PRIME BIRD-WATCHING territory exists here on the North Olympic Peninsula, and two upcoming Christmas-time area counts are planned by the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society.
These counts occur on an annual basis and are slated for Monday, Dec. 15, in the Sequim-Dungeness area and Saturday, Jan. 3, in Port Angeles.
When I moved up to Port Angeles last December I inherited a birdhouse and a hummingbird feeder.
With winter on the way and a deck to watch the birds stop and feed, I took pity on the winged creatures and started to purchase seed and suet on a regular basis.
The feed employed hasn’t attracted the widest variety of birds, but I enjoy seeing the chickadees, finches and the pair of talkative Stellar’s Jays that come by to visit.
I’ve even represented birds: first as a Grant Street Elementary Golden Eagle and then at Blue Heron Middle School in Port Townsend.
A regular bird buddy, right here.
How can an individual join in on these avian adventures?
Start by attending a pre-Christmas bird count warm-up field trip this Saturday.
A group led by former Dungeness River Audubon Center executive director Bob Boekelheide will meet at Railroad Bridge Park at 9 a.m. Saturday, before continuing on to Dungeness Landing Park at noon.
The Christmas counts cover a 15-mile diameter circle of land.
In the Sequim-Dungeness region, the center of the count’s circle is near the intersection of Brown and Port Williams roads, with countable habitats including the Dungeness Spit, the foothills south of Sequim and west from Diamond Point to MacDonald Creek.
With that much area open for counting, there should be numerous spots in those farm fields, forested tracks and foothills for a bird or two to hide out and await their turn to be counted.
The center of the Port Angeles lies in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains south of town and trends down to include Port Angeles Harbor, a good chunk of land stretching to the Elwha River at the western boundary and Morse Creek to the eastern border.
The count also stretches up to include Hurricane Ridge.
Sea-to-ski, basically, a vast range of habitat for many varieties of birds.
Last year’s count in Sequim tallied 146 species, the largest total recorded in Washington. The Port Angeles count wasn’t far off with 121 bird species recorded.
Tides are right
Razor clam digs are open through Tuesday, but Ward Norden, a fishing tackle wholesaler and former fishery biologist tipped me to another shellfish event this week and next.
“These next two low tide series’ are the best hand-crabbing tides of this winter season,” Norden said.
“Hand-crabbing is done when the tide is low enough that one can wade into grass beds and rocks where the crabs are hiding and just pick them up, both rock crabs and Dungeness crabs.”
As he’s grown older and has tired of being pinched by a sharp set of claws, Norden switched from collecting by hand to employing a salmon landing net to corral the critters
“This week’s best tides are on Friday and Saturday night,” Norden said.
“Some really good hand- crabbing areas are the mouth of the Pysht River out west near Clallam Bay, Dungeness Bay and the mouth of Mystery Bay [Kilisuit Harbor] in Fort Flagler State Park, if you can get into the park after dark.”
Norden recommends bringing along a powerful spotlight, a long-handled net and a bucket, and wearing waders that reach to at least your thigh on these harvest adventures.
“In that powerful battery spotlight, the crabs are super-easy to spot,” Norden said.
“The only thing that holds me back are ice storms or sideways rain.
“In two weeks will be the final series of those tides.”
Dungeness crab does sound like a delightful departure from, or addition to, a Christmas dinner.
Good luck with whatever shelled species you try to track down.
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Outdoors columnist Michael Carman appears here Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
