Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded mainly the Ocean Shores area and vicinity,
after checking briefly, with NO LUCK, by the "single observer"sighting of
the LITTLE BLUE HERON that was supposably present north of Olympia earlier
in the week. The main highlights of the day were made at Ocean Shores
despite the severe wind, coming off the coast, and occasional showers,
which included one first-winter SABINE'S GULL off the Ocean Shores jetty,
and a pair of REDHEAD on the Ocean Shores Golf Course. The EURASIAN
DOTTEREL was present by two observers today at 12pm on the Ocean Shores
Game Range, but we missed the bird by a few minutes, which was later
pursued most of the afternoon, with NO LUCK, by several birders, eventhough
the wind kept up. By 4pm the tide began to come in, and approxiametly
5-6,000+ Dunlin flew in onto the game range from the east, and landed along
the exposed sandy landstrips, with 250+ WESTERN SANDPIPERS, and several
Sanderlings. The Black-bellied Plovers were few, but were present, as were
2 S.B.DOWITCHERS, 17 L.B.DOWITCHERS, 12 BLACK TURNSTONES, and 34 LEAST
SANDPIPERS. 2 PEREGRINE FALCONS and a MERLIN were also observed on the game
range in the afternoon, amongst the large flocks of shorebirds. Other birds
on the game range incuded all 3 scoters, 3 BONEAPARTE'S GULLS, 4 HERRING
GULLS, 3 GR.YELLOWLEGS,12 AM.PIPITS, and 6 LAPLAND LONGSPURS. The
first-winter SABINE'S GULL was seen off the O.S.jetty, in a gull flock
mixed with a few BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES. The O.S.Golf Course produced 2
GR.WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, as well as the pair of REDHEAD on the back side of
the course in a pond, across from the fire station. At Bill's Spit the
regular local flock of MARBLED GODWITS and L.B.CURLEWS were present at high
tide. The Hoquim S.T.P. was quite productive for waterfowl, including 78
CANVASBACKS, 2 GR.WHITE-FRONTED GEESE with 7 "Cackling"Canada Geese, 1
EURASIAN WIGEON(on Bowerman Basin), 5 BONEAPARTE'S GULLS, 1 MERLIN, and
both SURF and WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS. In Elma, further inland a single
BONEAPARTE'S GULL, and 2 W.SCRUB JAYS in nearby Satsop.

Good Birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net