Caught Between the Fog and the Mud

There’s an old saying that states “The third time’s the charm.” But we’re not so sure. 

The first time this month we attempted to survey the Waterville route, we ran into a wall of fog at the top of Pine Canyon. We were hoping we could drive out of it, but no such luck. So we turned around and headed home.  It’s kind of hard to count raptors when you’re in the middle of a white out.

The next day looked better, so we headed out again. This time we got as far as the actual starting point of the route, but again the fog rolled in. We drove on for 13 more miles, but it got thicker and thicker. Once again, we turned around and headed home.

With only four more days in the month, we were running out of time. The weather forecast for that time span was dismal. But, Monday’s prediction was 40% rain. We thought that was our best shot. 

So, IS the third time the charm? We doubted it. We were fine until we reached the top of Pine Canyon where we once again encountered the big white monster. Since there was nothing else to do and we were running out of time, we kept driving. We drove 17 miles through thick, oppressive, blinding, whiteness.

Finally, as we headed toward Lamoine, we left the fog and spotted the first raptor of the day, a Rough-legged Hawk (RLHA)!

“We’re on the board!”

As we headed north toward the McNeil Canyon Road and turned east on the paved road, we thought we were home free! Well… not exactly. We leave the paved road and embark on what is locally known as Mud Springs Road. Now we are in the middle of a mucky, wet, fishtailing, gravel road. I do believe there’s a reason they call it Mud Springs Road! As we approach Division we are supposed to turn left and head up toward Dyer Hill. One look at that road and we knew we’d have to make a detour.

We consult the map and decide we will drive one mile south and then backtrack up to the other end of the road we can’t get through. We’ll see how far we can go. So we drive an extra 11 miles and eliminate 4 miles of mud. 

In all that backtracking and circumventing, we pick up one more (RLHA).

Once we get back to Highway 172 and head west and south again, we pick up three more RLHAs, a couple Northern Kestrels, a Red-tailed Hawk, and even one Golden Eagle!

From Withrow we head west on Rd 8 NW and pick up four more RLHAs! Yippee! 

The route turns south on Rd F NW and once again we encounter mud.  This mud doesn’t look as deep or as treacherous as the last road, so I decide to give it a try. We drive a couple hundred feet and the road is squishy, mucky and we are fishtailing. I stop and look at the map and see how many miles we have to go on this road.  Five, and then we turn into another unpaved, gravel road for five more! I decide THAT’S not going to work!

So it’s time to turn around.  In the muck, and the squish, with soft shoulders! No three-point turns here! It was more like a 10 point turn with a little fishtailing and a lot of four-wheel-drive maneuvering. But we escaped!

So that little maneuver involved a 13 mile detour and an elimination of 10 miles of mud. We made it to the end of the route without getting stuck in the mud or getting blinded by the bright white fog. 

However, I don’t know that I would go as far as to say that, “The third time’s the charm.“

Today’s Survey:

Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA) 1
American Kestrel (AMKE) 2
Golden Eagle (GOEA) 1
Rough-legged Hawk (RLHA) 11
Unidentified Buteo 1 (Too far away to determine)

A Case of Mistaken Identity

We decided that January was the month we would find our Gyrfalcon. In the past five years we have spotted a GYRF five times, three times in January and twice in November. We hadn’t seen one this year, so we decided that it was time!

As we drove our survey route, all the time hoping for a GYRF, we saw a wide variety of other raptors and wildlife. The road leading to Penny Lake has yielded coyotes before and it did not disappoint today! Two beautiful specimens were running across the field, heading west. I would’ve loved to have gotten a photo of them, but my big lens is in the repair shop. So any photos I take will be on another day. 

The Penny Lake road always has at least one visitor, sometimes several. Today it had only one, an American Kestrel. We could have called this survey, “The Day of the Kestrel,” as the entire day yielded a total of ten American Kestrels, a survey high for us.

As we continued on our survey route we picked up a few other birds of prey. The Prairie Falcon that lives just east of Mansfield made an appearance. We wove our way down Mary Jane Hill to the East Foster Creek valley and to Terry Hayes Road. Terry Hayes usually produces a wealth of interesting creatures. But today, no one was home. The Great Horned Owl was not in its tree, the porcupines had not returned, and the Golden Eagle we frequently see above the basalt was not there.

As we headed east, through Leahy Junction, south to Simms Corner, and west, we picked up a respectable seven birds: two Red-tailed Hawks, three American Kestrels, one Rough-legged Hawk and one sub-adult Bald Eagle.

And then we turned north from Highway 172 – Gyrfalcon territory! This is an area where we have spotted three Gyrfalcons in years past. Our hopes were high! We had our eyes peeled! We did see one Rough-legged Hawk sitting on a rock pile, but we were on the hunt for a Gyr!

And then, a couple miles north of the highway, there it was! I braked to a stop in the middle of the road (you can do that up there in the middle of nowhere, on the Waterville plateau). 

“What do you see?”

“There on that rock pile!  What is that?”  Three pair of binoculars lift to three pair of eyes to examine the bird, who is quite a distance away.

“It’s really big! Is it a PRFA (Prairie Falcon)?”

“That’s bigger than any PRFA I’ve ever seen!”

“Maybe it’s a GYRF! Maybe we found our GYRF!”  We spent several minutes looking, squinting, discussing what we were looking at.

“It’s the right color.  It’s the right shape. Can’t really see the facial markings.“

“And, it’s really big.”

Since neither Amanda nor I had our cameras, I turned to Don in the backseat. “Can you snap a picture?” But, he is already lifting his camera. We look at the tiny image on the LCD screen, but it’s too small to really tell. We know we’ll have to put it on a computer screen and enlarge it to really see what we’ve got. But we’re hopeful… Maybe we found our GYRF… 

We backtrack to Highway 172 and head west to Mansfield. We drive around in town looking for the Merlin, but he is hiding. We then head south toward the north end of Jameson Lake. This road usually has quite a few inhabitants, and is the second place where we have seen a Gyrfalcon in the past. Today there is no GYRF sitting on power pole.  However, we did pick up four Red-tails, six Kestrels, and four Rough-leggeds.

Post Survey: The picture on Don‘s camera revealed a Prairie Falcon. We all agreed it looked very large for a Prairie Falcon. Maybe it was wishful thinking that made it appear so big. But, it really did look that big!  I sent the photo for confirmation to an Audubon friend who is a wildlife biologist. Secretly, I was still hoping it might be a GYRF. But no such a luck. She said because it was large it could have been a female and puffed up against the cold.  

So… We’ll wait for February. Maybe in February we’ll also see a Snowy Owl. We haven’t seen one of those yet this year, either.

Today’s Survey:

Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA) 6
American Kestrel (AMKE) 10
Northern Harrier (NOHA) 2
Bald Eagle – Sub-Adult (BAEA) 1
Rough-legged Hawk (RLHA) 9
Prairie Falcon (PRFA) 2

Coyotes  2
Mule deer  2

The North Central Washington Audubon Society’s Hummingbird Survey was created to gather data to show the presence and timing of hummingbirds in North Central Washington. The organizers had questions about year-round presence and where the birds were located. They also observed that published Anna’s Hummingbird range maps didn’t match what was known to be true – the birds are here year-round, and they are successfully breeding here. 

The survey leaders looked into how to use existing knowledge and photo/video proof to facilitate the needed updates to published range maps and species descriptions. When they asked various authorities how to do this, they consistently heard “get your data into eBird”. This is where the NCWAS Hummingbird Survey came in. 

Quick summary:  IT WORKED!

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology recently released new range maps on their “eBird Status and Trends” website. The Anna’s Hummingbird is among the many bird species included in this work. The maps show two very important things: (1) Anna’s are present in North Central Washington year-round, and (2) they are successfully breeding here. These maps result from an analysis of eBird data.  

The data submitted to eBird as part of the NCWAS survey contributed to the successful revision of the Anna’s Hummingbird range map to show what we know to be true. The new maps are a great step forward in our understanding of Anna’s across their entire range and locally.

Have you ever wondered about the “where” and “when” of Anna’s in Washington State. A summary paper showing maps and charts of state-wide Anna’s over time is now available (click here to view and download).  The paper consolidates the eBird data along with data collected through the Christmas Bird Count and Cornell’s NestWatch program. Over 250 email entries to the Tweeters listserv were inspected for mentions of Anna’s over time.  Data in the Breeding Bird Survey and published literature are also included in the report.

The report is a PDF file that can be opened and viewed in Adobe Acrobat or other PDF viewers.  Viewing the PDF allows you to zoom in and out for close inspection of details. Using the PDF format also allows the use color to enhance the content.  The PDF file is sized at 8.5 x 11 inches to allow printing if you want a hard copy.

Please let us know if you have new information to share about Anna’s Hummingbirds in Washington State or if you have any questions about the report.

Happy Birding!