Category: Theler Wetlands

A Spring Symphony

Going out birding suggests you’re going out to SEE birds, but this time of year, sometimes you go out to HEAR birds, even when you can’t see them. That has certainly been the case lately. On a Thursday walk, Cornell University’s Merlin app identified nine different birds in one place in less than two minutes, a virtual symphony, and I couldn’t see a single one of them. That really didn’t matter, though, because their songs lifted my spirits.

Luckily, a few birds seem to go out of their way to make themselves visible when they are calling, like this Red-winged Blackbird

A red-winged blackbird perched on a wooden surface, with its head turned slightly as it calls out.

and this Marsh Wren.

A close-up of a small bird perched among dry reeds, with its beak open as if singing.

At least knowing that a bird is nearby gives you a chance to look for them in likely places, and sometimes in unlikely places like where I found that Eurasian Collared-Dove after hearing it much earlier.

A Eurasian-Collared Dove standing on wet, muddy ground among sparse grass and plants.

I’ll have to admit I’m occasionally frustrated when I can’t see a bird I can clearly hear and identify, but just knowing we are here together is still reassuring.

Time to Get Outside and Enjoy Nature at Its Finest

I’m not sure if it’s still Winter here in the Pacific Northwest, or whether Spring has finally sprung. It’s still raining enough that it is definitely hard to plan a day out birding ahead of time. I’ve only managed to get out once since our trip to Port Townsend, and it wasn’t a great birding day.

Spotting this beautiful male Green-Winged Teal was definitely the birding highlight of the day.

A male teal duck swimming gracefully on a calm water surface, showcasing its distinctive green and brown head along with gray body feathers.

Luckily, it has warmed up enough that the currants were nearly in full bloom,

Close-up of vibrant pink flowers with green leaves on a branch, set against a soft blurred background.

Oregon grapes were flowering,

Close-up of a cluster of yellow flowers surrounded by dark green and reddish leaves.

and Skunk Cabbage was found throughout the wetlands.

A cluster of yellow skunk cabbage flowers emerging from lush green ground cover, surrounded by fallen branches.

It’s hard to be disappointed even by a lack of birds when there is so much natural beauty finally reappearing.

Birdwatching in the Pacific Northwest: A Sunny Day Adventure

It’s been a long, wet Winter here in the Pacific Northwest, and it doesn’t look like the rain is ready to leave quite yet.  As you may have noticed, that’s meant a lack of bird pictures. Hopefully, that’s about to change, though, as we’ve had a couple of sunny days, allowing us to bird Belfair, and, more recently, the Port Townsend area.

Just because it’s sunny here in Tacoma doesn’t mean that it is necessarily going to be sunny where the birds are, though, as we found at our visit to Theler where we were greeted by fog

A misty walking path surrounded by trees, creating a serene and tranquil atmosphere.


 and a general lack of birds.  Most of the birds we did see seemed more interested in finding food than in posing for pictures,

A bird perched upside down on a branch, reaching for small berries.


at least until we encountered this Pheasant

A pheasant standing in dry grass, with droplets of water on the grass and a blurred background.

Along the trail. I assume he was probably raised locally since pheasants are uncommon here in Western Washington, and he seemed largely indifferent to the cameras pointed at his face.

My favorite picture from our morning walk at Belfair was this shot of a Spotted Towhee swallowing a berry.

A close-up of a bird with dark feathers and an orange belly, perched on a branch, holding a berry in its beak.

It didn’t hurt that the sun had finally burned most of the fog off.

At other times, I might have been disappointed by how few birds we saw, but it felt great to walk four miles without getting rained on.   

Finding Snipes: A Birdwatcher’s Journey

My last trip to Theler Wetlands in Belfair turned out to be a bit of a disappointment because the tide was so far out that whatever birds were around were too far away to get any pictures. Ironically, on this visit, the tide was so high that the mudflats were entirely covered with water.

So, as it turned out, virtually all the birds we saw were those patrolling the Union River like this Ring-billed Gull

A seagull in flight over a blurred natural background.

and an immature Ring-Billed Gull (I think) that seemed to be travelling with it.

A bird in flight against a blue sky with clouds.

One of the highlights of the day was watching this small flotilla of Common Mergansers feeding at a bend in the river.

Several ducks swimming in a body of water with rippling reflections, surrounded by green grass.

Unfortunately, they were a long way away and the sun wasn’t totally cooperating, so I had a hard time getting decent shots. This shot of an immature male (on the left) and two females was my favorite.

Three ducks swimming in a wetland area, with green grass in the background.

I would have entirely missed the highlight of the day if Leslie hadn’t seen this Snipe with her binoculars. I’ll have to admit that I never could see it with my bare eyes; I could only see it with my 800mm lens. Even then, this shot has been heavily cropped.

A solitary bird standing in shallow water among reeds, with its reflection visible in the water.

Snipes hold a special place in my heart because it took nearly five years for me to see a Snipe after I started seriously birding. Even at 70 years of age I began to wonder if that old ploy to send a youngster on a “snipe hunt” wasn’t true.

Thankfully, Luck — and a lot of persistence —generally rewards us with the results we’re looking for.