September Trip - Day two: 9/11

Wenatchee to Chelan

The turn off of Apple Acres Road to Antoine Creek

I made it another early one, driving up from Wenatchee through Chelan, then turning off at Apple Acres Road.  This is a neat road with a lot of mixed habitat.  A few years back, I made a trip through here to bring my life list up to 99 (!), picking up a nice mix of sparrows (Chipping, Brewer's, Lark), as well as Lazuli Bunting and Western Meadowlark.  I didn't really stop to bird it today, as the sun had already begun to rise, and I was excited to get a good day up on Chelan Ridge at the Hawkwatch Observatory.

Burns from Antoine Creek Road - streaks of shadows

Chelan Ridge

Now... I will be honest, this is one of those places that justify my obsession with maps.  The map has a line... but you don't really know about the road until you've been on it (it was quite driveable) A Birder's Guide to Washington has a mark for the observatory, but in my head, I really had a different picture.  Visitor's Center?  Some kind of paved veranda where people set up their scopes and watch as docents point out the birds coming by?  It was none of the above, but I loved having a chance to take the guesses and replace them with... a Place.

I drove the switchbacks, watching the little dot on my phone gps approach the road running along Chelan Ridge, and all signs seemed to indicate that I was going the right way.  As I said, it was quite drivable, and it was fun having a few birds get my attention before even making it to the top.  A flock of about 20 Mountain Bluebirds confused me for a good while until I heard others calling later in the day.  A Red-tailed Hawk and an accipter (sp?) hinted at the hawks I'd get to see at the top.

Tally board - Chelan Ridge

Accipiter (sp?)

Accipiters are a family of hawks including Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, and Northern Goshawks.  They are superficially pretty similar, and are variable enough (from juveniles to adults, males to females) in size and appearance to make identification tricky, especially when they aren't seen well.  Among other things, I was hopeful to come out of the trip with a better understanding of how to (and when not to) separate these species from each other in the field.  

Full disclaimer.  I learned so much while I was up on this trip.  I've forgotten... way too much of it.  This has always been a struggle for me - working out what bird I'm looking at when many field marks are in play (tail length, head size, bend of the wings, wings held horizontal, up or below horizontal, head color, terminal band, width of body and overall bulk, soaring or "buoyant" flight... There's a start).  That said, I want to head back up again and again to Chelan Ridge!

Chelan Ridge

Hmmmm

I arrived at the T in the road and the ridgeline road, taking a right towards the Hawkwatch.  Cooper Mountain is also on the way, and a short walk (wouldn't take the car up there, by the way) took me to a very nice view of the ridge and surrounding mountains.  Even there, I startled something that I could only identify as a hawk!  Continuing along the road past Cooper Mountain, I arrived at a parking area... and a yurt.

This was strange.  There were a handful of cars, but nobody to be seen in any direction.  I found a sign... "We know you are here.  Please wait.  We will come for you."  It was a paraphrase, but still a little creepy!  I waited and walked a little bit, trying to get some hot water going for coffee before realizing my lighter was out of fuel.  I peeked in the yurt - lots of water and snacks and a few chairs - and at the cages nearby - starlings and doves in cages.  (I later found out these were there as food for birds that they catch while they are banding them).

Apparently they weren't expecting visitors quite so early, so I made it up to the second parking area, and saw a sign for the trail to the observatory.  Towhees, bluebirds, yellow-rumped warblers and even Rock Wrens sang to me as I walked the 3/4 mile trail.  At one point I saw a figure standing on rocks in the distance, and figured I was on the right trail.  The numerous informational signs were also a good indication!  I read each as I walked, and eventually made it to a rocky outcrop where I startled two men with binoculars, bundled up heavily at the top. 

Wait... this can be.. a job????

mmmm... quantitative data...

TC and JD (I think I got the names right!) were the Hawkwatch staff up there tallying birds and recording other data while I was there, and it's hard to think of when I've been able to spend time with people that owned such a rich combination of knowledge, humor, and good spirit.  More than anything, they were excited to share their understanding of the birds coming through.  We were chatting away, and at one point, the binoculars went up "Here comes one."

I am a quiet observer when birds are making sounds, but here I was amazed.  The two of them, once the bird was in binoculars.  Stayed on it, silent as it came from the North, passed the ridge, and continued for what may have been a mile or more away.  "Cooper's?" TC finally offered, and they discussed the different field marks and what other birds they were considering.  Usually the calls were a little easier, but it was just a matter of waiting for the right angle with this one. 

I also noticed that, as birds came into sight, they identified them as migrants or "locals".  Asking about it, they have some birds that hunt in the area and have not left for southern climes yet.  Others will hunt in the mornings wherever they are while they wait for the wind to get right.  It was pushing towards the south when I arrived - something that I would have assumed would be good!  Birds migrating south need a little wind in their face, it turns out, as it gives them some lift, allowing them to rise fairly high up and soar for miles at a lower energy cost.

Chelan Ridge itself gets more than its fair share of migrating raptors - something about the landscape in the immediate area, and perhaps in the areas to the north as well, funnels the birds to this area, where they enjoy thermals - warm uprisings of air that also assist in their efforts.  Much of the traffic happens later in the day, as the wind conditions usually improve during the day, so my 9:30-12:00 shift was not well timed! 

I didn't add any Chelan birds on this segment of the trip, although I did get to see a handful of Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks and a few Turkey Vultures. In classic "you should have been here...." fashion, a Swainson's Hawk and Northern Goshawk had been seen the afternoon before, and six (!!!!!) Broad-winged Hawks were seen later in the day after I left the ridge! 

These birds spend nearly no time in Washington State, but a few sites in Canada find them bunching up in September, then heading down during the middle of the month.  This was a little on the early side, but not a complete surprise.  Any of the three species would have been a nice addition to the yearlist, but getting to the spot and being able to add the road and the site to my list of Places That Really Really Do Exist Because I've Been There was totally worth it.  To be honest, a goal like 200 species is as much about getting me to new places as anything else.  This is one of the most beautiful ones I've been to.

Down down down

I descended to the town of Chelan down Cooper Mountain Road, passing the aforementioned T and winding down a similarly very drivable road.  No trouble at all was had in negotiating the road, and there were a few good places to pull over and listen.

Squirrel!!!

Okay... I bird by ear quite a bit, and at one point I heard a dry, hard, high-pitched, repeated call... and I was pretty darn sure that I was hearing a Black-backed Woodpecker!  I got my phone out and recorded the call before stumbling out and trying to find the source of the noise.  I tried to see around the trees lining the road but just plain old failed to even see any birds fly in or out of the area where I'd heard them.

Here's the thing.  It sounded like a Black-backed Woodpecker... ish.  There was something about the cadence of the call and the weird location for the culprit that just didn't fit, but... what the heck was it?   Having spent the first ten years of my birding doing almost nothing but chasing down squirrel noises to discover that they were squirrels, I figured it must be.  I tried Douglas, Western Gray, Eastern Gray... I tried some other pretty unlikely ones and had even started in with chipmunks!

Finally, I sent the recording off to Ryan Merrill - a pretty solid birder with a good set of ears. 

Red Squirrel.

See... I'd looked at this from the department of fish and wildlife:

So I didn't think that Red Squirrels would be down-slope from Chelan Ridge on the Lake Chelan side.

But... this is a little more accurate, it would seem (from naturemapping.com)

So there you go!  This amazing strip of Chelan northeast of the lake includes some different fauna as well.  The match for Red Squirrel was very clean, and my ears and brain found some peace.

Mostly just heading home, but...

uhh...Snake - Beebe Springs

I did make a few stops on the way back.  Wapato Lake (nothing surprising), Beebe Springs (still some rails in the marsh!), then across the Columbia to Douglas County.  I tried scoping a few times from this side, and found it was pretty productive.  Not... that I found a lot of birds, or any new birds at all, but the sandbars on the far side were not so far away that one couldn't identify the gulls sitting on them, all in all.  There were no Caspian Terns on those sand bars, for example.  I'm pretty confident of that!

Chelan from Douglas

Orondo Cider Works

I grabbed apple cider, a couple dozen apple cider donuts, and a 40-50 pound box of Honeycrisp apples for $35 dollars.  Finishing up the last one a few days ago reminded me that I'd better finish up the blog!

A swing through Scotty Creek Road off of Blewett Pass finally got me my first Northern Pygmy-Owl of the year - bird 189 for the year and the only new one for the day!

Scotty Creek Road

Partly to show where abouts I heard the Northern Pygmy Owl, partly to have you look for the house in the picture

September Trip - Day One 9/10

Migration

I missed much of spring migration, so I had a lot of hopes for this trip to Chelan.  Shorebirds (my list was stuck at 4 species of them), gulls (2), and raptors were the main targets.  The shorebirds were not something I held a lot of hope for, given the dry August and dry start of September.  They need mud!  One of the best locations for shorebirds in the county - The Cashmere STP - had been dry for some time, meaning that a search of the Wenatchee waterfront would be in order.


Looking for raptors on Chelan Ridge would also be part of the plan.  In the entire state, this is perhaps the single best spot to watch raptors come through in the fall, and I'd never visited!   Factoring in other possibilities, including recent reports, I had hopes for adding a handful of birds to the year list.  Sitting at 185, and the year starting to come to a close, 200 birds is sitting right where it should:  Not easy.  Not impossible.   My favorite kind of goal.

Bright and early

Okay... maybe just early

Incidentally, this is my favorite way to start a trip.  Ridiculously early departure time to get somewhere before the sun comes up.  I made my... well I'm not sure how many times I've done Blewett Pass this year, but I used to think it took a long time to navigate it.  It feels like an easy drive now, maybe because I recognize the turnoffs as I go, rather than just seeing it as an endless winding road.  Wenatchee was the first landing point for me.  I tried Horse Lake Road, making perhaps my last attempt at a Wester... I mean California Scrub-Jay that had been seen there.  Interesting finds nonetheless, including an Anna's Hummingbird, (had been tough earlier in the year), and a Lincoln's Sparrow (not new for the year, but they are in migration and show up everywhere this time of year.

Confluence State Park

I started on the Confluence end - the northern end of the string of waterfront parks in Wenatchee, with dreams of gulls, shorebirds and sparrows.  The gull was the first one to come.  A Herring Gull on a little sandbar where the Wenatchee River empties out into the Columbia.  A dozen or so yellow-footed gulls had a few pink-footed ones joining them - the first ones I'd seen all year in Chelan!  I'll admit that I haaaaaaaate working with immature gulls, but I think I survived this ID challenge well enough.

Herring Gull

Understand... I was holding my phone up and pointing it at the gulls with the sand bar in the center, then inserting my binoculars in front.  I got a few good enough shots and some video to go with Herring Gulls - the most likely pink footed gull in the county.  They had dark primaries (not a Glaucous-winged), and the flatter head and thicker bill fit Herring Gull quite well. 186 for the year!

The gulls were seen as I walked south along the edge of the large campground, taking advantage of peekaboo views of the water where I could.  As I continued along the edge, I found another Lincoln's Sparrow in the brush.  Several ducks were floating around in the little sloughs, including a Wood Duck, which is a species I hadn't seen in quite a few months.

Horan Natural Area

Plenty of Savannah Sparrows in there

I haven't been able to tell properly from signs, but in my head, when I have crossed the bridge over the Wenatchee, and turn towards the Columbia, I'm in the Horan Natural Area.  The tall grass in here held a dozen or two Savannah Sparrows (187) which had been such a tough bird to find - not so in migration! They were easily pulled up with some light pishing, and seemed to be mixed in equal numbers with White-crowned Sparrows - both of them flushing constantly from the trail in front of me to dive into the tall grass.

Walla Walla Point Park

So, once I get back to the main paved path, I figure I'm in Walla Walla Point Park.  Walking along the tree-lined edge of the park and trying to get a view of the water, I was running into trouble, but it does open up if you keep walking - allowing a good view of the little cove and a good bit of mud as well.  While most of the mud was occupied by gulls and killdeer, I did get a good clear call from a Western Sandpiper - the strained quality separating it from Least Sandpiper - and with binoculars was able to see the little peep alongside a Killdeer.  Still too far out for a good view, but it made for a good morning with three new species, putting me at 188 for the year.

There's a Western Sandpiper in this picture for those that are counting - Walla Walla Point Park

Then I walked all the way back.

This isn't a highlight, obviously, but it's gotta be done anytime I do this park.  Ugh!

Breakfast!

I wanted a chance to get a bite, and also to check for any interesting reports for the day, so I pulled into Smitty's in town and joined the midmorning brunchers of Wenatchee.  The food was just fine, and the coffee a little weak (it has to be in a local café in Eastern Washington, yeah?), and the service was great.  The best report I had to follow was one from Clara Lake near Mission Ridge that included a Brown Creeper and a Black-backed Woodpecker, so that became priority number one.

Clara Lake Trail

Clara Lake Trail

Heading up from the Mission Ridge Ski Area above Wenatchee, a trail leads up to Clara Lake, along a moderately steep, but well maintained trail.  The biggest thing I noticed on the way up, at the lake, and on the way down.  There were an awful lot of dogs on the trail!

Bird-wise, this was a big dip, although there were a few nice surprises.  Quite a few Hairy Woodpeckers - nice views of them, and a nice chance to get even more familiar with their drumming pattern.  Some hikers asked me something about did-I-see-the-bear while I was looking for one of these Hairy Woodpeckers, but I was pretty focused.

Clara Lake

Fireweed

The lake itself was pretty enough, and I spied a few hammocks strung up on the far side of the lake - not a bad idea on a pleasant day as it was.  Lots of critters were chattering on the way up as well, mostly chipmunks of one kind or another, but not the birds I was looking for.

On the way down, I stopped to get some pictures of fireweed, thinking ahead to a fire ecology unit we do later in the year, when I saw a couple sparrows scurry off of the trail in front of me.  I waited for them, and found that they were Golden-crowned Sparrows - not a very common find for me at this altitude, and in this much tree cover, although this break in the trees, and the seed crop available helped me make sense of it.

Hotel/Evening explorations

South of Wenatchee - a few lakes

I decided, dusty and sweaty and tired as I was after a couple hikes, that a hotel was in order, so I grabbed a room at the Economy Inn in Wenatchee while trying to figure out what exactly to chase to finish out the day.  I decided to try the lakes near Malaga for waterfowl (I still need Blue-winged Teal and Northern Pintail for the year),

It was interesting trying to find a good view of the little lake just off of the Malaga-Alcoa Highway, and was able to eventually find a few Great Blue Herons, Mallards, and Green-winged Teals.  It seems like such a nice little spot, and being right off of the Columbia, it wouldn't shock me at all to find some better birds in there at different times of the day or different times of the year.

Lake Cortez has a single pull off that allows for views down the narrowest part of the lake. I found nothing of real interest here with the limited view.

Meadow Lake after sunset

Meadow Lake was a bit better!  I found a nice pull off that allowed for good views across the lake.  Nothing too interesting showed up, but with the muddy edges of this lake, I think it would be a good stop during any migration period.  More interesting, in the marsh on the other side of the road, I was able to call up a Virginia Rail - not an easy bird in the county!

Back to the waterfront

The sun was down, and it seemed like it was still light enough to try for Barn Owl at Horan Natural area.  I zipped back through Wenatchee and got to the park just in time to explain to the ranger that I just wanted to run in and look for Barn Owls, which had A) been seen in the park recently and 2) ought to have been hunting at this time of day.  "You want... wait what?"   I explained it again, and he laughed, letting me in.


I hit a pretty good jog across the bridge - a good sign for my ankle which is still on the mend (indefinitely?), and arrived at the large field just inside Horan.  I waited, listened, tried a couple calls - mostly mouse squeaks, but I saw nothing as I scanned the area with my eyes and binoculars.  I gave it about 15-20 minutes and finally gave it up.  After a little negotiation with a family of deer blocking the path, I got back to the car, the hotel, the bed.