Cool Intentions
Three times. That's how many times it took to hit the Northwestern bird jackpot. Not that I minded of course the previous visits. I got to bird with my friend Khanh and chat with Robert for a bit. Northwest birding is fun, exciting, a little nerve wracking(the roads{and some trails}!) and always scenic! Join me today as we go and explore the Cascades up in Washington State.
Numerous this year! Lots of beautiful Red-breasted Nuthatches
Over the past several years, I have enjoyed birding alone and with friends in the Pacific Northwest(Washington and Oregon). In fact, this year I took you all to the Pacific coastline of Washington for some fun along the ocean. There are primarily 3 types of bird treks that happen in these 2 states. Coastal/rain forest. The Highlands. And the cold boreal forests of Rainier and the Cascades. All of these habitats are favorites of mine. 
MANY male White-winged Crossbills
During a research trek, I went with owl/grouse guru Khanh not expecting anything except some laughs, a few fun birds and scenic views. Every time I go though, we both learn new things. We had challenges. In Oregon and Washington, we had to constantly monitor weather conditions as the snow levels and visibility would fluctuate. We also had to deal with hunters who were shooting our target birds right on the road! That was a bit traumatic.
One of the studies we had on our agenda was to take a closer look at the western cone crops for finches. Cassin's Finches, Pine Siskins, Red and White-winged Crossbills were in excellent numbers. We were able to study White-winged Crossbills up close and really memorize that electric gurgle as they flew in large flocks from one conifer to the next!
sub-Alpine Larch
Northwest birding is NOT easy. In fact, I think it's probably the hardest of all birding challenges in the US. This post makes it all look easy but I can assure you, it's not. There's a lot of driving in very difficult conditions for very special birds. I discovered this with my friend Gordon the first time we went. Grouse are easy when they're out in the open early in the morning or during dusk, but they are certainly not easy when they are in the thick of the woods.
Ruffed Grouse
This was all made harder with hunters around the areas. We had to be careful not to let them know we were onto cool birds because they'd shoot them, even though most were there for deer season. However, they can kill grouse until the 15th of January. But not on our watch.
female Spruce grouse
Khanh and I both love grouse. In fact, I think Khanh's favorite bird is the Spruce Grouse. When we saw hunters shoot one on the road and kill a Spruce Grouse, we were ready to take action. Shooting on the road or across a road, even if it's a primitive rocky semblance of a road, is still illegal. We were livid. The hunters saw us after they killed the bird and took off. But then we, including the hunters, all spotted a huge covey of grouse in the woods. Khanh and I quickly got out of our vehicle to protect the 8 other young birds that had unwittingly stumbled onto the road for grit. We had a talk with this guy below and shooed the young ones further into the woods. Their mother, the Brood Hen, called to them and they all went into the dark forest away from the hunters on the road. Most of them were juveniles and it is very likely, the hunters would have taken out the entire covey.
juvenile male Spruce Grouse-he was almost shot but Khanh threw his body over him
I don't like hunting, but I understand why people do it. At least they took the bird they shot to eat. Some people just let the grouse on the road to die. During our surveys, once I saw the bird, I monitored the road for hunters while Khanh did an accurate count of the birds. The only exception to that rule was when we were at Mt. Rainier where hunting is off limits. Then we both could study the birds as much as we wanted. As we climbed further into the boreal forests of the West, snow began to accumulate. That's when we followed the tracks.....
One of the birds I had really wanted to see was the Sooty Grouse. They can be really easy or super difficult. Thankfully, the snow showed their tracks. And we just followed those cute chicken feet on their daily walkabout. We had a laugh when Khanh ran out of tracks and realized that the bird was right in front of him.
female Sooty Grouse-magical!
It was such a wonderful observation. We quietly crouched down to the ground and watched her eat as it snowed around us. During our travels, we saw several Sooty Grouse just hanging out near the woods. It's pretty cool to see native grouse in the United States.
she's a big round dinosaur!
We were able to see a juvenile male Sooty at Mt. Ranier......
juvenile male Sooty Grouse
.......and also an adult male.
The scenery in these locations is quite breathtaking. Permafrost was a thing above the 5000 feet elevation. During the day, snowflakes would be present. It always hovered between 29 and 32 degrees.
It was fun looking for new owl and grouse territories. I am so grateful to Khanh for sharing with me his knowledge and expertise on these birds. It's one thing to see a bird, and yet it's quite another to really KNOW about the birds. After this trip, I feel like I could find these owls and grouse on my own. I have done so much birding on my own in the US. Often I've taught myself about birds. And when I don't understand them, I go to the experts and learn from them. Just as I teach others about our desert birds. In the bird world, there is always something new to learn.
Bighorn Sheep! I love them!
Owls, of course, are wonderful. We were researching potential new areas of habitat for these owls. At one point we saw a crusty rancher who was adamant that the hunters stay off his property. I asked him if he had seen any Great Gray Owls around a certain area (because we were in the right kind of habitat) and he grumbled, "They're around here. But I haven't seen any here." I politely said, "Thank you." and we left. My teacher intuition kicked in. The Crusty Rancher was lying. There was one in the area. The skies darkened and the hunters were on the prowl looking to kill things like the deer smartly hanging out in the fields on the private property of the rancher's lands.
Great Gray Owl
As we drove past the area one more time, Khanh spotted the Great Gray Owl in the dark!!! Nice try Crusty Rancher! From a distance and following all the legal laws in the book, we safely observed this beauty in the woods. His bowtie is lovely! As the hunters approached, the owl silently glided off the branch. And just like that...disappeared. No laws were broken by us.
Boreal Owl
Another owl that requires a lot of patience is the mysterious Boreal Owl. It's probably the trickiest of owls to view in the wild. I've partially seen and most definitely have heard this little owl several times over the years. Like the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls or Flammulated Owls in Arizona, it takes a lot of study to find them. On this cold and damp evening, I had one "SKEW!" right in my ear. Ouch! It chitter chattered softly and then practically screamed in my ear. I was eye level with the conifers on the hillside when it all went down. Khanh took his light and shined it on the bird and we were able to get full body views!
Like I do with all owl or sensitive bird reports on ebird, I hide them from public output except for Barred or Great Horned Owls. I don't like birds being harassed, especially when it comes to owls. There is a lot of bad behavior out there by photographers. And as we witnessed several times from this trip....by hunters. Many people use ebird and other naturalist sites to locate their targets just like birders do. However, we don't harass or kill the birds. That's the difference. So when you file your reports, keep that in mind. There's a HIDE OUTPUT option on your report. Great Gray Owls are hidden automatically, but Boreal Owls for some reason still show as do the grouse.
mule deer
We had a fun time out. I always love exploring the Okanagan Highlands, the Cascades and Pacific Coastal areas. A really nice treat was getting up to Mt. Rainier and exploring some fine habitat. The last time we went, the snow fall had closed many of the main roads. This time we were lucky:)
the Pacific Steller's Jay on Mt. Rainier
There we got to play with the Jays. I don't get to observe Canada Jays often. So we spent quite a bit of time watching them interact with visitors. The Steller's Jay is also different from our interior subspecies. It's a blue and black over on the Pacific side. Here in AZ, our Steller's have a lot of white around the face and throat.
During a cold cold misty evening up on Rainier, we did some owl research and crossed our fingers for a Cascade Red Fox. And sure enough, we got lucky!!! This character below was curious and checking us out. And then like the Great Gray Owl, the fox disappeared into the misty darkness.
Cascade Red Fox
So many beautiful birds. I still need that better shot of a Varied Thrush, but for now, I'm happy with this one. They are such beautiful birds. Also very skittish for a thrush!
After all our work and fun up in the Cascades, we finished off with an urban trek back in Portland where a juvenile Emperor Goose is currently being seen. That was my last lifer for the trip.
I was there for a week and the time flew by so fast! I wish Khanh and Robert were closer so we could bird more together. There are a few people who I have really enjoyed birding with over the years. It's generally people who are not tickers nor do they stress out about dipping on a bird. Every moment is a learning opportunity. And there's nothing more exciting than proper detective work. It's so rewarding that first discovery while finding a new territory for a difficult bird. My desert world; his frosty mountains. Such extreme places full of amazing birds.
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