I hit Bowerman Basin, Bottle Beach, Westport, Grayland, and Tokeland today on a
whirlwind tour. Quite a bit of good stuff, actually.

The best sighting were 8-10 FORK-TAILED STORM PETREL right inside the marina at
Westport. I sat on the end of the dock and photographed them from as little as
3 feet away (those shots will be out of focus, since my camera can't focus
closer than 6 feet). There was also a gorgeous breeding-plumaged Brant's
Cormorant in the marina. On the rocks out from the observation platform were 8
Black Turnstone and 4 Wandering Tatler.

Also, at the Bay City bridge, just east of Westport, there was a GREAT EGRET.
I parked at Brady's Oysters, and could see it from there with a scope. There
were also at least 30 Common Loon, 1 breeding plumage Horned Grebe, and 8
Brant.

At Bowerman, there were lots of shorebirds in the falling tide at about 8:00
a.m. Certainly in the tens of thousands, probably close to 100,000. The ones
I could identify in distant scoping included Western (and Least?) Sandpiper,
Semipalmated Plover, Red Knot, Dowitchers, Greater Yellowlegs, Dunlin,
Black-bellied Plover, and one each of Ruddy Turnstone and Whimbrel. Also,
there were two AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. A Merlin gave me a great look before
chasing after peeps again.

In the sewage lagoons were around 50 Red-necked Phalarope.

At Bottle Beach, at low tide, were a few more Phalarope. Several flocks of
Greater White-fronted Goose, totalling at least 500 birds also flew by. A
block before Bottle Beach was a flock of Canada Goose with one each of
White-Fronted and Snow Goose.

At Grayland there were also thousands of shorebirds, including Sanderling.

At Tokeland were Marbled Godwit, Whimbrel, and both Yellowlegs.

All in all, a great day's birding, interspersed with frequent showers.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== MJCT_Hobbs at msn.com