Hi Tweets,

Terry Risdon and I birded s.w. Washington the last couple of
days. One place we stopped was near Bay Center Junction in
Pacific County today between 3:20 p.m. and dusk when
we were stunned to find a sub-adult WHITE IBIS feeding in a
heavily grazed field with many crows.

This was a dusky, all white bird, larger than a curlew, with black
tips to the outer primaries (wingtips). The long decurved bill
was pinkish. The long legs were pink. Facial skin appeared
concolor with bill color. Distance did not afford an assessment
of eye color. The duskiness to the white plumage along with
the muted soft part coloration suggested to us this was a sub-adult
bird. The bird flew with quick shallow wingbeats.

To get to the area where we saw it, drive south of Raymond
(or drive north of Willapa NWR) on Hwy 101. At the south side
of the bridge over the Palix River, turn west onto Bay Center
Dike Road. The ibis was seen on the south side of this road
between 0.5 and 0.7 miles of Hwy 101. It appears to be
associating with a large flock of crows because as dusk fell, the
whole flock including the ibis took off together and flew to the
south, presumably to roost for the night.

The bird appeared to be quite healthy as it actively foraged for
food in this large expansive, heavily grazed rangeland located
across the road from the Palix River mouth. I hope it will
return with the crows to this field in the days ahead. I took
some dreadfully long distance photos of it flying and feeding.
It was originally very close to the road.

Steve Mlodinow tells me there are no previous state records
for this species. We sure hope it sticks around for others to
see!

Carl B. Haynie
Sammamish, WA
chandtr at home.com