December 18th - Christmas Bird Count Round 2: Lyle-Hood River

Klickitat River

Bingen Society House

I'll say again. What an affordable, clean, pleasant stay this was. 7 AM coffee, and a little breakfast. On my trips, I'm normally flying out the door as the sun rises, but. . . with 185 birds pocketed for the year, and a pretty fixed area for the Christmas Bird Count, I figured the potential of squeezing out some new birds was pretty low. 

I got my things packed up, and then got a call from John, "Hi Tim. . . are you going to be here soon. . . ?" I realized I'd mixed the meeting times for Saturday and Sunday. "Be there in 20!" I promised, still sipping coffee. I think I ended up getting from Bingen to Lyle about 15 minutes later - a distance that I'd not had dialed in quite so well before this last day in the county. 

Klickitat Balfour Trail

Youcanstartwiththetrailheadacrossthestr.....partwheretheroadtakesyoudowntotheriv...ndIhadgoldeneaglesatthetreedoyouseethattre....

I nodded, and to be fair, I really did hold onto a lot of what John passed to me quickly after I arrived. There are times like this where I am like a full glass of water, and someone giving me more information is just pouring water that will not be in that glass for long. But there are a fair number of things and places and place names that I'd put together in my head over the course of a year, so I felt like I kind of knew what part of our sector I would be taking solo once John and his wife Mary departed. 

We had an interesting task - birding the Klickitat River for about 8 miles above the mouth. Interestingly, and maybe frustratingly, this did not include the mouth itself. Some of the best birds of the year in the county have shown up at the mouth of the Klickitat, although both John and I were without spotting scopes. Close up birds seemed like they would be more our speed.

My first birds out of the gate at the Klickitat Balfour trailhead were Lesser Goldfinches. There have been some of these showing up regularly in spots in King County where I live. With those observations have come some nice photos and even videos of the birds, sometimes alongside the more common American Goldfinches. That said... I still don't have enough experience with the two species to be quite so confident.

Red-tailed Hawk

But I'll tell you - drop two or three dozen of the Lessers drop into a bush right in front of me, giving their distinctive "tweeyoo" call. I had a few failed photo attempts, as it was still not all that light out, but did get a good one eventually.

It was an interesting woodpecker day! An interesting woodpecker year for the area, honestly. Northern Flickers were everywhere. They're never really uncommon, but the numbers were a bit higher on the count. Acorn Woodpeckers are kind of a brag for this particular CBC. In recent years, these birds have moved from a single granary tree to a wider area. I've probably seen them in 3-4 different locations over the course of the year and found two during my morning walk. Finally, Lewis's Woodpeckers were notably absent. Not a great acorn crop or something along those lines, so they exited the area for the winter.

I had two birds I was really hoping to see here: Barrow's Goldeneye and Lincoln's Sparrow. As I made it up the hill a little bit from the parking, things opened up a little in the direction of the river. There were some well-beaten trails running across fields towards the river, so I followed them down. I'd missed this on previous visits and was happy to find that this brought me right to a little cove full of 60 Mallards, a dozen or so American Wigeon, and some ever-present domestic Graylag Geese.

I swear there were sparrows here

No Barrow's on the river, so I climbed my way back up, stopping at most of the blackberry brambles to give a quick pish for sparrows. I did get a pair of Golden-crowned, and a few Song Sparrows, but the numbers were pretty low! At one point I excitedly followed what I thought could be a Fox Sparrow, only to find . . . a Yellow-rumped Warbler. Good laugh at myself over that one. And not my last laugh of the day. 

A bend in the trail took me up the hill to meet up with Old Highway 8, and then to the upper parking area. From there, I met the Lesser Goldfinches once more, and then finally found a blackberry bramble with some new birds for the morning, a White-crowned Sparrow, and a Lincoln's Sparrow. The latter was new for the year - my 186th species in the county for the year.

I was pretty happy to get a good look at the Lincoln's. Even if it didn't stay up for a pic - they're just such pretty birds. I was musing that they might be the sharpest looking sparrow, in my opinion. But there may be others that are close. Like maybe Sagebrush Sparrow? Regardless, it was a nice moment enjoying a new year bird in December.

Soon after I was back in the car. 

Klickitat River Trail

I crossed back over to the West side of the Klickitat River and started up the road. I wasn't 100 percent on where to stop, but I was a solid 79 percent, and figured I could just keep an eye on the side of the road for any possible turnoffs that would bring me closer to the river. It wasn't too far when I found one - a little spur that led all the way down to the river. I recalled John describing the potentially bad conditions, but it was pretty clear, and not all that long. 

At the river itself, I quickly found a mix of Common and Barrow's Goldeneyes (187!). They flew fairly quickly, which was a bummer, as it was a nice opportunity to see the two species side by side. Viewing them from behind first, I could tell I had both species of males by the coloring on the back. Barrows has Black. They both have black, of course, but Barrow's has just a little more. The facial markings are the easier way to sort them out, but . . . as was the case today, these birds always seem to be on the run!

Come baaaack!

From this little parking area down by the river, I was able to walk back up towards the road and catch the Klickitat River Trail. I wasn't sure how far up I should walk it, but I wanted the steps! This took me past some churps that I thought might be Varied Thrushes. A little patience showed them to be Hermit Thrushes, and one gave me pretty good looks! Shortly after this, I got a surprise as a flock of about 90 Oregon Juncos passed through the trees, headed south to the mouth of the river.

About 90?? On a normal day, why make such a statement? But this was, after all, the Christmas Bird Count! Every bird seen during the day is tallied as carefully as possible, helping us track species over time. Generally speaking, winter is the best time for this, because the birds are neither migrating (spring, fall) nor nesting (summer). So, what started with 1,2,3,4....gradually changed into 45,50,55 as it became more and more apparent that this was a flocking lot of juncos!

Farther up, and I stopped, hearing odd noises. It took a second to recognize it as fishing that I was hearing! This was a spot on the Klickitat where native fishing was allowed, and about a dozen people were out that day. 

This is where I had a chance to get a better look at some Barrow's Goldeneyes. There were about a dozen of them on the river, and they weren't flying away at the first sight of me. It took a few minutes to realize that they were largely hemmed in by the groups of people fishing on both sides. I snapped some pictures, and then had a few more rounds of I-sometimes-forget-what-birds-sound-like. My first was a calling Kestrel that I thought sounded great for Prairie Falcon, until I listened to my recording later. Even worse was the American Dipper song that I could only place as a Rock Wren. 

The latter one, I can kind of defend. American Dippers prefer fast-moving water. Fast-moving water is loud. It's hard to hear dippers sing. But at this odd little spot, the water was not moving all that fast. This had me less ready to hear a dipper, and it also meant that I could hear more of the song than I ever really had before. Not just the loud ringing "cheer cheer cheer" but some of the other varied calls as it cycled through its repertoire. I just sat there and scanned the rocks on the far side of the river for the Rock Wren and never found it! Again, a recording saved the day once I had a chance to hop on my laptop.

This recording and sorting out of observations actually happened at the little cafe in Lyle. One more round of eggs, sausage, and hash browns there. I actually did need a fresh cup or two of coffee. This got me warmed up and ready to tackle a piece of the area that I mistakenly thought had been assigned to me.

Barrow's Goldeneyes

Fisher Hill Road

I got to this junction, where the trail crosses the river, and Fisher Hill Road also heads west off of the main road to .. OH, I just now as I typed this connected the dots. Fisher Hill Road cuts past Appleton, goes past Panickanic (sp?) Road, and eventually hits the Conboy NWR area. I'd been on it a couple of times during the year, but never this far down. 

It was a bit after noon now, and the birds were getting quieter and quieter. I did come across another smaller flock of Juncos. This time, when I heard them deep in the trees off of the trail, I pished a little bit. Right as I did so, an oak leaf came flying through the air to a branch closer to me. I laughed that off, but then, when I pished again, the leaf came even closer. . . 

. . .

There had been so many times where I'd mistaken oak leaves for birds during this walk. A flock of oak leaves dropping down to feed in the snow; an oak leaf soaring across an open field. But were these mistakes? The response from the oak leaf when I pished. . . I mean, you don't have to be a scientist to explain that, right? Later at dinner, I did ask about whether Klickitat birders counted oak leaves in their species lists. They seemed hesitant to admit it. . . but Klickitat birders play their cards close to the vest, I think. I'm telling you though: oak leaves.

The rapids around here were quite beautiful, and I was curious about the different fishery operations. A search once I got home told me that this stretch is one of the places where dipnetting is allowed for Native anglers. 

Another dipper. . .a Black-billed Magpie on the ridge. . . and a lot of quiet. I didn't head too far up the trail before I decided to call it a day on this stretch. Back out on the road, not knowing how far down John and Mary had birded, I made a few stops trying to add to our count for the day. 

One stop was a little more optimism than wisdom. I saw a busy feeder at the side of the road, and a wide bit of gravel near the house. There was a "no parking" sign. Now. . . I really don't want to be that birder out there, one that disregards signage like that. In my head, I thought a couple of things: I'm not parking, I'm stopping. . . someone who loves birds enough to put a feeder out will be excited to hear about the Christmas Bird Count. . . these things were not true. The homeowner was friendly but firm, and I got headed back towards Lyle. 

Last Call!!

Dinner would be in Bingen, so I decided to make a stop around 2:30 at Bingen Pond. It's just such a good spot, that it made sense to make a visit, even though I wasn't following up on any particular sighting. 

The ducks on the pond all looked pretty familiar, so I peeked out towards the Columbia, and found my last Klickitat bird for the year.

Red-breasted Merganser (188)

Crappy shot, but I'd discussed this with Cathy on Saturday. She'd asked at one point, "Do you want to go back for a better shot?" I just laughed and explained that good photos would set the bar higher, "And then it's just work, work, work!" This was a shot that I was happy to have at all - the duck was diving pretty actively, and I was kind of shooting blind and crossing my fingers. Pencil thin bill, classy mohawk, and no signs of distinct white coloring on the chin or neck. I was happy when I heard that Cathy was able to follow up and find it the next day - a new county bird for her, which is certainly a rarer thing for her!

Ayutlense

There was an open invitation to meet at this Mexican restaurant in Bingen for a post-count dinner. No pics from dinner! It really is a shame, because people were pretty lit up from the day. Yes, it was largely quiet for birds, but a day of birding always means a few good stories. Many people got to reconnect or put new faces to old names. We ended by tallying our count for the day. With only the people who could make it, we hit 99 species, and I'm certain we added a digit to that once everything rolled in.

I think I've used this expression before, but I will again - what a treat to have that time with such neat people. 

One bit of excitement was some scrutinizing of a photo of a blackbird. We confirmed that a Tricolored Blackbird was relocated at a feeder near Dallesport. Very nice count day bird. 

"Well. . . there's time! Are you going to chase it?"

I chuckled then and am chuckling even now as I type this. "It's. . .not what I do." I explained. 

Exit

People eventually trickled out for the night, as did I. The sun was down on December 18th, and my Klickitat year was complete. 188 species for the year, and a life list up to 195 species. This despite a few bumps along the way - I was pretty content. It really is an amazing place. I hope that a read through this blog makes that clear, if only through clumsy photos, and rambling words. 

Happy birding, everyone, and best wishes in the new year!

December 17th - Christmas Bird Count Round 1: Trout Lake-Camas Prairie

The More the Merrier!

A sentence that no extrovert could disagree with, right? An important part of these silly trips I make is to try to step into these beautiful places and get to know them a little better. But. . . oh my goodness, Klickitat County! Here I was at the very tail end of the year - I had been to the beautiful places, I had found the good places to get breakfast, or burritos, or beer. But somehow, I'd spent not a single day out on the trails or side roads birding with anyone from the county. 

They're a funny bunch down there in Klickitat. I think it's the geography: 

No interstate highway in Washington is going to take you past Klickitat County on the way to anything. Maybe you are on your way to Oregon. . . but is that really safe? And any road leading to Klickitat is guarded by Mountains, sketchy roads, and places where you're probably not supposed to be. 

So, it would make some sense that Klickitatonians Klickatites Klicksters residents of Klickitat have developed a culture, an ecosystem, that doesn't rely on system inputs. It just cruises along, fueled by internal intermingling. 

The intermingling is significant! Bird lists in "The Klick", if you poke around on eBird, include a lot of shared lists. I even learned of Secret Societies of Klickitat Birders who get together regularly to explore the county, and other individuals who only bird. . . because they enjoy it! Heading out and studying birds without a care for posting lists, these people are like. . . lemurs in Madagascar. . .Sakoku-era Shoguns. Maybe Hobbits.

Nonetheless, somehow, I finally found a way in. Not just one, but two days in the Klick, birding and socializing with Klickitat birders on Christmas Bird Counts. *I* had a merry old time, and hope that the addition of a wet-sider was welcome in the end!

Stuart and Cathy

In this context, it's fun to do a brief introduction of Stuart and Cathy, my co-birders for the day. Both made a living off of various biological endeavors: hydrology, forestry, bird-banding, Western Gray Squirrel Surveys. . . they've been around, and have worked for or adjacent to many of the major government bodies that try to keep a little eye on our ecosystems and make sure they're healthy. 

Stuart was someone I knew about because I use eBird. A stroll through past years in Klickitat shows that he was likely the Klickitat County year list record holder many years running. It's interesting because most people in the state who keep lists. . .well, *most* use eBird, but most also report their lists to Washington Birder. You have some interesting exceptions - birders with thousands and thousands of lists from birding trips, with not a one of them on eBird. 

You also have folks like Stuart, who adds his observations to eBird to support citizen science but doesn't report his findings to Washington Birder. He's not alone in this regard! Not in Klickitat County. The greatest life list for the county from Washington Birder: 264 species. On eBird, there's a *year* list this year of 258 species. 

The notebook of a *good* observer

The worst part of all of this. The absolute worst part. I may be listed in Washington Birder as the most prolific single-year birder with my list in the high 180s once the year is done. 

I hope someone fills out a form this year and saves me that embarrassment. Stuart, incidentally, set a mark in the 190s many years back, and has found 265 different species in the county over the years. Getting to bird with someone who knows the county *that* well was a treat. 

Cathy is someone I knew from eBird - not for the lists with impressive numbers, but for the extremely detailed lists. Citizen science is not a sloppy endeavor for her. Detailed, accurate sightings with plenty of additional notes are the norm. And her passion - bird-banding - has let her see birds in neighboring Skamania County that (with *some* effort, because members of the Washington Ornithological Society didn't really know her) had never been recorded previously. 

So, I landed in quite a car. 

Owling?

They're pretty clear in any Christmas Bird Count. "Owling is not expected."

??????

Of course, after a night's stay with my Mom in Yakima, I zippittied my doo dah to Klickitat early. I had to do work before I got out the door, and just misunderestimated the time it would take to get to the spot on the BZ-Glenwood Highway where I was hoping to find Barred Owls. I arrived at the intersection with Laurel Road at about 7:45, with the sun already over the horizon. It was behind hills to the East, and socked in by a little fog, so I hopped out and tried anyway. No owls, but I did start to see the first stirrings of birds - a Common Raven, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, and an American Robin. 

I would have stayed a little longer, but it wasn't dark, and it was like... 8 (o'clock and degrees), so I continued on my way to the Gilmer Valley. 

OH! That's what this place is called

I'd been up and down the BZ-Glenwood Highway a time or two over the course of the year. When I got to this area, I instantly recognized it, although I'd had no idea that the location was called Gilmer (on the map), or the Gilmer Valley (by Cathy and Stuart). It's a beautiful little stretch along this road - where it breaks open into wide open pastureland. 

On this particular day, we had full access to the fields. Stuart, who actually set up this particular count circle 15 years ago, had long ago made contact with this particular family, (one with a road named after them a little ways North at Conboy National Wildlife Refuge) who found some value in being able to track the bird species seen on their land in winter. As noted above, "the more the merrier!" Biodiversity in an ecosystem is generally a good sign of stability. 

We started at some of the stable areas near the barns and other buildings on the property. The easiest and earliest species were ones that even the landowner recognized as invasive species, Eurasian Collared-Doves and European Starlings. Picking through the Dark-eyed Juncos poking around in the mud, we came across a Slate-colored Junco. There are several subspecies for these sparrows, with the most common locally being Oregon Juncos, so this was a nice little surprise. 

TOSO far away

California Scrub-Jays were also in the mix, as well as American Crows and Common Ravens. We strolled up the road a little and found a few birds up away from the road. A juniper had not only an American Robin (singing a whisper song) but a Townsend's Solitaire. These birds are rare overwintering birds in the state and have a strong preference for junipers. This particular tree was full of juniper berries, which we saw the bird eating at short distances. Varied Thrushes added a third member of the thrush family to our count. 

Eventually we got close enough for great views

Juniper berries - solitaire food

One of many private roads 
we had access to

We had some excitement for a "different hawk" that the landowner had seen nearby. While we had hopes of a Rough-legged Hawk, we ended up with a Red-tailed Hawk - the more common large hawk found nearly anywhere. This may sound dismissive, but the reality is that Red-tailed Hawks are some of the most variable birds out there. This one was very lightly colored, with only a small number of darkly streaked feathers across its breast to identify it. 

As we birded, I had done some owl calls, and a short while later were rewarded with some brief but distinctive calls from a Barred Owl. This was my 185th species for the year - a nice addition in a year where I'd had very few species of owls!

We crossed the road and pulled over at a spot that they'd referred to as "the gut pile". When animals from the farm died, some parts of the carcasses were brought to a small pile near the bottom of a hill. On this particular day, the hill itself was pretty icy, so I was the only one venturing to the bottom. This was a nice enough stop, with a couple of woodpeckers added to the day list: Hairy Woodpecker and Red-breasted Sapsucker. I found Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Brown Creeper, and Golden-crowned Kinglets at the bottom of the hill. 

Birding highlights of the day

Mount Adams with a cap - a pretty picture to distract you after I just told you I was going 
to give you birding highlights

We were not very far into our day. . . but had already hit *most* of our birding highlights for the day! Water was frozen over in so many places, trees were frosted, ground was covered by a thick layer of crunchy snow. Wild Turkeys were among the few birds that found a way to make use of the area - seen on a few different stops. Golden-crowned Sparrows were found at a few different stops, and another surprise, a single female Red-winged Blackbird, was found when we returned to our original spot. 

Birding highlights aside. . . 

I really wish I'd had this trip at the beginning of the year! "Bob and I had White-headed Woodpeckers here." "Wilson found a Great Gray Owl here." and so on and so on. As we circled the south end of Conboy National Wildlife Refuge, I learned so much about spots for birds, about trees (including some larches, and stories that ranged from Ponderosa Pines to Western Hemlocks), and about Christmas Bird Counts Past. 

We dug into Klickitat County a little bit. Bickleton - the really conservative town that still found a way to be welcoming to people passing through. Goldendale - the really conservative town that found ways to push out diversity. White Salmon - the little haven of liberals that snuck into the county. We talked about sheriffs, post office workers, and schools. Influential families, private lands, and birds - so much talk about birds. Although I teased Cathy a little, pretending that any new bird information would slip away from my brain like food off of DuPont Teflon, I really did pick up a lot from the two of them, from accipiter IDs to the timing of Lincoln Sparrow migration, to the expansion of Hutton Vireo habitat. 

Mount Hood with its own cap

Meanwhile, back at the ranch. . .

We did double back to our starting spot, where we added one more species to the list for the day - a single female Red-winged Blackbird. Not a big surprise at other times of the year, but it was a good bird for the day! We said our goodbyes, continued down the road. . . pointed out that I needed to get dropped off at my car. . . turned around successfully on a narrow winding road, caught a glimpse of a Western Gray Squirrel (the first I've seen one - most of the ones we see are the invaders from the East), and then dropped me off in my car. 

Bingen Society House

What a great find this was. I wish I'd known of it earlier, as it gave me a bed for the night for just about 40 bucks. The hotel has a spa, event space, and fancier rooms, but also has bunks at the affordable aforementioned rate. It was comfortable, and everything I needed for the night, especially given how comfy the common spaces were. It's set in the historic Bingen School, and they do make sure to have fun with the connections - even the keycards were in little sleeves with the words "Hall Pass."

I'm planning on hitting Skamania County next year, and this may be a place I stay on some of those trips! It's just across the river from Skamania, sitting at the far West end of Klickitat. 

I sat and poked at some work over a grilled cheese and soup, then sat in a common area and did a little reading before heading off to bed, ready to tackle the Lyle Christmas Count the next day.