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Dawn Chorus: Great Backyard Bird Count 2025 [1]

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Date: 2025-03-02

Every year for about the last seven years or so, I have participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count. What is the GBBC? For enquiring minds, the GBBC is:

Each February, for four days, the world comes together for the love of birds. Over these four days we invite people to spend time in their favorite places watching and counting as many birds as they can find and reporting them to us. These observations help scientists better understand global bird populations before one of their annual migrations.

Why do I do it? Well, it looked like fun, and it has been fun. To make it more fun, I set a goal to count as many bird species as I could inside my home county, Snohomish County, WA. And the goal was to finish the four-days by counting more species than any other participant within Snohomish County, or at least finish within the top five. Important to know that there are very serious birders here as there are in other regions. Their names show up frequently on rare bird notifications. If you look at their profiles on eBird, they have libraries of recorded bird songs. They can identify down to the subspecies level. They are excellent bird photographers. They live and breathe birds. You know who they are in your area if you bird frequently, if you diligently keep lists especially using eBird, if you track rarities, if you go on twitches, if you are even a moderately serious birder. You're familiar with their names. You may bird with them. You may be one of them. I’m not one of these people. So, I find it somewhat satisfying to emerge as a dark horse at the end of the count finishing within the top five. None of these people have heard of me. To go up against the best of the best is the challenge.

So, here’s how it went down for me.

Planning

The more you bird, the better you bird. Familiarity comes with observing the same birds repeatedly, learning their habits, where they’re most often seen, and how the appear in flight, perched, or on the ground. I’ve learned which local hotspots are the best for count (most species) and where I can fill a gap as the count progresses. My preplanning included looking at recent checklists for my favorite hotspots to see which birds I’d likely encounter. I planned to visit a variety of habitats. I monitored rare bird alerts, but I didn’t want to waste time chasing a rare bird. I monitored weather and tide forecasts. Rain would suck but some places (e.g. Stilly Valley) I could bird just doing a windshield view (good for swans, geese, and raptors). Low tide would be best for viewing shorebirds in an estuary habitat.

I developed a loose game plan, subject to change according to weather and species gaps I would need to fill. Having done the GBBC previously, one of the most frustrating things is going the entire four days not seeing a common bird that I usually see frequently. The “nemesis bird.”

Planning notes and some target birds

Day 1

Home: Day 1 opened with subfreezing temperatures and crusty ground. I poured a bowl of cereal and perched in front of the back window looking out to our feeder area and beyond. Beyond is a county park, 120 acres of woods. I also did a little walk-around of the yard. The morning total at home was 12 species. Nothing unusual. A single male Varied Thrush has been around since late December. A female Townsend’s Warbler has been around for more than a month.

Note: All checklist links will include a map.

Checklist: Forest Edge 2/14/25

The perch

This narrow strip along our driveway attracts a small variety of birds, mainly winter birds that like the cotoneaster berries growing over from the neighbor to the right. Birds most often seen here include Robins, Varied Thrushes, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and Chickadees (BC and CB). Sometimes I may see a garter snake here. I’m converting this strip to mainly native plants.



Female Townsend’s Warbler perched on some red huckleberry branches, buds getting fat. She’s been around for a few weeks.

Male Varied Thrush. He’s been around for a few weeks. No other Varied Thrushes showed up at the feeder this year.

Lake Ballinger: My first morning stop was Lake Ballinger, a 15 minute drive from home. It’s a 100-acre lake, one of the larger lakes that pepper the upland areas around Seattle, leftovers from the receding ice sheet some 13,500 years ago. The south end of the lake was formerly a small golf course unused for many years that became a park. A restoration project was just completed and what was once a pretty good birding spot will be even better.

The project, which transformed more than 16 acres of a former golf course, restores wetlands, riparian corridors, and creates more places for birds, fish, turtles, salamanders, and native mammals to live.

The subfreezing weather left some of the squishy muddy trails with some solid footing. The lake itself was partially covered with a thin layer of ice.

Lake Ballinger

The former golf course ponds are now natural ponds and wetlands.

There are some meadow areas. It’s uncertain to me if these meadow areas will be mowed or left to nature. The area includes these huge black cottonwoods.

This is Hall Creek that runs through the restored area and feeds into Lake Ballinger. In golf course days, the creek was in a straightened course. The restoration project rerouted the creek into a nice, meandering course.

Enough background. Let’s get to the birding part. It was an excellent morning of birding at Lake Ballinger. I picked up a good number of species. Seemed like every step or turn of my head added a new bird to my list.

Hooded Mergansers

Common Mergansers

American Coot gobbling up some pond weed.

The Red-winged Blackbirds were singing. Maybe they knew it was Valentine’s Day.

It was a good morning at Lake Ballinger. I counted 18 species. The bonus bird was a Savannah Sparrow.

Checklist: Lake Ballinger 2/14/25

My next major destination for the day would be the Edmonds Waterfront. I had a couple small stops on the way there: Chase Lake and Sprague’s Pond.

Chase Lake: I made a quick stop at Chase Lake and maybe I’d pick up a new bird or two. Chase Lake is essentially a small pond that serves as a stormwater retention pond. I wrote a couple Buckets about it: The Daily Bucket: Chase Lake Redux

Chase lake, with a thin layer of ice.

The pond was covered with a thin layer of ice. I walked around the far side and stepped out onto a viewing platform. I spooked a couple Green-winged Teal from under the platform. They skittered out onto the ice a safe distance away from me.

Green-winged Teal standing on ice

I picked up eight species at Chase Lake, none new to this point, except the Green-winged Teal, and I would see more of them as the weekend progressed.

Checklist: Chase Lake 02/14/25

Sprague’s Pond: As with Chase Lake, I made a quick stop at Sprague’s Pond. The pond is relatively shallow and attracts a good number of wintering waterfowl and nesting waterfowl in spring. The pond includes a mini-park on the west side. The City of Lynnwood recently acquired a parcel on the east side and will develop it for passive recreation (Sprague’s Pond Park Addition). The pond is a choice birding destination even though it’s located within a developed residential and commercial area, including two office buildings located directly on the shoreline. My wife worked in one of the buildings and had an office with a full view of the pond. She would text me wildlife updates including otter sightings.

Sprague’s Pond with a thin veneer of ice.

Sprague’s Pond. My wife worked in that building for several years.

I counted counted eight species at Sprague’s Pond, including two Killdeer to up my count. I didn’t take any bird photos at Sprague’s Pond. The birds were just a little too far away.

Checklist: Sprague’s Pond 2/14/25

Moving on to the Edmonds Waterfront.

Edmonds Waterfront: The Edmonds Waterfront simply rocks as a birding destination. It’s good all year round but it really peaks in winter with the arrival of the wintering sea birds. It’s accessible with waterfront walkways, a pier, and a sandy beach. I live just a 10 minute drive away, so I’m down here on an average of once a week.

The main waterfront can be divided into three sections:

The Edmonds Fishing Pier Olympic Beach Brackett’s Landing

I usually lump these together under one checklist.

The Edmonds Fishing Pier gets you up close and personal with sea birds that otherwise might be too distant.

The Edmonds Fishing Pier. The breakwater on the right often has Black Turnstones foraging, and sometimes Surfbirds. Would I see Black Turnstones on Day 1?

Olympic Beach looking north to the ferry dock. Sometimes mother harbor seals beach their pups here while they go off in search of food.

Brackett’s Landing on the north side of the ferry dock includes a small beach and rock jetty.

I walked the Edmonds Waterfront, then walked the Edmonds Marsh, and then walked the Edmonds Waterfront again. So, I came up with two checklists for the Edmonds Waterfront. The species count for the Edmonds Waterfront totaled 18 species combining both checklists. I really wanted to find Black Turnstones, but it wasn’t to be on Day 1. Two birds that I always see here were MIA, no House Finches or White-crowned Sparrows. But here are a few birds I did see.

Red-necked Grebe with a gunnel.

Double-crested Cormorant

“Olympic” Gull, likely. They are a hybrid of a Glaucous-winged Gull and Western Gull. This one leans GWGU. The wingtips are a shade darker gray suggesting WEGU influence. The head is wintertime smudgy like GWGUs.

Likely a first cycle Olympic Gull

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Checklist 1: Edmonds Waterfront 2/14/25

Checklist 2: Edmonds Waterfront 2/14/25

Edmonds Marsh: I sandwiched the Edmonds Marsh walk between my two Edmonds Waterfront walks. The Marsh and Waterfront are only a couple blocks apart. All the birds I’d spotted at the Marsh I’d seen earlier in the day. So, no new species. But a pleasant walk.

Edmonds Marsh is both a freshwater wetland and a tidally-influenced saltwater estuary. They meet in the middle with a seasonally shifting boundary. The City of Edmonds owns most of the marsh area except for a parcel owned by Chevron. The Chevron parcel is undergoing a cleanup action to address legacy petroleum contamination. More info: Unocal Edmonds Bulk Fuel Terminal

Edmonds Marsh

The birds were all way out on the Marsh, too far for good photos. But a Robin hopped up on a fence close to me. They are such cooperative subjects and usually pose nicely.

American Robin near the Marsh

Checklist: Edmonds Marsh 2/14/25

Haines Wharf: Haines Wharf was my last stop for Day 1. Nice, because it’s close to home and it was getting late. I saw from someone's earlier checklist that they had seen a Red Crossbill here. Also, I see House Finches reliably here, too. Gulls roost on the old deteriorating boathouse in great numbers. It wasn’t going to be my day for Crossbills or House Finches.

Haines Wharf. The photo is not mine and not the same day of my visit.

Lots of history surrounding Haines Wharf.

Checklist: Haines Wharf 2/14/25

Day 1 Recap: I didn’t jot my total for the day, but I recall that it was 42 species. That was a pretty good number and I was leading for the county count at the end of Day 1.

Day 2

In the morning, an Orange-crowned Warbler showed up at the suet feeder, a significant addition to the species count.

Ebey Waterfront Trail: The Ebey Waterfront Trail is one of my favorite places to bird and to walk my dogs. I can’t bird seriously with my dogs, though. So, they stayed home all weekend. The day I was there, a group of dog walkers showed up. I made a few doggie friends because I’m a sucker for dogs.

Anyway, the Ebey Waterfront Trail is one of the hottest of birding hotspots in the area. It has a nice, flat, paved trail that follows along the side of Ebey Slough, one of the major distributaries of the Snohomish River as it discharges to Possession Sound. The first part of the trail also passes the City of Marysville sewage lagoons where hundreds of waterfowl gather during the winter. The waterfowl include mainly Lesser Scaups and Ring-necked Ducks, but other duck species are also well represented.

Ebey Slough and the associated wetlands and estuary are subject to tidal influence. A significant estuary restoration project was recently completed here, known as the Qwuloolt Estuary. It’s a good place to view shorebirds and waders.

Ebey Slough. I spotted a Greater Yellowlegs here working the shoreline.

The Marysville sewage lagoon. Lesser Scaups are spread out along the floating line.

Lesser Scaups are spread out along the floating line. A little female Ruddy Duck comes in from the left to photobomb.

Most of the birds were too far away for a good photo. I did get a few shots of a Great Blue Heron making practice lunges.

Great Blue Heron

It came up empty on this lunge.

The Ebey Waterfront Trail yielded 31 species, my best checklist of the whole weekend. I scored a White-crowned Sparrow as soon as I started walking, which had eluded me the day before. A Pied-billed Grebe was a nice find, the only one I would see the entire weekend. The bird I really wanted to find here was a Northern Harrier. Would it be my GBBC nemesis bird?

Checklist: Ebey Waterfront Trail 2/15/25

Field’s Riffle: Field’s Riffle was a bit of a lark. I picked up a rare bird alert about a Bewick’s Tundra Swan being sighted there among a group of Trumpeters. The Bewick’s Swan is the Eurasian subspecies of the Tundra Swan. They sometimes show up here. So, off I went on a twitch.

Field’s Riffle is a 92-acre county park that has no signs, no development, and apparently known to only a few crazy birders, hunters (in season), and fisherman. I had never been to it. Parking was tight because there was barely enough room to get off the main road and squeeze in without blocking three pasture gates. A long gravel road between a cattle pasture and a fallow farm field led to the main park area along the Snohomish River. As I was walking down the road an older guy with an energetic chocolate lab came strutting up behind me. Super nice guy and I loved his dog (I once had a chocolate lab). He launched into a whole dialog about the park, how he grew up in the area, the history, how things have changed, and then offered to guide me around for a short way. Glen was his name. After giving me a rundown on the trails, Glen departed, and left me to my own devices. I walked along a dike then dropped down into the bottomland along the river. I had spotted four swans but they were too far away to tell if they were Bewick’s, more like Trumpeters, so that’s what I checked off. While I walked with Glen, we’d spotted a hawk overhead, clearly a Red-tailed Hawk, but Glen called it a Cooper’s Hawk. I needed a Red-tailed and a Cooper’s. The Cooper’s would have to wait until Day 4.

The gravel road leading to the park.

The dike trail

River bottomland where swans were sighted

Snohomish River

Again, birds were too distant for good photos. I didn’t collect many species here but the Red-tailed Hawk was a nice addition. It was cool to explore a new area, too.

Checklist: Field’s Riffle 2/15/25

Before the next birding spot, I went into Snohomish for coffee and a twice-baked almond croissant at the Snohomish Bakery. As a pastry connoisseur, I can tell you that these are the best twice-baked almond croissants anywhere.

Baywood Nature Trail: I made one more stop for the day. The Baywood Nature Trail is a short, half-mile, packed gravel trail that circles around a new warehouse building with shoreline views to the mouth of the Snohomish River and associated tide flats. My wife and I have incorporated the trail into our longer walks around Everett and the Port of Everett. I’d regularly seen House Finches in one place along the trail, and at this point I needed a House Finch. How hard could it be?

Baywood Nature Trail

Mudflats and Snohomish River

Mouth of the Snohomish River

There were many Northern Pintails and Green-winged Teals dabbling the mudflats. A Greater Yellowlegs was working the shoreline. When I came to the House Finch spot, there were no House Finches. Would this be the nemesis bird?

Checklist: Baywood Nature Trail 2/15/25

A short distance from Baywood Park was the Port of Everett — Waterfront Place development. There is a large paved parking area where gulls gather in mass. I drove there and parked. From my windshield, I scanned the gulls looking for possible rarities. I spotted a lone Ring-billed Gull to add to my list. Little did I know that I would see hundreds of Ring-billed Gulls on Day 3.

Checklist: Waterfront Place — North Docks parking 2/15/25

Day 2 Recap: I didn’t jot my total for the last two days, but I recall that it was about mid fifties for species count. That was a pretty good number but I had dropped down to second or third for the county count. Day 3 would up my count a little more.

Day 3

Norman Road: The plan for Day 3 was to drive up to the Lower Stillaguamish River Valley along Norman Road. My wife elected to join me as long as we included a breakfast stop at Willow & Jim’s in Silvana. Well, it turned out that Willow & Jim’s was closed because the owners were on their annual winter vacation. So, we decided to do the slow drive along Norman Road and side roads through the bucolic river valley, doing windshield birding. Along with ducks and Trumpeter Swans, were hundreds of Ring-billed Gulls. I hadn’t yet found American Wigeons. They were there. Just as we were ready to call it quits, a much needed Northern Harrier swooped low over the fields. Our slow drive yielded 16 species.

Checklist: Norman Road 2/16/25

At this point, we were really hungry. So my wife suggested we head over to nearby Camano Island and eat at the Cama Beach Café, a favorite of ours. It was also the weekend of the Northwest Glass Quest on Camano Island. Because of that, the restaurant was busy, but we got a table and had a fine meal.

Leque Island Wildlife Area Unit: Leaving Camano Island, we made a stop at Leque Island Wildlife Area, hoping to score some Dunlin. And we did. There was also another shorebird that wasn’t familiar to me. As I was looking it up on Merlin on my phone, my wife had her Merlin app listening. “Long-billed Dowitcher” she shouted. Indeed that was it. Dunlin were also out on the flats. It was a good stop. Then as we turned to head back to the car, an eruption of hundreds of white birds took to the air in the distance. Could they be Snow Geese? Yes! Streams of Snow Geese flew right by us leaving no doubt.

Checklist: Leque Island 2/16/25

Trumpeter Swans dabble in the mud by the Stillaguamish River

Leque Island tide flats

Lines of Snow Geese cross over us.

Home: When we got home, I wandered out in back into the clearing behind our house. I hadn’t seen any Pacific Wrens yet. So, I played back some Pac Wren songs and like clockwork, two Wrens appeared. Bingo! Chalk up another species.

Day 3 Recap: I didn’t jot my total for the last two days, but I recall that it was about 66 for species count. That was a pretty good number but I was still down to second or third for the county count. Day 4 would up my count just a little more.

Day 4

By the time Day 4 rolled in, I was starting to burn out. I decided I would just revisit the Edmonds Waterfront and Pier. I would also walk down to our neighborhood beach at Browns Bay when the tide was lower.

As I did every morning, I spent some time watching the birds at our feeder. A flock of Bushtits came in for dine-and-dash at the suet feeder. Another species tallied.

Bushtits

Edmonds Waterfront — revisit: The revisit yielded a couple new species. Finally, I found my nemesis, a House Finch right where I expected. The sad news is that looking at my checklist, I forgot to log it. Oh well. But I did finally find Black Turnstones at the Brackett’s Landing jetty.

Black Turnstones

Checklist: Edmonds Fishing Pier 2/17/25

Checklist: Edmonds Waterfront 2/17/25

Willow Creek Hatchery: I still didn’t have any woodpeckers sighted, except Northern Flickers. I needed some Downy, Hairy, and Pileated Woodpeckers. They’re commonly seen at our suet feeder, but not this weekend. So, I thought I’d check out the Willow Creek Hatchery, which is at the far side of the Edmonds Marsh. They have feeders there and a few snags that usually attract woodpeckers, but not on this day. I even played back woodpecker thumping. No go. But I finally added a Cooper’s Hawk sighted there.

Checklist: Willow Creek Hatchery 2/17/25

Browns Bay: Browns Bay is our neighborhood beach. Everyone in our neighborhood has rights to access the shoreline through a city easement. It’s written into our covenants. I take full advantage of it. So, I packed up and started for the beach. As I emerged out from our driveway, I ran into Heather and her husband from up the street. They were also headed to beach. Heather is the neighborhood watchdog. So, I caught up on all the gossip while we were walking. We also got to talking about birds and somehow Barred Owls came up. She mentioned Barred Owls at Hutt Park, a nearby small park with some old growth trees.

When I got down to the shoreline, I found a comfortable spot to sit, leaning back on an old piling. I sat for sometime just watching gulls, giving them an opportunity to get used to my presence. I added a Western Gull and a Bonaparte’s Gull to my species list.

Western Gull

Bonaparte’s Gull

Checklist: Browns Bay 2/17/25

Hutt Park: My two dogs, Buddy and Daisy, had been neglected all weekend. Hutt Park is on one of my regular dog walk loops. And my neighbor Heather had mentioned Barred Owls in Hutt Park. So, I leashed up the pups and headed for a walk that would take us through Hutt Park. When we got to Hutt Park, I played back Barred Owl calls on Merlin. No sooner had I done that, a big Barred Owl swooped in and perched directly over us. I only had my phone but I got a pretty good photo of it.

Barred Owl

The Barred Owl was just a great way to finish the GBBC.

GBBC Recap: That’s a wrap, folks! All things considered, I think I did pretty well and considering I was up with some of the top birders in Snohomish County and in Washington state. I planned, executed the plan, and modified the plan as the weekend progressed. It was a bit exhausting but I sure had fun.

Notable birds not observed included the Downy, Hairy, and Pileated Woodpeckers. That was frustrating. Also, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets. I’m guessing that they had already departed.

In total, I logged 70 bird species over the course of four days. Here’s how I scored:

There was a two-way tie for most-counted and a three-way tie for second most-counted. So, that puts me in with third most-counted bird species for Snohomish County.

If you made it this far, I commend you and thank you for joining me on this crazy birding adventure.

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