Subject: Ocean Shores 10/8
Date: Oct 9 09:49:38 2000
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


Hello, tweeters.

Drizzly, dreary day (one of those days when you're underdressed and
eventually soaked) Sunday at Ocean Shores was nonetheless interesting for
birds. At the jetty in late morning, flock after flock of dabbling ducks
moved by heading south, some of the flocks up to 100 or so birds. Most of
them contained a majority of Northern Pintails and American Wigeons, but
many had Green-winged
Teals and shovelers as well, occasionally a Surf Scoter. Also a few flocks
that were almost purely Green-winged Teal, and these, interestingly,
typically flew much lower, often right at the water's surface. These small
ducks perhaps were not able to make as much headway into the light SW
wind--yet they did fine within the flocks of their larger relatives. Only
one flock of Surf Scoters, interesting because scoters had dominated the
migration on the morning of 9/23, when we went out of the harbor on a
pelagic trip. Interestingly, in many years of seeing these ducks migrate by
there, I've never seen a Mallard or Gadwall. Apparently coastal migration
isn't one of
the strategies of those two species (although Gadwalls aren't very common
to the north, anyway). Greater Scaups are also common coastal migrants,
but--other than a few Lesser Scaups in with the Greaters--I've never seen
any other pochards
out there either.

We found two centers of shorebird activity, at the base (N side) of the
Catala Spit/Damon Point and at the big pond halfway out the spit. In both
places, birds were both roosting and actively feeding as the tide started
out. Combining these two, and other shorebirds seen on the walk to the tip
(asterisked species presumably still in migration):

Black-bellied Plover - 40
Semipalmated Plover* - 2 (base)
Killdeer - 8
Greater Yellowlegs* - 25 (flock flew over, one on pond)
Whimbrel* - 6 (out on the spit)
Marbled Godwit* - 29 (base)
Black Turnstone - 30 (surprising to see so many, feeding at both places)
Sanderling - 70 (tip)
Western Sandpiper* - 150
Least Sandpiper* - 8
Pectoral Sandpiper* - 3 (pond)
Dunlin - 90
Long-billed Dowitcher* - 50 (pond)

An adult female Peregrine Falcon made a pass at the pond shorebirds, but we
didn't see the results. Several harriers were quartering the dunes, and the
shorebirds were flushed again and again, so we got a lot of looks at flight
patterns and a lot of listening to flight calls. It makes me feel a little
less bad at flushing them myself, because I think being on the alert and on
the move is the norm for their life in the midst of all the raptors that
hunt them. Actually, they let us get surprisingly close, considering they
were literally on their toes with the raptors hanging about, so they appear
to be able to distinguish a birder from a hawk. They were very nervous,
though, so a single crow or gull flying close enough could spook the entire
flock.

At the tip, in a sparse thicket of Scots broom and Hooker willow, a
smattering of birds popped into the open when I pished:
Spotted Towhee - 3
AMERICAN TREE SPARROW - 1 (good lengthy look at this colorful little bird
and--somewhat to my surprise--it's not listed at all for Grays Harbor
County in Bob Morse's Birder's Guide to Ocean Shores)
Savannah Sparrow - 5 (dozens more all along the spit, especially feeding in
the tide wrack at the tip)
Golden-crowned Sparrow - 1 imm
White-crowned Sparrow - 1 imm
Song Sparrow - 10 (very brightly marked, probably migrants)
House Finch - 3

Perhaps all of these birds were migrants; it will be interesting to see
which if any of them remain through the winter in that rather exposed
habitat. The spit was shrubless and treeless when I first started birding
it 20+ years ago, and now it's got scattered thickets and many, many
isolated spruce and
pine trees growing up, just like the coastal dunes to the north. It will
be a woodland some day (and possible migrant trap), if the ocean doesn't
wash it away first.

Also a half-dozen American Pipits were scattered along the spit, but we
looked in
vain for longspurs. Also at the tip was a Common Loon in just about full
alternate plumage (just beginning its molt), surprisingly late for that.

It really was great to have the area carless (and peopleless except for us).

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-879-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-879-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html