Small Sits at Keystone Dive Park and Coupeville Wharf
By Madrone Ruggiero
Keystone Dive Park
On January 19, uncharacteristically flat water and clear skies brought fewer birds than normal to the Keystone Harbor with seven humans and only a few Glaucous-winged hybrid gulls attending the sit. Small numbers of the usual species made an appearance and gave us some practice with marine bird identification. Multiple Harlequin Ducks were seen foraging around the jetty while several Common Loons fished their way from the harbor entrance to the ferry dock. Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorants adorned the old wharf. While the Pigeon Guillemots are quickly molting into their breeding plumage, the cormorants have yet to get their head plumes or rump patches, which gave us an opportunity to do a winter plumage comparison of the two species and how to differentiate them. All this time a Brewer’s Blackbird male sat patiently on a nearby log as we searched the waters for ducks and the shoreline for waders, until we finally turned the scope on his brilliant black iridescence and striking yellow eye for wonderful views of a common, but beautiful bird.
At the request of attendees, the field trip was extended with a short walk across the road to the tide gate to take a quick look at the array of dabbling and diving ducks near the canal into Crockett Lake, which included a male Eurasian Wigeon.
Coupeville Wharf
A dozen people came by the Coupeville Wharf small sit on the first day of February. A breeze and a few raindrops at the start gave way to partly cloudy skies. As the tide came in, the distant flocks of diving ducks to the east and west slowly worked their way towards the wharf. Both species of Goldeneyes, as well as both White-winged and Surf Scoters, were found through the spotting scope in the duck flocks near the mussel rafts and also near Lovejoy Point. Later our attention was drawn closer as several Pied-billed Grebes were actively feeding around the wharf and several people got to see one bring a pipefish to the surface to eat. An experienced attendee spotted an Eared Grebe very close to the wharf that gave us lots of time to compare it to the Horned Grebe nearby. After the grebes followed the fish away from the wharf a female Long-tailed Duck came in and was foraging off the back of the wharf giving us well lit looks at her striking plumage. In addition to great views of the foraging behavior of several species, attendees got experience identifying goldeneyes and grebes from the wharf. The highlight of the sit for the field trip leader was helping an enthusiastic new birder from the mainland identify their mystery birds they saw from the ferry. One of them was a Double-crested Cormorant, which just happened to be sitting on the nearby mooring buoy which allowed us great views of it through the spotting scope.
Small sit field trips are designed to allow people who are unable to attend traditional walking field trips an opportunity to go birding and enjoy the outdoors.
