenge in front of me.  "I've got this"  I thought to myself as I grinned and started pedalling down the road to the boat.

Great idea

Pie!!!  Okay, I shouldn't have stopped for pie at the Stehekin Bakery, but... I mean... you kind of have to.  This was not as optional as some people might imagine.  I left with the plastic bag dangling from the handlebars and pedalling with even more urgency.   I passed the marsh where I had the least flycatcher and heard the boat whistle blowing.. craaaaaaaaaappp.... did that mean ten minutes?   I was a bit out of breath when I got to the bike rental place, passing the young man 20 dollars and starting to run/jog to the boat as fast as I could manage.  My legs were a bit tired from the effort, so it wasn't super fast, but I was happy that I could see the people down at the dock as I rounded the corner.

"Waaaaitttt!!!  Hold the boat!!"  I called out, and the funny thing is... people can't really hear you when they're standing right next to a loudly churning boat motor.  "Hoollld the boat!!"  The walkway was picked up and placed on the boat.  "Waaaaaiittt!"   They stepped on the boat, and one of the people on the upper deck finally heard me.  They called down and they were still able to make the step back to the dock, laying the plank back out for me.

Yeah... my camera is back there.  Bye camera!

Hehehehe  phewwwww!

About five minutes later as I was eating my celebratory pie as the boat cut through the water back towards Chelan, I thought to myself that I really shouldn't have left my camera in the compartment on the bike.  Interesting choice, Tim.  Interesting choice. 

They were able to radio up to Stehekin, and talk to the bike rental people.  Camera found.  It would arrive down in Chelan three hours after I did.

Phewwwwwwww. 

I took a nap after finishing up the delicious pie, and woke up somewhere near Field's Point Landing as the boat pulled in.

Chelan-ish

After getting off of the boat, I figured it would be a good time to follow up on a sighting from right there at the parking lot - Savannah Sparrow.  I walked that whole thing... nothing.  This bird is a code 2, and is one of the ones where I've had nearly no leads, so it was hard to dip on such a recent sighting.  Burch Mountain and Washington Pass are other places where they've been found, but they just aren't as easy to find as they are at several spots over here in King County.

Hey look!  My thumb!  Karma Vineyards near Chelan

At Lake Chelan State Park, I had a different target:  Brown Creeper.  This is a species that seems a little more widely distributed than Savannah Sparrows, but is still a code 2, and has still been hard to track down this year.  The park has a lot of trees that seem to be the right size for these little birds, but I came up empty here too.

It had been a while since I'd had a proper meal, so I stopped at Karma Vinyards for a glass of wine and a salad.  You know, one of those big salads with like.. goat cheese and walnuts and greens that actually have vitamins in them?  My body was more than happy to get the nutrition, and I wrapped up sometime after 3, with three hours to wait for my camera still.

Chelan River Gorge

I had been to the Chelan River Gorge earlier in the year with Kevin Black, and thought I'd check it out to look for... jeez, maybe some swifts (still missing Black and Vaux's), maybe Savannah Sparrows, as there are some grassy areas tucked in here and there on side roads.  Maybe a woodpecker??  What I wasn't expecting was a Dusky Grouse "Whoop"ing on the side of the road.  This was nearly perfect. 

I knew that Dusky and Sooty Grouse were both running around in Chelan County, and it might become tricky in some areas because either species might be found.  In the sparse Ponderosa Pine habitat, in between the Columbia and Chelan Butte (where there are records of Dusky Grouse), I figured I was safe to call this one Dusky.  In addition, despite the fact that it gave very few calls before dropping silent, it was just different enough from every Sooty Grouse I'd ever heard.  174 for the year, and a tricky bird found, although it would have been nice to see it.

I had to stall, and decided to visit the town of Chelan.  I got directed to the Lakeview Hotel, being told that it had been in an episode of Hotel Hell with Gordon Ramsay.  I have to say, if anyone reading this wants to know what an awesome community Chelan is, watch that episode.  My daughter and I did after I returned, and it was just... like... I want to live there now.   The restaurant/ice cream parlor was up for sale, incidentally, so now's the time to go!   Great location, and they received some nice renovations from the episode, but apparently not enough for the owners to overcome problems that they had with running the business.   For me on that day... it meant licorice ice cream, which is all I needed.

I arrived at the office for Lady of the Lake, in downtown Chelan, "Hi!  I think there's a camera on the way for me?"

The young lady at the desk, "Yes!  Can I get your name?" 

"Tim."

Pause... "Was there another name, maybe?"

This went on for a little bit.  Someone else had a camera that had been left at the office, and she had heard nothing about mine, but was pretty convinced that we were talking about the same camera.  We had a good laugh about it and I gave her a hard time.   When the boat came, however...

"There wasn't a camera on the boat."

Pause... "But... they were pretty clear that.."

She cut me off by producing the camera from behind the desk.   Well played... Well played indeed.

Heading home

As I got close to Wenatchee, and had done my share of peering out to the Columbia for terns, I tried sending an email to Deb Sutherland in Cashmere, asking if she had any Anna's Hummingbirds at her feeders.  I got a positive response, and detoured through the little town that I've visited quite a few times.  Deb greeted me warmly as always, and I got to meet her husband as well.  It was well into the evening at this point, and it didn't take much sitting for the Anna's to arrive with its characteristic strained zippy sound.  175!  What a nice round number to finish with right before the longest day of the year.  I headed for home pretty happy and feeling like I was well on my way to 200.