On Sunday, Heather and I enjoyed a leisurely trek out to Tokeland and Bottle
Beach - there are definite advantages to a 2:00pm high tide.

We arrived at Bottle Beach (east of Westport) at 12:00 and found the tide in
far enough that the most of the birds were close to shore. The ruler of the
roost was a nice adult PEREGRINE FALCON. Scattered across the mudflats
were:
300+ Black-bellied Plovers
12 Semipalmated Plovers
20 Sanderlings
12 Least Sandpipers
20 Western Sandpipers

On the coast side just north of Tokeland (near the RV park) we spotted:
5 Long-billed Curlews
1 Whimbrel
15 Black-bellied Plovers
10 Caspian Terns

The near sandspit was just starting to go under water, so I'd recommend
getting there at least 1 hour before high tide. Otherwise they move out
quite aways to the far sandspit, but you can still identify most of the
birds with a good scope.

At about 2:00pm we started are search for the Hudsonian Godwit, amongst the
300+ MARBLED GODWITS. Maybe it was the latest of the day and the cloudy
weather, but this was one sedate group of Godwits. For the next 2 hours
various birders rotated through and the godwits barely even raised their
heads. In the meantime we were able to tease out of the rip rap boulders:
3 Whimbrels - they roosted at the top edge of the rip rap
30 Long-billed Dowitchers
14 Willets
and finally the flock rose into the air. We were ready and figured the
white rump patch would be an easy mark and boy were we wrong. Between the
flashing white wings stripes of the Willets and the white rump patches of
the Dowitchers, there was quite a bit of white flashing in the flock and
just when we thought we saw the Hudsonian the flock would wheel back in a
different direction. It turned out to be a very humbling experience. My
saving grace in all this was that I was able to pick out all the Whimbrels.
Fortunately, the flock did come back and as the settled back into roost we
saw a white rump flash, along with a big bill - the HUSDONIAN GODWIT at
last.

This bird was not all that easy to pick out of the crowd. While it was
paler than the MAGO, it was still brown, but lacked the reddish tones. It
had a nice distinct white eyeline, but it liked to keep its head tucked way
in most of the time we were watching. The bill was bi-colored and appeared
shorter than the bills of the MAGO standing next to it. The body size
seemed only slightly smaller. At roost the best distinguishing feature was
the black tail feathers that could be seen when the bird stood sideways (but
the bird loved to taunt us by roosting with its breast towards us). The
white rump was observed when it first landed and preened itself.

Good luck in checking this bird out. We did take turns wandering the
neighborhood for a WHITE-WINGED DOVE that had been spotted next to the
Marina on Friday, but no luck. Does a lone Rock Dove count?

Good Birding,

Marcus Roening Tacoma,WA
MDR51044 at GlaxoWellcome.com