September 10th - Twice Bitten, One Shy

Getting out of Dayton

I woke up in the Blue Mountain Motel, well rested. I had made some progress in both Columbia and Walla Walla Counties the day before, moving my year list total in Columbia to 157, and my Walla Walla year list to 141. My first goal for the year - a bottom line - was to get Columbia to 150. Check! Next, was to get Walla Walla to 150 for the year. Ch... almost. Incidentally, I was closing in on another goal as well - getting my Walla Walla life list to 175! It had been taken from 161 to 168 over the last two days, so I was a little unsure about my hopes. Some of them rested on returning to places I'd already visited and like... just doing a better job looking for birds. It's an ongoing goal - get better at this whole business constantly. I'm gentle with myself (and others!), but I continue to push. 

Wifi at the Blue Mountain Inn was incredibly slow. I was transported back to the days when the Internet was *usually* slow (and when you couldn't use it if someone was making a phone call... oh the days...). I checked out and went to Locally Nourished for some food and connection speed. 

Lord, what a good breakfast. I got a scrambled breakfast bowl. All the good stuff tossed around together. You know the stuff. And I worked on a plan, although I felt some disappointment that I had not yet gotten out the door. But knocking ten birds off of your needs list changes the map. In the end, I figured Bennington Lake was my best bet. There had been some migrants coming through, and a couple other odds and ends. 

On the way out of town, I kept my eyes on treetops. A Merlin would be a nice find, and there's one or two of them that frequent Dayton. I may, in fact, just spend a whole day walking Dayton at some point if I have to! No Merlins appeared.

Bennington Lake

Just a heads up. If you've walked some lakes before, and you enjoy the whole process of walking in a circle, having some clear sense of progress. . . this ain't your lake. It's the weirdest kind of lollipop, taking you around the lake, then doooown the stem, and baaaack up the stem of the lollipop - a detour that takes you along a seasonal creek that feeds the lake, and eventually takes you over it before sending you back. 

When I parked, I was greeted by my first new bird of the year - Vaux's Swifts! (142 for my Walla Walla year). I had also read that a Pine Siskin had been seen mixed in with a flock of goldfinches. Yes, and yes! (143) I was surprised to find it still hanging about, but what do I know about Pine Siskins?

Yellow-rumped Warbler

It was a warm mid-morning - just warm enough, and just mid-morning enough for a little bit of bug activity. I almost always cleared them off of me before they could bite, but I did come away from the morning with a pair of bites on my leg, from who knows what. I passed a guy fishing from the lake - he'd caught a sunfish, a catfish, and a bluegill. I have to admit, I'm disappointed at all of the life below the surface of the water that I just never see!

Killdeer chased up from the lakeshore

I rounded the south end of the lake, clearing the rocky landscape and entering a bit of trees. I saw reports of birds like Warbling Vireo - a bird that I'm always FAR too happy to hear without seeing, and a few species of flycatchers, none of which would be doing much vocally. I was admittedly a bit fearful that I'd come out of the morning with missed birds! My first flycatcher of the day, however, was pretty cooperative. 

Dusky Flycatcher (144)

The posture made it easy to see the short wings - in my head looking like a kiddo that has grown out of his coat too fast! It stayed well in view, silent the whole time. The next flycatcher I found was a Gray (145!). This one sat out in the wide open for me on a treetop, wagging its tail downward. And I got some nice sharp pictures of the tree about 20 feet in front of it. lol. Some day. Someday I'll learn to camera better! Today was not the day. 

Lots of sparrows - White-crowned, Savannah, and Song. I really hoped I might find more, but I was still pretty happy with the flycatcher situation. As I was picking through a pile of sparrows, I saw a bird in flight: 

California Scrub-Jay (146)

This was a really fun find. They're becoming more common in SE Washington, but not so common that this wasn't a big addition to my list. In fall, they do tend to disperse, so it was not unexpected to find them in an unexpected place, if that makes any sense. 

Northern Pintails

Then I was off on a long, long walk up and around the north end of the lake. I really thought I was lost, but a sign clarified where I was - on the aforementioned north end of the "stem" of this lollipop hike. Nothing new showed up for me on this end of the hike, although some stands of treess gave me a Downy Woodpecker and a few Black-capped Chickadees.

Five new birds! This was a great stop. I'm glad that I got back to one of the places in Walla Walla that had given me so many of my first birds for the county many years ago. A number of these were new for my life list as well, which was now at 172 species. 

I didn't find any dippers here (although I just now gave a rock a closer look!)
But I passed a birder at Bennington who said he had seen dippers in "the creek" 
This looks like a good place for them!

Iowa-Dodd-Tyson-Blood-What-Ponds-am-I-at?

So, I did find out *after* returning from my trip that many of the shorebirds that had been seen were at the Blood Ponds, which are north of Dodd Road. But folks, I peeked at the spots north of the road, and to me they all seemed a bit elevated. I never got to a point where I was looking down at a pond. I did get to the Tyson Ponds, up the dirt road I've driven a few times now. Unlike a few days earlier, I drove far enough to reach the larger pond. It was pretty distant, but I could still pick out some of the shorebirds roosting on the shore through the woobly turbulent air - including a Pectoral Sandpiper (147) and a light-colored Sanderling (148) standing out like a sore thumb. 

I'd like to believe that everyone in life deserves good things. 
But there are times where I drive... farther than you might believe, with 
binoculars on top of my car... and I being to deeply question 
whether or not I really do deserve good things. :D

I had not yet gone through my pictures or my lists - I didn't know where things stood exactly when the Gray Partridge (149) when dashing across the road in front of me. But it left me one shy of 150 for the year! Better yet, it was the 175th species I've seen in Walla Walla County. Good bird indeed. 

Granger gas station dinosaurs - on the way home

September 9th - Plans Turned Upside Down

I woke up in Walla Walla with 132 species for the year. An early text to my daughter let her know that I'd be heading up North Fork Coppei Creek, and then off to Columbia County to hike Oregon Butte. I did turn those plans upside down, just in the sense that I stayed down at lower elevations, rather than heading to the high point of Columbia. But it was the Curious George song that largely inspired the title here.

Who's to say
What's impossible? Well, they forgot
This world keeps spinning, and with each new day
I can feel a change in everything
And as the surface breaks, reflections fade
But in some ways, they remain the same
And as my mind begins to spread its wings
There's no stopping curiosity

I wanna turn the whole thing upside down
I'll find the things they say just can't be found
I'll share this love I find with everyone
We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs

I don't want this feeling to go away 

It came up on the radio just as I fired the engine after gassing up in Walla Walla. At the time, I honestly thought that the soundtrack was one that Kieran had loved. Just now, I see that the film was from 2006, so that's quite impossible. I know he loved the books. We read a lot of children's books to the kids. While Kieran was with us, he definitely had some favorites, including that silly monkey.

Silly though? Curiosity, especially as portrayed in the song. . . well, okay it's got a little silliness to it. I have definitely had times where my imagination has pointed me to some birding destinations or birding questions that anyone with Good Birding Sense would not visit or ask (respectively). Every once in a while, it's brought me to some amazing spots, and amazing birds. But even when it hasn't. . . like, when I found myself riding a golf cart in the southwestest corner of Mason County, looking for California Quail. . . the silliness has been part of the value of the experience. 

And there was some silliness to this day! Down in the far corner of the state, ready to look for some birds. But. . . look at my last post. Wrong places, wrong times, without a deep knowledge of what some of these birds even *look like* in the fall. I was going up a road I'd never been up before, planning to look for a Williamson's Sapsucker at "the cherry spot", but had not even discerned where that was on the road. And then, I was birding Columbia County... silly.

This song, on the day that we lost him, so many years ago, put me in the right mood for some curious exploration, some silliness, if you will. 

Silo near Dixie

North Fork Coppei Creek

Fun. I hadn't been up this road ever. Nor had I been up any of the roads leading up from the Dixie area, in probably a decade. It was neat to see how they were all connected. I hadn't fully realized when I started that my road would take me up to Jasper Mountain, in a roundabout way. Roads were at least well signed, so I found my way up fairly easily.

Very early on the road, I caught a pile of sparrows on the side of the road. I got good looks, but no pictures of, a Lincoln's Sparrow, mixed in with White-crowned, Savannah, and Song Sparrows. As with the previous day, I had hopes for Brewer's or Vesper, but the Lincoln's and Savannah were new for the year (birds 132 and 133 respectively for the Walla Walla year list).

Enjoy the razor-sharp focus on the plants at far right.
Sorry about the sparrows - they were not fun to inspect lol

Golden Plums - one of several fruit tries along the lower part of the road

As I drove up the road just another mile or so, fruit trees turned to conifers, and I found many of the birds one would expect, with new birds including Black-capped Chickadee (134), Mountain Chickadee (135), Golden-crowned Kinglet (136), and Hairy Woodpecker (137). Many of these came in for close views as I gave toots for Northern Pygmy-Owl. I also heard some whapping at a tree and eventually got a view of the source: a Williamson's Sapsucker! (138)

It took a little more elevation gain along the road to pick up some other birds that were on my list of possibilities - Cassin's Finches (139), giving vireo like calls from treetops, Varied Thrush (140) giving single chup notes from deep cover, and a silent Hammond's Flycatcher (141). I've come to think of Hammond's as a boy wearing his dad's sport jacket. The wingtips are longer, so when these birds are perched, they reach pretty far down - a field mark that is hard to miss once you've picked it up. 

I also got a massive push of sparrows. I stopped the car and counted 50 passing over the car. I got out and tried to shoot some of them, finally getting one - Chipping Sparrows! I'd picked some up, back in May, coming down from Jasper Mountain. 

Speaking of Which

Things turned. I somehow started up North Fork Coppei Creek without realizing that it connects to Jasper Mountain Road. Intersections put me in a position to stare at my map for a bit and make this realization. I'd slipped into Columbia County!

Jasper Mountain is just pretty. I drove slow-ish, and eyed every branch, hoping for a peek at a Great Gray Owl. They're up here! I have nearly zero experience with the species, so I'm sure that there are better ways/times/dates to look for these owls. At the very least, I didn't want to miss them simply because I wasn't alert!

Lunch was in the car as I drove. Some cheese, fruit, and crackers. But I stopped in at Buckwheat Brewing in Dayton to pull open the laptop. I checked emails and found some of my alerts for Columbia had gone off. Most interesting to me - Solitary Sandpipers up Tucannon Road. . .

I thought it over and decided to focus down low in Columbia - trying for sparrows, shorebirds, and ducks, rather than heading up to high elevation hikes to try for woodpeckers. 

Water?

Pittman Road was not busy - some Mallards, some Canada Geese, and a couple Killdeer. One surprise was an increase in the number of Savannah Sparrows. But nothing new. I then headed for a new pond... at the Touchet Valley Golf Course!

I had seen sightings from a few years back that included Greater Yellowlegs at the golf course pond. I figured I should leave no stone unturned! There was an honor system in place for payment, but no sign that helped me figure out how much to pay, so I left $10 - something less than one would likely pay for golf, but still a thank you for allowing access. 

There were a few people out and about golfing, and a few lingering swallows zooming over the greens. The pond was easy to find! It had enough water to pull in some birds! The water was just a bit too clean? Hard to say. I sometimes try to get in the head of birds, trying to sort out why they visit or don't visit different spots.

Tucannon Road

Patit Road harvest

From Dayton, I went right for Watson and Beaver Lakes. This is where Solitary Sandpipers had been seen, and it was not a spot I'd visited before! Across Patit Road, and down Hartsock Grade Road to Tucannon. Up to Watson and Beaver Lake. . . You see, I only just now got the skinny on this. The sign said "Watson and Beaver Lake", and I found only one lake during my time there. So, I assumed that the name of this singular lake was "Watson and Beaver Lake". But nope! The one that I saw was likely Watson Lake. Beaver would have been accessed down one of the other trails I passed. 

Success!

Solitary Sandpiper - 156 for my Columbia County year list. Incidentally, it was just 159 for my life list! Over the course of the year, I've rendered almost every other trip I'd made to Columbia County meaningless. I'd only seen three birds in previous years that I have not seen this year - American Coot, Common Nighthawk, and Caspian Tern. This particular shorebird is one that I've romantically wanted to find for a while. The idea of shorebirds making their way up into the mountains to migrate through lakes - one specific species in a county where shorebirds are so difficult to find - I just loved this. 

Dragonflies and other insects had my attention as well. 

Pretty sure this is a Woodland Skipper

Carolina Grasshopper

One other fun sighting? A snake swimming across the lake. 

Heading down the road, my next destination was a barn. I had passed a farm a couple of months back where people were busy moving cattle along the road from one field to another. It stopped traffic and gave me a chance to make an inquiry about their barns. They confirmed that they'd had a Barn Owl in their barns, off and on, and that I was welcome to check their barns on a future visit. On this day, I pulled up the long driveway and saw nobody except for the family dog. I got some barking, but not a ton. In a few minutes, a tractor came down the driveway, with farm machinery in tow. 

"Hi! Sorry for the surprise."

"It's fine."

I went on to explain the earlier interaction, and the gentleman got me up to speed on which buildings would be good to check. It was really a lovely interaction. He was on board with the curiosity and wished me luck. I quickly had some luck just walking to the first barn: 

Lincoln's Sparrow! 157 for the year, and 160 for my life list. This bird was not unexpected. Lincoln's Sparrows move through the state during sharp peaks in April and September. But it's not always easy to figure out exactly where they're going to pop up. I enjoyed views of two of them before heading into the first barn. The barn itself was a wash. The corner he had identified as the usual hangout for the Barn Owl. Equipment made it hard to view, and the glare from outside made it impossible for me to pick out much in the dark. I tried different angles, to no avail. I tried their building across the street, to no avail. 

Black-eyed Susans were in bloom all along the road, and it got me to pull over. Butterflies and bumblebees played in the blooms. I am certain that I was looking at the largest species of bee in the state (not counting things like murder hornets). These bees were flat out ponderous.

Nevada Bumblebee has been suggested

Clouded Sulphur? I think so.

Cemetery Road

There had been some neat birds seen on Cemetery Road out of Starbuck. Vesper Sparrows and Sage Thrasher were part of that list, so I thought it would be worth a look. What a fun, slow exploration! I had several opportunities to get out and look at sparrows. The overwhelmingly abundant sparrow was Savannah, with a few White-crowned and Song Sparrows mixed in. Say's Phoebes also represented the first ones I'd seen in the county since January? February? Since back when it was snowing, at any rate! 

Horned Larks and Western Meadowlarks were also part of the mix in this desolate landscape. I admittedly was caught a little flat-footed with the flora here. I knew that I wasn't looking at Big Sagebrush, a species that really pulls in sage species. I knew that Rabbitbrush was likely one of the species in the mix but couldn't even pick that out. 

The most interesting thing on this stop, yet again (!) was buglife. It took some searching, but I think this bunch of flowers was being visited by Red-necked Longhorn Beetles. It was so interesting to see them in flight, with their bodies dangling below them. 

Curious about the identification, only because all images of 
Red-necked Longhorn Beetles show me a beetle with a black head... these are red and black

It was getting just late enough. I thought it time to head back to Dayton and find a room. The Blue Mountain Motel was my stop once more. It was a much better price than the Best Western down the road. As I checked in, a trucker asked me if I'd recommend the rooms, and it actually caught me flat-footed. There was something in the back of mind that I couldn't remember. . .I remembered once I got checked in and tried my computer: The slowest connection I have ever seen. :)  

And yaknow... we need to experience that occasionally. Everything is so fast today! But it did hamper my ability to make much of a plan for the next day. I was certain that the focus would be Walla Walla County! This day had not been what I had originally planned, but I went to bed with no regrets.

September 8th - Falla Walla

9-mile Canyon - one of several sparrow-laden destinations for me

I got out of Renton, not quite as early as I had hoped, but I was at least well-fed, well-rested, and as well-informed as I could be. Sitting at 130 species for the year in Walla Walla, I thought it a good time to look over my Needs Alerts in the county. Forty or so birds that I needed for my year list were mucking around in the county in recent weeks, with others ostensibly in the county or possibly passing through during my trip. I immediately started counting chickens before they hatched. 

It's par for the course for me. I see a sighting for a bird while on my computer in Renton and assume that finding it is going to be just that simple. I was goaded into this sense of ease by recent events in Renton. A Red Knot had found its way to the mouth of the Cedar River. This was a life bird for me, and there were many scopes lined up to assist in viewing. A few days later... a Red-necked Stint came through! I waited for my friend Kevin to make it up from Vancouver, and we got some lovely views of the bird. 

If these birds were so easy, how could it be difficult to find one of the many Brewer's Sparrows hopping around in Walla Walla County? Wilson's Snipe? Easy. I'd just seen a couple of them at the Cedar River as well. No. Problem. 

I'd at least become familiar with this kind of optimism, and the inevitable outcomes. I believe there are a few reasons that I head into these situations and come out with like. . . 1/4 of the birds I'm looking for. One, multiple stops for multiple birds drops your odds. Two, coming from another county, and not being familiar with the spots - this can mean missed birds. Three, birds fly. Four, I continue to hold onto the stance that there are people who are much more skilled at finding birds than me. They understand habitat. They have better equipment (even down to their app-filled phones that they use to play mob tapes... lol). They can hear the word "tertial" without their narcolepsy getting triggered.

McNary Wildlife Refuge

Uhh.... female American Kestrel? I cannot recall, but what an interesting lil puzzle!

And yet, armed with optimism, I arrived at my first stop in Walla Walla - McNary Headquarters on Burbank Slough. Here, there had been a few sparrow sightings. There was obviously a migratory push of all kinds of sparrows through the area, and a Vesper Sparrow had been seen... somewhere. With no more information than this, I just birded the spot, keeping an eye out for sparrows. In the middle of a warm day, they were notably absent or at least hunkered down. 

Just a phew falaropes

I did get to enjoy a pretty amazing sight - roughly 100 Red-necked Phalaropes skittering around on the slough. 

They really are pretty birds and are fun to watch. Honestly, 100 of any bird is fun to see. I had already seen these birds earlier in the year in Walla Walla, but I used the time to scan from one to the next. Red Phalarope had been reported for the site, although the eBird sighting that had popped up didn't include enough information to be all that convincing. Still, it gave me a nice opportunity to get familiar with the species right in front of me, including the dainty bill - much smaller than you'd find on a Red Phalarope. 

Late-staying Eastern Kingbird

My next stop was down Humorist Road - Donangelo Overlook. I got staring at a little pack of dowitchers. Most of them seemed like Long-billed, but one of them did seem smaller than its cousins, so I kept an eye on it. Flatter back, rather than a hunch-backed appearance; Looking closer, I could see a steeper loral angle (the lores, above the eyes, meet the bill at this angle), and in flight I was able to hear the most distinctive difference - the calls! Kew-too-too (Short-billed Dowitcher) and Too-too-too (Greater Yellowlegs) are similar enough for me to call them confusion species. But I had no Greater Yellowlegs visible as I scoped the ponds. This was bird 131 for the year (a tally I'll keep parenthetically as we go).

Possibly a Black Meadowhawk? Or nearly anything, given that it seems backlit...
The tail actually may have me leaning towards Black Saddlebags

Dodd Road

I have made some errors at this birding site! Most notably, I at one point took a road to the Tyson Ponds... that was not the road to the Tyson Ponds. This left me in the middle of a field, which I had to leave in reverse. I've also driven the length of it once, finding that it dead-ends in . . . gated places where I clearly would find no birds. But still, I was amazed that I got here... drove to the first two ponds... found no birds... and left. Had I even looked at my GPS, old as it is, I would have seen the ginormous pond just a little farther up. 

Saffron-winged Meadowlark - I feel pretty good about this, 
although I don't really do dragonflies!

And that doesn't even consider the blood ponds... a topic for yaknow, some other upcoming post when I make a return to the area in a couple of days. 

It's so hard to write about things in order, but I'll really try. At any rate, I was Oh-fer-six or something like that during my brief visit to the ponds. 

Walla Walla Delta

Too much water, too much distance, not enough mud. 

9-mile Canyon

There are two sparrows here - my camera was so excited to focus on plants
rather than birds CONSTANTLY through the trip
Not worth magnifying lol.

I'd heard good things. Clay-colored Sparrow was one of several species up this road that I needed for the year (Vesper, Brewer's, and Savannah being the others. Even White-throated had been popping up across the county). The sparrows on the road were mostly skillful at dodging my view. I did get one image that looks like it may be a Chipping Sparrow? Bad picture, but usually best to assume it's the bird that would *not* add to your list! 

The distinct dark bar through the eye is what had me leaning towards Chipping Sparrow
But then. . . it does not continue to the bill, so. . . 
Comments accepted. I have been on the west side for a couple seasons now, 
so Chipping/Brewer's/Clay-colored/Vesper's are not even close to being in my wheelhouse

The only bird of the bunch that I was able to find was a Savannah Sparrow (132). This was a code 1 bird that had somehow never made it onto my life list, let alone my year list. 

On my way back down the road, I passed another birder: "Did you see the Loggerhead Shrikes?" It was difficult not to turn back up the road to look for them, but it was getting a little late in the afternoon, and I needed to get a hotel room. It was still nice to check in. He was a semi-local birder who had come in to look for the Clay-colored Sparrow. It was fun finding out that he recognized my name from eBird posts. It's fun being able to put up breadcrumbs for people to follow!

Man. . . I don't know why I included these four pictures of a bird, but here they are. What do I see? 

1. Wing bars - two of them, with a dark brown (?) patch between them.

2. Eye ring - easier to see in some pictures than others.

3. Gray cap? Seems like that's what I'm seeing in the first picture.

4. Lighter coloring above the eye than below, and a light malar patch 

Go for it, hive mind! What sparrow are you seeing here? 

Walla Walla

I got settled in, squared some things around on the computer, and then set off for a chimney in College Place. Vaux's Swifts apparently use one of the "old school" chimneys here, as they are wont to do. It was just barely after sunset, and I suspected that was just late enough to miss the spectacle. Swifts can sometimes gather in the thousands, swirl around the chimneys near dusk, and then drop into the chimney rapidly. I saw no sign of any singles still flying around, so I assumed it was past go-in-the-chimney o'clock. Sad! With all of the birdy daydreams I'd brought to the county, I'd be ending the day with just two new species. 

I found an open bar where I could grab some food and watch the Mariners: Marcy's Bar and Lounge. Goodness... the food and beverages were good, and the conversations at the bar were exactly what I do these trips for. I chatted with regulars about fishery protocols, tree planting, and karaoke. My Irish heritage came up, and the guy I was talking to described an Irish good-bye to me - an expression I wasn't familiar with! He never did come back from the bathroom...Well-played, sir. 

Once the game wrapped up (with a Seattle victory - thanks, Etsy Witch!), I returned to my hotel and collapsed for the night. 

Even an unproductive day could not keep me from dreaming of all of the species I could find on the North Fork Coppei Creek Road!

August 5th - I Try to Find Birds, and Get Burned

After a day out with Mom, and getting back to Yakima, I admittedly had no immediate plans. The assumption was that I'd go home, and that may have made some sense, but . . . I was also sitting at 119 species in Walla Walla County, with time ticking away! I got onto Highway 12 out of Yakima, got to the exit for I-82, and turned south. 

I had no reservations, no plans - just a full tummy from dinner in Yakima, food packed in a bag, and some vague ideas about where I should do some birding the next day. The Tri-Cities were my best bet for lodging for the night. Right up against Walla Walla County, they'd give me an opportunity to bird right out the door the next morning. I made one stop, got turned away from a full hotel, got some phone numbers, called one and got a quote, then beat it by $50 dollars next door to that quote. Pasco would be my home for the night!

I spent some time on the computer, confirming my hunches. Yes... if I got out the door early and drove into the Blues, I could add some good Walla Walla birds. But I had my eye on all of the shorebirds, most all of them sitting right across the Snake River from me. I had a few other birds in mind, but shorebirds would be the focus!

Hood Park

After a late sleep-in, I bee-lined it for Hood Park. Nothing to stop and see here! All I had to do was drive the loop. I needed Western Wood Pewee for my year list, and I had this vague recollection that I had heard one at Hood Park, when doing the drive-swap with Mom. I rolled the windows down and drove the loop, listening to at least five of the flycatchers calling from the trees as I drove - (120 for my Walla Walla year - something I'll track parenthetically). 

My next stop was one that had just never been on my radar. 

Donangelo Overlook

This is a birding spot in McNary National Wildlife Refuge, along Burbank Slough. I've been to Burbank Slough many times during the year but had no idea that there was a second viewpoint into the slough. I found a little parking area, with wide open water to my left, and a busy little marsh to my right. I did something that I almost always seem to regret - walking out with just my binoculars "to see what the situation was". I always end up walking too far, finding good birds, returning to my car for my camera, then walking back never to see them again. 

It was par for the course on this particular morning. The most interesting missed photo opportunities being a Common Nighthawk (121 for the year), and a Black-crowned Night-Heron (122). What a strange place, I figure, to find a nighthawk! But I heard the peent call, turned back to my car and saw it circling low, white wing patches clearly visible. At the marsh, I had clapped, hoping to get a response from a Virginia Rail, but got the BCNH flying out from the embankment right below me - the last one I would see for the day!

After returning with my camera, I did get some return calls from some rails (123), but none from the Soras that had been reported. Without playback, I was just going to have fewer birds than many observers. There were a lot of ducks. That is exactly how much I can confidently report about the waterfowl in the pond! At this time of year, most of the Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teal have changed plumage, leaving them not easily distinguishable from one another. 

Deeper back, I found some shorebirds. At first, just a Black-necked Stilt, and a Greater Yellowlegs (124). Then, looking closer at some of the shoreline, I found a handful of Long-billed Dowitchers (125) and Least Sandpipers (126). In this general area, there had been other less common counterparts for all three of these shorebirds seen in the last few days. Lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitchers, Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers had all shown up on different lists. For that matter, even the Killdeer I saw at this pond had their fancier cousins, Black-bellied Plovers, sighted in recent days. 

And here starts the burning. It was a sunny August day... and I was looking at birds for extended periods of time. Facing the same direction and juuuuuust looking. My birding days are so often drive-look-drive, or maybe a hike, where I am deliberate about putting sunscreen on before I go. But hey... if I'm just stepping out of the car? The car that's just a short walk away? In my head, that is not a sunscreen situation. Add to this - I was feeling extra stubborn with all of these other shorebirds out and about. Today I would be the Good Birder who gives every bird the once over!

Casey Pond

This was a part of McNary NWR that I had never visited. The big draw for me? Forster's Terns. I have seen this species exactly three times, over a decade ago, along the Columbia. These sightings were all in the same year - July and August of 2014. I was excited to see some again! 

I knew I would be sorting through some Caspian Terns. Arriving at the pond, I found plenty of gulls! Most appeared to be Ring-billed, but there were likely some California Gulls mixed in. Caspian Terns quickly announced their presence as well. I gave each of them a long enough look to see bill color. Others were sitting with head tucked in - cap showing, but nothing else. 

And hey. . . after a dozen years, I admittedly blew it here on two simple facts: Caspian Terns are about the size of a Ring-billed Gull. Forster's Terns are much smaller. This may have kept me off of this endless scanning through the flock of gulls. . . but ignorance always has a price! 

There were a couple of different highlights here. An Osprey nest had two young - tended to by at least one parent. And this pond had fish! At one point, I caught a picture of a Caspian Tern, fish in its bill, and there were many jumps from the water during my time at the pond. Great Egrets and American White Pelicans were roosting here and there on the islands and sandbars in the pond. 

And dowitchers. So many dowitchers. Eighty or more, and I could find none that gave me the flat-backed look of a Short-billed Dowitcher. This was just one field mark of many, and not the one you'd use to diagnostically identify dowitchers, but a good start. Additionally, I took pictures of some of the dowitchers, hoping that the images might do better work than my scope in pulling out more diagnostic details. But the lighting was pretty bad.

Unrushed, I thought over my options. . . there were other stops ahead that could have some shorebirds for me. I was looking south, and the sun would be moving westward, giving me better sun here later. So, off I went!

Tyson Ponds

Nothing. Correction - there were some Killdeer. But other shorebirds? Nope! Just lots of cryptic ducks. 

Walla Walla Delta

Gulls from a bazillion miles away... pelicans... and one pleasant surprise! A Black-bellied Plover (127). 

I was surprised to see the bird so easily at this distance. They are, to be fair, pretty distinct looking birds!

With no sign of Forster's Terns, or any other birds of note, I figured it might be time to return to Casey Pond. 

Casey Pond

The return trip was worthwhile! I found not only two Black-bellied Plovers, but some smaller peeps, including both Least and Western Sandpipers (128). I found my attention drawn to a yellowlegs. I had some inkling that it might be a Lesser Yellowlegs but never got to hear a call. I did get pictures and decided in the end that this was very clearly a Greater Yellowlegs. It was interesting to poke around and find out more about identification. There were numerous differences, all of which helped to identify the bird. Some of them shifted as the posture changed but pointed at Greater in most images. 

I'd known of the rule of thumb with bill length - you look at the length of the bill and then continue back from the base of the bill to the back of the head. In a Greater Yellowlegs, the bill will be longer. In a Lesser Yellowlegs, they will be about equal. 

But new for me in the searches were two other points, both connected to the longer neck of the Greater Yellowlegs. They often keep that longer neck tucked down, kind of like a swan. This gives a neck/back angle that is a bit more pinched in a Greater, and more obtuse in a Lesser. On the front of the bird, you end up seeing a bit of a forward bulge on a Greater, from the neck. Lessers will have a smoother curve from chin to belly.

Again, posture matters. Different pictures may have pointed me towards Lesser on this bird if I just picked one of the field marks and one picture! But looking at many pictures of the bird, the field marks for Greater Yellowlegs show up again and again. Worth noting - the bill length is not going to depend on posture! This is what makes it such a nice field mark to use. It's still nice to add to the tool kit and find multiple marks to piece things together. 

The dowitchers. . . some of them were in better lighting now, but man, these still looked like Long-billed based on the posture, and few of the images clarified the barring/spotting question for the flanks (let alone any information about the tertials). I had to just call them all Long-billed Dowitchers, pack it up, and call it a day at Casey Pond! It gave me at least some comfort to see that other checklists from the same location and same day had come to the same conclusion!

Donangelo Overlook

One more time! I wanted to see if lighting, distance, or shift changes were going to bring any new birds to me. I got two!

First, the yellowlegs here helped me by giving clear calls for Lesser Yellowlegs (129). A simple tu-tu, and with a slightly different quality than Greater. I got some pictures that showed at least one of the yellowlegs clearly enough to confirm some other field marks, including bill length. 

And while looking at the pictures later, I found something I had completely overlooked. A phalarope, swimming next to the yellowlegs! No smudginess to be seen behind the eye, so this was a Wilson's Phalarope (130). 

There is still so much work to be done in Walla Walla County! And I really do have dreams of adding some species to my Columbia year list (which stands at 155). Additionally, I do want to be mindful of my life lists in both counties! I want to have all counties to 175 someday, so it behooves me to make those life birds a priority. In Walla Walla, the Wilson's Phalarope was one of five new life birds for the county. My life list there is at 161. Funny to see that there are over 30 birds that I've seen in other years that I just haven't seen this year!

In Columbia, it's a very different story. My life list there is at 158 - only three different from my year list! The only birds I've seen in the county that I've not seen this year? Common Nighthawk, Caspian Tern, and American Coot. Nighthawks are the only code 1 bird I have not had this year. The tern and coot are both code 2 birds. The only other code 2 bird I'm missing is Barn Owl. So, beyond this short list of birds, every one that I'm trying to find is going to be code 3 or higher. 

It will be difficult, but maybe this will at least be the last time I get a good sunburn? We shall see!