200 Pierce County and 300 Washington State Today

eBird Pierce County above and Washington State below totals.

For the last few years I've set a personal goal of seeing 200 species of birds in Pierce County where I live, and 300 species in Washington State. Yesterday, after a great day at Mt. Rainier, I reached 300 species for WA, and 199 for Pierce County. I realized that after I got home so felt compelled to get the one relatively easy species for Pierce remaining.

Black-headed Grosbeak Pheucticus melanocephalus just after taking flight. Photos today are of common local species to remind myself that the trick to getting a good regional list is to get all the expected species, and then just a few more.

Our ABC Birding Club met for our annual book club meeting, where we talked about Noah Striker's new book, Birding Without Borders, and after that I headed for the Ft Lewis Prairie where usually in the summer at dusk Common Nighthawks can be seen flying. I got there about 9 PM, just as it started to get dark, and was concerned because it was cooling down quickly, and the wind was picking up. Common Nighthawks are nocturnal feeders who fly around with their huge mouths wide open to catch insects. I was concerned that the wind might keep them from flying, but at 9:18 I heard the classic "peent" call and saw one bird flying against the darkening sky. It called about 10 times, made one flight, and that was it for the evening. I waited a few more minutes, but that was it.

Spotted Towhee Pipilo maculatus

I headed home with my 200/300 numbers in the bank, and have been feeling good about this all day today.

MacGillivray's Warbler Geothlypis tolmiei

It is fun to set a goal and to achieve it so much earlier than expected.

Cedar Waxwing * Bombycilla cedrorum*
Good birding. Steem on!