Subject: westport to schouweiller
Date: May 13 20:00:11 2000
From: David Hayden - dtvhm at nwrain.com


Today, Ruth Sullivan and I birded out to Westport and finished at
Schouweiller. We had 66 species for the day and many hi-lites.
We started at Bottle Beach two hours before high tide. The shorebirds
were few and far in between to start, but by high tide, we had them all
at our feet. Hi-lites as follows:
LEAST SANDPIPER - 6
WESTERN SANDPIPER - 150+ (mostly all in breeding plumage)
DUNLIN - 150+ (all in breeding plumage)
GREATER YELLOWLEGS - 15 (all in breeding plumage)
SEMIPALMATED PLOVER - 22
WHIMBREL - 9
RUDDY TURNSTONE - 7 (all in breeding plumage)
BLACK BELLIED PLOVER - 100+ (mostly all in breeding plumage)
LONG BILLED DOWITCHER - 16
RED KNOT - 200+ (all in breeding plumage)
SANDERLING - 25+ (ONLY 1 in breeding plumage)
Many ORANGE CROWNED, WILSON, YELLOW, and YELLOW RUMPED WARBLERS were
seen and heard.

Next stop was at Westport. The jetty and inner bay were unproductive (to
many people in the area), so we checked out the marina. Our hi-lites
were:
6 BROWN PELICANs
3 WANDERING TATTLERs

Next was Brady Loop Rd. A major score on shorebirds and a couple of
unexpected finds. Hi-lites were:
2 LONG BILLED DOWITCHERS
12 SHORT BILLED DOWITCHERS
17 WHIMBREL
1 GREATER YELLOWLEGS
33 BLACK BELLIED PLOVERS
1 RUDDY TURNSTONE
1 VIRGINIA RAIL (calling)
2 BLACK THROATED GRAY WARBLERS (1 male - 1 female)
1 SANDHILL CRANE

Lastly was Schouweiller Rd. 1 AMERICAN BITTERN was heard calling, and we
managed to snag some dragonflies.

Dave Hayden
Lakewood