December Pierce County Big Day

Lincoln's Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii

Bruce Labar and I did our December Pierce County Big Day on Monday Dec 3, trying to find as many species as we could in the county. We have managed to do a big day every month of 2018 (I missed February but Bruce did one himself).
We decided to start before daylight in hopes of finding owls, and at Puget Park about 6 AM we managed to hear a very distant Barred Owl hooting. Then at Point Defiance we tried without luck for a Northern Saw-whet Owl but did get a Great-horned Owl to come right in overhead for a look in the flashlight and several rounds of hooting.

Snow Geese : Chen caerulescens seen beside Hwy 162 along with Trumpeter Swans. Note both the common white race and the "blue goose" race,

Next we headed to the Purdy Spit where the day prior Will had found a female Black Scoter. This species would have been a first-of-the-year county bird for both of us, but we could not find it in the flocks of Surf Scoters. We did find a White-winged Scoter, Harlequin Duck and Western Grebe along with other common expected species.

A White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis at 20th Ave.

At the Demolay Sand Spit on Fox Island we found all three species of loons, Pacific, Red-throated and Common, along with Common Murre, and the expected other birds.

Golden-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia atricapilla made our third zonotrichia species of the day.

We made subsequent stops at Titlow Park, Dickman Mill Park, then headed to Puyallup and Sumner with stops at the 56th Street Ponds, Levee Pond, Dieringer sparrow fields, and along Hwyk 162 for the swan flock. Quick stops at DeCoursey Park, the Place of Circling Waters and then finally finding an Anna’s Hummingbird back at my condo parking lot to end the day.

A Hooded Merganser Lophodytes cucullatus female at DeCoursey Park.

Maybe the best part of the day was the afternoon when the low light angle allowed some nice photo ops.
A total of 81 species.

The Clay-colored Sparrow Spizella pallida continued as a county rarity at 134th Ave.

Good birding. Steem on!