Birding by boat

One of my favorite ways to bird is from my kayak. Patterson Lake in Okanogan County is an excellent choice for birding by boat. It has a posted speed limit for motorized craft and that limit is generally followed. Many people powered boats can be seen there as well, including other kayaks, canoes, sculls and row boats. If you don't have a boat, you may be able to rent one from Sun Mountain's Patterson Lake cabins.

young Black-headed Grosbeak

I put my boat in the water at the WDFW launch on the east side of the lake. This site requires a Discover Pass or WDFW parking permit issued with a hunting or fishing license. On weekday mornings it is never crowded. Weekends may be a different story.

This morning, after the busy Labor Day weekend, I nearly had the place to myself. The water was glassy, the sky - bluebird blue and the sun was warm. Summer weather in September. Birds know fall is coming and migration was evident. Few swallows remain of the summer swarms. White-crowned Sparrows have arrived. There was a big flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers. I did not see any Ospreys.

Canada Geese

Small birds near the lake shore seem to be less wary of a boat than of a person on foot or bicycle. By letting my boat drift slowly, I could get good views of tiny species that generally provide only a passing glimpse.

Mountain Chickadee

Here is my list of 28 species seen this morning:

Canada Goose 

Mallard 
Hooded Merganser 
Common Merganser 
Great Blue Heron 
Bald Eagle 
Red-tailed Hawk 
Spotted Sandpiper 
Belted Kingfisher 
Downy Woodpecker 
Northern Flicker 
Common Raven 
Violet-green Swallow 
Barn Swallow 
Black-capped Chickadee 
Mountain Chickadee 
Red-breasted Nuthatch 
White-breasted Nuthatch 
Pygmy Nuthatch 
American Robin 
Gray Catbird 
Yellow-rumped Warbler 
Townsend's Warbler 
Spotted Towhee 
White-crowned Sparrow 
Dark-eyed Junco 
Black-headed Grosbeak 
American Goldfinch 

Clarks Nutcracker at the feeder

The Clarks Nutcracker was first observed by William Clark (Lewis and Clark) and bears his name. I suppose it could be called Williams Nutcracker.....

Generally it eats pine seeds which it carries in a pouch unders its tongue and then caches for a rainy, or snowy, or sunny day.

This week a nutcracker decided our suet feeders looked pretty good. I wonder if it has finished its caches of seeds? Or lost them in the snow. They are supposed to have great memories for their caches. 

Other members of the corvid family visit the suet feeders at our house including Stellers Jays and Black-billed Magpies.

All of the feeder birds seem to dread the arrival of a Northern Flicker and this Clarks Nutcracker was no exception. I don't know why none of the other birds care for the flickers. It's even worse when a magpie arrives.

Grebe on the Columbia

Some folks think this is a Clarks Grebe, others think it is a Western Grebe. It is regularly observed just above the Chief Joseph Dam on the Columbia River by the 'burn pile'.

Pearrygin Lake Bird Walk

Nine of us met at the MVSTA parking lot yesterday and car pooled up to Pearrygin State Park. At the parking lot I saw two Pygmy Nuthatches in the pines overlooking the ice rink and a Turkey Vulture roosting across the river. It was comfortably cool but by the time we were were walking at the park, the sun had warmed considerably. Summer is finally, really here. We went into the park at the south entrance and walked toward the south end of the lake which is less developed, having only one group camping site and lots of good trees and shrubs for bird finding. Surprisingly, most of us never go there due to the pressure from all the campers and boaters at Pearrygin. We birded for about 2 1/2 hours with the highlights being a Yellow-headed Blackbird (uncommon in the Methow) and a Yellow-breasted Chat. There were lots of observations of singing Lazuli Buntings and also a few Gray Catbirds. On the lake we saw a group of six Pied-billed Grebes, probably a family group although they were all about the same size. Still lots of wildflowers blooming. Juliet Rhodes photographed this mariposa lily, a flower most of us had never seen in the Methow.

Here is the list of birds we observed for the morning.

Mallard

Pied-billed Grebe
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Unidentified gull
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-naped Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Eastern Kingbird - at a nest
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee - heard
House Wren
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
American Goldfinch

The next Bird Walk in the Methow is August 9th, although I'm up for going anytime. We meet at the MVSTA parking lot next to the fitness center at 7:30 am.

Big Valley Bird Walk

Yesterday, 8 of us met at the MVSTA parking lot for one of NCW Audubon's summer bird walks. Weather was at long last, perfect - warm and calm and dry. It seems that summer has finally arrived. We car pooled to the Big Valley section of the Methow Wildlife Area in hopes of observing Veerys, Lazuli Buntings, various vireos and American Redstarts, among others. None of us were 'experts' and we are all trying to learn the less common bird songs and calls of the migrants who nest in our area. To this end, two of us brought our electronic devices to help with identification. These birds are often hidden in the canopy of cottonwoods, aspens and water birch so the song may be all the observation we get.

Ladyslipper Orchid

In addition to birds, we saw many wildflowers including ladyslipper orchids, tiger lilies, immense cow parsnips, northern bedstraw, Canada violet (a white violet - new to all of us), and many others. The non-stop spring rains have created a lush landscape of four foot tall grasses and bracken fern over our heads.

Cow Parsnip

Tiger Lily

I was glad to have flowers to photograph since the birds were not nearly so cooperative. Here are the species we observed, some of them were heard and not seen.

Spotted Sandpiper

Mourning Dove

Calliope Hummingbird
Red-naped Sapsucker - appeared to be nesting pair although we did not find the nest
Downy Woodpecker - we observed male and female feeding young at a nest
Hairy Woodpecker
Western Wood-Pewee
Hammond's Flycatcher
Unidentified Empidonax
Cassin's Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Veery
Swainson’s Thrush
American Robin
Varied Thrush
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lazuli Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Cassin's Finch


Total number of species observed: 33

Next NCW Audubon Methow Bird Walk is July 6, meet at MVSTA parking lot 7:30 am

Birds, botanizing and mushrooms

I went with my friend Juliet to the Oden burn on the Okanogan side of the Loup today. We were hoping to find some morels and maybe see some interesting birds. We did both and saw some cool plants and many fruiting lichens. Also observed some strange logging going on turning tiny streams and seeps into muddy holes and trenches. It was hard to tell what was the purpose of all the heavy equipment activity on the wet ground.

A pair of Black-backed Woodpeckers foraged for their nestlings while we ate lunch. This is a photo of the female. The image was made with a point and shoot camera.

This is a tiny fruiting lichen.

Here is a list of the birds we observed:
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor)
Lewis' Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis)
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)
Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus)
Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus)
Western Wood-Pewee (Contopus sordidulus)
Unidentified Empidonax (Empidonax sp.)
Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana)
Common Raven (Corvus corax)
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)
Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus)
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)
Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana)
Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides)
Townsend's Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana)
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
We also saw a thrush and finches that we did not identify.

It was a good day with fine weather!

Been Birding Lately?

A group of birding acquaintances got together this week for a birding walk in a lovely riparian area along a stream with beaver ponds and a multi faceted canopy of aspens and cottonwood, willows and dogwoods, pines and douglas fir trees. One side of the stream had a long open hillside. One couple who brought the group together played their iPod based bird calls for all of us to learn the various warblers and other neotropical migrants in the area. It was a delightful morning of good company and good birds, even with marginal weather.

During the course of the walk we discussed doing this regularly over the summer and at the end of the day we came up with a list of dates when we will meet again for bird walks. Feel free to join us. We will visit various places around the Methow. We do not have a ‘leader’. None of us are real ‘expert’ birders. All birding abilities are welcome and we hope to learn from one another.

We will meet at the MVSTA parking lot next to Winthrop Physical Therapy and Fitness Center at 7:30 on June 15 and 23, July 6 and August 9. Should we vary from these dates and times, we will post changes to this blog and the NCW Audubon website. If you have any questions, let us know.

Are you organizing bird walks in your area? If so, email them to webmaster@ncwaudubon.org for inclusion on the blog and website!

Red-tailed Hawk nest update

Looks like just one young hawk for the parents to feed. Last year three birds fledged from this nest. Today being the first truly nice day in quite a while, it's easy to see the fuzzy white baby stretching his wings and taking in the sun.

If there's someone out there skilled in digiscoping that wants to take a try at getting some good pictures, let me know.

More good Spring bird news!

From our living room, we can see a Red-tailed Hawk nest across the river. The scope is usually pointing towards it. This morning I saw the first hatchling of the season! There may be more but only one fuzzy white head was showing.

Birds are returning!

Despite weather that is at times, windy, sunny, warm, cold, and snowing, all within an hour or so, birds are returning to North Central Washington.

Tuesday I had to be in Wenatchee for a day long Vet appointment and so I took my kayak and I saw a pair of Osprey at the mouth of the Wenatchee River. It was a nice reward for the trip.

At our house in the Methow on Friday, a Rufous Hummingbird arrived and yesterday it was joined by Calliope hummers. In Twisp there is an unusual hummingbird that is puzzling even to the experts. It could be an Anna's.

Ken said he saw five Turkey Vultures here on Tuesdsay and suddenly they are everywhere!

Dusky Grouse have been displaying on hillsides for a couple of weeks now.

What interesting birds are you seeing?