Birds flock to Olympia's waters

Downtown offers many vantage points for unusual breeds

N.S. NOKKENTVED, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published November 6, 2001

OLYMPIA -- Most people who frequent the waterfront of downtown Olympia might not know a bufflehead from a surf scoter, or a willet from a pigeon guillemot.

But those are just a few of the wide variety of water birds and shorebirds that can be found on Olympia's waterfront in the fall and winter -- from the upper end of East Bay, around the port peninsula to Percival Landing, West Bay lagoon and Capitol Lake.

"It gives you some marine exposure without having to have a boat," said Woody Franzen, an Olympia birder.

Bring your binoculars when you head for downtown Olympia. Anywhere near the water is a good place to watch shorebirds and water birds during the fall and winter. Careful watchers also may see some interesting and unusual birds through the winter.

And it's a popular area with local birders. "It's not uncommon to see people walking along Marine Drive carrying binoculars," he said.

Patience is needed

On a recent drizzly morning with a chilly breeze out of the north, a raft of ducks floated near a channel marker festooned with resting cormorants just off the north end of the port peninsula. The flock included several kinds of sea ducks including scoters, and other water birds including pigeon guillemot -- the only water bird to nest in Budd Inlet, Franzen said.

Capitol Lake was alive with a congregation of black and white bufflehead ducks, while outside in the saltwater a couple of harbor seals cavorted. Nearby, about 10 great blue herons were roosting in the trees along the West Bay lagoon.

In his comments about birding in the Olympia area on the Black Hills Audubon Society's Internet site, Scott Richardson, author of East Bay Bird Guide, says: "The Olympia waterfront offers enjoyable, comfortable birding. It's especially good from October to April, when Budd Inlet fills with wintering water birds."

Franzen, a retired teacher, lives near the bay north of Priest Point Park and has a view of the water. He teaches bird-identification classes and often takes his class there. Sometimes you can see peregrine falcons perched on the port's tall steel cranes, he said. They prey on pigeons and shorebirds, and they follow the shorebirds into Budd Inlet in the fall and winter.

He counsels patience. The falcons are uncommon, and other birds might not be seen on any particular day. But those watchers who are persistent sometimes are rewarded with interesting or rare birds.

The best time to catch them is during high tide, which brings the birds closer to shore.

But along Percival Landing the water is deep even at low tide. "As long as you have deep water, you're going to have birds," Franzen said.

A birder is born

Franzen started birding in the early 1970s one day while cutting wood on the same property where he still lives, when he kept hearing a bird. He became enchanted and finally had to stop working, shut off the saw and listen.

"I had to find out what it was," he said. A birder was born.

He called the local Audubon Society to get some help in finding out what it was. It turned out to be a song sparrow, quite common in South Sound.

"That was my first bird that I worked at identifying and was intrigued by," he said. He later took classes to learn to identify birds, and now he teaches bird-identification classes.

From Marine Drive in the upper end of East Bay you can find cormorants, gulls, kingfisher, and a small flock of hooded mergansers -- a diving duck -- usually stays through the winter, Franzen said.

On the tide flats and in the water off the north end of the port peninsula you can spy grebes, loons and a variety of shore birds changing through the winter including greater yellowlegs, western sandpipers and dunlin.

Along Percival Landing -- if the small fish they feed on are there -- you might find rhinoceros auklets and pigeon guillemots.

In the West Bay, dunlin and western sandpiper sometimes rest on remnant log booms during high tide.

During the fall and winter, water birds often congregate in Capitol Lake, where eagles and osprey also are seen.

What you need

Getting started in bird watching doesn't have to be expensive. A good field guide costs about $20, and a pair of decent binoculars start around $50 and go up from there. More serious birders might want to invest in a spotting scope -- and if you want to do it from the comfort of your car, window mounts are available.

A warm coat is good idea if you plan to do any bird watching in the fall and winter.

To Franzen, watching and observing birds "is like enriching your soul," he said.

N.S. Nokkentved covers the outdoors for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5445.

To learn more

For more information on birds and birding in the Olympia area, visit www.blackhillsaudubon.org and go to "Best Places for Bird Watching."

Finding birds

Other good birding sites close to downtown Olympia include:

- Grass Lake off Kaiser Road.

- Watershed Park off Henderson Boulevard.

- Black Lake Meadows off Mottman Road.

- McLane Creek off Delphi Road.

- Mud Bay and Perry Creek off U.S. Highway 101.

- Woodard Bay on Woodard Bay Road.

- Along the Chehalis Western Trail.

- Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge east of Olympia.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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