Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded Ocean Shores and vicinity, where the weather
was of great significance with very stormy conditions, especially closest to
water along with a 9.0 high tide, and heavy rain at times made for a rough
day at times for birding. The most readily spot where the high seas and surf
areas were noted at the Ocean Shores Jetty, where the high waves were
visible going well over the remaining jetty, and water line coming well
inland, as the south road between the jetty and the Ocean Shores S.T.P. were
blocked by local police. Many areas including the O.S.Game Range, and Damon
Point encountered high water, with most at flooded stage, probably due to
the very high tide, and the combination of the recent stormy conditions, and
heavy rain, with many local residents and others present to observe the
spectacle of probable weather damage.

The main highlight, with NO luck finding any TROPICAL KINGBIRDS, possibly
due to the high winds throughout the day, but they could have departed, was
a single juvenal SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER with 10 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS at the
Ocean Shores Game Range, accessed from Tounquin Ave. at 12:45pm, which could
not be relocated upon brief searching, at this site and other nearby
locations, as the weather conditions began to decrease, and the close
approaching high tide. Waterfowl hunting also allowed minimal searching at
this location, by local hunters, so BEWARE to birders upon upcoming
searching. The birds were all noted foraging in flooded Salicornia fields,
near the high water line, and were actively aleart due to the hunting shots,
weather conditions, and presence of several raptors in the area.

We mainly searced throughout the day for TROPICAL KINGBIRD(S), but as
mentioned briefly before were unable along with several other birders to
locate them, and most passerines, due to the persistance high winds, and
rain at times, although fairly pleasant before 9am, but still some wind,
which at most times makes it difficult for songbirds. We did encounter 2 PAL
M WARBLERS near the O.S. Marina, as most other birds were hunkered down. The
area between the base of Damon Point and the east-central sector of the
O.S.Game Range was covered by extremely good numbers of roosting shorebirds,
as they looked for any exposed land that was available with the following
species:

4,800 DUNLIN
54 MARBLED GODWITS
4 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS
2 COMMON SNIPES
320 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS
8 BLACK TURNSTONES
1 AM.GOLDEN PLOVER
1 SEMIPALMATED PLOVER
78 LEAST SANDPIPERS
23 WESTERN SANDPIPERS
13 SANDERLINGS

Other notable species that were encountered at Ocean Shores were:

1 RED-NECKED GREBE
4 GREATER-WHITE-FRONTED GEESE
2 "Cackling" Canada Geese
1 Canvasback
1 REDHEAD
1 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK
1 Merlin
2 Peregrine Falcons
2 AM.GOLDEN PLOVERS at the base of the O.S.Jetty
1 additional SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, (possibly being a different individul than
previously noted)
1 RUDDY TURNSTONE
1 adult GLAUCOUS GULL*
268 California Gulls
4 Herring Gulls
12 BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES
1 immature NORTHERN SHRIKE
1 VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW
1 BARN SWALLOW
1 Purple Finch

On our way home, despite the weather, checked the Hoquim S.T.P., where we
noted nearly the same waterbird numbers as on the 21st, with higher numbers
of scaups with the following notable species:

1 EARED GREBE
1 BRANT
8 "Cackling" Canada Geese
35 CANVASBACK(surprisingly far less than the recent report of around 300
birds on the 27th, which is questionable, as this is a very high number at
this location)
102 LESSER SCAUPS
76 GREATER SCAUPS
43 RING-NECKED DUCKS
13 RUDDY DUCKS
84 MEW GULLS
14 California Gulls

A shorebird flock at the extreme south end of the Hoquim Airport at outgoing
tide produced 54 Black-bellied Plovers, 42 Killdeers, and 62 Dunlins.

* represents personal county bird, and a early record date for location

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net