okaugust

Those are some great comparison shots of the plumage, thank you for pulling that up. The previous reports on the day or two prior hadn't any photos attached, when I was looking to see what others were considering. Much appreciated finding this one!

Thanks to everyone very much! Very excited to confirm the lifer! Also interesting ID points on the last bird, as I continue to learn these.

8/27/2022 Oyhut Wildlife Recreation Area in Ocean Shores, WA. Other eBirders reporting plovers as Pacific, American and as unsure with a / . Pacific would be a life bird for me, so I'd like to make sure. American get reported quite frequently along the coast. I didn't hear any vocalization to try to narrow it down. Trying to not duplicate birds in the photos, I took as many snaps of each as I could. They were moving around of course. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Bonus peep - There were a couple of Least Sandpipers, which this looked bigger than, a Pectoral, which this looked smaller than. The legs seem yellowish to me, which is throwing me. The Westerns were all hunkered down. I'm wondering if the leg color is just a bit of a trick of coloring and maybe it's a Baird's? At any rate, all help immensely appreciated. I am getting a little better at the local peeps and was anxiously awaiting the return of them, hopeful for the Pacific! Thanks!

Thanks for trying. Sorry it’s hard for me to reply from work sometimes. I thought it might be worth a shot.

Thanks, yah, it's a tough one. I can hear it pretty well on the phone, but when I move it to the computer to share it loses that amplification. If I turn it way up and get my ear to the speaker, I can make it out. I didn't know if someone had better audio or earphones might be able to as well. Thanks for trying!

Thank you! We celebrated by trying to do ourselves in hiking the entire Skyline Trail around Mt Rainier. 1700' foot elevation change, about 5.5 miles, uphill both ways, that's not even a joke. We went from 5400' to 7100' in elevation. Not too bad for a couple of mid-century folks, considering my husband had a stroke in 2011 and I had brain surgery in 2013 to get a shunt. It took us considerably longer than most folks I suppose, but we made it. And no, I never spotted any ptarmagin or Sooty Grouse. Ah, the lengths I go through to see a wild chicken....sigh.

Saturday, August 14, in the Sawmill Creek Burn, about 4500' in elevation, an old burn area that is east of the Tacoma/Seattle area by a couple of hours. I know this is a stretch, but I'm recording with an older iPhone, so I seem to pick up every creak we make but birds are distant, even with a limited amount of wind and movement. You will have to turn it up. I apologize in advance for the quality or outside noise. The bird itself is distant, but it's an repeating chock chock chock chock chock call. Initially I was thinking Townsend's Solitaire call but it seems to deep for that. It was coming from up a hillside with some dense scrub, fairly steep. I've heard male grouse but this seems not quite in line with that either. Thanks for listening to my not quite Top 40 Pop Hit of the day, and appreciate the help! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mvX0RRrVNgMnTBWtLRTNt4XiOe0B-hJV/view?usp=sharing

Thank you both!

Saturday, August 14. First two are from an area called the Sawmill Creek Burn, about 4500' in elevation, an old burn area looking for woodpeckers and not finding, but these two birds were in with a bunch of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Other possibilities are Nashville and Orange-crowned. The first one, behavior was different from Yellow-rumped. They were flitting around at the tops of the pines, and there was this one and maybe one other keeping to the leafier shrubs along the dirt road we were walking. Probably complicated in that I can't figure out if I'm looking at the under tail or not. If it's the top of the bird, then Yellow-rumped should be feasible, but it seems like the bird is sort of twisted around as it is picking in the bushes. Second bird is at the top of the pines and flitting about, but doesn't seem to have the streaking I would expect on a younger Yellow-rumped. I'm not that familiar with Nashville, and the range of colors Orange-crowned come in...well, Orange-crowned vibe thanks to the eye line of sorts, but I thought I should rule out anything else. Next photo is from August 16th, Bottle Beach State Park, WA. This spot you walk along the open water and you can also walk back along a sort of wooded and scrubby path. This was along the water/beach side, but in the trees. It struck me that it might be an immature Dark-eyed Junco, but again, I've only seen an immature once and realized it, and this LBB is so sort of standard parts of everything, any ideas would be appreciated. It was a pretty sizable bird, larger than a mature Junco, slightly smaller than a Robin, bulky. Thank you in advance!

Thanks all!

Hmmm, Murre is possible, there was another out there, though....the stature seems different, or maybe just that I'm so used to them being hunkered down in the water. I wouldn't discount a Common Loon either, though the bill seems slim. Good ideas.... This was the one Common Murre I spotted out there as well.

8/5/2022 North Jetty Cape Disappointment State Park, WA, about halfway out from the beach area to the end of the jetty. There are loads of gulls out there, which is what I thought this was at a glance, but the bill is more inclined to loon. It looks awfully bulky to be a loon, but I've only ever seen Pacific Loons in WY, of all things, and none since I came out here to the WA/OR area, so maybe I'm just reading it wrong one way or the other. Other opinions appreciated! Thank you!

Thanks!!

Taken yesterday, July 3rd, along Millican Crater Rd in Deschutes County, in the area of the Sisters (about 6500 ft elevation according to google). It's an area with some aspens and fir, though not dense forest and some areas formerly burned. This is not a great shot (none of them are, it was a good distance away and rather back lit) but the more squared off tail in the first photo and the more rounded looking in this one are giving me some ID consternation. The size at a glance I thought it might've been a Mountain Quail or a grouse, and with the leggy look I was going to go with Sharpie, but the head shape and size makes me think more Cooper's. Anyway, I am terrible with ID for either...so help is appreciated.

I just came in to ask a typical Coopers/Sharpie question and realized I hadn't followed up with this line of questioning, and thought you might appreciate the final play by play... As mentioned, I had two locally well regarded birders confirm the bird was Hudsonian. It cleared the eBird review. You indicated it was not a Hudsonian, and so I reached out to another birding ace and eBird reviewer for another opinion. He came back and said not Hudsonian. With votes 3 for and 2 against, I flipped the ID on eBird to Marbled. Then the original eBird reviewer came back and said no, it's Hudsonian. I messages back and gave him the breakdown of who said what, we all had a good laugh about it, and it remains Marbled. Lordy, aren't shore birds fun? The funnest part is I didn't give up and kept going out and finally... If you tell me the bird on the left is not Hudsonian, I'm giving up birding.... And as a nice reward for all that determination, a female showed up at a local bay at the end of May. I think we were the last ones to see it before it it went on its way. I just wanted you to know I appreciate the help. Wishful thinking is one thing, but I'd rather be right with my ID and err on the side of caution than report something incorrectly. I value your opinion and it helped me shape the direction of the discussion.

Actually, I got my photos crossed, this is the original sighting that has been and still is accepted by eBird.

Thanks, I'm wondering if the person who suggested it was originally is incorrect now, as it had been accepted by eBird reviewers then not. But I've also had other folks who are local saying it is. People who really know their distinctions. Are you including the first photo in the comment that it is not either? The others I'm not surprised, I for sure had my own doubts, which is why I posted them of course. ?

Wireless Road, Astoria, OR, or as I've started calling it, Cow Poo Rd, is an odd little birding mecca up here. It's two miles or so of road that runs close by where Young's Bay turns into Young's River. It's mostly farm fields, lots of grass, sheep, too many cows and chickens. Birds love it. Gulls, eagles, shorebirds and waterfowl all enjoy the...uh, whatever cows bring to the table so to speak. Late this last week, some more able birders than I spotted both a Bar-tailed and Hudsonian Godwit mixed in with the Marbled. Friday I was able to get out, and I got some distance looks at both, using the scope, but camera shots were a little less than helpful. I did get one photo that was enough for a great local birder to nudge me to say, yes, that's the Hudsonian. I went out again yesterday (three times) before they came back in. The godwits along with the few dozen Whimbrel, make their way closer to the fence and road, but twice the eagles come in and scatter them. Just about the time I think I have a a lock on "yep, that's the Hudsonian" another Whimbrel wanders by and gets me all confused again. I have some that I know are Marbled, some that I know are Hudsonian, but a few that that I'm about to give myself another splitting headache trying to convince myself one way or the other. I feel like from the front I know it, but when it goes to a side view, not so much. So here goes. Definite Hudsonian Definite Marbled 1. 2. 3 4 5 6 7 Hudsonian, Whimbrel, Marbled, I think The Hudsonian is my newest life bird (532) and there was an Emperor Goose out there at the same place that was 531 earlier in the week. It's been a great year/month for life birds. I've gotten four in the last 30 days, and I think my husband is about double that, since he's often not along on the first round but I drag him back out to see something again. LOL Anyway, I always second guess myself on life birds and shore birds in particular so much, and I don't want to toss the photos onto eBird all muddled up. Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the input! I appreciate it!

May 14, 2022, Bottle Beach State Park - Godwit Marching along doing my Big Day yesterday, so I'd like to get a lock on the ID here. Today I'm doing a Bird-a-thon of sorts for Audubon Rockies, and I'm working to promote that on my Facebook page by providing a lot of photos with IDs and info on birds. This spot is fantastic for shore birds, if you get there at almost exactly an hour after high tide. It goes from zero birds to hundreds in moment of time. Yesterday's highlight was 100s of Red Knots. The area just north in Westport has an area at the edge of the marina where scads of Godwits nest, and Bar-tailed are known to be in the group. Another birder came up to me there and posed the same question. She's probably sitting at home pondering it still like I am. I only got one far off shot, and I'm not sure if it is enough for a diagnostic. I'd normally err on the side of the non-rare bird, but hey, my motto (one of them) is "unlikely, but not impossible!" Thanks in advance!

Thanks much! I will let her know. I live here surrounded by gulls, but aside from Heerman's and Short-billed and Ring-billed am constantly trying to puzzle out the rest. As a matter of fact, here is an actual photo of me below trying to ID gulls Saturday at Tokeland Marina, WA. I GIVE UP! (Ring-billed Gull) Kidding aside...thanks again! Appreciate the bump and responses, and IKLland, I just got my newest life bird too, #530 on Sunday, also a Hermit Warbler! Cheers!

Howdy folks! I would just like to confirm Glaucous-winged Gulls. Taken 4/24/22 at the North Head Lighthouse on Cape Disappointment SW Washington, cliffs along the Pacific coast, just to the north of the lighthouse along the cliffs. Only one gull was really along the lines of adult plumage, but most of the sub-adults seem to have similar coloring, low contrast coloring, white or light gray wingtips, black bills. Pictures aren't great, I'm sorry, it's a reach for the P900. I've seen GWGU before, but my friend with me this would be a life bird, so I'd like to be 100% sure. Thanks so much! Or should I, as my friend said to me in WY before I moved to the Pac NW, "just give up, they are all hybrid Olympic Gulls?!" Thanks anyone and all!

Thanks! Would be what I was expecting. The light collar just threw me a bit. ?

I had to resist the urge to make a Monty Python joke, but we were heading out to do some birding yesterday, when I spotted a few swallows swooping around our little neighborhood along the Columbia River. I took a quick snap in poor light from the car, while the engine was on. We see Violet-green around here, and in the last week or so I've spotted some Northern Rough-winged about but in less citified venues. When I got the photo on the computer later, the white "swoosh" around the neck made me wonder if it was a Bank Swallow, which I have less experience with as a general rule. Tail seems too long for a Northern, but initially I was thinking Tree or Violet-green just not in breeding colors or bad light making it look that way. Getting ready to get ready to head out again today, and I'll see if they are still around, but appreciate opinions. Thank you!

Thanks!