Subject: Fw: Grays County Harbor weekend: 19-21 September 1997
Date: Sep 22 07:47:25 1997
From: "Andy Stepniewski" - steppie at wolfenet.com




----------
> From: Andy Stepniewski <steppie at wolfenet.com>
> To: TWEETERS <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Grays County Harbor weekend: 19-21 September 1997
> Date: Sunday, September 21, 1997 10:05 PM
>
> Fellow Tweets,
>
> Denny Granstrand and I birded Grays Harbor County Friday through Sunday.
> Friday we started at Bowerman Basin where the highlight was a
> juvenal-plumaged Ruff which Denny saw coming in overhead from the
mudflats
> on Bowerman Basin to a wet swale besides the runway on the airfield just
> south of the basin. It was great that Denny spied his own life Ruff,
which
> we enjoyed for 15 minutes or so. It was especially nice to see it
> side-by-side with Pectoral Sandpipers. The difference in size between the
> two species is dramatic.
>
> Bowerman was also crawling with Sandhill Cranes-we counted and heard 76
of
> these majestic birds right by the runway. Also there were a lone Snow and
> White-fronted Goose.
>
> The shrubbery along the paved walk west from the parking area was alive
> with Yellow Warblers and fewer numbers of Orange-crowned, "Audubon's" and
> "Myrtle" Yellow-rumped Warblers. Yellowthroats were still around too. All
> the warblers were moving east along the shrubbery implying they had flown
> from the north overnight and met the open waters of Grays Harbor, gotton
> nervous by all the water and were skirting the bay by hugging land. We
also
> saw Vaux's Swifts flying east just north of Bowerman Basin, also
apparently
> avoiding flying over water.
>
> This leads me to question if a number of migrant passerines in fall are
> more common on the inland and northern side of Grays Harbor than on the
> south side? The channel between Ocean Shores and Westport is not that
wide,
> but it might be a sufficient deterrent to a number of land birds.
>
> The Oyhut Game Range at Ocean Shores was vastly different from my last
> visit before the great winter storms of several winters ago. I really
> didn't recognize the configuration of the inlets at all. At first I
thought
> the difference in tides might be goofing me up, but as the tide changed,
I
> realized an entire part of the inlet and Salicornia marsh was gone.
> Shorebird habitat is therefore less expansive than before the devastating
> storm or storms.
>
> We did have great views of roosting golden-plovers. It was also my first
> opportunity to study Pacific Golden-Plovers and American Golden-Plovers
> together since all us birders gained a species a few years back.
Structural
> differences between the two seemed one way to separate them.
> We had bright sunshine so several brightly gold-spangled fulvas were
quite
> obvious from the duller dominicas. Most of the birds were not obvious,
though. And, >what if it had been a cloudy day and coloration of all birds
became muted?
> Then, the dainty and smallish fulva should still be easily told from the
> larger, bulky-headed dominica. I still was not at all comfortable with
> confidently naming all these birds, though.

>It's much easier in Alaska in the breeding season. In breeding plumage,
they look >different. They also segregate themselves habitat-wise: the
fulva is a coastal and >lowland breeder, while dominica is on the upland
tundra away from the immediate
> coast.
>
> We spent an hour at the wildlife viewing area off North Bay Rd northeast
of
> Damon Point and had 40 Long-billed Curlews, 20 Marbled Godwits and gobs
of
> Harbor Seals snorting away in the bay. This is really a wonderful vantage
> point. Too bad accessit is almost entirely surrounded by a private
housing
> development.
>
> A trip to Ocean Shores wouldn't be complete without a Peregrine. We had
> close views of an immature bird ripping away at some feathered prey on a
> gravel bar.
>
> Saturday was the far-out boat trip which continued 1997's trend of low
> diversity and numbers of many sought-after pelagic species. I was
> especially amazed at how few Sooty Shearwaters we saw. I didn't see the
> final tally, but don't believe we saw a 100! There was only a couple
> Pink-foots and a handful of Bullers Shearwaters. Black-footed Albatrosses
> were scarce also, as were jaegers. Red Phalaropes, South Polar Skuas and
> Arctic Terns were also absent. Should unusually warm ocean temperatures
be
> blamed for such a poor showing of pelagic birds off Washington this year?
> Northern Fulmars and Cassin's Auklets were the only offshore birds seen
in
> good numbers.
>
> A migrant Short-eared Owl cruising across the ocean was a highlight for
> most on board the Monte Carlo, as was our great views of a transient pod
of
> Orca which were cruising south about 10 miles west of Westport.
>
> On shore again, we checked Tokeland Marina at high tide for shorebirds
and
> found about 5 Willets, 40 Greater Yellowlegs, 10 Marbled Godwit, and
> several Whimbrels.
>
> Sunday we poked away in the spruce forests along the Johns River Road
> southwest of Aberdeen and south of Hwy 12. I was hoping for migrants, but
> found relatively few birds except for resident Chestnut-backed Chickadees
> and Golden-crowned Kinglets. We did add Brown Creeper and a stunningly
> beautiful maleTownsend's Warbler here, though.
>
> A real highlight of our return was a visit to the Chehalis Wildlife Area,
a
> cooperative Department of Wildlife and Ducks Unlimited parcel south on
> Schouweiler Rd. (west of Elma). Here were American Bittern, a constant
> chorus of Virginia Rails and more snipe than either of us had seen
before.
> Somehow we missed the Green Herons which eveyone else has been seeing
there
> in good numbers. Never mind; this is a really nice spot!
>
> We finished with 120 species, including 24 shorebirds. If Grays Harbor
> weren't so far, us Eastsiders might undertake the pilgrimage over there
> more often!
>
> Andy Stepniewski
> Wapato WA
>
> All told
>
> Savannah Sparrows were everywhere, as was to be the case at Ocean Shores
> and in the Westport area.
>