Tag Archives: woodpeckers

Chasing Morelet’s Seedeaters—or Why You Shouldn’t Depend on Map Apps Near the Mexican Border (Texas 2025, Final Installment)

My success finding Black-capped Vireos and Golden-cheeked Warblers (see our last post) left me a welcome gift: an extra day to pursue another bird that keenly interested me. It was a bird Braden and I had unsuccessfully tried for on our 2018 trip to the Lower Rio Grande Valley: Morelet’s Seedeater. Though not rare in its core year-round range of Central America and eastern Mexico, this adorable “finchy” songbird just barely creeps over into the US along the Rio Grande Valley.

**Catching sights such as this setting moon is one of the benefits of being an “early birder.”**

Sunday morning, I rose at four a.m. and headed south from Uvalde. As they had on the previous morning, both a spectacular sunrise and unforgettable setting full moon rewarded me. As light crept over this flat country, caracaras flew along the road and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers perched on telephone wires. I even got a glimpse of a flock of quail leaping over a fence. Scaled Quail? I could only guess! After ninety minutes, my little highway joined Interstate 35.

And that’s where the trouble began.

I-35 is a main artery for trade between Mexico, the US, and Canada. As I sped south, I kept seeing signs for Mexico, but my map app directions assured me that I should keep going and turn off at an exit called Riverbank Drive. As I kept driving, however, I saw no signs for that—or any other—exit, and I realized that the only other traffic around me consisted of huge 18-wheelers. Finally, a thought occurred to me: Uh-oh.

Soon I found myself at a dead stop, surrounded by big rigs, with no way to turn around. There are moments in life where you know you are in a fix, and there’s not a thing you can do about it. This was one of those. Still, hope springs eternal and I climbed out of the car and walked to a big rig next to me. The kind Mexican driver, undoubtedly flummoxed by what I was doing there, rolled down his window, and we had the following conversation:

Me: Uh, I think I made a mistake. I’m trying to go to Laredo.

Driver: Laredo, Mexico?

Me: Uh, no. Laredo, Texas.

Driver (looking worried for me): You’ll have to turn around.

Me: Where?
Driver (after conferring with his partner): I don’t know.

**These Big Rigs kept me company as I contemplated life as a Mexican citizen.**

It was then that I began pondering the frightening ramifications of entering Mexico without a passport. I mean, could I have picked a worse time in history for this to happen??? The only good thing was that a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher perched nearby, blissfully unconcerned by my human drama. A few minutes later, the border opened and I eased in front of my new trucker friend. For ten minutes I and the big rigs inched forward until we reached a wide No Man’s Land of pavement and there I spotted an actual border worker. I pulled up next to him and explained my mistake. Looking vaguely amused and overly patient, he said, “See my buddy back there? Turn around and he’ll keep the trucks stopped while you exit at that road on the side.” I proceeded as instructed, gratefully waving to the “buddy.” I could have burst into tears at this point, but instead, I laughed all the way to the next exit—the real exit—which led to my original destination, Father McNaboe Park.

**The Rio Grande River, aka the Mexican Border, complete with Border Patrol agents and lots of Carrizo cane, where Morelet’s Seedeaters like to hang out.**

By the time I reached the park, I had experienced a week’s worth of drama, but remember, I still had some serious birding on the agenda. In 2018, Braden and I had visited the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) and even spent a night in Laredo, but had somehow failed to find McNaboe Park. I don’t know how, as the park consisted of a wide, long swath of trails, playing fields, and other amenities right on the Rio Grande River. Today, the park was jammed with people and I felt at ease as I walked toward the river. Before I even got there, I spotted my first great birds of the day—a pair of Hooded Orioles, a species I hadn’t seen since visiting Southern California seven years before. Not long afterward, I saw another oriole, a Bullock’s Oriole—perhaps on its way to Montana?

A Bullock’s Oriole, perhaps on his way to Montana!

Over the phone the night before, Braden had told me to look for the Morelet’s Seedeaters in the “cane grass,” a tall invasive species known in Texas as Carrizo cane. Apparently, this plant can be found all along the 1,255-mile reach of the Rio Grande, and it didn’t take me long to find thick stands of it. I began walking along them looking for little black and brown birds. I covered a couple of hundred yards without seeing any and then walked down to a little sandbar right at river level. No seedeaters.

Then, I happened to glance up a side channel at another thick stand of cane. There, perched on one of the stalks was an erect little bird with a finchy bill. I didn’t get my binoculars up in time to get a good look, but I immediately knew: I had found my bird!

**I was just about to get a great photo of this Morelet’s Seedeater when a loud car rumbled up next to me. I accidentally managed this flight shot, though, which is kind of fun.**

Of course, that didn’t keep me from wanting better looks, and for the next hour or so, I walked various paths and channels. I got to know the bird’s song and it wasn’t long before I was hearing and seeing more of these cute little guys. They were pretty shy, but I managed good looks—and saw some other great birds as well. These included a pair of Black-necked Stilts, a Spotted Sandpiper, a Green Heron, and even a lone Mexican Duck in the middle of the river. Not including the seedeaters, the show stoppers, as usual, were a pair of Vermillion Flycatchers.

**Do Vermillion Flycatchers get way more attention than they deserve? Probably. Does anyone ever get tired of looking at them? I doubt it!**

After a late breakfast at the French restaurant McDaniels, I decided to hit one more park in Laredo—North Central Park. Remarkably, I had failed to find a Golden-fronted Woodpecker so far on the trip, and though the heat was comin’ on fast, the park had abundant sightings of them. It took only five minutes to hear and then see one of these handsome birds and, walking a couple of miles or so, I also added Great Kiskadees and Bell’s Vireo to my trip list. Then, before I inadvertently wandered toward Mexico again, I turned tail and headed back up I-35 for San Antonio.

Link to my Texas Trip Report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/351263

Total Number of Species for the Trip: 144

My Top 6 Trip Birds:

Least Bittern (see post “Anahuac Lifer Attack”)

Yellow-throated Warbler (see Texas Hill Country post)

Black-capped Vireo (see Texas Hill Country post)

Golden-cheeked Warbler (see Texas Hill Country post)

Morelet’s Seedeater (this post)

Yellow-throated Vireo (see Peveto Woods post)

**A pair of Black-necked Stilts flying downstream over the Rio Grande.**

Our Favorite Bird Books for the Holidays

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In our last post, we detailed where to buy bird-related books. For our 200^th post (gasp), we’d like to share some of our favorite bird books. We are by no means attempting to be comprehensive and we apologize to the many fine authors and books we didn’t have space to include. When it comes to holiday shopping especially, however, we realize that “less is more” so we’ve limited ourselves to the books that first soar to mind. Note that we haven’t gone crazy on the hyper-links here, but recommend just calling your local indie bookstore and placing an order (see our last post). Any of these books can also be ordered from Buteo Books or from a certain not-to-be-named e-commerce giant. Please feel free to share this post with friends and others in desperate need of holiday gift ideas!

Field Guides

There are so many field guides available that your head will spin considering them. Braden and I have enjoyed field guides by Peterson, National Geographic, Kenn Kaufman, and many other sources. The one we return to again and again, however, is The Sibley Guide to Birds, Second Edition. While many other guides seem cramped or present information in a difficult-to-use format, Sibley strikes the right balance with generous, uncluttered illustrations and to-the-point identification information and range maps. If you’re going to buy one guide for the US and Canada, this is the one. Note that if you need field guides for specific countries or regions, you often won’t have a great deal to choose from. Our first stop is usually Princeton University Press, which seems to have field guides for many of the world’s regions (see our last post).

“How To” Guides for Beginners

I swear, I wasn’t going to include my own book near the front here, but it logically follows field guides. Especially when it comes to buying a gift for the beginning birder, you can’t beat Birding for Boomers—And Everyone Else Brave Enough to Embrace the World’s Most Rewarding and Frustrating Activity. Here’s a recent review from Foreward Reviews: “Because the book is aimed at new birders, it includes advice about what kinds of binoculars to consider, what clothing and equipment to use, the value of a good field guidebook, and useful online resources. Its guidance is casual, often relayed with light humor and embellished by personal anecdotes. Challenges specific to boomers factor into its advice on birding with hearing, eyesight, and mobility challenges, and into its considerations for those on fixed incomes. It also makes important points about safety for nonwhite and LGBTQ+ birders. With its ranging approach and easy-to-follow advice, Birding for Boomers is a handy guide for all those—boomer or otherwise—who are looking to pick up an ornithological hobby.” Click here to order!

Birding Road Trip Books

We’re going to stick with two classics here. The first is Wild America: The Legendary Story of Two Great Naturalists on the Road by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher. This really is required—and enjoyable—reading for those working on a life list or doing a Big Year, or anyone wanting to educate herself on the history of birding in the United States. Our second choice is Kenn Kaufman’s irresistible Kingbird Highway: The Biggest Year in the Life of an Extreme Birder. This was one of the first birding books Braden and I read and it is still one of our favorites, recounting the passions and pursuits of someone who just couldn’t help but chase and learn about birds. If you need to add a third title to this list, we wouldn’t complain if you picked up Warblers & Woodpeckers: A Father-Son Big Year of Birding!

Natural History and Science

This category could fill several blogs, but we’ll keep it brief except to say that you must read all of the books below—and they all make great gifts for anyone remotely interested in nature.

Where Song Began: Australia’s Birds and How They Changed the World by Tim Low: highly entertaining, it will change the way you think about birds.

A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden life and Epic Journey of the World’s Smartest Birds of Prey by Jonathan Meiburg: a fascinating account of one of our favorite groups of birds, caracaras.

Far From Land: The Mysterious Lives of Seabirds by Michael Brooke: a wonderful account of birds most of us want to spend more time with—but, sadly, never will.

Hard to Categorize—But Read Anyway

The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London by Christopher Skaife. The title says it all, but doesn’t come close to reflecting just how entertaining and fascinating this book is!

Imperial Dreams: Tracking the Imperial Woodpecker Through the Wild by Tim Gallagher. This book provides a captivating blend of adventure and natural history, following a small group’s dedicated efforts to find a species that now is almost certainly extinct—but just might not be!

The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird by Joshua Hammer. A fascinating look at the world of falcon and egg poaching.

And One More for Montanans

If you really want to buy something special for your Montana birder or birding family, take the plunge on Birds of Montana by Jeffrey S. Marks, Paul Hendricks, and Daniel Casey. This remarkable volume summarizes just about everything that is known about more than 400 Montana resident, migrant, and vagrant bird species. Rarely a week goes by when we don’t dive into this book to learn about a bird we’ve seen or have been thinking about. The book occupies a prominent place on our shelves and is a prized acquisition in our bird book library. Click the image below to order.

**A wonderful compendium of information about birds living in, frequenting, or just visiting Montana. As an author, I reference it constantly.**

Montana County Sweep: Our Final Eastern Montana Odyssey Post

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Just so you don’t get lost in the narrative below, be sure you catch up with our last post—or, better yet, begin with the first post in this series!

We made our way out of the Ekalaka Hills along a different road than the one we came in on—and are so glad that we did! This route paralleled the top of a dramatic rim that dropped hundreds of feet to the plains below. As we drove, we experienced a wealth of warblers, nuthatches, Mountain Bluebirds, wrens, and other songbirds. I wasn’t quite satisfied with our view, though, so I told Braden, “Pull over. I want to walk to the edge.”

**I will never get tired of watching and photographing Lark Sparrows, but this one along the Ekalaka Hills rim was especially cooperative!**

Even as I approached the rim, I could see White-throated Swifts and Violet-green Swallows working the cliffs, and once we got there we experienced breathtaking views, perhaps all the way to South Dakota . Then I saw the bird I especially had been hoping for. “Braden!” I called. “Prairie Falcon!”

**The cliffs on the south side of the Ekalaka Hills gave us our best-ever experience watching Prairie Falcons hunting.**

This was a bird we had wanted to see the entire trip, but never dreamed of seeing in such dramatic circumstances. Braden hurried over to join me and we watched as this powerful, brown-backed bird deftly cut through the skies in front of us. “Wait. There’s a second one,” I said. “You’re right,” Braden exclaimed.

We spent a full ten or fifteen minutes enjoying the prowess of these magnificent hunters, and it made both of us feel good to know that the pair was undoubtedly nesting in a perfect place for them. Alas, we still had some serious goals ahead of us that day, so we reluctantly said goodbye and continued on our way.

**Braden watching the Prairie Falcons performing their acrobatic flights along the Ekalaka Hills rim.**

As mentioned in our last few posts, we began our trip needing to bird seven Montana counties to totally fill in our Montana eBird map. In the past week we had knocked off Daniels, Prairie, Wibaux, Fallon, and Carter Counties (see our last post, “Adventures in Ekalaka”). Today we faced the final two: Powder and Treasure Counties. The first proved easy. Driving twenty or so miles south of the Ekalaka Hills, we cut SW along a well-maintained dirt road to Hwy 212 and then turned NW. Eight miles later, we crossed into Powder River County, and immediately began picking up Mourning Doves, Eastern and Western Kingbirds, meadowlarks, and other “roadside attractions.” To meet our ten-species minimum, however, we stopped at a small riverside fishing access in Broadus. There, we collected 13 species including Lark Sparrows, Lazuli Buntings, Yellow Warblers, and yet another Red-headed Woodpecker! Continuing on toward Miles City, we left Powder River County with a total of 21 species. Not bad for just passing through!

By the time we reached Miles City, our trip had taken us almost 2,000 miles, and I guess a collective fatigue had caught up with us. “Do you mind if we just find a coffee shop and chill out for a while?” I asked Braden. He was totally agreeable, so we spent an hour or so relaxing in a City Brew I’d frequented while teaching a writing workshop there several years before. It was just what we both needed. More important, it prepared us for our last lifetime Montana county!

**We did it! Our very last county we birded in Montana. And it only took us 11 years!**

To reach Treasure County, we tooled down I-94 to the town of Forsyth, and then paralleled the Yellowstone River, driving west. About fifteen minutes later, we reached a sign marking the county line! We, of course, got out to immortalize the moment with our phone cameras, but even posing next to the sign we could hear and see Red-winged Blackbirds, a Western Meadowlark, and four or five other birds. We continued driving until we encountered a likely dirt road leading off to the north. We intended to try to reach the Yellowstone River, but found a promising thicket right before the road crossed some railroad tracks. “Let’s stop here,” I said.

Immediately, we were rewarded with a Lazuli Bunting, American Goldfinch, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat and other birds. The stars? A pair of American Redstarts that landed right in front of us, posing beautifully. Unlike with the Plumbeous Vireo (see our last post), I was prepared this time and took what may be my best American Redstart photos ever! Braden and I delighted in watching these birds for more than a minute before they flitted off into the thicket. But one more Treasure County surprise lay in wait.

**One of our best looks ever at American Redstarts, this warbler was our reward for completing our mission to bird every Montana county!**

Driving a bit farther, looking for a place to turn around, we headed left down a dirt road. “Uh, this looks like a driveway to that farm over there,” I said, but right then we both saw it—yet another Red-headed Woodpecker! (See our last post.)

I, of course, climbed out to try to get a decent photo since none of the other RHWOs had cooperated on the trip. This one, fortunately, did—more or less—peaking out behind a telephone pole. It was a great way not only to wrap up our Treasure County list (21 species total), but to punctuate the completion of our goal of birding every county in the vastness of Montana.

**This Red-headed Woodpecker both surprised and delighted us when we pulled over to pad our Treasure County list—our last Montana county to fill in our eBird map!**

Our Eastern Montana adventure was far from over. It would take us on a wonderful adventure to a private ranch, back to perhaps my favorite Montana place to bird (see our post Bear Canyon—Montana’s “Tropical Birding” Paradise), and above ten thousand feet to witness the enchanting lives of Black Rosy-finches. Rather than blog about these last adventures, though, I’ve decided to write a book, so you’ll just have to be patient. Braden and I hope that you’ve enjoyed these posts, however, and rest assured, we have enjoyed sharing them with you. Please be sure to share, and if you’d like to support FatherSonBirding, consider purchasing new copies of some of Sneed’s books. Speaking of that, his long-awaited new adult book, Birding for Boomers, is now available for pre-order. Don’t be shy. Click on the cover below now!

Trip Stats:

Total Species Observed: 203 (from a goal of 185)

Total eBird checklists: 209

New Montana Life Birds: 5 + 1 (Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Broad-winged Hawk, Least Tern, Eastern Bluebird, Black Rosy-Finch plus—for Braden—Piping Plover)

Miles Driven: 2,482

Our eBird Trip Report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/246744

**More than a decade in the making (sort of), my newest adult book, BIRDING FOR BOOMERS, will be available on September 1st—but you can order it now by clicking on the cover above!**

Adventures in Ekalaka: Our 2024 Eastern Montana Odyssey Continues

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We are pleased to present our sixth installment of our 2024 Eastern Montana Odyssey. Here, we leave the “interstate less traveled” and push into the brand new birding territory of southeastern Montana. We experience delightful new towns and vistas, and a wealth of surprising birds. We also keep knocking off new counties, drawing closer to completing our Montana eBird map. If you are enjoying these episodes, please share them with your birding friends and consider supporting our efforts by buying a *NEW* copy or two of one of Sneed’s books on the right.

Leaving Glendive, Braden and I had our work cut out for us. Not only would we be birding the southeast corner of the state for the very first time, this might be our only chance to nail down the last six Montana counties we needed to complete our eBird birding map! We had started the trip needing seven counties, and picked up one a few days before (see our post “Big Surprise on the Way to Plentywood”). Today, we planned to conquer Prairie, Wibaux, Fallon, and Carter Counties—and it would take some effort.

**Fallon Bridge allowed us to bird the first of six Montana counties we planned to pick up in the next 48 hours.**

First up? Prairie County which, unfortunately, didn’t sit anywhere on our way to or from someplace else we wanted to go. Before heading down to the southeast corner of Montana, therefore, we zoomed about twenty miles west down Interstate 94. Entering Prairie County, we spotted Western Meadowlark, Mourning Dove, and Cliff Swallow along the highway and we could have technically just turned around at that point. Braden and I decided, however, that to make our county map more meaningful we had to find at least ten, count ‘em, TEN species in each of our last seven counties. In Prairie County, we accomplished this with a stop at Fallon Bridge. Apparently, this also is a place to see Least Terns (see our last post), but we didn’t know that. Instead, we just got out and spent a few minutes enjoying what was there, including American White Pelican, more than fifty Cliff Swallows, a Lark Sparrow, and our County Bird of Prairie County, Brown Thrasher.

We raced back east on the interstate, past Glendive, to our main Wibaux County destination, the Wibaux Fish Pond. Here, we saw a satisfying 17 species including our County Bird of Wibaux County, Orchard Oriole. By this time our stomachs were complaining loudly about how we prioritized birding over eating. Fortunately, Wibaux is home to a wonderful little diner, the Palace Café. We stuffed ourselves on a scrumptious fat-and-protein-filled breakfast and emerged prepared to continue our vigorous Montana counties campaign.

**A good small-town diner is one of a birder’s greatest pleasures. Don’t miss the Palace Hotel & Cafe in Wibaux!**

Next stop: Lake Baker in the town of Baker, Fallon County. We were both somewhat surprised to find a giant lake in the middle of the town. True, it was pretty developed, but we spotted nice surprises here including Eared Grebes, Western Grebes, and the star of our Fallon County lists, a Common Loon!

**This Common Loon was a major surprise at Lake Baker.**

From Baker, it was on to Carter County, and here we settled into some more serious birding with a hike through the spectacular Medicine Rocks State Park. The fantastic, hoodoo-style rocks at Medicine Rocks were sculpted by wind and rain from soft inland sea sandstone. Not surprisingly, when humans came along the rocks assumed important sacred and cultural significance for native peoples and a fair share of interest from early white settlers.

**Medicine Rocks State Park is plenty dramatic—especially with Red-headed Woodpeckers lurking nearby.**

It was at Medicine Rocks that we spotted one of the birds we had most wanted to see on the entire trip. After walking a mile or so through the rocks, we connected with the pine tree-lined dirt road back to our car. As we walked, we caught a glimpse of a medium-sized bird that flashed white as it was flying away. “Red-headed Woodpecker!” Braden shouted. We didn’t get great looks, but never fear. This would not be the last RHWO we would see.

**This fuzzy flight photo shows the dramatic color contrasts Red-headed Woodpeckers present, making them easy to identify from a distance.**

From Medicine Rocks, we made our way to our camping destination for the night, Ekalaka Park Campground. It was barely noon as we turned off on the dirt road into the higher hills south of Ekalaka, and we took our time, stopping to look at whatever cool birds we happened to encounter. Sure enough, we glimpsed two more RHWOs as they fled up and over a little hill. “Let’s follow them,” I said, steering up a little two-track up along a fence line. As we crested the rise, one of the woodpeckers was sitting on a fence post. It fled as I got out to try to photograph it, but meanwhile, Braden had sighted a surprise Montana life bird for us—Eastern Bluebird! Though almost identical to their Western counterparts, Easterns are easily distinguished by their red throats compared to the blue throats of WEBLs.

**The red throat of this Eastern Bluebird easily distinguishes it from its Western Bluebird counterpart. Montana Lifer!**

We continued to pick up great birds along the road: Yellow-breasted Chat, Lark Sparrow, Field Sparrows, and more Red-headed Woodpeckers. My favorite was our first ever really good look at a Plumbeous Vireo. We spent several minutes watching this handsome, “spectacled” bird. Alas, my camera was back in the car so we failed to get a photo of it. Some photos you just have to store in your brain!

**Although abundant, the Red-headed Woodpeckers in Ekalaka were on the shy side. I never managed to get closer than fifty yards or so to one.**

We spent a delightful evening in Ekalaka Park Campground—the only campers there. The campground sits in a little bowl surrounded by dramatic cliffs and an older burned forest, making it the perfect habitat for Red-headed Woodpeckers. Sitting at our picnic table, we could hear and see woodpeckers all around us. Every once in a while, one would fly right through our camp. I made bean and cheese tacos and we settled in for our best camping experience of the trip.

**Ekalaka Park Campground offered perhaps our best-ever experience with Red-eyed Vireos, which serenaded us the whole time we were there.**

The woodpeckers weren’t the only show offs in camp. That evening, Common Poorwills lulled us to sleep. We also had some of our best experiences ever with Red-eyed Vireos. In fact, when I woke the next morning, it was to a REVI’s delightful song. After working my way out of my sleeping bag, I climbed a nearby hill into the burned forest and picked a log to perch on. The air was cool and fresh, and woodpeckers flew from one snag to another. Sitting there, I felt very grateful for life, and that Braden and I could share the wonders of Montana birdlife together.

**Taco Time in Ekalaka Park Campground.**

Wedding Birding in Washington State, Part II

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Braden and I write FatherSonBirding in the hopes of sharing the wonders of birds and birding, and the urgency to protect them. We do not accept advertising or donations, but if you’d like to support our work, please consider buying *NEW* copies of some of Sneed’s books—First-Time Japan, for instance, or my forthcoming picture book for younger readers, Like No Other: Earth’s Coolest One-of-a-Kind Creatures, available for pre-order now. We appreciate your interest and hope you will keep reading!

In case you missed Wedding Birding Part I, click here!

Saturday was the long-anticipated wedding day of our friends, Jazz and Brad, but the Big Event wasn’t kicking off until 3:30 p.m. True to my recent trend, I awoke at 3:30 a.m. with ample time to hit the birding spot that I most looked forward to on the trip: March Point. Why? Because I thought it might offer my best opportunity to find both seabirds and shorebirds. Looking at a map, in fact, March Point looked like a wonderful, natural area and I was already envisioning pristine beaches and offshore waters loaded with birds. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at 6:00 a.m. to find that March Point is actually the site of a gigantic Marathon Petroleum refinery!

**March Point was not *quite* the undisturbed natural area I was expecting!**

It was a cold, blustery morning, but undeterred, I pulled over and scanned the offshore waters. I spotted several groups of presumed Pelagic Cormorants, but precious little else on the waters or the shore. With some persistence, I did locate another Pigeon Guillemot out near the ginormous pier jutting out into Puget Sound, but it was slim pickins.

**What do you suppose this Pelagic Cormorant is about to eat? I’m guessing an eel-like fish called a wrasse!**

I kept driving, pulling over now and then to scan the shore—no doubt closely monitored by the refinery’s security team. Finally, at one pull-out, I spotted a bird near the top of my trip wish list: a Black Oystercatcher. I watched this magnificent bird from my car for several minutes before it flew off, leaving a smile on my face.

**This Black Oystercatcher at March Point definitely strolled into contention for “Trip Bird” honors for our Wedding Day weekend.**

Turning around, I made my way back around immense oil storage tanks and stopped to study some Glaucous-winged X Western hybrid gulls. It took some research and a discussion with Braden to figure out exactly what these gulls were. Glaucous-winged Gulls are known for beautiful soft gray wings and wing tips, but all of the gulls I was seeing looked too dark—yet not dark enough to be Western Gulls. According to Braden, though, this part of Washington State was dead center in the transition zone between the two species, and accordingly, most of the birds were hybrids.

**This Glaucous-winged X Western hybrid gull is typical of the gulls I saw during our entire trip to Washington: too dark for Glaucous-winged, too light for Western. Very educational!**

On my way back to the hotel, I stopped at Padilla Bay at the base of March Point for a nice visit with some warblers and swallows. There, I heard my year’s first Black-headed Grosbeak giving off its frenetic robin-like song. Then, it was back to Burlington to prepare for the wedding.

The wedding was a smash hit, full of love and music and joy. And never fear, dear readers, I did amass an eBird list of six species at the wedding venue, including the year’s first look at a Black-headed Grosbeak, singing in celebration of Jazz and Brad’s big day. Oh, and they (Jazz and Brad, not the grosbeaks) served Thai food at the wedding. How good is that???

Alas, the next day, we were due to return to Seattle for our flight home. Fortunately, we didn’t need to be at the airport until noon or one o’clock, leaving time for one last morning birding adventure. I really wasn’t sure where I should go. I wasn’t having much luck along the coast, and felt I’d seen most of the forest birds that interested me. But there were two more species I wanted to take a shot at: Black-throated Gray Warbler and Red-breasted Sapsucker.

**Ted Reep Park offered the trip’s last birding opportunity—and my best shot at seeing both Red-breasted Sapsuckers and Black-throated Gray Warblers.** **A bit of bush-whacking required!**

It had been years since I’d seen either one of these birds and, well, I was missing them. Lucky me, eBird showed a spot only a mile from our hotel which had recorded both birds in the past month. I wasn’t sure what my chances of finding them might be, but after a quick bowl of oatmeal, I made my way over to Ted Reep Park. I parked in the deserted YMCA lot, despite warning signs threatening that I would be towed. After all, I was a member of the Missoula YMCA!

From the time I pulled up, the spot looked—or rather, sounded—promising. Merlin’s Sound ID immediately picked up White-crowned Sparrow, Black-headed Grosbeak, Warbling Vireo, Song Sparrow, Yellow Warbler, and more, and I soon started seeing some of these birds.

**You just gotta love Song Sparrows. Not only are they incredibly handsome critters, they often pose for close-up photographs!**

This was thick riparian habitat, however, where visuals were hard to come by and most birding was by ear—not ideal for someone like myself with hearing disabilities and a brain that had trouble remembering bird vocalizations. My new hearing aids were a vast improvement over my old ones, though, and with the help of Sound ID I began teasing out most of the species around me. Then, I heard something that got me really excited: a stuttering drumming sound, like a car having trouble starting up! A sapsucker! But which one?

A quick look at my Sibley app told me that Red-breasted was the only sapsucker remotely likely to be in this area, so I plunged into the woods, following the trail toward the stutter-step drumming. Predictably, the trail grew more and more sketchy, and I soon found myself crawling under and over logs that had fallen across the path. Nevertheless, after five minutes, I found myself standing directly beneath the sapsucker drumming.

There were at least two sapsuckers—but probably three or four—and it became evident that they were dueling, perhaps over territories or mates. But darn it, try as I might, I could not spot any of them against the backlit tree trunks and branches! Just as frustrating, the birds kept moving around, so like a Keystone Cop I chased the birds up and down the trail. Finally, I despaired of getting a look at any of them, but by now I at least was confident that these were indeed Red-breasted Sapsuckers. And wouldn’t you know, as soon as I decided that, two of the birds chased each other right by me, their red heads clearly visible even in the dark forest!

Happy, I bushwhacked through raspberry vines and a swath of chest-high grass until I ran into another trail that led me back toward my car. I still hadn’t seen a Black-throated Gray Warbler, and didn’t find one on the hike back, but I was delighted to have discovered such a wonderful birding spot. It again reaffirmed how important it is to protect natural habitats for animals and people. Bravo Washington for protecting places like Ted Reep Park!

Washington Wedding Trip Report!