Neah Bay. Again!

I like this photo of a Hooded MerganserLophodytes cucullatus because of the eerie reflections.

Ken Brown and I headed back to Neah Bay on Wednesday morning, getting an early start and getting there by about 8:10 AM. We spent most of Wednesday birding in and around town. We started at the area behind the Warmhouse Restaurnt where Bruce and I had the Tropical Kingbird and Palm Warbler last Saturday.

Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus

The Kingbird was obliging and we soon found it flycatching over the beach. The Palm Warblers that were so easy to find last week were not easy at all. No luck there or anywhere for the whole morning. We had a great morning though, with sunny skies, light breeze, and were very comfortable all day. We stopped to get our tribal pass at the Mini Mart, and from there walked the waterfront all the way to the jetty, going on the beech at low tide most of the way. Lots of ducks, grebes, loons, gulls and crows, but nothing really notable. From the jetty we spent an hour or more on a sea-watch, hoping for a Black-legged Kittiwake, an unusual alcid, or shearwater, but saw only large numbers of Pacific Loons, and more of the same species as in the bay.

Snow Geese Chen caerulescens seemed to follow us along the shore on our walk.

After leaving the road to the jetty, we circled back from the beach and birded the rest of town all the way back to the Macaw Museum area, then back on the beach to the base of the jetty. The highlight of the day by far was a Grasshopper Sparrow we found again near the Warmhouse. It initially flushed from the tall grass there and flew west. We recognized it as something different, and followed it. The bird circled back to the blackberries by the Warmhouse, and perched on a blackberry bramble in plain sight. It was small and plump, short-tailed and had a flat head with a shallow angle onto the bill, with boldly marked back and a central crown stripe and bold white eyering. Ken immediately recognized it as a Grasshopper Sparrow, very unusual for this county. I tried for 10-15 seconds to get a photo, but was unable to get the bird in my viewfinder and get a focus before it flew. We never relocated the bird despite nearly 90 minuites of trying. We did find a Palm Warbler there while looking though, Ken’s third WA first-of-the-year bird for the day

Palm Warbler Setophaga palmarum

We left the jetty about 3:45 PM to go check into our room, grab a quick meal (Indian Flat Bread Tacos) and get out to the Wa’asch Valley for twilight owling. It was a perfect night for owling, clear, not cold, no wind, and the owls obliged. As it got dark we saw at least 2 Short-eared Owls flying over the valley meadows. We also heard the calling. Shortly later we heard a Long-eared Owl hooting, and then at least 3 Great-horned Owls calling. Over the next hour we enjoyed the GHOWs hooting regularly with the lower pitch male and higher pitch female duet from two locations. The Long-eared Owl called frequently its single note repeated call, as well as some call notes that sounded like the female alarm call in the McCauley Library collection.

With a flock of Cackling Geese Branta hutchinsii was this one larger goose, a Canada Goose with a dark breast, maybe a Dusky or Vancouver subspecies.

After leaving the valley we went up to the road behind the STP and at our first stop, were the roads branch off, we heard two Western Screech-owls calling their primary call notes. We called it a night in time to get back to the room by about 8 PM and a good night’s sleep.

This Bald Eagle flew overhead near town.

Thursday we got up and had a nice breakfast at the Inn at Neah Bay, and an interesting chat with Tom the husband of the woman who runs the place, and then headed for Hobuck Beach. Not much of interest there, the only birds not gulls or crows on the beach were a small group of American Pipits, and no new gulls. Off to Cape Flattery where Ken located a distant Black-legged Kittiwake flying near the mob of gulls, shearwaters, murres and cormorants on a herring ball far out past Tatoosh Island. We enjoyed a nice long seawatch, but the rest of the birds seen were pretty much as expected. We did see a Humpback whale and sea otters, as well as Black Oystercatchers.

Black Oystercatchers Haematopus bachmani

The rest of the day was spent in and around town. On the way back to town we stopped at the driveway off Backtrack Road where the 3 boats are located, and got a pair of Swamp Sparrows. We saw a total of 6 SWSP in the next hour or so around wet areas behing Neah Bay proper. On the beach we saw more of the same as Wednesday. We did manage a Surfbird on a rock outside the eastern part of town, a FOY for Ken, and made our way home tired but happy.

Black Turnstones Arenaria melanocephala on a concrete structure in the bay.

Overall a good trip bird-wise, a great trip weather-wise, and as usual a great time with a great friend.
Good birding. Steem on!