Little Pend Oreille NWR Field Trip (5/24-25/2022)

Little Pend Oreille NWR Field Trip
Leaders: Bea and Jim Harrison
Written By Bea and Jim Harrison

Red-naped Sapsucker (Photo by Chris Peele)

Located 70 miles north of Spokane, Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge, (LPO), is a special place that has become an annual destination for one of our Spokane Audubon field trips.  With 42,657 acres, an elevation range of 1,800 to 5,600 feet, and numerous water features, this National Wildlife Refuge provides a great variety of bird habitat. It was peaceful and quiet, except for bird calls. Also, the camping is free.

This year we had a great group of folks join us, some new and some very experienced birders, including Chris Peele, Sharon Lindsey, Alice Moravec, Fran Haywood and Lisa Langelier and her husband, Bruce.  It was great having Lisa there since she is a former LPO refuge manager. She shared her extensive knowledge of the natural and historical features of the refuge, and some fun stories.   We all enjoyed some outdoor together time, after two and a half years of Covid-19 social distancing and isolation. Jim especially enjoyed meeting Lisa’s husband, Bruce and swapping fishing “lies”.  

After all these years of birding, it’s the mystery birds that make it interesting.  We were slowly birding our way down the trail to MacDowell Lake, and we began hearing a woodpecker drumming.  We were all speculating on what it was but could not see the bird high in one of the numerous dead trees.  We had 180 years of birding experience standing around in a small group debating what that little bird was.  With that volume and rhythm, the common consensus was it had to be a Pileated Woodpecker.  The loud hammering echoed through the forest, with a haunting vibration.  Finally, Jim spotted something high in the trees.  The hammerer had a black back and some white, but it was too small for a piliated.  Lisa said she saw some red on the throat and deduced it was a sapsucker, a red-naped.  This Red-naped Sapsucker had found a hollow tree with the acoustics of a Tyco drum and he had fooled us completely. 

The first day we had nice weather but cloudy which sure made identifying the little dark silhouettes in the top of the trees tough.  Overnight rain lingered into our second day.  Overall, the bird activity was slower than in past years.  Perhaps our cooler weather this Spring?  Some of the birds we commonly see, like MacGillivray’s Warblers, couldn’t be found. 

We saw and heard about 50 species.

We will see what happens next May.

Common Goldeneye (Photo by Bea Harrison)

Upland Habitat (Photo By Bea Harrison)

Slavin Conservation Area Field Trip (5/8/2022)

Slavin Conservation Area

May 8, 2022

Report from the Field by Alan McCoy

Thirty-four degrees and breezy. In May! But that did not stop Joanie Dezember, Shenandoah Marr and yours truly from getting out early to see what kind of critters we could find. Right away as we crossed the grass a Savannah Sparrow flew right in front of us and landed no more than 10 feet away and sang its breezy song. A moment later we turned to see a male Northern Harrier hunting low and rocking side to side over the ground as they normally do. Harriers seem to be getting scarce these days so I was happy to watch him for a while. Shortly thereafter as we were just entering the pines 3 beautifully colored Red-naped Sapsuckers entertained us as they probed trees looking for food. I would guess that they were related as I don’t recall ever seeing more than one at a time.

The county has installed some signs along the trail, which I was glad to see, but they stopped at the first overlook for some reason. I hope they will eventually finish the signage along the whole trail system. There weren’t all that many people on this day, nor many with dogs and they were all on a leash but one. For that I was thankful!

The two most notable sightings for me were 3 Snow Geese flying over. Seems a bit late for them to still be here. The other was a fast-flying falcon. It was much too large to be a Merlin. It was gray above and with the prominent dark mustache it had to be a Peregrine. That is a first for me at Slavin. Did I mention that it was FAST.

One of the most productive areas at Slavin is what I call “warbler alley.” This is across the field from the first overlook where there is a row of birch trees (at least I think they are birch). Walking along quietly here I nearly always find a Yellow Warbler and a Spotted Towhee (which we did find) and this time joined by a quiet Downy Woodpecker looking for bugs.

The water supported plenty of waterfowl including abundant coots and Gadwalls. The blue bills of the many Ruddy Ducks were astonishingly saturated with color but too far away to get a decent photo. But this Cinnamon Teal was exploring nearby reeds so I was able to get a decent image just before it disappeared.

In addition to the bird life the wild flowers were wonderful. Serviceberry are in full bloom. Arrowleaf Balsamroot, Camas and wild hyacinth added so much color to the walk. It may have been cool but it was dry until a bit of graupel fell as we walked back to the parking lot. For a complete listing of the birds we saw, check eBird or click on the link below to open a spreadsheet.

Skagit County Field Trip (10/27-28/2021)

Skagit County Field Trip
Leaders: Bea and Jim Harrison
Written By Bea and Jim Harrison

Dowitchers (Photo by Bea Harrison)

The last week of October, five brave souls embarked on a mission: to experience the phenomenon that is the Skagit delta during the Fall bird migration. Burdened with copious quantities of bird books, apps, scopes, cameras, binoculars and most importantly rain gear, we rose to the occasion.

Our first stop of the morning would have made the whole trip worthwhile. We arrived at daylight at Fir Island management area, (also known as Hayton Farms). The tide was very low, exposing acres of mud flats. Perfect conditions. The next hour was wonderful. Thousands of snow geese were roosting in the nearby bay.  As the morning progressed, flight after flight came over us as they headed for inland ag fields. Bald eagles swooped through the geese, keeping them on the move, each flight starting with a cacophonous roar of geese calling, distracting us from the hundreds of dunlin and other shorebirds circling overhead and arriving to feed on the wetlands before the tide returned. We recorded 23 species before moving on.

Next, we visited Wiley Slough at the Skagit Wildlife Area, just a few miles away. This site has wetlands, a good riparian habitat and a nice walking trail along a levy. We saw a variety of birds from purple finches, a pileated woodpecker, a peregrine falcon to Wilson’s snipe.

We moved on to Lone Tree Point on Skagit Bay. We were looking for the black oystercatchers that hang out there, but the tide had come in and covered their normal shell flat. Luckily, 18 of them flew by as we were leaving. A raft of hundreds of double-crested cormorants was seen just offshore.  We also picked up Eurasian wigeon there.

Next stop was Deception Pass State Park Cranberry Lake site. We parked and broke out the scopes. This is a good spot to get pelagics. We saw a variety of gulls including Heermann’s and short bill.  Some highlights were Harlequin ducks, surf scoters and pigeon guillemots in their winter plumage. We missed seeing the marble murrelets, which are often seen there.

We moved on to Ship Harbor Preserve, close to the Anacortes ferry. This park is a well-kept secret. Purple martins nest there in the summer.  American wigeons always seem to be feeding at a fresh-water runoff area, providing amazing views and photography opportunities. We got a great look at three Anna’s hummingbirds, golden-crowned sparrows eating apples in a tree and a variety of riparian and water birds. We watched a bald eagle attack a family of river otters. For that matter, during the trip we saw eagles attacking loons, ducks, geese and we saw one eagle catch and eat what looked like a coot. No shortage of bald eagles in that area. Speaking of eating, it was great to go out to dinner in a real restaurant again! Which we did each night.

The second day of our trip, we started at Fir and Wiley slough again. It was a beautiful morning, considering we had a 100% chance of rain predicted.  The morning light over the slough was awe-inspiring, and everyone got some beautiful shots.  Once again, snow geese were abundant and we picked up a few peeps.

At Wiley Slough, only Bea got to see the resident black phoebe, fleetingly, but everyone got to see some savanna sparrows, Northern shovelers, and some green-winged teal.

From there we drove around March Point south of Anacortes where we found white-winged scoters. Next, we checked the bay behind the Swinomish casino. The rain prediction proved true, as we drove to the beach at Padilla Bay State Park. We decided to persevere and drove to the overlook on Samish Island.  This was another opportunity to break out the scopes as we tried to keep the optics dry enough to scan the bay.  Alan found a Pacific loon and Bonaparte’s gull.  Our last location for the day was the driving loop around Washington Park in Anacortes. We stopped to glass the straight and we were attacked by chestnut backed chickadees and sparrows. One chickadee landed on Jim’s hand! Obviously, someone had been feeding the birds at this spot. It was a good opportunity to get some close-up photos of chestnut-backs. We also got good looks at more harlequin ducks and a brown creeper caught our eye near the car.

Wearily, we headed back to town. Final total 79 species, but the best reward of the trip was the opportunity to witness one of mother nature’s special migration events in one of the most beautiful areas of the state.  

We crammed a lot of nature viewing into two days. It was especially fun with great folks like Sharon, Alan and Marc.

We missed the swans this year, but there’s always next October……

Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures below, all taken by our trip participants.

Little Pend Oreille NWR Field Trip (5/25-26/2021)

Little Pend Oreille NWR Field Trip
Leaders: Bea and Jim Harrison
Written By Bea and Jim Harrison

Evening Grosbeak (Photo by Bea Harrison)

Evening Grosbeak (Photo by Bea Harrison)

Bea and Jim Harrison along with Jenny Michaels and Sharon Lindsay traveled north for a bird excursion to the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge.  For many years this was an annual SAS trip.  The refuge is famous for its habitat and bird diversity.  Base camp was at the McDowell Lake campground.  The weather was nice except for some showers overnight.

Jenny immediately recognized the call of Evening Grosbeaks in the campground, and we located them in the top of the tallest trees! Sharon is an avid photographer, and she enjoyed shooting while we birded. We slowly walked the trail to McDowell Lake, which includes a boardwalk over a wetland, where we saw and heard Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Yellowthroats, Song Sparrows, Yellow Warblers, Warbling Vireos, etc. An Osprey was sailing over the lake under billowy white clouds.

Next, everyone piled into Jenny’s Cherokee and we birded our way around the driving loop down Rookery Road, stopping at the beaver pond. Next stop was Bailey Lake. There was a variety of ducks there and a few coots. Heading back north we found bluebirds, a meadowlark, and a mystery bird that we photographed at Berg lane and finally identified as a female Western Bluebird. We also stopped at Bear Creek campground and Cottonwood campground. Yellow warblers were singing everywhere. After stopping at the trail by the headquarters we drove our weary bodies back to camp. After dinner we had a nice evening swapping lies and solving world problems.

Sunday morning brought another walk to the lake, where we glimpsed a calling MacGillivray’s Warbler and saw Spotted Sandpipers and heard a Sora calling.  Then again, we piled in Jenny’s car and headed north up Blacktail Road into a higher elevation area that was new territory to us all. Sharon was hoping to find her first dipper to photograph, and sure enough, at the bridge over the Little Pend Oreille River, we found it.  There was an adult with a hungry youngster interacting right below us in the river.  This was the highlight of the trip for all of us. 

After driving into the refuge interior, we headed back.  It was a great overnight trip with good weather and fantastic company.  Our final total was 50 species.  As an added treat, butterflies were abundant, especially in the upper elevations and near the lakes. 

Hopefully, we can make this trip an annual Audubon event again. Little Pend Oreille NWR is a special treasure in our backyard and we need to utilize it when we can.

Dipper Adult (Photo by Bea Harrison)

Dipper Adult (Photo by Bea Harrison)

Dipper Chick (Photo By Sharon Lindsay)

Dipper Chick (Photo By Sharon Lindsay)

Banana Belt Field Trip (1/25/2020)

Lewiston/Clarkston Valley Field Trip
Leaders: Keith Carlson and Rick Welle
Written By Alan McCoy

Long-tailed Duck (Photo by Alan McCoy)

Long-tailed Duck (Photo by Alan McCoy)

There were no bananas to be found down in Lewiston or Clarkston this January. We did, however, find some ducks, lots of ducks, which of course were inevitably on the other side of whatever body of water we were peering over. They didn’t seem to mind the rain or cold at all. And we were pretty sure we heard them laughing at all 14 shivering birders, fumbling with their gloves while attempting to wipe their lenses and focus through their fogged optics.

Did I mention that there were ducks? Ring-bills, bufflehead and scaup, oh my! A couple dozen Wood Ducks graced the limbs of pond-side trees. What a fantastic sight! The one duck we were most interested to find was a Long-tailed Duck and, with Keith Carlson as our guide, we saw at least a couple.

Wood Ducks (Photo by Alan McCoy)

Wood Ducks (Photo by Alan McCoy)

Probably the coolest sighting for many of us was a Cooper’s Hawk chasing a Eurasian Collared-Dove. The hawk persevered at some length until, wham, it scored! We were thrilled to have witnessed the drama; the dove not so much.

Lindell’s fondest memory of the trip was the voice of an early Western Meadowlark. She also got a lifer as her group spotted a flying Gyrfalcon. That would have been a lifer for yours truly as well, but we had split into two groups for logistical reasons. Our team went to the landfill in search of a Lesser Black-backed Gull, while the other team ventured off to locate the Gyrfalcon. We saw the gull but when we switched places we missed the falcon. The other team got both! Such is the birding life.

The sun finally peeked out towards the very end of the day as we searched the cliffs for, and once again found, Gray-crowned Rosy Finches. Despite the cold and wet we had a great day birding with friends. Now we just need to come up with a better name for this trip.

Texas Rio Grande Valley Trip (2/2017)

Texas Rio Grande Valley Trip (2/2017)
Leader Ann Brinly

Pyrrhuloxia.jpg

On Saturday, January 28th, six snow-weary SAS members boarded a plane bound for the balmy breezes of the Texas Rio Grande Valley.  Our first morning found us in Texas City where we were successful in finding a cooperative Aplomado Falcon.  The bird had been banded last year as a nestling and since it was a 2ndgeneration Texas we all added him to our US bird list.  Next up was a short stop in Matagorda County looking for upper Texas coast birds.  We found plenty including a first in my 18 trips to the valley – a female Painted Bunting.  We continued our southward migration to Rockport. 

Early the next morning found us aboard the Skimmer where Captain Tommy piloted us to several Whooping Crane sightings.  Afterwards, a stop at the Sarita rest area produced our first Valley birds – Green Jays and Black-crested Titmouse.  Brownsville was our next destination and we headed to Oliveria Park where we thoroughly enjoyed watching two to three hundred Red-lored, Red-headed, Yellow-headed and White-fronted Parrot coming in for the evening.  A trip, (the next day) to Sabal Palms Sanctuary and Boca Chica Road yielded more Texas coast birds including several Least Grebe. 

Four days in McAllen allowed us time to visit several of the birding hot spots.  Estero Llano Grande afforded us close looks at the well camouflaged Common Paraque.  At Quinta Mazatlan we marveled at the beauty of the old estate and thoroughly enjoyed the trail with the bronze statues of Texas wildlife.  Black-bellied Whistling-ducks serenaded our time at the refuge.  That evening we went to the strip center to look for the flock of several hundred Green Parakeet which gather in the evening before heading off to roost.  We also enjoyed the thousands of Long-tailed Grackles, which create a cacophony of squawks as they settle on the wires for the evening.   Bentsen State Park was uncharacteristically unbirdy.  The feeders there were full but mostly the birds forgot to come.  We did see a javelina or two while there. (The javelina at the park had been overly plentiful until a flood a few years ago nearly eliminated them from the area.) 

White-tailed Kite.jpg

We headed over to Anzaldous County Park where we were greeted by lots of birds flitting about.  Black-crested Titmouse, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Eastern Bluebird and Vermilion Flycatcher kept us busy trying to ID them as the hid in the foliage of the majestic trees in the park.  Edinburgh Wetlands provided us with Green Kingfisher, nice looks at Neo-tropic Cormorants  and our first Green Heron.  Then we headed to Falcon Dam State Park.  There we were able to add Roadrunner, Verdin, Bobwhite and Black-throated Sparrows to our trip list.  The next morning we went to spend some time feeder watching at Salineno where the Altimira Oriole and Great Kiskadee come almost within arm’s reach.  We then said good-bye to the valley and headed to the Conroe area where we would find 5 (from three separate areas) Red-cockaded Woodpecker and several Brown-headed Nuthatch.  Then back on the plane and back to the wintery north where we can enjoy our memories and our pictures.

Palisades Trip 6/16/2013

Palisades Trip 6/16/2013
Leader Lindell Haggin

This morning 4 of us met at 6:30 a.m. to explore the Palisades area just south and west of downtown. We started out with the White-throated Swifts flying under the bridges near High Bridge Park. There were some Cliff Swallows nearby for comparison. Black-headed Grosbeaks were abundant both visually and with their wonderfully lyrical song. Saw one on the ground that seemed to be eating ants. Saw several shafts of sunlight swarming with small insects that would surge and sway. It was an impressive sight. Western Wood Pewees were the flycatcher of the day. Had some good views of the Red Crossbills at a feeder. Saw a Red-tailed Hawk carrying somebody off. All in all a pretty good morning, especially since we stopped at 10:00 in consideration of Father’s Day obligations.

  • Great Blue Heron

  • Mallards

  • Red-tailed Hawks

  • Bald Eagle

  • California Quail

  • Gull sp.

  • Mourning Dove

  • Rock Pigeon

  • White-throated Swifts

  • Calliope Hummingbird

  • Northern Flicker

  • Common Crow

  • Black-billed Magpie

  • Violet Green Swallow

  • Cliff Swallow

  • Black-capped Chickadee

  • Mountain Chickadee

  • Red-breasted Nuthatch

  • Pygmy Nuthatch

  • House Wren

  • Bewick’s Wren

  • American Robin

  • Gray Catbird

  • Cedar Waxwing

  • Yellow Warbler

  • Black-headed Grosbeak

  • Chipping Sparrow

  • Song Sparrow

  • Spotted Towhee (H)

  • Red-winged Blackbirds

  • Brown-headed Cowbirds

  • Red Crossbills

  • House Finch

  • American Goldfinch

  • Pine Siskin

  • House Sparrow

Little Spokane River Natural Area Field Trip (6/2 and 6/4/2013)

Little Spokane River Natural Area Field Trip (6/2 and 6/4/2013)
Leader Lindell Haggin

We met at the WDFW boat launch at the confluence of the Little Spokane and Spokane rivers. It was very birdy, even before we got on the trail. After 30 minutes of birding we got rained out on Sunday, June 2. Several of us met again on Tuesday, June 4, for a few hours to compensate. Nothing very unusual, but did get many good views of Black-headed Grosbeaks, Gray Catbirds, Yellow Warblers, Calliope Hummingbird and Bullock’s Orioles. Watched a Yellow Warbler add material to nest and pack it down with her body. Saw the female Oriole enter her nest and stay for several minutes. When she left the male came to the nest peeked in and decided he would just wait outside. Could be that she was also still in the construction phase and he was merely keeping watch to make sure no cowbirds got in. The Calliope perched on the same branch I saw it on several weeks ago, Sunday and today. Showed off with a little bit of diving. Saw a female Calliope inspecting some plant material near the Painted Rocks. Did not go to the flowers, but focused on those plants with spiderwebs at the tips. Other birds seen include: 

  • Willow Flycatcher, 

  • Red-winged Blackbirds,

  • Brown-headed Cowbirds, 

  • Bewick’s Wren, 

  • Song Sparrow, 

  • Tree Swallow, 

  • Cliff Swallow,

  • Violet-green Swallow, 

  • Osprey, 

  • Black-capped Chickadee, 

  • Western Grebe, 

  • Mallard, 

  • Black-billed Magpie, 

  • California Quail, 

  • Ring-necked Pheasant (heard only), 

  • Killdeer (HO), 

  • Mourning Dove (HO), 

  • Black-chinned Hummingbird, 

  • Northern Flicker, 

  • Eastern Kingbird, 

  • Red-breasted Nuthatch (HO), 

  • Cedar Waxwings, 

  • American Robin, 

  • Spotted Towhee (HO),

  • American Kestrel