Subject: Belated trip report, Ocean Shores & Tokeland, 9/22/99
Date: Sep 24 08:42:43 1999
From: Michael Hobbs - Hummer at isomedia.com


Belated trip report, Ocean Shores & Tokeland, 9/22/99. This is a couple of
days late -- sorry.

On Wednesday, I went to Tokeland, Bottle Beach, Bill's Spit, and Damon Point.
While the weather was nice in Seattle, it was dark and foggy on the coast.
Scoping of shorebirds was hampered by the fog and low light levels. In
general, there wasn't a whole lot out there.

On my way to Tokeland from Raymond, there was a Great Horned Owl sitting on the
side of the road. I pulled a U-turn and went back to make sure it wasn't
injured. It seemed rather annoyed to have someone looking at it, picked itself
up, and flew off. Also along the way was a Greater Yellowlegs.

At the Tokeland marina there were about 150 Marbled Godwit, at least 13 Willet,
Short-billed Dowitcher, Western and Least Sandpiper, and Semipalmated Plover.
I searched and searched for a Hudsonian amongst the Marbleds, but to no avail.

At Bottle Beach there were 4 Marbled Godwit, a Whimbrel, peeps, and about 50
large plovers. Two were clearly Pacific Golden-Plover. I suspect that most of
the rest were Black-bellied Plover, but the fog was too thick and the light too
dim. In the bushes near the beach were a Purple Finch and my first Fox Sparrow
of the fall. On my way back to the car, I flushed a Barn Owl.

I got to Bill's spit about a 1/2 hour after high tide and found only two
shorebirds present. Both kept their bills firmly lodged under their wings for
almost the whole time, but one did look up briefly, showing its long, large
downcurved bill -- a Long-billed Curlew.

At the pond at Damon Point there was one Pectoral Sandpiper and one American
Pipit. As I walked back to the car, two Whimbrel flew right over my head, not
more that 10 feet up. I tracked them in my binoculars the whole way - an
amazing experience.

At all stops there were large numbers (30+ at each stop) of Brown Pelican. In
Tokeland there were perhaps 100 Heerman's Gull, an I saw Heerman's in small
numbers at just about every other stop.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== hummer at isomedia.com