Having jinxed the Sunday Westport Seabirds voyage for the third or fourth
straight time, I took an abbreviated trip to the ocean to look at the
shorebird situation. There were lots of people and a reasonable number of
birds, including Caspian Terns and a few Bonaparte's Gulls, at midday at
Bowerman. I then left for my really favorite Bottle Beach, and arrived at
high tide. Sometimes this is not too good a time, since the beach is very
flat, and there may be no room for birds, but this was not a high high
tide, and I was delighted to find a mixed flock about 3000 huddled together
less than 100 feet from where the trail meets the beach. These were mostly
the same species as at Bowerman -- Dunlins, Western Sandpipers, Knots,
Dowitchers, Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers -- with the exception of
a single Long-billed Curlew looking strangely out of place, and two Greater
Yellowleg, which noisily announced their arrival. The flock would
occasionally take off and form an expanding and contracting elastic cloud,
eventually settling back down on the beach, with the individual species
going back to their preferred place in the flock. One flock of about 100
Knots stayed particularly banded together. I didn't know whether to gloat
or feel guilty that I was the only person present to see this. At this
range I convinced myself that I could pick out a few Long-billed Dowitchers
from among the Short, based on bars versus spots, but I wouldn't bet too
much on it. I couldn't claim a Pacific Golden Plover, however, and I was
really looking for them, since I had seen quite a few recently in Hawaii.
There was also a flock of about 80 Brant, first diving for eel grass in the
shallow water, and then picking it up from the mud as the tide went out.
After about two hours a few additional birders arrived. By then the birds
had spread out quite a bit, but it was still a great scene. By the way,
Nancy from Kingston, the gate was open.

My next stop was at Brady's Oysters, from where one gets a good view of the
end of South Bay. While munching a crab cocktail I watched more of the
same shorebirds, a lot more Brants, good numbers of Common Loons,
Whimbrels, and a flock of about 40 Greater Scaups.

The next morning was also quite good at Tokeland Marina, except for the
chilling wind, and eventually the rain, which sent me packing. There were
about a dozen Whimbrels working the mud, within good photo range, along
the shore, and perhaps 20 Common Loons in beautiful plumage, and good
number of Western Grebes, swimming around the basin. I hiked out on the
jetty, and got a look at good numbers of shorebirds feeding in the green
covered mudflat beyond the oyster beds to the N. These were the same
species as the day before, with the addition of Marbled Godwits, and there
were also quite a few Red-breasted Mergansers in the shallow water. I did
not see any of the Long-billed Curlews, which were so plentiful during the
Winter. While watching the birds, I had forgotten about the cold, but came
back to reality when my frozen hand had a hard time turning my car key in
the lock.

Chuck Pell
Seattle