January 12, 2025
Three days ago my birding guru, Denny, challenged me. More correctly, he posed a personal challenge for me, no challenge for him at all. Because I have significantly decreased my birding and photo-birding outings in the past couple years, but still manage to get a dozen photos to create a new calendar (mostly taken in our yard), his purpose in this challenge is to get me out birding again, and stimulate my interest in pursuing a different pathway than I've done before. Specifically, chase every Code 5 bird reported in Clallam County this year, and get twelve calendar quality photos for the 2026 calendar.
Hmmmm...this prompted me to make a spreadsheet of every Code 5 bird reported in Clallam County in each of the past ten years. If you aren't familiar with this code system click the link in the previous sentence. Are there really a dozen Code 5s likely in a year? Turns out that except for 2020-2022 when we were all hunkered down during COVID, there have been 15-32 Code 5s each year. There were 15 Code 5s in 2024 and Denny saw seven of them. And he was out looking! Not likely that I could find 12. That is hard work and I'm getting old.
I do have an alternative though, and will explore it on this page. Going through my photo archives I discovered I have photograhped 18 Code 5 birds in Clallam County since 2009. Below are my favorite shots of each one. A few of these have made it to previous calendars. We'll see if there are 12 that meet my standard for the 2026 calendar.
The following images are in chronological order. Dates, locations, and current code status are in the caption below the image. The story of the Burrowing Owl is in the column at the right.
Purple Martins, 3 Crabs Road, Dungeness, WA. 4/27/2009 (now Code 2)
Eurasian Collared Doves, Dungeness, WA. 8/27/2009 (now Code 1)
Tropical Kingbird, 3 Crabs Road, Dungeness, WA. 10/25/2011 (now Code 3)
Black-crowned Night-Heron, Dungeness,WA. 11/17/2011 (still Code 5)
Rock Wren, Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, WA. 1/29/2012 (now Code 4)
Northern Mockingbird, Port Angeles, WA. 1/29/2012 (now Code 3)
Snowy Plover, Dungeness Spit. 4/21/2012 (now Code 4)
American White Pelicans, 3 Crabs Beach, Dungeness, WA. 5/19/2012 (now Code 4)
Burrowing Owl, Port Williams. 12/13/2012 (still Code 5)
Hudsonian Godwit, 3 Crabs Beach. 9/8/2013 (still Code 5)
Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Sanderling, Dungeness Spit. 9/16/2013 (now Code 4)
Western Scrub-Jay, Dungeness, WA. 10/18/2013 (now Code 3 California Scrub-Jay)
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, 3 Crabs Beach. 9/9/2016 (now Code 4)
Phainopepla and Steller's Jay, Railroad Bridge Park. 9/20/2018 (still Code 5)
Red-naped Sapsucker. 4/4/2019 (still Code 5)
Arctic Loon, Port Angeles Harbor. 1/11/2025 (still Code 5)
Tufted Duck, Carrie Blake Park, Sequim, WA. 1/14/2025 (still Code 5)
Bird of the Day
09/U
(Click each image for a larger view.)
The Burrowing Owl is small...about 9-10"...weighing only 5-6 ounces. It has been described as a "short, fat little owl on stilts, about the size of a can of pop". These owls make their homes in the ground, often in abandoned marmot or badger burrows. Although a migratory bird, sometimes traveling 2600 miles from their breeding grounds, some may travel only a few hundred miles. And many never return.
This is the story of 09/U, a young male Burrowing Owl who spent the winter of 2012 near Washington Harbor in Sequim, WA. First seen on December 4th by Glen G., this Clallam County Code 5 bird created a lot of excitement. But he was hard to find, after a one-mile beach hike, and only a few avid birders made the effort and succeeded.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Bob B. called me during my morning workout. He said there was a banded Burrowing Owl near Washington Harbor, and he was leading a small group out to try to find it. Would I like to go join them, and try to get a picture of the bands for possible identification? OF COURSE I WOULD! Unfortunately we could not find it that day. Just as well, as I discovered that I left my camera battery in the charger and would not have been able to take any pictures. I did have a little point-and-shoot camera with me, and this is the habitat where the owl was last seen...a little brown bird on a gray-brown background.
The burrow is in a hollow log
Thursday, December 13, 2012
We found the owl on our second trip, about 30' above the beach. It made its burrow in a hollow log, after digging out some sand that partially filled it. If you click each of the three images on the top row to your left, you can see the log and the pile of sand that it excavated. The white feathers in the grass are probably from a Sanderling or Dunlin that it feasted on.
A high perch to view his domain
Even knowing where the owl was, if I looked away for a few seconds I had trouble finding it again. It just blended in with the background, especially when it stood in front of the burrow. It was easier to see when it hopped up on the nearby log.
Although the owl was obviously aware of us, it didn't seem much bothered by our presence as we stood quietly admiring it. With my 500mm lens I was able to get plenty of pictures of the bands. The image at the top of this column was sufficient for Bob to track down the biologist, Dave Low, who banded this bird, and learn its history.
According to Dave Low, 09/U was a wild hatchling in June 2011 near Kamloops, BC, where the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of British Columbia is trying to reestablish a colony. He was the first chick to hatch from his brood, and very aggressive, kicking his dad off territory during his first winter. 09/U disappeared from the Kamloops area in early to mid-November 2012, and was first reported near Sequim, 220 miles away, on December 4th. Dave said he hoped 09/U would return to the breeding grounds by March to carry on his responsibilities to the colony.
Although I hiked out to look for 09/U eight times, I only found him three times. He may have been sitting there in plain sight and I just couldn't find him. But his burrow was in an area where I regularly saw somebody walkng a dog off leash, and the dog was racing around all over that area, so it probably hid out a lot during the day.
The last report of 09/U at Washington Harbor was 2/21/2013. On 3/20/2013 he showed up back on his breeding site, and had a female with him. On June 26th, Dave wrote to say that his mate laid 9 eggs, and that the chicks were now four weeks old. He had just banded them. Unfortunately, nobody thought to bring a camera that day, so I can't include a picture of the happy family.
The Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of BC maintains an active Facebook page with many photos and entertainging videos of their owls.
09/U - Attitude to spare
Dow - 02/08/2014
