Sequim for a Day

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.

Believe it or not, the days of spring are slowly but surely becoming the days of summer, and Daylight Saving Time is providing more light to extend our weekend junkets farther away from home. Part of the problem that many experience during winter months is leaving home in the dark and returning home again, shortly after dark-thirty! So, until fall rolls around and the days grow noticeably shorter, we all experience the old malady of itchy feet. We are certainly never at a loss for things to do, but for those who might wish to add to their short list of places to see birds, consider a day trip to the area around Sequim and the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge.

Cindy and I took this trip recently to do a bit of reconnaissance for the North Cascade Audubon Society’s first weekend camping trip to the county park at the Dungeness Recreation Area, at the head of the Dungeness Spit. If you take a look at the map, you’ll see a tremendous amount of potential for birds along the entire route in a variety of habitats, coming and going. Just grab your binoculars, sit back, and fasten your seat belts (it’s the state law). Let’s go to Sequim (pronounced SKWIM) for a day.

Keep in mind that this trip not only offers a lot of bird watching possibilities, but in a relatively short distance, you get to enjoy some of Washington’s finest natural wonders on blue highways. And what better way to start your day than to head south along Chuckanut Drive. Numerous pullouts are available from south Bellingham to Blanchard to stop and scope the expanse of water below and look and listen for birds. Later in the spring and early summer, vireos, warblers, and tanagers should be easy to locate. Be sure to check the Colony Creek bridge at Blanchard for the flocks of cliff swallows busily building their unique nests underneath the overhanging structure.

After the winding and scenic curves of Chuckanut, the scenery changes as you cross the open flats connecting the small communities of Bow, Edison, and Bayview. The Samish Flats is a raptor heaven in wintertime and we kept our eyes open for lingering visitors. All we could find along the way were the usual red-tails, a couple of American kestrels, and several northern harriers.

As we gained elevation above the flats and cruised along the eastern shore of Padilla Bay, we observed good-sized flocks of waterfowl all the way to our turn at Highway 20. Green-winged teal and northern pintails were the predominant species in the large flocks. Red-breasted mergansers were busy diving and feeding off Bayview State Park while great blue herons patrolled the shallows. A few brant and Bonaparte’s gulls were also working the shorelines and the eelgrass beds.

A real scenic treat along this route is driving through the area around Deception Pass and Deception Pass State Park. The topography changes noticeably with Mt. Erie dominating the skyline. The air above Campbell and Pass Lakes was filled with tree and violet-green swallows in their spring feeding frenzies, and waterfowl on both lakes included buffleheads, canvasbacks, and ring-necked ducks. The park is filled with impressive stands of conifers and the showpiece of the area is the strong tidal surge that moves through the pass itself.

Should you ever get this far and decide not to continue for any reason, you could spend the day here and at neighboring Rosario Beach hiking the miles of trails within the park. Saltwater shorelines and beaches beckon along with forest walks for a variety of species. But we had a ferry to catch so we continued the drive to Keystone. Of course, we did take time to check Penn Cove for bird morsels.

Anytime you have to deal with a ferry, you must be prepared to wait. At the Keystone landing, this is never a problem because once you get in line, there’s Crockett Lake to explore, along with the open fields and bluffs in and around Fort Casey State Park. The chilly south wind was biting but I did take a quick walk out to the perimeter of the lake to observe numerous northern pintails, greater and lesser yellowlegs, green-winged teal, and more northern harriers. A pair of bald eagles hovered just above the landing, pointing into the wind and barely moving their wings. Always impressive.

The same south wind created quite a bit of chop all the way to Port Townsend so the birding was difficult and challenging, with the birds riding the deep troughs between the waves. We observed common and Pacific loons, pigeon guillemots, marbled murrelets, and rhinoceros auklets en route to the northeastern part of the spectacular Olympic Peninsula. The snow-capped Olympic Mountains provided a dramatic backdrop on the glide into Port Townsend and a quick stop for a mid-morning snack.

If time is on your side or of no concern, drive into Port Townsend and take a side trip to the Fort Worden State Park Beach and the Point Wilson Lighthouse. Many brant are known to frequent the area off the beach at low tide, but this day’s tide was coming in so we had to content ourselves with a few American widgeons and pelagic and double-crested cormorants and the occasional bald eagle on a fly-by above the beach. But at least it wasn’t raining!

We stopped along the way to our objective to check the shorelines of Discovery and Sequim Bays before rolling through the bustling metropolis of Sequim, and into the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and the adjoining Dungeness Recreation Area. This area lies at the heart of the Sequim Christmas Bird Count (CBC), which is annually one of the most productive of the state’s CBCs. For future reference and for those who have the time, the campground at the recreation area is a perfect base for several days of birding hikes in the area. It’s also a short drive to the Dungeness River Audubon Center and the Railroad Bridge Trail.

The most ambitious of all hikes would be the 12-mile round trip along the outside of the spit. The inside is closed to public access to provide sanctuary for birds. Five-and-one-half miles from the parking lot is the Dungeness Light Station, a National Historic Site. Dungeness is one of the world’s longest natural sand spits and offers a unique opportunity to see large flocks of waterfowl in winter and migrating shorebirds, in both spring and fall.

Like the Semiahmoo Spit here in Whatcom County, the inside of the Dungeness Spit provides shelter for waterfowl during the stormy periods of winter. The quiet bay, with its calm waters and sand and gravel beaches, is rich with marine life and food for birds, and serves as a nursery for young salmon and steelhead. Unique among national wildlife refuges everywhere is the concept of providing protected areas for birds and other wildlife, along with viewing opportunities for those who appreciate them.

If you have the time and choose to make the hike, take food and lots of water, as well as clothing to suit any change in weather that you can imagine. Like a good scout, be prepared. For the purpose of our recent visit, we were tempted but did not give in to the urge to hike out onto the spit. It seems there’s never enough time. This is one place that requires closer inspection, but we enjoyed the relative ease of getting there from Bellingham.

On the way to the peninsula in the morning we were the first to load onto the ferry, and the last car to load on the way home. The capacity of the newer, smaller ferry that’s now making the run between Port Townsend and Keystone leaves a lot to be desired. Hopefully, the ferry system will correct this oversight sometime soon.

Quite often, the highlight of a trip comes near the end of the day. This day was no exception. As we exited the ferry at Keystone and curved past Crockett Lake in the pouring rain, the sun dropped below the clouds and an incredibly intense rainbow appeared. It was the most vivid rainbow either of us could recall seeing and it occasionally doubled as we drove. We watched this amazing sight for a full fifty minutes before it was lost in the darkening sky.

While there’s no guarantee that there will be a rainbow at the end of your day, a trip to Sequim will more than satisfy the itch to get out and explore, albeit not so far from home. In western Washington we have, quite simply, an outstanding backyard. Get out and enjoy it! §