Deception Pass State Park, West Beach
Thanks are due to the AmeriCorps staff at Deception Pass State Park for coordinating with Whidbey Audubon volunteers to offer public birding trips twice a month. If you are interested in leading one of these trips with park staff, contact the Whidbey Audubon Society Field Trip chair, David Parent.
Upcoming trips are scheduled for Saturdays, March 8 and 22. See our event calendar for details.
About a dozen people participated in a two-hour walk on February 8, coming from places as disparate as Arlington, Anacortes, Oak Harbor and Greenbank. It was rewarding to share the wonder of birds with folks newer to birding who expressed appreciation for every sighting and natural history tidbit.
Meeting at the south end of West Beach parking lot, we walked over drift logs to the beach to look at Surf Scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers, Horned Grebes and a Common Loon downing a flatfish. The rest of the two hours we walked the Dune Trail clockwise. On Cranberry Lake we watched male Buffleheads courting females, along with more distant Canada Geese, Common Merganser and scaup. Two pairs of Bald Eagles called from atop tall conifers.
In the woods, we viewed Pine Siskins and both chickadee species, locating them by their conversational calls. From the platform overlooking the marsh we scoped Belted Kingfisher and Hooded Mergansers and had close-up looks at both Red-breasted Nuthatch and Brown Creeper foraging on the branches and bark of a large Douglas fir beside the platform.
Throughout the walk I was hearing calls of Red Crossbills high in the trees but couldn’t spot them. Near the end of the dune circuit, multiple Red Crossbills landed nearby on short trees and stayed to allow everyone clear views of a red male, yellowish green female, and a mixed-color first year male.
As we returned to the parking lot, we looked past the shore to see dozens of Red-throated Loons streaming into the pass. Our time was up, but several of us hastened to the northwest-point overlook to watch loons feeding in the outflowing current. We were treated to a mass out-flight of several hundred when a boat came under the bridge.
I wish to thank Bill Rick for spotting many of the birds, and the two park interns for their help and interest.
See upcoming field trips on our events calendar.