June 25, 2018 - Washington State Vacation - Day 1 at Westport.

My wife Edith and I headed south for five days to explore the southwestern coastal area of Washington State. I had visited this area myself for a birding trip in 2014. On that occasion I had stayed at Ocean Shores on the north side of the large bay that cuts into the state.



This time, we stayed on the south side at Westport. We were in the Chateau Westport, a large lodge that was about a 10 minute walk to the beach.


Chateau Westport - Westport WA

The beach looked out onto the open Pacific, so the waves were fairly active. We did see a couple of kids surfing here during our stay.


Since I would not be going to San Francisco in the fall for the Oracle convention, I was hoping to see some of the birds here that I see on that trip. I was somewhat successful.

We didn't see much on the first day as we were traveling for a good part of it. Here's a few local birds:


Savannah Sparrow - Westport WA



California Gull - Westport WA

And finally, if you get lost there's a helpful Crow to show you the way back to the lodge.


American Crow - Westport WA

This is a short post. The next one highlights our day in Ocean Shores, with more bird diversity and some horses.

June 26 - Ocean Shores and Westport

They're close to each other if you have a boat, but it's over an hour to drive from Westport to Ocean Shores. We drove around the town and then headed for the public beach. Vehicles are allowed on the beach so we drove right on.

Edith spotted some people on horses coming back from a beach ride.



She decided she'd like to do the ride, so I left her and headed out for the North jetty for some bird watching.

While on the beach, I observed some of the common Gull Species. This one might be a pure Western Gull or could be what is referred to as an "Olympic" Gull (for the peninsula). This area has an high level of hybridization between Western Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls. This Gull seems to match the drawing in the Sibley guide for a pure Western.


Western Gull - Ocean Shores WA - 2018 Bird #180.

The North Jetty was built in the early 1900's to stabilize the shore and allow for the formation of beaches. It can be treacherous to walk on as it's all large rocks.


North Jetty, Ocean Shores WA

I had visited this site in 2014 and had some luck there with birds. However, the first creature I saw on this day were in the water - Harbor Porpoises.


Harbor Porpoise - North Jetty, Ocean Shores WA

There were also seals in the water.


Harbor Seal - North Jetty, Ocean Shores WA

I headed back to get Edith and discovered she hadn't done the ride because of her footwear. So we'd be coming back tomorrow for that and more birding. We decided to return to Westport.

We went for an evening walk on the Westport Beach and had some good luck - a flock of Heermann's Gulls were present.


Hermann's Gull - Public Beach, Westport WA - 2018 Bird #181

These are one of my favourite Gulls. I love the reddish-orange beak and the black legs. Here's a couple of more photos.







Also on the beach was a California Gull.


California Gull - Public Beach, Westport WA

On our walk back to the lodge, we encountered a Common Yellowthroat, our last bird of the day.

Common Yellowthroat - Westport WA

June 27 - Return to Ocean Shores

We made the drive back to Ocean shores so Edith could do her trail ride on the beach. This afforded me the opportunity to visit Damon Point for some birding.

The first bird I saw was a Brown Pelican flying overhead.


Brown Pelican - Damon Point, Ocean Shores WA - 2018 Bird #182

Here's a crop of an overhead shot.

Brown Pelican - Damon Point, Ocean Shores WA

A more common west coast bird is the Double-crested Cormorant.

Double-crested Cormorant - Damon Point, Ocean Shores WA

Below is a representative of the Olympic Gull hybrid, some features of the WesterGull (head shape, bill) and some of the Glaucous-winged Gull (coloring of the wings and tail).

Western X Glaucous-winged Gull - Damon Point, Ocean Shores WA

There must have been a Herring or Salmon run in the area as there was a feeding frenzy on the water for a period.

Back at Westport, we made our nightly walk to the beach. Something about the perspective on this shot caught my eye.

Westport WA

Once again an American Crow made an appearance on the beach.

American Crow - Public Beach, Westport WA

The final bird of the day was an immature Bald Eagle near the beach.

Bald Eagle (Imm) - Public Beach, Westport WA

June 28 - Tokeland and Westport

On our last full day we decided to head east and see where that took us. Edith has always liked to look at small cemeteries on our travels, so this one was our first stop. We didn't go in as we didn't want to add to any erosion that might be occurring. So I just took this photo.



We ended up in a place called Tokeland, a small town of 151 people according to the 2010 census. I assume the name has nothing to do with the recent legalization of marijuana.



There were a good number of Gulls here as this photo illustrates. About 10 minutes later a big guy with a dog came along and scared all the gulls away. The dark looking ones are Heerman's Gulls.

Assorted Gulls - Tokeland WA

These might be pure Western Gulls, or they could be hybrids.

Possible Western Gulls - Tokeland WA

There's no mistaking the Heermann's Gull with the red bill and dark plumage.


Heermann's Gull - Tokeland WA

Here's a short movie of a Heermann's Gull swimming.

A bit later we observed a Caspian Tern (my first of 2018) diving for fish.

Caspian Tern - Tokeland WA - 2018 Bird #183

Caspian Tern - Tokeland WA

After Tokeland there wasn't much to see and the day kind of fizzled out. After dinner in Westport, we made our last evening trip to the Westport beach. 

Off to the west we noticed a large number of birds on the move heading south. They were quite distant and I had the Nikon zoomed out to all 800mm to get some shots. I recognized that these were seabirds on the move, and a bit of research on the IPhone confirmed that they were Sooty Shearwaters.

Sooty Shearwater - Pacific Ocean off Westport WA - 2018 Bird #184

The birds streamed south in numbers for 15 - 20 minutes, counting in the thousands. I like the surreal aspect of this next shot. it looks like they are above clouds rather than water.

Sooty Shearwater - Pacific Ocean off Westport WA 

I took this movie of the spectacle.

Our last memories of this vacation were these birds and the amazing sky and water.

Lou and Mary-Jean's Alberta Birding Blog June 2018

Eared Grebes by Lou Davidson

at Frank Lake

June 4 - Calgary - Weaselhead Flats at Glenmore Park

June 5 - High River - Frank Lake

June 6 Part 1 - Brooks - Dinosaur Provincial Park

June 6 Part 2 - Brooks - Kinbrook Island Provincial Park

June 7 - Cochrane - Areas west of Calgary

June 8 - Calgary - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

Lark Sparrow by Mary-Jean Payeur

at Dinosaur Provincial Park

June 4 - Glenmore Park Weaselhead Flats - Calgary AB

I normally take a birding trip to the Okanagan in early June, but with the flooding this year, I decided to switch it up and fly to Calgary for a five day birding trip. I was joined by my birding friend Mary-Jean. She had arranged to stay with friends in southeast Calgary, while I stayed at my cousin John's place in the southwest.

We flew in on the Monday morning, rented a jeep, and started birding at Glenmore park in southwest Calgary.

The source of drinking water in Calgary is the Glenmore Reservoir, the result of a Dam on the Elbow River. I visit this location every time I visit Calgary, but I only see the north end of the park. I always check out the Cliff Swallow nests under a foot bridge over the river. There are some paths nearby that usually have some local sparrows.

However, due to construction, we had to drive around to the south entrance of the park. It's about 5 Km away my usual spot, but it was a nice day for a walk (at first). We discovered that the south was great for birding with more variety than the north side.

This stock photo shows the beauty of the natural area.



The very first bird we saw was one of our favourites, a singing Yellow Warbler.


Yellow Warbler - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB

Our second bird was a lifer for Mary-Jean, something that she celebrated quite a few times throughout the week.


Clay-colored Sparrow - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB - 2018 Bird #155

Another common local bird is the House Wren, another lifer for MJ.


House Wren - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB - 2018 Bird #156

I believe this is an American Crow, slightly larger than our Northwestern Crow. I had first recorded it as a Raven, but the beak seems to be crow sized and shaped.

American Crow - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB

Nearby off the path was a small common Woodpecker.


Downy Woodpecker - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB

We walked north heading for the bridge at the far end of the park. Suddenly, a prairie rainstorm rolled in with little warning. We took shelter under trees for about 20 minutes until the rain let up. I've often heard that after such storms, the birds come out into the open. This seemed to be the case today, especially with this Chipping Sparrow.


Chipping Sparrow - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB - 2018 Bird #157

Nearby, another House Wren was loudly calling, affording me a great photo opportunity.


House Wren - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB 

At this point we decided to document our presence in the area. First a photo of me:



And then a photo of Mary-Jean...



We were nearing a corner where the trail turned east and dropped into the river valley. Just before the bend, there was a small flycatcher perched on a branch calling out every few seconds. It was either calling for a mate, or announcing his territory, or both.


Least Flycatcher - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB - 2018 Bird # 158

I caught the call on a short video with the Nikon.

After descending the hill, we were now on the south side of the Elbow River. There were Red-winged Blackbirds along the shore, including this female.

Red-winged Blackbird (F) - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB 

Nearby in the river was a Blue-winged Teal.

Blue-winged Teal - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB 

Mary-Jean took this nice shot of a pair of American Wigeon in the River.


American Wigeon - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB 
Photo by Mary-Jean Payeur

We reached the foot bridge and it was my first disappointment of the day. Many of the Cliff Swallow nests were broken and there were few birds to be seen. Mary-Jean pointed out a nest that had a head sticking out and I got one acceptable shot.

Cliff Swallow - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB - 2018 Bird #159

As we made our way back, we spotted a Goldfinch on the top of a tree.

American Goldfinch - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB 

Once we'd climbed the hill, we found the Flycatcher still on his perch, chirping away like mad.

Least Flycatcher - Weaselhead Flats, Glenmore Park, Calgary AB 

We made our way back to the car, the map below shows the ground we'd covered over a four hour period. We started at the Star in the lower right hand corner and followed dark red line to the bridge that crosses the river. The star past the bridge was my normal starting point.

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