Birding North Kitsap

Joe Meche is president of the North Cascades Audubon Society and also serves the chapter as newsletter editor and birding programs coordinator. He has been watching birds for over 50 years and photographing birds and landscapes for more than 30 years.

If you feel the need for a new birding adventure but don’t want to spend excessive dollars and time or have an aversion to tropical heat and humidity, I have a relatively unexplored pocket of Washington for you to consider. An easy day trip away from Bellingham is the little known and somewhat isolated North Kitsap Peninsula. I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days with the good folks at Kitsap Audubon in mid-December and felt the urge to return for the long New Year’s weekend — with my favorite traveling companion.

To get there, take a short drive down the Interstate to Edmonds and one of the more efficiently-run state ferry operations. If the wait for the next ferry allows, head back up the road and check out the Edmonds Marsh. This 22.5-acre salt marsh is the first stop on the inaugural segment of the Great Washington State Birding Trail — the Cascade Loop. The bird checklist for the marsh lists 225 species. You can also check the beach areas on either side of the ferry landing for shorebirds.

If you get right onto the ferry, you can stay busy checking out the birds around the landing and all along the way to Kingston. Double-crested and pelagic cormorants festoon the pilings while Barrow’s and common goldeneyes and surf scoters seemingly graze on the mussels below. This passage is usually good for a variety of loons and alcids as well.

Once you arrive on the peninsula, you’ll immediately feel the rural nature of the area. You’ve left the big cities behind and now it’s time to relax and look for a few good birds. A unique part of this particular peninsula is that it juts northward into Admiralty Inlet and separates Puget Sound from the Hood Canal. You’re surrounded on three sides — in a classically peninsular way — by saltwater and the unlimited potential for birds, especially during the winter months.

On the northeastern tip of the peninsula, the tidal currents churn off Point No Point and rip tides bring plankton and small invertebrates to the surface. This bounty of food attracts large numbers of sand lance and herring which in turn attract significant gatherings of marine birds. Point No Point is one of the original 53 Important Bird Areas (IBA) designated in Washington state. This IBA also includes the Point No Point County Park and the shoreline and adjacent marine waters from Skunk Bay to Pilot Point. Thousands of Bonaparte’s gulls have been observed on the offshore waters along with marbled murrelets and other diving birds.

The county park at the point has numerous trails, beach access and an elevated platform with extensive views of Admiralty Inlet. The park also has wooded areas for land birds and a list of 230 species that have been recorded in the area. This site is of infinite value to healthy populations of marine birds; however, its proximity to the busy shipping lanes of Puget Sound puts it at considerable risk in the event of spills or leaks from passing ships.

Just two miles northwest of Hansville and right up the road from Point No Point is the Foulweather Bluff Preserve, which is owned by The Nature Conservancy. This preserve is open year-round during daylight hours and has numerous trails to explore the area and its 3,800 feet of shoreline habitat. According to The Nature Conservancy’s claim, “The marsh area at the Foulweather Bluff Preserve is as close to a pristine coastal lagoon as can be found in the entire Puget Sound area.” Needless to say, it’s one of the most valuable wildlife havens on the Kitsap Peninsula.

The lowland forests of the preserve have pileated woodpeckers, chickadees, winter wrens and brown creepers, to name but a few of the species found there. Great blue herons prowl the marsh while loons, scoters, scaup, buffleheads, harlequin ducks and wigeons are easily observed just offshore and along the beach. Bald eagles keep watch over the entire area from the large conifers.

Another good place to check for land birds is the Buck Lake County Park just outside Hansville. Here you’ll find freshwater and wooded habitats with open fields. The park has extensive trails and is purported to be especially “birdy” during the spring warbler migration. You can complete the loop of the north peninsula at Port Gamble and the Salisbury Point County Park. There are more trails here and beach access to the beginning of the Hood Canal. If you choose to cross the Hood Canal Bridge, be sure to check the wind speed.

During your visit to the Kitsap Peninsula, if you venture down the Hood Canal side and farther south, an innocent binocular search for birds could make the U.S. Navy a bit nervous. Try not to stare too long at anything in the general area of the Trident submarine base at Bangor or the large naval installation at Bremerton. Stay on the safer, northern end and you’ll be just fine. It’s all about homeland security, you know.

When you return to the ferry landing for the trip home, get to Kingston a little early to grab a bite and check out the birds on the mudflats and along the edges of Appletree Cove. On our way home on New Year’s Day, one bald eagle caused almost 1,000 American wigeons and gulls to leap into the air as one. It’s always intriguing to see the power of a seemingly innocent fly-by of an eagle, not to mention the sound of all those wings!

Kitsap County’s 236 miles of saltwater shoreline provide more marine habitat than any county in the lower 48 states. If you consider a trip to the North Kitsap Peninsula, try to make it at least an overnight stay. You’ll enjoy the relaxed pace and get to see more of the birds. You can connect the dots between the hotspots on back roads and never feel the press of heavy traffic.

The area has a good number of places to use as a base, especially around Poulsbo. The marina and the boardwalk trail along Liberty Bay have good birds. On the morning of the last day of the year, I observed one of the largest flocks of common mergansers that I’ve seen in some time. But the bookstores, restaurants, coffee shops and bakeries on the historic downtown waterfront are enough to entice you to linger longer. And before you leave to catch the next ferry, you’ll probably feel like you’ve been to Norway. Uff da! §