Hi Tweets -

A slightly belated report on a Seattle Audubon trip yesterday to the
Tokeland and Bottle Beach area and other parts of Grays Harbor County.
We started out with a stop a Bottle Beach on the incoming tide. High fog
when
we first got there with a zillion shorebirds and ducks, and lots of
RING-BILLED GULLS, then the fog ropped and things got hazy. As the fog
thinned we got some nice views of about 2000 WESTERN SANDPIPERS, 2-300
SANDERLINGS, maybe 300 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS and a few LEAST SANDPIPERS.
Lots of AMERICAN WIGEON and NORTHERN PINTAILS, but the fog precluded
digging others out. Just as the fog seemed to be lifting a falcon came
shooting in - turned out to be an immature PEREGRINE FALCON. The
inexperience of this bird really showed - many multiple passes with
inefficient wing beating. The bird finally made a partial strike on a
small shorebird which dropped into the water. The Peregrine made several
passes trying to pick it off the surface, but lost its breakfast when a
couple of Glaucous-winged Gulls swam over and retrieved the meal. The
Peregrine perched on an old piling and caught its breath. By this time
the shorebirds were really wary, not settling down for longer than about
30 seconds. Just when everybody seemed to be relaxing, the falcon did it
all over again for awhile before flying away. Pandemonium reigned, and
wasn't helped when a MERLIN came zooming in, made a quick pass and left.
Well, there were probably a number of other shorebird species there, but
we got a great show.

On the walk into and out of Bottle Beach we saw RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET,
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, WINTER WREN (heard), SONG SPARROW and heard a
VIRGINIA RAIL.

On to Tokeland, where we had clear skies, bright sun and ideally placed
godwits. All 400+ godwits were
perched on a floating dock right by the road. It only took about two
minutes to find the three BAR-TAILED
GODWITS among all those MARBLED. They really stood out with their light
bellies, nicely patterned backs, and eyelines. After scanning from the
walkway for some time, we walked around on the road so the sun was at
our backs and enjoyed scoping them from about 40 feet. Great views of
both godwit species as well as
WHIMBRELS, WILLETS, DOWITCHERS and YELLOWLEGS. While watching the
godwits we also looked out into Willapa Bay and studied several COMMON
and RED-THROATED LOONS. We then had a string of what must have been over
a thousand DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS come in from the northwest and
settle down on the water. Largest concentration of cormorants I have
ever seen. Walking out to the public access we got good looks at gulls
on the pier - GLAUCOUS-WINGED, CALIFORNIA, HEERMANN'S and a HERRING. Had
some WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS there also. Later from the beach near the RV
park we had CASPIAN TERN and a single LONG-BILLED CURLEW.

We stopped at a couple of spots up by Westport and picked up SURF SCOTER
and PELAGIC and BAIRD?S CORMORANTs. Not much else around, too many
surfers and jet skis I guess. We did the Brady Loop on the way home and
picked up SAVANNAH and GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS.

All in all a great day in super weather. We totaled 70 species for the
day, but the looks we got made it all
special.

Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Red-necked Grebe
Western Grebe
Brown Pelican
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Surf Scoter
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Ring-necked Pheasant
Virginia Rail
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Long-billed Curlew
Bar-tailed Godwit
Marbled Godwit
Sanderling
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Bonaparte's Gull
Heerman's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Caspian Tern
Rock Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Steller's Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Winter Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow