July’s Big Day

By Steve Ellis

Our Birdathon team, Raven For More (Madrone Ruggiero, Martha Ellis, Steve Ellis), conducted a birding Big Day on July 28, 2026. The purpose was to determine which species are present in July and to “ground truth” what birders can realistically expect to find in midsummer.

The 28th was picked because of our team members’ availability. Had we ventured forth earlier in the month, more passerines would have been vocalizing. By choosing the 28th, we were able to find shorebird species not present during the first two weeks of the month.

We chose to follow the same route our team typically follows in the Birdathon.  We start in the Coupeville area and bird north to Deception Pass and then head back south. Our start times are around 6 a.m.

In all, 86 species were found in both counts. The July count had eight species not detected in May. Perhaps our biggest miss was not finding a Downy Woodpecker in either count.

Some interesting species found in July were Northern Shoveler and a Lesser Scaup at Dugualla Bay. Swan Lake held a Ring-necked Duck, several Black-bellied Plovers and White Pelicans. Red Crossbills were calling at many of our stops.

The best sightings were of a Red-necked Grebe in breeding plumage off West Beach and a Brown Pelican at Deception Pass.

In addition to birds, we sighted

I encourage other WAS members to try a Big Day in other months. October and March would be good choices. Please publish your results if you conduct a Big Day. It will help increase our chapter’s local knowledge of birdlife occurrence.