Cycling on the Oregon coast.
Wendy's Washington and Oregon Highlights
I was woken from a deep sleep by plastic crackling in our vestibule. A small hairy arm was reaching into one of our bags. “Shoo!” I shouted, but the racoon had already made off with a mixed berry granola bar and our curried cashews. We were so tired when we went to bed that night, in Larabee State Park (on spectacular Chuckanut Drive) that we had taken no precautions with our food. Now we tie our food bags up in trees.
Our route through Washington and Oregon mainly followed the coast. We rode in the blazing sun, cool fog, and cold drizzly rain. We watched birds from rocky headlands and across wide mud flats. We rode along twisty roads through deep shadowy forests and through clear cuts. (Clear cuts are really good for people who don’t want relief from the sun, or who dislike all the shades of green.) We rode past a place where hyrdrangias grew wild in the ditches, their puffy blue heads poking out between the rain forest undergrowth. We feasted on forest foods – blackberries, huckleberries, chicken o’ the woods.
In Washington we were lucky to be joined by some of our family: Carol, Jim, Vicky, Alexandra, Gavin, and Katy. We also were happy to hang out with Christianne, the fourth member of the “Bird Year” family. Some people call her “Malkolm’s coordinator”, but I prefer to think of Christianne as our Mission Controller.
To avoid using fossil fuels for transportation, we arranged to cross from Whidby Island to Port Townsend in a longboat. “Bear”, owned by the Wooden Boat Foundation, is a replica of the inshore boats used by Captain Vancouver when he was exploring the Pacific Northwest in 1792 (http://www.woodenboat.org). The Sea Scouts from Port Townsend volunteered to row us across Admiralty Inlet.We were impressed how relaxed these teenagers were around boats, and how strong and skilled at rowing. (We tried it, so we can make an accurate comparison.) Thank you to Sea Scouts Anne and Chloe Aldrich, Ransom Cadroette, Michael Beckman, and Brooke Shadburne. Thank you to Sea Scout organizer Kim Aldrich and skipper Norm Stevens. Thank you also to Paul Stohlman who carried our bikes across the strait in his graceful sailboat “Bryony”.
In Sequim we had our first taste of birding with a local expert. Bob Boekelheide jumped on his bicycle and enthusiastically toured us us around the local hot spots. My highlight was watching an oystercatcher eating oysters. Malkolm added 12 species to his list that day. Bob met us at 8am and would have birded til supper time if we had not needed to get ready for our first presentation at the Dungeness River Center, organized by Olympic Peninsula Audubon (thanks Sue Chickman!).
Cycling on Hurricane Ridge.
We cycled the grueling “Tour de Hurricane Ridge” in Olympic National Park. We were accompanied to the 5757’summit by Alexandra Boothroyd, age 9. On Hurricane Ridge, we were hoping to find a Sooty Grouse. We didn’t. So next morning, Malkolm and his Uncle Jim rode off at first light, back up the hill. After half an hour, they came across a Sooty Grouse, warming itself on the blacktop. Which goes to show, as “Idaho” Bob Kiernan says, “The early worm gets the bird”.
We were trying hard to find a Spotted Owl. On one of the forest trails near our campsite we heard hooting. It was similar our Spotted Owl reference recording, but not quite right. Eventually, we were embarrassed to admit it was probably a Band-tailed Pigeon.
Puffins nest on the “seastack” islands close to shore at La Push, but we could not see any from shore. We managed to rent a couple of kayaks that had been brought into town that day. The weather was calm, but between the four seastacks rebounding swells made a confusing sea. We went outside the islands, further offshore. Our red kayaks and yellow paddles gleamed in the lowering sun. Suddenly, an even brighter red-orange thing appeared – the large bill of a Tufted Puffin. It preened and dove. It’s legs and feet matched its bill. That puffin visited us for about 20 minutes before a motor boat approached and it vanished.
Mike Patterson invited us to join him bird banding in Seaside. His banding project keeps track of migrants that use the local watershed that North Coast Nature Conservancy is working to protect. Drizzly rain forced an early end to netting that day, and Mike took us on a tour of Seaside hot spots. Mike explained a method for locating Hermit Warblers. At this time of year, they have fledged, and are no longer singing. They hang out in mixed feeding flocks with chickadees. Chickadees can be attracted by “pishing”, and the warblers will follow the chickadees down. “I’m a compulsive pisher”, said Mike. “I even pish when I’m looking for butterflies or frogs”. That morning the Hermits were not in their usual area. (They were being hermit-ish.) Mike found us Clark’s Grebes in amongst the Westerns, and showed us shearwaters hurrying by on the horizon.
Diane Pettey cheerfully showed us around Florence. She has mountain quail that “irregularly” come to her yard, although they had visited that morning. We eagerly went to her house early the next day. Her garden is shady and fragrant, planted to attract birds. We saw our first Anna’s hummingbird there, but we “dipped” on the quail.
Tim Rodenkirk showed us around Coos Bay. He took us to an area that was once industrial and is now reverting to wilder status. “It’s raining phalaropes!” Tim exclaimed as we passed the old sewage pond, full of thousands of the delicate birds. We were talking, and a helicopter was buzzing in the distance, when Tim said “There’s a Baird’s!” He had heard its call. It amazes me how good birders can hear birds. Under Tim’s tutelage, even I could see the difference between Baird’s and Buff Breasted Sandpipers.
Total strangers have been very kind to us. Holly Rodenkirk made us a wonderful lunch, then sent us off with a bag bursting with oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. These were no ordinary cookies. They were fortified with white chocolate, almonds, and dried cherries. The cookies were gone by the end of the day, which also happened to be our longest day yet, 85 miles.We would like Holly’s cookies to become the official cookies of Bird Year.
We found a few unusual birds. Near Kalaloch we saw a juvenile Franklin’s Gull. At Ocean Shores, we found a Black Kittiwake, my first ever kittiwake. I liked its delicate, black tipped wings. I like to remind Malkolm this is not only a bird year. We watched whales in a rocky cove near Depot Bay. They were so close to shore that I could see the barnacles on their backs. They were young grey whales that spend the whole summer there, not bothering with the trip to Alaska. I saw another new thing, sea palms. They are like foot-high palm trees that live on rocks and stand up straight despite constant pounding by the surf. We left the Pacific Northwest still pishing in every coniferous grove for those elusive-to-us warblers, Townsend’s and Hermit.
Finally, I am the self-appointed trip safety officer. I always knew traffic would be a hazard. We have a strategy for traffic. We wear bright clothes, and pedal as close together as we can. That was we look big, and those long trucks can pass all three of us in one go.
I was not thinking of other hazards, however. We soon realized that travelling down the west coast, we saw lots of signs that told us we needed an earthquake and tsumani preparedness plan. And, in the rainforest of southern Oregon, we narrowly escaped the most dangerous threat of all…….Tyrannosaurus Rex.