Birding with the Boys - 7/1

A tradition of sorts

I've taken my son and nephew along once a year on a hiking and/or camping and/and birding trip for three straight summers now.  This year, we made it a nice hike near Stevens Pass, taking the trail from the Smithbrook Trailhead, up to the Pacific Crest Trail, down to Lake Valhalla, and up to Mount McCausland.

The annual XY trip

Birding with people that aren't all that interested in birds?  Going on a hike in the mountains is perfect.  There won't be too too many birds, and the ones you do find will often be more interesting!  The road to Smithbrook Trail was clear all the way through, and I made several stops for birds that were missing from my yearlist, but had been seen here or nearby:  Red-breasted Sapsucker, Brown Creeper, Sooty Grouse and Clark's Nutcracker were all ones I was keeping an ear out for.  The one I got was an Orange-Crowned Warbler (176 for the year in Chelan). 

With all of the songs I'd heard on my big day in May, I was shocked not to have heard this warbler, which has a fun little downslurred song.  Even at home in King County, though, I know they usually show up in migration, and then are pretty picky about habitat, sometimes heading to higher elevations as this guy did.  With some patience, I finally saw a little yellow ball pop up and drop back down into the vegetation.  No field marks, really, but then again Orange-crowned Warblers have nearly none to speak of!

The view during most of the lower part of the hike

Once out of the car, we were swarmed by mosquitos.  There were stretches of the day where this was not the case, but I don't remember them all that well, so we will assume that a high-pitched buzz was a constant part of the soundtrack as we walked.  It was not the only part of the soundtrack, however, as we started to climb.  Hermit and Varied Thrushes (my favorite bird) sang to us as we climbed through switchbacks that would approach large meadowed slopes, then angle away and back again.  The mix of habitat meant a nice mix of warblers - MacGillivray's, Nashville, Wilson's, Townsend's (many of these, with nice views), and even a Black-throated Gray! 

Budding botanist taking pictures of flowers

At one point, a new song came from the meadows on the other side of the wall of trees guarding the switchback.  It was one I was ready for, although I may have heard the song only once since I started birding:  Lincoln's Sparrow! (177).  These birds are ones I am used to finding in the lowlands of Puget Sound during the winter, and even then, they tend to be a little skulky and quiet.  Having them in their breeding habitat and singing was a nice treat, although not getting to see these beautiful sparrows was tough.

Higher up, we occasionally had finches passing overhead - only Pine Siskins and Evening Grosbeaks, although I did get some crossbill sounds that were either an unfamiliar type (Ponderosa Pine??) or White-winged, or... other confusion species which I just couldn't conjure up at the time, so I had to just let them go as they flew out of earshot.

I think we decided Helvellas Vespertina - Western Fluted Elfin Saddle

As we reached the Pacific Crest Trail, the trail leveled out, and the climb prior to this point was not all that difficult.  This led us along more mixed habitat with some of the same birds mentioned above, but also with quite a few hummingbirds.  Rufous was the most common, and I could identify them by sound, but the others... Likely Calliope, but possibly Black-chinned??... couldn't really be identified.

My nephew, about to enter college, and my son, about to enter high school, talked nearly non-stop, with much high school veteran advice passed along.  I had tried to find a way to get a second car waiting at Stevens Pass so that we could do the through hike, as I could imagine the two of them covering an awful lot of miles without hardly noticing.  For our purposes, taking the side-trail down to Lake Valhalla was the backup plan we pursued. 

Lake Valhalla from the trail to Mount McCausland

Not a lot of snow to cross, but patches here and there

Now... we are talking about a tarn with an epic name, and crystal clear cool water on the first day of July after 4 miles of hiking.  I'd love to tell you that we slipped off the shoes and socks and spent some time dangling the feet in the water (which is exactly what we did on our hike the previous year in Mason County!), but as I sat and watched my son sprinting in a circle, slapping his shirt to kill the bloodsuckers landing on him, I thought... ya know... we don't really need to be here too much longer.

We got our pictures and returned to the PCT.  Along the way we passed other hikers that had done the side trail up to Mount McCausland.  It sounded manageable and worthwhile, so we did tackle that before heading back to the car.  This trail was a bit steep, and the bugs really didn't cool down.  It was nice to hear a singing Ruby-crowned Kinglet along the way!  They breed at high altitudes and it had been a while since I'd heard their complex song.

We were close to turning it back, but I needed to finish this hike.  We were so close to being able to see Glacier Peak from the top - a rare view of the massive, but well concealed peak - and I had to confirm with my son entering high school that I could essentially tackle any reasonable hike with him.  This felt reasonable, outside of the bugs!  We continued, and eventually found ourselves greeted by a singing Townsend's Solitaire, views of distant peaks, and views of nearby lakes down below us.  I made a mental note that we had also found our way to a county line, with Snohomish County running right up against Chelan County here.  It's always nice to take it right to the edge.

Glacier Peak from Mount McCausland

The walk down is always harder than the walk up for me, it seems.  The ankle starts to grow weary of balancing on uncertain footing, the toe gets sick of being jammed against the end of my shoe, and my knee almost always joins in on the conversation as well. Nonetheless, we made it back alive, and had some celebratory ice cream at Stevens Pass before heading back home.

FYI:  Hiking distance was a little over 8 miles.  Hiking time was about 5 hours. 

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.
 

Father's Day in Chelan County - Part one (June 19th)

Father's Day Plans

A Happy Wish from my daughter

With all of the time in Chelan birding this year, I wanted some of that time to be with the fam, so Father's Day was loosely planned around a trip in that direction.  We knew there would be a trip to Camas Meadows, which I had never visited during hours of daylight, but beyond that... Wenatchee?  Leavenworth?   We brought two cars so that at the end of the trip, I could stay for an extra day of birding.  A day??   So close to the solstice, it would almost feel like two days of birding!

Camas Meadows Preserve

Declan and I reached Camas Meadows, having taken a different route than Maura and Bre as we left Renton and made our way to I-90.  Unfortunately, a turn was missed, and it was an extra hour or so at the parking lot for Camas Meadows before the girls arrived.  Declan and I strolled around the roads near the parking lot - whistling for Northern Pygmy Owl, and finding some warblers, flycatchers and sparrows while we waited. 

Declan has been with me on a handful of birding trips and he's picked up a good bit of knowledge, if not a deep interest in all of it.  More than anything, the kids make sure to know enough of what's going on to poke fun at me, and that is perfect.  For the longest time, Declan and I had been working on something that would have been a lot like Pokemon Go, I swear, except it would have involved bird-watching.  Find a bird, add it to your deck.  Find it somewhere else, level it up.  Level up your Osprey enough and it can learn Plunge Dive.  We would always negotiate the rules as we walked, and come up with some fun game design ideas. 

The girls finally arrived, and we started our walk.  

Camas meadows is an interesting area -there are a fair number of endemic plant species that are protected in this preserve, and we arrrived when a handful of them were in bloom.  We took a short trail out into the meadows, and... well, it seemed like we had lost the trail.  "Let's go ask them!"  We decided, spying a group of people walking a few hundred feet away in the meadow.  We couldn't exactly find the trail leading to them, so we made our way as best we could.

Oops... we found as we arrived at the group, that this was an organized native plants walk... and that we were NOT supposed to be out in the meadows.  We quite sheepishly asked for the lowest-impact way back to the road, and started back.  They weren't really worried about us being there, per se, but I know that limiting access is part of what makes this area work. 

Following a path of sorts

We enjoyed the natural beauty of the place during the walk, although there were no new year birds for the county (Orange-crowned warbler, Northern Pygmy-Owl, and Willow Flycatcher were among the ones I had hoped for), there was a lot to see and hear:  Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Western Wood-Pewe, Cassin's and Warbling Vireo, Tree and Violet-green Swallows, Red-breasted Nuthatch, House Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Western Bluebirds (seen well by the kids, which made me happy!), American Robin, Cedar Waxwing, Nashville, MacGillivray's and Yellow Warblers, Chipping Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, Cassin's Finch, Pine Siskin and American Goldfinches.  The habitat is broken up between meadows and forest, which led to a lot of diversity in a small area.

Leavenworth

Not a bad view for lunch!

We hadn't really been to Leavenworth as a family, and we were looking for a nice place to go for lunch, so we drove up to Highway 2, took a left and drove up to Ye Olde Leavenworthe.  We had fun reading nearly every sign in a heavily affected Bavarian accent, but the frivolity was out the window as soon as we realized what we were up against for parking.  When this town is busy, nearly every spot in town seems to be occupied!  We finally parked almost a half-mile out from where we had planned to go for lunch, but on such a lovely day... who could care?

We looked over the menu at Visconti's and decided we would all be able to find something worthwhile. The pizzas looked pretty good, and would suit Bre as well.  Bre Pizza is something that some restaurants can really nail - a plain crust and parmesan cheese.   I know... it sounds simple, but when the crust is thin to the point where it is almost like a cracker in places, and the parmesan is the Good Stuff, it takes my plain-eating wife and daughter to a very happy place.  Visconti's was able to do that quite well.  I got a pizza with some cured meats that were made locally at Cure, and it made for an amazing late afternoon meal.

Blackbird Island

After eating, we decided to make one more walk - Blackbird Island!  This is a very birdy spot that I had simply never been to, much like Camas Meadows.  On a sunny day, there was plenty of shade to make the walk easy to boot.  It was SO fun to see so many other dads out enjoying the day with their families, as we wended our way through slightly varied habitat, although all in all it was riparian, this island being right in the middle of the Wenatchee River.  Gulls on the river, warblers and vireos in the trees, and families of mallards on the little ponds in the middle.  It was a beautiful spot, and I'm sure would be even more amazing earlier in the year, and earlier in the day.

After dinner, we took a lazy walk through town, tasting some wine, looking at the arts and crafts out on display, and finally getting some gelato (blood orange... yum.)    As we finished up, it was getting on towards 2 and we decided it was time to part ways, as Bre needed to get home and work the next day, and I had a stop or two I wanted to make before the day was done. 

Stand-up paddler on Lake Wenatchee

Fish Lake

Uhhh...wait..slow down

I should preface my visit to Fish Lake by explaining that there is a marsh in the corner of the lake that is 1) excellent habitat for some birds that can honestly be quite difficult to find in the county and 2) quite impossible to view unless approached by boat.  Fact number three is that there are pontoon boats that are rented out strictly to fishermen... well almost strictly. 

If I'm lacking in any other skills as a birder, I make up for some of them by being a little personable, and after a little discussion, I found myself listening to instructions for operating a pontoon boat.  I've... never driven a motorized boat in my life but tried to make sure none of that painted my expression as I listened.  I mean... I've driven a school bus, and had a degree in physics.  Surely those two things together would be enough for me to figure it out? 

I pulled out from the dock, so far so good, and then out onto the open water.  Oh my lord, I realize now why people get boats.  The feeling of freedom, moving out on the water was absolutely amazing, and the breeze on a warmish June day was not bad either.  Early on, as I rounded the corner towards the bog on the West end, I saw my first target:  A Western Grebe.  These are code two birds in Chelan County, and it was coming down to the time where I needed more of those located.  I had expected it to be the Columbia River, or maybe Lake Chelan, but this bird had been seen earlier in the week, so I was happy to relocate it - bird number 167 for the year.

Western Grebe - Fish Lake

As I neared the marsh itself, I found another tough target:  Cinnamon Teal (168), swimming with a Ring-necked Duck close to the cattails, and I simply couldn't imagine how it could have been seen from anywhere else but on the boat. I smiled at the discovery of what could have become a nemesis bird, and then went to restart the boat. 

I don't know a lot about boats, as I stated, but when an engine won't turn over, my deep knowledge of lawnmowers tells me it ain't good.  I tried... I waited... I adjusted the throttle... I messed with as many variables as I could, but not... what was it that the woman at the store had said *not* to do with the motor?   Five, maybe ten minutes later, after a few minutes of leaving it alone, I stared at the engine... honestly, I can't remember what the last little bit of tinkering was that I tried, but it did turn over.  I counted this as lucky and made a beeline back for the docks.

Fact number four about boats is that it's easier to get them out from a dock than to guide them in, especially if narrow spaces are involved.  I had the right general idea, but was missing each time.  Fortunately some other boaters saw my plight and were able to shout out directions to guide me in.  Stepping on the dock was quite a relief to say the least.

People... go get your fishing pole and see some birds and catch some fish.  It really is a nice place, but... pay attention when they explain the Drive a Boat part. 

Wenatchee

I went to Wenatchee for the cell service and for a quick meal at a burger place.  I got my burger for free on Father's day, and then got down to checking emails and ebird.  "Least Flycatcher????" I read from the ebird alert, noting that Harlequin Duck was also on the list of birds seen.  The location - Stehekin!

Stehekin is a village at the far far end of Lake Chelan - not accessible by roads, only by boat, or for the Very Rugged people of the world, by foot via a few different backpacking routes.    We had been there as a family just a few years before, and just loved the feel of the place.  Looking over the times, and my other plans, I hatched a plan to get there the next day.  For me this felt a bit like a chase, which is a rare thing for me - dropping other plans to go see a bird, but I knew this might not be an easy bird to find otherwise, and Least Flycatchers are pretty good about staying put for at least a little while.

Bedtime

For the night,  I decided to camp at Lake Creek Campground on Entiat Valley Road, getting a Common Nighthawk on the way in for bird #169 for the year.  Campground.  Tent.  Sleep.

A Happy Father's Day :) :) :) :)

Running Tally and Needs List - updated for June onward.

166 birds by the end of May:

So here are the code 1-2 birds I have left:

Code 1 birds ("easy" birds, although it can be funny how that turns out!)

1. Common Nighthawk
2. Orange-crowned Warbler

Almost there!  The Orange-crowned are a bit of a puzzle, but I'm hopeful that we will cross paths.  These would put me at 168.

Code Two birds:  These generally take a little bit of planning, but that planning will usually result in finding the bird in question, especially if that planning means multiple attempts!

1. Blue-winged Teal (These may have to be seen in the fall - there were May sightings, but none recently)
2. Cinnamon Teal (Where do they go??  Migrated through in spring, and there are few/no fall records - only a small handful of breeding season records)
3. Northern Pintail (I had seen no reports on these until a recent report from a boat on the way up to Stehekin recorded 30 of them!  They are supposedly very local birds, so hopefully I'll be able to catch them up there.)
4. Dusky Grouse
5. Sooty Grouse (I know both of these grouse could be possible in some locations, so I'm going to work hard to spend time in areas where there ranges do not overlap, as identification may be a bit tricky otherwise)
6. Western Grebe
7. Northern Harrier (Haha.. very funny... where are you guys hiding... seriously???)
8. Least Sandpiper
9. Herring Gull (hoping late in the year is better for gulls than early in the year was)
10. Caspian Tern
11. Northern Pygmy-Owl
12. Black Swift
13. Vaux's Swift
14. Lewis' Woodpecker
15. Willow Flycatcher
16. Northern Shrike (missed it!  will have to try when winter months return)
17. Clark's Nutcracker
18. Brown Creeper
19. American Pipit
20. Bohemian Waxwing (see shrike)
21. Savannah Sparrow (Not a clue.  I've tried Burch Mountain and Oklahoma Gulch, but neither turned one up for me.  Another puzzle, although of all places, it looks like they might be findable at... Washington Pass??  We shall see!)
22. Lincoln's Sparrow (I'll look in high elevation this summer, but they seem to explode in September with sightings nearly anywhere.)


So if I "just" find all of these, along with the code 1 birds, I'd be at 190.  I've taken 47 code 2 birds off of this list so far this year, including a couple tricky ones!  It will be interesting to see which one or two give me trouble through the end of the year.   As the whole needs list shrinks, some of these will be birds I plan around - others I'll be patient for.

Code 3 birds - Birds that are seen annually, but are not as easy to find as code 2's.  These are tough birds!

1. Pacific Loon (I may miss this one as a spring migrant, so I'll be hoping for them on the Columbia in mid-October to mid November)
2. Tundra Swan (also more likely as a fall migrant now, with an even smaller window.  I felt luck to find Trumpeters back in January on the Columbia!)
3.  Eurasian Wigeon (missed one early in the year.  Fingers crossed for the fall.)
4. Harlequin Duck (Icicle Creek and some other high elevation streams have these guys breeding.  It will take some planning and persistence, but they'll be out there.)
5. White-tailed Ptarmigan ("Sahale Arm" comes up for Chelan County, with several sightings along a ridge surrounding a lake.  There are also some spots down in the Enchantments, which might fit with a search for the Harlequins.  This would be a life bird for me!)
6. Eared Grebe (missed some by a day, darn it.  Although they do breed in Eastern Washington, that does not include, to my knowledge, anywhere in Chelan.  Fall migration - fingers crossed)
7. Northern Goshawk (year round and in Chelan, it can be just about anywhere, although high elevation clear cuts are classic habitat for them.  I won't try to find one.  Hopefully one will find me.)
8.  Rough-legged Hawk (winter bird that I missed.  For this one and goshawk, the fall migration might be productive up on Chelan Ridge)
9. Sandhill Crane (my best shot just passed with spring migration)
10. Western Sandpiper (probably fall migration)
11.  Greater Yellowlegs (I'll miss the spring migration, and will hope for fall.  This is sounding far too familiar!)
13. Bonaparte's Gull (May and October, apparently.  I'd take any gull)
14. Glaucous-winged Gull (winter birds - maybe next winter, yeah?)
15. Black-chinned Hummingbird (not a clue - hoping for feeder reports, honestly)
16. Anna's Hummingbird (same deal, obviously in winter, they would be easier to pick out! Other species will largely clear out by October)
17. Red-breasted Sapsucker (another Lake Wenatchee target, although they will also be mixed in with Red-naped and hybrids for the months to come)
18. Black-backed Woodpecker (excited for this search as well - recent burns on either side of Lake Chelan should be drivable by my next trip)

So the code three birds would bring me to... 208.  Now, I'm not expecting to find all of these.  No way!  So far in four trips, I've found 27 birds at code 3 or higher.  If I pick up 2-3 on average in the trips to come, I could even miss some of the code 2 birds (which I certainly will!)  Nearly 30 other species of shorebirds and gulls alone have wandered into Chelan, and there are a handful of code 4-5 birds (Spruce Grouse, Broad-winged Hawk, Boreal Owl, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Gray-crowned Rosy Finch and White-winged Crossbill) that I'll be making efforts to find as the summer moves along and the hiking gets a little more snow-free.

Thankfully, some of these overlap with other birds I'm looking for.  For example, in September, I plan to hit the Hawkwatch, which has possibilities for Rough-legged, Northern Harrier, Northern Goshawk, Broad-winged Hawk and Swainson's Hawk, although not all at the same time.  A trip to the county line may bring me Black-backed Woodpeckers and Dusky Grouse, while also holding the possibility of Spruce Grouse.

I'm reeling a bit from the 50+ birds I added in May - still have to work out the plans for June and July, although I know at least some of it will be with the kiddos, as all of us have the summer off.  There are definitely some attempts I'll make to clean up on some of the breeding birds (Willow Flycatcher at Stevens?  Black-chinned at feeders?  Savannah Sparrow and Lewis's Woodpecker, but where?).

I'm leaning more and more towards a hike from Stehekin to Washington Pass in July, and I'm *really* liking the idea of another "blanket" trip in October - getting a field trip set up with groups covering different parts of the county in the morning, then meeting up to share notes a little after lunch, with the afternoon free to chase down good sightings from the morning.  With so many possibilities along the Columbia, at the parks in Wenatchee, and at the few shorebird spots in the county like the Cashmere STP, I'm hopeful that this could turn up some good birds.

So that's where it all sits!   If you have any thoughts as the year goes along, please drop me a message!