123rd Post 1.25.17

Crows, BC Code 5s, Birds, Babblings, & Humans being Birders . . .

Wanna start a debate, an argument, a frenzied discussion, an exchange of unseeable characteristics - then broach an exchange on your local patch with other locals and/or outsiders about IDs of crows in the Salish Sea environs! Or take a quick scan of eBird checklists from the PNW - you'll find American crow, Northwest crow, and crow ssp all over the maps. Postings for NW crow from deep in the south-end of the Hood; American crows as far N as Tofino, BC [unless Wayne Weber gets the checklist vetting]; but which ssp is everyone really seeing and why are they claiming what they claim?

My question . . .  How do YOU ID crows? When it comes to ticking the species into your eBird checklist or jotting down to your field notes or pointing out to another on the beach or up in the mountains and saying, "that's a ______ crow!" How do you know?

Help me in this. A future post consolidating ID characteristics that YOU use; or don't use - for that matter. I'll write a treatise and post here in the future re THE CROW. Photos too. So, share yours that depict ssp ID characteristics. And recordings of crow talk. And where to go for the professional side of separating these two species for IDing. Contact me here <clallamcountybirds@gmail.com>. Send anything you want: your words, literature references, photos, recordings, and/or whatever else you might think will assist. And I thank you in advance Ryan[s], Brad, Charlie, Bruce, Mike, Dan, George, BB, Blair, Bruce, Alex, Scott, Mandy, Doug, Cara, Terri, John, Doug, Michael, Adrianne, Vince, Judy, Mark, Jerry, Freda, Cate, Cassidy and everyone else! Share please!

Around and about on and above the OlyPen . . .

Pink footed goose - x2 of 'em. Not here, but up N of Victoria, BC. This from BCRBA:  ". . . At 1:30pm on January 22-2017, Liron Gerstman, who is 16 years old, found 2 adult Pink-footed Geese in a flock of 200 Dusky Canada Geese. The birds were in a grassy field on the east side of the path. Access to the field is on Lochside Dr. north of Dooley Rd." and this on the 23rd, ". . . At 8:10am on January 23rd, the birds were seen in a mixed flock of 500 Canada Geese on the south side of Martindale Rd. The birds were still present as of 5pm." If these two grab the gold-vetted-ring, then they are one more incredible spp found just north of CC! The photo is Macaulay library ML46298281 fm eBird CL S33869908 by Jody Wells. They're still in area today [1.25]. Map where geese are hanging here . . . https://www.google.ca/maps/place/6331+Lochside+Dr,+Central+Saanich,+BC/@48.5528683,-123.4209921,13z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x548f6e4355a8b409:0xec594ab840bf5677!8m2!3d48.5528648!4d-123.3859732. 

What's not-been-seen and seen . . . 

Ok, back to the OlyPen. What's not been seen in the past week: Slaty backed gull [Neah Bay], Palm warbler [NB, 3 Crabs], Emperor goose [Dungeness Bay], Western scrub jay [Old Olympic Hwy @ Cay's Rd], and Tufted duck [NB].

• Black crowned night heron - This Never Ending Story is a 'Tick' really, really hard to manifest in CC. They live in Dungeness; but near impossible to see. I won't go into their history; but they're in their 9th winter here. x2 were seen two morning's ago when they came into their roost ~6:30am. One was talking. I was sitting on porch with early morning coffee when I watched them fly to their day-roost. Many ask, "how do I find them?" Well, live here and spend every AM sipping coffee and every PM with a Black Butte porter on back porch and you eventually will! For others: use the contact eMail address above to connect and I'll share - most locals in this area are used to strangers with binocs wandering around Dungeness!

• Ruddy turnstone - Ediz Hook. Been there since Jan 1st.

• Orange crowned warbler - Dungeness's birds continue

• Yellow billed loon - PA Harbor

• Bohemian waxwings - Fewer, but still here: Jamestown, Dungeness, and DRA area.

Cassiar's junco / Dungeness

• Swallows - Both Barn and a Tree have been seen in the past few days; x2 Barneys and a Tree w/ two unID'd over Graysmarsh. A report fm Farm Lake area last Saturday had x2 Barns there.

• Tundra swan - Amongst Trumpeters in Sequim area / FOY.

• Cassiar's junco / J.h. cismontanus / [DEJ] in Dungeness.

CC Owls

• Great horned owl - talking in Dungeness, upper Dungeness on River rd; NB at Hobuck; and Miller Peninsula near DRA lands.

• Barred owl - DOR*, x1 Dungeness, Clallam Bay, NB, Palo Alto and a half-dozen other places. Go out any night wherever you live on the OlyPen and scream, catterwall, hoot like a banshee, and generally make a mess of eerie sounds and you just might get one to answer you. Go here to listen to their babblings. <https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_Owl/sounds> 

• Northern Saw whet owl - Up Palo Alto at junction near Jimmy Come Lately, Cape Flattery loop rd and Hobuck, NB.

• Pygmy owl - Palo Alto rd; Cape Loop rd, NB; E Sequim Bay near Heron Hill rd; Woods road near MP3; and Cape Flattery loop rd.

Screech owl - Been out several times; calling; calling; calling; nothing. Not even in the Kitchen-Dick area.

• Short eared owl - Dungeness Rec Area [DRA], marshes along 3 Crabs, grasslands along Towne road near Creamery, and up in the Happy Valley. A report from Wa'atch Valley of a dark one!

• Snowy - Nope; not for a few more years

• Long eared - Nope - but they're out there!

• Barn - they too, are out there; screeching and screaming - and in many places. Wanna hear one? Go to Dungeness Rec Area before dusk, park near the flats of tall grass, get out, and listen for a long time. You'll hear one screaming! <https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barn_Owl/sounds>

and

Willet - Thank you Adrianne Akmajian, Jon and Liliana Scordino. Harmony has made it into the history-book of the World of CC eBird Checklists: Harmony has been officially accepted into the realms of Birds with Names. Harmony was seen again yesterday [1.24] from 3 Crabs out to the west working the tide flats with other shorebirds.

Non-Bird Babblings . . .

• A good re-read post at ABA today: ICYMI: We Love The Jerk?. Worth the re-read re what we sometimes incur here on the OlyPen; especially out at Neah Bay where we've had minor incidences but not birder:bird kind, but rather NB'er:birder < http://blog.aba.org>.

• OPAS Field Trip / Carrie Blake Park, Sequim [last Saturday]. Cindy Fullwiler lead a group of x8 BIrders around this fascinating bit of habitat last Saturday in fairly decent weather [Wx]. They tallied 22 species; one of which was the unique plumed Storm widgeon - an American widgeon with a distinctive white facial pattern - they found three! Like the Eurasian, the ratio here is about 1:1000. They found a Eurasian widgeon, also. Thank you Cindy for the Out-and-About Birding guide!

• Got several complaints directed my way recently. The new Million Dollar bridge over Meadowbrook creek down at 3 Crabs has/is creating a brouhaha that is only going to escalate with potential problems. The restoration-habitat enhancement project which went on all summer has created an incredible expanse of water that every water bird in the area is looking at and saying, "OHHHHH WOW! LOOK AT THAT!!" and are beginning to use the area. And logically, Birders are beginning to recognize it's flavor and starting to Go-look-see, also. However, the Planning Bureau for Road Creation & Use at 3 Crabs didn't seem to listen at Town Hall meetings, public input, and many other forums of information sharing re putting in bike paths along roadway and plenty of parking spaces. Consequently, they didn't grasp a reality check on post-project actualization that a road over a bridge in an area where historical facets of birding have been five-stars - they forgot to allow for an edge to the road which would allow people to walk, stand, bike, or 'bird' from safely. Dang!! And BIrders being who they are when they want to go look-see often park where they shouldn't and then walk along and set up scopes and - as a consequence - force vehicles going to and from to veer around them. Thus the complaints have begun; and will continue to happen and mount in frequency. Locals don't like going around Birders blocking their ingress/egress to 3 Crabs road. And some have begun to spout fire and flames re the situation. Bottom-line? It's a three-fer: Don't park on the road [stoopid thing to do anyway] / park near Abernathy road or Helen's Pond; stay off road as far as you can when scoping; and don't go Postal on those flipping you off for whatever reason while you're birding. In other words: Bird conscientiously. There'll be more on this - I'm sure! 

That's all

Good feathering!

* dead on road