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The Daily Bucket: A twitch for a Scissortail Flycatcher Leads to a Pelican Party [1]
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Date: 2023-11-06
Tokeland, WA, is three hours southwest of Seattle and overlooks Willapa Bay. It attracts a lot of seabirds.
I’ve rarely felt the itch to twitch, but when a fellow birder reported seeing a Scissortail Flycatcher and Tropical Kingbird on the southern Washington coast, I instantly felt my hands reaching for the steering wheel. I really didn’t expect to see those birds; his sightings were a few days old, after all. I’d longed to see autumn shorebird migration since a planned trip to the Oregon Coast had been rained out, and I felt this might be my last chance. So, on the last day of October, I drove three hours from Seattle to Tokeland, WA. It was a place I’d never been, and I didn’t know what I might see. But I had a strong sense that it would be an adventure.
As I pulled off the road by the shore, the tide was rising. A colorful flock of Red Crossbills flitted around trees nearby — too quick to photograph but a good omen for surprises. Scanning offshore with binoculars, I saw hundreds of gulls, unfortunately too distant for IDs.
Gobs of gulls, far, far away. A scope would be helpful here.
Rocks closer to shore then caught my eye ...
… and binoculars revealed the birds hugging it were Brown Pelicans. They’ve long been among my favorite birds.
Brown Pelicans on the West Coast live and breed off Southern California and Baja. Most are resident, but after breeding, some pods migrate as far north as British Columbia, presumably for better food opportunities. Sometimes in summer a couple show up near the Edmonds Pier, but I’ve always just missed seeing them. This late in autumn, I was thrilled to find this pod of 18, including several immatures.
An adult swallows as others preen. Pelicans have a 6 1/2-foot wingspan. They dive from high in the air to catch fish. The oldest Brown Pelican on record was 43! (All About Birds).
A Pelican takes off. Time to look for a nosh.
Cormorants for scale (at right), a Brown Pelican spreads its massive wings and heads toward the water. See those wings.
More get the idea. Join the crowd.
Big bill, big body. A Brown Pelican skims the water, ready to dive for a fish. I mean, BIG.
The box on this eBird abundance chart shows the likelihood of Brown Pelicans appearing near Tokeland this time of year is practically nill. I was lucky to see them, and so many.
Brown Pelicans were driven almost to extinction twice — the first time from hunting, and the second from pesticides, including DDT. Along with the Bald Eagle and Peregrine Falcon, they were listed as endangered in the 1970s. Fortunately conservation efforts have enabled Brown Pelicans to made a comeback, and they were removed from the list in 2009. Their population has been increasing, and they’re listed “of Least Concern.” However, now they face perils from climate change, habitat loss and oil spills.
I watched these Brown Pelicans fly over Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve in La Jolla, CA, in May of this year. This is their home ground, and where I’m most used to seeing them. Fly high.
I’ve mentioned here before that my grandmother and I used to swim with a couple dozen Brown Pelicans in the canal behind their retirement home in the Florida Keys. I have fond memories of these sweet giants, and am thrilled that their relatives greeted me in my home state. I finished my adventure at Westport, on the tip of the peninsula (see map). Pelagic trips are run from there, so I was surprised when I found this bird: Western Meadowlark, Westport, WA, says you never know who might be waiting to be noticed. THE DAILY BUCKET IS A NATURE REFUGE. WE AMICABLY DISCUSS ANIMALS, WEATHER, CLIMATE, SOIL, PLANTS, WATERS AND NOTE LIFE’S PATTERNS. WE INVITE YOU TO NOTE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING AROUND YOU IN YOUR OWN PART OF THE WORLD, AND TO SHARE YOUR OBSERVATIONS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PURPOSE AND HISTORY OF THE DAILY BUCKET FEATURE, CHECK OUT THIS DIARY: DAILY BUCKET PHENOLOGY: 11 YEARS OF RECORDING EARTH'S VITAL SIGNS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS
Raining in Seattle. November is our rainiest month of the year, and El Niño isn’t changing that. What’s going on in your nature world? Honk if you love pelicans.
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