Trip Report: Weekend Birdwalk to Gene Coulon Memorial Park

Photo: Chestnut-backed Chickadee by Mick Thompson

November 7, 2021

By Jonathan Blubaugh

Pilchuck Audubon Society visited Renton’s Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park on November 7th. After having found the park to be often crowded, I suggested we meet at the nearby Lowe’s. But this day it was not necessary maybe due to the early hour and chilly temperature. Some went on ahead to the park directly, and the rest of us followed them a few minutes later.

This was the first birdwalk I had led since the viral attack over a year ago. I organized no carpools in deference to public health guidelines. Our chapter now requires participants to be vaccinated, maintain social distancing, and sign an annual waiver.

We had eight people as we began at the swimming hole parking lot, which was basically empty to my surprise. In addition to some of the usual suspects (my best friends in the world) we welcomed a couple of newcomers to Weekend Birdwalks who were already members of the Pilchuck chapter. They found the trip announcement in our newsletter, the Profile, which can always be found on the Pilchuck Audubon website. The swimming hole parking lot started us out at the west end of the park at the very south tip of Lake Washington. That end of the park is next to a new Hyatt hotel and the Boeing Renton 737 factory where I work on the airfield preparing the aircraft for their first flights. It’s pretty much my sandbox.

Early on a Brown Creeper was spotted scurrying up a tree trunk and a big flock of American Robins was gorging on Mountain Ash berries. A couple of floating, anchored logs had almost three dozen Double-crested Cormorants, a few of them holding up their wings to dry. A Gadwall drake was whistling at one of several Gadwall hens. Mixed in with local, tame Mallards were three Mallard x domestic hybrids easily spotted by their blotchy white plumage.

From there we headed north along the southeast corner of Lake Washington State on ADA grade paved trails. A Peregrine Falcon (who nests just inside factory’s lakeside hanger doors) attacked the mighty Mallards, but missed. As I recall there was an adult and an immature Bald Eagle. When one of them glided down to perch on a post in the water the entire flock of gulls flushed, more than my count reflects. Continuing along the path we came across the resident Canada Goose flock, 65 strong. They are utterly tame, grazing and roosting on the grass right up to the edge of trail, not bothered in the least by the people walking or jogging by. They are really pretty up close! The ganders tend to stand sentinel duty whilst most of the flock grazes or snoozes.

It was absolutely wonderful to get back out with our old friends and new Pilchuck friends after the lengthy shutdown as you can easily understand, since we all experienced it.

We wanted to gather for lunch afterwards. Providently we found a café that was mostly empty, so our afternoon ended with good food, good friends, and God willing, a return to some type of normalcy.

Here’s a list of most of the birds that we saw: 65 Canada Geese, seven Gadwall, 30 Mallards plus 3 domestic hybrid ducks, three Ring-necked Ducks, a Bufflehead, nine Common Mergansers, a Western Grebe, two Anna’s Hummingbirds, a couple hundred American Coots, twelve Short-billed Gull (until this year known as Mew Gulls), a Ring-billed Gull, 33 Glaucous-winged Gulls, 35 Double-crested Cormorants, a Great Blue Heron, two Bald Eagles, heard a Norther Flicker, saw a Steller’s Jay, 19 American Crows, four Black-capped Chickadees, a Chestnut-backed Chickadee, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a Golden-crowned Kinglet, the Brown Creeper, a Bewick’s Wren, 25 American Robins, two House Sparrows, three Dark-eyed Juncos, a Song Sparrow, a Spotted Towhee, and the Peregrine Falcon. All were uploaded to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology via the eBird mobile application (https://ebird.org/checklist/S97258694).

Weekend Bird Walk to Camano Island, Barnum Point

March 7, 2020

By Jonathan Blubaugh

Photo: American Robin, Brian Zinke

Pilchuck Audubon Society and the North Sound Birders’ Meetup visited Island County’s newest park development: Barnum Point County Park. Until recently it was known as Barnum Point Preserve. Details may be found here: https://www.liveineverett.com/blog//worth-leaving-town-for-barnum-point-county-park. PAS member, Lisa Weber, sighted the Island County announcement and suggested the outing. I conferred with PAS Weekend Bird Walk Trip Leader, Doug Resnick, and he told me I should make it so. I love taking requests.

Attendance was down due to the viral attack. If it had been even a week later, it probably would have been cancelled in hindsight. Still we had ten people with at least three cancellations. As a precaution most of us caravaned rather than car-pooling. We used sensible precautions. Everybody was in good heath and goods spirits, whilst a bit somber due to the outside circumstances.

We began at a newly built parking lot that has new graveled trails leading away. At the parking lot we met a participant who lives on Camano Island and wanted to meet us at the site. She turned out to be an invaluable guide because not only does she live nearby, her group of volunteers had put in countless hours to bring the park to the public with its numerous improvements. Many thanks to Joan!

I had been to the site once, years before on a dead end road at what is now the south end of the park. We just drove to the end of the road on the eastern shore of the island, looked for birds, and turned around and left. This time we went to the new parking lot uphill from there which is accessible from Sunrise Bl. on the island. She suggested our course to explore the park. We readily agreed. At the parking lot Joan showed us that we were at a holly tree orchard. There were at least three varieties of large holly trees in a fairly large former nursery. It was full of robins enjoying the huge crop of holly berries. She told us the park and volunteers had scheduled the orchard for termination. I said I hoped they wouldn’t take them all out. The hollies were providing prodigious food and shelter for plenty of robins and other fruit loving birds. We lingered at the edge of the parking lot beside the holly grove because, as usual, there was real good birding at the parking lot. It kind of makes sense: when you first arrive at a new site, you start hearing interesting things as soon as you get out of the car. There is great new pedagogical signage at the parking lot and at a few appropriate places on the trails like overlooks. The path past the holly nursery took us down to a small pond with a couple of Mallards on it. It was here that I noticed an Anna’s Hummingbird going straight up as if on an elevator whilst looking straight down as could be seen by his lowered bill. I gathered all the people and asked for silence. I think nearly all of us then saw the spectacular diving display and heard the loud “ting” he makes with his tail at the perigee of his dive. My reward is the tremendous vicarious thrill when the guests get to see and hear such an amazing miracle of nature! No wonder everybody feeds the little daredevils. As we doubled back to the parking area, we stopped to see a few small mixed groups of passerines (which are sometimes referred to as chicklets).

Next Joan led us down a loop trail to the seashore. At the bluff we had sweeping views to the east from Warm Beach on the north to Hat Island, the Tulalip reservation, and the southwest shore of the island. There we found a few seabirds who made viewing a bit challenging because they instated on repeatedly diving out of sight. Another extremely interesting behavior we witnessed was the synchronized diving of the Surf Scoters, which I had never seen before. I estimated there were in the range of 150 scoters in two groups. The nearest raft of scoters, at least a hundred birds, were nearly in a line. When one dove, within seconds all the rest did too, except one straggler who stayed on the surface. We watched this ongoing foraging cycle repeat several times. We don’t know what they were after, but it’s very easy to suggest cooperative hunting just like packs of Harris Hawks.

Here’s a list of most of the birds we saw: a couple of Mallards, the approximately 150 Surf Scoters, three Buffleheads, three Barrow’s Goldeneyes, two Anna’s Hummingbirds, fourteen Glaucous-winged Gulls, a hybrid “Olympic” gull, two Double-crested Cormorants, a Red-tailed Hawk, a red-shafted Northern Flicker, three Steller’s Jays, a crow, two Black-capped Chickadees, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a couple of Pacific Wrens, a couple of Bewick’s Wrens, ten American Robins, a couple of House Finches, two Dark-eyed Juncos, a couple of Song Sparrows, and a Spotted Towhee. We also heard a Golden-crowned Kinglet, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, a couple of Brown Creepers, and a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds. All were uploaded to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology via the eBird mobile application.

I will not plan any further Weekend Bird Walks until we can be reasonably certain that the danger of disease transmission has passed, and it is permissible.

Great Backyard Bird Count Trip

By Jonathan Blubaugh

Photo: Golden-crowned Kinglet, Mandy Weger

On February 26th Pilchuck Audubon Society, Academia Latina, and the North Sound Birders’ Meetup visited Ferguson Park and Blackman’s Lake in Snohomish to celebrate the Great Backyard Bird Count with a picnic and birdwalk.

Attendance at these joint PAS/Academia Latina/Meetup birdwalks has been consistently strong with about 38 participants this day by my count. In addition to myself and PAS Treasurer Judy Hall in attendance, we had Academia Latina leader Rosamaria Graziani, her co-leader Allizon, Snohomish Rising trip Leader Andy and his wife Ingrid. We had at least two RSVP’s on Meetup and Becky from Meetup joined us. Importantly, we were joined by Conor Courtney, a journalism student at UW writing a story for the Mill Creek Beacon about the Pilchuck Audubon chapter. We were delighted to welcome him to our birdwalk. He interviewed several of the attendees including me. We relish the opportunity to get word of our perspective out as many ways as possible. Many thanks to Mr. Courtney and the Mill Creek Beacon. He told me he will share the article with me and when he does, I will share it with you.

At the outset I ran into a tiny bit of difficulty. I had only been to Ferguson Park once before over ten years ago with PAS’ Tuesday birding group. I must have had a day off. I didn’t remember anything about how to get there or where to park. In researching the trip, I scrutinized the Google Map and aerial photo. Noticing a closed gate, I gave written directions to parking at the Blackman Lake boatlaunch. But people who were familiar with the park knew that there was parking on the other side of the closed gate. That’s where most of them went. Plus, some people, rather than following my convoluted directions logically just put the address into their own navigator. That also led naturally to the other parking lot “behind” the closed gate. Clearly, I missed the parking lot “behind” the gate and its entrance drive in my research. Sorry. We ended up arriving at two different locations as a result. Plus, I was nearly ten minutes late, so I got to field a call from a participant who couldn’t locate me. Fortunately, the two groups met up and we were able to do a little birding.

The park sits on the rising south shore of the lake nestled up against urbanized Snohomish on three sides. The park is landscaped, grassy with tall Douglas Firs. On the west side to my surprise is a small Ultimate Frisbee course. We started at the top near a picnic shelter and playground. We did pretty well in finding birds in the park, but when we walked the perimeter on the south and west there were no birds whatsoever. Neighboring properties on that side I would describe as mostly single story retail, commercial, and possibly very light industrial. Plenty of parking, paved alleys, and no birds. It didn’t take long for guests to start mentioning, “Hey, let’s go down to the lake, we saw some birds down there.” I guess this was a tactical error on my part. I wanted to do a little bit of walking: after all it’s a birdwalk. But walking the perimeter proved fruitless in this case. The lake was a very busy place with at least one mildly surprising species. People remarked at the hybrid ducks. I theorized (arm-waved as we geologists say) that they were probably Mallard x Muscovy ducks. They were very dark, but had clear traces of green heads amongst the drakes. I selected “Mallard (domestic-type)” in eBird for them. The mild surprise was a flock of twenty Ruddy Ducks in non-breeding plumage found by Andy. Improvidently, they were on the far lakeshore, so I doubt too many of us saw them. The white cheek patch is distinctive, but that’s about all I could say.

I seemed to have missed one Meetup participant. I found her email long after getting home. She couldn’t find us initially. Thus, she made a comment online in the Meetup application that she was looking for us. That generated the email to me. In the process of continuous improvement then, I guess I could do a couple of things differently. I should mention that I really don’t communicate with the Meetup application on the day of the trip or in the field. People should call me – I will have my phone with me for the eBird app. Second, when planning the next trip, I should put the address into the Google Map and see where it leads.

Here’s a list of most of the birds we saw: four Canada Geese, six American Wigeons, about 110 Mallards, six cross breed ducks, two Buffleheads, the twenty Ruddy Ducks, a Pied-billed Grebe, about 50 American Coots, 22 Glaucous-winged Gulls, five Double-crested Cormorants, a Great Blue Heron, a Bald Eagle (I missed), a male Downy Woodpecker, a Peregrine Falcon, a couple hundred crows, two Black-capped Chickadees, a couple of Chestnut-backed Chickadees (I missed), about 10 Bushtits (I missed), four spectacular Golden-crowned Kinglets, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a Bewick’s Wren, four European Starlings, an American Robin, seven Dark-eyed Juncos flushed up by a toddler, and a Song Sparrow. We also heard a Northern Flicker, a Steller’s Jay, and a Spotted Towhee. All were uploaded to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology via the eBird mobile application.

The Kids’ Picnic for the month of March was cancelled well into its planning stage, but before an announcement had been released due to issues surrounding the viral outbreak. The Weekend Birdwalk for Saturday, March 7th will go on as planned. Then I will hold off planning additional Weekend Birdwalks until we can be reasonably certain that our groups will not be transmitting the disease.

Weekend Bird Walk to Riverview Wildlife Refuge with Snohomish Rising

By Jonathan Blubaugh

Photo: Rex Guichard. Peregrine Falcon

January 18, 2020

On Saturday, January 18th Pilchuck Audubon Society and the North Sound Birders’ Meetup conducted a Snohomish Rising Weekend Bird Walk at the Snohomish Riverview Wildlife Refuge and Pilchuck Audubon Society Riverview Sanctuary. These preserves lie along the right bank of the Snohomish River surrounding and adjacent to the Snohomish wastewater treatment plant. The wide, flat trail brings you directly to the WTP perimeter fence, enabling close observation of the waterfowl. The levy between the fence line and the river also gives a great overview of both stream banks.

Strong attendance was obtained by several factors. Wendy Poischbeg of the City of Snohomish planned and organized the outing, posting it on the City’s website. She recruited Andy Papadatos accompanied by his wife, Ingrid, to lead the walk. Pilchuck Audubon Executive Director, Brian Zinke, put it on the PAS website and I put it on the North Sound Birders’ Meetup. I had about seven RSVP’s from Meetup, of whom one was a returnee. Including myself and PAS Treasurer, Judy Hall, we had four from PAS. In total there were at least 38 people. The high turnout resulted in a good number of species sighted: 41.

Often on a bird walk some people see some birds, but most people do not see all the birds or other things that were seen by the group as a whole. However, this day practically everybody saw the most amazing event. First, there were plenty of waterfowl. Treatment ponds are an important resource that is typical fenced, as I alluded to, keeping the birds relatively safe. In this case the ponds are also surrounded by preserved lands. Across the river though are farmlands where seasonal hunting was underway. Every now and then we heard the shotgun blasts which inevitably resulted in flushing up huge flocks of geese and ducks. This cycle repeated about three times on our walk. After a couple of these shootings we all heard a third series of gunshots. We looked up at the rising flock of ducks and saw the most heart-stopping spectacle. Almost everybody saw a Peregrine Falcon catch a duck on the wing out the huge airborne flock! I’m pretty sure its heart stopped….. Within seconds the peregrine was set upon by a pair of raptors. They circled away in front of us towards our right with most of the waterfowl heading away to our left. At first many of us assumed the interlopers were a pair of Bald Eagles because we had seen them prominently perched earlier and there is a huge aerie within sight. They caused the falcon to drop the prey beside the levy path ahead of us. Many of us also saw the falcon drop the duck under pressure. Some observers who were closest and had a good look when the duck was dropped reported that it was actually a pair of Red-tailed Hawks that had stolen the falcon’s meal. Until that day I had never seen a falcon catch a bird on the wing. I have seen a few epic life and death chases by raptors. I’ve seen them strike and kill birds and rodents on the ground and fish in the waters, but I’d never seen a falcon catch a bird. I have seen an eagle take a duck off Shadow Lake also very near Snohomish. So, we also witnessed the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat (to quote ABC Sports) up close on this trip.

Here’s a list of most of the birds we encountered: about a hundred Snow Geese flew over, five Trumpeter Swans flew over, two Northern Shovelers, eleven Gadwall, about a thousand American Wigeons, a couple hundred Mallards, eight Northern Pintails (I missed), about 150 Green-winged Teal, about 75 Ring-necked Ducks, about 40 Lessor Scaup, five Buffleheads, two Hooded Mergansers (I missed), four Common Mergansers, a Pied-billed Grebe (I missed), an Anna’s Hummingbird (I missed), ten Ring-billed Gulls flew over, about a hundred Glaucous-winged Gulls, a Double-crested Cormorant (I missed), a Great Blue Heron, the Bald Eagles, the two Red-tailed Hawks, a Belted Kingfisher flew over, a Downy Woodpecker, a Northern Flicker, a Merlin, the Peregrine Falcon, three Steller’s Jays, four American Crows, a Black-capped Chickadee, a Chestnut-backed Chickadee (I missed), a spectacular Golden-crowned Kinglet, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, two European Starlings, two American Robins, three House Finches, six Dark-eyed Juncos, a Song Sparrow, two Spotted Towhees, & fifteen Red-winged Blackbirds. Additionally, a couple of Bushtits were heard (I missed). This gave a species total of about 41. All were uploaded to eBird via the mobile application.

A huge thank you goes out to Wendy and Andy for organizing and leading this overwhelmingly successful Snohomish Rising event.

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 At the end of the day several of us retired to the Snohomish Bakery and the First and Union Kitchen in Snohomish for a wonderful late lunch. The establishment is owned and operated our wonderful trip leader, Andy Papadatos and his wife, Ingrid.

Bird Walk at Mukilteo’s Big Gulch

By Douglas Resnick

October 5, 2019

Terry, Sue, Lisa, Michelle, and I met on a cool, cloudy morning at Swamp Creek Park and Ride.  From there, we carpooled to Mukilteo's 92nd Street Park.  Following a trail to the southeast led us through a torii‐like structure and on into the Big Gulch trail system.

Birdsong and calls were present from the outset, and they were very useful, as many of the birds chose to stay hidden in the brush or to forage high in the trees.  The gulch is little developed, except for the trails; so, the brush is thick, and some of the trees have grown very tall.   We often heard the sounds of Northern Flickers, Pacific Wrens, and Song Sparrows.  There were also occasional cries from Downy and Pileated Woodpeckers.

The initial trail is known as the North Fork.  After walking down a zigzagging set of stairways, we reached the intersection of the gulch's three main trails and turned onto the West Fork.  Along this stretch, paralleling the park's creek, we were fortunate to observe some birds that came down nearly to ground level among the trees. Thus, we obtained a clear view of one of several Golden‐crowned Kinglets that we had been hearing for some time as we walked, and we watched two Brown Creepers ply their craft on a stout trunk.  We were pleasantly surprised by two more colorful arrivals: a Townsend’s Warbler and a Red‐breasted Sapsucker.

The West Fork ends at the torii opposite the wastewater treatment plant.  We returned the way we had come, still listening to birds, but also paying attention to other elements of the scenery, such as the numerous mushrooms.  Between brief rain showers near the end of the walk, we caught sight of a Hermit Thrush, two Spotted Towhees, and two Song Sparrows on a patch of ground near the trail.

We reached our meeting point around noon, after having reported observing 23 species on eBird.  We finished the outing with lunch at Indigo Kitchen and Alehouse. 

Bird Walk at Lakes Ponds near Mill Creek

By Douglas Resnick

November 2, 2019

Terry, Joanie, Jerry, Lisa, and I met on a cool, partly cloudy morning at Ash Way Park and Ride.  From there, we carpooled to Martha Lake, Buffalo Ponds, and Silver Lake.  We reported observations of 38 species on eBird.

Our first stop was at Martha Lake Park, which is located at the south end of the lake.  We began by checking out the trees and bushes along the edge of the lake, where we found plenty of kinglets, chickadees, bushtits, and siskins.  Each time we came to a pier, we walked along it, in order better to view the lake and the sky above.  We were rewarded by views of Common Merganser, Mallard, Pied‐billed Grebe, and Bald Eagle.   We completed this segment of the day’s outing by walking on the paved trail closer to the street, finding starling, gull, and pigeon.

Our second stop was at Buffalo Ponds.  This is not a park, but an undeveloped area that includes ponds, and through which passes a single, paved trail.  We walked to one trailhead from a nearby shopping area, almost immediately discovering several Wood Ducks in a pond visible from the street.  In ponds visible from the trail, we saw Hooded Mergansers and Green‐winged Teals.   Numerous Canada Goose flew overhead, as did several Red‐winged Blackbirds.  One Red‐tailed Hawk looked out upon the scene from a tall snag.  In the background, we heard a Killdeer call.

Jerry bid us adieu, then the remainder of the party set out for Silver Lake.  We parked at Hauge Homestead Park, near the south end of the lake, then walked a mostly paved trail to Green Lantern Park near the east end.  The trail was alternately close to the lake and close to the street, and several piers led from the trail to positions over the water.  Near the start, we found a Belted Kingfisher in a tree; it had caught a fish and was battering it against the side of the tree, perhaps in the hope of stunning or killing it, as it was still wiggling.   Other notable finds included an American Coot and a Cooper’s Hawk.

We finished birding around 12:30 p.m., then walked a short distance from Green Lantern Park to L’Artisan French Bakery for lunch.  Later, on our way back to the car, we saw a flock of Ring‐billed Gull circling near the first pier.  They finally set out in more of a line, apparently chasing the one that had food.  On approaching closer to the pier, we found the food source:  someone feeding the Mallards. 

Family Picnic & Birdwalk to Evergreen Arboretum

By Jonathan Blubaugh

December 8, 2019

On December 8th Pilchuck Audubon Society, Academia Latina, and the North Sound Birders’ Meetup visited Evergreen Arboretum & Gardens and Legion Park in Everett for a picnic and birdwalk. 

Academia Latina leader, Rosamaria Graziani, informed me that we 28 participants. I’m not sure if that included the PAS and Meetup contingents. We had about seven people from meetup plus myself and PAS Treasurer, Judy Hall in attendance as well.

As many of you know Legion Park is where Everett has held their Independence Day fireworks display, which I once briefly attended.

We had good weather for December in Washington, cool, mostly cloudy, and free of rain for the duration of the event. We started out in the arboretum, which I particularly enjoyed because many of the plantings are labeled. From there we also spied the neighbors’ backyards for birds because the residents had feeder that were attracting a variety of winter birds. The arboretum also abuts a city golf course where a flock of Canada Geese announced their arrival with familiar honking.

Rosamaria, having set up feeders at her home as well, was excited to share the results. Along with the expected hummingbirds and usual backyard suspects she has also been feeding the crows. The crows are loyal and appreciative. Rosamaria shared that they had brought her shiny bobbles as gifts. We’ve heard of such behavior before on TV, but is was so cool to hear it firsthand! Please see the attached photo of her collected treasures bestowed upon her by her murder of crows.

After the gardens we kind of wandered apart. I went off in one direction towards ball fields beyond which we found our national symbol (Bald Eagle) calling loudly. They were perched just north of the park high in a tree with a commanding overview of the mouth of the Snohomish River. The park sits on a buff with great vistas to the north and west where the Snohomish flows into the sea. Some of the others went the opposite way towards the west with its view of the harbor, city, Jetty Island, Hat Island, Possession Sound and Port Gardiner. We doubled back and rejoined them. From the overlooks we added a few marine birds to our list. The chatter of a kingfisher far below alerted us to his presence as well as with a flock of Killdeer. There was some unwelcome noise from an off-road four-wheeler splashing through the mud on the Highway 529 right away below.

Next we returned to the gardens for those who missed them on the first go ‘round. Photo ops and selfies also proved to be in order.

Here’s a list of most of the birds we saw: forty Canada Geese, thirty Mallards, three feral pigeons, a pair of Anna’s Hummingbirds,  a dozen Killdeer, a Ring-Billed Gull, 34 Glaucous-Winged Gulls, a Double-Crested Cormorant, a Cooper’s Hawk, two Bald Eagles, the Belted Kingfisher, six crows, a Chestnut-Backed Chickadee, 54 European Starlings, 14 American Robins, three Dark-Eyed Juncos, and a Spotted Towhee. I also heard a couple of Black-Capped Chickadees, a Red-Breasted Nuthatch, a Song Sparrow, a Red-Winged Blackbird, & a Yellow-Rumped Warbler. All were uploaded to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology via the eBird mobile application.