Last Sunday night, stayed at the Tokeland Hotel, got up,
looked out the window and saw a large shorebird foraging on
the very wet grass (it rains a lot in the winter there) in front of
the hotel. Binocs revealed a WHIMBREL. We watched it
forage actively for some minutes, then suddenly crouch down
on the ground and look up slightly. I looked up too and
spotted an adult PEREGRINE flying over. Fortunately for the
whimbrel the peregrine took no notice of it. Moments later,
two adult BALD EAGLES flew nearby and one landed on top
of a large spruce. All of this in the space of 15 minutes, and
before we had even stepped foot out of the hotel!! And we
only paid $25 for the room as a mid-winter special!

This boded well for a day of birding that followed, January 19.
Highlights at Tokeland included
250+ MARBLED GODWITS
2 WHIMBRELS
48 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS
1 WILLET
40 BRANT

At mouth of North River there was a loose flock of 45
GREATER YELLOWLEGS, quite large for the winter I
thought.

Lots of BALD EAGLES, few RED-TAILS or HARRIERS, no
ROUGH-LEGS around north Willapa that day.

Another shorebird note, is I hit the tide just right at Kennedy
Creek, Thurston/Mason Co line, on Jan 2, and counted 230
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS. Nearby Skookum Inlet had 22
BBPL. I have seen over 200 BBPL at Kennedy Creek during
other winters also. This number seems astounding to me
compared to other South Sound localities. Does anyone
know of other sites south of Snohomish County in Puget
Sound with large numbers of wintering Black-bellies? And
then... why Kennedy Creek?

Chris Chappell
Olympia
chris.chappell at wadnr.gov