Looking North across the Serpentine River

I know I’ve said this before but rule number one of birding, for me, is bird the parking lot. By the time we had all signed in beside the parking lot, I already had 18 species on my eBird list. The sun was out and warming the air as a male Purple Finch noshed on some berries by the parking lot, while a Fox Sparrow searched for something to eat on a lower branch of the same tree. Nearby, a Bewick’s Wren sat up in the tree singing. Canada Geese flew about above us, while two male Common Goldeneyes courted a female in the Serpentine River. Common Mergansers, American Wigeons, Mallards, and a male Lesser Scaup also swam about in the river. Two Buffleheads flew by. Across the river, two Northern Harriers sat surveying the blueberry fields, while a Bald Eagle sat in a tree to the west of us. Robins, a Flicker and a couple of Black-capped Chickadees moved about in the trees to the west. All of this and we hadn’t even started the walk yet.

Bewick’s Wren – photo by Cavan Siu

Common Goldeneye courtship display – photo by Hsien Tan

As we headed out, a few Double-crested Cormorants flew about above us and we noticed two more fishing in the river. We searched the river on our right and the brambles on our left. Directly ahead of us four Great Blue Herons snoozed in the trees. On the edge of the brambles, two more Fox Sparrows dug through the leaf litter looking for tasty morsels. Two Brown-headed Cowbirds and some robins were seen in a tall cottonwood. A Ruby-crowned Kinglet flitted about the same tree catching bugs. A little further along, we flushed a group of six Golden-crowned Sparrows along with a White-crowned Sparrow that sat up on the top of the bramble, giving most folks a nice view.

Looking toward the first observation tower

American Wigeon – photo by Cavan Siu

Rounding the corner by the first lookout tower, we came upon many ducks who were mostly snoozing in the sun. We found our first Green-winged Teals of the day there. In the distance, we could see several cormorants fishing, snoozing Northern Pintails and Mallards, as well as two Greater Yellowlegs. These last two eventually lifted into the air to fly over us giving their loud ’tu tu tu’ calls.

Continuing along the trail, a male Yellow-rumped Warbler, an Audubon’s subspecies, was spotted catching bugs in the shrubs. Already in alternate (breeding) plumage, this little guy gave us a good showing for several minutes.  A lucky few were also able to see a Golden-crowned Kinglet working the shrubs for bugs.

Yellow-rumped Warbler – photo by Cavan Siu

A small group of Eurasian Collared Doves sat in the trees a little further along.  After we made the turn to the second lookout tower, we could see about 20 more doves in a tree ahead of us. A Bald Eagle kept watch for a possible meal from a nearby conifer. We scanned the marsh to the west and found several Northern Shovelers, a female Bufflehead, several American Coots, and a Eurasian Wigeon basking in the sun among the American Wigeons. Eventually, we came to the second lookout tower, which is getting a little rickety and could use some repair work. From the tower we could hear a Marsh Wren singing but didn’t observe any new birds.

Bald Eagle – photo by Hsien Tan

At this point we had barely walked a kilometer, and we had been out for two hours. We turned to go back and on the way spotted a Red-tailed Hawk on the far side of the river. A harrier was spotted acros the river soon after. A Common Merganser had caught what appeared to be a substantially sized catfish and was struggling with it. After about five minutes, however, it managed to get the fish perfectly positioned to swallow, and down the gullet it went. Back at the spot where we had earlier found the White-crowned Sparrow, two adults now foraged on the ground. They flushed at our approach and one sang. We noticed that these two birds had orange bills and sang a song unlike our local pugetensis subspecies, so these White-crowns were the gambelii subspecies! It’s always cool when you can ID a bird down to the subspecies.

Common Merganser enjoying brunch – photo by Hsien Tan

White-crowned Sparrow – photo by Cavan Siu

We wrapped up the walk with a quick bird-of-the-day go around, as it was already nearly noon. The Yellow-rumped Warbler and the heroic Common Merganser seemed to be favorites. As we drove out of the parking lot, two Gadwalls were spotted in the pond by the highway, and added to our list. Including these two birds, we found 46 species for the morning. The eBird list is here https://ebird.org/checklist/S298999530