Shorebird Calisthenics, the Seattle Skyline, and a Vigorously Bathing Puffin

Over Labor Day weekend we traveled north to Seattle for our first visit. Mostly, we hit the tourist traps (how could we not?), which brought us to the top of the Space Needle, as well as to the EMP and Chihuly museums. We tried to bird a bit during a short boat voyage out on the Puget Sound, but our main target was Orca. While we weren't lucky enough to find any this trip (ample reason for coming back again), but we were treated to several Caspian Terns and a handful of Osprey, the original Seahawks.

Heermann's Gull

Our other must-see destination was the Seattle Aquarium, which, along with lots of other great exhibits on creatures of the Sound, has a small but lively area dedicated just to seabirds. Inhabitants included auklets, murres, and guillemots, but it was a Tufted Puffin that stole the show with its "vigorous bathing," as Maureen described it.

Tufted Puffin

We didn't make a serious effort to bird until Monday morning, and all signs indicated that Discovery Park was THE place to be. The park is huge, and if we'd had all day to explore I'm sure we could have turned up some great stuff. Unfortunately, we squandered what little time we had just getting our bearings, and trying to find any trails that would take us out to the water so we could do some serious shorebirding. We'll certainly have to try Discovery again on our next visit, but looking over eBird reports before we left town, it was clear we needed to make one last stop.

Steller's Jay

We don't seem to have any trouble turning up small numbers of Black Turnstones from time to time, but never more than a dozen. It's proved more challenging for us to see Surfbirds well, and in fact we'd only ever seen one, and it had been exactly a year and a day earlier. Now we were faced with possibly seeing 50 turnstones and nearly 100(!) Surfbirds. Needless to say, we were sold on the need to make a little detour, but how good a look could we actually get?

Surfbird

Black Turnstone

Pretty damn good, it turns out. We arrived at Don Armeni Boat Ramp in the late afternoon, and lugged our gear up onto the sidewalk. Just as we were deciding whether to turn left or right, we saw a couple of Black Turnstone a few feet away, directly in front of us. And there was a Surfbird. The three of them flew off a little ways, and we worried they were about to leave us for good. On the contrary, they were leading us directly to the motherlode.

There were easily 30 of each, lazing on the rocks, peacefully intermingled excepting the occasional squabble. We were set up along the rim of the Puget Sound, and directly across the water from us was the entire Seattle skyline. So our last view of the city was ripped straight from a postcard, and our last memory was of hanging out with scores of awesome shorebirds. Not bad for a first visit.

And now for some SHOREBIRD CALISTHENICS

THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN! An Unlikely Duo Goes Head-to-Head

The weather works in mysterious ways. Oregon is certainly in no shape for me to be rooting against a much-needed bout of rain, but with ambitious camping plans we booked for this weekend our fingers were crossed that the worst of it would hold off just a little bit longer. It was not to be; Oregon's southern coast will have to wait. We tried to find a last-minute alternative, but between the storms to the west of us, and the wildfires to the east, we decided it best to sit tight. The skies mostly cleared up in the afternoon, so we were able to fit our shorebirding in after all -- just much closer to home.

Shorebird flock - Western and Pectoral Sandpipers

The sweet lovers' embrace of a couple of star-crossed orthopterans

Damselfly glamour shot

We spent parts of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Ankeny NWR reveling in migrant Pectoral Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, and assorted peeps. Practically everything else we tried to turn into a Baird's Sandpiper, but we just couldn't make the name fit convincingly. The real highlight of the weekend, though, was a collaboration between two birds you'd never imagine seeing together, even while they share a home.

Semipalmated Plover

Pectoral and Western Sandpipers

Pectoral Sandpiper

I was crouched down inspecting a bug, when I noticed a form out on a muddy patch of shoreline that hadn't been there a minute earlier. "Rail… rail… Virginia Rail" I sputtered. We manage to (rarely) see these from time to time, but like any rail, they're more often heard than seen, and this was the most open we've caught one yet. A few seconds later and it was joined by another super secretive species, a Sora.

It's uncommon enough to see one of these skulkers out from behind their usual dense cover, but to see both side by side is practically unfathomable, like bigfoot sidling up to a unicorn. The two lingered together for nearly a minute, picking at the substrate like old friends. The Sora left first, and then came back shortly after for an encore. For all I know this was one in a long series of regular inter-rail check-ins, but truly it seemed like something that will NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. In fact, I did hear from one researcher on Twitter who studies rails, and she told me that she's never seen a Sora commingle with a Virginia Rail. So there you go.

Good Times at Jamaica Bay

So yes, I, Maureen, am still here! Lady Hipster Birder had to go on a posting hiatus while finalizing wedding plans and decor. But now that we've tied the knot, I'm ready to get back to the blog. 

A couple that plays together...

… stays together. =P

So, as I mentioned in my previous post from our birding adventures in NYC, we were fortunate to spend a lovely morning at the famous Jamaica Bay. While planning our trip, I had noticed on the website for the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge that they were going to have quite an exciting event on the very day we planned to be there - a trip just down the road to Broad Channel American Park to see the emerging of mating horseshoe crabs and the numerous shorebirds expected to appear to feast upon their juicy, tasty eggs.

A look at the underside of this ancient creature.

An intimate moment… 

Horseshoe Crab Action

Although I had visions of hundreds of Red Knots congregating for this feast as they are known for especially having an affinity for horseshoe crab eggs, there were actually none present on this day. But we did have hundreds of Semipalmated Sandpipers and a handful of other shorebirds, such as Willets and Ruddy Turnstones. 

Semipalmated Sandpipers

Semipalmated Sandpipers

The shear number of sandpipers was pretty exciting, but what made this part of the morning especially exciting was seeing our LIFER Brants - and not just one or two, but about 150 of them! There were great rafts of them floating along the shore, and they created such a splendid sight as they were gently carried on the waves as the Semipalmated Sandpipers swooshed above them in great numbers.

Brants

Brants Flying

Brants in the Concrete Jungle

More Brants a-floating

Brants and Semipalmated Sandpipers en masse

After playing with horseshoe crabs and basking in our glee from our lifer Brants, we went back to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and hit the trails to see what else we could find. We didn't have any lifers there, but there were some great sightings nonetheless. A darling Canada Goose family greeted us as we started on the trail. As we walked parallel to the shore, we saw yet another avian family - this time a pair of Osprey doting over a couple of young chicks in their platform nest.

Canada Goose

Canada Goose Family with a Human Family reflecting in the background

Osprey Family

Ospreys feeding their chicks

One pleasant surprise wasn't a lifer, but it was a fantastic and long look at a close-by perched Tree Swallow, a bird usually seen on the wing. And if we have seen them perched, they're always too far away to get good looks like this one, showing off his brilliant, electric blue sheen.

Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow

Another "striking" encounter was something we'd never seen before - a Brown Thrasher attacking a snake! It happened all so quickly, and we cheered in excitement as we witnessed this most unheralded display.

Step One: Approach Snake from behind

Step Two: Attack that snake with all of your fury!

Step Three: Make sure you show that snake who is boss!

The rest of our day was much more serene as the day warmed up and the bright passerines continued to dot the verdant spring trees. Yellow Warblers seemed to pop up everywhere we turned, and a few other warblers, such as Magnolia Warbler and American Redstart, also greeted us. We had an overall fantastic time at Jamaica Bay, and we can't wait to go back some day!

Lazy Caterpillar

Eastern Towhee with a morsel

Another look at the Eastern Towhee with grub

Yellow Warbler

Magnolia Warbler