Category: Washington Coast

Birdwatching at Fort Flagler: A Cold Day’s Journey

It has been so long since I posted pictures on my blog that I had to spend hours updating apps that I use. Then I had to remember/figure out exactly how they worked.

I finally managed to process several shots I took at Fort Flagler on a very cold, very windy day. I knew that the weather wouldn’t be ideal when we went, but I was a little surprised how few birds we saw, probably because they were hunkered down out of the wind and as far away as possible from all the people out taking advantage of the sun.

There all forms of beauty, but this shot of Mt. Baker taken from Ft. Flagler seemed to represent the whole day — sunny, cold, magnificent.

We walked much further than usual before seeing this Sanderling in Winter plumage running up and down the shoreline.

A little further along we saw an equally confident Black Bellied Plover in its Winter plumage.

When I’m birding, I try to ensure I do not disturb the birds. However, it was impossible to get past these shorebirds without causing them to take flight.

As expected, we found a flock of Brant at the end of the peninsula.

On our way back to the car Leslie spotted three Black Oystercatchers where we often see them. They blend in so well with the rocks they forage on I’m not sure we would ever spot them except for those bright orange beaks.

Unfortunately, we didn’t see the Harlequin ducks where we usually see them. They were far offshore, challenging my new 200 to 800 mm lens. Luckily, that didn’t stop us from enjoying their beauty.

We got back to the car very cold and a little disappointed that we didn’t see as many birds as we usually do, but it still felt great to get out on a sunny day, especially since it was the longest I have walked since I came down with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Carpe Diem!

Knowing the Tides is Vital for Birdwatching


I took so many photos at Ocean Shores and stopped to have Sushi that we ended up being late getting to Bottle Beach on the other side of the harbor.  Ideally, I should have been there at least an hour before high tide, but it was almost a full tide when I arrived.  Despite that, we were greeted at the beach by the same birds we had seen at Ocean Shores, a Semipalmated Plover and a Western Sandpiper.


We saw a lot more of those.  In fact the only shore birds we saw at Bottle Beach that we hadn’t seen at Ocean Shores were Dunlin. 


My favorite moment at Bottle Beach actually came when most of the birds had stopped feeding and were resting, huddled in along line behind the larger Dunlin to get out of the wind.


I was disappointed with myself that I had miscalculated the high tide, but it was hard to be too disappointed when we ended the day with some nice shots of the Brown Pelicans


flying overhead on the Westport Jetty.   


Of course, I also consoled myself with ten dollars of chocolates from the candy store in Westport to eat on the way home.  Sushi should always be followed by chocolates.  

Long, Long Ago in a Magical Place

Ideally, I would like In a Dark Time to be a journal; I would like to write about what I’ve done that day or the day before.  Unfortunately, life is seldom ideal, and that seems to get truer as I age.  Last year I fell so far behind in blog entries that I had to admit, “I’ve fallen behind, and I can’t catch up.”  As a result I ended up not posting for several months. I’ve resolved not to fall into thats trap again, though I’m not sure how I will manage not to fall behind because I’m already behind in posting pictures I’ve taken a month ago.

After going to Ocean Shores too early to see the Shorebird Spring Migration, I went back on May 8th and got a lot of pictures that I really liked.  Unfortunately, I was still publishing shots I liked that I had taken on our Arizona/California trip.  I was on a roll with publishing entries until I had to spend over a week trying to fix my blog before finally switching hosts to resolve the problems.  By the time I finally fixed that, I had to work in the yard and get ready for our trip to Colorado.  

To make a long story short, I’m always going to publish the pictures I really like even if they’re not from the day, or even the week, before. Beauty is beauty and transcends the moment.  I loved seeing this little Semi-palmated Plover when we started walking the beach.


We didn’t have to walk much further to spot this little Western Sandpiper in breeding plumage  running along the surf.


I was even more excited to sight this Ruddy Turnstone a little further down the beach.  


We ended up seeing more Ruddy Turnstones flying up and down the beach in the next mile than I have ever seen before. I must have gotten at least forty shots of them, making it difficult to decide which of them to post here.


I’m not sure what they eat, but, unlike the Western Sandpipers who seemed content to probe the sand as the tide came in, 

the Ruddy Turnstones seemed attracted to the piles of kelp scattered on the beach. Google tells me they are omnivores but feed mainly on insects during breeding season, so perhaps they were attracted to the bugs feeding on the kelp.

It was disappointing not to see any of the larger shorebirds that migrate in Spring,  but I was glad  to see all the shorebirds we did. The beach is a magical place during Spring and Fall Migration season. 

A Sunny Spring Day on the Coast

We hadn’t been home from Arizona very long before an unexpected sunny forecast at the coast inspired us to head out to Ocean Shores to see if the Spring Shorebird Migration had started and to see if there were any Loons still overwintering.  

Unfortunately, when we got to the spit we were greeted by heavy winds that made it difficult to open the car door.  In my heart I knew that we wouldn’t see any shorebirds on the beach with those kind of headwinds, but I didn’t drive two hours to sit in the car and watch waves break on the rocks.

We only walked about half as far as usual, and I can’t say we really enjoyed the walk, but I did like this shot of a large fishing boat appearing and disappearing behind the surf.


The only birds we ended up seeing were Gulls, and most of them were flying so fast that I couldn’t possibly get a shot of them.  So, I settled for this shot of one preening.


Though we were disappointed at not seeing any shorebirds, I was glad to see a Common Loon in breeding colors at the Westport Marina 


and it wasn’t shy about posing for us.


While taking pictures of the Loon, this bird popped up next to me.  I’m a little ashamed to admit that I didn’t recognize it at first and got distracted to taking shots of it instead of the Loon. 

I should have known from the bill that it was a female Surf Scoter, but the male Surf Scoter is so distinctive with its brightly-colored beak that I never really pay much attention to nearby females.

We finally got to see some large shorebirds at Tokeland.  A small flock of Marbled Godwits was feeding along with a couple of Willet.


Despite the high winds and too few shorebirds, it was a Good Day.  Having lived in Aberdeen for most of a year, I know that any sunny day one the Washington coast is a good day, one to be thankful for.