This post is… exceptionally past due. I have sat down over a dozen times to try and write it, and every time I’ve failed to find the words and will. And I mean, I guess that makes sense. Since the start of the year I have been embarked on an incredible journey, and in many ways, when I spotted my 100th Washington bird, that journey was complete. It was a surreal experience, and the combined impact of having both completed that goal and entirely run out of money led to a massive loss in momentum as well as a loss in motivation to post here. For most of the past couple weeks I sorta just… lingered, running DoorDash and not doing all that much birding. I’ve loved this year and love every moment spent birding, but in sense I just felt… burnt. To be fair I think that’s at least a tad understandable, but either way I apologize for the lack of transparency 0n the lateness of everything.
As of putting this post up I am finally back on the road and back in the swing of things, having spent the last few days doing the most intense birding I have done in a while including my first ever pelagic, tracking down several lifers including the last of my original three “Dream Birds”, and a day spent seawatching.
After Week Thirty-seven wrapped up with several days spent birding with the Seven Ponds Birding Field Tour group, on Monday the 15th I dropped my car off for yet more needed work and then joined my dad, Daryl Bernard, for two days of birding along the Oregon coast. After some time spent making our way to the coast our birding was kicked off at the Boiler Bay State Wayside, a great first stop the produced Black Oystercatcher, Common Murre, Brant’s Cormorant, and most notably my Lifer Marbled Murrelet!
From Boiler Bay we continued heading south to the Southwest Jetty of the Yaquina River Mouth, where we got much closer looks at another pair of Common Murre as well as a Whimbrel and a Harlequin Duck! At the Yachats Commons Park we tried to track down a Wrentit but were unsuccessful, though we did snag some Chestnut-backed Chickadees and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. At the South Jetty of the Siuslaw River Mouth we had yet more Common Murre, however with the strong winds putting a bit of a damper on things and my dad feeling exhausted after having just led a field tour, we called it a day and found a hotel room for the night in the town of North Bend.
“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” This quote by Steve Prefontaine, a legendary figure in the American distance running world, was written out above the mural my dad and I stopped at on our way to our first stop on Tuesday. After initially spotting the mural as we passed by it we had to turn around and stop to check it out, since Pre was a figure often looked up to back in our cross country days during which my dad coached perhaps the best middle school cross country team in Michigan history through preaching the principle of that quote. While I wasn’t ever that good of a runner (19:17 5k, 5:18 mile), I’d like to think Pre’s philosophy has been one I’ve applied to my birding adventures between this year and my 2022 Michigan Big Year.
After that detour we kicked off the day’s birding at the Millicoma Marsh in Coos Bay, where we again dipped on finding a Wrentit but otherwise had a great start to the day with multiple Anna’s Hummingbirds, Bewicks Wren, and my first-of-year Black-throated Gray Warbler. Tuesday continued to heat up at Pigeon Point where we tracked down my Lifer Pacific Golden-Plover along with an assortment of shorebirds including Black-bellied Plover, Long-billed Dowitcher and Western Sandpiper.
The South Jetty of the Coquille River Mouth yielded Marbled Godwit, Wandering Tattler, Black Turnstone, Surfbird, American Pipit, and most importantly my Lifer Pigeon Guillemot! Yet another Lifer came in Gold Beach where between the Marina and the Rogue River Mouth we had a couple hundred Elegant Tern!
From Gold Beach we moved on from Oregon briefly and headed into northern California before turning east and heading inland and back into Oregon via the incredibly scenic Redwood Highway. After stopping for lunch at In-n-Out in Grants Pass we made a quick detour to the John F Fleming Memorial Park in Rogue River to finish filling in my dad’s eBird map for southwest Oregon with some birds in Jackson County. From there we booked it north, settling in for the night around Eugene and then in the morning headed back to Portland, where my dad dropped me back off at my car and we parted ways, not to see each other likely until next April.
The rest of Wednesday as well as all of Thursday weren’t especially birdy, as aside from stops at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge and the Koll Center Wetlands, I spent my time working on what was at the time getting caught up on my posts and Daily Notes as well as meeting up with my former boss from my first job at Grand Traverse Pie Company, who has since moved to the Portland area. Finally on Friday I got back to it as I worked my way back to the coast, stopping en route at Cochran Road to try for Sooty Grouse before eventually heading to Tillamook Bay. As I worked my way up the coast I tried several times to track down a Rhinoceros Auklet, but my efforts were in vain.
Finally on morning of Saturday the 20th I entered my 48ths and final state, Washington. Saturday was a pretty wet and rainy day, but I still managed to pick up 42 species to kick off my time in The Evergreen State thanks to a stop at Cape Disappointment State Park, which held highlights including Common Murre and Purple Finch. After I called it quits for birding on the day I hit the road to make a pretty long drive up into the Olympic Peninsula, where I settled in for the night in the town of Sequim. With plans to spend the next few days around Olympic National Park in search of Sooty Grouse and Northern Pygmy-Owl.
Before heading into Olympic I made the decision to spend Sunday birding around the Sequim area, making visits to the Dungeness Trails and Happy Valley Road area before spending some time along the coast. At the John Wayne Marina I hoped I might be able to finally spot a Rhinoceros Auklet but efforts continued to refuse to bear fruit. Things picked up at a spot called Three Crabs (I don’t know), where after a bit of effort I managed to pick a Eurasian Wigeon out of a flock of American Wigeon, as well as Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Northern Pintail and Green-winged Teal. Finally I closed out the day at the Dungeness Landing Park, where I spotted a Golden-crowned Sparrow and a pair of California Quail.
By the end of Sunday I found myself at 74 species for Washington, nearly three fourths of the way to completing my final state and with an absolute ton of “low-hanging fruit” birds remaining. I knew, though, that I wouldn’t be encountering the diversity required to cross that goal on Monday as I headed in to Olympic National Park.
My first visit to Olympic, accounting for all of my birding on Monday, was rather uneventful. Between an assortment of stops along Hurricane Ridge Road and walks on the Hurricane Hill Trail and Meadow Loop Trail I picked up Canada Jay, Vaux’s Swift, Violet-green Swallow, and Band-tailed Pigeon, but was unsuccessful in tracking down any of my main objectives. Eventually I made he decision to call it a day and come back the next morning for another shot. Arriving shortly after dawn I parked at the Hurricane Hill Trailhead and headed out, and after hiking a bit farther than the previous day reached an area which looked to me like the type of habitat in which I’d expect to find Sooty Grouse. After a short bit of searching that expectation was affirmed when I got brief, horrible looks at a Sooty Grouse moving in an obscured area a ways off the trail. I spent quite a while trying to get better looks at this bird, though never successfully did so. While I was seeking these views, however, I was approached by a pair of ladies who asked what I was looking for. I told them, and while they clearly weren’t birders they seemed interested in nature in general and after a short conversation they moved on and not long after I gave up and headed back to my car, forced to settle for my sub-par views.
Once back at my car I made myself some food, and not long after finishing eating it I heard a voice and turned to see one of the girls from earlier. She asked if I’d ended up getting my desired looks, and when I hadn’t she took out her camera and showed me… a photo of a group of Sooty Grouse right out in the open. Apparently just about a quarter mile farther than I’d gone there were several put in the open and totally uncaring about the people passing mere feet from then. With this interaction I decided to head back out hoping the birds would still be there – and as I neared the spot where I’d encountered my horrendous views of the one earlier I bumped into two birders who confirmed the Sooty’s presence just five minutes prior at the same spot the girl had described. I energetically raced down the trail, and when I got to what was clearly the spot both the girl and the couple had described, there was… nothing. No grouse anywhere. I searched for a while before dejectedly giving up and heading back to my car.
Back at my car again, I decided to begin to head out of the park, making one more stop – a quick drive down Obstruction Point Road. On the way there I made a quick bathroom stop and on my way back to my car heard a cheerful “So, did you see them?” and turned to see the girl from earlier again. When I said I hadn’t she got an almost embarrassed look on her face and then proceeded to show me her camera again, with a photo of more Sooty Grouse. Apparently just minutes after I’d headed back out onto the Hurricane Hill Trail, while the girls took a break at the same picnic table I’d been sitting at for almost a half hour prior, a few Sooty Grouse walked RIGHT THROUGH THE FREAKING PICNIC AREA. Beginning to get annoyed at the universe I hopped back in my car to begin a quick, disgruntled drive down Obstruction Point Road, and about a mile into this drive I spotted a small traffic jam up ahead, with a car going the same direction as me and two cars coming towards us all stopped at the same spot. At first I assumed it was just because of the drivers’ cautiousness and the narrowness of the road, but when the driver got out from the frontmost oncoming car and walked into the road making a shooing motion, several Sooty Grouse took off and flew into the woods out of sight. At this point I just burst out laughing because of course, but thankfully the universe decided the joke had gone on long enough because after a few minutes of waiting the five Grouse made their way back into the road and provided me with among the best looks at any bird I’ve ever had – and before moving on from Obstruction Point Road I managed to connect with Red-breasted Sapsucker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Townsend’s Solitaire, Varied Thrush, Orange-crowned Warbler, and Townsend’s Warbler, making the end of my time in Olympic National Park by far the most productive of my time there.
From the park I headed back towards the coast, making my way northwest to Ediz Hook to hopefully push towards 100. Upon arrival I quickly spotted a House Sparrow, followed by a Harlequin Duck, then Greater Scaup, Spotted Sandpiper, Bufflehead, Pacific Loon, Red-necked Grebe, Short-billed Gull… and then… Rhinoceros Auklet. So far this post I’ve mentioned several times that I was still searching for my Lifer Rhino, so it was certainly exciting to finally track down this bird. The fact that it was a Lifer, though, was nowhere close to the most exciting part of this sighting. See, when I arrived at Ediz Hook I was sitting at 91 species for Washington. If you take a moment to count the bolded species above, you’ll find that the Rhino was my 9th new Washington bird at Ediz Hook; my 100th bird for Washington, the 48th of my Lower-48 states.
Cackling Goose, Black-bellied Plover, Black Turnstone, Marbled Murrelet, and Brown-headed Cowbird would join the fray before I left Ediz Hook, propelling me past the Century Mark to 105 for Washington. After Ediz I spent the rest of the day basking in the celebration of having completed this major objective, but on the 24 got back on the road.
Moving west farther into the Olympic Peninsula, on Wednesday the 24th I made my way towards Neah Bay, which hosted Hutton’s Vireo, Read-throated Loon, Horned Grebe, Surfbird, and White-winged Scoter as new birds for my Washington list. In Neah Bay I also picked up a recreation pass for the local Native Reservation, which among other things permitted me access to the farthest west point I’ve ever been: Cape Flattery. After a few hours of seawatching through thick fog at the platform at the tip of the cape, I headed back towards town and, after a bit of searching, finally succeeded in tracking down of the nemeses of this year, Northern Pygmy-Owl.
The last notable birding of Week Thirty-nine came on the 26th when I headed east and departed the Olympic Peninsula via the ferry to Whidbey Island. While on the island I planned to meet and bird with local birder Cathi Bower, but before meeting up with her I spent a bit of time seawatching at the Hastie Lake Road beach access, during which I finally spotted my first jaeger of the year thanks to a Parasitic Jaeger harassing a gull. After making myself breakfast at Fort Casey State Park I headed towards the southern parts of the island to meet meet Cathi at Deer Lagoon.
Cathi and I had a great time birding together, with the highlight of the morning being a Merlin of the Black/Pacific subspecies as well as a bunch of new Washington birds including Common Yellowthroat, Red-winged Blackbird, Marsh Wren, Pied-billed Grebe, Greater Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitcher, American Coot, Sora, and Virginia Rail.
I closed out the week as I made my way north off of the island, stopping along the way at Deception Pass State Park, after which I headed to the mainland then sorta just… went into limbo. Through the following weeks I didn’t do all that much birding, and that sentence by itself pretty much sums up a few week period. My apologies for disappearing during that time, leaving everyone hanging on this post. Even as recently as a couple weeks ago I had plans of adjusting my post schedule to continue posting on a regular basis, however I am shifting things quite significantly now. What I can say is there will be at least five more posts between now and the end of the year – possibly more. One of these will cover my time in California, Nevada, and Arizona as I work my way towards New Mexico, and another two will cover my birding between now and the end of the year around Albuquerque. The other two posts will be more retrospective and introspective, covering the year as a whole and talking about my plans for the future.
This year has been nothing short of incredible and much like how I struggled to write this post I now am struggling to find the words to end it, so I’ll just leave it at: Thank you to each and every one of you for following along on my journey this year. If you find yourself in Albuquerque in the future, shoot me an email at PeoplePlacesBirds.net.
Happy Birding!
First and foremost - thank you to anyone who chooses to support me in this insane adventure of mine. When I initially had this idea and began planning I didn't even consider the possibility that others would want to support me, but I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to do so. For those who are interested in supporting me, I have set up a Patreon, which can be accessed by clicking the logo to the left (or you can send me a message via the contact page). Again, thank you for your incredibly generous support!
All Patrons will receive my "Daily Notes" 12-36 hours after the end of each day, and Patrons subscribed to the "Sponsor" tier will receive monthly postcards, mailed out between the 25th and end of each month.
For anyone who wishes to support me without using Patreon, clicking the "$" Icon will link you to my Venmo as well. There is also an option on Patreon to purchase my Daily Notes Collection for a one-time $10 payment without becoming a paid member, which will give you access to the Daily Notes without having to subscribe to a monthly subscription. For those who it requests the last four of my number for, it's 1403.
Following recent suggestions I went ahead and created a GoFundMe in order to help ensure I can keep this adventure going and afford the costs of gas, vehicle maintenance, and food (including, with enough support, some more diversity in my diet). The GoFundMe can be accessed by clicking the image link with the coin going into the donation box. (If anyone knows how to add a custom icon on Elemetor to make the Venmo and GoFundMe Links their respective logos, I'd love to hear how to do it!)
Thank you again to those of you who have supported me so far, it's tremendously generous and greatly appreciated.
Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
