“Look at that gull with yellow legs, and see if you can see both red and black on its bill,” said trip leader Bob Boekelheide.
Some of the group peered into spotting scopes, while others raised binoculars, trying to pick out one pale grey-and-white bird from a host of other pale grey-and-white birds gathered hundreds of yards away on the sand bar. Without binoculars they all looked very much the same — a vast swarm of 100-plus gulls.
On this trip (one of many that form the Dungeness River Nature Center’s annual Olympic BirdFest), we had already seen large flocks of birds: for example, more than 1,000 common murres floating together on the ocean. But for now the focus was on the gulls; and unlike some of the other flocks, gulls typically have several species hanging out together — providing a nice challenge for the group and a good teaching opportunity for Bob and the other trip leaders.
People become birders for many reasons. Some people like looking at the bright colors of many songbirds. Others appreciate birds’ varied behaviors — from nectar-sipping hummingbirds, to murres and loons that chase fish beneath the sea, to brown creepers and nuthatches that pick insects from crevices in bark.
Gulls provide a natural alternative to Wordle or Sudoku—especially here on the Olympic Peninsula. Identifying them requires careful attention to small differences in appearance, called field marks, and a mix of intuition and logic to make the right call.
We have abundant so-called “Olympic gulls” which are a hybrid between western and glaucous-winged gulls. These can vary in appearance from a smooth grey with wingtips that match the color of the back (a glaucous-winged type), to vibrant black wingtips that contrast with a dark grey back (a western gull type). Both have pink legs and a bright yellow bill with a red feeding spot. Well, as adults they look like that. Immature gulls, much like human teenagers, sometimes look very different than their parents, though they don’t usually sport piercings, ear gauges, or Doc Martens boots.
Short-billed gulls (called mew gulls until 2021) are much smaller than the Olympic gulls, with — you guessed it — shorter bills. Herring gulls resemble western gulls, but are lighter gray with pale eyes.
Perfect for birds, birders
The Olympic Peninsula offers something for nearly every bird, and therefore for nearly every birder. In our relatively small geography — about 5% of the state of Washington — we have deep forest, high alpine tundra, glaciers, savannah-like oak prairies, farmland, beaches, mudflats, rocky cliffs and islands, marine areas, lakes and rivers. Different birds use these diverse habitats for different parts of their life history, and sometimes the proximity of different habitats is important.
Marbled murrelets, for example, split their lives between forests and the ocean. They feed by diving for small fish, shrimp, and squid while floating on the ocean. But unlike many seabirds that nest on cliffs or islands, marbled murrelets lay their one egg directly on mossy branches of large, old growth conifers — a location that was only determined in the late 20th century. The soft moss nest cradles their egg.
The ocean and the trees must be close enough together for the parents to be able to sustain the chick; they can’t use too much time flying back and forth to the nest as opposed to fishing, so marbled murrelets need places like the Olympic Peninsula where old, mossy forests occur at least somewhat close to the sea.
Olympic BirdFest, which happens every April, is the River Center’s flagship event offering the chance to learn about birds in depth. But you don’t have to wait till next April to begin to learn more about birds. May 10th is World Migratory Bird Day (I’m sure you knew that already), and the River Center’s partner, Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society (OPAS), is holding a countywide bird-a-thon.
The theme of this year’s World Migratory Bird Day is the creation and support of bird-friendly communities — transforming our local residential areas and town parks to better support birds. OPAS leads the way locally through the North Olympic Wildlife Habitat Project.
Since the birds don’t go away after World Migratory Bird Day, neither do the birding opportunities. There’s a field trip up Peabody Creek the next day, and a Birding for Everyone event the following Saturday, on May 17th.
And every Wednesday at 8:30 a.m., OPAS leads a drop-in bird walk from the River Center. Come explore nature’s puzzles. Find more information at dungenessrivercenter.org/programs.
