August 17th - Due Diligence

Due diligence was the theme of the day. It did indeed start with a good dose of diligence. Circling back on some writing, and a little bit of editing, I was still at the hotel when the 7 AM breakfast was offered. This is an unusual occurrence for me in any season. A little more peeking at eBird, and I was ready to get out the door. 

My first destination was the Waterville STP once more, although it wasn't my first stop. Stops of course are completely different! My first stop along the Columbia was the Lake Entiat Viewpoint. 

This has been a nice little spot over the course of the year! It gives a view of Lincoln Rock off to the South, and has a nice little cove to the North. On this day, there were some gulls to pick through out on the Columbia. 

Most of them were looking fairly Californian. I found one at a distance that may have been a Ring-billed... but not likely anything new for the year. Looking up North, there was a gull that was a little smaller, and looked a little messier, so I did decide I wanted to go check it out. 

Bonaparte's Gull! (195 for the year). It had a little spot behind its eye, making it an easy ID. I went back for my camera... and it left. I was a little bummed, as it's always nice to get a picture for the tougher birds - these were a code 3 bird (seen annually, but difficult to find), that I was hoping to find sometime during fall migration. 

Orondo Park was another stop on the Columbia, and between the two stops, the warblers were notably present - Wilson's, Yellow, and Yellow-rumped. Not a massive number of them, but they were definitely present through the morning. All of the ones I came across were pretty recognizable, and I'll be honest - I was a little glad not to get caught flat-footed with anything too rare! I wanted to really spend some time in a few other places.

Waterville STP

The Waterville STP seemed worth another visit. Yes, I'd just been there the night before, but I wanted a chance to see the birds through some improving light in the morning, rather than the dimming light of the evening. I also figured birds would move along - either to the STP, or away from it - over the course of a few days. Why not see how things had changed? 

Many of the same characters were present, although a Lesser Yellowlegs (196), was kind enough to give a "Tu" call as it landed next to one of its bigger cousins. That was new for the year, and not unexpected. 

I got in a pretty good groove with positioning, occasionally ending up in a good spot to shoot some of the peeps. I had my mind set on finding a Semipalmated Sandpiper, and with enough searching, came away with one (197).

I floated this picture out to another birder to confirm. I just... shorebirds, as noted from the previous day stress me out a little bit, so I wanted to give this bird enough doubt and get some eyes on it. The best part of his response, "The key to finding Semipalmated Sandpipers in Washington is to bird alone and without a camera." I guess I blew it! This bird is in many ways just a stubby-billed version of the Western Sandpiper. But there's some variation with the bills, of course, so... stubby enough?? was the worry in my head. Apparently yes.

One last new bird for the year: 

A Pectoral Sandpiper (198). This is the big guy standing in the middle of the picture. They're often described as "A giant version of a Least Sandpiper". The heavy streaking on the breast also sets them apart, and gives them their name. 

For perspective: a shot that included Pectoral, Least, Western, Baird's, and Semipalmated Sandpipers

Quick stop

Content after a few hours of staring at peeps, I moved along. I wanted to get to Jameson Lake, and was torn on whether to use the North or South entrance. This lake somehow does not have through traffic between the two ends! I'm sure it keeps traffic light, which isn't a bad thing for a resort setting. In the end, I decided to use the North entrance. 1) I hadn't been there 2) Sage Grouse have been seen in that area South of Mansfield, and 3) Grimes Lake was another stop I wanted to make, as shorebirds had been reported there as well. 

Approaching Grimes Lake

The drive was not all that birdy, although it was still neat to see many of the fields post-harvest, some of them sprinkled with baled timothy hay. Grimes Lake did not disappoint. It gave me no new birds for the year, but the mud was great, and there were 50 or so shorebirds working it. Least, Western, and Semipalmated Sandpipers. Greater Yellowlegs at the very least - I did not pore over any of the yellowlegs any more closely. At this point, I was really looking for Semipalmated Plovers - birds that never materialized.

This is absolutely worth a stop for someone shorebirding in Douglas. Without those alkali lakes like Atkins available, they're a must. 

Jameson Lake Resort, the main building at least, survived the fires from the previous fall. They did take some losses with other smaller buildings on the property, but they fared better than Jak's Resort on the South end. 

Jameson Lake Resort

They were closed, but that hasn't seemed to stop the people of Douglas County from helping someone out. I was greeted by one of the owners who gave me a "Can I help you?" (and not that cold, uninviting version of the question that we hear now and then). I found out that they were closed for the season, but he offered me a drink from the restaurant if I had wanted one. I declined, but it was just more of the same friendliness I'd encountered throughout the trip. 

I was told I was welcome to bird the shore, and I picked up a few birds - Double-crested Cormorants, American Coots, and Western Grebes. No Parasitic Jaeger patrolling the lake, but my imagination still thinks it's possible that one has done so in a similar time of year.

Big Bend Wildlife Area

Oh man, what to report? I went back to look for Sharp-tailed Grouse, and to walk the path until I saw the Columbia. Those were the two goals. My first goal may have been achieved five minutes into my walk as a dozen grouse took flight from the trail beside me and flew over a nearby crest. I pulled up my binoculars, moved them to the out of focus grouse, and started to foc... they're gone whoops. 

These clouds did no more than sprinkle on me

I would not have minded at all seeing these birds. I'd really like to see them. But it wasn't my day for seeing them. Walking the 5 miles of trail to see the Columbia? That was in my control. So I did. 

If you do walk it, these are the trees at the bottom of the hill past the second gate - some had woodpecker nest holes, so they're not completely uninteresting!

The birds were few and clumpy: a family of Spotted Towhees, a family of Lark Sparrows, a dozen Western Meadowlarks, three Say's Phoebes. Each of those were individual sightings, and not seen anywhere else. 

Do you know your berries? What were these?

Berries were out. Grasshoppers were out. Good food for the grouse, for sure, there just weren't any grouse for me to see. 

I'll be honest - this took some pushing to get to the end of this trail. Dark clouds were overhead during most of the walk, making me doubt my clothing choices. I got to the point of the trail I'd walked before, and continued onward, working from my memory of the trail map I'd pored over many a time in the last few months. Still, there were times where it really seemed like the end of the road was right over the next crest... and it wasn't. I was nearly done when I hit the third gate, wrestling to get the clever contraption closed. It turns out it wasn't much farther.

No panorama abilities here, so this was a little bit of cutting and pasting :D

2-3 inches long on this feather. Thoughts?

I don't know if I've talked about it in this blog or others, but this really is one of the joys of exploring new places: Getting a mental picture of what to expect, some abstract idea of a place, and then actually going there, and converting it to a real place in your mind. I kind of wanted to keep going to the Columbia itself? But only kind of. 5 miles is a bit of a slog, and had been about two hours of walking. It felt okay to head back, having seen the area. 

I have thoughts on it habitat-wise... I know I've talked a bit about the possibilities I've imagined here. It's too much to summarize. I'm able to ramble, but this would even be a ramble for me. Like... do I still think this is a place where one could find Least Flycatchers? Whoo boy. I have some revisiting to do before I could even think about that question, and it's one of ten or so species that I had in mind when I looked at this place. 

Ask me again when we're out birding some time. 

I'm getting less timid around cows, but am still offended when I get this "Can I help yoo?" look.

Back to the car. 10 miles in total. Close encounters with cattle, the arrival of Common Nighthawks, and a drive back to Wenatchee with a little bit of chafing from those ten miles! I stopped in Applebee's for a late dinner in Wenatchee. I'm certain I'd been at that very one during my Chelan year. And then it was off to bed with 198 birds checked off of my Douglas year list. 

P.S. on the title: I hadn't found my grouse, but I think 10 miles of walking in good habitat counts as due diligence. Giving all of those shorebirds a third and fourth look felt like it counted as well, so the title this time around seemed to fit the day.