January 2nd - Christmas Bird Count and a trip down the Columbia.

Chelan CBC

The town of Chelan sits on the shores of Lake Chelan in Chelan County. That all makes sense. But how does this affect someone birding in Douglas County? Ahh... here's the map to clarify: 

Yeah, there's a little sliver of the count circle that lops into Douglas County. It was a distanced count this year, so I had that little sliver all to myself, with another counter on the other side of the Columbia taking places like Chelan Falls. 

McNeil Canyon Road

I have to be completely honest - I looked at my map, and at all of the little side roads that fell into my little sliver. I'd tried to figure out which ones might provide good scoping spots for the Columbia, canyons, fields, trees. . . 

But the signs! Every road outside the highway, it would seem, is some kind of gated community sans gates, where one should really not be exploring. I figured this out early as I started up McNeil Canyon Road and looked for roads on either side that might look drivable and welcoming. But the signs. 

There were many variations on this sign

Sunrise was lovely, with pink light hitting the hills. I had hoped to find a Great Horned Owl before first light, but came up empty. From a pull-off on McNeil Canyon Road, I had Common Ravens, a Red-tailed Hawk, a few Juncos, and House Finches. 

Sunrise in McNeil Canyon

Likely Trumpeter Swans at Beebe Bridge

Winding my way down, my next stop was near the Beebe Bridge, which runs across the Columbia. I was able to find a few swans on the other side. They usually looked like Trumpeter Swans, but from a distance and at the wrong angles, they sometimes looked a little more like Tundra Swans. 

I've always found swans a little challenging, unless I can hear them, or can see them side by side. Trumpeter Swan calls are easy to identify - they literally sound like trumpets! Tundra Swans sound like. . . erm. . . This is a good opportunity to talk about my ears. 

Bird calls are far more interesting and enjoyable and memorable to me than field marks, and if I've heard a bird numerous times, it's pretty easy for me to pick them out. I don't spend enough time in other places to have internalized a lot of Eastern US, or even Eastern Washington species calls. But when I hear a new bird, my brain kind of explodes. It's a new voice in the room that takes you by surprise.

So, should I come across some Tundra Swans this year, I'm working to pick out details with the eye, the gape, the neck. I'll likely ID them by voice or by size, but in both cases, it would be relative to the more familiar Trumpeters. 

The more familiar Trumpeters

Trumpeter Swans - Beebe Bridge Park

Lucky me! I drove past Beebe Bridge, south along Highway 97, and came to Beebe Bridge Park. As I walked down towards the water, I spied a handful of Trumpeter Swans, and got a shot before they flew. I still wish I had been closer, but this at least helps show the gape. With Trumpeter Swans like this one, there is a smooth curve from the eye to the chin. With Tundra Swans. . . for lack of a better word (or, honestly for the lack of a better word that is familiar to me), their smile often pokes into the white a little bit, and the black is a little more squared off. Yellow in the bill and an eye that is distinctly separate from the gape - these are other clues beyond size and calls that can help distinguish Tundra from Trumpeters. 

These swans and others were kind enough to give the brassy trumpet call

Trumpeter Swans were species number 37 for my Douglas County year list, and Gadwall at Beebe Bridge Park were 38. I had tried to explore up a few different roads, but was turned back by clear warnings down all of them that landed in the count circle. I tallied up the species for the short morning, and ended my count. 

Daroga State Park

Daroga State Park

Well, I'm a little disappointed here! This is my only shot from Daroga, which was actually a nice birding stop. the lagoon here is a nice spot for waterfowl, and the trees were busy enough with songbirds. 27 species of birds were there, as far as I could tell. 26, as far as I could actually identify, but a gull flying overhead didn't give me enough help to get it down to species. Looking back at my checklist, it was about 600 birds on the water, and a couple dozen more in the rest of the park. 

Ring-necked Ducks, Canada Geese, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Hooded Merganser, Common and Barrow's Goldeneyes, Greater and Lesser Scaup, and Buffleheads were all found in the water, as well as one new species of duck, 20 Canvasbacks (39). Pied billed Grebe (40) and American Coot (41) were out on the Columbia. Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches (42) were found in trees on the walk down to the lagoon, and six Steller's Jays (43) were making a racket near the parking lot. 

After leaving Daroga, I made a quick stop at a little spot on Highway 97, a little pull-off with fishing access on the Columbia (or "Lake Entiat" as it is called at this deep and wide spot). I found a Common Loon (44) here, along with nearly countless American Coots.

Lincoln Rock State Park

I may have taken this picture to show the layout of the park, maybe to show Lincoln Rock in the background, but when I opened it up to write the post, I was floored by the hills in the background. It is slowly sinking in that. . . those hills are Douglas County. 

It's easy to be on the Columbia and understand the place. This side is Douglas, that side is Chelan. It's easy when you're up on the plateau. Miles and miles of flat. It's all Douglas. The part that will take time to sink in is the connection between the elevations... it's not often that you can see one of the Douglas Counties when you are sitting in another. This is a good example. There are these hills but no hint of the vast plateau above. 

This spot is probably around 750 feet elevation, Waterville, which is on Highway 2, is about 2000 feet higher. Somewhere on Badger Mountain, it's another 2000 feet above that. But there's nothing gradual about it, all in all. 

Lincoln Rock brought me some nice birds I'd hoped to find eventually in the winter. The first was a Red-Necked Grebe (45). 

Red-necked Grebe - Lincoln Rock State Park

I expected these to be a tough find for the year, so this was a nice find. Some Horned Grebes (46) nearby made for a nice comparison, for size, structure, and bill. There were plenty of trees in the park, and plenty of birds flitting around in them. This included chickadees, nuthatches, goldfinches, and . . . the best bird. 

Varied Thrushes (47!) - Lincoln Rock State Park

Why Varied Thrushes are the Best Bird

Okay, "best" is a strong term, but I've bent so many ears on why these should have been the state bird, rather than the American Goldfinch. Let me bend yours. It was going to happen eventually. Varied Thrushes have been seen in every county in the state. That brings it down to 170 of the 500 plus birds that have been seen in the state. Get down to the ones that are seen annually in every county, and we are down to 70. 

So 70 birds could ostensibly represent our state - the whole state, and not just part of the state. How many of those birds would really represent Washington well, like. . . seeing the bird is a pretty good sign of where you are. No bird is only found in Washington, so let's say. . . it would be unusual during any time of the year to find the bird in New Jersey, or New Mexico. Northwest, not South, not East. This actually brought the list down to one bird. The Varied Thrush.

There are a few birds that would have made the last cut, but miss on the others. One example is Chestnut-backed Chickadee. It's a Pacific Northwest bird for sure, but it will be tough to find one in Douglas County this year! Golden-crowned Sparrows are more widely found, but they leave the state for the summer.

They're pretty birds; they're similar enough to American Robins to help a beginning birder as they start sorting species into groups; and they have a ghostly trill that lifts the soul. All I got to hear was the little "tuk" call on this particular day, but it was nice to find these birds so early in the year.

I made this trip to Lincoln Rock knowing that an American Dipper had been seen, but wasn't clear enough on where, so I did eventually pack up and leave without finding that one. 

Highway 97

This is the actual Highway 97, along the Douglas County side, with the Chelan side holding Highway 97A, the alternate route from Wenatchee to Chelan. I've been up this road many times on family road trips, where we would take the kids to the Orondo Cider Works. Sadly, this spot, which had the best apple cider donuts in the universe, is now closed. 

I did find a way to get my apple fix:

I got a couple bags - one Fuji, and a half and half Fuji/Cripps Pink. They've been distributed to friends and family, and I think I still have 4-5 left. Good. Apples.

I do want to eventually put together a compilation of places to stop on Highway 97. It can be tricky to bird the Columbia, and it helps to have an idea of where it's both safe and productive to pull over and scope the water. Other incidental birds along the way included a Merlin (48), chased by an American Kestrel, and a Cooper's Hawk (49) sitting atop a pine.

Oh, I thought you meant the other Coyote. . .

For better or worse, I now own a car with GPS. So as I was getting close to East Wenatchee, I thought I'd pop in the name of a birding spot that had been recommended to me: Coyote Dunes Natural Area. As I was typing it in, the GPS selections narrowed down to "Coyote Trail". . . and I shrugged and accepted the suggestion. 

This was a great mistake. 

Had I followed the directions to their completion, I think I would have ended up somewhere on Badger Mountain. As it was, I probably knew I was on the wrong road as soon as I started climbing through Eastmont; I definitely knew when I got to Badger Mountain Road. Curious, anyway, I did continue for a bit, exploring an area I'd never visited on the south side of Badger Mountain. It was desolate and beautiful. 

I did turn things around, and meandered back down towards East Wenatchee, picking up one new bird on the way: American Crow! (50) In many years, crows are my first bird, so it was interesting that they had stayed hidden for so long. They do love populated areas, and Douglas County definitely has wide open spaces. 

Back in East Wenatchee

I got back into East Wenatchee sometime around 2, and made another trip to the Apple Capital Loop Trail. This time I popped in at the 19th street entrance, right by Porter's Pond. I was really hoping to find the Barred Owl that had been sighted there over the last month, and had my ears open for Anna's Hummingbird (yes, 51), and Pacific Wren as I walked the trail. 

The pond itself is adjacent to the Columbia, and held ten different species of waterbirds. I knew that this was a stop I planned to make if I needed Barrow's Goldeneye, though none were here now.

I missed the Barred Owl and Pacific Wren, but was shocked at the sheer number of House Sparrows near the parking area. Fifty or so were chattering away, and a single copse of trees had three Downy Woodpeckers working the branches. 

At this point, I had a little nap attack. I have thought of them this way for a while now, but found online that there is an actual thing - Type 2 narcolepsy - where you get this sudden need for a nap, but without the famous loss of muscle control that comes with run-of-the-mill narcolepsy. Worth looking into, but I just knew that 10-15 minutes lying down would make for a better afternoon. 

Peregrine search: take two.

From my hotel, it was not far to the Hydro Park, and I was armed with better information this time. I made my way down and walked the trail again. This time, I pushed a little farther, and diligently checked the powerlines as I went. Eventually, I was pretty sure I'd passed the expected spot, and decided to give up on finding the Peregrine Falcon that seems to frequent that stretch of the trail. 

Amazing how bumps on a powerline look like falcons

As I turned and headed back, it couldn't have been 2 minutes of walking that passed before a large dark falcon swooped over the path in front of me, and continued to the far side of the Columbia. I got to see the facial features and fine barring on the chest that identified it as a Peregrine Falcon (52). 

I got back to my car with the sun getting low, and decided it was time to explore the non-birdy aspects of the county.

Union Hill Cider Company

This was a nice stop. I almost got cajoled into joining their cider club, and honestly am regretting not doing it. I tasted the ciders in their tasting room, and came away with a growler of the Liquid Limber, but there was nothing not to like about the others. 

Outdoor heated seating was available to people that wanted to stay for a glass, or the tasting flight. It was nice to bend the owners ears with questions about apples, and I even came away with some tips on caring for a honeycrisp tree I planted years back.

Bianchi Vineyards

On the same road, (10th Street, which runs parallel to the Columbia North of Rock Island Road), there are two wineries as well. Bianchi was open on this particular day, so I stopped in for a glass of wine. 

Again, what a nice stop. The couple who operate Bianchi are two warm people. They got me a seat out on the open air patio (behind the wreathed door you can see there), and I relaxed a little after a long day on the road. At some point people at the next table mentioned "the Eastmont Mafia" in a boisterous conversation. . . 

Many people are very good at not meeting new people, and generally avoid joining conversations with strangers. I am not good at not meeting new people. 

So we talked about my birding plans, about Badger Mountain, Barred Owls, and interestingly about land ownership in Douglas County. Apparently, quite a bit of the land on and around Badger Mountain is owned by a family, including their children. For the most part, they are pretty protective with the land. You have to know them pretty well to have access. If you don't have access, you really don't want to be on their land. Some of the children are a little more lax, but in general, it's best not to wander into Mr. MacGregor's Garden, as it were. 

I actually got a much better understanding of this, and perhaps of the "no trespassing sign culture" I had experienced during the day. As birdwatchers, there is sometimes the desire to rationalize minor trespassing. We don't mean any harm to people, to land, to birds, and just want a chance to see a bird of interest. If approached by a landowner, we are ready to compliment them on the amazing wildlife on their land. 

Technically, a picture from the future: deer up on the Waterville Plateau on 1/3

The thing is, in many parts of Eastern Washington, if you give no cares about people being on your land, you are likely to end up with poaching happening on your land. Even if you do care, it happens. There's just a lot of it going on, and at some point I can see where the frustration comes from. People can make decisions as they wish, but I hope this at least clears up some of the mythology that there's just. . . people with guns waiting joyfully for a chance to have an encounter with some hippie dippie nature lover. If a little context helps anyone to pause before tromping onto private lands, it was worth the time it took to type this. 

Also of interest, bird-wise, the woman I chatted with told me that they had a Barred Owl on their property up on Badger Mountain, and had seen them up there for many years. I stepped through some of the calls, and when I did my Barred Owl, her eyes lit up "Yes, that!" For a code 4 bird in the county (not seen annually), I was happy with this bit of sleuthing. 

But owls don't come for those who stay up too late, so I got take out from El Porton in East Wenatchee, made my way back to the hotel, and popped my sightings into eBird before drifting off to sleep. 

Another picture from the future. . .