This red phalarope dropped into the Chinook harbor for a rest and to feed.

The other day I went birding at three harbors, namely, Chinook, Ilwaco and Nahcotta harbors. It was an excellent birding day. The harbors abounded with birds that day. Some were close enough for photos and a good look!

All three harbors produced a belted kingfisher that was either resting on a piling or hovering high above the water in search of a small fish. Buffleheads were also seen at each of the harbors. Most of the birds were females. The female bufflehead has an oval white cheek patch behind its eye on a dark brown head, while the male sports a large triangular white patch on the head. Buffleheads dive for their prey which includes insects when in fresh water and mollusks and crustaceans when in salt water.

Ilwaco harbor

The Ilwaco harbor is usually excellent for birding, especially if the tide is out or some of the muddy shoreline along the road is visible. Brewer’s blackbirds and least sandpipers were seen poking their bills in the mud and in and around sticks and small rocks for food. One great blue heron was sitting on the rockier areas of the shoreline, and another was sitting on one of the boat docks. Several were foraging in Baker Bay.

To my surprise, a great egret was foraging in the wetland that can be seen to the south of the recycling bins. Its snow-white plumage stood out as it waded and stalked though the vegetation. Great egrets have been spotted on and off this winter.

A great blue was also looking for a meal. The shoreline of Baker’s Bay as seen from the same vantage point was lined with resting mallards and a few double-crested cormorants.

Grebes seem to frequent our harbors. I saw at least one pied-billed grebe, which is the smallest of our grebes, in the Ilwaco and Chinook harbors. Two female hooded mergansers were foraging in the Ilwaco harbor, too. These brown looking females appear to have had a bad hair day when their reddish-brown crests are raised.

Chinook harbor

As mentioned, bufflehead and pied-billed grebes were busy foraging in the Chinook harbor. The treats of the day included a common loon and a red phalarope. Ebird is reporting many sightings of the phalarope in Pacific County this winter. Red phalaropes are occasional in the fall but not normally seen during the winter months. This was a special sighting for me.

Of the three harbors, Chinook is usually the quietest one for birds at this time of year.

Nahcotta, Port of Peninsula

Nahcotta is a busy place. With oyster boats coming and going either unloading at the dock or going out to tend to the oysters, birding is very good.

I was able to observe horned grebes in winter plumage, western grebes, pied billed grebes and two female common mergansers. A bald eagle was waiting in the wings, so to speak, along the shoreline for something delicious to snatch. The tide was out but on its way in. Least sandpipers, dunlin, and killdeer were taking advantage of what the mudflats had to offer. Some of the killdeer were just lounging near the rocky edge of the parking lot.

I also checked on the huge piles of oyster shells in the parking lot opposite one of the entrances to the harbor (275th street). Glaucous-winged gulls, American crows and a few common ravens were feasting on the tidbits that were left clinging to the shucked shells. Nahcotta is one place you can always be sure to see glaucous-winged gulls.

My day looking for birds at the three harbors was very rewarding. If you feel like going for a drive one day. Try a visit to one or all these harbors. You will always see something amazing, but then all birds are amazing! Happy birding!