Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded mainly Thurston Co., and partially in Grays
Harbor Co., with the highlight of the day being a RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER at
Black Lake Meadows, at 9:30am, probably being the first Thurston Co.
record. Greg Pelletier, and his wife joined us for 3 hours in the morning,
as we started out the day to a great start at Black Lake Meadows, with 5
total new species to the site today, putting "our" personal site list at
118 species. Other quality birds at this location during our stay included:


1 SORA
5 VIRGINIA RAILS(with 3 birds walking/running over pathway at very close
range)
1 adult PEREGRINE FALCON
75 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS(2 flocks of 35/40 flying over to the west of the
wetland)
7 COMMON SNIPES
1 pair of WOOD DUCKS
1 pair of RING-NECKED DUCKS
3 N.ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS
12 AM.PIPITS
1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBER
2 C.YELLOWTHROATS
1 LINCOLN'S SPARROWS

The rail observations were rewarding, as most of us don't often see them
at close rangen, and for the quantity of birds in a limited area. The
sapsucker was a truely unexpected find, as it was a migrant, and all four
of us got to see it, before it finally flew out of our sight. A return to
the location at late afternoon, could not produce the bird. After leaving
the Pelletier's at 10am, my mother and I headed west to the Hoquim STP,
where the only highlight was 95 BONEAPARTE'S GULLS, but NO Tufted Duck.
Heading back east towards home, we stopped along Brady Loop Rd., where 2
pair of CINNAMON TEAL, 1 female AM.KESTREL, and 3 BARN SWALLOWS were noted.
At the Schouweiler Rd./Chehalis Wildlife Area Wetland, west of Elma, 8
VIRGINIA RAILS were heard, and 15 R.N.DUCKS, 1 OSPREY, 1 COOPER'S HAWK, and
3 N.ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS were among the highlights. The pair of OSPREY are
on nest at Montesano along Hwy.12., with another pair at Elma near Vance
Creek County Park. At the late afternoon visit to Black Lake Meadows, we
were joined by Scott Downes, and Ryan Shaw, then later met at the Lacey
Clearcut, along with the Pelletier's, where a fairly brief, but rewarding
last bird of the day a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, otherwise this location was
very quite of birdlife, unlike the AM visit to Black Lake Meadows, before
10am.

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net