Month: May 2025

Although the Spring Migration of Shorebirds is rapidly coming to a close, we spent Monday and Tuesday of this week on the Washington Coast and saw quite a few birds. Being frugal, we usually just drive up for the day and come home in the evening, but the tides weren’t very cooperative this week, with high tides at 8:15 pm on Monday night and another high tide at 7:00 am. If we had gone home Monday, it would have been nearly midnight before we could get home. If we had tried to get to Bottle Beach by 7:00 am we would have had to leave before 5:00 am; I love my birding but not that much.

As it was, we could take a leisurely drive to Ocean Shores to start the day, even though I didn’t expect to see too many birds there. We didn’t, but I always enjoy seeing Turnstones, particularly Ruddy Turnstones in breeding plumage.

The most common bird of the day was the Semipalmated Plover,

but there were many small flocks of sandpipers like these two Sanderlings in non-breeding and breeding plumage.

Best of all, the weather was delightful, sunny with light winds. We got in a 3-mile walk to start the day, followed by a visit to our favorite Ocean Shores art gallery and a hearty lunch at the Galway Bay Irish Pub. We saw enough birds that I knew we would get a good showing at Bottle Beach during our evening visit, so we checked into the newly remodeled Saltwater Inn and took a short rest before walking the marina looking for loons, pelicans and other migrating birds.

Thanks to the rain, we only got to walk around Lake Ralphine the entire week, and even then, we couldn’t walk all the way around Spring Lake because the trail was closed due to flooding.

As a result, we saw fewer birds than usual, but I appreciated them more than I might have usually, precisely because we had been trapped in the house so long.

We see male Buffleheads regularly at home, but seldom as close as this little guy was.

We often see Northern Flickers in our yard, and one even joined us while we were practicing Qi Gong in the front room, but I still liked this shot a lot.

We see Hairy Woodpeckers less often, so it was nice to spot this one.

My favorite shot of the day, though, was of my favorite California bird, an Acorn Woodpecker holding the food that gives it its name.

I’m always amazed by how many birds I see when I walk around Lake Ralphine/Spring Lake, despite the considerable number of people who walk there. Of course, if I had my way I would walk it every day I’m in Santa Rosa, at least everyday I wasn’t at Bodega Bay.

For years we’ve only walked the beach on our visits to Bodega Bay, but a couple of years ago Debbie told us that there was another trail right after you entered the park. That trail became a mandatory stop ever since even though it’s not quite as exciting as the beach walk. The walk’s highlight is the rookery where Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and Great Blue Herons nest.

Not surprisingly, it’s also a good place to get shots of both Great Ibis and Snowy Ibis hunting for food together.

It’s also a good place to get a shot of the two species together and see the differences between the two.

It would take someone much more motivated than I am to get close enough to the rookery to get great close-up shots, but I was happy to get close-ups of a Great Egret

and a Snowy Egret hunting near the rookery.

It’s always a treat to find several different habitats, and, thus, different species, near the same place.