Birding 4-27-2018

American White Pelicans.

Today was the day I moved to one bird away from the 253 in the 253 club. This "club" is made up of birders who have 253 species of birds on their Pierce County, WA life list, where the telephone area code is 253. It is pretty exclusive, and if (when) I see my next, i.e. 253rd species I'll be just the 6th member. Yesterday, while I was at the coast helping lead the shorebird festival trip Christopher Clark found 4 American White Pelicans at the 56th Street Stormwater Ponds. I had already arranged to stay last night in Ocean Shores with my son, and we kept those plans. This morning Will Brooks located a Black-headed Gull at the McNeil Street overlook, and I had visions of getting 2 new Pierce and one ABA lifer in the same day.

We stopped on the way home to try for the gull, but the gaggle of birders on site had no success so after a quick look I decided to cut my losses there, get my son to drop me off at home, and dash to Puyallup for the pelicans. Sure enough, as predicted, the 4 AWPE were roosting on the shore between the 2nd and 3rd ponds, and before I left they were swimming for better photos. They are a magnificent bird, huge, white with a large orange bill and pouch, and black wing tips. You can see the black wing tip on one of the preening birds in this photo below. Also note the raised ridge on the upper bill, which is an appendage that grows in for the breeding season, and drops off in the non-breeding season.

While there I had chances to photograph a female Common Yellowthroat, a typically secretive bird, as well as the American Pipit and Savannah Sparrows you can see below.

Female Common Yellowthroat, a member of the new-world warbler family that generally stays not too far from water, and in thick brushy areas.

American Pipit. These birds are fairly common in migration at low elevation, and breed at higher elevations in subalpine meadows in our area.

Savannah Sparrows are our common summer sparrow of grassy fields. I love their crisp markings, especially the yellow "lores," the area in front of the eye.

Good birding. Steem on!