Sept. 17: Bill Tweit and I worked our way through Gray's Harbor County
today. The weather was cooperative in the morning and blustery in the
afternoon. It felt and looked like November. The highlights of the day
were:

1 Cattle Egret along Wenzel Slough Rd. - perhaps the earliest ever in
Washington.
2 Black Terns at the Hoquiam sewage pond - very unusual for the county
1 Eurasian Wigeon (female) at Westport - also very early.

Other interesting findings included 5 Green Herons, an American Bittern,
and 6 Virginia Rails at Schouweiler WRA. There were 300-400 Violet-green
Swallows inland along the Chehalis River, but only 10 or so Barn Swallows.
In the coastal areas the ratio and the numbers were just the opposite. We
found 22 shorebird species, but no snipe nor Whimbrel. Also none of the
rare or casual shorebirds (such as Stilt or Ruff) were around. Red-necked
Phalaropes were in many places with 80 at Hoquiam, and many more at Ocean
Shores and Westport.

Good birding, Tweets.

Tom Schooley, Olympia WA , dunlin at mail.tss.net