Teapots and Bears
First was the teapot.
I woke up in my car, parked in a cozy spot off of Jasper Mountain Road. I'd drifted off just as it was getting dark, and had woken up to full dark, with the teapot shape of Sagittarius clearly outlined in front of me. I can barely take pictures when the lights are on. Astrophotography, presently, is beyond my ken.
But I got staring at the stars and thinking back to when they had my attention much more. I have always loved a good map - they keep you from getting lost, they tell you how you can get from here to there, and they can tell you where to find beautiful things. But no map is complete! There are beautiful things that show up unexpectedly, and you can't map all of those beautiful things out.
For French comet-hunter, Charles Messier, the unexpected and beautiful nature of comets had his attention. But, for things that first appear as fuzzy blobs in the sky, it was important to have a list of the other beautiful bits of fuzz were sprinkled around. That was the inspiration for his catalog. The Messier Catalog is a list of 110 deep sky objects (nebulae, clusters, and galaxies) - some of the most beautiful ones in the sky. After finding the Pleiades (M45), and the Beehive (M44) with my telescope in high school, I was kind of hooked on finding more.
I did find them all eventually and even made an attempt in college to find a comet (missed it by oh so very little!). But it has been years since I had done any real revisiting of those beautiful things. So I looked at the spout of the teapot, and tried to remember. . . what objects were just up above, rising out of the spout like steam? Days later, I gave in and looked it up - the Lagoon Nebula, and the Trifid Nebula.
Could we somehow bring this back to birding, please and thanks?
And somehow, this came back to the birding. Where I'd followed maps to find beautiful things. In this case, not a comet-like migrant, passing through for a brief time. This was more like something from the Messier Catalog - Great Gray Owls.
Our state's tallest owl, and a pretty rare find, it's a species that I've never seen. My one experience with the species was hearing the low hoots through a light wind up in the Okanogan. Enough for identification, but this seemed like an owl to be seen. Ebird points for the species are hidden, but all signs seemed to be pointing me up here. I'd been up once before and realized in retrospect that I'd come too late for a proper search. Additionally, I didn't feel like I even knew *how* to look for them. So, before this kind of impromptu trip, I tried to study up.
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| Scouting fields on Jasper Mountain |
When I arrived the evening before (around 6:30 PM), I spent time driving around these big open fields, looking specifically for low perches that might be used. Fallen trees, for example, are a nice option for these owls - something that I saw almost none of. There were other things that stood out as potential perches - a low building next to a field, all of the fence posts lining the fields, and a few snags with low open branches. So, my evening had consisted primarily of looking at these potential perches, and scanning the rest of the fields for one of these big owls perched or in flight.
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| Northern House Wren, making use of a perch |
Bupkis! So, I'd fallen asleep and woken up to this teapot. I stepped out of the car, rolled my neck around to rid myself of that awful crick, and listened for low hoots. I tried a light bit of calling for Northern Pygmy, but it remained beautifully quiet. Back in my car, I drove, stopped and listened. I didn't have playback available, and the Great Gray call is not one I'd practiced. All the better, as it wouldn't seem kosher to do any calling for a protected species.
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| A few scattered low perches - and a deer! |
I ended up back at a different stop, facing a large field, and drifted back off to sleep.
I woke up this time to the bear - Ursa Major right out in front of my car. I stepped out of the car, and immediately heard a low humming sound. My eyes went wide. It seemed off, and it also seemed quite close... I looked down and saw that my phone had just registered a text sent hours before. I chuckled at my brief excitement over a notifications vibration. Back into the car. Then I drifted back off.
The Big Beautiful Bird
I was up around 4 and realized with some excitement that we were in civil twilight. I got out and scanned the spots of interest. And suddenly. . . bingo! I saw a tall thin snag with an owl perched on top. I had some excitement that gradually passed away as I noticed that it was pretty stocky, a little less gray than tawny, and that it had two "horns" poking out on the top of its head.
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Great Owl! Just Great Horned, rather than Great Gray
Two out of three ain't bad |
But this is the comedy that I hope for and expect from these trips. Finding a good bird is exciting and fun to share, but good lord, aren't there people like me who go out and *don't* find good birds?? I have to believe this is true and thanked the Great Horned Owl for his appearance. But this was not time wasted. My joy that morning came from the expectant search across the fields and wasn't tempered by FOMO (Fear of Missing Owls).
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| Finally got a Chipping Sparrow in the camera! |
As the mountain woke up, I started listing birds. Dusky Flycatcher was the first new species for my Columbia County year (130 - a number I'll track in parentheses). Western Tanagers, Chipping Sparrows, and Northern House Wrens formed up most of the morning chorus. I eventually picked out Swainson's Thrushes as well (131), which became more and more frequent as the morning rolled along. It was, in fact, a good morning for thrushes! Western Bluebirds at the top, Veery down below as I started returning to riparian habitat (132), and even a single Hermit Thrush sang from a treed hillside (133).
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| Willow Flycatcher |
In addition to the Dusky Flycatcher, I picked up two other new flycatchers for the year: Olive-sided (134), and Willow (135). Five species of warblers were seen and heard on the way - Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Orange-crowned, Townsend's, and MacGillivray's. The two remaining warbler targets for the day - Nashville and Wilson's - remained undetected.
Trip number two: North Touchet Road
I landed in Dayton around 5:30. And you might naturally ask why I didn't stay up on Jasper longer, looking around for Great Gray Owls? My gas gauge told me I had five miles to spare when I arrived at the gas stop in Dayton! There was not a lot of room for playing around with exploration, starting and stopping the car. But it had still been a great morning! I got gas, coffee, and a breakfast burrito before heading up the next road.
For perspective, take a look at my previous post from back in May. I describe the relationship between five different roads leading up into the Blues (North and South Touchet Roads, Robinette and Jasper Mountain Roads, and Kendall Skyline Road). North Touchet Road, which follows the North Fork of the Touchet River between Kendall Skyline and Robinette Mountain, was my next trip into the Blue Mountains.
My first pulloff was at a mostly-obscured lake. I couldn't see any ducks on the water, but did hear Spotted Sandpipers, a tougher bird in Columbia County than most other counties. I also felt and then heard the drumming of a Ruffed Grouse (136)! Ruffed Grouse, in some years, become quite the nemesis bird for me (Mason... Jefferson...), so I was pretty darn happy to pick one up. A Belted Kingfisher rattled from the lake as well - a nice addition to the day list.
This is such a pretty road. A different pretty than others I'd driven in Columbia this year. Trees lined the road on both sides, and most of the time, pulling over would let me listen to Western Wood-Pewees and Veeries calling from cover (along with the ubiquitous Yellow Warblers!). I pulled over for a planned walk at the Middle Point Trailhead. Here, I was greeted by at least three Wilson's Warblers (137), calling from the trees.
I went to the trailhead, and heard. . . I don't know what I heard. I heard it a second time and started walking uncomfortably back to my car.
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North Fork Touchet River
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For clarity, I'd encountered a cougar up in the Blue Mountains about ten years back. It shook me pretty good - although all the cat did was come up out of a clear cut, cross a forest road in front of me, and continue into the next clear cut. It never looked at me, did anything threatening, and was probably a good 40-50 yards away. Additionally, I know that these sightings are very rare. But standing at the base of this trail, everything upslope obscured by the foliage around me, and noises upslope obscured by the babbling sounds of the North Fork of the Touchet. . . my imagination was having none of it.
I continued up until I reached the entrance for Bluewood. I was a little confused, as my GPS was suggesting that I could go right through Bluewood to get to Kendall Skyline Road. The entrance said that Bluewood was closed, and that the gate in front of me (open and apparently allowing through travel) had a sign noting that it could close at any time.
That aside, I did pick up some birds that had been tougher elsewhere - Pacific Wren, Steller's Jay, Varied Thrush, and Western Flycatcher. It was neat to see the change in birds as I reached this higher elevation. After a bit more standing, thinking, and listening, I hopped in the car and returned to Dayton.
Trip number three: Kendall Skyline Road
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Possibly Frasera Fastigiata?
Umpqua Green Gentian |
One more trip up into the Blues! I poked around and found Hatley Gulch, which took me up. Along the way, I picked up Gray Catbird and Yellow-breasted Chat. Nice day birds that I don't recall finding elsewhere. I got onto Kendall Skyline, and things started to look familiar from my previous trip. Most of the really interesting birds I was hoping for (Green-tailed Towhee, and so many woodpeckers) were waiting a little higher up, so I didn't make many stops.
I *did* stop at FR 4620, which connects the Kendall Skyline Road to Tucannon Road. I didn't head down it, remembering just how rocky it had been, but it was nice to see it clear. I also heard Clark's Nutcrackers here! These are listed as a code 4 bird, so it was nice to find them multiple times in the same basic location - just different ends of 4620, but not far as the nutcracker flies.
I passed a few little campgrounds along the way, including Stockade Springs. From here, things started to open up, and I started to look for Green-tailed Towhee habitat. They like south-facing scrubby slopes in the Blues, and it looked like there was quite a long stretch of that habitat. I got the wrong towhee first:
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| Spotted Towhee |
Then I thought I heard the call I had been prepping to hear. There were a couple of "field marks" I was "looking" for in the song, and I heard both, so I headed over to the slope. I'm including all three pictures I took of this bird, just so that you can fully appreciate how bad I am at camera.
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| Green-tailed Towhee (138) |
This took no playback. I just got there when these birds are singing. Listened. Looked. Shot. "And that's why the picture is fuzzy." Yep. The bird flew, and I thought I might just sit closer to this perch, wait and see if it returned. It did not, but. . . yowzer, just going down the slope gave me a flashback to the only other time I've had this bird in the state - back in 2011 when I was doing my
39counties run! I was only partially convinced during some moments that it would not end with me falling over a cliff. I sat, listened, and came to a belief that there were other GTTOs calling in the greater area. The one I saw did not return, but that was fine. Slightly out of focus pictures are part of my branding, right?
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| Critter! Columbian Ground Squirrels (if I have that right) were everywhere |
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Help! Not sure what kind of Chipmunk this may have been,
but I think I have it down to Least or Yellow Pine |
Olive-sided Flycatchers became more and more common as I drove, and I finally got some Mountain Bluebirds to add to my thrush collection for the day, making it a clean sweep! (Hermit, Varied, Swainson's, Veery, Robin, Mountain and Western Bluebird). I also enjoyed one open area where Vaux's Swifts were quite active.
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| Paintbrush - not sure which |
Further yet up the road, MacGillivray's Warblers were singing down a slope that seemed to run away forever. In addition to these songs, and those of Northern House Wrens, I finally got on a call that I could confidently call a Nashville Warbler! (139) This was another one that had been a bit of a puzzle, especially as a code 4 bird. But these slopes extended down towards the trailhead of the hike where I had bailed, so it made some sense to me that they might be in this vicinity.
Midway Campground was fairly well treed, so I thought I'd give some toots for pygmy-owl. Just a few toots in, I got buzzed by a Calliope Hummingbird (140), which danced around the top of the outhouse in plain view before zipping away. I've been worried about hummingbirds! I have seen numerous feeders up in Dayton but have never seen a hummingbird actually using any of them. Oof. Still two species left to find!
Heading towards Godman Campground, I started to hear both kinglets, and things started to look more, for lack of a better word, woodpeckery. Lots of trees with bare trunks for woodpeckers to work. The woodpeckers agreed with me here, as I found a pair of Williamson's Sapsuckers (141)- the female posing for me conveniently:
Godman itself? Tons of Steller's Jays making a racket. I pulled over and saw a woodpecker take flight in a stand of snags. "You think it's open?" a man asked, pulling up alongside me in his truck, and looking further down Kendall Skyline. "It's... do I think what's open?" We got talking about the road as it continued to loop around to Bluewood, and also of the road to Twin Buttes. I clarified that, never having ever been on that stretch of road, I couldn't make much of a guess, personally. We talked more about it, and he shared information about the snowpack in that part of the blues - many feet deep in places.
After we stopped talking, I looked down the road with at least a little curiosity. I'd planned to stop at Godman, but. . . I considered running all the way down the road, but ideas about checking email and getting home pushed in. I at least took it around a corner, finding yet another dense stand of snags. Down below, somewhere I heard a classic sapsucker drumming, and a nice nasal call. Two woodpeckers below, out of sight. Maybe I would leave it unidentified if it had been just a single, but in this case, I went with Red-naped Sapsucker (142), assuming there weren't TWO Red-breasted or Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers down below!
On the way back down, there were lots of stops for wildflower and scenery pics. Sometimes both. If I'm passable with birds, and not great with mammals, I'm almost completely useless with flowers, so I'd happily take any identifications or suggestions for this post, and for the previous one from late may - 11 different flowers in there!
Best of the lot:
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| May have identified this one as Skyrocket - a lovely name! |
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Flower A
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| Flower B |
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| Flower C (and one of my favorite pics from the trip) |
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| Flower D (the pink ones. But there are the blue ones too! And yellow!) |
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| :) |
This got me back into town, ready for lunch. I ate at Buckwheat Brewing - the cranberry salad and a pint, as I got observations into eBird and tried to figure out what birds to go look for. . .
Dayton Fishing Pond
Bank Swallows from an observer I didn't know? It was a little roll of the dice, but very little, given how close this park was from my lunch stop. I got to the park, crossed the bridge, and immediately found Cliff Swallows. After waiting and scanning more closely, I finally found two Bank Swallows in the mix (143). Then, while heading back to the car, I had a flyover Cedar Waxwing! (144)
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| This was the little reservoir where the mixed swallow flock was coming in to visit a little muddy patch |
Lewis and Clark State Park
I took a nice slow walk through here, and the big find (reported on eBird and confirmed) was a Black-chinned Hummingbird (145).
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| I'll add this to the list, with bears, wolves, cougars, ticks, rattlesnakes. . . |
I headed straight home after this long long day. So, yes, there was no Walla Walla birding on this trip, meaning I might have to play a little catch up. The general plan is still for that catch up time to be migration, although I do love the idea of hitting Jasper Mountain again on the way in or out of town, given the nice two-county birding that is available!
Columbia: 145 for the year, 154 for my life list (now the 24th county where I have hit 150! I think Green-tailed Towhee was the bird to push me past there)
Walla Walla: 116 for the year, 155 for my life list
The next trip, July, will be focused on a little bit of clean up in both counties - I need to spend more time at higher elevation in Walla Walla for some easy things, like Pine Siskin, Mountain Chickadee, and Vaux's Swifts. Columbia has four species of owls that I could make a focused effort for: Great Gray, Barn, Northern Pygmy, and. . . Flammulated? Crazy to think of spending the few hours of night birding rather than sleeping, but at least three of them are potentially daylight hour birds. Add Common Poorwill and Common Nighthawk to the night list, I suppose!
There are also some other "easy" passerines on the list still - Eastern Kingbird (code 1), Lark Sparrow (code 3, but with some reports to follow), and lord, it seems like Grasshopper and/or Vesper Sparrow ought to be findable out on Riveria Road, maybe with a Swainson's Hawk? A Turkey Vulture? So many options!
