WASHINGTON ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY Newsletter Number 19 • June 1992 "... to increase our knowledge of the birds of Washington and to enhance communication among all persons interested in those birds. "

Fourth annual

was meeting - Sequim 1992 BillTwiet

We were blessed with great spring weather on the north end of the Olympic Peninsula. • •

The weather, the birds and the meeting, attended by 85 people. organizers combined to pro- The field trips found a total of duce another enjoyable annual 168 species and included:

a pelagic trip out of Neah Bay which found hundreds of puffins and a Peregrine on Tatoosh Island and a Yellow-billed,L.o,onin winter plumage. Cape Flattery hawk watching blesse'd with a late movement of hawks that included three Northern Goshawks.

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Dungeness and Elwha River tours which produced most of the passerine residents and migrants. , • Hurricane Ridge which offered a flock of White-winged Crossbills, five Black Bears and a Golden Eagle. • Dungeness lowlands which had a Red-necked Phalarope, booming bitterns and a Marbled Godwit, and • Protection Island boat trips which produced puffins, oystercatchers, Marbled Murrelets ... The evening talks covered the hawk migration at Cape Flattery (D. Byrne and the Clarks), the relationship between avian communities and the ecological patterns of the Olympic Peninsula (Fred Sharpe), and the Spotted Owls of the peninsula (Bruce Moorhead). The people who labored to bring us this meeting and who deserve our thanks

were Dory and Stan Smith, Virginia and Welden Clark, and Tom Schooley. WOS business included expanding the WOS Board from seven to nine members and adding the position of vicepresident. Your new or nearly new officers for 1992-93 are: Tom Schooley, president; Dennis Paulson, vice-president; J an Wiggers, secretary; and Hal Opperman, treasurer.

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Board members are Michael Donahue, Judy DuVall, Linda Feltner, Nancy Morningstar and Andy Stepniewski.

WOS Meeting The next was Seattle-area meeting will be September 3rd at 7:30p.m. at the Burke Museum. Details in the August Newsletter.

COUNTY COUNTS COMMENCE Dennis Paulson As outlined in a previous WOSNEWS, the society is attempting to improve our knowledge ofWashington birds by organizing a series of county bird censuses. Our first was scheduled for 15 February, involving Skagit, Mason, Klickitat and Lincoln Counties. The choice of counties was somewhat arbitrary, because the criteria for choice included ease of access, interest by WOS board members discussing the idea, and location of willing compilers, as well as the need for new knowledge from the county. N ow the date has come and gone, the results are in, and it's time to ask a few questions, as well as let our members know how it all turned out. First, what did we learn? Well, I'll have to admit we didn't learn a tremendous amount. No hidden species came to light, no extravagant concentrations were encountered anywhere, although there were certainly impressive numbers in counts that had a lot of waterfront. How can we even tell if we learned anything new? One way would be to compare our censuses with Christmas bird counts (CBC's)in the same areas, ofmuch more restricted scope but often covered more intensely. The 1991 counts are not available, but Skagit County's two CBC's in 1990, Padilla Bay and Skagit Bay, with no more participants (32 and 21, respectively) than the county census, tallied41,189 and 101,752 . individuals, respectively. The combined total of 143,000 birds is over twice that of the February count (60,787) for the whole county, probably a clear indicator that you get a better idea ofwhat's there when you census smaller

areas intensely.

ange-crowned Warbler, and White-winged Crossbill. Most of these additions are easily explained by the addition of areas covered (including rocky shore and higher elevations), a few perhaps by the milder winter, and the Tree Swallow was a returning migrant.

How about species differences - did the county census do a reasonably complete job in comparison with the smaller areas? The county census tallied 137 species (including "count-period" species), near the number found by comMost of the birds represented bining the two CBC's (132, with on either CBCs or county census 114 on each count) but presumably with an even greater array of but not both are uncommon, and habitats sampled. The county cen- I suppose the discrepancy shows sus missed Eared Grebe (on how difficult it is to document the Padilla Bay and Skagit Bay presence of uncommon species. counts), Clark's Grebe (P, ques- Just think how many rare ones tionable), Black Scoter (S), West- are out there not being found! ern Sandpiper (PS), Bonaparte's The nearest CBC to Mason Gull (P), Thayer's Gull (P), Band- County was in Olympia, which in tailed Pigeon (P), Great Horned 1990 tallied 43,621 individuals of Owl (S), Red-breasted Sapsucker 120 species, substantially more (PS), Townsend's Solitaire (S), than the Mason County census. Hermit Thrush (S), American This is presumably because ofthe Pipit (S), Cedar Waxwing (P), much greater number of observSavannah Sparrow (S), Swamp ers - 60. Comparisons are even Sparrow (S), Harris' Sparrow (P), more distant between the Yakima and Common Redpoll (P), a total County CBC, which tallied 19,110 of 17 species. Of course, a few of individuals of 76 species with 17 these species might not have been observers, and the Klickitat present during the 1991-92 win- County census with its two obter (there was no sapsucker inva- servers who tallied 6,048 indision in the lowlands, for example). viduals of82 species. The range of Bear in mind, observers for the habitats in the county census was combined CBC's totalled 53 and clearly greater that in the CBC's, were in the field twice as long as and we can hope for further inthose that did the census, so they forma tion from Klicki ta t. There is had twice the chance to find a nothing to compare with Tom given bird if it occurred in the Rogers' valiant effort in Lincoln area. County, where bird life was suffiConversely, the census picked ciently scarce that just about evup 22 species not recorded on eiery individual was noteworthy! ther CBC: Great Egret, Cattle From these data I conclude, howEgret, Wood Duck, Turkey Vulever, that we will need very inture, Northern Goshawk, Golden tense county censuses to approach Eagle, Ruffed Grouse, Black the information -ga thering power Oystercatcher, Greater Yellowofa CBC. legs, Spotted Sandpiper, Surfbird, What did we do right or wrong? Least Sandpiper, Western Gull, Rhinoceros Auklet, Barn Owl, Nothing wrong - except for perBarred Owl, Anna's Humminghaps expected problems of logisbird, Tree Swallow, Clark's NutContinued cracker, American Dipper, Or-

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tics, with several parties not connecting with their census because of confusion in directions - and a lot right. We clearly need more people in the less known counties. As one participant in Skagit County noted, "we went out and found the birds they already knew were there."

AItogether, I'd call our first effort a resounding success. Enthusiasm was high, and everyone worked hard. The organizational skills of the Wiggerses were phenomenal, and I hope they can keep it up and be emulated by others sowe can increase the number of counters per county. How

about some help for Tom Rogers, Spokane members? As Jan Wiggers wrote, "1) the numbers somewhat mirror what we see here, 2) everyone seemed to have had a very nice day and a fun evening sharing their tallies, and 3) they can't wait for May 9th!"

COUNTY CENSUS SUMMARIES - 16 FEBRUARY 1992 Skagit County

Dunlin (16,000), Brant (6,377), 31 observers (Peggy European Starling (3,532),American Wigeon (3,457), GlaucousAlexander, Marcia Anthony, winged Gull (3,364), Snow Goose Howard and Thais Armstrong, (3,000), Mallard (2,923), NorthLouie Barret, Barbara Bashaw, ern Pintail (2,079), Bufllehead Gary Bletsch, Harold Christensen, (2,075), Western Grebe (1,737). Larry Daugert, Richard Droker, Surprising misses: none - too well Cynthie and Scott Fisher, Gee Gandy, Kathy and Phil Green, organized - but surprisingly few Northern Shovelers and Gad· Bob Hamblin, Bob Kuntz, Larry McCloskey, Hue McKenzie, Fred walls, considering the abundance Mesman, Libby Mills, Helen of other dabbling ducks, and only Oravetz, Margi Palmer, Brian seven Fox Sparrows. Self,Valerie Shahan, Carol Spaw, Mason County Mary Stapp, Rob Thorn, Stan 16 observers: (Sheila Balsdon, Wallace, Jan and Keith Wiggers). Fred Bird, Barbara Blackie, 133 species, 60,787 individu- Michael Donahue, Judy DuVall, als. Ruby Egbert, Ike Eisenhart, Jim Most noteworthy: 875 Trum- Elder, Charlotte Escott, Jim peter Swans, Great and Cattle Granley, BobMorse,Dennis PaulEgrets (stake-outs), Turkey Vul- son, Harold Ritland,Tom ture, White-winged Crossbill. Schooley, Fred Sharpe, Kent Ten most common species: Slaven). 97 species, 14,958 individuAmerican Birds deadlines als. Most noteworthy: Brandt's Autumn Spring Cormorant, Redhead, Mountain (March - May) (August - Nov.) Quail, Northern Pygmy-Owl, June 15 December 15 Western Meadowlark. Surprising Summer Winter misses: Pied-billed Grebe, Gad(June & July) (Dec. - Feb.) wall, California Quail, WhiteMarch 15 August 15 crowned Sparrow. Ten most common species: Send bird sightings to: Dunlin (2,685), Greater Scaup Phil Mattocks: 915 E Third, (1,121,may includesome Lessers), Ellensburg, WA 98926 Surf Scoter (1,006), American Tom Rogers (easternmost Wigeon (931), Mallard (823), counties): 10820 E. Maxwell, White-winged Scoter (715), Glaucous-winged Gull (666), BuflleSpokane, WA 99206 head (581), American Crow (560), Bill Tweit: POB 1271, and Brant (500). There are probOlympia, WA 98507-1271 ably more Song Sparrows in the

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area than anyone species ofduck, but only 101 were tallied. Klickitat

County

2 observers (Andy and Susan Stepniewski). 81 species, 6,048 individuals. Most noteworthy: Eurasian Wigeon, Lesser Goldfinch,(Mountain Bluebird the previous day). Surprising misses: Lewis' Woodpecker, Acorn Woodpecker. Ten most common species: Northern Pintail (1,500), combined Scaups, mostly Greater (1,165), American Coot (750), American Wigeon (500), Canada Goose (485), Mallard (420), Ringnecked Duck (210), American Goldfinch (100), and European Starling (75). Lincoln County 216 miles, 1 observer (Tom Rogers). 23 species, 621+ (House Sparrows not tallied) individuals. Most noteworthy: Tundra Swan, Red-winged Blackbirds, Western Meadowlark. Surprising misses: ducks (10 pintails only identified ducks), chickadees, winter finches. Five most common species: Canada Goose (217), Rock Dove (210), House Finch (100), Horned Lark (30), and Red-winged Blackbird (14). Slater Museum of Natural History University of Puget Sound Tacoma, WA 98416

Captain Vancouver - the birder - and a contest RobertVV. Ramsey

The first European explora- partridges [8], had been seen; with situations, and used no endeavors tion of Puget Sound prompted few in point of number, and little to hide or screen themselves from our sight, but were too vigilant to Captain George Vancouver to variety, of small birds: amongst which the humming birds [9]bore allow our sportsmen taking them write a short passage concerning by surprise. Some blue [17], and the bird life ofthe area. In May of a great proportion. At the outskirts 1912, he wrote the following para- of the woods, and about the water- some nearly white herons [18] of the common size were also seen. " graph on pages 103 and 104 in his side, the white headed [10] and Obviously, he did not have our brown eagle [11]; ravens [12], caroriginal journal: advantage of the Roger Tory rion crows [13], American king's Peterson western handbook, nor "Few of the feathered tribe were fisher [14], and a very handsome procured, although, on our first woodpecker[15], were seen in num- the guidance of the AOD. As a arrival, the aquatic birds were so bers; and in addition to these on matter of fact, he was a neophyte numerous, that we expected a pro- the low projecting points, and open birder with a bit of help from Archibald Menzies, the expedifuse supply of wild fowl; but these places in the woods, we frequently tion botanist. Bear in mind the were all so extremely shy and saw a bird with which we were watchful, that our guns seldom wholly unacquainted, though we time of year and the fact that land probably never got reached them; and, on being fired considered it to be a species of the explorations above a hundred feet elevation. at, they disappeared. About the crane or heron [16]; some of their To bridge the 200-year gap, the shores and on the rocks, we found eggs were found of a bluish cast, Snake Lake Nature Center Founsome species of the tern [1], the considerably larger than that of a dation (PO Box 11225, Tacoma, common gull [2], sea pigeon [3] of turkey, and well tasted. These birds WA 98411) is asking you to interNewfoundland, curlews [4], have remarkably long legs and pret the species we have numsandlarks [5], shags [6], and the necks, and their bodies seemed to bered and outline your reasons black sea pye [7], like those in New equal in size the largest turkey. for your choices. The person we Holland and New Zealand; these Their plumage is uniformly of a deem to have come closest to crewere however not so abundant as light brown, and when erect, their ating an accurate Vancouver bird the others. Nor did the woods ap- height, on a moderate computalist will be awarded $50 for the pear to be much resorted to by the tion, could not be less than four effort. The deadline for entries is feathered race; two or three spruce feet. They seemed to prefer open August 31st. BULK RATE

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Murphy's Petrel - just about the ultimate T.R.Wahl On a boat trip off of Westport on 25 April 1992 we found a species long overd ue for being seen in Washington. Following records in recent years off California and Oregon and from the northern Gulfof Alaska and elsewhere in the North Pacific Ocean, we set out to determine, among other things, whether indeed those most exotic of seabirds, the gadfly petrels, passed close enough to be within range of charter vessel trips. This spring, at least, Murphy's Petrel (pterodroma ultima) did and probably does each year. We left at 1:30 am and arrived about 35 miles offshore at daylight, fully rested (ha!), alert and highly motivated. At about 40 nautical miles (500 fathoms depth) BillTweitshouted very confidently, 1 thought, "Murphy's Petrel" as a bird tance. To me, and passed at a itwas dislikely others, absolutely a dark pterodromaand

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~J:(k~z~:0

This was a satisfying day for all, and 1 was happy to see this species better than I ever have before. Photographic efforts on my part resulted in several great "atmosphere" shots with distant, small images, two great close photos unforgivably out of focus, one sharp picture of a petrel trying to hide behind Alan Richards hat, and one quite good, close photo that does the job- the "one good photo" worry: will it survive the slide duplicating process? 1 hope Wilson Cady got good, definitive photographs.

"highly probable" Murphy's. A few miles farther offshore we began encountering more Murphy's at

closer range, noting the arcing flight style andbent-wingposture of most gadfly petrels. With seven birds passing during a 90-minute

ley et a1.1989 (Dark Pterodroma petrels in the North Pacific: identification, status and North American occurrence. American Birds 43 (3): 400-415). We used field marks like amount and location of white on throat (I noted no birds with white above the bill), lack of black "hood" noticeable on Solander's ( called Providence Petrel by some in other parts of the English-speaking world), underwing pattern(s), length and shape of tail (shorter, less wedgeshaped than Solander's and flight style clearly differentiating Murphy's from shearwaters and, to me at least, less languid (this word has been used by many) than Solander's. Underwing patterns varied from a soft, grayish flight-feathers pattern somewhat similar to Short-tailed Shearwater to the other extreme: the Solander-like bold football-shaped whitish patch (again, see Bailey et. aI.). Similarily, the amount of white on the throat varied from a sharply defined White-throated Sparrow patch (like some Short-tails) to indistinct lightish areas.

~. j';Jf,:..'{K,.U

shore, and more following that offon "''JJl chum 60 miles our inbound trip, ' we totalled 24 for the day, almost all over 1000 fathoms (6000 feet) depth. The best reference available, covering the finer points of identifying this species and differentiating it from Herald (P. arminjoniana), Kermadec (P. neglecta) and, particularly, Solander's (P. solanderi) petrels is Bai-

Concerning identification other than Bailey et aI., there is very little helpful information in the available field guides. Neither Harrison 1983 (Seabirds: An Identification Guide. Houghton Mifflin) or any earlier reference is of real use. Harrison 1987 (A Field Guide to Seabirds of the WorId. Viking Penguin-photographs) has two photos and most useful field marks are described. Pratt et a1. (A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton University Press) has drawings typical of some Murphy's Petrels. Our record fits in well with the known range of dates along the Pacific

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coast, mostly from April-June. During limited time spent far offshore on research vessels 1 did not note this species off Washington in July-September and, based on experience of these cruises and charter vessel trips, 1would not expect it then. Incidentally, the 11 April 1986 record of mine cited in Bailey et a1. was just barely south of Washington, off Oregon. The birds on the April trip represented the third Pterodroma species known to occur off Washington: Mottled Petrel (P. inexpectata) is one, and Solander's (one bird on 11 September 1983) is the other. In addition, there was the mystery bird seen and described by many on the stormy 11 September 1990 "Manx Shearwater trip", which still remains unidentified. So far we lack real evidence of CookiIaria petrels or other possible gadfly petrels. The 25 April trip had other interesting features, some negative. We saw 268 Black-footed Albatrosses, a Laysan Albatross, and just two Northern Ful-

Artwork (including front and back covers) and photo by Wilson Cady

mars (following a winter when numbers were apparently low; we had only five on a trip in February). We did not see Mottled Petrels, as 1might have bet we would. There were hundreds of Sooty Shearwaters, 30 Fork-tails and six Leach's Storm-Petrels, four Red Phalaropes, four Pomarine Jaegers, a fairnumber of gulls and alcids. Though we might have anticipated Ancient Murrelets, we settled instead for a Parakeet Auklet. But for Murphy's Petrel, "best bird" award might well have gone to an unfortunate Rock Wren which did not come aboard at 60 miles out but instead probably ended up as gull food. Continued

New birds, mammals, absences, associations, strange behaviors, or whatever are what make each boat trip intereSfu"'lg,though obviously the first is what everyone hopes for. Beyond that, new information is being gained. For example, records in the last ten years or so from research cruises and offshore boat trips have helped determine the previously unknown nonbreeding ranges of several southern hemisphere-breeding Pterodroma petrels. These ranges have proved in some cases (e.g. Solander's) to be thousands of miles farther from breeding

islands than previously imagined! Murphy's Petrel is known to breed on islands in the central South Pacific, including Pitcairn, of Mutiny fame; Solander's at one or two islands off eastern Australia. The exciting

Fall Trip?

A possible fall deep sea trip is in the works, but there are many qualifiers: weather, scheduling and, most importantly, limited space onthe boat. If you are interested in the ordeal, give Terry Wahl a call in Bellingham at (206) 733-8255.

Breeding bird atIasing information regarding mileage Phil Mattocks The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service GAP Analysis project for Washington state has allocated $6,000+ (as of now, and possibly more later) for the Washington State Breeding Bird Atlas, to generate fieldwork for presently unatlassed blocks. The goal of the GAP analysis project for Washington is to locate and identify specific areas within the state which maintain high species diversity, and to correlate this information with existing and possible wildlife refuges and other land protections. Landsat satellite imagery will provide a background vegetation matrix onto which they plan to map the distribution of Washington's butterflies, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and birds. This is where we come in. It is possible for the GAP project to just ask experienced ornithologists of the state to try to draw breeding range distributions for all 250 +breeding species ...or, much more realistically, they could overlay the data generated by the several hundred observers of the Breeding Bird Atlas:The Atlas data is much more precise and is already in hand, in dBase III, and ona GIS system. Indeed, this potential use of the data has been a major motivation for many of the hours of field work and da ta entry that have already gone into the Atlas project. The major problem with the use of the Atlas data on a statewide basis is that there is a concentration of coverage in some areas and a near absence in others. For those counties with a strong coordinator, particularly Thais Bock

in Pierce and Mark Lewis in San Juan County, there is very good coverage. For most other areas of Puget Sound and the east slope of the Cascades coverage is probably sufficient to derive general breeding distributions. However, coverage is sparse for the eastern one-fourth of the state (east of Odessa), the Horse Heaven Hills, Klickitat Co. outside of Lyle and Trout Lake, the Columbia River valley from Skamania Co. to Pacific Co., the Willapa Hills inland, most of the Olympic Peninsula, and much of the high country along the Cascades, particularly western Chelan County and eastern Snohomish County. We have proposed to use the GAP money for mileage reimbursement, at the rate of 20 cents per mile, for Atlassing visits to blocks which either have had NO previous coverage, or from which fewer than five species have been reported. The present plan of operations is for you, the observer, to seek outunatlassed blocks, go there, record the data, and send a statement of mileage traveled to me, along with the Atlas cards if no further visits are planned to that block. I will check the cards, keep a running tally of blocks visited, and forward the mileage statements to the GAP Analysis office on the UW campus in Seattle. Some time later a check from the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service will be in the mail to you.

Contact Phil Mattocks at 509962-2191 for more information. 915 East Third Avenue Ellensburg, WA 98926

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Pterodromas are among the last seabirds to have their oceanic ranges described. 3041 Eldridge Bellingham, WA 98225

Short Takes MEMBERSHIP Anyoneinterested injoining WOS should send dues to the address on the mailing cover. Annual memberships are $10 for individuals and $14 for families

NO TRESPASSING The Brewster Comsat satellite site listed in Wahl and Paulson's Guide to Bird Finding in Washington (E-8, page 109) is under new ownership and off limits to birders.

WOSNEWS DEADLINE The quality of your newletter depends on you. Please send news items for the next WOSNEWS by July 22 to Fred Bird, 1249 NE 92nd Street, Seattle, WA 98115 -- (206) 526-5671.

SITE GUIDES WOSNEWS is eager to regularly publish readers' favorite birding sites, whether or not the sites are already published in state or regional guides. We can always add information and useful maps. Send your information, particularly on fall migration sites (passerine traps, shorebird mud flats, etc.) to the editor (address above), or give us a call. No sophistication required! We do all the work.

WASHINGTON ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY Officers: Tom Schooley, President Dennis Paulson, Vice-Pres. Jan Wiggers, Secretary Hal Opperman, Treasurer

(206) 357-8851 (206) 528-1382 (206) 757-0772 (206) 455-1364

Board of Directors: Michael Donahue Judy DuVall Linda Feltner Nancy Morningstar Andy Stepniewski

(206) 527-2859 (206) 322-3848 (206) 767-9937 (206) 232-8340 (509) 877-6639

Editorial Board Dennis Paulson, Editor Robert Ashbough Frederick Bird Linda Feltner

(206) 937-8676 (206) 526-5671

Frederick Bird- Andy Stepniewski: Newsletter Editors